Ares hits the pavement
A strange adventure began just over a month ago - I reclaimed a childhood vision - That I am a runner! Inspired by a friend and a coworker, both running 5k races, I thought why I can't I do that too?!
The first week I practiced 1.37 mile distance for 4 days, and then tried a 5k loop. After that success I signed up for a 10k race, 2 week ahead - http://www.getingear10k.com/ (April 29) and signed up. In FEAR I might fail, the next week I slowed a bit practiced 10k, 5k, 5k, 5k, 5k, 10k - a 6 day marathon! I paid a bit in strains, pains, and stiffness, but kept it up. I carefully timed myself on ~1k markers and charted.
The week before the race I ran 5k, 10k, 5k and rested the day before the 10k race. I finished a rainy morning race 36 seconds off my fastest practice, but felt good the full way.
For the last two weeks I've measured out mile-markers on a 3-mile course, and practiced full mile run intervals, trying to push myself to a maintainable limit for each distance. In fact I mostly pushed too hard and slowed at the end. My 5 mile run on Wednesday was my first run with a negative split - last two miles were 3 seconds faster than first two miles.
Yesterday I made a plot of my results which is pretty cool. I added a 1/3 mile and 1/2 mile for good luck, and haven't retested 6 miles yet, so included my best 10k pace.
Here's the results:
I picked my next race - a 15k race on June 3 - Manitou 15k - http://www.raceberryjam.com/manitou.html in White Bear Lake.
So I have NEVER run more than 7 miles continuously, even if I've biked 154 miles once, and walked 35 miles once, and hiked 25 miles in Colorado up Pike's peak where I did often run in a sporatic way. Commuting 60 miles a week by bike is probably good for my heart, but doesn't prepare me for longer running distance. My 1 month experimenting with running HAS prepared me to try some longer distance. I just don't know what pace I can maintain or want to maintain.
The above graphs excites me to see I could do 6 miles under 43:30 time. In my mythical childhood (age ~11), I claim a 25 track lap run in 45 minutes, but it was only approximate, but even if true maybe I can finally be sure I could beat a child-me!
My plan for the coming week is:
1. Tonight: 6 miles - strong - 7:10-7:30 pace?
2. Test 8,10,12 miles in the coming 6 days, alternate days, unknown pace!
I'm actually tempted to try 8-12M "backwards", trying 12M first, setting a conservative pace just to gain some confidence in a NEW distance, and then I can better guess what I can do under lower distances. I'd expect an 8 minute mile is maintainable, since I came close on my 10k race, and felt good. With no "distractions" of a real race, I can just relax and keep moving, right?!
I'm almost tempted to start tonight - a new adventure! But no, I have to prove something on my 6 miles, even if success is fairly predictable, and I have to fix that slow 6M in the graph above!
Anyway, I'll see if I can use this blog for MORE than monthly updates!
I'm still scare over pain, reading blogs like http://www.startribune.com/blogs/marathon/.
ACTUALLY I'm a little envious. One friend will run his second TC marathon in the fall, and my coworker signed up for her FIRST marathon (TC) as well! Silly me, I just can't imagine WANTING to run a marathon!
On the other hand, I feel confidence enough to try some local running groups - maybe http://www.tcfrontrunners.org/ at Lake Calhoun in my favorite EVENING schedule! I don't need to run with others, but it seems nice contrast. I have no idea what to expect. I expect with different abilities, they'll meet and group up by ability, so knowing I'd like to try 7:30-8:00 pace is probably good for me. Well, not even minding a little slower for some socializing along the way! The group above says GLBT and friends, so maybe I'm a friend?! I certainly have no issues with running with GLBT groups, and maybe lower "macho" pressure?! I'm not overly macho externally, but I've got SOME testosterone that wants to be on top of the achievement pyramid - well, above median at least! :)
Biggest issue for me on longer runs is food and water. WELL, food in terms of having a mostly empty stomach and seem to need an ideal 4+ hours after eating a full meal before running. Water is an issue of both drinking before and how to stay hydrated while I run - not much an issue on 6 miles, and not on 48F air, but it'll get much warmer in the coming weeks. Carrying water seems a hard choice, at least in splashy container. I don't mind the weight, but wish for a container than wouldn't jump around with the water!
Other big issue is staying healthy. Best NEW approach after my race is to add a warm up period 5-10 minutes. I added this mostly to optimize my running times, but even for longer runs, good to "feel things out" and see where I'm at physically. So I'll keep that up in the coming weeks, even when I try to set lower paces.
One last "worry", scheduled to give blood on May 25, 9 days before my 15k race. I'm not too worried, but maybe silly to stress my body pushing myself on a race after giving blood. I'm thinking 9 days is enough at least. ...Did a search online, found comments at: http://www.lafes.net/run/?p=51
Okay, that's it for now!
