Category Archives: My Running

Half Training: Week Seven

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This is an interesting week – the weather definitely warmed up which continued to create its own unqiue problems and I had a race on Sunday which changed my scheduling a bit. In Indiana there were very few Sunday races so it was never a problem for me to add a race into a training schedule, it usually just replaced or was added into Saturday’s long run. This “dilemma” created some unique problems. I want to be able to race well and see where I am fitness-wise and actually next weekend the schedule called for a 10K time trial. The race is 8K so it is close enough in my opinion. The only problem is that this week had some intense workouts which didn’t necessarily provide a good opportunity to have a mini-taper! As you’ll see the only changes I made were reducing the mileage of one of my easy runs and taking Saturday off.

Monday – Run 7 x 1600 meter repeats at 10K pace or 15 seconds per mile slower than 5K pace. Jog for 800 meters between repeats. Jog for 800 meters to cool down. It was 10 above at 6:40 when I began this workout. I really would like a track for interval work, but the only one I know of is still covered in snow! So I ran these along the Greenway, around Lake of the Isles and Lake Calhoun before heading home. The plan was to run each repeat around 6:26-6:30. I probably sound like a broken record but there is still a significant amount of ice on the trails and some of the sidewalks I ran on. One of these days I won’t have that reason (excuse?) for poor performance! My splits were 6:55, 6:47, 6:39, 6:56, 6:42, 7:12, and 6:35. The 7:12 was almost all on ice covered sidewalks. Only the last one was in a decent range of my goal splits, which means I probably should have taken each one a little harder! Overall I ran 12.34 miles in 1:35:53.

Tuesday – Run 6 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. Per my plan to “taper” into the race I ran 4 miles in 34:38 along the Greenway. It was 33 and sunny at 6:55 when I went running. It was pretty dark actually when I started thanks to Daylight Savings Time!

Wednesday – Run 2 x 400/800/2400 meter supersets. Run 400 meters at 20 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace, 800 meters at 5K pace and 2400 meters at goal half marathon pace. Do not rest between the distances. Recover between the sets with 800 meters at an easy pace. Cool down with 800 meters at an easy pace. Ah, another superset! I’m going to be honest – these sucked, my times sucked. A lot of ice on the Greenway still, the warmer weather felt good but the run just stunk. The goal times were 1:20, 2:53, 10:14 (6:52 pace). Here are my intervals: 1:22, 3:29, 11:36 and 1:40, 3:57, 11:33. HORRIBLE! The total mileage was 6.6 miles in 54:57.

Thursday – Run 4 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. This was my cross-training day. I did 7 miles on the bike again in 28:30. No lifting this week.

Friday – Run 4 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I ran around noon and did an odd – almost touristy route downtown and along the river for a little bit. It was 4.68 miles in 37:02. It was almost 40 with bright shiny sun!!

Saturday – Run 14 miles. Run the first 10 miles at an easy pace. Run the last 4 miles at goal half marathon pace. As planned I took this as a rest day instead of Sunday, when I’ll race.

Sunday – Rest Day! After some frustrating days running this week I was excited and nervous to see how I would race. I was quite pleased with my first race in Minnesota. I ran the Human Race 8K at 1:20pm in 40 degree weather. I must report that I am very excited about my time! My overall time was 31:27 (officially) which was 33 seconds faster than my goal time! My mile splits were 6:20, 6:12, 6:25, 6:34, and 5:51 (.99 miles). That is all I’ll say for now, so be sure to check back tomorrow for a full race report!

Weekly Totals: 35.5 miles of running for 4:11:52 and 7 miles of biking in 28:30.

[tags] Half Marathon, Training [/tags]

Half Training: Week Six

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Halfway through the training plan – that means only 6 more weeks until race day. It really is coming quite quickly. I am definitely tired of the cold and having to check the weather each morning to find out how many layers I actually need to wear. The MDRA blog says it well: “The only good thing I’ve found about running in below zero temps is this; I know exactly how to dress. When the temp is in the mid 20s I’m always too hot or too cold by the end of a run. But I can totally nail it at minus 5. Weird.”

If you followed along with my mileage and workout stats on the sidebar for this week, you may have thought I slacked off. Well I did, just not the way you thought! I slacked off on inputting running data into the computer. I wanted to enter it accurately – it is all on the Garmin – so I just kept waiting around to do it.

