Running with Todd

Lessons Learned From a Completed Phase One

2008-11-09T20:44:00.000-08:00

Phase one of my master plan to get to 50 miles has completed, and I am right on schedule. In fact I didn't miss a single run! Running every day now seems routine and it is no longer daunting to look down at my weekly schedule and see a run slated for each slot. Now it hasn't been all e-z street, and here are a few things that I need to work on.

If I am running at lunch, I need to pack something to munch for a mid-morning snack. Breakfast just doesn't get me enough fuel to consistently get through the run.
I need to get out in the mornings for my weekend runs. It's just too easy to get started on the day doing yard work and running errands and then be too tired to run.
Get some good sleep. It sucks to get out for a run and realize that you are sleepy cause you stayed up too late the night before playing Guitar Hero!
I still need to drink my water. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I am a heavy sweater and that I need lots of H2O. Well now that it's winter I don't seem to be drinking water...need to get on top of that.
And finally I need to be super organized for my runs. I am really liking the not scheduling distances for my runs, as it allows the flexibility to run as you feel. However, I need to schedule when I am going to run. For example, I am going out to Monday night football with some guys from work, so that means I have to run at lunch. Just stuff like that.

So now my plan calls on me to focus on actual mileage. The next two weeks call from me to get in 35 miles each week. Honestly, I'm not that worried as I got 30 miles this week without a "long run" and with two runs in the 3-4 mile range. So I figure if I just work on my list I should be all good.

Ah, Hamburgers, the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast!

2008-10-27T16:07:00.001-07:00

Not so fast, my friend. While Jules from Pulp Fiction may say that Hamburgers are the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast, I am going to have to disagree. A mobster may be able to get away with a burger, but someone trying to get up to running fifty miles a week (e.g. me) is going to have to eat something better.

I went for about a five mile run today at lunch, and struggled much more than I should have. Just a general feeling of having no fuel; there was no gas in the tank so to speak. I don't think I was fatigued from training, and I got a decent enough night of sleep. So I was stumped. Then I remembered that I had a piece of apple pie and two cups of coffee for breakfast and I immediately knew what was the culprit.

If I am going to be training consistently hard I need to be eating the proper foods. Now if I only paid attention in health class, I'd have a clue what the "proper foods" are. Guess I've got another thing to looking into.

Working Towards 50 Mile Weeks

2008-10-17T07:45:00.001-07:00

Despite the urge to please my early enthusiasm, I am not going to just jump into running 50 miles a week. In fact the plan is each 50 miles a week by the end of the year. That sounds like a long ways away, but it really is only 12 weeks away.

Here's the details of that plan. It's going to consist of two phases. The first phase will focus on increasing the frequency of my runs to seven times a week. Nothing original here, just starting a four runs a week and adding one run for the next three weeks. During this phase, I will not care about the distance of the runs. I'll just get out there and run for as long as a feel. My guess is that they will all be in the five mile range.

Phase two, will consist of building the weekly mileage up to 50 miles a week. Here I will start at 35 miles a week and add five miles every other week. Here I won't care about speed, just distance and the act of getting out there. If I am feeling good, maybe I'll hammer the pace. But I'm thinking with my body getting used to some distance, I'll probably be taking it easy most days.

Phase One : Frequency of Runs

Week	Number of runs
10/13/2008	4
10/20/2008	5
10/27/2008	6
11/3/2008	7

Phase Two: Weekly Distance

Week	Miles
11/10/2008	35
11/17/2008	35
11/24/2008	40
12/1/2008	40
12/8/2008	45
12/15/2008	45
12/22/2008	50
12/29/2008	50

What a Fifty Mile Week Will Look Like

2008-10-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

I've been playing around with the best to schedule 50 miles for one week. Below is a table of what I think is the best approach.

Monday	8	Easy
Tuesday	6	Easy
Wednesday	10	Mid Distance
Thursday	6	Easy
Friday	4	Hard
Saturday	12	Long Run
Sunday	4	Recovery

First off, notice that it's seven days a week. If I go down to five or six days a week I feel that it just puts too much pressure and stress on the days that I run. For example, 50 miles on five days a week is an average of ten miles a day. That's too much for me right now. So if it's seven runs a week I need some recovery time to allow the body to bounce back, and that's why you see three easy days and one recovery day. I figured an easy day should be in the 7:30 - 8:00 pace range and that a recovery run should be as slow as I can run. From reading and personal experience it seems like there is a real value in just "getting out there" as it seems to speed up the recovery process.

Another thing to notice that I am going to try to schedule two ten-plus milers a week. First off, I feel that the second "mid-distance" run of the week might have been the single most important element from my training that was missing leading up to Portland this year. There just something of real value by getting out there and running for 75-90 minutes in the middle of the week. Adds big time fitness and it just doesn't take away from the weekend's long run. For the weekend's long run it just about geting the time in. I don't ever want to bonk, so I expect starting out slow and work into a healthy pace towards the end.

