Today was my last really long run until the Martian Marathon!!! YAY!!!! I did 21 today.  Over the next few weeks, I only have to do long runs of 12, 14, 10, and 12.  I am so happy that the 20 milers are over and done with.  When I started this morning, my legs were sluggish.  I just kept telling them to hold on for one last long run and then I would give them a break.  Thankfully, they held out and I finished in 3:00:28.

I changed things up a bit for my run today and did one big loop rather than lots of smaller loops.  I generally do smaller loops without going too far from home.  It gets boring seeing the same things over and over again, so I decided to do a route I have never done.  It ended up being a great run.  Nearly half of it was on a paved trail or on country roads with little to no traffic.  Very peaceful.  I ran for as long as I could without looking at my watch because I didn’t want to know how far I had gone.  I had a general idea of my distance though because the main roads are all a mile apart and I could count them off in my head as I passed them (44th street, 52nd street, 60th, street… 84th street).

I didn’t look at my watch until well after the turn around point.  I was running low on Gatorade so I stopped at the grocery store to fill up at the drinking fountain using a single serving Gatorade powder package. As I left the store, I broke down and looked at my watch.  17 miles.  YAY!!!! I thought I was only going to be at 15 or so.  17 was a blessing.  I picked up the pace a bit for the next mile.  And then I hit a hill which kicked me in the face a bit and slowed me right back down.

As I hit the driveway, my watched beeped over for 21 miles.  I was very happy to be done.  The run turned out to be hillier than I expected, but I felt strong throughout.

After the run, I took a snow bath and downed a box of Mac and Cheese to refuel before starting my work day at noon.  I made sure to get up and walk around the house every half hour or so to make sure my legs didn’t tighten up too much.

After dinner, I headed up to the pool for open swim.  I figured that the swim would be good recovery for my legs as long as I didn’t push it too hard.  When I got to the pool, it was a ghost town.  I thought that I had the time wrong or something.  Turns out, I was the only person who showed up.  I had the pool to myself for almost a half hour before two other guys showed up.

For my workout, I did:

1 x 500
1 x 400 Pull
1 x 300
1 x 200 Pull
2 x 100 Kick w/ fins
1 x 200
1 x 300 Pull
1 x 400
(1 x 500 Pull Skipped)
2500 yards total

I really wanted to do the last 500 yards to get to a full 3000 yards, but my calves were starting to cramp up and I didn’t want to push it.  It was a very casual swim and I didn’t even time myself.  I just wanted to get the distance in and stay comfortable, so no sense cramping up.

Not sure what the rest of the weekend will bring, but I’m hoping to get in at least one outdoor bike ride if the weather cooperates and another run.

Now, it is time to relax and enjoy a beer (or two).

This week was a rest week as part of my two on, one off training schedule.  So, my long for the week was only 8 miles.  I decided that because it was a shorter distance than I am used to for my long run, I would use it as a tempo run.    After starting off with a 4 mile warm up, I hit the halfway point and kicked it into gear. I dug deep and was able to knock out 3 miles at 7:29, 7:34, 7:32.  While not my greatest 1 mile splits, I am happy with them because the snow/slush made it harder than normal to keep a steady pace without losing my footing. 

The fast 3 miles allowed me to negative split the run with a 31:45 (7:54 pace) on the out and a 30:35 (7:37 pace) on the back.

On top of my great run, I took a step this week to keep myself safe on my long runs and bike rides – I bought a RoadID.  Steve in a Speedo recently posted a 20% coupon code (good until March 15th).  Head on over there if you are interested and give him some love.  The code saved me $6 off the final price.

I ended up going with the WristID Sport model in black.  The website was very easy to use and had a nice customization area to see exactly how your choices would print.  It should arrive on Monday or Tuesday.  I am excited to get it, but I am hoping that I never actually have to use it!

First off, a huge thanks to everyone who expressed concern, gave advice, and sent “good vibes” my way on overcoming my calf pain.  The general consensus was to foam roll, ice and rest, so I did a little of everything.  I foam rolled on both Wednesday and Thursday along with doing some extra stretches.  I also have been icing my calf almost constantly as well.  (Side Note: I got an ice bag (two actually) for Christmas and it has made icing so much more pleasurable.  Gone are the days of leaky Ziploc resulting in wet pants.  Highly recommend one.)   I even did rest a bit – sort of.  Thursday was supposed to be a 4 mile run and an hour big ride.  I did still run, but only did about 3 miles.  I was relatively pain free and mainly wanted to get out and see how it felt.  I skipped the bike ride entirely, but that was more due to an emergency session of online Mario Kart Wii than the injury.  Yes, I have my priorities in order.

