High-Octane

Still somwhat recovering from the Half Marathon last Saturday. Haven't run or biked until today. Rode at about 75% effort but I can feel that I have lost some cycling conditioning. Originally I was going to shoot for 22 mph on the 1.5 mile Time Trial on Saturday but now I'm thinking it will only be about 20.5 mph. Hopefully my legs will feel a little stronger by Saturday afternoon.

11/1/12 (Morning)
Miles	Time	Speed	HR	HR %
15	0:47:20	18.9	147	77%
7.5	0:26:13	17	149	78%
22.5	Total	18.2	140	78%
Miles	1:13:33	Speed
Rode Staples to 1339 Loop. 60 Degrees, Humidity 95%

“That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn’t stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!” Ephesians 1:18

I will have to fill in all of the details when they post the official results but I was dissipointed in my racing. I guess my legs were just not recovered from the half marathon last weekend. They felt heavy and tired even as I starated the race.

This was interesting as I had never been in a bike race before. The bikers seem pretty serious about this sport and I wasn't really able to strike up a conversation with anyone except the lady taking the entries. The start was from a raised platform and each rider was released in 30 second intervals based on your estimated speed. I had entered 20 mph but actually expected to average more like 21 mph. The route turned out to be very hilly. At the end of the race I heard several racers talking about how difficult the course was. I would say it is was a little tougher than my typical practice routes around my house but not enough to take so much time off my average speed. Even though my legs were tired I still averaged about 23 mph throughout the first half of the race. At mile 8 I had dropped to 22 mph but at the end of the race, where the real hills were, I dropped to 19.7. Even with that I passed two riders in front of me who had 30 seconds and 1 minute leads on me. I was thinking as I passed them and got close to the finish line that everyone was probably having trouble with the hills.

Anyway, I ended up 4th in my age group (probably 25 entries) so it wasn't too bad. The top rider in my gorup was 20 mph avg. overall.

Psalm 121:1-8

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

    where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

This was the first day of  my 16 weeks marathon training. I am doing the RLRF training again with possibly a few tweeks. I will be comparing each these training runs to last years training for comparison.

Todays run was good considering I just finished a cycling time trial on Saturday. Avg. time was 3 sec. less and HR was 4 bpm less.

11/5/2011 (First Day of Marathon Training)
Mile	Time	HR	HR %	Max HR
1.5	Warm-Up @ 8:05, 141 HR
1	6:17:00	158	85%	165
	1.5 Min. Recovery
2	6:15:00	160	86%	170
	1.5 Min. Recovery
3	6:16:00	161	87%	171
2	Cool-Down @ 8:11, 151 HR
Total	18:48:00	160	86%
Pace	6:16:00		Total Miles	6.5
High School Track
54Âş - 87% Humidity
Target: Repeats - 10-20 Min. Warm-up, Stretch, 3 x 1600 @ 6:15 pace, 1 Min. Recovery between each, 10 Min. Cool-down

“That’s also why you pay taxes—so that an orderly way of life can be maintained. Fulfill your obligations as a citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders.” Romans 13:6

4 miles just because!

Proverbs 16:4 

The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.

Frustrated...4 miles @ 8:07 pace.

First of all, this probably be my last post for about 10 days. We are going on a cruise and won't be back until Nov. 18th...... Yeah!!! I will probably be doing all of my runs on a TM on the ship :-(

This was the second training run in my 16 week marathon training. Today was a tempo run. It was supposed to be 2 warm-up, 2 tempo @ 6:45 and 2 cool-down but I decided before I started to run 3 tempo @ 6:45 knowing that would be a very achievable goal. My plan is to push the limits of this training session to try and have some cushion for my race goal. Last year, when I did this same training, I hit and exceeded almost all of the training paces and distances but fell well short of the 3:15 predicted marathon time. I'm not expecting a 3:15 marathon this time but would like to break the 3:20 mark.

