Another tough workout tonight. 16 miles with 12 @ M-pace (6:14's). I headed over to the the Highline trail again for this one and after 2 miles easy, got into it. Again running without GPS for pace and just going on feel. Felt relatively good as I got into it and managed to roll all 12 miles at an avg of 6:10-pace. Splits were: 6:11, 6:11, 6:02, 6:06, 6:11, 6:11, 6:07, 6:11, 6:10, 6:09, 6:14, 6:21 (total 1:14:10).
As you can see, the trouble really came in the last 2-miles... at least time-wise. What I found is that I lost focus at the start of mile 8. Until then I had just been able to cruise and not think about anything other than my perceived exertion and monitoring what was going on with my body. About mile 8, I just got bored and started thinking about other things... work, life, etc. Unfortunately, as I did this, it eventually led to me letting up on the pace and crashing those last 2 miles. It doesn't mean much for this workout since I still achieved what I had hoped to, but it definitely causes me some worry for the full marathon. Chances are I will be running most of the race alone (like tonight) and I need to figure out a way to keep that focus throughout. In Rome (in March) I think I did a good job of it through about 15 miles. Started struggling from 15-20, and was just totally out of it for the last 10K. I don't want to do that again. Anyone know any good secrets? If so, feel free to share!
Anyway, wrapped up the night with 2 more easy miles but my legs feel totally cooked. It's going to be an extremely easy day tomorrow. On a sidenote, my buddy Rob Chenoweth (aka. the fastest masters runner I know... and an overall amazing runner) will be racing Twin Cities this Sunday. After an injury and a long time on the sidelines, I'm sure he's anxious to see how he can go out there (I am too!). It kicks off the real start of the Fall marathon schedule (not counting Berlin, which was last weekend... since I didn't know anyone running there) and I'm super excited to see how all of my friends do out there! This is a nice break from the Triathlon world... one that I needed.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Biggest Week in Years!
Week 8 is in the books! Had an easy end to the week after a couple of super tough workouts in the beginning. After Wednesday night's big track session I took it easy on Thurs and Fri, putting in 8 miles and 9.5 miles (double) respectively. Saturday morning I was up early and out the door by 8am for the long run. Basically did a huge tour of the city (incl. a lap of Cheeseman and 2 of Wash park) to get in 18.5 miles. Surprisingly, I felt really good throughout with no major issues to worry about... although Chafing was definitely a factor for a awhile there, and that is definitely not comfortable.
On the run I took in a GU and about 12oz of Gatorade. Felt fresh all the way thru. Wanted to do more of a pick-up near the end but only managed about the last 2 miles at 6:40-ish pace. Overall, 'Map my Run' tells me I went about 7:18 pace. Right about where I was shooting for (7:22).
Today was an easy 5.5 miles this morning made significantly harder due to a night out with the boys on Saturday. I swear, I am definitely getting old b/c nights like that, that never used to effect me, now put the hurt on me the next day. Ahhh well, that's the price you pay I guess.
All said and done, I hit just over 75miles this week. My biggest week of running in almost 10 years!! Things are feeling good. I have now run for 56 days straight putting in over 60 hours and 550 miles of training. Counting the days until the Denver 1/2 on 10/9 and then the homestretch into the big day in November!
On the run I took in a GU and about 12oz of Gatorade. Felt fresh all the way thru. Wanted to do more of a pick-up near the end but only managed about the last 2 miles at 6:40-ish pace. Overall, 'Map my Run' tells me I went about 7:18 pace. Right about where I was shooting for (7:22).
Today was an easy 5.5 miles this morning made significantly harder due to a night out with the boys on Saturday. I swear, I am definitely getting old b/c nights like that, that never used to effect me, now put the hurt on me the next day. Ahhh well, that's the price you pay I guess.
All said and done, I hit just over 75miles this week. My biggest week of running in almost 10 years!! Things are feeling good. I have now run for 56 days straight putting in over 60 hours and 550 miles of training. Counting the days until the Denver 1/2 on 10/9 and then the homestretch into the big day in November!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Track workout!
