Well the month of May was a pretty crazy. School was getting done vacations were happening work was starting up for the summer and a multitude of other things were coming to a close. So now that my life is back in order it is time to start up the blog again.
May had its good weeks and its bad weeks. I was running really well for awhile and then had a workout in the middle of the month that really seemed to kill me. It was not even that much of a workout but my body did not handle it well. It came at the end of a fairly big week for where I was at in training and I think that it was a little too much. I helped pace one of the high school kids to a 10:15 2 mile the day after an 11 mile run and a week full of 8-9 mile runs. I thought that it would be no big deal but I didn't run for a couple days after and just felt exhausted when I tried to run a couple days latter. I don't really know what it was that caused e to run like crap for the next two weeks but whatever it was is hopefully behind me now and I can get back into the swing of things and prepare for the race season this summer.
This last week was I think my first week of seven days of training since I started back up. Now that I am back to a set schedule I can manage my time a lot better and get the training that I need done. So May is behind me and here is the break down of the first week to a new month.
Monday: 8 (54:45)
Tuesday: 7.6 (51:30)
Wednesday: 7.4 (51:30)
Thursday: 9 (1:01:20)
Friday: 7.25 (48:15)
Saturday: 13.5 (1:33:30)
Sunday: 7:25 (50:00)
Week total: 60 miles
MTD: 60 miles
Well this was a good week I thought. For the most part I felt good throughout the entire week with a couple of runs that I wish had been a little different. It has been really nice running so far this week since I now have people to run with but it gets to be difficult sometimes. We always try to run slower but always seem to end up speeding up to a point that I don't want to be running at during my everyday training runs. I usually try and hold them around 6:50 pace but usually we drop closer to 6:35-6:40 by the middle and the ends get even faster. It is not like it feels difficult at all but I want my easy days to be easy and my hard days to be hard.
So this was my solution to the problem...hopefully. Get a good tempo in to get the race mode out of all of us. So sometime this next week I'll throw in an easy tempo just to get the racing out of our heads.
It is not like the paces that we have been running is all that fast and maybe the couple of seconds faster per mile is not that big of a deal but I really don't know. Is it always better to stay on the side of caution?
Something else that I started doing lately is walking at the end of my runs. I usually stop at least 200 meters away from my apartment just to get a better cooldown in. I used to just finish at the door and then go inside grab something to drink and then sit down. I started thinking about it and there is really nothing that could be dumber. So in my mind this will be a great change to my training.
But overall the week was good. I had a couple of easy recovery type days when I was on my own or just made the others run slower so that was good. I would have to say that the best run of the week was my long run on Saturday though. My legs felt great and I got to run with a god friend of mine from high school, Matt Damico. It has been a very long time since I have been on a run with this guy and it is probably going to be one of the lasts runs in awhile too. I ran the 3.5 miles to his dads house and we went for a great 45 min run and then we parted ways and I back off to my house. I ended up a little farther away from my house than I wanted to be so I ended up walking about .75 miles at the end of the run as I didn't really want to make it a 14+ day. Matt I must thank you for the run it was great seeing you and hopefully we can get another run in before you leave Minnesota. I wish you and your wife the best of luck on your upcoming endeavours.
Right now my plan is to stay in the 60-70 range for all of June and then move up to the 70-80 range for July and 80-90 for August and the beginning of September. This is all depending on how my legs feel during the training. I am pretty confident that I will be able to handle the higher mileage by adding morning runs into my routine so I may try to build up a little fast so I can get a couple weeks in at right around 100. This all in the planning still but for the most part it will be about like I said.
One last thing. I know that in my first post back at the beginning of April I mentioned that I was planning on running the Bismarck marathon in September. Well that was a little to close for me and so I changed it to either Des Moines or Kansas City. As much as I would love to run Twin Cities my old roommate is getting married the day before so that pretty much puts that one out of the question. The Kansas City and Des Moines are on the same weekend and are about the same distance away. I know people that live in both of the areas so I have places to stay so that is not the issue. I was leaning more towards Des Moines right away due to it being a little flatter and better competion but right now I am thinking that Kansas City is going to be the one. I figure that I will be shooting for right around 2:35 and last year the winner went 2:35 at KC compared to 2:24 at DM. So at least I would be closer to the leaders at KC. Plus it is on Saturday which sould give me a day to recover before driving home unlike DM which is on Sunday...that would be a LONG day.
