Day 1

Alright, I think I’m ready for this. The knee feels good. We’re still out of town at a camp in the middle of west Texas. There are no obvious routes to run, so I’m trying to make the best of what’s available. There’s a dirt and rock path that circles the camp. Also, there’s a road across the highway that go to a lake. 55 minutes of easy running, so let’s go.

By the way, I forgot to mention that we’ve seen a few skunks at the camp. In fact, one approached us last night and acted like it was about to spray us. Thankfully, nothing happened. I’ve been reading that skunks are nocturnal, so maybe they’ll be asleep if I don’t start too early. By the way, the sunrise is beautiful this morning. I took a picture, but accidentally deleted it. 😦

All done. Great workout and no skunks! There were some good hills on the roads by the lake. But this was supposed to be an easy workout, so I kept it slow. Feeling great!

Day 2

I was planning to run on the track this morning, but I’m a bit short on time. So I’ll just run from my house to the Cotton Belt Trail. This morning’s workout is known as a cruise interval. Or maybe it should be plural (cruise intervals) since there are 4 of these. It’s basically 10 minutes easy, 5 minutes near marathon pace with 3 minutes of easy running for recovery (x4), and another 10 minutes of easy running.

OK, I really like this one. Everything was just right. I was able to push the faster side of marathon pace and my heart rate stayed relatively low (max of 162). So I could have gone faster on this one. I’ll have to bring this one back!

Normally, I would hit the gym today. But I’m really tired from the weekend, so I’m taking a nap instead.

Day 3

The usual 30 minutes of easy running for recovery. I mentioned increasing this to 35 minutes, but was running short on time today.

Day 4

Dang, I really was planning to run at the track this morning. But once again, I’m running behind. I like the trails or streets better, but I try to do at least one of my regular weekly runs at the track. Saturday is another long run, so I’ll do the same workout I did the Thursday before the previous long run. Only, last time was 55 minutes. This will be the 65 minute version. Warmup plus 10 minutes easy, 10 minutes around marathon pace with 5 minutes of easy running to recover (x3), and 10 minutes easy again to cool down.

Warmup felt great!

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about the workout. Nothing is injured, but it just wasn’t great. I’ve had worse, but I’ve had a lot better. I’m wondering if I’m somewhat dehydrated. There was no struggle to hold the pace, but it felt like harder work than last time. This was confirmed when I saw that my maximum heart rate today was 180 (vs. 168 last time). Last time felt like I could have sustained the effort and pace for quite a bit longer. Today didn’t.

Oh well. At least this doesn’t happen often, and the last time was several weeks ago. I’m drinking plenty of water today and will continue to do so.

Day 5

I managed to mow a majority of the front yard last night. Most of it was done after dark. Other than not being able to see much, it was a lot more enjoyable than mowing in the heat. Why would I do this? Because Friday is rest day and I really want to take it easy. Tomorrow is a big one and I’ll need my legs to be fresh. Tonight is Birdville High School’s homecoming football game. This might put me in bed a little later than I would prefer. But I’ll try to get a nap on my lunch break to make up for it.

Much better game this time! We won.

Day 6

Today is a big one. 23 miles. The temperature is supposed to reach 101 tomorrow. That’s 38.3 C for any of you metric folks. Long run at a slow pace and hoping to finish before it gets really hot. So I’m starting early. I’ve heard a lot of positive recommendations for Tailwind Nutrition products, especially when it comes to fueling for long runs. I just ordered some of this and will be giving it a try for the first time.

I’m a little nervous about this. Not that it will be aerobically hard, but just thinking about how sore my legs will be this afternoon. After sitting down for a little while after the 20 mile run, I could hardly walk. So this should be fun. 😉 Let’s go!

…about 4 hours and 35 minutes later.

All done. Less than a half mile into the run, I encountered a skunk. I’ve come across a couple of these on the trail, thankfully without getting sprayed. When I saw this one, I picked up the pace and tried running past it. I don’t know what the skunk was thinking, but it started running along side of me. I was thinking “no, no, no…this can’t be good…what do I do now”. So I sped up a little more. Finally, the skunk turned around and went the other direction. Whew…close call!

From the beginning of this run, my legs were feeling heavy. I wasn’t feeling as rested and refreshed as I had hoped. Not bad, but not great. Maybe I wasn’t completely recovered from overdoing it on Thursday. For the first half of the run, it was pitch black. Just out of curiosity, I turned off my head lamp while I was on the trail. It was so dark that I could hardly see the ground beneath me.

The Tailwind Nutrition product seemed to help. It kept me from becoming hungry. However, I found myself still wanting to drink water, so I did.

After hearing some of the nightmare marathon stories from my friends, I was nervous about going past mile 20. But there were no issues. My legs felt heavy, but there was no cramping. At a certain point, I found it easier to think in terms of how much distance was remaining. So at mile 20, it was just a 3 mile run. That made it easier to keep going.

Finally, I finished. I purposely finished about a half mile from the car, so that I would be forced to cool down. My legs felt really tight, so I spent a few minutes stretching. Initially, I couldn’t stretch my quads without my hamstrings cramping. But I gave it a couple of minutes and it was fine.

After I drove back to the house, my legs felt like I was 90 years old. I took a hot bath and did my best to keep moving. By Saturday evening, my legs felt a lot better.

Day 7

I woke up feeling really sore again, so I went to the track for a recovery run / walk. It was harder than usual to get moving and I ended up going really slow. By the time I finished, my legs felt mostly better. However, my right shin was hurting. I was able to ice and rest it for part of the day. As I am writing, it’s being iced. It doesn’t feel quite right when I flex my toes upward. But it feels better than this morning.

