Run #50 and #51 - Easy 4 miles and Quality 6.5 miles

Good afternoon world. As I lay here with my ankle wrapped and elevated, I wonder if my chances of running my first marathon (The Flying Pig) in May are fleeting.

Run #50 was an easy 4 miles on the Bethel walking track. I met a friend who is getting ready to take the physical test for a local police department and Laurel and the girls came along. IT was sunny and warm (65 degrees). We started out at a jog. The girls ran with us. Both of them ran the entire 1.3 mile track with us on the first lap. The next lap we added a "hard run" for the second quarter mile of the next lap. When we started that run, Michaela actually gave me a run for my money for the first 100 yards. Both girls made the run. After that, they went back to walking with Laurel while we finished out our run. The rest of the run was good. WE pushed hard on the last lap, alternating hard/easy paces.

Run #51 was Tuesday afternoon after seeing Laurel and the kids off to DC for the balance of spring break. It was warm (69 degrees) and cloudy. I ran 6 Yasso 800's alternating with a slower quarter mile between each. Since I was running in the afternoon, I ran the last 1.5 miles at my "easy" pace.

I came home and began working on my "honey-do" list. Since the weather was good. I moved the shed from the back of the yard to up near the parking pad. I had to empty, disassemble, move, reassemble, and refill the shed. It took the better part of the evening to finish the job, but I got it done. I came in, jumped in the shower and then fixed some dinner. I sat down to eat and my ankle popped. Unlike last Wednesday/Thursday - it did not pop back. Now, 2 day later, it is swollen and like I said above - I am waiting to hear about my x-ray results.

I am hoping for just a simple sprain or something that can heal easily. I am supposed to run the Heart Mini Marathon "2 Beat Challenge" on Sunday. This is a 5K race followed by a 15K race. I am not holding out hope to run that event. What is most important now is getting healthy for the pig.

I will blog again once I hear from my doctor. PLEASE send your prayers and wishes for a speedy recovery.

In Him,

Philippians 4;13

Run #48 and #49 - The Run That Didn't Happen and the my "easy" 16.5 miles - Yeah Right

Good evening fellow bloggers. As I sit here with a head full of snot and sore knees, I ponder my run today and can only come up with - "What was I thinking?!?"

First let's review. Wednesday night I messed up my ankle, but by Thursday morning the pain and swelling were gone. I opted not to push it and skipped my run for that day, "The Run That Didn't Happen".

Today my training schedule had me slotted for an easy 15-16 miles. I thought about pushing it to 18 miles, but didn't. So, all of my reading says to use your long runs as an opportunity to see what you should eat before your marathon. Friday night we had friends over for a cookout and bonfire. I forgot about my need to "carb load" that night and ended up eating a few hot dogs and some tortilla chips while watching Xavier win. This morning I got up and thought, "oh crap, I didn't eat my carbs last night." So I planned on eating a good breakfast before running and then eating a power bar on the way to the bike trail. But, breakfast ended up being 1/2 a bagel and a glass of OJ and on the way to run, I realized I did not have a power bar in my truck - another "Oh crap" moment.

I got to the bike trail (Newtown section) around 10:45am. It was about 40 degrees. I strapped on my water belt and headed off. I really need to learn how to pace myself outside since my first mile was faster than my typical "tempo " run and my second mile was still below my target MP. Things are going good, my ankle feels great ands I am plugging along. At 4 miles I took a quick break for water and kept going. At mile 7 I started feeling the weakness of my lack of food planning. When I reached the 8 mile mark (just north of Wards corner for you Cinci people), I turned to head back and took a short break for a power gel and water. The next 2 miles were slower, but still pretty steady - then I hit the wall. I about 11.5 miles I started getting dizzy and slowed to a walk and drank some water. Once I started back up, I could not get into a rhythm. At mile 13 my legs started cramping and I again slowed to a walk. This routine lasted the rest of the run.

When i finished up, my fingers were numb and the coughing that had plagued the majority of my run (the snot/congestion issue) had become more like gagging. I was totally spent.

I feel like missing my Thursday run and my ongoing head congestion issues just compounded the problems from the poor food planning. Even though this was the worst run of my entire training to date, I am not too discouraged. I did go further than ever before.

Tomorrow is a 4 mile run on the walking track in Bethel. I plan on taking it slow and not pushing too hard. I do not need my head cold to move into my chest.

Peace,

Philippians 4:13

Run #47 - Easy 3 miles "The Agony of Defeat"

Hello all,



As I lay here and write this blog, I am reminded of my father who taught us to always give 100%. "Anything worth doing, is worth doing right and giving your best."


