Today I had a hard tempo run at 6:49/mile for four miles. It sounds like a good pace (goal was 6:50), but I was really strugling toward the end, so I'm wondering if it was really so beneficial. I'm not sure what's going on with me, maybe it is just colder than ideal and this is close to the limits of my abilities. I'll definitely just try to keep up this pace for this distance for the rest of the pre-plan training.

I guess it was naive to think that I could keep up my training during Christmas. So let's try to repeat the plan for last week for this one.

Plan for week of Dec. 26.

44 miles total, including
13 miles long run, 7 miles tempo (4 fast at 6:50), and 4 x 6 miles easy. From now on easy miles should be run by feel, unless we go out of the 7:45-8:15 interval. Long runs should be at around 8:00 min/mile.

Time for reality check. After a rather disastrous tempo today, I have to settle that I can't run reliably faster than 6:50 tempos this season. Let's revise the goals for pre-plan. For the beginning, I will use the following McMillan paces:



The pre-plan MPWs are unchanged:

12/26: 40 miles (no long run)
01/02: 44 miles
01/09: 45 miles

The plan weeks will go as planned, but with the McMillan paces above. In an optimal case, I can still break 1:30, but the paces as of now are for an 1:31:20 HM.

Plan for week of Dec. 19.

44 miles total, including
13 miles long run, 7 miles tempo (4 fast at 6:49), and 4 x 6 miles easy. From now on easy miles should be run by feel, unless we go out of the 7:45-8:15 interval. Long runs should be at around 8:00 min/mile.

Fri, 40 F, cloudy, Rides.

Summary of my progress: Last week I completed 42 miles, and I'm now around 6:50/mile for my regular 4-mile tempos. My highly structured training plan starts on Jan. 16 (HM is on 04/28). My pre-plan goal was to reach 45 MPW and 6:45 tempo for at least 20 minutes. The former is definitely doable, but that 5 seconds per mile on tempos seems a bit harder...

The tempo fast pace was 6:49.3. On spot. I'm note sure I can keep pushing this time though very far. Though this may be just fine as a starting point for the HM training.

Tue: 47 F cloudy.

Monday run is in 50 F, sundown, in my Rides.

Plan for week of 12/12:
43 miles, including 13 miles of long run, 7 miles of tempo (fast portion at 6:50), 6+6+6+5 miles of easy runs at 8:06.

Very nice tempo run today in quite nasty (windy, cloudy, cold) weather. The fast 4 miles were at 6:50.2.

My training is falling apart again. It is hard to keep up, when it keeps raining outside. I had a mild knee ache, too, so I decided to skip the second half of last week, only completing ~20 miles.

Try to get back on track. Plan for week of 12/05:

Total of 42 miles, easy runs at or below 8:07, tempo is at 6:51, or whatever I am able to.

Long run is 13 miles. Tempo is total of 7 miles. Rest is 4 x 5.5 miles.

Thursday: 36 F, in Jazz.

Today I couldn't do any better than 6:55 on the tempo... That's 3 seconds/mile worse than I wanted, and a lot worse than 2 weeks ago.

Week of 11/28 plan:

41 miles total, including:

13 miles long run, 7 miles tempo (4 miles at 6:52), and 4 times 5.25 miles of easy (at 8:08).

Thu, 46 F, cloudy, Jazz.

Somehow I seem to be able to outdo myself every week on the tempo run. Today my fast 4 miles were at 6:46.7 / mile.

Week finished as planned, though the 13-mile long run on Sunday was harder than expected.

Plan for week of 11/14.

Total 39 miles, including 13 mile long run, 7 miles of tempo (4 fast), and 4 + 5 + 5 + 5 miles of easy run. The 4-miler will happen today. Easy miles at 8:10, tempo at 6:54. This should not only be doable, but in fact I achieved the whole set last week.

Today I ran my tempo and my fast 4 miles averaged at 6:51.3. Very nice pace indeed.

Mon: 65 F, partly cloudy, Ride.
Tue: 73 F, partly cloudy, Jazz.

Plan for week of 11/07.

38 miles total, including

13 miles long run
6 miles tempo (4 fast at 6:55)
5 + 5 + 5 + 4 miles easy at 8:11.

Thursday, 53 F and fucking rain! Ran a little over 5 miles in the Rides. Forgot to bring my tech T, so I ran in my regular T-shirt. Of course it had to rain today.

Wed, long, 55F, Jazz.

Tue: easy, 66 F, sunny, Ride.

Mon: easy in Ride, 61 F, partly cloudy.

Week of 10/31.

Total: 37 miles.

Long: 13 m. Tempo: 6 m (4 fast).
Easy 4 x 4.5 m.

Easy runs at 8:12, tempo at 6:56.

Home Run 10K Race Report

Bernheim Forest, near Clermont, KY. Goal: 42 minutes. Plan B: just PR (break 44:26).

The race was about a 40-minute drive from our house, so I got up at 6:00, and left home at 6:50. The race was scheduled to start at 9:00, and I also wanted to stop by a supermarket to buy a bottle of Gatorade. With all the race time crowd and parking complications, it was 8:00 by the time I parked, found the start, the port-a-potty, and was ready to focus on the race. Started the warmup at 8:30. It was still below 40 F, so I debated if I should wear long pants. I decided on shorts, long sleeve shirt and cap.

I lined up close to the front at around 8:55, but they had some technical difficulties with the sensor mats at the start, so they delayed the start until 9:07. The 5K and the 10K started together, so the start was a bit crowded, but the folks were surprisingly polite. At 9:07 off we went. The race started with a short uphill section, but the adrenaline was pumping hard in me, so I hardly noticed. After about 1/2 mile, we were going down a hill for about 1/2 mile, then up again. In fact the whole race course was like this: basically there was no flat section, just up-down-up-down. The first mile was a bit nervous altogether, and I tried really hard to stop the urge to go out too fast.

Mile 1: 6:31.

I planed to run the first few miles at a pace of 6:45, so this was too fast. I tried to go a bit easier in the second mile, and when we hit a steeper hill in the second half, I made sure I don't kill myself on it. The field has spread out, and I was only running with a small group of about 5-6 people.

Mile 2: 7:04.

The rolling hills continued and I saw my pace slowing dramatically (my average pace was 6:50 at one point in this mile), though I had an extra reason to be optimistic: I observed that my Garmin was underestimating the distance. I was hitting the mile markers earlier than my Garmin indicated. During the race I wasn't sure if it was the Garmin or the course, but now I have reasons to believe that the course was correct and the Garmin wrong. I know they measured the course with wheel, and the race was in a forest, so the GPS data is not that accurate (I know this for sure - when I look at the downloaded reference points, they are clearly off sometimes.) Also, the GPS doesn't take the hills into account. So at this point I just thought: if I can keep the average pace at or below 6:50, I can still run 42 minutes. The mile ended with a steep downhill. At the end of the mile, the 5K runners branched off so the race got a lot lonelier, but I didn't mind.

Mile 3: 6:45.

The next mile started with a steep uphill (elevation gain of 100 ft), and then a shorter downhill (elevation loss of 30 ft) (in fact it was even worse, because the downhill had a short up section in it). An older guy ran right behind me for most of the mile. Close to the 4th mile marker he pulled up by me and asked: "Are you struggling, too?" I said: "No, I'm OK." Then we ran a bit together.

Mile 4: 6:58.

The next mile started with a long, killer climb, and by this time I was really fed up with the hills. "Struggling guy" passed me and pulled away up on the hill. There was a turnaround point at about half of the mile, and the volunteer said at the turnaround "It's all downhill from here", which wasn't true, of course. But at least the second half of the mile was going down. I tried to accelerate, but I was nearly spent.

