Uping the Ante

The cool temps we've been getting lately have definitely made running much easier which in turn makes it more enjoyable. Which makes it easier to run more.

The past couple of weeks have been going well and I feel I've established a good training routine. At the moment, my goal is to run 60-65 miles, get in 2 long quality workouts (Wednesday and Friday), and spend 2-3 hours a week on the elliptical each week.

This morning I was able to get in a good 800m repeat workout. My legs were feeling pretty tired and unresponsive during the warm up. I almost bailed on the workout this morning with the intention of doing it this evening, but I thought I should at least try a few reps to see how it went. My legs never loosened up, but after two reps I was able to find a rhythm and I was amazed at how good I felt aerobically and how I was able to run my best 800m workout of the season, despite my legs feeling dead. I averaged 3:16.5 per rep w/2 min rest (200m jog during the 2 min rest). I could have easily averaged a little faster, but my second rep was in 3:24. Other than that rep I didn't have any one slower than 3:16.

The only thing I'm still trying to establish in my training routine is a good weekly (or at least bi-monthly) long run. I haven't run over 12.5 miles in one run since the end of August. I hope to start getting in some good 15-milers soon, so that I can work my way up to a bi-monthly 20-miler by November. Other than that, things are going great. I've registered for the Houston Half-Marathon toward the end of October. Hopefully I can run a bit faster there this year than I did last year.

Heat Wave

Training has been going quite well. I've averaged ~53 mpw over the past 8 weeks and I've been getting in some pretty good quality workouts. This past week I had a great interval workout, running 8x800m @ 3:17 w/2 min rest (200m jog). However, we have been hit by a little heat wave the past several days. I would be lying if I told you that it hasn't effected my training.

I was hoping to get a good 12.5-mile run this morning with an hour of it at 82-86% of my max heart rate. This is just a bit slower than my half-marathon race effort. The first half of the workout went well and I was running along at a nice clip. However, at about the half-way point I noticed that my heart rate kept hoovering around 87-88% of my max. I slowed down some, but with the heat, humidity and the hills it was almost impossible to get my heart rate to drop. I even slowed to a walk on 2 occasions just to get my heart rate back to 85%, but it was a mute point because as soon as I started running again it would shoot back to 87-88%, even at a slow jog. Once I got to the 92-minute mark in the run, I gave up and walked the remaining way back. I feel my fitness is good, but the heat/humidity the past couple of days has been ridiculous. I'm ready for cooler temps.

The Grind

I haven't updated the blog in a while, as their hasn't been many details to report. I've just been grinding out the work. I'm pleased with the consistency I've shown the past several weeks. I've average about 45 mpw the last 12 weeks and a little over 50 mpw over the last 8 weeks. I've also been able to get in two strength training workouts a week, which I plan to continue through October.

I've been feeling good (relatively) and I've been slowly increasing my mileage to about 60 mpw over the past 3-4 weeks. I'm trying to increase the distance of my long run every other week and I hope to hit my first 20-mile run sometime around the end of October or early November.

I've been getting in 1 or 2 quality workouts each week, but yesterday I did my first "long" quality workout. After my standard 2-mile warm up, I did 2 x 3.25-miles w/5 min rest. My goal was to run each rep between 86-88% of my max heart rate. Thanks to the wonderful weather, I was able to run my first rep in 22:46 at an average HR% of 87% and my second rep in 22:41 at an average HR% of 86%. I was pleased that I was able to average 7 min/mile for both reps. I finished with a 4-mile cool down, to give me 12.5-miles for the workout.

