2007 Recap

It's the end of the year, and time for an annual running recap....

Original Goals
Starting the year the goal was to get more organised about training, run half marathons for 6-7 months (getting down to sub 1:40) and then train for and run a "well-under-4-hour" marathon in December.

Faster than planned progress on the half times had that goal change from 1:40 to 1:35 and eventually 1:30.

Injury had the marathon goal pushed to 2008.

The Miles
Mileage for the year was 1,507, with 3 distinct phases:
1) Jan-May. ramping the miles until achilles tendon problems started.
2) Jun-Aug. very little running, deep water running in the pool. misery
3) Sep-Dec. recovery and rebuilding.

Here's the chart of monthly miles (blue is pool running)

The Races

10 races in 2007, every one of them was a new personal best (PB) for me. It is good to be new to running, since improvement comes fairly easily with a little training effort. I am hoping that trend continues for a few more years.

Here's the 2006 and 2007 PBs for distances from 5k to a full marathon... I'm most proud of my 1:29:56 in the half.

The Analysis
I have data and trending for pretty much everything, but the key is really the relationship between speed and heartrate. As you get fitter you can run faster at a given heartrate. If I trend heartrate/speed for my races there is a steady decline. Using that I can project my future performances and see if I am on track to meet them.

Here's the trending for 2007 (bubble size indicates the length of the run, blue line is 3 week trailing average)... Excepting the injury phase, it shows a pretty steady decline from 22ish to 19ish
















Overall it was a very successful year for me - I end 2007 way stronger, fitter, faster and smarter (at least about running) than I started it. I went from running 40 miles per week to running over 60, and from 5 days/week to everyday. The achilles injury really changed everything. I realised that it is very easy to push too hard (especially up hills), and that I am not 20 anymore. I've learned a lot about what my body can, and can't put up with - ice has become my friend, stretching is now something that I do everyday. I also learned that it's OK to push thru extreme discomfort when racing, but probably not so smart to do that every day in training.

I'll publish my 2008 goals tomorrow

Weekly Summary

Just finished the last full week of 2007.

A planned cutback week at just 42 miles. And, shock horror, I took an unplanned day off running!!! Day after Christmas I decided to just hang with the family playing on the kids Nintendo Wii and goofing off.

Despite the incredible laziness of missing a whole training day, I did not collapse, my legs didn't fall off and I don't appear to be any slower. So maybe I got away with it just this once.

Following Fridays time trail excesses it was an easy 8 this morning and an easy 10 yesterday. These were a little longer than planned as I felt I should make up some of the missed miles from Wednesday.

I will finish off the year with an easy, easy 5 miler tomorrow and then it's off to hopefully a big start for 2008 with a 10k race.

5k Time Trial

Friday again, which means race pace miles. Today's goal was to run a 5k up at the high school track. The pace was to be the goal pace for next week's 10k. If I can't run a 5k at 6:25 pace I am unlikely to run a 10k at 6:25 pace.

5k is 12.5 laps of the track. 6:25 pace is 19:56 for 5k, or 1:35.7 per lap. I planned to run 96 second laps. My previous fastest 5k was 20:38 (6:38 pace) so this was a big jump - but I am way fitter than I was when I last ran a 5k.

Weather was pretty much perfect for a fast run: Cloudy, no wind, cool. Warmed up for 1.5 miles, including a few sprints to get the legs moving.

Lap 1: 88 sec (that's 5:54 pace) - way too fast
Lap 2: 92 sec - still too fast
Lap 3: 95 sec - more like it
Lap 4: 93 sec - uh-oh, speeding up again
...went thru the first 1600 in 6:08
...and the first mile in 6:10, my fastest mile ever

Lap 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 were all 95-96 seconds
...so I had found my 6:25 pace

Lap 12.5 - kicked it in 43 sec (5:46 pace - ouch!)

Overall Time 19:38, 6:19 pace.

It wasn't a flat out effort (although the last half mile was), and running those second and third miles at 6:25 seemed OK on the track. Could have probably run 6:25 further (especially if I'd started on pace).

So where does this leave me in terms of readiness for a sub 40 minute 10K?
McMillan running calculator shows a 19:38 is equivalent to a 40:47 (which would be a 56 second PR for me). A 40:00 10K would be equivalent to a 19:15 5k (6:12 pace). My all out 5k in a race should be faster than 19:38, but probably not as low as 19:15.

So that means on a good course, and a good day, with a good performance I should be able to go under 40:47, and if things went perfectly raceday adrenalin may get me down close to 40 minutes. Getting under 40 will require some significant planet alignment next Tuesday (especially given the fact that it is not a fast course - has some rocky parts, and is usually windy).

So I will go for it. Try to get through the 5k mark in 20 minutes with good pacing, and then spend the second half trying to catch the people who are ahead of me, or if things aren't going so well, spend it trying to stay ahead of the people behind me.

Christmas Tempo

Merry Chrsitmas! After a morning of festive fun (think I pulled a muscle playing with the kids new Nintendo Wii) I set out for a quick 20 minute/3mile tempo. 1 mile warmup, 3 miles at 6:44 (true tempopace) and then a mile or so back home.

