This has been kind of an up and down week physically. Alternating between tired and sluggish and almost euphoric – sometimes in the same day! Keep reading to find out all the details. Another wedding this weekend forced some major changes to occur at the end of the week. There wasn’t going to be any time for running on Saturday so I opted for a Friday long run! Bike miles have also taken a huge nose-dive. The culprit is that summer school has started and I get 15 minutes in between summer school and working at Commond Bond – not enough time for a bike ride in between the two and neither time is flexible. So for the first time in 6.5 months I’m driving a car to work on a regular basis, yuck.

Monday: 3 easy miles. I ran the Little Earth Loop (3 miles) in 24:00 and then did some strides and my core work, including Week 2 of the 100 Push-up Challenge. It was 70 and humid for the run, not overly pleasant but a decent run.

Tuesday:5-7 miles This was in the evening with the MDRA class. We ran the same place as last time – Bredesen Park in Edina. The group was pretty small again, with just 3 of us for most of the run. All day I had been dragging and almost went to another meeting (I was triple booked) or even home. Glad I didn’t because once we started running I felt great. We took off at a comfortable 8:19 first mile towards the park and then ran 2 loops inside on the dirt trails (watch for ticks) surprising the same 2 teenagers who were making out on each loop. We ran a 7:37 fourth mile, finished our loops and headed towards home. Higdon says that its ok to pick-up the pace on these mid-week runs if you are feeling it. I was feeling pretty good and thought I’d push the pace a little bit on the way home. I guess I was feeling really good because I ended up running mile 7 in 7:06 (remember 7:15 is race pace) and the last .22 in 1:14 (which is 5:38 pace). I never felt out of control or uncomfortable during the final mile. It felt like a good solid pace. The really surprising part was, as you can tell by the chart, the last mile or so isn’t exactly flat and includes several rolling hills. So I was quite pleased with the overall run. 7.22 miles in 55:50 with 81 degree temps.

Wednesday: 3 easy miles. I think I mentioned this last week but this run is rough since it is less than 12 hours after the last run, but it is easier to get it out of the way as soon as possible! I did the Powderhorn Loop which is 3 miles and enjoyed the grass scenery instead of the roads – I ran 2 of the miles mostly on grass. I did it in 22:05. It was a cool 67 but had 70+% humidity which negated much of the cooler temps. I did a few strides and my core work.

Thursday: Rest Day! I definitely enjoyed the day off although it was pretty cool in the morning and some nice afternoon storms cooled the air even more!

Friday:7 miles at marathon pace. A scenic and solo 14 miler along the Mississippi River. Because of a wedding I had to shift the long run to today. It was a cool 63 at the start but with 93% humidity it wasn’t long before I was sweating hard. I ran along the Midtown Greenway to the West River Parkway – north crossing over Franklin and then along the East River Parkway crossing over Ford Bridge and back up West River Parkway to the Greenway and home. Had I run solely on the road/paved trail I might have been a little disappointed with my 1:54:54 (8:12 pace) run, but I was a little adventerous. I went in the clock-wise manner knowing that I might try to bail out if I went the other way and took pretty much every opportunity to get off the pavement as possible. Well this produced some interesting (read as stupid) results including a 9:52 mile where I was running on a trail that was so overgrown and almost impassable that I was pretty much walking for parts of it. But a solo long run should be fun and full of excitement and I can definitely say that this one was! With over a 1,000 feet of elevation and loss (for a net loss) it was plenty of variety in the terrain, but importantly most of the run was in the shade! I took a Powerbar Gel just before mile 7 for the fun of it and found a couple of water fountains to quensh my thirst a little. Looking through my splits and the pace vs elevation chart I am quite pleased with the overall workout and effort.

Saturday:12-14 miles. In the car for about 10 hours today, it was a good day for resting!

