The end of the road (are we there yet?)

pgmcpq

Thursday PM: 8 miles, 1.5 (Pace: 8.04) + 5 (Pace 7.21) + 1.5 (Pace 8.01)

Joined the club run. Being car less I had to run from/to the office and jump public transit home. Legs felt a bit better but still not great.

Friday: 4 miles, recovery, grass/wood

Did manage to fit in a quick slow run this morning. I think this will be my last and I am retiring to bed tomorrow to try to break this cold. After I headed into the NY Half expo. It a very small expo but one booth caught my eye :



On another interesting note. They've really got uber serious about bandits in the race. When you get you bid you are required to put on a night-club style wrist band which you have to wear until the end of the race ... this is a little annoying and seems over the top. They may be trialling this before the full marathon.

shazkea

Just getting around to reading your Barca report now! Well done on the PB and it was certainly a warm day out there. Not sure if I met you in the GP but sure the leccie cut only added to the atmosphere!!

pgmcpq

shazkea wrote: »

Just getting around to reading your Barca report now! Well done on the PB and it was certainly a warm day out there. Not sure if I met you in the GP but sure the leccie cut only added to the atmosphere!!

If not the GP then I'm sure our paths will cross somewhere. We bailed out long before karaoke ! Hope you enjoyed Barcelona despite the disappointment. We spent almost a week there but I am trying to figure out how to work another visit there with a bit more time. Good to see you back on the road again. You are planning a report on the Kilimanjaro trip - right ?

pgmcpq

Was uncertain about this race. A smaller race and I would have considered pulling out. Was struggling with a head cold most of the week and so abandoned plans for a light run and took to bed with great determination on Saturday to try to shake it as much as possible.

An early start. Up at 3.30 am. At 4.15am went out for a run around the block. Managed to scare the **** out of some poor woman coming home after a night of partying when I rounded a blind corner. In fairness having some nut suddenly appear running towards you in the middle of the night would be .... startling.

Amazing pre dawn in Central Park. There was a huge full moon visible low through the trees that gave everything a spooky aura. Combine this with hundreds of largely silent figures moving around packing bags, jogging, - the usual pre race activities - and it reminded me of my image of a witches coven. But it was also cold. Not as cold as in January but but in January I had worn four shirts, tights etc jump into the corral and go in ten minutes.
Here we had to wait in the corral .... getting colder and colder. When the pre race ceremonies began with "Good morning runners, how are you" there was a spontaneous unanimous response of "COLD" !
And the ceremonies took forever .... very worthwhile charities, very generous sponsors (but I am no shivering uncontrollably), very well wrapped up volunteers (we applauded but really envied them their coats) and then they introduced the elite runners - who had been safe and warm in their VIP tents. (Cragg was not introduced) and then the anthem - which requires one to remove the hat loosing the last warmth the body was hanging onto. Finally the race instructions including the need to keep the wristband which had been paced on my arm at the expo on Friday visible. By comparison the race was pretty quick.

And off .... first 8 miles are a loop and a half of Central Park clockwise (the easier route) from around 95th. The advantage is that by mile 6 you are really done with any serious hills and the rest is a net down hill. I set off with the plan to try to hold a 1.30 (6.52mm) pace on the flat while minimizing the damage on the hills. My mile 3 I was already feeling the strain and was seriously worried about the rest of the day. But I got up the hills on the west side of the park in reasonable shape and so was becoming a little more optimistic.

Splits (1-6): 7.10, 6.41, 6.39, 6.40, 6.22, 6.37

That last mile 6.37 looks good as it included the climb of Harlem Hill (albeit from the easier approach). Back around to the second loop I went through the start again feeling pretty good and looking forward to a the largely down hill mile ahead. I had started to pace myself of a woman ahead in a black singlet with arm warmers. At this point I decided to toss my gloves feeling much more comfortable. However when I pulled then off the bloody wrist band went with them !!! Luckily I noticed and was able to locate the band immediately. So I back tracked and got the band again. It took a while but I was able to work the band back on again. Since I knew I had to wear it for two days I had not put it on too tightly but I suspect I must have stretched it over the previous days. Annoying. I hope the NYRRs abandon this idea. So I lost my rhythm and pacing target but it seems otherwise that no major damage was done - so I was lucky, it could have been a disaster.

