Yesterday, during my day off, I went through a few different training programs, trying to see if there is one that may be better suited to me for this stage. My goal right now is to get myself in shape and run a 10K to establish my pacing for the FIRST marathon training program that I will start on September 10.
I went through about 5 or 6 different 10K and 5K plans. My biggest problem with most of them is that they require running on consecutive days and include only one rest day during the week. I’m not necessarily averse to only one rest day. I’d happily throw in another cross training day later on in my training. I’m just thinking that running on consecutive days would not be good for my shins.
I went back to the FIRST 10K plan and recalculated the paces for the various runs based on the first 5K I ever ran (28:30), instead of my most recent 5K (22:28). The reason is that I’ve just lost a lot of fitness since my last 5K back in October. I was injured for a while and I didn’t run anything over 2 miles between October and 3 weeks ago. As embarrassing as it is to admt, I think the 28:30 time is a better measurement of my abilities at this point.
This week, I’m repeating week 2 of the 10K program with the newly calculated paces and I’ll continue on from there. Because of the timing, I’ll have to cut the peak 3 weeks out of the program. My long run will still peak at 10 miles, so I’m pretty comfortable with that. The long run in the first week of the marathon program is 8 miles.
Planned workout
1 mile warmup
5X800 m intervals at 8:42 pace with 400 m rest intervals
1 mile cool down
Actual workout
1 mile warmup
5 X 800 m at 8:42 pace with 400 m walking rest intervals
1 mile cool down
It certainly feels nice to have finally finished a workout as planned - even if I made the plan easier. The workout felt a little strenuous, but not horrible. I could have done another interval or two, certainly. My left shin was a little sore during the rest intervals, but it felt fine while running and feels fine now. My heart rate during the running intervals went from about 150 BPM to 170 BPM and got down to the 125 BPM to 135 BPM range during the rest intervals.
Given my shin splint problem this week, I was unsure of what to do for my Saturday run. I started feeling better after my toe raise exercises and a day of rest. I decided to give 6 miles a go, but I planned the route in such a way that I could easily shorten my run to three miles if necessary.
I woke up before 8 and I was out the door at around 8:15. Hopefully this would make the run a little cooler than last week’s 7 miler.
I arrive at the mall parking lot and park the car. Stepping back to the trunk, I don all my equipment - my hat, my mp3 player, my camelbak, my new Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS and heart rate monitor. I feel a little like “robo-runner”, but I’m excited about the new data I’ll be able to collect. I hit the trail, heading north for a 1 mile warm up walk.
The sun is just slightly lower in the sky than last week, but it’s enough to cast some pretty long shadows over the trail. My heart rate hangs between 90 and 100 BPM for the first half mile. I quicken my pace slightly for the second half mile and my heart rate jumps to about 105 BPM. After fiddling with the Garmin for a few seconds, I figure out how to reset it and I’m off.
Heading south down a 3/4 mile straightaway, I monitor my pace and heart rate every few seconds. It doesn’t take long for my heart rate to jump to 145 BPM and my average pace is 7:45. I slow things down to about 8:50 pace and continue on past the first mile. I notice that my heart rate is averaging between 165 and 175 BPM. I’ve never had experience measuring my heart rate while running before. This rate is higher than anything I’ve measured while on the stationary bike.
The next half mile takes me around a wide, sweeping curve and up the incline of a pedestrian bridge. I know from my route plan that the 1.5 mile mark is somehwere at the top of the bridge. Thanks to my new Garmin, I don’t have to guess. My heart rate has been between 90%-95% of my theoretical maximum for the last .5 mile. I hit the 1.5 mile mark, turn around, walk for two or three steps, then jog back down the pedestrian bridge. When I hit the 2 mile mark, I take a quick water break.
I walk for about 30 seconds, sipping water the whole way. I tuck the water tube back into the camelbak and begin running again. After another 1/4 mile I come to a roadway with some busy traffic. I have to stop for a moment to let some cars pass. I walk across the street and start running on the other side. I run the last 3/4 mile back to the car and start my 1 mile cool down.
Planned Workout
1 mile warmup
3 miles or 6 miles at 9:00 pace
1 mile cool down
Actual Workout
1 mile warmup
3 miles at 9:21 pace
1 mile cool down
My shins felt pretty good during the workout, but I could feel a lot of tightness in my left calf, so I decided to be happy with my run and cut things short. My hope is that I’ve avoided further injury and I’ll be able to complete all of my workouts next week. I’m also a little concerned with where my heart rate was. In effect, this run was more of a tempo run than the long endurance run it was supposed to be. I’m giving some serious thought to the re-evaluation of my training plan up to this point. I think that the paces I’ve set for myself as part of the FIRST 10K plan are too ambitious for this stage of my training. I don’t know if I’m going to stick with the same plan and make my the paces slower, or switch to a whole different plan altogether.
