Distance: 9.96km Time: 1:08 Pace: 7’19 kCal: 985 Heart: 124/140 RPE: 4-5 Type: 4 Miles
I spent long frustrated hours at work this week and for the last two nights ended up going to sleep well after midnight.
But come today, I was up again at 5am and excited to get out and have a fun little 4 mile run, followed by a one mile walk.
I even got my wife out of bed.
That was a great start, but how did I know that the adventure was only just about to begin…
Week One is Complete!
And for my reward, I ate a great Sunday Brunch overlooking the ocean, followed by two stress-free rest days!
I know it was only supposed to be 1 rest day, but I ended up getting a toothache. Have you ever tried running with a toothache? Not good. But it’s not a cavity (I hope) – just pressure from a root canal I had done last year. Nonetheless, the throbbing pain every time you hit the pavement is not very pleasant.
It’s the same with in-ear head phones for me. When I get my heart rate up, the throbbing in my ears pushing into the earplugs… yetch – not for me. I have a nice pair of Sennheiser PMX80s – GREAT for big eared people, but I run mostly without music.
Okay, enough of the personal life – How was my first week? I must say it went pretty well!
The first 3 mile run was nice. The next day’s 4 mile run was a bit of a challenge at the beginning, but worked out okay. And then the next 3 mile run on Thursday ended up being a little fun because I tried following the route that ‘Marathon Man‘ takes. Oh-La-La! Very steep hills and I got lost on the side streets. Silly me, but I love adventure and even with all the huffing and puffy, I managed to pull it off.
Then came the long run on the weekend.
Because I did well during the week, I thought I had the Saturday run in the bag. Well it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped and it was a wake up call. But now that I can look back on my first complete week, I think it’s going to be a lot of fun… And I’m starting to really enjoy going out for my morning runs. This coming week is a 10k race, so that should be a lot fo fun, too.
Let’s see how I do next week!
Okay – I know it’s not May yet, but technically the first run starts May 1st and to make a title like… “It’s one month of 10k racing right after Easter” is a little long. And… to be honest, it’s only three races over the entire month – two of which are actually 10k. But hey, I needed to make the title sound a bit exciting, right!?! And I am excited! Why? Glad you asked!
Distance: 9.96km Time: 1:10 Pace: 7’21 kCal: 969 Heart: 143/162 RPE: 6 Type: 5 Miles
Yesterday was Saturday
and I did the first long run in my Marathon Training.
It was also Easter Saturday, which makes today Easter – a rainy quiet Easter Sunday morning where I am sitting on my balcony listening to the pitter-patter of rain drops and the sounds of doves and birds in the background, while everyone else is still sleeping before the rush of church goings and Easter egg hunts.
That’s one good thing about getting up in the morning to do my runs – even on my rest days I’m up early enough to enjoy the peace, quiet, and spiritual solitude that life and nature can offer.
So here I am, with my coffee, and thinking about the big Easter brunch that will be coming later in the day… and I don’t feel guilty!
Why? – Because yesterday I did the first long run in my marathon training.
Read the rest of this entry »
So last week was kind of a crazy week.
I’m in the middle of my first week of Marathon training now and today is a rest day. I know I was supposed to write this entry at the end of the week but the weekend really was crazy!
Let me tell you why…
The week itself went like clockwork. I was able to get out on my running days and did 5k for each run. Again, I’m in no rush to push the miles, so an extra week to get my body all set up was a good idea. Especially because of what happened on the weekend!
Saturday morning I was up and ready. But today was different, I was going to go golfing (back-nine), have some Pho (Vietnamese soup), and then do a nice 5k walk to digest before my 5k run along the Newport Beach boardwalk.
Well everything worked out great. Until… I went to get my car keys and found that they were no longer in my race pouch! The only place they could have fallen out was at the 5k turn-around, since that was where I put my tunes on to start my run.
Oh No!!!
Nothing I could do, but to go back to the 5k turn-around and look for them. By now I was a little tired after walking on the golf course and completing 10k! But then the post-depression kicked in!
No luck in finding them, which meant calling the AAA (luckily I keep a spare key in the car or it could have been a real disaster).
