training

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Mile 25 of my 5 mile run

I had a mile to go to finish my run.

I was beat.  Totally beat.  I told myself that I would quit a half mile early.

  • It was hot – not as hot as in the middle of summer, but a hotter day then we have had lately.
  • I forgot to take my Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) before my run.  My legs were so tired and heavy.  Was this the reason?
  • I increased my mileage from 4 to 5 miles a day just this week.  Was that why I was beat?
  • I am running a hillier area and one hill is huge.  Am I just worn out?

These are the thoughts of a runner perplexed at 4 miles as to why his run is going badly.  Pace?  What pace?  I threw pace out of the window a couple miles ago.  Actually all summer I have kept my love for speed away and just tried to be consistent on the run.

I tripped.  Sort of tripped.  I literally stubbed the top of the front of my new running shoes.  I’ve never done that before, I thought to myself.  Maybe I should walk home.  I don’t want to hurt myself on a basic run.  I don’t want to be stupid.  I don’t… I can’t… I won’t…

Then the thought occurred to me.  Just a year ago I ran a marathon.  I felt worse at mile 25 of that marathon then I did now at mile 4 of my 5 mile run.  My body needs to learn.  I need to master my body.  It must submit to me if I ever want to run a marathon again, let alone qualify for Boston.  This feeling… The feeling of being spent, exhausted, tired, hot and having nothing left inside… Maybe this feeling is a gift.  Maybe this is training for mile 25.  Only a little over a mile to go and I’ll be done.  My body will learn that it has to comply with what I am doing.  Not to the point of getting hurt, but I need to teach my body, my mind and my spirit that I can run through this feeling.  I can complete the race.  I can run up that last hill and finish what I set out to do.

5.01 miles after I started, I finished.  I literally had nothing left.  It was hard to walk the rest of the way home (about 100 yards).

I finished. What a great feeling.  I had the worst run of the summer and I felt like I just completed a marathon.  I didn’t give up.  I didn’t give in.  I didn’t walk until I met my goal.

Today… who knows, maybe I’ll run 6 miles just for fun!

Have a great weekend.

Tom

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To marathon or not to marathon…

I’m thinking about it…

I might just do it…

I am debating another marathon.  Of course that shouldn’t be big news to anyone who knows why I named my blog 278toBoston.  However this is big news to me.  I had almost just given up on running another long race.

The summer has been difficult to say the least.  It has been hot and tiring.  My goal is to run 4 miles each day I run (going for at least 5 days a week) and I have just added a 7-8 mile run on the weekend.

Basically I’m in survival mode running.  Just enough running to not lose the gains I have made in the past few years.

Back to the marathon.  I have a great Hungarian Dr. friend who lives in Jacksonville, Fl.  After I ran my last marathon, he said, “Okay Tom, now that you have run a marathon, you aren’t doing any more, right?”  He was afraid that I could hurt myself by running so far.

Well now he is wanting me to run the Jacksonville Bank Marathon in December.  He wants us to come down and spend time together.  I think the marathon is the excuse he is making for us to come down for a visit, but it is tempting.

A couple of pluses… It is a flat course. It is at the end of December in Florida.  It is 80% shaded.  It is very scenic.  He is an awesome friend.

So, now with confidence from my hill/mountain running over the past couple weeks, I am at a place where I have to make a choice to train or not to train for another marathon.  This training will be easier then last years training as I won’t be doing the bulk of my training in the summer heat.

Anyway, I will make up my mind soon.  My last/first marathon clocked in at 4:14, so a sub 4:00 marathon would be awesome.

Decisions, decisions…

Should I or shouldn’t I…

More on my decision within a few days.

Tom

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Summer running

The heat, my goodness how am I going to run in this heat?

That was my thought yesterday afternoon as I headed out in 100+ heat index for my run.

I learned last year that running in the heat is an acquired trait.  It is similar to running at a high altitude.  The reason being that the body sends extra blood flow to the skin to cool itself down.  This flow takes away from the blood flow that it is used to using during a run to give energy and help muscles.  Therefore running in the heat is sometimes similar to running through mud.

Fortunately, eventually as with running at a high altitude, the body compensates for this extra blood needed to cool itself by creating more blood (I think I have this correct, but I am about as far from a doctor as you want to get).  So after a few weeks of running through mud, runs get easier and this can actuality help you run more efficiently in cooler weather.

I haven’t been running much lately.  Just life getting in the way.  Yesterday I went out and felt okay.  It as HOT, but I ran the first two miles well.  I left my Pebble watch at home so that I wouldn’t be looking much at my pace.