Final Thoughts

I hate to finish on a negative note, but I’m just telling it like it is. I’ve had this before and it never lasted very long. The worst case I can remember was about a year ago. It was so bad that I didn’t think I would be able to walk back to the house after my run. Even in that case, after icing and resting it, I was able to get back to running within a couple of days. So hopefully, this will clear up soon.

There are a couple of changes I’d like to make. One is doing the marathon pace workout (Thursday this week) more by feel. Had I gone by feel, I think I would have been about 15-20 seconds per mile slower and probably would have felt better for Saturday. Actually I was doing this for a while, but let myself slip.

The other change is doing the long run completely by feel. I did this for the most part, but found the competitor in me wanting to keep speeding up toward the end. Then, wanting to beat the previous long run’s pace, I probably ran the last mile harder than I should have. Next time, I may set my Garmin screen to only show the distance. I’ll probably naturally speed up as I go, but I think I’ll keep the effort more consistent and appropriate this way.

Well, that’s it for now. 17 weeks down and only 9 to go!

Still feeling good after Saturday’s long run. Seriously, I expected to be feeling worse than this. Just a tad sore, but nothing out of the ordinary. This week, I’ll be introducing a new workout into the routine. What will this be like? Lots of work still to be done, so let’s go!

Day 1

This is a bittersweet day. The kids start another school year. It was really nice having them around over the summer. I’m able to work from home part of the time, so I was able to see them quite a bit. These milestones are always happy and sad at the same time. We’re obviously proud of them, but it just seems like the time is going by too quickly. We have a family tradition of always taking the kids to school the first. We’ll take them other days, but they might also ride with a friend, grandparent, or other person. One of the girls has to leave for school by 6, so I need to finish up quickly.

Off to the track for another 55 minute run. With Saturday’s run being so long, I’ll just take it easy and run by perceived effort.

All done. 11:02/mile average pace, which is 19 seconds per mile faster than last Monday. However, my average and peak heart rate were exactly the same. So that’s good news.

Day 2

Hitting the trail early today with the new workout I mentioned. It’s called a lactate clearance run. Rather than me trying to explain this one, I’ll just include link to the article. After my warmup, it’s 1 mile easy, 1 mile between 5K and 10K pace, 1-2 miles at goal marathon pace, 3 minutes of walking, and then 1 easy mile to cool down. I’ll be doing a version of this workout several time through the remainder of my training.

OK, all done. A few comments here. First, I think is a very effective workout. No question about this. Second, I need to make an adjustment. The first marathon pace mile was great. But with the next mile, I was going uphill a lot of the time. While I was able to hold the pace with no problem, I think the terrain was forcing me to work harder than I should have. So rather than clearing lactic acid, I was probably producing more. Next time, I’ll either run this at the track or relax the pace of the marathon pace miles a little. In other words, run them by perceived effort.

One more thing. I don’t know what happened, but my right ankle is feeling a little weird. It’s not really painful, but it feels loose. I’m wondering if I stepped on an uneven spot or did something else to irritate it. Just to be safe, I’m calling off the rest of today’s workouts, which includes working legs at the gym.

Day 3

I actually learned a new term. It’s called “maranoia”. I’m sure you can see that this is a combination of “marathon” and “paranoia”. In part, it’s the tendency of those training for a marathon to freak out and assume the worse anytime there’s even the slightest ache or pain.

The ankle feels somewhat better. Probably 90 percent normal. Still wanting to play it safe, I just took a walk around the neighborhood. Periodically, I slowly jogged a few steps just to see how it felt. It didn’t bother me. Hopefully, there’s nothing wrong and I’m just being paranoid…or maybe I should day “maranoid.”

Day 4

Since I’m doing mile repeats on Saturday, my original plan was to do today’s run at an easy pace. With the ankle issue, I’m thinking even more that this is a good plan. And because I’ll be doing Saturday’s workout at the track, I’ll run the Cotton Belt Trail just to keep things interesting.

All done. Ankle felt a little stiff during my warmup, but felt better once I got moving. During the 65 minute easy run, it didn’t bother me at all.

However, my achilles started feeling a little weird after sitting down to work. Man, what’s going on? It’s the same ankle, so I’m sure it’s related. I decided to look up some videos on achilles pain. There was no lack of strength or limitation of motion, so I don’t think it’s as serious as a tear. I spent about 15 minutes massaging the tendon and another few minutes stretching. I’m off tomorrow. If it feels 100 percent better by Saturday, I’ll do the scheduled workout. If not, I’ll run it easy.

Day 5

Ankle feels mostly better, even after waking up. It’s my rest day. I always say that a day of rest does wonders, so we’ll see if this hold true. I’m not doing any strenuous activities whatsoever today.

As the day goes on, it’s feeling progressively better. At this rate, I might just be OK for tomorrow. But I’ll wait and see.

Day 6

First thing in the morning, it literally feels like nothing was ever wrong with the ankle. With all my running related injuries over the past few months, even those that were considerably more painful than this, they always clear up in 2-3 days if I’ll just take it easy. This appears to be no exception.

Heading to the track with the intent of doing my usual warmup, 8 miles repeats, and cool down. I contemplated doing half mile repeats, as was prescribed in the book for days over 65 degrees. It’s definitely over 65 today. But I’ve decided to use the temperature pace adjustment calculator and slow down accordingly. The calculator is telling me that 8:30/mile is the pace I should run for each repeat. Of course, there’s a disclaim that the recommendation is an estimate and that a slightly faster or slower pace might be more appropriate.

No issues at all during the warmup. It doesn’t even feel still like Thursday. It feels completely normal. What a relief!

Mile 1 – Felt great. I ran at an 8:22 pace. This just felt right. It didn’t feel like I was straining or pushing too hard at all. We’ll see how this holds up or if I need to slow down.

Mile 2 – Still great. 8:25 pace.

