I have started up a new website, where my blog will now be kept. Everything here has now been moved over there, so... Please go check it out! https://smertz.net/
Enoy!
-- Steve
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
It Isn't Easy Going Easy
My coach prescribed a couple of easy days for me this week. Monday, easy bike. Wednesday, easy run. Thursday, easy bike. Saturday, easy run.
Monday and Wednesday were easy to do easy, as I did them with someone else. Because I was with them, I was going their pace which for me is nice and easy. That worked out great. Thursday, I was suppose to have a nice easy 75 minute bike. I decided to give Terry Hershey Park a try as there is an entrance to it about 5 minutes down the road from where I work. I had forgotten that at that side of the park it has quite a few undulating hills. This caused me to start a bit harder than I figured I should have. Then as I was coming up one of the little hills, I called out to the guy in front "bike back, on your left" as I do for everyone, and he looked left and started swerving left and I had already caught up to him, he wasn't going fast at all on the hill, and was just behind and beside. He ended up pushing me off the path and into the bushes a bit, and I was a bit freaked as it was a quick drop there into Buffalo Bayou. He was very apologetic about it, and I was on my way a bit scared that my tires may have a puncture in them. But it seemed ok. And the adrenaline was firing, so off I went speedy like to put some distance between us. I continued along and managed to reach the end of the park which is about 8 miles long or so, and so I kept going as I still had time before I needed to turn around. I was now at George Bush park on the path (they connect at a dam) and was cruising a long nicely. And then it was time to turn around and I noticed that I had hit 10 miles in 40 minutes. I wasn't really trying or caring about distance since it was a timed ride.
The way back was a bit more congested with pedestrians as it was now more "after work" than when I started, and so I had people dodging and most of them were kind enough to stop or move a bit over if they were too close to the middle. And most of them even thanked me for warning them I was behind and coming around. Been a while since I heard those thank yous on the bike! Good Job Houston!
And of course, the finish of the ride was those undulating hills, so I was pushing a bigger gear by this time and didn't bother to shift, so yeah, legs were hammering it.
Now, it wasn't a hard ride. But it definitely wasn't an easy spin, and I felt it the next day. Then today was suppose to be an easy run. I was still feeling a bit of the bike in my legs today, and when I hit the trail at Memorial Park, I started what felt easy at the beginning, but quickly realized it wasn't when I noticed the times were on the wrong side of 8 min miles. So I eased back a bit, but think I was still going a bit too fast for easy. Normally when I run with my friend for easy we are running between 9:45 and 10:30. And that is definitely easy. Today, the runs were below 9:30 and even 3 miles at below 9. Now it wasn't hard, but I was feeling it in my legs especially after the not so easy bike on Thursday.
But I guess the true test of how easy it really was will be tomorrow's 30 mile bike with a 2 mile run immediately afterwards. I'm not predicting any land speed records being broken on that run at all at this point.
I definitely need to work on training easy on easy days. It's what helps us (active) recover and keeps things working smoothly, but if you are hammering it and not letting the body do it's recovery thing, then you just keep piling more and more damage on the body and it will take longer to recover down the road and will end up harming the hard work!
It's definitely not easy, going easy...
Monday and Wednesday were easy to do easy, as I did them with someone else. Because I was with them, I was going their pace which for me is nice and easy. That worked out great. Thursday, I was suppose to have a nice easy 75 minute bike. I decided to give Terry Hershey Park a try as there is an entrance to it about 5 minutes down the road from where I work. I had forgotten that at that side of the park it has quite a few undulating hills. This caused me to start a bit harder than I figured I should have. Then as I was coming up one of the little hills, I called out to the guy in front "bike back, on your left" as I do for everyone, and he looked left and started swerving left and I had already caught up to him, he wasn't going fast at all on the hill, and was just behind and beside. He ended up pushing me off the path and into the bushes a bit, and I was a bit freaked as it was a quick drop there into Buffalo Bayou. He was very apologetic about it, and I was on my way a bit scared that my tires may have a puncture in them. But it seemed ok. And the adrenaline was firing, so off I went speedy like to put some distance between us. I continued along and managed to reach the end of the park which is about 8 miles long or so, and so I kept going as I still had time before I needed to turn around. I was now at George Bush park on the path (they connect at a dam) and was cruising a long nicely. And then it was time to turn around and I noticed that I had hit 10 miles in 40 minutes. I wasn't really trying or caring about distance since it was a timed ride.
