Marathon No. 5: Weekly Round-Up (Week 3)

Week 3 didn't go exactly as planned, which is okay.  Although I planned to run 25 miles, I was only able to run 15.  The short story is that I came down with a nasty cold on Monday.  With headaches, a slight fever, and constant coughing, I decided to take it the week off until I felt better.  By Friday, I was strong enough to attempt running but it was way harder than it should have been.  Saturday wasn't any better, but I was able to get in eight miles - slowly - today.  I feel good about it, and I've been trying to figure out what's the best way to move forward with my training plan.

My training plan has a few recovery weeks built in, so i think I may count this weekend's runs as that. For Week 4, I'll try the Week 3 plan again with a few modifications.

Monday - Off

Tuesday - 6 miles (speed work)

Wednesday - 5 miles (holiday fun run)

Thursday - X-training

Friday - Off

Saturday - 15 miles

Sunday -X-training 

Judging by my run today, I should be back to normal health-wise by Monday.  I'm crossing my fingers. Plus, the bright side of being sick was that I was able to give my IT band several rest days, and it didn't bother me at all on my runs this week.

Music to Run By

It's been a while since I've done a music-related post, but I'm starting to get tired of my training playlists.  (First world problem, right?)  So far, I've been running without music during shorter runs, and it's been a welcome change.  When I'm run at the gym, though, or head out for long runs, I like having something other than my inner monologue to keep me going.

I'm building a new playlist (clever name to come) and would love recommendations.  Here's what I'm starting with:

1. "Burn" - Ellie Goulding
2. "We Can't Stop" - Miley Cyrus 
3. "Howl" - Florence + The Machine 4. "Shake It Out" - Florence + The Machine
5. "Can't Hold Us Back" - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
6. "The Monster" - Eminem (feat. Rihanna)
7. "Some Nights" - Fun.
8. "Run the World (Girls)" - Beyoncé  9. "Fighter" - Christina Aguilera  10. "Foundations" - Kate Nash

So, tell me, what are your favorite tunes for running, working out, or singing karaoke into a broom handle while sweeping in your apartment (what, just me)?

Marathon No. 5: Weekly Round-Up (Week 2)

Two weeks down, 14 more to go...

So far, following the more difficult of my training plans has worked out well.  (It's still early, so we'll see if I'm singing the same tune when the mileage starts to increase.)  Having the break between running workouts has really helped me feel more rested.  The one thing that I did learn, though, is that I need at least one more day between my speed workout and my long run.  By the end of my 13-miler on Saturday, I felt more tired than I should have and had to will myself not to hop on public transportation.

This is what things look like for Week 3:

Total miles: 25
Tuesday: 5 miles (easy)
Wednesday: 6 miles (speed workout)
Saturday: 14 miles
(Stretching, cross-training: Monday and Thursday)

Marathon No. 5: Let the Wild Rumpus Begin

One, two, three, four, five - everybody get your shoes
So come on
Let's run on the trails and in the neighborhood...

See what I did there? Har, har har...

I registered for the Rock 'n' Roll USA Marathon a few months ago, which will be my fifth marathon.  I figured that since I've run the half three times now, it's time to switch things up and go the full distance. I'm still feeling really good about my performance at the Richmond Half so I actually want to train for this one - hard - to see what I can do.

Stef and I often review our respective performances at the 2011 Philadelphia Marathon. I ran a PR race -- 54 minutes faster than my performance at the 2010 Baltimore Marathon.  (Baltimore was my first race so I expected some improvement in the next marathon but no where near that much.)  We've concluded that part of the reason we both did so well is that we actually trained.  We skipped one long run and only because I spent the first two miles hacking up my lungs. (I had a chest cold).  We raced often.  (We both PR'ed after running to the start -- and we ran more after the race.)  I half-assed my training for Providence and the Marine Corps Marathon, both in 2012, and didn't come close to a PR.

Moral of the story: I should train for this race.

