Sunday, June 30, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Days 50, 51 and 52 of 123



Wow, this was supposed to be an "easy" week, as in, no long run on Sunday, but I've really been struggling. First, I've got a bit of a cold and sore throat and just don't feel 100%. Second, it's been hotter than Hades and I've been fading at the end of every run. Finally, the "easy" weeks for Hansons really are not that easy.

OK, I'm done complaining. Let's catch up on the last three days.

Friday:

-6 miles easy.

Saturday:

-10 miles easy.

Because we were on the road, I did this 10 miles in Lincoln City on the coast.



Probably about 20 degrees cooler on the coast than in the valley, so it wasn't all bad. But Lincoln City had more ups and downs than I remembered.



Sunday:

-10 miles easy.



I tried to get out on the roads sort of early to beat the heat, but it was still very, very hot. My last couple miles were a death march. It's not going to get any better right away - Corvallis is supposed to be in the mid-90's for a good part of the week.



Credit for Fry meme to Redditor scullen19.

Go buy the book:

Friday, June 28, 2013

Northwest Running and Triathlon Calendar - July 2013



Man, it is so blazing hot here today, I can't even imagine what these races in late July are going to be like. Bring a water bottle!

Let's race!

-Green Text for Trail Runs
-Red Text for Marathons and Half Marathons
-Blue Text for Triathlons and Duathlons
-Orange Text for everything else, the normal 5k, 10k, etc

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 22nd to JULY 28th

July 27th / Dog Mountain Trail Run 10k / Columbia River Gorge, OR

July 27th / White River Trail Run 50m / Crystal Mountain, WA

July 27th / SOB Siskiyou Outback Trail Runs 50m, 50k and 15k / Ashland, OR

July 27th / Wildwood Trail Run Marathon, Half Marathon and 10k / Portland, OR

July 28th / Chuckanut Mountain Trail Run 30k and 12k / Bellingham, WA

July 27th / M.A.D. Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Idaho Falls, ID

July 27th / Anacortes Art Dash Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Anacortes, WA

July 27th / Foothills B & O Half Marathon / Buckley, WA

July 28th / Madison Marathon and Half Marathon / Ennis, MT

July 28th / Lacamas Lake Half Marathon and 4m / Camas, WA

July 27th / Lake Como Trail Triathlon Sprint / Darby, MT

July 27th / Rolf Prima Tri at the Grove Olympic and Sprint / Cottage Grove, OR

July 27th / Ellensburg Triathlon Sprint / Ellensburg, WA

July 27th / Spudman Triathlon Olympic / Burley, ID

July 27th / XTERRA Les Bois Off Road Triathlon Olympic and Sprint / Boise, ID

July 28th / XTERRA Wild Horse Creek Off Road Triathlon Sprint / Bozeman, MT

July 28th / Mike Spence Summit Triathlon and Duathlon Sprint / Kalispell, MT

July 28th / Race the River Triathlon Sprint / Coeur d'Alene, ID

July 28th / Whiskey Dick Triathlon Sprint+ / Ellensburg, WA

July 24th / Bancroft Pioneer Days 5k / Bancroft, ID

July 25th / Viking Vengeance 5k / Forest Grove, OR

July 26th / Grow in the Dark 5k / Lacey, WA (Friday Night Race!)

