I ate the same thing that I always do on Fridays. I ate the same thing for breakfast that I have for the past 5 years for morning runs. This usually works. That's why I've done it for 5 years. I know that seems a little OCD to most people, but I don't have time to screw around. I need to do a long runs, and I need to get to work by 10AM.
However, on this weekend's 20-miler, I was starving by mile 13. As in stomach growling. It was pretty ridiculous. I ate a GU, Jet Blackberry, my favorite. I have literally been carrying this GU with me for any run over 13 miles since the summer. It's my "safety GU". My good luck charm. Well, now it's gone. It helped, for like a mile, but my brain quickly realized that I didn't eat a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich like I tried to tell myself that I did. And, the 2x caffeine woke me up a enough to realize how hungry I really was.
Dang. I wanted to get to 20-miles because I am running out of time to get long runs in before Boston (only 8 more weeks... crap). I started to think about food. I really wanted a hamburger. No, a cheeseburger. And sweet potato fries. With lots of ketchup. I'd even downgrade to McDonalds. Help an Olympic athlete and all. Anything. But there's nothing in the middle of Umstead, certainly no fast food oasis.
As I thought about hamburger toppings, and if cheese dip would taste good with sweet potato fries, and any number of things related to this imaginary meal that I really wanted to eat at like 8AM, I kept getting hungrier. I tried to distract myself by focusing on running. Enjoy the scenery. That lasted all of 30 seconds.
Caffeine. Maybe that would help. Clearly I was losing it. But, I didn't want anything sweet (aka the coke that would go really well with my fake meal). I needed caffeine-infused food. Caffeine is simply a molecule, clearly they should be able to make a caffeinated hamburger. Although, maybe ketchup would be easier. ThinkGeek probably already has some caffeinated maple syrup or bacon or something. Bacon. Mmmm.
I think the climb out of Umstead snapped me out of the delusion that I could consume a cheeseburger and fries and still make it the 4-miles that I needed to run. But apparently not out of the delusion that there was going to be a cheeseburger and fries waiting for me at the gate. Pretzels had been mentioned at some point during the run. I could definitely eat a pretzel and make it 4-miles, with caffeinated mustard of course.
Sadly, when I finally made it up the hill to where I was parked, there was no caffeinated-mustard pretzel waiting for me. Problem is, that's a completely made up food.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
2/17 - 2/23
Mon: 3.5-miles, 7-miles
Tues: 1-mile (6:21), 1200m (4:41), 800m (3:02), 6x400m (87-89)
Wed: 10-miles
Thurs: 7.5-miles (North Hills)
Fri: Off
Sat: 20-miles
Sun: 5-miles, weights
Total: 60-miles
Best week of training that I can remember! Maybe I should taper for fake races more often. Got in 60-miles, my first 20-miler, and fastest track workout in some time.
The started off on a good note when I actually got my butt out of bed Monday morning for a run... a first in a few weeks. Then, I got to Tir na nOg a little early, so I ended up doing 2-miles beforehand. I ran with Newt during the run... luckily he wanted to run easy as well. Wednesday was also a pretty easy run, except it was 70 degrees. I wish winter would pick this weather pattern. It was great. We ran with Brian on the last 5-miles of his birthday 32k (he broke it up into a couple of runs). And, Lisa brought cupcakes for after. More runs should involve cupcakes!
It was nice Tuesday at the track. Like shorts and short-sleeve shirt nice. And, I had people to run with. That hasn't happened this year, and consequently, this was by far my best track workout of the year. I felt great. Maybe it was a good idea to taper for a fake race last week. I have struggled with the longer repeats thus far, and most of my miles have been in the upper 6:20's to lower 6:30's... this week, I was chasing Allison and Rita and I didn't feel too bad at 6:21. I haven't run a 1200m in 2014, but my 800m split was faster than the majority of the 800's I've run. And, my 800m time was much faster than any of the 800's I've run lately. And, after all of that, the 400's were basically the same pace as last week. Maybe I haven't forgotten how to run!
Thursday was also super nice. I ran with Jerry and Chris. We put in a "good effort", but I was still semi-conversational for most of the run (except on some of the uphills). Looking at my overall pace, I'm pretty happy with that. North Hills is a tough route, my pace wasn't exactly slow, and I didn't feel like crap. Unfortunately, I had to bounce after the run to work on work, and Matt, Fred, and I didn't leave the lab until 2AM.
