I had 45 minutes this morning to get in a run. I opted for the treadmill again because it has been wet and cold and I didn't want to spend the first 30 minutes trying to warm up. I started the treadmill at an incline of 3.0 and set the speed for 7.5 mph or about 8:00/mi. I continued there for 15 minutes of warm up. Then I started to increase the speed. For the next 5 minutes I ran at 8.5mph, then increase to 9.0 for another 5 minutes. After that I started increasing the speed by .1mph every minute until I got to 9.5 mph and then maxed out the speed on my treadmill at 10.0 mph for another mile. I finished with a cool down mile at 7.5 mph again. I finished the 6 miles at a 3.0 grade in 43:40 and got a good 20 minutes of threshold type running. The first 10 minutes were a little slower than T-pace and the last mile was a little faster than T-pace. It was a good workout in 45 minutes.
A few announcements:
Clay Patten and I are continuing our free running clinic series on March 6th at 11:00am at Valley Physical Therapy Group in Lancaster, CA. The topic is Recovery: The key to getting fitter and avoiding injury. We will be discussing post workout recovery, adding recovery into your training plans and a specific marathon recovery plan. I hope you all can come.
The following day, March 7th, Clay is hosting a mountian fun run starting at the PCT and San Fransisquito Rd on an out and back course that would be a maximum 15.5 miles. It is a great and challenging section of trail. See the high desert runner website for details.
Finally, reioutlet.com is having their annual super clearance sale starting Friday, Febuary 12th. Check it out online right away as many items go quickly.
73 entrants so far for the LD50. I think they usually get twice that. 66 days til the race.
Showing posts with label treadmill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label treadmill. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
5 miles on treadmill (39:40)
Although this morning would have been a nice day to get out on the roads before more rain, I decided to stay warm and wear shorts and a t-shirt and hit the treadmill again. I just set the incline to 2.0 today and ran around 8:00 pace for 40 minutes easy, this time watching a Maroon 5 concert. Matt came in with about 15 minutes to go and watched me run and listened to music.
Some race results from this weekend.
Sergio Reyes was 4th at the Naples, FL half marathon in 1:07:43 on some lower mileage training.
Justin Patananan, also of Palmdale was 35th at the Houston half marathon in 1:08:44.
Brett Vaughn of Black Hawk, CO said it best in a post race interview after finishing his first half marathon in Houston. He described the feeling of last 3 miles of the race as if, "he was dreaming that he was being chased, and running through the mud!" Man that is right on! He still ran 3rd in 1:02:04!
Some race results from this weekend.
Sergio Reyes was 4th at the Naples, FL half marathon in 1:07:43 on some lower mileage training.
Justin Patananan, also of Palmdale was 35th at the Houston half marathon in 1:08:44.
Brett Vaughn of Black Hawk, CO said it best in a post race interview after finishing his first half marathon in Houston. He described the feeling of last 3 miles of the race as if, "he was dreaming that he was being chased, and running through the mud!" Man that is right on! He still ran 3rd in 1:02:04!
Monday, January 18, 2010
More on Treadmill Charts
After looking at the two treadmill charts that I posted yesterday I realized an inconsistency and wanted to share my findings. At lower grades both the Daniels and hill runner tables seem to be fairly close on effort paces, but at the higher grades and faster speeds there are some huge discrepancies.
For example running at 7mph on 4% grade is equivalent to 7:24/mi on the Daniels table and 7:34 on the hill runner table, but at 7.5mph on 10% grade Daniels says is equal to 5:00/mi effort and hill runner says 6:02/mi effort. That is a HUGE difference.
Elite US marathoner, Nake Jenkins, said on his old blog that he was trying to find a speed and grade that would mimic his marathon pace (5:00/mi) for his winter treadmill workouts. He tried the hill runner pace which recommended 9.5mph on a 10% grade and could only make it one minute! Daniels chart says that amount of speed and incline is equal to sub 4 min mile pace. Then he tried the Daniels recommendation for 5:00 pace on 10% grade which was 7.5mph and that, he felt, was much closer to marathon pace effort.
I have used the Daniels table in the past, and although it is not as detailed and harder to decipher, I also find it to be very accurate. I would recommend using the Daniels table over the hillrunner table for your workouts.
For example running at 7mph on 4% grade is equivalent to 7:24/mi on the Daniels table and 7:34 on the hill runner table, but at 7.5mph on 10% grade Daniels says is equal to 5:00/mi effort and hill runner says 6:02/mi effort. That is a HUGE difference.
Elite US marathoner, Nake Jenkins, said on his old blog that he was trying to find a speed and grade that would mimic his marathon pace (5:00/mi) for his winter treadmill workouts. He tried the hill runner pace which recommended 9.5mph on a 10% grade and could only make it one minute! Daniels chart says that amount of speed and incline is equal to sub 4 min mile pace. Then he tried the Daniels recommendation for 5:00 pace on 10% grade which was 7.5mph and that, he felt, was much closer to marathon pace effort.
I have used the Daniels table in the past, and although it is not as detailed and harder to decipher, I also find it to be very accurate. I would recommend using the Daniels table over the hillrunner table for your workouts.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
8 mile treadmill steady-state run
I didn't get to running today until 1 pm. By then the winds had started to get nasty and the temperature was dropping. We are expecting rain here for the next five days so I figure I will be using my treadmill more frequently! I decided to make my treadmill debut for the year today. We have moved our treadmill to the computer room so that it is farther from the boys rooms and we can watch DVDs while we run. We have a ceiling fan in that room and I moved in a standing fan, turned on a Dave Matthews Band DVD, and started running.
If I had learned anything about treadmill running is to not worry about mileage so much as time spent at certain efforts. There is no air resistance when running on a treadmill and the ground moves underneath you, so you already have to set the incline up to at least 1.0 to mimic level road running (I have read as much as 2.0). What I have learned is, if you have to do workouts on the treadmill, don't worry about your speed, instead play with the level of incline. If you know the pace you want to run at then you have to find a level of incline and speed that will equal that same effort.
