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.