When Hobbies - And Priorities - Are In Conflict

My two main hobbies right now are running (duh!) and Israeli Dancing.

In many ways, these hobbies are similar - they are both physical activities, they both have very supportive communities, etc.

However, the schedule of these activities - at least from my perspective - are in conflict with one another.

Israeli dance events almost always occur at night. And many of them run late.

I prefer to run in the morning. And many times very early.

Trying to do both of these at the same time means that I get less sleep. Which means my body is not in its best shape to do either very well.

Tonight, I have another layer of conflicting priorities here. There is a big Israeli dance event starting at 9pm which will have over 100 people. I want to go - if nothing else than to publicize my marathon fundraising event for next week. However, by doing this I will put my planned run for tomorrow morning in jeopardy.

Which is more important? Fundraising for the marathon or getting all the training runs in for the marathon?

I've pretty much convinced myself to go to the dance event. Tomorrow's run is a 3 mile easy run - if I don't get it in, I won't fret about it...at least I'm not missing a speedwork run or long run...right?

However, I know I will be really tired tomorrow (I'm really tired right now!).

Over the $1K Mark!!!, A Lunchtime Run, And Tisha B'Av

On Tuesday, I officially went over the $1,000 mark in my fundraising. However, the website was showing less the $1,000 since one of my donations is a $25 check and it won't show up in the totals until it gets processed by the "home office".

So today I received another donation and got over the $1,000 mark on the website. Hooray!!!
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I also blocked off time on my calendar to run at lunchtime (and do a backup on my computer while I was gone...great planning!).

The skies were really gray and the forecast called for thunderstorms (and it was just plain hot and humid outside), so I hit the gym.

The plan - Yasso 800s, 6 miles total. I set the treadmill on "Speed Interval" setting, with a 5.5 mph recovery speed (a little faster than an 11:00/mile pace) and a 6.5 mph interval speed (a 9:13/mile pace - or 4:37 interval time).

I got through all six intervals, however I was really getting tired at the end. My legs are a bit sore right now - on the sides of my thighs mostly. I'll try to stretch out a bit tonight.

Actually, tonight I will be going to Synagogue - it is the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av. It is a sad holiday which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. I will be chanting a few excerpts of the Book of Lamentations at the service tonight.

It is customary to fast from sundown to sundown on this holiday...I don't think I have observed the fast completely since college, although, recently I have either not eaten until mid-day or not eaten food during the day - just drank water. I'm not sure if I'll be holding to this tomorrow or not. If so, I will not do my last weekday run tomorrow morning and I'll wait until Friday.

Milestone Monday

After I put today's 3 mile run in my running log, I see that I have hit 500 miles for the year!

I may be able to get to 1,000 miles this year...I was close last year but came up short.

I am also now up to $971 on my fundraising for the marathon (I have a $25 check that I need to send it) - only $29 away from hitting $1,000.

I could hit 500 miles and $1,000 on the same day! Pretty cool!!

Now I Remember Why I Run Long On Saturdays...

Due to some of the commitments I have during the week, the best mornings for me to run are Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. I have blogged here that I aim to do my weekday runs on Monday morning, Wednesday lunchtime and Thursday or Friday morning with a long run on the weekend.

This morning I remembered why I like that long run to be on Saturday morning....I was still sore from yesterday's 13 miler.

I also had a little visitor in our room at 3am (our 3 1/2 year old). So when 6am rolled around, I didn't roll out of bed. Even for an easy 3 miler.

I had a stroke of luck, though. A bunch of standing meetings got canceled today due to "General Information Sessions" on the Ericsson deal. So I had some time clear up around lunchtime! I got my "easy 3" in during lunch.

I did my 3 mile neighborhood lake loop - in a sunny 84 degree afternoon. I ended up running a 10:37 pace with an average HR of 150. Not bad at all. I'm wondering if it would have been even better if it were 20-30 degrees cooler...

One other note for today. I'm down 1.5 pounds from last week (one pound from two weeks ago). I'll continue to do what I'm doing - try to make better choices each time I sit down to eat. Here's a few from this past week: 6" sub instead of 12" at Subway, no cheese or sour cream in a burrito at CalTort (although I can also go with the small instead of regular size...), nicoise salad instead of a greasy sandwich or fish and chips for Thursday's lunch. I'll continue to make these types of adjustments and hopefully will lose weight at the pace of about a half pound to a pound a week.

Riley's Rumble - Different Course, Same Idea (i.e. HILLS!)

On this weekend's schedule was an 11 mile long run. However, since Riley's Rumble was today, I did not run on Saturday morning as usual and decided to run this race as a training run.

I have run Riley's Rumble the previous three years. It is a low-key race that is free for MCRRC members - which makes it popular for cheapskates like me; however, it is very hilly and always run in late July - which makes it not so popular for most normal, sane runners.

I actually ran my first half marathon here in 2006 - and that time was my half marathon PR until this past spring when I did 2 minutes better at the Run For The Shelter half marathon.

Since this was really a training run and not a race for me, I'm not going to give a whole race report. However, I will share a few notes:

• The new course was very similar to the old one. I kinda thought that since it was starting at the Germantown SoccerPlex, that the course wouldn't be over one-lane country roads with tons of hills. Man I was wrong. I did take a look at the course map and the elevation graph (you'll need to click on "Elevation" on the frame on the left), so I knew it would be hilly...but the graph just didn't compute how steep - and long - some of those hills would be.
• The race had more participants than planned due to race-day registrants. This caused a really long line at the porta-pottys (I know...I was waiting for them too). As a result, the race started 10 minutes late - at 7:10am.
• Around the time of the start, it was cloudy in half of the sky and the sun was peeking out of the clouds in the other half (that we were going to run towards). I wasn't sure if I should wear my sunglasses...I decided to bring them with me.
• The problem with starting the race at 7:10am? It started raining - hard - at 7:11am. It would have been nice to at least have had a mile under our belts (and running on tree-lined country roads) when the rain hit. Instead, we were all soaked by the time we got to the 1-mile marker. Why did I bring my sunglasses again??
• My shoe came untied at around mile 3. WTF??? I can't remember the last time my laces untied during a run (I remember another rainy race - my first ever 10K where I had to stop and re-tie my laces...perhaps it had something to do with the rain?). Actually, I had stopped double-knotting my laces earlier this year - I started to tie them differently after reading this article in Runner's World and never had an issue. I guess I'll start to double-knot my shoes for races and/or long runs...
• By the time the rain was gone and the sun was shining (around mile 7 for me), I had nothing that wasn't soaked to try and dry off my sunglasses. I wore them, but I could not see clearly out of them.
• My Garmin luckily worked this morning (unlike for the 8K I ran with Sherry last weekend). However, it seemed to be off from the mile markers by about 1/4 mile by the end. It's kind of frustrating when the .1 of 13.1 is really .4!!
• I kept my HR reasonably low for the first 5 miles (averages of 156 bpm and lower). After that, the hills really killed me. There was a hill between miles 6 and 7 that I needed to walk up (and my HR was in the high 160s after WALKING up the hill).
• For the first 11 miles, my mile splits were mostly in the 10:50 to 11:20 range. Mile 7 was 11:38 (see hills, above) and mile 9 was 12:10. You can see my splits in my training log.
• After mile 11, I found myself walking most of the hills. I'm not used to going this distance in my training yet (I was only supposed to go 11 miles, right?), and I was running out of steam. If I was running this for a particular time I likely would have pushed it, but for me it was a training run...I just wanted to finish it.

