~Weekly Stats~
Runs: 7
Rest Days: 0
Miles: 60.2
Time: 8:13:36
This was a great week of running! And I made it to the gym twice for strength training. One of my major downfalls is that I do not do any cross training and very little strength training. So I am trying to lift weights and do core work at least twice a week.
My three workouts this week were Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Monday was a 5 mile progression run starting at 6:48 mile pace and ending at 5:57. Tuesday was an 11 miler including 8 miles w/800+ feet of elevation gain (so 1600+ feet of elevation change). Thursday was 4x1 mile at goal 10k pace. Splits for that were 6:07, 6:07, 6:07, 6:04. No, I'm not that good at pacing. I just did the workout on a treadmill.
While I am still doing my easy runs much slower than before, I think I am transitioning out of HADD training and into a race cycle. I will still do the HADD fitness test to see how I am doing but after nine weeks of base training I feel ready for a cycle. I'm still not 100% sure about how this cycle will end but it may be an attempt at a sub-3 marathon. I know I said a few weeks ago that I am a long ways off from that but I think I may have been wrong. Once I run my 10k on March 10th, I will have a much better idea what kind of shape I am in.
See ya'll next week. Same bat-time, same bat-channel.
19 February 2012
12 February 2012
06 February 2012
HADD Benchmark #1
It might be two weeks late but I finally got around to doing my HADD fitness test. I did my baseline test back in December. You can see where I was starting from here. These were today's results:
Target/Actual/Pace
140/140/10:07
150/148/8:59
160/159/8:09
170/170/7:30
180/179/6:41
For those keeping score who don't feel like looking at the previous post, here is how I improved/didn't improve.
HR/Pace Change(seconds/mile)
140/+7
150/-3
160/-7
170/-3
180/-10
Overall a I am showing good improvement. I've still got a long way to go before making a serious attempt at a sub three hour marathon. I am very happy with these results.
The differences between this test and my baseline test: location, warm up/cool down, and rest. The baseline test was not done exactly how it should have been. I didn't warm up or cool down and I ran straight through each 1.5 mile interval with no rest. This test I did right. I had a short warm up and cool down and took a 90 second rest between intervals. As for the location, I decided I didn't want to run laps anywhere so I drove down to the Foothills Trail where there is a nice, uninterrupted (read no street crossings), flat section of trail for 2 miles. This is where I did the repeats. So read into this as much or as little as you would like. I feel that the location has little affect on my paces. The rest, however, probably worked out in my favor. While I did show improvement almost across the board, it probably would have been by a slightly lower margin had I done rests in my initial test.
I signed up for a 10K race which will take place on March 10th. I'm not going to shift my training toward that distance but still hope to run a PR based on my (improving) level of fitness. Since it is six weeks until that race, I will do another benchmark test in five weeks to see if I show more improvement.
Run Strong.
Target/Actual/Pace
140/140/10:07
150/148/8:59
160/159/8:09
170/170/7:30
180/179/6:41
For those keeping score who don't feel like looking at the previous post, here is how I improved/didn't improve.
HR/Pace Change(seconds/mile)
140/+7
150/-3
160/-7
170/-3
180/-10
Overall a I am showing good improvement. I've still got a long way to go before making a serious attempt at a sub three hour marathon. I am very happy with these results.
The differences between this test and my baseline test: location, warm up/cool down, and rest. The baseline test was not done exactly how it should have been. I didn't warm up or cool down and I ran straight through each 1.5 mile interval with no rest. This test I did right. I had a short warm up and cool down and took a 90 second rest between intervals. As for the location, I decided I didn't want to run laps anywhere so I drove down to the Foothills Trail where there is a nice, uninterrupted (read no street crossings), flat section of trail for 2 miles. This is where I did the repeats. So read into this as much or as little as you would like. I feel that the location has little affect on my paces. The rest, however, probably worked out in my favor. While I did show improvement almost across the board, it probably would have been by a slightly lower margin had I done rests in my initial test.
I signed up for a 10K race which will take place on March 10th. I'm not going to shift my training toward that distance but still hope to run a PR based on my (improving) level of fitness. Since it is six weeks until that race, I will do another benchmark test in five weeks to see if I show more improvement.
Run Strong.
05 February 2012
Week Eight
Ok, so there is only one blog post this week. I had initially planned this post plus a post around Thursday with the results of my HADD fitness test. Well, the test got pushed back. Instead I did a speedwork session with my friend Tom who is getting ready for the Boston Marathon. More on that session in a bit.
Weekly Stats~
Runs: 7
Rest Days: 0
Miles: 54.2
Time: 8:07:33
This was a great week! It was my seventh straight week of 50+ miles and coming off of a week that had a 25 mile long run! Since I did run 25 last Saturday (Jan 28), I took it easy pace wise for Monday-Wednesday. Then on Thursday I ran a speed workout with Tom to help him get ready for Boston.
