Medium Long Run -- Feeling Good

I ran ten miles this evening. I ran at an easy pace for the first six miles, which were either with no wind or were into the wind. I picked up the pace when I turned so that the wind was at my back. My average pace was 7:57/mile, which I'm very pleased with. My pace has been faster than I wanted it to be lately, and my legs have been tired as a result. Today, I had a bit more energy and took advantage of it towards the end of my run. I need to be careful until I get used to running everyday. For now, mileage is king. Pace is secondary. After I get used to running everyday (including a few doubles), I'll worry about pace a couple of times a week. I just need to be patient and remember that I'm months away from needing to run fast.

I've been extremely lucky as far as the weather goes. It has been windy, but I've basically been able to miss the rain. This has been the rainiest March in the history of this area (based on how many days it has rained). Basically it's rained everyday for the past week or so. However, lately it seems to stop raining just before I start running. Let's hope it stays this way (knock on wood).

I Should Stretch and Do Core Work, Right?

Not much to say really. I’ve continued running everyday this week. I haven’t run too long and/or fast, but I’m on pace to run over 60 miles this week. Even though I’ve been taking it easy, my legs are still pretty tired. One of the problems has been the wind. It blows hard every day here. What I need to do is let the wind slow me down, but for whatever reason, when I run into the wind, I naturally push harder so that I maintain my pace. Sometimes I’ll catch myself doing it and will slow down, but it doesn’t take long before I notice that my pace is back up. However, I’m sure the real reason my legs are tired is that I’m not used to running every day. For a long time, I’ve taken at least one day off a week. I may go back to that once I enter a race specific training plan, but for now I’m trying to adjust to one or two runs every day and only taking a day off if I feel that I need it. Even so, my legs aren’t too tired. After a couple of miles, I get into a groove and feel pretty good for the duration of my run.

I keep telling myself that I should stretch and do core work if I want to become a more complete runner. I don’t know if this is true or not, but it seems like it couldn’t hurt. Actually, in January and February I was pretty good about doing basic strength work (push ups and crunches); however, when I went to San Diego for a week I broke my routine and haven’t got back to it. I don’t think it will be a problem building back up. Stretching on the other hand is not something I’m fond of. Except for team sports in high school, I’ve never really gave much thought to stretching, which may explain why I may be the most inflexible person in the world.

My weight loss effort took a hit last week. My daughter and I each had a birthday; however, I’m glad to say that all cake and ice cream are now gone from the house. Plus, the guy at work who can always talk me into going out to lunch is moving out of town at the end of the month. He’s a good guy, and I’ll miss having him around, but his absence will be good for my diet (and my wallet).

Keep On Moving Forward

Not a bad couple of days running for me. On Sunday, I ran 15 miles in a few minutes under two hours. My average pace was 7:47/mile. There was nothing special about this run except for the fact that I was feeling a bit tired and really didn't want to run. As it started getting to the point where I had to get out of the house if I wanted to finish before dark, I got myself going. I really thought I'd run closer to 7 or 8 miles before calling it quits and just making up the miles over the next couple of days. However, once I got started, I just kept going. I never really felt especially good, and my legs were pretty tired over the last couple of miles, but I never felt too bad, either; and managed to develop a decent rhythm after a mile or so. On Monday, I ran an easy five miles on what turned out to be a windy, windy day. There was a short bit of today's run where I had to look at the ground to make sure I was moving forward. I turned into the teeth of the wind and could have sworn that the wind was holding me in place. Fortunately that was fairly close to my turnaround, and I had the benefit of the wind at my back for the next mile or so.

I've lived in this area for less than a year, and I'm still learning the seasons and what to expect. I can say that so far, the summer was the best time for running. It stays light until after 8:00, and the temps rarely climb above 70. Fall isn't bad either, except for the early darkness. Winter and spring have proven to be pretty wet, and the spring has added a lot of wind. Oh well, it certainly could be much, much worse.

Back to Back Easy Days

On Friday and Saturday I ran back-to-back easy runs (five miles each). I don't like to double up on easy days because I feel like I should be working harder. However, sometimes it just works out that way. This time it was my own fault. Friday after work, I wasted too much time before running, and then my wife had to go to the store, which pushed me back ever further. As a result, I didn't end up running until well after dark. Add in the fact that it was windy and raining, and I knew I would run my shortest route. Not that it mattered because I was due for an easy day. I ran more this week than I had in more than a month, and my body was ready for something short and slow. I had more energy on today's run, but I kept the effort easy and the distance short because I would like to run long (at least 15 miles) tomorrow, and I didn't want to run hard or far today and then try to go long tomorrow. I'm at a point where I'm slowing building mileage, and I'm not trying to accomplish anything else.

