Hartog’s Den

Last week was easily the hardest so far.  On top of the schedule requiring the most weekly mileage so far, the weekend required 7 miles at pace on Saturday, plus 14 miles on Sunday.  The midweek mileage was also increased from 3-6-3 on Tues-Wed-Thurs to 4-7-4.  Increased midweek mileage, a faster Saturday run, and my longest run yet at 14 miles all coupled to make for some difficult training.

This was made worst due to making a critical and stupid mistake during the midweek runs that ended up causing me to miss a training day for the first time.  I do not handle heat well.  Anybody that knows me knows my love of cold weather!  The effect that heat has on me is amplified when I run.  I stupidly decided to run my Wednesday 7 miler too late in the morning on a hot day.  I figured that since I was going to pass a drinking fountain half way through, I’d manage.  Of course that’s the day that the city is working on plumbing in the area, and the drinking fountain didn’t work.  This resulted in me becoming badly dehydrated in the last couple of miles.  The effects did not wear off completely for a couple of days!

Marathon training does not allow you to get into a comfort zone.  There is a steady increase in mileage and intensity, and soreness comes with the territory.  Soreness can be managed and fought through.  The kind of soreness and physical and mental sluggishness that resulted from being dehydrated was way worse than the normal aches and pains.  I knew pretty quickly the morning of the four miler that the run was not going to happen.  Just the thought of running at all sounded too daunting, as even walking around was more difficult than usual.  I decided it was safer to take an extra day of rest and recover.

I’m glad I did.  My weekend runs were the hardest so far, and I went into them feeling rested and ready.  I felt strong and comfortable throughout the Saturday run.  My Sunday 14 miler went well, although I’m really, really sore, and was unsteady on my feet for a little while after finishing.  The 14 miler felt like my first true long run, because it was the first run that I brought food to eat mid-run.  Typically, any run over two hours in length requires some kind of sustanance, and I’m now getting my body re-acclimated with accepting food mid-run.  I’m experiementing with shot blocks and gels, trying to figure out which upsets my stomach less.  I used shot blocks yesterday, and they were very helpful, upset my stomach minimally, and allowed me to finish the run at a decent pace.

Next week follows an almost identical schedule with two changes.  Saturday will be a normal seven miler instead of a pace run.  Sunday will ramp up to 15 miles.  Learning from my mistake last week, and prepared with gels for my 15 miler, I should have a very successful week!

Tues 6/23/09:  4.16 miles in 38:26 at 9:14 / mi

Wed 6/24/09:  7.45 miles in 1:10:59 at 9:31 / mi

Thurs 6/25/09:  skipped!

Sat 6/27/09:  7.53 miles in 1:10:37 at 9:22 / mi

Sun 6/28/09:  14.01 miles in 2:18:01 at 9:51 / mi

33.15 miles for the week

The Hal Higdon plan that I’m following has periodic, progressively rising peaks, with a slow ramping in the distance of my long runs.  After these peaks, mileage drops slightly to allow for some recovery, before advancing to the next peak.  Last week was one of those recovery weeks.  I’m now looking at my next week with some dread.  It’s 36 miles total, with a 14 miler on Sunday.  Basically, it’s gonna be fuuuuuun.  Rest day today, and then onto the pain!

Wed 6/17:  3.04 miles in 26:29 at 8:42 / mi

Thurs 6/18: 5.29 miles in 48:18 at 9:07 / mi

Sat 6/20: 6.06 miles in 55:45 at 9:12 / mi

Sun 6/21: 9.13 miles in 1:28:28 at 9:41 / mi

23.52 miles for the week!

I missed a couple of runs due to a trip to Seattle last weekend.  Totally worth it though, since it was an awesome trip!  My weekly long run got pushed to Monday.  If there’s any run that you don’t want to miss during marathon training, it’s the long run!  I got it finished, and am right back on track!

Note:  To keep my overall weekly mileage consistent, I’m putting my Monday run in with last week, so that it doesn’t artificially inflate the mileage for this week.

Tuesday 6/9: 2.76 miles in 23:57 at 8:41 / mi

Wednesday 6/10:  6.05 miles in 54:52 at 9:04 / mi

Thursday 6/11:  3.13 miles in 26:48 at 8:33 / mi

Monday 6/15:  12.60 miles in 2:07:52 at 10:08 / mi

24.54 miles for the week.

Well I survived my hardest week yet, culminating with an eleven mile run, the longest since Portland. With all of my runs I finished strong and comfortably. The heaviness in my legs that I’ve been feeling towards the end my runs is fading at last, and just being able to run 10+ miles in a single go again is a great feeling.

