Posts Tagged ‘race goals’

It’s finally happened – the Plateau, she is gone.

Yesterday’s workout was: 10.7 miles w/5 x 1.25mi @10k pace, avg. 3:40 recoveries.  I averaged 6:59s.  It was 81 degrees and Daniels and Tinman say that’s equivalent to 6:47s in normal temps, so I plugged it into McMillan and dang if it doesn’t spit out my Half PR from last year.  Of course, this is all calculated approximation so TWB (tinged with bullshit) but I haven’t been in spitting distance for close to a year, so this is a beautiful thing.

Btw, some weather trivia I just read: this is the hottest Philly summer on record, and by a wide margin.  Highs averaged 88.7!  Last winter had record snowfall.  If this keeps up, I may just move my ass outta here.  But back to running…

Race Goals For The 19th
As mentioned, I’m not looking for a PR for this one, instead my main focus will be getting hydration down right.  I’ll also be tweaking the nutrition aspect and for the first time, at Adam’s suggestion, will take 2 gels, one 30 minutes in, the next 30 minutes afterward.  I think this is a great idea, I’ve always scrimped on that stuff during Halfs but now I have no problem taking gels (they used to remind me of snot but now I find them quite tasty, or else I’ve established a craving for eating snot).  But back to the goal…

1:34 has a nice ring to it; challenging, but not tempting fate too much.   Having trained in this miserable weather for months, it’s hard to realistically know what’ll happen.  It’s like you’re rehearsing for a dance but only marking your moves for months, then suddenly you have a week to dance all-out (assuming we’ll have some cooler weather before the 19th).  Should be interesting, if nothing else.  Plus, the major happiness with this race is the girlies coming in: there’ll be Reyana coming from California, Rebecca from Alabama, Doggie & Loren and Kat.  So it’s a chickfest in the works!

Meanwhile, I’m actually looking forward to my 6@Half pace tempo this Friday (or Saturday if the weather’s better) to see where my heart rate lies.  Who is this person?  Looking forward to quality runs again?  No defeatist attitude?  Some actual confidence?  She seems familiar but I can’t quite place her.  Looking forward to become reacquainted with her as the Fall progresses, though.  Speaking of…

Fall Races
I started scouting out races to do between this Half and the November one, and compiled a nice little list, which I’ve put on my At The Races page. I’ll pick 3 but those are the choices so far.   It’ll be so good to get back in the game – the longer I’m away, the more nerve-wracking it is to race.  Which is another reason I’m happy that September’s Half will be a rustbuster and not one that (in my mind) counts.

Back to the present
I had a fun 11-miler this morning, the first few miles run with blog commenter and friend Steph, who is one half of a pair of athletic twins (missed you today, Linds!).  I see them both in the park and they look so remarkably identical, the only way I can tell them apart is one wears red, the other wears blue.  I’m still not convinced there are two of them since I’ve yet to see them together.

Anyway, we had a fun time jabbering about the park regulars, it’s so satisfying to have your observations of weirdos and funny running styles confirmed.  Btw, they’re not the only twin runners in the park, there’s another set of sisters in their 20′s too, though they’re much easier to tell apart.  They’re also very sweet and always say hi.

I’ll end today’s post with a shout-out to my friend Matt Tartar, whom I met doing the Runner’s Roundtable.  He’s got a cool podcast called Dump Runner’s Club where he talks of all things running.  If you’re a podcast listener, add him to your list, he’s a funny guy and a sweetie, besides.

And that concludes today’s blah blah.   I wish you all the blah blah for the next couple blah.   Be safe and make sure to blah your blah blah because it might get itchy if you’re not careful.

But it’s ok, nobody’s playing funeral music over here.  Besides, I think this is only the third quality session I’ve ever cut short, so I was due. Today’s fun was supposed to be 8×800@10k pace w/1min rec’s.

The hamstring injury had me nervous as it hadn’t completely left the building.  And while I’d said I wanted at least one perfect hamstring day before attempting this session, tomorrow and Sunday are going to be “feels like” high 80s by 6am, so it was now or never.  And it feels much better, so I thought it worth chancing.

