The Final Run Before The Big Day!

I was feeling a bit antsy today (ummm - taper!) so I went out for a 3 mile run at lunchtime. I did my usual 3 mile lake loop - which was the same route that I used for my first run in the training program for this marathon on June 29. It's a nice close to my marathon training with "bookends" of the same route.

I ran with RedG but without the heart rate monitor. It was just me, my footfalls and the breeze of a cool, overcast autumn afternoon.

3.21 miles in 32:17 - a 10:04/mile pace (for those scoring at home...June 29 was run in a 10:40/mile pace).

I thought a bit more about strategy for the marathon. I'm thinking of using the 10-10-10 breakdown. For the first 10 miles I will try to keep my heart rate under 150 - and hopefully closer to 145. I know this will be pretty difficult after mile 5, but the more I can keep my heart rate low during this part of the race, the better I'll be later. The next 10 miles will take me to the Bronx, and with the exception of the 59th Street Bridge, this should be a sea of cheering spectators. I intend to "let go" of the HRM monitoring here and just run by feel - still not trying to over do it.

The last 10K I have broken into smaller chunks: the Bronx, from the Madison Ave Bridge to where Central Park starts, along 5th Ave until the entrance to Central Park (uphill), entering Central Park to exiting the park at Central Park South, along Central Park South to Columbus Circle, and finally Columbus Circle to the Finish Line! At this point I will likely focus on these six pieces and try to get through each one with a countdown.

If I can hold to my strategy, I should do well and feel good after the race.

Time To Taper

It's taper time!

Last week was my final 40 mile week of the marathon training calendar. Now the weekly mileage totals will decrease until the marathon itself.

The training plan that I have been following shows the next two weeks' mileage as 28 miles and 19 miles. I find that much of a decrease a bit too drastic. My normal training base was 20-25 miles a week before I started marathon training, so going below this level may not be the best thing. Plus, before last year's marathon the taper left me feeling sluggish - plus I put on a few pounds during the taper.

My plan is to have a 30-32 mile week this week and a 25 mile week next week. I also am going to start counting calories so I don't add extra weight this time around. The calorie counting will give me something else to obsess about rather than "why am I not running???"
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This morning's 5 miler was almost scratched. My older son had some bad dreams and came into our room a little after 3am and 4am (no more Halloween-type shows for the next few weeks!). I didn't think I would wake up in time to get out the door by 6am given how I felt when I brought my son back to his room. But my younger son woke up around 5:40am and woke us up as well, so I got my running clothes on and headed out the door.

Another cool, dark morning. I laid out a long sleeve shirt and shorts - which was perfect. I had a bit of uncertainty as I started given how my last run went. To add some fuel to that fire, the HRM part of my Garmin has been giving me really high readings during the first mile of my runs...this started happening last week. Luckily, after the first mile or so, the heart rate readings go back down to normal. I'm going to see about changing the battery in the chest strap and see if that will help.

This morning's stats - 5.5 miles in a 10:01/mile pace with a 149 average HR (with the first mile overstated, so my average HR was really a bit lower).

Getting Out The Long Sleeves

The overnight lows last night were supposed to be in the mid to upper 40s, so I laid out a long-sleeved running shirt for this morning's run. It definitely wasn't as cold as last Thursday morning (42 degrees in short sleeves...), but I did not regret wearing long sleeves today.

On a whim, I decided to run my 5.5 mile loop in the opposite direction this morning. I've been running this loop a lot lately - there are a lot of 5 mile runs on my training plan - so running it in the opposite direction was just what I needed. With the elevation changes occurring at different mile markers, it seemed like a totally different route!

I logged another sub-10:00/mile pace, this time with my average HR at 150. The pace would have been around 10:00 and my average HR would have been lower if I didn't attack the long hill during mile 5 (normally my long downhill recovery during mile 2). It ends up that mile 5 was my fastest split at 9:33.

I'm hoping that having my fastest splits during the more difficult parts of my training runs will help me on my mental/emotional part of the marathon training.

