The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run.
I’ll be running the Tunnel to Towers 5K Run/Walk this weekend in NYC. The race course starts in Brooklyn, goes through the 1.7 mile long Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, and ends at the World Trade Center site.
I’m sure it will be an experience I won’t soon forget.
Today was Week 4 Day 3 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan.
Tempo run today. I was scheduled for a 35 minute run, so I did 10-15-10 in 83 degrees with 54% humidity.
Covered 3.73 miles in 35:00 (9:23/mi pace) with a max speed of 7.8 mph. Lap 1 was 1.05 mi in 10:00 (9:33/mi). Lap 2 was 1.68 mi in 15:00 (8:54/mi). Lap 3 was 1.00 mi in 10:00 (10:01/mi). Burned about 560 calories.
As you can tell from the pace graph, I had some serious troubles keeping my pace steady. Overall, I’m happy with the run, but I’d really like to be able to pick a pace and lock in on it. Flat graphs would probably make me a better runner.
Today was Week 4 Day 2 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan.
Wasn’t feeling so great after work today, but headed out for an easy three anyway. A lot warmer than expected, with temperatures close to 90 degrees in the shade.
Covered 3.21 miles in 35:22 (11:01/mi pace) with an average speed of 5.4 mph and a max of 6.8 mph. Splits were 10:29, 11:27, and 11:12. No kick at the end, finishing the last 0.21 mi at a 10:34/mi pace.
Blah.
Today was Week 4 Day 1 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan.
I swapped days, making today a 10K run. Not wanting to do multiple loops in the development, I headed South and hit some new roads. Unfortunately that means crossing a few roads and dealing with traffic, but such is life. It made the run a lot more enjoyable.
Ran 6.21 miles in 1:03:23 (10:11/mi pace) with an average speed of 5.9 mph and a max of 8.0 mph. My 1-mile splits were 10:00, 10:05, 10:21, 9:37, 11:10, and 10:10. Burned about 940 calories.
Even though I was still over an hour, that improves my unofficial PR by about six minutes. I’m OK with that.
Yesterday was Week 3 Day 7 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan.
I was scheduled for a 10K, but that just wasn’t going to happen. So I decided to swap Sunday and Monday, making yesterday a rest day.
Nope, I didn’t forget that yesterday was Week 3 Day 6 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan. I did my scheduled four miler on Tuesday, so the race was my three miler for yesterday. :)
Yesterday was the Spring Grove Area Community Center Septemberfest 5K run/walk in Spring Grove. Woke up early, looked out the window, and saw that it was raining. Definitely wasn’t expecting that. Checked AccuWeather and saw that it was 77° with 100% humidity.
Heh… perfect racing weather.
Arrived at the Glatfelter Memorial Library at about 8:30 AM to pick up my registration packet and shirt. It was around then that I noticed a distinct lack of people. As it turns out, there were a total of 30 registered runners… but at least it had stopped raining.
We lined up at the starting line and started running on a “GO” from organizers, about three minutes before the planned start time of 9 AM. Honestly, I barely heard the guy and was basically facing the wrong way and talking to someone next to me. Slightly surprised, I took off at 6:02/mi… slowing down and regaining my composure after about 250 yards.
Then the first climb of the race started… followed by two more. I had been warned about the hills, and the warnings were correct. Almost the entire second mile was uphill, climbing over 150 feet. Thankfully the third mile was almost all downhill.
Finished in 26:05 official time (8:24/mi pace), placing 13 out of 30 runners… and top in my age group. That’s a PR, beating my previous official PR by 43 seconds.
According to my Garmin, the course was a little short at 3.03 miles and I ran it in 26:06 (8:36/mi) with an average speed of 7.0 mph and a max of 9.8 mph. My 1-mile splits were 8:03, 9:11 (hills!), and 8:39/mi. Ran the last tenth at a 6:42/mi pace. Burned about 450 calories.
As always, I hung around after I finished to watch and cheer for other finishers and see my tag get put up on the board. I was disappointed to see that the timer guy started taking down the finish clock somewhere around 35-36 minutes, and I think they shut it off at 38 with about 5 more people to go. For something billed as a run/walk, with only 30 people total it would have been nice to let them finish with a clock.
Overall the whole event felt a bit disorganized and (in my opinion) they shut the clock off early. I don’t think I’ll be running this one again next year… but I’m still happy to have finished with a PR.
Decent run.
Today was Week 3 Day 5 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan. Rest day.
Tomorrow is the Spring Grove Area Community Center Septemberfest 5K Race. It starts at 9 AM, and covers almost the same course as the Rocket Run 5K that I ran in May.
I guess tomorrow I’ll find out if the HH5K program is working for me.
Yesterday was Week 3 Day 4 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan.
Ran 3.11 miles in 33:21 (10:44/mi) with an average speed of 5.6 mph and a max of 7.4 mph. Splits were 10:13, 11:11, and 10:47. No kick at the end… 10:40/mi for the last 0.11 mi.
I felt pretty bad before the run; just tired and not motivated. Unfortunately it didn’t get any better as I ran, and I was starting to get concerned that I was going to end up with an injury. So I dropped the pace and finished the run.
Not my best.
Wednesday was Week 3 Day 3 of the Hal Higdon 5K Intermediate Training Plan. Intervals…
Did 6 x 400 intervals, and it wasn’t easy. Total distance covered (including run and walk) was 3.00 miles in 32:27 (10:49/mi). My pace for each of the six running intervals was: 7:20, 6:48, 6:47, 7:31, 7:41, and 7:29/mi. My rest interval pace was around 14-15/mi. Burned around 380 calories.