Was on the road much of the week so I switched to evening runs through Thursday. I really can't gauge how I will feel that well any longer. Driving a 1,000 miles in 4 days stiffened me up a bit. However, I can feel beat and run well, or feel decent and run fatigued. Bottom line is the regular runs are at a whatever I got pace and when I think I need to speed up I work through it.
7/24 PM = 6.0 w/ 3 x 1 mile on T-mill w/ 2:00 jog (6:35, 31, 27) felt easy
7/25 PM = 8.0 (8:41) roads
7/26 PM = 6.2 w/ 4 miles of fartlek, tired
7/27 PM = 7.6 (10:24) Men. Park w/ Dewey/Tim, trail/road
7/28 AM = 5.2 (10:24) roads
7/29 AM = 9.5 w/ 6.3 @ 6:47 pace, roads
7/30 AM = 7.5 (10:05) Minooka w/ Clem/Andrea, mostly trail
Total = 50.0
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Saturday, July 29, 2017
10210 is too intense
Can you will yourself to a specific race time? What's the governor or crowbar in some cases? It seems we pick certain times based more on feeling or wishful thinking. For those who have ran for years this formula may be accurate. I know I've been guilty of thinking certain times were achievable, stated them, and then just completely failed. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Just so it's not habitual. We do need to be honest with ourselves and at the same time set the bar high. The one thing that always puzzled me about people racing the marathon was the standard, "What do you think I can run a marathon in?" Then the obligatory other info that follows. How could one honestly know? To me the marathon is one of the easier distances to predict your finish time. After 3-4 months of steady training you should know exactly what you are capable of. The whole idea of training to me is finding out exactly what pace I should be able to run over the entire distance. If you don't know that's a problem.
I wish I could write that the 31:30 goal I set for the 8k at Al's Run on 9/16 was well thought out, but it was not. I never really train for Al's, it's always on the way to another event. It is a team event for me, so there is a little bit more motivation to perform well. Also in my tiny mind as the largest race in WI, it also serves as the yearly pecking order. The run starts at 10:30am and some years gets flat out hot. I have a good sense of how to run the race. If you get out too fast that first net downhill mile and then try and maintain close to the same pace in the second net uphill mile you will pay for it. For me this is a race you have to make it up in the last half of the run. With a few thousand runners there are plenty of people to flat out race over the final couple miles.
In training you see markers along the way that identify fitness and trajectory. In many cases I have ignored basic training principles because they don't apply to me. Well...we shall see the next 7 weeks if I obey basic recovery principles, or if throwing a few extra miles here and there is more important. The past couple years I have had to cut weight. I run big for a 5' 11" and am really happy if I ever get to 172. It pains me to not eat whatever I want and I'm terrible at it. If one truly can gain 2 seconds a mile, then the drop from 174 to 165 would mean 18 seconds a mile! If that is true then the 6:47 I averaged for 6.3 miles today (GPS) means roughly 6:30 pace at 165. Factor in the drop to 4.97 miles, additional training, a taper, and the race factor then 6:20 pace almost seems certain. Can I will myself to do it? There are three items in play here. Run the workouts, put the fork down, and don't try and do too much. I feel good about the first one, am challenged by the second, and believe I can be reasonable with the third one.
I will go to counting calories starting Monday. That's what works for me. Numbers...a friend that will never leave you.
I wish I could write that the 31:30 goal I set for the 8k at Al's Run on 9/16 was well thought out, but it was not. I never really train for Al's, it's always on the way to another event. It is a team event for me, so there is a little bit more motivation to perform well. Also in my tiny mind as the largest race in WI, it also serves as the yearly pecking order. The run starts at 10:30am and some years gets flat out hot. I have a good sense of how to run the race. If you get out too fast that first net downhill mile and then try and maintain close to the same pace in the second net uphill mile you will pay for it. For me this is a race you have to make it up in the last half of the run. With a few thousand runners there are plenty of people to flat out race over the final couple miles.
