I have to catch you up!

I feel bad about my lack of attention to updating my running blog... Ok.. here goes..

I am in week 9 of my training plan for the Vulcan 10k. As I have 10 weeks of training until the race I am very unsure of my current readiness. I have to realize that I am NOT going to set PR's every time I run a "big" race and that I am still in a phase of training that is designed to get me back in shape for the 2010 race season.. not 2009. So, let's get on with the training update!

August was a low mileage month. I had the unscheduled race (Wallahachee Woodlands 5k) that I talked about in the last blog blog entry.. it WAS hot so I did opt for the 5k instead of the 10k and was pretty glad I did. Race time was 22:02.. Not my fastest but I was happy about the consistent mile splits of 6:55; 7:09; 7:03. I came in 2nd in age group.. a little disappointed in that.. the 1st place was just a few seconds ahead and I really should have pushed myself to get the 1st place.. but I didn't lose any sleep and since I really didn't see this as a goal race.. I'm ok with it... I know I can do better.. but I didn't prove it at that race..

The past week I missed most of the week's training due to sickness. I never ran a temperature.. or felt anything really other than I was just dead tired. I think I started feeling it on my Saturday run and on Tuesday I just kept feeling worse as the day went on.. So, I laid out of going to work on Wed and Thur and by Friday I was good enough to go back to work (are u bored yet?) but still laid out on Sat... I Ran 7.6 this AM and besides thinking that I ran a mile to long it was a good run. So back to the training plan starting tomorrow.. but as Chris Russell ( http://runrunlive.com/ ) said the other day.. 'If you miss a week of training, don't double up thinking that this will get you back on track, it will more than likely set you back. Just pick up where you left off." So that is what I will do.

Before I run the Vulcan I do have a half marathon http://www.hyundaihalf.com/ on the schedule.But as I have said this is going to be a more of a training run than a race. But I'd still like to do well!

I have enjoyed providing some entries to the extra mile podcast ( http://theextramilepodcast.blogspot.com/ ) during the past couple of months. The design of this podcast is to provide a place for runners to send mp3 recordings of their training updates. Kevin then puts them together and posts it on iTunes for download. Kevin has had some good things to say about my submissions and I have really enjoy sending them in. Yeah,, it's kind of strange to be running down the road talking to "myself" but at 3:30 in the morning.. there is really no one there to see me or hear me doing it anyway.. and besides I'm not really talking to myself, I'm talking to all the people that will listen to the podcast.. I just hope that what I have to say is of some interest to the listeners.

For this blog... I would really like to tell some stories of my present and past running.. I will do that soon.. maybe there will be some enjoyment to the reader...

So.. Why not?

Well, I know I said it... after the Peach run in Clanton I told myself that I wasn't going to run another race this Summer... I was just so depressing an effort.. But, I really need to take my 'training temperature" to see how I am doing up to this point in my 10K training. This is a race that I have run before (Woodlands Wallahachee 5 and 10K). I have, up to this point, always run the 10K... but this year I will use the 5K to judge my training. It is an out and back course and I have always felt a little jealous when the 5K racers would be turning around at their halfway point while the 10K runners continued on to our turnaround point. This year I will join that group this year!

Training has been going fair. A couple weeks ago my hip started hurting so I lowered my mileage for a week and began some strength exercises that were on the Running Times podcast.. They were very timely and beneficial to me. I have tried to be diligent to the exercises and I believe that this has helped to get me back on track fast. Last week I had my first 40 mile week in a long time..

I will limit and taper my training this week and prepare for the race. I will update again post race

Week 5 Training Update

I had a good week on the road. All combined I ran 35.9 miles in the 5 days of training. I also had one day of speed work.

I have had one struggle point with my training that I mentioned in an earlier blog. My average per mile pace has just been too fast. Any runs outside of speed work or Tempo runs have a purpose. They are to be EASY runs and are at a pace that provides maximum value for aerobic conditioning. If the line is crossed your muscles are unable to recover from the speedwork or they won't be "rested" for the upcoming speed session. So, last week I adjust accordingly and slowed it down. For the week I averaged 8:30 /mi for a goal pace of 8:34 /mi.

For my speed day I did 4 x 1/2 mi intervals. I opted to run these on the road during a regular 6 mile route. I ran little over a mile warm up then started into the intervals. Between each 1/2 mile interval was 1/4 mile jog. My times were 3:17; 3:13; 3:06; 3:11. My goal times was 3:12.. So I danced all around it pretty good. I OK with those times.

I say all this, for one reason. I spent some time this weekend looking at some training paces that I was running in 2007 (a very good race year for me). What I saw in the training log was clear.. I was training on non speedwork days entirely too fast. I paid the price of being off my running feet for most all of 2008. I don't want to make that mistake again.

FORE!! A break in training..

