Back to the Track #7

Tardy post on yesterday's track workout.  I had planned to skip track this week, after the excesses of the weekend's race, but since I also skipped my Tuesday tempo for the same reason I decided to join my friend early Wednesday morning for some 1600 repeats at the local high school.  I haven't run 1600s in a while but recall not liking them all that much.  Plan was to go very low 6's in terms of pace with a slow recovery lap in between.  It was just 3x1600 on the agenda....

1. 6:02, with a fast first lap, then settled down - felt OK
2. 6:01, pretty steady splits, definitely had to pick up the effort to close this one on pace
3. 6:02, felt pretty tough from about 1000, was happy there was no #4

Overall not bad, but I definitely didn't like them.  I much prefer 1,200s for some reason.

Today's run was supposed to be my weekly medium long run at 15 miles, but my schedule forced me to split it.  Did the first part this morning.  Took advantage of being in the car dropping the kids at school, so drove to Rancho San Antonio park and ran up a 4 mile hill, turned around and ran back down.  Great run - 8:00-8:50 going up, 6:00-6:50 coming down.

Here's the elevation chart...

Shamrock'n'Half Marathon 2009

This morning it was race day once again.  My first half marathon after surgery where I expected to run fast - I'd run Kaiser 6 weeks ago, but wasn't really trained up and ran an OK 1:29:22. This time I had no excuses, and I was definitely hoping for a PR (previous best is 1:27:25)

Course is advertised as flat, but it has a lot of turns/out and backs etc, the goal was to run under 1:27, and I'd planned to pace at 6:37 minutes/mile, which should bring me in at 1:26:45. 

Weather was good, forecast called for showers (30%) but it was dry at 7:15 when I left the hotel. Shorts, singlet, gloves and hat was the plan, temps in the high 40s/low 50s.

Did a pretty weak warmup and got it line.  I was only 1 row back from the line.  Gun went off and I was over the line within a second.

Mile 1: 6:13 - started fast, lots of faster runners than me!  Didn't feel 6:13 fast though

Mile 2: 6:31 - felt faster than 6:31 - I think the mile 1 marker was a little early. started running with a guy who was aiming for 1:25-1:22 - decided I was running too fast!

Mile 3: 6:35 - this was a straight mile with a little climb - decided to let speedy guy go ahead, which I think was the smartest decision I have ever made in a race (he went on to run a 1:23:24)

Mile 4: 6:35 - this had a turnaround so I could see the leaders, I was 51st at the turn and feeling good

Mile 5: 6:34 - back up the straight and saw the rest of the pack - a reasonable race at 4,000 runners

Mile 6: 6:28 - had a freeway underpass and I flew down, the speed carried me through a fast mile

Mile 7: 6:27 - over halfway.  feeling things but not terrible.  At 6.5 a biker girl called out and told me to drop my arms a bit as I looked really tense.  I focused on running more relaxed, and just staying on course for the next 3 miles.

Mile 8: 6:31 - lots of twists and turns but kept relaxed and on pace.

Mile 9: 6:32 - I caught the guy ahead (he had passed me about mile 4) - we started chatting and he said he was shooting for 1:28.  At this point we were 1 minute ahead of my 1:26:45 plan.  We decided we

 could run together and hold on for big PRs.

Mile 10: 6:38 - this was the final out/back. at the turn we had to climb up 20' and turned back into a headwind by the river.  We put our heads down and pushed thru.

Mile 11: 6:35 - After 1/2 mile we dropped back out of the wind and kept up teh pressure.  We were starting to catch a straggler plus the group of 4-5 ahead of us.  Hurting but we kept each other moving

Mile 12: 6:31 - several turns, one more little climb but moving fast and passed a couple more people

Mile 13: 6:38 - running on fumes at this point.  more twists and then we approach the baseball stadium for the finish

Final .11 - 36 seconds (5:50 pace) - we enter the field and both sprint, catch another guy and it's a race for the line (which I lose).  Crossed the line feeling like I didn't leave a lot in reserve.

Overall 1:25:28 - 6:31 pace

 - a 1:57 PR and 

 - pretty even splits with first half at 42:35, second 42:53

 - an improvement of 3:54 since Kaiser just 6 weeks ago.  

