October 2008 Archives

Run: 5.0 miles - Pace: 9:04/mi - Week: 19.43 miles - Total: 751.69 miles

Race pace for 5 miles, and I managed to stay 5 second per mile under that pace. It wasn't easy, though. It was kind of depressing to see myself 200 feet behind my electronic pacer after the first walk break. By the end, I wasn't quite to the point where I didn't fall behind with walk breaks, but I was pretty close. Hopefully, in the half, I'll find myself solidly ahead of the pacer at 6 miles, allowing me to fall behind if I happen to.

Since I can, here are the splits:

Mile 1 - 9:00
Mile 2 - 9:09
Mile 3 - 9:04
Mile 4 - 8:58
Mile 5 - 9:07

I felt better after the first mile, and didn't feel like I had to work as hard being warmed up, but that could have been the slightly slower pace. :) Actually, using the pacer kept me within 11 seconds on every mile, which is pretty awesome. Tomorrow, 10 miles at 10:30/mi pace. Eek.

Run: 3.0 miles - Pace: 9:37/mi - Week: 14.43 miles - Total: 746.68 miles

Nice little training run today. I set the pacer for a 9:45 pace and went from there. The first mile did not feel very easy, though I now know that it is the only mile that is mainly uphill for this route. After I got warmed up I settled into the pace nicely. I didn't have to stop for traffic and found the pacer to be quite nice. Blister seemed ok, it was mostly just calf soreness from yesterday. That's ok, tomorrow's a day off.

For the 5mi pace run, I think I will go with the walk breaks, though perhaps only 30-45 seconds. It'll be interesting to see what it's like pacing with this garmin feature with walk breaks. For the 10mi long run, I'm thinking about trying a 10:30 pace. The McMillan calc puts me at 9:21-10:21 for the long runs, but I know that's too fast for my current fitness level. Those last long runs before the half were at 11:00 and 10:46, so hopefully I can pull this off well. If I'm gonna be able to hit that 2 hour goal, I've got to train at faster paces. It just makes the runs suck a little more. :)

Run: 6.5 miles - Pace: 9:25/mi - Week: 11.43 miles - Total: 743.68 miles

Hard workout today. 9x400m intervals at 5K pace. Thanks to the Garmin, I was able to just do this outside. I ran a mile to a nice relatively flat area to do the 400m repeats and then got to work. It was nice that it told me when I needed to speed up or slow down, but it got on my nerves late in the workout as I had to strive harder. :)

Here are the paces per mile for the repeats, I went easy then hard:

#1 - 10:54, 7:41

#2 - 10:12, 7:30

#3 - 10:01, 7:41

#4 - 10:07, 7:44

#5 - 10:14, 7:29

#6 - 10:27, 7:33

#7 - 10:13, 7:37

#8 - 10:17, 7:41

#9 - 10:24, 7:29

What's remarkable is that those paces don't reflect how much harder the last 3 were compared to the first six. I probably shouldn't have jumped in with such a hard workout, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow. I used body glide on the toe, and it held up pretty well, though there was still some damage.

Boy, that was hard, but I love my Garmin.

Run: 4.93 miles - Pace: 9:28/mi - Week: 4.93 miles - Total: 737.18 miles

Several things to note about this run. First, I used the McMillan calc to determine what an 'easy' pace should be for me based on my 5K. The range was 9:21-9:51/mi, so I thought I'd shoot for 9:30. That ended up being on the fast side, but I think 9:40-9:50 should be quite comfortable.

Second, I used the little Garmin 'pacer' feature (I don't know what it's called). Basically, all the data I had, aside from brief mile splits, was a graphical representation of me vs. my pacer and an update on how far ahead or behind him I was in feet. It was pretty cool. Instead of wondering how long until the next mile, I was simply trying to maintain my pace. The downside was that when I got stopped for maybe 20 seconds at an intersection, and watched my pacer go from 80ft behind me to 230ft ahead. I'll have to use the auto-pause feature.

Third, I've cut out run breaks. I want to see if I can keep these weekly runs without them and only use them for long runs. Hopefully that'll help build a little extra endurance.

Fourth, I'm still having toe trouble. I used a special bandage that wasn't quite large enough. The end result was that more of the blister/callus got peeled back. I washed it, used hydrogen peroxide several times, and then added some neosporin before applying a band aid. Next time I'll just use body glide and forgo any bandage.

