Tempo Tuesday

Regular tempos resumed this week, and we couldn't have asked for a much better night for it. Our numbers were small - probably because the weather forecast. Severe storms are a possibility in the overnight, and that might have been enough to keep some runners home. Can't blame them really. My old saying goes, "If it lightnings you might get hit; if it hails, you will get hit."

The plan was for a 3-mile tempo. We split into groups, trying to match up runners with comparable speeds. By staggering the starts, we've been pretty successful in keeping the wait at the finish to a minimum. The other benefit is it gives those that go further back something to chase. That's a bonus, because it provides a bit of race atmosphere to the proceedings.

Take a look at the numbers and see how it came out. If you don't see your numbers here, you didn't give them to me.

Athlete	Mile 1	Mile 2	Mile 3	Total	AVG	Last Wk
Allen	7:12:00	7:06:00	7:12:00	21:30:00	7:10:00
Dan G	7:47:00	8:01:00	8:15:00	24:03:00	8:01:00	8:17:00
Galloway	6:32:00	6:49:00	7:07:00	20:28:00	6:49:20	6:41:00
IronBill	6:30:00	6:31:00	6:28:00	19:29:00	6:29:40	6:39:00
Jimmy	6:32:00	6:38:00	6:40:00	19:50:00	6:36:40
John T.	7:11:00	7:08:00	7:16:00	21:35:00	7:11:40	7:18:00

Sandy

8:14:00

9:18:00

8:48:00

26:20:00

8:46:40

Remember what we're trying to get done here... we want around 20 minutes of activity at 85-90% max heart rate. This is not all-out, and form should be carefully maintained throughout. Splits should be relatively even, spreading no more than 10 seconds per mile split.

Allen - Well done. Those are nice splits, and relatively even. Just what the doctor ordered.

Dan G - That's not bad, but you can see it started to get away from you as the run went on. The topography of the course has a lot to do with it... downhill the first half, uphill the second, but the smart racer has to know the course and account for it. It takes experience, but the key is to start out a bit easier.

Galloway - I think you came in not intending to push it. That's the way you sounded when we took off. Jimmy goaded you to try it anyway. Yup, I could see you trying to slip out of it. ;)

Jimmy - Started the first quarter too fast, but brought it under control and set it on cruise the rest of the way. Nice splits, and ahead of pace.

John T. - That last mile got away a bit, but it is uphill. I think you're still battling the effects of having been sick in the last week. Once the lungs come back, the splits will even up.

Sandy - These splits illustrate the point we were trying to make regarding even effort. Once you blast a hard mile and go anaerobic, there is no recovery. A smart target for you next week would be 8:45-minute pace. How do I know? That's right about where your average was overall. Slow down the first mile to go faster.

That's another way of looking at this, gang... compare your first mile to your total run average. If they vary by more than 10 seconds, you were probably too aggressive mile one.

Finally, compare the growth of those that ran both recorded tempos. A very attainable goal is to drop 5 seconds per mile each week. Over three miles that gives you a 15-second improvement every week on your time. Especially the first few weeks, this is relatively easy to do. And, once again, the easiest path to improving for most newcomers is to slow that first mile down.

Alone again, naturally

Took a little run today,
No one else would come and play,
I really tried to get 'em outside,
But as to why they wouldn't say.

As I headed down the road,
By myself I bore the load,
Though I had a plan, there was no demand,
Their support I couldn't goad,
Leaving me to run, with my thoughts so slowly turning,
My muscles growing old, and the legs so quickly burning,
In spite of encouragement from me,
The pain, it kept returning,
And when the run was done,
I couldn't call it fun,
Alone again, naturally.
Alone again, naturally.

(nod to Gilbert O'Sullivan)

It's Thursday. No Jimmy means "no most of the rest of the crew". I say most, because usually one can find a run with Strunk, Allen, or Galloway (or all three). No such luck today. Despite it being beautifully clear and warmer, Galloway ran this morning, Strunk made up a fake doctor's appointment, and Allen just gave me a flat "no".

I went anyway. Five miles of Washington Avenue alone. My motivation? Besides my gut? Galloway.

Tim told me about a run he did recently, essentially my regular 5 from home, but he posted a 34:20 for 5 miles. That's a darn good run. Could I get anywhere close to it?

I started out on the run, not really thinking about it at first. About halfway through the first mile I remembered what he said. That's when I woke up and started pressing a bit harder.

It wasn't a hard run, not all that fast, but man was I sore. Really sore. The Tuesday run had finally borne fruit, and my legs were aching. I didn't care. As long as there was no cramping, everything was cool. I hit 2.5 at 17:40, which would be 35:20 for 5. This wasn't working. I'd have to run harder.

