April 28th, 2009 – Threshold 2

OK, there was a large amount of trepidation associated with tonight’s run.  I hadn’t completed this run successfully yet, and it was part of what caused me to shut it down, and has resulted in three weeks to finish two weeks of cardiac training, and that doesn’t count the week I basically did nothing in Cozumel.  Add on to it that I still am not really comfortable with having to tape my feet to make these shoes work for me and it all adds up to a bit of angst as I step into the gym.

Fortunately, I was able to really make this happen with no incidents.  Yes, my right knee tendonitis is apparently in full effect still, but the tweaking seemed to abate once I got really good and warm.  I didn’t manage the 10.6 miles per hour pace I’d done the first attempt, but at the same time, I didn’t need it to get my heart rate into zone 4 (greater than 173 beats per minute.)  My bigger challenge this time seemed to be the recovery.  Probably because I’m carrying around extra water weight and fat from vacation (I won’t even go into it, but suffice it to say I feel really bloated due to all the extra calories I took on in alcohol and the scale shocked me with how badly I’d done) and probably because my body wasn’t used to pushing because I’d done so little running in the last two weeks.  I was just glad I got the run completed.  It showed me that it is possible.

Housekeeping information:  7.7 miles in 70 minutes, 9:05 per mile average, 900 calories burned.  The pace was due to the need to do the appropriate recovery.  I had to walk quite a bit to get my heart rate down into the right range and speeding back up pushed it out a couple of times.  I was reasonably happy with the run overall, since I’d done all 20 cycles where the zone 4 was faster than my fastest race pace, I feel pretty good about my chances to really ramp up the speed and perhaps even get my 10K times below 40 minutes!  Hard to say, but I do have some hope.

In the end, I feel pretty good that I’ll get through this cycle.  The question really becomes what do I do after this cycle?  I set up a program through runnersworld.com that is supposed to get me ready for a half marathon based on my 10K time in 16 weeks, which is way before the race so it would be possible.  I just don’t know if that’s the right way to go either.  Guess until I actually finish this program, I won’t know anyway.

Cheers!

April 21st, 2009 - Free Run road run in Cozumel

Well, I decided that I would run on vacation or any lengthy trip a while ago and this was to be no exception.  The fact that Haylie is getting us up most mornings by 6 or 6:30 seemed a good thing in this case.  I woke up a little after 6 and decided it was time to get my first run in since I shut it down due to knee pain last Thursday.

The fitness center at the hotel doesn't open until 7!  So, despite the fact that I really was supposed to be doing threshold training, I couldn't keep my pace at a point where I could do that without a treadmill.  So, instead I headed to the front door of the resort and decided I'd have a road run.  This year would be different, though as I have my foot pod now and when I did the run the last time, I had no clue how long the run actually was.  Estimates from the hotel staff swung wildly and I decided no one really knew the distance, only knowing the time and considering it the distance.  Off I went, mildly worried since I've been polluting my body with bad food, cheap beer and cuban cigars!  Add in that I had no idea if my knees were ready or if my blistered feet would cope with the tape job and this had all the makings of a disastrous run.

I don't know enough about road running to understand the impact of being at sea level, but I definitely know that it was HUMID!  And, there was a reasonably stiff breeze the whole time.  I took a couple of lap timers just to get a sense of the distance in case Colleen wanted to do the run herself.  To the air guard base was 2.56 miles.  To the museum was 3.1 and to the main pier it was 3.3 miles.  Not bad actually.

Housekeeping:  6.62 miles in 59 minutes, an average of 8:56 per mile.  742 calories burned.  No, not one of my best, but I ran an hour and that said plenty.  I was pain free at the end, and that said even more.  I'll get in my three runs this week no matter what now.  I was pretty pleased.

Since this was a road run, I chose my metal playlist.  Yes, I'm a head banger and having Metallica, Motorhead, Black Sabbath and Slayer pounding in my ears always manages to push me further.  At one point, Motorhead came on and I felt an adrenalin rush and looked down and my pace had quickened to over 8.5 miles per hour.  Since that was almost at the end, I considered it pretty good.  The Ace of Spades!  Who would win in a fight?  Lemmy or God?  BUZZ!  It's a trick question, Lemmy is God!  Thanks to 'Airheads' for that little pop culture rip off. ;-)

Cheers!

