Running 2007

It was a good year for my running. I ran a total of 1683.5 miles. I figured out why I kept getting hurt with shoes that did not have the necessary stability for me. I could run 58 mi/wk by September. I ran 3 mi of speed work at Potts Field about once a week starting in June. I ran the USATF cross country championship in Boulder. I was the 6th fastest 59 year old male in the Bolder Boulder. I ran a 21:28 in the Kickoff Classic 5K for 1st place in my age group. I learned to only increase my mileage by 10% per week.

December Running

I finally realized the reason I got hurt in the Boulder half marathon was because my Nike Structure Triax were worn out. I switched totally to my Nike Equalon but they were worn out and I continued to aggravate both Achilles and ACL's. The last week in November I ran exclusely in my Brooks Axiom. They are not as stable as the Nike's but only have 30-50 miles on them and will do for short distances that I'm going to run in December.

November Runs

My goal in November is to recover from my injured Achilles and run a Thanksgiving 5K. My plan is to run the same miles for two days in a row and then increase the distance by .5 mile. I'll add distance until 4.5 miles then start hard/easy/long.

October Runs

Achilles Injured

I stepped in a hole and strained my right Achilles at the finish of the Boulder half marathon. By one week later it hurt so bad I could not run. I'm not going to run the Denver marathon this Sunday, Oct 14. I'll walk the dog and ice twice a day until my calf loosens up.

Boulder Half Marathon

I ran the Boulder Half Marathon Sept 30, 2007 in 2:05:50. This was an easy pace of 9:36 in preparation for the Denver Marathon in two weeks. In the 55-64 age group I was 29/51. 1332 people finished the race.

October Intervals

5x1Km Target time 4:16

October Plan

I am running the Denver Marathon on Sunday, October 14. My October plan is aimed at tapering for two weeks prior to this marathon. I will not do any long runs and my tempo pace will be my marathon pace, 7:57 min/mi. This marathon pace is from Daniels and would give me a sub 3:30. My Boston Marathon qualifying time is 4:00, 60-64 year old males.
Easy - 8 mi
Tempo - 6 mi @ 7:57 min/mi pace
Intervals - 3 mi 5x1000 @ 4:16 time
Long - none
Races - 10/14 Denver Marathon

Boulder Creek to South Boulder Creek

I ran a 20 mile long run this morning. It was my last long run until the Denver Marathon Oct 14. My time was 3 hr 25 min distance 20.25 miles. View the route here

September Running

Race - CU Kickoff Classic 5K, 19 mi Long - Shadow Canyon, Misc - Buffalo Ranch, 20 mi Long - Boulder Ck/S Boulder Ck

Sept Tempos

Sept tempos: warm-up home to S Boulder Rd TH 3.25 mi, marathon pace (7:57 min/mi) up S Boulder Ck, turn-around and back to 55th and Centennial, cool down to home .5 mi.

Shadow Canyon and Back

Sunday, Sept 9, 2007 I ran from 55th and Centennial up S Boulder Creek to Hwy 93, Big Bluestem, Mesa, S Shadow to the junction with N Shadow. Descent N Shadow, Big Bluestem to Hwy 93, S Boulder Creek to 55th and Centennial. Distance 19 mi, Time 3:35, Elevation 1000 ft. Weather cool, calm and cloudy. Perfect. View the route here

September 800m Intervals

6x800 on Friday at Potts Field

August 07 Running

Misc-Green Mtn Ascent, Races-none, Long-16 mi Mesa Loop.

Kickoff Classic 5K

I ran the Kickoff Classic 5K on Labor Day. Time: 21:28 min, pace:6:55 min/mi, 30/149 all, 27/106 men, 1/14 60-69.

September Training Plan

Easy - 7.5 mi
Tempo - 5.5 mi
Repeats - 6x800
Long - 20 mi, 3:30
Miscellaneous - Bear Mtn
Races - 9/3 5K CU, 9/30 13.1 BBR

Green Mountain

I ran up Green Mountain 8/12/07 on Amphitheater, Saddle Rock and Greenman trails in 54:54. Start Gregory Canyon parking lot 5800 ft, summit 8144 ft, distance 1.87 mi, elevation +2344 ft. Descend on West Ridge, Ranger and Gregory Canyon.