After Monday nights long workout I was anxious to see how the legs would feel this morning when I woke up. Yesterday I just did an easy 5-miler at maybe 7:30 pace to let the legs rest a bit but there was still some ongoing soreness/tightness when I headed to bed.
Luckily, thanks to icing, my foam rolling habits and my wonderful Rico-fit compression socks (which I have been living in for almost every minute (except when running) for the past 5-6 weeks now), I woke up feeling pretty good. It was still TBD how I would feel in tonight's long track workout, but at least I figured I could power thru rather than having to move it to tomorrow night for another easy days rest.
I will say, heading to the track on your own for a long workout SUCKS! It's definitely not like the old days in Chicago when we would all meet up at Fleet Feet and 10-30 of us would jog over to the track together before getting in to the workout. I really disliked the weather back there but really took for granted how much the camaraderie of it all made the workouts easier. I guess, if nothing else, doing workouts like these on your own makes you mentally tougher and forces you to keep your pace in check versus some of the times when the group would push the pace way too much, too early.
Anyway, tonight I had a workout that in the past I would of thought of as HELL, but that I didn't really mind. It was:
2-mile easy warmup
4 x 1-mile at T-pace (5:54*)
5min easy jog
3 x 1-mile at T-pace (5:54*)
2-mile easy warmdown
I completed the workout but didn't stick to the above * (T-pace). It's been a bit tough for me to gauge where my real VDOT level should be since the tables (in the book) don't take into account altitude. I look at my times from races at altitude and it tells me that I should be in the 59-61 range, but then when I look at what those times would be at sea-level, I would be in 62-64 range. That's a pretty wide range when it's all said and done! (a T-pace of anywhere from 5:59 to 5:36). SO, I started this program assuming the easiest of the range (59) and using all of those paces. After the past few weeks and the 10-miler, I have bumped that up to the VDOT 60, since the book says to only go up one level every 3-4 weeks at most.
All of that said, I have basically been disregarding the suggested T-paces during my hard workouts and just going at a pace that feels comfortable. That pace is significantly faster than either of the VDOT levels I have been training at but it seems like the sense of the Jack Daniel's program is to run hard on hard days and easy on easy days. As long as I stick to that, I think I'll be okay... any input from anyone out there in the online-world?!?
Back to tonight! I did the workout on the local high school track. A storm was moving in so it was pretty windy on the back stretch, but otherwise conditions were perfect. Here's how it went:
4 x 1-mile on 1min rest (5:48, 5:42, 5:43, 5:41)
5mins easy jog
3x 1-mile on 1min rest (5:39, 5:39, 5:29)
Only felt out of my comfort zone on the final one, so I am super happy with how it went and am actually beginning to worry because these longer, fast workouts are going SO easily. I'm only 1/2 way through the training program and in the best run shape that I've been in since college!!
Luckily, thanks to icing, my foam rolling habits and my wonderful Rico-fit compression socks (which I have been living in for almost every minute (except when running) for the past 5-6 weeks now), I woke up feeling pretty good. It was still TBD how I would feel in tonight's long track workout, but at least I figured I could power thru rather than having to move it to tomorrow night for another easy days rest.
I will say, heading to the track on your own for a long workout SUCKS! It's definitely not like the old days in Chicago when we would all meet up at Fleet Feet and 10-30 of us would jog over to the track together before getting in to the workout. I really disliked the weather back there but really took for granted how much the camaraderie of it all made the workouts easier. I guess, if nothing else, doing workouts like these on your own makes you mentally tougher and forces you to keep your pace in check versus some of the times when the group would push the pace way too much, too early.
Anyway, tonight I had a workout that in the past I would of thought of as HELL, but that I didn't really mind. It was:
2-mile easy warmup
4 x 1-mile at T-pace (5:54*)
5min easy jog
3 x 1-mile at T-pace (5:54*)
2-mile easy warmdown
I completed the workout but didn't stick to the above * (T-pace). It's been a bit tough for me to gauge where my real VDOT level should be since the tables (in the book) don't take into account altitude. I look at my times from races at altitude and it tells me that I should be in the 59-61 range, but then when I look at what those times would be at sea-level, I would be in 62-64 range. That's a pretty wide range when it's all said and done! (a T-pace of anywhere from 5:59 to 5:36). SO, I started this program assuming the easiest of the range (59) and using all of those paces. After the past few weeks and the 10-miler, I have bumped that up to the VDOT 60, since the book says to only go up one level every 3-4 weeks at most.
