Week 13: An intense weekend

Today's 20 miles, following a 10 mile marathon pace day was tough. I learned today that Noble is intending to run the marathon at the pace we've been training at on our long runs. So A.) I'm probably partially killing him and B.) He's got more in him than he thinks. Hopefully not too much of A and more of B. Anyhow, we were a little low on our water, and I think plotting out a route with more than 1 water stop is a must for any other such long runs. We took several walk breaks in the last 6 miles.

The trip out seemed fine, no troubles, but the return trip was not so smooth. Both Noble and I ran out of water earlier than hoped, causing us to conserve too much. We also had the sun beating directly on us for much of those miles. Some may be amused by the white strip across my sun burned torso from where my HRM strap was.

The 10 mile pace run was smooth, and I completed it @ a quick 7:02 pace, which I now know is 15 seconds faster than the minimum pace to qualify for Boston.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
10.00	1:10:19	7:02	169	188

That is my goal, to beat the Boston Qualifying Time of 3 hours and 10 minutes (+59 secs). That's a pace of 7:15-7:17. If I reach my goal, I will consider running another marathon. If not, I will concentrate on 5k, and perhaps run a few miles at open track meets. Those are some fun races that I miss.

Tomorrow will be a day of healing...

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Week 13: On the mend

After a steady dose of R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) over the course of three days, I got back on the horse and 9.5 miles on Tuesday. Even the hill workout on Thursday went off without any trouble. I finished 7 intervals, the last at a 5:32 pace. Though I felt some weakness/tenderness for toward the end of the 9 miler. This weekend has a 10 mile race pace run and a 20 miler scheduled. These will be the real test of the ankle

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Week 12: Ending on a low note

ARGH!!

Everything was going great this week:

After my Garmin died at the end of week 11, I sent it to Garmin who promptly sent me a new unit which arrived Thursday evening.

My Brooks order arrived Thursday before my track workout, loaded with 2 pairs of trainers (Adrenaline 9), a pair of racing flats (Racer ST 4), a singlet, a training T, and a pair of socks (Burn PED). Having joined Brooks ID, I got a nice discount on all of this.

I immediately strapped on my new Racers and hit the track for an excellent mile repeat workout (6:18, 6:17, 5:59, 5:48). The racers were excellent. A lightweight shoe weighing in at 8.6oz, the Racer ST 4 was very comfortable with enough cushioning for a long race. They are rated up to marathon, and at my weight, I think might put that to the test.

So, to the calamity... I was having yet another great run yesterday. I was supposed to run 6 miles at marathon pace. Not bad, I can handle that. 5k in, as I ran through the Reston Town Center, I caught my toe on a brick and BONK. Reston has these fancy crosswalks with brick set into the pavement. For all you city planners/developers... Why?

A) They require extra maintenance
B) They are hazards (at least for a select few clumsy folks as I have demonstrated)
C) They don't really stand out like your typical painted cross walks

I'll give them credit for style points, but in the grand scheme of things, who cares? Anyways, there's my rant. I should have been more careful. I was cruising just below my intended 7:10 pace and I was left to hobble a mile+ back home on a right ankle that is now very swollen. It looks like today's 12 miler is out of the question.

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Week 11: A 20 miler under my belt

Once again I moved my Sunday long run to Saturday for convenience. This was my first of 3 20 milers before the marathon. I chose to run on the W&OD starting from Old Town Herndon. I staged my car at the 20 mile marker and ran toward Leesburg for 5 miles, returned to the car and ran toward Reston/Vienna and back for the final 10 miles.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
20.03	2:44:59	8:14	146	178

It was a decent morning for a run, plenty of cloud cover, but humid and warm. Brenda, who ran 14, and I got off to a late start (9:00) much to our chagrin as the sun poked through the clouds around 11 heating up the trail and giving me a good burn. The last 2 miles were brutal and I was toast by the time I reached the 20 mile mark for the last time.

