Weekly Stats

Weekly summary:-


Weekly Summary

Zone	Planned Time (min)	Actual Time (min)
Z0	195	177
Z1	245	227
Z2	20	50
Z3
Z4
Z5	5x2 min	4x2 min
Total Time	470 (7 hrs 50 min)	462 (7 hrs 42 min.)
	Planned	Actual
ST&C Workouts	2	2
Yoga Class	1	1
Yoga Conditioning For Athletes DVD	3	3

Comments:
1. Sunday 15 min of Z0 ended up as low Z1
2. Saturday 30 min of high zone 1 ended up as low zone 2
3. Did Yoga Wed/Friday/Saturday with the DVD

And thus begins my rest week.

Got rained on again this morning. Two Sundays in a row now. At this temperature at least it’s not too bad. Running in the rain in November is another story.

Ran this morning with a slower group at the Running Room. The two ladies that I did run with today were not to keen today to stick to the target pace. Fortunately most of it was still in my target range. Just the odd little bit here and there and around the hills that was not really at the right intensity. It’s still nice to run with other people when the opportunity presents itself. I ran with them for the first 12 k then continued on my own for another 30 minutes to get to my 100 minute target.

Did yoga again last night after yesterdays run and strength and conditioning workout. It helped again a lot but I was tighter that I wanted it to be this morning. The last few days I’ve been fighting with my hip flexor to keep it loose. On Friday, I woke up with it feeling uncomfortable tight. By Saturday morning it had a loosened up somewhat after stretching it out and more yoga on Friday after work. Today was better but I will still need to keep working it out. Fortunately I’ve got my yoga class today at 3:00. The class always helps.

Not quite sure what brought on the stiff hip flexor. Friday morning when I woke it was tight. Thursday night was also one of our first very cool nights for sleeping. Maybe it got a bit too cooled. Fortunately I don’t feel it during the run.

Yesterday’s workout was very focused but good. I was way faster than I wanted to be for the high Zone 1 sections. This range has been a little more challenging to zero in on. Every time I looked at the watch I was close or under. I was not expecting it to be this far over the target. What probably complicated it was that I was also trying not to look at my Garmin every three seconds. I’m trying to get a feel for the pace so that I’m not as reliant on the watch. Obviously need to keep practicing this pace.

Carbs were good this morning. Had a nice plate of pasta after my workouts yesterday. Saturday is pasta night for this camper. This combined with always carrying my Perpetuum (from Hammer) during the runs has helped a lot. I don’t feel like I’m bonking on the longer runs or on these back to back tougher days.

There is one big question to figure out. How am I going to carry everything I need nutritionally for the full marathon? As it is now I’m using everything I’ve got.

Weight was up yesterday morning (196.6 lbs) as we ate out Friday night. This morning it was back to 195.2. It always seams to take a day or so to clear out the food out of my system. A simple rule for me is if I eat out in the evening my weight will be up in the morning but back to a normal range by the day after.

Better wrap this up and go and get ready for yoga.

[Post yoga class comment]

I feel so much better after that class. It was warm in the class which probably also helped. This was our last class for the summer. We found out today as well that there will be a fall “Yoga for Runners Class”. It’ll be on Thursday nights @

Santosha Yoga in Westboro but that’s still a good time for me.

Here are my stats from the last two days:-

Saturday

Set	Planned Zone	Planned Time (min)	Time	Distance (km)	Avg Pace (min/km)	Avg Speed (km/h)	Avg HR	Max HR
1	Z0	20	20:09	3.71	05:26	11.0	135	147
2	High Z1	20	20:02	4.10	04:53	12.3	151	160
3	Low Z2	20	19:49	4.22	04:41	12.8	154	168
4	High Z1	10	13:56	2.91	04:46	12.5	159	165
5	Z0	20	~20*		~6:00	~10.0
	Cool-down Z0		15**

* forget to restart watch after water fountain
** 15 minutes on the treadmill to cool-down before heading home to do yoga

Sunday

Set	Planned Zone	Planned Time (min)	Time	Distance (km)	Avg Pace (min/km)	Avg Speed (km/h)	Avg HR	Max HR
1	Z0	100	1:10*	12.0**	05:34	10.8
2			0:30		05:50

* Run with the group
** Includes time for lights today

Spicy Food on Rest Day

Note to file: Don't have spicy Indian food the days before a race.

