So today was my last training run before the Mountains2Beach Marathon. This morning was an easy 8 miles. The weather was very nice -- not too hot and not too cool. Hopefully this is the last time I have to wake up for a 5:30 run on a Saturday for a while.
I felt great the entire run. Didn't have hardly any trouble with my legs warming up. No cramps or anything else that would slow me down. Just the road/sidewalk, my music, and me. I haven't had a chance to have a great run like this in a long time because the distance has taken a lot of the enjoyment out it.
I'm have two goals with my first marathon. First and foremost I want to finish. That is what is most important to me. Second, I'd like to finish in under 5 hours. I'm not sure this is doable but if I do finish within that time, I'll be very happy.
I also tried the Garmin Connect mobile app where I link my watch to my phone. It worked for the most part but my watch or phone kept losing the connection and so there are gaps on the route. I'm going to try to go on another training run Monday evening and see if switch arms my phone is on helps any. I don't like wearing things on my left arm but the distance from the watch to the phone will be much smaller, so maybe that will help with the disconnects.
I feel excited and a little nervous about this race. I feel like I am as ready as I can be. I've been hitting my cross training really hard the past couple months and my long runs have been challenging yet I've been able to handle them for the most part. The only thing I am worried about is my endurance. My physical ability really drops off after 13 miles so it will be interesting to see how I do for a full 26 miles. The best key to a good run will be to not start out too fast. I've been running between 10:30/mile and 11:00 for the most part so if I stick to that pace I think I will do fine.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Week 19 - 12 Miles
This morning I ran a nice 12 miles as we tapper heading into the Mountains2Beach Marathon. The race is in 2 weeks! Wow. Hopefully this is the last time we have to get up at 5:30 in the morning for a run.
The taper seems to come at just the right time in the training schedule. I know your body needs to recover from the hard work you put it through with the 18, 19, 20 mile runs but I think it is good mentally as well. I am perhaps mentally tired after long as I am physically and so it was nice running a "shorter" distance for a change.
It's interesting how training for a marathon changes your perspective on what a long distance is. I used to think 10 miles for training and a half marathon were long distances and now they don't seem so bad.
The only thing that really slowed me down was I got hungry right around mile 10 and so I snacked on a Larabar. I'm very happy with the 10:44/mile pace I ran, even with the temps starting to rise here in Texas.
The taper seems to come at just the right time in the training schedule. I know your body needs to recover from the hard work you put it through with the 18, 19, 20 mile runs but I think it is good mentally as well. I am perhaps mentally tired after long as I am physically and so it was nice running a "shorter" distance for a change.
It's interesting how training for a marathon changes your perspective on what a long distance is. I used to think 10 miles for training and a half marathon were long distances and now they don't seem so bad.
The only thing that really slowed me down was I got hungry right around mile 10 and so I snacked on a Larabar. I'm very happy with the 10:44/mile pace I ran, even with the temps starting to rise here in Texas.
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Carrollton 5k (Week 18)
On Saturday I ran the Carrollton 5k, which is a local race put on by the city. It's a nice race that tends to top out around 500 runners, which is good considering we are running on a cement trail that is about twice as wide as a regular sidewalk. Many of the runners live in the immediate area but there are some folks that come from other nearby cities to run this specific race.
I did alright in the race. I managed to finish 17th out of 41 runners in the Male 30-39 division. I finished with an official time of 28:19.90, which is about a 1:15 slower than what I ran last year (26:55.16). I had a chance to PR had I not gotten a severe leg cramp right around the 3 mile marker.
I heard via a third party (I don't know if the woman was the race director or not) that the race course will be changing next year. The idea is so that people won't have to park at the high school and then be bused to the start line. The course will still be on the Carrollton trail network which is nice in that there aren't any significant street closures with how the course is currently designed. We did cross the street in two places and the Carrollton PD is there to manage traffic but it's nothing like most races where you run on nothing but streets.
After the race I ran back with some other people to pick up their car, so I managed 6.2 miles for the day. For the most part it was a pretty good day.
I paid for running that 5k pretty hard the next day when I needed to run 10 miles as part of maintaining my marathon training schedule. My legs felt like jello and that nasty cramp in my left leg was still there. In fact it was so bad I walked most of the abbreviated route. I decided to walk rather than trying to run through the pain since I am too close to my race that I didn't want to risk an injury. I was worried about having the cramp turn into some worse like a pulled muscle.
I did alright in the race. I managed to finish 17th out of 41 runners in the Male 30-39 division. I finished with an official time of 28:19.90, which is about a 1:15 slower than what I ran last year (26:55.16). I had a chance to PR had I not gotten a severe leg cramp right around the 3 mile marker.
I heard via a third party (I don't know if the woman was the race director or not) that the race course will be changing next year. The idea is so that people won't have to park at the high school and then be bused to the start line. The course will still be on the Carrollton trail network which is nice in that there aren't any significant street closures with how the course is currently designed. We did cross the street in two places and the Carrollton PD is there to manage traffic but it's nothing like most races where you run on nothing but streets.
After the race I ran back with some other people to pick up their car, so I managed 6.2 miles for the day. For the most part it was a pretty good day.
I paid for running that 5k pretty hard the next day when I needed to run 10 miles as part of maintaining my marathon training schedule. My legs felt like jello and that nasty cramp in my left leg was still there. In fact it was so bad I walked most of the abbreviated route. I decided to walk rather than trying to run through the pain since I am too close to my race that I didn't want to risk an injury. I was worried about having the cramp turn into some worse like a pulled muscle.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Product Review: Knuckle Lights
Knuckle Lights Product Review
This is my product review of Knuckle Lights. Friendly disclosure: I bought these lights with my own money; they were not sent to me by the company to try for a product review nor was I paid any money for this review. I will only review products I purchase myself that I feel others might benefit from.
I purchased these lights directly from Dicks Sporting Goods through their website. As of the publishing of this blogpost, these lights retail for $39.99. The lights are eligible for free shipping if you purchase the lights from the company directly; Dicks may ship the lights for free depending on whether they are offering some sort of promotion that may require you spend a certain amount of money.
These lights come in a number of colors -- Blue, Pink, Silver (pictured), Black, and Yellow. They come with AAA batteries already included but it might be best to replace them as soon as possible as mine only seemed to last for a very short time frame. I recently invested in rechargeable batteries in an attempt to reduce the cost of constantly replacing batteries roughly every month to two months.
These lights put out good light that fully illuminates the area in front of you. Unlike a headlamp that shines where you are looking, you don't have to worry about shining the lights in someone's eyes, which is a problem for me since I am 5'11" where people shorter than me tend to shine their headlamps right into my eyes. The lights have three settings -- High, Low, & Flashing.
The primary reason I bought the lights was that I wanted to see where I was running as I have seen too many people that run in my group trip and fall over something. It also makes it easier for other people, most importantly cars, to see you in low light situations. I've even run with the knuckle lights during the day with them set to flash when I haven't gotten tired of carrying them.
They lights are not very heavy and not really noticeable while you are carrying them. I got tired of carrying them though when I was doing my really long runs for my marathon training. I can be really bad about clinching my fists and holding the lights will start to cause my hands to hurt. Since I run with a Nathan hydration belt on my really long runs (13 or more miles) I got two carabiners that I used to fasten the lights to the belt when I don't want to carry them anymore.
All in all, I have been extremely satisfied with these lights and would recommend them to any runner that runs in low light situations.
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