August Tempo Runs

Start at Bobolink to Hwy 36, back to Bobolink and finish at 55th St. Distance 4.85 mi, warm up 1.5 mi, cool down .5 mi.

date time HR pace
8/08 39:45 135 8:12
8/15 38:54 135 8:01
8/22 37:57 140 7:49
8/29 37:36 146 7:45

Mesa Loop 16 mi

I ran the Mesa Loop today. It was 16 miles in about 3 hours. Starting at the junction of Centennial and Bear Canyon Creek to Table Mesa Rd and Broadway. Up Table Mesa, Lehigh, Bear Mountain Dr, Bear Canyon Creek to Mesa. South on Mesa to the North junction of Mesa and Big Bluestem, South Boulder Creek Trailhead, Centennial. Post run weight 146 lbs.

August 400 m Repeats

I run 12 x 400 at Pott's Field once a week. The workout starts with a 1.5 mi warm-up run from my house to Potts. Then I run three one mile groups with a water break in between. The first mile is warm up laps in lane 2, then a water break, then I go for my best time on laps #5-8 in lane 1, then a water break, then I work on form for the last mile in lane 2. Times for lap 5 and the average of laps 5-8 are listed below.
Date Best BHR Avg AHR Avg/AHR
7/31 1:32 152 1:35 157 .0102
8/10 1:32 144 1:39 147 .0112
8/17 1:31 146 1:34 150 .0105
8/31 1:32 136 1:38 137 .0118

Training Changes in August

Beginning in July I have changed my weekly schedule to run Long on Sunday rather than Saturday. The advantage is that I am not wiped out for the whole weekend, only Sunday afternoon when I visit my mother at her nursing home.

New Schedule
Mon - E
Tue - E
Wed - Tempo
Thu - E
Fri - I
Sat - E
Sun - L

August Training Plan

Easy - 7 mi
Tempo - 5 mi
Intervals - 12x400
Long - 18 mi
Week Total Mileage - 59
Races - none
Backpacking - 8/3-6, 8/24-27

July Training Plan

For July easy will be 6.5 mi, tempo 4.1 mi, Potts 12x400 and long 16,17 mi. I am leaving the intervals at 3 mi because I worry any more than that is risking injury. My plan is increase easy .25 mi/mo, tempo .5 mi/mo and long 15 min/run.

Backpacking Season Training Plan

I have set up a two week training plan for backpacking season. There are 10 days I can run. Tu - easy, W - Tempo, Th - easy, F - @Potts, Sa - easy, Su - Long, Mon - easy, Tu - @Potts, W - easy and Th - easy. There are four of these two week blocks from June 24- Aug 20.

June Training Plan

My next race is the CTC 5K on Aug 1. My training plan for June and July are geared for a 5K. For June I will 1) increase my weekly mileage from 45 to 50 2) increase my Tue and Thu hard workouts by .5 mi 3) Tue - run 14x400 @ Potts Field, 4) Thu - 3.5 mi Tempo and 5) increase the Long run to 12 mi. For July 16x400, 4 mi Tempo and 14 and 16 mi Long runs for three 10 day blocks between backpacking expeditions.

Bolder Boulder 10K Results

For my 17th Bolder Boulder 10K I was bib BB171, ran a 47:01, and was 5th out of 205 59 year old men. I ran a BB wave time because I was in the middle of a group of people that were going to run this time. I cannot pass hundreds of runners to get a better time. I am going to have to start in the B wave to have any hope of running a B wave time. But my plan to qualify for the B wave was thwarted when the Earth Day 5K was not held in the CU Research Park. It was a 4K held in the shopping center parking garage and I failed to qualify for anything higher than BB. My plan now is to qualify for B in a 5K this summer. The Colorado Tech Center 5K on August 1 looks to be a good candidate although I have never ran the course.

Bolder Boulder B-Wave Splits

Bolder Boulder Splits for B-wave 44:45

1 - 7:12
2 - 14:24
3 - 21:36
4 - 28:48
5 - 36:00
6 - 43:12

Bolder Boulder is next Monday

It's Wednesday so there are only 5 days until the Bolder Boulder. I will do my last 400,800,1200,1200,800,400 ladder tomorrow (Thursday) and not run 10 mi on Saturday. This will give me 4 weeks at 45 mi/wk, 6 mi/day, 10 mi long runs and two 5K interval sessions per week. That's a 25% increase in weekly mileage over 2005 when I ran 45:00. I cannot find in my records that I ran any intervals. I had a bad cold 4-5 weeks before the 05 BB and I had run at 40 mi/wk for 9 weeks before that. I'm in the BB waveand to get in it you have to run better than 47:15. My goal is to be in the top 15 and get a medal. My real goal is to run B wave time of 44:15 or 7:12 min/mi pace. My strategy is to run flat 7:12 min/mi for the entire race. I'm thinking about wearing my gps to try and do that.

