Marathon Training: Week Three

A very hesitant and crestfallen start to the week has turned into hopeful renewal.

Mon 2mi run + 10min cross- I took the day off and Iced my ankle as often as I could before work. It feels much better tonight. I can sleep comfortably. I ran a few steps up and down hill and it still felt uncomfortable, but not sharp pain. Don't want to injure further so I guess I'll take biking tomorrow lightly and not elliptical until Friday

Tue 30min bike + strength- 10min of seated stationary bike and then 20min of the up right stationary bike. I did push the cadence and resistance a bit more than usual in order to make up for a small amount of lost ground yesterday. I just did two circuits of leg extensions, back extensions with light weight, and sit ups .

Wed 1.5mi run + 15min cross- I split my time evenly between the upright and seated stationary bikes. I increased my resistance once or twice again today. I feel pretty good. I feel like my left achillies is compensating a bit for the right ankle weakness.

Fri 40min run + 15min bike- I ran a fair amount at work today while doing a team edition showing a group of folks around the USNWC to various activities. The ankle is a little swollen still but it feels ok. This is my first day ellypticaling again after rolling ankle. Ellipticaling went well with no pain or post exercise swelling.

Sat 2mi run + 30min cross- Again my work schedule interfered with being able to attend the 9am-1pm gym hours today so, I walked and ran around the neighborhood. I walked for 22min, ran 2miles, and then walked 8 min back home.

Sun- meant to take an ice bath and foam roll but....life gets busy, I guess. I just iced my ankle with a small ice pack. It is more sore and swollen today. I'll try to be god to it.

The week went much better than I'd hoped. I don't think I'll have to further re-evaluate or adjust my training plan as I thought I might have to. Good news! Just reminding my self to go slow and be patient.

Marathon Training: Week Two

This week is feeling better. I'm glad to be in a routine again. My pace is slowly picking up steam and it feels so good to be running, for real, on the ground again.

Mon 1.75mi run + 12.5min cross- I went straight from the gym to work. It doesn't matter so much, in
these hot summer months, if I show up to work sweaty because I'm gunna sweat more at work than I will in the air conditioned gym, I did 12.5min easy on the bike and then hopped on  the elliptical for the rest.

Tue 30 min bike + strength- I'm still having to make myself go slow and easy in order to build time on my legs and avoid overtraining while I'm still six months out from the marathon. I also did two circuits of weights with about 10lbs more weight than last week.

Wed 1.5mi run + 15min cross- Today I went to the gym an then took shower before work but still had to take one again after work because I get all sweaty and sunscreen-y. I tried to slow the pace to be a recovery day.

Fri 35min run + 15min cross- Biked easy at the gym for 15min, than stretched and got some water, and then did 35min on the elliptical.

Sat 1.75mi run + 27.5min cross- Took my gps watch out for a test run. I walked 13:45 to warm up and then ran 1.75mi and finally finished with another 13:45 walking cool down. I had planned on stretching after the warm up but I was too excited to actually run that it slipped my mind till I was half way through. The run was fairly easy effort and felt much shorter than I'd expected. still haven't figured out the watch segments. Maybe I need to pre plan/program workouts?

Sun roll + ice- I'd planned to foam roll and take an ice bath after work but my day ended up being much longer than originally planned. I just wanted to relax after work by sitting and doing nothing for a bit. Sadly I rolled/strained my other (right) ankle today while at work I stepped on a large rock an over it my ankle rolled. I just keep telling myself, everything happens for reason right? Is this just a message to go slow and learn to be kinder to my body?

I want my body to heal well from this ankle injury. I can't afford to prolong it by training too much through the injury. I have to adjust my training a bit again in order to still meet my training goals of running a half marathon in two to four months and the full one in six.

Marathon Training: Week one

So I've had to adjust my original training plan for the half marathon at the end of September and instead push the focus of my training further away toward the full marathon in January. I'll still be running the Sept Wild Vine race since I need a proof of time for the Disney marathon. According to my training I will not be "ready" for the half marathon distance by then, but it'll give me a slightly better chorale start at Disney race than if I didn't submit a prior race time at all. If I do run a slow race time it'll hopefully keep me from going out too fast at the marathon and give me folks to pass in the later parts of the race.