An 8:14 pace w/ 3 minutes of walking a ~5min break in the middle might have been a bit overboard. It helps when I have a running partner to mellow the pace, but on my own, with all sort of traffic on the road, I was sucked into a quick pace.

At the mid-point I stopped to top off my water and changed my socks (No blisters... YAY!). I finished with a sore right hip and rear of the knee (above the calf). Both were alleviated by my Body Glide Warm-Fx, the product that caused recent shenanigans. At least it's making up for the pain, but it did manage to transfer to some spots I wouldn't have wanted it to.

After today I'll have run over 200 miles for the month of August, and put nearly 300 miles on my month and a half old shoes. That order from Brooks can't come soon enough... I look forward to this, a lighter week.

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Week 10 Wrap-up

Despite being the first week over the mid-program hump, week 10 did not relent! All told, I put in 48+ miles at an average pace of 8:02. That includes a 9 mile marathon pace run Sunday to cap off the week. Though I ran it @ 10 seconds over Boston pace which is my lofty goal, the terrain in Reston is much wilder than i'll see in Toronto. That's a good sign past the midpoint, especially the day after a long run.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
9.02	1:06.06	7:20	155	173

That long run day did not go so smoothly... I showed up late to Noble's place in Arlington after a poor night's sleep. I was completely disorganized which led to my key fob falling out of my Fuel Belt pouch around mile 10. Of course I didn't realize this until 3 miles later. After completing a very hilly 18 miles (1 short of the plan) we tried to hunt down the fob to no avail. We had to drive the distance to Reston to get my backup key. Things smoothed out afterward and we had a good BBQ lunch at Rocklands.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
18.20	2:33:44	8:27	143	175

My training earlier in the week was a bit brutal due to the humidity. Finishing Thursday's hill workout was tough, as was Tuesday's 9 miler. I had a little blister trouble after the Sunday pace run including a tear in my right big toe callouses. I decided to take today off to heal. I'm going to be a little more cautious with the belt. I'm a bit disappointed that I can't secure my keys better.

This weekend is 20 miles. It's going to be a tough solo run.

So ends my first iPhone post!

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Week 8: Day 6 - Long runs are always better with company

I moved my Sunday run up a day to run with Noble who will also be running the Toronto Marathon. I can't deny the benefits of having a running partner when doing distances like this. We met up in Waterfront in DC bright and early (7:30 AM) where I met my training group for Honolulu a few years back. It's a great spot to run with fairly level terrain and lots of great scenery.

We ran around the mall and along the Potomac on our out and back. I learned of Noble's sour luck this summer, and hope that will turn around for him. He definitely had a lemons to lemonade outlook on the situation which is refreshing. We were able to carry on conversation throughout the run. The pace was steady throughout, though we sped up in the later downhill miles. I was able to run a comfortable 7:57 extra last mile.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
17.05	2:22:28	8:21	136	157

I've been running with my helium 2 Fuel Belt which has worked well, even up to 17 miles yesterday, but I've definitely pushed the limits. Now I wish I had gone with helium 4 and run with less bottles when I didn't need them, but it's a little late for that now. The question is do I try to find a way to reload my bottles late into these runs, or do I spring for the larger capacity belt??

My recommendation: Buy the helium 4 the first time around!

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Week 8: Day 2 - On the Road Again

Today I returned from a long weekend in Rochester and Fredonia, NY. I stayed on the wagon for the most part, though I missed yesterdays 3-miler for some recording sessions in the folks' barn with Jim. I even got Jim to join me for a run. On Sunday he joined me for the final 4 miles of my 16-miler in Fredonia. I ran the first 12 faster than recommended (8:20/mile), so relaxing the pace with my bro was a nice relief.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
16.29	2:21:35	8:41	132	146

Over the course of my run, I climbed a fair amount, and still kept the heart rate low. This is a good sign with 11 weeks to go. I experienced sharp ankle pain for a few moments prior to my brief stop to pick up Jim, but that subsided. I had run over 7 hard miles in Rochester with some difficult inclines and winding single track paths which might have led to the soreness.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
7.05	52:30	7:27	156	180

Brenda and I had stayed at the Woodcliff Hotel and Spa perched at the top of a steep hill for our friends' wedding (Congrats Ben and Lauren!) which made for an awful return trip on the run. I had "golfed" 9 holes earlier in the day as well adding a good deal of miles on foot Saturday.