By mile 3 I melted.  I went from an 8:30 average pace to a 10:00 pace and had to walk about every half mile for a minute or two.  Last year this would have devastated me.  Not only did I not understand what was happening to my body as it got hotter, but I also began training for my first marathon in this heat.  What a mess.  Yesterday though, I took it easy.  No pressure.  I know now that I have to take some time to get used to this heat and build up some endurance.

In the end, all will be well.  Summer will fade into Fall and running will become fun again.  Football will begin and my favorite time of year will make an appearance.  Here in the South the weather won’t turn cool until the last half of October, so I will just have to push through until then.

It is similar to life.  Sometimes life is like running through mud.  Those days make us stronger and then when the good times come, we appreciate them all the more.

Tom

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The Dog-spiration and running in the summer heat

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far for running.  The heat index, according to my phone, was 94 degrees.

Needless to say it was hot.

My run went well.  I’ve approached running differently this summer.  Last year I would push through.  Drag.  Run home to get water and keep trying to push.  Of course I was stupidly training for a marathon in the midday Southern summer heat.  This year I run until I am feeling hot and tired and I walk for a minute, then I continue my run.  This has helped a lot.  I am still running 4 miles a day during the week as I haven’t gotten back to a full running week yet, but even so, my pace is still doing well (for me that means I am under a 9:00 pace).

On to The Dog!

The Dog

The Dog

She is an inspiration to me.

When I get back from my run she is ready to get out back and let me throw the stick to her.  She never stops.  Even in the heat, she will pause and pant and then she just keeps going.  I make sure I don’t overheat her because she would probably not stop running after that stick until she couldn’t move anymore.

So when I am beat.  Hot.  Tired.  I come in for my run, I know she will be pushing her hardest, and that somehow helps me to push harder also.

She keeps going, and going, and going.

She keeps going, and going, and going.

Funny.  She has no idea that she helps me push through.

What a great dog she is!!!

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I write to run

“I write to run.”

Hmmm.  I was thinking about this yesterday during my slow run.  I guess since I wasn’t pushing so hard that I couldn’t think, I had time to ponder of why I write this blog.

My writing has changed my running in so many ways.  I never thought it would have the affect it has had.

When I started writing this blog in January of 2013, I wrote to keep a diary of my running.  I had been running for a year before I began journaling my runs through this blog.  When I started writing, I had no followers.  I wasn’t on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media.  I’m still not on Facebook… but I digress.  Basically the only way people found this blog was pretty much by accident.

I have found that by writing my running experiences down, I remember what I have done correctly and what I have done wrong.  For instance, I wrote several times recently about altering my running after my half marathon.  This is because I wrote so much about my injures after my marathon last year that I remembered what had happened.  By writing what I was going to do this year, it cemented my plan in my head and kept me on the right path.

I don’t read much.

People make fun of me sometimes that in order to read a book, I need big words and lots of pictures.  I have never really enjoyed reading much, even as a kid.  I don’t know why.  I say that to say, I’ve learned most of the lessons in my life by experience.  That can be good, but also it can be bad.  When I started running, TJ was a HUGE help to get me going and doing the right things.  When I started this blog, I began reading other bloggers and their experiences and tips.  Also, the comments and feedback from other bloggers on my blog has helped a lot.

But…

I still learn from experience.  Thus another reason to write this blog.  As I learn a lesson, I write about it… good or bad.  If something helps me a lot, like my mountain runs or ACV, I’ll write about it more.  Of course I want to share my experiences with other runners now that I have a good following, but also I want to always remember the lessons learned.  If I write it down, I remember it!  In college I learned (rather late in my schooling) that I could take good notes in class, rewrite them in a condensed form the day before the exam.  Then that night I would read my condensed notes right before I went to bed.  The next morning I could “see” my notes in my head as if I had perfect photographic recall.  As the day went on, they faded, but talk about the perfect cheat sheet.  I went from a 2.0 average to being on the Deans List my last semester.

All this is to explain why I write this blog…  I do want to share my experiences.  I do want to get feedback and that really motivates me.  In the end though, I do it for myself.  Sorry.  I guess I’m selfish that way.

Have an awesome weekend.

Tom

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Mountain Run PR!

I’m guess people could be getting tired of hearing about my mountain running, but it has been such a transformational thing to me and my running, I want to pass it along my experience along.

Yesterday was my first mountain run in 3 weeks and my first since last weekend’s half marathon.  I had taken last week off of running (okay, I ran 6 miles) to make sure I don’t get injured in my post race workouts as I have in the past.