Splits (mile 7-8): 6.32, 6.19

Out of the park and the nice downward slope to Time Square. The crowd echoing off the building were amazing. In fact I was weary of this from last year as I had responded with a too fast mile here last year. Glance at the Garmin .... wtf ... it reported a lap pace of 2.xx for the mile :eek:. In short the Garmin had a complete meltdown (funny as my old 205 had no problems last year) with the tall building around. So I was running blind for a while. Onto 42nd St ... and now there is a headwind ... from this point I started to look forward to the end. The last three miles down the West Side High was are not much fun. It's a concete road and you can almost feel it take a toll on the knees. But I was bouyed by the notion that if I could keep any type of form going an unexpected PB waa on the cards. I tried latching onto another runner - again a woman in a perfectly coordinated pink/white outfit but she blew me away after half a mile and when I took wome water she roared off into the distance. Still it was enough to get me to the "800m to go" sign and I could now see the finish line in sight. Once the clock became visible I could see 1.2... but not until the last 50m could I see 1.27.xx and I put the head down. Very happy with that.

So what have we learned (aka why can't I produce the equivalent marathon results). Well the day with the feet up before the race might be a good idea for me. Typically the last two marathons have involved travelling followed by family stuff/sightseeing and a lateish dinner. Next time we travel to a marathon I may have to put my foot down. Having no one around to take off may also ease the pressure a bit.

PS. The Garmin shows me as having run 14.09 miles !! It seems to have added a diversion around Time Sq.http://connect.garmin.com/activity/74308142

ronanmac

Wow! That is a fantastic HM time, pgmcpq. Fair play to you, especially with Barcelona still in the legs. Sounds like a great event, and a brilliant PB. What was your best half time before this. Mr McMillan is now giving you a marathon time of 3:03:56. You might as well knock knock another four minutes off that if you're going to go that close to three hours

Congrats again.

Brianderunner

Great stuff, i bet your trying to figure out where the hell that came from. Sure Barca was only a warm up jog for us for the big one yesterday

menoscemo

Great stuff. It gives me confidence for the 10 miler in Mallow on sunday. Just looking at your garmin split, you seem to have broken the world mile record in your 10th mile :pac:

pgmcpq

ronanmac wrote: »

What was your best half time before this. Mr McMillan is now giving you a marathon time of 3:03:56. You might as well knock knock another four minutes off that if you're going to go that close to three hours

I ran a 1.29.00 in January over a tougher course. That McM guy is a con-artist ! I have still not broken 3.15 !!! Seriously, my HM times have never translated into full marathon times. Next time around I am going to incorporate tougher (Daniel style - 'predator'?) runs into the P&D schedule to try to solve the endurance problem - and possibly one or two over distance runs before the marathon program starts. Trying to fix this problem is the priority for the next year. The plan is NY, Boston(2012) and then Berlin(2012) for an attempt to really set a marathon PB that will stand up for a while.

Brianderunner wrote: »

Great stuff, i bet your trying to figure out where the hell that came from. Sure Barca was only a warm up jog for us for the big one yesterday

Thanks. The big difference is that on this course all the hills are in the first 6 miles - from there it is a net downhill (only the potholes to worry about). In Barca it was the late climbs away from the seafront that caused the problems. Same in Dublin - the climb at mile 20(?) - I'd just met Krusty - did the damage. My next marathon is New York - a tough course - where hills begin around mile 16 and continue until the finish. So I need to find a solution to this problem before November.

menoscemo wrote: »

Great stuff. It gives me confidence for the 10 miler in Mallow on sunday. Just looking at your garmin split, you seem to have broken the world mile record in your 10th mile

Ahhh but the 3.01 minute mile pales when you look at my ability to leap tall buildings (in a slngle bound). Funny because my old 205 had no problems on this same course last year. Good luck Sunday ( wow, you are running again before Connemara ?)


