5k and Counting

Yoga Stretch for your Hips

2011-07-19T22:44:00.000-04:00

I found a webpage from someone on Google+ that gives some yoga stretches as ways to release tight hips. The article tries to explain what the movements are, but unless you are already familiar with yoga... it's another language.

Luckily, there is a video a short ways down the page. Here is a link to the page and here is the video for people like me that have only been to a couple yoga classes that find it helpful, but still somehow foreign.

Namaste.

Wow, it was humid today!

2011-07-11T23:34:00.000-04:00

So someone on Twitter posted what the humidity was and I asked him how he found it. He said that he used an Accuweather app for his iPhone. I don't have that (app or phone) and I forgot what he said at the time. I remembered weather, so I went to Weather Underground. That worked, too, since they had humidity information. When I got home after my run this afternoon (and after stretching, resting, and a shower, too), it said the temperature was 81 and felt like 86. It had already cooled off a few degrees by that time and the humidity was 78%. Well, I am not sure if I will start recording this information for all of my runs, but it is interesting to know when it is obviously high. It would have been so much nicer if it just started raining.

I planned on running 2 laps around Lake Ivanhoe at an easy pace and I did just that. I didn't do a stretching routine or a warmup jog. I just started running, albeit slowly, but running just the same. I ran 22:46 for the first 2.5 mile loop (9:06 average pace).

I ran into Marc from my Five and Dime running group and we ran and talked for about half a mile before our paths led us in different directions. It was nice that we were running the same speeds, because he normally runs much faster than I and therefore I would be out of breath trying to talk.

When I finished the first loop, I ran inside my apartment and guzzled down a glass of warm water. And off I went for a second loop. This time I ran an average speed of 8:20 something. I have it logged on DailyMile.com, but that is apparently down right now.

I just have to say that I love air conditioning. I don't know if I could live in Florida without it.

Either way, it was a nice easy run. 5 miles in the bank.

2 Runs Sunday Evening

2011-07-11T00:40:00.000-04:00

I completely missed a long run this weekend, but I made up for it by having two short workout sessions this afternoon and then this evening.

I ran the 2.5 miles very easy this afternoon around 5pm. I looped around Lake Ivanhoe and I planned on running 2 laps which would have been 5 miles. There was a thunderstorm coming into the area, so I had to cut it short. I ran it very easy and instead of my normal length stride and turnover rate, I made my strides very short... almost choppy. Very little knee lift and very little toe off / push off. I concentrated on a quick turnover rate, which I think puts more of the work on the buttocks rather than the calves and thighs. No particular reason. Just wanted to work on a different set of muscles.

The evening run was obviously after the thunder and rain stopped well after sunset. I guess I headed out around 10pm. I took the first 1 mile as a warmup. Steady comfortable speed the next half mile and then got up to a good speed for the next half mile. I was probably running around 5k goal pace. I stopped for about 20-30 seconds and then ran the last half mile just a little faster, but not quite mile goal pace. It was a great run.

I love running during the summer after it rains. I would have run around now (midnight) if I didn't have work in the morning. I used to love running late in the evening during the summer when I was in high school. You don't have to go to school in the summer. I wish work was like that as an adult. That whole summer off thing doesn't quite seem to be setting you up mentally for the rest of your life. It's a big, fat tease really. I used to like sleeping in till 10am.

Watermelon 5K at Mead Garden in Winter Park

2011-07-06T20:44:00.000-04:00

I have now come to grips that the Fourth of July Watermelon 5K is jinxed for me. Last year, I had a bad experience. This morning didn't turn out too well, either.

I got up early enough, but I don't know if I got enough sleep. I made sure that I didn't make the same mistakes as last year. Only one mug of coffee. Evacuate all waste.

I warmed up by running 2 miles. I ran a mile out and back. I was very thirsty already and hadn't stretched yet, so I made my way through the crowd back to the registration area to get some water. I did make one little mistake thus far and that was forgetting my watch. I had no idea what time it was. I went through my regular stretching routine and when I finished, I could hear people talking over the PA system at the starting line. I asked someone what time it was and he had 7:30 on the nose. I had to make my way back to the start and quickly. There were too many people to get there in time, so I ran down a side street and around the block. That put me in front of the line, but it also put me a little out of breath. I was able to rest for a couple minutes while a young lady sang the national anthem.

I can at this point with my experience tell if I am going to have a good race or not within the first quarter mile. I was not going to have a good race. I could not keep up with my usual friends and when I say keep up, I mean keep them within eyesight by the time I hit the first mile. I hit the mile marker at 7:26, which is a full minute slower than my last race.

It was around this point when I started feeling pressure in my chest and my heartbeats felt really strong. I am used to being out of breath, feeling like my head is going to explode from heat, or not have enough energy in my legs. None of these were the case and any of those things may slow me down, but they don't scare me. I slowed down a little to see if that would help. It did. I tried speeding back up to around that 7:30 pace and felt the same thing again. I could have been imagining things as well, but I swear my heart literally skipped a beat. Oddly, there was no pain. I slowed down again and even tried walking for a few seconds. I went back to normal again. I ran to the next water stop, grabbed a drink and that was just before 2 miles. I have no idea what my time was at this point. I tried getting back into a pace and my chest felt weird again. I had enough of this. I was about 50 meters from the 2 mile clock, which I didn't realize at the time, because it was just around the next corner.

I decided that was it for me. I went straight ahead. It was a point in the course when people were going in both directions on either side of the street. I stayed to the right side and alternated jogging and walking until I got back to the mile marker when I found my girlfriend. She was walking the 5k. I was so glad she came out. Her mom did, too. At this point, I just planned on walking the course with her and just wanted to have a "fun run."

By doing this, I ended up covering over 7 miles for the day.

I wish I knew the cause of my heart beating so furiously. I have been on antibiotics for the past week and a half and pain medication for a broken molar. I wonder if the antibiotics did anything, because I have run on pain medications plenty of times with no issues. Also, I took the past week off from any training other than a leisurely jog a couple days prior. Did that have something to do with it? Did my lack of speed training during the past week make my heart have to work overtime to compensate for my brain telling the body to run at a speed that was apparently too fast? I don't know.

I'm glad nothing serious happened and I had a great day the remainder of it. I went to the Morse Museum in Winter Park, which has more Tiffany glass than anywhere outside of New York. Grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and more in the afternoon and then watched the downtown Orlando fireworks from my place on Lake Ivanhoe late that night. I hope everyone had a great Independence Day.

Signed up for the Watermelon 5k and a Doctor

2011-06-24T21:06:00.000-04:00

Just over a week left till race day and I am signed up for the 20th Anniversary Watermelon 5K Run on July 4th. It's a fun race, because many people get dressed up for it. This will be my second time running this race. I started OK last year, but it didn't end well.

I feel like I have lost a step of speed and I'm hoping it's only due to the afternoon heat. I hope it's there for me next Monday. That'll be weird, too. Running on a race on Monday morning.

Even though I try to keep everything related to my running, I have to go into an endocrinologist on Tuesday morning. This is a consult first, but I am sure that I will be going back. I went in for a routine physical exam at the beginning of May and I found out that I have too much calcium in my blood. That led to another blood test and they checked for parathyroid hormone and that was high. That means I have hyperparathyroidism. Yeah, you have to clap that one out... Hy-per-par-a-thy-roid-is-m. I've done my research on the internet and there are a few things it could be, but more times than not, it means that I will need to have surgery to remove the pesky little thing that is throwing off some chemicals in my body mostly related to muscle and bone function. Short term isn't that bad, but long term effects are very serious.

OK. Good that off my chest.

So yesterday was 5 days in a row and this morning, I went out for an easy 3 mile run before work. I was a little stiff in the hips and my left ankle was in a little pain today. That made 6 days in a row and I'm debating running sometime tomorrow. I feel like my body wants more rest, but an easy run shouldn't hurt if it is either midday or afternoon. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow, though, and I don't like running in the rain. Well, the summer rainstorms in Florida are usually filled with lightning. Orlando is the lightning capital of the United States BTW and we all know it.

5 Days in a Row

2011-06-23T23:00:00.000-04:00

I figured my legs would hurt more after running 5 days with no rest. I don't remember the last time I ran 5 days in row, but it has been awhile. Maybe years. Maybe even dating back to high school when that's just what we did. We usually ran 6 or 7 days a week.

Today's workout started out as a sauna again, but it clouded up and that made it a little easier. We ran a 4.25 mile fartlek alternating between 2 minutes hard and 1 minute jogging. Coach said to run 30 minutes. It took me 35:17 to cover the course. I actually walked on a few of the jogging sections just because of the heat. I didn't feel like I was pushing myself too hard as far as speed was concerned. It just felt like my head was going to boil over and pop. There was only a small portion of the course that was covered by trees and by the time I got there, the clouds had already started forming above us and it didn't make a difference.

Once I finished up, the entire group got to drink free Mix1 drinks. There were a couple girls passing them out to our group, guys playing rugby, and people on the basketball courts. I've only tried them once and did not like it at all. I don't remember what flavor it was. This time I tried a Acai-Pomegranate and it was decent. It's a small drink that has 10 grams of protein, 10 grams of carbohydrates and a smidge over 1 gram of fat. They do leave a little powdery residue in your mouth, so I chased it with water. It definitely helped pick me up a little.

I laid down on the bleachers and rested for about 5 minutes and then decided that I wanted to do a little more work. I did a few form striders. I ran 100 meters each and jogged back to the start for a recovery and each run concentrated on different types of strides. The first one was high knees, the second was butt kicks and the last one was skipping. Now, my legs were tired. By this time, you could tell that I only had about 20-25 minutes before the rain was coming, so I jogged 1 kilometer to get the tightness out of my thighs.

Great workout and I am really glad that I have made it 5 days in a row! Looks like rain is scheduled all day tomorrow. We really need it. It is time to turn this sauna into a steam room.

How Bad Do You Want It?

2011-06-22T23:41:00.000-04:00

I just ran 4 days in a row for the first time in a while. I plan on running tomorrow afternoon with my Five and Dime group, so that should be 5 days in a row.

I ran an easy 5 miles today. Obviously, it was hot again. Mid 90's which is on par this week. I started around 10 minute pace on the first mile, which was my warmup. I didn't stretch. I just kept going. Nice and easy. I didn't want to push myself, because I wanted to make sure I would finish the 5 miles as I intended. I stopped twice. Once for a quick water break (about 20 seconds) at the 2.5 mile mark which is one lap around Lake Ivanhoe. I then stopped at 4 miles to bring my core temperature down just a little. I was overheating. I think I stopped for about 40 seconds.

I finished up in 45:12, which is about 9:02 average pace. I didn't stop my watch for my breaks, so including those, I ran the last 4 miles in 35:12 or 8:48 average pace. Not the greatest speed, but it was smooth.

Another day of putting miles in the tank. This is going to really pay off come fall. I can feel it.

And how bad do you want it? Today, while I was running, I saw a squirrel rolling an apple in the gutter. He tried and tried to lift the apple over the curb. I was ready to help the little fella, but what would be the point if it couldn't carry it up the tree anyway? That was really funny, though. That squirrel really wanted it bad. That would probably be like a person trying to carry a moose.

Mile Repeats or Should I Say Mile ReHeats

2011-06-21T22:13:00.000-04:00

Started today's speedwork with 1.75 miles as a warmup and 4 x 100m striders. Felt great so far considering how hot it was. How hot? As someone mentioned today, "It feels like a hair dryer out there." Yeah, exactly like that. The wind was blowing a little and it was hot air. It was around 95 degrees on the track. I wonder how hot it was directly in the sun. I would guess in the range of 100-105.

The workout: 3 x 1 mile repeats. Thank goodness we got a little cloud cover after the second repeat. It was still hot, but it was almost like being in the shade.

I ran 7:05, 7:19, and 7:20. My goal was to run 7:00 miles. I didn't really push myself too hard. I wanted to make my times, but I was really concentrating on my stride and overall form. Getting a good toe off and knee drive. Relaxing my arms and not worrying about keeping them at a 90 degree angle. I was good about that part, but I did have to remind myself a couple times during each repeat that I needed to have a forward lean, which improved my speed immediately (if only short lived).

I wish I was better at labeling my posts. I wanted to look up my past mile repeat workouts and compare my times. I only used "mile repeats" once in labels. I did a search, too, and that didn't find anything. I can't believe I haven't blogged any of those workouts. I have to do a better job of not skipping my posts.

Today's Goal: Just Be A Runner

2011-06-21T00:02:00.000-04:00

Some days you go running to work on your speed by running fast. Some days you work on your endurance by running for a long time. Today's goal was to run just to be a runner. No distance in mind; no speed in mind.

The only thing that I kept thinking about was my form. I went over to A Quest for Running Perfection the other night and Danny posted a video about running economy. No, it doesn't have anything to do with finance. It has a lot to do with form.

I watched the video about Shalane Flanagan and then when it finished, the same company had a video about Chris Solinsky. They think with their techniques, they could put these runners at the top of the world and not just the United States.

The microfibers they are talking about in the videos is called muscle fibrosis. Yes, I googled it and read a few articles. Very interesting stuff. It appears to be cutting edge techniques in physical therapy and of course, they aren't going to tell you how to go about curing this condition on your own. Not even a clue.

I don't know how to cure muscle fibrosis, but I can work on my form. I only ran 2.5 miles this afternoon, but I kept reminding myself not to slack off and jog the whole thing. My brain had to keep reminding my body to lean forward, lift my knees, push off and try not to bounce much. It was a short run that I finished in just under 20 minutes, but it felt really good. I felt very efficient. Economic, if you will.

No Sleep for a Swampy Long Run

2011-06-19T13:05:00.000-04:00

I feel asleep around 1am last night and was tossing and turning by 3:30. I tried to go back to sleep, but I just couldn't. I gave up and jumped on my computer. After about 30 minutes, I learned how to do some SQL programming and make it work on my website. There was definitely an upside to this sleepless night. That little bit of code was something that I couldn't figure out in 2007 and never went back to it.

Then, I started reading a little of the latest Runners World magazine. There are 7 covers this month, each of which shows a runner that has battled cancer. I grabbed the one with Lance Armstrong. I really don't care what people are saying about him right now. I was following what little press the US gave to cycling back in the late 80's and early 90's when Greg LeMond won The Tour a few times and Armstrong's name started showing up. I think Armstrong paid his dues and he showed up gradually. It didn't just happen overnight for the guy like Landis. Just saying.

So now it's after 5am and I just said screw it. I'm going for a run. I thought about doing a long run this weekend since Friday, but I didn't commit to it. Running without eating or hydrating enough is tough and those are the obvious things to have before a long run. Running without enough sleep isn't talked about because most people don't think about it. If you didn't sleep well, most people will just not go run.

I went out and felt stiff and flat during my 1.2 mile warmup. I never got any energy as the run progressed, either. I covered 6.6 miles during my long distance run, which is usually 10 miles. 7.8 total isn't bad, though, for the day considering the lack of sleep.

Anyone that lives in Florida knows this well, but it was literally swampy out there this morning. It rained last night and the temperature was close to 80 degrees this morning before the sun even came up. As I ran past a lake, there was a mist coming off it. I was just waiting for a dinosaur to run with me. The cool mornings are gone until November.

I did nap a little once I got home, so all is well now. Time to visit Kim's father and check out the horses.

Running in Jacksonville

2011-06-14T21:11:00.000-04:00

I am running and writing from Jacksonville, Florida. It's only a 2.5 hour drive from Orlando, but it's still fairly new. I am helping my mother. She is going through medical evaluations at the Mayo Clinic. I have been attending classes and accompanying her to tests. Luckily, I have sisters that have been doing the same thing, so we have been able to share time with her.

Coincidentally, I heard some of the people in my running group talk about racing in Jacksonville and visiting their local running store 1st Place Sports. There's actually 4 of them in the area. Since I ended up in Jax this week, I figured I would check it out. I looked them up on the internet and they were about 8 miles away, but only like 3 or 4 turns on the map. I also saw on their website that they have group runs at 6pm from their Baymeadows shop. I asked about it, but they said that people rarely show up, so I tried to make other plans.

Before I left, I picked up some new socks. My favorites right now are Balega brand, so that's what I got. Since my shoes are gray, black, and yellow, I got yellow socks, black socks, gray socks, and universal white socks. They have a buy 3 socks and get 1 free, so I had to take advantage of the offer.

As a backup running plan, I asked if they knew of any public tracks in the area since I normally do speedwork on Tuesdays. One of the clerks told me about a public track at the University of North Florida. That was also very easily located from their Baymeadows store. I drove over there and they have a full size track and stadium, but that was only available for the track team. Right next to it, there is a soccer field and a 400 meter track. That was it. We ate some lunch and headed back to our hotel room. I planned on running in the afternoon, but that idea was dropped by storms.

Since I missed my workout yesterday, I definitely needed to run today. I was still very limited in time and I could only run around noon. This meant that I couldn't drive to the UNF track and get back in time for the next appointment. This also meant that I had to run 96 degree weather and no shade. I didn't know it at the time I started, but I also didn't have a source of water until I was finished.

I started by running along the sidewalks of the Mayo Clinic sidewalk and nine minutes later, I ended up at a dead end road. Time to stretch. My best option was to run on this road and looping part of the parking lot. This was almost like running my freshman year in high school. We didn't have a track built, so we had yards measured in the parking lot and that's where we ran. It was odd, but sometimes fun because of it.

Since I had no way of measuring distances and only knew how much time I had available, I decided to run 1 and 1's. I ran 1 minute hard (somewhere between mile speed and 5k speed) and alternated with 1 minute of jogging. I planned on running 10 sets like this for a total of 20 minutes. I ran strong while I did, but the heat took its toll on my body and I only got through 6 sets (12 minutes).

At least I ran. It always makes me feel better.

10 Miler Actually Felt Good This Morning

2011-06-11T18:54:00.000-04:00

I got up at 4:30am this morning to run a 10 miler. I felt a little sore from Thursday's workout. The soreness was in my lower abdomen and groin, but it was gone by 2 miles once my blood got moving. I arrived at Cady Way Park a little late and missed a couple runners from my training group. I did see one of them and we said hi, but I wasn't ready yet. There were a lot of runners out on the loop today, because it was only the second long run for MarathonFest. Some of the newbies were only running 4 to 6 miles. It's really amazing to think that they will be running a marathon in a few months.

I felt really good out there. No pain. I even felt that I was just cruising a couple times during the last 3 miles and pushed myself to the edge of getting out of breath. From mile 6, I kept calculating my times trying to reach 10 miles at 8 minute pace. I didn't quite make it. I know that I pushed really hard on the last half mile, too.

10 miles in 1:21:46 which is an 8:10 pace.

So the reason I was sore from Thursday's workout is because we ran 200's. 3 sets of 4 reps with 200 recovery jog between reps and then 2 minute rest between sets. We were supposed to run them fast, but not sprinting. Coach wanted us to work on our form and our turnover, so I did. I got good knee lift and drive. Kept my arms in tight to my sides and elbows around 90 degrees. I wasn't pushing off my hind legs too much and opening up my stride in fear of pulling a hamstring again. I went as fast as I could go without sprinting and really going after it... if that makes any sense.

