:cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
Go get 'em, Ken! |
Enjoy the race with you family and friends Ken
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Thanks everybody. We've got a house full of young people again. I just got back from the store buying more carbs in one purchase than I normally do in a year. Let them carb up. Not my thing.
It's looking like rain in the AM. 65 degrees or so. I'm ready to go. |
Have a great race Ken.
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The good news... My best 10K time so far and nearly 3 minutes faster than last year. More good news (sort of)… I crossed the finish line 45 seconds ahead of Kelsey even though she beat her previous best by 7 minutes. The bad news... I didn't come anywhere near my goal time. It was too warm again this year -- but I'm sure that my weight was the biggest issue. My legs were fresh. I had plenty of energy. I ran a consistent pace. But my fastest sustainable pace had me huffing and puffing in the red zone heart rate. To go faster I need to carry less weight. As I said in an earlier post - losing weight is my primary goal for next year.
Kelsey ran away from me at the start. I was sure that we wouldn't meet up again until past the finish line. Much to my surprise I caught up and passed her after the 5 mile mark. By that point she was exhausted, overheating and thirsty. She stopped for a drink at the last water station and I did not. I faded into the crowd of runners; she never caught up. Kel wants to sign up for next year. She was pleased with her 7 minute improvement. So was I. I only improved 11 seconds over my previous best time. So in 2020 Kelsey gets one more shot at beating dad in a 10K. After that she is graduated from college and will likely move far, far away. We both plan to keep up with the cardio until next time. My official time 10K was 66 minutes 47 seconds -- 11 seconds faster than my 2017 time. My Garmin fitness tracker had me running 6.2 miles in 66 minutes 13 seconds. Here is what my Garmin says I did for splits: Mile 1 pace: 10:00 min/mile Mile 2 pace: 10:44 min/mile Mile 3 pace: 11:11 min/mile Mile 4 pace: 10:34 min/mile Mile 5 pace: 10:50 min/mile Mile 6 pace: 10:52 min/mile Last .2 mile pace: 9:52 min/mile Total time: 66:13 Overall average pace: 10:40 It was raining hard when we woke up. It rained hard as we traveled down to Richmond. It was raining when we got off the commuter bus near the starting line. It stopped raining as we walked to the starting gate and didn't rain at all during the race. It was 65 degrees and humid. By mile 3 I really wanted it to rain. I got off to a fast start, then did some overheating on the uphill climb in miles 2 & 3. Mile 4 was after the turn -- a nice mild downhill run. At miles 5 and 6 I was too warm again. I don't think that I'll ever do a summertime 10K. I just don't do heat very well. All-in-all it was a good day and a good race. Kel was really into making sure that we crossed the starting line at exactly the same time. She was planning to take me down. I feel a little bad that she didn't do it. She was really in shape, but I don't think that she does heat very well either. I'll hope for cooler weather next year. I want another race - fair and square. But I want Kel to win. Courtney's BF finished in 59 minutes 30 seconds. He didn't train for this at all. He had not done any running in over a year. Yep - that young dude is in good shape. Courtney and Kel's BF finished up at the same time -- 1 hour and 40 minutes after the start. They did some jogging -- but running is not their thing. They mostly just walked along and enjoyed the festivities. Everyone had a good time. I posted a few race photos HERE on my Facebook page. UPDATE: PLACEMENT STATS I finished in 8,267th place out of 20,159 finishers (Top 41%) I finished 331st out of 670 men in my age group (Top 50%!) I finished 4,705th out of 8,290 for all men There were 26,000 people signed up for the race. I guess that the rain and/or the heat played a roll in all those no-shows. They run the event rain or shine -- no refunds. |
Well done, Ken! Aw, ya, humidity is high after a rain in warmish weather down there... that's difficult for anybody. But you guys did well - I was thinking about the race today :)
-Kat |
Excellent recap and fun read. Thanks Ken!
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Getting back to low zone cardio training (MAF)
Last night I resumed doing the MAF (low zone cardio) training that I started after last year's 10K. The goal with MAF is to keep your heart rate within your MAF zone, which is a calculation based on your age, maximum heart rate, and general health. Last year my MAF zone was 121 to 131 beats per minute. When I first started this it was almost impossible for me to keep my HR in this zone unless I mixed snails pace jogging with walking or worked out on some piece of exercise equipment. As my fitness improved I was able to maintain a slow jog and stay in the zone. I stuck with this MAF training for 7 months two or three times per week. It certainly improved my level of fitness even though I had some weight creep going on over that time.
