Not Much Going On

Not a lot to add lately. Speed training in this weather has been tough. Tempo runs in particular. However, the body is acclimating and running hasn't been as bad as it was in the first week or so of June when NYC had a killer heatwave with temps approaching 100. Two more weeks of speed training before NYC Marathon Training begins. As this will be my first Marathon I am shooting to finish but giving where I've raced and trained, I do not think it unreasonable to have a time goal. I'd like to shoot for under 4 hours. My 1/2 time predicts a 4:07 finish. However, I do think I'm continuing to improve. So the NYC 1/2 Marathon will be a good indicator. I fear though that temps above 55 will slow me down as I do hate to run in anything approaching warm weather. Ideally I like to run in 50 degree weather, overcast, and no wind. I'm good to go it seems anything between 40 and 50. Maybe I can raise that 55 to 60 as I aclimate myself to hotter temps.

As far as a training program for the NYC 08, everything I'm reading and all the advice I get on the Vboards (Hal Hidgon's Site) points to me using his Novice 2 program. I was seriously considering his Intermediate 1 program but having only been running for 8 months I'd rather arrive at the line healthy as opposed to beat up. I know my body is still adjusting to running.

Some Musings

Firstly, I have received my official acceptance into the ING NYC 2008 Marathon. As a runner for Team for Kids this was not unexpected, just the timing. I thought I would get my official entrance email after the lottery but it arrived yesterday!!

I've been using Hal Higdon's Intermediate 10-K program for speed training before I begin my official 18 week Marathon training program. Last week I did 8x440yrds at between 7:30 and 8:05 pace. Felt pretty good after too. I am definitely noticing that I am getting faster. Most of this I attribute to the general improvement in fitness that comes within the first year of running (i've only been running 7 months). My pace for short distance training runs has gone from 12:00 pace to between 9 and 9:30 pace. With the hotter more humid weather I think its pretty safe to assume that this will level off rather quickly as temps of 70 or above really begin to affect pace for a given effort. I think its safe to say that for me between 50 and 55 degrees is my preferred weather..a bit overcast as well with a slight breeze.

Improvement Continues

Having just completed the Brooklyn 1/2 Marathon I have started a 8 week speed training program before my July 1 commencement of an 18 week training program for the NYC Marathon. Yesterday was a scheduled tempo run which basically was 5k in distance. The run was done at a 8:35 pace which was basically the pace of my last 5k race at Coogan's about 2 months ago. The 2nd mile of this tempo run was at 7:57 pace. Needless to say I am quite happy that I seem to be getting faster. Time will tell where I will end up.

Brookllyn Half Marathon!

Got to Coney Island about 15 minutes before the start which was perfect because it was a bit chilly and sitting around wasn't doing any good. This was the first race in which the corral system was used and I think it worked out well as there seemed to be less passing and being passed in the crowded beginning. Weather was overcast and about 52 degrees I estimate 5000 to 6000 lined up on the board walk for the race. After the gun sounded it took less than 1 minute to cross the start line and I was off along the decredped hole and nail filled boardwalk. Three miles of this having to be careful not to get injured on this thing. I had my garmin on which I debated heavily whether to bring or not. In the end I figured it would be a good thing to know my pace so I don't go out too fast. The first three miles I did at 9:10 pace. It was off the boardwalk and north on Ocean Parkway for 6 miles. Was flat the entire way but there was a slight headwind now and then no biggie. I felt pretty good and by mile 5 I see I am doing 8:40 pace..much faster than I needed to break my 2 hour goal. I kept looking at my watch and saying "I feel good, I'm running this pace, don't let your watch psyche you out". I kept running about 8:50s to 9s to mile 9 where we entered prospect park and where the hills began. Needlees to say it got tougher, later in the race and on the hills. I kept repeating to myself "trust your training, trust your training". It was also at this time I knew I'd break 2hours if I just relaxed. Mile 10 by far the toughest was essentially entirely uphill 9:20 pace. 11 and 12 back to bascially flat with some small hills. At this point my legs are really hurting but with so little left I just pressed on. In the end 1:58:30! Six months ago I ran 1 mile in 12 minutes and felt like I would collapse. Now for a little speed training (7 weeks) before I start Hal's Novice 2 for NYC Marathon.

