Marathon - Week 4

This was a nice little rest week for me after bumping my mileage up to 45 mpw for the last 3 weeks. Unfortunately the heat wave forced me onto the treadmill for all but one run this week. It was starting to remind me of my training this winter where I basically ran all of my runs except my long inside.

The treadmill has its perks and drawbacks; from a training perspective its great because I can force a pace and my body can't slow down or slip as easily out of that pace. It is also good for learning to run even pace which is how most coaches recommend you run these days.  The drawback, its boring as boring gets. There is nothing like staring at a blank, brown wall for an hour. At least when I run outside I can sight-see and watch all kinds of different things from the local goat man to other runners to the scenery. I'll be very happy when the heat wave is over so I can get back outdoors.

The only interesting thing I saw all week was a guy who was probably close to 250 pounds hanging with me for nearly an hour run which I found extremely impressive.  He kind of remind me from those guys from World's Strongest Man, but this guy was running at a decent pace. Also, I found out that there are like 3 woman who come in reeking of cigarettes and booze and walk on the treadmill at literally 1 mph pace which is just plain pathetic because I don't even think they break a sweat.

Next week starts the ramp towards 60 mpw and hopefully some pretty significant gains in performance.  I am also starting to run doubles for the first time so my body is going to have to adjust to running twice a day.

Weekly Total: 40 miles.

Monday: 49 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Tuesday: 1M w/u & c/d, 10 x hill repeats @ 7.5% grade . 6 miles.
Wednesday: Rest.
Thursday: 64 minutes threshold @ 7:13 pace. 9 miles.
Friday:  48 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday: Long Run @ 7:49 pace. 13 miles.

1000 Miles!

In case you missed it, I have broken the 1000 miles run mark! I didn't start tracking my miles until October so it probably happened sooner but in just under a year of running I've racked up 1000 miles on these legs.

My goal for 2011 is to run 2000+ miles which should be doable given I have been running between 30 and 50 miles a week and it is only going up.

See you at 2000!

New Kicks, Tech & Tunes

Running is one of those great hobbies that really doesn't require too much money to get started, but there are always some great toys you can buy if you want to. I went on a mini-spending spree recently and bought some new stuff.

Kicks

Shoes are probably the only thing that are required, except maybe clothing, for running. I bought two pairs of shoes in March and the goal was to alternate them to make them last longer. I thought I would get 6-9 months out of them but my ramp up in weekly miles has basically ensured that I now need to buy 2 pairs of shoes every 3-4 months. Meet the first shoe in my new rotation, the Asics DS-Gel Trainer 16. I first started running in what the guy at the store called "clunkers" so when I bought shoes he didn't want to move me to something to much lighter in case I needed the extra support. Now I am moving down to a speed trainer which weight what feels like nothing. I am going to run in these for a little bit until I see if they provide enough support for longer distances and if they do get another pair of speed trainers, otherwise I will get a pair of GT-2160s which is what I was wearing previously for my longer runs.

Tech

I have been using my iPhone since October to track my runs and unfortunately the GPS on it is rather terrible, so I would have to go into MapMyRun.com figure out how far I actually ran and update the route. I have been in the market for a running watch for a while but I wanted something small and not too bulky. I found the Garmin Forerunner 610 but the reviews were terrible and they said the GPS was worse than the iPhone so I waited. About 2 weeks ago, Garmin issued a patch for the watch that improved the GPS to near 100% accuracy so I bought one. It is so much more comfortable than wearing an armband for the iPhone and I love seeing real-time paces so I can adjust prior to splits. Some of my favorite features:

• Vibrations Alerts @ Splits
  
• Designing custom workouts that can be sent to the watch
  
• Easy configuration of interval workouts.
  

Despite the hefty price tag, I'd recommend it to any serious runner and I haven't even started playing around with the heart rate monitor which is supposed to be awesome.

Tunes

Since I wasn't going to be lugging around my iPhone I could no longer use Pandora, which is probably the only drawback to this whole new configuration. I ended up opting for a cheap solution in the iPod Shuffle since it could just be clipped anywhere and has nearly no weight to it. I did end up buying some songs on iTunes to round out my library, which Tina likes to make fun of me for since it resembles a teenie bopper playlist. I like running to club/pop songs with really good beats so I gravitate towards Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Ke$ha, Jennifer Lopez, 3OH3 and the Cataracs.

