Tag Archives: 10k

Fastest run yet (well in recent days anyway…)

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Today I headed out on my typical 10k course, basically the same route I have been doing a lot lately. Since I rededicated myself to running regularly about three weeks ago I think I have run this route every time but once. One nice thing about doing your running in this manner is it really allows you to judge improvements. So my mini-goal as of late has been to speed up my times. I have been fighting a cold/flu for the last week or so but I have still been able to keep up with running albeit slow runs of greater than 10 min miles. So my mini-goal should be attainable! Not only have I increased my general fitness, but I have also beaten this bug. So on Thursday when I finally topped the 10 min mile mark for an average pace I was pretty excited and figured I was on my way. But then the next day (yesterday) I was back over 10 min miles, my excuse de jour is that I rolled my ankle in the middle of the run. The rolled ankle was not bad enough that I had to hobble home, my rubber ankle rebounded pretty quickly and I was able to walk it off. But I do think that slowed me down a bit as I was trying to be careful.

As a side note I have been experiencing what I think is probably an over-training issue with my foot. Could also have something to do with the new shoes (more than likely a combo). I have some pain on the top of my foot right in the area of the top of my shoe tongue. I really only feel it when I first get started and then it seems to go away. I loosened my laces a bit today and I think that might have actually helped but I still felt the ache for the first mile or so. It seems to be lessened if I focus on a mid-strike and more pronounced if I am hitting with ball of my foot. Hills also seem to irritate this pain a bit. But like I said after a mile or so the pain seems to be gone.

So today I struck out for run #3 in a row. What was different today? I didn’t have the ankle as an excuse, it felt fine (not even a twinge). The top of my foot still experienced pain for the first mile, but that went away as I got going. So, back to the difference (enough whining), I decided early in my run to start pushing myself. It wasn’t quite a tempo run, but I refused to let myself take it easy. My runs have been coming easier and easier which is nice, but today I pushed myself back into that point of exertion similar to how things felt when I was starting out again. I kept reminding myself to go and not take it easy. Again, this was by no means a race pace, but I felt myself working hard throughout the run. And that was the difference. These past three weeks I was just happy to be running regularly again. Today I got passed that and into a training mindset. Well not completely, but I wanted to work today and it paid off. After four miles I was pretty sure I was going to break a 10 min mile average as I was three mins up. I kept pushing and was soon four mins ahead. By the time I finished my average pace was 9:17. Pretty happy with that! Hopefully I will keep that work ethic up or at least on quality run days.

My PR for a 10k is 49:00, today I hit 10k at around 56 mins. Not to bad and plenty of room for improvement.

Illustrated 10k

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Ok, this was an experiment. I took pics every 30 seconds or so on my run, some better than others, some (well ok many) worse than others. I wanted to narrate, but since the blog let me put them in as a gallery, I’ll just do it that way. Here is the run on Garmin.

 

Fastest slow run this year

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In my winter of base maintenance I have been running a lot of 10 distance runs. I have been doing them pretty slowly until recently when I have been pushing the tempo a bit. I can’t even classify these junk runs as LSD runs anymore in my journal, they have been closer to tempo runs (but not really). I had been noticing that my pace has been pretty good for the first 3-4 miles, but then slows down considerably in the final 2+. Some of that I have been blaming on the hills in the fifth mile wearing me out, but I don’t think it has been the only factor. I also think it is a conditioning issue as well and that I just poop out towards the end with my pace dropping to 10-11 min miles.

So this week in an effort to battle the slow death of my running pace I have been pushing my tempo throughout the runs and especially so at the end. Yesterday I was rewarded with my fastest 10k time this year, just under an hour. My average HR in these runs has been really high and I even hit my max of 189 during my final push to finish in under an hour (59:45). I think I will start sprinkling in these runs in preparation for starting marathon training, which I need to get going on soon. The race I am targeting is the Vancouver Marathon on June 19th (just checked the date and I am happy to see I have another 2 weeks! I thought it was the 5th for some reason.) I am not totally sure I will do the race, but I’d like to try for it. I can make my decision to back out if the training gets to be too much. But conditioning wise I am right on target to start training. My weight is low and I have been maintaining my base enough (could have always been better…) My weight (hovering around 180) is perfect for starting the regimen. If I can shed another 10 pounds by race day I’ll be happier, but I think it is doable at that weight. It should be nice running in Vancouver (WA not BC) for the change of scenery. They are promising a flat and scenic course along the Columbia and Fort Vancouver.

