11/21 – Sunday – Neighborhood – 7.4 miles – 84 minutes – R/W
11/22 – Monday – Neighborhood – 4.5 miles – 55 minutes – R/W
11/23 – Tuesday – Class – 12.2 miles – 124 minutes – R/W
11/24 – Wednesday – Neighborhood – 4.1 miles – 44 minutes – R/W
11/25 – Thursday – Turkey Trot (walked it with Katie who was hurt) – 4.6 miles – 82 minutes – R/W
11/26 – Friday – off – R/W
11/27 – Saturday – Long Run – 9.8 miles – 112 minutes – R/W
Weekly mileage: Expected 60, Actual 42.6 miles
Shoe mileage: 116.6 miles
R = Roller
W = Weights
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Running log week of 2010-11-14
11/14 – Sunday – San Antonio Half Marathon – 13.2 miles – 1:49:44 minutes – R/W
11/15 – Monday – Neighborhood – 7.1 miles – 76 minutes – R/W
11/16 – Tuesday – Class – 10.1 miles – 107 minutes – R/W
11/17 – Wednesday – Neighborhood – 4.5 miles – 47 minutes – R/W
11/18 – Thursday – Class – 11.8 miles – 112 minutes – R/W
11/19 – Friday – off – R/W
11/20 – Saturday – Long Run – 18.4 miles – 180 minutes – R/W
Weekly mileage: Expected 60, Actual 65.1 miles
Shoe mileage: 74.0 miles
R = Roller
W = Weights
San Antonio Half Marathon
The San Antonio Half Marathon was Team Rogue’s first race of the season. I arrived the day before just in time. I got to the hotel and walked about a mile to the Alamodome to pick up my packet, and they closed five minutes after I got there. Whew! No Expo for me. That was close. The half marathon was medium hard. All the training, all the distance, and all the early mornings have paid off.
But let me back up… The day before on my 7-10 mile long run I had to stop after about a mile. A muscle or two in my lower abdomen (groin?) suddenly started to burn going up Comal. I tried to walk it off, but it kept up, so I stopped running and walked back to Rogue. I was dumbstruck – what just happened. So I was very concerned. The race was tomorrow. I felt that my plans to push the half marathon the next day might be too much. So all I could do was say to myself – Take it easy and see how it feels in the morning. That night I was feeling OK, but sitting on the bed I could feel the muscle. Hmmm, what should I do, what should I do…
The next day I got up and dressed, had breakfast (cereal from the hotel), and headed over to the start line. I found my corral and then ran about a 1.5 miles warm up. The groin muscle was there, but it was greatly diminished. So I decided to run at my half marathon pace of 8:42 min/mile (overall time 1:53:48) and see how I felt. I got back to my corral and waited and waited. The weather was overcast, and in the mid 50s (degrees Fahrenheit). I had on shorts, short sleeve, and my Team Rogue singlet, and felt fine – not too cold, not too hot. There was a slight breeze, but nothing to worry about.
When the horn went off I was in the front of the corral 8. Frank Shorter blew the horn for us – neat! The previous corral group was about a quarter mile ahead of us. We took off and I felt fine so I just ran normally. I had to slow myself down and moderate my starting-line adrenaline rush. I caught up to the next group easily. Threading my way through the pack was awful. And the numerous turns on the course and narrow streets were very tough too. For the first 4-5 miles I was threading my way through the pack. Not very fun especially if you are running to get a good time. I was running on sidewalks, ducking and weaving, and dodging people all over the place. Sheesh!
Finally after several miles things opened up and the majority of runners were around my same pace. The miles slowly clicked by. I had my Mocha Clif Shot around 6.5 miles. Not knowing the course was hard because I couldn’t meter out my energy knowing what hills were coming. As I was running I was trying to calculate what it would take to break 1 hour 50 minutes. So for the second half I tried to push it a bit just in case I could do that. My groin issue was non-existent which was great. Getting from mile 12 to 13 seemed to take forever. At the end, around the Alamodome, we had to climb a hill (ugh!), turn a corner and there was the finish line. Done!
I completed in 1:49:44 (official). Woohoo! I broke 1:50. Also I was 10th out of 214 in my age group. My Garmin said that I had run 13.21 miles (so it’s a little bit off and it suggests that my times below are a bit faster than reality). Overall I felt good afterwards, that is, I was not totally wiped out, but in control, metered, tired but comfortable. Met Stephanie (actually she saw me). We found and talked to Steve. He said that other Rogue Elites and Team Rogue mens and womens had finished very well, that is, they has placed in many of the top places. He also said to take my time, double it, and add 10 minutes for my marathon time. That means I should complete in 3:50 (note: McMillan says 3:51:25 with an 8:50 pace) which is good, because my BQ is 4:00. I felt very satisfied with my performance. So I gotta keep it up, and look forward to CIM now – the real thing.