I began at an easy pace as I warmed up.  By the time I got to the foot of the mountain, I was running too fast.  I knew I was running too fast for a mountain run, but being that I hadn’t run much in 7 days, I guess I got carried away.

About half way up the steepest part of the mountain road (one of the first hills) I had to walk.  That was okay.  I walked about 30 seconds and then started slower and kept a good pace.

By the time I got to the top I was getting tired.  I could tell I hadn’t run this road much in three weeks.  My legs were tried and I was breathing hard.  At the top of the mountain, there is about a half mile of fairly level running before I turn around.  I got to the turn around point, paused long enough to take and post a picture and headed back down.

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This was my only real scare.  Right after I posted the picture above on my previous post, I began to run again and felt a “pull” in my left heel.  Oh no!  It had been a good run and beyond that, I didn’t want to get injured again.  So I relaxed and kept my run going.  I just paid close attention to how I was feeling and my form.  Honestly, I don’t think I hurt myself, but my past experience tells me that sometimes injuries don’t show up right away.

As I got to the bottom of the mountain, I had 1.5 miles to get back to the car.  I know my run was in record mountain running time, as I know I was running well.  So I pushed a bit going up and down the hills leading back to my car.  I passed a guy walking the opposite direction who said, “Does it feel as bad as you thought it would?” I had to ask him to repeat his question.  He was being nice, knowing I was breathing hard and really pushing.  I just yelled back, “Nah, this is easy”!  He just laughed and we continued in our separate directions.

I got up the last hill and could see my car.  I finally looked at my time.  8:45 pace.  Seriously?!?  I ran hard down the last hill.  My pace dropped to 8:42 for the run.  My total time was 1:09:47 for the 8 miles.  My best time before this was a run with TJ several months ago that was at an 8:50 pace.

Mountain run PR

Mountain run PR

My heel is better today and I am still being careful.

My hip isn’t doing great, but is much better then last week.  I wear a sciatica belt on my mountain runs to help with the support and that makes a lot of difference.

So a half marathon PR last week and a mountain run PR this week.  All in all, I’m pretty happy.

I’ve been trying to catch up on other people’s blogs by the way.  I got way behind the past week or two, but I am getting there slowly.  🙂

Have an awesome week.

Tom

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Learning running lessons from the past

Running is the ultimate teacher.

If you want to do your best, then you have to learn from your friends, the help of other runners and your past mistakes.

I have run several hard races in the past.  After my first half marathon, I started having some hip problems.  After my marathon, I was out 3 months, off and on, with hip and foot issues.  I also got injured after running a 5K earlier this year.

Honestly, I don’t think it was the races that hurt me.  Looking back, I realize that I’ve pushed too hard AFTER the races to get back to training.  A few weeks after my marathon, I not only ran 10 days in a row, but also did a hard trail run a few weeks later.  That was the icing on the cake, that is my hip.  It was almost 6 months before I got back to a 100 mile month.

My last half marathon was last Saturday.  It was awesome.  I ran well and on a tough course.  I will look back and be excited for months about that race.

HOWEVER…

Tuesday, I decided to run my first run after the race.  It went well.  I ran 4 miles at an 8:21 pace.  Tuesday night I was in a lot of pain. My shoulder hurt and my hip was killing me.  Wednesday I concentrated on my shoulder as I was concerned that I pinched a nerve running.  That wasn’t the issue, it was just the way I slept.  I did however, ignore my hip pain.  It was in such pain I had to take medication to sleep.

Wednesday was the 30th of April and I was at 118 miles for the month.  I decided to run an easy 2 miles and walk the rest.  I didn’t.  I ran a fast two miles at my half marathon pace, but I did walk after that.

Yesterday I walked.  No running.

My hip is better.  No real pain.  Just a little pain while I drive which isn’t abnormal.  In fact I could have run yesterday.  I could run today.  I could run tomorrow.  I won’t.

I am going to learn from my mistakes in the past and come back slowly.  I have plenty of time until my next race.  I have a lot of mountains to run.  In fact my mountain running has been the one thing to help my hip more then anything else.  After several weeks of running my mountain on the weekend, I really had no pain left.  I think that strengthening my quads and all the muscles in my legs has taken the pressure off my hip.

So next Sunday will be my first run since my 2 miles on Wednesday.  I’ll run my mountain slowly and enjoy the run and take it easy.  I’ll play it by feel over the next few weeks as to how much I run.

I need to learn from my past.  Learn from friends.  Learn from other runners.  Learn from my mistakes.

If I don’t learn, I’ll never make my goal of qualifying for Boston.  I’ll run hurt, slow and probably have to stop.  I’d rather learn now and take it easy, then live with the pain of being stupid.

