Well I felt that it was time to write about the training going on for the last 5-6 weeks and get ready to focus on my first race of 2010.
The training I believe has been well and I have used the treadmill here and there more as of late. I find myself always running much harder then I need to when I do this, but I feel that it will pay off with the races that I will run starting on Sunday.
For the last 5 weeks I have done 85 miles, 70 miles, 88 miles, 87 miles and 80 miles. This week is going to be a down week not only because I will race, but rather due to the change of schools for student teaching. I now have to be out the door by 7:00 to be ready to go at one of our local high schools. I hate waking up early and now I get home and feel just worn down. I am going to try to run 2 times a day here and there because I will most likely start running with another local high school team to meet the requirements of my student teaching.
Some interesting stuff I have done on the treadmill:
10 miles in 52:08 starting at 5:40 pace dropping down to 5 flat pace at mile 10.
6.2 miles in 31:19. Just kinda wanted to have a harder effort with this one.
Most other runs start at 6 min pace and end up around 5:10 to 5:07 pace. I just like to hit the mill hard. Even easy runs end up being at 5:30-5:40 pace. Other then the indoor workouts, the only other one I have done was a 7,6,5,4,3,2,1 workout on 1 min rest with everything being under 5:20 pace and with the 4,3,2,1 parts being closer to 5 min or faster pace. This is an interesting workout and one that I would have never done before. That's what happens when you have someone to run workouts with.
Well, 10k down in Pueblo this weekend and a 5k on the 14 here in the Springs.
Have a good one.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
2009 in review
After dealing with the issues on the Nike Running log I have been using for 7 years, I was able to finally look over and log the rest of my 2009 runs this evening.
The final total mileage for 2009 was 3895.33 with 29 missed days of running. I usually run 10-13 miles each day so if I would have run those days I would have been well over 4000 miles for the year.
Monthly mileage average was 324.61 miles. Weekly average was about 74.91 miles a week.
I had a few setbacks early in the year that caused me to miss some time mainly in March. I came down with some really nasty case of a cold and had to take a full week off from running. Another setback for me started in late May when I decided to run a minimum of 80 miles a week for 12 weeks. I peaked at 96 miles and really felt that 12 weeks of running like I did really caused my speed to decline and my racing ability to also decline. I have learned that my magic number for mileage is about 80-85 miles a week of quality, hard running. I was doing a lot of junk miles and just felt slow and stagnant.
Racing wise, 2009 was a mixed bag. I ran 21 races and had some good and bad ones. I really can’t point at one specific race and say that it was better than my other ones. I again did some mile races this year which I really have enjoyed doing. I had 10 wins, 6 second place finishes, 1 third place finish, 2 fourth place finishes, one fifth place finish, one seventh place finish at my first ever duathlon and my worst finish of the year coming at the Pearl Street mile in a disappointing 8th place. One of the best races that I happened to remember was the November Nielson Challenge. Andy Rinne and I put together a challenge to see if we could get some guys together to finally break the 10 min barrier. Robby Young, Ryan Hafer and I did that and we are the only ones to have ever gone under 10 minutes for the 2 mile course.
I really don’t know how to look at the year in the grand scheme of things. I had high and low points and really felt that I didn’t get to race enough “big time” races. I am getting to that point in my life where I will not be running fast and need to find a sea level race in the next 2 years and see what I can do. I also need to be in top shape to do this. I would like to run the Desert Morning News 10k in Utah this year if everything works out. I think I could run in the 29’s there. I need to keep things more consistent this year and work on staying closer to 80 miles a week. I think 29 days of missed running is a lot, but already I have missed 2 this year! Just not enough time in the day with student teaching and capstone to attend. When I miss a day I ride some on the exercise bike to keep in top racing condition.
I hope that in 2010 I can possibly find a team to race for and continue to work towards meeting my running goals. First race of 2010 will be the Cross Country race in Boulder on the 24th of this month.
The final total mileage for 2009 was 3895.33 with 29 missed days of running. I usually run 10-13 miles each day so if I would have run those days I would have been well over 4000 miles for the year.
Monthly mileage average was 324.61 miles. Weekly average was about 74.91 miles a week.
