Akron Marathon Training: Week 4

Training for a race is a balance between pushing hard to obtain a PR and making good choices on when to pull back to regroup.  This week of training has been about following a favorite Latin phrase of mine: tantum quantum.  Roughly translated, it means "as far as," which, when applied, recommends a person use a technique or practice as much as it is helpful.  And if it doesn't work, don't use it!  While simple, it's an effective way to make a training plan personal and apply to my own situation.

Monday-Tuesday: Cross-training - As I had decided on Sunday, I was going to spend the following days working on my strength, flexibility and recovery.  While yoga isn't the most high-energy activity, it can cause you to break a sweat!  I've also discovered areas of my body that I rarely stretch, but need to get into the habit of addressing.

Wednesday: 7 Miles Biking - In other exciting news, I finally have a bike AND a way to transport it - yay!  After taking more time than it probably should have to hook the bike rack up to the car, my wife and I headed down to the Three Rivers Heritage Trail.  While not moving at an exceedingly fast pace (one of us is currently 6 months pregnant!), we followed the trail down to Point State Park to sit by the fountain for a bit.  As lunchtime approached, we decided to head back to the car, though did make a mental note to visit the Strip District for lunch on our next pedaling adventure.

Thursday: 4 Miles - Like many runners, one of the final things I do before going to bed is to look at the following day's weather forecast to figure out when it would be best to run.  In having been woken up during the night by torrential rain and thunder and knowing that a similar fate was predicted for the daylight hours, I attempted to time my workout for the two hours between storms.  I made it as far as finishing my warm-up before the rain started coming and the thunder rolling.  I was then relegated to the treadmill for the remainder of the workout.  All in all, things felt pretty good in light of my return to training.

Friday: 10 Miles - Of any type of workout, long runs are my favorite; going the distance at an easy pace just feels right.  As I warmed up for my run, my legs felt light and loose with each step being smooth.  The miles seemed to melt by as I made my way around the loop course twice.  The only thing I still need to figure out is a good energy source - tried another energy chew brand but still didn't like it.

Saturday: 6 Miles - In not feeling like hills, I chose a route that would be relaxing so I could recover from the previous day's workout.  While I was in the midst of my workout, I went past a large group of people who I assumed were hikers based on their gear.  Though I was a little confused, I did Google the place where I saw them only to discover that where I live apparently has an entire conservancy dedicated to exploring the Western PA trails.  Cool!  I may just have to join them one day.

Sunday: Speed Work - We all know how I feel about speed work.  For how much I despise it, I suck it up and get it done.  The workout began and ended with a mile at tempo pace with two 800s at 5K pace in the middle.  I guess the one benefit of speed workouts is that they don't last too long.

While the week didn't start out ideal, I'd say that things turned in my favor as training resumed.  I am sure that at some point in my running future I will make a mistake like I did last week, but I'm confident that it's possible to get back on track with a little common sense.

Happy running!
Sean

Akron Marathon Training: Week 3

Some training cycles start off great and just keep getting better.  Others, however, require a healthy dose of "It'll get better!" and "This is only one race of many!".  Week 3 of training can best be characterized as a set-back week and a reminder that the human body does have limits, regardless of how much of running is a mental game.

Monday: 6 Miles - The first run of this week started off pleasantly well.  The weather was amazing, my legs felt light, and I was changing up my routine a bit as to where I was going to run.  Things seemed to be going so great that when I looked at my watch after completing the first mile, I thought that maybe it was broken since the split was way faster than I normally run.  Not giving a whole lot of thought to it and just pushing on, I continued with negative splits until mile 5.  As I was booking it at the end of the workout, I suddenly felt a pull in the back of my leg between my heel and calf.  Ouch!  While I didn't feel or hear a pop, I could tell by the pain that it also not just a cramped muscle.  When I finally got home, I realized that I had somehow strained my Achilles, which is a first in my running career.  I immediately went for the ice pack hoping that the tenderness would subside and all would be good the next day.

