Ran for an hour today. From here on out I am only running in 30 minute segments until Vikingman. I ran around our hilly neighborhood for about 35 minutes and then ran at the track at Catlin Gable School. I ran 2 miles at the track. The first I ran about the same pace I had been running during the run around the neighborhood and my time was 10:19. Then I ran a mile at a pace that put my heart rate in the mid to upper 160's to see what sort of time the effort would give me. My time was 9:11. This time was near the end of my hour run and so I feel pretty good about it and my ability to hold a decent pace. There is no way that I am going to be able to do either pace during the Vikingman, but I am pretty sure that a 12 minute mile pace is a good conservative estimate, assuming nothing goes horribly wrong.
Everyone tells me to relax about Vikingman. Bridget says my training has been great and that I should have no problem finishing. My swimming during class is great. My running is relatively painfree. The bike seems to be dialed. So I am going to do fine at the Vikingman. I am going to do fine at the Vikingman. I am going to do fine at the Vikingman......I will find an chalkboard and write this over and over a la Bart Simpson.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
2 hour run: Check!
I earned this glass of my super secret recovery drink. 
I am now about an hour past the end of my first 2 hour run of the year. I felt great until I had to climb the hills that oscillate ever higher on my way back to the house for the last 30 to 40 minutes of the run.
No significant pain, just some minor discomfort in the knees every know and then. But truth be told, I ran slow. But then, I am guessing that by the third leg of the triathlon that will be my only speed, slow. But no matter, I just want to finish and do it with out having to walk other than to swap water bottles.
I actually ran with my iPod for the first time in over a month. It was nice. I listened to a couple of nerdy NPR podcasts and then yesterday's episode of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. They were all entertaining and helped to take my mind of the long run along Cornell Road.
Tomorrow I am still on track for the hour swim and the 3.5 hour bike ride. Joel at work requested that I take out one of our Scattante carbon road bikes to see what I think. Darn, I guess I will have to do that. Look for a post ride review soon.
I am now about an hour past the end of my first 2 hour run of the year. I felt great until I had to climb the hills that oscillate ever higher on my way back to the house for the last 30 to 40 minutes of the run.
No significant pain, just some minor discomfort in the knees every know and then. But truth be told, I ran slow. But then, I am guessing that by the third leg of the triathlon that will be my only speed, slow. But no matter, I just want to finish and do it with out having to walk other than to swap water bottles.
I actually ran with my iPod for the first time in over a month. It was nice. I listened to a couple of nerdy NPR podcasts and then yesterday's episode of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. They were all entertaining and helped to take my mind of the long run along Cornell Road.
Tomorrow I am still on track for the hour swim and the 3.5 hour bike ride. Joel at work requested that I take out one of our Scattante carbon road bikes to see what I think. Darn, I guess I will have to do that. Look for a post ride review soon.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
My secret to running on a treadmill + a bunch of nothing
I dislike running on a treadmill. It is boring.
Sometimes there are some interesting people to watch. One day there was this woman that was running near me and she was running at a 6.5 mph pace. She started just after me and I thought that judging by her weight (which had to be around 200 for a someone about 5'6") this pace would be short lived. um, no. She ran that pace for about 45 minutes (Rock on lady!). Last night there was a guy that was walking next to me--he was thinner than I, but only walking at 4 mph. He was sweating like a pig after about 10 minutes. Weird. Anyway, stuff like that can keep me interested for a little bit. For the most part, no matter what my intentions are when first stepping on to the treadmill, I have to mix it up a bit to stay sane.
Yesterday, I rode with DTP up to Skyline Drive. The original plan was to ride for 2.5 to 3 hours. When his cranks started coming loose I cut that down to just a ride on Skyline to Springville Road, west to Bethany, and then north on Cornell and on to the house. 90 minutes of riding that included a couple of minutes trying to fix DTP's bike and waiting for him a couple of times. This is not to say that DTP is slow, but well, perhaps there is a reason why the guys that we play cards with call him Slow Dave (The dude takes 3 times longer to play a card than anyone else). To make a short story longer, I wasn't too tired after the ride and btw yes, I really enjoy giving DTP a bunch of crap. We got back home in time for me to watch son #1 while Bridget went to a kindergym class with son #2. She would have put him in the daycare, so DTP's bike problem saved us some money.
