Our bud, Nancy, used to have a virtual race for us bloggie peeps every once in a while. I participated in the first couple, but then my training kind of got in the way of the last few. When I found out that JogAmerica was putting on a virtual 5K in honor of Nancy, how could I resist? I recently purchased a metronome to help me with my cadence, and I wanted to refine the calibration of my Garmin Forerunner 50 foot pod. In essence, I wanted to kill three birds with one stone.
My youngest son, Matthew, had a soccer tournament this weekend. At first he was scheduled for games at 8 AM and 3 PM. I thought I would get my run in between games. They ended up changing his schedule to 8 and 11:30, which was even better. I spent my morning at the soccer fields with Matthew. He won his first game and lost his second.
I made sure Matthew was fed and got him home safe. He went upstairs to take a nap. I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to do the deed. I got dressed and headed up the road to the Woodstock High School. I had used their track several times for self tests and one referee fitness test. I hadn't been there in a while. I was disappointed to see they had put up a fence around the track, and it was no longer accessible to the public. No worries, I thought. I would just go down the street to the county high school. When I got there, they too had a fence around their field. I was just not going to get my run in this day on a track.
Feeling severely disappointed, I headed over to the old stand by, Hobgood Park. The track there isn't quite half a mile in length, and it has a few pitch and rolls in it. I took off around the track at an easy pace. I wanted to get a warm up in and also log more than three miles for the day. It was about 55 degrees out and very comfortable. After my warm up, I took a walking break for a few minutes to catch my breath and stretch. I wasn't quite sure how my body was going to react to this. In a couple of minutes, I was ready to go.
Reaching down to my right shoe, I hit the power button on the metronome. The clip on the metronome is very much like the clip on the foot pod, which was on my left shoe. Rather then clip it to my pants, I opted to put it on my shoe. It worked out very well. I adjusted the tempo to 82 to beats a minute. Optimally, I want to get to 90 beats a minute. Past runs have shown my current cadence to be in the 79-81 range. I thought 82 would be a good start. Baby steps, you know.
The metronome started beeping. I hit start on my Forerunner 50 and took off down the track. After a couple of minutes, my HR climbed into the high 160's. Every time the metronome beeped, my left foot struck the ground. I realized almost immediately that keeping this pace would make the workout very difficult. I hung with it for the first mile. My heart rate climbed to 176 and stayed there. This is well into Zone 5 for me, at least by last years standards, and showed that I was a) working hard, and b) needing a new LT test. From a physical perspective, my cardio system was working very hard, but my legs felt very strong.
At the end of the first mile, I opted to turn off the metronome. I figured one mile at 82 cadence was good enough practice for the first day. I slowed down both my cadence and my pace and added another minute to my per mile pace. My heart rate settled into high zone three and stayed there for the rest of my run. My splits were:
1. 9:11
2. 10:01
3: 10:07
.11 1:07 (10:07 pace)
My total time was 30:26. I was pretty amused at this time, but I guess I should not be surprised. P90X does not translate into fast running, and I have lost some of my fitness. It also pointed out to me that this was hard work. I would equate running a fast 5K with any of the cardio or leg exercises of P90X. It is hard work!!
I start my final 3 weeks of P90X Monday, and I'm thinking that I need to go ahead and start mixing in a little running, even if it is slow and steady. In any case, I had a great time, and it made me realize how much I miss running and how much I am looking forward to triathlon training picking back up in the first week of March.
And of course, Nancy, we love you, and can't wait for you to get yoself back to 100%. Our thoughts and hearts are with you :-)
Wes
25 comments:
WoooHooo! You basically ran at my pace. I have a virtual pace buddy. :-)
Nice run! and I know what you mean about P90X and finding time to run/bike. If you do the P90X workouts you really don't have the energy to get in a solid run.
Great job Wes!
You scare me how freakishly similar we are (apart from you swim which is much better)... not only same pace BUT same cadence too! Am also aiming for upping my cadence too.... You should try shortening your stride length as putting up your cadence shouldn't necessarily mean you go anaerobic... if you get what I mean bro'?!
Good job on the FFFK.... can't believe you're staying with the P90bleah. ;o)
Great report Wes! What type of metronome do you have and where did you get it. Is it expensive?
That's a good time IMO considering your focus has been on P90X. :-)
I would be very happy with that time! :>) Great job!!
GREAT JOB WES!! Who cares if you've lost some running fitness (it's easily obtained, right?) You're going to have abs of steel, baby!
great job wes.... I get from this that you like being buff and that you can regain some of that fitness level for running with a little more attention....
in the meantime..you muscles are straining at your clothes....LOL!!!
Question for you - where did you get the metronome??? at ?? is it special one for running? I probably sound like an idiot but I didn't know they made different kinds, other than when it used to torture me at the piano....
Em
Great job Wes on the FFFK!!!!
At the pace you ran it, we could easily run together!!!
Wanna????
Em, you can find the metronome here.
Michelle, anytime :-)
Thanks for joining in the FFFK! Sounds like a good run. It's weird that two local tracks were both fenced in at basically the same time. I suppose when one did it, everyone started using the other, and they fenced in self defense. So to speak.
Great job
Nice job, I found that shortening my stride helps with the faster cadence, mine is averaging midish 80's and on race day for shorter distances I can go early 90's it's counter intuitive and hard but it's fast
What good is having those sculpted abs that make men want to lick the sweat from them if you are going to struggle to run a 5k?
Better get those priorities straight Ironman...
Great job Wes!
You're so sweet. Thanks, Buddy.
I agree with your approach -- If you're a runner, mixing in some running (on cardio days - especially to replace Kenpo) will suit your P90X workout. You should consider Results & Recorvery formula as part of the regimen too.
By the way, you've got such an amazing blog, and a great following, you're inspiring a lot of people. When people buy P90X or another Beachbody product because of you (and they will), I want you to get a share of that revenue.
Email me at beachbodyco at aol.com if you want some info, or go to www.end-the-trend.com
Keep up the inspiration!
Carl Daikeler
CEo - Beachbody.com
I don't know how you managed to run with the metronome beeping. That would've driven me nuts! (Childhood memories of having to use on while practicing the piano!) :)
Nice running - and I'm glad you're planning on mixing it back in. Good luck with your last 3 weeks. Do we get the after photo then? :)
awesome job!!
Welcome back to running my friend. We have missed you while you were getting ripped and "bringing it"
GO WES!!!
Glad to hear that you're going to be running again! That's such fun news!
geez, here I thought you were going to be dragging your piano metronome behind you! LOL
Way to go Wes, isn't it sad that we have come to the point where we have to keep people out of the school zones....
Cool race report! I'm intrigued by the metronome. Great run!
I've never heard of using a metronome like that before... cool!
I do, however, use a similar 'tool'
One of my favorite things in the world is http://www.djsteveboy.com/podrunner.html pod runner. Of course the music isn't to everyone's taste - which is why the metronome is such a cool idea -- but it works for me :)
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