Mile 5: 6:56.

The last mile was mostly downhill, but it did have a nasty climb in the middle. I was close to my breaking point. I was afraid to start a kick, because I though I might totally die before the finish line. "Struggling guy" was almost out sight, and nobody was close behind. But at least by this point I knew I would at least PR. Since I didn't have much idea about the accuracy of my Garmin, I wasn't sure what my real average pace was.

Mile 6: 6:36.

For the last 0.2 mile, the 5K runners rejoined the course, which was a terrible idea. Do you know how it is when you meet the 42-minute 5K crowd at the last moments of a 10K? Walkers, all around the place, and so much confusion that I wasn't even sure where to turn toward the finish line (people were walking back, forth, and across the road everywhere). I had to ask at one point what direction the turn was. The last 0.1 mile was another climb giving the course a net elevation gain. Still, I ran the last portion in about 36 seconds, which my Garmin measured to be 0.1 mile. This means a 6 min/mile paced sprint.

Total time: 41:26, beating my expectation, my road and training PRs.

A note on the mile paces: since my Garmin was not that accurate, most likely each mile was in fact a bit faster.

Post-race food was bagels, banana, some other pastries, and water. Simple and effective. It was really cold once I wasn't running, so I went back to the car to change. We had to wait for quite long for the results, and when they arrived, they were all messed up. Apparently many 5K runners were in the computer as 10K runners. The organizers claimed they changed their minds midrace, but it is hard to believe that so many people did that. When they announced the 3 winners of the 10K, it turned out that all 3 were in fact 5K runners. They corrected this error, and then the announcer decided not to read the age group awards, but they just directed us to a table, where they posted the results, and everybody was to pick up their own prize. I appeared as 2nd place in my age group, so I was about the pick up the second place prize, but then some people told me that the "1st place" runner was in fact a 5Ker. After they said they were absolutely positive (they knew the guy, he was on their team), I surrendered my 2nd place prize to the "3rd" place runner and I picked up the 1st place prize (which is, by the way, a very nice framed certificate). What a mess! Poor 3rd place runner probably never knew he won.

All in all I am very satisfied. I PRd, broke my training 10K record, won my age group, and I ran 41:26 on a quite difficult course. And all this on only 35 MPW, and no speedwork, in the base building phase of the half marathon training. I am starting to think that with more specific training, a flat course, and some time for improvement, a sub-40 10K might be a possibility.

Here is the plan after the 10K in the weekend.

Base building:

10/31: 37 mi, 8:12, 6:56
11/07: 38 mi, 8:11, 6:55
11/14: 39 mi, 8:10, 6:54
11/21: 40 mi, 8:09, 6:53
11/28: 41 mi, 8:08, 6:52
12/05: 42 mi, 8:07, 6:51
12/12: 43 mi, 8:06, 6:50
12/19: 44 mi, 8:04, 6:49
12/26: 40 mi, 8:03, 6:48
01/02: 44 mi, 8:02, 6:47
01/09: 45 mi, 8:01, 6:46

Every week should include a long run of 12-13 miles, and the tempo should be 4 miles.

Training plan:

01/16: Week 14
01/23: Week 13
01/30: Week 12
02/06: Week 11
02/13: Week 10
02/20: Week 9
02/27: Week 8
03/05: Week 7
03/12: Week 6
03/19: Week 5
03/26: Week 4
04/02: Week 3
04/09: Week 2
04/16: Week 1
04/23: Race week

Mon: Ride, 70 F, sunny.
Tue: Jazz, 66 F.
Wed: Ride, 65 F, rain.

Next week's program:
Mon: 7 miles.
Tue: 6 miles.
Wed: 5 miles.
Thu: 4 miles very easy.
Fri: off.
Sat: race.
Sun: off or easy, I'll see. Knowing my lazyness, probably off.

Sun, 29 minutes, 55 F, Jazz.

Note to the coincidental reader of this blog: I make these notes when I don't download the GPS data into my running log right away. By the time I do the download, there is a good chance I would forget the weather and the shoe I used.

Today I ran 7 miles, the middle 4 in 27:32, which translates to exactly 6:53/mile. That is a quite a promise. I haven't been able to run 4mile tempos since I resumed training at the end of summer, and now I ran it at a very respectable speed. I actually don't recall running 6:53 paced 4 mile tempo ever.

I ran it by the Ohio river on the bike/run path. Even though at places the surroundings are quite industrial, I like that path. It is fairly flat, but not completely. The river is quite nice.

Friday, 50 F, sunny, Ride.

Unofficial log: Thursday, 4 miles, 46 F. Shoe: Jazz.

Unofficial log: Wed, 13+ miles, 45 F drizzle, wind. Shoe: Ride. And a damn dog following me for the last 6 miles (for real!).

This week has been greatly successful. I feel strong and fit. My LT is still not great, but it is a lot better than a few weeks ago. I can run 3.5 miles at 6:59 without much trouble in training. My 13 miler on Wednesday was easier than ever, and I recovered faster.

Week of October 17:

35 miles, including
13 mile long run midweek.
6 miles of tempo in the weekend.
4 x 4 miles on weekdays. That means I am converting to 6-times-a-week running. Better than running 3 x 5.33. Probably leaving my rest day for Monday. It would be nice to run early in the morning on Tuesday and Thursday.

Easy runs at 8:15 now.

I just signed up for a 10K on 10/29. Considering that I only started training again about a month ago, I can't expect it to be great. But I'll try to break that soft 10K road PR of mine, and maybe 42 minutes is achievable. I'm not sure sure about the elevation profile though, so that may change things. I just mostly do it for fun, charity, and benchmark my fitness.

I got a cold, but I still finished my week, included a 3.5 mile tempo today (at 7:00/mile). I got really sick after my 13 miler on Wednesday, but a little rest on Thursday took care of it and I recovered in about one day.

Week of 10/10:

34 miles, including:
13 miles long run, if I feel healthy. Otherwise distribute the extra to easy days.
6 miles tempo, 3.5 miles fast at 6:59.
3 x 5 miles easy at 8:16.

I lamented before about the name of the Derby "Mini" Marathon. I think this name disrespects the name "Marathon". A Mini Marathon sounds like a kind of a Marathon, when in fact, they are very different races. But some people believe that the "Half" Marathon disrespects halfs. Indeed, I agree, if you want to run it fast, a half can be very-very hard. So here is an alternative. I have to say I like it:

Pikermi

Finally I'm satisfied with my tempo. This morning I managed 3.5 miles at 7:00/mile, and I didn't even have to turn myself inside out to do it. True, the weather was PERFECT, 50 F (10 C), sunny, no wind. But only about 13 hour elapsed since my 4.4 mile easy run last night.

Tomorrow another 4.2 miles and the week's plan is fulfilled sucessfully.

Week of 10/03:

33 miles, including:
13 miles long.
6 miles tempo (3.5 or 4 miles fast at 7:00)
5 + 5 + 4 miles of easy runs.
Easy and long runs at 8:17.

Like pretty much every conference week, last week was a failure in training. Too much travel and work... but still managed to get out 30 miles, but no tempo run. And I'm still recovering and I haven't run yesterday. But I'll try to continue:

Week of Sept. 26:

32 miles. Consisting of

13 mi long run on Wednesday.
6 mi tempo in the weekend with 3 or 3.5 miles at 7:00 min/mile.
3 easy runs at 4.33 miles each.
Easy runs at 8:18 min/mile.

