Monday, October 31, 2011

Meet your Muscles and Google

I was on a mission to learn about all the important muscles of the body (especially  the rat's nest of core muscles 8) by using google body to explore them.

Alas, it's been retired from google labs, but all is not lost. Another company will be supporting the site (as well as the tablet and phone apps) for free as before! Phew! But it's not ready yet.

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Meanwhile, for something different lets talk about how to use google search. I'm always surprised at all folks that don't know about some very useful features.

1)The first thing you need to know is that case doesn't matter. So searching for 

Miami Dolphins

is the same as 

miami dolphins

small words like ' the  so  a' are going to be removed from the search so you don't need to compose proper sentences

2) You can force a multi-word phrase to be in the search result verbatim..just do

"I like apples cooked in turpentine"

goes right to the reference I was looking for rather than lots of irrelevant pages. You can combine the quoted term with normal unquoted stuff too of course.

3) The most important feature (IMHO) is the '+'  modifier to your search.

Normally when you type in a bunch of words to search if there are results that google thinks are more important (higher page rank) they might be shown even if they are missing one of your search terms. Doing this prevents that:

miami dolphins +joe

This forces the results to have 'joe' in them. If it can't find ANY results that have joe then it will still punt (pun 8).

4) The '-' works the opposite..if you type

dolphins -football

then you'll get results that do not have the football in them...i.e. more critters less sports ;)

5) You can also restrict searches to a specific web domain. Imagine I forgot my coaches blog url (what!?)..I could do this:

jill marathon blog

But there's a lot of Jills that do marathon blogging it seems.  I happen to remember that her site is a blogspot.com site so doing:

jill marathon site:blogspot.com

works a lot better.

6) Also you probably know you can use google as a calculator...just type in any math you want solved and you'll get a solution 

e.g. 

5/7 + 100

gets you 

(5 / 7) + 100 = 100.714286


7) You can also ask questions like:

tablespoons in a gallon
speed of light in miles per hour
seconds in a day
time in timbuctu

etc.

Check out www.googleguide.com for more learnin'. Google can make a lot of things much easier and knowing how to use it effectively is time well spent.

Enjoy!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

CIM Week 6: stepback week wrap-up

For all of you that are impacted by the early storms out east, I hope you are doing ok! 


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Thursday: 5 miles @ base with hill sprints called for by coach Jill..did this on the hilly loop that is 2 miles from my house so actually did 6.8@10:21m/m ...took it easy (except for the sprints). My foot was ok during this run but due to running out of time I was not able to ice it after, which was bad.


Friday: 8 miles with 6 miles at 1/2 MP (8:35m/m) called out.


Split Distance Avg Pace Avg HR % WHR Cad YPB
1 1.00 10:11 121 61.5 87 1.428
2 1.00 8:30 131 69.7 90 1.581
3 1.00 8:35 128 67.2 88 1.602
4 1.00 8:33 130 68.9 89 1.583
5 1.00 8:31 130 68.9 87 1.590
6 1.00 8:29 132 70.5 88 1.572
7 1.00 8:30 133 71.3 88 1.557
8 1.00 10:10 117 58.2 85 1.480
9 0.41 10:16 114 55.7 86 1.501
Summary 8.41 9:00 127 66.4 88 1.540

Some things to note:


1) We dipped into 1.6xxx YPB economy for mile 2 of the 6 at 1/2 MP. Yes! There is cardiac drift...not much but some: 128, 130, 130, 132, 133


2) I did this run at another local track, this one 1.4 miles from home. It's not a rubber track,  just  hard (and lumpy ) dirt. It does have a nice, smooth, soft grassy infield though. I ran miles 2,4,6 on the hard dirt and miles 3,5,7 on the grass. No difference in economy is visible. It was fun on the grass (and I think easier on my left foot).


3) I added %WHR (working heart rate ) to my tables just for NellyWHR is (MAX_HR - RESTING_HR)



In a state of Galapagos tortoise torpor my HR is 46, and my max HR (on a treadmill test in my Dr's office) is 168. So I have 122bpm of HR range for my waking life 8)  This is a more accurate way of looking at effort than just using percent of max HR.  (I went back and added this column to my previous posting too.)  If I am running at an HR of 120, then my fraction of WHR is (120 - 46) / 122...get it?



