Day 53

A hard 7 today... plan called for 7 miles at marathon pace. I decided to run the same seven mile course I ran on Tuesday but in reverse so that instead of going down the really steep hill and up the long gradual hill, I'd go down the gradual hill and up the really steep one. Also, I used this as an opportunity to test out the Virtual Partner on my Garmin Forerunner 305. That way that it works is that you program in the distance and pace that you want to run and then the Garmin tells you how much distance ahead or behind you are from a virtual runner who is keeping the specified pace exactly. So I set the Garmin for 7 miles at a 8 min/mile pace... let's see how I did.

Distance: 7.0
Duration: 52:12
Pace: 7:27
HR Avg/Max: 161/181
notes:

Guess I can't pace very well. I didn't want to start too slow so I pushed it a little and the next thing I know I was way ahead of pace. I hit the first mile in 7:10 which put me .11 miles ahead of the virtual partner. At this point I said too hell with pace, I'm going to whip this Virtual Partner's ass for trying to keep up with me. I hit the second mile in 7:11 and the third in 7:13... At this point I was starting to wear down a little and was wondering what the hell was I thinking going out so hard, but I also knew that even if I slowed down to 8:30 pace i'd still finish the 7 in goal time so I kept on keeping on... 4th mile was 7:38 but it felt brutal. Then came the fifth mile which had the really steep up hill... man I was dreading it, but I just powered through... 5th mile 8:17 with the heart rate hitting 177. I figured that after that hill I'd be done but next thing I know I was feeling better than I had the whole run. 6th mile I hit in 7:54. One mile left and I was ready to see what I had left. I decided not to go all out but to try to stay relaxed while keeping my breathing steady and lengthening my stride. I knocked the last mile in 7:02 with a sprint at the finish.

I can tell as I'm writing this that I'm going to pay for this in my long run tomorrow but I couldn't help myself. Hopefully it doesn't bite me in the ass. In retrospect I'm happy with the time but not so happy with myself discipline. Eventually I'm going to have to learn what marathon pace really is... oh well, maybe next week.

Day 52

Day off from running. It's amazing how much better I feel after a recovery run day... much better than the day after a hard run. I think I'm starting to get the hang of this training thing.

Hit the gym for the first time in a while to get in a little bit of strength work.

3 sets bench: 135 x 16, 135 x 16, 136 x 10
3 sets pull-ups: 10, 8, 6
3 sets curls: 25 x 12, 30 x 10, 25 x 10
tricep pulldowns: 65 x 16, 85 x 16, 85 x 10

I've really lost a lot of strength since I quit lifting and started running. I'd like to lift a little more often as long as it doesn't interfere with my marathon training. I guess I'll see how things go.

Day 51

Recovery 4 miler

I feel like I can certainly use a recovery run after yesterday. I finished up pretty strong and now I'm stiff and sore today.

Distance:4.01
Duration: 35:35
Pace: 8:52
HR Avg/Max: 142/162
morning weight: 173
notes:

Out the door by 8:35 so bonus on that. Legs are stiff and tired. Kept a slow and steady pace. The last mile I was facing into the sun and I was laboring. HR was up in the mid 150's even after I dropped the pace. Also am starting to develop a blister on my left foot arch. Hopefully a day off and some good running socks will help it go away!

Day 47,48,49&50

Day 47 and 48 I spent on the 2nd annual Lake Shelbyville houseboat trip. Had a lot of fun but my diet suffered. 48 hours of straight binge drinking and steak sandwiches really did a number on the body. I tried to at least get some crosstraining in by doing some swimming. Spent much of Sunday feeling ill. I considered running when I got home but decided it would be best to just wait till tomorrow.

Day 49...

7 weeks of training complete. 11 weeks to go. Time to reflect on the weeks gone past and weeks to come.

Still plenty of time before the marathon... on the bright side, that's plenty of time to get more training on; also, plenty of time to get hurt. Lately, I haven't been experiencing a lot of the soreness and twinges that I was having earlier in my training. Hopefully, this is a good sign that I'm starting to get into running shape. I just have to make sure that I don't forget all the problems I was having earlier in the year and go out and push it too hard!

