July Updates

I've been up in the mountains almost every weekend since my last post. With the exception of a long weekend on the Virginia shore to see my family. Despite all my marathon training, I'm still not faster than my sister, who was a college XC runner, but I was able to thump my 58 year old dad. While that statement doesn't sound impressive, a few years ago he ran a 3:48 marathon at Big Sur.

I've had some good car camping trips and started to pick up some better gear that makes things a little more comfortable. We spent a nice weekend up around Buena Vista, Colorado fishing and hiking the trails around Missouri Peak.

The weekend of the 10th a few friends and I met up in Crested Butte, the mountain bike capital of the world, and rode a really nice 20 mile trail called reno/deaddog if I remember correctly. Again, I have no pictures of these events.

Last weekend, my buddy who I did Quandary with earlier and I did an evening ascent of Torreys and Grays peak. This was incredible. We left work on Friday around 4, bolted up to the trail head and beat feet up the peaks. The round trip on this was ~8.25 miles and we did it in 3:12. The pace was about .25 miles/hour faster than the quandary trip and we were pretty happy.

The plan is to get a group together this weekend to do Longs peak and I have some 4 wheeling trips in the works. I'm pretty excited for this summer. As far as long run plans, I don't think I'll be doing a marathon any time again this year. I still don't feel like my feet are up to another run like that, and the training is just too much when it's 90+ degrees outside every day. I'm planning on picking up a nicer camera and I might start back with some more frequent updates. We'll see.

Another monthly update.

I finally started running again. 3 weeks after the marathon I ran 2 miles, everything felt great. I was a happy person, running was fun again. Since then I ran about 4 miles on the road twice, then started into fun runs. I ran about 7 miles around green mountain, a grueling loop where my average heart rate was 176. Then this weekend a friend and I tried to RUN up Quandary Peak. The running wasn't happening on the way up and we did our best to "power hike" which is essentially a fast paced hike. We ran almost the entire way down and it was a great workout. The trail is about 4 miles up and 4 back down. The way up was 1:40, the way down was 50 minutes. The peak was just over 14,200'. The pace might not sound fast, but we were passing people literally the entire way, all the way up to the final stretch, it was a fun time and a great "colorado" experience.


I've been mountain biking a lot (~2x/week) and I got a new bike. A yeti 575. This thing is great. I actually got it just before the marathon but didn't get to ride it much. A group of friends rides MTBs every wednesday and then I try to get in one other ride per week, either downhill or with friends on the same old local trails. Some of these are real lung burners and I feel like I'm gaining strength in a different kind of conditioning. Mountain biking requires a lot of short sprints and the ability to catch your breath while still keeping a decent pace. The training is totally different from marathon training. I've actually found myself saying "I need to get back in shape" a few times. It's amazing to me that such a one track focus on running long distances can really leave me out of shape in other aspects. On a positive note, I must have been holding lots of extra water weight or something, because I dropped literally 5 pounds within 3 weeks of the marathon, that was nice to see. Perhaps more updates, but also likely not. Cheers.

Done!

Man, I suck at this. It's been almost 2 weeks since the marathon. The final 20 miler 3 weeks prior to that went well and I was excited for the marathon.

About a week before the marathon I came down with a really bad cough and was a sick mess the week leading up to the marathon. The day before the marathon I stepped on a nail and it went through my shoe and into my food. The day of the marathon my alarm didn't go off and I woke up 45 minutes before the race. I made it on time and had good splits (1:58 1/2 high point of race) through about 20 miles. At 20 I hit a wall and slowed off pace by about 3 minutes/mile. I trotted into the finish at 4:13. I'm happy I finished, not excited about my time, but I was hacking up green mucus throughout the run, so given the circumstances I think I did well. I believe that I developed a stress fracture on my left food sometime around mile 23, the pain really messed up my gait until I found a way to run where I wasn't landing on my foot in a painful way. Almost two weeks later I feel like I can run again, and I'm excited about that. The muscles were ok 2-3 days later, but my foot/feet hurt for almost a week, and the one I think I messed up continued, it's still a little sore but I could run now if I had to. My cough is finally going away almost completely, but it has sure been a pain in the ass.

Future plans for the summer include a lot of not training for stuff. Climbing mountains, mountain biking, trail runs, and possibly another marathon in October with my friend Matt. We will see! Weight the day after race day was 191. I've been really good about eating the last two weeks and while I haven't been too active, I haven't gained any weight. Good times.

A whole month!

Ok, so I blew it and got sick of daily updates, then I got sick of every few days, then I didn't want to come back to it. So here's an update for the last 4 weeks of running.

Two 20 mile runs. First was tough, second wasn't as bad and I picked a different route. After the first 20 I felt good and picked up more aggressively with the speed work.

One 10 mile "long" run. This was awesome, this distance is a great run and it doesn't take all day and it doesn't take a ton of prep. I think after my marathon 10-15 will be my max distance.

One 22 mile run. This was hell, I felt great up through about 16 miles then I felt crappier every step. I've gone one 20 miler left and I'm going to shoot for goal pace on it.

Weekday training has been up and down. I've been hitting the trails, skiing, and mountain biking a bit. It really changes things up and makes me feel happier in general about working out. The training has been long and hard. After this Sunday I start tapering and it couldn't come at a better time. I'm worried and excited for the marathon, I know I can finish, but my time is worrying me. Lots of indicators suggest I can make my goal 4hr, but I'm not sure my legs care what the VO2Max test says or my 1/2 time or anything else. I'll try and keep up with this as the time gets closer.

I've really broken in my new shoes and find they're about the same as other shoes. I've switched gels to clif, I've been using my belt a lot more and storing water alone the route. This whole experience really has been unique and I'm happy I've done it.

Week Update: Training and 18 mile long run.

The marathon training is in sort of a phase where the weekday runs don't seem as long anymore, in fact some are shorter, and the weekend runs are really stepping up the distance.

