When I last left you, I had completed just over 21 miles and taken a much needed Friday off. But the weekend is ALWAYS jam packed with mega miles, and the Sunday run was going to be a major test of endurance.
Saturday started off with 40mins of alternating reps of 5 mins 10K pace and 5 mins HM pace. It was a group workout and I didn't want to go out there and really hammer the course. I had to leave something in the tank for Sundays run. The only real marker I have to go by, is where would I be at the 5 mile point. Typically, I run that course in somewhere around 40ish or just a few seconds under. But over the past few weeks, Paul and I have really made great strides on our weekday workouts. I did manage to keep my paces under 8 mins per mile on each segement. On the 10K sets, I ran a nice 7:15 pace. On the off sets, I ran a nice 7:45 pace. POIFECT. The nice thing was that I crossed the 5 mile point in 38 mins. CHECK! Goal accomplished there. HUGE goal accomplished there. And by the time I finished the workout, I was quite a ways down silverbell. That's a really nice feeling. Butch, wast too far ahead of me, maybe 30 seconds overall. That's a huge accomplishment considering I'm used to him being minutes ahead of me on the finish of a workout like that. I jogged past the half mile mark and started my 5 x 1 min intervals back to the starting point. These I was able to run at a very brisk 6:45 pace. Not too shabby after pumpin out a pretty tough tempo workout. In all, I was able to log 6.6 miles. That's exactly where I wanted to be going into Sundays run of 15 miles.
Sunday's run wasn't the normal 15 mile jog through the park. It was going to be the first real endurance test to really see what my projected marathon pace is going to be. Can I hold that 8 minute mile pace during a run like this.....ON TIRED LEGS. Remember, last week, I cut back to 36 miles to allow for recovery. This week was back to 41, and if I complete it, it will be a hair short of 43. The 15 miles consisted of 2 miles of warmup, 4 miles at marathon pace, 2 miles recovery, 4 miles at marathon pace, and a 3 mile recivery back to the start. That's right, 8 miles of this run were at your targeted marathon pace. We had a group that are about 3 weeks out from thier goal race, doing the same workout, but doing 23 miles. They started at 5:30, and we started at 6. Two of the UBER fast runners came through the first 5 miles at roughly 6ish, so 30 mins and averaging a 6 minute pace. NICE! But, for me I needed the group aspect of this run, and I did the taboo thing....I had my iPhone jammin musinc in one ear. I was using the playlist that I used for the NYC marathon. And boy did that come through for me. Mamma Michele led me out at the start, she set the opening warmup pace at 8:25s for the first two miles. At the time I thought that was a little fast, but it felt really good so I didn't question it and just hung on. when we hit the 2 mile point, that was where I had to get it on. I jumped up to speed and left Michele to do her own thing. I think she was only doing 10 miles yesterday, as she's not training for any upcoming races. I immediately settled into a 7:45 pace, fromthere I eased it back after the fisrt couple of miles and held right on my target of 8ish. I had the alarm set on my garmin to keep it between 7:45 and 8:15 with a butter zone of 8 minutes. And I kept it very nicely at 7:55. When we got tot he end ofthe first 4 mile segment, I was under 32 minutes, and felt very accomplished. Butch finished maybe 10 seconds ahead of me, which was much closer then I had expected. I then started the 2 mile recovery jog in between. That's where it got interesting. Butch took his much sloer then i did. I never once got over a 9:10 pace. Managed to keep that right around 9:05. It allowed me to get my breath back, and start mentally preparing for the next set. I didn't want to slow down so much that I lost my rythem. When I started the next 4 mile set, I knew it was going to be tough to get back going. My legs already had 8 miles on them but I managed to puch through that zone and get right back up to speed. Granted, I was a little bit slower, but I still managed to end up that 4m ile set spot on in 32 minutes, a whopping 20 seconds slower then the first set. To me, over 4 miles, that's in the noise. I'm not going to lie, it was dificult, but mentally, I just kept telling myself to stay focused. and keep turning the legs over, and take them one mile at a time. And to be honest, towards the end, I started feeling stronger and stronger. But boy was I happy to see that 2 mile marker on the road that signified the point at which my 4 mile segment was OVER. From there, there was the 3 mile jog back to the start of our famous 5 mile loop. Strangely, that was the hardest spot for me. By the time I got tot the last mile, I was pretty wiped out. I took a quik look to see where everyone was, and I saw a couple of our marathon trainers and Butch coming up. I slowed and did some backwards strides and started the jog back with them. They were just about complete, and ready to finish as much as I was, but it was the motivation i needed to get through it. They kept a nice brisk pace, and with about half a mile to go, pulled away to get some striders in. I picked up my own pace, but it was no match for their striders. These guys are in a different class then me right now, but it's the place where I want to be. When my watched beeped for the end of the 15 miles, I couldn't believe my time. 2 hours 8 minutes and 16 seconds. I actually had to do a double take. That's a full 2 and half minutes FASTER then what I ran 14 miles in last Sunday. Honestly, that's AMAZING! I didn't think that I could do that.....and shockingly.....I DID IT!
So, next weekend will be a true test of speed, as Saturday is a Long Loop Lope Time Trial on that 5 mile course, and Sunday will be an easy 16 mile run. Two weeks will be the ultimate though....I'm extending what I did on sunday, to 18 miles! Look out world, here I come!
Until then, Train hard, and LIVESTRONG!
Showing posts with label Marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marathon. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 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
Thursday, October 30, 2008
1-2-3
Today's targeted session with the group was a 3 set series of intervals that consisted of 1 min, 2min and 3 min on times with a 1 min not so on pace in between. This is one of our typical post race workouts. The group this past weekend ran a very difficult 10K that consisted of some MONSTER hills. I did a base workout where I alternated 5 min sets of my 10K and HM paces for 30 minutes. Not nearly as difficult since mine was on a relatively flat course, but still a good workout nonetheless since I probably went at 5K and 10K pace after looking at the data. And the way my legs felt yesterday, nothing like a nice day to clean out the junk!