Not sure if I will run today, mostly for time reasons (busy with work, except for right now and I suppose I could head out the door for a slow recovery run.) We’ll see, I mostly wanted to write today as my blog maintenance has been lapsing more than my running!

Pints to Pasta results and observations

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I just took a look at the official times and results for the 10k we just did. My official time was 52:13 which put me in 633rd place out of 2580, not bad. In my age group I was 74th out of 147, so just out of the top 50%. Of all male runners I was 410 out of 878, so I cracked the top 50% there, just not in my age group. Weird. My overall pace was 8:24. I am happy.

Pints to Pasta 10k 2010

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Yesterday (we had to get up so early for it I almost want to say “last week”) my running partner and I headed over to the Old Spaghetti Factory for the Pints to Pasta 10k. Parking was well organized and we quickly got a spot and headed to packet pick-up. My running partner’s packet was missing, but they quickly got her another number assigned. So far so good.

The course was a one way route from the Adidas headquarters to the Old Spaghetti Factory. Race organizers had many school buses ready to haul us up to Adidas. After a loud (the bus radio was only turned down after we departed the bus) but safe trip we found ourselves 6.2 miles away from our start. The race offered dry clothing transfer which I used for my new race shirt. They made a point of having us use our packet bags for this so that they didn’t have to waste another bag which I thought was great (unnecessary advice for some, of course that is what we would do, but apparently not everyone is on board with not wasting…) So when I got to the drop off I was shocked that they insisted on putting my bag inside an identical bag. I protested but they refused to use my identical bag for the sticker and hurried me on (which for the sake of the 1000s of runners behind me I did, but grumblely so…)

Next stop was coffee. The race was to supply coffee for waiting runners. Turned out all we found were two small empty tureens. We weren’t the only ones. Runner after runner lined up to attempt to tilt the tureen to get some coffee. No luck. Fortunately, we eventually saw a couple of new jugs coming up to the area and we were able to quickly get in line, yay!

The race started in a relatively well organized manner. There were many obviously slower runner lined up at the start line, corkers! But I am sure everyone figured out how to get in front on them eventually. We followed a line for the bathroom and eventually gave up when the line intersected with the mobs at the starting line. Next year they should move post-a-pots away from the start line. But not too big a foul.

We decided to not push the race too much, neither of us figured to set a PR that day. But it was a race after all and what are you going to do but push it. The first two miles of the course were downhill and we all got a great start. I found myself pushing it a bit and passing several people. Our plan to run together only lasted for a couple miles and we lost each other on the bridge. At that point I decided to push it (and so did my running partner behind me somewhere). In reality my pace picked up slightly from the downhill, but not too much and I was able to keep a pretty even pace throughout the race of 8:24.

After the downhill approach to the BroadwayBridge, we had a slight uphill to get to the bridge. Once across we looped around to Naito on a path similar to all the downtown Portland races. Once we got to the waterfront, we all left Naito and got on the waterfront path and headed South. At the end of the west waterfront we took an uphill through a small festival and then headed to the south waterfront district. Quickly through that area we were on our way towards the finish line. I was starting to feel like I had really been pushing it and my HR was really high and the last 20 mins of the race I spent over 180. I made a small effort to keep it under that, but I wanted to finish fast even though at 5 miles I knew I was behind my PR of 49 mins. The last mile I did slow my pace a bit to around 8:40. The last corner revealed the finish line balloons, but they still seemed really far away! What was supposed to be inspirational wasn’t for me at all (same with my running partner)! I looked away and kept going and crossed the line at 52:16. Not bad at all and better than I was anticipating. My running partner set a PR for the 10K and this after thinking she wouldn’t do that well! Congrats!

