Week -17 is done without much trouble. As I mentioned previously, I did fail my LT workout on Tuesday, but after that, thing were fine. I ran good paces all week long (except for my recovery runs, when I ran over 8 min/mile - as I should). In particular I felt so good on my 9-mile GA on Friday that I ended up running the last 7 miles at 7:13 pace, and it didn't feel hard. Then I topped the week off with a strong 15-miler at 7:36 average, with some hills included.

That's an important point for me to do: I will not neglect hills this cycle, like I did for Bowling Green. I want to be ready for the Newton Hills. I especially like the 15-miler: I had a 110 ft hill in mile 10 with an especially steep last part (it is hard to keep jogging).

Week 16 is easy first, but there is a hard long run at the end: 16 miles with 8 miles at marathon pace. I'm not sure what pace I will follow, but I will probably start out aiming to be just below 7 min/mile.

M: Rest
T: 8 GA w/ 10 ST
W: 12 MLR
T: 5 E
F: 9 GA
S: 5 E
S: 16 L w/ 8 @ MP

After my last post, I just ran another 60-mile week. It was totally fine with a strong, hilly 15-miler. I was excited to start early training on Tuesday, December 4.

Well, it didn't work the way I hoped. For one reason or another, I didn't feel good, and I bombed the first LT run. I ran the first mile at 6:37 and it felt hard, which discouraged me so bad that I aborted the workout (turned it into a kind of a fartlek), and I did a whole week of soul searching, only running a total of 22 miles.

Then I decided that I still want to run Boston, and there is no magic, so I better start training. After my last week I assumed that my LT max was around 6:45, so that was my goal pace today. I failed again, but it was a very weird run, and at least I got in some good training.

I ran the first mile in 6:19, and the second in 6:32, and I felt pretty good. In fact it felt that my speed was oxygen limited, not lactate. Is it possible that your LT and your VO2 max are equal? By the third mile, I was out of breath, and I was totally incapable to push my pace to LT territory. I slowed to 7:45 pace, and I had to stop after the finishing the third mile to catch my breath. After about a minute of rest, I ran a decent 4th mile in 6:35.

So I think the 6:30-6:35 LT might be correct, but my VO2 max is so low that I can't sustain that pace for the duration of an LT run. I'll have to figure something out to solve this. This is a very nonstandard problem - it is probably due to my age, my experience, and the fact that I did no workout (but some decent mileage) in the last 6 months.

Anyway, training is now officially on, and here my week plan:

Mon: Rest
Tue: 9 w/ 4 LT
Wed: 11 MLR
Thu: 5 E
Fri: 9 GA
Sat: 5 E
Sun: 15 L

I got sick right after my previous post and I had to skip almost a full week of running. But I did come for the November 12 week at full force: 60 miles. Same for the week of November 19: Despite traveling to the coast and back, I managed to run 60 miles, the last bit of which I ran Sunday night at around midnight in cold rain, after I drove all day. "This is the training that wins races" I told myself, "not the ones on pretty, sunny days."

I was very busy on Monday, so I took a rest day, and in the morning rush on Tuesday, I messed up a bit and I thought that this week would be the early start of the marathon training (in fact it is December 3, or maybe even December 4, if I consider that the goal race is on a Monday). So I quickly looked at the plan, and it started with an LT run: 9 miles with 4 at LT pace. It was brutally cold outside, so I just picked up my gym clothes and I went to gym in the afternoon.

2 miles of warmup at 8:30-ish pace, and then I set the treadmill at 9.5 mph (6:18 pace). I was OK for about a mile. Then I realized that this wasn't going to happen: so I steadily slowed the TM down to 9.3 mph (6:27 pace) until I reached mile 3. I was already pretty exhausted, so I decided to slow even more - I computed that even with the slow start of the treadmill from 0 mph I would average 6:30 pace if I slowed the TM to 9.1 (6:36 pace), so I did that in two steps. I ended up finishing the 4 miles in 25:55 (6:29 average). I finished the workout with an excruciating 3 miles of cooldown.

From all of this I'm guessing that my LT pace may be around 6:30, or a bit slower: VDOT of 53. Better than a few weeks ago, but it's not enough for a 3 hour marathon. But that's fine, I guess. I have several months to go.

One issue is my weight. I still weigh about 155 pounds, which is about 10 pounds over my ideal racing weight.