About 8 hours later, after consuming a Muchas Gracias taco, half-order of Nachos, a Skyline Burger, fries and salad, and a three pack of McDonald's chocolate chip cookies I got around to the treadmill.
As noted earlier, I cannot just be on the treadmill without some sort of disraction. Everyone who has ever run on a treadmill knows this to be true, unless you have the ability to go into some sort of mediative trance. I can't so I do the following:
Listen to my iPod--either Car Talk or Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me on podcast or some music
(1) Wonder why in the hell I don't have the legal job of my dreams yet. I also like to berate myself regarding things that I should be doing but haven't for some reason. I talk down to myself in an effort to shame myself for my incompetence at getting a job. This usually does two things, takes my mind off of the boredom of running on the treadmill and angers me enough to keeping at a decent pace. Self-hate can be a powerful thing sometimes, and it can be used for good oddly enough.
(2) Wonder why I am still gaining weight even though I have been burning about 7000 calories a week working out. Then I remember the nachos, taco, hamburger, fries, cookies, and blue cheese dressing I consumed during the day I and figure it out. This doesn't usually take long.
But my real secret to running on the treadmill is to push myself in intervals.
-Run one mile warm up
-Start the timer on the treadmill again and run 5.5 mph
-At 5 minutes increase pace to 6.1 and run for 75 seconds.
-Return to 5.5 mph
-At 10 minutes increase pace to 6.2 and run for 80 seconds.
-Return to 5.5 mph
-At 15 minutes increase pace to 6.3 and run for 85 seconds. return to 5.5 mph afterwards.
-At 20 minutes 6.4 mph, run for 90 seconds. Return to 5.5 mph.
-At 25 minutes 6.5 mph, run for 95 seconds. Return to 5.5 mph.
-At 30 mintes 6.6 mph, run for 100 seconds. return to 5.5 mph.
This continues until I get to 7.0 mph and 120 seconds. I don't go beyond that. After the interval I head back down to 5.5 mph. After finishing 6 miles of this I then do a cool down--last night that was about 3/4 of a mile. Total mileage was around 7.7 miles. Anyway, that was last nights workout. Other days I do similar intevals, even if it is not this exact one.
My heart rate last night averaged 157 during the 80 minutes I ran. My max was 171. I burned something like 1320 calories. The only negative was that my lower back, near my hip was killing me again during the night. So I probably over did it a bit. Nevertheless, I felt great during the run. The change of pace keeps me interested, and the ever increasing speed during the faster parts are a challenge.
I still worry about the run portion of the Vikingman. My hip still pains me making running at all a concern. I am limiting my running to about twice a week. Hopefully that will be enough to survive. Survival is the only goal at this point.
Sometimes there are some interesting people to watch. One day there was this woman that was running near me and she was running at a 6.5 mph pace. She started just after me and I thought that judging by her weight (which had to be around 200 for a someone about 5'6") this pace would be short lived. um, no. She ran that pace for about 45 minutes (Rock on lady!). Last night there was a guy that was walking next to me--he was thinner than I, but only walking at 4 mph. He was sweating like a pig after about 10 minutes. Weird. Anyway, stuff like that can keep me interested for a little bit. For the most part, no matter what my intentions are when first stepping on to the treadmill, I have to mix it up a bit to stay sane.
Yesterday, I rode with DTP up to Skyline Drive. The original plan was to ride for 2.5 to 3 hours. When his cranks started coming loose I cut that down to just a ride on Skyline to Springville Road, west to Bethany, and then north on Cornell and on to the house. 90 minutes of riding that included a couple of minutes trying to fix DTP's bike and waiting for him a couple of times. This is not to say that DTP is slow, but well, perhaps there is a reason why the guys that we play cards with call him Slow Dave (The dude takes 3 times longer to play a card than anyone else). To make a short story longer, I wasn't too tired after the ride and btw yes, I really enjoy giving DTP a bunch of crap. We got back home in time for me to watch son #1 while Bridget went to a kindergym class with son #2. She would have put him in the daycare, so DTP's bike problem saved us some money.