’nuff said.

Tom

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Final thoughts on the Country Music Half Marathon.. I think.

This post is a continuation of my Country Music Half Marathon recap post from yesterday.  

Here are my stats

I was 17th out of 561 in my age group – top 3%
I was 697th out of 19,057 half marathoners – top 3.7%

Honestly, I think this was my best race to date.  I credit TJ for running with me and being an excellent pacer and my mountain runs for getting me in shape.  Thinking back, I have really only been training for this for about 2 months.  Between injuries and other things that got in the way of my running, that was all I could do to train.  But the mountain gave me strength in my quads and took the pressure off my back and my calves.  It also helped me be able to pick my speed up and be able to handle the hills on this race without slowing down.

RS did well.  He struggled a lot though.  He had honestly not been running much until the last few weeks before the race.  His longest run before the race was 7 miles and he went out and completed a 13.1 mile race.  His time was slow because he had to walk to finish the last few miles, but it is amazing to me that he could complete that distance with so little prep.  This was his longest milage run in over a year.

TJ had been hurt leading up to this race; thus the reason he paced me rather then trying to run a PR himself.  His last half was completed in under 1:30 and he was in coral #1 for this one.  His choice to pace me was huge for me and I hope fun for him, though being a huge competitor, I’m sure he wished he was running his own race.  He is back in the saddle now and talking about another half in the fall and maybe running the Jacksonville marathon with me in December.

I had fun meeting my running friends @BigBigGeek and @David_Topping before the race.  They did well and I think were happy with the result.  This was @David_Topping’s first half marathon.  He has lost a  lot of weight and really been doing the work that made his run possible.

I was really concerned with this race.  I have never run with so many people.  My experience was a great one overall.  Not just the run, but everything from package pickup at the expo to parking at the race went very smoothly.  There was the obvious traffic, but I purchased a reserve parking pass and it put us right at the race with very little waiting.  The police presence was clear, but not over done.  Other then the helicopters flying overhead, there was very little that I noticed outside of the normal presence at any race.

The bands were great.  A few were loud (one was so loud it affected my hearing for a minute), but they helped overall and the crowd was awesome.  Being that we hung with the 3:30 pacer, there were a lot of cheers as we ran by.

Overall I rate this race very high.  Perfect weather, great attendance, plenty of food and drinks after the race.

Top notch.

Tom

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Country Music Half Marathon… Away we go!

And away we go!

I’m a bit nervous.

13.1 miles.  I’ve run that distance many times before, but this is just the third time in a race (one half marathon and one marathon).

I am looking forward to the race.  TJ and I will run together.  We talked about pace last night.  From what I understand the course has a lot of uphills the first half and a lot of downhills the last quarter.  RS will run also, but he will be in a different coral.  Too bad as it would be great for us all to run together.  However I’ve trained quite a bit for this race and RS is just starting to get back into running.  He will be at the 2:20 time and TJ and I will be at the 1:45 (as that was my last time in a half).

What do I want from this race?  I’m glad you asked. 🙂

I want to beat 1:44, which is my only half marathon so far.  To be honest, that was an awesome race for me.  To this day, I don’t know how I pulled out a 7:58 pace.  I’m not going to cry if I miss my PR, but I would like one after all my mountain runs and my training to get back into running.  It was a long and hard climb back from my marathon.  I think I went about 4 or 5 months in the 30 -40 mile range because of injuries.  Yesterday I broke 100 miles for this month which makes me feel a bit better.

So here we go.  We leave today at 12:00.  We will go directly to the expo and hope to be there around 3:00ish.  After that, we will check out the course, and then check into our hotel, about 8 miles from the starting line.

Our race starts at 7:00… It is supposed to be 50 degrees at race time and get into the mid 60s by 9:00.  All in a all, it should be a great day for a race.  Cool, low humidity.  No clouds.  Just fun.

@BigBigGeek and @David_topping will be running also.  TJ mentioned that there will be a place to meet up with family and friends and the sections are done by the alphabet.  Maybe we can all met under the letter Q?  I figure that will be the least crowded – of course maybe everyone will think that way.

Have an awesome weekend and I’ll try and post my time as soon as I can after the race!

Off to eat some bagels.

Tom

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Runner’s World book and tapering!

So I have a few subjects to write about…

I have never gone this long without writing on this blog.  Mainly I have been a bit worn out lately and it has been all I could do to run and watch the Boston Marathon (not disappointing).  I consider this a “blog taper”.  Sometimes I guess everyone needs to slow down and let the muscles recharge, whether the muscle is a leg or a brain.

