After the successfully finished 58 mile week, I'll have another of the same mileage this time.

Total: 58 miles.

Long runs: 14 and 10 miles.

VO2: Officially 5 x 2:30 moderately steep uphill. Recoveries are 50 to 90 percent of the duration of the interval. I may want to change this to another 5 x 800 meters, because that is more measurable, and I need VO2 max improvement.

Easy runs: Need to average 8.5 miles/day, which is a little over my comfort zone. So run 4 + 6 or 6 + 4 when possible, and just make sure we get to the total  mileage.

I ran to the Big Four Bridge opening yesterday. This is an old, former railroad bridge between Louisville, KY and Jeffersonville, IN, that is being converted to pedestrian and bicycle usage. The last train crossed it in the 60's, and after that they took down the ramps, so there was large, elevated bridge, not wide enough to build a road on it, but not worth to demolish. So this was the perfect thing to do.

Still, I thought with the way American society is, nobody would be out there. The news about the opening didn't exactly made the headlines. To my surprise, there was a crowd. Running was like when you line up at the back of the pack accidentally at a large race. Fortunately I wasn't in any hurry. The run was long, took me 10 miles to get to the far side from campus and back. You still can't get down to the ground on the Indiana side, because that ramp is still unfinished. I got somewhat dehydrated when I got back to campus, because it was fairly warm (a gorgeous day all in all).

I'm at 50 miles in 5 days. One easy run away from my weekly mileage.

I ran a very good tempo today. I'm afraid to say that "I'm back", because I'm afraid I would jinx it, like I did last time, but hey, it did go well.

2 x 2.5 miles tempo intervals, and the half mile splits were 3:06, 3:12, 3:16, 3:04, 3:08 (total 15:46.35), then after a half mile recovery, 3:10, 3:05, 3:05, 3:13, 3:13 (15:46.86). That means both bouts were at 6:19 average pace. With this run, I also finished 40 miles so far this week and it's only Wednesday.

Weather was quite nice though, 41 F and sunny.

Long run yesterday, 13 miles at 7:30/mile. I felt pretty good despite the fact that I didn't eat or drink anything. This is very unusual of me, but I only brought Gatorade, and I had some mild gastrointestinal discomfort, so I didn't want to risk drinking the sugary drink. This is probably the first time in my life of running this long without any fluid intake. But it was cold (around 32 F, 0 C), so I didn't sweat too much.

Plan for week -12:

Total: 58 miles.
Long runs: 13 and 9 miles.
LT: 2 x 2.5 miles tempo intervals. Start at 6:30/mile, then try to accelerate. I'm afraid I won't be able to.
Easy runs: either one 8-8.5, or do a double of 5 each or so.

I solved the mystery why I can't run fast tempos. It's because my VO2 max sucks. Surprisingly it seems like I detrained my VO2 max during the weeks following the HM in November. I already may have had some decline before the race, because I barely ever did any VO2 max work.

Today I went to the track and I ran 800's. It's been raining and freezing on and off (and today it was the rain's turn), so I was sure the trail would be like a mud pit. It was a good choice, because it got revealed that I can't do those 800s very fast. I ran 2:56, 2:57, 2:57, 2:59, 2:59. The last two were quite hard, and I know I was at or over my VO2 max. This is still faster than I used to run like a year ago, but it only corresponds to 1:27-1:28 HM time, not 1:25. Well, you just do what you can do. The circumstances were close to ideal (except for some wind), so those are not to blame.

At least I lost two ponds, as of this morning. Down to 151 again. I hope to be 148 or less by May.

Finished the week with 50 miles, but the 2 x 2 miles tempo was a failure again. In the second interval I ran 6:36/miles, but I couldn't run any faster even if somebody chased me with a gun. Seriously. I felt lactate rushing though my muscles at that pace. The 35 degrees didn't help, but this is still super disappointing. I can probably forget about the 1:23 dreams. I should also sleep more and get less stressful in real life, because that takes quite a bit of energy out of me. So I guess I'll have to give up my evening coffee again.

Week -13: Total of 54 miles.

Long runs: 13 and 9 miles.

VO2 max: 5 x 3:00 trail sprints. Total of 8 miles.

Easy runs: 8 miles each.

Easy run today is finished with only minor discomfort in my left hip. So this 50-mile week is going to be counted as success. The only thing I wanted to be better at this point in my training is 6:20 tempos, but I hope the 6:25's I run now are good enough. I'm so excited to start the regular training plan!

Week of 1/20 (-14).

Total of 50 miles.

Long runs: 12 and 9 miles.

LT: 2 x 2 miles LT intervals at 6:20 with 2-3 minutes of jogging between the intervals. Total of 8 miles.

Easy runs: 3 times 7 miles.

