23 March 2007
I’ve been slacking? Really?
Posted by Brad Hefta-Gaub under: Cycle; Daughters; Family; Fitness; Ironman; Marathons; Pinewood Derby; Run; Strength Training; Swim; Y-Guides; blogging; exercise; sports injuries.
Ok, so I won’t beat myself up too much. But I feel like blogging is an important outlet for me. I have a lot of ideas that come to me as I’m out exercising/training, and I think about how much I’ve learned and how much I still have to learn. I want to share my experiences and I really really want to get feedback from people that I’ve met through the blogging community, and hopefully learn from all of you. If I disappear, if you disappear, I can’t learn, and for me… learning, and communication is a very important driving force of what makes me tick as a human being, and frankly, is a huge part of what I believe makes us tick as a human species. So I owe it to myself, and to the world, to blog, right?
Well, in that spirit, here’s a collection of random things I’ve been thinking about for the last couple days that I should have, but haven’t yet blogged about.
Running Slow - I’ve been trying to run slower. What?!Yeah… I admit, I was inspired by a couple of different sources. One what some stuff that John Rankin alluded to on his blog. He mentioned the “less is more” approach to training. Now, I’m not a dedicated runner, so I already only train for running at about 20% of my overall training routine… so I don’t think I’m at risk of over training in my run. But when I run I want to make sure it’s the most productive use of my time. So I am intrigued and inspired by the idea that there may be a big “early season” benefit to training slower.
I also got an earful from Trevor when we sat around at the end of Chilly Hilly waiting for Ray to show up at the finish line. He was adamant about the virtues of 65%-75% Max HR training as a way of building a strong base. I have to admit, I haven’t done any real research into this… but I do believe that it makes sense…. at least what I’ve heard. So, in that spirit, I’ve decided to try to run more of my runs at a slower pace.
Right now, I feel like my top priority for running is 10% more on every weekly long run. I’m up to 12.5miles for this week. Last week’s long run was 11.4 and it was pretty easy for me. I really want to run further and faster and more often, but I am paranoid about my bones. Two stress fractures has got me “running” from my own shadows.
I am also excited about the new found capacity I have for running faster. Last year, I trained consistently at a 10min/mile and when I ran a 9min/mile I felt like I “was pushing myself”… and that I was “running fast”. But since Oct, I’ve been targeting my 8min/mile pace for my Ironman split. I have been consistently throwing down 7:30-7:40min/miles and feeling really good about it. Sure, I feel like I’m running at that pace, it’s not easy running, let alone sub 8’s… but I feel like I can run a full 26.2 miles at that pace without concern. I almost did it at the Seattle Marathon, if it hadn’t been for my injury at mile 23.
Sure, I expect to lose a little bit of energy from my swim/bike legs before the Ironman run, but after last year, I feel like I know a lot more about how my body feels on a full 12 hours of race effort. I’ve done at least 3 full 10+ hour race efforts. Two double century bike rides, and 1 Ironman. Now, I’m not going to tell you I’m a pro… hell no… but I feel like I’ve reach a level of personal awareness with regards to what that sort of extended endurance (ultra endurance) race effort feels like. I am pretty confident that the pace I run an 8 mile training run at, can easily be delivered for 26.2 miles after 7 hours of previous race effort swimming and cycling. But will my bones make it through the season?
Ok… so rambling on… How about kids?
I really should write up a full post on this… but tonight was the Y-Guides Pinewood Derby. Saffron (my oldest daughter) and I built a car and raced it. For those of you who have never heard of a Pinewood Derby you can read more about it here. Although the Cub Scouts (Boy Scouts) are most well known for their Pinewood Derbies, there is a mention of the YMCA Pinewood Derby on this wikipedia article.
I remember Pinewood Derby’s as a kid, when I was a Cub Scout/Boy Scout. They were a lot of fun, but I never got “into it” as much as some kids/dads did. This year was the same. Saffron was interested, but she mostly wanted to hang out with her friends and watch the activity. She helped “design” a car, and she helped carve it, although I probably did 90% of the woodwork, I made her do at least some part of everything… cutting the wood with a hack saw, sanding it, painting it, etc. Well, it turns out that Saffron’s car won 1 of her heats (races) and came in 2nd in 1 race, 3rd in 2 races, and only finished 5th (last) in one race. Her final score was 14 points (lower was better), and she pretty much landed in the top 20th percentile since there were 92 total cars and she was tied by points for 18th place… not bad at all!
I promise to post photos this weekend. Click here to see a short slide show. These photos suck because their from my phone, but the capture the thrill and excitement of the event. 
This week has been busy and tough for training. So far I’ve only managed 8 hours 15mins of training, although I have a 17 hour goal… so this weekend will be a HUGE weekend, with 9 hours total!!! I plan to do 60miles of cycling and 1 hour of swimming tomorrow; and then 40 miles of cycling, my 12.5 mile long run, and at least an hour of strength training on Sunday. Jeez! That’s crazy… Oh wait, didn’t I just get done saying how “aware” I was of my body and how I can do 10+ hours of race effort on a single day with no problem! Hah! What a phony I am.
10 Comments so far...
I've been slacking? Really? « ZappoMan.wordpress.com - Fitness Blog Says:
[...] Well, in that spirit, here’s a collection of random things I’ve been thinking about for the last couple days that I should have, but haven’t yet blogged about. (Read the rest of this article on ZappoMan.com…) [...]
sheba Says:
speaking of blogging… have you read my NYC reports?
http://shebaduhkitty.livejournal.com/282667.html
there are a lot of pictures on my Flickr too. I had a blast and WALKED a LOT! a NY block is like 3 or 4 of everett blocks. and my hotel was 7-9 NY blocks from the convention. (I didn’t count, but I think it was 7 up and 2 over) Yesterday I was back in the gym and did some weights. Now that I am not sick any more (knock on wood) I can get back to my Dec/January level of working out and get back on track. (good grief, it is almost april!)