Today I went out in Fredonia for 8 before hitting the road. I pushed the pace more and more as the run went on hitting a 7:32 mile at the end. It wasn't intentional, but it felt smooth, and I had a long day on the road ahead of me. Now I get to enjoy some time back home, and just maybe... I'll have a few relaxing days. It was great spending time with friends and family, but it's great to be home.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
8.05	1:02:43	7:47	146	165

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Week 7: Day 4 - Dogs with wheels

Today was my 2nd hill workout. I went once again to Soap Stone, a perfect place to get angry at an incline. You would too if you ran up it repeatedly at a nearly all out pace. I completed 6 intervals each of which was ~1/4 mile. My last and fastest was at a 5:55 pace, which was pretty much all I had in me by that point on a grade incline.

I think I went a bit too long on the remainder of the run. It clocked in at over 7 miles, whereas I could've probably cut it at 6 and been no worse off. I experienced some ankle soreness duing the 1.5 mile warm-up, and it was very tender walking around after the run tonight. I also felt some strain in my lower right hamstring. Though I was thinking about running tomorrow, It's definitely going to be a day of rest now.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
7.12	57:36	8:06	144	188

The interesting part of my run was coming across dogs with wheels. The first was wearing a harness and pulling a tire. Apparently he's weight training... One wheel dog wasn't enough for the day. I came across another dog, who wasn't as fortunate as the previous one. He had wheels because his hind legs apparently weren't cutting it. The dog above seems to be fairly content with his situation, so hopefully today's 2 legged/2 wheeled dog was too.

Yesterday's 4-mile run was fairly uneventful (no wheel dogs or people trying to run me down), but I kept up a comfortable quick pace.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
4.02	30:36	7:36	149	177

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Week 7: Day 2 - Hulk Smash Dumb Drivers

First of all, today was SUPER muggy. I ran at (of course) the peak part of the temperature curve at a nice 94 degrees, with a fair amount of humidity. It didn't help that I was nearly run over while running in a cross walk in a parking lot. Some jack ass decided that he was cool with running people over so he came barreling into the Safeway parking lot almost right through me. Luckily his mirror and rear tires remained a good 3 inches from me and my lead foot.

I followed this punk to his parking spot to see what his deal was and it turned out "He didn't see me." Didn't see the bright white dude running nearly in front of him? My guess is this jerk-off does not pass the vision test for his driver's license next time around.

This is the first time I've looked at my HRM data to see the effects of emotion on my workout. It should be no surprise that this incident was the peak of my run (despite being only 1/3 of the way into the run) at 180bpm. There are a couple smaller peaks near 171 cresting a few hills near the end of the run. On top of that, that period after the incident is somewhat erratic.

Perhaps this guy had something on his mind distracting him from the task at hand, but this is not the first time I've dealt with drivers who didn't care about nearby pedestrians. As long as I have to run on road, there's always that slim chance that some absent minded, or malicious fool is going to plow me over... That's part of the risk of running outdoors.

Despite the heat and shenanigans, I had another spirited run, negative splitting the last several miles.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
8.08	1:03:20	7:50	153	180

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Week 6: Adventure Racing

This weekend I participated in my second Adventure Race, the Odyssey Sprint AR, near Roanoke, VA. Like most of these races, this AR consisted of orienteering, treking, mountain biking, and canoeing. We must have covered 25 to 35 miles in the course 0f 6 hours. We strayed off course from the get go, taking the high road, which turned out to be a bad idea. After trudging through some heavy foliage, we reached the canoes at the first check point.

