Topic: Race Training (Read 4406 times)

BizB · « **on:** November 02, 2008, 10:53:01 AM »

I've been training for a 5K race on November 15th and I've never felt better in my life. My training began in earnest once XC season was over. That's not to say that running during the XC season wasn't a good warm up for the training that I'm doing now, but that it was really nothing more than a warm up. Here's my typical week for the last 3 weeks - and for the next 3 weeks or more - There's another race in December that I may run.

Three days of running

1 - 24 minute run at my comfortable speed (roughly a 9:00 pace)
1 - 24 minute tempo run (not quite race speed, but above comfort speed)
1 - EASY pace long run (10:00/mile or slower). This started at 30 minutes and I've added 6 minutes per week making my next run 50 minutes.

2 Days of bike riding - I try to get in at least 40 minutes or 10+ miles My goal is to get to 60 minutes and boost my current pace from 14.5 MPH to something in the 17.0 MPH range. Though, I'm using the Pose Technique so it's about keeping the same RPM the whole way. Right now I'm pushing the bike as fast as it can go in 3rd gear which gives me about 110 RPM (rough guess).
3 Days of strength training - On Tuesday last, I started the 100 Push-ups Challenge. After the first day, my pecs killed me. After day 2, I felt really good. Today is day 3 and I haven't done them yet. Plus, I'm doing some of the Pose drills, sit-ups and jumping rope.

Today, I'm going to run my first ever 5K as a feeler for the November 15th race. This one is a no-pressure race where I'm going more for the experience and getting the feel of what a race day is like rather than trying to go out there and kill myself to set a speed record. Besides, no matter how fast I run, I'll be setting a personal record for best 5K time. I think if I can hit 25 minutes, I'll be thrilled. That's an 8:20 pace (or thereabouts).

ydnamtnediserp · « **Reply #1 on:** November 02, 2008, 11:59:25 AM »

wow, that's awesome, Biz! congratulations and good luck!!

Novice · « **Reply #2 on:** November 02, 2008, 02:58:34 PM »

Good ol' XC. People think I'm insane but I miss that kind of running. Anyway, good luck! I respect anyone who can do long-distance running without a coach to push them.

BizB · « **Reply #3 on:** November 02, 2008, 04:48:40 PM »

I put up a 24:27 finish time!

My first mile was 7:53
My second mile was 16:06 - so I lost a bit of ground around there
I sure made it up in the last little bit, though.

I ran along side a guy whose goal was 25:15 which was just slightly slower than what I wanted to do. When we got to the 2 mile mark, I picked it up a bit and stretched him out. He never recovered and I think I beat him by almost 20 seconds.

Now, I've got 2 weeks to train for my first attempt at beating that time. I'm quite sure I will do it.

Min · « **Reply #4 on:** November 02, 2008, 06:51:27 PM »

Wow that's great! You must be in great shape. Good job!

BizB · « **Reply #5 on:** November 02, 2008, 09:50:53 PM »

Here's the full write up that I did on my site... Coach TD is my buddy that also coaches cross country.

Coach TD picked me up at around 2 and we made our way to Pburg for the race. He kept the conversation light and we really didn't talk about the run that much at all. That was good. I was nervous enough after reading his email that detailed what the race-day was going to involve. After we registered and got our tee shirts, we went back to the van and changed before doing a nice little warm-up run. Then, we stretched and did a couple of short sprints before making our way to the start-line.

The race:
There couldn't have been any more than 70 people at this race. Most of the participants were kids. I think the only thing that Coach TD said to me at the start-line was, "Let the kids go. You'll pass them soon enough." He may have said more, but I think that was the most important thing for me to remember. Most of the kids took off like they were running a 100 yard dash. I stepped right into the same cadence that we had when we ran last Monday. Or, what felt like the same cadence any way.
After the first turn, I asked the guy running next to me what his goal time was. He said it was 25:15. That's just 15 seconds slower than my goal, I thought to myself. I pointed to my chest and back to him and then back to my chest. He gave me the thumbs up. At the first mile marker, they had someone calling out our split-times.