The way back was a bit more congested with pedestrians as it was now more "after work" than when I started, and so I had people dodging and most of them were kind enough to stop or move a bit over if they were too close to the middle. And most of them even thanked me for warning them I was behind and coming around. Been a while since I heard those thank yous on the bike! Good Job Houston!
And of course, the finish of the ride was those undulating hills, so I was pushing a bigger gear by this time and didn't bother to shift, so yeah, legs were hammering it.
Now, it wasn't a hard ride. But it definitely wasn't an easy spin, and I felt it the next day. Then today was suppose to be an easy run. I was still feeling a bit of the bike in my legs today, and when I hit the trail at Memorial Park, I started what felt easy at the beginning, but quickly realized it wasn't when I noticed the times were on the wrong side of 8 min miles. So I eased back a bit, but think I was still going a bit too fast for easy. Normally when I run with my friend for easy we are running between 9:45 and 10:30. And that is definitely easy. Today, the runs were below 9:30 and even 3 miles at below 9. Now it wasn't hard, but I was feeling it in my legs especially after the not so easy bike on Thursday.
But I guess the true test of how easy it really was will be tomorrow's 30 mile bike with a 2 mile run immediately afterwards. I'm not predicting any land speed records being broken on that run at all at this point.
I definitely need to work on training easy on easy days. It's what helps us (active) recover and keeps things working smoothly, but if you are hammering it and not letting the body do it's recovery thing, then you just keep piling more and more damage on the body and it will take longer to recover down the road and will end up harming the hard work!
It's definitely not easy, going easy...
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
2012 and A New Program
Hey Gang!
I'm still here! I didn't slack off (too much) since last weekend's 25k. Just haven't had a chance to write, until now.
I've been riding the bike more now, as recovery and as prescribe by my new coach.
Saturday I went out to Brazos Bend State Park and road around the alligators for a while. Unfortunately I broke my pedal, so I couldn't clip in on the left side anymore, which make things a bit more difficult. Sunday I had a short crappy run, because of the legs feeling the problems from the bike the day before, and also these allergy shots I'm taking are taking their toll on me as well.
Yesterday was suppose to be a bike, but since Houston kind of flooded out, I thought it was best to not risk it, and after talking with my coach, her and I agreed that a short easy run would be OK instead. Still trying to keep off my feet as recovery from the 25k. Today will be a 15 mile bike. Should be good, it's been several months since I've ridden the road bike. Looking forward to the speed and agility of it again.
So, I'm just chugging along recovering and working on other things besides running, which is quite nice!
Enjoy your Tuesdays!
I'm still here! I didn't slack off (too much) since last weekend's 25k. Just haven't had a chance to write, until now.
I've been riding the bike more now, as recovery and as prescribe by my new coach.
Saturday I went out to Brazos Bend State Park and road around the alligators for a while. Unfortunately I broke my pedal, so I couldn't clip in on the left side anymore, which make things a bit more difficult. Sunday I had a short crappy run, because of the legs feeling the problems from the bike the day before, and also these allergy shots I'm taking are taking their toll on me as well.
Yesterday was suppose to be a bike, but since Houston kind of flooded out, I thought it was best to not risk it, and after talking with my coach, her and I agreed that a short easy run would be OK instead. Still trying to keep off my feet as recovery from the 25k. Today will be a 15 mile bike. Should be good, it's been several months since I've ridden the road bike. Looking forward to the speed and agility of it again.
So, I'm just chugging along recovering and working on other things besides running, which is quite nice!
Enjoy your Tuesdays!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
25k Done! Goal Achieved!
I did it!
