Half Marathon Training: Week 5
You’re probably wondering what happened to weeks 3 and 4 of the half marathon training, right? No? Well, I’ll tell you anyway—both weeks were just fine, but week 3 ended while we were on vacation in Colorado, and week 4 ended the day we got back from vacation, and I guess posting my training just sort of slipped my mind.
This morning, I completed day 7 of week 5—a 10 mile long run. With today’s run, I also have new all-time high mileage for one month with 111 miles. All in all, week 5 was pretty good. I threw in an extra day of running (Monday—4 miles), because I hadn’t run in the previous 3 days, including missing a long run. Other than that run, I was back on schedule with training. Week 5 also marked the first scheduled decrease in my easy pace—down from 10:14/mile to 10:08/mile. Here’s the daily rundown:
- Day 1
- Not on schedule: 4 miles @ 9:51/mile – this was a tough run. It was mid-morning, warm, and humid. This was also my first run back from the cool mountain air of Colorado, and my first run during the day in 4 weeks (early morning runs are my bread and butter now).
- Full body strength training.
- Day 2
- Scheduled: 5 miles easy @ 10:08 – this run was much better than the previous day’s. Ended up running the 5 miles in 49:56, for a 10:00/mile pace.
- Day 3
- Scheduled: 4 miles easy @ 10:08 – another easy run, and again, the pace was actually 10:00/mile.
- Day 4
- Scheduled: 6 miles, 1 mile warm up, 4 miles tempo @ 8:40/mile, 1 mile warm down. Easy 1 mile warm up, the 4 miles in 34:38, for a 8:42/mile pace. I think this is the first time I’ve actually completed for miles at tempo pace, even if I didn’t hit my pace. I was good until the 4th mile, which came in at 8:49, but at least I didn’t stop.
- Day 5
- Scheduled: 4 miles easy @ 10:08 – this was another run a little later in the morning, and again, I paid for it. My HR averaged 170 for this run, and it was a very pedestrian 10:07/mile pace. Warm and humid, and I was potentially not recovered fully from my tempo run the day before.
- Upper body strength training.
- Day 6
- My birthday, and a rest day.
- Day 7
- Scheduled: 10 miles easy @ 10:08 – I’d missed my previous two long runs, so I was a bit apprehensive about this run. As it turns out, I had nothing to fear. The total time was 1:40:06, for a 10:01/mile pace.
Well, that’s it for week 5. The tempo run was hard, as were the runs done mid-morning. When I was running in the cooler, early morning weather, I could really feel the high-altitude training kicking in, and would often find myself running easy at 9:45/mile.
Just over two-and-a-half months until the half marathon. On to week 6.
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36 Years Ago Today
On this day, 36 years ago, I was born. That’s right, today is my birthday! 36 is a pretty insignificant birthday in the grand scheme of things, though I do find it amusing that I’ve now lived my second 18 years. Whereas it seemed like the first 18 years took absolutely forever, the last 18 years have flown by.
Here are some of my more memorable “on this date in history” items:
August 30, 1985: I became a man, according to Jewish tradition.
August 30, 1988: I got my drivers license.
August 30, 1990: I turned 18, and it was my second day of class at the University of Texas at Austin.
August 30, 1993: I turned 21, hitting the bars at 12:00 AM on August 30, until closing time. I hit the bars again right after work, as well as each night for the next week.
August 30, 2000: My first birthday as a father.
August 30, 2002: The big 3-0, which really wasn’t a big deal at all.
August 30, 2005: The one and only time I’ve had dinner with my two sons, and my Mom and Dad. It was a little awkward. (My parents have been divorced since 1995.)
So there you have it, my own personal “on this date in history.” Not very exciting, I know. If I could remember the year, then I would’ve included the birthday spent in a dive of a restaurant in Santa Fe, NM. The owner of the place gave my a plaque from the bar for White Horse Whiskey. I thought it was the greatest gift ever, but then again, I was probably somewhere between 8 and 11 years old.
One last interesting fact: on this date, 18 years ago, I weighed 180 lbs. Today I weigh 180 lbs.
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Back From Colorado
We made it back from our vacation at about 1:45 AM this morning, after driving straight through from Denver. It was a fun trip, and a great introduction to the mountains for the boys.
I was able to get some running in while we were gone—24 miles total, and all but 4 of which were at 9,000 feet in elevation or higher. I wonder how quickly the effect of high altitude training wears off? Anyway, I am definitely looking forward to getting my first run in back closer to sea level (should have been today…total slacker).
