These aren't the New Year's Resolutions... these are the plans.
I'm planning on trying something a little different and running the Salt Lake Marathon in April this year. This is only 14 weeks away, so I'm kicking the training into gear now. If all goes according to plan, I won't have a week of less than 23 miles of running for the rest of the season. And only very few weeks of less than 30 miles.
There will be some biking (and maybe even swimming) thrown in there as well. I really want to do the Daybreak Triathlon in September. It may be the sprint, it may be the Olympic distance, but I'd really like to get it done. It will depend on the funds available at the time.
I also plan on doing the Art City 5k with the family, and entering the lottery for the St George Marathon in October. And with any luck, I'll run the Hobble Creek Half Marathon in August. That oughta keep me busy for the year, eh?
Monday, January 5, 2009
Monday, December 29, 2008
Good news and bad news
Some good news...
I had a great Christmas. Lots of fun, the kids had a great time and got lots of fun new things that are eventually making their way to their bedrooms, and I got some new toys... mostly bike related (headlight/taillight set for the bike, bike computer [with cadence!]), but I also got a new heart rate monitor. I got to take it out for the first time today, as the weather over the Christmas break was not conducive to running, or even to walking the 1/2 a block to the clubhouse with the treadmill. I ran my standard 4 mile City Creek loop, and my heart rate seemed to average in the high 160's going up, and the low 150's on the way down. The not-so-good news is I didn't get one that stores the data -- it's a very basic model. That's cool though, it's a step up from what I've had in the past (nada). The treadmills and indoor cycle here in the gym will have their computers that will keep track of average/maximum rates, etc., so it's all good.
The bad news?
Gained a pound over the 5 day layoff. Considering what I ate and how much I exercised (not), I think that may actually be a positive thing.
I had a great Christmas. Lots of fun, the kids had a great time and got lots of fun new things that are eventually making their way to their bedrooms, and I got some new toys... mostly bike related (headlight/taillight set for the bike, bike computer [with cadence!]), but I also got a new heart rate monitor. I got to take it out for the first time today, as the weather over the Christmas break was not conducive to running, or even to walking the 1/2 a block to the clubhouse with the treadmill. I ran my standard 4 mile City Creek loop, and my heart rate seemed to average in the high 160's going up, and the low 150's on the way down. The not-so-good news is I didn't get one that stores the data -- it's a very basic model. That's cool though, it's a step up from what I've had in the past (nada). The treadmills and indoor cycle here in the gym will have their computers that will keep track of average/maximum rates, etc., so it's all good.
The bad news?
Gained a pound over the 5 day layoff. Considering what I ate and how much I exercised (not), I think that may actually be a positive thing.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Tweet tweet
Still running. I had a great run Friday night. I left home about 5:30 and ran for 44 minutes and change, for 4.55 miles. That's a sub-10 pace on average, and every split was sub-10 also. Usually I'll have a sub-10 run where one mile was just over 10 minutes, like 10:04, but the sum of the other miles made up for that :04 and brought the average down. I was quite pleased with this run.
Also, on Monday I tried going out way too hard... on a treadmill. I got on the treadmill at lunch, and noticed that the guy next to me, who happens to be a VP in our company and one of my former professors in college, had been on the treadmill for about 2 minutes and change already when I started. I also noticed that he was running at a 6.0 mph rate, or a 10-minute mile. I set the TM to 6.2, with the goal to catch him within 3 miles. It didn't quite happen. I noticed that he sped up at one point to 6.1... so I went to 6.4, then 6.7.... then 7. When I had .25 miles to go, I knew he was out of reach, as he was still about .13 ahead of me. But I got a nice tempo/interval/speed work session done. Then I went and did a circuit on the weight machines which made me just about pass out. I haven't been that light-headed in a long time. But alas, no passing out (although I came close). I think I just was under-hydrated and under-fueled.
Today I settled in for a quick 4 mile "easy" run at 6.0 on the treadmill, with Champions League soccer on the telly. Chelsea won, 2-1 (yay!). And the 4 miles were over in 39:46.
