Week in Review

It feels like I've been taking a bit of a breather this week. After the unintended quick 10.5 miles followed by another 10 miles that was actually suppose to be 16 miles, I haven't been able to come back mentally. My diet has been random, mostly healthy, but random.

Tuesday
4 miles at 5 AM

Wednesday
Power

Thursday
5 mile Tempo Run
2.6 miles @ 7.3 MPH just under 90% max
Power

Friday
4 miles at 5 AM

Saturday
Power

Well the week has past, and a new week is coming. This coming week SHOULD be better. I have a few new tricks up my sleeve, including Cytolean and a possible new drink supplement that can help power my work outs. I hope to cover 18 miles on Sunday. I have a twenty mile PAVED route planned, and I'm fully intend on taking it slow and steady. Wish me luck.

So It Wasn't the Cheese

Tried for 16 last night, got all of 10.3 miles in.

I knew it from the very beginning because I wasn't using my quads as much as I was using my calves. Needless to say, the pace was UBER slow, something like 11:30 minutes per mile.

The gravel trail I do my long distance runs is insufferable. It takes every last grain of joy out of running. Before I even hit the 8 mile turn around, I was thinking maybe I should just do my typical 10 - 12 mile paved loop everyday instead of doing this marathon training stuff. I would have more fun, and I really don't need to do marathons. It's just ... cool to run through cities ... the closed down 26.2 miles worth of road for the sake of pedestrian traffic.

Okay, so I need to do marathons. That's one of the best ways to tour a city. I just have to figure out some other place to go to cover the heavy mileage days.

Was it the Cheese?

Yesterday, I went out for a run without really knowing what to expect. It was later in the day, and I had about two hours of daylight remaining. I was suppose to cover a 16 mile run, but I knew that that couldn't possibly happen last night. So I was thinking either a fast and mildly shorter run, but I wasn't feeling up for that either AND I wanted to spend as much time running in that beautiful day as I possibly could. So I just ventured out with my Garmin, hoping for the best.

Knowing that I've been eating pretty much randomly since Thursday, I wasn't expecting much. The only thing that had been consistent was the cheese ... it started off with some Apple Smoked Gouda and it ended with Sharp White Cheddar.

So I headed out, feeling as though I was trucking along. My body felt heavy and lethargic, but I felt confident that I can continue on for at least 10 miles. I was focused on my form - although my upper body was a little wriggly, I felt my foot plants had improved. After the first three miles, I finally looked at my Garmin. I was expecting to see an average pace that was slightly higher than 10 minutes per mile, but I was completely shocked by what I saw.

9:17 Minutes Per Mile.

Keep in mind, the first portion 6 miles of this course is mainly downhill, but still ... I have NEVER covered any distance greater than 7 miles at a pace like this.

I guess the speed work and tempo runs are finally paying off. Either that, or it was the cheese.


In total, I covered 10.5 miles in a bit over 98 minutes. The return trip uphill killed my average pace down to an overall average of 9:27 minutes per mile ... which is still pretty fast. I didn't even feel as though I had left a chunk of my midsection out on the course this time.

And now, in about half an hour ... I'm going to try to cover 16 miles. I'm hoping for some divine intervention right about now.

Bump It Up ... Just a Little

I added just under five pounds of weight for the leg exercises for the Power class on Monday, and increased the speed for the tempo run last night. I was surprised that I was able to handle the additions, but I suffered through both.

More Power to come tonight ...

The Fifth 5 AM Run

What a fantastic morning. For the first time since I've started my marathon training endeavors, I went out for a run this morning, without a heart rate monitor, my Garmin, or even a digital watch. I don't know how long it took me to do the four miles, but I was back at home drinking some water before 6 AM. This extra little bit of time combined with a rather easy morning and getting ready, I had almost 45 minutes before needing to leave. So how did I spend this extra bit of time? I took a half hour nap cuddled up with H. It was absolute bliss.

Tonight, I'm taking the Power class and I may skip the cycling class depending on how I'm feeling. I have a hunch that I'll be yawning up a storm no later than quarter after 7.

Thursday Tempo and a Long Sunday Run

I just haven't been myself this past week. I took Tuesday and Wednesday off, did pretty well on Thursday night's tempo run, clipped out on Friday and Saturday, and did a long run today.

I'm hoping to come back to my normally scheduled program, and refocus on my meal plan this week. I've been a bit ... emotionally off, which brought me to discover the joys of red wine and beers of the stout variety, particularly something called a Milk Stout. Oh baby, one bottle of a Milk Stout, followed by one bottle of a Chocolate Stout ... cap the WHOLE thing off with some ice cream ... and it's a nice mixing of maltose and lactose induced happiness.

This week begins a new week. One without alcohol until Friday night, no cheating on the meal plan, and no angsting or emo-ing whatsoever ... until Friday night. It will be totally okay if the Milk Stout releases a little bit of those things, but that won't happen until Friday.

So anyway, here's the deal on this past Thursday.


It was a tough run, and I was surprised to see my heart rate at such a low point even though it felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. I did notice a little bit of difficulty breathing with this tempo run, which may be the reason why I felt so fatigued despite what the heart rate monitor said. I've been wheezing a little as I progressed into the run, and it was much more pronounced as I was closing in on the final two miles. I'm hoping that this condition will just go away on its own. It never happens when I'm cruising along at 80% of my max or lower.

Today's run was long, hot and slow. The majority of it was spent on a gravel muddy trail, which made it incredibly difficult to find speed. You can pretty much tell when I found paved surfaces from the heart rate graph below.

That complete plummet around mile 11 was when I found a water fountain and hosed off my face after slurping down a gallon of water. I noticed when I trotted off after the fountain that my back was in a bit of an uncomfortable state as I progressed. I think I was bent over in that awkward drinking fountain position.