Finally .... it going to #*&%$###@'g snow here again tomorrow ..... spring ?

shazkea

Great run and well done on the new PB

pgmcpq

shazkea wrote: »

Great run and well done on the new PB

thanks - bit of a surprise !

pgmcpq

Well work, weather, damaged car, and stuff meant that I did not run from Monday until Thursday night. Bad mistake ! The failure to get any kind of recovery run left me feeling very stiff and achy. Get your recovery runs in !!

Anyway since the last update I have been taking it easy:

Thursday PM: 5.5 miles, Pace 7.50
Friday : 6 miles, grass/wood Pace: 8.03
Saturday: 16 miles, Pace 7.51
Sunday: 6 miles, grass, recovery, 8.24

pgmcpq

Spent the weekend reading Daniels trying to put together a 10k plan to cover the next few months. Have to say I found Daniels book difficult to follow (anyone done this - hints/comments/jokes ?). I have three 10ks lined up but the A-target is a 10k at the end of May giving me nine weeks. So the plan is 3 weeks of Phase 1, 2 weeks of Phase 2, and 3 weeks of Phase 3, and the final week will be largely taper.

I have decided to skip the first of the four phases which is largely base building and assume a starting mileage of 50 miles. I have also decided to try do much of the easy running on grass.

So today is the first day ....
Humm ...not off to such a great start .... I misread the plan - ( those damn brackets - I was never very good at maths). So what I did was

Monday:

2.5 warmup,
5* (200m+200m recovery, Target 42s)
2* (400m+400m recovery, Target 85s).
1.5 warmdown.

Actual 200s: 41, 43, 39, 43, 43
Actual 400s: 85, 87

Decent enough start even if not actually the plan. Was hanging on a bit at the end.

One of my problems is that my VDOT varies depending on the distance. My HM, 15k and 5k give 52-53 while my 10k and Marathon give 48-49. There's quite a jump there. Daniels says take the higher value so I will take him at his word. In any event it will be something different to focus on.

pgmcpq

Tuesday: 8 miles, grass/asphalt, Pace 7.59 (E)

Still cold here - rumor of some "wet snow" on Wednesday - (will spring ever arrive ?). Met a local guy who told me about a local 5k next Sunday. Not really in shape for this, and should go an support Mrs P in a women only HM ... but it's a local race and I've been told I need to support it so .... with 6 days of training Sunday is my first 5k since before DCM. Will be interesting ...

pgmcpq

So (better late than never) the plan for this week is (what I have wrangled from Daniels 5-15k plan II week1):

Monday Q1: 5 * ( (2 * 200m + 200m recovery) + 400m + 400m recovery ), Target 200m in 42s, 400m in 85s
Wednesday Q2: 6 * ( 1 mile @ 6.32 + 60s recovery)

Paces:
R: 200m / 42s
R: 400m / 85s
T Mile / 6.32 per mile:
E: / 8.09 per mile.

Sunday: In addition there is now a 5k race Sunday - this was not part of the original plan. However since I messed Monday's session up the 5k makes up for it ... right ?

Wednesday : 10 miles (2wu + 6*1m@6.32)

Miles: 6.10, 6.28, 6.30, 6.34, 6.35, 6.33
HR 154, 161, 161, 160, 160, 1.62

Interesting. Much harder than I expected. Of course I messed up by running the first mile way too fast, meaning I missed out on the last three miles albeit by just a second or two. However the HR suggests that I was not working as hard as I 'felt' I was. Hopefully this training phase will address this ..... the 5k on Sunday suddenly looks scary.

Krusty_Clown

Well done on the half marathon PB. Cracking time, even with the brief additional detour around Times Square. Funny, my Garmin 405 had problems during NY marathon, but that was on one of the bridges. There's a lot to be said for a pace band and a stop-watch. Good luck on Sunday with the 5k.

pgmcpq

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Well done on the half marathon PB. Cracking time, even with the brief additional detour around Times Square. Funny, my Garmin 405 had problems during NY marathon, but that was on one of the bridges. There's a lot to be said for a pace band and a stop-watch. Good luck on Sunday with the 5k.

