FitCorp Training Run #4 - Revenge of the Road

It was bound to happen at some point, and I should probably be glad to get it out of the way now, but this past Saturday's run was bad. How bad you ask? A little over 10 instead of 12 bad. A 11 minute plus pace instead of a 10 minute pace bad. A had to walk part of it bad. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

It all started Christmas eve. The kids were excited. Trina woke up at 12:30am. Luckly Nana was able to get her back off to dreamland. Then it was Zander at 3:30am. He too could be convinced that sleep was a good idea. But his waking up woke up Katrina, who took over my side of the bed, which sent me packing to her bed. Needless to say, we were up early. The point? Night 1 of bad sleep.

Christmas was a terrific day. We opened presents with the kids in the morning. Enjoyed some breakfast. Hosted the family for lunch, and then opened more presents with them. Needless to say, an exhausting day. The entire house was in bed by 8:30. Which would normally make for a great night's sleep. And sleep well I did. Until 4:30. So by mid-day I was tired and starting to not feel well. By Friday night it was the cold sweats and early to bed again.

Hello Saturday Morning! I woke up feeling with a head like a cement block. Isn't that what the Claritan is for? So I started treating it like any normal Saturday morning. Coffee, breakfast, newspaper, check. I put my running bag together and got ready to go. But I wasn't feeling 100% and told Karen I was thinking about skipping the run and doing it on Sunday instead, but was afraid that I wouldn't get it in. Her response was right to the point, " you mean you're afraid that if you don't run today you won't ever run again?". Yes! I didn't say this obession makes sense.

So now you have the back story. The run was suppose to be 12 miles. I knew it was going to be a fight to complete, so I tried to start out slow. I usually don't hit my grove until mile 4, so I wasn't overly concerned at the mile 3 waterstop when I still felt dead on my legs. But she. I hit mile 5 I knew. I knew 12 miles were not going to be mine that day. I knew that it was time to turn it around. I went out with a low tank and started back on empty. The way back was so bad that I walked part of it and couldn't even run all of the way up the hill to One Beacon Street. The lone highlight I can think of was seeing an Irish Setter. I was so disgusted that I didn't even bother stretching. You can review the terrible run following the link below.

FitCorp Training Run #4

Lessons learned: listen to my body, cut myself a break, bad days happen, and stretch no matter what.

The good news is this coming Saturday is the Newton Hills. Time for some redemption!

Thank you to Carlo Severo, John Meade, Margaret Moran (who will hopefully also be at the marathon), Dave Santino (Marathon 20??), Karen, Mary Buonanno (My smile at the marathon mile 10 water stop), Dave Magliozzi, and Catherine Corliss for supporting me and the Eaton-Peabody Lab since my last post.

FitCorp Training Run #3 - Canceled

Thanks to a little snow the FitCorp Training Run #3 was canceled.

Instead I spent the morning snow blowing the driveway, street, sidewalk, across the street, the sidewalk across the street, and a few neighbor's driveways as well.

Maybe I did get a workout after all.

FitCorp Training Run #2 and Somerville Jingle Bell Run

Did you ever finish something just to prove you could? That was me on Saturday. I knew the Jingle Bell Run was on Sunday and that I should save something for it, but the Fitcorp training run was for either 8, 10, or 12 miles and I set my goal as 12 early in the week. The good news is I was able to do it, and within the pace I planned. Overall it was a good run where I was able to get into a grove around mile 5. You can view the run information here.

This coming Saturday's run is a good one. We take the train out near Newton-Wellesley Hospital and run back over the Newton Hills, into Boston, and up Beacon following the normal Saturday course. It is only 10.5 miles but with the Newton Hills at the begininng and the state house hill at the end it is a good workout.

Sunday morning brought slightly sore legs and the Somerville Jingle Bell Run. It is only a 5K, but because of the previous day's mileage every mile felt like miles 16 during the marathon. Truth be told I proud to say I finished, and am delighted that I did so with around a 9 minute mile pace. Thanks to Nicole, Michelle, Dave, and Larry for running it as well. My details from the Jingle Bell Run are available here.

