Posted January 12th, 2008.
I flew in earlier today, picked up my rental, and drove to the expo. Parking was difficult to find. I had to walk 6 blocks to get to the expo, but there was no way I was going to pay $30.00 for parking. I picked up my number and then went to the upgrade where I upgraded to the full marathon. I hope I know what I’m doing.
They issued me number 5819.
I guess that means I can run in corral 5 but I don’t I’m going to be able to keep with them. Strike that… I KNOW I can’t keep up with that corral. I’m going to be doing too much walking. I’ll start with a later corral so as not to aggravate so many runners that trained for a faster time.
I walked around the expo for a quite while. I looked at all the vendors, asked questions, and contemplated what souvenir to buy. I should have worn my running shoes. My feet were tired by the end.
I met Lauren from EliteRacing.com at their booth. I told her I was aiming for the Super Six medal. They had it on display, along with other multi-race medals.
I was actually able to hold it. It really is a heavy medal. But not too heavy to wear.
She informed me that if I signed up for all the remaining races today, I’d save $65.00. So I did… yup…
I did…. that means I’m committed now… yup… no turning back… boy am I fool or what? >:)
My legs will never talk to me again after this year is over.
I have a small shot glass collection at home. I added the RNRAZ Marathon to my collection today. I was also tempted to register for the Run with Donna Marathon in Florida. But there just isn’t enough time. It’s 3 weeks from tomorrow and training aside, it’s just too much money to spend all at once. It’s a great cause. Not to mention the fact that Jeff Galloway is the race director, AND it’s the inaugural race. I read one of his books during my first marathon’s training period. It’s because of the advice in his book that:
- I’m finished my first marathon
- I didn’t cause severe damage to myself while doing it
- I discovered the speed advantage of walking
But alas, there is only so much a fool can do. Maybe next year, Jeff.
When I left the expo, I discovered that there was a supercross event later that evening next door to the expo. The desire to want to watch lasted all of 5 minutes. Sure it’s something I’d like to watch some day, but not by myself and not when my feet are tired and I’m running 26.2 miles the next morning.
I decided to check into the hotel. I booked a room at Extended Stay Deluxe Phoenix – Biltmore through priceline.com. I like the room very much. It has a full size refrigerator, a coffee pot, and stove as well as a kitchen sink and drawers. It also included a table desk and chair, a small sofa, and a queen size bed. If I were staying for any period of time, I’d really enjoy having this room.
While in my room, I searched online for Italian restaurants in the vicinity. I found Christo’s. I called them up told them I needed to eat pasta because I was running in the marathon tomorrow. I asked for a spicy noodles and sausage dish. The young lady who answered the phone (didn’t get her name) told me they could prepare something for me.
When I got there to pick up the food, she was excited for me because I running the marathon tomorrow.It felt nice that to hear someone else’s encouragement right before the race. If for nothing else, I’d go back just to be encouraged again. I left there with my hot food and there warm wishes for a good race.
As for the taste: fa-getta-bout it! It was great. I just now finished eating as much as my stomach can hold. It’s delicious. The garlic bread, the soup, the spicy pasta (had to bypass the salad before a long run). I’d to have a nice amber lager to wash it down, but I had to settle for grape gatorade. Definitely a thumbs up on their food.
So now I’m going to sleep. It’s only 10 but I have an early call time. My body seems to want the rest and I don’t feel the nerves I felt before running my first marathon. That should mean a good slumber tonight.
good night, John boy
Posted January 10th, 2008.
I ran 2 miles today in 18:16. I didn’t intend on going fast. I just ran at what I considered a normal pace. Here’s a contradiction though: even though I considered this a normal pace, at the same time, my body felt like it was being pushed to run past it’s normal limit.
It wasn’t a difficult run I was asking it to do. It ,was more like my body was saying, I don’t want to run today. In the grand scheme of things, the actual hurdle is this Sunday, not today. So I yielded to my body’s request and rested. (In my best Yoda voice) Erring on caution’s side am I.
Posted January 8th, 2008.
I ran 4 miles non-stop today in 33:27. Even though I still plan on walking during the marathon, I’m thinking of incorporating non-walking workouts during smaller runs (6 and under). I was tired at the end of today’s run, but in a good way. It was that tired that you are proud of because you know you finished something well. My body should have enough time to recover by Sunday’s marathon.