3 sets
(37,38,40,40)
(37,37,38,40)
(35,38,39,34)

So my fastest time was a 34, which is a 68 quarter or 4:32 mile, and my slowest time was 40, which is a 1:20 quarter or 5:20 mile. There were a couple of reps that left my hands and feet tingling, but because we were only running 200's, it didn't last long. Even though jogging recoveries seem harder than just resting between reps, it actually helps with the workout. This was truly evident during my last set. Coach was running during the entire workout clockwise on the inside field of the track. On the last set, he noticed that my recovery jogs were really slow, so he told me that I needed to be jogging a little faster than my cooldown speed. That seemed really hard to do, but I think it actually helped.

So the soreness on Friday and Saturday was more from the knee lift and drive more so than the actual speed of the workout.

Two a Day Workout Monday

2011-06-07T23:34:00.000-04:00

I made no plans to run twice on Monday. If anything, I felt guilt, apathy, lethargy and rolled into my chest due to not running this weekend. That made me get to bed early on Sunday evening and then I was determined to run 8-10 miles before work on Monday morning. I got up at 4:30am, checked emails and news on the internet, and got out the door just as light was coming over the horizon. The one mistake I made was watching the 10,000 meter race from the Prefontaine Classic before heading out the door. That made me start out faster than I planned and I cut my run short. I did a quick 1 mile warmup, stretched, and run a 23:30 5k and finished a 4 mile route in 31:45. I already slowed down on the last mile and knew that I wasn't going to do well much beyond the distance I already covered. At least I ran and I felt better than I did all weekend.

Here's a link to the video of the 10,000 meter run. Great last 800 meters of the race. Warning: the video is 38 minutes.

http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=48003-Mens-10000-Full-Race-Replay-Prefontaine-Classic-2011

As I said before, I had no plans to run twice. I rode my bike to work and felt really good the whole day. I was riding my bike home and noticed that the YMCA running club was near my apartment. I got home and changed back into my running gear as fast as I could. By the time I got out the door, the stragglers were about 200 yards ahead of me. I didn't warmup or stretch and oddly enough, my knees were not sore from the morning run, nor were they stiff. I seemed like I was supposed to run again.

I caught a few of the runners and felt really good until I hit the 4 mile mark. I just ran out of juice and finished up the last mile considerably slower. All in all, I ran 10 miles for the day, which was my original goal before heading out the door in the morning. Smashing success for me!

-------------

Just a note on today's workout (Tuesday)

Started with the normal 1 mile warmup and then 4 x 100 striders.

The actual workout plan was 5 or 6 reps of 600m at mile goal pace. My goal pace is 6:00, so I should have run them at 2:14. I went out fast on the first 3 reps and paid for it with lactic acid in my hands and lower legs. That took me out of it for the last 2 reps and I didn't even try number 6. My times (and equivalent mile pace):

2:09 (5:46), 2:07 (5:41), 2:10 (5:49), 2:25 (6:29), 2:33 (6:50)

I think I could have knocked them all out if I wouldn't have gotten all excited and actually run my pace. I never even looked at the pace chart to calculate my goal splits. In the end, I ran so slow on the last 2 that it put my average time over my goal time. That is an ineffective workout, but I have to say that it was fun to get out after it and run that fast for the first couple. Sometimes you just gotta have fun even if it's going to hurt a little in the end.

Ab Work While Running 6 Miles

2011-06-03T00:54:00.000-04:00

My running group normally runs speed work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Long runs we do on our own. Today was Thursday. That means speedwork, but my coach is making final preparations for the San Diego Marathon this Sunday and he literally mailed in his workout to us. Run 3 miles out and back. It's a course we run regularly. At least a good portion of it was shaded, which wouldn't have been the case on the hot track. I don't run very fast for anything over 3 miles. Not out of attitude, but rather ability or should I say inability. I liked the shade idea, but I didn't want to run 6 miles today.

Coach wanted us to run a negative time on the way back, too. Not happening unless I walked the out portion. Since I wasn't getting any speed benefits and didn't really feel like pushing myself for that long of a distance, I needed to come up with something to get through this workout. Here's what I came up with. I tightened up my abs for 10 seconds and relaxed for 10 seconds. Repeat for 5 of 6 miles. I didn't come up with the idea until I was a mile into the workout. That was a great way to pass the time and not have to just keep thinking about putting one foot in front of the other. I may do this more often.

So my back is still a little stiff, but the pain is subsiding. I took a couple Aleve tablets this morning, but forget to take them this afternoon. In lieu of Aleve, I popped a stronger pain med immediately prior to the workout. I didn't feel the difference until we were on our way back, but what a difference.

Once this back pain and stiffness are completely gone, I am getting back to my core workouts. I have been skipping them for the past few weeks. I actually can't wait to do them now.

Heat, Pain Pills, Dehydration... Something Didn't Want Me Running Today

2011-06-01T00:05:00.000-04:00

I pulled my back on Sunday. It was stiff, so I tried stretching it. That's when I pulled something. I've been here before and it's never pleasant. This is when I start double dosing the Aleve's. It usually takes 3-4 days to get back to normal this way. Without taking anything, it takes 1-2 weeks.

Well, when you throw that into the mix of heat and being dehydrated (over caffeinated), things aren't going to go well.

The prescribed workout this afternoon was 4 to 5 sets of the following: run an 800 at 5k race pace, 45 second rest, run 400 hard and rest for 3 minutes. I made all of my goal times through the first 3 sets. About a minute into the third rest, I started feeling light headed. I hoped it would go away, but I just felt a little out of it. I had enough energy to continue my workout, but didn't want to push it with the way my head was feeling. I went over to a nearby Oak tree and set down in the shade for about 10 minutes. That did the trick, but I was done for the day.

Hopefully, this back pain and stiffness will be gone by Thursday's workout.

In the meantime, here are a couple pics from the Lake Mary 5K.

If I remember correctly, this was about 1.25 miles since that is when the course overlaps for a bit
and I hadn't taken my shirt off yet. I just happened to look at the photographer at the right time...
even though I look mad, I'm not. I actually don't even remember seeing someone taking pictures.

I am on the left with my 2nd place 35-39 Age Group medal.
In the middle is the 1st place AG winner and 3rd place on the right.

Longest Run in 20 Years for Me - 12 Miler

2011-05-28T19:59:00.000-04:00

I didn't really warmup this morning and I didn't run with my group. When running with our group, there is usually water and Gatorade in different places on the route. On my route this morning, there was water. Once every 4 miles there was water and that didn't seem to bother me too much until the last 2-3 miles when I really started dragging.

Not warming up a little wasn't a good idea. I got right into it and my right hamstring was tight for the first 2 miles. I stopped for a couple minutes and stretched it out, but my pace seemed to be trained into me already. I ran the first 2 at 10 minute pace. I pretty much kept that up the entire run, too. As of last night, I planned on running my normal 10 miles, but since I started off so slow, I decided that I would make up for it by running a couple more miles. Those last 2 miles were brutal for me. I had no energy and it was really hard just to keep my legs going.

When I got home, I drank a Gatorade and a couple slices of deep dish pizza from my favorite place Pizzeria Uno's. They're called Unos Chicago Grill or something like that now, but whatever. I'm not showing up for anything but the pizza. I sat down with my laptop and was about to start typing away on my blog, but I was literally delirious and couldn't type more than 3 letters without making typos. I felt like I was going to pass out sitting up. It took a good 30 minutes before the Gatorade and pizza really kicked in and started to give me some energy back.

The most I've run recently has been 10 miles. I've done that distance plenty of times, but I haven't run 12 miles since high school when I did the the Citrus Bowl Half Marathon a couple of times. I'm debating in my mind whether I want to try running 12 again next weekend or just settle back into 10 considering how depleted I felt this morning.

Just for a note on Thursday's workout.

Coach had us run 4.25 miles from the track around Lake Baldwin and back. Our instructions were to run 5 minutes pretty hard, but just a little slower than 5k pace. Then run slowly as a recovery for 2 minutes. He said to do this 3 times since it was hot. If we had a 4th one in us, then do it. For good or bad, I ran a 5th hard portion plus another 25 seconds to bring it all the way home to the track. I thought it was bad, because it took me that long to run 4.25 miles, but my coach thought it was good that I gave the effort of running a 5th portion.

Slightly Tweaked Ladder Workout

2011-05-26T00:46:00.000-04:00

Tuesday's track workout was a ladder. Normally when you run a ladder workout, it is something like 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400. The distances can vary. Here's the tweak. We ran 11 x 400m. The first 400 was to be run at 5k goal race pace. I made my goal 1:40. We had to run each lane of the track working our way out to Lane 6 while maintaining the same time. For each lane you add, you are tacking on about 7 meters. Here's the breakdown of actual distances by lane.

Lane 1 = 400m
Lane 2 = 407m
Lane 3 = 413m
Lane 4 = 420m
Lane 5 = 427m
Lane 6 = 434m

Then, we laddered our way back to Lane 1, but this time we had to try to run negatives. I was close. I only missed running a negative split twice, but all of my reps were below my goal time of 1:40. The rest between reps was 1:15.

Rep	Lane	Distance	Time	Mile Pace	5k Pace
1	1	400m	1:35	6:22	19:48
2	2	407m	1:38	6:27	20:04
3	3	413m	1:36	6:14	19:22
4	4	420m	1:37	6:18	19:34
5	5	427m	1:37	6:06	18:56
6	6	434m	1:37	6:00	18:38
7	5	427m	1:37	6:06	18:56
8	4	420m	1:34	6:00	18:39
9	3	413m	1:35	6:10	19:10
10	2	407m	1:32	6:04	18:50
11	1	400m	1:25	5:42	17:43

It was hot, but I felt really good for almost all of the workout. I didn't feel like I was even warmed up until the 3rd rep. I started to feel sluggish on rep 8 which was lane 4 on the way back down the ladder. With these kinds of times, I should be running better 5k's. Period. I know it will come.

New 5K PR - 2nd Place in My Age Group

2011-05-21T14:36:00.000-04:00

I ran the Lake Mary Community 5K Run & Walk this morning. I got up a little later than I planned and had to cut my breakfast short. I only ate half a whole wheat bagel and didn't feel like I had enough energy leading up to the race. I did drink plenty of water, though.

I started at a good clip and felt like I could have just eased into a nice, comfortable pace. Around half mile, I just felt like pushing more and wanted to start passing people. I guess I had more in the tank than I originally thought. I didn't go crazy getting into oxygen debt. Just a little burst here and there. The course had a lot of turns, so I would give a burst usually from 100 yards up through each turn.

I reached the first mile marker in 6:27, which seemed way too fast for me. Usually when I run around that speed, I start feeling tingly in my hands and feet. This time I did not, so I kept it up. I hit the second mile marker at 13:01, so that's a 6:34. I knew I was going to die or blow my PR out of the water.

Unfortunately, I felt like my chest was going to explode from the heat shortly after the 2 mile mark. I slowed down to get some water and couldn't get the hand off and just splashed the water cup all over the place. Didn't get any on me, though. So I slowed down and that ruined my pace and then I didn't get any water to boot.

Shortly thereafter, I had to take my shirt off for a little ventilation. I stopped and walked for 30 seconds while I removed my shirt and tucked it into the back of my shorts. That helped immediately. I remembered to leave the number facing outward, so they could read it. There was someone reading the bib numbers on the far side of the track heading towards the finish. Someone else sitting in the announcer booth read our names as we sprinted the last 100. That was definitely a nice touch on the part of the race organizers.

I didn't catch my 3 mile split, but my finish time was 21:53. What's crazy is that I was on pace to run a low 20 minute 5k. I walked for 30 seconds and obviously slowed considerably otherwise on the 3rd mile. I ran the final 1.1 miles in 8:52, so that's about an 8:04. My average pace for the entire 5k was 7:03.

I definitely finished strong for the final 300 yards. Coming into the final straightaway on the track, there was a guy about 10 yards ahead of me. I went after him, he went into his sprint to challenge me and I put the afterburners on and held him off.

So not only did I get a new PR by 24 seconds, but I also took home a 2nd place medal for 35-39 Age Group.

This was a great day for me! PR and some hardware!

Signed Up for the Lake Mary 4th Annual Community 5K Run and Walk

2011-05-16T01:41:00.000-04:00

I signed up for Lake Mary 4th Annual Community 5K Run and Walk this Saturday, May 21st. It benefits the athletics department at Lake Mary High School. The money is supposed to go to a new artificial turf field and track.

It starts at the school, winds through the nearby neighborhoods and then finishes back on the track. That should be interesting since it has three quarters of a lap on the track. It could make for a good finish.

Here's a link for Central Floridians interested in entering this week. http://www.lakemaryhs.scps.k12.fl.us/5k/

Here's a link to the event on Daily Mile that I created. http://www.dailymile.com/events/48691-the-lake-mary-4th-annual-community-5k-run-and-walk

As a note, my right leg around the knee is still very painful. I can't tell if it is inside the knee joint or the top part of my soleus. Just did some basic research and I learned something that I probably should have already known. I never knew the difference between a sprain and a strain. Now I do and so do you.

Sprains and Strains

A sprain is an injury to a ligament. Ligaments connect bone to bone.

A strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon. Tendons connect muscle to bone.

It's time for bed. I have watched too many ACL and Achilles Tendon Repair surgery videos. Try these.

Achilles Surgery

ACL Surgery

Part 1

ACL Surgery
Part 2

Yeah, don't worry about it. You're welcome!

Twinkie and Luther Fueled My 10 Mile Run This Morning

2011-05-14T10:14:00.000-04:00

Let's see. Three things to talk about today. I did a 10 miler this morning. Felt pretty good, although, I forgot to start my watch timer. I know when I started and when I finished, but I don't know how long my water pit stops were. I felt strong through 4 miles, just kept plodding one foot in front of the other through 8 miles and then got a second wind and felt strong again for the last 2 miles. Overall, it took me 1 hour 29 minutes which includes 2 water breaks. Maybe that's 4 minutes, so I ran somewhere between 8:30 and 9:00 minute miles. Not great by any means, but I got it done. Around the 7-8 mile mark, I started feeling slight pain and tightness in my left hip again like 2 weeks ago. This time, I tried to push off a little harder, increase my turnover rate and by getting a little more toe off, I raised my center of gravity a little and ended up not pounding the pavement so hard. That seemed to help. I timed the last 3 miles and that was 24:30, so 8:10 per mile. The first 3 miles was probably about the same or slightly faster, which means the middle 4 was considerably slower.

It has been a little over 2 hours since I finished my long run. My lower right thigh, knee, and upper calf are killing me right now. I am probably going to take a nap shortly and see if it feels any better this afternoon. I may need to talk to my little friend Aleve. We'll see.

Second thing... Thursday's workout was the first hill workout since November and the hour change. We don't run the hills in the winter, because it is too dark and the whole thing is on brick. That would lead to some twisted ankles and probably some spills. We ran the long 2.5 mile hill loop twice. It was nice to run the hills, because it is half shaded by lots of Oak trees. When it's 90 plus degrees, the shade makes it feel like 80 something and that is highly welcomed. We ran the entire loop like a fartlek. 3 minutes hard followed by 1 minute easy and keep doing that until 5 miles is covered. It was good, but a hard workout. Over the course of the 2.5 miles, there are 5 hill segments.

Lastly, I have to mention what I ate last night. I ate part of a deep fried Twinkie. I have to start by saying that I have never liked Twinkies. Now, if you take that Twinkie, dip it in batter a few times and dunk it down in a fryer, I likes me some Twinkie all of a sudden. This was made by the Tree House Truck, which is a food truck in the Orlando area. You can follow them on Twitter at @TreeHouseTruck. It was raining, so I thought it best to stay under their awning. Just let me lie to myself for a second, ok? I started looking over their menu and they have a few burgers on it. One of them is called the BearGrr... AKA "The Luther". I grabbed this picture from another blog and it shows what a Luther is.

The Luther

This is a bacon cheeseburger between 2 Krispy Kreme donuts. This is something like no other. I loved it. Sweet on a greasy burger and throw in a bacon accent. Forget about it. If you are in Orlando, follow the Tree House Truck on Twitter and track them down. They even took my order on an iPad and then paid them with my debit card on their iPhone. It's like the future is now payment method.

I did share the burger with 2 other people, so I diffused the caloric intake just a wee bit. I also have to admit that I wanted to try a chicken and waffle sandwich with gravy, but decided I would have to wait for another time. It was hard, but I did prioritize my long run this morning. I will find Melissa's Chicken n Waffles food truck another day and another place, but I will find it. Maybe that can be my next Friday night dinner leading into my next 10 miler.

I-Drive 5K Run - Race Report

2011-05-07T09:40:00.000-04:00

It was cool this morning and there was a very light breeze. Perfect conditions for a race. It did start to get a little warm on the course, but nothing major. The drive down to the tourist corridor on I-4 was easy, but traffic was snarled once we got onto International Drive. My girlfriend drove us, so I hopped out of the car about half a mile from the race area. It was a nice warmup. I got to take my time jogging by the new Peabody Hotel. I didn't have time to look at during the race for obvious reasons. That hotel turned out really nice.

I lined up about 3 people back from the start, so I got off at my own pace. The first half mile was completely in the shade of buildings, so that was perfect. I hit the first mile at 6:39. I knew that I had to be around 6:45 to have a decent 5k, so I started well. I slowed a little on the second mile. It wasn't getting too hot, but the sun was in your face for most of it. I hit the 2 mile clock at 14:04, so that was a split of 7:25.

The last mile was a straight stretch and at least the sun was at your back. I felt like I was struggling to keep up and I started getting passed by a few people. Every time someone went by, I used them as motivation to push a little more and keep my pace. I also kept reminding myself of my speed work and tried to break the mile up into stretches that were like laps on the track in my mind. I hit the 3 mile marker at 21:48. My goal was to be there at 21:30 assuming that I continued at the same pace through the finish. That would hit my goal around 22:15. Of course, I was a little after my goal, but you also don't finish the last tenth of a mile at the same speed. That last mile split was 7:44, so I dropped off again. I finished in 22:25 and they actually announced my name as I was coming across the finish line!!! That was fun to hear my name on the PA system.

Overall, there weren't too many turns. It was a very flat course and the temperature was cool to moderate for central Florida. The finish area was a little cramped, but everything was in the shade of the building at Pointe Orlando. I liked it. I will definitely run this race again.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Run, Burrito, and Beers!

2011-05-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Got my run done, ate a delicious chicken burrito, and I am now enjoying beer. It's English Brown Ale, but close enough.

The new shoes are still doing me right. I love the smell of new shoes and they still have that scent. Who knows how long it will last, but you have to enjoy it while you can.

Today's workout was pretty quick. 6 to 8 reps of 600 meters run at 5k goal pace. I definitely ran them too fast. The shorter the distance, the faster I run. Some people like to run long and smooth. I like to run quick. Sometimes I run slow; sometimes I run quick... quick... quick.

