schedule

ok, for some reason I thought we were behind in our training schedule for Boston, but we're really not. In fact, if we do 15s at Highbanks like Mike suggested, we'll be picking it up.

week	Boston	Columbus
M-7	18	18.5
M-6	15	half (13.1)
M-5	20	20
M-4	15	11
M-3	22	22.2
M-2	half (13.1)	12
M-1	6	6

why does working out make you feel old???

I wasn't sore at all on Monday after the half-marathon (was that only this past weekend??), so I cycled a bit. Tuesday I did speedwork, during which I felt pretty beat, but I finished fine. Wednesday I was all set to do 8 miles after work, and I didn't even make it through a mile before my shins started hurting. I'm starting to get a little nervous about injuries, so I jumped off the treadmill right away. I stretched alot, and yesterday I was a bit nervous to head out. My shin hurt for a little bit, but I ran on the (snow-covered) grass for a bit instead of the sidewalk, and it cleared up. My knee has been cracking this week, however. I had wanted to try to cut down on my glucosamine (I take triple strength daily), but as the cracking started at the exact time I started to cut down, I'm back to full-dosage today.

Boston is only 6 weeks away, tomorrow is our 18 miler. I'm a bit nervous about it, just b/c we didn't do a 16 miler, and the 15 was 3 weeks ago. I don't like all these creaks and cracks, I feel old! Tonight I'll have to dig out my log from the summer and see at what point I started to notice my toes cracking, etc. It sorta creeps me out, and I want to see if it was about this time in training last time. I know I'll run Boston, but I don't like to think about what I may be doing to my body in terms of long-term effects...

group motivation

We got a new web dev contractor here at work at the beginning of December. Cecil is a great guy, AND he's a cyclist! He's in the gym for at least an hour a day, beating me on the workout front here at the office. He often stops by to ask about how my training is going, and it's some subtle encouragement when it would be easy to take a day off or have an easy workout. Lately another contractor at work has been wanting to head down to the gym as well, so we've been co-ordinating our workout times. Often I head outside to run anyway, but it's still nice to all walk down to the locker rooms together.

I've had running on my calendar for awhile, but I think it's neat that 3 of the 4 contractors down in our little area are all aspiring to work out in the afternoons. Cecil also does his longer workout on Wednesdays, so I just set up a recurring meeting for "web developer contractors to work out their frustrations at the gym" 3x a week.

I want to get into the habit of working out here at work daily, I think if I just get used to it, the time spent showering and all that crap won't be such a deterrent (right now I often bring workout clothes, then take them back home and run when I get home, just so that I'm not adding that extra time to my workday). it's a heck of a lot easier to know that my coworkers are doing the same.

Last Chance for Boston Half Marathon

Yesterday was the Last Chance for Boston Half-Marathon. I was a little nervous about it: I wasn't feeling good on Saturday and haven't been eating well lately. Then I was late getting to the start line, feeling a little frazzled. The race itself went really well, however. I told Meredith I wanted to run a 8:00 pace, but wasn't sure if that was going to happen. Nevertheless, I had made up a little pace band for a 7:49 and 7:59 min pace (7:49 was my previous PR). Well after the first mile (8:10 or so), we were sub-8 for the whole time. It felt pretty good, although I was dragging the last few miles.

It was great running with Meredith, I know that I ran way better because I was with her. She was definitely strong the whole way, and it was great to see. What's interesting is that I was so beat she said we could run the last few miles (11 and 12) slow and then pick it up -- even though we thought we were going slow, they were still among our fastest miles! We ended up with 1st and 2nd in our age group, too!

Finally I told her to go ahead in the last mile, and I even ended up walking for abit. I was spent! But I still managed to pick it up afterwards, and my last mile was still my fastest. I was so proud of how great she was doing, and I'm really looking forward to running Boston with her. She's a great motivator, and it was obvious how good she was feeling.

What's interesting is that I'm not sore today, and wasn't yesterday. I was hurting a bit after the 15 miler, which was slower, but I didn't bonk in. I don't know if it is the picking it up at the end that's so rough on me, or what. All I know is that I'm feeling really really good about my running right now. I think this is going to be a year of PRs (since I set one yesterday even despite crashing). Hurrah!!!

Splits:
.1 .47 (unofficial)
1: 8:10 (unofficial)
2: 7:53
3: 7:54
4: 7:51
5: 7:49
6: 7:45
7: 7:52
8: 7:45
9: 7:44
10: 7:38
11: 7:47
12: 7:43
13: 7:34 (AND I walked a bit during this one!)

motivation

I often forget we each have our own goals and motivation for running. And perhaps more importantly, different ways to work towards those goals.

Lisa and I each ran the Cap City Half last year; she kicked my butt. She'd run a few marathons too, and done pretty well. She and I both talked about trying to qualify for Boston, but she ended up getting hurt at the CBus marathon. Then she ran another marathon not too much later, got hurt again.

As far as I can see, she's a decent runner, but she doesn't give herself alot of time off. I invited her to run with our group because I thought it might offer her some discipline, as well as a chance to learn from some more experienced runners. A month or so back she told me that she wasn't going to race anymore til Cap City, b/c the 16 mile training run she did left her sore for weeks. She also stopped seeming interested to run with us. Ah well.

Then out of the blue, she emails me today to tell me she's running the full marathon on Sunday! I'm in shock.. I actually told her I was going to kick her butt. Literally. I don't see how she can possibly have trained for this, since two weeks ago when we were doing the 15 miler, she was running 10 miles.. unless she was already tapering?