While in Colorado, we saw family, we saw friends, we saw deer, snakes, foxes, and snow. We relaxed, we hiked, we shopped for souvenirs, and we simply enjoyed some time decompressing.
As long as I don’t live there, I think I need to get back into the habit of an annual trip to Colorado—summer or winter, I don’t care, as long as I get back up there more often!
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Rock Slides And Rain
Well, the good news is that we’ve made it to Colorado. The bad news is that on our way down Raton Pass, into Trinidad, we encountered a rock slide in progress.
Coming over the pass, we encountered a very severe thunderstorm, with hail, and so much rain that there was basically standing water on a road that slopes down from a mountain pass. Somewhere between mile marker 6 and 7, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and turned to look as the slide was hitting the ground in front of us and to our right. Most of the debris stopped right there, and remained on the side of the road—all except one small boulder (we’re guessing it was about the size of a basketball).
This one boulder had decided that it would be nice to see what was on the other side of the road, and came rolling out into the road right in front of us. There was pretty much nothing I could do—I slowed as much as I could, as quick as I could given the conditions, and I moved to the right, as it was moving quickly to the left. We came so close to missing it. Instead, the left front tire went right over it, blowing out the tire.
More good news: we were able to slow down safely and pull off to the side of the road with little trouble.
Not so good news: we pulled off right next to a nice steep rock face, with water pouring down the side, along with a little bit of rock debris—not a good place to be stopped in the car.
Some more good news: we were less than a quarter of a mile from exit 6, which had a wide shoulder. Best of all, it was away from the rocks.
Even more good news: coming down from the top of the pass, we noticed a snow plow truck sitting on the southbound side of I-25. We wondered what it was doing out—of course we found out the hard way—he was going up and down the road moving rocks out of the road. It wasn’t long after we stopped that he pulled up behind us. Not only did he use his huge truck to help keep traffic away from us as we changed the tire, he also helped change the tire, which was a huge help since we were in the rain, and my nerves were pretty frayed. We didn’t even get his name: thank you, whoever you are!
After slowly making our way the last 5 miles down the pass on the undersized and under-inflated spare, were able to exit and get some air in the spare, before finding a place to stay for the night.
Believe it or not, there’s more good news: About 2 hours out from Trinidad, we’d called around to a few hotels, one of which was a brand new La Quinta, but we decided not to book anything until we got into town. It turns out that the La Quinta is right next to the tire store. It looked nice, they still had rooms, so we headed in. As we were waiting, I jokingly asked the manager if they had a “rock slide” discount, and told her what we had just gone through. She said “oh, we have a great ‘rock slide’ discount,” and proceeded to give us a 20% discount off of the rate we had been quoted when we called from the road. How nice is that?
So I’ll be up bright and early to see about getting a new wheel and tire. Hopefully that is all we’ll need.
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Half Marathon Training: Week 2
You know one thing I love about my running right now? On most mornings I am done with my exercise for the day, before most people are out of bed.
This morning’s long run concluded week 2 of my half marathon training. Compared to last week, my legs felt less tired, I felt like I had more energy, I hung in there on my speed day, and I kicked some ass on on my long run! All in all, it feels like my body is adapting nicely to the increased workload. There were two notable differences this week, versus last week: I didn’t do any additional lower body strength training, and I took a complete day of rest yesterday. Last week I had two lower body strength training sessions, and on my Saturday Rest/XT day, I did a pretty intense yoga class.
All of that said, here’s my rundown from week 2:
- Day 1
- Upper body strength training at the gym.
- 30 minutes of easy spinning on the stationary bike – 9.66 miles.
- Week 5, Day 1 of the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge
- Day 2
- 5 mile easy @ 10:12 – was supposed to be 10:14/mile
- Day 3
- 4 miles easy @ 10:12 – again, this was supposed to be 10:14/mile. HR averaged 151—10 bpm lower than the average from the day before.
- Week 5, Day 2 of the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge.
- Day 4
- Speedwork – 5 miles total, w/warmup, 2 x 1 mile @ 8:11/mile, .5 mile jog, cool down. Good, but hard. First interval was comfortably hard, 2nd interval just felt hard, though at the same time, it felt like I was running an easier pace. Actual times for intervals: 1-8:11, 2-8:03.
- Upper body strength training.
- Day 5
- 4 miles easy @ 10:14 – legs were tired after the previous day’s speedwork.
- Week 5, Day 3 of the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge.
