I made myself get up this morning. I've had to wage a war with gravity every morning this week just to get out of bed. I won this morning. I'm finding that work is really getting in the way of stuff I'd rather be doing lately. I really enjoy my runs, but I hate having to get up at 5:30AM to do them. Why couldn't I have been born independently wealthy?
So, it was cool and cloudy again this morning. Perfect for running but the clouds are starting to wear me down. I'm looking forward to some sun this weekend. I was scheduled to do intervals again this morning. I dragged myself out of bed by telling myself that I would just go for a nice easy 4 mile run and then I did intervals anyway. Yes, I can use the ol' bait and switch on myself. My subconscious is pretty gullible.
I started out with a nice easy warm up mile at 10:09/mile, then started my intervals. I did 10 sets just like last week. Two minutes of concentrating on not dying and one minute of marvelling in the fact that I'm still alive.... ten times. I did most of my not dying portions faster than last week. I just didn't feel like I had pushed myself hard enough after last weeks intervals, so I picked it up a bit. I don't think the intervals in the program I'm working are fast enough. If I'm working on speed, I want to really work on speed. What's the sense in holding back? Of course, that meant the rest portions were slower, with a couple of them dropping below 12:00/mile. But they don't call it rest for nothin'.
My third fast segment was my slowest at 8:33/mile. In addition, I had three in the 8:20 range, three faster than 8:00, and two right around 8:00/mile. Of the three that were faster than 8:00/mile I saved my fastest for lastest at 7:23/mile. I felt like I was going pretty fast, and I guess I was, for me. I still had half a mile to get back to the car, so I put myself in steady pace mode and averaged about 9:40/mile over that half mile.
Today's Stats: I did 4.77 miles in 44:01 for an average pace of 9:14/mile. With the exception of my most recent 5K, that's my fastest average pace over the course of a full workout. So far, I'm pleased with this 5K speed improvement routine. I probably won't really know until my next 5K how I'm doing, but I feel like after just two weeks I've already seen some improvement.
Next up: I'm supposed to swim tomorrow. We'll see if I can make myself get up for that in the morning. Saturday or Sunday will be a long run. I'm looking forward to that. I really enjoyed putting myself on cruise control and just going last week. This week I'll try to remember to take something to drink and eat along the way.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tempo Run: 03/29/2011
I did my tempo run this morning. As noted last week, it's 35 minutes of 5K time minus 45-60 seconds per mile. I have trouble making myself go that slow so I was more in the range of 5K time minus 25 seconds.
The weather was perfect this morning. It was cool, but not too cool. The ducks, geese, and other feathered creatures were quite active.
I set my Garmin for what I thought was 35 minutes and took off running. I didn't find out until later that I had set it for distance rather than time. It worked out about the same either way. The first mile was rather tedious, as has become the norm. I seemed to spend most of it trying to get comfortable. My heart rate at the beginning of my run seems to always be at its highest and I have trouble getting my breathing into a comfortable rhythm. I think part of that may be because I've been starting out on an incline. Once I get settled in everything comes pretty easily, and it did this morning. It was a harder run than Sunday's long run. I was running faster and pushing myself harder, but I was generally comfortable and never felt out of breath or like I needed to stop and walk. It's been a long time since I've felt the need to stop and walk. The miles just come and go now, without any drama. It's a good feeling to just go out and run.
So, I had set the watch for distance rather than time so I ended up only running 33:45 rather than 35 minutes. No big deal, as my plan calls for between 30 and 35 minutes.
Today's stats: I did 3.53 miles in 33:45 for an average pace of 9:33/mile. That's a little faster than I had targeted, but that's just the way I am. I'd always rather push a little harder than not push hard enough.
Next up: A swim in the morning if I can make myself get out of bed and then intervals on Thursday.
The weather was perfect this morning. It was cool, but not too cool. The ducks, geese, and other feathered creatures were quite active.
I set my Garmin for what I thought was 35 minutes and took off running. I didn't find out until later that I had set it for distance rather than time. It worked out about the same either way. The first mile was rather tedious, as has become the norm. I seemed to spend most of it trying to get comfortable. My heart rate at the beginning of my run seems to always be at its highest and I have trouble getting my breathing into a comfortable rhythm. I think part of that may be because I've been starting out on an incline. Once I get settled in everything comes pretty easily, and it did this morning. It was a harder run than Sunday's long run. I was running faster and pushing myself harder, but I was generally comfortable and never felt out of breath or like I needed to stop and walk. It's been a long time since I've felt the need to stop and walk. The miles just come and go now, without any drama. It's a good feeling to just go out and run.
So, I had set the watch for distance rather than time so I ended up only running 33:45 rather than 35 minutes. No big deal, as my plan calls for between 30 and 35 minutes.
Today's stats: I did 3.53 miles in 33:45 for an average pace of 9:33/mile. That's a little faster than I had targeted, but that's just the way I am. I'd always rather push a little harder than not push hard enough.
Next up: A swim in the morning if I can make myself get out of bed and then intervals on Thursday.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Long Run: 3/27/2011
And when I say long run, I mean my longest ever.... by a large margin. I did 7.2 miles Sunday morning. I just took it slow and easy. I had set out to do a minimum of one hour. The plan I'm following calls for a long run of 3 times my total 5K time. I did my last 5K in 28:21 so 3 times that would be an hour and twenty five minutes. That seemed a little excessive, thus the one hour goal. I started out just like always after a good warm up walk up the hill in the ball park next door. My heart rate immediately skyrocketed after staying at a pretty high rate throughout my warm up. I'm not sure what that was all about, or if it was even accurate. My garmin battery was pretty low and it's possible that played into the high reading. It settled down as I jogged down the long downhill stretch. I started to feel a little more comfortable, and tried to settle into a nice steady pace that I felt like I could maintain for an hour or more.
I tried to hold at around 11:00/mile and was generally right on target averaging around 10:50/mile with a couple of outliers at mile 1 at a pace of 10:32 and mile 6 at a pace of 11:08. Most of mile 1 is down hill, thus the faster time. I'm not sure why mile 6 was so slow. I wasn't feeling particularly fatigued at that point. Unfortunately at 6.2 miles the battery in my Garmin died so I don't have stats for the last mile or so. I felt like I generally stayed on pace until I finished up and could have kept going for a pretty long time at that pace.
Stats: I did an estimated 7.2 miles in an estimated 01:18:00 for an estimated average pace of 10:50/mile.
Next up: I'll do my tempo run tomorrow. That will be 35 minutes at approximately 10:00/mile. I averaged 9:37 last week, which is faster than the plan called for, but as long as I'm not slower than the plan, I feel okay about it.
I wimped out on my swim this morning. It's just really hard to get up on Monday's after being able to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday.
I tried to hold at around 11:00/mile and was generally right on target averaging around 10:50/mile with a couple of outliers at mile 1 at a pace of 10:32 and mile 6 at a pace of 11:08. Most of mile 1 is down hill, thus the faster time. I'm not sure why mile 6 was so slow. I wasn't feeling particularly fatigued at that point. Unfortunately at 6.2 miles the battery in my Garmin died so I don't have stats for the last mile or so. I felt like I generally stayed on pace until I finished up and could have kept going for a pretty long time at that pace.
Stats: I did an estimated 7.2 miles in an estimated 01:18:00 for an estimated average pace of 10:50/mile.
Next up: I'll do my tempo run tomorrow. That will be 35 minutes at approximately 10:00/mile. I averaged 9:37 last week, which is faster than the plan called for, but as long as I'm not slower than the plan, I feel okay about it.
I wimped out on my swim this morning. It's just really hard to get up on Monday's after being able to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Swimming: 03/25/2011
I didn't really want to get out of bed this morning,. I didn't want to get in the pool. I found myself hoping that the pool would be closed for some strange reason and I would have a good excuse to skip my workout this morning. I forced myself out of bed and into my stretching routine and then out the door and into the cold. I scraped the ice off my windows for hopefully the last time this year and drove down the mountain to the fitness center. I arrived and found the doors unlocked and the pool open. Darn!
So, with no excuse to skip, I dragged my body into the pool, warmed up, stretched a little, and started swimming. As usual, the first 100 yards were torture. Well, the first 50 were easy, the next 50 were hard, and I didn't think I was going to be able to make myself turn at the wall and keep going after the first 100, but I did and I settled into a rhythm from there. I was scheduled to do 1X600, 1X300, 4X100, and 4X50 so I just took it 25 yards at a time. After I made it over the 100 yard hurdle I was able to keep going by telling myself I would just concentrate on making it to 200, once I had done 200, I knew I could do 400 and from there it was just 200 more until I had finished the first set of 600. The cool thing is, at the end of 600, I felt like I could have kept going for awhile. After the 600, I knocked out a 300 yard set, then the 4X100s and the 4X50s. It was a great workout, and I'm glad I forced myself out of bed this morning.
