Thursday, April 29, 2010

Was 2 races in 7 days a bad thing?

Hi There,
Was doing two races in the space of 7 days a bad thing? it is now Thursday and I'm yet to feel like I'm recovered completely from the races. I'm not feeling beat up just feeling a little worn out. Luckily this week I only had two workouts planned....but I'm yet to do them. The first was 8 - 10 x 800 with the same time it took to do the interval as a jogging recovery and the second workout is a long run of approx 36K.

I'll keep the running easy today and then see what tomorrow brings. I usually don't like running a hard interval day before a Long run day, as that screws up the recovery for a tempo run I've planned for Tuesday.

A Tale of two races

On April 18th I ran my first real race of the season out in St. Albert over Ten miles. You may think that this should really be my third race of the 2010 season, but I’m not thinking of the 10K in Calgary as being a real race, yes I ran hard and finished around my normal 10K time but I got the pacing all wrong, went out way too fast and then paid for it in the second half. I think of it as more of an indicator of how much fitness I have after a long winter. I’m not really counting the 3K (indoors) either as that was more of a time trial than a race. That’s not to say that anyone that took part in either of those races should think of them as I do. The 10 Miler went well, I was very happy with the race as I ran a new PB for the distance, I finished in a time of 56:32 which is almost 3 minutes faster than the year before.

On April 25th I ran my first half marathon of the year, yes a week after running a 10 mile race. This probably wasn’t the smartest idea that I’ve ever had. But that’s how I drew up my training plan for this spring. I trained pretty easy during the week, and only ran one Fartlek type workout of 8 x 2 minutes on 1 minute off. The other possible dumb idea that I had was getting adjusted by my chiropractor the day before because adjustments usually make me very tired. Considering how cold it was on Sunday morning (there was a trace amount of snow on the shed in our back garden @6:30am) and how tough the course was, it has to be one of the hilliest half’s in the city, I was happy with the time (have to be, right?) of 1:17:20 it’s a new PB for the distance.

I’d also like to tip my hat to the guy that came second at the half marathon. I’d never heard of him before that race (that doesn’t mean anything though) from checking the results last year he was also second to Jack Cook, but on Sunday he ran about 4 minutes faster than the previous year. So it looks like he should have a pretty good future in road races.

I was going to bore you with how each race went mile for mile, but I won’t....I’ll spare you. However once I get this Garmin figured out I’ll post a graph comparing the two races.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

For inspiration





Eamon Coghlan will be coming to Edmonton for a talk on Coaching/Running on May 1st. Seminar called Dare to Dream. For most young Irish lads at the time everyone wanted to be Eamon Coghlan.

Recovery Techniques

Hi There,
I got a Deep Tissue massage on Monday over at Kwantum Health and Wellness. It wasn't the relaxing experience that you see on those commercials for day Spa's. The discomfort was my own doing, by not stretching enough after training runs for about six months, this made the muscles in my legs were as hard a concrete blocks. The Therapist worked the muscles in my legs for an hour and by the end I felt like I had gotten beaten up, I was so sore. But I'll be going back for some more later this week. I'm back running so the problem wasn't that bad.

I thought about getting IMS work done on my leg as I know that it will help, but to be honest I don't like being jabbed with needles especially when there is not much fat around the muscles in question. The last couple of times I've had this done I felt like I was going to jump off the table as a nerve was hit by the needle. unlike Acupuncture where I never noticed being a human pin cushion. Even though some of the principles of the two therapies are the same.

In my opinion massage is a very important part of the recovery process and one that needs to be incorporated more often into training cycles. The only downside to more massage is that it can be fairly expensive if you're getting one every couple of weeks. Usually over the course of the year I try to get one a month, sometimes more often if I doing a race as I feel that it has great Benefits

If you are doing a two or three week build and then the fourth week as a recovery week you should consider adding massage into this week, along with everything else that helps you recover from training. For me if and when I can afford it I try to get a massage and a Chiropractic visit in on the recovery weeks. I know a lot of people don't like the idea of their necks being adjusted and I can understand that, it took me a long time to feel comfortable with the adjustment.

If you can arrange it so that you have a massage and then an adjustment that's probably the best combination for you since the body is relaxed the adjustment will be easier on you, this would be pretty easy to arrange as most Chiropractors also have a Massage therapist working in the office. From my own past experience its probably best that you take the next day as a day off (rest day). I always feel drained a day or two after my adjustments depending on the adjustment.


Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Boston Marathon April 19th

Hi There,
So it looks like the Boston Marathon is going to be shown (live) Monday April 19th on TSN from 7:30am (MST). Be sure to set your PVR or Video Recorders if you Haven't jumped to the latest technology. This years race looks to a good event with both Meb Keflezighi and Ryan Hall competing.

Did the Bruins make the Playoff's? - as that's (in my opinion) the only reason why we get to see the race.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Adding Mileage without running?

