As the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. My intention for last week was to post at least once during the week so my post long run post (say that 5 times fast, huh?) would not be so long. Obviously that didn't happen. And let me tell you, I've seen the road to hell and am pretty sure it's about 15 miles long. More on that later.
So my midweek runs last week were 3-7-4. Really not too much to report on those. They were all done on the treadmill at a pretty easy pace, generally somewhere between 10:30-11:00 per mile. With the lower leg pains I'd been having, I didn't want to push things with speedwork, as I was afraid the extra pounding would make things worse. That plan seemed to work out pretty well, because the lower leg pains haven't been an issue of late, even on the long run Sunday. More on that later.
I have to say that during the whole week, I was pretty apprehensive about the 15 miler. I'd never run that far before (the closest I'd come was the half marathon) and it was messing with my head a bit. Could I do it? How hard would it be?
During the course of the midweek runs, I'd developed a new soreness. Not pain, mind you, just muscle soreness kind of near the top of my right thigh and wrapping around to just under the bum. I'm not sure, but after having talked to my sister, it sounds like it could be my right hip flexor. Normally, once it gets warmed up it's ok, but it gets kind of tight otherwise. This probably added to the concerns I was having about the long run.
So Sunday morning came, and it turns out we all slept in. Which as fine because we all needed the sleep. So it looked like an afternoon run was in the cards. By the time I started my run, it had warmed up to just over 20 degrees or so. I mapped out my run on mapmyrun.com and headed out. I'd decided ahead of time that instead of listening to music as per usual, I was going to listen to some podcasts instead. After all, I was going to be out for 3 hours or so (my unofficial goal was to average 12 minute miles), and it might be nice to hear some actual voices talking rather than just music. So I loaded up a playlist with more than enough podcast goodness and started running.
The first 8 miles or so weren't too bad, just the usual. My plan was to gel at 2, 7, and 12, and I had both a bottle of water and a bottle full of Gatorade with me so I could hydrate throughout the run. I know from prior runs that I probably wasn't drinking enough, so I wanted to make sure that wasn't going to be a problem.
Things got tougher as I got past 9 miles. I was REALLY looking forward to mile 12 when I could walk while I gelled. As it was, I took a quick walk at 10 miles and drank some Gatorade. As I got to 12, I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to walk, and even ended up walking .10 of a mile as I drank and gelled. By this point, I was just feeling whipped. My legs were tired and sore, and I just wanted to be DONE. But I continued on. I actually took walk breaks at miles 13 and 14, walking for the first .10 of each mile then picking up with the run again.
I finally made it home after the 15 miles, and I felt like crying; that run was SO hard. How am I going to go for 11 MORE miles in just over 7 weeks? I thought. To this day I'm not sure how I'm going to do it, just that it will get done somehow. I think up until that long run I was under the illusion that if I followed the training plan it would be ok, that things would work out. That 15 miles last weekend really humbled me. The marathon is going to be HARD. No matter how much work you put in, no matter how much you've prepared, it is still going to be HARD. PERIOD.
On a side note, as I sat there trying to recover, I wiped my face with my hand and it felt like I had dirt on my face. I tasted it, and it turns out it was VERY salty. My guess is that part of the reason the run took such a toll is that I lost too much salt. I did a better job hydrating, but I still think (and my sister agrees) that I probably still need to drink more. I'll give that a shot this weekend on my 16 miler.
I don't have my Garmin with me, but I know that I finished in the 2:50's with an average pace of 11:31 per mile, even with the walking breaks. I guess that's not too bad, as it's only 4 seconds per mile off race pace.
I did a 4 mile run on the treadmill on Tuesday night, with a 1 mile warmup (GASP!) at 5.5 mph, and then the final 3 miles at 6.0 mph. It felt pretty good, and my aches seemed to go away while I was running. Tonight is an 8 miler on the mill.
Wish me luck.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
First Things First...and the Dangers of Slacking
Grab some popcorn and strap yourselves in. It's been nearly a week since my last post, so this is probably going to be a lengthy excursion.
First things first. You may notice that I've renamed the blog slightly. It's still the same URL, but I felt that since the majority of the posts deal with my running/ training, Jedi Dad Runner seemed to fit a bit better. We now rejoin our regularly scheduled blog, already in progress.
After my long run of last weekend, I was set to run a 3 miler, a 7 miler, a 4 miler, and then a 10 miler. While it was technically a step back week, the milage of two of the midweek runs increased. The 3 miler ended up being a no brain, no strain treadmill run which I knocked out on Tuesday evening.