As I was running the tempo miles today I was wondering why 6:26 (5K pace) was so much harder than this 6:45 pace :-)

11/8/2011
Mile	Time	HR	HR %	Max HR
1.75	Warm-up @ 8:17 Pace, HR 135
1	6:51:00	156	83%
2	6:41:00	163	88%
3	6:48:00	170	93%	175
2.25	Cool-down @ 8:30 Pace, HR 150
Tempo Miles	20:20:00	163	90%	175
Pace	6:46:40
Ran Small Loop + Clockwise
52Âş, 100% Humidity (Very Foggy)
Target: Tempo Run, 2 Warm-up, 2 @ 6:45 pace, 2 Cool-down Decided to run 3 instead of 2 to make it a full Small Loop. Broke the warm-up and cool-down up a litte to have the best part of the loop for the 3 mile tempo.

13 Miles @ 7:52 - HR 158, on TM at hotel...I'm on vacation but still trying to complete my RLRF training.

11/11 - Cycled for 1:13:55 on Stationary Bike - 20 MPH

11/12/2012
Mile	Time	HR	HR %	Max HR
2	Warm-Up
0.5	2:58:00		#N/A
	2 Min. Recovery
0.5	2:58:00		#N/A
	2 Min. Recovery
0.5	2:58:00		#N/A
	2 Min. Recovery
0.5	2:58:00		#N/A
	2 Min. Recovery
2	Cool-Down
Total	11:52:00	0	#N/A
Avg. Time	2:58:00		Total Miles	6
TM on Cruise Ship
70Âş +
Target: Repeats - 1 Mile Warm-up, 4 x 800 @ 2:58, 2 Min. Recovery between each, 10 Min. Cool-Down. For some reason I couldn't get the details from my Garmin. Actually the paces were a little faster than noted. Set TM at 1% incline

11/13 - Cycled for 30 Minutes, Ran for 2 Miles

11/14/2012
Mile	Time	HR	HR %	Max HR
1	8:16:00	127	Warm-up
1	6:54:00	141	73%
2	7:17:00	151	80%
3	7:11:00	155	82%
4	7:09:00	159	85%
5	6:59:00	164	89%
1	8:30:00	143	Warm-up
Total	52:16:00
Tempo Miles	35:30:00		Total Miles	7
Pace	7:06:00
TM on Cruise Ship
70Âş +
Target: Tempo run - 1 Warm-up, 5 @ 7:26 pace, 1 Cool-down.

11/15 - Spin Class on Cruise Ship - 1 Hour

11/16/2012
Mile	Time	HR	HR %
1	8:03:00	133	68%
2	8:03:00	154	82%
3	8:03:00	152	80%
4	8:03:00	151	80%
5	8:03:00	152	80%
6	8:03:00	153	81%
7	8:03:00	157	84%
8	8:03:00	158	85%
9	8:03:00	159	85%
10	8:03:00	160	86%
11	8:03:00	160	86%
12	8:03:00	161	87%
13	8:03:00	164	89%
14	8:03:00	167	91%
15	8:03:00	167	91%
Total	120:45:00	157	83%
Pace	8:03:00
TM on Cruise Ship
70Âş +
Target: Long Run - 15 @ 8:11 Pace.   I felt terrible hours after this run. The first 7-8 miles were fine but then I really started struggling. It seemed very hot and I sweated like crazy. I may have gotten dehydrated.

Okay...I'm back to the "REAL" world after being on vacation (Caribbean Cruise) for seven days. The entire trip took 10 day. It was fun but I think I'll go somewhere else next time, when I curise, since I've been to the caribbean several times.

I tried to keep up my running training as best I could but it was all on the TM or Stationary Bike. I loaded all of the workouts but didn't add any commentary. Basiclly I hit all of the workouts as scheduled but struggled on the longest run. It was hot in the gym and I think I dehydrated before the end of the workout.

Here's todays workout, Interval Training, on the track. I was happy to run on real ground and as usual I enjoyed the Intervals. All of my times were slightly faster, with lower heart rates, than last years training run.