Now, I guess I shouldn't question if she's ready. This will be her third marathon in 4 months (although she DNF CBus), she must have a sense as to her overall fitness. She said she's not planning on racing it, just doing it to expend some energy. All the power to her, I guess. And perhaps I shouldn't even care.

Yet I hear her talk about wanting to BQ. After she ran Palm Beach, she sent me an email telling me how proud I should be for qualifying since she just can't seem to do it. But I just feel like the answer is staring her in the face. She needs to be healthy. I think she knows it herself.. and that's why she told me she was not going to race for awhile. I just wonder if in the back of her head she thinks if she runs enough marathons, qualifying will 'just happen'. Call me cynical, I think it's more likely she's wearing herself out and could be seriously injured. But here is a girl who had her PhD by 27 - I think she gets her mind set on something and goes full-steam ahead.

It's just so frustrating.. she looks to me for alot of advice and such, I just wish she could take this bit. I know she could do it! But I guess her goals and how she wants to move towards them are different than my own...

goals

So this Sunday is the "Last Chance for Boston" half marathon. The 13.1 mile distance is no threat to me now, having raced 3 in the past year (as well as the marathon and 15 miler a few weeks back). I've set my sights on running a PR, or at least bettering my times from last year. My best time ever was my first half (May 2002), when I had aspirations only to break 2:00:00. My time was 1:42:38, which I was of course overjoyed with. Then I stopped running from July 2002 - December 2004, and my times this past year haven't been close to that. (1:46.xx, 1:48.xx, 1:48.xx - in that order). Granted, I know I messed up my last half (Sept) because I started WAAAY too quickly, overestimating my abilities. I like training with 'the group' but I tend to forget that I'm nowhere near their level when it comes to a competitive arena. I'm eager to see how things go this weekend, see if I can manage myself a bit better. I'm still learning race strategy in some ways.. although that refutes the fact that my best race was my first.. relying on whoever I'm running with to set the pace. I guess that will come through experience.

new shoes

today was GORGEOUS! So much so that I skipped out on my plan to hit the gym and went to target and bought some cheap running clothes so I could run outside instead. Tried out the new shoes I bought.. which may not have been a good thing. Granted, my knee is bruised (I think from Sunday), but I ended up having to walk the last .2 of the 6 miles since my knee was hurting so bad. When I picked out the shoes (Sauconys of course, but a different style than I'm used to), I was excited b/c they seemed to have more arch support than I'm used to. Now I'm wondering if that's a good thing, if perhaps I picked out some for ppl who pronate (I don't). Before worrying too much about the shoes, however, I should also pay attention to the fact that my carb intake lately has been about zilch, although I've been craving protein like it's my job (I even had a hamburger yesterday at Fuddruckers - the first in a year and a half!). So that may have somehow contributed to my low energy, and resulted in lazy running or somethin. Who knows. I'm off to finish off my Fazoli's lasagna, and hopefully these danged shoes will perform better tomorrow -- I was planning on wearing them Sunday--

idle hands...

I'm starting to get down on myself for quitting Cal Fit. I was too busy there for awhile to go to classes, but I'm starting to miss them. I'm running alot more than I did over the summer, but I feel like my overall fitness isn't as good without those darned classes!

I should probably look at something at the Barn, despite the fact I'd have to pay per class (yuck). But of course, the two I'd be most interested in comflict with my schedule: boot camp on Saturdays is out of the question b/c of my long runs, and the other is Thursday nights. Granted, I've been skipping out on meditation lately anyway.. but I don't know if that's because I just need my Thursdays to myself. Still, "core cardio fusion" sounds intriguing, and maybe that would be good in preparation for the weekend. Generally I don't like to run on Thursdays anyway since I'll be running Friday and Sat as well.

They do have Spinning on Wed, and Kickboxing on Mondays, but I really want some sort of strength work. I have no idea why I love holding weights above my head in class, but can't bring myself to do it at home....

Lately I've been reading a bunch of different training plans, etc. I can't imagine all those people who run like 70 miles a week - I've heard about the Pfitzinger 55 mpw plan, and even that seems crazy to me. It's interesting though, I can't help but wonder how that could improve my running.

I feel a bit silly about it to some extent, like maybe I'm trying too hard or something. I mentioned it to Andy, and he said he just runs, doesn't worry about all that. I almost feel like maybe I'm making too big a deal out of all this, but at the same time, I want to push my limits, see what all I can do.
This week was a bad running week for me, I just didn't have much motivation or energy. I wasn't particularly sore after Sunday (I had a few twinges on Tuesday, but not too bad), but I don't know if I just needed a mental break. I'm running alot more than I did last year, maybe it's catching up on me. How funny is it that 30 miles a week is alot more than summer, but it is. My average was 24 miles or something leading up to the marathon. Again, with all the reading I've been doing, most people wouldn't have even said I was ready to run it. So maybe I do have to just ignore what I read..

Because supposedly Meredith and I train too hard, too. When we run on the weekends, we're pushing close to marathon pace. I like it, because I feel like I'm getting used to it. I do understand what the literature says about not pushing too hard, though. Maybe I managed it over the summer because I was taking so many days off for recovery, who knows....

Let's get this party started

well I've been posting some information about my running on my Livejournal, but I think I've bored or alienated most of my friends' list because of it, so I thought I'd try something new. Not to mention, now I can go back and review running-only stuff, as opposed to having to wade through all the other crap I post about over there.
Thanks Meredith for sharing your URL (http://meredithrunningworld.blogspot.com) so I could get started over here - great idea! Although now we can't complain about each other ;) Looking forward to Boston!

Ok, enough for an intro -- now I want to go over to LJ and recopy some of my posts over here. Ah, another productive Monday at work...