A race, a real race!

Finally the weather and my schedule aligned to let me run with (against) other people.  I felt pretty good about it until I showed up in my sweatpants and thermal undershirt and saw people in spandex and neon shoes.  Surely I am out of my league.  They've dressed the part and I'm carrying a diaper bag.  But I suppose I also felt pretty lucky to have an entourage, something most runners did not (5 family members came!)  Still, I was a bit uneasy.  Look at those calves -- look at that...no, don't look at that.  
And then -- a sigh of relief as I sighted a gaggle of 40-something moms.  Phew!  Wait - should I be happy I'll have them to pass?  How about another 30-ish guy who looks kinda fit but doesn't look the part? After freezing for about 15 minutes in the 12 degree weather, it was time to line up and receive instructions.  The race leader was affable, mildly funny, and everything you'd expect an MEC employee to be.  And other people were laughing.  Hey, this might be fun.  I think I even see a pair of basketball shoes over there.

My dad called last night to say: "Go out slow.  Everyone else is going to want to go out fast and so will you.  But they'll run out of steam and you'll pass them."  So I picked my place just behind the middle of the pack.  Far enough back that I'm not being passed by gazelles and pressured into running faster than I can.  Far enough forward that I'm not stuck in traffic.  Passed about 15-20 people in the first half mile, then settled into a steady pace.  See some of those overzealous ones ahead.  Here I come....and pass.  Every minute or two I pass another.

And then, at around 2 km I hearing some big feet running up behind me.  A guy a foot taller than me buzzes right by - my first pass.  How is he passing so quickly?  Surely he must be from the 15 km race that left earlier and he's lapping us.  Right?  I've got two guys about my age 50 yards ahead and the big feet are pulling another 100 yards ahead of that.  The real runners are long out of sight and the overzealous are way back where they lost their zeal.  It's just the four of us that I'm aware of.  I'll stick with those two guys and let Long Legs take off.

3 km in.  It looks like these guys are fading.  I don't want to get cocky and then have them pass me later.  Nope, they are slowing down.  I pour on a little juice and pass the first one.  It's not at all like passing on the highway where the driver speeds up as soon as they're being passed.  I think I hear his feet slow down as soon as I'm by.  And here's comes the second guy -- maybe I'll just stick to his pace until the end.  No -- he's slowing down too.  And another pitter-patter wanes.  Wishfully, I almost hear an audible clunk as his heart hits his stomach.  But Long Legs is still jogging away 200 yards ahead.

I close the gap a meter at a time and as we enter the track for a final lap I can see I'm only about 80 yards back. The finishing kick I expected of my legs is slow coming and I do believe fatigue is setting in.   I see my family cheering and I pick it up.  A little bit faster, a little bit more.  He's not looking back, but he sure is slowing down.  I'll really have to give-r.  100 yards left and here's a full sprint.  He's still jogging and I might even...

Nope.  He beat me anyways.  But I've no idea what place I'm in or my time.  Neither does he - we've both forgotten our watches.  I checked the website this afternoon and there's a 30 second gap between me and the previous finisher.  Impossible!  He was 2 or 3 seconds ahead - I guess he didn't have a number on.  I hope he can find his time, but either way Long Legs won the day (22nd place, that is).

My goal - sub-23 minutes.  My time - 22:54.  Success.

Measuring for no reason

On Monday, when I got to the track I've been using, I saw about 20 young guys in yellow hard hats walking around and poking the soccer field.  Strange.  I looked for the least confused-looking guy and assumed he was in charge.  I asked if it would be a distraction if I used the track while they did whatever it was they were doing.  He said,"No problem, let me know if they disturb you!"
"Out of curiosity," I asked, "what are they doing?"
"In French we call it plantation, in English..uhh..surveying, learning to survey."
I proceeded to do my 3 interval runs, stopping for a few minutes between each to assure my son that I was 'almost done'.  I carefully noted my times for each run, including my lap splits.  I got a few stares and likely some underhanded remarks, though I wouldn't know for sure about the latter.  I likely looked pretty odd, running around at noon on a Monday on a federal gov't track.  But then, so did they, poking around on the ground at noon on a Monday on a federal gov't soccer field.  And why does a gov't language training center have a 400 m track, anyways?  It occurred to me later that we all did a lot of measuring that day, but did not accomplish a darn thing.  I guess that was rather appropriate, given the location.

Reevaluating my methods

Expected a 6:35 mile today and got 6:50 (1:34, 1:44, 1:49, 1:43).I could blame the heat or my sore knee, but I think I haven't been training so much as I've just been running whenever I feel like it.

I may try 4 runs a week:

Mon - Endurance work: 3 X mid-distance (1 km to 1 mile) at about 95% of my goal speed for that week (maybe sub in a longer run for this, like 5k)

Wed - Pacing: 4-6 X 400m at 100% of my goal speed

Fri - Speed work: 8 X 200m at 105% of my goal speed

Sun - Run a mile (hopefully) and hit my target.

