Another week of hay in the barn…

Another Sunday night and another week of training in the bank…in fact I had in the bank by 6:45am Friday!

Monday Interval Ladder: 2m w/u 400, 600, 800, 1200, 800, 600, 400 with 400 RI, 1m cd

Wednesday 5 miles at mid tempo pace, that’s a 6:53 pace, I smiled when I saw it was only 5 miles, 35 minutes later I was very happy that it was only 5, this was sheer bloody hard work!

Friday 1m w/u 9 miles at HM+20 seconds (7:13) 1m c/d…this was also tough and not pretty!

Like I said my training log:

“I was a little worried about this run, too many late and broken nights and 40+ running miles in the preceding 5 days were catching up with me. Looks like my worries were well grounded, couldn't quite get up to speed and 2 or 3 miles were just plain horrible. It reinforces the need for rest days and solid nights sleep especially with the alarm going off at 4:30am everyday. All that being said it's actually nice to know "why" it didn't go quite right. On the bright side it's only the end of week 2 so I have till the end of August to dial in all in.”

Tuesday and Wednesday were recovery runs  but I think the overall accumulation just caught up with me! Anyway Friday night my wife and I headed out of LA for a short weekend in Big Bear, we arrived at a reasonable hour had a great meal and were in bed by 9:30pm…10 hours later I woke up, so yeah I think the week had caught up with me! Saturday we did a couple of hikes, well one hike and a nice stroll along the lake. Here are the best of the photos. I also got to put the finishing miles on a pair of GoLite Tara Lites…review to follow!

Being a product reviewer can be hell at times!

Big Bear Lake, June 2011 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Sunday we headed back into LA early and taking full advantage of our baby sitter, I took my bike out for a spin and to get some much needed cross training in. I choose a local ride that had some rollers and some smallish climbing. I wanted to ride with a high cadence so I wasn't mashing in the big gear all the time and try to up my average speed, it seemed to work. Average cadence was 89 just shy of targeted 90 but my average speed was much higher than it has been of late! Of course maxing out at 39.9 mph coming down the big hill didn't do any harm!

So on with Week 3

Here endeth the week…

Well actually it did yesterday! I finished out Week 1 of training…Shut the Front Door you say! Yeah training it’s been happening. Back on the FIRST training plan, I have had good results using the Interval sets and the full 10k plan I figured why not, right! It’s an 18 week plan that I will of course shorten…I can’t train for 18 weeks it’s too long and I switch off around week 14! I only have 12 weeks anyway to my target race. The Half Marathon of the Harbors, it’s a pancake flat HM it’s my shot at a sub 1:30! So Week 1 was interesting, if you’re familiar with the FIRST plan it is three structured runs, Intervals, Short Tempo and Long tempo, plus some cross training. I managed to hit all my marks:

Tuesday 2 x 1m w/u 12 x 400m with 400m RI 1m c/d (I was hitting the quarters around 1:40)

Thursday 2 x 1m at easy pace (8:40) 3 x 1m at 7:40 1 m c/d although I forgot my turn around and added an extra three mile

Sunday 1m w/u 8m at HM pace +20 seconds (7:13) 1 m c/d (really pleased with this as they were all around the right mark or faster)

I threw in another run on the local trail, two bike rides and had a day off and finished the week with pretty fair numbers:

It’s basically an 70 minutes of training a day and a bit of time spent loving my foam roller…nothing to set the world alight but consistency is key. If you really want to follow the nitty gritty hit me up on Daily Mile So starts Week 2…

Getting it done…

Three solid weeks of base training and one to go before the month is out and I start training proper!

Run week and bike weekend

Bike week and run weekend

Run week and Sunday and a bike on Saturday

Still lacking a little in consistency apart from the last week.

Right now I am enjoy the hospitality of Ottawa, Canada, but working on Pacific time which means I stay up late and then get up early-ish and can run for an hour and be back in time to start work at 8:00am, it kind of works!

Yesterday’s ride was unorthodox as I rented a hybrid and toured around the city and out into the Gatineau region which is a large park:

My steed for the day!

I ended up a little lost and was helped out by two local ladies who demonstrated that famous Canadian friendliness and who got me back on track and took me up a nice climb where I was treated to the view below, the lake is named after a family who settled nearby rather than its color!

Pink Lake

As we rode out of the park I realized there was a bike race so I decided to loiter and watch a couple of the laps, it was 11 x 9km loops so I watched a couple of loops, aware that I needed to get my bike back in time.

Up close and personal….and then aerial from the freeway bridge

Today’s run was a little test of my pace as I put down a 8 miler with 4 miles at tempo pace:

2m warm up; 8:18, 7:52
4m tempo; 7:47, 7:34, 7:36, 7:47
2m cool down; 8:16, 7:45...oops!

