Finally it's the weekend!!!

So... I hope this should be a good start for a good lazy week. I know that next week I'll have it a little easier, because I'll be taking a vacation, in addition to the 4th of July day off. To make the weekend successful, first we had a TNT training run. then I went with Justyna and her friends on a ride through Los Altos area. The run was really great. Tanja (my new TNT mentor) and I drove together to Half Moon Bay. It was a big run, since both the Peninsula and South Bay teams run together. They offered runs from 4-10 miles in distance. Both Tanja and I, did the 10 miles loop. It was really great to run with her, not only because chatting while running 10 miles, makes the time goes faster. The greatest part was that we paced really well in the beginning, and we were running faster and faster all the way to the end. We had truely negative time splits for each consecutive mile we've run there, making the whole 10 miles in about one and half hour, with average pace 8:44.

That was the first half of the weekend, the second half was a bike ride. Justyna and her friends were going for a bike ride in Los Altos area, so I tagged along. It was nice roughly 25 miles long loop. The area there is so great, full of fantastic houses, rolling hills etc.

Double duty...

On Thursday I finally made it to the buddy run in Willow Glen. I barely made it I should say, getting around 5:30am is not really my thing, so I snoozed the clock. Before I knew it, I had to go. Thankfully I have packed myself the evening before, so I just quickly jumped into the shorts and shirt, and took off. When I've got to the meeting point, Tanja, Jeff and Trisha were already warming up and stretching. I joined them for a couple of minutes, and then we all went to the trail. We were running at a nice easy pace, and chatting along the way. Jeff was trying out the run/walk thing, so I stayed with him on the first walk break. I was also thinking about going back to the car with him, when he took off at about 2 miles, so that I can make it to the boot-camp, but I decided that I shouldn't slack off, and finish the whole course (~5.5miles). Of course, I wouldn't have a chance to slack off, even if I cut my run short. Today was the boot-camp testing day, so I was going to get some more running, plus some ab crunches and push-ups. Anyway, I finished the whole course with Tanja and Trisha, and after a quick round of post-run stretching, I was in a car going to my boot-camp. I barely made it without getting late, and at 8am I was getting a second dose of workout. I knew I already did 5.5 miles in the morning, so I decided to take the boot-camp "easy" - I did only 33 push-ups/min, 68 toe-touching crunches/2min and the mile I did in 7:16. What a day...

Pace yourself....

At the Tuesday track workout we were running a time trial (12x400 = ~3miles at tempo pace). It's much harder for me to run tempo in the evening - I'm tired after day at work, still agitated from driving in traffic stress, and already thinking about getting home. At least these are my excuses, when I tell you that I averaged only about 7:34/mile. It wasn't really anywhere near what I would want to be, and it felt kinda hard to run. Well just see it for yourself...

One day, two runs....

It's really funny, but just before our TNT run with couches, they told us exactly, not to make up for times when we miss our buddy runs, or other training. That very day I did second run. Yes I know some will say it's foolish, but I have few arguments in my defense.

1. the TNT program is designed to get an average couch potato across the finish line of a marathon or a half-marathon. I'm not an average couch potato anymore, and I'm not training just to finish the marathon. I need some speed too (if possible, please... pretty please...)
2. almost everyone I talk to, about running in the marathon, says that if I'm serious, I need run about 30-40 miles a week - then my body will be conditioned enough, to run the 26.2 miles in a decent time.
3. I've been running 10K training runs for past month, so I felt almost obliged to start increasing the distance, if not in one run, then at least with a second run later in the day.

So yes I know that we shouldn't, but I felt a compelling reason to actually do so. I definitely started to see improvements in my cardio - the heart rate now is lower, and stays lower through-out the runs (at least the 5-6 miles). I think I'm getting a bit more coefficient when running too, but I still need to work on my cadence, to get closer to 90 or maybe even over 90 foot-steps per minute.Both the morning run and the afternoon run, were slower than my racing pace (I know I can run 10K at about 8:20 pace), and I tried also practicing the run-walk technique that our coaches mentioned before the morning run. All in all I think this was pretty good Saturday, and I accrued about 11 miles in total.

The first run was the morning run with TNT, along Guadalupe River Trail in San Jose:

Come race day, the above results are not even close to the time I need to qualify for Boston, but as a means to accrue the mileage, there's absolutely nothing wrong there.
The second run was along the same route that I did with Russ last week. Since I had to work on Saturday, I decided to go to the trail and run 5-6 miles. I slightly modified the route that we took with Russ, so that it had a nice hill at about 4.5 miles (and really nice down hill on the last 1/2 mile too).

