The Running Geek

End of Season – Fitness Loss – Time Off

The final race of the season was this past Sunday. Coming off a HUGE PB from 3 weeks back I wasn’t too worried about running another personal best in this race, especially since I had ran about a half dozen times the previous 3 weeks and done no real ‘training’ other then easy runs.

My wife and I were in the Canadian Rockies for a week and a bit touring around and needless to say we ate and drank a fair bit. I don’t have exact facts on how our fitness degrades over time but I knew I had lost some of what I had in mid September, so I decided to not put any huge expectations on myself.

I ran this exact race last year, came in 2nd (kind of, the 1st place runner went out very quick and supposedly got lost on the course), and ran a new PB. This was my first sub-40 10K.

This year I had a goal an ultimate goal to run around 37:30 and possibly try to win the race. There were 500 entrants so I figured there would definitely be some competition from somewhere.

The race went out at a fast pace (for me at least) at around 3:20 a K. The person who started right beside me took the lead and built on it right from the very first stride. I ended up in a pack with 3 other people. We stuck together for the first KM or two and then I made a move and pulled away. I continued to gain on them for the remainder of the race.

This was good and bad for me. The bad is that it’s tough to maintain a quick pace on your own that’s much above your comfort fitness level which for me is around 3:53-3:50 per K. My previous race I had another fellow with me for the majority of the race so I was pushing far harder then I do when it’s just me trying to maintain pace.

I’m not disappointed with the result. I came in 2nd and ran a 38:12. Like I said earlier I have no idea what sort of fitness loss I may have had over a 3 week off training period, so I won’t criticize the time, but I’ll surely take the 2nd place finish.

Time Off

So as I did this time last year, I’m going to move to an off training period for a couple of weeks and then into my Build-up which will get my cardio going again before moving onwards to more training sessions.

My next race isn’t until February, my first Half Marathon, but it’ll be in the snow so more of a distance test then anything.

I didn’t post much through the winter last year, so I’ll try to be more consistent with that this season.

New 10K PB – Breaking the 37 Minute Barrier

Last Sunday I broke my old PB (which was set only 4 weeks earlier) for the 10K.

Back in August I ran I 38:35 at a local race. It wasn’t all that much better then a previous PB I had, and I knew I had a faster time in me. So when I was preparing the week before for this past race I was conscious of wanting to break 38 minutes.

Based on my training times and efforts I knew I should be able to keep a pace of 3:48 or better which was what I had to do to break 38 minutes.

SIDENOTE: My initial goal at the beginning of this season was to break 37 minutes for 10K but I had been struggling to make that happen this season and adjusted to to a sub 38 10K this season and figured I’d go for sub 37 or 36 next season.

A concern I had about this past race was that I tweaked my Hamstring pretty badly during an easy training run the on the Thursday before. Can’t say exactly what caused it but I was in some pain on Thursday afternoon and into Friday. So even whether I would race was a bit unsure.

Thankfully by Saturday afternoon I was feeling 100% better, and while there was still a little ache in my hamstring and glute I was gonna give it my best go.

Race Time

I got near the front of the pack as I wanted to be able to go out and not worry about having to make my way through too many people after the starting horn sounded.

I went out rather quickly, it never ceases to amaze me that when I glance at my Garmin watch during those first 300-500 M of a race I seem to be able to run much faster without too much effort then at any other point in training.

Quickly four of us took out in a lead pack. I led for a very brief moment of maybe 500-750M and then was passed by the other 3 in the group. They began to take some ground on me, but I figured if I was to run a great time I had to dig deep and stick with them.

At this point we were still keeping a sub 3:40 per KM pace, which was a bit startling since in the past that had caused me to burn out half way through.

I picked it up and by about the 3 KM mark, thanks to a nice downhill I was able to build some speed on, had taken the lead, although not by much.

Myself and another racer had broken away from the pack and were making some ground. At the 5K turn around I was still in the lead with the second place runner right on my tail not 5 meters behind me.

After the turn-around there was a long incline. I dug deep and hammered up it hoping to put some space between myself and the second place runner. He held on strong though. During all of this time as my watch had still been beeping out some crazy splits.

KM 4 3:38
KM 5 3:33
KM 6 3:45 (the up-hill)

At the crest of the large incline after the turn around point, and about 6.5 K into the race the runner behind me passed me and put some space between us. I didn’t choose to follow him, of course in retrospect I should have, but I figured I was running a strong race based on the splits thus far and I had wanted to run this race for a PB not for winning.

The first place runner didn’t continue to put space between us after he got about 30-40 M’s out in front. That hill after the turnaround I think took a lot out of us both.

I continued along at a half decent pace for KM’s 7, 8 and 9 and then to my surprise in the last KM the 3rd place runner who was quite a bit behind us at the turn around came out of no where. He took over my position and powered on to the finish.

