Month: November 2005

Did a nice easy run at the gym tonight. I was aiming for a “tempo” run – easy to moderate. I set my goal beforehand at 40 minutes or 3.5 miles, whichever came first.

Tried to keep a steady pace. Did almost the first mile at a 10:10 pace to warm up, then the next mile and a half at about a 9:50 pace – just until I was averaging a 10:00 pace. Then just tried to zone out and not think about anything for the next mile and a half. As I approached 3.5 miles, I negotiated with myself, realized I was a little tired but could still manage the remaining distance to 4 miles and 40 minutes.

Just to finish strong, I pushed the pace up to 8:00 for the last 0.1 mile. Felt good. When 4 miles came up, I felt like I could have gone farther, which is exactly what I was aiming for – leaving a little something on the machine.

Music was The Long Winters’ first album. Wore the Asics. Did not use the inhaler, even though I felt a bit stuffed up all day. But whatever was wrong with my sinuses did not affect my run much. Once I got going, I breathed easily and steadily. My heart rate felt nice and strong but not overworked.

My stride, though… was weird. It felt like my right leg was going farther than my left leg, so I had to consciously pull back with my right to keep from falling off the treadmill. Other than that, my muscles and joints, from my hips down to my feet, were fine once I was warmed up.

Plans for the week – either Tuesday or Thursday are optional; I’ll do one or the other. Wednesday is speed day (my normal treadmill intervals), Friday is a moderately long but easy day (aiming for 5 miles), then Saturday is my long day (at least 7.5 miles). Sunday is a rest day.

It’s nice, this week I have Friday off. Three-day weekends are the bestest.

When last we heard from Brian the Runner, I had finished my speedwork Thursday night and, although I had lost track somewhat of my distance and time, was fairly sure that I was, in some ways, faster than I used to be. I intended to test this theory during my long run.

Today was my long run. I ran on well-rested legs (didn’t run yesterday), I did use my albuterol inhaler, I ran in my Adidas, shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. My nanoPod served up Radiohead, “Hail to the Thief” (great running music, by the way) to start me off.

I was running at the gym, of course. It’s been way too cold and rainy to run outside, at least for me. Luckily, Saturdays are not busy at my gym, so I had my choice of all the good treadmills today. And with the gym being so empty, I didn’t have to worry about getting kicked off during my run.

So, with all that aside, and after walking for a quarter-mile, I started my warmup – 2 miles at what felt like a fairly easy 9:50 pace. I felt sure I could go faster, but wanted to save my legs for the next phase.

The next phase being my test: how far could I go at a 9:00 pace? I hoped for at least 2 miles. I knew it would be challenging for me, and worried about being able to keep up. I also worried that my warmup might have sapped my strength. I needn’t have worried, however.

It was challenging, but I did manage to complete 2 miles at that pace! Due to the limitations of the machine, I had to set an indicated 8:57 pace (the next slowest speed was 9:05), but when 4.00 miles came up (that includes my warmup, remember) the clock showed 37:53 elapsed time. Subtracting 20:00 and 2.0 miles, that means my pace for that last two miles was 8:56.5. Which is a new personal record; my fastest-ever 2 miles. I wish I could bronze those two miles for a permanent record. I guess this blog entry is the best I can do.

After that, I needed to take a bathroom break. Then I went back on the treadmill for another 3.25 miles at an easy pace, since I still wanted to do at least 7 miles today. I didn’t keep track of the pace for that final stretch, but I set the pace on the machine around 10:00, with two walk breaks of less than a minute and some other fooling around with the pace.

So, it seems that there’s still improvement to be had for me in terms of speed. If I can do 2 miles at that speed, I can do 3 miles… eventually. And maybe even 6 miles… eventually. That’s as far as I’ll hope for now. I am over 40, after all. Time and biology are against me, but I’m not going down without a fight, that’s for sure.

