Soaked in Sweat: A 5K Dynasty

[larrymcg421]

I ran Cross Country and Track in High School and was fairly good, but stopped after that and pretty much became a couch potato. Flash forward 16 years and I've got back into running again.

This isn't the first time I got back into running. Last year, I made a bet with a friend where we picked a 5K one month out and raced, the winner receiving $10 plus $2 for every 30 seconds. The motivation helped me do good enough to win the race by 7 minutes, although the 35 minute time wasn't very impressive. After that, I lost the motivation as my friend no longer wanted to run anymore.

About a month ago I decided to give it a shot again. I started running a little bit here and there, generally a little bit longer than a half mile and slowly increasing my distance. I started feeling better and better the more I ran. With my new Android phone, I added an app called IMapMyRun, which does a good job of measuring running distances and pacing.

Week three was a major breakthrough week. I did my first ever three mile run since starting back (in 32 minutes, already faster than last year) and have consistently felt great running. I did 13.76 miles and compiled over 2 hours of total running time. My average pace was 10:07 min/mile. That's not bad for the third week of starting back. My goal for this week July 24-30) to go under 10 min/mi and run 15+ total miles.

I plan to start entering 5K's (if I deem myself ready I will run the Wounded Warriors 5K on August 6). This dynasty will be to track the daily progress of my runs and my performances in 5K's. I have been doing this on Facebook and it has worked very well for motivational purposes.


Race Results

Date Race Distance Time 8/6/2011 Wounded Warriors 5K 5K 0:29:15 8/13/2011 ATC Grand Finale 5K 0:28:08 8/20/2011 Free to Breathe 5K 5K 0:28:44 9/24/2011 Singleton 5M/10M 5M 0:47:03 10/1/2011 Cartersville 10K 10K 0:56:14 10/15/2011 Haunted Hustle 5K 5K 0:25:58 11/5/2011 Run Around the Rock 10M 5M TBD

[larrymcg421]

I took Sunday off as a rest day, which I will do 1-2 times per week. It is doubtful I will ever pull a 7 day week as we didn't even do that in Cross Country/Track days and that is likely to just lead to injuries.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Distance: 2.69mi
Time: 00:25:31
Pace: 9:29min/mi
Speed: 6.33mi/h

Not quite the distance I wanted to get today, but the loop course I took was a little shorter than expected. I felt pretty good even with the increased pace and this run gives me confidence that I will be ready to run a 5K in two weeks.

[corbes]

Best wishes Larry. I'll be watching here for updates!

[larrymcg421]

Had to take today off due to pain and swelling in my left foot. It's not too bad. I even tried to run on it, but quickly realized that it wouldn't be possible. I will wrap it and soak it tonight, and hopefully get back to things Wednesday.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by corbes

Best wishes Larry. I'll be watching here for updates!

Thanks!

[Antmeister]

Awesome. Good luck with this. Need to get back in shape myself.

[larrymcg421]

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Distance: 1.83mi
Time: 00:17:50
Pace: 9:45min/mi
Speed: 6.16mi/h

Took it easy today coming back from the foot injury. It still felt slightly sore, but not too bad. I bought a pair of Thorlo running socks and that seemed to help quite a bit. My 15 mile goal this week will be hard to reach as I'd need to do 3.5 miles per day from here on out, but I should have no problem meeting the sub-10 min/mi goal unless I really slow up the rest of the week.

[larrymcg421]

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Distance: 3.13mi
Time: 00:29:14
Pace: 9:20min/mi
Speed: 6.42mi/h

My best run yet. A full minute and 20 seconds per mile faster than the only other time I've gone 3 miles. The new running socks are helping a ton. My first 5K is in 9 days and I'm feeling better than ever. I've privately been saying I'd like to go under 28 minutes. That equates to just over a 9 minute pace. Maybe too optimistic, but I think it's possible if I keep improving over the next week.

[Blackadar]

Good timing on this thread.

