1/27/2010 - Progression run

Just over 7 miles. Planned on splits of 9:30, 9:00, 8:30, etc. down to a final mile of 7:00. Basically hit the splits with the HR under 160 except for the last two miles. Well under LT throughout. Felt great overall. Not a real struggle even in the final two miles. Max HR of 173 with an average HR for the run at 151. Average pace of 8:19 for the run.

Definitely starting to feel some progress. I did an 5 mile MAF test yesterday on the Rock Creek to Coal Creek Loop around the hospital. It looks like I took about 27 seconds off of the time from 1/15/2010 to 1/26/2010. Not a ton of improvement, but close to 10 seconds a mile. I'll take it at this point. And today, it look awhile to get my HR over the 145 range... in fact I was under 147 for the first three miles with 147 the average in mile three at a pace of 8:25. This feels like progress.

Day off tomorrow, with a planned 7-8 at work on Friday easy.

Activity Details for 1/27/2010 - Progression run

Thursday 7-16-2009

Been awhile since my last post. Have been having a hard time getting back into the swing of Colorado running since getting back last week; I really think I responed well to running at near sea level whereas returning to Colorado has been difficult.

Today was only my second run of the week as yesterday was Lily's birthday and the day before that was my niece's birthday. I was able to get a hill workout in on Tuesday in the neighborhood, but I ran around 4:45pm during the hottest part of the day. Wow, that sucked for sure. It took a long time to cool down after the effort. Did four laps up the Washington/Tyler hill and then down Pine. Each lap is almost exactly a mile with about 120 feet of climbing every lap (in about a quarter mile I guess). The splits show that I started too fast on the first one and each subsequent lap was a bit slower. First lap was an average pace of 7:29 with the last one at 8:15...kind of sad really, but made sense given the heat.

Today I headed out for what was supposed to be between 6 and 7 miles at marathon pace. Not really knowing if am doing a marathon yet this year and therefore not really being sure what my marathon pace should be; I targeted hitting between 7:30 and 7:40. But, alas I pushed the pace as usual and ended up with an avg pace of 7:20 for about a 10K in a little over 45 minutes. Honestly I am kind of happy with this run as it was only a little over a minute slower than this years BB and I did it without really feeling too pushed or spent. Additionally, no real pain to speak of...legs are feeling pretty good to be honest.

More later....

Tuesday Tempo Run BTR - 5.39 Miles

Dragged myself out for another Tuesday Tempo Run this week. Definitely a struggle as I have been hobbling around now since my mountain jaunt on Father's Day. It seems my legs are still not quite used to the big ups and more likely the downs of mountain running around here. Every part of my quads has been screeming at me to sit down and stop moving. So, getting out today was a small victory over couch. Regardless of this new pain, I am certainly reveling in shedding the boredom of long road miles and fast tempos for the fun of the trails.

Tonight we did a nice loop around the Mesa Trails starting at the South Boulder Trailhead on the way to Eldorado Canyon. The chosen route was to "warm-up" by running strait up Mesa to the Big BlueStem Trailhead. This "warm-up" encompassed about 400 feet of climbing over a little over a mile and a quarter. Fortinately we were running slow enough that my HR averaged about 164...hardly a real warm-up but certainly easier than what was to come. So after a break of a few minutes of chatter we were off straight up Mesa heading for the cut-off by the Miner's Cabin. This was a total of 864 feet of climbing over about 1.59 miles for an average grade of about 11+%. Not bad actually as I was able to maintain an average pace of about 10:23 with just a few small walking breaks at the steeper parts. My HR average about 173 for the climb which put me solidly in the tempo realm, certainly not slacking on effort. But alas, as has been usual on these runs, I was well behind the other 4 runners in front of me. These Tuesday runs are definitely pushing me to get better for sure but I definitely have a long way to go.

Easy 5-6 on the roads tomorrow.

Wednesday / Thursday

Easy recovery at work on Wednesday. Ran along Coal Creek up to the Aquarius Trailhead and back down 42 to the hospital. A little sluggish, but focused on an easy pace. Avg HR at 145 with a pace around 8:40 or so. Working at keeping the easy days easy.

Thursday AM did a traditional 3 mile tempo. Intended to keep the pace just under my project half pace of about 7:20-7:30. But, as usual I ended up pushing a little harder down closer to 10K pace. Actually, I ended up running right around my avg pace from BB09. Overall I felt a bit sluggish and tired….probably from not sleeping well. However, the pace did not seem too hard to maintain. Feeling positive about the run overall. The 3 was a perfect loop around Davidson Mesa with the recovery jog a half loop around Harper back home. Nice morning to be out!

3.45 Hospital - Home - Slow Tempo

Wow, new feature in RunningAhead for GPS integration. Works great! Love it. I have held off on switching to another log pending the delivery of this new feature, looks like it was worth the wait given that I have over 2 years of data already on RA.

Anyway, rushed workout...was going to bag it to drive home as Katie had to pick MollyO at the airport. But, said screw it and left work early. Took the most direct path home, straight into the wind up 42, by the stump dump and then straight up Pine. Ok run, had a decent pace as the run progressed. Fairly slow in the beginning, but worked into a sub-8 for most of the way after the bottom of the Aquarious Hill. Gait was ok. Knee was a bit soar to start, but went away after about 5-10 minutes. Felt great once home and showered.

I would classify this as a slow tempo based on the HR being over 160 for the last 2 miles or so.