July 27th / Bowerman AC 5k / Beaverton, OR

July 27th / Dallas Summerfest Fun Run 10k and 5k / Dallas, OR

July 27th / Ralph Painter Memorial Run 10k and 5k / Rainier, OR

July 27th / Enumclaw Street Fair 5k / Enumclaw, WA

July 27th / Seafair Torchlight Run 8k and 5k / Seattle, WA

July 27th / Relay for Life 5k / Sumner, WA

July 27th / Canyon County Fair Barnyard Dash 3m / Caldwell, ID

July 27th / Bluegrass Festival 5k / Stevenson, WA

July 27th / Mountlake Terrace 5k / Mountlake Terrace, WA

July 27th / Old Settlers Run 5k / Ferndale, WA

July 27th / Rainbow Romp 5k / Montesano, WA

July 27th / Three Days of Aloha 5k / Vancouver, WA

July 27th / Trooper Tony 10k and 5k / Shelton, WA

July 27th / The Tenmile Footrace 10m and 5k / Helena, MT

July 27th / Farm Fit Mud Run 10k and 5k / Snohomish, WA

July 27th / Racin' for Mason 10k and 5k / Iona, ID

July 27th / Liberty House 10k and 5k / Salem, OR

July 27th / Boogie to the Bank Run 10k and 5k / Columbia Falls, MT

July 27th / Aqua Run 10k and 5k / Lake Stevens, WA

July 27th / The Dirty Dash Mud Run 5k / Billings, MT

July 27th / Mt. Mania Run 8m, 5m and 3m / Castle Rock, WA

July 27th / Whatcom Dream 5k / Bellingham, WA

July 27th / Dr. Hodson's Race Against Time 1 hr run / Great Falls, MT

July 28th / Warrior Run 5m and 5k / Oregon City, OR

July 28th / Run for the Birds 8k / Sunriver, OR

July 28th / 5 Alarm 5k / Lowell, OR

July 28th / The Original Bare Buns Fun Run 5k / Loon Lake, WA

July 28th / Beaverton Sun Run 10k and 5k / Beaverton, OR

July 28th / Whiskey Dick 10k / Ellensburg, WA

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 49 of 123



We're flying through this program - nearing the half-way mark already. It makes me a little nervous really. I'm wondering if I'm going to be ready.

Trust the program...trust the program...

So for Thursday's workout we had a tempo run. It went a little something like this:

-1 mile warmup at 8:50 pace
-7 miles at 7:50 pace
-1 mile cooldown at 9:30 pace

I ran it on the treadmill today as I've got a bit of a head cold and sore throat and didn't think I could force myself to keep that pace on the roads. I did manage to keep the pace pretty much the entire 7 miles on the treadmill. It took me maybe an extra half-mile to get up to speed at the very beginning - my legs weren't quick to come around - but once I got there, I stayed on pace the whole way.

"Easy" weekend coming up.

Go buy the book:

Nike+ on the iPod Nano Review - Nike Plus Website Review



Yes, yes, I have a Garmin. So no, I don't really need to use the Nike+ system at all. But about a month ago, I bought a brand new Apple iPod Nano, 7th generation. I saw that had a Nike+ button on it, but I didn't really think about it, since I haven't had a shoe sensor for years. Then I noticed the instructions said you don't have to use a shoe sensor at all. It will work without one.

Wut?

So clearly I had to give this thing a try. How exactly was it supposed to work without a shoe sensor? I had no idea. Technical specs on the whole thing is sort of hard to find. Basically, it says it tracks you using an accelerometer. OK, I almost accept that. Although it also seems to work when you're running on a treadmill, so...what exactly is it measuring? Your arm movements? What if you have it in your pocket? What if you have it in a backpack? I don't know. I've given up on the science of the thing and just moved on to testing it out.

So, the Nike+ system does allow some calibration. At the end of a run, it may ask if you want to calibrate the run you just finished. You can then adjust the mileage if you know the Nike+ system has it wrong. I figured this was a pretty important feature, so I calibrated the system on three different runs before I officially started testing it.

Here is the first test - a 12 mile run through Corvallis. This run was mainly on paved, flat bike trails with just a few dirt trails thrown in. Pretty flat and simple overall.



And here are the Nike+ splits from the same run. Pretty basic, but Nike does provide your running time, your average pace for each mile and the up or down percentage change for each mile, compared to the average for the entire run.



So let's compare this to my numbers that my Garmin Forerunner 110 spit out. Now if you want to scoff at the numbers Garmin provides or that particular watch model, please be my guest. But it's as close as I can get to a "gold" standard for distance and pace, so that's what I'm using for my base comparison.



OK, the first note is the total distance. The Garmin has it at 12.02 miles and the Nike+ at 12.1 miles. That's shockingly close and quite remarkable really. An impressive feat for the Nike+ system to be that accurate on that long of a run. However, note the total time is not the same on the two systems - I walked a little to start and a little to end while I tried to get everything going and everything turned off. So there's about 3 minutes difference between the two...so maybe the Nike+ was quite as accurate as I thought. You can also see this in the pace numbers - the Nike+ and the Garmin have a few miles where the pace looks the same, but most are quite a bit off. Still, not bad overall.

