On hiatus

I worked out on Friday, April 7, but didn't log it. I felt tired and icky and only got worse all weekend, ended up taking last week off to sit home zonked out on antibiotics. I'm back at it this week, starting today -- did 40 minutes on the treadmill and a light workout -- and will do it again on Friday.

But I've decided to stop making regular updates here until I start training for the next marathon or half-marathon, whenever that might be.

Right now, I'm still pondering the Long Beach Half-marathon this fall. Haven't made any decisions yet. I'll be back when I do!

Resting

I haven't run all week! I feel very lazy and decadent, heh. But I deserve a week off, I think.

I am recovering nicely from the marathon. My leg was sore for a couple of days, and I slept a lot for a few days, but I'm completely fine now.

So, now I must decide what to do next. I decided not to do the Disneyland half marathon -- with the time limit of three and a half hours, it's just cutting it too close. My time for the half in LA was 3:31, and I was still moving pretty well at the half. Another six months' training would probably get my speed up, but I don't want to worry about finishing.

Another idea was the Long Beach Marathon and half marathon. Long limit, ocean views, running on the beach -- it would be perfect -- except that it's October 15, the day that I'm scheduled to return from my cruise to Japan this fall. I'm still waffling about the cruise, though. It's awfully expensive, so I might cancel it. If I don't do Long Beach this year, though, I think it would be great for the full marathon next year.

Anyway, I'll keep looking into a half-marathon for the fall, to give me something to keep training for. Meanwhile, I've decided to go ahead and get a membership at the Anytime Fitness gym near the post office, and start going there two or three times a week. I'd like to see if I can start doing some weight training again, and I'll also have the treadmills available for running. Now that I'm finally feeling strong and in shape again, I don't want to lose that.

Los Angeles Marathon 2006

I did it! Finished with an official time of 7:42:31. Longer than I wanted it to be, but not bad, considering that my right leg started to hurt by Mile 9 and only got worse throughout the rest of the marathon. Aiyee! I suspect it was mostly because the marathon was run totally on hard pavement, while I did most of my training on soft dirt roads and trails. My legs couldn't handle all the hard jouncing. It was a difficult marathon, but I got it done. Yay! Marathon number four. It wasn't my best time, but it wasn't my worst, either.

Full report, with pictures, can be found here.

The Day Before

All right, I didn't do a second run this week, but it wasn't because I was lazy, it was the opposite -- I have had so much physical work to do this week, I decided it would be best not to do any more. I'm supposed to be resting this week and taking it easy! Instead, I've been hauling and cutting firewood, shoveling snow, cleaning, setting up another fish tank.... We had a major snowstorm last weekend, and are having another one this weekend, and I was nearly out of firewood, so I've been scrambling to get some more wood cut and under cover to dry out, and to get the place ready for mom to stay this weekend while I'm gone.

So, instead of being all rested up, I'm a bit worn out. I should be resting today, too, but I will in fact be cleaning the fish tank, packing, and driving down to LA. Oh well. I'm in pretty good shape these days, and hope that a quiet evening and a good night's sleep, as well as tomorrow's excitement, will carry me through the day.

Fortunately, tomorrow is forecast to be the one nice day this week -- sunny and dry, with temps in the 60s in LA. It should be a good day for a marathon! It's snowing here right now, but is supposed to turn to rain later today. I won't be leaving for LA until maybe 1 pm, so I'm hoping the roads will be clear by then and the drive will be relatively easy. Once I arrive at the hotel and get checked in, I'll have to figure out how to get to the Expo to pick up my race bib and timing chip, which I need to get by 6 pm. Should be plenty of time. I'm mostly packed, and I have a list of things to do/pack that I'm steadily checking off. Mom came up yesterday, so she's already here and settled in to stay for the weekend.

Eee! One more day! This time tomorrow, I'll be at the starting line, waiting for the race to begin!

Last Tuesday

Did my thirty minutes today on the treadmill, feeling fine! I probably could have done it outdoors -- the weather is clear and not too cold -- but there's still snow on the ground, so I figured I'd do today's running-type-thing inside, and do Thursday's outdoors. It's not supposed to rain or snow again before Friday, so running conditions should be okay by Thursday.

Now, here's what I'm thinking of doing for my next race: the Disneyland Half Marathon. It looks like great fun -- running a race right through Disneyland! It's close by, and the timing is perfect -- it's Sept 17, so there's plenty of time to rest up after LA, continue running at some reasonable maintenance level until mid-July, then ramp up training for a couple of months for the half-marathon. Since it's only a half, it should be relatively easy to train up to a good pace. In fact, if I can keep doing eight-mile runs with some regularity until training time, I'd only have five miles to add to get up to the half. I'd probably set up some sort of schedule to get myself up to 15 - 18 miles a couple of weeks before the half, to really get myself in shape.

