An Exercise In Utility: January 2007

Ni!

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

1:40:28 :: 15 miles

Easy run. Hamstring felt good, no problems. Locked in to 6:40s for most of the run, then dropped down around 6:20-6:25 for the last four miles. Average HR of 140 for the run. Felt back to 'normal' today.

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Tuesday, January 30, 2007

1:08:15 :: 10 miles + 30 min bike

Easy run on the treadmill. Left hamstring got tight and weird during the day yesterday, probably from the ice and snow covered roads, and just coming off the 24 miler. Damn recovery runs. Did a nice long ride on the bike to get fully warmed up and slowly progressed from 8:00 pace to 6:30 by the end. Leg felt good, no problems. Just a strange kind of tight/sore feeling high in the hamstrings and deep in the hip. Almost a tendonitis-like soreness. I don't think I'll be doing any more runs over 22 miles during this build. The benefit is just not worth the risk. Even feeling strong like I did, it is taking me two days, and potentially longer, to get back to full speed. I'll never know for sure, but it is a good bet that the final two miles put me over that fine line that caused my hammie to tweak on an easy run.

Anyway, it's feeling good now after a nice bike, run, and stretch.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Monday, January 29, 2007

59:18 :: 8 miles

Recovery run. Got some snow yesterday, so it was slick this morning. The legs were feeling decent--no soreness, just some fatigue which kept the comfortable pace to around 7:10-7:20. Not nearly as cold as yesterday, but the 15+ mph winds were out again. Perfect conditions for a nice slow run. Finished the last three miles on the treadmill at 7:20 pace.

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Sunday, January 28, 2007

2:34:22 :: 24 miles

I frickin' pwned this run. That's not a typo. I pwned it.

6:25 pace overall, pretty much even pace except for the first (6:53) and last (6:08) miles. Heart rate in the low to mid 140s until 21 miles, where it went to 150, 153, 154, and 156 at mile 24. 145 average for the run.

The exciting thing about this run is I was never pushing the pace. It was just easy the whole way. I dropped the pace a little bit starting at 18 and through the finish, but never felt stressed or tired, even over the last mile, and this is AFTER a strong 10 miler.

Check my CoCo Wheats for stanozolol.

I definitely could have continued on for another couple of miles. 24 is already pushing it, though, as the muscle damage accumulates quickly for me after about 22-23 and the aerobic benefits are marginal. Last week with 22.5 I got mildly sore legs for a couple of days. So far today it looks like I might get the same with 24. Great run.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Saturday, January 27, 2007

1:03:25 :: 10 miles | 32:10 :: 4 miles

Unbelieveable conditions outside, cold with 40+ mile per hour gusting winds, so I ran on the mill. Feeling much better today, so I went for a hard 'pre-fatigue' run to set up for the long run tomorrow. Two miles easy to warm up, then eight miles between 6:15 and 6:05 pace. Heart rates appeared and effort felt a bit closer to a pace about ten seconds faster. Averaged 150HR for the run, with the last four miles averaging 160-164 at 6:07 to 6:05 pace. Legs felt *great*, really energetic, full of running, but the lungs felt as if they weren't keeping up. Good run overall.

Went for an easy four miler later in the day just because I could and I felt like it. Wish I could get these in more often.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Friday, January 26, 2007

1:07:38 :: 10 miles

Easy run with 4x1min hills on 3 minutes, 2x1min on the flat, strides on 3 minutes at 5:51,5:38,5:38,5:12,5:19,5:38 pace. Used a 6% grade overpass for the hills. Felt good, although the wind made these kind of hard--half of them, anyway. The good feeling faded on number six, so I stopped. Focused on running tall, maintaining turnover, and getting good ankle 'flick'. The rest of the run was uneventful. Felt like crap again for the first three miles, willed myself into the hill runs, then felt better at the end.

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Thursday, January 25, 2007

1:25:20 :: 12 miles

Easy running, about 7:07 pace average with a 130 average HR. Getting kind of a 'gross feeling' in my stomach the past day or two. Fairly tired today as well. Nine outside and three on the mill to finish.

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Wednesday, January 24, 2007

1:43:55 :: 16 miles

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

1:01:36 :: 10 miles

Moderate run. First mile in 7:00, then 6:17(144),6:09(149),6:14(152),6:10(155). Took off the f-ing facemask and continued on in 5:59(156), 5:58(158), 5:56(159), 5:56(160), 5:52(159). Once I got rid of that damn facemask I felt a lot better. Marc left a comment last week about that. The facemask I use is made of neoprene and has a bunch of holes punched in the mouth area for breathing. It must not be very effective though because with that thing on I am going into O2 debt at 6:15 pace. All the same, I'd hate to start cutting it up and turn it into a piece of garbage.