I'm not a runner - seismometers and car alarms go off when I run - but I'm going to give a 5K a try next month. Even though I work out almost daily, my attempt at running this morning was not pretty. I probably looked like a crazed mental patient as I staggered along the pavement, tongue hanging out, hair sticking up and drenched with sweat. And that's before I even made it out of my driveway.

I have no real hope of actually running the entire 5k - there's just not enough time to train and I just don't run very well. But it's the effort that counts, right?

[larrymcg421]

Trust me, you won't be alone out there as a large portion of 5K fields are filled with walkers or walkers/runners. Even I walk parts of my training runs. Like even the one today I had to walk twice for about 100m each. So even after several weeks I'm not completely all the way there on a 5K.

Just do what you can for now. My first few runs were just the same as what you described. There's a lake behind my apartment and I started off running around that. It is only 0.6 miles and I was dying at the end of those runs. I slowly increased the distances as I got more comfortable.

I'm actually now to the point where I look forward to my morning runs and I was seriously pissed that the foot injury kept me from doing it on Tuesday.

[larrymcg421]

Friday, July 29, 2011

Distance: 3.24mi
Time: 00:31:19
Pace: 9:40min/mi
Speed: 6.21mi/h

Absolutely brutal run today due to insanely long uphill climb over the first mile (from 960 ft at the start to 1066 at the 1 mile mark). I didn't think I'd finish the run at that point, but thankfully it was a nice steady downhill most of the remaining 2 miles. Still, it was a struggle because I sapped so much energy that first mile.

Hills are something I've really had to adjust to as when I ran in high school it was in Florida and there weren't many hills at all. However, the humidity was much worse, which is why I think I've handled the heat well and my cardio is holding up better than my legs for the most part.

[larrymcg421]

Saturday, July 31, 2011

Distance: 2.17mi
Time: 00:23:01
Pace: 10:36min/mi
Speed: 5.66mi/h

Had a difficult time today. Managed a 9:20 pace in the first mile, but was pretty much dead after that and struggled to get as far as I did.

[larrymcg421]

Took Sunday off. Next Saturday is my first 5K. The plan is to run Monday through Thursday and then take Friday off before the race.

I'm also going to try some interval training this week. This might throw my reported pacing off a bit as it will incorporate walking, jogging, and sprinting, but it's a very effective method of of getting in shape and improving speed. It'll also be a nice change of pace from repetitive runs.

[larrymcg421]

For reference, here is the interval workout I plan to go for Monday morning:

Jog for 4 minutes
Sprint for 1 minute
Jog for 2 minutes
Sprint for 1 minute
Walk for 1 minute
Sprint for 1 minute
Jog for 2 minutes
Sprint for 1 minute
Walk for 1 minute
Sprint for 1 minute
Jog for 2 minutes
Sprint for 1 minute
Walk for 1 minute
Sprint for 1 minute
Jog for 2 minutes
Walk for 1 minute
Sprint for 1 minute
Jog for 4 minute

This includes 8 1 minute sprints and a 28 minute total workout.

[larrymcg421]

Monday, August 1st, 2011

Distance: 2.09mi
Time: 00:19:32
Pace: 9:21min/mi
Speed: 6.42mi/h

I didn't quite go for as long as I wanted as I was pressed for time (had to do this on my lunch break). Still, this was a very intense interval workout and I really liked how it went. I was surprised to find out the pace was actually faster than my normal workouts. I will do similar workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday, then a practice 5K on Thursday.

[larrymcg421]

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Distance: 2.27mi
Time: 00:22:17
Pace: 9:49min/mi
Speed: 6.11mi/h

More intervals today and it was a really intense workout. I did the first mile in 8:30 and that included a one minute walking interval. I may need to adjust the length of the sprint as 1 minute may be too long. Either that or throw in more 1 minute walking sessions.

[larrymcg421]

With race day coming up soon, I've been thinking of my strategy to beat the 28 minute mark. To do that, I need a pace of 9 minutes per mile.

The 2nd mile is always my most difficult. The one training run where I did a 9:20 pace I slowed to almost a 10 minute mile before I was able to get back in gear for a 9:20 final mile.

