Am I Ready?

It has been a rough month for training. I'm not sure if I've completed a midweek run the entire month, and I only completed two of my long runs (I had to bail out on a third). I've had sinus issues all month, and things have not cleared up at the pace I desired. My longest run of the month was 12 miles, but that was two weeks ago. Last weekend, I had to bail at three and a half miles because I was so out of breath. I forced myself to do 10 miles yesterday, and thankfully, I did make it that far. I was pretty wiped out afterwards. On the plus side, my training runs at home include a lot of hills, so they are a bit more rough than the courses I usually encounter at runs. However, I also tend to run quite a bit faster in organized runs, so I've always figured that the hills versus pace evened out.

Regardless of my poor training month, I feel I ought to still be able to go the distance at the Urban Cow Half Marathon. I'm positive that a PR is off of the table, and I'm a bit worried that I don't have a good feel for what pace I ought to be targeting. Hopefully I won't overdo it and burn myself out.

Thirteen and a Quarter Miles

Ran both of my weekday runs this week and was disappointed to see that my performance was off similarly to my performance in my weekend run. Wednesday's run was an improvement over Monday's, but it was still worse than any from the past couple months.

I decided for my weekend run to attempt 13 miles (more so 130 minutes). I got off to a slow start but otherwise felt pretty good. The weather was cooler than recent but it was more humid than usual, and I was a sweaty mess pretty quickly. I felt good through the first ten miles but then had to overcome the desire to quit. The desire got stronger and stronger as the minutes ticked on, but I didn't give in, and by the time I finished the 130 minutes, I had completed 13.3 miles. Pretty much hit the same pace as last week which was slower than desired, but I'm glad I covered the half marathon distance.

Speaking of half marathons, I finally signed up for the Urban Cow Half Marathon as planned. Five weeks to go!

I'm off to Las Vegas this upcoming weekend, so while I should get both of my weekday runs in, I'm not completely sure what, if anything, I will be doing for my long run. I'm currently thinking that I'll try to get an eight mile in Friday morning before I take off.

Another Less Than Stellar Performance

Not a lot of running to report this week. I was out of town for work-related business Monday through Wednesday, and I didn't bring my running gear as I felt like I could use the time off. Not sure if my long run yesterday confirmed that feeling or showed it to be short-sighted. My plan was to try to run 120-125 minutes and get in 12.5+ miles. I started to feel really horrible 110 minutes in, and I gave up a few minutes later. At the point I stopped, I felt like I was going to pass out on the trial. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

I did complete 11.4 miles in 112 minutes for a 9:49 average pace. That was nearly 20 seconds per mile slower than my recent long run pace. Hopefully the lack of a long run last weekend and no weekday runs this week is the culprit and not that I've peaked too soon. We'll see how things go next week.

Done in by Arena Softball

I was a little sore still on Monday after doing 12 miles last Saturday. Regardless, I still made it out for my Monday night run and did my full 50 minutes. Same story on Wednesday.

Friday at work, we had a team building event playing Arena Softball. It had been a number of years since I last played Arena Softball (or any form of baseball/softball), and I was pretty beat afterwards. When I woke up Saturday, I was pretty sore but thought I was still good to attempt a 12 mile run. I was wrong. Midway into the first mile my legs felt like I had already gone through the hilliest parts of the run. I was able to push through for a few miles, but eventually I knew based on the pace I was going that it was probably best to pack it in and save myself for another day. In the end, I did a weekday run (50 minutes) on the weekend.

With as sore as I was this morning, it's a good thing that I stopped when I did. I think pushing through for a couple more miles (or more) would have left me pretty beat up.

I'm travelling for business for the first half of this week, so I won't be getting in any evening runs. With how I still feel today, that's probably for the best. I should be recovered by the weekend, and hopefully I'm in good enough shape to be able to do a full two hours of running for what should be my longest run of the year.

Twelve Miles

I noticed after my run on Saturday that I was starting to wear through the sole of my running shoes. So I broke out my final pair of Asics Gel GT-2170s (roughly two years ago I stocked up on six pairs as the model went out of production) which means that I'm going to have to find a new model of running shoes soon. Not looking forward to trying to find shoes that I enjoy as much.

The new shoes felt great on my first run, and I rocked a far better pace for my Monday 50 minute run (dropped a good 20 seconds per mile). Wednesday, I ended up feeling sick in the evening and didn't get to go for a run.

I decided prior to heading out on Saturday that I was going to go for 12 miles which would require a bigger change to my route. According to my schedule for preparing for the Urban Cow Half Marathon, I needed to hit 11 miles this week. I more so take that to mean that I need to run 110 minutes.

For some reason, I was thinking that I did 100 minutes the past two weeks (versus the 105 I actually did), so I was expecting to just need to run 110 minutes. As I was getting midway into the run, I realized that 110 minutes wasn't going to be enough, and I was trying to choose between 110 minutes or 12 miles. In the end, I decided to go with 12 miles which required 115 minutes.

My pace for the run ended up being actually the same as the past two weeks: 9:31 minutes/mile. Considering this run was farther and likely slightly harder, I'm happy that my pace didn't decrease. However, it would have been nice to see a slight increase considering the new shoes.

For the upcoming week, I plan to get back to my two 50 weekday runs. Not sure what I'm going to do for the weekend run. Probably should make this a baseline run of either 100 minutes or 11 miles. Probably the latter.

