I'm between long run weeks so I thought I'd get out and do some hill intervals. They're supposed to be even better than flat intervals and safer for your body because you can't do them as fast going uphill. I had a big breakfast at my favorite local place, Oatmeal, toast, eggs over easy and a few bites of my daughter's pancake w/ strawberries and whipped cream on top. I wanted to run earlier in the day but I had to let that huge meal settle. I decided on a mid-day run and started out with my "One Store" loop. I began with an easy first mile and then settled into just under 8 min pace give or take a hill here and there. When I got to the store that the loop is named after I headed out to 40th ave instead of turning toward home.
40th is just over a mile of 7% - 8% incline with wide shoulders. I'd prefer to run something a bit steeper for hill repeats but there's nothing steep and long enough near by. I tried my first ever Gu Roctane gel before I started the repeats. I've heard that they work better than regular Gu and that the Amino acids make a noticeable difference. The flavor (Blueberry Pomegranate) didn't taste very good. It had a bland taste that wasn't pleasant but not quite inedible. Maybe it's the berries, I'll touch on this again later...
Anyway, back to running: I started out with a pace that I thought I'd be able to hold for a quarter mile and not much more. I had a pretty good sense for my pace as I was ready for the repeat to be over just before I hit 0.25mi. I was hitting "stop" on my Garmin instead of "lap" for the first few intervals so I didn't get splits for them but I'd guess around 1:45. The next 4 went pretty well and I wasn't struggling too hard at the turn-around. I'd just do an easy jog back down to my starting point and immediately start back up. This was giving me about 2:25 for the intervals (the recovery part).
Repeats 6 - 10 were harder. I was trying to keep my time steady on legs that were getting tired as I passed the 10 mile mark for the day. I kept my times in the 1:40 - 1:44 range for #6 - #9 and then tried to use up whatever I had left for the last one, telling myself that I had to break 1:40 for #10. I could feel myself losing form as I tried to lean into it and keep my core tight to keep my speed and leg turnover up. Gasping loudly for air, I hit the quarter in 1:39 which is slower than I thought I'd be but I have to be happy with it. My splits looked like this:
??
5:19 for the first two plus the recovery jog..
1:44
4:22 for the repeat plus recovery jog.
1:42
1:44
1:40
1:42
1:43
1:39
I doubled over to catch my breath after the last one before jogging back down to recover. At the bottom of the hill I jogged the ~2 miles back to the house at an easy pace (8:40) to let the legs start to recover. When I hit "stop" this is what I saw:
Time: 1:49:50
Dist: 13.1 mi.
Pace: 8:22/mi
Ascent: 2875 on the Garmin, so ~1400?
At home I immediately hit the Recoverite and ate the other gel that I'd brought with me and forgot to eat on the run. It was a Hammer Gel in the new Mountain Huckleberry flavor. I don't know if I could tell the difference between this one and the Roctane earlier. They both had a bland taste that didn't remind me anything of berries. Maybe berry flavors are harder to synthesize in the lab or something. I didn't have any expectations for the Roctane as I've never had one before. Hammer is usually pretty good with their gel flavors though. I love the chocolate, raspberry (hey, that's a berry and they got that one right!) espresso (awesome), and Apple Cinnamon, which is good but too sweet to eat much of and tastes exactly like the filling in Hostess Apple Pies.
Looking ahead to next week, I have two 6 mile runs during the week, one easy and one tempo. I have my final pre-race long run on the weekend at 24 miles. After that I'll try to taper for my race. I wanted to run the Redmond Watershed Trail Marathon on 3/28 as my last long run but the weekends didn't line up and my schedule got pushed out when I had to miss my 20 mile run for 3 straight weekends. Oh well. It wasn't a goal for the year anyway.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
New territory
Today I went over to the gym at lunch for some speedwork on the hamster wheel. I noticed the other day that they finally installed consoles on the new treadmills so I wanted to try them. The old treadmills have a nice setting where you can define your own interval workout using time, speed, and # of repeats. After some trial and error I found that the new consoles can almost do the same thing but not quite. You can set up intervals but only using speed an incline. I couldn't figure out how to tell it how far they should be (400m) or how many (10).
I gave up and just used the manual setting instead. One nice feature that the new consoles have is an image of a track with a green dot representing you that circles the track. This made it much easier to do the repeats. One lap for green dot man at target pace and I back it off to recovery pace for 3/4 of a lap.