Bottom line is that I'm not actually starting the hard training this week, so I'll just run easy 9's and and 15 in the weekend. Then I'll still have to make the decision if I should start on December 10 (or even 11) or December 3 (or 4).

60-mile week is finished! The first since February! I actually felt OK even after the 15-miler yesterday (and with some cold I caught).

Time to add some small amount of quality. I have 4 or 5 weeks (depending on when I start, depending on if we go to Florida in December) of fitness training. I'll decide tonight what I'll do, but I'll keep myself at 60 MPW. That way this cycle will be on solid base, and since it's 18 weeks, it won't be rushed. I have good feelings.

One more thing to consider is to run the Polar Bear Grand Prix again this year. Esther is into it, and maybe the rest of the family, too. First race for that is December 8.

Training is as planned for now. I'm on the way to my first 60-mile week. It's not easy. The 10% increase in mileage every week is taking a toll on me, and I'm constantly tired. My paces are typically 7:30-8:15, which is fine, but I feel like I couldn't go much faster. Patience! Once I'm comfortable at 60 MPW, I can try to measure my VDOT. Though by then it'll about time to start the 18-week plan for Boston.

Maybe it's actually good this way. I might just peak at the right time. Dreaming of a 3-hour Boston...

I've finished my 46-mile week with no problem. My 13.5-mile long run was hard: it was a hot day on the gravel path of Tom Sawyer State Park, which also has some elevation change, and I ran the mile loop 13 and a half times. But I recovered well by the end of the week, and my Sunday 6-miler felt easy, even a bit hungover.

Now onto the 50-mile week. I'll bump up the long run to 15 miles, and my weekday runs to 7.

Finished my week with 42 miles, with a 12-mile long run and an 8-mile run in the Parklands at Esther's M pace. That was 7:20/mile in 86 degrees from 10:30 to 12 with lots of solar radiation. It was tiring, but entirely doable. It doesn't reveal too much about my fitness, only that it is not horrible. The hardest part was the heat.

Now on to a 46-mile week, which will be accomplished by 5 x 6.5 and a 13.5-mile long run. Slowly getting there... 60-mile weeks are in shooting distance.

38.3 miles this week is done. Next week is 42. My age. But by the end of next week, it'll be even more than that.

I'll run five times 6 miles plus a 12-mile long run.

So far so good. 2 x 15 mile hike with a heavy backpack on the difficult Knobstone Trail. Check. 35 miles in the week of 9/17. Check. Week of 9/24 started.

Six months went by since my last post. As any reader would guess: it isn't because I was too busy running my greatest races...

In fact after the setback in the spring I had trouble bouncing back. It started well in March and early April, but then I got busy, and my training in May was terrible (MPW: 16, 31, 8, 33). Then more work in the summer with travel, and I didn't focus on running very much. I kept up with exercise somewhat (hiking in Colorado was quite strenuous) but not much running at all. July was a bit more consistent (regular running is summer camp), but low mileage: MPW's of 28, 34, 29, 18. Granted, the 18 mile week had some crazy mountain biking adventure in it.

August was again about struggling to get back to training. MPW's of 20, 15, 21, 16, with pretty uniformly 5-mile runs, and large breaks of not running during the weeks.

And now it's September. I managed 31 and 35 miles for the last two weeks with some 10-mile "long" runs. This week I'll be down to 25, but we do some good hiking this weekend on the Knobstone Trail. And why am I writing today? Because this morning I registered for Boston.

Once we're back next week, I'll try to build up my base again. I'll go for another 35 mile week next week, and then try a 10% rule until I reach 60. If all goes well, it would look like this:

Week of 9/17: 35
9/24: 38
10/1: 42
10/8: 46
10/15: 50
10/22: 55
10/29: 60

Boston 18-week training starts on December 10, so I'll have more than a month to maintain 60 MPW and add some quality work. One thing to consider is to start a week earlier in anticipation for winter vacation.

I've been silent for two weeks here, and the reason is that I got injured. This is probably the worst running in jury I've ever had. Fortunately, I've rarely ever had any injury, and if I have, it was nothing serious, but this one will have sidelined me for about two weeks (hopefully not more).

