Today was a very good taper day. I slept in and got 10 hours of sleep. I spent a couple hours outside today watching little league baseball playoffs and then inside playing cards for a couple hours. I've had a bottle of water in my hands drinking throughout the day. I had my normal pre-race dinner of chicken and rice. I also had some bread and some potatoes. I think I'm all carb'ed up. This was a very good rest day right before the big day. At this point, I'm not to nervous yet. I need to get up in 7.5 hours, but unfortunately, I'm not ready for bed yet.
The plan for the morning is to get up at 4 AM, drink my breakfast which will be 1/2 serving of N-large weight gainer with 8 oz of skim milk. I've done this before a lot of races and long runs and have had pretty good success. It's about 400 calories and 35 grams of protein. During the race, I plan on taking 1 Crank Sports gel every 45 minutes. These are 150 calories containers. I will take one right before a water stop and wash it down with a cup or two of water. The one thing that I will try changing tomorrow is my water consumption. I usually take one cup at every water stop and still feel quite dehydrated. The goo I'm taking in requires a bit more water too. So I'm going to aim for 2 cups of water at every water station tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.
Wish me luck. My number is 1337. The goal is to start around 7:30 per mile and then average 7:26 miles until 18-20. If by some odd chance, I'm feeling good, I will pick it up a bit. If not, I'll aim to maintain that pace to the end. That pace for a marathon will be 3:14:45 and it would be my 3rd fastest. If I can knock 30 seconds off that and beat 3:14:19, it will be my second fastest. I guess I'll know in less than 13 hours. Woohoo! I'm psyched for this one.
Stay tuned in the next day or so for my race report.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
The Last Speed Session
Today was the last scheduled "speed" session. It was hardly enough to even be called a run. I went out and did approximately 3 miles at race pace. Race pace is going to start out at 7:26 per mile. As I was on a couple hills and feeling out the pace and didn't have a lot of time to adjust, my pace was a bit faster than race pace. It felt good and my HR stayed in check most of the time. The weather was sunny and 77 degrees. Since this is warmer than what is forecast for Sunday morning, I'm feeling very confident about race day now. Mile averages for today:
1 - 7:12.68, 151 bpm
2 - 7:18.04, 158 bpm
3 - 7:00.10, 158 bpm
The temperature forecast for Sunday morning dropped 4 degrees since I last checked. Actually, I just realized I was checking the temperature by my house, which is always warmer. The weather for the airport is predicted to be 5 degrees cooler than that. Things are shaping up nicely. It's supposed to be cloudy in the morning with highs of 66 and lows of 59. This isn't perfect race day weather, but it's pretty close. I don't think we can ask for too much more as far as the conditions go.
The softball game tonight was so much more enjoyable compared to last week. We lost 10-12, but the team played very well. We played last year's champion who is a very good team. We played solid D, probably the best we've played all season and after a slow start, we hit pretty well. The game was about 45 minutes shorter than last week which also very nice. As it was a much better team that played better and hit better (and harder), I was able to focus a bit more today and it showed. I still didn't play to my normal level, but I was able to make some solids plays today. I was also 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored as well. I left 2 stranded in scoring position to end the inning in my 2nd AB. It was a good pitch too, but I dropped my shoulder a bit and flew out to center instead of lining in in the outfield in front of the center like I was trying to do.
Season Stats
G - 5
AB - 20
R - 13
H - 14
2B - 3
3B - 4
HR - 3
RBI - 23
SF - 2
AVG - .700
SLG - 1.700
How about them Cubbies baby?!?! With the Cubs win today and the Devil Rays loss, the Cubs now have the best record in the Major Leagues. Woohoo!!! They've looked good the past 3 days having come from behind late in the games. They are amazing at home. They just need to work on the road winning percentage a bit. As they blew a few last week last in the game, they could easily have 2 or 3 more wins this season without thinking about it.
1 - 7:12.68, 151 bpm
2 - 7:18.04, 158 bpm
3 - 7:00.10, 158 bpm
The temperature forecast for Sunday morning dropped 4 degrees since I last checked. Actually, I just realized I was checking the temperature by my house, which is always warmer. The weather for the airport is predicted to be 5 degrees cooler than that. Things are shaping up nicely. It's supposed to be cloudy in the morning with highs of 66 and lows of 59. This isn't perfect race day weather, but it's pretty close. I don't think we can ask for too much more as far as the conditions go.
The softball game tonight was so much more enjoyable compared to last week. We lost 10-12, but the team played very well. We played last year's champion who is a very good team. We played solid D, probably the best we've played all season and after a slow start, we hit pretty well. The game was about 45 minutes shorter than last week which also very nice. As it was a much better team that played better and hit better (and harder), I was able to focus a bit more today and it showed. I still didn't play to my normal level, but I was able to make some solids plays today. I was also 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored as well. I left 2 stranded in scoring position to end the inning in my 2nd AB. It was a good pitch too, but I dropped my shoulder a bit and flew out to center instead of lining in in the outfield in front of the center like I was trying to do.
Season Stats
G - 5
AB - 20
R - 13
H - 14
2B - 3
3B - 4
HR - 3
RBI - 23
SF - 2
AVG - .700
SLG - 1.700
How about them Cubbies baby?!?! With the Cubs win today and the Devil Rays loss, the Cubs now have the best record in the Major Leagues. Woohoo!!! They've looked good the past 3 days having come from behind late in the games. They are amazing at home. They just need to work on the road winning percentage a bit. As they blew a few last week last in the game, they could easily have 2 or 3 more wins this season without thinking about it.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
A Couple Movie to Miss
Based on all the nominations by the Academy Awards, I decided to rent "There Will Be Blood".
Having forced myself to sit through all 128 painful minutes of this movie, I have to give it 2 BIG thumbs down. That was the most anticlimactic, uneventful and disappointing movie I've seen in a long time. It comes very, very close to over taking "A Prelude to a Kiss" for the worst movie of all time in my books. I cannot fathom how they got 8 Oscar nominations. OK, Daniel Day-Lewis was good, but he always is. But the sounds were odd. The music didn't seem to fit to the movie. And they continued to build to nothing the entire movie. If I wasn't anticipating something happening the entire movie, I would have quit after the first 15 minutes. I just heard so many good things about it that I figured something would happen. Let me spoil it for you so you do not have to waste 2 1/2 hours of your life. Nothing happens. I assume there was a point to the movie, but I haven't the foggiest idea what it was. Maybe, greed corrupts?
I know this is wrong to say, but I also have another must miss recommendation. This past weekend I saw the 4th Indiana Jones movie. It was a must see movie in my book as I loved the first two. I know I'm older now then I was when I saw the first three, but this was just WAY to over the top. I'm glad I saw it because it was a requirement, but I was severely disappointed. If you are a fan of the series you have to see it, but go in with very low expectations and you may actually enjoy it.
Having forced myself to sit through all 128 painful minutes of this movie, I have to give it 2 BIG thumbs down. That was the most anticlimactic, uneventful and disappointing movie I've seen in a long time. It comes very, very close to over taking "A Prelude to a Kiss" for the worst movie of all time in my books. I cannot fathom how they got 8 Oscar nominations. OK, Daniel Day-Lewis was good, but he always is. But the sounds were odd. The music didn't seem to fit to the movie. And they continued to build to nothing the entire movie. If I wasn't anticipating something happening the entire movie, I would have quit after the first 15 minutes. I just heard so many good things about it that I figured something would happen. Let me spoil it for you so you do not have to waste 2 1/2 hours of your life. Nothing happens. I assume there was a point to the movie, but I haven't the foggiest idea what it was. Maybe, greed corrupts?
