Sunday, March 24, 2013

Summary - 3/4 to 3/24/2013

3/4 to 3/10/2013 - Taper week to LBL trail marathon

3/4 - Monday - 4.6 miles/ 3.7 running
am- real easy at fittek 60 m at 107 hr

3/5 - Tuesday - 4.7 miles/ 3.4 running
am- bike path , easy 2 x 1.7 miles in 18.50 at 127 hr & 18.08 at 132 hr

3/6 - Wednesday - 2 miles/ 1.4 running
am- fittek 27.27 at 97 hr

3/7 - Thursday - 4 miles/ 3.4 running
am- fittek easy 50.36 at 111 hr

3/8 - Friday -0 miles - 1st rest day of year

3/9 - Saturday - 26.2 miles trail race in Grand Rivers
6:30am - 5h 17 m 54 s  (12.08 pace)
see previous post on race

3/10 - Sunday - rest day - tired - very sore in quads
(hindsight comment - should have walked some)

3/11 to 3/17/2013- recovery runs


3/11 - Monday - 2 miles/ 1.4 running
am- fittek - tired

3/12 - Tuesday - 2.5 miles/ 2 running
pm - fittek - tired and sore

3/13 - Wednesday - 6 miles/ 3.7 running
am- fittek - 60 mins better
pm- walk dogs at trails cold windy

3/14 - Thursday - 3.1 miles/ 3.1 running
am- bp loop 35.37 at 130 hr - still feel tired

3/15 - Friday - 4.5 miles/ 2.5 running
am/pm - tired

3/16 - Saturday - 6.6 miles/ 3.7 running
9am- fittek - 60 mins + 60 mins of weights - I've decided to start back with a regular weight routine with arms and legs.....at LBL race my legs seemed weak and got sore earlier than I remember they should

3/17 - Sunday - 9 miles/3.5 running
8am- easy 5 mile trial in 65 mins walking 5 mins at start of each mile
1pm-fittek - walk uphill at 2mph at 15% incline
4pm-walk dogs

Note: I forgot what it is like to recover from a hard marathon.  I should have gotten more sleep and only did 30 min easy runs in pm....allow myself to sleep more in am.

3/18 to 3/24/2013 - more recovery


3/18 - Monday - 4.7 miles/ 3.8 running
am- fittek

3/19 - Tuesday - 7 miles/ 6.3 running
pm - bp with gregg - felt better but extreme cold/windy 10deg , 2 x 2miles in 21.46 at 131 & 20.22 at 147
am- tergat loop 2miles in 22 mins very cold

3/20 - Wednesday - 5.5 miles/ 5.5 running
am- in dark bike path/LOW road loop, all run, 62.11 at 131hr, extreme cold and windy 5 deg, should not have run outside in shorts . my legs hurt from running into wind, stupid me

3/21 - Thursday - 5 miles/ 4 running
am- fittek - workout - 15 min warmup + 10 x 2 mins fast in 9.50-10 min pace w/ 1 min walk at 4mph + cooldown of 15 mins
(Hopefully this is the first of a weekly speed session of 20 minutes total fast.  I plan to vary the time and paces.  The paces will be 10:00 down to 8:30 pace.  Goal is to do a little bit of speed to get ready for some shorter races.)

3/22 - Friday - 5.5 miles/ 5.5 running
am- same LOW/BP loop as Wednesday, 60.54 at 135, not as much wind, still very cold.

3/23 - Saturday - 11.8 miles/ 11.6 running
8 am-  2 loops of allerton shrocth trail w/ chris. 32-42 deg, no wind, nice
2.07.51 in 143/164hr
1st loop -walked first 2 mins then ran all the loop back to car in 64.45 at 138hr ( 10:58)
2nd loop - same as above in 63.05 at 150 hr, ran harder the last 20 minutes
good 2 hour run

3/24 - Sunday - 2.2 miles/1.6 running
1pm- fittek 30 minutes warmup at 104hr + weights

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Land Between the Lakes trail marathon race 3/9/2013

Saturday, I ran a true marathon race for the first time since 12/4/2004 (Tuesmuch trail 5:34) in Grand Rivers, KY.  My time was 5:17.54, just over 12 mins per mile.  If my opinion that trail races take 10% longer than road races, this would mean I'm in 4:46 marathon shape, about what I thought, and how I've been training.

As typical for the trip to this race a couple of friends, gregg and chris, went with me and also finished the marathon, apparently only a few minutes ahead.  Personal comment:  they should have ran 30 minutes faster.

Also, as usual we stayed at my sister's house, which makes for an easy trip.  Thanks Susan and Danny!!

The weather was perfect, 40 at start, overcast, light breeze, 60 at end.  This race is one of the best organized and with great volunteers, making this race one the best, if not the best, I have ever run.  It helps to have a great trail to run, a fair course, runable all  plus with 4 major hills on KY lake side.  This year it was dry and soft, perfect.

The start is in Grand Rivers at lighthouse landing down by the waterfront.  In trail races unless you know exactly how a course was measured you never know its true length but the advertised marathon appeared to be this:
1.9 miles on road to trail loop
11.3 miles trail loop x 2 (note: since 2010, last time I hiked the course, changed a little)
1.7 miles road back to finish
26.2 miles total, I think its pretty accurate.

Overall, I will admit to thinking I could run 5 hours or under, but I just do not have the mental toughness to run thru the pain and tiredness like I used too.  Maybe that will come with more racing, especially short races, as I re-learn what a race day effort feels like again.  I love to run, but racing is done to test myself and doing this makes racing fun.  I love to do workouts then race and see how they relate to each other.

