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Progressive pace long run

This Saturday’s long run was to be progressive pace. That means that each mile is to be 15 seconds faster that the previous. It is to culminate in an all out mile preceeded by two miles at 10K pace. My 10K pace should be about 7:45 per mile based upon my MGP of 8:35 and the McMillan calculator. For me this is quite fast. This means that I would run my first mile at 9:30 per mile. Last night with my sore ankle I thought that maybe I should just do the mileage, and not try to achieve this performance level. I sent a note to my coach asking him his opinion. However I never got a response. When I was driving at 5:30 AM it started to rain and thunder. While standing waiting with the other runners in the rain I decided to start by myself regardless of the weather. Soaking wet with fogged glasses I continued on up Shoal Creek on my own never even considering my performance. I was just trying to get it done. It was too dark and rainy to even see the mileage cones. Finally it started to clear up about mile 4. After the turnaround at mile 5 I met up with my coach who told me that he had gotten my e-mail and he wanted me to take it easy. I assured him that was indeed what I was doing. This time as I ran back down on Shoal Creek I finally saw the mileage cones. Then at mile eight the sky darkened, and the rain started to pour again. I ended in a downpour in 1:42 or about 10:12 per mile. That definitely wasn’t my fastest, but at least I did the miles and I did them easy. On the way home I iced my ankle.

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My first massage

I called Lisa S., the massage therapist, on Wednesday and she had an opening on Thursday at 11 AM. So I took off from work for a 30 minute appointment. She worked mostly on my ankle and lower leg muscles. She knew how to make me squirm. It wasn’t exactly painful, but I really felt it. During her massage she found some internal scar tissue on the muscle above my left ankle. This might have caused tension and therefore the burning sensation. Afterward my muscles felt as if I had really worked them out. Wow! Lisa said that the first message is always the hardest. She told me that I have to do the following for the next week. (1) Stretch my calves 3-5 times daily. (2) Ice my ankle when in pain after a long run by keeping the ice pack on for 1 minute after it numbs. (3) Stretch my hamstrings while laying on my back with a tie or strap in the evenings. She finally suggested that I skip doing trails for a few weeks. We set up another 30 minute appointment for next week at the same time. I’ll keep you posted in this saga…

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MGP speed work

This week we warmed-up 2 miles, then ran 3 miles at MGP, and then cooled down with 2 miles back. I was to run at 8:35/M pace. All this was done on the Town Lake trail. Stretching beforehand and the warm-up helped alleviate the burning sensation in my ankle. However, when I got done running the 3 miles I was exhausted – the temperature was in the very high 90s Fahrenheit – ahhh, the Austin Summer is upon us. On the way back I stopped and walked the last mile with Jennifer L. She gave me the name of a Massage Therapist, Lisa S., who works out of her home in NW Austin (not downtown) which is nearby to me.

Mile Split Total Expected Split Expected Total
0.5 4:01.18 04:01.18 4:17.50 04:17.50
1.0 4:19.22 08:20.40 4:17.50 08:35.00
1.5 4:23.59 12:43.99 4:17.50 12:52.50
2.0 4:12.19 16:56.18 4:17.50 17:10.00
2.5 4:17.32 21:13.50 4:17.50 21:27.50
3.0 4:08.75 25:22.25 4:17.50 25:45.00

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Week 6, June 12 – June 18

From Rogue Running
Date: Monday, June 12, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 miles
Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2006; Workout: Meet at RunTex Riverside @ 6:30 p.m.; Trail fartlek @ 2 mile jog, 3 mile marathon pace, 2 mile jog. 7 miles total
Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 mi or cross train (XT) 1 hr; XT=bicycle, weights, water running, elliptical training, swimming, etc.
Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi
Date: Friday, June 16, 2006; Workout: off
Date: Saturday, June 17, 2006; Workout: Group run at 6am: 10 miles progressive pace run, route: “Big Fire”
Date: Sunday, June 18, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi w/ 4 – 5 strides (strides are 50-100 mtr accelerations at 5k-10k pace effort with 50-100 mtr slow jog in between)
WEEKLY TOTAL = 39 MILES

