September 24 - September 30, 2012

I felt somewhat sore, but nothing too terrible after the Bachmann Valley Half Marathon.  I slept in some on Monday and ran in the evening on grass for 40m'45s' approx. 5.5 miles. 

Tuesday morning was nicely cool and I stroll around RCP trail for 40m'57s' approx. 5.5 miles before work in the morning.

Wednesday night was track workout with MCRRC group.  I planned to do six by miler repeat and average around 6-minute pace with 400m recover.  I got to the track early enough to get warm up before everyone else gets in, then I ran one mile on my own before I join with others for the other four reps, then finished the sixth miler on my own.  I splits: 5m'50.00s', 5m'51.73s', 5m'56.46s', 5m'59.39s', 5m'59.03s', & 6m'01.75s'; which averaged out around 5m'56.4s'.  I finished the day with 1h'16m'11s' approx. 10.1 miles (included warm up/down. rest, and workout). 

Thursday morning was extreme painful and sore for me to get ready for work.  Iced myself twice while sitting at my desk during work hours.  I managed to log in 8 miles at the end day before sun down.

Friday was off day.

I jogged about four miles on Western Ridge Trail on Saturday morning after drop Lin to work as I was gearing up for Falls Road 15K the next day.  I check the race website repeattedly and be ensure the starting time is 7:30am on Sunday mornning.

Sunday at 05:55, Lou came to my house and pick me to Druid Hill Park.  By 07:12, we got out number.  I quickly did a half mile warm up, then made my way to the starting line.  There was not much of starting line to speak of, just a black marked line across the parking line, "GO" was shout, and then we were on our way.  I ran down the hill with Keith Levasseur for ten seconds, then he took off and hold the lead till the end.  John Blum and Maurice Pointer caught and pass me before mile one; they also finished the race with second and third place, respectively.  I hold my fourth spot till the end as well.  I finished with a time of 59m'53s' and placed first in division. 



What a payback from last week!!! What a way to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival!! 

September 17 - September 23, 2012

Got out of work early enough to get around 1730 and headed down onto Matthew Henson toward Queensguard field.  In the beginning, hammy were stiff and somewhat sore.  Halfway into my run on the field, I felt fine, and open strikes more.  I ended up running 41m’34s’ for the night, approx. 6 miles. 

Had a good night sleep and ran in the morning near work by crossing Fourteenth Street Bridge and back to DC by Memorial Bridge; I ran for 48m’30s’ and approx. 6.7 miles.

Wednesday was workout on MC track.  The plan was take it easy after that 21 miles long run, so I planned to run five reps of a mile at six minutes pace with 400m or 3:00 recover jog whichever necessary.  Fall is here and sun getting set early, I met up with Arthur long before everyone get to the track, get our warm up done, and stroll onto the oval.  I must say that he is an excellent pace setter and help me have them going; but he only did 3 repeats, so I had to carried the last two on my own. 

Splits:

5m'59.18
5m'59.17
5m'56.33
5m'58.50
6m'03.78

I logged 10.5 miles for the day after concluding warm up, repeats, recovery jog, and warm down.  What a day!  Something was not right after workout, I felt my left hip was tight and sore.  I think the IT band was tight up, I hoped for the best.

I skipped the Thursday morning run, iced IT band/hip very well, and ran easy eight miles near home in the evening.  I couldn't get to run on Friday morning, make an excuse for myself, and took a day off.  Saturday was Needwood Lake Cross Country 10K.

I got to starting line and get the course set up with Bill.  Needwood is my second and last race as an assistant director.  In 2013, I will direct a 5K race under MCRRC's Championship series.  Before I set up the course, I was thinking bail out the race.  Then, after I heard the Park Service did a good job on clear out the course.  I decided to race at the last minute, but run it very carefully.  As time went by, GO was shout, and I was stroll down the grass field with ladies-gentlemen-boys-n-girls.  It was two loops of 5K xc course, I think I didn't pretty good job on it.  I split 22m'06s' at the half and clocked 22m'01s' at finish.

The main reason I took it easy at Needwood was I plan to run Bachman Valley Half Marathon on Sunday morning in Westminster MD.  Before bedtime on Saturday night, I swore to know that race start at 08:30 and didn't bother to check their website.

Sunday morning, I awoke at 6, have Joe and begals at 0635, and drove down driveway at 0707.  I thought we get to Westminster right on time; turn out, I was late.  I was late for 16-minute.

Race director still let me run the race with a very-late-late-start.  If you look at the official time, my time is label as:

https://sites.google.com/site/wrrclub/results/bvhm_2012 

38 ... .. ..  Montgomery County RRC       1:41:20.2  (Late Start, 1:26.45)

Splits on my watch (net time) is

1.0	06:06.4
2.0	06:58.7
3.0	06:50.7
4.0	06:43.6
5.0	06:28.5
6.0	06:23.5
7.0	06:29.4
8.0	06:24.3
9.0	06:25.9
10.0	06:47.7
11.0	06:48.2
12.0	06:30.3
13.0	06:15.7
13.1	01:33.0

1h'26m'45.7s' - since the race was not chip, then result is based on gun-time. 

