Just some totals for last week
M - 13km Treadmill 7.6mi 1 hr, + 5 x 30 sec sprints at 10.5 on the TM
T - 13km - 1hr on TM -15min warmup, 4 sets of 2min @ 10mph (3:43), 1 min rest, 1min at 10.5 (3:33), 1 min rest, 30 sec @ 12mph! (or 3:07/km) w/ 3 min rest
W - 8km - 43min (recovery pace)
Th - 13.05km mi 57min 1.1km loops @ 3:51ish, 400m recovery, 400m sprints @ 3:30 avg pace (w 2 min rest)
F - off
S - 12.7km - 6 Hills for 1 hr - sub 8min up hill. Slopes 6-8%, each hill 1 mi (fastest time over 3 yrs!)
S - 21km - easy start, 5:30s, then 5:00's in the middle, and easy 4:30s for last 5km
Run includes one ice slip as I turned around to wait for ppl. I've got to stop being nice. ;)
Total milage - 81.14kms
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Monday, 2 January 2012
2012 Time to Turn up the Heat
This is the year to turn up the training and see what I can do. Got some big aspirations!
Goals for 2012 -
10k - sub 40
half - 1:25
Full - sub 3
So let's see how it goes!
Week:
M - 12.84km w light hills
T - 14.59km - 10 intervals on 2min on/off @ 10mph/8mph
W - 8km - easy
T - 11km - 800s (snow)
F - Off
S - 21.15mi - slow, trail, (snow)
S - 10km - progressive fun run
Total - 77.63kms
Also I signed up for the Chilly Half marathon. That's my first attempt at this course and the first just half I've run in a while.
My schedule for the year
Jan - training
Feb - traninig
Mar - Training, chilly half & around the bay (30k)
Apr - training + taper
May - mara - sub 3 attempt
Goals for 2012 -
10k - sub 40
half - 1:25
Full - sub 3
So let's see how it goes!
Week:
M - 12.84km w light hills
T - 14.59km - 10 intervals on 2min on/off @ 10mph/8mph
W - 8km - easy
T - 11km - 800s (snow)
F - Off
S - 21.15mi - slow, trail, (snow)
S - 10km - progressive fun run
Total - 77.63kms
Also I signed up for the Chilly Half marathon. That's my first attempt at this course and the first just half I've run in a while.
My schedule for the year
Jan - training
Feb - traninig
Mar - Training, chilly half & around the bay (30k)
Apr - training + taper
May - mara - sub 3 attempt
Monday, 26 December 2011
Week in Review and 2,500 kms done for the year
So after today's run I hit 2,500 kms from Jan 1 to today. Woohoo!! My orignal goal was 2,011km as part of a 2011 challenge. When I exceed this in around the end of September I made into new territory. It's also the most running I've done in a year and builds on 2010's success of 1,767kms.
To get here I've had a successful year of relative injury free performance and a desire to be faster. It's amazing what a competitive mind can do. Running is not something where you're just competing against everyone else at the race can do, you're also competing against yourself, past and future, as well as everyone else's past and future. Complicated? If I've lost you this just means you're running for the best possible time, well if not competing to 'win' therefore your ultimate personal best is basically your lifelong work. This is mainly why older runners have regrets about slowing down - and when they accept it, they can at least compete against the age group predicted decline, as well as hope that some youngin ain't gonna beat their PB for some time.
I've had some rivalry in my family as my father was my biggest inspiration to run. He's an accomplished marathon runner with probably at least 20 under his belt, including a trip to Boston. His PB was 3:24, good enough for Boston's 3:30 for his then age group, and a challenge for me. As I was a youthful new entrant, I had some advantages, and while I could at this point beat him in the shorter races, it was around the half marathon that he could still edge me out. He had some other amazing shorter distance times and they had been milestones for me to achieve.
So concludes another great racing year. With a 3:09 under my belt this year, and a drive to get 'r done for a sub 3, we'll see what 2012 holds.
This week's workouts:
M: off
T: tempo run - 30sec/hard/30 easy x 16 + 5 hills
W: Progression run/feel good - started slow, and worked up to about a sub 4min/km pace.
T: Sick
F: Easy 8k
S: Easy 10k - working off food
S: Long distance - 10mi with a fast 5km finish
Weekly total 55kms.
This week was more of a recovery week from a hard week last time. I also had a 24hr bug so I had to cancel one of my hard ones, but you can always miss a few workouts.
That's all for now! This was pretty much a year in review post, next week to end the year I will look forward at 2012.