I did the first 2 reps at 2:15. That's exactly 6 minute mile pace or 18:45 for a 5k. That is way faster than my goal pace. I felt good and strong on the next 2, but my right calf started tightening up towards the end of rep number 4. I started feeling pain during 5 and I made number 6 my last since I didn't want to pull anything.

I did extra stretching on my calves for good measure and I am now wearing my handy dandy Recovery Socks to make sure everything is back to normal for the I Drive 5K Run on Saturday morning.

That's the roundup for today. Happy Cinco Day! I'm ready for another Newcastle and then it's time to hit the sack. It's Ride Your Bike To Work Day tomorrow and there should be a good turnout riding with the Orlando Mayor in the morning.

Long Run with a New Pair of Shoes

2011-05-01T11:27:00.000-04:00

I just bought a new pair of running shoes yesterday. I already like my Asics Gel Cumulus 12's. As named, they made me feel like I was running on clouds. My warmup was just a hair over 1 mile and immediately I could feel the difference. I was stiff, but there was no joint pain "like normal." What a feeling it is to have no pain.

This was a group run and I stayed with my group for 3 miles. We had 7:47, 15:11, and a low 23 range time for splits. It was a little faster than I wanted to go, but it was good to push it and be able to stay with my group. There is normally a water stop at that point and I was getting thirsty after the 2nd mile. I stopped for 30 seconds and then got back on pace. I watched the group go around a corner and checked my time when I went around the same corner to gauge how far off pace I was dropping. After another mile, I was behind by 1 minute and 5 seconds, so if I didn't stop, I would have dropped back only 35 seconds. Not too bad.

At one point during the run (around 5 miles), the group went straight and I ran off to the right. I knew there was a water fountain at Cady Way Park. That was the 6 mile mark and I stopped for water. Maybe 2 minutes to catch my breath a little. My core/chest was starting to get hot, so I took my tech shirt off and wore it around my waist. What a difference that makes for cooling your core area.

About half a mile later, I misjudged a slight incline and pushed my right foot into the ground a little too hard. This caused some pain in my patellar tendon where it attaches to the quads. I had to slow down a little and take some short strides for about 200 meters until the pain subsided.

Once that went away, I got a sharp pain in my left hip. Changing my stride didn't help much with that and I didn't want to start walking. I had been running on the left side of the road for some time and it was angled which most road are. I went over to the right side of the road and the pain went away. I usually don't like running on the right side for obvious safety reasons (can't see cars coming from behind), but also because that usually makes my left ankle hurt.

Overall, the new shoes are fantastic.

I don't remember where I found this recipe, but it tastes decent and you get some of your vegetables and fruit in at the beginning of your day. It's a green smoothie.

Blend 1 cup of water and 1 cup of kale leaves (get rid of thick stems) until the kale is broken into very small particles and it looks like green sludge. Add 1 cup of raw spinach and continue blending. Add 1 banana and to make the smoothie cooler, I add frozen mixed fruit. Usually this is blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. That's the normal smoothie. This morning, I added half cup of broccoli after the spinach. I don't know how much fiber I just took in, but it should undo any damage that happens tonight from eating at the Daily City Food Truck Bazaar.

Forefoot Striking and What is Truly Natural Running

2011-04-30T23:24:00.001-04:00

I finally signed up for the I-Drive 5K Run on Saturday, May 7th. That's only a week away and I also went out and bought myself a new pair of running shoes.

The pair that I have been using are Asics Gel Nimbus 11's. I am a forefoot striker and these worked well for me, but they have literally worn out their welcome. As you can see from the picture below, the heels are barely scuffed, yet the forefoot area is worn through. This is my left shoe, which is in worse condition than my right. At the top, you can see that 2 whole pads are completely gone.

I don't think that can be too good for my feet and legs. Now, I believe that it is natural to run with your forefoot striking first while the majority of runners use the heel striking form. This has been explained by many people on blogs, in books and if you don't come to it naturally yourself, just look at nature around us. Sure, we walk upright and that is different than other animals. Let's look at the easiest examples to be found. Cats and dogs. They always walk and run on their forefeet. Their heels rarely touch the ground. See below.

I created the cat diagram and I found the dog diagram, but you can see what I am trying to show. We, humans, are the oddballs that are walking on our heels/ankles. I wonder if we are loosing power and speed this way.

In any case, running au natural is becoming the latest hot topic in running. This makes sense if you plan on running on clay, sand, grass, or dirt. That would be completely natural. I do tend to believe that people are taking it overboard when they try to run on sidewalks or streets barefoot, though. The last time I checked, pavement of any kind is not made in nature. Thus, it behooves us to wear appropriate footwear for such endeavors. I will continue to run on my forefeet, but I will not run barefoot on pavements.

Enough already. I am very excited to have a new pair of running shoes. You don't realize how old your shoes are until you put on a pair of new ones. That's for sure. Not that I was trying to do this purposely, but I stuck with the Asics cloud theme. I had Gel Nimbus 11's and this time I got Gel Cumulus 12's. Check 'em out...

If ~~I can get up in the morning~~ all goes well, I will be trying them out tomorrow morning for a long run.

It is Summer in Florida Folks!

2011-04-26T23:40:00.000-04:00

Today's track workout took place in temperatures in the high 80's... okay, it was 89 degrees out there although the humidity was normal. In Orlando, that's still very humid, but not quite "swampy" yet. Our seasons are a little different here. Spring is in February and March, April and May are Summer, and June through August are Super Swampy Summer. September and October are like Summer 2 and November and December are Fall. Winter? We don't need one.

I thought coach was going to give us mile repeats, but instead went with the slightly shorter 1000m repeats. 4 or 5 of them depending on how many you could handle in the heat. I ran my times and didn't go out too fast on the first one, so I was able to keep it together for all 5. That right there felt like an accomplishment considering most people don't even workout in these temperatures. An indoor track would have been nice. No doubt.

The goal pace was 5k race pace. I looked at the chart and went for something that was 1 minute faster than my last race and still looked obtainable. That was 4:20 per kilometer and I gave myself a 4:20-4:24 range. That would be a 21:40-22:02 actual 5k if you strung it out.

Like I said, I went my pace the whole way. The first one was perfect in 4:23. Oddly enough, I thought I sped up just a hair on the second one, but I came in 4:33. Who knows sometimes how it's going to work out? From that point, I ran negatives. 4:28, 4:21, and 4:18. I felt really good and the heat never really got to me. I could see it taking the energy out of some of the other runners in my group, though. Most of the runners opted for 4 reps and normally I would. There was something in me. My little voice inside usually whines about my feet, calves, hamstrings, and knees hurting. But today, that little voice said that those pains don't matter. Only a cramp will slow you down today, so run your workout. And I did and it felt great!

As a note, I didn't run on Saturday or Sunday. I spent most of that time recouping from not sleeping Thursday evening and staying up way too late on Friday night. Thursday, my mother went into the hospital for an operation and I stayed with her overnight. I did get a speed session on the track of 8x400m and at least got all my times under 1:30 except the last one which I hit right on. Friday was a hard day just staying alert and working. My mom got released that afternoon. One of my coworkers is leaving the company, so we sent him off the right way. With heavy drinking, of course. All of that led to my eventual downfall on Saturday. No way was I going for a run or racing for that matter.

Speed is Hard the Day After a Long Run

2011-04-20T00:42:00.000-04:00

First off, shout out to a running legend. Grete Waitz passed away today at the age of 57. I'd say that she has a claim to fame, but she was a world record holder and won a lot of marathons. She held records ranging from 3000 meters through the marathon. 'Nough said. You don't know who she was to the running community of the 70's and 80's? Yahoo has a good write up and Wikipedia has her best times in one place.

I was hoping the workout was going to be fast and short, so it would be over quickly. My legs are still sore from yesterday's long run and not fully recharged so to speak. I wanted to get home and watch the Orlando Magic play the Atlanta Hawks in game 2 of their playoff series, too.

I got out of work late, so I only got one extra lap before we started the regular warmup run. 1.25 miles there. We stretched and ran 4x100 striders as usual.

The workout was not new. 400, 800, 400. 3 sets. Since it was hot and humid, coach increased the recovery 15 seconds to 1:15 between reps and the rest between sets from 3 minutes to 4 minutes. Big thanks on that! OK. The first 400 was mile pace. The 800 was 5k pace. The second 400 was faster than the first. My goals were 1:30, 3:30, 1:25ish.

I ran the entire first set faster than planned. That's OK, since I didn't go so hard as to get my arms tingling like I have done in the past. I ran 1:26, 3:13, 1:23. My legs were killing me. I'm not talking about feeling sluggish and heavy. I'm not talking about muscles even feeling tight. My patellar (knee) tendons were in a lot of pain and my entire lower leg bones hurt. It wasn't my shins and it wasn't calves. Bone is the only thing left. And that screams shin splints to me.

I already knew at this point that I should have done my long run on Sunday to give myself an extra day of rest. Too late now. The second set was right on pace and slightly faster throughout. On the last set, I missed by 2 seconds on the 400 and 800. I made the last 400 under time, but I had to dig hard the last 100 of it. I should have commanded this workout. I skipped the regular cooldown and rode my bike home.

Oh yeah, the Magic beat the Hawks 88-82 and evened the series. Next game is Friday night.

My Ryan Hall American Marathon Record Breaking Inspired Run This Afternoon

2011-04-19T02:39:00.000-04:00

The inspiration was about the only thing related to my run. Ryan Hall breaks records; I listen to them.

I didn't feel good about my long run being cut short on Saturday, so I decided that I needed a do over. It was even hotter in the afternoon today, but I was feeling inspired by following the Boston Marathon online. Ryan Hall led most of the men's race and Desiree Davila was so close to winning the women's race. Ahhh! That's got to hurt. I hope she wins it one day.

Back to me...

The first part of my run was 4.35 miles in 38:10, which is 8:46 per mile pace. Felt like I was running faster though. Stopped for maybe 2 minutes to go inside my apartment, drink a glass of water, run my arms and my head under the sink and then get back in it.

This is like when I wanted to give up on Saturday, but Ryan Hall didn't give up today so neither was I.

I finished another 2.83 miles in 21:59, which is 7:46 per mile pace. Oddly enough, I felt like I was running about the same speed as the earlier part of my run.

In total, I got 7.18 miles (8:22 avg) logged in 1:00:09 which doesn't include my warmup of 1.69 miles. That brings me to a total of 8.87 miles for the day.

I need a 55 gallon drum filled with water at the track on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There's gotta be a way to figure out how to cool off during the speed sessions this summer, so I can continue to be productive.

(RUNNING) In the Right Direction: Blog Help...

2011-04-17T02:01:00.000-04:00

(RUNNING) In the Right Direction: Blog Help...

What is the "Links to this post" all about on Blogger?

Running Hot and Biking Cool

2011-04-17T01:53:00.001-04:00

Today was an odd one. I planned (not really or I wouldn't have been drinking Friday night) to run Saturday morning in a group run for 10 miles at 6am. I slept right through that. 11:30am it is. 10 miles? Maybe.

It was hot by 11:30am. 85 degrees and humid. No cloud cover, so it was really fun running on the roads. Sun from above and heat from the road. I can't wait for summer!

I started with a 12 minute first mile as my warmup and I didn't intend to stretch. Go right into it. I was still stiff for my second mile and couldn't open up my stride yet, but I picked it up the pace regardless. I stopped at the local Publix for a quick water break since they have a fountain inside. The next two miles went by relatively easy, but the heat was definitely taking its toll on me. I didn't feel like pushing the envelope, so I finished my run at 5 miles. My time was 45:07, which is an average of 9:01 pace.

I want to know what my average pace is without including the first warmup mile. 45:07 minus the 12 minute warmup is 33:07. That comes out to 8:16 per mile. That would have been a good pace if I ran the whole 10 miles, but I might have been able to do that if weren't 85 degrees with the sun beating down on me.

I took some advice from danny and ran my head under water, but since I didn't have a barrel out in the middle of the road, I stopped running. It was a necessary step in cooling down, though.

That was it for running. I stayed the rest of the daylight hours inside. I grilled out as the sun was going down and threw down 3 cheeseburgers with mushrooms and onions. Awesome stuff.

As the night went on, I just felt uneasy. I'm not sure if it was the Orlando Magic losing their first playoff game to the Atlanta Hawks or the 3 cheeseburgers sitting in my gullet. Maybe both. Around 11pm, something hit me and I just had to go ride my bike.

I know a point in the neighborhood that is 2 miles away and thought that may be a good ride for an out and back. When I got there, I took notice that the main road at this point has a bike lane and there wasn't too much traffic out there. I rode to the end of the bike lane at the next traffic light and that happened to be .7 miles. I did up and backs 3 times, so that covered another 4.2 miles. I just felt free out there, because it felt so cool compared to the daytime and riding a bike is so much easier than running. I almost felt like I was flying. I could have kept going for another hour with no problems, but I only wanted to break a sweat and burn off some energy (burgers).

IOA Corporate 5K Race Report

2011-04-15T15:05:00.000-04:00

I don't know how many people ran and walked this thing, but estimates are between 14-15,000. That is not a lot for a marathon, but it is a gross amount of people for a 5k. There are a few reasons why this becomes a nuisance for seasoned runners.

First, novice runners are everywhere. You don't get this in a marathon, because people don't venture out and run marathons on a whim. Anyone off the street knows better. This is not the case with a 3 mile race. There are plenty of people that think they can run 3 miles and the best is when you see some of them sprinting the beginning. There are some sprinters and they are usually done by about quarter mile and start walking. Then, there are the average hares. They run until a mile, because they have no clue how far a mile is. I have to admit that I've done this before, though. Once. My first day at cross country practice when I was fourteen years old. I ran with the top 2 runners for about quarter mile, then faded and ran with the number 3 runner for the remainder of the first mile. Coach Thomas pulled me laughingly pulled me aside about that point and explained to me something called "pace." Whatever! Just kidding.

Secondly, the joggers that go running from time to time, but don't know how fast they are. These are the people that just line up out of place. They want to be near the front for the start, but don't know that people running under 6 and 7 minutes should be near the front. These are the people that I passed usually up until the 1.5 mile mark. These are the people that bunched up the beginning and crowded the line and made my time slower by about 30 seconds.

Lastly, people that are of the two above types don't know how to get out of other runners' way. When you are about to give up, which is inevitable to someone out of practice, you need to move to the nearest side of the road and make way. These people just stop in their tracks as if hundreds of people aren't right behind them. The ones that know to move off to the side, don't "check their mirrors" and look over their shoulder when sideswiping others. I gave some these people a forearm. Not a shove, but more of a guide as to say, "Stay in your lane."

The course was pretty much a rectangle, which made it fast. That was nice. One of the first turns was funny. You could see the novices getting nervous and moving all around going into it. Some going to the inside. Some going to the outside. I just yelled out, "Stay calm people and keep going straight." The guy directly in front of me who kept zig-zagging back and forth, got the message loud and clear. That was nice, because I was about to pass him on the upcoming little hill and I definitely didn't need him tripping me.

End of rant. I do wonder how many people ran into my elbows, though.

My Run:

First mile, clogged up and the first 100 meters specifically is the worst brick street in the entire metro area. Central in Thorton Park is not good to ankles, knees, or tires for that matter. Hit the first mile at 7:30. As soon as I saw my time, I sped up and started weaving my way to little pockets where I could stride out and be comfortable running my pace.

The next mile was pretty good. Anytime I felt like I was coasting along, I easily reminded myself that I wasn't truly pushing. I then forced myself to move forward just a little faster. It is a race afterall. It was a nice easy pace. I hit the 2 mile mark at 14:47, so that one was a 7:17 split. That at least put me under the 23 minute window. I wanted to get on the other side of 22:30, so I had to pick it up a little more.

On the last mile, I tried to go faster since I knew I had to make up some more time, but there will little lulls when I was just coasting and didn't notice it immediately, so my response to push myself harder didn't kick in right away. Not sure what that was all about. Somewhere between half and quarter mile to go, one of my fellow Sandbaggers passed me and that's when I knew that I had to pick it up for the finish. I stayed just a few strides behind her and then let loose on the last tenth of a mile once I hit the 3 mile clock. My 3 mile time was 22:08, so my mile split was 7:21. I ran the last tenth of a mile in 36 seconds, which is a mile pace of 5:00. Hardly a pace though, considering I was near all out. I could have gone faster, but I don't try to sprint at all anymore. That's when my hamstrings can't quite keep up and get pulled.

My final 5K time was 22:44 by my watch. Average pace for the entire 5K was 7:19 per mile.

I thought I knew where I was going

2011-04-09T18:41:00.000-04:00

The problem with doing long runs with a group is when you think you know where you're going and you fall behind. Of course, that is what happened this morning.

The loop we run covers 10 miles and there are water and Gatorade stations every 2-3 miles. There are so many people running that you are either passing or getting passed by runners the entire time and there are people that start at different points and going both directions. It's crazy how many people are out on this course at 6am.

I tried to find a video on the internet, but I guess that would be hard to do. That is record and run at the same time. I've seen people do it and the results usually aren't that spectacular. Bouncing and cameras are not friends. Well, I was able to find the course map online (obviously after I got home) and if you look just before the 5 mile mark, you can see a school called Rollins College. That's where I went the wrong direction somewhere and ended up on their campus for like 5 minutes walking around trying to find the road out of there.

I was frustrated and started getting mad at myself and at the idea of the course going through this campus in the first place. I knew I could just go around the school and continue on, but I wanted to find my way. And the whole "guys don't stop and ask for directions" doesn't apply here, because I couldn't really ask one of the maintenance guys to point me in the direction of my running group. I mean, maybe I could...

I figured that I had to be at least half a mile since I hit the 4 mile water stop and if I just went back the way I came, then I'd have 9 miles logged. So that's what I did. It ends up that I logged 9.74 miles, so it worked out quite well. And for good measure since I wasn't sure how far I had gone, I loosened my laces and slowly jogged another mile after finishing. Total for the day was around 10.8 miles.

At least I have a map of the course now. Thanks Joel for posting it to your Daily Mile. Next time will be better.

Last Hard Workout Before the Corporate 5k

2011-04-07T22:46:00.000-04:00

Today was the last hard workout before the IOA Corporate 5k on next Thursday evening. I don't feel like I am quite ready, but if you wait forever to "jump in the ring," you never will be.

For today's workout, we had a 4 mile tempo run. I started off with 1.75 miles as a warmup, which I took faster than normal, but I felt really strong. My legs weren't as sore as they normally are. Followed that up with light active stretching and our normal striders.

My hammies were a little tight to start the workout, but we were running tempo, so I didn't have anything to worry about. Coach asked us to start around half marathon pace and work our way into a faster pace. Get it down between 5k and 10k goal pace. I did that.

