Marathon 2004

run.soon.maybe

2004-09-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well it doesn’t look like I will be running in the Toronto marathon. In fact my physiotherapist recommends against it. I’ve been out of running for over a month now, and I think I’ve packed on 8lbs. granted I haven’t done a lot of cross training; I’m scared to do anything that moves my knee. On the plus side it seemed to be getting better. This past week of physio was killer, my quads are literally internally bruised from the electronic pulses designed to make them expand and contract!

I hope to run in the Ottawa on in May; but I learned an important lesson with this one marathon, never register early – I just lost my 60$ bucks!

not running sucks

2004-07-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

So I’ve taken an entire week off running. I never thought I would say this but not running sucks. My knees feel stronger, but I am weary of testing them out on the open road. Last night I managed to sneak in a 200meter run on the treadmill just so my body doesn’t forget how to run.

When I do start running again I’m going to slow the pace down to about a 4:00h marathon -- that should help with the joints I think. It will be better than the 3:30 pace i was running with at the very least.

I’m hoping to have my first run again next Wednesday – which will be exactly two weeks off.

sore

2004-07-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

I skipped the 16K run today; decided to stay home and rest. My knees are sore and require rest. I've done a lot of reading this week and it seems to suggest that i've having problems adjusting to the increased distances because i've done to much to soon. Basicallly i went from very little running to about 40K a week over the past 5 weeks. I think my body just needs a break. I'll do a 6K Tuesday.

Gatorade blister

2004-07-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

The day started off on a sour note as I opened the freezer and the Gatorade toppled onto my foot and spilt onto the floor. I thought that the orange soaker would add a little flavor to the run. Little did I know, around 9K I would get a Gatorade blister. Ouch!

16K was actually a lot easier than I had expected. I finished, with one blister, a sore knee, and a sore little toe – all on the same side of my body!

:)

Man of steel - not here unless you like rust

2004-07-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

Well I’ve been keeping up with the running. However, I must admit, it’s been a lot harder recently. I think the constant pounding on the pavement has encouraged my knees to go into a sore state.

According to the Physio lady I met last night this is nothing new. She nicely explained, “your knees are not used to the pounding, they will learn to adapt. … you can do stretches and ice them”.

Running this week so far:

Sunday: 13K decent pace
Wednesday: 5K fast pace (fast for me anyways)

turn up the intensity

2004-06-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Two days of hard running and I’m beat. I ran 6k last night really fast, and 10K tonight with the 3:30 pace group. I don’t know if I can keep those times up, the 3:30 pace group is quite the stretch when you are running 5 days a week. I might go back to the 3:45 pace group.

According to GNC I’ve lost quite a bit of fat, which is good I suppose. Soon I will be a lean mean running machine.

errr 13 anyone?

2004-06-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

A 13K has come and gone. I ran a 6K Saturday morning, and a 13K Sunday morning. My only complaint would be the blood blister on my baby toe hurt. 13K wasn’t really different than the 10K. My body adjusted at about 5k, and the rest was relatively easy. I concede I wasn’t running in a fast pace group, I was in the 4:00h pace group today. Since I’m doing the 3:45 pace group on Wednesdays I think I will switch into that group next weekend and see how it goes.

New shoes soon!

2004-06-23T18:26:00.000-07:00

My first Wednesday 10K with the running room has come and gone. There was no 4:00H marathon pace group so I blended in with the 3:45 group hoping not to abate their pace and it worked out well. I was challenged, but not to the point of wanting to give up. I think that is a good pace, so on Wednesday’s I’ll probably go with the 3:45 pace group, and on Sunday’s I’ll join the 4:00 pace for the long slow runs.

I know this might sound strange, but I find the first 4-5K a lot harder than the last 5-6K of a 10K run even though I am going the same pace – does anyone know why?

Another 10K down

2004-06-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

What a difference a week makes. Last week when I ran 10K I was pretty tired at the end, this week I felt like I could have run forever. It’s amazing what your body will tell you if you just listen to it.

Does anyone know a comprehensive guide to running that is fairly advanced? I went to look in chapters the other day, and I couldn’t find anything that wasn’t the basics?

s l o w :)

2004-06-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

My legs felt heavy today during a ~5K run. It wasn’t easy leaving my apartment today, everything was telling me not to run. My legs were stiff and sore, my upper back was tight, even the heat and humidity were testing my desire. Eventually I made it out the door and ran a decent pace. My goal tonight was just to keep my heart rate in a good exercise range, not to high. Apparently most people train with their heart rate to high.

Bib Number 196

2004-06-16T18:46:00.000-07:00

First run with the running room was tonight, a very fast ~7K run. I really want a GPS!

What GNC told me

2004-06-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

I find it rather interesting that man has invented a scale that when stepped on will display accurate measures of your weight, water weight, body fat percentage, body fat in terms of actual weight, and much more. This is amazing! I just walked into GNC, paid my two dollars, and stepped on the scale!

The print out looks like this:

Body Type: Standard

Gender: Male

Age: 24

Height: 5ft11.0in
Weight: 178.21lbs

BMI: 24.9
(I’m the borderline overweight, 25.0 would be overweight)

Fat%: 15.6%
(A healthy range is considered between 12%-20% for my age)

BMR: 8040kj/1922 cal.
(measures the energy used by the body to maintain normal body functions when the body is at rest, for those that are not familiar with it.)

