25th in 4:44:39....ran well until about 17 miles, then the cramps began. Dropped from 19th to 25 in the final 4 miles. http://www.runwmac.com/gt2009/nipmuck2009.html

Leading up to this have been doing just about all training at 50 bpm below my max with one day at 35-max. Ran a 10 mile uphill road race the week before and had a good one. I feel this was a good race because there was no one in front of me older than me

Full report here http://perogoats.blogspot.com/

Steve

Macon 5k  last year  22:52  Today 24:33.

1mile 7:58

  No one at the 2 mile marker. Looked at the watch it had 17:48. That can not be right. New heart monitor. Returning it tomorrow. Apparently I did not hit the lap button. No mile splits. I remember the first mile.Windy at  mile 2 uphill incline. No real hills on course. Last mile mostly uphill. Left before awards give out. Club members stayed. One card in box when I put mine in for age group. May have won something.Third in AG last year ,also 1:41 faster.

 

On Tuesday I did not have F 305 and it took 1:09:00 to do 4 miles. Thursday 3 miles in 40:00. Can not judge pace. The F 305 has spoiled me. I will be soooooooo  happy when it gets is returned.

 AT least I have a better idea of where I am fitness wise.

 

MHR 201  AHR 107- more like 170 which what I was reading most of the race.Probably did not stop watch after race.

 

After checking the race predictor. Marathon time would be 3:55  :05:00 faster than the  4:00 I am targeting. Next race July 4. P'tree 10k .

I probably don't need to ask, but was it real hot/humid today?

Yeah, if I've computed right, your 17:48 at the 2 mile point seems unlikely. That would make your final 1.1

miles in 6:45, but who knows? The marathon predictor sounds encouraging. I can see that you're building

for a good one. Nice job!!

lg

Another PR!

Since joining this forum, about a year and a half ago, I feel very fortunate to still be getting PRs.  Mind you, they are not dramatic, they are very incremental.  But, that is the goal and the nature of this kind of training.

I ran a 3 mile race yesterday, and these were the splits:

mile 1  6:53  HR=165

mile 2  6:50  HR=172

mile 3  7:50  HR=176

Total: 21:33 (maxHR=180) (my maxHR is normally 186).  This averaged out to about a 7:11 mile.  My best before this was about a 7:15 mile.

What is interesting is the first two miles.  I was able to run under 7 min miles for the first time ever.  I died on the last mile, but I still only got passed by one runner.  The HR shows that I did not completely wimp out.  I just had nothing left and ran on fumes.

What is also interesting to me is that this was part of an experiment.  I recently have not been running as many miles as I would have liked, so my training miles were down.  So, I substitued slightly faster runs to make up for the loss of quantity with quality.

But, the other part of this experiment is that I really tried to lose some weight.  I have lost a total of 8 pounds this year, which I had been trying to lose for a long time.  The "get the F out" thread was my inspiration.  I only lost most of that weight recently.

The difference I felt with less weight was dramatic.  I just felt faster and lighter on my feet.  I was able to run down hills almost full speed without feeling like my thigh muscles were about to collapse.  I was able to maintain speed up the hills.  There was clearly a difference in the amount of effort I felt running.  And I saw the results of that in the first two miles of this race.

I read that with each pound of extra weight you lose, you can expect to see about a 2 sec difference per mile.  That comes out to about 16 seconds per mile for me.  I would have to probably run an extra 10 to 15 miles per week to see that kind of improvement.  It is a lot easier to just not carry the extra pounds.

Thanks Flower,

It was exciting and the mile splits were really wild.  I just decided to go all out the first two miles, and then just  try to hang on the third mile.  The second mile marker may be in question.  I probably did a 7:00 min second mile and a 7:40 third mile.

I definitely believe I am more experienced at running 5ks now.  I have noticed that my best times always come when I really go for it on the first mile, even if I over do it a little.  And, it definitely results in more pain.

I once read a description of how 5k races feel, and it made me laugh because I could definitely relate:

First Mile:  Comfortably Hard

Second Mile:  Uncomfortable

Third Mile:  A living Nightmare!!!

I spent about 3 months starting in January doing pure MAF.  I stayed in the 120s and averaged about 15-20 miles per week.  I really enjoyed the easy pace.  When I got home I was refreshed.  The effort did not even feel "pleasantly tired".  It was less than that.  I remember going to an indoor track, and running four miles below MAF and getting lapped all the time. and then putting on my work clothes again without showering because I did not even sweat.

Once the spring came, I started doing above MAF running and was finally glad to be going faster again.  Today, I still think I am benefitting from that easy running I did in the winter.  Even if I never saw dramatic improvement in MAF pace.  I now alternate MAF, Easy and Tempo runs.  MAF really means Recovery pace below 70% maxHR.  Easy meaning below 75% maxHR, and Tempo being about 86% maxHR.

Added:  Even now, that I am in racing season, I mostly do MAF runs.  I try to keep Tempo runs to 20% or less.  I really should keep it to 10% or less of all miles.  I do Easy runs when I am in the mood to go above MAF and I feel good.

It is new to discover that my MaxHR is higher than 210 at the age of 49. I also have a low resting HR.

Yes, that is unusually high, for a 49 year old.  It is a fun journey to discover what your own unique running qualities are, and to adapt all of the training knowledge to it.  You are at the beginning of that journey.

Yes, I had done MAF tests regularly and I had plateaued to the mid 10s about 9 months ago.  I am still in the mid 10s.  I was running more miles last fall, and was doing a long run of 8 miles.  I would like to work back to doing that again, and someday go even longer.  I think that more miles will be the only way I will improve my MAF pace, in the future.

I wanted to drop :33 of my last 5k.  Will do downhill  at Maf this week .Should I wait until I do another MAF test?

Macon run on easy course.

Date Activity Course Type Distance Duration Pace Actions 6/27/2009 Run   Race 2.86 Mi 22:07 7:45 6/13/2009 Run salute to freedon MACON Race 3.1 Mi 24:33 7:56

Clay,

WTG! Very nice race.

lg