40-minute 10k

Got it!

2007-07-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

I was in New England on the 4th of July and ran the L.L. Bean 10k in Freeport, Maine.

Result: 39:54

I did it!

It was a beautiful sunny day, and temperatures were around 55-60 at the start. The course looped through scenic Freeport, home of L.L. Bean and a ton of other outlet stores. The first mile dropped steeply downhill, but we gained it all back (and then some) for a total of around 300 feet of climbing.

The funny thing about this is that, unlike the Bolder Boulder, I didn't think I was ready for a sub-40 race yesterday. In the last month, I haven't done any long runs (my longest run was 7.1 miles), and I've averaged only 20 miles per week of running. I did exactly one tempo run, and no track workouts. I was on vacation during the past week, and ate like a pig, gaining a couple of pounds before the race. On the plus side, I did do a couple of multi-sport races (the Teva Mountain Games and the Buffalo Creek Xterra Triathlon). The L.L. Bean 10k was also at sea level, and I was better rested going into it.

Anyway, it's starting to seem like training doesn't pay, but I know that can't be true!

The race itself felt easy for the first three miles. Not coincidentally, those first three miles were mostly downhill. I couldn't believe it when my watch said 5:49 for the first mile split! That's the fastest mile I've ever run. I knew that a fast start could spell trouble later in the race, but forced myself to focus on other things instead. I decided to continue taking splits at every mile, but told myself I wouldn't look at my watch until late in the race.

The big hills started at mile 3, and that's when I really started working. It was encouraging to slowly pass a steady stream of runners, so I knew I was doing well. On mile 5, the biggest hill of the course, a large diesel truck was just ahead of me, spewing noxious fumes. The truck was traveling the same speed as the runners, so I got to breathe a few minutes' worth of diesel fumes before it turned off on a side road. Nice.

With less than two miles to go, I tried to pick up the pace even more. Runners were fading right and left. I was still focused enough to run the tangents on each curve of the course. After a short and steep downhill, the climbing continued.

We hit Main Street and the mile 5 marker, the home stretch! I'm glad I didn't check my watch, because my mile 5 split was 6:51. Despite working so hard, the hills kept my pace slow. Thankfully, the last mile had only 20 feet of climbing. I heard footsteps behind me. It was one of the top-10 women, and I held her off.

I checked my watch somewhere in the middle of mile 6, and it said 35 minutes. There was no way I could do the math to figure out my chances of a sub-40 race, since I didn't know how far I had left to the finish. All I knew was that I needed to push with everything I had. My watch said 38:39 at the mile 6 marker, and I dug deep. I believe this is the hardest I've ever run. My lungs were making a strange wheezing sound with every breath. My whole body was made of pain.

When the clock came into view, it said 39:30. I thought I could make it, but knew it would be close. A few steps from the finish line, I knew I would do it. The joy of finally reaching my goal started to kick in before I even finished. I had done it. 39:54. It wasn't to be at the Bolder Boulder this year, but at least I'd proven to myself that I could run a 10k under 40 minutes. It felt wonderful!

My splits...

5:49
6:29
6:39
6:30
6:51
6:21
1:15 (Last 0.21, 5:50 mile pace)

Race Photos

2007-06-05T09:09:00.001-07:00

Here are my Brightroom.com photos from the race. I definitely had a look of pain on my face at the end!

I competed in the "Ultimate Mountain Challenge" at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail over the weekend. It's a multi-sport event that combines four races over two days: a downriver kayak race, a mountain bike race, a 10k trail running race, and a road bike hill climb up Vail Pass. It was an awesome experience and I completely thrashed my body, but I loved it.

As a bonus, I got to race against Tour de France winner Floyd Landis! He was doing the Mountain Challenge as part of a team, and Floyd competed in the two biking events. [results]

Selected photos...

What went wrong?

2007-05-31T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've been putting off writing this race report long enough. At first I had the excuse that official results weren't out until Wednesday evening, but now that it's Friday that's obviously not the real reason I've been procrastinating. Honestly, I'm disappointed with my race and it's been easier just not to deal with it.

Official time: 40:39

That happens to be the exact time that I ran in 2005. Since my watch read 40:40, I was actually a little relieved to have at least officially matched my PR. Funny how one or two seconds in either direction could affect how I feel!

The race started fine. I felt relaxed in the first kilometer and even wondered if I was running too slowly. My 1k split of 3:51 told me I was exactly where I wanted to be. I crossed the 1-mile banner in 6:24. Again, I thought I was in fine shape, slightly under my 6:26 per mile goal pace. But my 2k split was 4:08. I had slowed down without even realizing it!

I determined to get back into it and buckled down, running the next (uphill) kilometer in 3:59. Perhaps it was a mistake to push that hard, as the course continued climbing. Kilometer 4 went in 4:12. Now I was a little concerned. I had told myself it was ok to run as slow as 4:05 on the uphills, and now I'd gone over that twice. I was on the verge of oxygen debt, and tried to keep myself just below that threshold.

As I approached the halfway point, I saw the banner up ahead and quickly glanced at my watch. It looked like I was back on schedule. Then I realized I was looking at the 3-mile banner, not the 5k mark. I passed 3 miles in 19:42 and 5k in 20:17.

I knew I'd really have to work for it now. To run a sub-40 I would need to run the second half in 19:43. There was a net loss of elevation on this half, but there were still two tough hills.

Before the race I told myself over and over: kilometers 4 and 6 are the tough ones. If you can minimize your losses there, you'll be in good shape. Even with that mental preparation, I couldn't get my legs to turn over fast enough.

Number 6 went by in 4:17, way slower than goal pace.

I knew my goal was probably out of reach, and it was a horrible feeling. Running for a PR was the only thing to keep me motivated now. At least I had a nice downhill after Casey Hill at mile 4. I was happy to see my legs speeding up with the gravity assistance, and I ran K-7 in 4:02. K-8 followed in 3:56, which felt encouraging. I was hurting for real now, and trying not to give away any spare seconds.

I turned onto Folsom for the homestretch, and turned it on as best I could. The final hill to the stadium felt slow, but I consciously took shorter, faster steps and pumped my arms hard. In the stadium now, I gave it everything. Just 200 meters to go. I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch. The announcer was saying, "Keep moving through the chutes, there are thousands of runners behind you." But I barely had enough left to put one foot in front of the other.

Now that it's over, I feel ambivalent about the race. On one hand, I'm proud of myself for putting in the base miles, researching and creating a full-fledged training program, and for sticking to it. I'm also happy that I took 30 seconds off my all-time 5k PR. But of course I'm disappointed that I didn't make my sub-40 goal at the Bolder Boulder. And I feel that I've somehow let down those who may have been rooting for me. I wanted it, I went for it, but I didn't get it.

Not yet, anyway.

I will keep trying for the sub-40, but unlike previous years, I won't wait until the next Bolder Boulder. I'm going to look for another race in a month or so and try again.

Meanwhile, the question remains: after nearly doubling my running volume and following a carefully-researched training plan for the first time ever, why could I only manage to match my PR? The truth is, I averaged 14.7 miles per week in the ten weeks leading up to my 40:39 Bolder Boulder result in 2005. This year, I averaged 27.9 miles per week over the last ten weeks. The differences are even larger when you look at weeks 20 to 11 leading up to each race. In 2005, I averaged only 8.9 miles per week. This year, 24.9. As for quality workouts, this year exceeded 2005's efforts in every way. In 2005, my "long run" was 6.6 miles. This year, I ran at least an hour and a half long run every week. In 2005, I did one hard workout (5k race or intervals on the track) each week for the last 7 weeks. This year, I completed at least 2-3 tough track workouts or races each week.

Maybe there is something to that last point. Perhaps I was doing too much speed work? I don't know. It certainly made me faster at the 5k distance than I've ever been. Or maybe it had nothing to do with my training. Perhaps the fact that 2005 was a cold, rainy day made me that much faster relative to my fitness on that day. This year's race was not exactly hot, but it was sunny and warmer. I might never know the answer, but I think as long as I keep running, I'll keep learning.

Now, on to the stats for this race...

Kilometer splits (from my watch):

3:50.8
4:08.2
3:59.4
4:11.8
4:06.5
4:16.8
4:02.2
3:56.1
4:02.3
4:06.2

And mile splits (from the chip timing):

6:24
6:29
6:49
6:44
6:18
6:39

Even though I didn't negative split, I was at least happy to see mile 5 (not mile 1) was my fastest. And I ran the final two-tenths of a mile to the finish in 1:16, which is 5:56 pace. My overall place was 629th out of 50,816. Incidentally, over 500 runners broke 40 minutes at this year's Bolder Boulder!

40:40

2007-05-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post of my unofficial time. My watch said 40:40. I will post a full report later.

Wonderland Lake run

2007-05-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful day, and this morning I went out for an easy run on the trails behind my house in North Boulder. The Wonderland Lake Loop is one of my old standbies. Head south on the Foothills Trail, take the loop around the lake, and come back. It's all on well-maintained dirt trails, and it's relatively flat by Boulder standards.

I brought a camera today and stopped often for photographs. Here's a nice view of Green Mountain, Bear Peak, and the Flatirons.

P-daddy-dawg hanging out while his two baby p-dawgs play an engaging game of patty cakes behind him.

Wonderland Lake.

Mt. Sanitas from the lake.

There were tons of paragliders out today. I think they were part of a beginner's class.

Run summary: 4.0 miles in 36:19 (9:05 per mile).

Tomorrow is the big day!

Bolder Boulder pacing strategies

2007-05-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

I looked at my Bolder Boulder splits from the last three years to see if I could come up with a good strategy for pacing this year. The problem is the elevation profile -- it's a somewhat hilly course, at least for a course where you're trying to get a new PR.

Here's the profile again...

Now here's a chart showing my kilometer splits. Note that they're converted to pace per mile. A 40-minute 10k pace would average 6:26 per mile (4 minutes per km).

Finishing times:

2004: 41:25
2005: 40:39
2006: 43:46

There is a definite pattern in years 2004-2005. My pace is faster on the downhill sections, and slower on the climbs, just as you would expect. 2006 follows this pattern for the first three kilometers, and then I completely blow up, falling off the pace drastically.

So, how should I pace this year's Bolder Boulder? I think I will keep it simple: go faster than goal pace on the downhills, and allow myself to slow down a bit on the uphills. Although everyone warns about going out too fast at the start of a 10k, the fact remains that this is one of the fastest kilometers in the race because it's downhill. To me, it would be a mistake to waste this opportunity for a few "free" seconds. I think 10-12 seconds under goal pace for the first kilometer should be fine. That's what I ran in 2005 and I ran almost even 5k splits (20:19 and 20:20) for the race. From there, if I can keep it to 4:05 per kilometer or faster on the climbs, I should be ok. I'll try to pick it up to goal pace or slightly faster on all the flats and downhills.

Just for kicks, I'll make a prediction for my splits:

3:48
4:04
4:03
4:05
3:56
4:05
3:57
3:55
3:58
4:04
Finish: 39:55

After the race, I'll compare my actual splits to those above.

Taper Week Update

2007-05-25T16:39:00.001-07:00

It's been a pretty easy week for me. I ran a shorter long run on Sunday, and I've done some easier track workouts in the days since. Here's a quick summary of my most recent runs:

Sunday: Easy long run on the creek path. Total: 9.1 miles in 1:17:02 (8:27 pace).

Tuesday: 4x400 at 10k goal pace (around 96 seconds). This was an easy workout meant to keep the legs moving and solidify my goal pace. I ended up running these in 93.5, 94.2, 94.7, and 95.6 seconds. Although I got slower between the first and last intervals, this was a deliberate effort to hone in on the proper pace. Total for the day: 4.3 miles in 33:08 (average pace 7:42).

Wednesday: 4.1 miles easy, with 5x100m strides. Total time 32:55 (8:01 pace).

Friday (today): 8x100 at a quick pace. I thought I would run these in about 20 seconds, but my slowest turned out to be 18.8 seconds, and the fastest was 16.9. They felt pretty good, but that's the fastest running I've done all year. Hopefully it won't hurt my taper! Total for the day: 4.2 miles in 39:28 (average pace 9:23, although that counts some non-running time between reps).

Weekly total: 21.7 miles

Interesting thing spotted on the run

On Tuesday I saw a couple guys on the tennis court playing a new sport, a "mash-up" of soccer and tennis. It was played with a soccer ball and no hands (just like soccer). One guy would serve by dropping the ball and then kicking it over the net. The other guy had to kick it back before it bounced twice, which usually meant catching it with his feet and dribbling the ball (is that the right term?) a few times before kicking it back. They were keeping score and everything. Pretty cool!

