The Treadmill tried to kill me!

EZ Run: 3mi @ 10:00
Ran: 3m @ 10:00

Today was supposed to be uneventful, a EZ 3 miles, the run itself was pretty much that. I did increase the incline .5 every half mile, ending at a 3% Grade. It's kind of amazing what a difference that makes. But over all it went well.

The Crazy part happened while I was warming up. We got to the gym around 5:20am and as is usual on Friday the it was a bit crowded, so all the "good" treadmills were taken. I went ahead and used a treadmill I had never used before. I stared out at a walk at 3:00, within a few second I was shocked when I touched the guard rail of the treadmill. Shortly I was shocked again. About half way through my .25mi warm up I reached down and touched the Heart Rate reader, and a giant ark of static shot from my finger into the sensor. And before I knew it the treadmill shot up to its maximum speed, and not gradually. I almost got thrown off the back of the thing. With a bit of effort I was able to slap the stop button before I went flying.

Needless to say I will not be using that treadmill again.

Tempo Run (4mi 2@8:30)

Planned: 4mi - 2mi @ 8:30
Ran: 4mi - 2mi @ 8:27

This was the first time I have tried to step up the pace since I joined the gym. It went pretty well, but I have to admit the I the first mile was a bit difficult, at least mentally.

The only thing of note is that I had a hard time figuring out what pace to run for warm up and cool down, I never really settled, bouncing between 10:00 and 12:00. Oh well back to a simple EZ run tomorrow. I have to admit it is kind of nice not to be training for anything in particular for once.

The Winter of my Discontent.

The few Friends and family who fallow this blog, are probably thinking i have dropped off the face of the Earth. Well not quite.

Things have been crazy at work, I have been splitting my time between 3 Different Games we have in development, as well as the art direction for the rest of the company. I have been working on several side projects, and to top it all off this has been the worse winter since I moved to Michigan. It has been difficult to say the least to run outside. Oh, and my treadmill is more or less dead.

Back in December, While I was still training for the Snowflake Run, which has come and gone, I got the flu, It took me off my feet for almost 2 weeks, and it took me another week to be able to run at all. Beside that I have been sick twice since then. I have tried to get back on the road ever since December, with mediocre results.

But winter is ending, and I have joined a gym, so its time to get back on the road. I am starting with a nice 10minute mile pace, I am going to use the rest of March to build back up to a 20plus Mile week.

So I am back to the blog, to get myself motivated. I still have allot of miles to go...

Snowflake Run (Week 1 - Day 3)

EZ Run: 2miles @ 9:05
Planned: 2miles @ 9:10

This run was more like what I was expecting of on Monday. Quick and easy, no discomfort at all.

The weather has turned cold, as in well below freezing, since the bulk of the next 6 weeks runs are short, I my end running the next six weeks on the treadmill.

Snowflake Run (Week 1 - Day 1)

EZ Run: 2miles @ 9:05
Planned: 2miles @ 9:10
It seams two weeks of not running have effected me more then I would have imagined. Bringing both positive and negative effects.

First the bad:,I have not run this slow "on purpose" in over a year, and yet it was not the cake walk I was expecting. I never felt like I needed to stop, but the fact that I felt any discomfort at all tells me I have fallen quite out of shape.
Also, I cant help but notice I have gained almost 10 pounds since the marathon, only 5 weeks ago. This is entirely my fault, but that wait dose not help my comfort Laval. I think It may be time to go back on a diet. I was hoping to avoid this, but what must be done, etc.

Ont the good side, I did not have any problems with my knees, sure it was a short slow run, but afterword I was able to go up the stairs without any hint of trouble. I think this lighter schedule is just what my knees asked for. I also have to admit that I kind of like being able to run in the morning without it taking a over a hour, 2 or 3 miles seams to be the sweet spot, for a morning run, if you want to finish it feeling awake and empowered, not beat up and exhausted.

Well, I'm back on track, or maybe I should say treadmill, the weather has already turned to full out winter outside, so it looks like most of this program will be done in the basement. Now the challenge is to push on through the winter.

Snowflake Run

On Sunday I will not have run for 2 full weeks, this is the longest I have gone without running since I started running back in April of 06. I was have been having some problems with my knees, so I wanted to take a bit of a brake from doing long distances, so now with a few weeks off under my belt, I'm ready to start back up, and I'm going to force my self to take it easy for a while.

