Wednesday, December 31, 2008

2008: Year in Review

This time last year, I had never run seriously and had trouble keeping it up for more than a few minutes. I started with a learn to run clinic in early January, worked my way up to 5K, then pushed myself through a 15K race and eventually finished a half marathon in late September. At this point, I'm about to start formally training for a full marathon and can only hope that this coming year will be nearly as productive.

Unfortunately I didn't properly separate the running and walking sessions for the first half of the year, so I'm not sure how much each sport contributed to the overall totals. Either way, the basic totals are as follows:




Total Distance on Foot (Running + Walking):5,698.4km (3,540.8 mi)
Total Distance on the Bike (since Late August):2,765.5km (1,718.4 mi)
Total Distance Overall:8,463.8km (5,259.2 mi)

To put that in context, 5,700km is approximately the distance from Toronto to San Francisco through Vancouver ;) With the cycling factored in, add in another leg to Austin, TX. Looking back, that is a staggering distance that speaks to the amount of work that was put into my training.

To outline the progress that has been made over the last year, the following table illustrates some major metrics that have changed significantly.






01/01/200701/01/200831/12/2008
Weight240lbs180lbs151lbs
HR-Rest74bpm62bpm43bpm
Running Index?4166

My weight is now approximately where I want it, so the objective for the new year is simply to improve my overall performance for racing purposes. I've outlined my plan in previous entries, and will likely post a more detailed version in the next week or so.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Week 52: Review

As expected, it was quite a busy week so I wasn't able to get in everything that I had planned. Fortunately, I was able to fit in all of my runs as scheduled, so only the cycling and walking sessions were hurt by this. The weather did make some of the runs this week harder than normal (Sunday's session especially), however, and I had to shovel out the driveway a few times so I got in a little extra work one way or the other ;)

Weekly Totals:

Running: 58km
Walking: 15km
Cycling: 80km
Total: 153km

With Christmas now winding down, I plan to focus on getting as much in as possible in the upcoming week. Things will naturally still be a bit busy, but with only a couple of weeks to go before I formally start training for the next season I want to make sure that I'm in as good condition as possible.

Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 21.1K LSD
Mon 50K Cycle
Tue 8K Tempo
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs 10K Steady
Fri 50K Cycle
Sat 10K Steady

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Week 51: Review

As Christmas approaches things are getting busier, so I wasn't able to get in all of the sessions that I would have liked. Thankfully, I managed to get all of my running and most of my cycling in, and the walking took the brunt of it. Fortunately, most of the bad weather this week ended up falling on my off days so things actually worked out pretty well.

The only exception to this was my 10K run on Saturday morning, as the snowfall from the day before made it much harder to run than normal. As such, my pace was a significantly lower than normal 5:06/km (vs. 4:45/km). Further, it was also extremely cold (-25C) but fortunately there wasn't any appreciable wind so with the proper clothing that didn't pose too much of a problem. Either way, given the nasty weather this week I do count myself lucky that I missed most of it ;)

Weekly Totals:

Running: 60km
Walking: 14km
Cycling: 125km
Total: 199km

The next week is supposed to be pretty nasty weather-wise, and tomorrow's run especially is going to be difficult. They're calling for another 8cm tonight (combined with 15cm that's already on the ground from Friday) with another 15cm to come sometime tomorrow. Temperatures will likely be somewhat higher, but there will likely be much higher winds so that might offset any advantages. Either way, I'll just focus on getting my heart rate in the right zone and my pace will be what it is ;)

Naturally, with Christmas this week the schedule is going to be tighter than normal so I'll likely be missing a few sessions. I'll do everything in my power to keep my running mileage where it is, but the walking and cycling are likely to take a few unplanned hits this week.

Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 21.1K LSD
Mon 50K Cycle
Tue 8K Tempo
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs 10K Steady
Fri 50K Cycle
Sat 10K Steady

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Taking Advantage of the Weather

As noted in my previous posts, the weather lately has been somewhat hostile and has significantly complicated my running sessions. Fortunately, aside from a little rain the weather was much better than it has been in a while - little to no wind and a comfortable 6C. There was still a bit of snow left on the ground from previous days, but most of the pathways were clear so I didn't expect that to be a huge issue.

As I was busy in the morning, I moved the run back to the afternoon and headed out a little after 3:00pm. In addition, I figured that I'd try out a slightly different route than normal, as when I do start increasing mileage again the more roads I'm familiar with the easier it will be to plan things out. The route that I selected incorporated the same return path (and primary hills) that I have been running over the last few weeks, but I took a major road out rather than the residential streets.

The first kilometer was a bit slow as the roads still had a good deal of slush, but once I got out of the subdivision things cleared up nicely. After a quick 22 second stop at the traffic lights, I picked it up again and headed out at a faster pace. I was able to maintain that pace (~4:41/km) for the next seven and a half kilometers without any issues. At this juncture, I was at the southernmost point in the route and began making my way back north. After stopping for another set of traffic lights (12 sec), I had about 2km left to flat ground to run before I hit the hills.

