SeanReymond's Blog : 2009 : February

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This was kind of a 'standard' week nothing too interesting to report. However, our long run this week was by far my favorite up to this point. Since I missed THE Palos Verdes run a few weeks ago this was MY Palos Verdes run. Like the usual PV run this weekends run had amazing views, and a few hills. Actually I didn't find the hills very difficult, but many other runners were complaining about them so evidently they were a little difficult. I simply tried to maintain an even effort on the ups and the downs, which is much more difficult to do than to say. I think a similar strategy will be required for the Pasadena Marathon, and I think it works quite well. You can actually go pretty fast on the downhill's without using too much effort, and when you maintain an even effort you can really fly down the hills. Not something you want to do on a daily basis, but during a race flying down hills is just fine...all those microtears will have plenty of time to repair after the race

For speedwork this week I ran some mile intervals. I hate mile intervals. I would much rather do a 10 mile tempo than run just 4 mile intervals. After last weeks fast finish long run it took most of the week for me to fully recover (Tuesdays near 13 mile fartlek didn't help), so I really wasn't thinking much about speed this week. I am happy that I finished 3 of the 4 intervals in under 6 min pace. I am happy with that, and surprised that it was my cardio system that prevented me from going faster and not my leg strength. In fact I was running at about 98-99% of my max heart rate for some of the intervals, which is not good. Looks like I know what I need to work on after Pasadena...

I am trying to work out a preemptive basal insulin adjustment plan for my runs and so far it has failed miserably. Reading some information I found on the intertubes I tried to lower my basal insulin rate 2 hours before my run on Wednesday and then 1 hour before raise it some (not quite to usual strength) and keep it there for 2-3 hours. My first problem was that my blood sugar was low before the run (unrelated to the temp basal rate), so I downed a bunch of quick acting glucose and went running. Things seemed to be going alright. I still ate a shot blok after 2.5 miles (normally I consume one every 1.25 miles), but around mile 4.5 I started feeling pretty low. I ate another shot blok at mile 4.5 and when I finished my blood sugar was still around 65. So my first attempt was not too successful. I only consumed 2 shot bloks, but I think the 30g of carbs I had before the run helped that. I forgot to adjust my basal rate on Thursday, and then on Friday my plan just didn't work at all. I adjusted my basal to 25% (I used 50% on Wed.) 2 hrs ahead and to 50% 1 hr ahead. This time during my warm up (3 miles before intervals) I was already feeling low, and had to quickly down a bunch of gel before starting my interval session. During my session I continued to have to down gel to the point where for my last 2 intervals my stomach was feeling pretty gross. So Friday was a complete disaster with my new strategy.

You might say why the new strategy, if it ain't broke why try to fix it? Well my current method works, but it is non-ideal. Currently I have to consume a shot blok or some gel about every 1.25-1.5 miles. To me this is a waste of calories and not to mention pretty expensive. I want to be able to go on a easy 5 miler and not have to worry about consuming anything. So that is why I am working on a new strategy, and will continue to work until it is better.

I have finally noticed the impact that running 50+ mpw has on my caloric intake. At first I didn't think I needed to change or add more calories. Now I realize that I do need to eat (or should I say get to eat) more calories. My weight has been a little lower the past few weeks, so hopefully I will get it back to normal by eating a bit more. Of course once I get used to eating more we are going to be tapering, so I will immediately have to switch and eat less....marathoning is a lot of work.

Last weeks training:

Tuesday - 12.48 Mile Run w/ Fartlek, 1:38:21 min, 7:52 pace
Wednesday - 5.6 Mile Easy Run, 43:05 min, 7:41 pace
Thursday - 4.68 Mile Easy Run, 38:18 min, 8:11 pace
Friday - 10.9 Mile Run w/ Intervals, 1:19:08 min, warm up, cool down, and 4 mile intervals (6:11, 5:58, 5:59, 5:58 min respective)
Sunday - 15.56 Mile Long Run, 2:03:48 min, 7:57 pace

Shoe Mileage:

Asics DS Trainer 13.1 - 347.01
Asics DS Trainer 13.2 - 135.07
Asics DS Trainer 13.3 - 66.77
Asics Gel Bandito - 78.42