I was 45th out of 4,000 runners

 - which was good enough for 9th in my age group (M40-44)

I was very, very happy with the result.  Pacing was good, and I managed to focus on running relaxed (many thanks to anonymous biker girl) in those tricky miles 7-10, and kept going strong when things got tough about mile 10.

I was hoping to run a 1:25 sometime before Ottawa but I think that I am going to settle with this one - I'll probably do a 10k a couple weeks before the race as a final sanity check but another 10 weeks will have me even fitter so I am feeling that I have a legitimate shot at sub 3.  

Here's some proofs from the race photos - both at the finish - not looking too comfortable.....

Team ASHA 5K

So I ran my 5K this morning.  It was a reasonably small race, on an out/back mostly flat course.  Shared the route with the 10K that started at the same time.  Race was a charity race for Team ASHA, a group that is raising money for education in India.  The runners were very much a community and I wasn't sure how much competetion there was going to be at the pace I was planning.

Weather was perfect, low/mid 40s, partly cloudy and practically no wind.  Got out there and registered, and had time to run a mile or so with some strides to try and lock in pace - Goal was to run 6:06, which should bring me in just under 19 minutes.  Based on recent training, and my goal time for next weekend's half marathon, a sub 19 should be achieveble.  But 5K's pretty much suck and I don't have much experience running them, so it's always a crapshoot.

First half mile included a 20' downhill, followed by a 180 degree turn thru a narrow gate. Not ideal for getting locked on pace.

Race started and we were off.  Started quick and after the crazy sprinters dropped off I was left in 3rd place.  The leader was running the 10k, I wasn't sure about runner #2.  I could hear footsteps behind.  First 1/4 mile was very quick - went by at 5:31 pace!  I consciously slowed, got under control and completed the 1/2 mile in 2:53 (5:46 pace).

Decided I needed to really focus and spend the next mile trying to settle down and run a steady 6:06 thru the turnaround.  Next 2 halves were 3:03 and 3:03, so I was doing OK.  Turnaround comes up right about 1.5 and I turn at 8:57, so it is going to be short, and by quite a bit.  I knew this wasn't a certified race and suspected the distance was going to be off.

Lead guy was still ahead and he sped off to the 10k turnaround, runner #2 turned so I figured I had a race to run.  He was about 20 yards ahead at the turn but he looked worse than I felt, so I picked it up right after the turn.  Caught him pretty quickly and he slowed a little as I passed. I kept teh pressure on and it did the trick - That 1/2 went by in 3:00, but I was pretty much max'd on heartrate and still had a mile to go, and I was now running on my own. (and this was not the sort of race with a police bike to clear the path for you....)

Slowed to 3:06 for the fifth 1/2 mile and was feeling like crap.  I figured that was how 5K's are supposed to feel and managed to keep going OK.  #2 was nowhere near so I knew I had the win, and given the short course knew I had the sub 19.  So I decided I needed to focus on coming in under 6:06 pace.  Managed to finish out in 3:00 for a total time of 18:06 (8:57 out, 9:06 back). Got first place by about 20-30 seconds and the total distance (from Garmin) was 2.98 miles. Pace was 6:04, which I was happy with.  That would have been a 18:53 for a full 5K - which feels about right.

It was the first race I have ever won outright, and it was very cool to run through the finish line ribbon - I suspect that the finish line photo will be terrible as I was trying hard not to throwup. As a bonus, I picked up a prize of $150 in gift certificates for a local running store, (entry was only $25) so not a bad return for 18 minutes work!

After adjusting for short distance, that is a VDOT of 53.25 (for the Daniels' followers out there) - which converts to 1:26:43 for a half.  A big confidence booster as my race plan next week is 6:37 pace, or 1:26:45.

We'll see how it goes........

Tuesday Tempo

It's Tuesday, so it's tempo day again.  Stretching it out a little this week to 7 miles.  Pace goal was a little up in the air as it's been a while since I have run a long tempo.  Decided to aim for 6:30ish but base it on perceived effort (obviously slower uphill and faster down).  Course was my usual tempo, extended a bit.  Overall the net drop was about 60', so a reasonably honest course, especially given the fact that it climbs for the last 2.5 miles.

