Half Marathon Training Week 4 (Long and Cold)

I completed my long run yesterday. Although I wouldn't call it a long run as it was the same distance (6 miles) as my tempo run this week. It felt great.

I have come down with a cold. I felt very sluggish after my run last night and I woke up this morning with what I figured was bad allergies. But it persisted through the day so I left work early and came home to take it easy and get some sleep. We'll see how I feel tomorrow. I'm supposed to do a speed workout tomorrow.

Half Marathon Training Week 4 (Griffith Park tempo)

Ran into a couple of these guys last night. I did my 6 mile tempo run around Griffith Park right after work. It started to get dark about half way through. I went down what I thguoht would be a safer path that runs parallel to the main road (where the cars travel) and saw a black blur run across the path. I went towards it a few feet then saw this beautiful dark colored big coyote stick his head out. I stopped and stood still for a few seconds and he started to emerge from the bush. He looked at me and I slowly started to walk backwards. I know they are generally not too dangerous but I didn't really feel like finding out for myself. I started to job in the opposite direction and he was slowly following me. When I stopped he would stop and it went on like that for a few hundred meters. IT was really cool but a little scary. So I ducked through this ravine and back onto the main road. I ended up at my turn around point in the Zoo parking lot. At this point it was completely dark and i was thankful for the street lights that lined the lot. As i was turning around I saw another smaller coyote run across the lot. It darted back and forth and started to look at me and I just kept running and picked up the pace a little. Overall the run was very exciting and a little harrowing at times. The wildlife and cars made for some close calls. I finished the run back at my car in 48 minutes.

Thursday: Tempo Run
6 miles 48 minutes (8 mi/miles avg.)

Half Marathon Training Week 4

Unfortunately a large portion of SoCal was and/or is on fire this week. This led to some very bad air quality and thus I decided to skip the speedwork last night. The air seems a little better tonight so I will see if I can get to the track.

Tonight (hopefully): Speedwork
6x400's

Tomorrow: Tempo Run
6 miles
I feel like I have a lot of nervous energy not working out at all since Saturday. I'm looking forward to tonight.
these are some pictures I received from a friend who works at Pepperdine University. These are all taken on campus, I believe.

Half Marathon Training Week 3 (tempo and long run)

Thursday was a tough day. I felt run down the whole day. Riding to work wasn't bad in the morning but I felt sluggish. Riding home was very tough. I had no power in my legs and I struggled to maintain 15-17 mph on straights. Oh well. Time to go home and do a 5 mile tempo run.
Since it was dark when I got home I decided to run the short distance to the track and do the rest of run on the track. I'd never run that long a distance on a track before. It was very boring. I had my ipod fortunately, but it really dragged on. I completed the run in 40 minutes.
Thursday: Tempo Run
5 miles - 40 minutes

Saturday morning I set out for a 10 mile long run. It went very smoothly and I felt solid. Mile 7 and 8 was a rough mentally just because I got a bit bored and my running partner was struggling a bit and our conversation started to lull. So I decided to really pick up the pace for the last 2 miles. I brought it home almost exactly on time at a 8:59 min/mile pace.

Saturday: Long Run
10 miles - 1h 30 minutes

Half Marathon Training Week 3

Tuesday: Speed work
1600x3. I did these at around 7:30 mi/mile pace. It felt great. I held back until the last repeat and felt strong enough to push it to about 7:00-7:15. I know it's not that fast but I feel stronger and can feel my turnover improving. Last night at the track there were 3 women running repeats super fast. I was watching their cadence and sure enough they were all around 90rpm. I tried to emulate it, but I couldn't keep it up when I would start to get tired. I'm going to focus on my turnover during my tempo run tonight.

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In other news, I got a new messenger bag. it's a Timbuk2 medium classic bag. It's so awesome, I can't get over how much more comfortable riding to work was this morning.
This is a wonderful website:
http://www.followyourfolly.com

Half Marathon Training Week 2

My recent training runs have been great. I've tried to be very consistent. So far I haven't missed any workouts. I switched my long run from Saturday to Sunday but that's the only deviation. Here's the breakdown

Tuesday: Speed work at the SMC track.
4x800's. These was pretty tough. I tend to go out too fast and did just that. I was able to complete the 800's but that last one was pretty rough. Overall, I felt good.

Thursday: I ran first thing in the morning since I was going to Disneyland after. I think I should have eaten something because a few miles into the run I felt lightheaded and close to throwing up. I stopped at a light for a minute and then felt better. I slowed down a little bit during the 3rd mile but I was able to make my time by a little surge at the end.
4 miles: 33 minutes.

Sunday: Long Run
From 7th and San Vicente through Brentwood up to Sunset and then back around. I forgot part of my ipod connector thing so I couldn't keep track of pace and distance. I knew roughly where I wanted to go, but I ended up doing 7.6 miles instead of the full 8. I finished in 1:13 which is slower than I expected. I should have pushed it more at the beginning. Since I didn't have my ipod Nike+ in effect I was more conservative.
7.6 miles: 1:13
I feel pretty good this morning. Overall, it was a good week of running.

half marathon training Week 1

So I started my first week of run-focused training for the LA Half on December 2.
I am doing three runs a week. So far I feel pretty good. Here's what I've done so far.

Last week:
Speed work @ the SMC track
4x400 meter @ 1:50. I pretty much stuck to that. It was tough to keep a consistent pace since I'm not used to running that fast. That pace is equivalent to a 7:20/mile pace. I usually run 8 min/miles when I'm really feeling fast, so this is definitely pushing it. I pushed through it and felt good throughout the runs. I did a lap at that pace then jogged slowly for 2 minutes, then did another lap at the 1:50 pace. I repeated this 4 times, then jogged home.

Tempo Run
3 mile tempo run @ 8:15 pace. Well that's what it was supposed to be. I went out a little faster for 24:40 for the 3 miles. Pretty close.

Long Run
I ran on San Vicente from Ocean to Bundy. I paced it pretty well and started off slow. I'm supposed to run a 9 minute pace. I did it a little faster mainly because I felt really good at the end so I practiced some surges. It felt really good. I did 6.2 miles in 55 minutes that's 8:52/mile pace.

I'm looking into getting a indoor bike trainer. I've been trying to find one on craig's list for cheap, but haven't had much luck yet.
I've also been looking into building up my Cannondale frame. Right now, i'm leaning towards the SRAM Force groupo. It just seems like a good value. My main concern is I have heard the finish on the carbon parts wears down quickly and starts to look crappy. But if the parts work, i won't sweat it.