On the day of Lance Armstrong's confession, I finally had a nicer tempo. Not perfect, but on a teaching day, finishing in the dark, pretty cold weather (and started with breathing difficulties) I'll take it. I cut the warmup short to 1.57 miles, so I would be more fresh and I wouldn't have net elevation loss. That feels like cheating. So instead I had a 15 feet net gain (with a couple of 20-30 feet hills, but nothing too serious). The fast 4 miles were 6:29, 6:24, 6:25, 6:22. Average of 6:25.165. I only set out to run sub 6:30 (see the first mile), so maybe that's the secret. Or simply the slump is over. At least I ran another sub-20 5K somewhere in there. :)

7.1 easy tomorrow to finish up the 50-mile week. I have almost no pains! My very troublesome right ankle seem to have healed completely, my left hip was pain free today. The only issue I had was my stubborn left heel PF, but that's really minor. Well, maybe I'm speaking too soon. I will see what I'll have tomorrow.

Hard training start next week!

Finished my 50-mile week, which I'll repeat starting today.

Then off to HM plan as follows:

Jan 20: Week -14

Jan 27: Week -13

Feb 3: Week -12

Feb 10: Week -11

Feb 17: Week -10

Feb 24: Week -9

Mar 3: Week -8

Mar 10: Week -7

Mar 17: Week -6

Mar 24: Week -5

Mar 31: Week -4

Apr 7: Week -3

Apr 14: Week -2

Apr 21: Week -1

Apr 28: Race week.

May 4: Race day.

Another sucky tempo is no big news I guess. But it's my responsibility for the future myself to document it. 4 fast miles at 6:21, 6:25, 6:31, 6:26. At the end, I was done for. In the pain cave for the last 0.7 mile. The course was my usual, somewhat hilly course close to work (but not too hilly at all). The weather was perfect, 55 degrees, and my run had net elevation loss. Average pace was 6:25.69. Barely qualifies for tempo run.

Still much faster than I was a year ago, but not where I should be based on my last half marathon. At least hard running is over for the week. Only two days, a little more than 14 miles, and I'm hitting a magic 50. HM training starts on 1/20 (though I should probably double check that).

Here we go. The low of the training: no running since Dec. 29. It was always cold and cloudy outside, and I didn't feel like going out. I rather stayed at home drinking good bourbon. But it's all over now. From today, I'll revamp the training.

I'll do four hour-long runs this week until Saturday. Then from Monday, I'll repeat the staple week twice: total 50 miles, with 13.1 mile long run, 8 mile tempo (4 fast), and 7.23 mile easy runs. The tempo is fine to anywhere between 6:30 and 6:20.

I'm sure everybody is tired of hearing about how my tempo runs suck, but what can I do?

On Wednesday, in cold (33 F), light snow, I ran my worst tempo since the LSC half. 4 miles fast with splits of 6:22, 6:31, 6:27, 6:36. As you can see, by mile 4, I was done for. Average of 6:29/mile. It's time to admit that I can't run 6:20 paced tempos just now. So next week, I'll slow it down to run the first two miles at 6:30, and only accelerate if I can in the last two miles.

There are many plausible explanations why I'm slowing. For one, I'm increasing mileage. Also, it is getting colder, darker, and it is hard to run in the winter due to seasonal changes in human metabolism. It could also be partly mental. I can run mile 1 in 6:20 and feel fine, but then when fatigue starts to take over, I may lack the mental strength to push through it. Anyway, considering that a year ago I had trouble running sub-7 miles at this phase of my training, I think I'm OK.

Sorry for the changed appearance. Google essentially forced this out of me. With my old template the website started to throw error messages at me every time I tried to post.

I ran my weekly tempo today. It didn't go very well. I think I'm not ready to run this fast. I tried 6:20-6:25 pace, and at the end, I did finish 4 miles at average of 6:24 or so, but my paces were all over the place, and for mile four I felt like crap. Oh, well. I guess the same was true last winter. Reading back my blog I see myself complaining that I can't run faster than 6:50 pace for the 4-mile tempos. Maybe next winter I would complain that I can't run sub-6 tempos. :)

I will keep trying for 6:20-6:25. I should be running the 6:20 by January.

OK, here is how today went: I went to the group trail run, but nobody was there (I was 5 minutes late, so maybe they left, though that would be surprising given that they knew I was coming). I decided to do my 4 mile tempo. But I was sort of unprepared, it was dark and cold, and I just didn't have the will to run fast beyond mile 2. And my right shoelace was kind of loose. So I stopped, tied my shoe, ran 3:30 recovery and then 2 more miles fast. Even in the intervals I wasn't very fast, and the worse is that I was gradually slowing during both of my intervals. So I'm officially in a rut.