As for my run today, I am happy to announce that I completed all 21 miles pain free.  Well, at least I was free of any pain that was out of the ordinary for a 21 mile run.  Yes, my legs were killing me for the finale 5 miles or so, but they were just tired, not hurt.  My calf didn’t bother me at all the entire way.  Even now that I am done, it hasn’t even tightened up.  My hamstring is a bit tight, but I guess I’ll just have another appointment with the foam roller tonight and work it out.

Overall the run went fairly well.  I got a later start than I wanted (this seems to be becoming the norm) and headed out at 10:00.  My original plan was to do loops around Reeds Lake.  This way, I would be able to stay relatively close to home in case my calf acted up.  On my first lap, I ditched my water bottle in some bushes so that I didn’t have to carry it on the first loop.  I wouldn’t need it right away any ways. 

After finishing the first loop and picking up my water bottle, I decided to change up my planned route because I didn’t have any pain.  And, I realized that laps around the lake were going to get boring really quickly.  So, I ventured out and headed towards downtown, did a loop around Aquinas College and a loop through Calvin College before finishing with a second loop around the lake.

 
I definitely got slower as I progressed, but I’ll take it.  I am a little disappointed in the two miles that came in at over a 9 minute pace though.

It was actually pretty a good route.  The sidewalks were still covered in sloppy snow, but the roads were clear so I stuck to running on them.  Not too bad considering we just got 10 inches of snow on Wednesday.

After I got home, I immediately took a snow bath for my legs.  I didn’t have any ice again, but had plenty of snow.

I followed that by gorging myself with left over pasta and a gigantic chocolate milkshake.  It really hit the spot.

I get to take a rest day tomorrow, which I desperately need.  I may still head up to the pool though because I missed my Wednesday swim.  That may sound like breaking the rules of a rest day, but sometimes swimming is almost more therapeutic than doing nothing.

Again, thank you to everyone for your well wishes and advice!

Today was my first 20 miler of my training program.  I was dreading it all week despite the fact that all my runs were going well – better than expected in fact.

I prepped for my run with a great pre run dinner last night prepared by the lovely Jennifer.  Pasta, breadsticks, broccoli, salad, and chocolate milk.  It was delicious. 

This morning, I got up around 8:00 and ate an energy packed breakfast.  While I digested a bit, I got some work done before heading out around 9:30.  I wanted to get started earlier than I have for my past couple of long runs so that I wasn’t running into the lunch hour and getting ravenously hungry. 

I started out headed west because it felt like that was the direction the wind was coming from and I wanted to get that out of the way so I wasn’t running into the wind at the end.  However, it seemed no matter which way I turned, I was running into the wind.  Not sure how that is possible – must be global warming or something.  I stopped by my dad’s house along the way to say hello and refill my water bottle.  That was 9 miles in and I was still feeling pretty good.  After that, I headed back east. 

The next time I looked at my watch, I was at 14 miles.  I was ecstatic.  I still felt great.  And only 6 miles to go.  That meant less than an hour of running left.  I had one more stop at the library to refill my water bottle again.  I brought a single serving of Gatorade powder along with me and used that for the refill.  After that, it was just a lap around Reeds Lake and I would be done.  I’ve done that a million times.  No big deal.

Then I got 16 miles in.  That is when I really started to hurt.  I think part of it was mental because up until the 14 mile mark, I was really running blind on what my distance was.  I avoided looking at my watch because I didn’t want to look down and only see 11 miles when I thought it should have been more.  But now that I was at the 16 mile mark, I knew exactly where mile 17, 18, and 19 were going to be.  Nevertheless, I pushed through it and only stopped when getting a drink at each mile mark.

I made it home in 2:51 for an 8:35 pace.  I am very pleased with my time.  It is right where I wanted to be.  My last three marathons had final paces of (8:32, 8:38, and 8:52).  So, I am hoping that by already being in that range with my first 20 miler, I’ll be able to bring that down before race day.

