new shoes = tiring.

i have run the last three days on my new shoes. they feel great -- comfortable, familiar, and much more stable than my old shoes. also, they are great for whatever was causing the occasional pain in my right knee.

but, man, are they making me tired.

they're definitely stiffer than my old shoes, and i think that's prt of the problem. i feel like i'm putting much more energy into every step. it's weird, though, because i am still running at a good pace. last night i did a 10k in 57:44 (9:17) and today i did 3.2 miles in 28:00 (8:45). but i feel fatigued much earlier, even if i can keep running for a long time.

it's leaving me quite apprehensive about my long run on saturday. the schedule calls for 12 miles, but i might run 13. i'll be up north again, and it's 13.2 miles to run from indian river to wolverine and then back to the cabin. i haven't decided if i'll do the half marathon or if i'll give myself some extra walking time back to the cabin. it's a tough choice that i'll likely make some time after turning around in wolverine.

i would be surprised if the fatigue is also due to my lack of cross-training on sunday. i did 7 miles last saturday in respectable 64 minutes, good for a 9:08 pace. i fell asleep that afternoon and still got a lot of sleep that night. i love the cabin. i sleep so well up there.

robb.

it's because i'm lazy.

i had pretty good running last week, but i didn't post about it. i think you know the reason.

i think the leader is experimenting with energy over the weekend. i had a great 7 mile run along the north central rail trail. it begins in gaylord and ends in mackinaw city. i followed it from the river in indian river to rondo road in wolverine. this weekend i will be doing a similar route, though nearly twice as long. it is 13 miles to go from indian river to wolverine and back to rondo road. i

last week i tried a little energy in my 7 mile trip and it worked well enough that i will have some with me this weekend. i tried some honey stinger chews and a clif shot (apple pie flavor!). this weekend i will be using the clif shot block margarita with salt flavored chews. i will stop to walk at the 7 mile point to take them and some water.

the other good news is that i got some new running shoes. i had bought some new balance shoes in march and immediately started having knee pain on my right knee. i returned those shoes and have been running in my old asics gel nimbus VII. i bought them in 2005 and have run a difficult to estimate number of miles. three years of running in all seasons is a lot of running, and they were starting to show their age. and i happened upon a brand new pair of gel nimbus VIII -- one year later than my VIIs. they feel very familiar and the fit is as perfect as my old ones. so i'm wearing them in all week and saturday will be my first long run with them. i anticipate much happiness is my legs and particularly in my knee.

six miles tonight. i haven't been timing myself on 3 and 4 mile runs anymore. i probably will tonight. with the heat, i'll guess closer to 60 minutes than 55 minutes. i might even go longer than 60 minutes. it's pretty warm out there.

robb.

the update.

3 miles last thursday was difficult. my legs were still weak, and it was still hot. i ran at lunch, because i wanted to rest as much as possible for saturday's run.

i ran 10 miles through royal oak with a new friend from church. dave ran the dexter ann arbor half marathon in june. it was nice to have a partner to run with. the path was really fun, too. i set it up for us to run past the zoo and rackham golf course and finish by running the length of vinsetta blvd. my goal was to maximize greenspace and minimize major roads. we were on woodward for less than a half mile, and we finished with about a half mile of 12 mile. overall, it was a very relaxed run. we finished in 1:45, which is a 10:18 pace. slower than i expected, but it was really humid and we were carrying water.

regardless, my primary goal is to finish the race. i have tempted myself to run for a 10 minute pace, or even faster, maybe finishing under 4 hours. but the realistic goal is to cross the finish line, even if it takes 6 hours.

and i learned a few things. whereas i felt strong toward the end of my 9 mile run, i started to get fatigued towards the end of this run. i need to buy energy gels and experiment with energy and hydration more the next couple weeks. fortunately i'm only doing 7 miles on saturday, and i'll be up north, which is always good running.


i also got out on the bike yesterday for cross training. i feel great today, and i think waiting until monday to cross-train was a mistake and the primary reason why my legs were so tired last week.

