Posts Tagged ‘no boundaries’

Urban Cow 5k Race Report

This won’t be much of a race report, since nothing startling happened. The weather was absolutely perfect for running. I ran a pretty steady pace, slightly faster than my training.

Mile 1 – 8:10

Mile 2 – 8:19

Mile 3 – 8:12

.1 – 1:04 (?)

The course might have been a little long, but no worries. Official results were:

Finish – 25:45

72nd of 894

8th of 48 in 50-59 age group

The post-race spread was awesome – beer, soft tacos, every kind of fruit and baked good, and hot coffee. My favorite was the jalapeño bagels. As a No Boundaries participant, I even got a medal. For a 5k!

So while I’m still waaaaaay off my peak form, I’m officially back to normal running, instead of rehabilitation. The Next Steps program starts right away – Tuesday night – and culminates in a 10k on Thanksgiving Day. I guess a good goal for that would be sub-50.

Swim Run Moo

I’ve had my best training week in ages and my body feels great (knock on wood, cross fingers, find rabbit’s foot).

It was a 15-mile week, ending with 8 x 400 yesterday (1:42-1:56 range) and a 3.71 miler this morning at 8:51 pace. This is the final week of No Boundaries training.

Another milestone: I actually did swim workouts. Wednesday was 8 x 25. Each lap was in the 40-50 second range, but a better measure was how damn long it took me to complete the 200 total yards – 26 minutes. Friday was a vast improvement, and I had a much easier time of it as well – 12 x 25 in 32 minutes. Tomorrow I’ll take a whack at increased distance – maybe 2 x 50 and then 8 x 25.

Next Sunday is the Urban Cow 5k, and it will be my first race since April. I have low expectations for my performance, as I’m trying to concentrate on the long-term. My upcoming 10k training group program is about 8 weeks long, which should set me up nicely for a spring half-marathon. After that, we’ll just see how it goes.

Running Is Funny Giveaway Winners!

No suspense. The random drawing winner of the Onion Jacks souvenir box was Blaine of Run to Win, and the grand prize winner of the Onion Jacks souvenir box and special secret additional gift was Jeff of no-known blog. Congratulations to the winners! Thanks to all of you who offered terrific advice for my first foray into the world of lap swimming.

Because it was exactly as you predicted. The pool is 25 meters by 25 yards, and though it was tough to tell which was which, I think the lap lanes were 25 yards long. The far-right lane was also double-width, and populated by slow-moving grannies and grandpas in flotation belts, bobbing up and down like buoys. The depth at the shallow end was 7 feet, so I spent the first few minutes blowing bubbles and acclimating myself. I eased my anxiety by never swimming more than an arm’s length from the side wall. Then I simply swam the length of the pool. It took me 43 seconds, but after short rests I was able to do it three more times.

I did a few drills and that was it. The pool is awesome and I’ll be spending a lot of time there this fall and winter.

As for running, there are only two weeks left in the No Boundaries training program. I capped a 13.25 mile week with 6 x 400 yesterday (min = 1:39, max = 1:48) and a practice 5k this morning in 26:06. So, with some good fortune I should manage to break 25 on race day.

After the race, the next step will be Next Steps, an eight-week Fleet Feet training program for a 10k. Since the slow, gradual mileage buildup has kept me injury-free for 10 weeks, I might as well continue with that plan.

Running Is Funny Giveaway Time!

It was a good training week, if a bit sobering. I did 12.5 miles, culminating in a benchmark 5k run this morning in 27:15. I’ve got three weeks until race day to improve on that. Yesterday I did my first track workout in a year – 6 x 400 with intervals all between 1:44 and 1:53. That was encouraging, except that last year’s track workout was 8 x 400, all between 1:32 and 1:37. In short, I’ve still got a long way to go.

We’re coming down the home stretch in the No Boundaries Couch to 5k program. My efforts to remain low-key have not really paid off, since even at my slow speed, I’m about two minutes per mile faster than the next fastest guy. I’ve had to explain to people that I’m “experienced,” without getting into details, which might sound like bragging to them. Despite that, I would recommend this type of program for returning from injury, since it forces you to stick to basics and keep your mileage low.

As promised, I’m ready to give away a cheesy souvenir of my trip to Bermuda. It’s a little wooden box from the world famous (?) Onion Jacks Trading Post in Hamilton.

I have two of these. One winner will be selected at random from the commenters to this post. And since I don’t get a lot of commenters, your chances are great! The second one will go to the commenter who gives me the best swimming advice, and that person will receive a bonus cheesy souvenir inside! What a deal! (I know. You’re having trouble containing yourself.)

Here’s the swimming situation. I’m practicing three times a week in the (unheated) apartment complex swimming pool, which is about 15 yards long. I’m steadily improving my endurance and breathing, if not quite as quickly as I would like. There is a heated outdoor 25-meter lap pool nearby, which is open year-round. I’m new to all this, so I have three stupid questions:

1) Heated or not, do people really swim laps in an outdoor pool during the winter? The winters in northern California are mild, but we do get a lot of rain and temperatures in the 30s. It just seems a bit strange to me, but what do I know?

