TT Running Club

“SMILEY GIRL:
Yes, that was one of my favorite, and one of my best pace, runs. Will you and the hubby-to-be ?”

“LeSubtil, the book I am reading is called "A step Beyond: A definitive guide to ultrarunning" . It doesnt offer specifics (at least as far as I have read) on training schedules but more info of nutrution,technique, hydration, that sorta stuff. I think its a collection of articles from ultrarunning mag.”

“That's a possiblity. We get home from St. Lucia three days before the race! I will probably start running again in the spring, so I would likely be trained for it (just the 5K). Perhaps I could do some final training by running on the beach!”

“Well, it had to happen. Ran 10K at goal pace yesterday and then 20 minutes on a nearby hill. I was whipped when I got home and today my legs are sore. I guess it's time to admit I am way off from where I was 1.5 years ago. I have probably chosen a way to agressive schedule but I am very sure I haven't lost a lot of aerobic fitness since in the last year I have run a few times a week, just not trained. It's all the speedwork that I think needs to be revisited. The adaptations that come from the speedwork come slowly and go away quickly. At least that's my understanding... hope I guess.”

“I hit the track last night. We did 3 sets of an 800, then a 1200, with a 400 jog in between. I went way too fast on the first 800 (2:53) - ended up with a 3:02 average for the 8's and a 4:57 average for the 12s. Only my 6th track workout in the past year, so my pacing is a little rusty.

I sent my HRM in for a new battery and their usual once-over (Polar) - should be getting it back sometime in the next week. Then I can get back into some tempo runs. Then I'll be doing my 3 key workouts a week: track, tempo, long. And 2 or 3 other easy runs. That'll whip me back into shape!”

“Jimmy san, that is a helluva workout. I'd be whooped too. As you know you'll get it back quickly (thats my hope for me too).

Bowlderman, everytime I read about your trackwork I think, dang I should do that. I just need to get beyond the think part.

I was able to run my dogs last night for the first time in a while. It was SUNNY and breezy, maybe in the low 20's. We did a quick 4 (31 m on the nose). The best part though is that my knee had the least pain its had in a loooong time. It may be the hamster wheel thats hurin me.
last edited: 1/07/06 8:03:04 AM”

“Any running clubs or teams in your area birch? I've been doing track workouts for 25 years or something like that, so it's no biggee for me to do one by myself, but if you haven't done too many it's nice to do it with a group. Actually, the reason I've been doing more lately is that my club has a Thursday night session every week. Most of the guys are way faster than me, but, heck, that's how you get better, right?”

“My buddy helps to run a tri team for Ford Motor Co, but they train on weds when I have daddy duty. But this spring I shopuld be able to start when sass graduates. Good idea!”

“Starting off the new year right!

Lafayette CO has this festival every year - the Oatmeal Festival. Quaker is a big sponsor and theres a health fair and all that sort of stuff - pretty fun actually once you stop laughing.

They also have a 5k race, which will qualify me for the Boulder Boulder 10k in May.

I turned in a 26:30 (unofficaially), which was right around my goal.”

“Great job roam! That is a superb way to start the new year.

I finished my 2nd wk of running after almost a month off and am pretty happy. I had some concerns for about 1.5 of the last wks. All but my first run had my Heart Rate really high. I was running my normal pace and felt good but something wasnt right. Today i did a mellow 9 miler and my HR was at normal again it was super easy. I dont know if I was just geting the cobwebs out earlier or fighting a bug or what. Lst nightI did get 9hrs sleep. I am sure that helped.

A wonderful new year indeed....”

“as an aside.

Question, when we wlak and run do you think our legs are pushing us forward or pulling us forward? I had never thought about this but read an article recently that I thought was really interesting.”

“race like theres no tomorrow;

train like you'll live forever.”

