Tuneup 10k (5k)

Final tuneup race today.  A flat, certified 10k.  It was hot so I wasn't too sure what I was going to run, so decided to go out at 6:10-6:15 and see how it goes.  

Mile 1 was 6:10 but I was was sweating big time and knew that another 5.2 miles like that was going to be ugly and do nothing to help me in Ottawa next Sunday, so I dialed it way back and ran the next one at 6:25.  Decided at that point, which was conveniently at the 5k turnoff from the 10k, that I wasn't going to get much mental or physical benefit from a 40 minute 10k so turned left to run the 5k, and get out of the heat sooner.

I found I was in second place so picked it up a little to get back on 6:10 pace.  I could see first place ahead and was just doing the math to see if I could get him in the last 3/4 mile when some dufus coming the other way (we had just rejoined the outbound trail and there were lots of slower runners still coming out) jumped out from behind another runner and we collided head on.  I had enough time to get my arms up, he didn't - he definitely got the worst of it (and deservedly so) and I'm not sure if he has got up yet, but I got enough to remove any thoughts of a hero finish to win with a dive at the tape.   Finished in 19:33 (6:15 pace) which was good enough for 2nd.  Winner was 45s ahead, so I wouldn't have caught him anyway. 

10k winner was 36 something so I wouldnt have won that one in any conditions!

So not a great time, but given the weather it was probably the right decision.

and here is the picture......

Catch Up

Been down in sunny Florida so it's time to catch up.

First, a picture of part of a run I did the other day.  For some reason I figured it would be fun to do this.  Apart from getting the "n" backwards it wasn't too bad.

Did my last long run on Sunday - 15-16 with the last 2 at marathon pace (Did them about 6:47).  Felt pretty good, so I'm officially done with that long stuff.

Ran a couple times in Florida - Once at 11pm on the treadmill and once outside around 6pm.  The air conditioning wasn't working in the gym so the treadmill run was worse than outside.  I got off looking as if I'd been in the pool.  It was my first treadmill run and it pretty much sucked, but it beat running at night on concrete in a thunderstorm.

I am planning a couple 10k pace miles today (round about 6:00 pace) in preparation for Sunday's 10k.  Depending on weather and competetion I will either go all out and attempt to get somewhere close to 38 minutes, or just make it a fast tempo and run at 6:15-6:25.  Will decide when the gun goes off.

Other than that it's mostly just easy running for the next 10 days.

Back to the Track #10

Yesterday was my final, pre-Ottawa track workout.  It was time for some 1,200 meter repeats, aiming to do them in 4:21 (5:50 pace).  My last attempt at this a couple weeks ago was not great, with the first one too fast at 4:16 and then failing to hit 4:21 in any of the subsequent attempts.   So after a couple of good training weeks, including a solid 10k time trial I was ready to try again.  

I've technically started my marathon taper so wasn't dead set on doing all 6, but I was determined that all of them would be 4:21 or better!

Had planned to run early am but slept badly and didnt feel like it, so put it off to the late afternoon.  Hit the track about 5:15pm and it was hot, at 78 degrees.  Plus there was a reasonable amount of wind, making the final 100 meter stretch into a headwind.  Not good signs.......

Ran some warmup, with a few 100m sections trying to get on pace - they were 5:14, 5:21, 5:24 so still starting way too fast.  Oh well, better than too slow!  Again, 4:21 means 87 seconds laps, or 43.5 seconds for each 200 meters - Here's how it went.....

1. Started fast again - first 200 in 40, 400 in 84, finished in 4:17.  So pretty much on pace except for that first 200.  Felt OK
2. Fast start again in 40 - finished in 4:18.  still feeling OK
3. 200 in 40 (yes, again...) - finished in 4:20 - feeling the effort and the heat
4. Started a little better (200 in 41) and struggled a little in the middle 400, but closed it out in 4:21

Decided that 4 was enough for today.  I know I could have done #5 in 4:21, but #6 would have probably been hard - don't need to be killing my self within a couple weeks of my race.  Average was 4:19 (5:47 pace), so the 4:21 1,200s are officially checked off my list!

No track next week as I have a final 10k race on the Sunday, and apart form that it's just a couple tempos, some pace running, a few 10-15 milers and easy running to go.  Fingers crossed!

