defecating ecstasy

The first week of the 10 week base build up is behind me and I couldn’t be happier. Finally starting to feel like a runner again, even slogging along listening to the Ipod by myself. Did a couple of dumb things this week, that I hope don’t come back to bite me in the ass. Also, did a few smart things, hopefully to offset some of the dumb moves.

Doing dumb things usually always leads to an injury. One quick way is to increase mileage to quickly. The old rule about not increasing your mileage by 10%, is pretty sound advice that I always seem to ignore. This time I went from a long run of 9 miles to 14 miles. I hadn’t run 14 miles in 3 months. But, the boys were running that far, I needed a long run and it felt good. I did ice my legs afterwards, not really ice so much as cold water in the shower, but same end result. Legs felt great.

On the smart side of training, I am doing my own workouts. Yes, I’m training with the guys 2-3 times a week, but we all are pretty much doing our own paces for most of the workouts. I’ve resisted the urge to try and run their paces or distances. Maybe, in a couple of weeks, not yet though. (Except the 14 miles) Actually running by myself a couple of days per week is beneficial because I don’t get sucked into someone else’s workout.

Still putting music on my latest Ipod (third generation Nano). This will be the third Ipod I’ve owned in the last 3-4 years. I wore out the first generation shuffle, and inherited Dylans second generation shuffle. It’s still working, but I couldn’t pass up an 8 gig Nano display model that was on sale. I’ve been pretty lucky with my Ipod’s, The first one lasted close to 3 years, before the battery would no longer hold a charge. Speedy has destroyed a number of different MP3 players, because electronics and water don’t do so well together. I just put mine in a plastic baggie. He must sweat more than me. I know he runs a lot faster. All of the newer generations of Ipods don’t appear to be very runner friendly, especially with the touch screen.

Heard the Bowie lyric this morning on my slog. Forgotten how much I enjoy listening to the MP3 player when I run by myself. Listened to the new Tom Petty CD/album, Mojo, this morning while I was surfing the net with my morning cup of coffee. Really like the bluesy guitar, evident in almost every song. Need to pick up a couple of Mark Knopfler CD’s, more great guitar work.

This Bud's for you, for free. Ha, no thanks. I'll take a craft beer any day.

Freight train, really?

The plantar seems to be in remission for the last couple of runs. Thank goodness. I've been running pretty hit or miss lately, plus trying to get out on the bike, just to keep my trim figure. Didn't realize I'd lost so much fitness. I knew everything was a little bit more effort, but it wasn't until the other morning when the fast guys pointed out how hard I was breathing. Reality check. Use to be I could keep up with these guys on their slow days.

I've decided to slog on the easy days and use some threshold runs once a week for the next 10 weeks to build back up my base. I'd like to be ready to jump into a marathon training program in early December and target another attempt at a fast spring marathon. Fast for me being a sub 3:00 marathon.

One great thing about keeping a log, is the ability to go back to the beginning of a training cycle and see the level of the workouts. This really helps to ease the angst/displeasure/loath of running a 25 minute threshold run this morning at a 7:14 pace. (the beginning of the last cycle it was closer to a 7:05 pace for the same amount of time and heart rate.) Nice to know that the pace will gradually come down in the next several weeks, as the time spent running increases.

I've got lots of work to do in the next 10 weeks to increase the weekly mileage to at least around 35-40 miles. Plus, I'd like to get the long run up to about 13 miles. I haven't run farther than 10 miles, since the RC Cola Moon Pie race.