week of 25 Feb

Mo - 6am flight, no running
Tu - 12.04/8:12/152 - red eye home from the west coast that night
We - 6.08/9:24/145- wt: 164.5
Th - 14.0/8:12/No HRM - wt: 161.4
Fr - 6.16/9:00/143 - wt: 162.5
Sa - 6.18/8:44/143
Su - 22.47/9:10/150
Week - 66.9/8:45/148

I ran with the Free's on Thursday and again on Friday, developing a blister. I just can't wear those things anymore until I get a bigger size.

Today's run was pretty good. I ran around 9:30 pace for probably 13 miles, then worked down to 8:30 where I stayed for the rest of the run. I have no idea how I'm ever going to run 7:27 at the end of the race. My last 1.5 miles was 8:35 pace average 181 bpm! (My avg marathon heart rate is 172.) Still, something magic happens on race day. Last spring I'd averaged 9:07 per mile and 149 bpm on my last 20-mile long runs and ran 80 secs/mile faster on race day. It looks like I'm in about the same shape now. If I can just shed that extra weight...

Speaking of quickly shedding some pounds. Don't ever eat chili right after a long run. "Honey, do you want me to heat you up some chili?" "Sure." Not a good idea. Kids, don't do it. I'm not quite sure how to enter 1 cup of chili digested for 1.5 hours into the sparkpeople calorie log. Do I get a pro-rated rate?

Pretty good week. I think that's the most I've ever run in 6 sessions.

I need to lose weight

I turned of the alarm and 5am and next thing I know it's 5:20. Argh! I got to work, threw on my stuff, and noticed I left my Garmin, so I went both HRM-less and watch-less today -- caveman running. I did 14 with the last 5 at marathon effort. The first 9 were a little faster than a couple of weeks ago (I'm guessing). I ran with the Free's again and my form felt so much better, but my pinky toe was bothering me again for the last 4 miles.

I stepped on the scale last night and saw 164.5! Holy cow. What happened? I weighed again after my run this morning and saw 160.5. That number was 157.5 not too long ago. I've signed up for sparkpeople.com to help track my calories. I set my goal as 154 lbs on 3 May. I think getting the BQ is as simple as that. If I weigh <= 154 on the night of 3 May, I'm pretty sure it will happen. If not, .... Losing weight is a lot harder than running though.

jet lagged

I had a whirlind 2 days. Woke up at 4 am Monday to catch a 6 am flight to LA. Drove 100 miles when I got there. Worked 1-5, collapsed, got up at 4:30 to run 12 miles, worked 8-5, drove 100 miles, flew the red eye back, got home at 10 am this morning, napped, coached basketball, went to "math night," sat down at the computer to type this.

I'm considering those 18 miles a moral victory. My legs were still pretty sore from the 20 on Sunday. I've had sore on the back of my legs (hamstring, knee, upper calf). I think this comes from running a little faster *and* from wearing my wave precisions. They let me fall back into my heel-striking ways. I wore the Free 7.0's today and my piggy toe seemed perfectly fine. I noticed that I was running differently and I believe better. Still, I think the Free 7.0's heel is way too big.

Next up: 5am alarm and 14 miles.

If it hasn't been clear, as much as I say it, the 10-miler isn't my goal. I won't really have another goal until I BQ. I hope I get that knocked off soon, because I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. I also know I'm not going to BQ if I don't get my weight under control. It's heading in the wrong direction. I've narrowed the cause down to all the food I keep stuffing in my face.

week of 18 February

Mo - 6.3/8:35/149
Tu - 14.02/8:24/149 steady
We - 6.59/8:01/150
Th - 10.15/7:49/161 -- ~1.6 w/up, 7/7:34/165 (roughly marathon effort), ~1.6 c/dn
Fr - Rest
Sa - 6.12/8:40/149
Su - 20.7/9:37/147 (HRM was way messed up 1st two miles, 144 is probably right)

Week - 63.9/8:43/150

So, I just went out and slogged a really slow run today. I ran 3:05 last week and the plan was just to run another 15 minutes. Everything went OK except I felt a strain in my left calf at 17 miles that was pretty sharp at one point. I threw in some walk breaks and made it through OK.

My mileage has slumped recently, but it's been because of missing one or two short day, which I don't equate the same as missing (drastically shortening) one of the three 10+ mile runs.

