I ran a full ten miles today. That’s the first time since I was running cross-country in high school. I amazed myself with the consistency of my pace. At three miles I was on pace, at six miles I was on pace, at nine miles I was still on pace. The amazing thing about it was that I had not run more than six miles prior to today. I had done some workouts on my bike that were equal to at least eight miles running, but biking and running are very different in the way they affect your energy so I was surprised that I could be so steady. That bodes well for me as my workouts get progressively longer in preparation for the marathon in July.
Tag: marathon
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Running Again
After nine weeks my ankle is healed. I ran two miles a month ago to discover that it had not healed after five weeks. Today I ran four miles at my desired pace without any discomfort. In those nine weeks I’ve done some training on my bike, but I have been aching to get back out running.
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Marathon Registration
I finally committed (financially) to a specific marathon. Late last night I registered for the Days of ’47 marathon for July 24th. I had chosen that marathon more than a month ago and planned to register on January 1st when I was told that registration would begin then. Unfortunately, registration did not begin on January 1st. I don’t know when I last checked that it was still not available, but I checked again last night and it was open, so I registered.
That’s 56 more reasons not to be a slacker in my training. Now I just need to get to where I can run on my ankle again. I’ve been cycling for my training for the last few weeks, as noted before, but I need to get out and actually run 10 miles rather than cycling for an equivelant amount of time.
I’m excited to be getting closer to this goal. 26 miles still seems like a huge mountain to climb.
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The Amazing Brain
Today was my first seven mile workout. Looking forward to it, I knew that I did not want to be counting the minutes for over an hour. I shut my eyes and determined that I would not open them for at least 20 minutes. I needed to keep track of the time so that I could keep myself hydrated, which meant that I needed to look up within 30 minutes to make sure that I don’t go more than the equivalent of three miles without a drink.
While my eyes were shut I tried to keep my mind occupied thinking about other things while internally keeping track of the time in 5 minute chunks. I determined that I would open my eyes once I thought it had been 25 minutes. Amazingly, when I opened my eyes it had been exactly 25 minutes (to the minute – not any more accurate than that). After drinking the allotted amount I logged a mental note that I had completed the first three miles in 26 minutes (my target is 27 minutes for three miles – I have done three miles in as little as 24 minutes).
When I shut my eyes again, I decided to mentally jog one of my normal three mile routes and see how accurate my time keeping was. At the mental end of the second three miles I looked at the clock to discover that it had taken 28 minutes – which is about normal for a second three mile set.
I spent the remaining minutes of my workout being amazed that the mind could so accurately keep time and remember in such detail the path that I had not run in weeks. What a marvelous gift a mind is.
I said I would try to run on the 30th of December to see how my ankle was doing, but I didn’t. I finally concluded (without running that day) that I was going to have to believe what I had read that this kind of injury could take weeks (up to 8) to heal. After consulting with my brother-in-law (the triathlete) I decided that I should get a cycling trainer so that I could do bike workouts which would help me increase my stamina without doing further damage while my ankle healed. That also allows me to exercise at home at times when I would not be able to go out running.
I started working out after my trainer arrived this week and I love it. I don’t work all the same muscle groups, but it’s a great aerobic workout which is probably the thing I need more than the specific muscles for running – I’m already running as fast as I need to for my goal I just need to work up to being able to go for 26 miles. I figure I will continue to cycle for some of my workouts throughout my training and after the marathon I will continue to do a mixture of running and cycling.
I have also heard from a variety of people that I was looking more fit. I finally began to notice that myself this week. This race is going to cost me a lot more than I had initially thought – I’m going to need to buy a new wardrobe by the time I’m done because my pants are all baggy now.
Yesterday was one of those days. I wanted to get the Christmas lights up on the house and possibly write another candidate endorsement. Instead my day went something like this:
- Get up with Isaac for night feedings at 2:00am and 5:30am
- Run 6 miles at 6:00am
- Help get breakfast on the table for the kids who have kept Laura up since I left to run
- Talk about what the girls want to do today
- Start putting clips on the house to hang the lights
- Run to the store for extension cords and light socket adapters (skipping lunch)
- Have a friend over for games
- Finish getting the lights up
- Go to a dinner/Christmas party
- Put the girls to bed
- Feed Isaac for his late feeding
- Fall in bed – looking forward to the night feedings
I would love to show a picture of the lights on the house but, thanks to a shortage of lights at the store, I only have half the lights I wanted so it still looks a little weak – even by my meager standards. I guess you’ll have to settle for a picture of what my hair looks like after a six mile run once I have run my fingers through it and it has had time to dry.
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Getting Stronger
The running and the biking are obviously making a difference. I have noticed within the last week that I can run a mile one minute faster than I could previously and maintain that pace for the duration of my 3 mile runs. If I could maintain that pace for the full marathon I would blow the 4 hour mark away – I don’t expect that, but it’s fun to imagine.
I also noticed this morning that riding to work is easier than it was last week. With Thanksgiving I did not go to work for nearly a week. When I rode in to work this morning I was able to put the bike in top gear and maintain a much faster pace the whole way than I had been able to. I learned something very important, when riding at that faster pace in these winter months I need to wear a hat (besides the helmet) and a heavier coat to mitigate the wind chill factor.
It’s nice to see improvement after only a couple of months.
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A Little Headwind
In case I was getting too comfortable with my running, today was a wakeup call. I had my first 5 mile run. With the way 4 miles had been feeling lately I figured it would not be too hard on me. I did not count on having to run against a 10 mph headwind most of the way.
At first the wind felt like a nice breeze that would keep me cool. By the third mile my pace started to slacken. Early in the fourth mile I began to feel how much my strength was being drained because of that extra resistance. I was walking into that wind for quite a while. Based on my time and my energy level at the end of the run it felt like a 6 mile workout rather than 5.
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Future Milestone
I figured out today what my second running milestone will be. It will be when I commit to a specific marathon. I was looking at the options today. I figure I can be ready as early as July and I don’t think I want to run my first any later in the year than September. I don’t plan to travel very far so St. George and Top of Utah (Logan) are out. That leaves about 4 possible marathons. Now I just have to select one of them and register, along with my continued training.
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Running: Milestone 1
I had to take some time off running for a bit when I got sick, but I got back on my training schedule and met a milestone today. Saturday I had a 4 mile workout which is a normal distance so far. Today was another 4 miler but unlike every previous run I did not walk a single step.
When I had done three mile workouts I was running 2 1/2 miles and then walking for a bit before finishing at a run. When I started 4 milers I ran 3 or 3 1/4 then walked and then finished running.
On Saturday I increased my pace and it wore me out. That is why today’s run was so surprising. I ran at the faster pace – about the pace I hope to run for my marathon. I decided early in the run to go at least 3 1/4 miles before walking.
At about 2 1/2 miles I decided not to walk before 3 1/2 miles.
At 3 miles I thought, “I could possibly run the whole distance.”
At the 3 1/4 mile mark I committed to run the whole way. The really amazing thing was that at 4 miles I still had energy. I’m sure I could have gone another 1/4 mile without walking.