The last couple weeks have been busy for me and I've skimped a little on the training. I haven't quite gotten all the miles in the intermediate plan calls for and I've lost a bit of focus from not strictly following the plan. As far as skimping on the milage I'm not too worried. I've gotten all my long runs in and I'd rather do undertrain then overtrain and get injured. The loss of focus seems to be a bit of a problem though. I think the next 5 or so weeks will be tough because it's kind of a no man's land of training... 11 weeks till marathon seems like a long time and with the 15k and half-marathon out of the way I'm running thin on short term goals.

Part of my strategy to get back focused is get back to strictly following the Hal Higdon plan. I'm also going to try and start running earlier in the morning. Part of my problem is that I'm having a hell of a time dragging myself out the door in the morning. I delay and delay and by the time I finally get out it's mid-afternoon (i.e. hot and muggy). When I finally get the run in it usually goes well and I feel better afterward. It's just a matter of getting out the door. So one goal for the next 5 weeks is for me to get out the door and running by 9:00 am every morning.

Another goal for the next 5 weeks is to lose some weight. When I started seriously training for the marathon 7 weeks ago I was under the false impression that I would lose a ton of weight simply from all the running I would be doing. This has proved to be untrue. First off, my 25-30 miles a week only burn about a pounds worth of calories to begin with. Also, the running has made me hungrier and I wind up eating more than I used too. A lot of people on different forums claim that they usually gain weight during marathon training because they wind up eating more. Luckily this has not been the case for me, but I haven't lost any either. My ultimate goal is to keep training past the Chicago marathon and eventually get back into competitive running shape. Part of reaching this goal is going to have to involve getting my weight down. At my running peak as a senior in high school I weighed about 140. Now I'm at 175. I don't think that I'll ever get back down to 140, but I think that 155 is probably attainable. Right now however, I'd like to shoot for 165. If I can lose 2 lbs a week for the next 5 weeks I think that I'll gain a good bit of speed in my marathon pace just from not having to tow the extra weight along. I'm not planning on starving myself or anything but I am going to try to eat a lot more clean. Since my garden is producing, I think I'll have a daily salad. This will help fill me up at dinner without over indulging. Also, I'm cutting out any desert and alcohol. Finally, I'm going to limit snacking during the day. Hopefully with these small changes and the steady increase in milage I can slim down.

Anyway enough ranting... here my training from the last two days.

Day 47 (July 27, 2009)
Distance: 4.01 miles
Duration: 35:40
pace: 8:53
HR Avg/Max: 149/168
notes:

Couldn't get motivated to run so I finally drove to Bradley park to force myself out of the house and for a change of venue. I was still pretty tore up from the weekend so I took it pretty easy. Even the 8:53 pace felt laborious but the venue was nice. Ran through the park and then through some of the nicer old neighborhoods in Peoria and the Bradley campus. By mile 3 I was feeling a little better and I wound up enjoying my last mile which was another loop through the park.


Day 48 (July 28, 2009)
Distance: 7.0 miles
Duration 57:12
pace: 8:10
HR Avg/Max: 153/182
notes:

It was a hot and humid run. I took the first mile casual and then pushed the pace. Mile 5 started with a big hill (700 ft elevation over about a half mile distance) this kicked my heart rate up into the 170's and I decided to push the pace the rest of the way in order to keep the HR up. I ran my final mile at a 7:15 pace and my heart rate slowly climbed up to 182 by the end of the run. I feel good now and hope that I am getting my focus back.

Day 46

Short and sweet...

I've been putting in the long slow miles this week and I'm pressed for time so it's time for some speed. One 5K at strong hard pace coming up.