7:53

"Damn! That's too fast!" I said to my running partner. He said, "nahhh, I feel good." We continued at the same pace/cadence until the next turn - probably 1/4 mile from the mark. Then, I slowed noticeably. So did he. This guy's foot hit the ground so hard with each step that I wasn't able to concentrate on listening to my own body and I was hoping to put some space between us so that I could concentrate on what my body was trying to tell me. When we approached the 2-mile mark, another runner was catching up to us and he said, "Please tell me you two are about to fade."
I responded, "Only if by 'fade' you mean move over so that you can run through."
He said, "I'm about to take the 'jump-on-somebody-and-ride-their-back-strategy'."
"Is that legal?"
"It's a race, everything goes."
I motioned for him to pass me and said, "Get up there so that I can jump on."
I'm sure all this talking added to the increased time that the second mile took, but it was fun and funny so I'm ok with that.

16:06

...was the call from the guy at the 2-mile marker. I couldn't do the math. My brain was too busy telling me all the great reasons to stop this nonsense.

It hurts
It's not fun right now
It hurts
Listen to how hard you're breathing. That's not right.
It hurts.

It was just past this 2-mile mark where I decided to push the pace a little. I put my running mate behind me and then slowed to the same pace that I had been running before. He didn't catch up. He never caught up. He did gain some ground, but not a lot. When I turned the next to last corner, I looked over my shoulder and he was still a good 30 feet or more behind me. When I reached my pre-determined mark (a telephone pole that I spotted from the start-line,) I kicked it in and began my one-breath/one-step acceleration. By the last corner, I had just enough to go to a full-on sprint. I passed one other runner as I rounded that last corner and saw Coach TD standing at the finish. He said to the time-keeper, "Just call it out!"

24:27!

...was what I heard. I couldn't believe it. In fact, later, I was convinced that they had said 24:47. However, Coach TD and I eventually went over and looked at the record-sheet to verify the time. It was, in fact, 24:27.

I've now got two weeks, or about 12 workouts until the next race on 11/15. Then, I'll probably join Coach TD for the Holiday Hustle in December. If I'm going to do that, though, I need to get a stand for the bike so that I can train indoors when it's cold.

Socrates · « **Reply #6 on:** November 03, 2008, 08:23:28 AM »

Great job Biz!

I started running a few years ago to exercise the dogs and lose weight. I haven't run any races yet but I alternate long hard runs and short not-so-hard runs during the week. Just a couple of weeks ago I went up to two 3 mile runs a week. My best 3 mile time is 23:41 but right now in the cold I'm running in the 25's (very high 25 to be perfectly honest). My best 2 mile is 16:03.

The wife is thinking about picking a 5k coming up and training for it. After reading your experiences I'll have to push her some more.

Congrats again.

ivan · « **Reply #7 on:** November 03, 2008, 11:45:07 AM »

I seriously considered running, but I couldn't get anyone to chase me.

12AX7 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 03, 2008, 01:42:45 PM »

My hips don't work that fast anymore.

Nice job, BizB. Impressive!

kanca mosan · « **Reply #9 on:** November 03, 2008, 03:28:15 PM »

My problem is that I have no motivation whatsoever to run. It is just not in my genes...

Chris · « **Reply #10 on:** November 03, 2008, 09:30:56 PM »

Congratulations, Biz!

Sounds like you have a lot of self-discipline and determination. Out of curiosity, what has your diet consisted of as of late?

I too have some physical goals that I wish to achieve by a certain date, but I'll start another thread about it and how I plan on getting there.

BizB · « **Reply #11 on:** November 03, 2008, 10:25:57 PM »

I really haven't varied my eating habits lately. That probably accounts for the fact that I've lost 29 pounds since the start of Cross Country season. I'm down to 179 for the first time since I quit smoking. Generally, my diet consists of...

Breakfast
Yogurt + Banana + Cheerios (dry) which I much on throughout the morning. In addition, I drink 2 large cups of coffee each day.

Lunch
If I eat lunch, it's late in the day - after 2pm, typically. If I do decide to eat lunch, that will be my big meal of the day.

