Resevoir Dog

Dave_

Monday:

5.4 miles down by the resevoir. Nice slow run.


Miles This Week - 5.4
Total Miles - 292.3
Runs This Week - 1
Total Runs - 64

Dave_

Thursday:

4 miles slow on hilly route

Tuesday:

5 miles 47:30 on the the treadmill

Miles This Week - 5
Total Miles - 301.3
Runs This Week - 1
Total Runs - 66

Dave_

Monday:

3.1 Miles on the treadmill

Miles This Week - 3.1
Total Miles - 304.4
Runs This Week - 1
Total Runs - 67

Dave_

Tuesday
1 hour Spin and Sculpt

Wednesday
3.1 miles on the treadmill in 27.30

Miles This Week - 6.2
Total Miles - 307.5
Runs This Week - 2
Total Runs - 68

Dave_

Thursday:
4 miles at a nice pace. Thank god the heat has died down some!

Miles This Week - 10.2
Total Miles - 311.5
Runs This Week - 3
Total Runs - 69

Dave_

Friday -

2.5 Miles easy. Was wrecked from previous days.

Sunday

Rest Saturday so was determined to get in a good run today.

7.3 miles out in perfect running weather with a nice breeze but never too strong. Felt good for the most part but tired by the end.


Miles This Week - 20
Total Miles - 321.3
Runs This Week - 5
Total Runs - 71

Dave_

Monday:

4 miles in 37.30 on the treadmill. Good to get another run in the day after the longer one.

Miles This Week - 4
Total Miles - 325.3
Runs This Week - 1
Total Runs - 72

Dave_

Tuesday

1 hour spin and sculpt class

Wednesday

5.25 miles with fartlek. Tough session but great to get the legs moving fast

1.75 miles
2 miles fartlek
1.5 miles to home

Miles This Week - 9.25
Total Miles - 330.55
Runs This Week - 2
Total Runs - 73

Dave_

Saturday:

4 miles down by resevoir. 2 quick miles in the middle and slow at the start and at the end.

Sunday:

7.4 miles in the rain. Have to say, I enjoyed this longish run more than I've enjoyed a run in a long time. Constant drizzle keeping the temperature down, reminded me of long Sunday runs back as far as my secondary school days.

Miles This Week - 20.65
Total Miles - 341
Runs This Week - 4
Total Runs - 73

Dave_

Wednesday:

5.7 miles down by resevoir. Again, an enjoyable run.

Miles This Week - 5.7
Total Miles - 346.7
Runs This Week - 1
Total Runs - 74

Dave_

Friday:

3.84 miles around the reservoir.

Miles This Week - 9.55
Total Miles - 350.54
Runs This Week - 2
Total Runs - 75

Dave_

Saturday:

5.2 miles. Way too hot to be running, found this very tough

Miles This Week - 14.75
Total Miles - 355.75
Runs This Week - 3
Total Runs - 76

Dave_

Tuesday:

10.3 miles late in the evening. This took a huge amount out of me but came through it relatively unscathed. Think it's the longest run I've done since the half marathon a couple of months ago.

Miles This Week - 10.3
Total Miles - 366.05
Runs This Week - 1
Total Runs - 77

Dave_

Thursday:

4 miles down at the resevoir

1.2 mile warm up
1.55 miles fast
1.2 mile cool down

Incredibly tough to run quickly in the heat again....I seem to be complaining about this a lot. In every other sense other than running, I would love it to say hot! For my run tonight, I could be praying for the heat....Hurricane Earl is on his way!

Miles This Week - 14.3
Total Miles - 370.0
Runs This Week - 2
Total Runs - 78

Dave_

Friday:

4 miles of the usual route - pre hurricane, which never really materialised in boston.

Miles This Week - 18.3
Total Miles - 374.0
Runs This Week - 3
Total Runs - 79

Dave_

Sunday:

3.1 miles on the treadmill in the hotel. Glad to get a run in while on vacation

Miles This Week - 21.4
Total Miles - 377.1
Runs This Week - 4
Total Runs - 80

Dave_

Tuesday:

12.5 mile long run. Felt good for the first half of this run. Was able to take on water every 3 miles so heat wasn't a problem. Started to suffer after about 8 miles and the last mile and a half were hell. Very glad to get through it though and finish. Seems like getting my long run in early in the week is working for now as I felt I was missing it if left until the weekend.

Miles This Week - 12.5
Total Miles - 389.6
Runs This Week - 1
Total Runs - 81

Dave_

Thursday

3.5 miles treadmill in 31.31 on treadmill.

Felt tough from the start, guessing i still had the long run in my legs.