Mon 1.5mi run+ 15min cross- My achillies are still quite sore and it still makes me nervous to do actual running on the ground. So, I went to the gym and biked for 15min and then ellipticaled to mimic running. I'm trying to exercise as slowly and gently as possible.  I remember my high school coach talk about getting "Time on your legs". Just getting your legs used to moving for a length of time has a training benefit without stressing the musculo-skeletal system too much. Going slow and steady makes my legs feel different than expected- used but not the usual worked or exercised that I'm used to.

Tue 30min bike+ strength- Again I'm just gaining "time on my legs" focusing on breathing, staying relaxed, keeping my leg motions tracking straight. I also did two light weight circuits.

Wed 1.5mi run+15min cross- The timing with my work schedule was not good today and I didn't make it to the gym. I need to find a way to work this training in especially when I start doing longer mileage again. If I'm actually running on my feet I don't have to worry about gym hours, but I may still be doing a fair amount of cross training all the way up to the full marathon race.

Thr off- Went to the gym today and did yesterdays training. 15min bike easy and then 15min on the elliptical. I need to hydrate better. I could feel my muscles moving against each other roughly because I'm dehydrated and they're not well lubricated..

Fri 30min run+ 15min cross- I biked really easy first as a warm up and then ellypticaled for 30min. I was surprised to be able to hold such a steady pace. I've had to force myself to slow for the first 5-10min and then gradually work up to speed with a dew small decelerations in middle when I feel discomfort. I try to stay focused on breathing and foot strike. I ran a few steps in the parking lot afterward, which felt pretty good and pain free.

Sat 1.5mi run+15min cross- I ran a mile and a half on the ground today! I forgot the gym closes at 1pm on Sat so, when I pulled into the parking lot after work and it was closed, I decide to run around the park instead. I then also walked a mile and a half as my cross training for the day. Walking for fitness feels very strange to me since I walk so much in my daily job. I took my run at an easy pace, slightly forcing my foot strike under my body. My left knee was a little sore after the run as well as my heels. I'm not sure if this means I'm heal striking more in the thick sole of my Asics shoes or, if my Brooks shoes are allowing my heels to feel more impact when I wear tem to walk around during the day at work.

Sun roll+bath- Used the foam roller and took a 10min cold water bath. Our tap water isn't very cold so, I'm not so sure the bath did much. I'll be sure to use ice when I'm doing longer mileage. I wonder if it may be better to do foam rolling an ice bath right after Saturday's run instead of a day later?

This was a much better week than last two. Feels sogoodto do real running. being inside on machnines gets boring and manotinous. Still trying to figureout how toslowlywork into real running effectively to build back intotrainging.

Half Marathon: Week Five

I confess and apologize to my readers, my motivation ad confidence is waning. I started on this blog journey because, Knowing that someone reads about my training progress keeps me true to my intentions to reach my goals. Running and training, however, cease to be fun when it hurts to take just a few running steps.

Thanks for your support. I will try to work back into a regular Tuesday weekly posting schedule again.

After realizing I was training too much too fast, last week, I took this one pretty easy. I didn't run on the ground at all but, went inside to the gym to bike and elliptical all week.

Mon 30min cross- Went to the gym and split my time with 15min on the elliptical and then biked easy for 15min.

Tue 4mi pace- My tendons are feeling really sore and tight today so I didn't do a workout.

Wed 30min swim- Instead of the RiverJam Swim I opted to go to the gym and try to do 40min on the elliptical but I split my time and did the last 20 min on the bike because my tendons and legs are still sore.

The gym was closed the rest of the week for the 4th of July holiday. It's probably for the best. It's clear now that I will have to pause and re-evaluate my current training plan in order to recover from this injury set back so that I can still run the Marathon in January.

My new favorite hot weather snack is frozen grapes! Thanks to a silly shopper who returned their cart to the parking lot drop off and left a giant box of red Sam's Club grapes in the kid's seat.

Half Marathon: Week Four

This has been a frustrating week. After almost completing the first stage of my half marathon training plan I am left unable to run more than a mile or two, on a good day, due to my achillies tendonopothy. I will have to seriously revamp my training plans for the upcoming half and full marathons. This is frustrating and disheartening. But, this is all a learning process to determine how to work with my limitations in order to reach my Boston goal. It seems a little threatened and potentially unattainable - we shall see!