When I left the house at 6:30am, it was “feels like” 82, deeming 10k pace a concept rather than an absolute – I just needed to manage 8 at “whatever”.  I had a 2.5mi warmup which included some strides, then I stretched the hamstring, jogged a bit more and began.

In the end, I completed 5 of them, the first 4 pacewise went 7:05, 6:59, 6:58, 6:58, then I gave the hamstring a long stretch which had the opposite effect as intended, making it announce its presence, so the 5th one fell in at 7:18 and at that point, it was time to pack it in.  Honestly, it was the hamstring, feeling cooked from the heat and a bad attitude.

On the bright side, I managed almost 18 minutes of effort-filled running, so it wasn’t a waste by any means, just not the most efficient bang for the buck.  But I feel better than if I hadn’t done anything hard this week.

Injury Reflection
I think I know how I got the hamstring injury in the first place.  It’s no secret I’m always on the hunt for improving my form and something I’d been playing with recently was stride length.  A couple sessions ago (the one before I strained it) I’d noticed that if I increase my pushoff and lengthen that back leg, I gained some speed.  The problem, I think, is that my hamstring wasn’t accustomed to supporting this exaggerated movement.   Live and learn.  That’s a potential byproduct of experimentation.

Pace or Effort?
There’s an interesting thread going on at MRT about whether you get the same workout running slower paces in hotter weather.  I’m of the opinion that you don’t get an equivalent workout in poor conditions.  Not to say you don’t get benefit, just that you get more improvement when you’re able to fire on all cylinders.

With this in mind, I don’t see myself having the outcome I want for the RNR Philly Half (aka Distance Run) in September, which is a PR.  So if you look at my At The Races page, I’ve removed the note “goal race” from that one and added the Philadelphia Half Marathon in November to the schedule.  It’s a tad slower course than the September Half, but I’ll have another 2 months to train and in cooler weather, so at least I’ll have a clue about where I stand.  Right now, I’m so mixed up with the sludge and my last races, that I don’t know what to expect.

But this is not a boohoo situation!  It’s a “try to see clearly and plan accordingly” type of deal.  I know good things will come, but it’s a matter of time.  This is all about discovery and realization and frankly, even though I whine a lot, I love it.  Yeah, I get frustrated not moving ahead the way I’d like, but running is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before – the way it unfolds is such a mystery.  It keeps us on our toes, gives us a menu of emotions to choose from and makes life exciting.  How many things can you say that about?

Yesterday, I walked downtown to get my race packet for this Sunday’s 5K, went to the address on the brochure, walked in, and the woman there asked, “What are you here for?”
“A race packet.”
“Oh no, we don’t have anything like that here”
“Um, the brochure says this is where we get our packets”
“The race director said he won’t give them out until Sunday before the race.”
“Sooo….why does it say come here from June 7-11 between 10am to 4pm to pick up a packet?”
“I don’t know but we don’t have anything.”

Nice.  So much for getting there, warming up and racing.  Now I’ll have to stand in line with hundreds of other people beforehand.

It wasn’t a total waste – leaving my building, I had checked the mailbox and found a $25 gift certificate from my running store for having cumulatively spent $300 on merchandise. The running store was just a block away from the stupid packet non-pickup, so I got a great pair of shorts and only had to shell out $8.

As for the race, the forecast is grim.  Sunday’s high is set to be 90 which means it’ll be around 80 by 9am.   The one potential saving grace is a threat of thunderstorms, so at least it won’t be sunny.  And if I’m lucky, I’ll be electrocuted during warmup.

Seriously, I am not looking forward to this at all but I’m doing it because I need to harden up.   What to shoot for pacewise?  Who the fuck knows?

Ankle Update – Putting On The Heat
I took about 3 days off: Mon, Tuesday’s runette (only 2.5 miles) and Wednesday because the ankle was “there” when I awoke.  It felt fine yesterday morning, so I went 7 and I’m about to go for 7 today too, then 4 or 5 tomorrow.  Keeping it conservative till next week.