I know this is wrong to say, but I also have another must miss recommendation. This past weekend I saw the 4th Indiana Jones movie. It was a must see movie in my book as I loved the first two. I know I'm older now then I was when I saw the first three, but this was just WAY to over the top. I'm glad I saw it because it was a requirement, but I was severely disappointed. If you are a fan of the series you have to see it, but go in with very low expectations and you may actually enjoy it.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Speed Work During Taper
I've been keeping with the theme of doing speed work while I taper. In fact, the last 3 weeks of speed work has been the best speed work I've done for this race. I know for the most part, this is too little, too late, but I am getting some benefits out of it. I'm keeping the quantity of speed work down so I can have plenty of time to recover. I don't want to wear myself down too much before the race. I checked out my schedule for my St. George training and it had me doing 6x400 at 81 seconds with 400 recoveries. I'm not currently doing my intervals at that pace, but I decided to do a similar work out today. I planned on aiming for 85ish seconds, but since I was doing it on the road and not around the lake, there were hills to contend with. The 3rd interval was pretty much all done up hill. It was a pretty good workout
1 - .25, 87.10s, 171 bpm
2 - .25. 83.60s, 166 bpm
3 - .26, 86.01s, 175 bpm
4 - .25, 100.31s, 172 bpm
5 - .25, 82.27s, 175 bpm
6 - .25, 79.50s 178 bpm
As has been the case the last couple weeks, the quantity and potentially quality of this blog as been lacking. This has been the case for a variety of reasons. Since I'm tapering, there isn't as much running to blog about. And as I've been writing, my work schedule has been very intense lately. Unfortunately, I expect this to be the case for the next couple weeks. Starting in the middle of June, I will start ramping up my training for my next marathon and hopefully not too long afterwards, I'll wrap up my current project at work as well as finish my certification. There should be more consistent content coming then.
1 - .25, 87.10s, 171 bpm
2 - .25. 83.60s, 166 bpm
3 - .26, 86.01s, 175 bpm
4 - .25, 100.31s, 172 bpm
5 - .25, 82.27s, 175 bpm
6 - .25, 79.50s 178 bpm
As has been the case the last couple weeks, the quantity and potentially quality of this blog as been lacking. This has been the case for a variety of reasons. Since I'm tapering, there isn't as much running to blog about. And as I've been writing, my work schedule has been very intense lately. Unfortunately, I expect this to be the case for the next couple weeks. Starting in the middle of June, I will start ramping up my training for my next marathon and hopefully not too long afterwards, I'll wrap up my current project at work as well as finish my certification. There should be more consistent content coming then.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
The Last "Long" Run
Today was the official last long run before Rock n Roll. This is typically an easy run of only 8 miles. As is usual with Marc Fit, we tend to run a bit harder than we should at times. The blame can usually be placed on Dano, but not today. The new, lean, mean, fightin' machine named John was pushing the pace today. As i'm just a sheep, of course I followed. With John pushing the pace most of the way each of our miles was faster than the previous. There were many times when I looked down at the end I saw my goal marathon pace. That is my goal marathon pace in October of 6:52. We were just smoking it. Here's the numbers: 8:53, 8:23, 7:59, 7:55, 7:45, 7:31, 7:30, 7:16, 7:01 and 6:21 (for the last .56 miles). Looking at the chart below, you can definitely see when we decided to pick it up. Anyway, the run felt good and it was another nice confidence booster. We ended up doing 10 instead of 8 and it was at a harder pace then it probably should have been, but I think it will only help my come race day.
After the run, we drove up to LA to see a friend who was in town for a wedding. We have not seen each other or talked too much in the last few months as life continues to get in the way all the time. We picked him up and drove down Hollywood Blvd on our way to Rodeo Drive. We didn't see much, but what I did see didn't do much for me. Of course, me not being a fan of LA does not give a fair grade either. On a positive not, it was good to chat and catch up. I tried falafel for the first. I must say, quite tasty.
I was up late studying last night and had a good session. I'm not feeling a bit more comfortable heading into the last month that I will be prepared for this silly certification. I'm 1/2 through the book I'm reading and feel pretty good about the first 1/2. The 2nd half is definitely more difficult and complicated. I only need a 59% to pass, but without an understanding of this 2nd half, it's very unlikely that I can make the passing grade. I plan on studying and/or working the next 2 nights, but with no official work days coming up the next 2 days, I'm hoping to catch up a little on some of this much needed sleep.
After the run, we drove up to LA to see a friend who was in town for a wedding. We have not seen each other or talked too much in the last few months as life continues to get in the way all the time. We picked him up and drove down Hollywood Blvd on our way to Rodeo Drive. We didn't see much, but what I did see didn't do much for me. Of course, me not being a fan of LA does not give a fair grade either. On a positive not, it was good to chat and catch up. I tried falafel for the first. I must say, quite tasty.
I was up late studying last night and had a good session. I'm not feeling a bit more comfortable heading into the last month that I will be prepared for this silly certification. I'm 1/2 through the book I'm reading and feel pretty good about the first 1/2. The 2nd half is definitely more difficult and complicated. I only need a 59% to pass, but without an understanding of this 2nd half, it's very unlikely that I can make the passing grade. I plan on studying and/or working the next 2 nights, but with no official work days coming up the next 2 days, I'm hoping to catch up a little on some of this much needed sleep.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
As it turns out, my softball team is not the worst in the league. I think we played the worst team in the league tonight. They are a bunch of young, inexperienced players that didn't really know what they were doing. On two separate occasions, they overran 2nd base thinking it was ok because they could do it at first and then argued with us when we told them they were out. The only problem with this is that my mind was missing from the game most of the time. I tried to get myself to focus, but did not do a very good job. I think the lack of sleep is really affecting my play. I was horrendous in the field again today. As they were inexperienced, they hit tons of balls to shortstop, as you would expect. I think I was less than 50% on making successful plays. I bobbled balls and had some bad throws. I had a few throws that were catchable, but the other players missed them, making me feel just as bad. Anyway, that's the bad news. The good news is that the other team was just so incredibly bad, it didn't matter we won 39-15. Wow! 54 runs in a softball game. No wonder it took nearly 2 hours to play. My ridiculous line for the is 6 for 8 with 7 runs scored. I had 2 doubles, 3 triples and 1 home run with 8 RBIs. One of the triples was nearly an out of the park home run. Left field was 290 and the left center power alley was 370. I hit it between left and left center, probably more towards left. I hit the bottom of the wall on the fly. I think it was a bit wind aided as I don't think I can hit a softball that far these days as I'm so weak from not lifting weights.
Season Stats
G - 4
AB - 17
R - 12
H - 12
2B - 3
3B - 4
HR - 3
RBI - 22
SF - 2
AVG - .706
SLG - 1.882
Running today was a 3 mile tempo run. I did it at work today and not around the lake so their were a couple of hills affecting the run along with some good head wind. With that said, I felt pretty good about the run. It was another good confidence booster. Taking out the warm up and cool down, the 3 mile tempo averaged 6:40 per mile and my heart rate averaged 173. It was a cool overcast day which definitely helped me run better. As I have not been sleeping enough for a couple weeks now (and it is definitely affecting my life) my speed sessions have been pretty good for the last couple weeks.
I still haven't watch final American Idol results show yet. I've already heard who won, but won't mention it here, just in case you haven't heard yet. I've got to say, the final week was pretty weak. I wasn't all that impressed with either David's performances and actually found myself bored hoping the show would end sooner rather than later. I also thought the whole boxing analogy was a bit annoying. Sure, do it a bit at the beginning and then done. They drug it out way too long.