April 16th, 2009 – Threshold 1 (Sort of)

Well, I finally discovered that I was willing to call it quits on a run.  My knees have been aching due to a variety of tendon aches and muscular pains, mostly from the 10.6 mph pace I’ve had to use to get into zone 4.  Today was too much.  I couldn’t do it and it killed me inside a little to say so, but I stopped running and shut it down.

Housekeeping:  31 minutes, 3.5 miles for a 9:01 per mile average, 317 calories burned.  Almost not worth blogging about in my mind.

Now, that being said, I did feel it important to write this one down.  So far, I’ve not stopped since my first 10K.  There had been nothing that would make me get off the treadmill and this time around it was telling.  My body no longer had the will.  Maybe that’s the wrong way to say it.  My body is not prepared for the stress my heart will allow.  How do I fix it?  I’m not really sure, frankly.  I know I’m going to have to do some serious preparation though to move beyond and really get to my half marathon target.  Only being able to do half the workout was a serious indicator that my running road races and this cardiac health program have some overlap, but they’re also in conflict with one another.  I don’t know how much faster I really need or want to run.  A 10.6 mph average for a 5K would allow me to finish right at about 18 minutes give or take.  I mostly gave up on the 5K because it is so much more a sprint in terms of long distance running, but I do know my goal was roughly 20 minutes, which averages out to between a 6:30 and 6:15.  Maybe I can do that already.  Maybe I no longer care.  For a 10K, my new goal is to finish below 42 minutes.  That means shaving another 13 seconds per mile average off my current personal record and I don’t know if that’s possible by the May race.  Even if it isn’t, I am not giving up on the 10K.  I consider it my distance and the one I plan to do most often moving forward.  I know at some point I will beat it and once I do, then all bets are off.

For now, I’m taking 4 days off again to allow my body to heal itself and then I’m only going to do 3 workouts while we’re in Mexico on vacation.  I may not even attempt one of the structured workouts and opt instead to just run on the open road on the island.  The entire roadway is only around 30 miles total. LOL

Once I get back, I’ve decided that I’m going to restructure my workouts around preparing for the half marathon.  I’ll move my strength training to dedicated days, and then run three times a week.  That will mean I need to add a day to the gym, but I think I’ll compromise by making one of the three runs a road run here in the neighborhood.  I need to mark off a 6.55 mile loop or something so I can actually run a half marathon on a road course.  Around here, that’ll be very challenging.

Cheers!

April 15th, 2009 – Threshold 3

So, despite doing some sort of really painful damage to my foot yesterday, I sucked it up and got back to the gym today for my next run.  I noticed the pain from my over taping hadn’t gone completely away.  I had no idea how that would impact this run.  Threshold 3 was the last of the new workouts and I hadn’t run it so far.  This one is 2 minutes in zone 2, 1 in zone 3, and then 30 seconds in zone 4.  That seemed much easier than threshold 2, since it was the gradual jump I find easier to manage.

I taped my foot again for this run, but I took the extra care to make sure when I put my foot down it didn’t feel as tight as it did the last time.  That meant I had to tape it a second time, but I got what I thought was a manageable tape job applied and it didn’t feel bad even with the injury to my foot.

I cannot believe I’m running this fast.  Even for short intervals.  To get my heart rate into the right zone for each interval, I had to pull off some amazing speeds.  For the zone 3 minute interval, it meant I was running as fast as 6:15 mile pace, and for zone 4 inside the 30 second interval required 5:39 mile pace.  These are incredible speeds in my mind, especially given that 10 months ago, paces faster than 8 minute miles were causing me these same challenges.  It’s all relative I guess.

