Getting Stronger to Run Faster

My goal is to get to a 19 minute 5K. While it would be great to reach that this year, realistically it may be 2015 before I can achieve it. To help me get there I have been working on my speed by following prescribed methods and will be increasing my mileage overall. I am looking long term as I am not trying to speed this process up and get injured. Especially at 58 years of age.

Another thing I have been working on since my Marathon is my strength. I figure if the experts say get stronger to run faster and reduce the chances of injuries that’s for me. This includes upper body and lower body. My leg strength has been lagging behind and this is one thing holding me back.

My butt muscles have gotten pretty weak over time as I have been doing a lot of sitting at my job. There was a time I was in pretty good shape being I was running so much, riding bike and swimming. I did a lot of hiking back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when we lived in California, lots of great places to go. Getting stronger is an integral part of my plan and it will help me get faster and hopefully reduce the chance of injuries.

I have also just gone ahead and accepted the fact that I am a Masters runner and not a youngster anymore. In fact I guess I would be considered a Grand Master runner. Accepting this notion I have started doing more reading on training for masters and how we need to pay more attention to ourselves and watch out for pushing too hard least we injure ourselves. In other words be more careful. Having said that it’s great to see how well many over 40 runners are competing at such a high level.

If you are getting back into running after an extended period of time or you are starting for the first time, it would be worth your time to work on your leg strength. Even a couple times a week would be of help. You really do not need any weights or special equipment if you think that would be an obstacle. There are plenty of exercises you can do with just your body weight.

Fuel Belt Sprint 10 0z Bottle Review

I did this review on YouTube some time ago; it’s the first hand carry bottle I ever bought. I have since been using a Nathan bottle which I like.

Catching Up on 2013 Races

Well I have seriously let my blog posts fall by the wayside but will now do some catching up. As for the Marathon I wanted to do last December – I did run it and finished with a time of 4:10:00, overall place of 140 out of 608 runners.  My average pace was 9:32 per mile. For the first 18 or so miles I was able to maintain a pace around 8:40 to 8:45 per mile but at around 18 miles I got a pain in my left hip and groin area that really slowed me down. I later learned it to be the Psoas Muscle; it was preventing me from lifting my left leg to run so I slowed down more and more the further I went.

I was determined I was going to finish this race so I sucked it up and kept going. I did a couple of 20 milers leading up to this race not to mention the 15 to 18 mile runs I did and had no problem with this at all. After the race it took a couple months for my hip to get back to 100 percent again but I kept running just enough so as not to lose too much fitness and give my hip a chance to recuperate.

Here I am in May and have been training with no problems. I ran the Save the Tiger 5K on May 17 and did pretty well with a 21:56 finish time. This is only 2 seconds faster than my last 5K last August but it felt much easier, I think I could have pushed it harder. My goal is still to get down to 19 minutes and this year I am doing the proper speed work to help me achieve this goal. I plan on doing at least 2 more 5K’s, a 10 miler and a half marathon this year.  The half marathon is part of the Marathon of the Palm Beaches. I may try the Marathon again next year (2015) but will skip it this time around so I can get more miles on my legs for a better finish.

                             Finishing the "Save the Tiger 5K" (in the white shirt)

Anyway, I am satisfied with my 2013 races and look to make improvements at all distances this year.

2013 Races:

5K -24:13

Half Marathon - 1:54:42

5K – 22:53

5K – 21:58

10 mile – 1:15:00

Marathon – 4:10:00

Does the Nike Pegasus Suck?

As of this writing Nike’s Pegasus model is in its 30^th year. You would think if a product has been around for that long something must be going right or otherwise it would have been abandoned long ago. The Pegasus has actually earned a following of loyal users.

Now the post title above is a pretty strong question for a product that is basically 30 years old. In fact I have a pair of the Pegasus 29’s that are approaching 400 miles of use. So does the Pegasus suck? Actually I would say NO but there are people out there that would tell you they do not work for them for a variety of reasons. Anything from they don’t fit my foot type to they just prefer another model or brand. All legitimate reasons, we all have our preferences.

As much as I like my Pegasus, I do have a gripe. First off I have narrow feet. I bought what is probably the narrowest size available but they fit ok. The thing is the left shoe, and the left shoe only, loosens up on me and I have to re-tie it at least four times during a run before it stays put.

It’s not really the shoe lace coming loose; I have tried different tricks at tying laces to take care of that. It seems like the upper stretches out till my foot is too loose in the shoe and it becomes annoying. I can finally get it tightened up to where it is ok but I have to stop running to take care of it. Once the fit is good these shoes are great for me.