The Best Running Headphones

If you are like me the headphones that come with the Apple I-pod are not designed to stay in your ears laying down, much less running. I've gone through and have experimented with many a pair of headphones only to find one particular design flaw at least when it came to running. These flaws include: 1) pods do not stay in ears, 2) cord is too long, 3) cord is too heavy, 4) cord transmits vibrations to ear piece causing unwanted noise, 5) sound quality is poor. Well I have finally discovered the perfect headphones. They are the Senheiser PMX70 headphones.
These headphones are perfect in every way. The "buds" are connected to a lightweight, sturdy neckband that keeps the buds comfortably in place. The cord is just the right length as well as light. The sound quality is excellent with deep base. Since the buds do not insert all the way into the ear you can hear outside as well but not enough so that it over powers the music. I highly recommend these headphones if you are a runner.

A First!

Today I did a standard 3 mile run along the west side highway and I'm not sure what happened but the middle mile of the 3 was a sub 9 minute mile (8:39). While running sub 9 minutes is nothing really new it is a first in any of my training runs ever. I was not trying to do this mind you but sort of just running with the grove and before I know it my pace was about 8:30. I feel great and am happy things are progressing.

Colon Cancer 15k

To make a long story short I had a 9 mile run scheduled for Sunday as part of my 1/2 Marathon training schedule. I figured I'd run the 15k as a training run to get in my 9 qualifying races for NYC '09 Marathon. Well I didn't quite run it as a training run and didn't quite run it as a race. I figured to make sure I'd run it long and slow I lined up in the 10mm corral. As the gun went off we walked to the starting line which felt unusually long..at least 5 minutes to get there. Crossing over the carpet I hit my watch and was off. Was moving with the 10mm group (which felt somewhat slow) and as it turned out my first mile split was like 10:30. I picked up the pace just moving along with the crowd and kind of started to get into it, nothing overt or heavy. The balance of my runs were done at about 9:30 pace..mostly negative splits. Bottom line was this was the fastest I've run 9 miles without racing. I think had I wanted to I could have run the nine miles faster than 9:09 pace. This is significant to me because if I can maintain this pace for 26.2 miles then I will have accomplished one of my intermediate goals of running a marathon in less than 4 hours. (Yes I do want to finish my first marathon but this is a nice sub goal). The downside was my Tuesday 4 miler was horrible, slow and painful. The race was great fun though even though I didn't "race".

The Cyclicality of It All

I'm starting to believe that training involves cycles not only of intensity and phase but general well being. I must say that for the 3 weeks prior to Coogans I was not feeling great physically. I had on and off general pain in the butt, lower back pain, and something new: sore calves. I really cut back the mileage the 5 days before the race and I am convinced that not only did it enable me to PR @ Coogans but also allowed my body to get the recovery it was craving. I think we all tend to feel guilty about cutting mileage and missing workouts but I must say I've read over and over the importance of rest. The importance of giving your body recovery time cannot be over looked. Its critical. That rest period I gave myself I think also resulted in some of my best, fastest and enjoyable training runs since Coogans. I had a run on Tuesday where I can tell you that runner's high kicked in..I was flying and I know it was endorphins. I hope this cycle continues and stretches itself out.

Woot! Coogan's 2008!

I was looking forward to this race in terms of its progression in my training and as a comparison to the one and only other 5k I ran in my life which was ten years ago. That race was the super flat Wall St. 5k. I was triathlon training at the time and entered this race to get my first taste of competition. In that race, lacking any experience whatsoever, I went out entirely too fast running the first mile in 8 minutes and spending the remaining part of the race in complete agony and slowing down considerably. I ran that race in 27:05.

For Coogan's I felt better prepared both in terms of what to expect and in terms of my training. I have a Garmin 305 and was disappointed to learn it could not pick up a proper signal between all of the buildings. Thus my plan to pace myself accurately was thrown out the window. I would be relegated to just knowing my splits and my HR. I lined up about 10 minutes before the start in the front of the 9mm pace group. A few min before the start the groups seemed to compress but I think stayed relatively intact. As the gun goes off we start to approach the chip timing line for the official start. I think the time between the gun sounding and me passing through the start gate was perhaps 2 minutes, 3 tops.

I hit the start button on my watch and was off. Not having he benefit of actually pace I began to run clearly faster than my training runs but not uncomfortably so. I estimated at the time that I was running between 8:50 and 9:00mm pace. (My first split was actually 9:00). What became immediately annoying was the plethora of runners and walkers I was passing. Clearing a large number of people lined up in the 8mm and faster areas that should have been in the 9mm and slower areas. I might have burned 10 seconds running laterally just trying to get around people the first mile.