Finished the week as planned. I did a 3-mile tempo at sub-7 minute average pace, but I couldn't do a 4th mile. That's OK, I didn't expect to be able to do it (though I hoped a little...)

Next week:

31 miles, easy runs at 8:19.
13-mile long midweek.
6-mile tempo in the weekent, at least 3 fast miles (at 7:00), but I'll try more if I can (even 3.5 is something).
3 easy runs of 4 miles each.

13 miles last night at 8:11. Very even pacing. I love to do these long runs.

This week (30 miles, 8:20, 7:00):

13 miles long run midweek
6 miles tempo in the weekend
3 runs of 3.7 miles each

I finished the week with 28.51 miles, of which there was 13.12 mile long run at 8:11, and a 6.15 mile tempo, with 3+1 fast miles at 7:00, 7:06, 6:46, (pause), 6:56. I tried 4 continuous miles at 7:00, but after the 3rd mile, I knew I couldn't manage a 4th, so I decided to stop after the 3rd; then, on a whim, I decided to run a 4th fast mile after a slow one. My pacing still sucks, but that is kind of normal after a long break in speed workouts. It is a bit disappointing that I couldn't run a 4-mile tempo, but it is still a lot better than my tempo last week. I still have a few weeks to be able to do a 4-mile tempo at 7:00.

Scratch the SmartCoach plan. It's stupid. Now that I see its details, I don't find it good at all. So I'm starting anew. Some basic facts:

The Derby Half Marathon (I refuse to call it a "Mini Marathon") is on April 28. In any version of Pfitzinger's plan, the weeks go like this:

01/16: Week 14
01/23: Week 13
01/30: Week 12
02/06: Week 11
02/13: Week 10
02/20: Week 9
02/27: Week 8
03/05: Week 7
03/12: Week 6
03/19: Week 5
03/26: Week 4
04/02: Week 3
04/09: Week 2
04/16: Week 1
04/23: Race week

I have 18 weeks before the plan starts. By the time I'm starting the plan, I have a few goals:

- My MPW should be at least 45.
- My pace for easy runs should be 8:00 and I should be able to do 6:45 paced tempos for at least 20 minutes.
- I should keep doing 12-13 mile long runs 3 weeks out of 4.

Here is the plan. The order of the fields is MPW, easy pace, tempo pace. The long run is always 12-13 miles at easy pace. I gave myself 4 weeks to get to 7 minutes in tempos, because I'm not really there yet, but it will be hard to predict when I'll get there. In January, I should be able to start the Pfitzinger plan with the McMillan paces for 1:30 HM.

09/12: 30 mi, 8:20, 7:00
09/19: 31 mi, 8:19, 7:00
09/26: 32 mi, 8:18, 7:00
10/03: 33 mi, 8:17, 7:00
10/10: 34 mi, 8:16, 6:59
10/17: 35 mi, 8:15, 6:58
10/24: 36 mi, 8:14, 6:57
10/31: 37 mi, 8:12, 6:56
11/07: 38 mi, 8:11, 6:55
11/14: 39 mi, 8:10, 6:54
11/21: 40 mi, 8:09, 6:53
11/28: 41 mi, 8:08, 6:52
12/05: 42 mi, 8:07, 6:51
12/12: 43 mi, 8:06, 6:50
12/19: 44 mi, 8:04, 6:49
12/26: 40 mi, 8:03, 6:48
01/02: 44 mi, 8:02, 6:47
01/09: 45 mi, 8:01, 6:46

Week 1 results: 27 miles, 1 tempo (4 fast miles): partial success only, 1 long run (8 miles): hardest 8 miles I have ever had (sooo much pain, mostly from my tooth, and supplemented with the worst side stitches).

Week 2 plan:

Speedwork: 3 x 1600 m in 6:33 each and 800 m recovery. With 1-1 mile warmup and cooldown, total of 6 miles.

Long: 13 miles.

Easy runs: 3 + 3 + 2 miles.

Easy and long runs at 8:21/mile.

Total is 27 miles.

The Thursday early morning tempo didn't go very well. The fast miles were 6:45, 6:58, 7:10, 7:18. It's not even the 7:04 average (after fractional seconds) that bothers me - after all that is only 2 seconds/mile slower than planned, but the fact that the pace is decreasing and that I couldn't run faster than 7:18 in the fourth mile. I probably would have faired better with slower first miles, but it is always hard to pace myself on the first fast runs of a training cycle. For now, plan doesn't need to be changed.

I had my wisdom tooth extracted Friday morning and I was in bad pain. I took some hydrocodone up until Friday night, so I didn't run on Saturday - I had terrible headaches and the usual opiate hangover on Saturday (plus the pain from the tooth removal). I toughed it out on Saturday, so I would not have the after effects on Sunday, and I can finally run. I plan 8 miles for today.

I will probably try out a SmartCoach plan. I am usually not a fan of Runner's World's SmartCoach, but I plugged in my data and the plan seems reasonable.

Week 1 (out of 35!), 5 runs:

Tempo Run: 6 miles, including 4 miles @ 7:02
Long Run: 13 miles (wow)
Easy Runs: 3 + 2 + 2 miles.

Easy and long runs @ 8:22.

A fell off the wagon again. I haven't run since coming back from SC on August 7th. That's 3 weeks. Explanation: I tried to do too much, too fast, it was too hot, and I had too much to do. I should have kept it more casual and relaxed, and I shouldn't have tried to squeeze in a serious fall race. With my summer schedule, I see it was almost hopeless.

The 10K plans are out of the window now. I also have to restart base building. I have had some knee issues just before I quit my plan, so I also should be more careful with fast buildup. Starting at 30 miles should be OK, but I'll follow a 10% rule, or even slower.

The goal is the Kentucky Derby Half Marathon on April 28. I have 35 weeks if I'm not mistaken. It would also be nice to run some 10Ks during preparation, though spectacular times are not expected.

After surviving last week's heat wave (though running only 36 miles at the end - the plan was 40, but I just couldn't do 10 miles yesterday in the heat), he is the plan for this week:

Week -11:
Long runs 10 and 8 miles.
Track: 6x800 m at 5K pace (3:12 or faster), with 400 m recoveries. Warmup and cooldown should be 1600 m. Altogether ~6.25 miles.
Four easy runs, 6.25 miles each.
Sum: 43 miles.

I'm fucking fed up with the weather. We have a heat wave and the top heat index was 107 F = 42 C today. Even though the temperatures are only in the 90's, my recent experience of running in Hungary validates that 90 F here, in high humidity, and 90 F there in low humidity is sky and ground. If I don't do my run in the morning, I can give up that day. Even late in the evening the temperatures stay high.

E.g. today weather.com gives you a Red Boxed Warning about SEVERE WEATHER in Louisville. Explanation: "Dangerous heat index. Outdoor exposure should be limited." LOL, how about strenuous outdoor exercise? (I did a usual 6 miles this morning.)

Yeah, right. I still ran 6 miles this morning.

I bonked real bad on Sunday when I tried to run 12 miles from my new home (house) to my old home (apartment). The whole idea started with the plan to transport my bicycle over. I would drive from the house to the apartment, then I would ride my bike back to the house, run back to the apartment, drive back to the house. Except it was hot, humid, and I got dehydrated quite fast. I have a bottle that holds 1 quart (=0.95 liter) of fluid. I filled it up with Gatorade, and I drank about a half liter of water just before I left. I assumed that even if I consume a quarter bottle every 20 minutes (which is about as much as my stomach can empty into my bowels in 20 minutes), then I still have 100 minutes, and 12 miles should be done in 100 minutes.

