Archive for July, 2011

Big mileage milestone for me this month: 402 (because 400 would be “eh”).  I celebrated with a big fat tempo run and on the cooldown, when I realized I had just passed the mile marker that meant 400 had officially clicked over, I had to smile.  It might not ever happen again, but I do enjoy a new most-est.

Major Training Plan Revision
It’s hilarious, aside from this season’s base-building plan, whenever I post a training plan here, a week later it’s totally changed.  Why?  Because that troublemaker Coach Adam/A Muse always sticks his 2¢ in and of course, his cents always make sense.

First off, I have to say I adore that guy.  Months ago, when I announced I’d be doing things my own way, running lots of mileage and eschewing workouts, I knew he wouldn’t be into it.  And I totally understood why – it was partially what the famous coach/scholars might suggest (off-season base-building is standard fare) but no workouts, not even strides till I felt good and ready, was unconventional and for a normal runner would not be a great idea at all.

But I wasn’t quite normal at that point, burnt-out and sad about a lack of progress, so I went ahead, knowing it wasn’t “right” but that it was right for me.  After Adam’s initial and understandable “I don’t know about this” reaction, he’s been incredibly supportive since.

So anyway, it was funny that when I posted my plan the other day, he questioned my approach, said that instead of changing so drastically, I should “double down with the experiment” and stay closer to what I was already doing!  Instead of conventional intervals, continue with the on/offs, and instead of focusing on the speed side of the week, really make it all about the tempo runs, which makes sense, since speed endurance is what I need.

Here’s his ever-sensible reasoning:
When you train for a Half, you have two ways you can go, either as an extension of 10k training or more like a marathoner.  If you’re an Elite and it only takes you around an hour to complete a Half, or if you’re a mere mortal planning on racing between 75-90min and already in 10k shape, then it makes sense to think in terms of 10k training.  However, if you’re not in 10k shape (as I’m clearly not), it makes more sense to focus closer to Half pace with visits to MP and 10k pace.  But 5K pace doesn’t really have a place in it since a 20min race is so far removed from a 90 minute one.  Specificity of training = better quality of preparation.

So for the next 6 weeks:

1. Fartleks 10x3min on/1 off at 10k pace (purposely low-key and easy)
2. Faster running will only be in the form of strides and/or hill sprints 3 times/week.  As he put it “If you do 6x100m strides 3x weekly you have, suddenly, 1800m at mile pace. But you’ve spread it out so it’s digestible, doesn’t break you down, and you’re just reinforcing good mechanics.”  So smart.
3. One of the stride days will be a drill/stride session.
4. Tempo runs in different flavors: 40minutes, a couple hour-long MP runs, one fast finish and 2 preceded by an hour of running.

So what is my Half pace?  Damned if I know, but for training purposes and potential goal, until further notice, I’ve picked 7:00 since it’s a nice round number in the correct vicinity.  But my assignment is not to get hung up on pace and to run relaxed which is helpful since weather is an unarguable factor.

Shoe Update
My Adios’ are doing well, it’s been 2 weeks and aside from 2 Kinvara days, I’ve worn them every run.  They already have 198 miles on them, their initial brightness well tempered by a thick layer of dirt.  I thought I’d post a photo since they are not without the usual Flo Quirks.

Notice the lacing; I swear my big toe knuckles are not deformed or gross looking but they were rubbing at the point where the first lace hole is, so I don’t use it.  And the left one was bugging the tendon a tad, so I took some stitches out and snipped through the lace surround (oddly enough, I’ve been doing this snipping thing at that same point on the right foot since my Mizuno Inspire days).  Lastly, I occasionally feel my right arch near the end of a longish run which I think is related to one of the stripes, but it’s not enough of a bother for me to deal with it yet.

I never did tell the whole tale of why I wanted to try other shoes.  It turns out my Kinvaras, which fit just fine if not full of sloshing sweat, do a number on my feet once the socks are soaked through.  Doesn’t matter how much BodyGlide I use either.  Remember that little injury in May when I snipped the callus from the bottom of my pinky toe?  It kept callusing over, which is good, but would then get a blister under the callus, which was as painful as the initial injury, then peel off and the whole cycle would repeat itself.  I even cut out the rubber area there to where there wasn’t any reason for it to keep happening but it did.  I also lost a few toenails that had no business being lost.