I didn't know how I would feel today after my trail run yesterday but I had been walking around fine, and running after Micah with no problem, so I got on and set the incline to 5.0. I started the speed at 7.0 mph (8:30 pace) to see how it would feel. I did that for a few minutes and seemed to be running up on the front of the belt so I increased the speed to 7.3mph. This felt like a good hard effort that I would be able to maintain for some time (I should have worn my heart rate monitor). I continued at this pace for another 50 minutes or so while I watched my Dave Matthews Band concert. It started to get a little tough after 40 minutes or so. Not terribly hard but I was watching the clock more often. Once I hit 7 miles I slowed to 7.0mph for the last mile. The entire time the incline was set to 5.0, I only had to worry about the speed during the workout.
There are a few good treadmill pace conversion charts out there. Coach Jack Daniels PhD. has one in his book that was the first one I had ever seen. He also posts sample workouts in his book but if you know that pace you want to run, whether it be easy/recovery pace, marathon pace, threshold pace, vVO2max pace, or mile race pace, you just find that pace on the chart and then run at that speed an incline for how ever long you needed for your workout.
The only problem with Daniels' chart is that it is not detailed enough for every tenth of a mph, the nice thing is that it goes higher than 10% incline if your treadmill goes up that high. When I was done with my workout I wondered, "How hard was I working, and what was my equivalent effort. It felt hard but not that hard." I used this table/chart that I found on hillrunner.com which gives you an equivalent effort on every % incline for every tenth of a mph. My 7.3 mph on a 5.0 incline was equivalent to a 7:04 mile. No wonder that felt pretty hard, not marathon pace hard, but a good hard effort.
So if you want to run a 7:00/mile pace effort you could run 8.3 mph at 2% incline, or 7.7 mph at 4% incline, or 6.1 mph at a 10% incline. What I am saying is that you can run 10 min/mile pace on a 10% incline and that would be equivalent to a 7:00/mile effort. You won't cover the same distance, so you have to run at that combined pace and incline for a pre-determined amount of time. It took me 66:40 to cover 8 miles today, which is well over 8:00/mi pace, but on a 5% incline, 50 minutes of the run was nearly a 7:00/mi pace effort.
Say I wanted to do a marathon pace run for an hour. After a warm up I could run 6.9 mph at a 8% incline (equivalent to 6:46 pace effort) for an hour and get an equal benefit. Say I wanted to do cruise intervals. After a warm up I could run for 5 minutes at 8.2 mph at a 6% incline (equivalent to 6:13 pace effort) then drop the speed to 5.2pmh (9:00/mi pace effort) for a 1 minute recovery, and then increase the speed back to 8.2mph for another 5 minutes. I could repeat this for as long as I had planned to run at my threshold pace.
You can do this for any type of workout that you want to just find your workout pace on the chart here and use the corresponding speed and incline on your treadmill. You will get a great workout. The other nice thing is you can set a certain incline and only vary the speed or vice versa. Try it on your next treadmill workout and it will make it much more interesting.
The other thing I learned today was that Dave Matthews Band concerts are NOT good workout music, especially during those long slow flute or violin solos.
The race results from this week are in and the Houston half marathon was won by Minnesotan Antonio Vega in 1:01:54 and Shalane Flanagan in 1:09:41. Deena Kastor also won the Phoenix Rock n Roll half marathon today in almost exactly the same time. I wish they had been racing each other. There were no impressive times, it was kind of disappointing. Even Ryan Hall got beat and only ran 1:04:08. The most impressive time of the day was Brett Gotcher of McMillan Elite. He ran his debut marathon in Houston and finished 7th in 2:10:36. Look out Ryan, Dathan, Meb, and Abdi there will be another sub 2:10 American marathoner soon!
If I had learned anything about treadmill running is to not worry about mileage so much as time spent at certain efforts. There is no air resistance when running on a treadmill and the ground moves underneath you, so you already have to set the incline up to at least 1.0 to mimic level road running (I have read as much as 2.0). What I have learned is, if you have to do workouts on the treadmill, don't worry about your speed, instead play with the level of incline. If you know the pace you want to run at then you have to find a level of incline and speed that will equal that same effort.
I didn't know how I would feel today after my trail run yesterday but I had been walking around fine, and running after Micah with no problem, so I got on and set the incline to 5.0. I started the speed at 7.0 mph (8:30 pace) to see how it would feel. I did that for a few minutes and seemed to be running up on the front of the belt so I increased the speed to 7.3mph. This felt like a good hard effort that I would be able to maintain for some time (I should have worn my heart rate monitor). I continued at this pace for another 50 minutes or so while I watched my Dave Matthews Band concert. It started to get a little tough after 40 minutes or so. Not terribly hard but I was watching the clock more often. Once I hit 7 miles I slowed to 7.0mph for the last mile. The entire time the incline was set to 5.0, I only had to worry about the speed during the workout.
There are a few good treadmill pace conversion charts out there. Coach Jack Daniels PhD. has one in his book that was the first one I had ever seen. He also posts sample workouts in his book but if you know that pace you want to run, whether it be easy/recovery pace, marathon pace, threshold pace, vVO2max pace, or mile race pace, you just find that pace on the chart and then run at that speed an incline for how ever long you needed for your workout.
The only problem with Daniels' chart is that it is not detailed enough for every tenth of a mph, the nice thing is that it goes higher than 10% incline if your treadmill goes up that high. When I was done with my workout I wondered, "How hard was I working, and what was my equivalent effort. It felt hard but not that hard." I used this table/chart that I found on hillrunner.com which gives you an equivalent effort on every % incline for every tenth of a mph. My 7.3 mph on a 5.0 incline was equivalent to a 7:04 mile. No wonder that felt pretty hard, not marathon pace hard, but a good hard effort.
So if you want to run a 7:00/mile pace effort you could run 8.3 mph at 2% incline, or 7.7 mph at 4% incline, or 6.1 mph at a 10% incline. What I am saying is that you can run 10 min/mile pace on a 10% incline and that would be equivalent to a 7:00/mile effort. You won't cover the same distance, so you have to run at that combined pace and incline for a pre-determined amount of time. It took me 66:40 to cover 8 miles today, which is well over 8:00/mi pace, but on a 5% incline, 50 minutes of the run was nearly a 7:00/mi pace effort.