Mile 3 – Yeah, this is working. 8:24 pace. It’s not really that much of a slowdown from last week, but just enough to where it doesn’t feeling like I’m running down.

Mile 4 – Yep. Still feeling strong. 8:23 pace. Last week, I noticed that the second half of each mile became more difficult. Not this week.

Wait. I’m running at the track. So I should probably switch directions for the last 4 mile repeats. Nobody else is here. Just remember to put the Garmin on the other wrist!

Mile 5 – No problem. 8:21 pace. Only 3 to go! I really need to watch my pace, as I’m tending to take off too fast.

Mile 6 – 8:20 pace. My legs are starting to feel a little heavy. Aerobically, it doesn’t seem any harder.

Mile 7 – 8:19 pace. I’m not trying to beat the previous mile by 1 second, but it keeps working out that way. Almost there!

Mile 8 – 8:18 pace. Seriously. I’m really not trying to speed up, but it keeps happening. I think I could crank out a few more of these if I had to, but it’s nice to be finishing up.

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Winding down with an easy 1 mile cool down. This really was a fun workout. I’m so used to holding back on easier runs. It’s nice to be able to run a pace that’s faster, but one that doesn’t leave me gasping for air. No issues at all with the ankle. It felt completely normal the whole time.

Day 7

A little sore this morning, but not bad. 30 minute easy recovery run at the track. Good nap after church. Feeling great!

Final Thoughts

Other than the one adjustment I need to make with the lactate clearance run, I think this week went really well. The actual race is 11 weeks from today, which is not a long time. I’m contemplating my pacing strategy, but I’ll address this on a subsequent post. Not much else to say for now. 15 weeks down and only 11 to go!

Things are starting to get a little crazy as the beginning of another school year draws closer. Our kids are all involved in extracurricular activities that require outside rehearsals. Two of our kids are in band and the other is on drill team. Both have started their practices this week. So we’re driving kids to and from school, which has made things busier than usual. On top of this, we’re doing the parent taught drivers ed with our daughters. All of this being said, I feel like I should apologize for not putting as much effort into my training blog. I’ll try to do better this week. Anyway, here goes!

Day 1

I’m still dialing thing in when it comes to running by pace. My initial approach was to pick a pace and run it. Obviously, there was some thought put into the selected pace. I would try to choose something that would remain at the appropriate intensity level over the course of the workout. Normally, this worked out well. But there were times when I ended up pushing too hard. In order to allow for more flexibility, I’m now using pace ranges. These come from an online calculator used for the 80/20 training programs. Further, I’m using a temperature pace adjustment calculator from RunnersConnect. Both of these are reputable sources that I trust.

Anyway, it’s 55 minutes of easy running at the track. For the first 5 minutes, I’ll start easier with a pace range of 10:40 to 13:23 per mile (zone 1, adjusted for temperature). Then, for the next 50 minutes, my target range is 9:19 to 10:39 per mile (zone 2, adjusted for temperature). Basically, I’ll run by effort and set intensity targets in case I’m running too fast or too slow.

OK, I’m all done. That was great. Pace for the first 5 minutes was 11:31/mile. For the rest of the workout, my completed mile split paces were 10:41, 10:40, 10:33, and 10:35. The first two were a tad slow, but the overall average was the main concern. It never felt like I was pushing too hard, so I’m happy with this one.

Day 2

I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but this Saturday’s run will be different. It will be shorter than usual, but higher in intensity. I’ll get to the details later, but the point is that I won’t be doing as much marathon pace (or faster) running this week.

Today, I’m running 40 minutes plus warmup on the Cotton Belt Trail. First, I should point out something I’ve recently learned. Even though I’m not using heart rate as the primary measure of intensity, I’m still keeping an eye on it to make sure I’m not pushing too hard.

For workouts around 30 minutes and longer, I’ve noticed my heart rate gradually rising. Sometimes it will rise above my desired heart rate zone, while the workout still feels very easy. I posted this question on a Facebook running group’s page. One of the moderators sent me an article explaining the concept of cardiac drift. Rather than trying to explain it myself, I’ll just include a link to the article. Anyway, still not abandoning all attention to heart rate. But if it drifts upward a little while the workout intensity remains the same, I’m worrying so much about it.

Alright, this is a pretty simple workout. 5 minutes in pace zone 1, 25 minutes in pace zone 2, and 10 minutes in pace zone 3 (adjusted for temp, which is 8:11 to 8:48 per mile).

All done. That was a good one. Like yesterday, I mostly paid attention to effort. With each segment, my pace ranged from the middle to the slower part of each respective zone. Had I pushed for the faster part of each zone, I think I would have overdone it. But the intensity of the entire workout felt just right.

Day 3

Today’s workout is just an easy recovery run. 30 minutes at the track. I’ll try to keep it all easy.

All done. That was easy. Average pace of 12:15/mile and average heart rate of 109. The highest my heart rate ever got was 122, which is below zone 1. But my legs are feeling better, so the workout accomplished its purpose.

Day 4

This shouldn’t happen often, but I need to adjust some things today. Our son’s school band is doing a mini concert around 11:30 today. I’d really like to be there, so I’m doing my run and gym workout this morning. Because the track is so close to the gym, I’m running this one at the track. Like I said, this shouldn’t happen often on Thursdays.

55 minutes plus warmup. For the first 40 minutes, I’m keeping it easy. Then I’ll run at my temperature adjusted marathon pace for 10 minutes. Finally, I’ll end with 5 minutes of cool down. Based on my mile test run, I should be able to run a marathon at an 8:26/mile pace. The author of the training program (Jeff Galloway) suggests aiming for about 15 seconds per mile slower than this. At least initially. So this would be 8:41/mile. Other than just finishing, my minimum goal is to finish in under 4 hours. So this would be just under 9:06/mile. Anyway, when adjusting for temperature, I’m coming up with a target pace range for the last segment of 8:48 to 9:24 per mile.