Weekend plans

Saturday I'll be helping my friend Mark celebrate his 40th birthday. Like most Boulderites who've reached that distinctive age, you'd never know it. Earlier in the day, I'm hoping to borrow a friend's kayak and take a few runs on Boulder Creek. I'm planning to sign up for the Ultimate Mountain Challenge at the Teva Mountain Games in Vail. It's coming up next weekend and I really should do some paddling (and mountain biking, and road biking) before this 4-stage race. Sunday I'll go for an easy 3-4 mile run and probably check out the Boulder Creek Festival a little bit. And Monday...well, that's the Bolder Boulder, of course (the whole focus of this blog)!

A Virtual Tour of the Bolder Boulder Course

2007-05-24T13:05:00.000-07:00

Let's take a look at the course for this Memorial Day's Bolder Boulder 10k...

First, the course map. The race starts on 30th St., winds through neighborhoods and downtown, and finishes on the University of Colorado campus in the football stadium. There are 23 turns on the course! Since USATF certified courses are measured on the tangents (meaning the shortest path possible), it will be important to run on these tangents as well. Valuable seconds could be lost otherwise.

Next, the elevation profile. This is a point-to-point race, with the lowest point at 5,284 feet and the highest point at 5,391, a gain of 107 feet. However, with the ups and downs, total elevation gain is probably over 200 feet. The finish is roughly 50 feet higher than the start. The steepest and hardest climb is Casey Hill at the 4-mile marker. Though short, this one seems to pack a punch. Luckily, it's followed by a mile-long descent before the final uphill push to the stadium.

On to the start!

Looking south on 30th Street at the start. The course is permanently marked with signs at every turn and mile marker. The streets are painted with every kilometer and mile marker as well. Note that workers have already put up the corral fencing for the wave start.

Turning right on Pearl Street, we catch our first glimpse of the Flatirons. These 1000-ft cliffs are a Boulder landmark and popular with rock climbers. We've just passed the 1k marker, and we'll be climbing for most of the next 7 kilometers. This first part isn't too bad, though.

Things get steeper as we start Folsom Hill, nearing the 3k mark. Aid station #1 is just over the crest of the hill at the 2-mile point.

Taking a left onto Hawthorn.

West on Glenwood. Mount Sanitas is directly ahead. We're just about at the 4-kilometer mark.

We do the first little north-south jog at this point. Here we take a left on Vista.

Now we're on the long straightaway of 19th Street, heading south. We've topped out the biggest, longest hill, we're cruising downhill for now, and we're a few yards away from the 3-mile mark and halfway. Things are looking up! Note the stereotypical Boulder car -- a Toyota Prius hybrid.

On the next north-south jog, we're taking a left on Cedar.

Running south on 13th Street past Vic's Coffee and Ideal Market.

The dreaded Casey Hill!

But it's all downhill from here (oops, except for the last mile)!

Now we're getting into downtown Boulder. Approaching the left turn on Spruce, we see the Boulderado Hotel and Corner Bar on the right.

We just passed the 7-kilometer mark. On our right we catch a glimpse of Boulder's most popular tourist attraction, the Pearl Street Mall. It's closed to cars, and usually packed with folks who come for the shopping, people-watching, and street performers.

But we're taking a left on Pearl instead. Headed for the finish now!

No time for Fish & Chips and a cold pale ale at my favorite brewpub, the Mountain Sun.

This guy is in no hurry as he takes a leisurely ride down Walnut Street with his sack of bagels. He probably couldn't care less that he's about to pass the 5-mile mark on the Bolder Boulder course. :-)

How much would this 3-bedroom, 2-bath house cost in your neighborhood? In Boulder it's $619,000.

Finally, we're back on Folsom, but this time we're headed home. There is one last hill to climb, and the flagstone towers of the CU Stadium can be seen in the distance. Only one km to go!

At the top of the last hill, we take a right towards the stadium. Due to the unavoidable pain at this point in the race, nobody who is trying for a personal best will notice this statue honoring legendary runner Frank Shorter. Not only did he win a gold medal in the Olympic marathon, he was a co-founder of the Bolder Boulder and won the race in 1981.

Just after the Frank Shorter statue, we pass the 6-mile mark. A quick left turn into the stadium and we'll hit (what will be) the track and the final 200 meters. Workers are constructing a ramp that will allow spectators to access the east side stands without obstructing the course.

That's it! We've arrived at the finish line of the Bolder Boulder 10k. This also happens to be the finish of this blog entry!

How to taper for a 10k

2007-05-20T21:08:00.000-07:00

With just over a week to go before racing the Bolder Boulder, it's time to taper. But how, specifically, should I do it? It seems like every running guru and coach has a different idea. I poked around the net to see what I could find.

I found an article by Pete Pfitzinger on copacabanarunners.net about tapering. It answered some key questions.

The first question about tapering should be, does it work? The answer, according to Pfitzinger and numerous studies, is a definite yes. Tapering can result in a 2-8% performance improvement, with 3% being about typical. For someone who runs a 10k in 40 minutes, that would mean over a minute improvement. Sounds pretty good to me!

Regarding the length of the ideal taper, Pfitzinger goes on to recommend a 7-10 day taper for 5k and 10k races. That's right at the point I'm at now.

The big question about tapering (and the only one I've seen significant disagreement about...see below) is whether you should taper volume or intensity, or both. Pfitzinger says, "The scientific evidence clearly indicates that the key to effective tapering is to substantially cut back your mileage, but to maintain the intensity of your training." He recommends cutting back to 50% of normal mileage for the week leading up to a goal 10k race.

Bob Cooper from Runner's World agrees, and goes a step further by offering specific workouts for a taper in the following:

Tapering isn't just for marathoners. In fact, one recent study showed a huge performance benefit when subjects tapered for a 5K. Here's how to taper for four road-racing distances:
5K:
Cut your normal mileage in half the week before your race, but maintain some intensity. Early in the week, run 4 x 400 meters at your 5K goal pace with a 200-meter jog between repeats. Later in the week, jog 2 miles, then run 6 or 8 x 100-meter strides at 90 percent of maximum speed. Run easy the other days. 10K:
Same as 5K taper, except run your 400-meter repeats at your 10K goal pace.

On the other hand, Coach Tinman from therunzone.com recommends just the opposite.

"distance runners should avoid tapering weekly mileage and, instead, reduce the amount of fast running they do so that their legs feel fresher."

In this thread, Tinman claims that the vast majority of runners do not need to taper much at all. To prove his point, Tinman discusses a hypothetical runner who cuts his mileage to a third of his normal volume for two weeks before a goal 5k race. Tinman says that this taper would not be effective because the runner would lose aerobic endurance.

I'm not convinced that Tinman is correct. First of all, Tinman's example runner is not tapering as anyone (as far as I know) would recommend. Pfitzinger and Cooper would say to cut mileage by only 20% two weeks before the race, and 50% in the final week. Tinman's runner cut mileage by a whopping 67% for both weeks, dropping from 65 miles per week to 25. Second, Tinman says the runner would lose aerobic endurance, but doesn't offer any scientific explanation or cite any relevant studies that show this to be correct.

After my brief and decidedly non-comprehensive review of tapering strategies on the net, I'm going with Pfitzinger's and Cooper's approach. I will run 4x400 in 96 seconds per lap on Tuesday, then run 8x100 quick on Thursday, with a few easy days of running thrown in. Instead of cutting my mileage in half, however, I'll probably just drop to around 20 miles (1/3 less than usual). That's because I'm a relatively low mileage runner, so it seems to make sense that I shouldn't cut volume quite so drastically.

Today's run

I had a nice, easy 9-miler today on the creek path. Instead of sky-high temperatures as I expected, there was a nice cloud cover that kept things reasonable. I ran around 8.5 minute miles and felt decent, but not super. Tomorrow I'll go for a swim instead of running.

For Judy

2007-05-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

This post dedicated to Judy Karpeichik, 1966-2007.

Last quality workout

2007-05-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

Today I finished my last real quality workout before next week's taper. But first I'll give a breakdown of yesterday's run...

Thursday's Workout

This was meant to be a threshold interval workout. As a recap, I've been doing two different types of threshold, or tempo, runs. The first is a standard 20-minute run at T-pace. I did one of these last Thursday, when I ran a 5k at the track. These tempo runs can be a bit demanding, so Daniels recommends alternating with something he calls "Cruise Intervals," also known as threshold intervals.

The idea is that you run repeats of 1000 meters, 1200 meters, or miles at T-pace, with 1-2 minutes rest between each workbout. That way you get the same amount of running (or even more) at the proper pace, but without as much stress as a steady 20-minute run would cause. This makes threshold intervals a good choice when approaching the final taper week before a goal race, as I'm doing at the moment.

Now to decide on the proper T-pace. This week's 5k result actually bumps me up to the next level on the VDOT scale, which puts me at 51. However, I want to be just a little bit conservative, so instead of using the training paces associated with a 51 VDOT, I'm picking paces somewhere between 50 and 51.

What exactly does this mean? Well, after looking it up in the VDOT Training Paces table, T-pace for those VDOT values would be 4:11 to 4:15 for a 1000 meter Cruise Interval. I find myself consulting the VDOT tables constantly these days! But they do seem to work...

To get to the actual run, I settled on 4 x 1000 on 4:11-4:15 with 2-minutes recovery.

Here were my results:

Distance	Time	Mile pace
1000	4:12.2	6:46
1000	4:13.4	6:48
1000	4:12.2	6:46
1000	4:10.5	6:43

I felt ok, but not great. My legs may have been recovering from Tuesday's race, and felt a little stiff. Also, it was a bit hot at the track. All in all, a successful workout nonetheless.

Today's workout

Today I essentially repeated last Friday's workout that I did with Clint and John. Unfortunately, we didn't get organized ahead of time, so I found myself alone at the track during my lunch hour.

This was another mix workout. I wanted to decrease the volume slightly from last week, since I'm about to start my taper. Last week I had done the following:

3x1200 in 5:04 (T-pace)
2x1200 in 4:41 (I-pace)
4x200 in 0:42 (R-pace)

Today I was shooting for this:

2x1000 in 4:11 - 4:15 (T-pace)
2x1000 in 3:51 - 3:55 (I-pace)
4x200 in 0:42 (R-pace)

I would take 2 minutes rest between the easier 1000s, 3 minutes between the harder 1000s, and around 2 minutes between each 200-meter rep. You may notice that my I-pace has gotten slightly faster as well. Last week I was running 1200s in 4:41, which is equivalent to 3:55 per 1000. This week I dropped it to somewhere between 3:51 and 3:55, to go along with my new VDOT. Rep pace stayed the same.

Here were my results:

Distance	Type	Time	Mile pace
1000	Tempo	4:10.9	6:44
1000	Tempo	4:09.8	6:42
1000	VO2 Max	3:52.1	6:14
1000	VO2 Max	3:48.5	6:08
200	Rep	39.7	5:20
200	Rep	41.5	5:34
200	Rep	41.1	5:31
200	Rep	41.2	5:32

I ran each rep a little on the fast side, but for the most part I felt pretty good. Even though it was even hotter than yesterday, I felt better. My last 1000 in 3:48.5 felt pretty fast (i.e., hard), though!

Two PRs in one Race

2007-05-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Last night I ran the last Dash & Dine 5k race of the series, and my last tuneup race before the Bolder Boulder. This was my fourth 5k since the beginning of April, and I have been steadily improving in each one.

It's certainly helped that the race conditions have improved each week. This time they were even better than last week -- cool (around 60 degrees), overcast, and calm.

I wasn't too stressed before the race, since I was still happy about last week's performance, the first time I'd broken 20 minutes. Tonight my goal was to break 19:40, which would be a 7-second PR. I planned to run a 6:20 first mile and a 6:20 second mile, then do my best to power into the finish from there. I wanted to negative split -- something I haven't done this year at all.

Tony was there again, fresh off of a 19:36 he'd run on Saturday at the Flat Out 5k in Broomfield. This guy cracks me up...tonight would be the 7th time he'd gone running this year, and 5 of them were races! I don't know how he runs so fast off of virtually no mileage. My friend Dave was there as well, and I knew he'd be gunning for the leaders.

I did my typical warmup, 2.5 miles of easy running with five 20-second strides, and joined the larger than usual crowd gathering at the start. Dave introduced me to a friend of his, Susan, who looked pretty fast. It turned out she would be a great target to chase.

"I'm going to give two commands, ready and go. READY GO!" said the race director.

Everybody was chatting, and the abrupt start caught us by surprise. I beeped my watch and we were off.

I'm not sure when I will ever learn how to pace that first mile. I don't want to go out too fast, but I don't want to leave time on the table, either. I chugged along, not working too hard, and trying to monitor my position in the pack. As usual, a bunch of guys passed me in the first quarter mile. When we reached the first dam (the course traverses the two dams of Boulder Reservoir), I started gradually reeling a few of them back in. I noticed Tony a good 30 meters ahead.