As I mentioned above, I have not been sleeping tons now for approximately the last week and a half or so. I've been loading up on as much caffeine as possible so I can stay awake at night to work and study. This has consistently been taking me to 12-2 every night. The 6 am wake up calls come way too early. I definitely feel the accumulated sleep loss affecting me. Fortunately, this weekend should help me catch back up a bit on some of the lost sleep. This will come in handy as it will be less than 1 week away from race day. There's really not much I can do about it other then failing, which is not an option. I've done tons of races and will likely do more. So this will be a good experiment to see how important the sleep is during the taper (as everyone claims). If you see any race pictures with someone lying in the middle of the road wearing a red shirt and sleeping, it's likely me. Say hi.
On that note, I need to get back to studying.
Season Stats
G - 4
AB - 17
R - 12
H - 12
2B - 3
3B - 4
HR - 3
RBI - 22
SF - 2
AVG - .706
SLG - 1.882
Running today was a 3 mile tempo run. I did it at work today and not around the lake so their were a couple of hills affecting the run along with some good head wind. With that said, I felt pretty good about the run. It was another good confidence booster. Taking out the warm up and cool down, the 3 mile tempo averaged 6:40 per mile and my heart rate averaged 173. It was a cool overcast day which definitely helped me run better. As I have not been sleeping enough for a couple weeks now (and it is definitely affecting my life) my speed sessions have been pretty good for the last couple weeks.
I still haven't watch final American Idol results show yet. I've already heard who won, but won't mention it here, just in case you haven't heard yet. I've got to say, the final week was pretty weak. I wasn't all that impressed with either David's performances and actually found myself bored hoping the show would end sooner rather than later. I also thought the whole boxing analogy was a bit annoying. Sure, do it a bit at the beginning and then done. They drug it out way too long.
As I mentioned above, I have not been sleeping tons now for approximately the last week and a half or so. I've been loading up on as much caffeine as possible so I can stay awake at night to work and study. This has consistently been taking me to 12-2 every night. The 6 am wake up calls come way too early. I definitely feel the accumulated sleep loss affecting me. Fortunately, this weekend should help me catch back up a bit on some of the lost sleep. This will come in handy as it will be less than 1 week away from race day. There's really not much I can do about it other then failing, which is not an option. I've done tons of races and will likely do more. So this will be a good experiment to see how important the sleep is during the taper (as everyone claims). If you see any race pictures with someone lying in the middle of the road wearing a red shirt and sleeping, it's likely me. Say hi.
On that note, I need to get back to studying.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
12 Day 'til Race Day
ATP is done for the upcoming Rock and Roll Marathon that is only 12 weeks away. So I decided to do some speed work on my own today. It was not the best session in the world as my diet was horrible this afternoon, but I was happy with my effort considering this. I did 5x800s with 400 recoveries. If you remove the oddity of the 2nd interval, it was pretty steady with an increased effort for the last two. The second felt like it was into the wind the entire time and I felt like I was pushing really hard and struggling to increase my speed. These workouts are going to be too little, too late, but at the very least, they are successful in increasing my confidence heading into the race. I had about 3-4 questionable weeks before the last couple that really had me doubting this race. At this point, I'm confident.
.51, 2:57.13, 169 bpm
.25, 2:01.14, 161 bpm
.50, 3:03.56, 171 bpm
.25, 2:02,39, 160 bpm
.50, 2:58.46, 172 bpm
.25, 2:05.97, 160 bpm
.50, 2:55.88, 175 bpm
.25, 1:59.82, 166 bpm
.50, 2:50.40, 178 bpm
I haven't really thought about my exact goals for the race yet. Let's take a stab here. I think my "A" goal is 3:15 with my "B" goal being 3:20. My "C" goal which would be a complete disappointment is beating last year's time when I was definitely in worse shape and heavier. That time was 3:26:09. I'll start off at 7:30 which is right around my "A" goal pace, see how I feel after the first few miles and adjust accordingly.
Marc Fit is slowly getting its root set in the internet world. A lot of members have joined the Athlinks group and the Facebook group is growing as well. Photos are being added to both. Feel free to join and add any photos you may have.
.51, 2:57.13, 169 bpm
.25, 2:01.14, 161 bpm
.50, 3:03.56, 171 bpm
.25, 2:02,39, 160 bpm
.50, 2:58.46, 172 bpm
.25, 2:05.97, 160 bpm
.50, 2:55.88, 175 bpm
.25, 1:59.82, 166 bpm
.50, 2:50.40, 178 bpm
I haven't really thought about my exact goals for the race yet. Let's take a stab here. I think my "A" goal is 3:15 with my "B" goal being 3:20. My "C" goal which would be a complete disappointment is beating last year's time when I was definitely in worse shape and heavier. That time was 3:26:09. I'll start off at 7:30 which is right around my "A" goal pace, see how I feel after the first few miles and adjust accordingly.
Marc Fit is slowly getting its root set in the internet world. A lot of members have joined the Athlinks group and the Facebook group is growing as well. Photos are being added to both. Feel free to join and add any photos you may have.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Living in the Future
I've been doing some thinking lately and I'm realizing that I spend a lot of time living for the future. I think it's a natural tendency for those of use training for endurance events. We have to put ourselves through rigorous training to help us prepare for our next event. In doing so, we are always thinking about our next run and next activity. To that, I just finished putting together the 3 key weekly workouts for my next race in October. I've been finding myself thinking, if I can just get to the end of June, I should be be OK. What the ... I just lost 6 weeks of my life. Instead of living each day to the fullest, I'm thinking of fast forwarding ahead so I can get passed this next race that will not go as good as I'd like. It will get me past my work deadline that has me burning the midnight oil every night. And it will get me by this certification that I'm preparing for. To defend myself, the next 6 weeks of my life are not going to be very fun, but I shouldn't just fast forward through it. It makes me think of the Adam Sandler movie "Click". This is basically what happens to him. He finds himself missing out on all the good things in life, even if they seem mundane.
I've decided that I'm going to try doing a better job living my life more in the now. I want to try get more out of each day. When I got out for speed work or do my next long run or do my next face, I'm going to enjoy it. Let everything sink in rather then blast through it trying to get to my next workout. Life is short enough as it is. There's no need to skip past everything trying to reach the end as quickly as possible.
I'll leave you with this thought today. Do you "live in the now" or "live in the future"?
I've decided that I'm going to try doing a better job living my life more in the now. I want to try get more out of each day. When I got out for speed work or do my next long run or do my next face, I'm going to enjoy it. Let everything sink in rather then blast through it trying to get to my next workout. Life is short enough as it is. There's no need to skip past everything trying to reach the end as quickly as possible.
I'll leave you with this thought today. Do you "live in the now" or "live in the future"?
Saturday, May 17, 2008
My Crazy "Running" Family
I decided not to do the long run today. I haven't been sleeping this week and I didn't get home from work last night until a bit before 1. I would have had to get up at 5:30 to make the run. In addition, I was fighting the soreness in my right leg all day. With all that, Andy and Wendy convinced me that it would be stupid to show up for the run, especially with race day only 2 days away. I was able to sleep in a bit and get 8 hours of sleep. I woke up exhausted, but felt better during the day though then I have in quite a few days. The leg is feeling better today too. I think I will try head out tomorrow for 10 or so and see how it feels. Hopefully tomorrow is going to be slightly cooler then the 101 degrees we had today. It's supposed to start cooling down, but only by a couple degrees. I don't plan on getting up early either. So it could be interesting out there tomorrow.
