A Toast with Champaign, Illinois

New Year, New Blog, New Goals, New Schedule.

It was a quality year of running with PR's in 5k, 5m, 10m, HM, and Marathon.

I will be training now for the Illinois Marathon in Champaign which is on April 28, 2012.

Schedule will be 17 weeks which started Monday with a goal of BQing at 3:15. My PR this year at Philly was 3:23 (5 minute PR). 8 minutes will not be easy but my 5k and 10m and HM time predict pretty much 3:15.

This cycle I will be changing up a few things:

• Adding swimming 2x per week while I drop my mileage slightly down from 65 per week avg to around 58-60.
  
• Doing Vo2max workouts early in the schedule and LT's later in schedule (Reversed from usual)
  
• Be going back to hill repeats of 500m
  
• Adding more fast finish LSD runs.
  
• Less racing most likely a 5k and HM only
  

I am going to dedicate the blog to mindful running as a reminder to carry it throughout the day.
I hope to bring some wisdom from my baldoisms. As they come to me I will quote it along with others.

Monday 11:00am

Weather: Cold, very windy around 20mph at times
Workout: 4 miles
Pace: 9:08
HR: 136

Notes:

Wonderful Windy Wun. Easy 4 miles in some gusty winds at times. Overall pace on the
fast side of easy and HR 136 smack in middle of zone. Felt a bit
sluggish coming off some harder running.

Evening:
My first swim 30 minutes felt comfortably uncomfortable but manageable. I do not time myself per lap but back and forth looks to be around 1:30-1:45. I will get watch at some point. I took it relatively easy have to think around 140HR overall.

Tuesday 5:45am

Weather: High 20's a bit windy at times
Workout: 8 miles @ GA pace finishing with 8x100 strides
Pace: 7:51
HR: 158

Notes:
Cleaning out the pipes a bit with today's. Overall pace 7:51 w/ HR of 158 avg felt great and right where I
want to be for these runs. This is actually a bit better than where I
was at the end of my recent marathon training. Feels good going into a
new cycle where I kind of left off right before Philly Marathon.

Upcoming:
8 miles @ LSD what looks to be heavenly cold 15 degrees with 9mph winds. Face mask maybe (light one).

Cool, a new Kenny blog - looking forward to it.

Wednesday 5:45am
From the Book of Baldo (TBob) "It takes surrender to speak the truth and acceptance to hear it."

Weather:13 degrees, dark and scary!
Workout: 8 miles @ LSD
Pace: 8:20
HR: 150

Notes:
I broke out the light balaclava for today's 8 miles @ LSD. This was quite an easy run coming off a GA yesterday. HR
150 just at the start of my LSD HR zone w/ pace 8:20 which means I got to move a bit faster overall on my runs. I am going to start adjusting accordingly specifically on LSD Runs, GA Runs, and MP pace. Looking at maybe around 8:15, 7:45, 7:25 respectively.

Upcoming:
Tomorrow easy 5 miles.

Thursday 6:15am
"You know your life is about to become unmanageable when you start to feel uncomfortable." - TBoB

Weather: 27 degrees, light wind
Workout: 5 east miles
Pace: 9:05
HR: 135

Notes:
There is no doubt I am ready to move down my pace on many of my runs. Recovery runs is one of those. Today running on feel but be a bit aware of my HR (not pace) I easily ran a 9:05 on avg with a HR of 135 which is smack in the middle of my zone. This is a great improvement which should carry over into my other types of runs. In the meantime, legs felt really good out there today and wore my CWX-Tights which I have come to love.

Upcoming:
Hitting the gym for weight training and tomorrow call for 7 miles with 40 min higdon tempo run.

Wow, a 9:05 pace for recovery, you have definitely moved up in the pace world, nice job! I think mentally one of the huge benefits of the faster paces is the less time that is needed for running. Somehow, to think I am doing a 45 minutes 5 miler is a big boost over a 50 minute 5 miler.

JohnP wrote:Wow, a 9:05 pace for recovery, you have definitely moved up in the pace world, nice job! I think mentally one of the huge benefits of the faster paces is the less time that is needed for running. Somehow, to think I am doing a 45 minutes 5 miler is a big boost over a 50 minute 5 miler.

