Marathon Training - Week 7 of 30

Image by morberg via Flickr

I'm training for my first marathon, which will be the White Rock Marathon in Dallas on December 4, 2011. My training week runs from Monday to Sunday. Today is Monday, which means the beginning of a new training week!

First, a quick review of last week (week 6):

• Monday - scheduled rest - completed
• Tuesday - 3 mile run - completed
• Wednesday - 4 mile pace run - completed
• Thursday - 3 mile run - completed
• Friday - scheduled rest - completed
• Saturday - 7 mile run - completed
• Sunday - 1 hour walking - completed

Not much that was notable about last week's runs. It felt good to get in a 7 mile run. I hadn't run further than a 10k since January. My pace was about right for now. I was wanting to keep it easy - between 10.5 and 11 min/mile - and finished with an average pace of 10:46. Nothing to brag about, but I covered the distance, which is the most important thing right now. I'm trying to finish this marathon, not win it :) And I have to say, that slowing down a bit really makes these long runs so much more enjoyable than trying to push it faster and being miserable for the whole thing.


Now on to this week.

This week is week 7. The mid-week run gets a bit longer this week, and the Saturday long run gets a bit longer too. Here's what's on the schedule for this week:

• Monday - scheduled rest
• Tuesday - 3 mile run
• Wednesday - 5 mile pace run
• Thursday - 3 mile run
• Friday - scheduled rest
• Saturday - 8 mile run
• Sunday - 1 hour walking

Have a great week!

Becoming a Morning Runner

Image via Wikipedia

I had another challenging run this morning. That seems to be a common theme lately.

I've thought it was due to the six weeks or so that I didn't run in March and April. I've also blamed the heat and humidity. I'm sure those are contributing factors.

But this morning wasn't too hot or humid, and I've been back to running consistently long enough now that it should be getting easier. So I'm starting to think that I'm just struggling to get used to running first thing in the morning.

When I started running a year and a half ago, I decided to run in the evenings instead of in the mornings. One of the main reasons was that I'm not a morning person. I thought that if I had to get up early in the morning and run, there was a good chance that I wouldn't stay consistent with my running beyond the first week or two. So I ran in the evenings.

My evening schedule continued through all of last year as I completed the Couch to 5k program, then bridge to 10k, and then training for my first half marathon. The only exceptions were Saturday long runs and races, which were my only morning runs.

Fast-forward to five weeks ago, when I started marathon training. I decided (for a variety of reasons) that I should switch to running in the morning. So for the past five weeks I've been doing my runs in the morning. The runs have been challenging, especially for the first 15-20 minutes. Then it gets easier and my pace seems to naturally speed up without me really trying to speed up. I just try to run at a constant effort level, and my pace gradually increases.

So I'm hoping that I'll eventually get used to running in the morning as I keep doing it. I'm also thinking about adding some kind of warm-up prior to my run to see if that makes the first couple of miles any easier.

Marathon Training - Week 5 of 30

Image by ◄Kentigern► via Flickr

It's Monday, which means the beginning of a new training week!


This week is week 5 of my 30 week program. Here's what's on the schedule for this week:

• Monday - scheduled rest
• Tuesday - 3 mile run
• Wednesday - 4 mile run
• Thursday - 3 mile run
• Friday - scheduled rest
• Saturday - 6 mile run
• Sunday - 1 hour walking

Last week was a bit of a step-back week in terms of mileage because I ran a 5k race on Saturday instead of doing a long run. Looking ahead, last week will be the last sub-16 mile week of the program.  The weekly miles really start to ramp up now, mostly because the Saturday long runs will ramp up at a rate of about a mile a week over the next several weeks.


I'm glad I did the 5k last Saturday. I made a significant improvement over my 5k from one month ago, which gives me confidence that my training program is working. 


I think it's a good idea to work races into a training program, especially if it's an extended program like this one. Races break things up and add some fun to the program. Races can also allow you to see that you are making progress and give you confidence in your training program.  Not to mention, I think a race for a good cause really adds deeper meaning and motivation to your running.

