Feelin a little beat up this week. My IT band/hip area problem is persisting and i've generally felt pretty tired this week. I tend to feel like this at the changing of seasons and also get a perennial cold at the end of september-start of october. This added to the cumulative effect of sleeping on average 6.5 hours a night for the last few weeks has me feeling a bit run down. I decided to only do a half workout this wednesday because of this feeling and the fact that I had a good two weeks of training. Then on the long run on saturday I stopped after two loops of Elk/Beaver lake because my hip was getting really sore and to be honest I just "wasn't feeling it." I still ended up running 26miles so its not a complete failure, and perhaps a blessing in disguise; if I had finished the run I might have dug myself a hole I couldn't get out of. I'll chock this up to a rest week. I am a bit worried about my hip issue though. Typically I don't like to run with any sort of persistent aching or pain, but this has been right on the border so i've been running on it. I have admittedly been taking half-measures in treating it by just rolling on my nalgene bottle and a cue ball wrapped in electrical tape as well as doing some yoga but it is apparently not cutting it. Today, even though I was feeling a bit tired and sore I decided to do a tough core/lower body workout. Relatively passive therapy doesn't seem to be doing the trick so i'll be putting some work into strengthening/lengthening the area, hopefully if I hit it hard over the next week or so i'll be relatively pain free for the marathon. As for the next 2 weeks i'm going to do a workout every third day with hill reps being the first workout, mile repeats the second, and something marathon paced for the third, with a final half workout of again something around goal marathon pace a few days before race day. Other than that i'll be trying no to get sick!
Post script: going to stick to two workouts a week. Why mess with routine?
- Ryan Day
- Secwécwpemc-ken ri7(I am Shuswap), Chief, Economist, Distance Runner, and Secwepemc Health Researcher/Co-ordinator/Policy guy. I've run a 30:24-10k, 1:06:23-half, and 2:19:55-full marathon but am most proud of the World Peace Prayer Day '06 relay run to Anchorage from Vancouver I participated in. This blog is primarily about running but I will post photos of the many places I like go on the tmícw of my maternal ancestors, Secwépemcul'ecw.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Need for Speed
Perhaps a sad day when 5 minute miles is considered speed work, but there it is. Maybe three years ago halfway through an awful track session with Steve O and Richard Mosley I vowed to never set foot on a track again so when the idea of doing mile repeats sprang into my head earlier in the week I should have gotten my head checked out. The track has always been the bane of my existence as a runner; I can count on one hand the number of good sessions i've had, and on no hands how many i've enjoyed. So, why on earth would I do it now, when i'm training for a 50mi race and an interim marathon? Truth is, its exclusively for the marathon. I felt like I wouldn't have quite enough speed for the Edmonton marathon, which was maybe the case, but for the Victoria marathon this is definitely the case. I'll just say it: I want to run in the neighbourhood of 2:25 and thats going to require an ability to run at a decent clip. Thats 5:32/mi. I firmly believe you have to do some amount of work substantially below this pace in order to be capable of running it for a long period. That said, doing my original plan of 20-25km over and under race pace by maybe 5 seconds/km(8s/mi) wasn't really going to be as much of a differential as i'd like, hence the repeat miles.
It was a bit of gamble to allot a workout day for repeat miles because of the distinct possibility of getting pissed off and quitting halfway through, but in the end it worked out well. Heading down to the track at Oak Bay Secondary with my flats and water bottle in hand I was actually feeling ok about the whole prospect, planning to do 6 reps, 8 if I felt great. The aim would be to run 5mins for each 1600m(9meters short of a mile). Having no idea what kind of speed i'd have in my legs I felt this to be a reasonable expectation and wouldn't be surprised to be running as slow as 5:10. So off I went in my T5s cruising around at 75 second laps to come in at 4:59.6 for the first one, feeling pretty good. As my track legs started coming back to me I was able to relax a bit and cruise through without killing myself to 4:59.4, 5:00.2. 4:58.9, 4:59.3, and 4:56.3. All off 3 mins rest. Success! I didn't opt to do any more because after each one my left IT band/hip would tighten up making the first turn pretty uncomfortable, AND I peeled off a decent track workout! Stoked. I realize 5 minute miles is not fast by any stretch of the meaning, but to be able to step on the track and do that workout was awesome and affirmed that doing hill repeats is every bit as good as track work to get fast and strong. Doing the actual fast paced work however is incredibly important to get the nerves and muscles firing, improving your efficiency at a quicker pace. In addition to this i'm doing some 'pick-ups' during my easy runs to get the legs moving on a regular basis.