I had a few setbacks early in the year that caused me to miss some time mainly in March. I came down with some really nasty case of a cold and had to take a full week off from running. Another setback for me started in late May when I decided to run a minimum of 80 miles a week for 12 weeks. I peaked at 96 miles and really felt that 12 weeks of running like I did really caused my speed to decline and my racing ability to also decline. I have learned that my magic number for mileage is about 80-85 miles a week of quality, hard running. I was doing a lot of junk miles and just felt slow and stagnant.
Racing wise, 2009 was a mixed bag. I ran 21 races and had some good and bad ones. I really can’t point at one specific race and say that it was better than my other ones. I again did some mile races this year which I really have enjoyed doing. I had 10 wins, 6 second place finishes, 1 third place finish, 2 fourth place finishes, one fifth place finish, one seventh place finish at my first ever duathlon and my worst finish of the year coming at the Pearl Street mile in a disappointing 8th place. One of the best races that I happened to remember was the November Nielson Challenge. Andy Rinne and I put together a challenge to see if we could get some guys together to finally break the 10 min barrier. Robby Young, Ryan Hafer and I did that and we are the only ones to have ever gone under 10 minutes for the 2 mile course.
I really don’t know how to look at the year in the grand scheme of things. I had high and low points and really felt that I didn’t get to race enough “big time” races. I am getting to that point in my life where I will not be running fast and need to find a sea level race in the next 2 years and see what I can do. I also need to be in top shape to do this. I would like to run the Desert Morning News 10k in Utah this year if everything works out. I think I could run in the 29’s there. I need to keep things more consistent this year and work on staying closer to 80 miles a week. I think 29 days of missed running is a lot, but already I have missed 2 this year! Just not enough time in the day with student teaching and capstone to attend. When I miss a day I ride some on the exercise bike to keep in top racing condition.
I hope that in 2010 I can possibly find a team to race for and continue to work towards meeting my running goals. First race of 2010 will be the Cross Country race in Boulder on the 24th of this month.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Chilly Creeks Duathlon Race 1
Over the weekend, I decided to do something that I had never done before, but was interested in trying: a Duathlon.
I had been excited about this race since I signed up a few months ago, and did my best to try to ride here and there which I failed to do. About all I was able to do was use the exercise bike we have in the house, which I guess was better than nothing. I figured that I put in about 30-40 miles last week, and 35-50 the week before on the bike. Again, not the right way to train, but with the weather doing its thing lately I would have not ridden outside anyways.
So, Andy Rinne and I arrived early Saturday morning at the Marina at Cherry Creek State Park and noticed that it was very cold outside, and not warming up. We still had 2 hours before race time, so we were hoping that things would change. As we were sitting in the car, we started to look at the different types of bikes people had, ranging from MTB bikes to full on race bikes that were worth well over 5000.00. This is the first lesson about Duathlons: In order to be in the mix, you have to have a light, fast bike, and you also need to have some time on the bike. I was already at a big disadvantage being that my Giant ATX-970 Mtb from 1999 was most likely 30 lbs or heavier. I guess I should have entered the Fat Tire division, but oh well.
We finally got out and ran a little bit and noticed that any trail areas were snow packed and icy and had heard that the bike course had a far amount of ice and snow on it as well. We then got the bikes out, set them up in the staging area and went and ran more. Race time was 10:00, and it still was somewhat cold out, so we decided that running pants, gloves, hat and all the fun stuff was going to be what we used. We really had no idea of what the run course was like, and didn’t go out on the bike course at all, so we were unsure of how the race was going to play out. I was in Wave A and Rinne was in Wave C so he would start at 10:02. It was finally race time, and they gave us directions, lined us up and did the normal countdown and off we went. From about 10 meters until the rest of the run portion of the race, I was gone. I would guess that I took the mile out in high 4:30’s to low 4:40’s and never looked back from there. The first mile was on the road, and I finally hit the turn for the dirt portion of the run. It was snow packed and hilly which made it interesting. By the time I hit the timing mat at 4 miles and got my bike and went on, I was up by about 5 minutes. The run time was nothing great, 21:27, but I found out that it was 4.15 miles, not 4. I think the snow also slowed things down a bit.
