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 (just the) "Marathon" Entries Marathon Interlude: The Half - Weeks 11-13 of 13 December 13, 2006 So the "informal" half-marathon didn't happen, but I did an even more informal half-marathon on my own, back and forth on the Tobacco Trail. A lot less hilly than the Carrboro and Chapel Hill trails and sidewalks that I've been training on. I'd forgotten how much easier it is to run on flatter ground. My foot started hurting in the final third of my run (it's fine now, thanks), so I still did more walking than I'd like. If I decide to retrain for a marathon from here, I'll likely want to repeat this run in a few weeks. But I think I've completely lost interest in running. I'll stick with the shorter weekday runs while I make a final decision. I do want to accomplish this. I just don't want it enough to prioritize it above other things, which I feel I need to accomplish and which I've fallen behind in while I'm running around, well, running. We'll see.
 Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 10 of 13 November 30, 2006 Twelve miles. I started out out so well ten weeks ago, a better foundation than I had when I began training for a full marathon this time last year. I was also going with a higher running interval. But now all that advantage has been erased and I'm so slow that--by projection--I'd be lucky if I could run a full marathon in fewer than six hours. I wonder whether the less motivation I have to run a half-marathon contributes to my failure to excel here. Starting with a failure to take the training seriously enough. Something to ponder when I have less work to do... My twelve-mile course took me through UNC campus. I'd forgotten how hilly it was, and I didn't expect all the sidewalks to be closed for construction. That didn't help. Came dangerously-close to getting hit by cars twice this week. Both times the cars were fully stopped before I crossed in front of the driveway/parking spaces. The second one (on my long run) actually backed out toward me as I ran and yelled for the driver to stop. If I'd been walking at the time, I would have been hit. I can't think of this ever happening before this week. And now twice. What's up with that?
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 9 of 13 November 20, 2006 Wasn't able to schedule a long run last week, and this coming week isn't looking good until Friday. So I'm doing the short runs, and it's strange to do them for their own sake and not dismiss them as merely warm-ups for the longer runs. I can still hit the half at thirteen weeks if I get to my next long run by this weekend. But I can't afford any more mistakes. Starting to think about full marathons now, in late Winter or early Spring. I want it to be fairly cool and at least three months from my half in December for training purposes, so that puts me at mid-to-late March through April. Prime candidates: at the sooner end there's the National Marathon in DC (March 28) and the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach (March 18), and at the later end The Country Music Marathon in Nashville (April 28). Hard to know at this point, since some of the marathon registrations are already on the verge of being sold out, while others in the same timeframe have details pending. April temperature is also a crapshoot, wherever you are. We'll see.
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 8 of 13 November 9, 2006 Ten sucky miles. Did more walking than I should have in the second half, so here's three guesses why: Hotter than both AccuWeather and Weather.com predicted, which quickened my out-of-breathiness and fatiguity. I suck at warm running. Feet hurt. Might have to consider new shoes soon. I do know it's not supposed to be good for running shoes to wear them when you're not running. But when my sandals cut open my feet early in Clarion this summer, I had to wear these running shoes around, since they were the only other option I had before I got me some slippers. So there's that and 21 weeks of training in these things. Otherwise my back and even my kneecap were surprisingly was okay. My kneecap started bugging me when we walked to the polls early Tuesday morning, but it was cool for the run. I don't have a ten mile route mapped out, so I ended up repeating a stretch of back-and-forth. Psychologically, running a path twice (once in each direction) is bad enough. Running it four times just feels defeating. Not sure I want to repeat the ten mile. Not sure I'll be able to if I want to hit that "informal marathon" next month. Guess I could just do a whole lot of walking. But we'll see.
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 7 of 13 November 4, 2006 Nine miles! Easiest run since I quit/postponed training for the full marathon back in March. The nice cold weather was the contributing factor; I just don't perform as well in heat. This is funny because my entry back in January when I first hit nine miles was all: "probably my toughest single workout in about ten years." I'm doing a higher run-to-walk interval now, too, so I'm clearly making at least a little progress, and not just repeating old mistakes.
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 6 of 13 October 27, 2006 The eight mile repeat went only mildly better than the week before. Running right now has firmly become something I don't want to do but want to have done, and I'm certain that I'll drop it the second it irresolvably conflicts with one of my writing priorities. Until then: onward to nine.