The registration's already over 80% sold, so I'm going to have to decide soon... oh, heck. It's $85 to register, I suppose I could afford to risk losing that if I decide not to do it.

Week 27: Eight miles

And, that's it! Long runs finished, only one week until the marathon!

I did go to the gym this morning to do my run on the treadmill. It worked pretty well -- and since there were six inches of snow on the ground when I got up this morning, and it's been snowing off and on all day, and is supposed to continue to snow tomorrow, it seems to have been my only option as well.

Started out with a slight glitch -- I arrived at the gym at 9:30, only to find that the staff didn't arrive until 10 am. Oops! I'd forgotten to make note of the hours, but just assumed that they'd be there earlier. No problem, I went to Kmart and sat in the parking lot reading my mail for half an hour, then drove back.

I started out with an hour on one of the treadmills upstairs, thinking I'd want to take a break after that and maybe try one of the other machines. The hour went by easily enough. The biggest problem with that machine was that it made a horrible squeaky noise the whole time, plus I was so electric I shocked myself every single damn time my hand brushed against the metal railings.

After that, I thought I'd try a stepper for a little while and then finish on another treadmill. I was going to do 30 minutes on the step machine, but it was hard and tiring and I quit after 15 minutes and went downstairs to use one of the fancy new treadmills down there. This one was at least quieter! I started out to do 45 minutes, but then I accidentally tripped the emergency stop after about eight minutes, so I reset it for 45 and finished up. That gave me my full two hours and eight minutes or so, which is how long eight miles would take at my 16-minute-mile pace.

I went ahead and did my ab work and stretches there, then changed clothes and headed to my mom's for dinner.

And that was that! Final weekend long run finished! Now I've just got two little 30-minute runs this week, and then the marathon. I'll probably end up doing my first 30-minutes indoors on the trampoline, but the weather should clear up in time for me to do my second midweek run outside, as usual.

Go me! I actually got through the whole training without missing a single long run. Haven't missed a midweek run yet, either, and don't expect to. I may not do my fastest marathon, but I'll be able to do the best I'm capable of at this point.

Friday trampoline

A day late in getting my second 30-minute running-type-thing in this week, for the simple reason that I got distracted yesterday working on my website and totally lost track of time. Didn't even think of doing my run until it was too late. But, no problem, I did it this morning.

Now, the question remains: how shall I handle my final 8-mile run? There is currently about 5 inches of snow on the ground, and it's supposed to continue snowing today and all day tomorrow. There may well be a foot of snow here by the time it's done. There will probably be less in town, but still, it's the weekend of snow!

I figure I have three options: 1) go to the gym tomorrow and do two hours on a treadmill.

2) wait and see what the weather's like on Sunday. If it's not too cold, and the trail in the park is clear enough, go ahead and do it there. Problem is, if it's not runnable on Sunday, it will be too late to use the gym, and I'll be stuck.

3) take this last opportunity to drive down to LA and run with the group. They'll be starting at 8 am, so I won't have to leave too early, and it's a short, easy run, so I won't be exhausted driving back. Problem with that is, the weather might still be bad enough Sunday morning to make driving a problem. Plus, there's the expense of the four-hour drive.

Most practical and reliable thing would be to go ahead and do the run at the gym tomorrow, which is probably what I'll go ahead and do. I don't imagine there'll be a problem with me tying up a treadmill for two hours -- Saturday mornings are usually light at gyms, and the gym by the post office had quite a few treadmills. I suppose if it was busy, I could move to a different machine for a while, do part of it on an elliptical or stair machine. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be advisable, but for this last run, I don't think it would hurt.

Tuesday trampoline

It was cold and snowy today, so I did my 30 minutes indoors on the trampoline. It's supposed to be cold and stormy pretty much all week, so I may be trampolining on Thursday as well. And, I might just be doing my final 8-miler at the gym on the treadmill -- it's supposed to be snowing and highs in the 30s on Friday and Saturday. The five-day forecast hasn't reached Sunday yet, but if it snows all day Friday and Saturday, it's not looking good for running outdoors on Sunday. Eek! What a crazy winter. We're having more snow in March than we've had all winter so far.

