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ounce wrote:The running is going well and the body is hanging in there as long as I don't get stupid.

Now that's as good a plan as I've heard in a long time.

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:The running is going well and the body is hanging in there as long as I don't get stupid.

Now that's as good a plan as I've heard in a long time.

Ditto!  Are you recording while running?

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:The running is going well and the body is hanging in there as long as I don't get stupid.

Now that's as good a plan as I've heard in a long time.

Ditto!  Are you recording while running?

Thanks, y'all.  I wish I could record while running, but there are issues to numerous to mention (biggest one is Noise Floor), then I started thinking about the narrator's issues.  It was humorous, though.

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Speaking of 'don't get stupid', last Tuesday's (Sept 8th) running was not set out for my abilities.  The plan was 7- 400x400 with a 10 minute warmup.  So that's 14-400's.  Uh, no.  I couldn't run 7 400's with a recovery in between without walking some of the recoveries.  This would materially slow me down and maybe even cause some problems with the body.  Plus, the run would start about 6:55 and end near dark, THEN do about 30 minutes of core work post-run.

I decided to change it and instead do 3.5 miles at a 13 minute pace.  13 pace is faster than what I've been able to do on long runs, so it's challenging without taxing.  I'll post the times, later, but it went well.  I wasn't real tired, but taxed.
I think it was the appropriate thing to do.

I'm still in one piece.  Thanks for posting, y'all.

Here are the splits:
3.5 miles, 13:00 pace, 168 avg cadence, 0.74 m stride length
1.  13:04, 167 spm, 74 sl
2.  12:58, 168 spm, 74 sl
3.  13:07, 168 spm, 73 sl
4.  12:43 pace, 168 spm, 75 sl

14 400s - that is a stupid workout if you ask me.  Smart to skip, but as an alternate add in some fartlek pickups into your run.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:14 400s - that is a stupid workout if you ask me.  Smart to skip, but as an alternate add in some fartlek pickups into your run.

And I'll remember about the fartleks, 1L.  Thanks.

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Last Thursday morning (Sept 10), I ran my little warm up run for that evening's tempo run of 15 easy, 20 harder, 15 easy.
It was 74 degrees with an identical dewpoint and the target cadence is 168.  The HR strap was not functioning properly, even after replacing the battery.  I have an extra strap that's still in the box and I switched it out after this run and will test it at the tempo run.

4 miles, 52:49, 13:12 pace, 167 avg cadence, 0.73 m avg stride length
1.  13:15, 168 spm, 72 sl
2.  13:00, 168 spm, 74 sl
3.  13:31, 165 spm, 72 sl
4.  13:02, 166 spm, 74 sl

Obviously not lighting the world on fire with this one, but that's not the intent.  Rather, just to loosen up.  Last week, I think I ran 3 miles.

-

Thursday evening was the tempo run.  The HR strap seemed to be working. The plan was 15-20-15, where they wanted the '20' to be at Half pace.  I was going to do what I could do, but hoping for below 13 pace.  It was around 78 degrees at 6:30 p.m.

4 miles, 50:35, 12:38 pace, 155 avg bpm, 169 max bpm during mile 4, 165 avg cadence, 0.77 m avg stride length
1.  12:39, 146 bpm, 165 spm, 77 sl
2.  12:44, 154 bpm, 166 spm, 76 sl
3.  12:35, 157 bpm, 165 spm, 78 sl
4.  12:37, 161 bpm, 164 spm, 78 sl

The 12:38 pace with no 13's was surprising.  I can't say that things are looking up, but it ain't bad either.

I was pleased and surprised that I was doing

Now I'm up to Monday of this week and a 12 mile run.  On the prior Friday (Sept 11), we had a lot of rain in advance of a cool front that was going to sift some drier air on Saturday via a NNE wind.  Morning temps for Sunday were to be 58 degrees and 63 for Monday.  This came to pass and Sunday's 59 degrees was the first cool temp since the first week of May and about 2 weeks early than the 'normal' Sept 25 arrival of the first Fall cool front.  Today, we have a high of 94 with a low of 72 with the normal average to be 90/70 degrees.