Running Around

The past month has been extremely hectic. I vacationed to Hawaii at the beginning of July. I had a blast and enjoyed my 10 days there. On my second day in Hawaii I ran the Freedom Fest 10k. They list it as a Run/Hike. I wasn't sure what the "Hike" part meant, but I figured that with my experience with running the hills in Huntsville, I didn't have much to worry about. Boy was I wrong! I quickly found out what "Hike" meant. It means that you will come across hills so steep they are impossible to run, so you must hike up them. This was the hardest course I've ever raced and it didn't take long for me to regret the fact this was a 10k and not a 5k. I ended up running 48:51 (7:49/mile). I also went out a bit to fast and paid the price at the end. I haven't done anything faster than mileage pace, and the 7:15 first mile hurt! My brother ended up passed me with about a half-mile left and I didn't have anyway to respond. He ended up beating me by about 20-seconds. He finished 9th overall and I finished 10th.

I didn't run much the rest of time in Hawaii. I stayed active (hiking, rock climbing, swimming, etc), but I only ran twice over the next 8 days. However, since getting back to Texas I've gotten back in the routine and have been doing well. I ran 54-miles this past week, which is my highest mileage week since January. I've also started lifting weights twice a week, spending a little bit of time on the elliptical, and I've started working in some quality workouts again. I feel pretty good at the moment and my mileage runs have been feeling better and better. By the end of August I plan on being back at 60-mile weeks while doing two quality workouts and one or two 10-12 mile runs each week. If I'm doing that my prep for a winter marathon will be right on track.

Feeling Fit :)

I've been grinding out the miles lately. In the month of June I ran 38 times for 196.7 miles (5.176 mpr). It was my best month of training since March and I'm definitely feeling the benefits from the consistency. In early June a 5 to 6 mile run was a tough run, but that run is now pretty standard and I'm getting back to the point where I'm not going to step out of the door unless I plan on running at least 4 miles. My regular long runs have been 8-10 miles and I'll probably start increasing that distance to 12-14 miles by the end of the summer. I ran 8.25-miles tonight and felt great. If I can continue with this training through July 18 I'll start working in a quality workout once a week. I'm looking forward to it, just need to keep grinding out the miles.

Long Run

I ran 10-miles last night with Molly and Victoria around town. I enjoy running with the girls from time to time. It spices things up a bit and they always make me smile when I hear the topics they discuss and their opinions on various subjects. I will say that what their conversations are completely different from what the guys talk about. It reminds me that men are indeed from Mars and women are from Venus.

The run went well and considering it was still about 90 degrees when we started (we started running at 9pm) we ran pretty quick. We started pushing the pace the last mile or so and it felt good to run hard for an extended period of time. I haven't done that in a while. Another positive is that Molly and Victoria appear to be in pretty good shape. Hopefully they can continue to build on their current fitness. If they do they are going to set themselves up for a good cross country season.

Routine

I feel like the routine of running is back. I've run 40-45 miles each of the past two weeks and a 5-6 mile run is not as challenging as it was a few weeks ago. I'm still struggling to keep a respectable pace, but I think that has more to do with the weather than it does with my fitness because I feel strong and effecient.

I ran 7.5 miles last night with Molly while Matt rode the bike. It was a good run, but we ended up averaging around 9min/mile, which is too slow for me to do too often. I think I'm going to do my first real workout sometime this week, probably Thursday or Friday and it will probably be something threshold oriented.

Feeling Good

My training has been going fairly well the past several weeks. I finally feel like I'm back to the routine of being a runner and I've noticed that I've been feeling stronger and more efficient on most of my runs. On Saturday I ran 7.8-miles, which was my longest run since April 15, and last night I put my shoes on with the intention of running 3-miles, but just before I started I decided to go ahead and do 4-miles. About 2.5-miles into it I decided to go a head and make it a 6.5-mile run. I been feeling strong an efficient again, however, my average pace is significantly slower than it was just a few weeks ago. I've been averaging about 8:20 to 8:35 per mile. My only justification for this is the fact that it has been significantly hotter and more humid than it was just a few weeks ago. Sunday morning I went for a run and the humidity was at about 98%. I don't handle the heat and humidity well, so I'm going to try to do most of my morning runs indoors at the HKC and the bulk of my running in the evening on the roads. This is about the best way I can figure to deal with the weather.

