Run the Rails race report

This morning I ran the "Run the Rails" 5k. I finished with a time of 26:56, which just barely beat my top goal of 27 minutes. It also beat my time from one month ago by about 1.5 minutes. So I'm very happy with my performance this morning.

I did a couple of things different this race. First, I had coffee this morning, which I've never done pre-race before. I had one cup with my usual two special-K cereal bars about 2 hours before race time. I think it helped me wake up, but I'm not sure it had any affect on the actual race. I also had a gatorade g1 about 20min before the race, which has become another pre-race tradition.

Also, this was the first time I did my packet pickup on race day. I usually don't do that because I like to show up ready to run. But it was a busy week, plus I anticipated that I'd be able to park close to the event area. That was important because there was no bag drop and I didn't have any friends or family there this morning to watch my stuff while I ran. So I just picked up my number, bag, shirt, etc., and dropped it off back at my car.

The race started at 8am. Considering the heat and early sunrise this time of year, I think they should consider moving the start time up a bit to 7 or 7:30. It was sunny and upper-70's at the start. The open, un-shaded course offered no relief from the sun. I was grateful for the water station at the half-way point. I took a small sip and dumped the rest of the water over myself.

I intentionally started at a relatively easy pace. I kept it at about 8:45 for the first mile. A couple of guys passed me early on and then slowed in front of me, so I followed those two for a while. We ran along single-file and kept a pace that ranged from about 8:15 to 8:45 until the water station at the half-way point. That's when the guy in the middle of our pack took off. I guess it got to the first guy who was in front of both of us, because right after he got passed he stepped off to the side and started walking. I didn't see him again. Around that time I got passed by a guy pushing a stroller. I let him go, but kept an eye on him and the other guy that took off, thinking I may catch them later. And sure enough, by about the 2.5 mile point, the stroller guy had slowed a bit, and I had started to pick up my pace a bit, and I managed to pass him. But I never could catch the other guy. Then with about .2 miles to go, the stroller guy caught up to me. He was really moving and so I hung with him as long as I could. We were moving at about a 7:20 pace I think. But as hard as I tried, he had me and I couldn't hang that last bit. I let him go, but was still happy to see the clock just under 27 minutes as I crossed the finish line.

The preliminary results showed me in 9th place in my age group. Apparently this race has really gained in popularity this year, because last year my time would have got me 2nd place in my age group. But I think it just shows how these events are continuing to gain in popularity, and how more people are really getting into pretty decent running shape in our area. That's a trend that I really hope continues!



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My 400m time trial

If you are new to running like I am, you might be tempted to think that a 400m time trial is easy because it's only one lap around a track. But as I learned tonight, you would be wrong. Turns out it's hard. Crazy hard.

Before I get to my time trial summary, here's a look at Michael Johnson setting the current 400m world record, which remains safe after my attempt tonight:



I ran my 400m time trial in the dark, so I don't have a video of myself for comparison. But to give you an idea, watch the video above once again, and imagine me at just past the half-way point as Johnson crosses the finish line. Either that, or watch the video above at just over half speed if there's a way to do that.

Before beginning my 400, I followed some advice I found in a running forum and did a warm up that included an easy 1/2 mile run, some dynamic stretching, and some strides.  Then I found the 400m starting line and got ready to go. I thought maybe I should try to pace myself. But I decided just to go all out. After all, it's just one lap, right?

So, off I went, full bore. Around the first 100m, feeling good. Thinking about my breathing and my form. Down the back straight-away to the 200m mark, feeling okay. Still thinking about my form, trying to keep my strides quick.

Somewhere around 250m-300m I remembered something else I read online in the same forum where I found the warm-up advice. It was basically something like "don't just go all out, or else you'll burn out at 300m."

Well, guess what.

As I approached the 300m mark, turning into the final straightaway, my thighs suddenly felt like they were burning. To say I was hurting doesn't begin to describe how deep I was in the hurt locker. I seriously thought I was not going to make it the whole 400m. But I was absolutely determined not to quit. I would finish that last 100, even if I had to vomit while I ran. I would finish.

Did I mention how insanely hard that last 100m was?

Well, I did finish. My time was 81 seconds. Only 38s off from the world record! Watch out, Michael Johnson.