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 5 of 13 October 19, 2006 Eight miles in the rain. Back hurt, so I did more walking than I should have. I might repeat the eight mile next week. That'll cut into my ability to switch to long runs every-other-week during the last few weeks of training. But you gotta listen to your body, right? On the bright side, I'm almost caught up on all the Fanboy Radio episodes that came out during and post-Clarion.
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 4 of 13 October 9, 2006 Seven miles, very difficult. Nipples hurt. I wore an old, rough shirt and there's some chafing. You probably didn't want to know that.
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 3 of 13 October 4, 2006 Six miles. Curses. I'm already sick of the running. I'll go another few weeks before I reevaluate my goals, make sure I still want to do this. Could just be I've had too much on my plate and this is just taking up more time than its priority should warrant. We'll see.
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 2 of 13 September 26, 2006 Five miles went all right. For about 36 hours after both these long runs my lower back hurts though, which is something to keep an eye on. What am I doing differently this time around? What have I learned based on my first attempt here? I'm stretching more, not just the day of the run, but in the days after it. I didn't realize that the brittle-bones feeling after my 10+ mile runs was actually a muscle thing. I'm doing the half-marathon first, as some of my running friends suggested. Starting now means I shouldn't have to train in the really hot weather. I know which gels and sportsbars taste the least like toothpaste or chalk, respectively, so I don't have to experiment as much. I'm switching to bottled water during the heavily-chlorinated tap-water month. Jen isn't training with me this time, though she might join me for a few shorter runs. There's good and bad there. No company, but more flexibility. Yesterday it was too hot in the morning, so I ran late last night, when Jen was out of town. Since running alone also means I listen to audiobooks or podcasts every time I run (and since most of my listening is at least tangentially work-related), I'm extra motivated to get the running done. I swear multitasking and lifehacks are the only things that keep me afloat sometimes. This is one of the more hectic weeks I've had since Clarion, with deadlines and pressures. It's hard to find the time to run, but I imagine it's helping my stress levels to do so. So yay for that.
Marathon Interlude: The Half - Week 1 of 13 September 19, 2006 Bet y'all thought I forgot, didn't you? I've been doing maintenance runs (up to 30-minutes long each) sporadically since March, and then started my retraining in earnest last week, culminating in my first "long" run in six months yesterday: just four miles. Eh. But at least I'm starting at a higher mileage and higher running interval than I started with last time. Some friends are organizing an informal half-marathon in Durham the first weekend in November, so that's all I'm shooting for at this point. I aim for that, and then I'll start looking for a full-marathon in the Spring. I'll resume "full" marathon training for that in November, once I'm back to where I was when I abandoned efforts in March.
Marathon Training Week 13 of 26A: Postponement March 13, 2006 So I won't be running a marathon at Lake Placid in June. Of the 16 miles I needed to do yesterday, I only did about 7-8. While I'll be second guessing myself for some time about whether I made the right decision (pushing myself vs. listening to my body), what's done is done. I finished exactly 13 weeks (with exactly 13 weeks to go) before screwing this up, and, with 14 miles under my belt, I've already pushed my endurance to the best it's been in my life. So I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I was feeling under the weather, coughing a bit (which started the night before), and dealing with 85 degree temperatures for the first time this year. Two weeks ago I ran with gloves and a beanie; today my Ohio-tempered body was sweating like crazy in shorts and a sleeveless shirt. I'm not going to make excuses, but I'm sure each of these were contributing factors and obstacles I failed to overcome. So if I get into Clarion, I will not meet my goal of running a marathon by the time I hit 30. I'm going to be okay with this. Writing takes priority over sports, and when you get up to this much mileage, it's kind hard to argue that the impact of training is nothing but great for your health. I'll probably keep training and prepare for a half-marathon in the coming months, but I see no reason to wait until Lake Placid to do so. Still pretty depressed about this, so I'm not going to make any new decisions or goals for a few days at least. I'll resume this marathon journal once I figure things out. Thanks to those who supported me in this effort. This dream isn't over. Just postponed until after Clarion.
Marathon Training Week 12 of 26 March 6, 2006 12 Weeks down, 14 to go. I finally did recover from Week 11's long run by Sunday. After talking with a friend, it's possible that I didn't stretch as well as I should have in the days AFTER the run. I always walk at least half a mile at the end, no matter how much my feet hurt, and I stretch after the run and the next day, but when I was still feeling brittle on Wednesday I didn't keep it up. Learning though. Nothing else to report. Next Sunday is 16 miles and the half way point to the actual marathon!
