Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Smart Coach Revision

My Smart Coach workout was supposed to be 2 easy miles at 9:13 pace. All the speedwork throughout this 16 week session is what I am already running and sometimes slower, so I put a time of 21 minutes into the little form and my times went down. That is my goal time afterall.

Back to today's workout. It changed the pace to 8:39 miles. I tried and ended up with 8:25 miles.

I usually don't do this, but I stretched before I ran. My legs were very sore from doing squats yesterday and I needed to loosen up a bit.

After getting my blood moving, my legs are still sore, but not nearly as bad.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Sometimes you have to listen to your body

My training schedule says to either take a rest day or cross train. I think that I need to mix it up with both. I start off with 3 miles on the treadmill at 10 minute pace. My calf hurt a little. Not the gastrocnemius, but the inner muscle, the Soleus. Usually any pain or cramps are in the ball of my calf. This hurt like my bone.

It went away though after a few minutes of jogging, so I let it go.

I then started my regular cross training workout. I did the following:

Delts
dumbbell overhead presses (3 sets)
straight arm lifts to the side (3 sets)
leaning ?butterflies? (3 sets) not sure what you call it, but it works your posterior deltoid

Tris
overhead 2 handed tricep extensions (3 sets) with curl bar
leaning tricep extensions (3 alternating sets)
2 handed tricep extensions (3 sets) using rope and pull down machine

Thighs
squats (3 sets)
hamstring curls (3 sets)
quad extensions (3 sets)

Abs
inclined situps (3 sets)
captains chair (3 sets)
windmills with weighted bar (3 sets)

I was fine with all of this. Then, when I started my cool down, I went back to the treadmill with the intention of doing 2 more miles. My leg hurt so much that I had to stop and couldn't even get a quarter mile completed. I went to a cycling machine that didn't give the same impact, but all the cardio I needed to get much needed oxygen to my legs.

I never should have even tried to run for my cooldown. Lesson learned. If hurts, don't push it.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Long Run

After having a successful race on Thursday, I have set my sights on my next race. It is... drum roll please...

The Celebration of Running 5K on August 17th at the Orlando Science Center. I ran it 2 years ago. Well, I started off nearly walking. I was still nursing a pulled hamstring that wasn't letting me open up my stride or push off. It was a primarily flat course with a slight downhill around 3/4 to go which is immediately followed by an uphill and a turn leading into the final stretch. Part of the straightaway sprint is at a grade as well, but it is nice and long so you can get a good kick going.

I am going to try to stick to a training regimen. I have been winging it the past few months. I just plugged in the numbers on Runnersworld.com's Smart Coach (link to the right -->). According to the schedule, I needed to run 7 miles today at a 9:13 pace which comes out to 1h 4m 30s.

I ran 7 miles at the slowest comfortable speed I could. I ran a little faster than I was supposed to, but I finished my 7 miles and never became out of breathe. It was very warm (84 degrees), sunny, and slightly humid and I had to stop every mile for water.

My time was 57m 2s, so my actual pace was 8:09. Tomorrow's schedule shows rest or cross training followed by an easy 2 mile run on Tuesday, so I will probably do squats, shoulders, and triceps work tomorrow in the gym.

Light Weight Workout

I had to take Kim to the airport this morning and didn't get much sleep last night, so I took a nap in the early afternoon. I wanted to wake up to catch the middle of the NFL Draft and I completely missed it. Regardless, the Cowboys picked up some decent picks especially cornerback. We'll see how that works out come season.

The nap helped me from feeling like a zombie, but I still didn't wake up with much energy. I just got back from the gym after a light workout. I jogged 1 mile on the treadmill for a warmup and did a quick workout.

3 x 12/10/8 bench press @ 115 lbs
3 x 12/10/8 lat pulldown @ 90 lbs
3 x 12/10/8 alternating biceps curls @ 20 lbs
3 x 12 calf raises - not sure of weight

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Photos from the 5K

I'm sprinting to the finish...


... and there's my time.

Friday, April 25, 2008

IOA Corporate 5k

My official goal was to beat my time last year, so I wanted to get under 24 minutes. In my heart and in my mind, I had a goal of sub 23 minutes. I got both!!!

I ran 22:27. I learned my lesson from all the years past. Stop trying to be generous and considerate by going back in the line to where I think my pace would place me. I was at the starting line and only about 3 people deep. I was actually a full stride over the starting line, but this race is hardly keeping official time. No chips or anything like that. There were over 10,000 in the field with a lot of walkers. As a matter of fact, even though I was at the front of the field, there were people walking after 250m into the race. There is no reason for these people to be anywhere near the front.

There was one stretch with a lot of sun in your face, but the wind was to your back. That's an even trade.

