Easy 10

I woke up this morning expecting at least a little soreness from yesterday's workout/race. Nothing! The legs felt just fine. It might be the extra hour of sleep from DST. The legs deserved a break from all the pounding on pavement, so I hit the trails for an easy 10. It's been a while since I hit the trails and boy do I miss it. Soft surface, colorful leaves, and the sounds of nature.

Today's Run: 1:10:20

Half Marathon - poorly organized, good workout....

I thought my legs would be a little fresh since yesterday was a complete day off from running. Well, I guess I can't call it a complete day off because I was on my feet majority of the time and was lacking sleep. I originally planned to run a half-marathon (Hope Mills YMCA Half-Marathon). I woke up contemplating whether I should run the half with the legs feeling like bricks. I thought, "Oh well. I'm using it as a training run, so I might as well just run it."

Let me tell you - this YMCA Half-Marathon ranks as one of the worse organized race I've done in a long time. I didn't expect much, but with the race being held for the 8th time I thought it would be somewhat organized. A late start, mile markers put out but completely inaccurate, 2 fluid stations (only 4 oz. cup of water - no gatorade), and tons of right turns into dead-end streets only to turn around at the cones. Oh, to make things better it was windy as hell.

After a 10-minute late start, I took off running side-by-side another runner (Shane). I was planning to run the race with the 1st half right around marathon goal pace (somewhere around 5:55 - 5:59) and then running the 2nd half a little faster. As Shane and I headed out on the main streets, we encountered the never ending headwind. Around 10 minutes into the run, I asked Shane if he wanted to work together and take turns breaking the wind. He agreed and we took turns leading every half mile till around mile 7. At this point my legs started to feel better and I decided to push the pace a bit. It was very tough knowing what pace I was running because the mile markers were all jacked up. I ended up ignoring the mile markers and just ran what I thought felt like marathon pace. As I increased the pace, I noticed that I had immediately put about a 10 meter gap on Shane. The 10 meter gap increased dramatically and I was no longer in Shane's sight. I crossed the finish line in 1:17:39 (5:56 pace). I actually thought I was running a bit faster than 5:56 pace. Was the course a bit long? After the race, Shane told me that his Garmin clocked the course at 13.4 miles. If the Garmin is accurate, then I ended up running averaging 5:48 pace, which I feel is about right. Regardless, I'm satisfied with my run, especially that I stuck to my plan of running the race as a training run.

Today's Run: 1:57:24 (includes 2M - WU, half-marathon, 3M - CD)

Training update

Here's a brief update of this week's training. I plan to run a half-marathon on Saturday as a training run.

Monday: PM - (6M / 42:03) only ran in the evening because of work schedule. an easy 6 miles not worrying about time or pace.

Tuesday: AM - (12.5M / 1:23:02) Fartlek workout. 30' - WU/CD with 12 x 1' at about 3k pace (1' recovery jogs); PM - (6M / 42:15) easy shakeout run in the evening.

Wednesday: (9M / 1:02:03) easy recovery run; very cold at 34 degrees. Lesson learned - short sleeves don't work very well in 30 degree weather.

Thursday: (10M / 1:05:52) steady easy run with Bobby. kept pace around 6:25 - 6:40.

Friday: Did not run because of airborne operation. Very tired; Been up for 36 straight hours.

Not worth reading....

A quick update: I'm a happy camper. I had a good weekend of running and got some new running shoes (Brooks Axiom and NB 901).

Saturday: 11M (1:12:30) steady easy run with the last 3 miles at ~5:56 pace.

Sunday: 22M (2:23:54) long steady run with the last 3 miles at 5:59 pace.