4) An 8:30 pace requires about 70% of my WHR. This is on the one hand, really great and low for me (yay!), and on the other hand...very dismal: good runners can run marathons at 80% of WHR...I can't (yet) run one at 65% of my WHR (9:00 pace).


The left foot definitely didn't like this fast running, no pain per-se but tender/sore feelings... icing after helped a lot. Tomorrow is a cross training day which should help recovery and Sunday's long run is only 13 miles and no paces faster than MP.


Saturday: 20 minutes stationary bike 10 minutes rowing, lower body strength training. Even with icing my left heel bugging me all day. Looked like I would have to abort Sunday's long run which was tough medicine to consider but on the other hand I really don't want to DNS at CIM so I'd rather be a bit undertrained than that.


Sunday: Played it by ear..I had some errands I had to do early in the morning and so decided to see how my foot was feeling before heading out. In the afternoon I finally decided it was good enough to give it a try. It was already 75F with full sun so I knew I'd have to take it a bit easier just due to that. The sched called for 5 miles@base, 7@ MP and 1 mile cool-down. I decided to do 1 mile warmup, 6@MP (before I was too hot), then see how it went. 




Split Distance Avg Pace Avg HR % WHR Cad YPB
1 1.00 9:58 116 57.4 88 1.522
2 1.00 9:23 128 67.2 88 1.465
3 1.00 9:11 133 71.3 89 1.441
4 1.00 8:58 134 72.1 88 1.465
5 1.00 8:53 134 72.1 88 1.479
6 1.00 9:02 137 74.6 89 1.422
7 1.00 9:17 138 75.4 88 1.374
8 1.00 9:47 126 65.6 87 1.428
9 1.00 9:31 127 66.4 87 1.456
10 1.00 9:54 129 68.0 88 1.378
11 1.00 10:07 130 68.9 85 1.338
12 1.00 10:02 128 67.2 88 1.370
13 1.00 10:01 132 70.5 87 1.331
14 0.05 10:15 128 67.2 86 1.375
Summary 13.05 9:33 130 68.9 88 1.418

I did ok on the 6xMP , but the HR were pretty high (+8/10 bpm) due to the heat. I stopped at the nice bathrooms on the trail and refilled my waterbottle and dumped a bunch on my head too ;) On the path for the way back it was cooler from a headwind but I still dropped the pace and took it easy. 

I bumped into Wendell from Coastal Trail Runs near the duck pond and said hello. Today was a Halloween theme full and half marathon...the half would have been perfect for me to do but with my heel, (not to mention my morning obligations) it's just as well I didn't do it. There's another event on Dec 18th (the one I did last year), but that will only two weeks after CIM so probably not a good idea unless I walk it ;)

My left heel did ok during this run...no pain but it was "there" and sometimes there'd be a sore feeling. Tomorrow will be the real test of how fast it will recover.

Ice bath for the footsy when we got home, in-out-in-out about 4 times with each time as much as I can stand. THIS WORKS BETTER  than any other method of icing. Cold packs, paper cups with ice in them, etc are all very well and good but sticking your foot in a pan of ice water works EVER SO MUCH better. Trust me on this, it's a bit of a pain to do (you really need an icemaker too) but I do it because it really works. 

N.B. I did not invent this idea...I read about it in Tim Noakes book "The Lore of Running". It would be great for any area that needs RICE, but obviously it's most practical for the foot or hand.

Ready for next week (we hope!). I have 3 more weeks before the 2 week taper....with two 20/20+ runs to come and especially lots of MP running I'll bet.

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In other news, you'll see from my "Upcoming races" sidebar that besides Berlin, I've also signed up for the Eugene Marathon in late April...far enough out that I can goof off a bit from running over the holidays and during some skiing in Feburary ;) This race gets good reviews and it will be my 2nd peaking attempt with Jill coaching for sub-4 hours, or if successful at CIM, I'll try for <3:55.

Note sure yet what's up after Eugene and before Berlin....still thinking on that <8/



Thursday, October 27, 2011

CIM Week 6: a slight stepback week, (midweek status)

Monday: Rest day after the Sunday long run of course


Tuesday:  I was supposed to do 6@base with 10x8s hill sprints and drills. HOWEVER, at the end of last week I started having problems with the left heel/Achillies Tendon. In general with all the fast running I've been having more problems with stiffness in the calves in the morning. Foam rolling has helped but after last weeks world record of hard runs we noticed this area was tweaked. 