About 8 hours later, after consuming a Muchas Gracias taco, half-order of Nachos, a Skyline Burger, fries and salad, and a three pack of McDonald's chocolate chip cookies I got around to the treadmill.
As noted earlier, I cannot just be on the treadmill without some sort of disraction. Everyone who has ever run on a treadmill knows this to be true, unless you have the ability to go into some sort of mediative trance. I can't so I do the following:
Listen to my iPod--either Car Talk or Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me on podcast or some music
(1) Wonder why in the hell I don't have the legal job of my dreams yet. I also like to berate myself regarding things that I should be doing but haven't for some reason. I talk down to myself in an effort to shame myself for my incompetence at getting a job. This usually does two things, takes my mind off of the boredom of running on the treadmill and angers me enough to keeping at a decent pace. Self-hate can be a powerful thing sometimes, and it can be used for good oddly enough.
(2) Wonder why I am still gaining weight even though I have been burning about 7000 calories a week working out. Then I remember the nachos, taco, hamburger, fries, cookies, and blue cheese dressing I consumed during the day I and figure it out. This doesn't usually take long.
But my real secret to running on the treadmill is to push myself in intervals.
-Run one mile warm up
-Start the timer on the treadmill again and run 5.5 mph
-At 5 minutes increase pace to 6.1 and run for 75 seconds.
-Return to 5.5 mph
-At 10 minutes increase pace to 6.2 and run for 80 seconds.
-Return to 5.5 mph
-At 15 minutes increase pace to 6.3 and run for 85 seconds. return to 5.5 mph afterwards.
-At 20 minutes 6.4 mph, run for 90 seconds. Return to 5.5 mph.
-At 25 minutes 6.5 mph, run for 95 seconds. Return to 5.5 mph.
-At 30 mintes 6.6 mph, run for 100 seconds. return to 5.5 mph.
This continues until I get to 7.0 mph and 120 seconds. I don't go beyond that. After the interval I head back down to 5.5 mph. After finishing 6 miles of this I then do a cool down--last night that was about 3/4 of a mile. Total mileage was around 7.7 miles. Anyway, that was last nights workout. Other days I do similar intevals, even if it is not this exact one.
My heart rate last night averaged 157 during the 80 minutes I ran. My max was 171. I burned something like 1320 calories. The only negative was that my lower back, near my hip was killing me again during the night. So I probably over did it a bit. Nevertheless, I felt great during the run. The change of pace keeps me interested, and the ever increasing speed during the faster parts are a challenge.
I still worry about the run portion of the Vikingman. My hip still pains me making running at all a concern. I am limiting my running to about twice a week. Hopefully that will be enough to survive. Survival is the only goal at this point.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
And now I am back to running too!
I went out this morning (I am still up, so it is Saturday for me) and went running for 75 minutes. I went and ran around the neighborhood, which means that I ran up and down lots of hills. The only flat part was when I neared the end of my run and I did 5 laps at the outdoor track at a nearby school. By that time I was somewhat toasted. I was running 12 minute miles and my heart rate was still up in the 160's. Maybe I am still fighting a bit of the bug, or perhaps I didn't have much in the tank from the 50 miler the day before on the bike. Or maybe it was all of these hills around here. Many of those hills were fairly significant, and it was hard just to keep running without maxing my heart rate sometimes.
Regardless of the occasional coughing fit and drippy mucus, it was good to have gotten out. It was a gorgeous day. I added a little bit to yesterday's sunburn too today. It is all good.
I need to concentrate on my running, but my body doesn't really like running. My hip hurts afterwards usually, although not as bad as it used to, and my back gets stiff. This is another reason why I think that this may well be my only entry into a 70.3 tri. My body likes the shorter runs. At least right now. A year and a half ago running was great. So maybe it will all heal in time.
Sunday will be a rest day and Monday a return to swimming.
Regardless of the occasional coughing fit and drippy mucus, it was good to have gotten out. It was a gorgeous day. I added a little bit to yesterday's sunburn too today. It is all good.