Not the fastest 8 miler I have run and I will need to drive those 7’s down to hi 6s to get to my target 1:30 Half Marathon

So as the month wraps up I will transition onto a 3 month training plan using the FIRST method which I have used successfully for training for a 10k last year where I shaved off nearly 4 minutes…this year I need to shave nearly 8 minutes over double the distance! Doable…let’s see!

Review; Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training (FIRST) 10k plan

At face value it would seem a bit odd to write a review of a training plan, but several people have emailed me with questions and so under the heading of ‘does it work’ here we go.

A couple of caveats up front all of this comes from the Runner’s World Book Run Less Run Faster, you can follow this link or click in the side bar and go to Amazon where you can get a used copy a paltry $12 or $8 used and I will earn a staggering 16c, additionally this is only a review of the 10k plan, the half marathon and marathon plans call for four runs a week.

So as a reminder the basics of the FIRST 10k plan are three runs a week; Intervals, a short Tempo and long Tempo run, interspersed with cross training for which I used swimming and cycling.

The basic science behind the plan is that the volume of running is decreased but the intensity of the runs is increased. Each run is designed to improve vo2Max; the measure of an athlete’s ability to produce energy aerobically; through the use of oxygen. Increasing Lactate Threshold; Lactate is an organic byproduct of anaerobic metabolism; an improvement in the LT is an improvement in the muscles ability to do endurance work. Finally an improvement in running economy is expected, running economy is expressed either as a velocity achieved for a given rate of oxygen consumption or the vo2 needed to maintain a given speed. Improvement in running economy generally takes the longest period of time for measurable improvement.

As you can already see this is different from you typical plan which tends to have a long(ish) slow run at the weekend, even 10k plans have long runs, all of these runs are fast. So the first question is how fast, well there are a lot of tables, each run is based on a different pace and the pace is derived from a recent 5k race time. I used an old 5k race time which was also my most recent from November 2008! I used that as a baseline and then backed into the times I needed for my goal time of a three hour marathon, when you put it all into a table it looks like this:

Intervals	Pace	400m	600m	800m	1000m	1200m	1600m	2000m
19:45 5k race PR pace	6:21	1:26	2:11	2:56	3:41	4:29	6:07	7:44
2:59 Marathon pace	6:51	1:28	2:14	3:00	3:47	4:36	6:17	7:56

Short Tempo	Pace	Short	Mid	Long	Easy
19:45 5k race PR pace	6:21	6:38	6:53	7:08	8:13
2:59 Marathon pace	6:51	7:03	7:18	7:33	8:38

Long Tempo	Pace	Long
19:45 5k race PR pace	6:21	7:08
2:59 Marathon pace	6:51	7:33

The runs are broken down over the week over varying distances, as you can see there are multiples distances used during the Intervals and they are all used in varying multiples and combinations, an example of a simple set would be:

• 10-20 minutes warm up; I would usually split difference and run 2 miles
• 5 x 800m (@ 2:56 (5:54 pace)) with a 400m Rest Interval (RI) in between
• 10 minutes cool down; again I went 1 mile

A more complicated set would be:

• 10-20 minutes warm up; I would usually split difference and run 2 miles
• 1600M @ 6:07 (6:07 pace) 400 RI
• 1200M @ 4:29 (6:00) 400 RI
• 800M @ 2:56, (5:54 pace) 400 RI
• 400M, 1:26 (5:36 pace) 400 RI
• 10 minutes cool down; again I went 1 mile

Now this sounds all very complicated and when your hauling ass around a track or up and down the beach path trying to remember how fast, what, when is nigh on impossible, this is where your Garmin Forerunner is essential, you can program all the intervals in and it ends up looking like this:

For the short and long tempo runs a similar approach is used. The short tempo runs are much more your typical tempo style with a warm up and cool down bookending the tempo time in the middle, examples of this could be:

• 1 mile warm up / 4 miles @ mid tempo pace / 1 mile cool down

Again a more complicated version would be;

• 1 mile warm up / 2 miles @ short tempo, 1 mile easy, 2 miles short tempo / 1 mile cool down

Longer tempo runs are much simpler with just one pace, although be prepared to over distance, the longest run is 10 miles, nearly four miles longer than you’ll be racing and you will be running that 3 times.

