Marathon Training, week 1

19 weeks until race day.

I'm currently without internet access, and having to use my Blackberry as my primary computer, which is a pain in the ass. Lightning struck near our house on Tuesday night, knocking out a transformer, frying one of our TVs, and doing something catastrophic to Mediacom's infrastructure.

One would think having no internet would make my training easier by removing distracions, but it doesn't. I can't access my trainer's schedule on my phone. I was all excited about ordering my new running shoes once I got my reimbursement, but I had to wait until I could go to my parents' house and use their internet connection, so I don't have them yet. I can only do basic tracking on my Sparkpeople app, and that doesn't allow adding mileage or workout notes.

And we've been told they might not be able to get it fixed until as late as the 3rd. Grr.

Be that as it may, though, training goes on.

Sunday we went to the gym in the late afternoon/evening and did an hour on the elliptical.

Monday, then, we had an appointment with our trainer. Kourt, however, came home from work with a serious headache, so I went myself. At our last appointment he put together a triceps and back workout, so Monday was shoulders and quads. I was going to do some cardio after, but by the time Andrew was done torturing me with drop sets my legs just didn't have it in them. Plus, my plantar fasciitis flared up out of nowhere on Monday, and my right foot ached.

Tuesday, though, I ran. I've put together a little list of progressively more challenging workouts for each component of my training routine, and my plan is that when I've completed one twice I'll take it off the list and go to the next one. I've been running intervals on Running Tuesdays, running at an easy pace of 5mph and walking 1/4 mile rest intervals at 3.5mph. So I decided to up the rests to 4mph and try to push through 1/2 mile running intervals for the whole distance. I wasn't sure I could do it, but I persevered. And as long as I was running my foot didn't hurt as much as it did while I was standing on it at work. And then we ran right off to give blood to help the victims of the tornado in Joplin. My blood pressure has never been very high, but it was noticeably lower than it has been in the past. My pulse was kind of high, but I had just run 3 miles, so I figure that's to be expected.

Since I had the workout with Andrew on what is usually our rest day, I took Wednesday as a rest instead, especially since we'd just given blood and I didn't want to push my luck. Then Thursday I intended to dive right back in with some incline work for Walking Thursday. Unfortunately, I ended up skipping. We have these weekly sales goals in the summer, and Kourt bought enough of our store brand energy drink to make sure her store met the goal. That means we've got a bag full of these things here, and although I don't like the taste as much as my Rock Star, and don't like the fact that it's sweetened with HFCS and sucralose, we've got a ton and might as well drink it. I'm hopelessly addicted to caffiene, and one would assume that all energy drinks have copious amounts of it, but by about 8pm I had a throbbing withdrawal headache and noticed that caffiene is listed fairly far down in the ingredient list. Once the headache is there, just consuming caffiene won't get rid of it. I hoped if I just waited it out it might subside to a tolerable level, but by the time I got home I had no choice but to take an NSAID, and wasn't about to risk barfing on a treadmill after that.

So I held off on my incline interval workout until after our training session on Friday. By then, my foot was back to being pain free. Andrew put us through a very hard hamstring and chest workout, after which it took some effort to even punch the buttons on the treadmill. I made it through the first mile and a half of my planned workout, but my legs were just too exhausted to take on tough hills like that for the rest of the 4 miles. I'll try it again next week, not on a day I lift weights. I did the whole distance, just not with the all the planned inclines.

Today, then was a 6 mile long walk. Since my legs had been through a pretty tough week already we walked the whole distance and skipped the running. Next week's long run is a mere 4 miles, which is a nice, short distance, and I should be much less wiped out and more able to run by then, especially if we shuffle the weight workouts to put biceps and back on Fridays.

BRING IT ON!

My training officially starts tomorrow, with a day of cross-training.  I've chosen a 20-week training plan which won't be very different from my pre-training routine.  I didn't set out thinking that the plan I was on for pre-training would basically be my training routine, but it's served me well so far and don't see a reason to make drastic changes.  Monday will still be my rest day.  I'll keep Running Tuesdays and Walking Thursdays, as my walking speed and running endurance are the two things I need to work on most (beyond the long walks increasing my general endurance, of course).  Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays will be strength training and either cross training or shorter runs/walks, depending on how things are going week to week, which allows for some flexibility in the schedule.  And Saturdays are for long runs, which will be the single biggest change to my routine.  My distance comfort zone is up to about 8 miles, so I'm curious to see what happens when the long runs start stretching into double digits.