Garmin mile by mile is:
Mile Time 1 08:26 2 08:31 3 08:24 4 08:21 5 08:30 6 08:28 7 08:36 8 08:10 9 08:21 10 08:12 11 08:20 12 08:13 13 07:47 13.21 01:22
Official final time 1:49:44
The splits from the website are:
Split Time Pace 5K 0:26:21 8:29 10K 0:52:41 8:29 7.6Mi 1:02:12 8:11 10Mi 1:24:26 8:27 Finish 1:49:44 8:23
Running log week of 2010-11-07
11/07 – Sunday – Neighborhood – 8.1 miles – 81 minutes – R/W
11/08 – Monday – Neighborhood – 4.5 miles – 49 minutes – R/W
11/09 – Tuesday – Class – 13.9 miles – 128 minutes – R/W
11/10 – Wednesday – Neighborhood – 4.2 miles – 43 minutes – R/W
11/11 – Thursday – Class (new shoes) – 7.0 miles – 69 minutes – R/W
11/12 – Friday – off – n R/W
11/13 – Saturday – Long Run – 1.9 miles – 29 minutes – no R/W
Weekly mileage: Expected 40, Actual 39.6 miles
Shoe mileage: 8.9 miles
R = Roller
W = Weights
Loops in the dark
Boy getting up this morning was tough. I was not looking forward to this practice. All I kept thinking about was this past Sunday on the track. Those 24 laps. Those drop downs. The exhaustion and cramps afterwards. I know. I know. It was to simulate the end of the marathon. The time when you have to gut it out and get ‘er done. When you have to push, push more and push beyond. So I feared this morning and repeating those laps on the track with drop downs. Lap upon lap. In the dark. Missing those stupid holes. Around that loop again and again. I wondered if I had it in me. The self doubts were devils in my brain. But I’ve learned that if you’re told to do something you give it a try. I’ve also learned that Steve is a great coach. He builds you up so you can achieve what he’s asking. So I do it. I follow orders. I run the loops. I count the laps. It’s too dark to read my watch. I’ll do my best unknowing the time and check when I get home. I’ve got no group to help me, to run with me today. Kim offered to follow, but I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else today. I was worried. I wanted to crawl into a hole. The running starts, the laps go by, the traffic gets bad. I keep going. I decide to run it straight. No breaks, no 400m recoveries, just 24 laps making each one faster. 4 done, 8 done, 12 and halfway, they blur one after the other, only 4 more, only 3/4 lap, finished. Get water, jog slowly back to the pool. At home I check the times. I can’t believe them. Was the Garmin off? They’re much faster than I expected considering my MGP is 9:10, HMGP is 8:42, 10K is 8:13, and 5K is 7:55. My results were mile 1: 8:22, mile 2: 8:24, mile 3: 8:00, mile 4: 7:58, mile 5: 7:42, and mile 6: 7:44. And I was supposed to start at MGP. And not go under my 5K pace. Oops. If I add up my times and include a tenth of a mile (48:10+0:74=49:24) it’s only 40 seconds over my 10K PR (48:44). What? Unbelievable! I lean back, smile and wonder what the future holds…
Running log week of 2010-10-31
10/31 – Sunday – Race Prep 3 – 26.1 miles – 267 minutes – R/W
11/01 – Monday – Neighborhood – 4.7 miles – 67 minutes – R/W
11/02 – Tuesday – Class – 9.7 miles – 109 minutes – R/W
11/03 – Wednesday – Neighborhood – 7.1 miles – 77 minutes – R/W
11/04 – Thursday – Class – 9.3 miles – 87 minutes – R/W
11/05 – Friday – off
11/06 – Saturday – Long Run – 14.6 miles – 160 minutes – R/W
Weekly mileage: Expected 60, Actual 71.5 miles
Shoe mileage: 351.1 miles
R = Roller
W = Weights
Counting Laps in Binary
This past weekend I had to count 24 laps, 4 per mile times 6 miles. So to keep me busy as I ran around the loop over and over again I decided to count on my fingers. However, instead of using base 10 I used base 2 or binary. This allowed me to easily count to 8 on one hand. I used my thumb to hold down 3 of my 4 fingers. A finger up is a 0 and a finger held down is a 1. My index finger is the 1s place (2**0 where ‘M**N’ means M raised to the N power), my middle finger is the 2s place (2**1), and my third finger is the 4s place (2**2). But enough of the math, here is a table of the number and signs as I counted.
| Laps Completed | Finger Position |
|---|---|
| 0 |  |
| 1 |  |
| 2 |  |
| 3 = 2 + 1 |  |
| 4 |  |
| 5 = 4 + 1 |  |
| 6 = 4 + 2 |  |
| 7 = 4 + 2 + 1 |  |
I could have counted to 16 with all 4 fingers, where my pinkie is the 8s place (2**3), but it wasn’t worth it. Anyways this kept me busy enough as I struggled to concentrate on just running and counting to 8 three times.
