This is week #1 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY. I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter and I get nothing if you use it… so you might as well use it!)
Monday: Hill Repeats. Ran my normal route up Gilbert from Elsinore (Channel 9 Studios) to Eden Park Drive. It was tough, but I got it done. The splits were 1:36, 1:34, 1:35, 1:32 1:29, 1:32. I don’t have any goal splits for these, but the grouping looks okay from my layman’s point of view.
Tuesday: Fitness Run. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides from Sawyer Point to the Roebling Suspension Bridge, across into Covington, across the Veteran’s Bridge into Newport, and across the Purple People Bridge back into Cincinnati. As soon as I crossed under the Purple People Bridge (a minute into my run), the wind hit me and it kept up the entire time. As I crossed the Suspension Bridge, I ran past a fence that was moved somewhat aside indicating the path was closed. I kept looking forward to see if there was a closure (which is difficult, the bridge is like all bridges – it arches). I made it 80% across when I saw some construction equipment blocking the entire path. So I moved out into the street (wrestler-style, between the ‘ropes’, which were steel), and continued my run. 30 seconds later, I lost my hat to a wind gust. No cars the entire time (but there were a few coming up the street when I moved back off onto the sidewalk). Finished my strides going up to Newport On The Levee and across the Purple People Bridge. 4 miles in 34:38 (8:38 min/mile).
Wednesday: Tempo Run. Ran a 40 minute tempo run in the flattest area of the park (Friendship Park to Sawyer Point to Yeatman’s Cove to Smale Park to around the Bengals Practice Field/Longworth Triangle twice. It’s really not that flat (there’s a 151 foot gain), but it’s not that hilly (there’s a 151 foot gain). Overall, 6.58 miles in 52:43 (8:01 min/mi), the tempo portion was 5.08 miles in 40 minutes (7:52 min/mi).
Thursday: Fitness Run. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides on the inverse of Tuesday. The weather was chilly (54F, compared to a normal of around 68F during this time of year). The Suspension Bridge east-side path is still closed, but I didn’t see any equipment over there. Total of 4 miles in 32:48 (8:11 min/mi), and that includes one of my fastest strides ever – a 5:35 split over 30 seconds; normally my splits are between 6:30 and 7:00 over the 30 seconds. Of course the GPS accuracy becomes fairly significant on these because they’re just 30 seconds. But this is a sign of things to come.
Friday: Long Run. This was a 90 minute 3/1 long run, with “3/1” meaning 3/4 at a normal pace and 1/4 at a fast pace. I ran an easy course to the east of downtown through the East End neighborhood and out to the Riverview Elementary School (it’s a school on stilts – it sits in the floodplain so it has to be up about 20 feet). This course is miles 21.5 to 24.75 of the Flying Pig Marathon course, and there’s a hill that just kinda gets to you NO MATTER WHAT along this route (it’s at 24.25 of the marathon course… and about 45 seconds before my watch beeped to signal the ‘/1’ :-)).
Saturday: Recovery Run. Did around 3 miles running in the subdivision after sleeping in a little. 3.14 miles in 27:04 (8:37 min/mile pace) that was accidentally a progressive run (8:44, 8:37, 8:31, and the last 0.14 was at a 8:27 pace but it doesn’t really count).
That’s it for the week. 33.5 miles. It was a good week, the weather cooperated (something it might not do next week). Next week is going to include some intervals, a slightly longer tempo run, and a HM pace run.
Things to Read
I’ve begun reading Again To Carthage, which is a sequel to Once A Runner. I’m eight chapters in (at the time of writing), and it is so far pretty good. It’s also fiction, so it’s a nice escape from learning more about Neural Networks and the coming Transportation Research Board Paper Reviews.
Also worth a read and listen:
- Craig Simpson’s Blazing Fast Blazing Hot 5 Mile Race. One of the coolest finish-line swag items was an ice cold towel (no pun intended!)
- David Rapp has been keeping up the running despite no race on the schedule and has been taking care of himself after taking care of work (and finishing his runs with a beer isn’t too bad either!). Sidenote: I like the pic at the top of the page (which is also his Twitter banner image) – the collage of running shirts, bibs, and medals looks cool.
- Bibrave Podcast 104 with Kim Fasetta, CMO of AfterShokz (this is two episodes back). I am an AfterShokz user (perhaps not ironically, I use them to listen to podcasts like The Bibrave Podcast). Kim is training for her first marathon – the Honolulu Marathon (yes, I’m jealous) – and they talk about training and a bit about her.
- Running Beer and BS has been crushing it with several of their episodes. Their episodes are are informative but easy to listen to because the hosts are a bit less formal than most other podcasts.
Upcoming
Oktoberfest is coming, which for me really means that the Hudepohl 14k is coming up. This is a fun race. I remember running one year behind some people dressed in prison stripes and names across the back (like on a sports jersey) of “Lohan”, “Peterson”, “Rice” and a fourth I can’t remember. The “Peterson” runner even had a small branch (the switch). Another year, I ran near someone that was talking about pacing marathons and running her first ultra. I’m pretty sure she was not running as hard as I was (that’s an observation, not a criticism!) After the race, we’re dumped out into the Cincinnati Oktoberfest, which is the second-largest to Munich! And the beer lines are SHORT!!!
Everything is going to change.
I’m going to end my 6 year Brew Hog streak (running the Bockfest 5k, Little Kings Mile, and Hudepohl 14k in the same year). It’s not because I’m mad or bored with them, they’re great races operated by a group that knows how to operate a race (they do the Flying Pig 5k/10k/half/full/2m dog/kids mile/Pigabilities races and the Queen Bee Half in addition to the Beer Series). In fact, I’m likely going to sign up to volunteer for the Queen Bee again this year (the email just went out, I have to check for conflicts and with SWMBO). I have a mental diagram of next year, and while the Bockfest 5k and Little Kings Mile might be in it, the Hudepohl 14k conflicts with a race I think I want to do next year. My participation in a Flying Pig event is up in the air too. I’ll probably run something, because after all, it is THE running weekend in Cincinnati, but I’m 99% sure it won’t be the marathon. However, I’ll be back for another run of that sometime in the future.
There is also another change afoot, but it can’t be discussed now. The only traces of what it is are my “vague-book” style updates on Twitter, which have been positive.
Finally, I dropped by the local Half Price Books. While in the “fitness” section, I saw a few old Hal Higdon books that I passed on, and I recommended to another person to read Born to Run (which every runner should read), but I didn’t immediately find anything for myself. After a few minutes of my wife and offspring #1 looking around, I went back to the section and looked at the “General Sports” area and found a few more Hal Higdon books (but not Run Fast, the one I might want), and then I found this (Amazon link)…
So I think that’s next on the reading list. Anyway, I think that’s it for this week. Cheers!
(note: all the links to Amazon are affiliate links)