Miles This Week - 16
Total Miles - 393.1
Runs This Week - 2
Total Runs - 82

Dave_

Sunday:

1.5 miles warmup
3.1 miles race in 24.30
1.5 miles cool down

Miles This Week - 22.1
Total Miles - 399.2
Runs This Week - 3
Total Runs - 83

Dave_

Going to resurrect my thread from last year.

Reckon I've done close to 400 miles this year and have been putting in an average of 25 miles for the last month which I'd like to increase.

Next race is the Marathon Sports 5 mile on Thursday which should be fun. Think Im in good enough shape to set some PBs in the next couple of months, and hopefully, Ill finally break 2 hours for the Half Marathon in the Autumn.

Dave_

Been training pretty hard the last couple of weeks, trying to build up a tolerance to the heat but its been sapping my energy so much, that I'm having to take walk breaks on 5 mile runs.

This week has consisted of a 5 miler on Monday, rest tuesday, 2 * 50 mins indoor soccer games Wednesday, and a 5 mile race last night.

5 miler was always going to be a struggle when i saw the forecast for the week. Heat advisory warnings all week on the radio, so hydration was going to be key. On the day, my car was telling me, at 6.30pm that it was 92 degrees (33.3C), and with a fairly strong breeze.

My goal for the race was sub 40. Having done 41.30 in training 2 weeks ago, i felt like I had a reasonable chance of achieving this, or at lease getting within 30 seconds of it.

Race started off well. Having started off mid pack the last few races, and getting passed by people, I decided that I would start off back in the pack a bit, and try and move my way through the field.This tactic worked well and the first mile came through easily, 8 minutes exactly. This gave me confidence. Knew that there was a large hill on mile 2, so decided to try and coserve energy on the way up, and finish the mile strong to make up the time. This worked well and finished the mile feeling well at 16:05.

At the half way mark, something happened me though. The only way I can describe it is like a car overheating. I felt so uncomfortable and just could not cool down. Made it to the next water stop at before the 3 mile mark and took on 3 cups of water, drank 2 and threw the rest over my body. This only cooled me down for the next half mile and by the 5k mark, it was so uncomfortable that i needed to walk. Walked for about half a mile and jogged some knowing that my time was going to be pretty bad. Made it to the last water stop at 4.6ish miles and decided that i would take on as much water as I could and run all the way to the finish. This worked and I passed the 4 mile mark at 42 mins. Was feeling good at this stage so decided to push myself to try and break 50. Flew through the last mile and finished in 49.48. Pretty disappointed but glad I went through the experience.

Have decided to have another crack at the 5 mile distance and have entered a race 4 weeks out. Will keep up similar training and see can i crack that 40 min mark. If I clear that hurdle, I thin the next logical step would be sub 50 10k, but 10k races are a little hard to find in New England so will have to keep an eye out for a local one.

Has anyone got any advise for avoiding what racing in high temperature environments?

pgmcpq

Dave_ wrote: »

Been training pretty hard the last couple of weeks, trying to build up a tolerance to the heat but its been sapping my energy so much, that I'm having to take walk breaks on 5 mile runs.

This week has consisted of a 5 miler on Monday, rest tuesday, 2 * 50 mins indoor soccer games Wednesday, and a 5 mile race last night.

5 miler was always going to be a struggle when i saw the forecast for the week. Heat advisory warnings all week on the radio, so hydration was going to be key. On the day, my car was telling me, at 6.30pm that it was 92 degrees (33.3C), and with a fairly strong breeze.

My goal for the race was sub 40. Having done 41.30 in training 2 weeks ago, i felt like I had a reasonable chance of achieving this, or at lease getting within 30 seconds of it.

Race started off well. Having started off mid pack the last few races, and getting passed by people, I decided that I would start off back in the pack a bit, and try and move my way through the field.This tactic worked well and the first mile came through easily, 8 minutes exactly. This gave me confidence. Knew that there was a large hill on mile 2, so decided to try and coserve energy on the way up, and finish the mile strong to make up the time. This worked well and finished the mile feeling well at 16:05.

At the half way mark, something happened me though. The only way I can describe it is like a car overheating. I felt so uncomfortable and just could not cool down. Made it to the next water stop at before the 3 mile mark and took on 3 cups of water, drank 2 and threw the rest over my body. This only cooled me down for the next half mile and by the 5k mark, it was so uncomfortable that i needed to walk. Walked for about half a mile and jogged some knowing that my time was going to be pretty bad. Made it to the last water stop at 4.6ish miles and decided that i would take on as much water as I could and run all the way to the finish. This worked and I passed the 4 mile mark at 42 mins. Was feeling good at this stage so decided to push myself to try and break 50. Flew through the last mile and finished in 49.48. Pretty disappointed but glad I went through the experience.