I started focusing a little more on swimming efficiency this morning. I learned that if I drop my head, actually tilting my chin slight towards my feet as if I were looking slightly down (if I were standing up) and tilting my pelvis up towards the sky I can reduce my strokes per 25 yard length of pool by about two to somewhere between 18 and 19. Right now I'm averaging just over 2:30 per 100 yards. That's pretty slow, but I'm not too concerned about it. I figure once I get my endurance up to where I want it to be I'll start working a little harder on speed and efficiency. I'm fine with being one of the last ones out of the water in my first tri, as long as I finish.
Next up: I'm going to concentrate on getting some good sleep this weekend. I'm scheduled for a long run tomorrow if the weather allows it. If it's pouring and/or storming, I may have to get to the fitness center and spend some really dull time on the treadmill. 90 minutes is on the schedule but I'm not sure I'm actually going to go that long. I want to do at least an hour. Monday I will swim a repeat of today's workout.
So, with no excuse to skip, I dragged my body into the pool, warmed up, stretched a little, and started swimming. As usual, the first 100 yards were torture. Well, the first 50 were easy, the next 50 were hard, and I didn't think I was going to be able to make myself turn at the wall and keep going after the first 100, but I did and I settled into a rhythm from there. I was scheduled to do 1X600, 1X300, 4X100, and 4X50 so I just took it 25 yards at a time. After I made it over the 100 yard hurdle I was able to keep going by telling myself I would just concentrate on making it to 200, once I had done 200, I knew I could do 400 and from there it was just 200 more until I had finished the first set of 600. The cool thing is, at the end of 600, I felt like I could have kept going for awhile. After the 600, I knocked out a 300 yard set, then the 4X100s and the 4X50s. It was a great workout, and I'm glad I forced myself out of bed this morning.
I started focusing a little more on swimming efficiency this morning. I learned that if I drop my head, actually tilting my chin slight towards my feet as if I were looking slightly down (if I were standing up) and tilting my pelvis up towards the sky I can reduce my strokes per 25 yard length of pool by about two to somewhere between 18 and 19. Right now I'm averaging just over 2:30 per 100 yards. That's pretty slow, but I'm not too concerned about it. I figure once I get my endurance up to where I want it to be I'll start working a little harder on speed and efficiency. I'm fine with being one of the last ones out of the water in my first tri, as long as I finish.
Next up: I'm going to concentrate on getting some good sleep this weekend. I'm scheduled for a long run tomorrow if the weather allows it. If it's pouring and/or storming, I may have to get to the fitness center and spend some really dull time on the treadmill. 90 minutes is on the schedule but I'm not sure I'm actually going to go that long. I want to do at least an hour. Monday I will swim a repeat of today's workout.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Running Intervals: 3/24/11
It's been about 3 weeks since I last did any interval training. Looking back, I believe it was March 2. I'm following a slightly different plan now. Back then I was running really fast for short stretches and resting for longer periods. Today I did 2 minutes fast followed by 1 minute of slow jog.
It was a little cooler this morning that it has been so I threw on a long sleeve shirt before heading out. There wasn't much wind so the lake was glassy smooth. I started out with a 5 minute walk, then a 1 mile warm up at a fairly slow jog. After hitting the lap button to start the intervals I had programmed into my Garmin, I picked up the pace, attempting to average around 8:30/mile. I nailed the first one with a pace of 8:31/mile. Of course, it wasn't a steady 8:31/mile. At one point I was somewhere in the 7s and then somewhere in the 9s. Still, I was pleased with the decent pacing. After that my pace was all over the map. 8:31 ended up being the slowest interval I ran, though. My fastest was the last on at 7:43. That's pretty amazing to me, because by this time I was beat. In general, my last 5 were faster than the first 5. It's good that it's become second nature to pick up the pace in the second half of my runs. I also noticed a trend toward running faster during the slower rest portions as the workout progressed. It's funny because I really felt like I was much slower. In reality, my last rest was more than a minute per mile faster than my first. Once that was over I was still about a half mile from the car so I jogged back at just under 10:00/mile.
Overall, the run wasn't nearly as hard as I had anticipated. Not that it was easy. I definitely pushed myself, but I feel like I could have pushed myself quite a bit harder. Either way, I'm sticking to this plan for the next 4 weeks or so until my next 5K, theoretically on 4/30. I'm certain it will improve my time, but I'm not sure by how much. I'm hoping for a sub 27 minute time which means I'll have to run an average pace of 8:43/mile.
Today's Stats: I did a total of 4.74 miles in 44:48 for an average pace of 9:27. Considering all of the slow jogging that was thrown in there, I was really surprised at that pace. It was one of my fastest training sessions, edged out by only a couple of shorter runs.
Next up: Another swim tomorrow morning and a long run on Saturday if I can fit one in between storms. According to the plan, I'm supposed to run for approximately 3 times what it took to finish my last 5K. That's 1.5 hours. I'm not supposed to worry about pace, other than keeping it steady and continuous. If I want to do a full 90 minutes, I'm going to have to definitely try to keep my pace slow and easy. I might venture elsewhere for this run. I would have to run the length of the park about 3 times to go for 90 minutes and I think that might get extremely boring. I might just head out the front door and see where that takes me.
Bonus: I passed my 2010 mileage today! I'm on pace for over 500 miles this year. If I decide to up my mileage to train for a half marathon in October, I could possibly double that.
It was a little cooler this morning that it has been so I threw on a long sleeve shirt before heading out. There wasn't much wind so the lake was glassy smooth. I started out with a 5 minute walk, then a 1 mile warm up at a fairly slow jog. After hitting the lap button to start the intervals I had programmed into my Garmin, I picked up the pace, attempting to average around 8:30/mile. I nailed the first one with a pace of 8:31/mile. Of course, it wasn't a steady 8:31/mile. At one point I was somewhere in the 7s and then somewhere in the 9s. Still, I was pleased with the decent pacing. After that my pace was all over the map. 8:31 ended up being the slowest interval I ran, though. My fastest was the last on at 7:43. That's pretty amazing to me, because by this time I was beat. In general, my last 5 were faster than the first 5. It's good that it's become second nature to pick up the pace in the second half of my runs. I also noticed a trend toward running faster during the slower rest portions as the workout progressed. It's funny because I really felt like I was much slower. In reality, my last rest was more than a minute per mile faster than my first. Once that was over I was still about a half mile from the car so I jogged back at just under 10:00/mile.
Overall, the run wasn't nearly as hard as I had anticipated. Not that it was easy. I definitely pushed myself, but I feel like I could have pushed myself quite a bit harder. Either way, I'm sticking to this plan for the next 4 weeks or so until my next 5K, theoretically on 4/30. I'm certain it will improve my time, but I'm not sure by how much. I'm hoping for a sub 27 minute time which means I'll have to run an average pace of 8:43/mile.
Today's Stats: I did a total of 4.74 miles in 44:48 for an average pace of 9:27. Considering all of the slow jogging that was thrown in there, I was really surprised at that pace. It was one of my fastest training sessions, edged out by only a couple of shorter runs.
Next up: Another swim tomorrow morning and a long run on Saturday if I can fit one in between storms. According to the plan, I'm supposed to run for approximately 3 times what it took to finish my last 5K. That's 1.5 hours. I'm not supposed to worry about pace, other than keeping it steady and continuous. If I want to do a full 90 minutes, I'm going to have to definitely try to keep my pace slow and easy. I might venture elsewhere for this run. I would have to run the length of the park about 3 times to go for 90 minutes and I think that might get extremely boring. I might just head out the front door and see where that takes me.
Bonus: I passed my 2010 mileage today! I'm on pace for over 500 miles this year. If I decide to up my mileage to train for a half marathon in October, I could possibly double that.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Swimming: 03/23/2011
I did the standard week three workout this morning without issue. I wasn't overly worn out at the end of the workout and I'm sure I'm ready to move on to week 4. The week 4 workout is moving well beyond what I'll need to do for a sprint distance triathlon. My swims lately have been fairly easy. I don't feel anywhere near as tired after a swim as I do after a run. Of course, I'm really slow and am generally working on pacing myself so I can make it through a full workout without passing out and/or drowning. I'm definitely a stronger swimmer than I was just a few weeks ago. My lung capacity has definitely improved.
I was reading an article recently about swimming that said to become a better swimmer one needs to forget everything he knows about becoming a better runner when he enters the pool. And it seems to be true. I can't push myself to go faster in the pool. It's not that I'm physically incapable, it just doesn't happen. I can try to stroke faster, but all I end up doing is taking more strokes per length of pool. The key is form. In the article it compares an elite swimmer to a beginner triathlete by comparing strokes per length of a 25 yard pool. An elite swimmer is doing 25 yards in 7 or 8 strokes, while a beginner may get between 20 and 25 strokes. I counted this morning and I was doing 25 yards with between 18 and 21 strokes.
