Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Rest Days

So I have been making sure to get in my rest days. Just to make sure I am well rested, I haven't run in 7 days. And it is driving me nuts. My foot was really bothering me for a few days, but after a week of exercising it under my desk with a can of pears, walking around the house in my pajamas and running shoes (with new arch supports), and generally taking it easy, I think I am ready to run again. It is starting to feel normal, so hopefully that means I can get back to running. I am having a bad foot week, though, because I am also battling a painful (and disgusting) blister between a couple of toes on my left foot. I keep draining it, and it keeps filling back up. Which I don't understand, because it is split right down the middle. It has been there for awhile, though, so I don't think it will inhibit my running unless it gets infected.

The injury really freaked me out. I am starting to question whether or not it is possible to go from the shape I was in to marathon-ready in about 26 weeks. I'm not ready to give up, though, but I have to start getting serious about losing the weight. The only way this can be done is to be a lot lighter. There is no way my knees and feet are going to hold up to 26 weeks of running at 250 pounds. The key is going to have to be the cross-training days. I have been slacking on those big time. So whether it is riding the bike or lifting weights, I have to buckle down. So to that extent, I need to come up with some kind of weight loss challenge. I don't know what that will involve, but I will weigh myself in the morning to see where I am starting from. I feel terrible, because I had been losing weight, but I am afraid that I put it all back on in the last week. I wish losing weight was as easy as gaining it. I guess there would be no challenge in that, though, would there?

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The Walking Wounded

Did I mention that I think my long runs have been a little too hilly? Well they are. And my knees are telling me about it. They had been a little stiff, but after standing around for a few hours at baseball, and lots of quick movements while shagging balls, my legs really started feeling good. Good enough that I decided to pick up the pace a little bit on my run last night. As I started getting ready to leave the house for my run, I needed to get something out of the truck, so I walked outside barefoot to get it. I honestly don't know how it happened or exactly when, but once I got back inside, I started to notice that my right foot was really starting to hurt. I didn't really think much about it, so I finished getting dressed and headed uptown for a 30-45 minutes run. I felt pretty good for about 15 minutes and then things started hurting. My knees hurt, my back was hurting a little bit, and my foot was really starting to bother me. I still got in about 2 miles in 26 minutes, so the faster pace was there, but I was really paying for it.

I tried icing my foot for about an hour before going to bed, but it didn't seem to be making much difference. Ibuprofen didn't help either. It starting hurting so bad in the night, that I actually got up at about 1:30 and watched about 45 minutes of a Govt Mule concert on DVD to keep from waking Kary up.

It was still hurting pretty bad this morning, so at lunch today, I went and looked at new running shoes at the Athlete's Foot. I really like them because they do alot of measurements on your feet and they have a computerized pad that you stride across, and it tells you if you pronate, etc, with your stride. They actually give you suggestions instead of just letting you pick out a pair of shoes that you think look cool. I tried on a couple of different pair, and I still want the same shoes I did when I walked in the store, a pair of Asics Kayanos. If I had found an extra $135 dollars (plus tax) laying out in the parking lot, I would have had me a new pair. I talked for awhile with the salesman, and I mentioned my foot problems, and he said it sound like plantar fasciitis . I did a little research after I left, and it sounds like he was exactly right. I guess who would know better than some dude from the Athlete's Foot?

So I've started doing some of the stretching exercises I found online, and I'm using a baseball to roll around under my foot. I'm hoping that I can get out and have a short run tomorrow. I had planned on running at the track for awhile, but it sounds like the track is still locked up. I'm a littled worried, because considering the shape I am in right now, I don't have a lot of room for error while training for this marathon. One or two injuries that cause me to miss training time, and I can kiss this marathon goodbye. I know that I could probably do White Rock, Austin, or Little Rock instead, but I've spent too much time talking and thinking about this particular marathon to change plans. So hopefully I can get this straighted out pretty quick. It's very disheartening, though. Doubt is starting to creep in, and that can't happen....

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Long, and I mean Long Run Day

I've never really done much running. I was a baseball guy back in high school, and Coach Reed's off season workouts were the closest I've ever come to running consistently. He liked to do things like pile the whole team in the back of his crappy little truck and drive us out into the country, stopping every now and then to drop off the slower runners. He tried to time it to where the slower runners and the faster runners ended up finishing at about the same time. I was usually one of the last guys dropped off, which says more about the slowness of our team than anything else. The moral of the story is, I'm not one of those ex-runners who goes out running and says "I haven't done that since ____." Most of the time, when I do something that involves running, it is a first for me. Like tonight, for example. For the first time in my life, I ran a 6.2 miles.