It does look like I hit this place every November-December. It may be seasonal. I'm not too worried still. My splits were still OK, I still ran some decent LT workout today. My ankle is not really better, but at least it's also not worse.

Mon, ~6 miles in my bricks.

It looks like I'm getting slower every week. Today it took me 22:27 to run the 3.5 miles, which is 6:24.85 pace. It is still not terrible, and I did *not* go over 6:25, so by my statement of last week, I can't be upset. But I'm very close to being upset... Why am I getting slower every week is a puzzle. Is it the winter slump? Too much stress in real life? We'll see... next week I'll try 4 miles.

Tempo today was not as great as last week, but was still OK. Splits are 3:05, 3:19, 3:16, 3:06, 3:05, 3:15, 3:11. Total time was 22:17.98 for 3.5 miles, 6:22.28 pace. Last week it was 22:09.61, or 6:19.89 pace. Looking at the general paces, it does look like I'm more fatigued this week, which is probably true. Less sleep, colder temps, real life. This pace is still fine, I just don't want to go over 6:25.

The plan goes perfectly, survived even Thanksgiving. I did not run on Sunday though, so I'll be running 6 days in a row for sure, and if all goes well, add the other 6 next week starting on Sunday.

Most remarkably I ran a great tempo run last Tuesday. The middle, fast part was 3.5 miles with the following half mile splits: 3:02, 3:14, 3:11, 3:12, 3:09, 3:14, 3:08. I was aiming for 6:20 miles (3:10 splits).

I will actually have to be careful not to work out too hard. During Thanksgiving, I did a run on the beach in North Myrtle Beach with a few friends. After some slowish initial miles, I apologized to them and took off. Then I did the last 1.5 miles at sub-7 pace, and it didn't feel that hard. That is almost scary...

Another nice piece of news: I got a letter from the LSC Half Marathon organizers stating that I received a $50 gift certificate for placing 2nd in my age group in the race. Nice! I now turned professional, making money of my running. :)

Slightly revised plans follow. I'll have two buffer weeks at the end of the buildup, in case I run Indianapolis, and one buffer week in case I run the Derby Mini (looks unlikely now - will travel to a conference).

Week of 11/11: 5 easy runs of 4 miles each, no slower than 8:00; one long run of 7 miles. Total of 27 miles.

Week of 11/18: One easy run is switched out to a 5.5 mile tempo: 1 mile warmup, 3.5 miles at tempo pace (6:20, but a little slower is fine), then 1 mile cooldown. Increase long run to 8 miles. Total of 29.5 miles.

Week of 11/25: Total of 32 miles, including 8 mile long run, 5.5 mile tempo (as above), and easy runs of 4.63 miles each.

Week of 12/2: Total of 35 miles, including 9 mile long, same tempo (but do try to hit the 6:20 pace), easy runs of 5.13 miles.

Week of 12/9: Total of 39 miles, including 10 mile long, 6 mile tempo (1 - 4 - 1), and 5.75 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/16: Total of 43 miles, including 11 mile long, 7 mile tempo (1.5 - 4 - 1.5) and 6.25 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/23: Total of 47 miles, including 12 mile long, 7 mile tempo and 7 mile easy runs.

Week of 12/30: Total of 50 miles, including 13.1 mile long, 8 mile tempo (2 - 4 - 2) and 7.23 mile easy runs.

Week of 1/6, and 1/13: Repeat the last week. These two weeks will also serve as buffer if I ever have to repeat a buildup week. Note that in case I run the Derby Mini, there is only one buffer week.

Louisville Sports Commission Half Marathon Race Report

Goal: better than 1:27:11. Secondary goal: sub-1:30.

I ran this race as a member of the University of Louisville Corporate Team, so I could not risk completely bumming the race. I decided to go out at my PR pace, to give myself a chance to PR, and see it from there. My PR was run this spring on perfect training on a pancake flat course. This time, my training was much worse, and there were a few hard hills on the course. Here is the elevation profile:

We woke up to a cold morning with temperature of about 36 degrees. After my usual pre-race rituals (breakfast, coffee, etc.) I drove to the race, where I found a cheap parking spot really close to the start line. We met up with the team before the race, but we were all freezing, so we just got a quick picture together, and then went on to the start area.

I saw a bunch of people wearing only T-shirt or even singlet, but I decided to go with long sleeves. After the warmup, while standing in the start area, I sort of regretted it, because it was nice and cozy there, but it was too late to change the setup. In retrospect I'm happy that it was too late, because I needed those long sleeves.

There were about 2000 runners, but people seemed very reasonable here, and slow people didn't try to line up close to the start line. At exactly 8:30, after a countdown, we were off.

The race started with a long straight flat street, and we had the first mile split there. I knew I went out faster than I wanted to, but it was hard to control my excitement. I just went with the flow.