Now that I can do the distance that will be required for a sprint distance tri, I need to start working routine improvement into my workouts. That's the one thing that can make the biggest difference I'm my swimming.
Next up: I'm running tomorrow and then moving on to week four of the 0 to 1650 swim routine on Friday.
I was reading an article recently about swimming that said to become a better swimmer one needs to forget everything he knows about becoming a better runner when he enters the pool. And it seems to be true. I can't push myself to go faster in the pool. It's not that I'm physically incapable, it just doesn't happen. I can try to stroke faster, but all I end up doing is taking more strokes per length of pool. The key is form. In the article it compares an elite swimmer to a beginner triathlete by comparing strokes per length of a 25 yard pool. An elite swimmer is doing 25 yards in 7 or 8 strokes, while a beginner may get between 20 and 25 strokes. I counted this morning and I was doing 25 yards with between 18 and 21 strokes.
Now that I can do the distance that will be required for a sprint distance tri, I need to start working routine improvement into my workouts. That's the one thing that can make the biggest difference I'm my swimming.
Next up: I'm running tomorrow and then moving on to week four of the 0 to 1650 swim routine on Friday.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday Swim, Tuesday Run: 03/21 & 03/22/2011
After wimping out yesterday morning I decided to swim after work. I was pretty tired so I made it an easy swim. I did a few 50s, a couple 100s, all sandwiched around a 200 and left it at that. I lost count of how many total yards I did, but I'm guessing it was around 1,000. The water was cooler than it has been, which was very nice because the air inside the bubble was like a tropical rain forest. Not my best swim, but not too bad.
This morning I did a tempo run which theoretically should increase my lactic acid threshold. My goal was to run between 45-60 seconds slower than my most recent 5K pace. Since I averaged 9:09/mile in my last 5K I was shooting for between 9:54 and 10:09 per mile. That wasn't easy. Not because it was fast, but because I found it hard to hold in that range. I could easily maintain a faster pace or a slower pace, but for whatever reason that 15 second range had me flummoxed. My Garmin pace chart looks like a seismograph reading. I was much more comfortable running at around a 9:30 pace and my average pace per mile over the course of the run agrees with that. My first mile was done in 9:41 and I had to fight to keep it that slow. The second my was 9:51, though some of it was at a sub 9:00 pace and some of it was 10:30 or slower. I just decided to do what was comfortable for the last 1.5 after fighting my own internal pacing for two miles. The 3rd mile was done in 9:35 and I averaged 9:09/mile for the final .64.
Today's Stats: I did 3.64 miles in 35 minutes for an average pace of 9:37/mile. My average heart rate was 154.
Next Up: I'm planning a swim tomorrow, hopefully back to a normal routine. Thursday will be the run that kicks my butt. I'll be doing the following routine:
1 mile easy warm up - I'm aiming for 11:00/mile or so and then 10 X 400 yards at 5K pace minus 30 seconds followed by a rest period of half the time it took to complete the 400 yards. 400 yards is just slightly less than 1/4 mile. I'll probably modify the plan to do 10 X 1/4 mile at 5K pace - 30 seconds. That will be about 8:40/mile, or 1/4 of a mile will be completed in 2:10 and then I'll rest for 1:05...and then repeat 9 more times. All of that will be followed by an easy mile to cool down. That will end up being a total of somewhere around 5 miles. I may cut out the last mile cool down depending on how I feel after the intervals.
This morning I did a tempo run which theoretically should increase my lactic acid threshold. My goal was to run between 45-60 seconds slower than my most recent 5K pace. Since I averaged 9:09/mile in my last 5K I was shooting for between 9:54 and 10:09 per mile. That wasn't easy. Not because it was fast, but because I found it hard to hold in that range. I could easily maintain a faster pace or a slower pace, but for whatever reason that 15 second range had me flummoxed. My Garmin pace chart looks like a seismograph reading. I was much more comfortable running at around a 9:30 pace and my average pace per mile over the course of the run agrees with that. My first mile was done in 9:41 and I had to fight to keep it that slow. The second my was 9:51, though some of it was at a sub 9:00 pace and some of it was 10:30 or slower. I just decided to do what was comfortable for the last 1.5 after fighting my own internal pacing for two miles. The 3rd mile was done in 9:35 and I averaged 9:09/mile for the final .64.
Today's Stats: I did 3.64 miles in 35 minutes for an average pace of 9:37/mile. My average heart rate was 154.
Next Up: I'm planning a swim tomorrow, hopefully back to a normal routine. Thursday will be the run that kicks my butt. I'll be doing the following routine:
1 mile easy warm up - I'm aiming for 11:00/mile or so and then 10 X 400 yards at 5K pace minus 30 seconds followed by a rest period of half the time it took to complete the 400 yards. 400 yards is just slightly less than 1/4 mile. I'll probably modify the plan to do 10 X 1/4 mile at 5K pace - 30 seconds. That will be about 8:40/mile, or 1/4 of a mile will be completed in 2:10 and then I'll rest for 1:05...and then repeat 9 more times. All of that will be followed by an easy mile to cool down. That will end up being a total of somewhere around 5 miles. I may cut out the last mile cool down depending on how I feel after the intervals.
Monday, March 21, 2011
A Run in the Mountains: 3/19/2011
There's nothing I enjoy much more than just being in or near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Something about the place calms my spirit and I leave a little piece of me every time I watch the mountains fade in my rear view. I was there for the weekend with my beautiful wife and had the unique opportunity to share a run with my favorite person in my favorite place on earth.
The weather was perfect for a run as we left our hotel. L was working on C25K and I committed to running along with her until she was finished and then piggybacking a 2 mile run of my own on top of that. We did a total of 3 miles together of combined walking and running. L ran a full mile twice! I was quite proud of her. There were some pretty nasty hills along our 3 mile out and back route. Thankfully they were all very short and were usually followed by a decent downhill stretch during which we could rest. Those first three miles really only served as an extended warm up for me. I didn't push myself anywhere near as hard as I've grown accustomed to. I actually rather enjoyed it. I was able to carry on a casual conversation the whole time, probably to the general dismay of my poor wife (and lone reader) who had to listen to my random babbling for 3 whole miles. She was a good sport though, and laughed at most of my goofball comments. Thanks my love!
After the 3 miles was up we parted ways. She went back to the hotel room to recover and shower while I picked up the pace for a 2 mile out and back in the other direction. My heart rate quickly jumped up to 160 after averaging below 140 for the first three miles. I picked up my pace to about 9:50ish/mile from the 13:20 we had averaged for the first 3 miles. Mile 4 was pretty easy with a fairly long downhill section until it flattened out. I completed it in 9:50. Mile 5 was a little harder, as I had already been out for 50 minutes. I still managed to pick up the pace just a little and pushed myself up the hill that made mile 4 so easy. I finished my 5 as I ran up the hill in to the hotel parking lot almost right at the 1 hour mark. I was pretty beat but my heart rate had only maxed out at 173. In retrospect, some nutrition and/or hydration around the 30-45 minute point probably would have been good.
Overall it felt good to do 5 miles. It was good to know I could go 40 minutes and then still have enough stamina to push myself for another 2 miles. I couldn't have dreamed of even doing the first 40 minutes a year ago. On top of that, it was beautiful location for a run and I hope to have the opportunity to do it again in the not too distant future. Sharing it with my wife made it that much more enjoyable.
The Stats: I did a total of 5.11 miles in 1:00:43 for an average pace of 11:53/mile. The final 2.1 or so miles on my own were done in 20:41 for an average pace of 9:51/mile.
Next Up: I wimped out this morning and didn't make it to the pool. I may go this afternoon. I woke up with a headache this morning and thought it better to skip the swim than push myself to do more than I should today and not be able to run tomorrow. Though it didn't exactly met the criteria of a long run in the plan I'm following, I'm counting Saturday's run as my Long Run in the Tim Detmer plan I linked to on Thursday. Tomorrow will be a tempo run - 35 minutes at 45 seconds slower per mile than my last 5K pace. My last 5K was 9:09/mile so I'll go for 35 minutes at about 9:55/mile. I've been pushing myself way harder than this, so it should be a breeze. Thursday will be the kicker - the VO2Max run. I'll be doing 10X400 Meter intervals at 5K pace minus 30 seconds per mile with short rest periods in between.
I'm going to work this plan for the next few weeks and see if it improves my next 5K time. That's tentatively planned for 4/30.
