We all have our own pace - having over 30 years of running expirence (wow that's getting scary) I can pretty much nail my pace without looking at a watch. It really doesn't matter if I am in or out of shape, I just know in my head how far I've gone and how far I am from finishing a run. Some of you most likely are saying, "What's wrong with that? I wish I could pace myself like that." But really this ability can be counterproductive when I'm doing a tempo run or trying to push myself harder through some 'pick-ups' during a run. I tend to hold a little back on these runs becuase I know in my head I'm on my target pace when it would be more productive to my running growth (ie improvement) to beat my target pace for that run. Tempo runs are usually the thorn in my side.
In addition I tend to improve in leaps, like my 2 mile PB from the other night when I don't make any assumptions on what my pace will be before a run. That way I tend to push myself just a little harder than the pacing voice that is talking in my head. I just wonder if I didn't have this pacing ability would I be a better runner in the long run?
A prime example of what I'm talking about is from my long run from about a week ago. I estimated to Beth that I was going to take 2 hours to finish over at her parents house, 9.5 miles later and 1:59:14 (Yeah :46 second off from my estimate.) I crossed the finish feeling pretty good. My overall pace was crappy but maybe if I couldn't pace myself so well I could have improved on this time. Would running this training run faster make me a better runner? Personally, for this example since this was a new distance I was pleased with my time. And that's when I have to be careful, I have to plan exactly how fast I want to push myself before I leave the house.
I'm currently on a 7 day running streak again. If it hadn't been for the rain and my hip during this month I think I'd be looking at 28 straight days. Still I have to be pleased with my month.
Keep Steppin'
Bob
BTW yesterday I mentioned I wanted to run my 4 mile training run at a 9:50 pace...... I did it at a 9:53 pace. Pretty damm close.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Too Much Information
- I was going through my log for this month and realized that my consecutive day streak is actually 19 days not 18. That's huge because it actually 'breaks' my record of 18 days rather than just tying it. I've made the correction on my sidebar to reflect this.
- Monthly mileage is now up over 150 miles and I'm going to finish this month/week off strong with another 20+ miles. That will DESTROY my previous best month of 108.6 miles. I feel so strong right now I think I can add to this next month. We'll see how I feel doing the P90x program too. Because of this I've only scheduled 100 mile month. Anything beyond this will be good.
- Last night was my first scheduled interval training session - I had a small problem. The local college track was closed (by 7:00 pm) so tried a local HS, that was closed also. I ended up coming home and running a tempo 2 miler. I hadn't run this course in a while and I DESTROYED my previous time of 19:02. I clocked a 17:25 or a 8:43 per mile average with more to spare in my tank! This is my fist recorded run over a mile where my average pace per mile has been under 9:00 mins! The 19:02 was done in March of last year so I expected an improvement and a :90 second improvement is wonderful, I'm completely jazzed over my results. With the increase in monthly mileage I expect to see this kind of improvement to continue throughout this year. Maybe not this big of a jump, but I can always dream can't I?
- Weightlifting is going well - no real pains and I'm on my third week. If I wasn't doing P90x, I'd up these workouts - but I'm going to use these just to say I got the workout in. Weights never hurt anybody unless you drop them o your neck. (see USC)
- Tonight I have a 4 miler easy pace planned. Nothing special just right around a 9:50 pace would be good. My hammies are a little tired/sore but nothing too bad. Tired in a good way - which is what I want. I should take my running buddy, we'll see, it all depends when I actually get out the door for this run.
- This distance coupled with my two walks and my warm up and cool down I should log about 7 miles today. The weather is nice enough for this to happen pretty easily.
- My overall progress this month has been amazing - even though I want to change my 10k RACE GOAL, I'm going to stick with a sub 60 min goal. The race is 52 days off and with my 10k race last week (1:01:33 - race report) that I struggled with I think a 2 min improvement during this time frame is more than good. Continuous Improvement I've always said.
- Finally after three tries I found my next pair of shoes - in fact I ran with them for the first time last night, and set a PB! I'll log about 50 miles in them and then FINALLY give you my SHOE REVIEW - here's my last one. Isn't it amazing how good a shoe feels and how bad a shoe can feel?
- I've added music to my blog - if it's too much let me know. Hey Nicole thanks for reading, and I have to give No Doubt some play time. OC band, good music...... ok the song is kind of wierd in this context. If anyone wants to put in music requests drop me a comment and I'll try to add it to my list, that is if I like it. If the load times are getting too long for the blog please me know also - I'll cut back on some sidebar items.