I think I'll find out a little bit more on Friday morning when I do my 22 mile - and final really long - training run. I haven't definitely picked out a route yet, however, I'm thinking of parking at the Rockville or Shady Grove Metro stations, taking the Metro downtown and then running from there back out to the 'burbs. I can run a bit in the city, over to the CCT trail, up into Bethesda and over to the Rock Creek Trail, up to Viers Mill Road and then over to Rockville Pike where I'll either take the Metro a few stops back to my car or run to my car (I'll see how many miles I would have run already and how tired I am...). I know that the CCT trail is about 8 miles from downtown to Bethesda, and that from that point to the Rockville Metro via the Rock Creek Trail and Viers Mill Road is 13 miles (this is pretty much the Parks Half Marathon course run in the opposite direction). Sounds pretty good, right??

One Month To The Big Race!

It is one month from the NY Marathon. WOW!

I feel really good on almost all fronts. My training is going really well. I have been healthy and not even much soreness. My pace is getting faster each week at similar heart rate. I feel good during and after my runs. I can't really ask for much more here!

Fundraising is going well too. I had been sitting around $3,400 for a while - which has surpassed the $3,000 minimum, but not yet up to my $5,000 goal. Yesterday I sent a email to my colleagues at work and started to receive some more donations. I'm now close to $3,700. I'm also going to do another fundraiser - on October 19 at the Kentlands Noodles & Co. I'll be spreading the news starting next week.

The one thing that I haven't done enough of is exploring my Nana's life and Alzheimer's disease. I was hoping to speak to my father and aunt about my Nana, and get together with my cousins to remember stories we all had about her...unfortunately, this has not happened. I'll try to get on this over the next few weeks, but even if it doesn't happen before the marathon, it will likely happen afterwards.

20 Miles - And An Improvement Over Last Year!

Today was my penultimate really long run before the NY Marathon.

I remember from last year that I didn't feel too bad after my 20 mile run - it was the 18 miler (and the penultimate really long run) that had me almost limping around that day. Today, I don't feel that bad. Yes, I'm sore - but I'm not gimpy.

My legs actually started to feel a bit sore after mile 9. At mile 18 I the back pain that I got earlier in the week came back (luckily, this pain disappeared when I stopped running). Even with this, I ran strong to the end - my last two mile splits were 10:14 and 10:28. Compare this to my first two splits of 11:04 and 11:17...how nice to get faster at the end of such a long run!

And while we're on the subject of comparisons, since I ran the same route in preparing for the Frederick Marathon, I actually have a good gauge as to how I am doing compared to last year. Today, I ran the route in 3:35:05 (avg pace of 10:33 with avg HR of 152). Last year I ran the same route in 3:46:42 (avg pace of 11:19 with avg HR of 157).

I was thinking perhaps the weather may be more favorable this year - this morning was 60 degrees and overcast. However, last year was 57 degrees and also cloudy. No...I can't attribute the improvement to the weather.

Here's the route:

Rest day tomorrow. Then Yom Kippor on Monday, so I'll need to squeeze my weekly runs in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Week 10 Plan

After last week - where almost of all my plans went out the window - I'm wondering if I should even bother putting a plan together. However, my type-A, Project Manager self needs a plan...even if there is no follow through.

The training plan shows runs of 4, 8, 4 and 17. Yes...that's SEVENTEEN miles on the weekend. I think the last time I ran anything that long was when I ran the Frederick Marathon last May.

I will be playing a bit of "Mr Mom" during the mornings this week. Sherry's school started today, my older son starts tomorrow, but my younger son doesn't start until next week. Luckily, work is still a bit quiet and my boss is on vacation. I'll likely log into work in the morning while watching my younger son and then take him to the gym at some point so he can interact with other children and caregivers (i.e. babysitting!) and I can get my weekday runs in. Sherry will return in the early afternoon and I'll go back into the office.

For the long weekend run, I've asked a few runners in the area if they would like to run a 17 miler together. I'm hoping to find someone as I think the run will be a little more enjoyable. Not that I dislike running alone or with the iPod, but my run in Central Park seemed to go by so quickly due to the conversation. Anything that can make a 3 hour run seem a bit shorter will be welcomed.

Planning Out The Week

This next week is my first bump in mileage in the training program. Up until now, the mileage has been around 20 miles a week - which is in line with my normal "base" of running.