Now let's take a look at a tougher run to track. Here's a run where I went up and down Bald Hill twice and had a total distance of 9.80 miles according to the Garmin.



And here is a look at the splits from the Nike+ system.



And then let's compare the Nike+ splits with the Garmin splits.



OK, now we start to see some issues. The accelerometer seems to have some issues when the pace/cadence changes quickly. Going up and down hills causes your form to change, your stride length to change, and definitely your speed to change and the Nike+ seems to lose a little in the translation. The Garmin says I ran 9.80 miles and the Nike+ says I ran 10.30 miles. That's a .50 mile difference over 10 miles, or a 5% difference. Now depending on how you look at it, maybe 5% doesn't make that big a difference to your training. Good for you. But that much of a mileage difference changes the average pace from 10:00 to 9:30 and that's a pretty big number.

And looking at the splits, it seems the Nike+ system has my pace WAY fast going uphill. Why? I couldn't tell you. I'm guessing it's because my upper body, and iPod, move pretty normally going uphill, but my feet are taking tiny, little strides.

I've done a bunch of runs over the last month and I can confirm these general observations.
-normal, flat paved run: Nike+ will get you within 5% accuracy and usually even better than that.
-odd paces like tempo runs or odd terrain like hills and trails: Nike+ will be probably be off 5%-15%.

Now the treadmill.

Yes, the Nike+ works, sort of, on the treadmill. It's not great - usually it shows me MUCH slower than I'm actually running - but it does work. Whereas the Garmin doesn't do squat (obviously) on a treadmill. So if you're just looking for some kind of numbers and aren't too concerned with the accuracy, go ahead and use the Nike+ on the treadmill. Then again, the treadmill itself keeps pretty good record of how far you've run and your distance, so why would you need anything else? Hmmmm... Of course, when you're trying to break records and win challenges on the Nike+ website, you wear it on EVERY run.

OK, the website.

Maybe it's just the middle school kid in me, but I've got to admit, I like all the fancy graphics and colors and prizes and trophies and STUFF that is on the Nike+ site.



I mean look at all this cool stuff! What time of day you run, your fastest records, your challenges against other Nike+ members...stuff, stuff, stuff! Of course they also have this Nike Fuel thing, which makes no sense to me...but I've almost got a million units of it, so...maybe I'll win a stuffed chicken or something!



Ah, but even here, the main problem - accuracy - crops up. Note that the shot above states I have a 4:41 mile record and a 17:25 5k record. Well, I don't have either. Not even close. My 5k PR is a 19:58 and I wasn't wearing an iPod when I ran it.

So basically, if you're running for strictly health reasons or for fun, the Nike+ is perfect for you. Hey, I like it for those reasons.

But if you need seriously accurate times and distances, stick with a GPS unit of some sort.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 47 of 123



Speed work Tuesday!

Let's get right to it:

-1m warmup
-1m at 7:20 pace
-.35m at 9:50 pace
-1m at 7:15 pace
-.35m at 9:50 pace
-1m at 7:10 pace
-.35m at 9:50 pace
-1m cooldown

For a total of just over 6 miles.

Day off tomorrow.

Yay...

Go buy the book:

Monday, June 24, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 44, 45 and 46 of 123



Yes, I realize I'm behind. Sorry about that. Let's get going on this thing.

So Saturday. Hotter than Hades and for some reason I waited until late in the afternoon to get going on my 8 miles easy. I'm trying to tell myself I've got to do some hot runs because if there's going to be any problem at the Skagit Flats it will be the heat. So off I went into the 81 degree heat.



Decent pace. I actually had the wife pacing me on a bike, which was probably a good idea since I wanted to roll over and die a couple times during the run.

So Sunday. Longest run to date: 14 miles.



My pace should have been around 8:30, but I admit I had some issues keeping that pace up. The tired legs just weren't cooperating very well.



Hey, I was just happy to run 14 miles. Keeping with the program.

So Monday. An easy 6 miles. Legs were tired, but I ran OK. Just tried to get through it knowing that Tuesday will be another brutal speed day.

See you then.

Go buy the book:

Friday, June 21, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 43 of 123



After a tough 9 mile tempo workout yesterday, we "rested" with a 7 mile easy workout today. My legs were tired and frankly a little creaky, but my pace was surprisingly good.