I’ll continue with my speedwork and long runs, and make sure I give myself plenty of rest, and, come next Spring, I should be able to turn in some personal bests, after just over 2 years of running. Such a good feeling to overcome mental and physical obstacles. If only I can apply that feeling to other areas of my life…

Did my speed work tonight at the gym. Same drill as before: one mile warmup, then alternating sets of 4:00 at a fast pace (8:40 tonight) and 2:00 of slow pace (10:00 – 10:30 tonight), then one mile of cool down.

Going into it, my legs were a bit sore and tight. I haven’t been doing any hydrotherapy or temperature therapy (I know! I’m bad) and haven’t been moving much at work. Also, lots of sleeping (with really really odd dreams – another post). So I was afraid that I’d have a bad run, which is practically a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Wore the Adidas, shorts and a long-sleeved shirt, because when I do speed work, sakes alive I sweat. The longer sleeves help keep me from flinging sweat everywhere while I pound out the miles. Music was Harvey Danger’s “King James Version”, followed by the Decemberists’ “Castaways and Cutouts”. Yay for PNW bands!

Tonight, though… there were interruptions. First, why in hell is the gym so busy this week? See, here’s the thing; there’s only six good treadmills at my gym. There’s probably another 15 treadmills, but those 15 are crap. They speed up and slow down too slow, they’re not as quiet as the good ones, and they don’t report the basics in as readable a format as the good ones. So I eschew them.

Tonight, though, one of the six good ones was off, and the other 5 were in use and a quick walk-by showed that those using the good treadmills had just started their runs. Dammit.

So, I did a quarter-mile of brisk walking on one of the bad machines, then stretched out, then took a look. Yes! One of the good ones was empty. So I hopped on and started my mile warmup. Things were going well, so I got some water then started the speed work.

But I messed up and slowed down at 19:00 total instead of 20:00 (that total includes my 10:00 of warmup, so it was my second set of fast/slow) – argh. I did a minute of the slow speed, then a minute of the fast speed, then a minute of slow, but my timing was all off by now.

And by my third fast set, my digestive system made its presence known. I made it through my slow section, then had to go back to the bathroom. The break was annoying because I had been doing pretty good. Also, it meant that I lost track of how far I had gone and therefore my average pace. I’m pretty sure the total miles at that point were 2.87. My heart rate slowed down, and the sweat poured off my body like Multnomah Falls (I sweat during exertion, but once I stop, it seems to double or even triple in, um, flow) but I knew that I was going to go back and finish one more set of fast/slow.

But, of course, all the good treadmills were taken when I came back. What is it? Is the start of November the time everyone realizes that the holidays are coming so they’d better start working out to burn off all the delicious calories they’re going to partake of in the next couple of months? I’m going to have to find another time to go to the gym if that’s the case. I thought that getting there by 4:30 was enough time but apparently not.

…I had to do my last set on one of the bad machines, and it threw off my pace calculations because it didn’t get up to my fast pace until 55 seconds had elapsed. So I counted my first set from 1:00 – 5:00. Then it didn’t slow to my recovery pace for another 25 seconds, so I counted my recovery set from 5:30 – 7:30. But I had no way of eliminating the distance I covered in the extra time. I’m pretty sure my total distance, including warm up running and cool down running, was 4.77. My best guess is that, averaged over all four sets of speedwork (minus the 2 miles before and after), I managed about a 9:13 pace, which sounds right. It’s a good time – but of course I had a break in there, which allowed me to catch my breath, so it doesn’t really count, at least in my mind.

But, what I plan on doing to test myself, is this: during my long run, probably Saturday, which will more than likely be at the gym (the rainy seasons are upon us Oregonians), after I’m warmed up, I’m going to go for broke and see just how far I can go. If I can make 2.5 miles at a 9:00 pace that would show me that I am, in fact, improving. It would also be pretty freakin’ fast for me. I’m not sure if I want to do the alternating fast/slow like my speedwork, or just set a fast pace and try to maintain it. Probably the latter. We shall see.

I may also run on Friday, but will just focus on running for a specific length of time, say, 40:00 and not worry about distance. Or I might not run again ’til Saturday and then have an easy run on Sunday. I’ll decide tomorrow.