Run away! BOO! Halloween week runs, 10/25/09-10/31/09

[SJCzar]

5 mile tempo run last night on the multi-use trail.

I brought out my new headlamp and then went and forgot it on the kitchen table. I could have really used it because it got quite dark out there. I also wanted to get to try it out before Sunday's marathon. We'll be running twice through a 3/4 mile non-lighted railroad tunnel.

[indigoiis]

That's awesome and kind of scary! There's a tunnel on the Cliff Walk in Newport that you cannot see the end of because there is a turn. Anyhow it always freaked me out as a kid - I can't imagine running through one!

Good luck on your marathon and don't forget to post a race report! Yay!

[skhill]

What a perfect fall morning for a run... It was 50 F when I headed out this morning, with the stars shining. The sun rose while I was out on the road, and it was beautiful; wild birds were chirping and the chickens were waking up and the smell of fall leaves was in the air. I run through some really truly poor areas, and that neighborhood was gloriously beautiful in the early dawn light; the old black cemetary from the segregated days was just glowing from the dew on the grass....

Anyway, I did about 6.25 miles and felt great. And then I walked into my house to find my dog and 3 cats all curled up together on the couch...

[katluvr]

skhill,
That sounds wonderful! Glad you had such a great run!
(I admit I am jealous!)

[Urlea]

The car has been in the shop all week, we are a one car household in the winter. One car + motorcycle in the summer. So instead of catching a ride to the repair shop to pick up the car today, I ran the 2.5 there!

Yesterday after brazilian jiu-jitsu, we finished by doing tabattas for crossfit class. Let me just say that body rows, sit ups, push ups, wall ball & squats had my body less than enthusiastic about running today. It wasn't a bad run, but my upper body was fatigued and I had a slight case of lead-legs.

Jolt- what you said about the toes/mittens makes sense. I was curious about that. I still want to try the flows, but I'm guessing I will be stuck in Mizunos for most of the winter.

[OakLeaf]

SJCzar, good luck!

Twice... does that mean that there'll be two-way traffic through the tunnel?? Yikes.

[colby]

The heavens hath shined upon me today and awarded us with a fresh dusting of wet sloppy snow (which melted by 11, but it was still spitting snow all morning).

Anyway, it was about 36F when I went out for my run. My marathon plan called for 5k at 5% at marathon pace, but I don't have a 5k long hill and I refused to go run on the treadmill. Last week I did hill repeats instead of their flat repeats because I felt it was time for hill repeats. The plan is basically Sunday long-freaking-run (built from 8 up), Monday off (yoga), Tuesday 8 miles (built from 5 to 8), Wednesday 45-60 easy minutes, Thursday intervals for about 30-40 minutes including wu/cd, Friday 30-45 easy minutes, Saturday off (cycling, yoga, walking, hiking, whatever I feel like).

So, today I decided to do 5k at hard effort and then jog/run/walk/whatever to be out for at least 30 minutes. And.... drumroll please... I finished my 5k in 23:54. Yes folks. That's a 7:42 minute mile . Heart rate looked right for a 5k effort - the level of effort I always refused before because I thought it felt hard (imagine whining voice here). Yeah, it's hard. I guess you get used to it and that's the point. Earlier in the week I did 8 miles in 1:06... 8:15 miles (around the same effort of a 10k with two extra miles at the end).

I need to do some work on my glutes to keep my right hip in check, I feel it nagging at me but in a different way than before. My glutes feel like they are missing some of the definition... hard to describe. They are firing like a blob rather than two muscles. Experienced this in PT, and it was a matter of continuing with the regime. Time to dig up those PT exercises and the glute exercises I did during IM training.

[OakLeaf]

Whoa Colby, way to go! Maybe someday I'll be able to race 5K that fast.

Post a link to your glute exercises if you would? I'm looking for some new ones myself.

At least I'll be in a new age group for my next race. What is it with 45-49 y/o women, anyway?

[colby]

So, today I decided to do 5k at hard effort and then jog/run/walk/whatever to be out for at least 30 minutes. And.... drumroll please... I finished my 5k in 23:54. Yes folks. That's a 7:42 minute mile . Heart rate looked right for a 5k effort - the level of effort I always refused before because I thought it felt hard (imagine whining voice here). Yeah, it's hard. I guess you get used to it and that's the point. Earlier in the week I did 8 miles in 1:06... 8:15 miles (around the same effort of a 10k with two extra miles at the end).

So, for kicks, I looked up Runner's World's Training Calculator and dropped in my 24 minute 5k time. The calculator uses a formula to predict race times and training paces (http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/trainingcalculator/).

Based on a 5 kilometers race at 00:24:00, your projected finish times for the following distances should be:
1500m 6:41
the mile 7:13
3000m(3k) 13:57
3200m(about 2 miles) 14:56
5000m(5k) 23:59
8000m(8k) 39:27
5 miles 39:42
10,000m(10k) 49:59
ten miles 1:22:46
a half marathon 1:50:12
a marathon 3:49:46

A sub-4 hour marathon!

However, based on this guide:

Based on your 5 kilometers race time of 00:24:00, the paces of your different training runs should be:
9:47 min/mile Easy run training pace
8:09 min/mile Tempo run training pace
7:21 min/mile Maxmum oxygen training pace
6:48 min/mile Speed form training pace
9:47 - 11:01 min/mile Long run training pace

I am actually doing my long runs at exactly that pace. I just thought it was my marathon pace...

Food for thought. I'm not sure what to do with it. I hate to get my hopes up. You know, though... maybe I just need to see it? Maybe I need to tell myself that it IS possible.