Monday – Run 4 x 1200 meter repeats at 5K pace. Recover between the repeats with 800 meters at an easy pace. Cool down with 800 meters at an easy pace. It was a chilly 8 above with a -8 wind chill so it was quite windy for this interval workout. I did it along the Greenway for an overal run of 6.53 miles in 51:19. I think you will be able to tell by my splits which way the wind was blowing during this out and back run. My goal pace for each interval was 4:19 – 4:40. An additional note there is still many icy patches on the trail. I ran 5:01, 5:13, 4:55, 4:52 so none of them were in the target range – but pretty close considering the clothing and environmental challenges!

Tuesday – Run 6 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I ran 5.2 miles in 8:32. I don’t remember the weather, but I’m guessing it was cold and windy! I ran from home to downtown and then back down the bike trail to the Midtown Greenway.

Wednesday – Run 5 miles on a hill that is gradually and consistently uphill. Run at a pace that feels like 10K pace. Your actual pace will be slower due to the incline. It was about 24 this morning with at least an inch of snow on the roads and sidewalks when I left and it snowed the entire run. The warmer temps felt good and the snow provided a nice cushion. The workout sheet offered an indoor alternative – treadmill at 3-5%. I hate treadmills and figured out a way to incorporate some hills into my run without having to drive any where. The trade-off was having to run on sidewalks instead of the Greenway. I almost got hit by the rear end of a sliding bus and came upon a taxi-van sitting in the middle of the sidewalk – he crashed into an electric type box after sliding across the road and up onto the sidewalk. He said he was fine so I maneuvered carefully around him. I didn’t have the route perfectly memorized in my head so I missed the route I had planned but still had an excellent workout along the East River Parkway. I’m not sure why but the East side wasn’t plowed as well as the West – and it was still Minneapolis so it wasn’t just because I was in St Paul or anything. My overall run was 7.86 miles in 1:06:32. I ran 2.09 miles before I got to the beginning of the hills with a split of 18:30. The next 5 miles I ran in 41:29 which is a sad 8:11 pace – I wasn’t running anywhere near 10K effort for most of the run but it was a snowy mess! The last .7 miles I ran in 6:31. So not the best workout but there was hills and maybe next time I’ll actually remember where I’m going!

Thursday – Run 6 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I hit the bike this morning. My legs have felt pretty good, but it was something like -20 wind chill so I thought it would be a perfect day for cross-training. I wasn’t too ambitious on the bike and only did 7 miles in 29:30 – about half the normal time and way off the normal pace. Afterwards I lifted – I don’t think I’ve said anything about that before, but I’ve been lifting lower body for a few weeks. I’ve been doing it on whichever day I cross train, but today I also added triceps and biceps. I need to find my lifting sheet and get back into it.

Friday – Run 4 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I ran 4.16 miles in the afternoon on some random streets. I finished the run in 33:32. The sidewalks weren’t too bad today – there are still spots that are horrible (like where the sun never hits) but the majority have been nicely cleaned since Tuesday’s snow. I almost didn’t run again today, but honestly the though of having to write on here about not running for no good reason motivated me to do it. It was -5 actual temps this morning and I knew I’d be able to run later in the day when it was 10 above (1 above windchill). But when that time came I just didn’t feel like it. As always I’m glad I ran, even if it was just to explore new neighborhoods.

Saturday – Run 2 x 20 minute repeats at 10K pace. Jog for 5 minutes between repeats. I thought it was supposed to be warming up! It was 2 above with a -10 wind chill this morning. So I bundled up and took off. 10K pace is around 6:30 per mile. I was hoping to be able to run about 3 miles or even a full 5K in this time – 2.87 miles out (6:59 pace) and 2.76 (7:15) on the way back. A little disappointing but there were times I was at 6:30 pace, it was stinking cold! The overall run was 7.72 miles in 1:00:06.

Sunday – Rest! Gladly!

Totals for the week: Running – 31.4 miles and 4:15:20 hours Biking – 7 miles in 29:30 minutes.

This week should be a fun week of running with some good workouts. The weather also looks pretty good!

[tags] Half-Marathon, Training [/tags]

Human Race 8K

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While I had already registered for my first race in 2008, the St Patrick’s Day Human Race 8K will be the first one I’ll run. I registered at the beginning of March. This is the first race in the USATF Circuit. The 8K distance is just short of 5 miles and is the collegiate cross country distance.

It is kind of a unique name but they help explain it on their page:

In 2005 a scientific article was released that caught our attention. The authors claimed that the human body has evolved to be the shape it is because of running. That`s what we have thought all along, that running isn`t just something we do, it makes us human!