- Beth and I did our P90x pretest last night. Not too difficult - I can tell I need work on core muscles and suprisingly my quads. The conditioning part I don't think I'll have too much of a problem but either way, I can tell this is going to be an intense 90 days. We're starting the actual program Sunday, but we'll most likely do the one of the Bonus workouts between now and Sunday. I'm so looking forward to working out with Beth. If we don't kill each other it will be fun! Beth still won't admit that she sweats...... she glistens. Yeah right. I still can't look too closely at my 'before' pictures. I think the reality is slowly seeping in.....
Bob
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
P90X
Well Beth and I took our "Before" pictures last night - I can't post them. Just too horrible - maybe I'll get over it once I've finished the program but for right now I can't stand looking at them. Tonight we're doing the fitness test to see if we can even handle doing the program and most likely we'll start the actual progam over the weekend. We're both pretty sure the fitness test won't pose any problems but I'm still worried.
We're pretty much going to follow the program except for maybe the supplements they sell. Foodwise we're going to eat better and clear out the house over the next 30 days. After 90 days if we like the results I'm sure we'll do it again. I'm looking forward spending that extra hour working out with Beth but it's going to be hard on me getting up an hour earlier, I'm such a night owl.
I'll keep everyone posted on our/my progress.
On top of this program I am continuing my running and weight program(s). So I'm upping my daily workout time from approx 1 hour a day to 2 hours a day - I know this is going to get me tired but I want to see how far I can push myself here. I have enough base work put in over the past couple years I should be able to handle it. I think the hardest thing for me will be the change in diet.
Last night I snuck in a 5k at an very easy pace (10:26 per mile) that's a little too slow, but because of the two previous days at the quicker pace I'm ok with this. Also my running partner kept stopping and wanted to smell the grass....... My legs did feel pretty tired last night and I was overdressed for the weather (windbreaker and gloves). I most likely could have gotten away with just my sleeves and no gloves but I was being a wimp because of the slight drizzle. Still it was a good run, I got out the front door and put in the miles where I could have just easily sat in front of the tv so I have to be pleased that I put in the effort. I've run this particular course 14 times now and this run is the second slowest I've done, so that kind of tells me I did take it rather too easy.
Today is turning out to be fairly nice (forecast called for 40% chance of rain today), I honestly don't think we're going to get it. That's good because I want to sneak out and get my first speedwork workout in. I haven't done any speedwork in such a long time it's going to be interesting to see how my body reacts. I'm just wondering if I'm going to survive. :)
Because of the rain I'm basically two workouts behind schedule but I'm not worried about this at all. I'll just make them up along the way since I'm planning on doing more mileage than what my plan calls for anyway. Friday's are scheduled rest days and I love running Friday nights so I'm sure I'll make one day up this week. My long day - Sunday this week is only 5 miles so rolling in the P90x program this weekend works out well also. The weight training is coming along but I haven't really seen any results from this yet, hopefully by the end of March the work I'm putting in here will begin to pay off.
Keep Steppin'
Bob
We're pretty much going to follow the program except for maybe the supplements they sell. Foodwise we're going to eat better and clear out the house over the next 30 days. After 90 days if we like the results I'm sure we'll do it again. I'm looking forward spending that extra hour working out with Beth but it's going to be hard on me getting up an hour earlier, I'm such a night owl.
I'll keep everyone posted on our/my progress.
On top of this program I am continuing my running and weight program(s). So I'm upping my daily workout time from approx 1 hour a day to 2 hours a day - I know this is going to get me tired but I want to see how far I can push myself here. I have enough base work put in over the past couple years I should be able to handle it. I think the hardest thing for me will be the change in diet.
Last night I snuck in a 5k at an very easy pace (10:26 per mile) that's a little too slow, but because of the two previous days at the quicker pace I'm ok with this. Also my running partner kept stopping and wanted to smell the grass....... My legs did feel pretty tired last night and I was overdressed for the weather (windbreaker and gloves). I most likely could have gotten away with just my sleeves and no gloves but I was being a wimp because of the slight drizzle. Still it was a good run, I got out the front door and put in the miles where I could have just easily sat in front of the tv so I have to be pleased that I put in the effort. I've run this particular course 14 times now and this run is the second slowest I've done, so that kind of tells me I did take it rather too easy.