Week 4 of the program calls for runs of 3, 6 and 3 miles and then 11 on the weekend. However, I'm planning to run Riley's Rumble on Sunday - so that will be 13 miles. As a result, I'm going to do an extra mile on one of the 3 mile runs, so I'm still within the rule that the longest run is not more than 50% of my weekly mileage.

I'll likely run 4 miles on Monday morning, 6 miles on my lunch break on Wednesday and 3 miles on Friday morning. Then the 13 mile race (as a training run - I'm not going for a PR or anything) on Sunday morning. It seems nice and spaced out, so I hopefully will be able to get a good amount of sleep and recovery between the runs.

New Plan for Mid-Week Run

The training plan I am following includes 4 runs a week - three during the week and one long run on the weekend.

The middle weekday run is usually longer than the other two.  For my first marathon I used this as my speedwork run - doing either some type of interval training or a tempo run.

However, my schedule has changed a bit since last summer.  I now lead an Israeli Dance group on Tuesday nights - I am up on my feet and moving from 7pm until 10pm and I normally don't get home until close to 11pm.  This leaves me pretty exhausted and the last thing I want to do is wake up early on Wednesday morning for a longer and more intense run.  Also, when I would run on Tuesday morning - even an easy run - I would be tired before I even started dancing that evening.  By mid-week I would feel run down...which could be why I was getting sick so often.

This week I'm going to try something different - I'll do my middle weekday run at lunchtime on Wednesday.  I'm hoping that by not running early in the morning that I will get enough rest and I'll have the energy to do this workout mid-day.  I no longer have a standing 12 noon conference call on Wednesdays, so my work calendar is mostly clear.

Two things concern me a bit - weather and eating schedule.  Although the weather has not been bad for July, I know that we will have some really hot and humid days here in the DC area.  I guess I could always move my workout inside onto the treadmill - I just hate running on the treadmill when the sun is shining.  As for eating, I'll need to figure out what and when to eat on Wednesdays so that I will have enough energy to do the workout, but I won't get stomach cramps.

So, tomorrow's lunchtime workout will be a 5-miler.  I'm not sure if I'll do a tempo run or head to the track.  We'll see...

First Long Run of the Training Program

OK - It's not such a big deal for me to do an 8 miler on a weekend morning...I do plenty of runs like these in my base training when I don't have a race coming up. However, this is week 1 of my marathon training, so it's definitely a milestone.

Today's weather was perfect for July. Overcast, temperatures in the high 60s and a little breeze. Awesome! So the weather would not slow me down or run me down this morning.

I felt pretty good when I woke up this morning - not coughing and not as weak as Friday and Saturday mornings - but still not 100%. I went out for the run anyhow, with the following plan - keep it slow and if my HR goes over 160 walk to bring it back down.

I ended up taking walk breaks every 2 miles. Most of the time it was during uphill stretches where my HR kept elevating.

My legs started to get pretty sore around mile 5...I definitely need to get a pair of new shoes - my current ones have over 350 miles on it.

In the end it wasn't too bad - 7.63 miles, 1:26:14 - an 11:19/mile pace with average HR of 154.

I Guess I Have Started My Marathon Training

Luckily, Week 1 of the marathon training plan that I have chosen (for the time being) is very much like my normal running base when I'm not training for anything. It will be a 19 mile week - four runs ranging from 3 to 8 miles. No problema.

I avoided the entire "pace run" thing for now and just ran my 5 miler yesterday as an easy run. A few comments: (a) I ran the 5.5 miles at a 10:36/mile pace - which very well could be my marathon pace (a 4:38 marathon?...perhaps that's a bit too optimistic to shave 20 minutes off my time) and (b) my Heart Rate started to climb again after mile 2.

I'm a bit concerned about this whole Heart Rate issue. I'm hoping that it will improve as my running becomes part of the routine again and I get more sleep. I'll give it another 3 or 4 weeks and see what happens. I will especially take it easy on this weekend's 8 mile long run - I'll try to slow down as much as possible to keep the HR down...even if it means having a really slow pace or walking. I still feel that the best way to build up aerobic fitness is to train in the 65%-75% HR range, but I'm finishing my runs in the mid to high 80%s...