I was on pace, all fine in the first 30 minutes, and I didn't feel I needed to drink before that. Then I drank a quarter of the bottle. I felt I needed a drink again at 45 minutes, but I resisted a bit (the 20 minutes was not up yet), and finally I drank another quarter bottle at 48 minutes. Then I started to have that bad feeling that I want to drink more, but I wanted water, not Gatorade. I was also sweating profoundly - my clothes were dripping wet from the sweat. I was running in the middle of the day (big mistake, but I had to fix a flat tire in the apartment before I left on my ride), and it was right after a rain. We are in the Ohio valley, so the humidity must have been close to 100%.

At 1 hour 5 minutes into the run, I knew I was in trouble. I was in the 8th mile, and I hit a nasty hill at the back of Cherokee Park. I knew I still have more that 4 miles to go, so instead of killing myself on the hill, I stopped running, and I just walked up to the top. I emptied my bottle, because I remembered there is a water fountain just off the path on the top the hill - normally I wouldn't stop, but this was an emergency situation. On the top of the hill I filled up my bottle with water, then I immediately drank half of it. Filled it up again, started to I ran to the bottom of the hill. But this part of the course was really hilly. Another hill started right after that - not very long, but I didn't make it to the top running: I had to walk the last portion. I continued this run-walk thing for another short while, but just before mile 9, I called it quits.

Then of course I had to walk home the remaining 3 miles! That was not very pleasant, either, but I could do it.

I hate when this happens. It is amazing, but 8 oz (= 1/4 quart = 0.24 liter) water/Gatorade is not enough here in the summer, at least not in my state of training/acclimatization.

This morning I was able to run 6 miles without too much trouble, though again, my shorts were dripping sweaty when I got home. This was also the first run from the house, but it was sort of disappointing, because the route was not that nice (lots of concrete sidewalks), and there was an extremely nasty road crossing. I think I'll experiment with a different route tomorrow. And I'll bring water. Even for just 6 miles.

If the organizers can confirm the date for me, I plan to race on October 15, and this time, finally, my "A" race would be a 10K. I plan to get rid of that old, soft PR, but in fact I'll try to get close to 40 minutes. We will see how my shape is at the beginning of the cycle. Even if I don't believe the 19:11 5K PR on that (probably) short course, I should have been capable of something like 19:30, and that already gives a 10K equivalent of 40:30.

That also means that I will run tune up 5Ks on 10/1 and 9/17 (or 18). I don't expect to run PRs, but I should be under 20 minutes in those.

Training schedule:

Race week starts on 10/10.
Week -1: 10/3
Week -2: 9/26
Week -3: 9/19
Week -4: 9/12
Week -5: 9/5
Week -6: 8/29
Week -7: 8/22
Week -8: 8/15
Week -9: 8/8
Week -10: 8/1
Week -11: 7/25

Next week is still base: I'll to ramp up to 40+ miles, because the first week of the training will be 43 miles and there is intensity in it.

I'm back. I did very little running in the last 5 weeks, gained 3-4 pounds, and certainly lost some fitness, but this morning I went for an easy 5 miler, and I feel just fine. I'll build up with ~30 miles this week, then jump into 40 next week, and after that I take it slower with the 10% rule. Considering that I maxed out at 50 miles in the last cycle, I think my body should be able to handle it. Plus, I didn't entirely stop running in my break: I ran 15 miles on the week of 06/20 and 16 on the week on 06/27 (this latter was 4 + 12; the 12-miler was a great run from Veszprem through Balatonalmadi to Felsoors).

Now that I'm fast and wise (LOL!) here are some words of wisdom: :)

1. I think training at the hottest time of the day for two weeks was a great idea. Just two weeks ago, temperatures in the 70s felt hot, but yesterday, I had no problem with the temperature. I only started to feel hot at the very end. I think this is generally good advice if you are racing in the spring or early summer. Just when you do this, don't try to run your cold weather paces.

2. (this one I posted on the sub-20 5K thread on the RW forums) OF Runner: yes, I think you are absolutely correct: whoever put in the work (in this thread) got the results. You will always see those talented folks, who run 20 miles a week, their PR is like 21:xx, show up in th thread, do some speedwork, and two weeks later they run their sub-20. I'm not one of them... It took me a year and a half to get there. I couldn't do it on 35 miles per weeks, so I went up to ~45 and it worked. Bugaha also noted once that for the average guy it seems like over 40 miles per week does the trick. To summarize: if you already train properly (speedwork, etc), and you want to run faster: just run more.

Johnny's 5k Memorial Run Race Report

Goal: sub-20. Secondary goal: 20:30.

This was *the* race of the season for me. A pancake flat course that runs along the Ohio River was supposed to be a very PR friendly course - the only problem was that there is unseasonably hot here in Louisville now.

I took Friday off, and tried to rest, though it was quite hard to do so with all the stress going on in my life. My family was in the air over the Atlantic Ocean for one. I still managed to sleep about 7 hours. I did my usual morning routine, and got to the race at 7:25. I picked up my T-shirt, started the warm-up at 7:35. A few minutes later, my friend, Daniel arrived, and he joined me. We finished the warmup at 7:52, found the start line, lined up, and chatted with a nice family with a very young daughter, who was about to run the race.

One nice surprise was that morning temperatures were a bit lower than predicted. A few days ago it was predicted to be close to 80 F, but in fact it was only about 71. So I decided I would go out hard, because I thought I did have a chance for a sub-20. I also hoped that training (consciously) in 90 F this week helped my body to acclimate.

I also bought specific racing shoes this week. It's a pair of Saucony Kinvara 2s, and they are only 8 ounces.

After a few minutes of announcements and the national anthem, we were off. I was close enough to the start line that I didn't have to zig-zag around people. I started running an aggressive pace, trying to keep myself at my VO2 max, and except one burst (to pass a guy), I felt I was pacing right. I turned off the instantaneous pace on my Garmin, so my first clue on my pace came at around 0.25 mile, when I was around 1:30, and I liked that. I kept doing that pace, and I tried to follow a guy who was just ahead of me, and he looked like he was in my age group (30-39).

Mile 1: 5:57

Wow, this is fast - I thought. But I was OK, so I would have felt silly to slow down just for that. At about 1.3 miles we reached the turnaround point (more exactly we made two rights around a block and then converged back to the original course). I started to hurt there. It came out of nowhere: one moment I was perfectly fine, the next moment I thought it was over. I slowed down and tried to recover. Yes, in retrospect, it is clear that my first mile was too fast. At 1.5 miles, there was a water station: I grabbed a bottle and poured it over my head. (Thanks for the advice, clhuntley!) That felt great and gave me a boost.

Mile 2: 6:25

OK, I'm slowing but this is still sub 20-minute pace, and I gained so much in the first mile that now I believed I would have my sub-20! I was chugging along at that steady 6:26-ish pace. I started to push somewhat harder at 2.75, my breathing got irregular, and I told myself that I only have about one 400 m lap left. Somebody tried to pass me, but I didn't let him, and I almost passed the guy whom I followed since the beginning, but he probably accelerated, and left me at the end.

Mile 3: 6:28

The rest was a bit confusing to me: I expected to run another ~40 seconds, but just around the corner, the finish line was there. It was a lot closer than I expected, and it I didn't really kick at the end (though admittedly, I didn't have a lot left in me). There were mile markers on the course, but I haven't looked at my Garmin at the mile points, so I have no idea where the course measurement and my Garmin drifted. Clearly, the GPS is not that accurate (and I see myself running through buildings on the map, now, that I downloaded the data), but it is usually measuring longer than 3.1 miles. I passed the finish line slightly confused.