Hi There,
These tight calves have got me thinking (can you smell the burning from where your sitting?) If I can't keep the mileage that I'm currently doing how can I add more miles to my training? So instead of running to work I could ride my bike a couple of days a week an may run before work......the cycling would help my legs recover between workouts and I would then have at least 5 hours between runs (more than what I have right now) this way I'd still be home in the evening at a good time so I can spend some time with the young fella before he goes to bed.

The schedule would something like this:
Monday - Commute to work and Back Total (42K) Run 12K
Tuesday - Run Lunch = 12K /  Run Evening =15K
Wednesday - Commute to work and Back Total (42K) Run 12K
Thursday -  Run Lunch = 12K /  Run Evening =15K
Friday - Commute to work and Back Total (42K) Run 12K
Saturday - Long Run (30 - 38K)
Sunday - Recovery Run (60 minutes)

So between cycling to work and running I'd be doing approx. 250K a week. Now if cycling is 1.5 times easier than running I'd be doing the equivalent of 180K per week....which is a lot of Mileage. My only problem with adding cycling to the mix is cycling and running don't really work together. But on the other hand when I training for Tri's I never had any problems with injuries until I added more running (mind you I wasn't running very fast then either).

Also on Sunday afternoons I think I'll take the young fella swimming. Its not really swimming as such, but its a chance for me to let my legs recover from the weeks training (we were doing this throughout the winter, its just that the session ended about a month ago)

First things first - get the tightness out of the calves. Will keep you updated on how that's going.

Tight Calves....again!!!

Hi There,
This one seems to be come back to haunt me every year for the last two years around this time of the season. Tight Calf muscles that cause my left Achilles to be a little tender while out running. The odd thing is its always in the same spot just about halfway up my lower leg. This happened last year just before the 10 miler and I was still able to break the hour for that distance, so I'm not freaking out just yet.

Now I'm not sure if this is due to pushing a little harder in workouts than I should (while I don't think as I'm still only running one track type workout a week) or upping the mileage too quickly (again I don't think it is this as my mileage is pretty much similar every week) or not giving myself enough recovery between workouts or not doing enough stretching after workouts, I think it is a combination of the last two factors as this last week or so I've been trying to run an interval day and then a Long run the next day, rather than leaving a recovery day between like I was doing all winter. Plus I did something stupid like started adding mileage to second runs on Tuesday and Thursday which only come 3 hours after my first run of the day.

I'm going to have to reschedule my training back to like it was in March. I'm also going to have to forget about running to work for the moment as I'm not going to start adding more miles if I can't run the miles I normally run right now. I ran on Saturday for 75 minutes on the treadmill (nothing new there been using the treadmill once or twice a week since November) leg was great, ran for 2:15 yesterday and the leg was complaining every time I ran down hill. This doesn't bode well for either the 10 miler or the Policeman's half Marathon. But I'd rather miss one or both (if need be) or just run them and not race than miss my first goal race of the Spring at the end of May.

Since our son was born one of the first things to go and one of the difference makers between getting injured and not getting injured was my weekly yoga class. Now I try and get in a twenty to forty minute yoga dvd session when I get home from work, but I don't do it every night and its not the same as going to a class. I've been trying to get to a yoga class but there doesn't seem to be that quite fits my schedule. Meaning a class that is on after my son goes to bed, normally though by the time 8:00pm rolls in I'm only good for sitting on the couch. 

Injuries are good for one thing, they teach us to slow down (even if its just a little) think about what's happening to the body.  So this week I'll organize a couple of massages and try and get to a Yoga class on my lunch break at the Y.I'll also ride my bike since that is a not weight bearing exercise it shouldn't aggravate my leg.  I'm also due to see my Chiropractor this week, which I'm thinking I may have to see more often as I feel the need for more adjustments during the season will help keep the body aligned for all of the running that I'll be doing in the build up to May and then New York in November.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Running to work

Hi There,
Just a question to anyone out there that actually reads this stuff. Does anyone commute to work by running? Now I'm not really concerned with those that live within say a 6 mile radius of their job, I'm more concerned with people that if they ran to work it would be an hour to 90 minutes each way. I've been toying with the idea of running to work for some time now as a way to get my training in and not take away from the family. I'm also getting tired of the traffic jams (now that construction season is on us) and having to pay for parking every morning, the potential problems with running to work is that I'm on call for two weeks every month, so if there was a problem at work I wouldn't be able to run that morning, plus there are also no showers here but there is a Y two blocks from the office (so I guess that cancels that one).

There's an article in Runnersworld about 4 people that (by RW's Standards) Work hard and Train Hard, but the person that run the most mileage tops out at 50 miles a week. What about people that work 40hours a week but then train around 80 - 100 miles a week? Why don't we hear about those people, as they are the ones I'd like to ask how they do it.

Ideally I'd like to run to work twice a week and keep my lunch time runs as well. This would bring my mileage or weekly K's up to approx. 160K a week. Is it doable? would there be a benefit from going from 130-140K per week to 160? or would I just be taking away from time I should be using for recovery?

Thanks for reading

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Are you in?