All of that said, I have basically been disregarding the suggested T-paces during my hard workouts and just going at a pace that feels comfortable. That pace is significantly faster than either of the VDOT levels I have been training at but it seems like the sense of the Jack Daniel's program is to run hard on hard days and easy on easy days. As long as I stick to that, I think I'll be okay... any input from anyone out there in the online-world?!?
Back to tonight! I did the workout on the local high school track. A storm was moving in so it was pretty windy on the back stretch, but otherwise conditions were perfect. Here's how it went:
4 x 1-mile on 1min rest (5:48, 5:42, 5:43, 5:41)
5mins easy jog
3x 1-mile on 1min rest (5:39, 5:39, 5:29)
Only felt out of my comfort zone on the final one, so I am super happy with how it went and am actually beginning to worry because these longer, fast workouts are going SO easily. I'm only 1/2 way through the training program and in the best run shape that I've been in since college!!
Monday, September 19, 2011
Pushing Through
Have you ever had something that you have been dreading since the second you saw it or heard about it? Whether it's an assignment in school, a project at work or a specific workout, if it's big enough, it can become intimidating and make you question your own abilities. In any of the different realms of life I think it's important to challenge yourself once in awhile just to see what your really made of and I guess to kind of remind you that you're alive.
Tonight I had something like this in the form of a workout that I had been dreading since I first picked up the 'Jack Daniels Running Formula' book back on Memorial Day weekend and paged through the training plans. I was looking through the workouts, and while there are a lot of awful workouts in there, this one stuck out in my mind as one that just seemed absolutely awful. I'm not sure if it was because this workout was the first of the extremely tough workouts in Phase III of the training plan, or simply because of the sheer length of it. Needless to say, as today approached, I was more than a little intimidated by the thought of taking it on.
Luckily, it was a slow day at work today so I was able to prepare as well as possible for the evening workout, which was to look like this:
2 mile warmup
4 x 1 mile @ T-pace (5:59) w/1min rest
1 hour ez running (7:29 pace)
15-20 min Tempo run at T-pace
2 mile warmdown
Total: 18.5 - 19.25 miles
By the time I got to the Highline Canal Trail, the rolling gravel trail with marked mile posts that wanders through Denver's suburbs it was 5:30 and I figured I had maybe 2-2:10 of light left. So I changed things up a little and hit it. This is what I ended up doing:
2 mile warmup
5 x 1 mile - descending (6:02, 5:53, 5:43, 5:41, 5:39)
45min ez running (7:20-30 pace)
15 min Tempo run (2.5 miles - 6:10, 6:18, 3:09)
2 mile warmdown
Total: 17.5 miles
There were so many factors headed in to this workout, from the strain in my right calf, to the 16.5 miler that I had done 2 days before, to the fact that I would be doing this workout on my own yet again. As I finished the miles and moved into the easy run I was feeling amazing, and while I was pretty worn down by the final miles, I think this was a HUGE step forward in my confidence level and definitely served it's purpose. I'm ecstatic that I am running this well only halfway into the training plan and hopeful that I will continue to stay healthy and injury-free as the training continues. Hopefully if you've got a big challenge lying ahead, this will give you the motivation to know that you can definitely get through it, you probably just need to put your head down and do the work. Happy Training!
Tonight I had something like this in the form of a workout that I had been dreading since I first picked up the 'Jack Daniels Running Formula' book back on Memorial Day weekend and paged through the training plans. I was looking through the workouts, and while there are a lot of awful workouts in there, this one stuck out in my mind as one that just seemed absolutely awful. I'm not sure if it was because this workout was the first of the extremely tough workouts in Phase III of the training plan, or simply because of the sheer length of it. Needless to say, as today approached, I was more than a little intimidated by the thought of taking it on.