Today is turning out to be fairly nice (forecast called for 40% chance of rain today), I honestly don't think we're going to get it. That's good because I want to sneak out and get my first speedwork workout in. I haven't done any speedwork in such a long time it's going to be interesting to see how my body reacts. I'm just wondering if I'm going to survive. :)
Because of the rain I'm basically two workouts behind schedule but I'm not worried about this at all. I'll just make them up along the way since I'm planning on doing more mileage than what my plan calls for anyway. Friday's are scheduled rest days and I love running Friday nights so I'm sure I'll make one day up this week. My long day - Sunday this week is only 5 miles so rolling in the P90x program this weekend works out well also. The weight training is coming along but I haven't really seen any results from this yet, hopefully by the end of March the work I'm putting in here will begin to pay off.
Keep Steppin'
Bob
Monday, January 25, 2010
Beautiful Day
I written alot about difficult runs and PB's recently. Mostly because these types of runs are important, memorable, and recently very common for me. Tonight I wanted to comment on another 'type' of run, the so called 'easy' run. That's the training run where you feel like your floating and effort-wise it doesn't feel like a constant struggle. I always see people writing about these runs - you'll see comments about 'runner's high' or endorphines, etc. These types of runs to me are the product of hard work and really only come at certain points in your training cycle(s). It's not mysterious that they 'just happen', they occur because what you are doing is working.
Don't get me wrong, these runs I truly enjoy and they are one of the many reasons why I run. But I always get confused when I see comments about "I'm still searching for that runner's high..." If you're searching for that run/feeling then search your log books - find out what you were doing the last time you had that feeling. Do it again. I promise you, you will have that feeling again. Running is a science as much as it is physical and mental. "But Bob I don't keep a log..." well then keep looking because your 'runner's high' runs will be few and far between. This might sound harsh, but this is my blog and it's what I believe - so you'll have to put up with it. :)
Enough of my soap box though. I got in a nice 3.7 mile easy run tonight (9:35 pace) that's about :10 - :15 seconds faster than my target pace tonight, but still within my target pace variance so I'm pleased with the effort put in tonight. I started my second week in my 10k plan and Wednesday night I have my first interval training scheduled (8x400's) I'll be doing these at my 5k race pace (approx 9:04 pace) so we'll see how that goes. I'm a little concerned though since we're supposed to get another wave of rainstorms starting tomorrow. Hopefully it's not a bad as last week and won't effect my runnng plans too much.
I had a nice little phone conversation with my oldest son tonight - he's 15 now and earlier this school year he promised he and his mother (my ex) that he was going to try out for the track team. I found out that he was planning on flaking on this promise so I called him on it tonight. I actually got to use the phrase: "Cowboy Up." I've been waiting a while to use that and I think it had a positive affect. I told him that I on't expect him to become this great runner, but I do expect him to follow through on a promise and to put in the hard work (mileage) to find out what kind of man he's going to be. And that maybe, just maybe he'll learn something about himself in the process. He's going to be suprised though - two years ago without any training he clocked a 6:13 mile, and that was on the road. The kid is fast I just think he's afraid to fail. It will be interesting to see how he responds to our talk. I'll know by Wednesday if he signed up for the team....
Keep Steppin'
Bob
Don't get me wrong, these runs I truly enjoy and they are one of the many reasons why I run. But I always get confused when I see comments about "I'm still searching for that runner's high..." If you're searching for that run/feeling then search your log books - find out what you were doing the last time you had that feeling. Do it again. I promise you, you will have that feeling again. Running is a science as much as it is physical and mental. "But Bob I don't keep a log..." well then keep looking because your 'runner's high' runs will be few and far between. This might sound harsh, but this is my blog and it's what I believe - so you'll have to put up with it. :)
Enough of my soap box though. I got in a nice 3.7 mile easy run tonight (9:35 pace) that's about :10 - :15 seconds faster than my target pace tonight, but still within my target pace variance so I'm pleased with the effort put in tonight. I started my second week in my 10k plan and Wednesday night I have my first interval training scheduled (8x400's) I'll be doing these at my 5k race pace (approx 9:04 pace) so we'll see how that goes. I'm a little concerned though since we're supposed to get another wave of rainstorms starting tomorrow. Hopefully it's not a bad as last week and won't effect my runnng plans too much.
