I got a new program from Andrew and started another Stage.
Changes: I do not have 60 min Hard workouts anymore, there's another way to "entertain" my legs and muscles. This way is Uphill workouts. What a sweaty fun : )
I almost finish this week and here’s the best thing I did on Sun 5/20, right after grueling 60 min run in Astana the day before. This is my first 20 miler ever. You can see the trick I did, started with target 7:40 and then “each mile 5 sec slower” strategy. It worked. Apparently this “strategy” is truly stupid. Because in real competition I would be slower and slower, down to 9:00 pace (!) but for this time this trick is not that bad I think.
Mile 01: 07:39
Mile 02: 07:44
Mile 03: 07:49
Mile 04: 07:54
Mile 05: 07:58
Mile 06: 08:01
Mile 07: 08:05
Mile 08: 08:11
Mile 09: 08:17
Mile 10: 08:25
Mile 11: 08:30
Mile 12: 08:32
Mile 13: 08:37
Mile 14: 08:43
Mile 15: 08:47
Mile 16: 08:54
Mile 17: 08:59
Mile 18: 08:56
Mile 19: 08:58
Mile 20: 08:52
Detailed info on a Garmin screenshot here.
Total time 2h 48m 05s at 8:24 avg.pace.
Olga – thanks for you comments on my first 20 miler. You were that person who encouraged me to be valiant and crack 20 miler since your comment on this topic somewhere in Feb 07. Spasibo!!!
Tomorrow I have that hellish long again. I don’t want it last for more than 3 hours. I guess I will do it the same way with some modifications.
Tonight I finish my first week and it has to be Tempo.
“Start easily then increase pace to 90% maxHR for 20 minutes then back down. Total run time: 1 hour. Increase tempo portion by 5 minutes per week if possible.”
I guess my max.HR is about 179. (yep, so Low) Let’s say 180. Looks like I have to make couple slow miles, then attempt to crack 20 min with HR about 162 !!! (do I have to go to Astana? Not in this summer : ) 20 min with such a High Heart Rate is a daunting task.
Work with Andrew on the way to my race (what is my upcoming race is still not clear for me – Omsk or Moscow?? Shanghai! :) is full of surprises.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Andrew's Stage 1. Over
Blogging is a truly boring thing – that’s what I feel from time to time.
Running would never be boring to me, until I try to hit my mileage up to 80 – 90 mpw. Soon.
Actually, starting right from tomorrow. My “Stage 1” training period with Andrew is over.
Time to draw some analysis.
Mar 07
Week #01 / Sun 18 - Sat 24 / 55.15 mi
Week #02 / Sun 25 - Sat 31 / 65.17 mi
Apr 07
Week #03 / Sun 01 - Sat 07 / 62.06 mi
Week #04 / Sun 08 - Sat 14 / 72.37 mi
Week #.... / Sun 15 - Sat 21 / 40.20 mi
Week in China / Sun 22 - Sat 28 / 5 mi !!!
May 07
Week #04 (again) / Sun 29 - Sat 05 / 55 + mi
Week #05 / Sun 06 - Sat 12 / 71.18 mi
Week #06 / Sun 13 - Sat 19 / 56.26 mi
I am particularly pleased with Week #5 – I do consider it the best week from the First Stage. If you wonder how the perfect week from the First Andrew’s stage looks – see this plot. You can see there, that I had only 1 additional unscheduled warmup for 2.05 miles. Actually it was truly windy that day. What does "windy" mean? Look at the picture - a broken tree 2 meters away from the entrance to my house. By the time I was doing my Hard workout, Mother Nature chilled out. Still wind could be an Issue.