Just Running

Lately I've just been running. Not too much and not too fast. I'm just slowly building up to the 60-mile week range that I was at before my taper started in mid-February. One thing that I have noticed is that even without more than a general aerobic (GA) effort, my pace is noticably faster than it was before my taper. The same thing happened after my previous marathon (back in 2003) also. I ran that one at 8:00 pace, and I did most of my training at 8:00 minute pace, not having the knowledge or experience to know about or execute tempo runs or hard and easy days. I mostly just ran and figured the rest would take care of itself. However, after that marathon, I noticed that suddenly when I would go out and just run, my pace was 20-30 seconds faster than it had been. Prior to my taper for the Napa Valley Marathon, my GA pace was usually between 7:55 and 8:05. Lately without any additional effort I've been running closer to 7:40 pace. I don't know if the quicker pace is here to stay or not. I guess time will tell.

I ran 7.5 miles yesterday after work. Today I took off from work to take care of a couple of things. I took advantage of the time off to run this morning (7.5 miles). I'm also planning to run this afternoon. I'll either run a 5 mile out and back or run the 7.5 mile loop. I'll decide somewhere between my start and the 2.5 mile turn-around point.

Running without Garmin

At the beginning of this month, my Garmin Forerunner broke. The company is fixing it for free, which is nice, and is also the least they can do considering I paid $100 for it only six months ago. Anyway, since then I’ve been running without the Forerunner and logging my distances by running routes that I’ve previously measured. I don’t really mind running without it. I’m not training for a specific race and don’t need to hit or hold a certain pace. The only thing I really miss about the Forerunner is not being able to freelance. Before, if I wanted to turn, I turned and didn’t worry about where I went. I knew the Forerunner would calculate my distance. Now, I feel that I need to only run routes that I’ve measured before, so I know how far I’ve run. I guess what I really need to do is cut the strings and just run where I want. I can figure my average pace on sections that I’ve measured before or just estimate based on effort and time. However, it’s tough to go back when you’ve had more advanced technology. I don’t really know what I’ll do once the Forerunner is back, but I’m pretty sure that I won’t use it for more than a couple of runs per week. It’s just not necessary for an easy run or a recovery run.

This week is off to a good start. I ran just over 11 miles on Sunday, 7.5 miles on Monday, and just over 5 miles on Tuesday. I’m easily on my way to reaching my goal of 50 miles this week. Next week, I’ll run a 15-mile long run on Sunday and climb over 60 for the week. I’m also going to move away from automatically taking a day off each week. I can easily run at lunch. We have locker rooms, showers and a nice path around the island (one loop is 1.3 miles). I’ll probably take a day off every two or three weeks and slowly get to were I’m running without a day off – unless my body needs one or my life gets in the way.

A Good Week Back

I wrapped up a good week today.

Two runs today – 5 miles in the morning and 5.5 this afternoon. I ran six times this week. All my runs were short (between 5-6 miles). This gives me a week off and a week of short, easy runs since the marathon. Now my cold is gone, and my legs are feeling great.

Next week I’ll increase the distance of my runs up to 8-10 miles, with a goal of totaling over 50 miles. If all goes well, from there I’ll build to the 60 and 70 mile range. I’d like to take advantage of the facilities at work and start running during lunch more often. This will be a good way to add some easy miles to my weekly totals. Plus, it will help my avoid going out to lunch, which costs me too much money and adds too many calories to my diet.

Running Sick, Marathon Planning, and Possible Move

Yesterday I had a good run. I ran just over five miles at work. I work on a small island in San Francisco Bay (between Oakland and Alameda). One lap around the island is approximately 1.3 miles. I ran four laps, plus a little more to get to and from the running trail. It was my first run since the marathon where I naturally maintained a sub-8:00 mile/min pace. The bad news is that I have all but completely lost my voice. I’ve been coughing for over a week, and my voice finally gave out. Part of me is saying I should stop running and let my body heal; however, I’m feeling pretty good, so I think I’ll give it a couple more days. If my voice isn’t back by Sunday or Monday, I may have to take a few days off from running.