I had a nice little phone conversation with my oldest son tonight - he's 15 now and earlier this school year he promised he and his mother (my ex) that he was going to try out for the track team. I found out that he was planning on flaking on this promise so I called him on it tonight. I actually got to use the phrase: "Cowboy Up." I've been waiting a while to use that and I think it had a positive affect. I told him that I on't expect him to become this great runner, but I do expect him to follow through on a promise and to put in the hard work (mileage) to find out what kind of man he's going to be. And that maybe, just maybe he'll learn something about himself in the process. He's going to be suprised though - two years ago without any training he clocked a 6:13 mile, and that was on the road. The kid is fast I just think he's afraid to fail. It will be interesting to see how he responds to our talk. I'll know by Wednesday if he signed up for the team....
Keep Steppin'
Bob
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Race Report - Running After Violet Virtual 10k!
Another blogger - Casey put together this virtual 10k for her readers. I joined in because the timing was perfect for my training and also because this sounded like fun - and I'm up for fun so I did it, and I'm sure glad I did.
After a week of rain - I had been stuck inside since Wednesday and I'd lost my consecutive day running streak at 18 so I wasn't sure how I was going to respond to having three days off. My left hip had been bugging me a little so I'm sure the days off helped, but I was feeling a little nervous as I stepped out the door for this run. Weather-wise you couldn't ask for a more perfect day to run in. The rains had washed all the dirt out of the air, and the sky was clean and crisp. The sun was shining, and the temp was hovering right around 63 degrees, just perfect weather to go for a run let alone an attempt at a PR.
After doing a quick warmup, I setteled into the race itself. The course I decided on is slightly hilly but not too bad, in fact, I had set my current PB on this course back in March of last year: 1:04:11 so secretly I wanted to break 60 mins but I had no idea what to expect.
Right after I got going I knew this run was going to be difficult - the fact I hadn't had a difficult run in a while suprised me but having a difficult run the day I wanted to set a PB and after taking three days off? Now that really suprised me. It always amazes me how my body reacts in ways I never could guess or predict. You'd think after 39 years I'd know how I'm going to react. Maybe that's another reason why I enjoy running so much.
Anyway, I finished my first mile around 10:40 and I knew I was in trouble - my legs felt like dead wood and each step was difficult. That coupled with a shortness of breath really puzzled me. I should feel good dammit! Onward I pushed myself; mile 2 came in around 10:30. Slowly my legs began to feel better, and mentally I started to 'will' myself to run harder. I have a love-hate relationship with these types of runs, I know that pushing through this tpye of run makes me stronger and dammit I wasn't going to let two slow miles put me down. So right then I decided to stop 'watching my clock'. I put my head down and ran. Only then did I slowly started to feel better - focused I ran. Mile three, four, five went by without a hitch as I passed other Saturday morning runners. Slowly I noticed a smile had spread across my face and with Oingo Boingo "Stay" blaring in my headphones I cranked it up for the final mile. 1:01:33 at the finish! I did it, a PB and a PB that I had to work for. I'll remember this run for a while and that's good because I want to. Thanks Casey for encouraging us to do this. I needed to be challanged and I needed a difficult run.
Today I followed up my 10k race with an easy 4.5 mile run. Suprisingly I felt really good and even though I was supposed to run this at an easy pace (approx 9:45 pace) I did this at a tempo pace (9:12 pace). Legs felt strong and I felt really good. Once again the weather was perfect and I enjoyed getting out and hitting the pavement. It was like yesterday's difficult run had never happened. Funny. I don't think I'll ever understand this.
This week's schedule looks pretty easy - I'm supposed to roll in some track work but I'm not sure I'll have the time. I usually only get some free time after 8 pm so It will have to be at the local College.
Keep Steppin'
Bob
After a week of rain - I had been stuck inside since Wednesday and I'd lost my consecutive day running streak at 18 so I wasn't sure how I was going to respond to having three days off. My left hip had been bugging me a little so I'm sure the days off helped, but I was feeling a little nervous as I stepped out the door for this run. Weather-wise you couldn't ask for a more perfect day to run in. The rains had washed all the dirt out of the air, and the sky was clean and crisp. The sun was shining, and the temp was hovering right around 63 degrees, just perfect weather to go for a run let alone an attempt at a PR.