So that’s all the theory lets’ look at the practice. I wrote about my results halfway through the plan back in January and as expected the majority of the improvement was measured during the first 6 weeks. Conveniently week 1, 6 and 12’s intervals were all 400m based so the quantitative analysis is made somewhat easier, here are the numbers:

Week 1 Day 1

Week 6 Day 1

Week 12 Day 1

The numbers speak for themselves, even taking into consideration that the first six weeks were recorded after coming back from injury so the expected ramp down would be steep the improvement is more than significant with the intervals between 20-25 seconds faster per 400 meters; that’s 80-100 seconds faster over a mile. Compare that to the second six weeks where the decrease was approx 3-4 seconds faster per 400 meters. That being said as you can see by the time I was reaching the end of the program I was under my target pace. Of course there is a world of difference between running 400m and running 26.2 miles but it should all play out over time and training.

Qualitatively there are positives and negatives to this plan. The positives; low mileage, flexibility within the plan from only 5 days of training, clearly prescribed workouts – both distances and paces. The negatives; it’s very prescriptive, despite the low mileage it’s a hard plan, every run is hard there are no junk miles, there is a bigger opportunity for injury and over time you can expect to feel a little beaten up.

So the question you’re probably asking is, is this the plan for me? Well maybe, the maybes are based on what your end goals are and what your running history is, while the book contains some C25K (couch to 5k plans) it’s the faster plans that have the main focus in fact there is a whole chapter dedicated to qualifying for Boston. If you can stick to a plan and don’t tend to get bored following something this prescribed, if you are prepared to hang up your shoes a couple of days a week and cross train and if you want to run fast then this might just be the plan for you.

Finally, and what it’s all about, the results. I bettered my 10k PR time by nearly four minutes and I am now a shade off 44:00 (my previous 47:53), I still feel there is more left in the tank to reduce that even lower and I’ll be looking to improve that time as I race train during the coming months.

It's on like Donkey Kong!

Yesterday was my long tempo run, 8 miles at 7:05, first and last are a warm up and cool down. My mind wasn’t in it, in fact I had said on Twitter…

So after some procrastination I just got changed and got on with it. I knew within a quarter mile it was going to be good run. The route takes me around my local neighborhood; there are some short steepish hills both up and down and some longer sweeping ones too, as well as some traffic lights that I have to stop at and where I pause my Garmin. The miles were just clicking by and when I hit the end of mile 4 in 28:06 I knew it was going well and I decided to keep the pressure on I clocked through the 10k distance and hit the lap counter, this would completely throw me off at mile 7 but I wanted to see where I was at for the 10k. I finished the 7 miles in 50:03 and then added the eighth mile in 6:56 for a total of 8.21 in 56:59 just under three minutes faster than my run on Thursday which was over a quarter mile less.

My 10k came in at 42:48, needless to say I am happy, ecstatic, cartwheeling around the lounge, that’s 5:05 minutes off my PR…as for next Sunday, oh yeah it is, as they say, on like Donkey Kong!

The Speed of Lite!

My last post, where I documented my increase in pace, got me thinking. It really got me thinking what do I need to get faster, I am, after all, looking for every edge I can but the reality is that I am forty cough-cough year old so there is a limit to the improvement.

Like most people I put on a little ‘Christmas Pudding’ or should I call it padding! In fact since September I have probably put on, depending on the day, somewhere between 15-20lbs! This is the downside of eating like you running 50 miles a week and actually running nothing, teens and now early twenties! Now there’s a correlation here heavy equals slow; well to a point. I remember reading somewhere an article which indicated what you can expect to gain per pound of weight lost!

After a bit of rummage on the interwebthingy I turned it up and the details are quite amazing; for every pound you lose you can expect a gain in speed of 2 seconds per mile, 2 seconds per mile, what’s that you say well if you lose, say, 5lbs: over a 5k that’s 31 seconds, over a 10k that’s 1:02, over a Half Marathon that’s 2:11 and over a Marathon 4:22!

If I apply that to my 5k PR from 2008 when I was probably 10-15lbs lighter that extra 5lbs would reduce it down to 19:10. So let’s extrapolate that; I need to lose; well I actually want to lose, 20lbs, over a marathon that’s 17:28, 17:28! Well, I’ll take some of that please, that’s completely free time, which off of my existing marathon PR would get me under the 3:30 marker in fact that makes me pretty close to 3:26, so what that really means is I need to go a bit more than one minute per mile faster that I did in June of 2007!

Am I being too simplistic, maybe, but it strikes me that a combination of the weight loss and the speed training from the FIRST plan may just get me to the finish line with a 2:**:** on the clock face?

Now if I was to throw together a little weight loss competition who would be interested?

Chasing Cyclists!