Always pressed for time, I did an abbreviated 5min. warm-up at 9:30 pace. I ran 10 x 1/4mi at 82 seconds with 3/4 of a lap (0.18 miles) recovery at 9:30/mi.
This is the first time I've done intervals below a 6:00/mi. pace. I thought that I could handle a 5:28/mi. pace for short intervals. I did pretty well, starting out with a 1.5% incline. After the first five my legs started to really feel heavy. I the leg workout I did yesterday might be part of the reason. I dropped the incline to 0% and squeaked out the remaining 5 repeats. I was unfortunately one of "those guys" at the gym who was breathing really hard / gasping for air during the last 20 seconds of each effort. I hope it didn't annoy the other hamsters pushing their wheels around me.
I don't think I could have done this workout on a track. Maybe 87 - 90 sec. per 400m. but not 82. When you do them on a treadmill the moving band/tread just helps enough that you can keep going a bit longer at the in-over-your-head pace.
Good workout overall.
5.5 miles
~38 min.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
I gave up and just used the manual setting instead. One nice feature that the new consoles have is an image of a track with a green dot representing you that circles the track. This made it much easier to do the repeats. One lap for green dot man at target pace and I back it off to recovery pace for 3/4 of a lap.
Always pressed for time, I did an abbreviated 5min. warm-up at 9:30 pace. I ran 10 x 1/4mi at 82 seconds with 3/4 of a lap (0.18 miles) recovery at 9:30/mi.
This is the first time I've done intervals below a 6:00/mi. pace. I thought that I could handle a 5:28/mi. pace for short intervals. I did pretty well, starting out with a 1.5% incline. After the first five my legs started to really feel heavy. I the leg workout I did yesterday might be part of the reason. I dropped the incline to 0% and squeaked out the remaining 5 repeats. I was unfortunately one of "those guys" at the gym who was breathing really hard / gasping for air during the last 20 seconds of each effort. I hope it didn't annoy the other hamsters pushing their wheels around me.
I don't think I could have done this workout on a track. Maybe 87 - 90 sec. per 400m. but not 82. When you do them on a treadmill the moving band/tread just helps enough that you can keep going a bit longer at the in-over-your-head pace.
Good workout overall.
5.5 miles
~38 min.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Global Warming, My Ass! virtual race results
Today was the day I put feet to pavement and submitted my entry into the Global Warming, My Ass! 6.66mi virtual race put together by Running Off at the Mind. Here's the recap:
I started at from the gym as I do for most of my weekday runs. I worried about the temperature as it's taken a bit of a dive this week. It was in the mid-50s last week and only the high 30s this week. I considered just using a treadmill but that didn't feel right (or fun). I walked out to the parking lot to let my Garmin 305 figure out where on the planet I was.
As soon as I had satellites I was off. I ran my regular work rectangle course around Redmond Clockwise because the first two miles in that direction are mostly downhill and fast. I had to weave around quite a few other runners out in the cold today as I headed down 148th ave toward 24th.
I popped through the first mile in 6:03 which wasn't too bad with no warm-up. The next mile has a big downhill section in the middle so I kept the pace up and rolled through mile two in 5:52. That was the first time I've been under 12 minutes for the first two miles. Unfortunately that's just where the big uphill section starts. I gained back everything that the downhill gave me. My pace slowed considerably as my lungs were starting to burn and my legs were feeling rubbery from the first two miles and Friday's 20 mile run.
Mile three climbs steadily, steep at first and then more gentle. I lost a good bit of time on the climbs yet somehow came through mile three in 8:10. I was starting to feel tired and I needed for my lungs to stop burning. I was doing a good job ignoring the stomach cramp that was telling me to knock off all this running. The next mile was gentle rollers on a gravel path. I started to get my wind back with a 7:27 mile as I approached the third corner of the rectangle and Bridle Trails state park.
I turned the corner just after starting mile five which was a slight downhill along the corridor trail. There is one steep hill here but it's short enough (~50 yds @ 10% gradient) that you can power over it and catch your breath going down the other side. I ran fast but not out of control on the wet leaves, dirt, and rocks, pulling a 6:55 mile.
I held my pace down the corridor trail and made my last right turn to the home straight along 148th ave which rises slowly up to the parking lot of the gym. I saw another runner almost 1/4 mile ahead of me which gave me something to chase after. I gained on him but the difference between our paces wasn't enough that I could catch him in the 2/3 of a mile to the gym. I cut the distance in half before he turned into the parking lot. I got up to the parking lot to cap off mile six in a hair under 7 minutes.