The heart monitor strap is causing me consternation of late.  ARGH!  It’s always equipment issues.  Now, it appears I’m too thin around the chest, or something.  As I get soaked (I’m a serious sweat machine in these runs) the strap slips and my heart rate will be read as zero (I’m dead) or 220 (my heart exploded and I’m not sure I’m dead) neither of which is true.  To fix it, I have to stop and adjust the strap, mostly just to get it tight against my chest again and I’m slippery. LOL  Anyway, twice during the run I had to stop.  That isn’t necessarily a bad thing other than my recovery is stunning and I can drop 55 or more beats in a minute of pause and that will drop me out of zone 4 into zone 1.  That means that I need to speed up to get it back into the right zone.

Housekeeping information:  8.4 miles in 70 minutes; 8:20 per mile average pace; 855 calories burned.  That was amazing to me, because at one point my legs were so tired I literally took part of the 2 minutes in zone 2 to walk at 4 miles per hour or 15:00 miles.  I was pleased though that until almost the very end, the 30 second zone 4 interval stayed in the 6 minute and below pace.  That means I ran more than a mile at below 6 minute pace.

The taping worked this time the way I’d hoped.  I had no foot issues on my left foot.  However, my right foot where there is a callus there is a small blister that raised up on top of the callus.  Guess that means I’ll have to tape both feet for the next run.

I’m finding that I cross some threshold each run right at about 50 minutes.  My heart rate drops 4 or 5 beats per minute on average and if that’s the zone or the endorphins, or just body exhaustion all I know is that it becomes harder to push my body because a calm sort of washes over it.  Very interesting and challenging in this threshold training.  We’ll see how it goes moving forward.

Cheers!

April 14, 2009 – Zone 3

I can’t remember the last time I looked at a Zone 3 workout and thought “Oh thank God!” but this was definitely one of them.  It means no worrying about how to get my heart rate into the 174-183 range and no issues of how that will affect my knees.

Of course, this whole issue with my poor choice in shoe selection has now come back to really bite me.  I have no idea what my real gait is while running and I’m just choosing blindly in the dark.  There are three types of running gait, defined quite well by Runner’s World.  My last pair of running shoes was a motion control shoe, built for overpronate running styles.  I thought that I’d chosen that one incorrectly and this time I selected a neutral shoe.  The problem is that I have predominately flat feet.  I have since I was young and nothing I’ve seen indicates that’s any different.  So, the neutral shoe now introduces more arch than my flat foot can deal with.  That article indicates that I should be choosing motion control or stability shoes.  The results have been horrid as I now have significant blisters in the arches of both feet that are exacerbated by the distances and paces I’m now working.  So, I discovered that band-aids would only sweat and peel off into the sock, which added to the blister.  To overcompensate, I bought some athletic first aid wrap and tape.  I thought I’d wrap my foot and it would take care of the problem.  Little did I realize the consequences of my actions.  I wrapped my foot too tightly and once I was 6 miles into my run, it became obvious that my feet swell.  The constriction became so painful at one point that I swore my foot went dead numb.  Did I stop?  NO!  Why?  I don’t honestly know.

Housekeeping data:  8.8 miles in 70 minutes; 7:57 minutes per mile average; 865 calories.  I was disappointed that it fell short of 9 miles, thought it should not have been out of the norm now to hit 9 miles in this zone 3 cycle.  Of course, the searing pain in my left foot was a direct contributor.  When the run ended, I sat on the end of the treadmill and ripped off the wrap only to discover it had caused some sort of compression injury and my foot still was in full pain and I had to limp to do my stretching and back to the car.

I’m going to have to find a happy balance until I can justify a new pair of shoes.  Colleen won’t stop me from buying new ones, I’m just a cheap bastard and I don’t want to feel I’ve wasted my expenditure on the current pair.  I’ll see.  I also have come to the realization that if I’m going to convert into a real long distance runner, I’ve got to start alternating pairs of shoes.  This has a twofold benefit to a certain extent.  It will allow me to have the shoes last longer, but I’m spending twice as much at the point I buy new shoes.  I guess we’ll see.  I do know that I plan to change my workout once I get through this last bit of the 12 week program.  So, my blog won’t have the workout name in it necessarily or the names will change as I start doing my own training and more importantly really ramping up the distances.  I’m still 6 months out, give or take, but I need to run 13.1 miles in any length of time just to let my brain understand both the rigors and that I’m truly physically capable of doing it.