In other news, alluded to earlier, my IT band/hip is causing me some grief. I can't really pin down the cause but it's likely the transition to running on pavement a lot more and thus not in my low-rise trail shoes, and the increased volume and consistency, as well as I suppose a lot more sitting around reading for school. I've been doing a couple yoga sessions a week but i'm going to have to probably add yet another and a couple of tougher poses directed at strengthening the stabilizers around the knee and hip. I really don't want any soreness going into the long run next weekend. That's about all for now. Two solid weeks in the books!
It was a bit of gamble to allot a workout day for repeat miles because of the distinct possibility of getting pissed off and quitting halfway through, but in the end it worked out well. Heading down to the track at Oak Bay Secondary with my flats and water bottle in hand I was actually feeling ok about the whole prospect, planning to do 6 reps, 8 if I felt great. The aim would be to run 5mins for each 1600m(9meters short of a mile). Having no idea what kind of speed i'd have in my legs I felt this to be a reasonable expectation and wouldn't be surprised to be running as slow as 5:10. So off I went in my T5s cruising around at 75 second laps to come in at 4:59.6 for the first one, feeling pretty good. As my track legs started coming back to me I was able to relax a bit and cruise through without killing myself to 4:59.4, 5:00.2. 4:58.9, 4:59.3, and 4:56.3. All off 3 mins rest. Success! I didn't opt to do any more because after each one my left IT band/hip would tighten up making the first turn pretty uncomfortable, AND I peeled off a decent track workout! Stoked. I realize 5 minute miles is not fast by any stretch of the meaning, but to be able to step on the track and do that workout was awesome and affirmed that doing hill repeats is every bit as good as track work to get fast and strong. Doing the actual fast paced work however is incredibly important to get the nerves and muscles firing, improving your efficiency at a quicker pace. In addition to this i'm doing some 'pick-ups' during my easy runs to get the legs moving on a regular basis.
In other news, alluded to earlier, my IT band/hip is causing me some grief. I can't really pin down the cause but it's likely the transition to running on pavement a lot more and thus not in my low-rise trail shoes, and the increased volume and consistency, as well as I suppose a lot more sitting around reading for school. I've been doing a couple yoga sessions a week but i'm going to have to probably add yet another and a couple of tougher poses directed at strengthening the stabilizers around the knee and hip. I really don't want any soreness going into the long run next weekend. That's about all for now. Two solid weeks in the books!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Week One in the Books
Week one of what? Of thirteen, of school, of my training for the TNF Endurance Challenge Championship 50mi trail race in San Francisco.
To be honest it was pretty great week, i'm super stoked about school; it appears to be everything I hoped it would be. Also as much reading as I expected. Though i'm not too practiced at it i'm enjoying that a lot of the learning process is based on discussion. Its been busy but it has also given me motivation, running wise. Every morning i've been up at 630 am ready to get out and run. It doesn't hurt that I am 10minutes away from running along the ocean while the sun is low in the sky and the tide is partially out so I can smell the ocean and someone's woodstove smoke laying low over the ground and water. The morning runs have been beautiful and serene. It brings back memories of camping on Haida Gwaii, more so than living near the ocean in Vancouver because you dont get as much of an ocean smell there; I suppose because there is more sea life clinging to rocks here when the ocean recedes. Regardless of the natural beauty here and the location of my residence I enjoy the early morning immensely. Not enough to turn me into a morning person however. My natural sleep cycle is to sleep in late and stay up late, but now that it is necessary to get up at dawn I get to see a part of the day I haven't spent much time in. Anywho, I am feeling on top of the world for the most part, and it incidentally is also the first week of the 30th year of my life.
SO, i've decided to do my first 50mile trail race and picked none other than The North Face 50mi, in San Francisco. It is a very competitive race held in the Marin Headlands. I've chosen it for a number or reasons, not the least of which is the prize purse. I'm not gonna lie, i'm a student and I could use a couple bucks so its as good a reason as any. Of course the money in the race draws some serious competition which should also be fun. Beside these points, I wouldn't normally travel all that way to gamble on running well in a race, but its also in my time zone, at the end of my semester, not at high elevation, and finally not any super long climbs which would handicap me, being that I have no access to mountains. Furthermore, its in the winter so I don't need to worry about allergies. So really, its the ideal race.
