Monthly Archives: November 2009

Ran the same loop today in FiveFingers as I did barefoot on Saturday to see the difference in feel and mostly pace at the same exertion.  But I ended up exerting more, I guess because it is easier at this point for me to push a harder pace with the FiveFingers than barefoot.

I did the 5.61 mile loop today in 44:00 (7:51/mile) – avg HR: 154 bpm.  Then I added 2 more miles at the end because I felt like going for an hour.

On Saturday I did it barefoot in 51:46 (9:13/mile) – avg HR: 140 bpm.  Obviously based on my heart rate I was taking it a lot easier on Saturday.  But today didn’t feel hard, I kept it at a pretty comfortable pace.  HR in the mid 160′s is a multiple hour endurance race pace for me, so mid to low 150′s is a really comfortable pace.

What an amazingly gorgeous day for a run. I took the day off yesterday because I wanted to save my legs up for a longer run today.  Fortunately my cold was basically gone by today, I think drinking 4 Emergen-C’s and a couple Airbornes per day along with a lot of water helped a lot.

This morning we got up early, packed up the kids, and went to Ft. Collins so Nan could do a fast 4 mile race with a competitive field.  She ran really fast, 5:32/mile avg I believe.

We got home at 12:30 and I threw on just my shorts and fiveFingers and headed out. I also brought a hip pack with water and 3 gu packs. Our friends house where we were going for dinner is about 13 miles away if you take the Big Dry Creek Trail which is a great trail.  It almost goes from our doorstep to theirs which is pretty cool I found out.  I decided to run to their house. The longest run I have done before today was 12 miles about 8 years ago and I remember it completely wiped me out because I didn’t take any fuel and wasn’t prepared. As I headed out today I felt great from the start at about 8 min/mile (slightly downhill). So I just kept that pace the whole time until the last two slightly uphill miles wich I averaged about 9 min/miles.

Total running time: approx. 1:47 – stopped for about 4-5 minutes total at a couple different points to drink water and stretch a bit.  I ate the 3 gu packs at mile 3, 7, and 11 and my energy was great the whole run.

It was sunny and in the 60′s, could not have asked for a more beautiful day. I felt great the whole run and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I would have liked to go even farther but everyone was waiting on me to take some pictures.

I really love running now that I know how to do it better. It feels great.

I decided to do some 1 mile threshold repeats this morning on the Dry Creek Trail by my house because I wanted to get a feel for what kind of pace I might be able to do a Turkey Day 5K in.  I felt kind of tired and weak today though, I couldn’t ever push my heart rate over 175.   I was going to do 3, but I only did 2 because it was wiping me out.  I guess it was just one of those days.  I would like to do the 5K in under 19 minutes, but after today I think beating my last time of 20:33 in August may pushing it for me.  We’ll see I guess.

Here are my splits for the run:

8:27, 8:28, 6:34 uphill, 1/4 mile slow (10:03 pace), 6:29 downhill, 1/4 mile slow, sat down to rest and stretch, 9:55, 10:27.

Time: 55:15 – 8:31/mile – 145 bpm avg heart rate.

I could tell it was going to be kind of a slow run when I was only going 8:30 downhill on my warmup.  I think I came down with something last night because my head hurt and I couldn’t fall asleep until about 12:30.

Today’s workout felt good.  I’ve got a looong way to go to get my fitness level and pace to where I would like it to be, but it feels great to run and get my heart rate up.

Ran 5 miles. Lifted for 30 minutes. Swam for about 10 minutes.

My gym membership at Bally Fitness is pretty nice, they have free childcare so while Nan is at her Saturday morning workouts for 4 hours, I can take the kids to the gym and not go stir-crazy sitting around the house.  When I got done after 2 hours today my 1 year old Ali was sprawled out asleep in the middle of the day care with 15 kids running around, she looked like she had passed out or something…it was kind of funny looking.

Here were my splits for my run workout on the track:

Warmup for 2 miles

Mile 1 – 7:59  - HR: 150 bpm

Mile 2 – 7:35 – HR: 158 bpm

Stretched, drank water, and walked for a few minutes.  My Hamstrings were feeling loosened up by this point.

Mile 3 – 7:40 – HR: 1:55

400 Meter: 1:15 – HR: 154 bpm (Went out way faster than I wanted to, 5:00 min/mile pace, my heart rate spiked and I ran 3/4 of a mile really slow to recover.  I meant to do 6 min/mile repeats at 400 meters)

400 Meter: 2:13 – HR: 163 bpm

400 Meter: 2:06 – HR: 151 bpm

400 Meter: 2:06 – HR: 155 bpm

Mile 4 – 7:09 – HR: 172 bpm

400 Meter: 1:25 – HR: 173 bpm (5:50/mile pace, a lot more comfortable the 5min/mile)

400 Meter: 2:11 – HR: 169 bpm

400 Meter: 1:26 – HR: 174 bpm (5:52 pace)

400 Meter: 2:07 – HR: 172 bpm

Walked for a couple minutes to rest

Mile 5 – 7:02 – HR 172 bpm

800 Meter: 2:58 – HR: 172 bpm (5:56 pace)

800 Meter: 4:04 – HR: 172 bpm

Total time: 38:04 – Avg Pace total: 7:36 – avg HR 162 bpm – max HR 186 bpm

Very enjoyable run today.

My legs felt great after a day of rest so I strapped on the FiveFingers and headed out.  It was 34 degrees and sunny and I was really comfortable in a long sleeve shirt, beany, light gloves, shorts, and FiveFingers.  I wondered if my feet would be cold, but they were never cold at all even though I was running over ice patches and ice hardened dirt trail most of the time.  I was happy about that.  Here are the stats:

10 Miles – 1:23:30

8:21/mile average

153 bpm average heart rate

I took it easy and had an enjoyable run.  By about mile 8 my hamstrings and groin were getting pretty tired and it was uphill for 2 miles so my pace slowed down.  The first 6 miles were 8 min/mile.  The last 4 probably averaged closer to 9 min. I think my form got a little more sloppy at the end because my upper legs were tired.  When I stopped I noticed I had some minor pain in my left foot between my two littlest toes like I felt last week.  My calves and feet otherwise felt great during and after and I’m pretty happy about that.  Its a huge contrast to 2 weeks ago when my calves were in severe pain.  I think after another rest day and doing some lower mileage on Saturday, my hamstrings and groin will probably be getting up to speed with the rest of my body.  Since this is the first week I have really started to put them to work its probably going to be a few more days before they get with the program completely.  I’m glad my calves are fully on board with the new regime now.