I decided that since it's my second run, then I'll just concentrate on getting the mileage and not speed. I also tried to practice the run-walk technique. I run for 1 mile and then I walked for 2 minutes. This resulted in slower pace, but I think I can get better results with practice. One unexpected obstacle on the course (that also resulted in slower pace) was Canadian Geese. I passed them on the way out, and they were not happy about it, but were ok with me passing them on the trail, as they were in the bushes. However, on the way back, the geese were occupying the whole both the trail and bushes in one spot. Since they had youngsters with them, I didn't risked running into a flock of geese, but instead stopped, and tried to come up with something that would get them of the trail (my only way back to the campus, and my car too). The tactic that worked was one we were told one time, to use if we see a bear, while camping. It's really simple stuff - make your self appear big (wave arms, jump, etc.) and make lots of noice (yell, scream, etc.). The geese were apparently more intimidated by this, than in a mood for fight, so after making sure the young ones went of the path, they moved off the trail too, and let me pass, but still watched carefully, and hissed angrily. The TNT folks mentioned that they will prepare us to run in every condition and weather, wander if they ever though about people running through a flock of geese...

I think I've got it....

Tuesday last week (6/19/07) was our second Team In Training workout. We were working on pace and stride, and I think I've got it. First we measured what our cadence is (mine was 84, and unlike in golf, the lower number is not better). After that first lap, we had to work on improving our cadence (take shorter strides, move your legs faster, etc.) I think I've got it, and after a little while I was cranking up my cadence to about 96. This was all great - it gave me some serious speed (faster pace recorded by my garmin, was 4:19. The only problem so far is that I can't work my legs that fast for long... I'll need to work on endurance somehow, but I definitely liked the speed.

Goodbye Chris

Past week was kind of difficult for me. Just a little over a week ago - on Tuesday, I was going to my first track workout with TNT. I left work a bit too late, so I was hoping that the commute will be not too bad. Unfortunately almost right away I've hit a back-up because of an accident. I didn't get to see much - it was pretty much already cleaned up, but I noticed that it involved a motorcycle. The next day, I learned that a co-worker and a fellow boot-camper - Chris - had a motorcycle accident shortly after leaving work. I immediately put things together. He was pretty badly hurt, and was being treated at the Stanford ICU. Over the past week all of us at work waited impatiently for any news of Chris'es recovery. Unfortunately the news coming were not exactly what we've hoped for. First we learned that he had a serious damage to both C1, C2 vertebrates and brain stem, in addition to other injuries. Chris was a great person, very active and full of life, so all of us at the boot-camp wanted to cheer him up. We signed a card for him, with words of encouragement and went to deliver it today, hoping to bring at least some joy into his life. We've got to the hospital around 4pm, and when we've made it to the ICU waiting room and found Chris'es family, we've learned that our card arrived about an hour too late. I don't know how average person does react (or should react) to news like that, but I myself just want to scream inside of me, something like this "this is not true!... this is a mistake!... that's impossible!....". It hurts even more when you feel that you failed... If you were only an hour earlier, if....
There's no turning clock back, there's no changing of the past. I know that life must go on, but I also know that I'll remember Chris forever. Not just because of the tragic end to his accident, but because he was a great person, a great colleague and a great fellow boot-camper.

Goodbye Chris!

One weekend, two workouts, two posts.

Ehm... so it sounds better, than it actually is. Well.. I did two workouts over the weekend. First I run 10K with Russ, and then today Justyna and I went biking to Portola Valley, but... It's not like I did more, but in a sense I did actually less. My TNT training regiment called for a run on Thursday (about 20-30 minutes, witch translates into about 3-4 miles) and a longer run on Saturday (maybe like 6 miles). Since I knew I want to go biking on Sunday with Justyna, I slightly "cheated" the schedule. I skipped the run on Thursday, then I run 10K on Friday, then I was lazy and slept on Saturday morning, and finally I went today biking with J. We went to Portola Valley, parked near Mike's Cafe (mmmm.... delicious breakfasts and brunches), and biked on a short (12 miles) loop over Alpine, Portola, Sand Hill and Santa Cruz roads:

Because the distance was kinda short, we decided to go on the same loop twice, and then reward ourselves with a small breakfast at Mike's (Ladera Omelette and Belgian Waffle to share). Next time, we're thinking about parking in the same place and going on Old La Honda Road, for a bigger and more challenging loop!

Watching paint dry...

It seems that getting better is like watching paint dry. The progress is not happening over-night, but it slowly creeps on you. This is what I noticed when running with Russ, this Friday.
This was my 3rd full 10K, plus I run last weekend the 6 miles with TNT, that I interpolated to 10K. My times so far are 55:53, 61:53 and 52:11 for the full 10K and 50:03 for the 6m (approx. 52:08 for 10K). So it seems that last two runs are pretty much the same. But there were quite a few differences. On the last run, Russ was trying to teach me, how to shorten my stride, and make a better, more consistent run. Yes, so far most of my speed came from running a fairly long stride for a marathoner. I knew deep inside, that I can't probably run for long with that stride and the pace I needed, but at the same time, it gave me false hope that I'm improving with every time I run faster. Now I think the reality started to sink in, and I started taking advice from people that are much smarter about running than me. So thanks to Russ, one of the surprises from my Friday run, was that my average heart rate stayed pretty much the same for about 5 miles. What's even more important, is that the heart rate was never over my "age formula" limit (220 - age). One other difference from the previous runs, was that we head on one way almost 20mph head wind. Yes - the wind gave a great cooling effect, but it also felt like I was standing still, and not moving. So overall I'm very happy with that run. I learned a lot (and I still have a lot more to learn) about my running. I also maintained my time from the week before, improving my overall quality of run (lower heart rate, shorter stride, etc.) I'm really looking forward to run more with Russ - he's great instructor, and I'm learning a lot from him!

