And So It Begin

Marathon training for CIM (California International Marathon) began on Monday - with a rest day :) Tuesday's 7 miler at a general aerobic pace was a nice and easy and today's scheduled 9 miler had to be cut a bit short but I got in miles which is what counts for the first week. I'll be modifying the weekly plan a little bit to account for travel plans (seeing the entire family!!!) and racing (Kansas City Race for the Cure).

All-in-all, I'm pretty excited about this new 18 week program and if I'm not ready to go and race a marathon (3:10 hopefully) well, then maybe it is time to hang up those thoughts of a BQ. So, as it goes, this will be my new home for a training log - all the ups, downs and all arounds...

Progression run and a Reboot

It had been so long since I did a progression run / LT run that I forgot how much they are! I headed out for my 15 min warm up, 20 LT run, 10 min cool down with my Garmin 305 to make sure I ran at what I thought were my LT paces / heart rates. Of course, not any training above 70% MHR for about a year except for the occasional run with Andy, I really was concerned with running too hard too soon. My fears were quickly absorbed when I looked at my watch about 10 min into the LT section and saw that I was running at 7:05 pace and at 170 BPM (80%) and that it felt quiet comfortable. I held this pace / HR for a solid 14 min (looking at the charts afterwards) before my heart rate started to creep. But, the good news was that it was just a standard HR creep, not more than 5 BPM as I ran into the wind and as my pace quickened. Overall my LT session was:

20:03, 2.71 miles (7:24 pace), 171 Average Heart Rate

After my run, I quickly made my way to the movie theater to see "Spirit of the Marathon". It was a great in depth look at the marathon and I think it provided wonderful historical information. Who knew that the British were responsible for the additional .2 of the marathon? Just so the royal family could watch the beginning of the marathon...

What the Spirit of the Marathon Trailer...

A Half Grandma

The Gary Bjorkland 1/2 Marathon (Grandma's 1/2...) lottery opened today for which I entered my name. Having run Grandma's a number of times I am really excited with the prospect of actually enjoying the second half :) You are bussed to the 1/2 way point of the marathon and run to the finish. This means instead of being in a haze as I enter Duluth, I could actually remember most of the sights and sounds. Duluth is a truly special place during Grandma's and will be interesting to see from a different vantage point.

My Spring / Early Summer racing schedule is looking pretty full and I started my initial training program for the Drake Relays 1/2 Marathon (4/26). After nearly 2 years of rebuilding and base building I feel ready to focus on race specific training and continue to progress toward my 2008 goal of a Boston Marathon Qualifying attempt. Drake (4/26) and Hospital Hill (6/7) are tune ups for the Gary Bjorkland 1/2 where I'd really like to put the hammer down.

Hopefully by then the Minnesota weather will have turned warm again! Right now that seems hard to imagine (-11 as I type...)

Winter - So Harsh & So Cruel

If I lived in Southern California or even Kansas City where I grew up, Winter running would be a breeze. But Minnesota is no Southern California and this Winter has been especially harsh compared to previous years.

As I type this it's -6. That's not six degrees below freezing either. That's six degrees below zero, the point at which temperature records no value :) This past week, Norther Minnesota reached the point where celsius and fahrenheit are the same, -40. And that was without the wind chill. Now, I'll be the first to admit that Minnesota has a dry cold and if you layer properly you can run outside even when it's -15 but this is after pulling out all the tricks - warming up inside in full gear before heading out, multiple layers of socks, running at the warmest part of the day, running into the wind for the 1st half of the run so you aren't chilled coming back, and so on...

Of course a treadmill offers a nice 72 degree run at whatever pace you want, with your choice of TV show, and a "cushioned" ride...but then again, I wouldn't see the kids playing hockey out on Lake of the Isles or witness wonderful Winter pastel sunsets or appreciate the day when Spring finally arrives.

It's been a long Winter and we still have a way to go but my training has been strong (still averaging about 30 MPW) and the few warm weather runs I've gotten in have been very strong.

So, here's to the rest of Winter and a fast Spring!

Death to the Treadmill

Yesterday was my 10th treadmill run of the Winter and I think I've just about had it. I'm finding I can't go farther than 5 miles total on the treadmill and lately I've been breaking up the run into multiple segments. I'm either doing long repeats or 3 miles then lifting and then running the last 2 miles or just stopping after 2 miles. I can't stand the treadmill! iPod, TV, whatever....I can't just run in one place. I need to feel the cold air in my lungs, see the trees moving by, run under the illuminating moon or watch the sunrise...

