ONE. DAY. LEFT!

FINAL TRAINING LOG:

2011-MAY-26
Keeping with the spirit of the Taper, this was a rest day.  I did go the Mike Blount's Active Stretching class at Synergy Fitness after work to get a good foam-roller "workout."  It's amazing a) how much something so easy looking can hurt so much; and b) how good your muscles feel afterwards.  As of Wednesday night, I started dosing with Aleve 2x daily to try to bring down some of the lingering inflammation behind my left knee.  My leg responded very well, probably to a combination of the NSAID, the standing desk, the lighter workouts & additional rest days, the increased stretching, the PT, and the fact that the damn thing can only hurt for so long!

We also did our Family Meeting for Team Deep Fried Bacon and did some gorging on food (no "drink" for me, at least not the kind that comes in a corked or capped bottle).  I was an alternate to run for the team, but ended up not needing to fill in, so I'll be doing the whole thing solo in my Company's enQuesta Runtime sleeveless shirt vs. the red Team DFB tech shirt (both of which look totally hawt!)

Due to the unpredictable/unknown nature of dinner-time meal, the diet log for today is ends mid-afternoon. I can comfortably say that I hit my calorie goal for the day. :)
2011-MAY-26 Diet Log

2011-MAY-27
Crap, this race is getting close!  I logged 3 miles at my goal pace today in what will be my last run/workout before the race.  The weather for this weekend is looking awful (hot, humid, bleah) and I was hoping it would be hotter out for the run so I could see what it's going to be like.  Alas, it was a very pleasant day to be out & about.

My leg didn't bother me during the run (my hamstring was tight afterward, but it stretched out okay).  I ran at a comfortable pace which ended up being 7:48 per mile (goal was 7:55).  I didn't have my Nike+ shoes today & didn't want to run with The Belt to carry the Droid, so there's no real-time data for this run.  Sunday's run should be fully geeked out. :)
2011-MAY-27 Diet Log
2011-MAY-27 MapMyRun map of, um, my run (manually created)

2011-MAY-28
Writing mid-day with jitters already.  As this afternoon progresses and I move through more & more pre-race prep, the pre-race jitters grow!  I sat down to write to take my mind off it for a bit (fat lot of good that did!)

I'm doing a slightly increased carb diet today & yesterday and dropping down on protein & fat. I'm sticking with my ~3000 Kcal diet goal and not trying to blast in extra calories.  If I've done this right, my muscles will be full loaded with glycogen and adding a gut full of pasta tonight would only add either a) weight to carry for entire race, or b) weight that may decide it desperately wants to part ways with my body somewhere around mile 16.

Laura & I hit the expo today with the girls to get our bibs and race packets.  We went late morning and I was hoping it wouldn't be a mob-scene.  Thankfully, it wasn't and we were able to get our stuff and take a couple of laps around the expo and score a few good deals on running gear.

I'm adding my Diet Log for today now, but it won't be complete until later today.  The 5(ish)AM wake-up call tomorrow morning is going to come VERY early.

For those who want to track my run, my bib (#2056) will update at 10, 13.1, 20, and 26.2 miles.  The link to get those updates is here: http://cdn.bazumedia.com/iframe/vtcm2011-results.html  Additionally, assuming iMapMyRun is working correctly, it will be spitting out every-mile updates to Twitter (@Corrado).

Wish me luck!

Final Week of Pre-Marathon Taper!

TRAINING LOG:

2011-MAY-22
T-Minus one week to race day.  The plan for the day was a 10-mile run at Marathon Pace (~7:55/mi).  I ran my favorite 8-mile loop out through Old Stage Road and added a 2-mile jaunt out to Indian Brook and back.  My left leg was still bugging me a little bit, but my general rule is that if it doesn't hurt enough to affect my stride, it's okay to run.  The idea for the run was that it would act as a dry run for race weekend.  Same pre-race ritual, same attire, same shoes. same pace, etc.

In all regards, the run was a success.  The shoes worked great, the new team shirt was comfy & chafe-free, and the pace felt easy.  That doesn't mean by any stretch that running 26.2 miles will be quite so comfortable, but at least I feel like I've done what I need to do to get there.
2011-MAY-22 Diet Log
2011-MAY-22 RunKeeper Stats
2011-MAY-22 Nke+ Run Graph -- This was the final test for the shoes, so the run also doubled as a calibration for the Nike+ sensor I've been using on the Asics; as a result, the data are a bit off.