The canoeing seemed to drag on forever, and it didn't help that we were spun around 3 times by other boats. We resumed right where we left off on foot going way off course, and eventually learned that we were making this event harder than it needed to be. Every checkpoint was on some major trail or road. It seemed like smooth sailing once we hit the bikes, but we ran into some technical problems when Stas' Chain guard broke off and wedge into his gear hub. We were able to cut it away and get back on track leaving Stas with out his low gear.

This years Odyssey Sprint was overall a great time. Despite our misguided methods of navigation, everyone on our teams (John, Stas, Sergey, and I; Mike and Ian) had so much fun. I look forward to future ARs with these guys!

Despite an exhausting day, followed by an outing in Staunton that last until 2pm, I went for my 10 mile run to cap off week 6. I had been speaking to Kevin Shirk earlier in the day, and being humbled by his run times, I encouraged myself to step up the pace for the run.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
10.02	1:17:24	7:44	153	175

I have thought about approaching the coach for South Lakes HS Cross Country about assisting him this fall. The only hang up is the ability to get to practices with my work schedule... It turns out Sergey is going to be running for the team. The kid had a motor and was cranking this weekend, running when everyone else wanted to rest and barreling up the hill on bike. It would probably be a good time to get involved since I know one of the athletes... Maybe I can find someone who has volunteered and had an office job like mine....

John pointed me out to the Brooks ID program which supposedly could get me a 40% off discount. I'm excited!

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Week 6: Day 4 - Back to the track

This week I continued full speed ahead. I'm not just talking about training, but life. Last night was a marathon poker night going pass 1pm. This after a quick 3 miler (7:49/mi). Tuesday after an equally fast 7 miler (7:48/mi) I thought I was in for a relaxing night when Alex asked me to join him for a Mets @ Nats game. The Nats won with a complete game shutout by John Lannan. It was a good time, but truthfully the game was average at best. The only play I can remember is when the Mets right fielder biffed on an easy fly ball with bases loaded and then with an easy force at second nearly blew it as the second baseman couldn't handle the throw.

I passed on Monday's run to meet up with Josh who was visiting from Bean Town. We went to The Counter which has some of the best burgers I've ever had.

Tonight I went to South Lakes H.S. for a track workout. I was scheduled for 5x800 (~3:00) repeats. I tacked on a quick 400 (1:21) , 200 (0:33), 2x100 (0:15) on the end. With warm up and cool down the workout totals:

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
6.44	50:03	7:47	156	194

For lunch today I went to Tropical Smoothie with some of the coworkers. It seemed like a good way to get some calories in before a hard workout while still getting some decent nutrients. I had a buffalo chicken wrap and an orange smoothie. I give this place a nod and will add it to my lunch spots.

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Week 5: Day 7 - Pain train boarded

After failing to do the whole long run last Sunday I decided that was not an option today. This evening I returned from Brooklyn around 6, stretched and fueled for 30 minutes and set out for a 14 miler. Not only did I sit in the car for 4.5 hours today, but I also played basketball for my brothers team who were severely short handed.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
13.72	1:53:33	8:17	146	170

We played the whole 40(?) minutes: 5 on 5 with no subs. I should stick to running... I had several opportunities to shoot, but I couldn't buy a bucket... the rims and backboards were straight street with absolutely no give. Anything that hit the rim went flying out. Sorry to Jim for my Shaq-esque performance (minus the strong play in the paint).

My run took me to new territory. I ran down to the Franklin Farm area of Herndon where people clearly throw plenty of dough around. I imagine some of the houses have rooms that aren't used for months. I almost got run over by a BMW and a Mercedes. At least I'd be going out in style :-P

I have my first blister in a while. It's that darn long second two. It's not an unusual place for me to get them, but hopefully it'll toughen up after a few more distance runs.

The ol' Garmin went screwy on me, or more likely user error kicked in. My watch stopped for 5 minutes, and my mid-run math was a little off leaving me slightly short of 14, but I can more than live with 13 3/4 after the week I've had. I hurt. I should have passed out hours ago. Time to make it happen...

