36 Mile Run:

Here is the my Garmin readout of my 36 mile run this past weekend.

Another runner who is running the Zumbro 100 with me help to organize a great supported run. It was awesome to not only have someone o run with for a change but to have a fully supported run the entire way. Two of our friends and fellow runners followed us in there car and stopped every four miles so that we could refill our water bottles and grab some snacks to eat. Many thanks to Dan and Leslie for all of your support and help.

I felt pretty good throughout the entire run and averaged a pretty good pace. The nice weather was a bonus and it was really great to be able to talk with Kathy about her experiences running specifically ultras. She has ran the Leadville 100 mile race twice and a number of other 50 mile, 50K and marathons before.

Long Runs:

I have been incorporating some longs into my off season training. Two weeks ago I did a 29 mile run and felt pretty good through the whole run. I took it slow averaging over 10 minute miles but all in all felt strong throughout the run, no crashes. This past Saturday I went for a 32 mile run and felt pretty good throughout the whole thing, even though some portions of the trails were not cleared yet and I had to run in about 6-8 inches of snow. My pace was slow, average pace of 10:30 miles, but with the snow and the distance I'm perfectly fine with that pace. I even picked it up for a few miles and clocked a 7:40 mile split at mile 30.

Why you may ask am I out in the cold and snow running for 5 or 6 hours, well long runs seem to be the key training tool for ultra marathoning, so I am incorporating them into my off season training, which in reality I am actually pretty much in training right now.

Here are some of my long runs

29 mile long run by jhanlon31 at Garmin Connect - Details

32 mile long run by jhanlon31 at Garmin Connect - Details

Getting Ready for the Ron Daws 25K:

After a 17 mile run on Wednesday I needed a recovery day. Thursday did a nice 7 mile run, it was gorgeous out with temperatures in the mid 70's. Today another easy day to get ready for the Ron Daws 25K on Saturday. It should be a fun race and I am hoping to do well. I don't really have a specific goal in mind being that I am not too familiar with the course. I would like to shot for around the 1 hour 30 minutes.

Tip of the week:

Recovery/Easy days are supposed to be easy. You don't get better by going harder on these days, even if you feel good. The human body is really unique in that if given proper recovery and time it will become stronger and more resilient. So take it easy on those easy days.

Link to my Workout:

Untitled by jhanlon31 at Garmin Connect - Details

Wednesday: 17 Medium Run

With the weather being so nice this week it has been great to get outside and put in some miles. Hopefully I will not have to get on the treadmill for awhile. I was shooting for 15 miles but ended up doing 17 and it got a little later than I planned so did the last 30 minutes in the dark. Should have brought my headlamp.

Untitled by jhanlon31 at Garmin Connect - Details

Tuesday 10 Miler

Tuesday did a nice 10 mile run at my General Aerobic pace, which is about 80%-85% of my max heart rate and roughly a 6:45 minute mile pace. The nice part of the new location that I am at is the to the west I can run around the lakes and to the east I have the Mississippi River to run up and down.

10 Miles General Aerobic by jhanlon31 at Garmin Connect - Details

Monday's Workout:8 miles Recovery

Here is Monday's workout. 8 miles recovery with run club.

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for 8 Miles Run Club Recovery

Lactic Threshold Workout:

Here is my workout for the lactic threshold run I did on Tuesday so you can get an idea of were my heart rate is.

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for 9 miles total 4 miles LT

Training Day #2

Yesterday was my first hard day of training, I did 9 miles total and 4 of the 9 at my lactic threshold (LT). Generally that is about 85%-90% of your max heart rate. Since I don't know exactly what my max heart rate is the general rule is 220 minus your ages which puts me at 195, but I think mine is a bit higher than that. So I cruised along at about 185 which was challenging but seemed about right, for me on a treadmill at about 1.5%-2.0% incline is about 10.0-10.5 mph or a 6:00-5:43 minute mile pace, not too bad.

Ok, enough numbers all in all I felt pretty good for only my 2nd day of official training and I also discovered something worse than icing my legs, which involves me filling my tub with icy water and sitting in it for 5-10 minutes. It is icy during the winter, yes it is exponentially worse to get in a tub of ice when you just came in from 10 degree weather, but you can't deny the benefits of icing.

For those of you wondering why I would subject myself to this and what benefits could justify such an act...I'll tell you. Icing your legs helps to prevent swelling and promote blood flow to muscles which have just been broken down by your workout. This helps them recover more quickly and greatly reduces soreness the next day.

There is a silver lining to icing in the dead of a Minnesota winter, there is plenty of snow outside to grab and through in the tub or freeze a few milk jugs outside without taking up freezer space.

Sad that for at least a few weeks if not months out of the year it is warmer in my freezer than it is outside.

First Day of Training

(That's not me by the way)

It is the first day of my official marathon training program for 2010. Yes, I did manage to find a training program that hopefully will help me break into the 2:30's and beyond. It is definitely a challenging program and peaks in weekly mileage of around 85 miles but is consistently up in the 70's and 80's for weekly totals.

Today was an easy 6 mile run, which I used as a recover run from my fairly hard 11mile run on Sunday and my week of inactivity while in Mexico city last week. The program is from the book Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. I have only read about 1/3 of it but it provides a lot of great info for serious marathoners and is very specific to marathoning and is a very scientific approach to training. I will post a review once I have finished reading it.

First Ever Spin Class

I just did my first Spin class and it was a really good workout. It really got my heart rate going from the start and was quite challenging. I have been a bit reluctant to do a spin class in the past, but I really enjoyed both the workout and the change of pace. I think spinning will be a great cross training activity and can really help me with increasing my VO2 Max and pace or turnover.