Distance: 3.1 miles
Duration: 21:37
Pace: 6:58
HR Avg/Max: 160/181
notes:

4:30 pm. Full sun. 87 degrees and humid. fuck it, time to run. Hit the first mile mark in 6:50. 2 mile mark in 13:55. 3rd in 21:00 and kicked it in. Legs burned, actually out of breath for once and could have benefited from my inhaler. But the speed felt good and nothing hurts... Dripping with sweat as I type this! Time to get my stanky legs into the shower and get ready to head down to Lake Shelbyville for some good clean wholesome fun!

Day 46

5 mile Recovery run

Distance: 5.01 miles
Duration: 48:30
Pace: 9:40
HR Avg/Max: 138/156
notes:

I actually managed to accomplish close to a real recovery pace... HR is supposed to be under 135 and I averaged 138 so close enough for me. My legs are still fatigued from yesterday, but not really hurting. Just went out an enjoyed a nice slow run with my ipod on. Life is good.

Also, I joined the President's Challenge today. Kinda hokey but you get medals based on accumulating points for being active each day and I'll do anything for a medal for my trophy room!

Day 45

Supposed to do 7 today but I decided to do my long run instead. I figured I'm plenty rested from last week and it'll be a pain in the ass to try to get it in this weekend since I'm going to be on a houseboat trip so I might as well knock it out now.

Distance: 14.0 miles
Duration: 2:01:22
Pace: 8:38
HR Avg/Max: 144/160
notes:

Drove out to the Rock Island trail for a nice off road course. Figured it would be shady, relatively flat, and the path would be easier on my legs then concrete.

The first couple miles were pretty rough. My left leg was still tight and cramping in the shin and calf and even in the quadriceps. I stopped a couple times to stretch and walk it off. By Mile 4 I finally loosened up and was feeling good. I tried to keep a steady pace with my heart rate below 150. Mile 5-7 were on an incline so I was starting to feel kind of roughed up by the halfway point. Luckily it was an out and back run which meant miles 8-10 were on a decline. I recovered quickly and got a pretty good groove going until about the 12 mile mark. At this point I started to fade and my legs were feeling exceptionally tired. No worries though... I kept telling myself that this was what the long runs were all about and these last two miles would help my body adapt to running more efficiently in the future. I tried to focus on keeping a good form and not lumbering. I finished the last mile strong pushing my heart rate up to 160. Right now I'm tired but not exhausted. I was happy to see that I could keep up an 8:40ish pace without getting my heart rate up over 150... My legs are feeling stronger every day and I'm really starting to feel the results of my training!

Day 44

Finally caught up and back on schedule. Houseboat trip this weekend so I'm not sure how I'm going to get my runs in. I know I'll have to do some modifications and skip some milage but I want to make sure I get my long distance in. Today I'll stick to the plan and go with the 4 miler though.

Distance: 4.0 miles
Duration: 32:11
Pace: 8:03
HR Avg/Max: 150/164
notes:

So good to be back home. I'm still beat from traveling but still made sure I got the run in. It's 68 degrees out!!! but humid :(... still beats 100 degrees and sunny though!!!!! Tried to take this run pretty easy, but I've been running slow since the half marathon so I kind of started to push it a bit. My legs are still tight from the traveling, I think. 3 miles into the run my left calf and shin kind of tightened up on me. Nothing too bad but it kind of was stiff and sore for the last mile. I didn't let it stop me and finished the run. Once I stopped I stretched it out good and got some water. It felt fine after so no worries. Should be better and more rested tomorrow. I don't think I'm quite adjusted to the 2 hour time change either.

Catchup 2 (Day 36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43)

Day 36

Sore as shit from running half marathon then riding on plane for 5 hours... day off.

Day 37

Still sore but hiked 8 miles including 5 mile hike to top of Lassen Peak... Elevation was kicking my ass... not sure if it was asthma related, had something to do with recovering from half marathon or if it was just normal for 10,000 ft elevation.