I realize that after taking two weeks off from exercise after my 10k race to let injuries heal. I may have jumped back into too much of a weekly mileage increase. I will have to take a step back and slowly transition into full time running with a lot of cross training between now and then.

Tue 30min cross+strength- Split my cross training between the stationary bike and elliptical and then did my two usual circuits of weights.

Wed 4mi run- I went to the gym to cross train since my legs feel really tired and sore. I tried to run a lap around the gym basketball court but couldn't bare more than a few steps. I biked for 40min to give my legs a break from running-like activity.

Thr 2mi run+swim- I went to the gym and used the elliptical for 20min in order to get some more time on my legs for the week. The session was nice and practically pain free.

Sat 3mi run- I did the 3mi run around Mount Holly with a fair amount of success. I did have achillies pain during the run but my legs felt recovered and happy after the run as well as the next morning

Sun 7mi run- In an effort to not further aggravate my achillies as my long runs the past two weeks seem to have done, I decided to postpone this long run until tomorrow when I can do most of it as cross training on the bike and elliptical.

My body has been feeling more and more tired over the last month. We have been very bad at going to bed at a decent hour and I've been getting only 5-7hour of sleep for the past few weeks. I think this is catching up with me and not allowing my body to recover from my training.

Half Marathon: Week Three

Mon 3mi run- I did the lake loop with Wayne. This was the first trail run since resuming training my training. I was a little nervous about running on the uneven surface but my Brooks again prove their worth in conforming to the contours of the trail. I'm still training too fast if I'm trying to race the half and full marathons at 8min pace. I need to study the pace calculators again.

Tue 30min cross+strength- I realized when I got to the gym that i'd forgotten to look at my calendar to see that todays cross training length sould be so I added just a bit of extra time. I added an extra 5min to my ellipticaling today and did the usual 15min upright stationary bike. Doing two circuits in the weight room is becoming easy again. I really need to work more upper back/core/hips/knees or just change up the routine for more running specific exercises. I might be to a point where I could start the Iron Strength routine.

Wed 4mi run- I took my new watch on the run at 8:57pm. It is pleasantly cool that late in the evening but it quickly gets dark after 9pm and it was certainly nice and dark when finished my run. I'm still running faster than my planned 9min pace. Having the watch and keeping my pace slower means I don't feel as fatigued as usual after the run and my achillies tendons feel better today.

Thr 2mi run+30min swim- There was no massive mob of a swim team out this time! We did have several recreational swimmers that snuck over from the Flat Water dock to just putz around in the shallow. My only qualms this time where from swimming by a couple who stood and chatted by one of the bouies marking the lap distance. Since the river water is too cloudy to see through while swimming I almost swam into and probably did splash them several times.

Sat 6mi long run- I started out on the parkway and then finished with a few laps around the channel. Tried to keep pace relaxed but I did slow noticeably on last mile. My achillies tendons where really sore by the end of the run so I changed my running form a bit to maybe accommodate. I don't know how the running form difference affects my efficiency/economy. I would pronate and run more toward the mid-rear of my foot instead of the fore foot, I focused on moving forward more than bouncing up and down. learned belly breath! hips and knees a little sore.

Sun 3mi run- My achillies where super tight today but they do feel much better after the run. I think I'm using my ham strings more with the different running style. I'm concerned if this different form will still build strong efficient and effective running muscles. It seems to not be putting as much strain on my calves but I also don't seem to be using my quads as much maybe. I ran negative split miles and am hopeful that this implies good news for the future, in regard to the half and full marathon race paces I'd like to achieve.

This is the first week of my half marathon training that I've run Sunday instead of Monday. I'm guessing that my body will like the fact that I won't have 4 days in a row of exercise this week.

I'm running the Disney Marathon for Charity!

I have finally chosen my first Full 26.2mile Marathon! I am busy planning and training for the Walt Disney World Marathon on Jan 10th, 2016) but, I need your help to get there.

I am running this race to raise money for some good causes. I'm hoping you will help me raise some funds for St Jude Children's Research Hospital which helps people fight cancer and other diseases at no cost to their patients. As well as, a small donation to the Mount Holly Farmer's Market that's helping our local community live healthier lifestyles.

Thankyou for all your love and support toward helping me check this important goal off mybucket list and supporting good causes. Please consider sponsoring one of my race miles with a $26.2 donation (or any amount you feel willing to give!) at http://www.gofundme.com/FaysMarathon!