The Sunny Side of Training.

My training for the May 18, Cleveland 10K is going well. Last week we visited our daughter in sunny Florida. She recently had a baby girl and we got to spend time with her and her family. During our visit we spent a day at Epcot, went to the beach a couple of times, and hugged and kissed the baby the rest of the time.

I did my runs in the mornings when the temps were in the mid 80's and humidty at 80 percent. A 6 mile mid tempo run in 38:26 (6:24 pace) was bearable but the 8 mile long tempo in 53:19 (6:40 pace) was a cooker. I needed to drink some water after 40 minutes sooo bad. I was tempted to plop myself into one of the many ponds I ran by but after seeing 2 alligators already that morning I realized you don't go swimming in just any pond you see in Florida.

Today's track workout was a good indicator for me to prove the kind of shape I am in for a good 10K race. The main set was 3 X 1 mile (at 5:38 pace) with only 1 minute rest between. And if we have 80+ temps with high humidity on race morning I hope my mind and body remembers the tough run I did in Florida.

Windy Track Workout & Cookies.

I was able to run my 4 x 1000 meter repeats on the track this week and on one hand I was happy to be outside on the track rather than on the treadmill but the winds were so strong that I felt I was pushed from all sides and could not maintain my projected pace. I chalked it up as a strength training workout. I kept telling myself, "each 1000 I complete will make me stronger". After completing the windy workout I went home and checked the current weather conditions and sure enough winds were 30 mph and gusting to 40 mph. I'll have to somehow figure out how the winds effect my times.

A friend thought I might want to try this cookie recipe so I whipped up a batch and I couldn't stop eating them.
These are banana cookies that have no eggs, flour, sugar, or salt.
Here is how I made them.
I mashed 3 medium bananas in a bowl and
mixed in 1/3 cup ev-olive oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 1/4 cups chopped walnuts, 2 tablespoons of milled flax seed, and 1/4 cup raisins. I dropped tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet and pressed then down lightly with fork and placed in the oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. I made 2 dozen, ate 5 cookies and put the rest a in freezer bag and placed it in the freezer.
I'll be snacking on these things all week.

I ran with Lance

Today's run workout was an audio download on my ipod from Carmichael Training Systems.
My run began with a 10 minute easy jog to the local college track and then 5 by 20 second stride outs. Coach Chris Carmichael explained the workout and would direct the times of when to speed up and when to jog/walk the recoveries. During coach Carmichael and Lance Armstrong's encouragements, selected music that they chose, played in the background to keep me motivated.

The main set began with a 4 minute run at tempo pace followed by 2 minute recovery jog. The intervals increased by 2 minutes up to 12 minutes yet recovery time remained at 2 minutes. The way I monitored my pace was by keeping my heart rate at 140 beats per minute. I also had my GPS watch to monitor my pace, distance, and laps.
Cool down was an easy 10 minute jog. Total workout time was 1:03:18 for 9.5 miles at a 6:40 pace.

This was a novel run with an ipod coach and soundtrack. I had fun with it and would do it again.

If you want to do the tempo interval workout click on this link to register and download the 2 free workouts.


Next week I'll run with Lance to do the speed workout.

Vitamin D on the track.

I got a good dose of some 'sunshine vitamin', while running on the track today. After running an easy 2 mile warm up in 65 degree temperatures I realized my long sleeve t-shirt would have to come off if I was to be comfortable running 3 fast 1 mile repeats.
I'm not sure how many IU's of vitamin D I absorbed while running the splits in 5:52, 5:50, 5:48 respectfully, but I did feel strong and enjoyed the beautiful sunny afternoon today.
I could get use to adding some 'sunshine vitamin' supplement to my diet too.

Thousands of them.

I was looking forward to running on the track outdoors yesterday until I saw them.
It was a beautiful sunny, but cold 20 degrees and the track had no snow on it. It did have what seemed like thousands and thousands of Canadian Geese's honking and crapping in the field and on the track. I spotted them outside of the track and as I approached I picked up a whipping stick, not to hit them with, but to scare them if they got in my way and to help brush the thousands and thousands of geese crap away from my lane.

I ran the first mile as part of my warm up. During the warm up I was sweeping the track with the stick to clear the way for my interval sets of 1K, 2K, 1K, 1K runs.

Start with 2 mile warm up.
1K = 3:41
2K = 7:22
1K = 3:35
1K =3:35
between each set I walked/jogged 400 meters.
Finished workout with a 1 mile cool down.