Did you read what I said? Yup..I said marathon. I have decided to run the full marathon. I haven’t experienced any adverse effects from my 16 miler on Saturday. So I’m upping the ante. My goal? Just finish without hurting myself. If I complete it in 7 hours, great! If I complete it 6, hmm.. maybe a bit too fast, but AWESOME. I just better not be complaining the next day. Complete it in 5 hours…yeah right!? Like I said, I want to finish WITHOUT hurting myself.
Stay tuned to see what happens.
wish me luck!
Posted January 5th, 2008.
I planned on running 10 slow miles today. I ran 16 instead. Not bad for my 6th run in 2 1/2 weeks.
I feel like it’s a shame to spend all that time and effort on the upcoming race in Arizona and not run the full marathon. So I tested my legs today to see if I felt like I could tackle 26 miles 7 days from today.I thought, “If I’m happy with the results then I’ll upgrade to the full marathon”.
I began with a very conservative running style. As the run continued, I altered it a bit. Here’s how it went:
Well, first of all, understand that the time limit for the marathon is 7 hours. That’s 16 minute per mile. That’s my speed-walking pace. So if I can walk for 7 hours and finish on time, I should be able to complete every mile by running 5 minutes and finish the rest by walking. So that was the game plan: run 5 minutes and walk to the rest of the mile.
Too bad I couldn’t stick to it. My first 4 miles went like this: 5-2-2-X–5 minutes of jogging, 2 minutes of walking, 2 minutes of jogging, X minutes of walking to complete the mile.
Although this did not seem like a strenuous pace to maintain, I was worried that my times were just too fast. I’ve felt good and finished poorly too many times in past training runs. So from mile 5 and on, I switched it to 4-3-2-X (jog, walk, jog, walk). It felt like I put in less effort yet my pace did not change. I was still averaging 11:20/mile.
Furthermore, to help maintain a lower pace, I was listening to an audio book.
I’d like to say that I finished at this pace without hitting the wall at all. But alas, at mile 14 I sense fatigue starting to affect me, even though my stubborn mental state was scolding: “you’re only walking, you can keep going”. Luckily, the left hemisphere spoke up with the one of my running rules: “walk before you NEED it”. So I switched to a 3-4-2-X. Notice how I’m walking more and walking less. Also notice how I am now running a total of 5 minutes (as was the original plan).
The penalty change in stride pattern was a whopping additional 40 seconds per mile (12:00/mile).. This is still tremendously faster than the 16 minute limit imposed by the marathon. I finished mile 14, and 15 this way.
Since mile 16 was going to be my last, I walked the first half and sprinted the last half mile. I was able to maintain an 8:15pace for that last half mile. If felt great!!
So now I’m armed with the following information: knowing that a 3-4-3-X pace will yield a 12 minute mile when I’m fatigued, it should provide faster results if I begin the race with this pattern.
Also, my ankle did not bother me during or after my run (thank You, God). Of all my concerns, this is the biggest. Let’s hope it continues to be a non-issue.
The determining factor of whether or not I’ll upgrade to the full marathon will be how I feel the next few days.
So Andrew said that he was going to run twice this weekend and in those 2 days would run more than I would this weekend. I told him I’d run 10 mile and I believe he planned for 6 and 6 for the week end. I think that’s too much for him. I mean, he has to properly rest between runs, right? That’s just silly to run so much without giving your body adequate rest before the next run. Let’s face it: he barely started running again. >:)
Posted January 4th, 2008.
Andrew told me about another website that keeps track of your Nike+ stats. It’s called RunnerPlus.com. We both profiles up there now. Andrews profile is here and mine is here.
Ankle seems fine today. We’ll test it again tomorrow with a slow 10 miler. The Half-Marathon in Phoenix is almost here, so I have to ramp up quicker than expected. When I started running 2 weeks ago, I did not expect to be running in a half marathon so soon.
I’m looking forward to the challenge…Bring It!!
Posted January 3rd, 2008.
My first run of the New Year was today: 6 miles in 56 minutes. Unfortunately I managed to twist my ankle on the last mile. I pray to God it’s not serious.
I was still able to continue running and finish at a decent tempo.
Truthfully, I feel good and I don’t think I caused serious damage. But given the fact that my ankle is what kept me from resuming my training for these last 6 weeks, I can’t help but worrying a bit. Well, I guess we’ll find out in the next few post just how serious today’s misstep was.
Posted January 2nd, 2008.
Good stuff today: I bought a Nike+ and registered with their website.My profile is now up there with 0 current miles.
For those that aren’t familiar with it, the Nike+ is a pedometer that works with most iPods. It keeps track of your distance and speed. When done with a run, you connect your iPod to your computer and via the iTunes interface, you upload your information to the Nike+ website.
