See BamaDave Run (and Lift)

[tridude]

I hear you. I wish I lived further out in the country. I'm pretty much in the middle of Raleigh, although we do have a nice greenway to run on at least!

[BamaDave]

Yeah, at least Raleigh is a progressive place. Birmingham is lacking in greenways, although there is a plan for a huge new park that is supposed to have trails for running. I hope so!

----

FRI. 10.20.06
AM RUN

DISTANCE: 10.2 miles
TIME: 1:16:49
AVE. PACE: 7:32/mile

-- What a difference 12 hours makes in the weather! Yesterday evening, I was running with a singlet that was plastered to me with sweat. This morning it was windy and cold enough for a long-sleeved shirt for the first time this Fall! Needless to say, I'll take the colder temps!! This was the same 10.2 mile run as last week, except I reversed the course, which actually makes it harder to run due to more steep stretches. My average pace was slightly slower than last Friday. My quads were pretty sore from yesterday's front squats. I seem to get more of a hammering from those than from back squats with much higher loads! I ran sub-7:00 for the last two miles and 6:30's or lower for much of it. So I think I'm okay to go ahead and do a tempo run tomorrow morning. I should be good to resume my training plan at week 18 next week.

[BamaDave]

SAT. 10.21.06
AM RUN

TOTAL DISTANCE: 8.2 miles
TOTAL TIME:

WORKOUT:

*1.03 mile warmup run = 7:25 = 7:12 average pace

*40 minute tempo run --> 6.19 miles covered = 6:28 ave. pace

*3:00 walk recovery

*0.85 mile cooldown run to finish = 6:05 = 7:08 ave. pace

--- I was pretty happy overall with my tempo run this morning. My mile laps for the tempo portion (according to the Forerunner) were: 6:06, 6:24, 6:26, 6:19, 6:24, 7:03, 1:20 for final 0.19 (7:01 pace). Total of 6.19 miles covered or just barely short of 10K. Maybe I can count this one as that Mock 10K I was going to run! I got a boost on the first mile with downhill running and then got slowed down in mile 6 to the end from having to climb about 200 feet in elevation. A lot of miles 3 and 4 were on dirt/gravel road where I usually slow down around 10 seconds per mile, so I was happy that I held tempo pace pretty well. If I exclude the big hill end, I ran the first 5 miles of the tempo run in 31:39, ave. pace = 6:20.

I think on fresh legs, which I did not have today (ouch!), I would have a reasonable shot at a 10K PR in two weeks at the big local Vulcan 10K in Birmingham. I don't know whether I'll get to run it or not, because my daughter has a gymnastics meet. I would have to run it a whole lot smarter than I did last year, though, to PR. Last year I ran the first two miles in the 5:50's and paid for that dearly for the rest of the race. My half-marathon is 3 weeks out, and I would have to run an ave. pace in the 6:20's to PR there. The course is not that hilly, and I felt pretty good after this run today... but for 13 miles?? I'll definitely give it a shot, but I think it's going to be borderline at best.

It was kind of cold here this morning, with some scattered frost!! This is a weird October for sure. Unbelievably, when I was on that dirt road out in the middle of nowhere in the woods, I ran into another guy running who is training for Rocket City!! I couldn't believe it. I feel kind of bad, because I didn't stop to talk to him, but I was in the middle of that tempo run. I'm sure I'll run into him again. He looked like he was running well. I don't know how we haven't crossed paths previously.

[BamaDave]

SAT. 10.21.06
PM WORKOUT

A. BB SHOULDER PRESS: 125#: 6; 6; 5

B. SINGLE-ARM DB ROWS: 105#: 5 ea.; 5ea.; 5 ea.

C. PULLUPS: +40#: 4; 4; 3

D. DIPS: +40#: 6; 5; 5

E1. DB WOODCHOPPERS: 75#: 5ea.; 5ea.

E2. EXPLOSIVE SWISS BALL CRUNCHES WITH "THROW": 25# DB: 15; 15

F. SWISS BALL PUSHUPS: 20; 15

-- Just upper body stuff... I was still feeling the lower body work from Thursday morning. My "explosive" Swiss Ball crunches seem more "semi-explosive." I've been a little leery of explosiveness on the Swiss Ball since the ball slipped out from under me and I slammed down onto my back on the concrete floor in my basement.

A neighborhood church held their annual Fall festival last night, and just about everyone in our community was there. I actually ran into the guy I saw running yesterday. He's a triathlete and occasionally runs some races. He normally runs in Birmingham rather than out here. He rattled off the names of a few other marathoners in my area. The only one I knew was my daughter's former 3rd Grade teacher, who is in her 50's. Apparently they all train elsewhere, which explains why I never see them out on the road!! I guess they have groups they run with down in Birmingham. It was interesting to find out that there were several other runners in the area - I really had no idea, because I have only seen other runners about three times total in 4 years and have had one guy stop and talk to me.

I have a 19-miler on tap this morning. The weather should be perfect!!! Very nice not to have to worry about getting out there super early to avoid overheating!!

[BamaDave]

SUN 10.22.06
AM LONG RUN

DISTANCE: 19.1 miles
TIME: 2:31:08
AVE. PACE: 7:55/mile

Elevation Profile:




-- The long run went well... toughest one I have done in a really long time, at least back to March. I was happy with the average pace, as I haven't run too many of this length with this much accumulated elevation gain at sub-8:00 average pace. It was warmer than I expected at times when the sun broke through the clouds, but overall a decent day for a run! The rest of the day is pretty much shot, though. Lots of lounging around for sure. LOL!!

[kmwest]

Looking good!

