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Monthly Archive for: ‘July, 2011’

Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 27

Log for July 30 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th.  Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time. 

 Saturday

  • 12.8-Mile Marathon Workout – While last Saturday was about running easy and maximizing my time in the aerobic zone over 15-miles, today was about tempo and marathon pace work. We had a very large group that met at Edwin Warner Park this morning for the workout. At 6am, the temps were in the upper 70s with extremely high humidity. However early in the run it started raining, and the temps dropped throughout the workout. Some of the rain showers were quite heavy, which felt awesome. I love running in the rain (except for the squishy shoes)

    I knew that today’s workout was going to be tough for 2 reasons: (1) Most of the intervals were scheduled to be done at tempo pace, which is quite a bit faster than marathon pace. (2) My legs were very tired from logging a lot of miles this week, including a hard tempo run on Tuesday and track workout on Thursday.

    We started with a slow, 15-minute warmup where I only got in about 1.5 miles due to taking a short bathroom break. On a side-note, today I tried to not worry at all about total mileage, but to focus on being consistent throughout all of the intervals.

    Following the warmup, we began a series of 4 x 1.25-mile repeats at tempo pace (with approximately 3 min recovery). My goal for the tempo portions was to maintain a 7:00 per mile pace. My legs felt very tired and heavy during the first two intervals, but I was able to do both right around my goal pace. I think some of the sluggishness at first had a lot to do with the really short warmup. I started feeling a lot better during the second two, and even ran the fourth one a little too fast. During the recoveries between intervals I mostly just walked, and didn’t count this mileage on my Garmin.

    After the 4 x 1.25-mile tempo intervals, the group did a slow recovery jog for 20 minutes. I took this very easy (9:30 pace), and only ran about 17 minutes so I would have some extra time to re-hydrate and take a gel. Following this, we did a 15-minute interval at marathon pace. My goal marathon pace is 7:26, but for this workout I was shooting to average somewhere around 7:30, and came in just over that. I again walked during the recovery time, and didn’t count this on my Garmin.

    The final interval was 2 miles at tempo pace, which I again did right at 7:00 min pace, even though my legs were very tired. Overall this was a really hard, but really good marathon workout (Big thanks to Dan Ashmead for putting together the plan), and I felt good through most of the intervals. I especially felt good about the consistency of the tempo intervals from start to finish.

    Some of the folks in the group got in 14 to 15 miles, but I only logged 12.8 due to a shorter warmup, and walking through most of the recoveries. I did this workout in my Nike Vomero’s, and really wish I’d used my Saucony Kinvara’s for two reasons. (1) The lighter shoes would have been nice while doing the tempo intervals (2) The Vomero’s got REALLY heavy in the rain, and I think that Kinvara’s would drain a lot better.

  • Cross-Training – Tonight was Yoga. I have a lot of Yoga workouts to choose from and I went with P90X One on One: Fountain of Youth Yoga.

Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 26

Log for July 29 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th.  Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time. 

Friday

  • 4-Mile “Barefoot” Run – This was a very relaxed, enjoyable AM run through Bellevue with Paxton. It was nice to run easy after a hard track workout last night. The weather was pretty good because of some thick cloud cover. I again did this run in my Saucony Hattori’s, and the short, forefoot stride is beginning to feel very natural. Since this is a “recovery” week with regard to cross-training, tonight is a scheduled rest day. This is good, because tomorrow’s marathon workout is gonna be tough. 

Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 25

Log for July 28 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th.  Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.

 Thursday

  • 6.25-Mile Track Workout – Tonight was undoubtedly the warmest track workout of the year. It was mid 90s at the start with a heat index over 100 degrees. I got in a nice 2-mile warmup on the grass infield, but could tell that it was going to be a difficult night with the heat. Our coach turned on a grass sprinkler in the infield so that we could run through the spray during our recoveries to try and cool down. This turned out to be a GREAT idea that I used during every recovery. All things considered I felt really good tonight for most of the workout, which consisted of various 200m and 500m repeats with one set of straights and curves. Paxton looked especially strong tonight, but I was able to hang with him up until the last set. During our final 500m (next to last interval set), I pushed it a little too hard in the heat and didn’t have much energy for our final set of 200m repeats. During this set, my 200m times were around 2 seconds slower than during the earlier set, and Paxton ended up finishing almost 200m ahead of me at the end.  All-in-all, it was a good workout, and I learned a lesson about not pushing it too hard in the extreme heat and humidity.

