Running Chicago, for me

John every time I come to check on your training another good run just like Juile has said. You really seem to be in a groove right now and that is good to see. Again keep it going! Hope your daughter is enjoying Boston?

Hi John! I don't know how I completely missed your blog, but I did know from facebook that your daughter moved to Massachusetts. Bittersweet when our kids grow up and move away. but, a good place for a vacation, right?

It was nice to see the Flying Pig is still up there as one of your fastest marathons, although, it's still my slowest (twice). I love your positive attitude regarding PRs in your future... I should take some of that attitude and try for a PR myself!

JohnP wrote:Kenny - one thing I've learned - if I run in the morning, my HR is always lower. It's also lower on the TM. It's always higher in evening workouts. That's why I sort of go by pace rather than HR though I do keep track of it. Like you, I use it to tell if I'm tired, over training, getting sick, etc.

Today was a good workout. It was mid-70s early in the morning and 78 when I finished. But the sun wasn't too strong. The plan was for a moderate workout - 2 x 3 mile progression from MP to HMP. I thought this would be a good way for me to learn pacing better. Again, I did the 2x3 at the track as when I run on the roads, I lose focus on the time due to watching for cars, bumps in the grass, etc.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace	Avg HR	%
1	0:09:22	1	9:22	112	65%	Warm up
2	0:09:00	1	9:00	121	70%	Warm up
3	0:00:54	0.1	9:17	119	69%	Warm up
4	0:07:59	1	7:59	130	76%	MP
5	0:07:43	1	7:43	141	82%	MP-15
6	0:07:28	1	7:28	145	84%	HMP
7	0:01:59	0.09	21:09	119	69%	Recovery
8	0:07:55	1	7:55	135	78%	MP
9	0:07:44	1	7:44	142	83%	MP-15
10	0:07:26	1	7:26	147	85%	HMP
11	0:09:21	1	9:21	132	77%	Warm down
12	0:08:44	1	8:44	132	77%	Warm down
13	0:00:58	0.11	9:17	130	76%	Warm down
Summary	1:26:38	10.3

This is a great workout John. I have to remember to try it out when I finally get back to doing something other than easy miles.

Julie wrote:another great run! Congrats and enjoy the weekend!

Julie, thanks. It's been a great weekend, I hope you are on the road to full recovery.

Schuey wrote:John every time I come to check on your training another good run just like Juile has said. You really seem to be in a groove right now and that is good to see. Again keep it going! Hope your daughter is enjoying Boston?

Thanks Martin, this program is going pretty well, hope it keeps up. My daughter is enjoying Mass. She’s about 30-40 miles south of Boston and it seems to be going well so far for her. I’ve called her just about every day so far .

Natalie Wolf wrote:Hi John! I don't know how I completely missed your blog, but I did know from facebook that your daughter moved to Massachusetts. Bittersweet when our kids grow up and move away. but, a good place for a vacation, right?

It was nice to see the Flying Pig is still up there as one of your fastest marathons, although, it's still my slowest (twice). I love your positive attitude regarding PRs in your future... I should take some of that attitude and try for a PR myself!

Hi Natalie. It is a good place for a vacation, I love the whole east coast so this will give us more reason to get out there. I think we are going early in August.

I have great memories of the Pig. From the unexpected PR the first time, to my largest improvement (10 minutes) the second time plus that great dinner with your family, LizR, Vivian and others.

Seth Harrison wrote:

This is a great workout John. I have to remember to try it out when I finally get back to doing something other than easy miles.

Seth, it’s a good workout that is less than a tempo run. At least your “easy” mile runs are pretty good, from what I see in your entries.

It's been a pretty good long weekend, happy fourth of July! Saturday was a rest day which was needed. I golfed and shot 83, another better round than usual. But I noticed that the yardage in this course is not as long as a lot of courses so it's not too indicative. But it still feels good. I did stop afterwards and lift weights for 30 minutes and did core work. I still don't stretch at all, I can't bring myself to start it when I haven't done it in several years now.

Sunday was the long run, with the plan showing 14 miles with the last three at MP. It seems like everyone is running a lot longer in their long runs but I'm going to follow the plan for now. THe bad thing was I couldn't do this till the heat of the day, about 2:00 PM. It was 83, not as humid as Friday or Saturday. I managed to be pretty consistent and ran the last three a little faster than MP but I was really pressing to keep pace with the heat. It was a tough run.

