I lined up at the marker that said “25 minutes,” so I figured the people around me would be trying to move at a decent pace.  Now I know to move up a bit in the pack.  I might not finish in 20 minutes (although by next year I hopefully will be better than that), but at least I can get out at a decent pace and get a more accurate time.

Nonetheless, it was a fun time.  I took a week or two off afterwards – finishing up a ton of work for my classes at Rutgers – but now I’m back in the groove.

The other day, I did some speedwork at the lake.  I want to get a feel for the faster pace that I want to run for the 800m, so I ran 4 x 200m at around 35 seconds.  The first one was quicker (~31 seconds), and the next three were all around 35-36 seconds.  I was happy with the workout, and I finished up pretty tired.

Today, I went out for a 5 mile easy run.  I didn’t time myself, but it was around an 8:30 pace overall.  I think I started out around 8:00 minute pace and slackened off closer to 9:00 by the end.  I want to get back in the habit of one longer run a week – 5 to 7 miles.  I’m not going to run any crazy long runs (8+ miles) like I did over the summer until next summer rolls around, though.

Today was one of those days. I went out for a 5k run. It started off ok – I did the first mile in 7:30. I was kind of fatigued by the end, though, and it showed. The next two miles were both around 9:00 minutes each. /sigh

Oh well. It looks like next Saturday isn’t going to be a great race, but I’m going to go anyway. Bad timing with the flu and a couple weeks of lost motivation really take their toll. I’ll schedule another 5k in the spring and, hopefully, make a much better go of it.

Here was the plan:

Warm-up.  Easy 800m run, some dynamic warm-up/stretches, and some strides.

Medium intensity 400m run to finish warm-up (~90 seconds).

2 x High Intensity 400m run, with 10-15 minutes recovery (~75-80 seconds).

The last time I did a 400m workout, I followed the same pattern and my two workout quarters were in the 70′s – a time that I was more than satisfied with. Today, I warmed up and felt fine. The warm-up 400m went well, and I came in at 92 seconds.

The workout 400s were a bit slow, though.  The first one was 82 seconds, which wouldn’t have upset me if the next one was an improvement. But, the last 400 was slower – around 85 seconds.  In both of the workout quarters, I felt like I came out too slow because my legs felt dead. I picked up the pace over the last 200m, but it was too little too late.

I also tried to run through the end of the last 400m, extending it to 600m or 800m. Hah!  That wasn’t going to happen. I made it about 50m past the mark, and I couldn’t maintain the pace.

Just like yesterday, I’m going to chalk this workout up to recovery from the flu and time off. I’ll run a couple steady state runs this week, and hopefully next weekend I’ll be back on track. I only have three weeks left until my 5k race, so I’m running out of time on that. I do, however, have plenty of time before I need to run my 400m and 800m races in June.

Two weeks ago, my luck ran out. I was getting ready to enjoy a nice four day weekend – in other words I was going to get a lot of work done. But Friday I came down with a nasty cough, a horrible headache, and eventually a steady fever. This seemed like a good time to take a few days off.

On Sunday, most of my symptoms were improving, except the cough. I thought I’d go out for an easy jog to stretch out my legs after a few days of sitting around the house. It felt good to get out and stretch, but my legs were so dead I made it about a mile before I stopped and walked home.

Over the next two weeks, I didn’t go out and run.  The first week, my cough was still so bad I didn’t want to run hard. The second week, I intended to go out and get a couple easy workouts in, but I was too busy catching up on work that I missed while sick.

But, finally, I got out yesterday morning for a workout. I went to the park and warmed up. At first, I planned on some speedwork, but after my warmup I didn’t feel quite up to it. Instead, I thought I’d do some 800-meter cruise intervals – a medium intensity stamina workout.

I warmed up with a half mile jog (~4 minutes). My goal was to run six 800 meters at a pace of around 3:20 to 3:30 (around my goal 5k time) with a short walking recovery (2-3 minutes) between each rep.

The first one was good, coming in at 3:27. The second one, my legs felt decidedly fatigued, and I struggled through at 3:40. By the third lap, my legs were really dead and I just barely came in under 4 minutes. At that point, I decided it was time to call it an early day, stretch out, and head home.