Being a Better Runner

I've always had a voice in my head that continually tells me I can't go faster and it's been a different reason at different moments in my life. In high school, I couldn't get my legs to turn over quick enough but my lungs always felt fine. The result...I could run a 2:00 1/2 mile but never get faster than that. Now that I'm older it's the fact that I can't sustain high mileage weeks because my body is broken down from flat feet and years of punishment.

But are these physical limitations or mental limitations? Is my mind interpreting the signals my body is delivering it correctly or is it going into "protection mode"? My guess is that it is going into protection mode.

Because of this, I've spent the entire year setting myself up for this winter running season. In order to run the marathon as I want to (sub 3:10) I knew I needed to put in much higher mileage per week than what I have in the past. 30 miles a week won't bring about a 3:10 marathon. 55 miles a week might. I started by increasing my mileage but making sure I had plenty of time to recover between runs. Then I focused a bit on speed to rev up my engine and shake up my training. This also allowed me to focus on more running days per week but less miles per day. And now, I've moved onto more running days per week and more miles per day. So far, I've run injury free all year and seen wonderful improvements but I'm sure my mind will start to tell me otherwise...

Here's a great article that talks about the "mental" aspects of exercise...

I'm Not Really Running, I'm Not Really Running...(nytimes.com)

So Much to Be Thankful For!

Thanksgiving, while all about corn casserole and stuffing...a 5K has somehow always managed to find it's way into the early morning hours before football and cheer take over. Generally I've run the Sprint Thanksgiving 5K in Kansas City. My father was a consultant for Sprint for many years and I can't argue with the fact that Sprint paid my way through college - thank you Dad! - and I never had a problem donating some money to their bottom line. The t-shirts where nothing that you wrote home about but I always seemed to wear them on cold winter days, even if they were cotton. And the sight of McGonigle's Market with the perfectly cut Kansas City Strip Steaks...oh boy. Yes, they are called Kansas City Strip Steaks - have you ever seen a cow in New York? Exactly. I'd gladly show you cows up against property lines where I'm from...

Unfortunately, this year Katie was at the hospital working on Thanksgiving and we couldn't make the drive to KC from MPLS until Friday morning. But what would Thanksgiving be without a 5K!!!! So I ran the LifeTime Fitness Turkey Day 5K. Technical T-Shirts and $18 with my LifeTime Fitness discount!!!!

The start was only 1.8 miles from my doorstep in downtown MPLS. The Target Center (where the NBA T-Wolves play) would be the starting area and it was quite nice for the approx 10,000 runners. Needless-to-say, I was hoping I could get a nice warm up in and make my way to the front of the crowd for a decent starting spot - uhhhh, yea right.

It was a cold and crisp morning - that means 12 above with -6 wind chill for you southerners....that's how we do it up here around Thanksgiving. I was layered in plenty of clothes and the city was quite still for a Saturday morning. I made my way down Nicolet Ave where the Holidazzle Parade runs and then saw a number of other runners making their way to the start. It was nice to see that others had run their way to the start...it was in downtown MPLS after all and we know how much better it is to run down then drive ;)

I was amazed by how many runners / walkers / happy goers there were....my plan to start up front was quickly diminished...that's OK...I'm just running to eat what I want, right?

Not so much. I had run sub 21 in August for a 5K and I easily thought I could beat that time. But starting this far back would be tough - plus it was FREEZING, oh wait, below freezing and below ZERO for the wind chill. So I re-adjusted my goal (just run sub 7:15 pace) but even this seemed impossible when I realized that 5,000 people were ahead of me from the start and I knew how skinny MPLS downtown streets can be.

The gun went off and I just stood there. It was great to see so many people having a wonderful time and participating in being thankful for their family, friends and health. I tried to suck it in for a second and then instantly became pissed about the fact that I was going to be running behind walkers and the like for a LONG TIME.

Sure enough, I had to stop (dead stop) twice within the first mile and I was running on sidewalks. Did I mention it was snowing and the footing was a bit slick? Yea, that's Minnesota for ya.

About 1/2 way through the River Road section I was able to find my stride and I felt awesome. My legs were strong, my breathing was perfect. I had been picking off runners since the beginning and I was determined, if you walk at the beginning I'll pass you - how pathetic does that sound!

Well, when it was all over, I didn't finish up too badly. I got faster as the race went on and I finished below my 7:15 pace. My 1.8 mile run home was quite nice as I had lots of coffee (Starbucks) and Boost (Novartis). I love Boost because it makes the entire city smell like chocolate ice cream (well at least over around 394 and 100 in St. Louis Park)...

Next week is the Reindeer Run...maybe I can run a little faster. 6 - 10 inches of snow that day though...perfect for a 5K!!!!! Below are my pace and elevation charts for the race. It was about 3.19 instead of 3.1...geez!

Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)

Posted from bimactive.com