More Speed Work

I decided to mix things up a bit for my speed work. I ran my slow mile first in order to loosen things up. Then, before my timed mile, I rested and stretched. After my timed mile, I rested and stretched again before my fartleks. I also added three seconds to each fartlek and subtracted three seconds from my recovery time.

So, my total workout time, including walking to and from the start and finish, was around 50 minutes.

In 36 degree F weather. Yeah, it was a bit chilly. I wore the same stuff as I did at 39 degrees; it was a bit longer before I took off the gloves though. Thankfully, it was clear and once the sun rose, sunny.

In other news, we are thinking about joining LA Fitness. I'd like to get some swimming in, as you all know, and my wife would like to take a yoga class. They offer personal training services that we may take advantage of, but they are very expensive, so we may just see how we do the first couple of months without them.

One week until my next race. I have two more runs before then; Monday should be a race pace run while Wednesday should be an easy pace. Thu and Fri are rest days. Yay for rest days!!

Race Pace

Today, instead of letting my body parts determine my running, I told them what they were going to do! I pushed it from the start, worked out the kinks early, and ignored the pathetic whines from my extremities.

As a result, I was able to maintain a nice pace that is on par with the time I ran my 5K in. I've read a bit of some different pacing for runs - easy, tempo, race, but I haven't paid much attention because I figured I was putting out the effort that was comfortable for my body to handle.

It looks like I've been taking the easy pace; I'll have to research recommended schedules for the different run paces. That said, I know I need to start stepping it up during my morning runs in order to improve.

Sherlock

I just finished volume II of The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, edited by Kyle Freeman.

I also recently read Sherlock Holmes the Montana Chronicles by John S. Fitzpatrick; this book, written in 2008, is a collection of 4 Holmes stories set in Montana.

One of the things I loved about the original stories is the fact that Doyle set his hero in contemporary times, that is, the late 19th century and early 20th century. There are several interesting observations that I can make because Doyle chose his own era to place his detective stories.

1. With the exception of one story, The Adventure of the Creeping Man, Doyle seems to stick with the logical and ordinary world. The deductions, observations, adventures, and characters all fall within one's experiential norms, and they do not seem to fall outside of natural laws found in physics, chemistry, or other sciences.

An aside, the aforementioned story wanders off the beaten path into the realm of science fiction, however, that observation is made from 2010. In the year that it was written, it may have been a viable scientific theory.

So, the first thing that I like about Holmes' adventures is that they are set in the natural world that I live in. That's a good thing; I know a bit about this world - rain forms mud, things fall down when dropped, and all the other things that we take for granted in the natural world.

2. Without realizing it, I'm sure, Doyle chronicled a time capsule. Kyle Freeman does a wonderful job of explaining some of the more obscure references that are written about as quite ordinary. Doyle assumes that the reader is more than acquainted with his contemporary world.

For example, different carriage terms are used for the various transportation available in that time. I'm sure most people in this century have no clue as to the difference between a hansom, a dog-cart, and a landau; once again, in addition to copious notes, Kyle Freeman includes a list, as well as an explanation, of the available coaches.

So, the second thing that I like about the stories is that I get a glimpse into the lifestyle of the not so average bachelor of 100+ years ago. I also get a good dose of the culture, the mannerisms (so polite!), and thought processes. I find it fascinating.

3. Perhaps it is wishful thinking on my part, but I can't help but think that Doyle would incorporate crime fighting techniques unique to his time. In short, while he may have made stuff up, I don't think that he went into the realm of futuristic crime solving procedures.

Holmes knew mud, Holmes knew cigar ash, Holmes knew poisons. All of these are logical things for the great detective to catalog.

Holmes did not know ballistics, DNA, or pollen tracking through forensic palynology. He didn't have the benefit of CSI or any of its spin offs on TV.

So, the third thing that I like about the stories is that I gain insight into what tools and thought processes were available to detectives around the turn of the 20th century.

These three points make up my issue with the Montana chronicles. I can appreciate fan fiction, and this is very good fan fiction. But, unfortunately, the writer incorporates at least two modern day forensic methods into his stories, and attributes their discoveries to Holmes.

My mind rebels at such an idea because it makes the extraordinary Holmes into little more than Nick the CSI.

There is no great deduction made; it's just matching bullets.