The weather was perfect for a run as we left our hotel. L was working on C25K and I committed to running along with her until she was finished and then piggybacking a 2 mile run of my own on top of that. We did a total of 3 miles together of combined walking and running. L ran a full mile twice! I was quite proud of her. There were some pretty nasty hills along our 3 mile out and back route. Thankfully they were all very short and were usually followed by a decent downhill stretch during which we could rest. Those first three miles really only served as an extended warm up for me. I didn't push myself anywhere near as hard as I've grown accustomed to. I actually rather enjoyed it. I was able to carry on a casual conversation the whole time, probably to the general dismay of my poor wife (and lone reader) who had to listen to my random babbling for 3 whole miles. She was a good sport though, and laughed at most of my goofball comments. Thanks my love!
After the 3 miles was up we parted ways. She went back to the hotel room to recover and shower while I picked up the pace for a 2 mile out and back in the other direction. My heart rate quickly jumped up to 160 after averaging below 140 for the first three miles. I picked up my pace to about 9:50ish/mile from the 13:20 we had averaged for the first 3 miles. Mile 4 was pretty easy with a fairly long downhill section until it flattened out. I completed it in 9:50. Mile 5 was a little harder, as I had already been out for 50 minutes. I still managed to pick up the pace just a little and pushed myself up the hill that made mile 4 so easy. I finished my 5 as I ran up the hill in to the hotel parking lot almost right at the 1 hour mark. I was pretty beat but my heart rate had only maxed out at 173. In retrospect, some nutrition and/or hydration around the 30-45 minute point probably would have been good.
Overall it felt good to do 5 miles. It was good to know I could go 40 minutes and then still have enough stamina to push myself for another 2 miles. I couldn't have dreamed of even doing the first 40 minutes a year ago. On top of that, it was beautiful location for a run and I hope to have the opportunity to do it again in the not too distant future. Sharing it with my wife made it that much more enjoyable.
The Stats: I did a total of 5.11 miles in 1:00:43 for an average pace of 11:53/mile. The final 2.1 or so miles on my own were done in 20:41 for an average pace of 9:51/mile.
Next Up: I wimped out this morning and didn't make it to the pool. I may go this afternoon. I woke up with a headache this morning and thought it better to skip the swim than push myself to do more than I should today and not be able to run tomorrow. Though it didn't exactly met the criteria of a long run in the plan I'm following, I'm counting Saturday's run as my Long Run in the Tim Detmer plan I linked to on Thursday. Tomorrow will be a tempo run - 35 minutes at 45 seconds slower per mile than my last 5K pace. My last 5K was 9:09/mile so I'll go for 35 minutes at about 9:55/mile. I've been pushing myself way harder than this, so it should be a breeze. Thursday will be the kicker - the VO2Max run. I'll be doing 10X400 Meter intervals at 5K pace minus 30 seconds per mile with short rest periods in between.
I'm going to work this plan for the next few weeks and see if it improves my next 5K time. That's tentatively planned for 4/30.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A Swim Yesterday and a Run Today: 3/16 and 3/17/2011
As the title suggests, I swam yesterday and ran this morning. I've gotten into a fairly good routine with the occasional off day. I'm going to have a bit of an off weekend with a trip with L to the Smokies planned. That means I'll have to skip tomorrow's planned swim unless I can find a way to get to a pool in the hometown in the morning before leaving. I know there are a couple available, but I'll probably just plan to skip it and pick back up on Monday.
I did get to the pool yesterday afternoon after skipping my usual morning swim due to staying up later than planned Tuesday night. The pool was fairly crowded. The two lanes that are partitioned off were taken as well as another lane outside of the partitioned area, so I just picked a spot that wasn't taken and started swimming. After about 150 yards, I noticed a large group of youngsters come in the door. I knew this would hinder my efforts to maintain straight lines and constant pacing. I looked over to the lanes and noticed one of them was now empty so I took the opportunity to move over there. I picked up where I had left off and completed my 400 yard swim. I then did 200, then 4X100 followed by 4X50. It's definitely getting easier. At some point along the way I've broken through a barrier that was holding me back. My ultimate goal for the pool right now is to be able to swim a mile non-stop. My whole workout right now is about 3/4 of a mile and I usually end the workout tired, but feeling like I could go a little longer.
Today's run was great. It was cool out, but not cloudy so it wasn't as dark today as it was on Tuesday. I wanted to try to go a little faster today than Tuesday. My goal wasn't to push my limits, just to work to maintain my current level of fitness. My hope was to maintain something around 9:40/mile for the 4.5 mile run, if possible. I started out and felt a little more fatigued than usual after the first 3 or 4 minutes. That could have been due to the swim yesterday afternoon, or any number of things. I pushed through it, trying to maintain my pace and knowing that I would start to feel better after a mile or so. When the distance alert beeped I looked down to see I had finished mile 1 in 9:37 - almost right on my planned pace. I continued on , just holding my pace steady and trying to stay in the groove in which I had found myself. Everything was feeling good through the second mile and I finished it in 9:37 as well. I'm pretty proud of my pacing. It's not easy to do two miles in a row at the exact same pace. As the mile two alert beeped I felt my legs pulling me along faster. It wasn't a conscious thing...I think it's become almost instinct to pick up the pace at a certain place in the park. It's always at the turn around at the end of the road. I went with what my body was telling me and just held on for the ride. I knew I was still a little short of the halfway point of my run and that it would be difficult to maintain this pace through to the end, especially with the big hill at the end of my run, but I tried to keep it up through the third mile anyway. I completed mile 3 in 9:22, cutting 15 seconds off my previous two miles. Nothing earth shattering, but my heart rate had only risen slightly. At this point I knew I was going to have to ease up a bit if I wanted to finish my run so I tried to back off to about the 9:40 pace I had started out at. As always, it seemed harder to slow down than to speed up, but I managed to reduce my 4th mile pace to 9:35 and kept my heart rate steady with what it had been throughout mile 3, with the exception of the final big hill in the park next door on which it climbed to 171 bpm. The last half mile was mostly either very flat or down hill, so I picked up the pace to finish up and averaged a 9:16/mile pace.
Today's Stats: I did 4.59 miles in 43:38. That's quite a bit faster than I did a slightly shorter distance on Tuesday. That's an average pace of 9:30/mile. I'm very pleased with that pace. It's a good baseline for continuing to improve my speed next week. I'm ready to start working toward the 8 minute mile threshold. I have a feeling that's going to be a bigger challenge than 9:00/mile was. I expect improvements to become increasingly more difficult as I get faster.
Next Up: A Saturday morning run with my love in the Smokies of Tennessee. I'm looking forward to that. Next week I'll continue my MWF swim routine and I'm hoping to start working this plan to bring my next 5k time down to around 27 minutes. I can run one mile at the pace it will take to do that, so I'm pretty sure I can work up to doing 3 miles at that pace.
I did get to the pool yesterday afternoon after skipping my usual morning swim due to staying up later than planned Tuesday night. The pool was fairly crowded. The two lanes that are partitioned off were taken as well as another lane outside of the partitioned area, so I just picked a spot that wasn't taken and started swimming. After about 150 yards, I noticed a large group of youngsters come in the door. I knew this would hinder my efforts to maintain straight lines and constant pacing. I looked over to the lanes and noticed one of them was now empty so I took the opportunity to move over there. I picked up where I had left off and completed my 400 yard swim. I then did 200, then 4X100 followed by 4X50. It's definitely getting easier. At some point along the way I've broken through a barrier that was holding me back. My ultimate goal for the pool right now is to be able to swim a mile non-stop. My whole workout right now is about 3/4 of a mile and I usually end the workout tired, but feeling like I could go a little longer.
Today's run was great. It was cool out, but not cloudy so it wasn't as dark today as it was on Tuesday. I wanted to try to go a little faster today than Tuesday. My goal wasn't to push my limits, just to work to maintain my current level of fitness. My hope was to maintain something around 9:40/mile for the 4.5 mile run, if possible. I started out and felt a little more fatigued than usual after the first 3 or 4 minutes. That could have been due to the swim yesterday afternoon, or any number of things. I pushed through it, trying to maintain my pace and knowing that I would start to feel better after a mile or so. When the distance alert beeped I looked down to see I had finished mile 1 in 9:37 - almost right on my planned pace. I continued on , just holding my pace steady and trying to stay in the groove in which I had found myself. Everything was feeling good through the second mile and I finished it in 9:37 as well. I'm pretty proud of my pacing. It's not easy to do two miles in a row at the exact same pace. As the mile two alert beeped I felt my legs pulling me along faster. It wasn't a conscious thing...I think it's become almost instinct to pick up the pace at a certain place in the park. It's always at the turn around at the end of the road. I went with what my body was telling me and just held on for the ride. I knew I was still a little short of the halfway point of my run and that it would be difficult to maintain this pace through to the end, especially with the big hill at the end of my run, but I tried to keep it up through the third mile anyway. I completed mile 3 in 9:22, cutting 15 seconds off my previous two miles. Nothing earth shattering, but my heart rate had only risen slightly. At this point I knew I was going to have to ease up a bit if I wanted to finish my run so I tried to back off to about the 9:40 pace I had started out at. As always, it seemed harder to slow down than to speed up, but I managed to reduce my 4th mile pace to 9:35 and kept my heart rate steady with what it had been throughout mile 3, with the exception of the final big hill in the park next door on which it climbed to 171 bpm. The last half mile was mostly either very flat or down hill, so I picked up the pace to finish up and averaged a 9:16/mile pace.