I had to keep telling myself to push harder just to keep my speed as constant as possible. I was able to do this through about 2.5 miles and I gave up. I really wanted to make it through 3 miles, because that would be the distance of next week's race. I wasn't concerned about the last mile, but when I broke mentally at 2.5, that just made it worse the rest of the way. I only walked for about 10-15 seconds and then got back to the same pace for about a mile and then jogged for about 30 seconds before finishing up strong.

When I hit the 5k mark, I think I was around 24 minutes. If I knew that I only had to run 3.1 miles, I think I could have kept running to that point without any walking or jogging. That still would put my time over 23 minutes, though. I'm not happy about that and it isn't going to be any cooler next week. It was in the 80's this afternoon for sure. At least there was a breeze.

Off topic here, but is anyone from Philadelphia or Washington DC? I'm thinking about going up to either one or both cities for New Year's and was wondering what there is to do besides the museums. Thanks.

Three Things for This Thursday April Theventh

2011-04-07T00:09:00.000-04:00

3 Things: Pace, Pulse, and Pressure

First off, I want to take my usual notes about my latest running workout. That's the Pace... or lack thereof.

Tuesday's workout was 400 repeats. 3 sets. 4 reps in the first with 1:15 recovery. 2 minute rest. 3 reps in the second set with 1:00 recovery. 2 minute rest. 2 reps in the third set with 45 second recovery between them.

That sounded like a piece of cake. Of special note, I have dropped 5 pounds since last week. I went from 180 to 175 and I think I was feeling lighter out there on the track. That's good and bad. The good is the benefit of feeling lighter and therefore being able to run just a little faster. The bad was that speed and not being able to reign it in and stay under control at the beginning of the workout.

Coach Nate wanted us to run these 400's at mile pace. That's around 6:07 for me, so that makes my quarter time around 1:32. How did I do? This dumb-ass decided to run 400's at 5:20 pace. I took the lead out the gate. I ran the first 3 reps in 1:18-1:20 each. By the last stretch of the 3rd rep, my arms and legs were tingling. I don't know exactly what that is scientifically, but that is usually a sign to me that I am running too fast and won't be able to keep it up much longer. The 4th rep was 1:28. Much slower than the other 3, but still under my goal speed.

Set number 2. That was just brutal. My legs were now connected to cement shoes. My arms had no drive and I was panting after 100 meters. I wanted to give up. I have no idea what my times were and I don't even care. I ran them. They were definitely over 1:30 and probably close 1:35/1:37.

That last set of 2 reps should have been really easy. The first one of those hurt like crazy and I could only plod my legs forward and just think each stride was a couple feet closer to the finish line. I don't know what my time was. The very last 400 was hard, but knowing it was my last one made it easier mentally. I ran that in 1:28, so not only did it feel good to finish, but I also made my goal time.

This workout was tough, but it felt really good to run that fast. Some of the guys in my group were complementing me for my efforts. That was definitely for the first 3 reps, since they all beat me on the rest of the runs. What's really mind blowing is that my fast reps were just slightly better than my coach's pace for a 10k last Saturday. I could keep up with him for a quarter mile, maybe a half mile of a 6 mile race. That's probably how he feels about the Kenyans, though.

Here's the Pulse and the Pressure.

I've been taking my blood pressure and pulse at the local grocery store lately. I know I need more data to get a better assessment, but my blood pressure seems to have been going down and I think it is attributed to eating better in general the past month or two.

2 weeks ago (drove to the store midday before eating and exercise):
135/80, p=39 (that BP is considered in the High Normal range)

An hour after eating and drove to the store on 4/3/2011:

129/73, p=52 (BP is Normal, but my pulse was much higher yet still considered Normal.)

An hour after hard workout (above) and a mile bike ride to the store on 4/5/2011:

118/80, p=62 (BP systolic is Normal, but distolic is High Normal. Pulse is high, but I just got off a bike.)

When I was in high school, I used to check my blood pressure at least once per week since we had a kit at home. I consistently was 110/70, which is considered either Low Normal or Athletic. I was definitely of the Athletic variety. I hope to get it close to that again one day.

Most people only talk about how fast they run, but c'mon, a lot of us run, because it is a good way to exercise in hopes of living longer. This just happens to be a sport or exercise that you can do by yourself or in a group and you can see measurable results by the amount of work you put forth. And the skill level is relatively low. Even little kids can put one foot in front of the other and repeat. The 2 most common measurable results which you hear about and acknowledge are times (hopefully going down) and weight (also hopefully going down.) I want people to take notice that your weight is not the only vital sign that can improve with running. Blood pressure and pulse are also very important and definitely measurable. There are numerous factors that can change your BP, though, and they can be time from last food intake, time from recent exercise, time of day. That is why I have left notes on whether I drove or rode a bike to the store and whether I just ate. There may be other factors as well, but perhaps a doctor or nurse can explain that better. I am neither, but I hope this gets at least one more person thinking and perhaps, looking forward to their next doctor's visit.

Hitting the Road... on Wheels

2011-04-03T17:33:00.000-04:00

I ran 2.5 miles just after noon today and my legs felt heavy and my knees hurt the entire time. I ran the whole thing between 10 and 11 minute per mile pace. I knew that I wanted to keep working out, though.

I hit the road on my bike. Now this may seem quite normal to triathletes, but I don't have a road bike. This is my road bike...

No gears, fat tires, wide handlebars. This is good for trolling your neighborhood about 5 miles and then it starts to wear on you. I got 18.4 miles logged. DailyMile says that my run and my ride came out to 1900 calories. My legs are tired, but I feel really good about it.

With every excuse, a little dream dies inside.

2011-04-02T22:15:00.000-04:00

That's the saying I came up with today. I typed it on my computer, printed it off, and taped it to my wall.

While it may seem negative to some people, so is the pain in your legs before the endorphins kick in. Pushups when your arms and stomach burn to exhaustion are negative. In the end, whatever it takes to get out that door and on the street, that's what matters. This came to me after I said that I was going to run this morning and then I put it off to run errands around town and then came home and laid down for a nap. I taped this to the wall before I went out for my 5.75 mile run this afternoon.

My thighs felt fresh. Usually they are tight and slightly sore.. they're sore now as I'm typing though. My knees were a little stiff, but didn't have any pain. The only time I checked my watch was when I knew I hit the first mile. I did that in 8:45 and thought I might speed up as I went. I never did. I just kept cruising at that pace the rest of the way. It was a really good run. My only complaint is that I didn't have an opportunity for water until the last mile. At that point, I figured what's the use. I'm practically home and why mess up the groove.

I completed 5.75 miles in 50:57 which is an average pace of 8:50 per mile.

I think my legs felt so fresh today, because of the run I did yesterday. I had every intention of running 5 miles after work, but due to plans to go with my girlfriend to the Seminole Community College Planetarium, I cut it short to 2.5 miles. Those short runs seem to just work out the kinks and you are done around the same time you are warmed up.

The Planetarium was cool, too. After the show, we got to look through one of the telescopes at Saturn. It is the only planet visible from our skies right now. You could see the rings around the planet. That was way cool. I learned a few things about astronomy. When you look at the stars, the ones that twinkle truly are stars and the ones that don't are actually planets. Who knew? Apparently the astrogeek at the plantarium.

800 Repeats, Pain in my Knee, and Why so much food?

2011-03-30T01:16:00.000-04:00

What kind of things do I need to remember about today?

Pain in my right knee for most of the workout and definitely after the workout. Talked to Mike since he came from a cycling background. I told him that the knee pain only started once I got back on my bike regularly. He said that it is possible that my saddle may be too low. He said that my knee should only be slightly bent. Not straight and fully extended, either. I will have to check on this and make an adjustment if necessary.

Cliche: Pain is temporary. Pride is forever. Gotta remember this when my legs feel heavy, there's a sidesticker making it hard to breath, my head feels like it is going to pop, and my arms are tingling. I gave up on my last repeat tonight. I was hurting, but was there more? There's always more. Always. Unless you're on the floor.

Don't let the King be the Winner! I went to Burger King an hour post workout. I ordered and devoured

a BK Double Stacker (I love the sauce they use),

small french fries,

small Coke,

and the clincher... a BK Fish sandwich.

Did I really need the fish sandwich, too? The King made me do it. I will be stronger next time. Approximately 1900 calories. BMI just went up 1pt. I can feel it. This is gonna need some extra laps on the next workout.

And the workout...

3 laps around the track on my own (.75 mile)
1 mile loop around the neighborhood
Stretching and then 4 x 100 striders

6 x 800 repeats @ 4-7 seconds faster than 5k goal pace (3:20-3:25)
I ran 3:19, 3:20, 3:19, 3:26 (missed by 1 second), 3:21, 3:44 (refer to 2nd paragraph above ^ beginning with Cliche.)

Did some breathing exercises and slow stretching at home a few hours after the workout.

Reset on the Long Run

2011-03-27T21:01:00.000-04:00

After getting up to 10 miles on my long runs, I have hit the reset switch and am now back at 6 miles for my long runs. I didn't run as fast as my 10 milers either.

I didn't start with a warmup this workout, because I had my girlfriend pacing me on her bike. She stayed slow enough for me to keep up with her, which was very nice. I say this because a cyclist could very easily push the pace and send a runner into anaerobic activity in no time flat.

My left ankle has hurt since Friday. No particular reason. My GF felt my ankle and thinks that I am missing some cartilage. Could be, but I don't really want to know that. It was still a little sore when I started today's run, but it felt normal by the time I hit 2 miles.

Everything felt nice and smooth through 3 miles. That's when I had to start thinking about pushing myself to maintain my pace. I would say that I probably was running in the high 8's for most of the run. Somewhere between that point and mile 5, my GF says to me, "Let me see that gazelle stride you talk about." Of course, I start pushing off harder and lifting my thighs as I drive my knees forward. I picked it up and ran sub-6 minute pace for about a quarter mile and was out of breath in no time. I told her to wait as I slowed down, but kept motivated enough to go back to my previous pace.

I yelled out when we had 1 mile left, because I have that marked in my head (from too many runs to count). When we hit about half mile left, she tells me that we're close and I need to pick it up a little. I really like that about her. She knew exactly when to push me. When we finished up, I was spent. The temperature was high 70's when the sun was going down. Felt great!

It is Hard Running after a Layoff

2011-03-24T22:30:00.000-04:00

I haven't really worked out very hard in about 3 weeks and I sure feel it. It is now 3 hours since I finished my workout and my legs are killing me. This time, I wised up and took my Claritin-D an hour before my workout. I was very thirsty, which is a side effect, but much better than feeling like my lungs are about to seize up, runny nose, and itchy eyes. Just saying.

The workout wasn't really that hard, which makes me feel even more pathetic about taking so much time off. We ran a 1.25 mile warmup, did our usual light stretching and then a 4 mile loop to, around, and back from Lake Baldwin. Most of the people in my group are running the Winter Park 10k this Saturday, so he didn't want us killing ourselves. He said to run at conversational pace. That would have worked if I kept up with anyone. Instead, I just had to keep my thoughts to myself, which were mostly about just trying to keep pushing. Nothing truly inspirational that's for sure. I had to stop for about 30 seconds around the 2 mile mark. After that, I went between barely jogging to pushing through the headwind and trying to keep pace.

By the time I got back to the track, almost everyone was finishing up the 200 meter repeats. Coach wanted us to run 4 to 6 of them. Run them somewhat hard, but not sprinting. Just get a good turnover with your legs. I was dying by the time I got there, so I ran 4 of them. I felt like death afterward. I sat down on the bleachers next to the water jug, so I wouldn't have to move very far. I was beat physically, although mentally, I felt very accomplished. I could have easily not run at all today in fear of the pollen.

I wish I had done more indoor workouts during my time off. Some of it was to rest my calf, so maybe not that time. But I could have been doing something instead of going outside and causing a nasal infection a week ago and that would have given me the ability to do even more indoor workouts. See how that works? Maybe next year I'll have a game plan in place for when the Oak Pollen Attacks!!

3 weeks exactly until the IOA Corporate 5k in downtown Orlando.

First Run in 2 Weeks and Allergies Did Me In Again

2011-03-22T21:42:00.000-04:00

It is 2 hours after my workout stopped and I am still blowing my nose. The last time I ran I hurt my calf and then I got a sinus infection from pollen overload. The pollen count is still very high today, but it hasn't been as bad on me the last few days. The pollen has gone from a light green to brown now and I thought it was a turning point. I am fully vested in Claritin and hopefully my nose calms down soon. It is driving me crazy.

So the workout... we did our normal 1 mile warmup, stretching, and then 4x100 striders. All is well. The actual workout is 5x1000 at 5k goal race pace with 200 recovery jog.

I ran the first one in 4:05 (6:34 mile pace) and the second in 4:20 (6:58). That's a considerable drop. The first felt pretty good even though my legs felt like they were burning up. I didn't think too much of since I haven't run in 2 weeks. The definitely felt like I slowed down on the second repeat even though I was trying to maintain the same pace. My lungs were starting to feel asthmatic, though, by the end of that one. I walked the recovery, got a little swig of water, and started the third 1000. My lungs kept getting more constricted as I went and I stopped after 1 lap. That was it. I walked it off and got some cover under a tree.

Within 5 minutes, my nose was running like crazy and my eyes were itchy. Done. I popped one Claritin right away. I biked home and ate some veggie lasagna and popped another Claritin. Hopefully this goes away within the next hour, so I can sleep tonight.

Tuesday's Workout Brought Calf Pain

2011-03-03T19:44:00.000-05:00

Irony Alert: We never stretch our calves during warmups. On Tuesday, we stretched our calves. On Tuesday, I hurt one of my calves.

Tuesday's workout was 2 sets of 4 x 600 @ slightly faster than 5k pace. I ran the first set with no problems.

2:25, 2:30, 2:23, 2:25

The second set was going great. 2:28 on the first rep. On the second rep, I was on pace all the way through the 400 and as I was coming down the last straightaway, I could hear someone just bearing down on me. Breathing. Footsteps. So I turned around mid-stride to see if the person was going around. I moved into the second lane to make way and as I stepped through with my left leg, something pulled in my left calf. Just enough to warrant stopping. It was the kind of muscle pain that you know to stop and rest it. So I didn't even try to jog it off.

It is Thursday now. Yesterday, it was very sore and there was a little pain going into my Achilles. Today only hurt when I used stairs, but walking on flat ground didn't hurt. It's still sore. I will rest it tomorrow as well. We'll see for Saturday.

Started Riding the Bike to Work Again

2011-02-28T10:29:00.002-05:00

I finally took my bicycle to the gas station up the road and inflated the tires. I haven't ridden my bicycle to work since pulling my hamstring in late October. Then after my leg healed, it started getting cooler, so I made that my excuse from riding in the mornings.

Well, the temperatures are fantastic and I finally rode my bike to work this morning. Yay! It felt great and I was energized when I got in the office. That may be the kick I needed to start losing some extra pounds.

Tempo Run Around Lake Baldwin

2011-02-24T22:42:00.000-05:00

Coach was in a good mood today and extra jolly in telling us that our workout was going to be a tempo run. Two laps around Lake Baldwin. Afterward, Jonny's Garmin showed it as 4.98 miles, but I'll call it 5 even. So he tells us to think of our pace as 15k race pace. I've never run a 15k, but I figure it is going to be slightly faster than talking speed and not as fast as 5k or 10k speed. He told us to try to run a negative on the second loop around the lake.

I was running this time with Paul. He normally runs much faster than I, but he has had foot problems lately and he just got back to running. He said that he got some more padding for his shoes and socks and that helped with the pain, but he still doesn't have his lungs back. I totally understand, because I just recently felt like I got my lungs back after a pulled muscle a few months ago. Anyway, Paul asked me what pace I was gunning for. I told him somewhere between 8:00 and 8:30. I figured that if I can run that for 7 miles on my long run, then I should be able to handle that for 5 miles. He immediately said we were running under 8 minute pace. I mumbled in agreement and said that I was on the verge of sucking wind. We kept it up though.

I ran the first 2.5 in 18:50 That's 7:32 average pace. I stopped for 10 seconds to take my shirt off and wipe my face. I got right back to my pace. The entire time I was running the second lap, I thought I was going faster. Not quite. Paul only had 10 seconds on me and no matter how much I tried do some pickups along the way, he kept the relatively same distance ahead of me. My total time ended up being 38:18. That includes the 10 second stop. If it was a race and I stopped for any reason, the official time clock wouldn't wait for me. That made my second loop a 19:28 which gives me an average pace of 7:47 for that one.

My average pace for the whole 5 mile tempo run was 7:40. No world record, but I feel good about my effort.

1000m Repeats

2011-02-22T20:40:00.000-05:00

The workout that I dislike the most is mile repeats. Today's workout is my second least favorite. 1000m or 1 kilometer repeats. That's 2 and a half laps around a track. It's about .6 miles.

The goal was to run at 10k pace. I don't have a frame of reference since I haven't run one in 5 years. In this case, coach told us to use our 5k pace, double it and add 1 minute. I figure that's around 23 minutes, so 46 plus 1 equals 47 minutes. Our chart didn't have 10k times, so my partner and I guessed it would be around 4:40-4:45 and anything under that is good. Now that I can look it up online using a pace calculator, I can see that it is 4:42.

The workout was 2 sets of 4 repetitions. The first one was 10k pace and then 3-4 seconds faster each one. Take a 1 minute rest between reps and 3 minutes between the 2 sets. At the beginning of the second set, start over at 10k goal pace again and work our way down again.

That didn't work out at all. We ran the first one in 4:21. Way too fast. Followed that up with 4:25, 4:23, and 4:23. I don't remember the second set except for the last one. Here's what happened on the second set, because I deviated from the workout. My partner and I tried to keep up with the pack in front of us to begin the next set of 4 x 1000. They were only running between 5-10 seconds faster than us, but we were already running too fast. That did me in. On the second 1000, I started feeling numb in my feet and a little dizzy, so I stopped with 300 to go and did a walk and jog around the track to get straight. I then did my third and forth by myself. Third one was slow and the forth one I ran the 1000 at 4:30, but I also kept running for another lap to make up the difference of what I cut short on the second rep. It probably didn't help my workout, but it helped my ego at the end of the workout, so I didn't feel like I cheated.

I don't like 1000's. Everyone has theirs. I like running 400's. Most people hate them.

Registered for the Corporate 5k on April 14th

2011-02-18T23:54:00.000-05:00

I have been meaning to register for the IOA Corporate 5k all week and I have finally taken the time to register my company since I am the team captain again this year. At least this year, we have a heads up on what's going on. Last year, we didn't even know if we were going to have a team, because the previous captain was gone. I kind of defaulted since no one else wanted to do it. I have been running it for a few years and I didn't want us to completely drop the ball and not have a team.

I am pretty sure it the largest 5k in the state of Florida. It is definitely pretty crazy for the first mile if you aren't at the very front. As a matter of fact, some of the fastest runners finish before all of the walkers get through the starting gate. Last year, there were 12,500 participants and I think they are aiming for either 13k or 14k this time. Either way, there is a lot of energy. You can't worry about getting a PR. It's about the atmosphere of the event.

