Week 11 - Royal Family Flu

Not much training to report this week. More active rest. Moved the Missus down to grad school to begin her spring semester over the weekend. I came down with a sore throat and stuffed up sinuses on Friday after some intense gym cardio. Felt like crud clear through most of Saturday as we made our way to Monterey. Thankfully I was able to shake the illness off quickly without real training setbacks. We even had a decent party that night to kick things off properly. My diet should soon improve with less chocolate and ice cream around. Some long runs by the bay sound pretty appealing compared to the scenic views of Marysville. I am contemplating joining the noon yoga class on Tues and Thurs to increase flexibility and hopefully reduce leg soreness after long runs.

Jose (see week 1 where he convinced me to register for the marathon) discovered my blog this week and got busy making his own. That bearded wonder is planning on putting in 500 miles over the next couple months. Guess I better step up my own mileage a bit. My intention is not to become a marathon runner, though. I just want to run one so that I can boast and shout... then go back to the more hospitable 10k races. People claim that addiction runs rampant through the marathon crowd. We'll see.

Sunday was a remarkable day along the central coast. Perfect weather. My wife and I drove the entire length of the BSIM course: making several stops to take photos along the way. The 2 mile run up to hurricane point is gonna be a doozie. What's worse is that you can see it coming, and the climb sits right in the middle of the race when morale is likely to be at the lowest. I'm looking forward to the challenge. Another point of interest is going to be the start. In shorter races I prefer to start towards the rear and pass people throughout the event. There's supposed to be 5000 registrants in the BSIM. My time will be plenty slow enough without added minutes spent weaving in and out of that many runners. I plan on starting nearer the front of the pack if possible and trying to hang with the 3:45 pacer up to hurricane point. From there on... we'll see.

{SIDE NOTE:I recently discovered (through Runner's World) another reason to detest England's royalty. Mind you, this is on top the endless movies, books, articles, and sappy nonsense about Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth that I must endure each year. The real marathon distance is actually somewhere around 25 miles. According to Greek legend, 25 miles is roughly the distance that Pheidippides ran between Marathon and Athens in 490 B.C. Why is the official distance now 26.2 miles? You can thank the royal family for this. King Edward, with the help of official governing bodies, decided that the 1908 Olympic marathon should start at Windsor Castle for their viewing convenience. Participants were also forced to run an additional lap around the stadium, so that nobility could enjoy an extended finish, before crossing the line directly in front of the royal box. Eventually this became today's standard and now I have to run another mile + thanks to a group of wealthy inbreds. At least it was an American who claimed the gold medal that day.}

-Jan 25: 12 minutes interval training on elliptical machine, rowed 3000 meters, biked 8 miles (20 min).

-Jan 26: Rowed 5000 meters, biked 8 miles (20 min). Pullups, lat pulls, crunches.

-Jan 27: Rested on the cardio for a day. Dumbell bench press and flies with high reps and low weight, crunches, leg lifts, and stair climbers.

-Jan 28: Rowed a fast 5000 meters (21:56), biked 8 miles (20 min).

Week 10 - "Active Rest"

The first run this week (following Saturday's 6 mile jaunt) brought back some painful memories of my initial year of cross country in high school. The first signs of shin splints arose with a dull pain along the front of my lower legs. This motivated me to take a brief break from pounding the streets. After all, I have been running consistently now for 2 months after not putting in any real mileage for at least 7 years. Rather than just let myself lose all the cardiovascular progress made in previous months, I increased other forms of lower impact endurance training and core exercises. My planned 8 miler was nixed, and I am not sure if I will run next weekend either. Choosing not to run at this stage has been more difficult than all the mileage I have put in so far.

In addition to the active rest, I went out and bought a garbage can just large enough for me to soak my legs in. My intention is to fill the container with ice and water, then dunk my legs in there for 15 minutes after long runs. This was a daily routine for me in college, but instead of a trash can we did have a nice stainless steel tub with a circulating pump. I will be increasing time spent stretching following future runs as well. These measures should make the next 2.5 months of training a little easier.

-Jan 18: Killer cardio at the gym. 2 fast miles on the treadmill, 5000 meters rowing, and 8 miles (20 min) on upright bike.

-Jan 19: 20 more minutes on bike, rowed 2000 meters, crunches, sidebends, pullups.

-Jan 20: 30 minutes on bike, 12 minutes interval training on elliptical.

-Jan 22: Rowed 5000 meters, 12 minutes interval training on elliptical, pullups, bench press, crunches.

Week 9 - Hobo Hill

With a little more than 3 months of preparation left, I am finding myself reluctant to increase training mileage. Instead I have replaced my weights in the gym with extra cardio time, and have begun running shorter more intense routines.

