Today I'm going to combine the last couple of runs into a single blog. I'm volunteering at a Science and Technology fair for my work, so I don't get the opportunity to do this during the day, and last night, after a full day of slinging kids on our homemade hovercraft, I was tired to say the least. Yesterday was a 6.6 mile run with Paul, and we really kept it nice and up tempo. We always keep the first mile nice and easy, and it came out at 9:05, from there we picked up the pace and ran each mile split in under 8:25. Compare that to just3 weeks ago when we were running them in 9:15s and really happy. We were ecstatic when we hit our first 8:45, and now we were running them in under 8:25s. We've really come a long way and it all has to do with the added extra miles, and having a running partner with similar abilities that lives less then a mile form my house.
Today was a group run, but since my day was getting started late, I decided that sleeping in was a better alternative. Making that decision during the summer would mean that I would probably skip the workout. Doing that today.....Not so much. It was perfect running weather this afternoon. No way I was going to put all that hard work I've done in jeopardy. I have my scheduled day off tomorrow, and running a speed session on Fri, with a tempo on Saturday and 15 miles with 8 at marathon pace would have been way too much. So it was imperative that I left the schedule alone, and get 'er done today. The only drawback is that running in the afternoon, you don't get the push of the group, and you have to really fight through it mentally. And I managed to run my pace on the 12 x 400m intervals. My targets have been to run them at 1:45, and I kept it right on that mark. I had 2 or three that were close to 1:40, but they were all in the butter zone where I should have them. Mentally that was a challenge. With only 45 seconds rest between each rep, it was a lung burner. Just when you've caught your breath, time to get on going again. And with that, I got it done, and I managed to earn tomorrows actually schedule rest day. It's going to be close to 36 hours before I run again, so my body can do the necessary recovery it needs. I'm currently hooked up to my Compex and I'm running the active recovery as I type this blog. It's 1 of 4 muscle groups, and it's my normal every night routine. I absolutely love this thing. It's an amazing targeted massage, without a masseuse.
For the week, I've got 21.2 miles in the books. I've got a minimum of 5 on Saturday, probably something more like 6-7ish will be more like it. And then the 15 mile doozey on Sunday. That's a target of almost 42 or 43 for the week. If that's how it ends up, GOAL COMPLETE.
Until then, have a great rest of the week, Train Hard, and LIVESTRONG!!!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Promotion Time!
That's right.....Today I was officially promoted to the next group above! For me, that is a very momentous occasion. It marks something that I haven't been able to do over the past 5-6 years of running. And realistically, I have nobody to blame but myself when it comes to the reasons that the promotion took so long. Never before was I this dedicated to may training. I always had so much on my plate, that something had to fall off the side, and usually it was my running. I was never consistent with the group, and that's had a huge effect to me not seeing the gains I had hoped. Now that I've restructured my life around after closing the coffee house, I have time to get everything to fit on that plate, and it's not only helping me reach those goals I've wanted to attain, I'm feeling phenomenal and my health has never been better!
Today's election day workout was a new one that we've never done before. It's fairly typical in the Kenyans training plan and it involves doing 1K repeats with a 30 second rest in between. The full workout was 2 sets of 3 1K segments, with 2 minute in between sets. My target time as set by Mamma Michele was set at 4:35 per interval. That works out to be sub 7:30 min/mile pace. The first two sets Rhonda and I hit right on the mark, no problemo. On the third when the alarm went off, it was a little weird....We were doing our normal out and back on a marked path, but it seems that the wind had changed directions. I didn't remember the wind being in my face at the start. Anyways, it was noticable. By then, the group had settled out as well as spread out to where it was just Rhonda and I. I was staying with her stride for stride, but throughout the workout, I could feel her push the pace every now and then. But I managed to stay with her on those brief accelerations. At the end of the third set, we hit the mark at 4:29, a full 6 seconds ahead of our target. These times are based on what we expect to run in our upcoming marathons. That's a marathon target time of 3:12....A little agressive, but still a good place to train at when trying to get to 3:30. It should allow for some slowdown in the later miles. Eventually, we will add more and more onto this workout to where we are doing at least 20 mid week, basically, this times 4. That's for another day though.. :) The nice thing about the workout was I was able to stay consistent with my leg turnover at this pace. It was like a metranome, and I was in tune with my breathing and everything. I even finished the last set with a little kick on the last 200m! Another goal is to finish every single workout strong. Pick up the pace a bit. And that is where running in a group environment has it's HUGE plusses. I find that it really helps me keep my focus. I look to stay with the other runners, and I don't lose focus mentally. This Sundays group run will definitely be best suited by running with the group. It's not a 15 mile stroll through the neighborhood. It's a pre-marathon run where we do two different 4 mile segments at our marathon goal pace. For me, that's an 8 minute mile. It's imparative I keep it there. Its going to be tough, but you have to get it into your mind and legs know that this is the speed your going to run. Wrapped in between there is 7 miles at an easy pace, probably at the 9/min mile range. In all, I'm hoping to finish around the 2:10 time that I ran 14 miles in this past Sunday.