John, thanks I was thinking that as well. Yea it is nice to be down close to 9min for recovery runs. I look forward to dropping the pace a bit on all my runs.

Looks like a good start to the training Kenny. A BQ is well within reach.

Friday 6:00am
"If you live by perception rather than truth, you're in for a rude "Falsality" - TBoB

Weather: 29 degrees, light wind
Workout: 7 with tempo
Pace: 8:02 overall, 7:33 for 40min tempo
HR: 156

Notes:
This was a really good run for me today. I do enjoy Hal Style tempo runs. Overall pace which included warm up and cool down was typical for me around 8:02 (a drop faster than usual), but HR was right where I like it. For the 40 min tempo portion I avg. 7:33. Legs felt dynamite out there and very smooth. One of those days where I felt I could ran 20 just for shits and giggles.

Upcoming:
Tonight I am headed to swim for 30min. If I continue with swimming I will get a watch to track at the very least how many laps. Tomorrow is 5 miles followed by 14 on Sunday. Should hit over 50 for my 1st week of cycle.

Last night I knocked out 30 minutes of swimming which felt pretty easy. It is only my second swimming workout and either I am a really good swimmer or I suck and just think I am going a good distance. I really need to find out how many meters the pool is and get watch to track each lap.

The only issue I had was my right hand start cramping towards the end literally could not keep fingers together and then my left calf cramped like no business when exiting pool that brought me down to my knees back in the pool.

Ill be running 5 miles shortly!

Hydrate while you swim. I know that sounds weird since you are in the water, but that is why you will often cramp (especially calves and feet!). Bring a bottle with you to the pool (even sport drink if you need it) and place at the end of the lane - just take a sip every so often. This should help alleviate the cramping issues.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Hydrate while you swim. I know that sounds weird since you are in the water, but that is why you will often cramp (especially calves and feet!). Bring a bottle with you to the pool (even sport drink if you need it) and place at the end of the lane - just take a sip every so often. This should help alleviate the cramping issues.

I was thinking of that but figured 30 minutes no big deal. But I am going to start doing that since I have water with me anyways. Probably do a sports drink of some sort. I will be increasing the minutes each week or so by 5min or more. I think I can do 60minutes at some point. Not sure how many laps but I think back and forth is 100m and maybe I do 100m in 1:30 per lap. So 30 minutes is about 2000m. Can that be right swimming over a mile in 30 minutes? I don't know? Need watch and correct meters of pool.

correction pool is only 50m back and forth. So I am probably swimming about 1000m. ok that seems more accurate.

I would have thought the pool was 25m each way, and it is. 1000m is a great start. Keep up the good work.

Also, if you feel like you are expending too much energy, look into seeing if there is a Masters class at the pool. Someone can help you re-learn a more efficient stroke if required. I was a swimmer all of my childhood and swam in college, and I still benefited from have my stroke re-evaluated and improved. It help with efficiency in the water and energy.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I would have thought the pool was 25m each way, and it is. 1000m is a great start. Keep up the good work.

Also, if you feel like you are expending too much energy, look into seeing if there is a Masters class at the pool. Someone can help you re-learn a more efficient stroke if required. I was a swimmer all of my childhood and swam in college, and I still benefited from have my stroke re-evaluated and improved. It help with efficiency in the water and energy.

Thanks Michele, I am going to take a lesson or two to get my form down correctly to help. I agree water will be added!

Saturday was just 5 miles recovery but ended up running it a bit fast 8:35 pace and HR proved it! 143. Thought it would affect me for today's long run coupled with a late night out but nope, it was one of my better LSD runs!

Sunday 7:45am

Weather: 35-40 degrees, light wind
Workout: 14 LSD
Pace: 8:20
HR: 154

Notes:
Went to the trails with Evan Sobel for 14 miles. Took me a bit to get in a groove but the second half was a wonderful run. Legs felt excellent even wore my lighter shoes ronin 3's vs. the 2's which actually might be an alternative LSD run show for me if the price goes down since the 2's are gone after the 3 pairs i have left!

