As I mentioned earlier this morning, I juggled my schedule around a bit to accommodate yesterday's unscheduled rest day and today's need to help my son pack his scull up for a race in Northern California. So, I got to CDM this morning a little before 7, met with the group, and ran a little 45 minute tempo run along the Lower Back Bay trail. I felt a little guilty since most were running at least 6 miles today, but I will tackle at least 10 miles tomorrow morning.
I started with an easy first one mile, which was just under 10 minutes. At that point, I started building speed. At the 20 minute mark I turned around, only because I knew I had the Hill that I was going to need to contend with on my return. I felt good and felt pretty strong the entire run. I did slow down momentarily a couple of times as the trail started climbing some minor hills, but otherwise, I was able to maintain pace. Bottom line is that even with the big hill to contend with, I ended up going 4.85 miles. That means if I didn't have the hill, 5 miles would have been entirely possible. I started thinking about next week - specifically about how hard I can push myself. Maybe 25 minutes is possible? I'll give it my best!
Tomorrow also wraps up my current training plan. I think this one (Hal Higdon 12 week Intermediate Spring Training) is a good plan! My times show improvement. I feel a lot more comfortable out on the trails, and recover a lot quicker. The only thing that hasn't happened the last 12 weeks is weight loss. I'll start watching those calories a lot closer over the coming weeks.
Showing posts with label intermediate spring training plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intermediate spring training plan. Show all posts
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Missed a day!
Boo hoo! Unscheduled rest day! Not that I had any nagging injuries, or burn out or anything. Just kind of a lazy Sunday. By the time I had finished everything else, it was getting close to 6:30. These days it is dark by 7 PM. I figured one missed tempo day is not going to hurt me at this point. So I settled in for another episode of House and wrote Sunday off.
Today is normally an easy day to use as recovery from the weekend's long run and tempo/fartlek workout. I'm going to try to move things around and do an hour tempo run today instead of an easy 4. I have some errands this evening (wife is working late, so I have dinner duty). I'll see where things stand later in the evening.
This week also wraps up my current training plan. Based on that plan I'm supposed to run a 10K on Sunday, but, I can't seem to find one close to home. Instead, I'll do a long run on Saturday and take a couple of rest days during the week. The question really is what to do next week. I want to maintain a base of 25 to 30 miles per week. I will be travelling the week of October 12, so I am toying with 5 days next week Monday, Tuesday 6 easy, Wednesday speed work, Thursday 4 recovery, Friday SRD, Saturday 12 miles, Sunday SRD. That would give me a weekly total of 34 miles. Then, I'll take a week off while travelling, and start a new training cycle when I get back, the week of October 19th. We'll see how it goes!
Today is normally an easy day to use as recovery from the weekend's long run and tempo/fartlek workout. I'm going to try to move things around and do an hour tempo run today instead of an easy 4. I have some errands this evening (wife is working late, so I have dinner duty). I'll see where things stand later in the evening.
This week also wraps up my current training plan. Based on that plan I'm supposed to run a 10K on Sunday, but, I can't seem to find one close to home. Instead, I'll do a long run on Saturday and take a couple of rest days during the week. The question really is what to do next week. I want to maintain a base of 25 to 30 miles per week. I will be travelling the week of October 12, so I am toying with 5 days next week Monday, Tuesday 6 easy, Wednesday speed work, Thursday 4 recovery, Friday SRD, Saturday 12 miles, Sunday SRD. That would give me a weekly total of 34 miles. Then, I'll take a week off while travelling, and start a new training cycle when I get back, the week of October 19th. We'll see how it goes!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Lengthening Out a Bit
For the first time in a long time (since May actually) I went double digits. A tad over 10 miles on the San Diego Creek trail up into Irvine.
I've been trying to concentrate on getting back into shape after my cycling accident, following Higdon's Intermediate Spring Training Plan. With this plan, Hal is concentrating on quality versus quantity. I had to deviate from plan this week, with one son's back to school night, and the other saying his family good-byes as he moved off to college (even though it was only to UC Irvine). So, I took Thursday and Friday off, and then lengthened Saturday from 8 to 10 miles.
