perseverance (in san francisco).

nevermind that i'm on vacation. i ran 7.5 miles in san francisco this evening. the city is known for its hills, and they worked me over pretty good. nevertheless, i ran a 10:00 pace over this course.

this is how my training has worked while on vacation. last friday was my very difficult 15 mile run. saturday was a travel day, and then we did a 2.5 mile loop through muir woods in marin county. i took sunday off, as well, because we were eating lunch at the french laundry. why take the whole day just for lunch? because lunch took us four and a half hours. i had the vegetable tasting menu, in all its 9 course glory.

i got up early monday morning and ran 1.5 miles into the west foothills of the napa valley, and then i ran 1.5 miles back. i think i took it easy and managed a 9-ish pace. i took tuesday off, because we had a coupe winery tours and went to santa rosa to buy a new digital camera.

wendesday, i ran across the napa valley to silverado trail and back, 4 miles in 32:20 (8:05). that evening we drove into the city. today we woke up early for a tour of angel island and alcatraz. then we wandered around pier 39 and up through the city back to the hotel. after spending the whole day psyching myself up quietly and mentally preparing for a physically draining run after a long day, i got dressed and got out and ran.

and i feel great. which is not to say there weren't a couple times i wanted to quit running and walk back, but i had to laugh at myself, considering how i've felt in some of my previous runs. hills or not, i know i can run through a little discomfort. i've gotten soft this week. it is definitely getting harder to run day in and day out, but i know i can do it. so i have to do it.

i'm glad i did today.

robb.

the hardest thing i've ever done.

i drank water and fluids all day today. i drank water before i went out to run. i carried a 500mL water bottle with me for the first 6 miles. i drank another 20oz. of water at my first energy and hydration break. i carried [i]another[/i] 500mL water bottle for the second 6 miles. and i had yet more water at my second break.

and then my body broke done, likely due to dehydration. not only could i not run, i could barely walk. for three miles. my feet hurt, my thighs hurt, my back was starting to hurt, my sides hurt. it took me over 3 hours to finish 15 miles, and it took everything i have to finish. but i did finish, and since it was near 90 degrees and rather humid when the run began, i guess that's all i can ask for. the weird part is that i kept my pulse around 150-155 most of the time. it wasn't like i worked to hard or asked more of my body than i have been.

but i am strangely not discouraged. i took two advil after i showered, so i am not that sore, and i don't expect to be sore for long. i am sure the disappointing result is a confluence of strange factors that are largely beyond my control. i wasn't exactly feeling fresh after 12 miles, but it wasn't traumatic. just like my 13 mile run two weeks ago, the last 3 miles are just entirely different than the first two laps. the difference is that i was already hurting before the end of my second lap tonight.

anyway, we're flying to california tomorrow. that will be perfect for my legs -- no movement, just sitting still and getting all stiff and not working. but i am going to eat great food, see beatiful sights, and watch msu own all over cal. and i'm going to run while i'm there. at this rate, though, i will be more than happy to postpone my 16 mile run until i come back.

robb.

deviation (from the schedule).

we're going to california on saturday, so for the first time i have to deviate from the training plan i've been following since june. i am supposed to run 3, 7, and 4 miles this week and 15 miles on saturday. instead i have run4 and 7 miles, and i'm taking tomorrow off in anticipation of a 15 mile run friday after work.

i did 7 miles today in 65 minutes. my legs were pretty stiff the whole time. it wasn't awful, but it wasn't as comfortable as last week. i didn't really cross train last sunday, because we had guests from out of town. apparently walking around the detroit zoo isn't considered cross training.

i'm taking tomorrow off, and then 15 miles. i'm a little worried about it, if my legs still feel this stiff. but at the same time, i'm also considering doing 16 miles, so that i can experiment with taking energy at 6 mile intervals instead of the 5 mile intervals i have been doing.

robb.

it's only 10 miles.

my long run this week was 10 miles; it's a step back week. but the fun part about it is that going into it, i know i can run 10 miles. and i know it isn't that taxing any more if i do it right. and i know how to do it right. so i wasn't worried. the paradigm shift is the most amazing part. two months ago, 10 miles was an impossibly long run. i could never run that far. now it's pretty easy and doesn't take a special amount of effort. compared to my first 10 miler a month ago, in which i hit the proverbial wall and finished at a 10:18 pace, the progress is remarkable.

i ran with my heart rate monitor and kept my HR around 155 for the whole run. i took energy and water at 5 miles. and i felt good enough at the end to kick it up a little, and i finished at a 9:30 pace (1:35 total time).

to make the water and energy stop easier, i ran two laps of my 5 mile loop and left water and energy chews on my front porch. the loop includes about a half mile of woodward, between vinsetta and 11 mile. and it also happens that saturday was the dream cruise, a lineup of vintage and classic cars, from old sedans to 70s detroit muscle. (it is a curse on my existence.) the sidewalks were very crowded and unsuitable for running, so i ended up running on the street, with traffic, passing all these cars. i'm sure the spectators thought i was some kind of vain prick for doing it. and while i enjoyed knowing that i was running comfortably in mile 8 of 10 in front of all those people, it was mostly fun to run faster than cars on the street.

i can't believe i leave for california on saturday! currently my plan is to take today off and run tuesday and wednesday per the schedule (3 miles and 7 miles), and then take thursday off and do the long run friday after work. i think it'll be tough to do 15 miles after work like that, but maybe i can enlist family help instead of running three laps.

