2015 Week 1 Run Thread
You guys really screwed up this time. No one jumped on the Run Captain opportunity so guess whose lap it fell into?!?!
Yep...get over it 
I'll try to reign in my rambling but I make no promises.
First week. Test time. Take the 'Test' out of that and insert 'Baseline'. 'Test' has a pass/fail feel to it. 'Baseline' is your .... baseline. Ground zero. DO NOT chase other peeps numbers. Get your own. YOUR baseline and let's see where you are by your A-race. Try to take the time to listen to the podcast Testing Overview that is in the right margins of your weekly My Plan. And, don't forget that it's not unheard of that we botch a test. You want to retest? Ask around and see if it's worth it. Remember that we retest every couple of weeks. Usually, things like paces/HRs/RPE's will sort themselves out within a couple of weeks. Well before the next round of tests.
I've noticed a common theme in the sign-in threads. Many are coming off an extended break or coming back from an injury. IMO, these first couple of weeks will probably be a shot to the system. Know thyself. Need to run on the slower side of your z4/TP to be able to complete the workout, or the month of workouts? That's OK. Really OK. Physiological adaptations happen in these windows of work. If you're working in the 96% area, you are still getting the physiological reward. You are not shorting yourself. If 102% of a Threshold Pace interval (say, threshold pace -10 seconds) seems to be easy, then you probably have a new vdot coming up at the next test.
Practice 'Prehab'. Recover well. Eat better. A good night's sleep is essential. Respect the down days and be careful overachieving. Ice those aches and pains before they become limiting. Compression is our friend. Use the resources available on stretching. Stay ahead of the injury. Prehab trumps rehab. Running hard intervals is traumatic for everyone, from the best runners to the newbies. Pay attention to early indicators and jump on it right then. We want to get a solid OS in. I don't want anyone to have to go to Run Jail. Six weeks of Deep Water Running is effective, very therapeutic rehab, but why don't you just take my word for it and pass on trying it out, k?
Be vocal. Ask questions. Tons of experience floating around in this OS. Don't be afraid to ask. I haven't seen anyone judge or belittle anyone else for simply trying to get the most out of their circumstances.
It's a clean slate. Our next season. 2015 races will be here in no time. They will get here when they get here. The OS is the foundation to our season. Take it one day at a time and go for quality sessions. Races from July to November will be impacted by how we handle this stretch of 14 weeks.
So, get to work.
Comments
All that said, I have recently done a 5K and 10k race and have a 5K planned for Saturday- so I'll be setting my zones based on the results from those races. I am fortunate (or unfortunate depending on the situation) to live in an area where the terrain is the same wherever I go (mostly flat) and we have a local 5k race almost every month of the year. So hopefully I'll be able to do most of my run testing at races.
Good Luck everyone!
Oh crap! No slacking in here now!
Thanks for taking the torch, Chris. You are a great asset to this group. Dinhofer, not so much. 
J/K, Scott.
As I am clawing my way back I will NOT be doing a run test this week. I will just go slow and work my way up to the next time we test.
Know thyself indeed.
Stark
I;ve been doing the GF plan for 3 weeks, and did a 5K on NY day. 21:35, for a VDOT of 45+. Last time I did this are was 5 years ago, 30 seconds faster. I'm losing 0.5% per year, which seems about right. So I get to run a touch slower on the mile intervals, I guess.
SUN Run off VDOT guestimate RPE was a bit high after yesterdays overcooked brick run.
Will post more consistently starting next week.......
PLAN: Z3@8:20 Z4@8:00
Did: 10"@ 9:30 w/ a few strides WU then 8:20, 8:05, 7:50, 7:32. HR 156 for first ~Z3 but ALL sub 8min all into 180s Z5+ and felt RPE 9 (4"RI with quick HR down) then some Z1-2 for time home. 7mls total.
Not terrrrrrrable but hoped VDOT would at least be >40 despite off time.
I did not get the Sunday WO in due to sub zero temps and crazy wind. Heading to the gym today to do the workout. I know today should be a rest day, but thinking that since I rested yesterday I can swap the two days and still be okay for the rest of the workouts. I have not ran on a treadmill in a few years so this shall be interesting.
Splits
1 mi - 7:46
2 mi - 7:40
3 mi - 7:23
My last test, in August, was 21:10, with a vDOT of 45. By August I was expecting a bump to 46+. Bike accident, and the resulting two months off set my run fitness back 3-4 points. My limiting factor is the tightness in my thoracic vertebrae. Residual trauma is limiting my ability to breath deeply and exchange enough air volume during long sustained tempo runs. This is still much better that where I was two months ago, when a 10:00 min/mi pace was hard.
Best ever 5k was 27:48 last march. Dec 14 was 29:04.
Results were better than I expected, not great, but I'm pleased with the effort.
