Real runners

Today was a fun day with some running friends. We ran the Rotary 10k race, which was crowded with 16 runners. No, it's not a typo. 16 runners! Can you believe that? This was the smallest race I've ever entered. It was probably the 36 degree weather that kept everyone tucked in their sheets. At least we know who the real runners are. You know what's even better? They had Championship Timing chips.

I had no intentions of racing since today is supposed to be an easy day and a key long run scheduled tomorrow. So, instead of shooting out and hitting the 1st mile in 5:00 with Bobby (far right) and Shane (far left), I decided to hang back with Kerryn (white hat) and Mike. Kerryn asked if I could pace her and I said "no problem". She said she wanted to break 40 minutes. I thought, "Cool, this will give me a nice steady run." At this point the brain was struggling with calculating the pace/mile. Don't ask how long it took to calculate the pace. We came across the 1st mile in 5:55, which felt like a walk in the park. Okay, that wasn't supposed to happen. I was just hoping that I didn't screw up her race with that 1st mile. I managed to regroup and settle into a steady pace. To make a long story short, I accomplished my mission. Kerryn crossed the finish line in 38:45. She was very happy with her run and maybe a little surprised that she averaged 6:15/mile. In the end, everyone had a fun time.

Today's Run: 1:09:32 (2M - wu/cd + 10k in 38:45)

Good day of running on a special day

A good day of running on my 29th special day. I believe this is about the age in which most distance runners peak. Of course, that's if they've been running competitively since high school. I know for a fact that I have yet to peak. This is only my 7th year of running and I know I still have many years of fast running to come. Hopefully, fast running will mean low-2:3x marathons and possibly a sub-2:30. It's possible! However, it will take lots of hard work.

Today's workout was a stamina workout consisting of 7 x 1000 meters with 200 meter recovery, plus 3 x 200m fast with 200m recovery. Stamina workouts are meant to increase your lactate threshold, which allows you to run faster for a longer period of time. The run is more of a cruise interval workout than a speed workout because the pace is moderately hard. The goal is to get fatigue with the duration of the workout not the speed. After warming up for 33 minutes, I hit the track for the meat of the workout. The goal was 1k repeats in 3:18 - 3:21. 1st repeat - 3:19, 2nd repeat - 3:19. I'm thinking "wow, this doesn't feel too bad at all." That was the 2nd repeat and with only 200m recoveries, the legs will sure be feeling it shortly. I ended up running the last 5 repeats in 3:18, 3:17, 3:18, 3:15, & 3:15. The legs held up. The legs began to fatigue after the 7th and last repeat, and I still had the 200m repeats to do. I hit the 200s in 32, 34, 32. I was thinking of cutting my cool-down short because the legs felt beaten. As I went on my cool-down the legs got into a rhythm and ended up doing a 4-mile cool-down.

Tomorrow will be an easy day. Sunday will a key long run workout. The plan is to run 20 miles with the last 6 to 8 miles at goal marathon pace, which I'm thinking is about 5:55 - 5:59 pace.

Today's Runs: AM - 1:37:24 (14.8M); 7 x 1K w/ 200m recovery, plus 3 x 200m w/ 200m recovery; PM - 30:44; easy shakeout run mostly on grass. legs felt good.

Here's how the week went so far:
Monday: AM: 38:29 - easy run; PM: 42:28 steady easy run
Tuesday: 1:20:02 - steady run with 10 x 1 min. w/ 1 min. recovery in the middle of the run
Wednesday: 46:41 - easy run
Thursday: 1:13:25 - steady run with the last couple miles at 6:10 - 6:20 pace.

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

Weekly Summary (18-24 Sep)

Next marathon: Charlotte Thunder Marathon (9Dec). That gives me 11 weeks of training, which should be ample time to get the legs used to marathon goal pace (5:59/mile).

I’m at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana and will be here for the next 3 weeks. The good thing is that I’m still able to put in my daily workouts. However, I’m already running out of places to run. The post itself (not the training area) is small. I’ve put in almost 70 miles over the last 5 days and ended up running the same route a couple times. I’m not complaining. I just wish there were some scenic routes or even trails like Fort Bragg. The scenery here at Polk consists of World War II barracks, long stretches of roads with no buildings or cars in sight, grass that probably hasn’t been cut for about 2 months, and if you’re lucky an Army soldier running a couple miles for physical training. But again, it’s Fort Polk.

