Week 4

Not a bad week but had a few problems with my knee.

Monday was an off day. Tuesday the wife and I went to the gym and when I stepped on the scales I got a hell of a shock. You see, my "fighting weight" and my target for a lot of years has been 220 lbs. I've gotten close a few times but can never quite seem to get there. Before I started the training program, I was hovering somewhere between 222 and 224. In the last few weeks, I've lost about a pound or two a week but I didn't weight myself while I was in Denver. Tuesday the scale said 216!! I almost dropped my teeth. I've definately been slimming down, my rather prominent belly has shunken considerably but I never imagined I'd lost that much weight. I did a 4 miler with Fartlek that day and had a most excellent time of it.

Wednesday my knee started hurting a little. It's something I have had for a very long time and it comes and goes. I ran 3 miles on Wednesday and it was fine when I was running but hurt and felt swollen when I walked. I decided to take Thursday off. Man that was hard to do, when I get a plan I stick with it but it turned out to be the best idea. I just ice it a couple of times in the evening and take a lot of Advil.

Saturday I ran a short 3 miles. I had to go help my daughter move later in the day which meant a lot of trips up and down the stairs. My knee was fine till later in the day when it started hurting a little but we were over by then so I went home and relaxed. I had to go pick up my son so stopped at Oshmans and bought some new running gear. I got a long sleeve shirt for the cold days, a hat to keep my head warm and some really thin gloves.

Sunday was a really good day. I was scheduled for 10 miles today so ran out to just beyond Cele. I tried out my new gear. The shirt is made out of this really light material that is supposed to wick moisture off your body. It was really comfortable. I also tried out the new hat. I usually spend a lot of time wiping sweat off my face and out of my eyes but didn't have to a single time which was realy nice. I also tried out these Clif Shot Bloks. Normally, the only thing I take with me is a bottle of water. When I'm running a race, I'll occasionally grab some Gatorade but I've never needed anything else. However, I read that when you run a marathon, you're supposed to eat along the way so I thought it was a good idea to try this stuff out while I'm training and find the right thing for me. Anyway, the little fuckers are expensive as hell, $2,49 for a package of 6 and you're supposed to eat 3 - 6 at a time. So I put all 6 of them in a ziploc and carried them with me.

Anyway, I got up about 6:45 and had a breakfast of potatoes and eggs. I took off about 9:15 and felt great. The weather was cool and overcast with a light breeze. I was running easy and strong within the first mile and my knee was twinging a bit but nothing significant. I cruised the first 5 miles and turned around to come back. I had decided to eat three of the Shot Bloks when I turned back. They are like little blocks of Jello and don't taste bad. Eating and running is kind of tough. It's hard not to suck food down your windpipe but I got them chewed up and swallowed without choking to death and had a few swallows of water. I was feeling great at this point but my stomach started acting up a bit after I ate. I started getting repeats and some mild heartburn. I was trying to conserve my water but drinking some helped a bit. Eventually the heartburn faded and I was able to do the last two miles at a pretty decent pace. I'm not sure if those Shot Bloks helped or not, it's really hard to say.

It was a good run. I hope my knee heals up and doesn't start giving me more greif.

Imagine explaining this to your wife

You paid $241,000 for WHAT??

I guess if you're really rich, 1/4 of a million dollars is pocket change but isn't there some kind of limit? I mean really, how does a person run up that kind of bill in a strip club? I couldn't afford to pay that much for a house much less to have someone rub my dingus for a few minutes.

I'm still cracking up thinking about how this guy with too much money and not enough brains explained it to his wife...

What is wrong with these people?

OK for the CIA?

Are we that terrified that we just throw everything we stand for out the window. What do these people think they're going to gain by allowing only certain people to break arms and burn people with cigarettes? A better question is where does it stop? How hard is it these days to classify someone a "terrorist?"

I can handle a lot of the bullshit that Bush and his buddies do but we have to draw the line somewhere.