As the midweek "sorta long" run gets longer, I hate to run them on the treadmill. With schedules between work and home, however, this seems to be the most convenient for everyone involved. So I set the treadmill for 5.5 mph (about a 10:54 pace) and popped the movie "Wanted" in the DVD player. As I plodded along, I realized that the usual lower leg stuff was still happening. I'm not sure if it's just me pushing too much, or my legs are just protesting the pounding that my 215 lb frame causes. See, in the running world I'm what's known as a Clydsdale. Apparently my weight alone qualifies me to pull a Budweiser beer wagon along with a number of my hefty buddies. Now, I know I'm overweight, that much is obvious. I face it every time I look in the mirror. But I somehow find the comparison to a horse to be kind of insulting. If I could run as fast as a horse, it may be a different story. As it is, when I registered for the upcoming marathon, the application gave me the opportunity to register as a "Clydsdale". I opted not too, not out of any kind of vanity, but simply because I'm a runner. Fat, thin, fast, slow. It shouldn't matter. I'm a runner. Period.
Enough of the rant. I finished the 7 miler pretty easily and felt really good afterwords. I haven't seen the end of the movie yet, but I didn't think it was too bad so far. Sure it's not going to win any Oscars, but taken for what it is (an action flick based on a comic) it's not too bad.
Friday evening rolled around, and I was scheduled to do a 4 miler. I ended up skipping it because I was just wiped by the time evening rolled around. Between a couple late nights, and a couple early mornings with the kids, I was exhausted. I hated to skip the run, and felt guilty about it for quite awhile, but in the end 4 miles is not going to make a difference one way or the other as far as my training goes. And the night of rest probably helped me out as well.
So this morning rolled around and I was all set for my 10 miler. Except that I didn't feel like running. I didn't feel like getting up and going out for a run shortly after the sun came up. So I didn't. I'll run on the treadmill tonight, I told myself. So I hung out with the girls, we went to get groceries, ate some lunch and sat down to watch Wall-E while the youngest took a nap. Truth be told, dad kinda napped during Wall-E, too. And as the movie was ending, my wife asked me if I was going running. Part of me thought, I'll run on the treadmill tonight. Part of me thought, I don't feel like running today. Part of me thought, If you don't go now you might not run again. Luckily the last part won out, and I got off the couch, put on shorts (Yeah, it was in the lower 40's; AWESOME) and headed out for a midafternoon run. I don't know what it is, but the couch can grab ahold of you, suck you in, and make you think all kinds of nonsensical thoughts. It's almost like the scene in The Wizard of Oz where they have to cross the field of poppies. Except, of course, the couch would be the poppies and, well, you get the idea.
The sun was out for the first bit of the run, but quickly ducked behind some clouds. I felt pretty good after the first mile (man, I HATE that first mile. It REALLY sucks. For most of it I feel like it's my first time running, and I'm out of breath, and I can't seem to get in rhythm. Hit that second mile or so, though, things start to shake out and all is well with the world.) and decided I'd gel at 2 and 7 (roughly). I took Gatorade in my bottle today to see if it would work for me. I have to say, it didn't upset my stomach, and was a refreshing change from just water. It wasn't so good for washing down the gel, but oh well. I'm thinking that during the race, I'll take water in my bottle, and hit the aid stations for Gatorade. At least that way I'm not having to carry everything with me. The first gel I took was a PowerBar Tangerine. I'd had it once before and as soon as I tasted it, remembered WHY I'd had it only once before. Not good. I took some comfort in the fact that the second gel I had on hand was Green Apple, which I particularly enjoy. As I said, I felt pretty good, so I decided to push a little and see how it worked out. I also decided that I would check my splits half way and see how the first half of my run compared with the second. Somewhere between miles 3 and 4, I picked up the pace for a half mile or so, just to see how I could handle it. For that half mile I ran at about a 9:30 or so pace, and it felt pretty good. I recovered pretty quickly afterwords, and when I checked my split for "Lap 1", I finished the first 5 miles in 53:15 (10:39 pace). Not too bad, I thought. Just under a minute faster than "race pace" for my goal of finishing the marathon in 5 hours. I wanted to hold off a bit before I got too excited, though, and see how the second half of the run went.