Dinner
If I didn't eat lunch, I'll have 6 to 8 oz of some kind of meat and a large salad consisting of romaine, baby spinach, yellow &/or orange peppers, tomato, cucumber, mushrooms and feta cheese topped with vinegar and oil.
If I ate lunch, I'll just a have a smaller version of the same salad.

If I snack late, I usually eat pretzels. Hell, pretzels are my filler any time of day. I always have them at work and at home. Kroger brand mini-twists to be exact. They're not baked, but they're only 0.5 grams of fat (5 calories from fat)

Chris · « **Reply #12 on:** November 03, 2008, 10:32:57 PM »

Do you find yourself staying away from simple carbohydrates and instead eating food items that contain complex carbohydrates if you eat lunch and anything else throughout the day?

BizB · « **Reply #13 on:** November 04, 2008, 07:18:08 AM »

Meh. There's no conscious effort to stay away from simple carbs.

BizB · « **Reply #14 on:** November 13, 2008, 08:43:43 AM »

Strength training:

Along with the Hundred push-up challenge, I've also added some more core stuff to the every-other-day workouts. I'm doing 2 or 3 sets depending on whether it was a running day or a biking day.

Plank - Hold for 45 seconds (started at less than 30 seconds)
Left Side Plank - Hold for 45 seconds (started at less than 30 seconds)
Right Side Plank - Hold for 45 seconds (started at less than 30 seconds)
Lumbar Leg Lifts - Sets of 10
Elbow to opposite knee crunches - Sets of 20
Windshield Wipers - Sets of 10
Superman - Sets of 10

I'm also jumping rope for 10 minutes (2-sets of 5 min)
And, there are a whole slew of Pose Running Technique drills that I do. As far as I know, they don't have names and describing them would be a waste of both of our time.

BizB · « **Reply #15 on:** November 15, 2008, 08:06:15 PM »

This morning was the second 5K race of the season for me. I’ve trained harder in the two weeks since my last race than I had trained before.

The day started at 6:45 even though I didn’t need to be at Tim’s house until 7:45. I checked my favourite news sites and read around a little bit of one of the forums that I frequent. I drank a cup of coffee and ate a cup of yogurt. I gathered everything that I might need for the race including shorts, a short sleeve compression shirt, a long sleeve compression shirt, my long compression shorts, my running shorts, a lightweight tee shirt a couple of pairs of socks, a towel and my running shoes. Then, I put on my short compression shorts, my sweat pants and a tee shirt.

I got to Tim’s house a couple of minutes late, but he wasn’t quite ready any way, so no harm. I tossed my stuff in his van and replied to a text message wishing me luck. Shortly after that, Tim came out and we got on our way. It was raining and cold and the radar only showed more rain coming our way.

The race was in Walbridge and we made our way through Maumee, Perrysburg, and down 795 to E. Broadway. We got to the check in a couple of minutes later than we would have liked, but we still had plenty of time for a warm-up and stretching. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough time for me to lose whatever funk I was in. I just didn’t feel like running this morning. Though, I never said anything about that to Tim. I figured it was just nerves about the race.

The race got under way right at 9:00, as scheduled.

About a block and 1/2 into the race, I noticed Tim’s hat on the ground and I grabbed it as I ran past. I stuffed it in the small of my back. It was wet, of course. Tim was far enough ahead of me that I could still see him, but there was no way I was going to catch him. Heck, if we were 20 steps into the race, I wouldn’t have been able to catch him.

At the one-mile mark, Coach Kay (another of the St. Pats coaches) was there calling out our time. As I passed, she called out, “8:20″. Perfect. I really had no hopes of setting a record and I felt like 8:20 was about all I was going to be able to dig out of myself. By this point, I had settled in with a running partner. She was probably an 8th grader… maybe a freshman in high school. She said her goal was 25-ish. That’s not far from what I’d get with 3 miles of 8:20 each. Then, about 1/4 mile into the second mile, I realized that we were turning at a corner where we were supposed to go straight. My mind started wandering, wondering, “Where are we going?” and “What the hell is going on?” This took me completely out of my game - not that I was having a good game to begin with, but this really messed with my head. This really sucked because my whole plan for this race was to pay attention to my hips and my posture during the second mile. I had thought I had identified the reason why my second mile has been slower in practice and in my first race. Now, I’d completely forgotten about that plan and my second mile suffered because of it.