All in all it was a nice morning. I chatted with a few people on the course (including another runner originally from New York who will be running in New York...) and was able to do a long run with other runners and water stations along the way.

My final time was 2:32:33 - an 11:39/mile pace. Average HR 158, max of 182.

A Little Less Uncertainty - Sort Of...

My division at Nortel was up for sale. As of the middle of this week, it looked like Nokia Siemens was the buyer for $650M.

However, negotiations heated up and last night Ericsson was declared the winner.

I still don't know what this means for me yet. However, it looks like I will soon be an Ericsson employee.

Running in Reverse

The scheduled called for an easy 3 miler today, but since my mid-week 6 miler was cut short to 4.5, I decided to run my normal 4.5 mile neighborhood loop.

However, to add a little variety, I decided to run it in reverse.

The thing that I noticed the most about running this route in reverse was the elevation changes. Of course I know where the uphills and downhills are - they're just opposite of when I run it the "normal" way. I just didn't realize how much it would make the route seem totally different.

Another positive step - my average HR for the first two miles was under 150 (pace of 11:02 and 10:38) and for mile 3 it was 152 (with a faster pace of 10:17). The big hill up Route 28 was in mile 4 - my average HR was at 162 at a 10:32 pace.

Final stats - 4.46 miles in 47:27 with an average HR of 153. I ran the same course (opposite direction) on Monday in 49:09 with an average HR of 153. It's always nice to see improvement!

Crash And Burn (Or Melt?)

The plan - at lunchtime, do a 6 mile tempo session on the W&OD Trail. 1 mile warm up (around 11:00/mile?) , 4 miles at tempo pace (around 9:00/mile?), 1 mile cooldown.

Of course it didn't happen that way!

First of all, to ensure that this would happen, I traveled out to Reston, VA in the morning and worked from one of our virtual offices there. I had a call that was scheduled from 11am to 11:30am, and I was hoping to pack it up then, get to the gym to change, and be on the trail by noon or a little thereafter.

The 11am meeting went long, and I wasn't out on the trail until 12:30pm. It was 84 degrees and sunny at the time...not really what I am used to with my normal 6am runs.

The first mile went well - 10:27 with an average HR of 147. I hit the mile 1 marker on the trail and kicked it up - a few notches too many. By the end of mile 2, I knew I was going to run out of steam - an 8:59 pace but my average HR was 168. UGH!

I decided to turn around when I hit the intersection of Herndon Parkway - 2.4 miles into the run. This was the first decision point of shortening my run. Partially that I did not want to wait and cross the busy intersection (i.e. wait for the traffic light) to run a half mile and then come back and cross it again - and partially because by this time I knew there was no way I was going to be able to keep up a tempo pace for 2.5 more miles.

I ended up slowing down 2.5 miles into my tempo pace and slowed down for the final mile. I called it quits after 4.5 miles - final time 44:44 (9:57/mile pace and average HR of 166).

I need to remember this on Sunday morning for Riley's Rumble - it will be hot and keep it SLOW.

How Alzheimer's Association Became An Official Charity for the NY Marathon

One of the Team Run To Remember coaches posted this on the R2R blog - it ends up that the Alzheimer's Association was rejected as an official charity team for the 2007 and 2008 NYC Marathon.

Which makes my story make it seem even more like it was meant to be...

Getting Nutrition Right

Tuesdays have been kind of rough for me. I'm out later than normal on Tuesday nights - leading an Israeli Dance group from 7pm to 10pm.

It means I'm on my feet and moving for 3 hours in the evening, I get home close to 11pm and by the time I get home I'm still a bit "amped up" from the activity level that it is difficult to fall asleep. Add that to my young kids who have been waking up around 5:45am lately (or last night, my younger one was up from 1am to 3am and then the older one woke up at 5:45am), I am usually dragging on Wednesday mornings. This is why I pushed out my Wednesday runs to my lunch break (when I can).

However, Tuesdays also presents a challenge nutritionally. I can't eat too much before leading dancing - this will make me feel heavy (so I can't move around as much) or give me a stomach ache or depending on what I've eaten - other GI issues (i.e. no eating black bean burritos before leading dancing...). But when I don't eat enough I feel ravenous afterward and munch on lots of snack food.

Lately, I have been eating a bigger and later lunch - which helps on the side of not eating too close to the dance session, but not on having enough in the tank to get me through. I'm going to try to bring an energy bar tonight - either to eat beforehand, or to munch on throughout the session - and see if that helps.

On a bigger picture for nutrition, when I visited the doctor in March, the doctor told me that I should lose at least 10 pounds. I weighed in at 170 lbs - which is still on the "safe" BMI for my height, but on the border of "overweight".

When I initially lost weight 5 years ago, I was down in the 160 lbs range. I have since yo-yo'ed between 160 lbs and 170 lbs. I believe the doctor would like me to yo-yo between 150 lbs and 160 lbs, if I need to yo-yo somewhere :-)

I ran the Frederick Marathon last year at 164 lbs. I had been down around 162 lbs about ten weeks into my training, but as the miles ramped up, so did my eating.

Anyhow, I'm currently weighing in at 168 lbs. Although I really don't want to be counting calories, if I don't start seeing the pounds gradually come off (goal for 1 pound a week) I will need to start counting them again...

Adding A Bit Of Hillwork

In my usual 4.5 mile neighborhood loop, there is a pretty big hill just at the end of the second mile. (Taking a look at the elevation profile on the map, it looks like it is about a 70 foot rise in about a tenth of a mile).

I usually slow down on this hill as my heart rate will normally go up into the low 160s by the time I'm at the top.

Today, I decided it was time to add a little hill work into my routine.

I charged up the hill.

By the time I was at the top, my HR was at 185 bpm - pretty close to my max. When I slowed back down, I could feel the muscles in my legs and glutes telling me that they just had a workout!

Calming things down after that was a bit difficult, but I was able to keep my HR in the low 150s for the most part. I can tell I'm still not 100% back from the blood donation (it's only been a week, previous history tells me it takes about 3 weeks for me) - I felt fine during the run, it's just that my pace is a bit slower at the HR I normally run at. I'm not too worried.

4.47 miles in 49:09 - 11:00/mile pace with avg HR 153, max 185 (at the top of that hill!)

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.

Running In The Dark

Sherry and I ran the Rockville Twilight 8K last night. It was Sherry's first race longer than a 5K - so for her it was more of a "can I do this" instead of a "how fast can I run this" type of race. My plan was to run with her - start and finish the race together, run at her pace and be her cheerleader through and through. No pressure for me - just an enjoyable evening run.

The race starts at 8:45pm - after the sun is down. This is normally because July in Maryland is extremely humid and quite hot. Last year's race was run in 90 degree temperatures. However, last night was beautiful - race time temperature was in the mid-70s, low humidity and a breeze. Sherry was a bit chilly before the race started and was questioning whether a sleeveless running shirt was a good idea (I reminded her that once she started running that she would heat up and she'd be comfortable).

