Keep Moving Forward: A Training Log (Comments Welcome)

[lhermiston]

Way to go, speedy!!!

Ha! Thanks!

 

[lhermiston]

Out with the old and in with the new.

On Sunday, I wrapped up DopeyBadger's speed training program and today I officially kicked off marathon training.

Today's run was 5 miles EA (9:47/mile). It felt good to take it somewhat easy after going all out on Sunday, but man the wind today was brutal. Aside from the bitter breeze, the run was largely uneventful. Everything kept fine and I hit *almost* all of my intervals. Somehow, I managed to log a 9:54 final mile. No big deal...

Today's distance: 5 miles
Avg. Pace: 9:41/mile (GP: 9:47/mile)
Time: 48:27

 

[lhermiston]

So, life - parents meetings, building bunk beds, entertaining guests, etc. - got in the way of updating this journal the past few days. Fortunately, it didn't get in the way of training.

For the sake of time and brevity, I'll recap Wednesday, Friday and Saturday's training runs in one post. Should be easy enough. Each run was six miles and an identical route. The only difference is Wednesday and Friday were at EA (9:47/mile) and today was at EB (9:06/mile).

All in all, all three runs went well. The weather was decent for each run, a little cooler on Wednesday and Friday and pretty decent today. They started off windy, but that wasn't an issue once my run took me further into town.

One thing I really need to work on is sticking closer to the prescribed pace. Today for instance, my pace was consistently in the 8:20s/8:30s, which is even faster than my long run pace. I'm definitely not going all out and I am trying to "slow down," but it's tough. Plus, I don't have a good way to track my pace after the first mile and sometimes I pace myself too much and have a mile that's too slow. That's something I'll continue to work on.

Also, I'm signing up for my marathon today! It's always been in the works, but I held off during the holidays and whatnot. Glad to make that official!

Wednesday's Run
Total Distance: 6 miles
Avg. Pace: 9:18/mile
Time: 55 minutes

Friday's Run
Total Distance: 6 miles
Avg. Pace: 9:19/mile
Time: 55 minutes

Saturday's Run
Total Distance: 6 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:29/mile
Time: 50 minutes

 

[lhermiston]

To make up for not posting for a few days. Here's a photo for anyone still following along!

DSC_7784 - Copy by Lee Hermiston, on Flickr

 

[lhermiston]

Sunday runday!

Today was 8 miles @ Long Run (8:46/mile). I swear every step was uphill. That wasn't exactly the case, but it sure felt like it.

Weather was good today. Brisk and a little windy, but I warmed up quickly. Must've sweat off a bunch of weight, too, because I stepped on the scale and what I saw was my lowest weight in about 15 years! So, that's cool.

Anyway, not much else to report. The whole thing felt really good and I was below my expected pace every step of the way.

Today's Distance: 8 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:15/mile
Time: 1:06:03

Miles this week: 31
Miles this year: 116

 

[lhermiston]

So, I DID NOT want to run today...

It's chilly, windy and I'm fighting off a cold, so I was really not feeling it this afternoon. I hemmed and hawed when I got home and looked for an excuse not to run. Finding none, I suited up and went out.

Today's run called for a 2-mile warm up, 5x1 @ T (7:35/mile) w/1-minute resting intervals and a 1-mile cool down. I modified things just a bit, mostly for the sake of time and keeping better track of my intervals. I cut the warm up to 1 mile and my resting intervals were just a minute of standing/walking and getting a bit of water.

My apathy toward running today did improve with my warm up. My legs and right knee were kind of achy. Fortunately, that seemed to clear up once I started my T intervals.

My first three T intervals actually went pretty well (7:02, 7:07 and 7:10) and my mood improved greatly once I started picking up the pace a little bit. I had concerns about keeping up those paces, but all in all, I managed to do okay. My last two miles were 7:27 and 7:48, seven seconds from my goal time. Part of that I'm attributing to just spacing out and letting up on my pace during mile 6.

All in all, it was a pretty solid run and -as is often the case when I'm not feeling like running - I felt really good after and I'm glad I got out. I'll try to refer back to this post the next time I'm feeling like a bum!

Today's Distance: 7.2 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:01/mile
Time: 57:56

 

[DopeyBadger]

Keep in mind that the Daniels T pace is highly specific, so try your hardest to hit that pace within a +/- 5 second window. You can do it faster, but it defeats the intent of it. Keep it up!

 

[lhermiston]

Keep in mind that the Daniels T pace is highly specific, so try your hardest to hit that pace within a +/- 5 second window. You can do it faster, but it defeats the intent of it. Keep it up!

Thank you for the advice! I'm not trying to miss by so much, it’s just hard when I don’t have a reliable way to measure my pace. I need to get a better feel for that pace.