My parents are funny. They've got the bug and they've got it bad. Every time I talk to them now they are talking about new personal best distances and times. It's like a talk with my running group. We talk about pacing, types of runs, recoveries, nutrition, ice baths and much more. My mom is mostly walking, but she sprinkles in some jogging here and there. She just set a personal best in distance by going 7 miles this past week. My dad is unofficially doing the Jeff Galloway method of running. He started out walking and sprinkled in some fartlek jogs. He's been doing some reading and is now following a training plan to do a half marathon this fall. The funny thing is that my dad doesn't read. He loves the book he is following and both of my parents are absorbing all the information in it like a sponge.
I think it's such a great think for both of them to get into this. They are much healthier now and experiencing all the benefits that running can give a person. By listening to some of my advice and following all the information they have gotten out of this book, they are being smart about their training. Even though they are both ridiculously hooked and want to do more and more they are sticking to the 10% rule. Given that they are both just getting started in the world of endurance and are both close to or over 60 slow and steady is definitely the way to go.
I didn't get my competitiveness from nowhere. I can see in both of them the desire to push themselves to beat the previous records and beat each other. My mom is a life long smoker and has always refused to give it up for anything. I'm very curious to see if all this activity along with her newly charged competitiveness will give her the desire to quit now. There are obviously so many things to gain in life by not smoking or giving it up if you currently smoke. It is such a limiting factor in your endurance as well. I can only imagine how much better she would feel if she stops. I will keep throwing hints and suggestions out there about this and see what comes of it.
My parents are funny. They've got the bug and they've got it bad. Every time I talk to them now they are talking about new personal best distances and times. It's like a talk with my running group. We talk about pacing, types of runs, recoveries, nutrition, ice baths and much more. My mom is mostly walking, but she sprinkles in some jogging here and there. She just set a personal best in distance by going 7 miles this past week. My dad is unofficially doing the Jeff Galloway method of running. He started out walking and sprinkled in some fartlek jogs. He's been doing some reading and is now following a training plan to do a half marathon this fall. The funny thing is that my dad doesn't read. He loves the book he is following and both of my parents are absorbing all the information in it like a sponge.
I think it's such a great think for both of them to get into this. They are much healthier now and experiencing all the benefits that running can give a person. By listening to some of my advice and following all the information they have gotten out of this book, they are being smart about their training. Even though they are both ridiculously hooked and want to do more and more they are sticking to the 10% rule. Given that they are both just getting started in the world of endurance and are both close to or over 60 slow and steady is definitely the way to go.
I didn't get my competitiveness from nowhere. I can see in both of them the desire to push themselves to beat the previous records and beat each other. My mom is a life long smoker and has always refused to give it up for anything. I'm very curious to see if all this activity along with her newly charged competitiveness will give her the desire to quit now. There are obviously so many things to gain in life by not smoking or giving it up if you currently smoke. It is such a limiting factor in your endurance as well. I can only imagine how much better she would feel if she stops. I will keep throwing hints and suggestions out there about this and see what comes of it.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Injured Again?
Starting late last night a pain started on the top inside of my thigh. It progressively got worse and worse as the night went on. I woke up this morning and could hardly move. It feels like maybe it's a tendon or something, but I have a hard time lifting my right leg without a lot of pain. Throughout the day, it has improved somewhat, but I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about running 15 in the morning. Given this potential injury, another busy day at work and consider the taper, today was another day off.
Sorry for the lack of anything interesting lately. Once all this craziness with work passes and I get to my training schedule for the next race, the running information should be more interesting.
Food
Sorry for the lack of anything interesting lately. Once all this craziness with work passes and I get to my training schedule for the next race, the running information should be more interesting.
Food Journal
Food
- 2 bowls of Strawberry Medley Cereal w/ 12 oz Skim Milk
- some Chicken Veggie thing w/ Brown Rice
- Pat & Oscars - Salad, Breadsticks, Chicken Breast
- Skittles and Starburst
- Oatmeal Squares
- 80 oz Water
- 38 oz Coffee
- 24 oz Diet Dr. Pepper
- 12 oz Diet Coke
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Sleep Deprivation
Maybe it's not really deprivation, but it is bad. I know me. I can survive, but I am certainly not very productive when super tired. My average sleep for the last 4 night is right around 5 hours per night. This is definitely not enough for me. I can tell that my mind works much slower when I'm in this state. This probably worked out pretty good for this morning speed session as I just did it without thinking, but when it comes to working and softball, it takes it's toll.
Let's start with this morning's run. I decided to only do 4 miles at tempo rather than 5. I'm not 100% sure what is appropriate during the taper, but I figured less was probably safer. I did a 1 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo and a 1 mile cool down in 42.03. I was very tired when I woke up and didn't expect much out of the workout. So I was pleasantly surprised. For the 4 miles, I average 6:27.5 per mile with an average HR of 170. Most of it was actually zone 3 training. Not that I've reviewed my fitness testing results on this blog yet, but reviewing my printout from my test, it was perfect for the workout. Hmm, not bad.
Work was another packed day. I had to leave early (on time) to run out to a softball game. During the day, I was very productive, but I could tell my mind wasn't working at full capacity. I expect tomorrow will be worse as I need to get back to work after this and I'll be working for a while.
Softball was a nightmare. I think it can mostly be attributed to my lack of sleep. In addition, due to me not being able to get on base by myself, I got to the game about 5 minutes before it started. It was not enough time to fully warm up my arm and legs. This was potentially my worst game of softball ever. For some reason I was batting clean up. I don't understand that one. First inning, up with the bases loaded and I sack fly because I miss hit the ball. Next AB was a weak pop up to first. Third AB was a sac fly to center on another bad hit. Oddly enough, I got to RBIs on that one Fourth AB, I hit my best shot, but right at the SS. I reached on an error and scored. So I was 0-2 on the night. That was the best part. My fielding was a nightmare. I bobbled so many balls tonight. I think I got out and made more errors tonight than I have all season combined. Blech! We lost by 2. Hmm, I think I can find 2 runs in my O-fer night and my errors. Pure crap. The game lasted forever and I had to wait a good 30 minutes for my ride to get me to my car. So I got home an hour later than normal. Just what I need.
Season Stats
G - 3
AB - 9
R - 5
H - 6
2B - 1
3B - 1
HR - 2
RBI - 14
SF - 2
AVG - .667
SLG - 1.667
On that note, back to work. Here's hoping that 6 hours of sleep somehow completely refreshed me. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We have software release tomorrow night at work. I'll be at the office until at least 10 (if all goes well) tomorrow night. Yea!
Food
Let's start with this morning's run. I decided to only do 4 miles at tempo rather than 5. I'm not 100% sure what is appropriate during the taper, but I figured less was probably safer. I did a 1 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo and a 1 mile cool down in 42.03. I was very tired when I woke up and didn't expect much out of the workout. So I was pleasantly surprised. For the 4 miles, I average 6:27.5 per mile with an average HR of 170. Most of it was actually zone 3 training. Not that I've reviewed my fitness testing results on this blog yet, but reviewing my printout from my test, it was perfect for the workout. Hmm, not bad.
Work was another packed day. I had to leave early (on time) to run out to a softball game. During the day, I was very productive, but I could tell my mind wasn't working at full capacity. I expect tomorrow will be worse as I need to get back to work after this and I'll be working for a while.