Warmup was good. I started running clockwise, but then the high school track or cross country team showed up for practice, so I reversed my direction.

Completed mile splits during the first segment were 10:33, 10:28, and 10:27, with the last few minutes of this segment being at a 10:36/mile pace. The marathon pace portion was at a 9:13/mile pace. This translates to an 8:52 pace in cooler weather. Very happy with how this workout went.

Of course, our son (Joshua) did an amazing job at his concert. I’m very grateful to work a job that is flexible and allows me to make a lot of these events. They grow up too quickly, so I really want to make the most of every moment.

Day 5

It’s rest day, I’m working, and the yard doesn’t need to be mowed. This is probably one of my least active days in a while.

Day 6

Earlier, I alluded to the fact that Saturday’s run would be different. This is the first of several mile repeat workouts. Today will be a warmup plus 6 mile repeats with a target of 30 seconds per mile faster than goal marathon pace. Each mile is followed by 5 minutes of walking.

For the purpose of this workout, I’m shooting for a mile repeat pace of 8:11/mile. I have no idea how easy or difficult this will be, and really don’t know what to expect.

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Mile 1. Not so bad. I knew I was working, but not terribly difficult.

Mile 2. About the same. I need to pace these more evenly, rather than starting too fast and having to slow down.

Mile 3. Better, but I can sense some fatigue starting to set in. Halfway there!

Mile 4. Something about this reminds me of mile 5 of my last 10K. The point where the race becomes less fun and more difficult.

Mile 5. Same. I’m supposed to wait for my heart rate to drop to around 127 before I start each mile. It’s not dropping. I paused my watch and probably stood there for 5 minutes and it wouldn’t drop that low. I guess I’ll go ahead and do mile 6.

Mile 6. OK, that wasn’t bad. Standing there for 5 minutes, I was probably more rested than I would have been.

What? My watch is telling me that I still have 1 mile repeat to go. I specifically counted 6, so I don’t think so!! I’m calling this done.

Sorry folks, I’m not trying to offend anyone with my what I’m about to share. Just telling it like happened. Nature began calling at the worst possible time. When I say “calling”, I really mean “screaming.” I was still out on the trail and wasn’t sure if my house or one of the rest stops was closer. So I gambled and started walking toward the nearest rest stop.

The sense of urgency grew quickly, so I began running. But running only made things worse, so I went back to walking. I was so concerned that I wasn’t going to make it, that I actually grabbed a couple of the free doggy bags from the dispenser. Just in case. That’s true desperation.

At last, I reached the bathroom. No exaggeration here, but I couldn’t have made it another 30 seconds. But I made it and didn’t have to use the doggy bags. Even better, the rest stop had a water fountain and I was able to fill up my empty hydration reservoir. Once again, all was right with the world. I’m not sure how I’ve lived this long and managed to avoid this situation until today.

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Looking back, I see a couple of things I should have done differently. First, I completely forgot to adjust my target pace for the temperature. So it actually should have been somewhere in the 8:30/mile range. Second, I messed up and programmed the workout with 4 minute breaks, where the breaks should have been 5 minutes. I’m thinking that these two adjustments would have made for an easier workout. I’m also thinking that I might go easy for the first part of next week, just to make sure I’m properly recovered.

Day 7

Regarding the temperature adjustment issue for the mile repeats, I have an answer. When the temperature exceeds 65 degrees, reduce the distance to a half mile per rep and double the number of reps. Well, maybe next time.

Legs were sore and felt heavy this morning. But after an easy 30 minute run/walk, everything felt much better. It was a restful afternoon. We finished out the day by playing a game together as a family. This put me in bed later than I planned, but it was well worth it.

Final Thoughts

This week went much better than last week. After running by heart rate, perceived effort, and pace, I think I’ve found the right balance. Essentially, I’m now running by effort, but also using a target pace range. This allows me to keep my effort in check so that not pushing too hard. It also reminds me not to slow down too much when there’s plenty of fuel in the tank.

There’s a lot more work to be done. I’m looking forward to seeing how it goes during the second half of training. Well, I guess that’s it for now. 13 weeks down and only 13 to go!

Normally, I’ll write the beginning paragraph at the first of the week. But I ended up kind of busy with a few things, so I’m writing it later. Let me just warn you up front that I didn’t take any picture this week during my runs. Sorry! So any pictures you see on this post are just random pictures I found on the internet. Anyway, here goes…

Day 1

I’m a little concerned after yesterday. It was one of those days when it was hard to get enough water to drink. From 11:00 to about 12:30 on Sunday, I was in a place that was hot without any water to drink. I drank some water before my nap, but then woke up feeling parched. Sunday evening, I was somewhere else that was hot. They had a large container of water, but somebody had locked up the cups. Not anticipating this, I didn’t bring my water bottle. It took a while, but I finally found somebody who was able to help me find something to drink.

This being said, I’m concerned that I didn’t hydrate adequately yesterday. This morning is an easier workout, so I’ll just pay attention to effort. 55 minutes at the track. Oh yeah, I’m switching directions. I’ve been doing Monday’s runs clockwise. For some reason, this really throws my GPS off. It’s giving me probably 15-20 seconds per mile. On the other hand, my counter clockwise runs are quite accurate. So I’m switching to counter clockwise.

All done. I’m not sure exactly why, but this seemed harder than usual. My average heart rate was higher and I was having more trouble holding the pace. Maybe this was residual fatigue from Saturday. Or maybe inadequate hydration. Either way, I should have run this one slower.