2011-MAY-23
This week is all about getting ready for the race -- no hard work-outs, at least, not for the lower body.  On Monday I went to my LIFT! class and was pleased to find that the focus of the day's class was upper-body.  Lots of shoulder work!
2011-MAY-23 Diet Log

2011-MAY-24
Typically Tuesday is the day I run my intervals, but I really felt like an additional day off running would help my *still* naggingly sore leg.  So I went to spinning class and took the approach that anything that felt like it was becoming a good workout was too much.  My goal was to keep moving for the duration of the class and give my legs a chance to warm up and then spend some additional time stretching & rolling out my legs after class.

I also had my a session with my PT to get his opinion on my leg and what I could do to get it to loosen up.  The good news is that he didn't find anything new and gave me a few exercises to do leading up to the race to help free up my hips and get my lower body working like it's SUPPOSED to.
2011-MAY-24 Diet Log

2011-MAY-25
I was a little nervous going into my interval run (6x400) today.  If I felt like it would have been too much of a push for my leg, I would have modified the workout, but I also know that the interval runs also have a tendency to really work out some of the ailments I've had in the past.  I ran the first 400m interval a few ticks slower, just to see how it felt.  The remaining 5 intervals were run at full pace and felt pretty comfortable.

The standing desk thing is getting easier as the week goes.  I don't feel the leg fatigue I did for the first day or two and I haven't been missing my chair as much as I did early on!
2011-MAY-25 Diet Log
2011-MAY-25 Nike+ Treadmill Graph

As the week wears on, I'm marking off the days to the race.  It's still doesn't feel real.  That's not stopping me from getting nervous about it! More than anything, I'm ready for it to be over!

A Week in Shreveport, LA

TRAINING LOG:

Week of 2011-MAY-17
Well, it's officially happened.  I've become senile.  I confused *myself* with my "start at the ending and end at the beginning" post and got about 2 days in to this write-up before I realized I was retracing my steps. We also got our Company Relay race shirts and our Family Relay race shirts in this week (back design for Family Relay shirt to the left).

ANYWAY, this is my "Shreveport Week" and it's an easy write-up.  I took a week off from tracking my food (I still tried to eat modestly) and used it as a bit of an opportunity to try resting my body instead of adding to the stress of travel and client meetings with trying to keep hard workouts going.

On Tuesday (17th) I had a good interval run (6x800) along the riverwalk and I ditched my late-week tempo run to rest my naggingly sore left leg in order to be as healthy as possible for my last long run @ MP this weekend.  -- Runkeeper Stats & Map and Nike+ Graph

My only other marginally serious workout was a self-administered "gut check" fitness test on Wednesday night.  Last summer, I spontaneously set a goal to do 100 push-ups in a day (inspired by my friend Deb who did 100 per day for the entire month of May!)  After knocking those out pretty quickly, I changed the goal to do 300 in a 24h day.  That was a good challenge at the time and and I split it up to do 10-20 every 30 minutes or so.  Over the winter, I was traveling in Port Huron, MI and decided to see how quickly I could do 100 push-ups (4:00 is supposed to be a good mark).  I think my time was around 6:50.  I can't do 100 in a row, so the idea is that you can rest/stretch/whatever, but the clock keeps moving until you're done with #100.

Since one of my goals for this marathon was that I didn't want to LOSE any conditioning, I figured I'd see where I was about 4 months later.  When #100 was completed, I stopped the timer and saw that I trimmed over 2 minutes off my time, getting down to a 4:28.

That pretty well wraps up the week (last week) in Shreveport.  I rose way too early on Friday to fly home and took Saturday as another "day off" before my last long run going in to the last week before the race!

My next post will pick up on 2011-MAY-22 with the 10 mile run (...and yes, that comment is more for my benefit so I know where to begin!)