Thoughts on the Bolder Boulder

I have 14 weeks of 40+ mi/wk training for the Bolder Boulder. I call my race strategy the General Patton strategy. Patton believed how well his army was going to do in a battle was a function of how well his soldiers were trained. In my case, I have a solid base of training with many interval sessions. However, I did not do that well at the Earth Day 4K as I only ran 7:05 min/mi and I thought I should have run sub 7. I should do better than that because I am very familiar with the BB course and I will have 4 weeks of 45 mi/wk with 10K of intervals per week. I want to run a B wave time of 44:45 that is 15 seconds faster than 2 years ago when I took 4th place out of 260. I going to try and run 7:13 min/mi for all six miles. Two years ago I ran 7:16. My real goal is to finish in the top 10 for my age group and I am on track for that. The heavy interval training is supposed to lower my 10K time by 2:30 but I don't think that will happen. I'll be very happy with lowering it :15.

May Training Plan

I took a week off from running anaerobically after the Earth Day 4K, 4/22/07. I increased my daily mileage from 5.5 mi to 6 mi at the beginning of May. This gives me two 5K interval sessions a week, the maximum intervals you should do in a week according to Jack Daniels. My Saturday long run remains at 10 mi making my weekly total 45 mi. My weight has remained at 155 lbs through the first two weeks.

Earth Day 4K

The Earth Day 4K was held April 22, 2007 in 29th Street Mall. It was three firsts for me. I had never raced in the mall, 4K or through an underground parking garage. I clocked 17:36 and qualified for the BB wave in the BB. I had hoped to get in BA or even B but that was not to be. I think racing the first time on a crazy course threw me off. The Flatirons Crossing 5K is May 12 but it's also new to me and appears to have some good sized hills in it. So I am going to pass on it and be content with BB.

Revised Bolder Boulder Training Plan

Pott's Field is closed to the public during construction so my planned Tuesday track sessions are gone. Instead I'm doing 5x800 on the S Bldr Ck trail. I weighed 157 lbs this morning and I keep dropping. This is at a weekly mileage of 41 miles. Currently I'm running Easy (4) - 5.5 mi, Intervals (2) - 5x800, and Long (1) - 10 mi. After April 22 and the Earth Day 4K I plan on increasing Easy to 6 mi and the intervals to 6x800. How much weight am I going to lose then? I still have a fat tire so I hope I have some leeway.

First Week of Bolder Boulder Training

I completed the first week of BB training, 40 mi. On Sunday, after my 10 mi run my weight was 159 lbs. I did not really run hard on the hard days because I was recovering from the Carbon Valley 5K. The normal 3 day recovery was not possible because I was out of shape. On Tue I ran the 6x400 at easy pace and on Thu I ran the 4x800 at threshold pace.

Bolder Boulder Training Plan

It's 10 weeks to the Bolder Boulder and I have come up with the following training plan:
Week 1-3 - 4x5 mi easy, Tue intervals at Potts 6x400, Thu intervals 4x800, Sat 10 mi, 40 mi/wk
Week 4-6 - 4x5.5 mi easy, Tue 8x400, Thu 5x800, Sat 10 mi, 43 mi/wk
Week 7-10 - 4x6 mi easy, Tue 10x400, Thu 6x800, Sat 10 mi, 46 mi/wk

Recovery from the 5K last Saturday

I ran a 23:03 at the Frederick Carbon Valley 5K on Saturday 3/17/07. I immediately went to a speed that was uncomfortable and tried to hold it for 5K. My first mile split was 7:06 and the second was a 14 something. I failed to hit the lap button on my watch. I faded at about 4K with a heartrate of 170. A 23:03 would qualify me for the C wave in the Bolder Boulder. This was a great time for the beginning of my 10 week training for the BB. But I did not recover in 3 days because I over stress my body. I ran my Tue 400 intervals at easy pace and my Thu 800 at thresehold pace. By Friday I had shook the muscle fatigue with it's bunched up feel.

