Marathon Training Week 8 Recap

     

      This was a very busy week for me, and the fact that I was able to get in 30 of the 37 miles I was planning to run this week isn't to shabby.  Traveling to Nashville for work was fun, and seeing all the new product really got me pumped for another year.  

     We stayed at the Gaylord Opryland hotel and convention center where the show was being held.  The Gaylord is a gigantic facility and you have to do a lot of walking to get where you need to go.  I am not exaggerating when I say it is at least a solid mile from one end to the other.  I was lucky enough to get a room very close to the convention center and right where I wanted to be to get out for my morning runs.  I was quite proud of myself that I stuck to my guns and got both of my runs in, when I could of said I am to tired from all this walking.  To be honest though I never really got tired, not like I did when I was here for the show in 2007.  I was a lot heavier then and if I had to guess I was right around the 300 pound mark. 

     Monday night the show began with everyone gathering to hear what is coming for 2015, followed up with a welcome reception.  The next day was filled with a 6 mile run, ten hours of seminars and product reviews followed up with the my group heading to a local steak house for dinner. 

     The Next morning I was up again for my 12 mile long run, followed by another 10 hour day at the convention.   One of the highlights from today was getting to meet Willie G Davidson, the Godfather of the Modern Harley-Davidson.  His visions helped shape the company and the styling of the modern motorcycle movement.

     We then decided to head to downtown Nashville to check all the cool night life.  Nashville has some really cool bars and music clubs that always have some really good talent.  We had a horrible dinner experience at what was suppose to be a local favorite.  Bad service, cold food and the inability to cook blackened salmon in a timely manner was not what were looking for.  After our lack luster meal we headed to a local favorite, Wild Horse Saloon, for a few drinks.  After some time there we headed to Coyote Ugly to see what was going on.  It was busier that I thought it would be for a Wednesday night, I think a lot of that had to do with all the people in town for the convention, because I recognized a lot of them.  We called it a night around eleven because we all had an early day tomorrow.   I was done with all of my stuff at the show so I was planning on heading back in the morning.

     All in all it was a great trip and a great ride on the bike.  I wanted to share with you all a couple pictures.  The one from Coyote Ugly was when I was there in 2007.  The other was this year outside of the Wild Horse Saloon.  I look at photos like these and smile when I think about who I have become, but I also think why the hell did I think that was ok for so long.  It really doesn't matter, keep looking forward at where I'm going and not where I've been.

 

 

Sunday:

     I really had a lot to do today to get ready for my trip and to make matters worse I really wasn't into this run at all.  I had 8 miles on the schedule, but while I was out I just couldn't get into a groove and nothing seemed to be going right.  I had been having some chaffing issues and I forgot to use my Body Glide which made things worse and my pace was atrocious.  I wanted to be in the low 9:30s, that didn't happen, and my mile splits were all over the place.  I got to mile three and couldn't take it any more so I turned around destined to only do 6 this day.  After my run, I also had to mow the lawn, wash the bike, wash the dishes and pack the bike for my 8 hour ride down to Nashville.  At the end of the day, missing those last two miles actually helped me with time to finish everything else I needed to get done.  

Monday:

     Today was my rest day from running, but I was traveling to Nashville for the Harley-Davidson dealer show.  I road my bike down which was fine but to stay in a mostly fixed position for almost 8 hours I can't say it was really a good rest day for my body.  However I did have perfect weather for the ride and was nice to put some miles on the bike.  

Tuesday:

     I was up at 5am to get my 6 miles in and holy shit it was super humid even that early with the sun not even up yet.  I had pre planned my route using google maps, but once I got out and started running everything quickly changed.  One of the roads was really an entrance to the Opryland and was closed off.  I decided to take the long way round a local mall and headed toward the road that leads to the running path.  Turns out that road was really a private drive with a large iron gate.  I stopped and looked at the map on my phone, with this new information I quickly realized that there was no direct route to get to the bike path and so running in circles it is.  After retracing my steps a few times I ended up getting in my 6 miles and realized I would have to rethink my run for Wednesday.
   