Eleven Miles Again

It was another hot week here in the Sacramento area, and with the high almost reaching 110 on Wednesday, I skipped out on the second weekday run of the week. Monday's run went well as I completed my 50 minutes at a slightly faster pace than my past three.

I once again did 11 miles on Saturday (11.1 to be exact). Pretty much finished at the same pace as last week. Hopefully I'll start to see my pace improve soon, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't improve until things cooled down.

Eleven Miles

I got back to running two 50 minute weekday runs this past week. It felt good to get both runs in, and I think if I can keep this up, it'll help my overall performance.

For my weekend run, I decided to add an additional five minutes so that I'd hit 11 miles. Adding the extra time worked, and I covered 11.1 miles in 105 minutes. My pace is still around 9:30 minutes/mile which I slower than I'd desire, but it's certainly working for me.

My plan for the upcoming week will be to do the same as this past week.

Drop Off in Performance

On the plus side for the past week, I did make it out for all three of my planned runs. Unfortunately, none of the runs really went to plan.

Starting with my Monday run, as I got going I didn't quite feel right. I couldn't place what was wrong, but less than a mile in I was oddly sweating, and I never really hit my groove. I bailed on the run midway in after about two and a half miles. I had hoped that maybe I just overdid it on the weekend and that a couple more days of rest would help.

Wednesday's run started off rough as I completed the first mile at a slower pace (20-30 seconds slower) than normal. I felt a bit odd throughout, but I pushed through to complete 50 minutes.

Similiar story on Saturday although my first mile was almost 40 seconds slow. My pace picked up for the next three miles but wasn't normal for any of them. There were a few times I thought about bailing on the run, but I kept going and accepted that I wasn't going to get as much distance in as I did last week. I finished the 100 minutes with 10.4 miles (0.3 less than last week).

I'm still ahead of where I need to be to get ready for the Urban Cow Half Marathon, but in a few weeks that will no longer be the case. I think I will be ok, but it'd be nice to see my performance level out (preferably improve) in the next couple weeks.

Hundred Minutes

The weather cooperated better this week for running, but even as such, I only completed one weekday run (Monday). I went out Wednesday night and had planned to run Thursday night, but things did not work out. I did 50 minutes Monday night.

Saturday I decided I'd try to do 100 minutes (5 more than last week) unless I was making much better time than last week (in which case I might cut it off at 95). I completed the first four miles in good time, but after the fifth I knew it was unlikely that I'd be beating last week's run. So I decided to add in some extra hill work for the additional 5 minutes. Not sure I really needed extra hills, but it was a convenient spot to add to the run.

Overall, I completed 10.7 miles. I would have preferred 11.1 (a 9:00 pace), but I can accept 10.7. My plan for the upcoming week is to keep the weekday runs at 50 minutes and the weekend run at 100. Hopefully I can more distance in the 100 minutes next week.

A Week of Heat

The past week was not a great one for running. The highs for Monday through Wednesday ranged between 105 and 110, and it did not cool off much in the evening. I ended up taking the dogs out for walks around 9:30 to let the sun go fully down and let the temperatures go down a little, but doing so eliminated any time for a run unless I pretty much wanted to have to go straight to bed afterwards. As such, I didn't get in any midweek runs this week.

Since I was unable to run during the week and I had Friday off as a holiday from work, I chose to do my long run for the week on Friday. It was overcast when I headed out, and my first four miles went well. But sure enough, just as I was starting the uphill portion of the run, the clouds broken up, and I got to do the hard part of the run in the direct sun. I think the big change in situation had an impact on my pace, and I lost ~15 seconds per mile. It became obvious to me after a few more miles that I would not do as well as last week, so I decided that I would have to run for an extra 5 minutes this week. In the end, I ran for 95 minutes and covered 10.25 miles. I think moving forward if I'm in the situation where I can't beat my pace from the previous week that I'll need to run an extra 5 minutes.

This week I hope to get back to two weekday runs along with my long weekend run. The forecast currently looks like it will cooperate. Hopefully running on Friday instead of Saturday will give my legs some extra rest for the week.

Ten Miles

Another week of training in the books, and this one was the best of the year so far. My two weekday runs went well: each at 45 minutes and over 5 miles (5.1 and 5.2 respectively). I decided against doing the Elk Grove Run for Hunger 10K based on the high temperatures we had at the end of the week. May have been the wrong move as it was coolish when I got up Saturday morning.

Things were still cool when I got going after walking the dogs. Although my original plan for the day was to run 85 minutes, I decided that if I felt good enough that I'd go for 90. With that in mind, I added an extra loop around the 2.5 mile mark of the run which would mean that I'd hit the long climb later in the run (and that I'd have a longer climb). I got off to a good start, and I completed each of the first five miles in under 9 minutes (my best mile was actually the third at 8:50). I slowed a bit as the climb wore on me, but I don't think any of my miles were over 9:30 (and I'm not sure any went over 9:20). I ended with a faster pace than last week's 80 minute run (9:05 this week compared to 9:15), and I completed ten miles in 90 minutes and 45 seconds. As such, I completed over one and a third miles more than last week.

It's good to have completed a ten mile run already. I was looking at the schedule for the Urban Cow Half Marathon, and if I wanted to work up to a 14 mile run two weeks prior to the race, I'd need to hit 10 miles by July 25. Now that I've hit that mark four weeks early, I have more confidence that I'll be in half marathon shape in time.