“I've been away from this sight for a few years. Running is the only way I get to enjoy the wilderness nowadays. I used to be an avid solo backpacker, but life changes (i.e. starting a family and work commitments) have mixed things up a bit. I kinda slipped into ultra running by pure accident. I cover in a day running what used to take me up to 5 days to complete backpacking. My favorite run so far was from Estes Park over the Continental Divide(Flattop Mtn) to Grand Lake--about 25 miles. I started before sunrise in Estes and met my family in Grand Lake for lunch. Not the ideal way to experience the wilderness, but I'll take it any way I can right now.”

“wow!”

“birch - I'll take a stab.

My guess is both, sort of. Our momentum comes from the push off from our feet in an upward direction (which is powered by our legs) and the swing/pull of our legs. Imagine running without the pulling swing of your legs, or conversely, without the push off by our legs. They all play a role. But equally important isn't our legs at all, but our fall forward by our body. This is what really gives us direction. Gravity is what we're running against. Our legs' greatest effort is fighting the fall to the earth by pushing against the ground. It's interesting to focus on that during a run. You'll never look at running the same.
last edited: 1/16/06 11:56:49 PM”

“Two things:

1 - Did anyone notice the world best in the half marathon recently? Haile Gebreselassie took about a half minute off the old record down in Phoenix. Sub 59.... I was there in Atlanta in '96 for his classic duel in the 10,000 with Paul Tergat. I guess the two of them are running the London Marathon this year - should be a barn burner!!

2 - I went out and calibrated my heart yesterday. Well, I measured my max heart rate. I found a web site that gave a workout for doing that, as well as a formula for estimating it if you didn't want to do the workout. The formula for men is 210 - age/2 - 0.05xweight + 4. For me, that came out to 184. The workout in a nutshell is to basically gradually warm up until you are running as fast as you can for a sustained 5 minutes, then go up a steep hill until you drop. Then check your HRM for the max reading. So I did that, with the "hill" a long stairway with more hill at the top. Sure enough, my max was 184! Now I have to get a good resting HR in the morning, which is tough when I LEAP out of bed when the alarm goes off. Once I have that I can set my ranges for various workouts.”

“lol, i'm gettin a kick out of the mental image i developed when i read that you calibrated your heart yesterday!”

“These are the kind of days I live for...

This morning is the BARC "Freeze your Fanny: 5k race, in Bay City, Mi. It's a run along the Saginaw River on road and bike trail.

Tonight is the "Witchy Wolf" 15 mile night run in Omer, Mi, up and down the Rifle River on woods roads.
http://www.witchywolfrun.com/

We got about 5 inches of snow here last night.
I don't expect to be competitive in either race. I've been sick and missed work Thurs afternoon and Fri, but I think I can finish and have some fun doing it.”

“Good luck Le Subtil!”

“i love race names....

Freeze Your Fanny! that's GREAT!

there was one over in Boulder back in December called the Colder Boulder - A Festival in Tights”

“Went to the track last night and did 4x1600m (1-mile). My really fast teammates did 3x2000m, so I would start with them, then they would finish their 2000s a little after I finished my interval and we would jog a rest lap together. Hard to believe I used to do these things so much faster, but that's what you get for aging.

Regina Jacobs (American record holder in the 1000 and 5000) was there. I was inclined to go up to her and call her a cheater, since she got busted for steroids or growth hormone or something a couple years ago. That was about the same time she mysteriously withdrew from the Olympics because of a "respiratory illness." Hmmmm. My buds advised against it, though, so I kept my mouth shut....
last edited: 2/24/06 10:57:13 AM”

“"2 - I went out and calibrated my heart yesterday. Well, I measured my max heart rate. I found a web site that gave a workout for doing that, as well as a formula for estimating it if you didn't want to do the workout. The formula for men is 210 - age/2 - 0.05xweight + 4. For me, that came out to 184. The workout in a nutshell is to basically gradually warm up until you are running as fast as you can for a sustained 5 minutes, then go up a steep hill until you drop. Then check your HRM for the max reading. So I did that, with the "hill" a long stairway with more hill at the top. Sure enough, my max was 184! Now I have to get a good resting HR in the morning, which is tough when I LEAP out of bed when the alarm goes off. Once I have that I can set my ranges for various workouts.”