A gorgeous day, probably low 60's - I think Al gore is on to something.

The course goes uphill (100') for 1.25 miles and then back down over the next 1.75. Run up a little too fast and the whole 3 miles feels a little hard. Time was 6:45 so I was pretty much on track. 5.2 miles overall.

Yesterday was a very pedestrian 5 mile recovery run at 8:33 pace, just undoing all the damage done by Sunday's long run. Wednesday and Thursday are 6 and 7 milers at easy pace. Friday is my no-fun pace day; trying a 5k at 6:25 pace (19:55) which is gonna suck. Easy 10 Saturday and easy 6 Sunday for a short week of about 44.

Suffering Sunday

I'm beginning to realise that all those numbers in my running schedule may look good in excel, but each one of them actually needs to be run. And the cells that contain big numbers take some considerable time and effort. Today's number was 19. And not just a simple 19, a 19 followed by 9FM, which means the final 9 miles are to be run at marathon pace.

So off I go, hoping for 10 miles at about 8-8:15 minute pace, and then 9 miles at 7:09 pace. Weather is perfect (sunny, no wind, 50 degrees), the course has some hills, 1 big one thru mile 9 and another thru mile 13, so one slow and one fast.

First 10 go by fine and I'm thru the slow part (10.3 miles at 8:01 pace) and it's time to pick it up. First 1.5 miles are easy to run in the low 7's as they are slightly downhill/flat. Then it climbs back up to 400' and as I try to keep the effort up I can feel my heartrate climbing fast (jumps from 155 to 165 pretty much instantly). As I reach the top I'm running slow at 7:45 (36 seconds off pace) which is aboout right for a big hill. I keep the effort level and pretty soon I'm running around 6:40-6:50 as it flattens and starts downhill. Take another gel and some water down the hill (which is not easy when running fast) and then try to keep things on track for the 5 miles home.

Manage to hold sub 7 thru about 16 miles and then I have an uphill mile; not huge, but steady and I was slowed right down to 7:30 pace. A tough mile! As it flattened out I picked it up again and finished fast with a 7:05 mile. Total was 18.76 miles in 2:23:18 (7:38 pace) - 10.3 at 8:01 and 8.46 at 7:11.

Felt good to running around 7 minute pace after almost 19 miles. Now all I need to do is add a 7.45 mile run at 7:38 pace to the end of that and I've run my Boston qualifying marathon.

Here's the elevation, heartrate and split paces.....

With an easy 8 yesterday my weekly total was just over 63 miles. My first time ever North of 60 and I'm feeling pretty strong. It's now time for an easy cutback week with just 44 miles planned (although it contains a sub 20 minute 5k pace run at the track on Thursday) as I prepare myself for my super-stretch-aint-gonna-happen-no-way-in-hell goal of sub 40 minutes for a 10k on New Year's Day.

Funless Friday

Friday already - which has become the reality check day for my aggressive race goals. All the other days are fine; the increased mileage, the faster/longer tempo runs, the marathon pace long runs. but this 10k race pace stuff is killing me.

Plan was 2x2miles at 6:25 pace. Did 1x2miles last week and it was horrible.

1-1.5mile warmup and then I eventually decided I had to start. Focused on settling down into a steady pace and tried to keep things controlled. First mile went by in 6:26 and it wasn't too bad. Picked things up a step in the second mile and ran a 6:21. So 12:47 for the 2 miles. That last half mile wasn't nice, but it wasn't horrible - definitely better than last week.

Walked/jogged for 4 minutes and then it was time to go again. Within half a mile I was hurting, and off pace (6:32ish). I knew right then that a 10k at this pace is unlikely to happen in 10 days and considered bagging the workout. However, I thought back to all that crappy time spent pool running in the summer and decided I could manage another 10 minutes of pain. Picked it up a bit and finsihed the 3rd mile in 6:24. Not feeling very good though. Mile 4 was zero fun (none of that runner's high people talk about). First half was just tough but the last half mile was pretty much a sprint effort - hurt more than anything I've run recently. I don't think I could have gone much quicker if I was running for a medal. But the last mile was my fastest at 6:21, with the second half being at 6:13 pace. 12:46 for the 2 miles.

So on paper, a successful workout - hit both 2mile times, and got faster throughout the workout. But the thought of 6.2 miles without any rest gaps is pretty daunting, and to be honest I don't think I'm ready for a sub 40 minute 10k. I'll try to run a sub 20 minute 5k (3.1 miles) next Friday at the school track, which I think I can manage, but doing that twice on raceday will be an adventure.

SF running

Stayed in San Francisco last night, so got do this morning's early run up there. Ran from North Beach, out to the Golden Gate bridge and back. A beautiful, crisp, sunny morning for a comfortable 8 minute pace 8 miler.

It's back to the streets of Los Altos tomorrow morning for 10k pace work, which I am already not looking forward to.

Midweek Update

Quick update - work is getting busy.....

