Friday, February 29, 2008

Feb 29, 2008 - 8 Miler at Decent Clip


Motionbased Data

Another amazingly gorgeous day. An average of 55°F and barely any wind. Had to get that monthly goal of 60 miles. I didn't know exactly which way I was going to go to get 8 miles in, so I took a few alternate paths to mix things up and hopefully bump the distance, which I did pretty well. Missed this month's stretch goal entirely since I didn't get to my first run until the 9th or something like that. So, now my goal for next month will be 70, stretch 80!

So, my goal for today's run was to have a negative split. Which would be tricky seeing as how I was going to start downhill and come back uphill! Well, I tried sticking to 7:50 out (bounced around faster/slower) and ended up at 7:48 at four miles. The next two miles I did in about 7:38 pace and the last two at about 7:15 pace (7:17 and 7:12). The last 0.12 was at a 5:50 pace! Yowsers, nice kick in!

So, it's nice to see that after 7 miles, even though they were "easy" I kept speeding up and I was able to do a 7:12 mile. I'll have to try to go the last mile of a 10k under 7 sometime next week. Probably Wedesday, as I plan on doing FAST 5k on Monday adn going out to lunch on Tuesday. Thursday off and long distance on Friday, like today, maybe.

Feb 27, 2008 - 6.9 Fast


Motionbased Data

So today was another beautiful day and I took advantage by running again. I wanted to go out smoothly, but sped up immediately, so figured I'd keep it up a while and ended up going about 3.5 miles at 7:20 pace...then I significantly slowed down and ended up averaging 7:31 for the entire 6.89 miles.

Feeling good, legs tired, back/knee still sore (knee is getting better!) and having fun running. Actually brought my iPod and listened to some tunes. Definitely noted that a faster song helped me go faster.

Feb 26, 2008 - Havana 10k


Motionbased Data

What a run. Knee and back killing when started. Broke free, so to speak at a quarter mile and tried going fast anyway. Going downhill(after getting to Orchard) and downwind I put in some real quick quarters. The slowed up the back until getting to Havana, where I tried to "turn it on" and have a good pace up the hill. Well, I did, so I decided to stop a little.

After a short rest, 40 seconds, maybe, I walk/jogged about 20 seconds and took off down the street at a pretty good pace again. Had 1/2 mile at 7:16 pace...and last full quarter was sub-7.

Weather was slightly breezy and 41°F. Pretty nice, since it was Sunny out. Overall pace of 7:44 is slower than the race, but not by much...and that includes the stop time and that horrible 8:24 pace on the first quarter. So, real/moving pace is faster than the race...but I can't stop in a race, so have to use the true pace of 7:44. Which is still pretty darn good a couple days after a race.

I really want to get faster, so I have to go faster and run londer at faster paces, in addition to adding some real intervals to my workout.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Feb 23, 2008 - PPRR 10k Race (Winter Series #4)


Motionbased Data
OK, so how'd it go?
Mile   Splits      Time     Avg Pace
1 6:54.46 6:54.46 6:54.46
2 7:55.67 14:50.13 7:25.06
3 7:35.87 22:26.00 7:28.67
4 8:31.85 30:57.85 7:44.46
5 8:01.30 38:59.15 7:47.83
6 7:29.72 46:28.87 7:44.81
6.25 1:26.67 47:55.54 7:40.09
Which, when you look at the hills and such is actually pretty good. Not much faster than Tuesday's supposed taper run, but, heck that is on such flat ground. The legs didn't help much either from that too fast of a run. Although a lot of people were dressed in leggings the weather wasn't that bad. It was snowing in the morning, and overcast when we started, but it cleared up by the time we hit 1.5 miles into the race. So, with my tee and long sleeved thin shirt I was nearly too warm. It was probably 35 average temp. See Motionbased for the weather details.

And about those hills. Oh crap, they were killer. As one guy after the race said, "You think you're about to get a break and, then, nope, another hill!" So, 7:40 pace is pretty decent and I'm happy with it. Finished in the top 10%. Here's a link, and if it ever dies, here are some hand-picked lines from the page.
Overall  Gender  Age-Group
Place Place Place Name Age Time
1 1 1/20 Shawn Dubbs 16 38:01
2 2 2/20 Chasen Golacke 17 38:40
3 3 1/3 Andrew Abdella 21 39:50
4 4 3/20 Tim Hamilton 17 40:32
23 22 1/24 Joel Hawkins 37 46:22
24 23 3/16 Richard Hedlind 31 46:27
27 26 3/24 Craig Torres 35 46:53
37 33 4/24 Erick Breneman 37 47:56
38 34 7/19 Steve Weeks 41 48:02
42 36 5/24 Steve Warmingham 39 50:09
So, there were a lot of fast high-schoolers running. I was not that fast in high-school, but I could have competed with them in college, like the third place finisher.