      After my run I got ready and headed down to breakfast around 8am.  From that point on I was on my feet walking the show floor or from one seminar to another till after 6pm.  So far the show has been great and the food has been plentiful, but I am feeling pretty good about how I have handled my eating.

Wednesday:

     Last night we went out for dinner following a long day at the convention and I was able to get back to my room around 9:30ish to relax.  I attempted to map out my long run which turned out to be another flop.  I had to get a little creative on the fly and retrace my steps to get in all 12 miles.  It was just slightly cooler this morning but man that humidity was brutal.  I headed out around the hotel campus first before heading to run around the mall parking lot.  I then took the long way around to the main road which headed down hill to a nice loop around the local campgrounds.  I was 3/4s of the way around the large loop when I started to realize I wasn't even close to 12 miles.  I ran up and down a couple of side streets and then headed back towards the mall.  I pretty much followed the same route back which when I reached the starting point I had about a half mile left to get in.  I cruised past my hotel entrance and then doubled back till my gps watch struck 12 miles.

     When I got back to the room every article of clothing I was wearing was just soaked with sweat.  I hoped in the shower, got dressed and headed down for breakfast.  I was so dehydrated from the run I drank almost an entire pitcher of water by myself.  I had another full day of walking the show floor and attending seminars.  Despite all that my legs didn't feel all that bad.

Thursday:
     My rest day would have been a little more relaxing if I didn't have 500 plus miles to ride my motorcycle home.  The weather was very cooperative for my entire ride.  I strolled into town around 3:15 and proceeded to unpack my stuff.  I ended up crashing on the couch waiting for Mandy to come home from work.  I was out like a light almost immediately. 

Friday:

     Today was my scheduled tempo pace run and I would love to say yes I got it in,  but that wasn't the case.  I made the conscience decision to pass on the run and take a true rest day following that long ride yesterday.

Saturday:

     It was nice to finally run where the humidity wasn't so high, it made the low 70s feel a lot cooler.  6 miles at easy pace was my scheduled run and I found it a little tough to actually keep from going faster.  The extra day of rest really helped my body recover from all the time I spent on my feet.  The run was pretty routine and uneventful except when I was close to my turnaround on my out and back route.  I saw a pair of eyes glowing on each side of the road and as I got closer I realized they belonged to a couple of raccoons that decided to come out and say hi.  They waited till I was right next to them before they turned tail and ran back into the corn fields.  I kept my pace steady and right where I wanted it till mile 6 when I turned up the heat a little bit for a strong finish.  When I got back I did my stretches and 2 sets of 15 push ups. 

Week 9 begins now

* For quick access to my entire Marathon training journal click the "Marathon Journal" tab just below the Running In The Fat Lane header

Wednesday Weigh In / long run

     Sorry no weigh in today, I am in Nashville for a work conference.  I don't have access to a scale and to be honest, I am glad I am not weighing in today.  Food is a plenty down here and even though I am doing my best to stay on track, I am enjoying myself as well.  I am not completely giving up, I am still running while I am here.  This week is a cut back week for mileage so today's long run is a short 12 miles.  I will recap my time down here when I get back to Ohio.  Hope you all have a great week, I'll be back to it in a couple days.

Marathon Training week 7 recap

     My first 20 mile run was a success by all accounts and I wish I could look forward to my cut back week with a long run of only 12 miles, but I will be on a work trip most of next week and I will be on my feet all day long for three solid days.  I won't have time or access to a scale so no Wednesday weigh in post next week.  This week definitely had its share of ups and downs.  This week saw my first and successful attempt at a 20 mile long run, but it also saw my first break in my training plan.

Sunday:

     The temp was a bit cooler but the humidity was still up.  The sky was completely overcast and a light rain fell a couple of times on me.  I just couldn't get my pace going much faster than low 9s.  I wanted to do a 8:55ish pace but my body just wouldn't do it this time.  I ran my "hills" route which for me, here in the mid west, my hills are considered speed bumps most other places.  I did get a big spurt of energy when whiplash from Metallica came over my headphones and my pace swung to a 8:40, but I couldn't sustain it.  I always try to push myself a little bit on the last mile so I can feel like I finished strong and this run was no exception.  I didn't take any water or nutrition on this run and I think in hindsight I should have even for such a short run in this humidity.  When I got back I stretched out and did my push ups.
     - 2 sets of 15 pushups

Monday:

    Today was my off day from running.  I ended up watching the Browns horrible MNF performance at Frickers.  

