I rock my crocs off

Hey! No hanging on the rim!

Becoming bonkproof

I'm De-bonking dat @$$.

Taking a cue from @CalebMasland blog post over at http://bit.ly/14Y9WO, I did a variation of the speed post fatigue workout.

The plan was four easy miles around a 7:20 pace, then a 5K, hopefully under 20 minutes. What a fantastic, soul-crushing (in a good way), leg-numbing workout. The first four miles are just candy. Nice steady pace, got a good sweat going, salivating about just killing the 5K at the end. Then the first fast mile is like being let off a leash, it's go time! Then just at the tail end of the first mile you realize you have to maintain this pace for the next 2+ miles if you wanna break 20:00. You suffer through the next mile, hoping you calculated your route to be long enough so you don't have to run loops through the neighborhood. Then the last mile is go time again and it's like there are wings under your feet, then (and this is not advisable) you crash during the last .11 miles because your @$$ is not yet de-bonked.

I'm happy to say that I did end up breaking 20:00 (19:57 to be exact) in the 5K part and even though I crashed over the "finish line", I can't wait to do this run again and other of Caleb's exercises

Side note: Seems I can write forever about my runs, but I can barely maintain one post a month on my work blog. Odd...

Total of 7.11 miles at 6:56 pace.

Splits were:
7:19
7:25
7:15
7:22
6:25
6:32
6:26
0:34 (.11 miles at 5:08 pace)

Ahh-bah-ba-ba-ba-bah

Ben wanted absolutely nothing with going to bed tonight.  So every time he fussed, I bounced up and down and he liked the funny noise.  This went on for 10 minutes and after realizing that I was doing the complete opposite of a quiet and relaxing bedtime, I decided I probably should at least document it.

I used to do this all the time when my sister Christina was just a baby, it’s so cool to be able to do it with Ben. 

Let’s play a game…

Who can guess what kind of shirt I wore to do 8 hours of yard work?

My new “training” plan

So, I’ve decided that I’m not going to do the KC Marathon.  I really wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but I just don’t have the time to dedicate to the training I’d need to hit the 3:10 mark for BQ.  I still might do the 1/2 marathon, but I dunno.  There is a whole different blog post why I really don’t like doing races that dips deep into the dark corners of my psyche (and 7th grade track repressed memories).
So, for now, I’m going to focus on being a fast short to medium distance runner.  Anything under 5 miles, I know how to pace myself to finish at a good time and have plenty of gas left to knock out a low 6 minute mile.  Anything more than 5, and I’m unsure where to hold up, when to speed up, etc.
Even though I’m not training for anything, I still need some form of structure otherwise I’ll just keep doing my favorite distance of 4 miles over and over.
My plan is to push myself out of my comfort zone and see what I can come up with.  I want to alternate my short and medium runs and have them add up to 10 miles.  So if I do 3 miles today, my next run will be 7 miles.  If I do a 9 miler, I can “reward” myself with a 1 mile run, etc.
I’m also setting a pace goals for myself, so I have a PR to shoot for every run:

Distance	Goal Pace	Current PR
1 Mile	5:40	5:46
2 Miles	5:55	6:35
3 to 4 Miles	6:05	6:12
4 to 5 Miles	6:25	6:35
5 to 6 Miles	6:30	6:43 6:39
6 to 7 Miles	6:30	6:43
7 to 8 Miles	6:45	None 6:56
8 to 9 Miles	6:45	7:07
9 to 10 Miles	6:45	7:31 6:54
10 Miles	6:59	7:14

I’d like to get four runs in a week, which would give me about 20 miles a week.  If I can stick to this plan for the rest of the year, and sprinkle in a couple of long runs, I’ll be able to get over 850 miles for 2009.  I’d be happy with that considering we had a baby last December, bought a house in June and other news that I can’t quite talk about yet.
I’d love to hear from other runners how they run when they are not training for anything.

Holy self-sufficient!

Good week so far

I’ve been getting in some good miles this week.

Monday, Ben and I went on a stroller run to Sar Ko Par Park.  He really likes the stroller runs.  Babble, babble, babble the whole time.  It’s awesome.  We got in 4.1 miles in 36:25 (8:53 pace – walked the first .75 miles)

Stroller walk/jog/run with Ben to the park to go on the swings. Walked first 3/4 mile, gradually picked up the pace.

Bath time and bedtime have turned into my job around here and I love it.  It’s our special time and we have a blast.  And Chels likes getting the time off!

After I put Ben down for the night, I headed out for a four miler by myself.  I did the Pflumm, 103rd, Quivira, 95th loop, which I will never do again because there isn’t any sidewalks on Quivira between 99th and 95th.  I’m not about to run though parking lots, so I ran upstream on the road and only got honked at once :)  Finished up with 4.26 miles in 28:20 for a 6:38 pace.

Felt strong the whole way. I've been getting these moments of self doubt about 2/3rd the way into my runs the last couple of weeks. It's been an awful mental roadblock, but I'm happy to report that didn't happen today. I didn't really do anything differently. Here's to hoping the demons stay away. Oh, and negative splits :) Splits were: 7:00 6:45 6:42 6:22 1:30 (.26 miles at 5:41 pace)

Yesterday, I woke up late and didn’t get a morning run in, but I did get another night run in.  Wove my way around several parks with bike paths.  5.15 miles in 34.35, a 6:43 pace.