There is no brilliant chain of seemingly unrelated facts; there is a pollen trail.

The mystic of the exceptional Sherlock Holmes is reduced to the trivial CSI lab rat. Ho hum.

Other than that fact(yeah, the fact of taking the world's greatest detective and turning him into just another dude with a clue), as I said, the book is pretty good. It includes what I believe is a nice history of the Anaconda area (although it goes overboard a bit at the beginning of one of the stories). It mentions several readily identifiable landmarks and historical events. And aside from my stated problem, the stories are interesting mysteries.

All in all, I am very glad that I had finished Vol. I and most of Vol. II before picking up The Montana Chronicles; sorry, but, Fitzpatrick's Holmes isn't fit to light Doyle's Holmes' pipe.

I'm not sayin'....I'm just sayin'....

New PR!!

The nice thing about adding mileage is that I hit a new PR(Personal Record) the first time I run it. Then, as I get used to the distance, in this case the very next run, I set another PR. Then, as I continue to recover from my Saturday workout, I expect that I'll set another PR!! It's almost as addictive as playing Warcrack!

I'm coming to grips with the fact that my first mile is going to be slow. My body does a lot of complaining during that mile. The legs protest, the back groans, the lungs sigh. Sometimes the feet whine, the hips grind, and the knees creak.

Once I get into the second mile, I've settled into a nice rhythm, and my various body parts have resigned themselves to the fact that I'm going to run. The second mile is by far, the nicest one to run.

The third mile brings breathing issues. Not problems, but I find myself breathing harder and sometimes developing side stitches. I try to alternate which foot I breath on, and Bad Brad taught me a trick to help with them.

The trick is to close your mouth and force your breath out through your closed mouth. I've noticed that I do not keep up my breathing/foot pattern when I do this and that may account for why it works. Regardless, it seems to help.

I'm trying to pick up the pace a bit for the last 1/2 mile and last .1 mile. I want to get in the habit of finishing strong, so while I know I need to cut time off my other miles, the last half is what I'm focusing on.

This Saturday is speed work. I was thinking about going to a track, but I have somewhere to be at 10 am, and with sunrise being at 8 am, I'd probably be better off just running my regular route around 7 am or so. The track will still be there in a couple of weeks.

Unexpected warmth creates an eyesore

This morning's run was pretty good. I was a bit sore from Saturday's 5 miler, so I just took it easy. I'm glad that I've started checking the temperature before I head out because this morning, it was 63 degrees F. SIXTY THREE DEGREES!!!! Where am I, Arizona?? sheesh.

So, I grabbed a short sleeve workout shirt; unfortunately, it was my heavier shirt as opposed to my lighter weight shirt. But, I figured I'd be all right in it.

WARNING: Severe mental images follow. The below content has not been approved for people with delicate constitutions, heart problems, queasy stomachs, hardened arteries, diabetes, acid reflux, or hemorrhoidal issues. You have been warned.

After the second mile...I had to take my shirt off. Yes, I know that the blinding white light shambling around the "nice" neighborhood (we live on the white trash side of the neighborhood) caused at least some of the residents to grab their shotguns to protect themselves against the nuclear zombie apocalypse.

I sincerely apologize to everyone over there for any retching or discomfort that I know I caused to anyone who happened to observe me. I know that you'll never be able to erase the images that have been seared into your brains, and for that I am very sorry. I also know that my apologies cannot undo the utter destruction that I have wrought.

I hope Wednesday is cooler...for everyone's sake...

More Mileage

Tomorrow, I start adding mileage again to my morning runs. I had hoped to decrease my minutes/mile significantly before I started adding length, but I'm only tagging on a quarter mile, so it's not all that bad.

So, starting tomorrow, I'll be pounding out 3.5 miles before work. I'll be calling around tomorrow also to see what the pool availability and fees are in order to gauge what swimming will cost. I also might drag out the ole bike for a ride on Tues and Thu while I'm figuring out the swimming gig.

Two weeks until my next race! This Saturday is a speed work day. I might roll on down to a track to run it. It'd be cool to feel like a bona fide track runner! Maybe I need to pick up some skimpy shorts and a tech tank top.

Uh....scratch that, it'd probably just scare people; then I'd have to explain myself to the police, and we all know how the last time turn out...I think it's best to just keep wearing my normal workout attire. It's for the common good...