So on to the race.  My splits:
1.9 miles road = 20.10 at 142 hr- seemed real easy but HR was high
loop 1 - 11.3 miles = 2h 15 m at 150 hr - just cruising, running easy and steady how I felt
loop 2 - 11.3 miles =  2h 25 m at 151 hr - more of a struggle, had to concentrate more- drank 33 oz of tailwind drink which seemed to keep energy level good
1.7 miles road to finish = 18.57 at 150...a mental struggle, almost cramped in hams on downhill finish
Overall race avg hr was 150/ max 163
Overall, a very even effort, even hr, even energy level.  I'll see in the results how I did overall.
My legs seemed to fatigue earlier in the quads then I expected.  I know from past racing this may mean I trained a little too hard the last 2 weeks (the key workouts I have noted in other posts) or possible just normal fatigue from a long trail race.  Maybe I need to starting my leg extensions exercises again for my quads.  Anyway, I was happy to see I did not slow down that much over the last half of the race.  I passed a few people and a few passed me.

I ran in Hoka One Evo's.  They did good.  My bottom of feet feel good, no heel pain, no left foot pain (Thank You Mettler Center!!) and no knee pain, just good ol' soreness from the marathon.  Had not felt this for many years....crazy but a good feeling that I've missed, although it reminded me I need to be  lighter weight and better trained.

My nutrition plan going into the race was to drink the Heed at the aid stations the first loop then use my new hydration pack with 32 oz. bladder filled w/ tailwind sports drink.  I felt very good plus I ate 3 gels.  I forgot the gels go down better with water as I did not time the gels well.. However, my stomach had no problems. Chris had told me of reading that taking 1 pepsi AC at the race start might keep the stomach settled.  Well, my stomach felt great, maybe the pepsi AC was why.....I will definitely do this again.

Now, its on to recovery for a few days and losing a few more pounds.  Next planned races are June 8, Shadow of the Gaints 50K in Fish Camp, Calif., which will be more of a sight seeing/hiking trip with Gregg in and around Yosemite National Park.  After that is Howl at the Moon 8 HR, August 10.  In between I want to run some shorter races (road races and trail)  but with so many to pick from you do not have to sign up early which is nice.

Next week will be easy but hope to keep the miles up.  Heartrate this morning was 50, about 6-7 more than normal, so I need a few good nights sleep for recovery.. Time changed this early morning so its back to dark for mornings and more light for evening's, which means more walking the dogs.

It was good to see Ed running but I must admit I missed seeing most of the runners when I would hike backwards on the trail in past years.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Weekly Summary 2/25 to 3/3/2013


2/25 - Monday - 4.9 miles/ 4 running
am- treadmill 60 at 114/135, very good easy

2/26 - Tuesday - 5 miles/ 4 running
am - 60 at 119/140 with 5 x 1 m fast

2/27 - Wednesday - 10.2 miles/ 9 running
am- Fittek - 60 min at 124/148 = 5.1 miles like this: alternate 5mins at 4.9mph or 12:14 pace w/ 5 mins at 5.8 or 10:20 pace...HR for easy 5 mins at 109, 118, 125, 131, 136;  HR for faster 5 mins at 124, 128, 135, 142, 145......fun!!  toughest part was the slower 5 mins, I'm so used to walking the recovery's.
pm- same as AM.....60 mins at 124/147....w/ last 2 - 5 mins at 131 HR/ 142 HR which means I was recovered from the am workout

2/28 - Thursday - 5.1 miles/ 4.4 running
6 am - bike path w/  gregg .....ice covered so ran easy

3/1 - Friday - 7 miles/ 5.2 running
am - short easy = 1.3 mile.
pm- did my test # 1- 70 mins ( W5/R40 at 5,5.2,5.4,5.6/W5/R5 at 5.6/W5/R1/W1/R1/W1/R1 at 5.8/W5) at 115/137....compare to 121/150 on 2-1-13.

3/2 - Sat - 10 miles/ 0 running
am- hike Clinton lake trail w/ chris in 2h 51 mins at 110 HR/137 max....snow/ice covered so took it easy.  Hoka mafate 2 shoes had good traction

3/3 - Sunday - 12 miles/ 8 running
8am -  trails - hilly route + bp real easy, still snow/ice covered = 5miles
12:30pm - fittek - 60.31 mins  with warm-up then 10 x 1 min fartlek at 6.1 to 7.0 pace (9:50 to 8:36 pace) 1 min walk at 4mph....119 HR avg compared to 137 avg for same workout on Jan 16.
3pm- walk dogs at trails, very muddy now

Weekly totals = 54 miles/  34.7 running

Okay week.  Got in my last 2 workouts as noted below on Wed and Sunday, so now its taper week until LBL trail marathon next Sat.
1.  progressive fast run of 45 mins
2. 10 x 1 mile repeats at trails w/ rest between at 10:40 pace
3.  2 x (4 x 1.5 miles) at 11:10 pace with .5 mile easy between. 1 in am/1 in pm.
4. 10-13 miles cont trail run at 11:15-30 pace or equal effort
5.  10-13 miles cont. alternate .5 miles at 5:10/ 6:00, could be bike bath done
6. 10-15 x 1 min fast fartlek runs w/ 1 min walk between- done

Feb was a very winter month compared to Jan.  Looking forward to warmer temps and drier surfaces to run outside more.

Monthly totals in Feb = 252 miles/ 183.5 running
Yearly totals = 472.5 miles/ 350 running