Since I won’t be able to post a blog too often, I’ll provide a weekly summary of how my training is going.

Monday: 10 miles easy at Fort Bragg. (1:06:36)

Tuesday: Did not run; traveled to Fort Polk, LA

Wednesday: 11.4 miles with 10 x :30 @ 3k pace (1’ recovery). (1:15:37)

Thursday: Easy run. 9.2 miles (1:03:05)

Friday: AM: 12 miles with a couple miles at marathon pace. (1:22:40) PM: easy 6 mile shakeout run (43:21)

Saturday: Easy run; 9 miles (1:02:20)

Sunday: 20.2 miles; long, steady run; (2:15:23)

Total: 77+ miles; 7 runs/6 days

Richmond or Charlotte???

I've narrowed down my marathon choices to Richmond Marathon (11 Nov) and Charlotte's Thunder Road Marathon (9 Dec). Either one, I'll be prepared.

My fitness has not diminished even though I've missed 15 days of running since August. Actually, I really think it has improved a bit. This morning's 15 miler felt easy and comfortable from start to finish. The first mile was the slowest at 6:56. As the run went on the pace kept decreasing, but the effort felt the same. That's always a good sign. I averaged 6:46 pace for the first 8 miles, 6:30 for the next 6 miles and then finished off the workout with a 5:56 last mile.

Two to three months is a lot of time to put the finishing touch on marathon training. The plan for now is to build strength and stamina. As I get closer to the marathon I'll begin to put in the longer long runs with 40% of it at race pace. The goal is sub-6:00/miles. When that's accomplished I'll become a sub-2:30 chaser like Mike and his crew.

Today's Run: 1:39:47 (15.1M) - 6:36 pace

It feels great to run again

It's been about 2 weeks since I last posted. It has also been that long since I put in consistent runs. I've been doing a lot of training the last couple weeks, just not the type of training you're thinking of. Instead of training on the roads, track, & trails, I've been doing Army training in the woods. It's been fun, busy, and tiring. No showers for about a week, a few hours (3-5 hrs) of sleep a night, sounds of heavy weapons and artillery, and MREs (Meal Ready-to-Eat) for daily chow..... the fun Army life.

Well, enough of my Army life. This is a running blog. I got out this morning and couldn't believe the weather. Mid-60s... wow! Perfect running weather. I keep forgetting that the fall season is just about here. Since I only put in about 25 miles over the past 2 weeks, the plan this morning was to go for an easy 7-8 miles. I ran on the Cape Fear River Trail, which was filling up with walkers and joggers. It was nice to see people out getting in their exercise. As I stepped off I could feel that the legs were fresh but a bit rusty. The CFR trail has markers at every half-mile, which would give me a good idea of pace. I came across the first mile in 6:54 and thought it might be a little off. I was expecting to hit mile 1 somewhere around 7:05-7:15. The 2nd & 3rd mile was 6:50 & 6:40. Feeling good, I ended up running 4.5m out & back with the last couple miles at 6:00 pace. I was under 60 minutes when I got back from the trail so I ended up running a little more to get to an hour. When my watch read 1 hour I decided to run a bit more to get to 70 minutes. It was a wonderful feeling to run again.

The picture above is the second page of the 2006 Freescale Austin Marathon results book. It was cool to see my picture in it. In fact, the results book has 5 different shots of me in it. No, I didn't pay the camera man. It just must have been my luck day (this was the day of my marathon PR - 2:38:18). The runners behind and on the side of me are the elite females runners. I was able to run faster than all but 4 of them.

Today's Run: 1:10:20 (10.7 miles - 6:34 pace)

Weekly summary

Here's an update of how the week went so far.

