Pacing

Distance: 8:16

So, since I've missed a couple weeks I'm going to toss away with my total mileage unfortunately.  I know I've hit all the long runs, but I don't remember the distances I ran during the week.  I blame it on moving to Calumet :-) You can check out the distances I ran on endomondo.

 This week was a break week, I was supposed to to 12 miles but since I'm at distances where I'm hitting the wall, I felt I needed a bit more of a break.  Especially since this Saturday is 18 miles!

So I'd like to talk about pacing in this post.  You might have noticed my pace decreasing almost to a crawl.  I was originally aiming for 10min/mile pace, now I'm aiming for 12min/mile pace and I tend to run significantly slower than that (>13min/mile).  There is a reason for this, and it isn't laziness.

I feel that my injury came from too high of a pace.  Not only was I aiming for a pace I had difficulty sustaining for 3 miles, but I was trying to run that pace every time I went out.  Both of these were mistakes, but I'll focus on the latter.

Hal Higdon, in his book, mentions that anything close to or below race pace he considers 'speed training'.  He warns that this is primarily for people who really know what they are doing at an advanced level.  And I'd agree.  The more important factor in endurance training (at least in my experience so far) is the distance you run, not the speed you run it at.  My half marathon at 10:40 pace after weeks of 12+min pace I think proves that.  If you try to run the large miles per week at race pace, you WILL get injured like I did and miss out on training time.   Hal explains it like this: the pace you train at should be a comfortable pace, one where you feel comfortable talking with someone for the first half of the run. 

So this at least explains why I take such a leisurely pace during my training.  I'm glad I did, because I would probably have failed again, and harder, a few weeks ago.

Motivation: Carpe Diem

Miles: 22:10
Total: 145

First (almost) full week in awhile!  I had to drop my long run a bit (12 -> 10) because my knee started acting up.  It was terribly windy...  But I had a partner again!  Sarah joined me for 8 of the miles on bike.

This week, I'd like to delve a little bit deeper into my motivation for this marathon.  Around the time I decided to run the marathon, I read an article (or wikipedia page, I can't remember) on Carpe Diem, and how it is often misunderstood.  It is frequently thought of as "Live as if there is no tomorrow", excusing activities that might increase that likelihood.  Thankfully (for Carpe Diem's sake, not for our sake), that has been replaced with YOLO.

However, as I understand it (and using a healthy amount of wiki), the full phrase is:

Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero

Which roughly translates to:

Seize the Day, putting as little trust as possible in the future

In other words, the future is uncertain so seize the day.  Do all you can today to make your future better.  How does this relate to Marathon training?  I realized after reading that article that with a baby on the way and future job prospects, it is unlikely that I will have the flexibility, time, and energy to be able to give my all to marathon training.  So even if it might have been wiser from a training perspective to aim for a half considering my background (or lack thereof), I decided that I am healthy and that there is no better time than the present!

Excuses, Excuses

Miles: 15:10
Miles: 7:7
Total: 123

(Pretend this post was written on Sunday when referring to dates, I apparently forgot to post this)

So yeah, more excuses this week.  The week before I decided to work back into things slowly after my knee injury, and that worked pretty well.  I just aimed for the amount of time I would've run that day at pace, and walked whenever I needed to due to my knee.  Then, Monday I came down with a cold.  So this week I've missed out too, just got the (most important) long run in.  I had 2 people join me, Sarah and baby followed along on the bike!  Hopefully things will straighten out so I can get back to the real schedule this week.

Injuries

Two weeks today:
Miles: 15:9
Miles: 3:3
Total: 101

The past two weeks have been rough with injuries and school.  The first week, I skipped Monday because of an exam, ran Tuesday, skipped Wednesday because of sharp ankle pains, ran Thursday, skipped Friday because I thought it best, ran Saturday.  Some parts of the run had 3+ inches of snow on the sidewalks, almost all of it had about an inch, so I think I tweaked my knee slogging through that mess...  On Monday, I finished my 3 miles but the walk downhill was excruciating.  WebMD said I had runner's knee, so I took the rest of the week off with ice and compression on the knee.  I got 1.5 miles in yesterday, going to try 5 miles today but we'll see how far I get.  Better to miss a few miles now, rather than get injured again...

