Longer Tempo Runs for Better Race Results

So, this week I did a 2 X 3 mile Tempo run. You need to do workouts that are specific to the distance you are racing and at the pace you expect to run in that race. You should not run at a pace that you would like to run if it is faster than what you can really do. Does that make sense? Anyway I have never tried doing two back to back 3 mile Tempos runs this way, only two milers, such as 3 X 2 miles.

All day I worried about doing this, could I pull it off? It would be almost like running two 5K races with only a four minute rest between. Turns out it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. I started late in the afternoon and by the time I did my one mile warm-up and got halfway into the first three mile it was getting dark. I use one of those clip-on LED lights for my visor set on strobe and carry a small but powerful LED flashlight for when it’s dark.

By the time I started my second three miles it was completely dark. I have run on this bike path many times but unfortunately both of my lights were getting dim so I had to be extra careful of my steps. This forced me to run a bit slower than I wanted but in the end it was still ok.

The basic rundown of this work out started with a one mile warm-up. For the three mile Tempo I wanted to run at my expected Half Marathon pace of 7:14. The first mile ended up being 7:32, the second at 7:18 and for the last I made it down to 7:13. I jogged slowly for four minutes before beginning the second three miles.

As I began the second half my legs where feeling really sluggish but managed a faster first mile over the first Temp run at 7:26. The second mile was slower because of the darkness but I was able to pick it up during the last half mile as I had more surrounding light so I could see better finishing with a 7:13. I finished this work-out with a one mile cool down.

If you are not doing this type of work-out while preparing for a Half or full Marathon you should start. You greatly improve your endurance and find yourself running faster on race day.

Half Marathon Preparation Time

I’ve been getting ready for the Marathon of the Palm Beaches Half Marathon which will be on December 6, 2015. I’m trying to up my mileage a bit and I have been doing Half Marathon specific workouts. What that means is my Tempo runs and such are being done at around or a bit faster than my Half Marathon Pace. The course this year is being changed. I am assuming that it is because of road work going on along a stretch of road normally used for this race. But assuming is not always a good thing to do.

I keep checking the races website to see if they have posted the new course but nothing yet. I did notice however a comment on the site about being able to see the ocean along a portion of the course. In years past the race directors have tried to work with the Town of Palm Beach to have part of the course run through their town on the Island. Maybe they finally succeeded. Anyway it would be nice to know what it is so I and I’m sure others can run a portion of it before the race.

Below is what I have been doing up to this point:

1.The week after my 10 mile race I just ran easy for a total of 21 miles.

2. The following week I started my Half Marathon training with a 4 X one mile on a Wednesday and a 12 miler fast finish on Saturday for a total of 35 plus miles for the week.

3. The next week was 35 miles with a 4 mile Tempo run at 7:21 average pace and 8 X ½ mile repeats. Saturday did a 10.63 miler

4. Today was a 7 mile easy run. The plan for this week is a 2 X 3 mile Tempo on Wednesday and a 15 mile fast finish on Saturday.

I hope to get a couple 40 mile weeks and some good work outs before I taper during the last week before race day. I do my runs on the week days after work, being its getting dark early now it gets dark part way through my runs so I carry a flashlight and use one of those clip-on lights for my visor. The lights help somewhat so I can see and hopefully so someone else running or biking avoids hitting me.

And what is really nice now is the temperature is dropping just a little, not much but you can feel the difference. Another month or two and it should be nice.

10 Mile Race Results

Final sprint to the finish

Yea, I got an age group first place in a 10 mile race today (10/18). This is my last race in the 55 to 59 age group; my next race December 6 will put me in the 60 to 64 group. This race was the Wellington Horse Country 10 Miler and was their 11^th annual race. The course is flat with a couple long straight sections; the temperature was about 70 degrees at the start. My time was 1:10:56 with a 13^th overall finish.

My first mile was 7:18 and gradually worked down to 6:41 at the last mile. It is amazing how we can push ourselves to keep running fast when our mind and body is trying to tell us to do otherwise. I found that if you can keep pace with someone running at your speed it is mentally a little better. They had water at about every two miles and I gulped down a mouthful at each. I also ate a Gel at around the 30 minute mark when approaching a water station.

I took two days off from running and ran 4 miles this evening, my legs a still a bit sore. I now will begin training for the Half Marathon. My plan is to do two weeks of easy running while increasing my mileage then start doing Half Marathon focused workouts up till a week before the race then taper. Hopefully all goes well.

I’ll give a rundown of my last two weeks of training for this race, the training paces were based off the time I was predicted to finish a 10 mile race:

10/5/15 - 6.98 miles, 2 mile warm-up. 5 X 5 minutes tempo run with 60 second jog between. Each 5 minute repeat was around 7:14 pace. 1 ½ mile cool down.

10/6/15 - Off

10/7/15 - 2 mile warm-up. 5 X 800 repeats with about 1 ½ minutes jog between. Each repeat was around 3:34 to 3:37 each. 1.61 mile cool down.

10/8/15 – Off

10/9/15 – 3.56 miles, 33:22 minutes. Easy run around 8:40 pace. 3 short strides after.

10/10/15 – 9.09 miles, 1:29:44 minutes. 9:25 average pace. Easy long run.