Week 2 Update and San Francisco Photos

Week 2 of my marathon training program is just about complete. I did a 4.5mi run today, and I still have a 1hr walk tomorrow. 4.5mi felt kind of long today. Not good, because the Saturday runs only get longer from here. But, I feel good that I haven't missed any workouts these first two weeks.

Here are some pics from my San Fran trip last week:

Had a really nice hotel room

Here's the view from my hotel room

Bay Bridge, as seen from the starting point for my runs along the Embarcadero

Another view from the starting point for my SF runs

Something I can't do in Ft. Worth - run out onto a pier!

Looking back at SF from the pier

I also visited the Golden Gate bridge

There's plenty of foot traffic on the Golden Gate bridge. I didn't run it this time. Maybe next time.

A view from the Golden Gate bridge

A Chill Pod - looks like a good place to relax after a run!

My turn-around point at the end of Pier 39. That's Alcatraz Island out there.

Another view from Pier 39. Sea lions like to hang out here.

Quick Race Recap and training update (Marathon Training - Week 1 of 30)

Just taking a few minutes to write a short post about Saturday's race. According to my Garmin, my finish time was 28:25. Not the time I wish it was, but all things considered it's not bad. I only managed to hit one of my three goals, but better than meeting none of them. At the very least, it's good to have beaten last year's time. So even though I was slacking for a while, at least I'm doing better than this time last year.

Also - so much for rolling with no training plan. Starting this week, I'm back on a program. I'm planning to run my first full marathon in December, so as of this week my focus is on that goal. I found an 18 week training plan (Hal Higdon's Novice II), stretched the first six weeks, tacked on a bit to the beginning to match where I'm at, and ended up with a 32 week training schedule. Basically, I'll be running short-intermediate distances Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then a long run on Saturday. Sunday is cross-training day. Hal suggests swimming, cycling, or walking. I don't have access to a pool, and my bike is old and in pretty rough shape (plus cycling around here doesn't seem like the safest thing to do), so for now I will do about an hour of walking on Sundays. Monday and Friday are rest days.

That's it for now. Got a run in the morning.

A few things

Some things on my mind today:

1. I'm surprised by how tired my legs are from last night's 400m time trial. Maybe the most tired my legs have ever been after a run.

2. The Cowtown 10k has been upgraded from "Possible" to "Locked in" status on my Race Schedule. The race is on Feb. 26. Should be fun. It will be my wife's first 10k. Plus, we have alot of friends running one or another of the Cowtown events. I haven't run a 10k since last September. I feel a new PR coming.

3. Official results have now been posted for the 5k I ran last Saturday. Turns out my memory is failing. My official time was actually 24:48, not 24:28. Sidebar has been updated accordingly. (why couldn't it have been faster than I remembered instead of slower?)

4. I'm feeling great about the upcoming training schedule that I start officially on Saturday. Maybe the best I've felt about a training schedule since I started my half marathon training late last summer. I believe it will really help me improve, and I'm excited that it includes so many of the types of runs I enjoy the most: easy-pace runs in the 5-7 mile range.

This week

Yesterday I posted my new training schedule for the next couple of months. That schedule starts next week.

I had planned to do three time trials this week, but plans have changed. I'm now doing only one.

Tonight I'll head to the local track and run as hard and fast as I possibly can for one 400m lap.

The one and two mile time trials will have to wait. I missed two runs last week, which combined with the pre-race rest days made for a very low mileage week last week. If I do all three time trials as originally planned, I'll have two very low mileage weeks in a row. I'd rather work on getting my mileage back up this week, so I'm doing just this one time trial. I'll get in some regular runs later this week.

New training schedule

Image via Wikipedia

Have a plan

Last Saturday's race brought my last training cycle to a close. I don't like to run without a plan, so it's time for a new training schedule. I spent some time over the weekend thinking about it, and came up with the training schedule posted on my calendar on the training tab above.

This new training schedule takes me through to my next 5k on March 26. I may also do a 10k on Feb. 26. If so, I'll tweak that week a bit, but won't change anything else. Or I may make sweeping changes at any time.

This new training schedule also lays a foundation for half marathon training coming up in April and May.