Luckily, it was a slow day at work today so I was able to prepare as well as possible for the evening workout, which was to look like this:
2 mile warmup
4 x 1 mile @ T-pace (5:59) w/1min rest
1 hour ez running (7:29 pace)
15-20 min Tempo run at T-pace
2 mile warmdown
Total: 18.5 - 19.25 miles
By the time I got to the Highline Canal Trail, the rolling gravel trail with marked mile posts that wanders through Denver's suburbs it was 5:30 and I figured I had maybe 2-2:10 of light left. So I changed things up a little and hit it. This is what I ended up doing:
2 mile warmup
5 x 1 mile - descending (6:02, 5:53, 5:43, 5:41, 5:39)
45min ez running (7:20-30 pace)
15 min Tempo run (2.5 miles - 6:10, 6:18, 3:09)
2 mile warmdown
Total: 17.5 miles
There were so many factors headed in to this workout, from the strain in my right calf, to the 16.5 miler that I had done 2 days before, to the fact that I would be doing this workout on my own yet again. As I finished the miles and moved into the easy run I was feeling amazing, and while I was pretty worn down by the final miles, I think this was a HUGE step forward in my confidence level and definitely served it's purpose. I'm ecstatic that I am running this well only halfway into the training plan and hopeful that I will continue to stay healthy and injury-free as the training continues. Hopefully if you've got a big challenge lying ahead, this will give you the motivation to know that you can definitely get through it, you probably just need to put your head down and do the work. Happy Training!
Week 7 down... almost 1/2 way there!!
Finished out last week without too much excitement. Got in 6 miles ez on Thursday, 8.5 miles on Friday and then a long run of 16.5mi on Saturday. Unfortunately on my easy run on Friday evening, something happened with my right calf and I seemed to have strained something in it. At that point it wasn''t clear whether I was going to be able to run on Saturday or not. It was definitely a painful experience for the first 70 or 80 minutes of the run on Saturday but finally the pain faded. It was still sore and tight through today, but it seems to be coming around.
I ended up doing the long run on my own around the city on Saturday. There was way too much concrete on that run and it beat me up pretty good. Next weekend I think I'll be looking for a gravel trail again somewhere.
Sunday finished out with an easy 5.5 mile run in the evening putting me at 69.25 miles for the week. 7 weeks in the books at an average of right around 67.5 miles per week. Can't wait to turn the corner this week and make it thru the halfway mark of training. A lot of Fall marathons are quickly approaching and I'm getting excited to see how everyone's training pays off as they race throughout the country at Twin Cities, Chicago, New York and other races. For those of you beginning your taper now... ENJOY IT! I'm very envious!
I ended up doing the long run on my own around the city on Saturday. There was way too much concrete on that run and it beat me up pretty good. Next weekend I think I'll be looking for a gravel trail again somewhere.
Sunday finished out with an easy 5.5 mile run in the evening putting me at 69.25 miles for the week. 7 weeks in the books at an average of right around 67.5 miles per week. Can't wait to turn the corner this week and make it thru the halfway mark of training. A lot of Fall marathons are quickly approaching and I'm getting excited to see how everyone's training pays off as they race throughout the country at Twin Cities, Chicago, New York and other races. For those of you beginning your taper now... ENJOY IT! I'm very envious!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Cold, Wet & Windy
Today was one of those days where my evening workout was in the back of my mind throughout the day. With a big change in weather on it's way and a full day of work between me and my workout, I was anxious to see what I would be met with come time to do the work. Turns out, it was about as bad as I thought it'd be... Temp's had dropped 26 degrees from the same time 24 hours earlier (to about 54 deg F), the downpour of rain had begun and there were occasional wind gusts. To top it off, a big workout awaited, and I was on my own for it. again.
Back in the day when I lived in Portland I wouldn't have thought twice about weather like this but seeing as how we just came off of 2 of the hottest months on record in Denver and I had a work meeting at the office until after 5pm, I had packed my workout gear this morning for the workout. I didn't pack correctly. Luckily, I still had some random clothing in my car, one of which was a large cotton hoody. I grabbed it, thinking that I would only wear it for the warmup, but it turns out that I ended up wearing it for the entire workout once I realized how cold it actually was out!