If you recall, my easy Friday run from last week, after a tough tempo run, was awful. In fact, it was horrible. Maybe my worst run of the program so far.

So the fact that I felt good today, and kept a solid pace, is, hopefully, a sign that I'm rounding into form.

Fingers crossed.

Northwest Running and Triathlon Calendar - July 2013



Another good looking week for triathletes. Get them in while you can, it will be raining and cold again before you know it!

Let's race!

-Green Text for Trail Runs
-Red Text for Marathons and Half Marathons
-Blue Text for Triathlons and Duathlons
-Orange Text for everything else, the normal 5k, 10k, etc

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 15th to JULY 21st

July 20th / Schweitzer Mountain Trail Run 10m and 3.5m / Sandpoint, ID

July 20th / Wild Woman Trail Marathon / Trout Lake, WA

July 20th / Goats in the Hills Trail Run 7.3m / Helena, MT

July 20th / Elephant's Perch Backcountry Run in Honor of Johanna Olson 16.5m and 10m / Ketchum, ID

July 20th / Newman Lake Trail 25k and 5k / Spokane, WA

July 21st / McCubbin's Gulch Scramble Trail Run 6m / Mount Hood, OR

July 21st / XTERRA Lord Hill Trail Run Half Marathon and 10k / Snohomish, WA

July 20th / ChelanMan Half Marathon and 10k / Chelan, WA

July 20th / Lakefair Half Marathon and 8k / Olympia, WA

July 20th / Big Sky Games Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Billings, MT

July 20th / Wind Horse Half Marathon / Bellingham, WA

July 20th / Idaho Falls Half Marathon / Idaho Falls, ID

July 21st / Klamath County Run for Kids Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Klamath Falls, OR

July 21st / Running Wolf Half Marathon / Stanford, MT

July 21st / Run in the Country Half Marathon / Coburg, OR

July 21st / Harvest Days Half Marathon and 8k / Battle Ground, WA

July 20th / XTERRA La Grande Offroad Triathlon Olympic- / La Grande, OR

July 20th / Padden Duathlon Sprint / Bellingham, WA

July 20th / Tiger Tri Triathlon Sprint+ / Colville, WA

July 20th / Fat Salmon Open Water Swim 3.2m / Seattle, WA

July 20th / ChelanMan Triathlon Iron and Olympic / Chelan, WA

July 20th / Beaverhead Y - Tri Triathlon Sprint / Dillon, MT

July 20th / Blackfoot Triathlon Sprint / Blackfoot, ID

July 21st / Ironman 70.3 Triathlon Half-Iron / Lake Stevens, WA

July 21st / ChelanMan Triathlon Sprint / Chelan, WA

July 21st / Benaroya Seafair Triathlon Olympic and Sprint / Seattle, WA

July 21st / Big Sky Games Triathlon Olympic and Sprint / Billings, MT

July 21st / Girlfriends and Dudes Triathlon and Duathlon Sprint / Vancouver, WA

July 17th / IRC Mid-Summer 5k / Auburn, WA (Wednesday Night Race!)

July 18th / Cherry Pickers Trot 4m / Mead, WA (Thursday Night Race!)