Tuesday:

     I am starting to notice that its staying darker longer for these morning runs.  I was all alone on the trail for 3/4s of my run when a lone bicyclist passed me in my 5th mile.  My head wasn't really into this run, but it went smooth and my legs felt pretty good.  I wore my higher mileage shoes and I can start to tell they are getting to the end of their running career.  The biggest issue I had this morning was spider webs, 5 or 6 single strand webs were draped across the path right at face height which was really annoying.  When I got back I was going to do pushups but I decided to do triceps dips instead. 
- 2 sets of 15 dips

Wednesday:

     Wow what a run, long and hot it was (#).  I took a new modified route that I mapped out last night using a lot of the bike path.  It was rather comfortable when I left but as the time progressed with the sun beating down on me, the heat really got to me.  My initial goal was just not to drop below a 10 min per mile avg on each mile.  I started out a little quicker then I would have liked or thought I would and once I saw how a 9:45ish pace was quickly becoming the norm I tried to keep it close to that as much as possible.  The first 4 miles was mostly shaded from the trees on the bike path but after that, it was all sun baking down on me.  Then I hit the path again at mile 14 and had a couple more miles of shade before the sun was back.

     Today's run not only was a training run but turned into a animal adventure run as well.  First I came across what I believed to be a fox or a very small coyote.  I got about 25 feet from it before it realized I was there and took off.  A little later a very large bullmastiff came out just to say hello to me, thank God.  After that not much happened till the last few miles when I came across a tiny praying mantis, a tiny lizard, wild turkeys and a couple of large white ducks. 

     On today's run I felt like my pace was pretty steady throughout but I had an issue on mile 10 as you can see from the chart.  To be honest I almost had to walk to get my pace on my watch to slow down.  All I can think of was I was running next to a cell tower, and when I mean next to, I mean I could have thrown a rock and hit it.  I am guessing that might have played a small part of it.  At one point my watch said I was running an 8:45 pace, not a freaking chance.

     Nutrition worked well again, no GI issues of any kind, the biggest problem I had was when I ate the second granola bar.  I had quite the cotton mouth going on and it made it a little hard to eat.  I may have to rethink that idea, but I wasn't feeling hungry during my run like I did on my 17 miler.  I also changed up my pre run meal.  I had two slices of white bread with a little bit of smart balance butter sprinkled with cinnamon and Truvia, 3 Tricuits, one bottle of water and my pills. 

     My legs were pretty freaking tired when I got done.  Despite what my pace shows, my legs were felt like jello at mile 16 for some reason.  I think I was hitting a mental barrier and once I switched up my songs and told myself that 4 more miles is nothing, I seemed to loosen up a little and was able to push though to the end.  I am assuming this fatigue is solely based on my training and while I understand the marathon will be long and grueling process I am sure I will feel the way I did at mile 22 or 24 instead of at 16. 

     Again it was nice to see my pace quicken for the last mile.  I sure my body is leaving something in the tank for me to be able to do that, but I also think its me saying this is the last mile let's just get this over with.  I always throw on a faster paced set of songs for the last mile so I am sure that aided in my rebound as well.

Thursday:
     Had a long day on my feet at work, a 12 hour shift that left me feeling rundown and tired.  I had a bad headache and felt a cold coming on so I took niquil and went to bed.

Friday:

     Life and training finally collided, and after yesterday I chose not to run in the morning.  Mandy said no running after work either no matter how I felt.  I did feel better with a good nights sleep and some medicine in me.  I plan to get back to it tomorrow.

Saturday:

          It was very muggy out this morning.  I got what I thought was a good nights sleep but woke up tired again.  I forced myself to go out and run six long miles at an easy pace.  The first 2 1/2 were pretty hard and my legs just didn't want to cooperate.  The next mile legs felt better and my stride seemed to get easier, but that was short lived.  When I hit the 3 1/2 mile mark till the end my legs tightened up and made it tough to run.  I managed to pull through it though.  I did have one small scare on this early run, a bat flew out in front of me about 5 feet away which scared me enough to break stride.  It then flew the same direction as I was running for about 5 seconds or so then turned and exited out of the light my head lamp was giving off and back into the darkness.

