Congrats to everyone to who completed their 20-miler over the weekend. 20 miles is no easy feat and those that completed it should be proud of that;no matter how they did it. My Saturday morning consisted of a 16-mile run because that is the longest run in the Hansons Marathon Method. The run went great, but that is not the run this blog is about. On September 18, 2014, a 10-mile tempo run made me feel marathon ready.
Week 15 of training had been going great, but a 10-mile tempo run lingered and made me nervous. All of my previous runs went really well. The runs included a eight mile easy run, 3x2 miles with an 800 recovery and off day on Wednesday. Maybe the tempo runs make me nervous because they are at race pace and it makes me wonder if I can hold that pace during the marathon. Thursday finally came and the run had to be done.
It started off very well. My legs felt pretty good during the first mile or two and tricked me into thinking that this would be the run that made me feel marathon ready. It had all the makings of a fairly easy tempo run and my splits were right around where they should have been. Things started to change a tiny bit at the end of mile two and the beginning of mile three.
My legs were pretty tired during the first two miles, which is a normal feeling during training. My legs suddenly started to feel heavy. This is where the mental battle begin and I had to talk my brain into thinking my legs were fine. Mile three ended up three seconds slower than mile two. That worried me because it had still be early, there were plenty of miles left to be run and no GU would not be consumed till mile six. It had me wondering how this tempo run would go.
Miles four and five were a struggle, but mile six came and that meant GU time! Hopefully this Chocolate Peanut Butter GU would be my savior;spoiler alert, my legs still were not happy. This is where I just had to suck it up, quit complaining and push through last four miles. The marathon is not going to be easy and it dawned on me this is the run that would get me mentally ready for those last six miles;or as Luke Humphrey says in the Hansons Marathon Method book, the last 16-miles of the race.
The last four miles went really well. Is it a coincidence that once I stopped feeling sorry for myself that my run got better? I can not answer that, but my body and body felt a lot better. Mile 10 ended up being my fastest and despite it being way too fast for my tempo run pace, it made me feel proud of myself.
It is taper run time for most of those training for marathons the weekend of October 10, 2014, but finish these last couple of weeks strong. There are going to be days where you are sick of running, do not want to run and just feel terrible during your run, but keep fighting. Tell your brain, body and legs you are going to complete this run and they will just have to deal with it. The last half of the marathon will be a mental battle and these struggle bus runs will make you tougher.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Random thoughts
These are just a few things that are on my mind. It is tough to keep this going with marathon training and my various other activities, but I need to make an effort to update this a little more often.
Running with your music
Running with or without music will always be a topic within the running community. More often than not I will run with music myself, so I will not be leading the charge against running with music. One of the issues that I see while running is that people's iPods or whatever they use to lists to music is compromising their form. It makes running look harder than it already is.
The most common issue I see is with runners who have an iPod in one hand that is not moving while the free hand is. It is almost inpressive that a lot of people can do this regardless of how far they are going. I assume this is happening because they are trying to eliminate the cord bouncing as much so the ear bud will not come out. There are a couple of solutions that are worth looking into:
1) One thing that works for me that I learned from others is to slip the cord inbetween your body and the shirt. There is not as much bounce and the cord buds stay in my ear easier.
2) Buying new headphones is always an option. I have never used wireless headphones or yurbuds, but those are two suggestions I hear quite a bit. Buying an armband or pouch that goes around your. waist is also an option.
3) This is probably the least popular option,;run without music. It is nice to zone out every once in a while and listen to your body.
Obviously, nobody has to take any of these suggestions. These are just thoughts that hopefully will make running with music a little easier. Hopefully the last two will cause people to think twice about replaying to a text while running.
Bouncing at stoplights
This is something I see runners do and never got. It seems counterintuitive to getting a little rest and would appear to cause the runner to expend more energy. I suggest walking around a little bit to allow other muscles to recover. It is also less strenuous on the body and keeps the legs moving.
Bibchat
Therast two bibchat twitter chats have had two good topics. Last week we talked about having a run life balance. Here are the questions from last week to get more of an in-depth look at what they asked us: https://twitter.com/BibRave/timelines/506882189594607616
Marathon update!