I need to concentrate on my running, but my body doesn't really like running. My hip hurts afterwards usually, although not as bad as it used to, and my back gets stiff. This is another reason why I think that this may well be my only entry into a 70.3 tri. My body likes the shorter runs. At least right now. A year and a half ago running was great. So maybe it will all heal in time.
Sunday will be a rest day and Monday a return to swimming.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Update: 75 days to go + late night meanderings
With less than 11 weeks before the big race I am feeling like my body is starting to get stronger. This doesn't mean that the race won't be one of the worst experiences of my life, it just means that I think I am starting to turn the corner.
For the longest time this winter I have just felt like I have been in the doldrums. I haven't been able to get into a rhythm, parts of my were breaking down and when combined with my mental issues (December and January my head just wasn't in the game at all) those bad months had resulted in my training lagging behind where it should be for such an event as the Vikingman.
Today was my day with the boys and we had lots of fun while the wife worked. Normally, on Mondays I go to the rec center and drop the boys off in the daycare there. But because it is spring break there is no daycare this week. This kind of threw me off a bit, but the wife was willing to let me go when she got off work.
I ran on the treadmill for 70 minutes. About 25 minutes into the workout a friend from church came in and starting running next to me. He is training for a half marathon the weekend after Vikingman. [I wish that is all I was training for.] He starts up right off the bat at 7.2 mph. Damn, he must be in pretty good shape I am thinking. He doesn't have a HRM, so I have no idea what his heart rate is, but after about 20 minutes his body language is not a smooth as it was when he started. I am just keeping my HR around the low 150's with an occasional hop up to 160 just for kicks and then back down to the upper 140's to low 150's again. This goes on until I hit 55 minutes, when I am still feeling pretty good, but my pace has only been 5.5 to 6.0 most of the time to keep my heart rate where I want it. Dude next to me, his name is Mike by the way, is pumping it up to 7.5 now and he has been running for 30 minutes. I had thought that he would back it down a notch after a bit because he hasn't been training for very long and I didn't think he was this type of runner. However, I am thinking that I was wrong about him. I am feeling a bit like a weenie here doing my heart rate training stuff. While he is thinner than I, I have been training for longer. And I am in my uber-competitive mood at that point. So what to do....
I kick it up to 8.0 mph and turn the iPod on to something that will get me going. Oh yeah, I am flying...or at least it seems that way to me after running over 2 mph slower for almost an hour. I can see both of our reflections in the windows in front of us. I work on keeping my form looking good and not like Magilla Gorilla. Compared to Mike, I think I am looking a little smoother--but that might have just been me in my workout haze instead of reality. I ran at 8 mph for almost a mile. Then I backed it down so that I could have time to cool down properly by the 70 minute mark. My HR got up to 185 at the very end, which is my max according to my rough calculations.
We both finished at nearly the same time. Although he had run at a faster pace during his run on average, I felt like I had done well enough. I ran 2 miles further and ran my fastest at the very end. I really should not have cared what he was running, but I have this competitive problem at times. If I have no shot at competing with someone, I don't care what they do, but if for some reason I think I should be in the same fitness category as some particular friend or associate I have to start a pissing match. Or at least one is going on in my head, not verbally.
I do this every time I go out to Utah to see Fish. I love going out there, but I have to get a little competitive with Fish. It only takes one ride usually--sort of a heat check to see who is going to rule the roost that weekend. DTP is always there too, but he is content to wallow in the back for some reason. One year Fish was en fuego, we could not touch him (I remember him listening to the Shins on his iPod riding up the road to Benny Creek like it was nothing while I was near my limit on my singlespeed try to stay at his pace), but the last couple years I have felt pretty good, or good enough anyway. I don't brag about beating Fish if I do, although I am sometimes merciless with DTP. It is important to me to have a good showing when Fish is around for some reason.
After thinking on this for a bit, I think that with Fish, I goes back to when he rode with me when I was fat and horribly out of shape some years back. I mean I was on the road to an early death. I hadn't done much of anything in 4 or 5 years. I hadn't touched a bike in 3. Regardless, he stayed with on numerous rides and never, ever, gave me a hard time about being so damn slow. I owe him a lot. Nevertheless, it was a goal to actually be able to ride as fast as Fish in those days, and then to ride faster than Fish. I felt that if I could do so then I was probably doing OK physically, and getting healthier. I remember like it was yesterday the time that we were going up near Timpanogos Caves that he asked me what the hell I was doing setting a pace like that when I was at the front. My inner self was beaming, it was the first time that had happened on the road. He had owned me on when riding on the road up to that point. I think it was probably sort of like when a kid finally can outrun is father or something. I know, that is weird, but it is probably true.