Split Time Distance Avg Pace

1 00:09:01 1.00 09:01
2 00:08:59 1.00 08:59
3 00:08:55 1.00 08:55
4 00:09:04 1.00 09:04
5 00:09:02 1.00 09:02
6 00:09:09 1.00 09:08
7 00:08:57 1.00 08:57
8 00:08:49 1.00 08:49
9 00:08:55 1.00 08:55
10 00:08:55 1.00 08:55
11 00:08:43 1.00 08:43
12 00:07:51 1.00 07:51
13 00:07:46 1.00 07:46
14 00:07:53 1.00 07:53
15 00:00:03 0.01 08:04

Summary 02:02:07 14.01 08:43

Today - Monday - was seven miles at about 9:00 pace with 8x100 meter sprints. Once again, I managed to do it in the heat of the day, about 3:00 PM but this wasn't overly stressful. The sprints were about 5:40 pace, it made me think I could run with Dave-O on one of his runs, well, for 100 meters anyway. Total run = 8.25 miles.

Hi John! I'm catching up on blogs. I totally missed that you qualified for Boston, so HUGE CONGRATS!!! And I love your PR graph--I want to make my own. Just seeing that must be so motivating. Good luck with the Chicago training! I think age is just a number, and see no reason at all why you can't continue your PR curve.
And also congrats on the 83 on the golf course the other day

I am catching up, too. So the golf compliments the running? I am not running that long either right now. If I get to eight miles and hold it, I'll be happy. The biggest problem is not being able to eat like I used to.

Way to finish strong on your long run! I'm sure the heat training will come in handy and make you tougher. I just read an article in Running Times on the benefits of training in the heat.

Hi Kathy, thanks for the note.

Liz, I love golf but it doesn't complement running much, it more takes up prime running time (morning time). But it's usually worth it.

Thanks Julie. I do think there are benefits to heat training once it cools off. The only issue is the body acclimates to the cooler weather and then the benefit is gone after a while. Still, it's not as bad here as in a lot of places.

Bit of catch-up on the running. It's been pretty busy at work and I had to do a number of workouts in the evening.

Tuesday
This was actually a treadmill day as I couldn't run in the morning and it was 93 degrees after work and this workout had some intervals.
- 4 miles warm up @ 8:34
- 5 x 2 minute intervals (first minute hill (4.5%) at HMP, second minute flat (0%) at 5K (about 6:58)) with 2-3 minute recovery jog at 9:31 pace
- 2 miles cool down
- Total - about 9 miles
I've hardly used the health club this training cycle. Just my luck, one of the groaners was there - someone who emits loud groans as they use a weight machine. It's too bad that is not on the list of banned things. It made me wish I had done this outside but we have no hills here.

Wednesday
Another evening run but it was a little cooler out. The plan had 11 miles on it as the mid-week long run. I've been running mostly in the mornings so it was nice to see all sorts of runners, bikers, people at the track, and others out.

Split	Time	Avg HR	HR %
1	0:08:59	119	70%
2	0:08:34	131	77%
3	0:08:51	132	78%
4	0:08:54	134	79%
5	0:08:40	134	79%
6	0:08:36	134	79%
7	0:08:34	135	79%
8	0:08:38	136	80%
9	0:08:32	138	81%
10	0:08:49	137	81%
11	0:08:28	137	81%
12	0:00:14	136	80%
Summary	1:35:53	133	78%

Thursday
Today was frustrating in that I was in a hurry and the Garmin wouldn't find the satellites. Even though it was an easy run of seven miles, I always like the runs on the Garmin as much as possible. ANyway, this was about seven miles at about 9:00 pace with HR about 122.

Friday
Finally got back to a morning run. I don't think I paid much attention to the workout ahead of time but as I got ready to go, I started realizing how hard it would be. I was thinking it was a tempo but it called for 1.5 mile progression from HMP to 10K to 5K pace. THen 8x200 meters at 3K pace. Then repeat the whole thing. It was 70-75 degrees which didn't help and I have to say this was a very hard workout for me. But I mostly got it done. For reference, I am using 7:30 as MP, 7:12 as 10K, 6:58 as 5K and 6:36 as 3K pace - all based on McMillian's calculator.

Some nice workouts you've strung together John, especially considering the heat.

Where did you get that workout with the 200s? Looks interesting and I'm curious to know what the rationale is behind the HMP, 10k, 5k and then the short bursts at 3k. Also, it's interesting to see how closely bunched together all your race paces are. Mine are getting that way too!

Looks like some more great work outs! Keep it up!!

That's a serious workout. Tough

That's a great workout John and I am sure that it was a challenge in the heat. Good work!!

Mp seems fast vs. 5k or is it 5k seems slow. What race time and distance are you using when inputting into mcmillian?

Wow! That's some major focus to keep that up for 11 miles. Great job!

Wow, that's an intense workout! Good job on it!

mul21 wrote:Some nice workouts you've strung together John, especially considering the heat.
Where did you get that workout with the 200s? Looks interesting and I'm curious to know what the rationale is behind the HMP, 10k, 5k and then the short bursts at 3k. Also, it's interesting to see how closely bunched together all your race paces are. Mine are getting that way too!

Thanks Jim. I looked in the Run Faster book and this type of workout is fairly common in his plans. It seems you can stress the body with the longer intervals, and get the benefit of some speed work in the same workout without the stress of an entire speed workout.