The last element of my base building, 50 mile a week training plan is the Friday hard run. I'll admit that it's a little selfish. I think that if don't run fast occasionally I'll just get bored. I need some spice, and the "fast running" spice is one of my favorites. But I also don't think that's the whole story. It will also be a good barometer on how the rest of my training is going. The pace of this run, while hard, will never be all out. So that means that it should be something that I can easily handle. If the fast-four kicks my butt, it really means that my other runs are probably being ran at too hard of a pace. So I'll just have to adjust.

Which leads me to one last point. There are tons of different possibilities to 50 miles, and I won't be a slave to the above schedule. What I will be is dedicated to getting a run in everyday and hitting the 50 mile mark.

Refresh 3.0

2008-10-10T15:22:00.001-07:00

Alright, here we go. For the third time I am going to try and start up the "Running with Todd" blog. The first time it stuck for about a year, then my interest died. My second attempt lasted all of a whopping two posts. However, this time things will be different, I promise.

First off, my intended audience is me. I'm not going to try to be funny or entertaining or even informative. You see this iteration of the blog is going to take the form of a journal, a running-based diary so-to-speak. So there's no pressure of what others think or want. I only have to please myself, and (according to some) I'm easy.

Another plus, for the success of my blog, is that I have a clearly defined running goal. After the 2008 Portland Marathon, I did some hard reflecting on my training. I came to the conclusion that the level of training I am putting in isn't equivalent to the level of racing that I want. Strictly looking at numbers, I averaged 33 miles a week for the nine weeks leading up to the Portland Marathon. That's just not enough if I want to run times around the three hour mark. So my goal is to get to averaging 50 miles a week before the year is over, but I'll yap more about that later.

Finally, I'm hoping that writing about my training will keep it fresh while training over the winter. The last few years I've really tailed off on my running during the winter. No races and just too many easy-excuses not to run. And that's just not acceptable. So the plan is that the blog will be a nice outlet to keep the legs moving throughout the cold months.

You see I really believe that if I stick with this blog, my running will improve. And ultimately that's what I want…to get better at this running thing.

AM Runs

2008-06-10T17:37:00.000-07:00

No, not what you get when you eat too many prunes for breakfast. I'm talking about running in the morning, and how doing it will be a key component to my training leading up to the Portland Marathon. The training plan I am following calls for mid-distance runs, in the 10-14 mile range, in the middle of the week. Oh and the standard "get out and run" runs are in the 8-10 mile range. No way I am going to be able to do those in 80 degree heat let alone the 100+ temperatures that are coming in July. Not doing these is NOT an option this they are so very vital. Therefore that only leaves the morning. The early morning, like five AM early.

The nice thing, is that I know it's not going to be impossible for me. I managed over eight miles this morning before work. It wasn't too hard, just took a little bit of planning. Here was my approach:
1) Tried to eat an early diner.
2) Set out running clothes the night before.
2) Got to bed relatively early. (Was in bed by ten)
4) Set coffee pot to start brewing ten minutes before my alarm to get up went off.
5) Allowed a good 30 minutes to wake up before running.
6) Start the run slow and without the pressure of trying to run fast.

Not too hard. Now I just need to repeat about fifty more times.

Yeah...let's call it a comeback!

2008-06-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

Just a brief warning here...but the blog is about to make a comeback. As you may or may not have know, I have fully committed myself to running the Portland Marathon this year. Yes that's right. I didn't learn my lesson from last year. You might even say that I have some serious unfinished business in Portland, and won't be happy until I kick that races ass.

So here we are 18 weeks out, and I have started my official training. I have decided to follow, to the best of my ability, the Pftiz 55 Mile 18 week place. I'm sure I'll go into the details of why this plan and not some other plan another day. But let's just say this one is solid, I mean it comes from a book called "Advance Marathon" so it's got to be good, right? Oh yeah, if you are curious you can check out the day-to-day details of this plan on calendar widget on the right side of this blog.

Honestly, I've just too much going in my head about this running thing. I'm sure Linda is tired of my constant yapping, and my training log really isn't the proper place. Thus the return!

A week of lessons learned...

2007-07-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

At the end of this morning's long run, while gasping for air and chugging down some water I had the following thought.

"Just when I think I've finally got this training thing figured out, I go out and have a week like this..."

You see after my relative breakthrough at the Missoula Half Marathon, I figured that I finally knew what I was doing and that I was confident in my training. I mean the proof was in the racing. So with a fresh new sparkley PR in hand, I mapped out an aggressive week of training yet with more than ample recovery time I felt. Boy was I wrong. On Tuesday I headed out for a run, and the legs felt heavy and sluggish. I struggled over four miles at barely an eight minute pace. Wednesday came around, and I struggled again over four miles. This time the pace was faster but the effort was even harder. So with a bruised ego, I begrudgingly decided to deviate from my plan, and take the next two days off from running.

On Friday night, I played around on MapMyRun.com and found a pretty good five mile loop around the house that I didn't think would be that challenging. I hydrated well and ate a good diner. I was trying to remove as many obstacles from the run as possible, so I could get a true assessment of fitness and recovery. I had no time goals for the run, I just wanted to run at as fast a pace as could while still feeling comfortable. Despite this, I was still nervous for the run on Saturday morning.