I didn’t have this problem last year, btw, but I was also only running 60mpw.  I suppose I could buy a larger size for the rest of the summer but I’m glad to have found something else entirely.  It’s fun to change it up and the Adios are lighter anyway with no toe trauma, whatsoever.

Speaking of happy toes, Ininji sent me some of their socks to review (toe socks), so I think that’ll be my next post.

Week in Review and a Chunky Tempo Run
Most of the runs were done in high 70s with dewpoints in the upper 60s or low 70s. Monday and Friday were recovery runs, Tuesday was just plain hot and difficult and I already wrote about Wednesday and Thursday in my last post.  Yesterday started with a laggardly 9:00mi but improved as it went, the last 5 miles @8:00.

But my major workout this week was today’s tempo run.  It was a big one for me, this season I’ve only done short tempos or tempo intervals and in the past, always worked up to longer ones.  But today was 5.5 miles right off the bat.  The warmup was sluggish @8:50s and when I got to my start point at 2.75 miles (due to water fountain placement) I did something new: stopped the watch and did a set of drills and strides (buttkick, stride, high knee, stride, skipping, stride), then began the tempo.

I didn’t get my goal pace, ended up with 7:11′s as opposed to Daniels’ 7:05s for a 40-min tempo, but I’m fine with it because it was 78 degrees out (Daniel’s conversion = 7:00 at 60 degrees), it took me up over the bridge twice (w/only one downhill), it was my first long tempo this year and hell’s bells, I just did 402 miles this month. Personally, I think I did a fabulous job (ok, yes, I’m annoyed that I didn’t get my goal, but I do believe I get a pass for that list of stuff).  Heart rate was good, and the 5 miles of cooldown felt surprisingly light.

Monday: 9@8:37
Tuesday: 15@8:34
Wednesday: 11.25@8:09 (4x½mi, 4x¼mi)
Thursday: 17@8:21 (drills and strides)
Friday: 13@8:42
Saturday: 12@8:15
Sunday: 13.25@7:55 (5.5mi @ 7:11)
Total: 90.5 mi (avg pace 8:22)

Very happy to have a cutback week ahead.  Only 72 miles!  Like a day at the beach.

Strides And Drills
The other day, Adam alerted me to a video on Diagonals.  I asked him what was so special about them, it looked like strides to me and he replied “It’s strides, basically, but with continual running.”  To which I responded, “Isn’t that how you’re supposed to do strides?”  Um…no.

Apparently, I’ve been doing strides wrong from the get-go.  What I understood as “full recovery between” I always thought meant easy running till your heart settles down so I’d start them a couple miles from the end of my run, doing them in a string as I made my way home, with normal easy pace between.  But in reality, you’re supposed to walk or shuffle between them, as in FULL full recovery.  I’d been making them somewhat aerobic and they shouldn’t be.  Not a major loss, since the Diagonals workout is good enough for Kenyans, it’s good enough for me, but I’m going to do them properly from this point on.

Aside from that, today was pretty interesting as I did something I’ve avoided for 3 years…drills.  It’s another thing Coach Adam/A Muse has been trying to get me to do but I’d been resisting.  I knew full well I could benefit from them but the things that kept me from doing them were:
1. Back in 2008 I tried some when I had a bad ankle and stupid me didn’t realize all that bouncing (they’re pretty much all ankle-centric) would make it worse so I ended up with a long-term ankle hurty thing.  Kinda scared me about doing them again.
2. Being a late-starter with nobody ever showing me what “real” runners do, I didn’t trust myself to do them correctly
3. I was not thrilled with looking like a crazy idiot in the park

#1 is not a useable excuse anymore and for #2, I watched a few videos several times and practiced in my apartment to get the idea of them and for #3, I finally figured out an excellent place to do them, not in the midst of the park and only .5mi from home (and once I move, it’ll be only a block away) on a flat patch of grass.  No more excuses.

So as today’s 17-miler came to a close, I reached the place I’d chosen, paused the Garmin and did 2 skipping, 2 high knees and 2 butt kicks plus 3 strides.  I felt quite accomplished afterwards and plan on doing them a couple times a week, eventually expanding my repertoire, as well.  Here are a few videos if you’re interested: Lauren Fleshman, Pete Magill, Jabari Pride and there are tons more on YouTube besides these.