Some Details on my 1st Stage:
- 90 min EZ workouts: Easy run - refreshing. I like them, target HR 140 - 145 and usually I "sink into" (this is from Andrew's vocabulary) those 90 minutes. Normally I did 10+ miles. What a nice running with sub 9:00 pace! (I guess people call it Jogging :)
- 60 min Hard workouts: I knew I could do it at 7:15. But never thought about 7:02 pace and faster pace. Run in such a manner that you can finish without going anaerobic. So, Ladies helped / forced me to run at 7:00 pace for one mile which I had expected to be slower. I didn't catch them, all they did was 400m at average 1m45s which is exactly 7:00 pace. Then they stopped and all I had to do, was keep on running with the same pace. One week later, on
Sat 5/12 I made it again. The Best 60 min Hard workout. 7:00 average pace which was a real surprice for me. There was a guy who joined me right from the the start and as his pace was close to my target pace I made attempt to compete with him. He was smaller, lighter and surely younger than me and he sustained the speed for 15 laps/quarters which is 6k so it less then 30 min. That was all he could do, but I was really thankful to him cause he did a Good Pacemaker's job for me. The rest of the distance I made alone. 1 hour at 7:00, next time I shall aim for 6:57 or so.
One of the worst Hard workout I did in Astana last week.
Sat 5/19. I met Erik at that place. Trip to Astana took almost 3 hours in a van so by the time we started I was simply dehydrated, some water we bought right before the start didn't workm, it was too late. I used to run in Flat Ethno park in the mornings or in my Stadium in PM time which is also absolutely flat. But route in Astana is quite a different thing (Paul you're lucky to have that place to run). There’s a long incline toward the bridge, decline part was with such a strong headwind, so it made the whole running process almost grueling. Slowest mile we did was at 8:11. That was a cruel lesson. Dehydration caused incredibly high HR at the slow pace. All I saw on my Tool was 160 – 161 HR.
We finished with 7.68 mi, 60:00, avg.pace 07:48, avg.HR 159.
“Just not your day to run” I heard from Erik.
(Man, although that was a tough run – thanks a lot! Your Once in a Lifetime experience is almost over. Good luck in New-Hampshire! Hope to see you again someday.)
It was last run for my Stage #1 and Conclusion I’ve drawn from Astana route is that I shall learn more about How to run non-flat routes.
- 2 hours Long runs. This is / (was?) my weekest point. I will work more on it.
If you ever read this article you know How important Long run for marathon runner's preparation - simply a crucial part.
Running would never be boring to me, until I try to hit my mileage up to 80 – 90 mpw. Soon.
Actually, starting right from tomorrow. My “Stage 1” training period with Andrew is over.
Time to draw some analysis.
Mar 07
Week #01 / Sun 18 - Sat 24 / 55.15 mi
Week #02 / Sun 25 - Sat 31 / 65.17 mi
Apr 07
Week #03 / Sun 01 - Sat 07 / 62.06 mi
Week #04 / Sun 08 - Sat 14 / 72.37 mi
Week #.... / Sun 15 - Sat 21 / 40.20 mi
Week in China / Sun 22 - Sat 28 / 5 mi !!!
May 07
Week #04 (again) / Sun 29 - Sat 05 / 55 + mi
Week #05 / Sun 06 - Sat 12 / 71.18 mi
Week #06 / Sun 13 - Sat 19 / 56.26 mi
I am particularly pleased with Week #5 – I do consider it the best week from the First Stage. If you wonder how the perfect week from the First Andrew’s stage looks – see this plot. You can see there, that I had only 1 additional unscheduled warmup for 2.05 miles. Actually it was truly windy that day. What does "windy" mean? Look at the picture - a broken tree 2 meters away from the entrance to my house. By the time I was doing my Hard workout, Mother Nature chilled out. Still wind could be an Issue.
