Basking in the Afterglow

I’m fresh out of an ice bath, bingeing on pastries and coffee, and celebrating the completion of a glorious 19.1 mile run this morning. This was my longest run to date and capped off a 42 mile week, also a record.



Everything went well this morning. I had no knee pain, or any signifciant pain for that matter.  I even had enough energy left at the end of the run to pick up my pace for the last three miles.  I had my hydration perfected.  I ate well in preparation for the run.  The temperature was in the 60's for the entire time.   I couldn't have wished for a better run.

For my last two long runs I have been eating Powerbar Energy Gel Blasts. I got free samples of these after my last few races and finally decided to give them a try. I like them much better than Gu and will keep using them for now. After the first few miles, I start popping one every mile or so and that seems to work well. They have a much better taste than Gu and a texture very similar to Gummi Bears. I look forward to eating them, like candy, as opposed to Gu which I down with reluctance every time. They do take a minute to chew and swallow which can be a little difficult when you are breathing heavy.

I am confident that I will be able to finish 20 miles next week but the thought of having to run another hour in order to finish 26.2 has me a little nervous.

Six more weeks until the Space Coast Marathon!

Marathon Training Update

I completed week 10 of my marathon training with 5 workouts totaling 34 miles including a 17.5 mile long run this morning.



This was my first long run since I started suffering ITB issues three weeks ago, although I did run a 15k race last weekend.

The 17 miler was a great -12 mile run. Unfortunately my knee started hurting about half way through, gradually increasing in severity, and I struggled quite a bit during the last 5 miles. The good news is that I finished and that the onset of the pain occurred much later in the run compared to last week. I will call that improvement. I was also running pain free during my shorter workouts during the week.

As much as I hate to, I think I’m going to give up one training day per week, at least until I can complete a long run with out any knee pain. I think a 4 day per week schedule will give me the recovery time I need between runs.

The weather turned really nice in Florida this week. I started the run in the upper 60’s and the humidity was significantly lower. This meant much less sweating, but since I didn’t adjust my hydration, it also meant a few “bio” breaks. Actually, it was more than a few. Actually, it was so many that I lost count. That was probably as much a factor in slowing me down as my knee was.

I was also strangely not hungry after the run. I usually have a voracious appetite after a long run. I made sure to consume plenty of calories though. I made a real pig of myself on Saturday. I had a 5 Guys Bacon Double Cheeseburger for lunch and Olive Garden for dinner, so that might have been a contributing factor to my poor appetite today.

I’m off for another torture session with my foam roller.

Back to Basics

I think I have allowed my running form to get sloppy over the past few months and that may be partly to blame for the knee pain I have been suffering from for the past week.

The knee is improving. I ran in a 3 mile “fun run” sponsored by Front Running Sports to celebrate their anniversary on Saturday. Most of the run was pain free and when the pain did start to emerge I was able to control it by focusing on my form, particularly shortening my stride and increasing the turnover. That worked well and I was able to keep the pain in check.

I employed the same strategy this morning for a 4 mile run and didn’t experience any pain during the run, although I could tell that my knee still did not feel “right.” Unfortunately, after the run I had some fairly intense sharp pain when I attempted a quads stretch that severely bends the knee.

I’ve got the photographic evidence of my sloppy form right here from a 5k earlier this month.

You can see the obvious over striding and heel striking. I made excuses for this picture because it was right at the finish line and I was in the midst of my finishing kick.


However in this picture from the fun run on Saturday, you can see the same over striding and heel striking, although not quite as pronounced. There were no excuses this time, this photo was taken at the very beginning of the run.

Just for kicks, here’s my finishing photo from Saturday.  It’s too bad this was just a fun run with no official time. The field was so small I might have had a shot at an age group medal.

My plan over the next few weeks is to focus on the Chi Running basics and see if I can get back to pain free running. I’m even considering some barefoot running to jump start the correction.

I’ll keep you posted.

Four Down – Fourteen to Go

With a 13 mile run along the Seminole Wekiva Trail in Lake Mary, FL completed, week four of my marathon training is DONE!



