Adjusting My Speed

When I created my marathon training plan a little over a month ago, I was pretty conservative when it came to speed workouts.

Even though I had a specific time goal in mind at the beginning of the year, I have since adjusted that goal due to the fact that I have not seen as much improvement as I thought I would over the summer. My current goal for the Philadelphia Marathon is just to get through it. As I get closer to race day I will re-evaluate my fitness and training and then possibly set a time goal.

I have recently seen some improvement. I finally got in tune with my body and I am training properly and feeling good. I am not running too much and not skipping runs. I have put in some quality miles that feel good. Even though my improvement has not been off the charts, the improvement is there and I am feeling better about my running.

So now I look at my training program and feel as though my speed workouts are too easy. I have decided to be a little more aggressive and get some hard workouts in there. I am still a little nervous about going too hard. I will be approaching these workouts with enough caution so that I do not injure myself, but smart enough to know when I can go harder.

I have done a few speed workouts over the last month and a half. I have done some fartleks, an easy run with some sprints mixed in. I have done 5x800 which I plan to build up to 10x800 in order to measure my fitness and possibly predict my marathon pace. Finally, I turned an easy day into 2x10:00 minutes with a target pace around 9:30. That one I could have done more than 2 intervals, but it was supposed to be an easy day and I wanted to keep it semi easy.

These workouts were not always comfortable, but they felt good. If that makes any sense. When I finished the workouts I felt like I accomplished something. Even though I was sore, it was a good sore, and I did not have any pains that worried me.

I feel like my body is becoming much more adapted to running, and now I can work toward improvement a little better than I have been.

Benjamin-Ross Memorial 5k Race Report

Local races are my new favorite. This 5k was held at a high school that is only two miles from my house. It was an easy decision to run there as warm up and run back as a cool down.

After a very easy run there I signed up and then stretched. I then did a couple of laps around the high school track with a few sprints in there to get my fast twitch muscles awake and ready to go. I have been itching to set a new PR and break 30 minutes for a long time, and I was now very confident that I would be doing it today.

Something in me sounded an alarm when I saw that the start line was at the bottom of a pretty steep hill. Short... but steep.

At the start I was keeping a steady pace with the rest of the group, and since we were going up hill it helped me to stay at a slow pace to start. But the top of the hill brought out some speed. For some reason I kicked it up a notch and was going pretty steady. It felt comfortable, and I refused to look at my watch, but toward the end of the first mile I was feeling winded. The mile split came up and I could not help but look at my watch.

8:14.

Not good.

That is about two minutes faster than I wanted to do the first mile. I think that triggered some mental block in my head, because I now felt even more winded and it was hard to get into a better pace. I slowed it down, but now it just did not feel right.

Despite slowing the pace I was still going pretty hard. The course was extremely hilly, which was a surprise to me since I have never run this course and could not find a map of it before the day of the race.

Throw in the heat, 70+ degrees, add the hills and the fact that I started way to fast, I was starting to bonk. It took just about everything I had to keep pushing hard. My HR went up pretty high and maxed out at points.

The end of the run was downhill, then a slight uphill onto the high school track. When I turned the corner and got onto the track I saw the clock. The first number on the clock was a 2! I could not believe it... Not only was I going to set a new PR, as planned, but I was going to break 30 minutes, as hoped.

I sprinted into the chute and finished in 28:30. The run killed me. I was totally spent and as I slowed down I felt like I needed to lay down. I got some water and forced myself to walk for a few minutes in order to cool down. I started feeling really good.

Even runs that take everything out of you, and feel horrible during the run, feel so great when they end... not because they are over, but because the body has reached a peak and pushed itself the way it was designed to be pushed.

Some of my first thoughts after finishing were "how will I ever be able to run a marathon when I almost committed suicide in a 5k?" but those thoughts only lasted a few minutes. My mind quickly shifted gears and I started thinking... "I almost killed myself running 5k, can I push it harder to get through a marathon?"

As for the race... the registration form said that it was an informal race in keeping with the Ross tradition. I expected that this would mean no frills and only the basic essentials. But I was wrong.

It was well organized and very well run. The t-shirts are pretty nice and the bibs actually had the name of the race printed on them. This is definitely a race that I will be doing again, and at $18 on race day is a great deal!

Bad Run Turned Good, Easy Run Turned Hard

So, on Sunday my plan was to do a long slow run of about 9 miles. I wanted to keep the pace around 11:30-12:00 per mile and just get the distance in preperation for Broad Street. I went up to Cooper River to do about two and a half loops.