Peter Snell: Intervals vs Tempo

This study shows twice weekly interval sessions lower 10K and 800 times much better than twice weekly tempo runs. So I am switching to intervals on both Tue and Thur. The study said the participants ran "about 3 mi" and that is perfect for me. After the Frederick 5K I will start 5.5 mi base runs M-W-F-Su, Tue 6x800 intervals at Potts Field for 6.5 mi, Thu 3 mi cruise intervals for 5.5 mi, Sat 12.4 mi. Total 46.4 mi/wk. This is very doable because it's greater than 45 mi/wk, the 5.5 mi runs will be on Bobolink, and the long run is 2 hours. I plan on doing this schedule for 10 weeks. I may increase the base run after 2-3 weeks to 6 mi by running up Meridian rather than 55th with all it's traffic.

45 Mile Week

I reached 45 miles last week. I had a 5 mi base with a + Nike 14.35 mi, 2:21:08, 11.7 mi trail, 1:52:39, hr 120, long run on Sat. I've also determined my S Boulder Ck/Boulder Ck trail to Eben Fine park warm up is 1.58 mi and cool down is .78 mi for a total of 2.36 I record as 2.5. I want to cut the long run to 2 hours so I'll need to increase the base to 5.5 to maintain this weekly mileage. Dots and Nots Equalons have 560 mi, about 55/45 on Dots. My new blue Equalons start Tue 3/13.

Training Plan for the Bolder Boulder 10K

I have reached 45 mi/wk starting week #10. The Bolder Boulder 10K is week #21. I will have 12 weeks of training at a base distance of 5 mi. I run 6x.5 intervals on Tue, 3 mi threshold run on Thu and 15 mi long run on Sat. I am doing the hard days on the S Boulder Ck trail North of Arapahoe Av. This gives me a 1.5 mi warm up by running South on 55th, East on Centennial trail, and North on Olde Tale Rd. Cool down is .5 mi West of Olde Tale. The half mile markers are spray painted on the trail and this means adding threshold mileage in 1 mi chunks and adding two intervals. I am planing on maintaining this level for 3 weeks including the Frederick 5K March 17. Then I plan on increasing my number of intervals and length of threshold runs until 12 intervals, 6 mi threshold and Earth Day 5K April 22 are reached. Then I will ramp back down to base levels for the Bolder Boulder. There is the possibility I could increase the base run to 5.5 mi in week #16 but I'll evaluate that after doing 6 weeks of 5 mi.

Yet another 10K training plan

I read that Malissa J. Wood, M.D. found troponin leakage from a group of marathoners in Boston. It is thought troponin is produced during cardiac ischemia. She concluded marathoners that ran less than 45 mi/wk had nine times the troponin than those that trained above. I don't know how long the marathoners trained at these levels or how she collected. If she asked them when they finished Boston they could have said anything. Marathoners are spaced out then and usually increase their actual training miles. What's all this got to do with 10K training? My next race is a 10K in 12 weeks and I was looking for a base weekly mileage to train for it. Guess what, I'm going to start at 45 mi/wk. This works out to four five mi easy, 6x800 + 2 mi warmup, 3 mi threshold + 2 mi warmup and 15 mi long run. This is perfect for me. My favorite long run is along Boulder Creek to Eben Fine park and back, 15 mi. The 5 mi easy runs are on Bobolink Trail along S Boulder Ck. I will add increments of 2x800 for my intervals and 1 mi to my threshold runs.

Base Run Index

I have looked into my training log from 2005 and found I was running 40-44 mi/wk before the Bolder Boulder 10K that I took 4th place in my age group. I ran a 17.5 mi long run and the next weekend I ran 18. The next week I came down with a bad chest cold. I ultimately ran 6 mi base just before the race. So now I am basing my training plan around the base distance. This week I started 4.5 mi and intend to continue it for 4 weeks or after the Frederick 5K Mar 17. Then I will kick it up to 5 mi for the Earth Day 5K 4 weeks later. I plan on going to 5.5 mi for the next 4 weeks before the Bolder Boulder 10K. 5 mi is a good distance because the long run is 15 mi, a very convenient distance for me and it gives a weekly mileage of 45 mi. Base x 9 = weekly mileage. 45 mi was the training level where researchers in Boston found no heart irregularities in runner's completing the Boston Marathon. I may just stick with 5 mi after Earth Day.

