Thursday, September 26, 2013

Lousy tempo 7 mile run

I went out for a simple 7 mile tempo run. 3.5 miles out at 8:30s and then trying for 7:30s back. At two miles back, I had to take a break. I made it back, but here are my splits:

8:30
8:25
8:24
8:25 (pace 1/2 mile)
7:31
7:30
7:38
7:38 (pace 1/2 mile)

The average pace was 8:00 per mile -- which is what I was targeting. But it was tough getting that last 1.5 miles in. The muscles simply didn't have the strength.

1.5 weeks for my leg to repair for the marathon.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

9 x 1 mile repeats...

This is the toughest workout of the session. But with my damaged right hamstring, I knew I wouldn't be able to make the 7:00 miles I would have normally targeted. Here are my splits:

7:22
7:21
7:18
7:19
7:20
7:22
7:30
7:38
7:48

Average time was 7:26 -- which considering I went out hoping for 7:30s is pretty good.

The weird part is that while my legs were sore and I couldn't keep my times under 7:30, my breathing was excellent. I was still able to cheer others on and I didn't have my head between my legs after I crossed the finish.

I'll take it.

Sunday, September 22, 2013

16.6 mile long run - Not bad, considering...

Today was long run day. It was cool -- 10 degrees C., which is as good as it gets this time of year. But my hamstring was still very tight the whole run. A bit of pain still on the landing, and you could hear my right foot shuffling a bit -- almost holding me back -- on every stride. But I did it, so I can't say that I'm disappointed. Still two weeks to recuperate before the big day.

No question that I'll be able to do the marathon and no question that I'll get a PB for the Corning Wineglass Marathon this year. What _is_ in question is whether or not I'll be able to get my BQ.

I was looking for no faster than 8:30s today. Here are my splits today:
9:28
9:10
8:59
8:35
8:23
8:27
8:44
8:50
8:23
8:04
8:14
8:14
8:27
8:38
8:49
8:56
8:50 (pace, 0.61 miles)

My average pace was 8:39, so I'll take it. I definitely struggled up anything with a hill because of my gimpy hamstring. But I'm happy that I was able to run the distance. Lots of stretching of my right leg between now and October 6!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Tempo run - 6 miles -- but sloooooowwwww...

My hamstring was feeling a lot better today, so I thought today's short tempo run might go well. But it didn't. The goal was 8:30's on the 3 mile out and 8:00's or better on the way back. Granted, it was uphill -- but I'd still done it a LOT faster the week prior. Here are my splits:

8:35
8:33
8:37
7:59
8:19
8:29

Running was painful at the start and less painful at the end -- but at the end I didn't have the strength in my right leg to keep the speed up. I couldn't easily extend my leg on my push-off which meant that it was always partially bent -- and my quads at the front of my leg were incredibly tired at the end of just 6 miles.

Jenny had me do some stretches afterwards, so I'll have to keep that up. And I'll have to get rid of the pain so that I can run loosely so that my quads don't tighten up.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Re-Ripped Hamstring on the Weekend. Speed Work Tonight Didn't Go Well...

On the weekend, I was thrown from my horse and in the process I re-ripped my hamstring. You can see a video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TymB8EbEZqc.

So when I went out for speed work tonight, I really didn't know what to expect. But I did know that if I was able to run at all, it would be slow. I ran with Michelle and Nancy, who were looking to do 8 minute miles -- ish. Here are our splits for the 6 mile repeats (with a 2:30 break in between):

8:30
8:10
8:00
8:07
8:05
7:56

So my times generally got faster -- but still only to just above marathon pace. I was in pain for most of the runs -- although it did get less painful as time went on.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

GREAT 9 mile tempo run...

Tonight went waaaaaay better than 2 nights ago. The temperature was much cooler -- roughly 20 degrees C. Bernie went out for our tempo run targeting 8:30 per mile. On the way back, the goal was 7:30 per mile for the 3 miles to the Forks of the Thames water stop, and then 7:20 per mile for the remaining 1.36 miles.

Here are our splits:
8:45
8:21
8:26
8:28
8:23 (0.37 of a mile)
7:21
7:27
7:27
7:13
7:03 (0.36 of a mile).

The overall average pace was 7:55, so I was quite pleased. And the average pace back was 7:20 per mile (4:33.5/k) - which is the best this year, and almost as fast as the 4:31/km I ran on October 25, 2011 which is just before I ran my personal best in Road to Hope.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Speed work - Mile repeats on a humid night. 4.5 x 1 mile at pace, 1.5 miles a trudge...

So, tonight didn't go very well. It was hot -- roughly 35 degrees C. -- and humid. John Ferguson told us to go easy. The goal was 7 x 1 mile repeats. So my original plan was to go out at 7:30 per mile for the first mile, and then knock off 5 seconds per mile for each additional repeat (separated by 2 minutes 30 seconds). We actually started off better than that pace -- but at 4.5 miles, the heat just had me by the balls and I had to take a break. Jenny came along and I did another 1.5 miles with her at 8-ish minutes per mile. Here are my splits:

7:14
7:16
7:15
7:14
7:20 (pace for 1/2 mile)
8:05 (pace for 1/2 mile)
8:07

So not a very successful night. The only comfort I could gather was that there were lots of other people who didn't have a good night -- although Bernie managed to knock off 7:10 per mile on average x 7 miles (with between 2:30 and 3 minutes break).