The race was pretty hilly, but not as hilly as Riley, and is actually more downhills than ups.  I really like the race and I think I will go back again in 2013.  

By looking at the result, something made me bump the most is if I  started the race with everyone else as a normal person, I would had place at nineth overall and second age group.  Also, if I started  it regularly, I might be able to run a better time with some competition near by; with late start, I was basicly doing a lot of chasing.  ~_~

I made a terrible mistake, but it is good lesson to learn from; however, on a personal note, I ran a very strong race and I think I should be able to do something similar in Falls Road 15K next weekend.  I'll see...

September 14 – September 17, 2012

I didn’t run on Friday.  I slept in a little on Saturday, had some food and coffee, and then headed 21 miles run out-n-back on Matthew Henson Trail.  I had a good run and it averaged out about 7m’35s’ per mile; which little faster than the 19-miler I ran on august 25.  You know I actually feel very confidence toward Thunder Road Marathon.  I ran a solid time in Riley and Parks, and then both long runs were running in a consistence pace.  I have exactly two months till TRM and I think I’ll be reached my peak shape then.  I planning to run Falls Road 15K as another tune up race, but I am not exactly sure yet.

I took another day off from running on Sunday and did some heavy lifting during yard work.  I am planning to run an easy 30 minutes tonight on grass field after work.  If I don’t feel anything terrible on Wednesday, then I’ll sign up with TRM.

 

 

September 10 - September 13, 2012

Monday after Parks was very sore and tired; but the weather was so great.  I went out for a walk on MHT after work and subsequently ran 4 mile on the usual grass field. 

I felt much better on Tuesday and ran for 49m'48s' in RC PKWY approx. 6.8 miles.

Wednesday was the day for speed work.  I wasn't sure I'll be ready for a workout after a hard race.  So, I decided to run the MCRRC workout instead of mile repeat.  The plan was 6x1000m with 400m recover jog.  I did all six repeats as following:

3m'34.82s', 3m'43.40s', 3m'41.10s', 3m'36.77s', 3m'42.35s', & 3m'44.08s'

I felt good and not sore.  I decided at the last minute to do two more 1000m to add up to a 8K (or 5 miles) workout; but on the very last 1000m, I lost count on the lap and ran extra 200m.

3m'52.55s' + 4m'18.98s'

I ran total of 11 miles on Wednesday including warm up, workout, recovery jog, and warm down. 

I rolled out of bed with very stiff legs and skipped the morning run.  Weather looks great right now and I am planning to jog/run easy on grass field tonight after work.

祝你生日快樂!

哥哥, 祝你生日快樂!

 

http://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BC%B5%E5%9C%8B%E6%A6%AE

Race Review for FMSM and PHM

After a day off from running on Friday, I venture up to Frederick for Maryland famous Market Street Mile. I usually run easy for 5 miles on the day before a hard race; therefore, racing in a mile race the day before Parks Half Marathon doesn't seem too bad and it wasn't.

Saturday morning, I got to YMCA Frederick very early and start my warm up by jog the first half of the course out and back. The course layout is run south toward downtown Frederick for one third of the mile on Market Street, then flat/downhill to the finish line at Carroll Creek Way. There was no clock or quarter mile sign to check split, but someone put a faded 400m mark on the street.

As times gone by, GO was called, and I charged out.  I hit that 400m mark at exactly 1m’20s’ and I told to myself ‘pretty good, but don’t slow down now.’  As I continued to the top and turned left, I felt sore.  Out of blue, some guy on a bike called out ‘two minutes and 45 seconds’, I realized that was the half way and I slowed down.  I cross the finished line with 5m’22.98s’ on my watch – I tied my personal best on the miler. 

I check my result at the end, I placed 6^th in AG and 29^th overall.  I jogged the mile back to my car as warm down before headed south to RnJ for my Parks Half package. I was happy with the miler result and I didn’t run all out for the half next day. 






Sunday morning, I awoke at 04:40, heated some oatmeal, and squeezed the press for some extra strong Joe.  By 06:15, I already on the staging area of Parks Half Marathon and the weather was almost prefect.  I love this race, mainly because it laid on trails that I train regularly.  Before the gun goes off, I told myself to go easy for first 5k, but not too easier than 6:45 pace.