At work today we went out for lunch to a small Indian buffet. Although it was good, it’s very, very clear that I don’t tolerate spicy food especially well. The beads of sweat on my forehead should have been my first clue. Enough said …

After work I’ll do another yoga session with the “Yoga for Athletes DVD”. This will get my stretch in for the day and general start the weekend off on a good foot. My lower back has been a bit tight today. A lot of sitting at work today. Even though I try and get up and move once in a while it’s still not quite enough. Maybe I should just get down and do some stretches. Sounds simply enough doesn’t it.

I’ll keep it short today. Looking forward to the weekend.

Morning Weight was 203.4 :-)

Another Zone 1 run in the books

Tonight was 75 minutes in my new zone 1 again. Again, worked hard to keep it going at the right pace. Kept focused on cadence and keeping my arms moving. As long as I pay attention to those two factors I know I’m okay.

Tonight I felt that I had much better feel for the pace. This was encouraging. I was noticing for example when my pace was picking up too much.

Its funny as I was really psych’d up for this tonight. I thinking knowing that this was a tough week I’ve been very focused on each run this week. I really didn’t want too miss any of my targets this week. Even my sleep has been good all week.

Ran to Dows Lake and along the canal to 5^th avenue and back. This is a nice route as it’s a mix of canal, city streets and one good hill on Young street. The hill happens at nice point in the run and hence offers a nice challenge.

Morning weight: 195.2 (Diner out last night weight slightly up)
Tomorrow: rest day plus stretching

Set	Time	Distance (km)	Avg Pace (min/km)	Avg Speed (km/h)	Avg HR	Max HR	Total Calories (kcal)
1	1:17:07	15.33	5:01	11.9	148	167	2314
2

Life after Zone 5

Yes there is life after zone 5.

Tonight I finished my first zone workout. The minimum goal was 3 sets of 2 min in zone 5; the max was 5 sets of 2min in zone 5; I did 4 sets. I new I could stay strong for the 4th so I went for that one. I wasn’t sure I could keep the full out effort for the entire 5th so I kept it at 4 sets.

Here are my results:-

Set	Time	Distance (m)	Avg Pace (min/km)	Avg Speed (km/h)	Avg HR	Max HR
1	2:02	580	3:30	17.1	150	170
2	2:06	581	3:36	16.6	156	174
3	2:01	556	3:37	16.5	157	174
4	2:02	558	3:39	16.4	152	173

My thoughts on the workout and the resulting data
1. The heart rate data is very misleading as I really don’t think I could have gone that much faster this first night. My Heart Rate didn’t even get over 180. I’d even venture to say that the heart rate monitor wasn’t picking up the heart rate correctly tonight.
2. The speed was consistent which was good. The only question is can I keep up the next sets at closer to the 17.1?
3. Next week I’ll definitely go for the 5th set. The data seams to indicate that it would have been possible based on how fast the heart rate was recovering after each set. I was quite concerned about making sure that I kept the speed at the right speed for zone 5.
4. This was a very hard workout. Tonight my mind was a little too focused on getting all the speeds right. Next time I should be a lot freer to focus just on the workout itself.
5. Overall, I’m happy with the first results and look forward (yes its insane to be even saying that for this type of workout) to see what will come out of the next zone 5 workout. There was a lot of feeling my way as I go tonight.

It usually takes me more than one of a type of workout to really nail it but tonight was a definately a fantastic first night.

Getting used to the new speeds on the treadmill

Tuesday nights I’m at peak doing my strength and conditioning workout. I usually run on the treadmill there to warm-up and cool-down. Last night was the first night running the new speeds on the treadmill.

So what was the conclusion? Maybe I’ll be okay. It always seams harder to run on the treadmill at a given speed. I was breathing okay but definitely working up a good sweat. To keep running at this speed, I find that I need to be much more focused on form and keeping my arms moving (legs will follow arms). It took a bit but I was able to finally relax and just keep moving.

