Correction on mileage count

I was going back researching how many miles I have run each month this year.  On May 30 I erroneously erased 100 miles off of my yearly total mileage count.  Also I found that on June 15 I accidently credited myself with an extra mile.  Finally on March 24, I found that I did not credit myself with 7 miles for the month but my overall count for the year remained correct.  All three mistakes have been fixed and all of the blog posts have the correct mileage.  Sorry for the inaccuracy for the last couple of weeks.

Running Report 6/22/15

MONDAY 6/22/15
Interval day.  Ran on the treadmill.  Five repeats in total.  Each repeat was a quarter of a mile.


     Incline          Pace (min/mile)
1) 4.0%                  6.31
2) 4.5%                  6.27
3) 5.0%                  6.22
4) 5.5%                  6.18
5) 6.0%                  6.15


In between each repeat I did a slow jog with no incline at 12.00 minute pace for a quarter of a mile.  So, 1/4 mile hard, 1/4 mile recovery.  Each repeat was progressively steeper and faster.  With a quarter mile warm up and three quarter mile cool down I ran a total of three miles today. 


Week 3 miles
Month 104 miles
Year 504 miles

Running Report Afternoon of 6/15/15 to 6/20/15

MONDAY AFTERNOON 6/15/15
Ran three easy miles in the afternoon at 100 degrees. 

1. 4.45
2. 4.26
3. 4.50
4. 4.32
5. 4.38
6. 4.00

Total time 28.11 average of 9.24 per mile. 

Day 6 miles
Week 6 miles
Month 72 miles
Year 474 miles

TUESDAY 6/16/15
Ran three miles.

1. 3.48
2. 3.56
3. 3.42
4. 3.46
5. 4.01
6. 4.00

Total time of 23.15 average of 7.45 per mile.

Week 9 miles
Month 75 miles
Year 475 miles

WEDNESDAY 6/17/15
Ran four miles in the morning

1. 4.49
2. 4.07
3. 3.33
4. 3.08
5. 3.26
6. 3.35
7. 3.48
8. 4.01

Total time 30.31 average of 7.37 per mile.
Thoughts: I was not worried about overall time but more focused on the slow fast slow pattern. 

In the afternoon I ran four miles nice and easy in 100 degree heat.

1. 4.25
2. 4.07
3. 4.20
4. 4.24
5. 4.34
6. 4.28
7. 4.11
8. 4.12

Total time 34.43 average of 8.41 per mile.

Day 8 miles
Week 17 miles
Month 83 miles
Year 483 miles

THURSDAY 6/18/15
Ran four miles in the morning.

1. 4.09
2. 3.44
3. 3.47
4. 3.52
5. 3.47
6. 3.45
7. 3.48
8. 3.51

Total time 30.47 average of 7.42 per mile.

Week 21 miles
Month 87 miles
Year 487 miles

FRIDAY 6/19/15
Ran six miles on the treadmill in the afternoon.  Unfortunately with the treadmill I didn't have a watch on to take all of my splits but I do remember most of the cummulative time as I went along.

1. 3.38
2. 7.07
3. 10.05
4. 14.00
5. 17.25
6. approx. 20.50
7. 24.17
8. approx. 27.30
9. 30.30
10. ?
11. ?
12. 40.00

Total time 40.00 minutes.  Average of 6.40 per mile. 

Thoughts: I think running on the treadmill is easire than running outside.  I had the incline at 5% the whole way.  Last week I ran three mile at 6.41 pace and not I ran 6.40 pace for twice as long.  For some reason, I don't think so.  It is just easier.  Yes I am in better shape than 7 or 8 days ago but still. 

Week 27 miles
Month 93 miles
Year 493 miles

SATURDAY 6/20/15
Ran 8 miles in the morning.

1. 3.38
2. 3.40
3. 3.42
4. 3.48
5. 3.41
6. 3.46
7. 3.42
8. 3.40
9. 3.43
10. 3.39
11. 3.43
12. 3.49
13. 3.38
14. 3.48
15. 3.39
16. 3.51

Total time 59.36 average of 7.27 per mile.

