Pheidippides’s BodyBlog

Ran this morning: 7.85 miles in 1:09.  Main set was 5 miles, first four of which I ran @8:30 pace and last mile of which I ran at 7:15 pace.  Overall average 8:15 pace.  Based upon my last race performance I’ve set 8:30 as my standard training pace, with 6:52-7:00 as my tempo pace (for sustained reasonably hard training runs of 3-4 miles or so) and 6:12 as my interval pace.

Reading WendyM’s last blog made me think about my own constantly changing fitness plans. I like the idea of focusing on increasing strength, lowering bodyfat, and improving muscle definition and body appearance, but my first interest is in endurance sports — especially running.  I’m up to over 30 miles per week and aim to get up to over 45 mpw this fall during my marathon training.  My (44 year old) body will need rest time, and it also will crave ample nutrition.  With all that, and family and work,  I just don’t have a strong desire to get in the gym much right now, or stick to purely "clean" eating.  I don’t feel bad about that; it’s just the way it is.  I like gym workouts enough that I expect that to change eventually — perhaps right after I finish my marathon (assuming I do) in December.  But for now, and for the next 14 weeks, I will focus on running, and see how far that focus can take me.  With a bit of extra effort I think I can also lose a little weight and body fat.  We’ll see.

I ran a 5K yesterday: 8 a.m., temperature in the mid-60s, conditions perfect but for a bit of wind.  I was well conditioned, and I had eaten pretty well the days before the race.  I wwas well hydrated as well.

The course was relatively flat and fast, mostly on streets and partly on paved bike trails.  I lined up just behind the first row or two of runners about a  yard and a half back of the starting line.  My goal was 20 minutes, so I intended to run the first two mile at a steady 6:20 pace and then hold or improve that pace as well as I could over the last mile.

I started out a bit faster than expected, covering the first mile in about 6:12.  I then slowed down somewhat, probably to around 6:30.  At the mid stage of the race I was trying to hold pace by keeping up with runners around me, with mixed success.  The last mile was hard, but I didn’t fade as badly as I’ve faded in previous races.  I finished decently in 20:04 — a new PR by 24 seconds, but still just 4 seconds off from my 20 minute goal.  So I was pleased but just a bit disappointed that I couldn’t quite bring it home in the end.

I placed 21st out of 320 overall, and 4th out of 30 among men 40-49.  I missed getting a top 3 award by 2 seconds! I passed the 3rd place guy at 2 miles, but he passed me with about 400 yards to go and I couldn’t get the lead back.
My 5K pace was 6:27 min/mile.  I am using that pace to set my training paces and to establish some goals for the next 14 week training and racing schedule, culminating in the Dec. 7 California International Marathon.  I hope to break 20 minutes in another 5K at some point soon, and then get to 40 minutes in the Run for the Hungry 10K on Thanksgiving.  I’ll shoot for 1:30 in the half marathon later in the fall and finally a sub-3:10 marathon.  The marathon goal may change as my  training progresses, but right now that seems like a fair goal given my 5K time and current fitness level.

I’m glad running is going well because my weight loss program has ended with a whimper.  I don’t actually know my weight right now because the scale isn’t working, but I don’t think it would have good news for me anyway.  I can’t help but think that if I’d stuck with my diet better and lost a few more pounds that I would have reached my goal of a sub-20 minute 5K.  Oh well. Onward and upward.

After weighing myself this morning I’ve decided, retroactively, to start a new challenge that I will call the "You Can’t Touch This" Challenge.  Two days ago my scale told me I weighed 182 pounds.  Today it said I weigh 160!  And that my bodyfat had dropped from 20.3 to 17%!  And that on a diet composed in substantial part of heaps of risotto, white whine, bowls and bowls of grape nuts and Wheaties, and Jimboy’s tacos and enchiladas.  I’ve reached the promised land of weight loss!

Either that, or the batteries are dying.

I don’t think the remaining members of Julofthenile’s challenges have anything to worry about just yet.

Anyway, I’ll weigh myself again tomorrow after, ahem, replacing the batteries.  In the meantime I had a good moderate run today — about 6.86 miles (I used the Garmin the other day to measure the exact distance from my house to the  bike trail along which I run, hence the absurdly precise measurement) in 58:26.  Not counting the warmup and cooldown legs I ran the main set of 5 miles in 39:18, a steady 7:52 m/m pace.  I didn’t try running any strides or intervals.  I want to rest my legs before the Monday race, although I probably will try a few short strides when I run tomorrow.

So far this week (since Sunday) I’ve run 30.8 miles, so that’s the third week in the last four that I’ve run at least 30 miles.  After tomorrow’s run I expect the weekly total to top 35.  So I have a decent base of 30 mpw to start my 14 weeks of marathon training.

