Monthly Archive for December, 2007

Winter Build-Up W3

Published
by
John
on December 16, 2007
in Training and Winter
. 2 Comments

Winter Build-Up W3

Today was the last day of Week 3 of my Winter Build-Up Plan. I had about 1.7 miles left to get me to 10% for the week, so I just rounded up and did an even two.

  • Monday: Rest
  • Tuesday: 5.00 miles in 56:36 (11:19/mi)
  • Wednesday: 6.21 miles in 1:00:26 (9:43/mi)
  • Thursday: Rest
  • Friday: 3.11 miles in 29:19 (9:25/mi)
  • Saturday: 3.19 miles in 30:00 (9:25/mi)
  • Sunday: 2.00 miles in 17:17 (8:38/mi)
  • Total Distance: 19.43 miles (+11.7%)

So far I’m quite happy with my progress with the plan, but I’m admittedly not following all of my self-imposed guidelines. My long runs seem to happen on Mondays rather than Sundays, and I went a hair over 10% increase for this week. I don’t think that’s a huge problem, but probably something to pay attention to as I go forward.

Next week I need to hit about 20-21 miles. I’ll be doing some traveling Thursday through Saturday, so my plan is to knock out a bunch of those miles on Monday and Tuesday… weather permitting.

Road ID coupon code

Published
by
John
on December 14, 2007
in Gear
. 0 Comments

I already have one, but here’s a coupon code for 10% off your Road ID order:

The good news is that you can still take advantage of the discount if you place your order by 11:00 PM (ET) on Tuesday, December 18th. Simply use the following coupon code to get your discount: PCHoliday187

I still think it doesn’t hurt to have some identification (however small) on you while running.

Feed the warrior

Published
by
John
on December 12, 2007
in Motivation
. 3 Comments

Link via Marcus.

PS. Let iron sharpen iron. :)

Winter Build-Up W3D3

Published
by
John
on December 12, 2007
in Training and Winter
. 2 Comments

Excited that the sun actually peaked out for the first time in what seemed to be weeks, I decided to go out for a longer run today after work.

10 Unofficial PR

Ran 6.21 miles in 1:00:26 (9:43/mi) with an average speed of 6.2 mph and a max of 8.5 mph. Splits were 8:43, 9:41, 9:53, 10:05, 10:30, and 9:46. Burned about 930 calories. That’s a bit faster than my previous unofficial PR of 1:03:23 from back in September. I’m still shooting to break the 1-hour mark, but it’s nice to at least see some progress.

It was about 50 degrees when I left the house, but the temperature dropped rapidly as the sun went down and the wind began to pick up. I’m afraid the winter weather is here to stay for a while, so I’m glad I got a longer run in today while I could. Supposed to snow/rain this week… again.

MB

Winter Build-Up W2

Published
by
John
on December 9, 2007
in Training and Winter
. 0 Comments

Today’s race finished out Week 2 of my Winter Build-Up plan:

  • Monday: 4.00 miles in 41:06 (10:16/mi)
  • Thursday: 4.00 miles in 39:55 (9:58/mi)
  • Friday: 3.11 miles in 33:05 (10:38/mi)
  • Saturday: 3.11 miles in 29:26 (9:28/mi)
  • Sunday: 3.17 miles in 26:08 (8:14/mi)
  • Total Distance: 17.39 miles (+5.8%)

The snow storm on Wednesday definitely messed with my schedule a bit this week. I was still able to get my five days in, but it forced me to run three consecutive days before my race today. I may have underestimated the impact that the winter weather would have on my training schedule.

An increase of 5-10% for next week puts me in the range of about 18-19 miles.

Jingle Bell Run 5K results

Published
by
John
on December 9, 2007
in Events
. 6 Comments

Banner

I ran the 18th Annual HealthAmerica Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis today. It started at 1 PM with pretty miserable weather. It was in the 30s with rain/drizzle for the most part, but didn’t stop the holiday festivities…

Cow

Thankfully the rain stopped by the time the race started, but it was still on the cold and damp side. According the announcer, about a thousand people lined up the starting line today (including walkers), many with Santa hats and/or antlers, and almost all with jingle bells either pinned to their shirts or laced in their shoes. Some of the costumes were really amusing. :)

Starting Line

An air horn started the race right on time, and we were off.

Go!

I had heard this was a “fast” course, and I can see why. There was definitely a long, gentle hill in the first mile, but it wasn’t too bad, and the rest of the course was either level or a slight downhill.

As usual, I came out of the gates a little too fast and tried to get my pace under control. Felt pretty good for the first mile, but definitely lost some momentum in the second half of the race. I’m not sure if it was the cold or the dampness, but I felt like my lungs were working harder than usual. Either way, in no time I was heading back to the finish line.

Finish

My final (unofficial) time was about 26:12. According to my Garmin Forerunner (started closer to the starting line), I ran 3.17 miles in 26:08 (8:14/mi pace) with an average speed of 7.3 MPH and a max of 9.7 MPH. My 1-mile splits were 7:48, 8:32, and 8:30, with the last 0.17 at a 7:25/mi pace. Burned about 472 calories, which I promptly regained at Ruby Tuesday after the race.

Race Map

Based on how the finish line was managed today, I don’t have high hopes of seeing any sort of official time being posted. But I’m OK with that. I’ve come to learn that any race that includes people in costume is not a race to worry too much about a few seconds in your finishing time. It was a good race for a good cause, and I definitely had a fun time.

MB | Photos

Enjoy the weather

Published
by
John
on December 6, 2007
in Motivation
. 5 Comments

Winter Build-Up W1

Published
by
John
on December 3, 2007
in Training and Winter
. 0 Comments

Last week was Week 1 of my Winter Build-Up plan:

  • Tuesday: 3.11 miles in 34:00 (10:56/mi)
  • Wednesday: 3.11 miles in 28:54 (9:18/mi)
  • Thursday: 4.00 miles in 41:54 (10:28/mi)
  • Saturday: 6.21 miles in 1:07:38 (10:53/mi)
  • Total Distance: 16.43 miles

Already a deviation from the plan. I was expecting snow on Sunday, so I moved my long run to Saturday. No problem there, but when instead of snow we got a day of cold, steady rain I ended up ditching the run. That left me with only four runs. Luckily I still got close to my target mileage for the first week.

Keeping my increases to 10%, I can go up to about 18 miles this week.

Winter Build-Up Plan

Published
by
John
on December 3, 2007
in Training and Winter
. 5 Comments

Quoth Hal Higdon:

… winter also can be an advantage, since it forces us to change training patterns. If we can’t do fartlek in the woods or repeat 200s on the track, we can at least run long and build our base mileage and aerobic fitness. The mere difficulty of running when the temperature dips below freezing makes us tougher.

Ever since I finished the 5K Intermediate plan back in October, I’ve been hunting for a new training plan. I’m a huge fan of Hal Higdon’s plans and his Winter Training and Cold Weather Running schedules looked pretty good. Both, however, were based on running time rather than distance. For some reason, I generally prefer distance targets.

Inspired by one of the plans I came across while searching, I decided to make my own. My goal will be to increase my weekly mileage from about 16-18 miles per week to around 25-30 miles per week.

A few guidelines:

  • Weeks begin on Monday and end on Sunday.
  • Run five days per week.
  • Obey the 10% rule.
  • No runs shorter than 5K.
  • Weather permitting, do a “long run” on Sunday.

I’m not sure if winter is the best time to do this, or if I can even commit that much time to running… but I guess we’ll find out. Game on!