Today's Stats: I did 4.59 miles in 43:38. That's quite a bit faster than I did a slightly shorter distance on Tuesday. That's an average pace of 9:30/mile. I'm very pleased with that pace. It's a good baseline for continuing to improve my speed next week. I'm ready to start working toward the 8 minute mile threshold. I have a feeling that's going to be a bigger challenge than 9:00/mile was. I expect improvements to become increasingly more difficult as I get faster.
Next Up: A Saturday morning run with my love in the Smokies of Tennessee. I'm looking forward to that. Next week I'll continue my MWF swim routine and I'm hoping to start working this plan to bring my next 5k time down to around 27 minutes. I can run one mile at the pace it will take to do that, so I'm pretty sure I can work up to doing 3 miles at that pace.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Running: 03/15/11
I awoke this morning to pitch black darkness. I wasn't sure about getting up to run before daylight had even hinted at its arrival, but I did it anyway. I can't let darkness slow me down. I took my time stretching and hydrating hoping for a hint of light through the windows but after 20 minutes it was still just dark so I hopped in the car and drove to the park in a light drizzle.
I set out for my warm up walk in the drizzly darkness. I was planning on a 4.5 mile run and knew that to increase my mileage I would need to take it a little easier today. I started out at an easy jog, just a little slower than 10:00/mile and just decided I would try to hold as close to that pace as possible for the entire run. For once, I was able to hold myself to that instead of pushing to see how fast I could go and not die. For now I'm okay with just maintaining my current speed. I'll probably try to push a little harder over the next few weeks, but this week and next I'm just going to work on increasing my mileage to 5 miles before working on my speed in earnest in preparation for my next 5k.
I'm pleased with my current fitness level. I think it's safe to say I'm in better physical condition today than I've ever been in my life. I enjoy comparing my more recent runs to runs just a month or two ago as far as heart rate is concerned. For example, I ran 4.53 miles today at an average pace of 10:11/mile and my average heart rate was 154 bpm. Less than a month ago on February 29 I ran a shorter distance of 4.09 miles at an average pace of 10:42/mile but had an average heart rate of 159, or 5 bpm faster than today's longer/faster run. I like knowing that I'm not just running and swimming for the fun of it (and it's not always fun), but that I'm also doing something very good for my body.
Today's Stats: I did 4.53 miles in 46:09 for an average pace of 10:11/mile. I never really felt like I was pushing myself, it was just a slow easy jog at a pace I felt like I could have maintained for at least another mile or two.
Next Up: I'll swim in the morning, hopefully repeating the success of yesterday's workout, run Thursday, take a day off on Friday, then go for a 5 mile or so run within view of the Great Smoky Mtns National Park Saturday.
Bonus: Official results were posted overnight for the GYRIG 5K. I came in with an official time of 28:21 at a 9:08/mile pace. That was good enough for 92nd out of 319 overall and 20th out of 41 in my AG. That's not too bad. At least I was in the top half of my AG this time. I was 30 seconds behind the next closest competitor in my AG. I've found that Male 30-39 is a tough group. 4 of the top 10 overall finishers were in my AG with times ranging for 20:36 to 21:08 for those 4 finishers.
Here's my motivation for my next 5K: If I had gone 1 full minute faster, or 19 seconds per mile, I would have moved up 3 places to 17th in my AG. Cutting off 2 minutes from my time, which is my goal, would have only moved me up one more spot to 16th in AG. To get to the top 10, I would have had to have run 2:45 faster than I did. Needless to say, there are some pretty fast dudes out there and if I hope to compete with them I'm going to have to really push my personal limits.
I set out for my warm up walk in the drizzly darkness. I was planning on a 4.5 mile run and knew that to increase my mileage I would need to take it a little easier today. I started out at an easy jog, just a little slower than 10:00/mile and just decided I would try to hold as close to that pace as possible for the entire run. For once, I was able to hold myself to that instead of pushing to see how fast I could go and not die. For now I'm okay with just maintaining my current speed. I'll probably try to push a little harder over the next few weeks, but this week and next I'm just going to work on increasing my mileage to 5 miles before working on my speed in earnest in preparation for my next 5k.
I'm pleased with my current fitness level. I think it's safe to say I'm in better physical condition today than I've ever been in my life. I enjoy comparing my more recent runs to runs just a month or two ago as far as heart rate is concerned. For example, I ran 4.53 miles today at an average pace of 10:11/mile and my average heart rate was 154 bpm. Less than a month ago on February 29 I ran a shorter distance of 4.09 miles at an average pace of 10:42/mile but had an average heart rate of 159, or 5 bpm faster than today's longer/faster run. I like knowing that I'm not just running and swimming for the fun of it (and it's not always fun), but that I'm also doing something very good for my body.
Today's Stats: I did 4.53 miles in 46:09 for an average pace of 10:11/mile. I never really felt like I was pushing myself, it was just a slow easy jog at a pace I felt like I could have maintained for at least another mile or two.
Next Up: I'll swim in the morning, hopefully repeating the success of yesterday's workout, run Thursday, take a day off on Friday, then go for a 5 mile or so run within view of the Great Smoky Mtns National Park Saturday.
Bonus: Official results were posted overnight for the GYRIG 5K. I came in with an official time of 28:21 at a 9:08/mile pace. That was good enough for 92nd out of 319 overall and 20th out of 41 in my AG. That's not too bad. At least I was in the top half of my AG this time. I was 30 seconds behind the next closest competitor in my AG. I've found that Male 30-39 is a tough group. 4 of the top 10 overall finishers were in my AG with times ranging for 20:36 to 21:08 for those 4 finishers.
Here's my motivation for my next 5K: If I had gone 1 full minute faster, or 19 seconds per mile, I would have moved up 3 places to 17th in my AG. Cutting off 2 minutes from my time, which is my goal, would have only moved me up one more spot to 16th in AG. To get to the top 10, I would have had to have run 2:45 faster than I did. Needless to say, there are some pretty fast dudes out there and if I hope to compete with them I'm going to have to really push my personal limits.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Swimming: 03/14/2011
The time change almost got the best of me this morning, but I somehow convinced myself to get out of bed even though my body was telling me it was only 4:30 and I should still be somewhere about 30 miles north of dreamland. I'm glad I dragged myself out of bed. I had a great swim this morning. I was able to move on to the next workout in my routine. I did 1X400, 1X200, 4X100 and 4X50 for a total of 1,200 yards. I could have kept going at the end of the 400 but I knew I needed to hold something in reserve for the remaining reps. At this point, the biggest thing I have to fight in my swim workouts is the sheer boredom. With nothing to look at but the bottom of the pool the laps start to get quite monotonous. The good news is, I think I've gotten past the gasping for breath struggles. I can just relax and swim, lap after lap. I have no idea if my technique is good or bad, but I don't really care at this point. I don't have any strange aches or pains so I don't think I'm doing anything wrong to the point of injury. I'm sure I could swim more efficiently, but I'm just glad to be doing it for now.
Next up: A run in the dark in the morning. I'm hoping to increase my mileage to about 4.5 miles.
Next up: A run in the dark in the morning. I'm hoping to increase my mileage to about 4.5 miles.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Race Report: Get Your Rear in Gear 5K 3/12/2011
I don't have official results yet, but I know for sure that I ran a new personal record yesterday. According to my Garmin, I did it in about 28:20, which is just slightly faster than I had anticipated and hoped. I would have been happy with 29:00, so I'm pretty excited to have beaten that by 40 seconds, or about 12 seconds per mile.
It was a fun race with lots of people that seemed genuinely excited to be there. It was set right along the river's edge in Chattanooga, TN. This provided a nice backdrop for a portion of the run. Other parts were along a sidewalk next to a busy street...not such a pretty backdrop. My strategy was to start out fast and slow into a more comfortable pace after the first few hundred feet. I started near the front because I didn't want to have to weave my way through the walkers and got a little caught up in the fast pace of the race leaders for the first quarter mile or so. I realized I was running too fast and tried to slow my pace a little, but not too much because I really wanted to see what I could push myself to do. I kept a pretty fast pace (for me) for the first mile. I checked my time when the Garmin beeped and found that I had completed the first mile in 8:49. Wow! I knew that I wouldn't be able to maintain that pace for the full 5K so I made a conscious effort to slow down. The next mile came and went pretty easily. A little fatigued was starting to set in but nothing too bad. The second mile was completed in 9:18. I knew I could do another mile at this pace so I maintained that for a bit before trying to pick up the pace to the end. That never really happened as I finished mile 3 in 9:15, only 3 seconds faster than mile 2. Still not bad considering how hard I had pushed the first mile. Overall it was a good run. I'm looking forward to the next one near the end of April.
