And I'm not talking gravy....Well at least not until Thursday when it's mandetory to eat 8 cups of gravy! I'm talking about miles. I'm going out for a new all time high. The Big 5-0....50 miles. And this is the perfect week to get 'er done....That is if the rain holds off. BUT.....The training plan is top priority. I've got rain gear to keep my for the most part dry....And once you start sweating, you're all wet anyways right???
Today started of the week with 16x400. I ended up running these predominantly by myself. I started off with the marathon training group although they were doing a different workout. The rest of the group was only doing 6x400 since they will all be racing on Thursday. So since I started out by myself, I was basically alone at the end of the first set. That meant, I didn't have my usual paces out there, so I set my goal to hold each of the 16 sets at around 1:45. And so I did! And to be honest, even though my legs were feeling great, my head was full of this wicked congestion that reared it's ugly head at about 1am as the front rolled through. It has to be weather related. There really isn't any other excuse. I did manage to exhume most of it during my run, and on my 45 second off periods. So it's probably a good thing that I was running by myself. Didn't need to collect any collateral damage by an errant snot rocket. You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose.....but in no way is it ever good to pick your friends nose. And it's even more important to keep those snot rockets to yourself. :)
In all, I got the 5.25 miles that I was hoping for after the warm-up and cool down run back to the car. Now, tomorrow I've got my eyes set on 7 or 7.5 miles. My meeting that I asked to be pushed to 6:30 on Wednesday starting in December, actually got pushed starting tomorrow...that's a whole week ahead of schedule. That gives me an extra 30 mins to get in my miles. So I'm thankful for that.
I'm also tahnkful that I get to eat whatever I want on Thursday and not have to worry about it. I need to fuel my body properly, and that doesn't mean just water, that means fuel. I'm only 3 pounds away from my initial weight target of 175. From there, I start the next ramp up in training to work my weight down to 165 by marathon day in late January or ealry February. The jury is still out on wether or not I'll be able to run on the 18th. See, that happens to be the NFC Championship game, and if all goes well, and the Cardinals work that deep into the playoffs, there's a possiblility of hosting the game in Phoenix. Which means, I'm going to have my hands full tailgating and celebrating something thats NEVER BEEN DONE by this team. That's a long ways out, and many things have to happen.....And the Cardinals don't control their own desinty in that respect. BUT.....I won't really know until the week or two before....So, you train like you're going to race that day, and if you don't you schedule a backup. So, in the meatime...I'm just going to put in mile after mile.
And with that, it's time to get some work done, and get ready for tomorrows run. LIVESTRONG and Train Hard!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
A Weekend of Mixed Emotions....
This was a weekend of mixed emotions that go along with the recovery from the brief illness that killed last weekends running efforts. On one hand, I was able to get out for my 6 straight days after taking off those 3 days, which is good. On the other hand, I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get in the number of miles that I wanted too. Well.....And my Cardinals suffered their first loss at home this season with a 8 point loss to the reigning world champions....Oh well...It happens.
Saturday I had an absolutely GREAT run. It was a 50 minute mixture of alternating 5 mins at 10K pace and 5 mins at your Half Marathon Pace. We had a LARGE group out too, I think there was over 20 of us out there Saturday morning. Very impressive!!! The first set seemed to start off somewhat slow....but when I went back and looked at the garmin data, it was much faster then I had anticipated, somewhere near a 7:20 pace. After the brefi 5 min pace where you get to somewhat get your breath back, we HAMMERED set number 2. That was somewhat surprising. We actually crossed the 2 mile marker with about 15 seconds lef in the set. That's a 14:45 2 miler. An AVERAGE of 7:22ish. AVERAGE. Remember, there was a 5minute 'off' set in there. When I went back and looked, we ran that second 5 minute on set at a 7:08 pace. Crazy!!! And even worse was I had one of the marathoners hangning with me, and she had a 20 miler the next day. During the 5 min 'off' period, I convinced her that we needed to throttle it back a bit. I didn't want to kill her run the next day. And she was insistent on letting me dictate the pace. So, the next on set we dropped back to a 7:30 pace. At the end of the 30 mins, we were right around the 4 mile mark. Both of us were feelign great, and not laboring at all. Set number four took us pretty close to closing the 5 mile loop. We closed it at 38:30. We just kept going around the loop and finished the on set of 5 mins or the 5th set and flipped it around and headed back to the start. At the end, we had complete 6.5 miles in 50 mins. I really LOVE this workout. The 5 on set get you at near your max threshold, but you don't cross over it....We never had a pace below 7:30....In fact, the last two sets (after we discussed slowing down and running one slower) went right back and settled in at 7:20. S'all goood! But that's not the end of the workout by any stretch....We still had to do our 5x1mins. Those.....WHAOH.....Let me just day, 6:20 pace, and at the end (when you include the 45 second rest intervals), we were MORE THEN A MILE! I'm very happy with that, especially wne you consider that's AFTER doing a tough workout. Afterwards, I went home and hooked up to my Compex to 'extend' my workout a bit. Ran the strength workout on my legs and calves with an Active recovery after each. It's nice to do after a Saturday workout....I think that's one of the reasons I'm getting so much faster. Strength, strength, strength.....
