A Case of the Runs

The culmination of 18 weeks ! ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - rest Monday - 3 mi; - indoors; 20 min strength/abs; 10 min stretch Tuesday - 4 mi - outdoors; 15 min strength/abs/stretch Wednesday - should have been resting, 30 min upright bike; 25 min strength/abs/stretch Thursday - 2 mi - outdoors; 20 min abs/stretch Friday - rest (flying to San Antonio) Saturday - rest for San Antonio Marathon ! Weekly Mileage: 9

I've been having a rough time lately because I'm feeling under the (constantly-changing) weather and feeling exhausted for some reason. And then there's this weird ankle soreness that won't seem to go away... Maybe this is a healthy sign of recovery? At any rate, I am starting to doubt I will do well in the marathon . I've been training way too slow to accomodate my fatigue, burnout, and injuries. I am just going to hope for the best and try to take care of myself. Also, I've decided to stop training in 2010 after the marathon. No runs over 5-6 miles, and I expect I will mostly be content with 3-milers and other forms of exercise. I love the rush of running races, but I really do think that the percentage of time that it isn't fun anymore is approaching 90. Yes, I am still planning on registering for LA Marathon as soon as I get back from San Antonio, but I'm going to use a minimal amount of training to get ready for it. No more vain attempts to get fas...

I cannot emphasize enough how happy I am that it's time to taper. As you can see by my training so far , I've really been making a better-than-usual effort to stick with the training. And by golly, I've been way better than average when it comes to sticking to it, even though it started sliding off perfection during the second half (of 18 weeks, though). My goals for this taper period are: 1) Appreciate not having to run 8-milers on weekdays. (Thank GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!) 2) Eat more vegetables. 3) Not get injured. You see, I've been careful not to push too hard in vain efforts to increase my speed. I've learned that I run a whole darn lot faster if I am NOT injured. (I consider this the most important goal.) 4) Keep up with my supplements and SLEEP. 5) Don't get sick. Related to #4. A feat, since I think something is going around. 6) I'm going to make an extra effort not to take anymore walk breaks during my remaining runs. I have been using walk breaks as ...

------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - rest Monday - 0 (of 5) mi; 50 min cardio (elliptical w/arms & s. bike); 20 min strength (abs/hamstrings/upper body) Woke up today with a headache(?) or massive stiff neck... can't tell which. Something told me I needed to take it easy. Pumped my gas, went to the gym, tried to run and once I got over my morning deadweight legs, realized I was running straight toward burnout hell and decided to do other cardio instead and save it for Tuesday. Tuesday - 8 mi - outdoors Done like dinner, punk! (Extra pride due to the fact that I am feeling worn out with questionable health. I've had a sore throat for 6 days now, although today so far feels better than the rest.) Wednesday - 5 mi - indoors; 20 min strength/stretch Thursday - 5 mi - outdoors; 20 min hip-openers yoga Two five-milers (PM and AM in a row... take that, lack of energy!). Friday - 10 min s. bike, 20 min strength/stretch Saturday - 20 mi - outdoors Weekly Mileage: 38

This week begins the final month of training before the San Antonio Rock n Roll Marathon . I usually don't "look forward" to marathons very much, beyond just getting them "over with," but I think a few things have changed my outlook: 1) Following my sister 's journey to the Chicago Marathon. 2) Running more than 20 miles this weekend without dying (much). 3) I REALLY need a vacation! I haven't been anywhere truly "away" since maybe May in Santa Barbara , or perhaps in June in San Diego . As for plane rides, I haven't been on one of those since June 2008. 4) My CEP compression sleeves , salt-packet sucking, and GU intake strategy have been helping out with these long runs a lot. 5) I've been pretty good about eating well and really good about my supplements , so I'm starting to feel MUCH bette r now than I had been. ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - rest Monday - 0 mi (of 5); 45 min cardio; some foam roller; 10 min weights T...

