No Rest Today

Daily Quote:

"Many ultra training plans prescribe a training methodology commonly known as the Long Run Sandwich. This is a two or three day period of back-to-back long runs, thought to improve fitness better than just one weekly long run. Benefits of the sandwich include:
Simulate running on tired legs
Simulate metabolic load of longer events
Practice pacing
Get some serious mileage in
Acclimate to conditions
Practice eating/drinking"

--from the blog, Ultramarathon Training

I had planned on taking Saturdays off, but since I had taken a forced day off on Monday to celebrate Memorial Day with the wife decided for a short General Aerobic Run today.

10:00 a.m. 7 miles. Time: 1:08 (Pace, 9:44 minute miles) Out and back on Alta Road. Sunny, 82-84 degrees, Wind NW at 11 mph. Average Heart Rate: 148 bpm. Cardiac Drift: 157 bpm. (Note: my maximum heart rate is 190 bpm) My heart rate is a little high for a General Aerobic Run, probably due to the heat and my not carrying any water today. No aches nor pain, but my feet felt heavy and did make loud slapping sounds on the asphalt, tried to run gentler with shorter strides that helped me run with less pounding.

One of the advantages of driving a cab in Las Vegas is that I sometimes can get free show tickets from a resort as to promote their entertainment...today my wife are attending Wayne Brady's show at the Venetian for FREE!

TGIF!!

Daily Quote:

"The best conditioned athlete is a long distance runner".-

John Thompson of the Georgetown Hoyas

2:15 a.m. (after work) Cross-training: Warm-up, 10 minutes on elliptical. 35 minutes weight circuit training, Cool-down: 10 minutes on upright stationary cycle. Extremely tired, went home and immediately hit the sack.

9:30 a.m. (after six hours of sleep) Recovery Run. 5 miles. Time, 49 minutes (9:48 minute miles) Out and back on Lindell. Sunny, 80 degrees, wind SW at 10 mph. Average Heart Rate: 143 bpm. Cardiac Drift: 150 bpm. I didn't notice too much of my first two miles as I was so tired that I was sleep-running...once I woke up I noticed how beautiful the day.

Researched ultra runs on the Internet and then took an hour nap before work. Discovered that the "Labor of Love 50K Race" next April is only nine miles of trail with the rest of the race being ran on pavement...the trail portion should be easy to prepare in training.

Thank goodness it's Friday, all I need is to survive 12-hours driving a cab in Vegas' notorious traffic and I can start my weekend!!!

Fried Quads Forum Site

Daily Quote:

"We had done this thing we had set out to do, and instead of becoming
larger because of the experience, we became smaller, more humble more
aware of how little we know: about the world in general, about ourselves specifically."

- Richard Benyo in "The Death Valley 300."

I have joined the "Fried Quads Forum Site" as to learn more about ultra running. Ultra-marathons are considered a fringe sport even to those who run marathons, therefore, can't find too much material on training for my first ultra race. I hope that my haunting the "Fried Quads" site I'll gleam as much as I can on training and racing ultra-marathons, indeed, I'll be asking many questions at that forum site as I prepare for my new adventure...running an ultra-marathon race, which will be the "2009 Labor of Love 50k" next April 25th!

Awoke late for today's run, the temperature was already in the mid 90's, hence I ran on the gym's treadmill. I need to get to bed earlier rather than playing speed chess on the Internet until the early morning hours!!!

11:45 a.m. General Aerobic Run. Life Fitness Treadmill set on a 1% grade. 8 miles. Time, 1:14. Ran all eight miles at 6.5 mph, which is a 9:14 minute per mile pace. Average Heart Rate: 149 bpm. Cardiac Drift: 155 bpm. (Note: my maximum heart rate is 190 bpm.) Won't be too long before all my runs will be on the treadmill due to Vegas hot summer months. During my run I listened to "Phil Collins Greatest Hits" CD on my Sony Sports CD Player that helped relieve some of the boredom of the dreadmill. Someday I should purchase a MP3 or IPOD, but for now my CD player works fine.