But then came the run, and within three minutes I knew everything was alright. I had a bounce in my stride, that had been missing since about mile 11 of the Missoula Half. My feet felt light, and I couldn't help but smile at....gee just about everything made me smile that morning. I knew where the first mile was on the run, and a first mile split of 7:06 confirmed that I was feeling good. After the first mile I didn't know where anymore mile splits were. So I just ran by feel, and I felt good. And before I knew it the run was over, and I looked down at my watch and saw 35:20. A time that was almost full minute faster than my St. Paddy's Day Five time in 2005. And this was a training run. A training run where I wasn't even pushing the pace. Damn that makes me smile.

So what other lesson did I learn this week? Well that a 12-mile run when ran at the right pace is nothing to be intimidated by. This morning I went out for my run, and made a very hard effort at keeping my pace slow. And what do you know, I ran for over 90 minutes and I'm not taxed, not tired, not exhausted. I think that's a very good sign.

Putting this all together, I still don't know if I want to run the Portland Marathon. I am a competitive person, and just finishing a marathon does not interest me. I could go out and finish a marathon tomorrow. Big deal. For me to do Portland I have to believe that I can "run" the marathon, not "finish" it. So for right now I am training as if I am going to run Portland, but if lose faith that I can run the race then I'll now I'm not ready yet. Maybe that's just me being weird, but that's how it is. Here's the plan for this week.

Tuesday :: Tempo Run :: 8 Miles :: 2 easy pace, 4 miles at sub 7 miles, 2 easy pace
Thursday :: Medium Long :: 11 Miles :: Yes, I know it's my birthday and that I am planning on getting up at five in the morning to run for ninety minutes.
Saturday :: Recovery Run :: 5 Miles :: Nice and easy, nothing too hard at all.
Sunday :: Long Run :: 15 Miles :: This will be the furtherest I have ever ran. Should be interesting.

Missoula Half Marathon: 1:31:01

2007-07-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

3rd place in my age group, 24th overall, an almost three minute PR....yeah I'd say I had a good race. Here are my splits:

1:31:01
Distance	Split	Overall
1.0	6:43	6:43
2.0	6:24	13:08
3.0	6:38	19:46
4.0	6:43	26:29
5.0	6:56	33:25
6.0	6:40	40:06
7.0	6:39	46:46
8.0	6:50	53:36
9.0	7:34	1:01:11
10.0	7:12	1:08:23
11.0	7:43	1:16:11
12.0	7:31	1:23:12
13.0	6:43	1:30:21
13.1	:41	1:31:01

As you can see I ran pretty even pace, except for miles 11 and 12. These were the miles were my stomach "issues" arrived, and by the last mile they had gone away. The last mile split really leads me to believe that I had something left in the tank, and if I didn't have to worry about my stomach during miles 11 and 12 I could have ran even faster. So next time, if my stomach acts up again, I am going to bite the bullet and take a pit stop. The thirty seconds in the honey hut, will easily be gained back with a mind that can focus on the run. Still, I am damn happy with the race. I mean, with it, I have lopped off almost five minutes this year off of my Half Marathon PR.

Shut up and run!

2007-06-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve lost a little steam on my running blog. It’s not a reflection of my running, just about me talking about it. Right now it seems like going through the exercise of writing about my running is actually more work than running. So, no promises on the near future of this blog. I might post my weekly training schedule, I might post monthly mileage recaps, I might post the occasional race report, and I might post nothing. I just don’t know. Anyways isn’t it better to just shut up and actually run? And that is something I keep on doing. Here is this week’s plan.

Monday :: Recovery :: 4 miles
Tuesday :: Tempo Run :: 6 miles :: 1E-4H-1E with the hard pace at 6:35
Wednesday :: Recovery :: 4 miles
Thursday :: Speed :: 7 miles :: 2 mile warmup; 3 x 1000m at 5k pace (3:50) with ample recovery time; 2 mile cooldown.
Friday :: Off
Saturday :: Pace :: 4.5 miles :: 2 miles at goal half marathon pace (6:50) and the rest at easy pace
Sunday :: Long :: 12 miles :: Start out slow and slowly progress up to a decent pace.

If all goes to plan, this week's mileage should be around 35 miles. That will be my biggest week of the year, I do believe.

Move on...nothing here to see

2007-05-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

For the next month my training is going to seem very boring. Basically, the entire month of June is going to be a transition month....a sort of winding down from the spring and building up for the fall. I'll be doing about 30 miles a week, most of which is going to ran at eight minute pace (give or take 20 seconds). I figure to keep myself sane, I'll probably have to throw in one quicker run a week.

On the blog front I'm sure this sounds really dull, but for the big picture it's going to be a really important month. Hopefully, the easy running will allow my body to recover from the races and harder workouts from the Spring. While, the weekly distance will be setting the foundation for some solid training for the upcoming months. So yeah....I'm excited for some pressure-free, easy running.

