short hills, long hills and steep hills and the “machine”

Greg’s 7 miler was full of hills.  There’s no doubt this was the toughest run to date.  Miles 2-5 felt really, really good.  Miles 6-7 didn’t.  Kudos to Taylor for pushing me on that next to the last hill.  I don’t know much about grade, but that was very steep and just about did me in.  I pretty much ran out of gas…probably b/c I pushed the pace for 3 or so miles.  I don’t know if that was good or not good.  For training purposes, I’m thinking push hard when my body tells me it’s feeling good.  During the race, though, and as we get into longer runs, I’m thinking settle in on a good pace and stick with it, even if I feel like I can push a little harder. 

Some of the hills were harder than we’ll see in the marathon, so if we continue to put some hills in our runs like we did today, we’ll definately see an advantage come marathon day. 

All in all, I’m really glad we did the run at Brumagen’s today…

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the Machine (Michael Stewart)….You are the MAN!!!!  Given your chest cold or whatever it is, you still out-paced the entire field for about the last 2.5 or 3 miles….and not just by a little (at least I think, since I couldn’t see the front runners that last half mile). 

Runner-up would be everyone else.  I’m really proud of everyone in the group for finishing this extremely difficult seven miler.  For a group of non-runners (with the exception of 2 or 3), we’ve come a long way.   Here’s to us!!!

Enjoy tomorrow’s rest day everyone and lets train hard this week for our 11 miler next Saturday.

 -Papacrouse

Make-up Day “and stuff”

Today would normally be a rest day (unless your name is Mike).  But for me, it was my first make-up day.  Temperature was not too bad, but the wind was gusty and made it feel a little colder than it really was.  Not a problem, though.  3 miles isn’t enough to wear me out anymore, but it’s just enough to get the heart pumping and blood flowing.

The knees were a little sore and stiff to start out, but at about the .75 mile mark, I stopped and stretched for a minute (once everything was good and warmed up) to prevent injury.  After that, everything was loose and the pains went away.

The run was pretty uneventful.  So there’s not much to talk about.

Not to change the subject or anything, but….I’m gonna have to get some new clothes soon.  My jeans that were good and snug around the waist can now be pulled down without being unbuttoned.  I don’t have any actual measurements, but from the gap in the jeans, I’d say I’ve slimmed down about 3-4″ on the waist.  I’ll hold off on getting new jeans until about April just so I don’t have to go out and buy more two months later.  My weight doesn’t seem to be going down as much as my pants size, so that’s got to mean I’m gaining muscle (most likely in the legs and buttox) and losing fat (which I won’t be missing anytime soon).  I’d still like to lose some more weight, so starting tonight, I’m adding weight traing to my marathon training (muscle allows your body to burn more calories even at rest).  I’m also starting my core workouts to hopefully allow me to be more efficient at running and not put so much stress on my legs and joints. 

Enough about me…

Asta lavista

-Papacrouse

Pulled a “Michael Stewart” tonight

Didn’t run tonight…had to work late, then on the drive home I started feeling funny (dizzy, cold sweats, etc) I thought I might hurl.  Then I talked to Greg and he convinced me it would probably be best to hold off till tomorrow when I’m feeling better.  It’ll give my knees another day’s rest anyway.   I’ll knock out the 3 tomorrow and be good and warmed up for Saturdays 7 miler. 

I did get a little workout in tonight, though…I had to put the baby to bed.  That wore me out about as much as a good run would have.  She’s not used to sleeping in her own bed or going to bed without MOM (milk of mom).  She’s getting close to toddler age (almost 17 months), so we’re trying to get her off the tap and on a regular bedtime schedule  so we don’t have to call in The Nanny and end up embarrassed on national TV.  After about an hour she’s out like a tree.

night-night

-papacrouse

5 cold and lonely miles

Yep, the information screen as I was running by KSU this morning said 15 degrees…I believe it.  My run this morning took me out to the East/West Connector in Frankfort (also known as US 421)…this is a 4 lane highway, but it has large shoulders and at 5:30 in the morning I didn’t have too much traffic to contend with.