 

[lhermiston]

6 miles @EA (9:47/mile today). Not much to report. The run went well and it wasn't too cold. Tomorrow is February, which means we're only 4 weeks from March. Bring on spring.

I ended January with 129 miles, which I'm pretty sure is a PR. So, that's cool.

Today's Distance: 6 miles
Avg. Pace: 9:14/mile
Time: 55:25

 

[SarahDisney]

Congrats on the monthly distance PR!

We all have those days where you just don't want to run. I'm glad yours had a happy ending and that you now have something to look back on next time you're not feeling like going out.

 

[lhermiston]

A scheduling conflict on Friday moved my run up to today. 6 miles @ EA (9:47/mile).

I'll be honest - I didn't pay much attention to pace today. It was cold (approx. 15 degrees) and I wanted to just get done. It actually ended up kind of funny. When I don't try for a certain time, I'm the model of consistency. My first mile was 9:03, but the next five were all between 9:12-9:18.

This weekend is looking marginally better, weather-wise, so I'll try to do better then sticking to my prescribed times.

Today's Distance: 6 miles
Avg. Pace: 9:14/mile
Time: 55:24 (one second faster than yesterday, ha ha)​

 

[lhermiston]

Today was supposed to be 8 miles @ EB (9:06), but I thought it was only supposed to be six miles. I realized my mistake before I left the house, but it took longer to get out the door than I expected and - thanks to having some other stuff on the schedule today - I had to limit my run to six miles.

Anyway, so the first mile felt a little sluggish, but everything felt good after that. Not a whole lot else to report. Same six-mile route I've taken over the last couple weeks.

Ten miles @ LR (8:46) tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about that one.

Today's Distance: 6 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:45/mile
Time: 52 minutes

 

[lhermiston]

Busy day yesterday. We were out of town the night before for a show and had Super Bowl festivities in the evening. Fortunately, I had just enough to get my run in.

Sunday's run called for 10 miles @ LR (8:46/mile). For reasons not entirely clear to me, I was really nervous going into this run. I think the idea of maintaining that pace for 10 miles seemed really daunting. But somehow, some way, I pulled that 10-miler out of somewhere and managed to do the whole darn thing under my goal pace. So, that's cool.

But, here's the thing: I was pretty inconsistent in my mile times. Here's the breakdown:

Mile 1 - 8:10
Mile 2 - 8:15
Mile 3 - 8:18
Mile 4 - 8:23
Mile 5 - 8:32
Mile 6 - 8:12
Mile 7 - 8:24
Mile 8 - 8:35
Mile 9 - 8:32
Mile 10 - 8:23

So, 25-second difference between my best and worse miles. Now, some of that had to do with elevation changes. There were some miles that were largely uphill. But that Mile 6? 115 feet darn near straight down. On the positive side, I feel like I rebounded nicely on Mile 10, so there was some gas left in the tank. I'll keep that in mind for next Sunday.

Either way, I really want to get more consistent with my speeds. I want to just set my cruise control and go. With both of my marathons, I've started out like a house on fire, maintained that through the first 12-14 miles and ended up just gassed after that. I'd rather be a little slower at the beginning in order to finish faster. So, that's a goal going forward.

82 days until the marathon!

Sunday's Distance: 10 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:23/mile
Time: 1:23:47

 

[lhermiston]

Here's another photo for you all. Thanks for following along!

The Badlands in South Dakota with my buddies a couple summers ago...

DSC_7693 by Lee Hermiston, on Flickr

 

[DopeyBadger]

Busy day yesterday. We were out of town the night before for a show and had Super Bowl festivities in the evening. Fortunately, I had just enough to get my run in.

Sunday's run called for 10 miles @ LR (8:46/mile). For reasons not entirely clear to me, I was really nervous going into this run. I think the idea of maintaining that pace for 10 miles seemed really daunting. But somehow, some way, I pulled that 10-miler out of somewhere and managed to do the whole darn thing under my goal pace. So, that's cool.

But, here's the thing: I was pretty inconsistent in my mile times. Here's the breakdown:

Mile 1 - 8:10
Mile 2 - 8:15
Mile 3 - 8:18
Mile 4 - 8:23
Mile 5 - 8:32
Mile 6 - 8:12
Mile 7 - 8:24
Mile 8 - 8:35
Mile 9 - 8:32
Mile 10 - 8:23

So, 25-second difference between my best and worse miles. Now, some of that had to do with elevation changes. There were some miles that were largely uphill. But that Mile 6? 115 feet darn near straight down. On the positive side, I feel like I rebounded nicely on Mile 10, so there was some gas left in the tank. I'll keep that in mind for next Sunday.

Either way, I really want to get more consistent with my speeds. I want to just set my cruise control and go. With both of my marathons, I've started out like a house on fire, maintained that through the first 12-14 miles and ended up just gassed after that. I'd rather be a little slower at the beginning in order to finish faster. So, that's a goal going forward.

