Unplanned Tempo

Total Distance: 7 miles
Tempo: 5 miles
Time: 34:34
Pace: 6:55

Seeing as today is the day before my LR, I was just going to go out and cruise my run today. Once I got to the river trail (about .7 miles from my apartment), I noticed an unusual number of runners out...like hundreds. The thing is, none of them had timing chips or race numbers. Turns out March of Dimes was today. So, like always, I inadvertantly sped up while weaving through traffic. When I checked my watch at the two mile marker and saw that it was at 13:xx, I decided to make the run a tempo. It felt surprisingly easy. I was pushing a little bit but I had some left in the tank. I decided to cap off the tempo portion once the crowd's disappeared. I finished off with an easy 2 mile cool down.

I should finish the week off at 42 miles. My longest since my half in March. Next week will be a cut back week of sorts. I'm only base training so its not really a cut back but I'll only be in the low to mid 30's.

On Thursday I will be driving 6 hours to spend the weekend with my fiance at her university :) It feels like its been forever since we were together even though its only been a little over a month. But we did set a date for the wedding in that month so maybe thats adding to it.

I'm going to start ending my posts with running quotes that I like (until I run out of them). The first is one of my favorites, from a guy who volunteered with the distance runners of my hs track team my junior year.
"Tough times don't last but tough people do" ~Julian

Kickin' It Old School

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:19:27
Pace: 7:57

Fair warning, this may be a longish post. Well, longish for me. And I promise the title will make sense later.

I finished the week out with 38 miles. I've got another seven weeks of base building (up to 52mpw) before I start Pfitz 18/55 for the Portland Marathon. I've been debating tweaking the plan to start higher and go up to 60 or so. As is, it starts at 33mpw. Given how I've been running lately, I think that might be a bit low to start. Looking back at my training for the Seattle RNR last year, its kind of funny that I think 33mpw is too low. I peaked at 42 mpw for that race!

Sometime since my last post, I officially signed up for Portland. They print a name on the bib for you if you want it. I decided to have "Kaatman" printed on mine. It is my grandpa's last name. He passed away almost two years ago.  I had debated about running a marathon before but somehow his passing pushed me to sign up for Seattle. Odd, since he never ran. He was a golfing man. Naturally, I became one...sort of. I'm not good but I've been playing for 15 years! The pic below was taken before my first game on a par-3 course (9 holes). 

I know its super early to be doing this but these are my goals (as of now) for the race. Its 6 months away so the may change but...

A-goal: Sub-3:25
B-goal: Sub-3:45
C-goal: PR
Perfect-day-goal: Sub 3:20

Now, I've only ran one marathon and did so in 3:54:08. But, given the level of training I put in for that and my recent 1:31 half plus my current training level...I should be capable of sub 3:20. But I've been running since 7th grade so I know how much factors into performance. So I'll shoot for 3:25 and if everything is perfect, I'll chase down 3:20.

In my last post I mentioned getting some new kicks. Well, I did. And I retired my Waveriders. I wanted to push them out to the end of April but they were starting to hurt my shins. My new shoes (white ones below) are Nike Lunar Mariah's. They weren't designed specifically for running (I know its bad to train in 'nonrunning' shoes). From what I can tell, they are a modernized upper of the old Air Mariah (circa early/mid 90's) with the midsole of the LunaRacer 1(or Lunar trainer?). I wore them for a 7 miler yesterday and they felt ok. The only downside is breathability. They don't breathe too well. That being said, I think they'll be for short runs, 8-9 miles max. The pic below is my current line up: LunarGlides (blue), the Mariah's (white) and LunaRacer 2's (green midsole).

School has been crazy! I mentioned in my last post that I failed my algebra comp :( But...I did pass my Ordinary Differential Equations comp! I laugh at this a little. I studied for the algebra comp for weeks and failed it. The diff eq comp....3 days! My research is going ok. Some days I feel like I get what's going on others (like today) I feel like I'm in way over my head. My classes are (somewhat) on cruise control. Algebra is cake right now because I've covered this material before. Number theory is time consuming but not difficult. I spent 6 hours on an assignment this weekend. I've got 9 pages ready for him to grade :)

Big-ups to Marathonmaiden who is running Boston in the morning. You're gonna rock it K!

Bad News = Good Run

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:13:55
Pace: 7:23

So much for slow. I'm just going to listen to my body and slow down when I'm tired. Yesterday I met with my advisor...sort of. She forgot about the meeting so we only talked for a few minutes. Turns out my hunch was right, I failed my comp exam in algebra :( I get one more shot at passing it in the fall so guess what I'm doing this summer.