Time: 19:11

All in all, a great race, and if the course was not short, I crushed my PR. I have yet to decide if I should put an asterisk mark after this PR. One thing is clear: I did run sub-20.

I went back to the finish line with a bottle of Gatorade to cheer for Daniel, who finished with 25:xx. It was his first race ever and he didn't have a set goal.

I was 4th in my age group, so no award for me. A bunch of serious folks showed up, and the bracket was wide: 30-39 years. The guy, who I followed all the way, but beat me at the end by a few seconds, finished at the 3rd place.

Next: no running for me a for a few weeks. I'll be taking my summer break and be back to training some time at the end of June. I should also figure out my racing goal for the fall. 5K or 10K are basically the options - maybe both, but I wouldn't really know how train for that. Then it would be so nice to run the Derby Half in the spring.

It looks like we will have a heat wave during my race - night temperatures around 75 F, probably close to 80 by the time we race. This makes a sub-20 all but impossible. Which means that I will have to go on and train for a fall race. Looking at the average expected temperatures, it looks like October 11-12 is the time when night temperature averages go below 50 F. So how about racing on October 8? There is a Susan G. Komen race for the cure in Louisville that day - which I would probably hate to run, because it is too big and slow/runners walkers won't understand that they shouldn't line up on the front - but there may be races around that date that pop up later.

Counting 12 weeks back from October 8:

Race week starts on 10/03.
Week -1: 9/26
Week -2: 9/19
Week -3: 9/12
Week -4: 9/5
Week -5: 8/29
Week -6: 8/22
Week -7: 8/15
Week -8: 8/8
Week -9: 8/1
Week -10: 7/25
Week -11: 7/18

This means I'll have about 1 week after coming back (and the jet lag is over) to start the cycle. It looks like I can't entirely stop running in Hungary.

Log: Wednesday, 7 miles from home in 57:02 in Saucony. 10:00 PM, 82 F (seriously).

Log: Sunday 11:20 am, track session. 85 F, sunny. Shoe: adidas. 3400 m warmup, 3200 m cooldown at ~8:20/1600 m. 3000 m time trial. Splits are:

200: 42.85 (started a bit fast, I should average 46 seconds on 200 m)
600: 1:32.94 (good)
1000: 1:33.85 (getting hard, it is too hot today)
1400: 1:33.99 (the black asphalt of this track seems to radiate the heat - I'm very hot)
1800: 1:35.56 (the heat - or whatever - is starting to affect my time)
2200: 1:40.40 (I'm trying to save this workout but cutting the speed, so I can still run)
2600: 1:40.92 (I switched to irregular breathing - I'm trying not to puke)
3000: 1:32.65 (fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-I'm-dying)
Total: 11:53.16. Pretty disappointing, as I was trying for 11:29. But maybe it was just the heat. I ran 11:33 in a similar time trial last April, and that training cycle didn't give me the sub-20.

BTW with this run I finished a 44-mile week successfully.

Race week:

M: 7 miles.
T: 6 miles.
W: 5 miles.
T: 4 miles (very easy)
F: rest.
S: 2 miles warmup + race + cooldown = 8 miles.
S: rest, beginning of my summer break.

Total: 30 miles.

Week -1: 36.5 miles.

Long runs: 9 and 7 miles.

Track: 2x2000 meters in 7:50 with 800 m recovery. With warmup and recovery 3200 m each, a total of 7 miles.

Easy runs: three times 4.5 miles.

Log: Saturday 6:00 pm, 7 miles easy in Saucony in 56:46. Temperature: 84 F, partly cloudy.

I think I'm going to make my students watch this:

http://www.ted.com/talks/leonard_susskind_my_friend_richard_feynman.html

We organized a conference in town this week and that killed my training plans. I only managed to get 34 miles in (instead of the planned 47). It's like one (really) long run short. I only ran 5 days of the week. Oh well. I consider my losses and prepare the next week like nothing happened. At least I had my VO2 max workout, which is probably the most important in this phase. I ran 5x1000 meters in 3:55, 3:56, 3:54, 3:54, 3:53.

Next week (-2) should be 43.5 miles. According to Pfitzinger, this is how it should look like:

Long runs: 9 and 8 miles.
LT run: 3K or 2 mile race. With warmup and cooldown this would be a 6-mile day.
Three easy runs: 7 miles each.

One change I'm contemplating is that the LT run could be a straightforward 4-mile tempo (plus warmup, cooldown) instead of the race. It is basically impossible to find a 3K race here, so I would have to make it a time trial, and a tempo might be more beneficial. Though the time trial has it's own advantages, especially because I don't do strides, so I may need more anaerobic training. I'll decide later.

Week -4 is finished with the planned 47 miles. This is cutback from last week, but the intensity is dialed up; in fact, probably the first time ever, my average pace was under 8 min/mile. Not that I planned for this, but I felt great for virtually all my runs (except maybe the Monday easy 7-miler). In fact, at the moment of writing this, I have run seven days in a row, 58 miles in those seven days (including last Sunday's 11-mile long run), just finished my 9-mile long run for this week, and I feel fresh. Nevertheless, I'll rest tomorrow, though I bet I will feel a little sluggish on Monday.

Plan for week -3: (47 miles)

Long runs: 10 miles and 9 miles.

Track: 3200 m warmup, 5x1000 m at race pace (1:33/lap, 3:53/interval - if this doesn't work, it is allowed to slow down somewhat, but all intervals must be strictly under 4 minutes). Recovery is 400 meters. 3000 m cooldown. Total of 8 miles.

Easy runs: 3 x 6 miles.

Edit: I should learn to add. This is only 45 miles. For this, and other reasons, I couldn't do this week as planned, see next post.

I ran 4x600 today, just two days after the time trial. I felt good, so I was aiming for 2:19/600 m. Everything went according to the plans. Splits were 2:20, 2:20, 2:19, 2:17. Recoveries were 1:11 each. (I covered 200 meters a little faster than that, then I was waiting until my watch turned 1:11, then I went on the next interval.)

I ran a 10000 meter time trial today at the local high school track. Guess what: 41:29. My goal was 41:33, because that is the 20:00 5K equivalent according to McMillan, but I wasn't sure if I could do it. I was fairly confident though that I could go under 42 minutes. So I decided to go out at 1:40/lap pace, which is 6:40/1600 m, 6:42/mile. Here are my 1600 m splits:

6:40, 6:40, 6:38, 6:41, 6:37, 6:42, 1:31 (for the last 400 m).

Before the last lap I was on pace for 41:38, and I was able to kick 9 seconds in the last lap.

I am more than satisfied. I know that track is easier than race, but this was in training! McMillan says this translates to a 19:58 5K. Also, my 5K splits were 20:50, 20:39.

Log: 7 miles in 54 F, and the fucking rain. In my Saucony. Five out of my seven most recent runs were all in rain. It looks like it barely stopped raining in Louisville in the last two weeks.

Unofficial log: Sunday, 11 miles, light rain, 65 F, adidas.

Plan for week -4:

Total: 47 miles.
Long runs: 8 and 9 miles.
Time trial: 3200 m warmup, 10000 m time trial, 3200 m cooldown. Total of ~10 miles.
Track: 3200 m warmup, 4 x 600 m at goal pace (faster than 2:24, but no faster than 2:19 - these correspond to 1:36, 1:33/lap respectively). Run 200 m recoveries no faster than 1/2 of the time of the interval. 3400 m cooldown. Total of 6 miles.
Two easy runs of 7 miles each.