Monday - bad day - sick. started towards end of sunday's 18 miler, felt like throwing up but didn't. think i have kids' stomach flu. crashed out sunday evening and slept for 14 hours straight. woke up feeling still bad, stayed home. by 5pm was sort of ok so ran an easy 5 miles, despite liz's complaints.

Tuesday - great day. work was ugly, so couldn't run until the evening. had a great 6.5 mile tempo at an average of 6:53.

Wednesday - early morning run, decided to run a little longer and did 9 miles easy (8:11 pace). felt very good, but i should have worn gloves.

if work permits, it's an easy 9 tomorrow, yucky pacework (2x2m 6:25) friday, easy 7 saturday, and 19 sunday - should be about 62 for the week. and more importantly (fingers crossed) no new injuries!

Weekly Update

Finished the week with a long, long run. A slight navigational error turned my 17 miler into an 18 miler - not really what I needed to be honest.

First 3.5 miles was easy at 7:45 pace, then it was time for the 7 miles at marathon pace. I'm not too sure why I chose those 7 since that was where it started getting hilly. I managed 7:14 pace (vs the planned 7:09) for the 7 but it was mostly uphill - the redbox shows the "fast" part....











After recovering at the 10.5 mile mark with a slow half mile, a gu and some water I ran the rest pretty easy. That climb thru mile 14 was slow at 8:30 pace but other than that I was running about 7:45.

Overall it was 17.86 miles in 2 hours 16 minutes - 7:38 pace. which is coincidentally the pace for a 3:20 marathon, which is my Boston marathon qualifying time. I don't think I could have run another 8.2 miles at 7:38 but I'm pretty sure I will be able to do that in 5 months.

Total for the week was 58.5 miles, a new high for me. Next week should be a little more, at just over 60 with a 19 miler on Sunday (and I will be more careful with my navigation)

Easy Eights

8 miles at 8:00 pace was the plan this morning. For me, a much easier task than trying to run 2 miles at 6:25, that's for sure. Weather was warmer; mid 40's vs low/mid 30's.

Kept everything easy, running by feel/effort instead of pace and averaged exactly 8:00 pace, but ran a little long at 8.96. Now that I've added some harder workouts to the week, I'm really enjoying these leisurely 8-10 milers.

Tomorrow is a 17 miler - with 7 miles fast (marathon pace, 7:09). Looking back over my running logs, I have only run 17 miles 4 time before. Those were my 2 marathons and 2 training runs (1 of 19, 1 of 21).

Times for those 17 milers were as follows
1) 19 miler run/walk with my aidsmarathon running group
.....17 miles at 3:12:50 - average pace 11:18
2) 20 miler with running group
....this one doesn't really count as it was split up 5:10:5
3) Silicon Valley Marathon
....17 miles at 2:31:41 - average pace 8:54
4) Honolulu Marathon
....17 miles at 2:36:44 - average pace 9:13

That lack of proper long runs probably explains why those 2 marathons were such trainwrecks. It's surprising I even finished. By comparison, I have sixteen 17+ runs planned over the next 5 months leading up to Edinburgh!

Tomorrow's course is flat/rolling thru mile 7 then it climbs up to 400', drops thru 12, back up to 400' thru 14 and then drops back for the last 3. I'll probably do the fast miles between 3 and 10 which has a net uphill of about 200'. If I'm feeling good at 10 I'll keep up the pace until the climb starts again at 12 to give me 9 fast miles. Time should be about 2:11 (10 miles at ~8:10 and 7 miles at 7:10) - I'm certainly in much better shape than I was for those first 2 marathons.

Not Built for Speed

I'm beginning to dislike Fridays.

Plan today was to run 2 miles at my goal 10k race pace. I did 2x1m last week and it was unpleasant to say the least. The logic is that 55 miles of training later I have hopefully increased my capacity enough to be able to to do those 2 miles without any recovery between them.

I have a street loop that is about 1 mile and has no crossings etc to worry about, it isn't completely flat but close enough. Did a warmup for a mile or so, which was definitely needed given that it was about 30 degrees.

Then it was time to go! First half mile went by in 3:12, so I'm on pace, second half a little slower at 3:17 - 6:29 for the first mile (4 seconds slow, which is almost half a minute in a 10k). Picked it up a step in the 3rd half and did 3:10 and managed to hold it thru the end to finish with a 3:11 - 6:21 second mile. Average for the 2 was 6:25 - so a success, but it wasn't any fun at all. Heartrate max'd at 174, whereas last week doing the 2x1miles I hit 176 in each mile, so I guess that's a good thing.

However, I am really concerned about my ability to run 6.2 miles at that pace in just 17 days. I just don't see how it can happen. Next week I'll do 2x2miles and then the week after try to run 5k (3.1 miles) in 19:55. Those two are probably achievable, but to do 6.2 of these in a row I am going to need some serious race day adrenalin, or a strong tailwind.

Chilly 8-9

pretty cold this morning - it was just below freezing when i set out. but it was sunny and there was no wind, so i was warm enough with gloves and long sleeves. ran a steady 8.6 miler with a couple medium hills. kept the pace easy in the high 7's/low 8's, averaging 7:54 overall. all in all, a very comfortable run.