The Human Race

On August 31, 2008 at 08:31:08pm the Human Race began at the Los Angeles Coliseum. This wasn't done by divine intervention but by a shoe company - Nike.

A friend in Israel told me about this event, runners from all over the world would be participating in this, the largest 10k race in history. It was scheduled to be run on the same day in several major cities and if you couldn't get to a major city you could run on your own and post your results. It would be a way to join my friend in a race even though we live half a world away from each other.

After I signed up my wife thought that we should do more activities together so she decided to join me. We planed to walk together and although we didn't do any training before the event, we went with the Nike motto: Just do it.

We did it and lots of other people also walked it, though many of those were probably pooped out runners. We were happy just to be out there and complete the course. I'm so proud of Rosie for being such a good sport.

What really mattered here was doing something that is within our capability and have fun so we'd want to do it again. When I ran the L.A. Marathon in 1993 it took me 13 years before I forgot about the pain and to try it again. For most people running a marathon takes to much of a time, mental and physical commitiment. However, there usually lots of 5k and 10k "fun runs" that welcome walkers. Of course you've got to be in shape and the best way to prepare is to get at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, like walking or biking, three or more times per week.

I know this sounds entirely unscientific and it won't put you on the winner's podium, but believe me you'll feel great and who knows, maybe your cholesterol level will fall and you'll drop a few pounds too.

Barefoot Running Post on ChiRunning

I don't usually post on discussing boards these days but a very active thread on barefoot running on the ChiRunning site caught my attention and I responded. However, there seems to be a problem with their software and I can't submit my post--no use letting the effort go to waste:

Update--I was able to post this after several emails with the site manager.

Barefoot Running... Injuries?

I just got my ChiRunning/ChiWalking email newsletter and found this "Hot Bulletin Board Topic" listed. Although I don't consider myself a barefoot runner (yet) maybe some of my experiences can shed some light on this topic.

I was never much of an athlete but just before I turned 40 I got the urge to run a marathon--call it mid-life crises. I trained with a run-walk Jeff Galloway certified group and made it through all the pain and suffering of trying out several expensive running shoes guided by the "experts" at a local high-end running store until finding something that worked for me. Somehow I made it through a run-walk-run-walk-walk-walk-walk-OK, run that last 0.2 mile.

I didn't consider doing another marathon for 13 years then that familiar urge came back a couple of years ago. This time I started my training knowing what to expect--lots of pain until I got the right shoe combination again. Only this time I couldn't get rid of the knee pain. It eventually landed me inside an MRI machine with an orthopedic surgeon telling me to cut way back on my running or I'll be looking at knee replacement surgery within a year. My father and sister both had terrible knee problems so I blamed genetics for cutting short my dreams of ever running another marathon. However, I found out that the race that I was planning to do (Los Angeles Marathon) had racewalking and wheelchair divisions--I chose racewalking. For those of you that aren't familiar with racewalking, it is a very technical sport so I took classes. Whoa, what an awakening, I had terrible walking form. It took me months of training but eventually I got it right. Oh, I did have some knee problems that were "fixed" with some custom orthodics but as my form improved I was able to ween myself off of them.

So--what does all this have to do with barefoot running? Hang in there.

Once it sunk in that I needed to learn how to walk--I started researching how to run and discovered, among other things--ChiRunning. About that time I was needing less and less help from my shoes for racewalking until I was using the most minimal racing flats. If these were the best walking shoes, could they also be the best running shoes? The answer, at least for me, was a resounding yes. The less cushioning, motion control, support and especially springy heel on the shoe, the better.

Of course the next step would be to take off the shoes. After a lifetime of never going beyond two steps out of the shower barefooted, I gave it a shot. It was like learning how to run all over again, only this time my feet demanded proper running form from me.

Like I said, I'm not a barefooted runner, but I'm finding that mixing in some barefoot runs every now and then helps reinforce good form. It also helps strengthen the ankles and foot muscles.

There are lots of reasons to try barefoot running and one not to--the fear of cutting open your soles. A little prudence helps a lot when running barefoot. The worse I suffered were some blisters the first time I ran on asphalt. Then again I had much worse blisters when breaking in new shoes. Oh yeah--and my knees don't need replacements.

First 10K Run

I did it, I ran my first 10K. I had a couple of goals in mind when I set off to do this, run the whole way without taking a walking break and keep up a 7 minute/kilometer pace which would put me in at 01:10:00. Seems reasonable?