Here's a pic of me directly after finishing the track portion of the workout before heading out for the warmdown. Don't I look happy?!
Ha! So, anyway the workout was meant to be 20min warmup, 4 x (10-12 min at T-pace (5:59) w/3 min rest), 20min warmdown. In the end, I ended up cutting the last interval as well as the warmdown a little short because I was simply too cold. Considering all of the factors and the fact that I didn't even bother putting on my flats and just did it all in soaking wet trainers, I am very happy with how it went!!
20 min warmup
1. 11:43 (5:48, 5:55)
2. 11:43 (5:44, 5:59)
3. 11:45 (5:49, 5:56)
4. 1-mile only - 5:45
(avg. mile pace throughout = 5:51)
10 min warmdown
12 miles total
Tuesday, I had just gotten in an easy 6.75 miles. Tomorrow and Friday will be easy as well as I gear up for an 18-miler on Saturday. I'm going to sleep well tonight!
Back in the day when I lived in Portland I wouldn't have thought twice about weather like this but seeing as how we just came off of 2 of the hottest months on record in Denver and I had a work meeting at the office until after 5pm, I had packed my workout gear this morning for the workout. I didn't pack correctly. Luckily, I still had some random clothing in my car, one of which was a large cotton hoody. I grabbed it, thinking that I would only wear it for the warmup, but it turns out that I ended up wearing it for the entire workout once I realized how cold it actually was out!
Here's a pic of me directly after finishing the track portion of the workout before heading out for the warmdown. Don't I look happy?!
Ha! So, anyway the workout was meant to be 20min warmup, 4 x (10-12 min at T-pace (5:59) w/3 min rest), 20min warmdown. In the end, I ended up cutting the last interval as well as the warmdown a little short because I was simply too cold. Considering all of the factors and the fact that I didn't even bother putting on my flats and just did it all in soaking wet trainers, I am very happy with how it went!!
20 min warmup
1. 11:43 (5:48, 5:55)
2. 11:43 (5:44, 5:59)
3. 11:45 (5:49, 5:56)
4. 1-mile only - 5:45
(avg. mile pace throughout = 5:51)
10 min warmdown
12 miles total
Tuesday, I had just gotten in an easy 6.75 miles. Tomorrow and Friday will be easy as well as I gear up for an 18-miler on Saturday. I'm going to sleep well tonight!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Phase III is here!
Oh crap, Phase III (otherwise known as 6 weeks of Hell) is here!! This week actually doesn't look too bad, with some simple tempo work both today and on Wednesday, but the 'you know what' is gonna hit the fan come next Monday when I have probably the hardest workout thus far in my life on the schedule (It's 22 miles and involves about 8.5 miles at Threshold). I might have to take Tuesday off work. Yikes!
For today anyway, I did a double (3.5mi AM, 10.5mi PM) and got in a total of 14 miles (It's funny how that's just becoming normal and I don't even really notice it). There wasn't a workout on the schedule so, just for a little something I did 20mins at Threshold mid run this evening. Felt good. Although the mileage will likely be in the 75 mile range this week I am going to try to run as much of it as possible at the very easy training pace and just try to recover as much as possible this week, before my next 5 weeks of torture. I figure that if I can't take time completely off, at least I can run easy to relieve some of the stress.
I'm both looking forward to, and extremely nervous about, the workouts in the next few weeks. I feel like they might totally wipe me out (energy-wise), but if I can survive this training block injury-free, I will undoubtedly be in the best run shape of my life, which would be really exciting. Next time I do this whole marathon-training thing though, I really should try to find a couple of people to train with. Really long, intense workouts just put you in another world when you're on your own. Anyway, I'm rambling tonight. If anybody is reading this, I hope that your training is going well too! Have a great week!
For today anyway, I did a double (3.5mi AM, 10.5mi PM) and got in a total of 14 miles (It's funny how that's just becoming normal and I don't even really notice it). There wasn't a workout on the schedule so, just for a little something I did 20mins at Threshold mid run this evening. Felt good. Although the mileage will likely be in the 75 mile range this week I am going to try to run as much of it as possible at the very easy training pace and just try to recover as much as possible this week, before my next 5 weeks of torture. I figure that if I can't take time completely off, at least I can run easy to relieve some of the stress.