After the 1/2 marathon the only pain was some sort of weird foot soreness. I chalked it up to 8 month old running shoes and sprung for a pair of Asics Gel Kayano runners. These things are awesome. My Wednesday run was the first on these and being st. Patrick's day I knocked out a few miles quickly and then biked to the restaurant/bar.

Thursdays run was 6 miles, and most of my pains were pretty minor by now. I snowboarded on Saturday and had a pretty hard crash that seems to have messed up my shoulder a bit as well as given me some random knee and hip soreness. This didn't keep me from running 18 miles on Sunday. This was the longest run of my life. By the end I felt ok but my feet were pretty sore. The rest of the day I felt fine, but by bed time I was noticing a pretty continuous pain at the base of my left toe. This hasn't gone away. I can't isolate it either, I can push all over with my thumbs and now increase the soreness. I'm hoping it's just some pressure or muscle pain and not something worse. Tomorrow and Wednesday are supposed to be crappy days in Denver so I'll probably just work out on the bike trainer. That will give me 4 days of recovery without further impact training.

So far I'm happy with my shoes, the other random foot pains have gone away. I ate 4 gels during my 18 miles and felt good on energy, my belt worked well and didn't rub or bother me much, I stashed extra water on the route and ended up using about 32 ounces. My weight post run was 191.5.
The 20 miles next week will tell me a lot and I'm looking forward to it in a sick way, I just hope this pain/soreness in my feet goes away.

Some pictures from the 1/2 marathon

Both of these pictures were taken in the last 100 yards, one obviously at the finish line. Besides my shorts hiking up I look pretty happy. Yay Me!

Exciting WEEKEND! 1/2 Marathon.

What an eventful and fun filled weekend of fitness!

Since my last post I've consumed quite a bit of alcohol, most of it in celebration. After much hoopla on Friday regarding the kickoff of my girlfriends play, we recovered with a 1.5 hour hike in the foothills around Boulder. Chautauqua park is insanely crowded, but a good time none the less, there's still a lot of ice and snow on the trails, so we stuck to lower elevations. It's always enjoyable to visit my old college stomping grounds.

While in the city I picked up the packet, race number number (1145), and chip for the 1/2 marathon on Sunday. I have to admit at this point my knee was bothering me and I was worried about the race the next day. However I got a great nights sleep and woke up at 7am (after DST switch) and headed up to Boulder with my girlfriend sleeping in the passenger seat. She was planning to volunteer for the race by preparing food the runners also she fully intended to abandon her volunteer responsibilities around 11 to watch me finish the race.

The weather was chilly high 30's/low 40's with a slight breeze. I had a really hard time deciding what to wear, but ultimately went with shorts and a short sleeve shirt. I was in the overwhelming minority and only saw a handful of other people with as few clothes on as I was wearing, but I felt ok so forget them.

The race kicked off on time and I was herded towards the start finish line. The race layout was odd with a narrow start and a few sharp turns at the beginning. I ended up speed walking/trotting much of mile one at came in right around 10 minutes. Well below my desired pace, I had my work cut out for me. This was an out and back course with 10k, 10mile, and 1/2 marathon lengths and as I got into my grove around the 2-3 mile mark the fast 10k runners started passing me. After 3 miles I was into my 9:10min/mile goal pace and feeling fine, nothing hurt, the crowd had thinned out, I wasn't cold, but I still had a long way to go.

At the 5 mile mark I ate a gel and washed it down with some Gatorade a few minutes later. I was feeling ok and still pretty much right on my 9:10 pace. After the 10M turn around the crowds were pretty thin and I was feeling alright, but unhappy with my pace. There was a moderate headwind and the course seemed to be going uphill but I wasn't sure. I hit the 1/2 way point turn around 15 seconds ahead of my 2 hour goal pace at 59:45, I felt pretty good at this point and noticed the course seemed really fast. Perhaps it was more uphill than I thought. I chatted with some runners during the next two miles about the weather, clothing, the course, and other marathons. I didn't realize until mile 8 that I'd made up over a minute on my goal pace.

A runner in a tutu was setting a solid pace in front of me, but a hill at mile 9 seemed to take the wind from her sails and I cruised by. Around 9.5 miles I ate another gel, I was now 2 minutes ahead of my 9:10 pace and feeling really good. My heart rate had been steady in the 160's every time I looked with some peaks hitting low 170's. For reference, my 48 minute 10k was almost entirely in the high 170's and 180's. In short, with 3 miles to go my cardio was money. My legs felt a little tight, but solid, NOTHING HURT!

The last two miles were largely downhill and I really felt like I opened up my pace. I got an excited kick the last couple hundred yards where my HR finally broke 180. I heard them call my name as I crossed, and threw my arms up like a goon with a big goofy smile. I looked at my watch and saw 1:55:18 (officially 1:55:15). I'd crushed my previous time of 1:59:30 and I really didn't feel bad and made up all of the time in the second half. My girlfriend was there and gave me a big hug and a reluctant sweaty kiss. I ate, drank several free beers, and headed home. The only pain I've had since the race is in my toes, it feels like the joints at the base my my left toes are pretty sore. With that exception I've felt really fantastic. I'm happy with my time, happy how I felt and how I ran, and pleased with the Boulder race course. With the exception of the starting line cluster f*** this was really a well run and well maintained course. I feel like I could have pushed harder over the entire course for a better time, but that really wasn't the focus of this run, it was more of a gauge/training run. I got a lot of information about how I feel and times I should expect. I'm more confident in my 4 hour full time now. With 2 months left to train I'm back to being excited about running.

I had to leave for a business trip to Oklahoma City shortly after getting home from my run, and on that note it's actually a pretty nice town. All day yesterday was spent in the field walking proposed line routes, and I didn't feel sore at all.

Slacking off on Posts, not on workouts...

Sorry, work has picked up a lot this week and I find myself low on the usual free time, I'll just sum up the training from Sunday to Now.

Sunday I had a nice recovery ride of about 40 minutes on the bike at a relatively slow pace. All was well. My trainer has totally destroyed my bike tire. I heard it makes them wear out fast, but this is ridiculous.

Monday, rest, I enjoyed a nice walk with the girlfriend, the weather was nice, cooling down a bit though.