 With the amount of rain we got all day yesterday and last night, and the 15 degree temps, I would have thought I’d run into a lot of ice.  I guess the wind blew all the rain off the road, because there was little to no ice on the roads and the roads looked dry as a bone…too bad the wind stuck around.  At one point I think I was actually moving backward while running in a forward motion. 

Once I was comfortably numb, due to the cold cold wind, the run was fine.  It was a little lonely spending 46ish minutes out there all alone this morning, but it gave me time to think about things like how cold it was. 

The knees were hurt’n for about the first two miles.  Once that went away, the run was fine.  Looking forward to the short 7 on Saturday, but first we’ve got to get the even shorter 3 out of the way tomorrow.

Tootles -Papacrouse

3 miles tougher than 9?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

How can it be that running 3 miles is harder than running 9 miles?

Yesterday’s 3 mile run may have been the hardest its been since the first day.  My knees were sore, my shins were sore, my feet hurt, I felt like walking….it’s hard to believe it was harder than the 9 miler on Saturday, but I think it was…might have been just enough rest to stiffen up, or maybe the fact that I jumped into a marathon training program when I was undoubtably in the worst shape of my life….But, as Dean would say, “if it don’t hurt, we’re doing something wrong”….Bring it on!!!!  If it don’t kill us, it will make us better…….(submit any more cliches here)

 BTW, my pace was still respectable for me (8:43), not my fastest, but def. not my slowest….still sub 9 minutes

Tomorrows run is 5 miles…the longest run for me, thus far, without the group.  The plan is to get up early and tackle it first thing in the morning.  Weather says teens to low 20s and will feel like single digits.  After yesterdays run, I’m a little worried, hopefully I won’t be in so much pain.    My run will be challenging, the run will actually be closer to 5.5miles and the last .5 miles is up a very steep hill from the kentucky river to my house (approximately a 200 foot elevation change over .3 miles)….not sure how this relates to % grade, but it’s steep….wish me luck, and good luck to all my running buddies on the 5 miler tomorrow.

 -papacrouse

Great Day!!!!

Today was a great day.  The 9 miles was smooth sailing and the Cats got another win after coming off a great win over the number 3 team in the country this week. 

As for the run, I really liked running through an older part of Lexington with nice big mature trees and some nice houses.  I think everyone on the team did a really good job today…My runner of the day would have to be Zach…way to finish Zach…at one point in the run I heard you say something like the endurance is gone…and I know your shin was hurting, but then you finished really strong with those out front….stay healthy man.

 I’ve got to say, after starting this thing less than a month ago, I never would have believed we’d be where we’re at already…I guess whoever came up with the training plan knew what he/she was doing.  The marathoners ran just 4.5 miles shy of a mini today!!!!  Way to go everyone!!!

Week 2 & 3 summary

If you’ve not figured it out by now, I’m not very good at keeping up with the blog thing yet.  It’s been almost a week since my last entry, so I’ll try to sum up the last weeks runs in one BIGblog.  Enjoy….

1/19/08- Saturday was the first BIG one.  7 cool miles in Taylor’s neck of the woods.  The forecast all week showed that it was going to be seven degrees…brrrr.  Lucky us, the mercury got stuck in the 20’s. 

On to the run…waiting on the IPOD to tell me to push the center button to start my run….still waiting….almost a block behind the others now….still waiting….nothing.  Turns out when I took my cushions out of my shoes, to let them breathe, the Nike+ chip fell out.  That sucks.  My longest run to date and I can’t even log it in my Nike+ running log.  Oh well, at least I was running with the group, so there is proof. 