First 800 Intervals of 2007

I ran 4x800 intervals this morning and I sucked. My average heart rate was 133. I can forget about going to 40 mi per week until I can get that average up to 145. I just went through the motions today seeing as how it was my first 800 repeats in 9-12 months. Now I'm worried I'm going to slack off on Thursday's 2 mi threshold run. That should have an average heart rate of 137. The poor showing today means I'm going to have to stay at 4 mi for at least another week, but probably another 3 weeks until the Frederick 5K on Mar 17. I now plan on going to 4.5 mi/day afterwards.

Increasing Mileage

I have to increase my weekly miles from 36 to 40 for the next step up in stress. On the surface it's about a 12% increase. But it's not that simple. You see, I was doing hill repeats 2 mi from my house. My base run was 3 and 3.5 mi. To get to 40 mi per week I have to have a base run of 4.5 mi, a 150% increase in my daily run. I base my interval, threshold and long runs on the base run. The number of .5 mi intervals is (BR-2)/.5 because I take 1.5 mi to warm up and a .5 mi cool down. The threshold run is BR-2 at 135-145 b/min heart rate. Long is 3 x BR. Next week I run a base 4.0 mi, 4x.5 mi intervals, 2 mi threshold, and 12 mi long for a total of 36 mi.

USATF Cross Country Championships

I ran the 2007 USATF Cross Country Championship with a time of 41:11 for 8K. This was on Flatirons Golf Course in Boulder CO. It was too tough for the limited amount of race training I had and I slowed down somewhere between miles 3 and 4. But it was a glorious day and I had fun. I'll take the next week off from hard training. I'll start training again on Monday Feb 19.

USATF XC this Saturday

The USATF XC Championship is this Saturday at Flatirons Golf Course. I only have 3 weeks of 65% level training in so I do not expect to do well. Plus 5 mi on frozen grass could be very tough. So once again, my objective is to have fun and not get hurt. It's going to be 4 x 2Km laps. There is a slight chance of snow and temperatures are expected to be a few degrees above freezing. But this XC race is getting me ready to do some serious running. I just found a 4 mi race Mar 24 and I can train at about 83% for all of March. Then I go to 92% for 3 weeks before the Earth Day 5K. Then it's 4 weeks of 100% for the Bolder Boulder 10K.

More Snow in the Forecast

It's been 3 days since the Best 4 mi XC and my upper body has recovered but my legs are dead. I ran easy this morning rather than hill repeats. Thursday I plan on a 2.5 mi threshold run and Saturday a 13 mi long run. Hopefully I have some spring in my legs by Thursday.

Best XC .... Result

I ran the Best XC Race on the Planet yesterday. My time was 36:35 for 4 mi. The weather was snowing with 2-3" on the ground. It was impossible to run without spikes so I tried to make a tempo run out of it. I lost my heart rate in the middle of the second lap because the electrode slipped off my chest.The second lap was very tough because I was being passed by the leaders so I moved off into the chop at the side. I have a sore left ankle and a bruised ego but I still had fun. Increasing my threshold run next Thursday to 2.5 mi will be no problem after yesterday. I'm upping my training stress level by 10% to 80% because the USATF XC championships on Feb 10 are also going to be a tempo run. I want to get to 90% stress level for 5-6 weeks before the Earth Day 5K where I will qualify for my Bolder Boulder wave. 90% is 4mi Easy, 8 hills, 3 mi Threshold, and 15 mi Long.

5 days Until the Best XC

Every runner in Boulder was out last Saturday running like crazy. Not only was it a week before the Best XC but the forecast for Sunday was cold and more snow. Storm #5 left 2.8 inches in Boulder. I ran 13 mi on Sat. to the drinking fountain, (it worked!) by Boulder HS. I reasoned I could increase my long run by 10% because I had run 2:00 three times and I was going to take Sunday off. It's Mon and I'm thinking of running hill repeats tomorrow. I know I swore only one anaerobic run per week but I'll have 3 days of easy before the BestXC to recover. And Sarah Slattery said she is going to run a hard workout Tue so I have to do the same. I'm betting my hill will be dry tomorrow morning. I will not run a threshold on Thu. I feel like I have recovered from the long run and I don't think hill repeats tomorrow are going to hurt me. I think they are going to give me a little extra spark for Sat.