Tuesday, 10 miles, Goal Pace. DONE, this was harder than I expected. My left hammy is really tight these days, since that fast 6 miles, I'm a little worried about it, I may have to take a few days off after the 1/2 marathon this weekend.

Wed, SNOW. I rode the bike for 45-50 minutes. The expected run was only 4 miles so I consider this a good alternative workout. It took the pressure of my hammy but still got the heart rate going.

Today should be 6, we'll see how it goes. The Boulder 1/2 is on Sunday and I'm going to try and take it easy till then. I'll be pretty happy if I can hit goal pace for the 1/2 marathon. If my hamstring holds up I don't see that being a problem.

Rest Day and Snowboarding Mt. Elbert

Friday rest day I was a little sore after the hard run on Thursday, took a good walk at lunch though. Mostly Friday was preparation for the ski ascent/descent of Mt. Elbert.
Mike did a great write up of the ascent, and I'm considering the ~6 hour hike up to be my long run for the week. Sunday will be my recovery day, and this week will be prep for the 1/2 marathon to celebrate daylight saving time. Below is a teaser pic and a link to mike's blog.


Here is Mike's write up on High Altitude Bean

Ok, so not THAT out of shape!

PR 6 mile time! 48:33

This is the first time I've really been able to open up since the weather has been kinda crappy, but my previous best this year was 51ish. I still have the VO2max of a big fat guy, but at least it's conducive to my 4 hour marathon goal in mid May. I'm one week out from the 1/2 marathon, but being a backroads run I'm not sure I'll be hitting any record times, I still think goal pace is a reasonable goal, but we'll see. Big plans for this weekend, climbing the Mt. Elbert, which at 14,433 is the tallest mountain in CO.

Am I THAT out of shape?

So another beautiful day in Denver and a relatively easy Wednesday 4 miler. I generally start off around goal pace and pick it up for these runs. Mile 1 and 2 are in the 9 flat range and the last 2 are in the 8-8:30 range. At about 1.5 miles I was looking around enjoying the dry cool day and the last glimmer of sunshine and then BAM, guy comes out of no where and blows by me on the left. This guy was FAST and a skinny little dude, maybe 5'7" and 145 soaking wet. I shouted "woaah, thanks for making me feel even MORE out of shape". Unlike some people who ignore me or have headphones in he just shouted back "getting out and running is the most important part" or something like that. At that point I picked up my pace and hit a really nice cruise for the rest of my run. Thanks fast little dude, you helped my run!

On a nutritional note, I've found my new favorite pre-run fuel. 1/2 of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's quick and easy, not too high in calories, and cheap to make. I've been laying off of the hot food on run days, and I've also just about broken even on the weekend calorie count. I went over on my calories on Thursday-Sunday last week, even though only one or two were REALLY bad days. A good day today will get me back to my net loss, hopefully.

Today is supposed to be 6-7 miles or so. I'm going to shoot for a more consistent run, maybe 9 flat for all 6 instead of above goal pace, then below goal pace. I don't want to burn out too bad with the 1/2 marathon coming up in just over a week.

FINALLY...

…A beautiful, sunny, warm day in Denver! Yesterday was the warmest day in 6 weeks in Denver, and the high temp was only the mid 50’s. The streets were dry and only a few puddles and icy spots are left. With nice weather projected for the rest of the week they should be gone for the long run on Sunday.

My run was 10 miles, originally I was feeling kind of sick and thinking of ways out of running, but I read some post by some arrogant prick about how he had “no problem” running a marathon without training. Too bad his time was well over 5 hours, which is slower than “running” pace. I was filled with spiteful rage and all of the sudden really wanted to go run. I threw on my clothes, at a gel and a ½ of a PB&J and ran out the door. I felt great and thought my spite would carry me for the whole 10 miles. I had a gel but didn’t feel that I’d need it. At mile 5 I hit the point of no return, a right hand turn would quickly put me in the min 8-10 mile range but going straight would let me close it off at 6.5. I turned. About 2 blocks after turning I was hit with an overwhelming and immediate need to use the bathroom. I run the same route a lot but I still didn’t know where any facilities were. I ran towards the Denver Museum hoping that worst case I could go inside and beg, fortunately I found a construction site. I jumped the fence and abused their porta john.

Returning to my run I was much relieved, but also well off route, I ran out to my original turnaround point but I’m not 100% sure if I got the right distance. I basically ran around some of the roads inside City Park instead of skirting around it, but either way the run couldn’t have been shortened by more than a tenth or two. The last two miles I stepped things up and felt great. Today I’m a bit sore, but the run is only 4-5 miles. The weather looks great for the first time in a while I’m genuinely excited to run.

Training Weekend Report

I was in LA all weekend for the wedding of a good high school friend. Originally I thought this weekend would be a wash, but it turns out nice weather and sunshine combined with low altitudes made me enjoy running again. Thursday I took off with the exception of lots of walking through airports and around Santa Monica.

Friday I woke up and while the reporters were saying it was a tad cool, I thought 54 degrees and sunny was perfect. I threw on my clothes and ran westward. In about 2.5 miles I was at the beach, I ran over the PCH and to the Pacific. My total run was about 6-7 miles, which was a lot considering I didn't really plan on running that far. We did a hike around the Hollywood hills later that day and it turned out to be quite active.

Saturday I did the same run but slightly shorter, it was pouring rain but still almost 60 degrees. I ran fast with a stupid smile on my face the entire time. I felt great, I had good power the whole time, my legs felt great, I was just happy. I think the weather in Denver had really broken my will to run, but this was what I remembered, a nice fun run medium distance and comfortable temps.

Sunday should have been my long day, but I'd partied the night before. I basically ran around some hills in orange county for 30 minutes, I ended up getting a good sweat going and really worked some muscle groups, but I didn't get nearly the distance or time that I would have liked. It was still nice overall though.