Yesterday I went out ready to run. I had some trepidations about it since my training was not what it should have been. I knew I could get the distance in, but didn't know if I would be walking the last 5 miles or something. I prepared as much as I could Friday night, making my bottles, gathering my clothing and gear, so in the morning, I just had to worry about getting dressed and getting to the park to run.
And that's how it started. I got up, ate, and dressed and headed off to the park. I got to the park, and geared up, got out of the truck, and proceeded to drop my bottle right into a big patch of sand. Hoping that wasn't a sign of what was to come, I quickly got some towels out of the truck, wiped it off and started off on my run. The plan was to run 5 minutes and walk 1 minute, repeat until the 25k (15.5 miles) is complete. I also needed to make sure I didn't run too fast while doing my runs, so that I wouldn't blow up too early.
Things did start off nice and slow, the runs were good and steady, the walks were nice recoveries. The first two loops (6 miles) went by relatively quickly. I changed out my bottle and sucked down a gel and started back out again. Things were still feeling pretty good until around mile 9 or so. My legs started to tighten up, but the amount of tightness in the legs didn't increase at all for the rest of the run. Then around mile 11 I started to bonk. My nutrition wasn't quite where I should have had it. I was only eating one gel every two laps which is about an hour when I really need to have two gels an hour. After getting back to the truck and sucking down that gel and a new bottle of HEED, I was pretty good after 5 minutes.
Legs were starting to feel pretty fatigued around mile 12-13. But I was managing to keeping them going. Running, and I was even able to do sprints to pass people in tight spots on the trail. I kept going and kept going and when I was finished running for the day, I hit 15.96 miles or 25.7 km. And I did it in 2:41:03.
Not my best time, but, I completed the run and completed it running!
Now, the real training starts again.
2013... Flubber to Iron here I come!
Things did start off nice and slow, the runs were good and steady, the walks were nice recoveries. The first two loops (6 miles) went by relatively quickly. I changed out my bottle and sucked down a gel and started back out again. Things were still feeling pretty good until around mile 9 or so. My legs started to tighten up, but the amount of tightness in the legs didn't increase at all for the rest of the run. Then around mile 11 I started to bonk. My nutrition wasn't quite where I should have had it. I was only eating one gel every two laps which is about an hour when I really need to have two gels an hour. After getting back to the truck and sucking down that gel and a new bottle of HEED, I was pretty good after 5 minutes.
Legs were starting to feel pretty fatigued around mile 12-13. But I was managing to keeping them going. Running, and I was even able to do sprints to pass people in tight spots on the trail. I kept going and kept going and when I was finished running for the day, I hit 15.96 miles or 25.7 km. And I did it in 2:41:03.
Not my best time, but, I completed the run and completed it running!
Now, the real training starts again.
2013... Flubber to Iron here I come!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Moving, Allergies and the Chaos it Causes
So, my running kind of took a bit of a hiatus.
Between moving to a new house, and starting allergy injections to get immune to that which makes me sneezy, wheezy and itchy eyes, my running has definitely suffered. The last two-three weeks there's been very little running. This past weekend I was suppose to run 12 miles, but thanks to a hit on the head that caused me to black out, I wasn't in much shape for anything let alone running.
Today, I went out for an easy six mile run and it turned into three because of the allergies that are causing me problems. Legs felt fine, but my lungs were not happy at all with it. Saturday is my 25k. My goal distance for 2011. I've decided in order to make this happen, I will skip a dosage of the allergy injection so that I'm clear of body and mind when it's time for that to happen.
I know for a fact I WILL complete the 15.5 miles. It won't be a spectacular time, because of my set backs, but it will happen. I just need to focus on the fact that I've killed 10 miles three times before not too long ago, and another 5 miles is nothing! Especially since I will be doing 5/1s to get it done.
I do need to come up with a game plan for tomorrow, Friday and Saturday for nutrition so that I don't end up having problems because of that. Shouldn't be too hard, I know how my body reacts to foods and what I need to make it work well. Then I just need to get my feet moving one in front of the other and I will be flying to my goal.
