Watchung not-so-Winter not-so-Ultra

I ran the one-loop 10.7-mile version of the Watchung Winter Ultra race put on by NJ Trail Series on Saturday. My goal was to try and maintain around 160 HR and see if I could do that for the whole time. I guessed this might put me around 9-minute per mile pace or around 1:38 or so for the one loop around the Sierra trail that all the day's races were run on. Well I ended up running 1:38 and change for something like 9:04 pace overall... but nothing like I had planned. After a couple miles I was comfortably following two guys and HR was 160-2. Just like I wanted. Then for some unknown reason I decided to try and move up behind a bigger group that was 30-40 yards ahead. Soon after I passed the two guys I was with and started to try to gain on the bigger group we hit a long uphill. So not only did I not catch the group ahead I spiked my HR much higher than I should have. That would end up costing me. After 4 miles I was on 8:30 pace and that was too quick. The rest of the way I was passed by a bunch of runners including the two guys I should have stayed with. The last 2 miles or so my right calf began hinting at cramping and then actually cramped. Pretty clearly I could hve run the same overall time with a lot less effort had I been smarter about it. I'll see if I can be smarter at the FebApple race in February. Pretty much the same distance but at South Mountain instead of Watchung.

New Year's Day 5Ks (Yes, 2 of them!)

Ran the Fair Lawn 1st Day 5k at 11:00 this morning with Will. He ran 23:08 and took 1st place for 10-14. Then we drove over to Wayne and did the Passaic County Runners Club Winter Series opener at 2:00. He ran 22:38 on a hilly course. Pretty good start to the year.

NYC Half

Got into the NYC Half Marathon on March 18th via the lottery!

Aerobic Test #1

Six weeks into my base period plan I did my first aerobic re-test. Here are the results compared with my initial pre-plan test...

HR 130 9:14 9:13
HR 140 8:43 8:37
HR 150 7:55 7:56
HR 160 7:19 7:21
HR 170 7:07

For the 170 interval this time I only ran half the prescribed distance. I stopped because I felt terrible and was not even able to get my HR up to 170. Only to about 165 or so. But I suppose that's an improvement on not running it at all. And I'm looking for any improvement since the test was pretty much flat compared to the initial test.

Thing is, though, I was sick for the 3 days before running the test and didn't do anything those days. Not sure why I felt the need to do he test right away. Should have waited until the following week after having gotten better and had a few rays of running back under my belt.

Let's see if we can be a little smarter six weeks from now.

Base Period Plan

Weekly Base Period Plan (based on Max HR of 183)

Sat 1:30 Long on Trails HR 140-145
Sun 1:00 Recovery on Trails HR 130-135
Mon 1:15 Steady on Road or Path HR 150 (Start with short then the 75 minutes)
Tue 0:45 Recovery HR 130-135
Wed 1:00 Easy HR 135-140
Thu 1:15 Steady on Road or Path HR 150 (Start with short then the 75 minutes)
Fri 0:45 Easy HR 135-140

Before starting I did an aerobic test as prescribed by the plan. The test consists of running 2400 meters at HR 130, then 140, then 150, then 160, then 170 with 90 seconds standing rest between each interval. My initial test resulted in these paces at the given HRs...

130 9:14
140 8:43
150 7:55
160 7:19

I skipped the 170 interval because I didn't feel so good running even at 160.

We shall see how it goes.

2011 Re-cap

Injuries kept me from running the 5th Avenue Mile this year so one try at the 5:00 mark at 50+ years old has passed. Starting a new training cycle with a base period of undetermined length. As Lydiard said: "for as long as necessary." Using a plan based on one described by John Hadd on Let's Run. HR-based and meant to develop the full range of the aerobic system over time. I'll describe it in more detail some time.

Ran the Ridgewood and Tenafly 5ks this past week with Will. On Memorial Day in Ridgewood he took 1st place in the 9-year old and younger group with a 2 minute and 33 second PR of 22:58. On Sunday in Tenafly he took 1st place for 4th graders from Tenafly in 23:23. His goal had been to run under 24:00 this spring so he did it for both and even got under 23:00 for Ridgewood. His mile splits for Ridgewood were 7:40, 7:40, 6:46. It's a flat, fast course but it was very hot out. With better weather and more even pacing perhaps he could have gone even faster. The Tenafly course is a bit tougher with two non-trivial uphill sections and he didn't seem to be feeling as good as he did at Ridgewood but the weather was perfect. His mile splits were around 7:25, 7:50, 7:20, with a full out sprint at the downhill end.