Ultra Running: Trials of the Trail 

Fartlek: Speedplay statred slow finished fast with a couple easy breaks along the way.  New favorite running song: Cyclone

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/27/2007
• Time: 15:00:00
• Total Time: 00:40:00.00
• Distance: 5.1 miles
• Average Pace: 7:50.59/mile

Went to a park to run in the dark. Need to figure out how to run with head lamp.  Conclusion: running in the dark is scary.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/26/2007
• Time: 19:00:00
• Total Time: 00:27:00.00
• Distance: 3.1 miles
• Average Pace: 8:42.5/mile

Ran Mt Si two time

1 hour 4 minutes up 44 mintutes down

1 hour 12 minutes up 44 mintues down

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/24/2007
• Time: 09:30:00
• Total Time: 3:42:44.00
• Distance: 16 miles
• Average Pace: 13:55.27/mile
• Ascent: 8,300 ft
• Descent: 8,300 ft

Kuddos to Lisa for making sure my booty was out the door this morning.  Wow was it wet out there today! We talked a lot about being true to our goals. We both are attempting to fulfill our “Running Dreams” this year and we have committed to keeping each other accountiable! 

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/22/2007
• Time: 08:00:00
• Total Time: 1:09:34.00
• Distance: 8 miles
• Average Pace: 8:41.74/mile

Ran this workout faster than comfortable given my soreness from yesterdays trail run.  It was a good idea as I need to gently work my legs into the notion of running hard while tired and sore. 

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/16/2007
• Time: 10:00:00
• Total Time: 00:52:00.00
• Distance: 6.8 miles
• Average Pace: 7:38.6/mile

Great run on Cougar mountain.  It is very hard to calculate miles covered.  I am estimating, the most important part for me is time on the trail and running hills. Today’s 1 hour and 47 minutes was fun!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/15/2007
• Time: 07:30:00
• Total Time: 1:47:00.00
• Distance: 9.1 miles
• Average Pace: 11:45.88/mile

Did I mention I don’t like to run in the morning?  I’d rather be sleeping or even in my office working, I have never been a morning runner.  I think it goes way back to my high school cross country days, working out at 3:00 in the afternoon was perfect.  To this day I always seem to have the most energy mid afternoon, so this is when I would love to run.  However, there this little priority call earning money for the mortgage!

Nice run today despite the the early hour.  Will need to stretch a bit throughout the day and tonight, right hip flexer funky about 45 minutes into the run. Not to worry just making note of it.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/12/2007
• Time: 05:15:00
• Total Time: 00:57:59.00
• Distance: 7.2 miles
• Average Pace: 8:03.22/mile

For those who inquired:

This is my lay-mans explanation for Lactate threshold.  When you push your body beyond a comfortable pace and are working in the 75-80% max rate the body produces lactate.  This is naturally occurring bi-product of glucose break down or energy usage.

During lower intensity workouts lactate in the blood streams stays relatively equal to rest.  Taking your body into lactate threshold basically means producing more lactate than then body can rid itself of during the exercise period.

Why do we care about this lactate threshold? Because it is part of the physiological matrix that helps indicate performance ability.  It is the com-padre of Vo2Max. 

Increasing the bodies lactate threshold is doable and important for improvement.  An untrained individual will have a lactate threshold of about 50 % of the Vo2 Max, meaning at half your max heart rate your body begins the fatiguing processes.  For an elite runner this happens at about 80 % and can be sustained longer.

So the average runner, if they want to improve must go beyond the comfort zone and feel the fatigue and make a conscious decision to continue running for a few more minutes as the fatigue settles in.  This is why I am a big a proponent of tempo runs and speed-work outs.  To me they are as important as the long slow distance (LSD).

So my lactate threshold workouts include 1/2 mile repeats with recovery in between (but not full recovery).  This can be accomplished on the treadmill or on a track. 

So lets all go out find our lactate threshold and go just a little beyond. 

Had another fun workout on the treadmill. 

1/2 mile warmup    3 miles at tempo pace    1/2mile at lactate threshold 3:24    1/4 mile recovery   1/2 mile at 3:24 cool down

Quick workout that makes me feel good for going to the gym at the end of the workday

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 12/10/2007
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 00:38:00.00
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Pace: 7:36.27/mile