For the third week in a row, I headed to the gym to lift weights for my cross-training workout. Again I increased my weights and incorporated new workouts into my routine.
-Tony
Night Runner • W5/D3
I went for a late evening run tonight and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. The weather was cooler, the traffic was lighter and, being a night shifter, I felt more in my element.
Having a 3 mile easy run in the cool weather was no problem. I didn’t feel like I was exhausting myself or becoming short of breath.
At mile 2, I looked at my phone and noticed that I was making pretty good time. I thought it might be fun to see if I could beat my best 5K time. So I picked up my pace and tried to make up some time.
I was 20 seconds shy of my record time. Turns out you can’t run set out for a slow run and then suddenly decide to run at a faster-than-race pace on the last mile and expect to beat your record time. Meh, it was fun trying anyway. I know that I could have beaten it for sure if I ran the whole 3.1 miles at race pace.
Maybe I’ll save that for another day. For now, I’m taking a break from running until Friday. I’ll be heading to the gym tomorrow for some weight lifting.
-Tony
Meh • W5/D2
Today’s run called for a progressive 6 miles. If you can’t remember what that is, let me “jog” your memory.
See what I did there?
A progressive run is where each mile of the run is ran faster than the last. So in a longer run, like 6 miles (hey, that’s a long run for me), you really want to pace yourself. Unless of course you feel like going balls-to-the-wall-insanely fast for the last mile.
Nothing shareworthy on today’s run; just me trying to beat the last mile’s time. I think I did ok on that front.
As the picture shows, I only had two slower splits. They were only slower than their previous miles by no more than 13 seconds. Whereas, when I did run faster I shaved anywhere from 36 seconds to a minute and 20 seconds.
Overall, I think the run went well. Even though not every mile was faster than the last, I still made substantial gains and finished strong. It shows I’m improving my endurance and learning to conserve my energy. These will play a huge role in October.
-Tony
Monday Runday • W5/D1
It’s Monday, so that means it’s a new week of half marathon training! I’ll be taking on a total of 24 miles and incorporating a few more workouts into my cross-training.
First up this week is a 4 mile run at an easy, comfortable pace. I only have to finish the last mile at a faster pace than the first 3.
If you’ve been following my blog, you’re probably seeing a pattern here. Every Monday… EVERY MONDAY is the same run. The only variation is the distance. Sometimes 3 miles, sometimes 4 and (coming soon) 5 miles! *gasp*
dun, dun, duuuuuuuun!
I assume it’s this way to ease the transition from my Sunday rest days to my more intense Tuesday runs. It’s an easy run while still demanding some speed work to get that last mile in at a faster pace.
So back to the run today. I headed out still a little sore from the two runs on Saturday. My quads were a little sore and my hips and right knee were starting to hurt me. I didn’t feel injured or like I was going to be injured, I think it was just some residual tightness or soreness from the effort put in during the latter half of last week; nothing a good stretch and run couldn’t get rid of.
When I left the house it was so nice outside. 65°F (~18°C) and sunny. Compared to the way the weather had been lately, this was a godsend.
My hip was still bothering me for the first mile, but something happened around mile 1.5 where the dull pain disappeared. I don’t know what happened, but whatever was going on in there must have worked itself out.
For the rest of the run I didn’t feel a thing. I was reserving most of my energy for the last mile where I’d give it all I had. I did just that.
Once my phone showed 4.00 miles, I booked it. I ran as fast as I could for as long as I could. I don’t recall running that fast ever in my life. I was breathing heavy, I was sweaty, and water kept flying out of my squeeze bottle. To the women getting into their car in a nearby parking lot, I probably looked as though I was having a semi-coordinated seizure, but that’s just me sprinting… no worries, ladies.
After a brief slowing of the pace (but still running), I approached the steepest hill in town. This time I planned it so I would be running down the hill, not up. And I wouldn’t just be running down the hill, I would be sprinting again.
I read an article (I can’t remember what it was called) about running down hills at full effort to fix relentless quad pain. I’m not recommending it at all… but I did it. I ran full speed (or as fast as my legs would safely let me go) down the hill. Before, I was afraid of going too fast because, well let’s face it, some of us are a little top heavy… and I sort of like my face unbroken. But after hearing how it benefitted the woman in the article, I figured I’d give it a shot. What could it hurt…? Well everything, to be honest. Tripping down a hill could hurt everything.
