4.07 miles

1:10:00

84°

 zone 100-120 bpm

Wraps up second full week. Getting there. Recovery tomorrow.

Have a great weekend.

--JImmy

6.29 miles, 11:25 avg pace, 138 avg HR. Out in Arizona on business. Beautiful morning! 67 degrees, calm and 15% humidity. Ran around the golf course at the casino, very scenic and peaceful at 5:15 in the morning! A little slow and HR a couple beats high, but lots of ups and downs and an unfamiliar course. Good run.

Nice Job!  Now you know why I like to jog in the morning!  

Thanks for your kind words.  There are definitely drawbacks to the way I'm training, but I try to focus on the positives:

• HS Track lets me use the facilities, lets me potentially use every run as a MAF test, makes the run more social and interesting (lots of dogs and people walking around), is easy on the feet and knees, is safer for barefoot running, allows me to use one round on the outer ring as a potential Run-Walk-Run point, feels better than running indoors on a treadmill, has better air than running on the road, etc...
• Running every morning at 4AM makes training a habit, so it's easier to do every day.  It's a no-brainer that I need to get my ass out of bed and onto the track, so it is much harder to back out...

Burned-on-the-track-by-a-Girl Saturday:  Long Day 48, 4AM HS Track, 24C, 21C dp, dry, MAF=138

13k shodded 1:34:04 HR: 135 pace: 11'34"mpm (10k PB 1:12:12)

7k barefoot 0:52:38 HR: 133 pace: 12'01"mpm

Every long day, I wake up a little earlier (3:10AM instead of 3:40AM) so I can finish around the same time.  When I got up this early, my first 3.5 kilometers were in the dark.  By the time the sun was up, there were around a dozen people on the track, mostly walkers, some with dogs.  Most of them are older than me and regulars that I recognize from day-to-day.  Today, around 4.5km, a girl with long hair, a breathing mask, a cap, long pants, and a running jacket comes buzzing by on the inner loop.  I mean, she was fast!  I estimate her to be around 5'4", maybe 95lbs.  By the time she had stopped around my 10.5km mark, she had inner loop lapped me on the outer loop around 12 times.  WTF!?!?  Usually, the geek in me would take a few minutes and do back-of-the-envelope estimates of her pace, but this was so ego-crushing that I had no will...

...so I MAFed along, as usual.

The next time I came around, she had took off the mask and cap, and was stretching, so I took a better look.

She had facial hair?!?!  Double WTF?!?!  She's a man, baby!  (Cue the theme from "The Crying Games")

I don't know what's worse:  getting burned by a fast girl or by a really ugly girly-man.  

My check list for the 13+7 today:

• Mini carbo-load the night before: check
• Take it easy on yesterday morning's run: check
• Drink 400cc of water and take a dump before the run: check
• Wake up a bit earlier, out-of-bed, and onto the track in reasonable time: check
• Nice dry track and reasonable temperatures: check
• 10k PB of 1:12:12: check

With a great 13k run, I expected to also PB during the 7k, but it was not to be.  The first km felt great and was fast, but I quickly succumbed to fatigue.  I just couldn't keep the pace up for the next 6k, and I dropped a gear to a lower HR.

It's ok:  I will take what my body gives me.  The important thing in this kind of situation is to avoid doing anything stupid that can cause an injury:  Mission Accomplished.

Also, I got an e-mail yesterday telling me that my huaraches are being shipped.  Once they arrive, I will probably have a transition period where I am using shoes, huaraches, and barefoot;  I intend to end up using just barefoot and huaraches.

Tomorrow is an easy 3+5.

- Ken

Ken,  amazing how fast some people can walk. And sorry about the "cold shower" on your perception of the fast-walker with the wiggle. That can be tuff. 

 

Back when I was a walker, I had eclipsed 5 mph and there were still some women who were lapping me. And those race-walkers in the Olympics can go 6:30 per mile pace for 20k (which is better than 9mph)!

 

Off today. Sweet glorious rest and recovery!

 

--Jimmy

Jimmy,

Let's just say it was an amusing morning...  Race-walkers @ 6'30" mpm for 20k?!?!?  That's insane!  At least that gives me some much-needed perspective.  Thx!

Pre-Minor Typhoon Mawar (瑪蛙) Sunday:  Recovery Day 49, 4AM HS Track, 25C, 22C dp, drizzle on-off, MAF=138

3k shodded 0:23:28 HR: 126 pace: 12'30"mpm

5k barefoot 0:33:58 HR: 134 pace: 10'52"mpm (mi PB 10'45", 5k PB 33'56")

3k shodded warm-up was sluggish.

5k barefoot was not.

Much needed recovery day today.  Tomorrow is an easy 3+6.

- Ken

3.13 miles, 12:08 avg pace, 136 avg HR.

Quick run right as the sun was going down. 91 degrees and 20mph south wind at the start, down to 86 degrees and 10mph wind at the end.  Really hard to keep under MAF starting out into the wind with the high temp. Had to hold my phone in my hand to get my pace slow enough. Easier on the way home with the wind. Good run.

Back on (Slow) Track Tuesday:  Long Day 51, 4AM HS Track, 25C, 23C dp, slight drizzle->dry, MAF=138

11k shodded 1:26:30 HR: 131 pace: 12'35"mpm

7k barefoot 0:53:43 HR: 131 pace: 12'16"mpm

Most of the shodded run went ok (not great, not too bad) this morning, until km 8, when I had stomach ailments.  It was bad enough that I had seriously considered cutting the run short and aborting the barefoot.  I gave myself that option and kept in mind that I only had another 3 km to go, and I could go home.  After the run, I decided to do a couple km barefoot and see how I felt.  The first km was fast and comfortable.  The second less so.  At that point, I convinced myself that I only had 5km to go and I could abort any time I wanted to.  I managed to finish, but it was not much fun.

Possible causes for my ailments this morning:  12hr rest since my last run, relatively hot, muggy morning, and something I ate yesterday.  One other possibility is the distance is too great.  I will keep a close eye out on the Thursday run (11+7) for signs of problems and cut back, if need be.

Tomorrow is an easy 2+6.

- Ken

Stomach Flu Wednesday:  Short Day 52, 4AM HS Track, 24C, 21C dp, perfect, MAF=138

2k shodded 0:15:21 HR: 123 pace: 12'16"mpm

4k barefoot 0:29:44 HR: 124 pace: 11'52"mpm

Perfect weather this morning.

Unfortunately, I think I caught a case of the stomach flu:  had to take a dump before, during (in between the shodded and the barefoot), and after the run.  A triple dump within an hour is a first...

It wasn't worth it to continue the 4k run to the scheduled 6k so I aborted the run.  Note the really low HR's (123=MAF-15, 124=MAF-14) due to lack of energy from a screwed up stomach.  Surprisingly, the pace was decent, thanks to the fantastic dry, cool morning air.

I plan to go off-schedule for a few days, until my guts are back to normal. 

- Ken

5.68 miles, 11:41 avg pace, 140 avg HR.

First ever run during lunch. 66 degrees and 84% humidity so I figured I'd go for it. Seemed much warmer out there running and ended up letting my HR get up too much at the end. Overcast and 10mph SSE breeze. GPS messed up but I got it edited. Hard to get cooled back down without a shower. Overall good run anyway.