End of Week 3

Level 2 up'd the time 45 minutes and dropped the target HR. It went very well with no complaints. I am spending a lot more time running below 140 HR.

F 8.79 miles @ 8:32 pace - 136 HR
S 8.16 miles @ 7:21 pace - 149 HR
Su 7.68 miles @ 7:49 pace - 139 HR
M 9.44 miles @ 7:56 pace - 139 HR
T 10.9 miles @ 6:53 pace - 149 HR
W 7.71 miles @ 7:47 pace - 137 HR
Th 11.18 miles @ 8:03 pace - 139 HR

Total: 63.86 miles @ avg 7:45 pace. Avg HR 141.

I wasn't pleased with today's run as I was hoping to cruise along a little faster. I particularly started off at a low heart rate but the drift came after 5 miles. What happens is the heart rate takes longer and longer to recover from the short steep hills. I didn't have much sleep last night so that's probably the reason.

I was pleased with Tuesday's run. The heart rate stayed right in the zone for most of the run without the pace slacking too badly. I did run 6 miles of this run on the flat airport. It's my first sub 7:00 run since I started this program. Hopefully that continues.

With the race on Sunday (7 miler) I will continue with level 2 for one more week even though I think I don't need to spend any time here. I feel good and my frequent massage therapy (had another session this evening) is really helping me stay on the road. But with the race this week, I'll be avoiding the 150HR runs - replacing them with 140HR workouts. This way I am hoping to be able to "train" right through the race. Sunday will be my only up-tempo day.

My plan will be to run very aggressively in the beginning where the course is flat until mile 4. Looking for a nice fat positive split. ha ha!

End of Week 2

A good week with some slight improvements. Feeling good. The left leg is slowly, slowly getting better. I've increased the frequency of the massage therapy to deal with this. It seems to be helping. I have another scheduled next Thursday.

For the week:

59.76 miles and average HR of 142 and an average pace of 7:32. The breakdown:

Fri - 7.42 miles / 135 HR / 8:05 pace (60 mins)

Sat - 10.47 miles / 150 HR / 7:10 pace (75 mins)

Sun - 5.01 miles / 136 HR / 8:59 pace (45 mins)

Mon - 7.89 miles / 140 HR / 7:36 pace (60 mins)

Tue - 10.56 miles / 150 HR / 7:06 pace (75 mins)

Wed - 6.06 miles / 141 HR / 7:26 pace (45 mins)

Thu - 12.35 miles / 145 HR / 7:17 pace (90 mins)

Very thick fog this morning. Got bitten by the drift of the HR as it took me 90 seconds longer to come back then to go out this morning. Those early miles sure feel good.

Moving up to level 2 next week which just represents in increase in time running by 45 minutes.

Week 2 is looking like Week 1

So far anyway.

Friday: 7.42 miles / 135 HR / ~8:06 pace / 60 mins

Saturday: 10.47 miles / 150 HR / ~7:10 pace / 75 mins

Sunday: 5.01 miles / 136 HR / ~8:59 pace / 45 mins

My Friday run was really good but after Saturday's run you can see today's 135HR effort was much, much slower than Friday's. On the other hand, the exact same thing happened last Sunday.

Keeping to an HR target range really reins in the pace on days needing it. If left to my own devices, I would have run a little faster as I felt ok and today's pace really required me to pay attention to keep everything slow.

The good news, my thoughts have been on moving to level 2 (of 3) of the plan when this week ends. The paces don't increase, just the time on the course. The increase is all in the lower HR ranges. Last week at this time, I was pretty certain I couldn't move up. We will keep the options open.

The legs still hurt but not too bad. Tuesday's scheduled massage should help.

Week 1 Complete

I finished week 1 today. I know, an odd day to end but I finally decided on a plan last Friday. So there you are.

Here is how the week went:

Day__ Miles___ Time__ HR___ Pace

F____7.08___ 60min__ 139__ ~8:30
Sa___ 9.75___ 75_____ 153__ ~7:40
Su ___ 5_____ 45_____ 138__ ~9:00
M___7.48____ 60____ 141___ ~8:00
Tu __ 10.58___ 75____ 150 ___ ~7:06
W ___ 5.87___ 45____ 141___ ~7:40
Th__ 12.14___ 90____ 145 ___ ~7:25

Total miles: 57.9. Avg HR 144. Avg Pace ~7:45.

I had no problem getting up and doing the next day's workout. A good sign and an indication the level of intensity (time/miles/pace) was low enough for this early in the season. The legs built some fatigue by the end of the week. This tells me that I'm not ready to increase. I will repeat the rotation again.

Massage scheduled for Tuesday to rub out the soreness. 

A New Start

After the Cobscook 10k I had to take a few days and recover. Got a massage, and ran easily. Got a cold. Then I got an email.

Thank you Mike for your help.

Like my friend Marc, I've been thinking of MDI and how to tackle this one. After re-reading the Hadd article and some guidance I think (think!) I have a handle how to get my body to respond better to training. It involves tempering the pace while I build the capillary beds and mitochondria necessary to withstand sustained marathonHR paces for the whole 26.2 miles.

After my cold eased (my "medicine" didn't seem to help this time), I got back on the roads... to crawl.

