cardano Training Blog

I’ve survived the snow so far, and managed to run at the prescribed 90% of my peak mileage this past week. Here’s a short recap:
Sunday: 17 miles at 8:55 pace. This is the longest run I’ve ever done. Yay! I spent most of the run truding through sludgy snow.

Monday: Rest. Ahhh.

Tuesday: 12 miles at 8:13 pace. Felt really easy. Goes to show what a difference good footing makes.

Wednesday: 7 miles at 10:30 pace. I was running in the middle of a blizzard, through about 10 inches of fresh snow.

Thursday: 9 miles at 8:30 pace. I was trying to go easy, and managed to. I listened to some really interesting stuff, and had a great run.

Friday: I ran twice, 3.4 in the morning, and then 6.8 later in the day, both at about 8:30 pace. I developed an unusual pain in my right ankle, that I think has something to do with running on snow.

Saturday: My interval day. 5 x 1K at V02 max pace, which turned out to be about 6:45 in snow. 2.75 mile warmup + cooldown, to total about 6 miles.

Total for the week, 60 miles.

As for this week, it started off with a high of -2 on Sunday, with windchill at about -35. I did not run, though I did enjoy some good local theatre. Today I got in 2 x 12 minutes at tempo pace, + 9 miles easy.

Yes- 7-13 inches expected over the next 24 hours.
I did get in another good run today, though. 12 miles @ 8:13 pace. For the first time ever, I ran with an ipod, something I haven’t really wanted to do before (normally I enjoy focusing on the run), but the boring weather prompted me to give it a try, and it really made the time fly by to listen to the phedipidations pod-cast. I may take it again tomorrow if the weather isn’t nice (and it wont be).
I also got in some more swimming time this morning- I’m seeing weekly improvements on my freestyle stroke.

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!

This morning I ran 4 x 1 Kilometer @ V02 Max pace with 3 minutes rest. I had intended to do 5 repetitions, but it turns out that it’s more work to run through 1/4 inch slush than flat pavement, so I totally blew up after the 4th repetition. God, I’m tired of winter weather. It’s hard to tell whether I’m improving, or even hitting my paces, over such inconsistent terrain. I think I need a health-club membership next winter.
Well, enough whining.

Well, I haven’t posted for quite a while, as you can see, but I’ve kept myself pretty busy…
New since last time:
1. I am 2.5 weeks into quality marathon training (Phase II in Daniel’s Running Formula). Still running 50-60 miles/week, but now with 2-3 quality runs per week. At this stage, I am emphasizing tempo-pace running to improve lactate threshold, and 3-5 minute intervals to improve VO2 max.

2. I’m really sick of cold weather.

3. I’ve got a cadence-measuring cyclocomputer, which makes riding on the trainer more enjoyable (it gives me a way to gauge performance, even though the speed probably isn’t accurate on the trainer).

4. I’m really really sick of cold weather.

5. Grades are back from the fall semester- 4.0!

6. Finally someone is organizing a race in the aforementioned cold weather. I’m kinda eager to do some racing again- see if I’ve improved at all over the last 3 months.

7. I’ve been getting in some swimming time. My wretched freestyle has improved to terrible, and with luck will be poor by the time the lake is warm enough to swim in this spring.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 01/07/2008
• Time: 18:17:20
• Total Time: 00:48:00.00
• Distance: 5.2 miles
• Average Pace: 9:13.85/mile

I have the sneaking suspicion that the entire city has been transplanted into 19th century London.
I couldn’t see the watch on my wrist. Cars and people appear out of the fog as if some giant hand had plopped them down on the ground 20 feet in front of me. It was cool, but it made me more cautious a runner than I would normally be. So I just took it easy and tried to recover from my long run yesterday.

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.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/05/2007
• Time: 17:09:01
• Total Time: 00:01:00.00
• Distance: 7.25 miles
• Average Pace: 0:08.28/mile
• Max Pace: 6:00/mile

1 mile easy
12 x (400 @ 1:30-1:35 with 2:30 rest)
1 mile easy.

I was able to find a nice place to run, free from ice for the most part.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/03/2007
• Time: 15:00:00
• Total Time: 00:54:58.00
• Distance: 6 miles
• Average Pace: 9:09.62/mile
• Max Pace: 7:30/mile

Mile 1: 10:15 (icy, downhill- fell over once)
Mile 2: 9:30 (slightly less icy- I was able to run on the road)
Mile 3: 8:08 (thank you, Arboretum staff!)
Mile 4: 7:55 (see above)
Mile 5: 10:05 (icy, uphill)
Mile 6: 9:02 (icy, flat)