What a great week for running! It was around 30 degrees and even warmer sometimes all week long. After last week's single digit temps, 30 seems awfully warm! Unfortunately it is still the dead of winter and this week will be more single digits. Even 5 or 10 degrees is quite manageable while running but a strong wind can make things quite unpleasant. Oh well, each day that goes by is one day closer to spring and warmer weather. Here is the past week in review:
January 24-30
Monday: 7 mile fartlek, lifted, felt good on the run
Tuesday: 5 miles easy
Wednesday: Dakota Dome; 8x500 with 2 minute rest, 4x200 with equal rest, warm-up and cool-down to equal 5 miles; this workout hurt!
Thursday: 5 miles easy, accels, lifted
Friday: 3 miles easy, accels
Saturday: BV Invite in Storm Lake, IA. Mile: 5:07, 11 seconds faster than last week @ Wayne State, 3k 10:44. Happy with mile, but legs were dead and tired during 3k. Warm-ups and cool-downs equaled 6 miles for the day
Sunday: Rest; woke up with a headache... glad I wasn't planning on running today anyways
Total Miles: 31
I have also spent some time thinking about different marathons that I would like to run eventually. Yes, that is how modest I am, I already have a list made up of marathons to run before running even one. Here are some of the ones I would really like to run in no particular order:
Brookings: small regional marathon
Disney: it would be fun to run through the parks, and also to spend some time with my aunt and uncle in Florida during January!
New York: biggest marathon in the world; would be fun to run through all 5 New York boroughs
Boston: longest-running marathon all time, also a more "elite" field due to qualifying standards
Chicago: Another big US marathon in terms of crowds and field-size
Twin Cities: supposedly the "most beautiful" urban marathon in America
Grandma's: run in Duluth, MN in June; largest US summer-time marathon
Marine Corps: Washington DC marathon, would be a lot of fun to run by all of the DC landmarks, plus a good chance to visit another Aunt and Uncle :)
USD Invite - 2009. Me running with former DSU teammate Sandy
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Time to find some fitness
After the half-marathon in December I took a couple weeks off through finals week until Christmas break started. I resumed running on Dec. 19 and have slowly been building my mileage back up. I am tweaking my weekly training just a little bit for the marathon. Tentatively my weeks will look like this...
Monday: Long Run
Tuesday: Easy Day
Wednesday: Speedwork
Thursdays: Easy Day
Friday: Easy Day
Saturday: Tempo Run/Meet/Road Race
Sunday: Rest
We also do weight training 2 days a week (usually Monday and Thursday) and on the days we don't weight train we do exercises after the run (ie. crunches, push-ups, pull-ups, toe-raises)
Here is my workout from last week: Jan. 17-23
Monday: 6.5 mile fartlek; windy & cold!
Tuesday: 3.5 miles through Yankton
Wednesday: Dakota Dome - 4x1000's w/ 2 minutes rest: 3:22-3:26-3:31-3:27. 4x300 w/ 100 jog in-between: 55-56-55-55. Felt ok, warm-up and cool-down made it an even 5 miles
Thursday: Dropped off 4 miles north of town; COLD!
Friday: 2 miles easy, pre-meet day
Saturday: Wayne State meet. Mile, 3k, and 4x400. Neither race went too well, especially disappointed in mile. Races plus warm-ups and cool-downs equaled 5 miles
Sunday: Rest
Total Miles: 26
Monday: Long Run
Tuesday: Easy Day
Wednesday: Speedwork
Thursdays: Easy Day
Friday: Easy Day
Saturday: Tempo Run/Meet/Road Race
Sunday: Rest
We also do weight training 2 days a week (usually Monday and Thursday) and on the days we don't weight train we do exercises after the run (ie. crunches, push-ups, pull-ups, toe-raises)
Here is my workout from last week: Jan. 17-23
Monday: 6.5 mile fartlek; windy & cold!
Tuesday: 3.5 miles through Yankton
Wednesday: Dakota Dome - 4x1000's w/ 2 minutes rest: 3:22-3:26-3:31-3:27. 4x300 w/ 100 jog in-between: 55-56-55-55. Felt ok, warm-up and cool-down made it an even 5 miles
Thursday: Dropped off 4 miles north of town; COLD!
Friday: 2 miles easy, pre-meet day
Saturday: Wayne State meet. Mile, 3k, and 4x400. Neither race went too well, especially disappointed in mile. Races plus warm-ups and cool-downs equaled 5 miles
Sunday: Rest
Total Miles: 26
Time for a marathon
After running the half-marathon in December I knew that I wanted to start running half and full marathons competitively. Fall is definitely the popular time for marathons although there are a few in the Spring as well. I knew that I wanted to run a smaller regional race for my first official marathon. My first thought was to run the Brookings Marathon. It is a nice small race and close to home. Not to mention that my college coach (and current landlord) Randy Fischer won it 5 times in the 1980's and he also has the course record. Well, the race is scheduled for May 14th which is also my graduation day from college so I guess that day is out. Right now my plans are to run the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon on Sunday, June 5th. I already paid my entry fee so as far as I'm concerned I better be running this race!