I spent some time looking around for a local 5k in January, a bit hard to fined in Michigan, and found the Flushing MI, Snowflake Run, on January 13th 08. This is a 5 and 10k races, but I have decided to stick with the 5, since the entire point is to cut my mileage for a bit. This only gives me 7 weeks to train, starting Monday. Once again I terned to RunnersWorlds SmartCoach for a plan.

I think this schedule is quite realistic, and should allow me to get back in the swing of things, and I should be able to use my race time as a baseline for a my next program, starting on the 21st of January, when I begin taring for the Cincinnati Marathon in May.

2000 Miles, some ups some downs...

10Miles @ 10:00
Planned: 16 Miles @ 9:10

Well the good news first. This run Finlay put me over the 2000 mile mark on my Nilke +. My only complaint is that with the runs I have lost I should probably be more like 2200, but hey, I cant complain. I think I can officially say that the Nike + was worth the money. ;). I have know sure way to know, but I think I am at around 2500 hundred miles total since I started running back in April of 2005.

The bad news is less encouraging. I purposely was not blogging over the last 2 weeks because I was trying to decided if I was up to going to Vegas on December 2nd, to run the Las Vegas marathon. After Detroit I was feeling pretty positive, and wanting one last crack at a sub 4hour marathon in 2007. For some reason my knees are not to keen on this Idea.

It has been 3 weeks since the Marathon, I took 6 days off completely, and then tried to keep my miles down over the last 2 weeks. This seamed to be working well, but today's run went like poop. I think I am fighting off a cold, and perhaps losing, because I had to stop about 4 miles in because I thought I was going to puck. After a bit I realized I felt better if I just continued to run, and took it EZ. So I slowed my pace and cut my run down by 6 miles. Now that I have had a hour or so to think on It I think this problem was caused by not eating all morning, then downing some Gatorade and running out the door.

What this boils down to is I need a bit more recovery time before I start doing any kind of scheduled running. I am going to take next week almost completely off, and see what happens. The last thing I want to do is give myself some sort of serious knee enjoy, when a week or to of recovery should solve the problem.

So It looks like it will be 2008 before I get my sub 4 marathon. Currently I'm looking at Cincinnati, in may. But I can leave that decision for a while. Ill be back with more in a week or so.

Detroit 2007, The Race.

Detroit Marathon: 26.2 Miles @ 9:34
Chip Time: 4:10:56
Place:
Overall: 1600 of 3819

Age group: 241 of 471.

Well, that's that.

While I missed my goal time, by 10 minutes, I am actually OK with the the race, over all.

I still hit the Wall, but allot later. I spent most of my effort keeping my pace controlled. Around 1 mile in I glued myself to a 3:55 pace group. And managed to stick with them, tell around mile 20. I crossed the 20 mile mark right on the schedule, at 3:00.

I noticed them pulling ahead but decided it was more important that I just kept running. So I let them go. The Wall did not truly hit my until around 23 miles. But when I hit it I hit it hard.

And to my shame I must admit, I walked, 3 times, the first time was just for a few seconds, right at the 23 mile mark. Then again around 24, for 200 or some meters. And last at the 25 mile mark. During these last 5 miles my pace went from a constant 8:58 to a dropping 10:00 to 12:00. I managed to pull it together for the final mile and finish with a respectable 9:30 or so. The crazy thing is that I lost 15 minutes off my time, all in the last 5 or 6 miles.

In the end I finished with a respectable 4:10:56. But feeling good, and over all happy with the results. The best part is I did not finish feeling like I messed up, or like I was just stupid. I felt like I acceded something, to be proud of, and walked away read for the next one.

Now its time for a nice rest, I will be back on the road in a week or so, and back on the blog around the same time.

PS. I seam to have lost my Ipod somewhere between Detroit and home, hopefully its just wedged in the car seat or the like. But I will be post the graph as soon as I found it.
(Found it, it somehow got clipped to the seat belt. ;)

10 Hours 29 minutes to go...

Ok, tomorrow is the big day. And according to the website I have just over 10 hours of pain free life left.

I wanted to take this opportunity to sum up my Detroit 07 Training experience, as well do a few predictions based on what I have learned.

First off, training.

As some of you will know, last year when I trained for the LA Marathon, I was obsessive about staying on my training schedule. I am of the opinion I over trained, and it cost be, since thought I was in better shape then I was when race day came. I burned out in the first 10 miles, and rather then finishing at 3:30, I was lucky to come in at under 4:30.