Mile 1: 6:26

We took a couple of turns, but it was like the first mile: flat, fast. I felt great, the adrenaline was still pumping hard in me, and the weather was also great. I was not hot, not cold, and the predicted rain didn't arrive.

Mile 2: 6:28

I knew I had to slow down. I just didn't believe I had enough miles in training to do this pace for 13.1 miles. I tried to take it easier. I ran by a couple of spectators in University of Louisville Cardinals gear, and I pulled down my upper layer to reveal my "Cardinal" T-shirt underneath. I got a huge cheer! :)

Mile 3: 6:35

I knew we had one more mile before the three hills of Cherokee Park. We entered the park, but first we ran a flat portion of the road. I saw one of my trail running buddies finishing his Saturday morning trail run in the park (another extra cheer). Unfortunately we also got some sleet/rain/hail here, which wouldn't have been a big deal if that was all for the race. But from here it was raining on and off, and by the end of the race it was just raining, heavy and cold. But let's not jump ahead.

Mile 4: 6:24

(It seems like I was very fast in the previous mile, but it was all downhill.) Right after the marker, the big climb started. Following my predetermined strategy, I slowed down, maintaining just slightly increased effort level uphill. When we got to the top, my Garmin still showed 6:33 or so average pace, and I wasn't sure if I should take it as a good sign (unexpectedly fast pace), or a bad sign (expected blowup at the end).

I had my first drink on the top of this hill. Aid stations were not great at this race. Most aid stations didn't announce who had water and who had Powerade, so you just got what you got. And except for one, they had these awful plastic cups.

Mile 5: 6:57

Hill #2. Not as hard as #1. Before I knew, I was at the top. But the weather was turning bad, and I already started to feel tired, and we weren't even halfway done.

Mile 6: 6:38

Hill #3. Difficulty is the same as #2. We left the park by this time, and people disappeared from around me. I passed a few people in miles 2,3,4 and 5, and I still always saw somebody ahead, but the passing became more and more rare. At least nobody passed me. Drink #2 happened with paper cups (great), but I got water (wanted Powerade).

Mile 7: 6:38

I permanently switched to the faster 2-1 breathing pattern here from 2-2. Mostly downhill, so I got good speed, but I felt my legs getting trashed. My left hip started to hurt, my right leg, too, a bit of soreness in the right ankle... and I started to hate the world. But I told myself, I was only a 10K from the finish.

Mile 8: 6:30

More downhill. Drink #3 (plastic cup, water, half of it on my shirt). No rain at the moment, but I was already wet. I passed a few more people. I started to feel good about a PR, and barring catastrophe, sub-1:30 was in the bag. But I *was* tired.

Mile 9: 6:27

The race was flat from here. I counted back the miles. I was struggling, but pushing myself. I already knew this race was not to be like the spring half marathon where I felt great at the end. I passed more people though.

Mile 10: 6:28

We were going through the working class neighborhood, and the folks were out and very supportive. I passed one more guy right after an aid station (plastic cup, water, some of which went down my windpipe), and then there was a long-long empty space in front of me. The rain was coming down hard, it was getting into my eyes. I started to feel quite cold, especially my hands. My shoes and socks were also soaked.

Mile 11: 6:30

The race started to feel surreal. I was hurting badly. I tried to run with my eyes closed and only open it for one stride out of 3 or 4. I seemed to get closer to the guy in front of me. Yes, he was closer. And then I passed him. I had this interesting disconnect between how I felt and how I ran. I was in a lot of pain and wanted to stop, but I just kept running the same pace. "You only have to endure it for less than 15 minutes." I told myself.

Mile 12: 6:26

I saw the clock at the marker turning 1:18:00, and I realized that with a strong last mile, I can get close to 1:25. My mental math was not quite strong enough to realize how fast would I have to be. So I just pushed, and pushed, and I was dying, and freezing, I couldn't feel my hands, the freezing rain was flowing down on my face, and where the hell is that finish line anyway?! It was a straight road for the whole mile leading up to the finish, but due to the heavy rain, the visibility was so bad that I didn't see it until I was very close.

Mile 13: 6:14

I really want to see those finish line photos. I was done for. I ran my heart out.

Last portion: 0:39 (roughly 6 min/mile pace)
Total time: 1:25:18
23th overall out of 2143, 2nd in my age group, but age group awards were not given.

Our team got 3rd place in the Corporate Challenge with me running our fastest time. This is a great result.

I'm overjoyed with the race. I couldn't have run any faster today. Running an almost 2 minute PR with the circumstances is great. But I will still focus on a spring half marathon to run an official sub-1:25 before going on to my sub-3 hour marathon journey.

The post race party was a bit lame with a goofy pop-rock band (Bon Jovi and Toto style) and the rain, but there was pizza and free whiskey for the corporate teams, so it was all good. :)