We approached the corner where, had we stayed on the correct course, we would have made a left to go to the school. Because we were already on that road leading to the school, we just had to continue straight on to the school. There was a race volunteer standing there telling us that the lead-car had gone the wrong way and that we were going to do two loops. This had us baffled. That wouldn’t be 3.1 miles. That would be closer to four miles!

As we passed the start/finish line, the sign read - 16:50. That means my second mile took 8:30 to complete. Not horrible, but not equal to my first mile, either. I tossed Tim’s hat on the grass as we passed.

Half way through mile three we were wondering if they were going to turn us so that we’d only be doing 3.1 miles. Then, we passed Coach Kay, again. “25:12″ she called out. That means my third mile was 8:22. That’s more in line with what I expected! Clearly, however, I didn’t break my first race’s time.

Meh. Next race is in 2 weeks.

After about 1/4 mile, I purposely slowed down. I told my running partner, who was hanging in there just fine, that I was slowing and that if she didn’t want to, I would just see her at the finish line. She kept plowing on. I slowed. My 4th mile was a 9:05 pace making my total time for the “4 mile 5K” a whopping 34:17.

Hurray! A new personal record (for a 4 mile race)

My reward for today’s race? I got a $5 Ralphie’s coupon as a door prize, and a long-sleeve tee-shirt as part of my early registration reward. Oh, and pain in my right thigh near the groin. I tightened up pretty bad after the race. All in all, today sucked. I didn’t work as hard as I wanted to work and I didn’t perform at the level that I expected to perform. Why? Who knows. Attitude, I suppose.

BizB · « **Reply #16 on:** December 03, 2008, 01:14:23 PM »

Race #3 - The one that I'd actually been training for - was last Saturday. Here's my write-up on it...

Holiday Hustle
2008-11-29
Today was the day of the race that I've bee preparing for since the end of Cross Country season.
The day started much like any other Saturday when I don't have Bubbles. I got to sleep in a bit. I had two cups of coffee, some strawberry yogurt, and some golden grams (dry). I worked on one of my new web sites for a while. I watched TV for a while. I showered and I surfed the Internet for a while.

Then, at 3:00 pm, I went and picked up my race packet at the Maumee Indoor Theater. I was pre-registered, so I only needed to go up to the main stage in the theater and give them my name. I was handed a bib, and a race packet. I was given my bib & number. On that bib, there was an orange plastic strip that holds an RFID tag - more on that later. Off stage left, they were setting up the drinks/snacks tables for after the race. There were people sitting in the theater doing God only knows what. I sure wouldn't have sat there for 2 hours until the race started. Since there was no reason to hang around, and I'd have plenty of time to go home and warm-up/stretch there, I made a b-line back to the car. I called coach td to see what time he planned on getting to the race, but he asked me to stop over at his house. He said he'd make it worth my while. And, he did. He gave me a strap for holding the race-bib. That came in really handy. I have to remember to return it to him, now, though.

When I got home, I did some rope jumping - until the damn 'rope' snapped - and a short warm up run. Then, I stretched. Then, I iced my hip where the IT Band has been giving me grief and pain. Then, some more warm up and more stretching. At 4:20, I gathered up the stuff that I'd need for the race and made my way back to the Maumee Indoor. Dress for today's race included:

Head band
Long sleeve under-armor type shirt
Short sleeve black tee-shirt
long boxer briefs - they're like the under-armor stuff
shorts
socks & shoes
lightweight gloves

