Slow and Steady Wins the Race

2.4 easy miles this morning.  I was running with my friend Ryan.  His training plan has him alternating between running and walking (run 5 minutes, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5).  There were two great things about this workout this morning.

First of all, on the running portions we pretty much ran what I hope my starting pace will be in the race on Saturday.  Nothing fancy, slow and steady wins the race.  I'm going to purposefully start slow and reserve some energy for later in the race.

The other great thing was that my slow and steady starting pace felt comfortably easy.  A nice little confidence booster two days before the race.

212.1 miles down--13.1 to go!

Training for the Half Marathon, Week 10/10

Well, I am officially tapering.  One week ago I did my last long run (16 miles) in preparation for my first half marathon.  Instead of my usual weekend long run, I did a 6 mile tempo run on Saturday.  Today, just an easy four miles with the dogs (two miles for Molly, two miles for Snicker).  They are both napping to show their appreciation. 

Tomorrow, I'll do about 4 miles with intervals.  Half mile easy warm-up, 4x800's with 400meter rests in between, and then a half mile cooldown. I'm going to try to push the intensity.

Looking at my running log over the this ten week training plan, I have put in 204.2 miles.  Probably the most I have ever ran in a two-month period.   Saturday's forecast for Chico, CA:   cloudy with a chance of rain, racetime temp:  mid-40's.

15 Miles done! No Bears!

Completed the 15 miler this morning.  Longest run of my life (until next week).  It was tough. 
I aimed for an 11:00 pace and came pretty close--averaged 11:04 for a total run time of 2:46:00.

Things that went well.  Yesterday, I hid a couple of gatorades in the pine needles at my 5 and 10 mile marks.  My wife predicted that the racoons were going to enjoy them, but to my delight, they were undisturbed.  In addition to the two little 8oz gatorades, I had the following nutrition:  before the run--a banana and a generous tablespoon of peanut butter.  During the run:  two GU packets (the Lemon Sublime flavor ROCKS!)  I felt totally hungry at about 8.5 miles.  This makes me wonder if I need to get a little more food in me on my Half Marathon day.  Also, despite the early morning hours of the run (left at 4:50 AM and got home at 7:36)  I didn't see a single wild animal.  No bear, no deer, no skunks, no nothing.  That doesn't mean they didn't see me.

Things that hurt:  this was a new mileage territory for me.  Guess what!  My knees hurt, bunion on my right foot was really aching.  Lower abs still hurt--I really think this has to do with all the hills.

I am going to get around the rest of the day (and probably tomorrow) doing the "distance runner shuffle" but I feel pretty good about the day.  Celebrating with a Peanut Butter and Honey sandwich.

154.45 miles down, 69 to go!

Does Thinking About Running Count?

Yesterday, I missed two miles of speed work. I did four miles in the morning and was planning to head to the track in the early evening. My wife wanted to start running a little and she thought the track would be a nice place to start. Unfortunately, she got called to take minutes at a school board meeting and we had to cancel our run.

This morning I thought about getting up and putting in the missed miles from yesterday. I sat in bed listening to the sound of the wind wipping leaves around outside and decided that the warm bed seemed like a nicer idea.

So instead of a make-up run, I spent some time planning out my training plan for after the Bidwell Classic in March. There is a possible "next goal" race this summer that I am starting to scratch out a training plan for. So me and my Excel spreadsheet began to see how I can get in the mileage after recovering from my first half marathon. Two goals: add mileage safely (trying to stay near the 10% rule) and get my overall mileage up into the 40 mpw range.

It should be fun!

Guaranteed PR

I was digging through some old stuff the other day and found a couple of old race numbers stuffed in my high school yearbook. One of them was a 5K I ran when I was 14. I placed third for my age group with a 23:30. I'm pretty sure that's one of the few times in my life that I have actually placed in a race.

Now I'm not a very good record keeper, because I have no idea what my other times where in those early years of running. Do you know what that means? Aside from this 5K PR, I have a clean slate on PR's!

This brings up an important issue: do PR's expire? I read one running article where the writer suggested that any PR more than 2 years old is invalid. Personally, I think this is a bunch of hooey. A record by it's very nature stands until it is broken.

Anyway, back to the topic: since I only have one PR that I can remember, every race distance (except 5K) that I choose to run is a guaranteed PR! In four weeks, as long as I finish my half marathon, I will have a new PR!

5K 23:30
13.1 __________

115 miles down, 107 miles to go.

Four Weeks to Go!

Four weeks from tomorrow I will be running my first Half Marathon.

I can't wait! That means I only have two more weeks of hard training. After that I get two weeks of taper leading to the race. Can I do it? You bet! Last Sunday's long run was 13.4 miles, in the dark, while raining, and over hilly terrain.

Now, just because I can do it, doesn't mean I am taking the next few weeks of training lightly. Here's what the next two weeks have in store:
2/6 9 mile long run
2/8 6 miles with intervals (4x400, 2x800, bleachers)
2/10 7 mile tempo run
2/11 2 miles easy
2/13 15 mile long run
2/15 6 miles with intervals (2x200, 2x400, 2x800, bleachers)
2/17 7 mile tempo run
2/18 2 miles easy
2/20 17 mile long run

After that I head into my taper until the race.

Bidwell Classic here I come. My goal: finish! I'd love to come in under 2 hours, but finishing is the main thing.

Speed Kills!

Speed Kill! At least they say to teenagers who drive too fast.

Well, speed also kills your running plan. Of course, I'm talking more about my little setback--hurt my lower abs all because of last Friday's speed workout and then running my long run on Sunday a little too fast.

So, what speed should I be running? I found a great tool over at McMillan Racing that calculates your proper training paces based on a previous race result. In my case, I plugged in my last 5K time and it spits out this incredibly detailed report that predicts my time in any length race (assuming I've put in the training) and gives me my goal times for training.

Now, I already knew that I did last weeks sprints too fast. But after checking the running calculator, I saw how fast is appropriate. Real numbers: last Friday, I was doing 100m intervals at 18-19 second pace; I'm supposed to be doing them at 22-24 second pace. My long run was also a problem. Sunday, I ran 13.4 in 2:15:00 which works out to 10:04/mile pace. I stoked that I CAN do that, but I should have been closer to an 11 minute mile.

Speed Kills!