I caught up with the group fairly easily and off we went.  Getting past that first mile and a half or so is always a challenge.  I guess it takes a while for my lungs to realize my body needs more oxygen or something….hopefully that will get better.  The run took us through Taylors neighborhood to US 421 (Leestown Rd), then across the highway to Masterson Station Park. 

Once we got to Masterson Station, the run was feeling good.  The beginning of the park is a short down hill before it levels off then begins a long uphill climb.  Going uphill, I really tried to concentrate on my breathing and relaxing.  Once we got over the hill and past the dog park (where Michael/Rabbit headed to the port-a-john) I was feeling good.  In fact, I actually got out front for a while and pushed the pace for a couple miles or so. 

Michael caught up and ran out front with me once we got to the highway that the main park road empties out on.  We passed some signs for the prison to our left and Michael and I discussed the property value of the houses directly across the street from the prison(a prison with no fences). 

The next turn took us into Masterson Station Neighborhood (or at least that’s what I call it since it is right next to the park).  We got to mile five with no problems, but somewhere between mile five and six, I started feeling the hills a little more.  At mile six we crossed back over 421 into Taylor’s neighborhood and from there we had another uphill that just about got me.  The last uphill came about 1/2 mile from Taylor’s house, and this one seemed to go on for ever.  It wasn’t steep, but it was certainly long. 

First seven miler now in the books and I felt really good about completing it….woohoo!!!

1/20/08- Rest day…not much to say here, except that I researched 50-milers (I must be delusional) a good portion of the day.  I’ve put this on the list of things I’d like to accomplish once the marathon is in the books (yep, certainly I’m nuts).  Turns out the training isn’t too much different from training for a marathon, except you do back to back long runs on the weekend.  Most advice I read said always walk all hills no matter how small when training for and running the 50 miler.  The biggest thing while training is time on your feet.  We’ll see how I feel about doing a 50 once the marathon is over…

1/21/08- Short run, only three miles (haha, only three miles…seems strange to be saying that).  I went back to Masterson Station Park after work for this run.  Started at the bottom of the first long hill and cruised most of the way…the short run seemed really easy now that I’ve done a seven.  In fact, I recorded my fastest mile and fastest pace to date.  Fastest mile 8 minutes, 33 seconds.  Pace, 8 minutes, 37 seconds.  Getting better.

1/22/08- Another rest day….no news…good news

1/23/08- 4 miler…back to Masterson Station after work.  I really tried to push the pace on this run.  Recorded another personal best…Fastest mile: 8 minutes, 20 seconds.  Pace 8 minutes 30 seconds.  Considering where I started, I’m really surprised at my gains thus far.

1/24/08- Another 3 miler and back to Masterson Station.  Today was the first day that I’ve thought it may be too cold.  When I started it was 17 degrees with a windchill of 1 degree.  When I finished it was 15 degrees with a windchill of 2 degrees.  I think the combination of pushing so hard yesterday and the bitter cold got to me a little. 

Starting out was up the big hill again and I really felt like I was struggling.  I wore my UnderArmor hood/mask to start the run, but I had to pull the mask portion away from my mouth and nose shortly after I was halfway up the hill.  I couldn’t get my breath.  At first it was a little cold breathing in the freezing air, but that got better. 

All the hills got to me today and I never really felt like my legs got warmed up enough.  I’ve got to say I was def. surprised about how much I struggled on this run, but like I said, I think it was the combination of the frigid temperatures and pushing so hard the last two runs.  My pace today was 8 minutes, 57 seconds….still respectable in my mind, especially since I felt like I struggled most of the run.

Saturday’s run will be 9 miles…a full days rest tomorrow will be welcomed and hopefully I’ll feel rejuvenated come Saturday morning.  I’ve got a feeling there will be ups and downs like I’ve had this past week.  I think the most important thing is to stick with it and listen to what my body is telling me.  I’ll continue to push the pace a little when my body tells me it’s OK, but I’ll ease up a bit when my body’s struggling….I think sometimes just logging in the miles is good enough.  After all, as Chuck reminded me this morning…the goal started out being, and for first timers, experts agree…just finish the marathon…not try to break any speed records.  I’ll try to keep this in mind and maybe I’ll be able to stay injury free and be healthy for the marathon. 