3 weeks in the books, 26 more to go.
I’ve just discovered a new exercise to combat the shin splints problem. As far as I know it doesn’t have an official name, so we’ll just refer to it as the “Toe raise” since the names of most exercises just seem to describe the general motion of the exercise. It would be far more fun to call this exercise the ”Idaho Tango” or something like that, but I suppose that’s not very practical.
In any case, it’s pretty easy to do. Stand up against a wall with your feet about one foot’s length from the wall. Rest your shoulders and buttocks against the wall. Raise your toes toward the ceiling as far as you can. Then, slowly lower them back toward the ground. Just as the balls of your feet barely touch the ground, raise them again. Do a set of 15 to start off. Once you’ve got 15, hold your toes in the raised position and then rapidly lower them an inch or so, bringing them quickly back up to the raised postion. Do a quick set of 15 of these. Once that becomes easy, you can move on to 2 or more sets of both exercise.
Here’s a short video to demonstrate:
Today was a strength trainging day as planned.
Actual workout:
10 minutes warmup on stationary bike at level 5
2 set of single leg deadlift
2 sets of single leg extensions
2 sets of side steps with elastic band
1 set of toe raises
2 sets of decline press
2 sets of lat pulldowns
2 sets of shoulder shrugs
2 sets of tricep extensions
2 sets of inclined bicep curls.
60 second plank exercise
I was hoping I wouldn’t have to create this category and I hope this is the only post it ever gets. My left leg has gone from general calf tightness to a definate shin splint. Now, that’s certainly not the worst injury in the world, but I am worried about it turning into a stress fracture if I’m not careful with it.
“Shin splints” is basically a term used to describe any pain in the front of the lower leg. In my case, it’s my left leg and the pain is a few inches above my ankle on the inside portion of the leg. The pain is apparently a result of an inflammation of the connective tissue that results from the relative weakness of the muscles on the front of the lower leg compared to those of the rear.
The best thing to do is the usual RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation). I’ve been doing the latter three. It’s the rest part that’s hard for me.
Planned Workout
10 minutes warmup
2 miles at 7:35 pace, 1 mile easy, 2 miles at 7:35 pace
10 minutes cool down
Actual workout
10 minutes warmup
1 mile at 7:35 pace, 400 m easy, .5 miles at 8:30 pace.
5 minutes cool down.
I was afraid of hurting myself further, so like Monday I cut the workout short. I’m not sure what to do about the long run on Saturday. I’ve been thinking of doing 6 miles, or doing 2 easy miles, or resting completely. I’d rather rest it and heal it now, then have it fester for the next 27 weeks. Tomorrow, I’ll go ahead and do a mixed upper/lower body strength workout.
Here’s a new recipe I tried last week. I’ll give it a 3 out of 5 stars. I’m, not rushing to make it again, but it was fairly tasty.
Ingredients
Instructions
1) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season Chicken Breasts with salt and pepper, bake for 30 minutes or until they’re done.
2) While the chicken is baking, combine the chicken broth, lemon juice and mustard in a sauce pan. Whisk them together and bring them to a boil over high heat. Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by about half.
3) Pour the sauce over the chicken, sprinkle with walnuts and parsley and enjoy!
Now, on to today’s workout. I was glad that it was a cycling day today after yesterday’s depressing workout. I can usually count on a good ride on the bike to bring me back into focus. My left shin really started to hurt last night, so I iced it, wrapped it in an Ace bandage and reclined in bed for a few hours watching the extended coverage of the Tour de France. This also served to alleviate the overuse injury I have in my right wrist from using that little “nubbin” mouse thingy on my laptop.
I wasn’t feeling particularly good this morning and when I did my 10 minute warmup on the bike, I wondered if it was a mistake doing 35 minutes on the bike today. Even during the first 10 minutes of the ride, my legs started to feel tired. That’s when the Black Eyed Peas saved me. There’s something about “Let’s Get it Started” that goes oh so well with cycling. Listen to it and picture yourself on a bike, you’ll get it. There’s something about the rhythm that goes from ears to brain to legs. I fell into a “relatively” fast cadence between 120 and 125 RPMs. The bike threw some virtual hills at me and I powered up them. Could I do 13 miles in 35 minutes? Ultra-competitive Brian kicked in.
