Indoor Season Kickoff

I had originally planned on doing 2 24-week "seasons" per year (straight out of Daniel) but I now plan on 3 "seasons" per year: a July-Nov fall season, a Dec-Feb winter/indoor season, and a March-June spring season. After taking a week off after my mod-Nov 5k I did an easy 50% week (12 miles over 4 sessions) and I'm now in the midst of an easy 75% week. I started with one hour on the treadmill Sunday (6.7 miles) and a 20-minute treadmill recovery jog on Monday. Tuesday I had planned on an easy 4 miles on the treadmill but my pulse was way too high so I cut it back to another 20-minute recovery jog. A lot of coughing going on at home so maybe I'm on the verge of something. I'll likely skip running the next two days and try for an easy 4-miler again on Friday.

McMillan Running Dot Com

Lot's of good info and an interesting calculator at www.mcmillanrunning.com. I like the ranges given for the various paces and the "equivalent" times for various race distances seem more realistic then Daniel's.

Montclair Goodwill 5k

Ran 21:35 for the Montclair Goodwill 5k on Saturday. Split were something like 6:28, 6:58, 7:28. Tried to go slow for the first mile but it was somewhat downhill and everyone else was just booking. And I forgot to charge my Garmin so that was of no use. The second half of the second mile was uphill and it got the best of me. Overall though it was a success. The goal I set for this was several months ago was sub 7:00 pace and I did 6:57 so that was great. Time for a week or two off and then more endurance work and some indoor racing perhaps.

Upcoming 5k

I plan to run a 5k this coming Saturday and then call it a season and take a week or two off. Just going to do a couple easy runs Tuesday and Thursday this week. Feeling a little run down right now so hoping an easy week will leave me rested for the race. We shall see.

6 months in, 2 years to go...

... and things have gone pretty well...

1. Have been running regularly and getting fitter.
2. Have gone from 168 pounds (in January) to 157.
3. Despite the aches and pains haven't had any real injuries (knock, knock, knock).
4. Have generally taken it slow and steady -- except perhaps for the last two weeks.
5. Have gotten in several 8-mile runs -- tying my longest ever -- and was still able to run the next day.

Some possible goals for the next 6 months (and a bit more) ...

1. Work up to 14 or 15 miles for long run.
2. Run to work one morning (14+).
3. Run some indoor races in January or February (NJ USATF Masters Indoor 2/28).
4. "Qualifiy" for the Ridgewood Masters One Mile by running 5:30 before Memorial Day.
5. Run a series of sub-7-minute pace races: 5k, then 10k, then 15k or 10 miles.
6. Run 21:00 (6-minute pace) for 3.5 mile Chase Corporate Challenge in June.

And take it slow and easy (which probably eliminates number 4 -- and maybe number 6 as well).

Another year, another half dozen aches and pains...

1. Slight strain of right hamstring playing soccer this morning.
2. Soreness in left quad from overly aggressive tempo run last week.
3. General soreness in both big toes due to bunions.
4. Left shoulder tenderness causes left biceps tightness while running.
5. Right shoulder not much better.
6. Some tendenitis-like feelings along outside of left knee.

VDOT Correction

The online calculator at http://www.runworks.com/ seems to have a bug in it. The 2:50 0.5 mile trial that I did recently should come out as a VDOT of 46.4 not 48.1. So I guess I have been overdoing it for a couple weeks.

That also means that my outside goal of 21:00 for an upcoming 5k is likely right on.

Tempo Madness

So after establishing a new VDOT via a 2:50 1/2 mile I've now got in about two weeks of trying out the new paces. I've done 2 8-mile long runs at 8:30 or so (somewhat quicker out, as it's slightly downhill, somewhat slower back). No problems there. I've also done 2 tempo runs. The first went like this: 7:04 pace for 8 1/4 minutes, 7:32 pace for next 8 3/4 minutes. Total of 17 minutes and an overall 7:20 pace. The pace was supposed to be 7:02. The duration was supposed to be 20 minutes. This was done on the road/sidewalk so you could say the footing wasn't that great -- but footing wasn't the issue. Part of the issue was that I probably ran the first few minutes at around 6:50 pace and then just slowed from there. So today I did the tempo run on the treadmill. Did the whole 20 minutes at 8.5 mph (7:03 pace) with the incline at 2% for the 1st 10 minutes, then 1.5% for 2.5, 1.0% for 2.5, and 0.5% for the last 5 minutes. At the 10-minute mark my HR was 170. At the 15-minute mark it had dropped to 165. After the full 20 minutes it had dropped to 160 -- which is pretty much exactly the 90% of max HR that a tempo run should be at. If it's not too cold next Thursday I'll try the tempo run outdoors on the flat cinder marsh loop. The week after that I plan running a 5k race. Originally I was planning on shooting for a 7:00 pace with 21:00 as on outside long-shot goal. Now maybe I'll shoot for 6:30 pace with 20:00 as a long-shot. Or maybe I'll blow up and run 23:00. We will have to see.