Because of Monday's low of 62, I was really looking forward to the run.  How would the pace react to the temps?  Would the temp release some of the drag in the later miles?

Cadence would be set at 168 and this would be the longest run since the Spring.  I want to stay ahead of the long run length that my Houston Fit group is running and the Saturday, Sept 12, length was 10 miles.

August 24 long run - 81/78 degrees---10 miles, 2:23:35, 14:22 pace, 150 avg bpm, 162 max bpm during mile 4, 164 avg cadence, 0.68 m avg stride length, 1st half pace 13:50, 2nd half pace 14:54
August 31 long run - 72/72 degrees---10 miles, 2:15:47, 13:34 pace, 147 avg bpm, 164 max HR during mile 10, 166 avg spm, 0.71 m avg stride length

12 miles, 2:42:35, 13:33 pace, 143 avg bpm, 157 max bpm during miles 6 & 12, 166 avg cadence, 0.71 m avg stride length, 1st half pace 13:25, 2nd half pace 13:41.
1.  13:30, 133 bpm, 166 spm, 71 sl
2.  13:23, 139 bpm, 167 spm, 72 sl
3.  13:32, 140 bpm, 167 spm, 71 sl
4.  13:17, 143 bpm, 167 spm, 72 sl
5.  13:09, 139 bpm, 165 spm, 73 sl
6.  13:31, 140 bpm, 165 spm, 72 sl
7.  13:31, 142 bpm, 166 spm, 72 sl
8.  13:27, 146 bpm, 166 spm, 72 sl
9.  13:32, 145 bpm, 166 spm, 71 sl
10. 14:18, 147 bpm, 165 spm, 68 sl  running carefully on a dark trail in the dark
11. 13:42, 150 bpm, 166 spm, 71 sl
12. 13:35, 152 bpm, 165 spm, 72 sl

Aug 31
10 miles, 2:15:47, 13:34 pace, 147 avg bpm, 164 max HR during mile 10, 166 avg spm, 0.71 m avg stride length
1.  13:39, 120 bpm, 167 spm, 70 sl
2.  13:25, 144 bpm, 168 spm, 72 sl
3.  13:24, 144 bpm, 166 spm, 72 sl
4.  13:20, 145 bpm, 167 spm, 72 sl
5.  13:11, 146 bpm, 167 spm, 73 sl
6.  13:11, 150 bpm, 165 spm, 74 sl
7.  13:13, 151 bpm, 167 spm, 73 sl
8.  13:36, 155 bpm, 166 spm, 71 sl
9.  14:14, 156 bpm, 165 spm, 69 sl
10. 14:34, 157 bpm, 162 spm, 68 sl

There is a lot of similarity between the 12 mile and the 10 mile runs.  I believe the HR comparison in the 2nd half of each run gives the effect of the 10 degree reduction.  Clearly, Aug 31's mile 9 and 10 were showing the effect of the temperature across all 4 measuring points, plus as the HR went up in the 2nd half of the run, the times went up, as well.

The August 24 81 degree run is completely not in the same league as the Aug 31 72 degree and Sept 14 62 degree run.  Temperature matters.

No pain and no niggles on Monday's 12 mile run.

So, I thought that I'd go ahead and type what I can for this week's run as I watch Northern Illinois scare Ohio State with 5 minutes to go in the game.

Tuesday, Sept 15, was the hill workout, specifically 10 minute warm up, then 8 minute hills, 3 minute walk in the hills, repeat for 2 more cycles.  The weather wasn't bad.  Of course, when I speak 'hills' it's a 10 feet rise over a short distance 4 times.  It's steeper than the final rise to the Iwo Jima monument at the very end of MCM.

