Monday, September 18, 2006

Week 6 -- Sept 11, 13 and 17th 2006

This was going to be the week i was planning on doing my longest run. On Monday, Sept 11th; i did a 6 mile run at about 10:30 pace that included some 400 meter speed reps towards the end ...

On Wednesday, Sept 13th; i did a 5.5 mile run at ~ 10:30 to 11 min/mile pace ... threw in some speed bursts towards the end.

On Sunday, Sept 17th; i did my longest run of 12 miles outside on the Sawyer trail starting at about 1:45 pm or so in the afternoon ... had rested well during the later part of the week in preparation for this ... My original plan was to go a steady 10 min/mile pace over the whole distance to finish up in 2 hours ... Gaurav and I started off together, Gaurav was planning on doing 9 miles ... We reached the 2 mile mark in just around 20 mins where we decided to split up ... since it was my benchmark run, i wanted to try and maintain the 10 min/mile pace as much as possible and went ahead trying to keep up with the pace ... I was finding it tough to maintain the pace consistently (knock knock, reality check ... maybe i should start off at a more comfortable 11 min/mile pace in the first two miles) so took a walk break around the 3.5 mile marker near the water stop ... I knew the looping hill would start after the 4.5 mile marker and decided to walk the quarter mile before 5 mile marker ... it was more or less flat till about 5.4 and then the hill all the way to the end at the 6 miler marker ... it had taken me 66 minutes for the 6 miles ... I took my energy gel near the water fountain on the north end of the sawyer trail and zoomed down the first mile on the roundtrip back in 7 mins (nah i don't do 7 min/miles ... it was just the steep downhill all the way helping me out there) ...

Overall I ended up taking 2:09:59 :-) ... Gaurav finished up the 9 miles earlier (turned back from the 4.5 mile marker) and was stretching and waiting at the finish line ...

I was happy to have just beaten 2:10:00 but way off the 2 hour mark ... I am going to try and aim for a 2:10 time at the half marathon (extrapolating the 12 mile timing, factoring in the lack of direct sun in the early morning start and the flat SJ half marathon course + a bit extra push in the latter half of the race) ...

My heel felt alright in the race though it hurt bit afterwards ... i took some NSAITS tablets and iced it couple of times

Week 5

This was kind of a short week for running since i did the long run for the previous week on Tuesday ... I did a cross training workout on Thursday (swimming + leg exercises) and a second semi-tempo, semi-hillworkout of 6 miles on friday at a little under 10 min/mile pace ... I did this workout as a replacement for the speed workout and also since i did not plan on another long run over the weekend.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Rest of week 4 - Aug 28th, Aug 29th and Sept 5th 2006


On Monday, Aug 28th; I did my weekly run of 3.5 miles in the gym in around 40 mins.

Tuesday, Aug 29th was cross training day and i swam 32 laps followed by some leg press reps for the quads and hamstrings.

Because of the labor day long weekend (we went to Hearst Castle and Solvang), i could not get my long run in till today, Sept 5th (Tuesday of the following week). I took off a bit early from work since i wanted to run outdoors for this long run of 10 miles. Still it was 6:45 pm by the time i started running on the Sawyer Trail and it was dark by the time i finished but fortunately, there were still some people walking on the trail ... was a bit cautious because of the niggle in the heal (had taken Aleve tablets to reduce the inflamation over the past couple of days) but fortunately was feeling fine though still not 100% ... ran at an average pace of ~ 10:30/mile for about 9.5 to 10 miles, got quite dark towards the end so had to hurry back ... My right heal is feeling fine so far, planning on icing it over the next few days and will take a break from the speed workout this week.