If you live in Orlando and don't have a team, create one. Check it out at www.corporate5k.com.

1 and 1's and Then a Few Extra Miles for Good Measure

2011-02-17T22:01:00.000-05:00

Today's prescribed workout was 1 and 1's. That's 1 minute at 5k race pace alternating with 1 minute of jogging. We did this for 16 minutes. I definitely ran faster than my 5k goal race pace. The first thing that made me feel really good about this workout was that I stayed with the group through 5 of the fast portions. I trailed off for the last 15 seconds of that 5th one and then I lost ground on the remaining jogs, but I only finished about 100 meters behind the pack. I made sure not to slow down much on the fast parts, but I definitely lost ground on the jogs. That's when everyone else has a good time talking to each other and I'm panting like a dog.

After the 16 minutes were up, I took another minute and a half to jog back to the track to get some water. Instead of finishing the workout with a mile cooldown, I started running around the track. I only had 1 mile planned in my head, but then I just kept going. I ended up running 3 miles after the main portion of the workout. That's the second thing about today's workout that made me feel really good. I started off around 10 minute pace and by the last mile, I was running at 8 minute pace. My legs were tired, but at the same time, I kept feeling stronger as I went and I think it was swelling up from confidence. I think this is all due to the longer runs that I've been doing on the weekends. Everyone told me it would help a lot, but I have to admit that I was skeptical. If I wasn't, I would have started doing them months ago.

Total miles including warmup and cooldown: 6.8 and feeling great!

5 Miles, Easy Style

2011-02-16T20:38:00.000-05:00

I usually take Wednesday's off, because my legs need the break between speed sessions on the track. I just felt like I needed to get out there tonight for some reason. An easy run would do. I want to knock off a few pounds before summer when it gets hot, which should help speed me up, too.

I knew that I needed to take it easy or I would definitely pay for it during tomorrow's track workout. I started with an 11 minute mile warmup. I didn't feel like stopping to stretch, so I just kept slowly going. I barely cracked the 10 minute mile barrier the rest of the way, because I finished up the 5 mile run in 50:33.

The weather was perfect again. It was warm enough to break a sweat, but cool enough to feel good, too. I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it felt like it was between 66-70 degrees F. I hope it stays like this for at least a month, but I'm probably only dreaming.

Speed Work... of the 1000 and 200 Kind

2011-02-15T20:38:00.000-05:00

I won't be running the House of Hope Run Around the Pines 5k this Saturday in Winter Park, but it is the last 5k of the Track Shack Grand Prix Series for 2010-2011. That being said, Coach Nathan is gearing us up for the race. I anticipate being in Miami for the weekend or at least part of it.

4 x 1000 at our goal 5k race pace with 2 minute rests and then 6 x 200 at Fast. What's fast? Not quite sprinting, but close enough to wind you afterward.

On the 1 km's, I was shooting for 4:20, which is just over 21:30 for a 5k. I ran them in 4:03, 4:06, 4:06, 4:15. Keeping that average pace would net a 20:43. I could live with that. Not going to happen just yet, though.

On the 200's, I am not sure what my times were. I clocked the first one and it was a :37, which wasn't that exciting to see when I looked at my watch. The rest period between reps on these was 45 seconds, which I abided except on one that I took a 55. Considering what my time was on the first rep, I am pretty sure that I kept it under 40 on all of them. I had to be very careful not to push myself too hard, because 200's is what we were running when I pulled my hamstring this past October. Their so easy to run that sometimes I get carried away and just letting loose. Not today, so everything is intact.

Long Run - Cut Short

2011-02-13T15:48:00.000-05:00

It was a little chilly this morning. I started with an 11 minute mile warmup and some stretching. I planned on running 4 laps around Lake Ivanhoe near downtown Orlando. Due to the cool weather, I was very dehydrated and had to stop every lap. Mind you, each lap is 2.5 miles, but that made me slow down and start back up too frequently.

I did the first lap in 19:47, so just under 8 minute per mile pace (7:55). The second lap was 40:12 total (20:25 split), so just over 8 minute pace (8:10) for the second 2.5 mile set. That brought the average of 5 miles to 8:02. I continued to slow down on the third lap and was having to focus on my form, which was being altered due to another blister on my left food. At the end of the third lap, I decided to stop. I could have done another lap to complete a 10 miler, but I just didn't feel like beating myself up today. That blister would have been killing me after another 2.5 lap. Anyway, my final time was 1:02:45 which is exactly 8:14 average pace for the entire workout. That means I ran the last 2.5 mile lap in 21:33, which is an average of 8:37.

Although shorter than my recent long runs, it felt good.

Thursday 300's and 300's and 300's

2011-02-10T22:16:00.000-05:00

Lesson #1: Don't eat a large meal within hours of a hard workout.
Example #1: Eating a 12" hot parm sub sandwich 3 hours before running 300 repeats on the track.

Was it too much sodium? Sure. Was it too much cheese? Definitely. Was it too much protein in one sitting? You bet. Too many carbs? Probably enough for two people.

I was burping up parm for the entire warmup jog and into my striders. At least it stopped by the time we started the actual workout which turned out to be 300's at mile pace. 3 sets of 4 reps with a 100 recovery jog and 3 minutes of rest between the sets. At least it was a quick workout.

I know I kept all of my reps below mile pace, which was good. The fastest runner in our group, Murphy, asked the other guys to run in a small circle until everyone caught up after each rep. I was usually second to last on each rep, but during the jog, I was the slowest.

I kept all of the reps under 60 seconds which was good. Thanks to the other guys waiting just a few seconds during the recovery jogs, I was able to keep up... until midway through the last set. During the last 100 straightaway of the second rep, I started hyperventilating. I knew I was going to take an extra 10-15 seconds to recover, so I yelled to the rest of the guys to just go without me.

It felt really good that the guys waited as much as they did. It helped boost my morale and probably kept me running faster through the workout than if I trailed behind. I wasn't that far off during the actual runs and I kept my speed up on the last two reps when I ran alone.

Feels like my speed is finally coming back after that last hamstring pull in October.

Good Speed Session on the Track

2011-02-08T22:07:00.000-05:00

I didn't break any world records or anything, but I did have a good night on the track. We ran 6x800's and our coach was asking for mile pace or maybe 3-4 seconds slower. My last mile for time was 6:15, so my 800 time is 3:08.

I'm thinking there is no way that I am running that many at that speed. And of course, I didn't, but I had a good time trying and what I felt was a strong showing.

After running that 10 miler this Sunday, I felt stronger doing this workout. My legs felt really good, too. I took long, graceful strides (at least in my mind) instead of short, choppy ones (which is what I do when I'm in pain).

So 3:08's or 3-4 seconds slower. I got 2 of those out of 8 tries. The times:

3:13, 3:17, 3:12, 3:11, 3:14, 3:21

I dogged that last one. I started strong like the others for the first 200 of it and went strong down the final stretch, but everything between was heavy tromping like Goofy.

The what-if guy in my head wants to know what I would have run without the 2 minute rests between reps and stretch it out to a full 5k... it's a 20:10. I would be happy with that right now.

Another 10 miler

2011-02-06T13:26:00.000-05:00

This one didn't hurt as much as my 10 miler a few weeks ago, but it had it's moments. I had been up for a few hours, but wanted to wait until dawn for safety's sake. I checked the weather report and it said that it wouldn't start raining until around 1pm. Wrong. It started raining as soon as I finished my short warmup and stretching routine. I went back inside my apartment to put my glasses down and the couch looked so appealing. "Don't do it," said the little voice inside. "You'll be sorry later."

So I took off into the rain for my 4 laps around Lake Ivanhoe. My first lap (2.5 miles) was within seconds of 9 minute pace. The second lap felt even better. I stopped at that point, which was 5 miles to take off my outer T-shirt and drink a little water. I had placed a small water glass on my porch, so I could drink fast and be on my way. My pit stop was less than a minute. The third lap was done and I had run through enough puddles by now that my toes had water squishing between them. My legs were starting to feel heavy, too. Around the 8 mile mark, I had to stop for a few cars and when it was my turn to cross the street, a car going my way let me have the way. I tried to bolt across the street, but my legs were rooted in the sidewalk. From that point, I struggled with my form. My overall pace didn't change. I completed my 10 miler in 1:29:58, so 2 seconds faster than exact 9 minute pace.

The Benefits.

I went to Publix for some Super Bowl snacks and some regular grocery items a couple hours after my run. My blood pressure was 113 over 70 with a 68 pulse. That is close to my BP from when I was in high school. It has been slightly higher lately (120/80) and about the same pulse after walking the store and I was very encouraged to see my BP where I would like it.

I Got Recovery Socks

2011-02-06T04:46:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by someone about trying compression socks. I have never used them thinking they were more for marathon runners, but I have seen others wearing them. It definitely can't hurt, so why not.

Last week, my package arrives. I am now the proud owner of a pair of The Recovery Sock. The idea of compression socks is that they increase blood flow, which in turn will increase the speed of recovery. The idea is fairly new to running and sports, but they have been used for some time in the medical field for diabetics and post-surgery recovery.

I wore them after Tuesday and Thursday's speed work sessions and they made my calves feel better almost immediately. Usually, my calves feel tight after a workout. The socks helped with that.

Here are my new socks in all their glory.

My plan is to continue using them post run over the next couple weeks. Then, I will try them during my runs as they are designed for both.

8 x 600 intervals

2011-01-27T23:53:00.000-05:00

I ran intervals tonight. 8 x 600 at just a little slower than mile pace with a 200 recovery jog. It was chilly and windy. Temps were around 50 degrees. The wind was blowing in the direction of the straights, so it was nice gliding on one side and pushing into the cold air on the other.

I wasn't feeling good during the first half of the workout and then I took a pee break. What a difference that made. I felt free to just run the second half of intervals without really concentrating on my times.

I was notified last night that I should be receiving a pair of VitalSox compression socks very soon. I can't wait. I plan on trying them as recovery socks to see if that helps my calves since they are usually hurting after workouts. I figure I'll do that for a couple weeks. Then, I will try wearing them as workout socks and see what that does.

Season's 52 Park Avenue 5.2k - Race

2011-01-22T12:34:00.001-05:00

The course was flat and didn't have a lot of turns, so that made it fast. The brick made it slow though. It's not fun having to keep a watchful eye on ruts as you're thinking about your pace. I like finishing down Park Avenue running on the shop lined street, but your ankles keep wobbling on the bricks.

As for me, I knew I wasn't going to have a good race from the start. I don't know what it was, but I felt out of breath after a quarter mile and I was running my pace. I struggled the entire run until the end. My right calf hurt the entire race. That's been building up since Tuesday.

I hit the first mile at 7:05. That would have been great if I stayed at that speed, but I only slowed down. My second mile split was 14:35, so I ran a 7:30 on that one. The 3 mile split was 22:22 (7:47) which is kind of cool, but that should have been my 5k time which happened to be 23:07. My 5.2k official chip time was 23:52. I was hoping to break 23 minutes. My average pace was 7:23. That was aided by me speeding up for the last quarter mile, which I ran at 6 minute pace.

I haven't run this race or distance before, so at least it is a PR. I hope to have pictures later.

It's later!

That's me near the finish line. No, not the kid!! He beat me. I'm the one with the gold glow. There's more pictures at Track Shack's Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150090713668874&id=68449813873&aid=280604

Registered for Season's 52 Park Avenue 5.2k

2011-01-19T14:39:00.000-05:00

I am finally registered for the Season's 52 Park Avenue 5.2k race this Saturday, January 22nd in Winter Park. I have never run a 5.2k, so this is a guaranteed PR!!

http://www.trackshack.com/events/individual/parkave/parkave.shtml

400-800-400... Repeat... Repeat

2011-01-18T22:29:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what tendon and muscle was tight this evening, but it was the one in the back of your thigh that sort of sticks out in the back when you flex your legs. It was sore during warmups and then just kinda hurt during the workout. Didn't hurt enough to stop my workout though.

Plan was to run 400 at mile pace, 800 at 5k pace, 400 at mile pace with 1 minute recovery between each interval. 3 minute rest. Repeat. 3 minute rest. Repeat. Fall over.

Mission accomplished!

Everything except for the pace. I think I ran too fast on all but one interval out of nine.

400 = 1:28 = 5:54 mile pace = 18:20 5k

800 = 3:11 = 6:24 mile pace = 19:54 5k

400 = 1:30 = 6:02 mile pace = 18:45 5k

400 = 1:23 = 5:34 mile pace = 17:18 5k

800 = 3:16 = 6:34 mile pace = 20:25 5k

400 = 1:30 = 6:02 mile pace = 18:45 5k

400 = 1:32 = 6:10 mile pace = 19:10 5k

800 = 3:48 = 7:39 mile pace = 23:45 5k

400 = 1:18 = 5:14 mile pace = 16:15 5k

That last one laid me out. I gave it everything I had. I can hardly believe that I used to run a mile faster than that pace. When I finished, I went straight to the grass to catch my breath.

I don't know why I'm obsessing over the hypothetical outcome, because I can't keep up those speeds without the rests. My time over that 4800 meters is 18:56. That is a 6:21 average mile pace and comes out to a 19:43 5k time. That's where I'd like to be at the end of this year.

I already felt stronger mentally from running the 10 miler on Saturday. There is a 5k this weekend, so I will be skipping the long run. I can't wait to see what happens after I get a few more of these long runs under my belt.

5 Miles Today; 4 Runs This Week

2011-01-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

I took a nap after yesterday's 10 mile run and by this morning, I didn't feel a whole lot of pain in my legs anywhere. With this in mind, I kept thinking about running this afternoon. The weather was amazing. Sun was out and it was somewhere in the high 60's to low 70's. I'm not sure exactly, but it sure was nice.

2 laps around Lake Ivanhoe. That would be 5 miles and put me at 25 for the week. I haven't run 4 times in one week in I can't remember how long. I am feeling it. My times aren't spectacular, but I am feeling more energetic and healthy and stronger.

I wanted to time my run, so I didn't do a warmup. I went right into it. I was at a good pace by a quarter mile. I was running by myself, so whenever I felt like I was just running and not pushing, I thought in my head that I had to keep up with the other guys like during yesterday's 10 miler. It worked.

I hit the first lap (2.5 miles) at 19:43 (7:49 per mile). My full 5 mile time was 40:17, so that split was 20:34 (8:14 per mile). My average pace over 5 miles was 8:03.

I got a few more blisters this run, but felt great making them.

Hello 10 Mile Run!

2011-01-15T10:05:00.000-05:00

Hello old friend. I haven't seen you in years. You make my calves and feet hurt.

Just kidding... about a 10 mile run being my friend. The pain is real, though. I haven't run 10 miles in a day in a few years. My running group goes out every Saturday and does a long run together except when there is a race. I have been running with this group since August 2010 and this was the first time I did the long run with them. Late bloomer I guess.

I needed this. If I was trying to run this by myself, I would have done one of two things and possibly both. First, I wouldn't have run this fast. I would have averaged at least a minute slower per mile pace. Second, I probably would have given up after 7 miles.

There were water and Gatorade stops at different points along the way and that helped tremendously. I stopped at all of them. They lasted 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, and 2 minutes. The first break was like a warmup stop a little after a mile. There were 7 runners in our group. We split up into 10 mile and 12 mile groups at the first break. 3 of us stuck together for the 10 mile run. The second pit stop helped me catch my breath around the 4 mile mark. Within half a mile, I told the other 2 guys that I was going to slow down a little and for them to keep going. I didn't want to slow them down. By the time we hit the next break around 7 miles, I was about 300 meters behind them. I was toast at this point. I drank up and stretched for a total of 7 minutes. It was a little too long of a rest, because my legs felt a little stiff when I started up again. I tried to keep up the pace, but could not do it. I made my way about a mile and a half to the next water break, which I didn't see until I was right on top of it. My left calf was cramped at that point. I knew I only had a little more to go, so I pushed on.

Because I was tired and my calf was hurting, I started to alter my form for the worse. I am a fore foot striker and started pushing my feet forward into the ground with each step. This made my toes start hitting the fronts of my running shoes. Not good, because I can feel the two long ones starting to bruise. As I type, they are already turning red. They'll probably be purple by tonight and black tomorrow. Good bye toenails in a couple weeks. All in all, I have 2 bruised toes and 3 blisters. One of the blisters was filled with blood. Those are always cool. I am of the faith that popping them as soon as possible is the best medicine by relieving the pressure and therefore ridding the body of pain.

I plan on heading to Track Shack today sometime and signing up for next Saturday's race - Season's 52 Park Avenue 5.2k. It is my first time running this race and since the distance is just over 5k, I am guaranteed a PR!!!

Summary of today's long run... 10 miles. 1:41 total time on the road. 17 minutes spent at water breaks. Total run time: 1:24 which is an average pace of 8:24.

4 x 1000m

2011-01-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

It was cold running this evening, but the sun is starting to set later. There was a glimmer of sunlight on the horizon as late as 6:30pm. It will start getting warmer in a few weeks and I can run with less layers. It was high 30's - low 40's when I was running.

I felt a little tightness in my right calf during warmups, but it went away after stretching.

Tonight, we ran 4x1000m at our goal 5k pace with 2:15 rests. I was aiming for 4:25 each which would net me a 22:05 time in the 5k. My actuals were:

4:11 = 6:44 mile pace = 20:55 5k
4:08 = 6:39 mile pace = 20:40 5k
4:22 = 7:02 mile pace = 21:50 5k
4:17 = 6:54 mile pace = 21:25 5k

My average time was 4:15 per kilometer. If I kept that pace the entire 5k, my time would be 21:15 which would better my last 5k by just over a minute. My last 5k race time was 22:17. I should be close to matching my previous time since these times included rests. I obviously wouldn't be able to keep that same pace the whole time.

Mile Time Trial

2011-01-11T20:29:00.001-05:00

Today was the first day of the next session of the Track Shack Five and Dime Training Program, which means we had to run a mile time trial. I tried not to have too many expectations since I pulled my hamstring and got sidelined for a few weeks. I haven't quite gotten all of my speed back to the point where I was when I got hurt.

I tried to keep up with someone I normally run behind and that worked until lap 4 when he dusted me. The sad part for me is that this guy is about 20 years older than me. Ahhh... aspirations.

My split times were 1:25, 1:38 (3:03), 1:38 (4:41), 1:34 (6:15). In August, I ran the time trial in 6:07.

I really need to work hard this session, but try to stay healthy, because I want to get under 6 minutes. There's no way I am going to get under 20 minutes for the 5k without breaking the 6 minute barrier and that is my goal.

A Week without Pain

2011-01-08T18:42:00.000-05:00

I had 3 runs this week and no pain in my left calf. I don't know what it was, but I hope it has passed for good.

I am really surprised because we ran 3 x 4 x 400m on Tuesday. I was sure that I was going to hurt halfway through the workout and the only pain was the burning in my thighs and lungs exacted from the track. I remember the first set: 1:29, 1:30, 1:28, 1:26. It wasn't my best work, but we had 2 more sets after that. I kept all of the second set at 1:29's and 1:30's. The third set, I ran 1:33's and 1:37's.