Goals

It's hard to put together a training plan without goals. So, here are my goals for the next couple of months:

1. Weight loss: time to attack the "love handles"

2. Improve endurance: I think my low mileage over the past 6-8 weeks is partly to blame for my falling off at the end of the two 5k's I did this month.

3. Continue speed/core work: it's important to practice running fast.

I should also mention "staying injury free," which is always a goal.

Fortunately, the first two goals can both be achieved the same way - longer, slower runs. The third goal will be achieved by keeping a weekly speed workout and a weekly core workout on the schedule.

The Plan

With those goals in mind, beginning on Jan. 29, my training plan will follow this basic pattern:

Long -- recovery -- medium -- rest -- speed -- recovery -- rest

More specifically:

(Saturdays) Long run: 7-10 mile range.

(Sundays) Recovery run: 4-6 mile range.

(Mondays) Medium-distance run: 5-7 mile range.

(Tuesdays) Rest (core work)

(Wednesdays) Speed work: usually a tempo run or intervals.

(Thursdays) Recovery run: 4-5 mile range.

(Fridays) Rest.

Weekly mileage will increase at about 8-9% per week until I get to about 30mi/week a couple of weeks before my race. Then things start to level off and taper slightly during the two weeks leading up to my race on March 26.

Details about the various types of runs

Here are my current training paces:

Easy/Long run pace: 9:23-9:53 min/mi

Tempo pace: 8:04-8:25 min/mi

400m intervals: 1:43-1:50 per 400m (about 6:52-7:20 min/mi)

I calculated these paces using the McMillan's Running Calculator and a recent 5k race time.

Tempo runs will roughly follow the 30/60/10 setup (30% of total time at easy pace, then 60% of total time at fast pace, then 10% of total time at easy pace). So, e.g., a 35min tempo would be 10min @ easy pace, then 21min @ fast pace, 4min @ easy pace.

Interval workouts will include about a 1mi warm-up and a 1mi cool-down at easy pace. Each interval will include 400m at interval pace, then about a 2min slow jog or walk. 

Can I Get Faster At 40?

Found an interesting article today about performance potential for us old guys seasoned runners. Timely for a guy like me that's turning 40 this year, but still hoping my best running days are ahead of me.

Check it out:
Ask The Experts: Can I Get Faster At 40?

On the road again

Image via Wikipedia

Despite what my DailyMile widget over in the margin might say, I have been back to running the past couple of days.

Saturday afternoon I decided to try to go for my first run in about a week and a half. The weather was nice - sunny and 39 degrees, no wind. Almost perfect running weather (I prefer it closer to 50). I headed down to a local park that has about 6 miles of running paths. It's great for runs when I'm not feeling my best because I can get in a long run without ever being more than about a mile from my car. So I got to the park and got going, and almost quit immediately. Each step I took jarred my aching sinuses, so I was feeling a sharp pain in my face over and over again - not fun. I experimented with clenching my jaw and holding my face muscles tight- which helped a bit. Eventually after about a mile or so the pain eased up (or I just got used to it). Other than the sinus pain, the run went pretty well. Physically, it felt like I hadn't really lost anything. But mentally, it was way more challenging than normal for a 3.3 mile run. But I got through it just fine and decided to try to get back on the training plan on Sunday.

The training plan called for an easy 6 mile run on Sunday. I headed back to the park on Sunday afternoon, enjoying more great running weather. The sinus pain was gone, so physically the run went great. Mentally - still more challenging than normal. Usually I have a pretty good feel for how far I've run - I'm usually accurate within a 1/4 mile or so. But on Sunday the run kept feeling alot longer than it actually was. The first time I checked my distance on my Garmin, I expected to see about 4 or 4.5 miles...instead, it was less than 3.5. Guess I'll need to recalibrate my mental Garmin just a bit.

So, it's good to be back out running again. Just in time to get started on my 2011 goals...




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Catching up

Image via Wikipedia

Just a random nice picture.
Not really related to this post.
Enjoy!

It's been about a week since I've written about my running, so this is a quick catch-up of what I've been up to for the past week.

Last week:
Monday was a scheduled rest day.