Cheers!

April 10th, 2009 – Threshold 2

Disaster!  Holy COW!  This was the hardest workout I have ever attempted and it didn’t go well at all.  Threshold 2 was 2 minutes in Zone 2, one in Zone 4 repeat for 60 minutes or 20 iterations.  That in itself doesn’t sound difficult, but the jump between zones in that short a window was not trivial.  I was running at 10.5 miles per hour at the start and still could not get my heart rate up above 173 beats per minute, which was where Zone 3 ends!  I didn’t have the leg strength to run any faster I don’t think.  It seemed a couple of times that I would literally fall off the treadmill.  That’s a 5:42 mile and wholly faster than I ever imagined I’d be able to run.

So, I didn’t end up running the whole 70 minutes.  My body gave out on me.  The blisters in my arches are killing me and I am sure the skin has now torn and may be bleeding.  I’m going to have to figure out how to get past this until I can replace the shoes.  I can’t wear a neutral shoe, that’s all there is to it.  On top of the blisters, my calves and knees betrayed me.  I probably should have rested longer after the race.  There’s no way to marry the two and especially at my age, I need to rest more than I have after a race.

The housekeeping: 65 minutes, 7.1 miles for a 9:09 average, 741 calories burned.  I walked the last 10 minutes and had to do quite a bit of walking to get my heart rate back out of Zone 4 and to give my legs a chance to rest.  I was disappointed in myself.  I *might* have been able to do the last 10 minutes of running and actually finish the full 70, but I was in physical and psychological pain and stopping seemed the only solution.

The ironic part for me is of course that this isn’t very dissimilar to the first serious 12 week program I’d started.  By week 9, I could not physically do the exercises and hurt several knee ligaments and tendons.  I walked around in a great deal of pain for weeks it seemed.  This was the program I had started right around the time Haylie was born.  I had started it the week before and then pushed on after she was born.  So, that means it was into September I was still working that first program.  Since I didn’t want to just keep paying the gym for testing and new programs, when I finished that 12 week, I took a week off and then started it over.  By the end of the second round of that first 12 week program, I was able to do the week 9 and higher workouts without significant problems.  I wonder if that’s the case with this one?  I can only hope I’ll heal enough to find out.  I know for sure I’m unlikely to shoot for another.

I think this program will put me in good stead for my half marathon.  That assumes I’ll have the stones to actually register for the thing!  I found out it is Sunday, November 1st, which means I’ve got a little over 6 months to train.  I can do it.  Can I do it in a way that makes me feel good about it?  That’s a different statement altogether.  I *want* to run in 95 minutes or lower, which means right around 7:13 or so for the average mile.  I don’t know if that’s my optimum goal or my first step though.  Below 50 was my first goal for a 10K and I shattered it.  7 minute average was my May goal for a 10K and I did it in April.  The only friend I have locally that ran cross country and long distance track tells me my now perceived goal of below 42 minutes is probably out of the question, but he also said 7 minute miles were probably out of my range.  I just don’t know what my limits are, and whether or not there is any real value in trying to find them.  Right now, it seems my sole motivator.  The fitness has become quite secondary.  I didn’t even realize when that happened until I just put it down.  No wonder everyone in my life says I’ve become obsessed.  I am! LOL

Cheers!

April 9th, 2009 – Threshold 1

Threshold training!  Ugh!  This is the first week to start these and after taking almost the entire week off after the race (I forgot to pack my watch for my trip and couldn’t do any monitored training in Chicago) I wasn’t exactly sure how well my body would react to this first foray into Zone 4 as part of my formal training.  On top of that, the blister on my left foot was still somewhat annoyed.  Not raised, but the dead skin was just itching to tear and for all I knew there was deeper blister underneath.

I got to the gym and really felt pretty good about it.  I manage to feel better when I run even if I’m nervous about it leading up to it.  Having had the rest, I was even a bit less stiff as I stretched out before I got started.  It had the potential to be a very interesting run.