1st All-Out Time Trial

Did my first all-out time trial on the marsh trail last week. I meant to do 1-mile but went out way too fast and cut it off after 1/2 mile. Mostly because I had stopped breathing at the 0.4 mile mark. Ended up with 1:16/1:34 splits for a 2:50 1/2 mile. That works out to a 48.1 VDOT. I had been training at 43.0. Not sure I want to jump my pace up that much in training. The easy/long pace is likely fine -- it's 8:30 and I did 8 miles Monday at 8:13 out and 8:34 back (it's a bit downhill out and then uphill back) -- but the tempo pace is likely too much. I'll give it a shot tomorrow on a controlled treadmill run and see how it goes.

Progress History

VDOT history. Most recent on top.

[Scroll down. I have no idea why all the blank space is here.]

Date	Distance	Time	VDOT	Mile ~	Comments
9-26-10	1 Mile	5:14	56.4	5:14	5th Avenue Mile
9-5-10	5k	19:08	52.5	5:35	Closter 5k
3-21-10	5k	20:04	49.6	5:52	Hillsdale Rover and Clover 5k
2-11-10	1 m	5:39	51.8	5:39	NYRR Thursday Races
9-26-9	1 m	5:45	50.8	5:45	5th Ave Mile
9-6-9	5 k	20:30	48.4	5:55	Closter Labor Day 5k
2-26-9	1500m	5:42	47.0	6:09	NYRR Thursday Night at the Races at the Armory in NYC.
1-30-9	1.84 M	12:00	47.0	6:10	Cooper Test on the treadmill. 12 minutes at 9.2 mph (6:31/mile) and 1% incline.
11-15-8	5 k	21:35	45.6	6:20	Montclair Goodwill 5k
10-16-8	0.5 M	2:50	46.4	6:14	1st all-out trial. 1:16/1:34 splits. On the marsh trail.
9-2-8	1.18 M	8:00	43.0	6:40	Treadmill 9.0 mph, 2% incline 8:00 trial.
7-9-8	1.14 M	8:00	41.2	6:54	Treadmill 8.7 mph 2% incline 8:00 trial.
6-18-8	2.5 M	19:22	39.5	7:10	Final 2.5 miles of 3.5 mile Corporate Challenge in Central Park.
5-2-8 47y6m	0.5 M	3:30	37.8	7:29	Initial not-all-out-at-all trial on the sidewalk at the end of an easy 3-mile run.

Will update this post every 6 weeks or so.

October Starts Well

Started October with a T-pace run on the treadmill at lunch time like this: 15-minute warmup going from 5.5 to 6.5 mph up 0.1 each minute then 5 minutes at 6.5, 20-minute T-pace run at 7.7 mph (7:47 pace), 5-minute cooldown. The warm-up and the first 15 minutes of the Tempo run were at 2% incline. I went down to 1.5% at 15 minutes, 1% at 18 minutes, and 0.5% at 19-minutes. I had planned to do a 10-minute easy run before the 5-minute cooldown but was pretty spent. The good thing was that I got through the whole 20 minutes without anything tightening up. The better thing was that afterwards I recovered very quickly and felt really energized the rest of the day. Probably the first time I've felt energized by a run since I started running regularly again.

September Re-Cap

After that first week I got in an 8-miler the second week -- only the second 8-miler of my life, so I've tied my longest ever run record -- that was liekly a bit much but my easy 5-miler 2 days later was a big improvement from the disaster of the previous week.

My Sunday soccer league picked up again so for a while my basic week will be: soccer on Sunday, 30-minute recovery run Monday, long run Tuesday, gym workout Wednesday, T-pace run Thursday, maybe a gym workout on Friday, Saturday running around with the kids at soccer practices.

The 3rd week, though, we took a vacation and did some biking. I did a 9-mile ride the day before we left and we did a 35-mile ride one day and 38 the next. I did an easy 3.5 mile run the day after that.

The 4th week I followed my proscibed pattern from above except that the Tuesday long run was only 5 miles. For the tempo run on Thursday I only made it through 17 of the 20 minutes as my left quad started to tighten.

This last week I got in a 7.2-mile run on the boardwalk (mostly) in Atlantic City. About 8:20 pace for the first half (30 minutes) and 8:28 for the second (30 minutes, 30 seconds).

September Starts Stupidly

Started things off with a 7-mile medium paced run on Labor Day. That went pretty well. So the next day I did a treadmill pace trial: 15 minutes easy warm-up, 8 minutes at 9.0 MPH and 2% incline, 15 minutes easy cool down. That middle part worked out to 1.18 miles in 8 minutes for a VDOT of 43 and an estimated 1-mile pace of 6:40.

