This week was a race week so the mileage was intentionally a little low.  Still, there were a few missed workouts do to some pain the my groin area and life got in the way with some car trouble on Monday so the mileage ended up even lower than planned.  Here’s how it went:

Tuesday AM: 6 miles easy treadmill + lower body strength

Tuesday PM: 4 miles easy

Wednesday AM: 4×1mile + 6×200m + 1 mile (10 miles total)

Thursday AM: 4 miles easy treadmill

Friday AM: 2.5 miles easy

Saturday: 10K Race + warmup = 7 miles

Sunday: 60 minutes (20.5 miles) stationary bike

Total: 33.5 miles

Here are a couple pictures from the race for the cure on Saturday:

Me, Alice, Raffi and Denise (rundmt) before the race

Mid-race photo by Denise as we passed each other

I often talk about how flat Florida can be, but I rarely talk about how buggy it can be sometimes. Monday afternoon was one of those times. So, I’ll illustrate with a photo Friday:

No.  I”m not running it.

I did receive word, however, that the Fresh Air fund is still looking for runners and sponsors to join the Fresh Air fund racers for the New York City half marathon on August 16th.  Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund has provided free summer experiences in the country to almost 2 million New York City children from disadvantaged communities. Each year, thousands of children visit volunteer host families in 13 states and Canada through the Friendly Town Program or attend Fresh Air Fund camps.

If you’d like to run through the city so that a city kid can run through the country, you can learn more at http://www.freshair.org/half-marathon.aspx.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Today’s workout mirrored last week’s 1200 m intervals.  The only differences were that I’m doing more mileage this week, so that meant 4 intervals instead of 3 and a new VDOT, so the pace was faster.  It was about 50 degrees this morning, so I donned two long sleeve running shirts, a stocking cap and my gloves.  The plan was for 4 x 1200 m at 6:24/mile pace or 1200 m in 4:49 with 600m recovery jogs.  After about a mile warmup at easy pace, here’s how it went:

1200 m in 4:38

1200 m in 4:38

1200 m in 4:43

1200 m in 4:45

The fourth one was a struggle.  5 might have been possible, but I was very, very glad I only had to do 4.  With warmup and cooldown, I completed a total of 7 miles.  Another good quality workout.  If you count the race, that’s 4 in a row!

I waited out this morning’s rain, feeling quite sorry for those who were running the Gasparilla half marathon and full marathon.  Congrats to Denise for sticking it out in the full marathon despite high winds and rain to beat her Disney time and to Deb and Kim who finished their first half marathon.  I ran 6 miles at easy pace.  The legs were a little tired from the race, but it was nice to get them moving and I think they’ll be better off Monday because of it.

Here’s a review of this week’s action:

Monday: 1200 m intervals - 6 miles

Tuesday: Easy treadmill run - 5 miles

Wednesday: 1.5 mile T pace intervals - 8 miles

Thursday: Off

Friday: Easy treadmill run with strides - 2 miles

Saturday: Race with warmup and cooldown - 4.1 miles

Sunday: Easy run at the park - 6 miles

Total: 30.1 miles

So, it was a light week due to the race, but it was the first time since starting the 5K training plan that I put together 3 good quality runs.  It was my last week at VDOT 47.  I’ll be up to VDOT 48 next week.

I totalled 135 miles in February.  So, I’m starting to crawl back up the mileage meter.  I’ll be back at 42 miles next week.

You know, it’s funny that whenever I say “good quality run”, it seems redundant and whenever I have a “bad quality run”, it seems like an oxymoron.  It’s like when you tell a nonrunner that you have a 15 mile easy run and they freak out on you.

“Oh my lord,” they say, “I can’t even run 2 feet and you think 15 miles is easy!”.  No, it’s not that the run itself is actually easy, it’s just that I’m running at my easy pace which is slow compared to my marathon pace, which is not necessarily the pace I’d actually run in a marathon, but rather somewhere in between easy and threshold…oh nevermind!

Anyway, I actually looked forward to my intervals today for two reasons:

1)  The were at “I” pace instead of “R” pace

2)  Since I’m on a low mileage week due to the race, I only had to do 3!