Warm up and cool down aside, the workout was 4x1 mile with 0.5 mile recovery between. The splits I got on my Garmin were 6:20, 6:23, 6:16, 6:08. I pushed the pace a little on that last repeat to get a better idea of my max heart rate (since I'm doing this whole HADD training thing, I thought it might be a good idea). So, instead of operating with a max hr between 185 and 190, I now believe my true max is closer to 200bpm. Tomorrow I will actually due my fitness test...which I should have done two weeks ago...oh well. Life happens.
Run Strong.
Weekly Stats~
Runs: 7
Rest Days: 0
Miles: 54.2
Time: 8:07:33
This was a great week! It was my seventh straight week of 50+ miles and coming off of a week that had a 25 mile long run! Since I did run 25 last Saturday (Jan 28), I took it easy pace wise for Monday-Wednesday. Then on Thursday I ran a speed workout with Tom to help him get ready for Boston.
Warm up and cool down aside, the workout was 4x1 mile with 0.5 mile recovery between. The splits I got on my Garmin were 6:20, 6:23, 6:16, 6:08. I pushed the pace a little on that last repeat to get a better idea of my max heart rate (since I'm doing this whole HADD training thing, I thought it might be a good idea). So, instead of operating with a max hr between 185 and 190, I now believe my true max is closer to 200bpm. Tomorrow I will actually due my fitness test...which I should have done two weeks ago...oh well. Life happens.
Run Strong.
29 January 2012
Week Seven
~Weekly Stats~
Runs: 5
Rest Days: 2
Miles: 60.1
Time: 8:47:49
I had a good running week this week. I had two runs of 15 miles or more, one tempo run and two easy runs. My easy runs were amazing this week. One of them was an 8 miler @ 141 AHR @ 9:47 pace. That's 13 sec/mile faster than my baseline HADD test at that AHR.
A big chunk of my mileage came from my birthday run yesterday. My birthday was last Thursday. Since I turned 25, I decided to go for a 25 mile run. My pace was all over the place and it was a blast! I ran the first 10 miles with Tom (who is training for Boston) @8:0x per mile. Then he turned around and headed back to the start so he could get his 20 miles in. The next 5 miles I ran solo. 7:54, 7:56, 7:3x, 6:47, 6:43. At this point I had reached my turnaround and made it back to where Tom turned around (it was an out and back run for me). Here, I was joined by three other members of my running club: Rich, Cat and Janet. We ran the next 6 miles together @ 8:39 average pace. Here, we were joined by my wonderful wife for the final 4 miles at a leisurely 9:4x pace. In all I ran 25 miles @ 8:29 average pace and 163 AHR.
Today I feel fairly good. My quads/hips are sore and tight but my calves and feet feel fine. I think I'll start off next week with an easy 6-8 miles tomorrow afternoon. Next week I will have two posts, my weekly update next weekend and the outcome of my HADD fitness test midweek.
RunStrong
Runs: 5
Rest Days: 2
Miles: 60.1
Time: 8:47:49
I had a good running week this week. I had two runs of 15 miles or more, one tempo run and two easy runs. My easy runs were amazing this week. One of them was an 8 miler @ 141 AHR @ 9:47 pace. That's 13 sec/mile faster than my baseline HADD test at that AHR.
A big chunk of my mileage came from my birthday run yesterday. My birthday was last Thursday. Since I turned 25, I decided to go for a 25 mile run. My pace was all over the place and it was a blast! I ran the first 10 miles with Tom (who is training for Boston) @8:0x per mile. Then he turned around and headed back to the start so he could get his 20 miles in. The next 5 miles I ran solo. 7:54, 7:56, 7:3x, 6:47, 6:43. At this point I had reached my turnaround and made it back to where Tom turned around (it was an out and back run for me). Here, I was joined by three other members of my running club: Rich, Cat and Janet. We ran the next 6 miles together @ 8:39 average pace. Here, we were joined by my wonderful wife for the final 4 miles at a leisurely 9:4x pace. In all I ran 25 miles @ 8:29 average pace and 163 AHR.
Today I feel fairly good. My quads/hips are sore and tight but my calves and feet feel fine. I think I'll start off next week with an easy 6-8 miles tomorrow afternoon. Next week I will have two posts, my weekly update next weekend and the outcome of my HADD fitness test midweek.
RunStrong
27 January 2012
Week Six
This is about a week late. We had one hell of a weather event last week and I just got my home internet back yesterday. So, here goes.