Not what I hoped for, but I'll take it

Ended up walking some of the 5 miler. It seems that Indiana does have some hills in some parts of the state; I was in that part.

The start of the run was a long down hill of about .7 miles, and since it was an out and back, I knew that what went down, would have to come back up. It was roughly a 200 ft climb or about a 5.5% grade. Or you could put it at a-whole-lotta-not-fun grade.

I had some muscle/cramping issues that we walked for (although I didn't realize that we walked for so long the first time and really wonder if I screwed up the timing by not knowing what I'm doing with my watch), and the other two walk breaks were due to my cardio stinking.

But, you see that last 17 minutes? Yeah, all...the...way...up the hill! I didn't stop or walk; of course, bad Brad deserves a lot of the credit for pulling me through with his encouragement!

So, 5 miler in the bucket; it's going to be sooooo much easier on flat ground!

Sneakin'

Yesterday, I took a half day off to spend with my honey. After her Dr. appt, we went to Maggiano's. I promised Joshua that I'd mention him in my post, so here ya go, Josh!

I had the Linguini de Mare with an alfredo sauce instead of the marinara. My wife had the Rustic Chicken and Shrimp. Both meals were excellent! We even splurged for dessert; her with one of the specials a donut like thingy that was creme filled and had strawberry and chocolate sauces for dipping, me with the Chocolate Zuccotto Cake. Mmmmmm...chocolate....

If you like very good Italian food that's commiserate with the price of such, you'll find Maggiano's a wonderful place! We got out of there for about $72 (including tip), but we also had two lunches and a half a piece of cake left over.

I don't regret not going to Mitchell's. shhhhhh, don't tell them that...

Progress, YOU WANT PROGRESS???

Ok, here ya go:
It was a pretty sweet run this morning. 39 degrees F, wore my gloves until halfway point, wore my ear warmer/headband entire time, wore long sleeve tech shirt w/ UnderArmor on. Shorts, socks and shoes completed the outfit. I was dressed just about perfectly.

More importantly, while I was out of breath at the end, I wasn't sucking wind like I did on my 5K, but I did hit around the same pace. Yes, yes, I know, the course I ran this morning is flat flat flat; let me have my delusions.

Tomorrow, 5 miles! My friend Brad is going to pull me through 11 minute miles! The last mile is all up hill...ew...

Impatience

Most of you all know that I'm an instant gratification type guy (Warcrack did a really good job of providing a steady stream of such), so it should be no surprise that I'm struggling with the lack of instant results from my running.

My muscles are actually the least of my worries as I've maintained a lot of my leg form from my bike riding; no, my cardio is what is dragging me down.

Now, to that point, I am thinking about doing something on Tue/Thu to strengthen my lung capacity, and my old nemesis, swimming, popped into my head. Ok, it's not a nemesis, it's just something that I don't really enjoy doing since my mom forced us kids to go swimming every freakin' day one summer in Glenrock, WY.

I wasn't as scarred from that as I was the "Before school, wash the truck in 32 degrees F weather in Medford, OR" incident (I still refuse to hand wash my vehicles, almost 30 years later...), but, swimming still isn't my favorite thing to do.

Now, SCUBA, that's an entirely different matter; I love SCUBA!

Anyways, back to swimming; I'm toying with the idea of competing in a or some triathlons, and I hear they have a swimming requirement. They also, it seems, have a biking element, and that is also a very viable option for the Tue/Thu slot.

Add to that whole mess, I'd really like to find some physical exercise (ok, another physical exercise) that I can enjoy doing with my wife. She has a hard time running due to her constant headache, and, as you can see from her pics, she lacks the, uh, body fat to regulate her temperature in a comfortable range (not a cold weather person.) So, biking in the cold is definitely out.

Swimming it is! Of course, I could bike after work, then swim in the evening with her. Off to check on pool schedules.

EDIT: Fall break, ftl. Have to wait until Monday when the schools are open.

Ahhhh, that's better

You may have noticed that I've ditched my walking warm up/cool down time. There really is no need to track that.

I pushed a little harder this morning because of the abysmal run on Monday; I still don't want to go all out on a week day morning because I do have to work and all...