Happy running!!!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
April 27th - May 3rd
Well this was not the week that I was looking for but it is what I got. School is finally coming to an end for yet another year and things are getting really busy. So with all this comes little time to run. I am still not really good at time management so this hurts the running as sometimes other tings have to go before it. There was some foot problems that developed during the week though.
Monday - 7 (48:30)
Tuesday - off due to school
Wednesday - same thing
Thursday - 8 (60:00)
Ran with a girl that made the pace pretty slow. It is kind of weird how running so slow can actually really hurt. Foot started hurting pretty bad during this run.
Friday - 6 (35:30)
Easy day in University park. Today I woke up and by foot was not feeling good at all. I was able to get through the run and get home and start hitting the anti inflammatory meds and ice. This seemed to really help a lot as there was barely any pain the next morning.
Saturday - 2.5 mile w/u
5k race (16:07)
1.5 mile c/d
5k splits were pretty much dead even throughout the entire race. I don't have my splits in front of me but I do remember some of them.
1k - 3:15
1mile - 5:10
2k - 6:29
3k - 9:45
2mile - 10:23
4k - 13:00
3 mile - 15:36
5k - 16:07
Before the race I was thinking that I was going to go out at 5:15-5:20 pace to start and then see how I felt after that and go from there. I figured that this would put me in good shape to run around 16:20-16:30. But when I looked at the heat sheets for the race there was a guy at 16 flat and then the next one was at 16:30. So there was a lead pack that was developed right away of about 12 guys. The leaders went through the mile around 4:50 and the back of that pack was about 5:00 with me through at 5:10 as the leader of the second pack. I felt really good at this point so I decided that I was just going to keep this pace as long as I could and see if I can start to pick a couple of guys off. Over the next 2-3 laps I started making some real progress on the guys in front of me and passed a couple of them. I was a little worried at 3k when I came through it at basically the same time that I ran the time trial two weeks earlier. I was still feeling alright but I was a little worried about the end of the race being that there was a couple of guys that knew I was going to catch before the end of the race. I caught 2 more guys with 800m to go and these are the guys that I finished the race with. I stuck behind them for another lap and made my move with 300m to go. With 150m to go it was me and one other guy so it was going to be a sprint finish. I ran the last 200 in 30-31 seconds and was able to hold the kid off which was really a big surprise to me. I had done the 3k time trial and 3 strides down the football field before the race for speed and that was about it. Other than that the last time that I ran that fast was probably either the TC 10mile last fall or conference a year ago. This was one of those races that I was really pleased with. There is nothing that I could have done that would have made me run any faster today. No regrets on the strategy of the race.
Those are what I can remember from what people were saying during the race. And I think that when I looked at my watch splits they were pretty similar. So I must say that overall I thought the race went extremely well. Having only been running for a month it was great to see that I still had some speed and that I could run a half way decent 5k. I guess that only puts me 7 seconds away from being back in shape.
Race Grade - A
Time Grade - C+ (A for where I am at right now)
Sunday - off
Week: 28 miles
April total: 160
Overall the week was not what I wanted it to be with all of the days off. My foot I was a little worried about before the race during the warmup but during the race it didn't hurt at all, at least I don't remember that pain at all. It was pretty bad on after the race and then on Sunday it was alright ut not great. I took Monday off this week as well already to give it one more day of icing and pain killers and it seemed to help. No pain on Tuesdays run and no pain today either. There is still a lot of development that needs to occur over the next couple months but in due time the racing times will be where I want then to be.
Monday - 7 (48:30)
Tuesday - off due to school
Wednesday - same thing
Thursday - 8 (60:00)
Ran with a girl that made the pace pretty slow. It is kind of weird how running so slow can actually really hurt. Foot started hurting pretty bad during this run.
Friday - 6 (35:30)
Easy day in University park. Today I woke up and by foot was not feeling good at all. I was able to get through the run and get home and start hitting the anti inflammatory meds and ice. This seemed to really help a lot as there was barely any pain the next morning.