Pace

I started out very comfortable and just a bit off my training pace (7:30). My first mile was 7:14. I stopped at the first water break. Literally, I stopped and drank my water. I wanted to make sure that I got it down without spilling it all over myself and of course get most of the water in my mouth. That is the point after all.

Second mile time was 14:37, so my second split was 7:23. Considering I stopped for about 10 seconds, that's good. I was really keeping good pace.

Most of the last mile was pretty tough for me. I skipped the mile 2 water stop in hopes of keeping a good time. I'm not sure if it was dehydration or just the faster pace, but I started cramping with half a mile to go. I wanted to stop and just give up, but I could see the Citrus Bowl and knew that I was close.

I didn't even look at the clock when I hit the actual 3 mile split, but according to the math keeping things even, I had to have run around a 7:05 last mile.

My pace was 7:14 according to the calculator. Crazy considering that was what my first mile split was.

I about keeled over from the pain in my right side by the time I got to the line. I was hurting, but I was able to push through it.

Overview

This is my new over 30 PR. I took over a minute and a half off my 5k time from last year. Let's see if I can shave off another minute and a half for next year. I think I will run a little more outside this season, but I will start doing more lifting and speedwork now that I am past my target race. My next goal is to get under 20 minutes even if it takes me a year to do.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I think I'm ready for the 5K

The Insurance Office of America Corporate 5K is 2 days away.

I think I'm ready. I just ran a 5 miler in 37:02 taking a 15 second water stop and two 30 second water stops. That's a pace of 7:24 per mile. I ran from just before 8pm to around 8:30pm. The race is at 6:45pm, so the sun will still be up and it may be a little warmer. It was nice and cool for this run, though.

If I can match that pace, that puts my 5k time at 23:06 and my goal is to beat 23:00. I would literally have to shave off 2 seconds per mile. I can sprint that difference in the last 440.

I plan on having a large pasta meal on Wednesday evening to prep. Large breakfast on Thursday morning, decent sized lunch, and a snack bar for a snack in the afternoon to keep my blood sugar leveled and not spiked prior to the run.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Sara Hall New York Times Inspired Run

Thursday, April 17th, the New York Times ran an article on Sara Hall regarding her training regimen. A friend and co-worker sent me the article interoffice and I got inspired to do some speed work. Check out the link, there is short video that goes along with the article that I didn't even know was available until I did a search to link this up.

My workout that afternoon consisted of:

2 mile warmup
3 miles on the track
1.5 mile cooldown

The 3 miles was broken down into 4 sets of 440 yds with 220 yds recovery; 4 sets of 220 yds with 440 yds recovery.

The times were as follows:
440's: 1:19, 1:17, 1:15, 1:17
220's: 35, 35, 36, 34

Of note...
If I could put all the 440s together, I would run a 5:08 mile. If I could put all the 220s together and continue on the pace through a mile, it would be a 4:40 mile.

Especially when I was running the 220s, I could feel the extra fat hanging and being slung around at my abs, glutes and hamstrings. I need to work a little more on my arm strength, particularly my biceps. I felt my arms starting to tighten up towards the end of my workout.

To say the least, I was sore the next 2 days from my abs down. I also felt very weak on Friday and still sluggish on Saturday.

*** Only a few days to my 5K. ***

Yesterday (Sunday), I ran up to Lake Ivanhoe (the central portion and the eastern portion of the lake), did 2 laps and then ran back. I gmap'd the run and it was 7 miles. I wanted to do 8 miles for my workout, but 7 was good. I didn't realize it was a mile to the lake, because I thought I was going to do 3 laps of Lake Ivanhoe, but they are 2.5 miles each lap. I would have done 9.5 and that would have been too much. I wanted to keep an average pace of 8:30 per mile for the entire run. I chose not to warmup and started out a little slow. I was definitely on pace much of the run. I may have gone a little faster on miles 4 and 5. I started feeling tired on mile 6 and 7 and had to concentrate on pumping my arms to keep pace. I had to stop twice for traffic stops/crossing Colonial Drive, so that may have altered my time slightly. How much I'm not sure. I ran the 7 miles in 61 minutes. That is a pace of 8:43. Exactly 1:30 behind pace. I don't think I stopped at the lights that long. Maybe a combined total of 30 seconds. Not bad considering I had no mile markers to calculate my pace as I ran. Using the treadmill is definitely good for judging your pace.

Speaking of pace, I am going to add a couple links to some tools I used. One is the Gmap Pedometer, which allows you to map out a course and it tells you how far you have run. The closer you zoom in, the more accurate it is. The second tool is a pace calculator. You can put your mileage and time into the program and it will calculate your average pace. You can put any 2 of the items into the program and it will give you the third.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Breakfast or coffee?

Got a few updates...