But I didn’t trip. I ran even faster than my previous sprint thanks to determination (and a little help from gravity). I ended up reaching an 8:24 pace down this hill. I have not recorded a faster pace in my six months of running.
The last mile ended up being an 11:15 average. Not terrible for me, but I’d like to see more runs that average that throughout the whole thing, not just the last mile. But that’s what speed work is for. Regardless, the fact that I kept a steady pace and I still reserved enough energy to bust out a two sprints in the last mile says a lot. It says that I am starting to build endurance, which is a key element in a half marathon race.
-Tony
Oh, You Were Expecting a Title? W4/D7
Resting. Not too much to explain here 😉
________
What the graph above fails to tell you (because the pain-in-the-butt Nike+ running app keeps glitching) is that even though I missed my 3 mile run on Friday, I actually ran 8 miles on saturday. So, it should read that I ran 18.1 miles out of 21 (10 out of 13).
Thus concludes Week 4. Enjoy your running.
-Tony
5K & 5M • W4/D6
One of the perks of small town races is the lack of participants. Today’s race in particular had approximately 25 participants, most of them older than me. The race directors were handing out medals to the top male and female runners in each age group.
When I finished the race (sweating and out of breath), I worked my way to the tent where a woman was keeping track of times. She was very nice and asked me how I felt. I told her through my heavy breathing that I was doing alright. She said, “Well, stick around here because it looks like you may have a…” (what? A heart attack? ) “…medal coming your way.”
Oh hey, that’s pretty neat… wait a minute. I was in the latter half of the finishers and I “may have a medal”? How does that work?
Before the race had started, I was quietly checking out the participants. I didn’t see many, if any, who were my build. Most of them were thin, athletic as appeared to be much faster than me. They also appeared to be either older than me, or at least 10 years younger. No men in my age group. Ok then…
So, I won my age group by default. I could have walked the damn thing and still medaled. 🙂 Oh well, a medal is a metal, I guess. I wouldn’t have gotten it by sleeping in or sitting on the couch.
_______
Since I was supposed to run an 8 mile long run today, I decided to run 5 more miles on top of my 5K (3.1 miles) in the afternoon. There was a parade that my sister-in-law was marching in for the first time and I didn’t want to miss it, so after my race, I then drove about 40 minutes to the parade route to meet up with my wife and in-laws. I was there in time to watch her pass and majority or the rest of the parade before I had to leave for my 5 mile run. We had a wedding reception to go to later and I only had a few hours remaining before we left.
I set out on my run feeling good as usual. I ran a variation of last week’s long run with a few changes due to the festival occupying some of the streets.
Familiar with the route, I knew checkpoints that I would reach and tell myself “I only have to make it this far or that far until I to make a turn” so that seemed to help make my 5 mile run shorter somehow.
Finally, in the last mile my feet felt heavy, my breathing was all over the place and my pace had slowed down substantially from where I was in the middle of my run. I still found a burst of energy to give me max effort for about a tenth of a mile. I slowed down a little to finish the last half of a mile, but was still at a faster pace than my average for that run.
Once I was done, I felt accomplished. Even though my 8 mile run was split in two pieces, I have never ran that much in one day ever. It’s something I feel proud of. Next week’s long run will be another 8 miles though. But with no races or other plans, I’ll be running the whole thing straight through. Now that will be something to be even more proud of.
I’ll need to work hard all week in order to get myself through the full 8. Until then, I believe another rest day is in order. Bring on Sunday.
-Tony
Not Feeling As Good • W4/D5
As a result of yesterday’s weight training workout, I’m a little sore today. With my run being a simple 3 miles, I usually wouldn’t be bothered by a little muscle pain here or there. However, with my 5k race and 5 mile long run being tomorrow, I’m making the executive decision today that my run for today will not be happening.
So, I’ll just be taking it easy for the rest of the day. Alternating heat and ice on my leg and getting myself ready for the race tomorrow. I’m looking forward to seeing some improvement since I’ve been running more often lately.