This Saturday, I've scheduled a 5 miler with a buddy from church. We'll be out at the Walnut Hills Retreat for our men's retreat; I mapped a 5 mile out and back run and hope to run mile splits in 10:40, 10:30, 10:20, 10:10, and 10:00. That last one is going to be a killer as it's almost all up hill, I do believe...

Ok, now that that's done...

I've got two goals to replace the one goal (finish a 5K race under 30 minutes):

1. Race! I am planning on entering at least one 5K (or longer) race per month. I think that I really need to get some racing experience in before I hit the next goal, which is:

2. Run the Mini-Marathon under 2 hours in May. To do this, I'm going to have to pick up the pace a bit as well as build my endurance. My current 5K pace will not meet this goal even if I could maintain it for 13.1 miles, which I can't right now.

Next race is a 5K on Nov. 6th, and the one after that is on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 25th. I still need to sign up for the Jingle Bell on Dec 11 as well as the Mini. I do plan on signing up for the training series associated with the Mini, which is a 5K in Feb, a 10K in Mar, and a 15K in Apr.

I'll be doing my first 5 miler this Saturday. Our church is having its annual men's retreat, and I've asked a fellow runner if he wanted to pull me through my longest run to date. He agreed to...ignorance is bliss. haha.

Not what I hoped for

Yeah, real slow. I'm still sore from Saturday, and my back was pretty stiff this morning. Go ahead and insert any other lame excuse you can think of here...

The Gory Details

I didn't have time yesterday to break down the race for you all, so I figured I'd do it now.

I was worried a bit about my starting position; I was in corral J, which I thought was at the very end. I worried about making my way through the walkers and the few slower people.

Turns out, J was at the very start! Then I got worried about being run over! So I purposed to keep to the side and try to stay out of everyone's way.

At the gun, I set off and tried to count steps to set my pace. I was pretty sure that I was running a 15 step (right foot)/10 seconds, which was what I wanted to run for the first mile and should have been just under or right around 10 minutes.

I hit my lap timer at the first mile and much to my dismay, I ran a 9:13 mile. Too fast! There was nothing I could do to fix the past, so I decided to just keep chugging along.

The single water station was around mile 1.5. I found I really need to practice drinking from an open cup. I got a couple of sips of water down, but mostly just got it on myself. Luckily, I didn't breathe too much water...

Just after the water station, there was a down hill section. Now, it wasn't all that steep, but I had to consciously restrain myself from going too fast down the hill. Afterwards, I wondered if I should have just let gravity pull me down at a faster clip - I still don't know what's the right answer.

I also knew, since the Start/Finish line was both the...start....and finish....line, that what goes down (me), must also come up. And the up started about 1/4th of a mile before the 2 mile marker.

I hit the two mile marker and wanted to quit, erm, walk. There was one guy that I had been running around that was running and walking, so I passed him several times. He did not encourage me to keep running with his walking, but I persevered and kept plodding along.

This same guy did inspire me at the three mile mark. I had been steadily gaining on him during his latest run phase and when I punched my watch at the .1 mile to go mark (same as the 3 mile mark), I turned on the afterburners!

All of those speed work runs finally paid off! I still can't believe it, but they did! I was able to pick up my pace and run the last 1/10th of a mile in 40 seconds, which is a 6:40 minute/mile pace!

I left ole run/walker in the dust! I also passed about 10 other people. I was chugging like a locomotive!! I ran out of gas around the 30 second mark and ran the last 10 seconds on sheer will.

It made the difference in attaining my goal and just missing it. Speed work, who knew! Ok, well, lots of people knew (including, thankfully, my coach.)

So, results! I ended up placing 8th in my age group out of 20, 98/252 men, and 157/659 overall. You can go here to find me - bib# 5444.

17 seconds separated me from 5th in my age group. Seven...teen.....seconds. I do believe that I can be competitive in this age group; I mean, I did beat over half of the men in my group. 8-P

I plan on looking for a 5K on Nov 6th; I'd kind of like to run one before the Thanksgiving one just to see how much I can improve in the next three weeks. Of course, I also need to think about switching my focus from 5Ks to 13.1 miles. I have a schedule for the rest of the year that will have me running a long run of 8 miles on New Year's Day.

FINISH!!!