Week 8 begins now

* For quick access to my entire Marathon training journal click the "Marathon Journal" tab just below the Running In The Fat Lane header

Wednesday Weigh In / Long Run

     Despite my post last night about my eating habits, I did pull through this week with a loss, so I am happy and thankful for that.  I feel like I am getting a free pass if you will because of all the miles, so I am going to try and not let it bother me to much.  I will need to work on my "cheating" to keep it under control, because I can't be doing this when I am done with marathon training.  It just can't happen! 

     It was so great to see the 170s for the first time since I was a Freshman in high school!  Officially because I round to the nearest half pound that put my official weigh in at 180 pounds.  Not to shabby if I do say so myself!

 

8/20/14 official weigh in

180 lbs

Change: -1.5 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 137 lbs

Current BMI: 28.2 (overweight)

Change: -.2

Thought I would show my estimated calories burned for today's run.

     Wow what a run, long and hot it was (#).  I took a new modified route that I mapped out last night using a lot of the bike path.  It was rather comfortable when I left but as the time progressed with the sun beating down on me, the heat really got to me.  My initial goal was just not to drop below a 10 min per mile avg on each mile.  I started out a little quicker then I would have liked or thought I would and once I saw how a 9:45ish pace was quickly becoming the norm I tried to keep it close to that as much as possible.  The first 4 miles was mostly shaded from the trees on the bike path but after that, it was all sun baking down on me.  Then I hit the path again at mile 14 and had a couple more miles of shade before the sun was back.

     Today's run not only was a training run but turned into a animal adventure run as well.  First I came across what I believed to be a fox or a very small coyote.  I got about 25 feet from it before it realized I was there and took off.  A little later a very large bullmastiff came out just to say hello to me, thank God.  After that not much happened till the last few miles when I came across a tiny praying mantis, a tiny lizard, wild turkeys and a couple of large white ducks. 

   
     On today's run I felt like my pace was pretty steady throughout but I had an issue on mile 10 as you can see from the chart.  To be honest I almost had to walk to get my pace on my watch to slow down.  All I can think of was I was running next to a cell tower, and when I mean next to, I mean I could have thrown a rock and hit it.  I am guessing that might have played a small part of it.  At one point my watch said I was running an 8:45 pace, not a freaking chance.

     Nutrition worked well again, no GI issues of any kind, the biggest problem I had was when I ate the second granola bar.  I had quite the cotton mouth going on and it made it a little hard to eat.  I may have to rethink that idea, but I wasn't feeling hungry during my run like I did on my 17 miler.  I also changed up my pre run meal.  I had two slices of white bread with a little bit of smart balance butter sprinkled with cinnamon and Truvia, 3 Tricuits, one bottle of water and my pills. 

     My legs were pretty freaking tired when I got done.  Despite what my pace shows, my legs were felt like jello at mile 16 for some reason.  I think I was hitting a mental barrier and once I switched up my songs and told myself that 4 more miles is nothing, I seemed to loosen up a little and was able to push though to the end.  I am assuming this fatigue is solely based on my training and while I understand the marathon will be long and grueling process I am sure I will feel the way I did at mile 22 or 24 instead of at 16. 

     Again it was nice to see my pace quicken for the last mile.  I sure my body is leaving something in the tank for me to be able to do that, but I also think its me saying this is the last mile let's just get this over with.  I always throw on a faster paced set of songs for the last mile so I am sure that aided in my rebound as well.

     Now with my first of three 20 milers done that means including my cut back weeks I have 4 more weeks till I start my taper for Columbus.  It feels like October will never get here, but at the same time this summer is just cruising by, isn't it. 

Bruised and bloody

     Now before I start let me say I am fine and no physical harm has come to me, but mentally that is a little different.  During my run this morning all I could think about was what I ate last night and how cavalier I was ordering it and eating it.  I just kept beating myself up about it, hence the title.  I just kept replaying it over and over with with different decisions I could have made and what outcome it would've had.