So when I got to the meeting point at Coyote Trail, I actually felt much better then the day before. As I posted yesterday, my legs were having an off day and just plain felt dead. Today, they felt crisp and ready for a good run. We took of as a single group today and did 2 sets out, and one set back, which left a nice miles and a half jog back to the car. The weather was absolutely PERFECT this morning. Shorts, short sleeve shirt, and glove to keep the hands warm weather. At the start I took off great, managed to run with Scott who kept about 5 yards ahead of me the first couple of sets on the way out. I totally boned up and hit the wrong button on my watch for the start, so I had to wait it out till the second set to start it....uggghhh. hat it when that happens. No wirries there though, I was boxed around by Scott in front and Butch right behind me, so I could hear the starts and stops. I have NO idea how fast I ran those first fet reps, but I'm guessing the were sub 7 since my second set was right at the 7 min/mile marker. I always run faster on the first set and get progressivley slower after settling into a comfortable pace. And when I looked at the 3 min average on the second set, that explains why Butch gained ground and passed me. No biggie there, the fact is....I'm running these workouts at a pace I've never been able to hold. Paul and I set out two sets of goals....Short term was to get to where we could last an entire workout with the Butch groupers. Long term goal, and a bit more lofty, hang with the Big Dogs.....Dave, Todd, Steve, Shawn....That's definitiely a long term route there. Those guys are in a totally different zip code when it comes to running. And they are runningn a totally crazy amount of miles right now. Something I would LOVE to be doing. I'm going to give myself 6-12 months to attain that one, and right now focus on hanging with Butch and Glenn (when he shows up), and get sub 3:30 on my marathon time. These I think are totally doable. And along the way, increase my base mileage to that 60-70 miles per week zone. Looking back in retrospect, getting to 60 should be NO PROBLEMO! Shoot, increase my long run to 22 miles that's 51 right there, then sprinkle in 9 miles over the other 5 days....that's less then 2 miles per day. And realistically, that's going to come on the Thursday workouts by itself. Eventually, I'll be running 10-12 miles on those workouts. I intend to start doing mile repeats on Thursdays. Start at five or 6, and work my way up to 10, all at my targeted marathon pace. I need to get my legs grinding that pace.....The over and over repetition of a single pace is what I need. It's going to make the day when the BIG day gets here in January.
So in the books right now, on this rest week, I've got 14.6 miles. Saturday is going to be at least 5, I may push it to 6 or 7 with the warm-up and cool down. It's a 30 minute tempo that I'm really going to PUSH HARD. I actually think instead of taking tomorrow off completely, I'll sleep in a bit till 5, get up, and go do a 3.5 miler. Nothing hard, but enough to keep the legs fresh for Saturday AM. That would put me at 18 plus the 5 on Saturday and I can end up with around 35ish after Sundays run. That is 6 less then the previous week. I'm just thinking that dropping back 11 miles in one week was a little too much, so 6 may be a better goal. That way, my ramp starts at 41 next week, and goes up from there.
So, it does look like I'll be blogging tomorrow!! Until then, train hard and LIVESTRONG!
So when I got to the meeting point at Coyote Trail, I actually felt much better then the day before. As I posted yesterday, my legs were having an off day and just plain felt dead. Today, they felt crisp and ready for a good run. We took of as a single group today and did 2 sets out, and one set back, which left a nice miles and a half jog back to the car. The weather was absolutely PERFECT this morning. Shorts, short sleeve shirt, and glove to keep the hands warm weather. At the start I took off great, managed to run with Scott who kept about 5 yards ahead of me the first couple of sets on the way out. I totally boned up and hit the wrong button on my watch for the start, so I had to wait it out till the second set to start it....uggghhh. hat it when that happens. No wirries there though, I was boxed around by Scott in front and Butch right behind me, so I could hear the starts and stops. I have NO idea how fast I ran those first fet reps, but I'm guessing the were sub 7 since my second set was right at the 7 min/mile marker. I always run faster on the first set and get progressivley slower after settling into a comfortable pace. And when I looked at the 3 min average on the second set, that explains why Butch gained ground and passed me. No biggie there, the fact is....I'm running these workouts at a pace I've never been able to hold. Paul and I set out two sets of goals....Short term was to get to where we could last an entire workout with the Butch groupers. Long term goal, and a bit more lofty, hang with the Big Dogs.....Dave, Todd, Steve, Shawn....That's definitiely a long term route there. Those guys are in a totally different zip code when it comes to running. And they are runningn a totally crazy amount of miles right now. Something I would LOVE to be doing. I'm going to give myself 6-12 months to attain that one, and right now focus on hanging with Butch and Glenn (when he shows up), and get sub 3:30 on my marathon time. These I think are totally doable. And along the way, increase my base mileage to that 60-70 miles per week zone. Looking back in retrospect, getting to 60 should be NO PROBLEMO! Shoot, increase my long run to 22 miles that's 51 right there, then sprinkle in 9 miles over the other 5 days....that's less then 2 miles per day. And realistically, that's going to come on the Thursday workouts by itself. Eventually, I'll be running 10-12 miles on those workouts. I intend to start doing mile repeats on Thursdays. Start at five or 6, and work my way up to 10, all at my targeted marathon pace. I need to get my legs grinding that pace.....The over and over repetition of a single pace is what I need. It's going to make the day when the BIG day gets here in January.
So in the books right now, on this rest week, I've got 14.6 miles. Saturday is going to be at least 5, I may push it to 6 or 7 with the warm-up and cool down. It's a 30 minute tempo that I'm really going to PUSH HARD. I actually think instead of taking tomorrow off completely, I'll sleep in a bit till 5, get up, and go do a 3.5 miler. Nothing hard, but enough to keep the legs fresh for Saturday AM. That would put me at 18 plus the 5 on Saturday and I can end up with around 35ish after Sundays run. That is 6 less then the previous week. I'm just thinking that dropping back 11 miles in one week was a little too much, so 6 may be a better goal. That way, my ramp starts at 41 next week, and goes up from there.