And I finally got 20 miles in on Saturday! I started early, ran 5-miles before I met up with some friends and ran with them for a bit. They are much faster than I am, but will pretty much match whatever pace you want to run. My legs felt pretty good, but I was starving by mile 13. I think I might devote a blog post to that last 7-miles, but I made it! It did take some convincing though (glad I can play head games with myself), especially the last 1.5-miles because my stomach kept growling and cramping up. I was parked up at the Art Museum, and was across the street by mile 18.5. Well, 18.6. If I crossed the street, it was highly unlikely that I'd keep going, and 18.5 is closer to 18 than 20, so I needed to get to 19. And since I floor() to the nearest 0.5-miles, I needed another 0.4 miles to "count". Then, I figured I'd be mad if I ran 19 miles and didn't suck it up for the full 20. There might have been some stopping/slowing up, but I kept my watch running. And the last 0.1-miles was run around in circles, but oh well, 20.00. When I stopped, I had to laugh at myself. I had somehow managed to convince myself to run 1.4-miles because I would "feel better" if I did. That was a complete lie.
Surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good Sunday. Matt and I ran 5-miles easy (it was nice to run with him again), and we went to the gym later to lift weights. I might have to find another day to lift weights as well, and maybe look into when they offer yoga/core classes.
Onwards and upwards... hopefully the weather holds out this week as well!
Tues: 1-mile (6:21), 1200m (4:41), 800m (3:02), 6x400m (87-89)
Wed: 10-miles
Thurs: 7.5-miles (North Hills)
Fri: Off
Sat: 20-miles
Sun: 5-miles, weights
Total: 60-miles
Best week of training that I can remember! Maybe I should taper for fake races more often. Got in 60-miles, my first 20-miler, and fastest track workout in some time.
The started off on a good note when I actually got my butt out of bed Monday morning for a run... a first in a few weeks. Then, I got to Tir na nOg a little early, so I ended up doing 2-miles beforehand. I ran with Newt during the run... luckily he wanted to run easy as well. Wednesday was also a pretty easy run, except it was 70 degrees. I wish winter would pick this weather pattern. It was great. We ran with Brian on the last 5-miles of his birthday 32k (he broke it up into a couple of runs). And, Lisa brought cupcakes for after. More runs should involve cupcakes!
It was nice Tuesday at the track. Like shorts and short-sleeve shirt nice. And, I had people to run with. That hasn't happened this year, and consequently, this was by far my best track workout of the year. I felt great. Maybe it was a good idea to taper for a fake race last week. I have struggled with the longer repeats thus far, and most of my miles have been in the upper 6:20's to lower 6:30's... this week, I was chasing Allison and Rita and I didn't feel too bad at 6:21. I haven't run a 1200m in 2014, but my 800m split was faster than the majority of the 800's I've run. And, my 800m time was much faster than any of the 800's I've run lately. And, after all of that, the 400's were basically the same pace as last week. Maybe I haven't forgotten how to run!
Thursday was also super nice. I ran with Jerry and Chris. We put in a "good effort", but I was still semi-conversational for most of the run (except on some of the uphills). Looking at my overall pace, I'm pretty happy with that. North Hills is a tough route, my pace wasn't exactly slow, and I didn't feel like crap. Unfortunately, I had to bounce after the run to work on work, and Matt, Fred, and I didn't leave the lab until 2AM.
And I finally got 20 miles in on Saturday! I started early, ran 5-miles before I met up with some friends and ran with them for a bit. They are much faster than I am, but will pretty much match whatever pace you want to run. My legs felt pretty good, but I was starving by mile 13. I think I might devote a blog post to that last 7-miles, but I made it! It did take some convincing though (glad I can play head games with myself), especially the last 1.5-miles because my stomach kept growling and cramping up. I was parked up at the Art Museum, and was across the street by mile 18.5. Well, 18.6. If I crossed the street, it was highly unlikely that I'd keep going, and 18.5 is closer to 18 than 20, so I needed to get to 19. And since I floor() to the nearest 0.5-miles, I needed another 0.4 miles to "count". Then, I figured I'd be mad if I ran 19 miles and didn't suck it up for the full 20. There might have been some stopping/slowing up, but I kept my watch running. And the last 0.1-miles was run around in circles, but oh well, 20.00. When I stopped, I had to laugh at myself. I had somehow managed to convince myself to run 1.4-miles because I would "feel better" if I did. That was a complete lie.
Surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good Sunday. Matt and I ran 5-miles easy (it was nice to run with him again), and we went to the gym later to lift weights. I might have to find another day to lift weights as well, and maybe look into when they offer yoga/core classes.
Onwards and upwards... hopefully the weather holds out this week as well!
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
2/10 - 2/16
Mon: 2x2-miles (13:51, 13:48)
Tues: 8x400m (1:27-1:30)
Wed: 7-miles (Snow Run!)
Thurs: 5-miles
Fri: 3.5-miles + stretching
Sat: 10-miles (3x2-mile @ 7:20 pace on treadmill)
Sun: 12-miles (part 1, part 2) + weights
Total: 50.5 miles
I decided to take a break from mileage this week and act like I was tapering for a race. I realized that the problem with not racing very frequently is that you're always training and beating yourself up. I want to make it to the start line of Boston, and I don't want to hate running. So, I decided to go into "interval" mode. Plus, they couldn't quite make up their mind when the next winter storm was going to hit Raleigh, and when it did, holy winter!