Week 35 miles
Month 101 miles
Year 501 miles

Thoughts: At half way I thought maybe I try and do a negative split or go faster on the second half.  However, my body was just not having it.  I was glad to go 7.30 pace.  Next week will have to see what pace I shoot for on the 13 mile long run.  It will hopefully be no slower than 7.45 pace.  Maybe I could push the pace and get the 7.30 pace. 

Running Report June 15, 2015. Yasso 800's, oh yeah baby, bring the pain!

MONDAY 6/15/15
Yasso 800's this morning.  4 half mile repeats at 3 minutes each with 3 minute jog in between each repeat. 

1. 2.55 half mile, then 3 min. jog
2. 2.56 "                                     "
3. 2.54 "                                      "
4. 2.54 50 second walk, 15 seconds of taking heart rate and then half mile cool down jog untimed. 

Week 3 miles
Month 69
Year 469

This was a key workout that I had mentally circled on the calendar.  Since it was the first Yasso 800's of this training cycle (the 18 week Hal Higdon Marathon Advanced II training plan).  Also this was the first time I would be doing Yasso 800's at 3.00 minutes each.  As stated above the goal was to do each repeat at 3.00 minutes.  The first one is always hard to tell because it is hard and I don't have anything previous to base my effort on so I usually go a little bit harder than necessary in order to not come in slow.  Upon finishing at 2.55 it thought "ok, that was hard but good thing I came in under 3.00.  I can slow down on the next one and get right at three because to do four at 2.55 would be really hard".  On the next repeat I didn't want to go to slow and I ended up with a 2.56.  Now, half way through the workout, I decided to just go for it and push myself to finish the next one at 2.55 and then I would only have one left and I could go all out for that one.  The third was very difficult.  I felt fine for the first 100-200 meters or so.  From 200 to 500 meters or so it was all about making to a certain landmark with good form and not slowing down.  The last 300 meters was a struggle, a fight to keep going, swinging the arms, not tensing up the upper body, pushing and enduring to the end.  For some reason oxyegen debt came to my mind.  I remember thinking during the first interval that I am in decent shape and that I should be able to recover my heart rate and breathing.  I also thought about trusting my training.  I should be in shape enough to do this, I thought.  I finally ended up finishing that third one as the fastest of the day by a second.  I was very tired and the only consolation was that there was only one left and then it would all be over.  On the last repeat, it was a struggle after like 100 meters or so.  Fighting the whole way to keep good form, keep the pace and keep focused on making it to the next landmark that would get me closer to the finish.  The last 200 meters or so was the race pain.  Forearms getting tingly like their going numb or something, breathing really hard, and overall pain.  Finishing with a 2.54 completed the workout on an exhausting but great note.  This will pay dividens later this week when I do six miles at 7 minute pace and my Saturday long run.  I was not looking forward to this run, but now that it is over I am glad I put that much more fitness in the bank and I was able to continue to train my mind to discipline my body to endure pain, repeatedly.  Having surpassed my goal and won today's running battle in a workout long anticipated and yet knowing there is so much more to do it is now appropriate to leave you with a running quote.  This is from Emil Zatopek.  If you don't know who he is, it worth looking him up on wikipedia.  Here is the quote

"It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are seperated from the boys."

Running Report June 8 -- June 13

This was a little bit of a different week because on the Saturday previous at night I sustained an injury and I didn't even know if I would be able to run on Monday.

MONDAY 6/8/15
Ran three easy slow miles untimed. 

Week 3 miles
Month 40 miles
Year 440 miles

Thoughts: I started out with the intention of just walking three miles because I was in a significant amount of pain.  However, with the type of injury that I had, the muscles loosed up as I continued to move and so I ended up doing a very slow jog the entire three miles. 

TUESDAY 6/9/15
Ran three miles fairly slow. 