My time for the 6 mile route was 41:29 which is about about a minute off of my PR for the route. I wanted to stop but had another 0.66 miles to add. I kept going past the gym for another 1/3 of a mile, turned around and headed back trying to use up whatever I had left in the tank.
I hit the 6.66mi mark in 46:15 and stopped my watch. I jogged the last few yards back to the gym for a very short cool-down. Sadly with only an hour for lunch including travel, changing, and shower I don't have much time for warm-up, cool-down or stretching. I showered, changed and rewarded myself with a brownie from the snack bar at the gym on my way back to work.
Here's what the watch says and I'm not arguing.
I exported the GPS file to Everytrail where they turn my effort into an animated blue dot.
I started at from the gym as I do for most of my weekday runs. I worried about the temperature as it's taken a bit of a dive this week. It was in the mid-50s last week and only the high 30s this week. I considered just using a treadmill but that didn't feel right (or fun). I walked out to the parking lot to let my Garmin 305 figure out where on the planet I was.
As soon as I had satellites I was off. I ran my regular work rectangle course around Redmond Clockwise because the first two miles in that direction are mostly downhill and fast. I had to weave around quite a few other runners out in the cold today as I headed down 148th ave toward 24th.
I popped through the first mile in 6:03 which wasn't too bad with no warm-up. The next mile has a big downhill section in the middle so I kept the pace up and rolled through mile two in 5:52. That was the first time I've been under 12 minutes for the first two miles. Unfortunately that's just where the big uphill section starts. I gained back everything that the downhill gave me. My pace slowed considerably as my lungs were starting to burn and my legs were feeling rubbery from the first two miles and Friday's 20 mile run.
Mile three climbs steadily, steep at first and then more gentle. I lost a good bit of time on the climbs yet somehow came through mile three in 8:10. I was starting to feel tired and I needed for my lungs to stop burning. I was doing a good job ignoring the stomach cramp that was telling me to knock off all this running. The next mile was gentle rollers on a gravel path. I started to get my wind back with a 7:27 mile as I approached the third corner of the rectangle and Bridle Trails state park.
I turned the corner just after starting mile five which was a slight downhill along the corridor trail. There is one steep hill here but it's short enough (~50 yds @ 10% gradient) that you can power over it and catch your breath going down the other side. I ran fast but not out of control on the wet leaves, dirt, and rocks, pulling a 6:55 mile.
I held my pace down the corridor trail and made my last right turn to the home straight along 148th ave which rises slowly up to the parking lot of the gym. I saw another runner almost 1/4 mile ahead of me which gave me something to chase after. I gained on him but the difference between our paces wasn't enough that I could catch him in the 2/3 of a mile to the gym. I cut the distance in half before he turned into the parking lot. I got up to the parking lot to cap off mile six in a hair under 7 minutes.
My time for the 6 mile route was 41:29 which is about about a minute off of my PR for the route. I wanted to stop but had another 0.66 miles to add. I kept going past the gym for another 1/3 of a mile, turned around and headed back trying to use up whatever I had left in the tank.
I hit the 6.66mi mark in 46:15 and stopped my watch. I jogged the last few yards back to the gym for a very short cool-down. Sadly with only an hour for lunch including travel, changing, and shower I don't have much time for warm-up, cool-down or stretching. I showered, changed and rewarded myself with a brownie from the snack bar at the gym on my way back to work.
Here's what the watch says and I'm not arguing.
I exported the GPS file to Everytrail where they turn my effort into an animated blue dot.
Monday, March 8, 2010
The 36 x 0.11mi workout.
I wanted to get out for a recovery run yesterday after my long run Friday morning. I didn't have time to fit in a slow 10 miles so I settled for a run at the YMCA where my daughter has her swim lessons. My wife took our daughter into the pool and I took the boy in the Bob jog stroller upstairs to the 3 lane running track that goes around the buiding.
The track is odd, it's 1/9th of a mile and it's an oval shape with one flat end. I didn't even bother counting laps and just timed my run with the Garmin. I kept a moderate pace and just ticked off the laps. There were a lot of people walking or jogging slowly around the track that I had to weave around with the occasional runner passing me. The boy probably guessed that the scenery wasn't going to change so he dozed off a couple of laps into it. I had to finish by a certain time which worked out to 36 minutes of running. I timed the last 3 laps and did 57 - 58 seconds per lap (~8:40/mi pace) which wasn't as slow as I wanted but with the time constraint I was happy to do a little over 4 miles.