I thought it would be snowing by Tuesday night, so I decided to get the track workout over on Monday. It was lightly drizzling, and not exactly warm out, so I decided not to do anything too fast and crazy. I ended up doing 2x2-miles at right around half marathon pace. The workout went well. I pretty much evenly split each repeat. I felt like I was working, but not exhausted.
It hadn't started snowing by Tuesday night. Sean had put 400's on the schedule, and I figured I could handle something at the other end of the spectrum even though I had done a workout the night before. The 400's went reasonably well. We were focusing on quality, so we only did eight and took 200m in between. I managed to keep them all at 1:30 or under, which was pretty good since it was cold. I did a longer cooldown to get to 7-miles in.
The snow hit on Wednesday. It was supposed to start around 1PM, and it did. I was anticipating leaving the lab and running home at that time, which I did. What I didn't count on was a blizzard. Seriously. It was the most snow I had ever seen in Raleigh and it came down in like 4hrs. I stuck to the sidewalks, and even though I wasn't going fast at all, I was still going faster than most cars. The wind kept blowing the snow in my eyes, which made it hard to see, and the 2-3ish inches of snow kept the pace slow. I just kept trucking along though, it was a recovery day anyways, and I did kind of have fun even though I usually hate the cold. I gave up trying to stop my watch after a while because I couldn't get the buttons to work and it required me to take my hands out of my sleeves.
Keith and I ran from the house on Thursday. It was a slushy mess. But, we felt pretty bad a$$ for just getting out there. As I had intended to do 8-miles on Thursday, but only did 5-miles due to the "conditions", I ran 3 (well, 3.5) more on Friday. I decided to check out Kaplan, which wasn't in bad condition. The 50 degree weather was helping to melt the snow. The sidewalks were still a mess though. Matt and I also stretched and did some core exercises that Elaine had recommended.
I made the call Friday afternoon that 20-miles was out for the weekend. According to facebook, the greenways were still dicey, and Umstead was not in great shape either. I decided that I'd try and do an interval workout on the treadmill, so I printed out some guest passes for Fitness Connection, which I had been meaning to check out anyways. When I woke up Saturday morning, it was raining, which cemented my decision. So, Matt and I went to the gym, and I ran 3x2-miles at 7:20 pace on the treadmill. With a warm-up, cooldown, and some easy running in between the repeats, I managed to get to 10-miles, which is a 3-mile treadmill PR! Watching clips from the Olympics definitely helped, but I'm not sure if I could knock out much more than that.
I ran in Umstead with the group on Sunday morning. It was an ice skating rink, but we still held a half decent pace. My watch didn't restart after I paused when the rest of the group (save for Newt) turned back. I started it anew at the water fountain... the total run was a little over 12-miles. Matt and I went to the gym after work and lifted weights. I can tell I haven't lifted weights in a long time! I should definitely do that more.
I have no idea what to think of this week of training. I was happy with the intervals, and I did get three quality days in. My weekly mileage was right at 50, which isn't bad. But, the easy runs were ridiculously slow courtesy of the snow. And, I didn't get a long run in. I'm running out of time if I want to do a couple of 20 milers before Boston. Next week is supposed to be warm (wahooo), but rainy. Oh well.
Also, wahooo Raleigh!
Tues: 8x400m (1:27-1:30)
Wed: 7-miles (Snow Run!)
Thurs: 5-miles
Fri: 3.5-miles + stretching
Sat: 10-miles (3x2-mile @ 7:20 pace on treadmill)
Sun: 12-miles (part 1, part 2) + weights
Total: 50.5 miles
I decided to take a break from mileage this week and act like I was tapering for a race. I realized that the problem with not racing very frequently is that you're always training and beating yourself up. I want to make it to the start line of Boston, and I don't want to hate running. So, I decided to go into "interval" mode. Plus, they couldn't quite make up their mind when the next winter storm was going to hit Raleigh, and when it did, holy winter!I thought it would be snowing by Tuesday night, so I decided to get the track workout over on Monday. It was lightly drizzling, and not exactly warm out, so I decided not to do anything too fast and crazy. I ended up doing 2x2-miles at right around half marathon pace. The workout went well. I pretty much evenly split each repeat. I felt like I was working, but not exhausted.
It hadn't started snowing by Tuesday night. Sean had put 400's on the schedule, and I figured I could handle something at the other end of the spectrum even though I had done a workout the night before. The 400's went reasonably well. We were focusing on quality, so we only did eight and took 200m in between. I managed to keep them all at 1:30 or under, which was pretty good since it was cold. I did a longer cooldown to get to 7-miles in.
The snow hit on Wednesday. It was supposed to start around 1PM, and it did. I was anticipating leaving the lab and running home at that time, which I did. What I didn't count on was a blizzard. Seriously. It was the most snow I had ever seen in Raleigh and it came down in like 4hrs. I stuck to the sidewalks, and even though I wasn't going fast at all, I was still going faster than most cars. The wind kept blowing the snow in my eyes, which made it hard to see, and the 2-3ish inches of snow kept the pace slow. I just kept trucking along though, it was a recovery day anyways, and I did kind of have fun even though I usually hate the cold. I gave up trying to stop my watch after a while because I couldn't get the buttons to work and it required me to take my hands out of my sleeves.
