Weekly Training Update

This winter has not been making it easy on me. When it isn't snowing, it has been extremely cold and windy which doesn't make for the best training outside. Somehow I've managed to fit in all of my training even when the conditions have not been the best.

Last Saturday I had a 4 mile pace run and despite the cold temperatures and windy conditions, I was able to average a 9:31 min/mi pace.

4 Mile Pace Run

It is amazing how quickly things can change in a single day. After my pace run on Saturday I woke up early on Sunday to put in 9 miles before heading to church. As I headed out just after 5:00, it was not snowing but by the time I was finished there was 3 fresh inches of snow on the ground. I was happy to get inside to warm up and dry off.

On Wednesday morning I was out of bed at 4:30 am and headed downtown for my weekly swim at the Wellmark YMCA. If you ever have the chance to check out the Olympic size pool at the Wellmark YMCA downtown, don't pass up the opportunity. It is a pretty spectacular sight and a great place to train. On Wednesday I did one of my hardest pool workouts with a main set that included 10 X 100 yards. 

Building distance in the swim

I'm slowly beginning to build my distance in the pool and on the bike but with my half marathon 4 weeks from Saturday, my primary focus is still on running. Things have been going well, but I'm planning to increase my focus these last 4 weeks leading up to the race. I'm also hoping for some warmer weather to melt all of the snow and ice off of the sidewalks and bike trails. 

Post-Race Training Success

It never seems to fail me, whenever I have a great race it is followed by several days of great training. Even though the bottom decided to fall out of the thermometer again I have had some excellent training sessions the past 2 days in all 3 disciplines. 

I have started working a flexible schedule on Mondays that allows me to get off work at 1:30 and head to the pool. I've been adding 5 minutes to my swim time each week and made it up to 35 minutes yesterday. I managed to swim 1,500 yards in that time which is one of the better swims that I have had this winter. 

Last night I opted to hop on the upright exercise bike for a 55 minute hill interval workout instead of using the trainer. I'm not sure if it is riding high from the race, or watching the movie "Miracle" while riding but I normally keep a pace of about 18 - 19 mph for these workouts but last night I managed 20.3 mph. I've actually been killing it on the bike all winter and am just chomping at the bit for spring to come so I can get outside.

With the frequency of my workouts, it is difficult to stack up more than 1 or 2 great ones at a time, but I managed to make it 3 in a row as I headed out for a run this morning. My alarm went off at 5:00AM as I rolled out of bed and bundled up to head out into 10 degree temperatures with wind chills around 0. My Tuesday runs include maintaining heart rate Z2 which is an easy pace. Even with that low intensity, I ran fast this morning maintaining a sub-10:00/mi pace for over 4.5 miles.

Fantastic early season training run

I have less than 6 weeks to my first A race of the season and I'm certainly headed in the right direction. Hopefully I can stay on track and navigate my way to breaking my 2nd PR of the year on March 16. 

Kickoff 5k

I was finally able to kickoff my racing season this morning (see what I did there?) at the Kickoff 5k in Leawood, KS. My uncle Mike has been running road races for a couple of years and I was excited to get the chance to run a race with him. After the extreme cold snap this past week the weather warmed up quickly and we had temperatures in the mid 50's this morning for the start of the race. It felt amazing to run a race on February 3rd in shorts and a t shirt.

The route had a good combination of hills and flats and proved to be a good early season challenge. I wasn't sure what to expect going into this race but knew that I had been running well lately. Everything went well from the start of the race and I was feeling good as I reached the 1 mile marker in a time of 8:53. I kept pushing hard in hopes that my legs would not let me down and they didn't.

I ended up crossing the finish line in a time of 27:51 setting a new 5k PR besting my previous PR by 9 seconds. I finished 6/17 in my age group and 104/556 overall. Uncle Mike crossed the line shortly after I did and we enjoyed some post race food before I showered and headed for home.

Hanging with Uncle Mike before the race

Officially broke 9:00/mi average

As mentioned in a previous post, my goal for the year is to PR at every distance, and starting my year off by checking a 5k PR off my list is very exciting and motivating. I'm hoping to keep the success rolling at the St. Paddy's Day Half Marathon on March 16th. The time to beat will be 2:16:18.