I've finished my Monday and Tuesday long runs. They went fine: aerobically I felt great, but I overexerted my right knee. I did some recovery running, and an LT max workout (treadmill) on Thursday. The workout went well, and in fact I was pain free once I was warmed up. However, by Saturday my knee got much worse and I did not want to risk a long run on it. Then the following week, it seemed like I wasn't getting any better. So I decided to scrap my marathon plans and heal up.

By Thursday, I felt some improvement, and by the end of the week, I was mostly pain free. As of Monday, I still feel mild discomfort in the knee. I will not restart training until I'm well enough to that without risking a setback. I'll be travelling from Wednesday - maybe I can start my way back with a short easy run on Wednesday. I hope to do  moderately long run or hike in the Smokies on Saturday.

Then next week, I'll ease back into general fitness training, starting again the painstaking effort to build back to 60 miles per week and 55 VDOT. I may run some shorter (or longer) races in the summer, but the goal for now is just keep up a general fitness level. I also want to challenge the CPAT again this summer to keep up my hiring eligibility as a firefighter in Kentucky (just in case I want to get a part time position).

Then, in the fall, I probably should race a marathon. Maybe even Bowling Green.

Week 9 went down well. The 14-miler on Tuesday was incredibly hard for some reason: I'm guessing mostly due to hot temperatures (80 degrees or so) and very strong headwinds for the second half of the run. I was completely exhausted. Then I had a great 12-miler on Thursday, running it at a 7:25 pace, which felt easy (and this was the Iroquois Park loop, which is hilly).

But the icing on the cake was the long run on Saturday. 17 miles with 10 at marathon pace. I ran the 10 miles at 6:40 average, and pretty even splits (except for the first mile, which was 6:29). Even without the first mile, the average pace was 6:41. The weather was pretty good, though it was raining the whole time.

This suggests that I should be capable of running a 3-hour marathon, and probably keep training at VDOT 55. Though I should run my marathon paced runs at more like 6:50. This is because the goal of a marathon paced run is to practice the pace, and gain some confidence, not anything physiological.

Week 8:
M: 13 MLR
T: 15 MLR
W: 5 R
T: 10 w/ 5 LT
F: 5 R
S: 18 L
Total: 66 miles

Everything went fine until Friday. I did my medium long runs, and my 4 mile LT run on Wednesday (on treadmill) went fine. It was hard, as usual, but it was doable, never painful, and I ran at 6:18/mile.

Then I had oral surgery on Friday, so I had to skip my Friday and Saturday runs, and the dentist didn't seem very eager to let me run anything on Sunday either. So I decided to make some changes. After skipping the rest of the week, I'll start Week 9 of Pfitzinger's 55-70 in 12 plan on Sunday.

S: Rest
M: 9 GA
T: 14 ML
W: 5 R
T: 12 ML
F: 5 R
S: 17 w/ 10@MP

This last day will be hard, and it will determine the rest of the training. If I can do it, I'll try to go on, if not I'll rethink my plans.

Possible tune-up races:

03/31: Run the Bluegrass 7 miler. It's a very fancy race (and expensive!), but it may be a lot of fun. 700 runners, hilly. Register by 2/28.

04/14: Trooper Cameron Ponder Memorial 10K: Typical small southern race, not much in awards, probably slow, small field. Register by 4/6.

Training like I'm running the Derby Marathon. Since the race is on Saturday, we will start weeks on Sunday. Tuesday should be easy or rest. So here we go:

S: 5E
M: 12ML
T: R
W: 9 w/ 4LT
T: 11ML
F: 5E
S: 17L

Snowman Shuffle 4 Miler Race Report

Goal: Win the master division, both in this race and more importantly, the overall in the Polar Bear Grand Prix.

This was the third race in the series, and by far the longest - also my first ever 4-mile race. Given the drizzle, the hills at the end, my lack of experience in 4-mile races, and less than perfect shape, I didn't really know what to expect. I was leading the master division coming into this race, and I googled the second place to see how the guy looked like, so that I would know who I had to beat. (His name is Marc.) I recognized him at the start, and walked up to him, telling him about our standing in the race. I thought it is just fair he also knows who he is racing against.

Again, we ran the race with Esther: she was also running to win her age group. We arrived to the park about 45 minutes early. I had time for a good warmup, and a bathroom break, but I didn't feel very good. I was hoping I would feel better during the race.