I'm hoping to lose 36 more pounds and be at 155 by race day.  It's doable, but if I fall a little bit short it's no big deal.  The only significance of that number is that it'll put me 100 pounds from my heaviest weight, which just sounds nice.  And the main stumbling block on the path to that goal is the simple fact that I need to eat enough to support my activity level, especially when the long runs get really long. 

I don't want to necessarily set a time goal for my first marathon, as it will be a big deal just to finish.  But there is a six and a half hour time limit, and I'd like to head into it feeling able to pull off more like a 5:30, just so I'm not scared the whole time that if I stop to pee too often or the lines are too long at the port-o-potties or it takes too long to cross the start from the back of the open corral or something I'll end up not making it.  So that means my goal pace is 12:35 per mile.  Looking at my long run GPS stats so far, my "comfortable running speed" is about 7mph (8:34), and a reasonable projected walking pace is about 4.5mph (13:20) or faster.  And that means I don't necessarily need to increase my running speed, I only need to increase my endurance to the point where I can run a quarter of each mile for the duration of the marathon.  Technically, I could just walk the whole thing at that speed and come in under the time limit, as long as there were no unexpected delays.  So I'm pretty confident about this whole thing right now.  Especially considering I've shaved 2:20 off my pace already in 15 weeks.  Another 20 weeks of training and I should be golden.

At this point, I think it's just a matter of putting in the miles and starting to figure out what works best for me in terms of gear and energy gel and what/when to eat/drink before long runs so I'll have a plan for race day.  My biggest goal right now is to just get myself to the gym at least five days a week.  We've been hitting four with decent consistency, but I need to be less easily talked out of gym time.

Marathon Pre-Training, Final Week

This week's stats:

• 8.24 treadmill miles
• 3.00 outdoor miles
• 1 hours on elliptical machine
• 2 weightlifting sessions
• 1 pounds lost

Total pre-training stats:

• 15 weeks
• 108.10 treadmill miles
• 54.51 outdoor miles
• 24 pounds lost (@ 191)

It took a bit to get rested up from the trip to Arkansas, so we skipped the gym on Sunday.  Tuesday, though, I jumped right back in for Running Tuesday, and did well.  Wednesday we got back into our strength training, but as we were doing it I finally realized why I've been less than enthusiastic about the last few routines our trainer has worked out for us.  I'm not as big a fan of body-weight exercises.  First off, they're hard to quantify.  It's nearly impossible to tell if you're working harder one day than you did the previous day and it's a lot easier to slack off.  I like knowing that I should lift a certain number of pounds for a certain number of reps and being able to measure progress when I can add more weight.  Plus, I love that sore feeling after a tough weightlifting session, and I don't get that from just lifting my body weight.  I know I could if I "did it right," but apparently I don't do it right.  So we talked to our trainer on Friday and asked to go back to more traditional bodybuilding routines instead of playing with the stability balls and suspension trainer and such.  He's going to work with us twice more this coming week to put together three separate workouts we can do each week.  Yesterday we worked triceps and back, and I'm blissfully sore today.  It feels good.  I missed that feeling.

So today, as the last outdoor run/walk before training starts, I decided I wanted to do a time trial.  My intent was to go four miles, but there was some kind of huge gathering at the trailhead so we had to park farther up and get on the trail just past the 1 mile mark.  That meant walking about a mile from the car to the trail, so we cut it to three miles to make sure we had time to finish before our weekly lunch date with the family.  It was hot out, around 80 degrees, and sunny.  And humid.  I wanted to do four miles because if you start at the trailhead the one and two mile points are clearly marked on the pavement, meaning I could do the whole thing without glancing at the miCoach stats on my phone.  But since we started in the middle and I had to turn around after a mile and a half, I had to rely on the phone to tell me when to turn around.  I did, however, manage to keep myself from looking at my time until the end.  I hoped to run more of it than I did -- I'm sure I ran, cumulatively, around a quarter mile -- so I didn't feel like I was doing that well.  It was just so hot out, and I'm not fond of full sunlight, so it felt like trying to run in a sauna.  It turned into more a test of my walking speed than anything else.  I was confident I would end up with an average pace under 15:00 per mile, and I was hoping for 14:00.  When I got close to the end and took out my phone so I could stop the timer just as I hit the "finish line," I was shocked to see the time.  I finished at 39:53, for an average pace of 13:20.  Just over 4.5mph.  And that's primarily walking.

