Just a quick note

I think there is SO much that can be said about my running life since the last posting. I guess the main thing is, I didn't run the Huntsville Marathon last December. During a 18 mile training run on Oct 23 a feeling that had been in my Achilles for a few days went from a slight bother to a run stopping pain. I stopped at mile 13 and stopped running for almost 3 months.

It was Doctor's orders for me to stop running, but I had already stopped by the time I got the see the Doctor.  I went through the stoppage well enough... and it's hard for me to rewind to that time.. It was hard and I didn't care for it.

I am back running now. James (J2), my running partner and I are back at it. We are back at recording podcasts and pushing each other on our runs. We are running about 25 miles a week.. We are running Mon, Wed, Fri and Saturday is our long run day. 

First week in the Bank

Well.. the official - unofficial 19 week training plan for the Rocket City Marathon has official ended.

The reason I say unofficial is because the Hal Higdon plan is really 18 weeks and that is really starts tomorrow. So it all starts tomorrow and I am going to do my best to stick to the plan and the latitude that Hal gives me in my pacing goals. I'll give myself a B+ this week. Four of the days my training partner and I did good. But the cooler temps on Saturday had me kinda froggy and so I jumped..and we did mostly negative splits but I think I needed to do this to get a control point on where I am at the beginning of the training.


Confession: Having never run a marathon.. I don't know what it takes to train for one.. so I am trusting that the Higdon Intermediate plan is enough to get me to the finish line...

Well till next week.... here is this weeks results:


Monday: 3.3 mi - 31:04
Tuesday: 5.17 mi - 45:32
Wed:       3.3 mi - 31:31
Fri:          5.1 mi - 47:18
Sat:          8.14 mi - 1:07
Sun:         3.09 mi - 30:22

Looking foward....

Wow!! It has been a LONG time since my last blog update!  Pretty shameful considering that I have 27 followers of the blog now.. I think there may have been a dozen the last time I posted.. I am sure that the new followers must have thought.. what the heck.. this wasn't worth it.. or is this guy still alive.. well there is nothing like the present for me to turn over a new leaf and look forward and get back to posting.

Well, as some justification to my absence, I am spending more time doing my podcast (earlymorningcruzin). I am really enjoying doing the podcast and I feel more at ease speaking into a microphone than I do typing..

Chapter 1  -  Why?

Tomorrow starts a new chapter in my running life. It is day one of 19 weeks of training that will lead up the to the Huntsville Rocket City Marathon .  This will be my first and maybe even my last marathon. In some sort of way I guess it's a bucket list item that I feel I need to complete. Ok, maybe that is a bad reason for this "quest" and you might be right... but either way the race is still 26.2 miles.

My History with the race

Going back to by first years as a high school runner, I have never had the desire to complete or compete in a marathon.. it wasn't something I thought I needed to accomplish in order that I be a complete runner. This isn't anything that anyone has said.. it's something in my own mind.. In fact, most marathon runners are the humble runners.. because they know the total involvement that it takes to step across that finish line.

The Huntsville Marathon has been around since 1976. I was a Junior in high school.. I remember a classmate of mine ran it that first year or the next. I remember thinking he was crazy to do such a thing! :-) During the 70's there was a huge emphasis on marathons, not 5 and 10K's. Runner's world would drive me crazy because that is ALL they used to cover.. unlike the, stealth zero body fact models on the cover these days,  during those days it seemed it was always a marathoner like Bill Rodgers or Frank Shorter (my heroes).... and that kind of bugged be that if you weren't interested in the marathon it was like.. "what are you running for?"

My Training

I will be following the Hal Higdon Marathon Intermediate I plan. It starts off pretty easy but as the race date approaches it looks like it will be taking to to me.

My Training Partner

My training partner is also named James.. He is the one that thought up this bucket list in the first place.. It's nice to have a partner to go through all this  with...

Tomorrow is the day one... GO FOR IT!

An Update.. But not so Good..

Well, I guess it's about  time that I post an update to my blog. I wish it was something, like a mind blowing PR for a race that I've been training and focusing on for months..... or some breakthrough training method. No, it's more like... I'm hurt and not able to walk without pain, much less run...