My goal for my next marathon is to PR.  At minimum, I'd like to run faster than Oprah (a 4:29 marathoner), but my goal is to run a 4:00 race.  Both of my training plans estimate that I should be able to finish the race in 3:52 but I would be very happy with a four hour race. I can do it if I put in the work.

So far, I'm off to a good start.

Week 1 of marathon training happened to coincide with my trip home to New Haven (for Yale-Harvard and Thanksgiving).  I don't know what I was thinking when I packed but I could have used more warm running clothes.  Still, I managed to get in a few runs and cross-trained when I decided not to run outside.

For Week 2, I'm going to attempt to follow the "harder" of my two training plans.  This plan has me running just three days each week (one easy run, one speed workout, and one long run).  I'll also spend three days doing some combination of strength training, stretching and foam rolling, or low-impact cardio.

Here's what I have planned for running:

Total mileage: 23 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles (easy)
Thursday: 6 miles (tempo)
Saturday: 12 miles

I'm also going to try to write more this time around.  Publicly declaring my training plan works really well as an accountability tool.

American Family Fitness Richmond Half-Marathon Race Recap

I've wanted to break two hours in a half-marathon since the 2011 Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach half.  At the end of that race, I came in at 2:08:14.  For every half marathon after, I set my time goal of under two hours but never quite managed to get myself over the line in that time.

But, you guys, I finally did it! I'm convinced it's because (1) I've been training, and (2) I went into the AFF Richmond Half-Marathon with the idea that I just wanted to have fun.

Contrary to what weather.com said, it rained for a good portion of the race.  The race started not far from the Virginia Capitol building and ran west toward the convention center, through a few residential neighborhoods, through a beautiful park, more neighborhoods, the VCU campus, and finished up near the riverfront.  There were a few points during the race when I wasn't impressed with the course.  West Broad Street and North Boulevard, for example, weren't the prettiest streets for running, but I did enjoy seeing a few neighborhoods.  The park was beautiful but the path was narrow (and hard to pass) and there wasn't much crowd support until we came out.

Aside from not being sure whether I was hot or cold (I wore a long sleeve shirt and shorts since it rained), I felt strong for most of the race.  I've also been having some trouble with my IT bands, but they didn't cause too much trouble until after the race. 

Previous PR: 2:04:31 2012 RnR USA

New PR: 1:57:25

Average Pace: 8:54

The race organizers put on a really great event, and I'm very excited about the swag.

The medal, tech tee, AND a finisher's blanket 

Medal detail

After this finish, I'm actually really excited to train for my next race: the 2014 Rock 'n' Roll USA marathon in March.  (Yup, the full 26.2....gulp.)  Maybe I'll train but then, on race day, convince myself that I don't care about my time -- with my luck, I'll end up qualifying for Boston.

That would be amazing!

MCM 10K Race Recap

About this time last year, I was on the course of the Marine Corps Marathon, likely cursing myself for signing up for such a ridiculous distance and wishing that it was over.  This year, I ran the Marine Corps 10K and, let me just say, I felt much better at the end of this race than I did at the end of the marathon.

I last ran a 10k in 2011, so I expected to see some improvement in my running.  I'm happy to report a PR, but even happier to report that my dad totally rocked his first 10K with a time of 58:22.

The course starts on the mall, heads east toward the Capitol before looping back down 14th and across the bridge into Crystal City.  From there, it's (mostly) flat to the Iwo Jima memorial in Arlington.  The pack was tight for the first mile, which I didn't mind because it forced me to hold back and gradually settle into my race pace.  The weather and crowd support were perfect.

I'm very pleased the the result of this race.  I'd reached a point in my running, that seemed to start early last year, at which I felt like I wasn't making any progress.  I've made a few changes in my diet, workout schedule, and training plans, and I'm definitely seeing progress again.

Previous record: 58:01 Capitol Hill Classic 2011
MCM 10K net time (official) 53:37
Average pace: 8:38

Next up, the Richmond Half!