CD'A Half Marathon : 1:33:45

2007-05-28T16:56:00.001-07:00

I should probably start this race recap with the best news first. For the fourth race in a row I ran a personal best. This time I smashed my half marathon PR, lowering it by over two minutes. Meaning that I now have a personal best of one hour, thirty-three minutes and forty-five seconds in the half marathon. Pretty cool, eh? Here are my race splits.

1:33:45
Distance	Split	Overall
1.0	6:28	6:28
2.0	6:40	13:07
3.0	6:24	19:32
4.0	7:00	26:32
5.0	7:29	34:01
6.0	7:39	41:40
7.0	7:16	48:56
8.0	7:09	56:06
9.0	7:08	1:03:13
10.0	7:35	1:10:50
11.0	7:30	1:18:11
12.0	7:38	1:25:12
13.0	7:14	1:33:14
13.1	:31	1:33:45

If you study those splits you'll notice a couple of things. Maybe you'll notice that I went through 10 miles in a time that is four minutes faster than my 10-mile PR (I'm gonna crush that time come race time). More likely though, you'll notice that I went out very fast. Yeah, I don't what happened there...I guess for the first three miles I thought I was going to run the race in 80 minutes. Dumb me, and trust me I learned my lesson. Miles 10, 11, and 12 were painful (and without a doubt it was due to my fast early pace) but I did manage to suffer through them at a decent enough pace. One of the nice surprises for me was the last mile, where I managed to actually pick up the pace and finish with a honest kick. Always feels good to finish strong as supposed to suffer through the finish.

Honestly though, I am getting tired of racing (please note I said racing and not running) and I think that showed. My race just wasn't sharp. Which means it's about time to ease off of the intensity of the training, and regroup for a good racing season in the fall.

Is The Hard/Easy Concept Too Hard For Me To Understand?

2007-05-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

In the ever continuing quest to improve my training and get the most out of my running, I've spent the last couple of days looking at my running log. And by looking at it, I mean really studying it and being all geeky with the data. And by geeky I mean I imported the data into an instance of SQL-Database Server 2003 running on my computer and did a whole slew of tests and reports on the data. Surprisingly, this exercise in geekdom actually proved worthwhile as I found a pretty glaring mistake in my current training program. I am running my easy/recovery runs way too hard.

When examining the pace of my last 50 runs, I discovered that the bulk of my training was done in the 7:00 - 7:39 pace range. As in over 65% of my runs fall into that range. On top of that, only 14% of my runs are actually slower than 7:40 pace. That means I've been averaging .7 recovery runs a week for the last ten weeks. I thought I had been running two recovery runs a week.

One way to view the above data is to think, "So what, recovery runs are for wussies. If you want to improve you've got to train hard every day!" Now, I will admit this line of thinking is how my mind tends to lean. For some reason my natural response is to think that hard work will always spawn better results. But, it seems like every thing I read or hear about training says the opposite. In the training DVD "Run Like Hell" Fam says he likes to treat his workouts with almost same intensity as a race, and because of that his recovery days are ran very slow. Craig Mottram, first non-African under 13 minutes in the 5k, and an AUSSIE, says his teammates usually make fun of him on his recovery runs because he takes it so slow that he usually finishes last (even behind the woman...who of course would smoke me as well). Then there is Pete Pfitzinger, who's marathon training book I am taking to like a fundamentalist to his Bible, says the following about training and recovery:

Training provides the stimulus for your body to adapt, but recovery is when you allow your body to positively adapt and improve. Pete Pfitzinger

So with this proof that a) recovery runs are just as important as the workouts and b) I haven't been taking my "recovery runs" easy enough what I am going to do different with my training? Well, it's pretty obvious isn't it? I need to take it easy every once in a while. Like today for example. I have four miles scheduled at recovery pace today, and my goal is to run at a slow pace. Kind of counter-intuitive for a goal isn't it?

Bloomsday: 48:59

2007-05-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

For the past three days, I have thought about how I wanted to start my race report for this year’s Bloomsday, and I haven’t thought of anything special. I mean what more can I say than I am extremely happy with the results. A four minute PR, over a time that I was already proud of, is awesome. Finishing in the top 1% of all the finishers in a race of over 40,000 participants sounds really impressive. Achieving my first start-of-the-year race goal time (albeit by one second) is really cool. But I think the cold, hard facts sum it up best; I averaged 6:33 pace over a hilly 12k course for a time 48:59. Damn that sounds good to me.

(Now onto my exhaustive, detailed race report that will bore everyone but the most hardcore Todd Jones’ racing fans. If that is not you, go on ahead and skip to the last paragraph of this post.)

Linda, Mom, “Aunt Vicki” and I got out of the car and started our mile long trek to the start of the race a full hour before gun time. I don't know about the rest of the crew but this seemed to be about the perfect time. It's always weird lining up with 40,000 other people, but this year was especially odd. Mom and Vicki paled-off and did their own thing, and Linda (my normal warmup buddy) had the privilege of being on a corporate cup team. This enabled her to enter a special area ahead of us normal people. Thus I lined up in the back of the yellow coral by myself.

