Monday, February 28, 2011

Moab Training Week 9

Week 9 of Training begins with good weather and a hint of spring in the air... Came off a good week last week, can I make it two in a row?

Monday - Wash Park 7 Miles. 60 Degrees, nice day. Good recovery run from yesterday. Was not sore like I thought I might be, picked up the pace coming back with Andre and Tom. Last mile was a good clip. 7 Miles 55 Minutes

Tuesday Track 9X800 Intervals. Nice Day 60's with sun, no wind. Spring Track season is here. I did 8X800 on the track and then a 1/2 mile interval on the last half mile back to the Y. I felt better than last week. All but one interval was 3:00 or under, I lost focus on number 7 and ran a 3:06. Average was just under 3:00. So a good workout. Joined at the track by Chris, Craig C, Dave. Jeff and Bob did the mile high tempo loop.
8 Miles with 4.5 at speed.

Wednesday Yoga. Good,tough class sore from the track, left hamstring really tight.

Thursday Middle 3 Tempo
Ran the Middle 3 in 18:48. Huge improvement over last week and best this year by over 30 seconds. Starting to feel the training kick in. 4 traffic stops helped a lot. Pete ran the middle 2 and pushed me up the hill for the first mile around 6:20.

Friday 7.5 Easy
Ran from home today, since I worked at home due to a doctors appointment. I did a loop through CC Park at the same time as the group run. Just me though. Ran easy, similar route to the long run but cut in half turned right instead of left at the first bathroom. Ran 7.5 at an easy pace.

Saturday Rest

Sunday 15 Long Run
Ran the same long run as the previous week. Solo this time. Much slower without Bob and Matt to pull me along. Also my heart wasn't into it, I went to a Creyton's birthday the night before and celebrated a bit both diet and beverages. I felt so sluggish. I almost cut it short to 7 miles but decided to grind it out for the 15 regardless of the pace. I ran it in 2:15:53. 12 minutes slower for the same route, about 50 seconds per mile on average.

Weekly totals 44.5 Miles with 2 speed workouts and a 15 Mile long run

Monday, February 21, 2011

Moab Training Week 8

Wow, week 8 already. Time does fly. Less than 4 weeks to go. I really need to push these next 3 weeks. 44 Miles planned for this week.

Monday - Wash Park 7 mile run with Andre and Craig C. Small group due to the presidential day holiday. Ran slow and easy, took almost an hour for the 7 mile out and back to Wash Park. Good recovery run from yesterdays "tempo" run. Weighed in at 156 today at the Y, dropped a couple of pounds which is a good sign. A pound a week till Moab would be ideal.

Tuesday - EHS Track Intervals - 8x800.
Nice day in the 50's. Ran to the track. Good group Tom, Craig, Jeff, Dave, Pete C. Most of them did 4 800's and left. Nice day, sunny, in the 50's only a slight breeze. I felt good, rested. Some left heel pain and some left calf tightness on the last couple. I ran pretty smooth, tried to relax. Goal was 3 minutes. I did 4 over and 4 under goal. My last one was the fasted 2:57. #7 Was the slowest 3:05. (304,300,259,300,304,303,305,257). Ran back solo, easy.

8 Miles with 4 Miles of Speed work


Wednesday Rest/Yoga - 6 consecutive running days, needed a rest day for sure. Tough Yoga class, sore muscles from the track.

Thursday - Middle 3 - Ran the 7 Mile Middle 3 Tempo run. Did the middle 3 in 19:33. Disappointed in that it was slower than last week and my goal was sub-19 by the end of February. I was the only middle 3 runner today. Pete C did the middle 2 and hung with me the first mile which was around 6:35. No traffic stops on the way out and some soreness from the track workout on Tuesday. That's why we train I guess. Matt, Craig M and Jeff went around wash park and ran back with us. Craig C and Dave went around the park slower. Alicia ran with us to the start and then did an interval workout.

Friday - 7 Miles Golf Course Recovery Run.
Ran the 7 Mile Golf Course run with Andre and Bob. Cold with some snow in the morning, but only wet by lunch. Good recovery run. Felt good

Saturday Rest Day

Sunday - 15 Mile Long Run
Ran a 15 Mile Cherry Creek Park Loop with Matt and Bob, who met at my house in the morning. We left about 10. Cloudy day but temperatures in the 40's and no wind. It was Matt's 32nd birthday. Great run. 15 miles at a good long run pace for me with hills and trails and concrete. They helped push the pace. Up to 9 miles I was holding an 8 minute pace comfortably, then started to fade some and struggled on the hills the last 3 miles. Matt attacked every hill and was really strong, Bob also attacked most of the hills and is in great shape.