I should log a little over 30 miles this week, and I’m hoping to build up to the 50 mile range next week. After that I’m going to start thinking about my next marathon training cycle. I believe I was successful at Napa Valley Marathon because I had a long training program and averaged more miles per week than I ever have. However, before entering the training program, I didn’t really have a base-building period where I just ran a lot of miles without paying too much attention to pace. By planning for an October marathon in March, I’ll have enough time to build mileage through April and May. This way, my highest mileage weeks won’t be at a time when I’m also trying to add speed to my program. If I’m successful in the build-up, the structured training program, and in my efforts to get down to 190 pounds, I’ll be in prime position to make a run at a sub-3 hour marathon.

One other thing. I found out that I’ll be advancing to Chief Petty Officer this year, and it was looking like I would have to transfer. However, it turns out that the jobs for the 2006 assignment year have been sent out, and I didn’t get one. What this means is that there’s a good chance that I’ll get to stay here for another year. I was hesitant to make any marathon plans for the fall because I thought I was going to get transferred to a ship. Now that the transfer plans may be off, I’ll assume I’m staying here and train accordingly. Of course if someone else’s transfer falls through, I may be called to fill their job. Oh well, such is life for those of us in the military.

More Easy Running

On Monday I ran another easy five miles. It was nice to complete a run without getting rained on, although there was a lot of wind to deal with. I felt pretty much the same as I did the day before. Basically, my legs are just tired. The good news is that running these five mile loops doesn't seem to be hurting things any. I certainly didn't feel any worse on Monday than I did on Sunday. I didn't feel much better either, but I'm confident that time will take care of that. I still have a pretty nasty cough, but I otherwise feel healthy. In other words, I cough a lot but don't feel sick.

If things continue to go as they have been, I'll continue the five mile runs through the week and bump it up to eight or ten on the weekend. At that point, I'll figure out a plan for next week.

First Post-Marathon Run

On Sunday, I ran for the first time since completing Napa Valley Marathon a week before. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this run. Before running, my legs felt fine. However, I had suffered through a head and chest cold all week. As far as the cold went, I felt okay, but still had a pretty nasty cough.

Once I started running, I was surprised at how good my legs felt, initially. After I ran a quarter mile or so and was into an easy rhythm, my legs felt great. Breathing the cold air didn't feel to good, however, and I briefly considered calling it a day until my cough went away. Instead I just kept running. After I had run a mile or so, the rain started. Somewhere between miles one and two, my legs started to feel fatigued. I just kept on running at an easy effort, without worrying about pace. The second half of the run was noticeably slower than the first half, which was due to a combination of tired legs and running into the wind on the way home. I ended up running five cold, rainy, windy miles.

I've pretty much decided to keep running this five mile loop at an easy pace until I feel like I'm running at 100% from both a running (leg tiredness) and health (no more cold or cough) standpoint. When I feel good, I'll begin building the mileage back up. I'm hoping to begin building mileage starting next week, but I'm going to try to be patient. With my next race (or at least goal race) not until October, now is a good time to rest if I need it.

Quick Update

Just a quick update so that anyone who happens to read this won't think I gave it up. I haven't run a step since I crossed the finish line in Napa. Running a marathon in the rain left me with very sore quads, blisters on each foot, and I've been sick all week. As I write this, my legs feel pretty good and my blisters are all but healed. However, I've had a head and chest cold all week. Without the cold, I probably would have gone for a run today. As it is, I'm hoping to get out for my first post-race run sometime this weekend. Even so, I'll probably take it easy next week and then increase my mileage based on how I feel. I'd like to get back up to the mid-60s or 70 mile area through the summer and then try to nail a great marathon in October. Anyway, that's it until this weekend.

My Ridiculously Long Napa Valley Marathon Report

On Sunday I finally raced another marathon. This was my third overall marathon. I ran/walked/limped my way to the finish line of the 2001 Rock ‘n Roll Marathon with a time of 4:35:37 and ran the 2003 Mardi Gras Marathon with a time of 3:30:44.

I had initially hoped to run a marathon last October, but I ended up getting slightly injured, waited to register, and the race filled up. My next plan was to run the Pacific Shoreline Marathon in February, but that race also filled up before I registered. I ended up at running the Napa Valley Marathon. Because I had started training for the two previous marathons, I had run ten, 20 milers and had averaged 55 miles a week since last August. I had missed a few runs here and there, but I knew my fitness was there to easily pass my previous PR. With that in mind, I set a goal for this marathon to average 7:00 minutes per mile, which would give me a finish time of 3:03:24.