Yesterday I took off, we had to wake up at 5:30 to make our flight and I was a zombie most of the day. A spin on the bike would have been nice but I blew it. After basically 2 weeks of not really sticking to the running plan I'm going to get back on the wagon tonight. Even without being on the program, I still feel like I got some good runs in and maintained as much cardio as I could. The weather in Denver is nice, the snow is melted and the sun is up until almost 6. I have my 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks and we'll see how I am on pace for the full in 6 weeks.

Rest and Day 23

Ugh, so I didn't really "rest" on Monday. It's hard to do that when a long run is blown off, but I lifted and ran a little over 3 miles. The lift went well I did 8x185, 6x205, and 2x225 with a 14x165 burnout on bench. I've also begun to strap a 25lb weight to myself for bar dips and pull ups. I'd noticed a lot of stagnation in my pull ups and figure it's probably better to up the weight than to just try and do more (which as been the problem). Overall the lift was not my best but it shows I'm sort of maintaining. I just ran at around goal pace on the dreadmill for a few miles.

Tuesday was supposed to be 6, it was in the 20's and the sidewalks are a mess, I ended up running a little over 4 miles and then hit the trainer while watching TV. I'm really growing impatient with the weather around here, I want it to either snow enough so that I can just XC ski or get warm and dry up, we're in sort of a slushy ice limbo world. I'm really considering heading to the gym tonight and just trying to knock out my run there. I've had a hard time doing any good speed work outdoors so far and I have a 1/2 marathon in 3 weeks, I'm really looking forward to spring.

Weekend Review.

Ugh! Bad weekend. It's been cold and snowing since about Thursday, I've done what I could but after skipping my rest day and perhaps working a little too hard Saturday, I was dead on Sunday. This week was a down week in the training and the "long" Sunday run was only 6-8 miles, I did maybe one while shoveling snow along my street.

Saturday I met a friend at 10am for a spinning class followed by strength training and lifting. The spinning class was harder than I expected but I still think I did well. It was a great workout. Saturday quickly fell apart as a met my friends to work on cars and had a few beers, then some JD, then... well I dunno we were wondering down Colfax Avenue (ironically the very road along which I will be running my marathon).

Sunday was cold with a high of around 20 and snowy and after days of snow and cold the sidewalks were not the normal soft fluff but more unconsolidated mushy ice. It was not fun to shovel and probably even worse to run on. I took the opportunity to clean up the house and catch up on other chores. I feel bad blowing a day off, but I feel good and I'm feeling ready to pound the pavement again. It's early on, and like I said earlier, I wasn't blowing off a 20 miler... so it could be worse. Still bad, but not terrible, yet.

Training: Day 22

Today was supposed to be rest, but after not being able to run I decided I'd gut out an hour on the bike trainer. This was a good workout and I was able to play some video games and watch TV while pedaling. It's probably not the best workout, but considering it was supposed to be rest I think I did ok. Tomorrow I'm doing a 45 minute spin class and a lift as my "easy" day, we'll see how that goes. It's supposed to snow all weekend, so I'm just going to do what I can. I'll be in LA next weekend and should be able to knock out some quality runs coming from altitude and having nice weather.

Training: Day 21

I wasn't really feeling a run today, but I was determined to just pound it out. Then the weather blew in and we had a veritable blizzard in Denver. I'd run in gentle snow on a lazy Sunday morning a few times, but this did not look like fun, it was dark, windy, and dumping snow, so I rode my bike. I have a magnetic stationary trainer for my road bike, I pulled that out, set it up and rode in front of the TV for an hour. The effort wasn't nearly the same as the 8 miles I was supposed to run, but it was better than nothing. Depending on the weather I may do a light run tomorrow or ride the trainer some more instead of rest.

Marathon Training: Day 20

Distance: 4 miles

The first 2 miles were great, last two, not so much. These mid and late week runs are killing me. I'd love to tie together two great days of running. The distance was short but I think I just wasn't really mentally prepared, I need to get psyched up for the 8 miles on Thursday. I'm beginning to feel a little burnt out on running. Next weekend I'm taking a vacation from work, I think I may take a vacation from running as well, at least anything too long. We'll see though. Short run, short write up. Weak!

Marathon Training: Day 19

Distance: 8 miles

This was basically a hard 6 miles with 2 cool down miles, but I feel like it was one of my better runs so far. I did my 6 miles in 52:30 (a full minute faster than what I ran 2 weeks ago). The best part was that I didn't feel very well before my run, I was unhappy, road raging, and just kind of wanting to do nothing. The weather was nice, a little cold, but there's still some patches of snow and ice. I know that dodging icy wet spots slowed me down a little. I also really felt like I had a good stride, I don't think my heart rate broke 180 for any long period of time and I maintained a really good consistent pace for the whole run. I ate a power bar before the run and brought a gel but didn't feel like I needed it. After the run while I was cooling down I said "good morning" to someone at 5:30PM, I may have been a bit toasted from the exertion. The weather doesn't look too bad for the rest of the week and I'm really looking forward to spring this year.

In other news, it's fat Tuesday. I don't plan on giving up anything for lent though, maybe I'll give up being a big fat guy.

AT&T is the Butt of Their Own Commercial Jokes...

"Ring, Ring, Ring... Hi, this is Nate's phone, he'd really like to go to the playoff game with you but since he has AT&T and he's not in the middle of a major city he doesn't have service, have fun with some other friends at the game."

Oh yes, last October I missed out on Rockies playoff tickets! While driving back towards the city from a friends house around 7pm my phone started to blow up as I began getting cell service and new texts and voice mails came in. I had a text from my friend making fun of the Patriots, I had a text from my parents saying "go donkeys -dad" (yes my dad adds a signature to informal text messages) and I had a voice mail from a co-worker... big deal right? RIGHT, he had an extra ticket to the Rockies playoff game and wanted me to go with him. Knowing that I was one of the biggest Rockies fans in the office he thought of me first, and I missed the call and got the voice mail 2+ hours too late.

...kinda like this, only the exact opposite.