I caught a high-school kid wearing a T-shirt that said, "There are no shortcuts." He stayed with me. I noticed Tony was getting closer. We passed the first mile marker and I expected to see 6:20, or maybe 6:15. I really didn't feel like I was working too hard.

6:04.5!

Oh geez, how did that happen? (Incidentally, that's a PR in the mile for me. I've never raced that distance since I became a runner. My previous best was 6:06 back in 2003, also the first mile in a 5k.) I was a little concerned that I would blow up.

There Are No Shortcuts Guy and I were running stride for stride. We caught Tony and I yelled some encouragement. I was still feeling good and felt like I had reserves. The pair of us ran the length of the second dam shoulder to shoulder, separating only to swallow up the occasional slower runner and spit him off the back. We hit the turn-around, and then increased the pace slightly. That's when he started to pull away, ever so gradually.

Mile two went by in 6:15. My heart rate was at 180, and it was starting to hurt. Susan was still within sight, about ten seconds ahead. There Are No Shortcuts Guy had already passed her. I decided to chase her down as well.

That was easier said than done! I felt the beginnings of a side stitch coming on, and I let that be an excuse not to work harder. I was still working hard, don't get me wrong. I just wasn't at the level of pain I've been at for the last couple races. I wanted to have some sort of kick at the finish.

Susan seemed to increase her lead slightly, but at least we were getting closer to the finish line. I turned off the dam for a short downhill and focused on opening up my stride. Let gravity do the work, I thought. I heard footsteps behind me, and then someone yelled my name. It was Tony!

I hit mile 3 in 6:28 and headed up the last small hill. I knew Tony was trying to run me down. Then I found a new gear I didn't know I had! I turned the last corner and saw 19:18 on the clock. One last burst to the finish and I had just run another 5k PR, 19:30. Three seconds later Tony grabbed my shoulder in the finishing chute and said, "Nice job."

It seems like everyone had a good race. Dave finished 2nd with (I believe) a new PR of 16:55. He was only five seconds behind the winner, too. Susan ran a very impressive 19:16 for first overall female. Tony ran a PR for the year in 19:36, although I believe his real time was three seconds faster. And at the BBQ after the race, we met an eleven-year-old kid named Nathan who ran an incredible 21:49.

This race felt great. I took 17 seconds off of last week's PR, and I feel like I can run even faster. This is a huge confidence builder going into the Bolder Boulder 10k in two weeks. Four minutes per kilometer doesn't seem quite so fast anymore, and that's a great feeling.

Final results: 23rd place out of 195.

Here's my updated 5k progress report for 2007:

Date	Race	Time	Pace
4/10/2007	Dash & Dine #1 (results)	21:08	6:48
5/1/2007	Dash & Dine #4 (results)	20:11	6:30
5/8/2007	Dash & Dine #5 (results)	19:47	6:22
5/15/2007	Dash & Dine #6 (results)	19:30	6:17

Running the South Switzerland Trail

2007-05-14T00:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday's long run was something a little different -- the South Switzerland Trail, off Sugarloaf Road. It's a dirt road that climbs gradually from 8400 feet to 9000 feet over 5.5 miles. That was perfect for a nice 11-mile out-and-back run.

Since the trail winds along a high ridge, you have alternating views in all four directions. You can see Long's Peak (a 14'er) to the north, the snow-covered Continental Divide to the west and south, and occasional views of Boulder and Denver to the east. In short, the scenery is fantastic.

Luckily, I had a bike-riding photographer to keep me company.

In spite of the altitude, I felt great. I'd been running for thirty minutes before I even noticed. There were storm cells moving all over the place, but it wasn't windy and I never felt any rain. In fact, the sun broke through a few times on my return trip.

This is an excellent run, and I highly recommend it!

Today's summary: 11 miles in 1:37 (average pace 8:47).

Weekly Run Summary

2007-05-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here is a summary of my running this week:

Sunday - 10.5 miles at easy pace, 9000' altitude
Monday - off
Tuesday - 6.7 miles, including a 5k race in 19:47, plus warmup/cooldown
Wednesday - off
Thursday - 7.2 miles, with 5000 in 21:03 (T-pace), plus 4x200 at R-pace
Friday - 7.3 miles, with 3x1200 at T-pace, 2x1200 at I-pace, 4x200 at R-pace
Saturday - off
TOTAL - 31.7 miles

Another quality week, with a new PR in the 5k as a bonus!

A Daniels-style "Mix" Workout

2007-05-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful day to be outside. That is, if you were outside at seven in the morning, like me. It's pretty hot out there now. 82 degrees (28 C, for those who prefer), and it's only mid-May!

I ran with Clint and John again this morning. Since I normally run alone, I tend to forget how much fun it is to run with friends. We met at the Fairview High School track, my first time there. It's one of the nicest tracks I've ever seen, judging by the views alone. The Flatirons are right there.

I think the views may have distracted me, as I kept relaxing my pace on the first three tempo intervals. Today's workout was a mix of Tempo, VO2 Max, and Rep paces. The plan was:

3x1200 in 5:04 (T-pace)
2x1200 in 4:41 (I-pace)
4x200 in 0:42 (R-pace)

Here's how we did:

Distance	Type	Time	Mile pace
1200	Tempo	5:06.1	6:51
1200	Tempo	5:05.4	6:50
1200	Tempo	5:07.3	6:52
1200	VO2 Max	4:46.6	6:24
1200	VO2 Max	4:40.7	6:17
200	Rep	40.0	5:22
200	Rep	40.0	5:22
200	Rep	40.8	5:28
200	Rep	40.8	5:28

Actually, those were my times. Clint was way off the front, as he should be. John hung back with me for most of them, just to be social, I suspected. But then on the third 200 he took off like a shot and ran past Clint like he was standing still, finishing in 29 seconds. Clint was ready for him on the last one, and when John made his move, Clint matched his pace and then accelerated, beating John to the line. I was happy to watch all this unfold from 10 seconds back!

Today's totals: 7.3 miles in 1:10:23.

Why I still think I can do it

2007-05-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm obviously happy about Tuesday's race, but here's the deal. My 19:47 5k result predicts a 41-minute 10k. That's still a long ways away from a sub-40. Some would say a really long ways.

Why am I still optimistic? Good question. Here are my reasons (to steal from something I already posted on the Coolrunning forums):

I wasn't tapered for Tuesday's race. I will be tapered at the Bolder Boulder.
Temperatures will almost certainly be cooler (and thus faster) at the Bolder Boulder, which has a 7 AM start.
I paced poorly at Tuesday's race. With better pacing I could hope to run a 19:30(?) on my current fitness.
I still have almost three weeks before my goal race. By then, the workouts I'm doing right now will be transformed into better fitness. That's the idea, at least!
I've always suspected the course from Tuesday's 5k is slow, due to the dirt/gravel surface. In 2005 I raced three times on this course, finishing in 21:15, 20:55, and 20:44. That would have predicted a 43-minute 10k, but in fact I ran 40:39 at the Bolder Boulder two weeks later. My 5k splits in the race were 20:19 and 20:20, both faster than any of my 5k races on the dirt course.

Instead of giving up after consulting various race predictors on the internet, I'm just gonna ignore them. After all, those charts don't run the race FOR you!

Today's Run

Another quality workout today. 5000 meters at tempo pace on the track (6:47 per mile). Funny, the schedule called for a 20-minute tempo run, so I was going to do 4800 meters. But why not just go an extra 200 for the full 5k, I thought? I came in at 21:03, running pretty even splits the whole way, and never feeling stressed. Nice. That beat my 5k result from last month, and this time I was running at tempo, not race pace. To be honest, conditions were much worse at the race in April, so it's probably not a good comparison.

I followed that by 4x200 at R-pace. My rep pace is supposed to be 42-43 seconds per 200. Somehow I have trouble hitting that. I'm always afraid I'll be too slow, so I keep the pace high and come in too fast. I finished the 200s at 40.0, 41.1, 41.0, and 41.1. At least I stayed pretty consistent.

Today's totals: 7.2 miles in 1:02:47, including 5km at T-pace and 4x200 at R-pace.

Interesting thing -- on my way to the track, I found the creek path blocked off with police tape. They had shut down the entire high school due to suspected terrorist activities. It turns out a cafeteria worker had seen two guys dressed in camo and ski masks this morning, so police were being very cautious and checking things out thoroughly. I had to run way around to finally get to the track, and all the students got the day off of school, but so far it looks like that's the extent of the incident. Sign of the times, I guess.

New 5k PR!

2007-05-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I had my third attempt of the year at the 5k distance. All three have been at the Dash and Dine race series at the Boulder Reservoir. It's a great little race series -- for $15 you get a race, gear prizes for the top 3 or 4 in each category, and a nice BBQ dinner.

The weather cooperated (finally), and it was 66 degrees, sunny, and calm. No whitecaps on the lake; only the occasional riffle from a light breeze. I knew tonight was going to be the night for me to break 20 minutes for the first time.

As I started my warmup, I noticed a pair of osprey cruising at treetop level along the shoreline. Such beautiful birds. I took it as a good sign.

I ran at an easy pace past the one mile mark on the course, then turned around at about the 1.25 mile point. On the way back I picked up the pace slightly and then added five 20-second strides. Total warmup: 2.5 miles in 21:46 (8:42 pace).

Just before the race starting time I saw someone I'd met briefly from my climbing days, a guy named Tony.

"I need someone to pace me," he declared.

"How fast are you running?"

"I'm shooting for 19:50," he said. It turns out he had already run two sub-20 5ks that week, but both were between 19:50 and 20 minutes, and he wanted to break 19:50 in order to qualify for the 2nd wave at the Bolder Boulder. It sounded perfect, except I was thinking I should use him as my pacer!

The only problem was that he had already run that morning and then played ultimate for an hour at lunch. That's in addition to the two sub-20 5k races he'd run that week. He mentioned his legs felt like wood.

The race started, and as usual, I tried to go fast but not too fast. Tony loped past me and called out, "You've got to go faster, Mark."

Well, I've never broken 20 minutes, and he's already done it twice in one week, I thought. So he must know what he's doing! I sped up and kept the gap between us at about twenty meters. I was feeling quite good, breathing relatively hard, but not in pain. As we approached the one mile mark I noticed that the gap was closing gradually. I passed the cone just a few steps behind him and glanced at my watch. 6:08.

That was fast, but I still felt pretty good. Since this is an out-and-back course, the 2-mile cone is only a tenth of a mile past the one mile cone. I caught Tony a little after that.

"You're going to have to run a huge negative split," he yelled, disappointedly. "We're way off the pace."

It took me a second to register what had happened. He thought the 2-mile cone (for the return trip) was our 1-mile marker. Thus, he thought we were way slow for the first mile.

"No, you missed the first cone. We hit the mile in 6:08," I said. "Stay with me!"

But I could tell Tony was fading. I forged on ahead. Nearing the turn-around, I saw the leaders running toward me. Actually, there was only one leader, Will Kelsay, a fellow Xterra triathlete. He's a great guy, and turned pro a couple years ago. He doesn't usually win these 5k's, but he was gunning for it today. I gave him a thumbs-up as he blazed by me.

I hit the turn-around and headed for home. I was still feeling ok, but could tell I wouldn't for much longer. At this point I told myself I had time in the bank. All I had to do was finish strong. Soon my breathing rate increased even more and I really started to hurt. Still, I was reeling in a straggler here and there. I kept telling myself it would all be over in just a few more minutes.

Climbing the 2nd (and last hill), I glanced at my watch. I had less than three minutes left. I was still a long way from the 3-mile marker. I heard footsteps, and soon I was passed by a tall guy. I tried to stay with him, but couldn't. Thankfully, I reached the downhill that led to the 3-mile cone. I needed all the help I could get, and gravity was helping right then.

I remembered to take a 3-mile split, but I didn't even look at my watch. I was focused on the finish line, and more importantly...the clock. It came into view and I was relieved to see 19:30. Actually, I let the relief take over too much, because I think I relaxed knowing I had my first sub-20 in the bag. Despite a minor slowdown near the end, I crossed in 19:47. Tony held it together for a very respectable 20:22.

Success! A new PR always feels good, especially if it comes at the same time you break one of the arbitrary time "barriers," in this case twenty minutes.