The first 3 miles of the course consisted of two loops through a Rockville neighborhood. Some of the neighbors were on their lawns cheering, however, most homes did not have their exterior lights on. This made for a really dark course. It was not what I was expecting. The name of the race is Twilight - shouldn't there be some "light" in a Twilight race??

However, there was another reason I was running "in the dark" last night. I had brought my Garmin Forerunner 305 to the race, and when I tried to turn it on when we arrived - nothing happened. Dead. Kaput. OH NOOOOOO!!!!! I had charged up the watch yesterday afternoon - keeping it sitting in the docking station at my computer until I saw the "Battery Charging is Complete" message. What the heck happened????

So, while we were running, I had no watch to see what our time was - no feedback on our pace. I had decided not to wear the heart rate monitor before leaving home since I was going to be running at Sherry's pace...I didn't need to know what my HR was for pacing purposes (plus, I knew we were going to be hanging out with some friends at the after-party, and I didn't want to be wearing the HRM strap for so much time). The only thing we had to judge our pace were the clocks at each mile marker. How archaic? How annoying!

BTW, Sherry did great! There were times during the first 2 or 3 miles where Sherry wasn't sure she would be able to do it. There was a pretty long hill during the fourth mile where we had to stop and walk for a bit. However, we finished together in a chip time of 53:46 - an average pace of 10:50/mile. Her first race over 5K. Way To Go Sherry!!!!

In regards to my Garmin, when I got home I put the watch in its charger (hooked up to my computer) and nothing was happening. Normally, as soon as I put it in the charger I see the "Battery Charging In Progress" message. I thought I was royally screwed. However, this morning, I checked it and it shows "Battery Charging In Progress". I'm thinking that I may need to charge the Garmin via the AC outlet instead of the USB/computer input before a race. Just to make sure...

First Fundraiser On The Calendar!!!

On the fundraising front - I am currently sitting at $668 raised for the Alzheimer's Association.

I hadn't spread the word too much yet - I sent emails to my family asking for donations, and did some "passive" marketing - posting here on the blog and on my Facebook status - which has brought me some generous donations from people I did not count on giving.

However, today I went on an all out blitz.

I set up a fundraising night at the Star Diner in a few weeks - on August 5 (my birthday!). If you are local and want to attend, here's the details.

I'm sending the invite out to tons of people I know in the area - all of my local Facebook friends, Israeli Dance friends, the guys in my fantasy football league, people I know from synagogue, etc.

In the invitation, I have also included the link to the fundraising website - just in case they would like to give a donation as well.

Let's hope I get a big crowd on my birthday and some more donations on the fundraising page.

Morning Run Drenched With Sweat

It's starting to feel like July! When I left the house this morning around 6:15am, it was already in the mid 70s - both in temperatures and humidity. Ick. By the end of my run, my light gray shirt was a deep, dark gray due to the sweat. And this was just from an easy 4 and a half miles???

If it continues like this, Riley's Rumble will be really uncomfortable :-(

My heart rate also responded like I just gave blood earlier this week. I guess Wednesday was a fluke.

Stats on this morning's run - 4.47 miles in 47:55; a 10:44/mile pace with an average HR of 162 and a max of 179.
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I received an email from the NY Marathon folks with a link to the course map and elevation profile of the course. Although the course is not very hilly, it starts out over the Verrazano Bridge - which has a 150 ft rise over the first mile. I'm starting to already get a bit anxious that I'll tire myself out in the first mile and be wasted for the other 25.2.... Anyone who has run NY before have any tips? I mean, first you wait for hours at the starting area, and then finally you're off and you're crossing the Verrazano Bridge! How do you reign it all in when you're so excited to get going and embark on one of the biggest road races in the world???

I'll likely try to add some hill workouts into my training - which is probably a good idea, since it's looking like I'm getting spent on the hills during my easy workouts as well. As for trying to relax during the first mile of the marathon - I have no idea how I'm going to "train" for that one...

Procrastination - With A Plan?

Last night I had prepared everything to go for a run this morning. However, my motivation just wasn't there this morning.

So...I procrastinated.

However, I was able to convince myself it was the right thing to do :-)

Normally, I go on a long run on Saturday morning. This weekend, however, I will be running the Twilighter 8K on Saturday night instead.

So, it may be better for me to get a 3 or 4 mile easy run in on Friday morning and then run on Saturday night....right?

Bright Sun, Heavy Legs

I got out for a noontime run today (OK..more like 12:30pm).

I went to the eye doctor this morning and my eyes were still a bit dilated. I was wearing sunglasses in front of my computer screen, so being outside in the bright sun was a little annoying - but I didn't want to go to the gym an run on the treadmill with sunglasses on (what a sight that would be!!!!)

This was my first official run since giving blood on Monday (I did a run/walk with my son yesterday morning...I'm not sure if that "counts" or not). The first half mile was rough. My legs were stiff and heavy; I was contemplating whether I should stop, turn around and try to run tomorrow morning instead. I somehow convinced myself that it would get better - and luckily it did.

As expected my HR was higher - but not by 15-20 bpm like I thought it may be. Average HR was 156 with an average pace of 10:55/mile. Last week I ran the same lake loop in a slightly faster time - 10:45/mile pace - and an average HR of just a tad lower - 154. Perhaps it won't take me a full three weeks to recover from the blood donation this time???

Sneaky Run This Morning

I was not planning to run this morning - mainly due to me donating blood yesterday.

However, my 7-year old son woke up a bit earlier than normal, came into my room at 5:45am and asked if I wanted to go for a run. My first response was, "Get back in your room...it's not 6:30 yet."

After his question registered, though, I found myself out of bed and getting into my running clothes. We drank some water, downed some Sport Beans and hit the sidewalks!

I hadn't taken my son running in about three weeks. At that point, we were running for 4 minutes and then walking for 1 minute. I wasn't sure whether to keep this constant or add more - I decided to bump it up to 5 minutes of running and then if it was too much I would bring it back down to 4 minutes.

He did fine with the 5 minutes of running. We did five sets - running (and walking) a total of 2.25 miles.

I'm hoping to get him ready for the Home Run 5K in October. By that time, I may even be able to run with him on some of my "normal" easy run days :-)

5 Mile Run, Donating Blood and New Motivation!

I would have loved to have said that the day started for me when I got out of bed for my morning run, but my 3 year old had a different plan :-(

He was up a bunch during the night - so my wife and I were also up at different times trying to get him to go back to sleep.

Somehow, I woke up a little before 6am and got my behind out the door. I was mixing up the week's runs and doing my mid-week longer run today, since I was giving blood on my lunch break (which means the rest of my runs this week will be slow, lethargic and with an average HR of about 10-20 bpm higher than normal...joy, joy! - but it's all for a good cause, so I continue to do it).

I ran the 5 miles at a 10:37/mile pace - but with an average HR of 156, which again is on the high side. I really need to slow it down, but I had two things going against me this morning. First of all, I was tired - so this probably contributed to my HR being higher. Second of all, I was listening to Green Day's new album, so I know I was responding to some of the loud, fast music at times and then I realized it and had to slow myself down.

