Entries Tagged 'Running' ↓

I’m getting really bored with chronicling my marathon training runs and rather than give up the ghost all together I’ll try summarizing them a bit.

Oh yeah, and maybe I’ll even put some other content up on this blog.

12/27 8 miles
12/25 11 miles
12/24 3 miles
12/22 4 miles

The 11 miler was my easiest yet at this distance. The 8 miles yesterday was similarly easy. Probably because it was so cool. I’ve also had the good fortune to have run all four of these with Charlie tagging along on his roller blades. Thanks for the company Charlie! Charlies and I were joined on the North Lake Trail along Palm Beach last night by a red fox. He was much faster then either of us.

Peace out

Went on a ‘new’ long run today and then had fun today using the USA Track and Field association’s Google Map Mashup to document and measure my run. No more driving my routes in order to figure out the exact distance!
I took it easy to pace myself and enjoyed much of the run. My route was a new one that you can review here if you’re really bored.

Shoes: Asics Gel-Kayano +11 miles (44 total)
Running Time: 1:31:12
Time of run: 10:45AM EST
Average Speed (mph): 8.39
Weather: 78 degree – 66% humidity (feels like 80)
Weekly mileage: 11
Aches/Pains: good but my left foot got sore after a while. I tried to start slow and keep a pretty slow even pace throughout the run so I could have some kick left at the end. I definitely finished running strong and could have kept going.

Ran over the bridge today to Palm Beach for a little bit of bridgework + fast pace + short run. Tomorrow I’ll run 8+.
Shoes: Nike Free +3 miles (? total)
Running Time: 0:18:27
Time of run: 11:30AM EST
Average Speed (mph): 6.09
Weather: 75 degree – 65% humidity
Weekly mileage: 21
Aches/Pains: good – very few aches and pains for a typical back-to-back run

Shoes: Pearl iZumi’s +6 miles (60 total)
Running Time: 0:47:52
Time of run: 07:30PM EST
Average Speed (mph): 7.92
Weather: 70 degree – 55% humidity
Weekly mileage: 18
Aches/Pains: good – small amount of foot soreness that night/this morning

Shoes: Asics Gel-Kayano’s +6 miles (33 total)
Running Time: 0:45:01
Time of run: 08:13PM EST
Average Speed (mph): 7.45
Weather: 73 degree – 55% humidity
Weekly mileage: 12
Aches/Pains: a little left foot soreness.

It was windy as all get out again today. First run on successive days in quite a while. Foot definitely still quite sore. With Shan out of town for the next few days in Atlanta I won’t be running so it will get a chance to rest and then I’ll have to put on the mileage Thurs/Fri/Sat with a long run thrown in there. Lots of strength training planned for Mon-Wed. Also ran slower today which is typical of back-to-back runs. It occured to me as I ran today that back-to-back runs are a good simulation of longer distances. You start out tired and don’t have the same zip in your legs or stamina. Learning to run through this ON PACE would seem like a good way to condition myself.

Shoes: Asics Gel-Kayano’s +6 miles (27 total)
Running Time: 0:37:25
Time of run: 12:35PM EST
Average Speed (mph): 7.45
Weather: 73 degree – 55% humidity
Weekly mileage: 6
Aches/Pains: It’s all about my left foot right now.

Went for an 5 mile run today. Felt strong. Put my new iPod shuffle (2nd gen) to the test. It’s nice and light and free of distractions. My new Bose Triport headphones performed well audio wise but as they did on my first run with them last time, they come out of my ears too easily. I think they’ll be manageable but I wish they sat in the ear just a little more firmly. I tried the smaller size ear inserts and that helps a little. The Bose Triports sound much richer than than Shure e3C’s that I normally use and unlike the Shure’s they don’t hurt my ears. Further, the Bose headphones haven’t shorted out (yet) when I sweat and stop working. I’m totally dissatisfied with my Shure e3c’s. They sound decent but they’re uncomfortable in the ear (no matter which insert I use) and they never hold up to rain or sweat. Now one of the ears isn’t producing the same volume. I’ve cleaned them but that didn’t help. Time to send them back for repair otherwise I’ll have a $150 pair of…well I could use them as a tie down in a pinch. The only plus I’ll give them is that they produce LOADS of volume. The combination of the Bose TriPort headphones and the iPod shuffle are a little lacking in volume. Oh well, the search for the perfect music running gear goes on.