So, it does look like I'll be blogging tomorrow!! Until then, train hard and LIVESTRONG!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
That Familiar Dead Leg Feeling
So today, as expected, my legs were out of any go go go.....Yesterdays workout was so good, that I was pretty much depleted. But, I still managed to get out of the door for my early morning run, although, the late start dictated that I cut it shorter then usual. Either way, I still managed to get in just over 30 mins of quality running in, and even though my legs didn't feel like they were moving properly, I still managed to end up with a 8:45 pace. Take the 'little' victories when you can, and I can use that term incredibly loosely.
My route planned was the original 5.5 mile loop that I run with Paul. And since his wife was re-scheduled to have their baby this morning, he wasn't going to be able to make it. Go figya! So, out the door I headed at 5:15ish and headed on the same route. I did manage to still see Dave and Todd out for their run as they both get ready for the California International marathon coming up this December. They are at that final stage where the LONG LONG LONG runs come in. I think they still have a couple more 22 milers in store for their legs, and I know they've been regularly doing 100+ mile weeks. That's actually where I would love to be someday. It's just going to take time and a nice slow progression to get there. My upcoming weeks are looking something like this starting with this week:
10/27: 31
11/3: 38 ( 3 back from the high point)
11/10: 45
11/17: 50
11/24: 40 ( 2 plus my start of the last period)
12/1: 45
12/8: 50
12/15: 55
12/22: 45 (Drop)
12/29: 50
1/5: 60
Taper
Marathon Day: 1/18
I think this scedule is VERY doable. In fact, I think that the mileage may be a little low in some cases, as my long runs are going to be getting up to the 22 mile point as well. Heck, I may even add in some two-a-days in there.
So, until after tomorrows workout of 1/2/3s, train hard and LIVESTRONG!!
My route planned was the original 5.5 mile loop that I run with Paul. And since his wife was re-scheduled to have their baby this morning, he wasn't going to be able to make it. Go figya! So, out the door I headed at 5:15ish and headed on the same route. I did manage to still see Dave and Todd out for their run as they both get ready for the California International marathon coming up this December. They are at that final stage where the LONG LONG LONG runs come in. I think they still have a couple more 22 milers in store for their legs, and I know they've been regularly doing 100+ mile weeks. That's actually where I would love to be someday. It's just going to take time and a nice slow progression to get there. My upcoming weeks are looking something like this starting with this week:
10/27: 31
11/3: 38 ( 3 back from the high point)
11/10: 45
11/17: 50
11/24: 40 ( 2 plus my start of the last period)
12/1: 45
12/8: 50
12/15: 55
12/22: 45 (Drop)
12/29: 50
1/5: 60
Taper
Marathon Day: 1/18
I think this scedule is VERY doable. In fact, I think that the mileage may be a little low in some cases, as my long runs are going to be getting up to the 22 mile point as well. Heck, I may even add in some two-a-days in there.
So, until after tomorrows workout of 1/2/3s, train hard and LIVESTRONG!!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Mile Repeats...
Today was an unscheduled group workout that involved some mile repeats. It's funny, every time we do mile repeats I can't help but think of the movie groundhog day....I have NO idea why, but I about 3/4 of the way through the first mile, I get that scene in my head when Bill Murray is driving the car with Phil and they're in the quarry...You know, the part where he tells him that he drives pretty good for a quadruped....and "Don't drive angry!". Then the next thing they show, is the truck going off the cliff and bursting into flames into a HUGENORMOUS fireball......and then BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP......His alarm goes off and it's ANOTHER groundhog day.....For me....The BEEP BEEP BEEP was us finishing the first set....
And what a great workout it was. 3x1mile and 4x400 back to the start. First off, I really need to check my watch. Because this is the second time in a row, where i thought I left with AMPLE time to get there, but they were starting the last group as I came up....It was Butch, Michele and I, but Mamma Michele was doing her own 30/30 workout. Butch and I ran the 1st mile together. That's kinda strange for me, because I'm used to being quite a bit behind him. Running with him is a new and exciting adventure. The first mile was at a nice 7:15. My legs felt GREAT! even better, we even caught up to the other groups that started in front of us. :) Set two, not as fast, but it is was the back of the first mile and slightly uphill. Came in a bit behind Butch at 7:30. I'm a little upset with myself on that one, because I allowed myself to lose focus somewheres areund the 3/4 mark. When I crossed the split I noticed the terrible quarter, got re-focused and then came back strong. That's definitely somethign I need to work on...FOCUS.
So the third set, I set that as my goal...FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS. And I kept it nice and even through each split and ran a 7:18. Very consistent with my first split, only 3 seconds slower. I'm very happy with that result. That led into the quarters. Those are a more up tempo pace, more like your 5K grind 'em out, with a much smller rest in between (45 seconds). And grind them out consistent I did: 1:44, 1:43, 1:43, and 1:43. BAM BAM BAM BAM! That put a huge victory stamp of approval on theworkout. To be able to run a consistent sub 7 pace was GREAT!
Whats even better is that I had several members of the group tell me that they had to do a double take to see who that "skinny" guy was running with Butch! YEAH BABY!!!! Just 12 short weeks ago, I was running with the group, not on a consistent basis, and I weighed in at a miserable 206 pounds. Today, I've been able to take over 25 pounds off that number. I credit that with a LOT of will power, and a major change in eating habits....And a nice bout of dedication to running and staying fit. Meeting my goal and breaking through 40 miles last week was a HUGE accomplishment. This week, may be considered a rest week, but it's not really a rest from running, it's just allowing for my body some extra recovery time while I change my focus from miles to speed. 3 of my 5 workouts are dedicated to SPEED. Todays, Thursday, and Saturday. Tomorrow I will get in a 6.5 miler and Sunday I'm planning on doing 9-10. On paper that's about 30-32 miles. We'll see how it shakes out. I'm feeling great and running strong, aand I have to hold back the urge to run long this week. It's ALL about performance. My progress report comes on Saturday with the 30 minute tempo run. That's where I get to see the real progress!