And there...you....go! (finish time of 29:43)

Race Jitters and Future Thoughts

It has been quite a long time since my last physical competition. I think it was a volleyball game back in the 90's.

In all of my bike riding, I never entered a race. Also, in all my life, I've never entered a running race.

I'm a little nervous about tomorrow. I know I'll finish, and that well under 35 minutes (hopefully under 30), no, what I'm nervous about is the unknown.

Am I going to get jostled around, stepped on, elbowed, and generally beat up by my fellow competitors in their jockeying for position?

I've always run on an almost empty stomach; will eating breakfast a couple of hours before the race cause me problems?

I'm glad that my father-in-law is running the 1/2 marathon; he'll keep me on target as far as getting to the race on time.

I'm 90% certain that I'll be signing up for the Mini Marathon here in Indy. Only an extremely bad experience tomorrow would make me think twice about it.

I'm planning on running 5K races in November as well as December. Then assuming I sign up for the Mini, I'll run a 5K in Feb, a 10K in Mar, and a 15K in Apr as part of my training.

I'm looking for marathons in Aug or Sep. I'd like to run one next year. I'd also really like to run the Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage in 2012, depending on how my first one goes.

New Kid on the Block

The blog-o-sphere just got a little bit bigger. Please help me welcome my father-in-law's wife to the craziness. You can say hey to Ro over at

http://www.asageofmontana.blogspot.com/

...and all the usual courtesies apply: No drinking straight out of the milk jug; if it's brown, flush it down; if you eat the last of something, hide the evidence...

Not what I hoped for

Yeah, a lot slower. I have come to grips with the fact that I just have a hard time pacing myself. I thought that counting my steps should give me a good idea of what kind of pace I was on, but I'm not so sure now. I wonder if I'm shortening my stride or something.

Another contributing factor may be the <5.5 hours of sleep I got last night, but I'm willing to sacrifice sleep cause MY BABY'S HOME!

The upside is that I felt pretty good through the run; good enough that I was able to put in a kick with about .1 miles to go.

I get 72+ hours of rest now before my race, and I feel like I could use it! Hopefully by Saturday, I'll be all gluco'd up, rested up, and ready to go!

It felt like my worst run ever...

And it turned out to be my fastest; go figure. It's funny because I had already convinced myself that I was just plodding through my run and therefore didn't push it at the end. I also didn't feel like I had the energy to pick it up on my second and third miles (and surprisingly, I didn't...)

I don't think this is a case of going out too fast either, although it might be. I think it's related to diet and the crap that I've been eating all weekend - mostly burgers and pizza, yeah, real health food!

Throughout most of the run, I really had to do a lot of self talk to keep going and resist walking. My legs were tired through the first mile; somewhere in the second mile I realized that I had over dressed; and I was just shambling along through my third mile (or so it felt.)

Note: It was 56 degrees F this morning, and I wore my Under Armor shirt that makes me look like Mr. Incredible (yeah, it's not pretty) and a short sleeve tech shirt over it, along with my regular shorts. It was too warm for the UA shirt, but of course, I couldn't take it off mid run without getting some sort of rest, so I just endured.

What seemed to set the tone for the run was having to stop twice during the first half mile to tie my shoes. Note to self: Tie your laces better!

All and all, this was a very good run as I ran it around the same time of day that I'll be running my 5K on Saturday (Thank you Chris Columbus for giving me a day off!) I'll need to dress appropriately for the 5K, and it was good to get this piece of information (about the UA shirt) today instead of during the race.

Catina's Facebook link

Catina asked me to link back to her Facebook page as she's in the process of getting a new website, so here ya go:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Aiea-HI/Photography-by-Catina/59677786620

Same as it ever was

Ran the exact same timed mile as last week. Hmmmm. I did, however, run farther on my fartlek work out in the same number of intervals as last week, and I did throw in a third mile, so overall, I consider this workout a success.

Just to clear up any confusion, my fartlek intervals went about .3 or .2 miles into my third mile, so the time on Interval 2 is for the remainder of that mile. Pretty slow, but that's ok!

Only two more training runs until the big day! I'll be doing my 3.23 mile route both Mon and Wed, then it's rest time before Saturday.

HEY!!! NO DROOLING!!

Ok, there is one benefit to letting my wife go to Hawaii...HEY, I SAID, "NO DROOLING!!"