Back from travelling

Mo - 6.3/8:35/149
Tu - 14.02/8:24/149 steady
We - 6.59/8:01/150
Th - 10.15/7:49/161 -- ~1.6 w/up, 7/7:34/165 (roughly marathon effort), ~1.6 c/dn
Fr - Rest
Sa - 6.12/8:40/149

I was proud to get in the 16 miles over the three days on the road (we, Th, Fr). I was at a conference that basically ran from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm every day (talks plus breakfast, lunch, and dinner), so I got up at 5am and get in 6 miles one day and 10 another (with ~7 at MP). The third day though, I just couldn't get out of bed. Still, I'll chalk it up as a victory.

I noticed my left foot aching this morning and some plantar fasciitis warning signs. I'm pretty sure it's from switching back to the wave precisions from the Frees. The wave precisions are considered pretty minimal by conventional, Runner's World standards, but I really think they're a little too much shoe. Unfortunately the narrow Nike's have mauled my toes. I'm not quite sure where to go now with shoes.

As you can see, I've upped the intensity quite a bit. I did that partly because I knew that I would get my normal mileage in over Wed-Fr. I'm also thinking of varying my approach a little to make more out of my time during the week. Really, I'm probably just getting impatient. I'll make sure the long runs are still be quite slow though. A 20-miler is on deck for tomorrow.

week of 11 Feb

Here's how the week went:

Mo - 6.15/9:11/143
Tu - 12.16/8:48/144
We - Rest -- blistered pinky toe
Th - Rest -- blistered pinky toe
Fr - 14.03/8:27/151
Sa - 6.13/8:54/150 (inflated by early bad HRM data)
Su - 19.5/9:30/141

Week: 58.0/9:00/145

Today was just odd. I didn't get out of bed until 9! (Even subtracting the time dealing with the dog, I still had to sleep 9 hours.) I finally got out the door at 10:30 knowing I wouldn't get home until probably 1:30 and that I hadn't eaten yet. I started jogging slowly as usual and let my body tell me when I was ready to run. Well, I just never felt like running. I felt like calling a cab three miles in, but I decided just to cover the distance. That didn't even quite work out. I hit the start/stop button at a stoplight while waiting for traffic and saw "timer started" -- oh, crap, how long was it off? I took a guess and shot for 20 miles, but after filling in the gap with google earth, I found the total was only 19.5. That's the way the day went. To continue the theme of leaving everything unfinished, my wife and I watched "Lost in Translation" this afternoon.

Good news on the pinky toe. It's getting back to its pasty white self and didn't really bother me that much during the run. It wasn't any worse when I finished than when I started.

Another 14 miler

I was back in the saddle Friday. The toe still hurt, but it wasn't unbearable. I did the same 14 mile route and I did it the same way as last week. Run the 9 miles however I feel like and then pick it up for the last 5. 7:31/160, 7:41/164, 7:27/167, 7:46/170, 7:24/171. I did better last week, but I ran the first 9 a little faster this time. Overall 8:27/151 versus 8:40/146 last week. 5 bpm should be worth more than 13 seconds. The third split of the fast part is the only one that's close to level -- gentle downhill first minute, flat, then *steep* uphill last 30-45 seconds. Yesterday it was 7:27 (exactly goal mp)/167. Last week it was 7:37/157. Again, much better last week.

I did 6.2 this morning. I wrapped the toe with athletic tape which I think was a mistake. It hurt enough that I stopped and took at it off at mile 4. I'm hoping I haven't done too much damage to get in 18+ tomorrow.

Two days for a piggy?

Maybe it was the toe, or maybe it was a lack of motivation, but I didn't run this morning. The toe is red, puffy and a little disturbing, so I think I made the right call. It's doing somewhat better tonight. The blister is now just a shell, but the damage has been done on my toenail and the top of my toe behind my nail is where it really hurts. When my foot flexes and my shoe bends, the crease hits right there. Tomorrow I'm planning on 14. I was entertaining the idea of a 10K on Saturday to get a little inspiration, but I'll probably pass.

This little piggy goes "ouch!"

I gutted through 6 miles on Monday and 12 on Tuesday by draining the blister and wrapping my toe in athletic tape, but it has hurt more each day. This morning I went through the drain and tape drill, put on my shoes, limped a couple of steps, and decided it was a bad idea. Damn.

week of 4 February -- I've got blisters on my blisters

Today was the longest run I've done since the marathon. I took it very easy, just wanting to cover the distance. Normally I do my long runs as loops around a 4.5 mile lake path. Today I decided to run there from my house, do one loop around, and then run back. I've done this a number of times before and find it psychologically easier. Here's the numbers (note that the HRM reads *way* high for the first 10-15 minutes, so the short runs are more distorted by that).