Hunched over the bike with a blank stare right through the butt of the lady on the eliptical machine in front of me, I cruised through the next 25 minutes, sweat dripping down, creating puddles on the floor below me. At 34 minutes, I was at 12.5 miles. I knew I needed to kick it up a notch. I rode the last minute between 135 and 150 RPMS, giving it all I had. I crossed 13 miles 2 seconds into my warmup. So close.
Planned workout
10 minute warmup
35 minute ride at level 7
5 minute cool down
Actual workout
10 minute warmup
35 minute ride at level 7
5 minute cool down
Location: Stationary bike
Total Distance: 16 miles
After the ride, I did some planks and a little exercise to strengthen my shins before stretching. I’m still a little sore in the shins, but I’ll ice it again tonight and see how the tempo run goes tomorrow.
Today was the worst workout I’ve had so far in my training for the marathon. I was supposed to run two 1600 m intervals and one 800 m interval. I couldn’t even finish the first 1600 m interval. My legs were so tired from my 7 miles on Saturday. I felt beyond exhausted. I felt on the verge of injury. So, I stopped the workout short. I’m not a big fan of doing that, but my calves are very, very tight and my shins are actually starting to hurt. I felt like something was going to snap any minute, and as frustrating as it was to stop, going down the injury road would be much more frustrating.
I am wondering whether the 10K program I’m following is too much too soon. The pace is based on a 5K race I did back in October and I know I wouldn’t have been able to run a 5K at that pace when I started the program. I probably still can’t. I’m not ready to drop it completely, but I think I’m going to repeat last week instead of upping my mileage again this week. I will up my time on the cycling workout, though.
Planned workout
12 minutes warmup
2 x 1600 m at 7:00 pace with 400 m rest interval, 1 800 m interval at 6:35 pace.
10 minutes cool down
Actual workout
12 minute warmup
1 1200 m interval at 7:00 pace, 400 m rest interval, 1 800 m interval at 7:00 pace.
10 minute cooldown
Here’s how the plan will shape out for the rest of the week:
Tuesday: 35 minutes on the stationary bike at level 7
Wednesday: Tempo run 2 miles at 7:35 pace, 1 mile easy, 2 miles at 7:35 pace
Thursday: Strength Training
Friday: Off
Saturday: 7 miles in the sweltering heat
Sunday: Off
I was able to wake up a little earlier this morning than I was last Saturday. I was hot just before bed last night, so I jacked up the A/C before retiring for the evening. As a result, it was pretty cold in the house in the morning, so it took me a while to convince myself to leave the warmth of the bed. I could have been out the door before 8, but instead I made it out just before 9.
My plan is to follow the same route I did last Saturday, adding a half mile onto the out and back course to make it total 7 miles. After parking at the mall, I head across the street for my warmup. I jog the last part of my warmup back toward 22nd ave. As I look down at my watch to start my chronograph, I notice it looks a little dim. It appears to still be working, so I’m off.
My plan for the day is to run at about a 9:00 minute mile pace, hoping to cut down on the frequency and length of my walk breaks. I cruise past the 1 mile mark at 9:05. I feel good, but my watch is getting dimmer. I’m wearing my camelbak waistpack today because it’s already about 85 degrees out and the humidity is high. Because of that, I cruise by the drinking fountain with the plan of taking a short water break at the 2 mile mark.
I cruise comfortably up the first pedestrian bridge and back down the other side. I cruise past the Walmart parking lot and up the second pedestrian bridge. With the 2 mile mark visible in the distance, I glance down at my watch to see if I’m on pace. It’s blank. Looks like I’ll be winging my pace today.
I jog up the incline to the causeway and pass the 2 mile mark. I briefly walk, taking in some water. After about 30 seconds, I start running again with the goal of reaching the halfway point at 3.5 miles. Across the causeway, I run down the incline and past the KOA campground. There’s no bacon today….excellent.
I’m getting pretty tired as I pass the 3 mile mark, but I convince myself to keep going. There are two road crossings ahead and the second one is the halfway point. I make it to the first, but the heat is affecting me, so I stop for another water break. This time, I walk for about a minute, then make it the rest of the way to the halfway point. I turn and begin walking again.
Now, the motiviation to start running again is getting low. My heart rate is dropping quickly as soon as I start walking and I’m recovering well from the cardio standpoint, but my legs are feeling very tired. After about two minutes, I start running again and I make it to the 4 mile mark. Throughout the run, I can feel the water sloshing around in my camelpak. Now, I feel it sloshing in my stomach. Thats not good, so I take another walk break, but lay off the water. I promise myself more water at 5 miles.