Chart pretty much shows it all - the effort based approach seems to have worked if you look at the haertrate - climbing slightly towards teh end, so perhaps I should have eased off just a little on the last mile or so.

Overall pace was 6:30 for the seven miles.  I think that may be the quickest that I have ever run 7 miles.  Mind you, I don't run 7 miles fast very often with a 10k only being 6.2 miles.

Happy with the 6:30 pace.  Maybe there is a slight chance I can actually run my half marathon in 12 days at 6:38 pace and get my sub 1:27 result.  I am sure hoping it is the case since I chose a bib number of SUB87 and I will look pretty stupid coming in at 1:31 with that on.

I'm in for the 5k this Sunday.  I'm thinking of trying to run at 6:06 pace, which on an accurate 5k would bring me in at 18:59.  Now I'm sure the course won't be precise and I'm sure I won't be able to hold 6:06 for 3+ miles but I am hoping to get somewhere round about 19.  My best ever for a 5k was a solo time trial on the track (accurate distance, but no-one to run with) at 19:38, so I should be able to better that at the very least.

Weekly Summary

Just finished the week with a great wet and muddy run thru the Presidio in San Francisco.  Started in North Beach and went out thru the marina, Crissy Field and under the Golden Gate bridge out to Baker Beach.  Then back thru the trails in the Preisdio.  A great place to run.

Ended up doing 12.5 even though it was only supposed to be an easy 6 today.

The week went well, except for Saturday which was a struggle.  I had some sort of rib/muscle problem and it hurt when I breathed.  This made for an unpleasant 15 miler w 5 at marathon pace.  The 5 at MP ended up being 4.3 at 7:08, but it sure felt faster than that.  It was like I was only using one lung.  But on today's run everything was back to normal.  Weird.

Tuesday's tempo was short as it was a cutback week, but it was pretty quick at 6:22 pace.  And Thursday's track session of 1,200s was good.  Closed it with 3 medium long runs - a hilly 12 miler on the Los Altos Hills trails on Friday, the 15 w 5at MP on Saturday and the Presidio run today.  With the exception of Saturday's collapsed lung issue I am feeling really strong.  The niggly shin problems seem to have gone, no doubt helped by the soft surfaces in Hawaii and the trails this weekend.  Knees are fine and the achilles seem to be coping well with the increased pace and mileage.

So fingers crossed, things seem to be on track for Ottawa, which is 12 weeks today.

Next week should be high 60's (miles, not degrees) but I may do some shuffling to run a 5k on Sunday.  I'm feeling pretty quick (for me) right now due to the trackwork and I'd like to see how I do in a shorter race.  if I do that, I'll skip my trackwork and to my long run (21 w 3 at HMP) in the week sometime.

February Summary

Feb is done, and it was my first real training month.  Overall successful, witha return to racing and a return to higher mileage.

• Miles: 241.9 - weeks of 54, 53, 71 (in Hawaii), 61
• Long Runs: 15, 16, 17, 18 (5 more 10+)
• Tempos - 4, getting down to 6:22 pace
• Trackwork - twice, getting down to 6x1200 in 4:29
• Runs - 25 on 24 days (4 rest days, 1 double)
• Hills - quite a few towards the end of the month
• Race - Kaiser Half - 1:29:22 (6:49 pace) - OK

March plans call for about 270 miles, long runs up to 21, continued tempos, 1-2 track sessions, a half marathon of 3/15 (goal is sub 1:27!), and maybe a 5k next Sunday.

Back to the Track #6

After a week without any real speedwork in Hawaii, today was trackday.  Early start, but it was at least getting light when I set out, and it wasn't raining.  Headed to the high school track for a planned 6 x 1,200 meters in 4:30, with 90 second walk recovery in between reps.

My warmup for these is usally a couple miles, and I'll throw in about three 100 meter runs at goal pace (round 6:00).  Things felt fine and I lined up for rep #1.  4:30 makes the numbers easy, as it's 45 seconds for every 200 meters, or 1:30 per lap - easy to remember even when you feel like throwing up.  Here's how it went....