Sunday: Cross Training. I ran Friday’s workout today along the Prairie Path in Wheaton, IL. Pretty much every time I visit my friend I run along the crushed stone, tree lined path. It was a gorgeous day for running mid-60’s with a high humidity but also a slight breeze. I decided I would see how I felt after pretty much spending 2 days in a car. I hit 7:20 pace within the first half-mile so I went ahead and ran it as a pace run. My goal pace is 7:15 and the 7 miles in 50:36 is 7:13 pace so that is pretty dang close! My actual mile splits were all over the place: 7:37, 7:16, 6:59, 7:09, 7:12, 7:02, and 7:14. I felt really good throughout the whole run and at times felt like I was having to harnass myself in a lot which I guess is a good thing. I am starting to feel the pace a little better which is also part of the idea behind these workouts.

I am feeling pretty good right now about the training which is a far cry from a few days weeks ago!

Mileage Totals:

Running – 34.2 miles

Biking – 0 miles

Swimming – 0 yds

Hal’s Tip(s) of the Week: Shoe care is important for success in the marathon, not only your racing shoes, but your training shoes. Here are some quick maintenance tips: 1) Always untie your shoes before removing them. 2) Never wash shoes in a washer, or dry them in a dryer. 3) Don’t store them in a cold garage, or leave them in a hot car. 4) Don’t use them for other sports. 5) Always wear clean and dry socks while running. 6) Have more than one pair of shoes, so you can alternate, allowing shoes to dry between workouts.

Week 6

[tags] training, Marathon, Hal Higdon [/tags]

As I reported last week after joining the MDRA Training Class I had to make some changes to the Hal Higdon plan that I had been following. So this week is kind of a transition week between the two programs. I have decided to follow the Higdon plan but shifting it so that my training aligns with the class and also following the class schedule for the long run days. I might change it again later if it doesn’t seem to be working. The two plans are very similar so they are quite compatible. You’ll notice that there are two cross-training days this week, that is part of the transition! The italics will still represent my planned mileage for the specific day.

Monday:Cross-training day. I went ahead and swam today – I swam a total of 400 yards doing freestyle and backstroke. I didn’t rest too much in between each lap. Before I left for the YWCA I did the first day of the 100 Push-up challenge – pretty tough – I’ve added an element of difficulty by doing them with my feet on the core ball.

Tuesday:5-7 miles with class. Tonight was another Marathon Training Class group run. We met at the Edina Community Center and ran to and and ran 2 laps of Bredeson Park. The park has a nice 2 mile paved loop and a slightly shorter dirt/grass/gravel loop in their nature area. We ran at a pretty steady pace through the park despite the 88 degree temp. The shade and a slight breeze helped keep it a little cooler. There was water for us at the park so we took water 4 times on this base building run. It is nice to have a group to run some of these longer runs with at a similar pace. Due to technical difficulties we didn’t have any presentations after this weeks class. We ran 7 miles in 54:05.

Wednesday:Three miles. It is always a little hard to know what to do the day after running in the evening, since I am a morning runner. I decided that since this was just an easy 3 miles I could probably go ahead and do it in the morning. It was 73 with 75% humidity at 7am so I can’t imagine what it will be later in the day. I did the Metrodome loop in 24:50. I didn’t do any strides afterwards because I’ve got a little pain in the ankle/achilles area so I came home and iced it down. I then did Week 1 Day 2 of the Hundred Push-up challenge.

Thursday: Rest day. Was my rest day and it went pretty well until I locked my wife out of the house. She has been going for a run almost every day and asks me to lock the door behind her – I assumed she took a key since I had to leave for work, well you remember what assume means right? I leisurely biked the 4 miles to work and just as I walked in the doors my bag started ringing and ringing and ringing. Oops. So I hopped back on and rode hard home and back so I could get back in time for a meeting – there went my “off” day.