This lasted about thirty seconds, when I remembered the start line photo from the Seaport River from the week before. Click here to view the photo. (If you look in the second row you will notice three non-runners, and me calling them non-runners is me being very, very, very nice.) So I figured, “What the Hell” and started towards the front of the grouping. So after saying excuse me about fifty times, and throwing three elbows I arrived at a place in coral that I thought was about right....five rows back from the front and waiting for the gun.

Usually I spend this precious time, thinking of the race. I'll visualize running fast and trying other new age crap techniques to get ready for the race. This time, though, I didn't and it wasn't by choice. I literately became dumb right before the race. I couldn't form a complete thought in my head, couldn't manage more than six words to the people around me, and I certainly couldn't do the math to figure out that I needed to run 7 minute pace to run a faster time than last year. I wasn't nervous, I just had a temporary case of being dumb. Surprisingly, this work out well for me, and I think this very well could become the optimal pre-race approach for me....just turn off my brain.

With the start of the race, I still hadn't come out of my blank state of mind. It wasn't like I wasn't focused on the race or off in la-la land...what I think it was is that I was fully caught up in the moment. I wasn't noticing the bands or fans along the side of the course and I wasn't getting mad at all the people that I was passing. I was just running my way to an extremly relaxed 6:05 first mile.

At about a mile and a half into the course, you start up a gradual hill that lasts on and off for a couple of miles. This was were my mind finally clicked on and I realized that I was in a race. While running up this hill, I started a quick check on how my body was feeling. It was at this time I realized that I was feeling very good and might be on my way to a very good time. My second mile split, which was sub six minutes, confirmed this and gave me the confidence to push on.

Now the cool thing about the next couple of miles is that I don't remember much about them. Sometimes in the middle of a race your mind can wander towards random non-running things, and your pace can slowly drift upwards. But not this year. I was locked in, and honest to god the next thing knew I was crossing the Spokane river about to tackle Doomsday Hill.

Now Doomsday Hill is usually the point in the race where I switch from racing mode and into survival mode. In the past my success at Bloomsday has been based on how long it would take me to recover and get back into racing mode. But this year was different, as I attacked the hill and viewed it as my chance to make up time. Crazy concept, I know but I think it actually worked, as my splits for miles 5 and 6 were 6:55 and 7:12. Oh my secret for the changed philosphy on Doomsday...lying. For the past month I've been telling Linda that this hill was nothing compared to the hills around our house, and I think repeated this enough times that I actually believed it.

However, for the first time in the race I was finally feeling fatigue. So from the top of Doomsday Hill until I reached the “homestrech” on Broadway, I was coasting and just trying to not slow down. Thankfully this state only lasted for a couple of minutes, as I turned onto Broadway for the last mile and half of the race and decided that I was going push the pace. Suprisngly this is probably the least interesting part of the race, as I just moved my legs over and over again as hard as a could until I saw that glorious finish line.

When I crossed the finish line, I pressed the button on my watch no real clue what my time was going to be. I purposedly hadn’t look at my watch since the top of Doomsday Hill, because I just wanted to finish the run on feel. I felt like I had ran sub-50 but when I looked down and saw 48:59 was ecstatic. Here were my final splits for the run:

48:59
Distance	Split	Overall
1.0	6:02	6:02
2.0	5:55	11:57
3.0	6:40	18:37
4.0	6:35	25:12
5.0	6:57	32:09
6.0	7:13	39:22
7.0	6:49	46:11
7.46	2:48	48:59

So what does all this mean? Well several things. First off, this race has given me confidence. Confidence in my training, and confidence in myself that I can achieve some of my lofty goals that I only keep to myself. Also, I think I have finally stumbled upon the right pre-race stagdey for me….just be relaxed and let the race happen. (i.e. don’t force it!) Most importanlty though, I think this has validated all of the running I’ve done over the last four months. So who knows maybe this running thing I’ve been doing lately might actually stick.

Seaport River Run Actual: 41:10

2007-05-03T09:32:00.001-07:00

41:10
Distance	Split	Overall
1.0	6:03	6:03
2.0	6:29	12:33
3.0	6:28	19:01
4.0	6:50	25:51
5.0	7:08	33:00
6.0	7:03	40:03
6.2	1:10	41:10

Just one notes about the 2007 Seaport River Run. First off, in a normal race I would have ran uner 40 minutes. I really believe this. But the problem is, the Seaport River Run is not a normal race. Because of the run's layout, the last 2.5 miles are littered with walkers from the 2.9 mile course. This means that at the very point where I need to focus on finding that "groove" and fight through that general fatigue that nags a runner at the end of a race, I instead have to focus on not running over little kids and weaving my way through strollers and the such. I not going to blame the walkers because they have every right to be out there, and there ten dollar entry fee carries exactly the same weight as mine. All I am saying is that I am in sub-40 shape, and it's just too bad that I couldn't prove it.