At 07:00, the familiar G-word was shouted loud-and-clear, people were surge out, but I hold my composure stroll down Veris Mill Road.  I hold a pretty steady pace for most part of the race.  Around mile 2.5, Megan Digregorio of Falls Road caught up to me and we raced back-and-forth each other for most part of the race.  She surged around mile 9, but I didn’t let her get too far ahead of me; and after Connecticut Avenue turn around, by mile 12, I caught and passed her, and eventually finished ahead of her.  I finished the race with a solid 29-second personal best at 1h’25m’34s’.  I placed 18^th in AG, 51^st by gender, and 55^th overall.  http://www.mcrrc.org/parks-half-marathon-men

Splits (from Timex watch) below:

06:31.44

06:23.05

06:36.25

06:34.29

06:23.48

06:36.49

06:32.50

06:26.56

06:28.27

06:24.67

06:36.47

06:42.67

06:39.55

00:41.03

It was my second time to PRed in Parks Half; Golden Vixen said Parks must be my race and I had to agree with her.  I was extreme sore after the race; spend some good ole time with follow running friends at Jeff's roof top corn-hole party.

Since August 18, 2012 ...

Since August 18, my days go by basically same format – wake up, train, work, and sleep.  There are few key workout and good runs to mention.  I am going to shorten the boring few, but highlight those nice ones.

On August 18, I ran early and ran 14.6 miles in 1h’45m’59.9s’ and headed up to Comus for MCRRC XC race in the afternoon, finished the race with a time of 21m’07s’.

The next several days, I ran very easy with two very notable runs.  I got home very early on 08/20 and saw cloud was gathering around Aspen Hill with some thunder sound.  I harried up rush out of front door and stroll onto MH Trail.  Rain started to pour down five minutes into the run and stopped ten minutes before I get done.  It was a very nice treat.  I haven’t run in rain for very long time and I ran for 47 minutes flat, approx. 6.5 miles. Next day morning, I ran with moderate pace for 57m’47s’ approx. 8 miles.

Before I headed out to MC track on Wednesday night, I was planning for a 6 x mile workout with 400 meter recover jog and I planned to run 2 miles at 6:00, 2 at 5:55, and 2 at 5:50.  Also it worth to mention that I ran the workout in pouring rain again and splits were pretty good:

	400 meter	400 meter	400 meter	400 meter		Mile split
1	1m’29.09	1m’31.41	1m’29.49	1m’27.95		5m’57.94
2	1m’27.91	1m’29.16	1m’28.68	1m’28.02		5m’53.77
3	1m’27.53	1m’29.91	1m’26.88	1m’28.09		5m’52.41
4	1m’27.89	1m’28.71	1m’32.54	1m’26.98		5m’56.12
5	1m’26.88	1m’29.44	1m’31.89	1m’29.21		5m’57.42
6	1m’27.27	1m’28.91	1m’30.13	1m’27.37		5m’53.68

I logged for 10.6 miles for the day with recover runs, warm up, and warm down. 

After workout, I took it easy by running 35m’12 (approx. 4.7 miles) on Thursday and 37m’10s’ (approx. 5.0 miles) on Friday afternoon. 

Saturday, August 28, 2012 ran 19.1 miles within 2h’25m’58s’ in early morning hour and felt pretty relax afterward.  Sunday was off from running and went hiking in Needwood.

I ran 6.6 miles for 48m’43s’ on August 28 and ran 6.5 miles for 47m’34s’ on August 29.  Wednesday night is workout again and I didn’t want to push hard a 19-miler, so I ran the MCRRC’s workout – 6 x 800m and added two additional repetitions on my own.  Splits were pretty good and felt very strong afterward. 

1	1m’26.05	1m’26.53		2m’52.58
2	1m’23.17	1m’26.44		2m’49.61
3	1m’24.64	1m’25.08		2m’49.72
4	1m’24.79	1m’25.27		2m’50.06
5	1m’23.34	1m’25.15		2m’48.49
6	1m’26.27	1m’26.60		2m’52.87
7	1m’25.19	1m’27.77		2m’52.96
8	1m’28.24	1m’26.49		2m’54.73

 
The workout didn’t bother me and I ran 8.3 miles for 1h’0m’10s’ in the evening of August 30 and off on Friday.  I finished with 227 miles for the month of August. 

Saturday, September 1, 2012 ran 50m’17s’ for 6.9 miles.  Then, I ran super easy 10-miler on Sunday with the MCRRC Summer Half Marathon group for the last time.

Monday, September 3, 2012 ran 48m’04s’ for 6.6 miles.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012 ran 58m’43s’ for 8.1 miles.

Wednesday is track workout again and I ran a moderate tempo as geared up Parks Half – four by mile at 6m’ pace with 800m or 6m’ recover jog/walk.  Splits looked good as following:

1	1m’28.60	1m’:30.59	1m’29.74	1m’29.25	5m’58.18
2	1m’28.96	1m’30.59	1m’29.07	1m’29.97	5m’58.59
3	1m’30.22	1m’30.77	1m’35.22	1m’28.00	6m’04.21
4	1m’28.64	1m’33.37	1m’34.75	1m’29.59	6m’06.35

I finished with 10.1 miles total for the day with warm up, warm down, and recovery jogs. 

Thursday, September 6, 2012 ran 39m’28s’ for 5.1 miles on a ball field after work and took Friday off as gearing up for Frederick Market Street Mile and Parks Half Marathon.