Mountain Running

Pretty crazy elevation chart from today's run in Palm Springs!  Decided to run the 5 miles to the base of the aerial tram at about 6:30am (to get the 8am first tram to the top).  A big climb from 600 to 2,600 feet, with all of the climbing happening in 3.5 miles.  Relentless hill, just goes on and on......  Was ready for a rest by the time I got there.

The tram is awesome, goes up to 8,600' and is way above the valley - the views go on forever.  Plan was to run to the peak of Mount San Jacinto which is 10,600, so anotnher 2,000 feet of climbing.  However, trail conditions were not ideal, and what started as a great trail, went to trail with patches of snow, to snow with patches of trail, to just snow.  After losing the trail, sinking to my knees in icy snow and starting to climb past 9,200 I decided it was not going to be great running, and was likely to get worse.  So I turned around amd ran a couple other trails around the mountain top and got some good climbing in.  

Then it was time to take the tram back down and finish up with a hot 5 mile downhill run.  As I descended to the valley floor it got hotter and hotter - by the time I was back at 600 feet it was 95 degrees and my quads were fried from the downhill miles.  It didn't help that there was a 35 mile an hour tailwind coming down the hill so I was constantly braking to stay under control.

Overall a good run, and after a bunch of gatorade and beer I feel human again!

3 weeks to go - time to start tapering.

Long Long Run

Ottawa is 4 weeks, and next weekend I am in Palm Springs, with a somewhat strange final long run planned (in Mt San Jacinto park at the top of the tram) so today was my last "normal" long run.  I had been scheduled to cut back a little to 16 but decided that I could probably benefit from one last 20+ with some marathon pace miles.  Decided to go with a relatively flat course (down to the bay, flat around the bay, and uphill home) and do about 23 with 10-12 at marathon pace after doing 8 easy.  Weather was good, in the low 50s with aa light wind and sunny.

Fisrt 1.5 miles climbs up into the hills so kept that easy at 8 pace, then got into a stead groove at 7:30 for the next 6.5 miles.  A little fast for the easy part of a marathon paced run but it felt good so I kept it going.  Then I started the MP miles and found 6:50-6:55 comfortably and just clicked off the miles.  It was flat and other than a little wind down by the bay it felt pretty good.  The first 7 miles went by quickly and then it started to head slightly uphill back towards home.  Not a big climb, just about 50'/mile, but enough to make me notice.  At mile 18 (so after 10 fast miles) the trail goes over some freeways so there are bridges.  I went with the bike ramp VS the steps but the uphill portions kicked my butt.  Struggled to keep it in the 6:50's but got thru.  Mile 20 (12 fast) finished at the top of an overpass and I was ready to slow down, so called it a day after 12 at MP.  The last 3 were just a slog home in the low 8s, which to be honest I could have done without.

Overall 23.24 miles at 7:16 pace (with 12 at 6:52), which was way too fast for a training run.  First 20 went by at 7:10 pace, which was about what I ran at Edinburgh last year.  So now I have 4 weeks of final training to go.  I'll do 2-3 tempos, 2-3 track sessions, a 10k final race the week before and the rest will be easy runs (although Palm Springs may end up being a pretty good effort).

So a solid run, at the end of another solid week of training.  Looking back over the last 6 weeks mileage has been 67, 61, 70, 74, 69 and 63 including a fast half marathon, a fast 10k time trial, lots of tempos, lots of hills and 6 long runs from 21-23.  It's been a little compressed and I'm ready to ease off a little as I get close to the race.

Back to the Track #9

After a none too great track session two weeks ago, and a week off from fast running it was track day again.  I decided to skip the intervals this time and instead run a 10k time trial.  Wasn't too sure how fast I could go but based on recent races, and current training level I figured it should be somewhere between 38 and 39 minutes.  I made a simple pace band for 38 minutes and decided to take it from there.  38 minutes for a 10k is 25 laps at 91.2 seconds each, 6:07 minutes/mile.  My last 5k was at 6:04 pace, so 38 flat was stretch.  Weather was good, low 50's, partly cloudy, no wind.  Warmup was 2 miles up to the local college track early in the morning.