I worked at Chloe's Coffee this morning since Sherry was tutoring in our shared office space. I poured myself a travel mug of what I thought was decaf...but for some reason I started to get a bit hyped up. Either I'm getting ultra sensitive to caffeine, or the coffee I took was caffeinated (or half caf or something like that).

By the time lunchtime came around and I went to give blood, I felt really antsy. However, it didn't impact my pulse or blood pressure as they were fine (pulse of 60 bpm, blood pressure of 118 over 78). Perhaps it made me bleed a little faster, as I filled up that pint in less than 9 minutes...probably a record for me!

When I got home from work, I had a package waiting for me...my long awaited binder from Team Run To Remember! There's tons of information in the binder - some about marathon running in general, some maps of running routes in New York City and some great information about fundraising and public relations (which can lead to more fundraising...).

I started to look at some of the fundraising ideas, and I definitely have some new motivation. One of the ideas that I really want to start looking into is to see if some of the local establishments that I frequent will agree to donate a % of their proceeds on a particular date to the Alzheimer's Association (or if not all proceeds then at least the proceeds for the people that I bring to the establishment through my own promoting the event).

There are many either single proprietor or non-chain restaurants/cafe's that I go to in the area - such as Dogfish Head Alehouse, Star Diner, The Wine Harvest, Crepes-a-Go-Go, CaliYOgurt and Chloe's Coffee which I had mentioned earlier - which I may be able to convince to do something like this. I'll likely start asking some of the owners about this in the next week or so...hopefully I can line some of these up.

One other fundraising note - I have surpassed the $500 mark now! Woo hoo! I have set a goal of $5,000, so I'm only 10% there, but I'm still 17 weeks away...

You can help by leaving a donation here...

Pilates Class

Today is a rest/cross-training day from my schedule, so no running.

It is also a day when Sherry is tutoring and I'm responsible for the kids. As a Project Manager, I'm used to doing quite a bit of delegating to "the experts", so of course when I saw this coming up my first thought was, "hmmm, I can go to the gym, put the kids in the babysitting room for an hour or so while I work out or take a class." It's a win/win situation. My kids love the babysitting room (video games, television, other kids to play with, etc.), and I get a workout in.

Since I wasn't going to run on the treadmill, I wasn't sure what I would do at the gym. I checked the class schedule and saw that there was a Pilates class at 10am. I decided to give it a try.

I was able to do most of the exercises - which was nice (compared to my Yoga experiences). And it is definitely needed since it works a lot of core and hip muscles - which my stride analysis showed I need help with. However, I can see me being very sore tomorrow...and no "Vitamin I" today or tomorrow morning since I'm giving blood tomorrow at lunchtime.

Saturday Morning Long Runs Again!

This morning I went out for a 9 mile run. It's back to training mode - and just like last year, I'll be doing my long runs on Saturday mornings - before going to synagogue.

This means a few things - since I need to wake up early, I can't stay up as late on Friday night. The past few months we have used Friday nights as our Netflix night after the kids are asleep, but I knew I'd be dragging all day today if I went to bed at midnight last night. I also can't drink as much wine during our Shabbat dinner. Last night, we still had about half a bottle left over when we (OK...I) usually come close to finishing the bottle.

I decided to do my usual 9-mile loop through Old Towne Gaithersburg. Nothing new here. My HR started to raise during the hills in mile 3, and never really came down much after that.

I decided to look at my stats on this between this year and last year:

• I first ran this route last year on January 26 - week 4 of my training. I kept my HR down to an average of 153, max of 170. My pace was 11:59/mile. The temperature was 26 degrees.
• This is now week 2 of my current training. My pace on today's run was over a minute per mile faster - 10:51/mile - and the temperature was 40 degrees higher at 67 degrees. My average HR on today's run was 163 with a max of 180.
• I also looked at my long run on week 2 of last year's training - a 7 miler. I ran an 11:09 pace with an average HR of 159 at 40 degree temperatures.

So yes, my average HR was higher than where I was training last year. However, the week 2 comparison - on HR, pace and air temperature - gives me a little hope.

One more tidbit on HR. It's going to be going up next week. I have an appointment to donate blood on Monday, so my runs next week will be slower. I'll rearrange the schedule next week to do my 5 miler on Monday, and the two 3 milers on Wednesday and Thursday. On the weekend I have a shorter run scheduled (my first "kick-back" week) and instead of the 6 miler, I'll be running an 8K with Sherry! This will be the first race that we run together! I promised to run with her and not to bolt ahead - it should be fun!

Alzheimer's Column In Today's NY Times

There is an Op-Ed article in the New York Times where the columnist describes her mom's early onset Alzheimer's.

In the article she brings up an interesting point - people with Alzheimer's disease need to focus on the present since they are losing their connection to the past. I never thought about it like that...

The Uncomfortable First Mile

I've read a lot of running bloggers who complain about the first mile or two of their runs being uncomfortable. I rarely feel this way. Granted, I don't get into that "running zone" until 2-3 miles in, but I don't really characterize my initial miles as painful or uncomfortable.

This morning was a bit different.

Partially due to lack of sleep (my 7 year old woke me up in the middle of the night with a bad dream), and partially due to some pain on the lower part of the arch on my left foot (please, please, please let this not be the start of plantar facsiitis) and partially due to my HRM giving me false readings my first mile this morning was treacherous!

First mile in 11:10 / avg HR 152, max HR 172.

I'm pretty sure that the HRM was giving me false readings. My "evidence" is that it was already registering in the mid 160s about a quarter of a mile into my run, so I decided to walk until it got back down. The moment I started walking, the HRM was down in the mid-140s.

My pace - and HR - evened out for miles 2 and 3 - both at a 10:34 pace and average HR of 154.

The weird thing about this run is that I normally have awesome easy runs after speedwork and/or long runs. So I was expecting to float on air for this one. I think it was the sleep that killed me on this.

As for the arch pain, I have started to add some more stretching into my routine, and I think I'm going to have to be really diligent about it now. I really don't want to be battling PF in the next few months...

Late Lunch Run

I blogged yesterday that I was going to use Wednesdays as my longer-middle-of-the-week-speedwork run - and that since I'm dead tired on Wednesday mornings due to running an Israeli Dance group on Tuesday nights, that I will be trying to get this workout in during my lunch break.

I could see that plan unraveling right before my eyes. Even though I put my run on my Outlook calendar (I'm busy at that time folks!), I managed to get triple booked at 11am. The meeting that was most important for me to attend was scheduled for a mere 30 minutes - and ended up lasting an hour and a half :-(

I ended up getting on the treadmill at the gym at 1:30pm. At least I made it.

However, I'm going to have to work on the pre-run nutrition aspect of things. I had my usual bowl of cereal with soy milk for breakfast, and then grabbed a Kashi bar at 10am for a snack. This would have been great if my run was at noon. I did eat a few pretzel rods that they had at the office (probably 100 calories worth) and then I had a GU before hitting the treadmill. So...I had some calories in my to burn - but not tons.

My plan for today - Yasso 800s. These are half-mile intervals that you do at the pace that equals the time in which you are aiming to finish your marathon.