One interesting change (to me, anyway) is I’m switching up therapies: I’m still icing after a run but since it’s well past the acute stage, they say regular icing doesn’t do much for you any more, that heat is better, so now I’m applying heat before my run, a few times in the day and before bed.   It makes sense to use heat since I’m basically warming it up in those first creaky morning steps but it’s odd, after hearing RICE a zillion times.  Nobody ever says RHCE.  Maybe because it needs another vowel.

Also, I had cut down on supplements recently but now I’m back to 2 Glucosamine and 2 MSM to see if that helps.  I’d rather up those than take ibuprofen.  I’m not sure why exactly, ibuprofen works wonderfully and when I take it (sparingly), it seems to carry over 2 days, but there’s an onus about it,  so I’ll try the more natural approach.

And with that, I’ll end the whining here. Wish me luck folks, not for a fast race, because I won’t be able to do that, but for a race where my ego does not feel bruised, where I enjoy it for the fun of a runnerly gathering, not to mention the speed session I’ll get out of it.  Assuming someone manages to bring the bibs.

Here’s the podcast if you haven’t moseyed on over yet.  It was fun to do and the guys on the panel were way cool – an enjoyable time was had by all.  I don’t think we helped Joe decide whether to race the NYC marathon or just run it, which was probably the whole point of the podcast, but I think he’s getting closer to figuring it out.

Runs
Yesterday, a 13-miler.  I dawdled too long so it was hot by the time I got out, but that helped keep my pace easy @ 8:47 avg.

Today, Kick Ass.    An 8 miler w/3 tempo and whoa doggies, the speedwork is working! Compare my previous tempo run to today (note the temperature difference):

May 7, 66F:  7:11, 7:12, 7:09, average 7:11
Today, 75F: 7:05, 7:05, 6:58, average 7:02

And I suck in the heat!  The best part?  Both my interval and tempo this week are a hair’s breadth away (5 seconds) from where I was this time last year and that was my short-race prime.  Whew!

Now for the meat of the post…

Age Grading Explanation and Stuff
I initially became aware of age-grading when I got my first running book (and running bible), Bob Glover’s Competitive Runner’s Handbook.  In the first few pages, he has tables for what he calls “Basic Competitor” through “Semi-Elite” with ages and corresponding race times for each group.*

I drooled over the different tables and as I moved up from Basic to Advanced to Local Champion, it was exciting, but it wasn’t till I’d owned the book a couple years that I realized the numbers next to his categories were age-grade percentages, split up like this:

Basic Competitor (50%)
Competitor(60%)
Advanced Competitor(65%)
Local Champion(75%)
Semi-Elite (85%)

How Age-Grading Is Calculated:
They (World Masters Athletics) take the world record holder of each age and sex, call that 100%, then your race time is divided into that, giving you a percentage called your Age Grade.  So, taking an example from Running For Fitness, “the world record for a 53 year old woman running a 10km is 35:01. So if a 53 year old woman finishes a 10km in 45:18, she has an age-graded performance of 77.3% (which is 35:01 divided by 45:18).”

Bottom Line:
It’s tells you how high you rank in your age group and is often used for major track meet classifications.

This is the breakdown:
100% = Approximate World Record Level
Over 90% = World Class
Over 80% = National Class
Over 70% = Regional Class
Over 60% = Local Class

What This Means For Me:
Last year I came very close to 80% in several race distances and now I’m ready to get in there and sit my ass down.   So my goal from here on in, besides the standard time-based ones, is to enter “National Class” for all my race distances (sans Marathon) and then see how far I can move up.  I’d be lying if I didn’t admit Glover’s “Semi Elite” classification sounds pretty sweet to me.  Hell, even the phrase “National Class” makes me giggle.

Now here’s the cool thing…
I didn’t realize till last night that my 5K PR, which was 79.91% at age 47, is 80.86% at age 48…I’m in the door!  Kind of.  I mean, I have to redo it to count, but that’s in the cards and then some (sub 20 will be mine by Fall, gosh dern it!)