In training you see markers along the way that identify fitness and trajectory. In many cases I have ignored basic training principles because they don't apply to me. Well...we shall see the next 7 weeks if I obey basic recovery principles, or if throwing a few extra miles here and there is more important. The past couple years I have had to cut weight. I run big for a 5' 11" and am really happy if I ever get to 172. It pains me to not eat whatever I want and I'm terrible at it. If one truly can gain 2 seconds a mile, then the drop from 174 to 165 would mean 18 seconds a mile! If that is true then the 6:47 I averaged for 6.3 miles today (GPS) means roughly 6:30 pace at 165. Factor in the drop to 4.97 miles, additional training, a taper, and the race factor then 6:20 pace almost seems certain. Can I will myself to do it? There are three items in play here. Run the workouts, put the fork down, and don't try and do too much. I feel good about the first one, am challenged by the second, and believe I can be reasonable with the third one.
I will go to counting calories starting Monday. That's what works for me. Numbers...a friend that will never leave you.
Sunday, July 23, 2017
He's a sort of athletic Beatle
After five weeks of pounding away I grew tired. I am still somewhat enthusiastic about getting out, but the grand mileage experiment has halted for now. Consecutive weeks of 70, 73.3, 77.0, 80.2, and 83.0 in the heat of the summer (with extra gear on often) tuckered me out. Regardless, it gives me a good base to work on my next phase of whatever it is I want to do. Which if I'm honest at this point is dial it down for Al's Run (8k) and see if I can possibly sniff 6:20 miles. That's not a typo...it has come to that...and that is the HIGH end goal. Last years debacle produced a 34:32 which was a disaster after the 31:55 in 2015. The 6:20 goal gets me in around 31:30. I pretty much know what training I'm going to do...I just get tired of reading about all the limitations I have to consider. I'm guilty of probably working harder than I should and not resting enough, but it pains me to think 3 x 1 mile workouts, or 6 or 7 halves is going to lay waste to me. With 8 weeks away I am partially unwilling to follow a two easy day and one hard day regiment. I just took a couple easier weeks of 47.0 and 51.5 miles so I'm coming in a bit fresher.
After Al's Run it will be 9 weeks to the JFK 50 mile. During Al's run training I'm not going to attempt to keep up with the long runs. I can't do all that any longer. I might get near 2 hours a couple times, but that is it. I'd prefer to stay down by 1:30 for distance runs, or I won't be able to get adequate speed efforts under my belt. After Al's (September 16th) I will immediately bat out a longer effort of 4 hours. Then the Glacial Trail 50k is October 8th and I'll probably run 5:30 there. Then at the very end of October I'll sneak in my last long run. I have not filled in the rest of the voids. Let me see how Al's goes. I plan on running hard at JFK so I'll try and lather together the speed I hopefully have accomplished around a thin shell of over distance runs.
If anyone has training theories/ideas please present them here. All four of you that read this.
After Al's Run it will be 9 weeks to the JFK 50 mile. During Al's run training I'm not going to attempt to keep up with the long runs. I can't do all that any longer. I might get near 2 hours a couple times, but that is it. I'd prefer to stay down by 1:30 for distance runs, or I won't be able to get adequate speed efforts under my belt. After Al's (September 16th) I will immediately bat out a longer effort of 4 hours. Then the Glacial Trail 50k is October 8th and I'll probably run 5:30 there. Then at the very end of October I'll sneak in my last long run. I have not filled in the rest of the voids. Let me see how Al's goes. I plan on running hard at JFK so I'll try and lather together the speed I hopefully have accomplished around a thin shell of over distance runs.
If anyone has training theories/ideas please present them here. All four of you that read this.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Riding the clutch
The past week I can't help notice that folks jog by me looking as if they felt like getting a few miles in. They have all the appropriate gear on. Not super lean and mean, but they are getting in some aerobic work on a regular basis. Problem is I am running and it perplexes me. The Nova SS days with a 396 are forever gone. I have the straight 250.
I banged out 11 today at a moderate effort and it yielded 8:51 pace. The days I could stand on my head and spit nickels and run a couple minutes...heck one minute a mile faster have been hidden forever. Jammed in some place I'll never reach, tighter than a thumb up a pigs nose. I guess part of the reason I run ultras is piling up miles is useful if you want to quasi compete at 50 miles. I know I can only expect modest times and that's okay. At least I feel like I'm doing the homework.