About 3 weeks ago, I stepped out of the car and I felt a sharp burning feeling in my left Achilles tendon.. at the base right where the tendon meets the bone. It wouldn't hurt again like it did that first time, but every now and then I would feel a slight burning feeling when I would turn my left foot a certain way.. but it didn't hurt all the time.. and didn't hurt when I ran..so I didn't fret about it. I did notice one thing.. around the area that that I felt the pain, my Achilles was numb feeling.. I didn't pay much attention to this .. I figured it was some nerve reaction to what every had happened.. like I said.. it didn't effect my running.. so I didn't pay to much attention to it.

Fast foward to last Wednesday.. my training partner and I ran a 35 min Fartlek run.. simple enough .. but later that day I started to feel a feeling that I have had in my right leg.. the dreaded SCIATIC NERVE!! http://www.webmd.com/hw-popup/sciatica-16478  I was enough a bother that I was glad I had my rest day coming up.. I thought one day of rest would be all I needed... I was wrong.

Long story short.. I have been to my chiropractor to begin a session of adjustments to get it under control. It has been almost just at one year since I went through this very same thing with my right leg.. So I guess the good news is, that this can be overcome.. but such a pain in the meantime.

There are many other runners that can empathize with this malfunction of the body... I'll get over it.. and move on with my training. Glad it is hitting me now and not a week out from a goal race...

I hope I will be giving you an update soon that tells you this is all behind me... so to speak! :-)

Age 50 is a lot tougher than 40s. - Bill Rodgers

I was told by a friend that turning 50 is effecting me more than I think. Maybe... Maybe not..  If there is anything that is bothering me, it is the effect that turning 50 will have on my running. 

I'm not to naive to think that growing older will not have a diminishing effect on my ability to post PR's. But it wasn't to long ago that I was running what I would call pretty good times.. and I see no reason that I shouldn't be running closer to those times now.. but I'm not. I don't have an answer for this. Maybe just a confidence issue. 

But... then maybe I can understand why I'm not. My training schedule and pace times are much different that it was when I was racing at my "modern age" best. But to the credit of my training I am meeting the race pace goals that my training is aimed. So if you want to run fast.. you have to train fast.

With this in mind it is time to set up my plan for the Spring and beyond training plans.  The Hal Higdon half marathon training brought me through to my goal time for the Mercedes Half and so I will take another look into the plans that are available on the www.halhigdon.com site and get to work... and like to poster above reads, I will become

 

RELENTLESS!!

Vacation week!!! WOOHOO!

Vacation week means I don't have to get up at 3:05 and I am not running through the quite streets at 3:30 in the AM!
I ran a 1 hour tempo run today. The temperature was 52 but the stiff wind made it seem cooler and the wind also made the run a real task at times.  I read or heard before that a tail wind will never help you out as much as a tail wind will hurt you. I believe that 100%.

Working up to the Azalea Trail 10K in two weeks..

Local 10K race wrap-up

Ran a local 10K race today.

My Hal Higdon training plan called for a 5K time-trial last weekend and an 8K next weekend.. well this race fell between the two so I decided to split the difference and run a 10K on this weekend. This race ran along the same streets that I train on everyday and I always enjoy putting these roads to a test. The course was fairly flat .. two hills.. one around 3.5 mile area and one at 5 miles.. again I played it smart on the hills and maintained the same effort as I did on the flats.. based on the splits.. that worked.

I had a race partner today.. Drew  and I ran together for about the first 3.5 miles. At that time we separated just a little.. one of my goals is to try to run consistent mile splits... Drew slowed just a little.. but I knew he was running stronger on the hills than I was today so I had to put some space between us.. because at mile 5 there was a long hill.. he did close the gap on me up the hill.. but that followed a downhill and final 1/2 flat straight road to the finish. Sorry Drew... It is the competitive nature that I have ...

Mile splits:
7:01; 6:58; 7:05; 7:08; 7:03; 7:06; 7:00;
Finish time was 44:00; 3rd in 45-48 age grp.. good group of age class runners today.

I am very happy with my mile splits.. don't we all want to start off "slow " so that we don't burn out in the first few miles.. mission accomplished.. there is only a 10 second difference between my fastest and slowest mile split.. that I LIKE!

I don't think there have been to many times that I have run a local in-town race were I finished 3rd in my age group. Well.. I am laying the ground for 2011.. and this was a good run for that.  Come on 50th birthday!!

20 days until Azalea Trail 10K... Got to have sub 7:00 miles for that race!!