Keith and I ran from the house on Thursday. It was a slushy mess. But, we felt pretty bad a$$ for just getting out there. As I had intended to do 8-miles on Thursday, but only did 5-miles due to the "conditions", I ran 3 (well, 3.5) more on Friday. I decided to check out Kaplan, which wasn't in bad condition. The 50 degree weather was helping to melt the snow. The sidewalks were still a mess though. Matt and I also stretched and did some core exercises that Elaine had recommended.I made the call Friday afternoon that 20-miles was out for the weekend. According to facebook, the greenways were still dicey, and Umstead was not in great shape either. I decided that I'd try and do an interval workout on the treadmill, so I printed out some guest passes for Fitness Connection, which I had been meaning to check out anyways. When I woke up Saturday morning, it was raining, which cemented my decision. So, Matt and I went to the gym, and I ran 3x2-miles at 7:20 pace on the treadmill. With a warm-up, cooldown, and some easy running in between the repeats, I managed to get to 10-miles, which is a 3-mile treadmill PR! Watching clips from the Olympics definitely helped, but I'm not sure if I could knock out much more than that.
I ran in Umstead with the group on Sunday morning. It was an ice skating rink, but we still held a half decent pace. My watch didn't restart after I paused when the rest of the group (save for Newt) turned back. I started it anew at the water fountain... the total run was a little over 12-miles. Matt and I went to the gym after work and lifted weights. I can tell I haven't lifted weights in a long time! I should definitely do that more.
I have no idea what to think of this week of training. I was happy with the intervals, and I did get three quality days in. My weekly mileage was right at 50, which isn't bad. But, the easy runs were ridiculously slow courtesy of the snow. And, I didn't get a long run in. I'm running out of time if I want to do a couple of 20 milers before Boston. Next week is supposed to be warm (wahooo), but rainy. Oh well.
Also, wahooo Raleigh!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
2/3 - 2/9
Mon: 8-miles
Tues: 8 x 800m (3:08-3:15)
Wed: 10-miles
Thurs: 2-mile warmup + 4x1000 (4:02,04,06,07), 4x400m (94,95), 200m (44) + 2-mile cooldown
Fri: Off
Sat: 13-miles (part 1, part 2)
Sun: 13-miles (watch didn't start)
Total: 57 miles
The next time I get the bright idea to train for a marathon, I'm going to remind myself of these last few weeks. When I was writing my "January recap" I went back and looked at the 4 phases of the Daniel's training programming. I was thinking that tempo was before interval. I'm relieved it's not. However, I also decided to look up what paces I should try and hit for a 3:15 marathon. Looks like my 800's (which I consider "intervals") and 400's (which I consider "reps") have been pretty spot on (with the exception of this week). I'm going to have to work on the threshold hold pace (which I would consider 2-miles and up) a bit more though.
I ended up running longer (in one chunk) on Monday and Wednesday than I usually do (as in before 2014). I've been trying to get some easier miles in on these days so I don't have to "make up" a bunch of miles on the weekend... spread out the mileage over the other five days. I had been doing this mainly in the forms of doubles, which I know isn't the same as running the mileage flat out. So, I ran all of the miles in one chunk this week, and those runs went pretty well, no major complaints. They were easy though.
Tuesday was miserable. It was 39 degrees and pouring rain. I was basically soaked by the time I got to the track, and my feet were soaked after the first 800. I couldn't get my legs going, my breathing was awful, and I was cold and tired. I tried to do the first four with only 100m in between, but this just exacerbated my lack of breathing. Allison showed up by the second set (I had got there early), and I tried to keep up with her for a bit. That proved impossible, but it was good to know somebody else showed up (Sean had also, as had Nick, Jarett, Derrin, and Tom). I also shifted to 200m between each, and this seemed to help with breathing, but not pace. Oh well. It was still faster than I would have run on a treadmill (which I didn't have access to anyways) or an easy run. And my effort level was much greater than that pace would seem.
Thursday also didn't go great. I had the intention of "re-doing" Tuesday's track workout, except maybe extending the intervals a little bit to 1000m and only doing 5 of them. Centennial Campus Middle School is ~2-miles from the lab, so between warmup and cooldown, I was still looking at a 7-mile run. I was pretty tired on the first 1000m. The first 400m went fine, but I was really tired by the 800m. I figured it was the first one, I was running by myself, it would get better. It didn't. Same thing on the second one, except this was 2sec slower than the first. I revised my "goal pace" from 5k (~3:57) to "as long as I'm faster than 10k" (~4:05). By the third 1000m, I was another 2sec slower (which brought me over 10k pace), and I really wanted to stop. I decided that I'd only make myself do one more, and then run the last as 400-400-200. The last one was 1sec slower still, and the 400's and 200 were not on pace either. The track felt long, especially the straightaways. I don't know if the mileage is getting to me, or if I'm just tired, or what, but I felt like crap.
