From Dumbo to Dopey, Running Disney One Day at a Time in 2016 (Comments Welcome)

[camaker]

I decided to start this training journal to help keep myself motivated and hopefully provide some motivation and inspiration to others out there. Comments are welcome and encouraged. I have benefited immensely from others’ experiences so far and hope I can provide some, as well.


I guess I’ll start with the clichéd question. Why do I run? I had been a big guy my entire adult life. In 2009, I had knee surgery for a torn meniscus and the surgeon told me I should never play sports again. That hit me hard and I did not respond well. By the beginning of 2013, I weighed in at 335 pounds and was on a CPAP for sleep apnea and daily medication for blood pressure and acid reflux. At that point, I decided enough was enough and lost 150 lbs walking and playing Ultimate prior to starting to run seriously in early 2015. I think pictures really tell the story, though.

This was me at my oldest daughter’s HS graduation in 2012:



This picture is from SWDS this past April:



Having a stretch running goal to work for is a major factor in my ability to maintain that weight loss. Maintenance is proving as hard or harder than actually losing the weight initially. I got down to 180 pounds in the initial surge of weight loss, but I’m hanging in the 195-200 pound range now. I’d really like to get that back to about 185 pounds for optimal running, if possible. Ultimately, though, I just enjoy running and getting out into the fresh air (no treadmills here).

So on to what I’m training for right now. I’m looking at three major events coming up. First up is the 2016 Dumbo Double Dare at Disneyland to complete my Coast to Coast Challenge. After that is the Raleigh City of Oaks Marathon the first weekend in November. Finally (for now), Dopey 2017 is in the cards for January!

My marathon goal is to see what I can do when trained and healthy. I signed up for the 2016 WDW 10k and Half Marathon this time last year. Then during the summer I decided to register for the marathon, too, because why not? It would be a signature achievement to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of my decision to lose the weight, if I could do it. Then I tore my hamstring in September and I wasn’t able to train for it. At Marathon Weekend it was a game time decision whether I was even going to attempt it. The morning of, I decided “what the Hell” and it turned out to be one of the best decisions of my life. I have never had more fun athletically in my life and I got faster and faster as the race went on. I finished in 5:48:48 with plenty in the tank and I don’t want that to be the time that I associate with my marathon PR, as I can do a lot better. This marathon is to lay down a marker for a standalone marathon and then decide from there whether I want to continue to improve the distance or focus on half marathons.

Congratulations on making it this far in my wordy first post! From here, I am going to be running four days a week using a modified Hansons plan put together for me by @DopeyBadger to train for City of Oaks. From there I intend to follow a plan to maintain that fitness level through Dopey in January. I can’t thank him enough for the great feedback and follow-up that he’s provide so far.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Following along. Great story and thanks for sharing! It's hard not to cheer for you and I'll definitely be in your corner throughout this journey. Congratulations on making all of these improvements in life and I'm excited to see what you can do next!

 

[camaker]

Now that the long, wordy introductory post is out of the way and the fighting with getting that second image into the post has been won, here's the plan for this week:

Thursday - 4 miles at Easy A (11:42/mile) pace
Saturday - 4 miles at Long Run (10:30/mile) pace

The plan is pretty light ast his week is a recovery period from the Race 13.1 Roanoke Half Marathon that I ran this past week. The 1:58:26 I ran wasn't quite a PR, but it was right in the range of what I was trying to accomplish and it definitely took a good bit out of my legs. I guess that will just give me a little extra time with the Hansons Marathon Method book learning the theories behind the training plan I'm going to be working through...

 

[camaker]

Following along. Great story and thanks for sharing! It's hard not to cheer for you and I'll definitely be in your corner throughout this journey. Congratulations on making all of these improvements in life and I'm excited to see what you can do next!

Thank you! I've only got one runner in my circle of nearby family and friends (my PT) and I'm loathe to spend too much time talking to him about it, as he's been unable to run for over a year due to knee issues that have required multiple surgeries. The community here has been a great source of support and information and I've learned far more from this site than I ever would have bumping around in the dark on my own.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

You have such an amazing story! I have been feeling pretty scared about running the marathon in January but reading about your experience is giving me hope that I can have a positive experience too. I can't wait to see how your story unfolds this year!

 

[roxymama]

Following along too! Looking forward to reading about your training.

I hope one day to get up the nerve to run the WDW marathon.

