It's Time 2 Run

My anxiety is at an all time high! I feel just flat out overwhelmed. Besides the increasing mileage of my training program, Tomorrow is my first race of the year and it’s going to rain. Not just drizzle but rain the whole race. It’s a 10k but my plan was to use this race as a fitness test. I wan’t to see the benefits of all this training in a shorter race. Kentucky weather in the Ohio River Valley has struck again! The weather outlook was mid 40’s at race time 2 days ago to torrential downpour the night before. Here’s the kicker. It snowed in between then as well. It’s becoming frustrating. Now I’m wanting to go to sleep but can’t. Anxiety has got me all jacked up about this race in the stupid rain. Wasn’t March about the wind coming in like a lion and going  out like a lamb? I am not ready for April showers.

Man oh Man! It’s been a mentally tough week. I’ve been over thinking my training. Physically, I’m feeling really strong. However, since I’m feeling strong, I am not sure if I am pushing myself as hard as I need. Should I just trust my training program or should I add extra to it? That is the conflict.

The weather played nice this week. Each of my runs was in the mid-forties temperature wise at the start of the run. That is actually what I prefer. The temperature is chilly at first but feels great after warming up. After warming up, I don’t sweat too bad either. I hate getting sweat in my eyes. The temperature also keeps my heart rate lower. I can give more effort without taxing my heart. That’s a win-win!

This weeks long run topped off at 15 miles at Cherokee Park for the hills. The overall elevation climb was nearly 1300 feet. My legs didn’t really feel it till about mile 12. No lie… I was hurting the last 3 miles. In the end, I ran my fastest 15 miler ever! Very impressive considering the elevation.

I’m injury free and it seems my tendonitis in my knee is doing better. So, onward to week 8!

This is without a doubt a prime example of weather extremes that happen in the Ohio River Valley and particularly Louisville Kentucky. Snow and below freezing temperatures at the beginning of the week to mid 70’s and sunshine by the end of the week. I have to check the weather report everyday and sometimes several times a day before going on runs. It’s absolutely incredible how the weather can fluctuate here. 

Despite the weather, It was a solid week of training. I am doing my best to focus on my running form and posture this week. Good posture helps with my breathing. My pacing was spot on this week although my long run at the beginning of the week was slower than I wanted. The snow and cold had something to do with it. Guess, I’ll take it for now.

No injuries, and that’s a good thing. I do have some minor tendonitis developing in my knee. Till now, I haven’t been icing my knees after runs. That’s going to change going forward. Damn these old man knees…

This is a bittersweet moment. I have to say goodbye to not one but two pairs of shoes. The difficulty is not just in letting the shoes go but in some ways it’s saying goodbye to the memories as well. Because of my size and running efficiency, I am only able to get about 225 to 250 miles out of a pair of shoes. That means a shoe only lasts me 2 months or so at the current mileage rate. I always have to plan ahead in my shoe purchases. It’s still difficult to let the shoes go.

I became of a fan of the Adidas Boost shoes and the Tempo Boost were my first pair of distance “racing shoes”. Although they weren’t a perfect fit, I set many PR’s in these shoes. Even when they started falling apart I would super glue pieces back together. I just couldn’t let the shoes go. Sadly, I kept them too long as my knees started to feel bad after runs.  As seen in the pic below, on a flat surface, both shoes lean towards the inside. A clear sign that they’re wearing down. Goodbye Tempo Boost 7’s. You served me well.

The next pair is the Adidas Supernova Sequence 7’s. They were another pair of Adidas Boost shoes. I used these as my trainers. The added stability helped me keep proper foot form when I got tired. Unfortunately, these just didn’t feel good anymore. The red midsole started to breakdown.Goodbye old friend…

I’ll be donating both pairs. Hopefully they will find purpose in the afterlife….

Yes it’s the end of week five of marathon training. I survived another week. There’s been some difficulties this week that I’ll share in this weeks summary post and in a future post. Let’s get into the review.

This week’s pacing wasn’t as fast as last weeks. No records or PR’s were set this week. As a matter of fact this was the the anti-PR week. I guess the fast pacing of last week caught up to me. I felt sluggish and stiff all week. I’m going to try to do things to help me recover better during this next week.

The snow returned this week just in time for my long Sunday run. I could have gone inside on the treadmill but the time limit would have had me stop and restart at about the 11 mile mark. I headed outside because I also needed the hill work. My body is paying the price of doing 13 miles of hills in the snow. I know the whole “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” mantra applies but I feel horrible right now. Mentally I’m still in it. Just physically feel dead.

Onward to week 6..

I’ve put another week behind me. It’s getting hard to believe that I’m less than a few months from marathon day on April 30th. Scared still but getting very anxious and confident as the training sessions go by.

This weeks training went excellent! I’m moving fast and setting records along the way. I ran my fastest 7 mile run this week. Beat my time by over a minute. I consider this an awesome accomplishment because it was done outside of racing. It didn’t stop there. My long run of the week was a 12 miler. I attacked that run and ran faster than I probably should have. I felt great though. I guess sometimes you have to run based on perceived effort. All in all, I still feel very strong. And… yes, I’m injury free!

There’s more snow in the forecast and that has me a little down going into week 5. Hopefully, it won’t be so bad. I don’t want to end up on the treadmill for my long run.

Yes! I survived the snow that put me inside for the majority of week three. I honestly have a dislike of the treadmill because I’d rather be outside. It’s always humid in the gym which makes for a more difficult run. Plus, being on the “dreadful” is flat out boring! There’s no scenery to enjoy other than that of people trying to out lift each other. That gets predictably boring after about 30 minutes. Needless to say, I’m glad that the weather is getting warmer.

As far as training, it has been a good week. My goal is always to stay healthy. So far, no injuries. I am sore but I’m recovering enough between workouts to keep on my training program. My program has taken me up to 11 miles on my long run. I chose to do the long runs at Cherokee Park because of the hills. A few of my upcoming races are full of hills. I’m moving just above 30 miles this week and soon will be approaching 40+ miles a week. Overall, I am getting stronger and feeling great.