     Now before you go what the hell are you talking about, last night the Browns were playing the Redskins on MNF and I was looking for a place to watch it.  Mandy and I don't have cable or satellite and the game was on ESPN so we need to go out to watch the game.  Mandy was not feeling well and she didn't feel like going out so I had to find a place to watch the game.  I got a hold of my friend Paul to see if I could crash at his place to watch the game, well his wife was home sick as well, so to Frickers restaurant we go.  What ended up transpiring is the whole reason I am typing this one up.

     Why couldn't I and why didn't I just stop eating?  That is a great question and it seems like a hard answer, but it really isn't when I step back and think about it.  When the game started I ended up ordering a plate of cheese nachos.  I wasn't really thinking anything more than I always get nachos when I'm here and nachos taste good so go ahead and order some nachos.  I could have stopped at that point, I felt full, but not overly full.  It's me of course and no nachos wasn't enough.

     In the middle of the 2nd quarter the waitress asked us if we wanted to order anything else and without any thought or question I ordered 10 wings breaded, deep fried and swimming in BBQ sauce.  Once she walked away my mind kicked back on and I new I made a bad choice.  Of course though I didn't do anything about it.  When she set the wings in front of me I knew I shouldn't be doing this, but I tried to rationalize it by saying, well I didn't get french fries so that's a little better.  Each and every wing I ate I felt worse and worse about myself.  How could I continue to do this to myself?  After 5 wings I looked at my plate and said to myself, just stop, you don't have to eat the rest.  Yeah that lasted like all but 5 seconds.  I plowed through the last 5 non stop till I was done.   

     So while I ran this morning, drowning in my own self pity, all I could come up with was my fuck it attitude reared its ugly head.  For me that is when I say to myself I already ruined the day so I might as well enjoy it.  Follow that with one day isn't going to hurt anything and I'll get right back on track tomorrow.  That is how every single one of my previous attempts at weight loss have gone.  One day turns into two and two turns into well my week is shot, I'll get back to it on Monday.  Next thing I know I am right back to where I don't want to be.

     I am sure a lot of people would read this and think I am a crazy person and I am way over reacting to the situation, but to me there is no such thing.  I hated myself when I allowed myself to gain back the 60 pounds I lost once, how do you think I would feel if I gained back the 130 plus. 

Marathon Training Week 6 Recap

     Another week is in the books and no real issues have come up yet.  One thing I am noticing though is when I get up in the mornings and head out for my run, my legs always feel sore and tired kinda like I am wearing cement shoes.  The weird thing is even though they feel this way I am still hitting my desired pace or faster.  Maybe I need to do a better job of stretching and rolling my muscles out to alleviate this feeling.

     Knocking on wood, I haven't had any real major injury issues to deal with, and all my training runs have gone pretty well.    Wednesday was pretty exciting to me, being able to complete so many miles in one run really effected me emotionally, as I though it might.  I made a nutritional change for my long run, introducing a Clif brand crunchy granola bar into the mix.

     It is hard to pick which run was may favorite for the week, but if I was forced to do it I would have to pick Friday's.  Just the fact that I ran my fastest mile ever on a flat surface on the last mile of a run made me feel like I am really making some progress.

Sunday:

     Sleep is what I needed and Mandy new it.  She asked me if I was going to run in the morning or after work, which is not normal because she knows I run in the morning.  I took the opportunity to sleep in so I could allow my body to rest.  The down side to that decision was instead of running when it was cool with mild humidity now means I had to run when it was warm and sticky out.  When I got home from work, I got changed and headed out.  There was a little breeze that was nice, but there was one stretch of road with tall corn fields on both sides blocking the wind that was the worst part of it.  It made the situation very sticky with stagnate air, it felt like I was running in a sauna.  I decided to take a slightly different route and at one point I had to stop and look at my gps on my phone to see if I missed my turn. The last mile or so was a little better because I was on the bike path with a canopy of trees providing some shade.  I had to show this when I uploaded my watch data.  my pace and my cadence was rock solid steady.
 

     I have been doing some pushups to help build up my upper body strength, but I haven't been logging them to know exactly which days I did them and how many.  I figured, hell I am writing a weekly recap of my training so I might as well add them too.
     - 3 sets of 10 pushups

Monday:

    Nothing to note today other than today was an off day from running.