At mile marker 1 I hit my watch and saw my split was 9:00. (I didn't realize at the time that I hit start/stop instead of lap). About 3/4 into mile 1 a long (1/4mile) hill of reasonable steepness begins. I felt I held my own on the hill but with still little hill training under my belt they are hard for me. However, I think I might have discovered my strength. Often runners complain about running down hill because of the strain on their quads (muscles not often primarily used). I've always had well developed quads from hockey and various other sports and I think just genetically it’s my strongest feature. As such, I found that as I began the downhill run to start mile 2 entering Fort Tyron Park, I was flying so to speak. I was passing people left and right. The downhill for me was refreshing, recovering, and restful almost as it gave my legs a tremendous breather. There was no pain.

Going round the turnaround in Fort Tyron Park the half way point, begins another up hill, again hard for me and somewhat laborious. I'm still running strong and continue to fly again as we move downhill. As mile maker 3 approaches I look at my watch and finally realize that as I’m about to press lap I had previously stopped the timer to only record my first mile split. I hit it again to start to record the last 1.1 mile leg. (Later I could calculate my mile 2 split).

Pushing as hard as I can into the finish I stop my timer to see I had run the last 1.1 mile in 9 minute!! That’s 8.11 pace! Final race time was 26:37 with the following nice negative splits for a PR!

9:00
8:37
8:11
:49

Something A Little Different

Today due to the fact it was so cold, windy and icey. I decided to run my 5k in the gym. Ok I lied it was due to the fact that I don't own a scale and I really wanted to weigh myself for the first time in a month. While on the treadmill I noticed for the first time an option that said "5k Nature Run". It looked interesting so I chose my pace and proceeded to run. Basically the setting is suppose to simulate the ups and downs (hills) of an outdoor run. It actually turned out pretty hard as the grade at some points was 4.5% and I bascially train on flat courses. Yeah it was good because I've known for a while in the back of my head I need to do some hill work or mix it up now and then on a hilly course like Central Park. It was tough but satisfying. Oh yeah I weighed myself and had lost about 4lbs since the last time which was almost a month ago. I'm not really dieting but eating healthy and clearly my target optimium running weight has not been reached as I continue to lose will amply giving my body what it needs.

False Alarm Results

MRIs showed nothing out of the ordinary regarding my back. I chalk up the piriformis pain to the strain it underwent during my first 5k. Massage therapist and Chiropracter have been keeping me loose it seems. The Snowflake 4miler was cancelled last Saturday due to ice but this Sunday is Coogan's 3k which I am entered for with the broken in Mizuno Trainers. Did a 9 miler on Sunday which was my longest run to date. I slow it down vs. last weeks 8 miler which I think I probalby ran too fast. Am a bit sore but nothing again out of the ordinary.

Breaking in new Trainers

I'm excited today as I will be shelving (for today) the 12.8oz Nike Air Max Moto 5+ and trying out the Mizuno Wave Rider 11's comming in at 11.2oz. While that might not sound like a lot think aobut 1.6oz x 2(feet)x foot strikes per mile etc it ends up being quite a bit of savings. (Probably more a psychological edge). They say that each oz of savings shaves about 1 sec per mile off one's time. I'll let you know if thats true..LOL.

False Alarm?

At lot has happened over the past few days. On Friday I went to my orthopedist who diagnosed me with Piriformis Syndrome. I'm somewhat skeptical because since friday I've run a 3 mile easy on Saturday and a 7 mile easy today pain free. In fact today's 7 was my first LSD sub 10 min yet. He reccomended physical therapy. There they will make me do all the stretches that I do now and some new ones for the Piriformis Muscle which I began on Friday. I'm clearly no doctor but I think the pain I experienced on Wednesday was extreme soreness from my race and the subsequent DOMS associated with that. I will continue to do everyday the new streches I have learned and hope that I can continue along my course before all this occurrred (fingers crossed). Oh I got a massage yesterday, that helped as well no doubt. We will see about PT, I've never been a big fan.

What a Disater!!

What a difference a day makes. Wednesday I had one of my best training runs ever. Thursday I run 100 Yards and have to stop due to pain. However I walked a bit and was able to run through it but it had/has me scared. After my race I was very sore in the right glut. It seemed to dissapate but reared its ugly head yesterday. I'm hoping I don't have Piriforms Syndrome. Anyway, lots of Advil, Ice and Rest for today. I'm hoping I can continue my 1/2 marathon training uninterrupted. If need be I'll rest on Saturday instead of my easy 3 miler. I do not want to miss Sunday's 7 miler. I'm nervous.

What a Gift!!

