Dave's Spring MIT 2016 - Week 6

Another week of increased mileage has come and gone. Rather than recap each day's workout, I'll go with the highlights:

Track Tuesday kinda sorta didn't happen. There was a miscommunication between BGSU (where we run track nights) and our MIT leadership. In lieu, some people ran the workout outside at Fallen Timbers.

For Tempo Thursday, we had a strong and mighty turnout with A Flock of Runners. Afterwards, we had beer and food at Beer Barrel. I finally ate the meatball salad. It was sloppy and delicious.

The Saturday long run was great. Fourteen miles nice and easy. Some in The Flock like to run ahead of us coaches. And then they have to wait for us and they get antsy about stiffening up. Stay behind the coaches, Flock. Take it easy.

---

And now it's Thursday of the following week. It's like, 50 degrees outside. That means that I get to wear shorts to run outside! Yass. Yass yass yass.

I'm on the mend from a cold that bitch-slapped me on Sunday evening. I attribute my body's ability to quickly evict said cold to a diet rich in minerals and nutrients and devoid of gluten and dairy. And lots of water. One day I had no coffee. That was sad.

Dave's Spring MIT 2018 - Week Five

Another week of training is done. Way to go, guys! Here's what we did:

M: 6 miles (easy)
T: 5x1000 (threshold)
W: 5 miles (easy)
Th: 7 miles (2-6 at race pace)
F: Rest
Sa: 12 (easy)
Su: Rest

The long run was fun. And exceptionally paced by Joe. We committed to The Flock that long runs will be at a 9:30 pace and Joe's Garmin data shows an average of 9:28 for the 12 miles.

Why so slow, you may ask? Because that's the plan. I like rules and I'm a team-player, and so if the training philosophy is to run this particular volume of weekly miles including the long run at an easy pace of 30 to 60 seconds slower than race pace, then by golly, sign me up.

I didn't always feel this way, though. Truth be told, it still isn't my preferred style of training. BUT I get it. The first time I coached MIT, back in 2016, I begrudgingly ran 16 weeks of long runs at a 9:30 pace at our absolute fastest. For four months, I pretended that I believed in the plan as to not undermine our leadership at Dave's. And then on race day, it somehow all worked out. Heck, I even ran a PR. And then another PR a month later. So like, it works.

Trust the training!

Dave's Spring MIT 2018 - Week Four

It's January 2018! I'm a Dave's MIT coach again. This time around, I'm getting a group of about 50-strong to run a 3:45 full marathon or a 1:52 half. We call ourselves "A Flock of Runners" as an homage to the great 80s band "A Flock of Seagulls." And by "great 80s band" I mean "that group that had one of the all-time greatest one-hit-wonders."

I'm not doing this coaching thing alone--nope. I've got this cool dude as my co-coach. Joe! Yes, husband and wife MIT coaches. It's cute, right? We're cute.

Here's what we logged last week for runs:

Monday: 4 miles (easy)
Tuesday: 4x800 + 4x400 (threshold)
Wednesday: 4 miles (easy)
Thursday: 6 miles (2-6 at race pace)
Friday: Rest!
Saturday: 11 miles (easy)
Sunday: Rest! But I ran five for shits and giggles. And because I ate wings the night before.

That was week four of MIT. The Flock is hanging in there so far. The biggest challenge for me as a coach is to get runners to run the easy miles at a truly easy pace. They're all, "We feel good, let's go faster!" And I'm all, "I'm going to start carrying a taser." That said, Joe has been a lot better at keeping a big chunk of the Flock at our official "easy" pace on the long runs, whereas I have sucked at it. Like, I finished our 11 miles with a chunk of the Flock at about 15 seconds per mile faster than where we should have been. Although that's still 45-ish seconds slower than race pace, I have to glue the Flock to our pace.

About those five miles on rest day yesterday: If you're a member of the Flock, do as I say and not as I do! Full disclosure, Joe and I are coaching this specific group because the goal paces are easy for us. So like, the miles throughout the week have less of an impact on us. And as a result, it's okay for me and Joe to throw in extra miles. Now, if you're running the same miles and workouts with us and you feel like they're easy, then you ought to consider bumping yourself up to the next-fastest group. If it does not challenge you, it will not change you. But if it does challenge you, GOOD. You belong in the Flock.

Mid-Week Musings. Alliteration--WHAT!

In this unprecedented (for my lifetime) super ridiculous, excessive, frozen weather I've been cooped up at home a lot. Here's what's been happening.

On Monday I needed to get off of my ass so I walked to and from the grocery store--bundled up like Randy Parker. I've never been one to complain about winter in Ohio, even as a runner, but this shit is for real. Yesterday evening before trivia we went to Anytime Fitness to do four miles, side-by-side on the treadmills. I was feeling really good and could have gone on for another mile or two. We might end up there again this evening because it's still cold as a mofo.

I'm just going to put this out there so that I do it: Next Tuesday I will begin doing speed work. Last winter around this time I told myself I'd do it weekly, but that only lasted for two weeks. My only excuse is that I didn't commit. This year I need to do it and stick with it. I want to give myself a better chance of improving on my marathon PR and, save for a miracle or voodoo, that's the only way I know how to control it. Although the forecast is calling for snow on that day, I will do speed work next Tuesday. It might mean that I'll need to give in and actually buy a real membership to the gym. Note to self: Next house must have a basement with a phat treadmill. Yeah, I said "phat."

I'm looking forward to our 15-mile long run this Sunday. Looking forward to a long run?! Usually I'm a teeny bit excited to do long runs because I feel so awesome afterwards, but this one is mounting up to be memorable. We're switching it up from P-Burg and Maumee and heading down to flat and windy Bowling Green to run with Joe Boyle. Joe is a teacher living in BG who took up running a few years ago, then received a diagnosis of kidney cancer. In a couple of weeks he'll begin a new treatment routine, so if he's going to run a marathon, he needs to do it now. We don't know Joe at all, but his story has gone sorta viral over the past few days. His original plan was to run 26.2 miles with a few friends and his doctor. Now, though, it's looking like there will be a solid crowd of northwest Ohio runners joining Joe for portions of if not the entire marathon distance. There will even be fuel, aid stations, restrooms, and spectators! If you're interested in supporting Joe, hit up his blog post about the event at this address: http://boyledonia.blogspot.com/2014/01/marathon-details_25.html.