Training is continuing to go great! I can not say enough good things about the Hanson's method. I competed a 66 mile week and had three of better runs onwards the end of last week. The only thing that is bothering me is a nagging shin issue that comes and goes. I keep telling my body to just get me through the marathon in one piece and I promise that I will take a break from running;hopefully it is listening.
Ten things you may not know about me
I recently got tagged in a post by Heather in a post to list 10 things people may not know about me and I am finally responding.
1-I am what I call a selective eater. Food is great and I love to eat;however, if I do but like how it smells or looks, I probably will not try it.
2-Keeping up with the food topic, I have a small allergy to pecans and walnuts
3-I love music and concerts. I attended 33 live music events last year. Free events are a good way to check out new bands
4-My friends do not believe me, but I consider myself a shy person
5-My family loves to call me old man
6-Non-fiction books are my book of choice, but I do love John Grisham
7-If it involves peanut butter, I will eat it(notice I am talking about food a lot)
8-Running use to terrify me and I never really stuck with it until a friend asked me to run a half with me. I thank her often for suggesting I do that half. I had never run more than five miles in my life, so I still wonder why I agreed to run that race.
9-I have seen Bring It On more than I am willing to admit
10-Seinfeld and The Cosby Show are my favorite tv shows
11*-I have some funny stories about strangers that love to talk to me. Here is an example from yesterday:
Some guy just came up to me out of nowhere in Wilmette:
What sports team do you play for?
Me:I don't play for one.
Guy-run?
Me-yeah
Guy-how far can you run?
Me-it depends on the day
Guy-tell me about it. How far did you run today?
I tell him and he just nods his head and goes sweet... Sweet.
1) One thing that works for me that I learned from others is to slip the cord inbetween your body and the shirt. There is not as much bounce and the cord buds stay in my ear easier.
2) Buying new headphones is always an option. I have never used wireless headphones or yurbuds, but those are two suggestions I hear quite a bit. Buying an armband or pouch that goes around your. waist is also an option.
3) This is probably the least popular option,;run without music. It is nice to zone out every once in a while and listen to your body.
Obviously, nobody has to take any of these suggestions. These are just thoughts that hopefully will make running with music a little easier. Hopefully the last two will cause people to think twice about replaying to a text while running.
Bouncing at stoplights
This is something I see runners do and never got. It seems counterintuitive to getting a little rest and would appear to cause the runner to expend more energy. I suggest walking around a little bit to allow other muscles to recover. It is also less strenuous on the body and keeps the legs moving.
Bibchat
Therast two bibchat twitter chats have had two good topics. Last week we talked about having a run life balance. Here are the questions from last week to get more of an in-depth look at what they asked us: https://twitter.com/BibRave/timelines/506882189594607616
Marathon update!
Training is continuing to go great! I can not say enough good things about the Hanson's method. I competed a 66 mile week and had three of better runs onwards the end of last week. The only thing that is bothering me is a nagging shin issue that comes and goes. I keep telling my body to just get me through the marathon in one piece and I promise that I will take a break from running;hopefully it is listening.
Ten things you may not know about me
I recently got tagged in a post by Heather in a post to list 10 things people may not know about me and I am finally responding.
1-I am what I call a selective eater. Food is great and I love to eat;however, if I do but like how it smells or looks, I probably will not try it.
2-Keeping up with the food topic, I have a small allergy to pecans and walnuts
3-I love music and concerts. I attended 33 live music events last year. Free events are a good way to check out new bands
4-My friends do not believe me, but I consider myself a shy person
5-My family loves to call me old man
6-Non-fiction books are my book of choice, but I do love John Grisham
7-If it involves peanut butter, I will eat it(notice I am talking about food a lot)
8-Running use to terrify me and I never really stuck with it until a friend asked me to run a half with me. I thank her often for suggesting I do that half. I had never run more than five miles in my life, so I still wonder why I agreed to run that race.
9-I have seen Bring It On more than I am willing to admit
10-Seinfeld and The Cosby Show are my favorite tv shows
11*-I have some funny stories about strangers that love to talk to me. Here is an example from yesterday:
Some guy just came up to me out of nowhere in Wilmette:
What sports team do you play for?
Me:I don't play for one.
Guy-run?
Me-yeah
Guy-how far can you run?
Me-it depends on the day
Guy-tell me about it. How far did you run today?
I tell him and he just nods his head and goes sweet... Sweet.
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