Marathon Training Week 11 of 26: 14 Miles February 28, 2006 It's been two day since Week 11's long run. 14 miles. More than half the distance of a marathon. By the end of the first hour, you start feeling really good about yourself. If you were having doubts at first, they're a good five miles behind you now. You're young. Invincible. Confident that you're going to own this marathon thing. In the second hour there are some twitches. Some thirsts. You'd rather be home. You'd rather have an excess of fluids. You'd rather munch on something that doesn't taste like chalk. You begin to ache, but you're a soldier on a mission and you sally forth. As the third hour begins, you experience real pain. First in your feet, then in your knees, sometimes as high as your back. This running project is a mistake. You do not have it in you to run a marathon. And if you do, it will destroy you. If you weren't already heading toward the car or home in the second half of your run, you would consider turning around now. But the best your cowardice can offer you right now is the option of walking that same distance. And walking hurts too, so you might as well get it over with more quickly. In the two days afterwards, your legs feel brittle. Like they're going to snap off if you stand up for too long. Walking up or down stairs is especially painful. You feel like your body is telling you something, especially when you think about running twice as far. So really you should write your blog entries at the end of the first hour. Yes, you should pause your run, suck on a gel, stretch your legs and feet, and type up an entry about how much ass you're going to kick on that marathon. Because two days later, when you've already accomplished more with your body than you ever thought possible and your body is clearly paying a price for it, you're not so into this whole marathon thing anymore. But you have twelve days to get that confidence and motivation back up to snuff. That'll be sixteen miles. I hurt.
Marathon Training Week 10 of 26: Fuel February 20, 2006 My first "maintenance run." So last week I did 12 miles on my long run and next week I'll do 14. This week the aim was only six. I had some real motivation problems yesterday, which, combined with lack of sleep and a pressing concern that kept me from staying focused, helped me to give my worst performance of these ten weeks. Just glad it hit today rather than a week where I needed to make progress. We'll see by next Sunday how or whether a poor performance on my pseudo-long run will affect my "real" long run. Weekday maintenance runs are going all right, but maybe that's because I took an extra day or two to heal from last Sunday's twelve mile. Since this was a boring week with not much to talk about, might as well cover something tangential. I've now tried a good dozen energy bars and half a dozen gels, and this is what I've learned so far: Most energy bars taste like chalk, and I'm pretty forgiving of any food substance when I'm as hungry as I get on these Sunday runs. But the only one that I've found tolerable so far is the Balance Bar Gold "Caramel Nut Blast." Otherwise, give me a plain old granola bar. Covering it in crappy chocolate is only an improvement if you want to encourage more water consumption; I need to wash the taste out of my mouths pronto. But I gotta eat something in those two and a half hours of the long runs. Most gels taste like paste. But so far both flavors of Hammer Gel I've tried (Vanilla and Chocolate) are okay, as is GU's "Orange Burst," though I haven't liked other GU flavors. But they work. I feel a noticeable relief in my fatigue (note I didn't say improvement in my energy) when I use a gel halfway through my run. On my 12 mile I used two. Next Sunday I plow through a half marathon. Where does the time go?
Marathon Training Week 9 of 26: Twelve Miles! February 12, 2006 Early in the week I worried I'd have to postpone the marathon; the bottoms of my feet still hurt as late as Tuesday and this worsening of my insomnia just wasn't a good mix with the beating my body was taking. But the sleep improved just in time and my feet were okay after I took an additional day off of my weekday runs. Which brings me to today. More than two and a half hours of interval running on the Tobacco Trail again. And of course I'm tired and sore again. But next sunday is a "week off" where I go for "only" six miles, thus giving my body some extra time to recuperate. Hard to believe that six miles, which truly punished my body just a month ago, is now considered taking it easy for a long run. It was my first solo long run today, so I loaded up my player with a few podcasts I'm running behind on like The Ricky Gervais Show, Jason Lundberg's Lies and Little Deaths, The Naked Scientists and the new TMBG Podcast. I also listened for the first time to two excellent shows by local writer Mur Lafferty. I'd heard her Escape Pod story last month, but it was a link in Jason's journal that made me realize she was a local and something of a podcasting pioneer. Too many great podcasts out there to listen to them all, which I guess is a good problem to have. I may be able to fit in more books by learning speed reading, but, since podcasts play at a fixed speed, there's a finite number of them I can fit in my schedule, no matter how much I improve my listening skills. Anyway, my feet don't hurt as much as they did last Sunday night. I may make this marathon yet.