The second half of my "loop" had a few more hills than the first, so I wasn't thinking about running negative splits or anything, just staying consistent throughout the run. It was a bit tougher than the first half, but I still felt pretty good. No real pain in my lower legs, though my thighs were burning a bit. A good burn, though. I decided that for the last mile, I was going to really push, try to finish really strong and see how things shook out. Turns out, pretty good. My second "lap" came in at 51:30 (10:18) pace. Almost 2 minutes faster. That made me happy. See, it does pay to get up off the couch and get moving.
Total for the run (based on Garmin): 10.0 miles in 1:44:45.
That's it for the runs (ha, ha) this week. But I wanted to pose a question and mention a couple other things. The question is this: What music do you listen to when you run? What really gets you moving? Is it a particular song, or type of music? For me there are a lot of songs, so it's hard to narrow it to just one. I'd have to say Stronger by Kanye West, anything from the Rocky soundtracks (these are good when things feel really hard), or anything from Linkin Park. Rob/White Zombie also gets the feet moving. So if you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
I've mentioned this podcast before, but Running With the Pack is really good. Just a couple guys talking about their training and their racing. Jeff and Allan are way faster than I'll ever be, but the podcast is really accessible.
I've also discovered a site called Runner's Lounge that has all kinds of great info, stories, links, etc for runners. Check it out if you get the chance.
That's it for now. I'll try to post during the week this week so I don't bore you all to death next weekend with tales of my 15 miler.
First things first. You may notice that I've renamed the blog slightly. It's still the same URL, but I felt that since the majority of the posts deal with my running/ training, Jedi Dad Runner seemed to fit a bit better. We now rejoin our regularly scheduled blog, already in progress.
After my long run of last weekend, I was set to run a 3 miler, a 7 miler, a 4 miler, and then a 10 miler. While it was technically a step back week, the milage of two of the midweek runs increased. The 3 miler ended up being a no brain, no strain treadmill run which I knocked out on Tuesday evening.
As the midweek "sorta long" run gets longer, I hate to run them on the treadmill. With schedules between work and home, however, this seems to be the most convenient for everyone involved. So I set the treadmill for 5.5 mph (about a 10:54 pace) and popped the movie "Wanted" in the DVD player. As I plodded along, I realized that the usual lower leg stuff was still happening. I'm not sure if it's just me pushing too much, or my legs are just protesting the pounding that my 215 lb frame causes. See, in the running world I'm what's known as a Clydsdale. Apparently my weight alone qualifies me to pull a Budweiser beer wagon along with a number of my hefty buddies. Now, I know I'm overweight, that much is obvious. I face it every time I look in the mirror. But I somehow find the comparison to a horse to be kind of insulting. If I could run as fast as a horse, it may be a different story. As it is, when I registered for the upcoming marathon, the application gave me the opportunity to register as a "Clydsdale". I opted not too, not out of any kind of vanity, but simply because I'm a runner. Fat, thin, fast, slow. It shouldn't matter. I'm a runner. Period.
Enough of the rant. I finished the 7 miler pretty easily and felt really good afterwords. I haven't seen the end of the movie yet, but I didn't think it was too bad so far. Sure it's not going to win any Oscars, but taken for what it is (an action flick based on a comic) it's not too bad.
Friday evening rolled around, and I was scheduled to do a 4 miler. I ended up skipping it because I was just wiped by the time evening rolled around. Between a couple late nights, and a couple early mornings with the kids, I was exhausted. I hated to skip the run, and felt guilty about it for quite awhile, but in the end 4 miles is not going to make a difference one way or the other as far as my training goes. And the night of rest probably helped me out as well.
So this morning rolled around and I was all set for my 10 miler. Except that I didn't feel like running. I didn't feel like getting up and going out for a run shortly after the sun came up. So I didn't. I'll run on the treadmill tonight, I told myself. So I hung out with the girls, we went to get groceries, ate some lunch and sat down to watch Wall-E while the youngest took a nap. Truth be told, dad kinda napped during Wall-E, too. And as the movie was ending, my wife asked me if I was going running. Part of me thought, I'll run on the treadmill tonight. Part of me thought, I don't feel like running today. Part of me thought, If you don't go now you might not run again. Luckily the last part won out, and I got off the couch, put on shorts (Yeah, it was in the lower 40's; AWESOME) and headed out for a midafternoon run. I don't know what it is, but the couch can grab ahold of you, suck you in, and make you think all kinds of nonsensical thoughts. It's almost like the scene in The Wizard of Oz where they have to cross the field of poppies. Except, of course, the couch would be the poppies and, well, you get the idea.