Yes, felt a bit naked without the Garmin. Not looking forward to being without it in the marathon this year. Funnily enough my old 205 seemed to do ok last year. I'm tempted to try it out and see if it is more resiliant. My problem with pace bands is that it is hard to get the print large enough to read on the run ( master's runner specific problem!).


Thursday: 7 miles, grass/wood, Pace 8.17
Managed to sneak this run in before the latest snowfall.

Friday: 45mins stationary bike.
An early day at work and a storm kept in the house.

Saturday: 10miles, grass, asphalt,wood, Pace 7.53.

Beatiful day kept me out longer than I intended. Cannot go home when conditions are this good. Most of the run was on grass apart from a few randon hill repeats. Finally spring ? Met Bob who finished second to me in a local 5k last year. We are renewing the rivalry today (Sunday)

pgmcpq

Gutted ! Well that is a reality check! 39 seconds outside my PB set before Dublin last year. 19 seconds outside my time on this course last year. Finally I was kept off the podium by a 14 year old .

Looking back over race reports recently I always seem to begin with ... "I was not sure what to expect going into this ...." - however this is my first 5k - infact my first race shorter than 15k - in six month. I have just started a 10k training program maybe I had no business racing a 5k this early.

On the starting line there was a stiff wind blowing off the river. This seems to have taken a toll on everyone's time and it may have effected me because early on I felt like I had little to give. At the start the organizers were asking people who could not do an 18m 5k to step back from the starting line. I was a couple of rows back and noticed they sceptically eyeing a teenager who assured them he was well qualified to be in the first row.

My first mile at 5.56 might not have been a bright idea. I had a little trouble getting around one cluster of runners at the start. Since I did not want to let the leader get too far away I put more effort than normal into keeping in touch with the leaders. I quickly found myself in 4th trailing the kid from the starting line. The first and second place runners vanished from sight once the course started to wind though the wetlands preservation area. There the wind started to really take a toll and without any shelter I found myself backing off. But by 1.5 mile the distance to the kid was getting smaller and by the turn around I though he might be coming into range. But ....at the start of the second loop there were cries of "He's on your shoulder" and the kid surged. No one loves the mid aged bald guy ? I handled the turn to loop 2 with the grace of a hippo and the kid was gone along with hopes of a podium finish. How far gone I did not know yet... but I started to wonder more about the distance back to 5th rather than the distance to 3rd. Mile 2 was a disappointing 6.19. Back to the wetland reserve and into the wind .....mile 3 was a very disappointing 6.24. Even though I was never comfortable (comforable = fast but in control) and my technique was rubblish, I was shocked to see 19.2X on the finish line clock.

Oh well ....one of those days. After pretty good results and a succession of PBs I guess I was due. It always felt like it was too much of a stuggle and I never really hit a rhythm. Yesterdays 10 miles seem to have taken a toll The AG win was a token consolation.

A sub 40 10k is a long long way off - probably not this year. My only consolation is that everyone seemed to be slow - Bob was a minute off his best and the winner - a 16.xx guy who I have seen before ran a 17.58.

Mrs P ran an womens only HM (where I should have been cheering her on but that this is a local race) and had a pretty rough time. Hard times all round - tonight is likely to be a Sangria night and tomorrow we start again !

menoscemo

Nice report.
I wouldn't worry, sounds like a tough course, if you pick your race carefully I am sure you'll dip under 40 for a 10k.
At least you beat Bob Again.

Brianderunner

I wouldnt worry about it, its too soon after the half and Barca to be racing imo. Couple that with the conditions and your first mile being slightly too fast you did ok i think. If it makes you feel any better i lost to an 11 year in New Mexico in a 5k Thanksgiving back in '09.

ronanmac

Things are good when an AG win and fourth place overall is seen as misery! Keep up the good work, the speed is bound to suffer a bit after all those long miles.

pgmcpq

menoscemo wrote: »

Nice report.
.. sounds like a tough course, if you pick your race carefully I am sure you'll dip under 40 for a 10k.
At least you beat Bob Again.