82 days until the marathon!

Sunday's Distance: 10 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:23/mile
Time: 1:23:47

Keep trying to slow down. It's a critical step in having the plan work. Remember +/- 10 sec, so this run was 0/10. Aiming for 80%. You've got this!

 

[lhermiston]

Keep trying to slow down. It's a critical step in having the plan work. Remember +/- 10 sec, so this run was 0/10. Aiming for 80%. You've got this!

Ouch. Thanks for the reminder. I think I’m focusing too much on “beating” the goal pace, not meeting it. Definitely something I need to work on.

 

[lhermiston]

So, tonight was kind of a mess. Not a huge mess, but far from anything resembling a successful run.

The DB training plan called 2 mile WU, 2 x 2.5 @ T (7:35/mile) w/3 min RI and a 1-mile cool down. My goal for this run was to really stick to DopeyBadger's advice (listed above). I really wanted to slow down and stick to my prescribed pace. In the past, I've been content to plow through my goals like a cannonball, content with my time as long as it was under the prescribed pace. As DB has noted, that defeats the purpose of the plan. Tonight, I wanted to try to use a little more ... I don't know, finesse ... and really stick to my pace.

I should've known right from the get-go this wasn't my night. I got a quarter-mile out the door and had a brain fart - was my goal pace 7:35 or 7:45? I tried to picture my plan and couldn't come up with it. So, I decided to shoot for split the distance and shoot for 7:40.

The two miles of warm ups went fine and certainly helped. It was pretty chilly, but I felt good by the time I hit my first T interval. Without any real means to measure mile times over 2.5 miles, I decided to break it down into 1-mile segments. Again, my goal was to slow down and hit my goals.

Mile 3 came in at 7:55. Not bad, I thought. Speed up just a hair and I'm right where I need to be. Almost immediately after that thought, I was hit with a snow covered sidewalk, about a quarter mile of relatively untouched powder. I tried my best to make my way through it and resumed on relatively clear sidewalk. At this point, I still felt pretty good about my pace.

Mile 4 came in at 7:31 OR SO I THOUGHT. Looking at my splits when I got back, I realized I misread (don't ask me how) the Strava display and it was actually 8:31. I suspect this was part of my downfall. I used that mile to base my subsequent miles, which I now know was in error.

Mile 5 was split into two half mile segments. The first half mile was all downhill and I tried to not get moving too fast. I took my 3-minute break, resumed finished the second half of the mile and 8:18...what? Okay, no problem. Speed up a bit and I'll be fine. Mile 6, after speeding up a bit (I thought) came in at 8:28. GRRRR.

For my last T mile, I really tried to kick my butt into gear and ... 8:22. I finished with my cool down feeling marginally frustrated.

I know I had more in the tank and could've gone faster, but I really thought I was hitting my pace. Obviously, I was wrong. Surface conditions were not in my favor as the roads and sidewalks ranged from relatively clear to several inches of snow to ice, but I'm not accepting that as an excuse. I had clear enough sidewalks that I should've been able to make up for that.

So, I guess I succeeded in slowing down, but the end result was still a run with 0 goals hit.

I'm going to get this.

Today's Distance: 8 miles
Avg. Pace: 8:49/mile
Time: 1:10:31

 

[JulieODC]

You are crushing this training - great job on the PRs. Pacing is tough - I’m thinking it takes a decent amount of time to settle in and get used to what they feel like.

Gorgeous photos!

And, I hear you on being sick of the snow and cold. Its definitely starting to get to me....longing for temps where I can step
Out with putting 20 layers on.

How’s your shoe situation? I’m a NB runner too - but won free Brooks and tried them. Hated them - immediate hip pain. Others loooove Brooks - so I guess that goes to show how individual shoes can be!

 

[lhermiston]

You are crushing this training - great job on the PRs. Pacing is tough - I’m thinking it takes a decent amount of time to settle in and get used to what they feel like.

Gorgeous photos!

And, I hear you on being sick of the snow and cold. Its definitely starting to get to me....longing for temps where I can step
Out with putting 20 layers on.

How’s your shoe situation? I’m a NB runner too - but won free Brooks and tried them. Hated them - immediate hip pain. Others loooove Brooks - so I guess that goes to show how individual shoes can be!

Thank you for the kind and encouraging words!

I remedied the shoe situation by re-lacing the shoes and so far it’s working pretty well. I’m definitely going back to NB, though.

 

[SarahDisney]

So ... I'm not going to say that that run wasn't a mess, because it kinda was. And that sucks. But ... at least you know not to make excuses and to do better next time. And that's what matters most.
You'll always have those crappy runs, but the important thing is to learn from them and do better. Keep up the good work!