Week 4 - On a Scale of 1 to 10

I'd say my training this week was a 4 and it was significantly boosted by the fact that Lisa invited me to do the long run together this morning in the 10 degree weather. Hey, at least it was sunny out; we got to enjoy a great sunrise!

Bringing the average down would be the fact that I simply skipped some workouts. My workout plan was set so that I could do some running in the morning and some either yoga or stability ball in the evening, but with the long hours at work, finding the time to do two workouts a day has proven to be a challenge. But, most days I've done at least something, whether that be yoga/stability ball or running.

The long run was fantastic this week! The tempo run, ah, not so much. I delayed it until Friday evening this week and it was a frigid night. I went out with that mentality, of "Go at least a mile and if its that horrible, you can turn around." Well, after a mile, I actually took myself up on that offer, so I only did two. The "track" workout was supposed to be 6 x 800. I'm thinking I really need to map out my neighborhood in 400 increments so that I can really measure this. I'm totally guessing when I do this workout and I'm sure I was short. Again, it was freezing (and by freezing, I mean MUCH below freezing) and I gave myself a bit of a break.

Highlight of the week - running with Lisa
Difficult part of the week - the cold

True Confessions

After not going out yesterday since it was 12 degrees and I had to get some things to the post office first thing, I knew that I HAD to run today. Unfortunately, it actually was colder today than yesterday. Fortunately, Megan has been running on Sunday mornings, so I cajoled her into running with me. I had it all planned out, since she was doing 10 and me 14, that we could run 7.5 together and then split at Forbes. Megan would head back to the Strip District and I would head up Forbes into Oakland. Well, it was just too cold. My to layers of pants just weren't cutting it and I didn't know how smart it would be to keep going. The other issue was the GU that I took on our water stop. It was in an outer pocket on my coat so that I wouldn't have to disturb my layers to get it out. Turned out that GU was as frozen as it could be. Not quite a solid, but close to it. Of course I swallowed the lumps anyways, which my stomach quickly decided it hated, causing some stomach pain for the last three miles. I stopped four streets early at the 16th st McDonalds to use the restroom while Megan kept running to get her car and camera (see FBook for photo...). So here's my confession: I was so preoccupied with getting all my layers back on that I'm almost positive I didn't flush the toilet. Gross. And I was going to comment that those restrooms are a lot cleaner than they used to be. Oops! I'll have to pay more attention next time. Even with skipping the last four miles and the ridiculously cold temps, the run was a success. Megan and I were able to meet up for a run and we actually got out the door in this weather!

Night at the Track

In the third week of running, I finally made it to the track for the first time. It was definitely motivation that the temps were pushing 40 and the sun was shining - probably the only nice weather all week. It was also motivating that the workout was a measley 4x800. Totally doable, even if not totally recovered from said stomach flu. I took advantage of a middle aged man run/walking around the track and made him my rabbit. I had to use him since there were more people at the ice rink than the track (3). I was surprised at my relative consistency, now to increase speed next time: 3:39, 3:36, 3:35, 3:36.

I am hoping the track stays clearer than last year...

Week 3 - The Night Runner

Other than my long run, all of my runs this week were at night and I really enjoyed it! I got into a nice routine of coming home late from work (ah, busy season), putting on a one-pot meal of something that takes awhile to cook (jambalya, soup, etc.) or staging Nathan to get dinner prepped and then heading out the door into the dark. I figure its going to be dark no matter what time I'm running during the week (the wee hours of the morning or the late hours of the night) and it is much less of a rush if I go in the evening. Granted, this means that I pretty much then go to bed after eating dinner, but, hey, I'll take it. Bonus - chocolate milk is sometimes a recommended recovery drink and I figured why not make it hot chocolate in the winter, so I've totally enjoyed that!

The long run of nine miles worked out okay this week - really nothing to report. The weather report accurately predicted that rain would start at 9 am on Sunday, so I got out the door in time to be finished by about that time. Sure enough, the rain started on my last half mile of the run. Helped me pick up the pace to get home!

Highlight of the week - Listening to (and heeding) the weather report
Difficult part of the week - Trying to do a speed workout in the dark and cold (hard to look at a watch because its so cold that I don't want a draft to come in at my wrists); I end up trying to count seconds in my head - very accurate

Third Time's a Charm

I've been attempting this same 13 mile long run for the last three weeks (Beechwood loop, past CMU, up Ellsworth, loop through Point Breeze...) but have been having difficulty getting it done.

Week 0 (thought it was Week 1 but miscounted): The week when Pittsburgh received more snow in one week than any time since college. I set out at 6am to run on the roads since I knew sidewalks would be impossibly frustrating. Well that didn't go so well, since Pgh decided not to plow or salt until 8am that day. By the time I hit the "fork in the road" (Murray & Forbes) where I could either be home in three miles or go out for the rest of the long run, I was exhausted and decided that 9 was plenty since it was taking as long as 13 and I honestly felt much more tired than if I did 13 on clear roads.