So, seeing that it is election day, I figure I would make my pitch to get out there and VOTE! This is an important duty that EVERY American needs to do. You're vote counts, irregardless of whether you're voting for Obama or McCain. make your voice be heard. You don't have a right to complain if you didn't take the time to get out there and do your civic duty. At 5:40am today, as I was leaving the parking lot of Coyote Trail, it put a smile on my face to see a large number of people already waiting in line to cast their vote when th epolling station opened. To my estimate, it was a bout 40 deep, and cars were already streaming into the parking lot. This is a very important time in our nations history. The collapse of our econmy has effected many many people, myself included. As an ex-small business owner, I saw it first hand.
So as they say in Chicago, VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN! Oh yeah.....and LIVESTRONG and Train HARD!
Today's election day workout was a new one that we've never done before. It's fairly typical in the Kenyans training plan and it involves doing 1K repeats with a 30 second rest in between. The full workout was 2 sets of 3 1K segments, with 2 minute in between sets. My target time as set by Mamma Michele was set at 4:35 per interval. That works out to be sub 7:30 min/mile pace. The first two sets Rhonda and I hit right on the mark, no problemo. On the third when the alarm went off, it was a little weird....We were doing our normal out and back on a marked path, but it seems that the wind had changed directions. I didn't remember the wind being in my face at the start. Anyways, it was noticable. By then, the group had settled out as well as spread out to where it was just Rhonda and I. I was staying with her stride for stride, but throughout the workout, I could feel her push the pace every now and then. But I managed to stay with her on those brief accelerations. At the end of the third set, we hit the mark at 4:29, a full 6 seconds ahead of our target. These times are based on what we expect to run in our upcoming marathons. That's a marathon target time of 3:12....A little agressive, but still a good place to train at when trying to get to 3:30. It should allow for some slowdown in the later miles. Eventually, we will add more and more onto this workout to where we are doing at least 20 mid week, basically, this times 4. That's for another day though.. :) The nice thing about the workout was I was able to stay consistent with my leg turnover at this pace. It was like a metranome, and I was in tune with my breathing and everything. I even finished the last set with a little kick on the last 200m! Another goal is to finish every single workout strong. Pick up the pace a bit. And that is where running in a group environment has it's HUGE plusses. I find that it really helps me keep my focus. I look to stay with the other runners, and I don't lose focus mentally. This Sundays group run will definitely be best suited by running with the group. It's not a 15 mile stroll through the neighborhood. It's a pre-marathon run where we do two different 4 mile segments at our marathon goal pace. For me, that's an 8 minute mile. It's imparative I keep it there. Its going to be tough, but you have to get it into your mind and legs know that this is the speed your going to run. Wrapped in between there is 7 miles at an easy pace, probably at the 9/min mile range. In all, I'm hoping to finish around the 2:10 time that I ran 14 miles in this past Sunday.
So, seeing that it is election day, I figure I would make my pitch to get out there and VOTE! This is an important duty that EVERY American needs to do. You're vote counts, irregardless of whether you're voting for Obama or McCain. make your voice be heard. You don't have a right to complain if you didn't take the time to get out there and do your civic duty. At 5:40am today, as I was leaving the parking lot of Coyote Trail, it put a smile on my face to see a large number of people already waiting in line to cast their vote when th epolling station opened. To my estimate, it was a bout 40 deep, and cars were already streaming into the parking lot. This is a very important time in our nations history. The collapse of our econmy has effected many many people, myself included. As an ex-small business owner, I saw it first hand.