Softball was a nightmare. I think it can mostly be attributed to my lack of sleep. In addition, due to me not being able to get on base by myself, I got to the game about 5 minutes before it started. It was not enough time to fully warm up my arm and legs. This was potentially my worst game of softball ever. For some reason I was batting clean up. I don't understand that one. First inning, up with the bases loaded and I sack fly because I miss hit the ball. Next AB was a weak pop up to first. Third AB was a sac fly to center on another bad hit. Oddly enough, I got to RBIs on that one Fourth AB, I hit my best shot, but right at the SS. I reached on an error and scored. So I was 0-2 on the night. That was the best part. My fielding was a nightmare. I bobbled so many balls tonight. I think I got out and made more errors tonight than I have all season combined. Blech! We lost by 2. Hmm, I think I can find 2 runs in my O-fer night and my errors. Pure crap. The game lasted forever and I had to wait a good 30 minutes for my ride to get me to my car. So I got home an hour later than normal. Just what I need.
Season Stats
G - 3
AB - 9
R - 5
H - 6
2B - 1
3B - 1
HR - 2
RBI - 14
SF - 2
AVG - .667
SLG - 1.667
On that note, back to work. Here's hoping that 6 hours of sleep somehow completely refreshed me. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We have software release tomorrow night at work. I'll be at the office until at least 10 (if all goes well) tomorrow night. Yea!
Food Journal
Food
- mini Clif Bar
- PowerBar
- 1 1/2 bowls Oatmeal Crunch w/ 10 oz Skim Milk
- original Jamba Juice 3G Energizer w/ Protein
- PowerBar
- South Beach Diet Pepperoni Pizza
- Chips and Salsa
- 131 oz Water
- 44 oz Coffee
- 12 oz Skim Milk
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Stressful Taper
I've never been very good at the taper. I never want to back down on my training. Plus when I never feel quite as fresh come race day if I taper too much. For the past few races, I've kept the intensity up while dropping down on the total distance. My training for this upcoming race has been all over the map to include some really poor weeks recently. I feel that I want to make up for lost time a bit and push it. I know this is wrong, but it's a feeling that I'm really fighting right now. I do not have much spare time from day to day right now like I usually do. It's nearly impossible for me to get out for a run today, but I feel like I really should get it in. I had a good quality run yesterday and plan on another good quality run tomorrow. So today would either be an easy recover run or a workout at the gym. Since I've missed my last I don't know how many gym sessions, I won't get into the importance of that. Since today would just be a recovery run, I guess it's not important. However, I feel like I'm continuing to screw myself over by missing yet another workout session. So I'm stressed about missing the workout and I'm stressed about trying to find time in the day to get it in.
Stress... just what the doctor calls for in every taper. Oh yeah, I've got the sleep part starting out well too. I'm averaging about 5 1/2 hours of sleep a night so far this week and there are no signs indicating that this will change any time soon. Can anyone see that I'm setting myself up for failure in this race? I know I'm doing it all wrong, but I can't do too much about my schedule right now. Bad timing I guess. Not much I can do about it right now so I'll just deal with it.
I ended up being too busy to get the run in today and as I will be too busy to run again tomorrow during the day, I'm going to get the run in first thing in the morning. I will make it the best I can, but since A) I'm not a morning person and B) I haven't been sleeping enough lately, it should be interesting. I think the goal for tomorrow's run will be 1 mile warmup, 5 mile tempo at something like 6:45s-7:00s and a 1 mile cool down. This is where a structured program would come in handy. I would just wake up and do what was on the schedule.
Anyone taking notes on what not to do yet?
I spent a little time yesterday starting on my St. George training plan. In reality, I was procrastinating the work I had to do and finally got around to the procrastinating that I had been doing for the run schedule. I have a bit more to do before I publish it. It will be a 16 week schedule starting about 2 weeks after Rock n Roll. Speed work starts the first week and I will be doing 3 - 1600s at 5:51. Ugh! I will explain the absurdity of these numbers when I give the details of the schedule.
Enough procrastinating for the night. Back to work.
Food
Stress... just what the doctor calls for in every taper. Oh yeah, I've got the sleep part starting out well too. I'm averaging about 5 1/2 hours of sleep a night so far this week and there are no signs indicating that this will change any time soon. Can anyone see that I'm setting myself up for failure in this race? I know I'm doing it all wrong, but I can't do too much about my schedule right now. Bad timing I guess. Not much I can do about it right now so I'll just deal with it.
I ended up being too busy to get the run in today and as I will be too busy to run again tomorrow during the day, I'm going to get the run in first thing in the morning. I will make it the best I can, but since A) I'm not a morning person and B) I haven't been sleeping enough lately, it should be interesting. I think the goal for tomorrow's run will be 1 mile warmup, 5 mile tempo at something like 6:45s-7:00s and a 1 mile cool down. This is where a structured program would come in handy. I would just wake up and do what was on the schedule.
Anyone taking notes on what not to do yet?
I spent a little time yesterday starting on my St. George training plan. In reality, I was procrastinating the work I had to do and finally got around to the procrastinating that I had been doing for the run schedule. I have a bit more to do before I publish it. It will be a 16 week schedule starting about 2 weeks after Rock n Roll. Speed work starts the first week and I will be doing 3 - 1600s at 5:51. Ugh! I will explain the absurdity of these numbers when I give the details of the schedule.
Enough procrastinating for the night. Back to work.
Food Journal
Food
- 1 1/2 bowls of Cinnamon Oatmeal Crunch Cereal w/ 10 oz Skim Milk
- Celery, Carrot, Breadsticks, Hot Wing
- Progresso Chicken and Wild Rice w/ 1/2 sleeve Crackers
- Health Mex Chicken Burrito and Chips
- 131 oz Water
- 40 oz Coffee
- 12 oz Diet Dr. Pepper
- 12 oz Mountain Dew
- 12 oz Skim Milk
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Speed Work - Repeats
Even though this is the first week of taper, I like to keep doing speed work. I think it's very important for this marathon as my training has been all over the grid for this race. I'm not exactly sure where I stand so I feel that I need to keep up tempo speed pace fresh in my mind so I can be more comfortable during the race. As it is the taper, I need to work on cutting down on the distance over the next couple weeks. I will make it a point of not running to/from work before the race. This will help keep my total miles under 50.
My speed session today went pretty well. I felt really good during the workout and felt like I was able to push myself pretty good. With that said, I can tell that I need more structure. During the intervals, I could tell that my 1200s were at a slower pace than they should have been. I didn't have any time goals for each interval. I was just pushing myself through them. I think seeing the figures from each interval proves that I need a bit more structure. My next race will have specifics for each speed session. So much so that I usually need to bring a cheat sheet with me to help me remember the pace and distance for each interval. If I know the pace I should be shooting for, I will push myself to get to that number. Since I didn't have any numbers to go on today, I was just blindly pushing myself.
The run for the day ended up being intervals by myself at Miramar Lake rather then doing ATP with the group. My work schedule is completely crazy right now and I need all the spare time I can get (of course, still throwing in time to put together this blog though). In addition, at one point, there was a chance that I would be playing a double header softball game tonight as well. Fortunately I was only going to be used if necessary and I was not needed. It was tough telling the coach that I would only be a substitute if they needed me. It was a chance to get into a competitive softball league very close to my house. With all the studying I need to do for this Java certification by the end of June and a big project deadline looming around the same time, I just don't have enough spare time to add another softball league.
