June 4th, 2009 – Half Marathon Training Easy Run

OK, so I didn’t run yesterday.  That was supposed to be my easy 7 miles.  An oxymoron to say the least.  However, I actually went to the gym, started stretching and walked to the treadmill and looked at it and turned and walked away.  I just didn’t feel like running and it’s really starting to feel like more work than it is worth.

So, I get onto the treadmill and my left leg is almost in pain.  I’m sort of limping until it gets really warm and even then if I put it down even slightly off, I almost fall.  That doesn’t seem a good thing.  Still, it isn’t a serious injury, there is no swelling or redness, just a dull throbbing ache, so I push through.  I am not sure if that’s really the right move, but I wanted to run and the injury isn’t enough to stop me, honestly.

The run was mostly uneventful.  Yes, my leg hurt.  I probably should not have actually run, but I was there and I was actually into it.  I discovered that I’d selected the metal race playlist, which likely had a LOT to do with my motivation to stay.  Nothing like speed metal to really get me into the run and ignoring most everything around me.

Housekeeping:  6.5 miles in 57:38 for a pace of 8:52.  The shorter distance means the quarter mile warm up and quarter mile cool down still can drop me below my target pace overall, but even then I know I ran the 6 miles in faster than allotted time.  Still having issues with the foot pod calibration, where it now believes I’m running more than I actually am, instead of it believing I’m running shorter than I am.  I’ll keep tinkering to straighten that out.  700 calories burned even.  For the strength training, I added an additional 292.  I am going to have to pull the trigger on eating more sooner than I’d hoped.

I tried to take the advice of one of my friends that ran in High School and College.  I cut my protein and tried to up my carb intake.  Unfortunately, it also means my fat consumption was higher than I’d like.  I am not quite sure how to get my fat low and my carbs at what he’s suggested.  Oh well, I’m still tinkering in lots of areas it seems. :-)

Cheers!

June 1st, 2009 – Half Marathon Training Long Run

First week to change the distance of the long run.  Now it is 11 miles.  Just another 10% increase, but still, it seems like a lot of miles.  Still, honestly, 11 miles IS a lot of miles.  Who am I kidding?  Have I made a fatal judgment call in my choice to run a half marathon?  Well, OK, fatal is a bit melodramatic.  I know better.  I can finish a half marathon.  I don’t even believe that to be an outstanding issue for me.  It becomes whether or not I want to compete in a half marathon.  I have decided I want to compete, and that means I’ve got to do more than just finish.  So, 11 miles it is!

The run started out really well.  I’ve somewhat gotten accustomed to 8 miles so I don’t really feel any serious issue for the first hour or so of the run.  Since I’m running at roughly 7 miles per hour, an 11 mile run is over 90 minutes.  I think that’s the part now that I’ve got to get my head around.  I’m running 90 minutes or more nonstop.  This isn’t close to race pace, so it is definitely about the psychology of it more than anything.

Right about mile 8, I noticed the most disgusting thing I have encountered since I started this odyssey.  My sweat was so bad my shoes were squishing from them being full of my sweat!  VOMIT!  Not really vomit, but that was quite surprising.  It meant the last 3 miles felt less than stable and I honestly saw it starting to get onto the tread.  I still haven’t got the foot pod in synch.  It thought I ran 12.18 miles when I only ran 11.25.  I really need to get that worked out, it’s sort of annoying.  I will admit I think I had the thing on my foot backwards and that was causing at least part of this.  Still, I don’t quite understand how the different treadmills can have different calibration factors.  I’d think my gait was the same either way and that’s what I thought the calibration was supposed to reflect.  I guess it is all more important now because I’m doing distance based training and of course it won’t cooperate! :-)

Housekeeping:  11.25 miles in 1:37:54, for an average pace of 8:44 per mile.  I like that my quarter mile cool down can no longer drop my average pace below the target.  1265 calories burned.  The run was predominately zone 3, though in the last mile I got right up to my anaerobic threshold.  I think part of it was honestly just the anxiety of my wet feet.