It was probably a bit faster than I should have gone. My left quad was sore for the two following days. The bigger problem, though, was that I then gave blood that evening. That really seems to have wiped me out. More so than usual. I tried an "easy" 5-miler two days later and it was a disaster. Have to see how I feel in a day or two.

August Re-Cap

After taking the first two weeks of August off completely I managed a 12-mile week and then an 18-mile week. Nothing longer then 5 miles. Just what I was supposed to do.

Treading Water

August started with some planned minor surgery and a 2-week layoff.

Got the Ok to resume running and so plan on 3 weeks of easy running: a 50% week this week, a 75% week next, and then back to where I was at the end of July. And that will be it for August.

July Re-Cap

July marked the start of my first 24-week "season". The goal will be pretty much to build a base, add some T-pace running after a bit, increase the length of my weekly long tun, make some progress on monthly (roughly) 1-mile time trials, and get in a couple 5K races, probably Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

Weekly milage for the month was 16,15,17,21,17 for mostly 3 runs plus a competitive soccer game (counting as 5-miles) for most weeks.

I did a mid-month time trial on the treadmill running for 8 minutes at 8.7 mph (6:54 pace) and a 2% incline. This didn't feel that hard but about an hour afterwards I had to take a nap. I'll use these 8-minute runs on the treadmill eash month or so to establish that I'm making progress. I like the treadmill for this because it will prevent me from making too much progress and over dong things (assuming I choose an appropriate pace).

I got in 1 T-pace run: 1.25 miles easy, 2.5 miles in 20 minutes @ 8:00 pace, finishing with 1.25 miles easy. It felt really good to get this kind of run in.

The last run of the month was an easy 7-miler: 8:48 pace out, 8:58 back. I hadn't run as far as 7 miles in many years and this was a good bit faster than my suggested easy pace of 9:31. I was a bit heavy legged the last 1/2 mile or so but my pulse was within the right range and afterwards I felt fine.

I got in a good number of days on core strength work, usually 2 days a week.

I started the month weighing 162 and finished at 159.

All in all very good progress for month number 1.

Corporate Challenge

This thing isn't a good race to try to run a time in as there were like 20,000 people jammed into Central Park, most just there to jog or walk. I had trouble warming up and was late to the starting area and so was way pack in the pack. I knew I was in trouble when the woman next to me bent over just before the start to pick up her purse. Then again, I wasn't in any shape to run a time either. I managed to find some space after the first mile and ran the last 2.5 miles in 19:22. About what I might have expected, I guess. According to the charts that's about the equivalent of a 7:10 mile. So I got a lot of room for improvement.

Local 5k

I ran the local 5k with my son today. We finished in 30:43. He's six. Not too shabby.

The Core, Part One

At this point my training is easy runs and core exercies. I have a core exercise program that I've been doing on and off since high school. It was originally derived from an exercise program developed for the Canadian Airforce. My grammer school gym teacher (later high school gym teacher) had us doing this program a few times a week (and later in high school sometimes a few times a day for those crazy enough to submut themselves to that). Over time I've added some back strengthening excercizes as a warm-up. The routine looks like this...



Part One - Back Strengthening Exercies



A. Lying face down on floor in push-up position raise upper torso with minimal assistence from arms and hold at high point for a three count. 10 reps.

B. Lying face down on floor with arms at sides raise upper torso and bring arms together behind back concentrating on bringing elbows together while keeping arms straight and hold for 3 count. 10 reps.

C. Lying face down on floor with hands under chin raise left leg from waist and hold at high poiunt for three count. 10 reps left leg. Then ten reps right leg. Alternate starting leg. Concentrate on keeping resting leg relaxed and in contact with the floor.

D. Lying on back with legs extended raise left knee to chest and hold for three count. 10 reps. Repeat with right leg. Alternate starting leg. Concentrate on keeping resting leg relaxed and in contact with the floor.

E. Lying on back with legs extended and arms out (making a T) raise left leg to a vertical position and then swing to the side to touch right hand and then back to vertical and then back to starting position. 10 reps. Repeat with right leg. Alternate starting leg. Concentrate on keeping reasting leg relaxed and in contact with the floor.



Part Two to follow...

Ya Gotta Start Somewhere

I've signed up to run in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge in Central Park on June 18th. I hope to run the 3.5 miles in no worse than 28:00 or 8-minute pace. I'll see how that goes and move on from there.

What's this all about?

Way back in ancient times as I was approaching my 40th year I set myself the goal of running a 5-minute mile at that advanced age. I started only about 8 months from the big date and ran a 5:12 a few days after my birthday. A month and a half or so later I ran in a Masters Mile at the Armory in New York City. I ran the first half of the race at just about 5-minute pace (right on the heels of a guy who would finish in 5:01). Then reality hit. I finished in 5:24 and couldn't breathe right for almost a month. That pretty much ended my quest.

This time I'm giving myself 2 and a half years of preparation. I gauge the chances of complete success at something close to zero... but it's not all about the destination.