First TNT Workout!

Yesterday we had our first team workout. We all had a great time! We first run a 3 person relay (so that everyone run 12x200). Then we did some stretching and core work. After all that there was the fun part - "hang with the gang" we had pizza, salads and soft-drinks, to refuel on, and we had the opportunity to meet people, chat with each other and listen to some survival stories form our honorees. It was a great time and I'm looking forward to the next one, next Tuesday!.

Great weekend!

Yes - it was great weekend! Both Justyna and I had our first Team In Training weekend workouts. I'm extremely happy with my run, as it shows that I'm no longer going backwards ;-)
Our team ran 6 miles along Los Gatos Creek Trail. It was sunny and hot for a morning time, and there was much more terrain variation (read hills and bridges). Despite all these "bonus" features, I still managed to get my best time for 6 miles. I made the whole loop in 50:02, which extrapolated to 10K would be ~ 52:10 - my best so far.


At first I thought it will be much harder to get a good time. When I run on the track, it's flat and easy. Running on the trail was a lot different - lots of small hills, that quickly add up. I skipped the water stop that was setup on mile 1.5, when going out, as it was too early for me, and coming back was too late. Thankfully I had my own water, in my new addition to the running gadgets: Amphipod fuel belt. I also took one PowerBar gel with me (double-latte flavor - yummy!), which helped a lot with having energy to run.

At the same time, Justyna was having fun on her own, in Los Altos. The cycling team that she signed up with, had a 15 mile cycle loop, with a surprise stop: "rear flat!!!". They made all the participant, pretend that they've got a puncture in rear tire, and need to change/repair the tube. For many of them it was a very first time, and judging from the stories, it was pretty funny view. But all in all, she managed to take the rear wheel off, deflate, remove the tire and tube, and then put it back together - given that she's still pretty new to cycling, I have to say - I AM IMPRESSED!!!
I guess she was impressed with her performance too (not only with the tire change, but also cycling - she managed to keep up with the fastest group for about 10 miles).

Because we started the weekend on such a great note, we felt that we need to do something on Sunday too. We decided to go to Mt Hamilton in the morning. We were doing pretty good, and after about 1 hour of pedaling up, we've arrived at the Joseph D. Grant County Park. To our surprise there were thousands of people there, as it was a 2007 Muddy Buddy race time! We took a little time off there, chatted with the participants covered toe to head in mud, and took off for a little more climbing. Justyna wanted to get at least 10 miles up - half way to Lick Observatory. We turned around at that point, hoping to beat the cars, that already started leaving the park after Muddy-Buddy.


I have to say that I'm really impressed with Justyna! She made half way to the top, and she had energy to spare! This was her second time on the Mount Hamilton Road (about 2 years ago, we went there on mountain bikes with our friends Debbie and Omar), and for me it was a third time. On April 1st I took my Kona mountain bike on a 4.5 hours of climbing up all the way to the top. This time I was riding my new Specialized Tarmac. After going half-way there, I think I could have made it in more usual 2.5-3 hours.
Riding a road bike there is soooooo much easier!

Overall I think this made for a pretty good start of a hopefully great season with Team In Training - GO TEAM!

Gentelmen! start... your... engines!!!

My TNT season has started with the kick-off meeting last Saturday, but our first real workout would be tomorrow. I'm getting really anxious about all that. What would it be like? Would I really learn what I need? Would I be able to improve my running enough to be able to qualify for Boston Marathon? Would I be any good? Please keep your fingers crossed!

BTW: so far I only know that after last boot-camp I still have hamstrings sore from the workout. I hope they will get better before tomorrow morning.

Going backwards???

This is sooooo embarrassing, that's it's not even funny. The first time I run 10K I made it in less than 56 minutes, so it was obvious to me that the next time I'll only be better.
WRONG!
I just hope that this was just a combination of getting too late to the track, and not being up to my best. What really was not right, I'll probably never know. I'll have another shot at a 10K next weekend during coaches run, with TNT - I just hope it will be better than the first one. For now I have to live with defeat and the lap splits below:

So for now I'll just keep running and try to get better so that I can erase the memory of not getting better result from the time before.
On the other hand on the fund-raising front, I had a wonderful week, last week and I'm getting closer to the finish everyday. I have over 60% of funds raised and I have several hundred dollars more lined up with matching donations that were made by my colleagues from work. I'm way ahead of any goals that I could think of so far!

THANK YOU TO ALL THE GENEROUS DONORS!

On the breaking news front, my wonderful wife signed up with the TNT cycling team, and she will try to beat me, by raising $4200 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. She will ride the Honolulu Century this year - that's 100 miles in a bike saddle!
This is a really lofty goal and she will need all our support so please be generous to her too! To donate please follow the link below:

https://www.active.com/donate/tntsvmb/justyna

I hope she can get her goals accomplished, and successfully finish the race!