Running Log: Friday, July 30 2010

Kelvinside -> Garrioch Mill -> River Kelvin -> Canal (at Maryhill locks) -> Firhill -> Maryhill fire station

5.0 miles in 35:30, average pace 7:07/mile (132 bpm, 62% working HR)

Running Log: Thursday, July 29 2010

Kelvinside -> Vet School and back + moderate hill reps (with Isla in the baby jogger)

10.5 miles in 1:13, average pace 7:00/mile (146 bpm, 71% working HR)

Running Log: Wednesday, July 28 2010

River Kelvin -> Vet School and back (with Isla in baby jogger)

8.8 miles in 1:00, average pace 6:52/mile (149 bpm, 73% working HR)

Notes: foot and achilles a bit better today, though still 'biting' on the uphills, especially late in the run; easy morning runs do not seem to be making matters worse, but I will avoid all faster efforts this week until the Helensburgh 1/2 marathon; my race plan is to run 5:30's as evenly as possible, running within myself, and trying not to get too competitive.

Running Log: Tuesday, July 27 2010

North Kelvinside -> Vet School and back (with Isla in the baby jogger)

10 miles in 1:07, average pace 6:47/mile (151 bpm, 74% working HR)

Notes: flare up of plantar fasciitis despite my religious stretching and rolling of the calf muscles; I am even more concerned about my sore achilles; the brutal ups and downs on Arran (combined with racing twice in three days) certainly took its toll :(

Running Log: Sunday, July 25 2010

Maryhill firestation -> Canal -> Dawsholm Rd -> Dawsholm park loops -> Garscube xc loop -> River Kelvin -> Belmont St -> North Kelvinside

9.5 miles in 1:10, average pace 7:25/mile (130 bpm 60% working HR)

Notes: felt much better post-Arran relay than I did post-Club 5 mile; however, during the run, I noticed that my left calf was really tight (possibly a minor strain?), so lots of stretching and rolling is in order.

Week Total: 50 miles
July Total: 221.4 miles
Year Total: 1,207.8 miles

Running Log: Saturday, July 24 2010

Round Arran Relay (South 2 leg)

Strides
9 mile race (hilly!) in 49:36, average pace 5:30/mile
1 mile cool down

Splits: 6.15, 6.02, 5.17, 5.11, 5.56, 5.34, 5.13, 4.53, 5.14

Notes: mild weather with a good breeze, which we ran into on the uphill start and with on the predominantly downhill and flat finish; the first 5 miles were torture, with every short downhill bringing a much longer uphill into view; I felt fantastic on the 2nd half of the race; suspected my quads would be thrashed after the twisty, fast sections, but surprisingly not very sore the morning after (though still might be too early to tell); Garscube team finishes 3rd overall behind Central and Irvine; I finished 1st on my leg of the relay.

Running Log: Friday, July 23 2010

Maryhill fire station -> Canal -> River Kelvin (at Maryhill Locks) -> Kelvin Dr -> Fergus Dr

3.7 miles in 28:30, average pace 7:45/mile (123 bpm, 56% working HR)

Running Log: Thursday, July 22 2010

Garscube Club 5 mile Race (at Milngavie Reservoir)

1.5 miles warm-up and strides
5 miles race in 26:51, average pace 5:21/mile (170 bpm, 87% working HR)
.5 miles cool-down

Race Splits: 5:14, 5:25, 5:25, 5:24, 5:18

Notes: bit breezy, but great evening for a race; 1st place overall, improvement of 9 seconds on last year and 21 seconds on the year before; felt very controlled, but stomach pains came on once I tried to push during the second half of the race (pre-race nutrition/hydration still needs to be sorted!)

Running Log: Wednesday, July 21 2010

Maryhill fire station -> Canal -> Bishopsbriggs (and back) -> River Kelvin -> Garrioch Mill -> Maryhill Rd

10 miles in 1:06, average pace 6:35/mile (140 bpm, 67% working HR)

Running Log: Tuesday, July 20 2010

North Kelvinside -> River Kelvin -> Vet School -> and back (with Isla in baby jogger)

9.8 miles easy in 1:08, average pace 6:57/mile (149 bpm, 73% working HR)

Running Log: Sunday, July 18 2010

River Kelvin -> Kelvingrove park loop -> River Kelvin -> Garscube estate XC -> Barefoot grass loops -> River Kelvin -> North Kelvinside