I suspect last week when my right leg had really gotten sore (a good sign..it's carrying it's own weight now!) it forced my left foot to get more of a beating.


It wasn't too bad, in fact I did the 18 milers and didn't make it worse, but I did soak my foot in a basin of ice water after the run to keep it from getting more inflamed. 


Given that issue I did only 3 miles at base and scrubbed the sprints and drills. This is a step back week after all and Sunday was a pretty hard long run. At no time during this run did the soreness progress to feeling worse...a good sign.


Wednesday: called for 7 miles..first 2 at base then a progressive speedup to 1/2 MP. (8:30 or so). With foam rolling and self massage things were feeling better so I decided to do 7 miles of straight progression from 10:00 to 8:30 and then cool down:


Split Distance Avg Pace Avg HR % WHR Cad  YPB
1 1.00 9:56 112 54.1 88 1.582
2 1.00 9:52 118 59.0 87 1.512
3 1.00 9:33 120 60.7 87 1.536
4 1.00 9:15 124 63.9 87 1.534
5 1.00 9:00 125 64.8 88 1.564
6 1.00 8:49 127 66.4 88 1.572
7 1.00 8:35 131 69.7 89 1.565
8 0.74 10:40 114 55.7 85 1.455
Summary 7.74 9:25 121 61.5 87 1.545

The morning dawned clear blue sky and temps of 45F!  I'm wishing for the 'fall back' time change as things are pretty dark out there until 7:30am or so.


This run was pretty fantastic...after two days of rest the fast running felt very easy and my form was great. At no point was I working hard..breathing was 2:4 or 3:3 the entire time.  The left rearfoot / heel was ok as long as I was midfoot striking.


The economy numbers are really good, e.g.: 125 bpm for a 9:00 pace mile, 1.564 yards-per-beat....a new record for this training build-up.  It's was really cold out..therefore no cardiac drift which helps keep the numbers low, but still...I'm very happy.


I wanted to soak my left foot in ice water right after the run, so I decided to do the weights and floor exercises later in the day. 


I'll know more how the foot is progressing tomorrow morning. I need to be at 100% for next week, the week where I really hit the miles and  get my first 20 mile long run in! (Can't wait...just love those long runs!)


Thursday: Another really cold morning...40.5F! I wore my long pants for the first time in a very long time. The schedule called for 5 miles at base with 10x8s hill sprints...I did 6.3 miles with the sprints..my foot was feeling pretty good especially since yesterday was some fast running. 
I was not feeling like going fast and took it easy with an average pace of around 10:30m/m.





Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Sunday, October 23, 2011

CIM Week 7: back home and looking at the numbers

It was a great trip: wedding, seeing my sister and brother-in-law, friends, sites in Canada (AJH: we didn't spend much time in VT since we've been there many times before so not many photos there ) If your interested you can check out all the photos of our trip here.


But it's also great to be back home. It's WAY easier to do marathon training when you're home and not doing to much else that's stressful to your body.


Week 7 was a tough week. 44+ miles. 


Tueday called for drills and 7 miles with 5x30s hill sprints...we did 6:09, 6:14, 5:58, 5:36 and 6:01 for the sprint paces.


Wednesday was about 5.75 miles with some 'mixed intervals'.... a first for me..never done them before:


Split Distance Avg Pace Avg HR Max HR Avg Cadence Elev+ Elev- YPB
1 1.00 10:26 139 167 86 7 0 1.214
2 1.00 8:37 132 144 89 0 14 1.547
3 0.53 8:25 143 160 89 0 4 1.477
4 0.15 13:32 120 138 72 0 7 1.082
5 1.00 8:06 139 149 90 0 1 1.563
6 0.11 18:37 114 144 59 0 0 0.842
7 0.76 7:49 140 147 90 4 0 1.610
8 0.14 15:31 116 145 65 0 4 1.004
9 0.51 7:25 143 156 92 6 0 1.666
10 0.79 11:16 120 149 80 7 0 1.304
Summary 5.97 9:26 133 167 85 24 30 1.402


1 mile warm up, 1.5 miles@8:30, 1@8:06, .75@7:49, .5 at 7:25, .79 mile cool down...the economy numbers are really good. Also did upper body weights and a set of new leg/hip flexibility floor exercises called out by Jill..wow..hard.


Thursday was 4 miles easy, I was pretty stiff after two hard days plus the new exercises so I did these at 10:25 pace and I also bagged the drills...too banged up.


Friday was 8 miles: 1 warm up, 6 at 1/2 marathon pace (8:39) and 1 cool down:


Split Distance Avg Pace Avg HR Max HR Avg Cadence Elev+ Elev- YPB
1 1.00 10:38 116 160 83 8 0 1.427
2 1.00 8:45 126 153 88 0 17 1.596
3 1.00 8:48 136 187 87 0 9 1.471
4 1.00 8:38 132 136 87 0 0 1.544
5 1.00 8:33 129 135 87 3 0 1.596
6 1.00 8:37 132 139 87 2 0 1.547
7 1.00 8:38 133 139 86 0 6 1.533
8 0.95 10:42 115 127 82 13 0 1.435
Summary 7.95 9:09 127 187 86 26 32 1.514

I was pretty sore still from the first part of the week with some very sore small muscles in my right upper leg. Actually I think the supine planks did it to me during the new floor exercises. I was seriously thinking of aborting the run but decided to see if I could warm up out of my stiffness.


And, yes, I did...again the YPB economy numbers for the 1/2MP splits are really good. (i.e. the HRs are low for that pace). After this we did a full set of lower body stuff, including box step ups with dumbells and goblet squats. 


Saturday called for 2 miles easy and 1/2 hr XT. Very stiff but loosened up a bit ...no XT except for walking.


Sunday 18 miles with 7 @ base, 6 @ MP , 2 @ base, 2 @ MP, 1 cool down. I decided to do the first 5 as a MAF test @ 125 bpm to compare with a last month...this is high base, then  2 at a slower base, then 6@MP, 2@base, 2@MP, .5 cool down.


Split Distance Avg Pace Avg HR Max HR Avg Cadence Elev+ Elev- YPB
1 1.00 10:03 113 123 88 3 0 1.550
2 1.00 9:18 124 128 88 0 0 1.526
3 1.00 9:14 125 129 88 11 8 1.525
4 1.00 9:14 125 128 87 10 7 1.525
5 1.00 9:09 124 131 87 6 15 1.551
6 1.00 10:01 116 124 85 0 11 1.515
7 1.00 10:09 115 129 85 0 4 1.508
8 1.00 8:48 126 130 87 0 0 1.587
9 1.00 9:02 127 132 86 7 8 1.534
10 1.00 9:04 128 131 86 0 0 1.517
11 1.00 9:04 127 136 86 0 0 1.528
12 1.00 9:03 131 135 87 22 0 1.485
13 1.00 9:04 133 139 87 17 0 1.460
14 1.00 9:01 131 134 87 2 14 1.490
15 1.00 10:23 123 132 84 5 10 1.378
16 1.00 10:41 118 124 84 9 10 1.396
17 1.00 9:08 130 138 87 0 10 1.482
18 1.00 8:49 140 144 88 0 2 1.426
19 0.35 11:50 126 144 83 6 0 1.173
Summary 18.35 9:27 125 144 86 98 99 1.490


This was not an easy long run, but it wasn't a race either...lets call it 'comfortably hard' (just barely). My legs were pretty beat up from the early part of the week...not very fresh at all.


First, let's look at the MAF course miles from 2-5....lets compare then with the maf test we ran back in September:

9-13-11 10-23-11
09:16 9:18
09:21 9:14
09:18 9:14
09:17 9:09

We picked up some efficiency from 6 weeks ago...we are almost at MP at a paltry125bpm!
During the long run the 6 MP miles from 8-14 were just a touch over 125, with some drift setting in as the temperatures crept up.

Miles 17-18 were tough but breathing was relaxed and we could have gone farther at this pace of course. I visualized feeling this strong for the last few miles at CIM. 

In summary: this week was tough, 45 miles.. a *lot* of fast miles + weights, drills and strengthening floor exercises. But we didn't break! The gradual build up is working. 

I also had a PT session which I'll report on later. The PT is one of the reasons I think I was able to withstand this week's training.