Week 16 Summary: 16 miles at week 16

Mileage

Scheduled: 38-39 miles
Ran: 40 miles

Cross training

Push-ups: 140
Crunches: 150
Rock climbing

Week notes

I tweaked my back doing yardwork last Saturday afternoon. The pain was strong enough still on Sunday so I decided to postpone the short run that day until Monday. The pain lingered all week, though it dulled enough to the point were it wasn't a problem. It actually felt better during the runs than before or after.

Monday and Tuesday were cold and/or rainy, so I ran on the treadmill for those two days.

I've started doing push-ups and crunches on a regular basis now. I usually do about 30 push-ups followed by 20 crunches straight on and 15 biased on each side for a total of 50.

Team in Training group run

About 30 minutes before the run:
Ate 2 eggs on a whole wheat bagel.
Drank 1 cup black tea w/sugar, 1 cup ice water.

Weather: Cool. ~43-50 F. Sunny.

Attire: Yellow & white Supernova Classics, short synth running socks, cotton boxer briefs, black Nike running shorts, yellow synth t-shirt, green GoLite synth wind shirt, black bandana.

Didn't wear the bandages to see if I really needed them with this shirt (didn't). Couldn't find my sunglasses so I ran without them.

Arrived on time. Stretched during group announcments. No coach today (mentor led), so just started whenever. Arrived around the same time Kim did.

Sue wanted to get started so she ran by herself. Warmed up the first mile at a slower pace with Sarah. Then Kim and I ran together for the rest of the run.

Ran the extension road to the nature center, which added 3 miles to the loop.

Coach Ken wasn't there, so we didn't have a water break at mile 5.75. However, one of the mentors had dropped of a water cooler at about mile 6.75 on a bench. We stopped to take a PowerGel and some water.

Stopped again to refuel and a potty break at mile 9 (full loop). Grabbed my iPod from the car but didn't use it because Kim's mp3 player wasn't working so I decided being social was the right thing to do (plus I listen to music for all of my other runs during the week).

Ran another loop without the extention to the nature center (6 miles).

Kim decided to get some more water at mile 13.5 (a cooler was set up for a TNT walk event). I decided to stretch out my left calf since it was starting to feel a little tight.

Jennifer and Kaija surprised me by calling out to me from the car about a mile from the end of the loop. Jennifer had told Kaija that Daddy was running. So Kaija went out to the treadmill to see if I was there, then to the window to see if I was running outside. Jennifer then decided it would be good to bring Kaija to the park to see Daddy running.

Once we got back to the end of the loop, Kaija and Jennifer raced to the walking path from the car in the parking lot. Kaija tried following a little bit. Kim and I still had a mile to go, so we ran 0.5 miles out and back for a total of 16 miles.

In that last 0.5 mile, a random guy met up with us who asked us which event we were training for. We told him the Bayshore marathon and he said he was too. He also ran it two years ago and the Cincinnati Marathon last year.

When we got to about 100 feet from the end of the loop, Kaija and Jennifer were waiting. Kaija ran the rest of the way with us.

Approximate time to complete was 2:35 (9:40 min/mile), or approximately 2:20 (8:45 min/mile) not including the 3 pit stops.

Cooled down by walking in the parking lot and stretching by the picnic table. Ate a banana and the remainder of a bagel that Kaija didn't finish. Drank a bit of water.

Stopped for an iced coffee on the way home.

Though I wasn't very sore after the run, I decided to ice my knees anyway as a preventative measure. Both shoulders were very sore during the run but were fine after.

People met:
Mike - One of the team mentors hosting the training run. Didn't speak to him much but found out he's running the Bayshore Marathon as well.

Week 15 Summary: 18 miles, baby!

Mileage

Scheduled: 40-41 miles
Ran: 41.4 miles

Cross training

Push-ups: 80
Crunches: 100
Rock climbing
Bike ride around the neighborhood pulling Kaija in the pram.

Week notes

I've been running outdoors almost exclusively now since the weather has warmed up. I discovered that my estimations for distance based on a 10 min/mile have been a little off, most likely because I haven't been taking into account the 5 minute break to stretch after warming up for 5 minutes. I've since started using Google Earth to plot out my routes for more accurate mileage.

