As the summer heats up, I find it hard to maintain a steady pace during longer runs. I think I'm probably getting dehydrated, because I sweat until I'm sopping wet and I drink cup after cup of water when I'm done. But I also think I'm just trying to maintain too fast a pace for the conditions. So yesterday I resolved not to run too fast, and just keep a steady, slow pace. Not 8:15, but 8:40, or even a 9:00 pace.
As I started off with the DART group I found myself in the lead group of runners. After chatting for a mile or so with Chris, who I hadn't seen in a while, I deliberately slowed down. Miles 1-3 were 8:39, 8:21, 8:47. Then I was steady, running with Chad and Todd for several miles: 8:46, 8:46, 8:55, 8:49. Around Mile 8, we hit the trails, and so our pace naturally slowed down: 9:00, 9:31, 9:51, 9:10, 10:05. At this point it was just me and Todd; Todd had run 6 miles before meeting up with me. We hug on for a 9:22, 9:59, and 9:45 finish. It wasn't pretty, but we never stooped to walking, and I felt much better than I had in recent weeks at the end of my long run.
Overall for the week I bumped up my mileage a bit, to 47.42, compared to 42.68, 35.47, and 40.99 in the previous weeks. I'd like to get my mileage even a bit higher in the coming weeks, into the 50s. Ultimately the plan is to peak at around 70 miles per week as I ramp up the training for Richmond.
Details of today's workout are below.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Finally, a negative split
I've been struggling to regain form for about the last month or so. My runs just don't seem to have the same solid feeling I had in March and April as I was gearing up for Big Sur.
I know a lot of that is due to the warm, humid weather, but I still think I shouldn't be struggling as much as I have been. So today I wanted to put in a solid run, longer than my recent weekday runs. I also wanted to keep a solid pace for the whole run. I decided on an 8-mile route, utilizing the Davidson College trails.
I started out relatively easily, running a 9-minute pace for the first couple miles. Then as I headed into the trails, I picked things up a bit and ran two 8:40 miles. Mile 5 was my only aberration from a negative split, 8:48. I actually was sweating so much at this point that it was dripping down my glasses, making it quite hard to see my GPS. For Mile 6 and 7 I picked up the pace even more, 8:39 and 8:37, despite the steep climb up out of the Davidson Trails. Heading homeward and on pavement again, I ran an 8:00 split for my final mile. Average pace: 8:39. Still not quite March/April pace, but not bad given the the fact I was running on trails in 74-degree, 90-percent humidity weather.
Details of today's run are below:
I know a lot of that is due to the warm, humid weather, but I still think I shouldn't be struggling as much as I have been. So today I wanted to put in a solid run, longer than my recent weekday runs. I also wanted to keep a solid pace for the whole run. I decided on an 8-mile route, utilizing the Davidson College trails.
I started out relatively easily, running a 9-minute pace for the first couple miles. Then as I headed into the trails, I picked things up a bit and ran two 8:40 miles. Mile 5 was my only aberration from a negative split, 8:48. I actually was sweating so much at this point that it was dripping down my glasses, making it quite hard to see my GPS. For Mile 6 and 7 I picked up the pace even more, 8:39 and 8:37, despite the steep climb up out of the Davidson Trails. Heading homeward and on pavement again, I ran an 8:00 split for my final mile. Average pace: 8:39. Still not quite March/April pace, but not bad given the the fact I was running on trails in 74-degree, 90-percent humidity weather.
Details of today's run are below:
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Not the ideal pacing strategy for a 6-mile run
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This graph charts my pace over this morning's run. I was doing really well until about Mile 3.7, and then ... well, I got tired.
Yesterday's workout had given me confidence that I could hammer out a pretty fast 6 miles today, so when I met up with the DART group, I started off at an aggressive pace. My splits for miles 1-3 were 7:20, 7:30, 7:18. The first part of Mile 4 was a 7:10 pace. But about halfway through the mile I realized that there was no way this pace was sustainable. I was running with Adam, but Chad, Sarah, and Jeff were behind us, so I decided to let Adam go and just walk for a bit. As it turned out, I walked for about a minute and a half, then took off at an easy pace as Chad and Sarah caught up with me.
Amazingly, my pace for Mile 4 had only slowed to about 8:30. Running with Chad and Sarah, I had regained my wind, finishing in 8:03, 7:51, and 7:28 for the final .37 miles. In the end, my pace for the whole run was still faster than yesterday. Today's average was 7:45, compared to 7:53 yesterday.
Not exactly the method I'd recommend, however, if your goal is a 7:45 pace. The record of today's run is below:
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Short runs, Long run, short run
It's been a few days since I've updated this blog -- as you might expect, I've been a little distracted by Science-Based Running. In addition, I've got another (non-running-related) project in the pipeline that is also eating into my blogging time.