...Of course, she'd be mortified if I posted the other pics (they're all clean!), so I'll just put these two up here.

My God! She's beautiful!! sigh...

EDIT:
Hopefully Catina won't mind me posting these proofs; if you find yourself in Hawaii and want a great photographer, Catina is the best! You can find her at http://photographybycatina.com/default.aspx.

Plaid

Accurate mile splits: Check
Negative splits: Check
Better pacing: Check
Burn the last .23 miles: Ch-huff-huff-huff-eck

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this was my best run...EVAR!! I kept up my 3/3 breathing pattern for the first mile; somewhere in the second mile I switched to a 3/2, then in the third mile, switched again to a 2/2. For the last .23 miles, I abandoned all patterns and just sucked wind however I could get it.

A side note here: I was getting side stitches last week, and I read somewhere that if you change which foot you inhale/exhale on, the side stitch may go away. So, I tried to be proactive and switch every so often. Of course, on a 3/3 or 3/2, this isn't an issue as I was always switching due to the pattern, but on the 2/2, I had to make a conscious effort to switch. The effort did pay off, though as I had no side pain at all today, so I'll be continuing to keep up the switching.

This morning was about 47 degrees F (8.33 degrees C). I took my gloves and headband (ear warmer), but realized on my warm up walk that I wouldn't be needing the gloves. I wore the ear warmer until just after mile 2, I think. It might have been mile 1. Anyways, it was warm compared to what I ran in on Mon and Wed - 43 degrees F (6.11 degrees C).

While biking through the winter in Anchorage, AK, I identified several temperature strata where more clothing/different clothing was necessary, and so, I'm trying to do the same with my running. So far, the "gloveless" strata is 7-9 degrees F (oh for cryin' out loud, get your own F->C calculator!) below what my biking norm was. I'm sure that that information is only interesting to me...

It will be interesting to see where the "balaclava" and "running tights" levels are. Then there's the "double socks", "sweat shirt", and "sweat pants" layers; I don't think that I'll have to get more dressed up than that. I won't have wind chill to deal with; not to mention, it doesn't get that cold here in Indiana.

Ludicrous speed

A little bit more information this morning; I tried to track my mile splits. The goal here is to have my fastest mile be my last mile run (aka negative splits.)

I wasn't quite sure where mile 3 ended, and it turned out that I ran maybe .05 or .08 more miles on the last time. I'm pretty confident that my first and second mile times are fairly accurate. What does that all mean? It means I achieved negative splits! Yay.

It also means that I ran that last mile under 10 minutes. Can you say, "pumped?!"

During my run, I maintained a 3/3 breathing pattern for the first two miles (3 steps per inhale/3 steps for exhale), and on the last mile, I fell into a 2/2 pattern. I like the 3/3 pattern because it feels comfortable to me; the 2/2 pattern feels a bit too fast, but it's what I needed to keep up the O2 supply.

So, for Friday, I've burned my mile markers into my memory and should have a more accurate third mile time. Hopefully, I can repeat what I did today in pacing...must...not...start...too....fast!

On a side note, I've yet to lose any significant weight. I've been bouncing around 192-193 lbs for a while now, although this morning, the bounce is headed down. We'll see if this is a start of a downward trend or just another bounce. If I can control my food portions, I'd be golden, but therein lies the problem...

5K, before work!

There it is. 3.23 miles before work, just over 5 clicks. I'm planning on running this distance for the next 4 regular runs; this Saturday is another speed work day, and Wed next week is my last run before the race.

Speed Work

I thought about running a slow third mile today and just couldn't get it done. I was wiped out at the end of my fartleks.

I did better on my mile, but I definitely went out much too fast. Hopefully my lack of experience on this run translates to a better experience on future runs and especially the race. What is the saying?

Experience is something you get just after you could have used it?

Anyways, I also started out way too fast on my fartleks; I forgot that I was supposed to run, not sprint, for 30 seconds. I had to stop the first one at 27 seconds because I just couldn't run any more. Yes, I put 30 seconds...you caught me....

So, a good run for learning, not so good for how I feel afterward.

Run

40 seconds slower. shrug. I'm still pretty happy with all my runs this week; I mean, 3 miles!! Of running, even!!!

Tomorrow is a timed mile, a mile of fartleks, and a slow mile.