Why did I think of this today? Because last night a similar situation almost occured with my friend who was in town for one day on a business trip. He had a few hour window between work and a flight and thought we could catch up over beers, if only AT&T would send the signal to my phone. After getting straight to voice mail twice (which is weird since I work in west Denver) he decided to try and e-mail me. Luckily I was at my computer and got the e-mail. A few hours later while driving to the bar my phone went all buzzy and Oh my there it was, a voice mail from my friend... from 3 hours ago. This my rest day rant about AT&T. When my contract is up I'll surely be switching, likely to Verizon, they seem to have much better coverage in this area.

Marathon Training: Day 18

Distance: 12 Miles... okay that was a long way.

I woke up around 8am this morning and looked out my window to see this...

Ok, so that wasn't 8am, that was taken after I got home. At 8 it was snowing and 15 degrees.

I'm starting to get sick of doing my long runs in the cold and snow, it's snowed the last two Sundays, but I think this is good for my mental preparation. Running when it's cold and wet sucks and it is miserable, so I'm building up the mental toughness I need to run 26 miles. I ate, watched some TV, and eventually got out the door around 9:30. I brought my mp3 player for the first time in a while and I took my belt that has 2 8oz bottles and a little bag with 2 gels in it.

The snow has a great sound dampening effect, and my runs in the snow are so nice and quiet I ended up keeping my tunes really low for most of my run. There's something about a Sunday morning when the streets are quiet and there aren't many people about that is refreshing. There's a great song called "Sunday morning coming down" that I can't help but think of when I'm running around quiet streets on a Sunday. Except that song is about being hungover and I'm out running around like an idiot.

Ok, back to the run. It was slow, cold, and wet. I just wanted to knock out the miles, with the slick ground I wasn't going to go fast. My feet got soaked and towards the end started to feel mushy. I managed to gut it out, the gel and water were nice to have and didn't seem too heavy or bulky, I think this will be nice for my really long runs. I consider the run more of a trot, but that's one more of my long runs behind me. I hope I get a few good long dry runs before the 1/2 marathon in March. I'd like to not finish runs with snow packed into my shoes and my pants wet 1/2 way up my shins...
kinda like this...COME ON SPRING!!!!

Quick notes: DO NOT LIFT HARD THE DAY BEFORE RUNNING FAR! My legs were sore before I started, not the best way to go.

Training: Day 17

Lifting and a short run today. I was actually a little apprehensive to lift after the horrendous lift I had a week and a half ago. This time I made sure to eat plenty, it wasn't a Monday, I used all the equipment I like and I had better results. 185x8, 205x6, 225x2, and 165x16 (burnout). The last lift I didn't even bother with 225, so I'm alright with this. I lifted upper body pretty hard and then did a light lower body and all was well. I did an easy 15 minutes on the treadmill after an easy warm up on an elliptical. Overall a pretty ho hum workout. I think I should focus more on running or biking on "easy" days, but I was really burnt out after that terrible Thursday run. Tomorrow is 12 miles and I'm looking forward to it right now, we'll see about tomorrow morning.

Rest Day: Weight Plateau

Nov 14th 2008, weight 238 pounds. I hadn’t weighed that much since I passed it on my way down from 265 in 2003. I’m pretty sure I was above 240 and some point around there as well. Things were getting out of control. I’d recently starting cycling to a new job and had all kinds of plans to get in shape, but I was going the wrong way. One night I got on the scale and, for lack of a better term, freaked the f*** out. I was angry at myself for slipping so far. As recently as mid 2006 I was 215 and the strongest I’d ever been. A torn pectoral muscle ended my bench strength and 2 years on the road with work had really taken its toll on my physically. I wasn’t a total loss, I could still run and bike, I was just a big fat guy.

The first weeks of eating healthy in my experiences are the most motivating. Within a month I was down to the low 220’s, the weight that had always been what I considered “normal” for me. I stayed within shot of the 220’s for the next month. At that point things cooled off a bit, but I was always seeing results. In March I was 206 and 19% body fat, sub 20 was a good target for me. I trained for a ½ marathon and met my goal time of <2 hours, I trained for a century ride and made it in just over 6 hours, the weight became a secondary issue. The century ride was Jun 6th, I was 194lbs. Almost 50 pounds lost from my peak in about 7 months.

I was laid off the next week. With a severance package and a poor economy I began to work a pretty rigorous lifting schedule into my routine. 6 mile bike each way to the gym and lifting 5 days a week (lots of golf too). Ironically summers have been harder for me to lose weight, more drinking and BBQs I figured, despite the increase in activity. I attributed my plateau to my lifting program, but I always felt like I would drop the weight sooner or later, I couldn’t be building muscle mass at the same rate I was losing fat, but this continued, and continued, and continued. Weight was still not a priority but more of a bizarre confusing issue to me and I’ll admit I really wanted to hit the 180’s. I purchased calipers so more accurately measure body fat and after that I didn’t care what the scale said. 15, 14, 13, 12% body fat as per the caliper readings every other week. The weight was staying the same but the mm on that caliper kept dropping. At the end of the year I was 12% per the calipers and 194. The same weight I was 6 months prior, but lower body fat by 5-6%.

I still have what I call “flab” or “flubber” but I think it’s just left over skin from my big fat guy days, I’m hoping to keep the weight off for the years it may take to become tighter. I’m not expecting a 6 pack, just not the handfuls of loose skin. The lesson here is that weight loss really should be secondary to overall health and if you are serious about getting in shape get some body fat calipers. The measurements one can get with them are much more valuable than what the scale tells you, especially when you get near your goal weight. By the way, on the high end or error for my body fat calculation, I would have to be in the mid single digits to be “normal” weight via BMI. That’s another story all together.