Monday: The alarm sounded at 4am and I layed in bed debating whether I should sleep in or get my lazy ass up and run. If I sleep in then I know I'll regret it the entire day. Of course, I ended up running. Went for an easy 7.5 miles. I wanted to run around 9-10 miles, but time wasn't on my side. The legs felt a little tired and heavy, probably from the last couple days. (52:02)

Tuesday: Ran 11 miles with a fartlek workout (10 x :30 w/ 1' recovery) in the middle. It felt great to get in some leg-speed. I always think that this is not much of a workout, but I'm always toast afterwards. Part of the workout is that I don't take the recovery too easy. I usually stay around 7:15-7:30 for the recovery. (1:14:03)

Wednesday: Easy recovery run. I got off from work very late last night (10pm) and only got in about 4.5 hours of sleep. I was feeling very tired so I only ran 7 miles (49:07)

Thursday: I didn't do much because I had to conduct my company's Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). The APFT consists of 2 minutes of push-ups, 2 minutes of sit-ups, and a 2-mile run. It is a good test of your physical fitness. Since I entered the Army, I have never scored lower than a 365 on the APFT extended scale. The max score is a 300 (100 in each event), but you can score higher if you do more pushups, situps, or run faster than the maximum according to your age group category. You can only score over a 300 if you max each event first.
On my last PT test, I accomplished my ultimate APFT goal of scoring over a 400 (scored a 402). I did 124 pushups, 108 situps, and ran a 10:20 2-mile. That's an average of 1 pushup/second, almost 1 situp/second, and a 5:10 pace. I can say i'm proud to be a part of the 400 club. I'm not sure who are in it, but I know there are only a few. My next APFT goal is to score over 400, but with a sub-10:00 2-mile. Running sub-10 may seem easy, but try running it immediately following 2 minutes of situps. The situps kills your quads that you almost feel like you have no strength.

Friday: Today is the start of a 4-day weekend before going to the field for 10 days. I actually slept in today to catch up for all the lack of sleep during the week. I ran 7+ miles this morning at a comfortable pace and then 4+ miles easy in the afternoon. The weather was awesome, thanks to Ernesto. High 60s and overcast. I plan to run a 7 Mile race (mostly trails & a little pavement) tomorrow in Charlotte (NC). I just feel the need to get out and enjoy the racing scenery again. It's also great just to be around other runners. I will see what my fitness is like tomorrow. I'm not shooting any PR since its mostly trails. I'll let you all know how it goes. (am: 50:32; pm: 31)

Another good long run

I believe that my fitness has improved a bit. I thought today's long run was going to be a struggle after yesterday's run, which I ran most of it around marathon pace. The plan was to run long and easy according to how the body and legs were feeling. After a 7:04 first mile, the legs settled into a steady 6:40 pace. I stayed within plus or minus 3 seconds of 6:40 pace from miles 3 - 16. The last couple miles were ran at 5:55-6:00 pace.

I can't complain with how this week of running went. 71 miles in 6 days. It looks as though I won't be able to run a marathon till Nov. or Dec. Even though I'm anxious to run one very soon, I think running a marathon in Nov or Dec will work out perfectly. It will give me an extra 2-3 months of hard training. I'm feeling confident about running sub-6:00 pace for the marathon.

Today's Run: 1:59:44 (18 miles - 6:39 pace)

Feeling great

This week of running has gone very well. Here's a brief log of how my workouts went.

Tuesday: After a 25' warm-up, I ran a fartlek workout of 10 x 1 min. with 1 min. recovery. I ran the repeats at around 3k pace on rolling hills. 25' - cooldown. (1:10:05)

Wednesday: Easy recovery run (56:49)

Thursday: I ran with my friend Bob. We warmed up for 33 minutes before hitting the track for some 1200s. I don't know if I'd call it a warm-up because we were running about 6:40 pace. Ran 5 x 1200 with 400 recovery. I hit the repeats in 3:58, 3:58, 3:55, 3:50, & 3:54. I ran the last 2 repeats alone. 3 mile coold0wn (1:23:30)

Friday: Jumping out of an airplane took precedence over running on this day.

Saturday: What was supposed to be an easy run on the Cape Fear River Trail turned into a steady pace run. By mile 2, I locked in to about a 6:15 pace. I ended up picking up the pace to around 5:50 for the last couple miles. (1:06:19)

Easy day

Nothing special about today's run. I put in 11+ miles this morning on 2 runs. Because I do a company run on the first duty day of the week, I had to get up very early to put in some miles at my easy pace. I ran an easy 6 miles before running my company for 5+ miles. This works out very well for me because i'm able to put in the miles and use the day as a recovery day from the long run.