Spring will never come...

Miles: 15:5
Total: 83
Best: The end of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Worst: Snow (again)

So this week was my 'back-off' week, so a little lower miles before I spring up to 19 next week.  Speaking of spring... we had snow again on Saturday, and it was painful getting in my eyes (more hail and ice pellets than snow).  And its snowing again today, so I'm probably going to the SDC today.  However, I finished 2001, excellent book.  I'll probably move onto Stranger in a Strange Land.  It'll be amazing how fast I get through these books now that my Saturday runs are reaching 2 hours.

Audio Books and Ice Pellets

Miles: 16:7 (I'm now going to include the {total miles}:{longest run})
Total: 68
Best: 2001: A Space Odyssey
Worst: Ice pellets

This week the weather got warmer, then terribly cold again.  I was hoping that spring was finally here, so I tracked most of my runs.  Then there was Saturday.  Not only was it my longest run yet, but it was absolutely miserable.  I felt ok after the run though, but today I'm exhausted and I think tomorrow's runw ill be difficult.  I finally got my audio books up and running.  I got the Top 100 Sci-Fi audio books, I figured I'll get through a good chunk of that!

Icy Roads

Miles: 15
Total Miles: 52
Best: Running into other runners
Worst: Icy roads

So I felt a little overtrained this week, my legs were feeling really heavy so I took a little slower pace.  The long run was a real nuisance, since the roads are still very icy up here.  I'm sure the cars thought I was a real nuisance since I had to run practically in the middle sometimes.  At least it was warm.

It was fun running into a few other runners while I was out, though.  Apparently I'm not the only crazy one.

New Shoes and HEED

Miles this week: 12.5
Total miles: 37
Best thing: New shoes!!
Worst thing: Spring still hasn't come...

So this week, as mentioned before, was a little difficult because of travelling.  However, I had all intentions of doing all the mileage.  On Tuesday I got a bloody nose about as far from home as I could get, so that cut my milelage short that day.  For my long run on Saturday I got new shoes and HEED/Hammer Gel which seems to make all the difference.  Not only did I feel good running the five miles, I had negative splits with an 8:50 pace for the last mile!

This is the first week of the actual Hal Higdon program, so this is the make it or break it point.  I decided to go for broke, and signed up for the Marathon last week ($150, ouch!).

Week 2

Miles this week: 13 and change
Total miles: 25
Best thing: Running along Northern Michigan farmroads
Worst thing: Keeping the habit while travelling

So, I've run a marathon now!  In two weeks.  I beat my distance record this week,   4 miles :-)  That might make you wonder why I'm doing a marathon... sometimes I wonder too!  But next week is 5 miles, and I just keep working my way up.  It's getting easier, though I'm not on the pace I want yet.

First week!

Miles this week: 12
Total miles: 12
Best part: The Friday sauna
Worst part: I can't decide.  My calves, the altitude change in Houghton, or getting out on a Saturday morning in 13 degree whether.

Last week I had an epiphany.  I want to run a marathon.  If it wasn't for Sarah, I wouldn't have had the idea.  She wants to run a half, and she asked if I wanted to join her.  I decided instead that I wanted to go for a full. I'm not new to endurance sports.  I've trained and completed a sprint triathlon before, but this is going to be a stretch.  So whether I finish or drop to a half, this will be my record.

I'm following Hal Higdon's training program.  I borrowed his most recent marathon training book from the library, but you can find his programs online at halhigdon.com.  It's an 18 week program, and the marathon is July 26, so right now I'm filling in the gap in preparation for starting that program.  And it's been tough.

The truth is, I believed that the worst part of training would be feeling tired all the time.  I've actually had more energy now that I've started (though admittedly it is only the first week).  Apparently I have dinky calves though, because that has been my issue this week: walking correctly.  I got a tip from a friend that despite the pain, I should keep using stairs and walking as much as I can to keep them warm and loose and that has helped a little.  The sauna (yooper pronunciation: saa-oo-na) was amazing though!

And the Saturday long run... wow!  The cold wasn't as bad as I expected, but the hills of Houghton are killer...  Anyways, first week down!