cardano Training Blog

I did my longest run to date this sunday- 17 miles through slushy snow. It was enjoyable, but I ended up going slower than usual. I had no route in mind beforehand, so I just wandered around, and ended up running through most of the downtown area and the west side of Madison, and over a few miles of the Ironman Wisconsin course.
The forecast for this week calls for 5-9 inches of snow tuesday night and wednesday… I’m pissed. Up ’til this afternoon it was supposed to be sunny and 30 midweek! Please come soon, spring!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 01/06/2008
• Time: 19:32:46
• Total Time: 2:14:00.00
• Distance: 16 miles
• Average Pace: 8:22.79/mile

Every time I write a ‘long run’ post I have this urge to make a naughty joke… but I resist it.
Anyway, I woke up this morning to find everything covered in massive banks of fog- and the temperature around 45*, the warmest it’s been in months. I started some pizza dough rising for this afternoon and set out on a 16 mile run, my longest ever. It was pretty cool, running through the fog, but I definitely felt my workload from the last 4 days- I want to go into long runs fresher than that in the future. I plan to avoid late parties (like this week), and I think that will help. Just a couple more weeks of this base-training stuff, and then I start the Jack Daniel’s Marathon program- Phase II! I should probably replace my running shoes before then- they’ve got about 750 miles on them now. I’ve been holding off because I’m tight on cash, but it’s probably time for a new pair if I want to avoid injury.
My summary for this week: 51.27 miles total
Monday 5.25 @ 8:47 (with strides)
Tuesday 5 @ 8:09
Wednesday 0 (I was being irresponsible)
Thursday 8.5 @ 8:55
Friday 8.2 @ 8:13
Saturday 8.4 @ 8:14
Sunday 16 @ 8:22

I’ve registered for a half-iron this July! Whoo! That means I’ve got two big ‘A’ races nailed down for the year (Marathon in the spring, Half-Iron in mid-summer), and I can just fit in the others as budget allows. Now I have to start swimming… a sport I’ve never trained for systematically. I made it through the sprint tri’s last summer in not-embarrassing time using mostly breast-stroke, a stroke I’m pretty comfortable with, but I’d really rather use something faster in the future- so freestyle it is. I’m planning on working with the Total Immersion books through the winter, and then getting an open-water swim coach this spring and summer. What have people heard about TI? Good?
My running has been going well- I’ve been holding pretty steady at 50-60 miles a week for the last few weeks, and doing 3-4 hour-plus runs a week, including 1 1.5-2-hour long run every week. I’m not feeling stiff or sore, which is quite encouraging.
I saw the funniest runner in the arboretum the other day- he was this little short guy, but really stocky, and he was taking enormous long strides; he looked like he had little rockets in his shoes that went off every step. He must’ve had great lower leg strength.

…is now 14.7 miles. I felt really crappy the first 8.5 miles (my first loop),
but after a quick stop for water, I felt amazing the final 10K (a second, different loop).
The funniest thing was, I passed some guy walking through the arboretum at mile 4, and said hi. Imagine my surprise when, 10 miles of running later, on the other side of town, I see the same guy again, still walking!
Miraculously, my sore hip and hamstring vanished without a trace after this run. They felt pretty bad midway through, but went away ne’re to return during the second half. I guess the moral is, when you feel bad, run farther!
I recorded a few splits:
Mile 8.5: 1:11:54
Next 10K:
Mile 1: 7:40
Mile 2: 7:26
Mile 3: 7:46
Final 3.2 miles: 25:27

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/23/2007
• Time: 13:00:00
• Total Time: 2:00:13.00
• Distance: 14.7 miles
• Average Pace: 8:10.46/mile
• Max Pace: 6:50.02/mile

First 8.5 Miles: 1:11:54
Final 10K: 48:21

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 11/06/2007
• Time: 07:20:00
• Total Time: 1:11:20.00
• Distance: 8.85 miles
• Average Pace: 8:03.87/mile

This morning I ran about 9 miles through the arboretum. It was really, really windy- gusts of up to 40mph. At times I was shoved forward forcefully, at others unable to move forward at anything more than a crawl.
Well, it was fun. I don’t look forward to biking home from class today though- into the wind and uphill the whole way.

This morning I ran 10 miles to Skyline Dr., an extremely hilly route, but very enjoyable. I was bemused to see 4 or 5 dump trucks driving loops around a block in some secluded, high-class neighborhood. Huh?
I really picked it up for the last mile or so, running a 6:50.
I felt great, but for some strange reason, my calves are really sore. My legs were no were near this sore just a few weeks ago, when I did quite a few longish runs in quick succesion, while rowing was still in season.
A mystery. Maybe it’s my body catching up with me, saying ‘WTF man. I want a rest after that long bus trip!’
Anyway, I’m looking forward to really increasing my training volume in the next few weeks. Tommorow after work I’m going to bike around a bit to check out some local outdoor tracks, to see if I can use them for interval training.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 10/30/2007
• Time: 18:29:01
• Total Time: 1:20:50.00
• Average Heart rate: 161
• Distance: 10 miles
• Average Pace: 8:05.18/mile

I’m back from Columbus, and done with rowing. Wow. I am tired.
We finished up with racing at about 4pm yesterday, left Columbus around 5, and got back into town at about 2am, after which we unloaded the trailer and rigged boats before putting them back into the bays.
As it so happened, it was the night of the annual halloween party for the students, so State st. was packed with people who were having trouble walking straight.
I finally got to sleep at around 3:30.
This morning I got up and made delicious deep dish pizza and brownies. Yum. They were very popular.
This evening I went on an 8-mile run around the arboretum, as the sun was setting. I had a lot of fun, and it was a good time to stop thinking about all the stuff I’ve been dwelling on recently. I feel refreshed.

Today was the longest run of week 8, 10 miles at an 8:18 pace. I ended up running through quite a bit of construction, but the workers pretty much ignored me as I dashed through.
A cold rain was falling the whole time, but I enjoyed it never-the-less.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 10/19/2007
• Time: 07:30:00
• Total Time: 1:23:00.00
• Average Heart rate: 154
• Max Heart rate: 165
• Distance: 10 miles
• Average Pace: 8:17.93/mile

This morning I got up early to run 7 miles to the entrance to Picnic Point. It was great weather- about 50 degrees, with a beautiful sunrise. I didn’t feel tired at all from running intervals yesterday. My right hamstring and both deltoids are very sore from rowing, though. A little frustrating since we weren’t working that hard the last couple days.

We got our first midterm tests back today in lab. I was appalled when I saw my score, until I looked closely at the component parts and realized someone had made an arithmetic error in computing my total.
Funny to think that when we (the students) are penalized for every minor error on a test, a minor error like the one made adding up my score (an error made in “real life”, that is) is simply fixed by talking with people and in the end doesn’t matter at all. What ever are they teaching us? The wrong thing, I think.