80 Minutes

After my disappointing breakdown last weekend, I knew I needed to repeat my distances from last week and hopefully make it through the long run on Saturday. The weekday runs were relatively "easy": for both I completed 4.5 miles in the 40 minute run. I did then on my regular schedule of Monday and Wednesday, so I went into my Saturday run with my normal rest.

For Saturday, I started around 9:30 as normal. It was warm, but I think it was a bit cooler than last Saturday. I felt good as I was going, and there was no mental message of stopping. I felt pretty good after making it through the bulk of the hills and felt myself recharging during a slight downslope. In the end, I completed my 80 minutes of running and covered 8.65 miles for an average pace of roughly 9:15 per mile. I'd like to get that average pace down to 9 minutes per mile, but that's going to take time. I think this pace (especially considering the hills) is respectable.

I'll bump up my weekday runs to either 43 or 45 minutes for this coming week and will target 85 minutes for the weekend run (unless I decide to run the Elk Grove Run for Hunger. I'm still undecided on that most likely my decision will come down to the forecasted weather for Saturday.

Mental Breakdown

A couple more weeks of training are in the books. I set a new long for the year last weekend covering 7.8 miles in 70 minutes. I am progressing nicely towards getting the distance I need to be able to work up to half marathon training. I only did one training run in that previous week (35 minutes) due to socializing on my run day.

This past week, Monday was quite a hot day (and it didn't really cool down), so I deferred my run from Monday to Tuesday. I had planned to do 38 minutes, but I picked my course incorrectly, so rather than having a longer than desired walk home, I ran for 40 minutes instead of 38. I decided to also push my Wednesday run to Thursday, and on Thursday I decided to again do the 40 minutes. I was a bit concerned about cutting a day of rest before my long Saturday run, but I figured I'd be ok.

Saturday was another hot day, and my 9:30 start time did not do me any favors. A few miles in, I started to mentally bail on the run, but I was able to keep myself going. There's a good deal of climbing on my weekend long run, and unfortunately, most of it is not shaded, so I was getting the full impact of the sun beating down on me. I was able to make it through most of the hard climbing, but once I got through my "recovery" mile of downhill, I saw that my pace was still getting slower, and I figured there was little reason to continue to push through. So the run that I had hoped would be 80 minutes and almost 9 miles (more realistically 8.5 with the heat) was stopped short at 62 minutes.

I hate giving up mentally since it feels like (and is) a failure, but I don't think pressing forward really would have done me much good. Walking the mile and a half home wasn't any fun either.

This week I hope to complete what I set out to do last week. I'll keep the 40 minute weekday runs and go for 80 on Saturday. Here's hoping it won't be as hot.

Week of Rest Followed by Seven Miles

After running the Wounded Veteran Run on Monday, I took the week off from running to recover. I have read that one should take off one day for each mile "raced" which means that after a 10K, I should rest six days. As such, I rested until Saturday.

Saturday I went out for my longest run of a year. I planned 65 minutes and hoped to complete 7.22 miles (a 9:00 per mile pace). Saturday was the hottest day in the past month (and quite possibly the hottest day so far this year), and the heat definitely played a role in my run. Additionally, I decided to take on the hardest segment of what I use to do for my long weekend runs (which I have named "the hill that kills my will" - a two plus mile segment of climbing which is followed by a sharp downhill which requires effort to keep stable). Both of these factored into my inability to hit my target. I completed 7.1 miles in the 65 minutes (a 9:10 per mile pace). Regardless, I consider it a successful run and was happy with my performance.

This week my plan is to do 35 minute weekday runs (should be close to 4 miles each) and a 70 minute long run (targeting 7.77 miles).

I don't have any races targeted for my next race. Now that it's getting warmer, I probably won't sign up for anything until the week of the race just to make sure that the forecast seems like it's going to be agreeable. If the weather seems ok, I'll probably take on the Elk Grove Run for Hunger at the end of June. Weather will also decide if I go 5K or 10K. I'd prefer to do the 10K.

Wounded Veteran Run

After completing my weekday runs, I decided that I was ready to take on my first organized 10K of the year. Lucky for me, the Wounded Veteran Run was scheduled to take place on Monday, and so I promptly signed up.

I got to the race a bit earlier than needed for parking, but I always chose to err on the side of caution when it comes to making sure that I get to a race on time. Fortunately for me, the race parking was near a grocery store, and I was able to do a bit of shopping before heading over to observe the pre-race festivities.

I was a bit concerned coming into the race regarding my left knee which has been a bit sore the past week. It felt pretty good yesterday, but I wasn't completely sure how it was going to react to a hard six miles.

Since I hadn't ran a 10K since I had to sit out of running for six months to allow my Achilles to heal, I wasn't expecting a PR. I hoped to be within a minute and a half of my 10K PR. I didn't actually look up my PR prior to the race, but I knew that beating 50 minutes would be within the right range.

Once the race started, I got off to what was likely too fast of a start, and I kept a 7:30 per mile pace for the first mile and a half. I started to slow down from there, but I was able to finish each of the first three miles in under 8 minutes each. My fourth mile clocked in at 8:05, and the last two were 8:15.

As I got close to the finish line, I realized that I wasn't certain what my PR time for a 10K was and based on my time, I knew that I would unlikely set a new PR unless the course was short, but I kept pushing ahead. The last mile had the added complexity of weaving around the 5K runners (the 5K and 10K courses merged at roughly the five mile mark).