While that's faster than I have to go to finish the marathon in the given time, I know I still need to work on my average speed.  My 5k pace should be faster than that.  And I know I'll get there.  After all, 15 weeks ago the best I'd ever managed to average over a 3-6 mile distance was about 15:45 per mile, so I've achieved a HUGE improvement.  I've now got 20 more weeks to shave off more time, and just increasing my running stamina will do wonders.  At this point, then, I feel good to go.

Marathon Pre-Training, Week 14

This week's stats:

• 0 treadmill miles
• 7.32 outdoor miles
• 1 hours on a recumbent bike
• 0 weightlifting sessions
• 2 pounds lost

Total pre-training stats:

• 14 weeks
• 99.86 treadmill miles
• 51.51 outdoor miles
• 23 pounds lost (@ 192)

I only have one more week to go until marathon training actually begins.  I had all kinds of good intentions about working out consistently even though I had to go on this business trip.  My hotel did have a workout room with a treadmill, a recumbent bike, and a weight machine, and they had a deal where you could get free passes to a nearby fitness center. 

But I only got one workout in while at the hotel. 

I didn't workout Sunday because I had to work my normal morning shift and then drive to Arkansas, and by the time I got to the right hotel (there was a bit of a mixup with the directions I was given) and got checked in, I had to go to bed in order to be able to get any kind of decent sleep before getting up at 5am.

Monday I worked ten hours on about six hours of sleep, then went in search of a grocery store and made up lunches to take to work the rest of the week, and then unintentionally fell asleep for several hours.  So, no workout that night.

Tuesday I intended to go back to the hotel and work out, but ended up working twelve and a half hours at the store.  About half that day was spent reorganizing and cleaning the cooler, which involved hefting heavy boxes and cases of beverages around, and I was literally exhausted when I finally got back to the hotel.  I decided to count all that box moving as my workout and just go straight to bed after dinner.

Wednesday, though, I worked out.  But the treadmill sucked.  It took me a couple of minutes just to figure out how to get the display to tell me what I needed to know, and the controls were buttons that said things like "faster" and "slower."  Not exactly useful.  So after warming up on the treadmill and deciding I hated it, I tried the weight machine.  It was wobbly from overuse and after trying a few exercises I started to feel that it wasn't the safest piece of equipment to be using.  So I ended up doing an hour of very challenging intervals on the bike while watching NCIS.  If nothing else, my quads and calves got a really good workout.  And I felt good about actually getting my ass out of the room and putting in the effort.

Thursday night, then, was spent packing and doing laundry and preparing to check out the next morning, and then going to bed early so I would be rested for a day at work and a long drive home.  I knew I wouldn't get a workout in on Friday, either, but by that point I'd decided that as physically exhausted as I'd been all week from traveling and working long hours that maybe a week of rest was perhaps what I needed most. 

You can imagine, then, how surprised I was to get home and step on the scale and find that I'd lost 2 pounds.  But in reality I did put in a lot of physical work at the store during the week and the one thing I did really well on this trip was manage my eating.  My hotel room had a very basic kitchenette -- microwave, sink, fridge.  So although the company's allowance for reimbursement for food on this trip would have allowed me to go out for dinner each night, I opted instead to buy enough groceries for meals at the hotel and lunches to take to work so I could more closely control my caloric intake.  That also allowed me to be able to come back to my room and really relax instead of spending an hour each night finding somewhere to eat dinner in a city I'm unfamiliar with.

In the end, I do feel kind of bad that there was no Running Tuesday, no Walking Thursday, and no strength training this week, but rest is a good thing.  I think I benefited from it.

