Lightspeed Calculator Now Open To The Public.

I have decided to release my prediction tool & other running calculators to the public.

I used these to calculate my paces and speeds on the treadmill more then anything.

The prediction calculator is a combination of other known models other then the USA model as I call it which I created. It bases the prediction on current USA records and percentage of performance. Average them all together and you get the turtle prediction model.

Enjoy!!

UPDATE: Use Windows Internet Explorer as other browsers don't work correctly. Thanks Mike for reporting this. I will work on getting it fixed soon.

Long Run Treats

Well I thought about buying some "sport beans" for my long weekend runs as I find myself out running almost an hour on Saturdays and about an hour and a half on Sundays. Basically for all I can tell is a little sugar every half an hour can give you a little push. Sport beans are somewhat expensive so I have decided to buy an 99 cent bag of candy orange slices and eat one every 2-3 miles. It will give me a reward as I love these things and avoid them since I'm trying to lose weight. They have about 65 calories a piece in them so 3 or 4 a long run ain't going to kill me.

This mornings workout consisted of 3.0 miles at a 3/1 pace. I finished in 31.17 seconds so that was a pace of 10:30ish (I'm to lazy to look it up right now). All in all a great morning workout. Tomorrow is a day of 45-60 minute elliptical (easy day for me).

The Water Boy Is Me

As the Florida Heat sets its sights on another hot summer I decided to bite the bullet and go buy a hydration belt. I don't want the heat to deter me so I got the four-bottle model Nathan Speed 4 with two pockets (small in front and a big one in the back) which includes enough room for a cell phone and some food (gel, beans, etc) if needed. I figure if I'm going to be running long runs in the "sunshine" state I best be prepared. I'm going to try it out this weekend I will let you know how I like it.

This mornings workout was an interval workout. I must say these things are real killers I had 7 intervals scheduled at a 8.0 mph speed for 400m then I would jog to 70% HR (at around 4.5 mph). In the end I ran 3.25 miles in 32:04 that equates to around a 9:50 mile (or 6.1 mph). I must admit the last two intervals were painful...but in a good way.

Tomorrow is weights and easy 3 mile run. I'm planning on running it at a real easy pace as I want to be strong for the weekend.

No Headphones = Fast Workout

I went to the gym this morning to pound out 3 miles and realized I forgot my headphones. The dreadmill would be twice the torture without them. I decided I would push a bit harder then usual to get it over with. my first 1 mile I kept it as around 5.4 mph the next mile I bumped up to 6.1 mph the third and final mile I increased .1 every minute until 2 minutes to go when I cranked it up to 8.0 mph. In the end I had ran 3.0 miles in 29:03 hooray! Playing mind games got me through this workout 4 - 5 minutes faster then I usually plow through it.

Avg Pace: 9:41

Tomorrow is interval day. I'm looking forward to these! (I must be doing them wrong because nobody looks forward to these..lol)

Super Bowl Monday

111th Boston Marathon is here and I for one am glad to be slow (joking) (lol..not that I would ever qualify anyhow). The weather calls for Rain showers and windy (36 mph) with 99% humidity, 47 F (feels like 37). Basically the worst imaginable conditions. For those who worked hard all year and BQ (qualified) you will certainly have a story for the ages as it looks like the Hellish 111th will go down in the books as one of the toughest.

Meanwhile I can wait to get home tonight and watch it on TV, this is the first time I actually cared enough about a running event to put it on. I usually would catch occasional Ironman events (those people are crazy), But this is a first for me to watch a running event on TV. I am bold enough to make a prediction.

A Kenyan will WIN!!

As for running today is a rest day.

Good luck all Boston Runners.

Lucky Number Seven

Today was the LSD (long slow distance) run and I was suppose to do 8 (actually 6 originally) . But today was different as I was actually racing someone...THE WEATHER!! I took off this morning in hurry to get my mile in it turned out my sense of urgency pushed me for a "Fast 7". Which is great considering yesterdays crash.

Distance: 7 miles

1. 11:04
2. 11:00
3. 11:39 (strong wind)
4. 10:49
5. 10:42
6. 10:42
7. 10:24

Total: 1:16:34
Avg Speed: 5.4 mph
Avg Pace: 10:55

This was a very fast LSD...I'm very proud of it and I average under 11:00 (barely). A Great Run.

The only downside would be that due to a lot of wind and humidity I had to run harder then usual. I average a 77% HR very high for me..but still within the range. Maybe I just have not been pushing hard enough...time will tell.

Oh BTW why I call this the lucky seven is I ran by my house at mile seven and it started to rain. I was able to duck out early and not get wet very lucky.

Lesson In Cooking

Well it was bound to happen a bad run. I didn't get out early enough and the sun was already out in full force (and 85% humidity). I was going to do a 4 mile fast run. But today instead of running at an 85% HR I thought I would just set the watch to 9:00 min - 10 min miles and just run in that zone.

A complete disaster I ran way to fast and maxed out my HR the sun didn't help either and I was sweating buckets about a 1/3 mile in. I think I ran the first mile in like 9:20 and crashed during the second mile pushing in around 9:44 ...I was overheated and quite frankly my heart just wasn't in it. I was beat so I stopped and went home. 4 m fast became 2 m CRASH!

I figured its better to save myself for my long 8 miler tomorrow instead of exhausting myself on a futile run. I'm going back to training by HR percent as that way has worked best for me and it always chooses the right pace no matter what the conditions (hellish heat).