I've also decided that the first 4 miles or so are the hardest to get past. I'm the most sore during this time... usually ankles and shins... and am likely to run slowest then. After that, however, I get my second wind, feel fine, and can pick up the pace a bit.

Team in Training group run

About 45 minutes before the run:
Ate 2 eggs and ham on a whole wheat bagel.
Drank 1 cup water.

Weather: Warm. ~55 F. Sunny.

Attire: Yellow & white Supernova Classics, short synth running socks, cotton boxer briefs, black mesh shorts, white TNT synth short sleeve t-shirt, green GoLite synth wind shirt, blue bandana, bandages, orange mirrored sunglasses.

Arrived on time. Stretched during group announcments. Stood in circle, announced name, event, planned mileage for the day, current pace.

Met up with Kim and Sue since we've determined we run approximately the same pace two weeks ago. Warmed up by running a slow pace the first mile.

Ran the extension road to the nature center, which added 3 miles to the loop.

Stopped for water and PowerBar Gel at mile 5.75. Took off the green wind shirt and gave it to Coach Ken to take back to the start of the loop. Stopped again to refuel and a potty break at mile 9 (full loop). Ran another loop without the extention to the nature center (6 miles). Refueled again, then ran 1.5 miles out and back (3 miles) for a total of 18 miles.

Approximate time to complete was 2:55 (9:45 min/mile), or approximately 2:40 (8:55 min/mile) not including the 3 pit stops. Sue had a stop watch and noticed we were doing a sub 9 min/mile pace quite often.

Cooled down by walking in the parking lot and stretching by the picnic table. Drank a lot of water. Ate just one bagel. Tried a PowerBar Recovery drink mix after the run. I didn't get very sore afterward, so it may have worked, though I was a little reluctant of the formulation. Need to investigate the ingredients.

People met:
Didn't meet anybody new, though some faces looked new, likely because they were no longer bundled up!

While running, discovered Kim's brother is good friends with a guy I went to high school and played in the band with. Also, one of the TNT staff members passed along a message from one of his co-workers who recognized my name and was one of my trip leaders for Alternative Spring Break back in college.

Week 14 Summary: Purple Peep Eater Run

Scheduled: 36-37 miles
Ran: 40.5 miles

Cross training:
Rock climbing
5 push-ups (shoulder is still recovering)
20 crunches (gradually getting back into it)

Long run notes:

The Purple Peep Eater Run

We spent Easter weekend on the west side of Michigan visiting Jennifer's grandparents and extended family. I needed to get a long run in (14 miles) as part of my marathon training. I had considered doing part of the Hart-Montague trail (a former railroad bed), but then got the idea to see how far it was to run from Jennifer's grandparents' place in Pentwater down to her grandfather's place almost due south, west of Shelby. Using Google Earth I came up with a route that was approximately 15 miles long, certainly within reason of the 14 miles on my schedule. On our way to Jennifer's grandparents' place Friday night, we decided to do a sanity check of the route starting from the end. I'm glad we did. A number of the roads along the route didn't even exist! Since it was late and Kaija had woken up we decided to abandon the route check and take the expressway to Pentwater. When we got there, we consulted with Jennifer's mom to see if she knew a good route since she had grown up in the area but even she was not able to tell us for sure which roads were actually there.

I stayed up until about 1:30 AM looking at web sites with satellite photography and topo maps to determine whether two sections of the route actually had roads where the various online map services and Google Earth showed roads. I was able to determine that some sort of paths existed in places that weren't too out of the way. Whether they were drivable or not was another question, but I figured they would not be a problem to run. The route's length was approximately 15.36 miles... still within reason.

Saturday morning I woke up around 7:30 AM. I got dressed for the run, ate breakfast (two eggs, bagel, water), checked the weather and stretched.

Attire: Yellow Supernova Classic shoes, Superfeet custom insoles, Brooks running socks, Hanes cotton boxer briefs, Nike running shorts, TNT synth t-shirt, Bandaids, green GoLite wind shirt, blue bandana, fanny pack.

Weather: ~47-55 F, sunny, almost no wind.

