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:

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"

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.

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:

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

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:

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:

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:

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...

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.