Marathon Buildup

I ended up taking most of the month of April and the first part of May virtually off; doing just enough to not get completely out-of-shape. This wasn't my original plan, but I felt like I had too much going on with my coaching and recruiting duties to train consistently.

But now that we are out for summer break, I've been able to get back into the full swing of running and I've begun my marathon prep for the Houston Marathon at the end of January. I'm going to spend about 10 weeks running 50-60 mpw with a lot of doubles to re-establish a training routine. The focus is going to be on mileage and weights. I've been training well the past 2 weeks and I can already feel my fitness coming back. My biggest adjustment is just getting used to the heat.

I'm excited to start training for my first marathon. If my prep for the full goes as well as it did for the half this past January it should be a lot of fun.

Cruise Intervals

I wasn't really sure what workout I was going to do today and I actually made it up as I went along. All I knew was that I wanted to target something around my lactate threshold.

I ended up running 3 x 2400m on the track with a 400m jog recovery between each interval. I averaged 10:37.2 for each (7:05/mile) and my recovery jogs were around 2:45. My only complaint is that it's starting to get warm again. I started the workout at 11am, and it's probably the last time I'll be able to start a workout after 10am until October. The heat was really beginning to have a negative effect on my running the last 2400m. I also need to pay extra close attention to my hydration again. Summer is on it's way :(

Feeling like a runner again

I had a good long quality workout on the track this morning and with the warm up and cool down I totaled 10.5 miles. Which makes it one of the longest workouts I've done in a while. The weather was nice (a little breezy but not bad) and I am finally feeling like a runner again.

After my standard 2 mile warm up I did 4 miles on the track at 86-90% of my HR, a 400m jog, 1 mile @ 86-90% of my max HR, 400m jog, and 1 mile @ 86-90% of my max HR.

I ran the 4 mile threshold run in 27:50 (6:54-7:01-6:55-6:59) and my average HR was 89% of my max (172 bpm) and then my mile reps were 6:53 and 6:59 with my average HR at 88% and 87%, respectively. I finished it off with a 2 mile cool down on the roads.

All in all it was a good workout.

Running Fast Again

My original plan was to run 8 x 800m today, however, the weather had different plans for me. With it being windy and cold I decided to do a little repetition work so that I didn't have to run into a headwind for a significant amount of time.

After my standard 2 mile warm up with strides, I ended up running 12 x 250m w/100m jog + 50m walk. My goal was to run around 50-seconds per rep (5:20 mile pace). This is my first true repetition workout since last summer and that fastest I've run in a workout in a LONG time.... so I didn't have real high expectations. I ended up averaging 50.9-seconds per rep and 1:18.7 on the recovery. This type of workouts are no my speciality and definately not a workout I like to do (other than the fact it's over quickly). The workout was a bit easier than I expected it to be and I was pleased with the results given the conditions.

Total of 6.25 miles for the workout.

Threshold

Today was my first true workout since the Half-Marathon. After a 1.95 mile warm up I did a 4 Mile Threshold Run on the roads using my heart rate monitor. I set my limits at 86% and 90% of my max heart. I've noticed this usually gets me pretty close to my lactate threshold and since I haven't done a quality workout in a while, I figured this would help me keep things under control.

I ran my first 2.15-miles in 14:51.4 (6:54/mile) and my last 1.85-miles in 12:21.6 (6:40/mile) for a total time of 27:13.0 (6:48/mile). I was pretty pleased with it, but this was also the pace I ran for the 10k on Saturday. It makes me wonder if I ran too hard today, or if I ran too easy on Saturday. Either way, it was a good first quality workout.

I'm looking at running some 800m repeats on Friday or Saturday. Hopefully those go as well as today did.

Back in the Groove

I would classify the past two weeks as a full return to running. I've run 47 miles each of the past two weeks with some weight training and time on the bike/elliptical both weeks.

