30:00

1.5 miles

20:00 pace

walking

--Jimmy

Squish/Squash to Splish/Splash:  Day 35, 4AM HS Track, 24C, 22C dp, medium-heavy rain, MAF=138

10k shodded 1:22:34 HR: 135 pace: 13'12"mpm

5k barefoot 0:37:50 HR: 134 pace: 11'56"mpm

Shodded run at km 2-3 was horrendous:  the heavy rain made me want to give up.  Luckily by km 4, it let up.  Heavy rains came and went three more times during the 10k trot.  5k BF run was totally different: squish/squash (shodded) became splish/splash (barefoot).

The puddles became a HUGE PLUS - it was like running with A/C running through my feet! 

I could feel this was going to be a fast one (relatively)...

...ended up PB on 1km, 5km, and mi again, including the first time I broke 12mpm (11'56"mpm).

Of course, when I got home, there was no need to do the laundry 

- Ken

Eclipse! Day 36, 5AM HS Track, 22C, 19C dp, drizzle, MAF=138

10k shodded 1:16:24 (PB) HR: 135 pace: 12'12"mpm

5k barefoot ABORTED

My policy for aborting workouts:

I am allowed to abort any training workout, as long as I set my foot onto the track.

It was hard getting out of bed today - I felt bloated...  ...but I did get a very low RHR this morning of 56 (I'm usually about 60-64).  I figure the bloating is due to increasing the amount of fiber in my diet, having insufficient good bacteria (like from yogurt) in my gut, and taking in a soda late in the day.  

I'm usually out the door around 4:20-4:30AM, but it took me until after 5 to get out today.  By the time I reached the HS track, it was already bright.  I figured I'd do 5k and abort if I didn't feel any better.

During my warmup, I felt ok after burping a bit.  At the end of km 2, I registered a surprisingly fast 7'36" for the km.  That was plenty of juice for me to keep going despite the darkened skies due to the morning Eclipse.  The darkness cleared in the last 400m, and I ended the 10k shodded for a PB of 1:16:24 (Day 6 10k 1:33:26).

I was tempted to do the BF as a PB in the shodded usually results in a PB for the BF, but my gut wasn't feeling that great so I decided to call it a day...

- Ken

Bike Path, 3 miles, 114 ave w/ 124spike

Ran a hard 8miles sunday afternoon in the sun and heat. 

Felt a bit off this morning.  Tightness in right hamstring and a high resting hr. 

Pace was slow and ran easy by low HR. 

May need some added rest

Exit Wogging, Enter Galloway RWR: Day 38, 4AM HS Track, 21C, 16C dp, clear & dry, MAF=138

10k shodded 1:14:10 (PB) HR: 134 pace: 11'52"mpm

5k barefoot 35:01 (PB) HR: 136 pace: 11'12"mpm

Ever since I started MAFing, I derided the dreaded wog.  As if being passed by little six year olds and their poodles wasn't ego-crushing enough, I was periodically forced to walk even slower when the jog pushed me over my MAF.  Last week, I celebrated when my heart was strong enough that I could slightly lean back and stay below my MAF (instead of walking for a while to stay below my MAF).

It turned out that I made the wrong choice.

While I was browsing the web for Prefontaine the other day, I came across Jeff Galloway and his Run-Walk-Run (RWR) methodology.  His idea is simple:  at fixed time or distance intervals, take a walk break for a fixed time or distance.

WTF?!?!?  This sounded exactly like wogging, except he is more methodical, and he's actually doing it on purpose!  

Galloway claimed the following benefits of using RWR:

• During the walk, you use different muscles than the run, so your running muscles get a rest.  Your running segment will likely be noticeably faster.
• Since the Walk in RWR happens at regular intervals, you will feel less tired towards the end of your run - maybe even negative split.
• There is less chance of injury.
• Psychologically, it's easier to extend your run, because all you have to do is run a short distance before your next walk/rest.
• Most surprisingly:  your overall time will probably be faster (unless you are already an elite-level runner).

I found the last point shocking, but I did glimpse a hint of this when I was testing the choice between slowing down and walking when I hit MAF.

Galloway actually claims when he sampled a bunch of marathon runners who have run 10 or more marathons, they cut their times by 13 minutes on average by trying RWR (marketing hype or for real?!?).  The craziest story was some guy who improved his marathon from 2:33 to 2:28 by putting 20 second walking breaks every mile from mile 1.  After I read this thread and saw other fast runners apply RWR to the half marathon, I had to try this for myself.

So today, I decided to run the shodded 10k primarily using Maffetone, while using Galloway's methodology to force myself to take breaks.  

My rule was, starting at 2.5km, walk for 8-12 breaths (about 10 secs) every 0.5km (about 210 secs).  

(the first 2km is a warmup from MAF-20 to MAF, so it already includes walks) 

Still, if I hit MAF at any time during the run, I will slow the jog.

Psychologically, this was fantastic.  I was no longer running a 10k.  Instead, I was running a 0.5k because in 500m, I was going to get a breather.  I think this will help even more when I extend the run to longer distances.  Today, I felt much fresher at the end of the 10k.  

As icing on the cake, I PBed the shodded 10k on Galloway RWR.

So starting from now on, I intend to take Galloway RWR breaks in the shodded run until I find that they are hurting more than helping (which may be a long ways off or perhaps never...).

- Ken

7.81 miles, 10:56 avg pace, 137 avg HR.

74 degrees and 10 mph SW breeze. 650' avg elevation.  Got up earlier than ever before to start my run (started running at 5:56 AM), but ended up a little long on the route (staying in a hotel) and was worried about making it back to the room in time to get ready so ended up a beat high on my avg HR.  It didn't go over 136 until after mile 6.5 though.

Jimmy, are you running the sauna or the steamroom?

Crappy 10k, Nice 5k: Day 39, 4AM HS Track, 25C, 20C dp, warm, MAF=138

10k shodded 1:18:51 HR: 133 pace: 12'36"mpm

5k barefoot 36:16 HR: 135 pace: 11'36"mpm

It was hard getting out of bed this morning: swigging a glass of cold water helped.  First couple of kms (warmup) was unpleasant with the higher temperatures compared to yesterday.  By the third km, my legs turned to lead: aborting crossed my mind.  By km 5, yesterday's carbo-load at lunch had caught up with me and I had to take a dump (running at a HS track has its advantages).  Now, I felt better: was able to complete the shodded 10k fine.  5k barefoot felt great, as usual (note that 1mpm differential vs 10k shodded).

- Ken