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!