Back in the Saddle

It's been too long - this always seems to happen, I get all excited about blogging and for a few weeks I post and post and post...and then real-life gets in the way and I disappear for awhile. In my defense, I took about a 3 week break from running so there wasn't much running-related material to talk about. Over the break Leslie and I found out that we won spots into the New York City Half Marathon which was pretty exciting once I got over the sticker shock ($128pp...yikes). Anyway, the best part of this whole thing is that our friends Stephen and Emily from NJ also won spots in the race so all four of us are running the race together. Personally I'm probably more excited just to hang out with them for a weekend than I am to run in the actual race (though that is also exciting).

Once we found out, I immediately set about formulating a training plan to prepare for the race. If you've read this blog before, you know that I've been reading Jack Daniels' book (Daniels' Running Formula) and throughout the book he gives training templates for races of various distances. I was hoping to find a half-marathon training template, but alas, I had to settle for a marathon program - which I then modified to suit my needs. The basic premise of Daniels' training formula is that two days out of every week are devoted to what he calls "Quality" (Q) workouts. For longer distances one of the Q days is devoted to a long run, usually done on either a Saturday or a Sunday, and the other Q day is typically devoted to a speed workout. The rest of the days in the training schedule are devoted to easy-to-moderate running with an emphasis on getting miles in and letting your body recover from the Q days.

I decided to start the program pretty conservatively with a couple of weeks of fairly low mileage since I was coming off of a 3-week break. I didn't want to jump in and immediately start tallying 30-40 miles a week so as to avoid injury, while at the same time getting my body used to running on a regular basis again. So far I've really enjoyed the structure of it. I've noticed that I really anticipate the Q workouts because for the rest of the time, it feels like I'm really holding back...the quality workouts are really my only chance each week to "let it fly." I really like knowing exactly what I am going to be doing each day because it takes a lot of the guesswork out of training and really focuses me on what it is I'm trying to accomplish.

My goal for the NY Half is 1:30:00. Not to toot my own horn, but I feel like it's an ambitious goal because a) I've never raced (let along run) that distance before and b) to run sub-7:00/mile for 13.1 miles would be equal to the pace of my fastest 10K to date. That being said, I am confident that if I stick to this training program and keep my end goal in mind throughout - I will be able to do it.

Leslie chose a different training program which I also find interesting; she is using Hal Higdon's Intermediate Half Marathon training program which is very similar to the Daniels' formula. My brother is currently training for another marathon and he's using The Hansons' method which emphasizes the consistency of your training (i.e. maintaining high weekly mileage totals throughout the course of the program). I'm struck by how many different ideas are out there on how to train for longer distance races. I don't tend to think that any one program is better than another, but from person to person one may work better than another.

Long-term my goal is to run in the Chicago Marathon this coming fall. With that in mind I tailored my training program for slightly higher weekly-mileage totals than is probably normal for half marathon training. The idea behind the higher mileage is that I over the course of the next 10 weeks or so I will get my body used to running 35-40 miles per week which is pretty much the starting point for marathon training. I'm very pleased with how this year has started in terms of running and I'm excited to see how my body responds to this program.

I would love to hear about other people's programs and goals. If you're a veteran of longer races, how did you figure out which program was best for you? Did you seek out a program or develop one on your own based on experience?

The Off-Season & an Announcement

I was walking the dog yesterday morning and I was surrounded by flakes of snow gently falling around me. I was thinking, "well, this is probably it." I had made plans to run a 5K with my brother over the holiday weekend, but it didn't work out and with temperatures now routinely topping out in the low-40s or below, I don't see myself running any more races within the next couple of months. The off-season has officially begun.

It was a good inaugural season of running. Four 5Ks and a 10K to get things kicked off - I ran a faster time in each of the 5Ks I did and I set the bar a reasonable level with my first 10K. Best of all, I learned to be able to train efficiently and intelligently and laid down a nice miles base to use as a spring board for next year. As of today I passed 80 miles for the month of November marking the 6th consecutive 80+ mile month and 7th 80+ mile month this year. There could have been others, but I wasn't really consistent in my documentation of miles until about June. My high for miles in a month was 116 in October - though that was quickly followed by a back injury that put me on the sidelines for a week. In total I've run about 650 miles, biked about 50 miles and swam about 20 miles over the last 8 months and I'm pretty proud of that. For a guy who was used to doing pretty much whatever I wanted for workouts, I'm proud of the discipline, I'm proud of the focus and I'm proud of the perseverance it took to get to this this point...and I plan on carrying this over into next year.

