I am Back-Still Humming Along

Well, it has been quite some time since I have taken the time to write my blog. In case you were worried, my training is still humming along nicely. As you recall from my last blog entry, I was feeling slightly run down and decided to skip one of my scheduled runs. That worked out pretty well as it allowed me to get a little more rest. Since then, I have been going strong although I have had to take a few breaks from training to get some chores done. I may have mentioned before that my yard needs lots of work and I finally started to do something about it. Of course that meant I had to miss out on a bike riding opportunity but I was able to compensate with a monster mountain bike ride with my friend Mario at a later date.

Mario is training for a 100-mile mountain bike race that takes place at the end of April. He has been riding a whole lot more than me so it was a nice challenge to ride with him. We did a 3-hour hard ride from his house down to the river, rode all the trails, and then rode hard back. It is amazing how riding with another person facilitates training by making the pace much faster than when riding alone. I was grateful for the opportunity to push the pace.

Before I talk about some of my specific workouts, I want to revisit the topic of my diet. As you may recall, I was experimenting with trying to cut wheat out of my diet or at least limit it. As it turns out, that experiment only lasted for about a week. The lure of the peanut butter and jelly and the toast with peanut butter was too strong. So I am still eating wheat but I have started experimenting with other grains.

For instance, according to all the fitness experts, steel cut oats (not rolled oats) are very good for one's health. Of course we are not talking about oatmeal that you get at McDonald's or instant oatmeal. The kind of oatmeal that is good for you is very plain with no added sugar, preservatives, sodium, or anything else for that matter.

The first batch I made was nearly inedible. It was like eating a cross between cardboard, dirt, and paste. So I did some more research and the next time I added some things to make it more tasty yet not ruin its positive nutritional content. After cooking up the oats, I added some organic raisins and some cinnamon. That really did the trick. It was tasty, hardy, and very nutritious.

We also made a dish with quinoa the other night that also turned out tasty. We simply cooked the quinoa in our rice cooker and then sautéed onions, garlic, and peppers in a little olive oil. We then blended it all with black beans, some salsa, and vegetable broth. It turned out quite yummy although next time I think I will add some funky peppers to give it a little more zing.

Another thing that I have added to my diet comes from Melissa's mother Joan. Joan told us about a hot drink that she had started to drink and I just had to try it. It is very simple and takes the place of tea or coffee which I don't drink. Basically I chop up some fresh ginger and put it in this little steeper contraption. Then I heat up water in the microwave, squeeze a quarter lemon into the hot water, and then steep the ginger. It is a very calming drink. In addition, both ginger and lemon are very good for the body and mind. I would like to give a big thanks to Joan for sharing this drink idea with us. Thanks Joan!

Now back to training. Rather than list out all of my previous workouts that I have been doing since my last blog, I will focus on the most recent workouts. Last night, I did my 5/2-mile run which is 5 miles total with the last 2 miles at race pace. I felt slow last night and ended up running those last 2 miles at 7:24 min/mile. This pace is too slow if I want to PR. My PR is 46:01 from a couple of years ago. I definitely was off and did not really have the stomach to push the pace. One thing I have noticed is that my stomach is always in much better shape on my morning runs on Saturday when compared to my evening runs during the week.

Tonight's run called for a 50-minute tempo run. My tempo runs call for a 10-minute warm up followed by running at slightly faster than race pace and then another 10 minutes of cool down. I ran much better tonight. I managed to run my 30 minutes hard at a 6:51 min/mile pace. (see specifics below). If I was able to maintain the 6:51 for the entire race, I would end up running the upcoming 10K in roughly 42:33. Honestly, I don't think I can maintain that pace for the whole race. If I was able to maintain 7:00 min/miles for the whole race, I would end up with about a 43:30. Based on all of this information, I am starting to think that my goals will be something like this.

A+ goal-43 minutes.

A goal - 44 minutes

B goal - 46 minutes

Split Time Distance Avg Pace Summary 00:50:02 6.61 07:34 1 00:10:01 1.12 08:54 2 00:30:00 4.38 06:51 3 00:10:00 1.11 09:02

There are only 3 more weekends of training before the first race of the season. I am getting excited. The Monument Avenue 10K has over 37,00 people signed up so far. Should be a fun day!