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Week of Feb 9 - 15, 2009

Posted by SeanReymond Feb 15, 2009

After last week it was nice to have a 'normal' week and get training back on schedule. Although this week was not completely without incident, but sometimes inconveniences are there to test your mettle and show how much of a badass you are (or dumbass as the case may be)! After my speed workout was rained out last week I was determined not to miss another session. By Thursday night the weather forecast was a 60% chance of rain on Friday afternoon...when I typically do my workouts. So my brilliant solution was to do my workout in the morning. Only problem is that I have to be at school by 9a to TA my lab. So after running the numbers and devising a plan my Friday morning went as such: 2:30a - got up and ate my pre-morning run granola, 4:45a - got up, dressed and drove to my selected running spot (had to find somewhere with street lamps and few, if any, stop lights), 5:15a - started running. So yeah, basically it was completely dark when I started, and worse than that (something you wouldn't think about in LA) very, very cold. I even broke out my tights...it was that cold. Turned out my selected course was not as well light as I had hoped, but by my 6th mile or so the sun was dawning...before that I was pretty much in the dark. The dark was not the problem...it was the cold. I have never felt so much pain from being cold as I did when I finished. I was wearing my gloves, but it felt like I my hands had borderline frostbite. I was much worse than any other pain I have experienced from the cold. The pain I felt was in my nerves not the surface of my skin, and it resonated throughout my body...not fun, but I felt super cool running that early in the morning. The dumbass part was that, of course, it didn't rain in the early evening and I could have just as easily completed my workout then...whatever...

After all that I had a pretty good tempo workout. I tried to implement a suggestion that I read recently about progressively increasing pace on tempo workouts. After the success I had with a negative split in the half-marathon I think doing tempo workouts this way is good practice. So I started with 4 miles at around 6:55 pace and the last 4 were a bit quicker. Finished the workout averaging 6:50 pace, which was my goal.

On Sunday the team completed our first 20 miler (as a team that is), and for me it was my first long run pace workout. I decided to do a fast finish this week (planning a marathon goal pace run in two weeks). So for my fast finish run I ran the first 10 miles easy at my usual 8:05 - 8:10 pace. On the way back I split the distance into 4 segments (9 miles of it anyway, I left 1 mile for a cool down) and tried to run 7:40, 7:20, 7:00 and 6:40. I came pretty close to doing this and averaged 7:09 over the entire 9 miles, which is below my goal pace. Overall, it was a great workout. The last segment was very difficult, but I am building a little more confidence for the race.

My glucose sensor is working out very nicely. I really like that it helps prevent lows by giving alarms when my sugars drop too low. I have still had a couple of problems, but so far it has helped a lot. It is interesting to see what happens overnight after workouts. Actually not as much as I had originally thought, but I still get some funny readings.

And I am experimenting with making my own bread! At first I think I will just make bread to have as an additional carb source, but if I find a recipe that is good and cheap I might make all my own bread. The first loaf I made is very fiber dense with flax and almond meal. I am going to try to reduce some of the fat by removing the oil and a few other things. It is really easy and fun to make bread...who knew?!?!

Besides that I have been eating a little more. Kind of goes with the territory of upping the mileage. Nothing exciting with eating more, but tasty nonetheless.

Last weeks training:

Tuesday - 11.07 Mile Run w/ Fartlek - 1:24:10 min, 7:36 pace
Wednesday - 6.02 Mile Easy Run - 48:19 min, 8:01 pace
Thursday - 5.23 Mile Recovery Run - 45:26 min, 8:41 pace
Friday - 9.44 Mile Run w/ Tempo - 1:06:07 min, 7:00 pace - 1 mile warm up and cool down - 8 miles @ 6:50 pace
Sunday - 19.80 Mile Run w/ Fast Finish - 2:32:43 min, 7:43 pace

Shoe Mileage -

Asics DS Trainer 13.1 - 342.33
Asics DS Trainer 13.2 - 122.59
Asics DS Trainer 13.3 - 45.61
Asics Gel Bandito - 67.52

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Week of Feb. 2 - 8, 2009

Posted by SeanReymond Feb 8, 2009

This was kind of an odd week, and one of those where you have to be flexible with your training. I started the week planning on running 50 miles with a interval workout and a 16 miler on the weekend. Then on Thursday it started raining. I thought it was going to be a typical Southern California storm where it rained a little for a few hours and then it would go back to being sunny...but I was wrong. On Thursday at 5p the only people who showed up for the team run were me and two other coaches. It was still raining so we decided to do our own thing. For me this meant running on the treadmill to try and salvage some distance for that day, but that didn't last very long. The fitness room at the University was stiflingly hot, so much so that I could only bear to run 3 miles on the treadmill. By then it had finished raining so I decided to finish my workout outside...very bad idea. Going from the intense heat indoors to the atypical cold outdoors resulted in my getting a bit of a cold Thursday night. Who knew that your mother was right when she always used to say don't go out into the cold with a wet head of hair??

On Friday I was feeling less than optimal, yet determined to complete my interval session. However, come 5p it was raining yet again. I tried to wait it out and pondered running in the rain, but it was just coming down too hard. So I sat in my car panicking a little...what am I going to do about my training...this is just going to screw my whole program up...I thought. But then I calmed down and realized that this is all part of training. Over the course of 20+ weeks it is nearly impossible that every week is going to pass without issue. So my conclusion was to switch around my schedule (which I have done quite a few times already) and make this week my easy week. Not the ideal situation considering I had taken an easy week last week (except for the race that is), and that I had already done a hard 12 mile run with a Fartlek on Tuesday. So this week was a 'easy' week. With this strategy the rest of my week went without complication. I picked up 5 miles on Saturday, and ran 14 with the team on Sunday as scheduled. This was the last of my easy weeks before tapering, so hopefully the next three weeks will be complication free, or I might just start panicking again (I know, I am really lame).