Friday:7 miles. Happy 4th of July! I really wanted to run some trails so I rode my bike to the light rail station and took the light rail to the Fort Snelling station and rode my bike down to Fort Snelling State Park and ran the trails. I had a general idea of where I wanted to run – basically to explore new parts of the park. So I ran around picnic island – but still had a long way to go, so I ran around Snelling Lake and then a 1 mile loop at the end to make the 7 miles. I spooked a couple of deer on this cool (lower 60’s) but humid morning (in the 70%’s). One nice thing is that most of the run was very well shaded sadly it wasn’t 100% dirt trail either, I would guess maybe 60% of it was on dirt. It was a good run and I felt good all the way through, even dropping the pace to near-race pace for awhile at the end. My two slowest miles included times where I was trying to figure out which way I needed to go and my last mile was the fastest in 7:32. I did Week 1 Day 3 of the One Hundred Push up Challenge for a total of 41 push-ups on the core ball.

Saturday:10-12 miles. Another long run with the training class on a fairly nice morning. We met at the Calhoun Executive Center and went out for a “nice easy” 12 miler. It wasn’t overly easy but it was nice. One thing I’ve noticed about the group of guys that I’m running with is that most of them have done several marathons and most of them are fast. So this wasn’t a true LSD especially considering that our 6th mile was at 7:20 (7:15 is goal race pace). 11.85 miles in 1:33:16 is just under 8 minute pace and we actually only had 2 miles over 8 – the first and one through a bunch of windy trails. It was a scenic run and I didn’t feel too bad over the distance. We looped around 3 of the lakes – Calhoun, Isles, and Cedar hitting the same water stop 3 different times. It was 67 when I left my house with 70% humidity for the 4 mile bike ride there. It was pretty much a flat course with no significant elevation changes until the last 3 miles where we hit two grades well over 10% and one with over 100ft of elevation change. I’m happy withe overall effort for the day but definitely a little tired!

Sunday:Cross Training. After yesterday’s long run I had enough time to rehydrate, eat, and ice before loading up in the car for a 5 hour drive to a wedding and then a 5 hour drive home – arriving back at the palace around 2am. I’m feeling a bit tired and sluggish and highly doubt anything will come from today – especially with temps expected to reach 90!

Weekly Totals:

Running – 29 miles

Biking – 49 miles

Swimming – 400 yds

Hal’s Tip of the Week: Runners sometimes find it difficult doing the long runs, particularly on hot days. One secret is to stop frequently to walk, even if not forced to do so. Walk, grab something to drink, then resume running again. It will make the miles seem much easier plus you’ll train yourself to go from running to walking to running during the race. Drinking is important too.

Week 5

[tags] Marathon Training, Hal Higdon [/tags]

The week started out pretty bad but the weekend running was excellent.  I think the heat and humidity at the beginning of the week didn’t help too much and it was a perfect weather weekend!

Monday: Cross train today. I went to the YWCA again and swam.  This week I swam 350 yards – each lap is 50 yards so that would be 7 laps.  I started out by swimming 2 laps without stopping and did almost the whole thing freestyle and then did a few more laps with lots of rest and plenty of backstroke thrown in.  It is amazing how quickly swimming can elevate your heart rate!

Tuesday: Three miles at a comfortable pace. This was a horrible run! I felt horrible when I rolled out of bed – tired and stuffy nose – and then my legs felt very sluggish.  I did the downtown loop which is 3 miles and ran it in 24:34.  I guess that is a comfortable pace so I shouldn’t complain but I’m a little disappointed.  It was 67 degrees during the run with lots of sunshine and about 60% humidity – so a decent running day.  Hopefully its just a blip on the screen because I felt really good yesterday…

Wednesday: 6 miles. This felt pretty sluggish along the Greenway towards the river. It was 60 and sunny so a pretty nice morning for running, a little humid but not bad in comparison.  Nothing spectacular I ran it in 47:45 so just under 8 minute pace.  It felt pretty bad and I never really felt good along the whole run.  I came home and rehydrated, etc. Not sure what my problem is… but hope it ends soon!