Now if you don't mind, I'm going to enjoy the bejesus out of my latte. It's so warm, which is very different from outside.

A Future Maniac

I've got crazy plans for running this spring. Before that, though, is the cliche new year's round-up of last year's running:

9 races

2 first place age group finishes

6 personal records

1 DNF marathon

1 most awesome marathon

3 half-marathons

3 new countries on my Garmin Connect history

1498.56 miles run

It would have been cool to have run 2000 miles or a nice, even 1500, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy. I ran about 70 miles more than in 2012 and I'm completely over the Cleveland DNF back in May. Now I look forward to an even more awesome year ahead.

That brings me to my abovementioned crazy plans. My big goal is to become a Marathon Maniac.

Marathon Maniacs do crazy things (http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/are-you-a-marathon-maniac/maniac-criteria). I've got my sights set at the entry level here:

What led me to attempt this? Foremost I want a new type of challenge without going entirely insane and running an ultra--I have no interest in that. Second, I love running the marathon distance. I don't know if I've ever actually said that, mostly because I feel like it's a weird thing to enjoy. Also, I run with some cynical folks who capitalize on such statements with condescention and discouragement.

We're so over marathons.

You're new to running and therefore naïve.

It must be nice to still have the time to train for marathons.

I just realized that I've got enough fodder for an entire post about running negativity.

Anywho, here I am stating it proudly and nervously: I am going to run two marathons in as many weeks. And now I have to poop. Those who know me well know that I need to poop when I get nervous.

The races:

Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon on April 19th

Glass City Marathon on April 27th

We learned about the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon while at the Chicago Marathon expo and Joe had been pushing for us to run it ever since. I'm not too pumped for the non-flatness, but Joe is really excited to run a lap on Churchill Downs. Oh yeah, that means that Joe is also running the full. I could see us running this one together, since we're running it for more of a fun, destination marathon.

Regarding Glass City, Joe and I initially thought we'd be running the relay with our running group, but it has really fallen apart since running Chicago back in October. It's kinda sad, but such is life. After I ran Glass City as my first full back in 2012 I am fairly certain that I said I'd never run that full again. Not that I had anything against it, but I think I wanted to just try new things. Now I'm ready to try it again. Also, the directors have slightly changed the route (less bike trail = good). With the itch to become a Marathon Maniac and Joe's fervor to run the KDF Marathon, all signs pointed to Glass City. Side note: Joe is running the half.

And that's my crazy plan. I will run two marathons in April. Now I just need the right training plan to get me there.

Week 3 of CLE

I'm a week closer to marathon number three. I try to stay away from cliche phrases like that, since we are always getting closer to an event in the future rather than implying that it's possible to be further. Anywho, here is the week in running by numbers:

5 runs
27.87 miles
4:02:11 (h:m:s)
6.9 miles per hour (average)
2,637 calories burned

I fell thirteen-hundredths of a mile short of my plan (28). I blame it on the weather--not the cold, but the crappy rain-sleet-opening-of-the-angry-heavens on Wednesday night. I had a long day. Rob agreed to join me to run at 7:30PM when I was finally free for the evening and since didn't have a single chance to even think about checking the weather, I planned for us to run 6 miles. It was 46° but windy when we got started, so I threw on a vest over my short-sleeved shirt. As soon as we hit the pavement, the wind kicked up with easily 20 mile per hour gusts. A few minutes later, the sky pelted us with tiny, cold rain drops. Those rain drops quickly became semi-frozen. We wussed out just over 3 miles, but I was so very happy to be done. I tried to compensate for the short mileage through Sunday and fell just short.

Oh, and I completed Plyometrics!

As the photo demonstrates, I wasn't sure of myself upon the warm-up. I had watched Joe do it the night before (while I was curled in the fetal position on the couch) and was impressed by his soft landings and the sweat pouring from his head. I didn't think I'd make it through without quitting or throwing a hissy fit.

I did the entire 60ish minutes of jumping, squatting, lunging, and combining all three into moves only Tony Horton could conjure. I did need a short break on two moves. The first was Run Squat 180-Jumps, which is in the final sequence of moves. I skipped 2 of the jumps because I could feel my form falling apart and I didn't want to "dog it," as Tony describes sloppy execution of his moves. The other sequence that I cut short was in the bonus round (yes, I'm a baller and made it to the bonus round)--Pitch and Catch. I never have been a baseball or softball player, so that move was not in my repertoire of things that I can do without looking like a newborn giraffe falling out of the birth canal and then flailing its giant, awkward legs in an attempt to mobilize itself. I wasn't tired or dogging it, but completely incapable of watching the move and executing it simultaneously. When I thought I finally got the right-handed move right, it was time to switch to left-handed. Yeah, that was probably comical.

With that, week four has begun. Although I'm supposed to do Core Synergistics tonight, Joe and I instead plan to do Plyo together. I've added another race to my plan, which is the Toledo Road Runners 25K on February 17th. It was one of my training races for Glass City last year. I killed it in the first five miles at 8-minute pace, then I kinda fell apart. I finished just over 15 miles in 2:10. I was still new to running at the time, so I'm thinking that this time around I should be able to pace myself better and maybe even PR the course.

LAST but not and least important: I received my free Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon early-bird sign-up gift. I predicted when I registered for CLE that the gift would be something best stored in a trash can.

I was right.

CLE Weeks 1 & 2

I published my CLE training plan a couple of weeks ago.  I was determined to create a real, personalized training plan and stick to it.  Here's how I planned weeks one and two:

And here's what I actually did:

At least I've been doing something.

