Rubber Side Down: February 2005

Our run up (and down) Black Mountain 02/27/05

He was born to fly and a rare shot of Sissie drinking

what number pole is this? are you counting, Sissie?

maintaining a "positive attitude" still on the uphill climb

we are soooo cold...

happier now that at "windy point"

At the top!

group photo at the misty summit >2800 ft

high on endorphins and just plain "high"

perfect chopstick etiquette

sideways smile of anticipation

close your eyes and smell the moss

Run Faster

We all want to, so how do we? From personal observation, I would just copy Sissie. Consistent track workouts once a week (did you miss even one?) and she was well ahead of me at the marathon finish line.

A simple way to add the track back into your workout is to follow Tom's guidelines

http://www.sanjosefit.com/docs/resources/sup_track.xls

Or if you want something more custom to your current pace, bring a stopwatch with you to the track and do the following:

Warm up with an easy 25 minutes around track (Tom's warning, it is easier to injure yourself with track, so always, always warm up!)
Run hard but not all out for 6 minutes, keeping lap count to the nearest 1/8 lap (50m.) The idea is to reach your VO2 max level, so you should be tired at the end.
Measure how far you ran in 6 minutes, e.g. 3 3/8 laps = 1350m = .84 miles, equivalent to running a mile in 7:08.
Your repeat distances will be run at this pace, 100m @ 7:08 pace will take you ~27 seconds, 400m @ 7:08 pace in 1 minute 47 sec., etc
Finish your intervals with a 10 minute easy jog around the track to cooldown. (As a reference, Tom checked to see if I was still sweating and made me do more cooldown time.)

Refer to Tom's guide for suggestions on amount and length of your interval distances.

Plyometrics

I mentioned this during one of our runs, and here is a simple set of exercises to increase leg power and speed.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-78-0-0-7173,00.html

I claim that hiphop class is a form of plyometrics, but I probably have to work harder at it to count. ;)

Running Schedule next couple of weeks

Well we have what appears to be a standard in place for at least the next few weeks until SJ Fit starts up. Dayle can't run in the morning now, so I suggest we move hills to the non-long weekends? Or perhaps we can add Thursday mornings at Rancho if we can get critical mass?

27th Sun. - Black Mountain 16 miler, 9am at Rancho
28th Mon. - Track at Stanford 6pm, 12 x 100m @ 27 sec., 50m recovery
March
2nd Wed. - Evening run at Stanford 6pm
5th Sat. - 18 miler at LG trail 8am
7th Mon. - Track
9th Wed. - Evening run
12th Sat. - 12-14 miler
14th Mon. - Track
16th Wed. - Evening run
19th Sat. - 12 -14 miler
repeat
26th Sat. - 21 miler
April
16th Sat. - 21 miler

Let the track workouts begin...

We started back with track workouts on the
eve of President's Day. It was pretty dark at
6:00 p.m. when we started. There was no
track so Patrick made us one with his GPS
while Sissie and I warmed up.

Stephen left and we warmed up
some more. Tom's recipe for success
(25 minutes). Then we did strides (4x100)
and then our first speed workout in a long time.
10x100m sprints in 27 sec with 50m slow
in between. Fun to go so fast after all the
miles of 9:30ish pace!

At the end we were exhilarated and happy,
stopping while we still had energy and
encouraged that we could get a real
workout in in under one hour.

The view down to our "private" little beach from our B&B in Buzios. Unfortunately the roads were too steep and muddy to run.

A taste of carnaval

The Prodigal Returns

Why I ran in the rain today:

I was locked out of my gym and it was either run or sit in my office and read 2 weeks of mail
Running in the rain makes me feel tough
Running under sizzling powerlines is exciting
I am training for a marathon
2 weeks without running is enough
Being passed by gulls is more pleasant than being passed by runners
It was a good time to work on my pacing
The world is prettier when it is wet
The grim nods from the 3 people going the other way

I got back from Brazil yesterday, after about 18 hours of travel time and my clock was all whacked out. Brazil is 6 hours time difference ahead, so it isn't much of a problem getting up, but it makes for sleepy afternoons. Just another reason to go out and run.

Despite my best intentions, I didn't run at all in Brazil. There were a lot of good reasons at the time, but I guess it all boils down to dedication or a lack of it. I did bring my jump rope, and I jumped for 3 days straight, but rain and lack of an appropriate place to jump cut that short. I've decided that jumping rope can help my running, and I'm going to put that to the test. Its very calf and quad muscle intensive (at least in the beginning), and supposedly it gives you quicker feet. I will let you know how it develops. (And yes, I was inspired by Million Dollar Baby, go see it because its a great film.)

Terrible news to hear that Dayle got hurt, but hurray for Sissie for pushing on 14+ miles on her own! Count me in for Wednesday morning at Rancho, if the sun pokes his head out of the clouds.

Campbell Valentine's 10km Race

weather: perfect. sunny, cool but not cold
energy: optimal. ate breakfast 2 full hours before the race
company: missed you guys, but I had crazy Yazzy (daughter) with me and we had fun
run: started out fast (8:05) and then slowed it down a little to average 8:22 minute miles overall. Yasmine placed first in the 13 and under age category with a time of 55:12 and a 8:51 mile pace. She came away with a gold medal and $60 car wash!

Rubber Side Down

Monday, February 28, 2005

Our run up (and down) Black Mountain 02/27/05

At the top!

Friday, February 25, 2005

Run Faster

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Running Schedule next couple of weeks

Monday, February 21, 2005

Let the track workouts begin...

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Monday, February 14, 2005

The Prodigal Returns

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Campbell Valentine's 10km Race

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