 

[camaker]

Not too much to report on this week, but I need to put something down so I get in the habit!

After last week's race in Roanoke, this was a recovery week, with only two short runs scheduled:

6/20 - Rest
6/21 - Rest
6/22 - Rest
6/23 - 4 miles Easy
6/24 - Rest
6/25 - 4 miles Long Run
6/26 - Rest

The easier schedule was probably a good thing, though, as the race last Saturday apparently took more out of my legs than I thought. Both training runs were on heavy legs and it didn't help that Thursday's was run in the evening after work in 86 degrees and high humidity. Saturday I got out first thing in the morning so the temp was only 72 degrees or so. Here are the results:

6/22 - Target 4 miles at 11:42/mile
- Actual 4.21 miles at 11:48/mile

6/25 - Target 4 miles at 10:30/mile
- Actual 4.29 miles at 10:28/mile

On the rest days I either walked or played some disc golf so I at least got out and moving. The jury's still out on this afternoon whether I play Ultimate Frisbee or just a bit of disc golf (or maybe both).

On the plus side for the week, I was finally able to get to the eye doctor for a new prescription. My sunglasses had the anti-reflective coating delaminate so that they were unusable. In a week or so, I should have new regular and sun glasses that will make daytime running much more comfortable and, hopefully, allow me to pick one of my leisure time hobbies, cross stitching, back up. My eyes had gotten a bit worse, making the small stitching hard to see even with the progressive lenses.

Hope everyone else has had a good week and I look forward to having more to report on next week.

 

[Ariel484]

Amazing transformation!! And great job running the WDW Marathon...the thought of tearing a hamstring is making me cringe.

 

[camaker]

Training Report – Week of 06/27

It was back to full training this week after last week’s post-Roanoke recovery week. That’s not to say everything went off as planned, though, so without further ado, here’s what was on the docket:

Monday 06/27 – Rest
Tuesday 06/28 – 3 miles easy
Wednesday 06/29 – 4 miles easy
Thursday 06/30 – 3 mile tempo with 0.5 mile each warm-up and cool down
Friday 07/01 – Rest
Saturday 07/02 – 6 mile long run
Sunday 07/03 – Rest

Unfortunately, summer decided to put in an appearance in North Carolina this week. I am not nearly enough of a morning person to get up and run before work unless far more exigent circumstances are in play, so after work hoping the head had moderated a bit was the plan. In addition, Tuesday was my birthday, so plans immediately had to be rearranged, moving Tuesday’s run to Monday so I could go out to dinner with my wife and daughters to celebrate.

Monday (Temp at run: 90 degrees) –
Target: 3 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 3.41 miles at 11:23/mile

Wednesday (Temp at run: 88 degrees) –
Target: 3 miles at 10:54/mile
Actual: 4.21 miles at 11:06/mile

Thursday (Temp at run: 84 degrees) –
Target: 3 miles at 09:44/mile with 0.5 mile warm-up and cool down
Actual: 0.50 mile warm-up, 3.00 miles at 9:33/mile, 0.68 mile cool down

Saturday (Temp at run: 73 degrees (ran at about 7:30AM))
Target: 6 miles at 10:30/mile
Actual: 6.16 miles at 10:18/mile

Sunday – Rest (from running, at least). Two hours of high intensity pick-up Ultimate Frisbee.

Totals –
Easy: 14.96 miles in 2:42:32
Hard: 3.00 miles in 0:28:39

On Saturday, I got a chance to try out a new hydration option I picked up this week. After seeing it on @Ariel484 training blog, I got myself an Orange Mud Single Barrel Hydraquiver. It was definitely awkward at first and a bit different to get comfortable. About halfway through the run, it got settled in and I think it’s going to be a nice option. Easy to get the bottle into and out of and doesn’t shift around like the waist-based solutions that I’ve tried. The biggest issue I had was that the condensation on the outside of the supplied bottle caused it to stick a little going into and out of the quiver. I may try an insulated bottle to see if that mitigates the effect. Regardless, at this point I’m going to give it a qualified thumbs up and will report back as I get more experience with it.

