Out with the Cold, in with the New..

After the long run last Sunday I did not run until Thursday... in an attempt to shake off all the congestion I was still saddled with.  In retrospect the Sunday run was a bit of a mistake as it set me back. Sigh.

It drove me crazy not running Mon-Tue-Wed but my cold was just not going away fast enough...so I gritted my teeth and just toughed it out. A cold front with lots of dry air came in and that didn't help my windpipe either.

Finally, I snuck a little 3 mile  run on Thur and it didn't seem to hurt. The next day I went out during mid-day from work (morning too cold..bad for windpipe) and ran 9+ miles in the Baylands (which is also right behind where I work).

That run was sweet:

2013-12-06 Fri
Split	Miles	Pace	HR	% WHR	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	9:33	128.6	67.7	0.0	14.9	1.424
2	1.00	8:53	124.0	63.9	3.2	4.4	1.598
3	1.00	8:38	125.0	64.8	4.2	2.1	1.632
4	1.00	8:28	134.0	72.1	3.3	0.0	1.552
5	1.00	8:14	137.0	74.6	0.0	0.0	1.558
6	1.00	8:19	132.0	70.5	1.0	1.1	1.601
7	1.00	8:18	134.0	72.1	2.1	4.5	1.579
8	1.00	9:44	123.0	63.1	4.1	1.1	1.473
9	1.00	9:26	124.0	63.9	7.4	0.0	1.510
10	0.20	9:02	126.0	65.6	1.0	0.0	1.550
Sum	9.2	8:51	128.8	67.8	26.3	28.0	1.563

Good numbers. I gradually sped up during miles 4, 5, 6, 7 for some threshold work. 

Thankfully this run didn't make my congestion worse! It's always very hard to guess whether resting or running will clean things up quicker: this run proved I was in the 'cleaning out' stage. FINALLY.

Decided to do a light 5 miles on Sat and then do a 13 miler on Sunday.
Sunday morning it was cool....36F, I looked up the Sacramento temps..BRRR 26F at the starting line of CIM!

My run went well except the heart rate monitor gave me problems the whole way. At first I had the usual cold wx problems of a pegged out high reading. I put a bunch more water on it and that helped.

However the entire run the readings were CRAZY low. So low that a few times I stopped and took my pulse to see if the darn thing was working....it seemed to be.

2013-12-08 Sun
Split	Miles	Pace	HR	% WHR	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
1	1.00	9:33	115.4	56.9	10.8	3.7	1.605
2	1.00	9:37	103.0	46.7	1.1	15.8	1.766
3	1.00	9:25	98.0	42.6	0.0	7.4	1.900
4	1.00	9:30	103.0	46.7	1.1	2.2	1.796
5	1.00	9:20	109.0	51.6	2.0	3.2	1.728
6	1.00	9:07	115.0	56.6	3.2	2.2	1.681
7	1.00	9:14	116.0	57.4	3.2	3.3	1.642
8	1.00	9:11	118.0	59.0	2.1	2.1	1.624
9	1.00	9:34	130.0	68.9	1.0	0.0	1.414
10	1.00	9:07	128.0	67.2	1.0	1.0	1.508
11	1.00	8:42	119.0	59.8	2.1	0.0	1.699
12	1.00	8:53	123.0	63.1	14.7	0.0	1.624
13	1.00	8:40	123.0	63.1	1.0	2.0	1.650
14	0.08	8:28	119.0	59.8	0.0	0.0	1.744
Sum	13.1	9:13	115.3	56.8	43.4	42.9	1.670

Mile 9 it wigged out in pegged out high pulse mode (160+) again and I had to move it around a bit to get it to stop that.

Anyway, probably the best YPB run ever, but I'm not believing it. Cold temps DO help by keeping blood away from your skin, increasing the volume available for muscles, but this is a huge difference..the most efficient run I've ever done.

