One thing I read on a regular basis is that if you want to run faster, you need to run faster. Makes sense. Adding in tempo runs and speed work will work wonders for your speed.
As I continue with what I like to call my pre-training for the Hotlanta Half in August, this has become quite evident. My race training plan does not officially start until I get back from vacation in the first week of June, but I have been working on tempo runs and speed work at least once a week on a treadmill for the past couple months. Pre-training to me is getting myself in the best shape possible to begin the full training I will need to do for that half marathon, which will in turn have me ready to start Goofy training in September.
Anyway, back to running faster. What I have seen is the times on my long run gradually decreasing to the point that my average pace was below a 10 minute mile for the first time ever last Friday. For these long runs I do not even look at my watch until I know I am well past the halfway point. I go with what feels right that day. End result is that I am not pushing myself to make a better time each week. It is just happening naturally, which to me is how it should be.
What I am going to be curious to see is what happens to these times as the temperatures on long run mornings start to get warmer each week. Will I struggle more to keep up the good pace, or will the increased speed training compensate to keep me going at a good pace?
There is a 10K on July 4 morning on the Big Creek Greenway what Karen and I might sign up for. That should be nice and hot to offer a good test to see if I can keep up a good pace for 6.2 miles. My goal pace for that race right now would be a 9:30 mile with a finish in under 60 minutes. With where I am right now, I am confident I am within striking distance of that. Time will tell.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Thursday, May 1, 2014
An Experiment of One
Since the Disney Wine & Dine Half was my first race, i discovered the running board on a popular Disney message board. If you have never been to the DisBoards, then this is a great place to go. They not only talk Disney races, but discuss other running related things as well. There are all sorts of people on this board. First time runners, runners like myself who have just gotten into it recently and running coaches.
Every time a topic comes up about how to hydrate for a race, fuel for a race or pace a race, his comment is always "each of us is an experiment of one". What this means is that what works for one person might not work for another. Some people can run with very little fuel, some need fuel more often than others, and the type of food each person can handle might be different.
I can say that I have tried all sorts of combinations over the past two years. Started out with the energy beans and Gatorade. I then moved onto energy chews and watered down Powerade, but I just did not feel like that was really doing it for me either.
My current long run regimen goes something like this. For the record, I have a fuel belt with four 8 oz bottles that comes along for the run.
Every time a topic comes up about how to hydrate for a race, fuel for a race or pace a race, his comment is always "each of us is an experiment of one". What this means is that what works for one person might not work for another. Some people can run with very little fuel, some need fuel more often than others, and the type of food each person can handle might be different.
I can say that I have tried all sorts of combinations over the past two years. Started out with the energy beans and Gatorade. I then moved onto energy chews and watered down Powerade, but I just did not feel like that was really doing it for me either.
My current long run regimen goes something like this. For the record, I have a fuel belt with four 8 oz bottles that comes along for the run.
- Chocolate chip Clif bar and half a glass of Powerade about 30 minutes before heading out
- For the first four miles, I only drink water each 1.5 miles
- At mile 4, I take a strawberry/caffeine Clif Shot Gel washed down with some water
- After this I alternate water and non-watered down Powerade every 1-1.5 miles
- I'll continue with he gels every 3-4 miles, and if I am within four miles of finishing my run I take nothing.
- When I finally finish my run, there is nothing better than a big, cold glass of chocolate milk.
I only follow this if my long run is 10 or more miles. I ran 7 miles this morning and only took along my water and Powerade. If I had been running 10 miles, I would have taken one gel at mile 4, and then only water and Powerade after that.
I will say that the gels took some getting use to, but they have grown on me over the past few weeks. However, this regimen seems to be working for me at the moment, and I will be sticking with it through my summer training.
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Officially Goofy in 2015
As noon approached yesterday, I wondered if their would be a rush on the RunDisney website to get registered for Disney Marathon weeks. After all, the last couple races sold out in only a couple of hours. turns out there was no need to worry. I was in shortly after noon and fully registered 15 minutes later for the 10th Goofy Challenge.
Even though my official training plan does not begin until September, all the hard training I am going to do for the Hotlanta Half in August is going to be in preparation for the Goofy training. Essentially I plan on hitting the ground running in September and train hard through the end of December.
I have to say that I am looking forward to getting my hands on this come January 11, 2015
Even though my official training plan does not begin until September, all the hard training I am going to do for the Hotlanta Half in August is going to be in preparation for the Goofy training. Essentially I plan on hitting the ground running in September and train hard through the end of December.
I have to say that I am looking forward to getting my hands on this come January 11, 2015
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Wet, Muddy and Humid (Georgia Peach Jam Report)
The Georgia Peach Jam Half Marathon was yesterday, and the words for the day were wet, muddy and humid. What was supposed to be a perfect weather weekend for running went south very quickly as rain moved in overnight on Friday.
The race was held on the Big Creek Greenway, which is a very nice area to run when it has not rained overnight. There are many spots where it just does not drain well. While the rain stopped right before the race kicked off, there was still standing water all over the course. What this meant was that runners needed to navigate around the water, which meant running onto the grass at many points. This resulted is shoes and legs covered in mud very early on, and wet shoes throughout the race.
