Workout: Tempo Run +

Sunday, 7/28: 10k (6.2 miles) in 46:56 or 7:33/mi

I didn't run the half marathon in town today, so I was feeling a little guilty. I decided to run my measured 10k route to see how I could do. I went a little faster than tempo pace, especially in the last mile, but not quite race pace. I felt smoother and stronger than I have in a while on the run. Quite pleased.

The Fall air brings back such strong memories of cross country season, even 20 years later.

Bonus feel-good fact...my 3 mile split was 31:36 or 7:52/mi, which means I ran a negative split. I had this in mind, going out a little easy but deliberately not going into the red early. Nice to execute a game plan, even when there's no game.

Workout: Bike

Saturday 9/27: 18.8 miles (hilly loop) in 1:00:03, AVS 18.8 mph tempo

Good, steady pace today, but I never dug too deep. It was a bit more than recovery speed, so we can just call it a tempo ride. Felt strong coming in. The days are getting shorter, so I was enjoying the weather while it lasts.

Workout: Bike Intervals

Saturday 9/20: 18.8 miles (hilly loop) AVS 18.2 mph Intervals

Spin 5 minutes warmup, high cadence
2X (5 x 2 min WI, 2 min RI) with 5 min high cadence spin RI in between
Spin 10 minutes cooldown

...and another two minutes to get all the way home!

Whew. First time I've done an actual structured workout in quite some time. It would be nice to get some fitness back. And days like this are the way to do it. Have to do these more than once a week, though...

Workout: Run in Del Mar, CA

Friday, 9/12: about 6 miles in 55:10 with lots of climbing

I am in California for a conference at UCSD, staying just North of there in the lovely little town of Del Mar. I couldn't help but notice as I rode the shuttle on the way in that my hotel sits just a mile or so away from Torrey Pines State Reserve, a place with breathtakingly beautiful ocean views like this one:


Thanks to Flickr user informedmindstravel for that lovely shot.

The profile of the run was pretty brutal. Picture the letter "U." Big downhill, short valley (across the beach entrance of Torrey Pines) and then up a long, long climb to the top of the hill and the entrance to the famous Torrey Pines Golf Course, home of this year's U.S. Open. I made it to the top, thinking that if Tiger could play 90 holes with a broken leg and beat a world-class field, I could certainly struggle through this run.

On the way up, I was on the bike path that runs along the 5. This made the hill longer, with the pitch more gradual. Well over a mile of climbing. The way down was a bit better, as I found a bike path that went through the Reserve itself and afforded the kind of spectacular views you saw in the photo above. That road was steeper, but shorter too.

I saw lots and lots of cyclists on the way. I envied them their mechanical advantage today.

In truth, this was the sort of workout I probably should have been doing more of to train for the marathon. Why? Lactate threshold. Basically I ran for 45 minutes at a decent pace and with enough climbing that I was fatigued. Then, to finish, I ran another mile uphill to get back to the hotel. I stopped beforehand, let my heart rate come down, reset my watch, and then pushed the pace all the way home. Did the last leg in just under 10 minutes which doesn't sound like a fast pace for a mile, but you should see this mile!

I guess I took some time off the blog

Yep, it's been a while since I last posted. I've actually done some riding since I last wrote anything down, but the beginning of the school year and two trips in September have waylaid me. I've not spared much time for anything but work. The workouts I've managed to sneak in were much needed trips out of my head.

Not that I've been burning up the road or anything...but there are four rides I should mention before I forget about the all together.

Saturday August 31
30 miles or so with Randy
Hilly route in my hometown of Springfield, OH. AVS somewhere around 18.

Randy is only just a little out of tip-top form...having recently won his division at the Spirit of Racine Half-Ironman (see results for Male XL2 up to 39). He rocked the 56 mile bike split in 2:23:20. That's an AVS of 23.4 mph, boys and girls. Then he followed that up with a half-marathon in 1:53:32. Compare that to the first half of my marathon in the Spring, which was only about 6 minutes quicker...and, oh yeah, I didn't swim 1.2 miles and bike 56 beforehand.

All this is of course a preface for this: I took a beating. I was out of shape, and it showed. But it did feel good to get the work in. So good in fact...

Sunday, September 1st
25 miles or so with Randy, again
Bike path North of Springfield to Urbana and back

Yep, I went out for more punishment the next day. Didn't eat enough, didn't bring enough water, and fell apart at the end climbing the one big hill on the way home. In my defense, Randy was on his TT bike for this ride, so it was not only a mismatch of fitness and ability, but also of equipment. That made me feel only slightly better.

I snuck in one more ride the following week, my 18.8 mile loop. I did it at 19.3 AVS, snapping back a bit from the hard efforts of the previous weekend.

All was quiet for a while, then last weekend, Saturday, 9/6 I managed to go out for a 21 miler with Patty, the new occupant of the studio next door. We took the Southern route and stayed on fairly flat roads, staying around 17 mph AVS and soaking up the late summer weather. Nice ride all in all.