20 miles in 2:09, average pace 6:27/mile

10 miles easy in 1:08 (average pace 6:48/mile) 140 bpm, 67% working HR
7 miles steady state (5.53, 5.54, 5.53, 5.46, 5.46, 5.48, 5.40) 162 bpm, 81% working HR
3 miles easy (7.06, 6.35, 6.35) 153 bpm, 75% working HR

Week Total: 74.6 miles
Month Total: 171.4 miles
Year Total: 1,157.8 miles

Running Log: Saturday, July 17 2010

North Kelvinside -> Garrioch Mill -> River Kelvin -> Canal (Maryhill Locks) -> Maryhill fire station -> Queen Margaret Drive -> Fergus Hill Circuits x 5 -> North Kelvinside

8 miles in 51:30, average pace 6:27/mile (146 bpm, 70% working heart rate)
4.5 miles easy (6.28, 6.42, 6.38, 6.03)
2.5 miles hills (6.19, 6.44, 6.22 @ 156 bpm, 77% whr)
1 mile easy (6.05)

Running Log: Friday, July 16 2010

River Kelvin -> Canal (Maryhill Locks) -> Firhill -> Maryhill Rd

4.6 miles in 34:00, average pace 7:27/mile (125 bpm, 57% working heart rate)

Notes: feeling the effects of lactate from last night's tempo session, took it really easy in order to get that blood ph level back down; perfect example of when jogging is supposed to aid recovery more than sitting on one's arse would.

Running Log: Thursday, July 15 2010

-> Garscube Estate -> Jordanhill 3 x 2 mile tempo -> Great Western Rd -> Queen Margaret Dr

13.7 miles in 1:27, average pace 6:23/mile (152 bpm, 75% working heart rate)

4.25 miles warm-up
3 x 2 mile tempo: 10:40 (168bpm/85%), 10:43 (172bpm/88%), 10:43 (172bpm/88%) with .35 mile jog recoveries
2.75 miles cool-down

Running Log: Wednesday, July 14 2010

North Kelvinside -> River Kelvin -> Vet School -> and back (with Isla in baby jogger)

9.2 miles in 1:07, average pace 7:15/mile (146 bpm, 70% working heart rate)

Notes: running with the baby jogger does slow me down some, especially on hills, around gates/curbs, and where the path gets rough; but the important thing for these runs is the duration and appropriate effort.

Running Log: Tuesday, July 13 2010

A.M.
Maryhill Rd -> Firhill -> Canal -> River Kelvin -> North Kelvinside
4.7 miles in 33:30, average pace 7:08/mile (134 bpm or 63% working heart rate)

P.M.
Fergus Hill Circuits x 5 (w/ 1.5 miles warm-up and 1 mile cool-down)
5.3 miles in 35:00, average pace 6:35/mile (148 bpm or 72% working heart rate)
*reached heart rate of 188bpm on the hill

Running Log: Monday, July 12 2010

River Kelvin -> Vet School -> and back (with Isla in Baby Jogger)

9.1 miles in 1:04, average pace 7:04/mile (avg HR 153 bpm)

Notes: I recently looked into heart rate (HR) training levels more closely and found a helpful distinction between max HR and *working* HR. Although the equation to determine one's percentage of working HR requires a couple additional steps, it is supposed to provide a better guide for the degree of effort that should go into each type of training run.
The basic equation is Max HR - Resting HR (x percentage effort) + Resting HR.
So, let's say I want to target a 75% effort for a basic aerobic conditioning run. In my case, this would be approximately 190 - 40 = 150 x .75 = 112.5 + 40 = 152.5 Voila! I aim keep my HR on today's run around 152-153 bpm.
Now, where things get a bit more complicated is finding a consensus on what percentage one should target for, say, optimal aerobic development. For marathon conditioning, most coaches seem to recommend keeping most runs around 70% working heart rate. In my case, this would be 140 bpm. However, this seems to be a more conservative aerobic effort - i.e. one that better enables twice a day running and over 80 miles per week. Running at a faster aerobic effort for this amount of training would (for most people anyway) result in a lowering of blood ph and neuromuscular breakdown.
Arthur Lydiard suggests that aerobic conditioning be done more aggressively (even while maintaining massive training loads!). Contrary to public opinion, Lydiard does not recommend long slow distance, or LSD. This takes too long in his opinion, so runners ought to aim for a pace much closer to their aerobic threshold. Based on some of Lydiard's comments in his discussion of aerobic conditioning, I take this to be an effort of 75-83% working heart rate. To help put this in perspective, half marathon pace is often said to be 85% working heart rate. Only special runners with a huge foundation can handle big mileage at this sort of pace (e.g. Chris Solinsky, who still does 5:45/mile pace on his 'easy' runs - this is not LSD, but it is Lydiard-style training).
I conclude that most runners, if they hope to handle twice-a-day high-mileage training, need to keep the effort at 70% for most runs. If you can't put in this amount of time (most people cannot!), then the effort might be safely and more productively taken up to the 80% range. Personally, I try to keep my 'steady' runs at 70-75% when I am trying to run everyday (with perhaps 2-3 twice-a-days) and achieve a volume of +70 miles per week. When I can only get out 5-6 days a week with no doubles, I try to push the threshold level, running my 'steady' runs at close to 85%. Most runners can only manage the latter schedule, so I think they would benefit from aerobic conditioning at a faster pace, rather than the oft recommended 70%.