Like most of us I started checking the weather as soon as the ten-day forecast became available. The predictions called for cold, rain and wind. Not the ideal racing conditions. The forecasts turned out to be fairly accurate, but the weather still wasn’t too bad. At the start of the race, I found the temps to be slightly cool and the wind wasn’t too strong. During the race, the rain was a constant drizzle. Other than soaking my shoes, socks and feet, it wasn’t a big factor.

The race started on time, and I was able to cross the line after only a few seconds. After the usual jockeying for position for the first quarter mile or so, I easily found my stride. My one goal for the first mile was to not start too fast. I got into a rhythm pretty early and mainly tried to stay around other people. The wind wasn’t too strong, but I figured I’d save what energy I could by staying in a pack. I hit the first mile at 7:17. I wasn’t on pace, but I was pleased with this time.

I don’t have my splits available, so I can’t give a mile-by-mile description of how my race went, but I remember enough to give an overview. The second mile went by pretty much the same as the first. I stayed with other runners when possible. Sometimes I led the group and other times I followed. I made up a few seconds during this mile, and hit the two mile mark at 14:11. During mile three, the runners spread out a bit, and I was running alone until another runner came up behind me and drafted for a mile or so. He then moved in front of me and told me to draft off him. I stayed right behind him for probably three quarters of a mile. However, without me in front of him, his pace was quicker than I wanted to run. I ended up running mile four at 6:40 pace, I stayed with him a bit further and went back and forth in my mind whether I should stay with him and share the duties of cutting the wind or if I should let him go and move back to my goal pace. It didn’t take long for me to come to my senses and let him go ahead.

By the time I reached mile five, I was approximately 25 seconds ahead of my goal pace. I maintained this cushion for a while. The first two thirds of the course were rolling hills. On the more uphill miles I would give back a few seconds and on downhill miles, I would gain them back. I pretty much continued this routine until mile 16.

Right about the time I hit the 16 mile mark, the wind seemed to really pick up, and I started giving back time pretty quickly. During miles 17, 18 and 19, I averaged approximately 7:20 mile pace. Mile 20 was mostly a long, steady uphill climb. I knew this hill was coming, but believed that after this hill, it was mostly downhill to the finish line. With this in mind, I pushed the effort up to the 20 mile marker and the top of this hill. I ended up crossing the mile marker just over a minute behind goal pace.

My plan was to take advantage of the downhill and try to run 6:50 miles to the finish. This pace would put me right at my goal pace. The problem is that after a short downhill, the course was mostly flat for the final six miles. With the increased wind and without a downhill course to take advantage of, I just didn’t have enough left to make up any time. After staying even for a couple of miles, I started giving time back. At this point of the race, I can’t really say what my pace was. In my head I thought I was making up time; however, when I got to the 25 mile mark, I realized that I was over two minutes behind my target pace. Realizing that I wasn’t going to reach my goal, I started concentrating on catching two runners who were in sight ahead of me. I slowly gained on the runner in front of me and finally caught him with close to a half mile to go. Just as I was passing him, we came to a corner. I heard a spectator say (or at least I thought he said), after the corner, you can see the finish. I turned the corner, and a ways ahead I could see people standing around, so I thought that was the finish. I pushed the pace and started working towards a strong finish. The next runner wasn’t too far ahead of me, and she was struggling. I past her about the same time I realized that what I saw wasn’t the finish line but was the next turn in the course. I made this turn, and still only say another turn – no finish line. However, at this point, I could hear cheering and knew I was close. I started sprinting (or doing the best version of a sprint that I could muster) and just hammered to the finish line.

My official time was 3:06:39. I finished 49th overall; 47th male, and 13th in the 40-44 age group. My average pace was 7:07. I didn’t reach my goal of 7:00 minute mile pace, but I’m happy with this race. I made some smart decisions by not going out too fast, working with other runners when possible, and knowing to pull back when the runner I was with was going faster than I was prepared to run. The only real bad decision I made was running too hard up the hill at mile 20, but even that decision was made based on bad information about the course. Who knows, with dry shoes and no wind (or a tailwind), I may have been able to hit my goal time.

I enjoyed this race. It was very well organized. The only downside was that the entire race is run on cambered roads. I’ve never had a problem on these types of roads, but I know they’re killers for a lot of runners. Also, the soup they served was horrible. It was basically water with a few vegetables. The only good thing about it was that it was hot.

The two best things I've seen at the end of races are the ice cold towels at the end of the Sunburst Marathon and the hot showers at the end of the Napa Valley Marathon. I was freezing after this race. That hot shower was great!