Some Details on my 1st Stage:
- 90 min EZ workouts: Easy run - refreshing. I like them, target HR 140 - 145 and usually I "sink into" (this is from Andrew's vocabulary) those 90 minutes. Normally I did 10+ miles. What a nice running with sub 9:00 pace! (I guess people call it Jogging :)
- 60 min Hard workouts: I knew I could do it at 7:15. But never thought about 7:02 pace and faster pace. Run in such a manner that you can finish without going anaerobic. So, Ladies helped / forced me to run at 7:00 pace for one mile which I had expected to be slower. I didn't catch them, all they did was 400m at average 1m45s which is exactly 7:00 pace. Then they stopped and all I had to do, was keep on running with the same pace. One week later, on
Sat 5/12 I made it again. The Best 60 min Hard workout. 7:00 average pace which was a real surprice for me. There was a guy who joined me right from the the start and as his pace was close to my target pace I made attempt to compete with him. He was smaller, lighter and surely younger than me and he sustained the speed for 15 laps/quarters which is 6k so it less then 30 min. That was all he could do, but I was really thankful to him cause he did a Good Pacemaker's job for me. The rest of the distance I made alone. 1 hour at 7:00, next time I shall aim for 6:57 or so.
One of the worst Hard workout I did in Astana last week.
Sat 5/19. I met Erik at that place. Trip to Astana took almost 3 hours in a van so by the time we started I was simply dehydrated, some water we bought right before the start didn't workm, it was too late. I used to run in Flat Ethno park in the mornings or in my Stadium in PM time which is also absolutely flat. But route in Astana is quite a different thing (Paul you're lucky to have that place to run). There’s a long incline toward the bridge, decline part was with such a strong headwind, so it made the whole running process almost grueling. Slowest mile we did was at 8:11. That was a cruel lesson. Dehydration caused incredibly high HR at the slow pace. All I saw on my Tool was 160 – 161 HR.
We finished with 7.68 mi, 60:00, avg.pace 07:48, avg.HR 159.
“Just not your day to run” I heard from Erik.
(Man, although that was a tough run – thanks a lot! Your Once in a Lifetime experience is almost over. Good luck in New-Hampshire! Hope to see you again someday.)
It was last run for my Stage #1 and Conclusion I’ve drawn from Astana route is that I shall learn more about How to run non-flat routes.
- 2 hours Long runs. This is / (was?) my weekest point. I will work more on it.
If you ever read this article you know How important Long run for marathon runner's preparation - simply a crucial part.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
60 min @ 7:00 pace. New PR with unknown Pacemaker.
OK. That's incredibly funny. Rus made 1 hour PR chasing running ladies. LOL!!!
Technically I improved “girly” record last Saturday and now it’s 60 min at 7:00 sharp.
Will update this later..
Quick announce. I’ll be here in Astana this Sat, 3 pm.
Hopefully to start 1 hour Hard workout with Erik. Paul if you could do it – join us.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Hey Ladies!
Fri, May 4th, 90 min EZ run. That day I made one mistake - a guy from my work had dismissed some time ago and invited co-workers to a local Pizza Hut place to have some Pizza and beer. A glass of beer after work was enough for me to feel dizzy. Oh, Man - I'm not able to tolerate those things - I'm just a runner. Guys and girls were not pleased with Beer and Pizza and started to search for "better" place with hot drinks and disco. Sorry guys, I left you having 90 min EZ run in my ..yep, strange mind. I'm a runner - so No Partying Hard.
Stadium - made 3 incredibly SLOW miles lower than 9:30. I run so slow. I don't want to run, I want to vomit. Sorry for details. I didn't really fight with it, 3 miles was enough. I knew my total weekly milage has to be lower than 60 miles per week. You can't just jump from 5 miles up to 60+ without a high risk of getting injured.
And here's about that unbelievable thing happened right on next day after "Run till you vomit" slow miles.
Sat, May 5th, 61 min, HARD run. (Yes I put 61 min to my Garmin as a tiny "compensation" for Beer run).
Usually I work on Saturdays till lunch time, but that day we didn't work.
Whoa, there are people on my Stadium. I made 1 lap as a warm up reaching sub 7:00 pace. Feel Good after yesterday.
Started. Legs feel so good and I clock first mile with 6:58. OK, it's enough - not so fast, not so fast. Mile #2 has to be 5 sec slower. Don't be stupid - Back Off! 7:05 Yes, I will do my plan, every mile 5 sec slower! Mile #3 is 7:06 - Slow Down, Easy man!