The race started with a downhill of about a 1/2 mile long, then flat until mile 2.7. In the last 1.3 mile there are two decent hills: the first peaks at around mile 3.0, flat until 3.2, down to 3.7, and then up for the rest. My plan was to go out strong and they try to hang onto my position: go out at sub-6 pace for the downhill, then slow down a bit, but try to reach 2.7 with an average pace around or just over 6:00/mile. Conserve energy on the first hill in case I need to race the last hill - unless Marc would try to pass me on the first hill.

At exactly 9 am, we were off. I was pushing hard the downhill, so much so that I was doing a 5:30-ish pace. My race position got established very early at my usual 10th place. I was breathing hard, and I knew I couldn't sustain this effort, but it was all according to plans.

Mile 1: 5:36

Crazy first mile but with net elevation loss of 71 ft (22 meters). The second mile was basically the symmetric tail and of an out-and-back portion of the course, so after about a 1/2 mile, I was able to see the runners coming from the other direction. Most importantly I realized that Marc was not far behind: maybe 100 meters. That meant I could come down to the line, so I can't blow up before the end. I slowed a bit to conserve energy. Unfortunately I missed Esther as she was running out. I did meet another friend though, who shouted out some encouragements at me.

Mile 2: 6:16

Mile pace was swinging a bit and I'm not exactly sure why. I know I had to run around a group of dogwalkers who cut in front of me as I approached, and there were a few turns where I slowed down a bit either due to slippery roads or traffic. I averaged around 6:30 pace here, which is a bit pathetic. Maybe I also tried to run slower deliberately, knowing the hills were coming.

Then we started to climb, and pace pace dropped like a stone. A woman passed me uphill. I let her go, because I had zero chance following her: she was fast (beat me by 31 seconds and she gained that in a little over a mile).

Mile 3: 6:53

I pushed the downhill a bit, and I got a little surprise at mile 3.4: the rest of my family came out to cheer us along! It gave me a lot of motivation, and I pushed harder, even though the last hill started. I looked back and I saw nobody, so I didn't run too hard. But when I glanced back again 100 meters later, I saw a woman approaching quite close to me. Even though she was clearly not a danger to my master division position, I wasn't about to let her pass me. I pushed hard up the hill, to the finish line.

Mile 4: 6:40

Total time: 25:24, 9/295, 1st in master division.

I slowed a bit more than I should have, and I did struggle at the end, but I've never been good on hills, right? (Well, I did have some success on hilly races, but some bad disappointments, too.) Job is done, master division has been won both in the race and in the Grand Prix. Esther came in at 42nd place in 30:16, which is a great time for her.

The timing company messed up again. Not my time or place this time, but they awarded 3rd place overall trophy in the PBGP to a 9 year old boy, who was beaten by dozens of people. It was quite obvious fr everyone that he could not have been 3rd place, and he was embarrassed and reluctant to take the trophy. What a mess-up! I used to have high opinion about River City Races, who organized this race, but out of the last four races I ran with them, they messed up the results badly at least three times! (I was involved twice: see reports on White Mills 5K and the Reindeer Romp 4K.) And these are the people who are now running the triple crown! Those are high profile races. If they continue the way are operating now, there will be scandal!

Note that I'm not actually sure that I deserved the master win either, because a 53-year old man beat me in all three races by a good margin. My luck is that they cut off the master division at age 49: over that it is "grandmaster". That doesn't seem logical to me. In fact if a master or a grandmaster wins in overall, they should always be awarded the "better" trophy. Anyway, at least these peculiarities seem to be in the rules (though they were never got published).

It makes me want to organize my own races, so that at least they would be run well!

I take a rest today, and then almost surely start to prepare for the KY Derby marathon. I have 11 weeks. Can I run 3 hours? (It does have a few hills.)

Another week of training went fairly well. I did a strong long run of 15 miles on Sunday, and then 9 miles each day after that. The one on Tuesday was a treadmill workout with 3 LT miles with 2 minutes of rests. It felt pretty easy (6:19/mile pace), as it should with 2 minutes rests and only 3 of them. I rested on Friday to be ready for the 4-mile race on Saturday.