Marathon - Week 3

This week started off nicely with some recovery runs and a speed workout on the treadmill.  I really like running speed workouts on the treadmill as it forces me to maintain a steady pace and not back off when things get tough.  The 6:30 pace is starting to feel comfortable but the 400 @ 6:00 is still tough. I still am amused by the noises that the treadmills make when running at 10mph and the looks I get by people in the gym.

The highlight of my week was the tempo run as it was pretty comfortable and the weather was pretty nice as I was able to get out early because Tina took Colin to day care.  The heat and humidity of the summer are starting to take a toll for sure and that really showed on my long run this weekend.

My long run was probably the hardest workout I have ever done. I went out early to try and beat the heat but it all caught up as the day heated up quicker than expected.  At about 13 miles I started feeling nauseous (good sign heatstroke is creeping in) so I took a break walked a few blocks and stopped into Dunkin Donuts for some water.  While inside some guy came up to me and said, "Hey, you should be on the commercials for Dunkin Donuts, I guess America does run to Dunkin."  Despite his good intentions, he was a moron, wrong slogan and I was just there to get some water so I didn't die.  The run was decent for the next 3 miles until I found myself about 2 miles from the house and with mild heatstroke.  I walked a few blocks and ended up covering the whole 18.3 miles but only ran 17.8 of it.

In case any of you run into a situation like this, after the run an ice bath made all the difference in the world and Tina seemed to take a sense of enjoyment in dumping ice into the freezing cold water I was sitting in and watching me freak out.  Next week is a step back week which I am long over due for and then moving up to the next mileage milestone which is 50-55 mpw.

Weekly Total: 43.8 miles.

Monday: 32 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: Speed workout 2x[800@7:00;400@6:30;200@6:00;1200@7:30]. 7 miles.
Wednesday: 48 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Thursday: Rest.
Friday:  66 minutes tempo @ 7:25 pace. 9 miles.
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday: Long Run @ 8:02 pace. 17.8 miles.

Great Harvard 4th of July Road Race

I wasn't looking forward to this race because I prefer to run either 5K or 10K but it turned out to be a lot of fun.  I heard at the starting line that there was a "hill" on the course but I didn't know what was in store until I actually got there.

The hill was 1/3 of mile long and 18% grade, nearly everyone except for maybe the top 2-3 people walked up it.  I started off at a nice pace, 6:42, 6:52 for my first two miles and then came the hill.  I dropped down to nearly 10:00 min/mile pace and it sure took a lot out of me.  I did finish strong though with finishing miles of 7:10 and 7:20. 

I finished 33rd overall which is pretty cool. I am still getting a feel for how fast I can run at shorter distances as I was barely tired after the end of the race and felt like I left a lot in the tank.  I'll post some pictures of my cheering section tonight.

Marathon - Week 2

Weekly Total: 45.2 miles. This was an interesting week because I had to ramp miles and run a road race.  The 5-miler was a ton of fun minus the 1/3 mile, 18% grade hill in the middle of mile 3 (course designer has some screws loose imo). See post for results.  As for training, was a really tough week as my legs were wasted from the hilly race but I got through it. I had to back off my tempo run this week because of the fatigue and the heat/humidity which was like 80 degrees and 85% humidity during my run.  However, my long run made up for it which was a huge jump in mileage and I felt like I could have run another 2 miles but held back to make sure I didn't hurt myself by ramping too fast.

Monday: 5 mile road race + hills.
Tuesday: Speed workout 2x[800@7:00;400@6:30;200@6:00;1200@7:30]. 7 miles.
Wednesday: Rest.
Thursday: 72 minutes tempo @ 8:05 pace. 9 miles.
Friday:  48 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Saturday: Rest.
Sunday: Long Run @ 7:56 pace. 18.2 miles.

Marathon - Week 1

Weekly Total: 42.6 miles. So it begins, first week of marathon training and beginning to ramp up them miles.  Target is to be 55+ mpw at peak during training which is pretty insane but we will give it a shot.  Started taking a 2nd Gu gel on longs because I was hitting a wall around 15 miles.

Monday: 31 minutes easy. 4 miles.
Tuesday: Speed workout 2x[800@7:00;400@6:30;200@6:00;1200@7:30]. 7 miles.
Wednesday: 48 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Thursday: 67 minutes tempo @ 7:33 pace. 9 miles.
Friday:  Rest.
Saturday: Long Run @ 8:07 pace. 16.6 miles.
Sunday: Rest.