Cheers.
To get here I've had a successful year of relative injury free performance and a desire to be faster. It's amazing what a competitive mind can do. Running is not something where you're just competing against everyone else at the race can do, you're also competing against yourself, past and future, as well as everyone else's past and future. Complicated? If I've lost you this just means you're running for the best possible time, well if not competing to 'win' therefore your ultimate personal best is basically your lifelong work. This is mainly why older runners have regrets about slowing down - and when they accept it, they can at least compete against the age group predicted decline, as well as hope that some youngin ain't gonna beat their PB for some time.
I've had some rivalry in my family as my father was my biggest inspiration to run. He's an accomplished marathon runner with probably at least 20 under his belt, including a trip to Boston. His PB was 3:24, good enough for Boston's 3:30 for his then age group, and a challenge for me. As I was a youthful new entrant, I had some advantages, and while I could at this point beat him in the shorter races, it was around the half marathon that he could still edge me out. He had some other amazing shorter distance times and they had been milestones for me to achieve.
So concludes another great racing year. With a 3:09 under my belt this year, and a drive to get 'r done for a sub 3, we'll see what 2012 holds.
This week's workouts:
M: off
T: tempo run - 30sec/hard/30 easy x 16 + 5 hills
W: Progression run/feel good - started slow, and worked up to about a sub 4min/km pace.
T: Sick
F: Easy 8k
S: Easy 10k - working off food
S: Long distance - 10mi with a fast 5km finish
Weekly total 55kms.
This week was more of a recovery week from a hard week last time. I also had a 24hr bug so I had to cancel one of my hard ones, but you can always miss a few workouts.
That's all for now! This was pretty much a year in review post, next week to end the year I will look forward at 2012.
Cheers.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Back to running week 3
Yay week 3!
I think one of the rules of thumb is it takes about 3 weeks to get used to something, so by finishing a 3rd week of running I am getting used to running, again. Although I've given up my weekend sleep ins, I am more happier to be hitting the road or trail than to do nothing.
So how was this week?
Mon - Easy run - just an average go out there and run it. Of course, with this awesome weather lately, it was more of a go on the treadmill and tough it out. Still, I am glad to see it becoming easier again to run your basic 10k.
Tues - An up tempo interval session. This is a 50% increase already (sounds huge!) from last week. What it actually is, is a 50% increase from 60seconds to 90 seconds at 10 mph x 10 repeats. A pretty good workout that shows me working at a fairly high end pace, but 'low enough' that I can keep doing it. To me 10mph is always been the barrier. For my goals, I really want to be above 10mph for long distances and I've always wondered the best way to break it (if you weren't born with the talent). While I can sustain something closer to 11 or a little higher for short periods of time (a few min) this seems to be a good place to train for now on my fast days. This workout also had a warmup and cooldown. Each rep has a 2min easier rest pace in between. 10mph is about a 3:44 min/km pace - pretty intense!
Note - this appears that it may one day become a Yasso 800 at 10mph - to indicate that I can run a 3 hr marathon - that would require 10x3min @ 10mph with 3min rests.
Wed -Just an easy run outdoors for 8k with a friend. Good to have someone to talk to!
Thurs - Off - holiday party is a great way to spend an evening
Fri - Make up session - two 3k up tempo sessions. I kept it at 9mph for 12:30 for each with a 1 min rest/walk between. To me the rest is probably more difficult because you need to start it up again. Needless to say, I was able to finish no problems. 9mph is a pretty decent pace. Not all out, but definitely up tempo. 9mph is about a 4:07 min/km pace. My goal pace would be about a 8.7mph pace for the marathon - a 6:53/mi or a 4:14/km.
Sat - Long day - Longest run yet - 13.1 mi/21.1km. Trail run. Thankfully a muddy trail froze over in the frigid -15c weather.... Did I mention that it was +10c on Thurs? Oh to live here... This run felt pretty good from an energy perspective, but I was wearing my winter shoes for the first time. These are trail shoes that are great for the snow as they have a gator (sp?) that gives you a nice waterproof layer over the shoe - and it's built in. I've seen mixed reviews of it, but I am a fan. Its the Saucony Razors. My feet felt like bricks, but there's some benefit to that too. Keep it slow and steady and you will get used to it.
Sun - Planned - going for a 13k run - just easy paced with a little faster (sub 5) for the last 6k. Should be nbd (no big deal).
Total kms for the week - 77.5. A little on the high side for coming back into it, but I will continue to read my body and progress at the right pace.