Thursday: Three miles, comfortable pace. I decided to try getting out of the slump by running naked today.  Well ok not actually naked – like without clothes on, but the other naked – without a watch, GPS, or even a mp3 player.  I did a 3 mile loop that I already knew (the Powderhorn Loop) and just went out for an easy 3 miles.  No idea how fast or slow it was but it did feel a little better.  It was a nice morning about 66 but pretty humid and a little overcast.  I followed the run with strides and core work.  I felt decent afterwards.

Friday: Take the day off. Enjoyed the rainy relaxing morning.

Saturday: Run 6 miles at marathon race pace. A beautiful morning for a run.  I think the temp was right around 60 for the entire run and it was a mixture of overcast and sunny throughout.  This was my first run with the fall marathon class produced by the MDRA. We met at Marathon Sports were they gave a short talk about shoes and later a 30% discount on the entire store.  From there we ran 10.5 miles around the chain of lakes – hitting Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, and Lake of the Isles.  There was a group of 5 of us who ran at the same pace for pretty much the entire distance.  It started raining on us (mostly a drizzle) with about 2 miles or so to go and that felt good.  The trails were a little crowded but not as bad as I’ve seen them before. It was a pretty uneventful run – I had turned my Garmin on, but it lost the signal while inside the store and I told it to stop searching and never told it to find a signal again so about a 1/4 of the way through I looked and realized it was only keeping the time.  A little disappointing but they are pretty sure the distance is accurate.  Oh well, the saddest thing is that I would like to know what some of our paces were throughout the run, we were definintely moving at a decent clip before slowing down a little in the second half.

Sunday: Run 13 miles today. Ok so I’m having to completely reconsider my training schedule and revamp it to fit in with the marathon training class that I’m taking. I’ve started the process and will update you next week, but I couldn’t decide what to do this weekend if I should stick to the 13 miler or do more of what my body felt.  Yesterday’s run was the long run for the training class so it made sense to just do this one a little easier.  So I chose a place that would give me trails and the opportunity to run longer if I felt like it or just run 6-8 miles if I didn’t.  I started the run at the Minnehaha Depot heading towards Fort Snelling – there is a paved bike path between the two but I was planning to hit the trails in the area on the way.  There isn’t a single dirt trail that spans the distance and there are no trail markings nor a map that I know of.  So I got lost a lot but saw some really cool things and ran on a nice variety of rocky trails, sand, dirt, wide track, and single track.  Some decent ups and downs and even a place where I almost had to slide down! So yes it was a fun run towards Fort Snelling.  When I got there I was planning on some water at the Visitor’s Center/Gift Shop, but it was closed, ugh.  I was able to get a little water out of a spigot on the side of the building.  On the return trip I pretty much stayed on the paved trail – taking one detour that was pretty easy to follow.  I tried to pick up the pace a little bit – hitting goal pace for the last 1/4 mile or so.  It was a fun run on a beautiful morning (62 degrees).  I ran the 7 miles (+) in 1:05:30.  I added the + sign because the Garmin isn’t 100% accurate while running trails.

Weekly Totals:

Running: 29.5 miles

Biking: 58 miles

Swimming: 350 yds

Hal’s Tip of the Week: If you are training through the summer, one way to avoid hot weather is to run early in the morning. The days are longer. Use these extra hours of daylight to get out before the sun rises too high. Temperatures are cooler, the air cleaner and the scenery prettier in the hours around dawn. If work schedules force you to run midday, be sure to wear a cap to protect against the sun–and drink plenty of water! If you are training through the winter, midday may be the best time for you to run.

Week 4

[tags] Marathon, Training, Hal Higdon [/tags]

This is the first of several stepback weeks. Stepback weeks are relatively easier weeks that allow your body to recover a little more than normal and help prevent injury and burnout.  It is good to through them into training every now and then, especially as mileage ramps up.  I do feel a little fresher at the end of the week, but having my bike mileage ramp up during the week made me a little sluggish during the middle.

Monday: Cross-training day I started the week off with 300 yards of swimming at the YWCA.  It felt a little easier than last week but I still get tired out pretty quickly by swimming.  This is also not a continuous swim of 300 yards but I was able to swim longer without stopping this time! I again  alternated between freestyle and back stroke.