Tuesday: 3 Miles - I think when a person starts running, the section of the brain that contains common sense gets lost amid speedwork split times and route locations.  When I woke up Tuesday morning, my Achilles felt tight and sore resulting in a slight change in my gait when walking.  Nevertheless, I packed my running bag since I was planning on doing my workout between various meetings.  As I started my run and progressed through it, the dull ache in the back of my leg grew more pronounced with each mile.  While the pain never reached a point where I needed to walk, going downhill was not a pleasant experience.  I made a mental note at that point to listen to my body regarding what it could handle, even after a minor injury.

Wednesday-Thursday: Rest Days - After my flub of running with an injury, I decided to take two days off.  My run from Tuesday seemed to have aggravated the tendon a bit more than I had realized.  I spent the days icing and that's about it.  A little bit of laziness also seemed to have crept in, since the small voice in the back of my head that was telling me to at least do a little bit of strength training and stretching was drowned out by Netflix.  Bad decision...

Friday: 5 Miles - In always looking for the silver lining, I can say with certainty that I really enjoyed this run for the fact that I got to do it with my brother-in-law who was visiting us for a few days.  He is currently getting ready for his first season of cross country (he's much younger than my wife), so we had a great time talking all things running.  However, outside of this experience, the workout was down-right ugly.  In looking back, I'm thinking a few things contributed to this.  First, the decision to run at 4:00pm in summer is never a good thing.  Second, I had been pushing my body way too hard.  In looking at my mileage from the previous week, including in it my warm-up and cool-down miles, I had logged 37 miles - that's 12 more miles than I had done the week before!  And third, my diet was way off.  As someone who has recently been working toward a mostly plant-based diet (though I do enjoy my meats!), the fruits and veggies were lacking during mealtime.  In some ways, I think my body shifted itself into survival mode.  I really knew the workout was bad when my wife even commented how terrible I looked at the end of the run!

Saturday: 4 Miles - My hope for this workout was to redeem myself from the mess of the day before.  While I did do better, my Achilles was really starting to hurt and my legs were swinging all over the place.  You could say I supplemented this workout with cross-training - the lawn really need cut and rain was in the forecast so out the mower came!

Sunday: Rest Day - My plan for this day was going to go one of two ways - either a run or recovery.  After some consultation with my body, taking a little bit of time off was in order.  I figured that until I let my muscles recover and my Achilles fully heal, I was making myself more prone to injury and also wasn't allowing those parts of me that were hurting to get any better.  I did make a commitment though that unlike earlier in the week, I would spend time each of the next four days doing the following: icing, foam rolling, yoga, and strength training.  While not the same as a run, I've come to appreciate the value of each of these secondary aspects of running.

At this point, a part of me keeps thinking, "Only 15 weeks until the big race!  That's like three months and I'm so unprepared!"  I think this panic is what led me to push too hard these past two weeks.  I've since come to terms with the fact that there is still time between now and the marathon, and that I'm in better shape now that I have been in a long time.  I also need to give myself a daily reminder that the reason I run is because I enjoy it, regardless of what time is on the watch or if I meet a goal.

Happy running!
Sean

Akron Marathon Training: Week 1/2

Hard to believe that at this point one month ago, I was in recovery mode after having finished the Pittsburgh Half Marathon.  It was also at that time that I had the crazy idea to sign up for the Akron Marathon.  After giving myself a few weeks of easy runs, I jumped into training.  Now, if you notice the title of this post, I'm combining my first and second week of training together.  The reasoning is fairly simple - my body needed a break a few days into Week 1.  I really didn't give my muscles the time I should have after the half and could feel some new nagging pain cropping up.  By Week 2 I felt more like myself and the workouts were under way!

