Two Cold Outdoor Runs And Too Many Indoors

In the 11 days so far in 2010, I have run 7 times - all but 2 have been inside on the treadmill. Have I become a gym rat??? (or perhaps a hamster in a wheel???)

My two outdoor runs came on Tuesday during lunchtime and on Saturday afternoon. Both days the temperatures climbed above freezing to 35 degrees - and on both days the wind chills were about 24 degrees. Hard to believe that this was during the warmest part of the day!

I think the hardest part of these runs was getting out the door. The first mile is always difficult - running faster than I should just to warm up - but once I get going I don't feel so cold.

Tuesday's lunchtime run quickly became a tempo run. Mile 1 was in 9:05 and since I was relatively warm at that point I had no interest in slowing down. There were a few points during the run where gusts of wind made me feel like I was running in place, but overall I was able to cut through the wind and finish my 4.5 miles in a 9:16/mile pace.

My plan for Saturday's run was to be 7 to 8 miles so I could hit 20 miles for the week. I was reading torah at synagogue that morning (and had to be there on time...) so I decided to run afterward. Good thing as it was much colder and windier in the morning when I was walking the quarter mile to synagogue.

Again, my first mile was faster to warm up - a 9:32 pace - but then brought it closer to a 10:00/mile pace. After about 4 miles of pretty clear sidewalks and roads, I started to hit stretches of snowy, icy sidewalks and heavier gusts of wind. On top of all of that, my nasal passages were starting to rebel a bit.

On my community-perimeter route of a little over 7 miles, there are a few "drop out" points to cut the run short to 5.5 miles or 6.25 miles. I nearly took the 5.5 mile drop out, but I pushed forward. As I approached the 6.25 drop out point, I decided that this was the way to go. I finished the 6.25 miles at a 9:50/mile pace. My weekly run total was 18.7 miles...not yet 20 miles, but close.

I actually had another chance to push my weekly total over 20 miles as I ended up at the gym on Sunday morning with the rest of the family (the kids actually love going to the babysitting room as they get to play Mario Kart!). However, I used this as a cross-training day instead of running. I did a bunch of stretching and core exercises and used two pieces of equipment that were new to me - the TechnoGym Wave and the Nautilus Stairmaster machine.

WOW! These machines KILLED me! I was only on the Wave for 8 minutes and my quads and glutes were burning. I could not get myself to move very smoothly on that thing and I was tired of the herky-jerky movement, so I decided to get off and move on. I went over to the Stairmaster. This machine looks like an escalator - an endless escalator. I stayed on that machine for 22 minutes and I was dripping with sweat....I actually felt like I was melting! It's pretty ironic that I can run for over an hour and never get that sweaty, yet 20 minutes on the Stairmaster and I was done for. I guess if I do these machines more often, my body will get used to this type of movement and it will get easier.

One other item from the gym. After running on the treadmill, I normally go to one of the sets of pull up bars and hang from them for a few seconds. I get a nice stretch and release in my shoulders and neck (I think "release" is chiropractor speak for snap, crackle and pop!). Well, the other day after my stretch I decided to try to do a pull up (I have NEVER been able to do these). On my first try last week I got about 3/4 of the way up - not bad! Today I made it all the way up and did my first unassisted pull up! I'm hoping there will be many more to come...having a goal like this makes going to the gym a little more palatable.

Two Mile Time Trial

This morning's workout on the training plan was a two-mile time trial.  Last week, I ran the 2 miles in 15:35 - my fastest time for 2 miles EVER - however, I had very little left in the tank afterwards.

My goal today - run as close to an 8:00/mile pace over the first two miles, and then do a cool down run/jog for the last 1.1 miles of the 5K course.

To help me out on pacing, I mapped out the course again - this time noting where each quarter mile ended so I could check my splits.  Even though Google Maps' hybrid view shows the street and satellite view together, it is sometimes difficult to find an appropriate landmark to determine where each quarter mile ends - so this was not an exact science.  But it was close enough for my purposes.

I started this morning by stretching before venturing outside.  I was feeling a bit tight - and this could have contributed to my foot cramping earlier in the week.  I left the house at 7am - 59 degrees outside and sunny.  What a great morning for running!  Later in my run I realized that I forgot my sunglasses...I'll have to remember those next weekend if it is a sunny day.