Since tonight was volleyball, I ran after work. I got to the YMCA about 6:05pm and decided to run outside since it was around 70 degrees and there was a nice breeze blowing. The road that the Y is on is a 3 mile loop from crossroad to crossroad. I put on my MP3 player and was off. I ran pretty well and averaged out within my "easy" time/mile.


Then it was off to our volleyball tournament. I was feeling great, loose and ready to play. We started out strong. We stayed within 4-5 points the entire game and even though we lost both games, it was only by 3-4 points. he team moved the ball well and made some great plays.

I was on top of my game until the last 8 points of the first match. I was making some good saves and moving well on the court. I dove for a ball out of bounds and missed it. I rolled over and felt a quick sharp pain in my right ankle (my ankles always hurt after years of soccer and abuse). I went to stand up and hit the floor. The pain went from quick and short to agonizing and I was unable to bear any weight. I laid there for several minutes, then got up and hobbled to the side of the gym. After several more minutes I was up and walking, if you can call it that, around the court and gym. A fellow team mate suggested that I go ahead and sit out, a wise choice.

As I lay here in bed with an ice pack and ace wrap on my ankle, ibuprofen in my belly and a LARGE Sailor and Dr. Pepper, I pray that it is only something minor. I was able to drive home and did make it up the stairs (very slowly). The outside of my ankle is extremely tender and although I can bear weight, and have good mobility in space (stretching without pressure or weight on it), it still REALLY hurts.

Needless to say, I a not running my tempo 6 miles tomorrow, but I am hoping to run some, if not all, of my 16 miles on Saturday.

I am asking for your prayers for a speedy recovery. I am 66% of the way through my marathon training and do not want to miss the Pig Gig.

Thanks in advance for your prayers.

Peace,

Philippians 4:13

Run #46 - Quality 7 miles

Hello all,

Today was a good day to run. I woke up this morning and headed out to the YMCA. It was a little cool (46 degrees), but spring is definitely on the way. I got there at 5:30am and hit the track. I ran the same run as last week. I ran 8 Yasso 800 splits, but was not able to run a negative split. My average was lower than any other Yasso's to date. I felt great after my run. The "Luck O' The Irish" was with me today.

Tomorrow is volleyball tournaments and an easy 4 mile day.

Only 3o runs left to the Pig Gig.

Blog at everyone on Thursday (combo blog).

Peace,

Philippians 4:13

Run #44 and #45 - Easy 9 miles and Easy 4 miles

Hello all. I did not get my weekend runs posted so I am yet again writing a double blog. This weekend was truly an easy run weekend. My long run on Saturday dropped back to a 9 mile and Sunday was only a 4 mile run.

Saturday's run was to be a 10 mile easy run, but with all of the commitments of the day, I could only squeeze in 9 miles. I was cool (40 degrees) when I got to he dam to run. I did not do the "ascent", but I did run the usual loop which has a couple of decent sized hills. My hope is that all of the hill training will make me that much stronger on race day. The run was pretty uneventful. There was a point at about mile 3 where I took a step and had a sharp pain shoot through my right knee. The intense pain only last a step or 2 and all of the pain was gone within a quarter mile. I was a little concerned. I did not want to have come this far, only to get injured.

Sunday I kinda cheated on my run. I met a friend at a local high school track to run. She is getting ready to take the physical portion of a test for a local police department and wanted to run some splits (1/4 miles). I agreed. We did a couple of intense splits (under 2 minute 1/4 miles) and then spent the balance of the distance walking. I would have felt guilty if it was not for the pain on my run the day before and the fact that I have only missed 1 of my 45 required runs to this point. Needless to say, we had a great time and solved many of the worlds problems.

Tomorrow is another Quality 8 miles. I am planning on running 8 Yasso 800's. Blog at everyone later.

Peace,

Philippians 4;13

Runs #42 and #43 - Easy 4 miles and Tempo 6 miles

Good evening. I am again combining my Wednesday evening and Thursday morning run blogs (with a volleyball update). Last night I ran my "easy" 4 miles before volleyball. I started running at 5:50pm since my volleyball game was scheduled for 7:00pm. My easy runs are supposed to be at my marathon pace (MP) +45 seconds. I ran the 4 miles at my MP + an overall average of +20 seconds. I also ran another negative split for the total run.

The balance of the evening was pretty uneventful. Volleyball was good. We played hard, but lost all 3 games. I was basically my typical Tiggerish self, bouncing all over the place and wound tight. I came home and made sure to eat something before bed. I had a peanut butter sandwich and was in bed around 10:45pm.