Week 1
Monday: 7 Miles - First day of training - yay!  Or I would be excited if the run didn't start out so badly.  When I began the workout, things just didn't want to move and only got progressively worse.  I had to stop a little past the first mile to retie my shoes (my feet felt like they were losing circulation) as well as do some stretching.  While most sane people would have cut things short, I was determined to make it to the goal distance.  In easing back the pace, my perseverance was rewarded as each mile got easier.  As I finished mile 7, I felt a little more like myself.

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: Speed Work - I'm pretty sure the last time I did a speed workout was in college when running cross country.  I was quickly reminded how much I despised these types of workouts.  After a significant amount of tinkering with my Garmin to try and figure how to time the workouts all as one workout (I did eventually get it!), I pushed through the intervals: 800 at 10K pace, 2x400 at 5K pace, 4x200 at 5K pace, 2x400 at 5K pace, and 800 at 10K pace.  I survived, but not without feeling some odd stretching and pulling from the areas in my inner lower legs.

Thursday - Sunday: Rest Days - After the speed work, my legs weren't recovering like they should have.  After much thought and knowing I still had 17 more weeks of training until the marathon, I decided to spend a few days doing yoga and icing.  By Sunday evening, I was back to normal and ready to tackle Week 2 of the training plan.

Week 2
Monday: 7 Miles - After the break, I was set to hit the road and redeem myself after the struggle of the previous week.  While this run was little toasty, I maintained my negative splits as well as achieved my goal average pace of 8:25/mile.  I was reminded though how much heat pavement retains and pours back out - so hot!  I really should have hydrated better before this workout....

Tuesday: 8 Miles - I headed over to a local park that I knew would provide shade for the majority of the run.  I'm glad I did!  With temps in the 80's plus humidity, anything that could keep me cool I was game for.  Only problem was I didn't exactly budget my time well and was running late to the meeting I had in the evening - whoops!

Wednesday: 5 Miles - So there are foods you should eat before a run and foods you shouldn't.  This workout was a wonderful reminder in how nutrition can impact exercise.  After eating whole-grain pasta with mushroom meat sauce, broccoli, and a cupcake, I headed out.  Before even finishing my warm-up, I could already feel my stomach protesting.  Somehow, I was able to keep dinner down and finish the workout, albeit in significant pain and suffering.  Lesson learned!

Thursday: Speed Work - While some speed work is a little challenging to remember because of the changes in speed and distance with each interval, that was not the case with this workout.  Plain and simple, I was challenged to do 5x800 repeats after a 1 mile tempo run.  The run definitely took a toll, but I'm hoping to see dividends from it in the near future.

Friday: Cross-Training

Saturday: Speed Work - The last workout for the week was another speed session.  In having a local high school track that is open to the public, I got dressed and headed off to it ready to do my ladder workout.  Sadly, when I pulled, I noticed I sign on the entrance gate that the track would be, "Closed Until Further Notice."  Seriously?!  After brooding in my disappointment for a very short time, I made my way to the park down the road and adjusted accordingly.  Besides the sheer number of geese that populated the area, I got in a good run while making a mental note to spread my speed workouts a few more days apart.

Sunday: Rest Day

While 16 weeks seems so far away, I know that the summer months are going to fly by.  Between training runs, prepping for our first child, and planning for the next school year, September will be here before we know it!

Happy running!
Sean

2016: Year of Firsts

The first time doing something brings with it both trepidation and excitement; a mix of "what was I thinking?!" combined with "this is going to be awesome!!!"  Well, it would seem these emotions would play havoc with me twice this year!

Back in January, I made the resolution this year that I would run my first marathon.  While the farthest I had ever run was 13.1, something inside me craved for pushing the limits of what I thought I could accomplish.  I thus began the process of scouring the Internet for a 26.2 race that was not too far away and would be situated at the end of summer.  After both discovering and rejecting several options due to various conflicts, I finally committed on the Akron Marathon - woohoo!  While I am definitely nervous for how things will go, I've found a great training plan (courtesy of the Chicago Marathon/Nike+) that should get me to the finish line in one piece.  This adventure gets underway May 23rd!