I'm not gunning for a particular time yet, but I chose 4:40 - which would have me doing my intervals at a 9:20/mile pace. That seems sooooo slow for speedwork after the stuff I was doing last summer for the "fast 5K". However, it won't run me down - which has been concerning me lately.

I ended up feeling very good the entire run. Recoveries run at about an 11:00/mile pace and intervals at 6.5 mph (a 9:13/mile pace). My heart rate never went over 160 bpm. Perhaps I should add some incline next time???

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...

New Kicks!

I went over to my neighborhood Fleet Feet yesterday to buy new running shoes. My current pair of Brooks Defyance had over 350 miles in them - and I when my legs were starting to get a bit sore after mile 5 of yesterday's long run, I decided it was time to get new shoes.

They have updated the Defyance - now the Defyance 2. I don't know if they really changed much except for the color (and that was definitely an improvement...I can't say that I'm going to miss the fluorescent yellowish-green mesh)....these shoes fit just like their predecessors.

VS

This morning, I got out of the house a little before 6am and was greeted by a scrumptious morning. 59 degrees, sunny and clear. I wouldn't really call it a crisp morning - although by July standards in this part of the country, it could almost qualify for that.

The plan calls for an easy 3 miles. I was heading out to do my normal lake loop, when I had an idea - let's mix it up a bit. The beginning of my lake loop run is actually part of the Kentlands/Lakelands 5K course - where I set my 5K PR last September. I decided to go for it.

I soon found out that there was a problem here...this was a course that I was used to running all out. I trained for a fast 5K on this course (doing 1 mile and 2 mile speed runs) and the last time I ran this route was for that PR. To my muscle memory, I wanted to fly down these streets - not take it easy. Combine that with the fact that I had Pearl Jam screaming in my iPod this morning, I had a tough time reigning it in.

For the first two miles, I prevailed holding back. Mile 3 was a bit faster (10:00 pace with 157 average HR) which was a bit ironic because it has the steepest hills of the course. I guess I didn't realize and started to attack those hills instead of take it easy.

The final stats for this run - 3.25 miles in 34:19; a 10:34/mile pace with an average HR of 150.

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.

Good News, Bad News

The good news - I woke up this morning and I'm no longer coughing.

The bad news - I still feel a little weak and run down.

Luckily this is a three-day weekend, so I'm going to postpone my long run until tomorrow. Hopefully I'll feel good enough tomorrow morning to get in an 8 miler.

More good news - I got my fundraising website up. I'll be posting more information about my Nana and connection to Alzheimer's throughout the next few months - and I'd love to hear yours too if you would like to leave them in the comments of the blog. And I would definitely appreciate any donation the readers of my blog can make over here.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Cough, Cough...Again?

I started getting a bit of a cough last night / this morning. I can't believe it...could it just be a relapse of what I had two weeks ago? Something new?

I'm not sure, but I'm going to try and take it easy. I have an 8 mile run scheduled for tomorrow morning, but I'll push it to Sunday if I don't feel up to it tomorrow.

I just hope this will not be an ongoing thing during marathon training....

Finally - A Low HR Run!

This morning's plan was an easy 3 miler - on my usual lake loop route. I was going to leave the iPod at home and focus on keeping my pace slow and my HR under 150 as much as I could.

The plan worked!

When I first stepped out the door, I had my doubts - my HR was registering in the low 90s (it is usually in the low 70s when I step out the door...the mid to low 60s when I'm sitting down resting). I had gone out for a few beers with a neighbor last night, after the kids were in bed - so, it was a later night than usual, I got less sleep, my sleep was not at deep due to the alcohol, and I think I even felt a bit of dehydration when I woke up (not really a hangover, per se, but a little on the dry mouth side).

I started running at a slow pace - I wasn't sure how slow, but I checked in with my HR and kept it under 150 for most of that first mile. When my Garmin chirped for mile 1, I looked down and saw my pace was 11:30. Wow, that was slow. However, my average HR was 142. I knew this is where I needed to be.

During mile number 2, I saw a turtle crawling towards the woods. Very appropriate for this morning's run. I see tons of bunny rabbits hopping along in my neighborhood, but today was about slow and steady - and Mr. Turtle was there to remind me. Mile 2 chirped and pace was 11:04 with an average HR of 149.

I know that on the way back home there are a few hills. As I started the ascent, I reminded myself to slow down. I wanted to keep this a slow and steady run - even if the pace was pedestrian. I'm sure my thoughts wandered along the way, as my Garmin shows that I hit a max HR somewhere in there of 164 - but my average HR on that last mile was 152 - and at a 10:36/mile pace. For mile 3 to be 30 seconds faster and only 3 bpm higher on the average HR - I'm not going to be too hard on myself for going over 150 bpm.

Overall, the 3.2 miles took 35:15 - an 11:02/mile pace with my average HR at 148. I can't remember the last run where my average HR was under 150...so even though the pace was slow, I will take it!

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...

How I Managed To Sign Up For The New York Marathon (and get accepted...)

I had no intention on running a marathon this year.  Really...it was not in the plan - you can read it in my blog.

However, there was one - and only one - way that I would even consider training for the full 26.2 this year.  The thought came to me last November when I saw this on the Ellis Island site:

It's the passenger record for my Nana.  She arrived at Ellis Island on November 8, 1909.  This year will mark the 100th anniversary of my Nana arriving in the United States.

Now, most running enthusiasts know what happens each year in New York during the first week of November (here's a little hint, for those of you who don't know).

So...I thought it would be a really cool idea to celebrate this milestone by running the New York City Marathon.  However, it's not easy to get a spot to run in the NYC marathon.  There's a lottery, so there was no certainty I would actually get in.

I started thinking about this a little more.  Another way to guarantee a spot in the NYC marathon is to run for a charity.  The more I thought about this, I decided that the perfect scenario would be for me to run the NYC Marathon while raising money for the Alzheimer's Association.  However, the Alzheimer's Association was not one of the charities for last year's race (I would later learn that they had never been one of the charity partners for the NYC Marathon...).

I continued to check the charities page throughout March and April to see if the Alzheimer's Association would be a participating charity this year.  Finally, the charities were posted - and the Alzheimer's Association was one of the charities.  WOW!

I sent in my application.  Again, I had to think it was a long shot.  They only take 50 runners.  The team is NY based (it's the New York City chapter of the Alzheimer's Association that is sponsoring the team) and I don't live in the NYC area.

Somehow, the stars aligned and I opened up this email on Friday evening, June 19:

So...this all means that on November 1, 2009, I will be running the New York City Marathon in memory of my Nana - exactly 100 years to the week of her arriving in New York, through the city that she called home the majority of her life, and raising money to combat the disease which took her away from us.

WOW!!!

So much for my plans to focus on Half Marathons this year...

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!  :-)

The Big To Do List

Now that my big work project is complete, I have a bunch of things that I now need to focus on. Lots of house projects (the "honey-do" list is quite long), I need to clean my office up a bit, and I now get to focus on the next big thing - preparing for the New York Marathon!

Here's a few things that I know I will need to do:

• Get some sleep - I'm still not caught up on sleep. I'm waking up feeling dead-tired. When I run, my heart rate starts to elevate after two miles. I definitely have to get more rest over the next few weeks.
  