But seriously, this was really a worthwhile exercise. It's fun to find out just what I can do, and to have another milestone to try to surpass. It also gives me a whole new perspective and appreciation for world-class runners like Michael Johnson, who can run the 400m almost twice as fast as me, and for elite marathoners who can run 26.2 miles at a pace that's faster than my pace was tonight.

Rascal Roundup 5k Race

Thoughts on today's race:

- It was COLD! - about 30 degrees when we arrived.

- It was really alot of fun watching my wife and kids run a 1k together. It was my kid's first race. They had a blast, and all want to do another one some time.

- It was also really cool to see my step dad David run his first 5k (that's him in the Harley gear in the photo below).

- Even though I didn't PR today, I still had a pretty decent time of 24:28, which was good enough to take third place in my age group. So I scored my first age-group award, which is a medal that is like a dog-tag (there was a kind of camo theme to the race, so I guess Army dog tags go well with the theme).

- Post-race, they had some fun stuff for the kids, including a bounce house (behind me in the photo above) and face painting.

As I mentioned above, I didn't PR, but I'm still happy with my time. My splits for the first two miles were right about on target (7:39; 7:48). The third mile, things started to unravel (mile 3 - 8:08!?!). Here's my excuse:

See that hill around the 2-mile point? It killed me.

So what did I learn? I think it turned out to be a good plan to go out easy and save something for the end. It helped me get through the hills. I'm sure I finished faster than I would have if I had burned up too much during the first half of the race.

I need more hill work.

Getting back into 5k mode

Image by DoktorSpinn via Flickr

I'm now officially full-on into 5k training mode. Let the fun begin!

My first workout of the new training program was a 3mi fast run on Saturday. I decided ahead of time on an 8min/mile pace for my fast runs*. This meant completing Saturday's run in 24 minutes. Not an easy task for me, but not impossible either. I'd call it a good challenge - and it didn't disappoint.

I felt pretty good starting out. I checked my pace frequently, trying to get my pace just right. It felt good to be out running such a strong pace - much faster than the 9.5-11min long-run miles I've become accustomed to during the 1/2 marathon training.

Then I got to about the 1/2 mile mark.

And the pain began...this was really going to be a challenge.

I did what I normally do in these situations - I turned up my music in an effort to distance my mind from the pain. That worked pretty well for a while.

Then I got to about the 3/4 mile mark.

Self-doubt started to kick in. I haven't been running fast in a while - had I lost some ability since my 5k PR last October? Have the many long, slow runs robbed me of some ability to go fast on the shorter runs?

I decided I would slow down. Not right away - but up the trail just a bit. The plan had changed - instead of doing three 8min miles, I would use this as an opportunity to see how far I could go at that pace.

So I went another 1/4 mile and finished mile 1.  Time: 7:42. Whew! I was ahead of my goal! So I decided I could back off just a bit and try to hang for at least another half mile. At least make it half-way. Then I could back off and feel good about at least getting to the half way point at my new fast goal pace.

This mind trick kept me going to the 1.5 mile point, then to the 1.75 mile point, then to the 2 mile point... mile 2 time: 8:06. I was slipping just a bit, but still pretty close, and overall still ahead of my target time.

With a mile to go now, I was beginning to feel like I might be able to hang on and finish this run on target. If not, I could at least get really close. This line of reasoning got me through to mile 2.5. Still on pace. Then I got to a pretty good hill. I managed to work my way up the challenging grade at target pace, but I was really hurting at the top.

Fortunately, my effort was rewarded by an equally steep downhill, but it was short-lived.

By mile 2.7 I was really feeling it and really wondering how I managed that sub-25 min 5k last October. Then I hit the wall at mile 2.75. I had to back off. Had to. So I stopped my Garmin and walked for about half a minute. That was all I needed. I decided I could do this last 1/4 mile, I couldn't quit this close to finish. So I started the Garmin again and headed to mile 3... mile 3 time: 8:00 - right on target (well, not counting the short break).

So Saturday's run looked like this**:
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 23:48
Ave Pace: 7:55


My second workout was on Sunday.

This session, my long runs are on Sundays. This Sunday was 5 miles. I decided on a 9:30 pace for my long runs*.