"You can stuff your Sorry's in a sack!" -- (it's an expression)

TRAINING LOG:

(Part 2 of the “start in the present and write into the past” thread)

2011-MAY-12

I read an article on the benefits of a “standing desk” and decided to give it a whirl.  I’ve had issues for ever with tight hamstrings and poor flexibility and I know my desk-bound slouch isn’t a good thing.  I also did my first run in my new Asics Gel Kayano 17s.  I’m working on breaking them in advance of the marathon since I’m still not sure if I’m going to race in those or my ultralight Saucony Fastwitch 4s.

The run-du-jour was a 5 mile run at short-tempo pace.  It was a nice, sunny(ish) day and in the mid 60s.  I set out on my 5 mile loop and felt pretty decent for the first mile or so (other than the usual, “OMG this sucks!” you get with the first mile of a run until things warm/loosen up).  One of the things I struggle with when I get new sneakers is the break-in period.  I’ve talked about it before and it manifests itself differently depending on the shoe manufacturer & model, but in the case of the Asics, it felt like there were hot coals where the insole should have been under the ball of my right foot.

The idea behind a tempo run is that you do a fairly intense, sustained workout for a moderate distance to put your body under stress and strong-arm it into accepting the fact that this is something you expect it do and it damn well better adapt!  The problem with this workout became trying to balance the need/desire to complete a solid tempo run (which I could have done, but with extreme discomfort) with the knowledge that the unpleasantness I felt every time my right foot hit the pavement would very soon result in my stride changing to compensate. 

That’s a bad thing.  Once you’ve settled into your running stride/groove/form/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, your body begins the process of adapting to that specific movement and stresses it places on bones, muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons, etc.  This commonly causes varying body parts to hurt to varying degrees for varying amounts of time until some sort of equilibrium is reached.  When you change that stride, you start that process all over again.

So my options were a) suck it up & keep running the Tempo Run, knowing that something new would hurt which would likely cause something else to hurt and & so on & so on for days or weeks or b) call off the tempo run and find a suitable pace to get back to the gym.  I ended up doing a little of both, running for a while longer to see if the burning would go away (it didn’t) and spent the last 2 miles of the run at more of a jog, alternating between walking intervals as needed.  The result was that I missed the goal of the tempo run distance, but still managed to get in a decent run.

2011-MAY-12 Nike+ Run Graph

2011-MAY-12 Diet Log

2011-MAY-11

Kettlebell class, nothing remarkable in terms of strength.  We did some extended circuits and kept everything light (16kg).  I’m definitely looking forward to getting back to STRENGTH training.

2011-MAY-11 Diet Log

2011-MAY-10

Today’s run was supposed to be a 8x800.  That just didn’t happen!  I went in with the best intentions and I’m pretty sure I could have powered through the workout, but after the first one or two, my hamstring was still feeling VERY twingy.  Being this close to the race, I’m increasingly cognizant of “pushing the evelope” at the expense of breaking the contents. 

So I called off the interval workout and did some runs at marathon pace to try to improve the calibration of my HRM’s pedometer (it currently says my “race pace” is 10.1 MPH or just under 6:00 per mile) and did an extended post race stretch & cool-down.

2011-MAY-10 Diet Log

2011-MAY-10 Nike+ Treadmill Workout

2011-MAY-09

Happy Birthday to me!  I turn 0x25 today.  Workout today was focused on higher reps and lighter weights and the goal seemed to be complete upper body punishment.  In that regard, class was a success!   Birthday means wine and tonight I celebrated with a bottle Wellington Noir de Noirs and a perfectly grilled medium rare steak and fillet of cod with a stupidly large serving of cake and a reasonable pour of Knob Creek bourbon for dessert.  Happy Birthday to me indeed!

2011-MAY-09 Diet Log

More anything? MORE EVERYTHING!

As a HUGE fans of the sitcom Seinfeld, my wife and I frequently fall into dialog from the show as part of our normal conversation.  You’d be surprised how readily, “Fredo was weak and stupid; he shouldn’t have eaten that key!” and “You put a balm on? Who told you to put the balm on? Did I tell you the balm on?” can supplement everyday discussion!  Yes, there’s a point to this odd bit of trivia and a connection to this post.