Say I wanted to do a marathon pace run for an hour. After a warm up I could run 6.9 mph at a 8% incline (equivalent to 6:46 pace effort) for an hour and get an equal benefit. Say I wanted to do cruise intervals. After a warm up I could run for 5 minutes at 8.2 mph at a 6% incline (equivalent to 6:13 pace effort) then drop the speed to 5.2pmh (9:00/mi pace effort) for a 1 minute recovery, and then increase the speed back to 8.2mph for another 5 minutes. I could repeat this for as long as I had planned to run at my threshold pace.
You can do this for any type of workout that you want to just find your workout pace on the chart here and use the corresponding speed and incline on your treadmill. You will get a great workout. The other nice thing is you can set a certain incline and only vary the speed or vice versa. Try it on your next treadmill workout and it will make it much more interesting.
The other thing I learned today was that Dave Matthews Band concerts are NOT good workout music, especially during those long slow flute or violin solos.
The race results from this week are in and the Houston half marathon was won by Minnesotan Antonio Vega in 1:01:54 and Shalane Flanagan in 1:09:41. Deena Kastor also won the Phoenix Rock n Roll half marathon today in almost exactly the same time. I wish they had been racing each other. There were no impressive times, it was kind of disappointing. Even Ryan Hall got beat and only ran 1:04:08. The most impressive time of the day was Brett Gotcher of McMillan Elite. He ran his debut marathon in Houston and finished 7th in 2:10:36. Look out Ryan, Dathan, Meb, and Abdi there will be another sub 2:10 American marathoner soon!
Check out my new Rock Band!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Another 6 mile run on Turkey Day
It was a lazy morning. The kids slept in until 7:30! I didn't get out for a run until 1:00 but the weather was still beautiful. Andi and I were talking yesterday about how thankful we are for the weather we have had over the past few months. It has been nearly perfect for marathon training. Today was no different. I was in shorts and a t-shirt and was cruising along today. My right leg is still not 100% but much better than Tuesday. I really have no idea why it has been bothering me. I am definitely shutting it down to give it time to rest before December 6th. It just feels tight and it aches during and after my run. At least I wasn't limping like I was on Tuesday.
I got an email from a high school friend of mine that now lives in Minnesota. His name is Bryce and him and I ran together for four years and eights seasons. We also used to get together for pick up basketball games and we could always out last everyone else playing for hours. Bryce was an 800m specialist in track and a tough cross country runner as well. I remember watching him break 2 minutes in his 800m split of a 4x800m relay at the state meet our senior year. He just picked up running again this year and was asking for suggestions on how to maintain his fitness in the cold Minnesota winter.
Both coming from Vegas, we tend to be wimps in the frigid midwest weather. I think the coldest temps I have run in were in Idaho at around 12 degrees. My advice is to invest in some quality winter gear! A pair of running tights, good running gloves, a skull cap (something to cover the ears), and some long sleeved running shirts are all essential. I occasionally wear a shorts sleeved shirt over my long sleeved shirt for an extra layer. I got my cap at Target $10, my gloves at Costco $10, and my tights and shirts from Nike outlet. I have also collected some nice long sleeved technical shirts from races. The Twin Cities Marathon gave out some great long sleeved finishers shirts (see pictures). Once you have some decent gear you just have to "saddle up" and get out there. It is one thing to say it and another to actually do it, especially first thing in the morning. You may have to resort to the treadmill for some of your weekly runs. When you are able to go mid day (weekends) the winter gear should help keep your ears and fingers from falling off. A running partner might also help keep you accountable and get your butt out the door.
Anyone else have suggestions for Bryce, please post a comment. Last year my dad said they went over a month with temperatures that were continuously below zero! Good luck Bryce!
I will try and post some treadmill workouts soon that will help ease the monotony. Click on the treadmill label below this post to read all my treadmill workouts over the past 2 years!
I got an email from a high school friend of mine that now lives in Minnesota. His name is Bryce and him and I ran together for four years and eights seasons. We also used to get together for pick up basketball games and we could always out last everyone else playing for hours. Bryce was an 800m specialist in track and a tough cross country runner as well. I remember watching him break 2 minutes in his 800m split of a 4x800m relay at the state meet our senior year. He just picked up running again this year and was asking for suggestions on how to maintain his fitness in the cold Minnesota winter.
Both coming from Vegas, we tend to be wimps in the frigid midwest weather. I think the coldest temps I have run in were in Idaho at around 12 degrees. My advice is to invest in some quality winter gear! A pair of running tights, good running gloves, a skull cap (something to cover the ears), and some long sleeved running shirts are all essential. I occasionally wear a shorts sleeved shirt over my long sleeved shirt for an extra layer. I got my cap at Target $10, my gloves at Costco $10, and my tights and shirts from Nike outlet. I have also collected some nice long sleeved technical shirts from races. The Twin Cities Marathon gave out some great long sleeved finishers shirts (see pictures). Once you have some decent gear you just have to "saddle up" and get out there. It is one thing to say it and another to actually do it, especially first thing in the morning. You may have to resort to the treadmill for some of your weekly runs. When you are able to go mid day (weekends) the winter gear should help keep your ears and fingers from falling off. A running partner might also help keep you accountable and get your butt out the door.
Anyone else have suggestions for Bryce, please post a comment. Last year my dad said they went over a month with temperatures that were continuously below zero! Good luck Bryce!
I will try and post some treadmill workouts soon that will help ease the monotony. Click on the treadmill label below this post to read all my treadmill workouts over the past 2 years!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
June Gloom! 8 mile treadmill progression run.
It has been gusty here night and day for the past 3 days. I fully recovered from my 20 miler in about 2 days. I could have run yesterday but the wind kept me in bed. Today I got on the treadmill for 8 miles: 5 miles @ 8:00 pace, 2 miles at 7:30 pace, and the last .5 miles at 6:40 pace and watched the trees sway from inside. Total workout was just over an hour.
I have some good links to check out that I have found over the past week:
Coach Jay Johnson out of Boulder, CO has a great website and some good videos on core workouts for runners. Check them out.