Suddnely, I see 3 ladies 200 meters ahead of me. Just started and they run fast, good. I fixed my eyes on them, looks like they run at 7:15 pace. Let's play traditional Kazakh game called "Catch a Girl", I saw it on TV couple times. A Guy have to catch a Lady riding on a horse, well Lady is also on a horse :). There has to be a Point of Return, untill that point, guy has to catch her, after the Point they return to their village and if he didn't catch her, he's a Looser. She may beat down him with a horsewhip. At least that's what I heard.
OK, half quarter later I still can't catch them, what the sh.. is going on, they do not look like pro athletes. One lady dropped, aha. 2 of them still run fast, 400 meters later I can't catch them, damn. I do sub 7:00 but it's a matter of principle. So, having complete 1 quarter and something ladies suddenly stop. I pass them finally. Uhhg, mile #4 is over - 06:57. Sub 7:00.
Later there were other guys and girls running the same track, but they were not that fast. Those 3 ladies left stadium. Don't blame me - I didn't have to make such a fast workout. It's them who made me run that fast.
Splits:
Mile 01: 06:58
Mile 02: 07:05
Mile 03: 07:06
Mile 04: 06:57
Mile 05: 07:02
Mile 06: 06:57
Mile 07: 07:03
Mile 08: 07:09
0.66 mi 04:51 (pace 07:01)
Sat, May 5, PM, Hard: 8:66 mi, 01:01:00, pace 07:02, avg.HR 158, max.HR 168
As of now, this one is my Best Hard workout.
I walk from "stadium" and on the way home see those 3 girls. I guess they recognized me "That fast Dude". Pass them in silence just say to myself - Thank you girls :)
-------------------------
This week is nothing special, I try to be conservative. Will hit 70 miles tomorrow.
Mar 06, Sun, PM: 13.18 mi, 2:00:00, avg.pace 09:06, avg.HR 137
Mar 07, Mon, AM: 10.12 mi, 1:30:00, avg.pace 08:53, avg.HR 136
Mar 08, Tue, PM: 2.05 mi, 15:56, avg.pace 07:45, warm up
Mar 08, Tue, PM: 8.10 mi, 60:00, avg.pace 07:24, avg.HR 148
Mar 09, Wed, PM: 10.56 mi, 1:30:00, avg.pace 08:31, avg.HR 142
Mar 10, Thu, PM: 8.08 mi, 60:00, avg.pace 07:25, avg.HR 147
-------------------------
I already have 52.09 miles on my deposit. Today & tomorrow, 2 workouts left (about 10 EZ mi today + 8 Hard mi tomorrow). I've got a big temptation to make 3-4 slow-slow miles to hit my Personal Best week. From other hand, it's not good to get to a high mileage so fast. I'll be conservative. I better get going...
Stadium - made 3 incredibly SLOW miles lower than 9:30. I run so slow. I don't want to run, I want to vomit. Sorry for details. I didn't really fight with it, 3 miles was enough. I knew my total weekly milage has to be lower than 60 miles per week. You can't just jump from 5 miles up to 60+ without a high risk of getting injured.
And here's about that unbelievable thing happened right on next day after "Run till you vomit" slow miles.
Sat, May 5th, 61 min, HARD run. (Yes I put 61 min to my Garmin as a tiny "compensation" for Beer run).
Usually I work on Saturdays till lunch time, but that day we didn't work.
Whoa, there are people on my Stadium. I made 1 lap as a warm up reaching sub 7:00 pace. Feel Good after yesterday.
Started. Legs feel so good and I clock first mile with 6:58. OK, it's enough - not so fast, not so fast. Mile #2 has to be 5 sec slower. Don't be stupid - Back Off! 7:05 Yes, I will do my plan, every mile 5 sec slower! Mile #3 is 7:06 - Slow Down, Easy man!