On Friday, I ran an old course near an old apartment. It is 3/4 of a mile from my current home, so there and back gave me 1.5, plus I ran around an extra couple of blocks to give me another quarter mile on the way home... so 1.75 in addition to the course. The course I ran is taking the streets closest to Lake Highland, which happens to be 1.3 miles and includes a few ascents and descents in a neighborhood. I did 3 laps which is about 4 miles and got thirsty and since the nearby school's gate was open for a swim meet, I ran by their track and used a water fountain, which gave me another 1/4 mile. All in all, I ran about 6 miles. I was sluggish going in and thought that maybe my energy level would pick up as I got going, but it didn't happen. I got my mileage, though.

Saturday and Sunday were busy with film industry related endeavors, thus, I did not run.

Monday, I got on the treadmill after work. Since all of the treadmills were taken when I got there, I had to start off with an eliptical style machine. I don't like them, but I had to do something. It said that I did one mile when a treadmill opened up. I immediately moved up a row and got started. I thought to myself, "Hey, you just did a good hill workout the other day. Try another one." I put the machine on Alpine Pass not knowing what is in store for me. I put the incline at 6 and the max speed at 10mph. One of the two was too much. I did a mile, which took me to the peak of one of the virtual mountains and puttered out. Hit stop and put it on 5k. I wanted to keep a decent pace, but I just winded myself, so it wasn't in the cards. I held up an 8:30 pace, but struggled the entire time. I didn't eat breakfast. Does that affect an afternoon run?

Tuesday, today. I went to the gym in the late afternoon / early evening. I thought to myself that I would run 5 miles. I put a 4 in the first digit for the amount of time and thought... hmmm... make it a 45 minute run and go for 6 miles at 7:30 pace or put in 40 minutes and do 5 miles at 8 minute pace. 45 minutes it is. I started out at 8:00 minute pace for the first 2 miles. Took it down to 7:30 pace for the next 2 miles. Now, I know at that point that I need to go 7:00 minute pace for 2 miles to make my mark. I kept it at 7:30 pace for another mile and knew that I would have to really kick it up the last mile since I had to make up a full minute. 7:30 for the first quarter and then I gradually started picking up the pace until I was in the high 5 range for the last lap. I couldn't hold it all the way around and eased up the last 100 yards. I ended up at 5.97 miles in 45 minutes. Calculator tells me that I ran 7:32 pace average. So close. That has definitely been the best running I have done in weeks.

Now, I ate breakfast today which I haven't done in a week or so and I drank a coffee around 6pm. I started running around 7:30, so the coffee definitely kicked in by that time. I can really tell because I was dehydrated more than normal and my energy was up. So was it the breakfast or the late afternoon coffee?

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Fartlek to Prodigy

After losing my iPod, this has been the first workout with a music player that I have had in months. I planned on doing 5 miles which came to pass. I also planned on doing negative splits starting around 9 minute miles and ending up around 7 minute pace.

So... Prodigy is what I loaded up on the mp3 player and I started OK, but next thing you know it turned into a Fartlek run. If you aren't familiar, a fartlek run is when you go varying speeds for varying distances. Its a great workout for your stamina. First time I ever heard of a fartlek was freshman year in high school and my track coach, Mr Hirn or Hern (don't remember the spelling) told us about it. We learned to hate the term. At the time our school didn't have a track yet, so we used to snake our way through the school's parking lot. He would blow his whistle and we would go all out and then he would blow his whistle and we would go half speed and we would continue this routine until he said to stop.

Tonight, there were a few bursts of speed where I got down to 6 minute pace, perhaps a little faster, and held it for about half mile or so. Great workout even though it wasn't what my original was.

Slow Down the Treadmill

The last time I ran was on Thursday. I did a 5k on the treadmill, but went slow this time. I did the 3.1 miles in 28 minutes. I followed it up with a very quick circuit workout. I just had to log in some miles. Since then, I have been too busy to run. Covering the Florida Film Festival has taken much of my free time and then correcting the photos for the site. I have a lot on my plate starting tonight through Sunday afternoon, so I probably won't be able to run until then... unless I run in the morning. I hate running in the morning. Always have. It's not gonna happen.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

My Legs Hurt - Not Enough Rest

Tuesday, I ran to Circuit City and part of the way back. 2 miles.

Wednesday evening, I ran around the outer sidewalk of Lake Eola Park. 4 times... that's 5 miles in 38:03. That ends up being 7:37 per mile. I was going for 8 minute pace.

The run felt great and it was much needed after a stressful day. I had some friends up from Miami and didn't eat until after midnight. I ran around 7 - 8pm. I didn't get to sleep until after 2am and didn't get enough sleep/rest/recovery. My legs are sore like I hadn't run in a month.

This really shows how important rest is.