Long Run

Today I ran a 20 miler. I looked back at my log, and this is my ninth run of 20 miles or more since mid-July. I didn't look at my upcoming schedule, but I would guess that I'll have three or four more before my marathon in March. My fitness has never been better. I do still need to drop ten pounds or so, but I'm slowly losing. I'm at a point where I feel like I can go 20 miles at anytime. I ran three 20 mile runs in preparation for my last marathon (Mardi Gras Marathon in February 2003), and they were terrible. I hated the long run then and hadn't run 20 miles again until this summer. This year I'm cranking them out and am still feeling good at the end.

According to my schedule, I should run my long runs at goal marathon pace + 20% at the beginning of the long run and then increase the pace to marathon pace +10% for the last five miles. My goal marathon pace is 7:00 m/m, so my long runs should start at 8:24 m/m and then finish at 7:42 m/m. This was the pace I ran early in this training cycle. However, as my conditioning has improved, so has my pace. Today, I averaged 7:50 m/m for the first 15 miles and ran the last five at 7:30 m/m pace or faster. Next Sunday is a 15 miler with 10 miles at marathon pace. If I do well on that run, I'll feel great about reaching my goal on race day.

Now the bad news. During today's long run, I had to stop to use the bathroom four times during the first nine miles. These weren't quick stops to pee. These stops involved sitting. I'm not sure why I'm having this problem. I still need to try eating smaller portions to see if that helps, but on Thanksgiving weekend, it's not going to happen.

Great Tempo Run

Friday afternoon, I ran eleven miles, including six tempo miles. I set my schedule to run the tempo miles at 6:40 pace (approximately my 10K pace plus ten seconds/mile). My slowest mile was 6:40 exactly, which I hit twice, and the fastest miles was 6:32. I hoped that I could keep the average at or below 6:40 because about two miles (from 3.5 to 5.5) were basically directly into a stiff wind. Conversely, the first couple of miles were run with the wind at my back. I cruised through the first miles without much trouble. I had to work hard to maintain the pace when I turned back into the wind, but I managed to stay on pace. This workout was a great confidence boost for me. Only a couple of months ago, I was happy that I was able to run even one mile at this same pace. Prior to the tempo miles, I ran two miles to warm up. During the warm-up miles, I was giving myself a pep talk because I just wasn't sure I'd be able to maintain the pace for the full six miles.

On Saturday, I ran a six-mile recovery run, which brought my total for the week to 62.1 miles. On Sunday I have a 20-miler scheduled.

Dedication, Again

It's been awhile since I've had to write an entry about dedication, but I'm at a point where it's time to remind myself to get down to business. For the first time in a while, I missed a run this week that I have no plans to make up. It was only a short, recovery run, so missing it isn't a big deal. The reason I missed, however, is bothersome for my running through this time of the year. Basically, I didn't run because it was dark. I had planned on running earlier in the day, but I was waiting for my wife to come home. She didn't get home until later than planned, so I used the excuse of darkness to get out of my run.

I need to get in the mindset that until spring I'm going to have to log a lot of miles in the dark. I wear a light and run where there's no vehicle traffic, so it's not dangerous. I just don't enjoy it as much as running when I can see. Plus, I'm still not comfortable when I can't see where my feet are landing, even though I run on an asphalt trail that is pretty smooth.

I ran a 14-mile medium long run Thursday morning. My initial plan was to make up the five-mile recovery run Thursday evening, but I didn't feel like it. My legs were tired, and I have a hard run scheduled for Friday, so I skipped the recovery run. Today, I have 11 miles on the schedule, including six miles at 6:40 m/m pace.

It's all about precision, not speed

Today our Morale, Welfare and Recreation office held a three-mile Turkey Trot on base. The winner was based on who guessed closest to his/her finishing time. As far as the race went, I was the first person to finish the race. My time was 18:44. However, my guess was 19:45. I thought that after running 21 miles on Sunday, I would be a bit fatigued and wouldn't be able to run as fast as I did, which is why I guessed relatively low.

The "winner" of the race guessed within 10 seconds of his finishing time. After he received his prize, he said, "It's all about precision, not speed." About halfway through the race I was pretty sure that I was ahead of schedule, but I decided that I'd rather be fast. In addition to gift certificates for the three closest guesses, there was a drawing for other prizes. As it turned out, I was the first one to cross the finish line, and the last one to have his number drawn to select a prize.

