On a relatively cool 65 degree morning in San Francisco, Kurt laced up, found a hill-less six-mile stretch and destroyed his old personal best (50:12) for a 10K. The new PB: Just under 46 minutes, around a 7:25 mile pace. According to all the expert coaches I'm following, that means Kurt's VDOX is around 44. Potential marathon time around 3:32 to 3:40, depending on who you read, if the endurance training is in place and weather permits. Weather is always the biggest factor in reaching potential.
More important, the 10K time translates to a 8:37 MP pace at a comfortable 75% effort, or even an easier 9:03 at 70% effort, just to break four hours. However Kurt wants to run Chicago, the potential is there for a fast time if he stays uninjured (doesn't overtrain) and puts in the remaining longs -- a couple more 20s and a couple more mid-distance runs in the 13 to 15 range. Followed by a good taper. Should be good to go.
Boston qualifying time for late 40s is 3:30. That's a game day decision, based on weather, and a dangerous one at that. Running at that fine line between aerobic and anaerobic thresholds (80% effort) brings the Wall into play around 20 with lactic acid-soaked legs. You could end up at 4:15. But if you can drive that 10K down to 44-45.....the potential is there. I tried once from there (40:30 10K), ran 8s through 20, hit the Wall and ended up with a 4:02. You take your chances.
Training note: With a month to go before the taper, the tempo runs and longer MPs, where my legs are learning to efficiently move out lactic acid, would be key weekly runs, along with the longs.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Ten from hell
There are bad runs, and then there are bad runs. Last night was the latter. I decided to replace the 8 MP on the schedule for an easy 16, get it out of the way this week. I felt like running.
As I said months ago, the wild card for training hard in the summer would be the heat; and wouldn’t you know, South Florida is in the midst of one of the worst heat waves in decades. Mornings, nights, the humidity and temperature produce a “real feel” heat index of over 100. During the day, it spikes to 110. Weathermen are advising to make sure you hydrate well if walking to your car. It’s ridiculous.
So I head out to run16 miles, at about 7 pm. Real-free 100+. But I'm well hydrated, carrying Gatorade. First couple miles were okay but by three, things started failing. By six, I'm toast. As bad as the end of any marathon, shuffling, cannot breath, feeling dyhdrated, utterly spent. Sometimes I stop to suck oxygen from the moist air every 100 yards. Six miles and I'm in serious trouble. I cut off the run and make it home by 10, unable to talk by then and tell Lorraine I'm near death.
After 7 hours sleep, I still haven't recovered. The residual effect of that run has left me dizzy and fatigued and generally beat up. Shuffling in last night, all I could think about was never doing that again. Fuck the whole marathoning thing. It got me home.
I was set up for a bad run, though, having run or cross-trained for 10 of the last 11 days. When I recover from this, I'll probably head back to the treadmill, which isn't getting my legs rugged enough for a marathon. But this kind of heat can't be run through, not by me. It's just too much, and too dangerous. This morning, I actually feel lucky I didn't get in more trouble than just feeling bad.
As I said months ago, the wild card for training hard in the summer would be the heat; and wouldn’t you know, South Florida is in the midst of one of the worst heat waves in decades. Mornings, nights, the humidity and temperature produce a “real feel” heat index of over 100. During the day, it spikes to 110. Weathermen are advising to make sure you hydrate well if walking to your car. It’s ridiculous.
So I head out to run16 miles, at about 7 pm. Real-free 100+. But I'm well hydrated, carrying Gatorade. First couple miles were okay but by three, things started failing. By six, I'm toast. As bad as the end of any marathon, shuffling, cannot breath, feeling dyhdrated, utterly spent. Sometimes I stop to suck oxygen from the moist air every 100 yards. Six miles and I'm in serious trouble. I cut off the run and make it home by 10, unable to talk by then and tell Lorraine I'm near death.
After 7 hours sleep, I still haven't recovered. The residual effect of that run has left me dizzy and fatigued and generally beat up. Shuffling in last night, all I could think about was never doing that again. Fuck the whole marathoning thing. It got me home.
I was set up for a bad run, though, having run or cross-trained for 10 of the last 11 days. When I recover from this, I'll probably head back to the treadmill, which isn't getting my legs rugged enough for a marathon. But this kind of heat can't be run through, not by me. It's just too much, and too dangerous. This morning, I actually feel lucky I didn't get in more trouble than just feeling bad.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Drafting
Kurt has offered to shield me and my foot from the winds off the lake. Here's a peak at the turn back to the east, a view of left shoulder drafting....
