I won the lottery!
Actually I won the Houston marathon lottery, and this is going to be my first marathon. I grew up in Houston, and the course is relatively flat, so it made sense for me to run it. I joined Rogue so I would not get injured, plus there would be a structured plan to help me reach my goal. I decided on training at Rogue twice a week, which includes the long Saturday runs and the group workouts on Tuesday. I can handle the medium runs by myself. I had never run in a group before. The support and comradery is unbelievable. Everyone is so friendly and excited for you, and we are all ultimately reaching for the same goal, run faster and farther than before.
The first run of the winter marathon training was the Rogue to Rogue run. It was in Cedar Park which is a long drive for me because I live in Kyle. I woke up pretty early that morning just to get there. I decided to run the advanced mileage that day, and I ran the 7 miles without any hitches. My marathon goal was to finish under 4 hours. Why that goal? I have had friends who have run it slower and because I am a competitive person, naturally I wanted to beat their times.
My plan was to do run the long runs at the advanced level, but the other days to run at a beginning level. I was not used to the mileage I was about to do. It was a hot time of the year, especially to start training. I was supposed to have the group workouts on Wednesday, but it ended up being Tuesday which has worked out great. Those Tuesday night runs were not pretty. The heat just wears you down.
When I started Rogue, I was winding down from p90x and was also playing basketball during my lunch break at work 4 days a week. We had some friends with kids who came in town one weekend, and we went to Austin Park & Pizza. I will probably never step my foot in that place again. Because I drove go karts all day around a bunch of kids and their germs, I came down with strep. With all of the activities I was doing, my body never had a chance to recover and/or rest. It was absolutely terrible. The last time I was sick was when I had the flu my junior year of college. I was bed ridden at least one week and lost out on 2 weeks of training. I tried to do a group workout while I was sick, and I could only last 1.5 miles of the 6 that we were supposed to do. Once I got better, I only did weight training once or twice and also played basketball once or twice a week.
Also on Saturdays, I only ran the beginner distance. With all of the mileage I was doing, I was getting pains everywhere. The first thing that was hurting was my IT band, which I think is normal. Trigger Point is awesome. I know it is only a temporary solution, but it allows me to run with relatively little pain. As I got stronger, the IT band issue went away, but my soleus started to hurt more and more. After every run, they were so tender. Who came to the rescue? Trigger Point! My soleus for the most part has gotten better and better, but lately my feet are starting to hurt. I broke my left foot sliding into 2nd base when I was playing softball back in college. I never let it heal properly, and was still playing basketball and doing other physical activity while wearing a boot.
I do not know if it is the shoes that I am wearing or maybe the cold catching up with this old man. With strep and all of these pains slowly going away, I am starting to think that I can do this. As the weeks progress, I am running distances that I have never run before. It can be mentally challenging and physically demanding to run the longer distances and spending so much time to do so. There are a few runs that I do remember during training. We finally did our time trials when it got cooler. I have never had a reason to run as fast as I can for 2 miles. I ran the time trial in 13:30. Holy smokes, I did not even know that I could move that fast. I was starting to get confident. Maybe I can run the race under 3:45.
The Run from Hell is just that. I had to work that day so I only ran 16 miles, but the additional miles would have been flat. Ladera Norte, you are my enemy. I did not walk up at all, but at the top of it, I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest. It made Mount Bonnell look like a wimpy kid.
The run a few weeks ago with the Austin marathon pacers was tough. We had to run 16 miles at MGP. I do not know if it was the pace or the fact I had to run 24 miles, I was totally out of gas. I ate a bowl of cereal when I woke up that morning and only had a bag of chews during the run. I have learned my lesson: pack some GU and an extra bag of chews/chomps on the longer distances.
After my run a few weeks ago, I am starting to evaluate my race plan. Running my first marathon under 4 hours should be an easy goal, but how much faster is the question. I started to run the advanced distances with my group so that has helped. With all of this work, I hope I do not let myself down by running a time that I deemed is too slow. We will find out soon. We are only two weeks away from race day. I will write more about the race in a few weeks…
Until next time, happy running.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Monday, November 28, 2011
The first step leads to…
Three years ago I was at my heaviest. I have been eating whatever I want with reckless abandon. When I started college, I gained the dreaded freshman 15. At the time, I would eat everything I could see in the dorm and drink as much as I could. The only exercise I got was weight training once a week and playing basketball 5 days a week for an hour or 2 my first year of college. My weight would fluctuate over the next few years. I would eat out all the time and never exercised.
