Posts Tagged ‘Hudson’

This was supposed to be another easy run after yesterday’s mid-Long (11mi @ 8:32), but the weather was gorgeous today: sunny and 61 degrees, albeit still gusty.  Tomorrow’s supposed to be rainy and cooler, so today won.

Hudson had 3x10min @ Half/10k pace with 2min. recoveries, but dividing it up into three small parcels seemed “eh”, so I did this instead: 2 mile wu, 3mi@Half pace, 2min rec, 1.5mi@10k pace, 4miles home.

It went fine.  I wish I’d reigned it in better on the Half portion and kept it to 7:17s, because it convolutes my HR comparison to last week’s tempo, but I overcompensated for the wind.  Splits were 7:17, 7:13, 7:14 (avg. 7:14, Avg HRR 85%) , 2min recovery, 6:58, 3:28 (avg. 6:57, Avg HRR 89.5%).

Total for the run: 10.5 miles, avg pace 8:05.

Been having a weird thing with my left index finger these past few days.  It’ll twitch for a few seconds, then slow down and stop.   Of course, I stupidly looked up what it could be and discovered that Michael J. Fox’s first sign of Parkinsons was a twitching pinkie, but I’m not even going there.   It is mildy freaky though.

Other than that, I downloaded a lot of songs this week.   Of all the singles in my music collection, The Killers win for Most Songs From One Band because I just loooove their hooks and Spaceman is my new favorite sing-along.  Then there’s Manchester Orchestra’s I’ve Got Friends with that super swell chorus and the always uber-cool Dandy Warhols with Godless – excellent trumpet line.  A bunch more, too but that’s it for now.

Today was a long run with Audra (aka Doggie poo or Dog lb, depending on where she’s posting).   Since running our marathon together, we’ve become fast friends and though she lives in NYC, she visits here a lot so we try to run together whenever she’s around.

We had different plans for our runs today, she with 12-miles starting from where she was staying, me with a 16-miler which included 15 x 90sec.@10k pace w/90 sec recoveries in the latter half.  In the end, we ran together for 8.5 miles.

I was pretty pooped from the get-go because I had driven Nick to the airport at 5:30 this morning but running with Audra was fun as usual, though we spent a lot of it zigzagging through masses of rowers because there was a huge rowing competition going on.

Then we met up with her fabulous girlfriend Loren and their cutest new member of the family, Bea, the border terrier.  We ran a couple miles all together and then shared goodbye smooches before I turned off to start the fast crap.

Much to my annoyance, during the first 1:30 I got an ache high in my thigh (maybe IT band?)   which stuck around the rest of the run.  My pace was fine, though I skipped one of the fast bits to stretch my leg, so I ended up with 14 of those bad boys instead of 15.  No matter, it still gave me 21 minutes of 10k pace in the midst of a long run, so useful stuff no matter how you slice it.

I’ll admit that I’m happy this was the last of Hudson’s “fartleks” (as he calls them) within a long run.  From here on in, the LRs will be progressions or normal paced runs.  Yay!  Fifteen times anything is about 10 more than I like and makes a progression run seem so inviting.

But enough whining, it’s time to repair to the bedroom for a long, lazy nap.  Later, y’all.

Fun run today, waited till late afternoon to avoid gusting wind. It was a beautiful breezy sunset of a run, 8.25 miles which included 8x10sec hill sprints. It’s funny because they sprints are supposed to be “5K effort”, but if you do them on a grassy hill, they end up being as fast as sludge. No matter. I’m getting into them, I can tell they’re giving me Super Runner powers.

Speaking of Super Runner powers, I’ve been thinking of mileage and my next move in that area. Funny how the things you think “I can’t imagine wanting to do that” end up being the next logical step. For instance, last Fall I fully expected my mileage to stay around 45-50, 60 wasn’t even a contender.

