Trail Running Blog

DailyMile Running Updates: August 10-15, 2009

This is the week before the America’s Finest City Half Marathon and 5K, so I didn’t want to do anything too crazy to get myself tired or injured before the race. I’m only doing the 5K and am starting to feel bad just racing such a short distance. I can back myself by saying that I have only been running 3-5 mile workouts since I started running again in March and have hit 6-7 about 3 times. When I ran in high school cross country, the most we ever ran was 10-11 miles, so racing 13.1 miles just seems so impossible for me right now. But constantly reading other people’s running blogs about how many marathons and half’s they’ve ran has really motivated me to finally get one under my belt. After the AFC 5K, I will start looking for longer distance races and also register for a couple of half marathons and probably one full so that I will have no choice but to get started on a training program for those races. It’s probably going to be a really hard workout schedule with many more miles than I have ever ran before, but I know I can do it. I hope I can..

I’m glad out of the 5-6 days that I run a week, I have been able to have at least one good run that I can be proud to talk about. Monday, I went to get some Thai food after work but wouldn’t be able to get it if I ran first so tried to eat and run afterwards, big mistake. The last time I did that, I had sushi before and felt like it was going to come back out. I guess my body just doesn’t digest fast enough and I will have to always run before I eat. Tuesday, I decided to attempt another long run, but not get lost this time like I did last week. In addition to the miles, I also pulled out a pretty fast first mile too: 6:24.

On Thursday, I decided to run my regular route in reverse. I do that every now and then because the first time I ever tried it, I ran my fastest for that route and have since had some pretty good runs. I think it’s because I’m used to running the regular route and seeing the same checkpoints. But when I do the route in reverse, I sort of feel lost, so I don’t really know how much distance is left at each mile. I could be wrong and it could just be my brain tricking me to run fast and not tell my body that it’s tired 🙂 But on this day, I ran a decent first mile: 6:40 (I’ve ran faster first miles before) but what was a really good sign was that after that first mile, my breathing was well under control and I didn’t feel tired at all! I was able to keep at that same pace, more or less, for miles 2 and 3, which is really hard for me to do. And I don’t know where it came from, but I just ran like the wind for that last mile: 6:06! Looking at the time, I feel like it was a mistake on watch or something, but unless I cheated and ran through the parking lot, it’s not possible.

What’s even cooler is that I ran the 6:06 on the fourth mile of a run. I ran a 5:55 first mile at Bonita 5000 5K Race about 2 months ago and was dead for the rest of the race. Just a really positive sign of improvement, I guess. For tomorrow, I will try and run a similar first mile, but this time I will have had a lot more training under my belt to sustain that pace.

Monday, August 10, 2009
The Loop – 4 mi / 29:27, 7:21 min/mile

Note to self: do not run one hour after eating rice and noodles. Felt like puking and had a side stitch! Took it easy today, but had a lot left over so picked it up..significantly. Splits: 7:32, 7:40, 7:36, 6:37.

HR Avg: 158 Max: 186
Calories: 490

Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Long Run – 6.08 mi / 41:12, 6:46 min/mile

My long run for the week, but this time just went out and back, no random turns like last time [http://www.dailymile.com/people/SDrunner/entries/320084]

Was able to get splits for the first three miles: 6:24, 6:57, 6:47.

HR Avg: 158, Max: 187
Calories: 822

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Loop – 4 mi / 27:22, 6:50 min/mile

Pretty comfortable run today, sad to see positive splits though (only 5-10 sec after each mile, so not that big of a deal..)

Splits: 6:41, 6:45, 6:54, 7:01

HR Avg: 167, Max: 181
Calories: 498

Thursday, August 13, 2009
Reverse Loop – 4 mi / 25:48, 6:27 min/mile

Topped my previous fastest for this route by over 30 seconds! Felt really good after the first mile, breathing was well under control w/ HR at 154 bpm. Kept it up for the next two miles and just hauled butt on the last mile. Almost broke 6 minutes!! Splits: 6:40, 6:28, 6:32, 6:06

Absolutely no reason why I don’t kill it during the 5K race on Sunday 🙂

HR Avg: 176, Max: 198
Calories: 511

Friday, August 14, 2009
Easy Run – 4.02 mi / 29:53, 7:26 min/mile

Easy, comfortable run today. Felt really good and HR was really low. Wasn’t even tired at the end of the run and wanted to run some more, but need to save up for the 5K on Sun.

HR Avg: 152 Max: 164
Calories: 468

Saturday, August 15, 2009
Easy Pre-AFC 5K Run – 2 mi

Easy pre-race run. Getting nervous and excited for my 5K tom. Good luck to everyone running the #AFC Half & 5K!