I've also decided to really focus more on core/strength training this time around. For now, I'm doing Jillian Michael's "Yoga Meltdown." This is not traditional yoga - it's a combination of aerobic and static exercises, and it's very challenging for me right now. The great thing about it is that it doesn't require any equipment, and it includes alot of core and upper leg work, which is just what I'm wanting to focus on.  I'm doing this workout before my long and easy runs - which means on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

So Sunday would include JM Yoga and then a 5 mile run. I don't really have as much to say about Sunday's workout. The yoga was challenging, but my wife Melody did the yoga workout with me, so it was nice to have a workout partner. By the end of the yoga, I was wondering if I had enough left to complete the 5 mile run. But once I got out on the road, I felt fine and had no problem completing the run.

So Sunday's run looked like this:
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 46:38
Ave Pace: 9:18


That catches me up to today, which is a rest day. I can tell from this weekend's two workouts that I have a challenging six weeks ahead of me!


* The paces were selected with the help of the McMillan running calculator using my last 5k race time.


** If you add in the 20-30 second break, the overall pace slips to about 8:05 - still about on target... unless you also consider that I had my Garmin stopped during the walking bit, so the distance I walked was not part of the 3 miles, so overall distance was more than 3 miles, so... so it's really a bit complicated to figure it all out. I'll just keep it imprecise and say I managed about an 8min pace :)


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Getting lost and some top-5 lists

Last night I went out for a 5mi run. I headed out on a 5mi course that I've run several times lately. It's a nice course because there are alot of turns, which I think helps break the run up and makes it less mentally taxing. It just seems easier than a 2.5mi straight run out-and-back. The only problem with a course like this is that there's a greater risk of missing a turn - which happened last night. The result was that I got lost discovered a new 5.5mi course!

Despite my plan to take it slow, I actually averaged a fairly quick (for me) pace last night with an average pace of 9:39min/mile. To put that into perspective, here are my five fastest paces for runs I've done over the past year according to my dailymile page:

1. 07:48 min/mi on 10/16 (my 5k PR race)
2. 08:31 min/mi on 11/03
3. 08:40 min/mi on 10/29
4. 08:50 min/mi on 11/09
5. 09:15 min/mi on 10/22

In other words, I didn't take it slow last night. The run was pain-free, but I have some soreness in my left calf today. Not terrible, but I wish it wasn't there. I think I'm going to try a compression sleeve for my knee and see if that helps.

One possible reason for the leg pain could be this - my five longest runs are now all over 10 miles, and most of them were within the past 8 weeks:

1. 11.12mi on 11/20
2. 11.02mi on 10/09
3. 10.18mi on 10/02
4. 10.02mi on 09/04
5. 10.01mi on 11/05

Being a new runner, meaning that before last December I hadn't done much running for the previous 14 years, I guess it's fair to expect some fatigue at this point. Plus, even when I was running consistently back in the early/mid 90's, I never ran further than about 5 miles. I shouldn't expect HM training to be easy, and it also gives me a whole new level of respect for people who have managed to complete the full 26.2.

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Saturday's long run and this week's training plan

Saturday morning I went out for my second 11mi long run of my half-marathon training plan. For the first couple of miles, this was one of those runs that felt akward, like I was really forcing things. I just felt sluggish. Finally, a few miles in I started to get into a groove, at least physically. Mentally, I was still battling. For whatever reason, I just wasn't feeling up for the long run. So I just grinded through it. At the half-way point, I decided to break the rest of the run into 1.5 mile increments, equal to the distance between water stations on my upcoming HM course, so that for the rest of the run I would drink some gatorade every 1.5 miles. I think focusing on the smaller increments rather than the whole distance helped alot.

The good news is that I didn't have any knee pain during Saturday's run. Yesterday there was some mild pain, but it's gone today.

So the plan for this week is as follows:
Today: 5mi easy run
Tomorrow: 3mi easy run
Wednesday: 5mi easy run
Thursday: eat turkey and nap rest
Friday: either cross-training or 5mi easy run
Saturday: long run (10-12 mi) - distance tbd depending on how this week goes.


