Another day, another reason to run

I was really, really tired this morning when the alarm went off.  It's been a long work week and I didn't get to bed when I wanted to, etc, etc.  I was seriously tempted to snooze the alarm and run tonight, but that is an even less attractive proposition than getting up and running.

I was pondering that on my run this morning.  Thursdays are my tempo/hard run days, and I am getting to really like them.  I have always trained this way:  I try to run at less than a 10 minute pace, and if I have gas in the tank I run faster.  In other words, I would run as fast as I could for as long as I could.  I hadn't yet embraced the paradox that to get faster you need to go slower.  Easy pace, tempo pace were not terms in my vocabulary.

I'm very internally competitive, so one of the reasons I like the easy pace days is that they give me permission to run slower than I would otherwise.  I'm also liking my hard run days for the same reason - they give me permission to go for it.  My trial 5K was (for me) a blistering 8:24 pace.  At the end I was well and truly spent.  Today, 14 days later, I ran 8:42 for 3 miles and it honestly didn't feel that hard.  Well - I was slow to warm up, so the first mile was a little rough, but I ended with a 8:18 pace for the final mile, and it felt easier than the 9:24 I ran for the first mile.  At the end of the run I felt like the dogs you see in the park with the slobbery wet tennis ball in their mouths.  I was having fun not paying attention to my pace and just running, and even though I get a sense of satisfaction in marking the check mark on my training plan, today was about running as fast I wanted just because I could.

That feeling carries through into the work day too.  I got to work a little later than normal, but knowing my workout was done already had my head clear and I could focus on work without worrying about getting my run in later.  The mental freedom running provides is a fantastic boon, and is another thing that keeps me rolling out of bed early in the AM to lace up my kicks.  As nice as sleeping in can be, it's never made my day easier to get through.  Now if I can get to bed earlier, then I'll have the best of both worlds!

What are your thoughts on the subject?  Are you an early riser, or a evening exerciser?

Feeling the burn....

I've completed 5 weeks of training now.  In these 5 weeks I've logged 84 miles and run for almost 14 hours in total.  For the elites, this is a week's worth of training, but for a mastodon like myself, it's a lot.  And I'm feeling it.

My summary page from the iPad app "Run Journal"

This is where rest days and my bi-monthly massage are great.  I'm also using ice packs on my knees, not because I need them, but precisely because I don't need them, and I want to keep it that way.  I also see the wisdom of the back-off week.

For example, this past Saturday I had my first real long run, a 10 miler that I did half on concrete/asphalt and half on gravel or dirt trails.  It's my first 20+ mile week, up from 18 the week before, which is a pretty big jump from week to week.  This week my long run is 7 miles - three miles less than this past week, a mile less than it was two weeks ago.  Total mileage will be 19 for the week, and I'm betting that the 7 miles on Saturday will feel easy and leave me with fresher legs for week 7 which goes up to 24 miles with a 12 miler on Saturday July 7.

My Home Page on the iPad's "Run Journal"

I did want to touch on my 10 miler from this weekend for a minute.  I started at the 119th street trailhead for the St Vrain Greenway and warmed up on the gravel side path for the first mile, then turned south and headed for the Left Hand Creek trail.  Because the city has the trail torn up at Main Street, a big chunk of the trail is a detour on Missouri Avenue but that's no biggie - it's either going to be concrete on the trail or asphalt on the road.  When the trail hits Sunset there's another crushed gravel path that is well shaded (a relief at the end of my run as the temperature had climbed into the 70's).  That path goes for about 3/4 of a mile, then crosses Hover and the trail becomes the Lobo trail.  It's a nice wide dirt trail the winds through farmland and parallels the railroad tracks (for at least as far as I went this weekend).  It is a nice and well maintained trail.  I was rounding a corner, getting clear of a stand of trees with Collective Soul's "The World I Know" driving me forward.  The chorus was crooning "So I walk up on high / And I step to the edge / To see my world below" and there in the middle of the trail was a golden eagle.  It had a chunk of something in it's talons and it was just standing there with it's wings slightly spread and it's beak open about an inch, just staring straight back at me.  I stopped in my tracks and there we were, about 20 feet apart, me not moving and him just standing there daring me to get closer.  Just as I was wondering how long this standoff would last he decided to take his snack and get moving.  He spread his wings, and with a few flaps was soaring up and over the trees to my left.  It's moments like that one that make me love running.  It could be the sunrise lighting up the front range at the precise moment I crest the hill by Union Reservoir, or the eagle, or any of a number of other things.  They don't happen too often, which is good or they would lose their value.  Their rarity more than makes up for sore muscles, hurting knees and blistered feet (though I haven't had those in a while).  Most importantly, they do NOT happen when you sleep in or sit on the couch.  You have go out and chase them down, and that is what running is all about.  How's that for a moment of zen?

Running, drinking, and running some more

It's hard to believe, but I am almost 25% done with my marathon training.  My long run this week is 8 miles, which will be my longest run of the year...in fact, the longest run probably since the marathon last year.  I'm excited because everything so far has been going very well, so this is a big test for me physically.  I've also started seeing some weight come off which is a nice side benefit to all this running.  Last year I got down to about 175 before the marathon, which was what I weighed when I graduated college in 1996.  If I can get down into the 150s we will be talking 1980's since I saw a number that low on the scale.  Focus is the key...and fewer nights like Friday night.

I went out with a couple of buddies Friday and ended up drinking more than I should have, and staying out much later than I should have.  My long run Saturday was a hot, painful sorry mess of a run...but I got it done and my time wasn't that bad either, even though I felt like I was running in molasses shoes through a field of peanut butter.  Note to self; next time Kurt calls and wants to go out, make sure it's not the night before a long run.  :-)

Tonight is strength and core, so we'll see if I can conquer my nemesis workout without being brought to my knees like last time.  Tomorrow for my hard run I am going to target 26 minutes for 5K, assuming the smoke from the Rist Canyon fire isn't as bad as it was yesterday.  I ended up on the treadmill for 4 miles because the smoke was so bad outside I could barely see the end of our street.  Anyway, if I can hit 26 minutes I'll feel like I am making good progress. 

By the way, I saw a quote today that really resonated with me - "If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up."  I love it.  Git'r'done!

What doesn't kill us...sometimes just makes us sick.

One of my commitments in training for this marathon is to do more strength training than I did last time, which was essentially none, so this should not be hard.  As I prepared for the Spartan race in early May, I did some of the "Spartan WODs (Workouts Of the Day) from emails the race peeps send every night.  Much of the exercises focus on body weight (push ups, wall sits, leg lifts, burpees....LOTS of burpees) so you can do them anywhere, and with the exception of exercises like pull ups or sand bag carries, they can be done without access to any equipment.  In that vein I, hit Wednesday night pretty hard.

I did the following workout:

• 10 pushups
• 20 crunches
• 25 squats (I did them on the Bowflex with 100 pounds but you could do body weight)
• 20 lunges (10 each leg)
• 30 jumping jacks
• 60 second wall sit (never done this?  60 seconds is an ETERNITY!)
• 10 leg lifts

Repeat - do circuit 3 times.

I am proud to say I completed the circuit the prescribed three times.  The I felt like a week one contestant on The Biggest Loser.  I got nauseous, felt like throwing up and almost went down.  I drank some water, grabbed an ice pack and put it on the back of my neck, laid down for a few minutes and felt better.

On the plus side, I hit my target pace (8:55 - I actually ran 8:50) for my tempo run Thursday morning.  By comparison, the discomfort of the tempo run was nothing to the Biggest Loser moment of the night before, and Saturday's long run was a walk in the park.  Training week two - over and out!