I walk briefly back past the KOA campground then start running again. I make it back to the causeway, up the incline and start walking again. I walk for about a minute, the sun beating down on me. One problem with walking in this heat and humidity is that I lose the natural breeze I create while running. It’s the only thing that seems to evaporate my sweat and cool me off. So, when I start walking, my head throbs for a few seconds.
Feeling terribly hot, I wonder why anyone does this for fun. I think about the Tour de France starting in London. Then, I realize it’s July 7. July 7 has been an unlucky day for my family. On July 7, 1944, my grandfather’s B-17 was shot down over Hungary. About 20 years later, my aunt completely destroyed her Pinto. A series of other smaller misfortunes have happened on July 7 throughout time. Moreover, ‘07 has seemed like an unlucky year so far. My father dropped a boulder on his leg, my grandfather found out he has cancer of the pancreas, and my wife had an emergency appendectomy. Thus, what many people are considering to be the luckiest day ever seems like it might be the unluckiest day ever for members of my family. We should all just hide in the closet today. These are the thoughts I’m having as I’m practically melting in the middle of a causeway, 4.5 miles into a 7 mile run.
The only thing to do is to keep running, so I start running again. My pace has picked up because I’m afraid that if I go any slower, I might stop. I charge down the incline from the causeway, past the 5 mile mark, and slow to a walk. I take in some more water as I walk up the pedestrian bridge. As I reach the middle of the bridge, I run again. This time my goal is to reach the water fountain just in front of the 6 mile mark.
I plod down the other side of the pedestrian bridge, then pick up my pace. I cross the entrance to Walmart and methodically charge up the next pedestrian bridge. At the top, I slow my pace to a shuffle briefly, but I don’t walk. My stride gradually lengthens as I cross the bridge, and I run down the other side with the water fountain now in site. With a steady pace, I pass it - it’s only a symbolic landmark today. I briefly walk, taking in more water from my camelbak.
When I pass the 6 mile mark, I pull my cell phone from the camelbak. Based on the time, I think I’ve improved on my pace from last week. It’s really hard to be sure, though. I start running again, hoping to make it to the 6.5 mile mark. I have to briefly walk after another quarter mile, though. My legs are tired and the heat is really getting to me. After a minute, I run again, and make it to the 6.5 mile mark which is, thankfully, in the shade.
I walk to the 6.75 mile mark and then with the finish in site, I stride at an ever increasing pace. I cross the start/finish with no triumphant thrust of the arms today. I’m exhausted. I walk straight to the car, strip off my camelbak and my MP3 player and open the door, grabbing the water bottle I left there. I throw everything but my clothes in the car, take off my hat and pour water over my head. I take a few drinks, and I’m revived enough to walk for 10 minutes to cool down.
On the way home, I grab a bag of ice and a bottle of Gatorade. The Gatorade tastes like the nector of the gods. At home, I stretch, eat a banana and hop in the tub with the bag of ice.
Planned workout
7 miles at 8:05 pace
Actual Workout
15 minutes walking/jogging warmup
7 miles at 10:40?? pace
10 minutes walking cool down
As crappy as I felt when I crossed the finish line of my run, I felt equally as good in that ice bath. Running is a little like drinking. The only difference is that the buzz comes after the hangover. I’m not sure what my time was like, but I’m pretty sure my pace was about the same as last week. I’m not sure if it was hotter today or last Saturday, but I definately think the difficulty was turned up a notch this week. The 8 mile run next Saturday will certainly be a challenge.
2 weeks down, 27 to go.
When I first signed up at the local gym, I got three free sessions with a personal trainer. Phil showed me the plank. When he was demonstrating it, I thought it looked like an awfully easy exercise. After all, I used to do 600 sit-ups a day in high school and that was only 12 years ago, so I’m sure I haven’t lost any of that core strength since then.
The plank turned out to be another one of those deceptive exercises. It looks like you’re just hanging out on the floor, but you’re actually doing some pretty serious work to keep your body stabilized. In fact, it looked so easy when Phil was demonstrating it because he was in pretty good shape. When I did it, my whole body started shaking after about 15 seconds.
Anyway, I found a good video of someone demonstrating the various techniques. As an added bonus, the demonstrator is a woman on a beach in a bikini - much better looking than Phil (no offense, big guy), and in equally good shape.
I hit the gym for a long overdue upper body workout today.