Later, looking at my splits, I realized that I paced this race quite horribly. I went out way too fast, and slowed dramatically until the last tenth of a mile, when I managed a feeble kick. Here are the details:

Split	Time	Mile pace
Mile 1	6:08.1	6:08.1
Mile 2	6:23.0	6:23.0
Mile 3	6:34.6	6:34.6
Last 0.1	0:40.2	6:16.2
1st Half	9:38.4	6:12.3
2nd Half	10:07.5	6:31.1
Finish	19:47	6:22.1

My second half was nearly 30 seconds slower than my first. I think I'm done with the "Go out 6% faster than goal pace" strategy. I would much rather run even pacing or negative splits and finish strong. And I'm pretty sure I'll be faster that way, too.

Final results: 19th place out of 147.

5k progress report for 2007:

Date	Race	Time	Pace
4/10/2007	Dash & Dine #1 (results)	21:08	6:48
5/1/2007	Dash & Dine #4 (results)	20:11	6:30
5/8/2007	Dash & Dine #5 (results)	19:47	6:22

Running in Frisco

2007-05-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

It was a most excellent night watching my friends Ray and Nicole get hitched. Not only that, but the band was phenomenal. Something Underground is a Denver-based band, and happen to be friends of the groom. Lucky for us, because they don't usually do weddings. They play funk, soul, hip-hop, rock & roll, ska, you name it. I heard bits and pieces of the Chili Peppers, Sublime, Tool, Zeppelin, and even Chris Cross (remember those two backwards-pants-wearing mac daddies from the early 90s). All I can say is, it worked, and they kept playing until the place kicked them out.

I wanted to go for a long run, but the weather had crapped out in Steamboat, so I hit the road. It seemed to clear up by the time I neared I-70, so I stopped in Frisco to sample the bike paths that lead to Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, and around Lake Dillon.

Sidenote: I was once derided by a forum know-it-all for using the term, "Frisco" to describe where I'd been over the weekend. Only tourists call it that, he said. Californians call it San Francisco, or maybe San Fran.
Frisco is a town in Colorado, I said. Got the last laugh on that one!

I ran an hour and 35 minutes, mostly on the path toward Breck and on the one around the reservoir. The weather that had seemed nice turned suddenly, and I found myself in a big snowstorm. Twenty minutes later, the sun was breaking through again. This cycle would repeat throughout my run.

Monday I'll take the day off from running, and Tuesday I'll have another try at the Dash & Dine 5k race. Only three more weeks to the Bolder Boulder!

Weekly Run Totals

2007-05-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

I'm in Steamboat Springs this weekend for a wedding. After the 4-hour drive I decided to go for a short recovery run just to loosen up the legs a bit.

There's a nice path along the Yampa River that goes straight through town for five miles or so. I only had 25 minutes to run before getting ready for the wedding, but it's a nice area and I'd love to come back and run the whole path sometime.

Here is a summary of my running this week:

Sunday - 11.4 miles easy
Monday - off
Tuesday - 6.9 miles, including a 5k race in 20:11, plus warmup/cooldown
Wednesday - 6.8 miles, with 3x1600 at T-pace, plus 4x100 strides
Thursday - off
Friday - 6.7 miles, with 5x1000 in 3:55 with 3-min recoveries
Saturday - 2.7 miles at recovery pace
TOTAL - 34.5 miles

It was a good, hard week, and with today's run it's the most I've run in a week all year. In fact, it's the most I've run since my marathon a year ago. Also, my race on Tuesday was only 11 seconds off my all-time PR at the 5k distance. So far (knock on wood) I'm injury-free and feeling pretty good.

Signed up for the BB

2007-05-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finally registered for the Bolder Boulder and picked up my race packet. It included a shirt, calendar, race number, snack bag ticket, beer ticket, and (new this year) an IPICO Sports timing tag.

The timing tag is different from the Champion Chips we're all used to seeing at races these days. Ipico Sports claims it is, "more accurate, more reliable, less expensive and easier to use than other systems currently used to collect data during active sports events." It's certainly smaller. Instead of velcroing around your ankle, you use small zip-ties to attach it to your shoe. The Bolder Boulder has never used a timing chip system before, so it will be interesting to see how this works on 47,000 runners. It will be nice to have mile splits, which they will be providing, as well.

Another cool addition this year is the option to buy a so-called "technical" shirt instead of the usual cotton t-shirt. It was only a $10 upgrade, and the shirts are quite nice Pearl Izumi numbers, so I went for it. Props to my friend Bob at Pearl...you guys make great stuff!

The beer ticket is kind of funny, considering I'm usually picking up my beer around 7:45 in the morning. I always drink it, though. It's a BB tradition!

The official BB calendar, chock full of coupons to places like the Boulder Running Company, race dates, and training tips, already hangs on my wall.

Running

Enough about race packets. Here's how the running has been going the last few days...pretty darn well! On Wednesday I ran tempo intervals: 3x1600 at 6:51 mile pace with 200m jog recoveries, followed by 4x100m strides in about 20 seconds each. My legs felt a little fatigued after my race, but still capable.

Today I did another interval workout with my friends Clint and John. Clint has run a 37-minute 10k in a triathlon, and John has already run three marathons this year. I was just hoping they'd go easy on me. Actually, I was planning to do my own workout regardless, but in fact they both amiably ran with me, at my pace, the whole time. Pretty cool!

We did 5x1000 on 3:55 with 3-minute recoveries. I did nearly this same workout two years ago on May 24, only six days before the Bolder Boulder, but I used 1:30 recoveries, which made it tougher, of course. That day I came in at 3:53.5, 3:55.0, 3:56.3, 3:53.6, and 3:56.5. I remember struggling a bit towards the end.

Today, I had these results:

interval	time	mile pace
1	3:56.0	6:19
2	3:54.9	6:18
3	3:54.3	6:17
4	3:52.4	6:14
5	3:52.9	6:14

It was a successful workout, especially since I never felt particularly stressed. On the final 1000, John sprinted to the finish, then promptly emptied the contents of his stomach at the side of the track.

"It's not a proper track workout unless someone pukes," he said wryly.

Thanks, John, for taking one for the team!

5k Race Report

2007-05-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

I raced my second 5k of the year tonight, the Dash & Dine series at the Boulder Reservoir. My last race was April 10. I finished that day in 21:08 under extremely windy conditions.

Today the weather was typical for this time of year on the Front Range -- afternoon thunderstorms were likely. Sure enough, at 5:00 as I was preparing to leave work, the rain started. Soon it became a downpour. I heard that parts of Denver were supposed to get up to two inches of rain per minute for the worst of it. I was not happy about the conditions, since I was hoping to improve my time.

Luckily there happened to be a nice heated locker room at the park near the race start, where I could stay warm while I did my pre-run stretching. The rain had tapered off to a light drizzle by the time I started my warmup. Still, I wore long pants, two shirts, and a rain jacket, since it was fairly cool.

I'd decided to run two laps around Coot Lake for my warmup, which would be 2.5 miles. That's a bit further than I usually go for a 5k, but I wanted to try it and see if it worked for me this time. I ran the first lap slowly. The rain seemed to be stopping by the second lap, so I ditched my jacket. This time I picked up the pace slightly and ran a series of five strides, increasing the tempo with each one. My left TFL (a muscle in the hip) felt sore, but other than that I felt pretty good.

My plan for the race was to start off around 6:15 mile pace. That's fast, I know, but I wanted to try a strategy I read about in a Runner's World article recently, titled "Go Out Fast in Your Next 5k." Ed Eyestone, the author, recommended going out 6% faster than target pace for the first mile. Since I was targeting 20:30 for this race (which is 6:36 per mile average), my first mile should be run in 6:12! I wanted to be a bit more conservative than that; hence the 6:15 goal. After that, I'd just try to hold on to the finish.

Just before the start, I bumped into my friend Mark, who had just run the Boston Marathon two weeks ago. He's a good runner, and I thought he could be a good rabbit to chase.

At this point, the rain had stopped completely, and we were even seeing a bit of sun and blue sky. Nice! I stripped off my extra clothes and got ready to run in just shorts and a short-sleeved shirt.

I lined up right at the front, on the far right side of the starting line. The race director said, "Go!" and we were off. The ground was soft from all the rain, and there were some puddles to dodge. Since this course is all dirt, I figured that might slow us down some. A handful of runners passed me nearly immediately, since I was trying to keep it controlled at this point. We made the turn onto the first long reservoir dam and a couple more runners passed, including Mark. My first thought was, I'll never see him again. But then I realized that the gap wasn't really widening.

I beeped my watch at the one mile mark, and was pleased to see 6:18 for the split. Mark was still about 20 yards in front. We were now entering the toughest part of the course, the second dam. It tends to have vicious headwinds here. Three weeks ago it was absolutely brutal, with huge whitecaps on the lake. Today it was just difficult, and I could see only the occasional baby whitecap to indicate the strength of the wind.

I knew the 2nd mile is usually my slowest, so I determined not to lose concentration here. I noticed I was closing the gap on Mark, and soon I ran past him with a word of encouragement. My next target was a guy in a grey shirt up ahead. As we closed on the turn-around point I decided I would try to catch him before the 2-mile marker. As I turned at the cone, I saw Mark and the top female running together, just a few steps behind me. Mr. grey shirt had seemed to accelerate like a shot, however.

We were now running with a tailwind, and I focused on opening up my stride and keeping my turnover high. Grey Shirt was rapidly leaving me behind, but I noticed he was catching several others on the way, so I hoped my pace hadn't slowed. I was working very hard now, just praying I could maintain my pace. I hit the 2-mile marker in 6:37.

I knew I was running faster than last time, but could I hold it? My next targets seemed too far away to catch, so I'd have to do it alone. My breathing rate increased to a 1-2 pattern, breathing in for one step and out for two steps. I usually only get to this point in the finishing sprints, and I still had almost a mile to go. I was hurting.

I could hear footsteps behind me all along the final dam. I thought it must be Mark reeling me in, but it turned out to be the first place female runner. She passed me just before the 3-mile mark. My split was 6:29. All I had to do was finish, but I had no kick whatsoever. I plodded up the last small hill and took a left for the final straightaway. The clock said 19:56, 19:57...

I crossed in 20:11 (Results). This was my second-fastest 5k ever, and my fastest on this course. I was nearly a minute faster than three weeks ago, and I did beat my stated 20:30 goal. Considering the wind and the soft surface conditions, I was happy with it. Still, the 20-minute barrier was so close, but so unattainable today! But I will get there, I'm confident of that.

Mark finished about 30 seconds behind me. I'm guessing his legs aren't recovered from Boston yet. I'm still impressed he could run so well after only two weeks. Last year, my legs were still thrashed three weeks after my marathon, when I ran a miserable race at the Bolder Boulder.

After this race, I think things are looking up. I still have nearly four weeks to race day, and I expect to only get faster from here on out. Next week I start Phase IV in the training plan.

Four weeks to go!

2007-04-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

Exactly four weeks from today, I'll run my 6th Bolder Boulder 10k race. I started this blog to track my progress over the ten weeks leading up to the race.

How am I doing?

I think I'm doing pretty well, but I certainly don't feel assured of reaching my goal of sub-40. To feel confident, I would need some concrete evidence that indicated I could do it. For example, a 5k time of 19:17 would show that I'm on track for a sub-40 10k, according to the VDOT table. Unfortunately I still haven't run anything close to that. My most recent 5k result was 21:08, albeit under difficult conditions.

I'm signed up for tomorrow night's Dash & Dine 5k again. Last week's race was cancelled due to weather, and thunderstorms are again in the forecast tomorrow. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

If conditions are good, I hope to run 20:30 or faster tomorrow night. That would match my best time on this course, from 2004. According to the race calculators, 20:30 would predict around a 42:45 10k time. However, I've always beaten those projections based on my 5k times. I think the D&D course is significantly slow.

I plan to run the final two Dash & Dine races on May 8 and 15 as well. If I can get my time down below 20 minutes on that course, I think I have a real shot at a sub-40 Bolder Boulder.

Feeling poor today

2007-04-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

I think yesterday's workout took a lot out of me. My legs have that dead feeling that every runner knows so well. I still needed to get out and do my Sunday long run, though.

I've been running 10 miles for my long runs the last four weeks (not counting the time I was in Costa Rica, when I completely skipped them). I want to increase that a little bit over the next couple of weeks, so today I ran a bit over 11 miles.

Again, I not-so-wisely chose the heat of the day, and again we had record high temperatures. I think it hit 84 degrees or more. I struggled through it, never trying to push the pace. Even so, my "easy" pace felt hard. Tomorrow I'll rest.

Today's run totals: 11.4 miles, 1:38:40 (average pace 8:39).

Getting faster

2007-04-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

One good thing about interval workouts is that they can be easily compared. Sort of. If you do the exact same workout under exactly the same conditions, including weather, wind, and state of recovery, you can tell whether you're getting faster or not. Of course, you'll never repeat two workouts under the exact same conditions, but you can get close enough.