Seaport River Run Goal: 39:16

2007-04-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

39:16
Distance	Split	Overall
1.0	6:20	6:40
2.0	6:20	12:40
3.0	6:20	19:00
4.0	6:20	25:20
5.0	6:20	31:40
6.0	6:20	38:00
6.2	1:16	39:16

Faith in Training

2007-04-23T09:28:00.000-07:00

"Faith in Training" is the title of the second part in my series of posts on ways to get mentally prepared for a race. The concept is simple, by reviewing your recent training you should become filled with an abundance of confidence for the race. Of course this only works if you have actually been training hard. In the past when I’ve tried this technique, I’ve had varying levels of unsuccessfulness. The was mainly due to the lack of proper training I had embarked on, and the only thing that would happen is that more self-doubt would enter into my head.

This year is different though. Over the last six weeks (since the St. Paddy’s Day Five Race) I have put together my most consistent and focused training since high school. I made a solid training plan and followed it the best of my abilities. I’ve met or succeeded every one of my training goals, and for the first time in a long time I really believe that I have put in the effort to run a good race. And let me tell you, that’s a damn good feeling. Below are some random stats based on my training.

Over the last 41 days (Since St. Paddy's Day Five)

30 Runs

180 total miles ran

6 miles per run

11 runs with an average pace of 7:05 or less

11 runs further than 10k

0 runs on the treadmill

Over 22 hours of total run time

Also for fun, I have included a bar graph that shows my weekly mileage for 2007. Notice how I haven't dropped below 20 miles for any week yet. :-)

Tapering

2007-04-22T16:16:00.000-07:00

So the posts have been less frequently over the last three weeks. I wish I had a good reason for this, but I don't. Honestly, I have been getting more and more nervous for the upcoming races and haven't been able to put three coherent words together about it. It's stupid I know but hey that's who I am. Thankfully, I think that I am coming up with some good strategies for dealing with all this crap going on in my head.

One of those strategies is to toe the line on race day feeling fresh and fast, and you do that with a good taper. So that's what I am doing. Over the next two weeks I will be in the taper phase of my running plan, ensuring that I don't leave any of my "fast running" in a training session. My approach will be to reduce the mileage of my runs to the 60%-70% range while maintain the same pace. My keeping the pace my legs won't have the stale feeling, yet by reducing the distance I will have a quicker recovery from the run. So in keeping with that philosophy here is my upcoming weeks training schedule.

Monday :: Fartlek :: 4 Miles :: Comfortable pace with 4-6 surges
Tuesday :: Medium-Distance :: 5 Miles :: Smooth and relaxed, focusing on having good form.
Wednesday :: Tempo-Run :: 3 Miles :: One mile easy, one mile at race pace, one mile easy
Friday :: Easy Run :: 3 Miles :: Just get out there, and get through any nervous energy. Make sure to run at a very easy pace
Saturday :: Seaport River Run :: 6.2 Miles :: Run fast!

Cut Week Begets To Running Fast

2007-04-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

This last week my body told me to cool my jets, and give the running a break. Apparently increasing my mileage to 30-plus for each of the last weeks had caused a mini-revolution; with my legs, lungs and heart fighting against my plan and pride. This would make sense, since everything I have read about increasing my mileage says "Instead of going with a steady increase, every once in a while give yourself a week to recover." Surprisingly, I actually swallowed my pride and let my body win out.

Instead of running the scheduled 32 miles for this week, I only managed 26 miles. Which is pretty cool, in its self, because just last year that would have been a big week. I cut the distance out of my two long runs this week, but I still manage two great runs this week. The tempo run on Monday, was ran in snow and wind, and definitely tested my resolve. It was also the longest tempo of the year...clocking in with almost four miles at quick pace. Sadly I didn't get a good split on this run, so I don't know what my pace was, but it did feel fast. Thankfully of my Friday Fast day, I did get a split. For 3.65 miles I managed a very comfortable 6:30 pace, which gave me a smile for the rest of the day.

This week I am planning on hitting 31 miles for the week, but with a few different types of runs. I am going to replace my Monday tempo run with a surge-fartlek run, and on Wednesday I am going to run 3 minutes hard followed by 3 minutes comfortable (but not easy) for four miles. Both of these runs are going to get me used to running fast. Essentially, I am going to be taxing my body systems that improve my VO2 Max which will help me run faster. (At least that's according to my two training books). Then on Friday, I am going to run a pseudo-time trial; where I am only going to run three miles, with the intention of running at my 10k goal race pace. If everything goes to plan, I really believe this week kick-start my final push towards totally kicking ass at Seaport and Bloomsday!

Things to get excited about…

2007-04-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

So two totally cool things happened today with my running. But before I get to what they were, let me tell you I needed them. This Tuesday I had my first “crummy” run in a while. Not sure what it was, but I just couldn’t get motivated for my run. Somehow, I managed to get out on the street and was hoping that a couple of miles into I would get into it. But nope…all I wanted to do was quit and after three and half uninspired miles I called it a day. This really bummed me out, and carried over to the next day were I had an average hill run. To be honest I was starting to get worried that maybe I had burned myself out on running.