Suddnely, I see 3 ladies 200 meters ahead of me. Just started and they run fast, good. I fixed my eyes on them, looks like they run at 7:15 pace. Let's play traditional Kazakh game called "Catch a Girl", I saw it on TV couple times. A Guy have to catch a Lady riding on a horse, well Lady is also on a horse :). There has to be a Point of Return, untill that point, guy has to catch her, after the Point they return to their village and if he didn't catch her, he's a Looser. She may beat down him with a horsewhip. At least that's what I heard.
OK, half quarter later I still can't catch them, what the sh.. is going on, they do not look like pro athletes. One lady dropped, aha. 2 of them still run fast, 400 meters later I can't catch them, damn. I do sub 7:00 but it's a matter of principle. So, having complete 1 quarter and something ladies suddenly stop. I pass them finally. Uhhg, mile #4 is over - 06:57. Sub 7:00.
Later there were other guys and girls running the same track, but they were not that fast. Those 3 ladies left stadium. Don't blame me - I didn't have to make such a fast workout. It's them who made me run that fast.
Splits:
Mile 01: 06:58
Mile 02: 07:05
Mile 03: 07:06
Mile 04: 06:57
Mile 05: 07:02
Mile 06: 06:57
Mile 07: 07:03
Mile 08: 07:09
0.66 mi 04:51 (pace 07:01)
Sat, May 5, PM, Hard: 8:66 mi, 01:01:00, pace 07:02, avg.HR 158, max.HR 168
As of now, this one is my Best Hard workout.
I walk from "stadium" and on the way home see those 3 girls. I guess they recognized me "That fast Dude". Pass them in silence just say to myself - Thank you girls :)
-------------------------
This week is nothing special, I try to be conservative. Will hit 70 miles tomorrow.
Mar 06, Sun, PM: 13.18 mi, 2:00:00, avg.pace 09:06, avg.HR 137
Mar 07, Mon, AM: 10.12 mi, 1:30:00, avg.pace 08:53, avg.HR 136
Mar 08, Tue, PM: 2.05 mi, 15:56, avg.pace 07:45, warm up
Mar 08, Tue, PM: 8.10 mi, 60:00, avg.pace 07:24, avg.HR 148
Mar 09, Wed, PM: 10.56 mi, 1:30:00, avg.pace 08:31, avg.HR 142
Mar 10, Thu, PM: 8.08 mi, 60:00, avg.pace 07:25, avg.HR 147
-------------------------
I already have 52.09 miles on my deposit. Today & tomorrow, 2 workouts left (about 10 EZ mi today + 8 Hard mi tomorrow). I've got a big temptation to make 3-4 slow-slow miles to hit my Personal Best week. From other hand, it's not good to get to a high mileage so fast. I'll be conservative. I better get going...
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Ease Back
Let me here quote Andrew: I agreee with you, repeat those weeks and build yourself back up. Just be careful not to overdo it on the first week back in terms of speed. The milage and time can be brought back rather quickly, but the intensity needs to be measured..
Have a good day and ease back into the "hard" with caution.
Thank you Andrew!
So, Week #4, Apr, Sun 29 - May, Sat 5 is over.
Totals: 59.88 mi
I have to make here some analysis - I paid a lot of attention to HARD on Tue, Thu, Sat. Always look at 90 min EZ as at "routine". Now I see this is a Big Mistake. I was told in the beginning that "sequence of Hard/EZ runs is important". But I'[m only human. Supposed to make mistake. But sometimes it brings good results. Am I right or am I wrong. Technically I have no clue. Here is how I did me week.
Tue, May 1, PM: 01:00:00 Hard, 7:99 mi, pace 7:31, avg.HR 151
Wed, May 2, AM: 01:30:00 EZ, 9:91 mi, pace 9:05, avg.HR 142
Thu, May 3, PM: 01:00:00 Hard, 8:01 mi, pace 7:30, avg.HR 143 - moonlighting
Fri, May 4, PM: 00:28:57 EZ, 3:00 mi, pace 9:39, avg.HR 120
Sat, May 5, PM: 01:01:00 Hard - this one, I did yesterday was truly special and unbelievable... Sorry my Inet time in cafe over. Will finish soon.
