5+ Miles Tonight - Feeling Good

Well, I've actually started working towards my half marathon today.  I ran 4 miles at a 10 min pace and then another 1.5 miles at around a 12-13 min pace.  The 10 min pace felt really good and I'm guessing I could have run another hour at this pace without too much difficulty which is a good sign since just a few weeks ago I was worried about my conditioning.

My long runs this training period (approx 8 weeks) will start at 6 miles working up to an 11-12 miler a few weeks before my race.  I'm going to start looking for a water belt this week so I don't have to worry about looping close to home on these longer run.

I'm going to through in some hill workouts hopefully about once a week also since this race is very heavy in hills.  I think this work will also help with my overall strength.

Training mileage should top out around 60-70 miles per week, with July mileage coming close to 200 miles for the month.  We'll see how this goes over the next few weeks, and I'll adjust if I have to.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of my Fourth of July......

Dana Point Harbor, Ca.

Beth and Cade

The Family

Not a bad group

Squirrel time

Eating out of Abby's hand - fearless.

I should get this guy to run with me over teh next few months....

Cade and Alex getting into it

Cade showing off his Ninja moves - getting the best of his older brother.

Out for a night sail to watch the fireworks.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

So Little Time So Much To Do....... 4th of July Race Coming Up.

The weeks are just flying by for me right now.  I can't believe the 4th of July is just around the corner.  My workouts are going well - and I'm on pace to log 100 miles this month and I feel pretty good right now.  Tonight I'm planning an easy 3.1 miles with a little cool down - something around 32 mins would be fine - hopefully I can keep my pace that slow so I don't fry myself with a tempo run.

I missed my cycling day this weekend - I didn't get a chance to work on my bike until Saturday - once I get my tire fixed and my bike cleaned up, it was getting too late and I couldn't get out of the house.  My next ride is going to have to be something short because I put on a new tire that I haven't ridden on in about 4 years - it's a softer 'racing' tire and the tread is marginal so I want to stay close to the house to make sure the small cuts aren't going to cause a blowout. 

Running is coming along - I've lost a ton of conditioning and I'm really going to have to pick up my workouts over the next few weeks.  After the 4th I'm going to start picking up long runs every week, I'd like to have an 11-12 mile run under my belt before the half marathon on Sept 11th.  Currently I'm having mental issues going beyond 3 miles at a sub10 min mile, so somehow I'm going to have to work through this - hopefully a breakthrough will happen sometime before July 4th.

My racing plan is to run July 4th at the Ladera Ranch 5k.  I've run this race several times now, and even though the course isn't that difficult I'm not quote sure what to expect.  Currently I'm shooting for a sub 30 (again) but I'm not sure if that is doable because of my lack of preparation.  The starting line is about 2 miles from my house, so I'll use that as a warmup again this year so it makes things easy since I don't have to worry about driving and finding parking, etc....  The run itself is really fun with a good turnout and nice streets to run though.  The final miles is almost all downhill, so it sets itself up for some quick times.

My next race is my half marathon that is scheduled for Sept 11th at Camp Pendleton.  This race I'm really worried about.  My neighbor signed me up for this because I keep talking about running a half but keep chickening out at the last moment.  The course itself looks like it might be painful - run on firebreak roads here in Southern California at our local marine base - the trail is called Heartbreak Ridge......

 With 1280 feet of climbing I'm worried about this.  My long 9.5 mile run that I ran back in January this year only had 983 feet of elevation change.  It's going to be brutal - and I'm guessing a 'Death March' over the final few miles.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

A Nice 4 Miler.......

So yesterday was a very good day to workout.  I didn't get started until pretty late just because I couldn't break away.  After dinner I took Bogey out for a walk 2.3 miles and 40 mins later we came back home and it was pushing 7:00 pm.

P90x was next once we got the kids setteled down to bed - by 8:30 Beth and I were working up a sweat (actually Beth doesn't really sweat, but I do enough for both of us.)  And we both felt pretty wiped after about 60 mins of Kempo.  Since we skipped the ab workout the day before we threw that 15 min workout in also.

Right after P90x I went out again for a run this time.  I had planned a 5k but I felt pretty good and since I had mentioned going for a 4 mile PB a few posts back I changed routes about 4 mins in to attempt a 4 mile PB.  My PB was set last year (4/18/09) at 42:47 so I knew I was going to set a new one.  (I really need to run this distance more.)  Plannng on the fly I wanted to run 9:40 mile pace and I knew this was totally within my grasp since I just ran a 9:14 mile pace for my 10k race last week.



MIle 1 was run in 9:55 - but I always start out a little slow on this course so I wasn't worried.  I slowly started to pick up my pace and I felt really good despite P90x earlier.  Mile 2 came in around 9:00 flat.  A little too fast but I did feel good and my legs felt pretty strong.  Core muscles felt strong also and I was able to get better movement throughout my hips which for me is has been uncommon these days.  As I get stronger in my midsection I've become less stiff while I'm running.  Mile 3 was uphill quite a bit and I was able to log another sub 10 min mile (I'm not sure what he actual time was here other than the face I was under 28 mins at tis point.) Mile 4 is all downhill and I finished off with a 37:34 total time.  9:14 pace!  I DESTROYED my year old PB by 5 mins!  I'm guessing I could have shaved another :30 - :40 seconds off this if I was really trying.

