So it Begins ...

I haven't posted in awhile. We had a family emergency that kept me from running for about a week. I ran 3 miles on Monday, April 28, and didn't run again until Tuesday, May 6. That week I ran 3 miles on Tuesday, 3 miles on Thursday, and 5 miles on Saturday.

Last week I ran 3 miles on Tuesday, 4 miles on Wednesday, and 3 miles on Friday. That was the first time that I ran 2 days in a row. I intended to also run Saturday, but I was sick and my shins were really tightening up, so I skipped Saturday and Sunday.

I need to develop an ability to run multiple days in a run in order to be able to stick to my marathon training schedule, but I don't think I'm there yet. I'm hoping that my shin tightness is simply my body telling me that I'm not ready to run so many consecutive days yet, something that I can build up to through training, and not an indication of some more serious injury or anything. The big concern would be that the tightness is not just "normal" shin splits, but some kind of micro fracture that would prevent me from running for a long period of time.

St. George Marathon

I found out last week that I was not selected through the lottery system to run in the St. George Marathon. I was very disappointed, but decided to try my luck through the charity system. Each year the St. George Marathon gives away a certain number of entries to different charities to distribute how they please. Some charities simply auction off their entries to the highest bidder on ebay. I was lucky enough to get a spot with the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which does not auction off its entries, but rather requires its participants to raise at least $500 for the charity in order to secure the marathon entry.

Marathon Training

So according to the 20-week marathon training schedule I've found, I should start today and I should be able to run Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday this week. I'm not to that point yet, so I'm going to modify the schedule to my abilities. I think that this week I will run today and tomorrow, take Wednesday off, then depending on how I'm feeling, I'll try another back-to-back running on Friday and Saturday, or I'll just run Thursday and Saturday, and wait to try multiple back-to-back running for next week. I think that no matter what I should run 4 days this week at least, and not drop below that from here on out.

I've also found a 16-week training schedule for first time marathoners which seems to be a little less strenuous, so I think that I'll cater the training schedules to my ability and work my way up to a 5-days-a-week schedule over the next 4 weeks. We'll see how it goes.

Slow but Steady

Back in the saddle again ... ran Monday and this morning, a relatively slow pace on just over a 3-mile course.

It seems like whenever I am focusing on one thing in particular, I start to see that thing all over. For example, the other day we recorded a Nova special on a group of people training to run a marathon. And I heard on the radio a 68-year-old guy who ran the Boston marathon for the 13th time and for his 49th overall marathon. Wow.

First Goal Accomplished

I ran the Salt Lake City 5K on Saturday morning bright and early at 7:30 am. I'm not sure yet what my official time was, but I estimate that I did it in under 30:00. The race started at precisely 7:30 but it took me a couple of minutes at least to get to the starting line because there were so many runners. Then the first half mile or so was crazy dodging all the walkers; big groups of walkers who appeared to have no concept that thousands of other people were trying to actually run the 5K.

But after a while it spread out enough that I didn't have to spend too much time trying to avoid running into the back of someone. I still spent most of the race passing people, as well as being passed. I tried my best not to mind being passed by so many people, but when the 10-year kids do it, it's a little strange. Still, I focused on just staying within my own pace and not trying to outrun anyone or compare my pace to anyone else.

It turned out well I think. My shins were tight for the first mile or so but then I was able to settle into a pretty good rhythm and by the end of the run I was actually able to not only maintain my pace but try to pick it up a bit as I approached the finish line.


I ran this morning as well. A good 3-mile run at a slowish pace.

I figure that if I am able to register for the St. George marathon, and I want to adhere to a 20-week marathon training schedule, the 20-week period will begin in the middle of May. So I look at the period between now and then as a transition period in which I go from running 3 times a week, half an hour at a time, to running 5 times a week with increasing distances and times.

So this week my plan is to run 4 times, with Saturday being my first "long run." I ran today for 3 miles, will plan to run Wednesday for 4 miles, Thursday for 3 miles, and then 5 miles on Saturday. Maybe do that schedule for a couple of weeks before making the long run longer. We'll see how it goes.

Shins are doing pretty good today. I ran a relatively slow pace. And for the first time I iced down my shins after running. I bought a reusable gel ice pack over the weekend and I think this will help.

... still running

Ran on Friday morning - 30:00 minutes straight.

Ran this morning - about 32:00 minutes. Not a bad morning, about 40 degrees; could feel the moisture in the air. Now, just a minute on returning home it starts to rain. Good timing.

Registered for the Big One

A portion of an email confirmation I just received:

"Dear Runners:

Thank you for registering for the 2008 St. George Marathon lottery. The lottery will take place the first part of May and results will be posted no later than May 8."

(crossing fingers)

Up and Running

So even though I haven't been blogging the past couple of weeks I have kept up with my running for the most part.

Two weeks ago, instead of running on my Friday schedule, I went mountain biking with my brother-in-law down at Gooseberry Mesa. It was my first time biking there and during the course of the day I took a somewhat major spill, bruising my rib and spraining my wrists. So I was not able to run on Monday of last week, but I did get my running in on Wednesday and Friday last week, 27 minutes straight running each time.

This week I ran Monday in the evening for 30 minutes straight, as well as a good 30-minute run last night at the community rec center while waiting for my daughter who was at a gymnastics class.

So things are on pace for me to run the Salt Lake City 5K coming up here in a couple of weeks.

Depressing

So I signed up for the Salt Lake City 5K yesterday. In the application it asked if I was signing up in the "Clydesdale" category.

Huh?

turns out, you're in the Clydesdale category, for men, if you're over 200 pounds.

(sigh).

Yes, I'm in the Clydesdale category.