This was the last transitional week before I start up my marathon training plan in earnest. I’m looking forward to stepping things up as the summer goes along. Right now the biggest thing I’m having trouble with is hitting my pacing goals. I’ve read Hansons Marathon Method now, and they pretty much mandate pacing targets and talk about not getting the most out of workouts where you’re not right on the money where pacing is concerned. The problem I have with that is that the remainder of the program is predicated on doing workouts within physiological zones (aerobic, non-aerobic, etc), but those zones are just that, zones/ranges. They are not specific to a given pace down to the second. So how much leeway is there really in the pacing goals? I guess time and results will tell, although the data will be ambiguous at best, since there is always room to say “it could’ve been better”.

Hope everyone had a good week and has a good week next week! Thanks for reading!

 

[dis_or_dat]

Wow - amazing changes! You're an inspiration! Good luck with your marathon training. Summer is tough!

 

[camaker]

And we’re off and running! 18 weeks until the City of Oaks Marathon means that training starts in earnest this week. Here’s what was scheduled:

Monday 07/04 – Rest
Tuesday 07/05 – 4 miles easy
Wednesday 07/06 – 4 miles easy
Thursday 07/07 – 3 mile tempo with 0.5 mile each warm-up and cool down
Friday 07/08 – Rest
Saturday 07/09 – 8 mile long run
Sunday 07/10 – Rest

Thus far this summer “scheduled” has seemed to mean “mildly suggested” and this week was no different.

Monday – Rest (Hurray! We’re on schedule!)

Tuesday – Rest. Whoops. Here we go. A thunderstorm came through just after work, knocking power out to the house. As a result, instead of a nice early home cooked meal for my youngest daughter Rose’s birthday followed by a late easy run, we headed out to dinner. Just before getting to the restaurant, we got a text saying the power was back on and Rose said she’d rather eat at home. So it turned into a late dinner at home with no opportunity to run. Bummer. So Tuesday’s run got moved to Friday.

Wednesday (Temp at run: 81 degrees) –
Target: 4 miles at 10:54/mile
Actual: 4.20 miles at 10:40/mile

Thursday (Temp at run: 88 degrees) –
Target: 3 miles at 09:44/mile with 0.5 mile warm-up and cool down
Actual: 0.50 mile warm-up, 3.00 miles at 9:44/mile, 0.69 mile cool down (Nailed the pacing!!)

Friday (Temp at run: 91 degrees) –
Target: 4 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 4.30 miles at 11:14/mile

Saturday – Rest day. Normally my long run day. Since I ran Friday evening, my options were running long early Saturday on VERY short rest, late Saturday while still pretty hot, or Sunday morning when it would be much cooler. I elected to make Saturday a disc golf day and run Sunday when it was cooler.

Sunday (Temp at run: 70 degrees, but 87% humidity(!) (ran at about 7:30AM))
Target: 8 miles at 10:30/mile
Actual: 8.12 miles at 10:26/mile (pretty close to pace)

Totals –
Easy: 17.81 miles in 3:11:36
Hard: 3.00 miles in 0:29:11

I’m definitely struggling with pacing in the heat. I am pretty well acclimated to North Carolina’s heat, having lived here my entire life, so I have elected to try to hit my pacing targets regardless of the heat. It just gets way too complicated to have all these pacing targets to hit on my plan to then try to layer a heat-based pace adjustment on top of everything. The good news is that it should be cooling off when I get into the heart of the plan in September and October.

Next week, unfortunately, won’t be any less complicated from a scheduling standpoint. I signed up to play in my first disc golf tournament since college (some 25+ years ago) next weekend. I didn’t realize at the time that the tournament was going to be four rounds in two days spread across four separate courses, only one of which I have ever played. That’s not going to leave any time for running on the weekend, especially when you factor in that my wife is going to Michigan for a week leaving me to tend to Owen, the English Bulldog of all ailments. I think his doggy bucket list has been to check off all issues that a bulldog can have and then some. He’s great, though. As a result of all this, my Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat schedule is going to have to shift to Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri.

Thanks for bearing with another training download. If I can make these more entertaining reads, please let me know what you’d like to see. Hope everyone has a good week! Run safe!

 

[camaker]

Training Report – Week of 07/11
The countdown says 17 weeks until the City of Oaks Marathon. The weather says maybe I should plan for spring marathons in the future! Here’s what was scheduled for this week:

Monday 07/11 – Rest
Tuesday 07/12 – 3 miles easy
Wednesday 07/13 – 4 miles easy
Thursday 07/14 – 4 mile tempo with 1.5 mile each warm-up and cool down
Friday 07/15 – Rest
Saturday 07/16 – 8 mile long run
Sunday 07/17 – Rest

Thus far this summer “scheduled” has seemed to mean “mildly suggested” and this week was no different. I’ve started playing disc golf for the first time since college 25+ years ago and I signed up for a tournament over the weekend. Since that’s going to eat the entire weekend, everything was shifted up one day to get training in up front.