Everyone's times were slow, though. The first three miles were predominantly covered by shadows and therefore icy. It was snowing all morning lightly, so there was snow cover a tiny bit and ice in corners. A few people fell. I think I heard one guy behind me almost eat it. I took the corners pretty slow to be safe, but it was tough. The hills that first mile or so sure made for some slow times. My excuse for later was just being in pain! :-)

Here's a good picture taken near the end of the race...of me not looking so good.

Not so Fast LookingOverall I'm happy. I figured I'd do the first mile in sub-7, which i did, maybe the first 3/4 mile a bit fast, so I fell back and only did 6:54 instead of 6:40...but that's OK, I kept thinking of holding some for the finish and not have to walk. Good job!

Legs feel sore today, I SHOULD run to loosen them up, but didn't and won't. Tomorrow is supposed to be windy, so we'll see if I get out, but will get out for sure Tuesday, as it looks to be perfect weather, and I'm going 10k minimum and hitting that Havana hill! I'm going to hit that hill at least once a week now. I need to work my legs more than I have, and I need to increase my average pace, I'm going too slow! I'm not going to get back into college shape (or will I?), but I'd like to do a sub-20 5k, and MAYBE a sub-40 10k? At least a sub-42! We'll see how all that goes over the next year or so, huh?

Friday, February 22, 2008

Feb 22, 2008 - Another Taper Run (Short)


Motionbased Data

~8:15 for only 2:25 miles. Amazing to go so slow...hard to keep it slow, even though legs still hurt, the quads and behind right knee. I wish I knew how I blew it out after the run on Tuesday.

Well, tomorrow is the race. Hope I'm up for it. Today was nice weather, tomorrow could be bad.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Feb 20, 2008 - A Real Taper Run


Motionbased Data

~8:10 pace for 4.45 miles. Now that's a bit more like it. Right knee is still sore, took a while to work it out. And quads still sore from Tuesday. We'll see how it goes.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Feb 19, 2008 - 10k Too Fast for a Taper


Motionbased Data

Stomach hurts, too hard of a run....52°F, so warm, but ate something or something. Ouch. 7:44 pace was way too fast for today.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Feb 16, 2008 - Short 2 Mi, Hilly with Ella


Motionbased Data

Pretty good run. Kept up a decent pace, even though wanted to go easy today. Ella tugged me along and I felt pretty good so I just kept going.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Feb 15, 2008 - Hills on Havana


Motionbased Data

I had such high hopes to do 3 miles of hills. After that first 3/4 I said, I don't know if I can do that again, so I did the 1/2 and then a 1/4. I was wiped! So, I had done only 1.6 (an extra 0.1 on that first 3/4, actually). But running down for my "cool down" I felt I had to do more, so I busted out two more 1/4's, nothing too hilly, in fact first one was somewhat downhill, then up. Did a sweet 5:50 pace 1/4 on that one. Nice.

Legs stil feeling good. A bit cooler, but not bad. No wind to worry about, so it was a good run!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Feb 13, 2008 - Tempo 5k


Motionbased Data

Wow, that was pretty good. Let Steve lead the way and I hung back. Near end I sped away. Watch said 7:01...motionbased weirdly says sub-7. Pretty fast regardless, since it was supposed to be about 7:05 to 7:15...said sub-7 would be cool, but didn't expect it. Nice beautiful day out!

Still feeling good! Legs fine and everything.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Feb 11, 2008 - Shorter Havana Run 4.8 mi


Motionbased Data

So, quite a windy day. Can't believe we went so fast. Took it easy the first couple miles, sort of, at least compared to the end.

Really attack the hill for the .6 miles. Need to get this going for the upcoming race.

Feeling sick, though. Jack had a lot of green snot and such...so that was yuck, and I couldn't avoid it. Still going to try and run hard tomorrow or Wednesday, and get some intervals in one day, and run the course Sunday, then take it easy next week to "taper" before the event. We'll see.

Legs and everything are feeling great! So, that's a nice positive. Also, that last mile/plus were at 7:12-ish pace, which is good at the end of a 4.8 miler and attacking that hill so hard!

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Feb 6th, 2008 - Hilly Streets Havana 6.11 mi


Motionbased Data

Well, took a while to get started running this month. Felt good taking a little time off for my legs to recover, or rest, or whatever.

Today's run was an easier mellow pace. Mostly let Steve lead the way, but I took off up Havana, 1/2 mile at sub-7 uphill. Check that elevation rise of nearly 200 feet! And I kept pace up the hill! Nice! (But, I did know I could chill after it...so, in the upcoming race I may not do a sub-7 up such a long hill, but I can hopefully maintain a pace up and beyond!) And then I finished up the last 1/4 into work, DEAD INTO THE WIND, also sub-7.

Good run overall. I will only get the treadmill the next few days since Jess is leaving town. Need to get some miles to get on a 2mi/day average. Goal this month is 60, again, but with a stretch goal of 70!