Tons of mileage on this page! Probably won't do all of them... ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - 13(.1) miles due to Camarillo Half-Marathon Monday - 0 (of 5) miles; 45 min cardio (stepper/bike/elliptical); 20 min strength/abs Tuesday - (approximately b/c I didn't have my Garmin ) 8 mi - outdoors (well, the first mile was outdoors) A cool, crisp low-50's with some light winds... although it wasn't a perfect run, I felt very good in some parts and had a strong start and finish. Dare I say that I enjoyed it, for once! I think cool weather might be the antidote to my running slump as of late. Wednesday - 1 (of 5) miles; 40 min cardio, 15 min strength Thursday - 5 mi - outdoors Friday - 10 min s. bike; 30 min strength/stretch/foam roll "Foam roll" Fridays are in full swing! Saturday - 21.55 (of 20) mi - outdoors I was feeling good during the first couple of hours and decided to do my first ever more-than-20 training run. Although the last few miles wer...

My upcoming half-marathon will probably sway me toward toning down the mileage this week. I don't want to deviate, but I do want to do well in that race... **I modified tp 4 days of 4-milers due to my coach's input. "The Ukrainian" is my coach. =D I'm pretty beat up from last week . ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - rest Monday - 1.5 (of 5 mi); 20 min strength; 30 min stepper Alarm woke me instead of me waking naturally (unusual). 80 degrees at 5:30 AM. Decided to screw the run and cross-train. Yay for phoning it in!!! Tuesday - 4 (of 8 mi) Wednesday - 4 (of 5 mi); 15 min weights; 5 min stretching Thursday - 5 mi - outdoors I had actually planned on 4, but oh well; this is the only run so far this week that met the mileage was prescribed by the schedule Friday - 10 min s.bike, 40 min strength Saturday - rest Weekly Mileage: 14.5

!!!! LONG-WINDED POST AHEAD !!!! I am pretty sure that this week's mileage will NOT be equal to what's planned here. Do people really need to run this much to do well in marathoning? What am I doing wrong? While I haven't re-injured myself *knock on wood*, I haven't exactly been 100% on the mileage for these past couple of weeks and feel that I might as well have not tried to do an Intermediate level training schedule . Given that this is Week 11 with four more weeks of heavy training before taper, I am trying to hold on. I REALLY want to know if being on this type of schedule will ultimately deliver better results than my haphazard ways or a more basic program . Given that I haven't followed a program so closely since... ever(?)... I really want to be able to say, when I finish the San Antonio Marathon , that my efforts were worth it. As I've mentioned before , I want to PR. I even joined RuntoFinish 's PR Challenge to motivate me. But really, really, at 6 ...

I see freakish weekday and an even more freakish weekend run. Will I make it????? Ay caramba! ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - rest Monday - 4 mi; 30 min stepper; 10 min s. bike; 10 min strength As ambitious as I was to try to do Tuesday's 8-miler on Monday, I had my preliminary dissertation oral defense and really didn't want to exhaust myself beforehand. I had to present my research idea (with theory and all that) to my 3-faculty committee and basically allow them to fire at me. Fortunately, they were all really supportive and not too harsh. There was a lot of academic discussion and questions directed toward me that made my head spin, and after nearly 2 hours, my chair asked me to step out of the room while they discussed my fate. The verdict: 2 committee members signed my Dissertation Contract; my chair withheld her signature until some changes are made. This is the typical outcome for "prelims," according to my chair and the one I had expected. So in spi...

Finishing this week equates to finishing half of my program ! Yippee! Basically, I am running two races this week! I'm excited but at the same time unimpressed by my training progress. ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - 13.1 miles! (out of the 14 that I had swapped from this other week , creating only a 0.9 mile deficit -- read my " Race Recap " for details! Monday - 4 mi - indoor/outdoor mix; 20 min weights Yes, I worked out on my day off, which is abnormal for me! Determined to do what I can, when I can! Tuesday - (just about) 7 mi - outdoors; [ planned - 20 min yoga ] No energy. I'm starting to feel weak, a feeling that feels like it's coming from my bones, even when waking up in the morning after adequate (~8) hours of sleep. Weather was beautiful, scenery was great, and I was blah. Starting to believe that perhaps I am anemic again. I have had been diagnosed twice with it, in 2004 when I was still eating (quite a bit of) meat and in 2007 when I basical...

Labor Day is coming -- I'm totally stoked! ------ This Week's Workouts : Sunday - rest Out of boredom, wanted to go to the gym, but decided to get work done instead. Monday - 7 mi 70 minutes of stepper/elliptical, 6 min rope simulator+rows; 20 min standing poses yoga Decided to can the run today because I woke up with my left foot bridge hurting. It started on Sunday, mid-day, which is weird because I rested and didn't feel any ill effects on Saturday. Given the upcoming weeks of runs, I decided the smart thing was to not try to run on it. I can't make up these miles, sadly, as 7 is too difficult to spread throughout the week. Don't think missing one run will wreck everything as much as another injury would. Not like I've been all that stellar at running, anyway, and although I had been able to keep up until now, I was having to take frequent breaks because I am still wheezing due to lack of fitness(?) or something. Hopefully, all will go back to normal tomorro...

