Pace Chart

The pace chart is here! The pace chart is here!

I received the anxiously-awaited pace chart in my email this afternoon, and it was somewhat surprising. According to my two-mile timed assessment, my predicted race times are the following:

1 mile: 6:40
5k: 23:08
10k: 48:04
Half Marathon: 1:46:55
Marathon: 3:45:29

Wow! I knew that my lack of real training was limiting my race speeds, but I was hoping to do the marathon in 4 hours. According to the pace chart, I should be able to do it in 3:45 if I train correctly.

This begs the question, why not 3:40? That would qualify me for the Boston Marathon. I will see how training goes, and if stepping it up even a bit more would be possible. I don't want to be greedy or set unattainable goals, but that sure would be awesome if I qualified for Boston in my first marathon.

I think the Urban Cow Half Marathon is the next assessment, so we may get revised charts after that, or at least be able to track progress by comparing the time estimate to the actual time.

First casualty

My first casualty of the training season is upon me. After my river trail run yesterday, I noticed a red, itchy patch on my left leg. I confirmed today with an outdoorsy colleague- I have my first case of poison oak.

I'm usually not careful about brushing up against bushes when I run, and I guess I should be. The good news is, it is only about the size of a nickel. I won't be able to wear pants or shave that part of my leg for a week or two, which stinks. On the plus side, I'll be forced to wear dresses, which I love but don't do often enough.

Week Two Summary

At the end of my second week of training, here are my stats:

Miles run this week:16
Total marathon training miles: 21
Total Miles in 2010: 323

Assessment Run

This morning started at 6:30AM with an (optional) form clinic. I did pretty well- they said I should move my arms more, which I am pretty sure I do when I'm actually running and not being watched. My posture, foot strike and turnover is pretty good. They said to time footstrike for 30 seconds, and try to get close to 40 to 45 on one side per 30 seconds. That equates to 180 or so per minute overall, which is the ideal rate for any distance.

Today was the first assessment. We started out at the same part of Land Park, running up to the levee and about 1.5 miles total to Le Rivage hotel. They marked a mile back north on the trail (toward Miller Park), and we did a times out and back 2 mile run. I ran with the first group, which was people timing themselves.

As usual, there was one girl and about 10 guys out in front of me. This time, two other women ended up passing me- one who was there last week and probably pacing better than I was, and one who was new. I came in fourth (not that it is a race) in the self-timing group, and then ran the 1.5 miles back to Land Park.

My two mile assessment time was 14:15.

I'm really excited to get my pace chart, and start working on longer runs!

First Wednesday Workout

Yesterday, I had my first Wednesday evening group workout, and it was a speed workout. We started in the same place at Land Park, and did a warm up mile around the baseball fields:

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We started the speed work at the entrance to the Fairytale Town parking lot, and did 30 seconds speed 30 seconds moderate for two miles, around the golf course:

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Then a mile cool down around the baseball fields, followed (of course) by stretching.

I went out a bit too fast again in the warm up, and struggled with the speed after a few cycles. I may have also struggled because I was working hard and not walking during the 30 seconds of moderate pace (like some were). It was fantastic to have my watch beep at me to speed up- it really kept me honest.

I ran alone again, but having the rest of the group out is motivating. Plus, I am fine with the 10 or so guys and one girl being ahead of me, but I do try to keep ahead of the rest of the group.

So far, training has gone well. Here is a summary of the week so far:
Monday: 3 miles easy in the morining
Tuesday: spin (moderate) after work
Wednesday: 4 miles with the group after work

And today will be a hard spin class with Chuck!

Week One Summary

I plan on doing a weekly summary post for my training, and in the spirit of completeness, I will begin with this first week (even though it included only one day of training).

Miles run this week: 5
Total marathon training miles: 5
Total miles in 2010: 307

I reached 300 for the year on the first mile of a 3 mile 8PM run around McKinley Park with John last Friday. A run that I completed slowly, because we ate pasta with sausage only an hour and a half before the run.

First day of training

I got up bright and early at 5:45 this morning for the first day of my training program. I had my coffee and cereal, and was to Land Park by 6:50. Everyone was very quiet this morning. After a brief introduction to the program, we began our first training run at about 7:05. From the starting point (around 13th Avenue and Land Park) we headed down 13th Avenue to Riverside, then over the freeway to the river trail. From there, we ran to Miller Park, turned around and came back.

Here is the course we took:

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Ignore the weird loop near Riverside and the freeway. Google added it to get me to the bike trail and wouldn't let me take it off.

From the start, I was close to the front of the group (which seemed to be about 50 people). I ended up about 20 feet behind a group of about 5 guys, and was passed by one girl about half a mile in. I was going a bit faster than normal, which I will have to work on. I have to remember that it isn't a race, it is training!

At the overpass, I fell a little further behind. Throughout the run, I kept the pace, with about 5 or so more guys passing me before the end. Unlike most of the group, I was alone for most of the run.

I ended up finishing the 5 miles in a little over 42 minutes, a bit faster than I usually go for a Sunday run. That was fine for today, but I will have to work on toning that down for future longer runs.

The course was very pretty. I liked it a bit better than the American River Parkway, but that might be because it wasn't a crowded race so I got to look at the river more.

Back at the park, we did stretching for 10 minutes or so, which was great. I need to work on that! All in all, I'm glad I joined the program, and I'm looking forward to the next workout!