Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Week 6 Results (Sunday and Tuesday)

What a week! Although we ended our football season on a disappointing 2-6, it was still quite the week. So as you may know, I was sick last week and was feeling better for my record- smashing run. This week (especially the Tuesday run) either that same cold is coming back onto me or something else, but I just have a common cold. So Sunday, I ran a 5:43.39 which would be translated to about a 4:58 on a track (we'll talk about translated times in a little bit), and ran a 5:39.0 on Tueesday. Here is the new chart with my times.
So as you may see, I have put two lines with my actual time and my '45 second rule*' time, to better keep me going with a long-term goal in mind. Since either my 45 second rule is wrong or I am running 4:54 miles (not very probable at this point in time). My goal then, is to run a 5:30 on my actual time, consistently.

Conditions
  • Road- 4/5 had 2 30-40 ft stretches where it was fairly sandy, the rest was just fine.
  • Weather, (Sunday)- 60 degrees, no wind. (Tuesday) 50 degrees, wind from the LRL (left, rear, left)
  • How I felt...
    • Before- coughing a little bit, after light warm- up
    • After (Sunday) more winded than usual. (Tuesday) slightly sick to my stomach at end, wheezing a little bit at the beginning
Goals
1. No pop for 2 weeks.
Going good, currently on day 10 out of 14. End date is Sunday, October 29.

2. Run three times this week with an average time of under 6:00.
Failed, I was going to run today (Thursday), but it was just too cold, and I had things to do at home. Change from 6:00 to 5:50.

Final Thoughts
  • Very productive week. Only having two runs, I think, did me good with all of the work my muscles have done this week and because of my cold.
  • Trying to figure out a winter plan. For those of you who have not visited Nebraska, it can really snow here, so I need to find a good way to run in the winter. One idea was to go to an asphault parkway around the football/baseball field that is approximately 400 meters. The only problem with that, though, is accessibility. It is in town, which is two miles from my house, I would need cooperation with my mom (former assistant track coach).
  • '45 second rule'- The road that I run on is sand, has a 50 ft hill at the very beginning, and is about 1.05 miles. Based off of the last two years in training (not often until now), my time on that road has been consistently 45 seconds higher than what I was running on a track.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Week 5 Results (Tuesday)

No, I have not given up (I don't know why I would), I have been sick since Friday. Since today I was feeling a little better, I decided that I needed to go on my run with a one day safety cushion in case I completely blew it. So, at about 6:30, when I got home from football practice, I hurried up and left to go run. I was feeling a bit better than usual, I was energizing myself so I wouldn't have an awful run. I ran my 1st split about 8 seconds fast, as well as the 2nd split, my third split was about 10 seconds fast, and my final time was a 5:48.2 (which, if the 45 second rule is still in play, is a 5:03). A 16 second improvement from last week and a new all-time record by 13 seconds. I have also changed my goal from 305 seconds to 300 seconds, just to give me more motivation.


Conditions
  • Road- 5/5, rained two days ago
  • Weather- about 48 degrees Farenheit, dry
  • How I felt...
    • Before- very energized and motivated
    • After- I felt like that was the hardest I've ever run
Last Week's Goals
1. No pop for the next 2 weeks
Failed, I dropped the ball on Sunday, currently on day 3 out of 14

2. Run three times this week with an average time of under 6:10
Failed, sick. Definately a goal for next week, but instead of a time under 6:00 (this one's going to be hard)


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Week 4: part 2 (Tuesday)

No school today. Although we did have regular football practice and conditioning today, I went home determined to run a good mile. The road seemed like it would be good, the weather was nice, and its a good day to run a near-record mile. I went down to the road and ran a solid 6:04.2 (about 5:20). Relative to Sunday, the road had amazing traction and the weather seemed very nice (warm and dry). Maybe some of it had to do with coming back from football practice (when I'm done with football, I'm not very winded). Well, here is the new chart for this week


Both goals were achieved! New goals are:

Goal 1: Don't drink any pop for the next 2 weeks (this one's going to be hard for me)
Goal 2: To run 3 times during week 5 with times averaging <6:10

And just as a side note, my running weeks are from Thursday to Wednesday. That will probably clear up a lot.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Week 4 Results

I hate making excuses. It makes me end up feeling like I'm more at fault. Today, I have so many things I could use as excuses, and I could use as reasons. If it seems like I'm getting to the "excuse mode" please let me know.

I ran at about noon today in a light drizzle, about 60 degrees, and 3 inches of rain in the past 48 hours. So the road that I ran on was sloppy in places. I started running and I felt like I was running in the Himalayas. The air just felt so thin. I called a few people after the disappointing (to say the least) run, and they said that the air feels like it's so thin, because of the low pressure system 75 miles away, and they high amount of humidity. Although, the road had much more traction, there were many places where I was slipping. So, here are the results.



I ran a disapointing 6:20 (which is approximately a 5:35 on a real track). The best sounding thing that I can say, is that I was extremely winded, and moderately dizzy afterwards. I know that I pushed myself hard, and that my body will definately react to that. To help make up for this "loss", so to speak, I'm going to take it relatively easy on Monday, and run then. I need everything I can get at this point in time.

Last Week's Goals
1. To run a 6:05 or faster.
Next week/Monday's goal

2. To consume 60g carbs, and 20g protein after my workout.
Nearly accomplished, also next week's goal

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Week 3 Results

Yes, one more workout done! I ran today after only getting 6 and a half hours of sleep last night, and doing my best not to take a nap (naps kill me). I eventally went out on a run and ran a 6:08.5. This was not a surprise to me, due to such a great improvement from week 1 to week 2. The other thing that is concerning me is the sandiness of the road. Each week, there is more and more sand on that road. That will probably show on both my time chart and my muscular improvement. Although they will probably be taking opposite directions in the short- term plan, they will ultimately help me much.

Goal: To run a 6:05 or faster.
Goal 2: To consume 60g of carbohydrates and 20g of protein 30 minutes or sooner after my workout.

I will run tomorrow as a week 3 run because I do not have school. I also may not have time to run, due to to a football game.