- Day 6
- Complete Rest – not sure the last time this happened.
- Day 7
- 9 Mile Long Run – I did the first 6 miles at 10:14/mile, and then ran the final 3 miles at what I hope is my half marathon race pace or faster: mile 7- 9:21, mile 8- 9:05, mile 9- 8:37. Whew!
- One Hundred Push Up Challenge – post week 5 test to exhaustion. Did this right before heading out on my long run: 67 push ups.
So that’s it. Another week is in the books. Week 3 will be challenging, primarily because we’re heading to Colorado at the end of the week. I should be able to get in my first 4 runs no problem, but my long run, which is supposed to be 10 miles, will come sometime within 24 hours of having spent a long time in the car, and of course it will be run at altitude. Fortunately, week 4 is a scale back week.
One last note: I’ve run each and every run of my half marathon training in the morning—starting most of them before 6 AM. I am very happy with how easy it’s become to get up and run.
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Bryan
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Half Marathon Training: Week 1
Yesterday marked the end of the first week of my half marathon training. Overall, it was a good week, though running 4 consecutive days might have been a little much. I was definitely looking forward to a day of rest/cross-training by Saturday. Here’s a brief rundown of the week’s activities:
- Day 1:
- Upper body strength training at the gym.
- Week 4, Day 1 of the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge
- Day 2:
- 4 Miles Easy @ 10:14 – In reality, I did this run at a 10:06/mile pace, but I felt good.
- Lower body strength training – I’m not ready to give this up yet.
- Day 3:
- 4 miles Easy @ 10:14 – This run was at a 10:05/mile pace, but it felt harder than the previous day’s run. My HR was lower than it was during the previous day’s run. I am guessing that the difficulty was due to tired legs.
- Week 4, Day 2 of the One Hundred Push ups Challenge.
- Day 4: Tempo Run – 5 miles, including warm up; 3 miles @ 8:40; cool down. Third run in as many days in the early morning. Easy to get up this morning. First two tempo miles felt good, but the 3rd mile I was just trying to hang on.
- Day 5:
- 4 miles Easy @ 10:14 – Warm and muggy for this morning run. I was dogging it by the 4th mile. My pace was a more pedestrian 10:11/mile.
- Full body strength training at the gym in the late afternoon.
- Day 6: Yoga class at the gym – this was the hardest yoga class I’ve attended…lots of long holds.
- Day 7:
- 9 Mile Long Run @ 10:14 – hip/upper thigh soreness late in mile 3 and early mile 4, but then it went away. Averaged 10:06/mile. Ran the second half faster than the first half, and the final three faster than either the first 3 or middle 3 miles.
- One Hundred Push Ups Challenge – test (58).
I think that covers it. For the week, I ran 26 miles, did 2 upper body strength workouts, and 2 lower body strength workouts, 3 pushup workouts, plus one pushup test, and one yoga class. It’s no wonder I am tired!
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Bryan
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New Balance 858 Review
It’s been about a 10 days since my most recent pair of shoes, New Balance 858s, showed up on my doorstep. This is the third pair of New Balance 858s that I’ve owned, dating back to last summer. As I mentioned recently, New Balance is looking for people to review their shoes, in exchange for a free pair of shoes. Since I love my New Balance shoes, I figured this is a no-brainer, so here it is…
I originally got into the 858s after being fitted at our local New Balance store. Compared to the shoes I had been wearing (also New Balance, but 2+ years old), the 858s felt like an absolute dream to my feet. They provided a nice, cushioned ride, good stability, and breatheability. All of my training last fall, and my first two races were run in these shoes. By the time I was ready for new shoes, there was little doubt what they were going to be…more 858s.
Before purchasing my next pair, I did go back to a local running store, just to try on some other brands. I’ve worn New Balance exclusively for several years, and wanted to see what else was out there. But those other shoes ended up being too narrow, or just weren’t as comfortable, and I ended up with my second pair of 858s, this time the all black 858s.
My second pair saw me through 5 more races, my first 30 mile week, and my first 100 mile month. They took me on short runs, long runs, and carried me around the track for 800m and 1600m repeats. Not once have my 858s ever mistreated me with blisters, and for that, I am eternally grateful. But the good times couldn’t last forever, and so it was, two weeks ago, I had to start looking for a new pair of shoes…a pair to carry me most of the way through my half marathon training. Fortunately, deciding which shoe to get was very easy—I went online and ordered the exact same thing—New Balance 858s.
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