Week one was all kinds of screwed up because of lack of thought.  When I made my plan, I failed to acknowledge that it would begin with a crazy week, given abnormal work obligations and a weekend trip to New Orleans.  Monday started off right--I did Core Synergistics in the evening.  Jebus, I do not remember it being so difficult for me to do any kind of push-up the first time I ever did Core Synergistics about 2.5 years ago.  On Tuesday I did my 3-miler after work.  Despite mad-crazy soreness from Core, I busted out those 3 miles in 23:12.  I shifted my 5-miler to Thursday morning, then did my planned 3-miler at group run in the evening.  At 4:00AM on Friday, I was en route to New Orleans.  I was determined to do anywhere from eight to ten miles on Saturday morning, since I wouldn't be able to run at all on Sunday morning given travel plans to get back to Ohio.  I set out with three ladies, including new friend Jaeda.  We were having so much fun running at a really easy pace through the scenic French Quarter, French Market, and Riverwalk.  So much fun that I was satisfied with only running 4.3 miles.

Week 1 mileage: 15.36 (plan -13.64. Ouch.)

Week two was better.  I still didn't run my planned mileage, but at least I ran this time more than what the plan requires.  That makes up for all of the missed miles in week one, right?  Right.  Unfortunately, I did not do Core on Monday.  Since I had the day off and no obligation to be anywhere at any time, I instead joined the home squad for about 5.5 miles including about a mile of hill repeats.  Wednesday through Friday I just ran what felt good, which ranged from four to five and a half miles each day.  My Wednesday evening run was awesome--5.5 miles at 8:01 pace.  Yesterday morning I was supposed to run 8, but we only did 7.5.  I was okay with cutting out a half mile because most of the run was over snow, which made for some pleasantly painful calf burning afterwards.  This morning, I did my planned 11 miles, with my last mile coming in at 8:02.

Week 2 mileage: 38.12 (plan +8.12)

I am supposed to start next week with Plyo tomorrow morning or evening.  Wish me luck!

I missed you, Tony Horton

I spent 59 minutes yesterday evening with Tony, Pam, Adam, and *shudder* Dreya.

I like straight lines.  You should see my closet at home.

Every Monday my Cleveland Marathon training plan includes Core Synergistics or Plyo care of Tony Horton, Beach Body, and P90X. Prior to last night, it had been almost exactly 2.5 years since my last bout with a P90X workout. Between July 2010 and yesterday, I had only exercised, excluding running, one time.  I remembered that I enjoyed Core Synergistics more than the other P90X workouts. Still, I was a little nervous to give it another go.

Two and a half years ago, I was using bands as opposed to weights. This time, I went with free weights at five pounds--Joe told me that he feels they make for better results than bands. My only other experience with free weights was the one time this past summer that I did a core workout from a DVD by this creepy dude named Gunnar. Gunnar's DVDs are like a Robert Palmer music video combined with porn, a ball, and weights. I gave up on Gunnar after one workout because I was afraid of dropping the weights on my face as I wobbled to remain upright on the ball.  My core is clearly weak.

Anywho, it was apparent from the warm-up in Core Synergistics yesterday that it was going to be a rough one. While stretching I couldn't do simple things that I once could do with ease, i.e., get my hands onto the floor while stretching. This made me sad.

Every kind of push-up made me want to cry. I used to be able to get down pretty low, and I'm talking in terms of real push-ups--none of that knees-on-the-floor crap.  Last night I was getting myself down maybe an inch before I could feel my chest ready to tear and my wrists beginning tremble. The worst were probably Sphinx push-ups.  I am pretty sure that I once thought those were fun. Last night, I think I did five before I wanted to cry. It, like the warm-up, made me sad.

Using weights was a blasty. In fact, they offered respite between push-up varieties. My favorite move was Lunge Kickback Curl Press, which is everything that is in the name. Five pounds in each hand, lunge, kickback, bring torso upright, curl, press, reverse, down, then repeat with the other leg forward in a lunge. I felt like a badass, although I probably looked pathetic. I think five pounds was the perfect weight, which created way more resistance than what I used to get with the bands. Lots of sweat was dripping onto the floor. It made me happy, although it was fleeting.

The end of Core Synergistics is pretty enjoyable for me, though I think the moves at the end suck for a lot of people: Reach High and Under Push-ups (the only push-ups that I enjoyed, although they, like the others, did make me want to cry), Steam Engine, and the *shudder* Dreya Roll. I was feeling good after those three, so I attempted to give the bonus round a try.

The bonus round starts with Plank to Chaturanga Iso, which is a lot like an ealier move (Plank to Chaturanga Run). The former sucks and the bonus round version might suck worse. Since I couldn't get through one Chaturanga, I just flopped onto the ground and fast-forwarded to the Half-Back. I did that because it's fun, then pushed out 15 Table Dip Leg Raises per leg. And then it was time for the cool down.

I made it through the hour and felt more accomplished than I ever remember feeling the first time through P90X. Or maybe it was more of a feeling of "Thank you, Jebus, for ending this torture." Not bad for my first attempt in years.

I'm thinking about adding a second day of P90X to my Cleveland Marathon training plan. I imagine that I'd add a second day of Core Synergistics, but I'm considering throwing in Ab Ribber X to one of my 3-miler days instead of an entire workout. Without yet trying Plyo, I imagine Ab Ribber X or more Core Synergistics will benefit me most. Not sure how much I'm looking forward to my first ever attempt at Plyo in a couple of weeks.

What do you do to supplement running?  More importantly: What's your favorite Tony Horton quote?

CLE Training Plan

I'm running the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon!

Since Columbus I had been deliberating my next big race move.  I did the Santa Hustle and Joe registered us for the Glass City Half.  I kinda wanted to return to my old stomping grounds in A-town to run the Athens Marathon, but I've heard that the course sucks because it's basically out through The Plains (The Plains is a town as exciting to view as it sounds) to Nelsonville and back on the bike path.  If it were through the most beautiful campus I've ever seen and the charming streets of Athens, I'd be more into it.  However, I am kinda itching to get back to Athens, so I'm pretty sure that I'll be running the half so that I can run Athens, but not be forced all the way up to Nelsontucky.

Anywho, I concluded last night that I'm going to run the Cleveland Marathon.  I registered because (1) I knew that would get me more psyched for training, (2) yesterday was the last day before the price jumped up, AND (3) because I registered as an "early bird," I'm going to get a free gift.  I imagine it'll be some junky thing that will best be stored in the trash can.