Once I got on the bike, I just tried to settle in and enjoy the race. I was cruising along and feeling good and lead until about I would guess 7 or 8 miles into the race. Interesting enough, the guys with the light, fast bikes caught up and blazed past me like I was standing still. First it was one, then another and finally two more that caught and passed me. I just tried to ride as well as I could at this point and finally finish in 59 something. When I looked at the results, I saw that they were averaging about 23 Mph to my 18.1 Mph. Doesn’t seem like much, but damn what a difference it was. I saw one guy was riding at 32.1 Mph for his average!! So fifth overall in my race, and I guess 7th overall for combined races.
I had been excited about this race since I signed up a few months ago, and did my best to try to ride here and there which I failed to do. About all I was able to do was use the exercise bike we have in the house, which I guess was better than nothing. I figured that I put in about 30-40 miles last week, and 35-50 the week before on the bike. Again, not the right way to train, but with the weather doing its thing lately I would have not ridden outside anyways.
So, Andy Rinne and I arrived early Saturday morning at the Marina at Cherry Creek State Park and noticed that it was very cold outside, and not warming up. We still had 2 hours before race time, so we were hoping that things would change. As we were sitting in the car, we started to look at the different types of bikes people had, ranging from MTB bikes to full on race bikes that were worth well over 5000.00. This is the first lesson about Duathlons: In order to be in the mix, you have to have a light, fast bike, and you also need to have some time on the bike. I was already at a big disadvantage being that my Giant ATX-970 Mtb from 1999 was most likely 30 lbs or heavier. I guess I should have entered the Fat Tire division, but oh well.
We finally got out and ran a little bit and noticed that any trail areas were snow packed and icy and had heard that the bike course had a far amount of ice and snow on it as well. We then got the bikes out, set them up in the staging area and went and ran more. Race time was 10:00, and it still was somewhat cold out, so we decided that running pants, gloves, hat and all the fun stuff was going to be what we used. We really had no idea of what the run course was like, and didn’t go out on the bike course at all, so we were unsure of how the race was going to play out. I was in Wave A and Rinne was in Wave C so he would start at 10:02. It was finally race time, and they gave us directions, lined us up and did the normal countdown and off we went. From about 10 meters until the rest of the run portion of the race, I was gone. I would guess that I took the mile out in high 4:30’s to low 4:40’s and never looked back from there. The first mile was on the road, and I finally hit the turn for the dirt portion of the run. It was snow packed and hilly which made it interesting. By the time I hit the timing mat at 4 miles and got my bike and went on, I was up by about 5 minutes. The run time was nothing great, 21:27, but I found out that it was 4.15 miles, not 4. I think the snow also slowed things down a bit.
Once I got on the bike, I just tried to settle in and enjoy the race. I was cruising along and feeling good and lead until about I would guess 7 or 8 miles into the race. Interesting enough, the guys with the light, fast bikes caught up and blazed past me like I was standing still. First it was one, then another and finally two more that caught and passed me. I just tried to ride as well as I could at this point and finally finish in 59 something. When I looked at the results, I saw that they were averaging about 23 Mph to my 18.1 Mph. Doesn’t seem like much, but damn what a difference it was. I saw one guy was riding at 32.1 Mph for his average!! So fifth overall in my race, and I guess 7th overall for combined races.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Nielson Challenge Record Broken
Well,
The record went down in a big way this weekend!!!! As many people know, a group of local runners here in the springs set out to break the 10 minute time at the 2 mile Nielson Challenge. Only one person had come close to getting under 10 minutes (Justin Chaston) so we decided it was time to go for attempt 1. I had worked with a few of my close running friends to set this up, so we make an event page on Face book, and Andy Rinne contacted someone at the Pikes Peak Road Runners and had them post something about it on their website.
The web posting helped attract people to come out and watch the event, and we had people telling us that they only came out to see us break the record. Talk about pressure!!! Now, the Nielson Challenge is not a big time event, and its free every month. Its a figure 8 course that has a 180 degree at the 800 meter turn around point. Kinda sucks to have to basically stop and get going again.