Mileage for this week was 35

10/11/15 – 4:04 miles, 37:33 minutes. Started at around 9:20 pace, finished at

8:40 pace. Recovery run from yesterday’s long run.

10/12/15 – 6.13 miles. 2 mile warm-up. 20 minute Tempo run. Picked up pace till I hit 7:03 for about 8 minutes then backed off a little. 1.4 mile cool down.

10/13/15 – Off

10/14/15 - 5.12 miles, 49:24 minutes. Easy run with two fast 1 ½ and one 2 minute pick-ups during the middle.

10/15/15 – Off

10/16/15 – 4.01 miles, 43:22 minutes. Easy run with two short strides after.

10/17/15 – 1.70 miles

10/18/15 – race day

I'm Going to Try This Again

Jeff Annas 5K 3rd place age group 20:21

Here I am again. I have not posted anything since September of last year. I am going to try and keep up with this now as I have been making great progress in my running so far in the second half of this year. During the first half I was getting little injuries that really did not keep me from running but I wanted to take it easy and not make things worse.

First thing is I had hoped to get under 20 minutes in a 5K race this year, it did not happen. But I did get down to 20:21. I only ran two 5K’s this year (during the last two months) and will only do a total of four races by December. So I think reaching 20:21 is great and I am very confident I will get under the 20 minute mark next year.

My strength training has been going great, getting stronger in my upper and lower body and midsection. This is something every runner should be working on, especially us older ones. Right now I mostly work out 6 days a week. An example would be chest and back day one, arms and shoulders day two then legs day three and repeat over the next three days. Day seven is rest day. I change this up and vary the exercises every week.

What has helped me get faster, aside from trying to increase mileage, is speed work. Before I started my speed work I did four sessions of hill sprints over three weeks leading up to this point just to get broken in. For my 5K’s I did workouts twice a week for the three weeks before the races. Things like mile repeats, ¼ mile repeats and 20 min tempo runs. The week before the race I cut my mileage, did 6 quarter mile repeats on Monday and 6 - 200 meter repeats on Wednesday before the weekend races.

I can only run 5 days a week because of my work schedule. This is good because it forces me to not run two days which gives me some time to recover.

Up coming races for 2015 are a 10 miler in October and Half Marathon in December. The day I run the Half Marathon will be one day after my 60^th Birthday. For the beginning of 2016 I would like o do a 10k, 10 Miler then a 50K in that order.

Can Shoe Goo Prolong The Life Of Your Shoes Soles?

Are the soles of your shoes wearing down faster than you like but the uppers are still in good shape? My Nike Lunaracers are wearing down so I bought some Shoe Goo to apply to the soles to see if it could prolong their life. Here is a video of that. The good news is so far the Shoe Goo has been holding up.

Keeping Track Of Running Shoe Miles

Really, how many people actually keep track of how many miles they put on their running shoes? I mean documenting the miles by day, week, month and year! I can tell you I have gone for years without a clue as to the mileage I put on my running shoes - until now. I don’t know why but I decided maybe I should start keeping track of mine.

So now of course I will see the miles accumulate on paper along with the visual of seeing the damage to the soles. I had been rotating two pairs of shoes and now have added a third pair to the mix. Keeping track on paper, now I can see which ones get used the most, as if I already did not know being I am the one wearing them.

When I decided to start doing this the first thing I asked myself was how? Surely there must be a document or file on-line that someone has already made up that I can use I asked myself, and there was. But in the end I came up with my own crude chart to log the miles for each of my shoes. By crude, I really mean it but it does the trick.

If you check on-line, type “keeping track of shoe miles” on Google, you will see there are applications you can use and unlimited suggestions on forums on how to track the data. If you like the technical stuff, then one of the apps is for you. Personally I like writing down the info on the chart I put together as I can quickly look at it without having to log onto some device or computer.

So back to why I decided to track my shoes mileage. I guess it would be useful so I do not keep running forever on the same pair of shoes. If you are a heavier runner I guess you might worry about the compression of the foam to the point that you no longer have decent cushioning, which in reality is something we should all be concerned with.

The point is to not try using the same pair of shoes to the point you are creating damage to yourself. When you reach this point you could very well start to obtain minor aches and pains that will eventually lead to bigger things, which in turn may stop you from running altogether. Below are some pictures of the log I made for myself. The shoes I am currently using are the Nike Lunaracer (Lun), Nike Pegasus (Peg) and Adidas Boost. I started using the Adidas later and just started keeping track at the bottom of the page.

It’s pretty crude but it works for me. In addition I do keep a log of my runs.

Adidas Energy Boost Video Review

This is a video review of the Adidas Energy Boost shoe that I recently purchased. I give a basic all around close up view before I take the Energy Boost out for their first run. I was looking for another pair of shoes for my longer slower runs to rotate with my Nike Pegasus and these are what I settled on. Hopefully they will do the trick for me. I was debating over whether to buy these or get another pair of Nike Lunaracers as they seem to fit my foot just great which I will still get another pair in the future.

Anyway, these Adidas Energy Boosts look like they will be OK. I may just need to wear a thicker pair of socks with them as it will give a snugger fit in my forefoot (my problem is my left foot). In general I think the Adidas Energy Boost will do just fine for me as I rotate them in with my other shoes.