Day 38

Distance: 5.0 miles
Duration: 43:54
Pace: 8:47
HR Avg/Max: 151/175
notes:

first run after half marathon... legs are starting to feel better. Natalie's aunt is a certified massage therapist and gave me an awesome massage which helped a lot. Course was pretty hilly and it was 106 degrees outside!!! Dry heat though, not humid like in Illinois.

Day 39

Distance: 3.0 miles
Duration: 25:45
Pace: 8:35
HR Avg/Max: 144/171
notes:

nice easy run around the gated community in Cottonwood, California. Heat still in the hundreds.

Day 40

Rest

Day 41

Distance: 3.29
Duration: 32:14
Pace: 9:47
HR Avg/Max: 147/173
notes:

Running at Natalie's Grandma's house in Hidden Valley, California. Natalie's Grandma lives on a hill overlooking a lake in a valley... first I ran up the hill, then I ran down which was murder on my still recovering legs. I ran down to the lake hoping to find some flat area but no luck... I started to run back up and decided to call it quits at the 3.29 point. It's still over 100 degrees here and I've been breaking out in a heat rash. Natalie's family doesn't have air conditioning so no relief there... 9:47 pace and I'm still getting my ass kicked!!!

Day 42

Distance: 9.0 miles
Duration: 1:17:22
Pace: 8:36
HR Avg: 155ish
notes:

103 degrees today in Sacramento so there's no way I'm running the 9 miles outside. I opt for the treadmill at the Holiday Inn express. I usually hate treadmill running but this is the lesser of two evils. I set the treadmill to 7.0 mph pace and the incline to 1% and let it rip. It was hard at first. I'm always paranoid about falling off the back of the treadmill so I am always running way up at the top which means my arms hit the handles when I run so I have to hold my arms real high which is uncomfortable. After a couple miles I finally started to get used to it and relaxed. It was still pretty hot inside and I was sweating my ass off. About 20 minutes in, some guy came in to use the other treadmill. I walked for about 10 minutes and then sped it up to a faster paced walk. After another 10 minutes he slowed back down and walked for another 5. Meanwhile I was running away at the treadmill next to him and sweating my ass off. I was soaked! I was flipping sweat all over the machine and floor. I can only imagine what this guy was thinking... then again he was a younger (35ish) skinny guy so no excuse for going to the exercise room just to walk.

Day 43

Woke up at 4 and travelled all day... otherwise, day of rest

Day 35 (Joker's Wild)

Day 35, Sunday July 12th, 2009

Today we ran the Joker's Wild half-marathon in an attempt to get qualifying times for start corrals at the Chicago Marathon.

Distance: 13.3 miles
Duration: 1:40:08
Pace: 7:32
HR Avg/Max: 167/184
notes:

Not really sure how to approach these notes... I felt like I had a really good race and I enjoyed the run but at the same time I felt the event was poorly managed which left me in a post race bad mood (being exhausted probably didn't help either)...

THE BAD
_____________

I think I'll start by venting about the race... First and foremost was the fact that the race was 13.3 miles instead of 13.1 like a half-marathon is supposed to be. Maybe I'm wrong but I feel that if I shell out 60 bucks to run a half marathon then they could at least measure the course right...

Secondly, there were not joker's wild... let me elaborate on that. Supposedly the reason this race was called the Joker's wild was that everyone who finished the half-marathon was supposed to be handed a playing card and if you got the joker you won a prize, but when we got to the finish line, no card! I asked a race staffer about this and they didn't really have a good explanation. Seemed like poor planning. Not necessarily the biggest deal in the world but after all the entire theme and concept of the race was based around this, plus it seemed like a fun and I can't really think of a good reason (besides poor organization) why they couldn't pull this off... but anyway, enough bitching, on to the fun stuff.

THE GOOD

______________

First off, the course was really really tough... The course was a 6.5 mile loop which was completed twice. Each loop contained a two plus mile stretch of some pretty steep up hill running. Basically Mile 2-4 and Mile 8-10 were entirely uphill which made for a ass kicking race. I don't mind the hills (actually I find them challenging and fun) but it didn't make for a good race for setting any PRs. Combine this with the heat and the extra .2 miles of running and you have quite the race.