-Tony
Feeling Good • W4/D4
Now that I’m down to one rest day a week instead of two, I can tell I’m really getting into the meat of the training program. My Wednesday cross-training days have now moved to Thursday and replaced my rest day.
No big deal. I can handle that!
For today’s cross-training, I hit the gym again. Lifting weights, I targeted the same muscles as last week plus I added a few extra upper body workouts for my own benefit… I don’t want to be all legs over here.
I upped my weights by 10 pounds on most of my workouts. However, my leg presses and back extensions we increased by 20 pounds.
Gym day is always a treat for me as I enjoy strength training so much. I love how good I felt after a good workout, I like trying new workouts, and I know that this is all helping me be a better runner as long as I’m cautious not to overdo it.
Post workout, I feel sore but okay. My thighs and glutes got the best workout with the 290 pound leg press. Next week, I’ll be ramping that up to 300 pounds where I’ll probably stay for several weeks.
Overall, it was another success at gym. I made it through each workout without having to lower my weights or lessen my reps. I’m really looking forward to incorporating some more workouts into next week’s routine and challenging myself even more.
-Tony
Running Tech-Free • W4/D3
I went for my run without any electronics today and I have to say it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. The three mile run was done before I knew it.
I usually like the company of my music and logging my miles on the Nike+ app in real-time, but I had read an article about how “liberating” running tech-free was and figured I’d give it a try.
I had planned my out my route on that website that I mentioned in one of my previous blogs. Once I had that, I tied up my running shoes and headed out the door.
It was nice to not have to take my phone of it’s protective case and put it in the running armband case, feed my headphones through my shirt and plug them in, Velcro the armband, put my ear buds in, readjust the armband because it’s too loose, find my Spotify app and turn it on shuffle, find my Nike+ app and get it ready for the run, readjust the armband because it’s now too tight, set my wristwatch to the stopwatch and go. Instead, I just went outside and started running.
Aware of where my miles were, on the 3rd mile, I picked up the pace as I was instructed to do. In terms of data, I have none. But I judged based on my speed and effort that I had finished my last mile faster than my first two miles.
It definitely was a treat to not be so tied down to technology, even if it was just for a day. The feeling of just going out and running, how people were doing it just 10 or so years ago, was very liberating. When the focus is off the music and the time and the stats and everything else, and it’s just you and road, there are few things better in running that I have experienced thus far.
If you are like me and always seem to be connected to your device(s), if you’re so reliant on needing that information that it overtakes the purpose of your run, I definitely recommend you do this from time to time. It really is a great feeling to feel so care-free.
-Tony
Interval Training (Yup… No Clever Title Here) • W4/D2
On February 16 of this year, I stepped onto a treadmill at the gym in yet another another attempt to start losing weight. I had started using the Couch to 5K (C25K) app by Zen Labs to see if I could pickup running.
What made it easy to progress through the program week after week was it’s setup. I would run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds and repeat this for twenty minutes.
Each week, I would increase the period of time that I would run and walk until I was able to sustain running for an extended period of time (roughly 30 minutes). This subtle progression of mixing faster speeds and slower speeds in a structured design is known as interval training and it is responsible for getting people like Old Tony able to run like New Tony.
Interval training builds your cardiovascular system so your heart rate can be elevated for longer periods of time. It also strengthens your muscles, bones and joints gradually so you can endure running distances while reducing (but not eliminating) your risk of injury.
So, all of this to say that today was an interval run day. I ran a total of 4 miles around the lake with the first mile being at an easy, comfortable pace. After the first mile, I alternated running 0.75 miles (1.21km) at a faster pace and 0.25 miles (0.40km) at a slower pace and after 3 cycles of the intervals, I was done.
This may sound a lot like the fartlek running which I talked about in the post ¡Hace Calor! • W1/D2, but the difference is that Fartleks tend to be unstructured runs, meaning that you pick the object to which you increase your speed (i.e. to that tree or to that sign). Intervals, on the other hand, are usually set distances or times.
According to the schedule, I don’t have another interval run until Week 8. For the next few weeks it’s all progressions and fartleks on my Tuesday runs. Also my Tuesdays are going to start increasing my mileage as well, so I’m really going to start putting some road behind me.
Enjoy your run.
-Tony
30 and a Half 