I finished the full week without much trouble, though the LT max workout was less than perfect. The goal was to run 3 miles at threshold pace, rest for 2 minutes, and the run another 2 miles at threshold pace. Ideally, my threshold pace should be around 6:20/mile (55 VDOT), though I figured it would be more like 6:25 on the day. But I ran on gravel/dirt, some elevation, and it was cold (in the 30's) - or for whatever reason but I only managed to run 6:32, 6:33, 6:35 splits. Then, in the second bout, I ran a 6:14 mile, but I had to stop during the second mile for a bathroom break (probably 2-3 minutes), and I ran the second mile in 6:23 (without the break, of course). Realistically, the first bout was probably the LT effort, and the second bout was too fast. Though it is hard to know that with the circumstances, what VDOT that corresponds to.

For the second workout, on Friday, I ran 8x3 minutes VO2 max intervals on the treadmill with 2 minutes of jogging breaks. I ran the intervals at 10.3 mph (5:49/mile), and the jogs at 6 mph (10:00/mile). I managed to finish the workout, and it did feel that the fast pace was my true VO2 max (not faster). That would put into the 55 VDOT value. It might be that I have 55 fitness, but my stamina (LT) lags behind.

Here is the plan for race week:

Su: 15L
Mo: 9E
Tu: 3E + 3 x 1T w/2 min rests + 3E
We: 9E
Th: 9E
Fr: Rest
Sa: Race

I finished my partial week (got parked for a few days by Achilles tendon injury) with one hard workout: a 6 x 1000 meters on Friday. I ran on the track in perfect running weather, so the only negative factor was that I started it at 7pm, which means it was already dark

It went OK: the splits were 3:36, 3:36, 3:38, 3:35, 3:43, 3:39. My goal was to keep the average below 3:40, which I succeeded in, but the workout became pretty hard by the end. I ran the first 3-4 repeats in the usual way: digging a bit deep in the straights, coasting in the curves, pushing the last 100 meters. When I realized that I'm a but faster than what I wanted, I cut back for the 4th repeat by keeping myself deliberately out of any oxygen debt, even for the last 100 meters. Then I pushed the last one, maybe even harder than the first 3, but by that time, I was exhausted, so I only managed 3:39. I deduced that my VDOT is a bit under 55, which is not too surprising given that I did limited mileage and not many workouts since early November. I also need to improve my LT max next, because the relative ease of the first few repeats, and the difficulty of the last one suggests deficiency in that department.

I'll try to get a full good week in next week, and then do whatever is necessary to win the PBGP master division. Even though I realized that final standings are not based on time, but on positions in age groups. Then, hopefully, off to marathon training.

As I wrote in the previous posts, I pulled my Achilles tendon last week on a snowy run. Then I raced on it, and although it didn't affect my race performance, it aggravated the injury. So when I tried to run on it on Sunday (planned to do a 15-mile long run), I decided to quit after 3.5 miles, because it hurt, and it didn't get any better as the run progressed.

I skipped Monday and Tuesday, and my Achilles appreciated it: today I still felt it a bit in the morning, but after that, I couldn't tell by walking that I had any injury. So I tried a 9-miler, and it went fine. I felt a minor discomfort at some point, but I think (hope) I'm over it.

So I just jump back to training. I planned to do week 2, 4, and 6 of Phase IV, so I'll just jump back to the middle of week 2. Fortunately both today and tomorrow are easy days for an easy comeback. So here is the plan:

Th: 9 E
Fr: 2 E + 6 x 4 min H w/ 3 min jg + 1 E
Sa: 9 E

Next week:

Su: 15 L
Mo: 9 E + 6 ST
Tu: 3 E + 3 T + 2 min rest + 2 T + 1 E
We: 9 E
Th: Rest
Fr: 2 E + 8 x 3 min H w/ 2 min jg + 2 E
Sa: Whatever is needed to round out 60 miles for the week. Shouldn't be more than 9 miles.

Frostbite 5k Race Report

Goal: Run by feel. Preserve or increase overall lead in age group and/or master category.

The preparation for this was the usual, less than perfect, winter training, in which I got sick for about a week, and the usual busy schedule derailed my training a few times. The race got postponed by week, because last Friday night it started to snow, and very cold temperatures (~15 F) were expected for Saturday morning. This time, it was not too cold: just a few degrees above freezing, but this Friday was the first time in a week that the temperature rose above freezing, so the ice and snow didn't completely melt. Even worse: some parts of the race course was in a cold depression, and the melted ice froze back on the road during the night, and didn't melt again by the morning, so we had a half a mile of very slippery road.

