With today's run of 4.25 miles officially in the books, I can say that things are still on schedule to hit the 45 mile target goal. Hitting this goal will be another huge milestone, that's mostly mental. Mentally, it's hard to comprehend running 45 miles in 6 days of running. It's even harder to imagine that it's something that I've been able to get to in such a short time. When I look back at my training logs that go back to July and August, I really wasn't running a lot of miles. Maybe 15-20 per week. There definitely wasn't much quantity there, but there was quality. I was hitting most of the group workouts, which are for the most part speed sessions. Mentally I wasn't ready to accept long days, and basically would consider a long run 6 miles. Oh what a couple of months can do for your psyche. Now, when I look at my runs, if I'm doing 4 miles, it seems like a day off, and six miles is the norm. In fact, this week, I've taken my 6.5 miles to 7 and those are the strolls through the neighborhood. Weird. I actually enjoy going our for those long runs on Sunday.
So on todays schedule was a group speed session, with the workout being nothing out of the norm. It was 12x400m with a 45 second rest in between. Today's group was actually smaller then usual. Some of the regular faces weren't there, which was weird. Since I didn't go on Tuesday I don't know how people were feeling after Sundays workout. Perhaps there are some tired peepz in the group. I know that I'm tired, but my legs still had a little get up and go in them. I definitely didn't break any land speed records, but I wasn't a slacker either.....Well...except for that first set. I think that one was like 1:48.....We all seemed to be dogging a bit there. But we picked them up from there, and I would say the large majority were all around the 1:41-1:42 range. That's a nice 6:45ish pace per mile, and definiitly faster then what I was running several weeks ago. So, I can definitely say that progress is still being made. The nice thing is, I wasn't destroyed either. I still had some energy left in the tank. To me, that's pretty important. Sure, I probably could have run just a bit harder, but at what expense. To totally kill tomorrws run......Or even the time trial on Saturday. No way. You have to put the whole week in perspective. If you want to achieve your goals, and get theappropriate feedback, you sometimes have to just run consistent. I think that if I would have gone out harder, I probably would have blown up on the last two, and not run them in the fashion that I did. After that first set, once we settled into the pace, everythign was nice and even. So needless to say, I'm really looking forward to Saturday, so that I can see how far I've come. NO WAY NO HOW I'm missing that one!
But, there's still one more day to go before we get there, and I need to get those 5 miles in the books. Until then, train hard and LIVESTRONG!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Monday Night Footbal!!
This week got of to an absolutely crazy start. I totally knew it would, but I didn't want to think I would get caught up in all the excitement of Monday Night Football in Phoenix. Who was I kidding. My first mistake, was not resetting my alarm on Sunday night before. So, when the alarm went off at 5:30, I realized rather quickly that I screwed up and missed the scheduled run with Paul. What was I thinking.....Probably wasn't thinking clearly on Sunday night. That run Sunday AM really took a lot out of me. I went to bed feeling as though I had run a race. Basically, I did. In the on times, I was only 1.1 miles from doing a Half Marathon. So, that threw a MAJOR wrinkle in the training plan because I knew that I wasn't going to be able to make the group workout Tuesday AM. But it made it imperative that I get a run in. More on that to come later.....I need to talk Monday Night Football!!!! If you've read my profile, you know I'm a huge football nut. I'm that fan guy who dresses up, in my case to look like Kid Rock. Well, this was MY night to get crazy in front of the World. Monday Night Football is a HUGE stage. And the team set up everything amazingly! They had American Idol champ, Jordan Sparks singing the national Anthem.
That's her hamming it up for me during the pregame. And then you have the Hank William Jr intro song, 'Are You ready for Some Football'. And to my absolute amazement, I MADE THE CUT! At the very end, there was a clip of me that was taken during the Buffalo game, and even best, it was right at the very end of the song. That's been a dream of mine since god only knows how long to be part of that game intro! That's just plain HUGE to me! My crazy antics with HANK WILLIAM JR! I love it! The only thing better would have been to tape it with him, but I'll take this as one small victory for the KidStallyn! Next I was in the live broadcast on two separate occasions. Once giving the first down signal after a key 3rd down catch in the first quarter, and again around the two minute warning where we were on defense, and I was working my hardest to get the crowd rowdy and was pounding on the stadium padding. And to top it all off, the Cardinals avoided another Monday Night Meltdown and somehow managed to keep San Francisco out of the endzone as time expired with the Niners down by 5 points and having the ball on the 1 yard line. Talk about an exciting end, but man, I was hoping for a blowout!