So, untill tomorrows post I'll reminisce a little bit about my trip to NYC last year. This weekend last year, I was getting ready to make the long trip to Manhattan. Talk about a great time....I had a blast....I'm really kinda bummed i'm not running it this year, but I will say...that was one expensive TRIP! Until tomorrow....LIVESTRONG and Train HARD!
And what a great workout it was. 3x1mile and 4x400 back to the start. First off, I really need to check my watch. Because this is the second time in a row, where i thought I left with AMPLE time to get there, but they were starting the last group as I came up....It was Butch, Michele and I, but Mamma Michele was doing her own 30/30 workout. Butch and I ran the 1st mile together. That's kinda strange for me, because I'm used to being quite a bit behind him. Running with him is a new and exciting adventure. The first mile was at a nice 7:15. My legs felt GREAT! even better, we even caught up to the other groups that started in front of us. :) Set two, not as fast, but it is was the back of the first mile and slightly uphill. Came in a bit behind Butch at 7:30. I'm a little upset with myself on that one, because I allowed myself to lose focus somewheres areund the 3/4 mark. When I crossed the split I noticed the terrible quarter, got re-focused and then came back strong. That's definitely somethign I need to work on...FOCUS.
So the third set, I set that as my goal...FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS. And I kept it nice and even through each split and ran a 7:18. Very consistent with my first split, only 3 seconds slower. I'm very happy with that result. That led into the quarters. Those are a more up tempo pace, more like your 5K grind 'em out, with a much smller rest in between (45 seconds). And grind them out consistent I did: 1:44, 1:43, 1:43, and 1:43. BAM BAM BAM BAM! That put a huge victory stamp of approval on theworkout. To be able to run a consistent sub 7 pace was GREAT!
Whats even better is that I had several members of the group tell me that they had to do a double take to see who that "skinny" guy was running with Butch! YEAH BABY!!!! Just 12 short weeks ago, I was running with the group, not on a consistent basis, and I weighed in at a miserable 206 pounds. Today, I've been able to take over 25 pounds off that number. I credit that with a LOT of will power, and a major change in eating habits....And a nice bout of dedication to running and staying fit. Meeting my goal and breaking through 40 miles last week was a HUGE accomplishment. This week, may be considered a rest week, but it's not really a rest from running, it's just allowing for my body some extra recovery time while I change my focus from miles to speed. 3 of my 5 workouts are dedicated to SPEED. Todays, Thursday, and Saturday. Tomorrow I will get in a 6.5 miler and Sunday I'm planning on doing 9-10. On paper that's about 30-32 miles. We'll see how it shakes out. I'm feeling great and running strong, aand I have to hold back the urge to run long this week. It's ALL about performance. My progress report comes on Saturday with the 30 minute tempo run. That's where I get to see the real progress!
So, untill tomorrows post I'll reminisce a little bit about my trip to NYC last year. This weekend last year, I was getting ready to make the long trip to Manhattan. Talk about a great time....I had a blast....I'm really kinda bummed i'm not running it this year, but I will say...that was one expensive TRIP! Until tomorrow....LIVESTRONG and Train HARD!
Monday, October 27, 2008
41!
And who said 40 was a barrier?!?!?!?!?! If anything it was all mental, because this week I CRUSHED through that wall with an explosion! Saturday I set out on a session that was a 1 mile warm up, 3 sets of 5mins 10K pace, 5 mins HM pace and finished with a nice easy 1 mile cool down jog. Before the run, I had setup "goal" paces in my Garmin 305, and hoped to keep up the pace. I set up 7:30-7:45 for the 10K pace, and 7:45-8:15 for the HM pace. Needless to day, I BLEW those right out of the water. That added into the annoyance factor of the Garmin. If your going to fast, it incessantly beeps at you to tell you to slow down.....But my body was having none of that. And I knew it was going to be a fast day. I did my warm up jog at an 8:30 pace. But I felt good, and I wanted to get a QUALITY speed work session in, because I knew my group was running hard in the Oracle 10K, and the thought of them getting one on me, made me push even harder, especially towards the end of the run when it became more difficult to push that final pace. But the key was, I DID IT! And I did it so much, that by the end of my 1 mile cool down run, I was at the turnaround point of what I like to call "extra" credit time on the morning run with Paul. Adding in that little extra credit session allowed me to have a nice half mile jog back home afterwords. And the nice thing, another 6.5 miles in the book. That took me to 29.5 by the end of Saturday!
So starting Sunday, I was ready to run. I woke up BEFORE my alarm clock for the first time in a very long time. I was really looking forward to the solitude of a Sunday outing. I am becoming addicted to my Sunday runs. Knowing that 40 was well in reach, I decided to modify my long run from last week a bit, and add in a little challenge of going to the TOP of Wade road, instead of turning 1/4 of the way, and heading through Continental Reserve. Going to the top meant heading up one of the toughest hills in the area. It's STEEP! It looks like a wall as you approach it, but I have run up it many times before, and to put it mildly, we know each other pretty well. Once I got to the top, I could see that stop sign which has always signified the downhill is here! But I decided to modify the route a bit more, and take the HARD way out. Instead of making the usual left had turn, I turned right, and took the roller coaster adventure. Straight down, the straight back up. So much so, that you can see the marks on the road where cars bottom out as they scrape the pavement. Once the rollers are over, it's a nice easy downhill that ends up at a usual point and I'm back in Continental Reserve. In all, it added an nice and challenging two miles to the journey. 2 miles where I easily maintained a 9:15 pace. I continued on and continued clipping off the miles: 6, 7, then 8! In my head I kept doing a little mental countdown. I get to 11, I've got 40 in the books! And so my mental focused turned to Pat Tillman. The great number 40 that played for the Arizona Cardinals, and left his lucrative NFL contract to go fight for his country in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was accidentally killed by friendly fire in an amazingly tragic accident of miscommunication. I kept saying to myself, what would Pat do! And from there, I kept increasing the pace.....9:00, 8:55, and then finally 8:40....And the miles kept clicking off at 9, 10, and finally I was on that home stretch towards 11. I made the right turn through the retirement community of Sunflower, and I was headed for home, and my legs just kept getting stronger and stronger. When finally my watch went off to signify the end of mile 11.