The after race party was great with pasta and beer (or root beer for those of us who figured 9AM was a little early to drink.) Pasta and beer lines were well organized and they had plenty of table space for us as well as a band. All in all a really good race that was very enjoyable. I want to do it again next year, I do think I’ll be able to beat my PR here. Things to change for me next year would be to bring some water and to do a get before starting. Both I think would help. Music would help me as well. I know I can do it, gotta shave off 30 secs per mile though…

Speedwork and then taper

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Today I find myself in the midst of a short two day taper, actually all I am doing is a break for the two days. No reason to really taper for this race as I am not planning on attempting any sort of PR and I haven’t really been training other than my usual. My goal is a finish under an hour, should be doable. Weather should be nice and cool for the race and I am looking forward to the beer and pasta!

The last run I did was a speed workout at the track, my usual straights and curves. I felt really strong throughout the workout. I didn’t really push my sprints that much except to pass a slower runner as I approached a curve. I was coming in just over 6 min miles on the straights. I also added a loop and a half through the canyon to cool down. Overall a really solid quality run for the day.

I wanted to do a recovery run last night, but ended up blowing it off with the help of my running partner! Neither of us really felt like doing anything last night, so we didn’t.

300 recovery day

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This is the 300th post to this blog and I celebrated with a recovery run with the extra loop in the canyon. I did pretty well keeping my HR proper, only going over my 70% max when I came out of the canyon and up to the neighborhood. The canyon this morning was a lot less humid than the last couple days, I think the winds cleared it out a bit. My legs feel pretty good, no further pain except usual tiredness (maybe a bit more than usual…) Tonight = more foam rolling.

I signed up for the Pints to Pasta 2010 run today. Really don’t like paying the fees for online payment on activities, be it races, concerts, whatever. But I am lazy and want it now, so there you go.I am looking forward to running another race to cap off the summer.

So my big toe that I have been having splitting nail issues mad it self known the other night.  I thought the split part was healing, but I snagged it and ripped a chunk off of my toe. I bled all over the place. At first I was worried about  how it would feel on my next run, but it wasn’t going to stop me and it actually wasn’t bad at all. I used a salve called Oregon Cream II on the area and then a band-aid over the top, wrapped around my toe it stayed on for the run. It seems to be getting better as long as it doesn’t get infected I’ll be ok running this week and Pints to Pasta on 9.12.

My college buddy who I road tripped with last week is reading Chi Running which I sent him (and some sport beans and runners junk mail). He has been doing a few ten minute runs. He is pretty active so in good shape, but he says he feels new muscles. I’m glad he is getting into it. I am curious to hear more about how (and if) he employs “the way”!

Good recovery day!

10k on Sunday, last race of the season?

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Its funny when I committed to running these three races earlier in the year it seemed like so much. I even left it open in the back of my mind to bag one or more of these races. Now that I have the two big ones done (Shamrock 15K and Race for the Roses half marathon) I am looking for more to do. The competition bug has bitten!

Racing with a group of people is a blast. I have become way more accepting of the fact that there are faster runners than me and I can just let them go. I don’t even care if I pass them up at the end or not. I have always embraced the concept of racing against myself only, but it has always bugged me a little bit to get passed. But the good thing about a race is that I am not the slowest runner there, so I get to pass people as well. Hasn’t seemed like I pass as many people as I did at the height of my racing shape when I did the Portland Marathon in 2006, but I still managed to leave fellow racers in the dust. But its still not about that, right? I am racing against myself and past performances. If I can set a PR, or even best my previous time, then I am feeling good.

This race coming up I am not expecting to set a PR. The first time I ran this race, I did it in 49 minutes. It was my second 10K and that time has held up as the best I have. I would love to beat it Sunday, but it is going to take a supreme effort to do so. I need a pace of less than 8 min miles to do it, egads! I am curious to see what I can muster for it.

This week I haven’t been pushing it miles wise. I think I will get another tempo run in before the race, hopefully on Friday and then take Saturday off for a rest day. I would like to run today but I have a pretty busy day. I was up early this morning and should have gone out, but I am still a bit tired after last nights seven miles up Lief Erickson. We went slow, but the first half is all uphill so it is a good workout.

I don’t think I will try to super hydrate for this race as it isn’t too far. But I will keep up the good diet and try to fuel up that way.