11/16/2012
Mile	Time	HR	HR %
1	8:03:00	133	68%
2	8:03:00	154	82%
3	8:03:00	152	80%
4	8:03:00	151	80%
5	8:03:00	152	80%
6	8:03:00	153	81%
7	8:03:00	157	84%
8	8:03:00	158	85%
9	8:03:00	159	85%
10	8:03:00	160	86%
11	8:03:00	160	86%
12	8:03:00	161	87%
13	8:03:00	164	89%
14	8:03:00	167	91%
15	8:03:00	167	91%
Total	120:45:00	157	83%
Pace	8:03:00
TM on Cruise Ship
70Âş +
Target: Long Run - 15 @ 8:11 Pace.   I felt terrible hours after this run. The first 7-8 miles were fine but then I really started struggling. It seemed very hot and I sweated like crazy. I may have gotten dehydrated.

Today was supposed to be a cross-training day but I opted out and simply went out and ran. This week is a little messed up since I'm running a 5K on Thanksgiving morning.

11/20/2012
Mile	Time	HR	HR %
1	7:29:00	138	71%
2	7:58:00	148	78%
3	7:31:00	153	81%
4	7:01:00	159	85%
Total	29:59:00	150	79%
Pace	7:29:45
Out and Back
55Âş
Target: None

I used to run this same route at 8+ with the same effort.

Psalm 90:17

"And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful.Yes, make our efforts successful!"

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE....!

Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

So tomorrow is another attempt to break 20:00 in the 5K. I'm thinking this may be a fairly flat course. My last 5K had a couple of pretty good hills so I'm hoping I can make up the 6 seconds on this flatter course.

Today went out and ran just to stretch my legs. I ran at 5:45 for a quarter mile on the first and the last mile, the rest was just easy running.

11/21/2012
Mile	Time	HR	HR %
1	7:36:00	143	74%
2	8:37:00	142	74%
3	7:33:00	151	80%
0.25	7:37:00	148	78%
Total	31:23:00	146	76%
Pace	7:54:00
Out and Back
52Âş
Target: Ran 1/4 of first and last mile at 5:45 Pace

Revised Race Report.... :-(

I started thinking about how happy I was with this race and wanting to verify it was a "REAL" PR.  Originally I didn't think to ask if the course was "certified" so I decided to dig in and find the answer. The advertised race information did not say anything about it being certified but I did find, in another place, a comment that indicated it was. Not feeling confident in that information I decided to e-mail the race director. Here's his response: "Congratulations on a great finish.  The course is not certified and is about 50 meters short." AHHHHH...So I guess it was not a true PR.

During the race I had my watch set for: Current Pace, Average Pace, Heart Rate and Time. When I finished the race I stopped my watch and noted the Average Pace at 6:14 and the time at exactly 19:21. Now I know why my watch measured the course a little short. On top of all this I accidentally deleted the last portion of the race (the part after the 3 mile mark) so I don't really have the exact time for that section. I came up with the :30 by simple math adding the first three mile together and subtracting the overall finish time.

Now what do I do....??? Eat crow and go on I guess. In my defense, I was at a 6:14 pace for 3:?? miles and I believe I could have hung on for the extra 50 meters! (How long does it take to run 50 meters anyway?)

_____________________________________________________________________

YEAH....I finally broke 20:00 in the 5K!!!

 Actually I smashed it with a 19:21.

This was the biggest 5K I had ever run. There were 1450 runners (lots of walkers).

I warmed up with a 2 mile jog and got the start line about 5 minutes before the race started. I lined up fairly close to the front. On my first mile I just tried to stay right at my 6:25 goal pace. My first mile came in at exactly 6:25 and it felt good. Mile two was a littler tougher but I pulled out another 6:25 but was thinking I might start to fade on the last mile. Halfway through the last mile I thought to myself, "I've only got a little more than half a mile to go" so I decided to put my body in torture mode and picked up the pace quite a bit running at a sub-5 pace most of the way. Mile 3 came in at 6:01 and the last .1 was :30.