This time I tried to relax my schedule, and my goals. I think this was a good plan. I am feeling allot more confident that I will be able to meat them. That said, I do think that perhaps I could have trained a bit smarter, and even a bit harder, this time. But my goal is not to run harder, its to run smarter. Over all I am content with my 16 week program, I only ended up missing 4 days total, and most of them Turing recovery weeks.

So, that said, here is my plan for tomorrow (with my reality hat on):

1 ) Run (No walking) the entire race, no stops.
2 ) Do not run to fast, If I ad more then 100ft each mile (About 10seconds) I will force myself to slow down.
3) Finish under 4 hours.

I based my training on running a 8:30 pace, this would give me a time of 3:42. However after all the trouble I had with the "Wall" I have decided to drop my goal pace down to 8:58. This will give me a finish time of 3:55. Giving me a 5 minute buffer, so even if I drop at the end I should still be able to come in sub 4:00. However, if by some miracle I feel good after 20 miles, I might try and pic things up and finish with 8:30, but that dose not seam to likely.

So wish me luck, I will post the results, tomorrow as soon as I can find my way home.

MIA (Detroit 07, Week 14, 15, and 16) Taper.

I have not died, nor quit running. I am still running the marathon, I have just been VERY Busy, and blogging about my Taper weeks would have been about as interesting as watching paint dry.

I have several Large side projects, as well as a "crunch" going on at work, this translates into working 10-12 hour days at work, and 4 or so more hours each night. As well as most of the weekend. This has barely left me time to do my taper runs, and none to write about them.

So I will sum up the last 3 weeks. I ran to fast on the short runs, and had a hard time with the long runs. About the only thing worth mentioning is that my long run, the week after my above mentioned 20 miler, was horrid, I ran to fast, did not sleep or eat properly, and was in a bad mood to boot. The long run, last week was only 12 miles and it went very well, so in short. Some good runs, some bad runs.

Anyway. Back to work. Tomorrow is the Marathons, and I plan on doing a separate post later tonight about my game plan.

Much Better (Detroit 07, Week 13 Day 4)

Long Run: 20Miles @ 8:53
Planned: 20Miles @ 9:00

I cant begin to say how much better I feel after this run. This was the first time I have every ran 20 miles under 9:00 without stopping or walking. This was my primary goal. I have run further in the past but not without walking.

I have been having such a hard time with the wall, for the last month. Today I pouched right through the Wall, and was able to run the last mile at at respectable 8:30, up hill. This week my entire goal was just not to walk, even if my pace dropped. Luckily since I had already decided to relax my pace back down to 9:00 for this run I was able to do this entire run without ever drooping behind my goal time.

I am going to treat this run as a kind of dress rehearsal for the marathon. I have officially decided to make my goal pace 9:00 instead of 8:30. This should allow me to keep on track and not burn out. And will still give me a planed finish time of 3:55, which will officially make me a Sub 4hour runner. Helping me secure better starting location in future races.

I don't know how much of the success of this run was due to my new shoes, but I can tell you for sure that they did not hurt the run at all. I think I my have found the right marathon running shoes. I will reserve final judgment until I have done a few weeks on them, but with 32 miles in them this week I am feeling pretty positive.

No Chart today since I had to restart my run at around 7 miles due to audiobook problems. And I ended up recording two. one 7 and one 13. Both were pretty accurate. But would just be confusing if I posted them.

Next week starts my taper. The hard part of training is over, lets just hope it was enough.

New Shoes (Detroit 2007, Week 13 Day 2 & 3)

Wendsday (Day 2)
Pace Run: 6Miles @ 8:21
Planned: Tempo 6Miles - 4Miles @ 7:25

Since last week was kind of a unexpectedly bad time, I was a bit concerned about doing my speed work. So I decided to make some tweaks to this weeks schedule. So I replaced my speedwork with my Thursday Pace Run. And decided to do a EZ run Thursday.

I have been concerned that I need some more padded shoes. After doing some research I decided to try the Nike Air Pegasus. They are a nice neutral shoe, with more padding. Ironical they cost 10 bucks less then the Air Moires that I have been running in.

Thursday (Day 4)
EZ Run: 6Miles @ 8:34
Planned: 6Miles @ 8:30

This run went fine, the new shoes seam to be working out well. I am mostly trying to make sure that I am stretching, and letting my legs relax. Sunday's 20 Milers is about the only thing on my mind.