The good news is that my hamstring, which had been sore since Sunday's long run, felt great during the Turkey Trot. I've been icing it, and that has really helped. I'll continue to ice it through the weekend. If I run Sunday's long run without any pain, I'll stop and consider myself healed. The other good news is that I'm pleased with my time in the Turkey Trot. Today's time for three miles is only 29 seconds faster than my 5K PR, and I certainly could have run faster, especially if I were rested. I'm excited to race a 5K at the end of December and see how I can do in a race with some competition.

My schedule called for six miles in the morning and four miles in the afternoon/evening with both runs at recovery pace. I reversed it; with a warmup I ran four miles early and six at recovery pace in the early evening. Tomorrow I have a medium long run scheduled.

I'm an Idiot

If you read this yesterday, you suspected it. However, today it has been proven. I am an idot. If you didn't read this yesterday, here's the short version. I missed Friday's run, so I ran a double on Saturday -- 19 total miles. Today I ran my regularly scheduled long run of 21 miles. Somewhere around the 12 mile mark, my hamstring started to feel sore. By the end of the run, it was hurting pretty good. So I'm not only an idiot for running twice the day before a long run, but I compounded it by finishing today's long run despite my leg pleading with me to stop.

It feels like I have a muscle pull; however, there was never a point where I felt a sudden pain like I would if I had pulled it. It started out as a tightness and just kept getting worse. Anyway, I'm icing it now, and tomorrow's a rest day. I'll continue to ice it and see how things turn out.

The good news is that my ankle feels fine.

Doubling Up

I don't know whether or not I've mentioned it here before, but I've got hives. I've had them since sometime in March. Anyway, I've been taking Allegra, so that I'm not itching all day. It does an okay job, but the downside is that I have to take one every twelve hours. I'm good at taking the pill before work in the morning, but if I'm even an hour late taking it in the evening, the itching starts. Earlier this week, my doctor gave me a new pill to try. With the new pill, I only have to take one a day; however, it causes drowsiness. I took the first of my new pills Thursday evening. I didn't itch that night and didn't really notice any drowsiness. Great, I love the new pills. The next morning, on the other hand, I could barely function. I had absolutely no energy. And it lasted all day. After work, I took a short nap, with the intention of running when I woke up. It didn't happen. Not really liking the new pills at this point. Don't worry, I'm going someplace with this.

Anyway, on Saturday (today) I woke up feeling fine, so I decided that I'd run Friday's scheduled run in the morning and Saturday's run in the afternoon. I ran both runs (11 miles in the a.m. and 8 in the p.m.) with no problems. However, there is still a potential problem; I have a 21 miler scheduled for tomorrow. I've never run so much the day before a long run. I knew about Sunday's long run when I decided to double up on Saturday. The thing is that my last couple of 20-milers have gone well, so I decided that I'd push the effort this weekend and test myself. I just wanted to document this high-mileage weekend so that if tomorrow's long run goes horribly wrong, it won't be hard to track the reason.

Also, the ankle feels fine.

Good Running and Ankle Pain is Gone

Yesterday I had a good medium-long run. I ran 14 miles at an average pace of 7:53. I ran a bit slower for the first nine miles and picked up the pace to below 7:40 for the last five miles. My legs were tired for the first couple of miles, but once I warmed up and got into a rhythm, the pace got faster without increasing the effort. Today I ran an easy five miles at recovery pace. In the past week, I've noticed that my easy pace and recovery pace are getting a bit faster without an increase in effort. I know this is a combination of losing some weight and logging more miles, but the reason is unimportant. It's another great confidence boost. The quickening pace added to logging my highest mileage ever, and I can't wait until race day.

The question is what race will I run. The race I was aiming for (Pacific Shoreline Marathon) has sold out. Now I need a new target race. My original plan was to run the Pacific Shoreline Marathon on February 5 and then bounce back and run the Napa Valley Marathon on March 5. I think what I'll do instead is run the Pacific Shoreline Half Marathon and then try to blow the doors off the Napa Valley Marathon. Of course this is subject to change. I'm not going to register until after Christmas. Money is tight this year, and it's not fair for me to blow a decent amount of cash on a race just before the holidays. In the meantime, I'm going to follow my original training plan until I confirm my plan.