Mo - 4.7/9:35/136
Tu - 12.22/8:56/140
We - 6.16/9:26/133
Th - 14.02/8:40/146
Fr - 6.15/9:42/135
Sa - 6.13/9:16/137
Su - 18.15/9:22/142

This week: 67.5/9:11/140, 10h20m
Last week: 68.5/8:41/144, 9h54m

Obviously I ran much harder last week, but I really wanted to make sure I had enough gas to do a comfortable 18 today, which I did. Saturday's run felt very easy. Looking at my logs from Sept/Oct (but without looking too closely), I think I'm doing about as well as then or perhaps better.

The Nike Free experiment has gone pretty well except one big problem. Actually it's two little problems -- the shoes are too narrow in the toe box and squeeze my little piggies, giving me blisters. Also, the 5.0v1s finally ripped in the back like everybody Yesterday, I went in search for a half-size larger at the mall with my whole family (I was ready to spring for them on line or make calls to running shoe stores -- trust me). I found the size 9.5s I was looking for, but ended up with Free 7.0 instead of 5.0. The 7.0s are kinda chunky but maybe it's good to get a little extra cushioning for my long runs. They didn't squeeze my toes nearly as much but they did manage to give me a blister on top of my pinky toe. The existing blister got worse as well. I expected to find an exposed bone when I got home, but only a blister about half as big as my toe.

advancing the process

I did the same 14-mile route as I did last week, but much slower. Running the downhill portions fast isn't worth the muscle damage, and subsequent impact on future training, it produces. I decide that after last week's 14-miler left me listless for a few days. This morning I did the (net) downhill portion (first 4.5 miles or so) at a very relaxed pace. I then kept that pace up for the uphill portion, which of course meant more effort, until I finished the 9-mile loop. I did another half loop (cut across) for the last 5 miles. I said to myself, I'd keep it under 8:00 min/mi, which would make the last uphill miles tough. I ended up running considerably faster than that. The last 5 miles were 7:49/150, 7:41/160, 7:37/157, 7:30/169, 7:23/167. Look at the elevation above from my GPS to make sense of the splits (note that GPS elevation data sucks and this is smoothed by SportTracks). Overall the run was 14.03/8:40/146.

Advancing the process is an essay by John Wiegley that I find myself having read a number of times over the last year or so. I read it in a non-running context, but I think it has some bearing on training, so I'm mentioning it here.

Holy heat wave, Batman

At 6am this morning it was 65 degrees. I kid you not. It was so strange hearing the sound of road sand under your shoes and sweating through your short sleeve shirt. Plus, it's dark out. When it's 65 at 6am, it is light out, because it's summer. While I ran, I wondered if there would be an uptick in crime today from the weird energy in the air. What I forgot, was that I had to coach basketball practice tonight. Those kids were out of control.

eat like crap, run like crap

On Monday morning, too much cheese dip on Superbowl Sunday "inspired" me to cut my run short at 4.7 miles (meant to do 6) and deal with some, shall we say, digestive issues. This morning, I did a 12-mile run, but it didn't go nearly as well as last Thursday's. I also confirmed on the gym scale what my home scale was telling me -- I'm about 1.5 to 2 pounds over my pre-Disney weight. As Adam would say, I've fallen below the yellow line. I was about 158 (I think) before Frederick last May and now I'm at 159. If I really want to qualify, I should be less than 155. The tire around my midsection confirms it can be done. It only requires the will to do so.

I need to eat healthy. I started with a mish-mash from the salad bar for lunch, but I need to come up with some alternatives. I'll have to check Adam's recipes. I'm basically looking to eat more plants -- vegetables, beans, etc.

My run today was 1h49m. It's hard to believe last Thurday I did 2 more miles in only 6 more minutes. Of course, I ran at a much higher heart rate to do that. My quads were sore though and I didn't push it. I think my cardio is well ahead of my legs. My basic plan is 1:45 on Tu, 2:00 on Th, 2:30 on Su, and 1:00 the rest of the week. That adds up to 10:15. I'd like to get more sleep on the nights before 1-hour runs, but if I do them at home, the extra 30 minutes in traffic means I don't save that much time. If I do them at work, then I'm driving in to work in the dark and driving home in the dark every day. That kinds of sucks.