My goal this week is to do easy recovery runs as I was feeling pretty darn sore after Sunday's 4 mile race in Central Park. The weather in NYC today was nothng short of spectacular. The high was 68 degrees!!! At around 6pm when I begin my easy 4 miles it was a balmy 57 degrees. What I have found is that I tend to run most of my runs faster than I should. Somebody passes me and I feel I have to speed up. There is no better receipe for failure than this. Thus I promised myself I would be conscious of this, espcially this week as I recover from the race. As part of this plan I decided today that while I would wear my Garmin 305, I would not check it on any part of the run. Just a start at the beginning and a stop at the end. I would run easy based upon perceived effort. My ran began on 12th and Hudson River Park and I started to head south..easy. I made a right turn onto the long pier that dashes 250 yards into the Hudson River. Low and behold right in front of my was a huge Norwegian Cruise Lines ship that had just set sail to who knows where. It was dusk and all its lights were on and it was just a beautiful sight. A nice little motivator. I continued along the perimeter of the pier and back onto the park's running path. Tempted always to look at my watch but not doing so. I'm running pretty easy and I'm curious if I'm going slower than the 10s I'm probably running. After 2 miles down at the water ferry in Battery Park City I make a U-turn for the return trip. Again tempted to look at my watch to check my HR and pace but maintaining the will power not to look and just running based upon my desire to go easy using perceived effort only. At mile 3.5 it started to drizzle which turned into a little shower. Was just lovely and cooling!. 4 Miles done easy boom stop. When it was all said and done I had run 9:47 pace at my lowest heart rate for a 4 mile run. While 9:47 vs 10:00 might not sound like a lot, on a 4 mile run that is almost 1 minute faster. Needless to say the weather and sights were a gift.

Questions and More Questions

Yesterday was day one of my 3 month 1/2 marathon training program. As I embark I have more questions than answers. Do I incorporate speedwork into the program or not? I want to get faster but I do NOT want to get injured. After Sunday's 4 miler (an all out effort) my legs ache in places I didn't know existed. I've read as much as I could on speed work and there are basically two camps. Camp A says speed work is not for novices and the chance of injury is high. Camp B says you can do beginner speed work to get faster. I can say that at almost 20 lbs lighter my performance has improved dramatically. However, at 170lbs I'm going to guess that my weight will continue to drop to about 155lbs in six months. I don't know how much faster that will make me or how much more I can lose beyond that based upon my genetic disposition. But, I digress. My thinking is that doing speed work at my current weight will only put extra strain on my ligaments. The 3 or 4 prep races I will have completed (fingers crossed) by the time the 1/2 rolls around will have been enough speed work. Plus Amy says don't do speed work in the winter. I'll defer to her. So its 5 days a week of increased mileage peaking around 29 miles prior to taper for the 1/2. I will throw in a tempo run or two just because. No intervals not yet.

Introduction

You ask what does 0 to 3:30 mean? I'll explain. I decided to start running primarily to lose weight and get in shape. At 43, while not decaying rapidly, you aren't exactly a spring chicken either. I started (after a few spurts and fits over the past ten years) to run with a seriousness that I never had before. Nov 1, 2008 was essentially the start of my "new life". So begin my running (@190lbs) in Hudson River Park (I live in the meatpacking area of the west village). That first run was about 1/2 mile @ 12min pace. Without getting into the nitty gritty details of base training I've arrived Feb 3rd(after 3 months of base) at the following 171 lbs,22 miles/week, 10min pace easy runs, 9:30 pace 85% MHR runs and mental bliss. Feb 4th I had my first race in Central Park: The Gridiron Classic 4 miler. I ran with a dear friend who could have gone out at 6:30 pace to come in top 5 or 10 in her age group but she was kind enough to run with me for moral support (hugs to you Amy). I ran that race @ 9 min pace (NYRR champion chip) and @ 8:57 pace by my watch. Either way it was a good effort and I am proud. What's next? I'm currently in the very beginning of a 12 week 1/2 marathon training program that will culminate with the Brooklyn 1/2 Marathon on April 26th. After that a month or two of additional (higher) base and then an 18 week marathon program to ready me for the 2008 NYC Marathon. So you still are wondering what is 0 to 3:30. Well, I figure most any individual can train to complete a marathon and that is my what I plan to do first with two softer sub goals. Soft goal A is to finish in 4:30 or better and soft goal B is to finish better than 4:15. Why 4:30? When I am on a 10 mile run averaging 10 min pace I feel I can keep going a long time so 10 min pace for 26.2 is 4:22. I figure if I can do a bit better 4:15 is realistic. Ideally I would like to break 4 hours but at this point I don't know if that is doable so its not really in the front of my mind but certainly a goal for marathon #2 down the road. So what is 0 to 3:30? Zero is the number of miles I was running per week 3 months ago. 3:30 is as far as I can tell the ultimate goal I one day hope to achieve for a marathon. Can I do it? I honestly have no idea. Time will tell.