Well this week was the epitome of peaks and valleys.
I only managed (for various reasons/excuses) three runs this week. The first was my workout on Wednesday (more below). The second was my long run on Friday (11 miles). And the third was the dual 5k legs of the Minneapolis Duathlon on Sunday.
That’s it. No training runs. No “easy days”.
The workout was dead-on pace and felt quick. Starting with a warmup and then 2×1000m @ I pace (3:27; actual 3:27, 3:33) with 2 min jog after each. Then came 4×400m @ R pace (1:17; actual 1:17, 1:17, 1:11, 1:16) with 3 min jog after each. Finished with a cooldown and lots of water.
The Duathlon was exhausting but fulfilling (and not to mention crowded as it was the “World’s Largest Duathlon”). I started in wave 1 and got out well enough (6:04 first mile). I finished the “5k” in 19:36 (depending on which chip pad I stopped my watch at). After a quick transition I got out on the bike with the goal of going under 1 hour for the 18 mile section. I did that and more finishing the bike in 53:37, or 20.11 mph. Another quick transition and I was out again on the 5k course with jelly legs. Now here is where the official timing goes wonky. The site says that my last 5k I ran in 23:50. Though my watch said 21:40 AND if you add up the splits they give it adds up to 1:40:17 and not 1:38:10 like they list at the top of my results page. SO, I am going to say that my last painfully slow 5k was done in 21:40 and that I finished the race in 1:30:10. YAY!!
Will do much better next year and certainly get all my runs in this week.
Wow, what a crappy follow-up week to my 50 miler. My workouts went well but other than that this week was a failure. I took Wednesday off, after taking Monday off, thinking I could squeeze more into my weekend in VA visiting family and it all went downhill from there. Waking up at 4:30 am on Friday for a 7:20 am flight really takes it out of you and by the time I could possibly go for a run in VA there was nothing in my legs. My humid run on Saturday got done but I wimped out on a long run in possible T-storms and humidity on Sunday (twice actually, as I went outside in my running clothes in the morning and came back in, only to “try” again later and only run for 1 mile).
So yeah, 22 miles. Ugh.
The workouts were:
Tuesday: 1 mi warmup, (then with no rest) 2 mi @ M pace (6:24 | actual 6:09 then 6:20), 1 mi @ T pace (6:04 | actual 6:00), 1 mi @ M pace (6:24 | 6:19), 1 mi cooldown
Thursday: I wimped out on a 6 mi middle-of-the-workout and did; 1 mi warmup, 4 mi @ adjusted T 1 mi pace (6:17; meaning I was planning on running 6 mi at T pace so Daniel’s told me to adjust the pace slower by 12 seconds, but then I only did 4 | actual 6:16, 6:28, 6:17, 6:30), I wanted 8 mi for the day so I did 3 mi cooldown
This week will include one workout (Tuesday), a long run on Thursday because of the Minneapolis Duathlon (5 km, 18 mi bike, 5 km) on Sunday (my 1-year wedding anniversary!). Wish me more luck than last week.
The road to 50 has come to an end at 50 miles in one week! I was able to pull of this feat for the first time since (probably) junior year (soooo… 2003-2004) and I am feeling great about it. I was feeling pretty dead legged on Saturday for my last “training” run of the week but whatever that was went away Sunday morning. My 15-mile long run was beautiful! I was pumped and running well only to find out that on the return trip I would get to cheer on a 2-ish mile stretch of the bike leg of the YWCA Women’s Triathlon. That was all I really needed to get home and it was a blast cheering them on.
Now moving on! FINALLY! I was sooooo done with Phase 1.
Phase 2 has begun and is going well. Tuesday brought my first workout since October 7, 2009 (313 days in between!). It was a simple M pace and T pace alternate but it felt good to run fast. I will tell you more about it next week when I devulge the details of Phase 2, Week 1 of 4!
Now what should I call the rest of my “season”? The road to 13.1 just doesn’t sound as cool as The road to 50…
Last week was awesome! I did get to 50 miles in a “week” from Friday July 30th to Thursday August 5th. Though it did include the two long runs of the two real weeks the “week” overlapped. I got to 44 in the real week and got to enjoy some great company while running in Ann Arbor at the Conlons’ wedding! Thanks Pike and the others that kept me going when I could have slept in after lots of driving (on Friday) and dancing (on Saturday). I am already off to a great start this week covering 6, 5, and 8 in the last three days. That leaves me with 8,8, and 15 to go to reach the real 50 mile week.
What’s next? Well my shortened Daniel’s Running Formula Phases start next week. I will be completing Phases 2, 3, and 4 in 4 weeks instead of 6 to get them all in before the big half marathon on October 30th. I am a bit intimidated by the long Threshold/Tempo workouts next week after not running a single “workout” in 2010 but I will get through it I’m sure.
Take care and run well.
Last week was a mixed bag. Overall I feel really good about how the runs felt and got done. Then again I repeated the 37 mile week from the week before instead of getting to 45 like I planned. I feel okay about this because I responded to how my legs felt instead of forcing the issue on Friday morning and possibly ruining the whole week. Dead legs are a sign from your body and not one to just blow through without thinking.
Then of course, there are signs from existence that just make you swerve because they appear where you don’t expect them. That is what happened on Saturday morning as I went to look up directions for my race. I was sure the race was on Saturday morning and was prepared accordingly. Until I found out the race was Sunday morning! That threw off my whole day and weekend. I went back to sleep, and put off my long run (originally due Sunday morning but now due Saturday) until 7 pm. So only 13 hours before my second race/5k of the summer I ran 12 miles.