It was a fun race with lots of people that seemed genuinely excited to be there. It was set right along the river's edge in Chattanooga, TN. This provided a nice backdrop for a portion of the run. Other parts were along a sidewalk next to a busy street...not such a pretty backdrop. My strategy was to start out fast and slow into a more comfortable pace after the first few hundred feet. I started near the front because I didn't want to have to weave my way through the walkers and got a little caught up in the fast pace of the race leaders for the first quarter mile or so. I realized I was running too fast and tried to slow my pace a little, but not too much because I really wanted to see what I could push myself to do. I kept a pretty fast pace (for me) for the first mile. I checked my time when the Garmin beeped and found that I had completed the first mile in 8:49. Wow! I knew that I wouldn't be able to maintain that pace for the full 5K so I made a conscious effort to slow down. The next mile came and went pretty easily. A little fatigued was starting to set in but nothing too bad. The second mile was completed in 9:18. I knew I could do another mile at this pace so I maintained that for a bit before trying to pick up the pace to the end. That never really happened as I finished mile 3 in 9:15, only 3 seconds faster than mile 2. Still not bad considering how hard I had pushed the first mile. Overall it was a good run. I'm looking forward to the next one near the end of April.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Swimming: 03/11/2011
I made it back to the pool today for the first time since last Saturday. It felt good to be swimming again. I don't think I lost much if anything in that time period. Running keeps my heart and lungs healthy, so I'm not too concerned about taking a little time off of swimming now and then but I'm not going to make a habit of it. If anything, I want to try to be more consistent with my swimming in the future, even if it comes at the expense of running, at least initially. I need to work on increasing my pool endurance and that is only going to happen with consistency.
This morning I was able to do 300 yards non-stop, but probably could have pushed myself and done another 100. After the 300 yards, I did 4X100, 4X50 and 4X25. I seem to have plateaued a little here. I'm hoping next week I can push it up to 1X400, 1X200, 4X100, and 4X50 - which is the "official" workout for week 3 of the program I am loosely following. I'm pretty sure I can do 400 yards - I've done it before. I'm not so sure I can follow that up with 200 yet.
Next up: 5K tomorrow!
This morning I was able to do 300 yards non-stop, but probably could have pushed myself and done another 100. After the 300 yards, I did 4X100, 4X50 and 4X25. I seem to have plateaued a little here. I'm hoping next week I can push it up to 1X400, 1X200, 4X100, and 4X50 - which is the "official" workout for week 3 of the program I am loosely following. I'm pretty sure I can do 400 yards - I've done it before. I'm not so sure I can follow that up with 200 yet.
Next up: 5K tomorrow!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Running: 03/10/2011
It was chilly this morning so I wore my jacket. It's funny, back when it was regularly in the 20s and 30s I could go out in just shorts and a t-shirt with no problem but now that we've had a couple hints of spring with temps in the 70s I can't handle 40 without a jacket.
I had no intention of running 4 miles at my 5K race pace this morning, but I did it anyway. I wanted to try something new to see how it went. I usually start out and try to settle into a good running pace starting from a walk, and I usually end up speeding up gradually from that point. Today I wanted to start out at a sprint and slow gradually into my running pace. So, I did my warm up walk, pressed the start button and ran all out for a hundred feet or so and then slowed to what I thought a comfortable pace would be. That turned out to be around 9:30/mile. I was definitely breathing harder a little sooner than I did during my last 4 mile run on Tuesday and my heart rate was slightly higher, but I was not uncomfortable. I finished the first mile in 9:35 and pushed myself to do mile 2 faster than that with the thought in my mind that I would push through the first two miles and then ease up for miles 3 and 4. As I approached the end of the second mile I was starting to feel some fatigue set in but nothing major or out of the ordinary considering that I was running faster than I was accustomed to. I finished mile 2 in 9:12. Goal accomplished, now I could ease up and just jog out the second half of the run. Except.... slowing down is not easy. I had to make a conscious effort to keep from speeding up even more and was only mildly successful. I'm used to hitting the halfway point of a run and speeding up, which isn't a bad thing. I wouldn't have minded so much but I didn't want to push myself too hard today and then not be fresh for Saturday's race. I did my best to hold back but I was only able to slow down to 9:23 for mile 3. I felt generally comfortable and not even remotely out of breath so I just went with it for the final mile finishing up the run with a 9:28 mile.
I did the equivalent of a 5K in about 29 minutes, so I feel good about Saturday. I would be pleased with a 29:00 5K.
Today's Stats: I did 4.01 miles in 00:37:42 for a pace of 9:24/mile, the fastest I've ever run. Again, not exactly what I had set out to do today, but it just kind of happened. At the very least it gives me some confidence for Saturday.
Next Up: I haven't been to the pool since last Saturday. Since I skipped running Monday, I replaced Tuesday's planned swim with a run. I went to the pool yesterday (Wednesday) with the intention of swimming but the inflatable bubble over the pool had deflated. I noticed it was back up yesterday afternoon, so I'm hopeful for getting in a swim tomorrow. 5K Saturday - I have a strategy now. I'm going to try to sprint off the starting line as much as possible given the likely crowd in which I'll be running and then ease into my race pace of around 9:30/mile for the first two miles. After that, if I'm still feeling good, I'll see how fast I can push myself for the final 1.1 miles.
Final Note: I passed the 100 mile mark for the year 2011 during Tuesday's run. If I maintain this pace, I should do about 600 miles for the year, of course, I hope to increase my mileage slightly as the year progresses. We'll see how that goes.
I had no intention of running 4 miles at my 5K race pace this morning, but I did it anyway. I wanted to try something new to see how it went. I usually start out and try to settle into a good running pace starting from a walk, and I usually end up speeding up gradually from that point. Today I wanted to start out at a sprint and slow gradually into my running pace. So, I did my warm up walk, pressed the start button and ran all out for a hundred feet or so and then slowed to what I thought a comfortable pace would be. That turned out to be around 9:30/mile. I was definitely breathing harder a little sooner than I did during my last 4 mile run on Tuesday and my heart rate was slightly higher, but I was not uncomfortable. I finished the first mile in 9:35 and pushed myself to do mile 2 faster than that with the thought in my mind that I would push through the first two miles and then ease up for miles 3 and 4. As I approached the end of the second mile I was starting to feel some fatigue set in but nothing major or out of the ordinary considering that I was running faster than I was accustomed to. I finished mile 2 in 9:12. Goal accomplished, now I could ease up and just jog out the second half of the run. Except.... slowing down is not easy. I had to make a conscious effort to keep from speeding up even more and was only mildly successful. I'm used to hitting the halfway point of a run and speeding up, which isn't a bad thing. I wouldn't have minded so much but I didn't want to push myself too hard today and then not be fresh for Saturday's race. I did my best to hold back but I was only able to slow down to 9:23 for mile 3. I felt generally comfortable and not even remotely out of breath so I just went with it for the final mile finishing up the run with a 9:28 mile.
I did the equivalent of a 5K in about 29 minutes, so I feel good about Saturday. I would be pleased with a 29:00 5K.
Today's Stats: I did 4.01 miles in 00:37:42 for a pace of 9:24/mile, the fastest I've ever run. Again, not exactly what I had set out to do today, but it just kind of happened. At the very least it gives me some confidence for Saturday.
Next Up: I haven't been to the pool since last Saturday. Since I skipped running Monday, I replaced Tuesday's planned swim with a run. I went to the pool yesterday (Wednesday) with the intention of swimming but the inflatable bubble over the pool had deflated. I noticed it was back up yesterday afternoon, so I'm hopeful for getting in a swim tomorrow. 5K Saturday - I have a strategy now. I'm going to try to sprint off the starting line as much as possible given the likely crowd in which I'll be running and then ease into my race pace of around 9:30/mile for the first two miles. After that, if I'm still feeling good, I'll see how fast I can push myself for the final 1.1 miles.