Marathon Training: Day 16, At Least I Got Off the Sofa

Distance target: 8 miles w/speed work
Actual: 7 miles with walking and being worthless

This ranks as one of the worst workouts I've ever attempted. Like any weekday run, the plan was to run after work. I ended up stuck at work for an extra 30-40 minutes, stuck in additional traffic and not home until around the time I finished my pretty decent Tuesday run. I was hungry and not really feeling it, but I took a gel shot, threw another one in my pocket and took off. The first mile felt fine, I was somewhere around my goal pace and contemplating the possible routes I could take to add 2 miles to my usual 10k loop. Nearing 2 miles I started to feel like I was out of energy, I wasn't nearly as nimble in dodging the snow and ice, and I started thinking about that second gel in my pocket. With a full 10k left I thought there's no way I can eat that thing that early in my run. At about 2.5 miles I just couldn't run anymore, I'd run away from my house the entire time and thought about turning back now, I ate the gel and plodded onward. I got a decent energy boost and was able to "trot" up to mile 6, with some stop lights and a bathroom break mixed in, where I could turn to go home and call it a day. I headed past my turnoff, but when it came to make a right and hit 8miles or make a left and round it off at 7, I couldn't make myself go right. I walked a block, yelled at myself a little (crazzyyy) and then ran pretty hard the last 1/4 mile or so. Time for a rest day and an easy day and then a long 12-14 on Sunday. With two beautiful days ahead of us in Denver lots of the snow should be melted and I'm looking forward to a good high energy run to make up for this disaster.

The good: I did something, plenty of times I could have stopped and shortened the run, but I got most of it done.
I salvaged some DECENT miles out of something that was a total disaster at some point.

The bad: I ran slower than pace, and not as far as planned. It's like a double suck run. Also I just let my brain demotivate me. I felt fine physically, I was a little low on energy, but I think I let that take over.

Marathon Training: Day 15

Distance: 4 miles w/intervals

Great run! I ran fast and felt good before, during, and after this run. First two miles in 16 minutes, mile 3 was <8 minutes, and mile 4 I broke into basically 2 pretty fast 800's. I did get a new weird knee pain, but it went away after a few steps, hopefully it's nothing too serious. I took a gel before leaving the house and felt like I had plenty of energy the whole time. It's warming up a little, and I may be able to ditch the gloves and long pants soon, but I still need my trail runners for traction on the packed snow. My run for Thursday is 8 miles, and I may focus more on getting the distance than the speed work. There is still substantial ice/snow coverage that makes some of the faster runs a little dicey. Friday I think I'll discuss my weight plateau, basically I've been between 191 and 194 since early June, despite continue the efforts that got me to 194 from 240 about 16 months ago.

Marathon Training: Day 14

Ok, change of plans, I'm not going to count rest days anymore. My rest day posts will just be about things unrelated to running, unless I'm feeling particularly RUNNY at the time. Today is a day of celebration though as the Meat Mass has finally begun to run.

Distance: 7 miles

Today I was on a big time crunch, my girlfriend had secured opera tickets to The Barber of Seville. Being a cultured bloke and never one to pass up free Opera tickets (this is the first time this situation has presented itself) I began to find a way to modify my run in such a way that I could run 8-10 miles and be ready to hit the town by 6ish. I left work right at 8 hours and got home, I immediately changed and ran out the door. There was a bit of snow and ice on the ground and I never really had the chance to open up for some higher speed miles. I felt alright, but these conditions aren't great for the higher level marathon training runs that require speed work. With precipitation on the ground just getting the run done is enough in my book. At 6 miles I felt good but I knew I was on borrowed time and cut the run off at around 7 miles. I was able to shower, shave, and get my suit on with some time to spare, I sure clean up nicely. The opera was surprisingly entertaining, if free tickets present themselves again I'll be sure to try and go.

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing...

After gorging beyond any reasonable amount of food yesterday, I realized that as far as I’ve come in self control and weight loss I still have a long way to go. I am very much an "all or nothing" kind of eater, I rarely can slide and then stop the slide and get back on track within a sitting. I've done great at all you can eat buffets before when I take one plate with a reasonable sampling and make a good meal out of it. Then I’ve had ones where I’m at the soft serve machine pouring it into my mouth with brownies and cookies and pizza stuffing my face like a freak and going back for more. Yesterday was like that, one M&M, 2 M&M…then I had visions of me pouring them into my face. It wasn’t THAT bad, but I just can’t shake the feeling of sitting there so full I felt like I was gonna puke and still wanting to eat. Today I actually feel like I do sometimes when I drank way too much the night before, that sort of ashamed/embarrassed feeling like “wow, what did I do?” Okay, well I gotta just get back to it, and seriously, I friggin ran 11 miles, I think I get a little bit of room to gorge.

I figure that in the long run (no pun intended) I’ve got the right idea, it’d be hard to go from 265ish to 190ish doing all the wrong things, however SO many days like yesterday remind me that it is an everyday, every meal issue for me. There are days at work when someone brings donuts or cookies where I get the feeling I’m going to grab the box and eat all of them, for no reason. I can usually control myself, and honestly I do a pretty good job of it about 90% of the time. I’ve read somewhere that will power is finite and maybe that’s part of the problem. My workout yesterday was tough and I had a really hard time gutting out the last 2-3 miles, maybe by the time I got to the party I was ignoring my brain saying “STOP EATING!!!!!” I have family members in AA and they talk about booze in a very similar way, I’m not that familiar with 12 stepping, but one big problem is it’s impossible to abstain from food and even “healthy” food in freakish excess is unhealthy. The unhealthy garbage I tend to binge on is pretty friggin damaging to a healthy eating routine.

Today is my rest day, and I’m doing some stretching and possibly 20-30 minutes on the bike trainer just to burn out the acid. It’s snowed several inches so we’ll see how tomorrows run works out.

Marathon Training: Day 13

Distance: 11 miles

Super Run-day. Ok I thought about that while on my run. I woke up Sunday morning to about an inch of snow on the ground. I knew I would be consuming a gratuitous amount of food at a super bowl party, so I had to run. I decided with temps in the 20's and fresh snow on the ground I would wear my trail runners, long underwear (tops and bottoms) with my regular clothes on top, gloves and my head band. I looked AWESOME yet again. I had similar preparation to last week, except instead of a protein bar before my run I ate a gel, and I took another gel at just over the 5 mile mark. My energy level seemed fine, but the weather really killed me mentally. At 5 miles I turned to make the loop 10+ instead of shooting home and wrapping it up at 6. I wasn't really cold, but I was getting wet and just sick of running. I didn't wear my knee bands and I think this was a bad idea, I will plan on wearing them for all future long runs. Again I didn't take a watch or HRM for the long run, but will probably start doing that in the future. The trail runners were great in the snow and I didn't feel like the weather really messed up my pace, just my morale. After the run I laid around and prepared to eat and drink. I believe I consumed enough food to break even for the day, a feat in and of itself, and fun was had by all. I'm very much looking forward to a day of rest, stretching, and a little time on the bike trainer.

