I woke up at 5:15 this morning to make sure I have plenty of time to get my morning workout in. Surprisingly, it seems to be getting easier and easier to wake up early to run; and the weather has been GREAT lately so it makes it that much easier. I ran my 7.45 mile loop this morning in 1:38. The overall time is not that impressive, but I started out rediculously and was able to progressively increase my pace the whole run. I averaged 8:35/mile for the first 2.9 miles, then 8:00/mile for the next 2.2 miles, and finally 7:42/mile for my last 2.35 miles. I then spent some quality time on the elliptical (40 minutes). I've noticed that the fitter I get, the harder the first mile of every run feels; but on the flip side, the fitter I get the better I feel the last 3-4 miles.
Run Streak = 51 days
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Interesting Conversations....
I had scheduled practice for 6:30am at the state park. I had 6 to 8 miles scheduled for the women and 6 to 10 miles schedule for the men. Typically, our Sunday runs are a lot longer, but this was the last day for their recovery week and I know a few of them are feeling pretty fatigued, so I decided to go easy on them.
However, three of the girls (Molly, Megan, and Haleigh) decided to run the inside loop at the park. They said it is a 10-mile loop and the time we ran would indicate that it is a 10-mile loop, however, I beleive it's probably a 9.1-mile loop as that's what all the maps seem to indicate. It was nice running with them. We had some interesting conversations regarded world affairs and feral children, but it didn't take long for the conversation to be steered towards relationships (mainly their relationships, as I have no life outside of running). It was a very interesting and informational conversation that last about 30-40 minutes. It was a good run.
Run Streak = 50 days
However, three of the girls (Molly, Megan, and Haleigh) decided to run the inside loop at the park. They said it is a 10-mile loop and the time we ran would indicate that it is a 10-mile loop, however, I beleive it's probably a 9.1-mile loop as that's what all the maps seem to indicate. It was nice running with them. We had some interesting conversations regarded world affairs and feral children, but it didn't take long for the conversation to be steered towards relationships (mainly their relationships, as I have no life outside of running). It was a very interesting and informational conversation that last about 30-40 minutes. It was a good run.
Run Streak = 50 days
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Cruise Intervals
I scheduled an early morning light workout with the team at the track. As group they ran for about 25-30 miles (Men 4 miles / Women 3 miles) followed by a few short hill repeats and a short cool down. I rode my bike with the men on their 4 mile group run. The atmosphere was pretty light today, which was nice after yesterday's stressful workout. I think everyone needed that, and I know I definately did.
I had 6 x 1600m scheduled for myself. I'm focusing heavy on improving my lactate threshold at the moment, so I had them schedule to be at my current 10 mile race pace with a 1 minute rest. I ran.... 7:07 - 7:07 - 7:03 - 7:12 - 7:01 - 7:09 for an average of 7:07/mile. It was a good workout. The weather was nice and I felt like accomplished what I wanted out of it. It felt good and I could have done a few more if I had wanted to, but I'm trying to be patient. I plan to work my way up to 12 x 1600m by Janaury. If I can do that, I should be ready to knock out a good Half-Marathon. I cooled down a mile to give my self 9-miles for the day.
Run Streak = 49 days
I had 6 x 1600m scheduled for myself. I'm focusing heavy on improving my lactate threshold at the moment, so I had them schedule to be at my current 10 mile race pace with a 1 minute rest. I ran.... 7:07 - 7:07 - 7:03 - 7:12 - 7:01 - 7:09 for an average of 7:07/mile. It was a good workout. The weather was nice and I felt like accomplished what I wanted out of it. It felt good and I could have done a few more if I had wanted to, but I'm trying to be patient. I plan to work my way up to 12 x 1600m by Janaury. If I can do that, I should be ready to knock out a good Half-Marathon. I cooled down a mile to give my self 9-miles for the day.
Run Streak = 49 days
Friday, August 28, 2009
Bad Mood = Good Running
I've been in a shitty mood the past few days and I think it's because I've been working 12-14 hour days to try to get all my work done (and I'm still behind). On top of that, when the morning workouts I have scheduled for the team don't go well I get in even more of a bad mood. So this morning's workout was a 6 mile steady run for the women and a 6 to 8 mile steady run for the men. Needless to say, it sucked!* So after biking 10.5 miles and running 2 miles to prep for practice, I ran 5 miles as hard as I could around town to run off some stress. So the run went well, but even on completition I was still pissed. I get extremely annoyed with excuses from athletes as to why they can't do the workout for the day. It makes me want to kick them in the nuts!
