Inside or Out

I don't know; sometimes blog topics just come out the blue.

Today, I was thinking back to a conversation about should runners their wear shorts over or under runner tights. Personally, I wear my under. Why? Well, think about it this way. Would I wear a pair shorts over the pair of jeans. I probably wouldn't. So shouldn't shorts and tights be treated the same way?

Wear them under.

But to each his own and if I see you wearing them over, I promise to not laugh or say anything but I might just smile a little – on the side of course.

 

Sharing one thought at time,

 

The Cool Down Runner

2 x 2 mile with a 3 minute recovery

6 days and one long run later, my training plan had me doing a little 2 by 2 mile with 3 minute recovery yesterday.

Had the option of doing this workout in a few different several places, but opted for McAlpine. My legs seem to work much better when they don't have to handle the rebound of the asphalt. The workout started from the 5k starting line and headed toward Old Bell. I spent quite a bit of time dodging between the Army ROTC students out for their morning workout.

Clocked the first mile in 6:16 and then I tried to really settle in for the 2^nd mile. I finished it in 6:23. No feeling of exhaustion or that I couldn't go any further. 3 minutes passed then it was time to head back from Old Bell.

My legs felt sluggish and my hamstring and glut were flaring just a little. I hit the first mile in 6:17 and then liked in the in first interval, I tried to settle. The next mile was clocked in 6:24.

Standing at the finish, I definitely felt like I had more in the tank but was happy to have completed this one without any issues and wanting more.

Baby steps are happening but good steps.

 

Sharing one thought at a time,

The Cool Down Runner

10 Day Cycle – Training Plan

The month of February continues to march forward and my spring training plan continues to unfold. When I started planning for the spring of '12, I laid out a plan based on a 7 day cycle. However, as I have gotten older, the 7 day cycle just didn't seem to be doing the trick. A couple of years ago when I was heading into the Twin Cities Marathon and on some good advice from Mark Hadley, I tried a 9 day training cycle. The training leading up to Twin Cities wasn't awe inspiring but on race day all of those workouts bared their fruit and I nearly broke 2:40. I was just a couple of seconds shy of doing it.

Thus, I went back to the drawing board and updated my training plan to use a 10 day cycling. I am a couple of years older and the extra recovery day makes even more sense now. My game plan was to alternate up tempo workouts with long study runs. Another way to think about it is I run a long run roughly every 6 days and I run up tempo run every 6 days. One could also look at my plan and see that I do a stressor workout every 3^rd day, but by keeping LR situated in the middle, this allows me to stay well on the aerobic side of the training. The remaining days are broken up into either 10 or 7 mile runs. If I do a long run, I will do 10 miles the next day. If I do a tempo run, I will typically follow it up with a couple of easy 7 mile runs.

Today, I finish my first 10 day cycle and I am happy to report that the training is coming along nicely. Two long runs and a tempo run have been completed. No one run was super fantastic but neither were there any really bad runs. Most runs were right in the middle of where I thought I should be at this point.

Tomorrow begins the next 10 day training cycle and it starts on a tough note. I will be running 2 x 2 miles. Look for a report on this workout over the weekend or early next week.

 

Sharing one thought at time,

The Cool Down Runner

 

Starting a little up tempo work

The last couple of weeks I have been setting at my keyboard a ton, but I am just not getting much time to write on my blog.

Mainly because the last few weeks have been a blur - with an extended board meeting, then the club race, and then Ultra 10k/50k where some friends were running. Throw in some stuff that I am doing at TrySports – Palmetto Relay and 10/4 race H20 stop we are trying to get organized, and then there is the structure that we are trying to put into place for the ambassador team. We met for a "lessons learned" meeting from the CRC 8k race. "Ugh". Then the 1^st of February arrives and the Mileage Program stuff needs to get done, and let's not forget the weekly race results that I pull for the club.

And that's just the side work; I have been doing. My actual paying job has kicked into high gear as well.

Makes me even more tired just setting here typing this post.

"sigh"

Well, February arrived and it is time to begin a new training cycle. My hamstring is coming along very nicely but it is not totally 100% yet. People tell me it really takes a long time for a complete recovery from a bad hamstring pull. Guess this is one of those injuries I just have to ride it out.

That didn't stop me from trying a little up tempo workout Sunday morning during my 10 miler. The first 3 miles I let my body get warmed up nicely, and then I started picking up the pace. Mile one went by in 6:43. Mile two went by in 6:45 slightly up hill. Then twin 6:41 miles for 3 and 4 as I started to settle in to a rhythm. Followed this effort with a nice 3 mile cool down and called it a day.

Total running time was 73 minutes.

This wasn't my best start ever but it was a start. The first step in any process is determining where the bottom is located. Once I know where the bottom is, I can start the journey upwards – climbing the ladder one step at a time.

Next up, I am hitting the roads early in the morning for a 14 miler.

I could go on tonight but I just wanted to share a few quick thoughts before closing down my notebook for the evening.

 

Sharing one thought at time,

 

The Cool Down Runner

Charlotte Ultra 50k and 10k Race Report

Saturday morning saw the first official Ultra race with in the Charlotte City limits to my knowledge. The race was held on the Mallard Creek greenway and comprised of two races a 50k and a 10k.

Both races went off at 8 AM which coincidently was just about the time a steady drizzle began to fall. The 10k runners would make a single lap of the course while the 50k runners would repeat the same course 5 times to make the full 50k distance.

A strong contingent of runners from the Charlotte Running Club came out to display the strength and depth of the club. Club members Ben Hovis and Carolyn Maye won their respective 10k races in 34:38 and 42:08. While club members Mark Carbone and Megan Hovis won their respective races in the 50k: 3:25:31 and 3:44:11.

There were a total of 37 runners for the 10k and 46 runners for the 50k.

Some other notable finishers were club members Val Matena in 3:51:59 and Theoden Janes 4:18:54. Theoden kept saying that he was planning to drop but somehow managed to hang on. His effort bodes well for his upcoming marathon in Columbia, SC next month.

Meredith Dolhare who is a fellow member on our TrySports Ambassador team struggled through some tough times during the race but with a strong mental attitude finished in 5:00:50 seconds. This is a lead up to Meredith's next big race which is a 126.2 mile race from Baton Rouge, LA to New Orleans, LA along the levy. That's a long way to run if I do say so myself.

By my estimation, the area's for ultra distance went off pretty well. Expect it to grow more next year

 

Sharing one thought at time,

The Cool Down Runner