I ran the Bayou City Classic 10k yesterday and ran 42:17.2 (6:49.2/mile). I was quite pleased with the results, considered I've only averaged 36 mpw during the past 6 weeks with NO quality workouts. My goal was to run under 43:40 (7:00/mile) and not have any mile slower than 7:10. I ended up running my first two miles in 6:45 each. A bit faster than what I wanted to do and I wasn't feeling great, but I figured I'd go with this and see what happened. I ran my first 5k in 21:06 and closed in 21:10. I thought I would run my last 5k faster, as I was able to pick up the pace and passed quite a few people. But I guess that was because everyone else was slowing down quite a bit. It was a good run and I'm pleased with it. I've decided to focus my training on the 5k/10k throughout the summer and I'll start preparing for a marathon next winter. I may run a half-marathon this summer when I vacation to Hawaii, but I'm not going to prepare for that as vigorously as I did the Half in January.

This morning I did a two hour workout that mixed running and biking. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but never got around to it as I'm usually too busy. But I drove out the the Hunters Camp off of 4 Notch Rd in the Sam Houston National Forest. I dropped my bike off with some water and an energy bar. I drove back to my house and proceeded to run the 10.25 mile route out to the Hunters Camp. It took my 1:20:30 to run out there (7:51/mile). Once I got there I spent about 5 minutes re-hydrating and eating my energy bar. I hopped on the bike and rode back home. It took me about two hours for the round trip which was a pretty good workout. With the nicer weather it's much easier to get out and spend a good amount of time outdoors. I hope to do some kayaking as well here in the next few weeks.

Barely Getting By

My training since the Half-Marathon has admittedly been sub-par, at best. After 4 weeks of ~30 miles I was finally able to break out of the funk and get a decent week of training. I managed 47 miles with most runs being 7-8 miles in duration (I did get a 10 miler in Sunday morning). I'm hoping to keep this going until the end of March and I'll bump my mileage back up to 60 mpw during the month of April.

I did register for the Bayou City 10k this coming Saturday in Houston. I'm not expecting a whole lot, just to get a good marker of what kind of shape I'm in at the moment. If it's not too bad, I'll registered for a full-marathon this summer.

It's Been A While

So it's been a while since I've last updated this blog. It's not because I haven't been running, simply because I feel like I've barely had time to breathe during the past few weeks. With the indoor track season starting and recruiting going full speed ahead, I just haven't had as much free time as I would like. Hopefully things will begin to slow down a bit over the next few weeks and I'll be able to get back to regularly updating this blog.

Since the Houston Half my training has been very sporadic. I would like to be more consistent, but with my class schedule, recruiting, meets, and the increased attention I've been putting into the individual training of each of my athletes I've found myself having to cram in runs and I've had to cut a few of them shorter than I would like.

So until things slow down a bit, I'm going to back my mileage off a bit as well as my overall quality workouts. My goal is to run 50-60 mpw with a hard 7.5-mile run on Tuesdays, 800m repeats on Friday, a long run on the weekend, and 1 or 2 days of hurdle mobility plus multi-throws. I hope to maintain this through the end of February, at which time I'll begin preparation for a summer marathon.

Until next time....

Amarco Half-Marathon

This was the race I had been preparing for since this past June when I decided to move up and tackle a Half-Marathon. At the time, I felt like 1:32 was a very ambitious goal, given that I was barely able to handle a 4.5 mile run on the track at 7:00/mile. But I'm still in my first year of real running so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. However, my training has been going amazingly well the past 3 months and I felt like, with good weather, I could challenge the 90-minute barrier.

I've spent the past two days driving on the road and at track meets. I was slightly worried that this could wear me out, but there was nothing I could do about it, so I decided to not worry about it much.

I made all my necessary plans and packing last night and I was able to get to bed around 11pm. I got a solid 5 hours of sleep (not ideal the night before a long race) before my alarm went off. Once I got to the Brown Convention Center I oriented myself and began my warm up about an hour before the race. I warm up a little longer than normal, and then quickly found myself rushed to get to the start line. Thanks to some nice pushing and shoving on my part I was able to work my way up near the front of my wave (correcting a mistake I made in October).

