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Location:

San Antonio,TX,

Member Since:

Dec 13, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K PR - 18:01 - Nov '14

10K PR - 38:37 (workout) - Oct '14

Half-marathon - 1:22:43 - Jan '14

Marathon - 2:58:43 in Boston! - Apr '13

50 mile - 7:49:30 (2nd) - Nov '15

Short-Term Running Goals:

- Balance

- Run more trails, volunteer, more social running, run with a team

- Race a lot more. learn.

Race results / possible schedule:

Apr 2 - Hells Hills 25k trail - 4th

Apr 9 - Toughest 'n Texas 20-mile Trail - 2nd

May 7 - Paleface - Trail Marathon - 3rd

May 29 - American Hero road 25k - 2nd

Jun 25 - Pedernales Falls 30k nighttime Trail - 5th (sick)

Jul 16 - Muleshoe Bend 30k nighttime Trail - 3rd

Jul 23-24 - Fossil Valley 9-hour nighttime Trail - 2nd

Aug 6 - Colorado Bend 30k nighttime Trail - 4th

Aug 27 - Reveille Peak 30k nighttime Trail (entered)

Sep 10 - Franklin Mountains 50k (entered - not all-out effort...I hope)

Sep 17 - Lighthouse Hill 20-mile trail (entered)

Sep 24 - J&J 50 mile trail

Long-Term Running Goals:

Compete in a few more ultras without going off course (again)

Sub-18 in a 5k

One. Good. Marathon.

Personal:

I started running at age 30, in late 2009. I have 2 daughters (10 and 8 yrs old).

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00
Saucony A5 Lifetime Miles:						1054.70
Kinvara 2 - Gray/red Lifetime Miles:						1551.08
Kinvara 3 - Gray/red Lifetime Miles:						1244.23
1160s Lifetime Miles:						888.70
Saucony A5 Red Lifetime Miles:						565.10
Saucony A6 - Yellow Lifetime Miles:						214.00
Saucony A6 - Red/blue Lifetime Miles:						61.50
NB MT101 Trail Lifetime Miles:						302.00
Fastwitch 6 Red #1 Lifetime Miles:						286.50
Fastwitch 6 Red #2 Lifetime Miles:						267.00

Wed, Feb 06, 2013

Slow miles	Fast miles	Total Distance
11.05	7.95	19.00

AM: 51F, foggy. 15 @ 7:12 AP. Today I did my MP wave run. The workout was an 8-mile tempo, alternating 15 sec faster, then 15 sec slower than MP. To ensure I met the intent of the workout, I did this at the track so I wouldn't get lopsided efforts on the hills and could control my pace more precisely.

So 7.95 mile (12,800m) tempo in 52:34 which is 6:36/mile. 1600m splits were 6:21, 6:52, 6:18, 6:49, 6:18, 6:48, 6:17, 6:51.

I was initially shooting for something like 6:25/6:55 for the fast/slow 1600s, but it was obvious that was not quite providing the stimulus so I dropped down a bit and ended up averaging 6:18.5/6:50. Even at those paces, it was honestly pretty easy for a "workout." I guess I shouldn't be that surprised since I just did 10 @ 6:31. So this is the second MP-type workout in a row that is coaxing me under 6:40 for a GMP. I am trying to be conservative about this little improvement spurt though, so I don't run myself into the ground and erase the gains. It's a good dilemma to have, at least.

PM: 57F, SE 17 mph. 4 @ 9:10 AP.

1150s Red #1 Miles: 4.00	Saucony A5 Miles: 15.00

Weight: 0.00

Comments

From Bam on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 07:23:09 from 89.126.28.24

Another good session that's exceeded your expectations. It's great when that happens.

Maybe if you were to make the session longer (More/longer reps) you might get more from it or perhaps you could make the recovery 800m at 15 secs slower than MP.

The great thing is that you are improving. When that happens it's difficult to get the sessions bang on, but that's a good headache to have:)

From SlowJoe on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 07:32:23 from 155.219.241.10

Bam - yeah, there's a 10 and 12-mile run like this in the plan. Do you think it would be better to just run faster paces, or do something like 2000/1200 for the fast/slow sections instead of 1600/1600?

From I Just Run on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 08:00:31 from 67.79.11.242

Great job Joe! That looks like a fun workout, except for me it would be a lot slower.

From Tom K on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 08:18:43 from 71.228.90.171

Your problems - "Man, this pace feels too slow." Ha Ha!

Is the purpose of this kind of work out to get your body to memorize your MP?

From Bam on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 08:20:02 from 89.126.28.24

Joe, it depends what side of the fence you're on. For me, at this stage, it would be extend the rep, maintain the pace and cut recovery rather than going faster.

But see what some of the others say...

From SlowJoe on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 08:28:51 from 155.219.241.10

IJR - thanks - it does seem like it keeps you more engaged/entertained than doing a long tempo at an even pace. This was my first time to do it for an MP run.

Tom - I think the point is to move aerobic threshold closer to lactate threshold speed. You tickle the slow end of LT and then have to recover at a fast aerobic pace.

Bam - thanks for the input, much appreciated.

From Jake K on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 08:47:15 from 155.100.226.191

Great run Joe. I would err on the side of extending the overall distance first, and then if its still too easy, maybe drop the length of the "recovery" portion a bit. When the focus is the marathon, that approach is a lot more specific to the race than simply hammering the "on" sections faster.

From SlowJoe on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 10:07:10 from 155.219.241.10

Jake - thanks...something tells me that once it's 10 or 12 miles, with the legs getting heavier and heavier as training wears on, that I won't be able to run much faster anyway, even if I wanted to. But I guess I see now, once you start running any faster, it's really a different workout for a different system.

On a related note, I saw your comment about the 26.2k sim run - I was planning to do it 5 weeks out with 3 easy days both before and after, but maybe will ease into the pace a bit more now, so thanks for mentioning that.

From Jake K on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 10:23:19 from 155.100.226.191

5 weeks out would be great timing... probably ideal. I had the half marathon 6 weeks out, so that's partially why I backed off the pace a bit, being only ~3.5 weeks out right now.

Its definitely great to have something in the 4-6 week out window where you really need to focus and work hard, through a little discomfort.

From allie on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 11:06:44 from 161.38.221.168

ah, the wave. nice job.

From Andrea on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 12:00:32 from 72.37.171.52

Great work Joe! Building confidence through workouts is a very good thing and it looks like you turned this into a medium-long run as well.

From seeaprilrun on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 12:13:24 from 68.102.189.33

Awesome workout Joe--and it felt easy?! your improvement spurt is exciting

From Jason D on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 12:48:05 from 128.210.82.162

Good stuff, Joe. Really fantastic shape right now.

From joebell1981 on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 17:45:08 from 99.39.133.24

Fantastic, Joe. Boston in much less than 3, me thinks... :)

From Matt Schreiber on Wed, Feb 06, 2013 at 21:26:20 from 66.17.102.185

Great workout Joe! It's been fun to watch your MP creep down. Looking forward to see your hard work pay off.

From JG on Thu, Feb 07, 2013 at 11:54:30 from 174.49.78.66

Your fast splits made my head spin, the recoveries just made me feel winded! :)

Great job Joe!

From SlowJoe on Fri, Feb 08, 2013 at 21:03:04 from 69.131.141.92

thanks all.

JG - that 9:10 pace almost felt harder than 6:10 pace in the morning!

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