On Thursday I went out to River Front Park and ran 10 hill repeats on the bike trail that runs up the levee below 5th St Bridge. The route runs parallel to the levee at bottom and then shifts into a S-curve up the slope. According to the Yuba County Water Agency, these levees stand roughly 35' above street level. If my google map measuring tool is correct, that'd give me about a 5.8% slope for the 600' long course: only slightly steeper than the 2 mile long hill that begins at mile 10 of The BSIM. The only unfortunate aspect of this location is that it appears to be a homeless person hot-spot. No harm was done, however, and having a few prying eyes on me actually forced me to run a little harder than was intended.

My long run of the week was a 6 mile out and back between the north and south ends of Plumas Lake. I didn't keep an exact time, but the run was somewhere around 45 minutes. For some reason I developed a blister on my right pinkie toe. I can imagine the pain I would have been in if I needed to run 20 more miles with that thing tore open. Also, my practices are getting long enough that I should be carrying some water. Next weekend my plan is to run an 8 miler to get my legs more accustomed to longer treks. I believe that I will buy a field belt to carry some small bottles along and wear my wool toe socks for blister prevention.

-Jan 11: Took it easy on the cardio after my weekend 10k. Bench press, crunches, sidebends, lat pulls, and 2000 meters rowing.

-Jan 12: Ran 2 miles on treadmill wearing VFF's. Rowed another 3000 meters.

-Jan 13: Rowed 5000 meters, dumbell flies, pullups, upright rows, situps, and sidebends.

-Jan 14: Did 10 consecutive repeats up and down what I am calling "Hobo Hill".

-Jan 16: 6 mile run through Plumas Lake subdivision. Roughly took 45 min.

Week 8 - My First 10k

Following last Sunday's 5 mile run around town, I rested my running legs couple days. My workouts consisted of rowing, biking, and mostly core strengthening exercises.

On Wednesday I decided to see what these crazy "mile-repeats" are all about. Multiple running sources cite repeats as a real test. My mistake was running the second mile in my VFF's and not taking them off after the first signs of tightness in mile 1. After sitting down to change into my Asics for the third and final mile, I could barely even walk. After a half lap around the track with the missus, I decided to push through and endure the final repeat. My calves were so tight for the next 2 days that it was a serious task just climbing a flight of stairs.

Looking back, doing the repeats was a great way to increase running pace. I would have done them a day earlier if I had known in advance that my 10k was on Saturday and not on Sunday as I had been anticipating. However, ibuprofin does wonders and I not only came in under the 50 minute goal of mine, but crushed that mark by nearly 5 minutes. The chip time was 45:02 and I have to say that my personal photographer (wife) was caught so off guard that all she captured was my backside in the pictures. Now I am thinking that sub 7 minute miles are a possibility at the upcoming valentine's day 10k in Pacific Grove.

-Jan 4: Rowed 5000 meters, and did 24 minutes of interval training on the elliptical machine in gym.

-Jan 5: Rode bike for 8 miles (20 minutes), situps, sidebends, pullups.

-Jan 6: Mile repeats at Yuba College track. Mile 1 - 6:30, Mile 2 - 7:00, Mile 3 - 7:20. Note that the first 2 were in VFF's and the third was more of a hobble due to tight calf muscles.

-Jan 9: Lou Gehrig 10k in Roseville. Chip Time = 45:02.

Week 7 - New Years

The week leading up to 2010 was full of sweets around the office as well as a smorgasbord of goodies at my buddy’s New Years Eve party. The cigars and scotch probably didn’t assist my fitness level, but some things cannot be sacrificed… even in the pursuit of marathon glory.

There were some training ups and downs over the past few days. Thursday my attempt at a barefoot mile on the Yuba HS track ended prematurely after a lap due to the seriously sharp all weather surface killing my pampered footsies. I did manage to complete that lap in 5 min mile pace because I wanted the pain to end as soon as possible. After the barefoot fiasco, I limped around the track and did a few more 400 repeats before ending the disappointing day. On Sunday I more than made up for the lame track performance with a strong 5 mile run around the Marysville Levee system. Next week is my first 10k (6.2 mi) in preparation for the BSIM. My goal is to come in under the 50 minute mark.

-Dec 28: Rowed 5000 meters, completed 24 minute interval training on elliptical machine at gym.

-Dec 29: Ran 2 miles in VFF’s on treadmill, situps, sidebends.

-Dec 30: Biked for 20 minutes (8 imaginary miles), dumbbell flies and bench press, pullups, and upright rows.

-Dec 31: Ran four 400m repeats at Yuba HS track.

-Jan 3: Ran 5 miles around Marysville levee system, through riverfront park, to the old cemetery north of town, back through Ellis Lake Park.