Category: exercise

Got up early this morning. I woke up due to, *ahem* hydraulic pressure, thinking I still had an hour or so to go until the alarm, but when I saw the clock, no, I had a couple of minutes until the alarm.

Since I’m running to work tomorrow, I wanted to run this morning rather than this afternoon, to give me a full 24 hours between runs. The long run (5.5+ miles) really takes it out of me so I want to be well-rested.

This morning I only planned on 2.5 miles, just down to the river and back, basically. I wasn’t going to push myself too hard. At least that was the plan.

Here are the half-mile splits:

1. 4:38.02
2. 4:41.37
3. 4:15.02
4. 4:55.53
5. 4:15.66

Which totals to 22:45.6, and gives me a mile pace of…

TA-DAAAA!

9:06.24!!

I’m a rock star! Sometimes I amaze even myself.

Tenative running schedule for the week:

• Monday: 3 miles
• Tuesday: 4 miles
• Wednesday: Rest day
• Thursday: 2.5 miles
• Friday: 5.5 miles (Run to work!)
• Saturday: 3 miles
• Sunday: Rest day

Total of 18 miles. I know a couple of different 2.5 and 3 mile loops, so I have some options.

The 4 mile run… I only know one 4-mile run right now, in my ‘hood. I might spend some time this afternoon plotting out a different 4-mile loop. Or I might not.

Ran this morning. Even though I already had my “long run” on Friday morning (5.5 miles!) I still wanted to end the week with a total of 17 miles, which meant that I needed to run 4 miles today.

I thought about breaking it up into two 2-mile runs, but, well, because I was having Mother’s Day brunch with family, with all it’s attendant over-eating, I figured a nice long hard 4-miler would be perfect this morning, provided I could drag my ass out of bed in time.

And I did.

Here’s my half-mile splits for (my own) future reference:

1. 4:21.29 (flat)
2. 5:07.44 (flat)
3. 4:30.96 (uphill)
4. 5:59.76 (uphill)
5. 5:13.94 (flat)
6. 4:48.73 (downhill)
7. 5:59.87 (uphill)
8. 5:20.86 (uphill)

Total time: 41:22.85, average pace 10:20.7/mile.

Note that I reversed my normal 4 mile loop, in order to put the harder uphill sections towards the end, just for a new challenge. Can’t run the same ol’ course all the time.

I’m happy with most of the times… Hmm. For some reason I can’t (yet) string together 4 half-mile runs under or around 5 minutes. That is my new goal for the next month. I know I can do it — but my most recent examples are on the treadmill, not in the real world of running on pavement and up and down hills ‘n’ such.

Oh, and I probably ate way more calories at brunch than I burned in that run. But, y’know, whatever.

This morning:

5.5 miles, 59:02.49, or a 10:44 pace.

Not as good as I’d hoped, but better than I feared.

Still feels good.

I got plenty of sleep the night before, and even got up at 3:00 AM to eat a half a bagel (with jam, 140 calories), so that I wouldn’t be running on a completely empty stomach.

Ran this morning. Yes. It’s true. I actually was able to drag my ass out of bed this morning early enough to go for a run. It was awesome. A complete victory.

Well, a nearly complete victory. I was going to do speed work this morning. The plan was to warm up a bit, then see how fast I could do back-to-back miles. I was hoping for close to 8:00 minute miles, but realized that was ambitious.

How did I do?

Let’s look at the half-mile splits, shall we?

0.5 = 4:07.52
1.0 = 4:44.06
1.5 = 5:55.41
2.0 = 4:20.19

Um… one of those times is not like the others. WTF? Almost a 6:00 mile? I did stop to walk a little bit, but I do not remember it being that slow. But there it is. Dammit.

At any rate, my total for the 2.0 miles is 19:07.18, or a mile pace of 9:33.59. I know I can do better.

Tomorrow morning I’m running to work, at least 5.5 miles. I’m aiming for a 10:00 pace but, again, that’s probably optimistic. But it’s my goal.