Final Note: I passed the 100 mile mark for the year 2011 during Tuesday's run. If I maintain this pace, I should do about 600 miles for the year, of course, I hope to increase my mileage slightly as the year progresses. We'll see how that goes.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Swimming and Running 3/5 and 3/8/2011
Saturday morning brought a swim/run brick workout. I did 850 yards in the pool and 2.85 miles or so running. My Garmin only measured 2.56 miles because it didn't get satellite reception until I had already run about 1/3 of a mile. Overall it was a good workout and I was wiped out when I finished up. The only real details I remember are swimming 300 yards non-stop, all without the pull buoy. I did a few sets of 50s, a 100, and then a few more 50s before getting out of the pool to run. It wasn't a great run. I was tired from the swim and had other things on my mind. I didn't push myself very hard. I just ran to try to average a mid 10's pace and I accomplished that.
I was supposed to run yesterday but didn't sleep very well, woke up just prior to the alarm going off with a bit of a headache and feeling really lethargic. I made an executive decision to take the day off and concentrate on getting some rest. I felt a little bad for not doing my planned run, but I think it was best to take the day off rather than push through the fatigue.
Today I was determined to get up and run. I have a 5k on Saturday and I need to stay on top of things going into that if I want to beat my previous time. I slept better last night and woke up feeling ready to run. I'm still not sure I'm 100%, but I felt well enough to run and I'm not completely exhausted post-run. I had no specific goal this morning other than to do 4 miles. I just wanted to get back out there and run after having wimped out yesterday. I started out just trying to find a good comfortable pace at which my breathing was steady. I settled in a little slower than 10:00/mile after running for about 1/2 mile. And maintained that pace for the first two miles. I was feeling good after two miles and my pace had been steadily increasing throughout the course of the second mile. The third mile passed in 9:52 and I was still feeling good so I pushed my pace a little faster. I wanted to push my speed to the point where I was right at the edge of maintaining a steady breathing pattern and keeping my heart rate below 160. This turned out to be around a 9:30/mile pace. I only really struggled when I hit the final hills. The one leading into the parking lot wasn't too bad. It got my heart rate up to 164 but my breathing was steady. I ran past my car and made the turn into the ball park next door which has a 1/4 mile hill with a pretty steep grade. I tried to maintain my pace up the hill (and into a pretty strong headwind). I was able to do it, but my heart rate and breathing paid a price. My heart rate peaked at 170 near the top of the hill. The saving grace was that I was then able to turn around and run down the hill, taking advantage of gravity and the wind at my back. I completed the final mile in 9:18, only really pushing myself during the final hill climb.
Today's Stats: I did 4.02 miles in 39:41 for an average pace of 9:51/mile. I was pleased that I did that pace without pushing myself too hard. This was basically the same pace as my last 5k, but I felt like I pushed myself much harder during that race than I did during this mornings 4 miles easy run.
Next up: I'll be back in the pool in the morning, then I'll do another 4 easy miles on Thursday before my race on Saturday. I don't have a strategy for Saturday's 5k. I want to average 9:30/mile or better. After Saturday's race, I'm going to ease off of running for a couple of weeks, just concentrating on maintaining where I am instead of pushing for more. I think I'm going to continue to push myself in the pool because I'm not yet quite where I want to be from a swimming perspective.
I was supposed to run yesterday but didn't sleep very well, woke up just prior to the alarm going off with a bit of a headache and feeling really lethargic. I made an executive decision to take the day off and concentrate on getting some rest. I felt a little bad for not doing my planned run, but I think it was best to take the day off rather than push through the fatigue.
Today I was determined to get up and run. I have a 5k on Saturday and I need to stay on top of things going into that if I want to beat my previous time. I slept better last night and woke up feeling ready to run. I'm still not sure I'm 100%, but I felt well enough to run and I'm not completely exhausted post-run. I had no specific goal this morning other than to do 4 miles. I just wanted to get back out there and run after having wimped out yesterday. I started out just trying to find a good comfortable pace at which my breathing was steady. I settled in a little slower than 10:00/mile after running for about 1/2 mile. And maintained that pace for the first two miles. I was feeling good after two miles and my pace had been steadily increasing throughout the course of the second mile. The third mile passed in 9:52 and I was still feeling good so I pushed my pace a little faster. I wanted to push my speed to the point where I was right at the edge of maintaining a steady breathing pattern and keeping my heart rate below 160. This turned out to be around a 9:30/mile pace. I only really struggled when I hit the final hills. The one leading into the parking lot wasn't too bad. It got my heart rate up to 164 but my breathing was steady. I ran past my car and made the turn into the ball park next door which has a 1/4 mile hill with a pretty steep grade. I tried to maintain my pace up the hill (and into a pretty strong headwind). I was able to do it, but my heart rate and breathing paid a price. My heart rate peaked at 170 near the top of the hill. The saving grace was that I was then able to turn around and run down the hill, taking advantage of gravity and the wind at my back. I completed the final mile in 9:18, only really pushing myself during the final hill climb.
Today's Stats: I did 4.02 miles in 39:41 for an average pace of 9:51/mile. I was pleased that I did that pace without pushing myself too hard. This was basically the same pace as my last 5k, but I felt like I pushed myself much harder during that race than I did during this mornings 4 miles easy run.
Next up: I'll be back in the pool in the morning, then I'll do another 4 easy miles on Thursday before my race on Saturday. I don't have a strategy for Saturday's 5k. I want to average 9:30/mile or better. After Saturday's race, I'm going to ease off of running for a couple of weeks, just concentrating on maintaining where I am instead of pushing for more. I think I'm going to continue to push myself in the pool because I'm not yet quite where I want to be from a swimming perspective.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Running: 03/04/2011
The alarm woke me up but I was not ready to get up. I did it anyway. I'm looking forward to sleeping an extra hour or so in the morning. Exercise has really improved my sleep, but it sure is hard to get up at 5:30 some mornings. I'm afraid it's going to be even harder when we spring forward in a couple of weeks.
It was a pretty nice morning for a run. It was a little cool and quite windy. I didn't really go out with a plan, but decided I would do a couple miles a little slower than my projected race pace and then go from there. I did my warm up walk out of the park and then up the hill and started running.
The first mile seemed hard, but that's just become standard operating procedure. I know if I can push through the first mile I'll settle into a groove and finish the run relatively pain free. I finished the first mile in 9:50, about the pace I was shooting for. I was thinking when I started out that race pace for my next 5K should be around 9:30/mile. I started the second mile and tried to maintain the same pace. Mile two came and went in 9:48, almost right on my first mile pace. I was feeling great, with little to no fatigue to speak of so I decided to pick up the pace for the third mile. My hope was to run a sub 9:00 mile, but I really didn't know whether I would be able to maintain that pace for a full mile. I accelerated just a bit to put my pace right around 9:00/mile and tried to hold steady there for as long as possible. That felt comfortable for a couple of minutes, so I pushed my speed up just a little more, trying to hold around 8:45. this felt pretty comfortable, but it also seemed to be a limit that I shouldn't try to push through if I hoped to maintain a steady pace for very long. I looked at my watch when the timer beeped, did some quick math and thought I had hit it right on 9:00/mile. When I got home I checked my mile splits and found that I had finished mile 3 in 8:56! That's definitely the fastest I've ever run a mile. From there it was just a matter of finishing the run by jogging back to the car. I slowed to what felt like a comfortable jog and caught my breath before coming to the final hill before the car. I pushed myself to sprint up the hill and back to the car. This total distance was .44 miles and I averaged an 8:46/mile pace.
I finished my run today and realized that I am a runner. I'm not just a guy that goes for a jog three or four times a week. I'm a runner. I get up with a purpose at 5:30 AM. Yes, it's something I do, but it's also become something I am, a part of me. It's part of my routine and my day to day thought process. I find myself looking forward to my next run and trying to figure out how I can fit a run in around my other daily activities. So, there you have it. I run, therefore I am.
Today's Stats: I did 3.44 miles in 32:24, less time than it took to complete my first 5K. My average pace this morning was 9:25/mile. My next 5K is one week from tomorrow and I would love to average 9:25/mile or better. There's no doubt I can do it. I did it this morning over a longer distance.
Next Up: I'm hoping to get another swim/run workout under my belt in the morning. I'll probably do my planned swim and then just tack on 2 miles or so onto that if I feel like I have time. I'll be pushed for time due to tomorrow's birthday party, but I think I can do it. 5K is one week from tomorrow. After that my next planned 5K is on April 30 at the National Cornbread Festival. It's almost two months away which should give me plenty of time to work on speed and endurance. Hopefully I'll have a bike by then and be training for my first triathlon which will probably be sometime in June.
It was a pretty nice morning for a run. It was a little cool and quite windy. I didn't really go out with a plan, but decided I would do a couple miles a little slower than my projected race pace and then go from there. I did my warm up walk out of the park and then up the hill and started running.
