New Record But To Fast?

I woke up energetic and ready to complete my 3 mile 'fast' run. After loading up with gatorade and a little bit of cereal I was out the door. I set my watch in 'predictive' mode, 3 miles with a target of 30 minutes.

My splits were

1. 9:03
2. 9:28
3. 9:41

Total 28 : 12

Almost 2 minutes faster then my goal of 30 minutes....but man was I exhausted I doubt my next mile would of been even in the 10:xxS. I need to work on my pacing although it is nice to beat my expectations I must always consider the point of the work out as every step in training has its reasons (today was suppose to be a threshold style run). Hopefully tomorrows 5 miler won't be to much trouble....we will see

24 Week Training Schedule Posted (at the bottom)

Cue the music, as I have work to do.

Florida is some what unique, while most running seasons are just picking up steam our running season comes to the end around ....NOW...so only a few area races left. It gets pretty damn blasted hot in the summer and no matter how early you get up it still friggin hot..so it leaves me a chance to come up with a bunch of excuses...just kidding.

This year (between hurricanes) I'm going to train right through the summer. I'll keep the training geared towards 5k to a mile type races (mid summer I may just work on a fast mile as less movement the better). I will also need to purchase a fuel belt to avoid collapsing in the 80 degree average heat...the "dreadmill" may not seem so bad in July...we will see.

Treadmill Bordom.

This morning I had a 3 mile easy run I started doing these at the gym because at 6 AM its dark outside (thank you for an earlier day light saving time GWB...crooked bastard) and after removing a 4 foot snake from my house last week I'm a bit paranoid of whats in the bushes..if you know what I mean.

So I run the 'mill' at the gym its pretty easy to do pacing on those thing I set it to 5.3 and zone out. Problem is time doesn't seem to pass quick enough I can only watch CNN/Fox News network for so long before I'm about ready to shoot myself of bordem! I find myself constantly looking at the readouts..they move at a snail pace..GO FASTER!! FASTER YOU LITTLE BASTARDS!!!...lol.

I will be glad when the sun is up before I am...as watching paint dry is no fun at all.

Tommorrow is a scheduled rest day...but on my rest days I do 1 hour of eliptical (burn some easy calories) on saturday according to Hal I'm doing a "Fast 3"...not sure how that will go I think I will shoot for 10:00miles (1 1/2 minutes faster then my training pace).

I Need A Goal For My First 5k (Second Race)

It occurred to me today I have no idea what my goal time should be for my first 5k. Some would say just go out have fun, finish it and PR next time. My problem is I already finished my first race and it was longer then a 5K (8k). Finishing shouldn't be a problem. So I don't have any real idea what I should be shooting for.

Going into my 8k I had a goal of finishing less the 1 hour seeing how my training pace was 12:00 minutes during my long runs (up to 7 miles). I figured that was a safe goal. Well as most who read this blog know I (and by the side bar to the right) I killed that time by 13 minutes (47:03). Obviously I set the bar a bit low.

I have 4 weeks to train before my next race so I imagine I can cut a bit time off my pace. I figure 20 or 30 seconds..but first I need a good idea what my 5k time should be..lucky for me (and other readers) I found this tool.

http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/rp.php

I enter my stats (32 year old, male, 8k, 47:03) and this thing says I'm going run a 5k (as of the shape I was in 1 1/2 weeks ago) in..

28:45 (average of 4 forumlas 28:38, 28:41, 28:35, 29:04) at a 9:15 pace.

That sounds pretty close 15 seconds faster then my 8k time. But I have couple other factors to factor in

• Shorter Distance:
  The last 2 miles were a lot harder then the first 3 during my 8k in fact I remember my 3 mile split being pretty good so I'll give myself -5 more seconds tht puts my goal at 3x-5 = -15 = 28:30
  
• 4 weeks of training:
  I'm doing some more tempo work/ intervals and working on a quick 3 this is a new strategy for me as before I was just "covering the distance". My training pace has gone up quite a bit knowing this so I'm hoping to get another 10 seconds here that = -30 so will put it at 28:00
  
• I weigh less (or will) :
  I'm thinking I'll tip 180 by race day which is 4 lbs less then previous race...fortunate for me there is another calculator for that.
  http://www.runningforfitness.org/calc/weighteffect.php?metres=5000&hr=0&min=28&sec=0&weight=184&weightunits=lbs&Submit=Calculate
  which equals (drum roll)

My New Goal: 27:29

Anything less then that will be a disgrace and it will be in front of 1000s of people (this thing runs before a local parade..lol)

I'm going to do a mock run next week to see where I'm at...but I do think this is an attainable goal...stay tuned.