I find myself once again behind in my blogging and looking to write an encyclopedic “catchup” post.  Typically I pick up where I last left off and move forward.  Today, however, I’m composing at 30,000 feet with a dose of Woodford Reserve Bourbon (thank you, Delta, for the complementary First Class upgrade!) on my left and some dude who may be reading this over my shoulder waaaay off to my right (Hey Dude!).  International-travel planes aren’t WiFi equipped, so I’m stone-aged with (oooh! Snack tray!! Banana, Sun Chips, low-salt, dry roasted peanuts, and bottled water; no “meal” on this flight? BOOO!!  – sorry, distracted...) no internet, so I can't pull up my blog page.  Since I have no idea where I left off, I’ll start with the current and work backward... which was the very creative premise of (you guessed it) a Seinfeld episode!

TRAINING LOG: 

2011-MAY-16

Travel day, going to Shreveport, LA.  I’ll be getting in a few ‘heat training’ runs.  The weather has been overall COLD in Vermont and there’s a definite possibility that the start time of the race will be the hottest weather I’ve run in since September of last year.  Did I mention I hate exercising in the heat?

I’m not going to formally track my diet on this trip.  It’s such a hassle to manage formal diet tracking when dining out and it’s pretty much shooting in the dark to try to come up with reasonable estimates.  I’ll still try to eat a moderately healthy diet and, from what I’ve been reading, a bit of an uptick of fat (I typically struggle to get up to 25% fat in my diet; research indicates runners do better with 30-35%) with a dropoff of protein in my diet would be a good thing in terms of “performance nutrition.”

(…Biscoff Gourmet Ginger Snaps?  Why yes, sir, I would love a package!  Thank you very much!)

2011-MAY-15

Officially my “day off” and “diet cheat day” for the week. (Yes, I would love another ridiculously small, but refreshing, bottle of Dasani!)  I started diet tracking and then we had Taco Salad for dinner and and I had zero enthusiasm for weighing and entering about a dozen different ingredients, so no diet log!

I chose very wisely to run yesterday as the weather today is truly ugly (low 50s & rain rain rain).  I saw lots of Facebook posts and updates from local friends who ran on Sunday and was very, very glad I wasn’t one of them!

I travel to Shreveport, LA, tomorrow, and travel days are notoriously tough for my diet, but in a way that probably differs for most.  If you’ve been paying attention, you know that I typically shoot for around 3000 Kcal per day on average and even more when I run stupid distances.  It’s often difficult to get nutritive calories in when traveling through 3 airport over the course of 10 hours.  I snack here & there and grab what I can on the airplane (snacks are gone at this point; the carcasses lingered briefly on shelf next to my ¾ reclined seat before being whisked away as I cracked open my 3^rd bottle of Dasani).  

The back of my left knee continues to be troublesome.  I need to resume my PT exercises and rule out hip flexors as the cause.  I can definitely run with this and I don’t think it will end up being a showstopper on the course, but it may make me bed-ridden (or severely hobbled) for a day or two following the race. 

2011-MAY-14

My last kinda “long run” and what I’ll call the official beginning of my taper.  Holy s**t, I’m going to run a freakin’ marathon in 2 weeks!  My long run this week is the shortest scheduled long run since my first week on the plan – 13 miles.  This one was supposed to be at Marathon Pace (Oh, sure, I’ll take another Woodford Reserve.  Thank you, kind sir!) and I felt like I struggled the entire way to keep the pace.  My Nike+ kept spitting out the every-mile updates and my best-case scenario was fighting to keep an 8:00 mile on a slight downhill (my goal MP is 7:55 per mile).  I’ve felt very blah on my last few runs and this really wasn’t helping me feel like I was ready to challenge a 3:30 marathon (for reference, running 8:00 miles for the duration just squeaks in under 3:30).

I ran one of my normal routes in reverse, so I really had no good benchmarks for time & distance.  It wasn’t until coming back into my neighborhood that I realized that my Nike+ had been lying to me for the past 90 minutes.  By its report, I was over 2 minutes off my pace for the 13 mile run (I should be in at around 1:45), but here I was, 0.75 miles from home and seeing a time on my watch that was considerably faster. 