Running Log: Sunday, July 11 2010

North Kelvinside -> Garrioch Mill -> River Kelvin -> Canal (Maryhill Locks) -> Firhill -> and back (with Isla in the Baby Jogger)

8.5 miles easy to steady (4.0 miles at 9:00/mile pace, 4.5 miles at 6:15/mile pace)

Week Total: 62.6 miles
Month Total: 96.8 miles
Year Total: 1083.2 miles

High Performance Baby Napper:

Running Log: Saturday, July 10 2010

Lock 27 -> Crow Rd -> Clyde Cycleway -> Bell's Bridge -> Cycleway to Pollok Park -> Park loop -> Cycleway to Clyde Arc Bridge -> Argyle St -> Kelvingrove Park -> River Kelvin -> Canal -> Lock 27

17 miles in 2:03, average pace 7:14/mile (average HR 134 bpm)

Running Log: Friday, July 9 2010

Maryhill Firestation -> Canal -> River Kelvin -> Garrioch Mill -> Maryhill Rd

4.3 miles easy in 28:00, average pace 6:28/mile (avg HR 140 bpm)

Running Log: Thursday, July 8 2010

Maryhill Rd -> Garscube Estate -> Maryhill Locks -> Canal to Irn Bru shop at Bard Ave -> Archerhill -> Fulton St -> Bearsden Rd -> Garscube Estate -> Maryhill Rd (with Stephen, John, Mark)

11.5 miles in 1:17, average pace 6:41/mile
3.56 miles easy warm-up: 6.32 (135), 6.34 (147), 7.00 (140), 7.10 (141)
3.2 miles tempo: 5.26 (164), 5.19 (173), 5.17 (175), 5.13/pace (177)
4.74 miles easy warm-down: 7.28 (143), 7.28 (143), 7.47 (132), 7.20 (134), 7.43/pace (139)

Running Log: Wednesday, July 7 2010

North Kelvinside -> River Kelvin -> Dawsholm Park loops -> River Kelvin -> Kelvingrove Park -> North Kelvinside

10.3 miles in 1:10, average pace 6:45/mile
Splits: 6.54, 7.18, 6.59, 7.02, 6.51, 6.27, 6.39, 6.19, 6.31, 6.36

Running Log: Tuesday, July 6 2010

River Kelvin -> Clyde Cycleway -> Glasgow Green loop -> St. George Square -> Speirs Wharf -> Canal -> Maryhill -> Queen Margaret

11 miles in 1:11, average pace 6:30/mile

Splits: 6.54, 7.05, 6.34, 6.45, 6.26, 6.35, 6.37, 6.27, 6.32, 5.52, 5.43

Running Log: Sunday, July 4 2010

North Kelvinside -> River Kelvin -> Garscube Estate XC loops -> Dawsholm Park loops -> Canal -> Maryhill fire station

14 miles easy in 1:39, average pace 7:05/mile

Week Total: 51.5 miles
Month Total: 34.2 miles
Year Total: 1016.6 miles

Running Log: Saturday, July 3 2010

Fergus Hill Circuits x 8

6.2 miles (with warm-up and cool-down) in 42:30, average pace 6:50/mile

Running Log: Friday, July 2 2010

River Kelvin -> Clyde cycleway -> Clydebank -> Canal towpath -> Maryhill Firestation

14 miles progression (easy to steady) in 1:27, average pace 6:13/mile
Splits: 7.01, 6.53, 6.26, 6.27, 6.18, 6.08, 6.17, 6.07, 5.58, 6.03, 5.56, 5.52, 5.54, 5.47