This morning I left the house around 4;55am and headed to the YMCA for my "tempo" 6 miles. It was 26 degrees when I got to the YMCA. I hit the track at 5:40am and started out at my tempo pace, MP-30 seconds. I was pumped at the end of my run that I had run better than 33 seconds under my MP AND a negative split by my largest margin to date. That kind of a start to my day made the rest of the day great.

I have a "rest" day tomorrow and my long run is a scaled back run of only 10 miles. I am psyched all three runs were negative splits, which I have never run even a single one before!!! My confidence about running the marathon has returned and I am looking froward to the rest of my runs this week.

Talk at everyone this weekend.

Peace,

Philippians 4:13

Run #41 - Quality 7 miles Half Way There!!!

Good evening. With all of the chaos in my life I am a day late posting my running blog. Yesterday I completed the first run in the second half of my training. I am now in the home stretch, over the hump, half way there. MY run yesterday was a quality run. I went back to running the Yasso 800's and planned on running 8 of them total. With warm up and cool down and 1/4 mile rests between splits the total miles ran was 7.

I hit the track at the YMCA at 5:30am, It was a warm 70 degrees and trying to rain when I got to the Y. The run went well. When I ran my third Yasso 800 split, I was right at my target time of 5 minutes. I pushed hard for the next 5 splits. When I was finished, I jumped in the shower then headed to work. When I looked at my times later that morning, I had run a negative split for the 800's. My last 4 splits were faster than my first 4. I was REALLY pumped after that. I was also excite that my weight is now staying below the 240 mark.

I ran this evening before volleyball and will run again tomorrow morning, but that is for another blog.

Good night blogger world. Blog at you tomorrow.

Peace,

Philippians 4:13

Run #39 and #40 - Easy 4 miles and Easy 15 miles

Good evening Blog-O-Sphere. Again I am writing a double blog for my last 2 runs. Yesterday was REALLY busy. Run #39 was at the house Saturday morning. I ran at 6:45am on our road. It was 55 degrees when I headed out. On my last lap, Laurel was sitting on the front porch with Sheeba so Sheeba joined me for the last 3/4 mile. That ultimately led to an off road detour, to run her back to the road. So my run was a little interesting. From that point, I left to DJ an event at the Tri-County Mall. After that, it was a shopping trip at Jungle Jim's and then birthday party for Annika. We got home at 10:00pm and headed to bed.

Sunday morning was run #40 and set up a whole new challenge. I had to play at church and then the girls had a birthday party at a local skating rink. I took a change of clothes so that while Laurel took the kids to the party, I could go run my "easy" 15 miles. The other fun fact was that rain and storms were forecasat. I said a prayer for the rain to stay away and headed to the dam. 2 laps of the entire dam would make 16 miles, which is what I wanted to do since I missed some miles earlier in the week. My training plan called for only 14 miles.

When I got to the dam, it was windy, cloudy, and 65 degrees. I started out doing the ascent run. You would think that I would learn not to do this on my long runs. My plan was to stop at 8 miles for an energy gel and water, then keep going. This meant that miles 9.5 to 11 would be a steep uphill run and mile 13 would also have a steep incline. When I got to the 13.25 mile point, I was psyched, every step past this point was the furthest I have ever run. As I worked towards mile 16 I hit the wall at mile 14. I pushed my body for another mile and then was done, but it left me a 1 mile walk to the truck. Mile 15 was more of a "wog" or a "jalk". I worked sooooo hard to maintain a running/jogging form for that mile. It was not fast, but I made the mile. Even though I was spent and could not run any more, I still had a mile walk back tot he car, which was good for keeping loose and cooling down.

I am now happy to say that my longest run ever is now 15 miles!!!! I need to add another 11.2 miles to that for my running "Holy Grail" - the 26.2

I am off to ice my feet and take some drugs before bed.

Peace,

Philippians 4:13

Runs #37 and #38 - Easy 4 miles and Tempo 6 miles

Good morning. I am doubling up my blogs again since this was my running, volleyball, running event again. My goal for yesterday was to run an easy 6 miles to make up for my shortened run on Tuesday. Laurel had a meeting at church so we met at a McDonald's that was between us and I took the kids in to eat and play while she went to her meeting. I had all of the details worked out in my head - meet, spend time with the kids and eat dinner, then be on the track by 6:15pm and have plenty of time to run before volleyball. Never trust things when they are that simple. Laurel's meeting went well, but long. She got back to McDonald's at 7:15pm and my volleyball game was at 8:00pm. I made an adjustment in my running plans.