Now the reason i'm calling this 'week one' is because i'm taking this race seriously, all business. I have been pretty casual about my running this time around because I just want to enjoy it an do what I want but I want to be competitive in this race and that means training hard and being professional about it. So thats the plan. This week was the first week of that. I'm still sticking with only running once a day, even though i've felt motivated to double, doing a hill repeat workout mid week, and alternating a weekend long run and long workout. For example, this week I did hill reps on wednesday on Mount Tolmie, then today I did a 50mi long run. Next week i'll do hill reps again on wednesday or thursday depending on the recovery, then i'll do alternating 1000m, over and under marathon pace for 20-25k. Then back to the original week the week after. The reason i'm doing the marathon workout is so I can be ready to run well at the Vic marathon; once i'm done that i'll adjust that workout. Fortunately I'm back to being a student so the consistency and routine required should complement each other.
The run today. I'm not sure if i'm going to stick to my plan of doing a 50miler every other weekend. It was really tough(who knew?). I headed out from my place with my hand held water bottle and enough fuel stuffed in my pockets for 6 hours. The plan was to run from my place to Elk/Beaver Lake park and do up to 6-10k loops, my house being 11.4km away it would be more than enough distance to potentially get a 50miler in. I headed out at around 7 I guess because when I was stashing my keys they fell down this hole which was almost inaccessible and fishing them out after the run was not gonna happen. Anyway, off I went ran out to the lake and started running loops of a great flat dirt trail which was very well marked so I didn't have to figure out where I was going. I rolled around the first loop in 42:01 and was a little worried it was too fast, but then ended up running with a new friend Tim for the second loop which felt easier but ended up being 42:08, so after he left I made an effort to slow down but failed running 41:06 for the third loop. My body forced me to slow down on the next loop which was good and bad. I slowed because my guts started acting up, but also couldn't stay on my nutrition plan of eating every 30mins. An hour later, around 4h30 I started to suffer. For my last 3 loops I ran 45:27, 44:46, and 49:00. The last loop I was relegated to a walk for 5mins while I ate a gel, drank water, and mentally regrouped. I made it through that loop, at a decent pace (not including the walk), partially because I told myself I would walk again for 5 mins after that loop as I started to run home. I stuck to this plan, again walking out of the park for 5mins, then running for 42mins to make the run end at 6 hours, hoping(and calculating) that it would be at least 50miles. The run into town was really tough because there was no shade whatsoever and the temperature was 23 degrees celsius, which for a dehydrated body feels much more. It turned out the run into town was potentially easier than the walk from my point of hitting 6hours to my house. Once I stopped my body just shut down and I could only walk a few houses at a time then had to sit down. It was an absolute sufferfest which I wasn't sure i'd be able to endure. Fortunately there was a convenience store on the way and I pulled out my emergency $5 and bought a coke, salt and vinegar chips, and a coffee crisp, saved! After eating my food and putting my legs up for a few minutes while digesting, the trip home was much easier(read: less excruciating). And so that was my first 50mile run experience. It ended up being decently quick at under 6 hours, but there is still a lot of work to do by December. Time to hit the books, happy trails!
Splits:
11.6km - 47:56
10k(21.6) - 42:01(1:29:57)
10k(31.6) - 42:08(2:12:05)
10k(41.6) - 41:06(2:53:11)
10k(51.6) - 45:27(3:38:38)
10k(61.6) - 44:46(4:23:24)
10k(71.6) - 49:00(5:12:24)(including 5mins walking)
9.1k(80.7) - 47:00(5:59:24)(including 5mins walking)
To be honest it was pretty great week, i'm super stoked about school; it appears to be everything I hoped it would be. Also as much reading as I expected. Though i'm not too practiced at it i'm enjoying that a lot of the learning process is based on discussion. Its been busy but it has also given me motivation, running wise. Every morning i've been up at 630 am ready to get out and run. It doesn't hurt that I am 10minutes away from running along the ocean while the sun is low in the sky and the tide is partially out so I can smell the ocean and someone's woodstove smoke laying low over the ground and water. The morning runs have been beautiful and serene. It brings back memories of camping on Haida Gwaii, more so than living near the ocean in Vancouver because you dont get as much of an ocean smell there; I suppose because there is more sea life clinging to rocks here when the ocean recedes. Regardless of the natural beauty here and the location of my residence I enjoy the early morning immensely. Not enough to turn me into a morning person however. My natural sleep cycle is to sleep in late and stay up late, but now that it is necessary to get up at dawn I get to see a part of the day I haven't spent much time in. Anywho, I am feeling on top of the world for the most part, and it incidentally is also the first week of the 30th year of my life.