Training truly begins next week, but even this morning I felt the urge to get in a better-than-usual morning run.  To the left is my training plan, which I wrote with a little inspiration from Hal Higdon.  There is a lot of running and two things that I didn't include while training for my first two marathons: core and plyometrics.  Joe has been trying for a long time to encourage me to give P90X another go (we did it together prior to our wedding), but I never felt like doing it.  He impressed upon me the effect that core training has on running, but I just wouldn't do it.  Since I ran my first two marathons in pretty much the same amount of time, the second less than a minute faster than the first, I want to try to go all out and see what a more detailed training plan (i.e., more than only running) will do for my time.  The core and plyo workouts that I'll use are P90X.  For a little variety, I might switch back and forth between P90X and P90X2.  I hope that I don't give up on those Monday mornings.

I am also going to challenge myself to do a few things that I should have already been doing:

1.) Eat cleaner; get back to cooking more (Cut out fast food and prepare foods with less salt--the way we used to cook.)

2.) Be asleep no later than 10:30 (Needing to be up to run at 4:30, I should really be asleep much earlier.)

3.) Hydrate properly (I recently heard that mineral water is the way to go.  Yuck.)

I can't wait to see how this all pans out for May 19th.  What's you're next race?  Are you running Cleveland, Athens, or Glass City?

It's Columbus

This morning, I registered myself* and Joe for the Nationwide Children's Hospital Columbus Marathon.  What a mouthful!  From now on, I'm going to go with "the Columbus Marathon."  A while back I posted that we'd be registering for the Detroit Free Press Marathon (or as I like to call it, "the Detroit Marathon").  We kinda slacked on registering and the fee shot up to $125--bummer.  Somewhat begrudgingly, I suggested Columbus instead, which is only $85 (yep, still too expensive to go for a run).  Although we won't get the cool opportunity to run into and out of Canada, we're saving $40!  Oh, wait.  We'll spend way more than that needing to stay at a hotel.  But it's the principle that matters, right?

I mentioned that I "begrudgingly" offered up the idea of running Columbus; I'm not crazy about Columbus.  What may come as a surprise is that it has little to do with my disinterest in o$Who.  I just feel like Columbus brings little to the table as far as being a "big city" in Ohio.  I've never spent time in Columbus and been sad to leave; I never want to road-trip it to Columbus just because; when driving through, I have no desire to make a pit-stop.  I'm sure that people who live in and near Columbus enjoy it, but for me, it just isn't a "cool" place to visit.  I know that lots of people feel the same way about Toledo, and that's fine.  The whole point is that I want to run marathons in "cool" places.  However, I know quite a few people who have run Columbus and/or are running it this year, so it'll be fun to share the experience.

Anywho, being registered makes me a lot more excited to train.  Rob wrote up a training plan for us to follow.  I'm looking forward to doing serious training this time around, having one marathon under my belt, knowing a bit of what to expect, and knowing what my shortcomings were the first time.  All of that considered, here are my goals in training for Columbus:

1. Learn the feeling of a pace.

2. Figure out fueling--before, during, and after a run.

3. Do speed work once per week.

What do you think?  What were your goals for your second marathon?  And if you're running the Columbus Marathon, what are your goals for it?

OH!  One last, but very important thing!  My friend, Natalie, sells really cool prints online.  She just made two awesome prints for marathoners.  I'm thinking about getting one for me, then one as a gift.  Check them out here and here!

*See how I used that?  "Myself" is a reflexive pronoun, meaning you are to use it when one does something to himself.  This means that phrases like, "I, myself, believe" or "I, myself, feel" are WRONG.

Marathon training time--again!

The time has come to register for my second marathon.  Joe and I are going to run the Detroit Free Press Marathon together in October!  The timing for me couldn't be better--school's out for summer and I am finally back to feeling great after running in the morning.  I've felt lately that I need to register for Detroit ASAP to motivate me to run a little harder.  No more procrastinating for me, as this coming Sunday marks 18 weeks from October 21st.  Here we go!

For the few days after Glass City, although I was stiff, I was energized almost enough to register to run Cleveland a month later in May.  At the advice of my friends, I didn't do it, and about a week after Glass City, I was glad that I had swallowed my pride.  For about a month, either my IT band or my hamstring was hurting like the dickens, but generally while walking and not running.  I kept pretty quiet about it--I didn't want anyone to worry about me and I was kinda in denial.  I have been pain-free for several weeks now.  That should have gotten me back into kicking ass and taking names on the pavement, right?  Well, it didn't.

As the school year neared its end and my leg returned to its good health, I noticed I was a bit irritable.  Always on my mind was, "It's time to run more!"  I was frequently struggling to get up early enough to run before school and on the days that I was awake early enough, I couldn't get in more than 4 miles (my running group wouldn't compromise to start 10 to 15 minutes earlier).  I could have run after school, but with no "tangible" goal (not yet registered for another long race), I found myself happier to come home to clean, cook dinner, and relax.  Each day I'd inevitably and regretfully think, "I should have run instead."  It's totally true what "they" say: a runner who isn't running is a crab.  That's not any fancy saying, but you get the gist.  Wouldn't it be fun to see me transform into a crustacean, though?  I pinch.

My last day of work was last Monday.  I looked forward to using the week as my first 30+-mile week since the marathon.  I was heading down to South Carolina to visit my parents for Tuesday through Saturday, so my mom and I had planned to run each morning together.  My plan was to do 6 miles Wednesday and Thursday, 8 on Friday (20 miles), travel on Saturday, then do 10 or more on Sunday morning.  I did well Wednesday and Thursday, including one strong run in the heat and sunlight on the bridge to the right.  Friday morning came and I reluctantly did four miles--we had waited, in my opinion, too long to get out and run, and I don't so much enjoy running in heat and humidity.  When Sunday came, I was too beat from traveling and drinking beer the night before, so I figured I'd run that evening as the sun went down; that plan was shot when 8:00PM rolled around and it was still 90 degrees outside.  So I didn't get my 30-mile week.

This week, I am liberated from any restrictions.  I have no obligation to be anywhere other than home each morning, so I can take my time after our group runs and even tack on some extra miles afterwards.  This Sunday, Joe and I have a 5K at Cedar Point.  I still haven't decided what that means for the long run on Saturday morning.  Maybe I'll do it on Friday morning instead.