Then I got Hudson’s book and noticed that midway through his Half plan he called for 7 days/week. Eh, I figured that when the time came, I’d stick with a 6 day week. Then in January, before I’d even begun the plan, I thought it’d be a lark to try it out, run 7 days/week, just so I could see what it was like. It ended up being so natural that I had no reason to return to 6 days.

So now I’m an “around 60mpw” runner. If nothing interferes (like a race or taking a day off when my foot was smarting) then it’s 60, otherwise, if I lose a day it ends up being around 55. My Half plan will peak next month at 68, but besides that, I figured I’d sit at 60 for awhile. But this week I’ve become curious.

If things are going so swimmingly at 60mpw, what would happen if I went to 70? If you read this blog, you might remember me saying I never liked the thought of doubles. I guess the main reason is that running is my big event for the day, my treat. But to get dressed, run, change clothes again, do daily stuff, be stinky if I don’t shower, change clothes again, run again, etc… just does not appeal to me. Still, knowing that the only way to get faster is to continue to add mileage means I was starting to come round to the thought of doubles.

So yesterday I posted a thread on the Marathon Training Forum asking 70+mpw runners a few questions about their schedules and found out the most amazing thing. Most of them don’t run doubles! And we’re talking up to 88mpw of singles. Whether it’s because they have family obligations, job obligations or just don’t like doing doubles, it is apparently not the requirement I thought it was.

Lest you think I just pulled that “requirement” out of my ass, it’s a factoid I’ve read in several books and articles from esteemed mega-coaches, that if you run more than 70mpw, you need to start doing doubles, else you’ll never be adequately recovered. So what a thrill to find this is book learnin’ advice, not necessarily a real-world necessity.

Game On! I’m going to continue as planned for this Half, peaking at 68 (although I reserve the right to run more if I’m feeling craaaazy), then in May start building mileage a bit.

The cool thing is that marathon training doesn’t start till August and I’m not planning on running any summer 20-milers on a whim. So for a couple months I’ll enjoy some longer mid-week mid-longs and then, once training begins, I can keep that going and just add some mileage to the Sunday run. This way there’ll be no dramatic peaks or surprises and I should be in strong shape as I move through the marathon cycle.

So there you have it, my newest diabolical plan to rule the world. Or at least beat the crap out of some 45-49 year old hags ladies.

Gorgeous run yesterday at around 5pm, albeit chilly at 18 degrees windchill. I rarely go running that late so to see the sun set on the river was one of those moments you wished someone was with you so you could say, “Wow, look at that.”

Today’s run, a 12-miler, was bound to be an interesting one because in the midst of it was Hudson’s fartlek concoction: 15x(1min @5k pace, 1 min. recovery). All I can say is, If Fartlek is synonymous with “play” and “fun” then hey, I want my money back.

Actually, the blame is my own. I was using the Garmin for pacing information but it kept taking about 30 seconds to lock into the lap pace, so I kept thinking I was running 7:xx (and being pissed at myself about it) until it would suddenly show “6:3x”. If I paid more attention to my effort level, I wouldn’t have needlessly worked quite so hard. So anyway, was shooting for 6:50s, got 6:40s.

No matter, I get to try it again on Sunday’s 15-miler. It calls for the same fartlek session along with an additional 2 miles “hard”. I just have to catch up on sleep because I’ve been lacking in that department which is probably part of the reason today seemed tough.

But I’m jumping ahead as usual, because Friday brings a notable run, as well. 10 w/6@Half pace. I haven’t done a 6mile tempo since marathon training, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m assuming he’s talking current Half pace since 3 weeks later he asks for 5 @goal Half pace. Cool, I’m down wit dat.

I also made some race decisions: I’m going to do a 5-mile race on March 14th, but instead of prepping for it like I did the 10k, I’m just incorporating it into my week with a few slight mileage adjustments the two days before. Not looking for anything amazing, but there are so few 5-mile races (I’ve only run one) that it’s as good a time as any to update my 2007 PR.