So it is that I like to do these occasional heat checks, to see who is going to lead the pack that day. Admittedly, most of the time, I am off the back when riding with people of modest ability around here. Nevertheless, it is fun. I don't ever wish rub it in and make someone uncomfortable riding with me, and if I have, well, I am sorry. Except for DTP though. I mean to make him uncomfortable, mainly because I think he likes it that way.
For the longest time this winter I have just felt like I have been in the doldrums. I haven't been able to get into a rhythm, parts of my were breaking down and when combined with my mental issues (December and January my head just wasn't in the game at all) those bad months had resulted in my training lagging behind where it should be for such an event as the Vikingman.
Today was my day with the boys and we had lots of fun while the wife worked. Normally, on Mondays I go to the rec center and drop the boys off in the daycare there. But because it is spring break there is no daycare this week. This kind of threw me off a bit, but the wife was willing to let me go when she got off work.
I ran on the treadmill for 70 minutes. About 25 minutes into the workout a friend from church came in and starting running next to me. He is training for a half marathon the weekend after Vikingman. [I wish that is all I was training for.] He starts up right off the bat at 7.2 mph. Damn, he must be in pretty good shape I am thinking. He doesn't have a HRM, so I have no idea what his heart rate is, but after about 20 minutes his body language is not a smooth as it was when he started. I am just keeping my HR around the low 150's with an occasional hop up to 160 just for kicks and then back down to the upper 140's to low 150's again. This goes on until I hit 55 minutes, when I am still feeling pretty good, but my pace has only been 5.5 to 6.0 most of the time to keep my heart rate where I want it. Dude next to me, his name is Mike by the way, is pumping it up to 7.5 now and he has been running for 30 minutes. I had thought that he would back it down a notch after a bit because he hasn't been training for very long and I didn't think he was this type of runner. However, I am thinking that I was wrong about him. I am feeling a bit like a weenie here doing my heart rate training stuff. While he is thinner than I, I have been training for longer. And I am in my uber-competitive mood at that point. So what to do....
I kick it up to 8.0 mph and turn the iPod on to something that will get me going. Oh yeah, I am flying...or at least it seems that way to me after running over 2 mph slower for almost an hour. I can see both of our reflections in the windows in front of us. I work on keeping my form looking good and not like Magilla Gorilla. Compared to Mike, I think I am looking a little smoother--but that might have just been me in my workout haze instead of reality. I ran at 8 mph for almost a mile. Then I backed it down so that I could have time to cool down properly by the 70 minute mark. My HR got up to 185 at the very end, which is my max according to my rough calculations.
We both finished at nearly the same time. Although he had run at a faster pace during his run on average, I felt like I had done well enough. I ran 2 miles further and ran my fastest at the very end. I really should not have cared what he was running, but I have this competitive problem at times. If I have no shot at competing with someone, I don't care what they do, but if for some reason I think I should be in the same fitness category as some particular friend or associate I have to start a pissing match. Or at least one is going on in my head, not verbally.
I do this every time I go out to Utah to see Fish. I love going out there, but I have to get a little competitive with Fish. It only takes one ride usually--sort of a heat check to see who is going to rule the roost that weekend. DTP is always there too, but he is content to wallow in the back for some reason. One year Fish was en fuego, we could not touch him (I remember him listening to the Shins on his iPod riding up the road to Benny Creek like it was nothing while I was near my limit on my singlespeed try to stay at his pace), but the last couple years I have felt pretty good, or good enough anyway. I don't brag about beating Fish if I do, although I am sometimes merciless with DTP. It is important to me to have a good showing when Fish is around for some reason.