Because of this, I think I will attempt an 8:35-8:40 first mile. This will give me some wiggle room if my 2nd mile is much slower. I always get an adrenaline boost during the third mile, so I'm confident that if I finish that 2nd mile at the 18 minute mark, then I will have no problem achieving my goal.

All of this could change depending on how my practice 5K goes Thursday.

[corbes]

One thought is how crowded will the race be? Sometimes the first mile is slower than expected if you have to navigate your way through the pack for the first half-mile or so. You might have to focus on running a good pace between 0.5 miles and 1.5 miles?

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

Distance: 2.27mi
Time: 00:22:17
Pace: 9:49min/mi
Speed: 6.11mi/h

More intervals today and it was a really intense workout. I did the first mile in 8:30 and that included a one minute walking interval. I may need to adjust the length of the sprint as 1 minute may be too long. Either that or throw in more 1 minute walking sessions.

If you can do it and are still able to walk at a good pace, it's not too long.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

If you can do it and are still able to walk at a good pace, it's not too long.

Yeah, I might throw in some more walking in place of some of the jogging intervals as they may not be giving me enough of a rest in between sprints. If I do that, I might be able to get more sprints in and a longer workout.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by corbes

One thought is how crowded will the race be? Sometimes the first mile is slower than expected if you have to navigate your way through the pack for the first half-mile or so. You might have to focus on running a good pace between 0.5 miles and 1.5 miles?

That's a good point, plus I will probably lose a few seconds at the start. I will have to find a decent starting point. On my practice 5K Thursday I will try to account for that and start a bit slower.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

That's a good point, plus I will probably lose a few seconds at the start. I will have to find a decent starting point. On my practice 5K Thursday I will try to account for that and start a bit slower.

If I were you, I would start further BACK than you think you need to. For me, at least, always much easier on me mentally (and, derivatively, physically) to spend my energy navigating through the pack to pass people rather than to be passed.

Don't worry about where you cross the official start line. If it is a big race, you will be wearing a chip that won't start until you actually get over the start line. If you don't have a chip, just wear a watch and start it once you hit the line.

[larrymcg421]

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

Distance: 1.91mi
Time: 00:18:27
Pace: 9:40min/mi
Speed: 6.21mi/h

As planned above, I altered the interval workout today. I started off with a 2 minute jog, then alternated 1 minute of sprinting and walking the rest of the way. Was pressed for time this morning, so didn't get to go for as long as I wanted, but I think this worked out really well. I ended up doing 9 1 minute sprints, and was able to go harder than I did in the past two days.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

If I were you, I would start further BACK than you think you need to. For me, at least, always much easier on me mentally (and, derivatively, physically) to spend my energy navigating through the pack to pass people rather than to be passed.

Don't worry about where you cross the official start line. If it is a big race, you will be wearing a chip that won't start until you actually get over the start line. If you don't have a chip, just wear a watch and start it once you hit the line.

Hopefully there will be a chip because I'd like to be able to point to my "official" time, even if I know I personally went faster. If not, then I'll just start the app on my phone when I cross the start line.

[Blackadar]

Well, it's about two weeks before my 5k and I decided to do a bit of training. I'm using the awesome iMapMyRUN app for the iPhone. It's awesome.

2.10 miles
23:24
11.09 mins/mile

Given that my neighborhood is almost nothing but hills, I suppose that's not too bad for a beginner. The 5k course is pretty flat, so that will make things interesting.

[larrymcg421]

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

So my goal for my practice 5K was to go out at a 9 minute mile pace and see if I could hold on to that. I also started off slow to try and mimic what it will be like jostling for position in the real race. The first .2 was done in 9:30, but then I started to pick it up and crossed the 1 mile mark in 8:54. Once again, the 2nd mile was my nemesis and I just couldn't hang on to the pace. At 1.3 it had slowed to 9:03 and I kept slowing to the point where I began the 3rd mile at a 9:25 pace. I turned it on for the third mile and slowly increased the pace times. At 2.5 miles I had reduced it to 9:20. I knew the sub-28 wasn't happening today, but I felt at least I could put in my best 5k training time if I pushed it. I pushed really hard and finished at 28:40, which was good enough for a 9:13 pace.