Oh, and I'm on twitter. Follow me at twitter.com/baldzach
Also, on Monday I tried going out way too hard... on a treadmill. I got on the treadmill at lunch, and noticed that the guy next to me, who happens to be a VP in our company and one of my former professors in college, had been on the treadmill for about 2 minutes and change already when I started. I also noticed that he was running at a 6.0 mph rate, or a 10-minute mile. I set the TM to 6.2, with the goal to catch him within 3 miles. It didn't quite happen. I noticed that he sped up at one point to 6.1... so I went to 6.4, then 6.7.... then 7. When I had .25 miles to go, I knew he was out of reach, as he was still about .13 ahead of me. But I got a nice tempo/interval/speed work session done. Then I went and did a circuit on the weight machines which made me just about pass out. I haven't been that light-headed in a long time. But alas, no passing out (although I came close). I think I just was under-hydrated and under-fueled.
Today I settled in for a quick 4 mile "easy" run at 6.0 on the treadmill, with Champions League soccer on the telly. Chelsea won, 2-1 (yay!). And the 4 miles were over in 39:46.
Oh, and I'm on twitter. Follow me at twitter.com/baldzach
Monday, December 1, 2008
December?
Today I ran outside in 55 degree temperatures. In Utah. In December. 4 miles in 40 minutes.
I'm going to have to ditch the podcasts in favor of Christmas music on these runs if I'm going to believe it's December at all. As near as I can tell, it's 'beginning to look a lot like Halloween.'
... minus all the scary stuff. Which is good, I don't like that crap anyway.
I'm going to have to ditch the podcasts in favor of Christmas music on these runs if I'm going to believe it's December at all. As near as I can tell, it's 'beginning to look a lot like Halloween.'
... minus all the scary stuff. Which is good, I don't like that crap anyway.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Stretching
It appears that biking season has wound down. I haven't yet invested in any cool-weather biking gear except for a pair of tights (yes, I'm that secure in my masculinity that I can wear tights). So, it looks like running will be the endurance sport of choice for the near future.
In that vein, I'm going to focus on stretching my lunchtime runs from 4 to 5 miles. I did this yesterday and really enjoyed the run. It's just 10 more minutes, so it's not like a major time investment, but now I can hit the 10 mile benchmark in just 2 runs, rather than 2.5 or 3. So it saves time in that way, I suppose.
Yesterday I did just over 5 in the City Creek/Avenues route in 52 minutes flat. I'll do the same today. Then there's football on Thanksgiving morning, probably in the rain. Should be a blast.
In that vein, I'm going to focus on stretching my lunchtime runs from 4 to 5 miles. I did this yesterday and really enjoyed the run. It's just 10 more minutes, so it's not like a major time investment, but now I can hit the 10 mile benchmark in just 2 runs, rather than 2.5 or 3. So it saves time in that way, I suppose.
Yesterday I did just over 5 in the City Creek/Avenues route in 52 minutes flat. I'll do the same today. Then there's football on Thanksgiving morning, probably in the rain. Should be a blast.
Friday, October 31, 2008
An epic ride and a PR
Saturday I went for a nice long bike ride. From our house up the west side ("Bacchus") highway to Magna, then out to Saltair, then along the I-80 frontage road along a very flat, very straight stretch of about 9 miles to the International Center, then south along 5600 West. Yeah, that's about 11 miles of uphill (only about a 4% grade, but after that many miles... ugh.) It was a total of 38.5 miles. If the uphill hadn't killed me, I'd have had a respectable pace as well, but I ended up with a 14 mph pace, finishing in 2 hours 45 minutes or so, and freaking out my wife, who I told I would be back in only 2 hours... yeah, well. It was still a GREAT ride.
In other news...