Esther and I arrived to the park about an hour before the start. We warmed up, by jogging to the start line from the parking place, and we jogged around a bit more. I felt good, but not great. My Achilles kept bothering me, and despite the short run on Friday, I didn't feel well recovered. The 37 degrees in the park felt warm compared to what we had to endure since Christmas, but it is still less than ideal for running. I ran in long sleeves, shorts, gloves and cap, which was fine.

The race organizers informed us that some part of race course is very icy, so they would cut the distance to about 2.3 miles (3.7 km). That's bad news for me... 4 km is already too short, and this would be even shorter. Also, the race course they posted on-line is several years old, and they hadn't used it in many years, so what we previewed was already inaccurate, even without the modifications. I used to love this organizer company (River City Races), but they have had so many screwups recently...

We started right on time. I got boxed in a bit at the start again, but I didn't sweat the lost 1-2 seconds. Especially, because the race started with a half-mile uphill, so if you don't go crazy on it, it's fine. After pushing myself hard for a quarter mile to reach my VO2 max, I maintained a good 6:40-ish pace uphill, trying teeter on my VO2 max. Then we hit the top, and we were going down for a half of a mile (though the downhill was not quite as steep as the uphill). I had to be careful in the turns not to slip, and I did slow down. A stupid mistake could cost me the overall position. I also had to fall below my VO2 max, because even 4K is too long to maintain it for the whole race.

Mile 1: 6:08

The second mile started with another hill (about 0.3 mile long), similar grade as the first. Obviously I was a bit slower here, but I tried to race pretty aggressively. It is such a short race! On the other side we reached the bottom at around mile 1.7. Here in the "valley" the road was still frozen, and I had to slow down just because of that! One guy passed me, but he looked quite young, so I didn't bother to chase him. In fact I was kind of surprised how he can run so fast on such slippery road, when I realized that he ran on the snowy side, which is less slippery than the icy side. So I also started to run on the snow, but he still pulled away a bit.

Mile 2: 6:22

I started to push the pace, but I had to slow down one more time in a turn. Then I threw down a strong kick to finish at a 5:10 pace.

Last ~0.3 mile: 1:45
Total: 14:18 (14:15 chip time). 12th place overall out of 339, 1st in AG.

A bit regretfully, there were two runners within 4 seconds in front of me; though I was actually closing on them in the finish line. I got my age group win, but not the master win this time. Fortunately the master winner didn't run the first race, so I lead the master category of the Grand Prix by over a minute. Unless I really screw up the 4-miler next month, I can win the master division of the Polar Bear Grand Prix, not just the AG.

A bit embarrassing though that the grandmaster leader, a 53 year old guy has more than two minutes on me! It makes me feel like I don't really deserve a master trophy, if somebody who has over a decade on me is so much faster!

This is the training I did after the last post:

I ran the 9-miler on Friday, I rested on Saturday, and I wanted to run my Phase 3 week starting Sunday. We had snow and icy and freezing temperatures for the whole week, so it was impossible to run outside - at least for the first half of the week.

I got so busy on Monday, that I ran out of time, so I skipped that day. Otherwise the training was not too bad: on Sunday, after an easy warmup mile, I ran 10 miles at 6:42 pace (marathon pace), all treadmill. On Tuesday, I ran 10 intervals of 2 minutes VO2 max pace (5:50 pace) with 1 minutes of recovery, treadmill again. Then two easy days of 10 miles each, running outdoors on Thursday for the first time. It was still too much ice and snow on the ground, and I pulled my Achilles a bit... I only ran an easy race course preview on Friday, which turned out not to be the course that we ran on race day. More about this, in my next post: the race report.

So much for my plans! I got sick and I had to skip 5 days of training, which was supposed to be basically the first week of Phase II training. Then, coming back, following Daniels's advice on unplanned breaks, I just did easy running for 5 days, and since the Frostbite 5K was supposed to be this weekend, I just did easy mileage until Thursday, planning a rest day for Friday.

OK, now the race got canceled due to inclement weather. Two weeks of Phase II is gone. I think I'll try one week of Phase II and 3 weeks of Phase IV. Hopefully it'll work.

So I'll probably just run another niner today, rest on Saturday, and start my Phase II week on Sunday.