My goal was the run 7:00 to 7:05 for each of the first three miles before trying to pick the pace up. I was worried that I might crash and burn again like my last Half, so I tried to relax as much as possible and just let the race come to me.

As I passed the first mile mark I clicked my watch and saw 6:57. I felt pretty comfortable and just kept it going. At the second mile I saw 6:50. I was still felt good, but I knew I had to make a decision at this point to keep it going, or back off and play it safe. I decided to take a chance and kept the pace up. I ended up running the next three miles with a guy who was targeting a 3-hour marathon. I was nice running with him and it was the first time I ran with someone and didn't feel like I had to slow down so they could keep up or speed up just to keep it. We ran 6:48 for each of my next three miles to hit the 5 mile mark at 34:15. Somewhere around this point I found myself running with the 3-hour marathon pace group that had caught up with us. I used these guys until the Half-Marathon turn around point (mile 9). I took my first Gu pack around 7.5-miles and my second one around 10.5-miles.

I hit the 11-mile mark in 1:14:43 (6:47.5/mile) and began to get nervous. This was around the point in October when I slowed from averaging 7:09/mile to running my last three miles in a 7:25/mile average. I ended up backing off slightly and ran mile 12 in 6:57. This was a bit of a subconscious slow down (plus running into some wind) and I was disappointed that I backed off that much, but I was still feeling pretty good. I ended up running my last mile in 6:34 (last .1 mile in 40-seconds to finish in 1:28:52!!!! I couldn't believe it. I thought I could challenge 90-minutes with a good day. It didn't cross my mind that I could possibly break 89-minutes until I passed mile 8, still feeling good.

To put this in a bit of a perspective.... one year ago I ran a 4 mile tempo run, as hard as I could run, in 30:36 (7:39/mile).... 3 months ago I ran a Half-Marathon in 1:35:00 (7:15/mile).... and today I ran 1:28:52 (6:47/mile). I used to think that I would probably never run 21-minutes for three miles. I feel very humbled at the moment.

I'm in great shape right now and I plan on running a 3200m time trial, a 5k road race, and 10k road race during the next 2 months to set some new PRs. But I'm just going to take the next few days easy and I'll get back to the hard workouts at the end of the this week. That's all for now.

Final Tune-Up

Today was my final tune-up prior to the Houston Half this Sunday. I wanted to run a moderately difficult workout that I could complete, but would have to work to get it done. I also wanted to run a reasonable volume, but not too much.

So I decided to run 6x1600m w/400m jog recovery between each rep. I wanted to run negative times for every two repeats. I ran my first two reps in 6:57 and 6:55, my next two in 6:38 and 6:39, and my final two in 6:28 and 6:28. For each repeat my average heart rate stayed at 88-90% of it's max and I felt pleasantly exhausted at the conclusion, which is what I was looking to accomplish. All in all, I was pleased.

The hay is now in the barn. All I can do at this point is just jog around, eat right, and get some rest. I feel about as ready to go as I could at this point. I just hope no abnormal aches or pains pop up between now and then. Wish me luck!

Race Simulation

I wanted to get a bit of a race simulation workout in as today's workout was going to be my last real quality workout. I decided to run 2 miles @ Race Pace (track) + 4.25 mile tempo run (road) + 2 miles @ Race Pace (track). I took a 3 min jog recovery between everything, and this was only because it took me 3 min to get from the track to the road and back.

I started out on the track and ran a very controlled and evenly paced 2 miles in 13:54 (6:57/mile). I averaged 89% of my max HR during this segment.

It took me three minutes to jog from the track to the road where I would do my tempo run. I then proceeded to run 4.25-miles over hills in 27:50.8 (6:33/mile). I wanted to try to keep my heart rate between 90-92% of it's max, but this was extremely difficult and I couldn't manage to run any faster. My average heart during this segment was only 89% of my max. Early on I was in my goal range, but I only managed about 13-minutes of total running in this zone. Maybe I was a bit over ambitious with my goal. Good run none the less, I expecting the total time to be a bit slower than this.

