10 miles at 6:58 avg pace

A nice mix of running today, starting with 4 miles at the track, 7 fast laps interspersed with 9 slow ones. Then a 6 mile run at the park with the running group, for a total of 10 miles at 6:58 avg pace:

Garmin connect

It was good to finally get some speed work in, I've been putting it off for several weeks now, and at this point, it's the only way I'm going to get faster.

I was supposed to go to North Carolina and see family and run the Raleigh Rocks half marathon this past weekend but fate intervened. Or perhaps more accurately, my supervisor denied my request for time off for some inexplicable reason, and I decided that now would not be a great time for me to risk my job for a race and a family visit. It was a disappointment, but another race will come along shortly, and I am maintaining my training regimen and feel confident in my ability to hit new PRs and maintain top form.

I feel strong and fast these days. My diet is not as good as it could be but my training is as consistent and close to the "edge" as I have ever been. I've also maintained my 2 to 3 trips to the gym per week to focus on leg lifts and core, and have felt results there. Also my recent decision to avoid upper body exercise seems to be paying off with less top side bulk and a smoother running form.

So despite some setbacks, my running life is going well.

10k at 41:44

Another 10k PR - if I ever get on a flat course I think I'll be able to make a real run at breaking 40. More track work would probably help. It was a moderately windy but very pretty day at about 65 degrees on this run with the Village Runner folks.

On Saturday I'll be running a 5k with the Las Vegas Track Club. Since it will be a hilly course I'm not aiming for a PR, more the 19 to 20 minute zone.

My body is used to longer distances now and it's very difficult for me to get warmed up and up to speed quickly enough to nail a fast pace in a 5k.

I don't even feel on target until about the 30 minute mark these days. Looking at my splits from today, I started at 7:01 and gradually dropped it to 6:26 by the final mile:

Workout Mile Splits

So I definitely take some time to hit my stride.

I suppose a good warm up before the race Sat will help, with some sprints and a lot of stretching, which I never do. Also some coffee to jumpstart the motor.

15 miles at 7:17 pace

Long run yesterday. It would have been 7 min/mile pace but I couldn't find the Auto Pause feature hidden in the many little sub menus of the Garmin interface, and I had to stop at several street lights.

15 miles in Vegas

A beautiful day about 65 degrees, I went from park to city streets to the track where I ended up not doing much of a speed workout since I was so tired from the unexpectedly long run.

10k at 43:17

Monday run with the group in Henderson. I finally figured out how to set laps on the Garmin with 1 mile increments - a very cool thing. Definitely going to leave that on for every run. So after the first mile warm up I was happy with how I settled into a 10 second range of about 6:55 to 7:05:

Mile splits

Then afterwards I hit the gym on the way home for a quick session - about 20 minutes of quad lifts, calf lifts and 300 or so situps. Legs and core - my new cross training mantra. Leaving the arms and chest alone - I've never seen a Kenyan with big arms. Just sayin':


Tonight I'll do 400's for real - I'll have to set the Garmin for interval training for this, wondering how that will work.

A 10k in 42:27

10k in 4227

6:50 per mile avg pace, very windy out there this weekend.

Something tells me I will crack the 40 minute barrier when given an appropriately fast and flat opportunity. Not a lot of 10k's near me so not sure when that will be.

Still loving the Garmin.

My next big workout will be on the track. Hello 400s. Hello pain. Hello speed.

Gadget Lust

First run today with my Garmin. I think I'm in techie geek lust/love. 10 miles at a 6:54 min/mile pace, a little better than my target of 7. My best pace was 5:25 for a short downhill stretch. There's a great graph of it all on Garmin Connect, and a Google map showing exactly where I went:

Garmin Connect

This is a cool training tool.

Track Time

I did my first track workout yesterday after the usual easy Monday 10k training run with the group. 4x400 laps at the track at 88, 82, 89 and 87 seconds. My goal is to do them all consistently at 90 - which would be 6 min/mile pace - and eventually be able to do 12 in a row. The way I run these is one hard lap then one easy, repeat. So my goal workout by say midsummer would be 24 laps, 6 miles, with every other lap at 6 min pace.

I dont feel the need to go faster than 6 min pace because anything faster will probably not help me as a distance runner. I am not a Kenyan!

Asides from that, just emphasizing the legs and core with some quad presses, calf lifts and situps at the gym. No arm lifting, no barbells, no bench. Focus.