So as they say in Chicago, VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN! Oh yeah.....and LIVESTRONG and Train HARD!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Another day in the books.....
And on tired legs no less. To me that's a victory that cannot be beat. For 1, in the two previous days I completed 22 miles in 2 days. I ended up with the 8 on Saturday, and the 14 on Sunday. Both runs resulted in GREAT split times. Times that when you consider where I was, even a month ago, I would have never thought possible. So, when Paul sent me the email that he wanted to GET BACK OUT THERE, I was truly excited. Paul, ended up taking 9 straight days off. But to say he had a great excuse would be an understatement. Last Tuesday, his wife gave birth to their third child, and so far it's been a few nights of re-adjusting to the life's little schedule of new baby. But, as with most of us runners......He was ready to get back out there on the pavement at o'dark early. And I have to admit, running with Paul has really helped me get to where I am right now.
So the morning started off, just like any other normal morning run and we set off on our 5.7 mile loop. No extra credit for me today, I did that on the previous two. From looking at the Garmin splits, we started off at a 9:11 pace. And as usual, we ended up cranked down at a 8:40 pace for the majority of the run. How, I cannot tell you. Sure, his legs were fresh.....but mine didn't feel like we were going that fast. They definitely felt sluggish, as they should. you just did 22 miles this weekend, remember?? Seven of which were at a 7:30 pace mind you. But, the great thing was that my cardio felt AMAZING. Not once was I breathing heavy, I was just trying to keep the focus of putting one foot in front of the other. And we managed to do that very well.
Once we hit the 5 mile point, Paul turned off and headed into his neighborhood back to the house, and I slugged my way back to my house. Having hit the stopwatch for the end, I became taken back a little by that sense of fulfillment. Fulfillment in the sense of realizing what you done over 3 days. With that, I headed in, and took a nice hot shower to start off what hopefully ends up being a GREAT week of injury free running. And with that, I'm off to start blasting my back and calves with my Compex and start the recovery process for tommorow a little bit earlier then normal. This is the first step in what will hopefully end up being a 41 mile week. It's the first of 3 steps upwards. From there, it's 45 and then maybe......just maybe.....the big 50!
You'll just have to keep checkin' the Blog to see if the Kid can get there! Until tomorrow, LIVESTRONG and Train HARD!
So the morning started off, just like any other normal morning run and we set off on our 5.7 mile loop. No extra credit for me today, I did that on the previous two. From looking at the Garmin splits, we started off at a 9:11 pace. And as usual, we ended up cranked down at a 8:40 pace for the majority of the run. How, I cannot tell you. Sure, his legs were fresh.....but mine didn't feel like we were going that fast. They definitely felt sluggish, as they should. you just did 22 miles this weekend, remember?? Seven of which were at a 7:30 pace mind you. But, the great thing was that my cardio felt AMAZING. Not once was I breathing heavy, I was just trying to keep the focus of putting one foot in front of the other. And we managed to do that very well.
Once we hit the 5 mile point, Paul turned off and headed into his neighborhood back to the house, and I slugged my way back to my house. Having hit the stopwatch for the end, I became taken back a little by that sense of fulfillment. Fulfillment in the sense of realizing what you done over 3 days. With that, I headed in, and took a nice hot shower to start off what hopefully ends up being a GREAT week of injury free running. And with that, I'm off to start blasting my back and calves with my Compex and start the recovery process for tommorow a little bit earlier then normal. This is the first step in what will hopefully end up being a 41 mile week. It's the first of 3 steps upwards. From there, it's 45 and then maybe......just maybe.....the big 50!
You'll just have to keep checkin' the Blog to see if the Kid can get there! Until tomorrow, LIVESTRONG and Train HARD!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
A special Weekend
The first weekend in November will always be a special time for me. Last year, I had the opportunity to go to New York City for the first time ever, and participate in the ING New York City Marathon with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It was an incredibly special time for me, in what was an incredibly difficult year. See, back in February not only did my wifes grandmother pass away, but a good friend of mine was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney Cancer. It was so far progressed, that it had spread through his lyph nodes and had reacehd his lungs and liver. At this point we had thought he had gotten a handle on it. It wasn't progressing, and when we went to dinner with them, he looked really good. From the outside you would never know that his body was being ravaged by this aweful disease. It wasn't long after I came back from NYC that his health took the ultimate turn for the worse. So this weekend, I decided both my runs would be with my NYC LIVESTRONG jersey that I ran in NYC with.