It amounted to about 2 miles, exclusive of the warmup minutes.  Average HR was 155 and max was 169.  The other time I ran this same route at this park, I went after it and my right calf was not happy with me.  This time, I didn't go all out but made it more than challenging with the result of no niggles.  Having ran 12 miles the day before also insured that I couldn't go bonkers.  Yea for me.

Thursday morning, Sept 17
This was a 4 mile loosening up run, as I had a tempo run that evening.  My objective for the run was to have an average HR of 140 or less, regardless of time, as this gives me the loosening up and easy effort I think that I wanted.

4 miles, 57:06, 14:16 pace, 140 avg bpm, 150 max bpm during mile 4, 161 avg spm, 0.70 m avg stride length
1.  13:33, 132 bpm, 164 spm, 72 sl
2.  13:46, 143 bpm, 164 spm, 71 sl
3.  14:50, 140 bpm, 160 spm, 68 sl
4.  14:56, 144 bpm, 156 spm, 69 sl

On the day of these runs, it was 4 months until Houston, about 3 months until the 30K race (Dec 13), and 6 weeks until the Half race (Oct 25).  Four months out, I'm okay with my progress.  I'm not hurt, but I'm a little slower than I would like at this point.  That's a function of weight and I'm working on that while still doing LC/HF.  Color me a 'What if...' n=1 runner.

I'm thinking about making Wednesday a sorta long run, while deleting the Thursday morning run. 

Monday will be a 12 or so mile long run and on Saturday the 26th, I'll be able to run a long run with the Houston Fit group.  They ran 10 miles, this morning, so I'm ahead of that distance which is where I want to be on long runs.  Thanks for stopping by.

Looking good, Ounce. Picking up the tempo on some runs will be an interesting challenge to your LC/HF regimen. You're bound to burn through more glycogen those days.

Mark B wrote:Looking good, Ounce. Picking up the tempo on some runs will be an interesting challenge to your LC/HF regimen. You're bound to burn through more glycogen those days.

Thanks, Mark. 

I don't have a whole lot of glycogen these days, as I'm ketone-adapted, now.  I have enough carbs to make my thyroid happy, although some days I'll have a few more carbs than 1 yellow squash, like having a hamburger, but with only 1 bun on one side and lettuce or spinach as the bun for the other side.  An average day is less than 20g carbs, many times less than 10g.

Keeping the carbs low and the fat high is imperative right now since my long runs are getting longer, but I do need to keep my sodium intake to about 2-4 grams a day.  Otherwise, I'll get dizzy.

For some reason, I couldn't execute a 12-14 mile run, yesterday.  I still don't know why, but I had 4.5 miles to think about it because that's how far I walked to get home after running 6.5.  It was 73 degrees and I figured I could run 14.  Shit happens.

Tonight is another hill workout for 55 minutes, which probably breaks down to 10 warm up, 3 x 9 min active w/3 x 3 walk recovery, then 10 cool down.  Maybe 4 x 7 min.  I'll know at 6:30 and it'll be in the 80's.

Ugh. I hate it when you discover the tank's on E when you're about as far from home as you can get. Did that myself a couple of weeks ago. Those long walks back are still good exercise, and have the benefit of being a total fat-burner, so there's that. 

Sounds like a little recovery might be in order.

Oh well, we all have bad runs - read my blog.  Hopefully you will bounce back today.

Mark B wrote:Ugh. I hate it when you discover the tank's on E when you're about as far from home as you can get. Did that myself a couple of weeks ago. Those long walks back are still good exercise, and have the benefit of being a total fat-burner, so there's that. 

Sounds like a little recovery might be in order.

I think some of the issue was doing a long run with the weather 12 degrees warmer than a week or so ago.

I don't really think that I'm overdoing the running.  Houston Fit is such a light mileage workout of just mileage in the high teens that it's hard to be taxed.  But I appreciate your thoughts, Mark.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Oh well, we all have bad runs - read my blog.  Hopefully you will bounce back today.

In all honesty, Miche1e, it's hard to believe that you would have a bad run on a garden variety long run.

