I did today’s scheduled 15M without much joy and a bit too much blah. Since it needed to be mid-day, I opted again for the treadmill, where I able to watch “127 Hours”* for the first 9 miles or so. I did a random course with incline ranging from 0% to 5% (oddly, the “random” setting never goes to decline even though the treadmill does). I was without a lot of enthusiasm from the start, in part due to having just spent about two hours cleaning up the yard/garage in the same heat I was attempting to avoid by running on the treadmill.
Nevertheless, I got in the miles in 2 hours 37 minutes. It wasn’t supposed to be fast and it certainly wasn’t. I walked for stretches and at about 4 miles in I was just looking forward to it being over. Even with a gel every 20 minutes from the start (7 in all), I could feel my energy waning.
None of this is entirely unexpected considering I’ve been training and racing hard without a break for many months BEFORE even starting the marathon build-up but it did make me realize something: If I continue to train with both increasing intensity and increasing mileage I’m likely to get sick or injured or, a the very least and perhaps worse, not enjoy the experience of training. So, I’m going to remove the scheduled the 6-milers on Saturdays. I just don’t need those miles, really, and they neither help with speed nor endurance. I am still going to do something on Saturdays, most likely sticking to swimming and/or strength/core work. It is something of a relief to “let myself” only run 5 days a week and I’m confident this is the right move, both for improving my fitness and happiness. It’ll just give me that much more energy for the key Sunday mile repeats, which are a core component of the training cycle.
I got in my daily pull-ups (36) and push-ups (166, the average needed to hit the 5000 this month) for cumulative June totals of 157 and 641.
I weighed myself post-run. While I’m always a little dehydrated after a long run, I did drink at least 60 ounces of water during the run, along with the 7 gels. And I typically weigh more later in the day, which it now is. So, while not a cause for alarm just yet, I best get to eating. A lot.
*I have to admit I let myself speed up a bit right about the time he was – spoiler alert! – cutting off his arm. Nice scenery, especially for me to contemplate since it is set in the part of Utah where I’ll be running my October marathon. The movie was good, not great, but just the sort of thing I love to watch from the treadmill. It was certainly no “Into the Wild” but few movies are. Just one, actually.
Day 4 of marathon training and I’d say I’m still on track. According to the training plan, today I hit the treadmill, warmed up with an easy mile, hopped off the treadmill for a could minutes of leg swings and the like, reset the treadmill, then set the speed to 8.1MPH and got moving. I ran that steady pace until about the next 5.75 miles, then sped up through the finish. All in all, it was what I was looking for out of the workout. Most of the 6 miles of “work” was at 7:24/mile pace, with just enough added speed on the end to make sure that next gear was still there.
It didn’t feel easy but I didn’t gut myself either. I know I could have held the pace for a good while longer but 20 miles, I don’t know about that yet. That’s sort of the idea: to get “comfortable” running about as fast as I’ll need to hold for 3 hours and 15 minutes just about 18 weeks from now. I’d have been happy to find out that 6 miles at race pace felt easy but that wasn’t the case. I’ll need to gain a good bit of fitness to hit my goal but I feel like I’m heading in the right direction. Even so, when I think back to how hard, even unachievable, today’s run would have been even a few years ago, I know see how hard work and persistence pays off.
Now, about those push-ups and pull-ups. Surprisingly, my chest is more sore than my back or biceps. “More sore” is, of course, relative. But the goal wasn’t intended to be a gimme and I kept working towards it today, logging 36 pull-ups and 200 push-ups, bringing the June monthly total to 121 and 475. Tomorrow is a 15M run so it’ll be an extra heaping of fun to get in the reps.
June push-up and pull-up challenge has begun. With so much running ahead this month I thought it best to get “extra” reps in while I have the time and energy. Managed 275 and 85 today to start things out. And added a second pull-up bar at the house so I’m never too far from one of the two. Tomorrow also brings my first marathon “race pace” training run, a 6-miler to see where I’m at.
Just as I thought, “wow, 1000 pull-ups in just one month is quite a goal and I am going to be so awesome,” I came across this: The most pull ups in one hour is 1,009 by Stephen Hyland (UK) in his home fitness center, Stoneleigh, UK, on 1 August 2010. Hyland completed 91 sets of eight repetitions, 20 sets of seven repetitions, six sets of nine repetitions, four sets of four repetitions, three sets of six repetitions, and one set each of 21, 12, 10, five, three and two repetitions.
