Unintentional Long Run

So this post is two days late, but I've been busy with the move so I haven't had a chance to write it up. On Friday, I had to go get Carena's car from the parking garage where we accidentally left it for a week (long story). Thinking that based on Madison's low parking rates that they wouldn't tow it so quickly, I thought it would be a nice 3-5 mile jog (see actual details) out to the ramp to pick it up. I set out with 5 bucks cash, my credit card, the parking stub, my driver's license, and her car keys. I considered bringing my phone, but I thought that it would be too much of a hindrance and left it behind. Since I'm moving out of my apartment, I don't have much food there, so I bought a PowerBar at the gas station in lieu of breakfast.

I get to the parking garage and find out that they tow after 48 hours. She gives me the number of the towing company, but I have no phone. Realizing that I'm just a block from Carena's work, I go there and ask to borrow a phone. I call up the number, and they tell me that the car has been impounded, and that I need to call the police. I call the police, and they tell me that the registered owner must pick it up or send a notarized letter authorizing me to pick it up. So there I was in downtown Madison with no access to a vehicle, so I have no option but to run home. I went to Walgreens, bought a Gatorade, and proceeded to run home.

So it's no fun to do a long run without preparing with a decent breakfast or hydrating fully before the run, but that's not the reason the run sucked. It sucked because I had rented a U-Haul and that day was the day that I had to move all the big stuff (couches, TV, etc.) out of my apartment, so the entire time I was thinking about how I hoped my legs weren't too dead to carry stuff up and down stairs all day. Luckily it didn't end up being a big deal, and my legs weren't dead like I had expected. Also, I got a notarized letter faxed to the police department and was able to pick up the car! All's well that ends well, right?

Run With Carena

Today I went for a run with my fiancée, and it was much better than my hungover run. I actually don't run with her very often, so we don't know each others' desired pace. I thought she wanted to run faster, and she thought I wanted to run faster, so we ended up running faster than either of us intended. In the end, I think it was a good thing. I ended up doing a little over 4 miles (details) at an average pace of 9:14, which for Lakeville, especially near me, is a pretty good pace considering the hills (though looking at the actual elevation gain, maybe I'm just a wimp). I'd imagine I could achieve an average pace closer to 8:30-8:40 on flat ground at the same effort level. It's difficult at the moment to see how I could maintain that pace for a whole 13.1 miles, but I think that I can achieve that in 2.5 months worth of training. Maybe this weekend I'll try for something in the 8 mile range with a goal pace of 9:30-9:45, just to see where I'm at.

Recovery Run

Well, today's run (details) was not much fun. I was still somewhat dehydrated from the long run yesterday, and I had a bachelor party last night so I was short on sleep. This combined to make the run somewhat difficult.

I ran with my friend Andrew today. We had no intention of trying to push ourselves at all today; I just wanted to recover. There's really nothing really special to report, though.

Really this post is just about something that is becoming more prevalent on the internet lately; something I have wanted to try for quite awhile: barefoot running. I'm definitely one of the minimalist types who thinks our bodies have evolved to do certain things, and we should do what our bodies are designed for, but I'm not so certain that includes running barefoot on concrete. Grass is a surface I can certainly understand, but somehow I think that even if you adapt your form that running on concrete might be detrimental.

I'm really tempted to go get a pair of Vibram Five Fingers or Nike Free, but I don't want to spend 85 bucks on something that I only use once. On the other hand, I do love to spend money :).

Long Run with Chris

Today was a very productive day, as far as running is concerned. My buddy Chris has a half-marathon coming up in two weeks, but he'd been slacking off recently. With the race coming so soon, we decided he had better get at least one double digit run in.

We took off on what we thought would be a fairly flat route (see details here), but for being around a lake, it sure seemed pretty hilly. It ended up being 10.43 miles in 1:49:58 for an average pace of 10:32, which is pretty good for me. Chris got a couple stomach cramps around 4 miles or so, so we walked for a bit there, but other than that we kept at it. Nothing starts your weekend off right like having a nice 10 mile run to get the endorphins released. Even writing this now, I can still feel the remnants of the experience. Hitting the double digits again really feels like I've accomplished something; like I'm almost back into the same level of fitness as when I last ran my marathon.