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Last night's run

Checking the calendar, I now have two weeks and two days until my first half marathon. This week and next week are supposed to be my final two weeks of real training, with the final week leading up to the race being a bit of a taper. But that plan was interrupted this week with onset of some mild pain in my left leg. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off from running this week to get some extra rest, and then went for a 5 mile run last night at a very easy pace. I'll take today off, and then do my scheduled long run (11 miles) on Saturday.

Overall, I'm encouraged by last night's run. Most of the run was pain-free. I had some tightness in my left leg for the first mile or so, but then it loosened up and was fine the rest of the way. Today the pain has returned, but it's very mild. It's just enough to be a minor annoyance. But it's a reminder that I'm not 100%.

So looking at my training plan for next week, I'm thinking I may back off the speed work planned for next week and just focus on getting in some easy miles to keep my endurance up. I guess I could think of it as extending the taper period.

As for my goals for the HM, since this will be my first HM, my primary goal is still just to finish. As for time goals...those are still TBD. A sub-2 hour time would be great. But I think I may back off from that goal and instead shoot for a 2:10 or 2:15...just take it easy and enjoy the experience.

Have a great Friday!

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Easy run, interrupted

Last night I headed out for a 5 mile run, which was supposed to be run at an easy pace. The weather was great when I left my house - partly cloudy, still, and a comfortable 55 degrees. My plan was to do an out-and-back route that I've run a few times. Heading out things were feeling pretty good. I was keeping my heart rate around 65-70% max and maintaining about a 9:30 pace, which is pretty quick for me for that heart rate. When I got to

the turn-around point, about 2.5 miles from home, I noticed some lightning in the distance. You can see pretty far from where I was, and I didn't hear the thunder, so I felt like I was okay. Just to be safe, I turned my music way down so I could hear if the lightning got closer. About a mile from home it did. The distant lightning was suddenly very close, and it seemed like I was seeing it all around me. The thunder was pretty loud at this point, and pretty close to the flashes of light - so I knew it was too close for me to be out running. Also about this time it started raining - and I mean it was pouring. I was running through a residential area at this point - alot of tall houses and trees - so I didn't really feel like there was a good place to stop. From what I understand, the thing to do is to get into an open area away from trees, etc., and curl up in a ball on the ground. Well, the only open area would have been the middle of the street. So I decided to just get home and out of the storm asap. I picked up my pace averaging about an 8:20 pace the last 1.1 miles. A few minutes later, the storm passed. It was just bad luck that I happened to be out running during the 10 minutes or so that it stormed. It's just one of the hazards of running in this part of the country - these quick, violent thunder storms sometimes just pop up out of nowhere. I got caught out in one without a plan - bad move. I'll need to plan for this sort of thing so I can deal with it better next time it happens - because it probably will.

Have you ever got caught out running in a storm? How did you handle the situation?

First 15k

Today I ran my first 15k. My HM training schedule called for a 15k race this weekend. But, I could not find one to run, except for a 15k trail race. I passed on that, because I don't have much trail running experience and I don't want to risk twisting an ankle this close to my HM. So I did the alternative of running a time trial. I managed to run it in 1 hr, 26 min, which is about an average of a 9:18 pace. I chose a challenging course full of hills, with a couple of pretty challenging ones. I think this was a tougher course than the HM course I'll run in a few weeks. So I'm happy with the result. I'm thinking it would be great to run my first HM in under 2 hrs, which means running about a 9 min pace. Today showed me that it may be possible for me, since I usually run a bit faster on race day and I'll be running a faster course. We'll see. Anyway, I'm counting today as my 15k PR. Since it's not a common race distance, it may be a PR that stands for a while.

PS - something else to be happy about today's run - my time at the 10k mark was 57:32, which beats my 10k PR by about 15 seconds :)

Komen 5k Race Report

Yesterday I ran in the Susan G. Komen 5k. This was the coolest race I have participated in so far. There were about 25,000 runners and walkers, and about $1million raised for cancer research, which is awesome! The race was amazingly well organized considering the number of participants. I had no problem parking and it was a fairly short walk to the event area. They had mailed my race packet, so I had no lines to wait in on race day.