My complaints other than the obvious boring scenery:
- The floor wasn't the soft spongy material that decent outdoor tracks are covered with. It was a harder surface that was between cement and asphalt in feel.
- I couldn't just put the iPod on and zone out with all of the weaving around people walking 2 and 3 abreast, plus I had to steer the Bob around the corners. Had to make sure I didn't hit anything with the precious cargo.
- People standing around not working out. I must have passed two women standing around fiddling with their cel phones 10 times before they left to go stand around somewhere else and not exercise. They could pay me the monthly fee and do that "workout" from their own home with the same results.
The positives:
- I got a run in.
- The boy napped the whole time.
- It's better than a treadmill.
Tomorrow I'm planning to run a virtual 10.72KM race after entering the "Global Warming, My Ass 6.66 Mile Run" put together by: Running Off at the Mind My normal work loop is 6 miles exactly so what's another 1/3mi out and back, right? We'll see what kind of shape my legs are in after Friday's 20 mies and what kind of shape the trail sections are in after the brief snowfall today. I'm feeling competitive.
I should have the report up by tomorrow night.
The track is odd, it's 1/9th of a mile and it's an oval shape with one flat end. I didn't even bother counting laps and just timed my run with the Garmin. I kept a moderate pace and just ticked off the laps. There were a lot of people walking or jogging slowly around the track that I had to weave around with the occasional runner passing me. The boy probably guessed that the scenery wasn't going to change so he dozed off a couple of laps into it. I had to finish by a certain time which worked out to 36 minutes of running. I timed the last 3 laps and did 57 - 58 seconds per lap (~8:40/mi pace) which wasn't as slow as I wanted but with the time constraint I was happy to do a little over 4 miles.
My complaints other than the obvious boring scenery:
- The floor wasn't the soft spongy material that decent outdoor tracks are covered with. It was a harder surface that was between cement and asphalt in feel.
- I couldn't just put the iPod on and zone out with all of the weaving around people walking 2 and 3 abreast, plus I had to steer the Bob around the corners. Had to make sure I didn't hit anything with the precious cargo.
- People standing around not working out. I must have passed two women standing around fiddling with their cel phones 10 times before they left to go stand around somewhere else and not exercise. They could pay me the monthly fee and do that "workout" from their own home with the same results.
The positives:
- I got a run in.
- The boy napped the whole time.
- It's better than a treadmill.
Tomorrow I'm planning to run a virtual 10.72KM race after entering the "Global Warming, My Ass 6.66 Mile Run" put together by: Running Off at the Mind My normal work loop is 6 miles exactly so what's another 1/3mi out and back, right? We'll see what kind of shape my legs are in after Friday's 20 mies and what kind of shape the trail sections are in after the brief snowfall today. I'm feeling competitive.
I should have the report up by tomorrow night.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Finally, that long run
After missing it for 3 weekends in a row I finally got out and did that long run. I still wouldn't have been able to do it this coming weekend so I had to get out this morning before work. I woke up a few minutes after 4am (easy when you have a baby that won't sleep) and dragged my tired body out of bed (not so easy) to put on all of my running clothes and accessories that I'd set out last night. It was so much easier to set everything out last night so that I didn't have to look for anything this morning. I'm also surprised at all the junk I need to run these days:
Didn't running used to be simple? Clothes and maybe a watch and you're out the door. I never used to run with bottles or Electrolyte drinks, Headlamps, Anti-chafing anything or Salt tablets. IPods didn't exist and your choices were limited to the Walkman or the Discman, both of which would drop and break within the first 10 runs you brought them on.
To continue, I got dressed, then had a bowl of cereal, filled the bottles and headed out the door. It was 42F out when I started. I went with shorts instead of tights in hopes that my legs would warm up enough not to bother me. I was right on that one. The temperature warmed up maybe 5 degrees over the run and my legs felt fine.
I started out with a slow first mile on the car-free roads listening to the Quadrathon podcast as I like to do on long runs. (I recommend his podcast as something to listen to on a long run. It takes my mind off the pounding and time passes quickly.) I ran out to the tunnel trail and started climbing in the near pitch dark with my two LED lights to guide me. I heard some odd animal howling noises that gave me pause. I picked up a baseball sized rock and ran with it in my hand but never found the animals that were making the sounds so I dropped the rock at the end of the trail. I couldn't run entirely on the soft dirt/gravel shoulder as I followed the perimeter roads past Kopachuck. With so little light but being so early I could run in the middle of the lane of oncoming traffic without fear of getting hit so I alternated between the two.