My fourth Yasso 800 --- Aug 31st 2006

On Thursday, i did my fourth Yasso 800. I warmed up for abt 7 mins or so, jogging along at 5.0 to 5.5 mph and then started my repeats of 4 mins at 7.5 mph (and jogs between at around 4.5 to 5 mph). I slowed the pace down slightly to about 7 mph for the last two repeats (was starting to feel bit tired) so could complete the slated 7 repeats for the week. Was totally exhausted. The next three speed workouts are going be quite tough. The next day, I felt pain in my right heel; maybe i was stamping my foot a bit too hard during the speed workout or the treadmill's cushioning system may not have been proper. I am hoping its nothing major and just a niggle.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Rest of week 3 - Aug 23rd, Aug 26th

Having done the long run for the previous week on Monday of this week, i took a day off from the gym on Tuesday.

I did my strength training/cross training workout on Wednesday, Aug 23rd. I first did a 35 minute session on the elliptical machine (elliptical machines feel great for a non-impact lower body workout and some of them also exercise the arms) with an average of a 5 to 10 level for the resistance. After that i did my usual 8 minute session for the upper body (abs, triceps, biceps) on the gravitron machine followed by some reps for the quads and hamstring muscle groups on the leg extension and the leg press machines.

This week's long run was shorter, 6 miles, and i did it on Saturday, Aug 26th on the treadmill in apprx 60 minutes. I did the first 3 miles at a slower pace (~ 11 min/mile) and picked up in the last 3 miles (~ 9 min/mile).

My third Yasso 800 --- August 24th 2006

I did my third Yasso 800 workout in the gym on Thursday. I warmed up with an easy 1 mile in 12 minutes and then started with my first Yasso 800. I did 6 repeats of 4 minutes each at 7.5 mph with recovery jogs of 4 minutes at ~ 4.5 to 5 mph in between the repeats and walked during the final cooldown. I was exhausted after this intense 6 mile workout but satisfied that i was going per my plan of adding an extra repeat every week.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Rest of week 2 --- August 16th, 17th and 21st

Wednesday was strength training/cross training day ... I did 4 sets of 12 reps each on the leg press (quads, hamstrings) and a couple of sets of 12 reps just for the quads ... Then did my usual dips and parallel bar chin ups (triceps and biceps) on the gravitron machine. After that i jumped into the swimming pool for 32 laps ... I felt great after the workout, best stress buster after a day at work :-)

Thursday was the usual weekly run at normal pace (~ 10 min/mile) for about 3.5 miles.

I did not get a chance to do my weekly long run on either Saturday or Sunday. There were some social events and we also went out shopping to the malls, that left my legs tired in the evening [Warning: Never go shopping if you are running later the same day or next day :-) ] . Finally i did it on the following Monday, Aug 21st. I ran 8 miles on the treadmill at around 9:53 min/mile pace, my original plan was to run at about 10:30 pace but pushed it in the second half of the run. I love doing negative splits [finishing the second half of the run faster than the first half], unfortunately have not paced myself as well in most of the marathons to be able to achieve that consistely and feel good at the end of the race. For this run, i did my first mile in 11:30, then the next five miles at 10:00 pace, the 7th mile at 9:00 pace and the last mile at around 8:29 pace. Overall finished in 78:55 for the 8 miles.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Inspirational --- Endurance 50

Dean Karnazes is running 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 consecutive days!! Can you believe that ?? http://www.endurance50.com/ .

A quote from http://enduranceis.typepad.com/: "You’re better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can. Whether you're running one mile or one hundred, I encourage you to test your own personal boundaries and expand upon your own personal limits of endurance. It's been tremendously gratifying for me to go farther than I ever thought possible, and I wish the same for you"

My second Yasso 800 --- August 15th

After taking a couple of days off from any exercise, i went to the gym on Tuesday to do my second Yasso-800 session on the treadmill. IMO, treadmills are just perfect for speed workouts since you have complete control on time and speed. After stretching and a warm jog for 7 minutes or so, i started with my first repeat. I ended up doing 5 repeats at 7.5 mph (4 minutes per 800 metres) with the recovery jogs of 4 minutes at 5.5 mph, walked during the final cooldown. I was happy with the workout and had increased the number of repeats from 3.5 to 5 this week, maybe the extra day of rest before the speed workout helped but i did also feel that last week's workout helped me log a greater number of repeats this week.