The first mile seemed hard, but that's just become standard operating procedure. I know if I can push through the first mile I'll settle into a groove and finish the run relatively pain free. I finished the first mile in 9:50, about the pace I was shooting for. I was thinking when I started out that race pace for my next 5K should be around 9:30/mile. I started the second mile and tried to maintain the same pace. Mile two came and went in 9:48, almost right on my first mile pace. I was feeling great, with little to no fatigue to speak of so I decided to pick up the pace for the third mile. My hope was to run a sub 9:00 mile, but I really didn't know whether I would be able to maintain that pace for a full mile. I accelerated just a bit to put my pace right around 9:00/mile and tried to hold steady there for as long as possible. That felt comfortable for a couple of minutes, so I pushed my speed up just a little more, trying to hold around 8:45. this felt pretty comfortable, but it also seemed to be a limit that I shouldn't try to push through if I hoped to maintain a steady pace for very long. I looked at my watch when the timer beeped, did some quick math and thought I had hit it right on 9:00/mile. When I got home I checked my mile splits and found that I had finished mile 3 in 8:56! That's definitely the fastest I've ever run a mile. From there it was just a matter of finishing the run by jogging back to the car. I slowed to what felt like a comfortable jog and caught my breath before coming to the final hill before the car. I pushed myself to sprint up the hill and back to the car. This total distance was .44 miles and I averaged an 8:46/mile pace.
I finished my run today and realized that I am a runner. I'm not just a guy that goes for a jog three or four times a week. I'm a runner. I get up with a purpose at 5:30 AM. Yes, it's something I do, but it's also become something I am, a part of me. It's part of my routine and my day to day thought process. I find myself looking forward to my next run and trying to figure out how I can fit a run in around my other daily activities. So, there you have it. I run, therefore I am.
Today's Stats: I did 3.44 miles in 32:24, less time than it took to complete my first 5K. My average pace this morning was 9:25/mile. My next 5K is one week from tomorrow and I would love to average 9:25/mile or better. There's no doubt I can do it. I did it this morning over a longer distance.
Next Up: I'm hoping to get another swim/run workout under my belt in the morning. I'll probably do my planned swim and then just tack on 2 miles or so onto that if I feel like I have time. I'll be pushed for time due to tomorrow's birthday party, but I think I can do it. 5K is one week from tomorrow. After that my next planned 5K is on April 30 at the National Cornbread Festival. It's almost two months away which should give me plenty of time to work on speed and endurance. Hopefully I'll have a bike by then and be training for my first triathlon which will probably be sometime in June.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Swimming: 03/03/2011
I swam 400 yards without stopping this morning! It was hard, but I didn't give up at any of the numerous times when I felt I just couldn't go any farther. My workout totalled 1,100 yards. I did 1X400, 4X100, 6X50. I'm not sure how much more I'm ready to push myself right now. I did all but 200 yards without the pull buoy. I used it for the second half of the first 400 yards. I'm feeling more and more like a sprint distance triathlon is achievable. The swim leg is what I'm most concerned about and in a sprint tri this leg is usually only around 400 yards. I can do that, and by June, I should be able to do twice that easily.
Next up: I think I might try to move on to the next workout in the plan I'm loosely following. I'm not sure when I'm going to get to do that, though. We have a birthday party at our house on Saturday and I don't know if I'll have time to get to the pool that morning.
Next up: I think I might try to move on to the next workout in the plan I'm loosely following. I'm not sure when I'm going to get to do that, though. We have a birthday party at our house on Saturday and I don't know if I'll have time to get to the pool that morning.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Running Intervals: 3/2/2011
It was cold and foggy at the lake this morning. The ducks and geese were active. I smelled a skunk at one point. I hope I never surprise it during one of my morning runs.
I went out to do intervals again today, same routine as last Friday: 8 sets of 1 minute fast, 2 minutes jog. I did my 1 mile warm up jog at 10:09/mile, pressed the lap button and began my interval workout. I really pushed myself during the fast segments, with most averaging well below 8:00/mile. For whatever reason, it seemed easier this morning. The only time I felt like I wouldn't make it to the end was right after the 6th rep of the fast run, and I was able to convince myself that I only had two more to go. I held back just a little on the next minute saving a little something for the final rep in which I averaged 7:21/mile during the fast portion. I was wiped out after that and had to push myself through the last 2 minute jog. I had timed it well and was almost back to the car when the end of workout timer beeped.
I was pleased with today's run, and I continue to be amazed with my progress since last July. Even slowly jogging a mile non-stop one year ago today would have been nearly impossible, yet I'm running over 3 miles consistently and have run over 4 miles a couple of times. I'm not yet sure how far I want to push my running limits. Right now I'm focused on preparing for a triathlon, which for now consists of:
1. Improving my 5K times and adding mileage in small increments
2. Increasing my swimming endurance
Today's Stats: I did 3.57 miles in 34:29 for an average of 9:40/mile. Comparing that to last weeks intervals shows an improvement in pace of 10 seconds per mile. It feels good to be consistently running a sub 10:00/mile pace and gives me confidence that I can break the 30 minute mark in my next 5K.
Next Up: I'll be back in the pool tomorrow, hopefully pushing myself a little harder than I did Tuesday. I haven't decided what Friday's run will be yet. I need to settle in on a routine, but have yet to find one that works for me. I have something I think I'm going to try, though, and hope to possibly break it out after the next 5K.
I went out to do intervals again today, same routine as last Friday: 8 sets of 1 minute fast, 2 minutes jog. I did my 1 mile warm up jog at 10:09/mile, pressed the lap button and began my interval workout. I really pushed myself during the fast segments, with most averaging well below 8:00/mile. For whatever reason, it seemed easier this morning. The only time I felt like I wouldn't make it to the end was right after the 6th rep of the fast run, and I was able to convince myself that I only had two more to go. I held back just a little on the next minute saving a little something for the final rep in which I averaged 7:21/mile during the fast portion. I was wiped out after that and had to push myself through the last 2 minute jog. I had timed it well and was almost back to the car when the end of workout timer beeped.
I was pleased with today's run, and I continue to be amazed with my progress since last July. Even slowly jogging a mile non-stop one year ago today would have been nearly impossible, yet I'm running over 3 miles consistently and have run over 4 miles a couple of times. I'm not yet sure how far I want to push my running limits. Right now I'm focused on preparing for a triathlon, which for now consists of:
1. Improving my 5K times and adding mileage in small increments
2. Increasing my swimming endurance
Today's Stats: I did 3.57 miles in 34:29 for an average of 9:40/mile. Comparing that to last weeks intervals shows an improvement in pace of 10 seconds per mile. It feels good to be consistently running a sub 10:00/mile pace and gives me confidence that I can break the 30 minute mark in my next 5K.
Next Up: I'll be back in the pool tomorrow, hopefully pushing myself a little harder than I did Tuesday. I haven't decided what Friday's run will be yet. I need to settle in on a routine, but have yet to find one that works for me. I have something I think I'm going to try, though, and hope to possibly break it out after the next 5K.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Swimming: 03/01/2011
It was chilly out this morning but the pool was like a bathtub. I decided this morning that it was time to push myself a little harder in the pool. I've been wimping out a little and giving in to the desire to rest when I feel the slightest bit tired. My goal this morning was to increase my yardage slightly by adding 100 yards to the first set, making the workout 1X300, 4X100, 4X50, 4X25. Officially, the plan I'm semi-following had me moving on to 1X400, 1X200, 4X100, 4X50, but I felt the need to stick in a week 2.5. It's possible that's just another example of me wimping out. I figure as long as I'm pushing myself to do more than I had been doing, I'm making progress. Slow progress is still progress.
I did the workout as planned. I did my first 100 yards of the 300 yard set without the pull buoy. I grabbed it after the first 100 and used it for the next 200. I also didn't use it for the first or last 100 of the 4X100 sets and I didn't use it at all during the 50s or the 25s.
I was really pleased with myself after swimming 300 yards non-stop. I actually felt like I could have kept going. Maybe it takes a couple hundred yards for me to get in a groove, kinda like that first half mile or so of running. I might try to do 400 yards continuous next time.
I did a total of 1000 yards today. I'm getting better, but I wouldn't say it's getting any easier, or it's getting easier so slowly that I'm not aware of the change.
Next Up: Running tomorrow - I'm planning on interval training, probably similar to last Friday.
I did the workout as planned. I did my first 100 yards of the 300 yard set without the pull buoy. I grabbed it after the first 100 and used it for the next 200. I also didn't use it for the first or last 100 of the 4X100 sets and I didn't use it at all during the 50s or the 25s.
I was really pleased with myself after swimming 300 yards non-stop. I actually felt like I could have kept going. Maybe it takes a couple hundred yards for me to get in a groove, kinda like that first half mile or so of running. I might try to do 400 yards continuous next time.
I did a total of 1000 yards today. I'm getting better, but I wouldn't say it's getting any easier, or it's getting easier so slowly that I'm not aware of the change.
Next Up: Running tomorrow - I'm planning on interval training, probably similar to last Friday.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)