My expectations were pretty low in terms of personal performance for this race for a few reasons. One, I had heard that the size of the crowd made it difficult to run. Two, I hadn't been training specifically for a 5k - I've been focusing on a 1/2 marathon coming up in December, which means I haven't been doing alot of speed work the past few weeks. Three, the day before I started getting that sinking feeling that usually signals the onset of some kind or cold or flu. So I was going into this race with an open mind, resigned to being satisfied just to be a part of such a great fund raising effort for such an important cause.

Saturday morning I arrived at the race site about 6:30, which was an hour and a half before race time of 8am. There was already a sizable crowd in the vendors area, but noone near the starting line. I headed over to the starting corral and did some stretching and light running to get warmed up. Soon a few other runners started appearing, and by 7am a good number of runners were gathering near the starting line. So I spent the next hour chatting with other runners about the typical runners topics - races, training, etc. The time flew by, and soon it was time for the National Athem (this was the first time I'd seen this done at a race), followed by a count down and then we were off!

Since I was so close to the starting line, I had no problem taking off at a good pace, and I found that the crowd thinned out pretty quickly. I was feeling good, so I decided to go ahead and try to break 25 minutes for the first time - which meant keeping about an 8min/mile pace. By 1/4 mile in, it could have been any race in terms of the size of the crowd around me. At about 1/2 mile in I checked my pace - 7:15 - which was way too fast, so I thought I'd better back off a bit. So I eased back to about 7:50. At the 1 mile mark, they had a clock (cool!) that said I think about 7:47 (also cool - I was ahead of my goal of 8min/mile). Mile 2 was fairly eventful - alot of spectators (we ran through a residential area), a few turns, few groups of cheerleaders, a water station where I accidentally spilled water on someone (I didn't get a good grip on the cup they were handing me - sorry!),  so there were enough distractions to make the second mile go by pretty fast.  The clock at mile 2 said 15:something - cool, still maintaining a sub-8min pace.

Then came the pain - mile 3!

As good as I felt during miles 1 and 2, mile 3 was a grind! I'll start by mentioning that I was wearing my heart rate monitor - great move! Seriously - if I hadn't had the confidence my heart rate info provided, I never would have been able to grind through the pain of mile 3 without slowing my pace. Everything hurt - my legs, my arms, I was t-i-r-e-d! My hr was hovering around 93-95%. I knew this was actually a good range for a 5k, so I just took it a step at a time, just kept going. Half way through the third mile (around mile 2.6) I was greeted by a hill - great, just what I needed - an extra challenge! I increased my arm swing and pushed on. Then came the stench - some horrible smell - imagine running by a sewage plant or landfill - I suddenly thought this might be the first time I throw up during a race. I checked my pace - still around 7:50. I was now at about mile mark 2.75. I thought to myself - forget this! just imagine running a 400 - you do them all the time, just grind through a 400.

Finally I could see the starting line, which meant that the finish line was about .1 mile away. I don't remember seeing a clock at the 3 mile mark, but I may have missed it because by that point I was back near the start and the crowd was huge! I was surprised to see that there were still people just starting the race. I took a right, then a quick left and the finish line was in sight. At this point, I could see the time was close 24 minutes, and I decided that no amount of pain was going to keep me from missing this chance to finally break 25.

That last .1 was a blur, but before I knew it I was crossing the finish line and the clock said 24:24. I couldn't believe it. I felt close to tears thinking about all the training I've gone through over the past 10 months, starting from barely being able to run for 5 minutes, and here I was finishing a 5k in just over 24 minutes. It felt great to know that all of my hard work was paying off and that I was actually making progress.

Here's a snapshot of my official results:

So, overall it was a great experience. It's fun to set a new record, and especially sweet when it's part of something that is raising money and awareness for such an important cause.

Friday Quick Hits

• Ran a 10k last Saturday in the rain and set a new PR

• Travelled to Seattle last week for work. Had some great seafood but didn't get in a run.

• With that 10k behind me, I'm now focusing my running on prepping for my first half marathon coming up in December

• I'm running the Dallas Komen 5k in a couple of weeks, but I've been told that it is hard to actually run because of the size of the crowd

• This is my first post from my iPhone. Hopefully this will make it easier to post more frequently.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday Fast Facts

It's been over a week since my last post. Things have been pretty busy, and I still don't feel like I have time to write much, but I would like to make a quick list of some things that have been going on in my running world over the past couple of weeks.