Thursday's workout was an easy 4.25 mile run. I didn't stretch before or after, but I also didn't push myself that hard. Again, no pain.

Today, I went down to the Disney / ESPN Wide World of Sports to check out the Disney Health and Fitness Expo. It was being held for the Disney Marathon and Half Marathon. There was a constant flow of people in and out, because it was packet pick-up for tomorrow's marathon. I have never been to Wide World of Sports. It was a really nice facility. They had all kinds of fields and at one end of the complex there was a track. I went to the track and it was the nice soft spongy kind. A sign said that there was a cross country path behind it in the woods. That's where I went. I don't think it is open to the public every day, because there is a gate. After running around back in the woods though, I found that some of the path leads out to the main road. I had no idea where I was going, because there was no map or signs. It wasn't exactly a looped path either, but I just tried to remember what paths I was on. There were a few workers out there driving carts and a security patrol passed me a couple times, so it was definitely safe. I didn't see any animals, but I did notice deer tracks in different places. That was cool. I am not sure how much ground I covered, but I ran exactly an hour. I think I covered around 6 miles or slightly more. It's hard to tell when you are running on trails. Speaking of the trails, it was a mix bag of sand, low pile grass, dirt, and a couple patches of gravel.

After finishing up my run, I cooled off in the shade near the expo. I went inside and got a Powerade and a vegetable soup. I didn't even know that ESPN made soup. It was good, too.

And the reason I went down there today was to meet Arturo Barrios. He was the 10,000m world record holder when I ran in high school, so I remember reading about him in Runner's World back in the day. I didn't take my camera with me, so I snagged this off the net. He was actually wearing an orange shirt like this today, too.

Calf Pain - Second Time This Week

2010-12-31T10:48:00.001-05:00

I have to start off by saying that I got just over half way through Tuesday's track workout and my left calf got a jolt of pain in the middle from the point where the muscle is connecting to the tendon and then up through the muscle. I couldn't tell anything was wrong if I took small, easy strides or if I was walking. There was the sharp pain whenever I pushed off though, which totally ruined my speed workout.

Thursday's workout was supposed to be 2 minutes at 5k race pace alternating with 1 minute jogging for 30 minutes. I got through the warmup jog and the usual striders with no pain. That was a good sign, so started off OK. I ran at my 5k race pace for 2 minutes, did my 1 minute jog and about half way through the second speed portion, my calf muscle got that jolt of pain.

I just started and really didn't want to give up on the workout. I stood in place pacing in a circle getting upset. I turned it around in my head and tried to figure out how I could possibly still get my workout completed.

I started running with an almost back and forth swaying motion of my legs without bending my knees much and keeping my toes pointed upward as much as possible. I kept my body closer to the ground and it really stressed my thighs and buttocks more. It worked though. No pain. In my mind, I was running kinda like this...

What started out as a good 5k workout turned into a 39 minute run covering 4.25 miles. That's 9:11 pace. Not exactly keeping me on pace to break 20 minutes on a 5k anytime soon.

I have put on a few pounds since Thanksgiving, pulling my hamstring, and not riding my bicycle to work in over a month. I have to get back to riding my bike, cross training, and maybe it's time for a new pair of running shoes. Hello 2011!!!

Fast 300's on Thursday and Christmas Eve Jog

2010-12-24T19:31:00.000-05:00

Thursday Night Group Run

We didn't have a big turnout. Holidays and cold I presume, but there was enough to get a good workout. I got to the track a few minutes early, but not early enough to get a mile in before 6 when practice starts. It's my fault, because I started driving to our Tuesday practice spot. Stupid me.

So I did a mile warmup jog with the group. We stretched and I had to retie my shoes, so I only 2 x 100 striders instead of the usual 4x. Since our workout was doing 300's, Murph gave me a nice suggestion before we got started, "Doug, take it easy and try not to pull your hamstring this time."

Thanks, Mike. Good idea.

The Speed: 3 sets of 4 reps. Each rep is 300 at mile pace. 100 recovery and 3 minute rests between sets.

I kept up with the group and even finished in the middle of the pack through the first set. We were running in the 1:01 to 1:05 range. My best mile time was 6:07, so that's a 1:08. That average of 1:03 is a 5:37 mile. That's well ahead of my time. It may not seem like much of a difference, but it takes its toll on your legs and lungs.

I stayed with the group for the first 2 reps of the 2nd set and then I started laboring. I fell behind and started the 3rd and 4th reps after the group. I took my 3 minute rest like everyone else, so I actually started the last set as Murph was finishing his first rep. I didn't have a watch, so I figured that had to be around a minute. I started cramping in my right side half way through the 1st rep. I ran behind on the 2nd rep and just hunched over trying to catch my breath. I took my time getting back to the line and ran that one with the group as it was their 4th and final rep. I hunched over again in pain from the cramp and walked back to the start instead of jogging. I could have quit and rested with the group, but I wanted to know that I finished the workout. It was on my time, but I finished. I ran that last one hard and it felt like I did around 5:05. That hurt, but more in my lungs and legs this time.

By the time I got around the track, the rest of the guys were starting their cooldown. I just hopped right in and went with them. I was tired, so I cut the route short with Joel since he said his calves were all knotted up. Worked for me. I wanted to start stretching and get out of the cold anyway.

Good Workout.

So Christmas Eve is here and I wanted to get a jump on my New Year's Resolution. I thought I could have been there already, but it is taking longer and will take more devotion including a change in my nutrition to reach my goal. Break 20:00 in a 5k.

I planned on running 5 miles this afternoon while it was warm. Less than 24 hours after finishing a speed workout probably wasn't a great idea, but I was determined. Determined to put my body through more pain.

I jogged 2.5 miles. My right calf hurt from about a mile. As I continued, the pain spread down my tendon and into the arch of my foot. A little further and the pain started going up my leg from my inner thigh by my knee up and across to my posterior hip and into my buttocks. I think the thigh pain was my Sartorius (part of the quadriceps group). My workout was done and I never ran faster than a warmup pace.

Shortly after finishing, there was no pain in either leg, so running easy was a good idea this day. Never would have thought it by the pain in my leg during the run, though.

800's Tonight

2010-12-21T23:40:00.000-05:00

Ran 2.5 miles for a warmup since it was chilly. 1.5 was on my own and then 1 mile with the group. Did some stretching and skipped the usual striders while I took my time taking off my warmup shirt and pants.

The workout was supposed to be 4 sets of 2x800 @ 5k pace and slightly faster with 200 recovery between reps and 3 minutes rest between sets. I decided not to kill myself by trying to run everyone else's 5k speed. I didn't have a stop watch on me, so I don't know how fast I was running. I just kept reminding myself that I am running a 5k and pushing it. With each half mile rep, I lost ground on the pack. By the time I started my 3rd set, I was only 100 meters from getting lapped by the leaders. Coach Nathan was running with us tonight. When he passed me on my jog between 800's, he told me to stop at 3 sets.

Fine by me. My lungs were starting to seize up from the air. Not cold by many standards, but it was cold for my Floridian blood. It ended up taking about an hour and a half before my breathing came back to normal.

The entire workout, I tried to lift my left leg to get a little more drive and pushed off a little more to get better extension. My main goal was to stop that hamstring from hurting and it worked fairly well. It's hard to run when you are either in pain or if you are trying to tweak your form. I hope this works out and in the future, I can have smoother form and then I can concentrate more on my pace. I have to do something, though. Otherwise, my left hamstring is tight and sore for 2 days after each workout.

I finished off my workout with 4 more laps around the track.

Total mileage: 7 miles

8 miles on Saturday

2010-12-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

It took a good 2 miles before my left hamstring was loosened up enough so that it didn't hurt. That is the same time I took off my long sleeve warmup shirt and my warmup pants. I took a break at 4 miles to get some water and do more stretching. It was an out and back, so that was half way through the workout.

On the way back, I stopped at a Christmas tree lot to check on some trees. As soon as I got started back up, my left knee - patellar tendon - tweaked out. It was a sharp pain that made me take very short strides for a good half mile before resuming my normal form. Soon after that, my left calf started tightening up.

I was glad to finish 8 miles, but it was not a smooth comfortable run by any means. At least it logged.

First Real Day Back

2010-12-07T22:19:00.000-05:00

Tonight was my first real speed workout since injuring my hamstring. I ran too fast at the beginning, but I don't care. It felt great to run fast with confidence and not feel my hamstring tugging as my leg extended through the push off and into the kick. I cut my workout a little short, because I was out of shape for what I tried to accomplish.

I started with a 2.5 mile warmup. It was cold; mid 40's. That's cold in Orlando, so I just did a little extra to keep warm. We then stretched and did our 4 x 100 striders. I then took off my warmup pants and one of my 3 shirts.

The actual workout was 2 sets of 5 x Go 600's. That's the 400 @ 5k pace and go for it on the last 200. I started the first set by running 1:29 and 1:30 through the first 400 and then finished up in 2:14, 2:12, and 2:14. I was already spent, but it felt great. I was running the 400's at mile pace, which for me is nowhere near my 5k pace. I should have been running the 400 portions around 1:45. For the 4th rep, I ran closer to my 5k pace and finished around 2:42 or 2:45. I don't remember exactly, but I dogged it. I was having a hard time breathing. I was way into oxygen debt and actually slowed down through the second 300 half of the rep. Coach told me to stay back on the 5th rep and rest.

I did my normal rest like everyone else. He gave us 3 minutes between sets, so I did the 1st rep by myself with no timekeeping. I definitely went back to running too fast again. It felt great, though. I ran the rest with the group after that. On my last rep, it was everyone else's second to last, so I had more in the tank so to speak. You always have a little when you know it's your last run. When my pack came around the 400 mark, coach yells out to us and says something like who is going to make a move and push the group. Since it was my last one, I went for it. I bolted by everyone in my pack and got close to the lead pack. Oddly enough, my time was 2:14 which is what I ran when I started.

That was it for me. I was totally wiped out, but I got the 1.25 mile cooldown logged, too.

2010-12-05T10:12:00.000-05:00

2 laps around Lake Ivanhoe. That's 5 miles. I didn't have a goal in mind other than not to push too hard.

I started with 1.5 miles of warmup. Oddly, my left hamstring was tight during my warmup. It felt fine after stretching, though.

I ran 3 miles and progressively ran faster as I went. I probably started around 9 minute pace and got down under 8 at the end. I didn't carry a watch, so I don't have exact times. It felt like I averaged around 8 minute pace for the whole 3 miles, but since I haven't run much lately, it took a lot more effort to do it.

I think I may need to run more frequently. I don't think I'm getting enough mileage including before my hamstring pull.

Almost Normal Again

2010-12-02T23:40:00.000-05:00

It has been about 3 and half weeks since pulling my right hamstring. My latest workouts include 3 miles easy on Tuesday, November 23rd, 6 miles easy on Sunday, November 28th, and 3 miles today.

When I ran on November 23rd, there was a little pain in my hammie, but it felt good to get out there. I ran 1 mile as a warmup and just wanted to see what I could do. I ran 8 laps and started to feel tired. Coincidentally, my leg started to tighten up, so I finished up lap 9 and called it a night.

On Sunday, November 28th, I did 2 miles as a warmup. I did 1 lap around Lake Eola (1 mile) and there were too many people walking around the park. I kept having to change direction to avoid running into people and that was causing a little pain. Running straight forward didn't hurt though. I went to the track around the block at Howard Middle School and did another 12 laps around the track. 6 miles total.

Tonight, I ran 2 laps as a warmup followed up by 4x100 striders. The striders was my test to see if I could run an actual workout with the group. It felt great. NO PAIN!!! So the workout was 20 minutes comprised of 1 minute at 5k pace alternating with 1 minute of jogging. I was able to keep up with a couple other runners, so it was a success and no pain throughout the entire workout.

I didn't feel like I could fully give it everything again, though. I think it will be a couple more weeks before I am completely back to form.

Hamstring - Getting Better

2010-11-17T11:50:00.000-05:00

It has been a week of nursing my hamstring now. I only used ice to keep the initial swelling down on the first 24 hours. During that same period, I kept my leg elevated as much as possible, wrapped it with bandages, and tried to walk as little as possible. Walking did hurt, too. I couldn't remember if it was a good idea to use pain killers right away. I started with the Aleve the next day and was using them regularly through the first 5 days.

I have been able to walk without pain for 2 days and was able to go up and down stairs at work without pain for 1 day now.

I went out to the training group last night. It made me want to get back out there and run even more. It was definitely a different perspective watching people run in circles versus being one of those runners. I played assistant coach by yelling off splits to some of the runners and giving out motivation as my fellow runners passed me.

I am starting to do strength and stretching exercises now since it is 1 week since my injury and I hope to be jogging within a couple days. Fingers crossed that I will be running in another week.

Pulled Hamstring - RICE time

2010-11-09T22:09:00.000-05:00

The workout this evening did not go as planned. Worked late, back cramps, pulled hamstring.

First of all, I worked late and got out to the track late. I got right into a few warmup laps. I did 3 laps at a decent clip for me. I was doing this while everyone was stretching and doing the usual 4x100 striders to loosen up.

The planned workout tonight:

4x1km @ 5k goal pace with 200 recovery
3 minute rest
4x200 @ full speed with 1:15 rest

I started out fast. The first 1000 was 4:05 (6:34 pace). The second 1000 was 3:56 (6:19 pace). These are closer to my mile pace than to my 5k pace, but you gotta have goals. I knew this wasn't going to go well. I got 600 into my third rep and stopped due to cramps in both sides of my back. That made it too hard to breathe. I was wheezing like a 50 year smoking vet. I finished up my 1000 slowly, but I have no idea what my time was and after stopping, I guess it doesn't really matter. I did the forth 1000 paced at 10k speed through the first 800 and then took off for the last 200. I felt a little better, but could feel the cramping starting to come back after the pickup.

Insert three minute rest.

The 200's. I love running 200's. You get to haul ass and no matter how out of breath you are at the finish, you can get right back into it after a very short rest. I have no idea how fast I was running. I felt really smooth, yet at the same time my legs were very taught and spring like. I felt like a machine. It just came effortlessly. Took a quick 1 minute rest and off on the next one. I took off from the pack immediately and just kept going. I rounded the curve and shortly after hitting the straightaway, my right hamstring popped. I am pretty sure I was overstriding. I was definitely lifting my thighs higher than my normal running form, but it didn't feel awkward, so I didn't think anything of it until it was too late. I got one more stride in after the pop feeling and that didn't feel good at all. OK. It hurt. I hobbled on my left leg off the track to get out of the way of the other runners and went straight to the grass.

I am currently sitting in a chair typing (Rest) with Ice under my thigh at the point of the pull. I have done this before a couple times, but both times were my left. I have some bandages for Compression and will put pillows under my leg when I sleep to keep it Elevated. That's what you see all over the internet - RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

If all goes well and on the same time frame of recovery as my other pulled hammies, I will be running, albeit slightly slower, in two weeks.

Group Fartlek Workout

2010-10-23T12:29:00.000-04:00

I had problems with my bicycle on my way to practice, so I arrived late and didn't get a full warmup. I ran about half a mile warmup and missed the beginning of the actual workout. I had to just warmup as I went and jump in.

I didn't know exactly what course we were doing. Our coach was running with us and when he passed me, he said to just do some quick 10 second sprints in the middle of my warmup jog and catch up to someone that would be running my speed.

That worked and I only missed a small portion of the workout. The workout is below and the rest of the group ran 4 x 2 minutes in the first set.

Fartlek Workout:

2 x 2 minutes @ 5k pace; 1 minute recovery jog
4 x 1 minute @ mile pace; 1 minute recovery jog
4 x 45 sec @ full tilt; 1 minute recovery jog

I didn't quite cover the entire distance of the loop during the fartlek, so I finished up with a steady pace. I was partnered up with someone the whole workout until this last segment. He wanted to start at our jog speed and gradually increase the pace going back to the starting point of the loop. I got about half way and couldn't keep up. I stayed at a consistent pace and he slowly kept pulling away.

It is the first workout in awhile that my legs didn't actually hurt at the end. I don't know what the difference was, though.

Total mileage: 4.35 miles

Down Ladder Workout - Tuesday

2010-10-20T22:16:00.000-04:00

Ladder Workout - Interval workout with a systematic progression. This is more easily understand with examples. Any distances can be used such as 400, 600, 800, 1000, 800, 600, 400. You would run the 400's at mile pace, the 600's slightly slower, the 800's at 5k pace, and the 1000 at 10k pace or slightly faster. I used to run a lot of these in high school on the track team. We would specifically call these Up and Down Ladders. We broke our ladder defitions down to also include an Up Ladder workout and a Down Ladder workout. The Up Ladder workout would be short distances at faster speeds increasing in distance and slowing in speed as the workout progresses. An example would be something like 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200. My group's workout on Tuesday was a Down Ladder. This is the opposite of the Up Ladder. You start at longer distances and increase speed with shorter distances as the workout progresses.

Since I didn't run this weekend, I decided to start warming up early. I jogged 1.5 miles before the group warmup. I jogged another mile and then the usual 4 x 100 striders to loosen up.

Here was our Down Ladder workout.

2 x 1000 (@ 10k goal pace)
4 x 800 (@ 5k goal pace)
4 x 400 (@ 1 mile goal pace)

between each repetition, 200 jog recovery
between each set, 3 minute rest

I ran the first set of 1000's a little fast. I don't remember my splits though. I know I was about 10 seconds faster than my goal and the second was 1 second faster or slower than the first rep.

The 800's were much faster than my goal pace. I think my goal was 3:45 before we started. The first was 3:15 and I could tell that was too fast. I hit the rest in 3:21, 3:24, and 3:20. I posted the times on DailyMile.com and the first one was wrong. I remembered now that I ran that first one just behind Jonny and he did a 3:14. That's a virtual 2 mile time of 13:20.

The 400's were brutal as they should be. They are fast and I was supposed to start jogging immediately after finishing each one, but I had to stop for a few seconds after each one to catch my breath. I was obviously overachieving. I ran them in 1:21, 1:26, 1:21, 1:35. I started cramping and couldn't control my breathing on the last one, but it was only a 400, so I pushed through it. I don't think I could have kept going if it was an 800 or more. Then again, I wouldn't have run that fast if it was an 800. That's a virtual mile time of 5:43. I can't believe that I used to run those pretty easily in high school. I ran a 6:07 at the time trial a couple months ago. I would think that I would be getting close to 5:43 without rest or recoveries, but I guess that I am not taking into account that this was at the end of the workout. At least, that's what I am hoping is the case.

My times are coming down along with the temperatures. This was a great workout!

Go 600's

2010-10-12T21:34:00.000-04:00

What are Go 600's? I just found out today. You run 400 at your 5k goal pace and then GO for 200 to finish off your 600. We did 6 of these with a 2 minute rest recovery. I needed a water break after 4, so I took a 4 minute rest break and then ran number 5 with everyone as their last one. I ran my 6th one by myself.

