TJ

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2014 Boston Marathon, I’d like a chance…

First, about my run yesterday.  There are always “firsts” in running.  Yesterday I had one of my own…  I stopped my run short.  Not because of injury, but because of lightening.  It was a good run and to be my long run, but 8 miles into it the thunder started.  I can live with thunder. I can live with rain. But when the lightening starts, I’m heading home.  I have a great app called weatherbug.  It has been out for a long time, but they just added a feature that tells you how close you are to lightening strikes.  I looked at my app after the storm started and it basically said, “Take cover ASAP”.  So I texted TJ and asked him to come get me since I was a bit far from home.  Needless to say, I only got in 8 miles, but since I was 2 miles over for the week, I did get to 40 miles which was my goal.

Now on to Boston.

I checked into registration and found out that it starts and ends in September.  So, if we wait until December to run our marathon, we wouldn’t have a chance to get into the Boston Marathon until 2015.  If I try and can’t qualify until 2015, that is fine, but I would like a chance for 2014.  So I did some research and found a marathon that is run the beginning of September and has one of the highest qualification percentages for Boston in the country.  It also has a net -240 elevation drop for the race.  Here is the link… http://www.marathonguide.com/races/racedetails.cfm?MIDD=3015120909

So, if we are ready, we could actually run a marathon in September that would qualify us for Boston in 2014.  We will see how it goes.  At least there is an option.

Another tidbit I found out is that to run the Boston Marathon at my age, I would have to run a qualifying marathon in 3:30.  I think that is possible.  Then I found out that in order to get the faster racers in the race, they start registration with people who finish at least 20 faster than the qualifying times.  Then they go to 10 minutes faster and then if there are any spots open, they let the rest fill up the open spots.  That is a lot to think about.  I wish they looked at people with the most weight loss and the most enthusiasm.  Maybe they will next year. 🙂

So I have a long way to go.  The most important thing is to not look past today.  I am going to train and run my plan and do my best.  If I make it to Boston or don’t make it, I know I have come a long way.

I can be content with that.

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Hill runs and races – workouts and payoffs

Hill run day yesterday… Need I say more.

Hill runs are good for you I hear.  TJ has really helped me in understanding the reason for the various workouts we do. Hill runs are just another part of the puzzle.  I’ve mentioned this hill we run before, but just to say it again, it is huge.  It goes straight up it seems for about a tenth of a mile and then levels out a bit and then is just semi steep for another tenth of a mile.  In fact the first part is so steep, I can’t run down it.  I’ve tried and it is more of a defensive run than a run.  Also, if I try to run down it, my knees are killing me afterwards.  So now I run up and walk (or walk in a falling forward motion) down.

All this for the workout.  I must admit that workouts really help break up the routine of running 6 days a week.  I start with a tempo run (I’m at 3 miles now) and then 2 days later do my hill run and then 3 days later do my long run.  Unfortunately I don’t recover very well from the hill run.  As of yet, though I’ve only done a few hill days, it takes until my day off (Monday) to get over the soreness.  I know that will go away, but wow I am sore afterwards!!!

The good news is that yesterday I was able to do 4 repeats up the hill.  That is the most so far and wasn’t too bad.  I didn’t sprint up the hill, but just tried to keep a steady pace.  I can tell that it really works out my lower body, which is good.

The 5K is just under 2 months away and I really want to do well.  I don’t know about other runners, but TJ and I really work at speed and distance.  I love 5Ks because they allow you to push hard for a short distance and really see how good of shape you are in.  I really enjoyed the half marathon because I had to pace myself and not push, but try to hit a sustainable pace for 13.1 miles.  That took much more strategy than the 5Ks I’ve run and in some ways made it more enjoyable.

Ultimately it is the races that make running fun.  They keep me pushing forward, up and down hills, fast and slow runs, over and over, week after week.  On race day, it all pays off.  I can’t wait for May 18th, our next 5K.  I only hope I can make my goal!!!  Only time (and workouts) will tell.

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5K tempo run… The best one ever!

I’m very excited about my run yesterday.

It was my tempo run day and I was dreading it.  Running that hard for that long is difficult for me, but it always benefits my running.  After my tempo day, I run easier, faster and with less effort.  So I make myself do them and I never regret it.  I do dread it through.