I pressed harder, only now there was a stiff north wind in my face. I didn't care. I kept pushing. In the end it was 34:52, a nice negative split for the way back. Galloway beat me, but at least he got me to work harder. I'll get him next time!

I lifted after that. I really pounded myself, enough I got really sore before I left for the swim. I was so sore I decided not to swim. Not that I need a lot of prodding that direction, but I really am hurting. I'm thinking I overshot it a bit on the lift, and I'll have to be careful with that in the future. I'm an endurance athlete, not a power lifter.

Spin tomorrow, 12-mile run Saturday morning, 8 AM Parkview.

Ride and run

There were some choices for this afternoon's exercise combinations. There was going to be a run and a ride, but there was no clear order or time for it. With the office run scheduled every Wednesday at 5:15, the original plan was for a ride first then run.

Two wrinkles occurred simultaneously. First, I was contacted by Leisa telling me she had a dental appointment at 4. This meant she might be held long and wouldn't be able to pick up Erin at 5:30. It also meant if she ran it would be later in the evening, so if the ride didn't happen first, it wouldn't happen.

Next was Galloway texting me about a 3:50 run from Parkview. I had to consider this one, because if I need to get Erin, this would guarantee a run, if not a ride. I asked Leisa, and despite my offer to get Erin, she rebuffed. No point arguing with her, I never win.

I got on the bike. A quick ride and a run after would have it all over by 6, which sounded nice. Turns out that was a fortuitous turn of events, at least for Jimmy. He was the only runner at the office. Had I not shown, he would have had to run alone. The debate may rage forever as to whether or not he would have run alone, we'll never know.

Both workouts were easy and passed by quickly. Honestly, it's the best I've felt in weeks.

Run and lift tomorrow followed by a BNL swim at 8. 

Hot run on a cold night

For the second time this week, I pulled a multiple and escaped none the worse for wear. It was a hard lift, then it was on to a hard run.

I was afraid to push hard for the tempo. That's right, if it was Tuesday, it had to be Tempo Tuesday. We didn't have nearly the crowd this week... maybe because it was 20 degrees colder? We did wind up with about 8-10 runners in total, a 60/40 split men/women.

Anyway, back to pace. My original plan was for 7-minute pace. Galloway agreed to join me, despite having a secret plan of his own (more on that later). Aaron Ritter showed, which was lucky for Miller, so he had someone to pace him. Heatherly was left on his own, as was Scott (from Orleans). Dan eschewed the whole deal and ran an abbreviated distance.

The start was staggered to give us a chance to finish more-or-less together, which I must say worked. Much better than last week, where we lost track of some of the runners and wound up sending out search parties.

Galloway and I were in the third wave, and it took all of a half-mile to catch the second wave, a full mile to catch the first. Miller and Ritter, on the other hand, caught us before the half. I couldn't tell for the most part if we were running too hard. We were running faster than the plan, but Galloway seemed fine and I wasn't suffering at all. After hitting the first mile in 6:43, I turned to Galloway and said, "Okay, now we slow down." Galloway laughed, "Oh, I will slow down in a bit - the course will get harder."

Okay. I had plenty of gas. Let's hold it!

Ritter and Miller really didn't break hard away from us. We were close enough to see Ritter snap Miller off by the circle. Whether Ritter jumped off pace (likely) or Miller faded (unlikely) will never be known for sure because Miller didn't charge his watch and refused to borrow one of mine (wore two for the run). His mile splits were therefore guesses.

We hit two in 6:36. I was starting to feel guilty now, but guess what? Galloway was there. He was laboring, but he was there. Nothing to do for it now but go on.

Topping to 39th, there was a short level to recover followed by a long downhill to gain. Galloway was right there all the way, to the base of the final climb. I was coasting, not wanting to break the string, but there was no reason to wait from this point on. I kept a steady pace going up, hitting 6:40 for the third split. Galloway was a short time behind, less than 10 seconds.

Within 3 minutes everyone was in. From there it was a straight shot back to the cars and the cool-down walk.

Breakdown:

Galloway - 6:42, 6:36, 6:47
Sandy - 8:00, 8:30, 8:00
Alana - 9:21, 9:31, 10:32
Dan - 8:24, 8:10
Aaron - 6:08, 6:12, 6:08 (GPS dictated distances)
Scott - 7:32, 7:53, 7:30
John T. - 7:10, 7:14, 7:30
Miller - 6:08, 6:12, 6:15 (actual wheeled distances)
IronBill - 6:43, 6:36, 6:40

Not a bad first tempo, gang!

Finally went and got sick

All the warning signs were there, I just hadn't put it all together. Friday morning it hit me - I really was sick. The headache, muscle pain, rumbling stomach... yup, it was time to go home. I wouldn't make it through the day.