Beginning next Monday, it's training time for Detroit.  For Glass City, I loosely followed Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1.  I'm feelin' Intermediate 2 this time around.  Maybe I can get Joe to follow it with me.

Can you recommend a training plan for an intermediate runner like me?  Any big races on the docket for you in 2012?  Experience a post-race slump like I did?

Glass City Marathon 2012--Part 2

April 22nd: The morning I had anticipated for nearly four months.  Since the end of December, I had given up a lot of things that I think only Joe could really have noticed.  I cut out tons of alcohol; I rarely had even a drink on a Friday night, on Saturday nights, if I drank at all, it was a short glass of Jack Daniels and some Diet Coke, and I could only think about the joy of enjoying wine with dinner during the week.  I was no fun on week nights, usually getting a bit grumpy if I wasn't asleep by 10:30.  The most difficult sacrifice for me was the time I gave up spending with Joe to instead go for an evening run a few days each week.  It was all worth it, though, especially since Joe was training pretty much simultaneously.

I wanted to get on the road to UT no later than 5:30AM, which, on a normal day, would have as at UT no later than 6:00.  Race start wasn't until 7:00, but the two most direct routes to UT had both been backed up the past  few days due to construction.  I learned at the Fall Classic in November how important it is to arrive early and to take advantage of a lot of that waiting-around time to pee and then get back into line to wait to pee again.  When we were still not out the door at 5:35, my stress intensified.  I didn't want to let that put me into a funk and, as Joe usually needs to remind me in stressful situations, things typically work themselves out just fine, so I told myself to simmer down.  The only traffic we encountered was waiting to park at UT.  Phew.

Joe went off to find himself a bathroom without a line and I waited for Tammy, Alex, and Alyssa.  Once I found them I had spent way too much time not worried about anything, so I started running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to find Joe.  After a solid five minutes of me panicking, I located Joe and all together we found a bathroom with no line.  It really wasn't a challenge--directly up the elevator were a whole bunch of bathrooms, but I guess they had cooties or something because everyone else preferred to wait in lines downstairs.  I still haven't experienced a cootie-outbreak from said bathroom.

From the toilets, it was off to the start line.  It was a cold 39ish degrees, so over my tech tee I wore arm warmers and my super-sweet Toledo Road Runners 25K hoodless sweatshirt.  We worked our way in near the 8:30 pace group.  What a small world it is--at least one of us knew pretty much everyone standing directly around us.  By this point, I don't remember feeling any stress; instead, I felt the same giddiness and excitement that I had until Saturday.  The shotgun sounded, our walk toward the starting line gradually sped up to a jog, the road widened, and we were off.  I immediately separated myself from Joe, Tammy, Alex, and Alyssa--they were running the half and I was on my own for the full, so I didn't want to wear myself out by hanging with them early in the race.  I was feeling great, smiling as we snaked through and out of campus and into Old Orchard.

The spectators in Old Orchard were great and it surprised me to see how many people from the neighborhood were out to support us runners.  Some were playing music, others held signs, and a few rang cow bells.  The first water stop was on Kenwood, which is where I got rid of my super-sweet Toledo Road Runners 25K hoodless sweatshirt.  I was kind of sad to say goodbye to that ugly thing, but I was already warming up a bit.  The race route then took us through Ottawa Hills, which I feel also had awesome crowd support.  I never realized before how hilly Ottawa Hills is--definitely not any challenging inclines, but enough to call it rolling and offer fun terrain for running.

Bad camera angle; not a heel-strike.

I think it was at the next water stop where I shed my arm warmers.  Eventually we were in Wildwood Park, which is where I tried to down my first PowerBar Gel.  Like a dimwit, I had waited until Friday night to try to find my Kona Punch Gels.  Second Sole didn't have them, so I tried Dave's at the expo on Saturday, but they didn't have them either, so I had to settle for Vanilla that the nice young man from Second Sole brought to the expo and hid just for me.  Back to the race, I was able to get down about half to maybe three-quarters of the Vanilla Gel at that water stop.  I did the same thing later in the race--I think around mile 13 or so.  I really don't know if Gels, Sport Beans, Shot Blocks, or Gus help me at all, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.  I do know that I felt stronger during the race than I did during my 18-mile long run, during which I think I had about half of a Kona Punch Gel.  I don't really think I can fairly compare the race to my 20-miler, since that consisted of a 7-mile warm-up sans Gel, an hour and a half break, then the Churchill's Half Marathon with, again, about half of one Gel.  I'll need to keep on experimenting.

Power walking?

Miles one through fourteen flew by, mostly because I was enjoying myself so much and so happy to finally be running a marathon.  We split from the halfers around mile 10 and it was heading into mile 14 that I was feeling a little bored for the first time.  Of note, through that point I had maintained a solid 8:30 pace--15 seconds faster than what I should have been doing.  No worries.  We were in some lame Sylvania neighborhood in which virtually NO ONE was out to watch the race.  Everywhere traffic was stopped for us, motorists were doing their best at looking impatient.  Some laid on their horns, not in a supportive or fun way, but instead in a, "Fuck you, runners!" way.  In one of the Sylvania neighborhoods, a resident actually pulled out of his driveway in between runners and then honked at some of us to get out of the way.  I shouldn't have been surprised, since it was Sylvania, but it got me a little bit fired up.

Despite my not-so-positive feelings toward Sylvania, I loved running through Olander Park.  There was a water stop and relay exchange right before the lake at mile 16 and the crowd there was phenomenal.  They made me feel like a rock star, some even yelling my name.  The crazy love and enthusiasm for us runners there made me smile the biggest, cheesiest smile.  Also of note: there was almost an incident with a family of geese and a runner on the path around the lake.  Fortunately, no humans were bit and said geese were cooperative.

Right before Alyssa found me--still smiling!