Today's interval workout was similar in some ways to workouts I've done before, but different enough that it's a little hard to compare. It had two phases: 1) a VO2 max interval phase, and 2) a Repetition phase. That's not counting my warmup and cooldown.

For the first phase, I decided to run 3 x 1000 meters with 3 minutes rest. This is a change from my previous 5 x 1000 with 1:30 rest. I switched to only 3 intervals because this was my 2nd interval session of the week, and Daniels recommends no more than 6% of total weekly mileage for this session. That would be 2.9 km, so I rounded up to 3000 meters. I also increased my recovery period based on Daniels recommendation that recoveries "should be equal to, or a little less than, the time spent performing the preceding workbout." I had a hard time running 3:55's on Tuesday with only 1:30 rest (in fact I couldn't do it), so I decided to see what I could do when following the recommendation.

How did it go?

Fantastic. I ran my 1000s in 3:52.9, 3:50.5, and 3:53.3. More importantly, I never felt stressed to my limits, as I did on Tuesday. I am sure I could have completed two more at that pace. I wasn't really trying to beat 3:55 by that much; I was just trying to maintain pace in a controlled way to the finish of each interval.

Following the VO2 max interval phase of the workout, Daniels recommended 4-6 x 200 at R-pace, which should be around 44 seconds for me (I'm still guessing that my VDOT is anywhere from 48-50 right now). These reps felt good as well, and I ran them a little fast at 41.4, 41.9, 42.0, and 41.3 seconds.

In spite of feeling great about today's workout, I got home and felt pretty trashed. In retrospect I think I accidentally allowed myself to get dehydrated in the record heat. It got to be around 80 degrees today, and I started my run in the heat of the day at 1:15 PM. Perhaps not too smart, but I told myself it would be good for heat acclimatization.

Tempo Session

2007-04-25T23:02:00.000-07:00

After yesterday's tough interval session, I felt slightly concerned about tonight's workout, a 20-minute tempo run. I was looking for the elusive "comfortably hard" pace. I would warmup for 2.5 miles, run 3 miles at my tempo pace of about 6:55 per mile, and then cool down for another half mile. At least that was the idea. I thought about heading for the track again, but opted to just stick to the creek path. The miles are all marked on the path, and seem pretty accurate.

The weather had thankfully improved, and it was a near-perfect 52 degrees and sunny when I set out at 6:40 PM. The sun was sinking lower, but there were still plenty of people out enjoying the evening. Spring is in full gear here in Boulder. The creek is nearly overflowing its banks, the grass is green, and everywhere the trees are blooming in red, white, or pink blossums that smell wonderful.

I ran gradually uphill to the first bridge at Eben Fine Park (site of the 0.0 mile marker) and turned around. I picked up the pace steadily, trying to imagine the pace I could maintain for an hour and no longer. Pacing is a difficult art. I passed the first mile in 7:14, feeling fairly comfortable and breathing in a 3-3 pattern. I picked it up a bit more, shifting to a 2-2 breathing pattern and feeling the effort. Mile two passed in 6:44. I eased up slightly for the last mile, but this one was an out-and-back, with the last half uphill. I finished my last tempo mile in 7:02, for an average pace of exactly 7:00 per mile.

I was satisfied with the workout. It felt challenging, but not too bad.

Run summary: 6.1 miles in 47:21 (7:46 average pace).

Bonus! After the run, I got a free dinner (courtesy of work) at Laudisio, one of Boulder's top Italian restaurants. I had the scallops, and they were delicioso!

Race cancelled

2007-04-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

I got an email today from the Dash & Dine race directors:

Due to the inclement weather currently occurring in Boulder (and predicted to continue throughout the day), we are considering canceling the Dash & Dine 5K scheduled for this evening...If you want to move your registration from today's race to one of the three final runs (5-1, 5-8 or 5-15) before we make a final determination, please email us before 3:00 pm.

That was enough for me. I sent them an email asking to switch my registration to next week's race. Am I getting soft? I don't think so. I went out and ran another track workout at lunch today. It was 39 degrees, windy, and raining steadily. Not the best conditions, but it's amazingly not that bad when you can come in from your run, take a shower, and have a nice lunch and a hot espresso.

After consulting DRF before my workout, I decided to drop down to 4x1000 meters instead of 5x1000. That's because Daniels recommends no more than 8% of weekly mileage for this interval session. 8% of 30 miles is 2.4 miles, which is about 4 kilometers, so I'm pretty close. I also adjusted my I-pace a bit. If I use a VDOT of 50 (which is hopefully where I am right now, perhaps optimistically), my I-pace should be 3:55 per 1000 meters.

So, my goal for the workout was 4x1000 on 3:55 with 1:30 rest. Did I make it? Nope. I ran 3:58.8 for the first one. That's ok, I thought. I'm trying to get used to this pace. Intervals 2 and 3 came in at 3:55.4 and 3:55.7. Close, but still struggling to make it. This was getting quite hard. By my third interval I was really hurting. So much so that I decided to take an extra 30 seconds rest. That helped a little, and I finished the final 1000 in 3:58.5. Without the extra rest I'm sure I would have been over 4:00 for that one.

This made me re-read the chapter on interval training in DRF. Oops, he recommends 3-4 minute recoveries, and I'm only taking 1:30. Maybe I should increase my recovery time in my next workout. I'm certain that would help a lot.

So much to learn!

Back in Boulder

2007-04-23T17:15:00.000-07:00

Costa Rica

I was asked if I was sad to be back from Costa Rica. Honestly, no. That's the beauty of living in Boulder. No matter how great your vacation was (and my trip to Costa Rica was fantastic), it's just impossible to be sad about coming back to Boulder. That's why I live here.

I only ran four out of the eight days I was gone, but I don't feel bad about it. I hiked, swam, biked, paddled, and even surfed a bit. And I took a few well-deserved siestas as well. I found the running to be quite difficult in the heat and humidity. Early morning would have been the best time to run, but I just couldn't get myself out of bed before six everyday. By seven o'clock it was already hot in the sun. I did most of my running in the evening after sunset, but it was still quite humid then.

I spent five days in Samara, on the Pacific coast. It's a lovely little beach town with all the amenities, but it still seems relatively unknown to American tourists. The locals certainly know about it, and it's a popular vacation spot for Costa Ricans, aka Ticos. The beach was perfect for running -- fine, compact sand that's neither too soft nor too hard. And it was long...I'm guessing over two miles from end to end. I was happy just running to both ends of the beach and back each day, which took a little over 40 minutes.

A couple obligatory beach photos...

Friday's track workout

Back in Boulder, I jumped right back into training. On Friday I hit the track for my first VO2 max interval workout, 5 x 1000 meters on 4:00 with 1:30 rest. I keep measuring myself against my performances from two years ago. On May 3, 2005, I did the exact same workout. On that day, I completed the first three intervals in 3:59.4, 4:00.4, and 3:58.1. But I started to die on the 4th interval, which took me 4:04.8, and I had to rest over three minutes before the last one, which I ran in 3:57.8. So, basically, I couldn't complete the workout.

On Friday, I ran the 1000-meter intervals in 3:57.2, 3:58.7, 3:58.5, 3:58.2, and 3:57.7. Only the last one felt hard. It's encouraging because I now have a good indicator that I'm in better shape than I was in 2005, the year I ran a 40:39 Bolder Boulder.

Sunday's long run

I took Saturday off from running (although I did do a mountain bike ride), and Sunday I repeated my 10-mile trail run from four weeks ago. This time I did it in reverse -- up the Beech trail, down Left Hand, around Sage, and back on Eagle. It's a great run with a few decent hills, and it's almost entirely on trails. Last time I ran it in 1:43 in muddy and windy conditions. This time it only took 1:29, although I did have to push a bit at the end to break an hour and a half. I felt good the whole time, like the miles were just ticking by under my feet with very little effort on my part (until the end, of course). It was another good confidence builder.

5k, take 2

Tomorrow I will run the Dash & Dine 5k again. I'm hoping for better conditions this time! I missed last week's race, but I heard conditions were better than two weeks ago, when I ran 21:08. I checked results from last week, and noticed that most runners who competed in the first two races of the series dropped over a minute in the second race. That means I might be close to a 20-minute 5k right now, which would be great. Even if this is true, I still realize it's a long way from a 20-minute 5k to a 40-minute 10k, but I'm working on it!

Hold on...I just checked the weather forecast for tomorrow.

RAIN, SNOW, WIND. HIGH 41 DEGREES. WINDS FROM THE NORTH AT 25-35 MPH, WITH GUSTS OVER 40 MPH.

Are you kidding me? This looks worse than last time! I should have checked the forecast before signing up. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to suck it up. It is kind of disheartening when you're running a race to judge your fitness, not your ability to endure horrible weather.

We'll see how it goes...

5k Race Results

2007-04-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday´s 5k at the Boulder Reservoir can be summed up in one word: WINDY. When I left work at 5 PM the current weather reading said average winds at 28 miles per hour, gusting to 39. By the time I got to the Rez, it had picked up significantly. Nearly the entire course was exposed, since it ran right along the shore, and the lake was whipped into a frenzy of whitecaps.

Before I even got out of the car, I decided that I would try my best, but I wouldn´t be upset if I didn´t reach my goal of a sub-21 finish. The conditions were just too poor.

I wore a pair of running pants, a short sleeve shirt, a long-sleeve shirt, gloves, and a thin but warm hat. It was cold enough that I even wore my jacket during the warmup as well.

Just before the start, I heard someone call my name, and I turned to see my friend Dave, who had recently returned from some crazy-assed race in the frozen northlands of Canada. It was a 6-day running stage race over ice and snow, covering 50 km each day. He´d won, and returned with a $10,000 diamond as the grand prize, which he presented to his wife. Pretty cool.

I said, "Dave, I´ll give you ten bucks if you´ll run right in front of me the whole way and break the wind for me." He laughed.

The race organizer said go, and all 176 participants started running. For the first mile we mostly had a tailwind, but I tried to keep things under control and not go out too fast. I felt comfortable as we chugged along in a large scattered group.

At the first hill I consciously eased up a little bit, since we had also just turned smack into the wind for the first time. A guy in a red shirt passed me, and I tucked in behind him for the nice draft. We turned left along the first dam, and the wind was coming from my right shoulder. I stayed in red shirt guy´s draft as we passed mile 1 in 6:33. I secretly hoped to be able to keep up this pace.

Then we turned straight into the wind. It was so strong that it was even hard to breathe. My effort level increased, but my speed dropped like a shot. This would not be easy, I realized.

Turning onto the second dam, we had another crosswind. Looking down the line of runners, it was funny to see everyone leaning to their right to brace against the wind as they ran. The leaders passed the turn-around, and I saw that Dave was still right there with the lead group. That was great for such a short race, because his best distance is ten times the length of a 5k.

Red shirt guy and I had been trading the lead, but at the turn-around I forged ahead. I passed mile 2 in 7:04. Not the greatest, I thought, but these were tough conditions. I focused on a woman 30 meters in front of me, and tried to catch her. It wasn´t easy, but after another quarter mile I finally closed the gap and pulled ahead. To my surprise, she passed me back after only 30 seconds. I picked it up again and passed her back. This time it stuck.

Now on the long straightaway of the first dam again, I had another target, again 30 meters ahead. It took most of a mile to catch this guy, but I pulled ahead right as we turned away from the wind for the first time since the start. I was pushing pretty hard now and heard footsteps on my tail, so I told myself not to relax my pace a bit. I passed the mile 3 marker in 6:45, and pressed on to the finish. When the clock came into view, I saw that it said 20:56. My sub-21 would not happen tonight. I crossed the finish in 21:08, 24th of 176, and I was happy with that. It was still 7 seconds faster than my 5k from two years ago on the same course, so I think I´m on track with the training right now. I just need to do a race without that dreaded wind!

I´m typing this from a quirky little outdoor internet cafe in San Jose, Costa Rica. It should be a fun week, but there won´t be a lot of running in it for me. That´s fine, I can use the rest.

Tuneup Race Tomorrow

2007-04-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

I dropped by the Boulder Running Company this morning to sign up for tomorrow evening's Dash & Dine 5k. I need a tuneup race to really judge my current fitness; plus, 5k races are great for developing VO2 max, a major component of 10k race performance.

The Dash & Dine races are a great local series at the Boulder Reservoir. They are held every Tuesday night, starting tomorrow, for six weeks, which makes them perfect preparation for the Bolder Boulder at the end of May. The course is an out-and-back on dirt, starting at Coot Lake and following the shore of the Boulder Reservoir. It's pretty flat, which should make it fast, but in my experience the dirt surface and the typical windy conditions usually slow the racers down quite a bit. For example, I did three of the Dash & Dine races in 2005 leading up to the Bolder Boulder. My best time was 20:44. That predicts a 10k of 42:50, but my actual BB finish was 40:39 that year. My 5k splits at the Bolder Boulder were 20:19 and 20:20, better than any of my Dash & Dine 5k results in the weeks leading up to the race.