Here's the lap times

1. 91.3 - too fast first 200 but eased back sensibly in second 200
   
2. 93.6 - oops, slowed too much
3. 91.2 - back on pace
4. 91.2
5. 92.5 - feeling comfortable, decided to not worry about pace - first 2k in 7:40 = 6:10 pace
6. 92.1
7. 92.5
8. 92.7
9. 94.2 - lost focus a little thinking about upcoming 2k split time
10. 93.5 - second 2k in 7:45 = 6:14 pace
11. 93.3
12. 92.7
13. 91.8  - pushed a little thru the 5k mark, halfway thru this was 5K, in 19:16 - 6:12 pace
14. 94.1 - feeling it a little and slowed to keep effort level pretty flat
15. 94.7 - third 2k in 7:46 = 6:15 pace
16. 94.7
17. 94.3
18. 94.1
19. 94.3 - 94s feeling pretty comfortable, probably easier than this stage of a 10k should be
20. 93.5 - fourth 2k in 7:51 = 6:19 pace
21. 93.0
22. 93.3
23. 93.8
24. 93.5 - feeling good, time to kick for that final lap
25. 82.9 - last lap 5:33 pace! - fifth 2k in 7:37 = 6:08 pace, second 5k was 19:22

Overall time was 38:38, 6:13 pace - first time I've gone under 40 for a 10k.  average heartrate was 169, which is a little lower than I'd expect for a 10k race (last 2 have been at least 172) so that shows that it wasn't a 100% all out race effort.  I only pushed hard for the last lap, the rest was a solid hard pace (definitely above tempo pace), but I never felt that I was on the edge.  Race calculators show this is pretty much the exact equivalent to my recent half marathon time, which I still suspect was a slightly short course., so I am happy with that. 

In a 10k race I think I could have gone a little faster than today given some good competetion and a good, honest course - just by pushing my HR to 172 vs 169 should have got me down to about 38 flat.  I have a 10k race planned the week before Ottawa, but it is not certified and competetion could be light around 38 pace, so we'll see if I can go 37:xx at that.

This is a Daniels' VDOT of 54.1, which is about where I thought I was. I had hoped to be closer to 55 (10k = 38:06) at this point in my training, but I still have a little ways to go before I'm there (which I knew from the trouble I had during the last track session, which was at VDOT 55 paces).  I'm pretty sure I can push it to 55 by Ottawa.  

A VDOT of 55 has a marathon predicted time of 2:56:01.  However, my research shows that most people underperform in the marathon by about 2 VDOTs (depending on training mileage, and ability to hold it together in a long race) which puts me at about a 3:01:40.  So sub 3 at Ottawa is going to be a real goal for me but certainly not easy.  A PR (current best 3:06) should definitely be on the cards if I don't blow up shooting for 2:59:59.

31 days to go......

Desert Miles

After some time in Virginia, I am now just outside Phoenix, so it was time for some desert running.  Plan was to run East to McDowell Mountain Park, and then back.  Wasn't too sure there was actually a trail between the end of the road and the park but decided to try it out instead of running the longer route round the other roads.  Weather wasn't too bad for Phoenix, probably only about 70 at 9am. 

The part by the arrow in the map was my only problem when I got "off" the trail.  There were a number of "trails" but most of them were overgrown with these razor sharp bushes, so I shredded my legs.  Once I got back on track I was fine, although I must have looked pretty scary with blood pouring down my legs running thru the desert.

Route was mostly good trails, although occasionally the footing was a little soft as it was a "wash" which is apparently where the water runs when it runs twice a year here in the desert.  

Ran 11 miles out, bought a Snickers bar, refilled my water and ran back.  700' drop going out so a 700' climb coming back.  Saw wild horses, hawks, lizards and a scorpion - no rattelsnakes.  A few hikers near the camp in the park, some horseback riders and a group of mountain bikers who passed me only to then drag their lazy asses so slowly up the hill that I ran past all of them.

22 miles overall at 8:02 pace, which given the heat, the elevation change and the time spent ripping myself to pieces on evil-cactus-bush things, not too bad!

Hotter tommorow (mid 80s, and hotter again Sunday high 90s) so we'll see how those runs go.

Jamestown Run

Staying out in Virginia right now, so yesterday's long run was uncharted territories.  Route was from Williamsburg, to historic Jamestown Island and back.  No real hills, just 25' rolling roads.  Weather was good (50's and sunny, with a medium wind - tailwind out, headwind back).