I ended up completing the 13.6 mile run in 1:44:30.  My first “warm-up” mile was right about where I wanted to be at 8:20 and then I was consistently cranking times well under 8:00 for the rest of the run.  My best Half Marathon *race* was run at a 7:41 per mile pace.  According to RunKeeper (which is GPS based vs. the Nike+ which is basically pedometer based) my pace for this *training* run averaged  out to 7:42 per mile. 

While the result somewhat changes my perception of the perceived effort of the run, I’m not thrilled at overrunning the run.  I was pushing too hard and, while I’m glad that I had the fitness to run that distance in that time, I will certainly pay for it in terms of muscle fatigue and recovery.  I usually have a very good sense of my pace and to be that far off of what “felt” like the right pace makes me feel a little n00bish again.  Fortunately, the race has Pacing Groups  and mile markers, so I can better track my actual pace on known intervals and use the 3:30 pacing group as a benchmark of about where I need to be to hit my goal.

2011-MAY-14 Diet Log

2011-MAY-14 Run Data (RunKeeper)

2011-MAY-14 Run Graph (Nike+; wrong mileage & pacing)

2011-MAY-13

(No, thank you very much, but while another bourbon would be great, responsibility dictates that I request another bottle of Dasani instead.  Thank you again, sir!)

Day 2 of the “Standing Desk Experiment” went a little better today, but dear lord is it different!  On a few occasions, I would wander off to talk to a co-worker about some work-related nugget of information. I would start walking back to my cubicle wondering why I was looking so forward to sitting down… only to have my dreams dashed with the realization that that there was no sitting down!  I wore my new Asics Gel Kayano 17s today instead of dress shoes, so at least I was standing in shoes with good support!

Considering how dinged up I’ve been feeling this week (standing-desk didn’t help, but I suspect it will be better for me in the long run), I opted out of my cardio class at the gym.  My left hamstring behind the knee is still sore and I’m not entirely sure why it’s not recovering properly.  I absolutely could have muscled through the class and been fine, but I’m also looking toward this weekend’s long run and, given the lousy running workouts I’ve had recently, I really need to have a good run and at least FEEL like I’m getting my mojo back.

2011-MAY-13 Diet Log

(...and here I conclude my Delta First Class experience, deplane and wander around The ATL for a few hours...)  Good stopping point for this update; the next one will go back in time a bit further.

"This is the 2nd best idea that we've ever had!"

TRAINING LOG:

(link to video; uncensored language, NSFW w/o Headphones)

I made a comment the other day that I never seem to do anything half-assed; it's either no-assed or full-assed.  I immediately realized that, of the three options, half-assed really sounded like the best option!  So, in the spirit of half-assedery, here's what I've been up to.








Monday, May 2nd -- LIFT! 
Class at the gym; upper body abuse with barbells & dumbbells.  Some lower body work via lunges, deadlifts, squats.  
2011-MAY-02 Diet Log

Tuesday, May 3rd -- 10x400 Intervals Run. 
First interval run in a few weeks.  This one felt really good.  Ran in my Saucony Fastwitch 4 race shoes to see how the felt (and they were awesome!).  I'll do one more outdoor run in them leading up to the race to calibrate my Nike+ sensor to the shoe and validate that they're still in good shape for a kinda long run.
2011-MAY-03 Nike+ Treadmill Graph -- you'd think they could figure out a way to better interpret the raw data; these graphs look like CRAP!
2011-MAY-03 Diet Log

Wednesday, May 4th (Star Wars Day -- May the 4th be with you!) -- Kettlebells
I went in to class with the idea of staying light and using only the 16kg KB.  I ended up doing some fun double-KB work with the 12kg KBs (squats, swings, 24kg total) and a few get-ups with the 24kg.  Mike put together a circuit from hell that included get-ups, swings, push-ups, snatches, mountain-climbers, squats, double-jumps with the jump rope, and a few other nuggets.  First time I've started get physio-pukey in a while!  So much for 'taking it easy!"
2011-MAY-04 Diet Log


Thursday, May 5th (AKA Cinqo de Wy-o, so named after our first ferret from long ago, Wylie, who was born on May 5th) -- 8 mile run @ marathon pace.
What the plan did NOT call for was putting a BF Hill (~ 400' of elevation change in a mile) in the second half of the run (profile w/ pace, below).  This was another hard run at race-pace, but ultimately a successful one.  The iTouch was dead for this run thanks to Apple's "genius" idea to permanently keep their Game Center connected via WiFi, thus draining the battery in a day.