Saturday - 2.5 mile w/u
5k race (16:07)
1.5 mile c/d
5k splits were pretty much dead even throughout the entire race. I don't have my splits in front of me but I do remember some of them.
1k - 3:15
1mile - 5:10
2k - 6:29
3k - 9:45
2mile - 10:23
4k - 13:00
3 mile - 15:36
5k - 16:07
Before the race I was thinking that I was going to go out at 5:15-5:20 pace to start and then see how I felt after that and go from there. I figured that this would put me in good shape to run around 16:20-16:30. But when I looked at the heat sheets for the race there was a guy at 16 flat and then the next one was at 16:30. So there was a lead pack that was developed right away of about 12 guys. The leaders went through the mile around 4:50 and the back of that pack was about 5:00 with me through at 5:10 as the leader of the second pack. I felt really good at this point so I decided that I was just going to keep this pace as long as I could and see if I can start to pick a couple of guys off. Over the next 2-3 laps I started making some real progress on the guys in front of me and passed a couple of them. I was a little worried at 3k when I came through it at basically the same time that I ran the time trial two weeks earlier. I was still feeling alright but I was a little worried about the end of the race being that there was a couple of guys that knew I was going to catch before the end of the race. I caught 2 more guys with 800m to go and these are the guys that I finished the race with. I stuck behind them for another lap and made my move with 300m to go. With 150m to go it was me and one other guy so it was going to be a sprint finish. I ran the last 200 in 30-31 seconds and was able to hold the kid off which was really a big surprise to me. I had done the 3k time trial and 3 strides down the football field before the race for speed and that was about it. Other than that the last time that I ran that fast was probably either the TC 10mile last fall or conference a year ago. This was one of those races that I was really pleased with. There is nothing that I could have done that would have made me run any faster today. No regrets on the strategy of the race.
Those are what I can remember from what people were saying during the race. And I think that when I looked at my watch splits they were pretty similar. So I must say that overall I thought the race went extremely well. Having only been running for a month it was great to see that I still had some speed and that I could run a half way decent 5k. I guess that only puts me 7 seconds away from being back in shape.
Race Grade - A
Time Grade - C+ (A for where I am at right now)
Sunday - off
Week: 28 miles
April total: 160
Overall the week was not what I wanted it to be with all of the days off. My foot I was a little worried about before the race during the warmup but during the race it didn't hurt at all, at least I don't remember that pain at all. It was pretty bad on after the race and then on Sunday it was alright ut not great. I took Monday off this week as well already to give it one more day of icing and pain killers and it seemed to help. No pain on Tuesdays run and no pain today either. There is still a lot of development that needs to occur over the next couple months but in due time the racing times will be where I want then to be.
Monday, April 27, 2009
April 20th - 26th
Another pretty good week of training. Most of my runs have been a little faster than I have wanted them to be but I try not look at my watch and just go by how I am feeling. I have felt really good and am ready to get in another race this weekend hopefully.
Monday - 7+ (46:56)
Tuesday - off (test and HW due Wednesday just ran out of time.)
Wednesday - 8 (56:08)
Nice easy run
Thursday -8.25 (55:00)
Little faster easy run.
Friday - 11 (1:13:45)
Nice paced long run.
Saturday - AM 6.5 (56:50) Ran with a couple of girls that are running Fargo in two weeks. It was slow and it hurt but it was a nice easy recovery run. I don't honestly know if I have ever run 6.5 miles that slow, but it was good.
Saturday - AM - 35 miles bike race (1:20:00ish)
Not really sure on the time but I think it was around that . I have not really raced or rode my bicycle in almost two years so it was good to know that I could still hold my own with some of the guys that race and ride all the time. 8th place overall I think.
Sunday - 9.25 (1:03:00)
Easy run to finish off the week.