My legs are still sore from the failed speed work run.  I’m nervous about what I did there.  I don’t want it to be a problem, but I also don’t know how to get it to resolve.  I’ve got soreness in my left Achilles, my right knee and hamstring, and my left knee and calf.  Oh well.  Worst case scenario, I take a week off and then pick the program back up.  Fortunately, it is slated to end in early September, while the race isn’t until November, so I’ve got some wiggle room.

Cheers!

May 30th, 2009 – Half Marathon Training Easy Run

After the run last night, I forgot that our planned time for the gym today was early morning.  UGH!  Even though the run was only supposed to be 5 miles, I knew it would not be an easy run.  Add in that today is a strength training day, and I was sure my body would be in full on revolt.

At least the run wasn’t as bad as it could have been.  I still stayed mostly in zone 2, and when I got into zone 3, it stayed mostly below the middle of the zone.  I still had a half mile of warm up and cool down, for some reason, so I wound up doing a total of six miles for the run.  I deliberately set the calibration factor back to 1 for the foot pod, so the distance was off yet again, but I am hoping this calibration will finally resolve my challenge.  I cannot believe the treadmill itself is off that much.  The last two runs missed as much as a quarter of a mile over the entire run.  HOW?

Housekeeping:  6.9 miles in 55:09 for an average of 9:11 per mile.  That’s down from prior easy runs, because I walked again to cool, but my middle 5 miles was still above pace so I’m not worried.  636 calories burned.  Also due to the walking.

I did my strength training as well, but had to cut it a bit short since we didn’t have 2 hours for child care.  Still, I felt pretty good as I ended the second week.  Now, if I could just get this nagging ache in most of my joints to stop, I’d probably be in pretty good shape.

Cheers!

May 29th, 2009 – Half Marathon Training Speed Work

First time to do speed work running.  I mean, I’ve posted in prior entries when I’ve run really fast and how fast, but it wasn’t speed work, it was cardiac output work.  Speed work involves duration as well as speed.  I was worried about that duration part though this pace should not have been a significant challenge, or so I thought.

The goal was simple.  I needed to run 7 total miles.  As part of the speed work, I was supposed to run one mile at my speed pace, then job to cool off for half a mile.  I needed three cycles of this to complete the run.  Now, that is only 4.5 miles total.  To compensate, the run explicitly indicates at least one mile of warm up and one of cool down.  That’s still only 6.5 miles so to make it a full 7, I added an additional quarter mile to each.  I started out very slowly, 10:00 miles, as my warm up, but I moved up quickly as the pace just seemed too slow and I realized that I would be running more than an hour at this rate.

I am not really sure how to respond to the results.  It was a failure in pure terms.  I could not complete the third mile at the speed work pace.  The first mile went reasonably well.  I didn’t even cross into zone 4, though I did bump up against the edge of it.  For the second mile, I almost immediately leapt into zone 4 and never really got back out of it.  The first quarter mile was in zone 3, but the last three were distinctly in zone 4.  At least I never reached zone 5.  Heart rate in excess of 183 beats per minute seems REALLY fast.  For the jog between mile 2 and mile 3, I walked for a bit to slow my heart rate, at 15:00 per mile but then ramped it back up to 10:00 per mile pace.  To try to soften the blow (my legs ached) I tried to speed it up to my long run pace of 8:34 miles and then jumped right into the 6:54 pace for the speed mile.  In the third quarter mile, my legs told me to give it up.  I slowed to 10:00 pace for about half of the third lap just to give my legs some rest.  To try to compensate, I ran the last quarter mile at 6:30, but that wasn’t going to recover the total pace.  I fell short by just over .12 miles per hour pace.  I know it means my legs aren’t in top condition.  I know my body likely needs more rest than I’m giving it, but I don’t quite feel a total sense of failure.  I got close, very close.  I have three weeks of running before the next speed work.  While the next one is at an even faster pace, maybe I’ll be more prepared for it.