Everything was awesome until mile 18, which is where I noticed that my feet hurt and my pace had slowed to closer to 8:40.  I had never experienced foot pain in a training run, or at least I had never noticed it.  I got over it quickly, though.  Some friends had told me that somewhere between mile 18 and mile 22 I'd either start talking to God or need to go to my "happy place."  Mentally, things were great through mile 22.  However, the bike path heading back toward campus was a little bit of a head game.  It was at the second-to-last water stop that I, for the first time, partially walked through.  I felt that at that point I really needed to make sure I was getting enough water, which I couldn't have done had I run through like at all of the previous stops.  Getting my legs running again was a bit of a challenge, as they felt kinda stiff and beat up at that point.  One of my last few miles was 10:03.  Around that same time, I found myself with the 3:50 pacer.  I asked him if he was good for offering some kind of motivation, to which he responded, "Not now.  I'm just trying to finish."  Should it have been discouraging that a pacer was struggling?  Meh, didn't bother me.  I smiled, chuckled, and carried on.

Intense.  I passed them all.

I crossed mile 25 and shortly thereafter was greeted with clapping and a hearty, "There's my favorite runner!"  It was Alyssa, waiting to run me into the finish.  I like Alyssa a lot, but I had never been happier to see her.  I am never going to forget what a relief it was to have someone there for me to talk and get my mind off of the fact that I had already run further than most people drive their cars in a day.  We walked through the last water stop, where I had to decline a Bud Light, and then began the descent toward the Glass Bowl.  Tammy and Susan were waiting just before mile 26 to join us.  They probably don't believe it, given the sense of humor I had, but I was in a zone.  Had I not been in that zone, having the three of them there with me probably would have brought me to cornball tears.



All the way to the entrance to the Glass Bowl, Alyssa was my personal hype-man, getting the spectators to give it up for me finishing my first marathon.  As we approached the stadium, Alyssa told me that when I hit that turf, I had to give it all I had left, run as fast as possible, and pass everyone I could.  She shoved me toward the turf.  When I crossed the finish, I was doing 5:55.  I got my bad-ass finishers medal, a Mylar blanket, and a hug and kiss from Joe.

Looking strong, I must say!

I ran my first marathon in 3:53:20.

Glass City Marathon 2012--Part 1

Back in December, just before the new year, I registered to run the Glass City Marathon--my first full marathon.  I wasn't completely sure what I was getting myself into, and I don't think I was taking things too seriously initially.  For the first couple of weeks following that, other marathoners here and there asked about my training plan (uh, what?).  I got a wake-up call when a ding-dong in our Saturday morning group asked in her typical ding-dong way, "So, when are you going to start training?"  Since I am used to her asking, uh, not the best questions, my immediate response was chock-full of irritation.  "I am training.  This is training."  After all, we were doing an 8-mile run.  Now and then I'd make that 8-miler into 10 or 12.  But for the few minutes immediately following her question as we ran up the towpath in Side Cut Park, I thought, "When am I going to start training?"

I took a lot of advice, most of which led to Hal Higdon.  It was recommended that I follow his Intermediate 1 marathon training plan.  Coincidentally, I was getting more than enough miles on weekdays, but I had technically already missed a couple of longer long runs.  I just jumped right into where I should have been had I actually given the entire training plan 18 weeks.  Quickly, things began falling into place.  I made a couple of mistakes on the way up to maximum mileage, like running 11+ miles in the middle of the week just because I was feeling it.  Instead of real speed work, I made my Thursday night run into a run-like-hell 3-miler.  I only ran 15.5 miles on a day on which I should have run 17.  I even completely missed my second 20-miler, I think because I was sick, and final 12-miler because of a road trip and poor planning.  Online, I read blogs of other runners who resented that they made such mistakes in their training and that it led in all cases to inevitable disappointing marathon finishes.  Still, none of that discouraged me.

All of that got me to the morning of April 21st pretty much bursting with excitement.  I got out of bed and did my final training run--2 miles.  I felt fresh and so ready for 26.2 the next day.  The day went on, Joe went golfing in the afternoon, and I was left to my own devices at home, of course staying off of my feet.  Pretty much as soon as Joe left the house, I flipped the switch from excitement into freak-out mode.  I had a freaking swarm of butterflies in my stomach.  I couldn't attach the feeling to any single problem or worry.  I wasn't concerned about not reaching my goal time.  I didn't think I'd be a DNF.  The possibility of injury never crossed my mind.  I was just nervous.

We went out for pizza with Tammy, Alex, and Alyssa (all of whom would be running the half with Joe).  Throughout dinner I felt nauseous; the feeling subsided temporarily when Joe and I had a killer draw in Keno.  I was starving, so I inhaled a couple of slices of pizza and breadsticks.  I tried for a final slice of pizza, but hit the wall and suddenly craved french fries.  I destroyed a basket of those in what had to be record time.  Hmm, all of this talk of hitting walls and record time...and it's only dinner the night before the race. :)

Joe and I got home around 9:00.  We attached our bibs and laid out all of our gear for the next morning.  I attached some athletic tape with my name written in Sharpie to my shirt.  We got into bed and I shared my woes with Joe.  I told him I was going to end up with an ulcer, given how worried I was.  He laughed at me, which made me feel good inside, we turned off the TV, he fell asleep, and I just lay there, wide awake.  By 11:20 I still wasn't asleep, so I popped a Zolpidem.  Good night.

At 4:50AM I woke up to go pee.  The alarm went off for Joe at 5:01 and our day was underway.  In 2 hours, I'd be starting my first ever 26.2-mile race.

The last month of training

I've been absent from blogging for over a month!  For those who are curious: I fell off of my training plan during the NCAA tournament back in March.  I hadn't planned on needing to adjust my life because, as an Ohio Bobcat, I'm not used to seeing my alma mater's team go deep into the postseason.  They made it to the Sweet Sixteen, so Joe and I couldn't pass up the chance to see them in St. Louis.  While there, I should have done a 12-mile run.  Instead, I did about 7.5 of hills--whodathunk a big city close to the plains would be so rolling?

Everything gets blurry after that.  I had already done all of the long runs, including a 20-miler that was 7.1 "warm-up" miles followed by a half-marathon, which was a PR by about 30 seconds.  I was really proud of that, especially given the unseasonably warm temperatures on race day.  But after the NCAA tournament,  I came down with a nasty cold, cut short my second 20-miler, slacked on mileage in general, and became kinda lethargic.  I may have trained too hard too early, putting in a number of consecutive 45+ mile-weeks.  Whatever I did wrong, I never let it get me down.  I spent the past two weeks incredibly excited to finally run the Glass City Marathon--my first full marathon.  Once I have some race photos, I'll share my entire story of the day before up through crossing that finish line.