This race is appealing for a couple of reasons. First off, it's in the Black Hills and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Black Hills. The majority of the race takes place right on the Mikelson Trail which is mostly crushed gravel and should be rather easy on the legs. I am hoping to work @ Outlaw Ranch in Custer again this summer so I will already be in the Hills for a little bit before the race and hopefully long enough to get used to the elevation before race day.
My goals are fairly simple I guess. I want to break 3 hours and maybe even 2:50 or faster. Hard to tell this far away what my fitness will be at. I'd love to win the race as well but that mostly depends on who shows up to run that day. If someone capable of running 2:30 is there I will NOT be going out in 5:50 pace only to die a horrible death during the 2nd half of the race. I just need to focus on my training and race the 26.2 miles. The really unique part that I already touched on briefly is.... ELEVATION! The course starts @ about 5300 feet and builds up to 6200 feet just before mile 14. So the good news is there is only one hill! It's just kind of a big one. Mile 14 to the finish is all downhill except for one small uphill at mile 19.
This race is appealing for a couple of reasons. First off, it's in the Black Hills and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Black Hills. The majority of the race takes place right on the Mikelson Trail which is mostly crushed gravel and should be rather easy on the legs. I am hoping to work @ Outlaw Ranch in Custer again this summer so I will already be in the Hills for a little bit before the race and hopefully long enough to get used to the elevation before race day.
My goals are fairly simple I guess. I want to break 3 hours and maybe even 2:50 or faster. Hard to tell this far away what my fitness will be at. I'd love to win the race as well but that mostly depends on who shows up to run that day. If someone capable of running 2:30 is there I will NOT be going out in 5:50 pace only to die a horrible death during the 2nd half of the race. I just need to focus on my training and race the 26.2 miles. The really unique part that I already touched on briefly is.... ELEVATION! The course starts @ about 5300 feet and builds up to 6200 feet just before mile 14. So the good news is there is only one hill! It's just kind of a big one. Mile 14 to the finish is all downhill except for one small uphill at mile 19.
Introduction
Well here we go. I have been keeping a running log for about 4 years now so I decided that I might as well make it available online in case anyone is curious or interested. I don't use a actual running log; instead, I just take a 1-subject notebook and write in my mileage and workouts on one page per week. It is simple and works well. I also like the fact that I can put as much or as little detail each day as I please. In the front of each notebook I dedicate a page to my weekly mileage and also how many miles are on each of my pairs of running shoes that I am using. My feet and legs always start to hurt around the 400-425 mile total so I like to keep a running total so I know when to start breaking in a new pair.
I think I will mostly just post once per week, to put down a recap of my weekly workouts and races. I track my running week on a Monday-Sunday schedule.
This past fall was my final season of collegiate eligibility as I competed for Mount Marty College in cross country. The season was a little disappointing as I finally managed to break 30 minutes in a couple meets but I couldn't shake some nasty stomach cramps for most of the season. It was very frustrating as I often felt great in workouts and then terrible on race day.
I ran my first ever half-marathon in December to try and help pace two of my female teammates to a national qualifying standard. I had been on some pretty long runs before so I was not nervous of the 13.1 miles, but I was a little nervous doing this in a race setting (not to mention the fact that from xc conference in early November through the race date I was not exactly "piling on" the mileage). Well the race ended up being my most enjoyable run in a LONG time. A group of five of us managed to run 1:34 and change and it was a very relaxing and easy pace. I felt like I could have run that pace all day and it was a definite confidence-booster even though it was a slower pace than most of my easy days.
I think I will mostly just post once per week, to put down a recap of my weekly workouts and races. I track my running week on a Monday-Sunday schedule.
This past fall was my final season of collegiate eligibility as I competed for Mount Marty College in cross country. The season was a little disappointing as I finally managed to break 30 minutes in a couple meets but I couldn't shake some nasty stomach cramps for most of the season. It was very frustrating as I often felt great in workouts and then terrible on race day.
I ran my first ever half-marathon in December to try and help pace two of my female teammates to a national qualifying standard. I had been on some pretty long runs before so I was not nervous of the 13.1 miles, but I was a little nervous doing this in a race setting (not to mention the fact that from xc conference in early November through the race date I was not exactly "piling on" the mileage). Well the race ended up being my most enjoyable run in a LONG time. A group of five of us managed to run 1:34 and change and it was a very relaxing and easy pace. I felt like I could have run that pace all day and it was a definite confidence-booster even though it was a slower pace than most of my easy days.
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