Good: running just over 3 miles at a 9:48 average pace. Yay! I’m a rock star!

Not-so-good: having the bus simply drive on by as if you weren’t standing there five minutes early, slowing only to turn the corner where you were standing.

Bad: having two Pop-Tarts (400 calories!) for dinner.

How I know I’m (finally) addicted to running:

Since Friday morning, I’ve been feeling like I’m coming down with a cold. Sore throat, runny nose, general aches and tiredness. No energy for much of anything. Once I’m moving, I feel extreme inertia pulling at me to stop moving, and once I’ve stopped moving I’m pretty much there for the next couple of hours. Can’t focus on stuff, can’t think clearly, people have to repeat themselves ’cause it’s like I’m wrapped in a thick blanket of soft cotton padding and their words are slow to penetrate.

…except that I’ve gone running, even feeling like this. Twice, Friday afternoon and this morning. And done OK, too.

It’s as though I have energy for nothing except running. It takes me a while to get moving, but once I am, I’m in auto-pilot mode and my body responds. But afterward… nada. Nothing. Lying on a couch, or slumped over in a chair, or, if I have to move, zombie-like and lurching around looking for a place to stop moving.

Bleh. But at least I’m running. I guess.

Running update:

• Monday: 3.0 miles, approx. 9:50 pace (indoors, on treadmill)
• Tuesday: 3.5 miles, approx. 9:50 pace (indoors, on treadmill)
• Thursday: 2.8 miles, total: 27:33, 9:50 pace (with Caleb)
• Friday: 2.8 miles, total: 27:48, 9:55 pace
• Sunday: 4.0 miles, total: 39:28, 9:52 pace
• Total miles for week: 16.1!

A very good week for me, running-wise. Lots of miles, and quality miles, too. Very consistent, time-wise. I did it in spite of my allergies and an oncoming cold. I’m ready for another 10K, I think. Maybe the Cinco de Mayo one next weekend… We’ll see.

Since I passed on running in the pouring-down-rain in the Bridge to Bridge 5K, and I still wanted to do at least one race this month, I signed up for the Running with Wolves 5K on Saturday.

It’s supposed to be a hilly course so it should be challenging. I ran up Terwilliger Blvd. yesterday (Duninway Park to the Charthouse and back down) in preparation. Yay.

OK, so I’m thinking that I want to be slightly more structured in how I run. I’ve got goals, dammit. I want to increase my mileage and get faster. I’d also like to trim a few pounds. But I don’t want to push myself so hard I hurt myself.

Runner’s World often talks about some rules of thumb to guide increases in mileage and speed. They suggest not increasing miles per week more than 10-12%; likewise, increasing speed more than 1-3% per week is a bad idea. And since I’m not an “elite” runner, I’d like to build in some plateaus every couple of weeks just to be extra safe.

Since I’m basically a 10:00 pace guy, and I ran 12-15 miles per week for the past couple of weeks, I’ll use those numbers as the starting point. Running the numbers, then, by the end of 12 weeks, with 4 of them being plateaus, I should be able to safely be an 8:30 pace, running 25 miles per week.

That’s assuming that I’m biomechanically able to do that, of course.

I picture the 8:30/25mpw Brian as being somehow slimmer and sexier. Or maybe that’s just a good motivating image. Not that I’m not already pretty damn sexy.

So, to that end, I’m going to include hill intervals once per week, and some basic speed intervals once per week. And I’m going to increase my long run every other week by 10%. I’ll use my 5K time as the speed benchmark. Well, I’ll use my time on the Figure eight loop around the Esplanade as the benchmark. I’ll alternate weeks for the speed and distance plateaus.

This week my benchmarks are:

• Long run: 5 miles @ 10:00 pace
• Speed (F8EL): 35:00

Then, next week I should be at:

• Long run: 5 miles @ 10:00 pace (no change)
• Speed (F8EL): 34:18