Update on Last Post

I ended up running six hills on Tuesday because the experiment in Denver ended early when the rat died. Then I ran a threshold run on Thursday just like normal. I'm going to run 2 hours on Saturday, hopefully before the latest snow storm starts. I only have four weeks of training in, actually only three because the week between Christmas and New Year I missed two runs. So I really have three weeks of training but everyone else in Boulder is in the same situation. I probably won't embarrass myself and I should have fun over the next three weeks. Then I will have 13 weeks to train for the Bolder Boulder. I really like my training plan, one anaerobic, one threshold and one long run per week seems to be just about right. I also like the hill repeats for my anaerobic runs. I hate the run along Baseline Rd to get to the hill but the anandamide rush afterwards lasts for a couple of hours.

One More Week of XC Training

I finished week 5 of my training for the upcoming XC races despite temperatures of 0-10 deg F. I only missed one easy run but even that was OK because it ended my 2007 streak at 10 days. According to Mike Sandrock, the running columnist for the Boulder Camera newspaper, I should deliberately miss a day early in the year. Presumably, I will not run when I should not just to keep a streak alive. My last week of training is going to only two hard days because I cannot run my hill repeats on Tuesday due to clinical testing at 9 am in Denver. I will do my hill repeats on Wednesday morning and run 2 hours on Saturday. The week after next is my taper week and I'll run threshold runs on Tuesday and Thursday. It's been tough doing the hard workouts in the snow and cold temperatures, but everyone in Colorado is having the same problem. Maybe the XC races will be cold and snowy, just like my training.

Only One Anaerobic Run Per Week

I got very sore from the anaerobic hill repeats this week. I had planned on running a anaerobic tempo on Thu, my second hard day of the week, but ran 2 mi at or near my threshold, 139 b/m. This is week 5 of X-C training so I really wanted to have a solid hill workout. My heart rate was 165 at the end of the 5th repeat, the best measure of the stress from the workout. I do not use the last repeat because I slack off on the first and last. I did not feel I had recovered enough from the hill repeats to go all out again two days later. Besides, I want to recover some more before my 2 hr long run on Sat. I learned two things this week: First, hill repeats are very stressful and second, I cannot do two anaerobic workouts two days apart. So I will make the second hard day into a threshold run for the rest of the year. I am so impressed with the hill repeats that I am going to continue doing them and not 400 or 800 m flats. The hill I use is a pain to get to. I have to run .5 mi along a busy state highway to get there. But it's a great hill close to my house. It's steep, always plowed, it faces South so the sun melts ice, has very little residential traffic and is 90 seconds long.

Blizzard #3 Complicates Running

Jan 5 Boulder got 11.5 inches of snow. I did manage to stick to my cross country training plan though. My Thu tempo run was a little scary when I encountered ice on the trail. Then my 2 hour long run on Sat was OK when I could run on the plowed Boulder Ck trail. My problem was getting to the trail over hard packed residential streets. When I came back I found one of these streets, Old Tale, had been gone over by a grader. The entire road was a perfectly flat slick ice skating rink. Plus there are no sidewalks. I had to run at the very edge to get any traction. But I did complete week 4 of my 6 week cross country training plan. My plan is not very ambitious nor will it get me to a high level of fitness. But I want to take it easy after a year of being injured. I will be able to run respectable times in the upcoming cross country races and be in great shape to begin training for the Bolder Boulder.

Cross Country Training Plan

I survived 12 weeks of base training and the holidays so it's finally time to get down to serious training for the Best Cross Country (XC) Race on the Planet on Jan 27 and the USATF XC championship Feb 10. Both are in Boulder Colorado. The hard days are Hill repeats, Tempo and long runs. All weeks look like this: 3.5 m Easy MWFSun, 6x90 sec hills Tue, 2 m tempo Thu and 2 hour long runs Sat. This works out to 38.5 miles per week. I will increase my heart rate on the hard runs as the races get closer. I want to start with a heart rate of 150 beats per minute (b/m) and end with 160 b/m for the hills. For the Tempo I'll start with 145 b/m and finish with 155 b/m. For the Long run I will start with 120 b/m and finish with 130. This is an ambitious plan for me coming off injuries for the last 13 months. I have been running the hard workouts for the last 3 weeks but at aerobic heart rate of less than 140 b/m. If I can achieve this plan I will be in excellent shape to begin training for the Bolder Boulder on May 28. All the coaches say to run hills before 400 and 800 repeats on a track and that is exactly my plan.