Finally, I'm still not quite healthy. My legs are good, but I end up coughing quite a bit after the run. Hopefully this will get cleared up by the end of the week.

Run: 4.0 miles - Pace: 9:16/mi - Week: 4.0 miles - Total: 732.25 miles

Too fast a run today. Legs just felt a little weak, but otherwise not bad. Blister was ok through 3 miles, but started hurting on the 4th. Still hurts as I walk around. An odd point, my right arch feels a bit off walking around as well. Hopefully that'll clear up easily.

Yes, I'm considering the Gobbler Grind Half on Nov 23. It'll depend on how quickly I can get back into things. I'll train pretty hard these few weeks in order to try to knock down that time to sub-2. It's possible, especially since the course will be a bit easier and I'll (hopefully) be more healthy. Still, it's going to be tough and I hope that I can hold through another month+ of difficult training.

Time: 2:04:30 - Pace: 9:30/mi - Overall: 1455/3492 - AG: 154/247

Well, some background first. I was feeling great on Wednesday. I just passed my recital hearing and training went well, so I was really excited about this race. Then came Thursday. I woke up with a cold and wasn't feeling so great. Then I barely slept through the night and could hardly get off the couch on Friday. But I had trained too hard (and spent too much on the registration), and had too many people who knew I was running not to, so I went for it anyway. I felt better this morning, but still had a bit of a cough. Ok, enough background. Here's me before the race.

Notice the naive happiness. Now onto the splits.

Mile 1: 9:53 - Feeling great!
Mile 2: 9:03 - A little downhill
Mile 3: 10:02 - Liberty Memorial Hill sucks!
Mile 4: 8:53 - Trying to catch my 2:00 pacer
Mile 5: 8:23 - Too fast, left big toe really hurting
Mile 6: 8:58 - Crash eminent, revising goal
Mile 7: 9:52 - Lots of abdominal pain
Mile 8: 9:31 - Looking back, I don't know how I managed this split
Mile 9: 9:58 - So, that long gradual hill that didn't seem too bad, was
Mile 10: 10:02 - Hill still sucks, definitely want to quite
Mile 11: 9:42 - Downhill, but am really having a hard time
Miles 12-13: 19:21 - Forgot to push the lap button
Last .1: 0:49 - Actually managed a kick, 7:20/mi

Me bookin' into the the finish:

That was easily the hardest thing I've ever done. The sickness just zapped my energy and I really struggled from mile 6 on. I also got a nasty, nasty blood blister under my big left toe. I knew it would be bad, but it still shocked me when I first saw it. The best part was that we had to walk nearly a mile from the finish to the start. Oh, and the finish sucked. I had to wait in line about 10 minutes until I finally got some carbs and water, which I was in desperate need of.

Still, I was proud of my time given the conditions and tough course. I felt horrible afterwards, but after some pizza and a nap, I was already replaying it in my mind and thinking about next time. It was cool running with so many other people, and can't wait to try again when I'm feeling better. I am thinking, though, that maybe I should only race these occasionally and run them slower so that I can enjoy them more often.

As always, a big, big thank you goes to Carrie for getting up way too freakin' early just to come watch me run in 40° weather. She rules! I'll also post more race pictures once them come online.

So when can I do this again?

Run: 3.0 miles - Pace: 9:38/mi - Week: 7.0 miles - Total: 715.25 miles

First Garmin run, last run before the half. Boy the Garmin is cooooool! Now I just gotta find a program that'll allow for easy blog export. :)

Ok, so I did a 3-mile run, with a 10-minute warm-up, 10-minute race pace, and then the rest for a cool down. The splits were: 10:10, 9:06, 9:37. I pretty much nailed the race pace, and it felt pretty good. So here's hoping for Saturday!

Run: 4.0 miles - Pace: 10:28/mi - Week: 4.0 - Total: 712.25 miles

Easy run today, and I had a hard time keeping it that way. I kept wanting to push the pace. In the end, even with 70 degree weather, I barely broke a sweat. Still, the calves did not feel very fresh and my left knee felt a bit odd. I'll take a cold bath to help with recovery and am going to continue to ice where needed. I can't wait for Saturday.

Run: 12.4 miles - Pace: 10:46/mi - Week: 23.9 miles - Total: 708.25 miles

Oops, I overran this one a little bit. I've only done this route a couple of times, and I ended up going about 3 blocks too far. This route is also really tough because there are lots of hills. Lots. And Lots. I figured this would be pretty good prep for next week because there are a couple of tough hills, but I don't think nearly this many or this difficult. So next week should be no problem, right? He he.