I made 2 photocopies of a county map and highlighted my route, marking which sections were likely not drivable by car and an alternative route for cars for those sections. I carried a copy with me and left one with Jennifer.

Jennifer was able to find a fanny pack and compass at her grandparents' place. In the fanny pack I carried a 16 oz. Nalgene bottle full of water, a package of purple Peeps in a resealable bag to replenish my sugar supply along the way (I've used the GU or PowerGels handed out at the group events previously but didn't have any of that on hand for this run), the compass and my cell phone. I also carried my driver's license, a credit card and $20 cash in case I needed to buy anything (like water) from a grocery/convenience store along the way. I carried my iPod in my hand.

After a fruitless search for my misplaced sunglasses (which I found later that day), I was on the road by 9:25 AM.

My route took me from Jennifer's grandparents' neighborhood to an unmarked seasonal road (60th Ave) almost immediately. It was a 2.75 mile stretch through the Pere Marquette State Forest. I had run/hiked along Pentwater Pathway trails to the west of the seasonal road in previous years so I was somewhat familiar with the area. Within the first mile of the seasonal road I came across a blockade in the road. Several large piles of dirt had been dug out (with resulting deep pits behind them). POSTED (No Trespassing) signs were nailed to several trees. Apparently that section of the state forest were actually private property. There was a sign to the west indicating public hunting access. So I went that way a little bit but then started going cross country along what appeared to be the boundary of the private property (from the POSTED signs). After a minute or two I could see one of the trails a few hundred feet to the west. I figured that as long as I was running south it was going to be easier to run along the trail than through the underbrush so I started running along the trail. I took it as far south as it went before crossing the seasonal road again (fortunately there were trail maps at a few junctures along the way so I knew where to go). I was able to take 60th Ave the rest of the way without a problem.

After 60th Ave, much of the route was paved. I called Jennifer from my cell phone at the 1 hour mark just to let her know I was okay. The route took me through farm country, the little town of Mears ("Gateway to the Dunes"), along a short section of the Hart-Montague trail (note to self: and a nearby bike rental shop), and then to a number of dense pine tree lined dirt roads. I stopped and walked for a minute once or twice to refuel with a Peep and a drink of water.

Along the way I saw a number of people outside taking advantage of the beautiful weather to do yard work. I would wave as I would run by and most would wave back. As I passed them and cars drove past me, I wondered how common it was for people to run along the road for recreation in the area. Probably not very.

When I reached the second seasonal road of the route, I was definitely in farm country. The "road" ran along the side of a farmer's orchard which the farmer himself was driving a tractor through as I ran by. After I passed the orchard, the "road" started going through a wooded area. The smaller trees along the side of the road had not been trimmed in quite some time and would have made traveling by vehicle difficult. Soon the road all but disappeared. It seemed to fork in several directions, none being very distinct other than for the lack of trees. I was able to determine which direction was south, though, due to the eastern morning sun, so I continued to forge ahead. The path I was on climbed a hill and soon became a gully near the top. I scrambled up the embankment and found the paved section of the road. As if I wasn't tired enough from the climb up the hill, there was another long uphill portion along the paved section as well. I was quite tired by this point and had to walk for the last 80-100 ft or so of the hill.

The rest of the run was fairly uneventful. I did pass a section along the top of the hill that had a beautiful view of the rolling countryside to the north. Jennifer and Kaija were able to track me down in our car about two miles from the end. Shortly after, I ate my last Peeps, finished off my water and made the push to the end.

It took 2 hours, 43 minutes to reach Jennifer's grandfather's house. The route was probably about 15.5 miles after the few detours that I had to make. That's about a 10:30 min/mile pace... a bit slower than I had anticipated. It was likely a combination of running on my own (not having another person to help maintain a faster pace), the relatively substantial elevation changes that I am not used to, and having only gotten about 5 1/2 hours of sleep the night before.

One thing I hadn't anticipated was the amount of sun I was going to be exposed to. All of my longer runs so far have been under overcast winter skies. I have run on sunny days before, but not long enough to be of concern. I had not put any sunblock on for this run, so by the end of it, I had a nice line across my forehead where the bandana had been. It was more noticable on my left side since the sun had primarily been to the east as I was running south the whole morning. I hope I will not need to wear sunblock on many future long runs. Sunblock and sweat dripping into my eyes for several hours does not sound like a good time to me.