Week of 28 Jan -- weird week

I went from thinking I was in the best shape of my life on Thursday to thinking I should just give up on this running thing today. 15.47/8:49/149 today versus 14.04/8:14/153 on Thursday. I planned to do 18, but my schedule (along with some common sense?) prevented that. Anyway the week was

Mo: 10.27/8:09/???? am (battery died on HRM), 4.00/9:09/133 - hotel treadmill
Tu: 8.00/8:50/136 - hotel treadmill
We: 7.00/8:49/133 - hotel treadmill
Th: 14.04/8:13/153
Fr: 4.86/9:13/143
Sa: 4.82/9:33/133
Su: 15.47/8:45/149

Week: 68.5/8:41/144

I sure miss the 8:46/137 of running on the flats at Disney. My average was really even higher for this week since the monday run with no HRM was certainly greater than 144 bpm. I'm probably tired because this was really a pretty big jump in overall workload. My previous biggest week was 70.2 miles @ 140. Hopefully this will pay off.

Thoughts of a 2 March marathon have given way to reality. I gotta keep this up until May?

just tired

It took a lot of motivation to get out of bed at 5am on Thursday, but I ended up having a great run. On my tough work course, I did 14 miles at 8:13 pace and 153 bpm average, which in addition to being a little higher end aerobic was the longest I've run since the marathon. I felt like I was in better shape than my peak before marine corps. 8:13 is only 26 secs/mi off my PR marathon pace and I usually average 172 bpm. Of course this was much shorter, but it was also much hillier. During the run, I even entertained the idea of sneaking in the 2 March marathon, because, frankly, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep up the enthusiasm for 5am runs. Also, the weather should be good and the course is very flat. Anyway, the last two days, I've just felt tired and have been way overeating for some reason (maybe thinking food will give me energy?). Rather than push it, I just ran 45 minutes yesterday and today. Hopefully, I'll be re-energized for my long run tomorrow.

a few days in St Louis or how I learned to love the treadmill

Mo: 10.27/8:09/???? am, 4.00/9:09/133 -- I got home at 12:30 am from Disney World. Slept to about 8 and got in my 10 miles. I forgot to put the Garmin on the charger after getting home. I got the start time though and could power back up to get the stop time (clock time), so I could get pace. Went to work and then flew to St Louis. I knew it was going to be tough to get runs in, so I stole another 4 miles on the treadmill. No Garmin again, but I sampled HR at .5, 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 and averaged them. Treadmill running is the only real option given the dicey area around the airport.

Tu: 8.00/8:50/136. Got up at 5am to make sure I got a treadmill for long enough. I planned to do an hour but stole some extra miles, worried again about getting miles while here.

We: 7.00/8:49/133. They moved the start time for the meeting up an hour, so 7 miles was already pressing it.

Getting to 70 miles a week isn't easy. Four pretty good runs in 3 days puts you a mile behind the pace. I'm mixing the runs though, so a long run on Sunday should make up some ground. The good news is that my pace/heart rate is as good as I can ever remember it on a treadmill (I'm generally lousy on those things.)

week of 21 January -- my week in flatland

Sorry for the silence and thanks for the comments. I just got back from Disney World. The picture shows the running story for the week. A 0.93-mile nearly pancake-flat loop at the Port Orleans resort. (By the way, the map the hotel gives you says it's 0.7 miles. Mr. Garmin begs to differ.)

I did a medium/really easy week (as opposed to hard/easy) and cut back the miles.

Mo - "rest" (2 airplanes and MGM studios)
Tu - 9.97/8:43/138
We - 8.00/9:04/134
Th - 9.97/8:38/140
Fr - 6.14/9:20/138 (HRM falsely high first miles)
Sa - 9.96/8:11/141
Su - 6.22/9:01/130

Total: 50.27/8:46/137

It's amazing the difference the terrain makes. Last week was 9:16/140. The Saturday run was a little less than two minutes slower than my 2006 Cherry Blossom time (which was then a PR), so I guess I've come a long way.

After this week, I could smell 3:15 and thought about the importance of terrain and good weather. Even if I'm in much better shape would I do better at a 4 May marathon on a pretty hilly course than a 2 March race on a perfectly flat course? Ah, I'll never get in the long runs to do a decent 2 March marathon, but the thought has crossed my mind.

-----
Joseph, I'll try not to get volume drunk. I think my non-running schedule might take care of that for me.

Adam, my goal races are the Cherry Blossom 10 mile run on 6 April and the Frederick Marathon on 4 May.