Here is a recent article from the NY Times titled “The Road to Success, Paved with Bad Advice.” It talks about stretching, orthotics, and running form and how the wrong advice, even with good intentions can be detrimental to your training. I think anyone that says that their technique or their product will help everyone or prevent injuries for all runners is feeding you a line. Again, there are so many variables that training, stretching, footwear, etc., have to be individualized for each runner. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had perfect biomechanics?
Next, here is a great article from Exercise Physiologist and Coach Jason Karp Ph.D. out of San Diego, on training by time and not mileage. Definitely worth a read! He has an online newsletter on his site called REVO2LT that is also worth checking out.
Did anyone watch the Prefontaine Classic this weekend? I thought the women’s 1500m was the most exciting with Jenny Barringer almost catching Gelete Burka of Ethiopia at the tape. See the bell lap on video here (it was Flotrack's Tasty Race of the Week) start video at 2:23. She became only the third American woman ever to break 4:00 in the 1500m. Mary Slaney and Suzy Favor-Hamilton are the only others. See her reaction here. Quartz Hill HS graduate and 2x world champion hurdler Michelle Perry won the 110HH at the Pre Classic in 12.74. Second place also ran 12.74 another photo finish!
Finally, the California state high school championships was this weekend. There were two local girls that represented the Antelope Valley well in the sprints, both making the finals in the 100m and 200m. Jessica Davis, a Junior at Highland HS in Palmdale was 2nd in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m. Jordan Hasay won the CA 3200m for the 4th year in a row by 18 seconds in 10:05! After looking over the results of that race I noticed that nearby Saugus HS qualified 4 girls in the 3200m final and placed 2 in the top 5 and all 4 in the top 20 (only 1 senior--the 4th one)! Amazing! See all the results from the meet here.
Looking to visit Hawaii this year? Seach on fly.com they have some tickets as cheap as $99 each way!
I have some good links to check out that I have found over the past week:
Coach Jay Johnson out of Boulder, CO has a great website and some good videos on core workouts for runners. Check them out.
Here is a recent article from the NY Times titled “The Road to Success, Paved with Bad Advice.” It talks about stretching, orthotics, and running form and how the wrong advice, even with good intentions can be detrimental to your training. I think anyone that says that their technique or their product will help everyone or prevent injuries for all runners is feeding you a line. Again, there are so many variables that training, stretching, footwear, etc., have to be individualized for each runner. Wouldn’t it be nice if we all had perfect biomechanics?
Next, here is a great article from Exercise Physiologist and Coach Jason Karp Ph.D. out of San Diego, on training by time and not mileage. Definitely worth a read! He has an online newsletter on his site called REVO2LT that is also worth checking out.
Did anyone watch the Prefontaine Classic this weekend? I thought the women’s 1500m was the most exciting with Jenny Barringer almost catching Gelete Burka of Ethiopia at the tape. See the bell lap on video here (it was Flotrack's Tasty Race of the Week) start video at 2:23. She became only the third American woman ever to break 4:00 in the 1500m. Mary Slaney and Suzy Favor-Hamilton are the only others. See her reaction here. Quartz Hill HS graduate and 2x world champion hurdler Michelle Perry won the 110HH at the Pre Classic in 12.74. Second place also ran 12.74 another photo finish!
Finally, the California state high school championships was this weekend. There were two local girls that represented the Antelope Valley well in the sprints, both making the finals in the 100m and 200m. Jessica Davis, a Junior at Highland HS in Palmdale was 2nd in the 100m and 3rd in the 200m. Jordan Hasay won the CA 3200m for the 4th year in a row by 18 seconds in 10:05! After looking over the results of that race I noticed that nearby Saugus HS qualified 4 girls in the 3200m final and placed 2 in the top 5 and all 4 in the top 20 (only 1 senior--the 4th one)! Amazing! See all the results from the meet here.
Looking to visit Hawaii this year? Seach on fly.com they have some tickets as cheap as $99 each way!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Memorial Day Weekly Recap
Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I only had one run last week and this weekend we were busy nearly every minute. Here is the run down.
Wednesday May 20th: I ran 8 miles on the Rancho Vista Loop. For you locals that is 45th to Towncenter, left to 30th, right on Rancho Vista and back to my house (M-12 and 51st). I have to run around the neighborhood a little to get 8 exactly. Yes, I am one of those freaky Garmin users. I have always really enjoyed that run on Rancho Vista. I reminds me of coming up to the AV to visit the Cranes before we lived here. They lived on N-8 and Andi and I would run up N-8 all the way to Rancho Vista and then back around to 30th (this was before the golf course was there). It also has plenty of shoulder (sometimes dirt) to run on and some good rolling hills to train on. This morning it took me 62:37 (7:49 pace).
This weekend we had windy mornings on Saturday and Sunday (at least in Quartz Hill). Saturday morning I chickened out and hopped on the treadmill for 8 miles at 8:00 pace.
Sunday I decided I would run long wind or no wind. It turned out to be not so bad. I went back on the old Rancho Vista Loop once by myself, then swung by home and picked up Andi (we had baby sitters) and repeated the loop again. I then finished with two extra miles around the neighborhood, which I might use for my birthday run, and ended the morning with a total of 18 miles! I was going to stop at 17 but didn't want to end on a prime number. Total time was 2:25:29 or 8:05 average pace. I felt great after the first 16 but there is a good hill on that mile loop that I did twice at the end and I pushed the pace a little (7:30 and 7:45 on the last two miles). I was spent after 18.
The key would be whether or not I would be overly sore the next day. Today I ran around Quartz Hill. The course from my house was by Lane Park, then over to QHHS, up to Mayflower Gardens, and back home. Total distance was 6 miles, time 49:12, average pace 8:12, and I felt like I could have gone farther. I felt great the rest of the day, no ill effects. This was a positive weekend of running for me mileage wise on my way towards my 30 miler on July 5th.
Total 3 day mileage was 32 miles!
