Speedwork

Date: 5/7/13

Route:   Quick neighborhood 2.25 Miler
Distance: 2.25 Miles
Pace: 10:19/mile

Now that I have been back running for a little while, coming up on three weeks now, it is time to start varying my workouts a little bit. I am a big proponent of throwing some "speed" work into your routine. When I say speed work, I am talking about putting half or quarter miles into your workout that are a bump up in pace. I am not talking about going to the track and running 100m sprints.

During this run, I made sure to have an increased pace during the second half of mile 1, as well as the last .25.  I know that the last .25 was run at a 9:13 pace, which is pretty fast for a guy like me. Again, these are not really meant to be sprints, more to push yourself for a short period of time in the middle of a longer run.

What is your opinion on speed work?

Do you like sprints or increased pace within a run? 

Hot and Cold

Date: 02/26/2012

Route: Hines Park 9 Miler
Distance: 9 Miles
Pace: 10:22/mile

Temp: 36 Degrees

Wind Chill of 24 degrees

One month to go. The official half marathon countdown has begun! With the Rock CF Half Marathon exactly 1 month away, training has gotten hot and heavy as of late. 9 miles was planned today, and 9 miles were completed with no problems, even a little faster then I thought I would. Next weekend will probably be the same and then I have the Corktown Races 5K, always my first race of the year and always a blast. My semi-official goal is to match my best 5k time from last year at my first 5k this year. Then it is the long run and the race.

This is by far the most aggressive running schedule I have ever had. I have never run more then 1 half in a year, and this year I have three scheduled. Usually I have a nice long slow ramp up to the Detroit Half in October; instead this year my second race is a half. Needless to say I am excited and a little anxious.

My real problem running lately has been temperature. It seems to be too warm for my snazzy NbX Windblocker, but too cold to run in my standard pullover. This results in a true paradox. If I run with the NbX jacket, I start off fine, but get too warm in about 2 miles, however if I run in the pullover I never quite get warm enough. I will be excited when the temp starts hanging out in the low to mid 40’s because that is perfect pullover weather. My luck we will jump right to the 60’s, which I guess is not something to realy complain about. Here is a nice snazzy pic from this 9 mile run:

9 Miles of Taylor Swift

Date: 02/05/12

Route:   Hines Park 6 Miler + Bonus 3 Miles
Distance: 9 Miles
Pace: 10:46mile
Temp: 40 (felt more like 50)

Annoying Song Stuck In My Head: Some mashup of all of Taylor Swift’s abhorrent pop songs.

I had planned a nice 8 mile run as I am slowly ramping up distance to my half marathon on the 25^th of March. It was a beautiful day outside though and I found myself challenging my body to run farther. Usually at about the 4 mile mark, I start the turn around and head back to my house. Today I decided to just keep on running.

It was very rejuvenating to add some unseen terrain to my run. I think it is easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to your running courses. I was to the point that I knew within about 20 feet where the mile marks were on my standard 6 mile course. It was definitely time to change things up a bit. Adding the distance was just a mechanism.

I was having a great time running in new territory, the only problem was every step forward would have to be duplicated on the way back. After running though a nice picnic area, I circled back and started to head home. While the last mile was kind of tough, and I needed a bit of downtime after the run to recover, it felt really good to cover this distance with a month and half to go before my first half of the year. I know for sure I was not running 9 miles in February last year, so hopefully this is a good sign of things to come. The only bad thing: Taylor Swift stuck in my head…..I mean really?

The Looooong Run

Date: 10/8/2011
Route:  Hines Park 6 Miler x 2
Distance: 12 Miles
Pace: 12:01/mile
No music today. 

I just stopped hurting today. That would be 3 days after my long run on Saturday. The long run is something of a legend in most half-marathon training circles. If you follow (and actually stick to) a set training schedule, like the one posted on Marathon Rookie, you will do several longer runs culminating in about a 12 miler (THE long run). This would be a nice ramp up for those people who have nothing but time and are way more dedicated then myself.  For those of us with lives...or small children, a set schedule is pretty hard to keep to. We tend to do the brute force method. I tried to run about three times a week, even while in Chicago for a bachelor party. Most of my runs were between 4 and 6 miles, and I ran a 9 miler 2 weeks ago. So instead of a nice slow and steady ramp up to twelve, I jumped right from 9 to 12. Ouchie.

Luckily I had some great company for the first 6 miles of this run. We did the first loop together and all the talking helped me moderate my pace. I got to fly solo for the last 6. Everything was fine until about mile 10. That is when the legs got the "you want me to move...seriously??" feeling. I ground out those last miles, but man was it tough.

The poor Wife greets me as I stumble into the house and make a beeline for a chair and the largest Gatorade I can find. I am sitting there panting (yup panting, you runners know what I am talking about), just trying to moderate my body temperature, and I am sure I look just about dead. My saintly wife gets the hint and turns on the overhead fan and goes outside to do something. I was in that state of semi-consciousness where you are somewhat detached from the pain your body is in, you are really just focused on inputs...oxygen, liquid, and calories (when you burn 2400 calories running 12 miles you get very hungry.) There is no pain, only miles and miles behind you.

I love running.

I am so ready for this half on Sunday.

So here is my public pronouncement of my goal for Detroit. I will run this race no slower then 12:30/mile, 30 seconds a mile faster then last year. I am pretty confident in hitting that goal, in fact the hardest part will be going that slow at the beginning so I have energy left at the end. I have one more small run left tomorrow (2 or 3 at the most), and then just rest and hydration up till Sunday. See you in a few days.