Monday night…must be Intervals! Today actually marks my halfway point in this training cycle. Tonight was almost a repeat of my first training session a scant 8 weeks ago; time flies when you’re having fun. Now the proof is in the pudding so I thought I would look at Day 1 in comparison to Day 56. Day 1 called for a 1o minute warm up, 8 x 400m intervals at a 400m target pace of 5:45, 400m Rest Interval, 1 mile cool down, in other words something like this, (intervals highlighted in blue);

Started out fast and then slowed, I then I ranged between 7:11 to 7:38, not bad but really nothing special. So eight weeks later it’s a similar workout; 2 mile warm up, 10 x 400m intervals at a 400m interval target of 5:45, the target pace is derived from the tables in the FIRST 10k plan are is based on my 5k PR of 19:42, 1:30 Rest Interval, 1 mile cool down, tonight’s run resulted in the following (intervals highlighted in yellow);

Started out, got distracted on the second Interval, got into my groove, then fell out on number 7, hit my stride in 8 and 9 and then there was this cyclist. They’re great on their beach cruisers rolling along, oh yeah I went for it and chased this bike down the beach path like my hair was on fire and they had the only cup of water in town! I caught them and then I heard the greatest sound in the world, beep beep beep! Interval over! Much closer to the required 5:45 pace and no puking on my shoes…result!

So if the proof is in the pudding I would say that this is a large bowl of it, clearly I am getting faster, just how fast remains to be seen but having got on the scales this morning pudding is the last thing I need, to get to my race weight I need to cut off one leg or one and half arms…perhaps not the best thing for runner, maybe I’ll just skip desert!

The gloves are off!

The Oven Gloves!

With the start of 2010 literally round the next corner we’re on the cusp of what was eloquently described as resolutionism in Lora’s blog. And so here endeth the excess, as if to reinforce it I answered the question posed on Twitter…

With…

And back on the straight and narrow I’ll be going! I am a realist, holidays are holidays, what’s the point in guilting yourself out of something and them having it anyway, better to enjoy it!

So cometh January 1^st I am upping the training ante, part of which is to re-incorporate core work, for my ‘Hood training program I used the ‘pushruns’ (10-15 pushups every mile) which worked really well, but in this cycle it’s all about speedwork so I need to fit it in elsewhere, additionally I need to drop back to my racing weight; especially if I need to hit some of the targets I have set myself. I had a great interval track workout the other day and I am starting to see some real improvement in my speed and I am getting a glimpse of what’s ahead!

So using the principles I discussed in this post I’ll be using the 100Squats/100 Pushups/200 Sit Ups challenge over the next 6 weeks, I threw it out on Twitter to anyone who was interested, there are no prizes only the motivation of acquiring washboard abs, rock hard quads and double guns to set you up for the Spring, you can sign up here, follow the instructions on the second tab and fill in your results…easy peasy well apart from the squats, push ups and sit ups! Sign up and join in the fun!

Lastly the winner of the 13.1 Los Angeles is Lindsay, Lindsay let me know your email address and I’ll send you your entry code!

Windy splits!

As I have mentioned in the past I am using the FIRST training plan, specifically a 10k plan, to build up my fitness from having had two months off. Unusually due to the requirement for only three runs a week I do not have the typical “Long run” at the weekend. Friday night is now my long tempo run; this is the longest run of the week. Most of the three runs have you either running overspeed; faster than race pace or over distance; longer than race distance. Tonight’s run was a prescribed 7m at Long Tempo pace, the goal range for this to reach my goal of a 3:00 marathon is 6:50 - 6:55, right now I am way off pace but that’s what I am aiming for.

I headed to my faux track; the beach path, got changed and started. The run was going well although I went out too fast. I was off pace (as expected) so my Garmin chimed at me every minute to “speed up”…hey give me a break is my usual response. I hit the three mile turnaround point and was hit in the face with a blast of wind; that’s the thing with a tail wind you only notice it when you turnaround!

Head down I ran the three miles back and then did a loop for the last mile to cool down jumped in my car and headed home. I had programmed my Garmin and when I synced with GTC I realized I had messed up the splits and was faced with the not so useful data readout of:

Not really useful if you want to analyze your splits! This is where Sportracks comes in handy as it will break out the mile splits. After I uploaded my data into SportTracks and could really see where I took the wind full frontal, around Mile 5, no negative splits for me;


Suffice to say I *heart* SportTracks, it’s feature rich, great for Garmin or non Garmin users and best of all free (or you can make a development donation)! For a great write up on some of the features on SportsTrack check out this post by DCRainmaker.

And so now with exception of a tomorrow’s ride here ends Week 2 so far so good; although my knee is a little sore. I tweaked my Buckeye Outdoors blog sidebar which also syncs to SportTracks and in fact to Twitter too, to show you my exact workouts and comments if you’re interested.

Good luck to all my friends running at CIM, Las Vegas or the North Face Endurance (or any I have missed) races this weekend!