Relaxing 5-Miler

Daily Quote:

"training to run 100 miles is like training to get hit by a truck"

- luis Escobar


Today is a Recovery Run.

9:45 a.m. 5 mies. Time, 48 minutes. Overall Pace, 9:36 minute miles. Out and back on Alta Road. Partly Cloudy, 73 degrees, Winds South at 15 mph. Average Heart Rate: 138 bpm. Cardiac Drift: 145 bpm. (Note: my maximum heart rate is 190 bpm) Nice relaxing recovery run as I escaped from the stresses of life. I recovered well from yesterday's 11-miler and felt no aches nor soreness this morning; my morning heart rate was a low 40 bpm. Life is good.

Thankfully Holiday is Over!

Daily Quote: "do or do not, there is no try" - yoda

I'm now back on schedule! My wife had Memorial Day off and didn't run yesterday as to spend more quality time with her. Celebrated the holiday by purchasing the movie, "Apocalypse Now," to watch before I left for work (Yup, it seems I work EVERY holiday). Surprisingly, my wife had never seen the movie!! The DVD has both versions, the original 1979 version and the newer, "Apocalypse Now Redux" 2001 version. It was weird seeing the much younger actors of Martin Sheen, Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall, Scott Glenn, Dennis Hopper, and an almost unrecognizable skinny Laurence Fishburne! Wife enjoyed the movie.

Today is my first medium-long run since training for the Boston Marathon this year.

9:30 a.m. 11 miles. Time, 1:39 Overall Pace, 9:02 minute miles. Out and back on Torrey Pines Road that partially traverses the "Zappos Las Vegas Marathon" route. Partly Cloudy, 68-72 degrees, Humidity 26%, Wind ENE at 5 mph. Average heart rate: 147 bpm. Cardiac Drift: 163 bpm. Started very slowly for the first two miles and then gradually picked up steam, by the end of my run I was running around 8:40 minute miles. I didn't plan on running that fast, I just felt the need for speed. Felt good to run hard after a lazy three days of barely training, nevertheless afterwards I gently chastized myself for pushing too hard during a medium-long run when I'm building a base...Mixing speed and adding distance at the same time is a good way to overtrain, or worse, get an injury.

Added Sixth Day of Running

Daily Quote: "eat, eat, eat, eat, drink, drink, drink, drink, pee, pee, pee, pee, run, run, run, run"

- simon mtuy, tanzanian ultra runner

Today added a sixth day of running, eventuallly I'll be running seven days a week.

9:45 a.m. Recovery Run. 5 miles. Pace, 10:00 minute miles. Out and back to Lindell Road. Partly Cloudy, 66 degrees, Humidity, 26%!! Wind variable at 3 mph. Average heart rate: 140 bpm. Cardiac Drift: 144 bpm. Slow and easy, a very enjoyable run as I became lost in my rambling thoughts.

Busy Friday Workouts

Daily Quote: "

i'm afraid that some times you'll play lonely games too. Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you. All alone! Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you'll be quite a lot"

- Dr. Seuss from "Oh the places you'll go"

Today is Friday and I'll cram in my workouts as tomorrow I plan on a forced rest day as to spend quality time with the wife.

2:15 A.M. Immediately after working my 12-hour shift as a Checker Cab Driver I hit the gym. Warm-up: 10 minutes on upright stationary cycle. Weight circuit training: 30 minutes. Cool-down: 10 minutes on elliptical trainer.

11:15 A.M. Awoke later than usual and skipped breakfast as to do a short easy recovery run before work. Five miles out and back on Alta Road. Cloudy, 64 degrees, Wind SW at 12 mph. I made it home barely before it started raining!! Overall pace: 9:58 minute miles. Average heart rate: 140 bpm. Cardiac Drift 146 bpm. (Note: maximum heart rate is 190 bpm) Weird week, sunny and 108+ temperatures early in the week, today it's cloudy with RAIN!! It's so rare to run in the rain in Vegas that I was like a child jumping for puddles.