Saturday started off with a 3x2mile interval set followed up with a 5x1min. This was a crucial marathon paced workout, plus I could use it as a guage to see where my fitness has progressed over the past couple of months. At the start, my target splits were set at an 8:05 min/mile pace for 16:10 per set. I was paired off with a new face in the group, which turned out to be kind of a mistake....for him. We took off with the slower paces first, and I was the third group out of the gates. And I took off fast.....I had taken Friday off, and my legs felt GREAT! Every couple of minutes I would look down at my watch to see where my average pace was at that moment, adn I was shocked to see it around low sevens. So, I decided to throttle back a bit because I knew it was a long workout. I eventually settled into a 7:30 pace. MUCH FASTER then what mamma Michele had wanted me to run. When I got to the 2 mile marker, I had finished my split at 14:58, but I felt great. So set 2 I kept up the same pace, and actually came in a few seconds faster at 14:55. This is a SIGNIFICANT milestone because I just ran 4 miles then under 30 minutes. To be exact, 7 sencods to space. That's HUGE! That gets me ever so close to reaching my goal of getting to that elusive Walgreens corner. That's where I want to be in 30 minutes SOOOOOOOOO bad. And if I were to run another 7 seconds, that puts me about 15-20 seconds short. VERY VERY VERY doable by my January timeframe when I want to run my marathon. My thirs set kicked off and I still sayed amazingly consistent. The end of the thirs set clocked in at 15:02. Only a 7 second slowdown form the previous set. And I finished roughly a minute off of two runners that I have never been able to keep pace with. That's the making of that first stepping stone that I wanted to hit, and it's only th ebeginning of NOVEMBER! With the 5 times a minute at the end, it left me with about a mile to jog back to the start, and a full 8 mile morning, hence the reason I took off Friday.
So that left me with a 14 mile run through te neighborhood to finish out a great weekend. The rest of the group was going to go run with another running group in Tucson, so I did this one SOLO. Nothing wrong with that. So I put on the headphones and took off at a nice easy 9:30 pace. I knew that I would eventually turn up the screws towards the end when my legs were tired, it's a new peice to my training puzzle. I'm working on the negative split. Trying to keep yourself in check at the start and not go wild by blowing all of your energy too early. And it's bene working out beautifully. By the time I got to the 4 mile mark, I had already ratched the pace down to a nice 9:15, and I was GOING UPHILL! I added onto last weeks route a new segment of road that JUST reopened yesterday. And man...that pavement is NICE! Not once did I EVER want to stop. I just kept getting stronger and stronger and stronger. Mentally, I was getting tired, but I kept clicking off the miles, one after another. Eventually I worked my pace into the 8:45 zone. PERFECT for the long run SUNDAYS! That's where I want to be. Did I mention that I kept it up as I went through the run. 7, 8, 9, then 10.....They just kept clicking off. By 12 I could tell my legs were getting tired. I told myself...lets' just get to 13. I got to 13 and headed up a tough hill....Part way up the hill, the mile marker clicked off.....and by the time I got to the top, it was time for the nice stroll on back home......I ended up having to do a little bit in my neioghborhood, but I just wanted to get on home.......so, tired legs and all, I managed to finish up with a nice little 8:35 pace.. :) And why was I wanting to get home so bad....So I could get on te computer and watch the NYC Marathon. Trust me....I've really been down a bit becaeu I just wanted to be there with all of the excitement. I'm not ready to do a full yet...Mentally or physically. I haven't done all of the hard work yet. Last year I did enaough to get through, but the business of owning a business played a roll in that. This year I don't have that, and I'm making strides I never thought I could have made. And what a race it was. It was amazing to see Paula Radcliff run the race of her life, winning NYC not only back to back, but adding her name to a short list of people who have rwon the race three times. And what a race the mens marathon turned out to be. Gomes Dosantos who led most of the race, recovered from his midrace bonk to blow my the leader and win the race in the final mile through Central Park. Just makes me a little more dissapointed that I wasn't there to see it in person. I'm going to have to circle it on my calendar for next year to either run it, or at least be there. And finally, congratulations to American Kara Goucher on mer marathon debut by getting 3rd place overall in what I think ended up in a new record for an American Womans debut. GREAT RACE!!!