My goal was to break 1:45 so I could qualify for start corral C at the Chicago Marathon, which I did quite handily... My secondary goal was to break 1:35:59 for start corral B, but this turned out to be right out of reach.

I decided that since I wanted to at least attempt to break 1:35:59 that I should start the race fast so I went out with the 1:30 pace group. I kept up for the first two miles at 6:50 mile pace until we got to the hills. At this point I dropped off the pace and was on my own. I battled up the hills for a couple miles dropping off to a 7:30 pace. After the hills, I was beat and I still had 9 more miles to go. I knew that I couldn't keep up the effort I was going. I started to get passed by several runners. Luckily what goes up must come down and the next couple miles were down hill. I used the next miles to gather myself and dropped my pace back down to 7:20. Somewhere along this stretch I got passed by a young lady who seemed to be going at a good pace so I decided to tag along with her and let her set the pace. I stuck with her for about 2 miles and we steadily started passing some people.

When we got to the halfway point I had caught my second wind and was feeling pretty good. I hit the 6.55 mark at 47:29 which was exactly on pace for a 1:35 half... I knew that if I really pushed it I could be able to hit my goal.

I picked up the pace a little and ran my 7th mile in 7:12 hitting the 8 mile point at 57:51 (7:15 pace). That's when I got to the second round of hills. I hit my next two miles at 7:51 pace and by the 10th mile I was dead. I hit the 10th mile marker at 1:13:37. This meant that I would have to run the last 5k in 22:22 to meet my secondary goal (7:12 pace). The course was downhill so I thought it might be possible, but I also knew that I was wearing down. At this point I made to conscious decision to slow down and coast it in for the next 3 miles. I knew that I would easily meet my 1:45 goal and if I went all out I still might miss my goal by a few seconds plus would pay the price in my marathon training for racing too hard. It turned out to be a really good decision in light of the fact that I had 3.3 miles left because of the long course. I know I would have been really upset if I had put it all out there and hit my goal time for 13.1 only to find I still had .2 miles left.

I ran the final 3 miles at a 8:15 pace. I started getting passed by some people including the girl I had ran with and then passed earlier but resisted the urge to speed up knowing the my legs would thank me for it later.

Finally I reached mile 13 and started to approach the finish line which was of course up another hill. Luckily I had slowed down and was starting to feel pretty good again so I had a little left for my legendary kick... I burned up the hill towards the finish line, raising my hands in victory... 1:40:07... wish I had ran a little bit harder so I could have broke 1:40 but it didn't matter.


THE UGLY

______________

Some additional notes from race day...

Robbie's story...

__________

My friend Robbie also ran the race. He finished in a time of 1:38:45... now the reason I bring this up is that he claims to have finished in 1:36... he even timed himself and showed us his watch to prove it. I figured they must have screwed him up by passing his timing chip over the mat again after he had finished. However after further investigation it's not so clear... See, I reviewed the race results which list him finishing 41st overall with a time of 1:38:45. I figured that if he really ran faster than he should have finished in a higher place, in fact according to the results the 30th place runner finished in 1:35:51 so 1:36 would put Robbie in 31st... This means that the 32nd-40th runner should have actually finished after Robbie finished, but when I looked at the race photo's which are shot in chronological order they clearly show that Robbie actually finished 41st as stated in the results... Now I suppose it's possible that there was some kind of timing hiccup that messed up all the times around Robbie but I also know that I finished in 1:40:07 which I could collaborate with my own watch... At this point I remember looking at Robbie's watch with the 1:36... his watch was not a timex or anything, it simply read 1:36 with no seconds after it. This leads me to think that maybe Robbie just has a broke ass watch, but hey... if he thinks he finished in 1:36, who am I to tell him any different.

______

Photo Awards

Also wanted to include some racing photo's just for fun!

Here's Robbie, Me, and Symons finishing, post race, and some funny ones of some other people's mishaps to make us feel better about ourselves...