Also, I never had 396 like wheels...ever. But the comparison is real. All in a perfectly legal and binding sense.
I banged out 11 today at a moderate effort and it yielded 8:51 pace. The days I could stand on my head and spit nickels and run a couple minutes...heck one minute a mile faster have been hidden forever. Jammed in some place I'll never reach, tighter than a thumb up a pigs nose. I guess part of the reason I run ultras is piling up miles is useful if you want to quasi compete at 50 miles. I know I can only expect modest times and that's okay. At least I feel like I'm doing the homework.
Also, I never had 396 like wheels...ever. But the comparison is real. All in a perfectly legal and binding sense.
Sunday, July 2, 2017
0 for 3
As this week progressed, I was feeling relatively decent. I took Friday off from work and after looking at the mile tally realized a single 6.3 mile day would provide a needed break. I ventured up to the Emerald parking lot and got on the Ice Age trail. The trail was a bit slippy and a tad overgrown. Not to mention it gets hilly up there. The mothership took a beating that day. I, to paraphrase Harold Abrams, "...don't run to take beatings!" Dang and the flies were brutal. Good thing I was wrapped up in the hoody and skull lid. Freaking beat. I was space trucking about 11-12 minute miles.
Saturday dawned and I was meeting Dewey for 15 at Nashotah. I probably needed a break, but after a half pot of coffee I was back in action and ready to go. We kept the pace honest and I felt good through the day. Happy to report the 10 at Minooka on Sunday wasn't bad either. Decent week. Just trying to pile a few miles up a bit at a time. It's hard to exercise caution when you are a running bum. No real need to get too excited about posting times nobody looks at that far down the page. Somehow this makes sense to me and so I overlook dings and dents to the body. There are no stars on a potato farm.
I ran into a guy at the grocery store wearing an Al's Run t-shirt and I commented on it as I had one on as well. He was pumped up and told me he wants to get one more in this year. He will be 89. Forget what I know. This guy is a natural born world shaker.
6/26am 5.6 (8:45) road, pm 5.6 (8:39) road
6/27am 5.8 (9:23) road, pm 6.7 (9:44) trail w/ Dewey, Tim, Robert
6/28am 8.0 (8:55) road, pm 5.0 (9:31) road
6/29am 6.0 (9:19) road, pm 6.0 (9:28) road
6/30am 6.3 (11:27) trail
7/1am 15.0 (10:07) trail w/ Dewey
7/2am 10.2 (10:39) trail w/ Sharon, Andrea, Clem, and Dean
Total 80.2
Seven runs with extra duds. One old guy who motivated me. One chocolate cake...gone.
Saturday dawned and I was meeting Dewey for 15 at Nashotah. I probably needed a break, but after a half pot of coffee I was back in action and ready to go. We kept the pace honest and I felt good through the day. Happy to report the 10 at Minooka on Sunday wasn't bad either. Decent week. Just trying to pile a few miles up a bit at a time. It's hard to exercise caution when you are a running bum. No real need to get too excited about posting times nobody looks at that far down the page. Somehow this makes sense to me and so I overlook dings and dents to the body. There are no stars on a potato farm.
I ran into a guy at the grocery store wearing an Al's Run t-shirt and I commented on it as I had one on as well. He was pumped up and told me he wants to get one more in this year. He will be 89. Forget what I know. This guy is a natural born world shaker.
6/26am 5.6 (8:45) road, pm 5.6 (8:39) road
6/27am 5.8 (9:23) road, pm 6.7 (9:44) trail w/ Dewey, Tim, Robert
6/28am 8.0 (8:55) road, pm 5.0 (9:31) road
6/29am 6.0 (9:19) road, pm 6.0 (9:28) road
6/30am 6.3 (11:27) trail
7/1am 15.0 (10:07) trail w/ Dewey
7/2am 10.2 (10:39) trail w/ Sharon, Andrea, Clem, and Dean
Total 80.2
Seven runs with extra duds. One old guy who motivated me. One chocolate cake...gone.
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