Marathon Training Week 8 of 26: Ten Miles! February 5, 2006 Here's the first major milestone of the training. Ten miles of interval running. My body hurts, particularly my back and the bottoms of my feet. This was the first run where my bodyaching threatened to stop me before my lung capacity did. But we did it. And we brought a friend. And then we had some bagels because it turns out our jaws had a little life in them yet. So ten miles today on the American Tobacco Trail, a very cool rails-to-trails project in Durham, which once was a train track used to ship tobacco and now put to better use, a good microcosm to represent how Durham was once considered the "tobacco capital" and now it's the "City of Medicine" (which you gotta admit is kind of overdoing it when it comes to apologizing for the sins of the past; wonder what the next tagline will be when they find out that medicine is bad for you...). Hopefully not too sore and beat to watch the Superbowl. I usually root for the underdog, but I've got a friend in Pittsburgh who is a major fan of the Steelers. She's had a couple shitstorms over the past year, so here's hoping she can put some chalk in the win column this afternoon.
Marathon Training Week 7 of 26: Nine Miles! January 30, 2006 Sore and stiff from yesterday's run, probably my toughest single workout in about ten years. Running is hard work.
Marathon Training Week 6 of 26: Eight Miles! January 22, 2006 The running's going well. Eight miles today was no harder than seven last Sunday. Not easier either, though. I'm starting to think it's like prose writing: after seven years it's no easier to write stories, but when I am able to overcome the challenge these days, the finished stories are generally of higher quality. Interestingly enough, eight miles took exactly as long as seven. So yeah, real happy about the progress. I'm a little concerned, though, because all this running isn't helping my sleep like I'd expect it to. Ordinarily I can count on a noticeable reduction in my usual sleeplessness even after half-hour runs. If running for two hours doesn't knock me out, I wonder even if my old football two-a-days would help. But it all evens out. This week we'll hit the one-fourth mark in our training. Woohoo!
Marathon Training Week 5 of 26 January 15, 2006 We did it. 7 miles today. My calves burned for the last few intervals and I had a helluva time focusing during a shoot later in the day (more on that later) and I'm sure a few of the following senses aren't going to make any kind of sense, but we did it. I didn't sleep any better last night than I did last Saturday, but I did eat only 1.5 hours before the run and carried a Balance bar and a small bottle of Water. But I think Jen and I accidentally wearing matching outfits was the real thing that did the trick. It's a good thing, too, because if we would have had another crappy long run, we would have needed to repeat a few of the previous weeks, which would have put the marathon well into Clarion territory. I would have had to make a difficult decision for myself--do I postpone the rest of my training until after Clarion or do I switch to a half-marathon? But we pushed through and did it: 7 miles of interval running. Probably the most difficult single piece of exercise I've done in my life. Now that we're back on track with the stamina, the other thing is to further increase the interval of running. I think I need to increase my long run speed by 20% still if I want to make 26.2 miles in under 5.5 hours.
Marathon Training Week 4 of 26 January 9, 2006 The week started off all right. On monday I got a pair of dedicated running shoes,. Had my feet measured with the socks off for once and found a pair of Asics I liked. I purchased them from Fleet Feet in Carrboro, and they were very helpful. And after purchasing them from FF, I looked online to see if I could find a second pair of the same model shoes cheaper (following the advice of friends), but it turns out Fleet Feet is very competitively priced. So if I end up purchasing a second pair, I'll definitly be going through them. Gotta pick up some high performance socks this week anyway; I know from hiking that 100% cotton causes blisters on longer walks and runs. The weekday runs went great. We raised the running interval and lowered the walking interval more than I thought we'd be able to, and I had more energy and breath left at the end of them than ever. Then came the Sunday run, which pretty much killed me. It started with a mistake.