Since I'm hoping to beat my 2005 Bolder Boulder time, naturally I looked at my 2005 Dash & Dine results to see where I should be at this time of year. Here are my three 5k times from 2005:

Date	Time
April 12, 2005	21:15
April 26, 2005	20:55
May 17, 2005	20:44

Looking at these dates and times, it becomes pretty clear that I need to beat 21:15 tomorrow night in order to have a reasonable chance of meeting my goal of a sub-40 10k at the Bolder Boulder. With that in mind, I'm going to try to run a sub-21 5k, which means 6:45 minutes per mile or better. I will, however, try to pace myself by perceived exertion, which will hopefully prevent me from going out too hard. I don't want to repeat my time trial experience from 8 days ago!

Today's run stats: 5 miles total, at an easy pace. 42:54 (8:34 average pace). I'm temporarily abandoning the training plan, because a) I need a rest week, b) I wanted to get in this tuneup race, and c) I'm leaving for Costa Rica in two days. Training will resume in earnest April 23, if not sooner.

Ryan Hall smashes American Half-Marathon Record

2007-04-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

This isn't news to any bona fide running fans, but...

I happened to find a video of Ryan Hall winning the Houston Half-Marathon three months ago in an incredible 0:59:43. He took the American record at the distance, smashing the 21-year-old mark by over a minute. Hall is a young upstart and had never raced anything longer than 10 miles before. The video quality is horrible, but aside from that it's still cool to see him tick off mile after mile at an average pace of 4:33. At one point, he climbs a hill as if it isn't even there.

I'd be happy to run just one mile a full minute slower than the pace he maintained for 13 straight. This guy is a real talent. He is going for his marathon debut in London this month, racing against the world's best. I can't wait to see what happens!

The weather was not fit for man nor beast today, but I saw both on my run. It was 31 degrees, with a freezing drizzle. For some reason, I had no problem being motivated. After a day off, I feel nicely recovered, and decided to stick to my (shuffled) schedule for the week. Since I ran the 5k time trial on Sunday, I figured that could replace the "unstructured" interval workout I'd scheduled for today. I did my long run two days ago, so the only workout left for the week was a Ti (Threshold Interval) run.

Two weeks ago I did 3x1600 at 6:40 pace. However, that felt a bit hard. With my recent adjustments, my new T-pace is 6:55. I also decided to do only 2x1600 today, since I felt so tired this week, and 3x1600 does actually exceed Daniels' recommendation of no more than 8% of total mileage for threshold runs.

So, I simply went out and ran 3.5 miles at an easy pace, 2x1600 at my T-pace of 6:55, and 1.5 miles cool down. On the 1600s, I felt like I was working fairly hard, but still comfortable. I'd rate this as "high-end aerobic," which is about right. Despite the rain freezing on my glasses, I felt fine in my tights, long-sleeved shirt, fleece vest, and thin hat and gloves.

Today's run stats: 7 miles total, including 2 miles at threshold pace. 53:37 (7:40 average pace).

A look back in time...previous Bolder Boulders

2007-04-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

Since this blog is all about training for the Bolder Boulder, I thought today I'd reminisce about my previous experiences at the race.

Back in 2002, I was dating a girl who used to run. She suggested that I run the Bolder Boulder with her that spring. Actually, it was more like, "We're doing the Bolder Boulder in May. I signed us up for a 5k to qualify."

Um, ok. Why not? I wasn't a runner then. I was still mostly into climbing (something that doesn't help your running in the least), but I had recently started dabbling in adventure racing, so I figured a little run training couldn't hurt.

We took a day trip down to Colorado Springs and ran a 5k race in the Garden of the Gods. I crossed the finish line in 22:41, a 7:18 pace. It was the first running race I'd ever done, and it was pretty cool. [edit: oops, I almost forgot that I ran the Pearl Street Mile in 1998, so this 5k was actually my second road race!]

Three weeks later I found myself in the C-wave at the starting line of the Bolder Boulder. I couldn't believe all the people! There were well over 40,000 participants, which makes the BB the second largest 10k in the nation, behind Atlanta's Peachtree.

More amazing than the crowds, however, was how well-organized everything was. There were volunteers everywhere, offering help if you needed it. A shuttle was there to take your warm clothes to the finish line for you. There was half a block full of nothing but porta-potties. There were water and gatorade tables. As each wave started, the next wave shuffled forward to the starting line. The faster runners (and anyone who wanted) had no problem starting right on the line.

Before I knew it, my wave had started. It seemed like a band was playing on every street corner. There were belly dancers and octogenarian cheerleaders. It was almost enough to distract me from the pain in my legs and lungs. Almost, but not quite! Every mile and every kilometer were marked, and there were huge water and gatorade stations spaced regularly. I followed the crowds all the way to the finish in the CU football stadium, where I was surprised to see I'd beat my 5k PR...twice! My finish time was 44:31.

After meeting up with my girlfriend, we both took advantage of one of my favorite BB perks: the free massage! We then explored the huge expo, where samples of all sorts of things, from ice cream to beef jerky, were available from vendors. Next, it was time to watch the traditional Bolder Boulder Memorial Day Tribute, complete with a short speech by a Purple Heart recipient, a 21-gun salute, a flyover by four fighter jets in formation, and a display of skill as one member of each branch of the military parachuted into the stadium. The final skydiver came in carrying a massive American flag as "I'm Proud to Be an American" played on the loudspeakers. It all sounds kind of hokey, but it honestly got to me, and it has every year since.

Following the Memorial Day Tribute, it was a real treat to watch the pro race. Each country is allowed to send three male and three female runners to the Bolder Boulder International Team Challenge. The country with the highest-placing athletes wins. With the largest non-marathon road racing prize purse in the world at stake, countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and of course, the USA, send some of their top guns. Along with thousands of spectators, we cheered as local hero Alan Culpepper made a bold move in a last minute charge from behind, coming within 3 seconds of Kenya's Tom Nyariki for first place. But it was the USA women who stole the show. Deena Drossin (now Kastor) led the women to a near-perfect 1, 2, 4 team victory.

It was a few days after the race that I first got the idea to try for a sub-40 10k time. A local trail running legend posted the following on a message board about my friend Bill, a fellow climber and enthusiast of all things outdoors:

The bad news is that we won't have Bill to kick around anymore. He successfully broke 40 minutes at the Bolder Boulder, annihilating the barrier with a 39:48. Way to go Bill! And I bet the guys who beat you aren't also training to climb El Cap in a single day.

There it was in print...you would be respected as a runner if you could break 40 minutes in a 10k. At least that's how I interpreted it. The other thing was that 40 minutes is a nice round number, and the splits are easy to calculate, at an even four minutes per kilometer. I thought I wasn't that far away from the goal, only four and a half minutes. Little did I know, that's a tough 4.5 minutes to find!

In the ensuing years, I mostly focused on mountain biking and adventure racing, but every year as the Bolder Boulder would come within view, I'd try to do at least something to train for it. Usually that involved running a few 5k races and adding another day or two to my typical one or two days of running per week. Surprisingly, considering my haphazard approach, my times did go down each year. In 2003 I ran 42:13. In 2004, 41:25. And in 2005, after adding a total of three track workouts to the mix for the first time, I ran my current PR of 40:39.

Last year was the year I decided I'd start to take running a bit more seriously. I planned to run four days a week, something I'd never done two weeks in a row, much less for a whole year. To help my motivation, I signed up for the May 7 Colorado Marathon, and grabbed a novice marathon training program from Hal Higdon's website. I followed it semi-religiously. My plan was to dramatically increase my mileage through marathon training. I would then be in great running shape for the Bolder Boulder that year, I reasoned.

My plan failed miserably. The marathon worked pretty well, though. My training peaked at 40 miles per week, with a longest run of 20 miles. It was tough to keep the injuries at bay, but I made it to the starting line and finished just 29 seconds shy of my goal of beating 3:30. But the marathon destroyed my legs, at least temporarily. I went for a couple of walks (not runs) that week, and gradually got back into running again over the next several weeks. But the Bolder Boulder was only three weeks after the marathon. Too soon! My legs just didn't have it on race day, and I ran a disappointing 43:46.

So there you have it, my personal Bolder Boulder history in a rather large nutshell. This year, in case you can't tell, I'm more motivated than ever to break that elusive 40-minute barrier!

Coffee...It makes you poo

2007-04-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be so crass, but it's the truth.

I stopped in at Vic's Coffee this morning to discuss next week's trip to Costa Rica with a couple of friends (yes, that's right -- I'm going for 8 days and I'm psyched about it!). We came up with a basic game plan that includes volcanoes, jungles, beaches, and surf. I had a nice big cup of Vic's trademark joe, and I must say it did wonders for my digestive system throughout the morning. As someone who started regularly drinking coffee just recently, this well-known effect is somewhat new to me.

Since I did a 5k time trial on Sunday instead of my long run, I decided to swap the week around and do my 10-mile long run today. I felt light and ready as I hit the path, and the first few miles felt easy and went by quickly. I was determined to just enjoy the run today. It was beautiful, sunny, and 55 degrees out. The birds were chirping, the trees were blooming, and half of Boulder was on the creek path enjoying it all.

Somewhere around mile 4 or 5, my legs started feeling more and more fatigued. My paced slowed, until I felt like I was creeping along. I made a game-day decision to skip my usual striders. My legs just didn't feel up to it. After my turn-around point at the top of Eben Fine Park, I slowly started to feel better. By the end of the run, I was back to my usual pace.

But, my legs are tired, there's no doubt about it. When I finished my run, I had a very strange sensation. Have you ever played that game where you stand in a doorway and push your arms up against the sides of the door frame for one minute, then step away? Your arms feel like they are holding themselves up, like they are floating. Well, when I stopped running and walked for a little, my legs felt like they were moving forward on their own. Weird!

Today's stats: 10 miles, 1:25:09, 8:30 pace.

By the way, looking at the elevation profile of today's run, I think I know why I felt good at the start, progressively worse in the middle, and better at the finish. See if you can guess...

Things spotted on the run:

A clothesline full of clothes hanging to dry, complete with bike shorts and bike jerseys (that's Boulder for you)
A mean-looking rottweiler back from a recent trip to the vet; it had a green full-leg cast decorated with delicate pink flowers
A cat-sized wooden raft on the banks of Boulder Creek (I have no idea if it was built for cats, but it did remind me of the time my brothers and I put our cat on a raft and sent it down the creek, much to its dismay)

The training program

I'm going to be tweaking the program over the next few weeks. I'm taking a couple suggestions to heart, and thus I plan to a) gradually increase the length of my long runs, and b) take some rest weeks. The Costa Rica trip is going to be a rest week for me. I'll run some, but maybe only 15-20 miles. I think I can use the rest.

Back at it

2007-04-03T12:58:00.000-07:00

No use worrying about Sunday's time trial. After a nice day off yesterday (well, I did swim), it was time for another Rep workout today.

After my usual 2.5 mile warmup on the Creek Path, I showed up at the BHS track. This place is becoming a regular hangout for me. I think I've doubled my overall lifetime number of track workouts in the last three weeks, or nearly so.

This was a repeat of my rep workout two weeks ago. I did 3x (2x200 + 1x400).

I did adjust my R-pace, based on a new VDOT of 48-49. That means 200s should be run at 44 seconds and 400s at 89-90 seconds. Here are my splits:

	1	2	3
200m	44.4	44.1	43.4
200m	44.4	43.5	39.8
400m	1:28.1	1:29.2	1:28.0

I guess I was pretty close to my target paces for each rep, although overall I did come in just a little fast on several. Actually the last 200 was a lot faster because I got carried away chasing down another guy at the track. Ha!

At just a couple seconds slower than my earlier rep pace, this still didn't feel that easy. On my last 400, I was slow at the 300m mark and had to really hoof it in to the finish. I'm feeling pretty good, though.

It always feels good after a workout.

Time Trial Meltdown!

2007-04-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today I ran a 5k time trial at the track. I've been bothered by the nagging feeling that I'm training at the wrong paces. That's because I've been using a VDOT (and associated training paces) based on my best 10k performance from two years ago. Thus, I could really use a current, up-to-date measure of my fitness.

I warmed up with around 2 miles of easy running, plus a few 100-meter strides. The day was cool and sunny, but there were also some gusty winds to make conditions less than perfect. After lots of procrastination, I finally started my 12.5 laps of pain.

