This Page

has been moved to new address

5ksandcabernets

Sorry for inconvenience...

Redirection provided by Blogger to WordPress Migration Service
5ksandcabernets: January 2008

5ksandcabernets

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Back in the saddle

Feet felt great when I woke up this morning, so decided to do a 6-miler in the cold foggy morning. Averaged an 8:40 mile, and that includes a 10:00 mile warmup. Ah, yes, it feels good to run fast. My heart rate for the whole run never got above 85 percent, so thats a good thing. Hopefully, if I can keep this up, I can run 8:20s and 8:30s and have my heart rate below 80 percent. Of course, Ive written tons here that I can run fast but I can't run fast long. I posted the, "What's wrong with me" question on Runners World Forum and got some pretty good answers.
The pictures from the half marathon are back and I will try to see if I can put them up as soon as possible.

Here are my running stats for this month
Miles: 114.91
Time: 17 hours, 18 minutes, 23 seconds
Pace: 9:02 minutes per mile

Labels: ,

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

A 1/2 marathon PR

Woo-hoo, ran the 3M Half Marathon in Austin over the weekend and finished in 1:48:43, a personal record by nearly four minutes. It was mostly a downhill course, but certified, which means, I guess, that there are enough uphills and flat parts of the course for the time to matter to the running community. The first mile was uphill and so was most of the last mile. Austin is really beautiful. Feet hurt real bad right after the run, and again when I woke up the next morning (Monday). I'm hoping this isn't the beginning of PF. My feet felt a little better when I woke up this morning. But back to the race. I ran it perfectly. An 8:16 minute mile pace the first half and a 8:18 minute mile pace over the second half. Lungs felt good, legs felt good, though I had some shin pain at times in my left leg. Heart rate averaged about 85 percent for the entire run, though it was up to 87 percent over the last four miles.
Here are my splits:


1..8:55
2..8:22
3..8:08
4..7:59
5..7:58
6..8:06
7..8:15
8..8:10
9..8:17
10..8:31
11..8:16
12..8:21
13..8:15
13.71..1:07

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Spirit of the Marathon

OK. Tonight, I saw the first screening of Spirit of the Marathon. I love that movie. It is so inspiring. I'd say to anyone who wants to run one, watch this movie first. The producers follow several people who are trying to run the 2005 Chicago Marathon. Some are elites, like Deena Kastor who actually ends up winning the thing. Others are just regular Joes or Jills. But you get caught up in their efforts too. They all finish the race, some with tears in their eyes. I've run two marathons myself and certainly could relate to the joy of crossing the finish line.
I, myself, have decided that I will not run the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth at the end of February. Instead, I'm going to heal up, and train real hard for the White Rock Lake Marathon.... again.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Intervals


All the running books and Web sites I've seen say you should do some intervals once a week. Today, I did four sets of 1/2 mile intervals. I knew it wasn't going to be a good workout during the 1-mile warmup. The times: 1st half: 3:27, 2nd half: 3:24; 3rd half: 3:29; 4th half: 3:32.

In November, I was doing six 1/2 mile intervals and my times were easily 3:15 to 3:20. Think the problem is this: I have two glasses of wine each night and the last few days, i have not had my blackstrap molasses. Well, Ive got a half marathon this weekend, so, after tonight's two glasses of cabernet sauvignon from clos du bois, i'm done drinking until after the half marathon on Sunaday in Austin.

Labels: ,

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

To run, or not to run

It's raining outside. My feet hurt, especially first thing in the morning when I get out of bed. Hope it's not a case of plantar fasciitis because I've got the Austin 3M Half Marathon coming up Sunday. I have not run since a slow, slow, slow 3-miler Sunday morning, so missing today makes it two days in a row since I've not run. So, I'll just chalk it up to tapering. My body needs the rest. I'll try some 1/2 mile intervals tomorrow just to keep sharp, then do a 6-miler Thursday and see where I am.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Brrrrr

Yesterday, they played the NFC and AFC championship games in very cold weather. In Green Bay, it was 1 degree at kickoff, making it the third coldest NFL game ever played. So, I thought I'd tough it out and run a 3-miler in 40 degree weather here in Fort Worth. I've run in colder weather. At both marathons I've run in, temperatures at the start were in the 30s. I don't think I've run in anything colder than 20s. Its funny, when people see you running in the cold, they wonder, "how are you doing that." But people who don't run don't understand that running when it is, say 30 to 40 degrees outside, is much better than running when it is 70 to 80 degrees outside, especially if you are running longer than an hour.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Feeling fresh again

Didn't run Thursday, so went out today in the 32 degree morning and went 5.1 miles in about 43 minutes. Last mile was in 7:57. I think the reason I've put on an extra 10 pounds from Jan. 2007 to now is because I run too slow. If I can run a half marathon in 8:30 m/m pace and keep my heart rate at around 85 percent or so, I should do more short runs at that pace, even faster. Gotta blowout those lungs.
On the wine front, finished off a nice bottle of Layer Cake Shiraz. Yummy. Here is a cool web site that gives you everything you want to know about wine.

Labels:

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Posted by Picasa

A blah day.

Well, I ran 6.5 miles today in 58 minutes, which is an 8:55 mile. The last mile was the fastest (8:07). I think one day, I'm going to go out and run as hard and as far as possible. Not 5k hard or even 10k hard. But hard. See what happens.
More importantly, depression is starting to set in. Not depression like something is wrong in my life. No, this is more like, "OK, now what do I do?" I'm not training for a marathon. My job is so so, though I love it. It's like, where is the next challenge, the next thing that I need to achieve.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

I can run fast, not very far fast!

So, today, I went out for a 5 mile run. I did mile 2 and 4 at my 5k pace, which is about a 7:10 minute mile. It felt fine. And that's the thing. I can run fast for about an hour or two. I did a 7 mile tempo run last week in about 56 minutes. But when I run long, my abilities really suffer. I did a long last Saturday of 16 miles. Took me 2 hours, 37 minutes, which is about a 9:51 m/m pace. How is it that I can run a half marathon in 1 hour, 52 minutes (8:37 pace), but I can't complete a run that is just a little further at a much slower pace without major slowdown? If I'm racing a half marathon, I can run it easily under two hours. If I run slow for two hours, say, 9:30 to 9:45 pace, I'm dead by mile 13 or 14. This doesn't make sense. By mile 13 or 14, I should be fresh, ready to handle the last six miles of a 20-miler. But at 13 miles last weekend, I stopped, got some water, had a cliff shot, and was dead. The last three miles were each over 10 minutes, according to my Garmin 305. During the White Rock Lake Marathon in Dallas last month, I had a horrible run, finishing in 5 hours, 20 minutes, even though I had had multiple training weeks upward of 40 miles including a 45- and 50-mile week. This time was worse than my first marathon in 2005, when my highest week was 40 miles once.
So, I'm trying some things. I've been taking blackstrap molasses, which is supposed to help with cramping and electrolyte imbalance. Its helped some. My waking heart rate is much lower than what it was beforehand. I probably need to run my long runs slower. More like 10 minutes per mile, and keeping my heart rate below 155 (77 percent of my max heart rate). In 2005, most of my long runs were 150 or lower. This past marathon training and last year, I did long runs trying to stay below 160 (80 percent max).
I've got a 20-miler scheduled Saturday. We'll see how that goes.