WalkBlogRun - 55 miles in 4 weeks

Chicago Marathon 2006

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 07:06:00 -0600

On Sunday morning we woke up to watch the Chicago Marathon come past our building at Lakeshore and Addison. We watched the start on TV before heading downstairs to catch the elite runners. We are just after mile 7 on the course so the runners were upon us in about 35 minutes. I missed the winners of the mens race but have some great photos of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed women over at Flickr. No running for me later that day or on Monday but on Tuesday I chose to try the Interval Training 1 track with Alberto Salazar on my iPod Nano. The weather here in Chicago is down to 32 degrees at 6am when I run so it's time to wear the windcheater pants, jacket, fleece headband and gloves in addition to the usual undershorts, shorts and a t-shirt. Outside it felt a little chilly but not cold so it was probably the right amount to be wearing for a hard training workout. The track starts with some warm up music and after a short while, Alberto cuts in to describe the workout and has you run 10 minutes of warm up. I ran my warm up at around 8:45 per mile Just before the 10 minutes is up he joins you again to describe the next section where you run 4 minutes at a challenging but comfortable pace or seven out of ten in terms of intensity. When instructed I sped up to a 7:30 pace for the four minutes and then back down to a comfortable recovery pace of 8:15 for four more when Alberto told me too. The next segment is 3 minutes at an eight out of ten intensity so I cranked it up to 7:00 per mile and the n 3 minutes at recovery pace again. The trick came at interval three where the goal is 2 minutes at a race pace or nine out of ten intensity. I pushed my pace to 6:50 and held there for a minute before starting to dry heave and after another thirty seconds I had stopped just in case. After ten seconds or so I started running again at the recovery pace until the last interval was announced. This section is 1 minute at all out effort and I was able to get 6:40 per mile out for the whole period. The workout ends with a 10 minute cool down at the warmup pace. I covered 5.3 miles in 44 minutes during the workout and I felt really energized despite the heaving part way through. At the end of the workout Alberto comforts you by saying "it's hard now but it will get easier". I'm going to try it once a week for now to see how I do. I had read lots of negative reviews on the Apple store about the music for the workout but I found it to be pretty good. I listened to the tracks on their own without the commentary and thought they were all pretty average but as a fully integrated mix track alongside the different phases of the workout it works for me. Today I got out early again in the 32 degree cool to run 4 miles over 33:04 / 8:11 pace. I used the idea from the training run yesterday of a 10 minute warm up and 10 minute cool down but then maintained a 7:50 pace for the 2 miles in the middle. It felt good yesterday after the workout and no soreness which I attributed to the 10 minute cooldown and some stretching which I don't usually do. Since I feel good today too I think stretching and cooldown will be a permanent part of my runs to avoid the stiffness that sometimes strikes after my faster runs. On a different note, I'm 3.8 miles ahead of my goal to hit 55 miles over 4 weeks with 14 days left. In answer to a question from my friend and groomsman Kieran, in the light of the reality of trying to pay for a flight to Arizona in January I think my next marathon will be around March so I'm considering the inaugural ING Georgia Marathon.

Slacker week

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 11:33:00 -0600

I've been pretty sick this week after my first run on Tuesday. Stomach sickness, stuffy head and exhausted much of the time so this morning it felt good to get out and run a 10k long run in 53:08, or a pace of 8:29 per mile. I also took care to stretch a little before the run and a longer stretch when I returned so my glutes aren't aching now. The run felt great with a temperature of 51 degrees and I felt like I could have carried on running South if I had wanted. I just bought the Nike Speed training workout mix 1 of the iTunes store so I'll be reporting how it went sometime this week. This mix has you warm up for 10 minutes at a comfortable pace before doing four intervals of increasing intensity, guided all the way by Alberto Salazar. I'll let you know how it goes!

Two more runs and one race

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 20:44:00 -0600

Well, almost. Saturday morning we got up and ran the 5k Liver Wellness race. We didn't really race, and it didn't seem to make a difference either way because the numbers we were given weren't recorded anywhere against our name so had we clocked a PR it wouldn't be recorded anywhere for posterity. We made it round in 28:07 or a 9:21 mile pace so it was just slow and steady. At the end we waited for a friend and enjoyed the music but after realizing it was pretty darn cold we walked home. I'm not sure if it was the walk home in the cold or the standing still but by the next day my butt and the tops of my legs (glutes I believe) ached as we went for another slow and steady 3 miles at a 9:11 pace. Monday is always a day off and it was great to see the Bears pull back the 21 points necessary to beat Arizona 24-23 last night. I woke up this morning at 6am with the intention of heading out but the rain looked miserable and I didn't have the enthusiasm so I stayed in bed. I was expecting to get home from work and head to the gym but my energy level was too low to run 50 laps around a 110m track and then hit the weight room so it was a relief that the rain had passed. I ran just over 4 miles in 34:11 for an 8:25 mile pace and came back refreshed and ready for dinner. Tomorrow morning I expect to put in another 3 as long as it's not raining...

My arms! Ow!

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:48:00 -0600

I woke up yesterday morning to a frozen Chicago and decided that, after sitting in 80 degree heat on a beach in Greece less than a week ago, it was too early to be brave and pull on my winter running kit and do my 3 miles. Originally I thought I'd just move the run to today but a combination of reading runners world on the way home and the fact that I am running the Liver Wellness 5k on Saturday I decided to head to the gym after work with Melissa instead. Melissa had a Kickboxing class and usually arrives early so that means I have just under an hour and a half at the gym. They have a 110m track on the top floor but I go dizzy if I run too many laps so I beat out 3 miles in 24 minutes and then headed down to use the weight machines for the first time in a long while. I realized in Greece on the beach that I have gradually lost much of the upper body muscle and strength I had in college as a rugby player and vowed to try to get some back. I went through my old workout routine but drastically cut back the weight used. I finished 5 minutes before Melissa's class got out and all was well. In the shower at home I already felt a little stiff and when I woke up this morning it was much worse. I looked like a senior citizen as I struggled to pull my cup and my oatmeal spoon to my mouth. It is always my triceps that ache first, probably due to the fact that it is the smallest muscle worked. Next it will be my biceps, then my shoulders, then my lats and finally tomorrow or Sunday my legs might complain from the legwork I did. Being a regular runner might mean that the legwork doesn't actually cause me any aches but I feel like the other aches are all looming. I didn't do any abwork for no other reason than I didn't feel like I had enough time so at least I'll be spared the humiliation of rolling out of bed sideways!

Running with my wife

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 07:45:00 -0600

Just returned from my first 3.2 mile run with Melissa as husband and wife. Before the wedding running together was a great way to reconnect in the midst of all the planning stress. Now the pressure off it's just great to wake up and do something before we dive into our email and Good Morning America. My left hamstring feels a little pinched after yesterday's run but it feels better after the run than it did when I woke up. My business partner and design guy for WalkJogRun, Jeff, finished the design and ordered the business cards for the website last night. There are some really exciting times ahead for the site's members and I'm hoping to be able to organize some sort of sponsorship for competitions so I can offer more than just t-shirts :-)

Chilly Run

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 07:02:00 -0600

This morning I was able to get up at 6am to head outside for my 3 mile run to get things going again after a 2 week honeymoon hiatus. I jumped on the scales yesterday morning and saw that 2 weeks in Greece had put the 20 pounds back on that I had lost during my marathon training. Eek! Too much feta, too many gyros and too much good food in general, not to mention the plentiful Mythos beer and Boutari wine ;-) The run was actually 3.11 miles and I was able to run it in 24:51 for an average pace of 7:59 per mile. I uploaded the last 4 runs from the last 3 weeks to NikePlus from my iPod and realized that I had missed my 55 miles in 4 weeks goal which wasn't exactly suprising so I reset it this morning and fully expect to make it this time.

Home from Greece

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 20:18:00 -0600

We returned from the honeymoon yesterday after just over 20 hours of travelling. Today was back to work and tomorrow is the restart of my training. I only managed one 3 mile run and a 10 mile hike while away but I don't feel too bad. The 3 mile run was an 8:10 pace run around the Venetian Port of Chania in Greece. I was suprised at the pace given that I ran at 6pm in the evening and the waterfront is strewn with bars and restaurants with tourists ambling along without a care in the world. More than one time I thought I might slip and end up in water! The 10 mile hike was a picturesque 6 hour hike through the Samaria Gorge in Crete. We started at the top of a mountain and hike through the gorge to the sea where we sunbathed and swam the rest of the afternoon before taking a boat back to our bus.

One Day to the Wedding

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 07:34:00 -0600

Tomorrow I will be getting married to Melissa at 5pm in Cape Cod after over a year of planning and preparation. This week has been exhausting as my family all flew to Boston from England and I've shown them around the sights. Two days ago we even got to walk on the field at Fenway and look behind the Green Monster scoreboard thanks to her parent's neighbour who is the chief groundkeeper there. We ran yesterday but the temperature in the mornings is down to a chilly 40 something with highs in the 70s later in the day. I only brought shorts and t-shirts so it's a little cold to start but it gets better later into the run. We've been doing a simple 3.2 mile loop around the neighborhood and I would recommend this to anyone in the final preparation for anything stressful like a wedding or exams. We both arrive home in much better mental states than when we leave and it helps keep us calm. Kieran, one of my groomsmen, has offered to come for a run with me tomorrow so I just mapped out an 8.3 mile route from the hotel in Falmouth, MA along the beach and back called "Getting Married Today". It may be truncated depending on the festivities during and after the rehearsal dinner tonight!

Running towards my wedding

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 08:20:00 -0600

It's the Monday before my wedding and my future bride and I managed to get out and run just over 5k today to help keep us trim before the wedding. The wedding is in Cape Cod so we're out by her mom's house near Boston for the week playing host as my parents arrive from England at lunchtime today. The terrain here in Norfolk, Mass. is more like Wisconsin than Chicago with rolling hills and lots of trees. There was a cool low fog hanging around for the run so it was really pretty to see the fall foliage as we ran. Melissa and I had on our matching WalkJogRun t-shirts so it probably looked really nerdy but who cares! I'm so glad we run together - it really helps cut the tension of last minute wedding preparation, especially since we run together because it really helps us to reconnect when we've been getting testy about who sits where :-) Off to get the marriage license now so I'll get going.

Another wet and windy morn

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 07:45:00 -0600

I looked out of the bedroom window this morning and saw trees being whipped about by wind and rain. Hmmm, I think I'll do 3 instead of 5 today. I put on my long sleeved shirt on the assumption that it was pretty cold out there too and headed downstairs. The rain backed off almost instantly and left me running headlong into the wind for the first mile and realizing that the long sleeve shirt was overkill. As I turned the corner to run along the lake front the wind was on my back so the next mile and a half I felt pushed along the path with rough waves crashing into the side of the breakwater I run on. My pace crept up almost a minute from the first mile as the wind pushed me along. That is until I turned the corner again to cut back by Belmont Harbor to head back to Addison. I had pushed the power song on my iPod to get my last 1/2 mile boost I usually run full out but as I turned the corner I got hit by the wind again in my face and I could only pick up my finish pace by fifteen seconds to 7:26 per mile. It felt good to run in the light drizzle after all is said and done. Next time I have to run 5 in the rain, I'm going to suck it up and do it.

No Birthday PR

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 07:47:00 -0600

I scuttled around my 3.04 mile course in 23:06 or 7:35 per mile to try to beat a PR for my birthday today but fell short. Today I'm 32 and I wanted to see if I could break my 7:22 fastest mile or 21:55 for a 5k. Despite missing the target I still fell like it was a great way to celebrate. Over the weekend I didn't make my 5 mile and 8 mile runs per the plan due to the pressures of my bachelor party in Atlanta but I was at least able to run 3.6 miles on Saturday despite a little hangover :-) I'm convinced it's the best hangover cure I've come across.

On Target This Week

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 08:05:00 -0600

I'm glad to report that I'm still on track today after 3 miles today and 11 miles so far this week. Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day and then 5 at marathon pace on Saturday, 8 easy on Sunday. It has taken me nearly a month to get back on a schedule after my first marathon at the end of July. I had read that it takes that long to recover physically but for me I just hadn't worked out what to run next. I don't know if deep in my brain, my body was numbing the ambition part of my brain to stop me from hurting myself with training too soon but either way, it's good to be back. This time around the Intermediate I plan by Hal Higdon means only 1 true rest day and one day of cross training so I'm trying to eat much better than before. First I'm eating my oatmeal each morning and a one-a-day multi-vitamin. For my mid-morning snacks I'm eating a yoghurt and a banana, a sandwich for lunch and then almonds mid-afternoon. I've been drinking 32oz of water between 9 and 1, then the same again until 5. The net result is that I've been feeling less like snacking and a little less tired in the evenings, I've even been able to concentrate a little better in the new office too. As far as my 55 miles in 4 weeks goal, I'm 5.2 miles ahead of that target at 16.7 miles with 22 days left. If I stick to my training plan I should smash that target and earn my first Nike+ medal.

Setting goals

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 09:34:00 -0600

This morning marks the start of my over ambitious plan for the next year to complete 4 marathons, starting with Arizona January 14th, Nashville April 28th, San Francisco July 29th and then sweet home Chicago October ???. I'm not sure of the exact date of the Chicago marathon next year since the 2006 marathon isn't over yet. I have 19 weeks of real time but 17 weeks after the hiatus for my honeymoon to prepare for Arizona. I'm going to at least try to run 2 miles 5 days of each week of the honeymoon to keep me going but nothing too serious. The other change is that I will following Hal Higdon's 18 week Intermediate I plan to get me there which changes my training from the preparation I did for San Francisco. Weekends now have a short run on a Saturday with some at marathon pace and then a long run on a Sunday which is generally slower. Mondays are no longer a rest day and will feature cross training so I have to figure out what to do for that yet. At least I still get Friday to lie in bed :-) The plan for this week is 3-5-3 for Tues-Weds-Thurs and then 5 on Saturday, 8 on Sunday. This would only be hampered by the fact that this weekend I'm in Atlanta for part 2 of my bachelor party. I'm off to a good start at least with 3 miles completed this morning with Melissa at a 9:09 pace.

1.3 miles ahead of my target

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 11:18:00 -0600

After starting my new goal on Friday I am now 1.3 miles ahead of my target according to the Nike+ site after Melissa and I ran a beautiful 5 mile run this morning. We stayed in bed as long as possible before heading out for Melissa's longest run since last summer. Rather than just going out fast and then struggling at the end, I decided to keep our pace at or around 9:30 per mile. After we finished Melissa suggested that she probably could have gone 6 at that pace so that worked out perfectly. I wish I had learned more about the effect of consistent pace earlier in my training for San Francisco instead of the last 3 weeks! I feel really confident that I can get a sub 4:00 finish in my next marathon with a closer eye on pace during my training. I'm considering Arizona's Rock and Roll Marathon at this point but that means many long winter miles in Chicago. After that I was thinking about the Country Music Marathon in Nashville for the end of April but that requires me to wear my iPod all the way round (not being a Country music fan). I may consider a return to San Francisco for July but definitely the Chicago marathon next year in October. Whew.

Tiered run, tired run

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 07:44:00 -0600

I just finished my breakfast after a hard run this morning. It was only 3 miles but I chose to run it at 9:00 minutes per mile then 8:00 for mile 2 and finish at 7:00 for mile 3. It's challenging to keep picking up the pace and hold it to the point that I thought I was going to be sick as I finished. Maybe next time I should go for smaller increments of 30 seconds per mile instead. We've had rain here in Chicago this week and I've slept through two 5:50am alarms so I missed my opportunity to add a few extra miles toward my goal of 80 miles in 4 weeks which ended unsuccessfully yesterday. I managed 50 miles in 4 weeks so although I wasn't close it's certainly better than 0 miles in 4 weeks. I think the sensible thing to do would be to shoot for 55 for the next 4 weeks, despite the fact that my wedding and honeymoon fall into that period.