I feel like at the moment I’m still burning a lot of carbs at this new speed. I’m sure it will take a month or two for the body to adapt. In the mean time there will be lots of sweaty (warning: don’t picture this) running clothes for the laundry.

My weight seams to have settled down this week in the 194-5 range. Getting closer to my 190 goal each week. In a perfect world, I’d like to hit that goal in early to mid-September. That will be really nice to get that first goal out of the way.

Tonight is my first zone 5 workout (5x 2min @ zone 5). The first night of any workout is always the hardest. I find it takes a workout or two to even get going at the right speeds right off the bat. We’ll see how tonight goes. I did yoga and ice bath last night before going to bed to make sure that I’m not stiff at the start of the run tonight. It really helped for Sunday morning so I’m hoping it will really help here again.

Yoga and Ice baths: My new Gods

Tried an ice bath for the first time this weekend. It helped quite a bit surprisingly. Getting in was fun (not) but it doesn’t stay frigid for long.

I also did an extra yoga session after Saturday’s 90 minutes in my new Z1. I was amazed how loose my hip flexors were on Sunday morning. I bought a yoga DVD last weekend called Yoga Conditioning for Athletes with Rodney Yee (sp?). It wasn’t overly aggressive and really gave me an overall good stretch.

After last weekend's fuel issues between Saturday and Sunday I made sure I got lots of good carbs on Saturday night after my workout. I don’t always feel like eating after my workout for a few hours but I really need to between these two longer workouts/runs.

Today I’m feeling like I need more stretching. I think I’ll try and work in more stretching and/or another yoga session. Today is an easy run (my old Z1) so shouldn’t be too taxing.

I’ll keep this short to make sure I get posting more often again.

Lactate Threshold Test Day

As part of my program at the Peak Centre they do a periodic Lactic Threshold Test. You always want to know where you’re at but then I’m also glad it’s over. I find running at increasingly faster speeds on the treadmill tougher than running an actual race. Where do you look while you’re running? Who’s making all that noise as they run? Surely not me? It was interesting as I found today that I was a really loud foot striker. My feat just seemed to hit the treadmill hard. I certainly didn’t appear smooth today. It makes me appreciate when I see people who have beautiful running form.

Even the cool down run after is a bit tough. The cool down run is mostly to start flushing the lactate acid and other by products out of the muscles. Went for 45 minutes after along the Ottawa river. The air was really refreshing tonight. That was a nice bonus.

I should get my results sometime between now and Saturday. Looking at the previous results I’m pretty sure things have improved from what I recollect of my heart rate at various speeds.

Morning weight:- 198 lbs
Warm up:- 15 minutes easy
Lactate Acid Test: 20 minutes
Cool down:- 45 minutes easy

Had a slightly large lunch today (lasagne and salad). While the carbs were about the right amount, it did not digest very quickly. On the way over to Peak I was still feeling somewhat gassy. Things settled down after I start the warm-up fortunately but this was definitely borderline too much food for the day of a test. I always know that I’m ready for a race or a test if my stomach is somewhat anxious. The rest of m e is always fine but the stomach is my barometer.

Back from holidays and getting back to a regular routine

Although it’s been a week since we’ve been back from our holidays, somehow I haven’t gotten back to posting to the blog. Holidays were nice but lots of miles (in the car). We went east this year to Canada’s east coast to visit my wife’s family in New Brunswick and friends in Prince Edward Island. After getting back from there I had weekend in Lake Placid NY for the Ironman USA event (watching and volunteering not running officially at least). To finish it off we spent a few days with mother east of Toronto in Cobourg.

It took all of last week to get my sleep back on track. The really hot weather didn’t help. Fortunately the weather has moderate somewhat at least as far as the humidity is concerned. Last week however, the temperature peaked in the high 30s on the Celsius scale with extremely high humidity. Made it difficult to do anything outside.

It’s nice to be back and have to admit that I actually missed my time blogging. Maybe there’s more to this blogging thing than I originally thought.