Sundays run got off to a late start. I was pressed for time since I had to leave for our all day Phoenix trip to see the Cardinals by 7:45. That meant, get home, get the truck loaded with the tailgate stuff, get the kids ready, etc, etc, etc....So, I figured i needed to be home by about 7am to get everythign done. Well, I didn't get out of the house until 5:45, so that left me an hour fifteen. Not what I had wanted, but when you've got commitments to meet someone, I don't like to leave them hangin' around. The run itself was great. It was a nice brisk 50 degrees when I set out, and that's the temperature where my legs just plain and simple respond. I started off easy at a 9:20 pace, but eventually ramped it up down to a 8:20 consistent mile after mile. And that last half mile.....I just GUNNED it and put the hammer down. I don't ususally run with my iPod, but since i was solo this am, and not running with the group, I was all over it. And one of those Kid Rock songs came up, and I couldn't resist. And I felt great.....Ran that at a 6:45 pace.. :)
This week will be a big heavy hitting milage week. I'm going to get some extra z's with the 2 days off from work and the holidays...So I'm also going to ramp up the miles, cuz i know there will be some extra food. NO WEIGHT GAIN THIS YEAR! I'm going to LOSE weight this Thanksgiving week!
Mon - Rest
Tues - 5.5
Wed - 7.5
Thurs - 7.5
Friday 7.5
Sat - 7.5
Sun - 16
That sets me up for a 51 mile week, and only 2 speed sessions. I'm feeling good, and I'm going BUST this OUT! So, until tommorrow, LIVESTRONG and Train Hard!
Saturday I had an absolutely GREAT run. It was a 50 minute mixture of alternating 5 mins at 10K pace and 5 mins at your Half Marathon Pace. We had a LARGE group out too, I think there was over 20 of us out there Saturday morning. Very impressive!!! The first set seemed to start off somewhat slow....but when I went back and looked at the garmin data, it was much faster then I had anticipated, somewhere near a 7:20 pace. After the brefi 5 min pace where you get to somewhat get your breath back, we HAMMERED set number 2. That was somewhat surprising. We actually crossed the 2 mile marker with about 15 seconds lef in the set. That's a 14:45 2 miler. An AVERAGE of 7:22ish. AVERAGE. Remember, there was a 5minute 'off' set in there. When I went back and looked, we ran that second 5 minute on set at a 7:08 pace. Crazy!!! And even worse was I had one of the marathoners hangning with me, and she had a 20 miler the next day. During the 5 min 'off' period, I convinced her that we needed to throttle it back a bit. I didn't want to kill her run the next day. And she was insistent on letting me dictate the pace. So, the next on set we dropped back to a 7:30 pace. At the end of the 30 mins, we were right around the 4 mile mark. Both of us were feelign great, and not laboring at all. Set number four took us pretty close to closing the 5 mile loop. We closed it at 38:30. We just kept going around the loop and finished the on set of 5 mins or the 5th set and flipped it around and headed back to the start. At the end, we had complete 6.5 miles in 50 mins. I really LOVE this workout. The 5 on set get you at near your max threshold, but you don't cross over it....We never had a pace below 7:30....In fact, the last two sets (after we discussed slowing down and running one slower) went right back and settled in at 7:20. S'all goood! But that's not the end of the workout by any stretch....We still had to do our 5x1mins. Those.....WHAOH.....Let me just day, 6:20 pace, and at the end (when you include the 45 second rest intervals), we were MORE THEN A MILE! I'm very happy with that, especially wne you consider that's AFTER doing a tough workout. Afterwards, I went home and hooked up to my Compex to 'extend' my workout a bit. Ran the strength workout on my legs and calves with an Active recovery after each. It's nice to do after a Saturday workout....I think that's one of the reasons I'm getting so much faster. Strength, strength, strength.....
Sundays run got off to a late start. I was pressed for time since I had to leave for our all day Phoenix trip to see the Cardinals by 7:45. That meant, get home, get the truck loaded with the tailgate stuff, get the kids ready, etc, etc, etc....So, I figured i needed to be home by about 7am to get everythign done. Well, I didn't get out of the house until 5:45, so that left me an hour fifteen. Not what I had wanted, but when you've got commitments to meet someone, I don't like to leave them hangin' around. The run itself was great. It was a nice brisk 50 degrees when I set out, and that's the temperature where my legs just plain and simple respond. I started off easy at a 9:20 pace, but eventually ramped it up down to a 8:20 consistent mile after mile. And that last half mile.....I just GUNNED it and put the hammer down. I don't ususally run with my iPod, but since i was solo this am, and not running with the group, I was all over it. And one of those Kid Rock songs came up, and I couldn't resist. And I felt great.....Ran that at a 6:45 pace.. :)
This week will be a big heavy hitting milage week. I'm going to get some extra z's with the 2 days off from work and the holidays...So I'm also going to ramp up the miles, cuz i know there will be some extra food. NO WEIGHT GAIN THIS YEAR! I'm going to LOSE weight this Thanksgiving week!
Mon - Rest
Tues - 5.5
Wed - 7.5
Thurs - 7.5
Friday 7.5
Sat - 7.5
Sun - 16
That sets me up for a 51 mile week, and only 2 speed sessions. I'm feeling good, and I'm going BUST this OUT! So, until tommorrow, LIVESTRONG and Train Hard!
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