Tuesday:

     Felt pretty darn good on this run despite how muggy it was.  Lately I've noticed on almost every run my body wants to go faster than my scheduled pace and today was no exception.  I think it shows the work i have been putting in and that I am getting in better shape.  I will continue to let my pace quicken but I don't want to let it get to out of hand.  I figure five seconds or so won't sabotage my training and cause me to over train, but I also want to let my body do what it wants to.

Wednesday:

      This summer has been pretty nice weather for a lot of things especially running and today was no exception.  A very comfortable 60 degrees and low humidity, I couldn't have asked for a better morning to head out for my longest run yet.  Today is my last long run before I hit my first 20 miler.  Now that seems a little dramatic considering today was a 19 mile run and next week it is only one more mile.  

      My goal today was just to keep my pace under the 10 minute mark for every mile.  I headed out and for some reason I felt so good I couldn't get my pace to slow down.  I practically had to slow to a walk to get my pace to settle down.  Once I got past my first three miles I was able to get the my pace a little more to where I wanted it to be.  I was looking to keep it between 9:45 and 9:55 per mile even though my pace bounced around a little bit, I was very pleased with it.

     I went for a little change in scenery so I mapped out a route that would take me east for the major part of the run and then head back to familiar territory.  The reason I bring it up is because on this section of the bike path there was a lot of tree coverage and I have noticed when I am in these type of sections my gps gets a little funny and even though I don't feel like my pace is slowing, my pace on the watch always slows down.  That is when I hit the 9:50s for the first time, the other was when I had a 3 mile section of direct head wind.  The road I was running had tall corn on both sides and and it created a tunnel effect with the breeze and made a light wind quite a bit stronger.

     I had a slight change with my nutrition plan for my run today.  During my 17 mile long run I notice I was getting pretty hungry and the Clif chews were not enough so this time I added pair of Clif brand crunchy peanut butter granola bars.  I ate the first one at mile 8 and the second at mile 16.  It seemed to help, I didn't notice any hunger pains this time and I didn't have any GI issues either.  I am thinking one bar per hour would be good, so I will continue to test this and see how it goes.

     I can tell you this run really effected me today.  There was a certain point where I felt so perfect, you know, those times when you have that perfect song playing at just the right time and everything seems to be going just right.   I had this moment where all I could think about was how far I had come from that guy that just 2 years ago, at that very moment would have been sitting on his fat ass watching a movie and eating his life away with junk food.  I just started thinking about how far I have come and realizing that I am capable of extraordinary things.  No one can show you this or make you feel this, it is something only you can find when you look inside yourself and make the choice to change. 

Thursday:
     Today is Mandy's birthday and since we celebrated yesterday we decided to just have a quiet evening at home.  We cooked a couple of nice steaks on the grill and continued watching the past sons of anarchy seasons.

Friday:

     Man it was freakin' COLD!  For some stupid ass reason I thought I would warm up once I got going so I didn't wear any long sleeves, hats or gloves.  I dealt with the cold pretty well, but my hands were very, very cold.  My first mile was at the slower end of my pace range for this run, but once my legs loosened up and the pace really increased with an almost 30 second swing.  As the miles clicked by my pace slowed down a bit, nothing I would be concerned about.  When my watch buzzed and signaled that I was in mile 6 I just said to screw it I wanted to see how fast I could go on my last mile.  To my obvious surprise I ran my fastest mile ever, this time without the help of a steep Sothern California hill.
     - 3 sets of 10 pushups

Saturday:

          I had the urge to sleep it in today, which I know may seem like I am being lazy, but I figure as long as I still get my run in then I'm not being to lazy :) This was an easy pace run, but my easy pace has gotten faster as of late so today's run was right around the 9:30 mark instead of the 9:45s I had originally mapped out for myself.  I kept the route simple this time and just did an out and back on the bike trail.  It was pretty warm out sitting at 81 degrees, the low humidity helped quite a bit. 

Week 7 begins now

* For quick access to my entire Marathon training journal click the "Marathon Journal" tab just below the Running In The Fat Lane header