1. 5.32
2. 4.49
3. 4.03
4. 3.45
5. 3.57
6. 3.52

Total time 26.00 average of 8.40 per mile.

Week 6 miles
Month 43 miles
Year 443 miles

Thoughts: I still did not want to push my body to do anything and so I was happy just to get out and jog three miles and be ok by the end of the run. 

WEDNESDAY 6/10/15
Ran another three miles.  Anyone see a pattern for this week?

1. 3.59
2. 3.47
3. 3.48
4. 3.39
5. 3.42
6. 3.39

Total time of 22.36 average of 7.32 per mile.

Week 9 miles
Month 46 miles
Year 446 miles

Thoughts: Here I pushed it a little bit and my body responded.  I was feeling somewhat better.

THURSDAY 6/11/15
Last but not least, the last of the three mile runs for the week.

1. 3.25
2. 3.24
3. 3.21
4. 3.21
5. 3.23
6. 3.09

Total time 20.04 average of 6.41 per mile. 

Week 12 miles
Month 49 miles
Year 449 miles

Thoughts: I was very happy with this run because I had been injured and was still recovering.  This was my fastest three mile run since my training for the Phoenix in 2014.  It was certainly very difficult, but I felt like I didn't have to go all the way to the bottom of the well.  I think as I continue to have a hard run every week I am building up tolerance to feeling pain and the extending that pain for longer and longer.  I would like to think so anyway. 

FRIDAY 6/12/15
Ran six miles today.

1. 4.11
2. 3.55
3. 3.37
4. 3.39
5. 3.38
6. 3.32
7. 3.42
8. 3.35
9. 3.36
10. 3.49
11. 3.42
12. 3.53

Total time 44.55 average of 7.29 per mile.

Week 18 miles
Month 55 miles
Year 455 miles

Thoughts: I purposely chose to do this six mile run at 7.30 pace because it would make the pace for the next days long run seem that much more doable.  Yet I wasn't pushing to hard such that I would have two hard days in a row and then the long run.  So this was say a medium effort workout.  Not a recovery run but not a hard pace either.  Distance was a little longer and pace was a little faster, but all still under control and calculated. 

SATURDAY 6/13/15
Ran 11 miles in the morning before to much of the heat set in.

1. 4.04
2. 3.50
3. 3.48
4. 3.51
5. 3.51
6. 3.54
7. 3.55
8. 3.50
9. 3.50
10. 3.49
11. 3.51
12. 3.58
13. 3.46
14. 3.53
15. 3.50
16. 3.53
17. 3.46
18. 3.54
19. 3.46
20. 3.52
21. 3.51
22. 4.02

Total time 1 hour 25 minutes and 16 seconds.  That is one second over exactly a 7.45 pace. 

Week 29 miles
Month 66 miles
Year 466 miles

Thoughts: Before hand I was planning on running at an 8 minute pace.  After the first mile I changed plans to a 7.50 pace.  After a mile and a half I revised it down to a 7.48 mile.  A 7.48 miles is what the Runners World calculator suggests you should run your long slow run at if you want for your training runs in order to train for a 3 hour marathon or a 3.05 marathong or something like that.  About half way through this run, I was feeling good so I decided that a 7.45 pace was with reach, and that it would not draw to much from the proverbial well, if you will.  At 8 miles I hit my watch and it told me I was exactly at a 7.45 pace so that was cool.  All I would have to do is run exactly 7.45 pace for the next three miles and all would be well.  As is typical though, I got this idea that I didn't want to play it so close and so I would speed up for a mile and half and "bank" some time, then for a mile I would hold even at 7.45 and then the last half mile I would have some time to play with and to slow down a little bit if I need to.  This is what happened. 

I am very pleased with how this week turned out in comparison to how I felt this last week might go when I was contemplating it seven days ago.  Despite my injury (sorry, public forum doesn't get private information) I feel that I am 95 recovered and that I had four good days of training in there.  I don't feel like I lost anything this week.

