Category: Running

Week 6

Week 5
Monday
The schedule called for a disappointingly short 2 mile run. I was planning to stretch it out just a bit. After I got started though, 2 miles sounded like just the right distance. I ran 2.25 miles at a 9:48 pace. That was about 40 seconds faster than the plan called for. Not too bad.

Wednesday
This was supposed to be a 4 mile tempo run with a 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down. I have not been hitting my pace on these runs, so decided to make a change that worked out for the better. I ran my warm up run and then came home and rested/stretched for about 10 minutes before heading out for the tempo part.

I only ran 3 miles for the tempo, but I hit my pace of 8:56 right on. I did not do a full mile run as a cool down. I walked about that distance though.

Saturday
This was an exciting day for me. It was a 12 mile run, which is getting into the distance that I consider a long run. I have an 8 mile route and a 4 mile loop that both start and end at my house. So I was able to smash those together to make my 12 miles without having to add up a new route.

At 5 miles I had to stop and do a re-adjustment to both my shoes. I also tape 2 of my toes that are problematic for blisters. The tape on the left foot came off and caused a blister in a new place. I removed the tape at 5 miles. Throughout the run I had to pull rocks / remove tape / re-adjust sock / re-adjust laces 4 or 5 times on my left foot. That is the most trouble I have ever had in a run.

When I got done with the 8 mile portion, I had called my wife to be ready with a re-supply. I buzzed by the house and changed socks, took on more water, and powdered my feet in about 90 seconds. Then I was off for the final 4 miles.

In general, I ran too slowly for the whole run. But my fastest mile was mile 12.  My goal pace was 10:26 seconds. Actual pace was 10:51. I am going to blame that on my extra stops for shoe problems and the time I took to change socks. Though I drank 2 liters on the run (4.5 lbs) I still lost 6 lbs due to sweat. I think all 10 pounds ended up in my shoes. I was glad to be able to change socks. I need to replace some of my running socks because they are getting too thin.

Biking
I also biked Sunday and Tuesday for a total of 26 miles.

Week 6
Monday: Another 2 mile easy run at a 10:26 pace.

Wednesday: 7 total miles including warm up and cool down. Speed session of 3 X 1600 meters at 8:22 pace with 800 meter jogs between intervals.

Saturday: 14 miles at 10:26 pace.

Phedippidations World Wide Festival of Races

This is the third annual Phedippidations World Wide (Half Marathon / Kick the Couch 5K / Zen Runner 10K) Festival of Races. Yes, that is right, we have had a name change this year and we have added a new race distance.

Half Marathon
The original distance for the PWWHM is the half marathon. You are encouraged to run an organized or non-organized half marathon race the weekend of October 11 and 12. This can be run the weekend before, of, or after the official race date. You can also run a full marathon (or any distance longer than a half) and submit your first 13.1 mile time as your PWWHM time.

Kick the Couch 5K
The 5 kilometer distance was added last year as an introduction to newer runners. Rules are the same. It does not have to be run exactly on the 11th or 12th. It can even be a mid-week run.

Zen Runner 10K
This year they added the 10K distance. This was a run that Adam “Zen Runner-Another Runner-Burning 20” Tinkoff had planned. It worked out to run it all on the same weekend.

Registration
Head over to World Wide Half and sign up. You can sign up for the distance you want. When you sign up you get an official race number let others know you are participating. As of the writing of this post there are 560 people in 31 countries signed up to run with us.

Week 5

Week 4
Monday
I was to run 5 easy miles. I did not quite make 5 miles, nor were they easy. One of the problems with having a hotel with a view in a town in the mountains is that means the hotel is at the top looking down. Not so bad when you are starting your run. But somehow you have to get back up to the hotel.

I tried a stab at getting to my original running route that I planned for the previous Saturday. As I pointed out then, getting from the hotel to where I wanted to run was just about impossible. I did manage to get across a couple major roads without dying, but could not manage the third. I chickened out.

I only managed 3.6 miles at an 11:25 pace. That is about a minute per mile slower than I should have been.

Wednesday
Supposed to run an easy 5 miles. The village we were in for camp just did not seem like the type of place that would accept a white guy running through the streets in the morning. I let peer pressure keep me from running. And I was fine with that. Besides, all of my running has been done at 2,000 feet or lower elevation. We were over 7,000 feet when at camp. As a point of reference that is higher than Denver which is where many athletes go to do high altitude training. It is the same height as Flagstaff where I once ran a track meet in high school in which we watched people pass out on the track because of not being acclimated.

Saturday
Five easy miles was the prescription. I ran 5.22 miles in perfect timing. Plan called for 10:32 per mile and I ran 10:29 miles.

Week 5
Monday: 2 miles easy at 10:26.

Wednesday: 6 miles of tempo run at 8:56 pace.

Saturday: 12 mile long run.