Catching Up On Sleep

The plan was that last night after dinner, Sherry and I would watch the Netflix movie we had, drink some wine and hang out.

Instead, I fell asleep in my son's bed at a little after 8pm.  My wife came and got me at 9:30pm and I switched into our bed and slept the night away.  I slept until 6am or so - and I didn't feel like I was about to keel over (like I have been feeling for about the past week when I woke up).

I went out for a morning long run.  I had only run 6 miles so far this week, so 6 miles was the maximum distance for me.

I took it slow - and decided that I would walk if my heart rate was over 160 bpm.  I pretty much stuck to that - for the first 5 miles anyway.  I think that my body is still fighting off whatever sickness it had a few weeks ago, which is making me need more sleep (although I was getting less sleep until a few days ago because of the hours I was putting in at work) and I'm still a bit congested.  I have to remember to bring tissues on my next few runs...I ended up doing a farmer's blow about 2.75 miles into my run this morning - it would have been earlier, but I was running in a residential development and didn't want to do that on anyone's lawn...

So, next week I'll try to get four runs in.  I'll try to follow the Higdon's Novice 2 plan for now - so that would be runs of 3 miles, 5 miles (pace), 3 miles and 8 miles.

I really don't know what to do about that pace run.  I don't yet have a time goal in mind for this marathon.  I would love to run a 4:30, but that would be close to a 30 minute improvement over my first marathon - plus my best half marathon is a 2:13 - so this would be like running two of those back-to-back. I'm not sure that's going to be an achievable goal.  (Then again, I think that if I ran a half marathon during my marathon training last year, that I definitely would have been under 2:10...)

I also received my fundraising page for the Run 2 Remember team.  I'm also a bit anxious about this part of the program.  It's a pretty wonderful story why I'm doing this marathon, and I want to be able to express it the best I can.  I'll likely have the full post about it on the blog and write a summary on the fundraising page with a link to the longer post here....but that still means I need to compose it here!  When will I put that together?  Will it be good enough?

I need to take a deep breath.  Take it one thing at a time.  Just like running - one foot in front of the other...eventually I'll get to the finish line.  I always do!  :-)

Still No Running

It's Friday - and still no running since last Tuesday morning. YIKES!

I'm still a bit congested, but I don't feel as achey and run down any more. That's the good news.

I'll likely go for a weekend run - either my normal Saturday morning run or perhaps I'll push it out a day for a little more recovery and run on Sunday. Both should be nice mornings - above freezing and no rain!

However, now that I've lost a week and a half of training, I have no idea where to pick up. My half marathon is two weeks from Sunday - so I should be tapering down a bit on the mileage after this weekend. I was planning to do a 15 miler tomorrow - now, I'll be happy with an easy 3 or 4 just to get back into the swing of things!

Right now, I'm hoping to (a) just run a little this weekend and continue to kick this cold out of my system and (b) be well enough to do four runs next week - hopefully 3, 6, 3 and 9 milers. The week after will be my taper - but I'll probably still follow the 3, 6, 3 formula.

I'm also tapering my expectations on this race. I had some pretty big goals for this race. First and foremost was a PR (current HM PR is 2:15:54...although I did run a faster 13.1 miles at the beginning of the Frederick Marathon last year). My reach goal was sub-2:10. I definitely feel I have some sub-2:10 HMs in me - however, with the stoppage in training this time around, I don't know if it will be this one.

We'll see how quickly I can ramp back up into running and what my pace/HR levels look like...

Switching the Step Back Week

This week was supposed to be a "step back" week.  My weekend long run on the schedule is a 9 miler, while next week is 14 miler.

However, when I bump the running schedule against everything else that's going on in my life, next week would be a much better "step back" week.  So, I'm going to swap the two long runs.

In order to do that, I really should run a minimum of 14 miles during the week (your long run should not account for more than 50% of your weekly mileage, right?).  So tomorrow's easy 3 is now an easy 5.  No problema.

Yesterday morning I was true to my word and did some speedwork - an interval session on the treadmill.  My body took to it nicely - recovery HRs got back into the 140s before the end of the quarter mile recovery was finished, and my interval HR did not get into the 170s until the last two (and longer) intervals.