- First I have to say how proud I am of my wife, who ran her first 5k last Saturday! She has really been working hard and she did a great job.

- Last Saturday I completed my first 10 mile run. Each time I reach a new milestone like this, it gives me confidence that I can be ready for my first half marathon coming up in December.

- I've set new PR's for my 5k and 10k over the past two weeks :) I'm calling them unofficial since they were training runs. I've got a 10k coming up on Sept 25, and a 5k on Oct 16. Can't wait.

- I got a new Nathan hydration belt (Speed 2R Auto-Cant), found it on Amazon for $25! I used it during my 10mi run last Saturday. Two thumbs up! I'll admit that it bothered me for the first half mile or so, but then I got used to the feel of it and by mid run forgot it was even there.

- Over the past couple of weeks, I've started trying to eat something during my long runs. Two weeks ago it was strawberry-banana GU, last saturday it was rasberry Hammer Gel. The Gu tasted better, but the Hammer gel gave me more of an energy boost. I've got a stash of other miscellaneous things to try (gels, Clif shots, jelly beans). The goal is to sort out some likes/dislikes in time for my half marathon in December.

That's it for now. Have a great weekend!

New unofficial 10k PR

Went running with the Lake Grapevine Runners and Walkers this morning for my long run. The weather was amazing - in the upper 60's at the start. It felt great compared to the 90's I've been running in over the past several weeks. They have  a nice course that runs along Lake Grapevine. It's a 4-mile out and back full of small rolling hills. They had several water/gatorade stops set up along the way. I stopped a few times during my run for a drink, which is something I don't usually do.

Despite my stops, I somehow managed to finish the first 10k of the run in 1:03:53, crushing my official 10k PR (set July 4) by over 11 minutes!

I finished the 9 mile run in 1:35.

Training Update

Just checking in with a quick update on the past few days. Saturday morning I continued my recent streak of setting distance PR's with my long runs by completing my first ever 9 mile run. Overall, the run went great. Somewhere around mile 8.4-8.5 I started feeling some soreness in my patellar tendons. It wasn't severe, maybe a 3 or 4 on a scale of 1-10. I've felt that before, back when I was training for my first 10k during my first few 6 mile runs. Eventually it went away. I believe it's just tired muscles that aren't used to the new distances. The pain went away within a few minutes of completing my run. So, at this point I don't think it's anything to be too concerned about.

Sunday evening was my regular day-after-a-long-run recovery run, nothing really notable about it. It's the run that I didn't do last week because of our trip to a water park. Looking back now and comparing the two experiences, I do believe that the day at the water park was far more exhausting.

Monday was rest day, and tonight was 400m intervals. I did 4 intervals, but should have done 5. I didn't check my schedule before I left, so I didn't realize that this was the week that I go up from 4 to 5. As usual, I started with about a 1 mile warmup run, then did the 400m intervals (splits: 96s, 101s, 103s, 102s - good for me!), with 2 minutes of walking between each one, then finished with about a 1 mile cooldown run. I was actually able to run these on a track tonight. This is the only type of workout that I like to do on a track, and when I do intervals, I really prefer the track. The track I use has a great running surface, and it's nice to see where the 400m will end instead of having to check my Garmin (which is difficult when I'm running at my intervals pace). As an added bonus, a cold front blew in today, so the weather was a comfortable 76 degrees. Very nice compared to the upper 90's and 100 degree weather we've been having.

I'm Hungry

Image via Wikipedia

That's kind of been the theme of the past few days - suddenly I have this huge appetite. Over the weekend was the worst, because I'm at home and have easy access to snack food. During the week it's easier because I'm at work, and I don't keep snack food around my office. I just bring a day's ration each day - usually a mid-morning snack, a small lunch, and a mid-afternoon snack. But being at home is challenging, even though I usually stay pretty busy.

In order to keep from putting on unwanted extra weight, I'm trying to find things I can snack on when my appetite is really surging that won't pack too many calories. I try to go for fruit, yogurt, or some of these triscuit cracked pepper crackers my wife found - they are excellent with some chedder.