Week total: 50 miles
MTD: 145
Well it was an easy beginning of the week and a busy finish to the week. The last three days I really thought were going to take it out of me but surprisingly i felt really good in Sunday. I had no soreness in by legs at all from the bike race and felt great during the bike race even though I ran that morning before and went long the day before. So all in all it was a great effort on the week and I am looking forward o possibly racing this week again. If I do race this coming weekend it is going to be a 5k so we shall see how that goes. Goal time is below 16:30 which I am pretty sure that I can do if the weather is decent. I think the fastest that I could go right now is maybe 16:20 but even that might be a stretch for only a month of running, not even 200 miles, and no speed work at all. I felt really good during that 3k last week so I think that it can be done.
Monday - 7+ (46:56)
Tuesday - off (test and HW due Wednesday just ran out of time.)
Wednesday - 8 (56:08)
Nice easy run
Thursday -8.25 (55:00)
Little faster easy run.
Friday - 11 (1:13:45)
Nice paced long run.
Saturday - AM 6.5 (56:50) Ran with a couple of girls that are running Fargo in two weeks. It was slow and it hurt but it was a nice easy recovery run. I don't honestly know if I have ever run 6.5 miles that slow, but it was good.
Saturday - AM - 35 miles bike race (1:20:00ish)
Not really sure on the time but I think it was around that . I have not really raced or rode my bicycle in almost two years so it was good to know that I could still hold my own with some of the guys that race and ride all the time. 8th place overall I think.
Sunday - 9.25 (1:03:00)
Easy run to finish off the week.
Week total: 50 miles
MTD: 145
Well it was an easy beginning of the week and a busy finish to the week. The last three days I really thought were going to take it out of me but surprisingly i felt really good in Sunday. I had no soreness in by legs at all from the bike race and felt great during the bike race even though I ran that morning before and went long the day before. So all in all it was a great effort on the week and I am looking forward o possibly racing this week again. If I do race this coming weekend it is going to be a 5k so we shall see how that goes. Goal time is below 16:30 which I am pretty sure that I can do if the weather is decent. I think the fastest that I could go right now is maybe 16:20 but even that might be a stretch for only a month of running, not even 200 miles, and no speed work at all. I felt really good during that 3k last week so I think that it can be done.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
New beginning and a new color
It is time for a change from the green to something a little different. We shall see how it goes...
Monday, April 20, 2009
April 13th - 19th
This week was just like the last two with a little twist thrown in at the end of the week. Still just trying to keep building the mileage up until I am ready to star running some workouts. There were a couple of UND alumni that wanted to run a track meet this last weekend and see what you could do. There was a lot of hype coming into the meet but it totally did not deliver like it should have. Turns out there was only 4 people that raced in 3 different events. So there was only one unlucky guy that didn't win his race. The events were as follows: Mens 800m run, Men's 1500m run and the Men's 3000m dash (or at least it felt like a dash). If you can't tell I decided to run the 3k. So here is the week.
Monday: 9+ (61:20)
'Long' run to make up for not getting one in the week before. Can you really consider it long if it is not even double digits?
Tuesday: 6 (40:45)
Easy run
Wednesday: 6 (41:20)
Thursday : off
Had a busy day at school then went to Winnipeg for a Gordon Lightfoot concert. It was amazing!
Friday: 5 miles (35:10)
Easy before the big race tomorrow.
Saturday (Race Day) 2 mile w/u 15 min
3k - 9:42!!
3 mile c/d 22 min
I find it quite sad that I am really happy with a 9:42 but I am. I was hoping to be able to be right around 10:00 and I destroyed it. I was thinking all week that the fastest mile that I have run in the last 5 months was a 6:08 I ran about two weeks ago. How on Earth did I think that I was going to be able to run back to back 5:20's on a little less than three weeks of training?? Well I figured I would just go out in 5:30 ish and see how it felt and then just give it all I had for the last 3.5 laps. Well I ended up going through the 800 in about 2:38 which was a little bit fsater than I wanted but I felt really good so I decided to stick with that pace. Came through the mile at 5:18 and was still feeling good and this was when I knew that I had way more left in the tank than I thought I was going to have. So I decided to really start picking up the pace and see what I could finish this race in. I ended up running about 5:05 for the last mile which I thought was pretty damn good.
Here are the rough splits that I was able to take during the race.