• Lose a few pounds - I haven't weighed myself in a few weeks, but with the amount I have been eating out - and eating at my desk - I'm sure the number on the scale won't look pretty. Get ready blog readers to see the daily calorie count re-appear in my blog.
• Stretching and strengthening exercises - The arch on my left foot is starting to give me pains on the day after I run. I don't want this to turn into another battle with plantar fasciitis, so I better take some action...now!
• Choose a marathon training plan - I was going to use Higdon's Novice 2 plan. However, it looks like the R2R team will also be providing a marathon training plan as well. Actually, the team has two coaches that will be monitoring our running progress on Flotrack...which means I'll need to log my runs in Flotrack in addtion to RunningAhead. Grrr...

I also should update my resume. Although, I will be moving from Nortel to Nokia Siemens with the buyout of my division, who knows how long that will last.

No rest for the weary...

Network Launched!!! (and some good iPod karma...)

This morning, my project officially launched - and Cricket Wireless is now operating in the Baltimore / Washington, DC area!

I ended up pulling an all-nighter in the race to the finish. Why does it always happen that the last piece of equipment to be brought up has the most issues?? And in this case, this site had the most visibility. However, with some good teamwork and creative troubleshooting, the site came up and voice calls were successful at around 7:15am.

As I was going into the office yesterday morning, I had my iPod in the car. I set it to shuffle and started to "spin the wheel" to get to a random first song. I ended up stopping on "Keep the Customer Satisfied" by Simon and Garfunkle - very appropriate! However, it was the next song - picked at random by the iPod - which stuck out in my head throughout the day and gave me inspiration. It's an Israeli song by Yoni Rechter and the chorus translates to "Go on straight ahead; Go on alone; Don't be afraid; Don't get angry; Always keep going". It proved to be very good karma. There were a few times where I could have showed anger with the customer or may have been afraid that we wouldn't get that last, very important site on the air. However, I took a deep breath and kept going ahead to the very end. There's another Israeli phrase - "Yihiye B'Seder" or "It will end up being fine" - which I kept on saying to myself...this optimism kept me going and gave me the confidence to complete the project on a successful note.

This morning (OK, this afternoon) when I woke up, it was a weird feeling. The network is up and stable. There's no push to install new sites right now. I could relax - but found myself wanting to work just as hard as I have been over the past two weeks. It's going to take some time to decompress and get back into a normal swing of things...but I know that it will be much healthier to get back to normalcy.

I went for a short run this afternoon. It was tough. I haven't run in over a week, I'm tired, I'm still a bit sick and it was hot and humid outside. But I got in 3 miles (with a bit of walking up a killer hill). It was good to get the rust off - I'll need it as I start marathon training next week!!!! UGH!!!!

No Time To Blog - But Here's a Quick Update

With three more days to go until my project launches, I have been working like a dog. As of Friday night, I had already put in 65 hours - and I'm working Saturday and Sunday too. UGH!

To add to that, I started feeling sick on Sunday evening and I've been battling a cold this whole week. I went to the doctor yesterday and started a Z-pack - excellent decision as I feel sooooo much better today.

With feeling icky and working non-stop, I have not run AT ALL this week :-(

Last night, I opened two emails which contained big news. I would say that they were big surprises too, but both of them were distinct possibilities.

Email 1 - My division of Nortel is being bought out by Nokia Siemens. Read a bit more about it here. I've been with Nortel for almost 16 years! I'm excited to go to a company that has more stability and is not in bankrupcy protection, but I'm also a bit anxious about having to learn the ropes for a new employer.

Email 2 - I have been chosen to run for Team Run To Remember (R2R) at this year's New York City Marathon. I guess all that talk of not doing a full marathon this year is being thrown out the window...

Facebook and Bloggers?

I've been on Facebook for over two years.  I love it!  I have reconnected with lots of old friends and colleagues - some of whom I had lost touch with for over 20 years - and I have learned a lot about many of my friends (i.e. how much time they have on their hands???)

Anyhow, almost all of my "Facebook friends" are people that I personally know (i.e. I have met them in person).  All of that changed about a week ago - one of my "blogging friends" retired her blog and since I'm so swamped, I wasn't able to read the last few posts before she pulled the blog.  I couldn't email her - the only way I had contacted her before was via her blog and that was now gone...but, she's on Facebook.  So I found her and sent her a message to see if she could re-post the blog for another day or so.

Then after one or two messages back-and-forth, I friended her.

The thing is, I'm still not sure if that was a good decision.  On one hand, we both know a lot about each other from our blogs, we have corresponded through the blog-o-sphere and there are a bunch of other running bloggers who I have ended up meeting in person and become friends with (and yes, I have started to friend those folks as well).

On the other hand, can I really call this person a friend?  Do I call this person a "Facebook friend"?  Or is this just part of social networking - and I'm now starting to build a network of running bloggers - or runners (or non-runners) who read my blog?

I guess if it is the last item, then I'll formally invite my readers to come and join my network of blog readers / running bloggers by visiting me on Facebook!

Fitting The Long Run In

Not to sound like a whining, broken record (it just occurred to me that many younger folks in the blogosphere may not know what a broken record is since they were raised on CDs and MP3s - oy! I'm getting old), but I have a daily 7:30am conference call every day until my project launches on Tuesday, June 23.

This would not deter me from getting my Saturday long run in.

By the time I dialed in at 7:31am (yes...I was one minute late - shame on me!), I had 9 miles in the books. And had showered. Woo hoo!

This was my longest run since the Half Marathon I ran in April. Since I had two legit runs of 5 and 4.5 miles this week (plus the two 2 mile run/walks with my son), this run was not more than 50% of my total weekly mileage (i.e. not pushing myself into "overtraining" land even though I haven't been working up to this distance) My legs are a bit sore, but otherwise it was just good to get out and run (and run, and run!)

Final stats - 9.1 miles in 1:34:14 (10:22/mile pace). HR avg - 161, max -177. My HR is still up there starting around mile 3...I'm hoping it's just a fatigue thing - we'll see next month!

A Bit Of Speedwork

I headed out this morning for a run around 6:15am. Yes...that did not leave much time to be back at my desk for my daily 7:30am conference call.

I was hoping to get 5 or 6 miles in this morning, but I "slept in". So, as I started out I decided that I would do my neighborhood 4.5 mile loop and pick up the pace for a tempo run!

I just looked back at my running log to find the last speed workout I did - March 24. Wow! It's been a while.

Here's my splits:
Mile 1 - 10:11, avg HR 140
Mile 2 - 9:34, avg HR 165
Mile 3 - 8:57, avg HR 168
Mile 4 - 8:48, avg HR 173
.47 cooldown in 4:49 (10:14 pace)

I was definitely pleased since I'm a tad rusty in the speed department. Again, the high HR in mile 4 is a bit concerning. When I'm able to get more sleep after my project launches we'll see if that improves.

Oh...and I did make my conference call. I stood at my desk with my desk phone on speaker - drenched in sweat. It's definitely nice taking that call from home!! ;-)

Squeezing In Another Run

The daily 7:30am conference calls are not deterring me!