I think one of the rules of thumb is it takes about 3 weeks to get used to something, so by finishing a 3rd week of running I am getting used to running, again. Although I've given up my weekend sleep ins, I am more happier to be hitting the road or trail than to do nothing.
So how was this week?
Mon - Easy run - just an average go out there and run it. Of course, with this awesome weather lately, it was more of a go on the treadmill and tough it out. Still, I am glad to see it becoming easier again to run your basic 10k.
Tues - An up tempo interval session. This is a 50% increase already (sounds huge!) from last week. What it actually is, is a 50% increase from 60seconds to 90 seconds at 10 mph x 10 repeats. A pretty good workout that shows me working at a fairly high end pace, but 'low enough' that I can keep doing it. To me 10mph is always been the barrier. For my goals, I really want to be above 10mph for long distances and I've always wondered the best way to break it (if you weren't born with the talent). While I can sustain something closer to 11 or a little higher for short periods of time (a few min) this seems to be a good place to train for now on my fast days. This workout also had a warmup and cooldown. Each rep has a 2min easier rest pace in between. 10mph is about a 3:44 min/km pace - pretty intense!
Note - this appears that it may one day become a Yasso 800 at 10mph - to indicate that I can run a 3 hr marathon - that would require 10x3min @ 10mph with 3min rests.
Wed -Just an easy run outdoors for 8k with a friend. Good to have someone to talk to!
Thurs - Off - holiday party is a great way to spend an evening
Fri - Make up session - two 3k up tempo sessions. I kept it at 9mph for 12:30 for each with a 1 min rest/walk between. To me the rest is probably more difficult because you need to start it up again. Needless to say, I was able to finish no problems. 9mph is a pretty decent pace. Not all out, but definitely up tempo. 9mph is about a 4:07 min/km pace. My goal pace would be about a 8.7mph pace for the marathon - a 6:53/mi or a 4:14/km.
Sat - Long day - Longest run yet - 13.1 mi/21.1km. Trail run. Thankfully a muddy trail froze over in the frigid -15c weather.... Did I mention that it was +10c on Thurs? Oh to live here... This run felt pretty good from an energy perspective, but I was wearing my winter shoes for the first time. These are trail shoes that are great for the snow as they have a gator (sp?) that gives you a nice waterproof layer over the shoe - and it's built in. I've seen mixed reviews of it, but I am a fan. Its the Saucony Razors. My feet felt like bricks, but there's some benefit to that too. Keep it slow and steady and you will get used to it.
Sun - Planned - going for a 13k run - just easy paced with a little faster (sub 5) for the last 6k. Should be nbd (no big deal).
Total kms for the week - 77.5. A little on the high side for coming back into it, but I will continue to read my body and progress at the right pace.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
The bump post
Just bumping my blog out of oblivion. I didn't really forget about it, I just haven't been running much lately.
So now it brings me to today. I am again training. This is still a rebuilding phase but my training is starting to pick up. I appreciate that I really didn't lose too much fitness over my month off - still can run for over an hour, and still can dish out the speed when needed, and my weight was pretty stable.
My training now is designed to build up my base. I think I'm looking at around 50-60 kms per week of old school stuff (back to varsity style training). A few base aerobic runs per week, plus 2 speed workouts, a long distance/over distance run, a day for cross training and a day off.
So far its been as follows:
Sun - Long distance - 17k. I cut 1km short because the route went past my condo - can you blame me? It was a pretty decent workout at a 5:10 pace for about the first 10k, followed by a gradual pickup to some 4:45 pace work, with one fast 4:15 down a major hill. Overall average - 4:58.
Mon - 10k aerobic run - just going for a certain pace at a mid-level effort. I set the treadmill to an incline of 1, and warmed up for a couple min, followed by a quick progression to 8mph / 7:30/mi or 4:39 pace. My foot pod was telling me 4:47 so I was going with that. It's hard to say which was the accurate one, but both were being consistent, which is what you really want. My splits were 5:01, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:45, 4:45, 4:45. Average HR 160 bpm, but it was creeping up to 164-165 by the last few kms.
No problems from the Achilles tendon which is great - just a little sore in the front from increasing the use.
So now it brings me to today. I am again training. This is still a rebuilding phase but my training is starting to pick up. I appreciate that I really didn't lose too much fitness over my month off - still can run for over an hour, and still can dish out the speed when needed, and my weight was pretty stable.
My training now is designed to build up my base. I think I'm looking at around 50-60 kms per week of old school stuff (back to varsity style training). A few base aerobic runs per week, plus 2 speed workouts, a long distance/over distance run, a day for cross training and a day off.