Week 26: Eight miles

I think today was the only reasonably warm day this week. I wore my sweatpants and sweatshirt, anyway, and did an easy eight miles at the park. It took me 2:12:43 to do twelve loops, or about 8.4 miles, which comes out to just under 16 minute miles. I didn't feel terribly energetic, but I used my iPod the whole way and just kept going, and apparently managed to keep up my pace regardless. Go me!

One more 8-miler to go, and then the marathon! Hope the weather holds out for next week's run.

Plod, plod

I did my 30 minutes outside today, 2:3 around the house. The driveway was still damp, but not squishy muddy, and it was reasonably sunny, although a bit cold. I felt very lethargic, though, and just plodded through it. Partly, I suppose, because I'd already been out cutting up firewood, partly because it's been cold and I've been working out in the unheated part of the house for most of the day, partly because I had lunch at noon-ish and ended up going out to run just at mid-afternoon slump time. But it went fine, for all that.

It's supposed to rain tonight and snow tomorrow, but supposedly will be cloudy and mid-50s by Sunday, so I'm currently planning to to my 8-mile run at the park, as usual. Will switch to alternate plans if that changes.

Bounce, bounce

I did my thirty minutes indoors on the trampoline today. It wasn't all that cold outside, but it had been raining all day yesterday and all night last night and the driveway was pretty wet. I didn't actually go out to see how muddy it was, I just decided to take it easy on my first run after the 26-miler, and jump on my trampoline instead.

I feel good, though. Didn't get sore at all after the 26 mile run, or feel bad, or anything. I was pretty tired when I got home, and my feet were a bit sore, but I did my evening chores and worked out the stiffness. Yesterday, I was tired when I got up, but I think that was as much because of sleeping badly as anything. I perked up as the day went on, and felt fine in the afternoon.

Out of curiosity, I went back to my old training journals to see how my 26-mile run went in my previous two AIDS Marathons. Interestingly, both seemed to take about eight hours, even though I was training at 15 minute miles in the first one and 14 minute miles in the second. We even used the same 1:2 run/walk ratio for the first marathon. So, I feel encouraged. Maybe I'll be able to do a seven-hour marathon after all! Or maybe not. I mustn't be disappointed if it ends up being slower. Just doing my best and finishing is the main thing.

Week 25: Twenty-six miles!

Yay! I did it! And now I can relax with my two eight-milers until the marathon itself.

The run went well. Fortunately, the weather wasn't as bad as it could have been -- it was cloudy all day, which isn't that fun to run in, but didn't get all that cold or windy. I wore my sweatpants and sweatshirt over a tee-shirt, and was plenty warm enough. In fact, I took my sweatshirt off for an hour or so in the afternoon.

I started at 8:05 am, running 75 loops around the house -- eight miles, according to my measurement of the number of loops it takes to make a mile in my truck. That took about two and a half hours at 1:2, with a quick break at about an hour for a slightly wonky digestion. Then I took my usual break after the eight miles to drink a protein drink, use the bathroom, refill my water bottle and call my mom to tell her I was on my way, and hit the road at about 10:45 am.

Made it to mom's house at around 1:20, took another break, and headed down to the park. I decided to do 10 loops at the park and then run back up the hill to mom's. I was pretty tired by the time I got done, but felt ok. Arrived back at mom's at 4:05, making the day a total of just about exactly eight hours. I didn't time my breaks, but they probably added up to about 15 minutes or so. I felt like I was keeping up my pace pretty well. It comes out to just under 18-minute miles, if you subtract the break times, or just over 18-minutes miles if you don't.

Anyway, I finished! Yay! I'm so glad to have that over with, and the marathon only three weeks away. I'm really glad I decided to do this marathon, but it will be good to finish the training and take some time off.

Friday run

I finally did an actual, outdoor 30-minute run! And did it fairly early, too. The weather was lovely, sunny and warmish, and it felt really good. Go me!

The possibly-not-good news is that, what with colder weather coming in on Sunday, I am considering doing my 26-mile run tomorrow (Saturday) instead of Sunday, and I'm not supposed to be doing my midweek runs the day before a long run. I should be resting up for the 26-miler, if, in fact, I do it tomorrow.

I might just go ahead and wait until Sunday -- I've got other physical-type stuff to do today as well, like cleaning the fish tank and maybe cutting some more firewood, as well as filling in the washed out part of the driveway so I can drive the truck around the house and measure how many loops it takes to make a mile -- if I'm going to try to do eight miles here, then run to the park for another ten miles, then do the final eight miles at the park, it would be nice to know that I'm actually doing eight miles here around the house, and not seven or nine. For shorter runs, it's not such a big deal, but I wouldn't like to be a mile off on my big 26-miler. But that would require at least an hour's worth of digging, hauling dirt in my wheelbarrow, and filling in the washout. I don't think it would be a good idea to do that, plus the fish tank, plus the 30-minute run, all on the day before my 26-mile run.