We misunderstood each other with my running partner (for a day), and in fact he will be in town next week. Nevertheless, I ran 7 miles this morning by myself, running 6 laps on the Seneca Park running trail. What can I say - it was rather boring this way. I didn't even bring my MP3 player. Also, I ran 10 miles yesterday evening, so this makes it 17 miles in little more than 12 hours. My legs felt it! But now I'm at 39 miles for the week, and no injuries. My muscle soreness after the weekend is almost completely gone. Looking forward to the 11-miler on Sunday.

It's now official: I'm running Johnny's 5K Memorial Run on June 4th.

Today I got rained on again. I'm getting fucking tired of this. 3 out of 4 this week so far. And we're not talking about drizzle. I'm soaked wet every single time.

On Tuesday I ran 2x2000 m, and it was hard. The first one was fine (7:52), but after 800 m recovery, the second one was really hard. The last two laps were test of my guts (literally), but I finished it in 7:53. This is not ideal, but I guess it was somewhat expected. The weather has warmed up, I basically skipped a week, and the workouts are getting ever harder. If I could do all of them with no trouble, I would have a guaranteed sub-20. When in reality, I know that the best case scenario is that I barely break it.

Yesterday I ran 7 miles in the rain, and so far, out of the three runs of this week, two were in rain. I'm a bit fed up (and with all the flooding that comes with it). Tomorrow I'll run early in the morning in Seneca Park with an on-line pal. Cool. Today I'll do my 10-miler.

Finished the week with 47 miles with a 10-miler in Spruce Pine, NC. I ran the 10-miler on a very hilly course, but I managed to accomplish an 8:30 min/mile pace by accelerating toward the end of the run.

Next week I will combine week -6 and week -5 of the plan, because I have to save a week to run a race on June 4th. So I will run the lower mileage of week -6, but I will do the better quality work of week -5. The week will look like the following:

Long runs: 11 + 10 miles.
Track workout: 3200 warmup, 2000 fast (7:52.5, 1:34.5/lap), 800 recovery, 2000 fast, 4800 cooldown (might want to consider this on the street). Sum of about 8 miles.
Easy runs: 7 miles each (of 3).
Total: 50 miles.

Today I did 5x1000 meters. Essentially the same workout as two weeks ago, except the intervals were supposed to be faster: 3:56. My splits were perfect: 3:54, 3:53, 3:55, 3:55, 3:55. The weather was quite nice, 62 F and sunny, although just slightly warmer than ideal, but it didn't seem to inluence my prformance too much. It was a bit harder than 2 weeks ago, but not terrible. I ran my cooldown (3000 meters) at 8:01 min/mile pace (with no rest between the last interval and the cooldown!), which shows that I was not completely exhausted.

It was fun to watch some high school kids training just as I finished my run. They were running 600s quite a bit faster than I could (like in ~2:00). I mean I could certainly run 600 meters in 2 minutes, but not many of them.

I plan to run 7 miles tomorrow morning, then we travel to NC (Easter camp), where I will do a 10-miler probably Sunday early morning.

Unofficial log: home, 9:05pm, 7 miles, 56:30, Saucony, 49 F.

Unofficial log: Tuesday, 8.3 miles from work to home. Sunny, 84 F, Saucony.

The week has been succesfully completed with ~44 miles. I feel a little beat up, especially today, which was my easiest (shortest, slowest) run of the week after my rest day. It is totally counterintuitive that I should feel beat up after a run like this, but in fact this seems fairly typical for me. The easy run after the rest day is in fact the hardest. But I'm more or less OK. Some mild PF, shin splints, knee issues, but nothing out of ordinary. (Am I ruining my body? Possibly. I don't care. I run while I'm somewhat young and somewhat fast. I won't have much use of healthy joints at 80 when I'm dying of cancer, or something like that.)

Next week is back to 47 miles. That is week -7 of the plan. In essence it is a repetition of week -9 with slightly faster intervals. It looks like the following:

Long runs: 8 and 10 miles.
Track: 3200 m warm-up, 5 x 1000 m fast at 3:56 (1:34.5/lap) with 400 m recoveries (make sure to take at least 1:58), then 3000 m cool-down. Altogether 8 miles.
Easy runs: 3 times 7 miles.

We'll see how the intervals will go with the possibility of higher temperatures. For Tuesday, the high temperature is expected to be 82 F. That would be *very* different from the 54 two weeks ago. Also, last November, I botched a workout easier than this, and it started a 6-week hiatus... so I'm somewhat worried.

I was going to do the Throo the Zoo 5k, but it looks like that plan is out of the window now. My daughter was invited to play (piano) in the School of Music's honors recital, and that is about a thousand times more important to me than a stupid race.

Unofficial log: Wed, 6 miles, at work, 64 F sunny, Saucony.

The monster 47-mile week is over today (after only 6 days), so I'll rest tomorrow. Today's 10-miler was quite an advanture. I started fairly tired, because yesterday I ran in the evening, and today I ran in the morning. Also, this was my 7th day in a row, and the weather warmed up. Plus it started to rain, the the rain became torrential, then thunder and lightning came, and I was still OK, until the hail came down... Anyway, at least the hailstones were not huge.

Next week is cutback, and God, I need it. Back to 43.5 miles. Long runs of 9 and 8 miles, 4 miles tempo pace (total of 8 miles that day), and easy runs of 6 + 6 + 6.5 miles.

I ran perfect 1000 m intervals today. The splits are 3:58, 3:58, 3:59, 3:56, 3:56. It was not too hard, I could have run at least one more. I didn't have to "gut it out". It was fun, too, perfect weather, and I ran with a friend (well, not the fast running, just the rest).

9.3 miles on Sunday, for a total of ~44 miles this week. This is about as much as I did in a week. (Theoretically I did 45 once, but that was not measured by GPS, so it was probably slightly overestimated.) Temperature was 65 F, sunny, and I ran in my new Saucony. (I'm logging it here, so that I will have the info when I'll have access to my real log.)

Next week: 47 miles. 10 + 8 in long runs. Track workout: 3200 m warm-up, 5 x 1000 m fast at 3:59 (1:35.5/lap) with 400 m recoveries (make sure to take at least 2 minutes), then 3000 m cool-down. Altogether 8 miles. Plus 3 times 7 miles easy runs. I think I'm going to have to start bringing water on my easy runs. (Especially because the weather warmed up considerably.)

I've just looked at my statistics and I see that I ran 173 miles in March. This is the largest volume I've ever done in a month. It also helps that March has 31 days. I ran on 25 out of those.

I had a tempo run today. The conditions were perfect, 48 F, partly cloudy, no wind. I ran the slightly hilly residential 2-mile loop close to campus a few times, the same where I blew my 2 x 2 mile tempo last week. Not this time: I ran the first 2-mile interval in 13:33 (6:46 pace), and the second one in 13:30 (6:45 pace). Already ran 27 miles this week including a track workout (which went equally fine) and a tempo. Today gave me quite a bit of confidence, but all my weekends are 100% busy with family. There is no way I can race until after April 25.

Last week was a failure. I finished the week with only 31.33 miles. I almost botched my tempo run on Tuesday (it was extremely warm, compared to the rest of the week). That is, I blew out on the second 2-mile part, losing ~20 seconds before I somewhat recovered. Since my average pace was still about 7:00 min/mile, I still considered it a success, but I had second thoughts. Anyway, the busy schedule in the second half of the week derailed me completely. So week is failed.

The best option for me is to repeat the week. I like this week anyway, because it has both a tempo and a track session.