Week 3

Week 3 was a bit rough. After the race on Sunday, I got on a plane to Denver. After driving around in circles for a while, I finally found my hotel. Pretty nice place.

Monday was an off day so after class, I drove around laying out my running courses. I had to do 4 miles with Fartlek thrown in for good measure. I found a good course thru a neighborhood and another one straight up the side of a rather large hill. Just a note for anyone who doesn't know, Denver isn't known as the Mile High City because everyone smokes dope, it's base elevation is over 1 mile. High altitude is known for a few things, dry air and thin air. A real recipe for trouble to a low lander like me. However, our class instructor gave us a few tips on surviving the altitude so that helped a lot.

Tuesday was a beautiful day, the temp was about 65 when I got out of class and the sky was clear. As soon as i got out of class, I was off and running with 4 miles being my goal. The first mile wasn't bad although I was a lot more winded than I am used to but the second mile was mostly up hill. I struggled a bit but persevered and made the entire run without stopping, even managing to throw in a few high speed intervals. I grabbed a Subway sandwich and spent the rest of the evening watching Law and Order.

Wednesday saw a serious change in the weather but it was kind of drizzly so it was a wet cold instead of the bone breaking dry cold. I had noticed some joggers at lunch so managed to lay out a very nice 5 mile course with some spectacular views of the mountains. Only problem was having to wear a parka the whole time with the hood up. I gotta get me something better to wear on my head, that hood is a total PITA. I did the 5 with not much trouble although once again much more winded than usual.

Thursday was an uneventful 3 miles. I got back to Austin late Friday night.

Saturday was an easy 3 miles but Sunday was rough. I was scheduled for 8 miles but decided to run the 9 or so out to Cele again. I'm not sure what was wrong but it hurt a lot more than it has the last few weeks. Well, it might have been the dozen or so free donuts I ate while in Denver or it might have been that I just didn't feel like doing it. Add that to the fact that Saturday's jalapeno cheesburger decided it wanted to exit with at least three miles to go and you get the picture, just not a good time on this particular Sunday.

You know what, the measure of a man is not how he handles the good times, it how he handles the bad times. Even hurting and with an inpending intestinal emergency, I still chugged along and did my run.

Let's see how I do next week. Gotta remember to stay away from the jalap's a few days before a long run.

Week 2

Week 2 started out slow and painful but ended in a most excellent way.

This week was another week of 3 miles on Tues, 5 miles on Wednesday and 3 miles on Thursday. Thursday my butt was cramping after I did some curls and felt a little pull in my back. I had a herniated disk back in 1991 and this felt a lot like that. Anyway, my 3 miles on Thursday were a little painful till I got warmed up.

Saturday was supposed to be a 3 miler with an 8 mile run on Sunday. However, part II of the Austin Distance Challenge, The Pervasive Power Charge, was scheduled for Sunday so I only did a short 2 miles on Saturday.

I gotta tell ya, I was worried. The Pervasive gets a lot of hype as a very tough race due to the really steep hills. It's a 10 miler and 10 miles is the longest distance I've ever run in my entire life. The last time I did it was like 1982. Add that to the sore ass muscle and I was plenty worried.

So, I got up really early (4:20 AM) to take my daughter in law to work. I ate a banana, drank some water and left the house at about 6:10 for the 7:30 race. I ate another banana on the way to the race and got there a little before 7. The weather was absolutely perfect, clear and cool. Hanging around before a race is tough, time seems to drag but not today. Before I knew it, the airhorn blew and we were off.

I started out slow and easy. I burned out too fast in the 10K a few weeks ago so I just cruised. The front part of the course is pretty easy, a bit of up and down but my entire training course is on hills so no sweat. At about the 4 mile mark, there is a very long steep downhill slope. Running downhill is rough, very hard on the knees but I took it with no problem. At the bottom is what everyone calls The Wall and for goodreason. It's about 1/4 mile damm near straight up. As soon as you turn the corner, you can feel the drag but I just dug in. About half way up, I had to stop and walk but I kept my stride long and as soon as I topped it, I picked back up running again.