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Tuesday evening was hill training, but in a different location, which was a cloverleaf designed intersection on Memorial Drive.  The incline was much easier than the steeper version that was used last week.  As a result, I was able to run at normal cadence for about 2 miles at 13:02 pace.  We were told to run the inclines and walk the flats.  Nah.

This morning, I laced 'em up and ran.  I had mentioned last week that I was going to try to run on Wednesday mornings as a sorta long run, even thought it's after a hill workout the night before.  I just wanted to get in some distances during the week, if the body would cooperate.

It was 69 degrees with 100% humidity, this morning, as a result of a back door wind shift out of the NNE.  This afternoon, relative humidity levels were between 15% and 30%.  Temps were still in the low 90's, though.

6.66 miles, 1:29:33, 13:26 pace, 146 avg bpm, 160 max bpm during miles 4 & 5, 167 avg cadence, 0.72 m avg stride length, 1st half pace 13:28, 2nd half pace 13:24.
1.  13:49, 137 bpm, 167 spm, 70 sl
2.  13:18, 143 bpm, 168 spm, 72 sl
3.  13:24, 145 bpm, 167 spm, 72 sl
4.  13:03, 150 bpm, 167 spm, 74 sl
5.  13:25, 150 bpm, 167 spm, 72 sl
6.  13:48, 147 bpm, 166 spm, 70 sl
7.  13:12 pace, 152 bpm, 167 spm, 73 sl

I wasn't confident that I'd be able to complete half of the distance (it's an out and back route) until I got to 2.5 miles, to which I said to hell with it and kept on going.  My calves, and glutes (where the butt ends and the thigh begins) were somewhat tight at the start but gradually and SLOWLY loosened up around 3 miles.

Let me type the story behind mile 4's 13:03 time.  I was on my way back at Memorial Park when this girl passed me and immediately moved directly in front of me.  Reminded me of a NASCAR race where one of the cars slides right in front of another car.  That move upset me, so I immediately pulled out, increased pace and passed her, leaving her in my dust or whatever I generate for the rest of the time in Memorial Park.

Anyway, I was pleased my run went well and the trash in the muscles worked its way out.  Tomorrow evening, I have a 4 mile tempo 1 easy, 2 harder, 1 easy.  Saturday, I'll be running my first long run with the group at Memorial Park.  My group runs 10 minute miles, so I'll have to start out sooner and they'll be catching up to me because I think the end time of all the groups is supposed to be 7:45, so I have to figure out a start time to get 11 miles in by 7:45.

Thanks for the support and comments.

Well you've had some ups and downs...I'll let you figure out if I'm referring to the hills or the good/not so good runs...

Anyway...it's nice to hear that your last run went well.  I seem to remember another run quite some time back where you followed a rabbit and ended up with a nice quick run.  Maybe we just need to find the right girl to run in front of you at your goal race.

nkrichards wrote:Well you've had some ups and downs...I'll let you figure out if I'm referring to the hills or the good/not so good runs...

Anyway...it's nice to hear that your last run went well.  I seem to remember another run quite some time back where you followed a rabbit and ended up with a nice quick run.  Maybe we just need to find the right girl to run in front of you at your goal race.

Yes, some ups and downs.  After thinking about it for a second or two, yes, some ups and downs.

YES, that time a while back ended up being 4 miles where I was about 2 strides behind her!  That was a lot of fun and had to be in 2013.  Good memory!  As far as finding the right girl, uh, there'd have to be some training time ahead of the race.  Thanks, Nancy, for taking this task on!

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On Thursday evening's tempo run, I did my 1 mile easy (but wasn't done easily), then a mile a little faster.  The last almost a mile was with about 3 people that run a half mile, then walk for a minute (which I didn't find out the specifics until after the run).  That almost a mile was fast for me.  Of course, I turned my watch off during the walk because I didn't know the particulars of this mile.

