January 2005

I've decided to run the Potomac River Run Marathon (VA) on 5/1/05 and the Marine Corps Marathon (DC) on 10/30/05. Thanks to Kate, I'll be using the Intermediate Marathon Training Schedule in Runners World's Complete Book of Running. I've started training in week #3 to complete training by the date of my first marathon.

I'm real excited. I have a couple of running goals and a training schedule at my level. However, winter training in the great northeast certainly has its chilling challenges. During the work week, I'm running on a treadmill at the Y. Treadmill running allows me to program the correct training speed required for each day of training. I also keep the tread at a 1.5 grade to compensate for the work it does for me while running. My long and longer runs on the weekend are always outside! Brrrrr.

Running indoors requires a good amount of music on my Cali MP-3 player. Surprisingly, "a" is furious because (1) her dad likes her music and (2) I have it stored on my MP-3. Oh, well.

I'm off to a good start. So far, the first month of training offers nothing more challenging then what I have been running. I'm wondering if I can run my first marathon in 4:00:00. Perhaps I can run back-to-back marathons in the spring! Cool. Very cool.

February 2005

I bought new running shoes. I think I might be in trouble. ASICS replaced my 2090s with the upgraded GT-2100. I'm skeptical about any changes in my shoes. They feel different; I'm keeping them.

The cold weather leggings I bought last fall work well on long, cold weekend runs. Sometimes I wear insulated winter bicycle pants and/or Gore-Tex shells over my clothing due to biting wind and snow/sleet. I know I look weird wearing head-to-toe warm weather gear and an orange hydration pack when running in the most gosh-awful weather.

In my car, I've measured several long running loops. I've printed and laminated them to run with. Knowing the location of mile markers allows me to do a little mental gymnastics to determine my pace-per-mile.

After one week, I've noticed a significant drop in pain when running. After several weeks, the discomfort is minimal.

I want to avoid post-training fatigue, so I've become committed to drinking more water and using carbohydrate gel packs when running.

March 2005

I've had some problems. My miles per week are in the 40s. My weekly long runs (17, 18, 19, and 21 miles) leave me exhausted for days afterwards. I'm giving my recovery needs more attention so I'm running REALLY EASY on the 2 days following long runs. This helps.

I'm waking up early (2-3 hours) on long run mornings to have breakfast. I'm eating carbohydrate gel packs more consistently over the course of runs. I've experimented with Honey Stingers and like them better then GU.

Wednesday, March 9th:
I seemed to have hit the fatigue wall in my training. I canned my 10 mile tempo run on Wednesday and slept on the couch in my colleague's office for 2 hours. With new aches from running more miles per week, I'm not sleeping as well and I've felt more tired.

Saturday March 13th:
Today I clocked 21 miles at 3:40. With two more 21-milers before 5/1/05, I'll be golden to complete my first marathon. Although my nutritional intake was good before and during this run, the last 2 miles killed my legs. I stop to walk more then I want to admit. I've been trying to run the first 10 miles at 9:30 minute miles and the second half at 10:00s. I'm thinking I should run the first leg slower and not feel so burned out by the end of my long runs.

Training Schedule - Week #12 (3/14/05):
My right knee feels stiff since yesterday's, first 21-miler. I think I have an IT Band injury. I'm now running easier. It does loosen up and doesn't hurt as much after a mile or so.

In addition to nagging knee/leg pain this week, I think I've developed a variety of (atypical) side effects to my Lipitor (80 mgs). Although my cardiologist is on vacation, I've been working closely with my primary care physician (whose also a long distance runner). For 2-weeks I'll forgo cholesterol medication and flush my body of Lipitor to see if my symptoms go into remission. If so, I'll try another staten. I'm pretty nervous. My cholesterol firewall is now off, and only medication can bring down my LDLs.

I'm physically and spiritually feeling awful. Between my knee/leg problem and all types of weird allergic reactions from the neck up... I'm a wreck. Who knows if I'll be in shape to run my first marathon.

Training Schedule - Week #13 (3/21/05):
I've decided to avoid running for a week due to my (alleged) IT Band injury. It's gradually feeling better. Next week I'll run easy and then get back on track for my 2nd and last 21-miler (3 weeks before my 5/1 marathon).

Although still symptomatic, it seems like my side effects to Lipitor are lessening. I'm anxious to begin running. I'm eating more...

Training Schedule - Week #14 (3/28/05):
What an awful couple of weeks. After taking nearly a week off from running due to my right knee, I gradually returned to running last week. I've been plagued with reasons why I'm injured. Could it be the crown on the roads I run on, my new (modified) ASICS GT-2100s, too fast a pace... or, perhaps... just over training. I don't know.

To compensate for my knee/leg injury, I've taken some protective steps for training. During the work week, I've been running 4-5 miles on the treadmill because of it's softer deck surface. On longer, outside weekend runs (6 and 12 miles), I'm running on the same side of the road when I do my out-and-back loops. Running on the same angled road crown, out and back, means both sides of my body get to "lean" into the road which will prevent injury associated with IT Band injuries. Although I hate running with traffic to my back, I've picked roads with wide shoulders for greater safety.

