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July 2008
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Group Run 06:04 am

Ran with Allan, Val, and Nancy. A good run and I would have liked to have run a little bit faster but with the humidity - it just wasn’t in my today. I also didn’t eat as soon as I woke up - I think that made a difference, too.

Activity
Route: Elev. Avg: 14 ft
Location: Charleston, SC Elev. Gain: +0 ft
Date: 07/23/08 Up/Downhill: [+252/-252]
Time: 06:04 AM Difficulty: 2.5 / 5.0
 
Weather: Fair
  76 F temp; 85%% humidity
  76 F heat index; winds SW 6 MPH
Performance
Distance: 4.80 miles Goal: 11' 00 min/mi pace

Time: 0:59:58
Speed: 4.8 mph Attained: 88%
Pace: 12' 29 /mi
Calories: 753
Map

 
Pace (min/mile)

 
Splits
Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation
Gain
actual +/- goal actual +/- goal
1 13' 23 +2' 23 4.5 -1.0 +4 ft
2 12' 17 +1' 17 4.9 -0.6 +3 ft
3 12' 05 +1' 05 5.0 -0.5 0 ft
4 11' 39 +0' 39 5.2 -0.3 0 ft
end 13' 07 +2' 07 4.6 -0.9 -6 ft
Versus goal of 11' 00 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Pace Running

Today I worked on marathon race pace - 11 min/mile. I’m basing it on a 1.03.00 10K, my PR at that distance, done in May. I want to run the half marathon next week at the same pace. It will be my tune up race for the marathon. I went to the outside track so I wouldn’t be distracted by Boot Camp. They came upstair during my third repeat.

I did 4 x 1/2 mile repeats with a one lap walk/jog in between. Laps are 1/6 mile. Started with a one mile warm up and ended with a one mile cooldown.

Times: 5.32, 5.32, 5.30, 5.09 - Boot Campers were running on the track at the same time. I’m not competitive but I stopped paying attention to pace. 

Monday Ride

Spent 30 minutes on the bike. NR=1150. I’ve found it gets harder for me to push the HR up as I get fitter. Now my quads have to catch up to my cardio endurance.

The Sweat Test

Oh, gosh, that really does sound gross, doesn’t it. Today, Class, we’re speaking of body fluids and nakedness, so if it bothers you, go somewhere else. It’s my blog and I’m staying here.

Last week, during a 12-mile run, I ran into some serious problems because I was not well hydrated. I was probably either on the brink of heat exhaustion or may have even crossed over the line. That’s a problem not only for that run but for all future runs. If you end up with a severe instance of your body adversely reacting to the heat - either heat exhaustion, or more seriously - heat stroke - you are more susceptible to heat illness in the future. So you need to do everything you can combat that without going into hyponatremia.

The sweat test is part of the arsenal of tools to combat dehydration. Plan a run of 60 minutes in the conditions in which you normally train. For me, it’s high humidity and temps in the high 70s. Weigh yourself with no clothes on just before running. Use a scale that is accurate to at least a tenth of a pound, prefereably accurate to the ounce. When you get back from your run, strip down and dry yourself completely before stepping on the scale. Your weight loss in ounces is the amount of liquid ounces you lost during the hour run.

For me - this morning I ran for 56 minutes and lost 4.0 lbs. That’s 64 ounces. No wonder I had such a problem last week - I only consumed 24 ounces in the first 90 minutes and then went for another 90 minutes with no additional fluids. I already knew what I did this time didn’t work and that what I did last year mostly did work. Now I know if I’m running for more than an hour that I need to consume 64 ounces every hour. That’s a lot more than the Fuel Belt carries. I may resort to a Camelback or use some other plan. Bottom line is - I need a better plan next time.

Monday Run 05:46 am

I skipped Boot Camp this morning to run. After having the weekend off, I was a little antsy. I also wanted to put my new found knowledge to the test. So I looked up my pace to run and it fell around 13 min/mile so that was my goal. 4 miles@13. I felt like I was the slowest guy out there and I was!

As you can see from the pace chart, I didn’t do a very good job at holding an even pace and it wasn’t even near 13 min/mile most times. My phone beeps every 1/4 mile and gives me an audible indication of how I’m doing in meeting my pace goal. Usually, it was telling me to slow down. Periodically, it told me to speed up. Rarely was it silent, meaning I was with 10 seconds of my pace.