Finally, I told you I would give you my take on stretching. I got a few (2) comments on my readers stretching habits. There have been many articles recently showing that stretching does not prevent injury. There is also literature that shows static stretching decreases performance in jumping or power events. There is other literature that shows that correct stretching does increase range of motion. One article even showed that the runners tested that were "tighter" were more effictient runners. I personally think that there are way too many confounding variables to consider when doing this type of study. In other words, way too many pieces of the puzzle that you cannot control or want to try to control. For example, biomechanics, medical history, strength, footwear, terrain, mileage, what all these people do when they are not running, and whether or not they are stretching correctly. It is too hard to make a correlation with stretching and injury. I have read that somewhere near 70-80% of runners get injured at some point, some stretch and some don't. Some stretchers still get hurt and some non stretchers do just fine. I personally do little to no stretching and definitely nothing consistently. I don't think it would prevent me from getting injured and I don't think it would improve my perfromance. One training addition that I do believe has helped me log more mileage without injury is a good core strengthening program. Hip and core weakness has been shown to be present and may be the cause of many runners with hip and knee trouble. My last two "injuries" include shin splints from improper footwear and a calf strain from lack of sleep and dehydration. Dean Karnazes who has run hundreds of miles at a time also says he never stretches and never gets injured (this is NOT the reason I don't stretch, just another opinion). The importance of stretching is totally individual. There are way too many factors to consider. A good physical therapy assessment including gait evaluation and footwear recommendations is the best way to go.
And lastly, the LA Marathon was today and Wesley Korir won in 2:08:24 which not only was the fastest LA Marathon ever but is now the fastest marathon ever run IN CALIFORNIA!! The weather was good I hear with temps in the mid 60s due to a marine layer, and little to no wind. I don't think the race will be on Memorial Day next year. It will hopefully be back to a non holiday Sunday in March like it was when I ran in 2004 (3:15) and 2005 (3:38).
Wednesday May 20th: I ran 8 miles on the Rancho Vista Loop. For you locals that is 45th to Towncenter, left to 30th, right on Rancho Vista and back to my house (M-12 and 51st). I have to run around the neighborhood a little to get 8 exactly. Yes, I am one of those freaky Garmin users. I have always really enjoyed that run on Rancho Vista. I reminds me of coming up to the AV to visit the Cranes before we lived here. They lived on N-8 and Andi and I would run up N-8 all the way to Rancho Vista and then back around to 30th (this was before the golf course was there). It also has plenty of shoulder (sometimes dirt) to run on and some good rolling hills to train on. This morning it took me 62:37 (7:49 pace).
This weekend we had windy mornings on Saturday and Sunday (at least in Quartz Hill). Saturday morning I chickened out and hopped on the treadmill for 8 miles at 8:00 pace.
Sunday I decided I would run long wind or no wind. It turned out to be not so bad. I went back on the old Rancho Vista Loop once by myself, then swung by home and picked up Andi (we had baby sitters) and repeated the loop again. I then finished with two extra miles around the neighborhood, which I might use for my birthday run, and ended the morning with a total of 18 miles! I was going to stop at 17 but didn't want to end on a prime number. Total time was 2:25:29 or 8:05 average pace. I felt great after the first 16 but there is a good hill on that mile loop that I did twice at the end and I pushed the pace a little (7:30 and 7:45 on the last two miles). I was spent after 18.
The key would be whether or not I would be overly sore the next day. Today I ran around Quartz Hill. The course from my house was by Lane Park, then over to QHHS, up to Mayflower Gardens, and back home. Total distance was 6 miles, time 49:12, average pace 8:12, and I felt like I could have gone farther. I felt great the rest of the day, no ill effects. This was a positive weekend of running for me mileage wise on my way towards my 30 miler on July 5th.
Total 3 day mileage was 32 miles!
Finally, I told you I would give you my take on stretching. I got a few (2) comments on my readers stretching habits. There have been many articles recently showing that stretching does not prevent injury. There is also literature that shows static stretching decreases performance in jumping or power events. There is other literature that shows that correct stretching does increase range of motion. One article even showed that the runners tested that were "tighter" were more effictient runners. I personally think that there are way too many confounding variables to consider when doing this type of study. In other words, way too many pieces of the puzzle that you cannot control or want to try to control. For example, biomechanics, medical history, strength, footwear, terrain, mileage, what all these people do when they are not running, and whether or not they are stretching correctly. It is too hard to make a correlation with stretching and injury. I have read that somewhere near 70-80% of runners get injured at some point, some stretch and some don't. Some stretchers still get hurt and some non stretchers do just fine. I personally do little to no stretching and definitely nothing consistently. I don't think it would prevent me from getting injured and I don't think it would improve my perfromance. One training addition that I do believe has helped me log more mileage without injury is a good core strengthening program. Hip and core weakness has been shown to be present and may be the cause of many runners with hip and knee trouble. My last two "injuries" include shin splints from improper footwear and a calf strain from lack of sleep and dehydration. Dean Karnazes who has run hundreds of miles at a time also says he never stretches and never gets injured (this is NOT the reason I don't stretch, just another opinion). The importance of stretching is totally individual. There are way too many factors to consider. A good physical therapy assessment including gait evaluation and footwear recommendations is the best way to go.
And lastly, the LA Marathon was today and Wesley Korir won in 2:08:24 which not only was the fastest LA Marathon ever but is now the fastest marathon ever run IN CALIFORNIA!! The weather was good I hear with temps in the mid 60s due to a marine layer, and little to no wind. I don't think the race will be on Memorial Day next year. It will hopefully be back to a non holiday Sunday in March like it was when I ran in 2004 (3:15) and 2005 (3:38).
Saturday, April 25, 2009
More treadmill training, Karl is tired of the wind!
Some of you may be wondering, how windy can it be out there? This Karl must be a wimp when a little wind keeps him inside. Well for the last 6 days we have had a constant 20+ mph wind here. The mornings are usually the lightest wind but all week it has been gusty. I'm talking gusts up to 40-50mph. It just isn't fun to run in that (unless you can run in one direction the entire way). There is a reason why there are 5000 wind turbines (windmills) in the mountains just to the north of us.
So I stayed inside again today. I got on the treadmill while the boys were napping but after a mile at 8:00 pace Matt woke up, I then ran a 6:40 mile while he watched and then Micah woke up. I thought that would be my run for the day but Andi came soon after and said I could get back on while she watched the boys. I did another mile warm up at 7:30 pace and then did 3x.75 miles at 6:40 pace with .25 mile recovery at 7:30 pace (not much of a recovery). On the last mile I included a .5 mile at 6:20 pace then a cool down. Matt actually came in and sat on the bed and watched me run for another 20 minutes. So total mileage for the day was 7 miles with some threshold/half marathon race type pace included. All mileage was done at an incline of 3.
