Week One Day 1

My 12 week training schedule begins this week for the Cleveland 10K in May.
The workout I am using has 3 key workouts. Tuesday is track day where I run intervals of :
400's @ 1:18 pace,
600's @ 1:57 pace,
800's @ 2:41 pace,
1000's @ 3:23 pace,
1200's @ 4:12 pace,
1600's @ 5:38 pace.

Thursday is tempo runs of short (@ 6:13) and mid (@ 6:28) running paces for 3 to 6 miles.

Saturday is long tempo pace @ 6:43 for 6 to 10 miles.

These paces were calculated based on my recent 5K race. Next time I won't race as hard so that my training paces won't be at a blusterous pace. I'm hoping to survive these 12 weeks somehow.

So, on Tuesday, we had a beautiful snow storm blow through the Cleveland area and that left me to move my run onto the treadmill. With over a foot of snow on the track there was no way I could knock out 8 X 400's at a 1:18 pace. My treadmill can reach a max speed of 12 miles an hour (5 minute mile pace) so after a 15 minute warm up I ran 8 x 1:30 @ 12 miles an hour with 1:30 rest between reps. It was a good workout and it didn't beat me up so bad. So far, so good.

OK, and I was tagged by trainingtotri to list 7 weird/random things about me so here are 7 random things I could think of.

1. My perfect Winter snowy day would be me out cross country skiing in the park enjoying a decent workout with beautiful scenery.

2. My perfect sunny Summer lazy day would be me laying down under a big oak tree in the park reading an inspirational novel about swimming, biking, or running for half a day. Then I would get up and go to a park table and play chess with the old timers for the rest of the day.

3. My perfect cool Autumn day is my wife and I backpacking in the mountains enjoying the serenity of a bright and colorful forest.

4. My perfect sunny Spring day is my first day out on a long bike ride along country roads.

5. My perfect rainy day is me in my pajamas sitting around the fireplace drinking green tea and reading.

6. My dream is to go back to Hungary and spend a month there learning about my family history and enjoying the culture.

7. My dream is to live to 100 years old and be active in sports, family, and community.

I'll volunteer to be the last one tagged.

Train like a runner.

It was a cold 19 degrees downtown but we had lots of sunshine. The roads were dry and with the sun shinning I was in a good mood for a race. The undulating course was a challenge for us runners and was not a course for a PR.

My goal for todays 5K race was to run it hard and use the finish time to calculate my training paces for the Cleveland 10K in May. I will use the famous F.I.R.S.T 12 week schedule to train for the race.

Now that I have a 5K race result I can start to train like a runner.

Race results: Chili Bowl Classic 5K

Oh, and I did try the veggie chili after the race. It was spicy with peppers and not bad tasting.

A taste of Power.

I had my eyes opened to the effectiveness of training with power on a CompuTrainer last night. A good friend from my triathlon club offered his coaching skills along with his CompuTrainer to put me through a time trial test. The focus of the workout was to montitor power, heart rate and cadence, in two 20 minute intervals. For the 2 sets I needed to ride at a hard effort and yet complete them in +/- 5% of each other.

The results will be compared in 6 weeks with another test. Since I do not have a CompuTrainer or some other power measuring device I will use my heart rate monitor to train with. In early April I will go back to my friends house to do another test on his CompuTrainer and see what results I get.

Dave, thanks for showing me the way to "Power". I think it's exciting stuff and will translate to improving my biking times.

Test 1 Results:
average speed: 18.3 mph
average watts: 147 watts
maximum speed: 19.6 mph
maximum watts: 183 watts
time: 20 minutes
distance: 6.14 miles
average heartrate: 116 bpm
maximum heartrate: 125 bpm
average cadence: 91
maximum cadence 97

Test 2 Results:
average speed: 18.9 mph
average watts: 158 watts
maximum speed: 22.2 mph
maximum watts: 246 watts
time: 20 minutes
distance 6.30 miles
average heartrate: 124
maximum heartrate: 139 bpm
average cadence: 93
maximum cadence: 110