Who runs at lunch?

Hello,

I have a day job because I can't seem to win the Powerball and I just can't seem to get out of bed during the week at 5 AM for a run so I have to run at lunch. Now call me weird but I actually rally like my lunch time runs. My office has a full service fitness center with showers and lockers so on most days I go over there with my friend Jill and we run between 3 and 5 miles depending on how we feel and what our schedules are like for the day. Now I work from home 2 days a weeks so this routine is my Monday, Tuesday and Thursday plan. I know that a lot of people do this but am I weird that I actually prefer these runs over sitting in the Cafe eating?

This weeks running has been a lot better then the prior week, the issue is purely mental and I guess this week I just have my head in the game.

Tim

Images from the Team Hoyt 5k

These are some images from the Team Hoyt 5k last week, 25:50:

Sorry for not updating my blog, no excuses

So, work has been insane, t-ball, end of the school year events and general family and household responsibilities have kept me busy. That I have had a real hard time staying focused on anything lately. My running quality has been crap, without a running plan I have turned a lot of 8 mile plans into 3 and a lot of 3 into 0. I have had some runs were I felt that this was my forst run ever and that has been tough. I did get to run 7 miles with Chris Russell and Buddy the wonder dog on the trails around my house and that was a good time. I learned a few things, these were things I knew but ignored. One was that I need to remind myself that I like to run and to run for that reason not to hit a target pace etc. The next thing is that I need to leave the gadgets at home and enjoy the experience of running and see what happens to my speed when I don't focus on it. The next thing is that maybe my best 5k pace of 8 minute mile is that pace because I have never tried to run a 7:00 minute pace and I need to just make that jump.

So, I ran a 5k in the 90 degree weather last night "naked", no Suunto, no Garmin nothing and it was really weird. The heat bothered me some and not nowing how far I was in the course was strange but I ran a 25:50 which when I think about it wasn't that bad, not a PR but enough of a positive experience that I will try that again.

So this weekend I plan to run on Sunday morning with just my HRM and run for 90 minutes and see what happens. I also took my road bike out today for the first time and I am going to try to go for 90 minutes on that tomorrow.

So more to come, let me know your thoughts.

Tim

My fall plans, only able to do a half not a full

Well I have been looking over my personal schedule for this fall, my work commitments and I don’t a fall marathon will fit into my schedule. I have a lot of projects around the house, some weddings and my work load in my day job is looking insane. Thus I am going to withdraw my lottery entry for the NYC marathon and focus on running two half marathons (Portland Maine 10/04, and the Baystate on 10/18).

In this tough economy my day job is pushing me to do a lot more with a lot less so I am looking at 60-80 hour work weeks starting in August through November so training 35 to 50 miles a week for a full marathon might lead me to divorce court. Thus training for a half marathon will be a lot more manageable and keep me out of divorce proceedings.

I have a PR of 2:04:18 in Portland from last year and I think that a sub two hour half marathon is a very realistic goal since in the past year I have gotten my race fueling under control. I am going to continue my 20-25 base mile training going between now and July when my 18 week training plan will begin. I am looking to add speed workouts and tempo runs into my base mile training to get my 5k time back to my 24:35 PR from last year (or faster). This will get me at the correct starting point for the paces I am looking to hit for my training plan.

In regards to training plans I have decided to use the FIRST Half Marathon Plan and here is my logic on why:

1. ) I like the idea of 3 key workouts focused on quality of quantity.

2.) I want to add Speed and Tempo runs into my training plan since to run a fast race I need to train at a fast pace.

3.) The concept of trading junk mile runs with cross training to reduce overtraining running injuries makes a lot of sense to me. I know I need to incorporate cycling, rowing, spinning and swimming into my routine to help with my aerobic conditioning without the wear and tear of adding running miles. This would replace the Tuesday and Thursday 3-5 mile runs I do with 30-50 minutes of cross training.

4.) I will utilize the Training Effect on my Suunto T3C to identify the appropriate effort level of my cross training equals the aerobic conditioning I would have gotten from the run. So if I do rowing I am more focused on hitting a Training Effect of a 3.0 for the effort which is what I would have gotten on a run.

5.) Add in my strength training and yoga.

6.) If this works for getting me below two hours then this might be plan for my next marathon.

I am open to ideas and opinions on this plan. I am like most of you, I need a plan that gets me prepared but at the same time deals with the reality of family commitments, work, sleep and sanity.

Cheers,
Tim

Back on the roads..

Well, I can say I am fully recovered from my 26.2 mile run on Patriot's day and when I look back I actually fared pretty well. I went out this past Sunday with my friend Rhonda for a very leisurely 5 run and it was what I needed to get the kinks out. I then decided a 4 mile run in the 93 degree heat to make sure my sweat glands were working and to remind me why I like running in 5 degrees over 93 degrees. I then did a great 5 mile run at 9:25 pace for all 5 and then a nice hill run yesterday.

So I got my running back now I just need to remember the cross training. So today I dusting off the bowflex, the bosu ball and kettlebell for a good weight workout. I need to get ready for the "half marathon challenge" next weekend. I am also thinking of doing the 100 push up challenge, anybody want to do it with me?

Oh, and this weekend I am going to Providence to watch my friend run his first half marathon. I am going to watch him off then run 6 miles downtown and then catch up with him at mile 9 or 10 to pace him in, now that is my idea of a good Sunday morning.

Cheers,
Tim