On race day, Ryan Hafer, Robby Young, Justin Ricks, Daniel Castaneda, Andy Rinne, Andrew Abdella and myself were there. Ryan, Robby, Justin and I talked about not going out like fools and focusing on running the 800 in about 2:20-2:23. We hit it in 2:22 I believe. The mile was about 4:53 or so, and right on target. The third 800 meter section of the course is the hardest and you are basically running uphill and not trying to die. We knew that this section would make or break the race, so Robby and I pushed hard and tried to maintain the pace. At this point Justin had fallen back a bit and Ryan was hanging on as well as he could. We finished the 1.5 miles of the race and had just the last 800 meters to go. This is the fastest part of the course and I decided that it was time to really make the final hard push to the finish and put a little gap on Robby. However, we had already talked about finishing together so I backed off just slightly and we ran it in finishing in 9:48, breaking the record by 13 seconds. Three of us broke the 10 minute barrier, and 6 total ran under 11 minutes. Almost perfect splits of 4:53 and 4:55 or so.
I was very impressed about the support we received from the other runners and thank them for being there. For a small race in November that usually doesn't get many people out because the time of the year, over 120 people showed up to participate. Again very impressed with the turnout. The PPRR people were great and really had a great time being part of something that had never been done before.
After the race I continued on with Robby and Justin and we did another 21 minute workout.
There are some pictures of the race on the PPRRUN.ORG website and a small write up about what we did.
The record went down in a big way this weekend!!!! As many people know, a group of local runners here in the springs set out to break the 10 minute time at the 2 mile Nielson Challenge. Only one person had come close to getting under 10 minutes (Justin Chaston) so we decided it was time to go for attempt 1. I had worked with a few of my close running friends to set this up, so we make an event page on Face book, and Andy Rinne contacted someone at the Pikes Peak Road Runners and had them post something about it on their website.
The web posting helped attract people to come out and watch the event, and we had people telling us that they only came out to see us break the record. Talk about pressure!!! Now, the Nielson Challenge is not a big time event, and its free every month. Its a figure 8 course that has a 180 degree at the 800 meter turn around point. Kinda sucks to have to basically stop and get going again.
On race day, Ryan Hafer, Robby Young, Justin Ricks, Daniel Castaneda, Andy Rinne, Andrew Abdella and myself were there. Ryan, Robby, Justin and I talked about not going out like fools and focusing on running the 800 in about 2:20-2:23. We hit it in 2:22 I believe. The mile was about 4:53 or so, and right on target. The third 800 meter section of the course is the hardest and you are basically running uphill and not trying to die. We knew that this section would make or break the race, so Robby and I pushed hard and tried to maintain the pace. At this point Justin had fallen back a bit and Ryan was hanging on as well as he could. We finished the 1.5 miles of the race and had just the last 800 meters to go. This is the fastest part of the course and I decided that it was time to really make the final hard push to the finish and put a little gap on Robby. However, we had already talked about finishing together so I backed off just slightly and we ran it in finishing in 9:48, breaking the record by 13 seconds. Three of us broke the 10 minute barrier, and 6 total ran under 11 minutes. Almost perfect splits of 4:53 and 4:55 or so.
I was very impressed about the support we received from the other runners and thank them for being there. For a small race in November that usually doesn't get many people out because the time of the year, over 120 people showed up to participate. Again very impressed with the turnout. The PPRR people were great and really had a great time being part of something that had never been done before.
After the race I continued on with Robby and Justin and we did another 21 minute workout.
There are some pictures of the race on the PPRRUN.ORG website and a small write up about what we did.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Back at it
Well it has been awhile since I have been on this blog. Lots of stuff to do, and not enough time! I am getting ready to student teach in January so my time right now is focused on the rest of the classes I have right now. On the running front, things have been going well and hopefully will continue in that direction. I have raced a little more lately and even won some nice stuff like a flat screen TV and some cash at the Manitou Springs Mayors Cup. The big challenge this week is the Neilson Challenge Sub 10 Minute event that myself and some friends are trying to do. Now, I am sure most of you are saying 10 minutes for 2 miles isn’t that hard. Well let me tell you that in all of the years that this has been going on, not one person has done it, and were talking about past Olympic runners, and people of that caliber! Our goal is to have a good group and work together as a team. This is not going to be one of those races where everybody goes out like idiots and dies. We would much rather run even splits and get as many guys under 10 minutes as possible.