I guess I've just about talked myself into doing the 26-miler on Sunday. Right now, the weather report is calling for Saturday to be mostly sunny and 61 F, and Sunday partly cloudy and 59 F, which isn't that big a difference. But if the cold front moves in early, I could end up doing my long run in some pretty chilly weather. Still, it's supposed to be at least mid-50s, which is considerably better than the mid-40s I did the 22-miler in. Hmmmmm....

Indoor running

I think I'm stretching my determination to keep up with my midweek training just about as far as I can, and still say I'm doing it. But, I am doing it. Today, I did my thirty minutes indoors, running in place and a few steps back and forth in the back room while watching TV. It was a weird, busy day, and finally got too late to go outside to do my run. I'll try to do a real run on Friday.

Week 24: Eight miles

I did my eight miles at home yesterday, to save time, so I could head up to Monterey afterwards. I got started at about 9:30 and ran for two hours and eight minutes to make approximately eight miles. It was cold -- low 40s, I think -- but not windy, and the sun was out most of the time, so I felt fine. I wore my sweatpants, a cotton tee-shirt, and cotton sweatshirt, and felt nice and comfortable. If it's cold for my 26-mile run next weekend, I'll probably wear that same outfit, because I think it was warmer than the nylon/flannel track suit I've been using for cold-weather running.

I felt fine, despite having done so much the day before. And afterwards, I got ready and jumped in my truck and drove six hours.

I feel so much better now than I did when I started my training. I'm really glad I decided to do this marathon, despite all the annoyances with the weather, expenses and so on. Even without the actual marathon, it was well worth it. Running the LA Marathon will just be the icing on the cake.

Thursday trampoline

Well, that did not go as planned. Between the drive to Bakersfield, the fish store stop, the cleaning of the fish tank so I could medicate the fishies, and various other things like... dinner... I just didn't manage to do my 30 minutes yesterday. So today, my choice was 1) do a 30-minute run, despite having my 8-miler tomorrow, 2) skip it and break my record of No Missed Runs.

I compromised: I did 30 minutes on my trampoline today. I figured it was close enough to running to count, while not quite being running. It was fun jumping around -- I think it was actually more aerobic than plain running. And gave my legs some good exercise. So, I'm calling it my second midweek 30 minutes.

Monday running

This week, I'm doing my midweek runs on Monday and Wednesday, in order to do my 8-miler on Friday, after which I shall take off for Monterey for the weekend. Today was a busy day, but after finishing my errands in town, I went out at around 2 pm and did my 30 minutes.

The weather is still warm and lovely today, but this may be my last good-weather run for a while -- it's supposed to turn cold again on Wednesday. Eep! Well, as long as it doesn't rain or snow, I'll manage my Friday run here at the house. Then I've got my 26-miler coming up the weekend after. I hope it's not too cold, but I'll just have to wait and see. Maybe it will warm up a little again by then.

Week 23: Eight miles

Good run today -- the weather remains perfect, sunny, mid-60s, light breeze. I felt strong and full of energy.

There was a slight glitch at the beginning of my run -- when I got to the park, I found that they were doing Little League sign-ups and tryouts at the park today, and the parking lot was full. So I turned around and drove back to my mom's house, and ran to the park and back from there. Nine laps at the park, plus back and forth from the park to mom's house I think must have been about eight miles. Anyway, I finished in two hours and eight minutes, which is exactly 16 minutes per mile, assuming there were eight of them.

And I feel great. I pushed myself a bit to try to keep my pace up, and had no problem doing 11-minute laps around the park trail. I even did one lap in 10:30. And had plenty of energy left to run up the hill on Westwood to get back to my mom's place at the end.

Only four more weeks of training, and then the marathon!

Busy day

I got lots of exercise yesterday -- started out the day by going out and collecting branches for firewood, chopping and sawing them up and breaking the smaller bits for kindling. My mom came over and helped me for a while (and brought pizza), so it was fun and we got a lot of work done. I must have spent around two and a half hours on that.

It would have been tempting to skip my run, or put it off until the next day, but I'm doing my long run on Saturday this week, so I can do it on Friday next week and then go out of town next weekend, so I went ahead and did my run in the afternoon, at around 2:30 pm. I took it easy, but did my thirty minutes with no problem. And got it done before the sun went away, so it was still nice and warm.