Good run. Very nice to be feeling controlled and comfortable at six minute pace already. Recovery to 120HR in 57 seconds, to 110HR in 1:30. A little bit slow, still feeling the long run I'm guessing.

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43:32 :: 6 miles

Sunday, January 21, 2007

2:29:17 :: 22.5 miles

Long run. First 17 around 6:45 pace with Sambora. Took .5 liter of GEF at 11 miles. Started feeling a little tired around 15, but not bad. Last five miles in 31:30-ish, and final half mile just under three minutes. Last five felt better than the previous five. Tired at the end, but could have continued on. Actually got a bit sore from this one later in the day. There seems to be a fine line right around 21-22 miles. Going beyond that produces enough muscle damage to create some lingering soreness. 143 HR average, recovered to 120 in 53 seconds, and 110 in 1:13.

Oh yeah, in case you runners didn't know, the road is for cars. Gay little convertible VW cars.

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Saturday, January 20, 2007

59:00 :: 9 miles

Friday, January 19, 2007

1:25:50 :: 13 miles

Nine outside at 6:30 pace, 143 average HR, feeling relaxed and comfortable. Paces ranged from 6:50 at the start down to 6:15 at the finish. Added four on the treadmill at 6:45 pace with half mile of each mile at 4-6 percent incline. Recovered from the nine miler down to 120HR in 38 seconds, and 110 in 49 seconds. Good run.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Thursday, January 18, 2007

1:12:43 :: 11 miles

Three mile evaluation plus aerobic miles. Three mile warmup at 6:40ish pace, then 5:47(156), 5:47(159), 5:44(161). Most of the run was with an 8-10mph wind. Felt good, heart rates were good. Recovered to 120 in 48 seconds, and 110 in 1:05. Finished with five at 7:00 pace on the mill.

Decided on 5:47 pace as my evaluation pace, as it is MP+10seconds. Fast enough to get a good read, but not so fast as to require any significant recovery.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

1:26:16 :: 13 miles

Easy run. Really cold again, although -12F is a blessing compared to -20F. Wearing a facemask really messes up my breathing, and makes even an easy run like this feel like something a lot harder. The effort felt more like one of my moderate ten milers, but at 138 HR average, it's not nearly that hard. Finished with the mask off and 6:23, 6:12 rather than the 6:40 average I was hitting at the same effort with the mask on. Good run anyway.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

CAUTION ! Protect Your Blogs !

This may be something people using Blogger are all aware of, but if not...blogs are being hijacked by spammers. Mike pointed out the other day that I had some porn linked on my site in a place where I used to have another Blogger blog linked. Then, just this morning, I see that my friend P.Hill lost his blog to spammers as well.

I went looking for a reason, and found this, which indicates that the problem has been going on for some time. It's a long article, and kind of hard to follow. Here are the important bits:

So how can I, as a Blogger user, help to resolve this problem?

Be aware of Blogger specific security issues.
o Strengthen the password on your Blogger account.
o Do not delete your blog, even accidentally. If you do delete it, reclaim it, immediately.

So, please be careful. Change your password to something eight characters or longer, write it down, and put it in a safe place like your wallet or Mike's purse (ha!). And consider doing a backup of your blog content. Blogger doesn't make backing up easy, but it's something.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

1:02:54 :: 10 miles

Moderate run. -15 degrees, wearing extra pants, jacket, mittens, and facemask. This run sucked. Fell off my planned pace (~6:10) at five miles, slipped to 6:40(150HR!) into the wind by eight, then 6:15, 5:50 with the wind and with the facemask off. Fuck I hate having to wear that thing. Recovered to 120 in 57 seconds and 110 in 1:20. Average HR of 151 for the run.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Monday, January 15, 2007

1:09:48 : 10 miles

Still on the mill. -20 air temp this morning. "It'll freeze your lungs!" Runners hear this all the time, and if you don't know intuitively that this is ridiculous, please ask me for an explanation. I've collected a number of smart ass answers over the years.