Total workout time:
Walking: 40 mins
P90x: 75 mins
Running/Cool down: 42 mins

Total Time:  2 hrs  37 mins

I'm very pleased with my runs recently - mileage is up, and my body is recovering very nicely between these efforts.  I' setting PB's almost everyother run right now and I feel like I'm still improving with plenty of room to grow.  I'm not sure how much more I'm goig to improve but for now I'm very happy with the results, workouts, and training runs.

I still haven't signed up for my half marathon, but I should get that completed sometime this week.  I know  can finish the distance, and I do have some 'goals' set this far out.  2:15:00 is my main goal with a stretch of 2:10:00.  I'd love to be closer to 2:05:00 but I'm not there just yet.  Still a 2:15:00 for my first half is a good goal right now and I can always improve on this at a later date.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Sliding into Half Marathon Training

Well my 10k is over and done with and I'm not going to take any time off - I have 8 weeks until the Half marathon and I'm diving right into training for it. Once again I'm going to set-up my own training schedule with a long run topping out at around 12 miles. I'm planning on having 6 weeks of solid training with 1-2 weeks taper time. Hopefully I'll max out at approx 30 miles per week.

During the run-up to my 10k I did set a consecutive day streak of 25-days that I'd barely mentioned. That 25-day streak was actually a yearly goal that I had set back in January so I'm very pleased with being able to set this. I broke the on-going streak totally by accident; some reason I had thought that I had run that day but I never got out the door. Interesting that my brain had thought I had run..... I'm currently on an 8-day streak ad feeling pretty good. My lower calves are still a little sore from my effort off the 10k but it's nothing I can't handle.

With the Half getting close now, I'm getting a little nervous. I know I'll enjoy the run itself but it's the training going up to it that has me a little uptight. Since this is my first in about 20 something years - I want to enjoy myself, but to do this I need to make sure I train without taking a week or two off like I did going into my 10k.

Today's run is going to be an easy 3-4 miler around the house before Abby get's home from school - I'm dropping Cade off at Maas' house around noon because Abby and I have soccer practice this afternoon before Beth gets home from work. With my warmup/cooldown and walking I should log about 5-6 miles for the day which is good for me right now. Saturday this week I'm going to try to sneek in a ride in the morning, and Sunday will be my long run (scheduled for 6.2 miles this week). Overall I'm expecting about 25 miles this week (before my biking), with the biking thrown in I'm hoping for a 35-40 mile week. We'll see where I'm at on Sunday.

P90x is going pretty good. Beth and I took a few days off going into my 10k, but we're back at it. I'm getting stronger it seems almost everyday fomr this program. I feel like my shoulders are getting wider and I have more defined muscle groups now. I'm noticing my legs, stomach, and arms now. Nothing is 'popping' out but I'm slowly getting there. Weight-wise I'm almost always under the 200 lbs mark and my lowest has been 196.5 which is about 6 lbs off since we've started the program.

Final note today comes from my logbook. Since I just set a new PR for my 10k distance, I was looking at my other PR's. I do have several standing that are over 3-4 months old but one particular sticks out and that's my 4 mile PR. I set it back in April of last year with a 10:31 average pace. I'm going to destroy this PR very soon (shoot maybe today.) After this the next oldest is my mile time of 8:15 that I set last September. I'm going to have to make a serious bid at breaking this sometime BEFORE my scheduled Half. To be honest, if I set a 4 mile PR this week - I'll squeeze in this attempt most likely during the first week in April. I think I could shave off about 5-10 seconds off this PR right now under the right circumstances.

Keep Steppin'
bob

Record Week

It's been a few days since I last posted, but I haven't been slacking.  If fact I logged a record 64.2 miles last week beating my previous best by about 15 miles.  Once again I'll point out that I include my cycling miles in these numbers, but I've always have.  Cycling made up 27 miles so I still had a very solid week.

Physically I'm a little tired now.  I have a 10 day streak going on and I do feel a little fatuged.  It's not too bad, but I've run a few of my last runs a little too fast.  Getting home tongight and checking out my log for my last few runs, I'm noticing that my pace is about :15 seconds faster per mile than I really want.  Now this doesn't sound like much, but over a 5 mile distance, and after 10 days the quicker miles do tend to sneek up on you.  This week I'm really going to try to cut back a little on my speed.  (I'm planning speedwork at the end of the month anyway.)

Sometime this week I'll be signing up for my planned 10k - my acutal traing schedule starts next Monday (the 18th) so I do have this week for a little 'freestyle' training.  I'm actually looking forward towards a structured 8 week schedule that includes some track work.  I haven't done any track running in about 15 years so that should be fun.