It took me 3 minutes to jog back to track, where I finished my workout with a controlled and evenly paced 2 miles in 13:54 (6:57/mile). During this part my average heart rate was 85% of my max. This portion felt quite easy and I felt I could have run significantly faster the last half-mile if I had to desire to.

It was a good workout, though I'm a bit concerned as I've noticed that it is taking me longer and longer to get warmed up. I've noticed that I never feel good in the first 20-minutes of any run; however, after that I feel good whether I'm running for another 20 minutes or an hour. I think this is evident by tracking my heart rate vs paces during this workout. I know this is a sign of good aerobic fitness, during my race next Sunday I won't be able to stop and jog 3 minutes after the first two miles so I'm going to experiment with a longer/harder warm up a couple times this week to see if that helps me get warmed up so that I don't overwork the first quarter of the race with my heart rate any higher than it needs to be. I just hope I don't over-do the warm up on race day.

Moderate Workouts

With less than two weeks until the Half-Marathon, I'm just resting and doing what I can to make sure I feel good on race day. I seem to always feel good when I back off on the intensity of my workouts.... so today I decided to run 8 x (1200m hard / 400m easy). I averaged 4:54.2 for each 1200m with my fastest one being run in 4:46 and my slowest in 5:01. I averaged 2:24 for each 400m jog (this included some short standing around to get water on a few reps). I totaled 58:25.9 for 8 miles (7:18.2/mile) of continuous running. Good workout. The pace I was running, 6:32/mile did not feel difficult to maintain and the 400m jog recoveries was more than enough. It was a good workout for what I wanted it to accomplish. I expect to get a good easy week of 55-60 miles with 2 quality workouts.

I'm just hoping to stay healthy between now and January 17.

Cruise Intervals

The morning of January 1 I woke up and decided not to run the 10k Time Trial I had been planning on. I ran the 10 mile fartlek a bit harder than I had originally planned and I'm beginning to feel my legs slowly get heavier and heavier with each run. I still wanted to get a long quality workout in, so I opted for cruise intervals.

THE PLAN: 5 x 3200m with my HR between 86-90% of it's max (170-180 bpm) and I start my next rep once my HR returned to 70% of it's max (145-150 bpm). I would run the first 4 reps on the road and my last rep on the track.

REP 1 - 14:10.4: Pretty comfortable, though I backed off on the effort during the second mile as there were two pretty good size hills.... avg HR was 89% of max.

REST 1 - 48.5 seconds: WTF?!?!? I was expecting it to take about 2 min for my HR to drop to 70% of it's max. I guess this is the pit fall of being fit. Oh well.... avg HR was 82% of max.

REP 2 - 13:37.0: Some decent downhills to make up for the uphill on the first rep.... avg HR was 88% of max.

REST 2 - 51.6 seconds: FML! I was hoping to stand around longer.... avg HR was 82% of max.

REP 3 - 14:13.2: Back up some hills.... avg HR was 89% of max.

REST 3 - 1:07.9: I wasn't ready to go at the start, so I got in a little longer recovery.... avg HR was 79% of max.

REP 4 - 13:45.7: Back down some hills.... avg HR was 89% of max.

REST 4 - 2:32.5: I had to jog about 400m to get back to the track, but I was able to keep my HR from dropping too fast by staying active. Once I got to the track, it took about 30 seconds for my HR to drop to 70% of it's max.... avg HR was 82% of max.

REP 5 - 14:11.0: On the track for this one, legs pretty heavy and I fell of pace a bit the last 1k. Oh well, still a good workout.... avg HR was 88% of max.

I got 13.5 miles in total. I'm really starting to like this HR monitor. I'm beginning to see all it's practical benefits. It definitely helped my keep this workout under control. From the moment I started the first rep, I got in a little over 62 minutes with my HR between 86-90% of it's max. Good day.