I got another run in before the call - this time a 5 miler at the gym on the treadmill. I had originally planned to run outside. I was thinking I would do my typical 5 or 6 mile loop. However, mother nature had other plans...I would have gladly run in the rain, but thunder and lightning sent me to the gym instead of on the roads.

I used the TechnoGym treadmill's heart rate program - starting at 140 bpm and bumping it up a bit after each mile until the last mile I had it set at 150 bpm. My speed jumped around between 5.0 and 6.2 mph the entire time. I ended up doing the 5 miles in 55:55 (11:10/mile pace) with an average HR of 144. A bit slow, but I feel like I'm starting out again - and I'm no where near caught up on sleep.

Otherwise, the usual gym stuff. I recognize many of the "frequent 6am treadmillers". We're all plugged into our iPods or watching television - aware enough of the other runners to recognize their faces, but staying in our own little worlds and not uttering a sentence to anyone. At times I want to go up to some of them and strike up a conversation, ask what they're training for, etc. - but on the flip side, would I want someone interrupting my workout for small talk???

Tonight is my Israeli Dance group, so I will not be waking up early for a run (unless it's a short run with my son). So, hopefully on Thursday I'll get another quality run in.

Two For One!

I did get up early enough to run this morning. It was a little before 6am and I saw my son's light on - I asked him if he wanted to come running with me and at first he said no (he complained his knee was hurting him - he had fallen during his laser tag birthday party yesterday...). However, as I was getting ready, he changed his mind and off we went!

I still haven't pushed him up from the 3 minute jog / 1 minute walk yet since we have not been running so frequently as of late. We did 7 of these "sets" and covered 2 miles. After the 6th set we were near a water fountain - my son took in a huge amount of water and ended up getting a stomach cramp on the last run. I hope that was a learning experience for him...we'll see next time!

When I returned home, my 3 1/2 year old was waiting patiently for me to come home so WE could run together. We had a nice (uncontrolled) run around the block :-)

Maybe one day soon all three of us will be able to go out running together...

Finally Another 20 Mile Week!

Despite having a 7:30am conference call on Saturday morning (and Sunday morning too...I can't wait for my project to launch on June 23 so the madness ends!!), I was able to get a 7.6 mile run in on Saturday morning.

That gave me about 21 miles for the week. The first over-20 mile week since mid-May. Actually, I haven't had back-to-back 20 miles weeks since March. Ick.

Note to self...make sure I get 20 miles in this week. My emotional stability needs it.

Starting Over? and Is The Running Community United or Divided?

Last week's mileage total - 5.2 miles. UGH!!!! I wasn't even injured (just exhausted, so if I did run more I may have ended up injured)

In an effort to get back in a groove, I psyched myself up to get up early this morning and get out for a run. Although I felt dead-to-the-world at 5:35am when I first looked at the clock, I made myself get out of bed and go out for a run.

The first mile seemed treacherous. 11:06 pace. 148 avg heart rate. I felt like I was starting over after and injury or long layoff from running.

I checked my running log, and it hasn't been that long - 3 weeks ago I had a 22 mile week. Come on!

Luckily, as the run went on the rust seemed to wear off. Although it still didn't feel as easy as an "easy run" should be, my next three mile splits were: 10:58 (147 avg HR), 10:03 (151 avg HR), and 10:14 (152 avg HR).

And with 4.4 miles in the books on Monday morning, I'm all set to eclipse last week's total. Perhaps by tomorrow morning.
-----

On Sunday, I ventured out to Barnes and Noble and got me a copy of the running classic, Once A Runner. This book was out-of-print for quite some time - and impossible to get a copy - but in April it was re-released in hard cover. I've had a B&N gift card since December, and I finally got around to using the darn thing!

Anyhow, I know I don't have much time to start reading a book (only 3 more weeks from tomorrow until my project launches!), but I ended up reading the first page and a half - hoping that it would perhaps give me some inspiration to start running more regularly again this week.

What I read so far left me utterly pissed off...

I guess the main character in the book - and the author - is a pretty competitive runner (I think part of the premise is that this runner is trying to run a sub-4 minute mile). So the book opens as the main character is returning to the track and sees a bunch of "overweight joggers". And he doesn't have a high regard for these folks at the track.

Well...I gotta say that I can relate a bit more to the overweight jogger than the elite runner. And if the entire book is going to be filled with this, then this may not be the inspiring running book I was hoping to read.

So...of course after my treacherous first mile today, I started thinking about the book and it's condescending comments about the "overweight joggers" as I plod along at an 11 minute mile pace. And I was starting to get even more pissed off.

Then, in the distance I see a woman booking down the sidewalk towards me. Even though she was about half a mile away, I could tell that she was running at a really fast pace. As we approached each other, I saw that it was a friend of mine who is a super-fast runner (she's run Boston a number of times and has age-group placed in a few of the races that I have run in). As we got closer to each other I said good-morning and started to applaud her blazing pace - she said to me, "I thought I would see you out here running at this hour!"

At that point I finally got some validation that my "jogging" and her faster "running" were equal. We're both putting in the time to "put one foot in front of the other, repeat many times" no matter how much distance we cover in that time. We are a united group of runners - not a divided group of joggers and elites.

And with that one little exchange, I think I'll be able to enjoy the book after all. (and perhaps I'll lend it to my fast friend after I finally finish it...)

Totally Exhausted

It's been awhile since I really could not drag myself out of bed at 6:30am - but that happened this morning.  I actually stayed in bed until about 7:15 and finally got into a shower so I could get to work on time.

My Memorial Day Weekend at Hora Aviv really sucked the energy out of me.  It was a great weekend - but I am totally exhausted with no respite in sight.  Maybe I'll get to catch up on sleep this weekend???  Will I last that long???

Anyhow, I finished out last week's running with 18 miles.  I did a 7 miler on Friday morning - running to the Rockville Fitness First.  On the whole it wasn't a very pretty run, but it did have its moments - especially running past some of the older Victorian style houses in old Rockville.  After the run, I went for a nice brunch with my wife and then went to pick up our younger son from Nursery School (he was really excited to see both of us there!).

I had packed my running gear for Hora Aviv, but I never got around to running.  I was dancing so much that when I had a break I wanted to relax and not run.  I stayed up until 1 am on Friday and then 3 am on both Saturday and Sunday nights.  I didn't have my kids to wake me up, but I still didn't sleep more and 6 hours either night.  Will I ever be able to sleep in again??

Anyhow, since I couldn't get my behind out of bed this morning, there was no morning run.  With no Monday or Tuesday running, the most I can hope for is 3 running days this week (maybe 4 if I go running with my son one morning).

As I mentioned in my last post - I just need to hang in there for 4 more weeks, and then I'll have a lot more time to run/blog/relax.

Five More Weeks

My current project launches in five more weeks.

Although I have liked being busy and I enjoy the work, I also will like being able to get a bit more sleep and get back into running - and blogging - regularly.

I started thinking about it on my run this morning - at the end of June, my project will have launched (it will still keep me busy with post-launch activities, but I likely won't be logging back into work at 9 or 10pm every night to catch up) and rehearsals for the Israeli Dance troupe will be on summer break, so I'll have Wednesday nights back too. What will I do with the extra time???