My girlfriend at the time wanted to do weight watchers. I wanted to be supportive and did the program with her. I have done it in the past with another girlfriend so I was familiar with it. This time, I decided to add some time at the gym as well. I thought running would be a great cardio workout. It was tough. The farthest I had ever run was half a mile at that point. That took place many moons ago back in high school in physical education. They would make us run a mile so I would sprint the first 2 laps and walked the last 2. When I think about it, I am ashamed of myself.
It took a long time for me to build my distance. My knees did not like me trying to push myself. It took at least 5 months to get up to running 3 miles straight without stopping. It took a long time because I kept adding elliptical workouts because I would be sore all over from running. I was not stretching at all. With a change in diet and a workout regime, I dropped 30 pounds. With this new change in lifestyle, it has tremendously helped my heart. I used to have rapid heartbeats periodically where I would get exhausted by just doing laundry. It seems like it runs in my family, but cardiologists have never pinned it on anything, but stress. But with all of the cardio workout I do now, I do not get any of the heart racing episodes anymore.
One day when I was at the gym on the treadmill, I ran 7 miles. That was the farthest I have ever run up to that point and that was about a year and a half ago. I was hooked when I left the gym. I was on this high that I could not explain. It felt great. I told myself that day I was going to be running a half marathon very soon. I decided to run the 3M because it was a great beginner’s half to race. I made up a training plan and bumped up the mileage every week. I trained with a buddy who also had no previous racing experience. We somehow made it through uninjured. After finishing under 2 hours, I thought I would never run a marathon. Somewhere along the way I changed my mind and threw my name into the Houston marathon lottery.
I wanted to do Houston because it was flatter than Austin. I would think the hills would eat up my energy in the later miles. My wife thought it would be best if I trained with a running group so I would not get injured, plus there would be a structured plan to help me reach my goal. I heard great things about Rogue and gave it a try. My training did not start out great at all. I got strep throat within the first 2 weeks. The last time I was really sick was probably 7 years ago. It was terrible because I still wanted to run, but I could not. I tried a few times, but my body was weak. I lost 2 weeks of training, but I am up to speed now. I will write more about my training in a few weeks…
Until next time, happy running.
My girlfriend at the time wanted to do weight watchers. I wanted to be supportive and did the program with her. I have done it in the past with another girlfriend so I was familiar with it. This time, I decided to add some time at the gym as well. I thought running would be a great cardio workout. It was tough. The farthest I had ever run was half a mile at that point. That took place many moons ago back in high school in physical education. They would make us run a mile so I would sprint the first 2 laps and walked the last 2. When I think about it, I am ashamed of myself.
It took a long time for me to build my distance. My knees did not like me trying to push myself. It took at least 5 months to get up to running 3 miles straight without stopping. It took a long time because I kept adding elliptical workouts because I would be sore all over from running. I was not stretching at all. With a change in diet and a workout regime, I dropped 30 pounds. With this new change in lifestyle, it has tremendously helped my heart. I used to have rapid heartbeats periodically where I would get exhausted by just doing laundry. It seems like it runs in my family, but cardiologists have never pinned it on anything, but stress. But with all of the cardio workout I do now, I do not get any of the heart racing episodes anymore.
One day when I was at the gym on the treadmill, I ran 7 miles. That was the farthest I have ever run up to that point and that was about a year and a half ago. I was hooked when I left the gym. I was on this high that I could not explain. It felt great. I told myself that day I was going to be running a half marathon very soon. I decided to run the 3M because it was a great beginner’s half to race. I made up a training plan and bumped up the mileage every week. I trained with a buddy who also had no previous racing experience. We somehow made it through uninjured. After finishing under 2 hours, I thought I would never run a marathon. Somewhere along the way I changed my mind and threw my name into the Houston marathon lottery.
I wanted to do Houston because it was flatter than Austin. I would think the hills would eat up my energy in the later miles. My wife thought it would be best if I trained with a running group so I would not get injured, plus there would be a structured plan to help me reach my goal. I heard great things about Rogue and gave it a try. My training did not start out great at all. I got strep throat within the first 2 weeks. The last time I was really sick was probably 7 years ago. It was terrible because I still wanted to run, but I could not. I tried a few times, but my body was weak. I lost 2 weeks of training, but I am up to speed now. I will write more about my training in a few weeks…
Until next time, happy running.
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