7 mile progression

I wasn't sure what type of run to do today until I had started into it and was completely warmed up. The schedule said 5 easy or mod on treadmill. But workouts have been going good so I ramped it up some more.

After 2 miles at 8:30 I increased speed to 8:10 pace. Mile 4 was 8 flat. Then next @ 7:45 and mile 6 was 7:30. The last was 7:00 even. I don't usually end fast without a cool down mile or two, but just walked it out for about 5 mins and then did my stretching. Ended up being total of 7, and faster than scheduled. I'm calling this a progression rather than one of my cookers because the last mile didn't really feel all that tough. I didn't want to push any further and just ended it with something held back in reserve for tomorrow/whenever. Feel really good about this workout. That's 4 days in a row - good for me. And miles are up: 10 easy, 5 moderate, 6 mod. on trails, 7 progession. Forgot to bandaid up the nips, some lite chaffing... ouch, I don't want that to become an issue again. Later, I felt some aches in knees. Price to pay for trying to get my speed back.

Blogger World

I've been noticing some of my eFriends have much nicer blogs than me. :( How do you guys find all those gadgets, and get them onto the sides of yer page? I must work a bit more on that.

Especially since about 2 weeks ago a reporter was at a local 5k and he's since contacted me back about a featured article. Yes, I've already told him that I'm interesting enough for an article. But he says he wants to run a series on {normal} everyday runners. Here's another thing to figure out= how do u's get font changes like 'strike-through' that I see in other blogs? That adds a humorous element but blogger seems so limited. I just tried to type it in MSword, and copy & paste over here, but doesn't work. Assume not supported font type in blogger. FRUSTRATION.
Alert:
Check out Marlene's blog here. I've read this a few times, but for some/whatever reason hadn't put on as a fav. Done today. She has reached #500 blog entry and is having a gift give away to celebrate! She recently set a 5k PR, and was 1st overall woman for the first time ever. I never realized her entire story - has lost enough weight to be basically (assuming here) half the person she once was! Inspirational runner.

There isn't always a tomorrow.

Another day that I somehow was too busy in the morning to get out for my run. Lunchtime came & went and no running. Bummer. But I vowed to do it in the afternoon. I feel very motivated to run lately. This is another example where in previous cycles I would easily fall back onto any old rationalization to skip a day. Hey, there's always tomorrow. But my new approach is "today is already tomorrow" i.e. there's no more waiting. I don't have endless time to run fast races...no one gets unlimited time. There isn't always another tomorrow.

City Runnin'. 4 miles downtown. Parked along Union St. Stopped in at the local running shoe store to drop off my entry for Sat's 5k! Woo- hooo. this is the first local 5k I've done in almost a year. So psyched! But i'm also knowing that this isn't going to be much of a show, even by my standards. I'm thinking of this as more of a first race to establish a baseline. Something to build from...and let me know exactly where my fitness is at right now.

Eased into the pace. 1=8:30 or 8:45, then 2=8:30 or a bit faster. 3=opened it up here, about 7:30. 4= 7:15 with the last stretch really moving fast. I'd like to run 7 min pace on Sat for approx. 21:45 but that really doesn't sound very fast *(at all)! I've only done one 5k in like the past 6 or 8 mos. Haddonfield in March - looked up my time - 21:08. Have I really gotten signif slower since then?? Lack of speed work/tempo runs has really impacted me.

Recent Recap

Recent Recap:
Sat.- 8k race.
Mon. - 6 miles trails w/hills.
today - 6 miles total w/middle 3 as a tempo segment.

I see that I've gotten behind on blogging, again. Todays' workout didn't go all that well. But I like to think of rough workouts as progress reports or fitness tests. So I've got some work to do!

wanted to do a 3 mile tempo at 7:00 pace with 1.5 warm-up & cool-down. I could tell during the first mile that my legs were 'dead' from Monday's trail run/hill workout. (oops, never blogged on that. Recap: very hot & humid late afternoon run. I am supposed to lead a group trail run this weekend and haven't been on all sections of the planned route in some time, so I ventured into the woods. Good thing, took a wrong turn early. Don't want to do that on Sunday. Felt good and added an extra hill loop, but then by the end I was real exhausted and had to walk on the final hill. Checked weather channel when I got home, 80-82 degrees with 70-75% humidity. 6 miles total).