So far its been as follows:
Sun - Long distance - 17k. I cut 1km short because the route went past my condo - can you blame me? It was a pretty decent workout at a 5:10 pace for about the first 10k, followed by a gradual pickup to some 4:45 pace work, with one fast 4:15 down a major hill. Overall average - 4:58.
Mon - 10k aerobic run - just going for a certain pace at a mid-level effort. I set the treadmill to an incline of 1, and warmed up for a couple min, followed by a quick progression to 8mph / 7:30/mi or 4:39 pace. My foot pod was telling me 4:47 so I was going with that. It's hard to say which was the accurate one, but both were being consistent, which is what you really want. My splits were 5:01, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:45, 4:45, 4:45. Average HR 160 bpm, but it was creeping up to 164-165 by the last few kms.
No problems from the Achilles tendon which is great - just a little sore in the front from increasing the use.
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Rebuilding Phase
Post-marathon is an interesting phase. I've taken a keen interest in things like pizza and alcohol, not running as often as I was, and faster intensities when I do run. Seems like I'm also not that motivated when I get home when its pitch black out too. Oh and then my achilles tendon has gone past the point of guessing - its tendinitis, and I need to stay off for a while.
So what do I do?
Well I am going to take up some cardio alternatives
Spinning - I've actually been spinning quite a bit - about once a week during my training. It's a fun activity and good for getting my HR to practice being in a variety of zones, and having to work hard on and off. Believe me, its tough to go all out, then try again. Even with a rest - your body likes to turn off a bit. So with a proper warm up and practice and timing yourself not to push it 100% each time (maybe 95%).
Anyways to keep up interest, I've been adding little things to my biking/spinning (I have a tri bike on a fluid trainer as well). I've been adding ant+ sensors to track with my garmin (310xt) and well I have bike shoes that I've never used (I switched form clipless pedals to baskets (I hate falling) so with useless shoes, I was proud of myself for buying and switching the cleats to an SPD cleat. I should be able to use that to spin now. Cool.
Aqua running (Deep water) - This is considered good cross training for running - better than biking (as it uses the same muscles/motions - back of leg vs front of leg) and because its in the water, there's no impact + thus a good recovery practice. It may help to use a floatation device in deep water but not necessary (just have to tread). The first time I tried it, I thought the gym pool would have a float belt (Goodlife) as the prior gym (Extreme) did. Well at my location anyway. So I was excited for deep end stuff because the old pool was also just a lane pool at the same depth of 5'.
So there I was trying to figure it out - do I use the rescue bouy? No that's probably not smart. So I pick up a couple of pool noodles and float on them like a little kid. I was certainly a laughing stock in my mind. The best part is the pool is exposed by a windowed walkway into the gym, and another one by the heavy weights area. I'm sure people thought I was the biggest douche they've ever seen in the pool but they were polite enough not to laugh. I hope you get a good laugh reading it. I acted though as it was manly as heck as I am manly taking my injury seriously and trying not to run on it unlike the weekend where I was sprinting along up and down Mount Royal in Montreal.
Okay maybe one or two pics to keep my blog interesting:
Weights - haven't explored this yet, but I will probably work on hip flexors/core and leg muscles, and back. It's a good time to get my body back in order before the next round of training.
Thanks for reading!
So what do I do?
Well I am going to take up some cardio alternatives
Spinning - I've actually been spinning quite a bit - about once a week during my training. It's a fun activity and good for getting my HR to practice being in a variety of zones, and having to work hard on and off. Believe me, its tough to go all out, then try again. Even with a rest - your body likes to turn off a bit. So with a proper warm up and practice and timing yourself not to push it 100% each time (maybe 95%).
Anyways to keep up interest, I've been adding little things to my biking/spinning (I have a tri bike on a fluid trainer as well). I've been adding ant+ sensors to track with my garmin (310xt) and well I have bike shoes that I've never used (I switched form clipless pedals to baskets (I hate falling) so with useless shoes, I was proud of myself for buying and switching the cleats to an SPD cleat. I should be able to use that to spin now. Cool.
Aqua running (Deep water) - This is considered good cross training for running - better than biking (as it uses the same muscles/motions - back of leg vs front of leg) and because its in the water, there's no impact + thus a good recovery practice. It may help to use a floatation device in deep water but not necessary (just have to tread). The first time I tried it, I thought the gym pool would have a float belt (Goodlife) as the prior gym (Extreme) did. Well at my location anyway. So I was excited for deep end stuff because the old pool was also just a lane pool at the same depth of 5'.