Tempo Run (A New First)

Hal calls for a Tempo run tommorow. I have never done one of these but the definition is

"Tempo Runs: This is a continuous run with an easy beginning, a buildup in the middle to near 10-K race pace, then ease back and cruise to the finish. A typical tempo run would begin with 5-10 minutes easy running, continue with 10-15 faster running, and finish with 5-10 minutes cooling down. You can't figure out your pace on a watch doing this workout; you need to listen to your body. Tempo runs are very useful for developing anaerobic threshold, essential for fast 5-K racing."

Seems I will get to visit the hell known as my "race pace" for 20 minutes tomorrow..LOL..it should be fun.

I figured out how to set my watch up to do interval timers...so when I hit the middle button (if all is set correct) tommorow at 5:30 AM the following should occur

• 5 minute warm up in Zone 2 (60 - 70 percent heart rate.)
• 20 minute fast in Zone 4 (80 -90)
• 5 minutes cool down in zone 2 (again 60 -70)

I'm hoping to feel a lot of pain in my legs prior to wednesday as my legs were soar for days after last race (only race).

Let the fun (pain) begin.

Mission Accomplished

Well I have not updated this blog for sometime now and for good reason (in my opinion). Truth is I broke my foot training to hard back in December, I was to embarrassed to report this fact,and this blog kind of reminded me of my failure so I abandonded it (for the time being anyhow).

I'm happy to report I had a short 6 week recovery period (4 which I was running on a broken foot...if I ain't dieing I ain't going to know gosh danga...you know the drill) before I had to start completly over with my running program. Instead of doing a 5k (3.1 miles) I decided to train for a 8k (4.98 miles) as there happened to be one exactly 10 weeks out from my re-start training date. The program consisted of 2-3 miles in the week and longer runs (4-7) on the weekend averaging like 12 - 15 miles a week at peak.

I managed to stay healthy during the 10 weeks (and drop about 20 lbs) and showed up to the starting line healthy and well rested. It was cold (for FL standards low 50s) but being from WI I knew this was "t-shirt" weather so I didn't much care as I knew we all would be sweating bullets after for 100 yards. I lined up about half-way point in line up..probably 200 people there at most so I felt that was a good place to start to not get in the way of the faster/younger guys and plenty far ahead of the walkers/fat-asses (so I wouldn't have to pull any barry sander moves). Seems I overestimated my worth as I didn't pass a single person the whole race (LOL)..but the good news is only probably 10 people passed me so I wasn't that far off. I must admit I found it somewhat embarrasing to be passed by the OFs (old farts) but being venice,FL is the oldest average aged city in america, I guess its only fair to expect a few old geezers with some "viagra" to spare..LOL.

My goal was to finish less then 1 hour and keep my HRZ (heart rate zone) around 85% (of max 189)..well that lasted maybe 20 yards and I ran the whole race at 92% (173)..sure glad my grandma's maiden name isn't "Cheney" (for other reasons the heart issues for that matter but thats a different blog)..my final time was 47:00 minutes. So I obliviated all expectations. I even managed to take home the 4th place ribbon for my age bracket..my only conclusion is all the other area 30 - 34 year olds were sleeping off their hang overs..LOL

I was pretty proud of the fact I went from running 50 feet to almost having a heart attack to running 5 miles and still almost having a heart attack. Been a very long time since I felt as I did something special..I guess today I did.

As for my future plans.... immediatly after the race I was thinking "I ain't ever going to do this stupid shit again..WTF was I thinking"..but then after about 2/3rds of my first beer (of 4 to follow) I had already mapped out a new plan in my head to run yet another road race. I've posted the schedule here. I will update my trianing schedule as well hopefully I do a bit better updating then last time.
Its good to be back.