...as for an update with the meat mass, he has purchased shoes (yes that was an excuse for a while) and will be running shortly.

Marathon Training: Day 12

Exercise: 45-60 min easy

I'd like to be someone who has a life while training for a marathon. Running 5 days a week is really pushing it for me, but I do what I can. I've talked to a few people about the "easy" days and decided that cross training is perfectly fine. Cross training for me is basically anything that requires some physical exertion. I consider both "hardening" the legs and/or increasing my cardio strength during activities. Activities like hiking, cross country skiing, snowboarding, swimming, cycling, or just running are all ok by my list. It's also a good day for me to get in my lift. This allows me to still hang out with friends and also not blow off a training day.

That said, today I went snowboarding. A lot of people might think "weak, snowboarding is NOT a legit physical activity", but I beg to differ. Strapping on the HRM last year yielded several hundred calories per hour of burn. My friends and I lap a lot and charge hard. I often find myself winded on some harder runs. Regardless the requirement is "45 min easy" so I consider 6 hours of snowboarding at least the equivalent of the easy workout. To add to it, I ran 1.5 miles when I got home just to burn the legs out a little. It's supposed to snow tonight and into tomorrow, but I'll do my best to get the required 11 miles. I need to in order to stuff my face tomorrow.

The Dome Deconstruction

Marathon Training: Day 11... REST!!!!

Since I'm not supposed to work out today, I'll post something unrelated to anything involving working out, nutrition, running, and especially nothing involving powerbar gel.

As some of you may know, I spent 13 months at the South Pole (Oct 2005-Nov 2006). Over the year I formed strong friendships forged through the trials of living in close quarters with the same small group of people. Many of those people still work with the Antarctic program, so I regularly get updates on the station. Anyone who has any general knowledge of modern antarctic inhabitation is familiar with the venerable geodesic dome as the symbol of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. 2006 was the last year the dome was inhabited, our year we moved everyone out, turned off the power, and let it go cold. Recently the dome has been taken down and I have to admit, I'm sad to see it go. There was a lot of history in that structure and it really represents a period that we'll not likely see again in the Antarctic Program. A lot of this reminds me of seeing an old mothballed ship intentionally destroyed. The dome was home to all polies for 30 years, protecting people from the elements and being the becon on the vast Antarctic plateau. I understand that it had been used well beyond its intended service life, but that's part of what made it so special. Here are some pictures from http://www.southpolestation.com/

The site is maintained by Bill Spindler and a great history of the South Pole station. Including science, research, and life with a focus on winter overs (last count there were about 1400 of us).

Here is the dome when new in the mid 1970's

And here is the last picture of the last pieces of the dome.

Marathon Training: Day 10

DAY 10, double digits. 100 days till the marathon. This was a big day for me, not really for any reason, other than it was the day before a rest day and I was really looking forward to that rest day. (Day three, meat mass... not running, go for a run dude)

Distance: 6 miles, goal pace w/ the middle 2 miles at 20-30 seconds faster than goal pace. Translation for me, try to run 6 miles a bit faster than goal pace, which would come out to 55 minutes.

I ended up doing a bit over 6. I was at 53:30 at the 6 mile mark, which is certainly above my goal pace. I had to keep telling myself "REST DAY TOMORROW, KEEP PUSHING." I felt like I had plenty of energy, but I was getting a little burnt out on the run. Time wise it was a good run, but I feel like I could have pushed it harder. I still don't feel like I have a my upper cardio limit figured out. That is to say, I'm not sure how hard I can push myself and maintain that for several miles. I will be disappointed if I'm not doing 6 miles in 50 minutes by the end of my training.
The weather was chilly and windy so I wore long pants, long sleeve shirt, gloves, and my head band, which is to say that I looked AWESOME. I had eaten a TON of food with a free pizza lunch earlier, but I still ate a gel before the run and I really think it helped. The tightness in my calve was present but not significant, could just be soreness at this point. I'm happy to have my first 10 days down, I'm looking forward to the next 100... omg shoot me, what did I get myself into?

Marathon Training: Day 9

Distance: 4 miles with hills.

This was a great run. I decided to run in green mountain park and made it a trail run. The rolling hills and differing terrain were a great way to mix up my usual runs which typically cover the same exact route. I had my camera with me, but left it in the car. Next time! I'm fortunate enough to work on the west side of Denver near the foothills, so the parks and open space are minutes from work. This is especially convenient in the winter because I can run before it gets dark and cold. I have a new pair of Salomon trail running shoes and so far I'm pleased with them. They have a moderately aggressive tread and a quick lacing system. There was some variable terrain and they handled everything adequately. This summer I'll be looking forward do some longer hikes and 14ers with them, as long as they hold up. As far as fueling, I ate a lot yesterday and finally felt fine on a weekday run, no gel necessary! Thursday is 10k and I'm looking forward to that rest day on Friday. (Also, day 2 of meat mass not training for the half, you better get running!)

Marathon Training: Day 8

Distance: 4 x 1 mile at 45 sec faster than goal pace (about 8:20 for me) with 2-3 minutes recovery.

One day I'll actually explain this whole marathon training program that I'm following. Either way, a bit to report today. Today is officially day one of my friend the meat mass NOT training for the half marathon on the same day as my marathon, so meat mass if you're reading this, go for a run.