So here's the update:
Thursday: Trail run with DART, 6 miles. HOT afternoon, but the run went fairly well; took things easy, 8:37 average pace.
Friday: 5.5 mile recovery run; another easy one on a warm morning. 9:05 pace.
Saturday: Had a recovery run on the schedule, but ended up meeting up with Sarah, a DARTer who has never run with the group, so I had to introduce her to the DART loop. Ended up taking it fairly quick, an 8:10 pace.
Sunday: Long-ish run with DART. I wanted to get back up to 13 miles, but it was another warm, humid morning. Started off well with the group, around an 8:35 pace, which was probably a little optimistic given the conditions and the fact that I was hand-carrying a water-bottle, which is something I still haven't quite gotten used to. We maintained that pace for the first 8 or 9 miles, then started to slow: 8:57, 8:54, 9:20. Then because of an earlier Garmin problem, I had a .42-mile split at Mile 11, a lethargic 10:06 pace. I did manage to pick things up for the finish, 9:10 -- but it was a new route that was just 12 miles, and I didn't have anything left in the tank for another mile.
Overall, an 8:50 pace. Honestly I probably should have started with 9:00 miles, but as usual, running with a group it's hard to maintain that kind of discipline.
For the week I did 42.68 miles, which is my best week since mid-May. I'd like to get closer to 50 miles a week for most of the summer. This will probably entail one longer midweek run and going a bit longer on Sundays as well. We'll see how I'm feeling this week.
Today: Did the DART loop with Chad and Todd at a fairly aggressive pace, 7:53. Perhaps I'm actually through marathon-recovery mode and can start building up for Richmond. We'll see how I feel tomorrow....
I'm not going to embed all the Garmin plots, but the record of Sunday's long run is below.
So here's the update:
Thursday: Trail run with DART, 6 miles. HOT afternoon, but the run went fairly well; took things easy, 8:37 average pace.
Friday: 5.5 mile recovery run; another easy one on a warm morning. 9:05 pace.
Saturday: Had a recovery run on the schedule, but ended up meeting up with Sarah, a DARTer who has never run with the group, so I had to introduce her to the DART loop. Ended up taking it fairly quick, an 8:10 pace.
Sunday: Long-ish run with DART. I wanted to get back up to 13 miles, but it was another warm, humid morning. Started off well with the group, around an 8:35 pace, which was probably a little optimistic given the conditions and the fact that I was hand-carrying a water-bottle, which is something I still haven't quite gotten used to. We maintained that pace for the first 8 or 9 miles, then started to slow: 8:57, 8:54, 9:20. Then because of an earlier Garmin problem, I had a .42-mile split at Mile 11, a lethargic 10:06 pace. I did manage to pick things up for the finish, 9:10 -- but it was a new route that was just 12 miles, and I didn't have anything left in the tank for another mile.
Overall, an 8:50 pace. Honestly I probably should have started with 9:00 miles, but as usual, running with a group it's hard to maintain that kind of discipline.
For the week I did 42.68 miles, which is my best week since mid-May. I'd like to get closer to 50 miles a week for most of the summer. This will probably entail one longer midweek run and going a bit longer on Sundays as well. We'll see how I'm feeling this week.
Today: Did the DART loop with Chad and Todd at a fairly aggressive pace, 7:53. Perhaps I'm actually through marathon-recovery mode and can start building up for Richmond. We'll see how I feel tomorrow....
I'm not going to embed all the Garmin plots, but the record of Sunday's long run is below.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Cadence work: Day 2
Once again today I was running with a big group, but I still wanted to work on cadence. It was tough because Julie, Jeremy's wife, who I've heard a lot about but never met, was running with us for the first time (or at least the first time when I was there). So I wanted to chat with her, and also with Chas, who has run with the group a few times but who I hadn't run with for several months.
It's tough to keep up your end of a conversation when you're also trying to count steps. I've gotten a bit of a sense of what a 180-step-per-minute cadence feels like, but not enough of one to do it automatically. My plan was to change the conversation topic to cadence. I got Rodney and Chas on board and we were all counting steps for a few minutes. But how long are you going to keep that up? Not long, it turns out, so soon we were back to talking about other things and I lost track of my cadence once again. I do think, when I was focusing on it, which was perhaps about 25 percent of the time, I did manage to maintain my 180-step-per-minute goal fairly effectively.
The run itself was a fairly easy 6-miler. I didn't feel bad, despite considerable humidity this morning. Maybe I'm finally starting to acclimatize to the heat and recover from my two marathons. I'll have a better sense of that when I run a 13-miler this weekend.
I didn't have a chance to upload my GPS record of today's run, but I think I averaged roughly an 8:15 pace.