15 Miles 2:03:56


Weekly Summary - Great week for training. 5 Days 44 Miles with 2 Speed workouts and a 15 mile long run.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Moab Training Week 7

Week 7 - Less than 5 weeks to go before Moab.
Started the week off sore, very sore in the right calf area. Ice, heat and massage last night but still sore. Memories of 2008/2009 when I had lots of calf issues.

Monday - Cross Train due to calf soreness. Biked and Rowed. Spent a half hour stretching and massaging the calf. Used the foam rollers too. 30 Minutes of Cardio. Felt better after. That night I massaged, rolled, iced and heated it, got lots of rest and took some Advil.

Tuesday - Calf felt 200% better, some tightness, no pain. I did a track workout. Went there first to test it out and did a 400 and an 800, loosened up after the 800, so I ended up doing 4X800 and 2X400. The 800's were a bit slower than my target 3:00 . The last 400 was fast 85. Nice day in the 60's, good crowd at the track but no major workouts. Alicia dropped ran with us but just did laps around the track. Haven't seen her in a while. I was scheduled to do 10X800 today, with the calf I backed way off but not sure I would have completed that workout anyway.

6.5 Miles with 2.5 Miles of Speed.

Wednesday - Yoga. Rowed and stretched and then did an hour of Yoga with Susan. Calf was sore from the speed work and hamstrings and hips. Good yoga class.

Thursday - Middle 3 - 19:24. Ran the middle 3 with Tom, Jeff and Craig. It was near 50 with some wind but good conditions. 1 Traffic stop. The calf felt good doing the tempo 3 but then it was tight running back to the Y after a recovery rest. Some progress but not sub 19 which was my goal by mid February.

7 Miles with 3 at tempo.

Friday - Ran the duck pond with Andre 5 miles easy just us. nice temps in the 50's, sun, no wind. Good recovery run, found out Abbey from our somewhat pickled relay team has been battling Liver cancer since the fall Good luck Abbey we are with you.

5 miles easy

Saturday - Ran 4 miles easy with the dogs around the neighborhood and the high school fields. Pretty nice day, sunny. Easy slow pace.

Sunday - The goal was a 10 mile tempo run close to half marathon pace. 7:15ish would be ideal. Did not achieve it, not even close. It was very windy, with a head wind going out and cross winds much of the way. My fastest mile pace was about 7:30 with a tail wind. Head wind dropped it by a minute to 8:30. The last couple of miles uphill were really slow, my legs were dead. So with 4 weeks before Moab things are not looking good, but I will continue to push over the next 3 weeks to see how this training plays out.

10 Miles 1:21:43 Garmin Watch Data for Run

Weekly Summary - 5 Days, 32.5 Miles with 2 Speed Workouts and 1 Longer Distance Tempo Run

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Moab Training Week 6

This week I was supposed to get back on track (literally) and ramp up my running quantity and quality. Ummm Not so much...

Monday - I worked through lunch time workout. I was tired, drained and the weather was not so good with a cold front moving in. No excuses really, Superbowl party probably had an effect. Decided to switch my off day this week.

Tuesday - Worked at home, very cold and snow all day. I got into a work project and bagged the workout which was going to be intervals on the Treadmill 9X800. I really felt guilty later as I was shoveling 6 inches of snow out of the drive.

Wednesday - Did a double workout to make up for Monday and Tuesday. Went to the Y at lunch and ran 5 miles on the treadmill with 4X800 at 3:05 and 1X400 at 87. Then straight into yoga class for an hour. I was sweaty and the class was packed. Good class, my back was kinda stiff at first from the shoveling, good to stretch it out. Legs were fine except my left foot kept getting toe cramps on some of the balance poses and my hips were tight on the one legged poses.
5 Miles with 2.25 of speed plus 1 Hour Yoga.

Thursday - Wash Park 9.5 (Up Tempo) Feeling guilty about my lack of training and wanted to push myself, I took Matt up on his offer to go around wash park at lunch. Warmer with sun temps in the 30's, I wore shorts but I think I was the only runner I saw in shorts. Slushy, snow packed, some dry road and sidewalk. Tom, Bob, Matt and I started, the pace was up tempo from the start. Tom took the path, I followed Bob and Matt to wash park and around the park on the outer road (2.5 miles ). Good run, I had a 7:15 - 7:25 pace on the dry pavement and around 8 on the snow, but I tanked on the way back, running on the snow uphill my pace slowed. Matt finished strong.