The days of my easy-day 3-milers are over. *sigh* So I've gone 6 weeks of Hal Hidgon's 18-Week Marathon Intermediate I schedule without missing a mile. I suspect that the other 2/3 of the program won't be as easy to follow, though. This only means that I have 12 weeks until Marathon #7 . ------ This Week's Workouts : Sunday - rest And boy, did I! Monday - 7 mi; 15 minutes of abs/arms; 10 min hip openers yoga Best indoor run in a long time, though admittedly not easy. Running 7 miles before work = can I go to bed??? Did not finish yoga session due to taking too long on dinner... Tuesday - 4 mi - outdoors Wednesday - 7 mi; 15 min strength Horrid heat = no salsa again Thursday - 4 mi; 30 min strength training with some stretching blended into that For the sake of logging my workouts for future reference, I will also note a few observations. First , I feel like I could sure use a back massage. Second , I have become noticeably more hungry all the time lately -- "lat...

This is Week 6 of 18, a stepback week, and 1/3 of the training program. Still streakin' in terms of not missing a run. So maybe I can work on pace this week? I'm still inconsistent in the fact that I will have good runs, normal runs, and downright crappy ones. Last week, I was feeling twinges of my hamstring injury, so I will need to be more careful from now on... ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - rest Monday - 4 (out of 5) mi; 10 min strength; 1 mi walk outdoors; 20 min backbends yoga Ugh, it was so hot in the gym this morning, making this run impossible to finish, even at a slow speed. Right foot arch, which has acting up lately, also wasn't helping. Will try to run an extra mile tomorrow morning to make up for it. Honestly not feeling it at all lately. Does this end my streak? Well, as long as I hit the weekly mileage... Tuesday - 4 (of 3) mi - outdoors Wednesday - 6 mi @6.7-7.0, 20 min strength, 4 mi walk (half of that was unplanned) Thinking about not going to ...

I am not really paying much attention to whether a run should be done at "pace" or not. To get it done is miraculous in the first place these days. I wonder how long I can go before I "miss" a run... This would be considered Week 5 of 18, FYI. ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - bike 26 mi Wasn't intended on being this far, but my friend, Giraffe, intentionally lied about the distance between my house and the Santa Fe Recreation Dam . Then we went up this steep, steep part to get a view, and yeah, I had to walk my bike up after about halfway. Monday - 6 mi; 15 min strength Tuesday - 3 mi - outdoors; 10 min abs/arms I blasted through the first half of this run, unbeknownst to me. On the other hand, yoga was a no-ga because I was working on my dissertation and frankly in a bad mood. Wednesday - 6 mi; 20 min strength; 1.5 hr salsa Thursday - 3 mi @6.7-7.2, 30 min strength/abs/foam roller I incorporated some yoga into my stretching due to my guilt of not doin...

Down goes me, up goes the mileage. Observations : - Definitely have been falling off the yoga train. Not inspired to do it in a hot, crowded house. Not throwing in the towel just yet, though. A few switcheroos in my schedule should allow for 2 yoga sessions a week, which is probably enough for now. - My legs are definitely feeling a lot better than they did a month ago, and especially two months ago. Over these past 2 months or so, it's almost as if I had to start running from scratch, and I never even really took a break. Heaven help me in the re-start-up should I need to take an actual hiatus at some point in life... - My hamstring is feeling much better. The pain will sometimes emerge when I go too fast without the proper progression, but the pain is a lot less intense and easily remedied. THEREFORE... - ...even though I'm still trying to recover fitness and motivation to run, I'm enjoying it a whole lot more due to not hobbling around every run. ------ This Week's W...