Until then, here's a brief summary: It was freaking awesome.

Closer to 26.2

I hit a milestone today, running my longest distance ever: EIGHTEEN MILES!  And as I type, Joe is out doing 8 miles, which is going to get him to a milestone as well--his first 30+ mile week!  Pretty awesome for someone who works easily 50-60 hours per week, has MBA classes until 9:00PM on Mondays and Wednesdays, AND wakes up at 5:00AM every day to get in an intense 1-hour P90X workout.  The half marathon is going to be a piece of cake for him.

Here's the week in training:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 7.54 miles @ 8:42 minutes/mile
Wednesday: 2.89 @ 7:26
Thursday: 5.13* @ 7:58
Friday: 4.83 @ 8:50
Saturday: 7.95 @ 8:59
Sunday: 18.07 @ 9:03
Total: 46.41 miles

It was a wild weather week.  Wednesday was almost 60 degrees and sunny.  I had planned on doing 5-6 miles after school, but changed my mind to run a 2.9-mile, 6:29PM Leap Day race at Levis.  There was a good turnout, I bet largely due to the weather.  I wore shorts and a t-shirt.  I REALLY LIKE winter, but it was pretty sweet for it to feel like a late April day on the last day of February.  Results still aren't online (BOO, TOLEDO ROADRUNNERS!  BOO!), but my Garmin said I finished in 21:30.  Not my fastest three miler, but I was happy with it.

Thursday's run at Levis was actually 5.5, according to Rob, but I didn't get outside and give my Garmin enough time to find satellites, so for nearly a half-mile of running I was waiting on that.  Pace wasn't too bad, but I regret not sticking it out for 6 miles.

And today?  Today I ran 18 miles.  I know, I know, it's not a huge deal...to you.  But I feel AWESOME about it.  This is huge for me.  Last week, I was supposed to do 17 miles and only did 15.22 due to poor (no) route planning.  Yesterday I mapped out an 18+ mile run, but changed up things this morning and still managed to do just over 18.  I think it's because I didn't do it last week, part of me thought, "Krista, you're going to come short of 18."  But that didn't happen.  I did run 18 miles this morning.  I definitely didn't kill it on pace, but my splits were all pretty close to even.

I need to think more about fueling.  I only bought one gel to try, totally not thinking about the fact that I'd need to fuel more than once during such a long run.  I had a chocolate chip cookie and a small glass of water just before heading out the door.  I got to Tammy's at about 2.5 miles and had another small glass of water.  At about 6.5 miles, I had a Power Bar Kona Punch gel and some water.  At 11.5, I had another small glass of water and then nothing more until the end of the run.  For my next long run, my plan is a Power Bar gel every five miles.  I'm going to stick with Power Bar because it's really thin, unlike Gu.  Any flavor suggestions or warnings?  How often do you fuel on a long run?

It's rewarding

Going for a run is always rewarding.  I typcially don't need a lot of motivation to get out and run.  I look forward to waking up at 4:30AM to go for a 5-miler before school.  Deep down inside, I take pride in the fact that I don't party hard on Friday and Saturday nights so that I can do double-digit runs on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  It's when I save the run for the evening that I have a bit of trouble getting excited.

After school, my feet usually hurt.  I am not a sedentary teacher; I am all over the place, jumping onto and off of chairs and tables for seven hours each day.  I hop and run back and forth across my room, I jump often to reach the top of my SmartBoard.  I do a lot of dancing.  I don't wear orthopedic shoes.  Wearing flats and 3.5" heels for seven hours of bouncing off of the walls leaves me kinda exhausted come 2:25.  I worried that I wouldn't run my planned 6 miles today, let alone get out at all.  As soon as I got home, I changed immediately into my running gear.  I knew that I'd be more likely to run if I were already dressed for the occasion.  I did things to try to procrastinate--had a bowl of Lucky Charms, sat down with the lappy, and turned on the TV.  At 3:45, it was do-or-die time.  I reluctantly laced up my shoes, turned on my Garmin, and went out the door.

Not even at the corner of our street, I thought about turning back.  I felt an annoying cramp in my left calf, which I had never felt before.  I immediately thought, "Joe would tell me to foam roll it."  I didn't turn back, though, because I (correctly) assumed that the discomfort would subside after a mile.  Around a half-mile, I felt like I needed to find a bathroom.  Still, I kept going.  I think I hit my first mile in 8:28--not bad at all.  I worried that I went out too fast and that there'd be no way I'd hit negative splits for my planned 6 miles.

The second mile was rough.  My calf and bowel discomforts were gone, but I just wasn't feeling the run.  My hands were cold, my tights were sliding down, and my pony tail-holder was trying its hardest to fall out of my hair.  Then I hit a park in which the path was covered in nasty slush.  I slowed down to 8:35.  So much for those negative splits.

Somewhere in the third mile, I had a choice to head one way and extend the 6 miles to 7 OR to keep the 6.  I felt ambitious and went for 7. It ended up being a good thing, as I started to feel better about the run, especially after the halfway-point.  I got a little bummed when I saw that mile 3 was 8:41.  That's definitely not horrible, but I am usually really good about going out slower and running only faster and faster throughout the run.

I started feeling good and then great after that third mile and improved my pace with every mile from that point to the end.  Even with those 8:30+ miles, I averaged 8:25, which is close to my goal for the Glass City Marathon.

I'm glad that I got out for the run.  I'm glad that I ran a mile longer than I had planned.  I'm pleased with my pace.  What feels best, though, is that although I had worried about my mental strength to get myself outside today, I did it!

Marathon training--10.5 weeks out

After a lot of strong encouragement, I am going to try to follow a structured marathon training plan.  I think last week was "Krista, you're worrying us"-week.  I came down with what I thought was a sinus infection on Sunday (1/29).  I had planned to do 8 miles with Becky Monday at 6:00PM, but just before 5:00PM I was struck with the worst pain I've experienced in my life.  It got exciting here, as I had Joe call 9-1-1 after about 30 minutes of hell.  EMTs came.  All of my vitals were really normal (plus, they mentioned that I "definitely" am a runner based off of my heart rate, which made me feel awesome mentally).  I opted to not go to the hospital, the pain subsided temporarily after about an hour, and then it came back twice later that evening.  Haven't felt it since then, but I'm pretty sure it was a kidney stone.