I was at the YMCA and on the track by 7:25pm and decided that I would run 3 "hard" miles. I would run 1 hard, hen a quarter slow and make up the difference in the next 3/4 mile and then 1/2 slow and again make up the difference in the next 1/2 mile. This seemed to work well. While I did not get the 6 miles in I wanted, I did get 3 in at over a minute under my marathon pace and was not tapped out by game time. By the way, we won 1 of our 3 matches in volleyball.

This morning I did not want to get up when the alarm on my watch went off. I went downstairs and packed my gear to go run. It was 40 degrees and no wind when I headed out the door. I hit the YMCA at about 5:30am and spent 15 minutes talking to a friend who works the desk on Thursday mornings. When I hit the track it was 5:50am. I was supposed to run 6-7 tempo miles. I started out slow and build up to my tempo pace. My first 3 miles were right on target, then things began to unravel. My pace slowed, I was winded and started struggling with the old thoughts of, "go ahead and stop, nobody will know and you can make up miles later." I pushed through and finished 6 miles, but at really slow pace. I think part of this problem stemmed again from not eating anything between last nights workout and this morning. I also did not take any ibuprofen before bed, so my body still ached from volleyball.

As I walked to the locker room I was looking for something to boost my spirits and get me over the hump. When I got on the scale after my shower, I got that boost. At my best weight last year, I was 232 pounds. This was great since when I started seriously running in January of 2008 I weighed 258 pounds. When deer season hit, I stopped running but not eating and had put about 17 pounds back on. I have been hanging around the 243-246 mark since mid February. Today my weight was 237 pounds. I weighed myself twice to be sure it was right.

Tomorrow is a rest day. I hope to let my body recover from the abuse of the last 2 days and find my motivation for this weekends runs. I am switching days again and will run an easy 4 on Saturday and my long run (16 miles) on Sunday.

Have a great day everyone.

Peace,

Philippians 4:13

Run #36 - Quality 3.5 miles (you only cheat yourself)

Good evening. My plan for today as of Sunday evening was to run 7 miles today, consisting of 8 Yasso splits and a warm up/cool down. The road to hell is also paved with good intentions. I found out yesterday afternoon that I had an opportunity to attend a training for work in Lima Ohio today from 8:00am-4:00pm. This put a wrench in my running plans since I had to leave at 5:00am in order to get to the training by 8:00am and would get home after 6:30pm. I decided that I would try to get my run in once I got back from Lima.

I got to the YMCA at 6:30pm and was on the track by 6:45. I started my run and things were going great, but I kept watching the clock. By the 4th split, I was spent and it was later than I wanted to be (although my times were very good). o I stopped at 4 splits and a total of 3.5 miles. I ran down and took a shower and headed home.

When I got home the kids were in bed and Michaela was already asleep. I was hoping to see them both before bed. So I went in and kissed them good night and went downstairs to eat a little dinner before bed.

The reason I say I cheated myself is that I could have run the full amount. I know that the main reason for the decision to end early was to see the kids before bed (at least before they were asleep), but I also know that my heart was not 100% into running this evening. I was tired from minimal sleep the night before and getting up at 4:30am this morning, and used the excuse of getting home to reinforce my lack of motivation.

Either way, I am planning on running 5 miles tomorrow which is 1 more than I am required. I am going to try to make up another mile on Thursday. If things go well, I may try to get an extra 1-2 miles on my long run on Sunday, which is supposed to be 14 miles.

Tomorrow is running and volleyball.

Good night.

Peace

Philippians 4:13

Run #35 - Easy 4 miles

Well, another week of training is in the history books. Today was a pretty uneventful run. I ran the street we live on which is somewhat hilly. I loop around our area is 1.65 miles and I added another 1/2 mile to make sure that I got my 4 miles in. When I headed out the temperature was 34 degrees with a wind chill of 21 degrees. It was sunny, so running with the wind was warm, but into the wind was cold, really cold.

I took our dog Sheeba with me for the first part of the run. She is an 11 year old Husky/Beagle mix. She made it for the first loop, but was done after that. I dropped her off at the house and finished my run.

After I finished running and took a shower, we went and walked the trails in the woods at the house and checked on my deer stands. WE brought in 1 of the feeders and the girls climbed on some of the downed trees in the back woods. Thanks to the wind and ice this fall/winter we will have lots of wood for bonfires - bring on the s'mores.

Tomorrow is a cross training day, so I will most likely do a workout on Wii Fit and maybe jump some rope if it gets warm enough.

Blog at you again on Tuesday.

Peace,

Philippians 4:13