I jogged up to the race's starting line - less than 1/2 mile from my house - at a 10:55/mile pace.  I then stretched a bit more and started my run.

I found my 8:00/mile pace pretty quickly as my first 1/4 mile split was 1:59.6.  Wow!  That was perfect.  Split #2 was 1:56.6 - this is a 7:47/mile pace which is a bit too fast for me at this point.  I knew I had to slow it down a tad - and the fact that the next quarter mile was going uphill made me naturally slow down.

Split #3 was 2:10.  I guess I slowed it down a little too much (well, going uphill definitely helped out there).  During the next quarter mile I saw two other runners that were marking out the 5K course.  They were running slowly - about a 12:00/mile pace - so I was able to overtake them pretty easily; however, it was a great feeling passing other runners while doing my "fast" two-miles :-)  Split #4 was 2:03, making the first mile 8:09.  A little slower than I wanted, but not my much.

The first quarter mile of the second mile was flat and then downhill.  I coasted as much as I could but did not want to speed up too much.  I'm still trying to keep that even pace, remember??  I checked my watch at the quarter mile point - 1:49.7.  Oh well...a bit too fast (but I just made up for the additional 9 seconds that I was behind on the first mile!).  Splits 2 and 3 on the second mile were closer to the 2:00 I was hoping for - 2:01 and 1:58.

One more quarter mile to go and I was on track to 16:00.  However, the course starts to get a bit uphill again.  And I am starting to tire out.  Again.

At this point I was starting to question whether I'll have the will to keep pushing past that second mile and finish out the race as strong as I started.  There is a good half mile there - from miles 1.75 through 2.25, or a little past that - that are uphill.  It's not a big incline (like at Riley's Rumble), but it is constant.  I know that if I was a bit more diligent with my core training, that I'd have a better chance getting through this...but I have been pretty lax about it lately.  I'm going to try to make a commitment to core training this week - doing most of the exercises every day - and hope that this will help getting through this difficult part of the 5K next weekend.

I kept on going - not at full speed since I still wanted to "recovery jog" the final 1.1 miles of the race course - but I tried to keep that 8:00/mile pace.  I got to the two-mile mark and saw my split - 2:09.

Two miles in 16:07.  8:04/mile pace.  Not bad at all.

I slowed it down and continued the running up the steady incline.  I started to enjoy the wonderful, crisp morning again now that I wasn't pushing myself so hard.  It's ironic - when I first chose this training plan I was excited that my workouts would be shorter, however, I now realize I would rather do longer runs at a slower pace than the shorter more-intense workouts.  One more week and I'll go back to running bliss :-)

It ends up that my "recovery run" was not so slow after all.  I think it is hard for me to slow down after running fast - I was in such a rhythm and my body doesn't want to break from that rhythm.  I finished the last 1.1 miles in 10:40 - a 9:42/mile pace.  And a full 5K time of 26:47.  That's only 26 seconds off my current 5K PR of 26:21.

Although I'll be shooting for a sub-25 minute 5K next weekend, I know that even if I don't reach that goal I'll be in really good shape to set a new Personal Record.  Perhaps all of these shorter, intense workouts will be worth it after all...

Personal Trainer - Core and Back Exercises

This morning I met with Dave - a personal trainer at Fitness First.  As I had mentioned before, the personal trainer services are included in the membership fees (I'm sure there is some limit as to how many sessions you can schedule, but since I'm not going to be in the gym everyday I'm not going to worry about it).

A few years ago, when I had joined Fitness First the first time, the personal trainer pretty much gave me a weight circuit to do.  It was as generic as you could get - or at least that is how I felt about it.  I was going to have none of that this time around.  When I requested to meet with a trainer this time around I said that I wanted to work on core strength and flexibility.

One of the first things that Dave said to me was that he really doesn't like using all of the machines...he believes in "free form" training.  Hallelujah!

Of course that did not mean it was going to be easy...

The exercises that I did included crunches (with legs up in the air), reverse crunches, side planks, seated twists with dumbbells, dumbbell rows, push-ups on dumbbells adding a single arm row after each push-up, back extensions, a few back exercises with the exercise band and two different plank exercises.  I think that's all of them, but I may have missed one.  It was a good abs workout - but more importantly a great back workout.  I felt muscles in my back that I didn't know existed!  Assuming I continue to do these a few times a week, my back muscles will get stronger and I'm sure that I'll get a better workout in my abs as well.