Started OK and settled quickly into a 7:30-7:35 pace.  Found water at 7 miles, so no repeat of last Sunday's dehydarting deathmarch.  Miles 8-15 were round Jamestown Island which was very nice.  Got to 10 miles in 75 minutes, then did 4 marathon pace miles at 6:47.  Water again about mile 14 then back into the wind.

For some reason it didn't feel too bad so I kept things moving about 7:20-7:25 pace.  Ran the final mile again at race pace (6:46) and finished up just under 22 miles at 7:22 pace overall.  If I'd kept going for another 4.5 miles at the same pace it would have been a 3:13 marathon, and that wouldn't have been a big problem to finish.

Given that is only 7 minutes off my Edinburgh time, I'm thinking that I am in pretty good shape.  Course was similar in elevation profile to how it looks for Ottawa, so that is encouraging.

Rest today, then tempo Tuesday, easy Wednesday and then we are off to Phoenix for some hot desert running.

Back to the Track #8

After 6 weeks without any trackwork, it was time to get back today and run some 1200s.  Chanage of location: now that the highschool has started doing their trackwork in the mornings I relocated to the local college.  It's just over 2 miles away and a pretty nice track.

Last time I ran 1200s I was doing them in 4:29 (6:01 pace).  This week the plan was 4:21 (5:50 pace) - A big step up in pace.  My recent 5k and half marathon showed that I am getting fitter and I have a pretty agressive training schedule.  This is Daniels' VDOT 55 for those of you that speak Daniels.  My half was 54.25, so this was a bit of stretch but the last few weeks have gone well, and my tempo runs have been pretty good.

4:21 means 87 seconds per lap, which doesn't seem that much faster than the 89-90 that I ran last time....  Here's how it went:

1. first lap 80!  man, that was fast.  finished in 4:16 (5:43 pace). I am gonna pay for that I know
2. payback time - struggled big time to run a 4:23, so decided to stretch the recovery from 90 seconds to 3 minutes
3. 4:26 - ugly, ugly, ugly
4. determined to get this one back on track, I started OK but slowed and gave up at 800m in 2:58.   decided to jog a couple laps and see if I could recover and salvage the workout.
5. Decided I would do 4:24 or better.  ran a 4:23
6. Decided I would finally run a 4:21, but failed and ran a 4:25, which included having to sprint the last 150 meters.

Overall it averages 4:23 but it was pretty much a mess.  I guess the 8 second jump was a little big after not doing track for 6 weeks, and the first lap was just suicide.  Next time I hope with a little more smarts I can run them in 4:21.  The goal before Ottawa is to get down to 6x1200 in 4:18, so I have some work ahead of me.

Then late this afternoon, just for grins I ran my second run of the day as I skipped yesterday.  It was a hilly 15 miler out on the trails.  A great run, although I started to get tired on the last mile.

Rest of the week has been OK:

Monday was a recovery 5, Tuesday I skipped and Wednesday was a great tempo in the morning (7 miles at 6:27, including my first ever sub 40 minute 10k) and a second run of 9 miles of hills in the evening.  Off tomorrow as I am travelling to Virginia, and then a 20 miler somewhere in Virginia is on the schedule for Sunday.  So it'll be high 60s for teh week, with 60+ coming on just 3 days.  Not smart, but that's how it happened.

Water is a Good Thing!

Inadvertantly tested my ability to run while being totally dehydrated today (short answer: it is not one of my big strengths).  Did a long run with my running buddy - we got dropped off about 22 miles away and then ran home.  It was hot (low 80's) and the route we chose was pretty much exposed, dusty and for the last 10 miles, into a headwind.  In all, pretty spectacular planning on our part!

Started fast, feeling good, had a few sips of water at mile 3 from a fountain.  Then kept going reasonably fast, but found no more water until mile 13.5.  By then we were completely dried up - no longer sweating.  So the combination of no water, heat, wind, and a 1:40 half marathon, left us feeling pretty crappy.  So after drinking way too much water we set off again, now running into a headwind.  The next 5 miles sucked, it was on the road, hot & windy, a boring route by the freeway, and of course, there was no water.

At mile 18.5 it became a deathmarch home - running from water fountain to water fountain, but by then the damage was done, and no matter how much we drank it was all messed up.

Finished at exactly 23 miles in exactly 3 hours.  So not too bad, but certainly a lesson in hydration for me.  Took me a good 45 minutes and about 53 gallons of gatorade to start feeling normal again.