i am finding more and more that i love being on a bike. sarah and i went to downtown royal oak to find her a dress for graduation. (she found a dress that is a bit of a departure for her, but it is very sexy and stylish.) we have been commuting locally by bicycle a lot lately, to the point where we crave being on the bike. it's great time together, and it's really fun. i also got out into the city last thursday with my friend, brandon. he lives in a loft on woodward, just north of campus martius park. we went to corktown to see the ongoing demolition of tigers stadium and then took the river walk to the dequindre cut before heading home. i love the city.

robb.

heat + fatigue = no fun.

agh. that was the worst last night. my legs were tired before i began. and while it wasn't mississippi hot or austin hot, it was hot enough (over 90F), especially considering how relatively cool this summer has been (low to mid 70s on sunday, for example).

i gutted through it and finished under a 10 minute pace, but it was not enjoyable for any amount of time. i had a hell of time controlling pulse. there were a couple points where i couldn't slow down any more.

i drank a gallon of water yesterday, a quart of which was divided evenly between the hour before the run and immediately after the run. and i still think under-hydration had an effect on my pulse.

gah.

robb.

do not want.

today is the first training day where i really don't feel like running. it's not that i'm hurting, i just feel kind of lazy. so while i originally was going to crow about running 3.45 miles yesterday in 27:29 (7:58), now i think that's part of why i don't feel like it. also, i didn't cross train until monday, when i swam at lunch, so today will be my third day in a row.

do not overtrain, kids. looks like i will have to take it easy tonight and tomorrow, or my 10 mile run saturday will be full of fail.

robb.

i didn't think it would go that way.

i got up at 7 saturday morning to eat breakfast in anticipation of a 9am run. it began to rain aroudn quarter to 9. and then it started raining harder. and the forecast called for rain all day, with strong storms in the after.

forget it. i'm running on sunday, and i'm going to eat some more.

a half hour later the rains started to let up, and it was sunny by noon. and the sun stayed all day. so i changed my afternoon plans and ran. i started around 4:30, and it took me 1:29:05 to run this path:


it is 8.8 miles long, and i had to walk for 10 minutes at 5.25 miles due to some knee pain. my first mile was in 9 minutes, which is a full minute faster than i had expected to run, but a pace which was largely sustainable, considering i was able to finish 9 miles in 90 minutes including 10 minutes of walking.

the weird thing was that while i was finishing my run, i saw a girl i had gone to high school with and hadn't seen or really thought about since. she and her sister were walking their dad's dog. we ended up walking nearly a mile back to 30th street and back together, just catching up. it must have been quite some time, because my dad had gone out in the car to look for me and make sure i wasn't writhing in pain along the path.

i apologized profusely, appreciative for his concern and active pursuit of my health and safety. he commented again that when he gave me water (around 4 miles) i looked very much in control with my effort and breathing, so he didn't expect me to be injured.

despite having to walk, i am very optimistic. i ran well faster than i had expected, and it seems running longer distances, for me, is simply a matter of doing. i have never run 9 miles before, but i didn't feel any worse after 9 miles than i do after 6 miles. what i am reading seems to indicate this is how it should be up to 20 miles. so that is good to see correlation.

*****

i got home to a voicemail from my guitar player saying he wanted to talk about some "band shit." i could guess what that meant. i called him back and he informed me that i was being dismissed from the band. it wasn't because i wasn't a good enough player, or that i was a bad person, but just that i wasn't fitting in with the band socially as well as they would have liked. apparently there have been some awkward moments that are just no acceptable.

i can trace it to three things. back in march they finally figured out that i don't drink alcohol. it wasn't a big deal, but i can see how that can add up over time. more recently, after i returned from amsterdam, i had mentioned that i was there, and when asked why, i said it was a service trip with church. i never actually used the word, "mission," but apparently they got the point. and i think justifying event was the last rehearsal that i was at. i hadn't gotten enough sleep over the weekend, i had had a long day at work, and practice started later than usual. it was nearing midnight and i was really exhausted. i was falling asleep during intervals between playing, and i wasn't very active while playing.

i was disappointed, but i wasn't entirely surprised.

robb.

learned it yesterday, applied it today.

so i ran with my friend from work, John, at lunch yesterday. for the first time during training, a mid-week run was more than 3 miles. so we did a 3.85 mile loop that starts and ends across the street from work.