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Week 5: Slight derailment due to travel

It's a fine day in Brooklyn, NY. Today I ran 7 miles at Prospect Park, half of which I ran with my brother. The park, which was is shutdown to traffic during the day, had plenty of room to roam around on it's 3.5 mile loop, and was well shaded. There were a few lengthy inclines and declines, but nothing too steep. There was a bike race supposedly going on at the time, but anybody riding by appeared to be taking it easy.

This week I was shipped off for some business travel to Houston, TX. This isn't the ideal place for a runner... The intense sun was not often obscured by clouds, and the heat was on. My Tuesday run was bypassed due to a day of travel and planning. I ran 7 miles on a treadmill Wednesday at the hotel, which reminded me why I hate running on treadmills. First off, in order to maintain sanity, I watched the Sotomayor hearings (in which it seemed no one really cared to explore the knowledge/experience of this candidate). This required me to use headphones, the cable of which frequently got in the way of hand swings causing a huge nuisance. This particular treadmill had some issues, and as I pushed it to 8mph, it started sticking on my left footfalls... I could see someone getting a bum knee from that.

Thursday morning I took to the Houston streets, running a 4.3 mile/32 minute tempo run. The graph looks good with a mostly continuous decline to a max pace of 6:27. The whole run I was trying to find a sprinkler or some water to run through. I passed a guy watering a lawn, and asked him to turn the hose toward the road, but he looked blankly back at me and continued his work. I got the impression he didn't speak my language. The one sprinkler I ran across was shooting at no more than knee height leaving me with some slightly soggy shoes near the end of the run (not quite what I was hoping for).

It's time I spend some time with Jim, Jenny, and Annea. It's been fun being Uncle Matt for the weekend. Annea giggled for me this morning as I made a fool of myself and played with her toys. It's a good way to cap off a long week...

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Week 4: Day 4 - Hill Workout

Today was my first hill workout. I staked out a continuous slope on Soapstone Dr with a lentgh of 400+ meters. I ran a mile and a half to the base of the hill, stretched, and ran 4 intervals capped off by 2 miles of cool-down. Each interval was a run uphill @ 6:00-6:15 pace for ~400 meters and a jog downhill. The intervals went smoothly though the heart definitely was pumping good at the end of each climb. Some of the drivers weren't too friendly today since I was running in the road. Despite there being two lanes, a handful of cars decided it would be better to swerve toward the guy running in the bright yellow shirt than to swerve away. People in the DC Metro area are so curteous..............

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
5.36	42:20	7:54	144	183

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Week 4: Deer Crossing

I think it's only a matter of time before I run into a deer at full speed. No, not in my car, I mean literally run into one. Last week it was on a bike ride that Mead, who was riding only a bike length and a half ahead of me came within a few meters of hitting a deer.

On Sunday during an 8 mile run, I was running on a path parallel to the W&OD and cresting a hill I came face to face with a deer. Startled, it bolted toward the W&OD where a bike narrowly passed by before the deer took off.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
8.03	1:05:57	8:13	143	168

Today during my 3 mile run in some dense, narrow forest trail I came upon 3 full grown deer, one with very large antlers. I had to halt and let them pass. The largest Buck contemplated his move carefully before he fled.

Dear deer, If you are reading this, I am not trying to hunt you down, nor do I care to collide with you. Please stay off the running paths.

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Week 4: Lagging Post

I am lagging a little as time has become a rare commodity.

On Monday, Matt and I met up with Tony, Bill, and Russel for a ride at Wakefield. I was supposed to run 3 miles, but instead rode 10+ miles at a hurried pace. Russel and Tony were hammering. The ride was broken into multiple loops on a couple different trails, the second loop took my onto new territory and we all lost each other for a while. I wish I could find more time to sneak riding in so I could be a little more confident on obstacles and turns.