2) How “good” should I be before getting in the 25-meter pool with other swimmers? I don’t want to be “that guy” who gets in everyone else’s way while I figure it out. Tell me about your first experience in the lap pool.

3) What are your thoughts about a swim snorkel? On the one hand, it takes care of qualms about distance and endurance in the lap pool. On the other hand, it’s like using training wheels on a bike. I might as well tattoo “dork” on my forehead.

If I had taken my swimming lessons at the beginning of the summer, instead of in August, I probably wouldn’t be facing this dilemma, but here I am. It will soon be too cold to continue in the unheated pool. What do you think? And thanks in advance.

A Fresh Coat of Paint

I wish I could say I spent my Labor Day weekend resting or barbecuing, but instead I transfered Running Is Funny to a new host, updated the theme, added a new color, and generally took care of a few housekeeping items. Naturally, it didn’t go smoothly, but all’s well that ends well.

I ran 10 miles this week at an average pace of 8:55, concluding with a 2.4 mile run at 8:26 pace. That means it’s time for another boost in mileage. I’ll be running 5ks this week. Four more weeks until my next race.

I’m now swimming three times a week and gradually improving. I need to build stamina to the point where it makes sense for me to sign up for lap swimming at the local 25-meter pool. Right now I’d just be an obstruction to anyone else in the water.

The Carnival of Running returns on Wednesday!

The Best $54 I Ever Spent

It was a good running week, as long as you ignore my getting lost on the No Boundaries route for the second time in two weeks. I ran a two-mile loop instead of the 1.75 mile loop. This made for a better workout but it’s getting embarrassing.

It was a seven-mile week at a 9:16 average pace, but this morning I ran my regular 1.75 mile loop at 8:29 pace, so it’s time to increase mileage. Next week I’ll run the prescribed distances with the NoBo group on Tuesday and Thursday, and 2.4 miles on Saturday and Sunday.

The improvement in running is noteworthy because this week I also began my swimming lessons – four days of a half-hour each. Monday was spent getting acquainted with the water, which wasn’t a problem for me, but some of the other students have a primeval fear of it.

Tuesday was kickboard day, and I was having a tough time of it. No matter how much kicking I did, I remained in one spot. It was frustrating but I had a major breakthrough on Wednesday when I did one simple thing – I got rid of the kickboard.

Suddenly I was moving through the water like this guy:

OK, maybe not, but everything worked as advertised. On Thursday we added arm strokes, and although I thought tying it all together would be difficult, it was actually easier. The arm strokes and leg kicks worked in unison, I had my head down in proper position, and I swam across the pool.

You might think it’s hard to get excited about doing something that eight-year-olds are doing better than you at the same time down at the other end of the pool, but I was overjoyed.

I spent the rest of the session practicing my newfound skill, and worked further on my own on Friday. The instructor was able to give me pointers on side-breathing, and I need more practice not lifting my head to breathe, but really, everything went… swimmingly.

If I had known I could progress this far after two hours of instruction and a $54 investment, I would have done this, oh, about 30 years ago.

I have another four lessons this week, but I think I finally found cross-training I can enjoy. I find it’s easier on my muscles than I thought, but it’s a lot more cardio than I thought, too. It feels kind of like running intervals.

I’m not going to turn this into a swimming blog, but it was a nice reminder of the feeling I got when I first started running. We get so caught up in PRs and training plans that we forget how neat it is just to do a sport.

No Boundaries, But No Map Either

Tuesday was opening night of the No Boundaries couch-to-5k training program, which I joined in order to avoid reinjury. There are about 60 people in the group, with about 20 runners. The male/female ratio is about 1:10. After a few form drills, we set out on our one-mile run through the park.

I wanted to be strictly low-key, so I tucked into the fifth position and held it. We worked our way around the first loop at about 11-minute pace. I was happy to shuffle along, since the temperature was in the upper-80s. As we began our second and final loop, the folks in front of me started to flag a little. I couldn’t slow down anymore so I gradually eased past them into the lead. I was comfortable, so I started looking around, thinking about my form, and trying to make sure I didn’t slam into any runners who were coming in the opposite direction on the narrow trail.

Pretty soon I’m running past the baseball diamonds and thinking to myself, “This doesn’t look familiar.” I turned around and found myself all alone, not a runner in sight. I looked down at my Garmin and it read 1.21 miles. Ooops. Somehow I missed the finish line and just kept going. I circled back to catch the tail end of the group, but no one seemed to have noticed.

We then did about 20 minutes of stretching, which seemed excessive to me, and that was it. We did 1.5 miles on Thursday night, but this time I stayed in front and ran no further than I was supposed to. I ran on my own yesterday and today, completing a six mile week at an average pace of 9:23. That’s still pretty slow but I’m trying to be patient.

Tomorrow my swimming lessons begin. It’s eight half-hour classes over a two-week period, so we’ll know pretty quickly if I sink or swim. I spent a lot of time in the pool this week, getting comfortable. I’m still not breathing properly, but I expect the lessons will improve my technique.

It’s going to be a busy two weeks, with swimming in the morning and running in the evening – and, oh yeah, I still have to work – but it beats sciatica to hell anyway.