Before the race started, I also wore my sweat pants and Michigan sweatshirt.
Let me set the scene for you. Since I didn't take my phone with me on the run, I didn't get any pictures. I'll see if I can find some online and post them later. Meanwhile, you'll have to deal with my description. Along the south side of the theater, they had about 40 feet of orange snow fence lining each side of the street. At the start line, they had a rubber mat type thing extending from curb to curb. This mat served as the electric timing starter. The orange strip that I mentioned earlier had to be attached to one's shoe. The RFID then triggered the start timer and end of the race when you passed over the rubber mats. Next to the start line, they had a sign that read, "6 minute pace". About 15 feet behind that sign, there was another sign that read, "7 minute pace". Similar signs marked back to the 10 minute pace area at the end of the snow fence. The roads surrounding the race area had been blocked off and the Maumee police were doing a stellar job with traffic and crowd control. The finish line was on Conant street and it was marked with a similar mat to the start line. In addition to the mat, the finish line had an inflatable arch that we would run through. Ropes extended from the inflatable arch back to around the front doors of the theater. This is affectionately known as The Corral. The corral is more important when they're not using cool little RFID tags.

The course went from Williams to Ford to Wayne and then we turned around at a spot just beyond where Wayne crosses to Monclova Rd. On the way back, we ran Wayne all the way to Conant and then turned left on Conant and back up to the theater.

I parked over in the old Pharm parking lot and walked over to the starting line. Clearly there was still some time to kill, so I did what everyone else was doing. I ran. I did a warm-up out to Ford Rd and back. Then, I ran back to the car to get my gloves which I had forgotten. Well, maybe not forgotten. More like I didn't really believe that I'd need them. When I did that last warm up run, I decided that they were a good idea after all. As time neared to start the race, nerves started to get the best of me. They were discussing how the start of the race would work and what to expect along the way. The race director explained that our time wouldn't start until we passed over the mat and triggered our personal timer with the RFID tag. He introduced us to Santa and Mrs. Claus who would also be running the race. Every runner who finished ahead of Santa would get a free movie pass. Every female runner who finished ahead of Mrs. Claus would also get a free pass. To make it more of a challenge, the Claus family were fast runners and they'd be starting at the very back of the pack. All you had to do was keep Santa from passing you. Since, as I said, nerves were getting the best of me, I stopped listening once I was sure I had the basic information that I'd need and I went and ran some pick-ups. Pick-ups are runs where you start out slow and you pick up speed until you're in an all-out-sprint near the end. They get the heart pumping and get you thinking about speed and working hard. They may even do more - perhaps coach td can speak to that - than that, but these are the things they accomplish for me. When I returned to my spot in the start chute, I looked around and saw 3 guys from work, three people from St. Pats and coach td. I spoke briefly with the guys from work and wished coach td good luck. Then, the gun sounded.

One thousand people made their way through the starting chute, across the timing mat and onto the 3.1 mile course. I liked having some idea of what speed the runners around me expected to run. I had assumed a spot just in front of the "8 minute pace" sign because I expected to run 7:45 miles. I could only assume that the people around me expected to run similar times. I didn't ask anyone. There were some moments in the first mile where I wondered if I was running fast enough. There were other moments where I was sure that I was right on pace. When I got to the first mile marker, I was a little surprised to see that I completed the first mile in 7:36. I wasn't surprised because I didn't think I could be that far ahead of my goal, but because I really felt fresh and that I could keep up that pace the whole way. Normally, at about the 1.5 mile mark, my brain kicks in and starts to tell me what a silly thing I'm doing and how it would be really nice to stop. Today, that didn't happen. We got out by the U-turn point and I was watching for coach td coming back the other way. When I could actually see the spot where people were turning around, I assumed that I'd missed him and that he'd already passed by. I was wrong. I wasn't that far behind him! There may have been about 100/150 yards between us. If memory serves, coach td said his first mile split time was 7:12, so that's about right. 30 seconds is about 100 yards at the speed we were running. I called out to him as we passed, "Go Tim!". I was still really feeling good at the turn-around. Just past that turn around point, one of the girls that I had been keeping pace with started to fall back. I gave her some words of encouragement and hoped that she would keep up with me. She said she was getting a cramp.