I've been trying to get to the specifics of the run for a couple paragraphs now, but keep getting side tracked by other nonsense. Here we go... The goal was to do a 1 mile warm up followed by a pyramid of 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800 with 400 recoveries followed by a 1 mile cool down. I ended up dong 6.52 miles in 47:06. Here are the specifics of each IV. The values are
distance - time(pace) - avg heart rate
--------------------------------------
.51 - 3:00.50(5:56) - 170 bpm
.25 - 2:07.00 - 155 bpm
.76 - 4:43.63(6:14) - 170 bpm
.25 - 2:07.90 - 156 bpm
1.00 - 5:55.00 (5:54) - 177 bpm
.25 - 2:12.17 - 161 bpm
.75 - 4:38.45(6:09) - 176 bpm
.25 - 2:17.63 - 164 bpm
.51 - 2:59.04(5:53) - 179 bpm
As it's already after 10 and I still have tons to do for the night and a early morning wake up call, I think I need to end this for the night.
Food
My speed session today went pretty well. I felt really good during the workout and felt like I was able to push myself pretty good. With that said, I can tell that I need more structure. During the intervals, I could tell that my 1200s were at a slower pace than they should have been. I didn't have any time goals for each interval. I was just pushing myself through them. I think seeing the figures from each interval proves that I need a bit more structure. My next race will have specifics for each speed session. So much so that I usually need to bring a cheat sheet with me to help me remember the pace and distance for each interval. If I know the pace I should be shooting for, I will push myself to get to that number. Since I didn't have any numbers to go on today, I was just blindly pushing myself.
The run for the day ended up being intervals by myself at Miramar Lake rather then doing ATP with the group. My work schedule is completely crazy right now and I need all the spare time I can get (of course, still throwing in time to put together this blog though). In addition, at one point, there was a chance that I would be playing a double header softball game tonight as well. Fortunately I was only going to be used if necessary and I was not needed. It was tough telling the coach that I would only be a substitute if they needed me. It was a chance to get into a competitive softball league very close to my house. With all the studying I need to do for this Java certification by the end of June and a big project deadline looming around the same time, I just don't have enough spare time to add another softball league.
I've been trying to get to the specifics of the run for a couple paragraphs now, but keep getting side tracked by other nonsense. Here we go... The goal was to do a 1 mile warm up followed by a pyramid of 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800 with 400 recoveries followed by a 1 mile cool down. I ended up dong 6.52 miles in 47:06. Here are the specifics of each IV. The values are
distance - time(pace) - avg heart rate
--------------------------------------
.51 - 3:00.50(5:56) - 170 bpm
.25 - 2:07.00 - 155 bpm
.76 - 4:43.63(6:14) - 170 bpm
.25 - 2:07.90 - 156 bpm
1.00 - 5:55.00 (5:54) - 177 bpm
.25 - 2:12.17 - 161 bpm
.75 - 4:38.45(6:09) - 176 bpm
.25 - 2:17.63 - 164 bpm
.51 - 2:59.04(5:53) - 179 bpm
As it's already after 10 and I still have tons to do for the night and a early morning wake up call, I think I need to end this for the night.
Food Journal
Food
- Strawberry Medley Cereal w/ 10 oz Skim Milk
- Chicken Breast, mashed potatoes w/ gravy, 1/2 corn on cob, corn bread
- 2 - PowerBars
- Chips and Salsa
- South Beach Diet Pepperoni Pizza w/ 12 oz Skim Milk
- 4 Otter Pops
- 137 oz Water
- 20 oz Coffee
- 24 oz Diet Dr. Pepper
- 12 oz Tea
Monday, May 12, 2008
Back in San Diego
I am back in lovely San Diego again. Even though the weather is not quite as nice as it was in San Francisco, it feels good to be back home. Last week was very busy and stressful at times. I think this is a bit odd considering that it was a conference that I was attending, but I think most of that is my own fault. Assuming I'm able to go back again next year, I will definitely make different plans and have different assumptions. This will definitely help.
My new goal for the Rock n Roll Marathon is now 3:15ish. I know the 3:07 goal is never going to happen. My training for the last 4-5 weeks has been very disappointing. I've been eating poorly, missing speed sessions and have not been getting in any strength training. I am in better shape than last year when I ran a 3:26 so I definitely expect to beat that. We found out that we got a lottery spot into St. George again this year. I'm going to create an actual training plan and schedule to follow as I aim to break 3:00 for the first time.
My eating/drinking was simply atrocious last week as well. My goal this week is to get back into some type of healthier eating plan, especially since the marathon is now only 3 weeks away. Looking back at what I ate for the day, it looks like it was pretty bad again.
My work schedule from now until the end of June is going to be ridiculously busy. I have a bad feeling my 3 week taper might end up being a bit more tapered then is really necessary. Training for this marathon started out with so much potential, but it's certainly ending as a huge disappointment. Hopefully I can still salvage something out of it and be at a high enough level in one month to be able to jump right back into training for St. George.
Food
My new goal for the Rock n Roll Marathon is now 3:15ish. I know the 3:07 goal is never going to happen. My training for the last 4-5 weeks has been very disappointing. I've been eating poorly, missing speed sessions and have not been getting in any strength training. I am in better shape than last year when I ran a 3:26 so I definitely expect to beat that. We found out that we got a lottery spot into St. George again this year. I'm going to create an actual training plan and schedule to follow as I aim to break 3:00 for the first time.
My eating/drinking was simply atrocious last week as well. My goal this week is to get back into some type of healthier eating plan, especially since the marathon is now only 3 weeks away. Looking back at what I ate for the day, it looks like it was pretty bad again.
My work schedule from now until the end of June is going to be ridiculously busy. I have a bad feeling my 3 week taper might end up being a bit more tapered then is really necessary. Training for this marathon started out with so much potential, but it's certainly ending as a huge disappointment. Hopefully I can still salvage something out of it and be at a high enough level in one month to be able to jump right back into training for St. George.
Food Journal
Food
- Nature Valley Crunch Cinnamon Cereal w/ 10 oz Skim Milk
- Campbell's Beef w/ Vegetables and 1/2 sleeve Crackers
- Milky Way
- Pretzels and Peanut Butter
- Chips and Salsa
- Chicken/Mango Sausage, Brown Rice and Green Beans
- slice Lemon Meringue Pie
- 100 oz Water
- 20 oz Coffee
- 12 oz Tea
- 12 oz Diet Dr. Pepper
- 12 oz Diet Coke
- 12 oz Mountain Dew
- 12 oz Skim Milk
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Quality versus Quantity
As my time has been extremely tight this week because of reasons previously mentioned, I was forced to focus on the quality of my workouts rather than the quantity. I did 5 miles of repeats on Tuesday. The lengths of the intervals were inconsistent as I ran into a few problems with the treadmill. I had a couple extra hours built into the schedule this morning and decided to get another workout in. Since I didn't have a lot of time, I decided to put in another interval workout. They got progressively faster until I was going all out for me (and the treadmill). I hit a max HR that I hadn't hit in years, so I guess I was working pretty good.
As mentioned, the workout was on a treadmill and I set the incline at 1.5%. (For those who do not know, setting a treadmill between 1%-2% is more of an accurate representation of running out doors.) I ran 6.5 miles for 48:34
1 mile warm up (avg HR 143 bpm)
1 mile IV - 7:05.42 (170 bpm)
.25 recover - 2:09.3 (160 bpm)
1 mile IV - 6:54.15 (173 bpm)
.25 recover - 2:11.07 (166 bpm)
1 mile IV - 6:40.60 (176 bpm)
.25 recovery - 2:11.23 (174 bpm)
.50 IV - 3:01.20 (181 bpm)
.25 recovery - 2:15.75 (178 bpm)
.25 IV - 1:24.00 (183 bpm)
.25 recovery - 2:25.05 (178 bpm)
.25 IV - 1:18.65 (182 bpm)
.25 recover - 2:23.97 (179 bpm)
All in all, it was a pretty good workout in a short amount of time. Not sure that it's a great marathon specific speed workout, but it felt great and I'm sure there was plenty to be gained from the session.