It also has a strong community focus:

The St. Patrick`s Day Human Race benefits the community in four distinct ways. First, the event is a celebration of fitness and healthy living, which we believe are positive community values. Second, each year we conduct a shoe drive to collect worn (but not worn out) shoes for distribution at a local free store. We collect over 700 pairs of shoes each year. Third, beginning in 2002, The Sporting Life has designated Human Race Heroes and initiated a fundraising effort for the charity of choice for the honoree. In 2006 we honored Bonnie Sons and Chris Celichowski, and fundraising for their charity of choice, Bolder Options. Finally, we recruit community groups to work at our event in exchange for a donation to their organization.

The 36th running of this event is on March 16 at the University of St Thomas in Saint Paul. The out and back course runs along Summit Ave which is also the finish of the Twin Cities Marathon.

Half Training: Week Five

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Wow training is quickly flying by, I’m almost half-way there. I had some good runs this week and it did warm-up although that created some different problems which you’ll read about below!

Monday – 6×1600 meter repeats at 10K pace or 15 seconds per mile slower than 5K pace. Jog for 800 meters between repeats. This ended up being a really good workout. I had to get up a little early to make sure I got it done before catching the bus to work, but I didn’t have any problems with that. It was 30 degrees at 6:30am so I was actually able to wear only a couple of layers! The warmer weekend temperatures had melted some of the snow – but that created icy patches where the water had refrozen – and that impacted some of my split times during the intervals. It was a beautiful run – I ran along the Midtown Greenway to Lake of the Isles around it and then to Lake Calhoun and around it before heading home for a total of 11 miles in 1:25:25. Each mile should have been around 6:26 – 6:30 My actual splits were 7:17, 7:00, 6:45, 7:26, 6:40, and 7:21. My rest intervals stayed approximately the same amount of time which isn’t usually the case, but some of the splits weren’t excessively hard either. I felt good with the workout overall, it will be nice to get on a track or something for speed work.

Tuesday – Run 6 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I ran 5.85 miles in 50:30 – dang that was slow! I was sore and it was really windy. The windchill was 4 above with the actual temp at 18 at 6:30am. This was out and back along the greenway.

Wednesday – Run 20 minutes alternating between 30 seconds at 20 seconds per mile faster than 5K pace and 30 seconds at an easy pace. Cool down with 5 minutes at an easy pace. I did this along the Greenway as well and ran into the same problems that I had on Monday with the icy patches. It was also about 14 above with a 5 above windchill at 6:30am. I ran for 4.97 miles in 35:11. I ran one 30 second segment at 5:19 pace.

Thursday – Run 6 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I was going to try and run everyday except for the Friday 4 miler and start weaning myself off the bike. By Wednesday evening though my foot and legs were starting to hurt so I decided to hit the bike again. I biked 17 miles in 58:20 at the YWCA.

Friday – Run 4 miles easy. Run 5 acceleration strides. I ran 4.2 miles in 36:04 on fresh snow. It was about 30 above at 10:30 when I went running. I ran around little Powderhorn Park which had several inches of snow covering and ice! I had fun with it and took it easy. It was a nice run!

Saturday – Run 12 miles. Run the first 9 miles at an easy pace and the last 3 miles at goal half marathon pace. I ran with the MDRA Polar Bear group again. We met at the Theodore Wirth Park’s Wirth Beach parking lot and then ran up Theodore Wirth Parkway down Memorial Parkway to Humboldt Road and back to the Beach. It was a pretty good run with some hills and lots of icy patches. The middle miles were mostly flat without a lot of ice so we opened up the pace a little bit there. The out split was 5.86 miles in 48:53 while the return was 6.11 (I ran a little extra) in 47:55. I picked up the pace between mile 9 and 10 – there was a couple of guys ahead of us that I slowly reeled in catching them right before the final turn. I also slipped on the ice and fell on my rear end – hopped up and kept running. We started the run at 9:16 pace and I finished the last 0.97 miles in 7:04. I felt pretty good for most of the run – it was really hard to get into a rhythm due to all the icy patches along the way. It was about 12 above with a 4 above wind chill at the start and had warmed up throughout the run with the sun shining!

Sunday – Rest. No problem with that!

Totals: 37.9 miles running for 5:03:58 and 17 miles on the bike for 58:22.

[tags] Half Marathon, Training [/tags]