[tridude]

Good run Dave. It was rainy and cold here. Glad the weather cooperated with you. Had a decent race Saturday. Race report at some point ...

[Bill2380]

19 miles....to a non-runner like that may as well be 100. Amazing stuff Dave.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Nice job. Real nice considering you're running through the Andes. BTW, if you want some cool weather....

Hope you enjoyed that wonderful after-long run nap. LOL

[BamaDave]

Thanks, guys! I never did get that nap. My in-laws and some friends were over for a late lunch/early dinner. I did finally go to bed and crashed around 9:30pm.

I browsed through my running records for long runs and feel pretty good with where I am at this point. Yesterday's run was 19.1 miles with 2,519 ft. of total elevation gain at 7:55 ave. pace. The closest comparisons I have are 3/26/06, 20.2 miles, +2,647 feet, 7:49 pace.... 3/5/06, 21.0 miles, +2,704 feet, 8:02 pace... 1/22/06, 20.3, +2683 feet, 9:15 pace (crashed on that one!).... 1/8/06, 17.1 miles, +2,535 feet, 8:23 pace... 11/20/05, 21.3 miles, +2,762 feet, 8:02 pace. I was pretty close yesterday to those runs in March, when I was probably in my best shape ever (only to collapse at Boston! Yikes!). And pretty comparable to my final long run before Rocket City last year... but a month earlier this year, so I hope that's a good sign. By comparison, Rocket City has 751 feet of accumulated elevation gain over the entire 26.2 miles!! I'm not getting too optimistic, since I have learned my lessons about marathons, but I feel more optimistic about my chances to PR at Rocket City than I did a couple of months ago.

My recovery seems pretty good today as well. Which is a good thing, because I'm picking my training plan back up at Week 18, and it has a pretty killer schedule lined up.

[GG300]

Between the 11.5 mile marker and 15.5 you climbed 650 feet. Holy shit, I am worried about a run I have later this year with a 175' rise during the last 1.5 miles and that is only during a 5K. Impressive run Dave I will stop bitching about hills until I come up against something like this.

[UpNorth]

That last run looks awesome. With a full month left, my unexperienced eye says your pacing looks right on the mark to PR -- not to make you overly optimistic

[kmwest]

What is the elevation and elevation change for your marathon?

[BamaDave]

Originally Posted by kmwest

What is the elevation and elevation change for your marathon?

The accumulated elevation gain is 751 feet, according to the data from my Forerunner from last year's race.

Elevation profile of Rocket City Marathon:



It's not a flat course (nothing is in this part of the country), but mostly just some rolling hills. Most are not all that notable. The only exception is the one at mile 16, which is somewhat memorable and gets some hype. As a comparison, the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham has about 2,100 feet of total elevation gain along the course, and the Boston Marathon has around 900 feet of elevation gain.

[BamaDave]

TUES. 10.24.06
AM RUN

DISTANCE: 7.35 miles
TIME: 55:37
AVE. PACE: 7:34/mile

-- More or less a recovery run following Sunday's long one. My hammies were feeling really tight at the beginning, and I don't like that feeling. That's how they felt before Boston. I need to get on that foam roller! Perfect Fall morning - low 40's, not a cloud in the sky, that early morning Fall sunlight - wow!! It doesn't get any better around here. I wish I had a camera with me, because some of the views from our overlook areas are really cool on mornings like this with the fog settling into the valleys. The hills look like islands out in a bay or something. We're even getting some decent Fall colors really early this year. We'll probably have a November heat wave as payback for this!

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Wow. For comparison (not a very good one because I don't have an elevation profile), here is a link to see the elevations of the GR marathon:

http://grandrapidsmarathon.com/course.aspx

Pretty flat, huh?

[BamaDave]

Yep, that's fairly flat!!

I've heard some other people who train in hilly areas say that they don't do as well in flat marathons, presumably because they are used to some shifting of muscle use with changing terrain. I imagine Huntsville is a pretty good match for me, because it's somewhat hilly, but not brutally hilly. Boston should be a great match for me as well, one day when I go back with fresh legs!

[BamaDave]

WED. 10.25.06
AM RUN

TOTAL DISTANCE: 7.35 miles
TOTAL TIME: 58:03

WORKOUT:

*~1.4 mile warmup run = 10:54 = ~7:47 ave. pace

*MIXED INTERVAL PYRAMID: 400 meters (2:00 recovery)/ 600 (2:00 recovery)/ 800 (2:30 recovery)/ 1000 (3:00 recovery)/ 800 (2:30 recovery)/ 600 (2:00 recovery)/ 400 (2:00 recovery)

*~1.7 mile cooldown run to finish = 13:09 = ~7:44 ave. pace

-- Interval training has now shifted to one day a week and this mixed interval routine, with the speedwork emphasis now moving more into tempo and eventually some marathon pace stuff. My Garmin was not doing to well with signalling this morning, especially in the early stages of the run. The times it gave me for the intervals were:

400: 1:30 (6:03 pace) -- This was mostly uphill, but not steep -- I think this was probably actually a little longer in distance than it was supposed to be

600: 2:36 (6:52 pace) -- Very uphill!!

800: 2:51 (5:44 pace) -- Downhill, then rolling, then starting back up at end

1000: 4:37 (6:49 pace) -- All uphill, though not brutally steep at any point. I was actually very happy with this one!

800: 2:46 (5:33 pace) -- Heading back downhill, nice grade

600: 2:07 (5:36 pace) -- Mostly downhill, but so steep in some sections, it actually slowed me down versus the 800 even though I should run 600 at a slightly faster pace!

400: 1:28 (5:54 pace) -- I think maybe this 400 was also a little longer than 400. The realtime paces it was giving me during this interval