So, by the time my boys and I got home, it was 12:30. No way I was going to make the run in the AM, but I knew that. But since my kids didn't have school, and my wife also got the day off from teaching, I decided to stay and work from home on Veterans day. I actually managed to get a TON accomplished. And finished up my work around 3:30 pm. From there I went out for a nice run. I was feeling pretty good, so midway I decided mentally I would extend my 6.5 mile run to make it 7 miles. I've got 45 miles scheduled as my goal this week, and since I fubarr'd Monday, I needed to do a little extra credit. And it was a very nice 7 miles...I threw on my music and just went by feel. Sure it wasn't a speed work session, but I wanted quality miles instead. And quality they were. I managed to run each mile split at around an 8:15 pace. At the end, I came in at 57 minutes. HUGE for me. It just shows how far I've come in such a short time. And I absolutely LOVE IT!
Today, I also wanted to run the same course, this time it was at 5am with Paul. Paul enjoyed the extra credit as well. His running was scaled back a bit in the past two weeks since the new baby's arrived, but he's getting back into his normal schedule. And since the turnaround time was really like 14 hours instead of 24, I decided I didn't want to run real aggressive. But, I also didn't want to slack it. So the middle ground was that we ran it and finished right at 1 hour. Absolutely perfect in my opinion. I haven't gotten a chance to look at the splits, I was in a hurry this am to get into work since I had to participate in a 7am teleconference that's taking place in Europe.
With that....I need to figure out how to dial internationally so that I can be a part of this meeting rather then watching them type.
That's her hamming it up for me during the pregame. And then you have the Hank William Jr intro song, 'Are You ready for Some Football'. And to my absolute amazement, I MADE THE CUT! At the very end, there was a clip of me that was taken during the Buffalo game, and even best, it was right at the very end of the song. That's been a dream of mine since god only knows how long to be part of that game intro! That's just plain HUGE to me! My crazy antics with HANK WILLIAM JR! I love it! The only thing better would have been to tape it with him, but I'll take this as one small victory for the KidStallyn! Next I was in the live broadcast on two separate occasions. Once giving the first down signal after a key 3rd down catch in the first quarter, and again around the two minute warning where we were on defense, and I was working my hardest to get the crowd rowdy and was pounding on the stadium padding. And to top it all off, the Cardinals avoided another Monday Night Meltdown and somehow managed to keep San Francisco out of the endzone as time expired with the Niners down by 5 points and having the ball on the 1 yard line. Talk about an exciting end, but man, I was hoping for a blowout!So, by the time my boys and I got home, it was 12:30. No way I was going to make the run in the AM, but I knew that. But since my kids didn't have school, and my wife also got the day off from teaching, I decided to stay and work from home on Veterans day. I actually managed to get a TON accomplished. And finished up my work around 3:30 pm. From there I went out for a nice run. I was feeling pretty good, so midway I decided mentally I would extend my 6.5 mile run to make it 7 miles. I've got 45 miles scheduled as my goal this week, and since I fubarr'd Monday, I needed to do a little extra credit. And it was a very nice 7 miles...I threw on my music and just went by feel. Sure it wasn't a speed work session, but I wanted quality miles instead. And quality they were. I managed to run each mile split at around an 8:15 pace. At the end, I came in at 57 minutes. HUGE for me. It just shows how far I've come in such a short time. And I absolutely LOVE IT!
Today, I also wanted to run the same course, this time it was at 5am with Paul. Paul enjoyed the extra credit as well. His running was scaled back a bit in the past two weeks since the new baby's arrived, but he's getting back into his normal schedule. And since the turnaround time was really like 14 hours instead of 24, I decided I didn't want to run real aggressive. But, I also didn't want to slack it. So the middle ground was that we ran it and finished right at 1 hour. Absolutely perfect in my opinion. I haven't gotten a chance to look at the splits, I was in a hurry this am to get into work since I had to participate in a 7am teleconference that's taking place in Europe.
With that....I need to figure out how to dial internationally so that I can be a part of this meeting rather then watching them type.
Monday, November 10, 2008
A weekend of Major Accomplishments
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!
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!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
2 Days One Blog....
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!!!
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!!!
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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