Last week I set myself a PR in my 4 mile City Creek Canyon loop that I like to run at lunch time. The time was 40:40, for a 10:05 pace. Now I've been getting faster at pretty much everything lately, and although I'm not sure why, I got the bug in my head that this could apply to the City Creek loop as well. I was thinking that a sub-40:00 four mile loop was in order. I've been doing some sub-10:00 paces on the treadmill, but this ain't no treadmill run...
Now I don't know if I've posted the elevation profile for this run before. So here it is...
Yes, that's over 400 feet of elevation gain/loss in 4 miles. And yesterday I did it in 39:30! That, my friends, is a 9:52 pace. Yes, I am tickled.
In other news...
Last week I set myself a PR in my 4 mile City Creek Canyon loop that I like to run at lunch time. The time was 40:40, for a 10:05 pace. Now I've been getting faster at pretty much everything lately, and although I'm not sure why, I got the bug in my head that this could apply to the City Creek loop as well. I was thinking that a sub-40:00 four mile loop was in order. I've been doing some sub-10:00 paces on the treadmill, but this ain't no treadmill run...
Now I don't know if I've posted the elevation profile for this run before. So here it is...
Yes, that's over 400 feet of elevation gain/loss in 4 miles. And yesterday I did it in 39:30! That, my friends, is a 9:52 pace. Yes, I am tickled.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Slow updater
I guess I'm waiting until something really big happens to update my running blog. And something did, last Monday. So I guess I'm out of excuses. Anyway...
Last Monday I ran 5 miles in a 9:38 pace. That's the furthest I've ever gone at sub-10:00 miles. It gives me hope that I'll break that 5 hour marathon barrier at Ogden in the Spring. Here's hopin', anyways.
Then I got sick. Ugh. So no working out the rest of last week.
Yesterday I got on the spin bike and payed special attention to my power output (watts). I tried to keep my ride going for 11 miles at a sustained 250 watts or more. It was pretty fun to keep an eye on it that way. It required keeping my cadence up around 85-95 and my speed up around 22 mph. I heard somewhere that the pros like Lance Armstrong can consistently crank out 500 watts sustained, on a daily basis, over a 3-week stage race a la the Tour de France. Well... I wanted to see what 500 watts felt like, so I cranked up the resistance, stood up on the pedals, and mashed out 625 watts at one point. I didn't sustain it for more than a few seconds, but it was fun to see what it felt like. I have to do this on the trainer, and not on a "real" bike, because 1) it's cold outside and 2) I'm not cranking out big bucks for a power meter anytime soon. Those things are $$$!
Today should be a City Creek Canyon run again, if the weather gets above 45 or so by lunch time. I brought a long-sleeved shirt, but just shorts to wear. Part of me is looking forward to running in the winter cold, but more of me isn't. Can't we just skip ahead to April?
Last Monday I ran 5 miles in a 9:38 pace. That's the furthest I've ever gone at sub-10:00 miles. It gives me hope that I'll break that 5 hour marathon barrier at Ogden in the Spring. Here's hopin', anyways.
Then I got sick. Ugh. So no working out the rest of last week.
Yesterday I got on the spin bike and payed special attention to my power output (watts). I tried to keep my ride going for 11 miles at a sustained 250 watts or more. It was pretty fun to keep an eye on it that way. It required keeping my cadence up around 85-95 and my speed up around 22 mph. I heard somewhere that the pros like Lance Armstrong can consistently crank out 500 watts sustained, on a daily basis, over a 3-week stage race a la the Tour de France. Well... I wanted to see what 500 watts felt like, so I cranked up the resistance, stood up on the pedals, and mashed out 625 watts at one point. I didn't sustain it for more than a few seconds, but it was fun to see what it felt like. I have to do this on the trainer, and not on a "real" bike, because 1) it's cold outside and 2) I'm not cranking out big bucks for a power meter anytime soon. Those things are $$$!
Today should be a City Creek Canyon run again, if the weather gets above 45 or so by lunch time. I brought a long-sleeved shirt, but just shorts to wear. Part of me is looking forward to running in the winter cold, but more of me isn't. Can't we just skip ahead to April?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)