For me the off-season will probably start in a few days. I plan on taking a good 2-3 weeks off of running, which will be hard, but necessary. During those weeks I will still be active in the gym, but I will be focusing on strengthening my core and legs. In addition to that, I will be planning out my running year for 2012...which will include...big announcement here, my first marathon. I got the itch while watching the 2011 Chicago Marathon and now I've decided I want to do one. My brother (Tony K.) sent me a nice note yesterday and said that if I wanted to do CM12, he would do it with me. My wife (Leslie K.) has been encouraging me to do it too and now I'm making it official -- barring something unforeseen, I will be running a marathon in 2012 (likely the Chicago Marathon). Anyway, my plan is to get really detailed with regard to my running schedule. I plan on using one (or a few) of Jack Daniels' training plans in putting together a day-by-day training schedule. In my ideal world, I'd like to run a handful of 5Ks, a couple of 10Ks, a couple of half-marathons and a marathon next year, topping out at about 10-12 races for the year.

So I'm excited, I'm excited about what next year holds, I'm excited to share it with other runners I know and I'm excited to set goals and achieve them. It's been a great year and I think next year will be even better.

Long Runs

Saturday was such a beautiful day here in the Chicagoland area. Mid-60s, sunny, a little breeze - it was perfect for a long run. I had been toying with the idea of a 10+ miler, but since I was already at 20 miles for the week, I decided on a shorter 9 mile run so as not to increase my weekly mileage too much over the prior week. At any rate, this was definitely my longest run of the year and as far as I can remember, it was close to tying my all-time longest run - the memory is fuzzy though so this very well may have been my longest ever. I don't typically go for "long" runs. As I've written about here before, most of my running is done over my lunch break so I typically only have 45 minutes to an hour to get it in. On weekends I will go a little longer, but even then my limit tends to be 6-8 miles. That said, I've recently gotten the "itch" to start racing longer distances and so I figure longer runs are going to be par for the course in future training. With that in mind, I set out for my 9-mile run.

I intentionally set out at a slow pace knowing that my total time was going to be north of an hour and surprisingly enough, the first half of the run went by pretty quickly. Along the path I run on there are water fountains every mile or so and I was able to take advantage of that with a few quick water stops and by mile 4.5 I was still feeling fresh. I was grateful for all the scenery, the beautiful leaves, and all the people out on the trail (tons of runners, bikers, walkers). On the way back, I noticed that I was in a really nice rhythm; I didn't feel like I was working all that hard and my pace had a nice flow to it. Around mile 7, I finally caught up with my wife, which was something I had been eagerly anticipating. She had set out for her own run after I left and I caught up to her at about the halfway point of her run. It was a nice boost of energy to see her and we chatted for a few seconds before I set off to finish my run.

During the final half mile of my run I had to stop a couple of times at intersections and I noticed that the action of 'stopping' actually bothered my knees quite a bit. I didn't feel much pain, if any, while running, but decelerating caused some aching in my knees. I could definitely tell that I was getting tired but again, the rhythm to my pace felt great and I wasn't slogging to the end, which was encouraging. I completed 9 miles in 1:07:37, 33:51 out and 33:46 back in - 7:29 pace overall.

This run was very encouraging to me in a number of ways. 1) I was able to keep a steady pace the whole way, 2) I didn't feel as if 9 miles was by any means a limit, I could have kept going if I had to, 3) I didn't feel wrecked the next day, had I not already run 4 days in a row, I probably would have gone for a run yesterday, and 4) really feeling encouraged that a 7:29 pace felt 'moderate'. If the weather cooperates next weekend I may go for 10 which will definitely be the farthest I've run all at once.

Big congratulations to a couple of runners I know - first one goes out to Jeff P. who set a 28-second PR in the Frank Lloyd Wright 10K (34:19, #1 in the 25-29 AG) this past weekend in Chicago. Also, congratulations to my friend Stephen R. for his 10K this past weekend (39:54) at the NYC Rock 'n Roll 10K - he absolutely demolished his former 10K PR, beating it by over 2 minutes.