I started with a 1 mile warm-up and then intervals of .25, .5, .75, 1.0, 1.0 and .25 miles all separated by a .25 mile recovery.  Intervals were all done at 7.4 mph (and 8:09/mile pace) and recoveries at 5.4 mph (11:09/mile pace).  I slightly bumped up the pace for the last two intervals (OK the last .25 was at 8.0 mph or a 7:30/mile pace).  The final stats were: 6.0 miles in 55:32 - a 9:16/mile average pace;  153 avg HR with a 176 max HR.

The big decision about tomorrow - run in the morning, or sneak out at lunch and run at the gym while watching some NCAA action????  There's a big gap on my work calendar between 1pm and 3pm...hmm.....

My Busy Day of Rest

It Saturday - the Jewish Sabbath - so I'm supposed to have a "day of rest" right?  Here's my version of the "day of rest":  Get woken up by younger son at 5:30am, try to go back to sleep once kids are in front of a movie...but can't, go out for an "easy 10" at 7am, get to synagogue by 10am...I'm chanting torah this morning, give blood at the neighborhood blood drive at 12 noon, go to a neighbor's house for Shabbat lunch.

If this is a day of rest, I'd hate to see what my work week is like :-)

Anyhow, the "easy 10" was nice, but it was a bit chilly when I left the house (18 degrees).  Since I saw that it was that cold before leaving for my run, I put some Gatorade powder in my water bottles...I did get some slush in the bottles by the end of the run - but they didn't freeze over like some of my runs a few months ago.  My fingers and toes were really cold during the first two miles, but they finally warmed up and then didn't get cold the rest of the way.  Luckily it was sunny and warmed up (to a balmy 29!) by the end of the run.

Run stats:  10.48 miles in 1:55:30;  11:01/mile pace, 153 avg HR, 169 max HR.

I decided not to do 12 miles today on my long run.  First of all, I was a bit tired.  Secondly, it was on the cold side.  Lastly (or realistically), I think I just wimped out.  Anyhow, I think I'm going to go with this week being week 2 of the training program - which means that the longest run I'll do before the Half Marathon is 15 miles.  That seems more appropriate than doing a 17 miler...

Push Ups - Week 6 Day 2

Last night, I did Day 2 of Week 6 of the Push Up Challenge.  I followed it to a tee - up until the last set where I was able to do 40 push ups instead of 44.  I did 146 push ups in all - 14, 14, 15, 15, 14, 14, 10, 10 and 40.

Today is a rest day and tomorrow is my long run.  Since I took nearly two weeks off from running after starting a particular training plan, I'm not sure where to start again.  For the past two weeks I've been kind of following Weeks 4 and 5 - which would make my long run tomorrow at 12 miles...definitely doable for me, but longer than I have been running lately.

I'm not sure it really makes too much of a difference - this plan is for running a full Marathon, and I'm really training for a Half Marathon.  I just wanted a nice plan to gradually add more miles each week to lead me to the race.

The race I'm targeting now is the Run For The Shelter, which is in 8 weeks.  So if say I'm on Week 5 and I do the 12 miles tomorrow, I'll be doing an 18 mile run 2 weeks before the Half Marathon.  That may be a bit much for training for a 13 mile race...I'll likely make it a shorter run when I get to it.

Push Up Exhaustion Test - Week 5 Edition

I did my Week 5 Push Up exhaustion test. 49 push ups. Hello Week 6!!!

No running today. Rest day before tomorrow's long run. I think I'll run 9 miles. With the Garmin. I can't wait!

It's looking like I've pretty much started the training plan over again after being sick a few weeks ago.

Scheduling the Week and Back To Push Ups!

It's Sunday evening, and I'm exhausted from another Sunday of chores, shuttling the kiddos around and trying to cram everything in.  And now, I'm looking at how the week ahead of me is unfolding.  YIKES!

Lots of things going on - I have some work folks coming into town for meetings Tuesday through Thursday, so if I want to run on those days it will need to be early.  And I'll likely want to run on a few of those days, as I'll probably be going out for lunch - which usually means a higher caloric intake (perhaps I can eat a big salad for at least one of those meals...that's a good goal!).