Quite a tiring workout overall of ~ 4.75 miles in 45 minutes. I feel that if i stick to this workout plan religiously, i will surely increase my VO2 max :-). Just for the kicks, a link to some technicalities of VO2 max: http://home.hia.no/~stephens/vo2max.htm

Monday, August 14, 2006

Weekly run and long run --- August 10th and August 12th

On Thursday, Aug 10th, i did a 3.5 mile run on the treadmill at 10 min/mile pace ... The run was nice and i had recovered from the speed workout couple of days back ... I followed that by more strength training for about 20 mins or so ... Did 2 sets each for quads and hamstring muscles and later did my favorite gravitron workout for the biceps and triceps.

On Saturday, Aug 12th, i did my first long run during this new training cycle. It was a 6 mile run on the Sawyer trail at Crystal Springs. I wanted to take it a bit slow but decided to finish it under an hour after going midway, finished in 59 minutes; went 3 miles (midway on the 6 mile loop there) and back.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

My First Yasso 800 -- August 8th

Today I was pumped up to do a speed workout after reading on the Runnersworld site about Yasso 800s. I had heard about them and had done them a couple of times in 2004 during my marathon training. I plan on seriously trying them out for the SJ half marathon training.

Basically a Yasso 800 is simple: If you are targeting a 4:00 hr marathon, you should plan to run 800 meter repeats in 4:00 minutes. Yasso recommends starting with 4 repeats (with recovery jogs of the same time as the 800 meters) and building up to 10 repeats.

We went to the gym at around 8:30 pm, my original plan was to do 4 repeats. After stretching and warming up for a mile or so, i started with my first Yasso 800. I did 3 repeats of 800 meters, each in 2 minutes (7.5 mph) and recovery jogs for 4 mins at about 5.5 mph. After running half of the 4th repeat, i was dead tired and had to stop. Phew! quite a speed workout (Total overall distance ~ 3.75 miles).

Hoping to increase the number of repeats next week.

Cross Training/Strength Training -- August 7th

After reading some articles online, i feel i needed to add some strength training to my schedule in addition to doing more speedwork. Minal and I hit the gym Monday evening.

After stretching, I started off doing 2 sets of 12 reps each for my quad and hamstring muscles. I wanted to localize each muscle group so worked on two separate machines (deliberately avoiding the leg press which would have worked both muscles simultaneously). Then i decided to use my favorite gravitron machine to do 2 sets of 8-12 reps each for the triceps and biceps muscles (dip and parallel bar pull ups)

Next i jumped into the swimming pool and did 32 laps (total ~ 800 metres) breast stroke. I felt great after the swim, the water does have a calming effect. I was satisfied with my first cross training/strength training workout.

Recovery Run -- August 6th

After taking the whole week off from any exercise, Minal and I hit the gym on Sunday afternoon. I wanted to do my recovery run after the half marathon from the previous Sunday.

I did an easy run of 3.5 miles at 12 min/mile pace on the treadmill. It felt good and i felt like i had recovered from the wear and tear of the half marathon.

SF half marathon --- July 30th

I finished the SF half marathon on July 30th 2006 in 2:17. Minal, Miku, Chaitrali also did the 5K as part of their progressive marathon.

I started off slowly at around 10:30/mile pace and later caught up to an average 10 min/mile pace by mile 8. The race was supposed to be fast and flat so it was not a good feeling to see the looming hills especially inside Golden Gate Park. But then what was i thinking, San Francisco and flat, thats never the case :-). I raced the couple of downhills i got but still had too much catch up to do to meet the target 9 min/mile pace. At mile 9.5 or so i realized that i could not keep up a faster pace without risking injury so i applied the brakes and eased through the last 3.6 miles.

Personally, I was disappointed with my timing, had done a 2:03 on a much tougher course. Anyways, the good thing is i can only get better :-). Next race, San Jose Rock n Roll Half marathon on October 8th.

Minal enjoyed her 5K race and finished in 45 minutes. Both of us were proud recipients of the half marathon and progressive marathon medals :-).