Hi There,
The Lottery for the NYC Marathon was drawn this morning (Edmonton Time), This is the end of wondering if I'm in or not. 


I guess that gives me 210 potential days to train for it.....better get of the couch :)

http://www.nycmarathon.org/

Monday, April 5, 2010

Life/Training up to Sunday April 4th

Last week’s training went pretty well, there was a couple of days that I didn’t get as much mileage in as I would’ve liked. But sometimes that’s just the way it is when you’re running comes after Family and work. Thursday was April 1st or April Fool’s day and the weather here really was playing a joke on us. I started my run from Hawlerak Park in brilliant sunshine being passed by guys on Skateboards in shorts and t-shirts, but by the time I was have way through it had started to snow. It was at that point that I was glad to be a little over dressed.  Most of my running is easy running, it’s still reasonably fast compared to the speed I ran my long run on Saturday as I was starting to feel the weeks training in my legs.

On Wednesday I ran 10 x 1minute hard, 1minute easy, at a speed that was supposed to be faster than my 5K speed. This is a harder workout than it sounds on paper, by the tenth hard minute I was happy to be done. Thursday was a double day of easier running, because on Friday I was to run 5x2K with 2.5 minutes recovery and then 3x200m with 200m recovery. Each 2K was to be run in around 7 minutes, so it was to be hard but not so hard that there was going to be a huge difference between the first interval and the last.

With Friday being a holiday (Good Friday) I didn’t have to work, so I was able to do this workout at any time during the day. I met my training Partner Marc for the run over at Foote Field, where we had a good warm up before we started the intervals. The Weather was great, the sun was shining, I even managed to get sunburnt a little which was odd considering it wasn’t even all that warm, it may have  been a wind burn though as the wind was blowing pretty good. Marc had just come back from a couple of days in Vegas, so he was pretty tired. But I was happy to have the company for this run. While on the track, we were joined by two of the ladies from our training group, they were doing 4oom repeats. There was also a sprinter on the track work with his coach. Otherwise it was a very quiet day. Even with wind getting up as the workout neared it completion I was able to run each interval in sub 7 minute pace and then the 200m in around 31 – 34 seconds.

It’s interesting to watch sprinters train and how different it is when compared to a long distance runner. They work a lot more on the mechanics of running than endurance guys at the start of their workout and then they do their intervals or repeats, but the most interesting part was the amount of rest that was taken, there was a couple of times that I thought the guys had finished for the day only for them to come back and work on something else. It was good to watch someone that’s practiced how to run, to see their stride technique. I’m sure they must cringe when they see distance runners trying 200m repeats.

When I got home and had a bit of a rest I met up with my wife and her sister (who had just come in from Vancouver for the Easter weekend) as they took the little guy over to the playground not far from our house. He really loved being there, he loved the slides. He never seemed to get bored and would try to climb up the stairs even though the steps are a little further apart than his little legs can handle right now, I went down a couple of the slides with him and so too hear him laugh brings me great joy and happiness. We went back on Saturday after I got back from my Long run out in St. Albert, but he didn’t seem to like it as much as he watched other kids play before he decided that he wanted to get in on the action.

On Saturday I hooked up with Marc and we ran over the course of the St.Albert 10 miler, that we are racing on in two weeks. I  haven’t made up my mind as to running over this particular course. As sometimes it’s better to not know what you’re facing. The St. Albert course is interesting though with the first 10K being either uphill or downhill, the uphill sections are not very hard but it’s easy to see people going out a little too fast in the beginning and then paying for it after wards. Each uphill section goes up like steps as there is a little flat piece at the end of most of the sections. It’s actually the last 6K that are the toughest as its mostly hills. Thinking ahead it will be interesting to see how this race goes as it’s the first race in the Timex Series here in Alberta, so I’m thinking it’s bound to attract some of the best runners in the province. My goal for the race is to run the best time that I’m capable of and not to worry about who may or may not be there I’m also hoping to beat my time from last year, when I went under the hour for 10 miles for the first time. This is one of my Fitness testing races in the build up to the Calgary Marathon, the only other race that I’m going to run is a week later and I’m not sure if I’m running it yet. The Policeman’s Half Marathon is on April 25th and I think it would be a good race for me as I have about 4-5 weeks to get my act together for Calgary.

Ideally I’d like to get a good time for the 10 mile race and then run at or better than that pace for the Half Marathon and then run the marathon at those paces. It’s not the end of the world if I blow up trying to hard in the Marathon as I’m thinking of also entering the Edmonton Marathon in August. This year I thought I’d support more local races.

Training completed last week:
Monday – 20 minutes in V5fingers + 30 minutes yoga
Tuesday – 50 minute run (no afternoon run as I was picking the family up from the Airport)
Wednesday – 50 minute run (10x1min on/1min off)
Thursday – 50 minutes am + 70 minutes pm
Friday – 5x2K +3x200m/200 rec
Saturday – 30K (including over the 10 Mile course in St. Albert)
Sunday – 65minutes easy