At that point I was feeling pretty exhausted and decided it best just to cruise in. I knew I had broken my 38 Min goal, however I hadn’t spent anytime figuring out just by how much until I crossed the finish line and looked at my watch.

Finishing time was: 36:15

That blew me away, and the chip time confirmed it.

So while I may not have won, I was more then happy with my finishing time. That’s a new personal best by more then 2 minutes.

I have one more 10K race left this season in a little less then 3 weeks. We’re going on vacation for 10 days Starting this Saturday so I’m going to try and not put much pressure on myself to compete with that time, but I’m definitely going to have sub 37 on the mind for that race as well.

slipts

Navy 10K Results

I unfortunately didn’t reach my target time yesterday, but I’m not going to dwell on that. I ran a 38:35 and considering everything I was happy with it. I wasn’t “anal retentive” with my race week routine and we went out to dinner at a friends place the night before and got home around half past midnight. I enjoyed the night out with friends, so all-in-all if I can run a sub 39 on 5 hours sleep and after a couple of beers the night before, I’m happy with it.

However in saying that, I have two races left this season (10 K’s that is) and I’m going to buckle down for the next 7 weeks or so to do what I can to improve all aspects.

The race wasn’t too tough, but it was a humid morning.

I followed my plan to go out a bit slower and my 1st KM split was about 3:43. Not too bad, although I still had a time feeling a bit dained part way through the race so am not sure that going out any slower makes a HUGE difference for me.

My splits for the 5K’s were:
First: 18:55
Second: 19:29

It was a 5K loop which was run twice so it’s a fair comparison of the first and second split.

Reflecting on These Results

When I look at my 2K training times this result makes sense. I am training my 2K’s at a 38:30 pace. To get to the next level I need to push those 2K’s to a point where I’m doing 37:30 pace or so. What does this mean in terms of time?

Well if I’ve been doing them around 7:40 – 7:45 I need to drop that to 7:30 – 7:35 or so. I have not done them this quick, and I know it will be challenging, but to get to the next level I think is going to be a big part of it.

I’m considering changing up a bit of my training routine and am going to re-read the training material from McMillian Running. I use his calculator often to look at paces I should be doing my training sessions at and also to play around with what my equivalent performances are based on past race results. You can get to his calculator from the Blogroll link in my side bar.

I’ll post my thoughts on my training plan changes, if they come about, later this week.

Still no new shoes, but I think I’ve decided to pick up a pair of Saucony Ride 3′s or 4′s for now. I’m going to pass on the lightweight minimalist trainers. Also I’m going to go back to wearing my trainers for my speed sessions as well to ensure I get more longevity out of my light weight Saucony Mirgae.

Did It!

This past Sunday was my GOAL 10K race for the season where I wanted to break 40 minutes for the 10K. It was a chilly and really windy day, but things went my way and I didn’t just break 40 minutes I even broke 39 with a finishing time of 38:54 and 3rd place over all for the race.

My last 3K were really strong and I was really happy with my results.

So now I’m going to recover today and tomorrow from the race then take 5 days off from running all together to start an off training period for about 3 weeks (easy runs etc.) followed by a Build up period which will get me ready to start training again for next seasons races.

I’m going to refrain from thinking what I might possibly be able to do for next season. I successfully took over 3 Minutes off my PB this year over 4 races and what was really only 2.5 months of good solid training.

If I can do the same next year I’ll be happy for sure!

Race Review – Cobequid Trail 10K

I had my first 10 K race after staring a some what organized training regime (although due to shin splints it’s still been some what sporadic in terms of quality).

I’ll start off by saying that I was happy with my result. While my goal is to run sub 40MIN for the 10K this year my finishing chip time of 40:39 is acceptable and a 1:28 PB over my previous 10K PB from earlier this year at the Bluenose Marathon 10K event.

I had a race plan all laid out, although I was going to follow it loosely. After some discussions in the Time-to-run.com forums I decided to go out around 4:00 – 4:05 and see how things went.

Splits were as follows:
1 – 3:58
2 – 4:02
3 – 4:06
4 – 4:06
5 – 3:54 – First 5K 20:06
6 – 4:00
7 – 3:57
8 – 4:11
9 – 4:18
10 – 4:01 – Second 5K 20:33

The race had next to no hills, although I’d say better then 90% of it was on crusher dust which takes a fare bit of energy to run on compared to pavement (due to the lack of traction).

I went out at a good pace and felt good at the 5K mark, and was coming up on the 3rd place runner around the 6K mark. I decided I was going to make a move to pass him, although did so without looking at my watch to see if I was greatly increasing my pace or not.