Monday (Temp at run: 84 degrees) –
Target: 3 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 3.59 miles at 11:26/mile

Tuesday (Temp at run: 88 degrees) –
Target: 4 miles at 10:54/mile
Actual: 4.19 miles at 10:44/mile

Wednesday (Temp at run: 93 degrees with >100 heat index!!) –
Target: 4 miles at 09:44/mile with 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down
Actual: 1.50 mile warm-up, 4.00 miles at 9:31/mile, 1.50 mile cool down

Thursday – Rest. Finally and much needed!

Friday (Temp at run: 73 degrees, thankful for a thunderstorm cooling things off) –
Target: 8 miles at 10:30/mile
Actual: 8.17 miles at 10:23/mile

Saturday – Rest day, sort of.

Sunday – Rest day, sort of.

Totals –
Easy: 19.01 miles in 3:28:55
Hard: 4.00 miles in 0:38:04

Wednesday’s tempo run was brutal. It’s the first time I can remember a run actual hurting to get through. I was stupid and didn’t take any hydration with me on the run, as well. I won’t make that mistake again! I definitely found a temperature that will beat me down. An easy run would have been much more manageable, but maintaining the tempo pace in that heat was very, very difficult.

And now for something completely different. The disc golf tournament was a total blast! Four courses in two days, two of which I have never played. I was registered in the Recreational Division, which is the lowest/most casual division. My hope is to eventually move up to Advanced Masters if I can improve enough.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with disc golf, it plays just like golf, except that you’re throwing discs something like these (which were the swag in the player pack for this event):



Into one of these:



All after navigating 300-600’ of trees, water and other obstacles. You carry a bag of 10-20 discs, all of which have different flight characteristics, selecting the right disc for the shot you have to make. Hopefully.

I had the mixed luck to have a ringer playing in the Rec Division with me in this tournament. I call him a ringer since he’s been playing 25+ years and has won tournaments all over the country. For some reason he thought he needed to win a tournament to move to Advanced Masters where he wanted to play. I call it mixed luck because it was nice to watch a more experienced player in action and pick up some tips from him.

Disc golf is certainly a low intensity activity, but we were out walking 8-9 miles on the courses each day. I ended up pretty happy with how I played. Actually beat the ringer by a shot on one round, too. In the end, the effort was good enough for second place in the division, 10 shots off 1st, but 17 shots ahead of 3rd! The payout was another swag disc and $20 credit to spend at the tournament store, which I turned into a nice tech shirt. Amateurs pay out in merch credit while the Pro divisions make actual cash. All in all, a great time and I already joined the PDGA and signed up for a single day tournament in two weeks. Just what I need, another serious hobby!

Thanks for reading through another training download. I look forward to any comments you might have. Hope everyone has a good week! Run safe!

 

[camaker]

Training Report – Weeks of 07/18 & 07/25
Countdown weeks 16 and 15! The number of weeks remaining may be dropping but the temperature and humidity here certainly haven’t been! It’s also been quite busy, so now I’ve got 2 weeks to catch up on. Here’s what was scheduled for the week of the 18th:

Monday 07/18 – Rest
Tuesday 07/19 – 4 miles easy
Wednesday 07/20 – 5 miles easy
Thursday 07/21 – 4 mile tempo with 1.5 mile each warm-up and cool down
Friday 07/22 – Rest
Saturday 07/23 – 10 mile long run
Sunday 07/24 – Rest

All runs were actually done on their scheduled days this week, so that’s good, I guess…

Monday – Rest

Tuesday (Temp at run: 75 degrees) –
Target: 4 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 4.20 miles at 11:02/mile (Whoops, a little fast!)

Wednesday (Temp at run: 88 degrees) –
Target: 5 miles at 10:54/mile
Actual: 5.03 miles at 10:58/mile

Thursday (Temp at run: 90 degrees) –
Target: 4 miles at 09:44/mile with 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down
Actual: 1.50 mile warm-up, 4.00 miles at 9:54/mile, 1.58 mile cool down

Friday – Rest.