Mindi, the damn dog is lovable and, unfortunately, very old. He's 13 and a half and the demographics for 14 year old labs aren't that good. He's got back/leg problems and can't get up by himself, so he barks to get up to get water, when he falls off the sofa trying to reposition position himself in the middle of the night, when he wants to go out, experiences fecal incontinence (there's a euphemism), you name it. Getting old is a bitch.

week of 14 Jan -- a bird in hand is worth two in the bush

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush. That's been my approach to getting the miles, but I went after the two in the bush on Thursday and it cost me some time on the 'mill. On Thursday I was going to run home from work and then back in on Friday. I somehow convinced myself the snow and freezing in the forecast wouldn't be a problem, but when the freezing rain was actually just rain, I was staring at about 3 inches of slush. I took a couple of steps and wisely decided to drive home and run on the treadmill. Then 3 on the treadmill the next morning (couldn't get out of bed for more after the dog woke me up several times during the night) and 6 in the neighborhood Friday night, which I started at about 8:00 because I was stuck at work (my own fault) until 7:30. I should have just stuck to the routine and driven to work and run there on Thursday morning before the snow. Live and learn.

Here's how the week went:

Mo - 9.34/9:28/137
Tu - 9.33/9:19/136
We - 9.44/9:02/139
Th - 9.00/9:32/139 pm
Fr - 3.25/9:14/135 am, 6.04/9:07/141 pm
Sa - 10.72/9:14/144
Su - 13.03/9:12/145 -- actually exactly 2:00:00 long without planning it that way

Total - 70.15/9:16/140

Everything is holding up OK except I got a twinge on the medial side of my right knee today. I don't think it's anything though, but I can still feel it as I type.

I was pretty tired again at the end of the 13-miler. It feels like all these "short" runs have made me weak (endurance-wise), but hopefully I'm just tired after a big week. I was ready to be done at 13 miles when in the past I would have just been getting started. I haven't done more than 13 since the marathon on 10/30/2007. Between 1/1/2007 and 10/30/2007, I ran 18 or more miles 26 times. You have to give up something though, and I've been sacrificing the long run for weekly mileage.

Next week is a cutback week. When I come back, I'm going to go into more of a hard/easy schedule, extending my long run and doing some faster aerobic running.

The pretender running on empty

My day today

• Alarm goes off at 5:20.
• After shaving and brushing my teeth, I'm on the road at ~5:45.
• I get to work at ~6:05 (takes only 20 minutes this early)
• I get changed and am running at 6:15 am.
• I finish running at 7:48.
• I do some stretching, crunches, etc., take a shower, get dressed and am in my office at 8:30 am (right on time).
• Leave work at 5:45.
• Get home at 6:10 (light traffic tonight).
• Eat some pizza that's awaiting me.
• Change and pack up clothes in my gym bag for tomorrow.
• Sit down to write this at 7 pm, which is only two hours before we put the kids to bed and get ready to start this again.

One thing I don't like about driving to work and running there is that I leave when it's dark and get home when it's dark. If I give a generous 15 minutes for eating my pizza, the whole run, work, prepare for tomorrow's run/work took about 13 hours. You subtract some sleeping time and there's not much left each day. You throw in coaching basketball, a cub scout meeting or two, and whatever random stuff comes up, and it's pretty easy to answer the question "where does all the time go?"

I know everybody else is in the same boat, but I was listening to Jackson Browne on the way home, which can be kind of depressing :-)

And when the evening rolls around
Ill go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
Ill get up and do it again

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive

If I can, I'm going to try running home from work Thursday and then into work on Friday (10.5 each way). This way I'll have my car at work and don't have to deal with taking the bus home (which adds probably 45 minutes each day). It also means I get to sleep in Thursday and see my kids before school and I save the 20 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the afternoon driving to and from work. An added benefit over my usual running in routine is that I can arrive a little later on Friday. Normally when I run in I try to get there before 7:45 so I can get to my office to retrieve my work clothes without seeing too many people in my sweaty running clothes. With this plan, I can leave my clothes in my car and still be on time if I get there at 8 or so.

Another low heart rate day

After a high heart-rate Sunday, Monday and today were better. I did my at work route yesterday and today. It's quite hilly, but it's more like San Diego was. Long steady climbs and descents rather than a lot of ups and downs. Basically I run down close to the Potomac and back in a loop.

Yesterday was 9:30 min/mi and 136 bpm. Today was 9:20 min/mi and 134 bpm. I need to look at my log when I get home, but I'm pretty sure when I did this on the third it was about the same pace and 140 bpm. It was windy that day though and 15 degrees compared to 30-35 yesterday and today, so I'm not sure they're comparable. Today's run was right in line with San Diego though, so maybe it wasn't a fluke out there.