Holiday Backlash

Well I enjoyed the last weekend by eating candy, ham and drinking beer (since then I quit drinking) and the scale showed it this week. My official weight is

177.0

I don't regret last weekend I run so I can indulge on the holidays that's one reason for getting in shape to eat guilt free on special occasions.

Today it technically a rest day which my for my Friday usually means no running. I spent about 40 minutes in the gym this morning doing some light effort cardio on the bikes & ellipticals.

Tomorrow is a Fast 4 I'm looking forward to a fun run.

A Call For Caution

Yesterday I had a sore spot on the top of my ankle (in the area the picture points to) . When I woke up this morning the pain was gone but none the less I decided to be cautious and only do an easy 2 miles this morning. I have had a really good week of hard exercise so it was probably a good day to scale back a little bit. I ran the 2 miles in around 22:10 on the treadmill so I was running 11:05 miles. Good enough for a recovery run.

I'm hoping the UPS guy shows up today (as the ups website says he will) with my zura stationary swimmer as I'm ready for some cross training with my new gadget.

Rain Forces Tempo Run Inside.

Well I modified my schedule to get back to the regular training rhythm since I'm not running the 10k now I am no longer in a taper week. Therefore today would be a 35 minute temp run. I was prepared to run this one outside as I like to do at least one outside run midweek to my disappointment it was raining and foggy. So crappy weather forced me to the gym. I ran a pretty good tempo run peaking at around 7.0 mph (held for probably 5 minutes) I tried to keep my HR around 89% I don't think it got higher then 92% as I throttled down when that happened but I know I was in the 80s for a fair 20 minutes so I think I got what needed to be done,done.

I also have uped my long runs..the 5k schedule doesn't account for the base I already built training for my 8k so I made my Sundays longer (I've been running 2miles extra anyhow). I'm pretty happy with how it looks and am looking forward to my first test race in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile my swim trainer thing should be here tomorrow. I hope to have some fun cross training this weekend.

My 10K Race Is Canceled (For me anyhow)

For personal reasons I had to cancel participation in this weekend's 10K. I'm also going to cut out a 5k and only train for one. I hope to continue to train. I need to budget my 'extra' money a little better so I decided to train hard and race less.

Taper Week Has Began

5 days until race day. I was somewhat concerned about the 10K I committed to because I wasn't really looking to expand out further as I wanted to concentrate on speed. As this race drew closer it was to tempting for me to resist a local race within a few miles of my house. I decided I would run it as my long run and not put to much 'weight' on performance. Again as it nears I'm starting to change my mind about that as well. I just can't resist the temptation of not racing it all out. Most likely I will end up giving it the old 90+ effort.

Taper week is here. this morning I ran a 3 miler at a (3/1) pace. My splits were.

1. 11:07 (5.4)
2. 11:32 (5.2)
3. 10:18 (5.8)

Total Time: 32:57

My heart rate was a bit high today not sure why. It could suggest over training? Either way I'm stepping down the intensity for the rest of the week. I can only do harm at this point so its best to take it easy/rest for the big day. my taper week will be the following

• Wed - 3m (easy)
• Thu - 2m (easy)
• Fri - 45 minute walk (easy)
• Sat - rest
• Sun - 10k race

I hope that's about the right combination...we will see.

Good Bye My Friends

Sing it Brad.....

I can make anybody pretty. I can make you believe any lie.
I can make you pick a fight with somebody twice your size.
Well, I've been known to cause a few break-ups,
An' I've been known to cause a few births.
Well, I can make you new friends, or get you fired from work.
And since the day I left Milwaukee, Lynchburg an' Bordeaux, France,
Been making the bars lots of big money,
An' helpin' white people dance.
I got you in trouble in High School,
But College, now that was a ball.
You had some of the best times you?ll never remember with me:
Alcohol; Alcohol.

What does all this mean you may ask. simple I have decided to give up drinking for the rest of the running season. I'm tired of the 'liquid bread' messing up my weekends and making my Sunday long run HELL. So for the for see able future Good Bye Barly water I'm sure we will meet again someday.

Click here to listen to the above song (WARNING is country music..LOL)

So I poor a final beer and tip my glass to good times and happy runs....slam it and I'm out the door see ya Mr.B

The Easter Bunny Gave Me A New PR!

Happy Easter everybody.

This afternoon I took off out the door on a 6 mile run. I felt pretty lousy because I had way to many beers yesterday at fair grounds. I couldn't use this as an excuse not to run (although I wanted to) so hang over or not I was out the door. I was in for some pain, or at least so I thought. After the first mile I felt pretty good. I took the same scenic route I took yesterday but this time I kept going as I needed to cover 2 more miles (ran 4 yesterday) . The three mile mark was the highlight as I ran up (yes a hill) an overpass. The same landmark I used to bike to. A small milestone but still satisfying.

As I ran back home I decided that I would attempt 2 additional miles. Yes I was going to break my longest distant ran record (7 miles). I managed to slip 2 more miles in and admit I was exhausted I'm going to get paid dividends for this run because everything hurts just right.

The second good news is my speed is officially gone up. Usually when I run the 'Long Slow Run' I average high 12s. Today's I average a lot better then that...here are my stats.

1. 11:36
2. 11:43
3. 11:57 (slowest lap...and close to breaking 12 glad I didn't)
4. 11:57 (again a close one)
5. 11:43
6. 11:54
7. 11:43
8. 11:32 (finished the run with the quick lap..I love that)

Distance: 8 Miles
Avg Speed: 5.1
Avg Pace: 11:45
Avg HR 73% (again a great number below 75%..yet a hard effort)
Total Time: 1:34:12

A great RUN!! Thank You Mr.Cottontail