Late run

It was a weird and frustrating day, and I managed to put off my run until nearly 4 pm, which was not a good idea, since the sun was already on its way down behind the mountain, and it was getting a bit chilly. But it wasn't too bad -- it had been fairly warm today, and the half-hour went by quickly.

I'm feeling fine after my 24-miler. I was a little sore and tired yesterday, but am back to normal today. I didn't mention that I got sunburned Sunday! Which shouldn't have surprised me at all, after being outdoors for seven hours, but I'd completely forgotten about the possibility. Must remember to use sunscreen when going out for long runs! It wasn't a bad burn, and it's gone now, but it was a bit sore and hot for a while.

Week 22: Twenty-four miles

Ahhhhh! Okay, now, that was better! Beautiful day -- some high clouds, mostly sunny, light breeze, temperature in the mid-60s. I felt so much better than I did running in the cold.

I got started around 8:30 this morning, after futzing around with my clothes -- got dressed in the back room, with the heater, thinking, "it's too hot!" then went into the unheated part of the house and thought, "it's too cold!" Started out in my nylon/flannel running suit and gloves. Turned around and went right back into the house to take the gloves off -- it was actually warmer outside than in. Got partway around the first loop and took off my jacket. I did seven miles around the house -- about two hours, then came inside and changed into my black running pants and blue jacket, but I kept the jacket tied around my waist and never actually wore it.

Headed down the road at around 10:45 after a 12-minute break, and arrived at mom's at around 1:30. Took a 5-minute break at her place, then continued on to the park and my final seven miles -- ten loops. I used the 1:2 walk/run ratio, had a protein drink at mile 7, then GUs at mile 12 and 17. Also ate some Sport Beans while at the park, and a few bites of a Powerbar in the final hour.

I stayed pretty much on pace, finishing in 7:16, including the two breaks, or just under seven hours without them. I started to get pretty tired with three miles to go, but kept up my pace -- I was running the loops between 12:10 and 12:30 minutes, and completed all my run intervals. My right leg got a bit twingy in the second-to-last loop, but I stopped and stretched a little and it was all right for the rest of the run. I think my hamstring had tightened up and was giving me a bit of pain, but it's fine now. My shoulders got pretty sore, too, but didn't interfere with the run.

So, after the run, I went to mom's for dinner, then home to watch the Puppy Bowl. Heh. All in all, it was a good run. Finished the 24 miles in good time and without any real problems. Yay, warm weather!

I feel really good about this run. For one thing, it was great to have a good day, after how awful the 22-mile run was. Plus, I was within 2.2 miles of a marathon -- I felt that I could have done a whole marathon today if I had to, and finished it in under eight hours. So, with five more weeks of training, the real marathon should only be better.

Today's run

I did my 30 minutes today at 2:3. The weather was cloudy, with even a slight trace of mist in the air, but not cold. I'm keeping a close eye on the weather report for Sunday, and my 24-mile run. So far, it looks like partly cloudy but no rain and low 6os, which should make for a good run. It's supposed to rain Saturday morning, but I'm hoping it will be dry enough to do my customary long run from here to mom's and then to the park, with the remaining miles split between here and at the park.

Closing in on the final training runs! And still haven't missed a day of training. Go me!

Yesterday's news

I forgot to log my run yesterday, but I did do it. The snow's all gone and the weather is warming up a bit, so it was a pleasantish run about the house, 2:3 for 30 minutes and done!

Week 21: Eight miles

I did my run yesterday (Saturday) this week, because today I'm driving to LA for the opera! It was another cold, not terribly fun run.

I started off the day by sleeping until 10 am -- about the time I should have been starting my run. Oops! Sat around for an hour doing morning chores and drinking hot cocoa and still didn't feel very energetic, so I called my mom and told her I'd head out at noon and do an afternoon run instead of morning run, hoping that by then I'd be awake enough to do it.

I never had a whole lot of energy, but did my 12 loops around the trail in the park (probably a little more than eight miles, if my estimate of .7 miles per loop is correct) in two hours and twenty minutes, and felt fine. I wore my long underwear as before, and really needed it! Brr! It's supposed to be warming up some this week, I really hope it's warmer for my 24-mile run next weekend.

I brought my iPod, but never used it. I just felt like listening to the birds and wind, and hearing my watch beeps. I used the chrono to keep track of lap times, as well. I started out doing each loop in around 10:50 minutes, but ended up nearer 11:15. So I slowed down a bit, but not too much. Still, eight miles is only one third of a marathon, so if I'm slowing down already, that doesn't bode well for finishing a whole marathon without losing energy.

But, at least LA in March will be warm. I know that will increase my energy level. (And also, it's at sea level, while I've been training at 4000 feet. That should make a difference. I'll be interested to see how it affects my marathon.)

And around...

The sun was out, but the wind was cold, so I bundled up with scarf and fleece vest, along with my usual running clothes, for my afternoon run. 2:3, 30 minutes, check.

Also, I officially give up on my stupid treadmill. I spend umpty-up dollars on a stupid treadmill accessory kit -- which only had one 5 oz packet of lubricant, not the two I thought I was getting -- and it helped, some, but still, the thing is just not usable. I'm going to haul it out to the garage and take it to the dump on my next trip, and do my running outside.

I did finally get a call back from the woman at the Parks and Recreation Dept. (Thought I'd already noted this, but don't see it in my recent entries.) She said that the only tracks are at the Middle School and High School. Both are available to use, as long as school is not in session, but there are no bathrooms available nearby on the weekends for either of them. So, they will not be useful for long runs.

She also said that the TVPRD is building a new gym out by the Holiday Inn that will have an indoor running track. It should be ready by the end of the year -- which will be nice for next winter, but doesn't help much now. Oh well. Only two more long training runs, and that's it. I'll manage to get them done somehow.

Around and around

The weather was decent and the driveway more or less dried up, so it was back to running in circles around my house. Thirty minutes at 2:3. I didn't feel terribly energetic, but it went fine.

Week 20: Eight miles

The weather report was calling for high winds this afternoon and a high of about 40 F, so this morning I bundled up in cotton long underwear under my nylon/flannel track suit and brought my wool gloves along with me for my run at the park. I got there around 10 am, and the temperature was brisk, but the sun was out. I wore my gloves for the first forty-five minutes or so, then was warmed up enough not to need them. I kept zipping and unzipping my jacket, depending on whether the wind was blowing, but other than that, I was comfortable enough for my run.

I did my eight miles at 2:3, with one bathroom break, and took about two hours and twenty minutes altogether. It was a good run.

The ground around here seems to be drying up, and it's supposed to be sunny this week, so I'll probably be able to do my midweek runs around the house as usual. Whew! Getting my runs done in this weather is really challenging. If I ever do another marathon, it will be in the fall, so I can train in spring and summer!

A Real Treadmill

Since I'm unable to run on my driveway while it's still so muddy, I went into town today to check out a few gyms and see if getting a membership for a few months might be a good solution. First stop was Anytime Fitness, which used to be Bodyworks, where I had a membership a few years ago. It's conveniently located right on my way to the post office, and has nice new equipment and friendly staff guys. Unfortunately, they have no month-to-month membership, and their rates are a bit high. But the guy let me use the treadmill there anyway for a free tryout, which was cool! So I got my daily run in, thirty minutes at 3:2, on a big fancy high-tech treadmill! Yay!

They do have a day-use rate of $5, with no contracts, which might be a good solution for days when I just can't face running outdoors. The only disadvantage is that they are only staffed Monday through Saturday, so I wouldn't be able to do it on Sundays.

I also checked out the Fitness Zone on Tehachapi Blvd. They had a monthly rate, but it was also a bit high, and a $5 one-day use rate. Only two treadmills, though, and they're closed on Sundays, so Anytime Fitness would be just as good.

I think that, unless it's outrageously cold or windy, it would be better to just drive to my mom's and run on the streets around her place.

Am still futzing around with my treadmill. Yesterday, I bought some lubricant at the Kmart to try on it, which did no good and actually made it a bit worse. Then I washed down the platform and belt and tried Turtle Waxing the platform. Also no help. So this morning I got online and ordered a Treadmill Accessory Kit from the website of the treadmill's makers. It's got more stuff than I need -- keys and towels and a surge suppressor -- but also has 2 - 5 oz bottles of lubricant, and a bottle of belt wash. If 10 oz of lubricant doesn't do the trick, I officially give up on it.

Oh, I also scouted out the track at Jefferson yesterday. Looks good, the only thing to do is find out if there are usable restrooms near. I called the local Parks & Recreation District to see if they had any info, left a message on their voicemail but haven't heard back yet.

This Sunday will be an 8-mile run, and the weather calls for sunny 50 F, so I think I'll be fine to run it at the park, as usual.