Ketchup!!! (Day 32, 33, 34)

Guess the blogger on the blackberry experiment failed... no worries! Back in Peoria and ready to do some real catching up on my interweb running diary blog thing...

Day 32 (Thursday July 9th, 2009)

Distance: 4.08 miles
Duration: 34:46
Pace: 8:31
HR Avg/Max: 150/168
notes:

Was supposed to do 3 miles today but did 4 instead, knowing that I was going to skip my Saturday run as I mini-tapered for the half marathon Sunday.

Ran down old Carlyle road in Germantown, Illinois until I reached the end of the road (beaver creek) and then turned around and ran back.

Day 33 (Friday July 10th, 2009)

Day of rest... Worked at the All-Star game fanfest as a volunteer for 10 hours last night and today and my legs were beat. Made an effort to stay off my feet for the rest of the weekend before the race.

Day 34 (Saturday July 11th, 2009)

More rest... My ankle was really sore in the morning but an ice bath seemed to do the trick!

catch up

I've been travelling for a couple weeks now and have'nt had a chance to access the internet sob I'm going to atemt to ppppublish a quick update using my wife's blackbery... Here goes nothing.

Day 31

Today calls for a 6 mile run. I'm stayed the night at my mother's house in Murphysboro, Il which means that I'm going to inevitably be running some hills today. My hilliest run (up until last Sunday's 11 miler which covered 1600 ft of accent) had been a five miler I ran here several weeks ago which covered something like 1500 ft of accent. That five miler had been an out an back. For today's 6 miler I plan to run the same out an back except go out an extra .5 miles before turning around. Also, I plan on finishing up by running up the big hill that my mother's house is located on. Of course I won't be able to check the elevation changes till I get back to Peoria in a couple weeks but I'll still know that I ran a tough one today despite the pace.

Distance: 6.02 miles
Duration: 47:50
Pace: 7:57
HR Avg/Max: 160/186
notes:

The run was tough as expected with some pretty killer hill work plus I didn't get out the door till about 11:30 so it was fairly hot and sunny. Despite all this I was still able to keep the pace under 8 min\miles! Also, I was able to get the heart rate going pretty good even though my perceived effort didn't feel all that bad. I've been picking up the pace the last few runs and I've been feeling the results in my legs. I just don't have a lot of spring to my step. I've also been slowly deviating away from my HR training as I become impatient for improvement. I realize that I'll have to refocus my efforts here soon if I want to make it to the end of the program but keep telling myself that I'll take tomorrow's run easy to make up for running too hard today. My one saving grace is that I've been basing my heart rate zones off of MHR instead of HRR and since the MHR zones are a bit lower than the HRR zones so I figure I'm probably doing okay. Never the less, I also think that my cardio shape is a little better than my leg muscles shape (even though neither is probably where it needs to be 13.5 weeks before I'm supposed to run a marathon). I know there's still plenty of training to do but I think that I need to really rethink my goal for the marathon. Maybe 4 hours might be more reasonable? At this point I think I'll be happy just to be able to run 26 miles at all... And if I don't completely kill the marathon and finish strong it will probably give me a better chance of continuing my training without too much marathon recovery so that I can be ready for my second marathon... I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but the second annual Illinois marathon in Champaign might be a good 2nd Marathon...

Day 30

Huh, Day 30... that means I've been seriously training for a month now. Good for me to put that into perspective because it seems like I've been running for a lot longer and I'm stating to wonder when I'm going to start improving.

I guess I should be positive and think about all the milage that I've put in. I mean I ran 11 miles on Sunday! It's just hard to put my running past behind me and let go of the high expectations I have for myself.

Today was a 3 miler...

Distance: 3.12 miles
Duration: 24:50
Pace: 7:58
HR Avg/Max: 152/167
notes:

Kind of a hot day but all in all not a bad run. I probably pushed it harder than I should of but I also plan on going relatively easy tomorrow so it will probably balance out. I'm just starting to get fed up with this pace. I really want to go out an hit 7 min miles without totally wasting myself in the process. Oh well, I guess I just need to stick with it, put in the milage, eat right, and the rest will come with time and patience.