But then today came along, and my new favorite run “Fast Friday” was scheduled. So today at lunch, I laced up the shoes and went out for a 3.65 mile run around Riverfront Park. I slowly worked my way into a good, hearty pace about a quarter mile into the run, and was feeling great. Another mile in, I picked up the pace again and started to teeter the line of going aerobic (ie sucking serious wind to keep the pace) and cruising. I keep my legs moving at this pace, and was pleasantly surprised with a time of just under 24 minutes for the run. That’s 6:30 miles for those counting at home!

The other totally awesome thing that happened today, related to my running is something that you may have already noticed. Linda, being the totally awesome girlfriend that she is, designed a new banner for my blog. It’s a picture of me (thanks Dad) from my last race, which Linda then manipulated in Photoshop to fit the color scheme of the blog. So if you look real hard, that guy in the middle is me. :-)

Week Four: Strength -- 32.3 Miles

2007-04-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

In yet another "new twist" to my training blog, I am focusing on the week ahead as supposed to reviewing on the training of the past month. I am in a really good place with my running right now; I am getting all my runs in, hitting my training goals, and feeling strong in most of my runs. So instead of patting myself on the back with a blog post of how awesome I am, I going to talk about this week's training which will make me even more awesome. :-)

Right now, I am in week four of my training schedule for the Seaport/Bloomsday races. You can check out the overview of the plan by clicking here. This week falls in the strength phase, whose emphasis is to focus on runs that develop physical and mental strength. Types of these runs are tempo runs, hard steady-state runs, hill repeats, and (for me) long runs without music. Below is my schedule for this week, which I feel will help improve my "running strength" drastically.

Monday -- Tempo Run -- 5.7 Miles I am going to run this during my lunch hour at work. The plan is to warmup on the first .7 miles, and then gradually lower my pace down to 6:30 pace over the next four miles. Then coast it on home over the last mile.

Tuesday -- Medium Distance -- 7.2 Miles One of my goals over the last month was to increase the distance of my recovery runs. This run falls in that category. I am planning on running these seven miles at slightly faster than eight minute pace, and I know that at the end of the run I will feel refresh and ready for the next day's run.

Wednesday -- Hill Repeats -- 5.75 Miles This run should really be classified as workout, cause I am planning on it kicking my ass. I am going to jog over to Manito Park, and then run run three loops around the lower end of the park, with a couple minutes of rest between each loop. A couple weeks ago (3/14) I did this workout and only two laps. They were in 6:50 and 6:44. This week I am hoping to be under 6:40 for all three of the laps.

Friday -- Hard Steady-State -- 3.65 Miles The Friday short and fast run is slowly becoming a staple in my running routine. I think it is always good to "just run hard" every once in a while, and Fridays seems like the best day to do so. It just seems to clear my mind of all that work crap from the week.

Saturday -- Long Run -- 10 Miles Just weekly long run. You know the meat and potatoes of any training plan. Not really sexy or interesting, but very important. Hopefully after this last Saturday's long run of 12 miles, this run will feel short!

So there we go, this week's plan. If you haven't figured it out yet, you can click on the day of the week for each run, and a gmap should come up with that run. Kind of neat to see that actual route of each run. Maybe by next week I will have decided to change the direction of my blog and will give you a recap of running, instead of talking about what I plan on doing. ;-)

Hello, Old Friend

2007-03-22T13:25:00.001-07:00

With the ramped up training that I have embarked on over the last two weeks, I have had an old friend return into my life. This friend seems to follow me wherever I go, there in the morning when I wake up and there when I am sitting my desk during the workday. Diner time, yeah it’s there. And watching tv, you know it. Who is this ever-present, always at my side friend? Why it’s…wait for it…tired legs.

And you know, I’ve missed them. Over the last year, I believe that I have constantly fallen on the cautious side of the training-intensity scale. I was not willing to approach the over training line, let alone cross it. It just wasn’t worth the risk. I didn’t want to get injured, and most importantly I didn’t want to suffer a burnout towards running. But something has changed. I’m not sure what caused it, but now I want to train harder. I want to put in the work to run the times I think can. And as silly as it sounds, the sore legs make me feel like I’m doing just that.

Phase One Done, What's Next?

2007-03-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

It's ten weeks into 2007, and phase one of my training plan is complete. I didn't make my goal of running sub 31-minutes at the St. Paddy's Day Five but I did reach several other goals. First and foremost I am running consistently. I believe that I have ran at least five times every week. Also, I haven't had a week of under 20 miles yet (see below chart for the details). I haven't had any serious aches or pains, and most importantly I am still enjoy going out for a run. So pretty much it's been a good ten weeks.