Had to hurdle an off-leash maltese that was trying to make a late night snack out of my mizunos :) Found myself holding back a little bit, conserving for the unknown. Anything under 5 miles, I know I can just go out and not give too much thought to pacing myself. Above that, I worry if I go too fast, then I'm going to run out of energy and not finish at goal pace. I need to push myself outside of my comfort zone. Mix up my distances, paces, etc. Negative splits all under 7:00...double bonus!! :) Splits were: 6:56 6:52 6:46 6:44 6:29 0:45 (.15 miles at 5:15 pace)

This morning I woke up on my own at 5:30 and decided to try to get 6 miles in before the storm hit.  I just made it by 10 minutes.  I also think I left my alarm on set for 6:00, sorry bout that hun :)  I did an out and back on 95th street which has a really nice bike path past Renner.  Final tally was 6.32 miles in 43:58 – a 6:57 pace.

Start the morning off right with a nice 10K. Just beat the storm by about 10 minutes. When I talked last night about getting outside of my comfort zone, this is it. I missed negative splits by 12 seconds on my 4th mile! There was a nasty hill, but still 12 seconds is way off, especially when the goal is a progressive. My other goal was sub 7, and I got there, so not all is lost :) Splits were: 7:14 7:05 7:00 7:11 6:51 6:39 1:55 (.32 miles at 6:01 pace)

Monday I was running too late to ride my bike into the office, but I did Tuesday and took a longer route to make up some miles.  Not sure what I’m going to do this morning yet, it’s pretty wet out there and I’m not such a fan of programming in soggy shorts.

I’m thinking I can get 100 miles running this month.  I haven’t had a 100 mile month since July 2008 which was the first full month I started running.  I’m up to 65 miles this month, so barring injury or a spousal ban, I think I’m in good shape!

I could also get close to 250 total miles this month, I’m sitting at 127, but it’s within reach.

I always get the best parking spot

Ben is getting ready to climb the monkey bars

Ben wants to play in the EnGraph frisbee golf tourney

I wanna go fast!

I’ve had a couple good fast runs this week.  Well, I think they’ve been good, my knees on the other hand, are missing all the gravel road runs I used to do in Lawrence. 

Tuesday I did an out and and back on the Valleybrooke Park Trail.  It was supposed to be a recovery run of sorts, but I was really feeling it and kept the hammer down. 

5.08 miles in 34:18 – 6:45 pace

Calves and quads were still a bit tight from Sunday's 20 miler, but they loosened up pretty quickly. Hit my turnaround point sooner than I thought and had to run around the neighborhood a bit to get the full 5 miles. Hit a rough patch around mile 3, but finished up strong. Splits were: 7:01 6:49 6:43 6:49 6:26 0:27 (.08 miles at 5:46 pace)

 

Tonight, I wanted to push it a little harder, so I mapped out a 4 miler with the intention of pulling off a 6:30 pace.  Turns out, I bit off more than I could chew.  But, I ended up with negative splits and I really was happy with 6:35, just sucks when you miss your goal, even by a little bit.  Sunday’s 20 miler hurt because I really wanted a 7:30 pace.  I guess it gives me something to shoot for or whatever.

4.03 miles in 26:34 – 6:35 pace

Typical speed run. Start out strong, fear of failure and doubts in the middle, and finish up strong. Went out with the pipe dream of a 6:30 pace, but it turns out my legs only move so quickly :) Getting darker earlier, which I'm not a fan of considering most of my runs are after 8 PM after I put Ben down for the night. Splits were: 6:49 6:41 6:39 6:13 0:10 (.03 miles at 5:10 pace) Oh, cool...pulled out a progressive :)

Ben loves the swings

Missouri and back 20 miler

20.28 miles in 2:32:54 – 7:32 pace.

I'm not sure about this run. On one hand it felt really good to get a long run in. This was my longest run in over 10 months. On the other hand, I'm not sure if I'm cut out to be a long distance runner. The first five miles were pretty rough. I was trying to keep my pace around 7:55, and when I go that slow, my shins and knees start barking at me. When I speed up to <7:45, all the pain subsides. I guess I could just try going faster, but I'm pretty sure I need those 8 minutes miles if I'm ever going to finish a marathon.

So I don't know how I feel, this run was supposed to be a litmus test to decide if I'm going to start training for the Kansas City marathon on October 17th, but I feel just as ambiguous about it as I did before the run.

Splits were:
7:58
7:59
7:51
7:38
7:50
7:48
7:50
7:25
7:43
7:41
7:36
7:37
7:39
7:45
7:09 - not sure what happened there :)
7:24
7:12
7:11
7:01
6:45
1:42 (.28 miles at 6:05 pace)

Stroller run at Shawnee Mission park

Ben and I had a great stroller run at the park. It's not easy pushing him up some of those hills, and it's just as tough going down them. I was very happy that we ended up with a sub 8:00 pace.

4.15 miles in 31:55 – 7:42 pace.

Splits were:
7:56
8:15
7:40
7:08
0:55 (.15 miles at 6:17 pace)

My Location

Just playing around with instamapper.