Yesterday I ran 2 warmup miles in my Saucony Mirage 2 shoes (my favorite shoes) and then came home and changed into my Saucony A5 racing flats and went for the tempo run.  TJ started me doing this where he changes his shoes before beginning at tempo pace.  It not only gives a chance for a little rest, but it is amazing going from a regular running shoe to a light racing flat.  It feels like there is nothing on your feet.

My hope was to run 2 of my tempo miles under 7:00 pace and then the third as fast as I could, knowing that I would be tired.  I have never run 2 miles under 7:00 pace before, but I wanted to get use to the feeling of running that fast.  I wanted my brain to learn how fast that was and my legs to know how to keep at that pace.  So, I went for it.

I finished 2 miles feeling pretty good.  From my iSmoothRun app, I could tell that I should be averaging under 7:00 pace.  The third mile was an effort.  But the idea behind a tempo run is to hit the wall.  To know that feeling when your body says, “No more”.  Well after yesterday, I know that feeling.

So how did it go?  Here is the breakdown of my tempo miles:

Mile 1 – 6:50 pace
Mile 2 – 6:50 pace
Mile 3 – 7:02 pace

Wow, I set a person record.  My last 5K race I ran at a 7:09 pace and a total time of 22:10.  I was not in a good place when I finished as it took 10 minutes of medical attention to get me back to a normal breathing state.  I ran this 5K at a 6:54 pace and a total time of 21:29.  I couldn’t be happier.  It was hard, but I was able to get in 2 recovery miles afterwards.

TJ, RS and I are training for a 5K in May where my goal is to run it at 20:00 (6:26 pace).  It is a big goal, but this will be the first 5K I have ever actually trained for.  I’ve also learned that I need to run my easy runs at a slower pace.  I’ve read that those who run too fast all the time end up running slower and getting hurt more than those who run 80% easy and 20% fast.

Today is an easy day, and I need it.  I am a bit sore this morning, but not too bad. It was worth it!

With all the dreading of my tempo day, it was the best day ever.

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The perfect end to a long day – Run, eat pizza (surprise ending)

Yesterday was a long, but productive day.  After a 10 hour work day, I headed home planning on my 6 mile run and then PIZZA.  Okay, I have a problem with eating too much pizza, but I wanted to find a way to eat it and not gorge myself.

First the run!  TJ and I ran together again.  I enjoyed the time running and talking.  The run began rather slow as I was very sore from my hill run the day before.  I still am not taking any Ibuprofen for soreness since it is just muscle soreness and not pain in my hip or back.  So, we began our run and shortly into it I decided to cut it back to 5 miles.  It was getting late and, need I say again, pizza was needing to be bought.

About half way through the run, TJ mentioned he read that it is good to run the last part of an easy run day fast.  This has two benefits.  You get the mileage of an easy run and you get the workout of a tempo run.  Also, as I mentioned in an earlier post, new research has shown that running hard, even in short intervals, burn more fat in one hour than 7 hours of regular running.  I had that thought in mind as we began our last mile.  So I picked up the pace (my tempo pace is TJ’s easy run pace).

As we began the final leg of our run home, it began to sprinkle.  Since I run with my phone to track my pace, I thought I should run even faster to beat the rain (rain and iPhones don’t mix well).  As we were a quarter mile from home, TJ asked if I wanted to sprint the last part of our run.  My reply was, “Arn’t we already sprinting?”  He smiled.  So, we got to the last turn before our home and we sprinted.  I don’t know where I found the energy, but I think I ran faster than I ever have.  I had nothing left by the time we hit our street, but I still had to go a little farther to make the 5 miles.

We started the run at an 8:26 pace and ended the last mile at a 7:15 pace.  It was exhausting for me at the end, but very rewarding.

To finish this up quickly, I got home, took a shower and we to Dominos and got our pizza.  This time I listed to my brother Jeff and ordered a cheese pizza for me and stayed away from my favorite (fattening) white sauce pizza. Plus I stopped at 3 pieces rather than my normal 5 or 6.  Now to the amazing part of this story.  Saturday mornings after pizza night I always weigh a pound or two more than Friday.  BUT, this morning I weight a half pound less!!!  In fact I was one tenth of a pound below 180.  Wow, eating pizza and loosing weight.  Who would have thought that was possible!