A bit Better (Detroit 07, Week 13 Day 1)

EZ Run: 4miles @ 8:27
Planned: 4miles @ 8:45

I was worried about my run this morning, so for once I took some time to stretch before I went out. (Note... Well Da..) And it went much better. I did however run to fast. This I think is one of the underlying problems I have had with this training cycle.

Now that I think on it I think doing my pace runs at 8:30 my have been a mistake. The point of EZ runs is to build stamina without straining your body. I have only been doing one a week, instead of the 2 recommended by smart coach, and that one I have on average ran 15 seconds faster then I was supposed to.

Oh well, today I feel OK, so I am going to continue on as planned. But next time I will have alto to think about before I lock myself into a schedule.

Smooth Sailing (Detroit 07, Week 12 Day 3)

EZ Run: 8miles @ 8:45
Planned: 8miles @ 8:50

As I had hoped this run was uneventful. I am feeling a bit more sour then I was expecting, considering this is a recovery week, but over all things went well. Next week may be different but for the moment I cant complain.

Oh, and I did Finlay officially sign up for the Marathon today, can't back out now.

Short Winded (Detroit 07, Week 12 Day 1)

EZ Run: 6miles @ 8:41
Planned: 6miles @ 8:50

I realize that my post have been getting log winded, and rambling. Today I will be brief, the run went fine. At the end I was hardly even sweating. This week is recovery so with luck this will be the case for the rest of the week.

Ups and Downs (Detroit 2007, Week 11 Day 4)

Long Run: 20miles @ 8:54
planned: 20miles @ 8:50

Ups and downs, that pretty much describes this run to a tee. I was not feeling to to positive as I hit the road. But I managed to get out and moving while it was still cool. But after the first few miles I was feeling better. I decided to go on a new new route, I hit my first hill around 3.5 miles in, but since I was fresh I did not notice it to much. At mile 6.5 I hit a much bigger one. This one I defiantly noticed. But still I was above my pace.

Around mile 9 I was sure that this was going to be my best 20 miler yet. I knew that I was going to be able to finish without stopping. I was quite proud of myself for downing GU, and washing it down without stopping, or even losing time.

I continued to feel well, until around mile 11 when I hit yet another big hill, I felt seconds slipping away as I climbed it, and when I got to the top I decided I would book it down the other size. The crazy thing was, that I thought I was booking it but apparently I did speed up much at all. This is the point where I started to realize that I was losing a my momentum.

At the Half Marathon mark, I found myself overwhelmed with the urge to walk. It was only for a few minutes. I took off for another 3 miles, around mile 16 I hit the wall for real. I walked another 400m or so, and downed my last GU. With that I began the last 4 miles. Despite my best efforts I found myself walking after each of the remaining miles.

After I walked again at the end of mile 18, I decided to give what ever I had left up in the last mile. I walked around for a few minutes, stretched. Restarted my watch and hit it. Somehow I manage to finish the last mile in 7:21. This brought my average back up to a respectable 8:54.

The thing I want to know is this, If I had the energy to do a 7:21 mile after 19 miles. How come I could not manage to continue at a casual 9:00 or so with out taking walk brakes. I only have one more 20mile run before the race, and my only goal is to finish it without walking.

Chafing sucks (Detroit 07, Week 11 Day 3)

Pace Run: 7miles @ 8:28
Planned: 7miles @ 8:30

After chocking on my speedwork on Thursday, I was not in to good of a mode. So on my way home I stopped to buy some new running gear, to lift my spirits. I got some new shorts and a shirt, as well as a new stick of Body Glide. This was because last weeks long run had given me quite the friction burn, in some sensitive places.

However I got started on my run a bit later then I had planned, I tried out my new shorts, and shirt, but forgot the Body Glide I realized this about 2 miles into my 7 miles. Needless to say I got to spend the rest of the day walking like a cowboy freshly of the range. Hopefully I will be recovered by Sunday. I can tell you what I wont be forgetting before I leave for that run.

Aside from all that the run went fine. I don't seam to have any problems with 8:30 in relatively short distances. I don't however, know how this would have gone had it been 17 miles instead of 7.

Not so bad (Detroit 07, Week 11 Day 1)

EZ Run: 4.31 Miles @ 8:38
Planned: 4Miles @ 8:50

Well, by the end of my run Sunday I was convinced that I would not be able to run for a week. I was convinced that I was going to be in at least as bad shape as I was after LA.