This is the end of week two of training.  While during the runs there are some real challenging times, I feel like I am progressing well.  Each week is getting me in shape for the next week.  The months of training before the 18 weeks of training got me in shape for this first half of my training block.  Now I feel like the first half, the first nine weeks, is going to get me in shape for the second half or nine weeks, which is where I will do a ton of miles and I will get in "marathon shape".  The Saturday long runs going from week 10 to 18 are as follows: 19, 20, 12, 20, 12, 20, 12, 8, Marathon.  I count my blessings for whenever I am able to run healthy. 

Running Report June 4 -- June 6

6/4/15 THURSDAY
Ran 3 miles in the morning.

1. 4.11
2. 3.45
3. 3.57
4. 3.58
5. 3.52
6. 4.08

Total time of 23.54 average of 7.58 per mile.

Week 22 miles
Month 22 miles
Year 422 miles

6/5/15 FRIDAY
Ran five miles in the morning.

1. 3.37
2. 3.26
3. 3.23
4. 3.32
5. 3.25
6. 3.27
7. 3.21
8. 3.26
9. 3.30
10. 3.20

Total time 34.32 average of 6.56 per mile.

Week 27 miles
Month 27 miles
Year 427 miles

THOUGHTS: I was not looking forward to the pain I would have to go through to reach the goal I had for today's workout of running 5 miles at 7 minute pace.  Maybe part of it was the build up I had in my mind for two months this was the key workout to where I was.  I woke up once or twice during the night worried about the pain factor.  As I awoke at four in the morning and looked outside I could hear that there was a slight drizzle.  I headed back to my room to go back to bed with intentions of doing the run after work in the afternoon.  Then, fortunately, by the time I got back to my room I realized that it would be easier to achieve my goal in the moning than in the heat of the afternoon.  When I finally did get outside, it wasn't really raining, just a few light raindrops here and there.  The first half mile is always a hard one for me as my muscles and body are still warming up.  After a mile and a half I thought, I can do this.  I can do each half mile at 3.30.  Then like at 3 miles I thought "man this is hard, but just focus on getting to the next half mile at no slower than 3.30."  As usuall with a hard run, from there on out I just had to focus on making it to the next short term goal and forget about what was beyond.  I was elated to finish faster than a 7 minute pace.  I had accomplished my goal.  I was also pleased that I didn't have to go to the bottom of the well.  Close, but not all the way to the bottom, not race pain.  All of my efforst seemed to have paid off.  However I realized that this was just the beginning, really.  I thought about how over the next 17 weeks I needed to take the five miles I could now do at 7 minute pace and stretch that way out to 26.2.  So my enthusiasm was tempered upon pondering the length of the path still to tread. 

6/6/15 SATURDAY
Ran 10 miles in the afternoon.

1. 4.50
2. 4.52
3. 4.50
4. 4.51
5. 4.58
6. 5.00
7. 4.34
8. 4.34
9. 4.49
10. 4.24
11. 4.13
12. 4.10
13. 4.07
14. 4.12
15. 4.09
16. 4.14
17. 4.49
18. 4.08
19. 4.05
20. 3.50

Total time 1 hour 29 minutes and 50 seconds.  Average of 8.59 per mile.

Week 37 miles
Month 37 miles
Year 437 miles

THOUGHTS: This was a difficult run for a number of reasons.  Instead of being super disciplined and getting up way early to get my 10 mile run done and over with before six in the morning, and before the heat of the day, I was lazy and left it for non-morning time.  I went on a three mile hike with a 25 pound pack and occasionaly another 40 pounds added on top of that.  So that was some good exercise.  I started my run at one in the afternoon in 90 degree heat with a good wind blowing.  So basically goal one was to complete the run and goal two was to complete it without getting dehydrated or heat exhaustion.  I threw any thought of time out the window before even getting started.  The last half mile I ran a little faster in order to get at or under the nine minute pace.  I was glad to finish runnig the ten miles.  Later in the day, I could feel that the three mile hike and the ten mile run in the heat really took a toll on my body. 