Saturday (Temp at run: 73 degrees, thankful for a morning run) –

Target: 10 miles at 10:30/mile
Actual: 10.20 miles at 10:28/mile

Sunday – Rest

Totals –
Easy: 22.51 miles in 4:05:06
Hard: 4.00 miles in 0:39:46

Not much really to note between weeks so I’ll roll right into the week of the 25th:

Monday 07/25 – Rest
Tuesday 07/26 – 4 miles easy
Wednesday 07/27 – 4 miles easy
Thursday 07/28 – 5 mile tempo with 1.5 mile each warm-up and cool down
Friday 07/29 – Rest
Saturday 07/30 – 9 mile long run
Sunday 07/31 – Rest

All runs were actually done on their scheduled days this week, so that’s two weeks in a row on schedule. A new record!

Monday – Rest

Tuesday (Temp at run: Not sure) –
Target: 4 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 1.65 miles at 10:48/mile (Tried to fit this run in between two thunderstorm cells. It didn’t work and I ended up racing the lightning back to the house. Not my wisest decision ever. Not to mention the power was out at home, so hot, sweaty and no a/c or fans available to cool off! Not a fun night of running)

Wednesday (Temp at run: 88 degrees) –
Target: 5 miles at 10:54/mile
Actual: 4.21 miles at 10:41/mile

Thursday (Temp at run: 95 degrees with a heat index >103!) –
Target: 4 miles at 09:44/mile with 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down
Actual: 1.50 mile warm-up, 5.00 miles at 9:50/mile, 1.68 mile cool down

Friday – Rest.

Saturday (Temp at run: 79 degrees, already sticky for a morning run) –
Target: 9 miles at 10:30/mile
Actual: 9.18 miles at 10:29/mile

Sunday – Rest, sort of (see below).

Totals –
Easy: 18.22 miles in 3:16:15
Hard: 5.00 miles in 0:49:09

The tempo runs continue to be brutal. The combination of heat and humidity in the evening runs are very tough to get through, especially with a triple digit heat index. I really need a cool front to come through. At least I remembered to take water with me this week. Next week the tempo gets longer, so, yay?

Sunday was another disc golf tournament. This was a single day tournament to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. The course was a temporary one set up around the local soccer park (where the NASL Carolina Railhawks play) and was much longer than most courses I’ve played. Ended up being on course pretty much from 9:00AM to 6:00PM and it was hot! Mr Fitbit told me I walked more than 10 miles during the 2 rounds. It’s a mixed blessing being bad at the sport (finished 10th of 18 in my division this time out). It leads to more walking and fitness time!

Disc golf also brings to mind one of my favorite (de)motivational posters, which can be just as applicable to running, now that I think about it:



Hope everyone has a good week! Run safe!

 

[camaker]

Training Report – Week of 08/01

Countdown to City of Oaks stands at 14 weeks! The race announced this week that they were going to be adding their first ever 5k to race day. The 5k medal is a squirrel and my wife’s school mascot is a squirrel so she and some of her staff are going to join the festivities.

Here’s what was scheduled for this week, in the meantime:

Monday 08/01 – Rest
Tuesday 08/02 – 5 miles easy
Wednesday 08/03 – 6 miles easy
Thursday 08/04 – 5 mile tempo with 1.5 mile each warm-up and cool down
Friday 08/05 – Rest
Saturday 08/06 – 11 mile long run
Sunday 08/07 – Rest

All runs were actually done on their scheduled days this week.

Monday – Rest

Tuesday (Temp at run: 82 degrees) –
Target: 4 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 5.02 miles at 11:30/mile

Wednesday (Temp at run: 86 degrees) –
Target: 6 miles at 10:54/mile
Actual: 6.36 miles at 10:46/mile

Thursday (Temp at run: 84 degrees) –
Target: 5 miles at 09:44/mile with 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down
Actual: 1.50 mile warm-up, 5.00 miles at 9:54/mile, 1.53 mile cool down

Friday – Rest.

Saturday (Temp at run: 75 degrees) –
Target: 11 miles at 10:30/mile
Actual: 11.06 miles at 10:25/mile

Sunday – Rest

Totals –
Easy: 25.47 miles in 4:37:15
Hard: 5.00 miles in 0:49:03

There were actually several things of note from this week’s runs:

On the plus side, temps for the week were in the mid- to upper 80s instead of the 90s. Not great, but an improvement nonetheless. The 30.47 miles represent a weekly training PR for me. This was also the first week that I can really say that I felt the effects of the training plan paying off. The easy 5 mile run early in the week was by far the easiest 5 miles I have ever run. That feeling did not persist through the week, though.