No, actually it's a fairly easy (if winding) course. Next weeks 10k is a tough course - this could be ugly but will confirm where I am right now ! Strangely Bob had a bad day too - but he's just back training after a winter break. The target 10k race is in May ... we'll see if I get some zip back in the legs over the next few weeks.

Brianderunner wrote: »

I wouldnt worry about it, its too soon after the half and Barca to be racing imo. Couple that with the conditions and your first mile being slightly too fast you did ok i think. If it makes you feel any better i lost to an 11 year in New Mexico in a 5k Thanksgiving back in '09.

Unfortunately I've got two races in the next two weeks . Not ideal but both are club obligations. MY expectations are now reset lower ! On reflection I got too focused on race position (hence the first mile pace) instead of focusing on my own mechanics. NM - yikes, even in November that's gotta be tough. I'll be following this kids career - 19.12 at 14 years old.

ronanmac wrote: »

Things are good when an AG win and fourth place overall is seen as misery! Keep up the good work, the speed is bound to suffer a bit after all those long miles.

Yeah maybe I'm whining but 4th place is damn frustrating ! I was thinking about Eamon Coughlan over the last quarter mile ! But it was the time that was disappointing.

Anyway ... back to work ....

Sunday: 5 miles easy, track, Pace 7.48

Post race retired to the track for a 5 mile punishment run ! Calf muscles started to play up a bit so cut it short.

Monday: 6 miles, recovery, grass, Pace 8.54

Legs and calf muscles in particular were very stiff. A little worrying after my calf problems before Dublin so kept this very easy.

Tuesday: 8 miles w/10*400m

Ok so maybe too soon ... but back to Daniels. A strange morning with a storm treatening. Very warm and quite humid (65f/18c - even stranger it is supposed to drop back to freezing tonight - tell me climate change is not real!) - very much storm about to break weather. There was a downpour during my warmup miles but it stopped buy the time I got to the track. Had to ditch my usual extra shirt.

The 400ms were predictable a struggle two days after the 5k and facing a very stiff head wind for the first 100m of each loop. So I'm cutting my self some slack here:


400m|1l2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10
Time (Target 85s)| 86 | 89 | 90 | 92 | 88 | 88 | 90 | 90 | 91 | 89
Pace | 5.15 | 5.34 | 5.32 | 5.38 | 5.23 | 5.21 |5.29 |5.44 |5.38 |5.38
HR M | 159 | 162 | 164 | 163 | 168 | 167 | 167 | 166 | 166 | 169
HR A | 142 | 154 | 156 | 155 | 159 | 158 | 159 | 158 | 158 | 160


Courious feature of this is how low the HR reading are. Not sure what to make to make of this as I was feeling the strain from the third rep on.

I joined a new gym by work that has some decent equipment. I figure this will be useful when we hit summer here. It also has a pool. Now I have never used a 'lap pool' in a gym before so I am pretty intimidated to enter with my weak breast stroke. Hopefully I can nip over during the day when the place might be empty.

pgmcpq

Wednesday: 8 miles easy w/1 mile hill repeats+recovery, mainly grass. Pace 8.07

Back to winter - down to freezing again this morning. Mixing the sessions up a bit by throwing a mile of a short hill (not big - maybe a bump by some standards) and down.

Thursday: 8 miles with (2*2 tempo w90s recovery), Pace 7.19

Cold and windy. Plan called for a 40 minute (6 miles+) tempo. Decided to cut this down to two tempo intervals with a target of 6.32m/mile. The 10k race on Sunday will double for the 40 minute tempo. Legs also were signalling that they were unenthusiastic:

So how did it go :

Rep1 : 6.36, 6.30
Rep2 : 6.26, 6.33

Ok, but felt harder than it should have.