I arrived home from work in my typical famished state. No matter how much I eat at work I am ALWAYS hungry when I get home. I made a huge mistake of eating extra hot wings for lunch and then a piece habenero corn bread when I got home (that's right, this stuff is HOT). NEVER again will I do this on a run day. My esophagus was unhappy during my entire run, I basically felt like I was about to barf fire. I also ate a banana strawberry power bar gel. I'm not really sure if it did anything and couldn't really feel anything other than the urge to barf. I had a short run but wanted some energy, at no point in my run today did I feel like I was hungry or fading, so that's good. The run itself went fine, I did my usual jump around the house warm up and then took off. Mile one was just faster than pace, mile 2 was right on pace, and mile 3 was a bit below pace. I took a 2-3 minute break between each mile. After mile 3 I stretched my left calf a lot, it's been getting tight on my runs, I'll have to keep an eye on it. Mile 4 was <8min. Overall a good run, hit my targets, and feel good now. Cheers.

More Thoughts on Lifting...

I had a really poor lift yesterday. I'm trying to figure out why, the previous few weeks I'd been having good lifts. I have a few theories.

One is that it was a Monday.... ok weak theory.

Another possibility is that the gym was packed so I didn't use my usual bar/bench. I would give this one or two reps, but I could only get 3-4 at 205 and I can normally get the same at 225.

Another, when I'm not "feeling it" I'm done. Since I tore my pectoral muscle in 2006 I've been very slow to recover and often sheepish with "heavy" benches. This doesn't explain my crappy burnout set though (13x165, instead of 17 last time I burned out).

Another problem is fatigue. I was hungry and I ran 10 miles the day before and came up 1000 calories below my target. Monday is supposed to be a rest day, and maybe I should keep it at that. I also can't lift if I'm hungry, I know that. I picked up some bars and stuff I can keep in my bag so I don't have to lift hungry.

I was confident I could maintain my lifting performance or at least not lose too much strength while training for the marathon, but I'm cutting back on lifting and instead doing much more cardio. I was hoping I wouldn't become weak. With runs 5 days a week I may just not have enough time to get in good lifts with adequate recovery. I'm lifting again on Friday and we'll see how that goes.

Marathon Training: Day 7

Today is rest/recovery. I'm not sure what I'll do, I feel pretty good.

update:
Lifted poorly. Felt good to get in the gym, but I didn't lift as much and just felt sluggish. Maybe the 10 miles took it out of me more than I thought. I picked up some powerbar brand gel, I'll be taking that on my next few long runs and we'll see how that works out. I'm going to be trying out some different brands (clif, gu, clif blocks) throughout my training to try and nail down my favorite. Tomorrow is a pretty short day, but I always seem low on energy after work.

Marathon Training: Day 6

Distance: 10 Miles (see map)

Analysis:
I completed the 10 miles at roughly a 10min/mile pace. 10min/mile is roughly 50 seconds slower than my goal pace, but I’m not overly concerned this early on. I did not wear a watch, heart rate monitor, or headphones, this was a leisurely pace for me and I doubt I broke out of the 160’s in HR at any time. I ate a homemade egg McMuffin about an hour before leaving and about 15-20 minutes before leaving had a protein bar. Felt a little too full and sluggish to start, this may have been too much food. The entire run was otherwise unsupported. Left calve started to feel tight around might 7-8 and the left leg felt tight towards the end but I opened up my pace a little without and increase in tightness. I wore my patella tendon knee braces and the besides small pain here and there the knees felt fine. I also was not incapacitated the rest of the day. I ate like a gorilla and came in well under on my calorie target. First long run is in the book, and the first week is behind me.
Total Miles For the Week = 23
Target miles = 29

Marathon Training: Day 5

Distance: Non Specific: 45-60 min easy

Analysis:

I ran ~3 miles and lifted. I didn’t lift too hard and avoided heavy legs completely. I gave this a "completed". I plan on using saturdays for general cross training activities including biking, XC skiing, snowboarding, hiking, etc.

Marathon Training: Day 4

Rest

DONE! Feel good, nothing sore. Turned out to be a pretty boring night. I got some good stretching and general loosening up in. Generally a boring day.

Marathon Training: Day 3

Distance: 6 miles, 4x GP 2x Tempo

Revised: 30 minutes biking, 2 miles walking.

Analysis:

BAH, I just straight up had no time for this and basically blew it off. I’m not sure I’d have done it anyway since it snowed a little, but either way, I got home at like 4:40 and I left at 5pm. I did ride my bike downtown and back home, so that’s my exercise for the day, but I can’t make a habit of this. Tomorrow is a rest day, I’ll see if I can get a lift in or something. The tradeoff here was instead of 6 miles running, I biking about 12 miles and got drunk. Free beer is not something I pass up often.

Marathon Training: Day 2

Distance: 4 miles with 4x100 speed intervals

Analysis:

Cold again, this run sucked. I overdressed to start and then I stripped down and got cold. I was hungry and felt slow. I still managed to do some decent speed intervals, but I don’t know how much I picked it up. I completed the entire 4 miles, so that’s a plus.

Marathon Training: Day 1

Preface:

I've been building up to this for a few months. In December, I signed up for the Colorado Colfax Marathon which takes place on May, 16th 2010. I tried to stay in decent shape over the winter, and the 16 week marathon training program began today. I'm going to try and track all of my training up to the marathon. This is as much to keep me on track as to keep my friends updated on my progress. I was keeping the log privately on my computer but now I'm going public. Some of the first posts will be a bit short on description because I was just keeping notes for myself.

Distance: 4x1 mile cruise pace runs

It was cold outside (low 40’s) and didn’t feel like running, I generally don’t like Tuesdays. I’ve kept up decent running health over the winter so far so 4 miles wasn’t intimidating, but the time was. I started to tell myself "missing one or two sessions is no big deal" then I realized that I can’t do that, especially on the first run. Overall these 4 miles went well, I felt good coming in around 8:00 to 8:20 which is right around my cruise interval and the 2 minute breaks were perfect. I ran the last of 4 miles in a quick 7:40 or so. My goal pace is 4 hours or 9:09 per mile. My "cruise" pace is 8:30-8:45 and my Tempo pace should be right around 8-8:15. I actually need to make sure I don’t over run these by too much.