And... my side effects to Lipitor? After discontinuing Lipitor for nearly 2 weeks... last week... I finally became symptom free. Then, this past Sunday I ran 12 miles and the symptoms returned. (Huh?) I determined (and then through experimentation yesterday) my "side effects" to Lipitor are actually allergic reactions to my use of Honey Stinger carbohydrate gels on long runs. It's either the honey or the extra B vitamins in the gel that make my face flush and hot, have headaches, tightness in my throat, and other symptoms from the neck up. Mystery solved! Now I need to address this observation with my MD and get back to taking Lipitor.

At this point, my knee/leg feels (just) OK. If I can run injury/pain free this Wed. (10 mile run), Sat. (10 mile run), and Sun. (my last pre-marathon long run - 21 miles), I believe I'll be able to complete my training and run my first marathon on 5/1. However, the real test for being physically able to run a marathon in 4 weeks will be next week's training schedule (#15) when I run my last pre-marathon, 21-miler. I'm starting to feel hopeful. Things are finally looking up!

Training Schedule - Week #15 (4/4/05):
4/6/05 Update: Last night, Marathon Jeannie and I had a plan. At 12:01 AM we would be the first of 30,000 to register on-line for the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM). It would be the first time in 30 years there would be open registration (instead of selection by lottery). To make sure neither one of us would forget to stay up until midnight and fall asleep, we agreed to call the other by 12:10 AM if we didn't get an e-mail status report.

The short version... the web site was jammed with wanna-be registrants. MJ and I couldn't log-on. At 12:55 AM, surprisingly, I hit the registration link jackpot. After entering my personal and credit card information, I hit submit. Awk! A blank confirmation page. What did this mean? Was I registered? Yes? No?

Frustrated and confused, I e-mailed Active.com who managed the MCM's registration process with my dilemma. Not able to register on-line, Marathon Jeannie and I agreed to hit the hay around 1:30 AM and try again in the morning.

At 5:30 AM, I bolted down to my computer and checked my e-mail. Active.com had responded to my dilemma: "You're not registered. Try again." (So, I did... with success.)

As I would later find out, Marathon Jeannie was able to register on-line in the morning as well. But... the frosting on the cake was learning that Long Shots had succumbed to the MCM interest, and unable to sleep last night, surprised himself with an early morning registration!

PS: In less then 30 hours, the MCM had closed it's registration at 30,000.

4/10/05 Update: Today was big. 21 miles. My last long run before the marathon in 3 weeks. To believe I could finish a marathon... I needed to complete this run without right knee/leg problems. For the last 3 weeks, I prepped and trained for today's run as though it was the big enchilada... the right pace and crown training, the right carbohydrate gels... new hydration system...

I passed all four of my running tests:

(1) Knee pain - I recovered and trained correctly the past 3 weeks and finished 21 miles tired (3:28), and right knee/leg injury free - no pain;
(2) Correct pacing - The Potomac River Run will not have mile markers, so I purchased the Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS watch to know my distances and pace for an informed race. Today I took the Garmin out for it's maiden voyage and loved it's convenient statistics (until I lost satellite signal for about 2 miles). I was right-on for my pace;
(3) Proper hydration/nutrition - I test drove the GoLite Gazelle belly pack/hydration system and filled one of its 22-oz bottles with plain water and the other with Endurox R4 (carbohydrates/protein) for the last 1/3 of my run; and,
(4) Proper energy supplements - I fed myself well before running (8-oz of Endurox) and during the run with new caffeinated Power Gels (chocolate and mango) and the old standby... chocolate GU... and had NO ALLERGIC REACTION!

Now... I'm really pumped for the big race! My knee/leg feels good. I'm not having any allergic reactions... I'm 100% go!

 

Training Schedule - Week #16 (4/11/05):
Having completed my last 21-miler, my training (miles per week) now tapers down until marathon day. I am relieved to be allergic reaction free and free from knee/leg pain. I love training with my GPS watch and I'm really trying to stick to a lower mileage schedule. It's too easy to run longer and faster then I'm supposed to in this last and very important phase of my training... strength-recovery in preparation to run 26.2 miles!

Training Schedule - Week #17 (4/18/05):
4/23/05 Update (T-7 days): Today is Saturday. After 4 months of training, I'll finally be running my first marathon in 7 days. The past two weeks kicked off my training taper with shorter, but strong runs. Next week I'll run a few, slow 3-mile runs and have several days of rest.

But life has been anything but relaxed as I mentally prepare to run my first marathon. Next weekend when I leave for VA, I'll be missing out on some pretty cool things back home. I'll be missing Abbe's spring orchestra concert on Friday night, and then her Regional Mock Trial Competition on Saturday... followed by her Junior Prom the same night (which she believes she can get to after a 3-1/2 hour drive home).

Then... there's Sarah's soccer games on Saturday and Sunday which I also seem to live for. All of this "kid" excitement has made preparing for my marathon weekend somewhat stressful. I hate missing out on their activities. I keep trying to reminding myself that we're all doing some pretty cool things and we typically do most of these things together. Thanks goodness for our cell phones. We'll keep each other up to date about our respective adventures! As for me... the count down continues... T-7 days!

Training Schedule - Week #18 (4/25/05):
The marathon is here. I've been developing my check-list for weeks. I'm packed and ready to fly to VA. But... can I really run 26.2 miles?