Brain Training

this is week three of Matt Fitzgerald's brain training. Last week I put in 38 miles this week I will be right at 40.

Tonight was a difficult hill repeat session. the program called for 8x45 second reps with two minute breaks at 5:55. It sucked Sucked sucked. I got through it and I was somewhat satisfied that I made it through the repeats but the hill training is enough to cause nipple bleeding.

I finished with a total of six miles for tonight and ended with a smoothie spiked with accelerade.

Sunset Stampede 10 Miler Race Report

Yesterday' sunset stampede in Asheville was supposed to be a slow long training run. My goal was to simply finish. I told my wife (who was to meet me at the finish line) to expect a finish of somewhere between an hour and a half to two hours. I havent spent too much time training on hills and I had my concerns about my endurance....it didnt help that i read a race report from the famed Kenyan runner (and 2003 Sunset Stampede winner) David Kipngetich in which he stated “I liked the race....The way it was organized-excellent. But the problem was the course; it was so hard. Out of all the events that I’ve run, I think this was the toughest.”

The Kenyan was right....it was a brutal course....but somewhere along mile five of the race (my thoughts of treating this race as a slow training run changed (it helped that the remaining miles were downhill). With each mile my confidence increased as reflected by my splits:


Mile 1 8'11
Mile 2 8'06
Mile 3 8'22
Mile 4 8'24
Mile 5 8'52
Mile 6 7'15
Mile 7 6'39
Mile 8 6'59
Mile 9 6'58
Mile 10 7'40

Time 1'17'24 (Garmin) 7'44 Pace/Official Time (1:18'01)

Tied for 17th Overall
Age Group 4th

Overall Im really happy with my results and I plan on running the Sunset Stampede again next year. It was a great race to build on in anticipation of the Philadelphia Marathon in the fall.

Night of the Ninja

Saturday night's 5k may have been my first experience with running a sub-20 5k. I say maybe because I (and about 10 others) took a 20 second detour off of the race route before being alerted that we were off course.

Even with the detour I ended the race at 20:13, not far from my goal. I finished 15 over all and 2nd in my age group (35-39).

In any event I took a minute off of my 5k time from three weeks ago. How can that be? The course was pretty hilly...one possibility is my red Asics Pirahna. They felt as light as slippers.

Im feeling a bit more sore this time compared to the Fallafel 5k a few weeks ago.
Hopefully I will be fully recovered before this coming saturday's 10 mile sunset stampe race, where the first 5 miles are straight up. The race flyer brags that its enough to make Kenyans squeel. I'm aching already.

Tuesday May 20

Today was a recovery run from my longer (only 13 miles total) weekend runs. My totals for tonight were 5 miles at 9:00. Very slow but thats what recovery runs are supposed to be, right?

ON the marathon training front, Im still looking for a good training plan. I have Jeff Galloways "Marathon You can do it" and there's a pretty decent plan but it calls for walk breaks during the long runs. Im just not sure that the walk breaks are for me.

The idea is to run 30 seconds/per mile faster during the marathon and then take a minute walk break every two miles. This is supposed to prevent the accumulation of too much lactic acid and to allow you to finish strong. Im sure its a good strategy for most folks but the thought of resting so frequently just doesnt sit well with me. My fear is that I will over exert my self with the faster pace and not really recover during the walk breaks.

Any way if any of you (all two of you) have a training plan you're willing to share feel free to send it my way. I will be most grateful.

Long Run

Sunday was a long 9 mile run in the beuatiful bent creek forest. My actual total mileage was 10.85 (I walked the last two miles). For the 9 miles I ran 9:17 (pretty slow). I felt good overall however the hills kicked my ass. Here are the vitals:



Distance: 10.85 miles Elevation Avg: 2266 ft

Total Uphill:
+980 ft
Total Downhill:
-1145 ft

Time:
1:49:55
Speed:
5.9 mph
Pace:
10' 08 min/mile
Calories:
1189

Philadelphia Marathon

Well its official...Im now registered for a date with destiny. I'm really excited that my first marathon will be through the fast, mostly flat, streets that Rocky trained on for his match with the Russian great Ivan Drago.

In other news my Asics Piranha arrived today (all 4.2 ounces of them). I cant wait to kick some ninja ass in the Night of the Ninja 5k next week.

5k Race Report

Well I have some work to do before I can expect to get my 5k below 20 minutes. I ran today's Fallafel 5k in Asheville (a well orgainzed event ) and ended up with a 21:18 time. Not bad for my first 5k of the year but very far from my target. 1/2 of the course was uphill and the temp was around 80 degrees, two factors that probably didnt help.




Other vitals: My avg pace was 6:54, max heart rate was 187, avg. was 174. Hopefully I will build on today's performance in two weeks from now with my next 5k: the Night of the Ninja.