After doing a quick warmup, I setteled into the race itself. The course I decided on is slightly hilly but not too bad, in fact, I had set my current PB on this course back in March of last year: 1:04:11 so secretly I wanted to break 60 mins but I had no idea what to expect.
Right after I got going I knew this run was going to be difficult - the fact I hadn't had a difficult run in a while suprised me but having a difficult run the day I wanted to set a PB and after taking three days off? Now that really suprised me. It always amazes me how my body reacts in ways I never could guess or predict. You'd think after 39 years I'd know how I'm going to react. Maybe that's another reason why I enjoy running so much.
Anyway, I finished my first mile around 10:40 and I knew I was in trouble - my legs felt like dead wood and each step was difficult. That coupled with a shortness of breath really puzzled me. I should feel good dammit! Onward I pushed myself; mile 2 came in around 10:30. Slowly my legs began to feel better, and mentally I started to 'will' myself to run harder. I have a love-hate relationship with these types of runs, I know that pushing through this tpye of run makes me stronger and dammit I wasn't going to let two slow miles put me down. So right then I decided to stop 'watching my clock'. I put my head down and ran. Only then did I slowly started to feel better - focused I ran. Mile three, four, five went by without a hitch as I passed other Saturday morning runners. Slowly I noticed a smile had spread across my face and with Oingo Boingo "Stay" blaring in my headphones I cranked it up for the final mile. 1:01:33 at the finish! I did it, a PB and a PB that I had to work for. I'll remember this run for a while and that's good because I want to. Thanks Casey for encouraging us to do this. I needed to be challanged and I needed a difficult run.
Today I followed up my 10k race with an easy 4.5 mile run. Suprisingly I felt really good and even though I was supposed to run this at an easy pace (approx 9:45 pace) I did this at a tempo pace (9:12 pace). Legs felt strong and I felt really good. Once again the weather was perfect and I enjoyed getting out and hitting the pavement. It was like yesterday's difficult run had never happened. Funny. I don't think I'll ever understand this.
This week's schedule looks pretty easy - I'm supposed to roll in some track work but I'm not sure I'll have the time. I usually only get some free time after 8 pm so It will have to be at the local College.
Keep Steppin'
Bob
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Rain, Rain Go Away.......
Well we've seen the most rain in that past five days that I can remember since grade school. Crazy weather, we've seen just about everything and a lot of it. Needless to say I haven't run since Wednesday now and I feel bad about that. I lost my 'steak' at 18 days (I tied my PB with that) and I'm now behind in my 10k training program. No harm done and I can't really complain because my right hip was flaring up a little and it was time to take a rest. I've already set a new PB in monthly mileage and I'm feeling pretty good so hopefully I'll get out sometime today to test out my hip.
Other than that nothing else has happened - I'm waiting for some new running shoes to get shipped, once they arrive and I get a few miles covered in them I'll write a review. Also I have another review to write about a pair that I sent back. I should have that done by the end of the month.
Today is the day I'm supposed to run my trial 10k. I think I'll attempt it just so I can set an actual goal time for my race, but if my hi feels bad - I'll cut this run back.
Keep Steppin'
Bob
Other than that nothing else has happened - I'm waiting for some new running shoes to get shipped, once they arrive and I get a few miles covered in them I'll write a review. Also I have another review to write about a pair that I sent back. I should have that done by the end of the month.
Today is the day I'm supposed to run my trial 10k. I think I'll attempt it just so I can set an actual goal time for my race, but if my hi feels bad - I'll cut this run back.
Keep Steppin'
Bob
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Lots of Rain
I know that Southern California people can't handle weather changes but we've really had some freaky rain storms over the past 48 hrs with another 48 hrs to come. Yesterday for about two hours we got about 2 inches of rain with tornados, thunder, and hail. It was comming down so hard we couldn't even see accross the street.
These were taken at our local harbor (Dana Point, Ca.) a couple of hours after the downpour yesterday. The waterfall - it's never there. That's not a river, it's overflow coming of the cliffs into the harbor area. Right above the 'waterfall' are multi-million dollar condos, no word if they been damaged.
Runningwise I took it very easy yesterday - I'm really sore in my right leg (tendons in the hip area) nothing serious, but because of the massive increas in mileage I'm taking it very easy. I'm sure it's going to hurt my weekly mileage, and my training plan, but I'll deal with it. I'll get in a walk or to today to keep my streak going, but I don't envision getting in a run today.
Keep Steppin'
Bob
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