Week 12

Not much to tell this week. I did some research about the pain in my hips and found that it could be the result of various things. It could be shoes, my stride, or just plain overuse. I decided that I would attempt to fix the easy stuff, namely shoes and overuse. I decided to take the week off and since I am only down for two 5s and an 8, I figured it wouldn't make too big of an impact. Also, since my shoes have hit right at 300 miles, I've got a new pain on order and will picking them up on Tuesday. As for my stride, I don't even know how to begin to change that. How do you change some thing you've been doing the same way for 35 years?

I tell you, I didn't miss running during the week. It was sure nice to come home and just chill but it felt kind of weird. With the pain and the hectic training schedule, running has turned into work rather than pleasure. Anyway, taking the week off was a very good thing as it turned out.

So, Saturday, I was scheduled for a 3 miler. I thought about not doing it, giving myself an extra rest day but was anxious to see how I felt. Three miles were easy but my right leg was hurting a bit.

Sunday was a 10 miler. The wife was going with me, riding her bike and I had to put the turkey in for Christmas dinner so even though I usually go early, I decided to wait till after putting the turkey in to bake and let the wife sleep in. We left the house about 9:30. The temperature was perfect, somewhere around 50 and only a light breeze. The first two or three miles were extrememly rough, my right leg hurt like hell. all the way from my hip to my foot. It felt like when I had the ruptured disk, just painful and weak. I was actully thinking about quitting between the first and second mile but since it quite often takes me 2 to 3 miles to warm up and feel comfortable, I decided to gut it out. I tell ya, 6 months ago I would have just quit and gone home but I've learned that most of the time, something that hurts in the first three miles is going to go away if you keep plugging. So, that's what I did and by the time I hit the end of the first road, about 2.2 miles, the pain was mostly gone. By the time I hit 3 miles and the first major uphill, I was feeling great, running easy and strong. 10 miles slid by with no major problems and although my hips started feeling a little tight by the end, it was nothing like the pain I went thru last week. I think with the rest and a new pair of shoes, I should be good to go for the rest of my training. I've got three more really long runs so we'll see how that goes.

22 miles next week. Should be fun...

Week 11

Not a bad week overall.

Monday was an off day so I went to the gym, pumped some iron and did some setups. I used to do this three days a week but my running has taken all my time so I try to lift at least once a week now.

When we got home Tuesday, the wife started talking to our daughter-in-law (she and my son live with us). They were talking about putting something together. I was in kitchen and looked thru into the living room and there was one of those huge wire deer things, the kind that bob their heads. Before I go any further, let me say that our attic is already full to bursting with stuff. We probably have 8 boxes of Christmas decorations and tons of other junk up there as well as in the garage and all over the house. I'm constantly tripping over something or knocking something down. Anyway, the sight of that deer and the thought of trying to find a place it just caused me to blow a gasket. I lost it. The wife and I had a short fight (we never fight very long anymore) while I was getting ready to go run and made up before I left but I was still plenty pissed. Consequently, I ran like a madman and overdid it a bit.

Wednesday was also 5 miles but I had this pain in my butt after a few miles. It wasn't too bad but it hurt like hell. I think it was from overdoing it on Tuesday. I finished the 5 without too much difficulty.

Thursday was 8 miles. It was kind of rough, I think I was still feeling the effects of overdoing it on Tuesday and it was pretty cold. I managed to finish so called it a good night.

Saturday was only 3 miles, once again feeling a little out of it but not too bad.

I had a bit of a motivation problem on Saturday. I actually said to my wife, "Tell me why I'm doing this marathon again." Yeah, whatever. There is no chance I'll quit, I've told too many people about it, sometimes it just gets a bit boring and time consuming. I don't think the marathon will be a problem, the training is tough though.

Today, Sunday, I was scheduled for 20 big ones. I was feeling pretty confident after my excellent performance on the 18. The wife hurt her back a few days ago so didn't go along. I got up around 7:20, at a breakfast bar, a banana and drank a cup of coffee. On long run days, I always wait till I do my morning business before I set out and things just weren't happening this morning. It was after 9:30 till I felt confident that I wouldn't have any unfortunate urges out on the road. The temp was about 48 with only a light breeze, perfect running weather. I took off feeling pretty good although somewhat under motivated. 20 miles sure seemed like a long hike. Anyway, I was feeling pretty good for the first half, ran out past Cele and down the road. The wife met me at the 10 mile point with a fresh bottle of Gatorade. I was eating a Clif Shot Blok about every 3 miles. My wind was good and I had lots of energy but around the 7 - 9 mile point, my legs starting hurting. It's not so much my legs as my hips, they really felt stiff and hurt a lot most of the rest of the way. I could relieve it a bit by varying my pace, speeding up or slowing down but it never went away and give me lots of grief. Anyway, I made it with lots of juice left but in lots of pain. Jumped straight in a cold tub of water when I got home, hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow.

Only two months to the marathon.

Week 10

Kind of an easy week for the most part.

Tuesday was 7 miles, the top of my foot hurt a bit but I think I'm just tying my shoes too tight.

Wednesday, about noon, a serious cold front hit. By the time we got home, the temp was about 28. Even worse, the wind was blowing about 15 - 20 MPH. I bundled up as best I could but couldn't find my beenie. That's not surprising since I haven't worn it in about 10 years. I think it's with my ski clothes which are in a box buring in the garage somewhere. Anyway, all I had on my head was my running cap. The first two miles I always run around the football statium at the high school by my house. The back side of the stadium is a practice field. Not only is it surrounded by nothing but farmland, it's kind of up higher than the surrounding countryside. That wind felt like it was cutting into me, I was freezing from the tip of my toes to the top of my head. I ran the two miles around the stadium and bagged it, deciding not to take a chance on getting sick.