Housekeeping:  7.0 miles in 1:06:34 for an average pace of 9:30 per mile.  Taking into account that there were several laps at 15:00, the average fell pretty low.  767 calories burned.  The walking really did that part in as well.  I can walk for miles and not burn any calories.

I need to find someone that can help me truly assess what I should take from this run.  I wasn’t pain free, my legs ached, but I didn’t have foot problems, or knee problems, just leg exhaustion.  I do know I’ll push harder next time.

Cheers!

May 28th, 2009 – Half Marathon Training Easy Run

Another run of only 6 miles today.  I have made the deliberate choice now, no more half mile of warm up and cool down.  It’ll be a quarter mile, a single lap of each and just hope for the best really.  I think that’ll help some with my feeling of exhaustion.  If not, well, best I can do is hope that at some point it goes away. :)

Equipment issues continue to nag me.  At one point, the monitor said my heart rate dropped from the 160s to 89 beats per minute.  Impossible given my known recovery skills and the graph shows a flat line which means the sensor wasn’t making good contact.  I don’t know if I need to adjust the location, the tightness of the band, or if I’m just sweating too much for it to work right.  I know that if I even wanted to entertain swimming with the thing, it better work no matter how wet, but I am not exactly quite at the point of a triathlon either.  I still haven’t consciously made up my mind to even think about attacking one of those, and I’m not at all ever considering an Iron Man length.  The other equipment issue still annoying me is the foot pod.  I can’t seem to get it to calibrate correctly.  I’ve adjusted it multiple times and it still doesn’t see the same distance that the treadmill does.  I don’t know if incline is negatively affecting it, or if my gait is the problem, but something’s got to give here.  I need it to tell me what my real distance is.  I’m no longer switching between treadmills, so I hope that I can get it to work with the one that lets me run for as long as I can.

Housekeeping:  6.5 miles in 57:19.  With the decrease in warm up and cool down, an 8:49 per mile average is only 3 seconds below my target, though the 6 miles in the middle is still over the target pace.  699 calories burned.  At least that number seems to have stopped swinging so wildly.  It tells me my body has adjusted to that component.  If I can just get my mind wrapped around it, I’ll be fine.

Ache in both hips and left knee.  Strength training obviously a factor in muscle fatigue.  I’m trying to let it go, since I know that at some point my muscle recovery will improve.  I just don’t want to get injured now at a point when I really feel I’m about to break through.

Cheers!

May 27th, 2009 – Half Marathon Training Easy Run

The miles increase for the first time and it seems rather sudden to me.  6 miles isn’t that long, in theory, but I cannot seem to get my legs to stop the dull ache and the pace seems to really be a grind.  Still, I got to the gym, did my stretching and started the run.

I’ve still not really reconciled the mental need to warm up and cool down.  I compromised and added only a half mile total.  Maybe it is partly to blame, I can’t say.  I wish I had a better handle on this whole thing.  Maybe I am in over my head.

Housekeeping:  6.5 miles in 57:37 for an average pace of 8:51 per mile.  Given my target is 8:46 and I’m most assuredly much slower than that during cool down, I’m very happy with the results.  687 calories burned.  Up a bit from the prior easy runs, but then again it is an extra mile.  Still only creeping into zone 3 and never really getting above the middle of my zone 3 range (157 to 173 beats per minute.)  I honestly believe this is a pace I could finish the race running.  I just have to convince myself of the mental side.

At least I’m pain free other than the dull aches.  I’ve done strength training again today, and that does include some core work.  I’m not doing as many exercises as I should for my core, but I’m doing more than nothing.  The strength training adds another 296 calories to the total consumption.  Not quite 1000 per workout, but not far from it.  I have no doubt that when I get into 8 miles or faster paces I’ll regularly cook 1000 calories per workout and then it will be time to figure out what my new calorie intake will be.

Cheers!