Friday - Golf Course 7
Good golf course run with Andre and Matt. Sunny and warmer, stuff is melting but had to run the road next to the Golf Course. Right Calf was still sore from yesterday.

Saturday - Snowshoe in mountains. Went snowshoeing at the Moffut Tunnel with in the mountains with Matt from work and Sean. My first real snowshoe workout outside the neighborhood. Was a good workout, with 1800 feet of elevation gain. Starting at 9,200 feet up to 10,900 total of 7.3 miles in 3:15 . We stopped just before the tree line. Fun, but real cold and windy before you got in the trees then is was really nice. Lots of skiers and showshoers on the trail. I burned a lot of calories, I got hungry like 3 times, my legs were pretty tired also. Garmin Data for Snowshoe

Sunday - Long run 14. Ran an out and back to CC Park. Ran on the path to the road and then ran the road up to the west park entrance then back the same way. A few sections of the path were snow packed or slushy. Temperatures in the 60's with sun. Short sleeve weather for sure. I felt good, a bit sore from yesterday, especially my back and my right calf. About 3 1/2 miles into the run my right calf got tight. I stopped at 5 miles to stretch and ice it with snow. Then felt better and I had a nice pace up the hill catching some runners from behind. Overall my pace was good for miles 4 -9 where the path was dry or the road. But my calf kept tightening up. I stopped again at mile 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 13.5. To ice it with snow and stretch it some. I think I would have had a great long run if not for the calf. The last 3 miles were slow and pretty painful. I might have pushed too hard with the snowshoeing yesterday. I hope I did not set back my training / progress.


Weekly Summary 4 Days, 35.5 Miles and 7.4 Mile Showshoe.

Congratulations to Zach for winning his Age Group Sunday and the Valentines 5k race at Wash Park. His first race since the state meet in October and coming off wrestling. 19:24. A good starting point for track season.


Lisa, Zach and Courtney Valentines Day 5k.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Moab Training Week 5

Bitter Cold this Week for Denver, have to adjust my schedule and hit the treadmill some.

Monday - 7 Miles. Temperatures in the teens with blowing snow, icy roads and a wind chill below zero. So I did a 7 mile easy run at the Y on the treadmill, about an 8 minute pace. A typical Monday Wash Park Easy pace. Some of the other runners hit the treadmill or the track at the Y too. Didn't see anyone going outside. Like I told a co-worker Debbie. At some point common sense will take over.

Tuesday - Really cold today with a couple of inches of snow. Sub zero temps with windchill -20. Got to be the coldest day of the year (and coldest in the last several). Worked at home today, but went to the rec center for 800 intervals. Did 8X800 at a 3:03 pace with a 400 recovery - 3 minutes. I felt great and recovered well from the intervals. I felt like I could have done 10 today. Felt great after as I stretched at the rec center. Only negative was my shorts were old an the elastic was shot, so I had to keep pulling them up like every 100 meters when I was running hard. Annoying. Had older shoes but they were fine on the treadmill. Probably the best workout I've had in about 4 months or so. The 3 week training curve kicked in I think.

Wednesday - Yoga. Good Class, I was kind of tired and sore, had some problems with the balance poses and hamstring stretches especially on the left leg. Really cold out still, so good rest day.

Thursday - Schedule was for a middle 3 but with a snow storm and the cold temps, the route was frozen over, so Tom and I just went to wash park and back. I was still sore from Tuesday's treadmill intervals. 7 Miles

Friday - Golf Course 7. Ran the Golf Course route with Andre, Craig C and Matt. It was warmer and streets were clear but slushy for the most part. Paths were still snow packed though. Easy Run but messy.

Saturday - Rest Day. Zach's wrestling season is over, now on to track for him. I got a real rest day for a change, not sitting in the bleachers for 8 hours. Took the dogs out to the fields when it started snowing. Really snowed harder later. Went to King Soopers grocery shopping, that was a workout. Very crowded with the superbowl tomorrow.

Sunday - I had a long run scheduled, but we got about 5 inches of snow overnight and everything was snow packed. I ran an out and back 7 Mile to CC Park. I had my yak trax on but could not run a decent pace except in a few spots. I cut the route short, was scheduled for a 13 mile long run. 7 Miles in the snow.

Weekly Summary - 35 Miles, with 3 snow runs. 1 Speed workout on the treadmill.

Weekly Total Goal 41 Miles