July 20th / Creswell Run for the Kids Rhythm Run 8k and 5k / Creswell, OR

July 20th / Hubbard Hop Festival Fun Run 10k and 5k / Hubbard, OR

July 20th / Manzanita Beach Run 10k and 5k / Manzanita, OR

July 20th / Rose City Rivalry 5k / Portland, OR

July 20th / Tin Cup Challenge 10k and 5k / Driggs, ID

July 20th / Trot for Tots 10k and 5k / Portland, OR

July 20th / Seaside Beach Run 10k and 5k / Seaside, OR

July 20th / Ft. Dalles Days Run 10k and 5k / The Dalles, OR

July 20th / Shoreline Run 10m / Richland, WA

July 20th / Float Dodger 5k / Seattle, WA

July 20th / Refuse to Abuse at Safeco Field 5k / Seattle, WA

July 20th / Bill Burby Inspirational 10k and 5k / Vashon Island, WA

July 20th / Bald Eagle Days 10k and 5k / Cathlamet, WA

July 20th / Kla Ha Ya Days 5m / Snohomish, WA

July 20th / Oakesdale's Old Mill Fun Run 5m / Oakesdale, WA

July 20th / Red Robin Yummm Run 5k / Boise, ID

July 20th / Pound for Pound 5k / Olympia, WA

July 20th / Raspberry 5k / Lynden, WA

July 20th / Sage's Memorial Dash 5k / Newport, WA

July 20th / Nightlite Dash 5k / Idaho Falls, ID

July 20th / SpoKeyna 7k / Spokane, WA

July 20th / Subway Gallop 5k / Auburn, WA

July 20th / Warrior Dash 5k / Bonney Lake, WA

July 20th / World Concern Mud Run 5k / Poulsbo, WA

July 20th / Get Your Color On 5k / Salem, OR

July 20th / Lighthouse and Lake 5k / Winchester Bay, OR

July 20th / Miners' Jubilee Fun Run 10k and 5k / Baker City, OR

July 21st / Swedish SummeRun 5k / Seattle, WA

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 42 of 123



Damn you, Garmin!

So Thursday's workout was a Tempo run of 7 miles. I ran a warmup of 1 mile, then my 7 miles tempo, and finally a cooldown of 1 mile. Total: 9 miles.

I believe I hit my tempo pace of 7:50 on every mile of the 7, except for the 3rd, which is the same uphill mile that caught me here. I've now decided that I've either got to find a truly flat route or just throttle back on that hill. That particular mile has about 125 feet of climbing and I just can't keep a 7:50 pace through that. Well, maybe I could, but I'd collapse into a pile at the end instead of continuing to run 4 more miles at pace, so...

But other than that, I believe I hit every other mile under pace. I say "believe" because the damn Garmin froze up and deleted my run. Doh!

It was working throughout the run, so it looked like I was under. But losing the run before I could check my "moving" time, which takes out the stops at lights, etc, means I'm not 100% sure.

I'm not sure which Garmin engineer thought the four-prong charger was a good idea, but you were wrong, weren't you? I've lost a number of runs by not having the connection just right.

Anyway, I felt like I was running well. I'm sure I'll feel it on Friday's run, but one day at a time.

Go buy the book:



Thursday, June 20, 2013

Best Running Song for June - Atlas Genius - Trojans



This month we have a couple of nice lads from the rather large island of Australia. This is their first song, first album, first semi-hit. It's catchy, it's jangly, it's fun to run to. I like it.

A nice live version of "Trojans" with a very dead crowd.



Good summer jam - this song works well in the bright sunlight.

They've also got a new song out, "If So," and performed it on Letterman. Not bad...



Rock that Run!

Past Best Running Songs: May: The Mowgli's / "San Francisco" April: Spacehog / "In the Meantime" March: Youngblood Hawke / "We Come Running" February: Yolanda Be Cool / "We No Speak Americano" January: The Naked and Famous / "Young Blood" December: Of Monsters and Men / "Little Talks" November: The Black Keys / "Little Black Submarines" October: Cold War Kids / "Hospital Beds" September: Bloc Party / "Octopus" August: Matt and Kim / "Let's Go" July: Gemini / "Blue" June: Joe Jackson / "Got the Time" May: Tiesto vs. Diplo / "C'mon!" April: Grouplove / "Tongue Tied" March: Foxy Shazam / "I Like It" February: Foster the People / "Don't Stop" January: Hot Hot Heat / "Bandages" December: Camp Lo / "Luchini aka This Is It" November: Wolfmother / "Joker and the Thief" October: Phoenix / "1901" September: Matt and Kim / "Daylight" August: Collie Buddz / "Holiday" July: Pretenders / "Tattooed Love Boys" June: The Wombats / "Moving to New York" May: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros / "40 Day Dream" April: Foxy Shazam / "Unstoppable" March: Pharrell / "Fun Fun Fun" February: Puff Daddy / "Come With Me" January: We Are Scientists / "The Great Escape" December: Cee Lo Green / "F**k You" November: Tokyo Police Club / "Breakneck Speed" October: Two Door Cinema Club / "Something Good Can Work" September: Stone Temple Pilots / "Cinnamon" August: Louis XIV / "Guilt by Association" July: Devo / "Fresh" June: Saliva / "Your Disease" May: Metric / "Gold Guns Girls" April: OK Go / "This Too Shall Pass" March: The Hours / "Ali In The Jungle" February: Los Fabulosos Cadillacs / "El Matador" January: White Rabbits / "Percussion Gun" December: Deftones / "Knife Prty" November: The Kooks / "Always Where I Need To Be" October: At the Drive In / "One Armed Scissor" September: Silversun Pickups / "Lazy Eye" August: Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros / "Johnny Appleseed" July: Deathray / "I Wanna Lose Control (Uh Oh)" June: Raconteurs / "Salute Your Solution" May: Tea Party / "Save Me" April: Bloc Party / "Like Eating Glass" Ever: The English Beat / "I Confess"