So, when the alarm
Saturday started off with a 3x2mile interval set followed up with a 5x1min. This was a crucial marathon paced workout, plus I could use it as a guage to see where my fitness has progressed over the past couple of months. At the start, my target splits were set at an 8:05 min/mile pace for 16:10 per set. I was paired off with a new face in the group, which turned out to be kind of a mistake....for him. We took off with the slower paces first, and I was the third group out of the gates. And I took off fast.....I had taken Friday off, and my legs felt GREAT! Every couple of minutes I would look down at my watch to see where my average pace was at that moment, adn I was shocked to see it around low sevens. So, I decided to throttle back a bit because I knew it was a long workout. I eventually settled into a 7:30 pace. MUCH FASTER then what mamma Michele had wanted me to run. When I got to the 2 mile marker, I had finished my split at 14:58, but I felt great. So set 2 I kept up the same pace, and actually came in a few seconds faster at 14:55. This is a SIGNIFICANT milestone because I just ran 4 miles then under 30 minutes. To be exact, 7 sencods to space. That's HUGE! That gets me ever so close to reaching my goal of getting to that elusive Walgreens corner. That's where I want to be in 30 minutes SOOOOOOOOO bad. And if I were to run another 7 seconds, that puts me about 15-20 seconds short. VERY VERY VERY doable by my January timeframe when I want to run my marathon. My thirs set kicked off and I still sayed amazingly consistent. The end of the thirs set clocked in at 15:02. Only a 7 second slowdown form the previous set. And I finished roughly a minute off of two runners that I have never been able to keep pace with. That's the making of that first stepping stone that I wanted to hit, and it's only th ebeginning of NOVEMBER! With the 5 times a minute at the end, it left me with about a mile to jog back to the start, and a full 8 mile morning, hence the reason I took off Friday.
So that left me with a 14 mile run through te neighborhood to finish out a great weekend. The rest of the group was going to go run with another running group in Tucson, so I did this one SOLO. Nothing wrong with that. So I put on the headphones and took off at a nice easy 9:30 pace. I knew that I would eventually turn up the screws towards the end when my legs were tired, it's a new peice to my training puzzle. I'm working on the negative split. Trying to keep yourself in check at the start and not go wild by blowing all of your energy too early. And it's bene working out beautifully. By the time I got to the 4 mile mark, I had already ratched the pace down to a nice 9:15, and I was GOING UPHILL! I added onto last weeks route a new segment of road that JUST reopened yesterday. And man...that pavement is NICE! Not once did I EVER want to stop. I just kept getting stronger and stronger and stronger. Mentally, I was getting tired, but I kept clicking off the miles, one after another. Eventually I worked my pace into the 8:45 zone. PERFECT for the long run SUNDAYS! That's where I want to be. Did I mention that I kept it up as I went through the run. 7, 8, 9, then 10.....They just kept clicking off. By 12 I could tell my legs were getting tired. I told myself...lets' just get to 13. I got to 13 and headed up a tough hill....Part way up the hill, the mile marker clicked off.....and by the time I got to the top, it was time for the nice stroll on back home......I ended up having to do a little bit in my neioghborhood, but I just wanted to get on home.......so, tired legs and all, I managed to finish up with a nice little 8:35 pace.. :) And why was I wanting to get home so bad....So I could get on te computer and watch the NYC Marathon. Trust me....I've really been down a bit becaeu I just wanted to be there with all of the excitement. I'm not ready to do a full yet...Mentally or physically. I haven't done all of the hard work yet. Last year I did enaough to get through, but the business of owning a business played a roll in that. This year I don't have that, and I'm making strides I never thought I could have made. And what a race it was. It was amazing to see Paula Radcliff run the race of her life, winning NYC not only back to back, but adding her name to a short list of people who have rwon the race three times. And what a race the mens marathon turned out to be. Gomes Dosantos who led most of the race, recovered from his midrace bonk to blow my the leader and win the race in the final mile through Central Park. Just makes me a little more dissapointed that I wasn't there to see it in person. I'm going to have to circle it on my calendar for next year to either run it, or at least be there. And finally, congratulations to American Kara Goucher on mer marathon debut by getting 3rd place overall in what I think ended up in a new record for an American Womans debut. GREAT RACE!!!
So, when the alarm
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