Front Office Football Central - View Single Post

FrogMan · 05-13-2014, 02:05 PM

Flashback to continue the chronology of the Summer of 2013...

That 10K race, or the couple days that followed actually, brought a big light bulb over my head. When I usually would have taken at least a couple days off after such a race, I discovered the terms "recovery run" and I ran the very next day, then the day after making it sort of my first running streak, of 3 days!!!

I again simply kept running every other day and on September 1st, I achieved me goal of running from our home to my dojo and back, running my longest ever run at once, 14.4 km!

I was proud of that run, even though it was done at a fairly easy pace. That was 1:21:03 of running with no walking...

I had been thinking about entering a local race, an 18K race. I didn't feel ready for a half marathon but thought I could at least do 3.5 more kilometers than what I had just done. On Sunday, September 15th I ran 18.2 km on a regular easy run and that was just enough to convince me and I signed up for that 18K race that would be held on October 20th. That left me five weeks to get ready, or at least a tiny bit readier...

I had started reading about Hal Higdon's training that are free to use from his website and opted to use the last 5 weeks of his Intermediate half marathon plan but with adjusted distance since (1) I would not be running a half and (2) I didn't feel ready to do these sort of distances.

Here's what my 5 week plan looked like, starting from week 8 of his 12 week plan:

Yup, I was planning to run 5 days a week, three days in a row midweek and both days on the weekend. I can honestly say this was when I started to take my training a bit more seriously. It's also when I realized that running BEFORE work was doable, even though it meant waking up at about 5:05 am.

The plan went well. I liked the easy runs (simply marked as "run") and the different speedwork sessions. A tempo session for him is more a progression run in which I start from my easy pace and progressively increase the pace until I hit my 5K (or faster pace) and leave myself 5 minutes of cooldown easy pace to finish. The Sunday of week 9 is a 15K race in his plan but there were none in the area and I felt with only a 10K under my belt and getting ready for an 18K, it was better to do a decent warmup and cooldown and try my race pace for 13K with fuelling. I remember it was a pretty warm day and it didn't go well. I titled that run in my logs this way: "unconvincing race pace test, i.e. I'm still a newbie". Yup felt very much like a newbie. Tried a gel for fuel and had a very hard time getting it down and have yet to try a gel again. (Note to self: buy some different brands of gel next time you're down to the running store) That was my first time trying fuelling during a run. I since have used chews-like drops but if you read my HM race report, you'll see that higher pace, I still had a hard time getting them down. Probably walking a bit and slowing down the pace for 20 seconds might be the answer. More things to try.

While that pace test was a rough eye opener, I continued my training and the week before the race, I went to the race site to try the course. That course was supposed to be a loop around a lake that we'd be doing 3 times, 6 km per lap. On that run, I wanted to do half a lap as warmup then one lap at what I expected to be my race pace and that again was an eye opener. That was going to be a heck of hilly ride. While I'd done some hill work over the Summer, never had I gone downhill at more than full speed. The test went well and I felt as ready as I thought I could get.

You can have an idea of the course that we were supposed to run on the map of that run here:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/390113554

I say "supposed to run" because I had received an email from the race organizers that they might have to modify the course because of road constructions that were running late. That email had come before I did my two laps around the lake and when I saw the kind of construction, I was almost certain we would not be running around the lake. There was a place where the road was cut to one lane with alternating traffic lights at both ends. Having runners go through that would have cut all car traffic around the lake.

Next up will be the race report I wrote shortly after that race. You'll a course plan with it and of course, some pictures.

FM

05-13-2014, 02:05 PM	#37
FrogMan Hattrick Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada	Flashback to continue the chronology of the Summer of 2013... That 10K race, or the couple days that followed actually, brought a big light bulb over my head. When I usually would have taken at least a couple days off after such a race, I discovered the terms "recovery run" and I ran the very next day, then the day after making it sort of my first running streak, of 3 days!!! I again simply kept running every other day and on September 1st, I achieved me goal of running from our home to my dojo and back, running my longest ever run at once, 14.4 km! I was proud of that run, even though it was done at a fairly easy pace. That was 1:21:03 of running with no walking... I had been thinking about entering a local race, an 18K race. I didn't feel ready for a half marathon but thought I could at least do 3.5 more kilometers than what I had just done. On Sunday, September 15th I ran 18.2 km on a regular easy run and that was just enough to convince me and I signed up for that 18K race that would be held on October 20th. That left me five weeks to get ready, or at least a tiny bit readier... I had started reading about Hal Higdon's training that are free to use from his website and opted to use the last 5 weeks of his Intermediate half marathon plan but with adjusted distance since (1) I would not be running a half and (2) I didn't feel ready to do these sort of distances. Here's what my 5 week plan looked like, starting from week 8 of his 12 week plan: Yup, I was planning to run 5 days a week, three days in a row midweek and both days on the weekend. I can honestly say this was when I started to take my training a bit more seriously. It's also when I realized that running BEFORE work was doable, even though it meant waking up at about 5:05 am. The plan went well. I liked the easy runs (simply marked as "run") and the different speedwork sessions. A tempo session for him is more a progression run in which I start from my easy pace and progressively increase the pace until I hit my 5K (or faster pace) and leave myself 5 minutes of cooldown easy pace to finish. The Sunday of week 9 is a 15K race in his plan but there were none in the area and I felt with only a 10K under my belt and getting ready for an 18K, it was better to do a decent warmup and cooldown and try my race pace for 13K with fuelling. I remember it was a pretty warm day and it didn't go well. I titled that run in my logs this way: "unconvincing race pace test, i.e. I'm still a newbie". Yup felt very much like a newbie. Tried a gel for fuel and had a very hard time getting it down and have yet to try a gel again. (Note to self: buy some different brands of gel next time you're down to the running store) That was my first time trying fuelling during a run. I since have used chews-like drops but if you read my HM race report, you'll see that higher pace, I still had a hard time getting them down. Probably walking a bit and slowing down the pace for 20 seconds might be the answer. More things to try. While that pace test was a rough eye opener, I continued my training and the week before the race, I went to the race site to try the course. That course was supposed to be a loop around a lake that we'd be doing 3 times, 6 km per lap. On that run, I wanted to do half a lap as warmup then one lap at what I expected to be my race pace and that again was an eye opener. That was going to be a heck of hilly ride. While I'd done some hill work over the Summer, never had I gone downhill at more than full speed. The test went well and I felt as ready as I thought I could get. You can have an idea of the course that we were supposed to run on the map of that run here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/390113554 I say "supposed to run" because I had received an email from the race organizers that they might have to modify the course because of road constructions that were running late. That email had come before I did my two laps around the lake and when I saw the kind of construction, I was almost certain we would not be running around the lake. There was a place where the road was cut to one lane with alternating traffic lights at both ends. Having runners go through that would have cut all car traffic around the lake. Next up will be the race report I wrote shortly after that race. You'll a course plan with it and of course, some pictures. FM __________________ A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog...