Log #19: I need a 36 hour day!!!

24 hours is just not enough time. I'm serious. How can anyone be expected to get everything done in such a short amount of time?

First of all, let me talk about my long-run on Saturday. I was going to try for 13 miles @ 8:30. I ended up with 9 miles @ 8:30. Where did those 4 miles go? Well, let me explain:

I woke up at 5:15, got dressed, laced up the shoes, applied the nip protectors, chugged a red bull and ate a granola bar. I strapped on my GPS and went outside. Keep in mind that I live in Boston, and I'm used to cold weather, especially early in the morning. Saturday morning the humidity was nearly 100%, and it was already in the high 70's. The heat was my first problem. The 2nd problem was that the dense cloud cover made my GPS unable to get a lock, so I sat there for 10 minutes waiting for a signal lock that never came, so now my GPS was useless.

I decided I'd wasted enough time, so I started running. About 30 minutes into the run, I was DRENCHED with sweat. I've mentioned my proficiency at sweating before, so it should come as no surprise that running in 100% humidity would make me look like I'd been boiled. I drank as much water as I could, but it wasn't enough, plus I was tired from being up so #%^$# early, and I started fading fast around mile 6. Any runner can attest to how persuasive your mind can be at times like this.

"Come on Joey, just head back. 13 miles are too much, plus you still have to pack. Why not slow down a little and just relax, what's the hurry?"

I managed to keep my pace pretty consistent at least, but I did not hit my distance. By the time I got home I was disgusting, and the shower felt soooooo good. I didn't feel that bad about only getting 9 miles in...

... that is, until I was at the wedding, 6 drinks in and eating the best wedding cake I've ever had. I also, predictably, didn't sleep enough this weekend, which cascaded right into me not getting up this morning for my speed workout. I leave tomorrow for 8 days in Europe with my girlfriend, so I have a feeling it's not going to get any easier for me!!! I need to make a kilometers to miles chart to bring with me.

My plan is to do the speed workout tomorrow morning, and maybe get a cross-train in tonight if I have time. I think this might actually be the craziest my life has ever been, and of course I decide to train for a marathon in the middle of it all!

I also read "Ultramarathon Man" this weekend. It's by Dean Karnazes, a man who routinely runs races that are over 100 miles. The book really did a good job of making me feel like a pansy, hehe. I recommend it... it's always good to get some perspective. Now I feel like 26.2 miles is a pretty average distance.

Quick Update

I'll write a full entry tomorrow, but my quick update is:

The long run did not go as planned (do they ever?). I just got back from a wedding in Detroit, and I'm going to try to get up tomorrow morning and do the speed workout on the track. I'll post a full update after that.

--- The Management

Long Run Math

Tomorrow I will be going for a 13 mile long run. The tricky part is that I also have a 10:30 am plane to catch, so I need to figure out when I need to get up in order to run, clean up, and get to the airport in time. Here's how Long-Run-Math works:

My plane leaves at 10:30
That means I need to be at the airport by 9:30
So I have to leave my house by 9:10
So I should try to be back from the run around 8:15 so I can stretch, shower, eat something, get dressed, etc...

13 miles @ 8:30 pace is about 1 hour, 50 minutes. I have to factor in traffic lights, possible fatigue-induced-stoppage towards the end of the run, and just a general buffer for my run, so I'll add another 20 minutes to that total, for a grand total of 2 hours, 10 minutes

If I'm aiming to get back to my house by 8:15, I should leave my house by 6:00 to be totally safe.

I need 30 minutes to get up and be ready to run, so I'll be getting up at 5:30 am tomorrow morning.

I will go on the record now to say that this sucks... 5:30 am on a Saturday? Why? Well, If I don't do the run tomorrow morning before I fly to Detroit, there is a VERY strong chance that I just won't do a long run this weekend, and then I'll feel like garbage when I'm at my buddy's wedding and after-party.

Wish me luck folks.

Log #18: Lactastic!!!

I just had an awesome workout. I feel like prancing about.

I actually managed to complete my LT workout. I did it on a treadmill so I could better gauge my pace, so take that into consideration. Here's what I did:


2 miles @ 8:30
2 miles @ 7:13
1 mile @ 8:30
1 mile @ 8:00 (I sped up just to push myself a little)

Since it was on a treadmill, it was definitely a bit easier. However, I definitely felt REALLY strong today, and during the LT portion I concentrated on my breathing and running form a lot. I didn't even get into the 2 in / 3 out breathing range until my second 7:13 mile. The last 2 miles were the hardest, because I kept waiting for my body to cool down and it never did. I was breathing pretty hard and felt tired even though I had slowed down a lot, but I just zoned out and eventually I was done.

I've read through some of my older posts about the LT run, and I am now very confident that this FIRST program is working. I've lost a considerable amount of body fat, dropped a few pounds, and my running feels stronger than ever. My long runs need some work, but my speed and LT runs have improved 1000%. I am pretty confident that I'll be ready to start training officially on August 21, and if the planets align I might even have a shot at my 3:30 marathon.

Yesterday was supposed to be a cross-train day, but I decided to do a "recovery run" since my legs felt a little stiff from the speed workout the day before. I did 3.5 miles at about an 8:30 pace. It felt good and pretty easy.

Ahhh.... PROGRESS!