I can’t wait to have Saturday’s run on the books, but I certainly can wait for Saturday…

 -Papacrouse

Parking lot fun

Running while on travel can bring about some new and interesting running routes….or… you could just run around the parking lot!!! 

 We got to the hotel in Columbus around 5pm Wed.  Since I hadn’t gotten in my 4 miler yet, I was pretty disappointed when everyone was ready to eat as soon as we checked in.  We went to ON THE BORDER…mmmm mexican.  No need to worry, I opted for the low calorie mini shrimp tacos and resisted the 5 gallon margaritas.  Besides, I still had 4 miles to run. 

 We got back to the hotel around 7ish and I decided to hold off on the run until 9 (so the shrip would stop swimming).  After checking mapmyrun.com and realizing there were no good roads to run on around the hotel, I reluctantly decided to use the treadmill in the state of the art hotel fitness closet.  I’d already checked it out and decided it would do in a pinch. 

When I got to the exercise room, there was someone on the treadmill (a-hole).  But, he was watching ultimate cage fighting, which is one of my favorites.  So, I got on the elliptical machine to warm up while I was waiting.  After a 27 minute warm-up, Enrique finally got off the treadmill (jerk)!!!

It’s been a while since I’ve run on a treadmill…and now I know why you don’t train for a marathon on a treadmill.  The first 1.5 miles seemed like an eternity…not to mention, I hadn’t realized the hotel fitness center also dubbed as the hotel sauna (holy hell it’s hot in here).  I swear, it must have been 90 degrees in that room.  At around 2.5 miles I decided if I tried to finish all 4 miles I’d be waking up in an ice tub at General Hospital.  I decided to make it to mile three then head outside.

As I’ve already mentioned, there were no good running roads around the hotel, but there were lots of hotel and office building parking lots that seemed to interconnect for miles.  Although it was 20-something degrees and drizzeling, and I was only in shorts and a t-shirt, I was plenty warm enough thanks to my time in the fitness sauna-closet.

Thank God for Nike+, because I was able to track my final mile around endless parking lot islands (talk about fun).  After beating the frozen sweat off my t-shirt and shaking the ice cycles out of my hair, I headed up to the room and got out of my wet clothes (I was in the pool!!!).  After a warm shower I was ready for a good nights rest.

Thursday’s run was a little more predictable.  I already knew I wasn’t running in the sauna again, and besides, there were too many parking lot lines left to count.  At 4pm there were still alot of hot travel agents working in the building next to the hotel…so I sucked in my gut and ran around the building twice…until someone closed their blinds (whose the pervert that keeps running past my window).  Next building, cleaning crew (college wasn’t so bad).  Next building…(1/2 mile)…next building….hotel windows (I must be a perv!!!)….look out, black-ice.  Parking lots aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, but it sure beats the 8 million degree exercise room.

Friday is suppose to be a rest day, but I must have been cold when I woke up, because I went back to the sauna and did a low impact 30 minute stint on the elliptical machine. 

Oh, by the way, I picked up some electrolyte jelly-beans to try on the 7 mile run tomorrow.  I’ll let ya know if they work.

-Papacrouse

TWO DAYS OF REST….WHAT TO DO?

Given that Friday is a rest day, and I ran first thing this morning, and we don’t run the group run until Saturday morning…I’ve basically given myself 2 full days of rest. I thought that would be a good thing (and it probably is considering my current physical condition), however, I’m finding myself already wanting to do some cardio work when I get home tonight. I can’t imagine how stir crazy I’ll be tomorrow. Maybe the elliptical machine will be low impact enough and utilize different muscles so I can get in some kind of workout between now and 8:30 am Saturday. Hey, at least I’m wanting to work out now…