It’s now past the end of March. I’m well into half marathon training.
102.31 mile goal for the month, 100.74 miles ran. I missed a few days, and general inaccuracies (4 miles + 6 strides > 4.5 miles, usually it’s 4.7 miles) caused the difference.
I mostly made my pace goals this month.
One race this month, the Bockfest 5k. My goals were:
A: 23:30
B: 5k PR (<24:15)
C: Course PR (<26:26)
I ran a 24:26. Beat my C goal, but that 5k PR… that’s going to be around for a while.
That just feels weird to say. I’m using a plan for a 5k. I haven’t said that in four years when I started this journey on the Couch-To-5k plan. I’ve done plans for halves and a 14k (I used the 15k plan). I work well with Mr. Higdon’s plans once I rework the days to fit my schedule.
There’s probably things I’m not doing right, but whatever. I’ve told my watch to use 0:43 – 0:47 for the 200m repeats and 1:41 – 1:46 for the 400m repeats. And I’ve set my watch to use 7:54 – 8:09 for tempo runs.
In fact, I guess I’m not. According to Hal Higdon:
Interval Training: To improve your speed, train at a pace somewhat faster than your race pace for the 5-K, about the pace you would run in a 1500 meter or mile race.
The last time I ran a mile, I ran it in 7:04. I’m hoping to break 7 this year at the Little King’s Mile **fingers crossed**.
Those 200s are hard. 400s aren’t much easier.
Intervals Chart
The tempo runs aren’t terrible. On the last two misses, one was running pre-dawn at an unlit park and the other involved winds from Hell – so bad that at one point I started downhill, trying to accelerate to the range and the wind blew me back to maintaining the same pace!
I used to mention average speed in these, but I’m going to stop. Since each run has a purpose, I’m not going to obsess over that any longer AND I’ve started going slow for LSD runs – I’ve been running with a friend and we talk (remember, You should be able to carry on a conversation while you run!) so things have slowed down quite a bit.
February Stats
Goal: 100.35 miles
Actual: 109.31 (by week: 17.4 mi, 30.29 mi, 28.63 mi, 33.37 mi, 7.33 miles in the final partial week)
Notable things that happened this month was a 5k test, it was as true of a test as possible, and I did it in 24:46, 7:58 min/mi.
Bockfest 5k: Keys To The Race
Kill The Hill
The hill is right up front on this course. It’s tough, but we get it on fresh legs. Don’t die, though, there’s still 2 miles AFTER that hill!
Use Gilbert/Court/Reedy/Eggleston Downhill
This is a long downhill slope. The Gilbert portion of it can be pushed, but the remainder should be used to prepare for the final mile.
Don’t die on the final mile
The final mile has been 60-90 seconds slower than the first in years past. This is a tough part of the course, as everything from Culvert Street is uphill.
Current course PR: 26:26
Current 5k PR: 24:15 (Cyclones Frozen 5k 2015)
Here it is on the evening of January 19. January is a busy month for me – traditionally I take a week off around Christmas, and a week after getting back into the office I go to a yearly conference. So I have to cram in a month’s worth of work in two weeks, and those two weeks are separated by a week.
I flaked out at the end of December. I planned to run 100 miles and only made it to 88. No races, just running.
I finished the year with a goal of running 1,077 miles. I ran 1,083. I spent over 165 hours running.
The plan for 2017 includes a few “stand-bys”, the Bockfest 5k, Little King’s Mile, and Hudepohl 14k.
I’m highly considering the Flying Pig Half Marathon again, and possibly also the Honor Run Half again. If NKU does it’s summer XC series, I’m in.
I’m going to get into the cross training I need to. This is the second phase of me implementing what I’ve learned in Meb For Mortals. The first phase was to begin doing his form and mobility drills, which I do twice a week. This would put me in a good position to start into full marathon training to run my first full in 2018.
In other related news, I purchased a pair of Brooks shoes. These are not made for my feet. I also purchased a new wristband for my RoadID. The one I currently have is quite bad looking. I was also able to get a beer glass, because after all… running on beer!
I intended to run 93.4 miles, I ran 97.4 miles. That’s a little bit of a mis-interpretation of the month, though, because a large part of the 4 mile difference was caused by tempo runs where my planned distance was a guess… a very low guess. I was up to 995 miles for the year at the end of November.
The rest of the month was without anything notable. I took two days off after the half, and slowly worked back into a normal routine.
Planned For December
Running. The plan is running.
I broke a thousand miles on the year on December 2, and I plan on running around 104 miles (23 miles per week) through the month.
Upcoming
The next planned race is Bockfest 5k. I’m using one of Hal Higdon’s plans for this, something I’ve never done for a 5k. His 5k Advanced plan is very interesting – it has short intervals (200m and 400m), tempo runs, and a good long run each week. I start on the plan on the second week of January.
Looking forward to next year, I only have three events on the calendar: the Bockfest 5k, Little King’s Mile, and the Hudepohl 14k. I haven’t decided what else I’m doing. Beyond next year, I figure I’m a year-and-a-season from my first full marathon (which might be the 20th Flying Pig). That means that at this time next year I’ll be preparing to get onto a marathon training plan.
The books are closed on July. I planned to run 96.5 miles, but ran 95.35. Close enough. I spent 15:01 running; the monthly overall pace was 9:27 min/mile. This is the slowest I’ve been since January (when I was just getting back into things and affected by snow), and that’s pretty much entirely due to the humidity. Even our local National Weather Service office noted the high humidity:
Muggy July? You bet…Cincinnati just had the 2nd muggiest July since 1938. Avg dewpoint was 69F — normal is 65F. No big relief in sight.
The humidity was a force to be reckoned with. I had a few runs that I’d consider ‘bad’ from the standpoint of going out only part of the distance and making it to exhaustion before the end of the planned run. I had many days where I returned from a run soaking wet – like I had been swimming.
I had one race in July – the first of three NKU Cross Country Series 3.2k races. My time was 17:31, which is probably a PR. Two more of those to go in August.
Planned for August
116.5 miles
2 races, both 3.2k cross country
I wish I could hope for better weather, but this is Cincinnati, and August is usually a humid Hell. The evening cross country races are going to be hard.
Later This Year
532.35 miles planned (August – December), including 4 100+ mile months.
Two races, a 14k and a half marathon.
Total for the year
544.4 Planned Miles
553.58 Ran Miles
85:59:03 Hours Ran
9:19 minutes per mile average pace