When my GPS watch beeped to indicate I had completed the sixth mile, I could tell that the finish line was too close for the course to have been regulation length. Checking with some other fellow runners after the finish, my guess is that the course was a tenth mile too short.

Checking my time after the run, I found that I finished in 48 minutes flat. Taking a look back, my 10K PR had been 48:22.5, so I broke it by 22.5 seconds:

Had the course been regulation length, I likely would have finished around 48:45 which would not have been a new PR. However, that would have been good for my second best 10K which still would have been quite good all things considered.

Regardless, I set a new 10K PR today. Based on my progress in getting back to form, I'd say that I ought to be able to break this 10K this fall.

An Hour on the Clock

After feeling less sore from foot golf (but still a bit sore), I decided to head out for my usual Monday run. Since I missed my weekend run, I decided to just repeat the same distance as the week prior: a 30 minute run. The run went well although I was a bit sorer than usual. I went out as planned on Wednesday and did the same run as Monday.

Saturday (yesterday) I went out for the run I meant to do last weekend: a full hour. It again was a hilly affair, but I was able to mostly stick around a 9 minute per mile pace (my worst mile was ~9:15). I completed 6.7 miles overall and felt pretty good when I finished.

I will probably up my weekday runs by a few minutes this week. I haven't decided on my weekend plan yet. If I was just going for training, I'd probably do 65 minutes. However, I'm thinking about signing up for a 10K on Memorial Day since it's been over a year since my last 10K. If I do go for a 10K on Monday, I'm not sure if I should run Friday night or do a "mid-range" run on Saturday. I will figure things out closer to the end of the week.

Missed Weekend Due to Foot Golf

I missed my first weekend run since returning to running due to soreness from playing foot golf as part of a teambuilder at work on Friday. I have been impressed (in a sad way) at how sore my legs have been from playing a round of foot golf.

Hopefully my legs will feel good enough to get back to running tomorrow for my weekday runs.

Neighborhood 10K

A couple more weeks of training are in the books. Yesterday, I covered the 10K distance for the first time this year. Felt good to go that far. I didn't quite make the pace I wanted (took me ~56:40), but as my runs get longer, I end up running on hillier terrain, so the slight slow down is expected. In addition, the temperatures are getting warmer, and that'll slow me down also.

I am still running at roughly a 9 minute per mile pace which is good for me in training. Hopefully I will continue in that range as my distance increases.

I haven't decided my plan for the upcoming week. I might repeat last week's time and distances to see if I can improve my results. However, I do also like the thought of continuing to work on increasing my distance.

Comparing Personal Records

One of the things I struggle with most when it comes to running races is knowing what pace I should target. When I'm sticking with races of the same distance, it's fairly simple to come up with a pace (generally I target a few seconds per mile faster than my last run or my PR). But when I jump between distances, it becomes harder. How do I know how fast I should try to run a half marathon when my last one was six months ago?

While determining what pace to run a half marathon right now is not something I have to worry about, I will soon need to figure out a plan for running a 10K. Can I use my recent 5Ks to predict a 10K time? How does my recent 5K PR compare to my 10K, 10 mile, and half marathon PRs from last year?

Roughly a year ago, a friend of mine told me about Jeff Galloway's Magic Mile. In short, the theory is that taking the time from running a good, hard mile every couple weeks can be used to predict one's performance in longer distance races assuming the runner has properly trained for the distance. I tried a couple of magic miles, but I ran into a similiar problem of not knowing what pace to target for the mile which resulted in an inconsistent pace.

Since then I have found a calculator on Runner's World that will translate a result into various other distances (1500 meters, 1 mile, 3K, 5K, 5 mile, 10K, 10 mile, half marathon, and marathon). So looking at my current PRs, how do they compare?

I think the easiest way to compare the PRs is to convert them to a consistent distance, and I think one mile makes the most sense. Here's how they stack up:

2014 Sacramento Zoo Zoom 10K	6:59
2014 Sac Credit Union 10 Mile Run	7:02
2014 Shamrock'n Half Marathon	7:07
2015 Sacramento Zoo Zoom 5K	7:11

Looking at this, although the speed in MPH of my recent 5K PR is the fastest, it is the slowest PR of the bunch. I'm not surprised by this: I didn't think I would be back to where I was yet. My 2014 PRs are in order by shortest to farthest run, but they are also in order of most recent to least recent. I'd like to think the recent factor plays a bigger role, but I do think my performance decreases in longer runs more than it does for most.

Doing a bit of further conversions, if I converted my 10K PR to 5K, the expectation would be that I'd finish in 23:12 (41 seconds faster than I finished on Sunday which is over 13 seconds per mile faster). If I convert my 5K PR to 10K, I'd expect to finish in 49:50 - nearly a minute and a half slower than my PR. That suggests that if I were to run a 10K tomorrow, that I should target 8:02 per mile. Hopefully by the time I decide to take on my first 10K of the year I will be able to do better than that (depending on the weather).

Sacramento Zoo Zoom 5K

Today I took on the Sacramento Zoo Zoom 5K. I have ran the Zoo Zoom twice in the past, but both of those times I ran the 10K. In both of those races, I set a new 10K PR, and I was looking forward to setting a new 5K PR, and in particular, was aiming to set my 5K PR below 24 minutes. I got close to 24 minutes three week ago at the Running of the Elk Thrive 5K and hoped that I could improve my performance enough to break through. The Zoo Zoom is a flat, fast course but so was the course for the Elk Thrive 5K.