At the second mile marker, they had a guy standing there calling out times. As I approached, I told myself that anything under 16:00 would make me super happy. As I passed, the guy called out, "15:24"! Fifteen minutes and twenty four seconds for two miles! That's... fast! Now, I really felt jazzed. I knew that I could keep up the current pace. About 200 yards later, I started to get a cramp in my side. Right now, I couldn't even tell you which side it was. I think it was on the right, but I can't be sure. It wasn't severe and I was pretty sure I could deal with it. I leaned in a bit more and concentrated on my breathing. Then I got passed by 3 guys that I'd been hearing behind me for the past 2 miles. They were obnoxious and loud. One was dressed as a abominable snowman or something. Could I let these morons pass me? Could I let them actually beat me? I think not. Once the cramp subsided, I kicked it in and kept the three of them within catching distance. When we rounded onto Conant for the final push, I tried to figure out where to make my move.

I think I made my move too soon. Or, at least I thought so when I was about 200 feet from the finish. I had put about 15 people in my rear view once I started sprinting to the finish. Along that sprint, I heard, "Go Coach Pete" from my left. I have no idea which one of my runners it was. I couldn't even tell you if it was a boy or a girl. Then, I heard "Go Pete!" from coach td. I also heard lots of people yelling, "Here comes Santa!" I felt like I was running out of gas. I checked my six and saw that nobody was making a move on me and that I'd sufficiently put the other in my dust. Santa was nowhere in my view when I made the quick turn of my head. There were only three other runners ahead of me. I could let them go. What's the harm? Nobody would know... except me. I decided that I had already hurt myself plenty with my sprint and that a little more wouldn't be so bad. I passed all 3 of them. One, I beat by about 1/2 a step as we crossed the mat. I didn't see my time when I crossed. I did hear the announcer say that they were at the 24:00 point as I made my way to the end of the corral. TWENTY FOUR? I was already in the chute and they were just at the 24:00 mark! Once I got out of the chute, I walked around in front of a police car and dropped to my butt. I sat on the ground just breathing for about 15 seconds. Then, I got up and walked back toward where I'd heard/seen coach td who had been walking my way. When he saw me getting up, he asked, "What was that?" pointing at the spot where I'd just collapsed. "That?" I said, "That was me losing a lung!"

We walked together back to the corner of Wayne and Conant talking about our races. coach td was not happy with his result. I was. Then, we walked and jogged back to the theater. We grabbed our clothes from the ground by the start line and went inside for some refreshments and to get the final official times. Inside, we grabbed a cup of Power Aid, a piece of bagel and a chunk of banana. Then, we made our way into the main part of the theater where our times were posted. My overall pace was 7:38. I finished 11th in my age group (40-44)! My official finish time was 23:40!

12AX7 · « **Reply #17 on:** December 03, 2008, 02:19:10 PM »

You're kickin ass, man.

Just think back to when you stank like an ashtray and coughed all the time.
Long way behbeh.

BizB · « **Reply #18 on:** December 15, 2008, 02:47:08 PM »

Something irritated me today. I totally didn't expect this to get under my skin, but it certainly did. And, to make it worse, I'm just as guilty in this regard.

I was walking back from the cafeteria with my morning coffee and one of the other IT guys (With whom I work very seldom) and he said, "Are you doing a lot of running lately, or what?"
"Yeah," I said. "Why?"
"Because you've lost a lot of weight. That's all."

Weird Tingly Feeling?

When I was 40 lbs heavier back in September, you didn't say, "Dude! You're a cow! You should do a situp or something!" What gives you the right to say, "Dude! You're not a cow any longer! Have you done a situp or something?"?

I didn't set out to lose weight. It is a side effect of the healthier lifestyle that I've been leading. 40 lbs in 10 weeks, I admit, is a quite a reduction in weight and I probably look much thinner. That doesn't give you the right to call me a post-fatty.

Demo commented in #hn that saying something about someone's weight like that is akin to saying, "I never liked her." after you've broken up with someone. Oh? Really? Thanks a lot, fucktard. Why didn't you say that when I was still dating the ice-queen?

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12AX7

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