robb.

sarah graduated!

congratulations to my wife, sarah, who graduated from the university of detroit-mercy (UDM) with an MS from their PA program. we went to a ceremony on friday night. she has only to pass her boards in three weeks before she begins work and is every bit a professional PA. UDM is a great school and has the best program in the state. her new job in general surgery is incredibly exciting and fascinating. i am so proud just being a part of her achieving her dreams.

robb.

don't overtrain!

i am just about done with "marathon," hal higdon's book on marathon training. one of the most consistent themes in the book is not to overtrain. don't work so hard in trying to achieve a specific speed or time. it is better to start the race undertrained than overtrained.

and i have been heeding his advice. for much of the first six weeks of training, i have been running to a 165 bpm heart rate. i have found this to be where i consistently ran my regular 4 mile loop. after struggling with my 10 mile run, along with reading this book, i started to rethink this plan. when i ran my first 13 mile run, i decided to run to 155 bpm. whenever my heart rate goes above 160 bpm, i know i need to slow down, and if it drops below 150, i can speed up safely.

because i had struggled at the end of last saturday's 13 mile run -- without my heart rate monitor or a watch -- i decided to take it really easy on my 3 mile tuesday run. my friend, john, was also planning on doing a triathlon today, so he wanted to take it easy yesterday, too. we ran 3 miles in over 10 minutes per mile. my heart rate didn't go above 150 bpm until we ran across 12 mile road at the end of the run. it was great and my legs felt fresh.

the best part happened today. my scheduled run is for 7 miles, which used to sound like a really long distance, but now is pretty manageable. armed with my hrm, i set out at a comfortable pace, aiming to keep my heart rate at 155 bpm. with a little over a mile left, i was feeling good enough to speed up, but my heart rate didn't sustainable get above 160 bpm. i got home in 64 minutes, good for a 9:00 pace. contrast that with my 64 minute run two and a half weeks ago up north, where i ran to a 160 to 165 bpm heart rate. today's distance was actually 0.12 miles longer, with a slower, more sustainable heart rate, but in the same amount of time. i actually got faster over a couple weeks by 8 seconds per mile! all because i decided to take it easy.

the lesson learned is don't overtrain. it doesn't make you faster, it only makes you tired. no wonder i felt like i was getting sloweryear after year.

robb.

another week already?

i finished a 13.25 mile run today, emphasis on finishing. i experimented again with energy, this time with apple pie flavored clif shot get at 5miles and 10miles. i'm home this weekend, so to do this i ran my five5 mile loop twice and finished with my 3.25 mile loop.

i don't know what happened, though. i felt fine at both 5 and 10 miles, but just shy of mile 11, i couldn't run anymore. i can't imagine it was energy, and if it were, i would've felt fine after it kicked in. i struggled the rest of the way home and had to force myself to run the last 2/3 mile from 11 mile home.

my only theory is that i was running too hard, since i didn't have my heart rate monitor with me. (i left it at work.) this is entirely possible, so i'm not really discouraged. my legs did and do feel better than last week, so hopefully next week will be easier. i suppose the fact that i was back on concrete and asphalt instead of finely crushed gravel rail-to-trail made a difference, too, though my feet didn't get sore like the end of last week's run. whatever. it's all in the wash now.

i do 10 miles next saturday, which is good because we're having friends stay with us, and it's sarah's graduation. and then i get slapped with 15 miles the following friday (before we leave for california). i will be going slow the next two weeks. i don't want to wear myself out. somewhere between last week and this week, speed just isn't a priority anymore.

ergonomically, i prefer the chews to the gels. i get the gel into my stomach faster, and i've read it digests faster than the chews, but it leaves more of a residue, which leaves my mouth dry. i didn't ever feel like i needed to rinse extra well, but then my dry mouth came out again. next week is a one-packet run, but i'll probably need two the following week. i'm not sure what i'll do about water, but mayabe i'll run past a 7-11 or something.

robb.

half way there. (don't overtrain.)

i ran 13.2 miles on saturday, which is a mile farther than the training schedule called for. it's also half of the race distance. the important part, though, is that it went great. i had no problems finishing. in fact, when i took water and energy at 7 miles, i was at a pace where i felt like i could run forever.

this was the first time i used energy in a long run, and i think it made all the difference. i ate 5 margarita flavored clif shot blocks at 7 miles, approximately 70 minutes into the run. i also drank 500mL of water, the only water i drank during the run. i had no troubles finishing the last 6 miles, though i believe i could have taken energy earlier -- about 5 or 6 miles -- and maybe twice during the run. my upcoming 15 mile run will give me a better idea of how much and how often i need to take energy. i'm still divided whether i want to use chews like the shot block or if i want to use gel. i've tried both, and i can't say that one is better, though the apple pie flavored gel did taste better.

considering how concerned i was for how the run could go, i couldn't be happier with the results.

i think the biggest reason is that i slowed down. instead of trying to hit a pulse rate between 160 and 165, i stayed slow around 150 to 155. this equated to a 10-minute mile pace rather than a 9-minute mile pace. i'll say it again. at 7 miles, i felt like i could run forever at that pace. perhaps i have been overtraining, or at least pushing too hard. i'll save the speed for the short runs when i feel like it, but i'll be taking it easy for the long runs from now on.

i want to finish the marathon, and i know i won't win it. what's the rush?

robb.