Always good conversation with Evan. Goal was to keep pace around 8:20 and hopefully my HR in range of 151-159. Well 154 is in the middle pretty much which is great for my first week of training.

Tallied 51+ miles running and with 2 swims around 1000m each.

Upcoming:
Tomorrow is day off from running but will go with 35min swim. This coming week starts track workouts, should be interesting.

Kenny B. wrote:Last night I knocked out 30 minutes of swimming which felt pretty easy. It is only my second swimming workout and either I am a really good swimmer or I suck and just think I am going a good distance. I really need to find out how many meters the pool is and get watch to track each lap.

The only issue I had was my right hand start cramping towards the end literally could not keep fingers together and then my left calf cramped like no business when exiting pool that brought me down to my knees back in the pool.

Ill be running 5 miles shortly!

I experienced both of those things when I first started swimming - especially the calf cramps. Runners like ourselves have a notoriously hard time flexing our feet (pointing our toes) while swimming - it will certainly get better with time. The hand thing too - you will relax a little when you swim. If you are swimming for fitness, then it really doesn't matter what your time is - but if you are swimming to get faster and go longer, a read that helped me out was Total Immersion (I also had no access to a Master Swimmer class). Hydration is obviously tough in the pool - I usually just make sure that I drink a bottle of water right before I start swimming. My guess is the cramping thing is just recruiting muscles your not used to and will correct itself shortly.

I've been lax on keeping up lately, so I check in and see that you've become a swimmer!
In all seriousness, I think that's a great addition to your training. Where are you swimming? Did you join a club?

John Kilpatrick wrote:

Kenny B. wrote:Last night I knocked out 30 minutes of swimming which felt pretty easy. It is only my second swimming workout and either I am a really good swimmer or I suck and just think I am going a good distance. I really need to find out how many meters the pool is and get watch to track each lap.

The only issue I had was my right hand start cramping towards the end literally could not keep fingers together and then my left calf cramped like no business when exiting pool that brought me down to my knees back in the pool.

Ill be running 5 miles shortly!

I experienced both of those things when I first started swimming - especially the calf cramps. Runners like ourselves have a notoriously hard time flexing our feet (pointing our toes) while swimming - it will certainly get better with time. The hand thing too - you will relax a little when you swim. If you are swimming for fitness, then it really doesn't matter what your time is - but if you are swimming to get faster and go longer, a read that helped me out was Total Immersion (I also had no access to a Master Swimmer class). Hydration is obviously tough in the pool - I usually just make sure that I drink a bottle of water right before I start swimming. My guess is the cramping thing is just recruiting muscles your not used to and will correct itself shortly.

True, John. But hydration is also a factor -so do not forgo the water or sports drink, Kenny! (It used to happen to me when I swam in college).

Thanks everyone: Today I swam and drank mid way through with no cramp or hand issues. Seth - my gym has a very nice jr. olympic size pool usually pretty empty in the morning.

Monday 6:30am

Workout: 37min swim = 2:10 per 100m

Notes:
Was a really good swim today. I timed with my watch (not in the water) and did 37:00 exactly and I looked at the first lap which was 1:05 for 50m so I figure maybe 2:10 for 100m. It was overall easy.

Upcoming:
Tomorrow I hit the track for 5x800's @ 5k pace. ill do about 2min job between. Be interesting to see what this looks like compared to last cycle.

Tuesday 5:45am
Every time you lie you chip away at your soul. Sooner or later all you'll be left with is a big black hole. TBoB

Weather: 32 a 7+ mph winds
Workout: 7+ mile w/ 5x800's @ 5k
Pace: splits 3:20 avg.
HR: 158

Notes:
First track work of the cycle and typically have done this later in schedule vs. is at the start. I also normally do 6x800's but 5x800's was on my mind so stuck with it. Splits started out at 3:25 creeped down to 3:18 last two but a bit slower than last cycle. I am ok with that as I just started this training and hopefully I will see slighter quicker splits as I increase it 1000m and so on.

Overall all I felt really good out there but there was a nice headwind at times that was tough running through.