Friday: 6 miles recovery, w/8*100, grass/track

Oddly my knee is bothering me again after being ok since Barcelona. Just becase aware ofit when I woke up. I now think that my core exercises which I have just resumed may be aggrevating it - not running.

Saturday: 5 miles very easy. Pace 8.01

Felt very heavy legged for the first two miles but things had got better by the time I was finishing. Really nice day. Tempted to continue but don't want to repeat last weeks pre race mistakes.

Killerz

Just catching upon some logs there now. I see you had some age group success last weekend too! Congrats on that, and a great placing overall!

What is with the teenagers in the nth American races.... They're always up there!

Like Ronan Mac said, it's good sign if you are disappointed at 4th overall and an age group win!

pgmcpq

A palindrome result !

After last weeks disappointment, I was keen to get a positive result. 10k is a distance I never seem to run well so the PB was failrly soft.

First time doing this race. I had signed up largely to set a baseline for my 10k training. Also it was my first run representing my new club. Curious race sponsored by the Scottish government - lots of tourist stuff in the goodie bag. Much larger race than I expected - about 8.500 - so again I was bumped to the second corral.

Quite a few runners in kilts. I cannot but wonder if guys keep kilts in the back of the wardrobe simply to be able to whip them out for the annual Scotland run. I mean - I have a tuxedo I take out once every few years ... but never have I attended an event in the US where a kilt would be appropriate. Still ... come this race quite a few kilts appear. Don't seem like the easiest thing to run in.

Race was clockwise around Central Park (the easier route). One of the reasons for doing it was that the finish is at the same place as the finish for the NY marathon so I wanted to experience the final climb. Being bumped to the second corral meant dealing with a very crowded first mile ( including two idiots trotting along in the plastic ponco with the Scotland flag found in the goodie bag:rolleyes: - it was dry/sunny and about 50f/11c not poncho weather ). By the time the first mile was over I was not optimistic having lost too much time (6.55 mile). The two hills (Cat Hill and Harlem Hill) in mile 2-3 however culls the pack pretty severely - if you can survive these two the rest of the race is relatively easy. The upside (so to speak) is that you can really make up ground on the downward slopes. So mile 2-3: 6.24, 6.12 Mile 4 was feeling the stain and backed off a little to recover. By mile 5 I felt I was hanging on and tried to focus on a sustainable pace. I felt a PB was on the cards if I could just hold it together

Frustratingly I have no real memory of the climb before the finish - I was focused on the 40.xx clock and overtaking a kilt wearer (was not beeing beaten by him). Final result : 40.04 ....

Pretty pleased with that. Yes another 5 seconds would have been nice but I am happy top be that close on a fairly tough course. happy that I was able to run a resonably controlled race. Belief that 40 will fall soon has been restored. My seeding for future races has been improved and will hopefully see me restored to the top corral. My form however remains poor. I seem to have lost my 'shape' somewhere - I am wondering if the running on grass is encouaging me to land back on my heel again.

Mrs P - ran what might be a PB despite taking a fall .... on the way to the start. With two skinned knees she looks like an 7 year old! So all in all a good day.

Killerz wrote: »

Just catching upon some logs there now. I see you had some age group success last weekend too! Congrats on that, and a great placing overall!

What is with the teenagers in the nth American races.... They're always up there!

Like Ronan Mac said, it's good sign if you are disappointed at 4th overall and an age group win!

I think your AG success is a bit more impressive ! This was a small local race (about 180 runners). The time was disappointing. I would have been happy with anything in the 18.xx range and not worry about overall place. Yesterday I finished 342nd but feel much better about the run !

There's a 17 year old here who won the Manhattan HM and the then ran a 1:07 in the NY Half a few weeks ago. To put this in context Ryan Hall ran 1:03 in the same race. Very curious to see how his career develops.

pgmcpq

Monday: 6 miles, grass/wood recovery Pace: 8.37

Strange foggy morning. Very little visibility. Ran my usual route around the playing fields of the local park. Wait .... hail ? Nope ... one of these damn golfers landing his irons in my path. Why can't the dogs do something useful and chase the golfers. With warmer weather (rumored) to coming a hard hat may be my next piece of athletic equipment. :mad:

Tuesday: 1 hour stationary bike

Work (ie trying to stay awake in endless meetings across timezone) meant that there was no chance to get out.