I'm both looking forward to, and extremely nervous about, the workouts in the next few weeks. I feel like they might totally wipe me out (energy-wise), but if I can survive this training block injury-free, I will undoubtedly be in the best run shape of my life, which would be really exciting. Next time I do this whole marathon-training thing though, I really should try to find a couple of people to train with. Really long, intense workouts just put you in another world when you're on your own. Anyway, I'm rambling tonight. If anybody is reading this, I hope that your training is going well too! Have a great week!
High Mileage Weekend
Rounded out last week well. Did a double for 11.5 miles on Friday before getting up early on Saturday and heading to Boulder with Craig to do a long run on the trails. We ended up running at Marshall Mesa and it was awesome. Got started about 8:30am and put in about 2hr 10mins for 17 miles. Craig and I were talking and both agreed that sometimes it's not necessarily about getting in really hard/intense long runs but rather just about getting used to running for a long time... you know what that means; 2:30 runs are in my future. Ahh well, the scenery was great and the temps were about perfect for a long run and it's only going to get better over the next month or so.
Anyway, got in 17 on Saturday then followed by an easy 6 miles on Sunday to end the week at a solid 69.50 miles. ... And that is the end of Phase II of my Jack Daniels training! 6 weeks of training in at an average of just about 67.5 miles per week.
Anyway, got in 17 on Saturday then followed by an easy 6 miles on Sunday to end the week at a solid 69.50 miles. ... And that is the end of Phase II of my Jack Daniels training! 6 weeks of training in at an average of just about 67.5 miles per week.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Fatigued
Feeling a bit fatigued this week. Not real sure if it's from the race effort on Monday, the long (busy) weekend, or maybe just the change in weather, but I am dragging! Got in an easy 6.5 miler on Tuesday evening. Couldn't run Tues/Weds/Thurs mornings because of meetings, but even still I felt tired on Wednesday night so I switched my track workout from Weds to Thurs. Did another easy day of 5.25 miles on Weds before heading to the track this evening.
On the agenda tonight was essentially the same track workout as last week but with one additional rep: 20min WU, 5 x (1000m @ 3:26 pace, 3 min (500m recovery jog)), 20 min WD. I felt like crap on the warmup but managed to run alright on the track w/the following splits:
3:27, 3:26, 3:26, 3:28, 3:31
By the end I was cooked. Although my overall mileage for the week is only at 35mi in 4 days (my lowest mileage by Thurs in weeks), more than a third of it (13.1mi) has been quality mileage at 6min pace or less, so maybe that's what is tiring me out this week. Anyone else in Denver dragging this week as well?
Ahh well, easy mileage day tomorrow followed by long run Saturday. Can't wait for the end of the week!!
On the agenda tonight was essentially the same track workout as last week but with one additional rep: 20min WU, 5 x (1000m @ 3:26 pace, 3 min (500m recovery jog)), 20 min WD. I felt like crap on the warmup but managed to run alright on the track w/the following splits:
3:27, 3:26, 3:26, 3:28, 3:31
By the end I was cooked. Although my overall mileage for the week is only at 35mi in 4 days (my lowest mileage by Thurs in weeks), more than a third of it (13.1mi) has been quality mileage at 6min pace or less, so maybe that's what is tiring me out this week. Anyone else in Denver dragging this week as well?
Ahh well, easy mileage day tomorrow followed by long run Saturday. Can't wait for the end of the week!!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Park-to-Park 10-Miler
What a great weekend! Time spent with friends, family, two concerts and a race! Needless to say, I am totally beat while I am now writing this but it was totally worth it! That said, it probably didn't make for the best race prep of all time.
Weekend started off with a slow long run with my buddy Craig as we cruised an ez 13.5 miles. Saturday night I did the carbo load thing and went to bed a little later than I should have but Sunday was an easy day so I just did an easy 5 miles and relaxed for most of the day before heading to dinner and the Santana concert at Red Rocks with my mom & step-dad. We were celebrating Rich's 65th bday with the tix that I had bought for him back in June when his actual bday was. It was a great time! Rich's first time ever seeing a show out there, and my mom's first time in 35 or so years!