January was a monumental month for another reason starting the process of my second "first."  Though the whole world knew about my marathon goal, only my wife and I were aware of another first for our lives.  On September 8th, I will be a first-time dad!  Parenting is going to bring with it a whole new dynamic to life, but I'm super excited for it.  I am sure that, like running, there will be some things I have no control over, but I'm going to do my best to enjoy the sights and sounds along the way.  To top it all off, since my child was already on the move during the ultrasounds, I'm thinking she's going to be a runner as well!

In the words of Barney Stinson, "This year is going to be LEGEN - wait for it - DARY!"  I have a feeling my life will never be the same, and I am totally cool with that.

Happy Running!

Sean

Pittsburgh Half Marathon

If there is one thing that every Pittsburger possesses, it's pride in being a member of the three-rivered city.  This devotion to the city is often most shown through participating in all of its native events.  As a result, one of the goals when I first got back into runner, and maybe even a spark for hitting the trails again, was to join in the fun that is the Pittsburgh Marathon.  While I had no intentions of going the full 26.2, the half marathon was appealing.  The next year seemed to fly by to the point I found myself on May 1st standing in my corral awaiting the gun to fire.

In having a number of friends who have participated in the past, I received lots of advice regarding the layout of the course.  The most oft spoken piece of wisdom was regarding the hill after the Birmingham Bridge that occurred right at the end of the race.  Of the entire half, this segment seemed to be the breaker of wills.  I kept this kernel of truth in the back of my mind as I prepared for the race.

Waking up Sunday morning, the weather was not ideal.  If anything, the torrential rain from the night before turned the air humid and hadn't entirely abated by the start of the race.  In addition, I felt more nervous that I had in so many of my previous races.  I had to remind myself to get out of my own head and just enjoy the experience.  At 7:00am, with music blaring and cheers in response to the announcer's enthusiasm, the race began.

During the Expo, I had picked up a pace tattoo that would set me up to meet my goal time of 1:40.  As my corral was released, I glanced down at my arm for the first mile split and then my watch to determine how things were starting out.  Due to the tendency of a race like this having so many people at the beginning clustered together, I was about 20 seconds behind where I needed to be.  I picked up the pace as things spread out finally reaching the right split by Mile 4.  From this point forward, I kept pushing, which was made a little easier by the amazing crowd support.

Going forward beginning with Mile 5, I noticed that I was getting further and further ahead of pace.  While I hadn't forgotten about the warning of the final hill and was feeling the burn in my glutes and hamstrings, I felt the desire to go sub-1:40 urge me on.  It was this new goal that drove me when I finally met my adversary at Mile 12.

The Birmingham Bridge and the hill following it were no joke.  This segment was one of those ones where just when you think it's over you make a turn and are proven wrong.  While I had built up a decent buffer with regard to my time, the hill in no way was helping me break 1:40.  It tested the tenacity of both the body and the mind.

I imagine the race directors must have felt remorse after choosing to include this hill, and so elected to have the race end on a downhill.  For the last mile, I poured in everything I had.  The fans lining the road (including my wife with her sign!) helped me feel proud of having survived the 13.1.  When I crossed the finish line and looked at my watch, I was ecstatic with the digits I saw staring back at me: 1:38:10!  I had met my sub-1:40 goal and PR'ed by 10 minutes!

While I wouldn't say I ran a perfect race or followed an ideal strategy (like trying gels for the first time - never eating one again!), I was very pleased with how things turned out.  And I, like any runner who is thinking clearly the day after a race, decided to sign up for the Akron Marathon!  As one adventure ends, another is about to begin!