This run kicked my butt. The heat and humidity took their toll and after 11.5 miles I succumbed and had to walk for a few minutes to rest. I was frustrated with myself for giving in so close to the finish. There is a Panera Bread at the end of this trail and not even the promise of a Panera bagel was enough to keep me going.

Once I started running again I made it through the last mile OK. I did start to feel chills toward the end which makes me think dehydration may have been part of the problem. After all this time I still can’t seem to get it right.

My weight loss over the course of the morning confirmed this. I was 179 lbs when I left my house. I had a mug of coffee en route to the trail, drank 22 oz of water on the outbound leg and 20 oz of Gatorade on the return. Then I had a half liter bottle of water and half a bottle of Gatorade immediately after finishing. Then I ate a HUGE blueberry bagel with cream cheese and had more coffee before going home. Despite having several pounds of fluid and food, I was 175, still down 4 pounds, when I got home.

I can’t rely on the heat as an excuse because the Space Coast Marathon is notorious for having warm weather. A couple of hours into the race I am very likely to be facing similar conditions to what I had early this morning.

There were a lot of long distance runners on the trail this morning.  The West Volusia Runners have several training for the New York and Space Coast Marathons.  I also chatted briefly  with a British woman on a 22 mile run who said her race was coming up in a few weeks.  She politely slowed down to talk for a minute and then left me in the dust.  She didn't say which race but I'm guessing Chicago since there aren't any major marathons in the southeast for a couple of months.

I’m fresh out of an ice bath and bingeing now. In fact it was hard to get my head out of the fridge long enough to write this. I’m sure I’ll put those four pounds back on by the end of the day.

Good Omen

I just picked up my race packet for my 5k tomorrow from Front Running Sports.  My bib number is the same as my age.

I’ll take that as a sign of good luck.

I ran 3 miles this morning in 24:12 thanks to some pacing assistance from another member of WVR.  I feel confident about my chances for setting a new PR tomorrow, but a little good luck never hurts.

Tomorrow I Rest

I am sitting here enjoying a well earned blueberry bagel, basking in the afterglow of a great seven mile run this morning, and wondering - “What is wrong with me?”

I have had an incredibly productive July so far. I ran eight out the past nine days including a race and my fastest mile ever on the 3rd, hills on the 4th, fartleks on the 7th, a 5 mile pr on the 8th. I finished this week with a total of 32 miles. My running is still improving at a very exciting rate. Yet I am sitting here feeling guilty because I didn’t get in a long run this week.

I had hoped to get in at least ten miles this morning on the Seminole Wekiva Trail in Lake Mary, but I was running on tired legs after some “cross training” yesterday (more on that in a moment) and I started out way too fast. I was trying to keep pace with some of the faster members of WVR until I realized they were doing 5 miles and I was hoping to do 8-10. When I reached the 3.5 mile mark I knew I was pushing too hard and eagerly made the turn to head back. I don’t know how, but I still managed a negative split – barely - 28:59 for the first 3.5 and 28:33 for the return leg, averaging about 8:13 mins/mile.  Actually I do know how, I was being spurred on by the club's organizer who refused to let me slack off.  I managed to keep up with her for about 5.5 miles and then I finally had to slow down.

Speaking of cross training, I pretty much did it all yesterday. A six mile run in morning and in the afternoon: swimming, stair climbing, walking, stair climbing, surfing, stair climbing . . . Did I mention stair climbing?

Otherwise known as:

The afternoon pretty much consisted of climbing towers like this one:

over and over and over again.

The premier water slide is called the Dolphin Plunge. The water tubes travel right through a pool filled with dolphins. You can see the tubes in the background of this video:

One of my daughter’s favorite rides was called Roa’s Rapids. It's a fast moving river of water that you can either free swim or float wearing a life vest. She preferred to swim it which actually made it a pretty good workout, if you could avoid drowning.

We had a blast, but it was an exhausting day.

Tomorrow I rest.