I think overall, this year has been ok for running. At this point in the year, I tend to re-evaluate what I did for the year and look for areas that I can improve for next year. One of the things that I am already trying to do differently is to add workouts back into my weekly running. I neglected this for long enough and have realized that if I want to continue to improve and possibly get closer to my running goals, I need to put the work in. I hit 3000 miles at least 3-4 weeks ago, and will most likely have another year at above 3600. I really don’t care what I end up hitting, but care most about being consistent with the mileage every year. I did a lot of things differently this year which taught me what to do and what not to do. The biggest thing that I learned was what the exact maximum of weekly mileage I can handle before becoming slower was. For me, I have concluded that 80-85 MPW is as much as I will let myself get to. I had the 90+ mile weeks this year and it did nothing but tear me down! I also realized that I need to train for myself. I know what works for me and need to stay with that.
The last thing I want to hit on here is about how erratic pacing ruins races. I was guilty of going out in about 4:28 at Manitou Springs. Why I did this remains a mystery! I sometimes wonder what could have happened if I would have ran 4:45, or even 4:50. Would I have died as bad in the third mile of the race? I commonly find myself going out crazy hard for the first mile of a race, and just kind of put cruise control on after that. I need to find a balance to fix this problem and become more efficient in my pacing. I lose plenty of time in races because I can recover after blazing a mile! I guess it is just another part of the process of figuring it all out.
I think overall, this year has been ok for running. At this point in the year, I tend to re-evaluate what I did for the year and look for areas that I can improve for next year. One of the things that I am already trying to do differently is to add workouts back into my weekly running. I neglected this for long enough and have realized that if I want to continue to improve and possibly get closer to my running goals, I need to put the work in. I hit 3000 miles at least 3-4 weeks ago, and will most likely have another year at above 3600. I really don’t care what I end up hitting, but care most about being consistent with the mileage every year. I did a lot of things differently this year which taught me what to do and what not to do. The biggest thing that I learned was what the exact maximum of weekly mileage I can handle before becoming slower was. For me, I have concluded that 80-85 MPW is as much as I will let myself get to. I had the 90+ mile weeks this year and it did nothing but tear me down! I also realized that I need to train for myself. I know what works for me and need to stay with that.
The last thing I want to hit on here is about how erratic pacing ruins races. I was guilty of going out in about 4:28 at Manitou Springs. Why I did this remains a mystery! I sometimes wonder what could have happened if I would have ran 4:45, or even 4:50. Would I have died as bad in the third mile of the race? I commonly find myself going out crazy hard for the first mile of a race, and just kind of put cruise control on after that. I need to find a balance to fix this problem and become more efficient in my pacing. I lose plenty of time in races because I can recover after blazing a mile! I guess it is just another part of the process of figuring it all out.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Mindset
Sometimes it seems that in running we sometimes forget to enjoy the moment and embrace our success. We run slower then we want to, don't finish were we expect and get down in the dirt, worrying that our training isn't going as planned, or that its time to train harder. So when we hit that point, what do we do? Do we start over, do we increase the training load or just finish out the year. Running can be an enjoyable and fantastic experience, but during the hard training we sometimes forget it as is basic purpose and find new ways to be unhappy with it.
I have been having a much harder time this particular year really getting focused on improving my own running and just haven't had the desire to do better and do what it takes to become faster. Strides, drills, stretching, lifting and intervals all add together to make the athlete better, but its the desire to actually do what is required to be the best that is always hard to find in anybody.
I am guilty for not enjoying the moment, and instead find myself worrying about why I was 21 seconds slower then last year at the Classic 10k, or why I cant run faster then 3 years ago at one of my favorite 5k's. I found myself thing about all of this today, and realized that its time to figure out what I want to get out of my running. What do I want to do, hit pr's in the 5 and 10k, get faster and stronger or just enjoy running. I will sit down with the guy that was coaching me for quite a while and figure this all out. I need to figure out what workouts I enjoy, and what I don't and find a balance. The base it there, but the wheels can't run faster without working out faster. I think I will stick to my goals of someday running under 14:20 for the 5k, and under 29:30 for the 10k. You always have to have a good goal in mind to push for. I have been very lucky to have a great group of guys to run with this summer. Everyday we all just run all around Colorado Springs on the many different trails that we are lucky to have. It amazes me to think that I can run somewhere different every day and not hit the same trails all the time. By the way, on a Sunday run with Robby Young recently we concluded that Gold Camp road is out Magnolia road and we would not have it any other way. I think we saw one other person in 8 miles of climbing that day are were rewarded with fantastic views of Colorado Springs from about 9500+ feet up.