As a follow-up to Tuesday evening's ankle pain. I iced the ankle Tuesday night. When I woke up it felt fine. Still I iced it on Wednesday morning, and it felt good when I went to work. After last night's 14-mile run, I was walking the last quarter mile to my house when the pain came back. It was a sharp pain every time I put my left foot down. However, today it's been fine. I didn't feel any pain or even discomfort during my run today or since then. I guess I'll just pay attention and continue to hope for the best.

Hard Run and Ankle Pain

After work today I ran a bit over ten miles, including five miles at 6:40 m/m pace. The pace was an estimate because I didn't have my Garmin with me. However, I had run at work before, so I knew the distance; and I did have a watch, so I was able to make sure I maintained the proper pace. I worried about the run earlier in the day. My legs didn't feel as fresh as they normally do after a day off, but once I warmed up, I felt good. This is the first time in this training cycle that I've run this pace for more than four miles. If I can handle tomorrow's medium-long run okay, it will be another good confidence boost.

The only problem today is that after I got home, I sat on the couch for 30 minutes or so. Ever since then, my ankle has been sore whenever I try to walk. I iced it, which helped some. I've also been flexing it back and forth when I'm sitting, which also helps. I am concerned about how it will feel when I get up in the morning. For now I'm going to assume that it's just one of those mysterious pains that active people sometimes feel. If the pain is still there tomorrow, I'll continue icing and stretching and hoping that it gets better.

Pushing the Pace

After a short recovery run on Saturday, I decided to push the pace a bit on Sunday. My schedule called for a 14 mile medium-long run. Usually, I run these workouts at approximately 8:10 minute/mile pace until I have five miles to go (per my schedule). At that point, I pick up the pace to 7:40 m/m pace or faster. On Sunday, I ran the first nine miles at an average of 7:35 pace. With five miles to go, I lowered the pace to between 7:20 and 7:30 a mile, and then ran the last mile at goal race pace, 7:00 m/m. It was a tough workout, and my legs are a bit tired today (Monday). Fortunately for me, Monday is my off day. Now it's Monday night, and I'm feeling pretty good. The tiredness and stiffness from earlier in the day is gone. I honestly don't know if running harder on Sunday was wise or not. I just feel like I need at least one longer run a week where I'm working for the entire run. The 8:10 pace is pretty easy, and I'm running these workouts without having to give thought to pace or effort. Unless the harder run starts to effect my other runs, I'll continue to push the pace when I'm feeling good.

Tomorrow will probably be my toughest run of the training period so far. I'm scheduled for ten miles, with five of the miles at 6:40 m/m pace. I'll feel more confident if I can run these workouts in daylight. I've decided to take my workout gear to the office and run immediately after work. It will end up being a race against sunset.

Training Plan Update

I'm glad I decided to follow a tried and true marathon plan. It will be three years between marathons, and during this period I've run a number of half marathons and shorter races. For each of these, I've developed my own plan based on goal races. However, following Pfitzinger-Douglas has been a different feeling. I've done well on my races over the past couple of years, but this is the first plan I've had where I feel I'm maximizing my efforts. Each week, I'll get to a point where my legs are tired, and I'm ready for a break; and it'll be time for a recovery run. After each recovery run, I feel ready for whatever is next on the schedule. This week was a perfect example. After Tuesday's and Wednesday's runs, I was ready for a break. Thursday recovery run was perfect. I work my old watch (instead of my Garmin) and didn't look at it except at the start, the turnaround and the finish. I didn't want to be tempted to run faster than my body was ready to run, and it worked perfect. It was probably my slowest run in a while, but I felt great during today's medium-long run.

After finishing this plan and completing my race, I need to show that I have the ability to learn and use an established plan for future training.

A Run in the Rain

Today I ran in the rain for the first time (other than a couple of very light sprinkles last week). I had light rain for almost my entire 12-mile run this evening. It wasn't cold, so the rain was refreshing. There was some lightening, but it was pretty far to the south and didn't seem to be getting any closer, so I didn't pay much attention to it.

Running in the dark is still not fun. I've been wearing a headlamp, which I'm sure makes me more visible to bikers, other runners, and walkers; however, it doesn't put out as much light as I would like. It's still hard to see the pavement and tell where the cracks and bumps are. Fortunately, where I run it's pretty smooth, so it's not a big problem. Plus, I'm learning where the bad spots are. I'm sure as time moves forward, the darkness will become less of a problem.