So back to today...I decided to start the tempo portion at speed & then slow down as needed on the fly. Mile 1 - uncomfortable but done in 7:03. Mile 2 - slowed it down immediately as the humidity was making me sweat like a pig! Very uncomfortable, even after backing off the pace some more. 7:22 still not soo bad. But then Mile 3 - I just couldn't keep going. Took a one minute walk break then slowly cranked it back up. Practically racing to try to break 8 on that last one, but couldn't. 8:10, first 100 yards was walking and next 200 was getting up to speed.

Disappointing . . . a little. But it tells me where I'm at.
1. Need to aclimate now that summer weather is full force.
2. I'm giving myself a break since I haven't done any tempo runs for like 2 mos.
3. This is basically 2 tough workouts in a row. I should've gone ez today and tempo friday.

Next week try again to hit the 3 x 7:00 tempo target. I've decided to try to put on some speed for some hot 5k racing in July. Then I'll go back to the long stuff for half marathon race (PDR) at the end of Sept. So training sets up like this: Fri - a few easy miles. Sun - trails, moderate. Tues - ez 5 or 6. Thurs - Tempo.

Lower ab muscle pull still annoying me, but it's getting better.

Gotta run... soccer dad shuttle to tryouts for travel team. have a good one!

Still Hurting All Over

Plan for today's workout was 4 or 5 miles with 1 or 2 at 5k race speed. Body issues all over still remaining from last weekend. But clearly feeling better than yesterday, it was good to just get moving yesterday.
Did the minimum run today because feeling pain in right plantar -which hasn't been there since about 6 weeks ago. Not the sharp fasciitis pain back near the heal, but actually in the arch of the foot, the meat of the plantar muscle. Not bad, but more like a small spasm of pain. Enough for me to take it a bit easy today.

I am giving myself an absolute deadline of 10 more days to decide about the marathon. Frankly, I've just about talked myself out of it. Postponement to the fall season is very easily rationalized given my string of minor set backs this winter.

4 miles today. 3 slow and one in the middle at 6:45 pace. Felt tired quickly at that pace. Saturday's 5k will most likely be 7:00 pace or just slightly faster. Maybe a 21:30 which is a minute slower than last year and est. 65% WAVA. Key is to not go out so damn fast. Control, with a little restraint too.

Nearly time to shit or get off the pot

Very busy boy here, got to keep this short & quick: Treadmill at Y today, 5 miles total. Tempo run, middle 3 run at 7:02 - 7:09 - 7:15 and then a good stretch but no weights or other exercises afterward. Effort felt easier than a few weeks ago - pretty much the same time.

The half marathon this weekend is quite the talk of the town. Mostly everyone from club is running, and apparently plenty of other folks too. Several guys at the Y were talking about it today. Good luck to all - I know this won't be one of my faster races, but I'm really looking forward to it since my leg is done hurting. may never know what that was all about. Marathon is now 75 days away - nearly time for me to shit or get off the pot.

Pasta party the nite before: http://www.rebelrunners.com/06cr.php

Course elevation: this isn't great/accurate. the finish is actually about 20-25 feet higher than the start. But this gives a sense of the climbing between miles 6.5 thru 8.5 - steady uphill: http://www.races2run.com/CRcourse-elevation/CR2009.htm

There's already over 1,000 runners signed up and the forecaste is good weather (40-45 degrees at start, cloudy w/no rain). I see runners from far away across America coming to Wilmington for this one: https://www.lin-mark.us/page.asp?prmName=viewentrants&prmEventID=89

Tempo run # 1

Since my last several runs were outdoors I returned to the treadmill today for the first of 3 weekly tempo runs that I plan to use as a build up to my first race of the year. Any race I do prior to March 1st will be just for a fun workout (i.e. Mudder).