Into the pool
I read somewhere a running equivalent for aqua-jogging is your in-pool heartbeat plus 13 beats per minute, due to the fact the water keeps you cooler and your heart pumps less blood to your skin. My pool is 80-some degrees, so I'm not sure I can add the beats. Without them, I kept my in-water BPM in the 120 to 150 range, with spikes to 160 during four 2 1/2-minute killer aqua-intervals. I also figured out some abdominal exercises with beats in 130 range. Stayed in the pool for 80 minutes, comparable to an 8 mile run, with easy and interval segments. After rolling out of the pool, I stretched quite a bit and did more core work, which I usually don't do after my runs but seemed to fit nicely into the workout. My body is so tight and inflexible, this cross-training may be what it needs.
On the right-heel: It's sore, stepping out of bed. No change. Will ice all day again, take 1800 mg of ibrurophen.
PF history
In 1996 and 1997, I broke down with PF during the early Boston and mid-summer NY campaigns. Both times I tried to run through it and it took 8-9 weeks before it went away. I'd get a long or mid-distance run in and have to stay off my feet for 2-3 days. That pattern kept repeating. Lots of icing and ibrupropehn and hematuria during runs from the NSAIDs. Speed runs were few and far between, mainly I was trying to stay on my feet to get the mileage in. In my notes, I mention numerous hip and back problems, possibly from altering stride. Most often, the heel warms up and hurts after the run, and for the next day or two.
I ran both marathons. The Boston PF bout cleared up in the fall, well before the April run (4:05). The NY bout, which started in week 12, began to clear three weeks before the race when I began tapering (4:25, IT band and monsoon) and didn't seem to bother me during the run.
On the right-heel: It's sore, stepping out of bed. No change. Will ice all day again, take 1800 mg of ibrurophen.
PF history
In 1996 and 1997, I broke down with PF during the early Boston and mid-summer NY campaigns. Both times I tried to run through it and it took 8-9 weeks before it went away. I'd get a long or mid-distance run in and have to stay off my feet for 2-3 days. That pattern kept repeating. Lots of icing and ibrupropehn and hematuria during runs from the NSAIDs. Speed runs were few and far between, mainly I was trying to stay on my feet to get the mileage in. In my notes, I mention numerous hip and back problems, possibly from altering stride. Most often, the heel warms up and hurts after the run, and for the next day or two.
I ran both marathons. The Boston PF bout cleared up in the fall, well before the April run (4:05). The NY bout, which started in week 12, began to clear three weeks before the race when I began tapering (4:25, IT band and monsoon) and didn't seem to bother me during the run.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Stopped running
I’m stopping running for at least a week. After three days of off and on discomfort in my right heel, I ran 8 yesterday on the treadmill with a mild discomfort early in the run, but it warmed up. Last night at Nick’s baseball practice I ran after two fly balls, and that was the end: I limped off the field. I keep hoping it’s a heel bruise but all the references say plantar facitis. It's acting like PF, sore in the morning, sore in that cushy spot under heel, and sore all around it. I'll go on 7-10 days of heavy ibruprophen, icing. Switch to workouts in the pool, lift 3X this week. I'll reconstruct the last 5 weeks of the schedule before tapering, pushing my next 20 off a week or maybe two. If the foot heals, I can still fit two more 20s in. I doubt I'll be able to run hard for two weeks, except in the pool. I don't know if that's optimistic. I'm reading that it takes considerably longer; hopefully I'm catching it early.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Ed's doing it
Just do it, so he is. Ed has entered Chicago to speed-walk the loop from downtown to Wrigley to Comisky and back, his second marathon of the year. He walked Nashville in April. Lorraine and Nick have decided not to go, as Nick has finals for his first quarter 8th grade that week and possibly some baseball games that weekend.
So Kurt, Ed and I will be staying in the McCormick Hyatt, at 70 bucks a night, complements of Lorraine's brother, Doug, who works for Hyatt. I think the rate otherwise would be up in the $250-300 range. The McCormick Hyatt overlooks the lake and is next to the expo, a 4-stop subway ride to the Start/Finish.
So Kurt, Ed and I will be staying in the McCormick Hyatt, at 70 bucks a night, complements of Lorraine's brother, Doug, who works for Hyatt. I think the rate otherwise would be up in the $250-300 range. The McCormick Hyatt overlooks the lake and is next to the expo, a 4-stop subway ride to the Start/Finish.
Seven weeks of conditioning left
Where we're at
Kurt has run a 16 mile long and turned in a quick 50:12 10K; I've reached my first 20 miler but haven't run a time trial in weeks due to the heat and travel to North Carolina (the last time trial was in early June, a 7:44 pace 5K, my fastest 10K a 50:28 in late April). Today we both ran half-mile intervals, averaging seconds just below and above 7:00 paces (3:30 halves). I don't think we're that far off; Kurt has successfully overcome the stress fractures, adjusted to the orthotics, and gotten on track with a program that has little room for downtime; I've avoided overuse injuries so far, in particular the IT band, with extra rest and an elongated program.
Driving down 10K times
Seven weeks to go before tapering. Despite what some of the calculators say, I'm not confident we can take current stamina levels, add several 20s, and make the sub-4:00. Assuming I could run a 50:00 minute 10K, I think we need a bigger cushion -- maybe drive the 10K times down between 47:00 to 48:00. Why? At the current 50:00 10K times, Coach Bensen's effort-based training charts say we'd be running our 8:45 targeted marathon pace at 80% effort, which the coach says is not likely sustainable over 26.2 miles for rec runners. A more realistic and sustainable effort might be around 75%. If you can run a 48:00 10K, a 75% effort translates to a 8:49 pace. For 47:00 10k, it's a 8:37 pace. So you can see the effort becomes less -- and easier to sustain -- as you drop your 10K times. This assumes you've put the endurance part of the equation in place; in other words, run your 3-4 18-20 milers.
The biggest risk
The main thing is to continue to do the once a week intervals/tempo runs, the marathon pace run, and the long -- WITHOUT overtraining. If I feel tired or have a strange tightness, I will drop any thought of a fourth run for extra rest, and sacrifice building mileage that week. The biggest risk in trying to drive down the 10K times is getting hurt by doing too much and being too aggressive. But I think we're on the right path.
Kurt has run a 16 mile long and turned in a quick 50:12 10K; I've reached my first 20 miler but haven't run a time trial in weeks due to the heat and travel to North Carolina (the last time trial was in early June, a 7:44 pace 5K, my fastest 10K a 50:28 in late April). Today we both ran half-mile intervals, averaging seconds just below and above 7:00 paces (3:30 halves). I don't think we're that far off; Kurt has successfully overcome the stress fractures, adjusted to the orthotics, and gotten on track with a program that has little room for downtime; I've avoided overuse injuries so far, in particular the IT band, with extra rest and an elongated program.
Driving down 10K times
Seven weeks to go before tapering. Despite what some of the calculators say, I'm not confident we can take current stamina levels, add several 20s, and make the sub-4:00. Assuming I could run a 50:00 minute 10K, I think we need a bigger cushion -- maybe drive the 10K times down between 47:00 to 48:00. Why? At the current 50:00 10K times, Coach Bensen's effort-based training charts say we'd be running our 8:45 targeted marathon pace at 80% effort, which the coach says is not likely sustainable over 26.2 miles for rec runners. A more realistic and sustainable effort might be around 75%. If you can run a 48:00 10K, a 75% effort translates to a 8:49 pace. For 47:00 10k, it's a 8:37 pace. So you can see the effort becomes less -- and easier to sustain -- as you drop your 10K times. This assumes you've put the endurance part of the equation in place; in other words, run your 3-4 18-20 milers.
The biggest risk
The main thing is to continue to do the once a week intervals/tempo runs, the marathon pace run, and the long -- WITHOUT overtraining. If I feel tired or have a strange tightness, I will drop any thought of a fourth run for extra rest, and sacrifice building mileage that week. The biggest risk in trying to drive down the 10K times is getting hurt by doing too much and being too aggressive. But I think we're on the right path.
Running intervals
From: Kurt
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Today's run
Ran half mile intervals each around 3:20. 5 of them with 1/2 mile slow jogs / walks in between for a total of 5 miles. I gave it my all. The best I can do right now. It was a little humid this AM which I'm sure factored in to the times.
From: Steve, later in day, ran:
3:23
3:25
3:29
3:32
3:46 At this point, you were not my favorite person for this workout.
Subplot: 90 degrees, 105 real-free, 70% humidity
Sun came out for #’s 4 & 5.
I wanted to see if I could keep them all under 3:30s but that’ll have to be another day.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Today's run
Ran half mile intervals each around 3:20. 5 of them with 1/2 mile slow jogs / walks in between for a total of 5 miles. I gave it my all. The best I can do right now. It was a little humid this AM which I'm sure factored in to the times.
From: Steve, later in day, ran:
3:23
3:25
3:29
3:32
3:46 At this point, you were not my favorite person for this workout.
Subplot: 90 degrees, 105 real-free, 70% humidity
Sun came out for #’s 4 & 5.
I wanted to see if I could keep them all under 3:30s but that’ll have to be another day.
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