As always, you can click on the Firstgiving banner to the right if you would like to help sponsor me running the Boston Marathon to raise funds for the Eaton-Peabody Lab in memory of my late grandpa Rufus. Thank you.

Training at the Y 12/10

Tonights training at the Y went great. I started with a half mile warm up on the treadmill at 10 minute miles. Followed that up with two miles of intervals with a work speed of 7 or 7:30 minute miles. Finally I did a little bit of weight work on the shoulders and lower back. Now to bed early and I'll call it an productive evening.

Tuesday Night and no Trip to the Y

It is Tuesday night, which is normally when I would go to the Y to run intervals and do weight work. But sometimes something more important comes along. Tonight it was Katrina's homework.

Next week Katrina will be giving a presentation in front of her class concerning a volcano. The requirements for the presentation calls for it to be "Entertaining". Thus I found myself assisting Katrina with powerpoint creating animations. Animations I never use in my presentations at work. Guess whose presentation would be more interesting to sit through.....

Fantastic!! Ill. governor arrested in corruption scandal - Boston.com

You too can buy your way into a Government job!!

Ill. governor arrested in corruption scandal - Boston.com

Posted using ShareThis

FitCorp Training Run #1

Yesterday was the first training run through FitCorp. You could run either 6,8, or 10 miles and being the hyper runner I sometimes am, I went for the ten. It was perfect running weather for me. Low 30s, almost no wind, sunny. As you may know, I'm not a big fan of sweating, so anytime I can run and it is cold enough that I don't feel the sweat is ok by me. My gear for the day was my Red Sox running hat, Frosty Four long sleeve shirt, fleece vest, New Balance shorts, freebie Marathon Sports gloves, and of course socks and shoes.

I'm a bit like a kid of Christmas the mornings of these runs and was up by 5:40 to have breakfast and start getting ready. Keep in mind the run is at 8, they open the doors at 7:45 and it takes me all of 10-15 minutes to get there. My fuel of choice was coffee and toast with honey. I was out the door by 7:10. At One Beacon I met Steve (excuse me if I get the name wrong, I'm horrible at names) for whom this will be his 13th Boston, and first in 10 years. Just as cool, he is fast, and my guess is he'll be able to qualify for next year's marathon when he runs this one. He is running for Boston Medical. Speaking of causes, there were the normal teams from last year's runs at FitCorp - Team Brigham, Team BMC, Team Liver, Tedy's Team, and of course Team Eye and Ear. It is terrific to see so many people giving of themselves to support such great causes. Shameless plug - you can support mine by clicking here.

As for the run - I started late as I went to start the GPS on my Garmin too early. That made it that I had to stop and restart the GPS before I started. The good news is I did get it to work and you can click the link below to play back my run. Once I finally did get started it felt like I never stopped training from last year. The course is so familiar at this point that it was like I was on autopilot. Before I knew it I was at the turnaround point and heading back. The highlight/lowlights along the way; Will they ever be done with the construction in Kenmore Square, kids doing the walk of shame going back to their dorms while you run past them full of energy, there is a condo building in Brookline that still has 2 units left (just like last year!), getting to the turn-around point and still feeling fresh, passing people who started earlier (I'm a big fan of each person running at their own pace, but I still like catching and passing), and finally getting up the State House hill at the end of the run. Last year it was quite a few runs before I could run all the way up the hill, so I'm already ahead of where I was last year. You can replay the run and view the route using the Garmin Link at the end of this post. As it turns out the run was only about 9.75 miles. You can ask Karen how that went over with me.

So long run #1 is done and went well. I was a bit tried by the end of the day, but I'll calling it a success. Thanks again to everyone at FitCorp who organizes and supports these runs.

FitCorp Training Run#1

Training at the Y

My training for the marathon isn't only long runs. I need to also get the rest of my body stronger. Thus why I found myself at the Y last night using weight equipment that I would otherwise normally avoid. This morning my legs and hips are sore, but it will be worth it when I'm able to complete the next marathon better than the last one. In addition to the weight work I spent a little time on the treadmill, about 20 minutes, varying the speed and incline, finishing with a sprint at a 7:30 pace for the last minute or so.

The first FitCorp long training run is this weekend. It is a bit amazing how much I am looking forward to it!