As mentioned, the workout was on a treadmill and I set the incline at 1.5%. (For those who do not know, setting a treadmill between 1%-2% is more of an accurate representation of running out doors.) I ran 6.5 miles for 48:34
1 mile warm up (avg HR 143 bpm)
1 mile IV - 7:05.42 (170 bpm)
.25 recover - 2:09.3 (160 bpm)
1 mile IV - 6:54.15 (173 bpm)
.25 recover - 2:11.07 (166 bpm)
1 mile IV - 6:40.60 (176 bpm)
.25 recovery - 2:11.23 (174 bpm)
.50 IV - 3:01.20 (181 bpm)
.25 recovery - 2:15.75 (178 bpm)
.25 IV - 1:24.00 (183 bpm)
.25 recovery - 2:25.05 (178 bpm)
.25 IV - 1:18.65 (182 bpm)
.25 recover - 2:23.97 (179 bpm)
All in all, it was a pretty good workout in a short amount of time. Not sure that it's a great marathon specific speed workout, but it felt great and I'm sure there was plenty to be gained from the session.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Discomfort
So far this has been an uncomfortable trip for various reasons. Things are getting better, but I'm definitely out of my comfort zone. What's uncomfortable you ask? Well, for starters, I'm not a city guy. Being in a big, unknown city is intimidating. This is likely partially due to me being directionally challenged amongst other things. Tack on to the city that I'm attending my first conference. The unknown of everything going on around here is quite intimidating. For some reason, I completely filled my schedule so most days I'm busy from 8:30 AM - 9:20 PM with very little break. The next intimidating thing is being around so many people. I'm much happier with a smaller group of people that I know rather then all these people I do not know. I guess with well over 10,000 people here, it's easy enough to just blend in, but still. The final problem is trying to find time to exercise. As I filled my time so full here, I'm finding it hard to get time to run or anything. I was able to get in a 5 mile interval run last night at 9pm on a treadmill. I will not be back in my room tonight until after 9:30 so it's unlikely that I will get anything in today. Maybe I'll try an up tempo 20-30 minute workout.
Sorry for the lack of content and all this whining. I had a couple minutes to post something and these are the thoughts on my mind
Sorry for the lack of content and all this whining. I had a couple minutes to post something and these are the thoughts on my mind
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Limited Web Access This Week
As it turns out, wireless in my hotel is $15 per day. Needless to say, my internet access will be severely hampered this week. As I've also overbooked my schedule this week, running may also be hampered. I think I will try to get in quick, intense sessions when I can. I suspect that things will get back to normal by the weekend.
Peace Out!
Peace Out!
Monday, May 5, 2008
Off to San Francisco
I'm not sure what I'll be posting this week. I take off for the JavaOne conference in San Fran today. I woke up early today and got in a 6 mile run before breakfast. (By the way, I don't recommend it as I was very low on energy the entire time.) I'm not sure of the quality or quantity of workouts while on travel. I don't know much about the area I'm staying in other than there are tons of hills. Maybe I'll spend all week doing hill repeats. I'll post when I can and hopefully there will be some running content. I'm sure there is plenty of Java I can talk about in the coming days, but I'm sure no one would care about that... including myself.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Rock and Roll Marathon Goals
Today was a recovery day. We did 20+ last weekend and plan on doing 20+ next weekend. So we dropped down to 16 today. It was only Andy and I as Marc Fit broke into multiple locations for the day (including Mike's bedroom :) ). As everyone had different goals for the day, Andy and I met at Swami's for a run up and down the coast. We started out slow and 2 of the first 7 were over 9 min miles (one was hilly) and 2 o the miles were 8:40+. The rest was around 8 min/mile including 8 of the last 9 at sub 8s. I felt good during the run and felt like I could have done more distance and/or more speed.
During the run, Andy and I talked about our goals for the upcoming Rock and Roll Marathon. The idea of running another Boston Qualifier was brought up again. I'm already qualified for the 2009 Boston having run a sub 3:15 at St. George last year and that fell withing the 18 month qualifying window. As I'll be 35 at the 2009 Boston, I'll be qualified. As I'm still 34, I'd like to qualify with a sub 3:10 as this is what a 34 year old needs. The problem is that I've only run 1 sub 3:10 race and I feel that I was in better shape then. I do not feel as if I'm anywhere near my speed potential right now. My endurance is very good, but my speed is definitely lacking. It seems that Andy has more confidence in my abilities than I do. He is very positive and optimistic. That's not to say that I'm negative and pessimistic. I feel that I am a realist. It is very likely that we will push it and see how fast we can push it. If we take that approach, I'd say there is better than a 66% chance that I blow up and do another death march to the finish line. Here's the dilemma, do I take the safe approach, aim for a 3:15 and do what I'm pretty sure I can do? Or aim for a 3:07 and go until I either make it in that time or blow up and suffer to finish line in 3:40 - 3:50? Or aim for a 3:07 and if after 5-10 I can tell there is no chance, back off a bit, adjust the goal to 3:20 or 3:25 and make it to the finish line.
I know the smart choice. I know the realistic choice. But am I limiting myself by not pushing myself to my potential? Am I setting myself up for failure by having these doubts in my head?
We are now 4 weeks out from race day. I guess I do not have to have a decision right now. I definitely have some things to think about in the coming weeks.
Food
During the run, Andy and I talked about our goals for the upcoming Rock and Roll Marathon. The idea of running another Boston Qualifier was brought up again. I'm already qualified for the 2009 Boston having run a sub 3:15 at St. George last year and that fell withing the 18 month qualifying window. As I'll be 35 at the 2009 Boston, I'll be qualified. As I'm still 34, I'd like to qualify with a sub 3:10 as this is what a 34 year old needs. The problem is that I've only run 1 sub 3:10 race and I feel that I was in better shape then. I do not feel as if I'm anywhere near my speed potential right now. My endurance is very good, but my speed is definitely lacking. It seems that Andy has more confidence in my abilities than I do. He is very positive and optimistic. That's not to say that I'm negative and pessimistic. I feel that I am a realist. It is very likely that we will push it and see how fast we can push it. If we take that approach, I'd say there is better than a 66% chance that I blow up and do another death march to the finish line. Here's the dilemma, do I take the safe approach, aim for a 3:15 and do what I'm pretty sure I can do? Or aim for a 3:07 and go until I either make it in that time or blow up and suffer to finish line in 3:40 - 3:50? Or aim for a 3:07 and if after 5-10 I can tell there is no chance, back off a bit, adjust the goal to 3:20 or 3:25 and make it to the finish line.
I know the smart choice. I know the realistic choice. But am I limiting myself by not pushing myself to my potential? Am I setting myself up for failure by having these doubts in my head?
We are now 4 weeks out from race day. I guess I do not have to have a decision right now. I definitely have some things to think about in the coming weeks.