Let me tell you, one of the most amazing things about all the running I've been doing is how fast I recover and I recovered really quick after The Wall. I was pretty winded but within a 1/2 mile, I was running strong again and my breathing had settled down. I took another long steep hill without walking.

The last 4 miles is pretty flat. I passed the 6 mile mark and felt strong and had lots of energy and wind left. I started letting my pace increase a bit, still knowing I had another 4 miles to do but feeling too good to run slow. I missed the 7 and 8 mile markers but knew we had to be getting close. Suddenly, there was the 9 mile mark and I was still feeling great. I started pouring on the steam while counting my steps (it takes 726 of my strides to make a mile) so I could have some left. At a 1/2 mile to go, I was still cooking so poured on a little more, passing several people who I had been back and forth with for several miles, crossing the line with a better overall pace than I did for the 10K. Here are my results.

1:39:45

This was a real milestone for me. 10 miles, tying my own personal distance and crossing the finish line feeling like a million bucks.

This new training plan has been a godsend. It's amazing how just doing things a little different can make such a huge difference.

A few hours after the race, I had to hop a plane to Denver for this class:

Sun StorEdge 6920 System Installation and Administration

I'm gonna have to do my week day runs in Denver at a much higher altitude. Should be fun.

Week 1

Week 1 of my marathon training is in the books and I'm feeling really good. I ran the treadmill on Tuesday thru Thursday with a 3, 5 and 4 mile run. I finished them all really easy with plenty of wind left. I went on our Saturday for a 3 mile run but the culmination of the week was this morning.

I ran this course:

My house to Cele.

My goal was 8 miles. I thought it was around 4.2 miles to Cele but it is actually 4.77 so I ran around 9 miles instead of 8. My usual course is a big loop which totals 7 miles so I had to add a few jigs to it to get up to 8. As I passed the road to Cele, there was a nice big hill out there just calling my name. I found it too much to resist so decided to break out of my routine route and do something new. It turned out to be an excellent decision. I didn't take off till about 9:30 and the temperature was perfect. The sky was crystal clear, the countryside was beautiful, it was an excellent run all around. I adjusted my pace to be a bit slower than normal according to the instuctions in the training pages so I finished 9 miles with plenty of wind left. My legs and hips were pretty tight when I finished but that's part of it, getting my body used to running long distances.

I had my doubts when I started this whole thing about being able to make a very long run but this mornings performance really pumped my up. Of course, 9 miles isn't even close to 26 but I'll get there if I can stay healthy.

Going for it

One of my life goals is to run a marathon. That's running for 26.2 miles, all at once, without stopping. In order to get ready for that, I'm doing this as well:

Austin Distance Challenge

I figure if I can do each of those, the marathon should be cake. I ran the first leg of the Distance Challenge this last weekend. Here are my results:

1:00:09

My goal was to knock 5 minutes off my time from the April 10K but I actually added about 30 seconds. I didn't even manage to break 1 hour. I'm gonna blame that damm heart problem I had (which has cleared up) on setting me back. I finished the April race with some energy to spare but I was about to pass out when I crossed the finish line this time. Even after eating some fruit and drinking some water, I had to sit down (or fall down). Oh well, my ultimate goal is to finish the marathon, this can just be a training run.

Speaking of training, I decided I might not be training correctly. I just go run, usually 5 miles Mon, Wed and Friday with a long run on Sunday. However, after my poor performance on Sunday, I started searching the web for a training program and found this one that fits for me.

Beginner Marathon Program

My macho pride was hurt by the term Beginner. "Hell", says I, "I've been running since before they invented shoes, how can I be a beginner?" Then I realized I am a beginner marathon runner since I've never actually done it and the longest run I've ever done was 10 miles. Anyway, it gave me what I need, a formula to build to a marathon on.

Anyway, I'm pumped. There's nothing like a firm plan and a goal to get you psyched.

If I can keep healthy, It's gonna be a good year.