I think I just attempted the second hardest thing I've ever done next to running/training for my marathon. I ran two half marathons in eight days.
On October 25th, I ran the Michelob Ultra Half Marathon. The course is relatively flat with a portion of the route on the Katy Trail. I started out where I wanted with my pace just below 9:00/mi. I was running with another runner who I had been training with the last several weeks. I started having trouble with my left foot falling asleep. I was concerned with not being able to "feel" things and so I pulled back a little but was still maintaining a pace I felt could get me under two hours.
About the time I reached the end of the Katy Trail my right shoulder was really hurting. It forced me to walk for stretches in order to stretch it out. I don't know if I was tensed up for some reason or if I over-worked my arms in one of my cross-training boot-camps. I finished with a time of 2:01:28. Rats, I just missed my goal time of finishing under two hours. I felt pretty disappointed and felt I had a "bad race" despite blowing away my previous best time of 2:18:38. However I knew I had a chance at redemption as I was running the DRC Half Marathon in a week.
So I rested. I slept in all week while I skipped my speed classes. I was trying to rest my legs as much as possible so that I could push hard in a race I know the course.
I love running the DRC Half Marathon. It is the first half marathon I ever ran. It's my Super Bowl. The course is beautiful and relatively flat. The weather the past two years has been very nice with temps in the 50s.
I started out with the 2:00 pace group but after just a mile or two I decided to pull ahead so that I give myself some buffer in case I run out of juice towards the end of the race. I am running my best race ever with a consistent sub-9:00/mile pace until I get to around mile 8.5. I develop this nasty cramp in my abs/stomache and it causes me to not be able to draw in a full breath (plus it hurt pretty bad). I started to slow down.
Somewhere past mile 10 the 2:00 pace group passed by me and my hopes for finishing within my goal time was dashed. At this point my legs were really achy and sore. I flashed back to how I felt in my marathon training as this was the type of fatigue pain after running 13 miles. I generally felt like this somewhere around mile 15 or 16. I continued to press on though and would walk when I felt like I needed a small break.
I finished with a time of 2:06:40. In the grand scheme of things, I took 12 minutes off my time from the last time I ran the same race. I also have never ran races in back to back weekends like that. I might do a couple things differently the next I try something like this.
This next week I am taking a week long training course to become certified Personal Trainer. I will go from being the motivated to being the motivator. What will be interesting is how I can tie getting certified as a coach with next year's goals. I'll wait and see how the class goes and think about what I want to accomplish for 2015.
I'm also keeping an eye on the RRCA website for upcoming Running Coach certification classes. I want running to be my focus for my Personal Training experience.
Speaking of 2015, I have updated my races page with races I am planning to run or have already signed up to run. I am going to run fewer races next year but more of them will be out of town races. I may still sign up for the Fayetteville Half Marathon in December 2015 in Fayetteville, AR rather than run in the Dallas Marathon. I haven't made up my mind on that yet.
I haven't forgotten this blog. I'm still running and I even have a race coming up in a week and a half that I hope to PR in. Now that I am no longer training for a marathon I don't have near the motivation to write down everything that happens to me along a journey that I'm not taking.
Since I am already so close to my 500 mile goal (484 out of 500 as of 9/11) I decided to modify the goal to 600 miles for the calendar year. Barring an injury I don't see why I won't hit that goal either. 650 miles might be a much hard distance to reach but I think it would be still doable.
Speed training has been fun and I hope to see some positive results this fall in the races I have coming up. Cross training (Boot Camp) has been going good as well.
I've taken the plunge and signed up for a week long class in November to become a fitness Personal Trainer. I am taking the required CPR class this weekend. I also want to become a running coach and get certified in that as well. The 2014 schedule is already complete and most all the classes are full for the remainder of the year so I will just have to keep an eye out for 2015. Hopefully I can get in a class when they schedule a session in Dallas.
Perhaps I will move my blog in the direction of overall fitness and not just running. Running will still be a major part of the blog but not the sole subject.
I promise I haven't forgotten this blog but I was out of town the past two weekends and so I didn't get any chances to run.
With that in mind, I was a little worried about how this morning's long run was going to go. I ran an average pace of 10:09/mi which is faster than what it felt like. My feet felt heavy for much of the run. The weather was cloudy but it was very humid with temps in the high 70s. I force myself to run slower because I am very concerned about overheating since I don't always handle the heat well.
With the summer heat I like to focus less on my speed and try to work more on my form and whatnot. This morning we ran some hill repeats and so I worked on trying to bound up the hill with good form. Going uphill you should run up on the balls of your feet, which actually puts more spring in your step. Going downhill you should lean forward, shorten your stride a little, increase your cadence some, and let the hill pull you down the road/trail/sidewalk.
For more regular terrain I just try to focus on my stride, strike, and cadence. I want to really maintain a steady cadence and shorten/lengthen my stride as needed. The thing about lengthening my stride too much is I need to increase my turnover otherwise my cadence has to slow down. Thankfully in my LiveWire Adrenaline class that is one of things were we focused on this week.
Finally, I set a goal for the year several weeks ago to run 500 miles this year. As of this blog entry I have logged 345 out of 500 miles, which puts me at 69% complete. I feel this is very doable especially since I have half marathon races in August, September, October, November, and December which means, barring injury or illness, I have about 66 more guaranteed miles which would put me at around 410 miles.
I'm going to try to run on the 4th since I won't have a chance to run the next two weekends.
Today was (what I consider) my first real run since my marathon. I've run smaller distances like 3 or 4 miles but today was my first "long" run I've done in several weeks. It felt great, especially since I got to run with people. It sounds weird but during much of my marathon training I was running solo. The group I ran with all run at about my pace so they helped push me and I helped them push the pace.
Now that I am finished training for my marathon I want to change gears towards finishing a half marathon in under 2 hours. To do that, I figure I need to average better than 9:15/mile. This morning I ran a 9:28/mile average and that was even with our group running slower to allow for someone to catch up.
It was warm this morning but the heat didn't bother me too much since I've been doing cross training in the evenings where the temps have been in the 90s lately. Running in this heat should help me with the Hottest Half in August. Last year I really seemed to struggle and I'd like to see if I can do better this time around.
I'm excited about my slate of races coming up. I have a race in the months of August, September, October, November, and December. I've been training in a speed class lately called Adrenaline offered by LiveWire Fitness. I've learned some cool techniques like bounding on hills which I feel is helping me become a better runner. Here's a good article that gives five different techniques to make you a better runner, especially when trying to conquer a hill.
I am going to work on my account of the Mountains2Beach Marathon this weekend. I've been extremely busy since I ran the race and haven't had time to sit down and write down everything about the race. I'll try my best to get it done tomorrow morning.