I took Friday off. I was planning on meeting Mike D. at 6AM at the Cary shop to run for what would hopefully be my longest run since the Umstead Marathon last year. But, around 8:30 that night, Mike emailed me saying that he wouldn't be able to make it that early, which didn't really upset me. I wasn't looking forward to getting up at the a$$ crack of dawn, running 20 miles, and then working all day. So, I decided to run two 13 mile runs, which would make for a "marathon" weekend (my fist since starting training for Boston, even though I have come close).
Saturday's run went ok. I ran 4-miles to start by myself, 7-miles with Brandon, Chris, and Mike for a bit (until his back locked up), and then 2 more by myself. Those last two miles were pretty tiring. I think running by myself is getting to me, especially later in runs. I do much better when I'm running with people. On Sunday, I ran with Matt M. and the Raleigh Trail Runners for 10-miles. I haven't seen him in a long time, so it was good to catch up. I have no idea what our pace was because my watch didn't start, but I don't think we were going that fast (he had just done a difficult 20-mile trail race the weekend before). I went out for another 3-miles when I got back. Again, that was torture. My legs were also pretty tight by that point as well.
All and all, not the greatest week of training. I was pretty tired all week, and I kind of feel like I'm in a slump. I hope it's just the mileage getting to me and I just need to adapt to it. So, I guess I'll just keep forging ahead. I need to actually do a long long run soon though. Maybe next week. Also, I am very sick of winter. It's supposed to snow Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Hopefully I can get a track workout in before it starts raining on Monday.
Tues: 8 x 800m (3:08-3:15)
Wed: 10-miles
Thurs: 2-mile warmup + 4x1000 (4:02,04,06,07), 4x400m (94,95), 200m (44) + 2-mile cooldown
Fri: Off
Sat: 13-miles (part 1, part 2)
Sun: 13-miles (watch didn't start)
Total: 57 miles
The next time I get the bright idea to train for a marathon, I'm going to remind myself of these last few weeks. When I was writing my "January recap" I went back and looked at the 4 phases of the Daniel's training programming. I was thinking that tempo was before interval. I'm relieved it's not. However, I also decided to look up what paces I should try and hit for a 3:15 marathon. Looks like my 800's (which I consider "intervals") and 400's (which I consider "reps") have been pretty spot on (with the exception of this week). I'm going to have to work on the threshold hold pace (which I would consider 2-miles and up) a bit more though.
I ended up running longer (in one chunk) on Monday and Wednesday than I usually do (as in before 2014). I've been trying to get some easier miles in on these days so I don't have to "make up" a bunch of miles on the weekend... spread out the mileage over the other five days. I had been doing this mainly in the forms of doubles, which I know isn't the same as running the mileage flat out. So, I ran all of the miles in one chunk this week, and those runs went pretty well, no major complaints. They were easy though.
Tuesday was miserable. It was 39 degrees and pouring rain. I was basically soaked by the time I got to the track, and my feet were soaked after the first 800. I couldn't get my legs going, my breathing was awful, and I was cold and tired. I tried to do the first four with only 100m in between, but this just exacerbated my lack of breathing. Allison showed up by the second set (I had got there early), and I tried to keep up with her for a bit. That proved impossible, but it was good to know somebody else showed up (Sean had also, as had Nick, Jarett, Derrin, and Tom). I also shifted to 200m between each, and this seemed to help with breathing, but not pace. Oh well. It was still faster than I would have run on a treadmill (which I didn't have access to anyways) or an easy run. And my effort level was much greater than that pace would seem.
Thursday also didn't go great. I had the intention of "re-doing" Tuesday's track workout, except maybe extending the intervals a little bit to 1000m and only doing 5 of them. Centennial Campus Middle School is ~2-miles from the lab, so between warmup and cooldown, I was still looking at a 7-mile run. I was pretty tired on the first 1000m. The first 400m went fine, but I was really tired by the 800m. I figured it was the first one, I was running by myself, it would get better. It didn't. Same thing on the second one, except this was 2sec slower than the first. I revised my "goal pace" from 5k (~3:57) to "as long as I'm faster than 10k" (~4:05). By the third 1000m, I was another 2sec slower (which brought me over 10k pace), and I really wanted to stop. I decided that I'd only make myself do one more, and then run the last as 400-400-200. The last one was 1sec slower still, and the 400's and 200 were not on pace either. The track felt long, especially the straightaways. I don't know if the mileage is getting to me, or if I'm just tired, or what, but I felt like crap.