In the mean time, I'm keeping an eye on my weight, and it seems to be stable. So I'm not sure what to think about the increased appetite. I have been running more miles than usual, so I'm thinking that may have something to do with it. Especially since it seems like the hardest day to eat right is Saturday after my long run.

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Okay, so enough about food. Here's a mid-week training summary. Yesterday my intervals went pretty well. It was one of those days when I just wasn't feeling up to getting out and running. I was tired from being up late working the night before. I decided just to go do as much as I could. The first couple of intervals went okay, but I was really feeling tired and wanted to quit after two. But I decided to go ahead and do the third and then skip the fourth. Number 3 went well, but again - I was really tired. Anyway, I decided to go ahead and do the last one. I didn't feel like I could even run the entire 400m, but I decided I would just go as far as I could before I absolutely had to stop. I cranked up my music and ran the whole 400m, and even managed to set a new 400m interval training PR. It's funny how often I perform really well when I feel like I'm not going to perform well.

Tonight was an easy run and my second session of hill sprints. The run went well. I'm struggling with timing the hill sprints so that I run 8 seconds instead of 6 or 7 or 9. It's hard to watch a stop watch and sprint, so I've been trying to count 1-1000, 2-1000, etc. Apparently I'm not very accurate that way!

Better late than never

So tonight I ran the long run I had scheduled for Saturday morning. The Saturday morning run didn't happen thanks to a very late night at a high school reunion Friday night. Anyway, the temps were crazy high, about 104 when I started at 7:30pm. I went and ran some trails that include some shady stretches, so I could escape the direct sun for at least some of the run.

I tried something new with my long run tonight. I drank a Gatorade G1 about 20 min before my run. I usually do my long runs on Saturday morning, and I usually hit the wall about an hour into my long runs. I think it's because I haven't been eating or drinking anything before my run. So today about 20 min before my run I drank a G1 sports drink (it also comes in a gel). It was kind of thicker than regular gatorade, and much sweeter. But it wasn't bad. The first 4 miles went about as usual - felt good, kept my pace steady, no problems. At about mile 5, which was about an hour into my run, I could really feel a second wind coming on. My last couple of miles were much stronger than usual. So, I think I've just found my new pre-run fuel. (ps - this is just a review based on my person experience - I wasn't asked or paid to do a review).

I also gave the ipod shuffle a try (after trying and trying to fix it) - and I'm sad to report that it didn't hold up. It lasted about an hour before it started getting static and acting up. I think it was moisture getting into the ipod itself instead of into the buttons on the headphone wires, because the tape on the headphone wires seems to still be sealed pretty well. I turned the ipod off for a while, then moved it from my waistband to my sleeve. I turned it back on and it would play music, but the headphone buttons wouldn't work. Those sony wireless headphones are starting to look better and better.

Tonight's tempo; My ipod gorilla shuffle

Tonight's tempo run

My tempo run went pretty well tonight. I kept my pace around 9:20 and my hr right around the middle of zone 4 (about 85% max hr) for a full 20 minutes without a break. So that's a big improvement over my past two attempts at tempo runs.  Overall, this has been a great week of training, so I'm feeling great about my training right now.

About the only eventful thing about tonight's run was yet another close call with a driver that wasn't paying attention. This time it was a guy in a truck turning on to the road I was crossing. He stopped just a couple of feet from me. That's the last time I run at night in a blue shirt - I'm sticking with white, and maybe getting some flashing lights and an air horn.

Looking at my hr chart for tonight's run, the first 10min are my warm-up, 10-30 min is my tempo, and 30-end is my cool-down. My tempo range is between 161 and 171 bpm. (I can pinpoint where my close call with the truck happened - blue circle).


More ipod shuffle stuff

So, this is yet another chapter in my ongoing attempt to get my new ipod shuffle to work with my sweatiness. (see earlier posts here and here to catch up).

So this time I pulled out the big guns: gorilla tape.

Gorilla tape is kind of like duct tape on steroids. It looks alot like duct tape, but it's harder to tear and it has a thicker layer of adhesive than regular duct tape.