200 - :39
1000 - 3:19 (2:40)
1400 - 4:37 (1:18)
1800 - 5:54 (1:17)
2200 - 7:11 (1:16)
2600 - 8:27 (1:16)
3000 - 9:42 (1:15)
Sunday - 10 (1:10:30)
Real easy recovery run
Week total: 43
Would have been 50 without the day off.
Overall I was pretty happy with the performance being that it was off three weeks of training and I had no clue of where my fitness was at. I ran this race by myself in the cold and windy ND spring. I think it was about 42 degrees with 10-15 mph winds. So a pretty good effort none the less. I might even think about running another one on the track in a couple of weeks. I am sure with some competition and another two weeks I can go under 9:30 for sure.
I think I decided that I will consider myself back in shape when I am in sub 16:00 5k shape. That is when I will know that I am on my way to being in the shape that I should be in.
Monday: 9+ (61:20)
'Long' run to make up for not getting one in the week before. Can you really consider it long if it is not even double digits?
Tuesday: 6 (40:45)
Easy run
Wednesday: 6 (41:20)
Thursday : off
Had a busy day at school then went to Winnipeg for a Gordon Lightfoot concert. It was amazing!
Friday: 5 miles (35:10)
Easy before the big race tomorrow.
Saturday (Race Day) 2 mile w/u 15 min
3k - 9:42!!
3 mile c/d 22 min
I find it quite sad that I am really happy with a 9:42 but I am. I was hoping to be able to be right around 10:00 and I destroyed it. I was thinking all week that the fastest mile that I have run in the last 5 months was a 6:08 I ran about two weeks ago. How on Earth did I think that I was going to be able to run back to back 5:20's on a little less than three weeks of training?? Well I figured I would just go out in 5:30 ish and see how it felt and then just give it all I had for the last 3.5 laps. Well I ended up going through the 800 in about 2:38 which was a little bit fsater than I wanted but I felt really good so I decided to stick with that pace. Came through the mile at 5:18 and was still feeling good and this was when I knew that I had way more left in the tank than I thought I was going to have. So I decided to really start picking up the pace and see what I could finish this race in. I ended up running about 5:05 for the last mile which I thought was pretty damn good.
Here are the rough splits that I was able to take during the race.
200 - :39
1000 - 3:19 (2:40)
1400 - 4:37 (1:18)
1800 - 5:54 (1:17)
2200 - 7:11 (1:16)
2600 - 8:27 (1:16)
3000 - 9:42 (1:15)
Sunday - 10 (1:10:30)
Real easy recovery run
Week total: 43
Would have been 50 without the day off.
Overall I was pretty happy with the performance being that it was off three weeks of training and I had no clue of where my fitness was at. I ran this race by myself in the cold and windy ND spring. I think it was about 42 degrees with 10-15 mph winds. So a pretty good effort none the less. I might even think about running another one on the track in a couple of weeks. I am sure with some competition and another two weeks I can go under 9:30 for sure.
I think I decided that I will consider myself back in shape when I am in sub 16:00 5k shape. That is when I will know that I am on my way to being in the shape that I should be in.
Friday, April 17, 2009
The first two weeks
Well this what I have been up to lately. I know that it is not much but you have to start somewhere. It has been good and I can't wait for the race season to start again. It is like Ricky Booy once said in Talladega Nights, "I wanna go fast!!". So I got that desire going for me at least.
March 30 to April 5
Monday - 4 (26:44)
Tuesday - off. Not a great start to a comeback when you first day comes the day after you start it but I ran out of time in the day.
Wednesday - 4 (27:51)
Thursday - 5 (34:45)
Friday - off. Day after my birthday. Not such a good day.
Saturday - 5 (33:31) Much better day
Sunday - 8 (54:15) Great first 'long run' if you can call it that yet.
Week total: 26.25 miles
What a first week back it has been. I thought for sure there was going to be some problams with my knee as it was not to good throughout the first week but as the time passed it started to get better. Just keep running I guess.
April 6th to April 12th
Monday - off. Travel day to Seattle where I was for the whole week.
Tuesday - 4.5 (31:30) Easy run to get situated in Seattle to find out where to run.
Wednesday - 6 (40:30)
Thursday - 6 (41:00)
Friday - 6.2 (42:00) Back in GF now
Saturday - 7 (48:50)
Sunday - off. Got 2 hours of sleep last night and had family things all day long. Just did not have the time.