Continue reading "Marathon Training Week 4 of 26" Filed Under: Carrboro Area, Journal, Marathon Marathon Training Week 3 of 26 January 1, 2006 We were on the road this week, up north and we missed exactly one full week of running. We did try, but the ground was too icy. So we don't get credit for anything more than a brisk walk. We got home late last night and today we played cautious catch-up and went five miles of interval-running, where our goal was 5-6. This is where having such a conservative training schedule really pays off, that this early in the game we're able to get back on track without worrying about putting too much stress on our bodies. We simply upped the walking-to-running ratio of the intervals. Won't be so easy if this happens later in the training schedule though. More advice on shoes from Jen's sister (a lifelong runner): buy two pairs if possible and alternate them, because good running shoes take a few days after a long run to "recover" and alternating them will increase the life of both of them. I'll likely pick up my first pair of dedicated running shoes this week. I'll alternate between them and my current (everyday sneakers) shoes this week and if they're a good match for my feet then I'll probably purchase a second pair. I know I'm risking an injury by wearing these sneakers now that I'm past a few miles per run.
Marathon Training Week 2 of 26 December 25, 2005 We switched to the Jeff Galloway plan this week, which is a lighter workout during the week, and then a longer run on the weekend. Both plans use interval running and they're pretty compatible, though it might have been harder to switch the other way. Today's the first run we're going to miss since we started, because we're traveling, because it's harder to find non-icy places to run where we are, because it's Christmas (against which there is a war), and--most of all--because I banged up my knee quite a few times over the last three days chasing after Loki. We're traveling with Thor and Loki for as much as one more week, so this third week of training might prove to be the most difficult one to fulfill. Happy Everything!
Marathon Training Week 1 of 26 December 18, 2005 Four days of being cold and out of breath. During one run it rained, but we pulled through. Four days of interval running, where we repeat a run-2-3-minutes, walk-4-minutes routine five times each day. Doesn't seem like much, but it wasn't until our fourth run that I wasn't completely out of breath by the end of it, even as we increased the number of 3-minute-runs during the last two sessions. A friend recommended using Jeff Galloway's marathon training program instead. It's very similiar with interval running, and actually seems lighter in the first few weeks than the e-Hows we're using. I just ordered Galloway's book, and I'll consider supplementing/changing the plan as I read more. My friend also invited me to join him for the Chicago Marathon in October, which is flattering, but I gotta get through this first one before I make any long-term plans. Jen and I will be traveling at the end of the month, so we'll see how badly that effects the schedule.
Training for a Marathon December 11, 2005 So I turn 30 by the end of next year, which makes me contemplative and a bit restless. About ten years ago I set some pretty unachievable goals for myself, about what I wanted to accomplish by 25. Almost five years late, I still haven't touched most of them, but there is one that's been sticking in my mind over the last month or so. From Thanksgiving and other socials with marathon-running friends to recently reading a Jim Van Pelt story in which The New York City Marathon played a supporting role, every time I put the idea out of my head, it just comes on back with sounds of sneakered feet. The problem is I also want to attend The Clarion writing workshop seven months from now (another one of those things I hoped to do before 25), so that makes it all kind of tricky. I don't want to be asleep my first week of classes and I don't want to be training when I'd benefit more from writing. I'll need to train conservatively, because if this is more harmful to my health than beneficial, then there's really no point. So starting yesterday I'm giving myself six months to run my first marathon. Marathon-running friends have encouraged me to go for a half-marathon somewhere in the middle there for a nice motivator, and to get out of the way the "what-the-hell-do-I-do-nows" that I'm sure to experience on my first race day. That puts me at the weekend of June 10th, 2006. I'm leaning toward Lake Placid on the 11th because it's further north (and hopefully cooler) than alternatives for that weekend, and I have fond memories of camping in the beautiful forests of New York.
Continue reading "Training for a Marathon" Filed Under: Journal, Marathon, Vanity Smurf |
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Alex Wilson writes fiction and comics in Carrboro, NC. His work has appeared/will appear in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Rambler, LCRW, Weird Tales, The Florida Review, Futurismic, ChiZine, Pif, and Dragon. Locus Magazine has called him a "promising new writer," and Publishers Weekly also has nice things to say. Alex runs the audiobook project/podcast Telltale Weekly and the writer wiki Guidevines. He publishes the minicomic/zine Inconsequential Art. He is a 2006 Clarion graduate. Blog Archives 2008 - Clever Label TBA 2007 - BadYearNoCookie 2006 - Clarion! 1st Pro Sale! 2005 - Peers and Peerless 2004 - Telltale Launch 2003 - Dog bites, acting out 2002 - In my mind, I'm going... 2001 - Marriage, Macs, 1st Cons 2000 - Setback, Milestones 1999 - Engaged, Graduated 1998 - Creative Independence     Powered by MT 3.35 MySpace Profile Technorati Profile |
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