For those unfamiliar with running and running terminology, that is a 10K. I always thought my first 10K would happen in a race situation. But instead of running in front of thousands of people, I completed my longest run ever in front of a few stray dogs, about a dozen wild turkeys, and more old people carrying sticks than you could shake a stick at (which is grounds for an article all by itself). It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I ran it in 1:31:42, which is a 14:47 pace. It seemed a lot slower. I feel unbelievable slow out there. It probably didn't help that the sign at the bank said it was 100 degrees when I ran by at the start. Also, when the runs start stretching out past a couple of miles, it is damn near impossible to find a run without 4 or 5 big hills. I guess I could just keep running the same flat mile to half mile course over and over again, but that doesn't sound like much fun either.

My thought on this is that the harder my training courses are, the easier it will be on race day. Sure it hurts more now, but I guess that is the price I'm going to have to pay. The funny thing is, the uphills really don't bother me, but running downhill makes my knee hurt like hell. Looks like I am really going to have to focus my cross training on building strength. I think I may also have to add hills to my weekday workouts, at least in small doses. Did I mention that I also need to lose weight?? I saw another guy running tonight, and the lucky bastard was thin enough to be running without a shirt. By the time this summer is over, I damn well better be able to run with no shirt. Or laughter.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Running with Others

I think I may have lured another sucker into the web of running. Jerome has been saying he is going to come out and run with me for a couple of weeks now, and he actually broke down and went out on Thursday. It was just an easy timed run (I hate the term junk miles), but man does the time go by faster when you have someone to talk to. We ended up running for about 34 minutes, drove the course afterwards to see how far it was, and found out it was almost exactly 2.5 miles, which was a little farther than I thought it was. I've stopped taking walk breaks on my time runs, by the way. When I am not running all that far, it just seems easier to keep going than to try and get started again after walking. So on Thursday, we ran for about 18 minutes, stopped briefly while I watered someone's yard (a benefit of being a man), and then ran the last 16 minutes with a nice kick at the end. I stopped my watch while peeing in case you are wondering about the math.

The trick now is to work out the run/walk ratio during my long runs. I have a 6 miler planned tomorrow, so I may try something different than the 3/2 ratio I've been using. The question is, do I make a minor change (4/2), or do I try something completely different (8/2)? I'm leaning towards the 8/2. I am also working on trying to vary my running form at times, adding what I've heard called a "gliding" motion. It's almost like a shuffle, with my feet very low to the ground, and it is working pretty well on shifting which muscles in my legs are taking the brunt of the punishment from my usual form.

Did I mention that the run Thursday may have been my best run yet? I never really got winded during the whole run, kicked for approx. 2 blocks at the finish, and felt awesome afterwards. My legs felt better after the run than they did before I started. The race is 2 weeks from today, and I think I am going to really focus on losing weight this week. That way I can eat to train the week of the race, instead of eating to lose weight. I still think that if I can get under 240 pounds by race day, a sub-30 is inevitable. Maybe I am kidding myself, though, who knows. All I know is that I think I am in better shape this year than I was last year, and all 3 of my races last year were in the 33-34 minute range. This year, though, I've done most of my training on the road, where last year, most of my training was on a treadmill. Also, I think my longest run last year was a little over 4 miles (the run where I went either too far or too fast and ended up hurting my ITB). This year I have already done a 5 miler, with 6 scheduled this week and 7 next. I think the over-distance training will be a big help. My only real concern is the heat that evening. I can't really run at 5:30 or 6 at night to train since we have baseball about that same time each night. Maybe I need to get out and run at lunch one day when it is like 105. Or maybe not....

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

39:55

I had a really good run tonight. Tonight was a time run instead of a distance run, which seems like a lot less pressure for some reason. It seemed extremely hot and humid, though, so I was sweating like a pregnant nun the whole time. Which leads me back to the chafing issue I've been having. After a crack team of plastic surgeons reassembled my left nipple after Sunday's long run, I ended up having the same problem again tonight. I didn't have this problem last year, but I had stopped running before it really got hot, so I'm not all that surprised. I may have to start experimenting with Body Glide or Vaseline (minds out of the gutter perverts) going forward, because it hurts like hell!

I have been doing my long runs with a run/walk ratio of 3 minutes running and 2 minutes of walking, but tonight I thought I might try something different. I started off running for 19 minutes, walked for 2 or 3 minutes, and then ran for almost another 19 minutes. I don't know if I have ever strung together almost 20 straight minutes of running before, but it felt really good. My left knee is still causing me a little problem, but not as much as it did last year. I still haven't decided how much walking I will do at the Bricktown Blaze. I guess I will have to see how the training goes between now and then and how I feel on race day.