SO, i've decided to do my first 50mile trail race and picked none other than The North Face 50mi, in San Francisco. It is a very competitive race held in the Marin Headlands. I've chosen it for a number or reasons, not the least of which is the prize purse. I'm not gonna lie, i'm a student and I could use a couple bucks so its as good a reason as any. Of course the money in the race draws some serious competition which should also be fun. Beside these points, I wouldn't normally travel all that way to gamble on running well in a race, but its also in my time zone, at the end of my semester, not at high elevation, and finally not any super long climbs which would handicap me, being that I have no access to mountains. Furthermore, its in the winter so I don't need to worry about allergies. So really, its the ideal race.
Now the reason i'm calling this 'week one' is because i'm taking this race seriously, all business. I have been pretty casual about my running this time around because I just want to enjoy it an do what I want but I want to be competitive in this race and that means training hard and being professional about it. So thats the plan. This week was the first week of that. I'm still sticking with only running once a day, even though i've felt motivated to double, doing a hill repeat workout mid week, and alternating a weekend long run and long workout. For example, this week I did hill reps on wednesday on Mount Tolmie, then today I did a 50mi long run. Next week i'll do hill reps again on wednesday or thursday depending on the recovery, then i'll do alternating 1000m, over and under marathon pace for 20-25k. Then back to the original week the week after. The reason i'm doing the marathon workout is so I can be ready to run well at the Vic marathon; once i'm done that i'll adjust that workout. Fortunately I'm back to being a student so the consistency and routine required should complement each other.
The run today. I'm not sure if i'm going to stick to my plan of doing a 50miler every other weekend. It was really tough(who knew?). I headed out from my place with my hand held water bottle and enough fuel stuffed in my pockets for 6 hours. The plan was to run from my place to Elk/Beaver Lake park and do up to 6-10k loops, my house being 11.4km away it would be more than enough distance to potentially get a 50miler in. I headed out at around 7 I guess because when I was stashing my keys they fell down this hole which was almost inaccessible and fishing them out after the run was not gonna happen. Anyway, off I went ran out to the lake and started running loops of a great flat dirt trail which was very well marked so I didn't have to figure out where I was going. I rolled around the first loop in 42:01 and was a little worried it was too fast, but then ended up running with a new friend Tim for the second loop which felt easier but ended up being 42:08, so after he left I made an effort to slow down but failed running 41:06 for the third loop. My body forced me to slow down on the next loop which was good and bad. I slowed because my guts started acting up, but also couldn't stay on my nutrition plan of eating every 30mins. An hour later, around 4h30 I started to suffer. For my last 3 loops I ran 45:27, 44:46, and 49:00. The last loop I was relegated to a walk for 5mins while I ate a gel, drank water, and mentally regrouped. I made it through that loop, at a decent pace (not including the walk), partially because I told myself I would walk again for 5 mins after that loop as I started to run home. I stuck to this plan, again walking out of the park for 5mins, then running for 42mins to make the run end at 6 hours, hoping(and calculating) that it would be at least 50miles. The run into town was really tough because there was no shade whatsoever and the temperature was 23 degrees celsius, which for a dehydrated body feels much more. It turned out the run into town was potentially easier than the walk from my point of hitting 6hours to my house. Once I stopped my body just shut down and I could only walk a few houses at a time then had to sit down. It was an absolute sufferfest which I wasn't sure i'd be able to endure. Fortunately there was a convenience store on the way and I pulled out my emergency $5 and bought a coke, salt and vinegar chips, and a coffee crisp, saved! After eating my food and putting my legs up for a few minutes while digesting, the trip home was much easier(read: less excruciating). And so that was my first 50mile run experience. It ended up being decently quick at under 6 hours, but there is still a lot of work to do by December. Time to hit the books, happy trails!
Splits:
11.6km - 47:56
10k(21.6) - 42:01(1:29:57)
10k(31.6) - 42:08(2:12:05)
10k(41.6) - 41:06(2:53:11)
10k(51.6) - 45:27(3:38:38)
10k(61.6) - 44:46(4:23:24)
10k(71.6) - 49:00(5:12:24)(including 5mins walking)
9.1k(80.7) - 47:00(5:59:24)(including 5mins walking)
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