That being said, I had a great run this morning. I wanted to run yesterday (after the meeting) but didn't have time to. So this morning, I ate, did laundry and watched Without Limits. Great movie if you haven't seen it. Being inspired and flustered/upset about the exam, I took off the first mile. Like 6:20 took off. I pulled back a lot the next 8 miles before hammering it home in 6:30. Afterwards, my hamstrings felt a little tight. Nothing some stretching and ice can't fix.

Tomorrow I will be up early to run before driving to Washington for my Godson's bday. I'm going to try and leave here a bit early so I can stop by the Nike Outlet store and see if I can find a new pair of kicks. Its almost time to retire the GT's (over 400 miles and bugging my shins a bit) officially and put the WaveRiders (nearing 400 miles) into semi retirement.

Base Training Plan

First a quick note about today's run and grad school life.

Distance: 7 miles
Time: 51:22
Pace: 7:20

I said a few posts ago that I was not going to do speed work or tempo runs during my base training. Well...this one wasn't on purpose. I had just finished watching a replay of the 2009 Ironman World Championships. So, my adrenaline was a up and once I started the run, I felt really good. I didn't realize how fast I was going until I saw my first mile split of 7:07!

My classes are going well so far. I'm only taking 2 (3 if you count yoga) classes this term: Abstract Algebra III and Advanced Number Theory. My research is going well. I've chosen a paper for the basis of my study and am currently in the stage of reading it for terminology (definition and theorems). After that, I'll read it again to try and follow the proofs. That should take about half the quarter. I finally got my grade for Abstract Algebra II (grades were due 2 weeks ago, just got it yesterday). I got a B in the class so I was happy. Grad students need at least a B- to pass. I also found out that the Algebra Comprehensive Exam has been evaluated. I will find out if I passed or not tomorrow when I meet with my advisor.

I am in the middle of week two of base training. The plan I drew up (below) will take me through the quarter. Then I will start Pfitz 18/55 during finals week. Any thoughts on the base plan?
(Note: R=rest day)

Quick Update

I was able to get in a nice slow 10 miles before my family came over for Easter yesterday. The run didn't feel hard but I was definitely tired afterwards.

Today, after the 3 hour drive back to Portland, I got in a solid 5 miler.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 37:10
Pace: 7:25

My average pace was probably a little quick for being in base building mode. But...I was feeling really good so I just went with it. The last half mile was @ 6:00 pace! I really want to find a 5k to run so I can knock that 20:00 time off of my goals for the year. Alas, grad school doesn't leave a lot of time for racing.

I'll end this post with a frustration and a joy. Frustration: my prof still hasn't posted grades from last quarter. They were due 2 weeks ago and we're in the second week of spring quarter. Joy: in 10 short weeks, I'll be on summer vacation which means I get to spend more time with my love :)

Getting Better

Distance: 7 miles
Time: 59:53
Pace: 8:33

Another run on the dreadmill. I'm happy with today's pace. My hamstrings were not as tight this morning but I still wanted to slow down a bit.

I have officially signed up for the Portland Marathon. Initially I was going to try and run sub 3:45. Then I went and ran a 1:31:52 half. So, right now I'm thinking these will be my goals:

A-goal: Sub 3:20
B-goal: Sub 3:30
C-goal: PR

On Monday I'll start my second week of a 10 week base building plan I drew up. It has me running about 165 miles this month and 211 in May. Then on June 7th, I'll start Pfitz 18/55.

Short post today, time to go do some Number Theory homework.

So Much For Slowing Down

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 38:55
Pace: 7:47

Well, I was going to slow down but was a little pressed for time today. I got a suprise text from my aunt. Her, my uncle and my cousins were in town and wanted to get together. So, I did a mini speed workout.

1 mile warm up
1 mile @6:45-6:50
1 mile @8:00
1 mile @6:35-6:40
1 mile cool down

I was a little surprised at my fast miles. I thought they'd be around 7 minutes. It was only my third run since my half since that silly cold kept me down and out for a week. Plus, my hamstrings were super tight when I woke up this morning.

That being said, today was awesome. I destroyed my Ordinary Differential Equations comp exam this morning. We were suppose to do 6 problems. I did 7, 5 of which I'm 98% sure are right. So, I'm going to go ahead and say I passed that one. I'll have to wait for official results though. I have a hunch that I didn't pass the algebra comp that I took on Monday. If not, I'll retake it in the fall.

Afterwards, I cranked out my run on the DM at the gym. Then had a beer at the bar with a good friend. She was unsure about the whole grad school thing but is sticking it out for at least another quarter. That makes me happy because she is one of 5 people I know in my program. Finally, some pizza with my family.

Now I have to go finish my laundry and read a paper on "Generating a Finite Group by Nilpotent Subgroups".