So, the plan was for 3×1200 m in 4:54 with 600 m jogs.  Here’s how it went:

Warm-up at E pace

1200 m in 4:44

1200 m in 4:42

1200 m in 4:46

Cool-down at easy pace

I hardly felt the first interval.  I actually coasted over the last 100 m since I knew I was going too fast.  I felt the last 400 m of the second interval a bit, but nothing too bad.  The third interval was a little uncomfortable, but I still stayed relaxed throughout the whole thing.  During my final recovery jog, I passed the 5K mark in an unofficial PR time.  So, I figure a PR in the race on Saturday is pretty much a given.  My goal, however is a 2 minute PR.

Overall, I ran 6 miles in 47:08 today.  A good workout.  I’m a bit sore, but I think I’ll be okay for the 5 easy miles on the treadmill tomorrow.

I got a nice 6 miles on the treadmill in yesterday before an upper body and core strength training workout.  This morning felt good when I woke up.  I slept really well and the weather was just about perfect - maybe a little windy, but not too bad.

During my warmup mile, things just didn’t feel right.  My legs felt heavy and it was like I was dragging myself along even at my easy pace.  The plan was 1 mile warmup, 6 miles at 7:27 and 1 mile cool down.  I hit the park and started the tempo run.  About halfway through the first mile, my right calf started to tighten up.  At first it was just soreness, but then it felt like someone was slowly grinding the back of a pencil into my calf.  I continued into the second mile and it steadily got worse.  I finally cut it off just before the 2 mile mark of the tempo run.  I walked for a while, but the pain wasn’t going away.  So, I sat on a stone wall and massaged the calf for a while.

The massage helped a little bit and I started to walk home.  The slow pace started to become annoying, so I decided to test a jog and that went well.  I passed a man who nodded a “hello” to me and looked at my Garmin.  I was running at 7:25 pace.  I reached the edge of the park and instead of crossing the street to go home, I hung a right and started my second lap of the 3 mile tempo circuit.  The calf was sore, but not too bad.  I finished up the 6 tempo miles without a further break, then made it back home at my easy pace for the total 8 miles.  Here’s the full workout:

1 mile warmup

1.95 miles in 14:18 (7:19/mile)

0.29 miles in 5:29 (walking, sitting, massaging)

3.76 miles in 27:28 (7:18/mile)

1 mile cooldown

So, not a perfect tempo run by any stretch of the imagination, but it was nice to be able to get the full workout in.  The calf is definately hurting now.  I’m icing it as I write and I may have to give it the day off tomorrow.  I’ve got 5 easy miles planned and that may change to 15 miles on the bike.  There’s nothing fast left this week, but there is a 10.5 mile run this weekend.  So, I’m keen to give the calf some rest.

I gotta say that I was downright nervous about my interval workout today.  I’ve come to loathe 800 m intervals so much that these workouts almost feel like a mini-race.  Yesterday, I woke up with horribly sore calves from Saturday’s intervals and the beach workout on Sunday.  So, I made the decision to burn my off day early in the week.  The calves felt better this morning, but I still wasn’t at all excited about heading out for the intervals.  The plan was 4 x (200 m at R pace + 200 m jog + 200 m R pace + 400 m jog + 800 m R pace + 400 m jog).  My R pace is currently 45 seconds for 200 m and 3:05 for 800 m.  Here’s how it went:

200 m in 0:43

200 m in 0:42

800 m in 3:02

200 m in 0:44

200 m in 0:48 (this was actually more like 250 m)

800 m in 2:57

200 m in 0:42

200 m in 0:45

800 m in 2:58

200 m in 0:43

200 m in 0:44

800 m in 3:01

With warmup and cooldown, the total was 7.5 miles.  I’m very happy with it.  The only one I missed was the 2nd 200 m in the 2nd set and that was actually long.  No walk breaks at all today.  Tomorrow is an easy day on the treadmill with some upper and core strength training.  We’ll see if I can string together two good quality workouts this week on Thursday.  That would be a nice confidence booster for the race less than 2 weeks away.

The sun was shining brightly this morning when I woke.  The birds were chirping and it was 70 degrees outside.  With the rest of the family out of town and most of my chores for the weekend completed, I decided it was a great day to head to the beach for a run.  I ignored the fact that my calves were very sore.

By the time I got out to Indian Rocks Beach (a sleepy little barrier island), the sky was quite overcast and it was even very foggy on the beach.  I also realized that while packing many other things beach related, I had forgotten to pack my Garmin.  So, I was running a new route with no mile markers and no timepiece.  That sounds like a recipe for success.