Distance: 3.11mi
Time: 00:28:40
Pace: 9:13min/mi
Speed: 6.51mi/h

What does this mean for my 5K? The sub-28 minute goal may be harder to reach than I realized. 40 seconds is alot to shave off, even with the adrenaline boost I will get from the competition. Still, I'm gonna push hard and try to get it. I'm taking Friday off to rest and will carb up Friday night.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Well, it's about two weeks before my 5k and I decided to do a bit of training. I'm using the awesome iMapMyRUN app for the iPhone. It's awesome.

2.10 miles
23:24
11.09 mins/mile

Given that my neighborhood is almost nothing but hills, I suppose that's not too bad for a beginner. The 5k course is pretty flat, so that will make things interesting.

Yeah, iMapMyRUN is the app I use and I love it.

That's a good point about the hills. My practices have been in a very hilly area. The first two miles are a gradual uphill and then there's a downhill for the final mile. This definitely has alot to do with my 2nd mile issues. I have no idea what the course is like that I'm running on, but if it's more balanced then that should help a ton with my pacing.

[corbes]

Good work Larry. Best wishes for the race!

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Yeah, iMapMyRUN is the app I use and I love it.

That's a good point about the hills. My practices have been in a very hilly area. The first two miles are a gradual uphill and then there's a downhill for the final mile. This definitely has alot to do with my 2nd mile issues. I have no idea what the course is like that I'm running on, but if it's more balanced then that should help a ton with my pacing.

From what I've read, you're likely to be 5-10% slower going uphill on a 2% grade than you would on a flat track. You're only likely to gain back about half of that time going back down. So if you're running hills, you may be quicker than you think.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

From what I've read, you're likely to be 5-10% slower going uphill on a 2% grade than you would on a flat track. You're only likely to gain back about half of that time going back down. So if you're running hills, you may be quicker than you think.

That is promising, so maybe that will make up the difference. One thing I love about the app is that it also maps out your elevation grid. I have been taking that into account with different courses I run. I avoid insanely hilly courses, but I don't want to train on flat surfaces because I want to be prepared for hills when they happen.

BTW, your time is definitely good for starters. Have you set a personal goal of what you'd like to do in your 5K?

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Have you set a personal goal of what you'd like to do in your 5K?

Yeah, finish without having a coronary.

[larrymcg421]

It is race day! Heading out now. Race begins in 90 minutes.

[larrymcg421]

So, not sure what really happened here. My official time was 29:10, but IMapMyRun was disagreeing with the distance the whole race. The final app results show:

Distance: 3.37mi
Time: 00:29:46
Pace: 8:50min/mi
Speed: 6.79mi/h

And this is after taking 36 seconds to shut my app off. I have no idea what's going on here. It's a USATF certified course, so I'd certainly trust that over the app, but could IMapMyRun really be off by a quarter mile? That would be incredibly irritating.

Either way, 29:10 is what I will accept as my official time. It's not at all what I wanted, but it's something to build from. Next 5K is the Free to Breathe 5K in two weeks.

[Blackadar]

Gratz on the 5k Larry!

I broke into my local city park this morning (it *ahem* wasn't open for another hour) and ran a different route. It's significantly flatter than the one around my neighborhood, though it's all hard-packed gravel and occasionally dirt.

2.14 miles
22:15
10.22 mins/mile

So I'm almost a minute per mile faster on a flat gravel surface than I am on a hilly pavement surface. Sounds ok to me. I think I need to increase my mileage a bit, but I'm happy with those results considering I haven't run in 25 years.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

So, not sure what really happened here. My official time was 29:10, but IMapMyRun was disagreeing with the distance the whole race. The final app results show:

Distance: 3.37mi
Time: 00:29:46
Pace: 8:50min/mi
Speed: 6.79mi/h

And this is after taking 36 seconds to shut my app off. I have no idea what's going on here. It's a USATF certified course, so I'd certainly trust that over the app, but could IMapMyRun really be off by a quarter mile? That would be incredibly irritating.