After thinking on this for a bit, I think that with Fish, I goes back to when he rode with me when I was fat and horribly out of shape some years back. I mean I was on the road to an early death. I hadn't done much of anything in 4 or 5 years. I hadn't touched a bike in 3. Regardless, he stayed with on numerous rides and never, ever, gave me a hard time about being so damn slow. I owe him a lot. Nevertheless, it was a goal to actually be able to ride as fast as Fish in those days, and then to ride faster than Fish. I felt that if I could do so then I was probably doing OK physically, and getting healthier. I remember like it was yesterday the time that we were going up near Timpanogos Caves that he asked me what the hell I was doing setting a pace like that when I was at the front. My inner self was beaming, it was the first time that had happened on the road. He had owned me on when riding on the road up to that point. I think it was probably sort of like when a kid finally can outrun is father or something. I know, that is weird, but it is probably true.
So it is that I like to do these occasional heat checks, to see who is going to lead the pack that day. Admittedly, most of the time, I am off the back when riding with people of modest ability around here. Nevertheless, it is fun. I don't ever wish rub it in and make someone uncomfortable riding with me, and if I have, well, I am sorry. Except for DTP though. I mean to make him uncomfortable, mainly because I think he likes it that way.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Me vs. The Treadmill
I have a real problem with running on a treadmill. Yeah, of course it is boring, but I can get past that with the help of my Ipod. No, I have a problem trying to run easy on it. Some workouts during the week are supposed to be easy ones, where my average heart rate stays under 150 beats per minute, usually in the low 140s. However, when I get on the treadmill something begins to happen most of the time--I get competitive. The machine lets me know how fast I am going, how far I have run, and what time I will complete a mile at my current pace. It also tells me my current heart rate and approximate calories burned, but I am used to have that on my Polar wrist watch.
Today is a prime example of how my goals start to unravel. First, I started at a 6 mph pace. I probably should have started slower, but I had done some stretching and felt pretty good. Currently that pace is one that I feel I could run for a very long time, but the fact is I have never run that pace for a long time on a treadmill. Instead I get an itch to go faster just to mix it up and then I will eventually return to the 6mph pace. Today that pace lasted for about 5 minutes before I stepped up to 6.5 and then soon 7.0mph. I ran 3 miles in 26:45 even with the slower 6.0 start for the first few minutes. Then it turned in to a goal of seeing if I could run 6.5 miles during my hour on the treadmill. Then 6.7 and higher until I figured I could come close to running 7 miles during my 60 minutes. I hit 6.9 during that time. I ran 7 miles in 60 minutes and 55 seconds. Including my cool down I ran 7.5 miles in all.
But seriously it was sort of stupid. I mean, I am happy I could run that fast, but I am supposed to be building my base fitness. Running so that at times near the end of the hour my heart rate reached 186 was not helping that goal. I am better at running in the proper zone if I am kept in the dark about my pace, which is how it is when I am running outdoors. I need to exert some will power on the treadmill. Part of it is that it is a game, I am trying to see what I can do, if I am getting faster. I need to do this less often, running at race pace.
Today is a prime example of how my goals start to unravel. First, I started at a 6 mph pace. I probably should have started slower, but I had done some stretching and felt pretty good. Currently that pace is one that I feel I could run for a very long time, but the fact is I have never run that pace for a long time on a treadmill. Instead I get an itch to go faster just to mix it up and then I will eventually return to the 6mph pace. Today that pace lasted for about 5 minutes before I stepped up to 6.5 and then soon 7.0mph. I ran 3 miles in 26:45 even with the slower 6.0 start for the first few minutes. Then it turned in to a goal of seeing if I could run 6.5 miles during my hour on the treadmill. Then 6.7 and higher until I figured I could come close to running 7 miles during my 60 minutes. I hit 6.9 during that time. I ran 7 miles in 60 minutes and 55 seconds. Including my cool down I ran 7.5 miles in all.
But seriously it was sort of stupid. I mean, I am happy I could run that fast, but I am supposed to be building my base fitness. Running so that at times near the end of the hour my heart rate reached 186 was not helping that goal. I am better at running in the proper zone if I am kept in the dark about my pace, which is how it is when I am running outdoors. I need to exert some will power on the treadmill. Part of it is that it is a game, I am trying to see what I can do, if I am getting faster. I need to do this less often, running at race pace.
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