I weighed myself this morning, but I can honestly say I have no idea what I weigh.  That’s because my digital scale told me at the first weighing that I weigh 182 pounds, and at the second weighing told me I weigh over 177 pounds.  This is after it told me yesterday morning I weigh 169 pounds even.  Now, I can put away a fair amount of food in a day, but I did not gain 8 pounds in 24 hours, let alone 13.  The analog scale, which is hard to read and not very accurate, indicated I weighed around 167.  That’s probably a little low but closer.  This was after having a small breakfast and then running for an hour, so the weight would not be entirely accurate compared to my usual measurements.

I’ll try again tomorrow a.m.

Resting heartrate in bed this a.m. was 46 bpm, about the lowest I’ve ever measured it, so the running seems to be having a very good cardiovascular impact.

Ran intervals this morning.  7 miles overall, something over an hour.  8 x quarter mile intervals.  First interval at a tempo pace — about 7 m/m.  From there on I set my Garmin for 6:20 pace.  The second interval I missed it because of fiddling with the Garmin, but I hit the next six by a good margin, keeping my pace for each quarter mile around 5:58 to 6:05.  Definitely faster than comfortable pace, and at that speed it’s hard to maintain a steady form.  The good thing is that’s a lot faster than I need to run to hit the 20 minute mark in the 5K this Labor Day.  I only need to maintain 6:26 m/m pace.  19:59 minutes or better is the goal.
After my 5K I will have exactly 14 weeks to prepare for the CIM marathon on Dec. 7.  I will use an online running calculator to set my  training paces, as well as coming up with an approximate goal time for the marathon.  I expect (and hope) to revise the goal somewhat as my training (presumably) progresses.  My weekly mileage is at about 30 miles right now, and I will try to get it up around 45 or so, but probably not much higher because of the risk of injury.  My achilles tendon definitely is not 100% yet, and I have to be very careful.

After an undisciplined weekend I was still able this morning to get the weight back down: 169 pounds even.  Waist at 35 inches, which is the lowest yet since I started this "challenge" three or four weeks ago.

Reaching 165 by Monday seems unlikely, but I can keep losing and get down around 168, or maybe under that, if I keep working at it.

Hope to do an interval workout with the group this afternoon, but my Achilles tendon is just a bit sore still from my 17-mile run Sunday, so I’m not sure.  I’ll see how it feels later today.

Last night we went to an 80s party.  I went as half of Milli Vanilli, though not clear which half.  the costume was actually kind of lame, but it still got some chuckles.  The range of costumes was surprisingly good — lots of preppies, punks, mullet-wearers, Madonna wannabes, leg warmers, two Slashes, a Captain Steubing, a Larry Bird, John McEnroe, big hair, you name it.  My friend Rich and I took our turn at Karaoke and sang "Ebony and Ivory" (I was the ebony part).  Lots of foolishness.

And lots of Long Island Ice Teas, too.  I don’t think I had had one in twenty years, and had forgotten how easily they go down. By the time I got home and crashed into bed the prospects for a vigorous early morning run were looking, well, not great.

But I got up anyway at 6 a.m., determined to go long.  Stopped at the grocery store to get some PowerAde and a few chocolate flavored energy gels, drove over to the river, and headed out.

The plan was to start at the 13.5 mile mark on the bike trail, run a 1.5 mile warmup, and then start my run in earnest at the 15 mile mark, heading upriver at a moderate pace, turning around and speeding up coming back over the same distance.

The warmup of 1.5 miles was in 14:32 — 9:41 pace.

I decided to try to go 14 miles in the main set, going moderately for 7 miles up and faster 7 miles back.  I was feeling pretty strong so I ran the 7 miles up faster than I expected — 57:25 (8:12 min/mile pace).  I turned around at the 22 mile mark and started back faster.  I started a bit too fast, but still managed to keep a brisk pace back for 7 miles — 54:56 (7:51 min/mile pace).  Overall pace for 14 miles was 8:03 min/mile.  Cooldown in 14:45.  Total distance — 17 miles.  Total time — 2:21:39 (8:20 min/mile pace).

This was the longest run I’ve had since my senior year of college (over 23 years ago!), and the second longest continuous run of my life.  My legs are sore, but not nearly as sore as after my 16 mile run three weeks ago.  I hope to try 19 miles within the next month.    At this rate I definitely will be ready for the marathon in December.

Conditions for the run were about perfect (except for my slight hangover).  Sunny, but temperature at the start at 6:55 was probably about 60 degrees, probably warming up by the end over two hours later at a bit over 70 degrees.

My plan is to run a 5K on Labor Day, and to run the 10 mile Buffalo Stampede the following weekend.  I may try for a half marathon in October.

My weight loss program is going nowhere.  Almost, anyway.  I weighed 171.8 this morning.  But I was bad again last night.  Chocolate chip cookies don’t mix well with any diet plan.

Running still on track though.  I ran 7 miles yesterday afternoon in 87 degree heat.  Total time about 1:02.   About 8:51 pace overall.  Pace over most of it was a little slower than than, because I ran one half mile interval in 3:48 and one mile interval around 8 minutes.  I didn’t want to push the pace too much because (a) I already have had a high intensity workout this week (Tuesday) and (b) it was far too hot.