I started out the race pretty good. I was under a ten minute mile at the 3 mile mark. This is where I could really tell that the tempo/pace runs I have been doing for the past six weeks had really helped. If I could keep up that pace I was easily on my way to a PR. This was not to be. As I have found out in a couple of previous races, humidity is just not my friend. By about the halfway point of the race, I was starting to feel it. This was also the point where my wife, Karen, blew on by me. I could see her up ahead for a little while, but soon lost sight of her. She was gone.
My wet shoes and I trudged on through the last half of the race, and I finished with a time of 2:17:35. That's about four minutes slower than my PR. I was also thankful that Dirty Spokes might have measured the course slightly short. I have a Garmin and Karen uses the Nike IPhone app. Both showed the distance we ran at 12.9 miles. I have never had that happen in a race before. If anything it is usually a little longer than 13.1 due to having to weave around people.
So it's onto the next challenge now. The local 10K on July 4 followed by the Hotlanta Half in August.
The race was held on the Big Creek Greenway, which is a very nice area to run when it has not rained overnight. There are many spots where it just does not drain well. While the rain stopped right before the race kicked off, there was still standing water all over the course. What this meant was that runners needed to navigate around the water, which meant running onto the grass at many points. This resulted is shoes and legs covered in mud very early on, and wet shoes throughout the race.
I started out the race pretty good. I was under a ten minute mile at the 3 mile mark. This is where I could really tell that the tempo/pace runs I have been doing for the past six weeks had really helped. If I could keep up that pace I was easily on my way to a PR. This was not to be. As I have found out in a couple of previous races, humidity is just not my friend. By about the halfway point of the race, I was starting to feel it. This was also the point where my wife, Karen, blew on by me. I could see her up ahead for a little while, but soon lost sight of her. She was gone.
My wet shoes and I trudged on through the last half of the race, and I finished with a time of 2:17:35. That's about four minutes slower than my PR. I was also thankful that Dirty Spokes might have measured the course slightly short. I have a Garmin and Karen uses the Nike IPhone app. Both showed the distance we ran at 12.9 miles. I have never had that happen in a race before. If anything it is usually a little longer than 13.1 due to having to weave around people.
So it's onto the next challenge now. The local 10K on July 4 followed by the Hotlanta Half in August.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Game On..Again
Well, after being doubtful of the whole waiting list for the Georgia Peach Jam Half Marathon next week, I receive an email this morning letting me know that both Karen and I can now register for the race. Registration is due by Wednesday by snail mail, so off it will go in today's mail.
Good thing I did not slack on any training for the past couple of weeks. While a PR is probably not going to happen this time around, I certainly think I can run a respectable time on what will be a completely flat course.
Good thing I did not slack on any training for the past couple of weeks. While a PR is probably not going to happen this time around, I certainly think I can run a respectable time on what will be a completely flat course.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
New Plans
Well so much for that idea. My wife and I were all ready to register for the Georgia Peach Jam Half Marathon next month only to find out that it has sold out. I emailed the race contact to confirm that it was indeed sold out, and apparently there is a waiting list. This is the first time I have ever heard of a waiting list for any race. So I guess there is still a sliver of hope to run in an official race next month.
Yesterday I started looking around to see what other half marathons might be available to run. I came across the inaugural Hotlanta Half Marathon. Sounded pretty good to me. The catch. It's on August 24 at 7:30am. Hotlanta indeed. That would be one hot and challenging race at that time of year. However, it gives me something to focus on throughout the summer, which is what I need to stay in shape ahead of Goofy training which kicks off in September. I signed up this afternoon, so I am committed to it now.
Yesterday I started looking around to see what other half marathons might be available to run. I came across the inaugural Hotlanta Half Marathon. Sounded pretty good to me. The catch. It's on August 24 at 7:30am. Hotlanta indeed. That would be one hot and challenging race at that time of year. However, it gives me something to focus on throughout the summer, which is what I need to stay in shape ahead of Goofy training which kicks off in September. I signed up this afternoon, so I am committed to it now.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Thinking ahead to a Goofy time
Thus far, there is only one half marathon that I am looking to put on my calendar, and that would be one on April 19. A very flat run on the local greenway, which should make for a pretty easy race. As such, I am doing minimal training at the moment and only running 20-25 miles a week.
However, I am very much looking ahead to the Disney Goofy Challenge in January 2015. I want to push myself a little more, and figured this was a fun event to do it in. A half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday. Registration does not even open for another month, but I am already tinkering with training plans that I would not even start with until September. I figure that it never hurts to plan ahead in order to know what I will face. Training to run 39.3 miles over two days will be no easy task, but in a crazy sort of way I am looking forward to it.
Until such time, it will be pretty much maintenance running over the hot summer months at about 20 miles per week. My schedule will be on short run, one tempo run, and one long run per week to hold me at that 20 miles. Near the end of the summer I will gradually start increasing things so that I can jump right into my Goofy training come September.
However, I am very much looking ahead to the Disney Goofy Challenge in January 2015. I want to push myself a little more, and figured this was a fun event to do it in. A half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday. Registration does not even open for another month, but I am already tinkering with training plans that I would not even start with until September. I figure that it never hurts to plan ahead in order to know what I will face. Training to run 39.3 miles over two days will be no easy task, but in a crazy sort of way I am looking forward to it.
Until such time, it will be pretty much maintenance running over the hot summer months at about 20 miles per week. My schedule will be on short run, one tempo run, and one long run per week to hold me at that 20 miles. Near the end of the summer I will gradually start increasing things so that I can jump right into my Goofy training come September.
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