Not sure what else to say. The first mile was rough, but I felt like I settled into a nice pace in the second mile. Once I got to about mile 7 or so things were getting hard, and the last couple of miles were pretty brutal. It doesn't help that the hardest stretch of hills comes in mile 11. At least the half will be downhill from 10 on. I noticed some trouble in my hamstrings. They felt like they wanted to cramp up every now and then, but they never gave me too much trouble. The right ankle felt a little awkward at times as well, so I won't be playing any Tom Johnson next week. :)

Oh, I didn't have the sport beans, so I had minimal breakfast and no support on the course. I did ok without them, but there were a couple of times where I think they would have helped. Well, less than a week left.

Run: 6.5 miles - Pace: 9:33/mi - Week: 11.5 miles - Total: 695.85

Nice run today, though I had to push it a bit to maintain that pace in the last 2 miles. A 2-hour half is a 9:09 pace, so today I was 24 sec/mi off the pace. Not too bad. I still worry about hitting the time goal, but I also know that I can run a 6.2 mile race in just under 51:00, or 8:12/mi, and that was 3 months ago. I should be in better shape than that, now. We'll see...

Run: 5.0 miles - Pace: 9:24/mi - Week: 5.0 miles - 689.35 miles

Good training run this morning, even if it was pouring rain around mile 2. Ugh. Everything felt strong, so the extra day of rest must have paid off. I'll need it to get through this week. 6.5 tomorrow, then 3 miles at race pace on Fri, 12 mile long run Saturday. I can't believe that it's just over a week away.

Run: 11.0 miles - Pace: 11:01/mi - Week: 26.73 miles - Total: 684.35

No more Nike+, I'm afraid. The sensor in my shoe seems to have died sometime between yesterday's run and the start of today's. So I just used the stopwatch.

Overall, I felt really good about this run. I was worried, though, at the start. Yesterday's run left me feeling sore by the evening, and I knew I wouldn't even have a full 24 hours to recover before this run. I did some extra stretching last night and tried to keep hydrated as well as I could.

Still, the first 3 miles or so did not feel good. Usually you kind of want those miles to feel painfully slow and easy, instead they were just painful. I found a nice pace after a while, though, and was pleased with how I managed the first big hill coming up from Brush Creek. I walked a minute every 12 minutes, knowing that for these long runs I usually average over 11 minute miles. I ate a pack of sport bean before leaving and took another pack with me for the run. I ate about half of them before I didn't really want them anymore. I think I'll still take them next week, but maybe just eat a couple when I feel like it, rather than trying to eat on some schedule.

The last two miles or so (I can't be exactly sure), went really well. I had to go up a long incline from state line over to Belinder, and then had to ascend a rather steep portion of Belinder. Still, I was able to attack that last steep incline and push all the way to the end. I ended up finishing about 5 minutes faster than I expected to, which is good. Makes me think that with fresh legs I just might be able to break 2 hours. Nothing really to report pain-wise, so we'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow.

Run: 5.0 miles* - Pace: 9:04/mi* - Week: 15.73 miles - Total: 673.35 miles

5 Mile pace run today, and I did pretty well. I'll be shooting for 9:10/mi, so this was much closer to the pace than my previous attempts. I'm still surprised how hard this is, and can't believe that I'll be able to do this for another 8 miles. Again, today I ran under bad conditions. It was late in the day, relatively warm at 72°, I was not well hydrated, and had slept about 9 hours in the past two days. All in all, perfect conditions for a run. :)

Now onto 11 miles for tomorrow. :(

Run: 5.0 miles* - Pace: 9:12/mi* - Week: 10.91 miles - Total: 668.53 miles

One day I'll slow down a bit. This is just about right on race pace and it felt good for 4.5 miles. I did, however, run my usual 5 mile route backwards, which was interesting, and it also meant that instead of mostly downhill for the last mile, I had a fairly significant uphill. At 4.5 miles my legs felt like lead, as though the energy just left them entirely. Granted, I was running at an odd time and didn't bother eating beforehand, so that could be it. Also, I was definitely not running on fresh legs. Still, it is concerning that 5 miles at that pace is pretty rough. We'll see how things go on Friday.