The race got started on time, and I got off to a good start. There were quite a few faster runners ahead of me at the start, but I did a good job of not going too hard in the first couple minutes. I maintained a good pace throughout the first mile and completed it in 7:38. The second mile was as good (even better) than the first, and I finished it in 7:35. Generally when my second mile is faster than the first, it's a sign that I'm going to have a really good run.

That, however, was not necessarily the case today. Shortly int the third mile, I started to feel a bit off. The best way that I can explain it is that my body started to feel as if I was being lightly shocked. Not sure if it was related to the weather or if it was related to my race day breakfast, but whatever it was, it made the last mile quite difficult. I kept pushing, but I noticed that my pace had dropped a half minute per mile. I knew that I had created a buffer for the final mile since my first two were so fast, but it was going to be tight if I didn't pick up my pace a little bit.

After a few minutes, I was able to pick it up a bit, but I knew things were still going to be tight. When I hit the 3 mile mark, I was glad to almost be done and gave the run everything I had left. As I approached the line, I could see the race timer was at 23:50. As I pushed through the line, I was pretty sure that I crossed before the clock hit 24 minutes, and even if not, I ought to have a second or two buffer based on how long it took me to get to the start line.

It took a few hours before results were posted online, but once they were, I was glad to see that I indeed did meet my goal (and with six seconds to spare):

My final mile clocked in at 7:58 which was enough to get it done but quite a bit off from my pace in the previous miles.

Now that I've broken through 24 minutes, I'm not sure what's next race-wise. Would be nice to lower my 5K PR even more and perhaps get close to 8 MPH (23:15), but I'd also like to get back to running 10Ks. If I focus on training for a month, I should be at the point that I can take on my first 10K of the year. I'll have to give it some thought over the next few days.

Running of the Elk Thrive 5K Men's 35-39 Third Place Finisher

A couple weeks ago, I ran the Running of the Elk Thrive 5K. In my post about the race, I mentioned that there was some confusion as to whether or not I finished third or fourth in my age division (Men's 35-39). Well, everything has been sorted out, and it was determined that I finished third. The top three finishers in each age group got a finisher medal, and so I went to pick my up from The Running Zone in Elk Grove.

I was quite thrilled to earn my first award medal. The medal itself is pretty neat: it's made of wood and the elk image is quite nice. I think if you looked at just the front of the medal, you would think it was a half marathon finisher medal rather than an award medal.

To further celebrate my accomplishment, I've updated my running badge to indicate I was an award winner:

Five Miles

I stuck with my plan to run three times over the past week: two shorts runs with one long run on the weekend. I ended up going slightly longer than planned on the short runs: instead of running for 20 minutes I did 22 so that the runs would be just over 2.5 miles. I did 44 minutes for my long weekend run which ended up just a touch over five miles. It was the first time since my injury that I covered five miles, and it felt good to do so, but the run was a bit of a challenge.

My first two miles of the five mile run were completed with a 8:30 minute per mile pace which is about as fast as I've gone in training runs this year. The final three miles were 8:50, 8:50, and 8:55 respectively. The third mile had the most climbing, and as such, I would have liked to see either the fourth or fifth mile surpass it in speed, but I'm pretty happy with my splits.

I will be going to the Sacramento River Cats game Monday night, so I'm going to have to change my training schedule for the week. I haven't decided if my plan will be to run Tuesday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. I'm running the Sacramento Zoo Zoom 5K on Sunday, so I won't be doing a long run this week. I will probably keep my midweek runs at 22 minutes for this week and next, and I'll probably repeat yesterday's five mile run for my long run in two weeks once I'm back to training.

Going Farther / Getting Harder

After completing the Running of the Elk Thrive 5K last Sunday, I delayed my midweek run by a day this week and ran on Wednesday instead. My midweek run went well, but my Saturday run was a bit rough. I guess the combo of racing hard on Sunday and doing 4.25 miles on Wednesday left me a bit fatigued. Regardless, I was still able to average a 9 minute per mile pace.

This coming week I think I'm going to switch to running three times a week: two short runs during the week and one long run on the weekend. My plan is to run Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday (unless there's rain). I think my short runs will start at 20 minutes (half of what I did on Saturday). I haven't decided what I'm going to do on Saturday. I'll do somewhere between 40-45 minutes depending on how I feel. I would have said 44 minutes, but if I'm able to keep my 9 minutes per mile pace, it's unlikely that I'd stop a minute shy of completing 5 miles.

Running of the Elk Thrive 5K

This morning I participated in my second 5K of the year: the Running of the Elk Thrive 5K. I came into the race with three goals:

1. Set a New 5K PR (currently 24:42)
2. Finish in the top 3 of my age category (Mens 35-39)
3. Beat 24 minutes

The bottom two goals were clearly stretch goals, but there was a possibility that one or both could be achieved in particular the second. I will be honest, part of the reason I choose to run this 5K was because they split the age categories in half this year (mine was now 35-39 instead of 30-39) and based on last year's results, I finish third for my category. Additionally, a 10K was added this year which would possibly pull some of the faster runners from the 5K. Granted neither of those things assured that I would finish in the top three, but my odds were better than they are in most runs I do.

An impromptu singing of the national anthem preceded the start of the half marathon and 10K which was a nice feature. The start of the race was delayed roughly a minute as a result which I didn't mind, but I imagine if I was running either that I may have been more itching to get going. The 5K started as scheduled 15 minutes after the 10K/half.