At this point I stopped and took a little break. I wasn't home, but I knew that I had completed something that I figured mentally would have broken me. But my mind stayed strong, and I only got stronger as I finished! I took the moment to enjoy the victory, polish off that last bit of water I had, and get back running and jog it back in, nice and easy, with a HUGE smile on my face. That was the best half mile I think I've ever run. I was pumped for the entire DAY. Even a Cardinals loss in Carolina couldn't take that grin off my face! I was so pumped up!
Needless to say, my legs earned their rest week. Today was a complete day of rest. No running. I got to sleep in until 6am, and give the motor the day off. I plan on cutting back the miles to about 30 this week. 2 FULL days off, today and Friday. But the workouts are going to target speed. Short, but fast! I'll get in at least 2 six and a half milers with Paul, a group workout....And then Saturday is a TIME TRIAL! It's that 30 minute tempo that I use to gauge my success. 3.9 miles is the distance to beat. I want to go out and absolutely CRUSH it!
Until tomorrow, LIVESTRONG and Train Hard!
So starting Sunday, I was ready to run. I woke up BEFORE my alarm clock for the first time in a very long time. I was really looking forward to the solitude of a Sunday outing. I am becoming addicted to my Sunday runs. Knowing that 40 was well in reach, I decided to modify my long run from last week a bit, and add in a little challenge of going to the TOP of Wade road, instead of turning 1/4 of the way, and heading through Continental Reserve. Going to the top meant heading up one of the toughest hills in the area. It's STEEP! It looks like a wall as you approach it, but I have run up it many times before, and to put it mildly, we know each other pretty well. Once I got to the top, I could see that stop sign which has always signified the downhill is here! But I decided to modify the route a bit more, and take the HARD way out. Instead of making the usual left had turn, I turned right, and took the roller coaster adventure. Straight down, the straight back up. So much so, that you can see the marks on the road where cars bottom out as they scrape the pavement. Once the rollers are over, it's a nice easy downhill that ends up at a usual point and I'm back in Continental Reserve. In all, it added an nice and challenging two miles to the journey. 2 miles where I easily maintained a 9:15 pace. I continued on and continued clipping off the miles: 6, 7, then 8! In my head I kept doing a little mental countdown. I get to 11, I've got 40 in the books! And so my mental focused turned to Pat Tillman. The great number 40 that played for the Arizona Cardinals, and left his lucrative NFL contract to go fight for his country in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was accidentally killed by friendly fire in an amazingly tragic accident of miscommunication. I kept saying to myself, what would Pat do! And from there, I kept increasing the pace.....9:00, 8:55, and then finally 8:40....And the miles kept clicking off at 9, 10, and finally I was on that home stretch towards 11. I made the right turn through the retirement community of Sunflower, and I was headed for home, and my legs just kept getting stronger and stronger. When finally my watch went off to signify the end of mile 11.
At this point I stopped and took a little break. I wasn't home, but I knew that I had completed something that I figured mentally would have broken me. But my mind stayed strong, and I only got stronger as I finished! I took the moment to enjoy the victory, polish off that last bit of water I had, and get back running and jog it back in, nice and easy, with a HUGE smile on my face. That was the best half mile I think I've ever run. I was pumped for the entire DAY. Even a Cardinals loss in Carolina couldn't take that grin off my face! I was so pumped up!
Needless to say, my legs earned their rest week. Today was a complete day of rest. No running. I got to sleep in until 6am, and give the motor the day off. I plan on cutting back the miles to about 30 this week. 2 FULL days off, today and Friday. But the workouts are going to target speed. Short, but fast! I'll get in at least 2 six and a half milers with Paul, a group workout....And then Saturday is a TIME TRIAL! It's that 30 minute tempo that I use to gauge my success. 3.9 miles is the distance to beat. I want to go out and absolutely CRUSH it!
Until tomorrow, LIVESTRONG and Train Hard!
Friday, October 24, 2008
The Ever Elusive Negative Split
So today's run was a little hard to get going on. My mind played that little you're tired change the alarm to sleep in trick. I battled back and forth between snooze hits to dig deep into the bowls of every bit of energy I had left in me to roll myself out of bed. Thankfully my morning buddy (my 13 year old Beagle Bailey) was there to provide a little NUDGE. We have a morning routine, that starts with my alarm clock. by the time the snooze has been hit a couple of times, he's awake enough to want his treat, and go outside. Finally, by 4:30 I was alert enough to get out of the bed, gather my running gear, and get the process rolling.
I started out today's run, very very slow....We're talking 10 minute mile range. My legs were feeling the effects of yesterdays 5:51 and 6:30 madness. There, turning over, but just not that ooomph that make you feel like a track star. Every night I use the Active Recovery feature of my Compex EMS, and that usually works out all the lactic acid but you still have those low energy days. The good thing was there was no soreness whatsoever. Anyways, I made it out the door and headed for the corner where I usually meet Paul....This morning, he wasn't there...I was wondering a couple of things...1) His wife went into Labor. 2) He felt like I did, but didn't conquer the morning deamons. :) Turns out neither happened, he just got a little bit of a later start on the warmup jog he does before hand. And so, we set off on our 5.7 mile trek through Continental Ranch. The further we got, the better my legs started feeling, and the faster Paul kept upping the tempo. He had a goal that he wanted to averge less then 8:59 for the whole run. The next thing I know, we had the pace cranked down to 8:30s....then 8:20s....In fact, our fastest mile was 5-6 (we did the extra credit) at 8:23! Did I mention there's a pretty nice hill on that segment.