I’ve decided not to do the 5K this evening, to give my legs a little break from the intense interval workout on Tuesday.  Instead, I’m going to do a long run this weekend — maybe try for 17 miles — and try to get in one short speed workout before a 5K or 10K coming up on Labor Day.  I will probably run the 5K to try to beat my PR of 20:28 and try to get under 20 minutes.

Weight down to 170.2, so I’m undoing some of the damage from my short vacation.  Waist at 35.1, so I haven’t really lost ground there.

Yesterday’s running workout was a great workout.  Running hard leaves me  with much the same feeling as weight lifting — sore in a good way.

It was a bit eye opening to run with some of the other people in the group.  One guy, who was 30, was running his mile intervals in under 6 minutes — a lot faster than me.  Another was running at about the same pace as me, but he’s 51, seven years older.  I was very impressed.

Did some pushups this morning, but in general I’ve scaled the strength training way back while I focus on diet and running.  

I was incommunicado for five days while we were at Donner Lake for a short vacation, with no internet access.

Following WendyM’s advice I ran around Donner Lake a couple of times, a very nice run.  I managed not to get lost in the campgrounds, so I appreciated her advice.

The upshot of my five days, however, is that there’s no way I can claim to have been faithful to my challenge.  Too many snacks, drinks, the works.  I’m still under my starting weight — I’m 171.6 — and I still hope to reach my weight goal by Labor Day, but it’s the journey, not just the destination that counts, and I’ve wandered afield.

I’m out like an old light bulb, Jul.

I’ve got a 5k coming up this Friday, and I’m still working on the weight.  BF has come down a bit, and my waist is still at 35.25.  I’ve still got goals to reach and I’m excited about meeting them.  But technically — and  technically counts for purposes of this competition — I’m done.  Good luck to everyone who’s stuck with it!

I will continue with my own I’m All Out Of Love Handles challenge, but it will have to be on my own terms.

Ran last night in the dark for the first time in a while — about 5 miles in about 39 minutes, pace varying from moderate 8:30 to 9 m/m to around tempo pace — probably about 7 m/m.  I need to get in a short interval/rep workout over the next two days before the race on Friday.

P.M. update:  Just completed my weekly interval workout with my running group.  After a 1.5 mile warmup, we did 3×1 mile and then 4×400 meters, with about 1:30 or so slow jogging breaks between intervals followed by a cooldown of a little over a half mile.

My intervals went as follows:

1st mile:  6:22

2nd mile: 6:23

3d mile: 6:42

1st 400: 1:32

2nd 400: 1:33

3d 400: 1:31

4th 400: 1:24

Overall the pace was good ranging from 5:36 min/mile on my last 400 to 6:42 on my last mile, although that last mile was slower than I wanted and slower than my 5K goal pace.  As usual, keeping a steady pace is still a challenge, but the overall pace was good.  I ran with a few people who were a bit faster than I was, so they challenged me to keep up.  I’ve signed up for the 10 mile Buffalo Stampede on September 7; still undecided about the 5K this Friday evening.  I might wait for the 5K or 10K at UC Davis on Labor Day.

A.M. Weight:  169

BF: 20.3%

Waist: 35 inches.

Weight is lowest yet, very nearly breaking 169 barrier.  My waist is also at its lowest since my challenge started.  So far so good.

I took the day off of running yesterday to recover from my long run.  Instead I swam — 1800 yards in 34 minutes at a very steady pace, entirely in freestyle.  I stuck with flip turns for almost the entire distance and I stopped at the wall at most a few seconds perhaps twice.

Today I’ll do an interval workout with my running group.  I think they’re going to be running 400 meter and 1000 meter intervals.  It’s going to be fast, challenging (and very hot if yesterday was a harbinger of temperature to come).

I’m not sure I can claim to have stuck with the challenge in terms of eating entirely cleanly.  I’ve come close to sticking within the boundaries of the diet I described at the outset of the challenge, but I’ve strayed a bit here and there — a bit too much alcohol or dessert now and then in the evening with a few dinners, that sort of thing.  But overall I am eating reasonably healthily, getting a fair amount of protein, while limiting calorie intake.

At this rate it’s a close proposition whether I’ll be able to reach 165 by Labor Day, but I’m going to keep trying.  Getting below 168 will be a barrier to overcome.

Evening update:  Completed my intense speed interval workout this evening with my running group.  It was 100 degrees, so conditions were quite challenging.  The workout was 8 x 400, then 3 x 1000, with 1:30 to 2:30 recovery run breaks in between workbouts.  For once I was successful at staying at or better than my goal pace of 6:20 minute/mile.  The first two 400s were at about 6:32, but after that pace ranged from 6:24 to 5:56 for the remaining intervals.  I was pooped at the end but it felt great.  My legs are definitely getting stronger.  Thinking about a 5K in 10 day, but I’m not crazy about the fact that it’s at 6 p.m., which means a temperature of 90 to 100 degrees is likely and will definitely slow my ability.