Marathon goal pace

I'm about 7 weeks away from the marathon (Charlotte Thunder Road), so I guess it would be a good idea to begin determining what marathon pace feels like. In my last marathon training cycle I did a lot of marathon pace runs. I believe this was one of the reasons why I was successful in running a 3-minute PR. There are certain key workouts that I like to do that gives me feedback on my fitness. One workout is an 18-20 mile long run with the last 6-8 miles at marathon goal pace. I alternate this workout each week with a typical steady long run of 18-22 miles. The other workout is running 6-9 miles at marathon goal pace in the middle of the week. I decided to do this workout to test the fitness level. After a 3 mile warm-up, I circled the track checking my splits every half-mile. It was great to see every mile split under 6:00 with the body feeling very comfortable. My splits for the 6 miles were 5:54, 5:56, 5:54, 5:55, 5:54, & 5:49. At the end of the day I looked back at my running log and compared my splits with the same workout from the last marathon train-up. Today, I averaged 5:54 pace vs. the 6:00 pace early in the year. So far training looks promising and I should be on track for a good marathon.

Today’s run: 1:17:56 (12 miles)

Feels great to be back.

I'm finally back in NC after 4 weeks at Fort Polk, LA; a place that i'm in no rush to go back to. I don't have much to blog about, besides that I had a good week of running. Here's how the week went.

Monday: 10 miles easy. (1:09:41)

Tuesday: 12 miles with 10 x 1' at about 3k-5k pace w/ 1' recovery. (1:22:08); legs are tired.

Wednesday: AM: 9 miles easy (1:05:02); PM: 4.3 miles easy (30:32)

Thursday: AM: 15 miles. steady run with the pace progressing over the last few miles (1:40:05); PM: 4 miles very easy (30:33)

Friday: 5.2 miles very easy with my Soldiers. (45:32)

Saturday: 22.5 miles. long steady run with the last couple miles near marathon goal pace. (2:30:48)

Sunday: PM: ~10 miles ran with Bob. ran steady at about 6:15-6:20 pace for the first 50 minutes. pretty stupid to run at this pace with yesterday's long run. the pace felt steady and comfortable, but still not a smart decision. (1:03:38)

Weekly Total: 92 miles.

Nine weeks to go

In today’s long run I kept looking at my watch wondering what mile my friends were at in the Army 10-Miler. I visualized being in the race, which motivated me to run a good steady pace. The plan was to run 18 miles. As I approached mile 18 I couldn't resist running an extra 2 miles to make it 20. The legs were feeling good and as the run went on the pace slowly progressed. My 5-mile splits for the long run were: 1-5M: 34:49 (6:58 pace), 6-10M: 33:17 (6:39 pace), 11-15M: 32:51 (6:34 pace), & 15-20M: 31:01 (6:12 pace). I ran the last couple miles close to marathon pace, which felt economical. This is a good sign and it is boosting my confidence for the marathon. Well, I’m 9 weeks out from race day so it’s easy to say. Like most runners, doubt will eventually creep in as we begin the tapering process and come closer to the big day. For now, the focus is to continue training hard and get the legs accustomed to MP.

Today’s run: 2:11:58 (20M – 6:36 pace)
Yesterday’s run: 1:07:20 (10M – 6:44 pace)

Big weekend for Army runners

I'm feeling left out. While I'm away and working for the third straight weekend, my running friends are in DC for the Army 10-Miler. In fact, all of my teammates from last year's Army marathon team are running it. It's pretty exciting seeing them run sub-53s & sub-52s. These guys are not WCAP (World Class Athletes Program) runners, like former Army runner Dan Brown & Ryan Kirkpatrick. I can picture them re-uniting with all the other runners from the different Army posts and ready to take the starting line. It's tough to explain the excitement of this annual Army event. Every post-team wants bragging rights of taking home the Commander's Cup.

This morning I ran 12+ miles with 2 sets of 3-2-1’s. I initially had planned to run an easy 10, but I changed my mind about a couple miles into the run. The legs were feeling fairly good, so I thought it would be a good idea to get some leg-turnover. I read of this 3-2-1 workout from Runner’s World magazine. You run 3 minutes fast, 2 minutes recovery, 2 minutes fast, 1 minute recovery, & 1 minute fast. It was a pretty good workout.

Today’s Run: 1:22:37