I decided it is time to get a new pair of shoes and have done the usual research on what’s now available from everyone. I need a neutral shoe that is good for long runs and can be used in longer races also. So what did I buy, Nike Pegasus 30. When I tried them on at the store the toe box felt narrower which is a good thing for me being I have narrow feet.

I will be taking my first run in them tonight to see if this shoe will have the same issue as the other, I hope not as I have high hopes for them. If it works out this will be my Marathon shoe on race day. Has anyone else had any trouble with the Pegasus? If so leave a comment about what it was or is.

Update: After trying the new shoes I have decided that these shoes are just not right for my foot. My feet are just too narrow for these shoes. I have also been wearing Nike Lunaracers which are perfect for my feet, I guess that will be my shoe for now.

Marathon Getting Close and My Training

It’s now about 8 weeks till my first marathon and I think I am moving along ok in my preparations. I did another 5k race back in August and knocked another minute off my time for a 21:58 finish and second place in my age group. I have also been gradually increasing my weekly mileage, running 5 days per week, this week will be 40 miles and I have been feeling good.

My long runs have progressed from 10, 12, 14, 15 to 16 miles. An 18 miler this weekend with two 20 milers planned before my taper for the marathon. I have only had issues with my shoes on these runs and that pertains to my left shoe not staying snug. These are Nike Pegasus, oddly the shoe lace does not come loose, it seems like the shoes upper itself loosens up. I don’t get it; the right shoe never does this. I like the shoes otherwise but now I’m on the hunt for a replacement.

In addition to running I have been on the bike occasionally and have been working out my upper body and legs. Wednesdays are my speed days and the tempo run is my focus now, increasing the distance of the tempo run every week keeping at 80 to 85 percent heartbeat range.

On October 20 I will be doing the Wellington Horse Country 10 Miler. This will be my test run for a distance race before the marathon, as it will be for other runners. This will help me gauge my progress and give me another finishing time to use for training purposes. More on that and getting some new shoes in my next post.

Four Months to Marathon

It’s now the beginning of August and I need to start concentrating on my Marathon training. As I mentioned in my last post I had an issue with not being able to get in long runs on the weekend because of my work schedule. Although that has been fixed, I now feel like I am behind in getting ready for the Marathon. Although it is still four months out, I have this feeling I should be further along.

This past week I only did 30 miles, I had hoped be doing more at this point. So the key to increasing my mileage will be the progressively long runs.

August 17 will be the second of the two Dreher Park Dash 5K races or the"Night & Day 10K" as they call it. If you race in both they will combine the two for points or something for a series winners in addition to each individual race. The first was run in the morning and the second will be in the afternoon. In October I will do the Wellington 10 miler as a preparation for the Marathon.

I also mentioned something in the previous post to the effect of not doing any more or reducing speed training, I decided to continue with speed training and tempo runs. I can also tell my fitness level is going up as my breathing is not labored at the longer distances I have run, but I am keeping my heart rate around 130 to 135 BPM level for the most part.

And I’ll be seriously happy when the temperatures start to cool down!

Another 5K Race Done

Another 5K race is behind me as of Saturday and I think I did Ok. I predicted a 22 minute time and I finished it in 22:53. This gave me a second place finish in my age group of 55 to 59, there are some fast runners out there in the same age group that would have pushed me out if they had showed for the race. This race was the Dreher Park morning run of their two part series.

The second race will be August 17 I believe and will be run in the afternoon. I must say it was hot and humid and many people may have run faster if it was cold or at least cooler.

As long as my times steadily drop as my training progresses I’ll be happy. My goal is to eventually get down to the 19 minute range for the 5K. That I hope will happen by this time next year, but who knows what may happen between now and then. In reality it may take longer and I hope I can stay injury free.

As far as my training has been going for the marathon, I have been missing out on the long runs during the weekends due to my work schedule. The work issue has to do with my part time job at Home Depot. They keep scheduling me too early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to run early and I can only fit in a shorter run in the afternoon because I also have other chores to take care of.

But, I have finally worked that out, during September, October and November they will not schedule me until after 11:00 AM so I should have time to get in those increasingly long runs.

On the issue of long runs, I really need to work on my base by increasing my mileage running at a slower pace to build up my aerobic capacity. I have been using Wednesday as my speed day doing mile or ¼ mile repeats hoping to get faster for the 5K but I think it may be too soon to run those. But I think I will keep it up for another couple weeks until the next 5K then back off.

I have an old Heart Rate Monitor I got back in the later 1980’ that I have been using again. I put new batteries in the thing and its working just great. This will help me keep my pace down so I can keep in the fat burning mode while doing my slower or longer runs. I posted the video from the finish line of the Dreher Park race where you can see all the finishers crossing the finish line.