The sun was out for the first bit of the run, but quickly ducked behind some clouds. I felt pretty good after the first mile (man, I HATE that first mile. It REALLY sucks. For most of it I feel like it's my first time running, and I'm out of breath, and I can't seem to get in rhythm. Hit that second mile or so, though, things start to shake out and all is well with the world.) and decided I'd gel at 2 and 7 (roughly). I took Gatorade in my bottle today to see if it would work for me. I have to say, it didn't upset my stomach, and was a refreshing change from just water. It wasn't so good for washing down the gel, but oh well. I'm thinking that during the race, I'll take water in my bottle, and hit the aid stations for Gatorade. At least that way I'm not having to carry everything with me. The first gel I took was a PowerBar Tangerine. I'd had it once before and as soon as I tasted it, remembered WHY I'd had it only once before. Not good. I took some comfort in the fact that the second gel I had on hand was Green Apple, which I particularly enjoy. As I said, I felt pretty good, so I decided to push a little and see how it worked out. I also decided that I would check my splits half way and see how the first half of my run compared with the second. Somewhere between miles 3 and 4, I picked up the pace for a half mile or so, just to see how I could handle it. For that half mile I ran at about a 9:30 or so pace, and it felt pretty good. I recovered pretty quickly afterwords, and when I checked my split for "Lap 1", I finished the first 5 miles in 53:15 (10:39 pace). Not too bad, I thought. Just under a minute faster than "race pace" for my goal of finishing the marathon in 5 hours. I wanted to hold off a bit before I got too excited, though, and see how the second half of the run went.
The second half of my "loop" had a few more hills than the first, so I wasn't thinking about running negative splits or anything, just staying consistent throughout the run. It was a bit tougher than the first half, but I still felt pretty good. No real pain in my lower legs, though my thighs were burning a bit. A good burn, though. I decided that for the last mile, I was going to really push, try to finish really strong and see how things shook out. Turns out, pretty good. My second "lap" came in at 51:30 (10:18) pace. Almost 2 minutes faster. That made me happy. See, it does pay to get up off the couch and get moving.
Total for the run (based on Garmin): 10.0 miles in 1:44:45.
That's it for the runs (ha, ha) this week. But I wanted to pose a question and mention a couple other things. The question is this: What music do you listen to when you run? What really gets you moving? Is it a particular song, or type of music? For me there are a lot of songs, so it's hard to narrow it to just one. I'd have to say Stronger by Kanye West, anything from the Rocky soundtracks (these are good when things feel really hard), or anything from Linkin Park. Rob/White Zombie also gets the feet moving. So if you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them.
I've mentioned this podcast before, but Running With the Pack is really good. Just a couple guys talking about their training and their racing. Jeff and Allan are way faster than I'll ever be, but the podcast is really accessible.
I've also discovered a site called Runner's Lounge that has all kinds of great info, stories, links, etc for runners. Check it out if you get the chance.
That's it for now. I'll try to post during the week this week so I don't bore you all to death next weekend with tales of my 15 miler.
Monday, February 2, 2009
It's Nice to Run Outside Redux
So I woke up Sunday morning to nice clear skies, no wind, and the temperature was a balmy 27 degrees. PERFECT!! Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it wasn't far from the truth.
Given the conditions I ran in on the Sunday past, I decided on Saturday that I would drive my route to be sure about the road conditions. I realized two things as I drove the route: the roads were great (the snow had melted off of them), and 13 miles is a long way! Even in the car. Not to mention on foot.
I was a bit apprehensive, as I had only run 13 miles once before, and that was in the Flying Pig Half Marathon last May. I decided I would keep the pace slow, just ease into the run and see how it went. Within the first mile, my lower legs started to complain. My left leg began to hurt along the front of the shin, and my right leg had the same inside calf shenanigans that's been going on for awhile. I remained conscious of it, each step making me wonder how I am going to get through 26.2 miles. This kept up for the next couple miles, and then a miraculous thing happened; ALL the pain/discomfort/hurt went away. By mile 3 everything was fine. Now I don't know if the problem is that there is a muscle/tendon/whatever that starts out "cold" then warms up as things go or what, but whatever it is (as long as it goes away) I'll take it.
I was happy to come to the first "pit stop" at 5 miles. I walked while I gelled and drank. Then I started up again. There was a time when I thought that if I stopped to walk I'd never be able to start running again because my legs would just be dead. Not so much.
Bu the time I got to 8 miles, I was looking forward to the 10 mile "pit stop". Things were getting a bit harder and I felt it mostly in my thighs. There was some definite burning going on. Which is good; that means the muscle is breaking down and during recovery will build itself back up stronger than before. At least that's what I thought I read somewhere. If you know something different, let me know. Maybe I'll choose to believe what you say, or maybe I'll continue to live in this fantasy world I've created in my head.