Week 1: Set out in the sunshine with last week's snow mostly off the sidewalk. I was one.five miles from home when my ankle pain from the MCM returned and I knew that it was not a good idea to try for 12 more miles. I am learning that my ankle pain is directly related to my flexibility. On a normal/bad day, I can touch the ground with at least one knuckle. When I stopped in agony, I couldn't get closer than six inches from the ground. ouch. So I took a lovely walk through Frick Park and went home and did Jillian and Bob tapes for a few hours to make sure I kept my heart rate up for a good two hours.

Week 2: Caught the Stomach flu on Monday. Didn't eat for three days, lost 8 pounds. Some of that might have been brain cells as I thought it would be fine to try 13 miles again today. And why wouldn't I want to do this when it involves two Gu packs on an already weak stomach!?!? At the same point of no return (6 miles), I was feeling tired but good. So I went on for more. CMU finally shut off the water fountains outside the parking lot so I had to go inside the building for some quick water. It seems like forever since I've run the length of Ellsworth and it was a nice trip down memory lane as I passed all our old houses and stomping grounds. And then I hit 10 miles. And utter exhaustion. I was not surprised that this happened since I really have no energy stores for that kind of endurance. For the next three miles I had to walk more frequently than I would like, but I was happy to be completing the run that seemed to be starting to be a mental block.

I'm glad to see that I've learned a thing or two about limitations over the last couple decades of running (am I really that old to be able to say that?? gross). I'm also happy that I can be content with my ability and performance as it relates to all the twists life throws my way. I am striving for drastic improvement this year (Boston in 2011, anyone??), but am not going to kill myself to get there. It has to be fun, or there is no point.

P.S. The beechwood crappy blue car with the window covers roped on was gone today! I had to do a triple take to make sure that I just hadn't missed it because I was so used to seeing it there. I wonder if it was being used, had been sold...or had been towed!

P.P.S. I witnessed another accident today. Not as scary as the one we ran passed on Murray, but some guy tried to park on Beechwood at 40ish mph and when he hit some leaves he couldn't stop fast enough and popped a Grand Caravan. He tried to blame it on the leaves, but the screech and the pop were too loud and long for him to be going anywhere remotely close to the speed limit.

P.P.P.S. Sorry for the novel. I will try to write less, more frequently. Welcome back to spring marathon training!

Week 2 - My Friend, the Treadmill

Week 2 was not such a successful week of training...I worked no less than an eleven hour billable day this week, so that made it a bit difficult to get in much training. On top of that, I was out of town in an area where running outside isn't really an option, so the one run I got in during the week was done on the hotel treadmill. It was actually really fantastic, from a running perspective. It was the night of the Haiti earthquake, so I was beginning to see some of the first images that were coming in from the mainstream media.

I am a little embarassed to admit that my long run was only scheduled to be a five mile run this weekend. I thought it was supposed to be eight and wanting to enjoy some sleep on Sunday morning, I figured I'd wait until the afternoon to do it. It was raining cats and dogs when I was originally planning on running and it didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon, so I moved on to Plan B and figured I could convince myself to do my "long" run on the treadmill. At this point, I still thought it was eight miles, which I thought was WAY too much to do on a treadmill, but also WAY too much to do in 35 degree rain. Then I checked my schedule and saw it was only five miles and there was much rejoicing! Not much of a long run, but given the week I had, I'll take it!

Highlight of the week - Discovering the treadmill isn't as horrible as I always make it out to be
Difficult part of the week - Finding time to run

Week 1 - Successful Kickoff

Finished up week one of training for the Pittsburgh Marathon! I'm doing a training schedule that I mixed together from Hal Higdon's beginner level (being realistic about time constraints during busy season) and the FIRST program and I've worked in some yoga and stability ball workouts at home and hopefully can get in some cross-training too.

My first long run was seven miles, which seemed achievable even though I hadn't been doing that good of a job in keeping up with running after the half marathon in the fall. The morning of my long run the temperature was a chilly 3 degrees (windchill of -10), but I took it as a challenge and headed out. (Bonus - there was a nice, light snow as I headed out - very beautiful!) I had that thought that every runner has on a morning like I was facing, "Get through the first mile and if its that horrible, you can turn around and go back." After mile 1, I wouldn't say I was warm, but I was willing to keep going. By the end, though, I was freezing and glad that I could cut it off at seven miles.

Highlight of the week - completing my first long run
Difficult part of the week - people who don't shovel their sidewalks

Pgh Marathon Training Schedule

OK, so I mapped out my training schedule...guess this means I'm committing now!