Life is good.  I am thankful.  Keep running, it really pays off in many ways!!!

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Hill runs, Carbs, Bagels and Pizza. What could go wrong?

As I promised I want to explain what I have figured out in regard to dieting, running and carbs.

But first, hill runs!  Yesterday was my first hill run day since before the half marathon (over a month ago).  The day overall was a long day.  I woke up at 4:00am as usual and didn’t get home until after 5:00pm – not usual.  So needless to say, I wasn’t in the mood to run up a huge hill, let alone several times.  Fortunately TJ was home and asked if I wanted him to come with me.  That was a huge help.  We ran a couple of miles and then headed for the hill (or mountain as I call it in a previous post).  In the end, I ran up and walked down (to preserve my knees) 3 times.  The hill is really steep for an eighth of a mile and then medium steep for another eighth.  We ran up the whole way the first time.  The second we only ran up the steep part, but ran as fast as we could (I’m sure TJ had no problem keeping up with me).  Finally we ran the whole thing again.  It was tough, but the benefits outweigh the incredible effort that I had to exert.  The last time up, I stopped at the end of the steep hill and said I couldn’t go on.  It was only for a second and then I continued.  TJ reminded me that you are never to make a decisions while running up hill.  Good advice.  So it was a good run, made much more fun with TJ along for encouragement.

Now on the carbs.  My love hate relationship with carbs has been well documented on this blog.  If I eat them I gain weight.  If I don’t eat them I can last a couple of days, but finally I crash and devour half a pizza.  My question has always been, how to run, not gain weight and still eat carbs for energy.

The answer…

I thought to myself, what if I eat carbs every day?  If I can eat some carbs, that will help my running and maybe I won’t crash at the end of the week.  So I went to the grocery store and looked down the bread isle.  I looked at the bagels.  I’ve always been warned that bagels are the worst food for anyone trying to loose weight.  They are great before a long run or a race, but not on a daily basis.  Then I found what I wanted.  I picked up Thomas’ Hearty Grains 100% whole wheat bagels.  I scanned the barcode with my fooducate app (great app BTW) and it came back as an A-.  Wow, very few foods are ranked that high, let alone bagels.  These bagels had only 2g of fat and 49g of carbs.  They are not heavy.  In fact they are rather light for a bagel.

So I eat one on Tuesday morning as a snack.  It helped.  I didn’t feel like I had to eat junk that night.  I eat one each day this week and felt great.  It took the edge off and I lost the 4 lbs I had put on last weekend.  I am back to 180 and feel so much better.  Tonight will be the test.  Pizza night…  I’ll try to report the results, but pizza is my favorite.  I may end up doing what my brother suggested and just eat plain cheese pizza so that I don’t get too much junk in me.  Also I have to stop at a piece or two and not go on to eat 5.

On to my busy day at work and then a 6 mile regular run this afternoon.  Looks like rain all weekend.  I guess I’ll be running in the rain.

Life is good.

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Days like yesterday are the reason I love running

Awesome day running yesterday.  There has to be a correlation between tempo runs and performance.  Before my tempo run, I was having a hard time to get below 9:00 pace.  Last Sunday for my long run I was way over a 9:00 pace.  Yesterday I started out a bit slow, just because I was sore from the tempo run the day before.  After the first mile it was all “down hill from there”.

Here are my splits:

8:45
8:14
8:04
8:10
8:04
7:51

And it felt great.  I was a bit tired at the end, but not bad and I had almost no pain, except a little in my knee.

Now to the amazing part.  Those who follow this blog know that TJ and RS run also.  Yesterday RS had a great run and is getting back into the game after getting over some injuries.  As I got home from my run, HM was playing a video game.  HM doesn’t like to run but I keep trying to get him going anyway because I know he would do great if he just tried.  Anyway, I got home after my 6 miles and he looks up at me and says, “Hey dad, do you want to run a mile with me”.  Two thoughts go through my head.  First, wow he rarely asked that before.  Second, he thinks I am so tired I’ll say no. Before I could think, I said, sure, get on your shoes and let’s go.  After 5 minutes of trying to find his shoes (they haven’t been warn much), we go for the run.  RS joined us and we went for a slow mile.  It was a recovery mile for me and a good starting mile for HM.