A Strange Speed Workout
I almost published an entire post on yesterday’s workout, complete with dark, depressing thoughts of how much I suck.  But I’m totally over it.  I’m great.  Life is good.

It was my first real speed session in many, many months, so I wasn’t expecting a lot and it probably didn’t help that the previous day was a miserably-humid 15-miler that ended with me counting down the final miles home.  I was nervous about the session (6x½ miles w/2min rec’s) but still, I figured I’d come close to a 5k pace target.  But no.  Much to my chagrin, I was stuck around 10k pace and could not go faster!  After 4 reps, I switched over to 4 x ¼mi with 1min rec’s in hopes the shorter distance would help me speed up but alas, it did not.

It was 76 degrees, so that would have been a slowdown factor, and maybe the previous day’s 15-miler didn’t help, but excuses aside, it was supremely disappointing.  Only a few weeks previously, before the achilles/knee interruption, my speed had dropped on those on/offs to where I was hitting 5k pace and faster, and now once again I seemed to be missing the 5K gear.

But here’s the good news: Yesterday afternoon, while feeling loserish and weirded out about it, I went back in my logs and realized that even if “fast” is eluding me right now, my heart rate improvement is kind of astounding…but weird.

In all the 800s I used to do, (including 2 sessions I did a year ago in similar conditions at the same pace as yesterday) I always averaged a heart rate around 181 and maxed around 191 – that’s my usual interval HR range.  Yesterday? I averaged 169 and maxed at 177.  We’re talking a 12-14bpm difference.  In fact, the highest I’ve been able to get my HR this whole season is 181 and that was once.  So I’m simultaneously appreciative and weirded out, because it’s just plain strange.

So while it’s hugely aggravating that I’m unable to break through to that higher HR zone (I mean really, isn’t it weird?) instead of worrying about it as I did yesterday and wondering if I somehow ruined the way my heart works because of all that easy running, today I’m sane again and think that all I need are a couple more weeks of intervals and tempos and that missing 5k gear will be mine.  If nothing else, this is certainly an interesting situation.

It’s no secret, I love listening to music when I run.  The headphones I usually use are some cheap Phillips earbuds with a hook over the ear which looks kinda stupid but keeps them from falling out.  Sound-wise, I’m sure they’d make an audiophile have a Klipschit fit, but for my purposes, it’s been fine.  That said, when the lovely people at H20 Audio offered to send some of their waterproof earbuds my way, I was pretty excited to try something new.

The cool thing about the Flex Allsport Waterproof Headphones is that they’re waterproof for 30 minutes down to 3ft.  While I’ve yet to need that, it’s a handy thing to have in my back pocket should pool running ever become a necessity (knock on wood that I never have to test this, but in theory it’s good).  And despite my affinity for land running, my outings leave me wringably soaked 3 months out of the year, so it’s nice to know these earbuds can handle this sweat machine.

The things I really liked about these earbuds are:
1. The fit: They don’t have hooks going around your ear but they don’t need it.  The soft rubber tips (3 different sizes are included) are very comfortable and kept them in place without falling out once.  Thus, I looked infinitely less dorky than usual (in my mind, anyway).
2. The cord: Unlike my cheapy earbuds which have a stiff wire cord, the cord on these is really soft, so I didn’t even have to neaten the excess into a bundle, I just tucked it into my shorts and didn’t notice it.
3. Noise Cancelling: It’s really amazing how well they cut out all background sound.  I imagine this would be great in a gym or anywhere you want to zone out.

The things I did not like about these earbuds are:
1. Sound Quality: I was hoping for something better than the ones I currently use but there’s too much bass in these (or more likely, I’m conditioned to like the amount of treble in my usual earbuds) so they seem a bit muddy to me, I prefer a brighter sound.
2. Noise Cancelling: While this isn’t in any way a fault of these headphones (it’s a bona fide feature) when I run I need to hear what’s going on around me.  Between traffic on my way to the park and then cyclists zooming by once I’m on the loop, I don’t feel comfortable being unconnected with the outside world.  But for any other use (I keep thinking these would be great on an airplane), this would be a pro, not a con.

Aside from that, the price is super reasonable, especially considering they’re waterproof, and they come in 4 colors.  So if you swim, row, pool run, paddle or simply want to ignore the boor sitting next to you on that long flight, consider the H2O Audio Flex Allsport Waterproof Headphones.