After about 5.5 hours of sleep though it was showtime. The annual 10-miler in Denver from City Park, through Cheeseman and Wash Parks, finishing on a track at Denver South High School. Heading in to the race I wasn't really concerned about anything other than running a solid, well-paced race and finding out where my fitness was. As for a time-goal, I wasn't real sure where I wanted to be, but I thought that if I could just run within myself and finish somewhere within the 59:10-59:30 range, I'd be happy.
I'm happy to report that the race did go very well and I ran extremely even paced (especially considering how hilly the course was!). This was my first time doing a stand-alone running race since I ran the Rome Marathon back in March. I watched the Men's world championship marathon earlier on in the weekend and got inspired by the Kenyans that threw down such insane times!! It's interesting how motivating a little inspiration can be AND how much you can learn about racing from watching the best.
back to the race: It's always funny to me how much less stressful running events are than a triathlon! No need to worry about the swim, a bike or anything other than double-knotting the flats and toeing the line. In the first 800m or so as I was getting my ass handed to me by about 50 or 60 people as the sprint into the downhill first mile began all I could think about was how small-scale the race really was compared to many of the big events I have participated in in the past; World Championship 70.3 and Olympic distance races, Ironmans, multiple age-group Nat'l Champs, elite waves at giant races all over the country. In some weird way, it put it all in perspective and actually calmed me down and helped me to think rationally. Rather than pushing the first mile, I was more able to concentrate on which piece of the puzzle this 'race' was for me. It was a chance to check my speed, my endurance, my strength and possibly, mot importantly, my focus. I knew the kind of time I wanted to run and everything else was irrelevant. To put this in perspective, I was probably in about 50th place at Mile 1, with 3 women in front of me. I went 5:41 on that downhill mile.
By about mile 3 the field had sorted itself out and I was passing people left and right as I got into a comfortable rhythm. My mile splits are below, and although there is some work to be done to run even more consistently, I was very happy with the progress after only 5 weeks. This was the first race in years where I didn't fall off of my pace and where I actually had the strength to respond to people passing me or put in surges when passing others. Tactically I ran very smart. Internally, however, I was acutely aware that I had run the 35 previous days in a row (almost 9.5 miles per day), and that I had just rounded out yet another 65+ mile week. My Piriformis and Achilles both cooperated and didn't have any pains to complain about at all.
Best of all, I ran a very even race! Went 59:00 for the 10-miles finishing in 21st Overall. 5:54 pace. and the break-down of the front-half vs. back-half was 29:28/29:32. I definitely had to fight through the fatigue in the last 2 miles but my times surprisingly didn't fall off. Here are my mile splits:
The race was a great indicator of fitness and things to work on but the real work lies ahead. Next stop, Rock n' Roll Denver 1/2 Marathon on October 9th!
Weekend started off with a slow long run with my buddy Craig as we cruised an ez 13.5 miles. Saturday night I did the carbo load thing and went to bed a little later than I should have but Sunday was an easy day so I just did an easy 5 miles and relaxed for most of the day before heading to dinner and the Santana concert at Red Rocks with my mom & step-dad. We were celebrating Rich's 65th bday with the tix that I had bought for him back in June when his actual bday was. It was a great time! Rich's first time ever seeing a show out there, and my mom's first time in 35 or so years!
After about 5.5 hours of sleep though it was showtime. The annual 10-miler in Denver from City Park, through Cheeseman and Wash Parks, finishing on a track at Denver South High School. Heading in to the race I wasn't really concerned about anything other than running a solid, well-paced race and finding out where my fitness was. As for a time-goal, I wasn't real sure where I wanted to be, but I thought that if I could just run within myself and finish somewhere within the 59:10-59:30 range, I'd be happy.