Anyway, the run was fine. Added a few miles of 2-5% incline near the end to elevate the heart rate and work the legs a bit. It seems to be working, as my legs already feel better going up and down stairs. I knew my legs were weak, but that's pathetic.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Sunday, January 14, 2007

2:18:43 :: 20 miles

Really, really cold today. Minus 15 degrees and sunny. As nice as it is for your mood, the last thing you want in January in North Dakota is a sunny day. That usually means high pressure dropping in fresh, cold air from somewhere around Nunavut. While my wife was tough enough to brave the cold for 15 miles, I was smart enough to come inside and run on the treadmill after half an hour limping in my many layers through the cold, trying desperately to avoid being run over by the good Catholics on their way home, or to a pancake feed, or to wherever these people go after church.

Pretty much maintained 7:00 pace outside and on the mill. Added some hills and dropped the pace a bit toward the end. Ended up being a really easy and refreshing run. Spent some time in the 155-160 HR range over the last 30 minutes. Otherwise, HR was around 135-140. Felt like I hadn't run an hour or two after finishing. Good day.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Saturday, January 13, 2007

1:10:03 :: 10 miles

On the treadmill again. -15 today. Mostly an easy run with a few long hills at 3-4% incline and some 6:00-6:30 pace faster stuff toward the end. Six-flat on this treadmill puts me at a heart rate and effort equivalent to about 5:30 on the road. Just a ridiculous difference. Anyway, it was fun. I've definitely gotten my energy back, feeling much better. Long run tomorrow.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Friday, January 12, 2007

1:08:30 :: 9.6 miles + 30min Bike

-17 degrees outside with a 20 mph wind, so opted to ride the bike and wait for my turn on the treadmill. Had a good run on the mill, holding a steady 7:00 pace and throwing in some half-mile 6-10% grade hills. It's obvious I need some of this work to get ready for the faster stuff to come, as the inclines pushed my heart rate into the 160s and 170s. Finished with a 6:10 mile or so, feeling very good. Little Miss woke up early, otherwise I would have gotten to ten. Good run.

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Thursday, January 11, 2007

31:50 :: 5 miles

Tried picking up the pace a bit to see if it felt better, and it didn't. Very windy, so tried to stay out of it by doing some loops in the trees. Made some difference but not a lot. Still an okay run though.

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Wednesday, January 10, 2007

1:09:55 :: 10 miles

Still feeling 'low energy', so just went easy again. Averaged 130 HR at 7:00 pace. Ended up being a nice run. It's been a while since I've felt really relaxed, with easy breathing, legs feeling light and fluid, etc. As good as I felt every day over the last two weeks or so, I think I need a mental break as much as anything. There's definitely a physical component to whatever is going on, but mentally I'm sensing a need to recharge and put a bit of a cap on the base phase before moving on to the last 16 weeks of specific training.

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Tuesday, January 09, 2007

1:07:56 :: 10 miles

Feeling better, but did another easy day on the treadmill with some .25 mile hills. May have been just being on the treadmill, but my energy level wasn't there today.

Average HR 136, 6:48 pace with a few 3-4% hills for variation.

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Monday, January 08, 2007

42:09 :: 6 miles

Still feeling a bit off. Just went easy and short today, and hopefully I can shake this weird feeling. I haven't taken a 'day off' in a few weeks, and I feel better now after this run for doing it. Workouts have been going well, but it has set high expectations for every day higher and higher. It's still just base for the next two to three weeks, so I need to settle down.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Sunday, January 07, 2007

1:18:31 :: 11.75 miles

Didn't feel well in general, just a bad day. Legs seemed to be feeling fine, but had kind of a queasy feeling most of the day and something just didn't feel right.

Haven't missed a long run in a while.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Saturday, January 06, 2007

1:37:08 :: 15 miles

Good run. Felt like this one actually fatigued me a bit in the middle miles. Held a pretty consistent 6:25-6:30 pace for the bulk of the run, with a few 6:35-6:40 outliers depending on the wind. Toward the end I was feeling really strong and fresh, and did a 5:52 at 154 average HR. Overall HR average was 147. Walk recovery to 120bpm was 53 seconds (same as yesterday), and to 110 in 1:02, which was about thirty seconds quicker than yesterday. Nice day.

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Friday, January 05, 2007

1:01:14 :: 10 miles

Good run. Good is going to be the replacement for 'awesome', otherwise I am going to make Mike vomit in his Cheerios. Traction conditions were okay as long as I stayed out of the wheel tracks and off the sidewalks, which must have been polished to a high sheen by a team of elves overnight. I've been on hockey rinks with better traction. Pretty much right down the middle of the road was ideal. For God knows what reason, there were seven vehicles out this morning between 4:30 and 5:30. That's seven too many for those of you keeping score. GO HOME, PEOPLE.

