I’m not dead yet…

I’ve been running. Since my last post 4 weeks ago I’ve run 94 miles. I’ve done intervals, hill work, long runs, and tempo runs. I have even competed in a winning swim relay team.

I still plan on running the Baltimore Marathon on 15 October 2011. I am in week 9 of a 20 week training program where I’ve missed quite a number of workouts but have done 33 miles last week and am looking to do the same this week.

So, I am saying that I am not done running, but my blogging is lacking. I need to get more accustomed to being present on-line as I am doing a post-graduate course this Fall and may be beginning a Doctoral program. I am going to continue to strive for my BQ, I also am saving for my bike because the tri-bug has bit me and I am thinking that I’ll get into triathlon sooner that I have expected.

Week 4: First Cycling Cross Training

I have always seen my cyclist brothers and sister in endurance training on my long Sunday runs, but haven’t joined them until today. Today, I went out for a 37.5 mile jaunt through the Bowie and Davidsonville region with my neighbors. It was a glorious morning, starting at about 65 F and climbing to the low/mid 70s.

I thought I’d do well; I had the reservation that this is a different exercise and these guys could push me to my limit, but wow that was hard. They introduced me to hill climb repeats on steep country roads and tough road miles that made me respect the effort of a long bike when compared with a long run. The original plan for today was to run 1 hour at 15 seconds slower than my 10k pace (~7:15/mi).

The muscle tension/fatigue of biking is similar to that I feel 5k running. I am now a fan of cycling and will likely be purchasing a bike and joining my local cycling friends for many long rides.

Week 4 of Baltimore Marathon Training:

• Tuesday: Tempo run; ran 1 mile warmup, 6 mile tempo at marathon pace (8:00/mi), 1 mile cooldown. 8 miles in 1:07:55
• Wednesday: Easy run; 6 miles at easy pace with 5 strides. 6 miles is 53:19
• Thursday: Supposed to be hills training instead did Runervals 3.0, 5 miles in 48:27
• Friday: Easy run; 7 miles in 59:37 with 5 strides.
• Sunday: Supposed to be a 1-hour run at 10k-15s, switched to cross train road biking. 37.5 miles in 3:15 with 4 major hill climbs.

Summary:
Running – 26 miles in 3:44:20
Biking – 37.5 miles in 3:15

Not my best

I have had my fill of preparing only to know that on the day of judgment I wasn’t ready. Presenting at a conference in front of more than a hundred is one thing, running in a marathon another. Expertise is required. The ability to respond to adverse conditions is similar. Your response is where you will be judged.

I spoke today to a group of developers, technologists, and engineers with my slides in limbo and faltered. The rebound was okay, but I feel like I followed the half marathon group at the split only to have to retrace my steps to get back on the marathon course in a big city race. I had the respect of keeping a stiff upper lip and finishing, but there was no reason to celebrate a job well done. Not my best work.

I went for a run when I got home.

Week 1 synopsis:
- 4 runs: Tu, Wed, Thu, Fri
- 16 miles
- Notes: busy weekend had me skip the long run. I am going to accept this as I am in a 20-week cycle instead of 18 weeks.

Soundtrack:

1. Heart of the City – Jay-Z
2. Picture Me Rollin’ – 2Pac
3. Sabotage – Beastie Boys
4. The Next Episode – Dr. Dre feat. Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg
5. (Rock) Superstar – Cypress Hill
6. The Choice Is Yours – Black Sheep
7. Snap Yo’ Fingaz – Lil’ Jon

Planning my running for the Fall Campaign

I ran my second WarriorDash™ last Sunday. Once again, I competed hard in a fun race, but didn’t go all out for the win. I finished 238^th  of 8,279 overall for the Sunday group, which was 20^th of 562 in my age group.

Later this week I went for a slow run in the heat of midday. This long run was attempted with nothing but a liter of water and two Endurolyte™ capsules. I did 13.83 miles in 2:28:57. Though I was dragging most of the time, it was probably 90°F, the fueling before and during was not appropriate, and frankly I just want to run and did not care at all about my pace. It was fun and gave me a chance to think about how I want to prepare for my Fall marathons.
I have checked Jack Daniel’s Running Formula out from the library in order to get some pointers. This plan will be put together as I had read more and thought about it. In the meantime, I plan to run long once a week and do my Runervals™ training (Treadmill Tempo and Cheetah Fast) twice a week. With some supplemental miles I’ll try to get up to about 40-50 miles a week. I’ll do this over 3 weeks and judge how things are going by attempting a Runerval base pace (BP) of 3.5 mph until it gets easy. For those who have not done Runervals 3.5 mph seems slow, but the workout will have you running BP + 5 mph at 5-6% incline. In order to not arbitrarily decide what is easy and what is not easy I will use my heart rate monitor. I will sign up for a 5K race in for the last weekend of June.
For supplemental training I’ll be doing the hundred pushups challenge, P90X and swimming. I’ll try to get some stretching in and eat right (better). I’ll try to have my full training plan and race schedule set up in couple of weeks.

Runervals 2.0 kicked my butt

I did the Runervals Treadmill Tempo run yesterday after an extended amount of time off due to vacation. This workout really tested me. I set my cruise pace to that of my predicted 5K time of sub-21 minutes. The workout went something like this. Warm-up running at 4mph.The intervals began with 4 times running cruise pace plus 3 mph faster (7 mph) and 3% grade for 90 secs then rest 30 secs. Coach Troy then gives you a 2 minute break for you to recover then run cruise plus 4 mph (8 mph) and 4% grade for 90 with 30 sec rest. The next was 9 mph at 5% grade for 90/30 but I could only go for 2 reps before backing it down to 8 mph. I then reset for the last set of 1 min on at 9 mph 5% grade and 1 min rest at cruise pace. 3 of these and I was done. 5 miles in the book. I’ll get out for a long easy tomorrow. Today is for family.

Ahh… speedwork

I have been super casual about running since the National Marathon. I pretty much have just run when I felt like it which has caused me to take a few days off here and there. I have only put in 22 miles since the marathon and today was my first day of speed work.
I hit the WB&A trail for 3 intervals of 800m at my 5K pace (6:36/mi). I pretty much hit each interval with the first 800 at 3:18 followed by a 400m jog and a 3:09 800m, and a slightly off target 3:21 final 800. Given that I did not look at my watch and hit the splits on the mark using only my internal sense of pace paced on my judgment of what the 5K effort should feel like, I am very happy.
I am shooting for a 20:30 at the Armed Forces 5K in May and will be doing another Warrior Dash with my bro and his wife later that May. I should be in shape for some fast *for me) stuff.

Test with Windows Live Writer

This is a test post. I am now using Windows Live Writer to publish my blog. A big thanks goes to Neil Z of the Because all the cool kids are doing it… blog for his post on How to use MS Live Writer to Author and publish your blog… I had not thought of using an editor before when writing the blog, but it seems to be nicer than the minimal web-based editor provided by Blogger.