After the Tough Mudder race on January 30th there was a pull-up challenge, where the Wounded Warriors program got a dollar for each rep (after some number I can’t recall, maybe 10?) of pull-ups each participant completed. After Andres got something like 24, so “low” because this was after over 2 hours on the 10-mile obstacle course, I felt like I had to give it a try. Pull-ups have always been a relatively weak area for me. I say it is because of my monkey-like long arms: further to pull. Or maybe because I have a torn labrum in my left shoulder. Or because there is just so much heavy muscle in my legs. All are equally valid explanations but none is as accurate as the likely culprit – I just haven’t done them enough so I’m not that strong.
Even so, I was able to do respectably well, considering all of my defects and being a bit worn out from the race. I’m not sure whether the shotgunned beer and recovery drink immediately before the attempt helped or hurt the effort. Either way, here’s how I did:
[Yeah, there is supposed to be something here but I’m trying to find it.]
(Note, these are NOT pull-ups, they are chin-ups, which I think are easier for most people.)
As part of the St. George marathon build-up I’m working on my downhill running. See why?
Well, running downhill can be fast and fun but it requires some specific fitness. So, every week I’m doing a downhill training session, starting with about 4 miles in a block and working up to 8. (These workouts also have a mile or two of warm-up and similar cool-down.) Yesterday was my first such workout, logging a bit over 4 miles of constant downhill of about -5% grade on the treadmill, achieved by setting the negative incline to its max (-2%), then propping the back up another couple of inches with free weight plates.
I’d say the run was a success, in that I didn’t really get tired at all. That’s not what the downhill training sessions are about – I’ll test the ol’ central governor hard in other workouts. And I was able to comfortably run at a good bit faster than goal marathon pace (7:25/mile), averaging about 7 minute miles without working too hard. But, the workout did what it needed to, as evidenced by today’s disproportionately high level of soreness for the relatively low mileage. I’m more convinced than ever that these downhill runs will help build the connective tissues and under-used little muscle fibers that I’ll need for the specific course profile. But Wednesday’s sure aren’t going to feel too good for the next 17 weeks.
Day 1 of 123 in new marathon training block. Easy 6M run, core, easy 1M swim. 156lbs and hoping to maintain strength and weight as the miles pile up. Very happy to have such supportive friends and family, many of whom are working hard on impressive goals and tackling new challenges.
New month resolution! My June goal is 1000 pull-ups and 5000 push-ups. This coincides with the first full month of training for the St. George (Utah) marathon – about 170 miles planned – so I want to make sure I don’t get all runner wimpy. I plan to update daily and cumulative results. Anybody want to tackle this (or something similar) with me?
A single mile isn’t really what I have ever trained to run so my 5:39 at today’s Congress Avenue Mile race was a fun PR to hit.
It is about a favorable of a course as could be designed, straight and flat to slightly down hill:
My watch was 5:37 or 5:38 (hard to tell when trying to run as fast as possible straight ahead without being able to breath). And the “official” clock matched my watch. Yet my “official” chip time came in at 5:39? What do you think?…
Running geek update: I did trail races on 4/2 (25K, 16th overall) and 4/10 (30K, 15th overall), my first time racing on consecutive weeks. It has taken me over 10 years but I’m finally learning how to run somewhat intelligently. Place in standings and time aside, I’m really proud of my 30K, where I was able to hit nearly perfect 10K splits of 59:04, 2:00:19, and 3:01:34.
From 25K race – just cruising along…
For the last about 4 years I’ve traveled over distances great and small with Sagan slung across my chest, carried on my back, or riding on my shoulders. It is a good way for him to see the world even when his energy runs out. And I get to fit in a bit of extra exercise while sharing beautiful scenery all over the world, from Paris to Amsterdam to Rome to Dublin and NYC to New Mexico to Chicago to Florida. (Just a sampling of the photographic evidence is provided below.) And as he gets bigger, I have to get stronger.
Here’s one from today, making a family hike up to Divisadero Peak in Taos, New Mexico. Just days before – on a father/son hike to celebrate my birthday in the only way I really wanted – Sagan had made the same ~2.5 mile, 1400 foot climb entirely on his own so this time he didn’t feel like he had anything more to prove on the route.
For more of the same general flavor…
One of my all-time favorites, near Lake Shore Drive in Chicago (October, 2009):
In San Diego to cheer on Alison during her 3Day walk (November 2010):
In Edinburgh, Scotland with HomeExchange friends (August 2010):
In Dun Laoghaire, Ireland (July 2010):
A rare documentation of “the transition,” AKA “Flip and Drop” in Galway, Ireland, summer 2010):
And again! Also somewhere on the Emerald Isle…
Rain can’t stop us:
Ok, now this is just getting ridiculous:
Now in New York City (June 2010):
And snuggled warmly Paris (Fall 2008)…
And in Barcelona (Fall 2008)…
And in Boston (Fall 2008)….
And in Bruges, Belgium (Fall 2008)…
And in Brussels, Belgium (Fall 2008)…
Kind of Like Fun 