Tuesday: Run 3 miles. I am typically a morning runner, but I had an early morning conference to attend so that made it a little harder to fit in the run.  So I opted to run in the evening and took my wife along too! We rode our bikes 2.5 miles to Lake of the Isles and then I ran 3 miles around it and she ran for 15 minutes (this was her first run in a long time).  It was a gorgeous evening about 78 degrees.  I felt really good and ran 21:27 which felt comfortable.  Isles is a lot less crowded than its neighboring Calhoun so it was an enjoyable run.  We then tried feeding the ducks and rode our bikes home.  Don’t worry no matter what it seems like I’m not training for a triathlon!

Wednesday: Six miles at a comfortable pace. Back to a morning run I ran 6 along the Greenway towards the river.  It was an excellent morning with temps in the low 60’s and the sun was out. I ran this in 47:45 and felt pretty comfortable the entire way.

Thursday: Another easy 3-miler. This was a very sluggish 3 mile run around Powderhorn Park.  I think the combination of Tuesday’s run and all the extra bike miles made this tougher than it needed to be.  But I finished the 3 miles in 25:32 and called it a day.

Friday: Day of rest. A glorious day of resting! It was also a good excuse to take the car to work today!

Saturday: Run 6 miles at marathon race pace. My marathon goal is 3:10 which is a 7:15 pace.  So 6 miles at race pace would be 43:28.  This is actually my first run at race pace since I did an actual race for the first one.  It is pretty hard to keep at a certain pace over time.  I thought I did a pretty good job of it but looking at my splits I didn’t do as well as I’d thought. I drove to Fort Snelling Park and ran around Pike Island, which is a pretty much flat loop just over 3 miles long.  I set off and ran the first 2 miles right over the 7:15 pace (7:21 and 7:14 respectively).  Shortly after the 2 mile mark the trail was flooded over and either side was pretty swampy.  I tried to carefully go around it but gave up and just cut right through back to the trail.  During this section I also saw a fawn (baby deer) but didn’t see any of its relatives. When I got back to the beginning I took the trail that cuts through the center of the island and had to run through another swampy area.  This time it was impossible to go around and I just ran straight through it.  I ran miles 3 and 4 in 7:26 and 7:27.  I then cut back out to the main trail at the next opportunity and started heading back, I went through mile 5 in 7:23.  The last mile took me back off the island and for fun I decided to run up the bluff trail to Fort Snelling which my Garmin say is a 40 ft elevation gain at a 10% grade over a 1/4 mile, so its short and steep. I finished the last mile in 7:45.   I went through the first 5 miles at 7:20 pace so I think that was a pretty good showing for the day. There weren’t a lot of runners out but a few dedicated soles on a gorgeous 63 degree morning.

Sunday: Run 8 miles today at a comfortable pace. It was gorgeous this morning when I woke up.  It was 59 and sunny at the start with a slight headwind while I ran down the Greenway.  I ran towards and around the Lake of the Isles which is a perfect 8 mile course.  I ran the 8 miles in 63:04 which felt pretty comfortable all the way through.  Pretty much each mile was faster than the last one, starting with a 8:17 mile and finishing with a 7:32.  I started off feeling a little sluggish maybe through the first half of the run but then everything loosened up and the last half felt really good.  I enjoyed the early morning run around the lake.  The sun was already up but it looked neat coming off the water.

Weekly Totals:

Running – 26 miles

Biking – 50 miles

Swimming – 300 yds

Hal’s Tip of the Week: Be flexible with your training, particularly while traveling. Don’t be afraid to modify workouts occasionally when it seems appropriate. The general pattern of the program–the steady buildup–is more important than what you do on any one day. Don’t get so hung up on your training schedule that you are unwilling to make adjustments when an opportunity for an interesting run develops.

Week 3

[tags] Marathon, Training, Hal Higdon [/tags]