i felt like i was holding him back, like my natural pace was slower than he wanted to go. but i pushed myself and kept up. and then when we got to the last corner, a quarter mile from the end, i decided to push myself and run hard to the end. i ended up finished in 35:54, which is an 8:48 pace. but apart from having pushed myself, i realized i had a lot more energy at the end than i thought i would. i realized that i could have been pushing myself harder throughout the rest of the run and finished much faster overall.

so i went out for a 3.25 mile loop this evening. i ate a large lunch, so i kind of felt like taking it easy. but i started rather quickly and decided to stick with it, pushing myself. i finished the first mile at 7:41. the second mile was at 15:32 (7:51). my final time was 24:47, for a total pace of 7:55. i nearly died during my first run at a 7:54 pace for barely more than a mile.

there is a lot more inside me, and i can push myself harder than i thought. i will be a lot more diligent about interval training on tuesdays now. it will be interesting to see my pace for the nine mile run. i am going to try monitoring only my heart rate during the run, and not peeking at time. i don't know where the mile markers are, anyway, so i guess it doesn't matter. but i wonder if my pace will improve for the long runs, too.

my friend from work, Amy, ran the chicago marathon five or so years ago. she said her training pace was pretty much her racing pace. so i am definitely in line to finish at a 10:00 pace. we'll see if that improves as training progresses.

but my confidence for saturday's run is very high. i will be very conscientious about eating tomorrow to prepare for it. the weekend runs are getting long enough that i have to worry about nutrition beforehand as well as hydration during. soon enough i will also have to worry about energy during the run. i'm not sure what i will do about it, but i think i may try solid food first. i've heard too many horror stories of bad GI reactions to energy gels.

robb.

bike maintenance + the benefit of HRM.

5 miles was pretty manageable on saturday. and i was diligent on sunday. i did 13 miles on my bike between church and going to see the dirty dozen brass band down at cityfest. while cycling, i felt like i was doing a pretty good job of working hard until i glanced at the heart rate monitor (HRM) my father-in-law bought me for christmas. i've been using it while running, so i know what i'm capable of in terms of heart rate and exertion. the HRM told me that i could be working harder at the bike, and it was right. i wasn't extra tired or working harder than i could to increase my heart rate. the result was that i completed the 13 miles in 45 minutes. apparently that's pretty respectable. i am already mentally preparing for my 9 mile run on saturday. it will begin at my parents' house and end near my in-laws' house. just like the 7 mile run, i am shocked the route is only that distance. for all the times i've driven these streets in my life, i can't believe the distance is only 9 miles and not, like, 80.


this week is 3 miles today, 4 miles tomorrow, and 3 miles thursday. i need to go out and buy a book about nutrition for marathon training. i have already noticed how much more i eat while training. it will be interesting when i get into the distance stuff how i will eat. i will also have to figure out what to do about eating during the race. i'm suddenly at distances where this stuff matters.

robb.

it's been a good week.

i was lazy on sunday and didn't cross train. so i got out on my new bike (1997 giant kronos road bike) at lunch on monday and did 8.25 miles. i have no idea how long it took me.

i ran at lunch on tuesday and did 3.45 miles in 29:15 (8:27). it felt pretty good to push hard. my calves were feeling fine after last week's punishment in the fivefingers (or gloves, as my co-worker and friend, John, calls them). they were feeling so fine that i decided to run in the glvoes wednesday after work. but i wanted to be able to walk afterward, so i ran the first mile and a quarter, then walked a mile, and then ran the last mile. also, i picked up a pair of toe socks at REI to alleviate the blister issues i had the first time. problem solved.

i didn't realize i was feeling so good today, or maybe i turned a corner. people who use the fivefingers say they make you faster. i finished today's 3.25 mile run in conventional shoes in 26:54 (8:17). this is not monumental, obviously, but considering last week i was running over 8:30, i feel very pleased with my progress. i would like to continue using the fivefingers as much as possible in my training. if possible, i would like to run the race in them, but i won't push too hard for that. i have to work my legs and my feet into shape first, and i don't know if my strength will catch up to my distance training.

five miles on saturday. that's pretty manageable. next week will be a long run, and i'd like to do some interval training mid-week, too. we'll see how that goes.

robb.