Weekly Mileage for the first 10 weeks of 2007

Looking ahead, I've decided that I am going to focus on running well at the Seaport River Run and at Bloomsday. This is a slight change from my earlier plans, where I was going to run through these runs and focus on the CD'A Half. But I like this change much better. For both of these runs, I've got the hometown thing pulling at me. There's just something really appealing about busting out a sub-40 10k at Seaport or running really well at Bloomsday. It may be that these are two races that non-runners actually know something about and if I do well at them I'll have some bragging material. But I think it is something else. I have always known about these runs since I was in grade school, dreamed about doing well in them (even back then), and know I am in a position to do just that. So I guess you could say that I am running these races for the little 10 year old Todd, that beat his mom by two minutes in the 1990 edition of the Seaport River Run and made plans to win that race some day. I'm not quite there yet, but a good strong performance would certainly impress the younger version of me.

So you might be asking, "What adjustments to my training plan am I going to make, so that I run super fast at Seaport and Bloomsday?" Well I'm glad you asked would be reply. I really like my training plan right, but I am defiantly see some areas for improvement. First, I need to run my tempo runs and pace work outside. When I run these runs on a treadmill, I am just not getting the full workout. A big part of a run of this type is to get your body AND mind used to running at a faster pace, but you when you have a machine (the treadmill) do all the pace work you really are cheating your self. Also, I am going to to reduce the numbers of scheduled runs per week to five, but I am going to increase my weekly mileage to over thirty miles a week. Nothing major, just small tweaks to make things better. If you want to see the details of my training plan, there is a link to a Google spreadsheet on the right side of my blog that plots every thing out. Enjoy!

St. Paddy's Day Five Results

2007-03-11T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not much in the mood to talk about my results from today's St. Paddy's Five race. Even though I ran 40 seconds faster than last year and it was post high school PR, I am just mad at myself for not running a smart race. Pretty much it boils down to this, I got caught up in the rush of trying to get a Second Seeding Time for Bloomsday and went out way tooooooo fast. This pretty much killed my legs, and forced me into survival mode by mile two. Not a good race strategy when you are aiming for a good time. Oh well....lots of learned lessons from this race. The below graph maps out and my mile splits for today's race, and keep in mind that a straight horizontal line would have been best.

Why I am excited like a school boy for this Sunday

2007-03-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

For the fourth year in a row, Linda and I will be competing in the St. Paddy’s Five Road Race. Early spring weather, a pretty course along the Spokane River, true post-race entertaining-entertainment, and a chance to see how much more training you need to do for Bloomsday makes this one of my favorite racing events of the year. Also this year, we will be honored to be running with one of the Lewiston Valley’s top age group runners, Ann Jones. So when you combine all these facts, you can correctly guess that I am pretty damn excited for this weekend’s race.

The St. Paddy’s Five will always hold a special place in my heart. (Lame statement, I know, but just bear with me.) Three years ago, Linda decided that she wanted to try this running thing that I always talked about but never did. So we did a little research, found this run, and signed up. Then we drew up a training plan, tried our best to follow it, and counted the days in anticipation until the race came. When race-day came, I remember trying to hide my nerves (and I had plenty) as I tried to convince Linda that she wouldn’t finish last. The race came and went in a blur but it was exactly awesome like we thought it would be. But the race itself wasn’t my best memory from that day that honor goes to a seemingly random event afterwards. While ordering our hard-earned, post-race lattes from Starbucks the Barista noticed the matching shirts Linda and I were wearing and asked what they were for and I replied that they were the race shirts from that day’s run. The Barista then said that she used to run in high school, and asked how long the race was and this time Linda answered, with a smile as wide as I had ever seen, “Five miles!” It was right then and there that I knew Linda had that runner’s gene and she was gonna be hooked for life.

I like the St. Paddy’s Five for reasons besides sentimental, as well. Early spring weather is hands down my favorite weather of the year. It might snow, it might rain, it might 15 degrees or it could be 65 degrees, you just don’t know. Right now, the weatherman says highs in the mid-50s with a 50/50 chance or rain…which pretty much sounds like a guess to me. I also the love the course. I love the start in the Community College parking lot, I love the ever so slight downhill first two miles along the rive, and the next time miles back up the Centennial Trail. I love that only real hill on the course is to get up onto a bridge, and that the last mile seems so close to the finish. And man oh man do I love the finish…a ¾ trip around the track at the Spokane Community College. I do not believe that there is a better five-mile race in the world, and that there will never be a better course! Oh yeah I forgot what could be the best part of all…the awards ceremony. Normally, waiting around for the outside chance of winning an age-group is about as painful as getting you teeth pulled but that’s not the case here. The emcee for the awards is sooo bad (yes three o bad) he’s good. He adds a running commentary with every award, that drips with something so odd and particular that you just can’t figure out if he is being cruel on purpose or maybe he just doesn’t have a clue. Let’s just say that he was booed several times last year. Pretty much every runner stays for the awards, but that probably has to do with the $500 drawing at the end of it all.

Another thing to get excited about for this year’s St. Paddy’s Five is that my mother is coming up for the run. At the age of XX (edited for my own safety) my mom has a renewed passion for running that I know has inspired myself and probably Linda. Two months ago, my mom decided that she was going to run the Portland Marathon this October. It will ten years since her first marathon, and she wants to run the same time. I think she can do it. This Sunday will be a good test for her fitness. In fact it will be a good test for all of us, and yes I am excited for this test!