So, even after all the morning arguments with myself, I STILL managed to get in a great workout, and EXCORSIZED those deamons yet again. So far on the workout Dockett, I've got 23 miles in the books. That's about 6 more then I had last week at this time, so I'm well ahead of schedule. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to limit myself to 5-7 miles. Last week I did almost 9, but I've got 3 straight in the books, and will have 5 by the end of Sunday. The great thing about this weekends runs is that the temperatures are cooperating so munch that not only can I get some extra sleep in, I can run at 8ish and not get blown away by the heat. That's going to be a HUGE PLUS.
Well, the tomorrows going to be onstep closer to 40, and my present to my legs for getting me there will be the drop back in mileage next week!!! HUA! Until then and probably a blog about the weekend, LIVESTRONG and train hard!
I started out today's run, very very slow....We're talking 10 minute mile range. My legs were feeling the effects of yesterdays 5:51 and 6:30 madness. There, turning over, but just not that ooomph that make you feel like a track star. Every night I use the Active Recovery feature of my Compex EMS, and that usually works out all the lactic acid but you still have those low energy days. The good thing was there was no soreness whatsoever. Anyways, I made it out the door and headed for the corner where I usually meet Paul....This morning, he wasn't there...I was wondering a couple of things...1) His wife went into Labor. 2) He felt like I did, but didn't conquer the morning deamons. :) Turns out neither happened, he just got a little bit of a later start on the warmup jog he does before hand. And so, we set off on our 5.7 mile trek through Continental Ranch. The further we got, the better my legs started feeling, and the faster Paul kept upping the tempo. He had a goal that he wanted to averge less then 8:59 for the whole run. The next thing I know, we had the pace cranked down to 8:30s....then 8:20s....In fact, our fastest mile was 5-6 (we did the extra credit) at 8:23! Did I mention there's a pretty nice hill on that segment.
So, even after all the morning arguments with myself, I STILL managed to get in a great workout, and EXCORSIZED those deamons yet again. So far on the workout Dockett, I've got 23 miles in the books. That's about 6 more then I had last week at this time, so I'm well ahead of schedule. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to limit myself to 5-7 miles. Last week I did almost 9, but I've got 3 straight in the books, and will have 5 by the end of Sunday. The great thing about this weekends runs is that the temperatures are cooperating so munch that not only can I get some extra sleep in, I can run at 8ish and not get blown away by the heat. That's going to be a HUGE PLUS.
Well, the tomorrows going to be onstep closer to 40, and my present to my legs for getting me there will be the drop back in mileage next week!!! HUA! Until then and probably a blog about the weekend, LIVESTRONG and train hard!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Yesterday a No-Go...Today a Go-Go!
So yesterday was called due to work getting in the way. It was a group session run, but my normal 6am telecon got trumped and was replaced with a 5.5 hour version that started at 5:30am. See that's the joy of outsourcing! I manage a team member who's in Bangalore India. Along with that comes a 12.5 hour time difference. So, to make it easier on each of us, we've adjusted our schedules accordingly. I actually don't mind the early meetings. It just mean my day ends sooner....Well.....accept for yesterday, but that's a different story. :) By the time we were done, it was almost midnight for him, so I figure, I had it easy. As I was still able to finish up with my last meeting by 4pm. What's a 10 hour day when you enjoy what your doing? It's all cream cheese.
So, seeing as yesterday got washed out, I was antsy to get out there this morning and really let my legs go. And did they ever! It was the normal meet Paul at 5am Wednesday. We are both really making great strides by running together. As I've said before, having a training partner with similar goals really does a body good. And, it turns out he took yesterday off too. his legs were tired, and he needed a day off. No need in getting injured. That's just bad joo joo. Anyways, we met up at the normal location and headed off on our 5.7 mile course. The first mile was pretty pedestrian as we worked our way into stride. But by the time mile 2 came around, I could tell we were clipping along at a nice pace. We were at that point where you could converse, but just needed to suck air every now and then. A little faster then conversational, but not sprinting by any means. As we ran, the mile alarm beeped, and I hit the lap to try and record mile splits.....About mile 4 I decided to see where we were, and BAM...just as I thought, we ran a 8:40....Then mile 5.....BAM...another 8:40.....consistency, consistency, consistency.....We came around by my house, and I was feeling GREAT....So I made the command decision that I wanted a little extra credit and added an extra mile onto my normal run. And whats funny, was Paul was going to "cut it short", but he too was feeling good, so he did the extra credit as well.
I'm really enjoying my running life right now. My goal of 38.5 miles this week is ABSOLUTELY attainable. I've got 12.2 in the books, and already have Thurs, Friday, and Saturday workouts planned. From there, I will see how many I need on Sunday, and just go out for a nice stroll through the neighborhood. This is when the schedule gets fun! I love the ramping up of the miles. I'm doing everything the body needs. Getting quality hours of sleep in, not running beyond my abilities, and I have a training partner that's a huge part of keeping my focus. This is a BIG week, and hitting my goal will be a HUGE accomplishment. Next week is the planned "rest" week. Basically it's a cut back to about 30 miles. Part of my philosophy is taking strides forward, but taking a step backwards to allow the body to recover. The thing that's crucial about next week. SPEED SPEED SPEED. Sure, I wont run as many miles. But they are going to be at a higher then normal tempo so that the engine room inside your body gets a boost!
So, for all those out there keeping track of this blog: TRAIN HARD, KEEP FOCUSED, and LIVESTRONG!
So, seeing as yesterday got washed out, I was antsy to get out there this morning and really let my legs go. And did they ever! It was the normal meet Paul at 5am Wednesday. We are both really making great strides by running together. As I've said before, having a training partner with similar goals really does a body good. And, it turns out he took yesterday off too. his legs were tired, and he needed a day off. No need in getting injured. That's just bad joo joo. Anyways, we met up at the normal location and headed off on our 5.7 mile course. The first mile was pretty pedestrian as we worked our way into stride. But by the time mile 2 came around, I could tell we were clipping along at a nice pace. We were at that point where you could converse, but just needed to suck air every now and then. A little faster then conversational, but not sprinting by any means. As we ran, the mile alarm beeped, and I hit the lap to try and record mile splits.....About mile 4 I decided to see where we were, and BAM...just as I thought, we ran a 8:40....Then mile 5.....BAM...another 8:40.....consistency, consistency, consistency.....We came around by my house, and I was feeling GREAT....So I made the command decision that I wanted a little extra credit and added an extra mile onto my normal run. And whats funny, was Paul was going to "cut it short", but he too was feeling good, so he did the extra credit as well.