I ended up lifting heavy during my lunch break and mowing the yard after work. This makes me a little nervous. Every time I’ve done these three things in one day, the next day’s workout is a struggle. I’m drinking plenty of water to make up for what I’m sweating off. We’ll see.

Day 2

Man, I was having such a great night sleep. Then, I started hearing this rapid tapping noise that sounded like it was somewhere in our bedroom. Somehow, our dog had ended up under our bed and she was scratching. Normally, she sleeps in our daughters’ room. So I got up, coaxed her our from under the bed, and brought her to the girls’ room. After that, it was hard to go back to sleep. When I woke up, I was really tired.

I’m not sure what to expect with today’s workout, but I’ll give a try.

Warmup was great. No issues. Feeling really good. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

Or maybe it will. All done. Honestly, this was not a good workout. I really struggled. The first mile was fine, but things kind of fell apart after this. I felt like I was working too hard for the pace I was able to run. After the first mile, each mile was slower than last week. At the same time, my average heart rate was higher this week. Dang, that’s not good.

I’m not sure why, but I’m feeling run down this week.

Looking further into this, I’ve been made aware that it’s good to back off the intensity for a couple of workouts following a hard run. Not having done speed work in several months, I would definitely classify the mile test run as hard. I think I’ll do the next couple of runs at an easier effort, just to make sure I’m recovering adequately.

Day 3

I had a theory in mind about the GPS issue I mentioned earlier. Ever since I’ve been wearing watches, I’ve always worn them on my left wrist. When I run counter clockwise, the watch is on my inside facing the football field. But when I run clockwise, it’s facing outward. Would that be enough to make a difference? I don’t know, but I think it’s worth a try.

Having the watch on my right wrist already feels awkward, but let’s go! First mile was right on. Second mile too. Looks like I found the problem! The GPS is apparently very sensitive to slight differences in position. I guess I’ll need to slow my clockwise track runs down a little, but that’s OK.

Easy workout. 11:41/mile and average heart rate of 117. Feeling a little better.

Day 4

Good sleep last night, so I’m feeling even better. Still, I’m sticking with the plan to keep this one easy. Saturday will be in the neighborhood, so I’ll run the Cotton Belt Trail (my favorite) this morning. It has some good hills, so hopefully the pace is alright. If not, I can always slow it down.

Well, I didn’t do the usual warmup (1 easy mile plus strides) today and I can tell a difference. It’s just on the first mile. It feels slower and more sluggish. My legs feel heavier and I feel like I’m working harder to run at the goal pace. Rather than pushing it too hard, I just let myself go slower for mile 1. After this, it was easier to go faster without pushing too hard.

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It’s pretty obvious that I was the first person on the trail this morning. Several times, I ended up running through a spider web that was spun across the trail. Man, they must have been busy last night! It’s like I’m breaking through the tape at the end of a race…and then frantically trying to clean off my face and make sure there were no spiders on me. Oh the life of an early morning runner.

All done, with an average pace of 10:45/mile and average heart rate of 131. Good workout!

Day 5

I hate to do this on my rest day, but the back yard really needs mowing. I’ll just do it early, before it gets too hot. That should still give plenty of time to take it easy.

We’re also taking the kids to some friends’ house to swim for a couple of hours. Nothing difficult for the rest of the day. At the risk of looking like an old man, it’s about 7:45 and I’m going to bed.

Day 6

Up at 3:30! The early bedtime turned out to be a good call. Now that we’re up in mileage, the Saturday run takes more prep time. I froze 3 1/2 water bottles plus a small Gatorade bottle. That makes 4 available water bottles, plus Gatorade, plus my 1.5 liter reservoir. Surely, this will be enough!

17 miles this morning. Obviously, I’ve never done this before. 15 miles wasn’t so bad, so this shouldn’t be too much harder. Enough talking for now. Let’s hit the road!

It was 4:27 when I officially started the run. Last night, my weather app was showing thunderstorms in the forecast. But it looks like it’s all clear.

A few miles into the run, I could see a logistical issue. I should have planned my route differently so that my first water stop would be sooner. As it is, I finished my first water bottle about a mile and a half before the water stop. It was still dark outside and wasn’t too hot, so I was still OK.

Around mile 8, it started to rain. I listened carefully for thunder, but didn’t hear anything. So I just kept going. For the rest of the run, the rain continued. Consequently, I was unable to capture the sunrise.

Another logistical issue. I froze 3 of the water bottles, thinking they would have plenty of time to thaw out. But this wasn’t the case with my last 2 bottles. I grabbed what I could and drank as much as possible. But there was still a sizable chunk of ice that wouldn’t melt. Because of this, I was struggling to get enough water. I did have a little bit of water left in the reservoir, so I was able to get by.

The run really wasn’t difficult, though my legs started to feel heavy around mile 15. I guess it was because of the rain, but my feet stayed wet for quite a bit of time. By the time I finished, they felt raw. At last, I was done and heading back to the house. I know it wasn’t fast, but it felt great to have completed 17 miles for the first time.

For lunch, I met my brother and a friend at a local BBQ restaurant. At that point, the soreness had really started to set in. I was walking like a much older man. This was the sorest I had been in a long time. By evening, my legs actually felt a lot better.

Day 7

Pretty sore this morning, though not as bad as I would have expected. I did an easy run/walk workout for 30 minutes at the track. I was also able to get a 2 hour nap during the afternoon.

Final Thoughts

Well, the first part of the week was rough. Especially after how well last week went, this was a bit discouraging. The big takeaway is that I may need to reduce the intensity of workouts that closely follow a harder run. Noted. Next time I do the mile test run, I’ll definitely slows things down for the next 2-3 days. I guess that’s it for now. 12 weeks down and only 14 to go!