C-c-cold

Wot a day. I made yet another attempt to use my treadmill. Gave up in frustration. Went outside to see if the driveway were runnable. Blasted with freezing wind and slipped in mud. Gave up in frustration. Came inside, tried the treadmill again, screamed in frustration. Finally did my 30 minutes running a figure-eight through the front room and sun room. But I got it done!

The good news is that I feel pretty darn good today. I was still tired and a little sick to my stomach yesterday after the 22-miler on Monday, but today I felt strong and energetic. I filled up the rack on the porch with firewood and didn't get a bit tired. So I suppose all this running around is doing me some good after all!

But I have to figure out something to do for my remaining training -- especially if even the midweek runs are going to be hard to do at home.

I think I saw a running track at the unused Jefferson Middle School in town. I must see if I can find out if a) it's really there, b) if it's open to the public, and c) whether there's a bathroom there. I think I can handle the cold as long as I bundle up with scarf, gloves, cap, long johns, etc. if I have a place to run with good footing and facilities.

Week 19: Twenty-two miles

I did my 22-mile run yesterday (Monday) instead of Sunday, because it had snowed Saturday night, and Sunday was expected to be very cold and windy. Yesterday was better... but not much.

I started out not really knowing where I was going to run until I got up in the morning. My first plan was to run around the house for an hour or so to warm up, but when I got around the back of the house on my very first loop, I found the driveway still very icy and slippery in the shade. So that was no good. Since all the usual dirt roads and trails I run on were also likely to have frozen and icy patches, I figured I'd better run on sidewalks. I decided to drive into town and run on the paved trail that runs alongside Valley Blvd between Dennison and Curry. It's just about exactly one mile, and I could just run back and forth on it, taking a break in the middle to drive over to mom's for a pit stop.

Sounded good. But, it didn't work out that way. By the time I got to town, parked and ready to run, it was already nearly 10 am. Almost as soon as I started running, I had to go to the bathroom -- even though I went before I left. (That's one reason I like to do my first couple of hours at home -- with a bathroom handy.) I only did four miles before packing up and heading to mom's. By then, it was nearly 11 am, and I still had 18 miles to do.

So I decided to leave my truck at mom's and run back along Valley. I figured I could get in another mile in the time it would take to drive back and park, and at least save myself a little time. If I needed another break, I'd just run back, or else call mom on my cell phone to come and get me.

The first thing that happened on my way back was that I tripped on a little metal marker sticking up in the middle of the trail at the side of the road and fell on my right hip -- exactly the same place I fell on the road on my last long run, when I got startled by a couple of dogs that ran out of nowhere barking at me. Ow. Well, I got up and kept going. I was feeling very, very frustrated by then, knowing I'd be out running till at least 4:30, on a cold, windy day. I spent some time on the run back trying to get some equanimity back, telling myself I was going to be out there all day whether I fussed and fumed about it or not, so I might as well just try to enjoy the run.

When I got back to Dennison, I decided to run up Dennison to Highline and back, which would be another two miles. I'd been timing my miles using my new watch, since I finally had a route marked off in one-mile increments, as well as I could measure in my truck. I was disappointed to find that most of my miles were taking 18 - 19 minutes, even though I was using a 1:2 run/walk ratio and didn't think I was going any slower than usual. Were these miles really miles? It's hard to get a real guage of how well I'm doing when I don't have well-marked courses to run.

Anyway, after that, I settled in and did the Dennison-to-Curry mile on Valley back a few times, until I was on my 16th mile and running out of water. I considered just having mom bring me water and continuing to run, but I decided a bathroom stop wouldn't go amiss, so I had her pick me up and drive me back to her place, to fill up my water bottle and use the bathroom.

From there, I decided to run down to the park for one mile and do my last five miles on the trail. I figured it would be unfrozen by then, having been mid-40s all day, with lots of sun.

I got a bit of a second wind running down to the park, but by the time I got there, the sky had clouded up, and the wind was freezing, and I was tired, and the last five miles were really hard. But I pushed through them, and finished at 4:40 pm. Then mom drove me back to her place for a lovely salmon dinner.

I'm tired today, but not sore. A day of rest and I'll be fine. But, boy, that was a difficult run. The cold just sapped all my energy out of me and made it very unpleasant to be outside running all day. My route was repetitive and boring. And getting off to such a late start set a bad tone for the rest of the day.

Physically, my hardest run so far remains the 10-mile, but the 22-mile was by far the hardest mentally. I really, really did not want to be out there for nearly seven hours in the cold. I can only hope the weather's better for the 24 and 26-mile runs.