I'm leaning toward the Baltimore B & A rails-2-trails half marathon ... but the $65 entry fee seems way outta line! There's not many local choices around this time of year. I could try a time trial if I can recruit someone fast to run it with me. I could wait for C.R. half on March 15th - but the hills will slow me down and they're not representative of the VCM course.

I'm not going to pre-reg for anything this spring. As a result I hope to drop most of the races and focus on the ones that lead directly toward the goal.

Today's run was a total of 5 = 1 warm & 1 cool and 3 fast in middle. I was hoping for 7 to 7:10 pace for the 3 but realized right away that it wasn't my day. Several factors, but bottom line is that I can prep for the next tempo run better. 7:05 then 7:12 then 7:15. Not bad really, but it was quite an effort. Next week maybe shoot for 4 x 7:10 pace.

Yasso 800's

Did my first set of Yasso 800's today on the treadmill at the Y. Was supposed to do a 5 miler, maybe with some speed mixed in. Read about Yasso's online; I've heard about them for years. Decided to try it out. Shooting for 5 reps at 3:40 pace. Felt good after the first few and so added one extra. I could've done at least 2 more but didn't want to push it on the first time running this new workout.
Total distance 6 miles. 6x 880 yards at average 3:42, ((7:20 pace) one rep where I forgot to start watch screwed up the avg). 2:00 recovery in between @ 8:45 pace. Good stretch after plus got in a partial weight circuit...just not feeling the weight lifting recently, not concerned about this since running increase feels alot better than the lifting anyway.

After I finished the run, I saw my friend H at the gym and since he's an experienced marathoner I asked him about Yasso's and predicting marathon finish time. He said he's never had luck with prediction's for marathon because he's mostly a shorter distance racer. Ditto for me. This got me to researching a bit farther online tonite. Seems even Yasso says that the 800's are not a workout to build up for a marathon. It's more like you have to do the long runs for stamina, LT efforts, and some marathon-goal-pace longish runs. Then the 800's confirm your conditioning. That's a good perspective for me since today's workout seemed easy but I know there's no way that I have enough endurance at this point to go out and do a 3:40 (or so) marathon right now.

I plan on running this workout again in 3 or 4 weeks. I'll shoot for 7 or 8 reps, just a smidge faster too. Also Yasso says recovery period should be equal time as effort, so I can almost double the rest time, which ought to ensure success again next time out, although that'll also increase the total distance to 9 miles(probably). Since long distance stamina is still where I have to focus, I will definitely hit a long run of 12 or 13 prior to my next Yasso 800's session.

First Fast Run of '09

This is the write up from Monday's workout. I've fallen a bit behind on the blog entries. And I never did a detailed 'goals' post. And I've been thinking about the idea of the "runner's high" which I intend to make an entry about my thoughts on that paired with additive tendencies. Also, the other day I was inspired to write a poem about running. It needs some fine tuning and then I'll post it...don't laugh too hard when you read it!

Excellent treadmill run with some weights & stretching afterward. I'm cautiously optimistic about my PF becoming a thing of the past. With the last week I've done my longest run in 6 weeks, and now my only fast workout. Remember that swim last week? Ever since that workout's after-effects have faded (the PF pain & calf soreness associated with cramping described here and again 2 days later) I've hardly felt the PF situation at all.

My scheduled workout was cross training. But I got to the Y very late, and decided to run instead because or short on time & feeling good. Told myself I'd do 4 easy at 8:30 pace. I felt sluggish so the first 2 miles were 9 min & then 8:30 pace. Then I decided to do an 8 min 3rd mile to make the average come out. All of a sudden the sluggish feeling went away and I was feeling fine. Changing things on the fly I decided to speed up the 4th & then add a 5th mile which was to be a cool down. Forth = 7:30 pace, felt great. Decided to test if I might have any speed left after this prolonged period of no hard efforts. So did a half-mile at 6:30 pace and finally was feeling uncomfortable. Cool-down last half @ 9 min pace. So 5 total in a 'progression' type run.

It's now two days later and the PF is totally under control. Still there, but hardly notice it. I'm very encouraged by this but will still try to contain my efforts as much as possible!