I have been having a much harder time this particular year really getting focused on improving my own running and just haven't had the desire to do better and do what it takes to become faster. Strides, drills, stretching, lifting and intervals all add together to make the athlete better, but its the desire to actually do what is required to be the best that is always hard to find in anybody.
I am guilty for not enjoying the moment, and instead find myself worrying about why I was 21 seconds slower then last year at the Classic 10k, or why I cant run faster then 3 years ago at one of my favorite 5k's. I found myself thing about all of this today, and realized that its time to figure out what I want to get out of my running. What do I want to do, hit pr's in the 5 and 10k, get faster and stronger or just enjoy running. I will sit down with the guy that was coaching me for quite a while and figure this all out. I need to figure out what workouts I enjoy, and what I don't and find a balance. The base it there, but the wheels can't run faster without working out faster. I think I will stick to my goals of someday running under 14:20 for the 5k, and under 29:30 for the 10k. You always have to have a good goal in mind to push for. I have been very lucky to have a great group of guys to run with this summer. Everyday we all just run all around Colorado Springs on the many different trails that we are lucky to have. It amazes me to think that I can run somewhere different every day and not hit the same trails all the time. By the way, on a Sunday run with Robby Young recently we concluded that Gold Camp road is out Magnolia road and we would not have it any other way. I think we saw one other person in 8 miles of climbing that day are were rewarded with fantastic views of Colorado Springs from about 9500+ feet up.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Alex Hoag Run for Sunshine
Sailin Shoes 10kWell I haven't been at this very much lately due to no real specific reason. I think trying to get one all the time and let everybody know what I am doing every day for training would be plan boring. So, I look at this post and reflect on what has been a very different year of running so far to this point.
For many people who follow me in racing around Colorado, they most likely have not seen my name much recently in results. Since the beginning of the year, I really started to run less races and really focus on ones that were important to me. In the past I would run the Winter Series, the race on new years day and some random ones in between such as the races in Pueblo last year. One of those races, the Cinco De Mayo Run For the Rose decided to drop the pretty nice prize purse that was offered last year, so I had no reason to drive to Pueblo for a race I was not really wanting to do. I also spent a pretty good chunk of time driving from the springs to Pueblo three days a week for school during the spring, so I try to not do it in the summer if at all possible. Another factor this year has been motivation to race. It just hasn't been there like in the past. I stopped doing workouts basically last April, and did just a few in January and February. I did run a few indoor meets which are always fun, but that was about it. Getting sick in March didn't help at all and made racing a chore rather then something I enjoy doing. I have found that there is a thin line between doing something such as racing all the time and getting sick and tired of showing up just to be there and I don't want to end up on the bad side of that line. The last factor is one that has made a big difference as well: I no longer run for a running store team and have to pay fr all of the races I do. I didn't have to pay for races for almost 2 and a half years which saved me alot of money. Now if I want to race here and go to Denver the next day it costs a pretty good amount of money when you factor in gas and food.
Lately I have raced a little bit, running Alex Hoag Run For Sunshine here in the Springs, the Mile High Mile in Denver and Sailin Shoes here in the Springs. I had the chance to race the Boulder Bolder citizens race winner in Denver and was blown away as many of us are now. I have never seen someone run 4:16 like it was nothing, and run 29:46 the next week, run 50 minutes for 10 miles in the Garden and then turn around and run 14:34 in Denver the next week. If this dude runs the Classic or one of the races at Evergreen we could see times that may never be approched again. What a runner!
On a side note about races, I wish that if a race director says the course is 6.2 miles, it was actually 6.2 miles, not 6.33 or 6.34. How hard is it to actually make an effort to get it right? We pay good money to race, so it should not be too much to ask to have an accurate course.
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