My pace felt a bit slower than my last long run which could mean that either I'm still recovering from the stomach flu or that with my last long run being almost a month ago, I've lost a bit of fitness. Maybe I'm just not quite as fast in the dark when I have to concentrate more on my footing. Which ever the case I was running a little over an 8 min/mi. pace through the first 5 miles. I slowed down even more over the next 5 miles. It had been long enough since my last long run that I was a little more worried about finishing than keeping pace. The middle part of the route had a few good hills to climb and then descend but I was still feeling pretty good. My hands were starting to get a little cold which was my only issue.
I'd planned the route to go around Gig Harbor and happened to go past the Washington Corrections Center for Women. It was a big brightly lit barbed-wire-fenced facility. There were signs stating that there was no stopping and no photography. It was peaceful as I ran by wondering if anyone else was up at 5:45am. The only famous inmate I could Google was Mary Kay Letourneau (a 34 y/o school teacher) who spent 7 years there for having an affair and two kids with a 12 year old student. She even married him when she got out of prison. Apparently it was big news around these parts.
Around the 11 mile point I stopped at a gas station mini mart to try to warm up my fingers and buy water to refill my bottles. I went to the back of the store and pressed my hands up against the hot breakfast food cabinet but felt nothing. I wonder how luke-warm breakfast sandwiches are selling these days? I bought water, filled my bottles and dropped a Nuun tablet in each as I headed on my way. With cold water in my bottles my fingertips were getting colder as I ran. I tried to carry the bottles by the straps or the pouches but that didn't seem to work. My fingers were cold and wet and starting to go numb. I kept trying to blow hot air (I'm full of it) onto my fingers and hold them under my armpits with no luck.
My pace was improving as the sun came up behind the clouds. I headed down Wollochet and then up toward the cows until I split left toward Cromwell. I cut across on 24th ave to make the distance work out rather than running all the way down to the water. I made a few turns and got over onto 32nd ave amd passed by the small park where for once I didn't have to stop and use the bathroom. I continued on having to deal with more and more drivers leaving for work. Luckily the shoulders are big along the those roads. Up and down another hill and I found myself running past the Fox Island bridge with a scant 3 miles to go. I felt pretty good except that I was losing some dexterity in my fingers from the cold. I just couldn't warm them up and it was getting harder to manipulate my bottles. I picked up the pace a little bit as I headed back down the final stretch toward home. I started to bonk a little bit from lack of calories but held on the last mile or two.
In the end I ran 20.5 miles which is a good bit farther than my last long run of 15.9. Once I got home I had to start running cold water over my hands which really hurt. I couldn't even handle the pain of warm water of even think of getting in the shower. It took about 10 minutes of soaking them in a tub of water before they felt normal again. Maybe I need more / better gloves or a hand warmer. I didn't have time for an ice bath so at the end of my shower I turned the water to cold and just sprayed off my legs for as long as I could stand it. I think it helped.
This was the first long run wearing the Injinji socks with the individual toes and I'm pretty happy with them. No blisters and my feet feel pretty good. I also tried Nuun tablets and the tri-berry flavor was great. After going through almost an entire jug of Heed I'm ready for a new drink and the Tri-berry Nuun was surprisingly flavorful without being sugary or sweet at all. It was light yet stronger tasting than Heed. Both products have their place but I think I'll move to Nuun for a while. On top of the taste, carrying tablets instead of powder is much easier. (how's that for an unpaid advertisement , marketing folks at Nuun!?)
So overall, the run was good but a bit slower than previous long runs. Not by much so we'll see what happens to my pace on the next one.
Time: 2:51:06
Dist: 20.5
AvS: 8:19/mi.
Alt: 5559 (Says Garmin so 2500?)
- Shorts (Race Ready)
- Base layer shirt (Craft)
- L/S tech shirt (Portland marathon)
- Socks (Injinji)
- Gloves (REI)
- Hat (Brooks)
- 2 hand bottles (UD)
- Electrolyte drink powder/tabs (Hammer, Nuun)
- Salt tablets (S-caps)
- iPod (nano)
- 3 gels (Hammer, Gu)
- Headlamp (Petzl)
- Tiny flashlight (Amazon?)