After all of that pain, Tuesday had me feeling like I had the crap kicked out of me, so took a second rest day.  On Wednesday evening I was feeling good and wanted to make up for what I missed, so after work I did almost 11.5 miles.  Thursday was my first real attempt at speed work.  I did the usual Friday and Saturday morning runs, with Saturday cut shorter than my planned 16 miles.  I had been in desperate need of new shoes and on Friday I started feeling some ankle and shin pain in my left leg, so I stopped at 8 miles on Saturday and went over to Dave's for a new pair (same that I was wearing before).  Sunday was shot thanks to wine, Patron, and Mexican food the night before.  Bad idea jeans.  Here are the numbers for 1/30 through 2/5:

Monday: Nada
Tuesday: Zilch
Wednesday: 11.45 miles @ 8:22
Thursday: 3 @ 7:40
Friday: 4.33 @ 9:18
Saturday: 8 @ 9:07
Sunday: Nada
Total: 26.78

I felt kind of defeated with 3 "rest" days in a week, but there was no way I would have made it out Monday and Tuesday I needed to take care of myself.  On Sunday, I paid for it and was actually hungover until Monday evening.

This week has been better.

Monday: 7.05 @ 8:43
Tuesday: 6.02 @ 8:47
Wednesday: 5.71 @ 9:01...not so bueno
Tonight: 3.03 @ 7:34
Projected for
Tomorrow: 5-6
Saturday: 15
Sunday: 8
Goal total: 40ish+

I'm heading out now to do three miles, hoping to do something like the 23:00 three-miler I did last Thursday evening.  I should hit over 40 miles in a week for the first time.  Joe is kicking butt at training for the half.  AND he's way better at pull-ups than I will ever be.

January: 136+ miles

In the first four weeks of 2012 I have run over 136 miles.  I should be above 140, but a nasty cold decided to stop by for a visit.  My plan was to run 14 miles yesterday, but I only did 9.8.  This morning I did a strong 7+ in Rossford with Joe, Alex, Tammy, Susan, and Kerri.  Despite all of the ooze coming out of my nose and throat, I could have gone longer.   Not that it's a goal through this running, but I have lost two pounds since the beginning of the month.  It could just be dehydration from the illness, so maybe it's only been one pound if not less.

I am definitely due for some new kicks soon.  My current pair has seen about 300 miles.  They aren't wearing too bad at all and my feel still feel good.  I have noticed a few blisters lately, which I hadn't had for a long while.  Also, I'm really getting used to having 10 toenails, so I need to be proactive to keep them.

I'm thinking about changing my 14 miles for this Saturday to 16.  I can do it, as long as I can twist some arms to continue with me after mile 8.  If I'm going to run that long, I need to experiment with refueling during a run.  I like to have as little on my person as possible while running (big reason I switched from Endomondo on my phone to a Garmin in order to track my runs), but it might be time to start carrying a small water bottle.  Tammy offered up her fuel-belt-thingy.

As far as actual energy, I tried Gu once and did not like it.  If it's normal for gels to be chalky, then I think I need to just stay away from them.  I had Clif Shot Bloks and they weren't so bad insofar as texture and flavor, but I only tried them before a couple of 8-mile runs, so I really couldn't tell if they worked for me since I didn't pop them during the runs.  Sport beans seem not so bad--I'm pretty sure they are really just plain old Jelly Belly jelly beans, and I do like jelly beans.  Tammy suggested that I carry a bottle of water mixed with honey, since honey is straight up sugar.  It sounded gross when she suggested it, but that was the first day that I was feeling really sick, so nothing sounded good to me.  Any suggestions for refueling during longer runs?  What does and does not work for you?

Marathon--13 weeks out

Today marks exactly 13 weeks until I run my first marathon.

My first run was either on Tuesday, July 5th or Wednesday, July 6th.  I ran about seven-tenths of a mile over the duration of 3 Katy Perry songs.  I repeated that three days per week for 2 weeks in the hot and humid summer air.  I was proud of myself.

On the hot and sticky evening of August 3rd, I ran a 5K.  Right around 2 miles, a few women near me started to walk.  I thought I wanted, nay, needed to walk, too, but I didn't.  Then just before the 3-mile mark, my phone cued up a OneRepublic song.  BUZZ KILL!  I unsuccessfully fought with my phone to get some Tool going, then gave up on the music and pulled out the headphones.  I finished, my face as red as a beat but smiling, in 28:05 at a pace of 9:04.

It was a relaxing evening in September.  I had drank a half of a bottle of wine, which lowered my inhibitions, and I decided to register for a half marathon on November 20th.  On race day, I let my brain get the best of me.  I needed a potty break at 4 miles.  After mile 8, I took a few breaks to walk up to and through water stops.  Right before mile 13, I got a kick-ass high five and ended up crossing the finish line in 1:53.  Even with all of my wussing out, I finished with an 8:41 pace.

And now it's January and I'm all kinds of pumped up for the Glass City Marathon.  I feel good saying I've come a long way since July.  Since January 1st, I've run over 102 miles.  I ran 12.18 miles yesterday morning, just hours after Snowmageddon ended.  My long runs are getting longer and I'm rarely sore after a run anymore.  Yesterday was an exception; running in deep snow definitely forces your body to use a lot more muscles to stabilize you with every time your foot strikes the ground.  Beyond making my long runs longer, though, I really don't know what I'm doing.  I just hope that making my long runs longer and longer will get me to where I need to be in 13 weeks.  I've Googled marathon training schedules, but I'd be lying if I said I'm following any of it.

So, I'm looking for advice.  I know I need to get in some speed work.  But as far as distance, I try to make things as simple as possible and therefore have a pretty basic plan of extending my long runs by two miles every two weeks.  That has me maxing out at 22 miles at two weeks and one day before race day.  Excluding the long runs, I am trying to get 25-30 miles each week.  For what it's worth, I do have an ambitious goal in mind.  Can you tell me if my plan is a good one?  Looking for thoughts and advice from veterans, so please share!