*So after getting cleaned up and after getting back into the office, one of my athletes comes by to pick up her shoes. She asks me what I thought about thought the run this morning. I immediately start telling her about how pissed I was and how concerned I am that the athletes can't handle a simple steady run. After talking a bit more about it, it comes to fruition that I wrote the wrong times down because I was looking at the wrong finish watch (I had 3 watches going for this morning's workout). I was about 4.5-minutes off on each finishing time for the women. So the workout didn't go as bad as I thought. On the bright side, I got a 5 mile hard run out of the whole thing!
Run Streak = 48 days
*So after getting cleaned up and after getting back into the office, one of my athletes comes by to pick up her shoes. She asks me what I thought about thought the run this morning. I immediately start telling her about how pissed I was and how concerned I am that the athletes can't handle a simple steady run. After talking a bit more about it, it comes to fruition that I wrote the wrong times down because I was looking at the wrong finish watch (I had 3 watches going for this morning's workout). I was about 4.5-minutes off on each finishing time for the women. So the workout didn't go as bad as I thought. On the bright side, I got a 5 mile hard run out of the whole thing!
Run Streak = 48 days
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Cruise Intervals
I had scheduled a relatively short set of cruise intervals for myself this morning. The exact workout was 2 x 2 Miles @ 12.5k Race Pace w/3-4 minute rest. The past couple of days have been extremely busy and today doesn't look to be any different. So I woke up at 5:30am and rode my bike over 'Forest Hills' to run a 2 mile road loop that I typically have my athletes do tempo runs on. I like the course as it requires a lot of uphill and downhill running (very little of it is flat). After a 2 mile warm up, I proceeded to run 14:10 for the first one and 14:06 for my second one. Which is right in the range I wanted to run. I was feeling really good after the first one, so I kept my recovery at 3 minutes and when I started the second one, I probably ran this first mile a little too quick (~6:56), so I backed off slightly to keep it under control in the second mile. It was a good workout, I felt like I could have done another one if I had needed too, but if I had I don't think I could have run much faster than what I ran the first two in. I'm looking forward to some mile repeats this weekend!
Run Streak = 45 days
Run Streak = 45 days
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Heat Wave
I ran the Heat Wave 5k this morning, which is one of the monthly club events for my running club, Seven Hills RC. There was a really good turn out which is always good to see. I like to say that there are two types of people in this world.... those who run and those who should.
I haven't done any heavy training the past few weeks. I've only averaged about 40 miles each week with no quality workouts. My goal today was the negative split and just get an idea of what kind of shape I'm so I can determine the proper paces for my workouts. I ran 10:51.1 (~6:57/mile) for the "out" portion of the out-in-back course. On the "back" portion I ran 10:21.3 (~6:38/mile) for a total time of 21:12.4. I was quite pleased with this run. I ran this exact same course at the end of April and ran 21:38. I was doing a lot more quality workouts at that time and my mileage was significantly higher then, so I was quited pleased with the run and with the fact that I ran almost 30 seconds faster. The weather was fairly nice for an August morning in Southeast Texas.
Run Streak = 42 days
I haven't done any heavy training the past few weeks. I've only averaged about 40 miles each week with no quality workouts. My goal today was the negative split and just get an idea of what kind of shape I'm so I can determine the proper paces for my workouts. I ran 10:51.1 (~6:57/mile) for the "out" portion of the out-in-back course. On the "back" portion I ran 10:21.3 (~6:38/mile) for a total time of 21:12.4. I was quite pleased with this run. I ran this exact same course at the end of April and ran 21:38. I was doing a lot more quality workouts at that time and my mileage was significantly higher then, so I was quited pleased with the run and with the fact that I ran almost 30 seconds faster. The weather was fairly nice for an August morning in Southeast Texas.
Run Streak = 42 days
Friday, August 21, 2009
Group Running!
All of my athletes moved into Huntsville yesterday, and this morning was our first organized practice. It was a good feeling to have the group back together and I'm pretty excited with the shape everyone appears to be in, particularly the freshmen girls. Today's run was real easy (5 miles @ 8:30-9:00/mile), but we didn't lose anyone. It's the first time in a while I've had that many girls at practice and all are able to complete the run. Hopefully everyone can stay healthy and we'll put together a good season.
It has been pretty hectic at work the past few days and will continue to be for at least another week or two. After that we'll get into a routine and life will be easy again. But dispite the craziness I haven't broken my streak yet and it's getting pretty easy to maintain.
Run Streak = 41 days
It has been pretty hectic at work the past few days and will continue to be for at least another week or two. After that we'll get into a routine and life will be easy again. But dispite the craziness I haven't broken my streak yet and it's getting pretty easy to maintain.
Run Streak = 41 days
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