Luck for me there was a sub available. Within the hour someone was there, and I was able to leave. I had plans made (always have an emergency set ready), so it was a quick transition.

I went home and laid right down. Of course it was beautiful out. It promised to be spring-like, sunny and warm, and my planned afternoon ride was still on my mind. But only for a while. After lying in a chair for a couple of hours, my second epiphany hit - I couldn't exercise at all.

The 24-hour fever rule was in effect. No one should exercise until they have been fever-free for 24 hours. That's a hard rule for me, inviolable in fact. No workout is worth the permanent injury you risk by breaking this rule. However slight the risk might be, it does indeed exist.

Saturday didn't go much better. The headache persisted (which meant the fever did too), but passed by early morning. The muscle aches lessened and disappeared, but overall I was still weak. I hadn't intended to work out Saturday after Friday's fever. What was still in question was Sunday.

I awoke feeling pretty good, not 100%, but greatly improved. There seemed to be no real reason not to try a short run, so I met the group. We went 5 miles, and it felt pretty darn good. I actually felt... rested.

After the run was the lift. Here is where I really felt the weakest. My strength was not all back, no surprise. It wasn't a great lift as a result, but it was a lift.

Finally, there was the ride. I cut the afternoon ride to 20 miles, which went pretty smoothly. All I can say is Netflix makes this pretty easy to do!

So we come to today. I've felt pretty darn good all day, and ran equally well. Five miles might be cautious, but I want to be cautious. What reason do I have to push it? Tomorrow we run tempos, so it seems ill-advised to try to come back to top speed until then. Even at that, I will likely take the whole week to ease back into it. I'll either make miles or I won't. 

Better than yesterday

I had great plans for Wednesday - a longer run, then a ride... that would have left me only a few miles of running to cap the week before Saturday, which will likely have to be all off (due to Conference swimming). It would have been sweet, had I been able to do it.

I couldn't.

Three miles into the run yesterday I knew it was over for the day. OVER. I was light-headed, as if my blood sugar had dropped. I was starving. I wasn't tired especially, and I wasn't even that sore. I just couldn't go.

Man, getting old is awful.

So I waited for today. There were options. If it didn't rain, I could run from Parkview after school. If it did rain, I could ride for a couple of hours on the trainer. Either way, I would swim later.

Strunk texted me, stating he would run from Parkview, rain or shine. If Strunk can do it, so can I. Run it was.

Allen joined us, and it was a pleasant, if slow run. Slow was fine by me... after yesterday, I didn't need to push anything. It went by easily enough.

Allen really convinced me to wait until tomorrow to ride. He wants to start from his church at 4 and ride to Huck's and back. That's a decent 20 miles. Sounds more fun that spinning.

The swim went easily too, maybe the best I've done in a while. I held sub-1:30 pace for 100's pulling. My stroke felt on, even if it took a while to warm up the shoulders.

Busy at work. Really, really busy. 

First Tempo Tuesday

So this was the night, the first of the many Tempo Tuesdays to come. What a perfect night to start - 50 degrees and sunshine, light winds, and 16 runners.

On the front end was Miller and Wes. No one would be able to stay with them, especially Wes, but neither did they seem to have a particular plan for the run. That meant the actual plan fell to the second tier runners - Jimmy and myself.

We agreed we'd take the pace to 6:40. This would enable us to monitor our pace by quarter mile quite easily. It wouldn't likely tax either one of us too much. The important point there is this run wasn't intended to be really hard, just harder.

We broke into smaller groups, and we let the slower ones start. We would overtake them soon enough, but hopefully the staggered start would bring us together at the end.

Jimmy just couldn't stop gabbing, and he missed the start. Wes split hard at the jump, making the perfect bookend to Jimmy. Now it was choice time - chase Wes or wait on Jimmy.

Miller made the choice for me. He split the difference, and I figured that was the best choice. I ran off his shoulder through the quarter, and soon saw that it was way too fast. I let it drop a bit after that, and we hit mile one at 6:13.

That's quite a bit faster than 6:40. But you knew that.

It wasn't hard. At least, I didn't feel it so much. But it was hard, harder by far than I've run in a while. It was nice, but scary. The way it is anymore, I don't pay for these mistakes right away - it's the next few days, when something snaps. It's always easy to push too far when it feels good. By the time you realize the mistake, it's too late.

I did get an early warning. In mile two the left calf starting hurting a bit. Not a lot, but in the wrong spot. This will need a lot of attention going forward.

We (Miller and I) hit 6:13, 6:25, and 6:27. That's not too bad. 6:40 was a shot in the dark to begin with anyway, so I don't worry too much about it. It does however give me a way to decide what next week's pace should be.

Tomorrow will be a regular run. I hope to get 8-10 miles. Hope. Operative word.