Winter Training!

Winter training is in full force. By that I mean, not much running, finally doing some strength and weight training, and yes............cross country skiing. So far this week, I have XC skiid 3 times. The last time out (Wednesday), I did 2.44 miles, averaging 12:35 per mile, including some hills, and plowing through some fresh snow. The second lap around the park was faster, once the trail was blazed. Hope to get out again tonight, and over the weekend, as we received significant snow last weekend, then a couple inches here and there throughout the week.

Next week I may go downhill skiing. That doesn't count a whole lot towards workouts (all downhill), but it definitely is exercise.

I am curious what the other numerous blog readers/authors are doing for training this winter.

Vintage Striders

Seeing Neil's recent post, I just had to put this photo up...............I may have posted this in the past, but Neil, in case Bonnie hasn't seen this, I'm sure she'll get a good chortle out of it.........

Mark

December accomplishments

I actually planned to run a 5K over Thanksgiving, but my mother passed away (after a long illness) so had to scratch that idea. So instead last weekend on went on two snow shoe hikes. Both in New Hampshire White MOuntains

On Saturday climbed Mt Isolation which was 14 miles and over 2,500 ft of evelation gain. Took about 9 hours.

On Sunday did North and Middle Tripryamid about 9.6 miles again over 2,500 ft of evelation gain. Took about 8 hours.

Not quite the exertion of running a marathon, but certainly a good solid effort.

Mile Run Aborted: Winter Training Mode Begins

With the 1-2 punch of being sick for a few days, and winter storms covering up the track, I decided to take a well-deserved rest from hard training and racing for a few weeks. Thus, although the multitude of blog readers will be disappointed, I am bowing out of the indoor mile race on December 26.

In summary, 2010 was a great year for running. I ran 10 mile attempts, with a best of 5:20.7, and also ran 2 5ks in 18:48 (track) and 18:54 (winter road race with a couple hills). In addition, I managed a 3rd place overall in a very hilly trail 10K trail run (albeit with a slow time of 45:03, 7:15 per mile). My mile and 5K times were my fastest by far since 2000 and 2001, and my 5K time of 18:48, when age graded, was a substantially better performance than my 18:21 5k in 2000.

And no, I am not giving up on the 5-minute mile quest. Although it literally becomes harder each year, I feel that this year I made good progress, and plan to continue that into 2010, with perhaps more emphasis on mileage as a base, especially in the winter and spring.

For the next couple of months, I hope to run about 3 to 4 times per week, 4 to 5 miles per run, but weekend "runs" may be substituted with cross country ski outings whenever possible.

Oh, and C'mon Harry!!

Annual Reindeer Run 5K Results!

(No. 399, all black in photos)

Under excellent conditions given the time of year, I met both of my goals for this race (well, I think I did). (1) Break into the top 10 overall, a fairly lofty goal in a race that usually exceeds 400, and had 599 finishers this year. (2) Sub-19 - a reasonable goal, given my 18:48 on the track by myself two weeks ago.

(2nd from right, No. 399 in photo)


The results: 10th overall out of 599, 1st in the 50 to 54 age group, and a time of 18:54 (6:03/mile).
Conditions were much better than typical for this race, with temperatures near freezing and NO wind. The cemetery had a lot of ice before the race during my warmup, but apparently they salted it just prior to the race, and it was no problem. Although in Buffalo, the race had a couple small hills, and lots of twists and turns. I decided to get out fairly fast, because the easiest part of the race is the first mile, on city streets. I passed the mile at about 5:57, the 2 mile at 12:07, then must have maintained about a 6:05 pace for the final mile.

(right top of photo, No. 399, turning final corner)


In the final 400 meters, I moved into 9th place. In reality, when I set my goal of top 10, I was thinking below 10th, or single digits, so I'm not sure I can claim that goal. Anyway, it was a youngster (maybe 15 years old). When I passed him, he said very politely "nice job sir!" Most teenagers these days don't call us codgers sir, so I was quite impressed.....until he blew by me like I was standing still in the last 100 meters!

Anyway, this has always been one of my favorite races. The 18:54 was my second fastest time since I first ran it in 2000 (9 years ago) and ran 18:21. I imagine that with age grading, this might be my best performance.





Now, I'm still thinking about that indoor mile on December 26, if I don't retire from racing before then!

Mark





http://www.buffalorunners.com/results%5C2009%5Creindeer09.htm

Back on the Track!

With a possible indoor mile attempt on December 26, although I'm running a 5K road race this coming Saturday, I felt compelled to return to the track for a formal speed workout yesterday.
Under cold windy conditions, I had to wear full sweats, thus resulting in slow times. However, I ran a full 8 400 meter intervals, averaging 84.1 seconds, with the slowest at 85.7 and the fastest at 81.8. I then ran two 200s at 37.8 and 37 respectively.