All that to say, days like yesterday are the reason I love running.  I haven’t had one of those days in a while, so it was great getting to enjoy a fun, fast run and run a mile with two of my kids.  Quoting from the Christmas Story, “All was right with the world”.

Tomorrow: I think I figured out the carb/diet/running problem that has plagued me for the past year!!!

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Updates on running and dieting

Training has been a bit hard lately.  Not too bad, but I’ve increased my mileage this week quite a bit from last week.  Most people say to only increase 10% over your previous week, but I am trying to get back to my 35 – 45 miles a week.  I figure that I was only out of running 2 weeks, so it really shouldn’t be that big of a jump to go from last week (my first week back) running 23 miles to this week running 35 miles.  Overall it has gone well.  I am back to sub 8:30 pace and am taking no anti inflammatories or fish oil.  I really am trying to run without any meds now that I am in the low 180s in weight.  So far so good.  I am a little sore, and have a little hip pain, but that is all.

Next week I begin training to run my next 5K.  TJ has some workouts for me to do that he has been doing since last week.  I have just over 2 months to be able to bring my 5K time to 20:00.  As I’ve said before, this is my goal and I hope to achieve it, but if I don’t, that’s okay.  I just need something to shoot for that will motivate me to do these workouts.  Also, these workouts will help my overall running time and that will be crucial as we kick into training for our marathon beginning in July.

Just an FYI on my weight.  I finished my diet at 177.  I got as high as 183 over the weekend which was rather depressing.  So this week, I have worked hard at trying to stay away from the carbs.  The main carb I eat is a piece of bread before I run, which seems to really help.  So I am, as of this morning, back down to 180.  That is exciting since I was afraid my body was dictating that it wanted to go back to the high 180s.  I hope to get back in the mid 170s if only to keep my hips and back out of pain and not need to go back on pain meds.

Keeping motivated!

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3 days running and back on pace!

Getting my running legs under me again.  Yesterday was my third run since I took 2 weeks off and lost 20 lbs.  I felt really good running and felt my stride was longer and easier to maintain.  Ultimately I ran just over 9:00 pace on Monday and just over an 8:00 pace yesterday.  I did feel like I was pushing it a bit after the first mile, but I knew I was running well and wanted to see what I could do.

The good news is I am still not taking and anti inflammatory meds or fish oil.  I think that is my biggest success from my time off.  I used to be in a lot of pain with my hips and back that I had to be on meds everyday.  Now I really have almost no issues other than after my run yesterday my left hip hurt for a while, but the pain went away on its own.

I am trying to keep to my run plan.  Today and tomorrow I up my mileage to 4 miles each day and then Sunday I go up to 6.  I hope by next week to be in the 5 mile a day range again.  I just didn’t want to take things too fast.  Also, I didn’t have any muscles pulling as I ran yesterday so that was great.

Our next race is a 5k in May.  It was our first race we ever ran and it will be fun to compare our progress.  TJ has a training plan worked out for me when I get myself back to normal running.  My goal is to finish in the 20 minute range, which would be a miracle.  But in the past year I have seen a lot of miracles happen because of my running.  I wish more people could experience what I experience.

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Use gravity

First, Kudos to TJ for running a 5:15 paced mile a couple of days ago.  Wow, that is amazing and he has been running less than a year.  He is really moving forward with his running.  Ah to be young again…

I have had some issues getting back to running which actually suprise me a bit.  I always have some pain becuase of my running, but not during my runs.  In fact, my back was really bad before the half marathon, but only when I wasn’t running.  While I was in my run, it never hurt.  Strange, I know.  Now, the second day back running 3 miles again, I have had two days with muscles pulling during my run that actually slow me down.  Yesterday, I thought I might have to stop during my run, but I got through it.  Another strange thing is now it is the opposite.  I hurt during my run and not after.  In fact, I have been running my first mile really slow, and my others at a faster pace, but still rather slow for me so I don’t think it is because of my warm up.

Half way through my run as I was starting to hurt, I remembered some things I used to practice that I had forgotten about.  To begin with, as soon as I hurt, I told myself to relax.  I let my shoulders down, I made my arms loose.  I even relaxed my jaw and forehead.  I relaxed my whole body, including my legs.  My feet started almost flopping on the ground as they hit.  After about a quarter mile of doing this, the pain went away and I was better.