Here we go again. We’re getting really close to the halfway point, which feels both exciting and intimidating. There’s still a lot of work to be done. Looking ahead, there are only 5 long runs left on the schedule. The other weeks are either mile repeats or a 1 mile test run followed by easy running. The mile test run is called the “magic mile.” Sounds intriguing, right? 😉 I’ll explain it all later. For now, let’s get to work!

Day 1

55 minutes of easy running again. I’ll use the same target pace (10:20/mile) that I used last time.

Well, that wasn’t smart. I was trying to see one of my other watch screens and I unintentionally pushed “stop” 2-3 minutes into the run. Rather than simply pushing “resume” like normal, I started the whole thing over. I guess my OCD couldn’t take it!

Good workout, like last week. Average heart rate was a little higher this week at 133 (130 last week). But I think this was due to starting the workout, stopping, and starting again. I’ll have to do it again next week to have a good point of comparison. Oh well, still a good workout.

Day 2

This week is a little crazy. I’m normally in the office only on Wednesday, which is perfect for my training schedule. But this week, I’ll be in Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Plus, my nieces are staying with us this week. So I won’t be able to hit the gym on these days. For this reason, I did a full body weight workout last night.

After pushing too hard last week, I decided to do a modify this workout. I’ll run 4 mile repeats at a target pace of 9:00/mile, broken up by 3 minutes of easy running. Oh yeah, I’ll at least be keeping an eye on my heart rate just to make sure it’s not out of control. My heart rate monitor’s light turns red when my heart rate reaches or exceeds 160. So if I see the red light, I’ll check things out and decide where to go from there.

All done! Yes, that was a great workout. Breaking thing up made a huge difference. I was able to keep it close with my pacing, and my heart rate never got out of control. Mile repeat paces were 8:57, 8:50, 9:07, and 8:59. The 9:07 mile was mostly uphill, so I backed off just a little to keep from pushing too hard. Once again, great workout. I’ll be bringing this one back!

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Day 3

Easy recovery run at the track. 30 minutes at 10:40 per mile. Average heart rate was only 123, which is great! Peak heart rate was only 136. So I might consider speeding this one up a little next time.

Day 4

Since I’m doing the “magic mile” on Saturday, I’ve decided to do this workout at an easy pace. Monday was at a 10:20 pace on the track, but this route has some hills. So I’ll try 10:40 and see how it goes. If my heart rate goes too high, I’ll slow it down. 55 minutes, so here goes…

All done. Actually, that worked really well. Average pace was 10:31/mile, which was a little faster than planned. Average heart rate was 131. The peak would have only been around 143, but I gunned it for the last minute, so the peak heart rate was 147. Still, I’m really happy with how this went.

Day 5

Rest day! I didn’t set the alarm, so I slept until about 5:20. Still a work day, but nothing difficult planned. We’re taking the kids swimming this afternoon, which should be fun!

Or not. We ended up waiting forever at the DMV to get our oldest daughter’s driving permit. It could have waited until next week, but she starts practice for school band and her free time during the day will be more limited. By the time we finished, there wasn’t enough time left. Oh well.

Day 6

This is the day I’ve been looking forward to and dreading, at the same time. It’s the mile test run or “magic mile” I’ve mentioned. The purpose of this run is to get a basic idea of how fast you feasibly run a marathon. You start with an easy mile and a few strides. Then, you run a mile as fast as you can. Sounds easy, right? Well, maybe not.

My current mile record is 6:35. This was run on April 25 and was done on a flat route. Today, I’ve decided to do the test on the Cotton Belt Trail. This has quite a few hills. It’s my favorite place to run. The surface feels exactly like the marathon course. I should mention that the marathon course is flatter. So I fully realize that my time may be slower than my previous record, because of the terrain. That’s OK with me.

Alright, let’s do the warmup.

Feels great. This really is a nice day. It’s still dark outside and about 72 degrees. There’s a pleasant breeze, but not enough wind to make the workout more difficult.

OK, all done with the warmup. Time for the moment of truth…let’s go!

Whew. That was tough. The hills made it noticeably harder. Last time, I remember the first 3/4 of the mile not being so bad, but then being very difficult for the last 1/4. This time, the entire second half was tough. It took some focus to keep moving forward. But in spite of the more hilly route, I finished with a time of 6:29. Man, now I almost wish I had run this on a flat route just to get a more accurate comparison. Regardless, I’m really happy with the progress I’m seeing.

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I finished up with an easy 3 mile run. This helped to work out a lot of the soreness I was feeling after the magic mile. Legs are feeling much better now. That was not easy, but it was a great workout!

Day 7

Because I haven’t done speed work in months, I figured my legs would be more sore from the magic mile than they were from the 15 easy miles last week. But I was wrong about this. I had some soreness yesterday afternoon, but woke up feeling good. I did a 30 minute recovery run and that should be it for the day.

Final Thoughts

This was a great week. Really, I felt great about everything. Every workout seemed to be very well dialed in. It never felt like I was pushing too hard or holding back too much. There’s still a lot of ground to cover and quite a bit of unfamiliar territory, but I believe the foundation is solid. I guess that’s it for now. 11 weeks down and only 15 to go!

Well, it’s back to the real world with work, hot weather, etc. This week will be the first time in my marathon training that I’ll be running a distance that I’ve before attempted. What will this be like? Also, I’ve decided to make another modification to my training. I’ll explain this in more detail. Enough talk. Let’s get to work!

Day 1

Alright, I told you I would explain my training modification. Initially, I was using heart rate to monitor the intensity of my runs. Tired of constantly looking at my watch, I began using perceived effort. However, I found that I was pacing all of my easier workouts like recovery runs. This is fine when it’s actually a recovery run. But with the other easy runs, there’s room to push a little harder while still keeping it easy. So I went back to using heart rate to make sure I was hitting the correct level of intensity. But having to look at my watch so often was diminishing the enjoyment of running.