Saturday is the Country Music Marathon in Nashville.  TJ, RS and I will all run the half and – for the most part – I am looking forward to it.  I have never run in a race with more then about 5,000 people, so going to one that is 5x that, should be… well… interesting.

We leave tomorrow at lunch, go to the expo, go to the hotel, get up at 4:00AM, get to the race at 5:30AM, and hope to be ready for the 7:00AM start.  Of course there are 40 corals, so we may not get going until 8:00, but it will give us time to prepare mentally.

On to my book article.  I mentioned last Saturday in my last post that I am in a Runner’s World book.  Actually they put me in two books, the other is called, “Runner’s World Training Journal for Beginners”.

I am putting up a scan of my section of the book.  I hope Runner’s World doesn’t mind, but if they read my blog and ask me to take it down, I will.  The chances of either are slim, but if I can be published in a Runner’s World book, then I guess anything can happen.  The book looks really great and is a great resource.  Here is the Amazon link if you are interested: http://www.amazon.com/Runners-World-Book-Running-Beginners/dp/1609615379

So here is my section.  Thanks for reading and for following my blog!

Tom

Cover

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One of the best runs I’ve had!

I’ve looked forward to writing this post all night.

My run yesterday was… unusual to say the least!

It began by being asked by a guy in a truck to look for his missing dogs.  Sure!  No problem.

Then a dog about the size of my (new) Brooks PureFlow2 came running straight at me.  Seriously.  He was like a Kamikaze.  He got right up to me and then ran behind me barking.  I was afraid I would step on him and hurt him (or worse).

Then I ran by a house that has a dog that is always chained up in the front yard.  He barks at me like I am his worse enemy.  Each time I run by he comes running after me and then gets yanked by the chain.  I wave and move on.  HOWEVER, this time there was no chain.  He ran at me, through the yard, into the street and looked like he was going to take me down.  I was shocked.  I just slowed down and told him “Stop”.  He ran past and back into his yard.  Talk about hair standing up on my head.  Why didn’t these people have the dog tied up!!!

On the the good part of the run.

For some reason my phone kept switching from GPS to the accelerometer.  It did it 3 times in 2 miles.  Sadly when it was on the accelerometer it would measure my pace at walking pace.  So by the time I got to 2 miles, I was at a 9:00 average pace and I know I should have been around 8:20.  I finally stopped, rebooted my phone and then started again.  It did the accelerometer one more time and then finally kept with the GPS.

As I hit the middle of my run I started feeling great.  My legs felt great, my new shoes had spring and I was moving.  Since I don’t run sprints or and type of speed runs, I will race cars, buses and other runners to get my speed in.  It is a psychological thing. If I hear a car coming up behind me and there is a stop sign ahead, I’ll try and beat it to the sign.  This gives me random moments of sprinting without having to make it a formal thing.  Yesterday I beat 2 cars and ran by one (slow) jogger (who sped up as I passed.  Seriously, I knew he wasn’t in great condition. Why speed up as I run past?  Like a car on the interstate.  You go to pass and they go from 60 Mph to 80.  So annoying).  Sorry for the rant.

Finally the really fun part.  I know I was moving fast.  I ended the last two miles at my 5K pace which is usually reserved for races only. 🙂

As I was on the last leg of my run, I saw a young runner ahead of me, so my goal was to try to catch him.  I honestly thought I couldn’t, but I wanted to try.  As I was catching up he stopped to stretch.  Ha.  I caught him and was running below a 7:00 pace.  As I passed, he looked at me and started to run with me.  He asked how far I was going and I said I was just going a half mile.  He asked if he could join since he only had that much more to run also.  I said that would be great.  I have never run with anyone in my neighborhood before other then my kids.  We ran at a 7:00 pace and talked a bit.  He said that he is going back into the military and trying to get back into shape.  I got to tell him I weighed almost 300 lbs just 3 years ago and am getting ready for Nashville.

We got to the end of my run, shook hands, introduced ourselves and he turned to run home.  I looked at my phone and I was at 7:03 for the last mile and only had .15 more to go to finish the mile.  So I started running again.  I watched my phone and my run wasn’t registering.  Suddenly the dreaded words!  “Switching to Accelerometer”.   NOOOOOO.  I stopped my run and looked.  My 7:03 pace was now 7:18 and I didn’t finish the mile, however my overall pace dropped from 9:00 average at mile 3 to 8:21.  I felt great!  I love my mountain and ACV!

Here is a pic of my splits (oh and if you managed to read this whole post – thanks.  I usually try to keep them short!).

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