The 10 mile "pit stop" was interesting. I used a Clif Shot (Orange Cream), and followed it with some water. I've decided that for me, the Clif gels are just too thick. I prefer the Powerbar gels (Raspberry Cream is pretty good, and Green Apple is just plain tasty). So I washed down the gel with some water. This is a slightly different experience than past long runs because my water had frozen by this point. Not yesterday. It was nice and cold, however, and I think I may have drunk a bit too much, because I developed a bit of a stitch about mile 11. Nothing too bad and nothing I couldn't work out, but not comfortable either.
The last couple miles I really felt the burn in my legs. But I made it. There were several times in the last couple miles I wanted to walk, but I just imagined that there were 24 miles behind me and only a couple more to go and that kept me going. We'll see in a couple weeks when I go LONGER THAN I'VE EVER RAN BEFORE IN MY LIFE: 15 miles.
The end result from Sunday's run:
Garmin: 13.01 miles, 2:28:03, 11:23 pace
Nike+ : 13.76 miles, 2:27:27, 10:42 pace
And yes, I did get "Yoda" working again. I finally got the Nano to restore. Seems like the Nano is partial to a particular USB port, while the iPHONE is especially fond of the other.
A step back this week for the long run (only 10 miles), but a couple of the midweek runs go up in milage (from 6 to 7, and from 3 to 4). Should be interesting.
Later.
Given the conditions I ran in on the Sunday past, I decided on Saturday that I would drive my route to be sure about the road conditions. I realized two things as I drove the route: the roads were great (the snow had melted off of them), and 13 miles is a long way! Even in the car. Not to mention on foot.
I was a bit apprehensive, as I had only run 13 miles once before, and that was in the Flying Pig Half Marathon last May. I decided I would keep the pace slow, just ease into the run and see how it went. Within the first mile, my lower legs started to complain. My left leg began to hurt along the front of the shin, and my right leg had the same inside calf shenanigans that's been going on for awhile. I remained conscious of it, each step making me wonder how I am going to get through 26.2 miles. This kept up for the next couple miles, and then a miraculous thing happened; ALL the pain/discomfort/hurt went away. By mile 3 everything was fine. Now I don't know if the problem is that there is a muscle/tendon/whatever that starts out "cold" then warms up as things go or what, but whatever it is (as long as it goes away) I'll take it.
I was happy to come to the first "pit stop" at 5 miles. I walked while I gelled and drank. Then I started up again. There was a time when I thought that if I stopped to walk I'd never be able to start running again because my legs would just be dead. Not so much.
Bu the time I got to 8 miles, I was looking forward to the 10 mile "pit stop". Things were getting a bit harder and I felt it mostly in my thighs. There was some definite burning going on. Which is good; that means the muscle is breaking down and during recovery will build itself back up stronger than before. At least that's what I thought I read somewhere. If you know something different, let me know. Maybe I'll choose to believe what you say, or maybe I'll continue to live in this fantasy world I've created in my head.
The 10 mile "pit stop" was interesting. I used a Clif Shot (Orange Cream), and followed it with some water. I've decided that for me, the Clif gels are just too thick. I prefer the Powerbar gels (Raspberry Cream is pretty good, and Green Apple is just plain tasty). So I washed down the gel with some water. This is a slightly different experience than past long runs because my water had frozen by this point. Not yesterday. It was nice and cold, however, and I think I may have drunk a bit too much, because I developed a bit of a stitch about mile 11. Nothing too bad and nothing I couldn't work out, but not comfortable either.
The last couple miles I really felt the burn in my legs. But I made it. There were several times in the last couple miles I wanted to walk, but I just imagined that there were 24 miles behind me and only a couple more to go and that kept me going. We'll see in a couple weeks when I go LONGER THAN I'VE EVER RAN BEFORE IN MY LIFE: 15 miles.
The end result from Sunday's run:
Garmin: 13.01 miles, 2:28:03, 11:23 pace
Nike+ : 13.76 miles, 2:27:27, 10:42 pace
And yes, I did get "Yoda" working again. I finally got the Nano to restore. Seems like the Nano is partial to a particular USB port, while the iPHONE is especially fond of the other.
A step back this week for the long run (only 10 miles), but a couple of the midweek runs go up in milage (from 6 to 7, and from 3 to 4). Should be interesting.
Later.
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