I decided to head north because I knew the island ended about 4.5 miles north of where I parked the car.  I also knew that Sand Key County park was about 3.5 miles away.  With 7 easy miles on the docket, I just started running.    About a quarter mile up the beach, I realized that I hadn’t really taken note of my surroundings as I started running.  It then occurred to me that I wasn’t really going to know when I got back to where I had parked the car.  I knew what street it was on, but I couldn’t see the streets from the beach.  So, I just tucked that little nugget away for later.

The beach was basically empty.  There were several stretches where I was the only person out there.  The fog was so dense, i could only see about 100 yards in front of me and the humidity was thick.  I was covered in sweat immediately.  I plodded along at what I figured was my easy pace with no idea how far I’d run or how long I’d been at it.  Eventually I made it to the park and ran over to the facilities for a quick pee break.  The concrete sidewalks leading up to the bathroom felt great to run on compared to the beach.

On the way back, I still had no clue how far I’d run or how long I’d been running.  With the dense fog, nothing along the beach really stood out.  So, I didn’t have many landmarks to go with.  Eventually, I started seeing Indian Rocks Beach access signs leading back to the road.  I didn’t remember those on the way out, so I began to get concerned that I had passed my car.  When I got to the next access point, I took it back to the road and discovered I still had 5 blocks to go back to the car.  Back on the concrete, those 5 block were quite fast I think.

I mapped the run out at the USATF site when I got home and found that I actually ran close to 9 miles.  I estimated my pace at about 9:10 min/mile, though it seemed like I was going much faster.  I don’t know if that’s because I was losing energy to the sand or if I really just have no concept of what time it was when I started running.  In any case, it was an easy run and that’s what I was supposed to do.  I’m betting the calves aren’t going to be happy tomorrow.  Here’s the route for those of you who are snowbound and would like to think about the beach:

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=272207

So, to recap the week:

Monday: 6 miles (400m intervals)

Tuesday: 5 miles Easy on the treadmill + upper and core strength

Wednesday: 7 miles (threshold intervals)

Thursday: 5 miles Easy on the treadmill + upper and lower strength

Friday: Off

Saturday: 6 miles (I pace intervals)

Sunday: 8.79 miles Easy (beach)

Total: 37.79 (36 planned)

After 3 weeks at 36(ish) miles per week, I’m going to pop up to 42 miles per week next week.  Then, I’ll probably step back the following week since it’s a race week.

I woke up early this morning excited to get our for my intervals workout.  The plan was for 5 sets of : 2min I pace + 1 min jog + 1 min I pace + 30 sec jog + 30 sec I pace + 30 sec jog.  My I pace is currently 6:32 min/mile.  So, after going 2 miles straight at 6:38 pace, I figured this workout would be a cinch.  Here’s how it went:

Set #1

2 minutes (.31 miles) at 6:22 pace

1 minute (.17 miles) at 6:00 pace

30 sec (464 ft) at 5:50 pace

Set #2

2 minutes (.31 miles) at 6:25 pace

1 minute (.16 miles) at 6:05 pace

30 sec (422 ft) at 6:20 pace

Walk break

Set #3

2 minutes (.32 miles) at 6:15 pace

1 minute (.17 miles) at 6:00 pace

30 sec (419 ft) at 6:26 pace

Walk break

Set #4

2 minutes (.32 miles) at 6:19 pace

1 minute (.16 miles) at 6:16 pace

30 sec (425 ft) at 6:14 pace

Set #5

2 minutes (.31 miles) at 6:25 pace

1 minute (.16 miles) at 6:11 pace

30 sec (393 ft) at 6:46 pace

So, based solely on the paces of the intervals, things went pretty well I suppose.  It’s just that those two walk breaks were “unauthorized”.   I was stitchin up both times.  I will say that set #4 felt this best.  I tried t orelax and not go too fast in that one.  I think with intervals, I have a problem maintaining the appropriate pace.  It’s especially bad when I’m running time instead of distance like today.  I never really relax into the pace, but rather keep checking the watch.  With my first 5K of the season 2 weeks away, the lesson here is to relax early.  My total run today including warmup, walk breaks and cool down was 6 miles in 49:42.