Upcoming:
Tomorrow 9 @ LSD

Nice to add swimming into your routine. I still swim every now and then. I also ran my fastest marathon time(2:36:19) when I incorporated swimming into my routine.. Nice work Kenny.

kory.wheatley@gmail.com wrote:Nice to add swimming into your routine. I still swim every now and then. I also ran my fastest marathon time(2:36:19) when I incorporated swimming into my routine.. Nice work Kenny.

Thanks K-Mazing!

Wednesday 5:45am

Weather: 29 degrees, light wind
Workout: 9 @ LSD
Pace: 8:18
HR: 151

Notes:
Fabulous run this morning just felt great out there. HR a low 151 barely in the LSD zone yet pace was 8:18!

Upcoming:
Tomorrow 5-6 easy miles.

Thursday 5:45am

Weather: 40's, rainy, very windy!
Workout: 5.5 easy
Pace: 9:28
HR: 136

Notes:
Gusty winds, Heavy Rain and cold! What's not to like for an easy 5+
mile run. The hardest part is getting out of a warm comfy bed, but once
I'm out there the rain drops are like little waterfalls from heaven!
Overall great run HR 136 in the zone pace par for course considering the
conditions.

Upcoming:
Tomorrow 7-8 miles with 45 min tempo evening 35-40 minute swim. I am a swimmer officially? not sure how many swims make me a swimmer! lol

Your a swimmer and a great achiever as well. Nice run today. It was cold when I an today. -3 degrees. I found that mixing up the breast stroke with freestyle was a great workout.

kory.wheatley@gmail.com wrote:Your a swimmer and a great achiever as well. Nice run today. It was cold when I an today. -3 degrees. I found that mixing up the breast stroke with freestyle was a great workout.

Thanks Kory! I try my best! Wow -3 degrees!

Friday 5:45am

Weather: 40's, some rain, very windy gusts hurt at times.
Workout: 5.5 easy
Pace: Overall 8:03
HR: 160

Notes:
Dam it was windy for today's 43 min tempo run. It rained hard for a bit
then cleared up but the wind was ravishing at times! Despite some of
the gnarly headwinds I was able to hit my splits pretty consistent
while still keeping my HR where it should be for this type of run.

Upcoming:
Tonight 35-40 minute swim, tomorrow 5-6 easy and Sunday looks to be fun with 15 with last few at MP. Going to see what 7:25 feels like these days!

Friday night

Swam 40 minutes overall easy arms did get tired towards the end but I am also lifted weights the day before mainly upper body and shoulders. I think I did around 1600m but I have no idea. What I do know is after I swim for a few hours my nose runs like a beast. I have to think the chemicals in the pool are terrible for me as I never have that issues in the ocean.

Anyways, headed out for any 5-6 mile run shortly.

Playing some catch up here

Saturday
11:00am - These late starts run are not my favorite. Very windy again
making at times tough to run. Pace was quicker than I'd like for
recovery run and HR 140 is on the higher side of my zone. Not sure why I
keep running Sat recovery runs out of my zone especially since I have a
watch to look at (which I don't).

Sunday
7:15am - Went to the trail for 15.75 miles @ LSD w/some pace miles. Ran
first 10 @ 8:22 pace then 2x2 @ 7:22 pace with 1 mile @ LSD. It was
brutally cold outside and windy at times but I felt somewhat comfortable
overall on the run and my legs responded well. HR 156 for the LSD
portion 160 overall but nice part the MP mile HR was steady around
170-171.

Monday
6:00am - 11 degrees and I felt it. One of my slowest recovery runs avg.
only 10min pace as my body felt like a glacier! I ran w/out HR monitor
but felt it was on the very easy side and despite the freezing cold
weather overall I accomplished what today was all about, recovering!

Tuesday
Today was 7 miles on the treadmill for hill work. Did 5x400's @ 5% instead of 4x500's @ 6%. I think 5% is fine right now at 400m but ran at 7:13 pace for this. It was definitely a work out but had more in me. I want to build up to 9 or 10 x 400's which should work well as the course is pretty flat so I hear in Illinois.