Shoes: Asics Gel-Kayano’s +5 miles (21 total)
Running Time: 0:36:56
Time of run: 5:15PM EST
Average Speed (mph): 7.31
Weather: 69 degree – 51% humidity
Weekly mileage: 26.1
Aches/Pains: The top of my left foot is still sore and would hurt off and on during the run. Knees don’t seem to be feeling any pain. My quads were feeling a little more burn and tear this afternoon probably due to my slightly faster pace.

Went for an 8 mile run today. Felt pretty good. Finished in 1:05:48 for an average speed of 8:18 minutes/mile. Weather was cloudy with a temp of 79 degrees and 66% humidity.

Shoes: Asics Gel-Kayano’s +8 miles (16 total)
Time: 1:05:48
Average Speed (mph): 8:18
Weather: 79 degree – 66% humidity – sunny but a little overcast
Weekly mileage: 21.1
Aches/Pains: The top of my left foot is sore. Knees are doing a little better, right arch still a little sore but seems to be getting better.

Here’s my recorded race intro as I walked to the starting line:
Gabcast! Julians.name #5

At 6:30AM EST on Sunday December 3, 2006 I was off and running on my first official half Marathon. The starting line of the Marathon of the Palm Beaches straddles the west side of Flagler Drive along the Intracoastal waterway in downtown West Palm Beach. The sun was just up and the lights were still on as we took off. My first impression? I was surprised that the pack took off at such a fast starting pace. Then I remembered…it’s a race. I don’t experience running that way. With my conditioning and the warm weather I couldn’t keep up with the 8 minute pace team and at the end (at around mile 11) I fell behind and never caught them again. Here are some pictures taken with my cell phone. Most are from the start but there’s one (blurry of course) that I snapped as I ran by our street. It actually turned out as a nice watercolor of sorts. As you scroll through the photos you’ll also notice that I intertwined some of my my race stats. Oh, how exciting I can hear you say!

And how did I do?
Well here’s one answer.
Gabcast! Julians.name #4

Another is that I finished this half-marathon in 16 fewer minutes than my training version two weeks earlier – a feat that makes me happy.

I finished in 1:45:58 (8:05 minute mile average)
I placed 208th of 2,378 half marathoners
which put me in the top 10% of all half marathon racers

For the men’s division my results broke out as follows:
151st of 1,006 male half-marathoners – around the 15th percentile – so comfortably in the top 20%

For my age group (35-39) here’s how I fared:
32nd of 170 men and just within the top 20%.

Frankly, all those results seem much better than my experience of the run. It was warm, it was hot, it was hard. OK, don’t go there. I felt incredibly slow compared to the ‘fast’ runners’ that I followed by keeping track of the television helicopters hovering over the leaders FAR FAR away from where I was running. And these were the full marathoners who can keep this pace up for 26.2 miles. I saw them running by me on their return trip north and they were beautiful to watch – thier grace and speed amazing. I read somewhere recently that it can take 10 years to develop to your full race endurance ability. Wow. I’m still wondering how I’m going to double this effort.

What else? My shirt was a bad idea. It got wet from spilling water and Gatorade on it and soon enough my shirt had rubbed my nipples down to nubs. It’s enough to make a man empathize (and wonder) at how women who breatfeed do it. My stomach didn’t do all that hot either – another consideration that I’m not exactly sure how to handle during a much longer race. I think a smaller meal the night before is in order.

The winner placed around the 2:25 mark – considerably slower than the typical winner times for fast marathons of 2:11. This was surprising and not. Surprising because it’s a fast, flat course (zero hills). Not surprising because it was about 13 degrees warmer than an average December day here in Florida (80 degrees with high humidity). For the full story on the impact of the weather on the 2006 Marathon check out this story on the Palm Beach Post.

Race day shoes: Pearl iZumi’s + 13.1 miles (54 total)

Went 8 miles today in 1:07:33 for an average of 8.43 MPH. Ran in the rain and felt the now typical knee twinges and sore right arch. Felt good through the whole run though in terms of stamina.

Shoes: Pearl iZumi’s + 8 miles (41 total)