It was then I had a flashback to the half marathon.  I was about 8 miles in (which was the hardest part for me because of some big hills) and a local runners club was on the side with signs and yelling encouragement to us as we went by.  One thing I heard and remember was, “use gravity”.  Oh yeah, I thought to myself, I need to use gravity.  I had practiced that a bit, but had forgotten during the race.  The idea comes (or at least I first heard of it) from Chi Running.  Although I bought a book about it, I admit I haven’t read it.  I have done Internet research on it though.  The main idea is to run tall and balanced and lean forward at your ankles allowing you to be in a controlled fall as you run.  Then as you move your foot under you to “catch” your fall, you move forward.  Basically using gravity to propel you rather than energy.  This makes running not only easier, but also prevents injuries since you are not using as much effort and putting strain on your muscles.  There is a lot more involved, but this is a quick summery of what I learned.  The main website is at www.chirunning.com, but you can search the net and get a lot of info from a lot of people about it.  I consider this the reason I have gone a year and only missed 2 planned running days from injury.  That says a lot coming from the out of shape old man that I was a year ago.

That is it for today.  My run today is going to be 3 miles.  It is to be warmer and the winds should be less than 20 mph that they have been the past two days. I am looking forward to that.

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Running makes life an adventure!

5 more days to go on my diet and run recovery.  I am using a physician’s weight loss diet and am now at 182 lbs which is the least I’ve weighed since college.  It is going to be great to run again knowing that I have about a bowling ball less weight to run with.

I am a bit worried about getting running after my diet.  Mainly I know I’ll have to go slow since I’ve had almost no fat or carbs for a while.  I tend to want to push the envelope a lot and I want to be sure I don’t do that.

TJ is working with me on a running plan for our next race.  It is going to be the “Spring Scramble” in the first week of April.  This was our first 5K we ran after we began to run in March of last year.

Wow, a whole year is almost up.  I began running on March 25, 2012.  Is amazes me how far TJ, RS and I have come in a year.  Looking back at our first 5K, I barely finished in 32 minutes.  My goal for this year is to finish in the 20 minute area.  I am sure with TJ’s help, I’ll get somewhere close.

Life is always an adventure if you make it one.  That is why “I love running”.  Running is all about getting out there and doing it.  It is up to me to run.  Sometimes things get in the way like injuries or other responsibilities, but for the most part If I run, I do better at running.  If I run, I feel better about myself.  If I run, I feel like I have accomplished something.

The more I run, the more I love running.

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Tempo runs and hunger pains

I had a strange sensation last night as I lay in bed with my stomach growling on my 3rd day of my diet (and 3rd day off from running).  The hunger in my stomach was familiar in some way.  Of course I have dieted before and my Lovely Wife and I had both lost 85 lbs.  However I gained 10 lbs back over the past year and so I am doing the diet again over the next few weeks to try to get down a bit for running.

I digress.

As I pondered the fact that the hunger pains were not only familiar, but I also didn’t seem to mind them, I tried to make sense of it all.  Then it hit me.  Of course this is just my aged mind thinking and pondering, but in running, I have had the same feeling.  No, not massive hunger, but forcing my body to do what it did not want to do.  As we trained for our first half marathon, TJ had me doing tempo runs, steady state runs, hill runs and so on.  In doing these (especially tempo runs) I would feel horrible and my body would want me to quit.  I wouldn’t go to the point of hurting myself, but I knew that if I didn’t push myself further than I wanted to go, I would give up almost immediately.  This developed discipline in me that I credit, almost more than the training itself, to my success in my half marathon.  I have written before that running has a lot to do with psychology and now I am adding that running creates discipline (something I have never had).

So last night, as I felt hunger sweep my body and smelled dinner (baked ziti) cooking downstairs, it wasn’t dread or anger I felt, it was almost like an old friend coming to visit.  I understand that this diet won’t last forever and I won’t push myself too far.  I also understand that the hunger is working to improve my running as does a good tempo run. It is all the same discipline working on my behalf.

This is all philosophical, but it really made sense to me last night.  Of course, it could just have been that the hunger made me a bit delirious 🙂

I hate dieting, but I love running.