Sunday, May 20, 2007

Running Sub-3 For A Cause

The good news is that I miscounted last week how many weeks we have until Chicago. It is now 20 weeks from today, when I initially thought it was 20 from last week. I am proud to report that I achieved my 33-mile goal for this week after arriving back from vacation Monday evening.

Mon 5/14 - 8:00 PM - 4 miles easy - 8:17 pace
Tue 5/15 - 6:30 AM - solid 6 miles with some fartlek - 7:38 pace
Wed 5/16 - Lunchtime - 6 miles EZ/recovery - 8:18 pace
Thu 5/17 - Rest - Recovery from a late night at the White Sox game
Fri 5/18 - 6 miles - 8:06 pace
Sat 5/19 - Rest
Sun 5/20 - 10 miles - 7:37 pace with fast finish - last mile was 6:36

Total for week: 33 miles

My concern this week is around my diet and weight. (Note how I am lamenting after Jen and I just arrived home from a wing/beer fest at Buffalo Wild Wings). OK, I don't have an eating disorder, because I recognize that I am 6'1" and about 175 lbs (read: SLENDER). However, I am a runner concerned about my speed. I weighed about 170 lb before vacation and that crept up to 175 after. I've just got some bad eating/beer habits.

On to good news, I am really pleased with my heart rate on today's 10-miler. Check out my splits below (click on image). Not until I pushed it the last couple of miles did I exceed 150. I found that I can run several miles in the 7:40's and the HR is sub-150. That's pretty good given my current conditioning. I still had some mileage in me, but I decided to hold back since I need to build carefully.






There were mixed responses on my cross-training post from last week in Aruba, especially from Chad, a sub-3-marathoner who basically scoffed at my pool running idea. Then Wayne, who just banged out 3:09 and 3:11 in Austin & Boston respectively (less than 60 days apart) swears by it. Do we really need to cross-train significantly? I guess since I became injured late last year, I was hoping to prevent a repeat occurence.

Juggling the schedule is an ongoing battle. Again, I need to travel to London for work this week.

Mon 5/21 - 8 miles gen aerobic - Take Redeye flight to London
Tue 5/22 - Arrive in London at 8AM - Rest
Wed 5/23 - Early 8-miler in Hyde Park - Will mix in some strides
Thu 5/24- Early 5-miler in Hyde Park
Fri 5/25 - Fly home from London - Recovery 5 miler back home in afternoon
Sat 5/26 - 12 miler
Sun 5/27 - Rest

Goal mileage for the week: 37 miles

Lastly, I am proud to report that I am a committed Charity Runner for the American Cancer Society. You can see my page here. I will train to run my fastest marathon imaginable and will be motivated to help raise funds for a cure.

Next post, I will review my new Nike Vomero+2's and HornetJuice.

11 comments:

Arcane said...

Wow you're HR is quite low. Do you know what you're max HR is? I think people should cross-train but I don't know if pool running is the best type of cross training since it's usually reserved for those that are trying to recover from injury.

Have fun in London. I love running in Hyde park.

MNFirefly said...

Have fun in London. Great job on the run yesterday.

yumke said...

Wow, a busy post and a busy week ahead of you.. I hear ya about the weight.. runners are a busy lot and sometimes, the running makes you hungry which makes you want to eat... all about choices, i guess. Have fun in London!

jen said...

Great week, and good luck this coming week! While running in London sounds really fun, I know it can be a challenge when you are trying to stick to a schedule. It's enough for me to have to work in a short run when I travel to So. California (like a 1 hour flight)! Great job, keep it up, and have fun in London. :)

Chad said...

Maybe Wayne would've run 2:50 without cross training. :)

I just think the idea of pool running, when you're healthy, is crazy.

Have you ever ran in the pool before? I can't think of anything more boring. Okay, maybe it's not boring, but time definitely slows down in the pool. 20 minutes feels like an hour.

I'm sure cross training probably "works" for some people. The important thing is that you find out what works for you.

Personally, I enjoy running. I love to bike too, but I don't have the time. If 1 minute of biking equaled 1 minute of running, I'd be all over it.

Unknown said...

I'll have to agree with Chad that running in the pool is...Boorrring. I did it when I was injured for five weeks and thought it helped keep my fitness level reasonably normal, but would never have considered it otherwise. Running is the best medicine for running, in my opinion.

Steve said...

Ryan,
Keep up the focus and determination. Cross-training is a good way to recovery from injury...but it can also be a way to increase fitness if alternated in with your running. I am not opposed to it, but it is not a straight substitute for running. Like in lifting it best to switch up the routines every few weeks to keep the muscles 'guessing'. Endurance/overall fitness can be tricked the same way with cross-training...if your plan has more than 1 day off of running a week, think about using those days as cross training days instead. Just some thoughts. If you really want to cross-train.

BTW...I am back posting to my blog. Check it out. (http://malliard.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html)

Neese said...

i'm 6'2 and 170, i really have no excuses now! -- enjoy London!

Ruslan said...

Ryan, I always look at your work. It is truly decent. Sorry for this question - is it possible to make about 3h for marathon without hitting a big mileage. Are you planning on increasing it, let's say twice longer then it is now? Even if I make 80 mpw I'm not quite sure I can get 3:15. 6'1 (bummer that we have different calculations - is it close to my 180 cm? I guess it's higher)

Ryan said...

Ruslan,

Don't know you're history with marathon performances, but...

If I can run a 3:10 on 55-mpw peak like I did last year, given we're about the same age, I'm fairly confident you can run a 3:15 with the kind of mileage you are putting in. It all depends on your shorter distance race times.

You may need to do a great deal of speed work to increase your VO2 max.

My plan to run 2:59 this year will have me max out at a single 70-mile week (just b/c I want to say I did one!) - the hope is to run consistent weekly mileage in the high 50's/low 60's with increased speed work to cut 10 minutes off last year's time.

Ruslan said...

Ryan, sorry for late reply. You wouldn't believe me but my history is Null races. I tried one but failed (the Wall somewhere at 38th km, almost there). So I know what is marathon. I'll be somewhere between 70 - 80 mpw and I hope it will make me more confident with the Race.