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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.