September 22

New York Marathon Training Week 12

The first thing you will notice a bout the blog this week (other then the fact that I haven't blogged in 2 weeks) is the lack of the picture.  I just don't feel like looking at the pictures to pick one.  To tell you the truth I really don't feel like blogging at all.

I was supposed to run the Philly Half Marathon (Philadelphia Distance Run) yesterday (9-21), but I could not.  On Saturday morning after I ate breakfast I got butterflies in my chest.  This is a very odd feeling.  I have been having this feeling on and off the the past few months, but I kept putting it off as indigestion, but Deb was starting to get worried so she told me not run until I saw the doc.  So I went to the doctor on Saturday and got an EKG.  The doctor did not like what she saw.  Was a result she said that I should not run until I get a stress test.  Actually she told me DO NOT run.  So I followed the doctor's orders and did not run my 8 on Saturday nor the Philly Half on Sunday.

4:27 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

September 15

New York Marathon Training Week 11

Sorry for the delay in posting.  Life is getting busy, between work, training and taking care of my house I haven't had the time to post.  But this is actually a post for this past week! I had my best and worst runs of the my training thus far.  The best can on Tuesday with a 5 miles run in 50:35.  According to the watch that is 10:06 miles but according to my math that is 10:07 miles.  Either way that is very fast for me.  The worst came on Sundays long run.  I actually failed.  I try to never fail but the heat and humidity killed me.  I now know I will never start a race that has the conditions of this past Sunday.  I may retry the run next week to spite the fact that next week is a fall back week with the Philly Half Marathon.

Monday - This should have been a cross train, but once again I did not make it to the gym.  I did however, cut the lawn.  Walking is a valid cross train, so therefore pushing a lawn mower is a valid cross train.  Looks like that is what it will be again this week.

Tuesday - I was schedule for 5 miles but did not realize that until after I got home so I only did 4.  The pace was fast but not as fast as I would have liked.

Wednesday - 8 Mile Pace Run.  My target pace for the NYM is 11:15, this pace run came in at 11:05. This was an awesome run.  I felt great!  According to the polar my heart rate was low for effort.  Let's hope this is a trend.

Thursday - This was the best run of my training thus far. 5 miles in 50:35.  I felt great, and my heart rate never made it into the 90% range.  This means that I had more in the tank.

Saturday - 5 mile pace run in the humidity.  This was a bit of a struggle, but I managed to come in almost exactly on pace.  11:14.

Sunday - The day from hell.  I set out at 7:45 in 97% humidity at 75 degrees.  Can we say mistake. I knew I should have gotten out earlier. The first 5 miles were good.  Pace was exactly where I wanted it, around 12:00 minute miles and the heart rate was in the low 130s.  The next 4 were a bit harder so I slowed down some and walked some.  The pace dropped to around 12:15.  Mile 10 I seemed to get my second wind, but at the end all I wanted was cold water.  The gator-aid was no longer quenching my thirst. I pushed myself to the sunny mart and got some cold water and something to eat.  This seemed to fire me up until I hit the wall at mile 12.  I tried to push my way through it but I got light headed and the road in front of me started to swirl. After 1/2 mile of walking on the swirling road I called Deb and got a ride home.  When I got home I found that the temp was 86degrees and 55% humidity.  No wonder why I failed.

5:27 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

August 29

New York Marathon Training Week 8

Yeah Yeah I know that I did not blog week 7's training but will all this training and having to work who has the time to blog.  There are some people that update their blogs every day.  I don't know how they do it.  Maybe they need to get a training program. This was a good week of training.  I did not miss a single run, I did, however, miss my cross train again.  Does lawn and garden work count as a cross train? Deb thinks it does.  By how warn out I am after doing my lawn it certainly should be. I know that this picture has nothing to do with the weeks training, but I like to have a picture in all my blogs.

Monday - I was supposed to cross train, but the lawn needed cutting.  I would like to have gotten in the pool for a couple hundred meters but work and the lawn go in the way of that.

Tuesday - 4 mile run.  When doing these short runs I try and keep my pace fast enough that I am short of breath the whole way.  Out of my comfort zone.  On this day I ran the first 2 miles as a kind of warm up and managed to keep them under 10:00 / mile.  The next to I poured it on with a short rest in between.  Each of these miles were done at around 9:30 / mile.