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 40 of 123



Thank god it's off-day Wednesday, because the speed work day yesterday was a killer:

LADDER!

-.75m warmup
-.25m @ 7:05 pace
-.25m @ 9:50
-.50m @ 7:05 pace
-.25m @ 9:50
-.75m @ 7:05 pace
-.25m @ 9:50
-1.0m @ 7:05 pace
-.25m @ 9:50
-.75m @ 7:05 pace
-.25m @ 9:50
-.50m @ 7:05 pace
-.25m @ 9:50
-.25m @ 7:05 pace
-.25m @ 9:50
-.75m cooldown

oof.

That's 7.25 miles total for those counting at home. That was some good stuff. I've actually dropped a couple pounds over the last few weeks and I'm starting to feel a little lighter and faster during the speed work and tempo days. Still very hard to push through those workouts, but I feel like I'm making progress.

Rest day today, then back at it hard for another tempo day on Thursday.

Woot.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 38 and 39 of 123



Wow, somehow we're into week seven already. Week 7!!!

So yesterday was the long run Sunday. In the Hansons plan, every other Sunday gets longer and more difficult and every other Sunday is an easier, shorter run. So far, the long Sunday runs have looked like this:

Week 1: 8m
Week 2: 8m
Week 3: 10m
Week 4: 8m
Week 5: 12m
Week 6: 8m

And of course, next week's long run will be 14m. Simple enough, right? Only it's not so simple.

Last week, when I had a long 12 mile Sunday, I had a short 6 mile Saturday.

This week, I had a short 8 mile Sunday, but a 10 mile Saturday!

Please note that both weekends total 18 miles. No wonder my legs have been tired every run lately.

Anyhoo, yesterday was an easy 8 miles. My legs were just toast. My pace was awful. I suffered every single minute. Fun!



And today - the first day of week 7 - I had an easy 6m. And Sweet Fancy Moses, my legs felt good for the first time in days and days. Well, "good" might be stretching it, but they felt better than they had in quite some time.



And the pace looked good for a change. Actually too fast in the second half of the run, but I had a little wind behind me.



So...I don't even know. Either I finally got over the hump or my legs just forgot they were tired.

We'll know for sure tomorrow...speed work day coming up!

Go buy the book:

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Northwest Running and Triathlon Calendar - July 2013



Big, big, big triathlon weekend right here. Here in the NW, you've got to pack in as many tris as possible during the couple months of hot, dry weather we get each year, so sign up for a new race and get out there!

Let's race!

-Green Text for Trail Runs
-Red Text for Marathons and Half Marathons
-Blue Text for Triathlons and Duathlons
-Orange Text for everything else, the normal 5k, 10k, etc

RACES FOR WEEK OF JULY 8th to JULY 14th

July 13th / Cougar Mountain Trail Run 20m and 10m / Newcastle, WA

July 13th / Grey Rock Trail Run 50k, 25k and 12k / Yakima, WA

July 13th / Let's Climb a Mountain Ultra 34.3m / Spokane, WA

July 13th / Mt. Hood Trail Run 50m / Timothy Lake, OR

July 13th / Devil's Backbone Trail Run 50m / Bozeman, MT

July 13th / Fit for Life Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Boise, ID

July 13th / Free Wheeling Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Eagle, ID

July 14th / Missoula Marathon and Half Marathon / Missoula, MT

July 14th / Light at the End of the Tunnel Marathon / North Bend, WA

July 14th / See Jane Run Half Marathon and 5k / Seattle, WA

July 14th / Fueled by Fine Wine Half Marathon / Dundee, OR

July 14th / Ocean Shores Big Weekend Half Marathon, 10k and 5k / Ocean Shores, WA