My spilt times were about 8 - 10 seconds slower than what I wanted but with the cold and having to share the track with the geese I'll take it and say I had a challenging workout.

Hot and Sunny on the Track!

It was brutal on the track today. The hot sun spanked my butt. I wore sun glasses, and a mesh cap. I brought a bottle of water with me too. I started out with a 1 mile easy warm up at 8:05 and then attempted to run 5 miles at a 6:22 per mile pace.

1st mile flew by in 6:18.

2nd mile I went on feel and did not look at my watch for each lap and did it in 6:40. I thought that's what I get for not paying attention to my pace.

3rd mile was pushed for a 6:08. After the 3rd mile I realized I'm running all over the place and the heat began to take a toll on me and I was feeling nauseous.

4th mile was done in 6:24.

5th mile was a dismal 6:37.

I finished the 7th mile in 8:03. I went home, showered, ate, and crashed for an hour while reading Marathon from Hal Higdon. I'm feeling better now. I need more adjusting for hot weather running.

Short Tempo & more

Yesterday's workout:
On the track - 2 miles easy, 3 miles averaging 5:54 per mile, finish 1 mile easy. I used a heart rate monitor for the first time in years. My max heart rate was 151, and my average was 132 beats per minute. During my 3 miles of tempo running my heart rate stayed at 148 BPM. According to the heart rate calculations the 148 is at my maximum heart rate range between 80 and 85%. I guess they call this the anaerobic zone. That is the zone where you cannot speak eloquently. Maybe one of these days I'll figure out what to do with these numbers but for now I've got to run.

Today's workout:
15 minutes of dumbbells on the ball. I love that little jingle, "dumbbells on the ball".
35 minutes of a steady swim in the pool for lunch.
BRICK: 12 mile Bike ride in the park on my way home from work, followed with 2 miles running barefoot.

Saturday 5:00am:
My wife and I fly to Vancouver Canada and set sail on Holland America for our 11 day cruise and land adventure trip. Actually, 3 days on ship and 7 days on land by train, bus, and boat to make our way up to Anchorage, Alaska. We are excited and are ready to go and celebrate a wonderful time together.

I am not bringing my wet suit but I do hope to get a couple days of pool swimming, running (probably on treadmill), strength training, and stationary biking in on early mornings.

Hopefully, I get a chance while I'm up there to update my blog. I'll post pictures later too.

Peace,
Papa Louie

Water Fast Follow-up

On Tuesday morning after I broke the water fast with a light breakfast smoothie I felt my strength was beginning to come back. For my mid morning snack I ate a home made power bar and an orange. I then hit the pool for an easy 35 minute swim during lunch time. The swim felt good. For lunch I had 2 turkey stuff cabbages and an apple. For my afternoon snack I had a garden salad, handful of pecans, and handful of raisins. For dinner I had 2 pinto bean borritos which I ate about an hour and half before I went to the track to workout with the club. It was on the track that I noticed I had not fully recovered my strength. My legs were feeling tired and heavy during 400 repeats. I averaged around 1:22 for 8 - 400's which was about 7 to 9 seconds slower than normal.
Oh, and I still drank water throughout the day too.

trifrog: I do believe that going through a detox diet does help make you aware that you can eliminate certain "bad" foods from your diet by learning to make healthy choices.

jessie_tri_mn: As of Wednesday I feel fully recovered from getting fatigued during the fast. My hunger is about the same. I eat a morning meal, mid morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and an evening snack. I eat all day to keep my metabolism working. I started eating this way and incorporated strength training 2 to 3 times a week since January and have lost 8 pounds.

Lana: Mondays are my rest days. I did not have any workouts scheduled that day. That is why I chose Monday to have the water fast.

deb: Having nothing to eat but only drinking water for 36 hours was a mental and physical and spiritual discipline for me to experience.

qcmier: Right on with Eddy Money.

Main ingredients for a smoothie is 3/4 cup yogurt, 3/4 cup milk, 4-6 ice cubes, the additions can be whatever fruit and grains you have on hand and to add more protein use 2 tablespoons of whey power.

Today's smoothie additions was 1 cup cooked oatmeal, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 2 tablespoons flaxseed, 1/2 cup mangos, 1/2 cup diced cantaloupe, and a squirt of pure maple syrup. This stuff fills me up and keeps me satiated until my mid morning snack.