Feel ready for a 5K

Had my wife tow the kids in the bike trailer on my run yesterday.  Turns out that lugging 100 lbs behind you up a hill is harder than running.  Kudos to her.  It certainly was nice to have a mid-run hydration that I didn't have to carry.  Some serious hills in my neighbourhood, though; some 10% slopes even.  Google Earth has an awesome path function that allows you to trace a path anywhere and it adds up the distance for you.  Hence my exactly 5000 metre run starting and finishing in my own driveway.  The other cool thing about the path function is the you can check the elevation at any point and Google Earth can measure the slope over any part of the path.

All that to say, I managed a 28:43 on 5K without killing myself.  This is the first time so far I've finished the run and felt good afterward.  Even felt energized and wanted to go run again...weird.  

7 weeks left - 7:00 mile

7 weeks to go, first real test after a week of warm-up runs.  Needed a 7 min mile.  Didn't feel great, but I nailed it at exactly 7:00.0.  First lap was too fast - 1:35, 2nd was also too fast - 1:40, 3rd lap I felt the burn and 4th lap nearly died.  Mental check -- pace yourself.

You've got...that dying feeling...

First run - killer.  7:42 mile.  Probably shouldn't run full out in the heat and humidity for a first time.  But it was a true show of my current fitness.  Decided to give myself a warm-up week before my next test - that would likely be a test of what I call my 'underlying fitness'.  That is, how fit my body is once I've broken it in for about a week.  Need to get a 7:00 mile to start this process.

What I'm Doing and Why

I have had four physical goals, in some form, since I was 12  and others since about 18, but never pursued them seriously.  8 years of landscaping kept me in reasonable shape, but now at 29 I am a high-school teacher.  Since Phys Ed is not in my portfolio, to say the least, my fitness is on a serious decline.
Since I've had these goals but never failed to reach them (having never really tried), this has given me a false sense of confidence.  'I was capable of .... ergo, I am an amazing athletic specimen.  Hi-ho!' I guess I have decided to call my own bluff, since I've got 8 weeks off for summer and absolutely no excuse.
So here's the personal bests I hope to actually attain, starting this summer (in order from most to least attainable):

Bench-press my own body weight (say 150 lbs)

This is a popular goal for lots of guys that work out.  It's seen as a beginner's benchmark for upper body strength, and since I've no interest in lifting a lot of weights, that's about as much as I'm willing to commit to.  But I think it's pretty attainable, but strangely, I've decided not to pursue this particular one this summer.  Cardio is what I need most.
My personal best: about 125 lbs at the age of 22 in 2005 or 06, after treeplanting and landscaping for 4 summers, but not after having lifted weights.

100 consecutive pushups

This is another popular goal for guys, albeit probably a bit more than a beginner's goal.  Since it's a pretty good measure of general upper-body and core stamina I'm pretty excited about this one.  Plus it can be practiced anywhere, even on commercial breaks.  Calisthenics are a pretty universal and old-school test of fitness, so there you go.
My personal best: 63 consecutive pushups (also at 22).  I don't remember exactly, but I think this was a case of do 40 tonight, 41 tomorrow, etc.  I don't think I've ever done that longer than a few weeks.

Jump to touch a regulation 10-foot basketball rim 

I have fantasized about this goal more than any other, playing basketball from about 10 and practicing dunks on my adjustable net from about 12 years old.  Never really 'trained' for it, though, other than just a lot of jumping and doing some stairs when I played highschool ball.  I am 5'8", so this is a 'tall' order for me; requires about a 34 inch vertical.  I have gotten close and very clearly witnessed my dad (who is almost 5'9", just a bit taller than me) handily grab a 10 foot rim at the age of 35.  Even if the rim sagged a few inches, this was a full on grab, so at least a 10 foot jump. This from a guy who does not play basketball or any other sport requiring explosive jumping.  He claims not to remember this.  Pff.
My personal best: grabbed a 9'6" rim consistently from about the age of 15 to 18, probably peaking at about 9'9".  Jumped to about 9'4" or 9'5" last summer.  Yes--I still measure this.

Run a 5-minute mile

I have always liked middle-distance running, although I was never particularly talented.  I think it stems from Gr. 6, when I came within a second of the school record for 1500 m for my age group.  (6:05, which is still a pretty awesome time!)  I was in martial arts back then and of course I was 11.  From then on, I felt like I was capable of being really good, so why bother trying?  (Kind of a big part of my worldview, I've discovered).  In high school, I improved my time to 5:18, but I never really trained - I probably ran no more than 15 or 20 times a year.  In 2005 and 06, I got back into running a couple of times for about 6 weeks .  I think I got my 1500 m back down to 5:38.  A mile is around 1600 m (4 laps), so that's about a 4:41 1500 m.  This is a very ambitious goal that probably represents my physical limits when I was 18.  So yeah...
My personal best: 5:18 for 1500 m (a 5:39.2 mile) when I was 16.