Needless to say the race in the morning was not my best. The race was one I had won handily last year with far fewer people entered. So of course part of me thought I could just show up with no workouts at all in 2010 and win it again. That was not the case. I got pulled through the first mile in 5:44 by a couple of guys over 40 and then got dropped hard over the next two going 6:03 and 6:28 before the last 0.1 non-kick. I ended up fifth in 18:55 after winning in 18:16 last year (though 18:16 would have only gotten me third this year as two guys wearing UW-Eau Claire jerseys took 1-2 in 17:30-ish).
So yeah, a bit of a rollercoaster ride but running 37 instead of 45 will let me take this week in 45 and hit 50 next week.
Though with my desire to get my long run in on Thursday before driving to MI on Friday, I will actually hit 52 in the 7 day span from last Friday (an off day) to this Thursday. In that sense, the road to 50 has almost come to an end. Here’s wishing you all a great week and safe travels to the big event this weekend.
Finally a week to build on both mentally and physically! I hit the gym MWF, and ran every mile I wanted save a hot, early evening run on Saturday after not drinking any water all day. The result? A motivated Ben coming off a 37 mile week hungry for more! And that’s good too because 45 miles this week will be a high in 2010 (and 2009 for that matter). Throw in some strides, and a Saturday morning race, and you would think I was back in college or something!
We here in MN are excited to be seeing OC people very soon and I hope to be bringing good running shape with me (I’ve heard Coach is ramping up his training for his wedding showdown with Morse!). Take care and see you all soon (that sounds so awesome!).
Wow, the more I report to you guys the less I seem to get done. This week was another dip in the road due to lack of motivation in the early week. Did you know that math says if you wait until Thursday for your first run then you must average 10 miles a day to get to 40 miles in the week? I apparently forgot that on Tuesday and Wednesday last week!
So I ended at 25 instead of 40. This Road to 50 thing is really dragging on me. I will make it to 40 this week as I am ready and willing to make it happen. After a great 12 mile long run last Sunday (yeah I know 48% is way to much percent of the weekly total!) I have already lifted on Monday (check) and run 4 miles on Tuesday (check). Here’s to you and I will update you after a more successful week for once!
This week was pretty nondescript except for the arrival of my new, new shoes on Friday. They are gray with black laces (first pair of non-racing running shoes ever owned with black laces) and are so far un-interesting to Tess. I also got Apple to agree to replace my iPod shuffle for free so the Day of Destruction wasn’t too bad. I slept in a bit on Wednesday and didn’t fit in my run so this week ended at 33 instead of 40 (only 10 without the new, new shoes thank goodness! I swear my emergency pair felt like I had run 1,000 miles in them!). I will get to 40 this week!
I am skipping lifting today due to a possibly bruised hand from softball yesterday. What’s worse is that I might miss our game tonight which would really suck seeing as we only play 7 total all summer. Anyways, back to the grind this week with only Le Tour to keep me company at work though I am sure some of my labmates would rather listen to vuvuzelas that those two announcers saying “He’s in a spot of bother” every few minutes on the mountain stages.
My thoughts are with you all and I hope you are well.
It looks like I may have finally had an eventful week though I would probably trade it for one less destructive. Last week again started with a too many non-running days. Mostly that was due to me not getting my runs done in the AM. I really need to get tough with myself (as I haven’t gotten my exercise done in the AM yet this week either). In the end I settled for fitting 30 miles of running into the last four days of the week instead of trying to squish in more and possibly hurt myself.
Saturday saw Val and me racing our first 5k of the season… at 6:30 pm! In ~90 F, muggy conditions! The race went okay for me. I took off steadily and in the lead for the first ~200m and got passed. That guy went out steady as well and I managed to keep him in my sights for the first 2 miles or so (gradually becoming out of sight). As you can imagine, since I haven’t been running faster than training run pace, maintaining anything close to race pace was extremely difficult. I gradually feel off the pace and finished in 19:07 with no kick. I was disappointed yet satisfied with how I ran in those conditions. Val managed to sneakily run a 23:23 while feeling like it was 3+ minutes slower than that. A good sign seeing as she hasn’t been “training” for racing.
Sunday saw the dawn of the Day of Destruction! An early morning (7am) 11 mile long run was going to happen regardless of humidity/rain and so it got done. I was drenched in the last 3 miles and my relatively new, refurbished iPod shuffle (2G) turned itself off (possibly) permanently. Then I put some newspaper in my very, very wet relatively new (79 miles total) Asics Gel Nimbus 11s (bought on sale for 30% off and the last size 10s of this older style in the store). I showered, ate breakfast, and went to a 10:20 am showing of The Last Airbender (highly recommended!). On my way home Val texted me telling me she owed me a new pair of running shoes. Apparently, Tess (our 9 month-old puppy) had been left out of her crate in the apartment while Val was working in the garden and had shredded one of the tongues of my relatively new running shoes! So all-in-all Sunday cost me about $150 in destroyed running accessories.
ARGH!
Anyways, back to work again. Trying for 40 miles this week as we are getting closer and closer to my promised 50 mile week for Shean and Anna’s big day. Here’s hoping I don’t loss any more running gear this week!
Don’t get me wrong, the World Cup is a lot of fun but it is awfully distracting! We’ve had almost all the games going on a computer (or more) in our office and of course all went to breakfast for the US-Algeria game on Wednesday. That commitment, combined with waking up a bit late that morning cause me to cut out my lifting and my run short. We all know how the game turned out but my week recovered and I finished at 35 miles (the goal!).
Not much else happening around here. Plugging away in muggy conditions this week. Struggling to finish my first publication before a looming deadline and all that. Here’s to my morning routine sticking and not missing a workout due to stress like I have done so much since moving here. Goal for this week: 40 miles and a lot of science-y work.
OH yeah! And I’ve signed up for two races coming up. A 5k each on July 3 (this Saturday) and August 1st (a couple Saturdays away).