First of all, my training runs for this week. I did 2K runs around my hilly Jerusalem loop on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all of them at 7 min/k and it felt like a comfortable pace. Thursday I took off because I was feeling a bit of a sore throat coming on Friday I didn't want to do a workout the day before the race.

On Friday I went to pick up my race packet at the Ein Gedi Kibbutz. The week before the people at the resort blew me off when I wanted to go to the sports center. According to their website:

A sportsman's paradise - the Olympic sports center
Low precipitation, a comfortable climate almost all year round, a high oxygen content in the air, the sulfur springs, the concentration of minerals in the sea water, breathtaking scenery, the special atmosphere - in short, ideal conditions for fostering the good health and physical and mental abilities required for competitive sport.

In the very heart of this natural sports 'incubator', a sports center has been built at Ein Gedi offering visitors a wide variety of facilities, of the highest professional standard. These include: a gym, running track, football field, modern sports hall, tennis courts, swimming pools - one open, the other a semi-Olympic, covered and heated pool. Coaches interested in combining health and happiness are invited to bring their teams to Ein Gedi any time of the year.

Wow, I had to check this out. Well, here's their football field and running track:



The track is around the football field of course. I guess they bring out the astro turf for games. To be fair, the pool was very good but I haven't a clue what you need to do to gain access to the facilities.

Anyway, here's how it went, the official results:



01:10:24--Just missed my goal. So, did I run the whole way? Well, almost. Right aroung kilometer 7 there was an uphill with the wind behind me and it was getting damn hot! I walked maybe 300 meters which was just enough for some racewalkers to pass me--some really old racewalkers at that. I never caught up with them. Whoa, I was thinking about entering the racewalking category but was wondering if there was any competition, that would have been tough, especially after not practicing my technique in over 6-months.

The Polar readout tells the complete story. Click on it to see it in full glory. Notice that the foot pod is finally working. The guy at the Polar booth didn't bring any batteries so he opened a box, took out the battery and gave it to me. Thanks!



Here are some other photos of the event.



The racewalking DQ list--note the creative spelling.



I thought I'd take a photo of the Half-Marathon winner but there was such a crowd and as expected, an African won it. The winning Half-Marathon time was faster than my 10K time. I did get a good shot--of one of the last to finish.




A free massage was included, though I had to wait over two hours for my turn--it was worth it!




And of course the obligatory shot of the medal, two sided in this case.

Lightning and Thunder and Rain... and Running

I decided that this morning I would start training for the Jerusalem half-marathon. I laid out all my gear, except for the Polar watch that I sent back to the states with Rosie because it wasn't reading the heart rate monitor. I woke up before the alarm went off because of the lightning and thunder. Humm--can't let that stop me, so I got suited up. Then the rain started--can't let that stop me either, put on a waterproof wind breaker.

The route I took was a short loop by the Jerusalem Theater and the president's residence. I started the stopwatch shortly after leaving the apartment and the total workout was about 10 minutes. I used my simple Polar B1 heart rate monitor and it looks like I went from 140 bpm to 165 bpm. Not much of a workout, but I did manage to get started--and I ran it all the way!

Now why would I start running if I hurt myself several times in the past? Well, after reading the books on Chi Running and the Pose Method I found out that it was my technique that was hurting me. Of course 10 minutes of running won't hurt me, but how about over two hours on a half-marathon? Stay tuned.

Finally--it will be interesting blogging from the other side of the globe. Note that the time posted is in West Hollywood, 10 hours later than Jerusalem time.

The Journey Continues

It has been almost six months since my last post but I haven't forgotten that I've got this blog. Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm working in Jerusalem on an animated feature film. There have been ups and downs on this job but overall I'm quite happy that I made the decision to take it. My wife Rosie came with me for a couple of months when I started and she returned recently for another month long visit. Next month, in January, I'll be making my first trip home since I started. It will be just a quick two-week visit mostly for some personal appointments then it will be back to Israel for another stretch until Rosie comes to visit me in the Spring.

So, what's the purpose of this post? Just to get back into it I guess. My servers are running in the garage back home in West Hollywood and I'm on the other side of the globe trying to manage. It hasn't been easy, the "High-Availability" pair of servers went down and I had to switch over to the workstation that I use to experiment around with various open source programs. When the last of the "High-Availability" servers died it wasn't too hard to switch over, though I do owe debt of gratitude to my friend Tim Serda for helping out with the technical glitches over these last several months. Fortunately, I'm using the current system to back up all my other computers so there wasn't much lost data during the switch--even my blog ended up intact!