Another thing that surprised me was my vision did not get as blurry near the end as it has for the past two long runs. I'm not sure what to attribute that to.

I didn't have any major pains throughout the run, though the inside surface of the large toe on my right foot developed a hotspot. It wasn't enough to become a blister, though it is sore. I have a feeling I will develop a callous there in the next few weeks. My knees were sore later, too, but that has been happening for the past few long runs and usually goes away after a day or so.

Week 13 Summary

Scheduled: 37-38 miles
Ran: 42 miles

Cross training:
Rock climbing
Tried doing push-ups mid week but the collarbone is still too sore for that. It's fine otherwise.

Group run notes:

Last night: Ate a ravioli dinner.

About 45 minutes before the run: Ate 2 eggs on a whole wheat bagel. Drank 1 cup water

Weather: Cold and windy. ~32 F. Substantial wind.

Attire: Yellow & white Supernova Classics, short synth running socks, cotton boxer briefs, black synth warm up pants, blue synth long sleeve shirt, green GoLite synth wind shirt, black fleece hat, grey glove liners, orange mirrored sunglasses. Put bandages over my nipples this time because they got raw during the Martian Half marathon last weekend.

Arrived on time. Stretched during group announcments. Stood in circle, announced name, event, planned mileage for the day, current pace (about 9.5 min/mile). Didn't stand around long because of the cold wind.

Warmed up the first 0.5 mile with Ken and Sarah. Ran solo until about mile 2.25. Met up with a young woman named Kim who was running the same pace.

Ran the extension road to the nature center, which added 3 miles to the loop. Met up with Sue, whom I had run with at Kensington many weeks back, on the way back along the extension. Saw Annabel and her brother along the extension, too. They had arrived late and were only scheduled for 12 miles, so didn't see them again. Ran the rest of the way with Sue and Kim.

Stopped for water and PowerBar Gel at mile 5.75. Stopped again for same at mile 9 (full loop). Ran another 3.5 miles and then turned back to add 7 to the 9 (total of 16).

Vision was slightly blurry near the end of the run, which was something I remembered happening last weekend around mile 14. Kim had the same thing happen. She said it was likely due to low glucose levels.

Had a strong headwind 50% of the time, which was difficult but nice when we turned a corner and it became a tailwind.

Cooled down by walking, going to the car to get my water bottle, drinking the water, and eating a bagel. Went inside the shelter and streched extensively. Ate another bagel. It was a cold (but thankfully short) walk back to the car.

The bandages worked great.

Got a cup of coffee from Carribou on the way home. Mmm... raspberry mocha.

People met:
Kim - Approximately 24-25 years old. Lives in Clawson. Will be running the Bayshore Full. Approximately the same pace, might be a good running partner for the event. Went to Hope College. Just was accepted at Wayne State in their Occupational Therapy program. Ran the Old Kent 25K (15.5 miles) a few years back and was looking for another challenge.

Week 12 Summary

Scheduled: 32-33 miles
Ran: 38.1 miles

Cross training:
Rock climbing

Week notes:
As you can see, I've been pushing myself to get back on schedule. I haven't gotten to the point where I am running an extra mile per scheduled running day, but I'm getting there.

I started rock climbing again to start to get my arm strength back. I took it easy and did routes in the 5.7-5.9 range.

I had to exchange the new shoes that I had purchased before I fractured my collarbone because the rim was cutting into my left ankle. Though they did not have much wear on them (~35 miles on the treadmile, 9 outdoors), I have to thank Hanson's for having such a great exchange policy. They will definitely get more of my business in the future.

Also, instead of doing the normal weekly group run at Stoney Creek, I did 15.1 miles as part of a training run (only 12 miles were scheduled for me today - the half marathon is 13.1 miles and I did an extra 2 for good measure) at the Martian (half) Marathon! Details from the experience are below.