I struggled at the start to settle in on the pace that I wished to run the first mile. I wanted to attempt to go for 7:40, but it took a good minute and a half to slow myself down into that range. Once I got myself settled in, I was surprised at how many people I was continuing to pass. Since I had started too fast, I expected that the faster runners would catch up and pass me but there weren't many that did (I guess they were all lined up near the front like they should). I continued to pass runners throughout the first mile, and it was becoming apparent that I wasn't going to find a runner to pace myself against. I finished the first mile slower than I desired at 7:47 but I'm not sure that I could have pushed myself much harder.

For the first part of the second mile, I continued to pass multiple runners. Midway through the mile, I got past most of the slower runners and there was a lot of open space in front of me. I concentrated on trying to keep my pace steady with the first mile, and as the second mile drew to a close, I could tell that I was starting to run down a couple of the runners up in the distance. I finished the second mile in 7:50 and was happy to only lose three seconds off of my first mile time.

I kept plugging away at trying to catch those runners in the third mile and roughly midway through I passed the first one. As I approached the second, I heard footsteps behind me, and as that runner passed me, I noticed that he could be in my age group (I failed to check if he was running the 5K or the 10K). I tried to stick with him as he went by but I quickly realized that wasn't going to happened. I followed him by the second runner but then he quickly lost me. The only other person visible in the distance was a wheelchair athlete, and so I tried to track him down. We went by the third mile marker as I got close, and I briefly looked down to see that I finished mile three in 7:56.

Knowing that I was within reach of setting a new PR, I took off in a sprint towards the finish line (even chanting "Faster. Faster!" as I went). As I approached the finish, I could see that I was going to be close but not under 24 minutes. I flew through the final tenth of a mile at a 5:11 pace.

They handled out finisher medals for all of the races. I'm not a big fan of finisher medals for races under 10 miles, but I must admit that the design was pretty cool: die cut characters "5K" with an elk running in front of them. I'm unlikely to display it when I get around to putting up my medal hanger, but maybe I will until I get enough medals from longer distances.

There were quite a lot of booths in the post-race party area which was nice to see. I wandered around for a bit while I waiting for results to be posted. I was excited to see if somehow I did infact break 24 minutes and was more so excited to see if I had finished in the top three of my age group.

Unfortunately, I just missed out on both. The results showed me as 4th in my age group finishing 13 seconds behind third (perhaps the guy who passed me near the end?). My chip time was 24:06.2 which on the positive side of things was a smoking 36 seconds faster than my previous 5K best.

I was definitely more disappointed about not finishing in my age category top three than not breaking 24 minutes since I figured I was more likely to break 24 minutes in the Sacramento Zoo Zoom next month.

After getting home and walking my corgis, I went online to get my race time for making my race badge (above), and I noticed that my position was updated from fourth to third. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I can see in the results that the runner who had been listed as second for my category had his chip time changed by over a half hour (his chip time currently far exceeds his gun time which makes no sense). I'm not sure if that's a mistake or not, but I've contacted the race management group to see if I indeed did finish third and whether or not it's too late to pick up the award. Feels a bit silly at my age to be so interested in the award, but regardless, I think having it would be a good reward for sticking with running through the injuries.

Second Verse, [Not the] Same as the First

I ran the exact same route tonight as I did on Saturday. My splits were more consistent this go round: 8:53, 8:53, 9:00, and 8:41 (versus 8:30, 8:41, 9:01, 9:13). My overall average rate was a second per mile faster. Most impressively to me was that the fourth mile was the fastest of the lot. I'm not sure that I've had a performance where one of the later miles was faster than an earlier one. It's always a good sign when you're able to perform like that.

This performance encourages me that I'll be able to do well at the Running of the Elk Thrive 5K this coming weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to set a new PR and approach my stretch goal of finishing in under 24 minutes.

Additionally this makes me think that I won't have to spend too long trying to even out my performance before once again increasing distance. Maybe I'll even surpass 5 miles before the end of April.

Four Miles

Yesterday I completed my first run over four miles. Once I passed the four mile mark, I decided to go for 4.12 miles so that the run would be a mile beyond a 5K.

My splits for the run definitely showed that I am slowing down as the run progresses: each mile was roughly 15 seconds slower than the previous mile: I finished the first mile in 8:30 and the last in 9:13. I think this is something that could definitely use improvement, and I plan to see if I can smooth out the variance in my times over the next few weeks.

Next weekend, however, I will not be working on that as I will be running the Running of the Elk Thrive 5K. It's been a few weeks since the Sac Beer Week 5K, and I'd like to see if I can lower my PR.

Following the 5K, I'll probably run Wednesday and Saturday rather than my usual Tuesday/Saturday since the 5K is on Sunday. After that I will attempt to increase my running to three times a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. For my first week of that, my plan is to do 2 mile or 20 minutes for the weekday runs and 4 miles or 40 minutes for the weekend run. I'll probably do that for a couple weeks and then slowly increase the length of the runs.

Back to Training

With my first race of the year (and my return to running) completed, I returned to my regularly scheduled training. I stuck with my current plan of adding 2 minutes each run, and as such, I did 32 minutes on Tuesday and 34 minutes today completing 3⅓ and 3.55 miles respectively.

My pace was slower for this week's runs than it was in the previous couple. I think Tuesday's may have been slowed by fatigue from the 5K on Saturday. Today's run started fast, but I slowed quite a bit in the second and third miles. Today's high temperature was a record, and that along with my foolish choice of a black shirt probably played a big factor in my performance.

