Six and Long – Week 8 Review

Eight weeks down, seven to go. Training in week 8 was a bit unique with three 6-mile recovery runs, a 14-mile midweek run, and a 16-mile long run. The recoveries each went well enough if not uneventful.

It was kind of nice to have several easy runs all lined up. Tuesday’s 14 miler was faster than expected, mainly because I knew Colin was also going to be running 14 miles (in Connecticut) and I wanted to put up a good showing. Well that jerk a) “got lost” and ran 15 miles; and b) was tired so probably going to be a little slower. He ended up still being faster, even with the longer distance and being “tired”.

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Skyscraper – Week 7 Review

After a great weekend in Seattle it was back to the Austin grindstone for Week 7 of training. Things started off a bit shaky with a red-eye that netted me about 3 hours of sleep taking me straight from the airport to the office. To make up for the lost morning I laid down 7 easy miles in 102* heat after work.

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The heart rate was higher than a normal recovery, but I’m ok with that. My goal was to simply survive. Tuesday was even less fun, feeling nauseous during and after the run. I think my body was still out of whack from the travel and weird sleep schedule, but I got through it.

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Team VW Swag

Just a quick update on the Team VW front.  I’ve been putting in the miles and sticking to the plan (as you know from my interesting and informative weekly updates).  Well Team VW sent over some swag out of the blue.  Sitting on my front door when I got home from work was a bubble-wrapped envelope busting at the seams with some pretty sweet gear.  Inside was a t-shirt, water bottle, one of those string backpacks, and Dean Karnazes’ book Run!: 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss.  Definitely a nice surprise to keep the motivation up now that I’m getting into the heart of my training.  Thanks Team VW!

Recovery – Week 5 Review [brief]

Sometimes you need an easy week and sometimes you don’t.  Last week was one of those times when I definitely needed an easy week of running.  I diligently knocked each one out exactly as the schedule said, including a sweltering lunch time run in the heart of Texas summer heat.  There were no tempo or speed miles and no real long distances.  It was much-needed after a rough Week 4.  Heading into Week 6 I’m feeling refreshed and ready to light it up.  I’m looking forward to hitting 50 miles this coming week, particularly with an 18 mile run that I can do in Seattle’s cool, dry climate.  I’m not even sure how to prepare for a place where their HIGH temp is cooler than our LOW temp.  I think I’ll figure out a way though.

Distance Time Pace Heart Rate
Monday 8.17 Miles 1:07:28 8:15 min/mi 147 bpm
Tuesday 5.00 Miles 48:40 9:44 min/mi 132 bpm
Wednesday 8.13 Miles 1:09:25 8:32 min/mi 144 bpm
Friday 4.02 Miles 37:15 9:16 min/mi 140 bpm
Saturday 12.43 Miles 1:41:10 8:08 min/mi 152 bpm
Total 37.73 Miles 5:23:59 8:35 min/mi 145 bpm

Getting Serious – Week 3 Review

Now we’re getting serious.  It’s been a long time since I cracked 40 miles in a week, which isn’t really all that much when it comes to marathon training, but it’s a milestone nonetheless.  Another milestone is going 14 for 14 on scheduled runs so far in the training plan.  Hopefully I’ll be able to say I went 74 for 74 by the time the race rolls around, but we’ll see.

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The Coolhaus Skyscraper Challenge

Time for another installment of eating meets running. This time it involves an irresponsible amount of running followed by an irresponsible amount of dessert. To make it sound more responsible, I’ll consider it a heavy dose of calcium and protein to refuel and recover from a difficult workout. Yea, that’s better. Anyway, after coming across a blog post (how many bad ideas start off that way?) I got to thinking about accepting a challenge of skyscraping proportions.

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Tri Again – Week 2 Review [brief]

Week 2 was much better than Week 1. Sticking to the schedule didn’t go particularly well, but the actual running was much improved. I hit all my runs, though had some more rescheduling to fit into general life. I pushed my long run up from Saturday to Wednesday to accommodate the Couples Triathlon on Sunday. Yep, I participated in another tri even after swearing off switching to running-only.

For now things are going smoothly, but my paces are slower than I’d like. I can’t expect to pick up where I left off at my peak, but I’m hoping I see some big gains soon. Otherwise I may need to reevaluate my goal for the race. Still early though, so only time will tell.

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Distance Time Pace Heart Rate
Monday 8.31 Miles 1:10:26 8:28 min/mi 151 bpm
Wednesday 13.23 Miles 1:47:38 8:08 min/mi 155 bpm
Thursday 10.00 Miles 1:25:23 8:32 min/mi 144 bpm
Friday 5.00 Miles 46:48 9:21 min/mi 138 bpm
Sunday 3.00 Miles 23:06 7:42 min/mi — bpm
Total 39.53 Miles 5:33:24 8:26 min/mi 149 bpm


Chicago – Week 1 Review

Well, Week 1 of my Team VW Chicago Marathon training plan is in the books. It started off shaky but quickly found a groove. It’s nice getting back in the running seat, but I can tell I’m thoroughly out of running shape. It’s true my swimming abilities have seen some exponential improvement, apparently at the cost of my running fitness. That’s OK though! Week 1 in the books and things can only go up from here.

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