July 12th / Raise the Bar's Friday Night Swim Race 2.4m, 1.2m and .5m / Kent, WA

July 13th / Deschutes Dash Triathlon, Duathlon and Aquabike Olympic / Bend, OR

July 13th / Silver Lake Open Water Swim 2m, 1m and 800m / Everett, WA

July 13th / Spudman Triathlon Sprint / Boise, ID

July 13th / Clear Lake Triathlon Sprint / Clear Lake, WA

July 13th / Hayden Triathlon Sprint / Hayden, ID

July 13th / Ocean Shores Big Weekend Triathlon and Duathlon Half Iron, Olympic and Sprint / Ocean Shores, WA

July 14th / Lakewood SummerFEST Triathlon Sprint / Lakewood, WA

July 14th / Valley Girl Tri Sprint / Liberty Lake, WA

July 14th / Deschutes Dash Triathlon, Duathlon and Aquabike Sprint / Bend, OR

July 10th / Out to the Ballgame 5k / Corvallis, OR (Wednesday Night Race!)

July 12th / Eugene Running of the Bulls 5k / Eugene, OR

July 13th / Deschutes Dash 10k / Bend, OR

July 13th / Turkey Trot 8k and 5k / McMinnville, OR

July 13th / Chuckanut Footrace 7m / Bellingham, WA

July 13th / Lyle Myles 5k / Vancouver, WA

July 13th / Crown of Queen Anne Run 3.3m / Seattle, WA

July 13th / Dan O'Brien Track 10k and 5k / Moscow, ID

July 13th / Dirty Dash 3.5m / Spokane, WA

July 13th / Kent Cornucopia Days 5k / Kent, WA

July 13th / Not Too Stinkin' Hot to Run 10m and 5k / Soap Lake, WA

July 13th / Joint Jaunt 10k and 5k / Pocatello, ID

July 13th / Redmond Derby Days Dash 5k / Redmond, WA

July 13th / Hurdle for Hope Extreme 5k / Rexburg, ID

July 13th / Run from the Cops Midnight 5k / Kennewick, WA

July 13th / Missoula 5k / Missoula, MT

July 13th / Run or Dye 5k / Kennewick, WA

July 13th / Run to the Top 5k / Tacoma, WA

July 13th / Crazy Pancreas 10k and 5k / Inkom, ID

July 13th / Chewelah Chataqua Challenge 10k and 5k / Chewelah, WA

July 13th / Caledonian Games 5k / Athena, OR

July 13th / ColorSmacked 5k / Salem, OR

July 13th / Nyssa ThunderRun 5k / Nyssa, OR

July 14th / Bare Buns Fun Run 5k / Issaquah, WA

July 14th / Mt Tum-Tum Fun Run 10k and 5k / Amboy, WA

July 14th / Jacey's Race 5k / Sandpoint, ID

July 14th / Portland Parks $5 5k / Portland, OR

July 14th / Beartooth Run 10k and 5k / Red Lodge, MT

July 14th / Two Cities Summit Run 12k and 8k / Eugene, OR

July 14th / Outdoor Sunday Evenings 5k / Beaverton, OR

July 14th / Deschutes Dash 5k / Bend, OR

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 36 and 37 of 123



We're getting into the meat of the program now - coming toward the end of week six.

And it's been a tough couple of days, let me tell you. I think it's mainly because the Hansons theory of cumulative fatigue is catching up with me. I had a tough, tough tempo run on Thursday, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my Friday and Saturday runs were battles.

So...

Friday:

-6 miles easy

Sounds like it shouldn't be much of an issue, right? Well, my legs were so dead. Every mile was a struggle. Maybe the worst run of the entire program so far. So much for 6 miles easy.



Strictly speaking, I guess I was within the limits of my easy pace of 8:50-9:50, although miles 3 and 4 were on the very, very outside edge.

Tough...

Saturday:



-10 miles easy.

Ten miles? On a Saturday?!?

What's up with that?

I think I would have been OK today, my legs were much better than yesterday...but it was HOT.



So the first five miles were solid. Really, the first eight were pretty good. But then the wheels fell off.



I cut it about a half-mile short because my house was right there and there was just no way I was going past it, even for a half-mile. I actually have a shorter run tomorrow than today...on my long run Sunday?!?