I'm also scheduled for my first-ever platelets donation tomorrow.  I have been a pretty regular blood donor, however, I have noticed that my HR on my runs after a whole blood donation elevates (by 20 bpm or so during the first week?) and I'm not back to my "normal" HR for about 3 weeks.  With the platelets donation, the red blood cells are put back into your bloodstream, so I'm hoping that my running will not be impacted as much as a normal whole-blood donation.  However, I'm a bit freaked out about sitting in the donation chair for 2 hours with a needle in each arm (one to take blood out, and the other to put it back in after they get the platelets).  Luckily, they provide a personal DVD player during the donation - so I'll likely hit a Redbox or Blockbuster in the morning.  This will surely be blog fodder for tomorrow.

So...my training plan calls for three weekly runs - a 3, 5 and 3 miler and then a 9 miler on the weekend.  Since I'm not sure how my body is going to react to the platelets donations, and I may be pressed for time later in the week, I'm going to shoot to do the 5 miler tomorrow morning and then a 3 miler on both Wednesday and Thursday (perhaps I'll up Thursday's to a 4 miler...we'll see how I'm doing).

Lastly, I will try to get back into the push up groove again.  I did a push up exhaustion test today and did 33 consecutive push ups!  That would normally put my into column 3 of Week 4, but I know my limitations (OK...I'm wimping out a bit here) and I'm going to scale back and do column 3 of Week 3 first.  Hey...at least I'm starting up again - right???

Cold Rain = ICKY!

Luckily I wasn't planning to run this morning as it was my least favorite weather outside - mid-to-low 30s and rain.  Luckily, it was just warm enough for the streets not to freeze over.

I did my push-ups today.  Four sets of 13 push ups and then the last set I did 20.  A total of 72.  They are feeling better and easier again, but I still don't want to jump into the 100 Push Up Challenge yet.  (BTW, there is now also a 200 Sit Up Challenge - sounds like something to pick up later in the year...)

I have been thinking about whether to follow a training program this year.  Last year I followed Higdon's Marathon Novice 1 plan leading up to the Frederick Marathon and then I followed a Runner's World plan for a faster 5K leading up to the Kentlands/Lakelands 5K (which I ran a PR of  25:17).

I decided to give Higdon's Marathon Novice 2 plan a shot right now - at least leading up to whichever Spring Half Marathon(s) I decide to run.  The plan is four days a week which I can handle right now.  The mileage isn't so outrageous that I should be able to fit it into my schedule and not injure myself.  I'll likely try to do some speedwork during the mid-week longer runs - just like I did in 2008....why mess with success???

Now I have a plan - that's the easy part.  The difficult part will be getting out of bed tomorrow morning and running those 5 miles in the cold (or on the dreadmill at the gym).

Plan for Turkey Chase

My next race on the calendar is the 10K Turkey Chase in Bethesda, MD on Thanksgiving morning.  I could probably go out and run a 10K no problem right now - even with just getting over bronchitis - however, I want to run this race under 1 hour so I'm going to have to put in some focused training.

I've decided to take a few weeks from the marathon training plan that I used.  I'm going to start with Week 4 - runs of 3, 4 and 3 miles and a 9 miler on the weekend.  Starting next week I may use the mid-week longer run as a speedwork run - I'm going to give myself a break this week as I haven't really run much in two weeks.  I may also do some hill sprints after one of the weekly runs as well.

It will be good to have a training plan to follow once again.

This Week's Schedule?

With no training plan to follow, but a race coming up in less than two weeks, I need to figure out what workouts to do during the next 10 days.

The weather here in DC is turning hot again - 90 degree temperatures the next three days - so running in the early morning, or inside, will be key.

I definitely have Saturday morning inked in - a 10.8 mile long run with my sister on the Rockville Millennium Trail.  With this in mind, I'll probably want to rest both Friday and Sunday.  So I'll run tomorrow and Thursday mornings this week.  I'll probably do one Tempo Run (probably at 10K pace) and the other either an Easy Run or a "at Half Marathon pace" run.

Next week, I'll try to follow a similar schedule - Monday longish run, Wednesday Tempo and Friday easy or HM pace - perhaps at shorter distances as a "mini-taper" leading up to the Half Marathon on Sunday morning.