Now that things are settling down at work and I don't have all the day-to-day distractions that I had at home, it is time to start doing some of the things I always wanted to do. I'd like to learn how to play the guitar, but my instruments are at home, darn. I'd also like to take some more photos, draw and write. Of course I'd also like to do a little bit of computer software programming too. So what's first? How about another race--yippee!

http://hmarathon.jerusalem.muni.il/



Will I be racewalking or running? I'm not sure yet, but whatever I do, I'd better start training soon, it has been too long since I've trained for a race.

Last Racewalking Post for a while

My last race was on June 9th and I've been so busy at work that I haven't finished posting the results.

The race was Southern California Masters Track & Field Championships held at California State University at Long Beach. There was only racewalking event, a 5K, and 5 entries but one was a no show. I came in second overall, but one guy was disqualified and the other one was 21 years my senior. Pedro Santoni won the race and my age group, now that he's 50 it will be nearly impossible to win races. Here's Pedro and me after the race.


Oh well, I'll be moving to Israel for the next two years for a job at The Animation Lab so I don't think I'll be entering any club races in a while!

Here are the results:

M45 5000 Meter Race Walk
================================================================================
Name                     Age Team                    Seed     Finals  Points
================================================================================
-- Kurtzman, James         M45 So Cal Track                         DQ
================================================================================
1 Santoni, Pedro           M50 Southern Cal        27:04.00   26:41.77
2 Fort, Daniel             M52 unattached /        32:35.00   32:38.36
================================================================================
1 Rolle, Arvid             M73 Easy Strider        36:25.00   36:26.02

I didn't get close to doing it under 30 minutes, though I gave it a good effort as the Polar software chart shows:



Although I was feeling pretty good, I wasn't completely recovered from the marathon I did earlier in the week. Oh well, at least I got in a few races before the craziness of finishing one job and starting the next--I haven't been able to work out since this race. All of my energy is going into my next adventure, two years in Jerusalem working on the first animated feature to be done in Israel--The Wild Bunch.

One step at a time

First picture around the 1/2 marathon mark, second photo at the finish--ugh! Chip time was a little better, 5:37:01. It was a personal record, but way off of what I was hoping for.



The moment I crossed the finish line at the San Diego Rock 'N' Roll Marathon I was already thinking about the next race, a 5K in Long Beach. Will I have enough time to recover and get my speed back up? I took Monday off, did a "recovery" 5K on Tuesday and another 5K on Wednesday for training. Here's how it went:

Tuesday - 40:41
HR 133bpm Pace 8:11 min/km (13:10 min/mi)

Wednesday - 40:31 (4.9 km)
HR 148bpm Pace 8:13 min/km (13:11 min/mi)

Yikes--what happened? It turned out that this time the Polar RS800sd sent me much further than what I had marked as 5K in my neighborhood course. These past few weeks it was measuring much less and that was giving me false hope of doing a 30 min 5K and 1-hour 10K.

Although I was hoping to do a 10K workout on Thursday, my job had other plans for me and I wasn't able to get a workout in on Thursday or Friday. Next walk will be on the track at Long Beach.

Alone in a Crowd

So I was crazy enough to do it. I did the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon on Sunday. The week leading up to it was very stressful at work. We worked so much overtime that I had no time to work out, zip, nada. I was hoping to do it around 5 hours but I was willing to settle for a 12 minute/mile pace which was my original goal. However, that was not to be, not this time at least.

Bib   FName  LName City           State  Age  Sex ChipTime ClockTime Overall SexPl DivPl AgeGrade pace  ttlrace ttldiv ttlsex 10k      half     21_mi
16941 Daniel Fort  West Hollywood CA     52   M   5:37:01  5:47:11   11806   6492  491   42.1%    12:52 15958   611    7729   1:12:52  2:37:45  4:21:52

The splits show how badly I fell off my pace:

10K     = 11:56 min/mile
Half    = 12:02 min/mile
21 mi   = 12:28 min/mile
26.1 mi = 12:52 min/mile

Even though I carefully calibrated the Polar RS800sd, it was once again way off showing 44.5 kilometers when it should have recorded 42.26 kilometers.