    On a related note, I absolutely love our running group. We had dinner after track at the Dog of Nashville (my family was also able to join us), and I had a fabulous time hanging out with everyone (as always). There are a number of races over the next 6 months that many of us will be doing together, and I’m really looking forward to them all (Tupelo 14.2, Chicago Marathon, Ragnar Relay, New Orleans Marathon).

  • Cross Training – Tonight was P90X: X-Stretch — So needed this tonight!

Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 24

Log for July 27 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th.  Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.

Wednesday

  • 6.25-Mile Moderate Run – Ran through Belle Meade with Paxton this morning. Don’t know if it was the later start time, being tired from yesterday, or something else, but I really felt the humidity today. Overall though it was a good run.  Most of our miles were between 8:00 and 8:20 pace (8:15 avg). Pretty pleased with the effort considering how hard Nathan and I pushed it on Tuesday. Paxton was a little stronger than me today, but I was mostly able to keep up with him (until the last couple of miles). Looking forward to sleeping in a little later tomorrow, and then a hot and humid track workout tomorrow at 6pm.
  • Cross Training – Tonight was Insanity: Cardio Recovery

On another note, it was pretty cool to hear today that Ryan Hall will be running Chicago as well. Hope I finally get the chance to meet him at the expo, and hope he does really well.

How do you know you can’t until you’ve been there and couldn’t?

Nathan Wright (@nkwright)

Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Day 23

Log for July 26 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th.  Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.

Tuesday

  • 10.5-Mile Tempo Run – What an AWESOME run today!! After 2 weeks of lackluster efforts, today’s tempo run was probably the best I’ve felt on a run this summer. We had another break from the heat today, though the humidity was still very high.  Started off at 5:45am with Nathan and Paxton in Edwin Warner Park. The route had about 500 ft. of elevation gain and most of this was within the first 2.5 miles. Even with the hills, my legs felt strong and I tried to push the pace. The first 2 miles were completed in 8:47 and 8:22, and then every mile after that was sub 8:00 min pace, including 3 miles under 7:30 pace. Paxton ran with us for the first 6 miles, but has been taking care of sore ankle, so decided not to go further. Nathan and I finished with 10.5 miles, and pushed each other every step of the way. Avg pace for the run was 7:44 per Nathan’s Garmin (mine was acting up the first couple of miles). We commented that last summer it was very difficult for us to maintain even an 8:30 pace in the high humidity, so we are definitely making progress. Overall this was another BIG confidence boost.
  • Cross Training – Tonight was P90X: Core Synergistics.

Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Days 21 & 22

Log for July 24 & 25 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th.  Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.

Sunday

  • Running Rest Day – Sunday is always a running rest day for me. Didn’t get in as many miles as scheduled through the week due to being sick the previous weekend.
  • Cross Training – I usually take a rest from cross training on Sunday as well, but since my opportunities had been limited this week, I decided to do P90X: Shoulders and Arms and P90X: Ab Ripper X.

Monday

  • 7-Mile Trail Run – Ran early this AM on the white and red trails in Percy Warner Park. I took the pace REALLY slowly because of the tough run on Saturday, and because this route also has around 1,200 ft. of elevation gain. The temps were slightly lower, which was a nice break. I didn’t feel particularly great during the first 4 miles of the route, but started gaining energy as the run progressed. I even picked up the pace significantly during the last 1/2 mile to end the run on a high note.
  • Cross Training – Did Insanity: Core Cardio and Balance. This week is my scheduled “recovery” week for cross training. While the first three weeks have not exactly gone according to plan, I’m going to stick with my regular schedule and execute the recovery workouts. This is one of my favorites. I especially like the “hip flexor burners” near the end, though they kick my tail.

Missing Missy: Probably the Funniest Thing I’ve Ever Read

My friend Noel Hicks posted a link to this on Facebook some time ago, and I literally laughed so hard that I started crying. It is an email exchange between a lady with a lost cat and a graphic designer she has asked to help her make a sign (probably fiction). It is definitely worth a read.