So I’ve decided to try running pace. That’s a pretty simple approach that a lot of trainers recommend. We’ll give this a try and see how it goes. If I chose my paces wisely, I’m thinking my heart rate should be fine.

Today, I’m doing 55 minutes at the track. I’ll be shooting for a target pace of 10:20/mile. This is on the faster end of zone 1. So with the run being 55 minutes, I figure that my heart rate will venture into (but not above) zone 2.

Well, that actually worked really well. This was an easy but enjoyable pace to maintain. I never felt like I was straining, gasping for air, etc. Heart rate was good, meaning that the level of effort was appropriate. So far, I’m liking this.

Day 2

Today’s run is warmup plus 40 minutes. I’ll shoot for something a tad more conservative than goal marathon pace to adjust for the hills on this route. Target pace is 9:05/mile.

All done. Actual pace was right on at 9:05/mile. The first 3 miles felt great. But toward the end, it began to feel like I was having to push a little too hard. This didn’t happen until after the 4th mile, but my heart rate peaked at 190. For this workout, that’s too hard of an effort. Not quite sure why I was having trouble with this one.

I ended up with a headache for a good part of the day, so I’m wondering if I wasn’t properly hydrated. Tuesday has historically been the day I’ve struggled the most with this.

Day 3

I’ve been enjoying the easy recovery run on Wednesday morning. It seems to be helping with recovery, while still offering some aerobic benefit. Today, I ran a pace of 10:45/mile with an average heart rate of 129. That works for me.

Day 4

55 minutes today, plus warmup. Since it’s a longer run, I’ll shoot for a target pace of around 9:30/mile, with the first mile being at an easy pace. This has been close to my average pace for this run, so I think this should work out.

Well, I’m not sure what to think. That wasn’t bad. I didn’t have any problem keeping the pace. But my heart rate ended up higher than expected. It peaked at 173, which is below my lactate threshold, but still higher than I had hoped. I might need to adjust my approach to the Tuesday and Thursday runs. I’ll be thinking this one through.

During my lunch break, I did another heat acclimation run. Easy pace of 11:00/mile, to make sure that it remained a truly easy workout.

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Day 5

As always, I appreciate the rest day. Invariably, one of our daughters always wants me to bring her to the gym on this day. If my schedule allows, I’ll go with her, but I won’t actually workout. Instead, I’ll do some foam rolling, which is exactly what I did this time.

Two of the kids have been out of town with my in-laws, so it’s been a pretty quiet week. Our daughter, who is at home with us, has been asking about doing a date. So we all went out to eat and then saw a movie. Great food and a great time!

Day 6

Well, I woke up needing to go to the bathroom around 3:45AM. Since this will be a long run and we need to pick up our other kids this morning, I decided to stay up and get an early start.

15 miles today. I’ve never even attempted this, so I have no idea of what to expect. This may be going overboard, but I really want to make sure that I have plenty of water. I froze 3 1/2 bottles of water and 1 small bottle of Gatorade. With the 1/2 frozen bottle, I filled the other half with water before leaving the house. Then I carried another water bottle, in addition to the usual running vest with 1.5 liter reservoir. Also, I’m bringing a Larabar and 3 electrolyte tablets. To keep my load somewhat light, I’m placing all of the frozen water bottles in the mailbox. That way, I can grab another one when I pass by. It’s a long neighborhood route that I put together on MapMyRun. Hopefully this works out.

The pace of my last 2 long runs was in the 11:40-11:45 range. Both times, I started faster and progressively slowed down as my heart rate increased. Being a new distance, I’m picking a really easy pace of 12:00/mile. This will have me starting easier and running a consistent effort. Here goes!

Going well so far. First water bottle is empty just in time for me to pick up another one. Actually, the overall timing of my hydration is working out perfectly. I’m taking a bite of the Larabar every 3 miles and taking an electrolyte tablet every 5 miles. So far, I’ve been able to keep everything straight. I actually set alerts on my watch, but just realized that they don’t work on programmed workouts. There has to be a way around this.

At the halfway point, I’m still feeling great. This pace is really easy. I’m sure it’s becoming slightly more difficult over time. But it seriously feels like I could run a double marathon at this pace before it started to become a challenge.

Legs seem a little heavy around mile 13, but still feeling strong. Here it comes…all done!

My time was 3 hours exactly, which was the same as my goal pace. Average heart rate was 132, which is good. So I could have gotten away with pushing harder. But I’m really happy with this one. I had plenty of water and still had some left when I finished. So I think this is probably enough water for my next long run of 17 miles.

After driving 3 hours to pick up the kids, my legs were feeling pretty stiff and sore. Even more so after driving 3 hours back home. But it’s no worse than it was for the 13 mile run. In fact, it’s probably not as bad.

Day 7

Another recovery run. Average pace was 11:41/mile and average heart rate was only 115. Legs are feeling much better now.

Sunday afternoon is here and I’m taking a nap. I’ve needed this!

Final Thoughts

So far, I’m enjoying running by pace. Mainly because it doesn’t require me to look at my watch nearly as often. Consequently, I’m able to enjoy running more. However, I think I need to make some adjustments for the harder weekly runs so that I don’t end up pushing too hard. Part of this means learning to run hills more efficiently. Rather than pushing harder when running uphill, maintaining a consistent effort level. Allowing myself to slow down when running uphill, while allowing myself to speed up when running downhill. It’s all part of the learning process and I look forward to implementing these things next week. Well, that’s it for now. 10 weeks down and only 16 to go!