But to my surprise This morning I was feeling fine. For the first half mile or so I was a bit stiff, but by the time I hit mile one things had loosened up, I found myself ahead of pace. Since I was still feeling good, so I let myself continue to run a bit faster then planned. By the time I finessed I was was quite a bit ahead.

I am still convinced that I need re-think my goals. But I will wait to see how next weeks long run goes.

Dragon*Con Detour (Detroit 07, Week 9 Day 2)

EZ Run: 6miles @ 8:44
Planned: 6miles @ 8:55
Weight: Don't remember.

I am writing this 5 days, late, and after missing day 3, and 4 of week nine.

Thursday, right after my morning run I got in my car and drove 700 miles to Atlanta, for Dragon*Con. For the few normal people who know me, Dragon*Con is the worlds biggest Sci-Fi Fantasy/ fan convention. It takes place in Atlanta Georgia and pretty much takes over the down town district. I have been going as a guest for the last 3 years, doing panels on working in the video game industry, and art & technology. It is quite fun, but is not really the best place to hit the road for a 10 mile run.

I did bring my shoes, and had planned on running on the hotel treadmill, but that lasted about as long as it took for me to do my first panel. The good thing is that I know I was going to have a hard time running while at the convention, this was one of the reasons I moved my recovery week back one, Hopefully the missing 16 miles will not bring my progress to a halt.

I'm going to try and get back on scheduler now, and will be doing my first week 10 run later today.

Needless to say, the 5 days of convention and driving did not help my diet much either.

Recovery (Detroit 07, Week 9 Day 1)

EZ Run: 6miles @ 8:51
Planned: 6miles @ 8:55
Weight: 196

Today's run went surprisingly well. I was still a bit sour from Sundays 22miles, and had a hard time getting myself out of bed, so I was sure that I was in trouble. Not to mention my Gigantic blisters. However after the first half mile or so, my legs loosened up and I relaxed, and before I knew it I was on my way back home. I managed to keep my pace pretty regular, and finished a bit ahead of planned. I hardly even heard a pip form my blisters, this gives me hope that they will not be a long term issue.

Evan my Nike+ seamed to approve, coming in only .03 of a mile off.

Of blisters & Ice water (Detorit 07, Week 8 Day 4)

Long 22Miles @ 8:52
Planned: 22Miles @ 8:55
Weight: 193.5

Today's long run, was the longest I have done since LA. I defiantly hit the wall, but I did it with some grace. Over all the run went well, though I did have some unfortunate adventures along the way.

As always I started off a bit faster then I should have, and all was going well, I started out around 7:30 am, and it was only 55f, but the humidity was a lovely 96%. Around 5 miles in I noticed that I was feeling some irritation on the inside of my right insole. I stopped of a moment or two to check for in my socks, but all was clear as I could tell. I ran another 400m or so and decided to check again. But still nothing in my socks. I realized that I was not wearing my fancy running socks, but some older new balance socks. I decided to just push on and hope the irritation went away.

Beside the socks, the first 14 mile went very well. At mile 12 I started down a trail that I had never been on. It was quite a nice, relatively flat, with a gravel, and dirt surface. Mostly through wetlands, and woods. At Mile 14miles I made a quick stop to have drink and do some GU. But got back on the track quickly. Around 16 miles in I hit the wall, but managed to keep it from stopping me in my tracks. At mile 17 I walked some 400m, and again at mile 19, and 21. After each brake, save the last my pace dropped.

The nice thing was that because I was .3 of a mile ahead around mile 15, I was able to average my goal pace, even with several of the last miles coming in over 9.

I finished my 22miles in the little town of Gregory, and here I made a mistake. I had run out of Gatorade around mile 17, and was quite thirsty by the time I stopped my reached my goal. Only a few hundred feet form a convenience store, I went in a bought a bottle of water. I tried to drink slowly, but despite my best efforts, I managed to make myself quite ill form drinking to much cold water to quickly. By the time my wife picked me up and got me home I was pretty sure I was not going to vomit. But it had been a close one.

The last lesson of the day, was revealed when I took of my shoes, the worst blisters I have ever had. Once of which is easily the size of a small egg. I cleaned them up and bandaged them up, all I can say is I am glad that next week is a recovery week.

Over all I cant complain to much, I however realize that I have along way to go, in the next 8 weeks.