Anyhow - It's looking like I may get close to 25 miles in this week. So far I have run 11 - two with my son on Monday morning, 5.5 on Tuesday morning and 3.5 miles today. Tomorrow I'm taking the day off from work and I'm going to run to the Fitness First in Rockville, while Sherry will go there to work out after driving our son to school. This will be a 7 or 8 mile run - depending on which roads I decide to take.

I know...it's a crazy concept - running to the gym and then just using the facilities as a place to shower. My wife thinks I'm nuts!

I will hopefully get a weekend run in as well. I'm not 100% sure as I'll likely be exhausted - I'm taking 10 teenagers from the troupe to a weekend-long Israeli Dance "camp"/workshop - Hora Aviv. I'll already be getting tons of exercise, but I will bring my running shoes and Garmin and hopefully get a run in one morning.

And maybe I'll have time to blog??? We'll see...

Somethings Gotta Give

I'm about as busy as can be right now at work - not to mention other commitments (kids, Israeli Dancing, running, etc.) - I barely have time to do much else. (as I write this, I have 3 active (work-related) IM windows up and listening in on a conference bridge - and this is some of my "less busy" times where I can throw up a blog post - YIKES!)

As I was discussing all of this with Sherry the other night, she was pretty amazed that I'm able to keep everything going. Her words were "Something's gotta give" - you can't be continuing to do everything.

Yesterday, I got the hard dose of reality what had gone by the wayside. Blogging. Both reading and writing blogs.

I logged into my Google Reader last night and had over 120 unread posts. YIKES!!!

Also, my last post to this blog was on Sunday. And this blog post is not much more than a rant of how busy I am (sorry to my readers...I'll try to get back to more running related posts).

On the running side - I have 10 miles logged this week. Tuesday morning I brought my car to the shop early and ran back home (6.5 miles...my wife thought I was nuts!). Thursday morning I also got out for a 3 miler around the lakes.

I also ran twice with my son - about 2 miles each run. I'm not sure if I should count this in my weekly mileage, as these runs are still run 2 minutes / walk 1 minute - there's something about doing a run/walk at such a pedestrian pace that makes me feel it's not "legit" enough for the running log. I'm going to try to push him up to 3 minutes of running soon. - we'll see how that goes as he's currently starting to whine during his 2 minute runs...but he finishes them all. Either way, it's great exercise for him, it's special one-on-one time for the two of us and he loves it!

Another High HR Run

I'm not sure why my heart rate is elevating higher than normal on my easy effort runs lately.  Saturday morning I went for a short "long run" - only 6.5 miles.  I did a route which was new to me - from my house to the lake around the Rio/Washingtonian Center and back.  The hills aren't too bad and my pace didn't change too much - I stayed in the 10:30 to 10:50/mile pace throughout the run - however, my average heart rate was over 160 after the first two miles.

The run started out fine - a 10:30/mile pace with an average heart rate of 137.  However after that it started going up.

Perhaps it's still fatigue?  Perhaps I'm not drinking enough water?  (I'm not working from my office a lot lately, so it's more coffee and sodas than water at the office...and more alcohol at night to recover from the work day ;-)

Luckily, my big project launches in a little over 6 weeks, so if it is fatigue, I know that after June 23, I should be able to get some more rest.

Finally A Run! And Another Failed Platelets Donation :-(

This week has been a doozy at work. The system that we're deploying had an outage this week and I've been on lots of recovery, troubleshooting and root cause analysis calls. Last night's call went until 11:30pm - YUCK!

Anyhow, I'm pretty confident that I'll have more 14 hour days ahead of me in the next 6 weeks. With a bunch more layoffs occurring at my company this week, I can't really complain too much...

My wonderful wife let me "sleep in" until about 6:45am this morning (OK, my younger son ran into the room at 6am to declare that he waited "until there was a 6 on the clock" before coming into our room. I decided that I would get to the office a bit later than normal since I worked so late last night, and I went out for a 4 mile run before work.

It was such a wonderful day to run. Sun shining, 60 degrees, slight breeze - truly scrumptious! My first mile seemed effortless - even after not running for a full 4 days - 10:14 with an average HR of 142.

However, the effortless feeling would not last long. My heart rate started to elevate a bit on mile 2, to the point that by the time I got to the big hill on Argosy Street, I either needed to walk or see my heart rate in the 160s early in the run. I elected to walk. I think it was a good move as by the time I got to the top of the hill and was ready to run again, my heart rate was back down in the 130s.

Final Stats - 4.46 miles, 47:11; a 10:35/mile pace. Avg HR 154, Max HR 183

At lunchtime, I attempted a platelets donation once again. I won't go into the gory details, but it ended just like the last time - with a stinging bulge in my right (receiving) arm. I guess I'm going to have to stick to whole blood donations - which of course brings my average heart rate up on my runs for a few days, and doesn't get back to normal for about 3 weeks. I don't know if I can afford for my HR to get any higher (and my running any slower) than it is now...

The Marathon - One Year Later

It has been a full year since I ran my first marathon. I'm a bit surprised that I'm still blogging - although, it is not as often as I was leading up to the big race.

I'm glad that I am still running consistently - I know of many people who get to that marathon goal and then burn-out or drop-out from running altogether.

Not only am I still running consistently, the past year has me in my running "prime". I ran a full marathon. I set PRs in the 5K and Half Marathon. I am definitely "a runner" now.

One funny example of my "runner" status - this Saturday morning as I was about to get out of bed to go for a run, my wife asked me "how long will you be running today?" My answer was 6 or 7 miles and her response was "Good, you're not doing a long run this morning...".

As soon as this exchange was over, I wondered to myself when did the transformation actually happen? When I trained for my first 10K about 7 years ago, I used to have knee pain any time I attempted to run more than 5 miles. Now I'm at the point where only running 6 or 7 on a weekend morning is a "short" run.

Anyhow, with the exception of the Run For The Shelter Half Marathon, my runs over the past 6 weeks have been shorter and with virtually no speedwork. I'm chalking this up to fatigue with everything else going on in my life right now. Over the past two years, I likely would have stressed out about slacking so much. However, I'm not going to sweat it right now since I believe that once my schedule becomes kinder, I'll be back to hitting the track once a week and going longer on the weekend. Because I now know that running is an integral part of my life...

Crazy, Busy Week

This past week was Yom Ha'atzmaut - Israel's Independence Day.  So, I had a bunch of Israeli Dance events going on - teaching at a religious school on Sunday morning, a performance with the troupe I lead on Monday afternoon, my normal weekly group on Tuesday evening and the troupe's rehearsal on Wednesday evening.

Adding to the stresses of additional Israeli Dance gigs, work was a pressure cooker this week.  My customer instituted a daily 6:30pm call to review the progress of the day and discuss the next day's schedule.  I luckily got most of my teams caught up to the point where we are now waiting for them - but with 7 more weeks before launch, there will be tons of pressure at work for me until late June.

Despite all of this, I was able to get out and run 3 mornings by myself - and another bonus morning with my son!  As much as waking up before 6am to run makes me a bit sleep deprived, I'm not sure I'd be able to handle the pressure without the release of running.

The fatigue of the week definitely showed up in my performance.  My pace was around 10:45/mile each morning and my average HR kept going higher as the week went on.  Unfortunately, I don't see it getting much better soon...