Weather.com says that this next week is not going to be any better so anticipate more treamill workouts this week.
In the news:
A high school boy from Missouri broke the national high school high jump record with a jump of 7 feet 5.75 inches (and he is only a junior)! This mark would have been 8th place at the Beijing Olympics!
Also some great advice from the Runnersworld "Running Doc" on meniscal tears and surgery in runners.
So I stayed inside again today. I got on the treadmill while the boys were napping but after a mile at 8:00 pace Matt woke up, I then ran a 6:40 mile while he watched and then Micah woke up. I thought that would be my run for the day but Andi came soon after and said I could get back on while she watched the boys. I did another mile warm up at 7:30 pace and then did 3x.75 miles at 6:40 pace with .25 mile recovery at 7:30 pace (not much of a recovery). On the last mile I included a .5 mile at 6:20 pace then a cool down. Matt actually came in and sat on the bed and watched me run for another 20 minutes. So total mileage for the day was 7 miles with some threshold/half marathon race type pace included. All mileage was done at an incline of 3.
Weather.com says that this next week is not going to be any better so anticipate more treamill workouts this week.
In the news:
A high school boy from Missouri broke the national high school high jump record with a jump of 7 feet 5.75 inches (and he is only a junior)! This mark would have been 8th place at the Beijing Olympics!
Also some great advice from the Runnersworld "Running Doc" on meniscal tears and surgery in runners.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
6 mile treadmill progression run (46:00)
The wind was howling all night last night and didn't let up this morning. So I got on the treadmill for a few miles again. I started at 7mph (8:30 pace) but increased .2 to .3 mph every mile or so until I was at 6:50 pace for the last half mile. The incline was on 3 the entire run. Workout totalled 6 miles in 46:00 (avg pace 7:40). My right calf felt great. I would say about 95% today.
Check out the new Nike commercial for the Nike Free shoe. Beware it is at least a PG-13 rating.
Brooks also has some great commercials with what they call the SUPER FANS. Here are two of my favorites. If they aren't loading well right click and select "switch to low quality".
Check out the new Nike commercial for the Nike Free shoe. Beware it is at least a PG-13 rating.
Brooks also has some great commercials with what they call the SUPER FANS. Here are two of my favorites. If they aren't loading well right click and select "switch to low quality".
Saturday, April 11, 2009
200th Post!! Treadmill 10k hill workout
My 200th post!!
It was very windy all day and instead of fighting it Andi and I both got on the treadmill for shorter runs.
I started with 2 miles on 3% at about 7.5mph. After that I was bored and had to come up with some sort of workout that would make the time pass quickly. I decided that for the next 4 miles I would run at a constant speed 8mph (7:30 pace) but vary the incline. So the third quarter mile of each of the next 4 miles was run at a 6% grade. Daniels' treadmill grade table says that 8mph at 6% incline is equivalent to a 5:43 pace effort. That is very close to my vV02max (velocity at VO2max). Once I started concentrating on when to increase the incline the time flew by.
A better workout would be to do this same grade and speed but at a 1:1 work to rest ratio. It would be equivalent to running half mile VO2max intervals but never running faster than 7:30 pace!
Does that make sense? Find your VDOT and training paces here. Then use the Daniels' treadmill grade table to make up a good treadmill workout when you don't want to fight the wind.
After warmup and cool down I ran a 10k on the treadmill in 48:30 (avg pace 7:48).
It was very windy all day and instead of fighting it Andi and I both got on the treadmill for shorter runs.
I started with 2 miles on 3% at about 7.5mph. After that I was bored and had to come up with some sort of workout that would make the time pass quickly. I decided that for the next 4 miles I would run at a constant speed 8mph (7:30 pace) but vary the incline. So the third quarter mile of each of the next 4 miles was run at a 6% grade. Daniels' treadmill grade table says that 8mph at 6% incline is equivalent to a 5:43 pace effort. That is very close to my vV02max (velocity at VO2max). Once I started concentrating on when to increase the incline the time flew by.
A better workout would be to do this same grade and speed but at a 1:1 work to rest ratio. It would be equivalent to running half mile VO2max intervals but never running faster than 7:30 pace!
Does that make sense? Find your VDOT and training paces here. Then use the Daniels' treadmill grade table to make up a good treadmill workout when you don't want to fight the wind.
After warmup and cool down I ran a 10k on the treadmill in 48:30 (avg pace 7:48).
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
5 miles on treadmill (39:40)
Anticipating wind and rain I got on the treadmill this morning for 5 miles. Man does time go slow on a treadmill. I need a flat panel TV for the wall in front of me. I started with one mile at 7 mph, then one mile at 7.5 mph, and finished the rest at 7.8 mph (7:40 pace) all on a 3% incline.
At work we did our lunch strength training routine and then I went into the parking lot for form drills and short sprints. That is a great time to do form drills. Do an easy run, then some strength and core work. Once you are tired, try and maintain good form on the drills and sprints. I was fatigued by the end of all that!
If you are too tired and not able to maintain decent form this is also a good time to get hurt so be aware of your body's position and do not attempt if too tired.
At work we did our lunch strength training routine and then I went into the parking lot for form drills and short sprints. That is a great time to do form drills. Do an easy run, then some strength and core work. Once you are tired, try and maintain good form on the drills and sprints. I was fatigued by the end of all that!
If you are too tired and not able to maintain decent form this is also a good time to get hurt so be aware of your body's position and do not attempt if too tired.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Saturday: 9 mi FF; Sunday: treadmill hills
Yikes! It has been one week since my last post. Here is the recap from last week.
No running during the week. Lots of alibis. Cold weather. Snow on Friday. I did do 20 minutes of strength training MWF during lunch.
I missed a planned easy run with drills and a cruise interval workout.
Saturday I decided to do a fast finish long run, but only had time for a little over an hour. I did 6 miles easy (avg 7:30 pace), then 2.5 fast finish, followed by a half mile cool down for a 9 mile total. The splits on the 2.5 mile finish were 6:07, 6:04, 3:02. Total time for 9 miles was 1:04:26 (avg pace 7:09). It was a great morning for a run except for the patches of black ice on the road due to the freezing temps Friday night (slippery).