Either way, 29:10 is what I will accept as my official time. It's not at all what I wanted, but it's something to build from. Next 5K is the Free to Breathe 5K in two weeks.

The distance is always long on GPS systems. In short, what happens is the GPS is creating a line tracking your run from a lot of data points. Even though you are running in a straight line, the lines connecting the data points are a bunch of diagonals because the data points have a little bit of x-axis variance (as well as y-axis variance, but that one cancels itself out), creating extra horizontal skew. Bottom line, all GPS's will give you distances longer than reality (and generally, by roughly the margin that you experienced).

[Dodgerchick]

Just stumbled across this thread, that's pretty damn awesome! I keep wanting to get back into running but always talk myself out of it.

Great dynasty, keep up the good work!

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

The distance is always long on GPS systems. In short, what happens is the GPS is creating a line tracking your run from a lot of data points. Even though you are running in a straight line, the lines connecting the data points are a bunch of diagonals because the data points have a little bit of x-axis variance (as well as y-axis variance, but that one cancels itself out), creating extra horizontal skew. Bottom line, all GPS's will give you distances longer than reality (and generally, by roughly the margin that you experienced).

Good to know. I guess I should be happy then with my time because no matter what it was faster than I had been running before. I was just apparently slower than I thought all along.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Gratz on the 5k Larry!

I broke into my local city park this morning (it *ahem* wasn't open for another hour) and ran a different route. It's significantly flatter than the one around my neighborhood, though it's all hard-packed gravel and occasionally dirt.

2.14 miles
22:15
10.22 mins/mile

So I'm almost a minute per mile faster on a flat gravel surface than I am on a hilly pavement surface. Sounds ok to me. I think I need to increase my mileage a bit, but I'm happy with those results considering I haven't run in 25 years.

That's better than some of the training runs I've done, so not bad at all.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Dodgerchick

Just stumbled across this thread, that's pretty damn awesome! I keep wanting to get back into running but always talk myself out of it.

Great dynasty, keep up the good work!

Thanks!

[corbes]

Congratulations! And under 30 minutes is a completely respectable time for a 5K.

[hoopsguy]

Thanks for the tip on mapmyrun - I think I'll use this for tracking all the walks I go on with my family so I've got some idea of distance + calories burned. If I get particularly ambitious, it looks like I could actually track my diet there instead of using the spreadsheet I started last month.

[larrymcg421]

Thanks to all those who have been reading this dynasty. It definitely helps with my motivation.

The full official results are out: http://zuluracing.com/results/OVR4WW.html

They actually have me down for a 29:15. Still, that is good for 297th in a field of 905. Also, I was 20th out of 45 in the Male 35-39 age group. Definitely room for improvement but it's a decent start.

I signed up for the Atlanta Track Club, which includes a free t-shirt, discounts to specialty running apparel stores, and free entry to 12 specific events throughout the year. One of the free events is the ATC Grand Finale 5K, which happens to be this Saturday, so I'll be doing my next 5K even sooner than I thought.

Took Sunday off from training, and will repeat the Monday-Thursday schedule I did last week. This afternoon I plan to run three hard mile long intervals with 2 minute breaks in between each. The goal is to run the second and especially third miles in under 9 minutes.

[larrymcg421]

Monday, August 8, 2011

Well, that was quite a workout! Here is the hard data, which includes my two walking intervals...

Distance: 3.27mi
Time: 00:31:15
Pace: 9:33min/mi
Speed: 6.28mi/h

And then the mile splits...

Mile 1 - 8:04
Mile 2 - 9:02
Mile 3 - 10:05

I mapped out an actual mile course and did my mile times point to point. For instance, my first time in the app showed me at 1.04, but I counted that as my 1.0 mile time. This should give me a more realistic picture of where I am.