Tomorrow is the Shamrock'n Half Marathon which I have ran the past couple years. I really enjoy the race, and it's a disappointment to miss it this year. Hopefully everything works out, and I'll be able to run it again next year.

Sac Beer Week 5K

Leading up to the day of the race, I realized that I had overlooked the fact that the Sac Beer Week 5K was a small race, and as such, it would be taking place on the sidewalks and we would have to follow traffic laws (meaning we could have to stop at traffic lights). Not a huge deal, but definitely a potential blocker to being able to set a PR.

One of the nice features of the race that initially attracted me to the run was that it started at noon (versus the usual 8/9 AM start time). Today was the warmest day so far this year with a high around 75°, and as such, at race time it was nearly 70° which was far warmer than any of the runs I've taken so far this year. While by no means hot, I hoped the temperature wouldn't affect my performance.

The race started on time, and we took off from the brewery (New Helvetia Brewing Company. I got off to a quick start and slowly throttled back to about a 7:45 per mile pace. Midway into the first mile, we hadn't hit any traffic lights, and I began to think my fears about having to stop were unfounded. However shortly thereafter, I can upon the first light, and my direction turned to red before I reached the intersection. As I started to "put on the brakes", I noticed that the car with the right-of-way hadn't started to move, so I decided to quickly cut across the street in front of it (giving the driver a quick "thank you" wave as I crossed by). Two more runners came along with me. I didn't hit any more red lights on the rest of the run, and I think there were only three more intersections where that was a possibility.

I finished the first mile in 7:51 well ahead of the 8:15 pace needed for a PR. I had some concerns after the first mile about my ability to keep up such a quick pace, but at 26 seconds ahead, I'd only need to average 8:28 for the final two miles to set a PR.

My second mile was a drop off from the first, but I was still able to finish it ahead of PR pace at 8:05. I could feel myself starting to wear down, but I knew I needed to finish strong.

In the final mile, there were a number of runners that started to fall off pace, and I kept myself motivated by targeting various runners as my next victim for passing. The strategy worked, and I only lost a few seconds off of my second mile time finishing the third mile in 8:08.

The sprint to the finish line from there was a short one (by my GPS watch the course was 3.07 miles just slightly shy of the 3.11), and I was back at the bar 24:42 after the time I started beating my previous 5K PR by 53 seconds (roughly 17 seconds per mile).

The race took quite a bit out of me, and I spent a number of minutes afterwards walking around and drinking water to recover. Once I felt pretty good I headed into the bar for the post race celebration. Entry in the race came with a free pint, and I decided to try their Homeland Stout. I thought it was pretty good for a Stout, and by checking into it on Untappd, I earned both the Sac Beer Week and Beer Party badges. Score!

About an hour after the start of the run, they posted times and handed out awards to the top finishers. Not surprisingly, I didn't place, but I was pleased to see that I finished 8th (out of 26) in the Men's 30-39 division and 25th out of the 188 participants.

After awards, I decided it was time for lunch, and I was happy to see that one of the food trucks I've been wanting to try (Cichy Co.) was at the bar. I decided to try the Uncle Bob Sandwich (a fried mortadella sandwich) and the grilled artichoke (with choice of aioli - I went with the spicy). Both were delicious, and I would have them again (and I look forward to trying other sandwiches from Cichy Co.). I paired my lunch with New Helvetia's Buffalo Craft Lager. It was tasty, but I preferred the stout.

I definitely enjoyed the Sac Beer Week 5K, and I would certainly run it again. The race was put on by the Sloopy Moose Running Club which meets at New Helvetia every Thursday for a run. Not sure how often Thursday would work for me, but it'll definitely be something that I keep in mind.

5K Distance Covered

In my last training run before the Sac Beer Week 5K, I covered 3.15 miles in 28 minutes. I can now go into the race this weekend knowing that I indeed can cover the distance (I was pretty confident that I could cover the distance prior to this run, but it's nice to have actually covered it).

In tonight's run, I covered 5K in 27:35: two minutes over my PR. I would expect at best to take a minute off per mile in an organized race. I don't expect that on Saturday, but if I can beat my pace by 40 seconds per mile I'll set a new PR.

Crazy Plan Enacted

I jumped the gun and went ahead and signed up for the Sac Beer Week 5K. Hopefully I won't have any setbacks in the next week that make that a bad decision.

To prep for the run, I added three minutes to my last run instead of two and will likely do the same on Tuesday. This way, I should have ran 3.1 miles at least once before the race next Saturday.

In my 25 minute run today, I covered 2.9 miles at my fastest pace of the year: 8:35 per mile. To break my PR next weekend, I'll need to average better than 8:15 per mile. Organized runs bring about an excited energy that propel me to fun much faster than my training runs. I don't know how much that'll be true this go 'round, but I think there's a good chance that I could break my PR next weekend. And if I don't, the run should give me good insight into where I'm at that should help with breaking it at a future run.

A Crazy Plan

I've heard about what sounds like a pretty chill 5K that will be taking place next weekend. It's a bit early in my plan to actually be taking on an organized 5K, but the distance is about right for the following weekend, so I might just be crazy enough to go for it. The race is the Sac Beer Week 5K which starts and ends at New Helvetia Brewing Co. in Sacramento. So on top of taking on my first 5K of the year, I would also get the opportunity to try some new beers. Seems like a win/win.

