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).