I kept the duct tape I applied (described here) earlier. I added the gorilla tape over the ends of the duct tape. The gorilla tape folds over onto itself and around the wire, completely sealing the ends of the duct tape. As I wrote in my last post, the ends of the duct tape weren't sticking very well to the headphone wires, and when subjected to moisture (sweat) the ends of the duct tape started to separate. Also, the edge of the duct tape was sharp and irritating on my neck. The gorilla tape seals the ends of the duct tape, and also adds a slight fold to the sharp edge of the duct tape, pretty much eliminating the irritating edge.

Well, I'm happy to report that the gorilla tape seems to have done the trick. So far I've done a 2-mile easy run and tonight's tempo run with this tape job, and the tape is holding up well. Also, I've had no problems with my ipod malfunctioning. It isn't pretty, but it works (plus, nothing else about me is pretty when I'm running, so it fits in well). So, so far, so good. Saturday's 7 miler should be a good test.

Tuesday Intervals; More Ipod Shuffle stuff

Tuesday Intevals

Ran intervals tonight. Started with a run up to the high school track, but it was busy with some track practice so I headed over to my alternate spot. It's a nice 1/4 mile stretch of walking paths. The only bad part is that you have to cross a road, so there's always a risk that my interval may be interrupted by a car. Fortunately, the road is not very busy, so it's not usually a problem.

Really happy with my splits tonight: 1:39, 1:44, 1:46, and 1:44. That first one was my first ever sub-100 second 400m training interval! In fact, before tonight my interval workout pr for the 400 was 1:46, so tonight I beat that 3 out of 4 times! Not bad, not bad at all.


Ipod Shuffle, Part II

This is a follow-up to my last post about my attempt to fix my ipod shuffle.

So I've had a couple of runs now with my duct-tape fix. I'm happy to report that the ipod didn't quit on me during either run. But, there is some room for improvement on my "fix."

Two problems: 1 - the edge of the duct tape makes a nice, sharp edge that scrapes across my neck while I run, which is annoying; and 2 - the duct tape is separating from the wire, leaving a gap that could allow moisture to get to the switch.

So, I'm planning to re-do the tape job in a way that eliminates the sharp edge, and find some way to reinforce the area where the tape wraps around the wire. Maybe some better tape...but is there better tape that duct tape?

Saturday long run

Now that I've had a couple of easy Saturdays following my recent 10k race, I'm back to ramping up my Saturday long runs again. Today the schedule called for 6 miles.

I got an early start. I was up by 6am, and running by about 6:30. It was already 80 degrees, and had jumped to 85 by the end of my run.

The run went well. Once again I let my heart rate set the pace, and kept it zone 3 for most of the run. The result was an average heart rate at zone 3.4, average pace 12:22. I felt good at the end of the run - no aches or pains; tired, but not completely exhausted.

Looking forward, next week I'll match my longest run to date of 7 miles, and beyond that I'll start ramping up to new distances. The goal is to get my long runs up to 10 miles before my next 5k in October.

Thursday Tempo; Champion shirt give-away

Today's Tempo Run

Ran my tempo in blistering 98 degree heat today. All sun. It was HOT. With that kind of heat, it doesn't take alot of effort (speed) to get the heart rate up.

So today's tempo went like this:
10min warm-up, 10min tempo, 6min rest/easy run, and 10min tempo.

Because of the intense heat, I decided to ignore my pace and let my heart rate dictate my pace, with the goal of trying to keep my hr in zone 4 for the tempo runs. The result is below.

My hr creeped into zone 5 for a bit, probably due to cardiac creep in the heat. The big change from last week is that I increased my break between the two tempo's from 3min to 6min. Last week I couldn't complete the 2nd tempo, but today I finished with no problem. So now the goal is to gradually decrease the break until I can run a straight 20min tempo.

Champion Shirt Give-Away

Being new to the world of blogging, especially running blogs, I been spending alot of time lately surfing the blogosphere looking for interesting running blogs to follow. It seems like there are an endless number of running blogs. So, I've tried to be rather selective about the ones I decide to follow. You can see my list to the right.

One of the blogs I've begun to read regularly is the "Shut Up and Run!" blog. It's a good mix of humor and helpful info. Also - right now is a good time to check it out, because there's a Champion Shirt Give-Away going on.