I just need to remember:
Between moving to a new house, and starting allergy injections to get immune to that which makes me sneezy, wheezy and itchy eyes, my running has definitely suffered. The last two-three weeks there's been very little running. This past weekend I was suppose to run 12 miles, but thanks to a hit on the head that caused me to black out, I wasn't in much shape for anything let alone running.
Today, I went out for an easy six mile run and it turned into three because of the allergies that are causing me problems. Legs felt fine, but my lungs were not happy at all with it. Saturday is my 25k. My goal distance for 2011. I've decided in order to make this happen, I will skip a dosage of the allergy injection so that I'm clear of body and mind when it's time for that to happen.
I know for a fact I WILL complete the 15.5 miles. It won't be a spectacular time, because of my set backs, but it will happen. I just need to focus on the fact that I've killed 10 miles three times before not too long ago, and another 5 miles is nothing! Especially since I will be doing 5/1s to get it done.
I do need to come up with a game plan for tomorrow, Friday and Saturday for nutrition so that I don't end up having problems because of that. Shouldn't be too hard, I know how my body reacts to foods and what I need to make it work well. Then I just need to get my feet moving one in front of the other and I will be flying to my goal.
I just need to remember:
- Limits are a fabrication of the mind.
- Goals are dreams with a plan.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Not Slacking... Really!
Well, I've not been really slacking. I have been getting my runs in.
I got my 12 miler done on Saturday with some good results. Again, I was running 5/1s for it, and that averaged out to being 9:06 min miles. So that is 30 second per mile faster than the 11 miles last week!
I then took out all my runs and averaged them, and that came out to 8:31 for 11.1 miles. The walks were 14:42 for 1.25 miles. So, yes I did run 12.35 miles total. I felt not too bad after wards. The legs were pretty tired but I probably could have done 15 miles if I really wanted to push it. I would have paid for it worse than I am now with just the 12, but I could have done it!
That was Saturday morning. Saturday evening, I went with the Texas Outrigger Canoe Club and helped paddled around Clear Lake for the Kemah Christmas Boat Parade. We paddled for about 2.5 hours total and I think it was around 10-12 miles that we did. Not sure for certain as my watch was turned off for about 1.5 hours.
So with those two workouts on Saturday I've been pretty sore and stiff all over from it. Yesterday I also went in for my first allergy vaccination shot. Since then I have been feeling like my allergies (cat/dog) have been trying to come through, but I think the allergy meds I'm taking are keeping it bay, so I'm in a weird state of being ready to be all sneezy, wheezy and eye itchy but it just not happening.
With that in mind, I went for another run yesterday afternoon. Tired, sore and stiff from the Saturday fun, then allergyish from the shot... It felt like a big suffer fest out there. And I felt super slow, but managed to do the 3 miles in just over 26 minutes so that wasn't too bad after all.
I have 5 miles planned tomorrow, so we shall see how that goes, shouldn't be too horrible as I will be running with a friend and that usually makes running much more tolerable.
So, I've not been slacking on my running, just slacking on my updates a bit...
I got my 12 miler done on Saturday with some good results. Again, I was running 5/1s for it, and that averaged out to being 9:06 min miles. So that is 30 second per mile faster than the 11 miles last week!
I then took out all my runs and averaged them, and that came out to 8:31 for 11.1 miles. The walks were 14:42 for 1.25 miles. So, yes I did run 12.35 miles total. I felt not too bad after wards. The legs were pretty tired but I probably could have done 15 miles if I really wanted to push it. I would have paid for it worse than I am now with just the 12, but I could have done it!
That was Saturday morning. Saturday evening, I went with the Texas Outrigger Canoe Club and helped paddled around Clear Lake for the Kemah Christmas Boat Parade. We paddled for about 2.5 hours total and I think it was around 10-12 miles that we did. Not sure for certain as my watch was turned off for about 1.5 hours.
So with those two workouts on Saturday I've been pretty sore and stiff all over from it. Yesterday I also went in for my first allergy vaccination shot. Since then I have been feeling like my allergies (cat/dog) have been trying to come through, but I think the allergy meds I'm taking are keeping it bay, so I'm in a weird state of being ready to be all sneezy, wheezy and eye itchy but it just not happening.