This morning, then, I got up for my long walk.  Kourt didn't want to get up, and Brenda was unavailable this weekend, so I was on my own.  I almost skipped.  It was cold out.  I went back to bed for a couple of minutes, but realized I wasn't tired enough to sleep more and, although my bed is comfy, I really felt compelled to get up and go anyway.  So I did.  My running intervals at the beginning of each mile were longer than last time, and I think the rest this week had a lot to do with that.  So I got in over seven miles today, which makes me feel a lot more like I'm back into my routine.

So, starting a week from tomorrow I'll be officially "in training."  Race day will be here before I know it.

Marathon Pre-Training, Week 13 (long overdue)

So, I'm in a hotel in Jonesboro, Arkansas, which is basically why I didn't blog about last week's pre-training over the weekend.  Last Tuesday I was asked to go on a week-long business trip to help manage a store down here which I wasn't exactly excited about, mostly because I knew it would seriously cut into my exercise regimen.  Not to mention how traveling tends to totally fuck up a diet.  But it's one of those opportunities that you don't turn down, and my reasons for not wanting to go basically boiled down to not wanting to drive that far, not wanting to screw with my workout and diet, and the fact that it was in Arkansas.  None of those are exactly great reasons, and ultimately there was no way I was going to say no.  So I spent the weekend packing and making arrangements and driving, and not blogging.

But I won't go babbling about this week until I get back. 

Last weeks stats, then:

• 8.46 treadmill miles
• 4.5 outdoor miles
• 1 hours on the elliptical machine
• 3 weightlifting sessions
• 1 pounds lost

Total pre-training stats:

• 13 weeks
• 99.86 treadmill miles
• 44.19 outdoor miles
• 21 pounds lost (@ 194)

The biggest highlight of the week was that Running Tuesday was another resounding success.  Since I've been thinking about how to up the ante on my workout routine, I decided that maybe just running quarter mile intervals was too easy.  So I hit the treadmill with the intent to up it to half mile intervals.  After running the first half mile I was so excited that I'd been able to do it that I reached over and tapped Kourt's shoulder and told her what I'd just done.  And then I realized if I had the ability to talk to her while still running, I could keep going.  So I ran another quarter mile.  Could have gone for a whole mile, but I knew I had to keep going for an hour and didn't want to leave my leg muscles too spent to run more intervals, so I stopped for a rest.  When the hour was up I'd run 2.75 miles out of a total 4.36 miles.  Needless to say, I was pretty pleased with myself.

Otherwise it was a pretty normal workout week.  We met with our trainer, who added a few things to our suspension trainer routine.  We really like working on the suspension trainer, so we told him we didn't want him to get rid of it yet.  He did make us get on the big stair machine -- the one with the actual stairs, like an escalator.  It's not my favorite machine, but it is certainly an effective exercise. 

And now, since I'm very tired and have to be at work at 6am, I'm going to stop blogging and go to bed.

Marathon Pre-Training, Week 12

I'm a little late on the weekly recap this time around. 

Stats:

• 8.20 treadmill miles
• 3.48 outdoor miles
• 1.5 hours on the elliptical machine
• 3 weightlifting sessions
• 1 pounds lost

Total pre-training stats:

• 12 weeks
• 91.40 treadmill miles
• 39.69 outdoor miles
• 20 pounds lost (@ 195)

This workout thing has finally become routine.  I don't mean that in a bad way.  But Sunday when I briefly thought about getting this blog entry done (and then didn't), I had to really think to remember what we'd done this week.  And it's not that we didn't work very hard at it this week, it's just that it's the same kind of workouts we do every week and it's finally, FINALLY, become just part of what we do.

I'm calling that a good thing, but maybe it does mean it's time to shake things up, push the intensity on the elliptical machine, try some new cardio workouts, etc.  I have to admit that, although at any given time during a workout I usually feel like I'm working pretty hard, I don't leave the gym with that spent feeling like I used to.  Maybe that just means I've improved my fitness level enough that I recover quickly, which is good.  But it could also mean that I'm getting a little complacent and should push myself a little harder or find something more challenging to do at the gym, especially on cross-training nights.

And on that note, I'm off to the gym for Running Tuesday.  I'm going to run off the irritation I'm feeling at being told I probably have to go to Arkansas all next week for work.  I don't want to go to Arkansas.  The hotel had better have a gym.