Sunday I only had some time while the boys were napping to hop on the treadmill. Today was a scheduled hill repeats workout so I tried to mimic that. The design worked out well. I did a 3 mile warm up at 8mph (7:30 pace) on an incline of 3. Then increased the incline all the way up to 10 (the maximum). I proceeded to alternate 1 minute at 9mph with 2 minutes at 3mph for the next 30 minutes (10 total repetitions). The incline stayed at 10 even on the rest periods. The first 6x1 minute hill repeats were at 9mph, the next 4 were at 9.3mph. The last one went on for 1.5 minutes as I wanted to see what 10mph felt like on an incline of 10 (that is pretty fast, no joke). I cooled down at 7 mph with a total distance of 6.5 miles.
On Jack Daniels PhD. treadmill chart, for 9mph at 10% grade the equivalent effort on level ground is about a 4:10 mile, no wonder I was spent after 1 minute at that pace!
Dean Karnazes posted some of the information he collected at the Running USA conference last week here. The stat that I find most interesting is that of runners that run more than 100 times a year, 94% of them are college educated. I guess college is teaching us something.
Finally, Mark Denny PhD. wrote an article on the ultimate limits to running speeds for humans. I don't know how he formulated the results but they are interesting to think about none the less. Also, amazing how close Paula Radcliffe's marathon record is to the upper limits for females. He predicts that there is only room for .36% improvement on her women's marathon world record. Check out his predictions here.
Have a great week.
No running during the week. Lots of alibis. Cold weather. Snow on Friday. I did do 20 minutes of strength training MWF during lunch.
I missed a planned easy run with drills and a cruise interval workout.
Saturday I decided to do a fast finish long run, but only had time for a little over an hour. I did 6 miles easy (avg 7:30 pace), then 2.5 fast finish, followed by a half mile cool down for a 9 mile total. The splits on the 2.5 mile finish were 6:07, 6:04, 3:02. Total time for 9 miles was 1:04:26 (avg pace 7:09). It was a great morning for a run except for the patches of black ice on the road due to the freezing temps Friday night (slippery).
Sunday I only had some time while the boys were napping to hop on the treadmill. Today was a scheduled hill repeats workout so I tried to mimic that. The design worked out well. I did a 3 mile warm up at 8mph (7:30 pace) on an incline of 3. Then increased the incline all the way up to 10 (the maximum). I proceeded to alternate 1 minute at 9mph with 2 minutes at 3mph for the next 30 minutes (10 total repetitions). The incline stayed at 10 even on the rest periods. The first 6x1 minute hill repeats were at 9mph, the next 4 were at 9.3mph. The last one went on for 1.5 minutes as I wanted to see what 10mph felt like on an incline of 10 (that is pretty fast, no joke). I cooled down at 7 mph with a total distance of 6.5 miles.
On Jack Daniels PhD. treadmill chart, for 9mph at 10% grade the equivalent effort on level ground is about a 4:10 mile, no wonder I was spent after 1 minute at that pace!
Dean Karnazes posted some of the information he collected at the Running USA conference last week here. The stat that I find most interesting is that of runners that run more than 100 times a year, 94% of them are college educated. I guess college is teaching us something.
Finally, Mark Denny PhD. wrote an article on the ultimate limits to running speeds for humans. I don't know how he formulated the results but they are interesting to think about none the less. Also, amazing how close Paula Radcliffe's marathon record is to the upper limits for females. He predicts that there is only room for .36% improvement on her women's marathon world record. Check out his predictions here.
Have a great week.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
8 mile treadmill fast finish (58:34)
Due to higher winds and colder temperatures I stayed inside today on my treadmill. I wanted to get and hour run in if possible. I ran the first 4 miles at about 7:30 pace, the next 2 at 7:15 pace, then a 6:50 and a 6:40 mile to finish. It felt pretty easy on the treadmill (avg pace 7:19). I kept the grade at 2.0 (flat). There is supposed to be wind and rain off and on the next 5 days so I may hit the treadmill a few more days this week.
Congratulations to Clay Patten who ran a 41:34 at the Santa Monica 10k. I guessed 41:30, so I was pretty close. A good confidence builder as he has taken off 3 minutes in less than 2 years including injury. With a mileage build up he should be ready to run a fast half marathon this spring.
Jordan Hasay won the Footlocker HS Cross Country Championships today. There were 3 returning champions in the girls race and it looked like she sat back and kicked to win in 17:22. A great way to cap off an amazing high school cross country career. See the interview with the winner here.
Congratulations to Clay Patten who ran a 41:34 at the Santa Monica 10k. I guessed 41:30, so I was pretty close. A good confidence builder as he has taken off 3 minutes in less than 2 years including injury. With a mileage build up he should be ready to run a fast half marathon this spring.
Jordan Hasay won the Footlocker HS Cross Country Championships today. There were 3 returning champions in the girls race and it looked like she sat back and kicked to win in 17:22. A great way to cap off an amazing high school cross country career. See the interview with the winner here.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Winds force Karl inside for 7 miles!
High winds today brought my run inside this afternoon while the boys napped. I ran 7 miles at about 8:00 pace (55:30) with most of the time on a slight grade 2-3%. I planned on running 6 but decided to make my weekend total 10 by adding an extra mile today. It is just deadly to run for more than an hour on the treadmill. I don't know how Dean Karnazes ran for 48 hours on one earlier this year. The weather should be nice for the rest of the week.
Hope everyone has a healthy week.
Hope everyone has a healthy week.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Human Race 10k treadmill workout (51:00)
For the last few months there have been many advertisements for the Nike Human Race 10k. They hosted 10ks all over the world today, so I decided to join them. It was windy here today and the workout got put off until the afternoon when I moved it indoors and onto the treadmill. For those of you that don't know my stance on treadmill running check out an old post here.
My enthusiasm for treadmill running is not very high, but it grew a little bit after reading Daniels Running Formula. We all know that running up hill at a certain pace is harder than running that same pace on a track. After years of research as an exercise physiologist, Jack Daniels PhD., developed a chart that showed a certain speed on a certain grade would produce a specific mile-pace effort, sometimes a greater pace effort than one could attain on level ground.