~Weekly Stats~
Runs: 6
Rest Days: 1
Miles: 50.5
Time: 7:19:24
This week was my lowest mileage since I started heart rate based training. I had planned on getting a short 5-6 mile run on Sunday. However, as I was driving to the gym I got in a minor car accident. So I didn't get to run that day. I am okay, my car will be okay in a few days once it gets out of the shop.
Sadly, I did not get to run my first ultra marathon. Due to the weather event I mentioned before, the race was cancelled. There were three feet of snow at the start of the race, which is a trail run in the mountains. Kinda makes it a little hard to hold the event when the course is buried. I still wanted to test my abilities so I did a 6 mile time trial. The result was an average pace of 6:19 with the last two miles in 6:09 and 5:51. Not too shabby.
The next day I got in a 10 miler @ 7:52 pace with an average heart rate of 162! That is a big improvement since I started HR training. Next week, probably Wednesday or Thursday, I will do another HADD test to assess my fitness. I would do the HADD test sooner but I have a big long run tomorrow morning. My 25th birthday was yesterday. Since I am working part time, I don't have time to run long during the week so I am celebrating my birthday tomorrow with a 25 mile run.
Run Strong.
~Weekly Stats~
Runs: 6
Rest Days: 1
Miles: 50.5
Time: 7:19:24
This week was my lowest mileage since I started heart rate based training. I had planned on getting a short 5-6 mile run on Sunday. However, as I was driving to the gym I got in a minor car accident. So I didn't get to run that day. I am okay, my car will be okay in a few days once it gets out of the shop.
Sadly, I did not get to run my first ultra marathon. Due to the weather event I mentioned before, the race was cancelled. There were three feet of snow at the start of the race, which is a trail run in the mountains. Kinda makes it a little hard to hold the event when the course is buried. I still wanted to test my abilities so I did a 6 mile time trial. The result was an average pace of 6:19 with the last two miles in 6:09 and 5:51. Not too shabby.
The next day I got in a 10 miler @ 7:52 pace with an average heart rate of 162! That is a big improvement since I started HR training. Next week, probably Wednesday or Thursday, I will do another HADD test to assess my fitness. I would do the HADD test sooner but I have a big long run tomorrow morning. My 25th birthday was yesterday. Since I am working part time, I don't have time to run long during the week so I am celebrating my birthday tomorrow with a 25 mile run.
Run Strong.
15 January 2012
Week Five
~Weekly Stats~
Runs: 7
Rest Days: 0
Miles: 56.1
Time: 8:37:36
This week was a little better than last week. I didn't quite make the mileage I was looking for (I wanted another 60 mile week) but I'll take what I got. This was my first week of teaching! Still getting in 56 miles while teaching, sounds like a solid week to me. My HR matched up to my paces a little closer to the way I think it should so I'm going to stick with this HR based training for a while. I may have to change the date of my next fitness test. It was going to be on the 23rd but it will probably be on the 30th because of a race I have next weekend.
Wait a minute, a race next weekend? That's right, I'm "racing" next weekend. I'm sticking to not putting out a race effort while I'm in this HR training cycle. But I'm not against running in a race. That being said, I will be running the Capitol Peaks Mega Fat A$$ 55k Ultramarathon on Saturday. I had planned on running the shorter race (17 miles) but the guys I am carpooling with are running the 55k. So I could sit around in the cold and wait for them or just join them for the long race. I opted for the long race. It will be a good test of my endurance. I've got a good mileage base going into it so I'm not too worried. The only thing a little daunting is that I've never ran farther than a marathon (42+k) before. That is why my only goal is to finish. I don't want to be worrying about how fast I am moving while I'm out there.
Run Strong.
Runs: 7
Rest Days: 0
Miles: 56.1
Time: 8:37:36
This week was a little better than last week. I didn't quite make the mileage I was looking for (I wanted another 60 mile week) but I'll take what I got. This was my first week of teaching! Still getting in 56 miles while teaching, sounds like a solid week to me. My HR matched up to my paces a little closer to the way I think it should so I'm going to stick with this HR based training for a while. I may have to change the date of my next fitness test. It was going to be on the 23rd but it will probably be on the 30th because of a race I have next weekend.
Wait a minute, a race next weekend? That's right, I'm "racing" next weekend. I'm sticking to not putting out a race effort while I'm in this HR training cycle. But I'm not against running in a race. That being said, I will be running the Capitol Peaks Mega Fat A$$ 55k Ultramarathon on Saturday. I had planned on running the shorter race (17 miles) but the guys I am carpooling with are running the 55k. So I could sit around in the cold and wait for them or just join them for the long race. I opted for the long race. It will be a good test of my endurance. I've got a good mileage base going into it so I'm not too worried. The only thing a little daunting is that I've never ran farther than a marathon (42+k) before. That is why my only goal is to finish. I don't want to be worrying about how fast I am moving while I'm out there.
Run Strong.
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