A2K Running Club

We did the Luv2Run 5K today. I shaved almost 4 minutes off my last race time. Eep.

Good job, Jespah! You'll be beating 40 minutes soon!

I ran the second-slowest Half-Marathon of my life this year and felt completely exhausted afterwards. To find out what went wrong, I consulted The New York Road Runners' Complete Book of Running. It suggests I didn't give myself enough rest after my last race, a 15K (which went well). Their rule of thumb is to take it easy for as many days as there were miles in your last race.

Well, tough. I'm still running a 10K in Central Park next weekend. But I'll impose a speed limit: My pulse at that race will not exceed 150 beats per minute. And for my training this week, I'll limit it to 135.

Oops, not 4 minutes, more like just over 2. But still -- it was a better outcome than I had hoped for.

Still, good job! And I still think you can beat 40 minutes in our next race in July.

I hope so. But I tell ya, on Sunday I was really huffing -- the wind was blowing right in m'face and it was nasty.

Rhys and I go to the gym on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and on
Saturady mornings. We had been finishing off our sessions with ten
minutes on the elliptical. But for our last two sessions, we have used
treadmills. Our goal is to get Rhys ready to run a 5K race in October.

The first session was mainly to gain familarity with the beast. We
started off slowly at 2. I assume that means two miles per hour. After
a minute or so, we bumped it up in increments of 0.2. Neither of us
fell off or sustained an injury, so I counted it a success.

Last night, we moved quickly up to 3.5 and then 4, which brought us up
to jogging speed. Saturday morning, weather permitting, we'll go
outside for ten minutes on the road. Maybe I can keep Rhys at a jog
the whole time.

Sounds fun!

Forgive me if this is a stupid question: Who is Rhys? I don't remember you mentioning him in my presence yet.

Rhys is #1 son or #2 son of George.

Thanks, Jes!

2+ laps around the reservoir today -- in shorts + t-shirt, no less...

Sorry, Thomas. Rhys is my son and middle child. He's 25 chronologically, but
he's got some challenges including hypotonia, motor planning, balance, and
coordination. He's something of a beanpole, so we go to the gym together.
He's trying to gain weight (I'm trying to lose it). He plays fantasy sports
in our A2K baseball and football leagues, so a number of A2Kers are familiar
with him.

Thanks for explaining, George, and good luck with your and your son's fitness program!

Today, 67:15 at the Scotland 10K-run, continuing my emerging tradition of good-but-not-great runs.

My right knee has been nagging me since I twisted it skiing (or, more
accurately, falling). I've taken the last couple of days off, using the
stationary bike and the rower instead, except for a treadmill session
with Rhys. The knee is feeling much better. Maybe Rhys and I will do
a circuit of Lake Quannapowitt tomorrow.

This is a good opportunity to try elliptical trainers. I also use the arm-bicycle to keep up my cardio when I have problems like that.

Whatever you do, get well!

Run for the Parks, 4 miles, 44:51. Once more, okay but not great---and I'm getting slower rather than faster. If this trend doesn't stop next weekend, I need to do some soul-searching to find out where things are going wrong.

T: Look up the Ten Week Speed Workouts--Page 188-192.
It's a once-a-week workout you insert into your other workouts.

Joe(gogo)Nation

Thanks, Joe! I doubt, though, that the issue is a lack of speed training. My pace in today's 4-miler was slower than it was in the 15k three weeks ago. I think the key will be greater weight loss. But it can't hurt to try the speed workouts, too.

lately i've been doing 6 or 7k jogs to build endurance and (hopefully) speed.
am determined to break the 26 minute barrier this year...

Oh, yes, continue to dump ballast overboard, but if you do the quarter milers (run faster than your 5k pace for one quarter the WALK for two minutes) combined with the long hills and the fartleks you'll see better results than just long runs.

My favorites fartlek in Central Park is :
Start at 59th Street, go east nice and easy until you get to the bottom of Cat Hill,(1 mile).
Run as fast as you can up Cat Hill, cruise a little slower than normal to the corner where the roadway becomes straight, sprint (no, really.) sprint to Coach Fred's Statue (2 miles).

Trot along to recover until you get to the next left curve, (It's time to play LightPole Tag!!) pick a lightpole up ahead, a quarter mile or so, run fast to it, trot for three or four light poles, do it again, then trot a shorter length of roadway, pick a pole, go go go, (one more of those should bring you to the 102nd Street Crossover) run fast to the Police Kiosk (3 miles)then trot to the corner.

You have four good up hills on the West Side. Start by running pretty hard up to the top of this first one. Lollygag down the back side, then push hard up the next hill, that should get you to the north edge of the reservoir; take it easy but not too easy on the down side, then really run very very very hard up to top of next hill (try to make the hot dog vendor at the South Edge of the Reservoir look up) :-)
AH.
A nice long downhill past the theater, (about 4miles) try letting your brakes off and staying with the up tempo, but don't kill yourself.

Play Lightpole Tag on the long semi-flat section.
or
Do little short sprints, sprint two poles, mosey for one, sprint two, purl one, purl? No. wait. that's wrong.
Okay.
Now comes the little (yes it is too, little) up to the Tavern of the Green, run up to the top and then you've only got to stay at or a little faster then your 5K pace to the finish. 5.1 miles!

No steady pace! Mix it up the whole time. Run like there is something wrong with your auto-pilot speed control. Runners sometimes get in grooves, I know I do, that pace that just feels great, but it's seldom a pace that is really challenging.

Go for it.
Joe(god he does go on.)Nation

Rhys and I started jogging from the entrance of the gym. We went down Micro
Drive and then turned right onto Holton Street. At about that time I started to
settle from disjointed slogging into a rhythmic jog. Rhys didn't. It will be a while
before he "burns in" the rhythm. It's just the way he's wired. At the end of Holton
there's a crosswalk where it tees with Cross Street. That crosswalk is half a mile
from the gym's entrance. I measured it. When we got there, we turned around
and headed back. Rhys was starting to struggle, but he stayed with it. He'd
slow almost to a walk and then pick it up. Finally we got back to the gym. I hit
a button on my watch. 13:33. Not bad for the first time he's ever run a mile all
in one stretch.