1. 4:27 - went out fast as usual - first 200 in 41, settled down and ran on pace for the next 2 1/2 laps feeling pretty good - 87/90/90 laps
2. 4:29 - fast start again at 42 seconds - 88/90/91 laps
3. 4:29 - better start at 43 - laps of 88/90/91 - stomach started to go in last 100 m (checked to see if the bathroom was unlocked for future reference - it wasn't...)
4. 4:30 - 44 for first 200 - laps of 89/91/90 - second lap I was hurting - last lap a definite push - very glad these weren't 1,600s
5. 4:30 - 89/92/89 - last lap was a struggle after a very sloppy lap #2.  considered bagging rep 6 but somehow convinced myself to run it.
6. 4:30 - 91 first lap, 93 second lap and feeling bad.  managed to pull an 86 out of my ass for lap 3 to make the time.  last 200 was in 42 - it was definitely race effort for last 75 meters

Average was 4:29 which I was happy with.  I have never hit more than 4 at 4:30 pace before, even when I was running 100+ miles per week.  Best I ever did before was 4:26, 4:29, 4:29, 4:30, 4:39 and the last one was ugly.  This chart shows the pace, and you can see the dip at the end of rep #6.  

Between now and Ottawa (12 1/2 weeks) I need to get the time for these down another 8 seconds to 4:21, which is 5:50 pace.  So next week it will be aiming for 4:29 again - hopefully I'll be able to hold it together thru at least lap 4 and only have to push hard for 5 and 6.  Then I get a week off speedwork due to the Shamrock Half Marathon.

Hawaii Running

Just ran my last run in Hawaii.  We are flying back to the california rain tomorrow.  It's been great here, sunny and in the 70s everyday - just right for lying by the pool drinking.  A little too hot/humid for running, so it was unfortunate that this week was my first 70+ mile week (according to the schedule...).  Anyway here's how it went.....

• Mon - easy 8 miles at 7:50
• Tue - 11 miles w 20 mins tempo and then 10 mins tempo
• Wed - 7 miles, mostly on the beach (hard sand)
• Thu - 12.5 miles, thru the lava fields west of wailea
• Fri - 7 miles on the beach
• Sat - 8 miles with the last 1.5 miles at 6:50
• Sun - 18 miles - 10 on the roads and 8 on the beach
• Total 71.5 miles

Legs feel OK, a little tired bringing that long run home today.  I think the combination of roads, grass and hard sand may have helped spread the pain around instead of it all hitting one place. Next week is something of a cutback week for mileage, aiming for the mid 50s.  

With just 3 weeks to go until the Shamrock half I need to be picking up the paces slightly.  Trackwork on Thursday should be the next test, more 1200s, hoping to get down around 4:30 this time.

Weekly Summary

Ottawa marathon is 14 weeks tomorrow, things are going Ok so far.  This week was a little compressed as I am flying to Hawaii tomorrow.  That meant squeezing my miles into 5 running days VS the normal 6.  

• Monday - rest
• Tuesday - tempo 5.5 miles at 6:39 - these are coming along nicely
• Wednesday - easy 6 miles w 3 x strides
• Thursday - 6x1,200 at the track in 4:34.  i am hoping these are the big key to getting fast and hitting my half marathon goal in 4 weeks
• Friday - a wet 12.5 miler.  weather forecast was way off and I got drenched, was not dressed for the rain.
• Saturday - 17.5 long run
• Sunday - rest (travel)

So 54 miles in 5 days.  I was feeling a little tired towards the end of this morning's long run.  I think running 12.5 late friday and 17.5 early saturday is not a very good plan.

Next week calls for 7 straight days of running, with over 70 miles.  Should be fun to be doing those in Hawaii.  Forecast is hot (80), humid, windy and chance of showers.  We'll see how good a job I do staying on schedule.  I am not going to do the track work (don't think I am anywhere near a track) but will be doing the tempo and long runs out there.