Have decided to have another crack at the 5 mile distance and have entered a race 4 weeks out. Will keep up similar training and see can i crack that 40 min mark. If I clear that hurdle, I thin the next logical step would be sub 50 10k, but 10k races are a little hard to find in New England so will have to keep an eye out for a local one.

Has anyone got any advise for avoiding what racing in high temperature environments?

Dealing with the same type of weather about five hours south of you. There is not too much you can do to avoid the heat but there are a few things. A bit one is to hydrate for several days ahead of a race - not just on race day itself. I use chia seeds for anything long - google and take a look. Wear light weight, light coloured and wicking clothing - really worth investing a few bucks on this. Wear a hat - again wicking and white. It's really worth altering your race line to look for shade - makes a difference.
The one thing I would not do is pour water over yourself. In the humidity we are dealing with staying as dry as possible gives the skin the the best chance of allowing sweat to evaporate this cooling you off. If you really need to cool down quickly throw a limited amount of water down your back. Throwing water over your head just make matters worse in the long run. A (big) sweat band on the wrist allows you to dry off your face and neck and will give better relief in the long run.
You might need to adjust your goals. PBs don't generally happen in the kind of conditions we have now. I never target summer races - there's not much point.

Dave_

pgmcpq,

Thank you, that's all really good advise.

Will check out the Chia seeds, have seen them mentioned on here before. On the hydration thing, makes sense to make it an everyday habit, in these conditions.

Decided last night that I was definately going to purchase those two items as have been wearing singlets lately, and have no material to wipe my brow with so a wristband is a must.

Good advise on pouring water over ones self - have definately found that the relief is temporary, so actually staying as dry as possible makes perfect sense.

Yeah, it frustrating, when you feel that you're in the shape to better your times, but the conditions don't co-operate.

pgmcpq

Als should add - don't forget sunblock (a decent sports one - I've started to use Neotrogena recently ) !! A layer of vaseline over the eyebrows prevents it dripping into the eyes.

Dave_

After the disaster of the last race a month ago, I went back to the drawing board and put in 4 weeks of nice regular running. Each week consisted of 2 4 milers, one 5 miler and and 8.5 mile long run, with a soccer game every wednesday, so I felt i was in even better shape than the last race.

Cut forward to Saturday night and I was on the start line outside the PUMA hq, half an hour outside boston for the PUMA 5 miler. More on this later - this is the best value race I have ran since the Galway 5k series of races a couple of years ago.

The weather was in the 90's again so memories of the last race where i blew up were fresh and dented the confidence a little. Anyway, my plan was to start off at as close to 8 min pace as possible for the first mile and take it from there.

First mile was perfectly flat, and crossed the mile marker at exactly 8 mins. Next mile had a few rolling hills with one major drop. I decided to run this mile hard and try to bank some time on the downhills. Crossed the line at 15:42, feeling great. Knew I had a good chance of reaching my goal at this stage. Mile 3 featured many rolling hills and felt that i was possible working too hard. Nonetheless, I passed the 3 mile marker at 23:30 and, even though i was starting to struggle, I knew that I had a great chance.

Took on water at this stage and the heat was getting to me a bit (thanks to pgmcpq, I was a lot better prepared for it though!). Struggled through Mile 4 and had lost 15 seconds of my banked time as we made up the elevation we lost in the middle. Knew the last mile was meant to be pretty flat so had to dig in, knowing that an 8.15 mile would do it. Came back into the industrial park and could see the finish in the distance, so started to sprint early as I felt good. When I got closer though, I realised that the banner I was seeing was not the finish, and the actual finish was at least another 100m ahead! Panicking I dug in again and looked at the watch, knowing that I would be very close. Crossed the line in a heap and stopped the watch. Didnt even look at the time and just laid on the grass for a minute or two. Looked at it then and I had stopped it at 39:59! Waited for the chip time as I didnt know how accurate I had been with the stopwatch. Chip time came through a while later with an official result of 39:56. Absolutely delighted with that and was a great feeling to have reached the goal.

More on the race....was a great experience. For $20 registration fee, you got a chip timed race, easy parking, a PUMA technical t-shirt that wasnt plastered with sponsors names (just small race logo on the back, and "Will Run for beer" slogan on the front), a Harpoon beer tent, with food and 3 free Harpoon beers. Also had a charity sale set up with cheap puma merchandise with the proceeds going to cancer research. Picked up pair of puma racing flats for $25, which I was amazed at. All in all a great race experience

pgmcpq

Congrats. Yes the "awl fake finish line" can be a bit of a heart breaker alright!