Monday, June 28, 2010

More Intervals.

So I wrapped up last week by heading over to the Conn College track Saturday morning. Sandwiched between mile warmup/cooldown was: 3x150;3x30;3x120. It's nice to run all out. Can't believe I hadn't done this type of workout before. Up next interval wise will be the more standard: 200;400;600;800;600;400;200 workout.

Sunday morning I headed out earlyish for a nice 8 miler - 1 hour 12 minutes later I rolled in completely soaked in sweat. Not pretty, but a good start to the week. Today I took a break from running and did 1400 in the pool: 5x50s; 300 steady; 5x50s. The 5x50s felt real hard. My fastest was about 48 seconds. Slowly getting faster.

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Friday, June 25, 2010

Week 4 Mile Training

So it's been a normal week. Runs Monday [5.8] and Friday [5.2] with a run-in-the-mill swim sandwiched in on Wednesday [2x200 steady; 2x100 fast; 2x200 steady; 2x100 fast = 1800 total]. I'm planning on doing track work Saturday. Starting to loose interest in the World Cup. Every year I look forward to it, then am put-off by the (1) flopping, (2) inconsistent/detrimental referring and (3) watching people go crazy after a goal *despite* still losing on the scoreboard. Weird stuff. Maybe someday I'll learn to love it.

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Monday, June 21, 2010

500th Post!

I've been doing this blogging thing for some time now! It's certainly helped my running and overall fitness. So: thank you Internet.

Friday I did a fun track workout over at Conn College. I started with a one mile warmup, followed by 2x150 fast, 30 all-out fast (50 lead in) and then 120 all-out fast. It was fun. I think I did the 120 in 17 seconds - although now I think that can't be right. I'll double check this week. I finished the workout with a single 400 interval to get help fill out my distance vs. pace chart. I did it in 1 minute 21 seconds. Then a 1 mile cooldown - good for 3.75 total miles.

Today I went out with a nice large group from work to do 5.7 miles in blistering temps - we went pretty slow: 52 minutes. I'll be looking forward to some swims this week.

I'm also starting to piece together my plan of attack this fall. The goal is to run my best ever 1/2 marathon - mainly by piling on some miles. The problem is that it's starting to get hot and muggy out - so I want to do mostly cross training until September and race is in late September. My solution is to start in August and do this 8 week plan. Hopefully I won't pass out in August. I think the plan is manageable - I have my version of it on google docs.

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Good Ole' Nut Freezer

Went out today for my first dip in the Long Island Sound. NOAA's page said it was 61.2 degrees - which is about how it felt. We did 4 lengths of the beach - I'm guessing about 500 yards total. I was still freezing after the first lenght - but felt nice and warmed up by the time we left. Including the 3 miles (or so) of running to get there - about 5 eq.miles.

Yesterday I swam in the warm confines of the UCAP pool. 500 warmup (various strokes), then: 2x50;100 [breadth every 6 strokes]; 4x50; 200 [breadth every 5 strokes]; 6x50; 300 [breadth every 4 strokes]. That workout always kills me - I feel like I'm going to drown during the 200.

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Monday, June 14, 2010

Week 3 Mile Training

So I took it pretty easy for recovery this weekend and then did a slowish 5-miler today. In more geeky, but related news, I did add my race to the distance vs. pace plot - and I added estimates for the 50 yard and 150 yard runs. Those really help the correlation. Ignore the old equation shown, it fits well to a ln function now: pace = pace_0 + a*ln(dist), where "pace_0" = 365.7 and "a" = 33.17. I like this function because the ln(1) = 0, so the intercept corresponds to my theoretical best mile time. It also projects my half marathon goal to a 1 hour 38 time, which is a doable but fast 7:30 pace. It also gives my goal marathon pace to be just under 3:30 which is a 7:54 pace. Something to shoot for. The correlation works out to an R^2 value of 0.97 for 9 values fitted by 2 parameters - ideally I'd like to get at least one more measurement - maybe for an 400 or 800 meter time.

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

10K PR!

Last night I finally accomplished what I set out to do last year - run a fast 10K and set my PR for that distance. For some reason this area has races of 5.5, 4.75, 7.4, 11.2, and a lot of 5 milers - but very few 10Ks. I attempted a hot hilly 10k last year up near Middletown and finished with a 46:50 time - a little frustrated and looking to do better. I knew I was in pretty good racing shape after last weeks Twilight Trail Run - so last night was it.

The conditions were near perfect and the race started out fast but I was feeling like I had a good rythmn. The course is absolutely beautiful and I soon found myself keeping the pace - sub 7 and passing lots of people between mile 1 and 4 - then it strung out a bit. I managed to pass one more dude before getting caught at the line by someone who had way too much left in the tank- but that's racing. At least he wasn't in my age group. I finished 3rd with a 42:57 and a 6:55 pace. A PR that'll be challenging to beat.

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Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Week 2 Mile Training

So this week got off to a difficult start. I gave myself 2 days off after the Twilight Trail Run because my legs were super tight. I then hit the track Monday after work for a quick speed session. I was late getting there so I only did 3/4-mile warmup, then my first 150 - very bad reaction from the legs. I could run - but I was afraid something was going to pop. Nevertheless I did another, then switched to 2x30 sprints (with a 50 yard lead in). The workout called for 3-4 of each and I managed 2 - so I didn't quite do all of it - but something is better than nothing.

Last night I did the strength video with the wife (40 minutes) and then today I did 43 minutes in the pool totaling 1700 yards - the most yet! It felt great. I started with a 500 warmup (200 free, 50 back, 50 breast, 100 pull, 100 kick), then: 2x200 steady; 300 build; 1x100 steady; 1x100 pull - and then 50 back/breast to warm down. I'll do nothing but yoga until Friday in which I'll probably do another race - this time a road 10K.



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Saturday, June 05, 2010

Race: Twilight Trail Run 2010

Last night was my 5th consecutive Twilight Trail Run. I had some concerns leading into the race: sore legs from a track workout on Wednesday and an upset stomach. I had thought the track work would've been easy: 8x150 meters - which I did in ~24-30 seconds. It felt fast for me but a 30 second 150 is only a 5:20 min/mile pace. My right groin felt very tight after the run, and into Thursday - and still tight on Friday. I felt it during the race, but it never went *pang* on me. The race itself felt great. I managed to keep up a pretty decent pace the entire race. I think I have the course down pretty well - a little easy going up the hills and then run the flat parts - which there are a lot of - very hard. I ended up at 53:48 - a 7:16 pace - 4 seconds off of my best time from 2 years ago. Great raffle, organization - very good race. I also woke up today weighting 152.6 - my lowest in years. I certainly have met my goal of dropping weight and feeling stronger.

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Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Mile Training Underway

So my spring 1/2 marathon plan got swept into the pool with my 2/week swim schedule - but hopefully I'll be able to get some speed work in - starting this week! My back's still been a big problem - essentially shelving strength work for most of the last 2 weeks. In fact, after my trail run last Wednesday I only managed one swim on Friday before taking Saturday and Sunday off. I did do a run on memorial day - about 8 miles using a Fartlek-like ladder: 1min on/off, 2min on/off, 3 min on/off, 4 min on/off, 5 min on, 4 min off/on, 3 min off/on, 2 min off/on and 1 min off/on - over 8 miles (including warmup). Today I hit the pool for 1400 yards - including 800 yards over 16:45 - which is about 1:03 min/50 - pretty good. It was also my longest continuous swim since I started. I'll do speed work tomorrow, rest Thursday and then hit the trails for what's historically been one of my favorite races of the year: the Twiligh Trail Run at Bluff Point state park.