I managed to maintain a 4:45/km pace over this segment and slowed down once I hit the hills to keep my heart rate on track. With the reduced pace (~5:15/km), I managed to keep my heart rate below 170bpm and was still feeling pretty good by the time I cleared them. I was now at the 12km mark and making good time, so I elected to try and see how far I had progressed in the last couple of months. After a brief 24 second traffic stop, I picked it up for the home stretch.

When I got to the 18K mark, I had managed a 4:48/km pace and saw that I was within striking distance of my STWM time so I pushed it a little harder. At this point it started drizzling a little, but with the higher temperatures it was actually somewhat helpful. When I got to the 20K mark, I was at 1:35:38 and therefore needed to do the final 1.1km in 6:08.6 to meet my mark. At this point, I opened up to do the final stretch at a 4:23/km pace and hitting the mark at 1:40:25. Even working the traffic stops into the equation, my total time was still 1:41:23 or about 23 seconds faster than my race.

This certainly shows the benefits of the additional mileage that I've been doing over the last few weeks, as I didn't put anything near race pace into this run. It was certainly harder than my average long run, so it isn't the type of thing I'll do on a regular basis - however by this point I'm pretty well fully recovered so it didn't take too much out of me.

Either way, results are as follows:
Total Distance: 21.1km
Total Time: 1:40:25 (1:41:23 w/traffic stops)
Average Pace: 4:45/km
Average Heart Rate: 162bpm (71% HRR)

Full Telemetry:

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Week 50: Review

While the weather this week was supposed to be pretty miserable, it ended up working out to be quite nice for pretty much all of my runs. This morning's 10K was certainly a cold one, but nothing that a few layers couldn't take care of. It was snowing quite a bit for my walk this afternoon, however not enough had accumulated yet to pose much of an issue for me (although the cars were having some trouble with it). Tomorrow is likely to be interesting, but I'll likely cover that in another post.

Thanks to that weather, all of my sessions this week went pretty much as planned. As such, the only thing of note was that I increased my tempo pace a little as my heart rate wasn't getting as high as it used to. I managed to complete my 8K run on Tuesday in 34:13 at roughly a 4:15 pace. My heart rate averaged about 172bpm, or a little under 75% HRR which is about right for this sort of run. For comparison, last week's tempo run averaged 165bpm for its 4:26 pace, which only works out to about 70% HRR.

Weekly Totals:

Running: 58km
Walking: 36km
Cycling: 150km
Total: 244km

Naturally, the storm system that is moving through right now is likely to make tomorrow's long run somewhat interesting. While I can deal with the cold, snow accumulation could add some complexity to my 20K route as the city often takes its time to clear some portions of it. Either way, there isn't a whole lot that I can do about it so it'll just be a matter of doing whatever I can to work around the obstacles. Fortunately, I'm not in any sort of formal training regimen so if I have to slow down a bit it won't be the end of the world ;)

Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 21.1K LSD
Mon 50K Cycle
Tue 8K Tempo
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs 10K Steady
Fri 50K Cycle
Sat 10K Steady

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Into the Cold...

As noted yesterday, the weather reports called for extreme cold and heavy winds today and they were pretty much right on. When I headed out for my 20K run this morning, the ambient temperature was -12C and a bitterly cold ~50km/h wind was coming out of the north-west. With the wind-chill factored in, this worked out to the equivalent of nearly -30C. As such, I put on the warmest running clothes that I had and made sure to minimize the amount of exposed skin. While I have run in colder weather than this, those runs were of a much shorter duration (less than 30 minutes), so the nearly two hours that this session would take would make for new ground.

Compounding this was the fact that the roads and sidewalks were in relatively bad condition, so I had to very closely watch my footing to avoid ice and uneven surfaces. Given that the route that I've been using for the last two weeks had some steep descents (up to 12%), I figured that it was worth taking another path to make sure I remained safe. Further, this route is largely a north-south path, so that north wind would be a significant problem on the way back (which is also where the biggest hills are located).

As such, I elected to take an out-and-back route to a large mall to the south east of me. This meant that the bulk of the route (and the majority of the hills) would be done in the east-west direction to avoid dealing with a headwind. Further, as it is a more developed area it is better shielded from the elements and the sidewalks were likely in better condition. Finally, as the half-way point was a relatively large indoor mall it gave me the option of going inside to warm up without having to stop.


Either way, after getting suited up I headed out a little before noon. The sidewalks in my area were covered in snow, so I did the first segment of the run on the side of the road. Unfortunately, the roads weren't perfectly clear either so it took a good deal more effort than usual to maintain speed. As such, my first kilometer was run at a much slower than planned 5:07/km pace. Fortunately, my heart rate was in the right ballpark so this wasn't a huge issue.

The next portion of the route was along higher traffic roads, and was run with the wind at my back, so I was able to pick it up a little more. Kilometers two through four were done at an average pace of 4:45/km, which was actually a little faster than planned. At about the 2.5km mark I was up to temperature and was feeling quite comfortable, which helped to alleviate my concerns about the cold.