Back on Pace (Detroit 2007, Week 8 Day 3)

Pace Run: 4miles @ 8:21
Planned: 4miles @ 8:30
Weight: 196

This pace run went fine, though I am starting to think that once again I am being to optimistic with my marathon goal. I do not feel that I should be even remotely tired out by only 4 miles.

Sunday is the first 20+ long run I have done since LA. I am a bit nervous about it. At least it did not rain on me this morning, though with the humidity so high it might as well have.

Back on the Tredmill (Detroit 07, Week 8 Day 2)

Tempo Run: 6miles - 4miles @ 7:26
Planned: 6miles - 4miles @ 7:30
Weight: 155.5

Today was the first time I have run on the treadmill since the winter. We had some crazy thunder showers last night, and I did not feel like getting covered with mud, so I found myself in the on my treadmill once again.

There are definitely some advantages to a tread mill, it is much easy to stay on pace, since you simple set it, and go. But it is also misleading because you dint have to mentally control your pace, so you don't truly learn what the pace feels like.

My the only down side is that I sweet like a pig, in my rec room, is starting to smell like a gym. I'm not happy about it. There is only so much scented candles can do.

Rescheduled (Detroit 07, Week 8 Day 1)

EZ Run: 4miles @ 8:52
Planned: 4miles @ 8:55
Weight: (Forgot to check)

Doing the Run Thru Hell, and the Mellon Run, over the last two weeks really through off my schedule. So I have decided to re-adjust things a bit.

Since this week was supposed to be a recovery week, I have decide to push it to next week. This week I will instead do the runs I was supposed to do last week. I will then do the recovery week runs next week. This will work out well as I will be a DragonCon, and I do not want to have to do any long or difficult runs on a hotel treadmill.

I will continue thing form there, one week behind, until week 12, when I will start my taper runs as originally planned.

PS. The other plan messed up over the last two weeks was my diet. which I have been completely ignoring.

All messed up. (Detroit 07, Week 6 Day 2)

EZ Run: 2miles @ 8:55
Planned: 5miles - 3x1600 @ 7:30
Weight: Forgot to check (don't want to know)

As I mentioned on Tuesday, I missed a day, and was not feeling very good, due to running a race on Saturday, and not sleeping on Monday night.

Since I was planning to run the a 10k race on Friday, I decided to skip my tempo run this week, and make the race my speedwork. This made it much more depressing when I went out planning on doing a easy 4 mile run, and barley making it through 2.

I guess I was just more messed up then I thought. I'm going to spend some quality time stretching and hope that I can still make it to the race tomorrow.

Run Thru Hell 2007

Race: 10miles @ 8:29
Place: 24 of 47, in age group, 457 / 2000-ish over all.
Finish Time: 1:24:43

This was my second "Run Thru Hell" Last year I had only been running a few months when I signed up for it, and was very disappointed with my time of 1:39:09. This year I am in much better shape, and have put over 1500 additional miles on, and I can now say I am amazed I survived this race last year.

This race is well know in Michigan, and what it is know for is Hills. I cant say if it is the hilliest run around, but I think it must be. Its not that the hills are so tall, I think the course only varies about 200 or 300 feet, but it is over short distances and often. I went into this race ready for the hills, I thought, but It turns out I was not ready for the hills to stop.

My dream time for this was 1:20. That would be averaging 8 minute miles, and I thought with the hills that might be optimistic. I was kind of right. I knew that the last steep hill was around 6 miles in, and spent all my time making sure I was had energy to make it. The good news is I did it, the bad news is that right around mile 7 I lost my will to live. I don't know if I rally hit the wall, or not, It was just that I had spent so much time worrying about the hills that When they were more or less over I came down from what ever rush was keeping me going.

At mile six I was still averaging sub 8:00 miles. Mile 7 brought me down to 9:00 and mile by mile eight, mostly due to walking some 800m or so I managed to almost hit 11:00. When I saw that I managed to pull my self together and finish in the lower 8's. The good news is because of my strong start I managed to come in just under my official goal time of 1:25. But I sure would have been much happier with the 1:20 that I was so close to getting before mile 7.

The strange thing is, I am sure I could have kept running all of mile 8, It goes to show that I have allot to learn, and most of it is mental. Here is the elevation and pace graph form my gamin, I was amazed how steady I was staying through the big hills. Then you can see me choke.


Tomorrow I am supposed to do 20miles for my Detroit training. My legs feel fine tonight, but I will adjust my plans in the morning should I find myself in to much discomfort.

