It was a beautiful day in Texas today! Sunny & 44 degrees at noon! Perfect running weather! I'm liking the new loop that has opened up.
TUESDAY
The weather was little different today. It was 40 and overcast. The wind chill was 33 at noon. I had a real solid run. I wasn't planning to push the pace. It just happened.
About a half mile in I looked at my watch and I was running an 8:20/mile pace. My stride felt smooth so I went for it. At this point I decided not to look at my watch anymore. I didn't want my mind to tell me I was going too fast. As I finished mile 2 I felt like I was slowing down, but I kept pushing trying to maintain as best as I could. 2.5, I was really sucking wind now, but I was telling myself not to quit. As I made the last turn on the block I told my self if I was under 27mins I was going the extra 0.1 for a 5k. (my fastest this year 26:35) I hadn't ran a VDOT since September. I was curious where I was being as the speedwork had been over for a few months. Beep! 3 miles. I looked down secretly hoping I was over 27mins... 25 and some change! Go! Go! Go! The 0.1 from hell! Done! Final time 26:33!
So what's a VDOT? That's a logical question.
The real short version: Running coach Jack Daniels used V̇O2max to calculate running performance. His calculation took a recent race time and could convert that data into equivalent times at different race distances. VDOT Calculator I’m using the handy app. There's is a whole training philosophy built around the premise. Which is what the FRC Training Plan is based on.
Using my time from today’s 5k let’s see what data we get back.
The equivalent tab shows you what the estimated race time will be at different distances. All things being equal of course.
As for the training part this is what FRC uses for us. So when the program calls for easy pace. I should be running between 10:29 - 11:31 pace and so on & so forth. The pace/effort increases as the distance shortens.
Anyway. Go check some of that out & see what kind of results you have!
If you’re thinking it sounds like hocus pocus, have a look at how my 5k VDOT times over the 24-week training cycle changed.
In case your counting I shaved 10mins off of my 5k time. *individual results may vary* This is also evidence of how important speed work is. We cut the speed work & added miles. Alright, enough geeking out...
WEDNESDAY
I woke up this morning at 4am to get ready for the Wednesday long run. Today's plan called for 2E, 2T, 2E, 2T, 2E = 10 miles. Oh, and it was 33 degrees with a 20-something wind chill. We started off with the 2 miles around a 9:50 pace, followed by an 8:58 in mile 3 & 9:27 at mile for. I felt completely gassed.
I guess since it was fresh on my mind from yesterday's journal entry, but I was realizing that our Easy paces were usually 30 - 45 secs per mile too fast according to my VDOT. We slowed a bit & had a few miles of discussion around to topic. That led us on a trip down memory lane. We remembered that just a few months ago we were struggling to run 11-12 min miles. Look at us now! Don't forget your progress! Nonetheless, that didn't help that I was just tired. Maybe from the hard 5k yesterday? Maybe from the hard training & long miles. We were in the 2nd extension of the training program. At this point we have ran 13+ miles at least a dozen times since August. Not to mention the other double digit mile runs; another dozen of them as well. Or was it from 2 hard Half Marathons in back to back months? Who knows.
Anyway, 5, 6, & 7 I hung with guys as best as I could. Mile 8 I decide to just let them go. After that threshold ended the guys looped back to finish the 2 remaining easy miles by my side. What can you say about that? These guys are just top notch!
With all the whining about being tired I still averaged a 9:45 pace for 10 miles.
SATURDAY
I took a couple of days off & here we are. Long Run Saturday! Leonardo plotted us a 14 mile route all around Frisco. The first 7 miles had some hills. The back half was pretty flat. The plan was to run easy miles as some of the guys were thinking about adding some extra miles afterward.
From FRC store we ran through the Rail District. We ran through areas with big houses, old houses, modern houses. We ran through a couple parks and around a couple ponds. Up Fisher hill past the castle, back to the Rail District (photo 1) & the Frisco Square. We looped around the FC Dallas stadium & finally back to the FRC store.
Once we finished we circled up, traded fist bumps, & took our finishing photo.
SUNDAY
Finished up the week with an Easy 5-miler. Not a ton to say about the run. It’s was a beautiful mid-60 degree day. I did get another new pair of shoes prior yesterday’s run. My 3rd pair of Nike Zoom Air Pegasus. I really love these shoes!
I did have a little foot pain after yesterday’s long run. I think I had my left shoe a little too tight. I used the massage gun on it a few times yesterday & today. All seemed well today so I went out for my scheduled run.
I ran the new neighborhood loop & added a little to get my 5 miles in. I planned to run 10:30/mile, but these days I’m finding it more difficult to run that pace on shorter mile runs.
There were a lot of people out enjoying the weather. It was nice to just enjoy the run today.
See you again next week!
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