Army Ten-Miler 2013 Race Round-Up

I last ran the Army 10-Miler back in 2011, and, because of the crowds, I wasn't entirely sure that I'd want to run it again.  (I also say this every year about the Cherry Blossom race and, yet, I seem to keep entering the lottery.)  When the fields are large for races shorter than half-marathons, I sometimes find it hard to get enough running space to settle into a pace that I like and stick with it.  Part of the battle is getting into the right starting corral, which happened this year.

I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get to the Pentagon, drop off my bag, and line up, so I left my apartment this morning at 6:30, caught the trains just right, and got to Pentagon with what I thought was plenty of time to take care of everything.  I was right on schedule until the security checkpoint set up before the corrals.  I don't know how the race organizers managed this, but there was only one entrance and maybe 20,000 runners who needed to get through.  I spent a lot of time standing in one place until they opened up a second checkpoint only moments before my wave was scheduled to start.  I made it up to the start just in time.

The pack was tight for the first few miles of the race, but things thinned just enough after the third mile. Since I'm running a race next weekend, I wanted to push myself just enough to set a PR and not injure myself.  I'm proud of myself for running a consistent race (which I'm, happily, doing much more these days).

Here are the numbers:

Previous 10-Mile Record: 1:33:10 (Army 10-Miler 2011)
Current 10-Mile PR (and course record): 1:32:18
Average pace: 9:04

Next up, I'm running with Marine Corps 10K with my dad.  Then, I'll focus on my training for the Richmond Half in November.

Deadspin: How Far Did Rocky Run?

Oh, Internet!  Ask and ye shall receive!

Over at Deadspin, someone created a route to determine how far Rocky would have run to hit all of the locations in the Rocky II training montage.

What’s always amused me about this scene is how absolutely little sense Rocky’s route makes: South Philly becomes North Philly becomes the Italian Market becomes North Philly again, and so on. Obviously, the montage isn’t meant to be taken seriously as an actual workout; it’s just a few scenes strung together so “Gonna Fly Now” can play and Rocky can finish at the top of the Art Museum steps.

Has the city not figured out that this would make an amazing ultramarathon?

RnR Philadelphia Half-Marathon Race Recap

It's been a while -- almost two months -- since I've posted.

I really didn't have it in me to write about my training.  When I'm not racing every weekend, the posts seem to blend together.  I abandoned my SmartCoach plan in July and, on most days, ran as much and as fast as I felt like.  It was the most pleasant training experience I've had.  

On Saturday, Stef and I went up to Philadelphia for the Rock 'n' Roll Half.  I had such a good time the last time I ran a race in Philadelphia (see what I did there?), I was looking forward to running in the city again.  The course was flat, covering the center city area and the Schuylkill River trail.  Before the race, Stef and I completed one of the items on my bucket list: running up the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art -- Rocky style.

The view from the top is amazing.

I may not have been in shape to run a sub-2:00 race, but I kept telling myself to run the first half somewhere in the neighborhood of a 9:00 to 9:30 pace and pick it up during the second.  I kept an eye on my watch during the first half and noticed a few times when I was running a sub-9:00 and had to tell myself to pull back.

I started to lose steam in the second half of the race and never really pushed myself faster than I ran the first half of the race.  According to my watch, I hit 13.1 around 2:04.  My official race time is 2:05:07.

I feel good about this.  I registered for the Richmond Half Marathon in November, and I intend to train. (For real.) It should help that fall running is much more pleasant than summer running.  Between now and that half, I have the Army 10 Mile Race and the Marine Corps 10K.

Beating the Heat

So, it's hot.  Although my running hasn't suffered completely, I haven't been getting in as many miles as my SmartCoach plan suggests because of the heat.  The folks over at Yahoo Shine shared some useful tips for safe running in summer heat.  I may have to pair these with tips for getting out of bed before work to get my run in.