Wednesday - Pace day 7 miles worth.  My log book says close to pace 11:16 / mile.  My goal for the NYM is 11:15 / mile so that's not too bad.  I also noted that this run was painful.  I don't remember why it was nor did it write it down.  Oh well

Thursday - Another 4 mile run.  According to me log book I had a hard time getting out of bed so I had to run at lunch time.  I don't know why, but it seems that the later I run the worse the run is.  I kept the run sub pace at 10:39, but would have liked it to be faster.

Saturday - According to the training program it was supposed to be a 10 mile run, but I did it at pace.  I have not notes on the run, and don't remember anything other then running it.  Must not have been a very memorable run.

Sunday - Was scheduled for 15 miles but only completed 14.6.  I had planed out a real nice 15 mile route but with the town being paved I could not run the route that I planned, so I had to wing it.  I cam pretty close for winging it. According to the training program the long runs are all about distance and not pace, but at the same time you should keep your pace between 45 and 90 seconds a mile slow.  My pace was 11:55 So I was only 40 seconds slow.  So sue me. 

Next week should be fun.  I have a triathlon scheduled on the 7 mile day and 5k on the 11 mile day.  You can read all about next week.

11:52 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

August 15

New York Marathon Training Week 6

Sometimes I love running and other times I hate it.  This was one of the weeks where I had a little of both.  The week started off with a painful 3 miles on Tuesday, followed by a speed comfortable 6 on Wednesday.  Thursday gave me my fastest recorded mile.  The weekend was up in Cape Cod and 2 7 mile runs.  According to my training plan I was supposed to run 6 on Saturday and 9 on Sunday.  I added one to to Saturdays run to make up for the loss of the 2 miles on Sunday.  I could not do 2 extra because I ran out of water and there was no place to stop for more. All in all it was a good week of training.  No days were missed.

Another week of training and another vacation down. This time the vacation was coupled with the Falmouth Road Race.  To be truthful there would have been no vacation if it was not for the race.  Ya see my nephew Craig invited me to run the biggest 7 mile race there is. How could I say no? The map below is from my GPS showing the route of the Falmouth Road Race.As you can see it was mostly along the coast.  It was a very nice course.  It starts with some rolling hills, witch for some odd reason is my favorite thing to run.  The course then becomes nice an flat until the last mile.  Then you have the biggest hill on the route, or at least it seems that way.  It always seems that the biggest hill is the last hill of any run. This site does not support embedded trip maps. Visit http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip.aspx?tripId=242839 to view this trip.

5:16 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

August 08

NY Marathon Training Week 5

Well another week of training down and still many more to go.  Not that I am complaining mind you, I actually enjoy all of this training.  It makes me feel good and lets me eat more.  Sometimes I eat too much more. Over all it was not a bad week of training.  It started off bad will 11:05 minute miles on a 3 mile run on Tuesday but it got better as the week went on. The week ended with an exceptionally fast long run. I was told that LBI is the flattest place in NJ that one can.  Well that may be true when the is no wind, but on a windy day (most days on LIB are windy) fully one half of the run feels like it is up hill.  This is not too bad when your out bound leg is into the wind.  Depending on where you are on the island you can usually pick the direction of your outbound leg based on the wind.  I, however, could not.  Deb and I stayed at the North shore Inn.  When the winds are out of the north your return leg will be into the wind. Monday This was supposed to be a cross train, but I was not feeling well so I rested. Tuesday This was a 3 miler.  It is supposed to be fast but I choked and olny did 11:05 minute miles. Wednesday This was a 5 miler and my notes say Bad Bad Bad.  I guess I was still not back to normal. Thursday Another 3 miler.  This time I did considerably better with a 10:33 average and an 9:40 first mile. Friday A day of rest Saturday 6 Mile pace run.  The first 3 were into a stiff head wind making it feel like 3 miles of uphill, but the second 3 were with a tail wind making it feel like I was going down.  Ran slightly under pace at 11:12. Sunday 12 Mile long run.  These are supposed to be done at 45 to 90 seconds slower then pace.  Well that did not happen. I ran with an average of 11:24 minute miles.  Only 9 seconds below pace.  Oh well.  I felt great.

6:37 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)