A couple other notes; first I'm closing in on a streak goal of 18 days.  If everything go to plan that will happen on the 18th.  Hard to believe that in the first 18 days of the new year I could reach one of my quartely goals.  Second, I may revise my 10k time goal.  Right now I'm just shooting for a sub 60 mins, but I'm going to have to put a stretch goal on that because in some of my tempo training runs I'm beating this time already.  Yesterday I ran 5.9 miles in 57:15 or a 9:43 pace on a tempo training run without really trying too hard.  A 10k race I should be able to beat this by about 3-4 mins.  To get a better feel for this I'm scheduling a 10k run this next weeked before I start my actual 10k training.  I want to see how close I'm actually to breaking that 60 min goal.  This will put a slight crim in my distance plans because I wanted to put in a long run of 9 miles (a personal best) this upcoming Sunday.  We'll just have to see how the week pans out.  Finally I've set a goal of a sub 2:15:00 for my half marathon in May.  I have no idea if I can do that - the 8 miler I did mid December really took a lot out of me.  And if I'm not going to run a 9 miler this week, my next scheduled 'longest run' won't occur until early March.  I'm sure I can finish that distance, but without attempting it I can't really get a good grasp on an accurate time.  Anyway, I'm going to focus on running a strong 10k first then I'll worry about the half distance.

Today the whole family dicided to hike up the dreaded ridgeline by my house.  It's a good hike and I had Cade on my back.  I've included a few pictures this time so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about;

Abby on the backside of the ridge

Our house second row back dead center (grey-blue 2 story)

Abby again on top of the ridge

Close-up of our house

Cade - always smiling.

Looking towards Big Bear (East) - just a little snow.

Our little model - her print ad for the Montage will be out next Christmas.

It's a great workout with a 40 lb kid on your back - I was sweating bad.

Finally I wanted to point out that I'm on pace to destroy my monthly record in distance; currently it stands at 108.6 that I did in September last year.  Right now as it stands I'm sitting at 81.6 miles for the month ad on pace to do 127 miles for the month.  Personally I'm pretty sure that I'm going to reach this number in fact I wouldn't be suprised to see a 160 mile month here.  I just want to be careful and make sure I don't hurt myself though.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Morning Running

This morning's run was really nice - a little cold for Southern California (48 degrees), but still nice. As usual I walked the kids to school and then took Cade out for a 4 miler. My pace was really slow - 10:42 per mile but I wanted that because yesterday's runs were 9:40 and 9:55 each. So I'm pleased with how my legs responded this morning.

I've decided 100% to run a half marathon in May, so I'll be running a 5k later this month and then a 10k in March. Beyond that I'm planning on upping my mileage to about 5-6 per day with long runs extending out to 8-9 miles. Starting in Feb 2010 I'll be following a 16 week half marathon plan (I haven't picked on out just yet, but I'll start looking at a few here sometime this week.) Right now I think I could really do a 2:15:00 half without too much trouble so maybe after the first of the year I'll re-evaluate this time and stretch this to a sub 2:10:00 (sub 10 min miles). I think that realistic for a race distance I haven't done in over 20 years.....

Since it's about year's end I'm going to post my 2010 goals soon. In addition to the above half, I'm really going to kick up my training this year. I'll be 39 years old at the end of this month and I want to see what this body can do if I really take care of it, and push myself a little harder. So one of my goals this year is to drop my remaining weight. I want to get down to 185 lbs before my May half. That's only 5 lbs a month with I'm sure is a reasonable goal. With a few adjustment to my diet and an increase in my mileage I should be able to do that easily. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress (BTW I'm sitting at 203 right now.)

Don't worry I'll post my complete 2010 Goal List later this week.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Where has the year disappeared to?

Lately I've been very bad about bloging about my experiences. Maybe because I feel that I don't have anything very interesting to write about but more likely it's just because I've been feeling lazy. That's not a good excuse and I wanted to take the time to apologize to everyone who faithly read my little blog. I promise to at least write about my mundane training runs on a more continual basis.

Ok with the apology out of the way - I have been running. Not as much as I want to (yea its the lazy thing again). Honestly life has gotten in the way recently for me. I've been spending a lot of time with my younger boy right now, cleaning the house and trying to learn / take instructional classes about stock trading. Now and then I do get a good run in so everything isn't lost in regards to my conditioning.

Just the other day I got without a kid or dog in tow and the weather was beautiful. Crystal clear with crisp air. I'm guessing the temp was around 55 but the sun was out without a cloud in the sky. Everything felt really good and my body responded to my run without any aches or pains. I live for these runs. After an hour I found myself back home and disappointed that the run was over. I could have gone another hour easily but I was out of time and needed to get the kids picked up from Grandma's.....

Other things I have going on is my laptop is on the fritz over the past few months. So far Dell has come out and replaced two touchpads and a HD. And STILL I'm having issues. Once this gets cleared up, I'll download pictures my my external HD and get them posted. I have Thanksgiving and Yosemite family pics I wanted to share. The colors in Yosemite was beautiful!

I'm slowly becoming addicted to FB. So I'm going to start linking this blog to my FB page and vice versa. Up to know I've kept them separate, but I guess the people I know can read this without me feeling too much shame..... :)

Final news is I've made up my mind and I'm going to run a half this May. My conditioning is good right now and I feel good about being able to finish without embarrassing myself.

Keep Steppin'
Bob