End of Layoff

i had not ran in over a week due to knee problems, calf soreness, and lack of time due to the holiday schedule. i really wanted to get one longer run in before my next marathon, and knew if i was going to get it in it had to be today. i had been feeling sick over the weekend, but was feeling much better today. i woke up a little later than i wanted to, but i really needed the rest anyway. and it took me so long to get everything together, i haven't ran a long run in some time so all of my stuff was scattered. i did get a new gps watch for Christmas so i was excited to try it out. i wanted to be running by 11 or 11:30am. unfortunately, it was just before 1pm before i got on the road. the only thing i had eaten all day was a butterfinger santa clause. i was hoping not having much on my stomach woeld help with the upset stomach i get from eating the energy chews i use. however, just before mile 10 (i ate some chews at mile 5 and was going to eat some more at mile 10) my stomach was telling me it was hungry. i wish i had eaten a little more. on the positive side, i took 5 chews at mile 5 and 5 more at mile 10 and never got an upset stomach, that is a huge plus. i took 20oz of gatorade and 10oz of water with me. i never got thirsty enough to drink the gatorade, and i only drank the water with the chews.i think not having the sugar from the gatorade on my stomach also helped me to not have any stomach aches after the chews. my left knee hurt for most of the run after mile 5, it was just a dull pain i was able to run through. my right calf really started hurting around mile 8 for the remainder of the run, i was able to run through that as well. overall, i felt pretty good for the run until 13.5 miles when i fizzled a little. my time for the run was 2:33.44, a pace of 10.59min/mile overall. that is pretty good, i was trying to run at an 11min/mile pace. when i stopped running, my left knee felt like it locked up. it is still sore about 5 hours after the run, my right calf is still a little tight as well. luckily, i am starting my taper for the next marathon so hopefully that will help with the knee and calf.

i really have no thoughts for today.

5 milers and knee pain

i was not able to run on monday, however, i was blessed to be able to leave work a little early on tuesday so that i could run before i had to be on call. about the last half mile of that run my left knee started having a little pain. i was able to run with it to finish the 5 miles but it did hurt for most of the night following. wednesday i never had a problem out of the knee. i was planning on doing 8 miles wednesday and 5 on thursday. because i had the knee pain, i decided to rest on wednesday (and besides i had a Christmas party with a bunch of wild people from my family). so no running on wednesday. thursday i was going to try another 5. i thought about doing 8 since i had missed my 8 miler. during the run i was feeling great at mile 3 i had decided to go ahead and run 8 since i was feeling so good. however, just after mile 3.5 i had a severe, sharp pain on the outside of my left knee, it was so bad i could not run through it and i had to walk nearly all of the remainding 1.5 miles. so i planned to rest on friday and maybe try some work on the elliptical saturday (today).

here are the times for the 2 runs:
12/13/11: 5 miles 47.30
12/15/11: 5 miles 52.21


thought of the day: pain pain go away, let me run another day.

First 5 miler After Race

i was not able to do any runs last week. i wanted to get a few in towards the end of the week to see how my legs would respond after the race. i made myself do it on saturday. i was planning on 5 real easy miles at a very comfortable pace. i texted jeff to see if he wanted to run and he decided to go with me. i figured i would be running around 10 min. miles. however, as usual, having jeff there pushed me a little, even though i tried my hardest not to let it. we did 5 miles in a 9.32 pace. i felt really good at the end, legs were a little sore at times, but not bad.

thought of the day: technology is supposed to make us faster and more efficient. it makes me mad pretty fast.

Marathon #2

it has been nearly a week since i ran my second marathon and i am just getting time to blog about it. it went a little better than i expected but not as well as i had hoped. i was hoping to finish it in 4:30 but would be extremely happy to finish in 4:43, 1 hour faster than last year. if i just beat my time from last year i would be happy but i was worried it might not happen.

i started out with the 4:40 pace group thinking if i finished a little behind them i would still finish an hour ahead of last year. i was really trying to stay with the pace team and keep it slow. i really enjoyed the first part of the race. by going slow i could look at the sites and really see what was going on around me. this was the first time i really enjoyed a run. at mile 13 i was feeling strong, my legs felt powerful, i want to start running harder, however i knew i had to stay at my pace or i would be worn out before the end. mile 14 and 15 were good, i was still right on pace to finish at 4:40. at mile 16 i started getting a pain in my side. i slowed down and ran with it as long as i could, but i eventually had to stop and walk a little. after a while the i was able to run again but not for long. this went on until mile 18. at that point i had to stop and walk and it was the first time my legs really felt tired. my entire body felt tired my legs were too heavy. i hit the wall. from mile 18 to the end it was a mixture of walking and running. towards the end i figured i could still keep my time under 5 hours. when i hit mile 25 i started running and felt pretty good. that didn't last long but i pushed until i just couldn't lift my legs anymore. about 1/2 mile to the end i could see the final uphill turn so i started running again. the uphill turn is at 25.9 miles. at that point i started walking to the top of the hill which was about 60 yards. from the point the rest of the race was downhill so i started running again. i finished in 5:02.24. it would have been great to finish under 5 hours but i really feel like i pushed myself every chance i could.

i finished 183 in my age group, 1018th male, and 1686 overall. overall, i beat 678 people.

thought of marathon day: you only regret the runs you don't do and you regret the runs not done most during the marathon, and mostly at the end of the marathon and the days following.