Caught in the Rain

With about .3 of a mile left in my run tonight, it started to down pour. Good thing I was right next to Tin Fish, an outdoor restaurant at the Northeast corning of Lake Calhoun. I still had 10 strides and .3 to go so I just ducked under the covering. Everyone was eating fish tacos and Summit EPA - oh, how I wanted to have fish tacos and Summit EPA with them! After the rain stopped a wonderful rainbow appeared and I finished off the rest of the run. My pace was a bit faster than normal (8:15 average) and the strides really felt good. I'll have to back off a bit on Wednesday...

TOday's totals | 6 Miles in 1:06:03 | 10 Strides

#2 = My #1 Problem

Week One of marathon training is in the books. My base had prepared me for Week One and it was even a bit of a cut back in total mileage but the overall pace of my runs was a little faster than what I've normally been running. Honestly, it feels better to run and my Thursday long run was done completely by feel.

On Sunday, I ran the Kansas City Race for the Cure 5K. It was humid (like always) but cool. After Saturday's long run (12 miles), I thought there was an outside possibility that I could break 20:00 but would need to be careful if anything felt out of sorts. An injury in week one isn't quite what I'm looking to accomplish :) Mile one felt really good with a split of 6:17. Mile two had some hills (nothing major) and felt good but my stomach was starting to rumble. Mile two split was 6:30. Mile three is mostly flat to downhill but almost immediately after the second mile marker I knew I was done. My stomach issue had now moved to a critical have to stop or I'll have a much bigger issue. After walking for about 35 seconds, my #2 feeling subsided and I jogged a little bit farther until it came back again. I slowed down and just coasted in for a time of 21:10. I wasn't upset at all because of how the first two miles felt. While not easy, the pace felt comfortable.

All-in-all, Week One was a good week and I'm looking forward to putting in more miles and some time on the bike as well.

And So It Begins

Marathon training for CIM (California International Marathon) began on Monday - with a rest day :) Tuesday's 7 miler at a general aerobic pace was a nice and easy and today's scheduled 9 miler had to be cut a bit short but I got in miles which is what counts for the first week. I'll be modifying the weekly plan a little bit to account for travel plans (seeing the entire family!!!) and racing (Kansas City Race for the Cure).

All-in-all, I'm pretty excited about this new 18 week program and if I'm not ready to go and race a marathon (3:10 hopefully) well, then maybe it is time to hang up those thoughts of a BQ. So, as it goes, this will be my new home for a training log - all the ups, downs and all arounds...

Progression run and a Reboot

It had been so long since I did a progression run / LT run that I forgot how much they are! I headed out for my 15 min warm up, 20 LT run, 10 min cool down with my Garmin 305 to make sure I ran at what I thought were my LT paces / heart rates. Of course, not any training above 70% MHR for about a year except for the occasional run with Andy, I really was concerned with running too hard too soon. My fears were quickly absorbed when I looked at my watch about 10 min into the LT section and saw that I was running at 7:05 pace and at 170 BPM (80%) and that it felt quiet comfortable. I held this pace / HR for a solid 14 min (looking at the charts afterwards) before my heart rate started to creep. But, the good news was that it was just a standard HR creep, not more than 5 BPM as I ran into the wind and as my pace quickened. Overall my LT session was:

20:03, 2.71 miles (7:24 pace), 171 Average Heart Rate

After my run, I quickly made my way to the movie theater to see "Spirit of the Marathon". It was a great in depth look at the marathon and I think it provided wonderful historical information. Who knew that the British were responsible for the additional .2 of the marathon? Just so the royal family could watch the beginning of the marathon...

What the Spirit of the Marathon Trailer...

A Half Grandma

The Gary Bjorkland 1/2 Marathon (Grandma's 1/2...) lottery opened today for which I entered my name. Having run Grandma's a number of times I am really excited with the prospect of actually enjoying the second half :) You are bussed to the 1/2 way point of the marathon and run to the finish. This means instead of being in a haze as I enter Duluth, I could actually remember most of the sights and sounds. Duluth is a truly special place during Grandma's and will be interesting to see from a different vantage point.

My Spring / Early Summer racing schedule is looking pretty full and I started my initial training program for the Drake Relays 1/2 Marathon (4/26). After nearly 2 years of rebuilding and base building I feel ready to focus on race specific training and continue to progress toward my 2008 goal of a Boston Marathon Qualifying attempt. Drake (4/26) and Hospital Hill (6/7) are tune ups for the Gary Bjorkland 1/2 where I'd really like to put the hammer down.

Hopefully by then the Minnesota weather will have turned warm again! Right now that seems hard to imagine (-11 as I type...)

Winter - So Harsh & So Cruel

If I lived in Southern California or even Kansas City where I grew up, Winter running would be a breeze. But Minnesota is no Southern California and this Winter has been especially harsh compared to previous years.

As I type this it's -6. That's not six degrees below freezing either. That's six degrees below zero, the point at which temperature records no value :) This past week, Norther Minnesota reached the point where celsius and fahrenheit are the same, -40. And that was without the wind chill. Now, I'll be the first to admit that Minnesota has a dry cold and if you layer properly you can run outside even when it's -15 but this is after pulling out all the tricks - warming up inside in full gear before heading out, multiple layers of socks, running at the warmest part of the day, running into the wind for the 1st half of the run so you aren't chilled coming back, and so on...

Of course a treadmill offers a nice 72 degree run at whatever pace you want, with your choice of TV show, and a "cushioned" ride...but then again, I wouldn't see the kids playing hockey out on Lake of the Isles or witness wonderful Winter pastel sunsets or appreciate the day when Spring finally arrives.

It's been a long Winter and we still have a way to go but my training has been strong (still averaging about 30 MPW) and the few warm weather runs I've gotten in have been very strong.

So, here's to the rest of Winter and a fast Spring!

Death to the Treadmill

Yesterday was my 10th treadmill run of the Winter and I think I've just about had it. I'm finding I can't go farther than 5 miles total on the treadmill and lately I've been breaking up the run into multiple segments. I'm either doing long repeats or 3 miles then lifting and then running the last 2 miles or just stopping after 2 miles. I can't stand the treadmill! iPod, TV, whatever....I can't just run in one place. I need to feel the cold air in my lungs, see the trees moving by, run under the illuminating moon or watch the sunrise...