One of his athletes, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, who was third in the Olympic trials marathon, says that Jack has her run 10x one minute intervals at 9min/mile pace with a minute rest, but at a 20% grade! Although not very fast, when combined with the 20% grade that speed equates to a 4:30min/mile effort (a speed that she could never do 10x1 min intervals on the track.
Most commercial treadmills do not get up to 20% grades (mine goes to 10 and I'm not even sure that means 10% grade, I even checked the manual), but you can still play with this chart. Jack Daniels PhD. even gives you some sample threshold workouts that I posted below.
The great thing about these workouts is that the speed doesn't need to be that fast to put out a great effort, and the effort is quantified. Sometimes trying to max out just the speed on a treadmill can be a little dangerous.
Today I did my 10k for the Human Race but I broke it up playing with different inclines and speeds, almost like a threshold run. If "incline" on my treadmill equals "% grade" than the effort pace for each mile is shown below.
Mile 1 was 7.0 mph at 2% = approx. 8:15 pace
Mile 2 was 7.0 mph at 4% = 7:24 pace
Mile 3 was 7.0 mph at 6% = approx 6:35 pace
Mile 4 was 8.0 mph at 4% = approx 6:35 pace
Mile 5 was 8.0 mph at 2% = 7:24 pace
Mile 6 was 8.0 mph at 1% = 7:30 pace
Total time running was 51:00 which averages out to be 8:12 pace but I can tell you the workout did not feel like 8:12 pace. I basically ran for 16 minutes at 6:35 pace effort, very close to my threshold pace.
If you must do some treadmill running, this is the way to go.
I cannot post my monthly mileage totals yet as I only keep track on my calendar at work, but I can say for sure that it was under 100 miles.
My enthusiasm for treadmill running is not very high, but it grew a little bit after reading Daniels Running Formula. We all know that running up hill at a certain pace is harder than running that same pace on a track. After years of research as an exercise physiologist, Jack Daniels PhD., developed a chart that showed a certain speed on a certain grade would produce a specific mile-pace effort, sometimes a greater pace effort than one could attain on level ground.
One of his athletes, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, who was third in the Olympic trials marathon, says that Jack has her run 10x one minute intervals at 9min/mile pace with a minute rest, but at a 20% grade! Although not very fast, when combined with the 20% grade that speed equates to a 4:30min/mile effort (a speed that she could never do 10x1 min intervals on the track.
Most commercial treadmills do not get up to 20% grades (mine goes to 10 and I'm not even sure that means 10% grade, I even checked the manual), but you can still play with this chart. Jack Daniels PhD. even gives you some sample threshold workouts that I posted below.
The great thing about these workouts is that the speed doesn't need to be that fast to put out a great effort, and the effort is quantified. Sometimes trying to max out just the speed on a treadmill can be a little dangerous.Today I did my 10k for the Human Race but I broke it up playing with different inclines and speeds, almost like a threshold run. If "incline" on my treadmill equals "% grade" than the effort pace for each mile is shown below.
Mile 1 was 7.0 mph at 2% = approx. 8:15 pace
Mile 2 was 7.0 mph at 4% = 7:24 pace
Mile 3 was 7.0 mph at 6% = approx 6:35 pace
Mile 4 was 8.0 mph at 4% = approx 6:35 pace
Mile 5 was 8.0 mph at 2% = 7:24 pace
Mile 6 was 8.0 mph at 1% = 7:30 pace
Total time running was 51:00 which averages out to be 8:12 pace but I can tell you the workout did not feel like 8:12 pace. I basically ran for 16 minutes at 6:35 pace effort, very close to my threshold pace.
If you must do some treadmill running, this is the way to go.
I cannot post my monthly mileage totals yet as I only keep track on my calendar at work, but I can say for sure that it was under 100 miles.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
50th Post!! 8 miles in 56:30 on treadmill
It was windy again today. I am sick and tired of the wind. There were 35-40 mph gusts this afternoon. I woke up at 6am, which is usually the calmest time of day, and it was already 15 plus mph. I drove up to the aqueduct parked, got out of the car, and turned right back around.
I am so tired of the wind that I decided to run on the treadmill today. I can't even remember the last time I ran on a treadmill. I ran a total of 8 miles with the first mile at 7:30, the next 3 miles at 7:00, the next 2 at 6:50, one at 6:40 and a cool down mile in 7:30. Average pace was 7:04.
Pros of Treadmills
1. You can escape the wind, or other elements.
2. You can't cheat if you want to keep your pace even.
Cons of Treadmills
1. You don't go anywhere.
2. The ground moves underneath you making speeds feel easier.
3. There is no scenery, boring.
4. You really have to pay attention to where you put your feet.
5. You feel like you just got off a boat when you are done.
The Cons WIN! Treadmill running, although nice to escape the wind, is still awfully boring. I planned on running 10 miles but just couldn't bring my self to run more than an hour on the treadmill. It was nice to look out the window though and see the trees blowing over and not feel a thing!
6:50 pace felt easy as it should for only 6 miles. Was able to talk to Andi for 10 minutes while at that pace without breathing harder.
I am so tired of the wind that I decided to run on the treadmill today. I can't even remember the last time I ran on a treadmill. I ran a total of 8 miles with the first mile at 7:30, the next 3 miles at 7:00, the next 2 at 6:50, one at 6:40 and a cool down mile in 7:30. Average pace was 7:04.
Pros of Treadmills
1. You can escape the wind, or other elements.
2. You can't cheat if you want to keep your pace even.
Cons of Treadmills
1. You don't go anywhere.
2. The ground moves underneath you making speeds feel easier.
3. There is no scenery, boring.
4. You really have to pay attention to where you put your feet.
5. You feel like you just got off a boat when you are done.
The Cons WIN! Treadmill running, although nice to escape the wind, is still awfully boring. I planned on running 10 miles but just couldn't bring my self to run more than an hour on the treadmill. It was nice to look out the window though and see the trees blowing over and not feel a thing!
6:50 pace felt easy as it should for only 6 miles. Was able to talk to Andi for 10 minutes while at that pace without breathing harder.
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