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!

Week one - done and done!

Week one is in the books. I completed every workout and even adhered to my rest day, which for me is hard. The run of the week was the 5 mile long run on Saturday. It was warm (56 degrees) and really humid. The clouds were hanging low and along the St Vrain greenway it was foggy. I love runs like that where everything feels kind of surreal. Anyway, I took it slow, trying to adhere to my long run pace, and a funny thing happened. I lost track of time and pace, and the final two miles flew by. I felt like I was gliding effortlessly along, and the last two miles were well under my target pace, but I could not have helped it if I wanted to. My last mile was close to my tempo pace, but my heart rate was around 150, about 30 beats lower than my tempo run. This was, for only the second time in 8 years of running, the elusive runner's high in action, and it was wonderful. This is what makes running worthwhile.

Week 1 - almost in the books!

Today is one of the harder days for me in my training plan...the rest day. It feels like I should be doing SOMEthing. I have to force myself to remember that this is when muscles repair themselves, rebuild connections, and you become stronger. No rest = injuries. Injuries = no marathon, or a painful one like last year. So today, I rest.

Yesterday was a tempo day. The target pace was 8:55 and we ran 9:29. Not bad for my first tempo run. Hopefully I can improve on that next week. Tomorrow is a 5 miler for my long run. Today, I rest.

Day 3 and I'm still 100%! Woot!

I'm 3 days into the training plan and I'm still perfect. Everything is feeling good, I'm energized and looking forward to my workouts. I may have to move my long run to Friday this week as graduation is Saturday and I don't know if I will have time beforehand. Yesterday was my second run, 3 miles at easy pace. I went early because I knew I would not have time after work and it was lovely to get out while the world was still waking up. As it gets hotter I will definitely have to do that more often. I intend to spend some time in the heat though, as I need to get acclimated for Run For Your Life in July. Tonight was strength and core, and I did a circuit-style body weight routine capped with one mile in my Vibrams. It was a heckuva workout, though it didn't really seem to get my heartrate up that much. The third one minute wall sit about killed me! But with RFYL coming up, it's going to be good to get a bunch of these kinds of workouts under my belt. Tomorrow it's 3 miles @ tempo pace - which is 8:55. Per my race-pace tool: "Tempo" run - 8:55 min/mile Tempo runs help you improve your running economy and your running form. They are often described as hard but controlled runs, and they will help you prepare for races of 10,000 meters to the marathon. I'm hitting this one early because we will probably have taco night tomorrow night. It's all about balance!!

Day one - in the bag!

Today officially started my marathon training. It was no huge deal - 3 miles easy pace - but it was important because I'm off to a good start. It's hard because distractions arise so easily, but I have to keep up with my plan.

One thing that I've never done before is to really look at my goal times and build my plan off of that. For example, 3 easy miles...what does that mean? Well, my pace calculator app for the iPad tells me this about that:

"Easy run - 10:40 min/mile
Top coaches and exercise physiologists believe that most runners should do 80 to 90 percent of their weekly training at the easy run pace this includes your long runs, done at approximately the same pace. Easy runs build your aerobic fitness, and your muscular and skeletal strength. They also help you burn more calories and recover for harder workouts."

This is interesting, because my historical method of training was to go out as fast as I could for each run. Running slower than I could seems counter intuitive, but I have to trust the plan. I did pretty good - I averaged 10:21 over the three miles, which is awfully darned close to 10:40.

Tomorrow: second verse, same as the first!