Julie, Dave, Nick - thanks for your notes. I'm hoping these tougher workouts produce some benefits on race day.

Kenny B. wrote:Mp seems fast vs. 5k or is it 5k seems slow. What race time and distance are you using when inputting into mcmillian?

Kenny, I am inputting 3:30 marathon into McMillian. If I recall, it shows a MP of 8:00, 5K of 6:58 or so.


Natalie and Kathy, thanks also. It seems a lifetime ago now!

Wow! Does it make time fly?

That is some crazy workout. Just managing it seems tough let alone running it.

So I haven't been keeping up as work is heating up this past week due to some issues and a major deployment we are working.

Saturday was a planned rest day though I did golf in the morning. Sunday was the long run, which was scheduled for 15 miles. Once again, I was at church early (I volunteer) and could not run in the evening as there were dinner plans. So I had to do this about 1:30 - 4:00 PM, the heat of the day. It was 87 when I started and about 91 when I was done. Though it was hot, I don't mind running in this as long as it's not a fast finish run. I did have to stop to buy Gatorade. Once again, my Garmin acted up and would stop registering distance. However, I have measured this route multiple times with a car in the PG days (pre-Garmin) so the summary is:

Miles 1-7.5 - avg pace 9:12
Miles 7.5 - 15 - avg pace 9:48
Overall 15 miles - avg pace - 9:30

THe plan this week is a stepback week. It's cool that a stepback week has 50 miles in it.

Monday turned out to be a golf day (36 holes) at Purdue Univ, excellent courses. The temps were 95-100 degrees and I drank Gatorade/water heavily through the day which helped a lot. We just missed the huge thunderstorms in CHicago however the house was without power for 16 hours. I have to figure out how to make this run up.

Tuesday - too tired from two hot days for a speedier workout. So I did Monday's workout of six easy miles and hill sprints. THis was untimed but I guess it was about 9:00 pace. Then the TM with 10% incline for the 8x12 second hill sprints. I really do believe in these sprints.

Wednesday - today's plan - 3 x 6 minute cruise intervals at HMP (7:30), HMP-10 (7:20) and 10K (7:10) with two minutes easy recovery. Then 5 x 1 minute at 5K with 1 minute jog recovery. I did this at the track and got pretty close to the expected times, except the one minutes were too fast. This was a pretty decent workout for a recovery week, a bit scaled back from a normal training week.

I'll post the Garmin stats later, the site is not letting me upload images.

That looks like a solid workout you have planned for today.

My God John you are just killing it right now and some of those workouts you are doing are just awesome and hard workouts! Not only is your running looking great but so does your golf.

After looking at your workouts I just remember you are following a Hudson plan. So how do you like it? Different then doing a straight Pfitz plan?

Pfitz puts a big deal into doing a lot of medium to long runs with a Tempo every other week and some speed towards the end. Where as Hudson still has a goo amount of medium to long runs but a lot more fartlek and interval work within a run but is light on the tempo.

Decent day today, though running on less sleep as we are in the middle of a big project at work and we're going live with it now.

Today was a planned nine miler, "easy to light moderate". As I started out, I couldn't remember whether it was a 9 or 10 miler. But I knew I had missed a mile two days ago when I ran out of time so I did the ten. Turns out the plan was nine. Little cooler out though the humidity was still there.

Site again is not letting me upload images. This is a paste of the spreadsheet.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace	Avg HR	% Max
1	0:09:04	1	9:04	110	65%
2	0:08:37	1	8:37	126	74%
3	0:08:42	1	8:42	127	75%
4	0:09:02	1	9:02	125	74%
5	0:08:50	1	8:50	126	74%
6	0:08:56	1	8:56	127	75%
7	0:08:38	1	8:38	131	77%
8	0:08:30	1	8:30	133	78%
9	0:08:38	1	8:38	133	78%
10	0:08:40	1	8:40	134	79%
Summary	1:27:42	10	8:46	127	75%

Jim, it was a good workout, I had to take a mile off due to time constraints.

Schuey wrote:My God John you are just killing it right now and some of those workouts you are doing are just awesome and hard workouts! Not only is your running looking great but so does your golf.

After looking at your workouts I just remember you are following a Hudson plan. So how do you like it? Different then doing a straight Pfitz plan?

Pfitz puts a big deal into doing a lot of medium to long runs with a Tempo every other week and some speed towards the end. Where as Hudson still has a goo amount of medium to long runs but a lot more fartlek and interval work within a run but is light on the tempo.

Martin, thanks. I like Hudson's programs. THis is the longest I have followed a particular person's plans, usually I switch up each year. The two things I am noticing is that the long runs are not as long as I am used to and he doesn't have as many longer FCRs as I'd like. Since he believes in adaptive training, it's easier for me to try to work those in. I like the intervals he has and just hope I can stay injury-free from now on as this is so far a really good traniing plan.