Today calls for a 6 mile run. I'm stayed the night at my mother's house in Murphysboro, Il which means that I'm going to inevitably be running some hills today. My hilliest run (up until last Sunday's 11 miler which covered 1600 ft of accent) had been a five miler I ran here several weeks ago which covered something like 1500 ft of accent. That five miler had been an out an back. For today's 6 miler I plan to run the same out an back except go out an extra .5 miles before turning around. Also, I plan on finishing up by running up the big hill that my mother's house is located on. Of course I won't be able to check the elevation changes till I get back to Peoria in a couple weeks but I'll still know that I ran a tough one today despite the pace.
Distance: 6.02 miles
Duration: 47:50
Pace: 7:57
HR Avg/Max: 160/186
notes:
The run was tough as expected with some pretty killer hill work plus I didn't get out the door till about 11:30 so it was fairly hot and sunny. Despite all this I was still able to keep the pace under 8 min\miles! Also, I was able to get the heart rate going pretty good even though my perceived effort didn't feel all that bad. I've been picking up the pace the last few runs and I've been feeling the results in my legs. I just don't have a lot of spring to my step. I've also been slowly deviating away from my HR training as I become impatient for improvement. I realize that I'll have to refocus my efforts here soon if I want to make it to the end of the program but keep telling myself that I'll take tomorrow's run easy to make up for running too hard today. My one saving grace is that I've been basing my heart rate zones off of MHR instead of HRR and since the MHR zones are a bit lower than the HRR zones so I figure I'm probably doing okay. Never the less, I also think that my cardio shape is a little better than my leg muscles shape (even though neither is probably where it needs to be 13.5 weeks before I'm supposed to run a marathon). I know there's still plenty of training to do but I think that I need to really rethink my goal for the marathon. Maybe 4 hours might be more reasonable? At this point I think I'll be happy just to be able to run 26 miles at all... And if I don't completely kill the marathon and finish strong it will probably give me a better chance of continuing my training without too much marathon recovery so that I can be ready for my second marathon... I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but the second annual Illinois marathon in Champaign might be a good 2nd Marathon...
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Day 30
Huh, Day 30... that means I've been seriously training for a month now. Good for me to put that into perspective because it seems like I've been running for a lot longer and I'm stating to wonder when I'm going to start improving.
I guess I should be positive and think about all the milage that I've put in. I mean I ran 11 miles on Sunday! It's just hard to put my running past behind me and let go of the high expectations I have for myself.
Today was a 3 miler...
Distance: 3.12 miles
Duration: 24:50
Pace: 7:58
HR Avg/Max: 152/167
notes:
Kind of a hot day but all in all not a bad run. I probably pushed it harder than I should of but I also plan on going relatively easy tomorrow so it will probably balance out. I'm just starting to get fed up with this pace. I really want to go out an hit 7 min miles without totally wasting myself in the process. Oh well, I guess I just need to stick with it, put in the milage, eat right, and the rest will come with time and patience.
I guess I should be positive and think about all the milage that I've put in. I mean I ran 11 miles on Sunday! It's just hard to put my running past behind me and let go of the high expectations I have for myself.
Today was a 3 miler...
Distance: 3.12 miles
Duration: 24:50
Pace: 7:58
HR Avg/Max: 152/167
notes:
Kind of a hot day but all in all not a bad run. I probably pushed it harder than I should of but I also plan on going relatively easy tomorrow so it will probably balance out. I'm just starting to get fed up with this pace. I really want to go out an hit 7 min miles without totally wasting myself in the process. Oh well, I guess I just need to stick with it, put in the milage, eat right, and the rest will come with time and patience.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Day 29
Day 29 and the beginning of week 5. Week 4 was particularly tough and Sunday's 11 miler was brutal. I was exhausted all day yesterday. I was irritable, depressed, and pretty much completely physically and emotionally drained.
But what a difference a day can make! I took an ice bath yesterday. Spent the rest of the day off my feet. Got a good night sleep. Ate some good food. And today I feel like a new man. I plan on making this week an "easy" week in prep for the half marathon at the end of it. Pretty much will try to get my mid-week runs in at a comfortable pace. And then cut my saturday run down to an easy 2 or 3 miles. I figure I'll really be pushing it pretty hard on the half marathon so that should pretty much cover my VO2 threshold training for the week.
Besides my training, Ethan Zeman will be heading to St. Louis on Wednesday to volunteer for the All-Star fanfest. Hopefully I'll be in charge of running some of the kids games which should be fun and also allow me to get some exercise, but I won't know till I get there.
After St. Louis I'll be off to California for a week so hopefully I will be able to get my training runs in. Luckily it'll be an easy week, plus we'll be headed to some national parks so if all goes well I should do some pretty awesome runs!
Today is a cross training day so I'll probably try to get on the bike and maybe lift some weights.
Also, since I'm feeling pretty good and it's the beginning of week 5 I'll use this time to reflect on my training so far.
Total Distance: 95.4 miles
Total Duration: 13:34:04
Total Pace: 8:32
Total HR Avg/Max: 148.7/190
notes:
97 more days till Chicago and 14 more weeks of training. Week 4 was the toughest week so far but I think week 5 and 6 will go more smoothly and then I'll be a third of the way there. I haven't lost any weight yet which I think is paramount if I want to get any faster but hopefully as the miles increase I can also start focusing more on diet and the weight will start to drop off. There's still a lot of time so I'm not too worried.
But what a difference a day can make! I took an ice bath yesterday. Spent the rest of the day off my feet. Got a good night sleep. Ate some good food. And today I feel like a new man. I plan on making this week an "easy" week in prep for the half marathon at the end of it. Pretty much will try to get my mid-week runs in at a comfortable pace. And then cut my saturday run down to an easy 2 or 3 miles. I figure I'll really be pushing it pretty hard on the half marathon so that should pretty much cover my VO2 threshold training for the week.
Besides my training, Ethan Zeman will be heading to St. Louis on Wednesday to volunteer for the All-Star fanfest. Hopefully I'll be in charge of running some of the kids games which should be fun and also allow me to get some exercise, but I won't know till I get there.
After St. Louis I'll be off to California for a week so hopefully I will be able to get my training runs in. Luckily it'll be an easy week, plus we'll be headed to some national parks so if all goes well I should do some pretty awesome runs!
Today is a cross training day so I'll probably try to get on the bike and maybe lift some weights.
Also, since I'm feeling pretty good and it's the beginning of week 5 I'll use this time to reflect on my training so far.
Total Distance: 95.4 miles
Total Duration: 13:34:04
Total Pace: 8:32
Total HR Avg/Max: 148.7/190
notes:
97 more days till Chicago and 14 more weeks of training. Week 4 was the toughest week so far but I think week 5 and 6 will go more smoothly and then I'll be a third of the way there. I haven't lost any weight yet which I think is paramount if I want to get any faster but hopefully as the miles increase I can also start focusing more on diet and the weight will start to drop off. There's still a lot of time so I'm not too worried.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Day 28
End of week 4 (groan)... This was definitely a tough week and I compounded it by pushing harder than probably I should of on several of my runs.
Distance: 11.0 miles
Duration: 1:42:22
Pace: 9:18
HR Avg/Max: 138/158
notes:
Today is long slow distance day. The punishment of the day... 11 miles. I woke up early and got out of the house and onto the road which felt like somewhat of an achievement itself. The sun was out, but the air was cool and there was a light breeze making the beginning of the run pleasant enough. I kept my hear rate down around 135 for the first 6 miles running at about a 9:20 pace. At the 6 mile point I started having some misfortunes. To begin with, the hard training really began to hit me and my heart rate jumped about 10 beats as my pace stayed even. This coincided with me reaching Bradley Park which has several big hills. The next two miles were rough and I wound up running mile 8 at about a 10:00 min/mile clip. At this point my headphones decided to crap out on me as the left ear piece kept cutting in and out every stride I took. I threw those away in a trash barrel as I exited the park and made my way back to the road to get my final 3 mies in. Getting back on the road helped my psyche and I was able to pick the pace back up.
Mile 9 I had an incident with a homeless guy on a bike. I was running the sidewalk on one side of the road and he was riding his bicycle on the other side of the road going the same direction. He was going pretty slow so we were basically side by side for a while. Then for some reason he decided to cross the road and get onto the sidewalk I was running on. He fell in behind me and biked along on the sidewalk about 6 feet behind me for about a half mile. I was somewhat annoyed, but tried to block it out. Finally he turned off and let me be.
Mile 10 I had an incident with a Rottwieler dog which was off leash in its front yard. Luckily it was friendly but that didn't stop if from coming over and jumping up on me as I ran by. I yelled at the dog and it left me alone. At this point I was pissed off and that got some adrenaline going which actually helped my run.
I got back to my neighborhood and got through mile 11 pushing the pace up to 8:35 min/mile.
Got home and jumped in an ice bath before accompanying my wife and her family for brunch. After brunch I rough housed with the boys for a while. At this point I'm completely exhausted and ready to spend the rest of the day on the couch. The in-laws are finally gone along with their two little boys and two not so little dogs. The chaos is over and hopefully the rest of today and tomorrow will provide the recovery I need to get me into week 5.
But for now. Week 4 is over! 14 weeks to go (groan).
Distance: 11.0 miles
Duration: 1:42:22
Pace: 9:18
HR Avg/Max: 138/158
notes:
Today is long slow distance day. The punishment of the day... 11 miles. I woke up early and got out of the house and onto the road which felt like somewhat of an achievement itself. The sun was out, but the air was cool and there was a light breeze making the beginning of the run pleasant enough. I kept my hear rate down around 135 for the first 6 miles running at about a 9:20 pace. At the 6 mile point I started having some misfortunes. To begin with, the hard training really began to hit me and my heart rate jumped about 10 beats as my pace stayed even. This coincided with me reaching Bradley Park which has several big hills. The next two miles were rough and I wound up running mile 8 at about a 10:00 min/mile clip. At this point my headphones decided to crap out on me as the left ear piece kept cutting in and out every stride I took. I threw those away in a trash barrel as I exited the park and made my way back to the road to get my final 3 mies in. Getting back on the road helped my psyche and I was able to pick the pace back up.
Mile 9 I had an incident with a homeless guy on a bike. I was running the sidewalk on one side of the road and he was riding his bicycle on the other side of the road going the same direction. He was going pretty slow so we were basically side by side for a while. Then for some reason he decided to cross the road and get onto the sidewalk I was running on. He fell in behind me and biked along on the sidewalk about 6 feet behind me for about a half mile. I was somewhat annoyed, but tried to block it out. Finally he turned off and let me be.
Mile 10 I had an incident with a Rottwieler dog which was off leash in its front yard. Luckily it was friendly but that didn't stop if from coming over and jumping up on me as I ran by. I yelled at the dog and it left me alone. At this point I was pissed off and that got some adrenaline going which actually helped my run.
I got back to my neighborhood and got through mile 11 pushing the pace up to 8:35 min/mile.
Got home and jumped in an ice bath before accompanying my wife and her family for brunch. After brunch I rough housed with the boys for a while. At this point I'm completely exhausted and ready to spend the rest of the day on the couch. The in-laws are finally gone along with their two little boys and two not so little dogs. The chaos is over and hopefully the rest of today and tomorrow will provide the recovery I need to get me into week 5.
But for now. Week 4 is over! 14 weeks to go (groan).
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Day 27
Woke up early before the in-laws got up and hit the road for my 6 mile "pace" run. The plan was to run it at 8:00 miles because I think that I want that to be my marathon pace (at least for now). Stepping out the door I had a change of heart and decided I'd run it faster, rationalizing that it would be better prep for my half-marathon next weekend.
Distance: 6.0 miles
Duration: 45:43
Pace: 7:37
HR Avg/Max: 158/180
notes:
Ran this one in the rain. The rain doesn't normally bother me too much but today I was wearing my Shamrock Shuffle tech t-shirt which morphed into a constrictive spandex-like body cast after it got wet... Otherwise, it was a good run.
Distance: 6.0 miles
Duration: 45:43
Pace: 7:37
HR Avg/Max: 158/180
notes:
Ran this one in the rain. The rain doesn't normally bother me too much but today I was wearing my Shamrock Shuffle tech t-shirt which morphed into a constrictive spandex-like body cast after it got wet... Otherwise, it was a good run.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Day 26
Day of rest... if you consider building a fence and mowing the lawn in the hot ass sun before the in-laws come with their two little boys and two crazy dogs who you must entertain and chase around the yard a day of rest.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Day 25
3 mile recovery run today.
I ran pretty hard the last two days so I'm going to be extra careful to keep this one in the recovery zone.
Distance: 3.0 miles
Duration: 26:57
Pace: 8:58
HR Avg/Max: 135/148
notes:
I ran the first 1.5 miles with my dog Sasha. I figured this would help me slow it down and enjoy myself. We started off pretty fast with Sasha pushing the pace (or more literally pulling the pace). However, Sasha is not so much of an endurance athlete and started to slow down after about .5 miles when the excitement of going for a run started to wear off. At this point she fell in stride with me at my side and with the exemption of a few bunny spotting incidents made a very nice running partner. After the 1.5 mark I dropped her off at home and finished up by myself. I was able to keep a good pace and pretty much had my heart rate under or at 135 the entire distance. I was pleased to be able to stay in the recovery zone and still hit under 9 min/mile pace (although I did push it the last .2 miles to get me there).
I'd like to have a better idea of how my fitness is improving but I still don't have enough data yet to get a good picture. I've run so many hilly courses of different degrees and at so many different temperatures that it's hard to find data that can really compare. I probably need to start running more consistent courses and then in a couple more weeks I'll probably have a better idea on where I stand.
I ran pretty hard the last two days so I'm going to be extra careful to keep this one in the recovery zone.
Distance: 3.0 miles
Duration: 26:57
Pace: 8:58
HR Avg/Max: 135/148
notes:
I ran the first 1.5 miles with my dog Sasha. I figured this would help me slow it down and enjoy myself. We started off pretty fast with Sasha pushing the pace (or more literally pulling the pace). However, Sasha is not so much of an endurance athlete and started to slow down after about .5 miles when the excitement of going for a run started to wear off. At this point she fell in stride with me at my side and with the exemption of a few bunny spotting incidents made a very nice running partner. After the 1.5 mark I dropped her off at home and finished up by myself. I was able to keep a good pace and pretty much had my heart rate under or at 135 the entire distance. I was pleased to be able to stay in the recovery zone and still hit under 9 min/mile pace (although I did push it the last .2 miles to get me there).
I'd like to have a better idea of how my fitness is improving but I still don't have enough data yet to get a good picture. I've run so many hilly courses of different degrees and at so many different temperatures that it's hard to find data that can really compare. I probably need to start running more consistent courses and then in a couple more weeks I'll probably have a better idea on where I stand.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