After my run, I took my ice bath.  I had to use ice this time because most of the snow has melted.  I followed that up with my favorite post long run meal of a Red Baron supreme pizza and Coke.  Dessert was a tall glass of chocolate milk.

Unfortunately, I must have been a bit dehydrated because a couple hours after the run, I got a splitting headache.  I took some Advil and laid down in a dark room for a bit and it seemed to clear up thankfully.

And before I go, I’d like you to meet the newest member of my training team – a set of Bowflex dumbbells!!  I have been scouring Craigslist for months since deciding I needed to add more strength training to my weekly workouts back in August.  I have had a couple of hits, but they were gone by the time I called. I got lucky yesterday though.  I met the seller at a parking lot nearby and bought them (over half off the price of a new set!!!).  The only thing wrong with them is that one of the dumbbells doesn’t work if you set it to 20 pounds.  Not a big deal though as there are settings for 17.5 and 22.5 and they work fine.

I actually broke them in last night with a quick session to try them out.  I didn’t want to do too much because of my run today though.  I am going to try and at least do two workouts a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays and possibly Thursdays on light running weeks.  I’m super excited!  Tickets to the gun show will be available soon.

Today was my long run for the week.  18 miles.  My longest run since the Grand Rapids Marathon in October.  I was not looking forward to it as it was. And then good old Mother Nature had to drop by and dump a boatload of snow on us the past two days and lower the temperatures into the teens.

I got up early to shovel the driveway before Jennie left for work, so I was all geared up to get the run done early and out of the way.  Unfortunately, I got caught up with work stuff and didn’t get to leave until after 10:00.

The first few miles of the run were very slow going.  The plows had been down most of the roads, but they were still covered with a slushy, snowy mixture that is like running in sand.  I did a lap around Reeds Lake, which was occasionally clear, but more snow than pavement.  6 miles in, I got to Calvin College’s campus.  The sidewalks and paths through campus were in great condition compared to the roads.  I ended up basically doing laps around the campus for 6 miles to take advantage of the sidewalks.  I was even able to duck into the gym and refill my water bottle at one point.

After doing about 6 miles on the campus, I headed back home via the same 6 miles I started with.  It was amazing how much the roads had improved in the hour I spent at Calvin.  They still weren’t perfect, but it was much easier going than when I started.  I ended up finishing in 2:36:28 for a pace of 8:42.  I was actually surprised to be under a 9 minute pace considering the road conditions, so I’ll take it.

Not leaving until 10:00 led to an all too familiar problem.  I got halfway into my run and I was starving.  I ate breakfast when I got up, but by 11:00, my body was ready for lunch.  So, as I ran, all I could think about was food.  That didn’t help; it just made me hungrier.  I really need to work on better nutrition and eating habits before my long runs.

When I got home, despite being hungry, my first priority was to take an ice bath for my legs and to shower.  During my run, I had a great idea for my ice bath.  Why pay for ice when Mother Nature had provided a yard full of snow?  And thus, the Midwest-Style Ice Bath was invented (patent pending).  Armed with a plastic container, I filled it up with snow and readied the tub with water.

Previously, for my ice baths, I would add the ice to the water before getting in. However, taking a cue from Chic Runner, I got into the tub first and then added the snow.  This helped minimize the shock of getting into a freezing tub.  I started by just taking handfuls of snow and adding it to the tub, but that was slow going and freezing my fingers.  So I dumped the entire container in at once.  YIKES!  It was instantly freezing.  Colder than ice.  I basically had a mound of snow on my legs.  I suffered through it though and it was definitely worth it.  I am pretty much pain free now.

I was sort of worried that the snow would melt too fast and wouldn’t be as effective as ice.  I was wrong.  Here is a picture of the snow that was still left in the tub AFTER I sat in it for 10 minutes.

There was even snow left in the tub after I took a hot shower while the water drained.  Next time, I don’t think I need as much snow.  Lesson learned.

So, there you have it, a Midwest-Style Ice Bath; something that all you warm weather dwellers are missing out on.  Or not.

Next week is another light week; only 20 miles total.  After 41 last week and 43 this week, I am very much looking forward to it.  Hopefully the lighter running schedule will give me more time on the trainer, which has been lacking.

Stay tuned!