Thursday it was still cold as hell so I decided to skip Thursday and just do my Thursday miles on Friday. Friday the temp was up in the 40s and the wind had died down. I also found a beenie at Bealls for $10 which really helped. I did an easy 7 miles.

Saturday I had to work in the morning. We put in some new power equipment and I had to migrate all my servers to it. I spent from 8 AM till around 1 PM crawling around on the floor, moving equipment and basically working my ass off. I had to do 6 miles so, since I was downtown already, I decided to go do them on the Austin Hike and Bike trail. A guy I work with had been bugging me to go try it out but I just hate dealing with the logistics of running any place but from home or the gym. The weather was perfect, in the high 60s and clear but I was dog tired from all the morning's labor. I thought a nice run would perk me up but it was pretty tough. The trail is nice, pretty well maintained with only a few pot holes and gullies and it runs right along Town Lake. There were tons of people out and it was nice to see humans instead of cows as is my usual scenery. Anyway, I made somewhere around 6 miles but I was sure ready to stop. I left there and drove straight up to Round Rock for my daughter-in-law's daughters birthday. She is 6 and it was at Gatti Land. A good time was had by all but when the party stopped and they hit the games, I hit the road.

Sunday was 9 miles. I slept till almost 8, very unusual for me. I finally dragged myself out of bed but I felt like hammered horse shit. I was going to postpone running for a bit but it sure is nice to get it out of the way so I just sucked it up, put on my stuff, grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and hit the road. It was rough getting started, I sometimes feel like someone cut off my feet and I'm trying to run on stumps (I call myself Stumpy the Clown at these times) and Stumpy was in full force this morning. However, after a mile or so, Stumpy started to recede a bit and I felt better and started running easier. It was a beautiful morning, somewhere in the 40s with only a slight wind and partly cloudy. The sun was up and everything just felt fresh and alive. These are the kind of days we runners live for, when everything just feels good. Anyway, toward the end Stumpy was re-emerging but I still managed to finish the 9 miles.

The wife and I went to see Harry Potter later in the afternoon. I thought it was far and away the best of the 4.

Week 9

Good week this week. Last week was an easy week but was bit rough, everything seemed a little harder.

I noticed something on Tuesday. I took off and felt like I was flying, just like I did on Tuesday two weeks ago. Here is the pattern I noticed. Long run on Sunday followed by a light but rough week with a relatively short run on Sunday. Tuesday starts a longer run week but I feel great and the runs are extremely easy although they are longer. I'm constantly amazed at how great this training plan is. For anyone who wants to see it again, here is a link:

Cool Running Beginner Marathon plan

So, Tuesday I did 6 miles with hills. No big hills, just the ones in my neighborhood and I felt great. 4 miles on Wednesday, not as easy as Tuesday but still pretty good. 7 miles on Thursday which I did without even breathing hard. I'm telling you, it's amazing how my breathing has improved. I can easily do 10 miles without ever breathing hard. Saturday was an easy 3.

OK, if you looked at the plan, you know what I had to do today. 18 miles. Say it with me, 18 miles. That's a 20 minute drive in a car. I know there are people who would say "only 18..." but 18 miles is huge for me. I drove my course a few days ago just to make sure the roads were all still there and it seemed like a really long way.

Anyway, I got up about 7, had a cup of coffee, a breakfast bar and a banana. Just kind of putzed around till about 8:30 then started to get the wife moving. She was going to be riding along on her bicycle to carry the extra water and Gatorade. She was almost ready but with gathering all our stuff and getting it on her bike and yadda, yadda, yadda we didn't leave the house till 9:10. It was pretty chilly, somewhere around 50 and a stiff breeze. I debated whether to wear my parka or not but opted to just go with my long sleeve shirt. I started off really slow, not wanting to wear myself out. I started out carrying a bottle of Gatorade and had some Clif Shot Bloks in my pocket.

All in all, it was an excellent run. It's a pretty hilly course and I handled it beautifully. The first 5 miles or so, the wind was blowing across my path. I could feel the cold but I was never really cold. At Cele, which is about the 5 mile point, I turned into the wind and reached the hilliest part of the course. The wind really didn't bother me much, I was running strong, had lots of energy and was still feeling real good when I hit the turn around point at 9 miles. Let me tell ya, it was really nice to turn around and put that wind at my back becasue even though I was dealing with it well, it was still making it's presence known. My hips started getting stiff at about 10 miles and my knee was a little sore here and there but I just kept plugging. When I hit Cele again, my hips were still pretty stiff but I was feeling so good I picked up my pace a bit. The next 5 miles back to the house were mostly uneventful and I was cooking at a pretty good pace at the end. I was extremely pleased with how everything turned out, I've got my eating figured out, I keep a good pace, the hills and headwind were a non-issue, everything is coming together really nicely.

When I got home, I tried something I had been hearing about. I got in the tub and ran it full of cold water to soak my legs. It's supposed to reduce the inflammation quickly and provide for quicker healing. I even talked the wife into doing it. It's tough getting in but once you're in, it's not that bad and even though I was very stiff when I got home, I can tell the difference already. Not that I won't be still hobbling a bit tomorrow but hopefully not as bad as usual.