Disclaimer: While there is nothing profane about this post, it is a bit mean. You have been warned.

(Originally posted on a website called 27bslash6).

From: Shannon
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 9.20am
To: David
Subject: Poster

Hi
I opened the screen door yesterday and my cat got out and has been missing since then so I was wondering if you are not to busy you could make a poster for me. It has to be A4 and I will photocopy it and put it around my suburb this afternoon.

This is the only photo of her I have she answers to the name Missy and is black and white and about 8 months old. missing on Harper street and my phone number.

Thanks Shan. 

Read more »

Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Days 19 & 20

Log for July 22 & 23 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th.  Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.

Friday

  • 4-Mile “Barefoot” Recovery Run – Since I ran a couple of repeats at track on Thursday using my new forefoot stride, this made my weekly Hattori run a little more difficult because my calves were already tired. It was still a very enjoyable recovery run with Paxton through the streets of Bellevue. Also still LOVE my Hattori’s.

Saturday

  • 15.2-Mile Long Run – Most of my Spring and early Summer has been focused on shorter trail runs, tempo runs, and speedwork, trying to improve my overall strength and speed as I move into the meat of my marathon training. While this has gone very well, I also know that my aerobic threshold is significantly shorter than where it needs to be for the fall and winter marathons. Today’s run was all about running at a slow to moderate pace and maximizing the amount of time spent on my feet in the aerobic zone. The group was doing a 10-mile run through PW park, so Marc and I met early to get in just over 3 miles through Belle Meade before entering the park. I felt really good for most of the first 10 miles, even through the significant hills. However as our running time pushed past 1:30, I felt extremely tired, and my legs began to falter. When the group finished their run, I was right at 13-miles. My training plan called for 16 today, so I continued to run after grabbing some fluids, though my body was begging to be done. During the final miles I felt extremely tired, and decided to cut the run a litter short at 15 miles. Looking back on the run, it is interesting how good I felt for the first hour and a half, and how bad I felt for the last 45 minutes. I think there are several reasons for this:
    • It was very hot and humid, even beginning at 5:15am. Not to be gross, but during the second half of the run my right shoe was sloshing with sweat.  When I finished I could literally wring the sweat out of my clothes.
    • The route had over 1,200 ft of elevation gain, and most of this was in the first 10 miles.
    • When I’ve done 12 to 14 mile runs in the Spring and early Summer, they’ve typically been at a higher tempo and lasted between 1:30 and 1:45. Even though I was running slower today, my body was not used to being in the aerobic zone for over 2 hours, and I could really feel it. This, however, is precisely the reason for long, slow training runs. I’m gonna work really hard this summer to focus on maximizing the time on my feet during the bi-weekly long training runs, and worry about pace during the alternating bi-weekly marathon workouts.

Quest for 3:15 – Chicago Training Days 17 & 18

Log for July 20 & 21 – Training for Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 9th.  Goal for the fall and winter marathon season is to break 3:15 for the first time.

Wednesday

  • Did nothing on Wed. Decided to take a full day off to recover after my 7-miler on Tuesday. Still have some lingering effects from the illness, and wanted to be ready for track on Thursday.

Thursday

  • 7.25-Mile Track Workout – We got a very fortunate break in the heat about an hour before the workout, where it dropped down into the mid 80s. The humidity was still intense, but at least we did have to deal with 90+ degree temps. Paxton and I got in a little over 3-miles warmup before we started, and then we had a very good workout consisting of 400m intervals. Paxton looked really strong tonight. I felt pretty good, but could definitely feel a little sluggishness in my legs. I ran the first two 400m repeats focused on landing on my forefoot, using the new stride I’ve been working on with the Saucony Hattori’s. The stride felt really good, and I’m excited about what the future holds. Not quite ready to do a full track workout that way, but getting there. Overall I was pleased with my splits, and had a very good workout.
  • Cross Training – After getting the kiddos in the bed, I was able to get in P90X: Chest and Back. While the wound on my hand has now completely healed, it is still very bruised, and some of the push-up sets were still a little problematic (especially diamond push-ups).  Still good to get it in.
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