Today was a recovery run, 5.2 miles at 8:41 per mile. I'm looking forward to the 5K. Since I ran 18:48 on the track last weekend, I'm not overly concerned about time. This race tends to have cold, windy, snowy conditions, and is not usually conducive to fast times. I would, however, like to try placing better than last year's 15th out of 400 and some runners.

Garmin innacurate on hills

For some time now, I have suspected that some models of Garmin running watches are not accurate when running on hills (even moderate hills). This summer, during a certified 8K road race with some decent hills, I confirmed this. The 8K road race should have been about 4.97 miles, but the Garmin underestimated it at about 4.93 miles. Here's the explanation.

Garmin watches (at least the lower end models), calculate distance run by measuring only latitude and longitude at various points. There is no correction for elevation. In other words, picture a right triangle, in which the hypotenuse is the hill you are running up, and the base is simply the map distance traveled (subtracting the latitude and longitude of two points along the base). The hypotenuse (the hill) is the longest side of the triangle, but the Garmin actually measures the base distance, so it underestimates distance when running up or down hills, and thus overestimates your running pace (your pace is shown as too slow on the watch).

Where I live and train, elevation changes on runs are so minor (maybe 5 to 10 feet at most), that there is essentially no lost distance. However, in an area like Charlottesville, unless you are running only on the track, if you have a few decent hills in your run, you will be consistently underestimating your distance run. The good news is that you are actually running a faster pace than shown on your watch.

Feel free to comment on this. I am hoping that the newer models will have more accurate vertical GPS capabilities (the 205 shows elevation, but it is extremely innacurate (my runs show 100 foot elevation changes, when 5 feet is more like it). Then they could correct for elevation (use trigonometry calcs to calculate the hypotenuse). However, I doubt this is going to happen for some time. It's funny Garmin never mentions anything about this. When I ran that race, I was a bit discouraged with my average pace throughout the race, but when I finished, and calculated my actual pace, it was 3 or 4 seconds per mile faster.

Mark

5K Time Trial Results!

For a couple years now, I've had the hankering to crack 19 in the 5k. This year, after running a 5:20 mile in September, I figured it was doable, but just haven't had an opportunity. So today, I made the opportunity by going to the track by myself, gritting my teeth, and running a time trial. I did the whole spiel, including 2 mile warmup, 2 or 3 100-meter strideouts, changing into racing shoes, hanging around the start line for a while (simulating a race), lining up, saying runners, set....well, you get the idea.

The bottom line: 18:48, or 6:03 per mile, and my best 5K since December 2000 (18:21). Splits were something like 5:57, 12:03, Then 15:07 at the 1.5 mile. The only other split I observed was 17:22 with 400 meters to go, so the last 400 was 86 seconds.

I'm planning a 5K road race in two weeks, and will keep pushing the training. However, that race tends to be cold and snowy (usually low 20s, windy, and often snow/ice on the nearly 2 miles of roads in a cemetery). Thus, times are often a bit slower than most road races. There are also a couple hills, so it is not bone flat. I may or may not have an opportunity to break today's time, but it should be fun anyway.

Another possible race this year is a 1-mile masters track race (indoors at RIT): The Roger Messenger Memorial Masters Mile. I've run this before, and it's really a great event. It is held as part of an indoor track meet, but the mile is only for masters (men and women over 40). Last time I ran this in 2001, I ran 5:03, with the theme song from Rocky blaring for all of us codgers. Not sure what I might hit this time, but it would be nice to beat the 5:20 from September. Stay tuned!

Hardwick Runs 2nd Best Race of Career!

In a hard-fought race, Kevin Hardwick ran perhaps the second best race of his life in winning a seat on the Erie County Legislature earlier this month. This begs the rhetorical question from many readers: "What was his best race, then??" The answer: A 1500-meter indoor track win in Hamilton, New York in 1979, where Hardwick ran a shocking 4:13.8, equating to a 4:34 mile time. After tailing the lead pack for most of the race, Hardwick emerged in the late stages with his patented kick to take the win in the 1500.

"I saw Harry standing by with the bucket!" said an elated Hardwick after the win. "I didn't end up needing it, but it gave me inspiration!"

Hardwick said that his recent win for the county legislative seat was satisfying, but "it pales in comparison to my track and field history, especially the Hamilton victory. The lessons learned from racing under head coach Gary Truce, and teammates Mark Raybuck and Eric Kaplan were invaluable in planning and running political races."

And this final quote regarding his impressive legislature seat victory: "I think the reason I won this time was that I finally learned to relax my face and go with Tom. Even though I was confident of a win, I still had Harry standing by with the buckets."



Most importantly, I've learned to relax my face!"


http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Erie_County_Legislature_race_20091103