Tuesday and Thursday were the same - Yoga meltdown followed by an easy 3-miler ... or I should say a 3 mile run at my "easy" pace. I really should start calling it something else, because it's not always easy, especially right after the yoga meltdown workout.

Wednesday was 6x400m intervals. This was my first time back to the track in several weeks, so I wasn't sure what to expect. By the second interval I was doubting whether I had it in me to finish all six. But I took it one interval at a time, and did much better than I expected. My goal was 1:45 to 1:50 per interval. My splits were 1:50, 1:49, 1:46, 1:44, 1:43, 1:39 - right on target!

Friday was another scheduled rest day.

Saturday was a 4 mile run at easy pace. This one was a bit of a struggle. My energy level was pretty low, I think I was getting a touch of whatever it was that was making the rounds in our family last week. But I still managed to average a 9:19 pace, just a bit faster than the 9:30 goal.

Sunday was *supposed* to be a 6 mile run at an easy pace. It didn't happen. I just really wasn't feeling well, and I knew I just didn't have it in me. I don't like to miss a run, but I've learned to just let it go and move on. I'm not a professional athlete, and it's not like I'm training for the Olympics here. Things happen, and sometimes runs get missed. I just move on to the next workout on the list. In the big scheme of things, one run won't matter that much.

This week:
Monday was a scheduled rest day.

Tuesday (last night) - yoga meltdown, then 3 mile run at easy pace. The yoga meltdown is still very challenging for me. But last night I detected just a hint of progress. I think it may be getting just a bit easier to keep up. But running after that workout, even at an "easy" pace, is still not easy. I have not looked closely at last night's run yet, but I think I averaged about a 9:15 pace. My Garmin kept reporting some crazy paces during my run, making it hard to know how I was actually doing. The pace would swing from 8:30 to 10 to various paces in between while I felt like I was keeping a pretty steady pace. I'm used to the instant pace being a bit behind and inaccurate, but it's not usually that erratic.

That catches me up to today. Tonight I have a tempo run on the schedule. Good times.


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Training and Race Schedule Updates

Image by soylentgreen23 via Flickr

I've finally settled on a couple of races for early 2011. I'll be doing two 5k's - one on Jan. 22, and another on March 26. This means it's time to get back into some speed training. I've been mostly focusing on endurance the past couple of months, so it will be interesting to see where I'm at with the speed workouts. I'm guessing that I've got some painful workouts in my near future!

I finally updated my calendar on my training schedule page. It now shows my workouts between now and my next race on January 22. My training schedule is based on Hal Higdon's intermediate 5k training program.

I also added a new page for listing my 2011 race schedule. Right now it's a work in progress. I've got a couple of races that are locked in, and several that I'm considering. I'm thinking I'd like to run between 7 and 9 races next year, including at least two half marathons. I'm also strongly leaning towards running my first full marathon next December.  If you know of a great race in the north Texas area that's not on my list, let me know about it!

What next?

2010 bib collection

Yesterday's half marathon marks the 6th and final race for me for 2010. My races this year included three 5k's, two 10k's, and a half marathon. I have great memories of all of these races, and I would gladly do any of them again.

So now, with the 2010 race schedule complete, I'm beginning to think more seriously about what to do next. One big reason for this is that my half marathon training program is now complete, so I need a plan for this week! Actually I'm planning to take it easy this week - probably do a few easy 3-5 mile runs. That will give me time to recover from the HM, and time to figure out my next training plan.

One option is to simply do a repeat of this year. It would be fun to re-do each of these races and see how I can improve on the same race, same day. But I think I want to try some new races, so I won't just do complete repeat of this year.

The one race that is a sure thing is Joe's run in March. Joe's run was my first ever race. So I plan on making it an annual tradition to run the Joe's run 5k. They also have a 10k, but I think I'll stick with the 5k event for this one. Aside from that one race, I'm not really decided on whether to repeat any of the other races. There's a good chance that I'll also re-do the Buffalo Boogie. That was a great local event that the kids really enjoyed. I'm also likely to do the Komen 5k again. It's a great cause and an amazing event.

So my mission this week is to put together a training plan for the next 2-3 months. Since Joe's 5k is the next for-sure race, I'm thinking I'll get back into some 5k training - which means more speed work! I may run a 5k in January, sort of as a practice for Joe's run in March, and to keep from having too big of a break between races. If I go too long without a race, my motivation starts to sink. So for 2011, I plan to keep a race on the calendar at least once every two months.

Oh - and there's also that little decision yet to be made about whether to run a full 26.2 next year...

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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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Rest time is almost over

I've now taken a couple of evenings off, and the knee is feeling much better. The pain is totally gone. I did do some walking yesterday and today during my lunch hour, about 1.5 miles each time. Yesterday I could feel a twinge of pain/tightness, but today was completely pain-free. So my plan is to go out for about a 3mi easy run tonight and see how it goes.

On another note, last weekend my wife ran her second ever 5k. The kids and I were there to cheer her on. As she rounded the final corner, my oldest daughter jumped in and ran the last 50 yards or so with her. It was really cool. And as an added bonus, apparently a race photographer captured the moment:

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Taking some unscheduled rest time

Over the past few days I've noticed some pain near my left knee, on the inner side of my leg. It's fairly mild, and there's no swelling. I suspect it's either an MCL sprain or PAT (Pes Anserinus Tendinitis). At this point I don't think it really matters which it is, because the treatment for both is to get some rest (and ice, compress, etc.).

With my first HM only a couple of weeks away, I feel like the best thing for me to do is to get to the starting line without injury. Missing a few runs this week might affect my performance a little bit, but I don't feel like it will make a huge difference at this point. I feel confident that I can at least cover the distance, and my primary goal for this first HM is just to finish. I can't do that if I try to push through and turn this minor condition into a more serious injury by continuing to run on it...

...at least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself, because it's hard to take a break from running, especially with a race coming up.


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Proper Warm Up

It turns out that I may have been preparing for my runs all wrong for all of these years (if you include my years of running back in the early 90's). The linked article suggests that pre-run stretching is unnecessary, and should be replaced by gradually increasing movement of your body, e.g., start with walking and work up to a slow jog over a period of several minutes. Save stretching for post-run (or during a run).

Q & A: Proper Warm Up and Foot Pain | Active.com

How do you prepare for a run?

Updating some goals

Even though it's only October, I'm already thinking about my goals for 2011. I like having PR goals for 5k and 10, and I've now hit my 2010 goals for both. Plus, unless I run a race on a whim, I've run my last 5k and my last 10k for 2010. The only race I've got left on the schedule for 2010 is the Dallas White Rock half marathon. Since it will be my first HM, I'm pretty focused on it.

So, for 5k and 10k, I've been thinking about where to set my goals for 2011 for the past few days. My goals for 2010 were sub-25min for the 5k, and sub-60min for the 10k. There was no magic formula for coming up with these goals, they were picked because they were nice round numbers that would also push me to improve.

To be honest, I've found that one of the most difficult aspects of running is predicting rate of improvement. I really don't know how much improvement to expect over, say, a 12-month period. So this uncertainty makes it hard to set goals. So, rather than trying to predict how much I will improve, I set a target on how much I would like to improve, and make a best guess on whether it's realistic.

Thinking about 5k and 10k PR goals for 2011 has led me to the following numbers that I seem to keep coming back to: sub-22min 5k and sub-50min 10k. So those are the goals for 2011 that I've settled on, at least for now. The sub-22min goal for the 5k was chosen because (1) it's a good improvement over my current 5k PR of 24:22, and (2) it gets me to the point where I can start being age-group competitive in local races. The sub-50min goal for the 10k was also chosen because it would be a good improvement over my current 10k PR of 57:47, and it's a nice round number.

Other goals for 2011 so far include running my first full marathon, and I will also set a PR goal for the half marathon at some point after completing my first HM in December. I'm also thinking about where to set mileage goals for 2011 and about other more creative goals I might set.

I'd love to hear about goals others are setting for next year, and how they go about deciding where to set the bar for their different goals.

Racing up stairs

Went for a walk during lunch today and found this flyer:




It's for a race up the stairs of a 53 story building. I'm thinking about giving it a shot.

I wonder what the equivalent running distance would be?

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