I got my new glucose sensor this week and I really think this is going to help me out a lot. At first I was skeptical because for a good portion of the day yesterday (the first day I wore it) it was off by around 80 points, but after my second calibration it seems to be much more accurate. It is not really practical to check it too often during the run, but during today's run I stopped at the turnaround and had a look. Also, it has alarms which vibrate it my sugars get too high or low so I don't really have to check it at all. It seems to be around 20-30 minutes behind the readings I get using my meter, which is generally not an issue. However during running my glucose fluctuates rapidly so in 20 minutes my glucose can change quite a bit. I might set my low alarm a little higher during runs, but I will see how things go with the current setting right now. I am really interested to see exactly what the **** happens overnight during the week after my evening workouts. My morning glucose readings are typically all over the place so I want to see what happens at night.

Last weeks training:

Tuesday - 11.81 Mile Run w/ Fartlek - 1:33:19 min, 7:54 pace
Wednesday - 6.17 Mile Easy Run - 49:30 min, 8:01 pace
Thursday - 5 Mile Easy Run - 45 min, 9:00 pace (I don't know how long it took, treadmill and outside)
Saturday - 4.92 Mile Easy Run - 39:47 min, 8:05 pace
Sunday - 14.01 Mile Long Run - 1:50:31 min, 7:53 pace

Shoe Mileage:

Asics DS Trainer 13.1 - 337.1
Asics DS Trainer 13.2 - 116.57
Asics DS Trainer 13.3 - 34.54
Asics Gel Bandito - 38.28

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Week of Jan 26th - Feb 1st, 2009

Posted by SeanReymond Feb 1, 2009

Can't think of a better way to spend the day after your birthday than by running a race and proving to yourself that you are not getting older...you are getting faster! Alright sleeping in and eating a lazy breakfast with lots of coffee is a **** close second but second none the less.

So the Surf City Half Marathon was this weekend and it went better than expected. That is after a few prerace snafus...who knew Huntington Beach was in OC and not over near Hermosa. Oh that and when the race directors say to get to the race at least 90 minutes before the race you should probably listen. It takes a long time to park with 10,000 other runners trying to do the same. So I got to the race a little behind schedule and was in a bit of a hurry (I left my sunglasses in my car...). I used the restroom and got my bag checked about 20 minutes until race time. I had just enough time to get warmed up (ran about .75 miles and did a couple of strides) and then I headed to the start line to queue with the first wave. Being late as I was I started near the back of the first wave, which was not ideal but I was trying to run a smart race for once so being forced into a slow start was beneficial.

I said that I was trying to run a smart race, and...I actually did run a very good negative split and it felt really good. I would recommend to anyone to really try to force yourself to run a negative split even if you have to restrain yourself at the begining. As I said above at the start I was forced to go slow. In fact I ran a 7:09 first mile (goal pace was 6:52). I actually panicked a little during the second mile and ran the first half of the second mile really quick (around 6:45 pace), but I forced myself to slow down again and finished the mile in 6:56 which was my plan. By then I was warmed up and sped up to goal pace a little earlier than I planned and ran the third at 6:50. Fourth mile was up a slight incline so the pace was slower at 6:56. Miles five and six were a little down hill so I tried to catch up a little and ran those at 6:47 pace. Then miles seven and eight were back on the level PCH and I settled into my goal pace at 6:50. It was somewhere during mile six or seven that I learned the drawback of doing negative splits. By running easy at the start it is easy to lose focus. I realized this when I tried to settle into goal pace and it took a good half mile before I really settled and focused on what I was doing. The first half of the race I wasn't paying much attention to my body, my breathing, and my glucose intake. It turned out alright for this race, but during a marathon you need to be focused the entire way.

At mile 9 I was focused and feeling good so I made a small move and increase my pace to 6:45. It was during mile 9 that I finally caught up and was under my goal pace to break 1:30. I was in cruise control for miles 10 and 11, running both at around 6:40 pace. My plan from the start was that I could probably make a move with two miles left so during mile 12 I went for it and ran it in 6:29. From then I felt great and ran the last mile in 6:12, and the .1 at 6 min pace. All that adds up to a 1:28:50, which is much faster than I set out to run and nearly 3 minutes off my PR. I really felt strong all the way to the end and think that taking it easy at the start helped a ton. My split times were (approx.): 1st half 45:06, 2nd half - 43:44.

Interesting enough I finished 118 (out of 10,xxx runners) which is 1 place higher than I finished at COA (only 6,xxx runners though).

Last weeks training: