Winning Back What I Lost

I knew this woud happen. Start running on the TM and I wouldn't want to put on the gear to run outside anymore. Well, fortunately running inside does have significant drawbacks that make me want to run inside too often. I made the mistake of heading to the club at 530PM and was reminded that a LOT of people take up running in January. I was forced to wait about 20 mins for an opening so I did some light upper body weight training to pass the time.  Another drawback is the heat w/ all those people packed in to such a small club. Had a horrible headache from dehydration by the time I left. 

Packed all my miles into one workout but I'll be doing 2 a day's the rest of the week to bump the mileage to the mid 50's.  Exiting the annua maintenance/lazy phase of my training. Marathon prep has officially begun. 

630AM: Stayed up too late last night watching Terminator Salvation. It wasn't because the movie was so entertaining (it wasn't) but for some reason I always feel like I have to squeeze every last second out of a 3 day weekend.

Got out of the house and had to hurry to meet Court on Cloverdale. I went out faster than usual so I was winded by the time I found him. We ran 3+ miles at what was conversational pace for him but I was really struggling to get my wind. Talked about our spring racing schedule and current events in BYU and BSU football.

I'm totally fixated on dropping weight right now. Not only because I think that is the single greatest obstacle to achieving a BQ in May but also because running is so much more fun when you're not carrying an extra 20-30 lbs. Nutrition is the obvious weak link in my training. 

I'm all about enjoying the journey because that is the only way I see to be able to increase my weekly mileage and keep it at 50-60 mpw minimum. Last year I was just going through the motions for the most part and trying not to backslide instead of working to improve. Running has become a chore, both mentally and physically.  I have to rediscover the love of running that I had in '08 and most of '09. The key to that is real tangible improvement in my running.

Pace: 8:35/mi

9PM: 4+ miles easy on TM. Re-reading (listening) Born to Run. Really struggling to find an edge or something to spark my training. Hopefully, the bump in mileage the rest of the month will get the ball rolling.

635AM: It took everything I had to get out of bed this morning.  My 4 year old was coughing all night and eventually ended up in our bed. My 7 year old heard the commotion and decided she would join the party. I put down 4 hours of sleep but it was probably closer to two hours.

I'm quite sure that I didn't make any fitness gains as a result of this slow run. I literally jogged 4 and a half miles. I felt like walking more than once but somehow kept my legs going. I guess I figured that if I'm up then I may as well get something done. I find that there are little inconveniences like this about once every couple of weeks. It would be easy to just write off the day but if you add up all of these "inconveniences" they amount to a couple dozen missed workouts per year. That's about a month's worth of training (assuming 6 day week schedule)- and that's something.

9PM: 4.6M slow on TM w/ 4 strides @ 8:00/mi pace. Worked on keeping my hips aligned and running tall. Re-learned an old trick (pretend that you have a rope tied to your waist and someone is pulling it while you're running). Feels awkward but it does seem to improve oxygen uptake. 

Noon: Opted to sleep in today in order to make up for last night's debacle. In the spirit of looking ahead towards Robie in April, I decided I'd do a short hill workout in the Ft. Boise WMA area behind our offices. I was really winded by the time I reached the top but its been quite awhile since I've done any hill training. Starting over is always daunting.

9PM: 5+ easy miles on the TM. Battling some nausea today.  Not sure if it was the low-carb six-dollar burger I ate for dinner or something else. Legs felt relatively good considering the earlier hill workout.

630AM: Short easy run. Temp around freezing and no wind. Could not muster any turnover until the last half mile (7:56 mi). I probably won't run tonight because I'm planning on a long (13-15 mi) run tomorrow. Starting to feel the stepup in mileage. I don't feel sore. Just a general fatigue that I'll have to work through. 

330PM: Beautiful sunny afternoon for a long run. Nicest weather we've seen in the Treasure Valley in weeks. Kept a slow steady pace just under 8:40/mi the whole way and picked it up for 8:00/mi pace the last half mile. Still suffering from nausea but I was able to keep it at bay, w/ the help of some pepto tablets, until the end of the run.

Registered for the UV Marathon last night. I waited too long for Ogden and my experience w/ last year's Great Potato Mara was not very good. Part of that was I went into it on the spur of the moment and severely undertrained. But a bigger part of it was the lack of organization and the haphazard nature of the course. It really isn't designed for a marathon.  UVM seems to have exploded in popularity in a relatively short time. The course layout looks to be fast w/ a more gradual downhill grade. It's got some uphill but nothing too steep or prolonged and the last 10k is, unlike TOU and Ogden, more or less a straight shot.

Dropped another lb. thanks to the step up in mileage. All in all a very good week of training. Excited for what next week will bring.