The plan was to break the run into twenty-five 200-meter segments. If I could average slightly under 48 seconds per 200, I'd break 20 minutes in the 5k. This would be a new personal record for me (my best was 20:00 from four years ago). Ideally, I would finish in 19:45 or slightly faster. This would justify my current VDOT estimate of 51, from which all my recent training paces have been based.

In order to get to 19:45, I planned to run the first 10 segments in 48 seconds each, and the final 15 in 47 seconds each. I figured that would prevent me from going out too fast, while also preventing me from losing too much time in the first half. It was also a plan based on one big assumption -- that I actually could run that fast right now.

The first laps started off well enough. The pace felt hard, and I admit it wasn't long before I began to wonder if I could hold it for 12.5 laps around the track. Still, I was hitting my splits right on the money. The first warning came at 1800 meters, when I was a full second off my 200m split target. I chalked that up to a lack of concentration, and ran the next kilometer in 3:59, just under pace. By this point, I could tell that just breaking 20 minutes would be enough of a challenge, not to mention 19:45.

Nearing the 3-kilometer mark, the effort to maintain pace suddenly shot up. My breathing went from a 2-2 pattern (breathe in for two steps, breathe out for two steps) to a 1-1 pattern, practically hyperventilating. I knew I was way over my lactate threshold, and I still had 2 km to go. I held out to the 3-km mark, but it was too fast. Seconds after that, I got the worst side stitch I've ever had. I was reduced to a painful walk for the next half lap, and then could only manage to jog it in to the finish. My total time was a disappointing 22:26.

Here are my splits:

Meters	Split	Goal Pace	200m Lap	1000m Lap
200	0:47.0	0:48	47.0
400	1:35.2	1:36	48.2
600	2:23.5	2:24	48.3
800	3:11.3	3:12	47.8
1000	3:59.6	4:00	48.3	3:59.6
1200	4:47.6	4:48	48.0
1400	5:36.1	5:36	48.5
1600	6:23.6	6:24	47.5
1800	7:12.7	7:12	49.1
2000	8:00.3	8:00	47.6	4:00.7
2200	8:48.2	8:48	47.9
2400	9:35.8	9:36	47.6
2600	10:23.6	10:24	47.8
2800	11:11.9	11:12	48.3
3000	12:02.2	12:00	50.3	4:01.9
3200	14:15.7	12:48	2:13.5
3400	15:17.5	13:36	1:01.8
3600	16:12.2	14:24	54.7
3800	17:06.6	15:12	54.4
4000	17:58.7	16:00	52.1	5:56.5
4200	18:51.5	16:48	52.8
4400	19:46.3	17:36	54.8
4600	20:38.0	18:24	51.7
4800	21:32.1	19:12	54.1
5000	22:26.1	20:00	54.0	4:27.5

As you can see, things started to break down at 3000 meters, and disintegrated immediately after.

What did I learn from this painful experience? The whole point of running this time trial was to assess my fitness, but I'm not even sure I did a good job of that. Trying to hit an arbitrary goal of sub-20 definitely hurt my chances of running my best 5k on this particular day. I was more worried about hitting every 200 on 48 seconds, and paying less attention to my perceived effort. The signs were all there (that this pace wasn't sustainable), but I ignored them. So, this wasn't a good test of my current best 5k ability.

I think the effort was a better test of my 3k ability, since I don't imagine I could have run a 3k much faster than today's time of 12:02. Plugging this into the VDOT calculator, I get a new VDOT of 48. That's quite a difference from the VDOT of 51 on which I've been basing all my recent training paces!

Should I use this VDOT from now on (at least until my next real race)? I've gotten some feedback on the CoolRunning boards saying if I can run 3-4 kilometers at 4-minutes per km on the track, solo, then I should be able to run sub-20 in a 5k race. I don't know. Perhaps they are right, but it sure didn't feel like I could have done it today, race or not.

For now, I think I'll just take my medicine and use the slower training paces designated by a 48 VDOT. That means my Easy/Long pace is now 8:31 mpm (it was 8:07 using a 51 VDOT). Threshold runs are now at 7:02 (instead of 6:44). 1000-meter intervals are at 4:03 (formerly 3:51), and 400-meter reps should now be run in 90 seconds instead of 86. I feel like I've been demoted, but in reality I have to admit that I'm just not in as good of shape as I thought.

The other, and perhaps most important, thing I learned was what it feels like to "blow up." I've never done that before, in a race or otherwise. Always when I'm approaching that feeling in a race, I've eased off a bit. That leaves me wondering if I could have pushed "just a little bit harder" and finished a little bit faster. Today I didn't back off the pace, because I was trying to hit my splits. I am going to try to remember exactly what this felt like, because I think it's a useful thing to know. After all, how will I know how hard I can push unless I've experienced pushing too hard in the past?

Well, now I have.

Weekly Run Summary

2007-03-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

Weekly run summary:

Sunday - 10.1 miles, with strides (1:43)
Monday - off
Tuesday - 7 miles easy, with strides (0:57)
Wednesday - 7 miles, with reps: 6x400 at 86 seconds (1:00)
Thursday - off
Friday - 6 miles, with 3x (2 min, 1 min, 30 sec hard) (0:49)
Saturday - off
Total - 30.1 miles

Should I throw out my training plan?

2007-03-30T12:56:00.000-07:00

Since I feel like I'm kind of flying solo here, I wanted to get some feedback on my training plan. Is it realistic? Does it have enough easy running? Are the long runs long enough? Is it true to Daniels' philosophies of running? I was looking for a basic sanity check.

So I posted a link to my training plan on the CoolRunning.com forum asking for critiques. I got a few responses, but this one kind of shook me up.

I would change everything.
You ran 40:39 2 yrs ago on 15 miles per week. You are a very good runner.
Just doubling your mileage to 30 miles/week will create a load.
I would change to 13 on Sunday, 5 on Tuesday, 7 on Wednesday, and 5 on Friday.
Drop the intervals/repetitions for now.
Add 1 or 2 miles extra per week. Add it to your long run. When you reach 16, stay at 16, and re-direct the extra mile to your wednesday and friday. Never on Tuesday.
Tuesday should be reserved for hill repeats. 5 miles of it. Hill repeats. Slow and powerful up the hill. It's not a sprint, its not an anaerobic workout. Work the kick, straight leg push, ankles, high knees, arm swings. etc... Note: introduce hill repeats 7 weeks out.
5 weeks out, introduce aerobic Intervals (3:51 per 1000m) x 6 with 1 min. rest on fridays. Also do a few anaerobic intervals (meaning mile pace). Do a few short 400-meter intervals with a 400m jogging recovery. Make sure you continue on afterward to cover your remaining miles.
Every 4th week cut your mileage in two. No intervals, no hills. That is designated as your recovery week. This is where the super compensation takes place.
On Tuesdays, you can alternate between hills one week and a nice 85-90% vo2max run the next. Never go past 5 miles.
Now If I had your best 1-mile time right now or a 5k time, I could attach paces with each day of the week.

Well, this wasn't quite what I was expecting. I was thinking in terms of a tweak here or there, not "change everything!"

The newly-proposed plan actually looked solid, and the poster seemed to know what he was talking about. One thing that was missing was an actual critique of my plan, the very thing I had requested. If I was going to throw out my plan and use this one, I would need to be convinced of two things. First, I wanted to know how this plan was superior to mine. And second, I wanted a few details about the poster's credentials.

In the end, I didn't really get a response to either question. I did find out that the new plan was based on Arthur Lydiard's teachings. Lydiard was a legendary running coach. Far be it from me to question him! But then again, I based my plan on a book by another legendary running coach, Jack Daniels.

So it looks like it comes down to Lydiard vs. Daniels. Since I've read Daniels and haven't read Lydiard, I'm sticking with what I've got for now.

Today's Run

I ran 6 miles today, with three sessions of 2 minutes, 1 minute, and 30 seconds hard. Rests were 1 minute, 30 seconds, and 30 seconds, respectively. This is basically a repeat of last Saturday's run in the rain, but today I did one fewer session. I'm just slightly concerned about doing too much hard running.

Still, I felt pretty good. On my bike ride to work this morning, my legs felt amazingly good. That's not saying too much, because my morning commute is extremely easy, but it's something, at least.

Rep Workout #2

2007-03-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Today's run included my second Repetition workout. This one called for 6x400 at 86 seconds each. I knew this would be a little tougher than last week, because last week had a mix of both 200s and 400s, and the 400s felt significantly harder than the shorter reps!

After warming up for 2.5 miles on the Creek Path, I again found myself at the Boulder High School track. It's so convenient that I can do a track workout on my lunch break, without even hopping on my bike to get there.

The first rep felt ragged. I was pushing hard, but didn't feel smooth at all. I was surprised that my watch said 88.7 seconds, nearly two seconds off pace! And it wasn't for a lack of trying, either.

I jogged another 400 for recovery and then walked around a little, allowing my heart rate to settle back down, before starting the next rep after about 4 minutes total recovery. I ended up using this same recovery period after each rep. As I understand it, the point of repetition workouts is not to stress your VO2 max or your lactate threshold -- it's to improve leg speed and running economy at speed. Thus, full recoveries are necessary in order to insure that each rep can be completed in the same amount of time.

The second rep felt a little bit smoother, and I came in at 86.3 seconds. From there, the rest of my reps just kept feeling better and more in control. I posted the last four in 85.9, 85.7, 85.5, and 86.0 seconds. Actually, the last rep felt so good that I foolishly ran the first 100 in 18 seconds (it should have been 21.5). I consciously slowed it down, though, and finished the 400 right on pace. I jogged another 400 and turned for home. Total mileage for today: 7 miles.

I think next time, it would be worthwhile to pick up the pace a bit toward the end of my warmup. Going from my 8:10 warmup pace straight to my repetition pace of 5:46 minutes per mile is a bit harsh, I guess. Well, I'm learning!

What's this about VDOT?

2007-03-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned VDOT a couple of times already, but what the heck is it, and why do I care?

VDOT is the brainchild of running coach Jack Daniels. It's just a number that represents a runner's ability. It combines VO2 max and economy, as well as lactate threshold and even hard-to-quantify qualities like mental toughness.

The beauty of using the VDOT system is its simplicity. To find out your VDOT, just look up a recent race time in the VDOT Table. If you've run several races of different lengths recently, go with the one that results in your highest VDOT.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm using my 10k personal best time of 40:39, which gives me a VDOT of 51. That race result is almost two years old, so I may need to adjust my VDOT after I run my next 5k, hopefully in a few weeks.

Now that you know your VDOT, what do you do with it? Here we get to the practical aspect. Look up your VDOT in the Training Intensities Table, and suddenly you know exactly what pace to train for all your workouts. For example, my workout tomorrow calls for 6 x 400 at R-pace. I look it up in the table and see that I should run the 400s in 86 seconds. This is great for people like me who a) are not that knowledgeable about running, b) don't want to bother with hiring a personal coach, and c) still want to train smart.

It's important to realize that your VDOT number is not an estimate of your VO2 max. To make this crystal clear, let's look up the VDOT of a famous athlete, Lance Armstrong. He ran the New York Marathon last November in 2:59:36. That corresponds to a VDOT of 54. But we know that Lance has a VO2 max of 85 ml/kg/min, which is truly an elite-level of oxygen utilization.

Clearly, 54 and 85 are two different numbers. What accounts for the difference? Economy. The fact is, Lance is just not a very efficient runner (that is, compared to elite runners). He's got a great VO2 max, but relatively poor economy. That's why VDOT is not an estimate of VO2 max -- it combines several different factors, and athletes with the same VDOT may arrive there through different combinations.

Ok, enough about that for now.

I had a fun run today - 7 miles easy, with six strides, averaging 8:13 per mile. That's a little slower than my recommended easy pace of 8:07, but I don't think it matters too much. It was cool and overcast, good running weather. Looking at my training plan, I should relish today's run, because there aren't too many easy days like this remaining on it!

Sunday Long Run

2007-03-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

I feel kind of funny calling today's jaunt a "long run," but for me, ten miles is a few miles longer than average. With my low mileage, a 10-mile run accounts for one-third of my entire week's mileage. Plus, today's run took an hour and 43 minutes. That's long enough for me, at this point!

The ground had dried a bit, but unfortunately I still had to battle a lot of mud. I started with the same loop as yesterday -- out the Eagle and Sage trails, and then north on the Left Hand singletrack. Across Route 36, I ran home on the Beech Trail, a lesser-known but excellent narrow trail that is both flat and in the foothills. That combination makes the Beech Trail one-of-a-kind in Boulder, as far as I know.

I had a few minutes of excitement a couple miles from home. A passing runner warned about a rattlesnake up ahead. Sure enough, just around the bend I heard the telltale rattle coming from underneath a rock beside the trail. Try as I might, I just couldn't spot the thing, and I wasn't about to poke around under the rock. Although I know the Front Range has lots of rattlesnakes, I can think of only one that I've seen in the nine years I've lived here. Today's incident doesn't count.