I’ve been on the fence about what to do in prep for September’s Half but the clock is ticking down – with 7 weeks before raceweek, it’s time to get my ass moving.  I’m getting excited about it, too; the timeframe is just enough to do some damage without getting sick of it.

First off was a mileage question.  Should I plan to cut back while I get into the workouts or do I keep it status quo?  A lot of the high-mileage threads on Letsrun involved kids running high base mileage during summer but then cutting back for Fall but I wasn’t sure if that was due to school responsibilities or a purposeful decision for better training.  I posed the question to some higher-mileage runners on MRT and those who responded don’t cut back on volume.  In fact, they hardly even taper – it seems the more mileage you do, the less you need to cut back before a race…what an interesting factoid!  So anyway, I won’t be messing with my volume, there’s no need.

As for intervals, I’m in old-lady-nothing-fancy runner mode, I don’t want to do ladders or mixed pace sessions and I’m not thirsting for variety, I just want something super simple to fulfill 3-5 miles of speedwork.  So here’s my totally old skool idea:

Weeks 1 & 2: 6 x 800 – the first week 2min recoveries, the 2nd week 90 sec recoveries
Weeks 3 & 4: 5 x1000 – same recovery pattern
Weeks 5 & 6: 5 x 1200 – same recovery pattern
Week 7: 5 x mile – recovery tbd

Weather allowing, the 800s and 1000s will be 5K-ish pace, the 1200s and miles around 10k pace, though considering it’s July and August, I’m expecting some adjustments.

Tempo runs will be the standard single-paced straight-through variety on cooler days (if we have such a thing) or split into sections with short recoveries when it’s hot.  Lastly, there’ll be some extra credit in the form of strides and hill reps.

Nothing fancy but should do the job admirably.

Hot Weather Bitchfest: The Lows & A High
It’s extremely rare that I have a miserable run but this week, there was one.  Friday brought record-breaking weather to a number of cities and Philly had a double, one for the highest low (82) and highest high (103, heat index 114) so when I left the house at 5:50am it was already “feels like” 98 with the dewpoint at 76.  The park was eerily quiet with only a fraction of the usual runners (the whole weekend was like that, actually).  My first 3 miles were super slow, all I could muster were 9:20s.  My pace did its usual drop as the miles ticked by but even so, when all was said and done, I averaged a blistering 9:00/mi.

Saturday was way better, 88 degrees when I started but the heat index was only 91 thanks to a dewpoint of 64.  Still gross, but in comparison to Friday, quite lovely.  OK, that’s a stretch, but at least I didn’t want to die. 13@8:35.

Today was Saturday’s twin as far as conditions, but I had a surprisingly great run.  It wasn’t that it was fast or easy, it was that I found a new hill for doing reps that I’m in love with.  The deal was, I left the house determined to do something with hills but there was no way I was going to do hard reps up Lemon Hill – it’s really steep and turny and last week’s paltry 4 reps were super hard though it was 15 degrees cooler.  So I got it in my head to do 6 reps but just normal running, not pushing the pace at all, make it like a regular hilly run.

As I was nearing my turnaround on the quiet side of the park, a vision loomed before me…the perfect hill.  It’s not nearly as steep as Lemon Hill, but it’s a straight shot with nary a curve and practically screamed “run up me! run up me!”.  Seeing that hill, I wanted to run reps at effort!  So I did. The reps were 1:15 to the top and at first I thought, “I’ll do 4, that’s enough” but I didn’t want to stop (I swear, this was like Twilight Zone to my lazy ass).  So I did 6, or so I thought – when I got home, it turns out I did 7.

This was an important lesson for me.  When I decided that running a few times normally up Lemon Hill would be my answer to hillwork on a friggin’ hot day, I had a total guilt feeling, like I was wimping out.  Then I had another moment of guilt when I saw the other hill and weighed it against Lemon Hill, thinking I was somehow cheating because it wasn’t as steep.  But that is such bullshit! I hate Lemon Hill and don’t find it fun in any way, shape or form.  And here I find this other hill that I want to run up, so much so that I end up doing more reps with more effort than I would have done on Lemon Hill.

Goes to show, it’s not all about textbook numbers and the perfect hill grade and the best possible thing you can do to improve.  It’s about finding ways to love training and being drawn towards it instead of being repelled yet forcing yourself anyway.  Not that that’s never supposed to happen, pushing yourself and fighting through difficulty is of course necessary at times, especially in a race, but there shouldn’t be anything wrong or guilt-inducing about finding more pleasant ways to get the work in.  In fact, you might just end up accomplishing more in the end.

