Tuesday, February 9, 2010

8x.5 Mile With 2 Minutes Rest – 9.19 Miles Total

2.91 Miles Warm Up

5 x 10 Second Strides

8x.5 Mile With 2 Minutes Rest, Goal 2:35-2:40 (5:10-5:20 Pace)

2:38 5:17
2:36 5:13
2:34 5:09
2:34 5:09
2:40 5:22
2:36 5:12
2:31 5:03
2:38 5:18
Total Average Pace 5:13

2.28 Miles Cool Down w/ Sean 

Originally Sean wanted me to run these at 5 minute pace but the weather proved too tough so he altered it to 5:10-5:20 pace. This turned out to be just right. The display I had my Garmin on didn’t have the current lap pace so I just winged it and ran by feel. This turned out to be the right thing to do as I tried something different during the workout. At the start of each rep I would burst out for the first 250-300 meters at probably 4:30 to 4:40 pace and then I would slow down to gather myself. Then I would fall into a relaxed pace and then finish strong. This strategy seemed to prove effective. I used a similar strategy in my recent races and it seems to work for me. The only way you can get away with this is if you are pretty fit because if you aren’t then your legs will turn to jello and you will collapse at the end. There was a quite a bit of variation of splits during the workout. This can be explained away by 2 reasons. 1) At times I was running into the wind or with the wind and 2) I had no idea what pace I was running!

I’m going to have to try this strategy in my future workouts since recently it’s seemed easier to blast out of the gate at a quick pace and then relax as opposed to getting out at a comfortable and relaxed pace and then trying to speed up. Sort of like going from uncomfortable to comfortable rather than comfortable to uncomfortable. I must warn you though, it kind of goes against conventional wisdom.

Monday, February 8, 2010

8.75 Miles Easy

Mile 1

7:45

Mile 2

7:07

Mile 3

7:04

Mile 4

6:49

Mile 5

7:02

Mile 6

6:38

Mile 7

6:38

Mile 8

6:30

Mile 9

6:45

Total Average Pace:

6:56

I switched shoes and my foot felt a bit better. I believe it's a callus that is causing the problems. I'm going to try to use some cream to soften it up. The callus is hard and deep and if I don't take care of it then it could turn into something worse.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Day Off

I need to take it easy on the left foot today.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Long Run 14.56 Miles

Mile 1 7:29
Mile 2 6:55
Mile 3 6:47
Mile 4 6:49
Mile 5 6:36
Mile 6 6:54
Mile 7 6:47
Mile 8 6:47
Mile 9 6:51
Mile 10 6:51
Mile 11 6:57
Mile 12 6:56
Mile 13 6:53
Mile 14 7:00
Mile 15 7:17
Total Average Pace: 6:55

I originally set out to do an even 15 miles but the left foot started hurting a bit at the end so I cut the run short.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Attempted 6 Mile Tempo – 10 Miles Total

3 Mile Warmup 6:47 Pace

10 Second Strides (60 Seconds Rest)

  1. 5:28
  2. 5:14
  3. 5:20
  4. 5:13
  5. 5:27

Total Average Pace: 5:20

45 Second Stride

  1. 5:52

5 Mile Tempo (6 Mile Tempo Abandoned)

  1. 5:33
  2. 5:32
  3. 5:31
  4. 5:34
  5. 5:46

Total Average Pace: 5:35

90 Second Recovery Then Hard 1 Mile

  1. 5:23

The intention was to do a 6 mile tempo. I knew going in that my legs weren’t 100%. My right calf and left foot were banged up in particular. But I’ve trained through aches and pains before and they eventually went away. When I started the tempo I wasn’t able to push off very well using my right calf. I also was not able to push off really well using my left foot. Over the last 2 days my left foot has increasingly become worse. I sort of muddled through the tempo run until I could not maintain pace without putting undue pressure on my left foot and right calf. So I took a 90 second break on the 5th rep and decided to go hard for 1 mile. Unfortunately this turned out to be 5:23 pace. I’ll just have to file this workout away and forget about it since I know I was not 100%.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

8.78 Miles Easy

Mile 1 7:20
Mile 2 6:28
Mile 3 6:32
Mile 4 6:25
Mile 5 6:37
Mile 6 6:29
Mile 7 6:28
Mile 8 6:26
Mile 9 6:30
Total Average Pace: 6:36

I ran solo and the legs felt strong. I still have a bum leg but it seems to be healing rapidly, especially with the ice baths and heat pad.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

8.73 Miles Easy

Mile 1 7:05
Mile 2 6:51
Mile 3 6:40
Mile 4 6:36
Mile 5 6:35
Mile 6 6:43
Mile 7 6:34
Mile 8 6:43
Mile 9 6:48
Total Average Pace: 6:44

I ran with Sean and Luis. I was hesitant because of the bum leg but I actually hung with the pace, no problem. So the leg is definitely coming along. Last night I had it in some ice and then put a heat pack on it and I believed that helped a lot as well. I'm hoping it's fine by this weekend because I wanted to do a tempo run.

On a side not EZToRegister straightened out the results to the Houston Rockets Run 5k. Props to them for making the corrections promptly. It has me down for a 15:32 which qualifies as a 5k PR!