2011-May-05 RunKeeper Map (public) and run stats
2011-May-05 Diet Log

Friday, May 6th -- WhatWhatWhat? Another run?
It was too nice to be inside.  With all the rain and cold we've had, I couldn't pass up a sunny & 50s noontime outing.  Instead of doing my Cardio class, a few of us from work went out for a slow 5 mile run (avg. pace ~ 10:00/mile). Over the last quarter mile, I added a bit of speed at each telephone pole until I was at an all out sprint for the last 50 yds or so.
2011-May-06 Nike+ Run Graph -- Pace/Distance is off.  My stride was much shorter at the slower pace, so more steps = Nike+ thinking I ran faster/further than I did.
2011-May-06 Diet Log

Saturday, May 7th -- 20 mile run... or not.
Scheduled for a 20 mile run, was gunning for around 22.  The run was also prescribed at being 15 seconds off my race pace, but I had already made the decision to run closer to a 9:00 pace to better work the muscles used for "easy effort" running.  Part way into the first of what was going to be two 11 mile loops, I realized that this was a) the first time I'd run 3 days in a row and that 22 miles would put me over the "no more than a 10% increase in weekly mileage" guideline for training.

I ended up re-routing myself after the first loop and shortening the run to about 17 miles.  This still had me running constantly for two and half hours (a good long run).  Even though this was well off my expected race pace, the goal for every workout at this point is to stay healthy.  If I ran longer on this day, I ran the risk of over-taxing my body and affecting the rest of my training leading up to the marathon.  I still have 2 more hard runs (one interval, one tempo) before my training starts tapering off to get ready for the race.

2011-MAY-07 RunKeeper Stats (stopped RunKeeper when I stopped running.  I walked home for the other third of mile that shows up on Nike+)
2011-MAY-07 Nike+ Run Graph
2011-MAY-07 Diet Log -- Came up over 800 Kcal short today and relatively light on water.

Sunday, May 8th (Happy Mother's Day)
Spent the day with my folks, Laura's folks, and family friends in 'dolph.  Ate way too much, then ate some more.  I consider it compensation for being so far under my calorie goal yesterday.  No diet logging today.

An 1800 Kcal exercise day

TRAINING LOG: 

So I stopped writing my last post intending to immediately start up a new one to complete the catch-up.  They I saw Tweets and Facebook updates start popping up in RockMelt which caused me to turn on the TV to see what "big news" Obama was announcing. ...and there went the rest of that night!

Friday ended up being a pretty serious workout day.  I parked my car at work Thursday night and caught a ride home.  Friday morning, I got up early and ran 10 miles to work.  I had left a change of clothes and lunch at the office along with my laptop, and (most importantly) car keys!  There's a LOT more planning & forethought that goes into a run like this than you'd think!

The run was intended to be 10 miles as my marathon pace (I've settled on 7:55 as my goal pace).  My last 10 miler was busted out at a pace about 20 sec/mile faster, but for some reason, the force was not with me on this morning.  It was a fairly tech-free (for me) today since I left my iPod and HRM/wrist watch @ work, but I did run with my Droid and Runkeeper.  It's set to update every mile, so I simply tried to run on what "felt" like a touch faster than 8:00 and used the updates to chart my progress.

It was more difficult to hold the pace than any of my previous runs at this pace or faster for a mid- to long-distance run. My hamstrings just felt off for most of the run.  The only time I really started feeling discouraged was between mile 8 & 9 when I thought, "I really don't think I can keep this pace for 26 miles!" to be follow a few moments later by RunKeeper informing me that I ran that last mile at a 7:30 pace.  Whoops!  Slow down, dumb-ass!

My first mile was 8:53, second at 7:58.  Other than two hills (8:16 & 8:02), I kept everything else between 7:44 and 7:56 (also not counting the 7:30 "oops").  There are some moderate uphills segments, but the net of the run was downhill by a couple hundred feet, so I don't feel like I really over-ran my pace for effort.