Don't bother with that method. It's not accurate at all. You need to find your lactate threshold, not your max HR. To do it, warm up with an easy 10 min run then do a 30 min time trial where you run as hard as you can sustain for the full 30 min. If you do it right, you will be reaching deep to finish. After the first 10 min of the TT, hit the lap button on your HRM, so you can get your average HR over the last 20 min. That HR is your LT, or the HR at which you lose all aerobic efficiency.

I have an excell spreadsheet that will give you your zones based on LT, but I can't attach it, so let me know if you want it and I can e-mail it to you.”

“47 stories straight up. A different kind of race, should be pretty fun. One of the buildings downtown and teh American Lung Assoc sponsor it.

The Denver Bronco Cheerleaders are going to be there too!”

“Yeah, deathmarch, go ahead and email it to me - thanks! Actually, the method you describe is also an estimate of the LT, just as something using a percentage of max HR. As you may know, the top athletes with lots of sponsor cash to burn and armies of trainers will actually take blood samples during treadmill tests in order to find the HR that actually matches their true LT. Anything else is just an estimate, although some methods may work better than others - I'm interested in trying yours.”

“GO, ROAM, GO!! GO, ROAM, GO!!

”

“woah!”

“Yea I know it's an estimate. I was going to get clinically tested, but my coach told me that that test will estimate it close enough and a milltion times better then the max HR test or age based formulas. Usually to within 1 bpm if you do it right. The only concern is once you get to uber-elite status, the 30 min isn't long enough to pull you past LT, so you need to up the time.”

“Yea I know it's an estimate. I was going to get clinically tested, but my coach told me that that test will estimate it close enough and a milltion times better then the max HR test or age based formulas. Usually to within 1 bpm if you do it right. The only concern is once you get to uber-elite status, the 30 min isn't long enough to pull you past LT, so you need to up the time.”

“So, the stairclimb went a lot smoother than I thought it was, don't know the official time yet, but I think it was somewhere around 17 or 18 minutes. I was hoping to be under 30!

The cheerleaders were a big no show! :(”

“I'm sure your time would have been better if the cheerleaders had been there to urge you on!!”

“without a doubt - they could have put one or two each on the landings of floor 35 - 47 or something like that!

My official time was 12:16. I was surprised! The winning time was under 7 minutes I think - he must've all out run up the steps! Unbeleivable!”

“I've done both a clinical test and a very similar estimated lactate threshold test on a treadmill that Deathmarch describes. I did both this past week and they are coincidentally within 1bpm of each other. I've been doing the estimated LT test for several years now and it works a heckuva lot better than 220-age.”

“Ok, the annual 5k training has started. Don't think I've run for ~ 4 months, so I started out REAL slow today. Hope to be in shape for a trail run by mid-May.


Also, today was the first time I went to the gym in almost 3 months. I had been doing a bit of exercise at home, but I've got to get back into regular exercise! 109 days until the wedding, and my arms are much too flabby for that dress.”

“I haven't been out running in a week now. I'm fighting shin splints, so no running until the weekend. Instead I've been using my free time to get some mountain biking in and I've been pool running after my swims. I swear, if you want a GOOD running workout, do 30 min of pool running.”

“I'm in the "haven't really run in a week" category, too, but it's because I caught a cold and am still coughing a bit. It's the first cold I've had in over a year, so I guess I can't complain too much....”

“I haven't ran in over a yr. I started back slowly and now I am running 2.5 miles. Once I get to the miles I want to run I will start trying to decrease my times. So far 2.5 miles is taking me 25-27 minutes”

“Just found out a buddy of mine won the Napa Valley Marathon last weekend by around 4 minutes. His time?