Food Journal
Food
- Myoplex Lite Protein Bar
- Power Bar
- Phil's BBQ (partial BBQ pork sandwich, 1 piece BBQ Chickless, 2 BBQ Ribs, Fries)
- 6 Life Savers
- 4 Sliders and Fries (Yardhouse)
- 3 Otter Pops
- 100 oz Water
- 12 oz Tea
- 17 oz Coffee
- 12 oz Diet Dr. Pepper
- 16 oz Diet Coke
- 1/2 yard Downtown Brown
- 1 pint Fat Tire
Friday, May 2, 2008
Rest Day
I have run 5 days in a row and decided it's time for a recovery day. I would go to the gym and lift weights, but at this point, my rib injury appears to be on the slow path to recovery. I don't want to ruin in my making things worse.
To compound the no exercise decision for the day, I decided to make it a "cheat" day in my eating. It's not really cheating as I don't have a plan that I follow, but I allowed myself to eat more bad stuff than I usually do. I don't think that the day before a long run is the time to do it, but hey, you only live once. Plus, I usually have some pretty good long runs after eating crap the day and night before.
I think another reason for the rest day is that I'm very tired. Last night's 5 1/2 hour sleep night can be completely blamed on GTA IV. However, the night before, I also slept 5 1/2 hours and it was for a very different reason. I wonder if anyone else has this problem that I occasionally have. I was really tired and got to bed nice and early. It took me about 10 minutes, but I dozed off and woke. Unlike what usually happens here (I'll explain in a minute), I was able to fall back to sleep again and then woke up again. Both of these things took place in less than 10 minutes. Now I went to be exhausted and not thinking about a thing. After waking up the 2nd time (which often happens after the first time) I was wide awake and couldn't fall asleep for anything. I wasn't really even thinking about anything. I tried for about 45 minutes, got up for a bit and then tried again for another hour or so. Some time after 2 hours later, I finally fell back to sleep. It's almost like it was an incredibly efficient power nap. That annoys me so much when it happens and usually puts me behind the 8 ball for the week as I don't ever catch up on this lost sleep.
Food
To compound the no exercise decision for the day, I decided to make it a "cheat" day in my eating. It's not really cheating as I don't have a plan that I follow, but I allowed myself to eat more bad stuff than I usually do. I don't think that the day before a long run is the time to do it, but hey, you only live once. Plus, I usually have some pretty good long runs after eating crap the day and night before.
I think another reason for the rest day is that I'm very tired. Last night's 5 1/2 hour sleep night can be completely blamed on GTA IV. However, the night before, I also slept 5 1/2 hours and it was for a very different reason. I wonder if anyone else has this problem that I occasionally have. I was really tired and got to bed nice and early. It took me about 10 minutes, but I dozed off and woke. Unlike what usually happens here (I'll explain in a minute), I was able to fall back to sleep again and then woke up again. Both of these things took place in less than 10 minutes. Now I went to be exhausted and not thinking about a thing. After waking up the 2nd time (which often happens after the first time) I was wide awake and couldn't fall asleep for anything. I wasn't really even thinking about anything. I tried for about 45 minutes, got up for a bit and then tried again for another hour or so. Some time after 2 hours later, I finally fell back to sleep. It's almost like it was an incredibly efficient power nap. That annoys me so much when it happens and usually puts me behind the 8 ball for the week as I don't ever catch up on this lost sleep.
Food Journal
Food
- 2 bowls Strawberry Medley with 12 oz Skim Milk
- 2 slices Pepperoni & Sausage Pizza
- Milky Way
- 10 Life Savers
- Chips and Salsa
- Medium Domino's Pepperoni PIzza
- 5 Otter Pops
- 113 oz Water
- 28 oz Coffee
- 12 oz Diet Dr. Pepper
- 12 oz Diet Coke
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Long Tempo Run
As is usually the case when children are involved, directly or indirectly, plans are never set in stone. This was the case today. Due to Max's doctor appointment today, Andy wasn't able to make the run today until later in the afternoon. I didn't really want to meet at that later point in the afternoon as the traffic in that direction usually starts to become atrocious. So we decided to do our own thing for the day. I decided to head to Miramar Lake to get in a couple laps. By the time I got to the lake, my motivation was down a bit. I decided to do one lap of tempo. I definitely did not feel as good today as yesterday. It was 10 degrees warmer and the sun was out, but it still was very nice out. The first mile that was more of a warm up was 7:41 followed by 7:04, 7:00, 7:04 and 6:57. My average HR was a bit lower, but that did include a 3/4 mile cool down and the slower start. Overall the effort was a bit harder today and it definitely felt harder.
There is a trend starting here that I am not liking. I seem to be talking myself out of planned workouts. But then again, the planned workouts are pretty random anyway. Once again this points to me needing a training plan. I followed a bit of a plan last fall, but for the most part, over the last few years, I've pretty much been flying by the seat of my pants. I think if I want to start taking this seriously again, I need a training plan. I do well when I've got a schedule to follow. Unfortunately, I sometimes follow it too well. Even when I feel run down or tired or too busy, I still get the workout. Not always a good thing. But I think it will be different this time. Since the race is only 4 1/2 weeks away, there really no point in creating a plan anymore for RnR. As long as I get into St. George, I guess that will be the time to start following my new plan. First things first, I need to find one.
The Cubs appear to be headed back to their normal place. Coming into today, they still have the 2nd best record in baseball. They played 8 great innings today and went into the 9th with a 2 run lead. Kerry Wood pulled an Eric Gagne and gave up three runs and the Cubs lost. They have now lost 5 of 7. They did have a ridiculously good start, but this is not making me feel too good right now.
Brooke went home this week. Since it wasn't Jason, I guess she was next on the list. It just sucks that Jason continues to make it week after week when he is the weakest singer, but when you run the competition the way this is run, you have to take the good with the bad.
By the way, GTA IV is amazingly, awesome. I have not been able to play it very much yet, but it's a lot of fun. There are way too many wasted hours coming in my future in front of this game.
Food
There is a trend starting here that I am not liking. I seem to be talking myself out of planned workouts. But then again, the planned workouts are pretty random anyway. Once again this points to me needing a training plan. I followed a bit of a plan last fall, but for the most part, over the last few years, I've pretty much been flying by the seat of my pants. I think if I want to start taking this seriously again, I need a training plan. I do well when I've got a schedule to follow. Unfortunately, I sometimes follow it too well. Even when I feel run down or tired or too busy, I still get the workout. Not always a good thing. But I think it will be different this time. Since the race is only 4 1/2 weeks away, there really no point in creating a plan anymore for RnR. As long as I get into St. George, I guess that will be the time to start following my new plan. First things first, I need to find one.
The Cubs appear to be headed back to their normal place. Coming into today, they still have the 2nd best record in baseball. They played 8 great innings today and went into the 9th with a 2 run lead. Kerry Wood pulled an Eric Gagne and gave up three runs and the Cubs lost. They have now lost 5 of 7. They did have a ridiculously good start, but this is not making me feel too good right now.
Brooke went home this week. Since it wasn't Jason, I guess she was next on the list. It just sucks that Jason continues to make it week after week when he is the weakest singer, but when you run the competition the way this is run, you have to take the good with the bad.
By the way, GTA IV is amazingly, awesome. I have not been able to play it very much yet, but it's a lot of fun. There are way too many wasted hours coming in my future in front of this game.
Food Journal
Food
- 1 1/2 bowl Cinnamon Oatmeal Squares with 10 oz Skim Milk
- Original Jamba Juice - Orange Dream Machine with Protein
- leftover Chicken Breast, Brown Rice and Peas
- Milky Way Candy Bar
- PowerBar
- Chips and Salsa
- Almonds
- Soft Chicken Taco, semi-crunchy Beef Taco, Rice, Beans, Chips
- 5 Otter Pops
- 147 oz Water
- ~35 oz Coffee
- 24 oz Diet Dr. Pepper
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