Part of the reason for doing this workout was to improve my toughness, especially my ability to run with pain. I think I was a bit weak in the third mile Saturday and could've pushed for a much better time. In that regard, this workout was a great success. I pushed hard for a good first mile time. The 2nd mile I thought I was going to die at the halfway mark trying to hold on to the 9 min/mi pace. I barely missed but I'm proud of the way I fought through that second half mile. The third mile, let's just say I'm not sure how I even ran it. I had a stitch in my side before even starting (probably need better pre-workout hydration). I was running slower than walking speed at some points. I almost gave up three times, but kept pushing and even managed a nice pace for the last quarter mile. 10:05 with a stitch in my side the whole way? I'll take it!

[Blackadar]

Great workout Larry!

By the way, where do you get your time splits on IMapMyRun?

Back to my neighborhood track this morning. I doubled up on the few flat spots to increase my distance a bit.

2.85 miles (seemed a bit shorter)
29.23
10.17 mins/mile

If that holds, that's a minute/mile faster than last week. Since my 5k is a week from this coming Saturday, it's good to make progress after only 4-5 runs.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Great workout Larry!

By the way, where do you get your time splits on IMapMyRun?

Back to my neighborhood track this morning. I doubled up on the few flat spots to increase my distance a bit.

2.85 miles (seemed a bit shorter)
29.23
10.17 mins/mile

If that holds, that's a minute/mile faster than last week. Since my 5k is a week from this coming Saturday, it's good to make progress after only 4-5 runs.

IMapMyRun used to give me lap splits which were the equivalent of 1 mile each, but for some reason it stopped doing that and now says it has no lap data. So I've had to do my splits from memory.

Good job on the improved speed and distance after such a short time!

[larrymcg421]

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

Distance: 2.97mi
Time: 00:29:16
Pace: 9:51min/mi
Speed: 6.09mi/h

Running only 11 hours after a really hard workout isn't exactly the best idea, but I wouldn't have been able to run tonight and wanted to get back on schedule. So I did a nice, slow pace for this one, only turning it on for the last quarter mile or so. My legs felt like lead, so just finishing the run was enough of a challenge.

[larrymcg421]

Furthermore, I just did a weigh in today and I now weigh 198 lbs., which is 12 less than when I started running and the first time I've been under 200 in about 8 years.

[larrymcg421]

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

So when I went out running, the goal was to run some intervals. However, the app was not giving me my minute by minute updates. Still not sure why that happened, but instead of stopping and starting over I decided to turn this into a really hard 3 mile run. Taking one of the hardest routes near my apartment (uphill for the first mile, rolling hills for the 2nd mile, downhill 3rd mile), I managed to put in my best training time yet.

Distance: 3.05mi
Time: 00:27:33
Pace: 9:02min/mi
Speed: 6.64mi/h

The other good thing is that without voice updates, I had no idea how fast I was going and was just trying to match my usual intensity. It felt like a hard run but not particularly faster than I've done before. This means same intensity is getting me better results, meaning I am improving quite a bit.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

So when I went out running, the goal was to run some intervals. However, the app was not giving me my minute by minute updates. Still not sure why that happened, but instead of stopping and starting over I decided to turn this into a really hard 3 mile run. Taking one of the hardest routes near my apartment (uphill for the first mile, rolling hills for the 2nd mile, downhill 3rd mile), I managed to put in my best training time yet.

Distance: 3.05mi
Time: 00:27:33
Pace: 9:02min/mi
Speed: 6.64mi/h

The other good thing is that without voice updates, I had no idea how fast I was going and was just trying to match my usual intensity. It felt like a hard run but not particularly faster than I've done before. This means same intensity is getting me better results, meaning I am improving quite a bit.

You know what they say about even world-class runners - it hurts every single bit as much as it does for you, they just do it faster.

[Northwood_DK]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

However, the app was not giving me my minute by minute updates. Still not sure why that happened

That’s some solid improvement.

I can recommend the Endomondo.com app if you are not happy with the one you use now. I used that and was happy about it before I went out and bought a Forerunner clock instead.