Later and later

I procrastinated just about as long as I possibly could on my second midweek run of the week and still have it be a midweek run, but I did my 30 minutes at 2:3 this afternoon. It was a slow and blargy run. Sun was out but the wind was cold. I didn't feel bad, or tired, or anything -- just not a whole lot like being out there plodding around the house.

I tried to do my run yesterday on the treadmill, thinking I'd clean the platform and adjust the belt and see if I could get it to work better. No luck, I finally gave up in frustration after 15 hard minutes. I suppose I can count that as some exercise. I wish I could figure out a way to make that treadmill work properly. I have a feeling the problem is that it's basically a cheap piece of junk that is never going to run smoothly. But I will probably keep working on it for a while. I suppose I can finish my marathon training without it, but if I'm going to continue exercising afterwards, which I hope to do, I'm going to have to eventually figure out a way to keep going throughout the winter months even when I don't have a marathon to motivate me. I like using a treadmill indoors, especially for quick runs, and it would be great if I could use this one.

Tuesday, check

The colder it gets, the later in the day I run. Brr. But, by the time I went out at 1:30 pm or so, the sun was shining and it wasn't too bad. Thirty minutes, 2:3, one more run down!

Week 18: Eight miles

Today's run went quite well. It was cold and windy, but I wore my nylon/flannel track suit and stayed comfortable. Used the iPod but kept it turned way down and only missed one run interval, and that was when I was walking with my mom, who'd come to walk two loops before heading back to fix lunch, and I wasn't paying attention. I did the 2:3 interval, kept on pace, felt good, and finished right on time. Go me!

Next weekend, 22 miles!

Schedule changes

I've been all turned around this week, due to Monday's storm, which threw my usual weekly schedule off. I usually go into town on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but since Monday was so stormy, not to mention a holiday so there was no mail, I skipped going into town and went on Tuesday instead. I still did my 30-minute run on Tuesday, but when it came to Thursday, I had a ton of stuff to do, besides going into town, so I decided to postpone my daily run until today, Friday.

It was a lovely run -- the weather was great, and I felt great. I've been taking DHEA supplements since last Saturday, and so far, I think it's really helping. I feel much more focused (physically and mentally), stronger, more energetic. I hope it lasts!

In other scheduling news, it turns out I'm a week off from the LA group runs. I emailed my site rep after the weekly email said we'd be doing 22 miles this weekend, and I'd scheduled myself for 8 miles. I knew I'd be doing my own thing through the holidays, but thought I'd planned my schedule to link back up with the group as of last week. Turns out, I was going by the original schedule they'd made up when they were planning on doing the New Orleans Marathon. When they switched to the Miami Marathon, which is a week earlier than N.O., they moved up all the post-holiday long runs by one week. But no one ever told me about it!

So, if I had still been considering trying to drive to LA to run with the group, at this point I'd have to move up my schedule of long runs, so that I was doing over-20-mile long runs with only one recovery run in between them. Not to mention that I've already made tentative plans to go out of town the weekend of Feb 19, which is the group 26-mile run, since I had it on my schedule as an 8-miler. Oh well. I think it's best if I just finish the training on my own.

Indoors

Yesterday it rained all day and last night it froze, leaving my driveway washed out, frozen and muddy today. So I did my run indoors, on the treadmill, instead of running around and around the house.

The treadmill still sucks. The belt sticks to the platform so I have to push it with my feet to keep it moving, instead of just running or walking on it, which makes it twice as hard. My legs were fine, but I huffed and puffed and sweated way more than usual. Still doable at 30 minutes, but I wouldn't attempt to use it for a longer run. Which means... I'm still going to have to find some way to do the long runs outdoors, no matter what the weather. Unless I get a three-month membership at one of the gyms in town and use the treadmills there. But that's kind of a big expense for something I'm not sure I'll even need. Guess I'll just keep running outdoors and hope for the best. And if it comes to it, I'll run in the mud and/or snow.

Week 17: Eight miles

It was a strange run today. I'm glad it was only eight miles (and I love that I'm again at the point where I can say "only" eight miles). The weather was cold and cloudy, but I managed to finish before the rain started. I used my iPod for the first part of the run, but I kept missing my watch beeps, so I finally shut if off. But I still somehow kept getting off my intervals. So... I mostly ran 2:3, with some 3:2, 1:2, 2.5:5, who knows! My stomach was a bit wonky, but not enough to really bother me. I forgot to count laps so I only went by time. I think I did the right number of loops, though.

Anyway, it was a very disjointed and ditzy run, but I got it done.