Of course on the return trip, I just wasn’t ready for all this distance-stuff and my knees started to hurt – they hurt when I walk but not when I run… go figure.
But nonetheless, I ended up doing a ½ marathon that day! Ha! I did it! What a surprise!
Of course about two-thrids of it was walking, but I’m not going to tell any one if you don’t!
I must say though, I did have a number of great workouts at the beginning of the week and 5k/3-milers are starting to be a lot of fun. Oh, and to top things off on Sunday, when I went back for my 10k recovery walk. There they were! My lonely little car keys, sitting nicely on someone’s fence, just waiting for me to pick ‘em up. Thank you to whoever found them.
Thank you – thank you – thank you!
What a great way to end the week and get mentally psyched for my first week of Marathon Training.
Distance: 6.28km Time: 0:34 Pace: 6’49 kCal: 657 Heart: 121/145 RPE: 5 Type: 3 miles (Lake)
What better way to start my first week of marathon training plan than by celebrating the Boston Marathon!?! It was great to follow my Twitter friends on their runs to victory. Don’t you just love Real-time Stats? Thank you Boston!
And then there is Ryan Hall. Did you see what he wrote on his shoe before the race? How did he know? 2h4m Amazing!
So here I am, starting out.
Well, not really… Pre-training is all done and 5k runs are a norm for me now.
This last Saturday I actually ended up doing a ½ marathon.
Distance: 7.14km Time: 0:53 Pace: 7’26 kCal: 742 Heart: 134/153 RPE: 6 Type: 5k (2x Lake)
So this is my first serious run after doing the 10k last weekend. I had to stop for a few days because I developed a Subconjunctival Hemorrhage on my left eye. I’m not really sure what caused it, but it was recommended that I hold off a few days on doing any intense exercise.
Of course I could have gone out for a walk, but sleeping an extra hour Tuesday morning felt so much better at the time!
So I’ve finished all my pre-training and I think the runs are actually getting easier.
Even my wife came out to run with me a few times!
The key focus of the this last week was to keep conditioning my skeletal system for when I start the marathon training. So it was kind of a simple maintenance week trying to get myself into a regular routine. Even when I was dead tired, I still managed to get out and do my runs (and even fall a sleep, I might add).
I’ve also started to loose more weight, but it’s hard to tell how much, because I think my body never really gains back all the water I loose from the runs. However, I do know that my body is now shifting to the next weight range for my level of activity. It is the runs, is it a change in diet, is it my post-running freshly squeezed juice recipes, or is it combination of all three? The reason is not that important. I’m not looking to loose weight, since my goal is to run a marathon, but it certainly is a nice by-product of the training!
Distance: 11.25km Time: 1:21 Pace: 7’17 kCal: 1,172 Heart: 139/152 RPE: 5 Type: 10k
So I did it again!
Sunday was supposed to be a rest day since I did 6k the day before, but it was so nice out and my wife came with me, that I decided to run just a little more than 40 minutes. How much more?
Well… enough to do 10k!
Pretty silly, but since I’m going to be doing a 10k race in a few weeks, I wanted to see if I could do it. Thinking back at it, I was a bit crazy to do it (my butt is still sore!). However, I must admit that I didn’t push myself.
For me, 10k in an hour is pushing it… but in 1hour 10min?
That’s a good training pace to start at – no?
Besides, my heart rate was in zone III and I felt pretty good while running along the boardwalk watching at all the amazing volleyball players!
So for the rest of this coming week I’ll keep things steady (4×40 minute runs) and just try to increase my pace a bit. I’ve got 2 weeks to go and then let’s see how I do at the Cinco De Mayo race on May 1st and to help out in Reaching for the Cure.
I’ve read about it, I’ve seen it, and I’ve even experienced it while driving a car. A very scary experience. One that I’m proud to say will never happen to me again. As soon as I feel the sleep coming on, I pullover as soon as it’s safe and take a quick 5 minute nap. Even if it means I’ll miss an important appointment or loose my job. After all, life it too precious to take crazy chances like that.
So how does this reflect on my running? Read the rest of this entry »