Running around Santa Lucia and Fundidora

Yesterday we visited the two parks Santa Lucia River Walk and the Fundidora in Monterrey, Mexico. Today I took a couple of incredible hours and ran around these two parks a few times.

I needed a 10 mile run for my long run of the week. I had planned to run near our hotel. This route was recommended by a few people over at Run the Planet. The route they recommended seems to be quite popular since 3 different people mentioned it. That route is also conveniently located just 2 kilometers from my hotel. But, after driving around yesterday, I found out that those 2 kilometers might as well be 200. There is no way to cross over the major highways that I would need to to get to the start of the route. I could have driven there of course, but that kind of defeated the purpose for finding a route near the hotel.

After visiting the two parks yesterday, I really wanted to run there. But that meant a 20 minute drive and I did not have time to get there, run and be back before we were scheduled to do an outing this morning.

I decided to run this evening after having spent the whole day with the family in a theme park. Who’s bright idea was that? I figured if I could have gotten a nap then the late running would not be that bad. No nap happened.

I wanted to do the run anyway and with the family tuckered out and ready for bed when we got home this evening, it was a perfect time to run. So I got ready and headed out the door and back to the area where we had spent the last 2 days. The theme park we went to today is also connected with the two parks we were at yesterday.

Not knowing the mile breaks, I decided to not do my normal Galloway run/walk plan. I just ran straight through. That also meant that I really don’t know exactly how far I ran tonight. It was somewhere between 10 and 11 miles, so I logged it as 10.5.

I started off by running through the Santa Lucia River Walk. I ran down one side and discovered a service road that is used for vehicles and therefore is less crowded by pedestrians. Even though it was a vehicle accessible road, there were no cars there. It was a totally safe place to run without worrying about cars at all. I ran to the far end of the park, away from the other parks, and then back.

*Warning: This is not a recommendation!* While running I decided to do something that may end me up in a hospital, but I am not really too concerned about it. I decided that since there are no vendors in the park, and I knew I would be thirsty, to take a risk and drink from the public water fountains. This is Mexico after all, and we are always told to not drink the water. We drink so much bottled water it is even a disgusting thought to me that I actually drank water out of a pipe all my life in the US. Yuck!

I went against all conventional wisdom and drank the Mexican tap water. I have a few things going for me though. First is the fact that I have lived here for 4 years and have only been sick because of parasites/amoebas one time. Secondly, according to something we were told several years ago, the number of different strands of e-coli in the water increases the further south you go. Theoretically, if I am somewhat immune to the bacteria in Yucatan, there are far fewer bacteria in the water in Monterrey since it is so much further north. Whether all of this is true, I don’t know, but I also don’t anticipate getting sick over this.

But: DON’T DRINK THE WATER!

I ran around the Champ Car race track at Fundidora 3 times adding a little to each lap by running off the track and into some of the walking paths around. These extra paths are where I was reminded that Monterrey is not a flat city. I got a little bit of hill work in tonight. Since I don’t ever get to run hills, I did a few little ones, but took them easy.

I also ran through the river walk a couple of times.

I highly recommend that if you get a chance to run in Monterrey that you make these parks part of your trip. I would have to admit that they would get boring to run all the time, but if you were running shorter 30 minute runs, you could easily vary your route and run through different parts of the parks several times before you had to run the same route. There are plenty of places to run hills, but you can also stay in very flat areas easily.

This ranks up there with the most memorable runs I have ever done. Of course number one would be the run in Long Beach that I have mentioned many times, but tonight’s run would take a close second. It was very nice to run without having to worry about getting run over by cars.

Week 4

Week 3
Monday
3 mile run was the prescription. I ran my standard 5K loop. Nothing special to report about the run. I just took it nice and easy like the plan calls for. I ran it in 10:06 per mile and the plan was 10:32 per mile. So I was pretty close.

Wednesday
5 mile run with 3 miles of tempo work. I ran my 1 mile warm up and immediately jumped into my tempo run. I was not able to get down to the 8:57 pace that I was supposed to have. I averaged 9:26 per mile. I need to separate my warm up from my tempo pace. When I was running with Jeff regularly I would run 1.6 miles easy and then take a 10 to 20 minute break before our run which was essentially a tempo run at 8:40 per mile. I never seemed to struggle much, but I am sure that 20 minute break helps a lot.

Saturday
10 miles at a 10:32 pace was the plan. I ran an incredible run of 10.5 miles which I will write up in a separate post to tell you all about it.

Week 4
Monday: Easy 5 mile run at 10:32.

Wednesday: I think this is a 5 mile speed run. I don’t have my training plan with me (I am away on a trip), but I do know it is a 5 mile run which I will do at an easy pace. I am in camp and will be running at 7200 feet above sea level. I hope I will have time to get this run in, or at least a 3 mile run.

Saturday: We will get home from camp on Friday night and I look forward to a step back week of just a 5 mile long run. I will need it after the week of camp. I did not make the training plan do this, it just happened to fall at the perfect time.