Running Report 6/1/15 -- 6/3/15

6/1/15 MONDAY
In the morning ran hill repeats.  The exact distance is unknown.  A quarter of a mile to a third of a mile. Up hill three times with a slow jog back down hill.  For the fourth repeat I ran down the hill.  Here are the approximate times:

1. Untimed, maybe in the 1.40 to 1.45 range
2. 1.38
3. 1.28
4. 1.22

Total distance about two miles when the slow jog is combined with the actual repeat.

In the afternoon I ran three miles nice and slow. 

1. 5.01
2. 5.01
3. 4.43
4. 4.43
5. 4.56
6. 4.39

Total time 29.05 average of 9.42

Day 5 miles
Week 5 miles
Month 5 miles
Year 405 miles

6/2/15 TUESDAY
Ran three miles in the morning.  Half mile splits are as follows:

1. 3.53
2. 4.03
3. 3.48
4. 4.03
5. 3.53
6. 4.04

Total time 23.47 average of 7.56 per mile. 

Ran three miles in the afternoon nice and easy.

1. 4.46
2. 4.47
3. 4.46
4. 4.47
5. 4.44
6. 4.55

Total time 28.49 average of 9.36 per mile.

Day 6 miles
Week 11 miles
Month 11 miles
Year 411 miles

6/3/15 WEDNESDAY
Ran four miles in the morning.  I did this workout as one long interval workout or a tempo run or something.  Slow increasing to fast and then decreasing to slow once again.  You will see it in the splits.

1. 4.20
2. 4.03
3. 3.39
4. 3.20
5. 3.13
6. 3.27
7. 3.39
8. 4.06

Total time 29.51 average of 7.28.  I was not concerned about the overall time.  What I was concentrating on was increasing each half mile through number five and then decreasing as evenly as possible the last three half miles.  At the begining of half mile four I thought that it might be me fastest and then I would start the descent back down after that.  Indeed it was fast but then at the beginning of number 5 I felt I could push it for one more half mile, but it would be hard.  So I did and was happy to get a 3.13.  Then it was difficult not dropping off the pace by to much in segment 6.  To get a 3.27 and have it feel slower than the two half mile before is one of the reasons, in my opinion, of these workouts.  I am shooting for that 7 minute pace during the marathon.  Everything that I can do to make a 7 minute pace seem pedistrian, easy, manageable or comfortable is good.  So obviously I have to spend more and more of my time under that 7 minute pace.  I have a long row to hoe in the next 18 weeks.  Right now I know I can do 4 miles at 7 minute pace because I have done exactly that for the last two Fridays.  This Friday I am scheduled to do 5 miles at that pace and six miles the Friday after that.  So up and on to 26.2 miles at 7 minute pace. 

In the afternoon I ran four miles nice and easy.

1. 4.46
2. 4.37
3. 5.06
4. 4.52
5. 4.53
6. 4.58
7. 4.46
8. 4.58

Total time 38.59 average of about 9.45 per mile.

Day 8 miles
Week 19 miles
Month 19 miles
Year 419

Olympic Trivia -- the videos

Here is the youtube video of the 2012 Olympic Summer Games Men's 10,000 meter run.


Here is the video to the 2012 Olympic Summer Games Men's Triathlon.

Running Report 5/30/15

5/30/15 SATURDAY
Ran twelve miles today.

1. 4.49
2. 4.13
3. 4.01
4. 4.01
5. 3.55
6. 4.01
7. 4.01
8. 4.02
9. 4.01
10. 3.49
11. 3.48
12. 3.55
13. 3.48
14. 4.03
15. 4.02
16. 4.04
17. 3.54
18. 3.50
19. 3.44
20. 3.43
21. 3.44
22. 3.58
23. 4.01
24. 4.08

Total time 1 hour 35 minutes 46 seconds.  Average of 7.59 minute per mile. 

Week 35 miles
Month 135 miles
Year 400 miles