Now I believe I can break 19:00 on the 5K!

It's amazing what a body can do when it's pushed...even an old one :-) 

Oh...I won the Master's Division (although I don't think this was a very competitive race even though it had a lot of entries). One last note: my Garmin measured the course a few steps short of 3.1 but I did cheat the tangents as much as I could on every turn.

Dang It...Dang It...Dang It...!!!

Another setback! I had a accident (horse related) this weekend and either broke or sprained my big toe really badly. It is all black and blue, swolen and very painful to move. I was supposed to do my long run on Saturday and Interval training again today but there was no way I could do either. I managed to go to the gym and run on the elliptical for 5 miles. It was uncomfortable but at least I did something. I also did a few leg presses and some upper body work. I am going to be really disappointed if this toe doesn't get better very quickly!

Philippians 4:6-7 

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I don't know what's going on but there are a few comments, entered below, that were pulled up from some previous blog entry. Notice the entry date of Jan. 3rd. I guess it's a program glitch. I tried to get rid of them but couldn't.

Back to the stinky, hot gym this morning for another torturous 5 mile on the Elliptical. (I really don't like that thing, it's just uncomfortable to ride/run.) I then got on the TM for 2 miles @ 7:30 pace. I had to adjust the way I ran by concentrating on not putting any pressue on my toe and just using the ball of my foot to push off, but it didn't seem too bad (a little painful but not bad). I may take tomorrow off and then try and jump back into my training. The next run is supposed to be a four mile tempo with a mile or so warm-up and cool-down. I think I can manage that!

Matthew 19:26 

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

If it weren't for the sore toe, this would have been a good run. It was 37 degrees, low humidity and no wind. I can almost tolerate this temperature when running. My toe and foot are still very sore but I've got go keep running. I modified my stride by concentrating on landing and pushing off with the back of my foot. This takes the pressure off my toe and the front of my foot. I could feel this working different muscles in my lower legs. My legs were also very sore from the gym workout the last couple of days. Mainly it was fron the leg presses I did. I didn't do a lot of weight but I did do quite a few reps (60) and stretched all the way down with the weights.

I looked back and compared this run to the exact same one in last years training. The time was almost exactly the same. My HR was slightly lower this time which is a good indication that I am a little more fit than last year. I'm hoping to be able to do a long run in a couple of days for comparison too if my foot allows it. Twenty miles seems daunting right now, especially as I sit here with my foot aching :-(

12/28/2011
Mile	Time	HR	HR %	Elev. Change
1.82	8:12 Pace	149	Warm-up
1	6:49:00	148	78%	-100'
2	6:55:00	159	85%	+ 75'
3	7:07:00	162	87%	+100'
4	6:41:00	162	87%	- 75'
1	8:42 Pace	147	Warm-up
Total	27:32:00
		Total Miles		6.82
Tempo Miles	27:32:00	158	84%
Pace	6:53:00
Small Loop
37 Degrees, 55% Humidity
Target: Tempo Run - 1 Warm-Up, 4 Miles @ 7:00 pace, 1 Miles Cool-Down Note: Wore 2 pairs of gloves, heavy underarmor bottoms, arm sleeves & shorts, cotton socks & beanie.

Junk Miles:

11/30/2012
Mile	Time	HR	HR %
1	8:25:00
2	8:31:00	155	82%
3	8:34:00	143	74%
4	8:52:00	149	78%
5	8:35:00	149	78%
6	8:18:00	155	82%
0.7	6:09:00	155	82%
Total	57:24:00	151	79%
Pace	8:34:02
Small Loop
62Âş
Target: This was supposed to be my Week 13 Long Training run but I was just feeling tired after the first loop so I decided to stop and do the long run on Sunday.

Proverbs 18:9 

Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.

Here's my hurt toe!