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Scenic long run

I ran the 12 mile “Scenic” long run today at 6 AM as part of my class. I completed it in 1:45:41 or about 8:48/M which is too fast. Actually I’m really surprised having thought that I was actually running somewhere in the 9 1/2 minutes per mile from trying to calculate it in my head before doing it with a calculator just now. These long runs are supposed to be a slow and easy. Oops. Most of my difficulty is that I started out with a fast crowd of George, Bob, Jennifer, and somewhat Kelly (Dan was not here this week) and that might not have been the best choice. So with all the water stops and still a 8:48/M pace I basically was running very near my marathon goal pace.

The muscles on the right side of my left ankle again had a burning sensation, but I just kept running. There was a time midway that I didn’t feel it at all which was great. At the beginning I know that I’m favoring it. When the run was over and as I was doing my foot exercises back at the building I could really feel it. One of my friends noticed that I was limping slightly and told me. I think I need to get it checked out. Ugh! However, right now just sitting still it’s fine. I did find out that if I spread my legs apart about 2 feet and then shift my weight back and forth from foot to foot I can make it burn more easily. So it seems that lateral pushing off of the left foot is key.

My heart rate was high at times because of the numerous hills, but at the beginning and especially at the end I tried to slow down without much success. I’m just a guy who pushes himself and I’ve got to learn to relax more. My mantra should be “long SLOW distance”. However, I’ve never really considered myself someone with a type-A personality.

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Exhausted

Tuesday’s class was tough. When I was done I was exhausted.

Half Lap (200M) Pace Expected Time Time Cum. Time
1 10K 00:56.00 00:55.77 00:55.77
2 10K 00:56.00 00:57.38 01:53.15
3 10K 00:56.00 00:56.87 02:50.02
4 10K 00:56.00 00:56.71 03:46.73
5 10K 00:56.00 00:56.42 04:43.15
6 MGP 01:04.00 01:05.09 05:48.24
7 MGP 01:04.00 01:03.15 06:51.39
8 MGP 01:04.00 01:03.22 07:54.51
9 MGP 01:04.00 01:02.88 08:57.49
10 MGP 01:04.00 01:03.26 10:00.75
11 10K 00:56.00 00:59.74 11:00.49
12 10K 00:56.00 00:59.00 11:59.49
13 10K 00:56.00 01:01.78 13:01.27
14 10K 00:56.00 01:01.25 14:02.52
15 10K 00:56.00 00:58.86 15:01.38
16 MGP 01:04.00 01:06.23 16:07.61
17 MGP 01:04.00 01:03.25 17:10.86
18 MGP 01:04.00 01:02.78 18:13.64
19 MGP 01:04.00 01:00.29 19:13.93
20 MGP 01:04.00 01:11.81 20:25.74


Update: It was also very hot. Somewhere around 95 degrees. Sheesh!

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Week 5, June 5 – June 11

From Rogue Running
Date: Monday, June 05, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 miles
Date: Tuesday, June 06, 2006; Workout: Meet at RunTex Riverside @ 6:30 p.m.; warmup jog 1 mile to Texas School for the Deaf track. Stretching and 200 m stride; 2 x 1000/1000m at 10k pace/ marathon pace. 1 mile jog back to store. 5 miles total.
Date: Wednesday, June 07, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 mi or cross train (XT) 1 hr; XT=bicycle, weights, water running, elliptical training, swimming, etc.
Date: Thursday, June 08, 2006; Workout: Easy 6 mi
Date: Friday, June 09, 2006; Workout: off
Date: Saturday, June 10, 2006; Workout: Group run at RunTex Riverside annex at 6am: 12 miles, route: Scenic
Date: Sunday, June 11, 2006; Workout: Easy 5 mi w/ 4 – 5 strides (strides are 50-100 mtr accelerations at 5k-10k pace effort with 50-100 mtr slow jog in between)
WEEKLY TOTAL = 38 MILES