At this point I began traveling east and approached the first large hill of the route (1600m long, 4% grade). Unfortunately, the sidewalk along this portion was covered in a heavy coating of snow so it took a good deal of effort to maintain speed. Unlike the previous sections, however, the traffic along this road travels at much higher speeds (~80km/h) so I had no option but to stick with the sidewalk.

When I hit the hill, this started to become an issue as running up the grade combined with fighting with the snowcover increased my breathing rate. Normally this wouldn't be a problem at all, but as my face was covered with a neck warmer I had to fight a bit harder to get that air in (as the fabric got sucked into my mouth when I inhaled). Fortunately, my heart rate wasn't affected much by this so it was more of a discomfort than a practical impediment to my performance.

Once I managed to crest the hill, the snowcover remained an issue so my speeds continued to be slower than planned (~5:05/km). As this was a LSD run, however, my focus was on keeping my heart rate down so I didn't worry about it too much. Either way, I pushed on until I hit the second hill along the route (a highway overpass, ~600m/5%). Given the shorter duration of this hill, however, it didn't pose much of an issue.

At this point (~9.5K), I was approaching the mall and had to make a choice as to whether I wanted to head inside or not. While I was feeling relatively good temperature-wise, the neck warmer was still an issue so a chance to pull it off for a short period to allow my breathing to catch up was quite attractive. Naturally, the downside to this option was that as it is only a few weeks before Christmas navigating through mall crowds at speed was not going to be easy. Either way, I figured it was worth a shot so I headed in at the north-west entrance.


Once I cleared the doors, I took the face mask, hat and gloves off and continued heading south through the walkway. While there was a good deal of traffic to deal with (as you can see from my pace variability in the telemetry), it wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting. Naturally, I did go slower than outside (averaging a 5:16/km pace), but I did manage to get my breathing back under control and my sweat-logged clothing had a chance to dry out a bit. As I approached the eastern end of the mall, I put my stuff back on and headed back into the cold.

Since the sidewalk on the north side of the road appeared to be a little more clear than the south side I was using before I elected to switch sides for the return trip. There was still a good deal of snow on the ground, however it wasn't quite as bad so I was able to average a 4:59/km pace for kilometers twelve through fourteen. Breathing became an issue again, but I found a few ways to work around that so it wasn't quite as big an issue. When I got back to the first hill, I had to cross over to the southern side of the street again. Fortunately, the rise in this direction was much shorter (500m/4%) so it took a good deal less effort to work through it.

After another decent kilometer (4:58/km), I had to turn right and begin to head north to get back home. Unfortunately, this meant I was running directly into the cold wind that was at my back for the start. Fortunately, I only had two more kilometers left to go so I bunkered down and pushed my way through. I managed to maintain a 5:00/km pace for the 19th kilometer, and then opened up for the final stretch. The last kilometer was painful as I was in an open area with no cover, but I managed to push through a 4:42K nonetheless. Once I hit the 20km mark, I broke back to a walk to begin cooling down.

Once I got home, I did my stretches and then began stripping off all of my protective clothing. My jacket and neck warmer were pretty crunchy at this point, and my hat had a nice quarter-inch thick coating of ice around the brim. It certainly illustrated exactly how cold it was out there, but fortunately the gear did a relatively good job of keeping me in the right temperature range. The neck warmer was really the only problem for me, so I'll have to look into some alternative choices for scenarios such as this.

Either way, results are as follows:
Total Distance: 20.0km
Total Time: 1:49:01
Average Pace: 4:57/km
Average Heart Rate: 162bpm (71% HRR)

Full Telemetry:

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Week 49: Review

While the weather this week was supposed to be pretty miserable, it ended up working out to be quite nice for pretty much all of my runs. This morning's 10K was certainly a cold one, but nothing that a few layers couldn't take care of. It was snowing quite a bit for my walk this afternoon, however not enough had accumulated yet to pose much of an issue for me (although the cars were having some trouble with it). Tomorrow is likely to be interesting, but I'll likely cover that in another post.

Thanks to that weather, all of my sessions this week went pretty much as planned. As such, the only thing of note was that I increased my tempo pace a little as my heart rate wasn't getting as high as it used to. I managed to complete my 8K run on Tuesday in 34:13 at roughly a 4:15 pace. My heart rate averaged about 172bpm, or a little under 75% HRR which is about right for this sort of run. For comparison, last week's tempo run averaged 165bpm for its 4:26 pace, which only works out to about 70% HRR.

Weekly Totals:

Running: 58.3km
Walking: 39.2km
Cycling: 150km
Total: 247km

Naturally, the storm system that is moving through right now is likely to make tomorrow's long run somewhat interesting. While I can deal with the cold, snow accumulation could add some complexity to my 20K route as the city often takes its time to clear some portions of it. Either way, there isn't a whole lot that I can do about it so it'll just be a matter of doing whatever I can to work around the obstacles. Fortunately, I'm not in any sort of formal training regimen so if I have to slow down a bit it won't be the end of the world ;)

Upcoming Week:
Sun (AM/PM) 20K LSD
Mon 50K Cycle
Tue 8K Tempo
Wed (AM/PM) 30K Cycle/10K Steady
Thurs 10K Steady
Fri 50K Cycle
Sat 10K Steady