As usual, the tempo run was a tough one. And this week, everything seemed to conspire against me. Dinner was an experimental homemade hamburger. Not great pre-running food, so I pushed the run about as late as I could to let it settle. Then as I stepped out the door my watch gave me the dreaded low battery alarm. Fifteen minutes of standing around waiting for the watch to charge just enough ensued. Despite my best efforts, dinner did not sit well with a tempo run. Just to top it all off, 2 miles from ending things up (and 2 miles from home), it decided to rain. At first it was a refreshing sprinkle that felt really good after the run. Then it was a driving downpour the last mile and a half home. Drenched. Mama said there’d be runs like these...

The long run was a bit more difficult than normal, owing mostly to the new overall PR for mileage more than anything else, but everything was completed on schedule and next week is a “step back” week, except for an increase in tempo mileage. All in all, I’m very pleased with this week and look forward to the next couple of weeks.

Hope everyone has a good week! Run safe!

 

[camaker]

Training Report – Weeks of 08/08 & 08/15

These past couple of weeks have been an exercise in stress management and finding time to work runs in under adverse conditions with life intervening. We had a major board of health audit at work and I usually end up spending a significant amount of time either in the room answering questions or consulting on how to respond to questions. It is a very stressful time and snacks abound in and around the audit.

It also means some fairly late evenings at work, meaning that running and dinner have to be shoehorned in as best as possible. At my current point in the training plan, there’s no way I’m getting up early enough to put that much time in before work! That being said here’s my training summary for weeks 12 and 11 in the countdown to City of Oaks.

Here’s what was scheduled for Week 12:

Monday 08/08 – Rest
Tuesday 08/09 – 4 miles easy
Wednesday 08/10 – 4 miles easy
Thursday 08/11 – 6 mile tempo with 1 mile each warm-up and cool down
Friday 08/12 – Rest
Saturday 08/13 – 9 mile long run
Sunday 08/14 – Rest

All runs were done on their scheduled days this week.

Monday – Rest

Tuesday (Temp at run: 84 degrees) –
Target: 4 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 4.20 miles at 11:32/mile

Wednesday (Temp at run: 90 degrees) –
Target: 4 miles at 10:54/mile
Actual: 4.15 miles at 10:59/mile

Thursday (Temp at run: 86 degrees) –
Target: 6 miles at 09:44/mile with 1 mile warm-up and cool down
Actual: 1.00 mile warm-up, 6.00 miles at 9:54/mile, 1.01 mile cool down

Friday – Rest

Saturday (Temp at run: 79 degrees) –
Target: 9 miles at 10:30/mile
Actual: 9.23 miles at 10:23/mile

Sunday – Rest
Totals –
Easy: 19.59 miles in 3:34:25
Hard: 6.00 miles in 0:59:23

Not much to really note this week. This was a step-back week from last week’s (temporary) new PR of 30 miles in a week. The tempo run did increase from 5 miles at pace to 6 miles, but I was pleasantly surprised at how little extra effort the additional mile required.

On to the next week now, where it steps back up to a new weekly PR with a tough twist at the very end as the countdown hits 11 weeks:

Here’s what was scheduled for Week 11:

Monday 08/15 – Rest
Tuesday 08/16 – 5 miles easy
Wednesday 08/17 – 5 miles easy
Thursday 08/18 – 6 mile tempo with 1 mile each warm-up and cool down
Friday 08/19 – Rest
Saturday 08/20 – 12 mile long run
Sunday 08/21 – Rest

All this week’s runs were done on their scheduled days, but...

Monday – Rest

Tuesday (Temp at run: 93 degrees) –
Target: 5 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 5.03 miles at 11:38/mile

Wednesday (Temp at run: 91 degrees) –
Target: 7 miles at 10:54/mile
Actual: 7.07 miles at 10:57/mile

Thursday (Temp at run: 90 degrees) –
Target: 6 miles at 09:44/mile with 1 mile warm-up and cool down
Actual: 1.00 mile warm-up, 6.00 miles at 9:50/mile, 1.02 mile cool down

Friday – Rest

Saturday (Temp at run: 75 degrees) –
Target: 12 miles at 10:30/mile
Actual: 12.07 miles at 10:13/mile

Sunday – (Temp at run: 90 degrees) –
Target: 5 miles at 11:42/mile
Actual: 5.01 miles at 10:29/mile (Whoa! Missed that pace badly!)

