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.

Mind games on the treadmill

The anxiety of running fast on the treadmill today was driving me crazy. According to my schedule I needed to run two 1 mile repeats and a 1/2 mile at a 5:38 pace with a 1/2 mile recovery between sets. This type of workout was to be done on the track but with a slushy snow covered track there was no way I would be able to run fast on it. With the crummy conditions I resorted to doing the workout on the treadmill later in the evening. Although, throughout the day I was thinking how was I going to run the fast set of intervals on the treadmill.

The top speed of my treadmill goes from 10 mph (6:00 pace per mile) to 11 mph (5:30 pace per mile)to 12 mph (5:00 pace per mile)and I only needed to run at a 5:38 pace per mile. Do I run at 10 mph with a 3 to 4 percent incline? Do I run at 5:30 mph with no incline? I had to get on the treadmill to find out what I could do.

During the warm up I focused on being relaxed and told myself that I could run at the 5:30 pace, even if I had to hold on the bars or if I puked, I was going to run it. After 20 minutes of easy running I hit the first set of 1 miles at a 5:30 pace with the incline set not at ZERO but at TWO percent. Yes, I went for the gutsy workout. And, I survived two 1 mile repeats and a half mile feeling great because I conquered the mind battle over the treadmill.

This weekend I am looking forward to running a 5 mile race (St. Malachi).

Baby and all

Last week we drove to Baltimore to visit my son and his wife to celebrate the birth of our grand daughter, Arianna.
She is a bundle of sweet joy with an inquisitive mind of interest in all her surroundings.

My off-season Core training workouts finally paid off this past weekend. We had record snow fall and I was left to shovel my way out of my drive and then a couple of other neighbor drives. I didn't get sore from all the shoveling but I did get mentally whipped and I didn't have the strength to run my scheduled 7 mile tempo run for today. I was able to take an afternoon nap in the recliner while reading and all I could see when I closed my eyes was me lifting shovel after shovel of heavy snow and yet I wasn't making any progress in clearing a path. How frustrating was that.

I am looking forward to running my 3 key training runs outside rather than on the treadmill. The temperatures are suppose to reach in the high 40's by Thursday and maybe by then the track and trails will be clear of ice and snow. Running on the treadmill has been easy for me to hit my target times but I think running outside will be different. I can't wait to test my progress on the track soon.

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.