Data                  Value  Unit
Duration              5:37:00
Sampling Rate         5      s
Running Index         41
Energy Expenditure    3847   kcal
Number of Heart Beats 53933  beats
Recovery              -39    beats
Minimum Heart Rate    123    bpm
Average Heart Rate    160    bpm
Maximum Heart Rate    172    bpm
Standard Deviation    5.8    bpm
Minimum Pace          15:47  min/km
Average Pace           7:35  min/km
Maximum Pace           4:22  min/km
Distance              44.5   km
Minimum Cadence       49     rpm
Average Cadence       72     rpm
Maximum Cadence       90     rpm

However, it does show graphically that the biggest change happened in the last quarter of the race.



Oh well--here is another nice metal to add to my collection.



I'm a bit tired, somewhat disappointed, but already thinking of the next race--a 5K racewalk at:

SCA MASTERS TRACK & FIELD
CHAMPIONSHIPS

SAT: JUNE 9, 2007
CSU Long Beach

What's Next?

It is official, I'll be going to Jerusalem to work on an animated feature film for the next two years. So what's the next, and last race that I'll be doing at home for a long time? Maybe the San Diego marathon or a local 5K next weekend, I haven't made up my mind yet.

In any case, I did calibrate my running watch at the track on Saturday and met with some racewalking buddies on Sunday at the Valley Greek Festival. John Magnussen was there and he told me that the results and photos from the Palos Verdes Half-Marathon were up. I found us on page 17 and ordered a couple of shots.

.                                                                     Page 17
.              The 41ST ANNUAL KIWANIS PALOS VERDES
.
.     HALF MARATHON    RESULTS HALF MARATHON    HALF MARATHON
.                  Official results by PRIME TIME
.              SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2007 SAN PEDRO, CA.
PLACE DIV NO.   NAME                AG S DIV   T TOWN         TIME    PACE
===== === ===== =================== == = ===== = ============ ======= =====
. 818  48  1870 Daniel Fort         52 M M5054   West Hollywo 2:30:56 11:32
. 819  49  2227 John Magnussen      54 M M5054   Winnetka     2:31:00 11:32

If I can keep up that pace over a full marathon and with a few less hills, maybe I can do a 5-hour marathon. Seems like a challenge. In any case, if I don't do all my workouts this week I can say that I'm tapering!

Here are some more photos with John.

Way out of Calibration

This morning I did an easy 15 kilometer walk. This sort of makes up for Wednesday when I did such an easy 5k with Rosie that I didn't didn't bother turning on the running computer and yesterday when I skipped the morning workout because I had an early eye doctor appointment.

The stats look great:

Data                  Value   Unit
Duration              1:40:00
Sampling Rate         5       s
Running Index         60

Energy Expenditure    976     kcal
Number of Heart Beats 14512   beats
Recovery              -15     beats
Minimum Heart Rate    95      bpm
Average Heart Rate    145     bpm
Maximum Heart Rate    159     bpm
Standard Deviation    9.1     bpm

Minimum Pace         17:08    min/km
Average Pace          5:52    min/km
Maximum Pace          4:20    min/km
Distance              17.0    km

Minimum Cadence       53      rpm
Average Cadence       73      rpm
Maximum Cadence       86      rpm

But--I walked my usual 15k route and it ended up measuring 17k. It is also averaging in my warm up and cool down but still coming up with a pace of under 6 minutes per kilometer. I wish this is true, but it has got to be way off. Tomorrow I'm going to the Cal Tech track and that will be my chance to calibrate the foot pod.

Oops--left the watch running in my back pack

This one got a good laugh at work:



Somehow I didn't turn off the watch after completing this morning's 10k walk. Of course there was no cadence, stride, heart rate measurements but it did record me driving over the Hollywood hills and into Glendale to work.

It was a good workout, 10 kilometers in 59:18 and kept going faster every kilometer.

Lap      Time         Lap Time     Speed   Avg of Lap    Avg from Start    Dist     Dist from Start
1. A     0:06:50.7    0:06:50.7    5:36    7:29          7:29              0.935    0.935
2. A     0:12:40.2    0:05:49.5    6:40    5:56          6:41              0.997    1.931
3. A     0:18:28.8    0:05:48.6    6:40    5:46          6:22              1.011    2.942
4. A     0:24:40.2    0:06:11.4    6:15    6:18          6:21              1.005    3.948
5. A     0:30:29.8    0:05:49.6    4:50    5:43          6:13              1.019    4.966
6. A     0:36:26.4    0:05:56.6    6:44    5:58          6:10              1.020    5.986
7. A     0:42:20.9    0:05:54.5    4:28    5:58          6:09              1.004    6.990
8. A     0:48:10.4    0:05:49.5    5:33    5:56          6:07              0.997    7.987
9. A     0:53:45.0    0:05:34.6    4:52    5:37          6:04              1.008    8.995
10. A    0:59:18.9    0:05:33.9    5:21    5:24          6:00              1.033    10.028