I'm happy to report that the race did go very well and I ran extremely even paced (especially considering how hilly the course was!). This was my first time doing a stand-alone running race since I ran the Rome Marathon back in March. I watched the Men's world championship marathon earlier on in the weekend and got inspired by the Kenyans that threw down such insane times!! It's interesting how motivating a little inspiration can be AND how much you can learn about racing from watching the best.
back to the race: It's always funny to me how much less stressful running events are than a triathlon! No need to worry about the swim, a bike or anything other than double-knotting the flats and toeing the line. In the first 800m or so as I was getting my ass handed to me by about 50 or 60 people as the sprint into the downhill first mile began all I could think about was how small-scale the race really was compared to many of the big events I have participated in in the past; World Championship 70.3 and Olympic distance races, Ironmans, multiple age-group Nat'l Champs, elite waves at giant races all over the country. In some weird way, it put it all in perspective and actually calmed me down and helped me to think rationally. Rather than pushing the first mile, I was more able to concentrate on which piece of the puzzle this 'race' was for me. It was a chance to check my speed, my endurance, my strength and possibly, mot importantly, my focus. I knew the kind of time I wanted to run and everything else was irrelevant. To put this in perspective, I was probably in about 50th place at Mile 1, with 3 women in front of me. I went 5:41 on that downhill mile.
By about mile 3 the field had sorted itself out and I was passing people left and right as I got into a comfortable rhythm. My mile splits are below, and although there is some work to be done to run even more consistently, I was very happy with the progress after only 5 weeks. This was the first race in years where I didn't fall off of my pace and where I actually had the strength to respond to people passing me or put in surges when passing others. Tactically I ran very smart. Internally, however, I was acutely aware that I had run the 35 previous days in a row (almost 9.5 miles per day), and that I had just rounded out yet another 65+ mile week. My Piriformis and Achilles both cooperated and didn't have any pains to complain about at all.
Best of all, I ran a very even race! Went 59:00 for the 10-miles finishing in 21st Overall. 5:54 pace. and the break-down of the front-half vs. back-half was 29:28/29:32. I definitely had to fight through the fatigue in the last 2 miles but my times surprisingly didn't fall off. Here are my mile splits:
Mile 1: 5:41 (dwnhl) Mile 6: 5:55
Mile 2: 5:57 Mile 7: 5:46 (dwnhl)
Mile 3: 5:52 Mile 8: 5:58 (uphill)
Mile 4: 5:56 Mile 9: 6:01
Mile 5: 5:59 (uphill) Mile 10: 5:50
The race was a great indicator of fitness and things to work on but the real work lies ahead. Next stop, Rock n' Roll Denver 1/2 Marathon on October 9th!
1/3 Of The Way Through!!
Wrapped up my 5th week of the 15 week training plan on Sunday!! My last update was on Wednesday after the track workout. I'm happy to report that the rest of the week went by without any major events. I focused on trying to recover from the weeks earlier hard workouts and trying to be as good to my Piriformis as possible. Mileage went as follows:
Thursday: 5.25 miles ez
Friday: 8.25 miles (double)
Saturday: 13.5 miles ez
Sunday: 5.00 miles
Total week: 65.25 miles
My buddy Craig was doing 18 miles easy on Saturday, so the highlight of the end of the week was running with him on Saturday morning and actually having someone to talk to on a run for a change! Headed into Monday's race, the Aetna Park-to-Park 10-miler, I was feeling good (if only a bit unrested), but I'll write more on that shortly... for now, 10 weeks to go of training. The coming week is my final week in Phase II and then all Hell will break loose as the toughest, and most intimidating 6-week phase begins: Phase III.
Thursday: 5.25 miles ez
Friday: 8.25 miles (double)
Saturday: 13.5 miles ez
Sunday: 5.00 miles
Total week: 65.25 miles
My buddy Craig was doing 18 miles easy on Saturday, so the highlight of the end of the week was running with him on Saturday morning and actually having someone to talk to on a run for a change! Headed into Monday's race, the Aetna Park-to-Park 10-miler, I was feeling good (if only a bit unrested), but I'll write more on that shortly... for now, 10 weeks to go of training. The coming week is my final week in Phase II and then all Hell will break loose as the toughest, and most intimidating 6-week phase begins: Phase III.
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