It definitely felt good to get out and run, but my legs are definitely worn out from sitting around for a week or two without any exercise. Hopefully a few days of training will whip that fatigue out of them, because my 5k is coming up in just a few weeks – December 12.

I plan on going over to the park later today for a workout, so we’ll see how that goes.

Unfortunately, those plans were hampered by shopping.  Boo.  Had to buy some new shoes and go with the wife to pick out a new couch.  By the time I got home, the sun was going down, and there are no lights in the park.  I didn’t want to be running in total darkness.

Instead, I ran the usual 5k steady state run. It started off great – about 7:00 for the first mile. Although the second mile seemed to start off fine, I definitely lost some time somewhere. I pulled in to the second mile at a disappointing 15:35 – about 8:35 for the split. The third mile was just as slow, and I hit the 3 mile mark around 24:05. That works out to an approximate 5k time of 25:00.

This is somewhat disappointing. On Monday, I had a great run and finished in around 24:00. I was hoping to do the same or similar.

But, on the other hand, it’s still a sign of long term improvement. Just a month or two ago, I would be struggling to complete the 5k in under 25 minutes. Now, it’s a problem of getting the pacing right. I have a feeling that taking the first mile out so fast led in part to the disappointing miles. I plan to hit up some 800m repeats at the park on Saturday, and hopefully that will help work out the kinks.

It would also be nice to run a course that wasn’t quite so hilly… but I can’t do much about that.

The first mile I took out far faster than I have in the past. I pulled up at the stop light (the one mile split) at about 6:55. Woot! A mile in under 7 minutes. Not incredibly fast, but I think that’s the first time I’ve run a mile that fast since high school… and I could still happily breath and keep running afterwards.

I did, however, end up slowing down a bit. I tried to push it over the next mile, but the hills and/or the fatigue from the first mile kept me from going too fast. I hit the 2 mile split around 15:05 and I hit the 3 mile split around 23:05. Although those last two miles were a bit slower than I’d like (I was aiming for 7:30-7:45 for each mile), the overall time is clearly better than my previous runs.

I finished the entire 5200m loop in 24:45 – the first time I’ve run the loop under 25 minutes. At the pace I was going, I’d estimate the actual 5k time to be somewhere around 23:45, which is getting closer towards my goal (21-22 minutes in December).

One thing I was disappointed with was the kick at the end. I sped up over the last 400m (which is uphill). I don’t know that I gave it quite all that I had, but I pushed pretty hard. I covered the last quarter in about 1:40.  It’s definitely faster than the pace I posted for the last 2 miles (~2:00/quarter), but I want to finish a little faster than that – at least around 90 seconds for the quarter.  Oh well, something to work on for the future.

So, instead, I decided to shift to a speed workout. I only have a little over a month before my race, and I’m looking ahead to my goals for June (better times in the 800m and 400m). So, I guess a little speedwork is in order.

I went over to the park, warmed up, and intended to do 4 x 400m. My goal was to start with an easy 400m (< 1:40) and then move up progressively towards my goal time (1:30, 1:20, and <1:20).

Well, as usual, I took the first one out way too fast. Doh! Instead of a slow 90-100 seconds, I came through at 83 seconds. I was also running well below 100%, so even though it was faster than I intended I was happy with the outcome. I decided at this point to drop my workout to 3 total 400ms, and aim for 2 quality 400s under 80 seconds.

I walked the rest of the way around the lake and recovered for about 7 or 8 minutes. The next 400m I ran considerably harder – especially through the last 200m – and I came in at 76-77 seconds. At this point, my legs were feeling pretty dead, so I took an extra long recovery (~15 minutes) and went out harder for the last lap. I had to push myself to keep up the pace, but I managed to improve the time, and I came in at 73 seconds. Woot!

Sure, that’s not an excellent time. But this is the first speedwork I’ve done in a few months – I’ve been working strictly on endurance and stamina since June. It suggests to me that I’m also on pace to meet my goals for June. I was running 80-90 seconds last Spring when I first started running. If I’ve got another six or seven months to train, I think I should be able to shave that time down to the low 60′s.