2.95 miles,36:12, 12:16 pace, 157 avg bpm, 179 max during mile 3, 165 avg cadence, 0.80 m avg stride length
1.  12:53, 147 bpm, 161 spm, 78 sl
2.  12:25, 160 bpm, 168 spm, 77 sl
3.  11:25 pace, 166 bpm, 166 spm, 80 sl

Question - Are there any benefits or disadvantages to doing a 3 mile tempo run at 1/2 mile faster, 1 minute walk, 1/2 mile faster, 1 minute walk, etc?

Thanks.

This morning, I ran 12 miles.  It was 1 mile further than my group was running.  Since they run 10 minute miles, I started much earlier than they.  The rest of the Houston Fit groups were running 9 miles.  My route was their 9 miles plus 3 miles at Memorial Park.  I figured that somebody would catch up to me, even though I started 45 minutes earlier than everyone else.  Nope.  I guess it was because I had to run the final 3 after running the 9, but I just knew someone would pass me (it isn't because I was sprinting for 12 miles, Mark ).

So, this is my 12 mile mulligan from Monday's failed attempt.  It starts at Memorial Park, goes hither and yon through places never ran before by yours truly for 9 miles, then 3 at the park.  I studied the route and knew it very well.  The objectives were finishing and not getting hurt.  So, I left at 4:45 in order to be back for core work and a speaker at 7:45.

It was 73 degrees with a dewpoint of 66 (dewpoint made a difference) and no noticeable breeze.  The cadence target was 168.

12 miles, 2:40:12, 13:21 pace, 148 avg bpm, 164 max bpm during mile 6, 167 avg cadence, 0.72 m avg stride length
1.  13:08, 149 bpm, 166 spm, 74 sl
2.  13:29, 141 bpm, 167 spm, 71 sl
3.  13:30, 144 bpm, 167 spm, 71 sl
4.  13:35, 142 bpm, 167 spm, 71 sl
5.  13:14, 145 bpm, 168 spm, 72 sl
6.  12:59, 149 bpm, 167 spm, 74 sl
7.  13:09, 149 bpm, 166 spm, 74 sl
8.  13:21, 150 bpm, 166 spm, 73 sl
9.  13:27, 152 bpm, 166 spm, 72 sl
10. 13:19, 154 bpm, 166 spm, 73 sl
11. 13:37, 152 bpm, 167 spm, 71 sl
12. 13:22, 157 bpm, 167 spm, 72 sl

I could say the reason for this quicker run was that little voice in the back of my head saying, "They're getting closer."  Even though I did NOT see one person, but it kept the fun and turnover going.

It was a very nice run on a new route.

Looks like a successful run.

Nice run! It appears you gave your pursuers the slip.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Looks like a successful run.

Mark B wrote:Nice run! It appears you gave your pursuers the slip.

Yes, I believe it was a good run.  I think my body has built up enough new muscle fibers and adjusted to Houston Fit's training regimen to where it's not as difficult as it was a month ago. 

Mark, without a smile on that cat's face, the cat looks like he's being held up (or that he's trying to alert you that Fluff is creating another internal waterfall).

Sounds like this group training encouraged you to try some new things that are paying off!

And no to your question on the tempo run. The idea of the tempo run is to run at LT (Tempo) pace for the entire prescribed number of miles to build fitness. So no to the walking.  As for true VO2 Max runs (speed work), you can take a walk break in between the intervals.

ounce wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Looks like a successful run.

Mark B wrote:Nice run! It appears you gave your pursuers the slip.

 -Tally-ho!

Yes, I believe it was a good run.  I think my body has built up enough new muscle fibers and adjusted to Houston Fit's training regimen to where it's not as difficult as it was a month ago. 

Mark, without a smile on that cat's face, the cat looks like he's being held up (or that he's trying to alert you that Fluff is creating another internal waterfall).

Cat? It's supposed to be a fox! (You know, fox and hounds? Oh well. That's what I get for going anime style.)

Sounds like a good run last Sat. It's always nice to see training pay off.

*tap-tap-tap*

Hello? Is this thing on?

Testing, 1, 2, 3.... Testing. TESTING?

Hm...