Upper Body Workout
Decline press, Hammer strength machine - 2 sets, 8 reps/6reps
Wide Grip Chest Press, Hammer strength machine - 2 sets, 8 reps/8reps
Lat pulldowns - 2 sets 12 reps each
Shoulder shrugs w/ dumbells - 2 sets 12 reps each
Tricep extensions, machine - 2 sets 12 reps/8 reps
Reclining dumbell curls - 2 sets 12 reps each
Incline Oblique crunches w/ ball - 12 reps each side
Incline crunches - 12 reps
The astute observer will notice that I did not do any planks today, despite mentioning them. I do plan on adding planks more regularly to my strength sessions, but I could not find any room to spread out today, so I hit the available incline bench instead.
Quality control guru, Phillip Crosby once said,
“If anything is certain, it is that change is certain. The world we are planning for today will not exist in this form tomorrow.”
Yesterday, I planned to hit the gym for a tempo run on the treadmill. I reasoned that it was better to run this morning, then enjoy the holiday (drink booze, stay up late) knowing that tomorrow is an off day. Apparently, a lot of people had that plan. I showed up at the gym around 10 am and the parking lot was full. There were people double parking all over the place, cars parked all along the street outside and general parking pandemonium.
I didn’t bother to go inside. Most runners would do their tempo run outside anyway, so I headed over to a local park with a 1.1 mile path around a lake. I hadn’t brought my hat, but fortunately, it was an overcast day so I didn’t have to worry too much about my head getting sunburned as long as I wasn’t out for much more than an hour. I found a tube of sunscreen in the trunk, spread it all over my head and face, and hit the path.
Planned workout
1 mile warmup
2 miles at 7:35 pace
1 mile easy
2 miles 7:35 pace
1 mile cool down
Actual workout
1 mile warmup
2 miles 7:37 pace
1 mile walk
2 miles 9:10 pace
I was actually pretty satisfied with this workout. I ran the first two miles at roughly the correct pace, which is a pretty good accomplishment for me on the pavement without a treadmill to pace me. Technically, the plan calls for an easy mile job, but I knew I’d be walking that mile in between. The real challenge for me today was to run the entire distance for the second two miles.
I was very excited that I did. Even though it was 1:35 off the planned pace, it felt good to run that distance without a walk break. Most importantly, I took an obstacle thrown in my path in stride (the packed gym) and turned it into a good run. I’m sure there will be bigger obstacles before all is said and done.
I’m going to enjoy the holiday and my day of rest tomorrow.
I’m not a really big fan of Asian food. I’m the one who groans and says “can’t we just have pizza?” when everyone wants to go out for Chinese. Lately, though, I’ve actually been making my own beef stir fry and it’s pretty good.
I should also mention that I really don’t like vegetables. Last night, I made this stir fry and actually enjoyed the snap peas. I ate quite a few of them.
Ingredients
1 lb of beef sliced into 2-3″ pieces
1 Tbs. soy sauce
2 tsp. ground ginger
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
3 Tbs. sherry
1/2 lb sugar snap peas
Peanut oil
1/2 cup beef broth
1 Tbs corn starch
2 Tbs water
Instructions
1) Combine the soy sauce, ginger, garlic and sherry. Pour it over the meat and marinate for 10 minutes to 1 hour.
2) Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Toss in the peas and boil for 1 minute. Drain the peas.
3) Remove the beef from the marinade and discard the marinade
4) Coat a wok or skillet in peanut oil and heat over high heat. Stir-fry the beef for 4-5 minutes. Add the peas.
5) Add the beef broth to the mixture and cook for 3 minutes
6) Mix the cornstarch with the water until smooth. Add to the beef mixture and simmer 3 minutes.
7) Cook until the sauce thickens
Nutrition Facts (Guesses)
Serving size (4Oz)
Calories: 211
Fat: 7g
Saturated fat: 2 g
Protein: 27 g
Carbohydrate: 8 g
Dietary fiber: 2 g
For added carbohydrates, I eat this stir fry on a bed of sushi rice. I also sprinkle fried chow mein noodles on top - that’s not very healthy, but it’s still pretty tasty without them.
Today’s workout was on the stationary bike:
Planned workout
10 minutes warmup
30 minutes cycling at 80-90% max heart rate
5 minutes cool down
Actual workout
10 minutes warmup
30 minutes cycling at 75-90% max heart rate
5 minutes cool down
Location: stationary bike on level 7
I thought that by increasing the resistance, I would be able to get my heart rate into the target zone more quickly. I never really even hit 80% for any significant length of time. It was only in the last 10 minutes or so that I was in the 80% to 90% range and even then, I was dipping below 80% on occassion. It’s not like I was slacking either. I was hitting 120+ RPMs even on some of the “hills”.
Next week, I think I’ll increase the time I’m on the bike in order to maintain a greater amount of time in my target zone.