My goal was to run the first 400 at 1:45, which is a goal 5k pace of 22 minutes flat. My actual times were between 1:28 and 1:34. My final 600 times were between 2:07 and 2:17.

Greater Maitland 5k - Race Report

2010-10-09T11:19:00.000-04:00

Needless to say, there was a small field of competitors this morning. Now with that being said, I took home FIRST PLACE in my 30-39 Age Division!!!! I was 20th overall with a time of 22:17. I said it was a small field.

I got up early and had a good breakfast and 3 cups (mugs) of coffee before the race. I was definitely eye-opened by race time at 7:30am. I also took a couple of pain pills when I woke up, so my back and hamstrings wouldn't hurt. That definitely helped. I've read recently that it's not a good idea to do that, but I think it mainly pertains to marathon runners since a 5k isn't that taxing on your system.

I ran this course 2 years ago, so I knew what to expect.. It is relatively flat the entire way. There was one hill that was nice at the beginning and hurtful toward the end, because the course it pretty much an out and back. For anyone outside of Florida, you probably wouldn't even call it a hill.

I ran the first mile in 6:55. The second mile trailed off a little at 7:20 (14:15) and I maintained that through the last mile with a 7:18 pace (calculated since I didn't pay attention to my 3 mile split). This is my "over 30" PR. My previous best was 22:29 from a couple years ago. I also bettered my last race time of 23:07 by 50 seconds.

My average pace was 7:10 per mile which is 16 seconds per mile faster than my last race.

Now, I need to pick a race in about a month and see if I can knock my average pace under 7 minutes per mile. That means my next goal is to get under 21:44 (-00:33).

Bladder Bust Workout

2010-10-08T14:52:00.000-04:00

We had a group run as usual on Thursday. Coach wasn't there, but he sent instructions to one of the other runners. She told us what our workout was. It was a medium intensity workout, because many people are running races this weekend. I am doing the Greater Maitland 5k, while most of the runners are doing the UCF U Can Finish 5 Miler on Sunday.

We started by doing the normal 1.25 mile warmup and 4 x100 striders.

I was supposed to run 4 x kilometer repeats like the rest of the group, but I had to leave early. I ran 3 instead. The groups broke up into Murphy by himself in the front, a lead pack, a trailing pack, and then me on the caboose. I wasn't too far behind the trailing pack. I think my times were around 2-3 seconds back the first lap and then got up to about 5-7 seconds behind by the third lap. Our goal pace was 5 mile speed, so that is why it was supposed to be moderate to easy. Each kilometer was supposed to be 2-3 seconds faster than the previous one. I was running slightly faster than my 5k goal pace. I ran 4:10, 4:09, 4:06. That equates to 6:42, 6:40, 6:35 mile pace. That's great in theory.

Well, I was supposed to run that 4 times. I only 3. The reason is because my bladder was going to bust if I didn't get out of there and to a restroom in short order. The public restroom at the park was locked. Awesome! Oh, well. Race is tomorrow morning and I'm about as ready as I can be.

400 Repeats

2010-10-05T21:07:00.000-04:00

Just to log what I did this weekend, my long run on Sunday was great. The weather was beautiful. There was a light breeze and I started my run around 2:30pm and the temperature was 82 degrees. That is the coolest it has been since spring, so it was very welcome. I took it easy and was able to get 8.7 miles logged in 1:24:17, so that was an average pace of 9:41 per mile. I stopped once for 4 minutes to get water and do a quick set of leg stretches.

Today, the weather was about the same, but a little windy. We were running on the track, so the good and bad is that you run in a circle. The wind as at your back just as much as it is in your face.

We did our usual mile warmup jog, stretches, and 4x100 stretches. Today's workout was 5 sets of 2 x 400 with 1 minute rest between reps and 2:15 between sets. The intended pace was 2-3 seconds slower than mile pace on the first and then mile pace on the second rep.

My mile time at the time trial was 6:07, so that means my mile pace would dictate a 1:32 and the first, slower lap would be a 1:34/35. I didn't run anything over 1:30. I ran most of them between 1:23 and 1:28. The slowest was 1:30 and the fastest (last one) was 1:20. I wish I had a way of recording them... or remembering. I don't know why, but I pushed the pace and was able to keep up with the middle pack today. After the first few, I was able to stride out and stay tall in my posture. I felt relaxed after the first 4 laps and didn't feel forced. That's about when my left hamstring finally loosened up. One of these days, I am going to find a jacuzzi and soak this leg. I will probably wait until after my 5k this weekend. Even though I felt good during this workout, Coach Nathan thought it best that I sit out the last set. I would have overruled him, but considering my hammy condition, I agreed. Almost everyone else in my running group ran 6 sets. I did some extra hamstring stretches after the general workout. We ran as a group for 1.25 miles as a cooldown around Lake Eola to finish up the night.

Note: I kept my shoes less taut at the beginning of the workout and I felt my feet sliding around causing friction and unnecessary heat buildup. Half way through the repeats, I tightened up my shoestrings and the adjustment allowed me to carry on with the workout with no blisters.

Hills Again and Again

2010-09-30T23:53:00.000-04:00

My left hamstring has been hurting since Tuesday. Pain killers have not helped. If I was going to run today, I had to get in more of a warmup than everyone else at our group session. I started 15 minutes early and got 5 laps around the track. The first lap was brutal and there was nothing I could do but jog slowly and grimace. It almost hurt like I pulled my hamstring on Tuesday, but I don't want to go that far. I've pulled that exact hamstring a couple times and had visible bruises to prove it. It wasn't quite that bad. So anyway, I got 2 miles in a warmup by the time the group ran down to the sinkhole. We did our striders after a short stretch and the uphills hurt, yet oddly enough, the downhills felt normal. Go figure.

Our workout this evening was 5 x 1km with 2 minute rest recoveries. The goal pace was 5 mile speed on the first one and then taking off 2-3 seconds per loop. Mind you that we are running hills. My goal was around 8 minute pace or just under. We didn't have a chart, so I figured that I wanted to run 4:55 for the first and then taking off 2-3 seconds each loop. So my goal was 4:55, 4:52, 4:49, 4:46, 4:43.

The first uphill hurt something fierce. After a flat section, a downhill and another flat, the second uphill didn't hurt that much at all. Again, go figure. I was happy. My time on that first hill loop was 4:52. The second hill loop was pain free and I took off more than expected by running 4:42. The others: 4:38, 4:32, and 4:16. This was a great workout and I am so glad the hills knocked out the pain in my left hammy. Knock on wood. I hope I wake up without soreness, too.

This has been 2 straight workouts that our coach is having us run negative splits. Am I detecting a trend? This is also my third straight workout that I have been able to complete. Also a trend? I hope so.

Just over a week until my next race.

Thank you Tropical Depression 16

2010-09-29T14:35:00.000-04:00

Rain, all afternoon and all night. That was the forecast yesterday. I wish I had a camera to prove it, because it was around 3:30pm when the storm first hit and it looked like night outside. The rain never stopped and we practiced on time at 6pm. I do not like running in the rain. I mean, it's great for keeping you cooled off, but your clothes and shoes get heavy. Running in puddles slows you down and can tire you out faster, too.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't bring my watch to practice and I tried to keep up with someone that runs a few minutes faster than me in a 5k. The workout was 800, 600, and 400 with 200 recoveries. Goal pace was 10k speed on the 800, 3 to 4 seconds faster per lap on the 600, and then 3 to 4 more seconds faster per lap on the 400. We did 4 sets and got a 3 minute break between sets. If I ran it at my actual 10k goal pace, this would have been a cake walk. I went out and tried to run it faster than my own 5k pace.

I don't remember the exact times, but it was way too fast for me. I ran the first set and was definitely winded. I started the second set and I completed the 800 around the same time as the first set. I only got a lap of the 600 complete before I was so out of breath that I couldn't keep going. I went into my recovery 200 at that point and then finished up the 400. I changed my goal speeds on the last 2 sets and was able to complete the workout. I revved up the last 400 and did that one in 1:23, which was around the speed I did the first one.

It was a great workout and today, I had to pop Aleve just to get to work. Even with pain pills, I am still sore and limping when I get out of my chair.

I Hate Long Runs

2010-09-25T22:34:00.000-04:00

It rained last night for a few hours and it was cloudy all morning. I thought it would be a good day for a long run. It would have if the sun didn't come out after about a mile. Nothing like the Florida sun warming up the vegetation a day after a long rain. Humid is normal in Orlando. Humid is expected. This type of humidity, though, is steamy. Sometimes you suck a warm steamy breath in and it takes you off guard and feel like you are going to choke. It's hard to explain. Wait, it's like running and then all of a sudden you hit a pocket of air like you are in a sauna.

I am used to having my hamstrings feel tight for a warmup and then it usually goes away after the first mile or two. Today, my left hamstring was tight for the first 4 miles. I only ran 6.75 miles, so that was most of my run. I finally felt good for about the last mile. I had a destination in mind, so I stopped running, but I finally hit a point where I thought I could run a little longer. I should have mapped out a route before I started. I just started down the road and I thought it would be around 8 miles by the route I chose. Apparently not.

I just feel so bored running more than about 4 or 5 miles. I have no idea how people can run a marathon. Hours? Really? I can't even think of a genre of music that I could play and still enjoy it for that much time running. I hate long runs. I know I need them to increase my endurance, so it is a necessary evil, but I wish riding a bike for a long distance would do the trick. There is no replacement. Just the long run.

This was my long run for the week and it still fell short of what I wanted to accomplish. Considering I missed Thursday's group practice, I hope I didn't lose any ground on my progress.

Finished a Workout!!!

2010-09-22T21:41:00.000-04:00

Tuesday's workout? 5 x 1k @ 5k race pace with 2:15 recoveries. My goal 5k is about 22:30 right now, so my goal 1k pace is 4:30.

I knew the first one was going to be a little fast by the time I hit 200m, but I didn't want to drop off too much just to make pace. I ran it in 4:09. 21 seconds fast. The second kilo was a little easier, because my legs were warm and I did that in the same time - 4:09. Those were 6:40 mile pace. I ran the third rep in 4:11 and the fourth in 4:12. I was starting to get winded in the last 400m and my arms were getting heavy.

This is where I have been giving up in all the workouts since I got a sick a few weeks ago. I have been dropping out on the last rep or set of each workout. I was tired, but I finally had enough in the tank to keep going.

After the first 400, my legs felt like I had cement in my sneakers. My time was still on pace, but it was harder to keep it up. When I wanted to just stop, I kept thinking about my form and that got me through it. I ran the last one in 4:19. That was too much of a dropoff, but all of my reps were faster than my goal pace. Even on the last one, my mile pace was 6:56.

If I could string those together, my 5k time would be exactly 21 minutes. All things considered, I should now be able to beat my last 5k time of 23:07. I am probably ready to run another 5k, but I am keeping my goal for October 9th at the Greater Maitland 5k.

Fartlek over Hills

2010-09-17T11:16:00.000-04:00

It's one thing to run a fartlek workout and it's another to run a hill workout. Now combine them into one workout and that's what we did yesterday afternoon.

We ran a 2.5 mile course with plenty of hills... twice, but here's the fun part of it. We broke it down into 3 minutes at 10k pace, 1 minute jog, 2 minutes at 5k pace, 1 minute jog, 1 minute full effort, 1 minute jog... repeat as necessary until the 5 miles are covered. This was a very hard workout, yet at the same time, it felt very gratifying.

We were supposed to run the entire 5 mile course non-stop, but I made a pit stop at the half way point to get some water since I didn't drink any before we started. I ran the first loop in 19:00 minutes even. I took between 1-2 minutes for my water break and then started the second loop. I ran that in 22:30.

My overall 5 mile time was 41:30 which breaks down to an average pace of 8:17 per mile. The first loop average pace was 7:36 and the second loop average was 9:00.

800m Modified Repeats

2010-09-14T23:58:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure why, but I felt like a space cadet today. I had a hard time holding a simple phone conversation after my workout and I missed almost every word coming out of my coach's mouth when he was going over the workout routine. I knew we were running 800's. It was a little foggy after that. By the end of the workout, I had it all figured out, though.

It was 3 sets (for me, everyone else ran 4 sets) of 2x800m with a 200m recovery jog. Do not stop running, but go from recovery jog straight into the next 800. The first 800 of each set will be run at 5k race pace. The second 800 will be run at 4-8 seconds faster than the first.

My goal 5k time of 22:30 has an average pace of 7:14.5 per mile and an 800 meter pace of 3:36. It went a little something like this.

3:21 - 3:24
3:22 - 3:18
3:21 - 3:17

The first set was the slowest overall and I ran it backwards. The other two sets were perfect. Maybe I could have run them a couple seconds faster, but I was hurting by the last one. Either way, I beat my goal pace on all of them.

If I could put all of the 800's together into a 5k, I would run a 20:45 at an average mile pace of 6:41.

Long Run for the Week

2010-09-12T16:38:00.000-04:00

I know most people run in the mornings to avoid the heat and traffic and maybe just so they get it done and out of the way for the day. Me, nope. I waited until midday when the temperature was 92 degrees F and the heat index said it was 99. That's my time.

I know I don't make all of the brightest decisions. Like this one for instance.

Last week, I ran just over 7 miles. If I follow the rule of not increasing mileage by more than 10 percent each week, I should keep it under 8 miles. I did exactly 8 miles.

I ran from my apartment to downtown's Lake Eola. Got a quick water break and stretch done. Then 2 inner loops and 2 outer loops, which is 4.5 miles. I stopped between laps for water, because as I stated earlier... it was stupid hot today. Then, I finished up the run with 1.5 miles home. I had a hard time mentally running the portion home, except for the last half mile. I just wanted to give up and stop under an Oak tree and call it quits.

Once I got to within a half mile, I sped up a little and just thought that it was 2 laps around the track and that brought me home.

Running in the Rain

2010-09-11T14:52:00.000-04:00

Thursday's group run was a 3 mile run followed by 6 x 200m sprints (or the speed you would run the last 200m of a race). We started with a 1.25 mile warmup and then stretched. The rain was coming toward us, so we didn't do the normal striders. We were originally going to run 4-5 miles, but cut it short due to the weather and ran 3 miles instead. We stayed in a tight pack, which means we ran an easy pace for most of the runners. It was a tougher pace for myself, but conversational for the faster people. Johnny, who runs in my group at my speed, had a Garmin 305. When we hit the 1 and 2 mile splits, he told us the pace. We ran 7:54, 8:04, and the last bit was just short of a mile, but his Garmin calculated our pace was 7:45. It wasn't race pace, but it was only 30 seconds from it.

When we got back to the track, the rain was coming down hard. We ran each 200m with 1 minute rests. We did that 6 times. I did really good on the first 5 and dogged the last one. It was really hard running on the track, because each lane had standing water and I could hardly see through my glasses. For the first time since spring though, it wasn't hot.

Slow Long Run

2010-09-05T14:24:00.000-04:00

Well, I finally broke the 7 mile barrier last night. I did 7.25 miles. I didn't even have a goal when I set out on my 1 hour 9 minute journey. Initially, I thought I might run 5 miles, which is 2 laps around Lake Ivanhoe. I ran into too many little bugs that kept sticking to my face and they are gross when they keep flying into your mouth. It makes for a really annoying run.

I decided to venture away from the lake and just keep a nice easy pace. I didn't push myself at any point during the entire run. The only thing that I tried to work on was my breathing exercises about once per mile. What I did was consciously inhale and expand my diaphragm down and pushed my belly out. I've always heard that this will help with side stitches, so why not work on it.

It was a nice evening run. I waited until the sun went down before I started just to make sure it would be as cool as possible. It was humid as usual and the temperature was in the high 80's.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that I was trying out a new pair of running shorts and socks. The shorts were standard seamless New Balance. They worked great. Light weight and completely unobtrusive. I didn't make note of the exact type. The socks were great, too. They were called Hidden Comfort by Balega. Easily the best socks I have purchased in some time. They were 9 bucks, but worth every penny.

Balega Hidden Comfort socks

I have to admit that the reason I felt able to run longer was due to the comfort of these new socks. I think I am going to get at least one more pair... maybe two. I will have to see how they feel during speed work. I have been tempted to get a pair trainer flats for the track lately. I was eyeballing a few at Track Shack yesterday, but didn't make the next step of trying any of them.

Speed Felt Good Today

2010-09-02T23:29:00.000-04:00

We were supposed to run hills today, but it turned into a speed workout on the track instead. That's OK. Everyone likes the track including me. We did our normal warmup of 1.25 miles, stretching, and then 4x100 striders.

We were supposed to run 3 sets of 3 x 660 with 220 recovery. We also got 3 minute rests between sets.

2:15, 2:17, 2:09. If I run a 6 minute mile, I should have been running these at 2:15. I started off well. The next set... not so much. I know the first was 2:22 and the last one was 2:48. I don't remember the middle one. I do know this. I got side stitches on each in the last 100 yards.

Thank goodness our coach can identify this weakness. He had a few of us stragglers only run 440's for the final set of 3. We kept the 220 recovery. I ran these in 1:30, 1:35, and 1:28. I would have run the last one in 1:30, but I gave it a nice kick during the last 50 yards since it was the last one.

Other than the side stitches, this workout felt great. My total mileage for the day was 6.75 miles about 4 hours ago. I have showered, eaten, fully rehydrated and my legs are killing me right now. Bed is calling and I will not deny it.

Mile Repeats.... Kinda

2010-08-31T23:36:00.000-04:00

First group run since being sick.

We did the usual mile warmup, stretch, and striders. Then, 4 x 1 mile repeats with 3 minute recovery. That's what was planned. Up to this point, I feel perfectly normal. We were supposed to run at 5k pace. That means I should be running around 7:25 according to my last 5k time, but I figured I should be able to run these at the same time as my first mile split from that race. That time was 6:45. There were two other guys in my group that said they were going to run that pace. I joined them.

Our first mile was 6:57. That's 12 seconds over. Not too bad considering I didn't use a watch to pace myself and I was relying solely on them to keep us honest. The second mile, I ran a 6:47. I felt good on that one.

I'm not sure what happened on the next repeat. I felt good at the beginning. My legs felt like I was getting good turnover and strides. I had energy. It was even cooler than it's been lately since there were clouds and we were getting some light winds thanks to Hurricane Earl. I got around the first lap and within the next 100 yards my breathing went to panting and then hyperventilating as if I was running all out. But I wasn't. I don't think I was giving it that much effort, but I couldn't breathe right.

I stopped running and walked back over to where our coach was sitting. He just had surgery for plantar fasciitis. That's gotta suck. I noticed that my nose was running slightly, which isn't normal for me. I must still be having effects from my cold last week. I told the coach that is why I was out all of last week. He told me to run an easy 2 miles to finish my workout. I did it. I ran it around 9 minute pace and that was OK.

I rode my bike home and I got winded on the way home, which never happens to me, either. I have eaten now and had a few glasses of water to rehydrate and I still feel a little tired from today's workout. I hate colds.