Summary for the week:
Running - 23.64 miles in 4:06:58 for an average pace of 10:27
Cycling - 9.2 miles

Another Good Tempo Run

Whew! Just got done with another good tempo run. Something must be wrong if I'm having so many good runs without a downer in between. So today (see details here), I again did a 10 minute (~1 mile) warm-up, followed by 2.25 miles at 8:45ish pace, 2 minute walk break, 1 more mile at 8:45, and a 10 minute cool-down. This was even more fantastic than last week. Pretty much the same workout/route, but this time my HR didn't go above 176 (I aim for 167-175 for the majority of a tempo run).

Greg asked me why I care about what my HR is. Well, there's a couple reasons. The first, more obvious reason, is that if I run the same route at the same pace twice, once with an average HR of 160 and once with an average HR of 150, my fitness/rest/preparedness has improved dramatically between the runs. If it was a very short time between runs, it might be caused by cooler temperatures, being more hydrated, or being more rested. But if it decreases consistently, you can tell your fitness is improving.

Since today was a tempo run, I will explain why I want my HR in the 167-175 range. Keep in mind, I'm no physician, so not everything may be accurate, but I have read much on the subject, and this is what I've taken away.

A tempo run is designed to be run at your anaerobic threshold; that is, just before the point where your body has to switch from aerobic activity (oxygen is delivered to the muscles via the bloodstream) to anaerobic (using a different process to produce energy without oxygen; produces lactic acid [technically lactate] as a byproduct and is far less efficient). Once you're in anaerobic territory, lactic acid starts to accumulate in the bloodstream. Exercising at the anaerobic threshold means you're at the point where lactate levels are constant; if you exceed this threshold, lactate begins to accumulate. Generally speaking, this threshold is obtained in running by having your HR at between 88% and 92% of your maximum HR. I don't know exactly what my max HR is, but I'm estimating it to be around 190, so this pace for me would have a HR of 167-175.

So, a tempo run is designed to stress your aerobic system to its maximum, without going overboard and switching to anaerobic activity. This also lessens recovery time as you do not deplete the muscle stores as heavily as if you surpassed the anaerobic threshold.

The end result is that this improves endurance, and makes it possible to run faster at a similar effort over time. While now I run about a 10:15-10:45 pace (on flat ground) to keep my HR in the low effort range of 135-150, I hope by the time my half marathon rolls around to be able to run about 9:30-9:45 at the same effort.

I hope this made sense!

Bike Ride

I took my dad's old man bike out for a ride today, in what is hopefully the start of some semblance of a cycling training schedule. A friend of mine, Josh, recently bought a new bike, so I biked to his house to see if he wanted to go out for a ride. Alas, he was not home, so I just turned around and came back. Still, it was a nice 9.2 mile ride at an average speed of 13 mph. While I'm not really a cyclist yet, I'm pretty sure that's a terrible speed. At that speed, it would take over 8.5 hours for me to just complete the biking portion of the Ironman. Oh well, it'll get better as my legs adapt and hopefully get a boost when I get an actual road bike.

Easy Recovery Run

Sunday is usually the day where I take it easy and go for a shorter run to recover from the longer Saturday runs. Typically, on a run like this, I try to keep my HR between 135 and 150 BPM. Lately, running in Lakeville is so hilly that even on my recovery runs pushed my HR up near 160 a lot of the time. I was starting to think that maybe I just wasn't in as good of shape as I thought I was, but today I got to do one of my normal routes in Madison which is almost completely flat (see workout details here). I achieved my goal of staying under 150 BPM for almost the entire time; the only times I went above is when I had to cross a busy street and I had to sprint to beat traffic.