Breathing While Running

My last post got me thinking about something that a lot of runners don't think about. When you're running, there are a lot of ways to measure how "hard" you're running, but for me, the easiest way is to observe your breathing. There are different zones that runners get into during a workout, and these zones can be measured by your heart rate. In fact, a lot of runners do what is called "Heart Rate Based Training" where they will run NOT for a specified distance, but for a specified time with a specific heart rate range they must stay within. The benefit to this type of training is that you can clearly see improvement in your fitness by seeing how much farther you can run in the same amount of time with the same heart rate.

The method I use to count my breaths per stride. It's REALLY simple, and it works like this:

When you first start running, focus on inhaling for three strides, then exhaling for three strides. Run a mile like this, and if you feel like you have to breath more rapidly, slow down until you can run with the 3 in / 3 out breathing pattern. For me, this is an 8:00 min/mile pace.

The next step is 2 in / 3 out. For me this is an LT run, or at least SHOULD be how I breathe during LT runs. It's a little weird at first because you're counting 5 strides, which means you'll end up alternating which leg is forward while you breath in, but after a few minutes it will feel natural.

The next step is 2 in / 2 out. For me this is a speed workout. You should be booking it pretty fast if you're breathing like this.

I suppose if you just sprinted as hard as you could, you might hit 1 in / 2 out or even 1 in / 1 out, but as a marathon runner I never run this fast.

The benefits of breathing control are easier determination of your pace (although it clearly doesn't work that well for me), better running economy (you'll use energy more efficiently if you breathe correctly) and one more thing to focus on to take your mind off of the burning in your legs and chest.

Does anybody else do this? It works well for me, and I think I've read about it in Runner's World before.

Log #17: Hitting My Stride

I think my body has finally accepted the fact that we are now "training" and it would be appropriate to act as such. For the past few weeks I've seen progress, albeit slowly, but I felt like my body was just responding at too sluggish a pace. Over the last week I've noticed a pretty huge spike in my energy levels, my clothes suddenly got really loose, and I've had 3 killer workouts in the last week. This morning was a speed workout. I decided to do it on a treadmill because I've noticed that my sense of pace is pretty unreliable, and I generally run too fast. The treadmill let's me just do my run and not think about the pace, and the whole time my legs are hopefully "learning" what it feels like to run at a certain pace.

I'll take this opportunity to talk about treadmill running vs. real running. I actually love treadmills because you literally HAVE to run at whatever speed it's set to or else you'll be flying off the treadmill onto your ass. It's easier to push yourself for longer periods of time because you can just zone out for a few minutes and your legs will do the rest. When you run for real, you have to constantly make sure you're maintaing the correct pace and fight the urge to slow down. Obviously a treadmill workout can't give you the same mental pressures as a real run, which is why I'm trying to do more "real" running for this marathon. Being in good physical shape is only 50% of being able to run a marathon... probably far less than 50% actually. If you're running on a treadmill, set the incline to 1.0 just to give you a little extra resistance to better simulate the effect of wind resistance when you run for real.

My workout this morning looked like this:

1.5 miles @ 8:30
1 mile @ 6:40, 2 minute walk
1 mile @ 6:40, 3 minute walk
1 mile @ 6:40, 2 minute walk
.5 mile @ 8:30

Here's the thing: My workout program calls for 1600M @ 6:41, and 1 mile is actually 1609 meters. This means that I'm normally running around a 6:45 pace during my speed workouts. Today I did 6:40's. I figured that I needed to make up for the fact that I was on a treadmill, and didn't have to push myself as hard mentally to keep running. That's not to say that the workout wasn't hard... it was REALLY hard. That last mile was brutal, and the "just quit, you've done enough" voice was VERY loud in my brain towards the end. I just focused on my breathing and kept repeating to myself, "It's just six minutes and forty seconds... two songs on the iPod..."

Now that the speed workout is out of the way, I can cross-train tomorrow, and then (oh joy!) do the LT run on Thursday. I haven't completed that workout yet, so let's hope that my energy surge can hold up throughout the week.

Log #16: Sweaty

I have an amazing talent for sweating... I'm a prolific sweater.

Yesterday I busted out a NASTY 45 minute bike workout. It was probably the hardest cross-training workout I've done yet. Here's what I did:

10 minutes warm-up
4 minutes HARD, 1 minute easy - 6 times
5 minute cooldown

My legs were done, and sweat was just shooting out of me. My shirt and shorts were drenched, and it was great.

Then this morning, I decided to do my long run since tomorrow I'll be playing a rock show. I was going to go for 10 miles @ 8:30 min/mile, but apparantly my pacing is horrible. I managed 9 miles. Here are my splits:

8:04
7:55
8:12
8:08
8:12
8:19
8:34 (mile 7, I finally slow down to the correct pace)
8:44
8:48

Looking at the splits it's REALLY clear what my problem is. I need to work on running the correct pace CONSISTENTLY. Running those first six miles too fast burned me out, and I really started suffering the consequences around mile 8. My goal for the next week is going to be making sure I'm used to running an 8:30 pace. You'd think it'd be easier to run a little slower, but that's just not the case. My natural pace seems to be around an 8:00 mile, and I need to make a conscious effort to slow down and just relax a little more.

Two days off and I'll start my next training week off with the speed workout. I hope this time I do better.