September 28, 2010

Another 20 In the books and now its Taper Madness Time

What an amazing 20 miler. I was in Rockland so i needed to come up with some route that would have hills and flat in it. Woke up about 7am and got out the door by 8am. Just had a couple of slices of toast with brown sugar on top and plenty of water. It was a balmy 55ish out! I immediately thought it was perfect for a race simulation run, and boy i think it turned out to be a good one.

I took 2 days off, with being busy and just not enough hours in one day i just couldn't find time. Through the first 10 miles my legs felt stale and just not up to par. I really don't think taking 2 days off from running helps me one bit unless i have an injury or if i really need the rest. After 10 miles i grabbed my fuel belt with my usually 2 7oz bottles of water and one GU. This week i went with Roctane Vanilla Orange, which was perfect. between miles 10 and 14 i "sipped" or chewed on my GU with some water. I find that if i do that i don't have any problems, if i do try and take the whole thing its just too much.

Like i said i wanted to treat it like a simulation for race day and boy did it turn into that. I ran 6:36avg/pace for the twenty. First 10 like i said weren't comfy, but i got through them. The next 5 i was taking in GU and water and just stayed constant. The last 5 miles and especially 18, 19 and 20 i pushed the pace. I think that will help me later one when i'm coming through 20 miles of the marathon. Today was windy also, and i expect that at MDI, so all in all good pre race/ simulation day.

I am done fundraising. I got through the Thousand and i really want to thank everyone that supported me. It was a lot of fun meeting, recruiting and raising the money.

thanks for reading! Taper now...see how this goes...

September 24, 2010

A busy week, but no excuses

Well School is hitting me hard. Trying to keep up with daily homework, Studying for Exams and tests, meetings at night, class at night and running, i have stayed busy. Some nights i haven't even had a chance to get out running until past 8pm!...i don't mind it though. Keeps me busy and away from the couch enjoying a bag of Potato chips.

I didn't mention last week that that i had the most amazing 20 miler. Even though it was my second I crushed it! I ran it in about 2:10. I just felt relaxed through it. I don't know if was where i was running (Bangor City Woods) or if the terrain was just that much flatter, but i was coasting. The first 10 miles i did 2 loops on the trail that circles around most the woods, and i also added on a a nice 2 mile out and back on an old abandoned rail road bed, that was mostly grass. I didn't really grab any water until about 12 miles, and from there i only had about 14oz of water and one GU. A mistake? maybe, but i felt fine through it all. Ill make sure to drink plenty of water though.

This week i'm looking to run about 60 miles, and so far i'm on track. I had a nice little Tempo (6 miles) on the treadmill cause i got out of work just after dark and i wanted to cruise. Stupidly i didn't bring my Ipod. so i ran 12 miserable miles on the treadmill without an IPOD! needless to say i was taxed after that.

As far as raising money. I have reached my goal of $1000! It's been an awesome experience to raise money for a great cause. As a thank you from Friends of Acadia they sent me a Volunteer shirt to wear after/before/during my marathon and i will gladly where it.

So for this weekend. Homework, running, lots of traveling and some more running mixed in there. This is the end of the last hard training week then i have about 2 weeks of down time? is this enough taper? too little? Not sure, im just following a plan. I feel like i'll respond pretty good.

September 13, 2010

Sunday September 12th! 33 days!

Ok...this whole year i have only raced 3 times before today. Sad i know. I have to change this...well the marathon will contribute to this lack of races, but i vow for the month on November and December to have some fun with 5k's.

Today I had 16 miles on tap so i had some fun with a local 5k, which was a fundraiser for a Local Boy Scout who is working on an Eagle Project. Me as an Eagle Scout knows how hard it is and work that needs to be put into in so i made my contribution by running his 5k.

I warmed up with 7 miles (crazy i know) then went on to run the 5k in 17:25 for first! my second win ever! and proceeded that with a really nice cool down of 6 miles. I have to say today was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect with low-60's and cloudy.

The last 3 miles of my cooldown?! was pretty painful. I had to deal with side stitches on my right said and could only run like 90sec without stopping again and stretching it out. Anyone have some pointers for this? i really don't want this to happy again.

Thanks for reading and This past week was a great training week, 55 miles total! maybe going to his 60 next week!

September 10, 2010

My final "tough" workout and 36 days to go!

From here on out it starts to get a little easier. The pace, well i'm going to pick it up since my tempo distances are getting shorter, but last night i finished 4x1600 on the track wit 800 recovery. Boy did it feel good!

My plan said to do a 3 mile warm up and 3 mile cool down, but after school till 12, work till 5 and not getting to the track till 6 i thought it was in my best interests to just relax a little and slow the cool down and shorten it a bit.

The workout:
2 mile warmup
4x1600 with 800 recovery (5:27, 5:34, 5:33, 5:32)
3 mile cool down
Total: 11 miles

To say the least i was very pleased with the workout and generally excited about it. Today as i type this my legs are a little soar,and tired, so ill be taking today easy with probably 7ish miles. Flag football was going on in the infield and there was a group of older people, mid 40-60's? doing some 600 repeats. There were moving and it was motivating not to be alone for the whole workout. On a plus note as well the weather was cool like 65 cool and damp. So i was able to stay comfortable through the whole thing.

Last time i mentioned i had gotten some new shoes. Lunar Fly's + to be exact. I have to say last time i tired Nike i found them very uncomfortable, but these seem to be pretty nice. There are very lightweight, which i enjoy very much and the overall shoe it quite "cushiony". I think i might still stick with my ASICS DS trainer series though, but these could turn into my tempo/workout/racing shoes.

So far nothing much has changed with fundraising. I would like to spread the word a bit more and get that final push in. I am 77% of the way there so i'm not far from reaching my goal! All it takes is a small donation from a few people and i'm there. Please help spread the word if your reading this! Give people a link via email, facebook, and twitter to my blog and to my fundraising page! Thanks!

September 7, 2010

coasting right on through

where the heck did summer ever go? It didn't even feel like i had one. Well i really didn't, so i guess that answers it's self. The weather this past week has been wicked hot and put a major damper on my easy week, made it feel much like a hard week of training.

Finally got moved into my new apartment for the school year and its just a sweet set up. Living in a camper for the whole summer put things in perspective and now when i see the stove i feel so thankful for it. I just have to cook each and every night on it. Brittany cooked a spaghetti lasagna the first night at the house and it was so good. All i have to say it's so much better then eating on campus, quieter, and much for roomy.

As for running like i said the heat caused a major blow to it the past week. I only got in about 30 miles, which should have been a nice recovery week, but it didn't turn into that. Each day with the temps in the 90's and wicked bad humidity, my legs, lungs and body didn't want to move, plus not sleeping well that week made it hard to get going sometimes too. By the end of the week it started to cool, and with a little nagging hurricane coming up the coast, rain and cooler temps moved in.

This coming week will be a big turnaround. For one i got a new pair of shoes, which is always fun. These aren't just my normal asics, i went with some nike's. (I'll delve more into my adventures with them later this week. Secondly i'm more settled into school routine now so i can regularly get out and run.

Fundraising hasn't had much change at all this past couple of weeks. Still sitting at 77%, but its closer to where i though i might be. It's comforting to know that so many people care about something that can make a difference. Please check out my fundraising page and keep following me here!