This was a very reassuring run. While at a constant, relatively slow pace, being able to keep my HR under 150 but my pace around 10:30-10:40 is something I've been unable to do at home, but now I can feel confident that it's just because of all the hills. I'm hoping to improve my fitness to the point where I could do a flat route like this at a pace in the high-9's with a similar HR in time for the half marathon. If I can get to that point, a 9:00 pace for the entire race should be doable (assuming the race I run isn't too hilly).

I originally set out to do only 3 miles, but I was feeling good about finally having an effortless run, so I tagged on another mile.

It wasn't all rosy though. At around the 2 mile mark, I was overcome by a wave of weakness that lasted for about 45 seconds. I don't know if anyone ever gets these besides me, but this was the first time I'd ever encountered it on a run. Normally, it occurs when I've had nothing to eat but junk food all day (especially Frito's for some reason), and I have to stop what I'm doing and lay down for 5 minutes. This episode wasn't nearly so severe, and I was able to keep running, but the same feeling came over me. I'm hoping that I just didn't have enough to eat for breakfast. I may not have adjusted my diet enough to compensate for burning an additional 3000 calories a week these days.

6 miler through the Arboretum

Just got back from the Arboretum, where I did a 6 miler in 1:03:48 for an average pace of 10:37 (GPS info here). Normally I would run anything over 50 mins at a little slower pace (closer to 11:00), but I was followed by a woman in her 40's and I wasn't about to let her pass me. The Arboretum is a lot hillier than I remember; it's tough to keep your heart rate down when you're constantly going up and down hills. Tomorrow I'll do a nice, short 3 miler on a flat route, and hopefully I can have a similar pace but keep my heart rate closer to 150 bpm the entire time.

This run puts me at 18 for the week, so I'm almost to my desired mileage of 25 miles a week. I'll probably start hitting that mark in August, and then I can really start working on my speed a bit more.

I'm still new to this blogging stuff, so leave me comments with suggestions about what you'd like me to write about.

First Tempo Run

Whew! Just finished the first tempo run that I've run in the last three months, and it was the best run I've had in quite a while. I originally had low expectations for today because even my easy runs have seemed more difficult lately. When I set out with my ten minute warm-up jog, I expected at most to do 2x (1 mile T pace [about 8:40-8:50 pace] followed by 1 min rest). I ended up with 2 miles at 8:40, 3 min rest, and another mile at 8:40, followed by my cool-down jog. There's nothing better than exceeding your expectations and realizing you're in better shape than you thought you were.

Today the wind was pretty nasty, but the temperature was nice and cool which probably contributed to my performance. I had been feeling like I wasn't progressing, and more likely regressing, ever since my leg problems started in the spring. Nothing like a good run to change your outlook!

8.5 mile run

On Saturday (7/4/09), I ran my longest outing of the year. I ran out the door with my Garmin 305 with the goal of running a minimum of 8 miles. I ended up running just under 8.5 miles (8.43) in 1:33:03, for an average pace of 11:03 per mile. A 2 hour half-marathon has a pace of 9:10 per mile, so I certainly have a lot of work to do, both in pace and distance, but it's a decent start.

All in all, the run felt pretty good. I carried 24 ounces of Gatorade with me, but even with drinking the whole bottle I ended up weighing 2.5 lbs. less than I did when I started. The day after, I was a little sore, but for the most part I felt good. One problem that has popped up from time to time is pain in my right shin, which I didn't notice during the run, but on the following day I could feel it. I was supposed to run on Sunday as well, but I decided against it so that my leg would have time to heal. I'm hoping this is just a minor muscle strain that will disappear by Thursday or so. On Thursday I plan to do my first Tempo run in quite awhile, but I'll have to postpone it if there's any pain lingering in my leg.

Inroduction

Hello, and welcome to my blog. Over the next couple years I will be updating my progress as I train for my ultimate goal of completing and Ironman Triathlon. For those that don't know, an Ironman starts with a 2.4 mile swim, which is followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and finally ends with full 26.2 mile marathon. I have one marathon under my belt, but that was 3 years ago and I have since lost all my endurance gains.