Park Point 5 Miler

PP5M Training: Week 1

Hooray! I’m training for something again. I like it better that way.

I made a dumb mistake in calculating when I should start the 8-week training program for the Park Point 5 Miler. It’s 9 weeks away, not 8. I plan to repeat the final week of training, so I guess I’ll have a “taper” for a short race.

It’s raining off and on today so we’ll see when I get out and actually do today’s workout.

Here’s what I did last week:
Monday: 0.9 mile run, 2.9 mile walk, road
Tuesday: 4.4 mile run, road (and then a walk around Lake Calhoun that I didn’t time or log)
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: 3.7 mile tempo run, road
Friday: 4.2 mile run, road
Saturday: 6.5 mile run/walk, trail
Sunday: 5.2 mile run, road
Total Mileage: 27.8 miles

I like this training plan. Since I’ve added warmups and cooldowns and use the cross training day for running, the overall mileage is high enough that I can roll it over into a marathon training plan once I’ve finished the race. I also signed up for another race in the middle, the Midnight Sun Midnight Run on June 26th. It starts at 11:59 PM, which should be fun. It goes along the Lakewalk, which is lighted, and there should be a nice cool breeze off the lake to keep the bugs and humidity away. I needed another race between now and the 5 Miler to gauge my goal pace, and to try once more to get under 36 minutes. The obvious choice would have been the William A Irvin 5K the weekend prior, but I don’t know, running the 5K that accompanies the marathon I planned to run feels a little off. This race will also be smaller and less of a cluster.

This week of training felt great, other than Saturday’s excursion. I traversed the Superior Hiking Trail from the Magney Snively parking lot to the base of Ely’s Peak and back. I don’t say I “ran” it because there was little running involved. I was having trouble keeping my heart rate down on the uphills and used the flats and downhills to recover. It is a beautiful trail, and I really need to go back, because I need to get better at trail running. I finished with an overall pace of 2.5 mph, which is sad. Since I am considering running a trail race instead of the Mankato Marathon, I have to improve on that performance. I plan on designating the “cross training” day of the workout plan to a trail run. It’ll be more than 60 minutes, for sure, but it’ll go a long way toward my overall endurance and fitness for whatever fall race I run. I can always scale back if my legs feel dead.

My calves were so tight on Sunday that walked for my warmup (1 mile) and cooldown (.25 miles, basically once I hit 5 miles I walked the rest of the way home), but other than that I felt amazing during the run, despite the humidity. I monitored my heart rate the whole time and I didn’t have a single mile that averaged over 140 bpm. I did walk up the hills I encountered in order to accomplish that, but I am still pretty excited about the paces I was able to hit: 19:22 (warmup + stretching), 15:25, 15:29, 14:47, 15:06, 18:13 (pace for the last quarter mile cooldown). That is a massive improvement for me, aerobically speaking. I just wish it had translated better into my hike on Saturday.

The forecast for this upcoming week looks amazing for training. Wednesday is the only hot day and none of the days look horribly cold. It’s about time!

5 Mile Training Kick-Off

The next race I have on the docket for the year is the Park Point 5 Miler, which is on July 17th. It still feels a long way off, and I might need to find another race in the meantime to try to destroy that 36:00 benchmark, but I won’t be training for anything sooner.

I kicked off my 8-week training cycle for this race on Monday. I am using Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 10K training program to prepare for the race.

I chose the intermediate program, even though I’m still a fairly novice racer, for a few reasons.

First, here’s how he describes the intermediate runner: “What defines an Intermediate runner? You should be running five to six times a week, averaging 15-25 miles weekly training. You probably also should have run a half dozen or more races at distances between the 5-K and the Half-Marathon. With that as background, you now need a somewhat more sophisticated schedule to improve. If that doesn’t sound like you, you might be more comfortable using one of my programs designed for novice or advanced runners.”

I’m running 5-6 times per week, and I’m coming off of a failed marathon training cycle, so I’m hitting 2 for 2 right away. I haven’t run a half dozen or more races at all kinds of distances, but I have run a couple now. Most importantly, I am looking to improve.

Contrast that with the novice program. “To participate in this 10-K program, you should have no major health problems, should be in reasonably good shape, and should have done at least some jogging or walking. If running 2.5 miles for your first workout on Tuesday of the first week seems too difficult, you might want to begin by walking, rather than running. Or, if you have more than eight to ten weeks before your 10-K, switch to my 5-K schedule to build an endurance base before continuing.”

See, that’s too nice. The novice training is too gentle. It also has more cross training and less running (although I could just use those days as running days, too), and it tops out at 5.5 miles, whereas the intermediate program tops out at 8 miles. The intermediate program has 5 running days a week and one cross training day, which is what I prefer, and it has some specific speed workouts, which I need. So, intermediate it is!