Fat Mass: 27.81
(yikes!)

FFM: 150.41
TBW: 110.01lbs (total body water)

According to the print out my desirable fat mass range is between (24.4-37.61).

It’ll be interesting to see how my body changes over the next several months of hard training. Tonight I run 10K.

Lazy Run (6K)

2004-06-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

Today I went for an easy 6K run. It was pretty effortless overall and more for tempo than anything else. It was good to get out and run again having taken Monday off, but I will be running 10K tomorrow and another 6K on Thursday. I think this is where my body will start to show signs of its second week of running.

If you count Sunday I will be running (10K, 6K, 10K, 6K) this week, totaling 32K. Not that bad, but a shock to the legs nonetheless.

I drank a lot of water today, but I had a lot of sugar as well. I really need to cut back on the sugar.

10K by 10am

2004-06-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

The asphalt began to warm as I pounded it continuously. It doesn’t give as my feet pound it - not even an inch…

Today was my first ‘group’ run with the Running room. They do this every week, with or without clinics on. I have learned, during clinics, Running Room varies the distances and has pace runners on Sundays. Next week will be a 12K run I think. When there is no clinic ongoing, like today’s run, they typically have a 5K, 10K and 16K groups.

I feel really good today, aside from my quadriceps wanting to kill me. It’s interesting to see the effects of a 25K week on your body. I’m full of energy as I type this (30 minutes after the 10K), and feel like I’m going to get a good sleep tonight.

I think my concentration, throughout the week, was noticeably better. Next week should present some new challenges, as the mileage increases. I’m going to have to drink more water, and eat a little better. I’m also hoping that sleeping becomes easier, as a result of all the running.

I’m going to weigh myself before my clinic starts on Wednesday, to see what changes occur over the next 18 weeks of running. As the mileage goes up, I want to document the differences, both physical and mental. I know my body fat % to about a 1% deviation, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with that over the course of the next 18 weeks.

Keep posted!

Day Three: Fast Twitch By Design

2004-06-10T16:50:00.000-07:00

I think my body is fast twitch by design – just kidding. Had a really good run today – I’m guessing ~9K.

The run today was great! The running felt relatively painless when compared to Tuesday’s torturous 7K. My quadriceps are feeling tonight’s run already.

One of my biggest worries is that I wouldn’t be able to think of anything while I was running and I would get bored. Tonight was a relatively fast 50 minutes of running, I wasn’t going as fast as I would have liked, but I was going a sustainable pace. My goal for this week is just to get my mileage (kilometers!) to around 30. So far the total is about ~16K.

I’m in the running room marathon class starting next week – the first week starts at about 32K and the distance goes up steadily for the next 18 weeks. I’m trying to get my body conditioned for it, although I don’t think one week of running is going to be enough. I’m debating if I’ll be able to keep up with this pace because I’ve done little running (this year) previous.

Time for fajitas!

Day Two

2004-06-09T20:31:00.000-07:00

Aside from walking I didn’t do much physical activity today. I needed a day to relax, and consume water.

Side note: I went to see ‘super size’ me tonight. Certainly makes me want to eat better.

Tomorrow I run 

Day one - I can't run worth beans.

2004-06-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

So I’m attempting to run in the Toronto marathon in October. Why? A very valid question. When I was watching the finish of the Ottawa marathon, my internal voices were saying – “I could do this if I wanted to...”. So I’ve decided to put those voices to the test, can I really do this? Or am I all talk?

I question whether I have the discipline to actually do this.

I went for a ~7k run today in preparation for the running room marathon clinic that I signed up for. I’m in way over my head, I struggled for almost every meter of that 7k run. Granted it was hot, and I didn’t drink a lot of water today – a fact I’m suffering from now (headache from dehydration.) LESSON LEARNED – DRINK A TON OF WATER.

Something that really pisses me off – when people pass you that you know are in worse shape then you. Personally, I wonder for the next five minutes how they managed to pass me! It doesn’t matter that they were probably not running, in duration, as long as I have before they passed me. It doesn't matter how or why they passed me - it sucks no matter how you spin it.

I was thinking while I was running about a couple of things. If I can increase my distance 1k every ten days for the next 100 days I can run 17K. The guy at the running room mentioned that if you could run 16K you can run a half marathon. Two sentences later he mentioned that if you have done a half marathon you can run a full marathon. So, with a little numeric trickery, I can run a marathon. I concede this is not the perfect logic.

This weblog will serve as a portal into my life – and how I intend to go from an average running distance of 7K to running 26.2 miles in exactly 130 days. I’ve heard the marathon is, next to the iron man, a great physical and mental accomplishment that has few equals. Plus I have to start running at least 30K a week - starting next week. On the plus side, I should have no problems sleeping.

I have no time goal. Well I guess that’s a lie – I want to beat my buddy who ran a 4:40.

I’m planning on altering my diet as well, more healthy stuff, and slightly less coke. Typically I would say I am a relatively healthy eater. If you were to compare me to the American populace, where one in four people visit a fast food restaurant everyday, I’m pretty healthy.

Anyways this is day one, of a long journey. I hope you all find this incredible struggle amusing.