I calibrated my Nike+ by walking a quarter mile and running a quarter mile at the local track. I and plan on logging my first miles on it tomorrow. Quite fitting to begin using my new tool on the first run of the new year, eh?
I also created a challenge that people can join. It’s aimed at getting geeks out there to run: T3ch 5uppor7 v5 4dm1n5. For those of you not |337 enough to know read that it reads: Tech Support vs Admins. Not that admins and tech support are in a battle…more like a friendly rivalry amongst fellow coworkers. So come on all you |337 ||4m45. Get down, lace them up, and get on out!
So the good news is that the new year and the new challenge have me in well spirits. Who knows, I might even be inspired to write a verse or three.
–Joe
-and i ran 0 mils today
Posted December 28th, 2007.
I have a love and hate relationship with running. I actually hate running. I would much rather be doing something else. Like just kicking back and watching Heroes or BSG(Battlestar Galactica). Can you tell I’m a geek yet? But I also love running since I get a sense of accomplishment from it. Knowing that I have something within me that tells me I can run 26.2 miles. I can and will tell anyone, running a marathon is definitely a life changing experience for most people. You obtain a sense of confidence as well as comradery with fellow marathoners. I now know that I can really do almost anything I set my mind to.
Before I ran my marathon, I thought, “Me? Run a marathon? Never!” But a co-worker of mine, who has run 2 already told me, “If I can do it, you can do it!” This is what it took to convince me that I can do it. So I went online, and googled “marathon training” and this is one of the links that came up: Hal Higdon’s Marathon Training If you have never run a marathon before, he has the perfect training regiment for beginners and novices. So off I went and finished my marathon in somewhat decent time, 4:54:29. I could have been a little more disciplined with my training and this would have probably shaved about 10-15 mins off of my time, but it being my first, I think I did ok.
So this is how my running life started.
Posted December 27th, 2007.
In late December of 2007, Andrew and I were talking about running. I wanted to convince him to run the LA marathon and a marathon in Utah. He was resisting, but I didn’t take no for an answer.
Somehow the conversation shifted towards Elite Racing’s Rock ‘n Roll series of races. We were browsing their website when I noticed the link that showed the medals you earn for running more than one of their races in one calendar year. That’s all it took for me.
You see, if you run all 6 of their races in 2008, you will receive a medal in the shape of the Superman S with the number 6 below it. It stands for Super Six.
Well, being the avid Superman fan that I am, this instantly became my goal for 2008.
Andrew is the voice of reason and he tells me that we don’t have enough time to train for the first race. He hadn’t started training yet and I’d only began my training a week ago. The first race was a mere 2 1/2 weeks away.
But since when have I been accused of being reasonable? I mean, we’ve both run a full marathon and a half marathon in the past. That means we’ve at one point conditioned our bodies to endure long periods of pain and turmoil and pointless monotony regardless of common sense (I totally mean that in a good way). We’ve even went as far as brainwashing…I mean convincing ourselves it was fun. How bad could it be to pick up were we left off, right?
That’s when the idea of this blog came into being. Andrew and I have two different approaches to our running. We train differently and tackle the challenge of distance running with distinct approaches.
I make it a point to devote time to walking a portion of every mile. This may sound cautious, but I use my walking technique as a license to run greater distance with less training. In previous trainings, I’ve gone from a 10 mile long run, to a 14 mile long run the next week, and incremented it by 4 miles each consecutive week, until reaching 26 miles. Yes, I did run a full marathon in training.
Andrew runs the whole way and only stops to walk during water breaks. He takes all the water breaks. He also follows a plan of only adding 1 mile per week to his long runs. This means he needs to devote a longer period of time to training before a marathon to ensure he has enough time to get his long runs in. He doesn’t run the full 26 before the marathon. The most he’ll cover on a long training run is 18.
So in 2008, we’re going to journal our running experience on this blog. We’re not trying to prove which style is better. Truth be told, I wouldn’t recommend my style to people. I just think that my body can take it, and I thank God that I haven’t pushed it over it’s limit yet. The purpose of the blog is just to let you see what type of training, results and set backs go into distance running.
We both run for fun. That by itself categorizes us a fools. But we express and experience our running in unique ways. I plan on running in 8 races in 2008 and call it fun. Andrew will just be running for the sake of running and call it fun. Perchance he’ll join me in a race…perhaps not.
…either way, we’ll be 2 Running Fools.
–Joe