I'm rather sure I won't be able to run more than ~32 miles this week. (I'm at 21.5 now, and I basicaly have one day left.) I've been just too busy. I'm going to treat this as a cutback week, and repeat week -2 next week.

The last 7-miler is in, and the 40-mile week is done. Next week (week 2): total of 43.5 miles. One long run of 9 miles, second longest is 8 miles. Tempo run: 2 miles warmup, 2 miles fast, 0.5 mile slow, 2 miles fast, 1.5 miles cooldown = 8 miles. Track day: 2 miles warmup, 5 x 600 m at 2:25 (1:36.5/lap) with 200 m recoveries (walk some, if necessary), and do one after the last interval, too, then 2 miles cooldown = 6.5 miles. The rest is two easy 6-milers.

I am on a trip to a conference in Iowa. Despite all of my expectation, I like this place (Iowa City).

I flew to the airport in Cedar Rapids (Iowa City doesn't have an airport), and I drove down here. The drive is only about 20 miles, which is how far you are from the airport if you live in central Atlanta (in the suburbs, you may be much farther). When I picked up my rental car, I saw a big green spot on the map of my GPS, and since my afternoon was free, I just picked a spot in the middle of the green, and I told the GPS to get me there. Half an hour later I was standing in front of an information table in the Lake Macbride State Park. I found nobody in the park, not even in the park office, and what was slightly more troubling, I found no water fountain or tap. I am always worried that I might be dehydrated after flying, but I decided to start my run anyway. I was planning to do only 6.25 miles.

I ran on the north sore of this beautiful lake. The area was a mix of wildreness and rural farmland. The lake and its direct vicinity was wild, with some natural (and restored) praire. That used to be the landscape all over Iowa. But you could see the farmlands and houses quite close to the trail. The trail was in great condition, just hilly enough that you can't call it totally flat. The temperature was 66 F (partly cloudy skies), and I enjoyed myself so much that I felt disappointed when I had to turn around at 3.2 miles into the run. I say "I had to", because I had no water, so I could not go any further without risking dehydration.

At one point, in a bay, I saw something on the surface of the water that looked like dirt. Ducks were swimming in it, and out of curiosity, I went down to the beach to check is out. I almost fell when I realized that I was ICE. Broken up, melting tables of ice. We haven't had freezing temperatures in Louisville for many weeks, so I was so totally surprised. Later, I saw another sign of the long and harsh Iowa winter: a patch of snow on the bottom of a ditch. At the end I realized that the mud on the trail was also probably from melting snow, and winter has just ended in this part of the country.

I returned to my car feeling great, and I already started to make plans on how to get out here on another day during the conference, and how to talk to other people into coming out here to run. I should have known that it was only the runner's high that made me think it would be possible... People sometimes envy me that I travel to many places over the World, but they don't realize that at the end, I spend most of my time in a windowless conference center.

I arrived to my hotel almost too early, and I went to bed quite early that evening. I slept 12 hours and woke up at 6:45. I had a big breakfast, then I laced up my shoes, and went for another run. This time I was in the city, and the night before, on the web page of this city, I found a bike path all the way to the campus of the University of Iowa (the place of the conference). I decided to do my run there. I was planning on running 8 miles anyway.

I was disappointed to realize that it was a concrete path. Asphalt is so much easier on the joints. The builders either meant to build a bike path, or they didn't know that runners don't like concrete. On the top of it, I always bring one of my old running shoes to travel, because I don't want to risk losing or ruining a newer shoe. The path was still very nice as it ran by a creek in a seemingly natural forest. Iowa City seems like a very bicycle friendly city. I got lost a few times, actually before I reached the woods, because the path had many branches and the signage was not good at all. A friendly guy, who was about to take his kid to school, helped me out. (He was on his driveway when I ran through his neighborhood, right after loosing the path.)

I finished the run with 8.38 miles, and I got back to my hotel just in time to have a shower and pack my stuff before I had to check out. I was moving to another hotel downtown, where I could not get a room for the first night. This is whene I'm now. Today I'm not running, I will just get exhausted from work. I'd been running for 11 days in a row, so my body may appriaciate the break and my mind may appreciate the work. :)

Tomorrow my flight leaves at 4:45, so I should be at the aiport at 3:45. The conference is over at noon, so I should have enough time to get a long run in in the state park again. I only have a 7-miler left on my plan for this week, but if I feel good and the time/weather cooperates, I migh do as much as 10 miles (and maybe take some credit for next week).

Good news 1: I found a really nice high school track that seems to be open to the public. It is black track surface, clear markings, far from big roads, etc. I ran there today.

Good news 2: Here is the statistics of my fast 800 meters: 3:13, 3:12, 3:11, 3:12, 3:13, 3:12. And no, I didn't have to gut it out. In fact it felt like the easiest track workout I've done in a long time. Like the track workouts back when I trained for the marathon.

If I average out the interval times (with decimals), I get 3:12.72, which correspond to the pace of a 20:04.5 on 5000 meters. I take this as a really good sign. I'll try to impove 3.5 sec / lap from here.

After the week's plan was made, one question clearly remained: what pace should I run my intervals, in particular the 800s in the first week. This is a somewhat dreadful question, because interval training was what frustrated me last fall to the point that I quit training for a while. In retrospect, the reason may have been (at least in part) that I tried to do my intervals too fast. I could gut them out when they were just a bit over my VO2 max, but as they got longer and faster, I physically couldn't keep up.

It is very hard to know what shape I'm in. My easy running seems to be faster than it has ever been, and I can crank out the tempo intervals without too much trouble. But I haven't run longer tempos or fast intervals in many months.

Pfitzinger's plan makes you run at your current 5K pace for the first two weeks (for interval training), then it switches to 2-3 secs/lap slower than your goal pace, then it accelerates gradually to goal pace. My goal is to run sub-20, that is clear. But to achieve it safely, ideally I should shoot for a time about 19:35. In road races, you *always* run slightly more than 5 kilometers, there are hills, wind, other runners, so the 25 seconds buffer is very good to have. The following table shows lap paces on a 400 meter track and the corresponding 5K times:

1:34 -> 19:35
1:35 -> 19:47.5
1:36 -> 20:00
1:37 -> 20:12.5
1:38 -> 20:25
1:39 -> 20:37.5
1:40 -> 20:50

As for my current condition, my pessimistic guess is ~20:50, my optimistic is ~20:12.5. The plan ideally improves you by 3-4 seconds/lap, so if I start with an assumption of 20:50, it is a stretch if I even can do 20:00 pace by the end. So let's get more optimistic, and assume 20:25 for now. This means that my current pace should be 1:38 / lap = 3:16 / 800 m. If it feels too easy, I might go down to 3:15, but not faster than that, because I have to do 6 of these! Then we'll see how it goes today. Even more important will be the workout two weeks from today: 5 x 1000 meters at 2-3 sec/lap slower than goal pace. If I can do 1:36.5 laps then without having to "gut them out", I should be fine, otherwise I will have to adjust.

I decided to cut Pfitzinger's mileage by brining down to first week to 40, and decreasing each week proportionally. Which basically means to divide weekly mileages by 1.15, and peak around 52 miles.

In light of this, and my travel to Iowa, this week will look like the following:

Mon: 6.25 miles easy. Tue: track (6x800 meters with 400 recoveries, 1 mile warmup, 1 mile cooldown, 6.25 miles total). Wed: 6.25 miles easy. Thu: 6.25 miles easy. Fri: 8 miles long. Sat: rest. Sun: 7 miles semilong. Total of 40 miles.