Totals –
Easy: 31.20 miles in 5:35:33
Hard: 6.00 miles in 1:04:57

So this week was already scheduled to be a new weekly PR with its 32 plan miles. The temperatures were up despite running a little later in the evening than usual. All went well with the normal week’s schedule.

The rub is that I have another disc golf tournament in Charlotte (and visit with my mother) next weekend. As a result, I won’t be able to fit runs in from Friday to Sunday. In order to keep the rhythm the same and keep separation between the tempo and long runs, I need to move next week’s Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat schedule to Sun, Mon, Tue, Thu. As a result, that “easy” 5 mile run from next week crept in today. It was brutally hot (no way it was 90 as recorded by the run app), my legs were dead from yesterday’s 12 miles and I could not keep the pace down for the life of me. Here’s hoping tomorrow’s 7 miler goes a little bit better. Fingers crossed.

I guess the bottom line (or lines) are that I have too many hobbies and the marathon plan is taking a LOT of time and energy out of me at this point. It’s getting harder to balance things out, especially when work flares up (and will again in mid-Sept, unfortunately). The good news is that after this upcoming week I get a payoff the following week with a couple of easy runs capped off by the Dumbo Double Dare and my first ever visit to Disneyland!!

Hope everyone has a good week! Run safe!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Keep up the great work! You have done very well up to this point!

 

[DopeyBadger]

@camaker Solid start this morning! Right on pace at the 10K mark! Way to go!

 

[camaker]

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd update here with my most recent race report. I never know if people are interested or engaged in training reports like this one and it's hard to update regularly without feedback or audience engagement. I don't say that as an attempted guilt trip or anything, just an explanation as to why it's been so long between updates. At any rate, here's my update from the City of Oaks Marathon:

Great day for a race. Ran the City of Oaks Marathon this morning and what a difference being trained and uninjured makes! After running the Disney Marathon injured in January in 5:48:48 I knew I could do better and felt like I had a score to settle with marathons!

City of Oaks was a pretty hilly course (see below) starting and ending at the NC State bell tower and running through downtown Raleigh before hitting the greenways for an out and back.

The race started nice and cool and headed due east into downtown at dawn. Not cool. The course turned out to be much hillier than I was expecting and I could tell I was burning way more energy on them early in the race than I wanted to. Plus the hills played merry hell with my pace management. It took me a good 5-6 miles to get my legs into a comfortable groove and I hit the halfway mat at 2:10:37 (9:58/mile).

The second half started out well and I loosened the leash on my pacing a bit. It started to warm up and I was able to shed my gloves and thermal sleeves, too. I could tell I was making good time, until... Miles 21-24 were brutally uphill. My legs started to get heavy and lose drive. I was giving all that precious time back through a combination of terrain and accumulated fatigue. Miles 24-26 flattened out a bit, becoming more rolling than the previous uphill slogs. By the time I could see the finish line, I was ready to be done and couldn't muster a stretch push of any note. Crossed the line at 4:20:22 (9:56/mile). Here are the official splits from the race:

10k 1:02:46 (10:07/mile)
Half 2:10:37 (9:58/mile)
20M 3:17:27 (9:52/mile)
Finish 4:20:22 (9:56/mile)

So, how did that stack up against my goals for the race?

Base goal (finish <5:00:00) - Check
Stretch goal (finish <4:30:00) - Check
Bonus goal (negative split) - Check (Now let's see if Strava/New Balance make good on their new shoe offer!!)

Knocking 1:28:24 off my marathon PR - priceless!!

Given the course conditions I could not be happier with my performance. Apparently I literally left it all on the course, too. After crossing the finish line they handed me my medal and I promptly had to grab the chute railing to stay upright, so I got to spend some time with the nice folks at the med tent until I could stand on my own again! Fortunately, DW ran the 5k with some folks from her school and was there to drive home. Now I can focus on just having fun with Dopey in January.

I would also be seriously remiss if I didn't give a huge shout out and thank you to @DopeyBadger who set up the custom training plan that got me so well prepared for this race!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Can't say it enough, but this was a super impressive performance! Very proud of you! Congrats!

 

[Ariel484]

Amazing job!! Can't believe that elevation chart, yikes!

Way to go!!