Day 29

Day 29 and the beginning of week 5. Week 4 was particularly tough and Sunday's 11 miler was brutal. I was exhausted all day yesterday. I was irritable, depressed, and pretty much completely physically and emotionally drained.

But what a difference a day can make! I took an ice bath yesterday. Spent the rest of the day off my feet. Got a good night sleep. Ate some good food. And today I feel like a new man. I plan on making this week an "easy" week in prep for the half marathon at the end of it. Pretty much will try to get my mid-week runs in at a comfortable pace. And then cut my saturday run down to an easy 2 or 3 miles. I figure I'll really be pushing it pretty hard on the half marathon so that should pretty much cover my VO2 threshold training for the week.

Besides my training, Ethan Zeman will be heading to St. Louis on Wednesday to volunteer for the All-Star fanfest. Hopefully I'll be in charge of running some of the kids games which should be fun and also allow me to get some exercise, but I won't know till I get there.

After St. Louis I'll be off to California for a week so hopefully I will be able to get my training runs in. Luckily it'll be an easy week, plus we'll be headed to some national parks so if all goes well I should do some pretty awesome runs!

Today is a cross training day so I'll probably try to get on the bike and maybe lift some weights.

Also, since I'm feeling pretty good and it's the beginning of week 5 I'll use this time to reflect on my training so far.

Total Distance: 95.4 miles
Total Duration: 13:34:04
Total Pace: 8:32
Total HR Avg/Max: 148.7/190
notes:

97 more days till Chicago and 14 more weeks of training. Week 4 was the toughest week so far but I think week 5 and 6 will go more smoothly and then I'll be a third of the way there. I haven't lost any weight yet which I think is paramount if I want to get any faster but hopefully as the miles increase I can also start focusing more on diet and the weight will start to drop off. There's still a lot of time so I'm not too worried.

Day 28

End of week 4 (groan)... This was definitely a tough week and I compounded it by pushing harder than probably I should of on several of my runs.


Distance: 11.0 miles
Duration: 1:42:22
Pace: 9:18
HR Avg/Max: 138/158
notes:


Today is long slow distance day. The punishment of the day... 11 miles. I woke up early and got out of the house and onto the road which felt like somewhat of an achievement itself. The sun was out, but the air was cool and there was a light breeze making the beginning of the run pleasant enough. I kept my hear rate down around 135 for the first 6 miles running at about a 9:20 pace. At the 6 mile point I started having some misfortunes. To begin with, the hard training really began to hit me and my heart rate jumped about 10 beats as my pace stayed even. This coincided with me reaching Bradley Park which has several big hills. The next two miles were rough and I wound up running mile 8 at about a 10:00 min/mile clip. At this point my headphones decided to crap out on me as the left ear piece kept cutting in and out every stride I took. I threw those away in a trash barrel as I exited the park and made my way back to the road to get my final 3 mies in. Getting back on the road helped my psyche and I was able to pick the pace back up.

Mile 9 I had an incident with a homeless guy on a bike. I was running the sidewalk on one side of the road and he was riding his bicycle on the other side of the road going the same direction. He was going pretty slow so we were basically side by side for a while. Then for some reason he decided to cross the road and get onto the sidewalk I was running on. He fell in behind me and biked along on the sidewalk about 6 feet behind me for about a half mile. I was somewhat annoyed, but tried to block it out. Finally he turned off and let me be.

Mile 10 I had an incident with a Rottwieler dog which was off leash in its front yard. Luckily it was friendly but that didn't stop if from coming over and jumping up on me as I ran by. I yelled at the dog and it left me alone. At this point I was pissed off and that got some adrenaline going which actually helped my run.

I got back to my neighborhood and got through mile 11 pushing the pace up to 8:35 min/mile.