And thank god for that.

Go buy the book:

Friday, June 14, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 35 of 123



Thursday is Tempo Day! And this week, we took it up a notch. Under the Hansons plan, the first three weeks have no tempo workouts, the next three weeks have 6 mile tempo workouts, then the next three weeks have 7 mile tempo workouts, then 8, then 9 and finally 10. This was my first week at the 7 mile mark.

So the workout looked like this:

-.5m warm up
-7m at marathon race pace (7:49)
-.5m cool down

For a total of 8 miles. This was a tough one, but I actually felt a little more comfortable for most of it than I did last week. Hopefully, my body is adjusting to the pace a bit and I'm working my way into better shape.

Onward!

Go buy the book:

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 32 and 33 of 123



Hey, it's Wednesday - the official Hanson's rest day...woot!

So I'll catch up on the reports of the last two days of the schedule.

Monday was pretty basic, although my legs were still shot from the long run on Sunday - 6 miles easy. I ran from Dixon Rec on campus around town but ended back a little early, at about 4.5 miles. So I proceeded to do the remaining 1.5 miles on the strange .35 mile square track at Student Legacy Park.



Then Tuesday was speed work day. Here's the stats:

-1 mile warmup
-4 x .75m at 7:10 pace
-4 x .25m at 9:50 pace, recovery in between
-1 mile cool down

So right at 6.00 miles total. Six very tough miles at that.

Day off today, then more tempo work on Thursday. See you then.

Go buy the book:

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

New RaceCenter NW Article Out Now - Toughest Half Marathons in the Northwest



Yes, the new issue of RaceCenter is out and yes, I have a new article in the new issue of RaceCenter. And it's out.

So head over to your closest running-type store or the nearest Jamba Juice and pick up a copy. Also, pick up a Peanut Butter Moo'd Smoothie 'cause that thing is like smoothie crack. It's good! And not nearly as good for you as most Jamba Juice smoothies, so it's like a double-bonus!

If you're all geeked-up and techie, just head over here and you can read the whole thing online. It's what all the cool kids are doing.

So my article is on the most brutal half marathons in the Northwest. And no, I have run exactly none of them. I've heard there are such people out there; freaks that look for the most difficult race possible. But I've never been one of them and I never plan to be. Still, after months of careful research, planning, interviews and an unhealthy relationship with Google, I found 10 such races just for your enjoyment. Or not. If you're like me. Which you probably should be. Because I'm pretty awesome.

But I digress. There are other great articles and such in the new issue, but I'll be honest, I haven't read them yet, so I'm not going to spout off about them too much. Max "F-ing" King has an interesting article on maintaining your fitness as you age. Well, it's interesting to me, because I'm older than hell, so I'll definitely be reading that one soon. (yes, I did say Max "F-ing" King because Max is perhaps the most amazing runner on the planet, and I just feel that having King as a last name isn't quite enough - he needs an expletive within his name so there is absolutely no question what kind of person you're dealing with. This also works with Michael "F-ing" Jordan and Dr. "F-ing" Seuss.)

See you out on the race course. You know, the easy, flat ones...

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Hansons Marathon Method - Review in Progress - Day 31 of 123



OK, we're officially a quarter of the way through the Hansons program. And today marked the longest run of the first five weeks - a 12 miler.

And I need to find the chapter that talks about training paces and double-check this, but the "Training Intensities Pace Chart" in the book states to run the "long" Sunday runs (as opposed to the "easy" Sunday runs) at a pace that's in between your race pace and your easy pace. For me, my easy pace is 8:50-9:50 and my race pace is 7:50. The book states my "long" pace should be 8:30.

So that's what I tried to do today.

I was mostly successful, although I did a little off-road running, which always slows me down a bit.

Here's my pace, with a couple miles that have stop-lights in them:



And here's my moving pace, which basically removes the time waiting at lights:



I seemed to lose my focus a bit on mile 9, but other than that I stayed pretty close to what I wanted. Even with that off mile, I averaged 8:40, so pretty close to what I was supposed to do. I was very happy that I was able to close with my last two miles of the 12 both under my goal of 8:30. My legs actually felt fresher than they did yesterday. I'm hoping that's a good sign and not just some fluke thing.

Back at it tomorrow. See you then.