Soaked (Detroit 07, Week 6 Day 1)

EZ Run: 4miles @ 8:48
Planned: 3miles @ 8:55
Weight: 197.5

Despite my ranting last week, I ended up running in the evening, so of course I ended up running in 96 Degrees and 100% Humidity. So by the end of my run, I looked like I had a bucket of water pored over my head. You know you are sweating when you take a 10 minute shower after you run and continue to sweat fir 10 more minutes after that.

I ran a mile further today then I had planned, because I have decided to move things around quite a bit, I have decided to go ahead do the "Run Thou Hell" on Saturday. Which is a 10 miles run through hills. This however is messing up my schedule. I think i will keep my speedwork the same, but the rest of the week is going to be tweaked as needed.

Sadly I have been badly cheating on my diet, I cant seam to get serous about it, It is hard to worry about 5 or 10 pounds when you get back from a 20 mile run.

"Longer" Run (Detroit 07, Week 5 Day 4)

Long Run: 20miles @ 8:55*
Planned: 18miles @ 8:55
Weight: 194

This run should really read 18miles @ 8:50 and 2Miles @ 9:30. My main concern with training for the Detroit Marathon is to get my distance endurance up. I hit the wall hard in LA and do not want to ever go through that again. So with this in mind I decided to push this run up to 20 miles.

My only concern with this run was that I once again took a few walk brakes, about 400 or so meters. One at 10miles, One at 14, and one at 18. The first two were to drink some Gatorade and down a "GU". The last was to decide weather I wanted to run two more miles. I decided since my official workout was over to just run the last two at whatever pace felt comfortable. This turned out to be around 9:30. The nice thing was that by the time I averaged everything out I ended up averaging 8:55 over the entire 20 miles, and that is the EZ pace I am supposed to be doing.

After the last few long runs, I was concerned about heat and humidity. I went so far as to by a extra bottle for my "fuel belt", and some GU. I wanted very much to make sure that I was well hydrated. The funny thing was that today It rained on me the entire time, this made the run easier in some way, and harder in other. I was quite covered in mud by the time I got back home. But between the rain and the extra Gatorade I feel that I managed to finish up with out feeling like a dried out husk.

Detroit 2007, Week 3 Day 4

Long Run: 16Miles @ 8:59
Planned: 16Miles @ 9:00

I don't really know what to say about today's run. I Was not in a very good mood as I hit the road. I was once more annoyed to find out my Ipod was dead. It seams that my computer had shut down, but the Ipod on its dock seamed to have stayed on, with no power coming up the USB cable. So I had to wait until it charged up to about half way. Never the less I hit the road about 8:30 with Harry Potter and some Gatorade strapped to my back.

I lucked out and my legs seamed fine, but after about 4 miles in I took a 200m walk brake, and took off again. I decided I would take another brake at 8, and 12, miles. I did this and a few shorter brakes as well. I was a bit upset that I did this, but it seamed to work out OK.

I am trying to keep myself from worrying about walking, but its hard, it makes me feel like I am blowing it. I need to work on getting my mental state to last through these things.

Detroit 2007, Week 3 Day 3

Pace Run: 5miles @ 8:25
Planned: 5miles @ 8:30

Despite yesterdays painfully cool down, I seamed to have know problems today. I did wait until the evening to run. I of course started off to fast, and ended up running mile 3 a bit slower then I wanted. But over all I ended up feeling good with the run.

I am still a bit annoyed that my iPod batteries failed on my Wednesday, I lost 5 miles from my current challenges, and goals. But I am pleased that it looks like that was the only lasting damage done by my thursday speedwork.

Detroit 2007, Week 3 Day 2

Tempo Run: 5.1miles - 3.1 @ 7:24
Planned: 5miles - 3 @ 7:35

This was one of those days when I cant help but feel I should not have run. It started off when I awoke feeling like a cranky old man. Forced myself to get up to run, and found that both my Garmin and my Ipod had dead batteries. After messing around with them for a half hour I just decided to wait and run in the evening.

I spent the rest of the day watching as the humidity built, and the temperature climbed. Buy the afternoon I was convinced that I would be running on the treadmill if at all. Thin the rain came. As it will do sometimes in Michigan it came came down in sheets, knocking down branches, signs, and gutters. But when it left the sky was blue, and the humidity was back to a livable level.

By the time I got home from work, changed and made it over to the local high school track (without my I