Threshold 1 is an intense workout.  After a 5 minute warm up, I do intervals of one minute in each of zone 1, 2, 3, and then 4.  After that, I do two minutes of cool down in zone 1 again and repeat.  Of course, that’s what I was supposed to do.  What I had programmed into the watch meant the cool down was in zone 2 and that made the run far more erratic and hard to manage from a heart rate perspective.  The drop from zone 4 to zone 2 was bad enough (zone 4 starts at 173 beats per minute and zone 2 ends at 156) but to then have to figure out how to keep it from bottoming out in zone 2 (141 beats per minute) and then turn around and slow it down to between 130 and 140 was not trivial.  Far too erratic.

Housekeeping data:  7.7 miles in 70 minutes for a 9:05 per mile average, 821 total calories.  Now that’s a slow pace, granted.  But, because of the drop from 4 into 2 and then 2 into 1 I had to walk a few at 15 minute miles which dropped the average mile pace.  I know for at least the first three zone 4 minute intervals I was running at 5:52 per mile, or 10.2 miles an hour.  Smoking fast and I am not sure how long I could have sustained that pace, but it just showed me that I was in much better shape than I’d thought.

I spent a bit of time reading TV so I didn’t really pay attention to the music on the Nano.  The closed captioning for ‘The Office’ was adequate to let me get a sense of how the Michael Scott Paper Company was going and that at least for the time being, there was no sign of him going back to Dunder Mifflin.  Pop culture junkie to say the least!

Got back to the house and yes indeed the damned blister had torn open.  At least there seemed to be no new blister so perhaps it was just the skin getting rubbed away.  I still worry that these new shoes were the wrong choice and that I’m due for a lot of pain over the next 9 weeks.  Oh well.  Lesson learned I suppose.  But, I will say that my new socks, which were part of the prize at the race, are quite comfortable and easy to run in.  If I could just figure out a decent lacing or tightness of the laces on my foot, I’d really be good to go.

Cheers!

Race Day!

Road races tend to start early.  Because I need time to get the dogs walked and corral everyone up and ready, I had to get up this morning at 5 AM!  OUCH!  I woke up and both knees hurt, my right hamstring ached, my left hip abductor was not cooperating.  This was shaping up to be a really bad race.

I walked the dogs and it was colder outside than it should have been.  It was below 50 and that meant the race would start with temperatures in the very low 50s.  Not as cold as my first, but colder than I had hoped.  Cold weather means muscles that are more stiff and I was already achy.  DAMN!  We got there and my hands felt like icicles.

All that nervous energy obviously meant something.  All that concern about how sore I was, how cold it was, etc. meant little.  10K 43:11 31st overall, 2nd in 40-44 year olds. 6:57 per mile average!  Yes, I said that.  I finished 2nd for my age group.  Now, that’s a bit of a misnomer.  There were a few more in my age group that finished higher.  The thing with road races though is that you can’t win awards in more than one category.  So, one was in the top 3 overall.  Two were in the top Masters group (40-50.)  That means they could not be part of top three in age group.  So, technically, I finished 5th for my age group, as there were 4 men 40-44 that finished above my time, but it doesn’t matter.  I was listed as 2nd for my age group and that meant in my second 10K ever I win an award!!  I was so stoked.  Colleen and I were getting ready to leave, when I noticed they had posted the 10K results.  I ran over to see how I’d done and BINGO!  I was almost literally in tears I was so overcome with exuberance.  I had not expected to do that well.  I knew where I’d finished overall because the race was a loop and I could count the number of runners that made the turn before I had.  I just couldn’t tell who was in my age range.

The race was significantly harder besides the amount of external issues.  It started with a fairly steep and lengthy climb, which was then a fairly long and steep descent.  But, I beat my pace goal.  I ran 6.2 miles averaging less than 7 minutes per mile.  I did the first three miles in 6:30 averages, or under 20 minutes total.  I was stoked because I knew after the first loop that I was well on my way to beating my goal.  Of course, I faded quite a bit on the second hill ascent, but it didn’t totally ruin my pace.