I added six strides to the run, but overall I felt fairly tired and slow. My average of just over 10-minute miles confirms that fact. I didn't mind, though, as the bike ride I'd done earlier provided a great excuse to run slowly. Tomorrow is a day off.

Rain and Mud

2007-03-24T20:51:00.000-07:00

Overcast, rainy, and cold does not usually describe Boulder weather, but it did today. The first thunderstorm of the year blew in yesterday afternoon, dropping a huge dose of rain and lightning bolts in the first hour. In its wake, the storm left a miserable low-pressure system that continued throughout today.

But the run must go on! The training plan called for 6 miles today, including some "unstructured intervals". This meant the following workout:

4 x (2 minutes hard with 1 minute rest, 1 minute hard with 30 seconds rest, and 30 seconds hard with 30 seconds rest)

After a leisurely morning, I finally got dressed to go. It was 40 degrees and raining steadily. Although I feared it would be a mistake to venture off the pavement today, I headed out to the trails of Boulder Valley Ranch for a 6-mile loop.

As I suspected, it was a mudfest. The intervals were tough, mostly because trying to get any speed was futile -- my feet simply slipped instead of gaining any traction. After 55 minutes, I finished, soaked to the skin but no worse for the wear.

Weekly run summary:

Sunday - off
Monday - 10 miles easy, with 6 x 100 strides
Tuesday - off
Wednesday - 7 miles, with reps: 3 x (2 x 200 at 42 seconds + 1 x 400 at 86 seconds)
Thursday - 7 miles, with threshold intervals: 3 x 1600 at 6:40
Friday - off
Saturday - 6 miles, with unstructured intervals: 4 x (2:00 + 1:00 + 0:30 hard)
Total - 30 miles

Tomorrow I'm going for a bike ride, but if I can get motivated, I'll try and get in a 10-mile run beforehand. With a little luck, the weather will improve.

Threshold Intervals

2007-03-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

The legs felt ok this morning. Ok, but not great. I took 15 minutes before breakfast and hammered my left IT band and TFL (Tensor Fascia Latae), problem spots for me, with a foam roller. I felt much better afterwards.

I was a bit nervous about today's workout: threshold intervals. Once again, I refer to Daniels:

Ti (Threshold Intervals): Sets of repeated miles at T-pace with 1-minute rests, up to 8% of week's total mileage or 10 km (whichever is less).

Again, I'm running 30 miles per week, so 8% would be 2.4 miles. I went a little crazy and rounded it up to 3 full miles. Next I had to look up my Threshold (T) pace in the Training Intensities Table. Using my estimated VDOT of 51, my T-pace is 6:44 per mile.

I decided to run these at the track. Even though the creek path has every half-mile marked, I was still worried about pacing correctly. At the track, it's just so easy to see if you're on pace every 100 meters. I also decided to run 1600-meter intervals, instead of a full mile. It's only 9 meters difference, and I can't seem to find the mile marker on the track anyway.

The first mile felt easy. I turned in 400-meter splits of 99.0, 100.6, 100.1, and 100.5 seconds, for a total of 6:40. A little fast, but no problem. By lap 3 of the second mile, I was starting to feel it. I was still running a bit fast, though, and came in at 6:39 this time. The last mile definitely felt hard, but I still finished in 6:40.

To me, this workout felt much more difficult than yesterday's. Now I'm wondering if I have overestimated my VDOT. If so, I'm running too fast. I just looked up Daniels' definition of T-pace:

"Subjectively, the intensity of effort associated with T-pace running is comfortably hard. The effort should be one that you could maintain for about one hour in a race."

I highly doubt I could run at 6:40 pace for a whole hour at this point in my training. So, maybe I'm running too fast. But for now, I'll just go with it and see what happens. With any luck, this workout should feel a little bit easier next time I do it.

Repetitions

2007-03-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Today I completed my first repetition workout at the track. Daniels describes repetition (R, or rep) training as repeated sessions of fast running that last 2 minutes or less. Recovery times are relatively long, to allow each rep to be run just as fast as the initial one. The idea behind rep workouts is to develop good mechanics and efficiency (i.e., economy) at faster speeds, and to develop anaerobic (not aerobic) metabolism.

I pulled today's workout straight from Chapter 13 of Daniels' Running Formula.

R-1: Sets of 2x200 + 1x400 at R-pace, up to 5% of week's mileage.

First I determined how many of these reps to do. Since I'm currently running 30 miles per week, 5% of this week's mileage is 1.5 miles, about 2400 meters. Since each "set" as described above is 800m, I just needed to do three sets of 2x200 plus 1x400.

Next, I needed to figure out my R-pace. Normally this is a simple task. Just look up a recent race time in Daniels' VDOT Table, then use the corresponding R-pace from the Training Intensities Table.

However, I don't have a recent race time. My last 10k race was at the Bolder Boulder at the end of May last year, where I ran a disappointing 43:46. That corresponds to a VDOT of 47. However, I was recovering from my first marathon at the time, and had stomach issues as well. In 2005 I ran a PR of 40:39, which corresponds to a VDOT of 51.

In the end, I decided to use a VDOT of 50-51 to determine today's Repetition Pace. That meant 200s should be run at 42-43 seconds, and 400s at 86-87 seconds. I had no idea whether this would be easy, difficult, or impossible. That should give you an idea of how little time I've spent at the track!

After 2.5 miles of warmup running, I lined up at the Boulder High School track and started my first rep way too fast. I ran the first 100 in 17 seconds (it should have been 21). I slowed down and hit 200 on 40 seconds. After that, my pacing improved, and I hit all the rest of my reps either right on pace, or a second or two fast.

Frankly, I was relieved to complete the workout successfully, considering I was just guessing about my appropriate VDOT value. The reps felt fast, but pretty controlled. Only one of them felt hard -- the last 400, where I finished into a stiff headwind and came in at 87 seconds.

Now I'm waiting to see how my legs feel tomorrow!

Last Night's Run

2007-03-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

I had a good run last night after work. I usually run during lunch, but my planned 10-miler was pushing the usual lunch break boundaries. Instead, I got started at around 6:30 PM at the 5-mile marker on the Boulder Creek Path.

I must admit, I love running on the Creek Path. It's cool and often shady next to the creek, you have the option of pavement or (usually) a dirt singletrack, the scenery and people-watching are both excellent, and there are no cars. As a bonus, there are mile markers all the way down.

The path winds its way along the creek, climbing gradually the whole way, for more than five miles before depositing you at Eben Fine Park at the west end of town. If desired, you may continue another four miles up Boulder Canyon on dirt.

My run was simple. Run to the park (mile marker zero) and turn around. The great thing about starting in East Boulder is that you get a nice downhill all the way back. It makes getting negative splits almost too easy.

I felt better and better as the run progressed. I did my six 20-second strides and they felt smooth and controlled. I was tired and extremely hungry by the time I got home, though. I had a huge dinner, watched a little TV, and hit the sack early.

Training Plan

2007-03-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to putting together a formal training plan. It's based on Jack Daniels' Running Formula and tweaked for my own particular needs. For example, since I plan to run only four days per week, I'll be skipping most of the easy runs. Unfortunately this means that most of my runs will be 'quality' (i.e., HARD) workouts. Gulp!

You may notice that there is no Phase 1 in the plan. That's because I've been doing base training (i.e., nothing but easy miles) since the start of the year. I did start adding 20-second strides at around 5k pace to my runs the last couple of weeks, in order to start adapting to the faster running I'll be doing this week.

Here is the key to the types of workouts:

E: Easy, comfortable running
L: Long run
S: Strides, 20- to 30-second runs at comfortably-fast pace using light, quick turnover
T: Tempo runs, done at lactate threshold pace
I: Intervals (VO2Max development)
R: Repetitions (speed & economy development)
Mix: A mix of intervals at T, I, and R paces.

I will discuss pacing and the concept of VDOT in another post.

The trip to Moab this weekend was fantastic. I did a couple of classic mountain bike rides -- Porcupine Rim and Amasa Back. Here's a photo, even though this is not running related.

Weekly Run Summary

2007-03-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

Here is my running summary for the week:

Sunday - off
Monday - 10 miles easy
Tuesday - 7 miles easy, with 6x100 strides
Wednesday - off
Thursday - 7 miles easy, with 6x100 strides
Friday - 6 miles easy, with 6x100 strides
Saturday - off
TOTAL - 30 miles

I should add a word or two about my overall strategy, as well as other (non-running) goals. First, I like to compete in off-road triathlons, like Xterras, so I'm also doing some biking and swimming during the week. For example, this week I swam 3 days and biked 2 days in addition to the running schedule you see above. That's one reason I'm planning to run only about 4 days, and a max of 30-40 miles, per week.

I realize that most runners who want to run a sub-40 10k would run at least 5-6 days a week, and perhaps as many as 50-80 miles. I'm hoping to do it on a lot less, as I don't want to compromise my swim and bike.

I think this approach is going to make my running goals a lot more challenging, because I'm limiting the amount of running I'll do. Hopefully I'll be up for it!

Strides

2007-03-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

I've added strides to my runs the last couple of weeks, based on Jack Daniels' advice. Strides are "20- to 30-second runs at comfortably-fast pace using light, quick turnover," or (if you're later in your base-building phase), "20- to 30-second runs with 1-minute rests at about mile race pace," according to Daniels.

I found an even better description of strides in this coolrunning post by KudzuRunner:

One way of thinking about strides is as those showoffy spurts that runners put on for other runners in the 7-10 minutes before any road race--racing away from the line for 10-15 seconds, then petering to a stop, slowly wheeling around. Those are strides.
The best time to introduce them into your menu of runs is NOT on race day, but several times a week in the several months before race day. But that's pretty much what they look like.
The key, I've found, is to warm slowly into them. Let's say that my 5K race pace is 6:20 and my half marathon pace is 7:00. (As they are, pretty much.) I'm going to run my first stride of the day no faster than HM pace. The second, with the same effort, is going to come in close to 10K pace. The third, same effort, will smoothly approach 5K pace. At that point, on my fourth, I can smoothly--and the operative word is "smoothly"--accelerate to 6:00 pace and below.
That's where I want to be running my strides, given my race paces--sub-6:00--but if I started there, on the very first one, I'd almost certainly feel clunky. The whole point of strides is to consolidate your stride. They should leave you feeling completely in control at whatever pace you run them. Over time, if you do them several times a week, you can begin to test your limits.
I run strides of up to 30 seconds, BTW. They're supposed to be alactic--no oxygen debt incurred--and it's hard to run fast much beyond 30 seconds, I've found, without doing that.

The point of strides is to improve running economy at higher speeds, and to prepare your body for the next phase of training. For me, the next phase of training will involve a lot of repetition work, but more on that later...

I had a good run today, 6 miles at just under 8-minute pace. That's a bit fast for me on my 'easy' runs. It was sunny and just about perfect at 63 degrees. I did six strides, widely spaced out for full recovery, and they felt pretty good, but not great. Both my left quad and left achilles tendon are a bit sore right now.

The most interesting thing I saw on the run today was a dad with a baby stroller, pulled over at the side of the bike path by a cop, who appeared to be writing him a ticket! I have no idea if he was in trouble for anything, but I had to laugh because that's just what it looked like.

This weekend I'm off to Moab, Utah. I'm not going to run the spectacular Canyonlands Half Marathon, as you might suspect. Instead, I'll be mountain biking. It should be great fun, as always.

First Post

2007-03-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

What does it take to run a 40-minute 10k? I don't know, but I hope to find out over the next 10 weeks.

To me, there has always been something about that arbitrary 40-minute time barrier that I can't explain. Maybe it's because I've never considered myself a true runner, and somehow I think breaking 40 minutes in a 10k would finally give me the badge I need to join their 'secret club'. Maybe it's because I live in Boulder, Colorado, where even great athletes are humbled daily by the elites, not to mention average joes like myself. Maybe it's because I've gotten close to this goal, but never succeeded.

A quick Google search revealed that I'm not alone. This thread on CoolRunning.com has the topic, "Sub 40 minute 10k by the end of 2006." It spans 16 pages and stayed alive for ten months. It seems that breaking 40 minutes in the 10k is a goal for quite a few recreational runners. Maybe I'm going a bit far to call it the Holy Grail of Recreational Running. Or maybe not.

Armed with a copy of Daniels' Running Formula, the bible of running according to some, I am setting out to develop and follow a 10-week training plan, leading up to the Bolder Boulder 10k race on Memorial Day, 2007.

Will I reach my goal? I don't know. But I do plan to have fun along the way!