It's tough to keep up your end of a conversation when you're also trying to count steps. I've gotten a bit of a sense of what a 180-step-per-minute cadence feels like, but not enough of one to do it automatically. My plan was to change the conversation topic to cadence. I got Rodney and Chas on board and we were all counting steps for a few minutes. But how long are you going to keep that up? Not long, it turns out, so soon we were back to talking about other things and I lost track of my cadence once again. I do think, when I was focusing on it, which was perhaps about 25 percent of the time, I did manage to maintain my 180-step-per-minute goal fairly effectively.
The run itself was a fairly easy 6-miler. I didn't feel bad, despite considerable humidity this morning. Maybe I'm finally starting to acclimatize to the heat and recover from my two marathons. I'll have a better sense of that when I run a 13-miler this weekend.
I didn't have a chance to upload my GPS record of today's run, but I think I averaged roughly an 8:15 pace.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Working on Cadence
I've long suspected that my running cadence (the number of steps taken per minute of running) is a little slow. I've read in a few places that a faster cadence can help you reduce injuries, most critically, in the Jack Daniels running guide. Daniels suggests that most runners do best with a cadence of 180, which seems quite fast to me.
During today's run, I decided to try checking my cadence, so about 3 miles in, I looked at my watch and started counting every other step. I figured I'd count to 30 and see how long it takes -- a cadence of 180 would correspond to a 30-count every 20 seconds (30 counts * 2 paces per count * 3 20-second intervals in a minute). It took 22 seconds, quite consistently. That's 180 paces every 66 seconds, or 163 paces per minute. Slow!
Next step: See what it's like to run at a faster cadence. So about halfway through Mile 5, I tried to maintain my pace but run at a cadence of 180. It definitely felt harder, but I could see that it also felt as if I was lighter on my feet. A check back at my GPS record of the run suggests that I actually did speed up at this point, then slowed a bit for the first half of Mile 6. Finally I picked up the pace at the end of the run, doing the last .34 miles at a 7:30 pace, compared to roughly an 8:15 pace for the rest of the run. This felt quite strange indeed; usually I try to lengthen my stride to run faster. I was doing that, of course, but I still had to take shorter strides than I was used to, going that pace.
In the spirit of Jack Daniels, I will try keeping this up for a week or so and see how it feels. I'll probably write it up over on Science-Based Running when I'm done, so stay tuned for that.
Details of today's workout are below:
During today's run, I decided to try checking my cadence, so about 3 miles in, I looked at my watch and started counting every other step. I figured I'd count to 30 and see how long it takes -- a cadence of 180 would correspond to a 30-count every 20 seconds (30 counts * 2 paces per count * 3 20-second intervals in a minute). It took 22 seconds, quite consistently. That's 180 paces every 66 seconds, or 163 paces per minute. Slow!
Next step: See what it's like to run at a faster cadence. So about halfway through Mile 5, I tried to maintain my pace but run at a cadence of 180. It definitely felt harder, but I could see that it also felt as if I was lighter on my feet. A check back at my GPS record of the run suggests that I actually did speed up at this point, then slowed a bit for the first half of Mile 6. Finally I picked up the pace at the end of the run, doing the last .34 miles at a 7:30 pace, compared to roughly an 8:15 pace for the rest of the run. This felt quite strange indeed; usually I try to lengthen my stride to run faster. I was doing that, of course, but I still had to take shorter strides than I was used to, going that pace.
In the spirit of Jack Daniels, I will try keeping this up for a week or so and see how it feels. I'll probably write it up over on Science-Based Running when I'm done, so stay tuned for that.
Details of today's workout are below:
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Did you hear about my new blog?
After a month of planning, yesterday I launched my latest blog, Science-Based Running, which should be a destination blog for runners of all levels. Here's how I explain what it's all about:
The first two posts are already up: One asks whether running marathons can lead to heart disease, and the other debunks a media report claiming beer is better than water for rehydration.
My plan is to keep blogging about my daily workouts and races here, and write about issues of more general interest to runners over there. Hope you'll add it to your reading list.
Details of today's workout are below:
The goal of this site is to focus on peer-reviewed research: Truly independent work from experts about what does and does not improve your running. Scientists have conducted thousands of studies on exercise, fitness, and nutrition, but the results are not always easy to understand, so with the help of experts, I’ll try to explain the implications of this research and how to apply it to your training program. It will never be as easy as just gulping down the latest fad nutritional supplement or buying a new gadget, but it should be more lasting.
I’ll also try to look into mainstream media reports to check their claims. Often findings that seem “scientific” wouldn’t pass muster among legitimate researchers.
Hopefully along the way I’ll be informative, entertaining, and most of all, useful, whether your goal is to run faster and win more races or just to have fun and stay fit.
The first two posts are already up: One asks whether running marathons can lead to heart disease, and the other debunks a media report claiming beer is better than water for rehydration.
My plan is to keep blogging about my daily workouts and races here, and write about issues of more general interest to runners over there. Hope you'll add it to your reading list.
Details of today's workout are below:
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