2:32


Holy mazoley!”

“St. Patricks Day Running of the Green Lucky 7k was this morning in downtown Denver.

The course started in LoDo (lower downtown) and went past Coors Field and then over the interstate looping back on an out and back trip to finish back in LoDo.

It was 28 degrees and spitting snow when the starter yelled "GO". brrrr

I put together 4.3 miles on a moderately hilly course at 8:31 pace to finish at 36:35, right on my targeted goal!

I was 508 out of 1,083 men in the race. The overall winner was somewhere around 20 minutes.

Had a great time.

At about the three mile mark I was pushing myself up the last hill coming to Coors Field and my calves were all tight and my chest was heaving - it started to snow again and just looked around with a big stupid grin on my face thinking "DAMN! This is FUN!"

Everybody that slept in missed out!”

“Roam, sounds like a good race and congrats on finishing at you goal. Did they serve coors at the aid stations?”

“lol, nope - but they did give away Killians Irish Red at the finish!”

“Roam, at the Detroit Marathon at about mil 20 a family has a huge party and passes out cigarettes and beers to the runners. I had a some beer, not bad actually.

I have been able to get out with my dogs lately and the winds were so strong today that I could feel the wind pushing my back, it sure beat the 3 miles of headwinds.”

“I finished Week 1 of the Couch Potato to 5K program. Taking today off. Anxious to get back to it tomorrow!

G and I can't do the trail run 5K we really wanted to do. Well, at least he can't. He's coaching at a baseball tourney that day. We found an alternate trail run a few weeks later.


LS - if you're reading this, I kinda doubt I'll be running the Volkslauf this year. We get back from the honeymoon the day before the race. I'm thinking I'll be sunburned and too tired to run! But, we will be in town!”

“Keep after it smiley girl!”

“Roam, you wanna do a 10K in May with me?”

“Roam,
You going to run boulderBoulder? I'm contemplating running it but not sure if I want to drive all that way just for a 10k race.”

“Em - Yeah, probably - I'm going to do the CO Rockies Home Run 5k - its a lot of fun and they have a kids event that Sarah will do too, plus you get free tickets to a ball game as part of the entry fee, and I did it last year so its kind of a tradition.

I've was thinkin of doing the Bolder Boulder 10k just because its there. Its supposed to be the largest non-marathon race in the country.

What 10k are you thinking of?
last edited: 3/13/06 11:46:38 PM”

“Good work on the 7k, roam!!

For a long time, the Bay to Breakers in San Francisco has been the biggest race, period, with about 100,000. But maybe Bolder Boulder has surpassed it now? Hmmm. Kinda sounds like a race I should be doing.

Our paper this morning has an article about a memorial service for a woman who was killed by a hit and run driver a couple weeks ago - they just took her off life support the other day. A couple of lessons for all of us.

1 - If you must run in the dark, run facing traffic so you can dive out of the way if someone careens toward you. Bring a flashlight or wear a headlamp, too.

2 - Carry ID. They didn't know who she was for a couple of days. They finally figured out who she was by tracking the registration on her Ipod. A friend of mine just gave me some info on an ID wristband that I am going to order today.

3 - Be aware that if you're listening to an Ipod or whatever, you can't hear a car coming toward you.

A real shame - from the newspaper article, she seemed like a real interesting person....”

“filter and I are doing the Bix 7 (mile) race this year. Thats near the end of July in the Quad Cities. Afterwards is a big blues/jazz fest.”

“Thats really sad Bowlderman.

Every race bib I get has a coupon attached for "Road ID" its either a wrist band or a tag that attaches to your shoe lace.

http://www.roadid.com/

I keep saying I should get one - now I'm more convinced.”

“Forgive me TT, for I have not run. Its been 4 days since my last run. I did attempt a run today, and was farily successful, but I know I need to do pennance and work up my stamina. Will I ever be worthy of a 5K race?”