Week total: 30 miles
This week was much better than the last one and I am starting to feel a little better about everything. The hills were killer on my knee but not so bad to where I had to stop. Another week done and hopefully I will be able to stay a little more consistent the next couple of weeks leading up to the race.
March 30 to April 5
Monday - 4 (26:44)
Tuesday - off. Not a great start to a comeback when you first day comes the day after you start it but I ran out of time in the day.
Wednesday - 4 (27:51)
Thursday - 5 (34:45)
Friday - off. Day after my birthday. Not such a good day.
Saturday - 5 (33:31) Much better day
Sunday - 8 (54:15) Great first 'long run' if you can call it that yet.
Week total: 26.25 miles
What a first week back it has been. I thought for sure there was going to be some problams with my knee as it was not to good throughout the first week but as the time passed it started to get better. Just keep running I guess.
April 6th to April 12th
Monday - off. Travel day to Seattle where I was for the whole week.
Tuesday - 4.5 (31:30) Easy run to get situated in Seattle to find out where to run.
Wednesday - 6 (40:30)
Thursday - 6 (41:00)
Friday - 6.2 (42:00) Back in GF now
Saturday - 7 (48:50)
Sunday - off. Got 2 hours of sleep last night and had family things all day long. Just did not have the time.
Week total: 30 miles
This week was much better than the last one and I am starting to feel a little better about everything. The hills were killer on my knee but not so bad to where I had to stop. Another week done and hopefully I will be able to stay a little more consistent the next couple of weeks leading up to the race.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
And the time is now for a new beginning!!
Well after a more or less winter hiatus from running it is time to get back on the sidewalks and start dominating again. There is much catching up that needs to be done in the next couple of months to get back into the shape that I am wanting to eventually be at but I think that it will come along as the time passes.
It was a great winter off and I think that it was much needed on my part. I probably only ran about a dozen times or so from Thanksgiving till the end of March. But once the end of the month hit I started back up again and have been going ever since. Let me tell you it is not that pleasant starting up again when you have been gone for only a couple months. The first week was ROUGH. But it is coming back a lot faster than I thought it was going to. I am entering my third week of training and have ran 5 out of 7 days the two previous weeks mainly due to a birthday that was pretty rough and then a lot of travel. But now it is looking like I will be able to get back into the routine of running everyday again. I cant remember the exact mileage for the two previous weeks right now and I don't have my log infront of me so I will post it later.
First race planned for the year is a 3k this coming weekend on the track up in GF. This is more or less just for fun and will not be taken serious as it is the 2nd Annual Norm McGee Invitational. First Actual race is the Fargo half coming up on the 9th of May. After that I really don't know what I am going to race. Probably a 10k on the 4th of July and some other small stuff later that month. Dick Beardsley in early September possibly and then the Bismarck marathon on September 19th. Not really shooting for anything special there but it will be good to get one in before really starting to train for one.
Happy Trails!!
It was a great winter off and I think that it was much needed on my part. I probably only ran about a dozen times or so from Thanksgiving till the end of March. But once the end of the month hit I started back up again and have been going ever since. Let me tell you it is not that pleasant starting up again when you have been gone for only a couple months. The first week was ROUGH. But it is coming back a lot faster than I thought it was going to. I am entering my third week of training and have ran 5 out of 7 days the two previous weeks mainly due to a birthday that was pretty rough and then a lot of travel. But now it is looking like I will be able to get back into the routine of running everyday again. I cant remember the exact mileage for the two previous weeks right now and I don't have my log infront of me so I will post it later.
First race planned for the year is a 3k this coming weekend on the track up in GF. This is more or less just for fun and will not be taken serious as it is the 2nd Annual Norm McGee Invitational. First Actual race is the Fargo half coming up on the 9th of May. After that I really don't know what I am going to race. Probably a 10k on the 4th of July and some other small stuff later that month. Dick Beardsley in early September possibly and then the Bismarck marathon on September 19th. Not really shooting for anything special there but it will be good to get one in before really starting to train for one.
Happy Trails!!
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