First mile in 6:18 to warm up, then 6:07-6:10 for miles two through seven with average heart rates from 149-156. I was holding back a bit to stick closer to the recommended pace of 6:12, but decided to relax on the last three miles and did 6:04(161), 5:58(162), 5:55(162). Overall, a 156 HR average and 6:05 pace.

I recovered with a slow walk to a 120 HR in 53 seconds, 110 HR in 1:30, and averaged a 106 HR for the 90-120 second period following the run. Pretty solid.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Thursday, January 04, 2007

1:20:50 :: 11 miles

Total meltdown. Just kidding. I imagined myself running wayyy up Nor'east alongside Andrew and Canada Mike as the rain poured down on ice covered roads this morning. What weather we are having in Algore's Brave New Superheated World! Forty-one degrees and rain during the run, and plenty of snow and ice left over from last week to boot. Blessedly, there was almost no wind. Unfortunately, there was almost no traction either. The goal was recovery, and recover I did. Eight miles on the road and another three on the treadmill, averaging just over 7:20 pace. The effort was nearer to 7:00, but with slipping, skating, and outright stopping to find traction, the pace slid along with me. No bother.

Feeling good, ready for a quick one tomorrow.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

1:37:25 :: 15 miles

Another good run. Felt really strong, no lingering fatigue or soreness. Started out into a 10-15mph wind in 7:07, then had some tree cover for a couple of miles. Out and back twice. Held 6:35-6:40 (HR 148-150) into the wind and 6:25-6:30 (HR 142-148) with the wind until about ten miles, then 6:20-6:25 (HR 149-154) through thirteen. Finished with 6:14 (HR 159) and 6:01(HR 161). Didn't feel the difference between the last two miles, so I wonder if the GPS screwed up.

I don't know if I should be doing these faster, or if the ten miler the day before should be faster, or what. Oh, the dilemmas. Recovery day tomorrow, although right now I don't know if I really need it.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

1:08:44 :: 11 miles

Another good one. Legs felt *great* this morning, so I think I have my post-long run routine down cold now. First mile in 6:52, cold and into a decent wind, but traction was pretty good. One of the sidewalks was cleared for nearly three miles(!) which is pretty amazing for this town. Held between 6:11-6:17 for the second through seventh mile, depending on the wind. HR average was between 147 and 158, again depending on the wind. Miles eight through 9.35 were with the wind at 6:06 pace and 155 HR average. I needed to be home at 5:30, so I had to quick jump on the treadmill to finish the additional 1.65 miles, which took about two minutes, but I was able to finish that with the last two miles in 12:14 and 154 average HR. Perfect.

Ten miles in 1:01:52, 153 average HR. Felt really good, no problems with hamstrings or shins locking up, which surprised me. Recovered to 120 HR in 1:40, which seemed a little slow. Overall I feel really good an hour following the workout.

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Monday, January 01, 2007

2:31:32 :: 22 miles

Long run. Excellent, excellent run. Shin was sore from slipping around, so I felt like crap through about seven or so. Once that passed, things started coming around. Heart rates were in the low 140s through mile nine, then ticked up to mid-140s from ten through sixteen. I felt the 'switch' again right around fifteen miles--got kind of tired feeling and thought maybe I would bonk around 17 to 18. Instead, I felt a kind of mental fatigue and noticed my breathing rate change, but the legs just kept on going. Here are the mile splits and average HR info from 16-22:

6:48|147 :: 6:47|148 :: 6:52|150 :: 6:47|153 :: 6:45|157 :: 6:46|158 :: 6:49|159

Each mile after seventeen, I noticed a change in breathing rate and perceived effort. I definitely felt like I was slowing down, but wasn't, and I wasn't trying to run faster. I seriously considered stopping at 20, but I hadn't really run past this feeling before--maybe one other time--so I thought I should keep going. By the last half of mile 21, my heart rate was spiking into the high 160s and I was building some oxygen debt. I wasn't 100% sure it was the right thing to do, but I finished out 22 and was pretty damn excited about how it all went down. But too tired to celebrate. =)

Overall, 145 average HR, 6:53 pace. Traction was poor, and based on HR info from the past couple of weeks, I would guess I lost fifteen seconds per mile conservatively. On the few dry patches of concrete I came across, I could immediately tell I was no longer toeing-off, but just 'pulling' along to keep my leg from flying out behind me and stretching my hip flexors and quads.

Felt good in the hours afterward. No cramping, soreness or stiffness to speak of. Had the standard .5 liter of GEF at mile nine, then Slim-Fast shake immediately after the run. Light massage tonight. Hopefully, recovery is swift.
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