Marathon Training: Week 3

This week was marked by a true struggle to keep running and the rest of my life in balance. One difficult thing about training a fall marathon, I've found, is keeping up with training with the hot weather and vacation. Hot weather is easy enough: run in the morning. Except when something keeps me up late the night before and running at 6:00am is a real chore. Vacation is a more difficult conundrum. I went to Richmond, VA Wednesday night to rally with my brother for a four-day road trip to visit six bourbon distilleries in Kentucky, more than eight hours away. During that time, I had four mornings in which to fit in three runs. The busy schedule, late night bourbon tastings, and light-flooded campground along a road with a lot of truck traffic really took it's toll on me. And yet, I managed to get up and knock out those three runs. Mission accomplished.

And that is how I know I'm running a marathon. I'm taking this training far more seriously than previous efforts.

(Note: I did miss my cross training day, but I can live with that.)

Today's Inspiration

Footprints, originally uploaded by swishphotos.

A reminder that I'm not the only person out there doing this crazy thing called running.

Marathon Training: Week 2

After a second week, my legs are still holding up well. I can feel the beginning of a little knot in my left shin that fades away after about five minutes of running. I haven't had a shin splint since high school, but I'll still keep an eye on it.

I did my first speedwork session on Thursday. I loved the feeling of running faster and am really looking forward to future sessions, especially when I start two per week.

My main concern between now and November is an injury. So rather than becoming a hypochondriac diagnosing every slight ache or pain, I decided to go to the biggest source of a possible injury--my training schedule. Six days a week is not something I've done for a long time (over 10 years), so starting now and ramping up the mileage seems a little ambitious. I also didn't like the idea of cutting out time for biking. So I set aside Friday as a crosstraining day to go biking. I think this will all around help my legs and help prevent injuries. That, and I'll have a lot more fun. (I also expect this to be the last significant change to the training schedule...I don't want to become guilty of tampering too much.)

Today's Inspiration

The Turtle Island trail in Smith Mountain Lake State Park.

Marathon Training: Week 1

Here's to finishing my first week of training. I nailed every day except the speed training on Thursday. I missed that because I was still waiting for a watch to arrive in the mail so I could time the intervals. I'll forgive myself this time because I bolted this week onto the plan, which really begins tomorrow.

I'll also take 5 out of 6 considering this was easily the hottest week so far this year. The weather was consistently in the 90s with high humidity. We're also replacing seven windows on the second story of our house, which (in case you didn't know) does not have air conditioning. What that means is I didn't sleep very well this week. High humidity outside is one thing; it's an entirely different matter when the bedroom is 85 degrees and everything is damp. The silver lining is that I will probably acclimate to the heat a lot faster than most people, assuming I don't die of heatstroke first.

Every run this week felt pretty good except for the long run. Early in the week, I ran early in the morning and took full advantage of the cooler air. Later in the week, I found myself off cycle and was running in the afternoon, which was rather unpleasant. By Saturday, I managed to procrastinate long enough in the morning to find myself starting my run at 11:30 in full sun and brutal humidity. Needless to say that run was insufferable and I ran very slow just to avoid passing out.

Since I bolted Week 1 onto the plan, Week 2 will be identical. I'll see what six days feels like then. I'm still considering a minor tweak to the plan that will allow for cross training. Every Friday is set aside for easy recovery miles, so I'm thinking about swapping that out for 30-60 minutes of biking. I'm having a hard time seeing myself running a six-day week for the next four months without injuring myself ... and I do like other kinds of exercise.

Marathon Training: First Steps

Today marks the first day of my marathon training schedule for the Richmond Marathon on 11/11/2006. You can find a link to my schedule on the right column. I spent a good part of my vacation comparing various training plans before adopting this one, which largely came from the July 2006 issue of Runner's World. What I liked about it is the speed work is pretty diverse, incorporating strides, tempo runs, fartleks, and intervals. Normally, I steer clear of intervals because they need a track (I don't have) for easy measure, but this plan uses 800 meters intervals and a nearby trail has 1/2 mile markers. Perfect!

My legs are feeling pretty strong going into training, let's see how they hold up after a few weeks. I've also decided to post a weekly recap rather than daily posts. I think this allow for more in-depth posts and move away from the "I felt good today..." kinda stuff.

Cross Training: 24 Miles Backpacking

I did a simple out-and-back on the Appalachian Trail, leaving yesterday from Jenkins Gap off of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park and hiking north to the Mosby Camp just north of Route 522. That was about 12 miles (including a couple intentional detours I made). I camped out last night and hiked back to my car today. The 24 miles carrying a full pack definitely worked out my legs. I hit all kinds of muscles running never touches, so I think my legs will be a little stronger for it heading into marathon training, which starts on Monday.

45 Minutes X 2

Nothing major. I set out for short runs around town the last two days, 45 minutes both times.