Back from a Cold

2010-08-28T14:18:00.000-04:00

Most people don't think of having a cold when the temperatures are hovering around the low 90's, but there has definitely been a change in the air lately. Remember, this is Orlando.

I have been fending off a cold the past 2 weeks. I didn't get a lot of sleep on Monday evening, so I think that is what made my body give out mid-Tuesday. I missed my running group both times this week. I went straight home after work Tuesday, because my nose was going berserk. It was driving my nuts, so I stocked up some soup and went to bed. I missed work for a couple days and still wasn't 100 percent yesterday. I went to work, but didn't feel ready to run. My nose was still clogged a little bit.

I haven't run since last Sunday and I felt like my lungs could handle the load this morning. I wanted to take an easy 3 mile run. I started by doing my first mile around 10 minute pace. My legs have definitely rested this past week and I just wanted to bust out and run as fast I could after half a mile. I held back though, until a runner zipped by me at about 1 mile. I made it a point to adjust my speed to match hers. She had about a 200 yard lead and I maintained that spacing for about half a mile. She then stops for water and started back up just after I passed the water fountain. I was probably running around 8 minute pace till that point. That's when I started increasing my turnover and got down around a low 7 minute pace. I kept that style of running for half a mile and then keeping the same speed, I slowed down my cadence and started to stride out. I did this by extending my kicking / trail leg. I didn't want to hurt my knees from overextension.

I kept that speed through 2.75 miles and noticed that the other runner had fallen back by about 200 yards. My ego was bolstered enough for the day, so I finished up the last .25 mile at my original 10 minute pace.

It feels great to be back and I don't think I lost a step. I don't know if my lungs are ready for more mileage yet, but I'll find out soon enough.

Long Run

2010-08-23T15:49:00.000-04:00

I read an something in a recent Runner's World that gave a chart of how long your long runs should be. It says that for 5k training, which is what I am doing, you should run between 12-15 miles or 1 hour 15 minutes-1 hour 45 minutes.

Last week, I got 6.75 miles logged and I knew I had to make an improvement. I went out Sunday with the temperature hovering around 90 degrees and very humid. It was overcast, though. This may sound weird, but it felt like a cool 90 degrees, so I thought I could definitely do more mileage today.

I had a route planned in my head. When I got to the southern most point of my route, the sun came out and that 90 turned into something else. I started feeling the heat in my chest and my head and that really makes it hard to push yourself.

I cut my route a little short, so I could get to a park with a water fountain. I stopped and rested for a few minutes to cool my core down a little. In the process, I ended up cooling my muscles too much. When I started back up to run the last 2 miles, my left calf was tight and stretching didn't help. I had to change my form, because it felt like if I kept running the way I normally do, I would pull my calf muscle.

I limped my way home and finished with 6.15 miles in 57 minutes. Still over 9 minute average pace. I did the 10 percent rule, except I ran 10 percent less than last time. Better luck next run.

Group Hill Workout. Breathe. Just Breathe.

2010-08-19T21:38:00.000-04:00

We started with the usual warmup around a mile. I got to practice right around 6pm, so I didn't have any extra time to warmup. I was hoping to get 3 laps on the track before the group warmup to make it 2 miles, but that didn't happen. I was able to get 1 lap before I noticed that the group was starting to run down the street.

Good thing I turned around when I did or I probably wouldn't have found them. I caught up to the group and we found our way to a water filled sinkhole. It wasn't the big one that made Winter Park famous, but just a little one out by the end of Glenridge. It has hills all around it, which makes for a tough, but good workout. Another added feature of this loop is that it is entirely brick streets, which made me a little nervous the first one.

We stretched and then broke up into 2 groups. Fast and slow. We were doing 4 x 1 km at a pace between mile and 5k pace. Sounds easy, but the hills make that hard to hit. The fast group was trying to hit between 3:45 and 4:10. Our group was aiming for 4:25.

Coach told us that we would get 30 seconds more rest between reps. That only worked on the first one. Everyone started at the same time. Our group then started the next rep 30 seconds after the fast group. I ran exactly 4:25. Perfect. I definitely needed the extra 30 rest.

I ran the second one a hair faster in 4:22. We started 30 seconds after the first group. If we got a 30 second longer rest each time, we would have started a minute after the first group. We actually got the same rest period as the fast group. I didn't notice the discrepancy. I just toed the line when we were told.

I pushed harder on the third one and finished in 4:17. I could start feeling my arms tingling during that one. I was mentally ready to throw in the towel.

Before we started the last one, one of the runners in my group brought up how we were supposed to be around 2 minutes behind by now because of the extra rest. I corrected her and said that we should be one minute and 30 seconds behind the lead group by now. The coach looked at her like she was wimping out and we all toed the line one more time.

I got about half way on this last hill rep and gave up on one of the short flat portions. I figured someone was going to pass me since I took the lead on this one. A few seconds passed as I slowed down and I couldn't hear breathing or footsteps, so I lifted my head back up and started pushing up the next hill. That hurt and I was panting pretty hard. I remembered my lessons of looking 20 feet ahead and keep running. Keep the legs and arms moving. Don't exaggerate the swinging or the leg lift. Just run. So I did.

When I came around the last 200 meters, I felt the cramping pain in my diaphragm like I had on my last 440 on Tuesday. I used to run through this pain in high school all the time. I hadn't felt it in years, so it felt new. Well, since my painful friend reacquainted itself with me, I knew what to expect. No breathing. I only had to go 200 meters like this. That should be less than a minute, so it will be like holding your breath. I pushed down an easy slope and then pushed up the last 50 meter hill portion to the finish. I hit 4:30. I missed my mark by 5 seconds, but I finished.

I was hyperventilating and went straight to the ground in someone's yard. I laid down for about 30 seconds until I could catch my breath. A fellow runner helped me up and told me to lift my arms above my head. Those were the same words that echoed in my head at the end of every cross country race in high school. My coach was always telling me to get up and keep moving. Lift your arms. Breathe. So simple, but your brain just freezes up when you give everything you've got and you feel like you can't... just breathe.

It hurt really bad, but this was a great workout. I hate to be overdramatic, but I felt alive like I haven't in a long time.

Group Speed Workout

2010-08-18T13:50:00.000-04:00

We ran an easy warmup, which is just over a mile. Some striders and then stretches. Then, we keep asking Coach Nathan what we are going to do today. He gives some outrageous workout plans and then tells us 12 x 440's at mile pace with 1:15 recovery rests. We broke it down into 3 sets of 4 reps.

Sounds like a great workout for 5k practice. During my own speed workouts, I was running 4 reps, so this should be pretty hard. I had to keep my speed in check and not dart off too hard like last week.

My mile time was 6:07, so I figure my splits should be around 1:32. I did good. I ran all my splits between 1:27 and 1:33 except for the last one, which I ran in 1:39. I had a hard time breathing on the back stretch as I got a cramp in my middle abdomen. I think it was my diaphragm and it made breathing slightly unbearable.

We actually only ran 11 reps total. Coach noticed that too many of us were hunched over and sucking wind during the 2nd set and he cut it short by 1. We ended up doing sets of 4, 3, and 4.

It was a good workout and I kept myself from trying to compete with the lead pack. I stayed either at the tail end of the middle group or at the front of the rear group for all the reps except that dreaded last one.

Finished up with a slow 1 mile cooldown.

Long Run

2010-08-15T23:12:00.000-04:00

I sat at my computer trying to map out a route that would be over 6 miles, but less than 8. Click, click, click. Undo last point, undo last point. It was a lot of that for 20 minutes. I've got my easy run, hill run, and tempo run loops all figured out, but the long runs get boring unless you try something different each time. You need something to keep yourself occupied mentally... like trying to remember where you are supposed to make turns on your just mapped out route.

I mapped 7.5 this evening. I cut a little off when I actually ran it and ended up with 6.75 miles in 1 hour. I ran just under 9 minute pace. I am pretty sure my endorphins kicked in around 5 miles, because that feeling like you can run forever took over and I was running with ease the rest of the way home. If I knew that was going to happen, I wouldn't have cut the .75 out of my loop.

My goal was to run 6 miles and mission accomplished. Next week's long run must be over 7 miles to make sure I am making improvement.

Celebration of Running 5k Race Report

2010-08-14T10:10:00.000-04:00

This morning, I woke up and calculated my half mile splits the whole way through the 5k and looked up where each point was located on gmap-pedometer.com so I could keep my goal pace.

I was trying to hit 23 minutes, so my goal splits were: 3:42, 7:24, 11:06, 14:48, 18:30, 22:12, 23:00. I started the race only a few feet back from the starting line to make sure I was in my correct pace group. I went out a little fast, but it felt good. I tried to stay with a few of the people in my training group. I did that through half a mile and noticed I was going out a little too fast. Again, it felt good, so why mess with it. I hit the mile in 6:45. That's 39 seconds faster than my goal pace, but I was at the tail end of my training group and I thought that maybe I had improved. I don't remember what my 1.5 split was, but my 2 mile split was 14:06. Now I was 42 seconds ahead of pace.

I had my splits on a small piece of paper like a cheat sheet. When I hit the 2 mile clock that far ahead, I crumbled it up and threw it on the street.

That's about when it started to not feel good.

I definitely started to slow down by the time I was at 2.25. I got a cramp in my right abdomen around 2.5, so I stopped and walked for about 10 seconds taking very deep belly breaths. I got back on my horse and finished up. It was a pretty weak last half mile even though I did a little sprint to cut a few seconds. I finished in 23:07.

I had a 42 second lead on my goal pace heading into the last mile and finished 7 seconds off. Talk about crash and burn. I definitely have more speed, but I need to work on my stamina.

I need to incorporate long runs every single week and make sure that they are more than 6 miles.

This was my second best time since turning 30yo. My over 30 PR is 22:27 in 2008. 40 seconds away. I was close and let it slip. Hopefully, I can beat that mark the next 5k.

Stay Home Friday Night

2010-08-13T23:10:00.000-04:00

This Friday night is feeling just like cross country season in high school. Everyone I know is going out drinking (aka house parties) and I am at home resting for a race in the morning. I remember always feeling left out.

Have to keep my running goals prioritized. I'll be up early Saturday morning finding out if the work and sacrifice is paying off.

Thursday's group run was good... well, half of it was. We started by running a little over a mile for a warmup.

Then, we ran 3.15 miles out, took a quick water pit stop, and headed back. Coach wanted us to stay in groups, so I kept up with the rear group on the way out. It was tough for the last half mile and I got a cramp in my right side during the last quarter. That was the good part. At least, I kept up.

Everyone got a quick restroom break and water and off we went back to our meetup spot.

After 1 mile on the way back, I never saw my running group. That wasn't so good. I was defeated mentally and my legs were killing me. My right hamstring and calf started to stiffen up pretty bad, but I didn't stop running.

Tonight was a much needed rest. Let's see what tomorrow morning brings.

My First Day with the Training Group

2010-08-11T00:24:00.000-04:00

My lesson for today is simple. Don't go out too fast at the beginning of your workout. You will pay the price. I know I did. Our coach told us we would run 4 x 800 at 5k pace with 1:15 rest. I have been running around 8 minute pace lately, but I wanted to shoot for my 6 month goal pace, which breaking 20 minutes. His chart had me pegged at running 3:12 for the 800. Keep in mind, this is still too fast for me.

I go out with the leaders of our group through a lap and a half and finish up my first 800 in 2:52. That's faster than my mile pace versus my 5k pace. That is 20 seconds faster than my goal for 6 months from now. I should really be aiming for 7 minute pace / 22 minute 5k.

My arms started tingling. Welcome oxygen debt! I haven't seen you around these parts in years. We were supposed to take a 1:15 rest, but I decided to go out with the middle pack and get an extra 15-20 seconds of rest. That didn't make a difference. As soon as I started the second 800, my feet felt like cement. I went out with the pack and still made my 3:10 goal.

The third lap started well. I went with the pack through the first lap and fell back dramatically on the back straight. I don't remember my time, but I do know that it wasn't even close to my 3:10.

Just before toeing the line for the last 800, the coach asked me if I was OK to run it. I responded with, "I have to, don't I?"

I pushed, but only mustered a what seemed like a jog. I finished up in 4:02.

We then did 4 x 200's with the same 1:15 rest. I ran those consistently at least. I didn't overdo it. I ran 41, 39, 39, and 35. The coach made everyone, but a few of us do another 200. I was gassed and welcomed the break.

We finished up with a sidewalk lap of Lake Eola following the street, so that was another 1.25 miles. Warmup was 1.75 which included 4x100 striders..

If I didn't get all excited about running with a group, I am pretty sure I could have managed my 3:10's. I will try to control myself on the next speed workout.

I also tried to go to sleep a couple of hours ago, but my legs and feet won't stop cramping and it's driving me crazy. I don't know what the deal is. I have replenished my fluids. I had a banana today which is a good source of potassium. I have easily taken enough sodium from different sources. If anyone has any suggestions, I sure what appreciate it. Maybe it will help me after my future workouts. Over and out for this evening.

Getting Better or Cooler

2010-08-10T11:08:00.000-04:00

I ran 4 miles yesterday and I got close to 8 minutes for an average pace. I stopped twice towards the end of the run: once at half mile to go and again at quarter mile to go. I know that's pathetic that I just gave up. I did go out harder than normal, so I guess that's why I didn't have the guts to keep pushing through the last half mile at the same pace. Both stops were exactly 60 seconds. My time including a slower first mile was 32:36, so if I didn't stop both times, I would have finally gotten under 8 minute pace for any distance over 3 miles which I haven't done in some time.

So I haven't run around 8 minute pace for multiple miles in awhile. Is it because the temperatures have been coming back out of the 90's? Is it because I've been logging more miles over the past month? Perhaps a combination of both.

Whenever I run around Lake Ivanhoe, I have noticed that the wind blowing is always hard to breath in because it is even warmer than the air anywhere else. It is so humid. For the first time since probably May, the breeze blowing across the lake was not cool, but at least it wasn't hotter than the air around it.

This evening is my first workout with my training group, since I missed last Thursday covering a shift for a co-worker. This workout will be speed work on the track. I can't wait.

4 miles - Easy

2010-08-04T22:06:00.000-04:00

I had cramps in my hamstrings last night while sitting at the computer and then I got one cramp in my left calf just before dawn while I was sleeping. Don't you just love those?

I definitely woke up sore, but I got through my day and went out for an easy run after work. I wanted to run 3 miles, but my usual loops are 2.5, 4, or 5 miles. I went for the 4 mile loop and sure enough, that was more than I was prepared to run. My first mile was 8:38 and my second mile was 8:00. It felt really good. I wasn't pushing myself that hard, but I was running mostly in the shade of large Southern Oak trees. When I came around the second half of my course, the shade disappeared and so did my energy. I slowed down a little and even walked for 30 seconds when I was about half a mile from finishing.

In the end, I ran 4 miles in 35:31.

My feet are hurting right now and I think it is lingering effects from yesterday's workout.

Mile Time Trial - 6 Minute Mile

2010-08-03T22:39:00.001-04:00

Today was the big day. I had the time trial for the Track Shack Five and Dime training program to see what group I earned. My goal was to beat a 6 minute mile, because that is what I thought the upper limit was to make the fastest training group. Before the trial, one of the coaches told us that the first group's cutoff was 6:15, so I felt pretty good about my chances. I already ran a 6:18 two weeks ago and I didn't have anyone around me to keep pace.

They asked the entire group of runners beforehand if you think you can run 7 minutes or less, you would run first. They broke the time trial up into two groups. The second group was obviously anyone that didn't think they would run 7 or under.

I did this training group in 2006 and I ran in the slower group. I finished with a time around 7:45. This time around, I ran 6:07. I shaved 11 seconds in 2 weeks off my mile time. That feels great. I was hurting afterwards, but who cares. Here's the breakdown.

1:20 - 1:20
2:55 - 1:35
4:34 - 1:39
6:07 - 1:33

I didn't bring a watch with me, which may have been a mistake. I definitely went out too fast. Would I have done that had I brought my watch? I would have known that I was a few seconds fast on the 220 and might have slowed down, but then again, I might have kept going with the thought that adrenaline will carry me this day. Wouldapalooza. Facts are facts and that's what happened. I felt great on the first lap. I felt pretty good on the second lap. On the third lap, I was so much in oxygen debt that I was panting like a dog. I had to take a few awkward feeling deep breaths just to keep going. The last lap really hurt. As soon as I started the last lap, I gave a quick burst for about 30 yards to try to keep my pace and then tried to stride out the back stretch. I struggled the last curve and then kicked the entire home stretch.

I am still happy with my results. I definitely kicked the last 100 yards down the home stretch and shaved a few seconds off what would have been a 6:10 or more. I even passed a person at the end. That felt good.

I made the fast group. It feels like I made the varsity squad. I also know that I will definitely break 6 minutes after this training session over the next 10 weeks.

Oh yeah, my legs are jelly at the end and Coach Nathan says to jog 3 to 4 miles. Yeah, sure. Why not? I ran 2.75 miles more. I got so far behind the pack at one point that I couldn't see anyone. That's when I took the closest road back to the track.

Time Trial Eve

2010-08-02T22:54:00.000-04:00

Just took 4 days off. I didn't plan on it. Thank you rain! I planned on running yesterday afternoon when I thought it would cool down to the high 80's, but a rainstorm thought it was a better idea for me to stay in and watch a downpour with lightning.

I officially signed up for the Five and Dime training program through Track Shack on Saturday. Their time trial is tomorrow afternoon. The way it was before, the groups are divided by your mile time. The slowest pace group is 8 minute pace and higher, the middle group is 6 to 8 minute pace, and the fastest pace group is 6 minute pace and under. I hope I have enough speed under my belt to make the fast group, but if I run in the middle group, all is not lost. I will take what I earn and improve either way. If I don't make the fast group tomorrow, I guarantee that I will make it the next session.

Today's workout was a 5 mile run. I jogged 1 mile for a warmup around 12 minute pace. I didn't stop and stretch, but instead went straight into a 3 mile tempo run for the core portion of my workout. I walked about a tenth of a mile at the end. I felt like my head was going to pop from the heat. My chest and head were so freakin' hot. Well, I finished up with a slow mile around 10 minute pace for a cooldown.

Oh yeah, I also started the 100pushups program yesterday. I started on Week 3 Day 1. I had to do 5 sets of pushups with 60 seconds rest between sets. Each set was as follows:

14
18
14
14
Max out (20 minimum)

I did all the sets except the last one. I got down in a prone position on the floor and couldn't muster 1 more pushup. My triceps were complete mush. So much for a minimum of 20 more. I think I am going to do Day 1 over again... maybe on Wednesday, since I have to do my mile time trial tomorrow. Good luck to me!

Interval Training - newspaper article

2010-07-28T22:38:00.001-04:00

I thought I was doing really well until I read this article. Kudos to the 66 year old Abels running a 65 second 400 meters. This article goes over the concept of interval training and at the end, there is a chart outlining an example 10 week routine. Enjoy!

Interval training for runners - OrlandoSentinel.com