- Watch (Garmin)
- Anti-chafing stick (Body Glide)
- Shoes (Brooks)
- Cel phone (not my iPhone)
Didn't running used to be simple? Clothes and maybe a watch and you're out the door. I never used to run with bottles or Electrolyte drinks, Headlamps, Anti-chafing anything or Salt tablets. IPods didn't exist and your choices were limited to the Walkman or the Discman, both of which would drop and break within the first 10 runs you brought them on.
To continue, I got dressed, then had a bowl of cereal, filled the bottles and headed out the door. It was 42F out when I started. I went with shorts instead of tights in hopes that my legs would warm up enough not to bother me. I was right on that one. The temperature warmed up maybe 5 degrees over the run and my legs felt fine.
I started out with a slow first mile on the car-free roads listening to the Quadrathon podcast as I like to do on long runs. (I recommend his podcast as something to listen to on a long run. It takes my mind off the pounding and time passes quickly.) I ran out to the tunnel trail and started climbing in the near pitch dark with my two LED lights to guide me. I heard some odd animal howling noises that gave me pause. I picked up a baseball sized rock and ran with it in my hand but never found the animals that were making the sounds so I dropped the rock at the end of the trail. I couldn't run entirely on the soft dirt/gravel shoulder as I followed the perimeter roads past Kopachuck. With so little light but being so early I could run in the middle of the lane of oncoming traffic without fear of getting hit so I alternated between the two.
My pace felt a bit slower than my last long run which could mean that either I'm still recovering from the stomach flu or that with my last long run being almost a month ago, I've lost a bit of fitness. Maybe I'm just not quite as fast in the dark when I have to concentrate more on my footing. Which ever the case I was running a little over an 8 min/mi. pace through the first 5 miles. I slowed down even more over the next 5 miles. It had been long enough since my last long run that I was a little more worried about finishing than keeping pace. The middle part of the route had a few good hills to climb and then descend but I was still feeling pretty good. My hands were starting to get a little cold which was my only issue.
I'd planned the route to go around Gig Harbor and happened to go past the Washington Corrections Center for Women. It was a big brightly lit barbed-wire-fenced facility. There were signs stating that there was no stopping and no photography. It was peaceful as I ran by wondering if anyone else was up at 5:45am. The only famous inmate I could Google was Mary Kay Letourneau (a 34 y/o school teacher) who spent 7 years there for having an affair and two kids with a 12 year old student. She even married him when she got out of prison. Apparently it was big news around these parts.
Around the 11 mile point I stopped at a gas station mini mart to try to warm up my fingers and buy water to refill my bottles. I went to the back of the store and pressed my hands up against the hot breakfast food cabinet but felt nothing. I wonder how luke-warm breakfast sandwiches are selling these days? I bought water, filled my bottles and dropped a Nuun tablet in each as I headed on my way. With cold water in my bottles my fingertips were getting colder as I ran. I tried to carry the bottles by the straps or the pouches but that didn't seem to work. My fingers were cold and wet and starting to go numb. I kept trying to blow hot air (I'm full of it) onto my fingers and hold them under my armpits with no luck.
My pace was improving as the sun came up behind the clouds. I headed down Wollochet and then up toward the cows until I split left toward Cromwell. I cut across on 24th ave to make the distance work out rather than running all the way down to the water. I made a few turns and got over onto 32nd ave amd passed by the small park where for once I didn't have to stop and use the bathroom. I continued on having to deal with more and more drivers leaving for work. Luckily the shoulders are big along the those roads. Up and down another hill and I found myself running past the Fox Island bridge with a scant 3 miles to go. I felt pretty good except that I was losing some dexterity in my fingers from the cold. I just couldn't warm them up and it was getting harder to manipulate my bottles. I picked up the pace a little bit as I headed back down the final stretch toward home. I started to bonk a little bit from lack of calories but held on the last mile or two.
In the end I ran 20.5 miles which is a good bit farther than my last long run of 15.9. Once I got home I had to start running cold water over my hands which really hurt. I couldn't even handle the pain of warm water of even think of getting in the shower. It took about 10 minutes of soaking them in a tub of water before they felt normal again. Maybe I need more / better gloves or a hand warmer. I didn't have time for an ice bath so at the end of my shower I turned the water to cold and just sprayed off my legs for as long as I could stand it. I think it helped.