With that in mind, I went for another run yesterday afternoon. Tired, sore and stiff from the Saturday fun, then allergyish from the shot... It felt like a big suffer fest out there. And I felt super slow, but managed to do the 3 miles in just over 26 minutes so that wasn't too bad after all.
I have 5 miles planned tomorrow, so we shall see how that goes, shouldn't be too horrible as I will be running with a friend and that usually makes running much more tolerable.
So, I've not been slacking on my running, just slacking on my updates a bit...
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Making Ten Miles My Bitch
This morning I once again broke through that ten mile barrier.
Today, I knew I could get past it, but I still had the little doubts in my head. "Ten miles is a long way, you sure you want to?" Well, the 11.35 miles I did today, says "YES!" I still worry about running ten miles, just not as much any more. I ran it doing 5/1s, but does that mean I ran at leaset 10 miles today or did I walk some of it? Well, turns out, I actually ran 10.09 miles today. While the rest of it was walking.
The entire run took me 1:48:56, which happens to be 3 miles slower than I ran the 10.35 miles last week. Right off the bat, I not only ran further today, but ran quite a bit faster. Average pace overall was 9:36. My average pace during just my 5 minutes of runs, 9:03. There was one 5 minute interval where my pace was 11::34 but that was because I stopped off at my truck and swapped out water bottles. If I did not need to do that, then I would have had a sub 9 min average for the runs. It is all about fast transition times!
I did try to push myself a bit today, to see how it would work out. I wanted better time than I did last week, and I achieved that. Also, with this week, my legs didn't start to feel much until mile 9.25. So that's also a 1.5 mile improvement over last week. I would say that my training is going well for me. Just need to keep with it. Next week is 12 miles. I'm quite comfortable, sitting here with tired and achy legs, in saying that, 12 miles should not be an issue on Saturday at all. I probably could have pushed that out today if I really wanted to, but no need in going beyond what is prescribed and possibly doing some damage that could harm the goal.
My legs now know what 10 miles of actual running is again. They aren't hating me. My head is in a good place right now. Over all, today was a good day for breaking mental barriers and pushing physical limits. Reminds me of a quote I came up with many years ago when I first started getting into shape...
"Limitations are a fabrication of the mind"
Today, I knew I could get past it, but I still had the little doubts in my head. "Ten miles is a long way, you sure you want to?" Well, the 11.35 miles I did today, says "YES!" I still worry about running ten miles, just not as much any more. I ran it doing 5/1s, but does that mean I ran at leaset 10 miles today or did I walk some of it? Well, turns out, I actually ran 10.09 miles today. While the rest of it was walking.
The entire run took me 1:48:56, which happens to be 3 miles slower than I ran the 10.35 miles last week. Right off the bat, I not only ran further today, but ran quite a bit faster. Average pace overall was 9:36. My average pace during just my 5 minutes of runs, 9:03. There was one 5 minute interval where my pace was 11::34 but that was because I stopped off at my truck and swapped out water bottles. If I did not need to do that, then I would have had a sub 9 min average for the runs. It is all about fast transition times!
I did try to push myself a bit today, to see how it would work out. I wanted better time than I did last week, and I achieved that. Also, with this week, my legs didn't start to feel much until mile 9.25. So that's also a 1.5 mile improvement over last week. I would say that my training is going well for me. Just need to keep with it. Next week is 12 miles. I'm quite comfortable, sitting here with tired and achy legs, in saying that, 12 miles should not be an issue on Saturday at all. I probably could have pushed that out today if I really wanted to, but no need in going beyond what is prescribed and possibly doing some damage that could harm the goal.
My legs now know what 10 miles of actual running is again. They aren't hating me. My head is in a good place right now. Over all, today was a good day for breaking mental barriers and pushing physical limits. Reminds me of a quote I came up with many years ago when I first started getting into shape...
"Limitations are a fabrication of the mind"
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