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).