This was the first long run wearing the Injinji socks with the individual toes and I'm pretty happy with them. No blisters and my feet feel pretty good. I also tried Nuun tablets and the tri-berry flavor was great. After going through almost an entire jug of Heed I'm ready for a new drink and the Tri-berry Nuun was surprisingly flavorful without being sugary or sweet at all. It was light yet stronger tasting than Heed. Both products have their place but I think I'll move to Nuun for a while. On top of the taste, carrying tablets instead of powder is much easier. (how's that for an unpaid advertisement , marketing folks at Nuun!?)
So overall, the run was good but a bit slower than previous long runs. Not by much so we'll see what happens to my pace on the next one.
Time: 2:51:06
Dist: 20.5
AvS: 8:19/mi.
Alt: 5559 (Says Garmin so 2500?)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
sawtooth patterns
I still didn't feel 100% yesterday when I got out for my work loop run and I'm planning to do my 20 mile make-up run on Friday morning. I didn't want to kill my legs but still wanted more than junk / recovery (recovering from what?) miles so I decided to run my normal somewhat hilly loop and alternate 1 min. hard followed by 2 min. easy. I did a mile of warm-up and a mile of cool-down to book end the pick-ups. Some of the hard minutes came up during uphill sections which helped to boost my effort and HR. The graph on Garmin Training Center was a nice sawtooth pattern in the middle of the run for HR, speed, and pace. I guess it was a simple Fartlek run.
The weather was nice, partly sunny and low 50s. Not much to report about the run, It was pretty average.
The part that I'm worried about is even getting out the door tomorrow for my make-up long run. I have the course plotted and I'm not worried about the distance. I'm worried that my 6-month old will be waking me up every hour tonight so that I don't get enough sleep to be functional at 5am when I need to get on the road and run. I don't know why he's been so anti-running lately but the little guy seems to have it in for those who want more than an hour or two of sleep at a time.
The weather was nice, partly sunny and low 50s. Not much to report about the run, It was pretty average.
The part that I'm worried about is even getting out the door tomorrow for my make-up long run. I have the course plotted and I'm not worried about the distance. I'm worried that my 6-month old will be waking me up every hour tonight so that I don't get enough sleep to be functional at 5am when I need to get on the road and run. I don't know why he's been so anti-running lately but the little guy seems to have it in for those who want more than an hour or two of sleep at a time.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Rec-ugggh-very run
Two weekends in a row now I've missed my long run. I was planning to do 19 on Saturday but thought that I'd try a new diet starting on Thursday morning. It's called The Stomach Flu diet. You can eat as much as you want as long as your stomach can handle it. My diet was limited to: Saltines, Cup-o-Noodles, toast, and Gatorade. Three of those things I don't normally eat, and the other (Toast) mostly for breakfast. The good thing about being sick all weekend was that I haven't had that much rest in a long time. The whole family went on the diet with me so the wife and I took turns either napping or watching the kids.
I started to come out of it on Sunday afternoon but didn't want to risk even a short run with my angry intestines. I feel about 95% better today so I went out at lunch and took a recovery run. I couldn't manage Tempo or speed work so I just trotted out to the Bridle Trails, looped around in the mud and horse flop and headed back. Even at a medium/slow pace my stomach was still bothered. The upside was that it was in the mid 50s and sunny out. A beautiful March afternoon.
I don't know what I'm going to do with my long run at this point. It's been almost a month since my 16 mile run. I need to get in gear if I'm going to be ready for the 50K in just over a month. I'm thinking either early one day this week or one last shot at it this coming weekend.
Today's numbers:
Dist: 4.85
Time: 39:12
Avg: 8:05/mi
Oh, and the results of the diet? Lost 3 lbs.
I started to come out of it on Sunday afternoon but didn't want to risk even a short run with my angry intestines. I feel about 95% better today so I went out at lunch and took a recovery run. I couldn't manage Tempo or speed work so I just trotted out to the Bridle Trails, looped around in the mud and horse flop and headed back. Even at a medium/slow pace my stomach was still bothered. The upside was that it was in the mid 50s and sunny out. A beautiful March afternoon.
I don't know what I'm going to do with my long run at this point. It's been almost a month since my 16 mile run. I need to get in gear if I'm going to be ready for the 50K in just over a month. I'm thinking either early one day this week or one last shot at it this coming weekend.
Today's numbers:
Dist: 4.85
Time: 39:12
Avg: 8:05/mi
Oh, and the results of the diet? Lost 3 lbs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)