Interestingly, today's 14 mile loop burned less calories than last week's 13 miler. Go figure. This coming Sunday is gonna be a 16 mile day. It definitely won't happen on a treadmill, and I REALLY don't want to go on the trail again. Maybe I'll get up extraordinarily early on Sunday, and just run a stretch of road somewhere before the cars show up. After all, isn't that what real runners do?

Bring It ... To A Complete Stop

The signs were all there. I wanted to go home right after work ... but I didn't. In the locker room, I discovered I was without socks. So I bought some at the front desk. Finally, I make it on the tread. I opted for the tempo run since there was no way a speed session would have worked out for me.

Well, the tempo run didn't happen either. I left the gym after a minute on the treadmill.

I think I may have needed a recovery day.

Bring It! Just Half Way

Yesterday ...

5 Am Run - goal was 4 miles, but it turned out to be 2.5

Power Class - a whole new set of exercises, but didn't miss a single beat ... except for the sets involving the biceps ... missed a few reps in that one

Cycling - completed the hour ... but stayed under 80% even though it was suppose to be an interval profile

I don't really mind since I covered 13 miles on Sunday. Today will either be a tempo run or a speed session. I have a feeling that it's gonna be a tempo day.

For the Love of It

I was slated for a relatively fast 12 miler today. I was suppose to go at it with a 9:40 mile pace. I knew I wasn't going to do that before I even walked out the door, and I finally came to terms with a decision that I've been flirting with for a couple of weeks.

Although I want to run in Boston next year, this goal is slowly killing my love for running. I normally become excited on my long run days; it was formerly a treat that I looked forward to all week. Ever since I placed a time stipulation on these long runs, I've started dreading the work out and I even stopped noticing things. I discovered the amazing flowering bushes in favorite nooks around campus are already past their prime, which I didn't even notice when they first bloomed. I noticed people actually looking at me today, with a faint trace of a smile on their faces. Two lovely gentlemen even offered encouragement when I looked their way - one guy was particularly creative and partially flirtatious in his approach. He looked at his watch, said that he can't wait around for me all day and that I looked as though I could definitely pick up the pace. When I saw him again after the turnaround, he gave me the standard, looking good and wished me a good day.

The universe gave me it's blessing with my decision to disregard time for my long runs by having a turtle cross my path. They say that turtles are slow creatures, but this guy was probably the fastest turtle in all of Central Jersey, and a rather lucky one too. He lives by a wild purple daisy. There aren't that many wild daisies around these parts, and certainly even fewer purple ones.

So yes, I have come to terms with my decision. I'll still do the prescribed speed work and tempo runs, but I'm reclaiming my long distance days. It's no big deal if I don't make it to Boston in 2008, it will happen when it happens. Perhaps my body and mind just isn't prepared to go for it right now, which is completely acceptable.

So here are today's stats ...

and I was craving a cantaloupe Italian Ice from The Lemon Ice King of Corona during the ENTIRE run.

Speed Work #3

I wasn’t confident when I arrived at the gym about completing the speed session. I was feeling tired, and the thought of having to do a total of eight miles, four of which with speed, was intimidating. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle it, but I’m happy to say I did … well … sort of. The treadmill has a maximum time allowance of one hour, so I had to cut my last recovery jog and cool down distance by half each.


I knew I was going for it less than one minute into the first speed set. I saw that my heart rate was only at 83% and climbing slowly, and I didn’t feel as fatigued as I thought I would. Not to mention, the speed work was only one mile at a time, so thinking that I had less than four laps around a track remaining basically immediately after I started each set was a huge help. The mental wall showed up between a half and a third of a mile remaining per set, but it would slowly crumble after closing in on the quarter mile mark.

I didn’t feel sick or anything, but that hole in my mid section came back. This time, it felt like there was a thin layer of Elmer’s glue trying to cover up the missing chunk. So needless to say ... I didn't exactly show up for Power after the speed session - I went straight to the locker room before heading home.

Tempo Run #4 & 5 AM Run #3

Last night, I had a decision to make. I could either do a speed session or a tempo run. The tempo run was needed for the sake of redemption – I tried to go for it on Friday, but as stated previously … speed does not happen on Friday nights. The alternative was a speed session so that I could save the tempo run for Thursdays on account of recent developments that makes speed work on Thursday nights almost as impossible as Friday nights.

In either case, a mile warm up is required, so I decided to postpone my decision until midway through the warm up. Not even a quarter of a mile into it I knew I would opt for redemption. My legs felt fine, though a bit sore from Monday night’s cross training efforts that was double teamed by Power and Cycle classes. The problem was my upper body. The weight of my relatively new muscles developed from Power felt extraordinarily heavy, and unwilling to assist in my running efforts. So I just buckled down, cranked up the Iced Earth, and tried to keep up with the human conveyor belt.

I was surprised to find for the majority of the run, I had kept my heart rate within 85%. It felt like I was working a lot harder because my upper body actually felt like a heavy load, so it wasn’t a cruising tempo run at all. It was more of hauling tempo run. By the end of it, I was completely drenched in sweat, which actually made me VERY cold within seconds of dismounting the conveyor belt.

I felt completely drained, not unlike the way I felt after the nine miler at 9:34. That was still the hardest run I’ve had this year, but I did feel as though a chunk of my mid section was missing after the tempo run last night.

Given the circumstances, I had set my alarm for another early morning run without any real intentions on actually doing it. Well, I did this morning. I’m glad and pleased with myself that I did.

And tonight … we go back to Power with Debby, the Queen of Drills. The past couple of weeks, her drill of choice was the clean and press. I wonder what it’s going to be tonight.