Speaking of the Blaze, it is starting to look like I will have quite a few friends running. Aaron, Chad, Sara and her family, and who knows who else? As slow as I have been running, I don't think anyone has to worry about getting beat by me. But it should be a great time! Last year, 3.1 miles seemed like a long way, but by race day, I will have run at least a 7 miler. Hopefully, I can get under 240 before race day. If I can get under 240, I would be pretty tempted to guarantee a sub-30 race. By the marathon, I would love to get under 25 minutes. Maybe a sub-50 10K? Who knows?

Sunday, June 04, 2006

5 Miler

Sunday. Long run day. My plan had been to sit around the house for most of the day and try to get ready for the run, but we decided to spend the afternoon swimming at Kary's aunt's house instead. It's not like I was busting my ass in the pool, though, so I was pretty sure it wouldn't hurt the run. I thought it might actually help me hydrate. My only concern was what to eat during the afternoon to make sure I had the energy for 5 miles. On the way home from swimming, I drove out a course that ended up being a little over 5. It was a little hillier than I wanted, but if I want to run anything over 2 or 3 miles here in town, I've got to live with that.

I started out downtown, and decided to stick with the run 3, walk 2 ratio I used last week. I also decided to stick with walking the first 5 minutes to start warming up, and then moved into a shuffle that probably isn't any faster than my walking pace. I never really seemed to get into a good rythym today, though. Probably the best I felt was about a 15 minute stretch starting around the 25 minute mark. I didn't really feel bad after that, I just never felt good either. My left knee was a little irritating all night, but I figure that it is a rare long run when everything is going to feel great. It just turned into one of those runs where you just have to suck it up and keep putting one foot in front of the other until you are done. I ended up running in 1:21:06, which according to the race calculator, was a 16:13 pace. According to the Galloway plan, the long run is supposed to be about 2 minutes per mile slower than race pace, but I am still a little slower than I need to be right now. I know I need to lose quite a bit of weight before I can really get after it like I need to. I heard somewhere that you take an estimated 49,000 steps during a marathon. I've also heard that each step you take while running is the equivalent of 3 times your body weight hitting the ground. So, if I take 49,000 steps at 245 pounds (where I am now), that is 36,015,000 pounds. If I take those same 49,000 steps at 205 pounds (my goal weight) that would be 30,135,000, for a difference of 5,880,000 pounds. That has to make a difference on how fast I can run, right?

By the way, if you happen to be driving down Walnut Ave. in the next day or two, see if you can find the remains of my left nipple, because it got cheese gratered off somewhere around mile 4 tonight....

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Fight Club

The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club

The second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club

The third rule of Fight Club is: You do not give my wife the finger after she gets on to you for saying the word Fuck too many times in front of my 2 year old daughter and a bunch of other people at an 8 and under baseball game.

That third one is a very good way to get your ass kicked by me, as one of the parents almost learned at baseball tonight. Don't get me wrong, I love to use the word fuck as a noun, verb, adjective, etc, but there is a time and a place. Little league baseball is not that place. So, to that effect, what the fuck is the matter with people?!?! I am about as politically incorrect as you can get, with a mouth that would embarrass a sailor, and I am never at a loss for words. But I am perfectly capable of shutting my mouth when the situation calls for it. Apparently, not everyone has that gift.

After finding out what had happened, I very calmly (for me) worked my way over to the offending party, and spoke my piece. The first question out of his mouth? "Did I offend somebody?" Hell yes, you offended somebody you stupid shit!! ME!!! So, in the most matter of fact tone I could muster, I let him know that I was going to be nice about it this time. But. You knew there was a but, right? But, if this kind of crap ever happened again, I was not going to be nice about it and we were going to throw down, and that wouldn't be nice. Does this guy think that just because I am nice to all of the kids and try to make sure everyone is having a good time, that I am some kind of punk who is going to let some loud mouthed asshole give my wife the finger? And not say anything?? I'm not sure if he really and truly thinks that I am that guy, but there may be a time soon when he finds out. Fucker.

On the plus side, I was pretty fired up for my run tonight, and ran from my house to my wife's work in 56 minutes. And felt great. A little muscle soreness in my pecs (??), but not bad enough to cause any problems. Sounds wierd, but I'm looking forward to my 5 miler this weekend. I have been training pretty hard, so I don't get embarrassed by the Belgian and the Kenyan (as I'm going to start calling Aaron) come November......