Here we go... been sticking with the mileage so far, but it starts rising (in a big way) next week. This week is a step-back week, so it better be easy! UPDATE: Okay, so this hasn't been easy. Too many abruptions in terms of scheduling and the suffocation of living conditions have made it really difficult both psychologically and logistically to adapt. Therefore, total amount of exercise has decreased so far this week... Just trying hard to stick to my assigned mileage... speed is secondary, but as I am slowly recovering, it has improved. ------ This Week's Workouts: Sunday - rest, besides some walking and a few minutes of pilates Monday - 5 mi - outdoors, 10 min strength/abs Tuesday - 25 min of No More Trouble Zones DVD; 3 mi - outdoors Wednesday - 5 mi - outdoors, 1.5 hr salsa Thursday - 3 mi - outdoors (hills), 20 min hip openers yoga Friday - 30-35 min P-90X Core Synergistics video, walking (not as much as planned...) Half-day at work today... gonna take advantage! Going t...

Never fear, never fear, never fear... Fear is what keeps me from pushing myself to my limits, and the tenseness from fear makes those limits a lot lower than they could be. Although I haven't been meeting my yoga targets (3-5x/wk), I am trying to not give up on it. The heat makes yoga VERY uninticing, and my injuries have nothing to say to yoga in genereal. Also for this week... I just want to enjoy running again and make it as fun as it can be. ------ This Week's Workouts : Sunday - rest, mostly... except for some Wii Sports Resort for a good hour or so Monday - 5 mi @7.2, 30 min stretch/arms Surprisingly good turnout considering the late bedtime, alarm shutting off in the middle of the night, and the Monday blahs! Tuesday - 3 mi @7.2, 15 min sbike @3.r, 20 min arms/abs, stretch Wednesday - 5 mi @whatever I could muster- outdoors Thursday - 3 mi - outdoors, 20 min standing poses yoga Friday - 40 min Jillian Michaels' No More Trouble Zones DVD Review to come later. This ...

I know I had mentioned I was going to start marathon training on Hal Higdon's Novice 2 schedule today, July 12, 2010... ...But then I started to think that I could push myself a BIT harder now that I've run SIX marathons. No, not all of them were good by any means, but I really shouldn't discount myself as a "novice," injuries or not. What...did you think I was going to say that I have deferred my training?? Fat chance! It is now the time that I should step it up at least a little. I know Hal says that even on a Novice schedule, one can qualify for Boston, but I think I need a little help. Of course, the gung-ho in me was hoping I could do a program that had hills and sprints incorporated into it... but I think that I could add those sparingly on my own as I attempt to get myself back into good shape. Yes, my blog friends, I am serious about making some kind of improvement, but I am not so ambitious to the point that I would wreck it all by re-injuring myself...

It's marathon training time, folks! I will fill in the pacing gaps for each of these runs. For instance, I don't know what my "marathon pace" should be, but if I want to PR, I think I need to keep it to a consistent 6.3 mph. That's kinda slow for me to be running, it's just that I tend to break down during races. So I will be doing something faster than that during training... "The Ukrainian" has given me the green light to go a 7.0 mph. Yay? ------ This Week's Workouts : Sunday - rest Was supposed to do yoga, but gosh darn it, I was having a laaaazzzzyyy day. I should have done it, though, if not just to get rid of that "I need to get out of the house" feeling. Monday - 5 mi @7.0, 30 min stretch/arms/abs, 20 min backbends yoga Okay, so the back of my left ankle area feels sore. It actually started during this run. Also, left hip feels tweaked. I don't think it's necessarily a consequence of speed, nor do I think it's anythi...

This week is my last week before I actually start on a marathon schedule! So for this week, the goal is to hit a 6.8 mph pace for up to 50 minutes at a time. This means, same distance... but faster. ------ This Week's Workouts : Sunday - 20-ish minutes of Yoga for Weight Loss , to be reviewed later (4th of July holiday) Monday - 5.2 mi at what was TRYING to be @6.8, but too hard so I had to take walking breaks; 1.5 miles of cooldown-/jogging; 20 min stretching; [planned - 20 min yoga??] Tuesday - "The Ukrainian"'s birthday... took him to a theme park, which meant lots of walking and weird eating (food+rides=nausea) for me. Had dinner with his family and came home just in time for bed, so yoga was a no-ga today. Wednesday - 5.6 mi @6.8, .4 mi cooldown (jog/walk); 30 min strength/stretch/abs, 1 hour athlete conditioning yoga (review to come later) Thursday - 5.6 mi @6.8, .4 mi cooldown, 10 min bike @3.0r, 20 min standing poses yoga Friday - 45 min FitMoves circuits, 3...