Easy Five

I just took an easy 5k walk this morning. Average heart rate was 124bpm and the time to complete 5k, including warm up, was 36:06. That's 7:13 min/km or 11:36 min/mile. I also kept it running during cool down and the heart rate recovery seemed pretty good. After the walk I did a full session of strength training and stretching.

However, I can't say I'm trusting the distance readings after the Palos Verde half-marathon. I got a reading of 23.4 km but this was a USATF certified course and the half-marathon distance should be 21.097494 kilometers. That's over a mile off!

Darn, I thought I was really picking up some speed while all the time the Polar RS800sd was miscalibrated. How can this be? A kilometer checked out fine on the Cal Tech track and it was actually measuring the 200 meters on the short side instead of adding distance like on the half-marathon.

Guess the foot pod is nice for cadence and stride length but it isn't accurate for long distances. I'll try to calibrate it when I get back on the track.

Then again they are coming out with a GPS accessory for the RS800. Maybe add another piece of equipment to the tool kit?

Palos Verde Half-Marathon

A group from Southern Cal Walkers and L.A. Roadrunners and L.A. Leggers decided racewalk the Palos Verde half-marathon and it was great fun. I decided not to hang out with the group and socialize so I took off early. By mile 5 John Magnussen caught up with me but he confessed that he ran to catch up. We helped each other and kept trading leads. His goal was 2:35 and I was hoping to do better than 2:30. By the turn around we were at 1:16 so I was close to my pace. The Polar RS800sd seemed to agree with the halfway mark but was off at the finish--probably because of that big downhill where I spent way too much time in the air.

Finishing time? I marked it at 2:31:20 (no chips on this race) but according to John the "official" time was 2:30:51. I'll update this post when the results are posted. However, 13.1 miles or 21.1 kilometers at 2:31 gives me an average pace of 11:31 min/mile or 7:09 min/km, that's almost a 5-hour marathon pace and is still better than the 12 min/mile I was shooting for as my marathon pace a while back. Of course the question is if I can hold that pace for twice as long as today. It was a tough course, just check out this chart.



That hill at mile 2 was too steep to racewalk up or down so we all took "running breaks" to get through it. It was all in fun and there were no judges. We all finished and it was great fun. Afterwards we went to Ports O'Call in San Pedro for a hearty brunch.

What I'll be Doing Tomorrow

May 19, 2007: 41st Annual Palos Verdes Marathon

Start Times:
7:00 am Full Marathon
7:30 am Half Marathon
8:00 am 5K Run and Community Fun Walk.



So tomorrow is the Palos Verde Marathon, 1/2 Marathon and 5K. I'll be doing the 1/2 Marathon with a bunch of local Racewalkers. The course promises to be very scenic.



But with that beauty will be some tough hills:



So I did my speed work, long workouts and hills--tomorrow we'll see how well prepared I am. No guesses on my finishing time because is all depends on the weather, how I'm feeling and just how challenging those hills really are.

Want to Walk with Olympians?

Weighty Decisions

This morning I did strength training and stretching. Earlier in the week I was thinking about scheduling a couple of hill workouts but I don't want to take a chance at injuring my knees and coming down that hill abuses the whole body. Tomorrow will be another strength training day because it seems to help me recover from any lingering muscle or joint ache--though I'm feeling great right now.

I'm not going to do anything different right now because it isn't a good idea to change the routine just before a race, but maybe the weights or the reps should go up. I might be getting stronger because the strength training exercises seem a little too easy.

For Friday I've got planned--nothing! One full day of rest before the half-marathon on Saturday.

Of course try to tell the guys at work that it is a rest day. The schedule is to work overtime through the weekend. Speaking of work, I've been offered a job that will bump me up to supervising editor at a new animation studio--in Israel for the next two years. The stress level is getting high, do I take the offer or stay in my comfy but meaningless job? What is the racewalking community like in Jerusalem?

I'm Not Quite Over The Hill--Or Am I?