We arrived in Red River on Sunday afternoon. This place is beautiful. Let me just warn you that none of the pictures will do it justice. I’m really looking forward to this week. It should be a nice break from the Texas heat. At the same time, it will be my first time to run at this altitude. For reference, the elevation is around 8,600 feet above sea level. This is roughly 8,000 higher than home. What will this be like? We’re about to find out!

Day 1

I’m obviously not used to the one hour time difference between here and home, as I woke up at 3:27AM and couldn’t go back to sleep. So let’s make the most of this and get it done early! Woah…it’s 46 degrees outside. The last time I ran in weather this cool was probably back in February. In case you don’t know, this is a great temperature for running. You don’t tend to sweat nearly as much, so you don’t need as much water. Plus, you can generally run faster as your body isn’t working to cool itself down. That is, unless you’re running at a higher elevation.

Today’s workout is 50 minutes of easy running. I’ll be running on the side of the road that runs through town. It’s the same road shown in the picture. It’s not exactly flat, as you can probably see. But it’s easier than running up a mountain trail. Being so early, there’s nobody else in town. It’s like I have the whole street to myself. Not bad!

Well, I’m all done. That was slower than usual at 11:30/mile. Average heart rate was 136, so it wasn’t a hard workout and I’m feeling great.

Day 2

It feels colder than yesterday. My weather app says 42 and van’s thermometer says 35. Regardless, for someone used to Texas heat, this is cold! Today’s workout consists of a warmup plus 35 minutes with a target heart rate of 155-160.

Warmup is done. Man, have I mentioned that it’s cold? My hands are numb, which wasn’t the case yesterday. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring any gloves. I’m sure that those of you from truly cold climates are laughing at my definition of cold.

About 30 seconds into the run, I could tell I had taken off too fast. At home, it might have been a mile or so before I noticed. But it’s a lot more obvious with the elevation. I really don’t have a comparable course to compare on this workout. My pace is actually close to what it would be at home, but this is a flatter route whereas the neighborhood loop has more hills. 9:35/mile pace with average heart rate of 152. Actually not bad.

I took the kids to ride horses and one of our daughters wanted to hike with me to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, there was an area where some pretty deep water was flowing across the trail and we were unable to cross. So we turned around and decided to try another route tomorrow.

Day 3

Legs are feeling sore. Partially from running, but also from riding horses and hiking. So I’m doing a 30 minute easy recovery run.

All done. Feeling better. Oh wait, I told our daughter that we would do the hike today. What was I thinking?

This time, we talked with one of the resort employees to make sure we were picking a route that would allow us to make it to the top. He was very friendly and helpful. He explained everything and gave us a trail map. So I think we’re all set.

When we were about halfway up the first hill, it was clear that this would not be an easy hike. It was probably a green slope, but it was steeper than I expected. About a mile into the hike, Gracie said this was probably the hardest workout she had ever done. I could have pushed through, but she kept asking to stop. The competitor in me didn’t like this, but I wanted it to be an enjoyable experience for her. So we stopped a few times. We took some nice pictures and enjoyed some incredible scenery.

By the time we finally reached the top, both of us were really hungry. Initially, we talked about hiking down, but then decided to take the chair lift. The hike drained me more than I expected. When we got back to the condo, I had a headache and ended up taking a nap after lunch. Tiring, but it was a great day.

Day 4

Legs are feeling really sore today. I’m contemplating making this an easy run, just to give my legs a chance to recover. We’ll see how the warmup goes and then I’ll decide.

Actually, that wasn’t bad. Feeling better than I expected. I’ll just do the scheduled run of 50 minutes (10 easy, 10 with target HR of 155-160, 5 cool down). Somehow, I ended up with a rock in my shoe, so I need to take care of this first.

All done. Again, about 30 seconds per mile slower than it would normally be at home. But it felt great. No more strenuous activities scheduled for the day. We’re going tubing and then taking it easy. That’s it for today.

Day 5

If there’s a better way to spend your rest day than driving for about 6 hours, I can’t think of one. 😉 Everyone seemed a little sad as it was a great time and we all wanted to stay longer. But at least we managed to stop on the way and get a few more pictures.

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Day 6

We spent the night with my in-laws in Amarillo. The plan is to head back home around 10 or 11, so I’m going for a simple 6 mile run. I’ll do this one at Medi Park, where I did one of my other runs around the end of May. While it’s not Red River, it’s still a nice place. Nice view as the sun comes up. Great run with no issues at all.

All done, so let’s get back to the house. Uh oh. Something’s wrong. Rather than try to describe what I’m seeing, I’ll just show you the picture.

Somebody broke the window and stole several things from the van. Actually, nothing of great value. A bag of food, several board games, and a small bag with a few things. My reading glasses, protein, electrolyte tablets, and multivitamins. For what it’s worth, I had just purchased the multivitamins and had only taken 2 of them. So this person ended up with the other 118. Thankfully, they didn’t take my guitar. I’ve had this guitar for almost 20 years and it’s a nice one. So this would have been harder to replace.

Anyway, there’s not much sense in complaining. Allowing myself to grow angry and bitter won’t do anything to change the situation. Truth be told, I still have a lot to be thankful for. An amazing wife and 3 awesome kids. A great job that allows me to work from home a lot of the time. Good health. Great family and friends. And so much more. God has blessed me far beyond what I could ever deserve. So we’ll replace the window and move on with life.

Day 7

Back home, as of late last night. Just a simple 30 minute recovery run at an intentionally easy effort. I’m definitely planning on taking a nap this afternoon!

Final Thoughts

With the good and bad, this was a great week. It was really nice being able to do some of my training in a different environment. Not sure what kind of impact it will have on my overall conditioning, but I’m grateful for the experience. It was really a treat to be able to unplug from the noise and stress of life and to just enjoy each moment with my family. I’m thinking this next week will be less eventful, but we’ll see. 9 weeks down and only 17 to go!