Have a good day and ease back into the "hard" with caution.
Thank you Andrew!
So, Week #4, Apr, Sun 29 - May, Sat 5 is over.
Totals: 59.88 mi
I have to make here some analysis - I paid a lot of attention to HARD on Tue, Thu, Sat. Always look at 90 min EZ as at "routine". Now I see this is a Big Mistake. I was told in the beginning that "sequence of Hard/EZ runs is important". But I'[m only human. Supposed to make mistake. But sometimes it brings good results. Am I right or am I wrong. Technically I have no clue. Here is how I did me week.
Tue, May 1, PM: 01:00:00 Hard, 7:99 mi, pace 7:31, avg.HR 151
Wed, May 2, AM: 01:30:00 EZ, 9:91 mi, pace 9:05, avg.HR 142
Thu, May 3, PM: 01:00:00 Hard, 8:01 mi, pace 7:30, avg.HR 143 - moonlighting
Fri, May 4, PM: 00:28:57 EZ, 3:00 mi, pace 9:39, avg.HR 120
Sat, May 5, PM: 01:01:00 Hard - this one, I did yesterday was truly special and unbelievable... Sorry my Inet time in cafe over. Will finish soon.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Totals. Still in the Club '200+ miles a month'
As I agreed with Andrew, I'm doing week #4 again,
Apr, Sun 29 - May, Sat 5
Apr 29, Sun, AM: 12.02 miles, 2:00:00, 9:59 avg.pace, avg.HR 141
First time I ran in the Steppe this year - feels great.
Cheap Shanghai sneakers caused blisters on my toes on this Long run. Ouch!
Apr 30, Mon, AM: 10.29 miles, 1:30:00, 8:45 avg.pace, avg.HR 143
And that was all - month over.
Total milage for April - 201.94 miles. 10 damn days off!!
Total milage for March was 236.62 miles. Two decent month in the stock, sorry, in the Bank. It's not a time to expect great dividents though.
Happy Running to Everybody!
P.S. Olga, I found you an Ultra in Mongolia! Seriously. It would be real tough work.
About one special marathon in Russia, will tell you soon.
Paul, Astana, Kaz - Are you that man, who ran Astana marathon with me on Sat, Sep 9, 2006? Only you could live and work in Astana and ran Boston in April. If it is you - I've got several pictures of that race and even 320x240 video. I live and run in Karaganda (in Kazakh language - Karagandy or even Qaraghandy). I will visit Astana in the end of May to have a 'Hard' run (1 hour @ 7:30 pace) with running pal Erik, possibly along Ishim river.
Apr, Sun 29 - May, Sat 5
Apr 29, Sun, AM: 12.02 miles, 2:00:00, 9:59 avg.pace, avg.HR 141
First time I ran in the Steppe this year - feels great.
Cheap Shanghai sneakers caused blisters on my toes on this Long run. Ouch!
Apr 30, Mon, AM: 10.29 miles, 1:30:00, 8:45 avg.pace, avg.HR 143
And that was all - month over.
Total milage for April - 201.94 miles. 10 damn days off!!
Total milage for March was 236.62 miles. Two decent month in the stock, sorry, in the Bank. It's not a time to expect great dividents though.
Happy Running to Everybody!
P.S. Olga, I found you an Ultra in Mongolia! Seriously. It would be real tough work.
About one special marathon in Russia, will tell you soon.
Paul, Astana, Kaz - Are you that man, who ran Astana marathon with me on Sat, Sep 9, 2006? Only you could live and work in Astana and ran Boston in April. If it is you - I've got several pictures of that race and even 320x240 video. I live and run in Karaganda (in Kazakh language - Karagandy or even Qaraghandy). I will visit Astana in the end of May to have a 'Hard' run (1 hour @ 7:30 pace) with running pal Erik, possibly along Ishim river.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)