Wednesday: 8 miles, track work

Very pleased to have got this session in, This week was looking like a potential write off. Out by 6am warmed up waiting for the sun to come up.

Session was : 2 mile warmup + 2*(200m+200m recovery)+2*(400m+400m recovery)+2*(800m+400m recovery)+2*(400m+400m recovery)+2*(200m+200m recovery). I think I shortened recovery between the 800m reps from 800 to 400 to save a little time).

Of course having checked I got this session wrong again (it should have been 4*200 + 2*400 +1*800 + 2*400 + 4*200) - *sigh* - I really need to write this on my hand in the morning. Too complicated and too early.

Anyway:


Rep|Target| 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10
200m | 41 | 43 | 43 | | | | | | | 43 | 43 |
400m |1.24 | | | 1.27 | 1.27 | | | 1.27 | 1.30 | | |
800m |2.46 | | | | | 3.00 | 2.59 | | | | |
Pace | |5.11|5.21| 5.18 | 5.32 | 5.25 | 5.30 | 5.15 | 5.38 |5.05|5.16|


Ok so off the targets by some margin - a margin that is pretty big at 800m. While there was some headwind involved on the home leg of the track, and some leg fatigue left from the bike yesterday, and I was running in lane 2, I suspect my VDOT measure is optimistic. The 10k and 5k from the last few weeks (since I put the plan together) put me at 51 ... my PBs for the 5k and recent HM would put me at 53. Daniels said in the event of different reading to take the higher VDOT value. However, the evidence here suggests that I should be working off the lower value. Wish I had remembered the HRM - the pace figures are unhelpful.

pgmcpq

Looking again at the previous entry the target time for the 800m intervals make no sense. There is nothing listed in the book so I took a look at some of the online calculators that claim to be based on Daniels and came up with
the following interval targets for VDOT 53: 400m -> 1.30, 1000m-> 3.44, 1200m->4.29
... so from this I'll say 3.01 seems right for 800m.

EDIT: Correction ... looking again it shows different values for reps (R): 200m->41, 400m->84 and again no R value for 800m : So back puzzled again.


Thursday: 7 miles easy, grass/wood/asphalt Pace 8.16

Lovely morning - dumped the hat, gloves, etc. Spring is finally here. It's not the weather that's the tip off - it is the return of A) people who want to stop me for a chat and the return of dogs that like to "play" with me every time they see me. One particularly nasty piece of work has actually hidden quietly several times before launching itself in my direction. At this point I recognize the owner and usually divert elsewhere. (After the n-th time of this you'd think the owners would be at least embarrassed about it ?)

Friday: 6 miles (2 miles hills), w8*100m, Pace: 7.59

Had planned a tempo intervals session, but it's been a bad week all round an short of sleep, neither the head nor the legs were interested. With another 5k on Sunday I decided on an easy run with some short hills instead.

pgmcpq

Exciting update - my effort in the 10k means my club scored a point in the NYRR club championship for coming in 10th in the 40+ category. Quite pleased with this ....

Saturday: 14 miles, Pace 7.53

First double digit run in a few weeks. Felt pretty good and was aiming to keep it easy with a 5k the following day. Club run - hung out at the back with a young guy training for his first 15k who told me that anything over 15k was "dangerous" :rolleyes:.

Sunday: The Lincoln Tunnel 5k 19.17

Ok - this is one of the odder races around here. I did not plan to run this originally but it is Special Olympics fund raiser and my club and Mrs P club were fielding a joint team. It is a 5k out and back through the Lincoln Tunnel - the traffic tunnel that runs under the Hudson River linking New Jersey with Manhattan. The tunnel is closed to traffic and cleaned out overnight. To avoid congestion the race is run in two "waves" with the first being people who can do a sub 25 minute 5k and the second wave beginnng 45 mintues later for 25+. Naturally runners from the first start were still emerging from the tunnel after 37 minutes. As might be guessed the tunnel declines and rises giving a long drag at either end - like \__/. The run itself is a strange experience. Once in the tunnel the sounds of feet echoing off the tiled walls is ... weird. Garmins are useless - there is no GPS, and the lighting is really not good enough to read the watchface anyway. In addition there is really no way to judge distance - you might see the road rise ahead and disappear into the ceiling of the tunnel but there is nothing against which to make a depth perception judgement about how far away it is. Similarly you start to see the daylight at the half way mark and hear echo of the crowds at the end but is it 200ft or half a mile ? All in all it is a strange but incredibly popular event.

My run? Better than my last 5k - I felt in control this time and was reasonably pleased with my form and focus. Still a way off my PB but I think I have to accept that I have lost some zip over the last six months. So returning to an 18.xx 5k is a secondary goal pre the start of NY training.

After the run I was cheering a few friends through and a guy congratulated me. He's an ex runner who has turned to skipping rope and hold several world records ....
and Gatorda

Well what did we learn today:

1) Mrs P does not know how old I am. She registered me and got my age wrong . In the event the AGs were 10 years so it did not matter - still.
2) My VDOT is probably 52 not 53+.
3) Skipping rope is considered a sport in Holland.

Monday: 6.5 recovery Pace 8.43

Really great morning but the playing fields are ankle deep in mud after a storm Saturday night.

plodder

Wow. I'm surprised they ever close that tunnel. The scariest experience I ever had was renting a car in Manhattan and driving through the Lincoln tunnel to upstate New York. The traffic ... and it was a Sunday as well! The race sounds like fun - a bit like the port tunnel race we had here a few years ago.

pgmcpq

plodder wrote: »

Wow. I'm surprised they ever close that tunnel. The scariest experience I ever had was renting a car in Manhattan and driving through the Lincoln tunnel to upstate New York. The traffic ... and it was a Sunday as well! The race sounds like fun - a bit like the port tunnel race we had here a few years ago.

Friend of mine visiting a few years ago looked around as I drove him in from JFK and said "Wow all the roads and tunnels here look so old". The port tunnel is huge by comparison with this - and you are right driving it is not fun especially along side a bus. My nieces husband broke out ion a sweat - it reminded him of having to tile his bathroom !

Wednesday: 9 miles.

Track session. Would have liked to give the legs another day recovery but there may be a storm overnight so the track might not be usable tomorrow. Ok - this time I read the book carefully !
Session was : 4 * ( (2 * 200m w/200m recovery) + 200m w/400m recovery + 800m w/400m recovery).

Seemed a bit easier - but the gradual slowing up is visible across the 4 reps. Happy enough with this - hit the targets a bit more consistently this time.


Rep w/recovery | | Target| 1|2|3|4
200m w/200m | Time | 41 | 41 | 41 | 42 | 43
| Pace | | 5.07 | 5.06 | 5.11 | 5.35
200m w/200m | Time | 41 | 42 | 41 | 42 | 41
| Pace | | 5.08 | 5.17 | 5.28 | 5.08
200m w/400m | Time | 41 | 43 | 41 | 42 | 43
| Pace | | 5.19 | 5.19 | 5.15 | 5.29
800m w/400m | Time |2.57*| 2.55 | 2.55 | 2.59 | 2.59
| Pace | | 5.34 | 5.29 | 5.31 | 5.32


*A guess as Daniels does not seem to give a target for my VDOT.

Very sad news about Grete Waitz. Great story of her first marathon here
http://www.marathonguide.com/features/firstmarathons/index.cfm?Story=Waitz Tragic to die so young from just random chance. Hopefully the NYRR will do something to honor her.

ronanmac

Catching up as I've been away... fair play on your racing. I love reading your New York race reports, they are a window into a different world! How do you find the demands of a 5k/10k race in the middle of marathon training?