Hal also has an 8k training program, which I just calculated is equivalent to a 5 mile training program, and the plans look very similar. I am going to stick with the 10k program as it has slightly higher mileage.

This week’s training got off to an inauspicious start. On Monday I covered the prescribed distance, but most of that was on a walk with a friend. On Tuesday I had a nice run and actually covered the distance PLUS I did a warm up and cool down (which felt mostly the same since I was running by heart rate). Wednesday I was out in a field all day launching rockets (legally) and then finished driving home to Duluth, and was wiped out by the time I got back. I decided I’d make it a rest day and move the schedule back a day. That means no rest day on Friday, but that’s fine. I was too tired to function. I am writing this Thursday evening, procrastinating on heading out on my scheduled tempo run, so I will report back on that another day. It is a gorgeous evening, I only have to run for 35 minutes (plus warm up and cool down), and I’m feeling pretty good, so I need to hit “schedule” and get off the couch.

From 5K to 5 Miles

I registered for the Park Point 5 Miler yesterday.

5miler

Hooray!

Maybe. There are some concerning things about this race.

1. It is in July, when it might be hot. It probably won’t be that hot, but if it is, that might kinda suck. I should be acclimated to the heat at that point, but I’m still concerned.

2. It’s only a few weeks after the marathon. Obviously if I don’t run it, that doesn’t matter. If I do, it could be an ugly race.

3. I don’t know how to race a 5 mile race. I mean, a 5K is easy to strategize. Run. I guess. Try to save a little for the end. Does that really apply to 5 miles, too? I kind of assume so, but I’m looking at an hour of hard running. Coach Google is probably going to have to give me some advice.

4. This isn’t a run/walk. This is a run. I am legitimately concerned about whether or not I can run fast enough to not totally hold up the race. Part of me is like “Give up marathon training and start training for the races you’re already entered in!” Another part of me is like “That would mean track workouts!” I would have to get over my fear of looking like a doofus on the track. And also of getting kicked off the track for trespassing, even though I know people work out at HS tracks all the time. (The track at UMD is inside the football stadium so I’m fairly certain I can’t go hop on there, and there’s intramural stuff going on all the time anyway.

I didn’t run yesterday as I was pretty tired. I was concerned I’d wake up today with a terrible cold, because I felt like I had one coming on, but I woke up feeling pretty good. I slept as late as I felt like, which means I need to re-hydrate before getting out in the cold (it’s 40 F), but it was well worth it.

The Race Calendar

Well, I guess I have a race calendar, because I signed up for another race: the Be The Match Walk+Run, May 16th, in Minneapolis. (The link is to my fundraising site, for anyone compelled and able to donate. I am extremely uncomfortable asking for money, even when it isn’t for myself.)

My mom asked me to do this race awhile ago and I said no, because it is the day after finals end. Now I have to be down in the Twin Cities anyway for a rocketry competition the following week (I am cool), so I decided why the heck not. My sister-in-law used to work for the Be The Match Foundation, two members of my family have had successful bone marrow transplants, and I have lost a family member and friend to blood cancer. One might say that the Be The Match Foundation is close to my heart.

I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on the Grandma’s Marathon entry. Right now most marathon predictors say I would run just under 6 hours, which is a good sign, but that’s based on one 5K, so I’m not going to trust it. I’m going to go off my next few long runs. I will probably sign up for the Park Point 5 Miler in July, too, but I don’t want to pay for it yet.

I got an ad in my race packet for a 5K at the end of May. It’s called the Insane Inflatable 5K, and is some kind of obstacle course, but without mud, and involves lots of slides and climbing and things. Look, I am an adult. I do not need to run a race through a glorified ball pit, or through mud, or through blasts of colored powder. I can just run a race. It’s fine. The race is also obscenely expensive. It was $49 for early registration and goes all the way up to $75 on race day. So it’s $50-$75 to climb a bunch of blow-up obstacles covered in the sweat, spit, and snot (or worse) of fellow overgrown children? No, thank you.

I know that’s mean, and there are plenty of people out there who enjoy the novelty races, but I don’t see the point. Are these races motivating a significant number of people to exercise? If so, bring ’em on! I would hope my impression that novelty runs encourage undertrained people to go out and hurt themselves or get in my way is an erroneous impression.

It’s pretty easy to see how signing up for races can be addicting, and expensive. I am able to keep my excitement at bay simply by looking at some of the previous race results to see I’m not fast enough to run smaller races yet, and also by reminding myself I’m a student who works part time.