Summary for the week:

Date	Miles	Pace	BPM	WHR%	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
2013-12-05 Thu	2.9	9:20	124.5	64.3	15.3	15.3	1.535
2013-12-06 Fri	9.2	8:51	128.8	67.8	26.3	28.0	1.563
2013-12-07 Sat	4.8	9:32	120.4	61.0	36.5	38.5	1.530
2013-12-08 Sun	13.1	9:13	115.3	56.8	43.4	42.9	1.670
Summary	30.0	9:10	121.0	61.5	121.5	124.7	1.601

30 miles a light week. But hopefully over the cold for GOOD and back on track.

T-8 weeks to Surf City!

T-9 to Surf City

Back to our regularly scheduled program on marathon training for Surf City 2013...

The last two weeks (T-11, T-10) have been a bit muddled. After the bat mitzvah and birthday (mine) extended weekend I caught a bit of a cold...it was going around work. I got better enough to do the half marathon but the training in general has been adlibbed a bit.

Here's the last two weeks of runs:

Date	Miles	Pace	BPM	WHR%	Elev+	Elev-	YPB
2013-11-19 Tue	5.8	9:51	126.6	66.1	697.3	705.3	1.465
2013-11-20 Wed	10.1	9:24	124.8	64.6	82.8	85.5	1.504
2013-11-22 Fri	5.0	9:14	125.7	65.3	24.0	24.2	1.530
2013-11-26 Tue	4.8	9:27	121.4	61.8	34.4	36.0	1.536
2013-11-27 Wed	7.5	9:48	113.7	55.5	79.0	85.8	1.583
2013-11-28 Thu	13.1	8:33	139.7	76.8	172.1	169.0	1.481
2013-12-01 Sun	16.8	10:06	122.8	62.9	76.6	78.4	1.426
Summary	63.2	9:29	125.6	65.3	1166.2	1184.1	1.489

A good hilly run in Catalina and then some runs with improving YPB..including a 7.8 miler at 1.58. Those are good signs...

The half marathon came in at 1.48 which is not bad at all considering the amount of crud in my sinuses and that I had done all MAF running beforehand. My lactate threshold should be quite low, but my HR did not speed up that much in that race. Frankly, I didn't know what to expect running a non-peaked half in some random-ass condition but it worked out! I thank the half marathon gods for that you can bet.

I was still getting over my cold during that race...probably 5 lbs of crud packed into my sinuses slowing me down 8-}. All I can say is that it was good that it was not crowded at that race: I could do my "farmer's blow" and not be grossing anybody out.

Two full days off after the half... the day after I was overall whipped a bit and, of course,  tired in the legs and that is not good. So next day off too. 

Sunday (today) I was determined to get out and rack a long run in the BayLands. I carb-loaded Saturday night, got some good sleep (magic healing elixir for me) and hoped my

cold would not mind too much.

Perfect blissful weather: 50F, sunny, no wind and birds out feeding. Some pelicans and sandpipers pics taken with my cell phone camera.


I knew my legs were still pretty beat up from the race, so a perfect time to work on a slow LSD pace with good form to build up that fat burning. 

I had intended to run 18 but at about mile 13 I had some coughing and other crud happening and so I decided to shave a few miles off. I did some gargling of water every few minutes to get the crap out of my bronchial area and that seemed to stop it and I finished the run without any more coughing fits. Blech!

Terrible YBP numbers for the run but I guess to be expected considering. A decent job with 10:06 pace and taking it easy. It's not a confidence builder to do long runs and have them be so difficult....you feel that running 16@10:00 should be a piece of cake if you are thinking of running 26.2 at 9:00. BUT when you do 'em on tired legs it can feel pretty demoralizing.  

It's always amazing to me how being fresh and rested you can feel like superman, and then three days later you can feel like a 90 year old ;). 

On to week 9! 

7 non-taper weeks ahead and time to start doing some tempo runs etc to push up the LT and build some leg strength and speed. The MAF numbers are not fully where I would like them yet but I think the fitness is there....the numbers just don't show it yet. We'll see for sure in the weeks ahead.

I got my flights booked for Surf City and have a place to stay for Saturday night. The one flaw with this race is that it's a beach town and so the hotels require a 2 day minimum.... as well as being fairly pricey.  I decided to try out this AirBnB thing and managed to snag a small bugalow that is very close to the start (and all to myself) for $129 a night. I'll let you know how it works out in practice.

It's time to line up some other marathons for 2013 too!