Rest of the week was good, with a tempo-ish kinda run and some good hills on Friday.  Total was over 74 miles, which is my highest since last July.

Next week should be mid 60's but it's a little weird as we are off to Virginia on Saturday, so I need to run my long run out there somewhere.  

Running Plans

Been thinking forward on the running plan front and this is what I have come up with for teh next 3 years....

Running the 5 marathon majors.  These are the "big 5" marathons, and my running buddy and I decided it would be good to run all 5 over the next 2-3 years, so here's the schedule

2009 - Chicago (October)

2010 - Boston (April), Berlin (September)

2011 - London (April), New York (November)

I have signed up for Chicago, and got a spot in corral A based on my half time of 1:25 and full time of 3:06.  Assuming the weather cooperates it is a fast course, so a good time is possible.  I'll set my goal after Ottawa.

I think my Edinburgh time from 2008 will still get me into Boston 2010, and if not I should get a sub 3:20 at Ottawa or Chicago.  Boston isn't the fastest course, but I would want to run it as fast as possible just because it's Boston.

Berlin seems very easy to get into to (you just signup) and they have a well organized corral system so I should be able to run a good time there.  Last year over 1,400 runners ran under 3 hours!  Current world record was run at Berlin.

London has something called "Good for Age", which is open to British people.  As a 40-50 year old my time only needs to be under 3:15, so that should be easy enough.  If the good for age thing doesn't work out I can buy my way in as a foreigner, although not sure what sort of start corral I get that way.  It is also a fast course, so I'd definitely make this one a big effort if I can get a good starting position.

And the finale in New York has guarenteed entry for either sub 3:10 or sub 1:30 half.  Both of which I have run and hope to be able to repeat within the New York entry window for 2011. Course isn't all that fast, and hopefully by then I will have hit all my marathon time goals in the earlier races.

I'll be weaving in a bunch of smaller races in between but will worry about those closer to the time.  I have worked through the plan between Ottawa and Chicago, which is 20 weeks.  I'll take 5 weeks to recover and just run easy miles, then I have a 15 week schedule roughed out.  I'll run the 2nd half of the San Francisco marathon at the end of July and a local 10K 2 weeks before Chicago. 

So that is the 3 year plan - I'll be 46 by the time it's over and probably be too decrepid to run anymore.

Happy 3rd Running Anniversary to Me!

Today is the 3 year anniversary of when I started running.  I was 40 years old and had finally realized that a combination of crappy diet and zero exercise was probably not so smart, and that being blessed with a high metabolism that kept me relatively slim wasn't going to be enough.  So on April 2nd 2006, after telling all my friends, family & colleagues that I would run the Honolulu marathon for charity in December, I ran/walked for 3 miles at a blistering and exhausting 10:55 pace.  I hadn't intended to walk at all but after 3/4 mile I was unable to run any more.  

Roll forward 3 years and I recently ran a race which was about the same distance as that first adventure in just over 18 minutes (6:04 pace).  Amazing the difference a little exercise can make. I still have the GPS track for that first run and I run that some route occasionally just for fun .  Man, was I out of shape back then!

I had peaked in weight at 169 lbs before starting running, and am currently about 20 pounds under that, although I dipped to 143 when at the height of training last July.  Blood pressure is down, as is heartrate (I have never measured my resting heartrate, so not sure what it is but now I often see HRs in the 50's when I put my garmin on).

My cholesterol, which was one of the reasons I started running is way down.  Pre-running I peaked at 265, with bad cholesterol hitting a pretty scary 186 (recommended value is under 130).  Last year total cholesteroal was 221, with bad being way down to 123 (Good cholesterol is now up to 88).  I have another test next month and I am hoping that the last year of running will result in even better results.

Mileage-wise the last three years have been 1,250 followed by 1,900 and then 2,350.  If I can manage to run a full 12 months without injury I expect to break 3,000 in the next year.

I also expect my race times to continue to improve for a while, but obviously not in a linear fashion.  My first ever race was a half marathon, which I ran in 1:51 (8:31 pace).  I recently ran a half in 1:25 (6:31 pace), which was exactly 2 minutes/mile faster.  It would be awesome to trim 2 more minutes/mile from my pace but it's a little unlikely that I am running 4:31 pace for a 59 minute half marathon anytime soon.

So after 3 years I am more into running than ever, and what was initially an activity to get in shape is now truly an everyday part of my life.