The course had a couple of short steady climbs which cost me a few seconds and there was a pretty good head wind coming back, sunny and 46deg. But, I am not saying that to swag my vdot up any. I would rather train with it a touch lower to be safe for my zones.
21:46
Mile 1- 7:20
Mile 2- 6:59
Mile 3- 6:52
Glad it's over. Baseline set.
Your turn to step into the ring!
Overall 8.0 miles in 52:38, avg pace 6:35/mi.
Warmup 1.5mi @ 6:55
Mile intervals: 5:57, 5:59, 6:02, 6:06
Cooldown 1.3mi @ 6:45
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/666777777
@ Matt - Hah! - Your off the couch warm up and cool down paces are slightly faster than my most recent 5k pace
Damn you kids are F A S T! Good work!
Just did a short run and this is my current attitude towards running.
I got a few comments along the route.
^ Awesome!
and, we all test/train/race our own numbers. we must all remember not to compare ourselves to others.
But, dang, why does Matt A. have to follow me. I'm swallowing vomit for the last half mile
and he's knitting sweaters while lapping me.
Chris- I agree! My claim to fame vs some ENrs is that it takes w twice as long for a race... I get my money's worth! Lol
Results:
20' 5k in 21:43 with avg HR of 162 bpm.
I felt ok, could probably give more next time (and less cold weather), my VDot of 45 is consistent to what I had in autumn the last time I checked.
Allright! First "Baseline" is in the books....and nowhere to go but faster. Bonus -- my heel is feeling good.
22:52 outdoors in the cold and wind. Brutal, but I *really* do not like treadmills.
Overall time 25:32 Not my best by a long shot, but it's where I'm at. My hr was jacked for the wu as well as the 5k. Really need to not let myself get so flustered!!!
Vdot is 37.5ish Onward!
Bonus...got to run for a bit with EN and Fraser teammate Yvette, who turned in a great test!
Ok, so didn't really do a vDot test but wanted to attempt something as I haven't really run 3.1 miles for awhile. So ran the 5k with my dog. One stop to pickup poop and another to walk a bit. Didn't readily see where the vDot calculator is located in EN so went online and I guess I was too slow for the Runbayou calculator (see pic).
So I went to the JackDaniels calculator and got what I need so I at least have something to work with and be part of the JOS officially. I am going to really watch how I feel as I move forward with runs.
Overall time: 36:34 <<< DOH!<br />
vDot: 24.2
There ya have it. Only way to go is up at this pace.
Stark
Still good site BTW.
Had a great run test today, considering I walk /run to Lifetime Fitness 1.59 miles. Love Michigan weather High 11 feels like -7 and sunny. Perfect warm up, right? Surprise!!! I ran into Trish our EN Ambassador (Congratulations!) at LTF during my run test. So good to see you speedy! One conversation went like this:
Trish: are you testing?
Yvette: yes.
Trish: well then get to work and focus, we will talk later.
LOL! Thanks for the pep talk Momma Marshall, I needed that!
OS 2015 OS 2014
VDOT: 28 VDOT : 28
Ave Heart 171 Ave Heart 167
Time: 31:39:2 Time: 32:17
I have a lot more confidence going into 2015 OS after testing. Considering, I crashed my bike at IMFL this year, recovered, worked out 5 times in November and 3 times a week in December. Much needed rest, ready for 2015 IMChoo.
Wow! Amazing..nice work!
So I had low expectations today since that GI illness christmas week really took it out on me. I did run durability for last 5 weeks so at least I had done more running than biking.
It was a perfect 48 degrees at O'dark thirty. First glitch was my garmin 910 was frozen in 'transferring data' mode. I had an old bevel faced garmin (I hate them) laying around that my kids were using. Sadly, I didn't take the time to pair my HR monitor with it. Last run I could only hit z3 (8:38) but prior to that I was hitting z4-5 for my one mile splits. I felt that I could maintain an 8:30 pace today at best.
So, Started the test at comfortable fast and it was 8:30! Instead of focusing on my watch, I focused on form-I always see seconds come off the pace when form is perfect
Splits: 8:33
8:35
8:26
time: 26:20
So I paced well for my current fitness and was able to negative split at the end-even saw 7:53 on that last push!
current vDOT-36
Last years high was 39 and even though I didn;t test, I know I had fallen to 37.5-38 by IMAZ. Personal best is VDOT 40 on 9/2013-that was done in Berkely when I was there for a wedding, perfect weather. The problem with Phoenix is its two darn hot in late summer/fall to perform that well. I've considered testing on a treadmill in the summer but then are the numbers comparable? probably not
Ready to work!
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GREAT work everyone!
I love it TRISH - Run evaluation! YES....I am doing my eval tomorrow. Hoping to be in the 9min pace group. It's not supposed to rain in Seattle, so I'll be running along the waterfront hoping that my lights will be a blur.
Yes John, I do know about the V.dot not calculating for some of us slower folks...kind a sad...the EN calcular does if I remember correctly....cause then I didn't feel as slow.