This morning I went up the hill on La Cienega Blvd. to Sunset and back down San Vicente. It is the same hill work that I have done before, just over 5 kilometers total distance. I started out slowly to warm up before attacking the big climb. The last 100 meters or so is just too steep to keep the knees straight so I ran it. That got my hear rate up to the "hard intensity" range, about 166 bpm. Other than that, it was an easy walk.

So how did I do? By the end of the 5K mark my average pace from the start was 7:26 min/km, that's 11:57 min/mile. Funny, that was my marathon goal a few months ago. Not bad for someone who was a couch potato just last year.

Here are the altitude recordings, I'm not quite sure what to make of them yet:

Lap   Time        Lap Time   Altitude Avg of Lap  Ascent  Grade % VAM 
1. A  0:08:16.5   0:08:16.5   4        2           0      0.4       0 
2. A  0:15:41.4   0:07:24.9  28       12          24      2.4     194 
3. A  0:23:17.2   0:07:35.8  60       55          38      3.2     300 
4. A  0:30:07.3   0:06:50.1  26       46           0     -3.4       0 
5. A  0:36:52.5   0:06:45.2  -3        9           0     -2.8       0 
6.    0:42:24.9   0:05:32.4  -6       -3           0     -0.5       0 

15 Kilometers at 1:28:30

A while back I set a goal to do 5K under 30 minutes and 10K under an hour. I already achieved that first goal but today I reached the second and one I didn't even think I could do, 15K under 90 minutes. I turned off auto lap counting on Saturday and took Sunday off so I forgot to turn it back on, but here are my 5K splits:

5K  -   30:20    6:04 min/km    9:46 min/mile
10K -   59:30    5:57 min/km    9:35 min/mile
15K - 1:28:30    5:54 min/km    9:30 min/mile

I started out slow to warm up and kept going faster throughout the workout. I calculated the cumulative average pace, of course the pace of each 5K split would show an even more dramatic speed up:

1st 5K - 30:20   6:04 min/km    9:46 min/mile
2nd 5K - 29:10   5:50 min/km    9:23 min/mile
3rd 5K - 29:00   5:48 min/km    9:20 min/mile

This will be my last long walk before the 1/2 marathon in Palos Verde on Saturday.

Racewalker Tribute

On Saturday evening Chris Rael hosted a special evening for racewalkers. Here is what the invite said:
 You are invited to a very special evening that will honor the dedication,
hard work, and legacy created by our very own Elaine Ward. Elaine has
been the driving force behind the success of race walking in Southern
California and with the North American Race Walking Foundation she has
created an institution that will ensure its continued success for the
future.

 We will be having a special dinner to raise funds to purchase a
Perpetual Trophy that will be awarded the winner of the race walk at the
Southern California Track & Field Championship meet. The trophy will
officially be called the Elaine Ward Race Walk Cup and will be awarded
each year to that year's champion.

Adding to the prestige of the evening will be the presence of two-time
Olympic 50km Race Walker Philip Dunn, just back from the Pan American
Race Walk Cup, where he finished as the top American and helped the USA
mens team win first place for the team award. Philip will talk about
his trip to Brazil and his experiences as an Olympian.
Philip Dunn going to speak at an event to honor my coach? I was in.

It was a very enjoyable evening and a nice way to relax after a hard workout at the track, and a Saturday at work--yep, we're working overtime to get the movie done in time.

One of the best bits of advice from Philip about training for a 50K is to get used to take fluids every 2 kilometers, even on shorter workouts. Indeed, I seem to do better on the longer walks partially because I'm taking in fluids and even nutrition in the form of gels to keep me going. I'll certainly take his advice on the 15K I've got planned for Monday and start carrying my hydration belt on all future workouts.

At the end of the evening he handed out these cards with his statistics. He said they were a bit "cheesy" but what the heck--here it is. Click on the image to see it in full glory.

200 Meter Repeats

On Friday I just did a lap around the neighborhood with Rosie and Natty (my wife and my dog) so there is nothing training wise to report, though I did wear my fancy heart rate/speed distance monitor so it got recorded.

Saturday was a good hard workout of mostly interval work. Check out those curves on the chart:

There are some 30, 40, 50 intervals then an easy warm up followed by 200 meter repeats. Here's how it went:

1 - 55.8

2 - 56.7

3 - 54.5

4 - 57.7

5 - 54.4

6 - 57.5

Whoopi--all of them under 1 minute each. Just to get an idea of the pace, the fastest time, 54.4, equals 4:32.0 minutes/kilometer or 7:17 minutes/mile.