I overcame the 3rd place runner and moved on and put some distance between him and I. It was at the 7-8K mark I started to feel sluggish and my head started playing some mind games on me. I was telling myself I wasn’t going to be able to keep the pace for another 2-3 K.

When I next looked down at my watch I had slowed down and my watch read 4:26 or so. This was way off pace for this point in the race and I could hear footsteps behind me from the runner who I’d past a few minutes earlier.

I was overtaken by that runner and I continued to slug it out with myself for the next 2K.

I picked things up when I saw the 9K marker as I knew I could hold up through 4 more minutes. I picked it up to finish the last K strong in 4:01.

Like I said, I am not disappointed with this result. I learned a lot and can see that my training is making me stronger without a question.

I’m going to continue on my same training cycles with focus on form and pace control. I will slow down my training pace a bit compared to what I have been running, and focus on consistency in my speed sessions.

Training Update:

I took yesterday off and ran a slow 30 Min easy this morning as a recovery run from the race on Sunday. Tomorrow I’ll be doing a 50-60 min easy run and then the training kicks back in again with another easy 30 Min on Thursday and then 5 x 2K on Friday morning at the track (what a delight).

Race This Sunday

Just got back from my final run, a 30 min Fartlek, before my 10K race on Sunday morning.

I’m trying hard not to over think this. My goal is to run sub 40 Min, I don’t actually know if I’m in shape to do it right now. I’ve been continually battling shin splints and a bit of achilles pain and am not 100% sure how hard I should try and run it.

The previous two 10K race I’ve run this year I did without any sort of tracking/GPS device so I had no idea what my pace was or how far I had gone and how much of the race was left. An advantage I will have with this race is I now have my Garmin Forerunner 305 so I can keep track of my pace as well as distance ran and distance remaining.

Race Plan

I’m not going to structure for an over optimistic finishing time so I’m going to take it sensible.

1st & 2nd KM – 4:05 – 4:10 or so
3rd & 4th KM – 4:00-4:05
5th & 6th KM – 4:00 or a bit under (This will give me a 20:30 5K Split)
7th & 8th KM – 3:55
9th KM – 3:50 – 3:55
10th KM -sub 3:50 (Will give me a 19:20-19:30 2nd 5K split)

Now this plan will bring me in around 39:50-40:00 minutes…

I could of course be talking out of my butt since I haven’t ran a 2K this fast yet what so ever.

I’m piecing this plan together because I want to have some structure to my race plan so I’m thinking about how quickly I am running and making logical decisions about speeding up a different points in the race.

I’m only new to this concept of a “negative split” but I think it’s my best bet to break 40 Min for the 10K right now. The previous races I ran I had quite a bit left in the tank at the end, but I was always a little scared to release it too soon and then burn out before the race finished.

While my Garmin isn’t 100% accurate, it will give me accurate distance and pace settings +/- a few seconds.

One way or the other I feel confident I will run a PB for the 10K this weekend, the question remains will I be reach my goal in this race of sub 40 Minutes.

Long Run Day!

This morning was the first long run I did with purpose. I want to work my way up to 90 minutes since I’m currently training for 10K’s but this morning I went for 72 minutes which is 80% of the 90 min I want to run for in the coming weeks.

It wasn’t that tough physically (although I had a bit of ache in my right calf and shin for a bit) but staying focussed on form for that long is a bit difficult.

I got up before work and headed out on the trail close to my house and headed out for about 37 minutes then turned around and came back.

I had to stop for a few seconds on the way back to adjust my right shoe. I don’t think I tied it tight enough because I could feel a blister coming on and when I looked at the bottom of my foot in the shower afterwards I could see it was there alright. Going to have to do something about that before my 10K run on Saturday morning.

I’ve adjusted this weeks training slightly, the rest of the week and going into next week is looking like this:

Today – Long Run 72 Minutes
Friday – Off
Saturday – 10K Easy run
Sunday – Off
Monday – 6 x 1K @ 3:45 – 3:55 pace
Tuesday – 30 min easy run
Wednesday – 60 Min Easy Run
Thursday – Off
Friday – 5K Time trial paced run aim for under 20 Min but not faster then 19:10
Saturday – Off
Sunday – 60 min Easy
Monday – Off
Tuesday – 10 x 400 M @ 86 – 90 seconds each with 60 Second recovery

This could of course change in the coming days but that’s the jist of it.

Also I chose my two next and possibly final races for this year.

A 10K on August 29th and another 10K on October 10th.

I may try to get one more race in there in November pending what’s around, but I’ll be wanting to take a break after that second 10K in October then start back up with some Winter base training to get ready for the following Spring where I’ll start hitting the same races I did this year and look to improve my placing and times.

So tomorrows a day off and an easy run Saturday morning, won’t be much to report on until next week.