Activity
Route: Elev. Avg: 12 ft
Location: Charleston, SC Elev. Gain: +0 ft
Date: 07/21/08 Up/Downhill: [+331/-331]
Time: 05:46 AM Difficulty: 2.7 / 5.0
 
Weather: Fog And Mist
  78 F temp; 87%% humidity
  78 F heat index; winds W 6 MPH
Performance
Distance: 4.61 miles Goal: 13' 00 min/mi pace

Time: 0:59:21
Speed: 4.7 mph Attained: 101%
Pace: 12' 52 /mi
Calories: 733
Map

 
Elevation (ft)

 
Pace (min/mile)

 
Splits
Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation
Gain
actual +/- goal actual +/- goal
1 12' 34 -0' 26 4.8 +0.2 +3 ft
2 12' 44 -0' 16 4.7 +0.1 +6 ft
3 12' 36 -0' 24 4.8 +0.1 -3 ft
4 13' 16 +0' 16 4.5 -0.1 -6 ft
end 13' 20 +0' 20 4.5 -0.1 0 ft
Versus goal of 13' 00 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Coaching Certification

I spent the last two days attending a coaching certification class put on by the Road Runners Club of America (www.rrca.org). A lot of really good information. Compared to the things I’ve been doing, I am more conservative in the amount of mileage whereas what they taught is more consrvative in terms of pace. Will I radically restructure my training as I prepare for the Marine Corps Marathon? No, probably not. Will I change what I do? Absolutely - part of my conservative approach is because I want to get to the start line healthy. However, in talking and learning, I’ve learned that I can add some more miles each week, especially if I start counting Boot Camp miles. If I add  the miles, I also need to slow down the pace of some of my runs.

Why would I take such a class? I have found in working with others is that they look to me for advice about their running. These are people that know that I only start training  and working out two years ago. And yet, for some reason, they trust my advice. I want to always give good advice and I feel like this class has given me a huge bump in knowledge that I would not have gained on my own. It has also tapped me into a network of other coaches with whom I can ask advice and refer people to if they are beyond my level of knowledge.

Friday Run 06:05 pm

I started out with a plan to run 9 miles - from the Old Village of Mt Pleasant to Sullivan’s Island and back. I got to the Ben Sawyer Bridge and it was open. I’m so slow that I figured it would be open and closed by the time I got to the top. It didn’t, so Iturned around and headed back.

The run felt really good. I wanted to work on keeping up my pace and not slowing down. I thin I mostly succeeded at keeping it around 12 min/ mile. Did a 1/2 mile recovery after the seven miles.

Activity
Route: Elev. Avg: 9 ft
Location: Mount Pleasant, SC Elev. Gain: +3 ft
Date: 07/18/08 Up/Downhill: [+472/-469]
Time: 06:05 PM Difficulty: 3.2 / 5.0
 
Weather: Overcast
  79 F temp; 82%% humidity
  79 F heat index; winds E 10 MPH
Performance
Distance: 7.01 miles Goal: 12' 00 min/mi pace

Time: 1:23:13
Speed: 5.1 mph Attained: 101%
Pace: 11' 52 /mi
Calories: 1144
Map

 
Elevation (ft)

 
Pace (min/mile)

 
Splits
Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation
Gain
actual +/- goal actual +/- goal
1 11' 44 -0' 16 5.1 +0.1 -10 ft
2 11' 05 -0' 55 5.4 +0.4 +6 ft
3 11' 15 -0' 45 5.3 +0.3 -3 ft
4 12' 20 +0' 20 4.9 -0.1 +3 ft
5 11' 54 -0' 06 5.0 +0.0 +7 ft
6 12' 36 +0' 36 4.8 -0.2 -6 ft
7 12' 04 +0' 04 5.0 -0.0 +7 ft
end 20' 00 +8' 00 3.0 -2.0 0 ft
Versus goal of 12' 00 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Run 06:00 am

Good run this morning. Ran with 2 Cathy’s, Val, Trish, and Becca. We ran faster than we normally do and were at goal pace for most of the run with a warm up mile and cool down mile.

Activity
Route: Elev. Avg: 14 ft
Location: Charleston, SC Elev. Gain: -3 ft
Date: 07/16/08 Up/Downhill: [+259/-262]
Time: 06:00 AM Difficulty: 2.3 / 5.0
 
Weather: Fog And Mist
  72 F temp; 94%% humidity
  72 F heat index; winds NE 8 MPH
Performance
Distance: 4.79 miles
Time: 0:56:03
Speed: 5.1 mph
Pace: 11' 42 /mi
Calories: 762
Map

 
Elevation (ft)

 
Pace (min/mile)

 
Splits
Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation
Gain
actual +/- avg actual +/- avg
1 13' 18 +1' 36 4.5 -0.6 +3 ft
2 10' 30 -1' 12 5.7 +0.6 0 ft
3 10' 48 -0' 54 5.5 +0.4 +3 ft
4 11' 29 -0' 13 5.2 +0.1 -3 ft
end 12' 34 +0' 52 4.8 -0.4 -6 ft
Versus average of 11' 42 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Tuesday Bike

Spent 45 minutes on the bike and then 15 minutes doing exercises with fellow Boot Campers.

Monday Glide

Spent 60 minutes on the arc trainer. HR=125. Felt really good to move my legs without pounding them.