I took Friday off. I was planning on meeting Mike D. at 6AM at the Cary shop to run for what would hopefully be my longest run since the Umstead Marathon last year. But, around 8:30 that night, Mike emailed me saying that he wouldn't be able to make it that early, which didn't really upset me. I wasn't looking forward to getting up at the a$$ crack of dawn, running 20 miles, and then working all day. So, I decided to run two 13 mile runs, which would make for a "marathon" weekend (my fist since starting training for Boston, even though I have come close).
Saturday's run went ok. I ran 4-miles to start by myself, 7-miles with Brandon, Chris, and Mike for a bit (until his back locked up), and then 2 more by myself. Those last two miles were pretty tiring. I think running by myself is getting to me, especially later in runs. I do much better when I'm running with people. On Sunday, I ran with Matt M. and the Raleigh Trail Runners for 10-miles. I haven't seen him in a long time, so it was good to catch up. I have no idea what our pace was because my watch didn't start, but I don't think we were going that fast (he had just done a difficult 20-mile trail race the weekend before). I went out for another 3-miles when I got back. Again, that was torture. My legs were also pretty tight by that point as well.
All and all, not the greatest week of training. I was pretty tired all week, and I kind of feel like I'm in a slump. I hope it's just the mileage getting to me and I just need to adapt to it. So, I guess I'll just keep forging ahead. I need to actually do a long long run soon though. Maybe next week. Also, I am very sick of winter. It's supposed to snow Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Hopefully I can get a track workout in before it starts raining on Monday.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
January Recap
Well, I finally managed to get off my a$$ and train this month. 232 miles... haven't come close to that since July of last year! Lots of these miles were slow, but I did get my long run up from a whopping 11 miles to 17 miles. And, I've managed to keep doing a track workout every week, as well as some marathon-paced tempo runs. The weather has been pretty awful for the most part. I have run when the wind chill has made it in the single digits, and when it was 60+ degrees and 100% humidity, and when it's been pouring rain, and when there's been snow on the ground. [training log]
However, I haven't really done any core (or cross training of any kind), and my eating habits still aren't that great. So, in February, I think I'm going to try and work on this. I also plan to try and incorporate some more tempo runs. I'm a big fan of Jack Daniel's training method (aka I read his book and it made sense to me). Phase I is the base building (injury prevention), Phase II is intervals (initial quality), Phase III is tempo (transition quality), and Phase IV is fine tuning. Ideally, each phase is 6 weeks. I have been trying to kind of follow that, but December didn't go as well as planned. So, instead of 6 weeks for each, it's more like 4. January was base building with some intervals, which makes February intervals with some tempo. And, truth be told, tempo is my least favorite, and probably where I need to spend the most time.
However, I haven't really done any core (or cross training of any kind), and my eating habits still aren't that great. So, in February, I think I'm going to try and work on this. I also plan to try and incorporate some more tempo runs. I'm a big fan of Jack Daniel's training method (aka I read his book and it made sense to me). Phase I is the base building (injury prevention), Phase II is intervals (initial quality), Phase III is tempo (transition quality), and Phase IV is fine tuning. Ideally, each phase is 6 weeks. I have been trying to kind of follow that, but December didn't go as well as planned. So, instead of 6 weeks for each, it's more like 4. January was base building with some intervals, which makes February intervals with some tempo. And, truth be told, tempo is my least favorite, and probably where I need to spend the most time.
1/27 - 2/2
Mon: 3.5-miles; 2x1-mile (6:28,31), 3x800m (3:08,09,09), 2x400m (89,88)
Tues: 7-miles
Wed: 7-miles
Thurs: 3-miles; 7-miles treadmill (3-miles @ MP 1-2.5% incline)
Fri: Off (stretching)
Sat: 17-miles
Sun: 8.5-miles (6-miles + 2-miles @ MP + 0.5-miles pickup)
Total: 59 miles
Almost 60 miles this week! That's 3 weeks in a row of 58+ miles. I'm happy about that. However, I mostly ran solo again this week (save for Saturday and Sunday), which wasn't so fun. I miss running with Matt. Also, I am very sick of winter. Weather-wise, January sucked in terms of training. For that reason, in fact, I decided not to add 2-miles onto my long run this weekend and spend another in the 16-17 mile range (although it certainly felt like I ran 19!).
Apparently I'm just going to be asleep for my "junk miles" in the morning. I have no other comments about the pace. The track workout on Monday night went reasonably well though. Why was the track workout run on Monday? Because SNOWPOCALYPSE hit Raleigh on Tuesday and Monday was in the 60's. Yes, that's right. I was sweating in shorts in a t-shirt on Monday, and it snowed ~2" and was in the 20's on Tuesday. I love NC. Anyways, I obviously did the track workout alone, so I was quite pleased with my mile repeats because I find it hard to focus for anything over 2 laps. I was trying to do them at 10k pace, which Sean has told me is 6:35 even though I find optimistic. But, I did it, and even managed to stay consistent, and reasonably on target for the 800's (which I was trying to do at 5k pace... for the past two years, I've been deeming my 5k pace to be 6:20, although that seems a bit slow if my 10k pace is supposed to be 6:35). Anyways, I finished up with two 400's to work on leg speed, and clocked both at under 90sec, which was encouraging because I was fairly dead at that point.
