5k and Disney news (bad)

After a rest week in my pre-marathon training (the past few weeks and next few weeks are building an endurance base for me to then enter marathon-specific training) I ran in the Ruston Peachfest 5K. Although the course was more hilly than what I train on in Monroe, I clocked my best time in a 5K to date: 30:33. Of course, I started off way too fast for me, running the first mile in 9:26. But I always get caught up in the crowd and find it hard to determine my own pace. The good news is that I wasn't completely worn out after running a hard first mile. Endurance training is working. So I slowed down a little and ran mile 2 in 10:17. As I entered mile 3, I felt great, had energy in reserve, and really though I'd break 30 minutes in a 5K. Then we rounded the corner and saw "dead man's hill," a sharp incline next to a cemetery. Oof. Although I maintained a run up the hill, I was slowed quite a bit recovering at the top and knew then I wouldn't break 30. Still had about 1/2 mile left at that point. My last 1.1 mile was in 10:49. This is all good news. For the first race in my short race history I had NO miles over 11 minutes. I had strength to finish the race at a nice pace, and was able to stay close to a consistent pace on each of the three miles.

Okay, now the Disney news. My wife just took a job as a teacher's aide for next year (her first short step back into teaching after taking 8 years to have our two kids and stay home with them--and she loved every minute. Now they are in school all day and she wants to return to teaching--any school that has her will be blessed. She is a master teacher, winner of multiple teaching awards and a wonderful human being.) The Disney Marathon is on Jan. 13, which makes it hard with her and my work schedule and the kids school schedule to get there for the 2008 race. So I will definitely run in 2009. I will shift my goal, I am pretty sure, to the St Jude marathon in Memphis on Dec 1. This is disappointing conclusion, but I think having a marathon under my belt will make the Disney Race that much more fun.

Praise the nutritionist and pass the fiber one!

To get out of our weight loss rut, my wife and I have decided to see a nutritionist and dietitian. Actually, she is "seeing" her, I am piggy backing on my wife's program. We both have lost about 5 pounds in the first 10 days. The key? With each meal, or thing you eat, you need to have 5g of protein and 5g of fiber. Even salads. We top our salads with fiber one cereal. Sounds odd, but it tastes great. We made chocolate haystacks for snacks out of fiber one cereal and low fat peanut butter, we eat only the whole-est of wheat bread and drink 70 to 100 oz of water a day. We avoid salt and sugar like the plague and feel great and oddly not very hungry thanks to all the fiber.

This will only help my running, of course. Less weight means more speed, less fatigue and less strain on my back and joints. Eating better food will give me more energy on my runs (I think it already has, the last three runs have been fast and great).

Now I can wear that man-thong at the beach. Just kidding.

Sometimes you are the windshield, sometimes you are the bug.

I really love running now. And I also hate it. I think most runners would agree. With running you never know how your body will respond. The way I would describe it is when you feel great YOU control the run. When you don't the run controls you.

Case in point: the last week. I did my second 6 miler on this past Sunday. The magic that was there for the first 6 miler was nowhere to be found last Sunday. I just didn't feel I had the control and power that I had a week prior. I ran close to the same time: 73 minutes. But it felt like a HARD 73 minutes--the run controlled me. I took Monday off and ran 3 on Tuesday. Same feelings. Bad run, struggle to really gain control of it. I kept thinking there was something wrong with me. I had gotten a good 8 hours sleep the night before but I didn't have "it." Wednesday morning came and I had to do 4. The magic was back. I felt good, no pain to be found, I had spring in my stride. And this morning, I ran 3 at 5K pace. I felt wonderful. I could have run even faster, I think, but I didn't want to overdo it. My 3 mile time was very close to my PR in the 5k.

What was different? I have no clue, except that for the past two nights I got only 5 hours sleep.
Who knows. I have another 3 tomorrow then take Saturday off before running a 7 miler on Sunday morning.

An old student

Went to the local bike shop today to purchase some body glide for my, err, uhm, chafing problem on long runs. To protect his privacy I'll call him Nathaniel Kormodi. He took a class of mine a few years ago. Good kid, smart, and fun to mess with. He is a biker--a pedal biker, that is. He also told me he ran a half-marathon a few weeks ago while in Wisconsin. We were sharing war stories and eating tips while on long runs/bikes and he opined that unless one goes for more than 2 hours, just eat some fig newtons during the exercise. Of course, bikers, with their fancy shirts, have all the room in the world to store newtons. My shorts have no pockets, so I really don't want to think about eating newtons stuffed in my socks!

I also bought some gels for the next long run. I'll give the body glide a try tomorrow and give you a report.

Sunday--the six miler

I was a little nervous about this run. I've never run that far in any one session in my life. So I was anxious and excited. To save you the suspense--I had the best run I've had in a month. I started slow, watching my HR, never going above 80. For the first 4 miles on a beautiful Sunday morning (about 6:30) I ran, enjoyed the sightly neighborhoods, and loved life. The final two miles were faster, with me really kicking it in in the last 1/2 mile or so. I felt great. Tired but great. No injury issues, except one, that I'll get into later. But I am jazzed. I ran my 6 miles in 73 minutes. Not fast, by any means, but pleasing to me.

Okay. The injury. My right nipple is killing me. I was so sweaty and hot, that my running shirt rubbed my nipple raw. I had to wear a band-aid for the rest of the day. I am off to the local bike store to buy some "body glide", but does any one have nipple safety recommendations?

Adjustment--follow your heart (or HR)

I realize that I have been starting my runs too cold and too fast. Halfway into the run, I would be depleted of energy and suffer. I slowed down, watched my heart

Today’s (Thursday) run was great. I decided to follow heart rate only. First 2 miles I did not let my HR get above 80%. The last mile I picked it up and in the last ½ mile was at a fast pace and then afterwards was hardly spent at all. The funny thing is my HR on the fast last ½ mile barely got above 90%. I realized I have been starting out TOO TOO fast and losing all energy by mile 2 or 3. Of course, my time was high (38 min) for 3.1 miles, but my energy was great. I’ll follow this strategy for the 6-miler on Sunday

I am also finding out that the generic HR max formula (220-age) is not applicable to all people. I did some tempo stuff on Thursday and it got to 103% of my max, but I felt no effects of that---i.e. I didn’t feel I was about to explode.

So I am assuming my max HR is more than 180.