I get to work, scamper (yes, scamper) over to the gym, shower, change and start the work day.  A few hours later, I'm back at the gym for my cardio class.  What do we start off with?  Resisted sprints in the parking lot -- one person has an unbreakable resistance band around their waist and a second person trailing behind holding tension on the bands.  10 sprints total.  Then we went inside & did kickboxing moves interspersed with core work.  Total calorie burn for the day estimated at just shy of 1800 Kcal.

2011-APR-29 RunKeeper Stats
2011-APR-29 Diet Log -- yes, I ate allllll 1800 exercise calories!

Saturday ended up being completely an off day.  We went to friends' for their 2 yr old daughter's brunch birthday party which had many, many delicious home-made delights, none of which are remotely close to being on my diet plan... so I didn't track any of them!

Sunday was a wake-up-and-run-15-miles day.  The weather was beautiful when I woke up... with a migraine.    I decided the fresh air may fix it and I really wanted to get out.  As I was getting ready, the nausea which tends to accompany my migraines started creeping in.  No amount of mental coaxing was helping either condition and I ended up getting out of my running gear and crawling back into bed for another 3 hours.

The nausea was gone when I woke up and the headache was bearable, probably transitioning to a hunger- and dehydration-induced headache.  My opportunity for a 15 miler was shot, but I was able to get out for a nice 5 mile run with my Sister-in-law who will be running in the VCMarathon this month on our Family Relay Team (Team Deep Fried Bacon; believe it or not I think it was probably the best option given the other names we were coming up with).  Sunday ended up being another "off the grid" day for diet tracking, but I did manage to remember to turn the iTouch on for the run.

2011-MAY-01 Nike+ Run Graph

I seem to be doing a pretty good job keeping myself 2-3 days behind being current.  I've also been doing a terrible job keeping up with the "MUSINGS" theme I was adding in my early editions of this blog.  Many of those topics will most likely start showing up after the marathon as I reflect on my training and the result of the race.  I've learned a lot about the science and physiology of running as well as nutrition for endurance athletes and it's information that's valuable to consolidate and share.

4 days with noooo running

TRAINING LOG: 



In our last episode, our Hero had just completed a 20 mile run, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and foiling Captain Fatigue and his IT Band once again.  What lurks around the corner this week?  Well, not much.


The recovery from the 20 miler really wasn't that bad. On Monday, I did my typical LIFT! class at the gym.  The weather was nice enough that we went outside for the class and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  We did a lot of supersetting (two exercises back-to-back) and got a good full-body workout.
2011-APR-25 Diet Log

Tuesday was scheduled to be Interval Day, but one of the staples of my previous training was Spinning and it's something I haven't done as much of this time as I wanted.  I was feeling more quad/hammy soreness today than on Monday and a Spin felt the best option.  The ride today had a Hawaiian ride-along video that was, frankly awful. You think, "Cool! Riding in Hawaii!" but the majority of the video was riding through residential neighborhoods. Where's the coastline?  Where're the volcanos?  ...and I'm pretty sure I saw at LEAST one cloud!

I ended up just keeping my head down for most of it and "visualized" my own ride. Overall I felt good on the bike, but felt weak in the knees toward the end, meaning I've probably lost some fitness there over the past several months.  I definitely need to get a few more sessions in before the race.
2011-APR-26 Diet Log

Predictably, Wednesday was Kettlebell day.  Another outdoor class!  It was upper 60s (maybe low 70s) and gorgeous! My back was still feeling a little tweaky, a carry-over from something I did last week (no clue what).  I stayed light and did the entire class with the 16kg weight, focusing on form & technique and trying to ensure I got full range of motion from the exercises.  Even going light, it was a great workout!
2011-APR-27 Diet Log

Thursday ended up being mostly a day off.  I needed to do a 10 mile Tempo Run and my solution for that was to run to work.  The weather Thursday was ugly, Friday was looking nice, so the extent of Thursday's workout was an Active Stretching class at the gym.  The was short (25 minutes) and centered around the proper use of a foam roller to "massage" muscles using body weight.  I'm already a believer in the therapeutic benefit of using a roller, but it was nice to get a professional walk-through of some of the varying ways it can be used.  I learned some new techniques and left the class feeling fresher than when I went in
2011-APR-28 Diet Log

(to be continued...)