Friday: 7 miles @ 8:36 per mile. 139 HR
Sat: 9.75 miles @ 7:42 per mile. 153 HR
Sun: 5 miles @ 9:05 per mile. 138 HR (hot out).

All courses hilly which really effects the heart rate just now.

It's a long journey to October and there's plenty of time. I need to build these necessary physical adaptations if I have any hope of getting faster.

I was planning for 20 today if Marc & Mike could make it down to Eastport. But neither could. So I stuck to my new plan which surprisingly, only called for 45 minutes today. A rather warm day (for this red-headed Irish lad) so it was no surprise the heart rate was higher and the pace slower than 'normal'. I don't know how people down south handle the heat. Usually, Eastport is socked in with fog and cool. Today I got out late and had to deal with 80 degrees!

Tomorrow - 60 minutes. We'll get those little cells yet.

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On a mental health note: the Kawasaki is out of the shop and humming like a like new machine. This means the daily commute to Calais will be on two wheels. Ahhh... tough day? Twist that throttle!

Cobscook Bay 10K Report

2nd place. 38:05.

Had a great time today at the Cobscook Bay 10k. The race is in Pembroke, just a few miles south of Eastport. It runs along a beautiful road with Cobscook Bay on the left for the first 5k, then a short 2 mile road to cross the "head" and the last mile has the bay on the right. It finishes at the Reversing Falls park where the organizers put on the most amazing barbeque with hamburgers, hotdogs, salmon and of course all the cold dishes and donuts too. A point to point, the course is "rolling" with 3 significantly steep hills in the last mile.

When the horn beeped, we took off and I intended on an aggressive play today. Not that I get a faster time, I just enjoy running with the pack if possible. The eventual winner went out faster than any of us and there wasn't even a thought of pacing him. He is definitely out of my league. I joined the chase pack and we went through mile one in 5:39.

I knew I wasn't going to run an average pace of 5:39 for the 10k but I wasn't worried a bit. I felt fine and I knew the slower mile splits would just come without having to purposely slow down. I figured it was just 6 miles, and if I blew up, it wouldn't be far to the finish. On the other hand, I didn't do anything to keep the pace, I just ran with relative comfort. Sure enough, mile two came through in 6:04. The effort felt exactly the same...

While the course "rolled", I was suspecting a net "up" while running the first half. There just seemed to be more climbing (gently) than any downhills. I tried to keep the pressure on the downhills and be strong climbing the uphills. At some point near mile two, I lost my companion. We had pulled away from the chase pack and were running side by side after mile 1. I was lucky to have someone to run with stride for stride - we weren't battling, just running. However, I think he made conservation play when the pace seemed too fast to hold (which it was). I, on the other hand, was sticking with my original plan to have the watch hand me the slow miles as it happened.

And they happened. Mile three, by myself now with the leader probably a minute in front of me, went by in 6:11 and the 5k in 18:34 (5:59 avg pace). I was still holding "tempo" but obviously the combination of the slight net uphill, a little headwind, and naturally slowing was adding seconds to my mile splits. Overall I felt pretty good but after I passed the half way mark I knew this was going to be work.

A couple of tenths beyond the 5k, the road turns right and the road went up. Not very far but enough to give you pause. However, I knew that at the end of this cross road, we'd be pretty much at shore level so it had to go down for at least a mile. Mile 4 was a success in 6:13. Only two seconds off my third mile so it felt good to be holding. Now for the downhill...

This next section is important. The reason being that the last mile boasts 3 very steep short hills that take the run out of every runner. I had the notion that no matter how much I conserved for these final hills, I'd still hurt, so I tried like mad to increase the tempo on this next mile to take advantage of the net downhill. I was tired, my legs were now tired, my stomach didn't like the increased effort, and my form wasn't as smooth as I would like. But I got a 6:06 for mile 5 and I was pleased.

What a chore to get to mile 6! The road turns to dirt and the hills rise up abruptly. You do get to come down the other side of these hills, which is a plus. It took a lot of willpower to change the pace from "arm-swinging-baby-steps" to full out downhill power to make up lost time. But I did it and came through in 6:25. Not as successful as I would like but it held me to 2nd place. The final .2 was the crest of the final hill and a slight decline to the finish (7:10 pace).

The last time I ran this race was in 2003. I had a time of 40:05. Mike and Marc ran today and we hung out prior and after the race.

Today sort of makes up for the rather taperish week I had. After last Sunday's 11 mile "long run", I did:

Monday: 10 miles w/6 miles @ 6:44 pace.
Tuesday: 10 miles w/6 miles @ 6:23 pace.
Wednesday: off (fatigued)- obviously the above paces are too fast.
Thursday: 5.3 miles easy @ 7:35. Rather enjoyable really.
Friday: off - excusing myself to "taper"
Saturday: Hiked Mt. Cadillac in Bar Harbor with the church group. 6k.

I did figure that with the mountain climb on Saturday, it would be best to take Friday off, so I did. My next race isn't until July, so I have no excuses. Though, I do think I'll tone down the daily paces a notch so I don't get fatigued like I was on Wednesday. After all, I'm trying to get back to the high mileage.