Yesterday was a 6 mile run. It was mostly uneventful, but by trying to blaze new trail I ended up on a 4-lane road with a narrow shoulder for a short stint. The drivers weren't very careful, but I survived.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
6.03	47:41	7:54	144	186

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Week 3 Days 6 "Race Pace"

Today I was to run 6 miles at marathon pace. I still haven't quite figured out what that's going to be, but I decided to set out at a pace hovering around 7:10-7:20. I was definitely feeling it near the end of the run, but I held the pace to the end.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
6.07	44:10	7:16	161	184

I think flexibility is something that might hold me back a bit. I definitely had some tightness today that was distracting throughout the 2nd half of the run. I could use some stretching routine knowledge.

We saw the fireworks at Lake Fairfax Park. The show was a nothing spectacular, but we had a fun time anyhow. I want to check out this park in the future for training.

I need new shoes!!

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Week 3: Day 4 "The Zone"

It's been a while since I've set foot on the track. I have randomly done it over the course of my time here in Reston, but it'll be a bit more "regular" during the course of my training. I have to be cautious of over-training as I sometimes absorbed in the moment when I train, especially for speed work. You might call this "the zone". I now have the fever to run an open track meet, but that would probably be unwise...

I ran a ~1.5 mile warm-up, 5x800 meters with 1:30 rest, followed by a mile cool down. I decided to be overly ambitious and shoot for 3 minute (6 min/mile) intervals. Not only did I get them up to speed, but I ran too fast, clocking in at 2:55 for a pair of them. I might pay the price for this as I struggled to get the legs moving as I set out for my cool down. I think adding 10 seconds per interval, taking another 30 seconds rest, or both might have been wise. I'll know in the morning, but for now I am sore and ready for relaxation... Tomorrow's workout: Rest/Golf

distance	laps	Avg Time	Max Time	HR Avg.	HR Max
800m	5	2:57	2:55	174	186

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Week 3 Days 2 & 3 Need More Calories

I think I've started to reach a mileage that is outpacing my intake of fuel. I definitely am finding myself to be a bit more hungry than usual. I've debated about keeping track of my diet as I train, but that's starting to push my threshold for the amount of data I want to spend recording in a day. I'd be happy to hear anyone's stories of doing this.

Last night I was to run an easy 6 miles. I was content to take it easy this run, but my watch decided to pretend the battery was low. As a result, I pushed myself to beat the power off, which never happened. I was plenty sore by the time I had hit the trail, and I didn't get that relaxing run I'd hoped for.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
6.03	48:17	8:01	145	170

While I could have run another 3 today, I decided to take it easy. Brenda and I set out to play tennis. After several days we finally hopped on our bikes and rode to the courts. Of course as soon as we set our feet on the pedals the rain drops began to fell. I'm stubborn and decided we would chance it. One of the beautiful things about yesterday's run was the soft rain that fell for about 20 minutes, and luckily today it was much the same. The courts quickly dried up.

We still have a ways to go, but Brenda's skills have greatly improved as a result of the tennis class she took here in Reston. We just need to work on that serve ;-)

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Week 2: Day 7 A long run to cap it off

Despite the race Saturday night, I decided to stick to my training plan last night. At 6:30 I set out for a ?? supposedly 11 mile run. I set out initially unsure of how this would turn out after going all out at the 4-miler. I also decided to experiment with a new Fuel Belt brand water belt I bought along with some new "Frictionless" socks. It turned out to be a pretty solid run.

I ran to the Fairfax County Park way and gave my self several outs in case I thought I'd have to cut the run short. I had initially felt some mild tightness in my mid-section, and some soreness under my left quad. As I approached north Reston I was running out of escape routes, and thus I was locked into a long run. I felt a general fatigue in my legs, around 7 miles in, but some significant downhills helped me to relax and coast in.

It's difficult to find a flat course around Reston. This particular run had my climb and descend ~650 feet. Not bad since it's spread out over the course of 10 miles, but there are some steep parts.

distance	time	Pace	HR Avg.	HR Max
10.57	1:27:39	8:18	146	166

I am definitely happy with the Fuel Belt. It's a two bottle (8 oz+ each) belt with room for some food. I put about 6-7oz of Propel in each bottle and emptied them before the last mile, drinking about every 2 miles.

The socks were excellent with no blister troubles or associated pains over a fairly long run.

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