Back to the Track #5

I always figured that running fast races isn't about the race, it's about the training that goes on for the 6 months leading up to the race.  If that is true then this morning was a key event in my Ottawa race.  I was scheduled for trackwork and I had to be at work for an early meeting.  To fit it in I had to get up in the dark and wet (not my favorite activity).  Woke up 5 minutes after my cutoff to fit it all in, looked at the clock, looked out the window (couldn't see anything, but could hear the rain).  Made the decision to "man up" and go do my workout instead of staying in bed.

Ran to the track thru the rain, thinking "What am I doing this for?".  It didn't help that I stayed up late drinking too much red wine last night with friends.

After a couple miles warmup and some quick 100m strides I was feeling almost human and the rain had stopped and the sky was getting lighter.

Goal was 6 x 1,200meters in 4:33 (6:06 pace) with 90 seconds rest.  This was a little quicker than my last time (4:36 average, plus it was 6x vs 5x).  Here's how it went......

1. 4:34 - lap times were about 91,94,89 - lost focus in lap 2 and couldnt quite make it up in 3
2. 4:34 - similar laptimes - I definitely need to work on that second lap
3. 4:37 - same problem in lap 2 but didnt pick it up for lap 3 - got to nail #4 or this is going to get ugly.
4. 4:33 - nailed it, felt pretty good.
5. 4:35 - again, it got sloppy in lap 2
6. 4:29 - 90,90,89 - solid last rep, but not a lot of fun.

Average was 4:34, which is 6:07 pace (that's a 19:00 5k).  Felt happy with the result and very happy with the decision to get my ass out of bed and do the workout in the first place!

Next trackwork will be probably in two weeks, when I'll see if I can get down to 6x1200 in 4:30.

Weekly Summary

My first real week of marathon training is over.  Officially it is week 3, but the first 2 weeks got messed up by work and the Kaiser half marathon.  No excuses this week!

Here's the plan, and how it turned out...

• Day - Plan - Actual 
  
• Mon - rest - rest
  
• Tue - 5m easy - 5m, started easy, but ended up way too fast at 6:06 pace - 7:30 overall - i'm blaming the guy i ran with
  
• Wed - 12 miles easy - 9 miles easy - didn't feel like doing the full 12
  
• Thu - 7m easy w some strides - skipped due to work, plan to double friday
  
• Fri - 6m tempo, 9 overall - AM 6m at 6:46 8.25m overall - PM 7.5m easy (7:45ish)
  
• Sat - 8 miles easy - 8.5m easy
  
• Sun - long run, 17 miles - 16.5 hilly miles w 3 at marathon pace (6:54 )
  
• Total - 58 miles - 54.3 miles 
  

So a solid week, and the tempo on Friday was pretty good, holding 6:46 with level heartrate for 6 miles.  Next week will be about the same mileage, but on just 5 runs.  I'm resting Monday, and will be flying to Hawaii on the Sunday.

Kaiser Half

So the plan was to get under 1:30, which is 6:52 pace.  There's a pretty generous downhill so that was my buffer, the plan for the rest of the miles was to try and run 6:52 pace.

Here's how it went...

• Got thru the first 5 in 34:15, so about 5 seconds ahead of plan. Felt pretty comfortable
  
• Next 2 included the hill so I flew when I could, and they went by in 13:01, so some money in the bank there. 
  
• Miles 8 and 9 were OK at 6:49 - managed to ge back into a steady rhythm.

Then it got tough....

• Mile 10 6:57 and feeling like crap.  I could see the 1:30 slipping away and realised I needed to pick it up and get back on pace.  
  
• Mile 11 was back to 6:52 but it wasn't pretty and I was having no fun.
  
• Mile 12 and things were really hurting, but somehow managed to hold it together for a 6:58.
  
• Final mile+ .11 includced an uphill.  It was ugly (that picture above was on the final approach at the end of an uphill section - I was feeling even worse than I looked) time was 7:36, which is 6:51 pace - not sure how I did that.
  
• Overall ran 1:29:24 which is 6:49 pace.  Came about 240th out of about 5,000. I was happy with the result and the fact that I ran basically according to plan.  I also now have a real gauge of my fitness so I can fine tune my training paces.

It was about 2 minutes slower than my time at this race last year, so I have my work cut out to get into sub 3 hour shape by the end of May.  Next up: Shamrock'n"Half in mid March - daunting goal of under 1:27.......