Today's Run: 42:30 / 48:14

Gotta love the long run

It was a great feeling to finally put in a nice steady long run. The mind and body fell into a zone once I got started. After a 7:05 first mile, I settled into a steady 6:40 - 6:50 pace, which I kept for the next 15 miles. Like most of my long runs, I finished off the last few miles at a faster pace. I ran miles 17 & 18 in 5:47 & 5:41 which still felt comfortable. Not sure if it was the weather (75 deg. and breezy) or that i'm underestimating my fitness.

I spent some time last night trying to find a race (10M - 20K) over the next couple weekends. I guess there aren't too many in the area around this time of the year. I wanted to run Virginia Beach R&R 1/2, but registration closed about a month or two ago. I normally plan out my races, at least the longer distances, but haven't done so due to my unpredictable work schedule. My next big races were suppose to be the Army 10-Miler and possibly the Marine Corps Marathon. Well, it looks like I won't be running the Army 10-Miler because I'll be in Fort Polk, LA for some training support requirements. For now, I'm thinking of running the WaWa 10 Miler at Hartwood next Sunday.

Today's Run: 2:00:22

Back from the field

I was on a field exercise during the past couple weeks. Despite going to the field, I was able to get in a run here and there. At one point, I went 4 days without running. When you're in good shape 4 days without running should not affect the fitness. Last week Sunday I came back for a day of recovery before going back on the field. I took advantage of the day by catching up on my running. That day I put in 20 miles, 12 miles in the morning with some fast running and then an easy 8 miler in the afternoon. I felt a little rusty in the beginning of the run, but once I got going everything was fine.

This week, I sort of got back into a routine schedule. The running economy feels good and it doesn't seem like I lost any fitness. I gave it a test on Thursday by doing some 1200 repeats with some 400s in the end. After a few warm-up miles, I ran 4 x 1200 (3:58, 4:01, 3:59, 3:57) with 400 recovery, then 4 x 400 (73, 73, 72, 73) with 200m recovery.

This morning I ran with my friend Bob. I wanted to run easy for 70-75 minutes. What was suppose to be an easy run turned into sort of a slower tempo run. We started out the run chatting about whatever topic came to mind. About 3 miles into the run the chatting was replaced with some rhythmic breathing. The pace was not hard, but decent enough that we were taking in oxygen every 2-3 steps. We turned around at 5.5 miles after averaging 6:28 pace. I thought Bob was going to slow the pace a little coming back. Instead, it was me that began picking up the pace. The body got into a good rhythm and I found myself cruising along about a 6:00 pace. This was a good confidence booster because I felt very comfortable running at about marathon pace. After all, maybe I didn't lose any fitness from the days I was on the field.

Today's Run: 1:09:42

What will life be like if you can't run...

I apologize for not updating my blog in almost 2 weeks. I've been very busy with work since I came off of leave. In fact, I just got back from a week-long leaders' training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. It looks as though I won't be posting much over the next 4-6 weeks. I'll be going to the field for some Army training beginning on Tuesday.

What do you do when you can't get out to train? This next 4-6 weeks will be very frustrating for me, because I won't be able to run very much. There's nothing worse then losing fitness when you're in great shape. I think my fitness will still be up there if I only miss a week or two at the most. But a month, I don't think so. My near-term plan was to run a half-marathon late September and a 10-miler and marathon in October. I'll most likely change my racing schedule because of all the training I'll miss. For now, I will have to try and squeeze in a run at every opportunity I get.

A little update on my training. I was fortunate enough to get in my workouts at Ft. Polk. It was unbelievably humid in the early mornings. I was out the door each day at 5am and would be drenched in sweat about 10 minutes into the run. This morning's run put me at 65 miles for the week. Not bad considering my busy schedule. Lately, I've been getting in quality workouts rather than high mileage. Every workout counts when you don't have all the time to train.

I did a progression long run this morning and it felt very good and comfortable. I ran the first 30 minutes averaging 7:14 pace, then the next 30 minutes comfortably at 6:45 pace, and then finished off the last 30 minutes on the track at marathon pace (6:00). The legs and body felt like it could go for another 5 miles at marathon pace. This was a good sign of my fitness, which I feel will be going downhill over the next few weeks. I'll try to stay positive.