2008 course announced.

download the .pdf here.

disappointingly, due to the construction on I-75, i won't be able to run through mexicantown. but the bridge and tunnel border crossings are still there, as is the run around belle isle.

robb.

i can't eat enough.

i did 9 miles tonight after work. my pace wasn't extremely fast (1:24/9:17), but it was pretty reasonable considering i didn't really feel up to it all day. i felt fresh at the end of the run, but i didn't have to stop to walk at any point. so it was a new personal best for distance without stopping.

i also realized how hard it is to eat enough while training. i have 18 miles to run on saturday, so i'm trying to carbo-load for that. and yet, today i felt full all day, like i had eaten a lot, but i'm not sure i ate enough. i had 2 eggs, 2 pieces of low-calorie toast, some butter, and a bowl of cereal for breakfast. this is a lot, about 13 weight watchers points (which is roughly 1,300 calories). for lunch i had a footlong veggie sub at subway (9 points) with a bag of chips (4 points) for another 1,000 calories. according to weight watchers, i should be eating 22 to 27 points a day in order to lose weight.

running burns about 100 calories per mile. factoring in my weight and pace, according to one calculator i burned another 1,300 calories. that is another large meal. i had a brownie this afternoon, for about 300 calories, and a 390 calorie energy bar after my run. that means i had to eat another 500 calories tonight or risk eating too little and starving my body.

it's actually difficult. it can be fun eaing virtually whatever and whenever i want, but it can also be hard to keep eating when i'm used to stopping. (and i know it'll be hard to slow back down when i'm recovering from the race.)

i'm not as concerned about 18 miles on saturday, since i felt so fresh today and last saturday. i hope it's not too hard, because i have a line on tickets to the msu game saturday at noon. 5 miles at lunch tomorrow, and then rest and eating lots of rice on friday.

robb.

4 more miles today.

i ran 4 miles today. it was kind of easy, though i was feeling light-headed at the beginning. it comes with the territory of running at lunch.

i ran 12 miles with my friend, john, last saturday. he got the crazy-fool notion that he should run the capital city river run half-marathon in lansing on september 28. so we devised a plan for his last three weeks of training, and his longest pre-race run coincided with my 12-mile step-back week. we finished in 1:53 (9:25), taking energy at 6 miles. the course was mostly dirt roads, and included some cows and a few dogs as spectators. john lives between fowlerville and webberville, east of lansing, near I-96. it gets pretty remote less than a mile from the exit.

for the first time in a few weeks, i also got out on the bike sunday. it was great. i was out for about an hour and twenty minutes. i don't know exactly how long, because i stopped my watch at a red light and neglected to restart it. so it was frozen at 40 minutes for some time. it had to ahve been longer than my 14 mile ride, though, because i went farther north and had to backtrack to get west. i kind-of lost my way a little bit in beverly hills, too.

the end result, though, is that my legs feel fine, which is good. i have 9 miles tomorrow and 5 more on thursday before saturday's big 18 mile run. i am doing my long runs around 6am, since that is when the race will begin. i'll be crawling out of bed saturday around 5am or 5:30am. i have to be done before state's noon game against FAU.

robb.

19 miles of northern california.

in chronological order, here are the maps of the running i did on vacation. while i ended up skipping my 16 mile run, i am pretty pleased that i ran 19 miles during the week long vacation.


monday, 25 august.


wednesday, 27 august:



thursday, 28 august:



saturday, 30 august:



robb.

a personal best.

i did an 8 mile run today. this is noteworthy because it's the longest i've ever run without stopping to walk, whether for traffic or for energy and hydration or for any other reason. for this alone i'd be very proud, but i guess the hills in san francisco did me well, because i also ran at an 8:42 pace for a total time of 67 minutes. this is very fast for me for this distance, and my pulse was pretty manageable the whole time. i wasn't strictly at 150bpm, so i will have to take it easy during tomorrow's 5 mile run, but i wasn't at 170 most of the way, either.

this was my course:



















google earth on sarah's laptop was on the fritz while we were in california, so i wasn't able to chart my running courses there. i will probably do so retroactively and post them tomorrow (or, at least, soon).

i am running 12 miles saturday, and then 18 miles comes down like a hammer on the 13th.

robb.

a slight adjustment.

i decided i won't do my 16 mile run. i would rather focus on running the week 12 schedule including a 12 mile run this weekend than try to force in a 16 mile run some time while still trying to "step back" this week. running near 40 miles (16 + 12 + 17 scheduled mid-week miles = 43 miles) in a week is not a step back for me, but more aggressive than my schedule calls for at any point during training.

so while i'm disappointed i won't be running to work this week, it'll be a good rest for my legs for the 18 mile run i'm scheduled to do on september 13.

i'm doing 4 miles at lunch today.

robb.

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.