Long run notes:

About 2 hours before the run:
Ate 2 pieces of toast, 2 eggs
Drank 1 cup water

Team in Training group run: ran the Martian Half Marathon in Dearborn Heights with a number of Team in Training people.
( http://www.martianmarathon.com/ )

Weather: 46F, wind ~14mph. Overcast with very slight misting (almost not noticable) about an hour into the run lasting about 20 minutes.

Attire: Yellow & white Supernova Classics, short synth running socks, cotton boxer briefs, black mesh shorts, blue synth long sleeve shirt, white TNT short sleeve synth t-shirt.

I wasn't sure exactly what to wear but decided in the end to not wear the warm up pants (too much wind resistance, extra weight, not enough need).
Also, I wore the blue micro fleece with the TNT shirt on top so I could display the TNT shirt and wouldn't need to put the safety pins from the bib through my green wind shirt.
The problem with this outfit, however, was that I had no pockets.
I ended up tying my car key to the draw string of my shorts and did not bring my ID (I did have my emergency tag affixed to the laces on one shoe) or any money (saved me the temptation from buying anything).

I exchanged the blue Supernova Controls for the yellow Classics Thursday night because they were rubbing my left ankle on my weekday runs.
The old red Supernova Controls are starting to break down and give me shin pains so I didn't want to run a long distance in those.
My only choice was to trust the new pair.

Arrived ~45 minutes before the race started (7:45 AM).
Found the starting line, went inside to the expo @ Henry Ford Community College to sign in @ the TNT booth.
Got a training run bib (I was #1!... just like all the rest) since I didn't register for the race.
This also meant I didn't get a chip, t-shirt, or official time.
Lines for restrooms were long, so I left and used the portajohns down by the starting line.
Bumped into Rudy, the guy I bought my treadmill from in Grand Rapids, in the crowd.
Chatted with him for a few minutes.
Met up with the rest of the TNT group by spotting Coach Ken (tall guy in a bright purple TNT shirt... hard to miss).

Started with minimal stretching.
Passed through the starting gate at 8:32 AM (two minutes after start).
Ran first mile with Sarah (from my team) and Ken, another TNT runner. They are both running the Bayshore full.
Picked up the pace, left them and ran solo for about a mile.
Drank a cup of water from the first water stand.
Met up with Annabel, whom I had run with during one of the early group training runs at Stoney Creek.
Ran the rest of the morning with her as she runs at the same pace and "is good people".
Drank water at about 4-5 more water stops.
Need to remember to walk while drinking.
Tried a free GU hand out at one of the stops (Tri Berry)... not as scary as I thought it might be.
Headwind was strong running to the west, was great when we turned around midway and had the wind to our backs.
Made a small push to the finish line by picking up the pace for the last quarter mile.

Reached the finish line at ~10:35 AM, 2 hrs 3 minutes after crossing the starting line, a 9:23 min/mile pace.
Quite a bit better than the (somewhat arbitrary) 10 min/mile goal I currently have for the marathon.
Annabel wanted to get an extra 2 miles in (she was scheduled for 14 but has been doing an extra mile in her runs (like I had been doing and had mentioned to her before my collarbone fracture).
I was feeling pretty good, so we turned around, ran a mile out and back and crossed the finish line again.
The first extra mile was very difficult with the headwind (I swear it was stronger that time) and I really started to get tired.

Received a bottled water at the finish line.
Went back to the expo hall to get nourishment.
Stretched a bit before going in because I could feel my calves and quads tightening up.
Grabbed two bananas, two bagel halves, and half a muffin.
Scarfed them down while doing stretches on the floor.
Said goodbye to Annabel.
Looked at the race results posted on the wall.
I would have placed 88th in my age bracket (30-34).
Rudy placed about 23rd in his age bracket with a 7:44 min/mile pace (1:41 duration).
Saw Sarah come into the building and chatted with her a little while (she wasn't particularly happy with her time).
Refilled the waterbottle and left.
Ran into Ken on the way back to the car.
He had run 15 miles as well.

The walk back to the car was cold!
The wind had picked up more, I wasn't exerting myself, and my sweat was still evaporating.

Resisted the urge to treat myself to a coffee from one of the 4 coffee shops I passed on the way home.

Overall, I was quite pleased with my time and glad I chose to participate in the event rather than going to Stoney Creek.