I'm really enjoying my running life right now. My goal of 38.5 miles this week is ABSOLUTELY attainable. I've got 12.2 in the books, and already have Thurs, Friday, and Saturday workouts planned. From there, I will see how many I need on Sunday, and just go out for a nice stroll through the neighborhood. This is when the schedule gets fun! I love the ramping up of the miles. I'm doing everything the body needs. Getting quality hours of sleep in, not running beyond my abilities, and I have a training partner that's a huge part of keeping my focus. This is a BIG week, and hitting my goal will be a HUGE accomplishment. Next week is the planned "rest" week. Basically it's a cut back to about 30 miles. Part of my philosophy is taking strides forward, but taking a step backwards to allow the body to recover. The thing that's crucial about next week. SPEED SPEED SPEED. Sure, I wont run as many miles. But they are going to be at a higher then normal tempo so that the engine room inside your body gets a boost!
So, for all those out there keeping track of this blog: TRAIN HARD, KEEP FOCUSED, and LIVESTRONG!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Taking Victories, One Workout at a TIME!
I think that my time playing, watching and coaching football has really helped me clearly see that you cannot look ahead in order to meet your goals. In football terms, it's focusing on that BIG game 2 weeks from now, and not taking care of business the way you should with the teams your supposed to beat. I'm starting to apply that same philosophy to my speed workouts in the morning, and it has really had an impact on my performance, it a positive way.
Mamma Michele is the master creator of some of the most amazing workouts. Where she comes up with some of these workouts is beyond me. I swear....there has to be some torture book out there. Either that, or she's writing a psych book on getting grown adults to do insane things. I've compared us to Pavlov's dogs. We're out there doing the session....beep beep beep.....slow down.....beep beep beep......speed up.....and so on and so on. We're conditioned to the beep beep beep. And today there was a WHOLE lot of beeping going on.
On the schedule, 20x1 minute with decreasing rest periods (1 min, 45sec, 30sec, 15 sec). Those rotated as we went through the workout. What was funny, I had programmed my Garmin to do the workout. And, it gives you a heads up that the interval is about up....little 5 second beep warning....Threw everyone off thier routine a bit at the start.. hehehe....Like I said, we're conditioned to the beeps. you hear a beep, you either speed up or slow down.
But, those who weren't used to the Garmin got used to it...Or got used to Dave giving the verbal, 5 seconds left, warning. :) The last time I did this workout it was only 16 1 minute sets. This time, being 20, I wasn't totally turned off. I actually like the challenge of building up the number of sets. And after examining the data of Dr. Garmin, my body agreed. I had a great run! Almost all of my sets were in the 7:15 range, and I had several at 6:59. Yep.....Mark that, there's a 6 in that first digit! Hopefully that's a trend that you'll be seeing more of those as the blog goes on. That's the goal: Hammer the hard workouts, and cruise the tweeners all the while building up the miles and doing more with less. That's the important part. The repetition of running for a predetermined amount of time, but because your getting faster, you're mileage increases.
So today, I managed to get in exactly 4 miles during this workout! With the 1.75 miles of warm up and cool down, I got in 5.75 miles. I've set my goal this week at 35 miles. And after 2 days, I'm almost a third of the way there with just over 11 in the books. So now, with Today's in the book, I can officially look forward to tomorrows workout. It's a 5.7 mile meeting with Paul.
Until then, Train Hard and LIVESTRONG!
Mamma Michele is the master creator of some of the most amazing workouts. Where she comes up with some of these workouts is beyond me. I swear....there has to be some torture book out there. Either that, or she's writing a psych book on getting grown adults to do insane things. I've compared us to Pavlov's dogs. We're out there doing the session....beep beep beep.....slow down.....beep beep beep......speed up.....and so on and so on. We're conditioned to the beep beep beep. And today there was a WHOLE lot of beeping going on.
On the schedule, 20x1 minute with decreasing rest periods (1 min, 45sec, 30sec, 15 sec). Those rotated as we went through the workout. What was funny, I had programmed my Garmin to do the workout. And, it gives you a heads up that the interval is about up....little 5 second beep warning....Threw everyone off thier routine a bit at the start.. hehehe....Like I said, we're conditioned to the beeps. you hear a beep, you either speed up or slow down.
But, those who weren't used to the Garmin got used to it...Or got used to Dave giving the verbal, 5 seconds left, warning. :) The last time I did this workout it was only 16 1 minute sets. This time, being 20, I wasn't totally turned off. I actually like the challenge of building up the number of sets. And after examining the data of Dr. Garmin, my body agreed. I had a great run! Almost all of my sets were in the 7:15 range, and I had several at 6:59. Yep.....Mark that, there's a 6 in that first digit! Hopefully that's a trend that you'll be seeing more of those as the blog goes on. That's the goal: Hammer the hard workouts, and cruise the tweeners all the while building up the miles and doing more with less. That's the important part. The repetition of running for a predetermined amount of time, but because your getting faster, you're mileage increases.
So today, I managed to get in exactly 4 miles during this workout! With the 1.75 miles of warm up and cool down, I got in 5.75 miles. I've set my goal this week at 35 miles. And after 2 days, I'm almost a third of the way there with just over 11 in the books. So now, with Today's in the book, I can officially look forward to tomorrows workout. It's a 5.7 mile meeting with Paul.
Until then, Train Hard and LIVESTRONG!
Monday, October 13, 2008
WOW! What a Sunday.....