So there I was trying to figure it out - do I use the rescue bouy? No that's probably not smart. So I pick up a couple of pool noodles and float on them like a little kid. I was certainly a laughing stock in my mind. The best part is the pool is exposed by a windowed walkway into the gym, and another one by the heavy weights area. I'm sure people thought I was the biggest douche they've ever seen in the pool but they were polite enough not to laugh. I hope you get a good laugh reading it. I acted though as it was manly as heck as I am manly taking my injury seriously and trying not to run on it unlike the weekend where I was sprinting along up and down Mount Royal in Montreal.
Okay maybe one or two pics to keep my blog interesting:
(view from popular lookout on mountain)
Weights - haven't explored this yet, but I will probably work on hip flexors/core and leg muscles, and back. It's a good time to get my body back in order before the next round of training.
Thanks for reading!
Friday, 4 November 2011
Goals for the 6 month term
So just looking for something to post in a lull of training. I am still running, but now in a range of about 45kms per week (down from 60 to 100).
Things are going well - however I've noticed some slight pain in the Achilles tendon. Slight tendinitis, but manageable. I've had unmanageable Achilles tendinitis twice in my life, so this one doesn't seem to bother me. Most of my running has been on treadmills in the last little while. Boring little things. However I am getting used to it. I love running outside, but when the sun is setting at 6:30pm it's pretty depressing and I don't want to go run in the dark (right now). Give it a month maybe.
I realize I'm not going to be able to do my Thurs run where I was doing grassy and/or random hills (sometimes just pathways up a hill like Mad Dog style) in the park in the evening anymore. Even with a lamp head its pretty dark for those ones. Oh well.
Onwards and upwards.
Okay so the only race I've signed up for is the 30k Around the Bay in Hamilton for March 25, 2012. This one is one of the main pillars of tests - to see how you're doing for the May races. Most likely I'll be running May 6th in my Sub 3 hr attempt. There I've said it. A sub 3 hr marathon attempt. It usually more obtainable when it's written down and so that's what I've done.
I have plans to run other races in the meanwhile - there's a 10 miler on Boxing day, or an 8k in early Jan or even a half in the beginning of March. In the past I was only doing a few races at a time, but last half of this year (July - Oct) has had me racing 2x a month and I've quite enjoyed it.
Well that's all for now. I plan to take some more running on location shots this weekend. We'll just have to wait and see!
Oh other results from the Mad Dog Scramble - It looks like I was 5/9 for my group (Wave 9) and 2/4 people from Wave 10 (super advanced) beat me. It's not bad to fit in 50% of these guys I think it says a lot -especially when I started the first half k sprint I was 7th or 8th by the time we got into the park.
That's all for now ~ cheers!
Things are going well - however I've noticed some slight pain in the Achilles tendon. Slight tendinitis, but manageable. I've had unmanageable Achilles tendinitis twice in my life, so this one doesn't seem to bother me. Most of my running has been on treadmills in the last little while. Boring little things. However I am getting used to it. I love running outside, but when the sun is setting at 6:30pm it's pretty depressing and I don't want to go run in the dark (right now). Give it a month maybe.
I realize I'm not going to be able to do my Thurs run where I was doing grassy and/or random hills (sometimes just pathways up a hill like Mad Dog style) in the park in the evening anymore. Even with a lamp head its pretty dark for those ones. Oh well.
Onwards and upwards.
Okay so the only race I've signed up for is the 30k Around the Bay in Hamilton for March 25, 2012. This one is one of the main pillars of tests - to see how you're doing for the May races. Most likely I'll be running May 6th in my Sub 3 hr attempt. There I've said it. A sub 3 hr marathon attempt. It usually more obtainable when it's written down and so that's what I've done.
I have plans to run other races in the meanwhile - there's a 10 miler on Boxing day, or an 8k in early Jan or even a half in the beginning of March. In the past I was only doing a few races at a time, but last half of this year (July - Oct) has had me racing 2x a month and I've quite enjoyed it.
Well that's all for now. I plan to take some more running on location shots this weekend. We'll just have to wait and see!
Oh other results from the Mad Dog Scramble - It looks like I was 5/9 for my group (Wave 9) and 2/4 people from Wave 10 (super advanced) beat me. It's not bad to fit in 50% of these guys I think it says a lot -especially when I started the first half k sprint I was 7th or 8th by the time we got into the park.
That's all for now ~ cheers!
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