Which brings me to my upcoming 5K.  To get 80%, I need 20:38, which looks doable (if the temps are good).  If not this race, I’ll get another chance 2 weeks later.   So there you have it: a race goal, thanks to the goodness of Age-Grading.

*It should be noted that in my version of the book, Glover’s tables are outdated, which might have been fixed in a newer edition.  There are two sets of age-graded numbers floating around the interwebs: 1994 and 2006 factors.  The latter is most current and happily, more generous, so if you see conflicting numbers between online age-grading calculators, the slower one is using the older, outdated world records.

I’m racing a 5K on the 30th and hope to get close to last year’s PR of 20:25, but have no expectations to exceed it.  Sub-20 is definitely on the radar this year and I’m confident it’ll be mine but not till Fall.

In the meantime, I had a speed session today, same as last week (8 x .25mi w/1mi recoveries) which was by design, since last week’s paces were all over the place and I wanted a basis for comparison.  Plus, it takes me a week or two to get used to faster running and this workout is a “no big deal” way to do that.

My splits, while not perfectly consistent, were eons better than last time:
1:37,1:35,1:39,1:35,1:37,1:38,1:38,1:38 (avg pace 6:28)

Three things helped:

1. The temperature was a lovely 60 degrees.  Interesting factoid: when it’s warm (last week was 75) my heart rate caps out low though the effort feels much harder.  Weird that, since you’d think the HR would be higher.

2. I did strides beforehand.  I know I should do this before every quality session, it gets your HR up and your body prepared for running faster. I will from now on, it really made a difference.

3. Confidence.  Last week, for all the crappy pacing and even though it was only 400s, that last fast one gave me an inkling that speed is indeed returning.  I needed that like nectar to a hummingbird.

Next two weeks I’ll do 6 x 800 w/ 90sec rec’s. and then my Half cycle begins!  Nice to be priming the pump before the heavy-duty work starts.  Though I must say, I’m pretty much doing what I’d do in a regular cycle anyway but it seems so casual and fun now, almost vacation-like.  Maybe it’s the weather.

Pill Popping
I’m not a huge pill-popper by nature, though I’ve been taking glucosamine and MSM since the IT band crap last summer.  This week I cut my glucosamine by half, so one pill instead of two.  So far, I’m not noticing anything different.  As for my MSM capsule, I’ll continue to take that daily but am open to seeing what’s what without these things.

I don’t think I mentioned that I started taking an Iron supplement a couple months ago.  I had my ferritin levels checked back in August which came out normal, but my mileage hadn’t reached the level it’s at now.  Also, I was still living with Nick at the time and ate red meat quite often.  I love red meat, so don’t think I’ve gone all veggie on you, but I’ve probably had it 3 times in the last 6 months.  I do eat a lot of fresh spinach but surprisingly, if you eat a whole bag of the stuff, it’s still only 30% of your daily requirement.  So anyway, I take an 18mg capsule daily.

Calcium is my other supplement – Viactiv chews, twice daily.  I wrote a whole blog piece two years ago on the different types of calcium and how this type (calcium carbonate) used to stop me up.  But now I eat so much more fiber and drink more liquids, I’m a great pooper.

Core Work Continued
I was doing those Runners World exercises for a couple weeks which are great, but I’ve started switching it up with one of my favorite exercise DVDs: Mari Winsor’s 20-minute Slimming Pilates.  It’s basically a fast-paced core workout that I love because she doesn’t chatter on, it goes boom boom boom, from one exercise to the next.

Group Thoughts
Today was a slow day on my running path, I only waved to about 7 people I knew.  Seriously.  I love my park because there are probably 35-40 regulars with whom I wave and exchange a couple words.  When we see each other in races or on the street, it’s a fun shot of recognition.

I was thinking about the whole “running with others” thing and while I enjoyed the outing, I’ll always be a lone runner at heart.  I’ll try to make the hill workout this Thursday because I like the idea of sharing a hard workout, but I guess I wanted to explain that while I’m out there on my own day-to-day, I’m surrounded by camaraderie every time I run.  So we’ll see how much running club action I get.  Maybe I need to work on my bar-hopping skills instead.