Well, I had a abbreviated training week last week. No long run on Saturday. I got some exercise though.. I went on a golfing weekend with some men from my Sunday School class. The fellowship was great but considering my limited amount of playing time, my golf game is bad. So what can I learn from this? Pretty much the same as I learn from my running. Here are some thoughts:

• If you don't practice (train) you will never be good.
• It takes lots of practice to meet your potential.
• Golf is as frustrating as running is therapeutic.
• Golfers talk about fairways and long drives the way that runners talk about races courses and long runs.
• You don't have to be in good physical condition to play 18 holes of golf.
• You do have to be in good physical condition to run a 10k.
• Golf courses sure are pretty.
• Golf course can be a GREAT place for a run.
  

One thing about this past weekend was the weather was perfect. I actually got goose bumps one morning! Goose bumps in July!!! No way!!

Hope your training is going good.. have a goal .. have a plan .. work the plan .. and run.

Wk 2 of 10K Training

I think my training is going good for just two weeks into the plan. I have started my weekly speed training that is mainly in the form of Tempo and 1/2 mile intervals.

I struggle with one thing. I am supposed to run all my training runs during this segment of my training plan at 8:34 /mi. Well, I am running more in the area of 8:15 - 8:20 and sometimes on flat parts of the run it gets more like 8:00 and below.. I know this can come back to haunt me in the form of overtraining injuries.. so I really have to get my mind into the right pace.

Oh yeah.. BTW: I sent in my first entry into theextramile podcast.. I hope that Kevin will be able to use it and post it on the podcast..

A HOT 10K and I don't mean the pace!

Well.. I have been shamed into entering my story about what a couple of us are calling the Clanton, Fuzzy Peach Butt 10k. So I write...

This summer has been pretty hot, but I don't guess any different than the past few years. It just seems to be hotter sooner. But even so the race must go on.
I have become acquainted with a couple of fellow Alabama runners by way of a podcast, a blogspot and tweeter. And as a way to meet in person we all decided to meet in Clanton for a 10k beatdown/showdown.
The two other parties in the meeting of the bama boys are Gordon of runtodisney.com fame, and Mark of bamarunner.blogspot.com. Both of these gentlemen are true lovers of this fanatic habit of running. You can catch both of their links from this blogspot homepage.. I will let them tell there own story. Both are well worth following.

OK.. back to the race... as I state in my previous blogs I am not really in racing shape, but I really wanted to meet with Mark and Gordon. So off to Clanton I went. In addition, James, my Saturday long run partner also come to run the streets. James had a bad week with his back but decided like a lot of us that the entry was paid so might as well run and see what happens. Well.. he won his age class.. we think he was sandbagging! haha!

The morning of the race was hot and humid and you just have to deal with it cause you can't control it.. but man, it can sure make you suffer. Mark and Gordon arrived at the race site in time for us all to ride over the course. We did that and within a few minutes it was race time. I would say there were about 50 runners that included 5 and 10K racers.

The starter gave some instructions that only those on the first row could here and then we were off. The first mile is mostly down a long gradual grade. It gave a false feeling that you could run this pace the whole way. However, the third mile was back up most of that same grade... Things were going alright until about the 3.5 mark then the heat just overcame my ability to keep up the pace. From that point of I just started a run/walk knowing that it would be better for me rather than suffer.

I finished with a time under 48 min and with the knowledge that I have run the same course in less than 42 min... oh well, I'm not down on myself because I know that this year holds in it the potential formy best training and my fastest race times since I got back into running. I'm really not proud of the race, but am SO glad I went and met these two super individuals. It made it all worthwhile.

Hopefully everytime you lace up your shoes.. everytime you run you appointed training run.... you realize that you are truely blessed to be able to take part in this activity of life and you will respect the act of running.

How it Began Part II

I don't remember a lot about my first first three years of high school running.. I do remember that I didn't run much during the summer and paid the price every year when the XC season training season started.
I'll expound in more detail in later blogs but I ran the Peachtree Road race in 1976,77,78. It was a much different pre-race and race in that 76 race... 77 is when it really started to grow. I still have my racing bib and finisher card.. yes they actually handed out finishing cards. 812th out of around 3000 runners.. and only the first 1200 runners got T-shirts.. How I wish I still had that shirt!!
:(
Well back to my high school running... my senior year was marked by several PR's in every distance from the 880 yard run to the 3 mile XC course. I still have the yellowing notebook pages that have lots of my senior year track practices recorded.. I don't know why I wrote them down.. or why I kept them all these years.. but glad I did.
An observation about the track workouts confirms to me that teenagers are CRAZY! I can't believe some of the back-to-back track/speed workouts I was put through.. My legs ache just reading them! ha! Another observation is that I am very close to running the same monthly mileage now as I was then.. not sure what that means.. just an observation.
Again, I would like to take future blogs and put in some detail about workout times and road races that I remember running.

Well.. after I graduated from High School (78) I ran and raced that summer and then shipped off to the Navy.. I stopped running at that time... and didn't really pick it up again until 2001. I'm back now... and am glad I was challenged by my sister to pick it back up.