Happy Running!
Sean

Pittsburgh Half Marathon Training: Week 12

Race week is here - woohoo!  The past 3+ months of training, both with its ups and downs, all build up to one race on one day.  Going into this week I could feel myself getting more anxious, especially with a weather forecast that wasn't very pleasant.  In addition, with a hectic schedule outside of just the final days of running, the week flew by.

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 3 Miles - If you remember a few weeks ago, I had gone to a park to try on my new shoes, which turned into a disaster.  Well, the trail and I had a rematch and I conquered....and by conquered, I mean I took things slowly since this week was suppose to be about recovery.  It turned out to be a very pleasant day for a few easy miles.

Wednesday: 3 Miles - For this workout, I only had 30 minutes to complete the distance due to heading out to dinner with coworkers prior to an event.  Besides amusing several students as I flew around to campus, I made perfect time.  And for the record, the grilled chicken salad was delicious!

Thursday: 2 Miles - In the case you can take a workout too easily during a taper, I probably accomplished that during this run.  In figuring the warm-up would take just as long as the distance itself, I took things nice and slow as I ran around the neighborhood.  I was out and back before dinner was even done.

Friday: Rest Day - Since I had the time and figured I was going to later on benefit from the kindness of others, I volunteered at the Pittsburgh Marathon Expo for a couple of hours passing out the program and swag bag.  While the task was fairly simple (I specifically chose something that I couldn't mess up!), it really got me in the mood for the race.  I'm already planning to help next year!

Saturday: 3.1 Miles - As a part of race weekend, one of my friends recommended that I join him in the 5K race, sponsored by the marathon, as a shake-out run.  I am so glad I did!  I took the workout fairly easy and spent the remainder of the day at the post-race party, expo and an amazing lunch.  I also found a shirt that spoke to my Pittsburgh Polish side!

Sunday: 13.1 - The race finally arrived!  Though nervous as all get-out, I survived and PR'ed by 10 minutes securing a 1:38:10.  I'll be making another post with all the juicy details about the race.  Needless today, it was a very successful day!

I signed up for this race as my second marathon almost 8 months ago.  At the time, I hadn't even completed my first, but I was really excited to run my hometown.  While some parts of training could have gone better, these past 12 weeks were overall a character-building experience.  For those of you who have been following along in this journey, I really appreciate it.  In looking at my calendar for the second half of the year, some big plans are in mind and I hope you will continue to come along for the ride.

Happy Running!
Sean

Pittsburgh Half Marathon Training: Week 11

Race weekend is only single digits away! The mileage is just to maintenance mode and thought is being given to logistics and nutrition.  I'm so excited!

Monday: 5 Miles - I decided to do the workout for the day at a nearby park for a very odd reason.  On some of my recent long runs, I had planned to do a mile or two through the park by using one of its secondary entrances that I had discovered several months ago.  However, for the life of me, I could not remember the street I needed to reach the access point.  After this run, I finally figured it out...and it was nowhere near where I thought it was!

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: 5 Miles - While the end of a training plan is probably not the best time to be experimenting with new techniques, I chose to begin my workout by warming up with a 1 mile jog.  In the past, I had always just walked for a bit followed by some dynamic stretching.  However, after talking with a friend about her training routines (she's waaaay faster than I am), I made this change in warming up and I'm glad I did.  The core of my run felt a little easier thus letting me amp up my pace a bit.

Thursday: 3 Miles - I was a little crunched for time so I planned my workout to finish right at my doorstep.  Just like last week's short run, it meant that I completed my run with a half mile uphill.  At least doing that builds mental toughness!

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 5 Miles - This final workout for the week capped off what I would consider a very productive training cycle.  I spent most of the run evaluating how my body was handling the pace in order to determine if I could meet my goal for the upcoming race.  I'm thinking 1:40 may be attainable...

Sunday: Rest Day

A busy week is ahead as things build up to race weekend.  Between volunteering at the Expo on Friday, doing a 5K shake-out run on Saturday, and the half on Sunday, I'll definitely be getting my running fix!

Happy running!
Sean