Talk about an EPIC performance! Sunday was definitely the day of all days. I had a HUGE day planned. Normally, on Sundays, I don't set my alarm for the 4am wake up call. Not in the NORM. But yesterday wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination. Let's break it down, blow by blow! Saturday ended up getting washed out by a garage sale. The early start of trying to capture those early buyers made me forgo the group workout, that just was moved to 6am for a little bit more light. And to be honest.....I'm glad I didn't go out. for my horrible allergies sake, it would have ended up as a disaster. The winds were howling as a front moved through, and at about 10am, it collided and brought about MUCH cooler weather. So yesterday when I stepped out the door, I encountered my first go at 43 degree running weather. I had a compression shirt, and a long sleeve running shirt, shorts and GLOVES. The wind had really calmed down quite a bit, but it was C-O-L-D and D-A-R-K at 5am. WHAOH! But, you got to git er done. And I started off on my 10 mile stroll through the neighborhood. I took my mormal route down to the running path, up to coyote trail elem, down silverbell to wade, up wade and around the reserve loop, and then finally the BIG loop. And because I had to git 'er done, I couldn't dilly dally around. When I got home, it was a little after 6:30ish....and I did the 10 miles in 1:30. Not bad at all for running my myself, and starting off really slow in the first mile (9:45). But as the sun started to rise and I managed to get on home, I was FREEEZING by the end. It was that cold....But I felt GREAT afterwares. But there was no rest for the weary. After an overly long hot shower....I re-warmed up and managed to wrangle up the kids and get them loaded up in the truck for a long day to Phoenix. WHY??? Because the Arizona Cardinals had a battle with the Dallas Cowboys. And boy, all this running has really helped out with my cheering from the front row seats. As a DIEHARD Cardinals fan, we had a tough job on our hands to drowned out the Cowboys fans that showed up. And my Ton Loc voice today is a great reminder of one of the BIGGEST victories this franchise has EVER seen. And for those who haven't seen it, this is what I saw from my seat in the South Endzone.
And that's how we won the game. For the first time in NFL History, a game in Overtime was won by a team with a blocked punt returned for a TD. How fitting. And the Cardz are 4-2 with a 2 game lead in the NFC West for the first time in team history.
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention todays BRRRRRRRRRRR of a run. It was again 43 degrees at the start, but today I was a little bit smarter. I did wear the long spandex to cover my whole legs, but I couldn't find my cold weather hat.....well...that was until AFTER I got home.....Peachy, just when I needed it. Anyways, I met with Paul, and we managed to do out 5.7 mile loop. I actually didn't think I would get the whole thing in. I was drained after yesterday, and my legs were tired. But we cranked out a 9 min mile pace and got it done. That's 15 miles in 2 days! My legs ROCK right now. Tonight, I've got a date with my Compex and a protien fruit smoothy! Can't wait!!! And tomorrows workout....20x1 minute! BOO YEAH!
Until tomorrow, my Ton Loc voice bids you farewell!!!!
Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention todays BRRRRRRRRRRR of a run. It was again 43 degrees at the start, but today I was a little bit smarter. I did wear the long spandex to cover my whole legs, but I couldn't find my cold weather hat.....well...that was until AFTER I got home.....Peachy, just when I needed it. Anyways, I met with Paul, and we managed to do out 5.7 mile loop. I actually didn't think I would get the whole thing in. I was drained after yesterday, and my legs were tired. But we cranked out a 9 min mile pace and got it done. That's 15 miles in 2 days! My legs ROCK right now. Tonight, I've got a date with my Compex and a protien fruit smoothy! Can't wait!!! And tomorrows workout....20x1 minute! BOO YEAH!
Until tomorrow, my Ton Loc voice bids you farewell!!!!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Sluggish, but complete!
The title says it all. Today, my legs were had that traditional dead feeling about them. In latin, it's called Elegusbetiredus. And that they were. Mostly from the above threshold workout from yesterday. Those 16x400m were a killer. And I knew they would be too. So I fully expected todays run, whihc was scheulded as the same as Mondays, to be slower. And that it was. And thank goodness for running partners. Otherwise I wouldn't have been there. Having that guilt hang over your head that you were at home sleeping while your training partner is out there getting stronger is not a good feeling. I'll get that one on him tomorrow, since he has to go into work early and can't make the group session. I'll be grindin out those 800m repeats! All eight of them. Seems crazy that we put our bodies through this motion. But there one thing I can honestly say is, I've never met a runner who hasn't been goal oriented. We're a strange breed. And now that my Coffee Shop nightmare is over, I suddenly have all this extra time that I can dedicate to the sport that I love, and stay trim and fit along the way! That's the greatest part. Getting out there and exercising an hour a day, it means you care about yoursself. That's probably the main reason that you can find yourself blend into a running group so well. It's like minded people that have similar goals and care about themselves.
That was actually one of the many topics we covered in our run today. Surprisingly, we weren't a whole lot slower then Monday. About 15 seconds per mile difference which equated to a little 2 mins overall. Not too shabby considering my legs didn't have the getup and go they had on Monday! And not too bad considering we beat our time from two weeks ago. I can always find the silver lining and make it into a positive. I guess that's my gift. I'm a glass half full kinda guy. There's always an oppertunity in somthing.
And with that, I'll end this post. It's time for a little post run relaxer of Green Tea and some breakfast. Throw in a side dish of my compex on my back, and my morning is SET. If only I could take a little nap.... HA! I wish!
Train Hard and LIVESTRONG!
That was actually one of the many topics we covered in our run today. Surprisingly, we weren't a whole lot slower then Monday. About 15 seconds per mile difference which equated to a little 2 mins overall. Not too shabby considering my legs didn't have the getup and go they had on Monday! And not too bad considering we beat our time from two weeks ago. I can always find the silver lining and make it into a positive. I guess that's my gift. I'm a glass half full kinda guy. There's always an oppertunity in somthing.
And with that, I'll end this post. It's time for a little post run relaxer of Green Tea and some breakfast. Throw in a side dish of my compex on my back, and my morning is SET. If only I could take a little nap.... HA! I wish!
Train Hard and LIVESTRONG!
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