Hawiian Pizza Fiasco 5K

I went and ran a 5K nearby last night. Its not actually called the Hawiian Pizza Fiasco 5K, but that could be a great name. I went to Canfield and ran in the Cardinal Classic 5K. I have only run one 5K this year so I wanted to see where I was at. And the only 5K I ran was the Hangover classic which included a beer stop.

I wanted to see where I was at. A late night speed session with a couple hundred people. Im hoping to do good in the Firecracker 4 miler next week so this was a good chance to see if it was possible. But with it starting at 9 PM makes it tough to figure out what to eat. I had ordered a Hawiian pizza Friday night. Of course there was leftovers. Took them in my lunch to work. And it felt like they stayed there till some time today.

Now I dont think it was a total distater. I really wasn't sure what to expect. I been doing speedwork but not really for long enough. And this wasn't a goal race to me. I got 2 of them next month. But I do need to do at least one race a month. This was one of my last chances. So I ran it with what felt like a brick in my stomach. I made it to the finish line without losing it on the course. In a 5K that might mean I didn't run it hard enough, a matter of opinion.

I finished in a alright time of 26:05. I wore my heart rate monitor, didnt look at during race. Still figuring out my Max and paces for workouts. (Mel did you get my email?) Heres the splits with the average HR after it. I imagine its normal that I got slower and heart rate went up in a race. If I figured my max heart rate from the intervals Wednesday has 200 then I dont think I could of run this much faster.
split AHR
Mile 1 7:59 184
Mile 2 8:30 189
Mile 3 8:52 195
mile .1 0:44 196
total 26:05 191

PS I liked the shirt so thats another plus for the race.

ta da

I went to track met my buddy and got in some intervals. This weekly speed workout is getting habit forming. We did 5 800 meters, with a lap walk/jog in between. For a twist you had to do second lap faster then first. I must of done the first one too fast at 3:43. Next 2 were a bit slower at 3:48, 3:47. But really fell off the last 2 at 3:58 and 3:53.
I wore a heart rate monitor during the intervals. I need to figure out if the signal is wacked, or my max is way higher then the simple formulas. The simple formula of 220 minus age woudl put me at 173. But according to monitor I maxed out at 198. Ok granted this is a cheap walmart on sale heart rate monitor. And from other places checking normal resting heart rate it was close. So is my max that high or is the monitor messed up? Or use it based on that heart rate, assuming its consistent to figure out training zones. From when I wore it that might be consistent.

scheduling

NOTE: I got on here 3 times this week to post and finally today got it done. I really do try for 2 to 4 posts per week.

Since I started new job back in April I still trying to find the right schedule to run. My plan since the marathon was to run 5 or 6 days with Saturdays off. In these days do 1 day of speedwork, 1 or 2 days hit the trails, a longer run on the weekends and some easy runs to fill it in. My normal work schedule right now is Monday thru Thursday 2-11 and Saturday 8-5. This is why Saturdays became my rest day. I run mornings rest of week. This is my plan on non race weeks. Yes there will be races if you had any doubts.

So the problem was I would end up not running on Saturday go long Sunday then take monday off. Then have to run 4 days in a row, which is fine if your running 6 days but would make more sense to split the days up better. This week I ran monday, then Tuesday I ran just cause it was so nice out. And then Rick asked me to do speed work at the track on Wednesday so I went. Then took Thursday off and Saturday off. Which means I ended up doing same thing just different day. I think best plan is to run the days I can and not worry about it. If my OCD will let me do that.

Today I had a good run I met a buddy at the park to run trails. With all the rain last night it was sure to be muddy. They had a couple sections of the trail roped taped off. You know the yellow caution tape. so we had to run those sections. The one part must of been flooded the night before it was fine just lots of sticks on the trail. The other area taped off was a little tougher. A large tree was down on it, but we were able to climb over it and keep going. Got in around 9 miles total for the day on just a fun day of trail running.

Flag Day

I got up and headed to the park to meet up for the 8 mile trail run we had planned. I wasnt exactly sure who was going to be there but had a good idea. Bob, Rick, Greg, Suzy, Ron, and Adam were there has expected but someone I never met before was there Todd. He had read about it on the trail running website where I posted it in case anyone wanted to join. Apperantly he did. Bruce the Moose was there in parking lot finishing his run when we were starting. I guess 8 Am is late for some.

We got started out on whats part of the Youngstown Ultra Trail Classic 50K & 25K route. We quickly hit the monkey trails and made a wrong turn. We usually run this the opposite direction, guess we should mix it up a little more often. After we climbed back up a steep hill we got back on course and was alright the rest of the way. We did go thru some downed trees, first time it was bunch of branches. Next time 2 trees on top of each other and I had to climb thru it. Much closer that would of been real interesting to try.

3 or so miles into it Suzy and her brother Greg turned back, I figured she would since she rarely goes beyond 5 or 6 miles. Rest of went on has planned. After we got around more then half way to the boat docks Rick decided he had enough trails and needed to get done. So took the shorter route on roads back. Down to 5.

Before we got to Big Bear trails Adam decided he had enough of the trails. So the last couple mile plus was the 4 of us. I wasnt surprised Bob was still there, no idea what expect from the new guy but he seemed fine. He might even be back to run with us. Ron finished it, he must be running good right now.

Overall, a really fun run day. Finished in under 2 hours, about 1:50. Always slower on trails and we had a few short stops I didnt stop watch for. We had 2 longer pit stops that I did stop it for. I felt I ran good today, feeling better about the running. Now to decide which race to run this month............

Pyramid

Other day my buddy emailed me and asked me to meet him at the track to "run up and down the ladder." IN Glovers book I think he calls it pyramid intervals. Remind me not to answer his emails any more. It went like this:
Dist time rest
400 1:43 1:17
800 3:51 2:49
1200 6:04 4:00
1600 8:25 4:18
1200 6:13 2:33
800 3:58 2:00?
400 1:48

push up plan start

I tried to start the 100 push plan today. Well I barely got thru it. It was supposed to be 5 sets of pushups going 10, 12, 7,7 and maz of at least 9. I was starting in column 3 the toughest of the program. I got thru it but was losing form the last 2 sets. After one day Im thinking maybe I should drop down to Column 2 and go with that.

I have very little upper body or core workouts the last couple years. Fogot how much push ups could work the core. If Wednesday isnt any better I am going to drop it down and go from there. Tomorrow running and sit ups plan. What am I thinking?

Not much

I havent felt like much to write about lately. I been running sporadicly, but did do some speedwork. Nice things about the weeks after a marathon you can say your still in marathon recovery. But I am starting to pick up some. Did some speedwork this week in anticpation of the upcoming summer races I got planned. hoping for a real fun summer of racing. One of favorite halfs in July and possibly a new (for me) 10K this summer.

I also am thinking of starting to do something new to strengthen upper body and core, starting next week. I saw these links on Just Finish! about doing 100 pushups and 200 sit ups.

one hundred push ups
two hundred sit-ups

So, the question is do I go for it? Can I stick to it the way I do with running? Both are 3 day a week plans, so I thought of alternating them and taking Saturdays off completely. Its become an off day from running too. So I would do whatever running I have planned then whatever the number of pushups or situps that are scheduled in the plan. I think it would be me Monday, wednesday and Friday pushups, and situps on Tueday, Thursday and Sunday. So has anyone esle tried either of these with any success?