I have until the middle of next week to decide on whether or not I'm taking part, and I'll probably wait until then to decide just to give me another week to see where my body is at.

Speaking of which, tonight's run went well, and I completed 2½ miles for the first time this year. I'm still running at a sub 9 minutes per mile pace. I'm guessing that once I start tackling longer distances that I'll get back to my normal training pace.

Just One Run This Past Week

I skipped running mid-week this week due to a Pancake Day celebration on Tuesday and not feeling up to it on Wednesday. The break didn't negatively impact my run yesterday as I completed nearly 2⅓ miles during my 20 minute run. I'm roughly four runs away from being able to complete a 5K.

I think it'd be good if I could complete 4 miles before taking on my first 5K. Currently I'm thinking my top two candidates for my first 5K of the year are the Running of the Elk Thrive 5K or the Sacramento Zoo Zoom. I've ran the Zoo Zoom 10K the past two years, and the course is flat and fast. It certainly would be an ideal course for setting a new 5K PR.

Two More Runs According to the Plan

I completed two more runs over this past week each two minutes longer than my previous run. For both runs, I ran at a 8:50 pace. My lungs are getting back into the swing of things, and I'm feeling less winded during and at the end of my training runs.

I surpassed two miles during my run yesterday. I am nearly ⅔ of the way to a 5K. The way things are going, I ought to be able to attempt an organized 5K by the end of March. Hopefully so, as it'll be nice to take part in organized runs again.

I will be interested to see if I can set a new 5K PR in the first half of the year. My current 5K PR is 25:33 which I set in 2013, and I haven't ran a 5K since. Had I ran one last summer, I'm sure that I would have blown away that PR (my 10K PR pace is much faster than that 5K). It is nice that my 5K PR should be beatable as that should provide some good motivation.

Missed Out on Rain but Not Running

The forecast-ed storm for the weekend didn't really come to be, and as such, I was able to get out for another run. We really need the rain, so it was disappointing that the storm didn't happen.

As with my previous run, I added another two minutes to my total run time. I once again didn't slow down as expected and actually sped up to an average of 8:45 per mile. I completed 1.6 miles overall for the run. So far my plan of adding a couple minutes per run is working out well and will hopefully continue to do so.

I am ahead of schedule of where I intended to be at this point (this was supposed to be my second run and equidistant to the first). If all goes well, I should be close to two miles for next weekend's run and potentially near 5K by the end of the month. I realize that I may have to repeat distances at some point, but I'm enjoying my progress so far.

Second Scheduled Run Pulled In

With rain in the forecast for the next four or so days, I decided to go out for a run tonight rather than potentially have to wait longer than a week to get out for my second run of the year.

My Achilles has felt fine up to this point, so I figured pre-run that I'd go ahead and run for twelve minutes rather than my originally planned ten. I thought that since this would be an evening run and that I had gotten the first-run excitement out of my system that I'd likely go at a slower pace than the first run. This was not the case. I ran again at a 9 minutes per mile pace and completed 1⅓ miles during my run.

Here's hoping that my Achilles continues to hold up and that I'm able to get out for another run within the week.

Faster Than Expected/Desired

It felt great to get out for my first run in six months. My legs were more ready than I expected, and I far exceeded my expectations in regards to pace. I think my pace was too fast for my first run back. I ended up running 1.11 miles in 10 minutes for a roughly 9 minutes per mile pace. I would have preferred that I ran more slowly, but it appears that my historical problems with "going slow" still exist. My lungs had a harder time keeping up with the speed than my legs.

I expect and hope that as I go out and run more often that I will slow down from that pace. If not, I may have to find a way to go more slowly to help prevent injuries.

I will be monitoring my Achilles over the next week, and if all is well, I plan to run another mile next weekend.

T-Minus One Week...

My Achilles has been pretty much pain-free in January, and as such, I think I'm ready to go out for a jog. Barring an unforeseen setback, next Saturday will be roughly one month free of pain, and so I will be targeting going out for a mile on Saturday.

Before my injury, I tended to run at roughly 9:30 per mile during my training runs around the neighborhood. I expect (and probably need) to be slower than that for my initial runs (and potentially for a while). I think my first run ought to fall in the 11-12 minute range, and I'll figure out where to go from there. My expectation is that I'll add 1-2 minutes per run as I build up to 3 miles and then perhaps add 10% (at most) to my runs thereafter until I get back to my original distances. Of course, I'll increase more slowly if needed.

Ready to Return to Running

Mentally, I'm ready to return to running. Physically, unfortunately, I'm not quite there yet. I've been recovering from a Achilles injury since late August, and while I've had a few pain free days in the past week, I think I need at least a few more weeks before taking my legs out for their first spin of 2015.

In the meantime, I will start updating my race calendar ("Runs I'm Considering") again with the hope that I'll be able to take on a 5K or two before summer. It'll probably be a few weeks before it's filled in, but hopefully it'll be back to being a good resource in a week or two (and certainly by the end of the month).

When I do get back to running, I'll be taking it slow. My plan is to go out for a mile for my first run, wait a week to make sure all is well, and then go out for another mile. If all that goes smoothly, I'll start running twice a week slowly increasing the time that I run. Hopefully I'll be up to roughly a 5K by the end of March.

Other than working on my race calendar, there won't be much in the line of updates in the next few weeks until I'm reading to hit the pavement.