Lemon Hill (evil hill)

Strawberry Mansion Hill (good hill)

Heat Wave Week in Review
Monday: 9@8:24
Tuesday: 15@8:16 (8x2min on, 1min off)
Wednesday: 12@8:30
Thursday: 17@8:36
Friday: 12@9:00
Saturday: 13@8:35
Sunday: 12@8:33 (seven 75-sec hill reps)
Total: 91.5 mi (avg pace 8:33)

Between Thurs, Sat and Sun (which were all similar, weather-wise), I can say that Daniels’ temperature comparison calculations are off for me.  For 90 degrees, he says I’d slow by 19 seconds but I think it’s closer to 30 seconds in my case.  Not that any of it is exact science (and maybe it’s because humidity is not taken into account), but I thought it worth noting.

Thanks to a weather pattern from hell, it’s going to be a really fun few days for most of us in the U.S.

Since a string of forced easy running was/is in my future, I did my main workout on Tuesday: 15 miles with 8x(2min on, 1 off).  The on/offs weren’t super fast due to it being 86 heat index, but it was a solid effort and it’s been forever that I’ve done 16 minutes faster than tempo pace so I was very pleased.  The last 6.5mi were not peppy by any means though, and the whole week’s pace average will be markedly lower than usual.

Speaking of, today was the start of the official heat wave here and because it’s only going to get worse, I decided to get my LR out of the way this morning.  17 miles at 6am with a heat index that reached 95.  But it actually wasn’t that awful thanks to taking my time, starting with 8:55s for the first 3 miles.  I averaged 8:36/mi which, considering the conditions and lack of major discomfort, is A-OK by me.

I don’t see any tempo running happening in the next couple days, but I’ve been including a couple pickups when I’m a block from home just to keep the legs alive.  I’d like to do some hill repeats if nothing else but I’ll have to play it by ear, maybe do some 30-second ones on the museum ramp (very sunny open spot though, so that might not happen).  We’ll see.  As long as I’m getting the mileage in, that’s the main thing.  And if nothing else, this week will make next week’s high 80s feel like a Spring chill.

Be safe everyone, drink loads, don’t be shy about stopping at fountains and park your butt in the AC when it’s all over.

From left: Julie, Joe, Heather, Moi, Ewen

Today was a treat and a half.  I drove up to NYC and finally got to meet some running bloggers in the flesh whom I’ve known online for a couple years now (Julie, Joe and Ewen) and an old co-worker/friend/runner that I haven’t seen since 1995, Heather.  As expected, it was a hell of a lot of fun with much laughter, gabbing and stuffing of faces.  Not pictured, but should be mentioned because they’re extremely sweet people, are Julie’s man Jonathan and Ewen’s friends Joy and Mal.  Great meeting you all!

Da Week Dat Was
92 miles again, this time driven by an ulterior motive.  Due to the fact that I might have to decrease mileage in August to accommodate harder workouts, I thought it’d be fun to hit a significant monthly milestone of 400 miles for July.  I’m already at 220, so all I have to do is my usual 90s for the next couple weeks and it’s a done deal.

As for this week’s notable mentions, I already talked about the tempo in the last post, the only other thing was the inclusion of hill reps today (again, an Adam suggestion).  I hate hill reps but I can tell when I do them how valuable they are so I was really happy about getting them done.  Next week I’ll add a couple more, then make them a tad longer the week after.

Monday: 9@8:23 (4 strides, slow as molasses, so didn’t bother with more)
Tuesday: 15@8:30
Wednesday: 12@8:09 (7 strides)
Thursday: 15@7:55 (4.75mi tempo)
Friday: 13@8:11
Saturday: 16@8:08
Sunday: 12@8:14 (four 60-sec. hill charges)
Total: 92 mi (avg pace 8:12)

My Adidas Adios are my new BFFs, I’ve worn them every day since getting them and my toes are incredibly happy in their new home.  I did want to mention though, because I know I’ve acquired at least one newbie runner reader this week, that they are not appropriate for someone starting out or who needs more stability, they’re not enough shoe, so don’t follow my lead and do let your running store help you pick out the perfect kicks for you.