Did my first proper (non-Billat) interval session in 6 weeks and am happy to say, saw a clear sign of progress, something I took for granted last year till it starting backing up on me like a gas station toilet.

Today’s session was 10.20mi total: 2.75mi to my interval spot, 5 x 1000 w/2min recoveries, then 3.25mi home.  The intervals averaged 4:07 (6:37 pace) and when I compare that to my last set of intervals 6 weeks ago (6×800 w/2min rec’s. averaging 6:54), that’s a solid improvement and getting closer to last Fall’s times.  Looks like the Billats were not spinning my wheels one bit.

Another happy thing about this workout was it’s only the 2nd time I’ve ever hit my max recorded HR of 193, which I was beginning to think I’d dreamt up.  The first and only other time it’s ever hit it was in 2007 at my first 5K and that’s what I’ve been basing my HR around (calling it 198 since it’s unlikely you ever hit 100%).

The interesting thing is that I once hit 192 a year ago, also doing 1000m intervals, so perhaps that particular distance draws it out of me better than any other.  It was 65 degrees today, so that probably helped sneak it up there, too.  All I know is, however it got up there it’s a relief since for quite a while now, my max HR has felt capped, that my tempos were reaching the same max as my speed sessions (too high for a tempo, too low for speed).

And for the record, I averaged 184 on those intervals.  Don’t want you to think my heart was about to explode or anything.

Weight
Yay! I finally hit my usual “normal” weight of 117.5 this week (4 lbs lost).  I haven’t been sacrificing much, just stopped buying cookies and candy and have been eating salad for most dinners – which I love.  I stick in a handful of walnuts and dried cranberries along with tons of veggies, so it’s not a sacrificial meal.  I’m still eating my nightly ice cream topped with sweet cereal for added yummy crunchiness.

Breakfast is usually a 5-grain hot cereal with tons of cinnamon and some sweet-n-low (nobody’s perfect), lunch is a turkey sandwich and I’ve been addicted to Bobbi’s Hummus (thanks Jenn!) so I eat that daily as a snack with crackers.  One main thing is I stopped buying huge bread.  Seriously, I was getting very large sliced bread which means more peanut butter or whatever you slather on there.

I was 119lbs. when I ran Philly but my best races last season were at 115.5, so it looks like I’ll be right there again for Boston.  As mentioned before, I hate to say this stuff with so many people having body issues, but it’s physics, so there’s no sense pretending it doesn’t make a difference.  And for those tsk-tsking readers (you know who you are) remember, I’m 5’4″…so 115 is not a radical body weight by any means but it will, unquestionably, be an important component to racing well.

The Wheelchair Lady
If you’re my friend on Facebook, you’ve already read about that lady on Tuesday.  As I was finishing up a 12-miler, a stones throw from my front door, a woman passed me in an electric wheelchair and called out, “run an extra mile for me!”.  If it wasn’t a couple days after the race with me feeling achy still, I would have, but I didn’t, I just wanted to stop.  And I got called out for it a tad.

Of course, I felt like shit for not doing it but I’m honest about my foibles and that was one.  So yesterday I ran 2 miles extra for her, did an 11 instead of the 9 I had planned.  Made me feel somewhat better but hey, I think we all know I’m a solid bitch at heart.  I got no problems with that, since I have enough sweetness to equal out.  hee hee

Boston Goal
Been thinking about this a bit and am hereby declaring it…3:25, nothing faster.  My race last Sunday calculates out to a 3:20:26 marathon but it was on a totally flat course, so I figure 5 minutes of leeway should do me alright.  If not, and I end up slowing down more, that’s cool too, I really don’t give a crap.

I’m looking forward to trying out my new marathon pace this Saturday since it’s slower than any of my goal MP workouts thus far.  I hope to see a very pretty number on the HR monitor.  That’ll tell me if I shouldn’t dumb it down further, which would suck since I walked such a large amount of Philly for a 3:33, but hey, it’ll be what it’ll be…the Heart knows.