I would recommend this as a great activity for any runner, especially those of us up north that have several long months of snow and cold. It is a great change of pace. Here is my workout you can really only see my heart rate, but as you can tell it is a pretty intense workout.

Garmin Connect -
Activity Details for
First Ever Spin Class

Beat the Heat!

I didn't have to go to work this Saturday, so I decided to get a good run in.  I guess I know I'm in pretty good shape know when I can run nearly a marathon in a spur of the moment.  I didn't quiet make it a marathon about 25 miles, but I took off after learning I didn't have to go to work with a 1/2 of a smoothie in my stomach a cup of coffee and a danish to fuel me.  I, quite foolishly didn't take any water, gatorade or any type of replenisher with my.  All I had was a cliff bar, and my ipod.  I didn't even stretch just headed out and it was hot I think it was around 75 degrees when I started, 11:40am and it ended up around 90 when I was done, 3:25pm.

The humidity was pretty bad the heat index was around 95 degrees I guess.  I should say that the route I was running had plenty of water fountains to drink from and plenty of other runners, walkers, and bikers the whole way.  I do not recommend this for anyone, you should carry a replenisher, something with electrolytes and sodium, if you are going to run for more than an hour, especially in the heat.    

I actually felt pretty good and ran the thing pretty darn fast, I definitely would have been a sub-4 hour marathon.  With all the running I have done I do feel that I run better then most in the heat.  It doesn't really seem to effect me nearly as much.   I don't really plan to taper much for the Wildwoods 25k this weekend but I'm looking forward to it and will probably try and get in some good tempo runs just to get the legs moving so I remember what it's like running a 6:15 mile pace.  

Here is a nice video for some general hydration tips.

Staying Hydrated:

Workout: June 11th-15th

June 12th: 6x800m at 5k pace 5 miles total

June 13th: Off

June 14th: 15 mile bike ride, then got a flat tire.  Not cool.

June 15th: 1x 5k at marathon pace 7.25mile total

Workout: May 25th-26th

May 25th: Off, I actually felt pretty good, except I probably did a little too much celebrating after the race.  More than just leg soreness.

May 26th:  6 mile easy.  First run after the race, felt pretty good.  the legs were definitely tried and still a bit sore.

I also just got a physical today and its official I'm health.  Though I did have to get a tetanus shot which has now made my arm feel like someone punched it as hard as they could.  Other than that I feel pretty darn good, and I think the Minneapolis marathon is going to be alright, but it is suppose to be in the 80's this weekend, so the heat could be a factor again.

Workout: May 21st

May 21st: 4 x 1000m @marathon pace 6 miles total

My last speed workout before the Stillwater marathon.  I know that it has been less than two week but to me it feels like about a month.  Part of the reason is that I have been focusing on recovering as much as I can for this marathon and have not done any hard training at all.  I think is the right thing to do, but my cardiovascular seems to not be what it used to be, which is a concern of mine.  I am getting excited for the race tomorrow is packet pick-up then Sunday, bright and early 7:00am I'll be off on marathon number three for this year. 

Workout: May 18th-19th

May 18th: Softball game-Diving catch in the outfield and 3-4 at the plate.

May 19th:  3 x 1mile intervals at marathon pace (9.45 mph/6:20min)  

It was about 90 degrees when I was running but I enjoyed the heat and I need to start getting used to running in it.  Especially, because the Stillwater marathon is expected to be in the mid 70's.  

Only 5 more days until the Stillwater marathon and my legs still feel like they are recovering, so hopefully within the next few days they be back to normal.  

Workout: May 16th-17th

May 16th: Off, really trying to take it easy and fully recover for he Stillwater marathon next Sunds.

May 17th: Did a nice medium-easy pace 15 mile run.  Felt pretty good, but was a bit sore and my legs definitely felt it the last few miles, but that is to be expected only a week out from a marathon.

Workout: May 10th-12th

May 10th: Slightly hungover from post race celebration, but felt really good, so I took the day off.

May 11th: Softball game, it actually felt good to do some sprinting and I think it helped a bit the the soreness.

May 12th: Strength training upper body only and easy 3 mile.  

I asked personal trainer about advice on running marathon 3 weeks apart and she asked me why I'd want to do that.   Hmmm...touche train, touche.

Workout: May 4th-6th

Taking it pretty easy getting ready for Fargo.

May 4th: First Softball game, so kind of a workout, but we got 10 run ruled so we only played 5 innings.  

May 5th: 5x 1000m at marathon pace.

May 6th: Easy 6 miles

No rest for the Weary!

It has been a nice couple of days after the Boston Marathon, I didn't run for two whole days afterwards.  But now it is back to work, after a week of recovery this week has been trying to get a week of solid training in without pushing too hard as to hurt myself.  

April 23rd: Basketball

April 24th: 6 miles easy pace

April 25th: Light strength training

April 26th: 5 miles easy pace

April 27th: Light strength training and easy 9 miles

April 28th: 5 miles easy

April 29th: Full body strength training and 3x(800m-600m-600m)

April 30th Basketball

I am actually feeling pretty good, other than I am very rusty at basketball, my legs feel pretty good and this week I have felt ok, not bad not great.  I am going to take it really easy next week and make sure that I'm good to go for the Fargo Marathon on May 9th.

  

Workout: April 3rd

April 3rd: 7 miles easy pace 7.7mph avg.

I felt really good today, even though it was still a bit chilly out.  I cruised along at just under 8 mph.