Got home and jumped in an ice bath before accompanying my wife and her family for brunch. After brunch I rough housed with the boys for a while. At this point I'm completely exhausted and ready to spend the rest of the day on the couch. The in-laws are finally gone along with their two little boys and two not so little dogs. The chaos is over and hopefully the rest of today and tomorrow will provide the recovery I need to get me into week 5.

But for now. Week 4 is over! 14 weeks to go (groan).

Day 27

Woke up early before the in-laws got up and hit the road for my 6 mile "pace" run. The plan was to run it at 8:00 miles because I think that I want that to be my marathon pace (at least for now). Stepping out the door I had a change of heart and decided I'd run it faster, rationalizing that it would be better prep for my half-marathon next weekend.

Distance: 6.0 miles
Duration: 45:43
Pace: 7:37
HR Avg/Max: 158/180
notes:

Ran this one in the rain. The rain doesn't normally bother me too much but today I was wearing my Shamrock Shuffle tech t-shirt which morphed into a constrictive spandex-like body cast after it got wet... Otherwise, it was a good run.

Day 26

Day of rest... if you consider building a fence and mowing the lawn in the hot ass sun before the in-laws come with their two little boys and two crazy dogs who you must entertain and chase around the yard a day of rest.

Day 25

3 mile recovery run today.

I ran pretty hard the last two days so I'm going to be extra careful to keep this one in the recovery zone.

Distance: 3.0 miles
Duration: 26:57
Pace: 8:58
HR Avg/Max: 135/148
notes:

I ran the first 1.5 miles with my dog Sasha. I figured this would help me slow it down and enjoy myself. We started off pretty fast with Sasha pushing the pace (or more literally pulling the pace). However, Sasha is not so much of an endurance athlete and started to slow down after about .5 miles when the excitement of going for a run started to wear off. At this point she fell in stride with me at my side and with the exemption of a few bunny spotting incidents made a very nice running partner. After the 1.5 mark I dropped her off at home and finished up by myself. I was able to keep a good pace and pretty much had my heart rate under or at 135 the entire distance. I was pleased to be able to stay in the recovery zone and still hit under 9 min/mile pace (although I did push it the last .2 miles to get me there).

I'd like to have a better idea of how my fitness is improving but I still don't have enough data yet to get a good picture. I've run so many hilly courses of different degrees and at so many different temperatures that it's hard to find data that can really compare. I probably need to start running more consistent courses and then in a couple more weeks I'll probably have a better idea on where I stand.

Day 24

Week 4 is in full swing and the running is starting to ramp up again. Week 3 treated me very well, and I finally was starting to feel like I was getting "in shape" instead of just being sore and tired all the time.... In fact the other night I was thinking about how my legs and hips weren't feeling so tired and restless as I lay in bed... But I guess all good things must come to an end... Enter Week 4.

Last night my hips were sore and my legs restless, but at least my shin wasn't bothering me anymore (for now)...

Today I felt tired and sore some more... barely dragged my lazy ass out of the house and then... had an awesome 6 mile run!

Distance: 6.0 miles
Duration: 46:37
Pace: 7:46
HR Avg/Max: 154/172
notes:

The sky is cloudy and the temp is an unseasonable 65 degrees... I started this run with the intention of running brisk but easy and that's what I did... and after two miles I looked down at my watch and realized I was hitting 7:50 pace. I continued on at this pace through mile three. Mile 4 was a tough one because it was totally up hill and part of the uphill was a particularly steep quarter-mile accent. Subsequently I slowed down to 8:20 pace. For mile 5 and 6 I decided I was really going to push it and I knocked mile 5 off in 7:40. For mile 6 I really legged it out and hit it at 7:07.

I feel pretty good about the run. Higdon said to run it between 65-75% of max HR (closer to 75%) and I wound up more like 80-90% range but this is supposed to be a tough week and it feels good to go hard sometimes (i was beginning to think that the slow runs were making me soft). I figure I'll probably ramp down a little week 5 in preparation for the half marathon so might as well hit it hard now!