It has been hard to squeeze in the runs this week due to all the work I've done this week. Twice I ran at night. The second one was today: I did the tempo today, because I ended up doing the semilong on Wednesday. Despite all the troubles, it was a good run: two 1.5 mile tempo intervals ran in 10:22, 10:21 (paces 6:55, 6:54) with only 1/2 mile in between in 4:26 (8:52 pace). With the warmup and cooldown, I ran 7 miles form 8:50 to 9:45.

Tomorrow I will probably run in the evening (5 miles), and I'll crown the week with a 10-mile long run on Sunday. It will make it a 40-mile week, definitely the first of this volume since November 2009. This will conclude my base training. Then I will have to decide exactly what to do.

Yesterday (Monday) I didn't have time to run until 9pm, and I was too tired by then. So I skipped it, and now I will have to run on Saturday dawn. Also, tight schedule and lots of quality runs will make me run hard on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Probably the tempo on Wednesday, the semilong on Friday, and the long run on Sunday will be the ideal schedule.

Today it was quite cold (38 F) when I ran my 10-mile long run, which concluded my 38-mile week. I mentioned last week that week -1 would be cutback. Guess what: it is not. I realized it was a typo in the book. In fact the week will be a 40-mile week in the following setup:

- three times: 5 easy miles;
- tempo with 2 miles warmup, 1.5 miles tempo pace (just below 7 min/miles), 0.5 mile recovery (not more than 5 minutes), 1.5 miles tempo pace, 1.5 miles cooldown;
- second longest run of 8 miles;
- long run of 10 miles.

I tried a new route today for my long run and I got lost, so I ran 10 miles instead of 9. Pace was 8:13 - this included some confused hesitation when I didn't know where I was. Legs felt very good. This concluded the week with 38 miles. Next week is another 38, all easy. This will be week -2 of base building. Week -1 is cutback, after that I'll be ready for a 5k plan. Though I might add some base building - depending on what I exectly want to do after that.

What is certain now that the plan for next week is quite simple: repeat this week without the tempo run. That is: 4 x 5 miles + 8 miles + 10 miles. 8 x 100 meters strides at the end of an easy run.

I had my first tempo run of the year today. 2 x 1.5 miles at tempo pace, with 1 mile recovery in between. The fast portions were 10:20 and 10:11 (6:53 and 6:47 pace). With warmup and cooldown I finished the workout with a total of 6.5 miles.

I haven't run fast since that disasterous night speed workout in November. I had this irrational fear that I am not able to run fast any more. Well, I haven't proven that invalid, but at least these 2 x 1.5 miles went fine. Of course, consciously I know that these fears are irrational, but it is a terrifying feeling that you try to run fast, but your body is just not willing to go any faster.

This week: 36.27 miles total, with 8 and 9 mile long runs.

Next week (week -3): 6 workouts as usual: 2 long runs, 1 LT intervals, and 3 easy runs. Easy runs are 4 1/3 miles for a total of 13 miles. The LT intervals run will be a tough one: 2 miles warmup, 1 1/2 miles LT pace, 1 mile recovery, 1 1/2 miles LT pace, 1 mile cooldown for a total of 7 miles. The long runs are 8 and 9 miles. This adds up to 37 miles.

Easy and long paces are between 7:57 to 8:27. Recovery, warmup and cooldown is anything to 9:30. LT pace is just under 7 min/mile.

After a crazy day, I wanted to run 8 miles after work, but I rounded it up to 9. I'm already at 23 miles this week.

I haven't even reached my first running goal yet (the sub-20 5K), and now, the BAA announced that they are changing qualifying standards for Boston. If you remember, my current goals are tied to the Boston qualifying times. Now, if you are a male under age 40, you have to run at least 3:10:00 to get in. I used my old method to type it in into McMillan's calculator (more exactly 3:09:00 to be safe - they eliminated the grace 59 seconds, too), and this is what I got:

5K: 19:23
10K: 40:16
HM: 1:29:37

These are intimidatingly fast times. Maybe it would be easier if I waited until I would be 40.

For now, I'm not changing my goals, so now I just set my standards to the 20 minute 5K time, which is 41:33 10K, 1:32:27 HM and 3:14:58 marathon.

I finished my 34-mile week with a 8-miler today - the first run this year in shorts and T-shirt (perfect 55 F). This has been my longest week since November 2009. That time it was for marathon training, which means the intesity was a lot lower (~9 min miles for easy and long runs). Also, my highest volume week ever was 45 miles, but that contained a 20-mile long run, so the week was only 25 miles before long run. Compare it to this week: 26 miles before long run.

Next week (week -4): 3x5 + 1x4 + 8 + 9 = 36 miles. I'll do a set of 8x100 strides at the end of the 4 miler.

Yesterday, I did manage to run home, in heavy snow, 6.8 miles after the long run on Sunday. I am fed up with the winter. Today it was 28 F.

Stupid me left the headlights on on my car last night, so I had to bum a ride from my wife this morning (no time for jump start). It looks like I'm running home. That means a 7-miler after yesterday's 8-miler. It will be rain or snow and 35 F. Am I tough or what?

I finished the week with 32.48 miles. Midweek was a bit of a struggle because of my cold. I spent a total 4 hours and 30 minutes running. I did strides, but they were not much fun, and I slightly messed them up, because I tried to run them too close to each other.

Next week, the plan is 3 x 5 miles + 4 miles (all easy) + 7 miles + 8 miles (long runs). It adds up to 34 miles. That will also be the longest week I will have done in a very long time. It will be week -5 of base training.

Another important first was the first time I ran 11 days in a row (at least 4 miles each). This is *way* longer than any streak I've done before. But I was fine. I don't think my body needs rest days, as long as I take it easy sometimes, and I don't try to do too much too soon.

I'm having a bad cold. Running anyway.

I finished my 30 mile week with no problems, despite being extremely busy. I had to take my rest day on Monday (because I drove all day - literally), then I ran every day, and I probably will run for 6 more days in a row, because I want to take my SRD on Sunday.

Next week (week -6) will be 32 miles as 4 x 4.25 + 7 + 8. I will also incorporate 8x100 meters strides at the end of one of the easy runs.

This week (base training week -7): 4 x 4.25 miles + 6 miles + 7 miles = 30 miles. Only very slight increase from last week.

I drove 1300 miles in the last two days, so I didn't run yesterday, but I squeezed in a half hour workout on Sunday in the Little Beaver State Park in West Virginia. It was 22 F, but sunny, and a lot of snow on the ground. It was beautiful in the woods, and I didn't feel cold at all. That run concluded the week with 29 miles.

Finished the week with 27 miles. Tomorrow is rest day after running 7 days in a row. (I still think this is good for me.) Suffering from some shin splints, but it got better today (even though I ran a longish 5.5 miles).

Next week is "week -8" of the base B plan. That is: 4 x 4 + 6 + 7 = 29 miles, all easy.

I finished the week with a 6 mile "long" run. 25.71 miles for the week. Next week's target is 4 x 3.5 miles + 1 x 6 miles + 1 x 7 miles, all easy. (That is the second week in Pfitzinger's base building plan.) The 6 day weeks seem to work well. This week was harder though than last week, but I think this natural after a long break.

Change of plans (well, not drastically). Last week I ran 22.8 miles without feeling too beaten up. So this week I am jumping straight into Pfitz's base training schedule. That is, this week, 14 miles in 4 short runs and a 5 miler + a 6 miler = 25 miles. I can finish the base building by mid March, and I'll see it from there. If I want to run a good time before the hot weather comes, I might need to start the training cycle earlier.