The first mile was okay, but I felt really bad. I could not loosen up and my pace was up and down. Same with the second mile, but now I couldn't keep my pace slow enough. I just felt all out of whack and could not get into a groove.

I finished one loop of the river and was thinking that I should just give it up. I stopped at my car and got some water. I paced a bit and talked myself into doing another loop. This time I would take it extremely slow. I sucked down a GU and went off as slow as I could.

This lap felt better, but I was still going too fast. I decided just to go with it and keep my pace steady. I could definitely feel the effects of the GU because I was feeling much more energized than my first loop. I felt very loose and relaxed. I finished that second loop feeling good and decided to stop there. Shorter and faster than I was intending, but feeling really good.

A couple days later I went out for an easy recovery run. I was planning to keep it around 11:00 miles for 3 miles, but it just seemed so slow. Mile first mile was 10:32 and I felt incredibly good. I kept going, and noticed that I was easily going faster.

I was in a zone, and mentally I was flying. I do not think I was even really aware of anything more than five feet away from me.

My second mile split was 9:15. The fastest mile split I have ever ran. I stopped at a water fountain for about thirty seconds and quickly got back into the run.

By the time I reached the 2.5 mile mark I was feeling worn out. I told myself I would run to the next traffic light and then I could quit. I got there and my Garmin read 2.88 miles. Only .12 left to make it an even three so why not.

I dug deep and pushed it out. Third mile split was 9:43

Total run was 3 miles in 29:31. My hardest workout yet, and my best avg pace at 9:51 minutes per mile. I walked for about twenty minutes so that I would stay loose and cool down properly. I felt very good for the rest of the night.

I compared this workout to the first one I ever did with a heart rate monitor. This was back in January and was also three miles. I did an average pace of 11:04 and had an average HR of 172. I also tried to run one full mile at sub 10:00 pace and could only hold that for .6 miles, and it was extremely hard to do that.

I think this is great improvement in such a short time! Watching these improvements and comparing workouts really keeps me motivated to run.

Whoa -- This Can't Be Right

Okay... so I am doing an easy three on Tuesday afternoon and it is going real nice and easy. I feel that I am running a good pace between 10:30 and 11:00. To confirm this I look at my watch...

9:45???

This can not be right. I keep my pace as steady as possible and the pace only slows by about 5 seconds. I turn my attention back to my run. It felt too easy, there was no way I was running under 10 minutes per mile.

The day was clear and sunny. As I was coming up to a park I decided to stop at one of it's water fountains and get a sip. I also thought it might be a good idea to check my Forerunner. According to the navigation it had clear view of a number of satellites and good reception from those satellites as well.

Am I really getting faster?

I finished my three mile run at an avg 10:19 pace. This is not incredibly fast, but it is the fastest avg pace I have ran in a long time.... actually I think the fastest ever. hmmm.

So here comes Friday morning. I run before work, but this time is a little different than my other pre-work runs. Since I do not have to be in until late, I decide to take my time and actually jog a half mile as a warm up before I start my run.

The warm up felt nice and I got to the spot where I wanted to start my run. Hit the start button on my Forerunner and get going at a nice easy pace.

It was raining, so my jacket was covering my watch. I barely heard the beep when I reached my first mile split. Whenever I hear that beep I can not help but look at my split time, so I did...

9:52???

My mile split was actually less than 10 minutes? I can not believe this, it is my fastest mile time ever. So I decide to finish this short run fast. I was only doing two miles so I continued strong, and decided not to look at my watch at all the rest of the run.

I finished hard and out of breath, but not exhausted. I ended 2.02 miles in 20:08. A 9:59 pace. The fastest avg pace I have ever done during any run ever.

I am getting faster!?

For the rest of the day I felt like I was on top of the world. What does one do when they have such a huge milestone and breakthrough in performance? Find a race.

There is a 5k outside the Philadelphia Art Museum on April 18th. I have decided to sign up and go for a new PR. My current one is 32:14. Not really that fast by some standards, but that race was a milestone for me and gave me a huge boost in my confidence.

So if all things fall into place I will have a new PR in a couple of weeks. But if all things fall into place, and the stars and planets align correctly, and I warm up properly (something I do not always do), I think I will break 30 minutes.

If that happens, I will have a runners high for the entire weekend.