In my experience, I have found that ramping up to higher mileage is much more difficult than maintaining that mileage once it is reached. Getting to 20 miles a week from 10 miles a week is harder than maintaining the higher mileage. I’m now pushing 30 miles a week, which is more than double what I was doing when not training for any particular race. At the peak of my training schedule, I will be doing 43 miles a week. I’ve begun to notice the effects of this ramping, both positive and negative.

The positive is obviously the huge improvements in my running. The negatives are starting to creep up though. I was very sore after my long run, to the point that it affected my sleep. A sore, tired and thoroughly pissed-off Ryan was the result the following morning, which my poor girlfriend had to bear witness to. I am very paranoid about injury, due to my history of running-related injuries, and ramping up mileage greatly increases risk of injury. It leads to minor bouts of panic when I feel a twinge or a pull, thinking that it’s a big injury, rather than just minor pains that all runners have. Longer runs mean sorer legs, which makes it that much harder to get out of the door for the next run.

These negative barriers start to creep up more and more as the marathon training advances. It got the best of me a couple of times while training for Portland, so my experience in dealing with it once should make it easier this time around. This is not meant to be a negative post though. In the end, training for a marathon is fun! It feels like an adventure, a chance to see how far I can push myself. Seeing 11.01 miles on my GPS is an immensely satisfying feeling. I’ve got 14 weeks left until marathon #2, and I’m already starting to look at where I should run #3. This is becoming an addiction…

Tues 6/2/09 – 2.91 mi in 26:01 at 8:57 / mi
Wed 6/3/09 – 6.00 mi in 55:49 at 9:18 / mi
Thurs 6/4/09 – 3.05 mi in 26:55 at 8:50 / mi
Sat 6/6/09 – 6.35 mi in 57:22 at 9:02 / mi
Sun 6/7/09 – 11.01 mi in 1:47:45 at 9:47 / mi

29.32 miles total!

I’m now three weeks into Hal Higdon’s 18 week Intermediate I training schedule.  For the most part, things have gone quite well.  I’m getting my miles in, slowly increasing my mileage, feeling strong, and most importantly am NOT injured!  I’ve made the mistake numerous times of running beyond my abilities, leading to injuries that have knocked me out of running for months at a time, and a whole year in one case.

Check out Higdon’s Intermediate I training schedule.

I’ve got an eleven mile run this Sunday, my longest distance since running the Portland marathon, and what will feel like my first really long run with this schedule.  I’m working on coming up with food and hydration strategies in the coming weeks.  Any run under two hours can typically be done without needing nourishment during the run.  Anything longer than that, coupled with Eastern Washington’s intense summers, requires careful planning with both food and water.

I’m considering getting one of those hydration backpacks, which will allow me to carry 2 liters of water on my back.  I previously would carry a water bottle during my run, and plan on running by drinking fountains at periodic points.  I had varying amounts of success with this, with worst-case being instances where I’d have 7+ miles between fountains in 80+ F temperatures, resulting in me stumbling up to a drinking fountain and sucking in water as fast as I can while trying not to suffocate from breathing so hard.  The bemused looks from people around me wouldn’t help either.  I haven’t quite solidified my plan here, but having a hydration backpack will allow me much more flexibility in the routes that I can run.

Food is also an issue as runs gets longer.  The human body has a limited supply of glycogen available for use, usually limited to two or three hours of running.  Reading about “hitting the wall” if you want to know what happens when those glycogen stores run out.  The short version?  It SUCKS!  This is avoided by taking in calories during the run.  It should be simple carbs, which can be quick digested and used by the body.  I’ve tried gel packets, candy bars, jelly beans, or Clif bars to varying degrees of success.  Some people have to be really careful about what they’re eating and when, due to high risks of getting an upset stomach.  I have not had an issue with that, fortunately.  I ate a gel packet or some other form of carbs every 45 minutes or so during my run, and it worked well.

Feeling good!  Onto week four!

Tues, May 26th:  1.77 miles in 14:47 at 8:20 / mi

Wed, May 27th:  4.97 miles in 45:36 at 9:10 / mi

Sat, May 30th:  4.35 miles in 8:32 / mi.  This pace is an average.  I went out way too quickly, going at a 7:30 pace for 2.5 miles, then crashing hard afterwards and jogging/stumbling back at a much slower pace.  It was a dumb mistake, which I need to be more careful of.

Sun May 31st:  6.08 miles at 9:08 / mi.

17.17 miles for the week.