I am so excited.  I am guessing that my next goal now needs to be a below 42 minute total time.  That’s going to mean another 10 or 15 seconds per mile off my time, which will only get harder to accomplish.  Still, I hadn’t expected to be able to make either of the two I met so far.  We’ll see.  5 weeks to go until the next race!

Cheers!

April 1st, 2009 10K5

Once again a taper run.  This was my last custom built run, though it isn’t much different from a straight Zone 2 from my cardiac training.  The run is 5 minutes of warm up with 50 minutes in zone 2 and then 5 minutes of cool down.  The Zone 2 training is 60 minutes in the middle, but that’s the only real difference.  I had built mine before I’d even been given this new program from the gym, so I thought it interesting that I have learned some lessons on my own and there’s a good chance this 12 week program will likely be my last from the gym formally.  We’ll see, but the price of the test for the program seems to be less and less a real value at this point in my fitness.

Housekeeping details.  6.9 miles, 60 minutes, 8:41 per mile average 682 calories.  Now that last one sort of bummed me out.  My calorie intake is based on burning 700 calories for my workout and I didn’t quite make it.  Oh well, I’ll still eat for my plan and just know that the 18 calories won’t kill me. LOL

This was such a simple run.  The pace is gentle so to speak.  I was obviously a bit tired, though, because I was only able to run 2 8 minute miles this time before I had to slow down the pace to keep my heart rate from creeping too high.  I still managed 36 seconds in zone 3, which wasn’t a big deal but sort of crept out of my target.  Still, the run was good overall.  I finally managed to find a lacing and tightening method that didn’t hurt my feet and didn’t raise up the old blister.  Of course that one still hasn’t healed, but it shouldn’t get worse.

As an aside……I find this whole prep for the race oddly surreal.  I can remember not very long ago that 10 minute miles was faster than I thought possible.  I can remember when I had a goal of 8:03 per mile for my first 10K.  Now, I regularly run 8 minute averages over 8 and 9 miles and believe I honestly have a shot at 7:00 though I am not certain that will happen this next race.

So, two days of rest.  That will be nice.  I can let my body heal and I can stretch during the rest and I should be in decent status for the race.  I am excited!

March 31st, 2009 10K3

So, prior to starting this newest cardiac training from the gym, I had created a set of 5 workouts I was using that in my mind trained me for my first 10K.  Since then, I’ve actually started a new cardiac training program, but I like to use these now as taper runs.  A taper run is a concept I’d never heard of or even considered.  I was told that the week before a road race, I should slowly run fewer and fewer runs and distances until I actually rest up before the race.  For the first 10K, I didn’t do a good job of that and ran 25 miles the week leading up to the race.  It did not seem to make a significant difference during the race.  After the race, however, I know I wished I’d run less.  So, this time I decided I’d really make a concerted effort to taper, and this run was one of the methods I’d taper.

The housekeeping:  7.5 miles in 60 minutes, 728 calories burned.  It was interesting to have the entire average be exactly 7.5 miles as that means I averaged 8 minute miles and as I’ve said before, there is 10 minutes of running well below 10 minutes per mile so the total average balancing like that seemed unusual.

Still having some equipment issues.  These new shoes are probably not the best choice.  The arch is too long in the shoe it appears.  I had the blister raise back up on my left foot, not as painful, but still there.  I don’t know how to keep it from happening.  Also, I didn’t have the foot pod (which sends distance and pace data to the running computer) into the laces correctly so it slipped down painfully onto my lower foot.  I had to stop running at one point to adjust it.  I’m still tinkering with the lacing so perhaps I’ll find some way to avoid more blisters.  If not, it will be a long 6 miles.

Sore.  Really sore.  I don’t quite understand why I have so many muscle aches.  Perhaps I’ve over trained?  I don’t really know.  This one seems to be shaping up to be a bad race.  Of course, I told myself I was not going to beat 50 minutes for my last race, and then wound up smashing it.  I can only hope.

Cheers!