As I considered restarting the MAF workouts I refreshed my memory about how my proper MAF zone is calculated. The max HR should be 180 - age + 5 if generally fit and active. It occurred to me that the "180" is an offset of the maximum heart rate -- which can vary for each individual. Based on the standard calculation (220 - age) my maximum heart rate should be 165. But I've been using a heart rate monitor all year during my workouts and know that my maximum heart rate is actually somewhere between 175 and 180. I don't know how normal this is, but my ticker seems to tick a little faster than it should for someone my age. So... what's this all about. I've decided to up my MAF zone by about 10 BPM to take into account that my max heart rate is a little higher than average. I'll shoot to keep my HR between 130 and 140 during my MAF workouts in the coming months. Last night I was able to maintain a nice, slow & steady indoor jog and remained locked in my new MAF zone for 3.1 miles. For that 5K my HR averaged 134 BPM. I was not winded at all and barely broke a sweat. it was easy peasy and quite enjoyable. I'll try to do this 2 or 3 times per week throughout the summer - mixing in longer and shorter workouts. So that's the new workout plan. I'll be moving a little faster than last year and hopefully I'll reap more benefit from it. Last nights workout... Distance: 3.1 miles Average HR: 134 Pace: 13:33 Time: 42:00 P.S. I should be working in some upper body resistance training as well. So far I have not found the motivation to make that happen. We'll see. I'll keep on nagging myself and one day I just might get it done. |
I had a busy 3 day weekend over the Easter holiday. I got some workouts in.
Friday: 5K indoor MAF jog at the Y - HR 136 - Time 42:48 Saturday: 5 mile morning walk and then yard work - including taking down some fencing and pulling a fence post. It was tough work. Sunday: 5K outdoor MAF jog at the school track - HR 140 - Time 40:19, plus 2 miles walking and 10 miles bicycling (5 miles to and from the track). I hadn't gotten on the bicycle for a few months. I expected it to be tough and that I'd be feeling it this morning. But other than a slightly sore butt I was totally fine with it. All this jogging kept me bicycling fit too. I really enjoyed Sunday's 2 hour 20 minute workout. |
I had another busy week at work - late hours eating into my workout time in the evening. I managed to get to the Y on Tuesday, then not again until Saturday.
Tuesday: 2 mile indoor MAF jog at the Y - HR 132 - Time 30:07 Saturday: 5K indoor MAF jog at the Y - HR 139 - Time 40:12 |
Repost from the Walking Challenge thread. Here's what I did in April...
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I've been doing the MAF thing (low zone cardio) since last months 10K. I'm happy that I can do a slow jog and keep my heartrate consistently low. Last year I had to alternate walking and jogging to stay in my MAF zone. But this week Kel came back from college. With my jogging partner home I feel compelled to run a little harder. The MAF thing is so easy that it gets a little boring. The last two runs I've tossed the MAF workout aside and run with a little more pace.
Tuesday's 5K at the Y: Mile 1 pace: 12:25 min/mile Mile 2 pace: 11:34 min/mile Mile 3 pace: 11:03 min/mile .1 mile "sprint" to the finish: 7:32 min/mile Total time: 35:48 Avg HR: 146 Overall average pace: 11:33 Today's 2.5 mile outdoor run at the school track: Mile 1 pace: 11:09 min/mile Mile 2 pace: 11:57 min/mile .5 mile jog to the finish: 11:59 min/mile Total time: 29:09 Avg HR: 164 Overall average pace: 11:38 |
While the MAF thing makes the workout easy, sometime I just feel like running. That's what I did yesterday.
Tuesday's 5K at the Y: Mile 1 pace: 11:57 min/mile Mile 2 pace: 11:51 min/mile Mile 3 pace: 11:25 min/mile .1 mile "sprint" to the finish: 5:39 min/mile Total time: 35:48 Avg HR: 156 Overall average pace: 11:31 This 5K was the same time as the 5K run last Tuesday. HR was 10 BPM higher. I'm not sure why. I enjoyed the run, though. I felt great afterwards. |
I've been too busy to post, but not too busy to exercise. Here is a summary of what I did in May
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This month is off to a good start. Besides keeping my 10K steps streak alive (currently at 423 consecutive days), I've gotten in 8 cardio workouts in the first 12 days of June. It's all been jogging or bicycling - 30 minutes (min) and occasionally up to an hour. When I first started cardio back in 2016 I weighed a little less than I do now, but needed two recovery days between workouts. Now I can easily do two days on, one day off. Slowly but surely I just continue to make progress with my fitness. It feels like I'm getting younger, not older.
Kel is back from college and her 2 week trip to France & Italy with her sister. I have a workout buddy again :). Last night Kel and I did some resistance training after our jog. It's been a while since I've done the weights. The arms are kind of wimpy again. I need to get back into it. The family is planning a trip to the west coast in a few weeks. The plan includes two hiking trips with my daughters in tow - one around Crater Lake (Oregon) and the other at Mt. St. Helens (Washington). I'm ready. I'm looking forward to it. |
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