Need to get faster, FAST!!!

Seems like both my running and my blogging are slacking during the holidays. I did just 2 runs this week and forgot to blog about my runs the week before.

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
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Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:20 (Fairly Accurate)
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Tue (12/9) ~5.5mi ~55min ~10:00 (Did this slow, intentionally)
Thu (12/11) ~4.0mi ~32min ~8:00 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/13) ~10mi ~1:35 ~9:30 (Fairly Accurate)
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Tue (12/16) ~5.5mi ~48min ~8:45 (Fairly Accurate)
Thu (12/18) ~4.5mi ~40min ~8:50 (Fairly accurate, Hill Training in cold)
Sat (12/20) ~9.2mi ~1:27 ~9:30 (Crappiest long run on record, shins hurt from get-go :( )
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Wed (12/24) ~5mi ~45min ~9:00 (Accurate, shins were still hurting)
Sun (12/28) ~9mi ~1:25 ~9:20 (Accuratem with some hills, shins feeling better)
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From the data collected so far, it is seeming like I am going to settle on a 9:30 average on race day (=> 2:05 finish), which would suck. With some luck (and race-day adrenalin) I might just barely squeeze in under 2 hours.... but, then again I could just as well have a bad day and fall past to 2:10 or worse.
Oh, well... only time will tell.

Now at 10

Did a 10miler today. We started from Moonlight Beach in Encinitas and ran to Villa De La Valle and back. It was 55F, this morning and there was a steady cross wind by the coast that made it feel about 5 degrees colder. Perfect training weather!

Here are the stats, updated with this weeks run data:

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:35 (Fairly Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/9) ~5.5mi ~55min ~10:00 (Did this slow, intentionally)
Thu (12/11) ~4.0mi ~32min ~8:00 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~10mi ~1:35 ~9:30 (Fairly Accurate)
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Running towards the half

I just thought this up. Might be a nice idea to do runs that keep going north along the 101 from Del Mar to Carlsbad and increase in mileage, so as to ultimately end in the Carlsbad half route about 3 weekends before the actual Carlsbad half on 1/25:

With that in mind, I mapped out runs that increase in distance from 9mi to 13 and go further north towards the actual carlsbad half course.

(12/6). Del Mar Run (9miler, that we did on 12/6)

(12/13). Swami's Beach 10 miler

(12/20) Moonlight Beach <-> Palomar Airport 11 miler

(12/27) Some random route, since it's the holiday weekend :)

(1/3/09) Half-Before-the-half

Up and Down the Torrey Pines Hill...

Did 9.35 miles this morning. The route was supposed to be from Villa De La Valle to the entrance of the Torrey Pines state park and back, but, when we got to the water fountain at the entrance, some of us were feeling a little too psyched and decided to keep going another 0.75mi, up the treacherous Torrey Pines hill, before we turned around. Felt really good, when we finally turned around to head back (as Sree remarked, "it almost feels like we just started running", while we had been running for 4.5mi at that point).
So anyways, with this, here is my updated running schedule and performance, so far (thanks to Krishna and Prasad for the accurate distances from their Garmin watches):

DAY | DISTANCE | TIME | PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6) ~9.35mi ~1:27 ~9:35 (Fairly Accurate)
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6 Weeks to Carslbad Half '09 (1/25) - My Journey in a journal

Alright, with the signing up all taken care of, it's time to make a plan ('coz a man without a plan ain't a man.... something like that, anyway ;-). So, here goes:

I plan on running 3 times week - Tuesday's, Thursday's and Saturday's.
2 of those (T/S) will be group runs and longer in distance, with the Sat run being the longest, to allow for recovery, if needed. Th will be reserved for Fartleks, that, I hope, will help improve my pace.

RUNNING SCHEDULE:

DAY DISTANCE TIME PACE
==============================================================
Sat (11/22) ~7.5mi ~1:02hrs ~8:30 (Not Accurate)
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Tue (12/2) ~5.5mi ~46min ~8:36 (Not Accurate)
Thu (12/4) ~3.5mi ~27min ~7:70 (Fartleks)
Sat (12/6)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tue
Thu
Sat
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I will continue to fill this in with data as I clock in the miles, each week. (and I hope to make accurate measurements from here on)

So, why the heck am I doing this?
1. I'm selfish: I happen to be one of those weirdos who performs better under pressure than without. So, I think it will help me a great deal if I make things such, that, the pressure is ON! To this end, I plan to create group activities in addition to this journal, so as to pile on the pressure!
2. I'm selfless: I am hoping this will be an interesting experiment, that not only I can benefit from, in future competitions (assuming, I am still running a couple months from now, that is ;-) and also help other runners of various levels use this data. I strongly believe that this might reveal some patterns on the effects that training regimens like fartleks have on runners performance and in the end, also yield some insight on being able to judge/ predict one's race day results from past performance.

So, if you are a runner reading this do tell me what I am doing right and (more importantly) what I am doing abysmally wrong. And, if you are a non-runner, I hope this journal motivates you to put on that pair and sneak out the door in the early hours!

Happy Running!

My First Half

I've never needed too much motivation to go for a run, and so, I never felt compelled to sign up for a formal event to keep me running.... but, lately I feel like I am reaching a point where I would like to take my running to a new level, in terms of distance and competitiveness. I've mostly been a 5mile and under, casual runner so far and after thinking about it for a while I finally decided to sign up for a half marathon and see if that helps me achieve this goal of reaching a new level in my running.

So, yeah, I figured if I was going take the plunge I might as well do it in one of the most popular half marathons around - The CARLSBAD HALF MARATHON. What makes it so special? Well, for starters, it is held in the coastal town of Carlsbad (San Diego), which happens to be 30mi from home for me. The course is beautiful and happens to be along the coast, all along. Since, it is held in January (25th), the weather also promises to be ideal for running (50-65F). It is also supposedly very well managed and coordinated in terms of facilities and resources. With all that, it is little surprise that it has been selling out ahead of time for the last couple years. It is expected to sell out in the next week or so (Dec 10th), so were planning on running it or if reading this post got you motivated to do so, go here , RIGHT NOW and SIGN UP!!