The first week I practiced 1.37 mile distance for 4 days, and then tried a 5k loop. After that success I signed up for a 10k race, 2 week ahead - http://www.getingear10k.com/ (April 29) and signed up. In FEAR I might fail, the next week I slowed a bit practiced 10k, 5k, 5k, 5k, 5k, 10k - a 6 day marathon! I paid a bit in strains, pains, and stiffness, but kept it up. I carefully timed myself on ~1k markers and charted.
The week before the race I ran 5k, 10k, 5k and rested the day before the 10k race. I finished a rainy morning race 36 seconds off my fastest practice, but felt good the full way.
For the last two weeks I've measured out mile-markers on a 3-mile course, and practiced full mile run intervals, trying to push myself to a maintainable limit for each distance. In fact I mostly pushed too hard and slowed at the end. My 5 mile run on Wednesday was my first run with a negative split - last two miles were 3 seconds faster than first two miles.
Yesterday I made a plot of my results which is pretty cool. I added a 1/3 mile and 1/2 mile for good luck, and haven't retested 6 miles yet, so included my best 10k pace.
Here's the results:
I picked my next race - a 15k race on June 3 - Manitou 15k - http://www.raceberryjam.com/manitou.html in White Bear Lake.
So I have NEVER run more than 7 miles continuously, even if I've biked 154 miles once, and walked 35 miles once, and hiked 25 miles in Colorado up Pike's peak where I did often run in a sporatic way. Commuting 60 miles a week by bike is probably good for my heart, but doesn't prepare me for longer running distance. My 1 month experimenting with running HAS prepared me to try some longer distance. I just don't know what pace I can maintain or want to maintain.
The above graphs excites me to see I could do 6 miles under 43:30 time. In my mythical childhood (age ~11), I claim a 25 track lap run in 45 minutes, but it was only approximate, but even if true maybe I can finally be sure I could beat a child-me!
My plan for the coming week is:
1. Tonight: 6 miles - strong - 7:10-7:30 pace?
2. Test 8,10,12 miles in the coming 6 days, alternate days, unknown pace!
I'm actually tempted to try 8-12M "backwards", trying 12M first, setting a conservative pace just to gain some confidence in a NEW distance, and then I can better guess what I can do under lower distances. I'd expect an 8 minute mile is maintainable, since I came close on my 10k race, and felt good. With no "distractions" of a real race, I can just relax and keep moving, right?!
I'm almost tempted to start tonight - a new adventure! But no, I have to prove something on my 6 miles, even if success is fairly predictable, and I have to fix that slow 6M in the graph above!
Anyway, I'll see if I can use this blog for MORE than monthly updates!
I'm still scare over pain, reading blogs like http://www.startribune.com/blogs/marathon/.
ACTUALLY I'm a little envious. One friend will run his second TC marathon in the fall, and my coworker signed up for her FIRST marathon (TC) as well! Silly me, I just can't imagine WANTING to run a marathon!
On the other hand, I feel confidence enough to try some local running groups - maybe http://www.tcfrontrunners.org/ at Lake Calhoun in my favorite EVENING schedule! I don't need to run with others, but it seems nice contrast. I have no idea what to expect. I expect with different abilities, they'll meet and group up by ability, so knowing I'd like to try 7:30-8:00 pace is probably good for me. Well, not even minding a little slower for some socializing along the way! The group above says GLBT and friends, so maybe I'm a friend?! I certainly have no issues with running with GLBT groups, and maybe lower "macho" pressure?! I'm not overly macho externally, but I've got SOME testosterone that wants to be on top of the achievement pyramid - well, above median at least! :)
Biggest issue for me on longer runs is food and water. WELL, food in terms of having a mostly empty stomach and seem to need an ideal 4+ hours after eating a full meal before running. Water is an issue of both drinking before and how to stay hydrated while I run - not much an issue on 6 miles, and not on 48F air, but it'll get much warmer in the coming weeks. Carrying water seems a hard choice, at least in splashy container. I don't mind the weight, but wish for a container than wouldn't jump around with the water!
Other big issue is staying healthy. Best NEW approach after my race is to add a warm up period 5-10 minutes. I added this mostly to optimize my running times, but even for longer runs, good to "feel things out" and see where I'm at physically. So I'll keep that up in the coming weeks, even when I try to set lower paces.
One last "worry", scheduled to give blood on May 25, 9 days before my 15k race. I'm not too worried, but maybe silly to stress my body pushing myself on a race after giving blood. I'm thinking 9 days is enough at least. ...Did a search online, found comments at: http://www.lafes.net/run/?p=51
Okay, that's it for now!
posted by Ares Olympus at 11:36 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home