I also made the executive decision to forgo my beloved Clean Air 5k this year in favor of a 10K that same weekend. It makes so much more sense to do the 10K because it’s 3 weeks before my Half, there’s no better goal indicator than that.

So now all I need is to blank my mind from how miserable I felt during the last couple miles of Sunday’s race, the better to enjoy the coming one. Thank god for selective memory.

Yesterday: an easy 8-miler at 9:01. Because I had a scary speed session planned for today, it was my pleasure to stay at a sensible pace.

Today: my last set of intervals before Sunday’s race. My usual pre-race speed session is always a light one, around 2 miles worth of 600s or 800s @ 5k pace. Hudson’s concoction, however, was a different beast entirely: 2 miles easy, 1mi at 5K pace, 4min easy, 8×400 at 3k pace w/1min recoveries, 2 miles easy.

Here’s the damage:
The 5K-paced mile: 6:48. My splits for the 400s were sadly all over the place. It was only my second time going for 3k pace in a workout so I just ran as fast as I could and hoped it came out alright. It came out fine, as far as average pace, but the first two didn’t help the rest. Paces for the 400s were 6:21,6:22,6:35,6:20,6:43,6:30,6:36,6:42. Average pace, 6:31. Now on to the subject of weight…

I started at 126.5 lbs. at the end of December. While the first couple weeks in January gave a rapid drop, my goal of 114 has been taking it’s own sweet time. While the scale continues to fluctuate, my calorie intake has stayed pretty consistent throughout, between 2000-2100/day (though I suspect I should increase it again).

Two weeks ago, I hit 117 for a couple days, which would have made a 9.5 lbs. loss, but then last week was my “lady time” and aside from Monday morning at 117.5, I’m currently holding steady at 119.

Meanwhile, my little mOron bodyfat analyzer, yet another fluctuating marvel, has continued a steady trend downward, showing a bodyfat loss of 1.7% since I started. But nothing tells the story as well as a tape measure. So far, this is what’s missing:
waist: 1.25″
navel: 1.5″
butt: 3/4″
thigh: 1/2″ each
calves: 1/4″ each
arm: 1/2″ each
boobs: a distant memory

Let this remind you guys that the scale is not to be trusted. If you’re on a mission to lose a few pounds, take your measurements! You’ll still freak out at the slow moving scale but not half as badly.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some pushups to do. Will the fun never end?

What a morning. I was sitting here in my robe, putzing around the house thinking about when I would run, checking in on the forums, when at 10:13, I get a call from a recording studio, “Where are you?!” Oh shit! I totally forgot I had a voiceover at 10am! To a perpetually early Virgo, this is akin to killing a baby.

I apologized like mad, slapped on some clothes and drove like a bat out of hell. Twenty-five minutes later I walk in the door, sooo apologetic, the client and my friends at the studio are “no problem, don’t worry, everything’s ok” and I did the job. Still, that feeling of fucking up pervaded the day.

As for yesterday’s running report, I had planned to keep my 14-miler in slow territory and even though Hudson said “last 15 minutes hard”, I figured I’d skip that bit, since I’d done the tempo and 200s the previous day. I was feeling pretty good though and while the idea of speeding up seemed like a pipe dream at mile 10, I figured I could try it for a mile, see if it sucked, and if it did, slow down again.

As usual, the thought of doing is often worse than the actual deed. I picked up the pace around mile 11, it felt ok, so I picked it up a tad more, ending the run with 7:50s for the last two miles. Avg. pace for the run, 8:42.

After my job debacle this morning, I put off today’s run as long as I could because it was window-rattling gusty outside. Once again, I was making deals with myself “I give myself the ok to do a measly 4 miles as long I get those hill sprints in.” which got me out the door. It ended up being a fine recovery run, 7.6 miles w/ 7 hill sprints.

My highlight of the run was (with no other runners in sight thanks to the gusting wind) when I languidly picked my tights outta my ass at the very millisecond some fast guy appears next to me from behind saying “Hi, windy day, huh?”

Timing…I just didn’t have it today.