AM: 30 min easy + 200 one-leg hops
PM: 30 min easy + striders
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
the staple run
This is my running equivalent of 'session beer': 6 miles at conversational pace. It's my staple run, which means I do it 4-5 times per week. Since time doesn't matter (these are 'recovery' runs) I usually don't wear my watch, but always assumed I was maintaining a fairly consistent pace. Apparently not. Out of curiosity I recorded my splits this morning: 7:25, 7:25, 7:03, 7:10, 6:55, 6:42
Oi... well I think one or both of these are happening to some degree: 1) I'm running a consistent effort, which is only loosely correlated to a consistent pace. 2) The observer effect. Not to be confused with the uncertainty principle. I have my watch on, and I keep checking the effing thing, and I observe slow miles, which alters my pace, and I check it again, and faster miles improve my mood, etc.
Okay no more watch during the staple run.
Oi... well I think one or both of these are happening to some degree: 1) I'm running a consistent effort, which is only loosely correlated to a consistent pace. 2) The observer effect. Not to be confused with the uncertainty principle. I have my watch on, and I keep checking the effing thing, and I observe slow miles, which alters my pace, and I check it again, and faster miles improve my mood, etc.
Okay no more watch during the staple run.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
life without Hitchens
December 15, 2011 -- life became far less interesting. And the world became immeasurably dumber. Please save us, Sam Harris!
Yes I've been running quite a bit. To the point where I'm not that interested in blogging about it, but that will end soon. Merry xmas.
Yes I've been running quite a bit. To the point where I'm not that interested in blogging about it, but that will end soon. Merry xmas.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
sanctioned shmanctioned
Yesterday I did the Walpole Labor Day 10K. 37:54.
what
a
disaster
I hate hilly road 10Ks. I really do. I only did this because I figured it would be good preparation for the Codfish Bowl 8K, a race that uses the Franklin Park cross country course (i.e., it has hills). But I have no feel for the 10K. I mean, the half-marathon pace makes sense; I run those at "comfortably hard". The 5K pace makes sense; I jump right into uncomfortably hard, knowing that it will end just as I'm hitting crisis mode. The 10K is an ugly hybrid, even on the track. I always feel like I'm running too fast or too slow.
The Walpole 10K course... just... sucks ass. The weather? 80 degrees and humid. And the distance? Okay well the race website has the words "USATF sanctioned". Which doesn't mean shit. "USATF sanctioned" is quite different than "USATF certified". The latter means everything and the former is utterly fucking pointless.
what
a
disaster
I hate hilly road 10Ks. I really do. I only did this because I figured it would be good preparation for the Codfish Bowl 8K, a race that uses the Franklin Park cross country course (i.e., it has hills). But I have no feel for the 10K. I mean, the half-marathon pace makes sense; I run those at "comfortably hard". The 5K pace makes sense; I jump right into uncomfortably hard, knowing that it will end just as I'm hitting crisis mode. The 10K is an ugly hybrid, even on the track. I always feel like I'm running too fast or too slow.
The Walpole 10K course... just... sucks ass. The weather? 80 degrees and humid. And the distance? Okay well the race website has the words "USATF sanctioned". Which doesn't mean shit. "USATF sanctioned" is quite different than "USATF certified". The latter means everything and the former is utterly fucking pointless.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
46 weeks later, 44 seconds faster
Last October I posted a tempo workout that took me 21:41.25 for 6K, and this morning I did the same workout (on the leet new NHS track) in 20:57.15 = 44.1 seconds faster. I'm happy with this improvement in light of what has happened since. So here is a summary:
1) lower back strain at the end of Oct 2010, useless for Nov
2) slow rebuild in Dec, ramp up in Jan 2011, prepping for Boston
3) knee tendinitis ruins Feb and half of March, now I'm screwed
4) knee heals up, solid if unremarkable Boston (2:54), then rest ...
5) another volume ramp up for the NE Relay, then I run 46+ in one day
6) general fatigue and nagging ankle pain soaks up the rest of June
And then, after all that, my training for the last eight weeks has been solid and consistent. Even with our usual mid-summer heat and humidity. This must mean that outstanding race results are on the way.
It just has to mean that. Doesn't it?
1) lower back strain at the end of Oct 2010, useless for Nov
2) slow rebuild in Dec, ramp up in Jan 2011, prepping for Boston
3) knee tendinitis ruins Feb and half of March, now I'm screwed
4) knee heals up, solid if unremarkable Boston (2:54), then rest ...
5) another volume ramp up for the NE Relay, then I run 46+ in one day
6) general fatigue and nagging ankle pain soaks up the rest of June
And then, after all that, my training for the last eight weeks has been solid and consistent. Even with our usual mid-summer heat and humidity. This must mean that outstanding race results are on the way.
It just has to mean that. Doesn't it?
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
phase one complete
I have three self-imposed tests of increasing difficulty that I use to judge fitness, and I passed the first one last night: Running five miles solo at a sub-5:45 pace. Officially it was 8.4K in 29:41.6 which is slightly over 5:42 per mile. The second test is to do the same for a full 10K (so anything under 35:39) and the third is breaking 35:00 for 10K. I don't remember where I came up with these tests and it's all terribly arbitrary but they just seem to work. I feel like I'm race-ready when I can run a sub-35 without competition. Doing it outside of a race matters; the magic race day adrenaline boost is cheating. Or it would be cheating, if it happened on a flat and accurately measured course. But I'm not sure such a thing exists in eastern MA.
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