I’m also thinking that this is a good addition to my weekly routine until my 5k. I’m going to try to stick to two stamina runs a week (5k steady states, around 24-25 minutes during the week) with one speed workout (3 x 400m) on the weekend. To round things out, I’m planning on an easy endurance run on Sundays – 5-6 miles to stretch the legs out and keep up the endurance.

All in all, it was a good run. The first mile was a good pace. I hit the split in about 7:35, although I had to circle back for a few seconds while I waited for the traffic light to change – so I didn’t really move on to the second mile until 7:45. It wasn’t a long pause, so I didn’t stop the watch (and I just jogged in a circle instead of stopping).

I realized now why the second split tends to drop off. In the beginning of the second mile, there is a killer hill that’s about 1-200m long. Halfway down there’s another steep hill, and the last 100m of the mile is also on a mild incline. Although there are declines between these inclines, I found that I kept slowing down on the incline – until I made a conscious decision to maintain my pace. This was also tiring, especially on the first hill… In the end, I wrapped up the second mile around 15:45 – 15:50 (I had trouble reading the watch in the dark). That puts the second mile right around 8:00, which is acceptable.

The third mile was a shade under 8:00 (about 7:55). I kicked it a little bit for the last 400m (since my loop is around 5200m, instead of 5k) and I covered the last quarter mile in about 1:25 – 1:30.  My finishing time for the full 5200m was about the same as it was on my good run last week – 12:27. Discount the ten seconds I spent waiting for the traffic light, and the time is around 25:20 – a modest but probably insignificant improvement.

But, that’s a good training time a second week in a row. Which I would say is a sign that I’m going in the right direction…

I went out last night for a typical mid-week 5k steady state run. After my last two runs – with good first and third miles – I was hoping to improve that second leg split. With that in mind, I tried to go out with a quick clip, and after I passed the one mile mark I pushed myself to keep up the pace.

As I neared the end of the first mile, I thought my legs felt a little deader than usual. That’s odd, I thought, since they were fairly well rested. When I hit the one mile split I realized why – I ran it in 7:15. I typically cover the first mile in 7:45 to 7:55. Oops…

No matter. Let’s keep going! I expected the second lap to slow a bit from there, but my goal was to hit my goal split – around 7:45 to 8:00 minutes. Coming into the second mile split, I felt a bit tired but, low and behold, the time was 15:15 – an 8:00 minute split for the second mile. Woot!

The celebration didn’t last long, though. Just about when I looked down at my stopwatch, I felt some gas come bubbling up. But, the burp never came out. I didn’t feel so good…

I’d had a pretty big dinner (mac and cheese, ftw), but I let it settle for about two hours before I went out running. Apparently that wasn’t long enough. I stopped running and fought the urge to upchuck for a minute or two, but eventually I lost… and the mac and cheese was all over the grass. Yuck.

I walked about a quarter mile, then finished up the loop at an easy pace (8:30 – 9:00 mile). The moral of the story… run before dinner. Not after.

Today, I got home from class, changed into my running clothes, and went out for a run. Beautiful weather again – mid 60′s and no rain.  Woot! Perfect running weather. Too bad it wasn’t a perfect run.

My intent was to go out in about the same time as Monday and then push a little harder on the second mile to stop from dropping off so much. I went out just fine (~7:45-7:50 for the first mile, compared to 7:40 on Monday), but my second mile dropped off even further (~8:35 compared to ~8:15). Argh!

What happened? Not sure. Shortly into the second mile, I started experiencing some gas, and having to belch while you run is not such a comfortable feeling. I also had a cramp in my right side about halfway through the mile. I thought I was pushing the pace, but it turns out I was slackening up a bit. Perhaps due to the burping/cramp I perceived my effort as harder than it was. Hopefully some more practice will help me learn the pace better.

I picked up the pace on my third mile, and ran that in about 7:55 to 8:00 – just perfect.  That puts my 5k time at around 25:30, and I finished the 5200m loop in 26:07. All in all, not a bad run… but it was a bit slower than I hoped. I was looking forward to doing the same as Monday and perhaps improving a bit.