In the last training cycle, these long runs gave me some problems. I think that it was due to a number of reasons - running too fast, being too new, etc., etc. This plan, though, has been making me do some speed work as well as medium long distances. I think it's pretty comfortable and is good for me, because yesterday I was able to keep a pretty steady pace throughout, managing a pretty comfortable 10:24 pace. It would have no doubt been a little better, but I had to make a short pit stop about 5 miles in to get rid of my morning coffee.
Today it's off for a 60 minute fartlek. I am going to concentrate on running at LT pace - 9:09 or thereabouts. I know I can run faster, but I am a little sore and stiff from yesterday. When done, this week's mileage should come in at a tad over 30 - right at the starting point for the Pfitz plan(s). Looks like it's time to start reading that book now!
I've been trying to concentrate on getting back into shape after my cycling accident, following Higdon's Intermediate Spring Training Plan. With this plan, Hal is concentrating on quality versus quantity. I had to deviate from plan this week, with one son's back to school night, and the other saying his family good-byes as he moved off to college (even though it was only to UC Irvine). So, I took Thursday and Friday off, and then lengthened Saturday from 8 to 10 miles.
In the last training cycle, these long runs gave me some problems. I think that it was due to a number of reasons - running too fast, being too new, etc., etc. This plan, though, has been making me do some speed work as well as medium long distances. I think it's pretty comfortable and is good for me, because yesterday I was able to keep a pretty steady pace throughout, managing a pretty comfortable 10:24 pace. It would have no doubt been a little better, but I had to make a short pit stop about 5 miles in to get rid of my morning coffee.
Today it's off for a 60 minute fartlek. I am going to concentrate on running at LT pace - 9:09 or thereabouts. I know I can run faster, but I am a little sore and stiff from yesterday. When done, this week's mileage should come in at a tad over 30 - right at the starting point for the Pfitz plan(s). Looks like it's time to start reading that book now!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Hill Work
Yesterday I was introduced to a new type of training by my plan - hill work. My plan called for a 2 mile jog, then a 3x hill of about a quarter mile, followed by a 2 mile jog.
My Higdon plan said to not worry about the inclination of the hill - just choose something about the right length (quarter of a mile more or less). On my normal Upper Back Bay run there is a hill that is almost a quarter mile in length, so, off I went to try my workout.
I ended up at just under 5 miles total including the hill workout. I did 20 minutes of stretching to work out some of the soreness. It is amazing how hard I am having to work after my injury layoff.
Today is a three mile easy run and a weight workout. Talk to you afterwards!
My Higdon plan said to not worry about the inclination of the hill - just choose something about the right length (quarter of a mile more or less). On my normal Upper Back Bay run there is a hill that is almost a quarter mile in length, so, off I went to try my workout.
I ended up at just under 5 miles total including the hill workout. I did 20 minutes of stretching to work out some of the soreness. It is amazing how hard I am having to work after my injury layoff.
Today is a three mile easy run and a weight workout. Talk to you afterwards!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Three Miles on a Two Mile Trail
I started a 12 week Higdon Training plan today. I need to get back into shape after a 6 week layoff since the Rock n' Roll Marathon. I chose the 12 week Intermediate Spring Training program. It starts off easy enough and builds to weekly mileage between 25 and 30. I'll do the Cal Coast long runs on Saturdays and the mileage should be good.
Tonight I was looking for somewhere different to run, so I went over to Bonita Creek Park thinking that the trail that takes off was a 1.5 mile run, so out and back would have made 3. Too bad for me! The trail was only a one mile out and back. I had some mean climbing up to the Bonita Creek housing tract, back down to Arroyo Grande Park, and then back up and down again. Needless to say, my 9:45 pace was shot. But I did finish and it was great to start back into the swing of things!
Tonight I was looking for somewhere different to run, so I went over to Bonita Creek Park thinking that the trail that takes off was a 1.5 mile run, so out and back would have made 3. Too bad for me! The trail was only a one mile out and back. I had some mean climbing up to the Bonita Creek housing tract, back down to Arroyo Grande Park, and then back up and down again. Needless to say, my 9:45 pace was shot. But I did finish and it was great to start back into the swing of things!
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