Sara Says:
Holy workouts this weekend! Very jealous of your running! I am looking forward to trying to break 4 hours in a marathon (but not in my next IM–maybe someday!). I often wonder if I have it in me to BQ, but I need to focus on the sub-4 first since that may take a few times (only done 2 and best was 4:18)
Here’s to progress!
zappoman Says:
Well, workout #1 for the weekend is done… 62 mile bike in the rain. (3:40) I took it a little slow since the weather was bad, I had a splitting headache (I think I was hung over from two drinks I had last night…. jeez, training makes me such a lightweight!) Since my bike had essentially racing slicks on I just wasn’t ready to go all out on the wet pavement in traffic.
Anyway, friends are on their way over for an early dinner now. So the plans will change a little, I will do my strength training tonight, and then bike/run brick tomorrow morning, and a swim tomorrow night. The pool is always crazy Saturday morning, and much more mellow Sunday night.
Sara, as for qualifying for Boston, I think this year is going to be a long shot. The 3:15 time is still sounding like a pretty big hill to climb at this rate. I think I might have it in me… but I’ve only run 26.2 miles twice in my life… once inside an Ironman 4:32 split; and once solo 3:58 split… but that was walking the last 3 miles on a broken calcaneus (heel) bone… I was on pace to hit 3:30 before the fracture. But I feel like my running plan is coming along, and I’ll know more about my solo marathon pace by late summer.
Halfawake Says:
I think running slow is really the way to go, especially when you’re running ~ 12 miles a week. I don’t have any evidence to back this claim up except for my own experience :-D. I think it’s OK to do some hard runs, but if I’m running 12 miles a week (in say 3 days) and I don’t keep those slow then my body doesn’t get to get “used to running” and it becomes harder to look forward to.
Of course, “slow” is relative to your own comfort zone.
zappoman Says:
Oh yeah… one other thing to mention about my marathon experience… As I said, I have very little experience in it… so part of my belief that I can run a 3:15 marathon is “blissful ignorance” for sure. But the two marathons I ran were within 8 weeks of each other, and I only decided about 6 weeks before the second marathon to “go for” a 3:30 time… so I went out and ran all my training runs at an 8:00/mile or less pace… I found it doable, and although I never actually ran a longer training run than about 15miles at that pace, I was pretty confident that I was going to make it. And again, I think I could have (or at least gotten pretty close) had it not been for my stress fracture at 23 miles.
So… what does this tell me? Well, it tells me that I think I have more running ability that I had originally predicted last year as I started out in triathlon. And so that is why I chose two pretty audacious goals for this year… 1) take 60 minutes off my IM run split and 2) take 1:15 off my marathon PR and qualify for Boston. Ordinarily these both sound like ridiculous goals… but that’s the kind of thing I like to challenge myself with.
This is probably not for everyone, and that’s fine with me, I celebrate anyone who takes on a goal that they feel is appropriate for them. Me, I want to push myself beyond the limit…. that’s just how I roll.
Jenny Says:
The running goals are very appealing! I’m sort of obsessed with this question of how much we can improve our running speed–seems to me that at the beginning in particular there’s a pretty steep curve, I am really hoping I can bring down my times a lot this year. I was doing longish runs this fall at a 9:30 pace and it felt great, I love the idea even if it is only a possibility that I might be able to get to a place six months from now where a long training run might be more like 8:45 or 9:00 pace, that would be quite amazing…
IronMed Says:
Zappo, I don’t think it’s entirely ridiculous to drop those times down for your marathon splits. I think the “rates of change” are much steeper for individuals who are just starting to train vs. those who have been at it for a while, i.e. diminishing returns. That said, I’ve been able to improve my marathon time by about ~30′ over the last 2-3yrs with somewhat focused efforts. I think one of keys to improvement is monitoring/recording how you train so you can compare your outcomes over the course of the season (or years). Just my 2 cents. Quality vs. quantity training. Happy training!
zappoman Says:
I agree with both of IronMed’s points… beginners often see rapid improvements until they reach their first real training plateau; and that there are many quality ways to train the take less quantity.
I am certain that I haven’t yet reached my first “real” plateau, because I continue to see performance improvements in my endurance, strength, and speed for both running and cycling, and I am accomplishing most of this without serious precision and detailed analysis of my training routines.
Yes, I am using periodization, and I am mixing in various types of workouts like intervals, endurance, and recovery focused workouts. But I rarely plan my weeks in advance other than my annual schedule that includes my basic periods (workload) and race schedule. I still feel like I have to let life happen (family, work, etc) so I don’t want to feel too restricted around a particular workout on a particular day.
Karl McCracken Says:
re #4: I can definitely agree with training making us all into lightweights! I think that losing the body fat that in a ‘normal’ person would soak up alcohol, and drinking far less (so reducing your tolerance) is an almost lethal combination. I was out for a perfectly civilised dinner on Friday this week, planning on a run on Saturday. Sadly, it was not to be - the hangover from hell stalked me ALL DAY yesterday.
Only a week to go ’till the season’s first race, so I’m not too worried about missing one session as it’s now unlikely to have had too much of an impact - I’m either ready or I’m not by this point.