The rest of the "work week" sucked. As I said, it was freezing cold on Tuesday, and I ended up running by myself to get the workout in before it started snowing. The hills sucked, and I was kind of having trouble breathing. Anyways, I got it done, and was surprised that I actually ran under 8min pace. If Tuesday wasn't miserable enough, Wednesday did me in. They don't plow roads (save for highways) it seems in Raleigh. So, there was very limited ground to run on that wasn't icy. Matt and I ended up coming to the lab in the afternoon to get a power supply, and Main Campus Drive looked decent. That was about the only place that was decent, and only to about Centennial Campus Middle School, so I just kept running back and forth and back and forth. It didn't seem as bitterly cold as Tuesday, but it wasn't warm, and it was definitely a lot more boring. Plus, it was my second day of running the same stretch, and I kept "breaking" more as the run went on because it was getting colder and icier. The conditions were a little bit better for Thursday's lunch run, plus I knew I only had to run that stretch of road once!
Thurday's treadmill workout was demoralizing. I had two free guest passes for the YMCA from my City of Oak's race packet. I wanted to do a tempo workout, so I figured the treadmill was my best option. The Alexander Family YMCA is really nice, and I'd definitely consider getting a membership there once my income is more steady. However, I haven't run on a treadmill in a gym since before New Years, and the gym wasn't crowded (aka not as hot and humid). I'm hoping the temperature is what made the workout seem so hard and not the fact that I have been doing most of my runs at a slower pace. I did a mile warmup and started on 3-miles at 7:20 pace, varying the incline between 1-2.5%. At 2+%, I thought I was going to die. Thankfully, the treadmill timed out after 30min, which allowed me to get some water after 4-miles. I was drenched at this point. After a quick break, I jumped back on the treadmill and did a mile warmup again. This didn't feel awful, but going much under 7:40 pace did. I made it 0.3-miles at 7:20 pace before I felt like I was going to die. I debated continuing at this pace and just not running as long, or backing the pace down and finishing up the 3-miles as I had intended. I voted for the later, so I backed off to 8min pace and then increased it by 0.1mph every 0.25-miles until I hit 7:30 pace. This left me with a 0.25-mile cooldown, and then 7-miles done! So, I didn't do what I had intended (1 warmup + 3 @ MP + 1-mile easy + 1.5 @ MP + 0.5 cooldown), but all of the workout was 8-min or faster, so I guess I'll take it.
I stretched on Friday once I got home from work, which was a good idea because Umstead was an ice-skating rink on Saturday. It had dipped below freezing, which meant everything that had started to melt on Friday had re-frozen. I felt like I was running single-track with all of the dodging we were doing. Plus, every step forward brought half a step backwards, and you couldn't get any momentum on the downhills to help with the uphills (that and I was nervous about slipping back down most of the hills). At the overlook, Mike turned to me and said that his legs were toast. Mine were too. We still had 7 miles to go! We did both manage to stay upright. And, the good thing about the middle 12-miles sucking is that it made the last 2.5-miles out of the park seem like a breeze. Seriously, the asphalt felt soft after running on icy footprints! It was a pretty miserable run. My legs were dead, my ankles and calves killed... even my stomach hurt from using my core so much to keep me going straight and upright! But, we were only about a minute slower than last week, was is amazing considering the conditions!
Sunday's run went better than expected. Most people were doing 13 miles (6E + 5HM + 2E), but I've been trying to keep from doing two double-digit weekend runs. So, I did 6E on the greenway and 2.5MP on the track (trying to pick it up the last 800m). At least that was the plan. I came through the first mile in 7 flat, and thought I slowed down the second mile, except my split was 7:02. I picked it up the last 800m (3:14) as planned, with an overall time of 17:16. It helped having Sean to run with the last 1200m.
Other than that, I am going to see Elaine next week because my back, right hamstring, calves, and ankles are all tight. Mike and I were talking Sat. and Sun... I think I'll attempt a 20-miler next week.
Tues: 7-miles
Wed: 7-miles
Thurs: 3-miles; 7-miles treadmill (3-miles @ MP 1-2.5% incline)
Fri: Off (stretching)
Sat: 17-miles
Sun: 8.5-miles (6-miles + 2-miles @ MP + 0.5-miles pickup)
Total: 59 miles
Almost 60 miles this week! That's 3 weeks in a row of 58+ miles. I'm happy about that. However, I mostly ran solo again this week (save for Saturday and Sunday), which wasn't so fun. I miss running with Matt. Also, I am very sick of winter. Weather-wise, January sucked in terms of training. For that reason, in fact, I decided not to add 2-miles onto my long run this weekend and spend another in the 16-17 mile range (although it certainly felt like I ran 19!).
Apparently I'm just going to be asleep for my "junk miles" in the morning. I have no other comments about the pace. The track workout on Monday night went reasonably well though. Why was the track workout run on Monday? Because SNOWPOCALYPSE hit Raleigh on Tuesday and Monday was in the 60's. Yes, that's right. I was sweating in shorts in a t-shirt on Monday, and it snowed ~2" and was in the 20's on Tuesday. I love NC. Anyways, I obviously did the track workout alone, so I was quite pleased with my mile repeats because I find it hard to focus for anything over 2 laps. I was trying to do them at 10k pace, which Sean has told me is 6:35 even though I find optimistic. But, I did it, and even managed to stay consistent, and reasonably on target for the 800's (which I was trying to do at 5k pace... for the past two years, I've been deeming my 5k pace to be 6:20, although that seems a bit slow if my 10k pace is supposed to be 6:35). Anyways, I finished up with two 400's to work on leg speed, and clocked both at under 90sec, which was encouraging because I was fairly dead at that point.
The rest of the "work week" sucked. As I said, it was freezing cold on Tuesday, and I ended up running by myself to get the workout in before it started snowing. The hills sucked, and I was kind of having trouble breathing. Anyways, I got it done, and was surprised that I actually ran under 8min pace. If Tuesday wasn't miserable enough, Wednesday did me in. They don't plow roads (save for highways) it seems in Raleigh. So, there was very limited ground to run on that wasn't icy. Matt and I ended up coming to the lab in the afternoon to get a power supply, and Main Campus Drive looked decent. That was about the only place that was decent, and only to about Centennial Campus Middle School, so I just kept running back and forth and back and forth. It didn't seem as bitterly cold as Tuesday, but it wasn't warm, and it was definitely a lot more boring. Plus, it was my second day of running the same stretch, and I kept "breaking" more as the run went on because it was getting colder and icier. The conditions were a little bit better for Thursday's lunch run, plus I knew I only had to run that stretch of road once!
Thurday's treadmill workout was demoralizing. I had two free guest passes for the YMCA from my City of Oak's race packet. I wanted to do a tempo workout, so I figured the treadmill was my best option. The Alexander Family YMCA is really nice, and I'd definitely consider getting a membership there once my income is more steady. However, I haven't run on a treadmill in a gym since before New Years, and the gym wasn't crowded (aka not as hot and humid). I'm hoping the temperature is what made the workout seem so hard and not the fact that I have been doing most of my runs at a slower pace. I did a mile warmup and started on 3-miles at 7:20 pace, varying the incline between 1-2.5%. At 2+%, I thought I was going to die. Thankfully, the treadmill timed out after 30min, which allowed me to get some water after 4-miles. I was drenched at this point. After a quick break, I jumped back on the treadmill and did a mile warmup again. This didn't feel awful, but going much under 7:40 pace did. I made it 0.3-miles at 7:20 pace before I felt like I was going to die. I debated continuing at this pace and just not running as long, or backing the pace down and finishing up the 3-miles as I had intended. I voted for the later, so I backed off to 8min pace and then increased it by 0.1mph every 0.25-miles until I hit 7:30 pace. This left me with a 0.25-mile cooldown, and then 7-miles done! So, I didn't do what I had intended (1 warmup + 3 @ MP + 1-mile easy + 1.5 @ MP + 0.5 cooldown), but all of the workout was 8-min or faster, so I guess I'll take it.
I stretched on Friday once I got home from work, which was a good idea because Umstead was an ice-skating rink on Saturday. It had dipped below freezing, which meant everything that had started to melt on Friday had re-frozen. I felt like I was running single-track with all of the dodging we were doing. Plus, every step forward brought half a step backwards, and you couldn't get any momentum on the downhills to help with the uphills (that and I was nervous about slipping back down most of the hills). At the overlook, Mike turned to me and said that his legs were toast. Mine were too. We still had 7 miles to go! We did both manage to stay upright. And, the good thing about the middle 12-miles sucking is that it made the last 2.5-miles out of the park seem like a breeze. Seriously, the asphalt felt soft after running on icy footprints! It was a pretty miserable run. My legs were dead, my ankles and calves killed... even my stomach hurt from using my core so much to keep me going straight and upright! But, we were only about a minute slower than last week, was is amazing considering the conditions!
Sunday's run went better than expected. Most people were doing 13 miles (6E + 5HM + 2E), but I've been trying to keep from doing two double-digit weekend runs. So, I did 6E on the greenway and 2.5MP on the track (trying to pick it up the last 800m). At least that was the plan. I came through the first mile in 7 flat, and thought I slowed down the second mile, except my split was 7:02. I picked it up the last 800m (3:14) as planned, with an overall time of 17:16. It helped having Sean to run with the last 1200m.
Other than that, I am going to see Elaine next week because my back, right hamstring, calves, and ankles are all tight. Mike and I were talking Sat. and Sun... I think I'll attempt a 20-miler next week.
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