Yesterday, I ran eight miles, which included 10 x 100 meter strides. I felt good during the run; so even when I wasn't striding, I pushed the pace a hair. I ended the run with an average pace of 7:30 minutes/mile.

I finish the week with a recovery run tomorrow, a medium-long run on Friday and another recovery run on Saturday.

Great Long Run!

Today I ran a great 20 mile long run. I was looking to average 8:10 m/m pace for the first 15 miles and 7:42 m/m pace for the last five miles (as outlined in the Pfitzinger / Douglas plan). However, my legs felt good, and I ended up running 8:04 average pace for the first 15, between 7:30 and 7:28 for the next four, and because I was still feeling good and have an off day tomorrow, I ran the last mile faster than goal marathon pace (7:00 m/m is goal pace, mile 20 was run at 6:55). The only down side was that I had to stop four times to use the restroom. The restroom stops are getting worse instead of better. I need to address this issue before race day. I suspect the key will be to eat smaller portions. I'm doing better at eating decent foods. Now I need to just start eating less of them.

Despite the bathroom breaks, this run is a great confidence boost for me. After dealing with sore, tired legs for a good deal of last week, it feels great to hammer out a good run. I look forward to continuing to improve as I move closer to race day.

The New York City Marathon was run today. I watched the one-hour special on television. The men's race was decided by less than a second. It was a great, exciting race. Every time I see elites (men and women) running distance events, I'm amazed at their pace. They move so smoothly, it's hard to believe they're going so fast. If I were smarter, I'd probably use their example to see how important form is to efficient running. I'll try to remember this lesson when I'm running and can do something about it. I wonder if would help to video tape my running form to see how I run.

Recovery Run

I did well on my recovery run today. My legs felt tired initially, but I warmed up rather quickly and actually ran the first mile faster then I intended. After that I was able to slow down and did a good job keeping to a recovery pace for the rest of the run. I did start to feel a little tired at the end of my run, which caused me a little worry about tomorrow's 20 miler. However, after looking back at my last couple of runs, I'm confident tomorrow will be fine. Even though my legs were tired, I ran the 12 miler and todays's five mile recovery run at the proper pace. Tomorrow will be long but manageable. Do I sound like I'm trying to convince myself?

Stupid is as Stupid Does

After running long on Monday, which is my normal off day, I was scheduled to run nine miles on Tuesday, with four of those miles at a tempo pace (see the previous post if you want more information on how my schedule got off kilter). I figured my legs would be tired on Tuesday, and I'd end up running at marathon pace at best. However, I didn't feel too bad , so I did the scheduled workout, including the tempo miles. It was tough, but I made it through on pace (6:40 m/m for the tempo miles).

The bad news is that on Wednesday, I ended up skipping my scheduled 14-mile run. My legs were sore, so I listened to my body for once. On Thursday, my legs still didn't feel too good, but they were more tired then sore, so I ran my 14 miler. It was tough, but I got the miles in. I was totally out of energy at the end of Thursday's run and was dreading Friday's 12 miler.

The good news is that after a mile or two warmup, I felt pretty good on Friday. I ran the entire run at an easy pace. My schedule calls for me to run the last five miles of my long and medium-long runs at 7:42 m/m pace (10% over goal marathon pace), which is between 18-28 seconds slower then I run the first part of these runs. On Thursday and Friday, I did not have the energy to speed up. After today's run, I only have an easy recovery run tomorrow. Based on how I felt today, I'm confident that if I have the discipline to run at a recovery pace, I'll feel rested for Sunday's long run. Another positive for me is that I did get a lot of sleep this week, which I'm sure helped my recovery process between these fairly tough runs.

The reason that I titled this post Stupid is as Stupid Does is so that when I go back and review my training, I want this entry to be a reminder that I have a schedule for a reason. And if I miss a run, I need to learn not to cram and try to make up the miles. It's more important to trust the schedule over the long haul and not stress over one workout. I will end up getting in my scheduled miles this week, but I certainly could have been more productive if I had concentrated on key workouts and not just chased the miles.

One last thing. I can't wait until this Halloween candy is gone. Chocolate has become my primary food group since Monday. Speaking of candy, vanilla Charleston Chews are delicious!