So now what? I have completed my half marathon and have no races in site. What do I do? I mean, I am going to keep running because I like the time to myself to clear my thoughts. The hard thing though is finding the motivation to do long runs or even to run on days that are a little less than desirable. Again, so now what?
Well, the good thing I have going for me is that I feel strong. I had a little bit of post race soreness for a few days last week, but for the most part that didn't hamper me at all. I ran a 6 mile route on Tuesday and a 7 mile route on Thursday. I took the dogs with me to keep me slow so I didn't over work my muscles and get proper recovery. I then took two days off and went back out for 8 miles with the dogs on Sunday. I feel like I did well in a recovery week seeing as though I had never done anything like this before. Getting back into a more regular routine this Tuesday I went for 7 miles with the dogs and noticed how strong my legs felt. It was great to have a good cruising pace with out much pushing. The hardest part was not stepping on the dogs!
Now, moving forward. I still have not signed up for any races and have no real plans for what I want to do. I still know I would like to run a race this fall, but what race and how far is still in question. There are two long races in the area that I live in the fall, one is a half and one is a full marathon. I am still leaning toward the half mainly because it felt like a good distance for someone that has only been running for a little over a year and there would be a lot of time I would need to dedicate for a full. I am not sure I want to give up 3-4 hours on any day in the summer for training. It can be hard enough to find 2 hours on a weekend for a long run.
So right now I am just working on maintaining good conditioning by getting 7-8 mile runs in while going once a week long runs of about 10-11 miles. I think that will put me in a good place if I decide to ramp up the work outs through the summer. Right now, my feeling is that at max I would like to be able to hit 15 miles at some point. If I can do that, everything will fall into the right place!
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
After all the anticipation.....
364 participants. That was the final count for the WMA Mother's Day Half Marathon in Whately Ma yesterday (5/12/13). 364 people lined up at the Yankee Candle Production plant on Christian Lane to make the 13.1 mile journey through the area that myself and my father grew up. This actually becomes a significant number to me now that I have seen the final results.
Let me rewind a little and reflect more on the day of the first half marathon that I have run. First, I have a fairly active brain, which is shown by me typing my thoughts our on this blog. So, when I have an anticipated event in my life, I tend to think about it and probably over analyze it. In doing so, I come up with expectations for how things will go, like I was doing for the week leading up to the race. I wrote in my last post my hopes for the race and what was happening and what I expected to happen. Well, my expectations were completely scrapped by the events that actually transpired through the day.
There was one part of the day which really set itself a part from anything else, and that was my wife deciding to wake the boys up and bring them down to be at the finish line for the race. There really is no better surprise than to have to have my loved ones waiting for me as I crossed the finish line. Not only that, but my wife gave up her Mother's Day morning to bring the boys down to see my cross the finish line. I really don't have a way to thank her for such a selfless act that meant so much to me. Basically I was sprinting across the finish line when I saw them standing there....the end of the race was after and overpass so I was going pretty fast. I saw them right after I crossed but I couldn't slow down at that point so I had to go past them, then as my brain caught up to the events I then had to compose myself a little so that I didn't end up completely breaking down. There is no possible way I can thank my wife enough or appropriately for what she did.
The not as important part was the race itself, the second part of my expectations. I had posted that I was hoping with my training that I would be able to finish the race in under 1:45, with the belief that would put me in the top 50. If that had happened I would have been incredibly excited about how things went. I had a plan going into the race where I split up the mileage into three sections. The first 4 miles I wanted to really do a good push at a pretty fast pace, the next 6 miles were to be a nice cruising pace, with the last 3 miles I would push hard to the finish, especially the last mile. So I lined up in the top 50, cruised nicely out the start to get to a spot around those that were sprinting out the start and into a good groove. I was able to get to a nice spot about a half mile down the road, which was oddly right at about the house my father grew up in.
The first 4 miles has a little more hills than I expected, but some nice views of the Pioneer Valley. But I hit the four mile mark and went tried to slow and stretch my stride some. I didn't use GPS or even wear a watch to keep my time. I just put on my playlist and went, not worrying about the time. I was figuring that I wouldn't get too high or too low if I just ran and didn't compete, I mean really, I wasn't going to win. The winner jumped out to an early lead and finished the race in 1:24:54, which was about 5 minutes faster than the next runner! Through the next 6 miles I found the nice flat roads a long the Connecticut River. I was passed by two people during that time which was fine. I hit every water stop through those miles to recharge with drink and to pour water over my head once. I was wearing a hat but it had gotten too hot to deal with so I needed to cool down. The only issue I really had, was at about 8 miles the course went by a Water Treatment Plant, I am guessing a few people probably had an issue with running past that smell.
I hit the ten mile marker and started to increase my pace. I caught up to one runner that had passed me (the other was pretty far ahead) and ran with them for a little time. The final water stop was at about 11.5 and I downed a quick gulp and put everything I had left. There was a significant hill at the point that was really hard after over 11 miles. But I made it up, went all out through the slight down hill and sprinted to the finish line. The results of how it all went can be found here:
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/13/ma/May12_WMAMot_set1.shtml
Thank you all to have supported me, pushed me, and read my blog thus far. Special thanks to my wife for allowing me spend time training and listening to me, and my parents for randomly letting me buy running shoes and footing the bill. I am going to continue to run and post and hopefully decide soon if I want to run a half marathon in Swanzey NH or the Clarence DeMar Marathon in Keene.
Let me rewind a little and reflect more on the day of the first half marathon that I have run. First, I have a fairly active brain, which is shown by me typing my thoughts our on this blog. So, when I have an anticipated event in my life, I tend to think about it and probably over analyze it. In doing so, I come up with expectations for how things will go, like I was doing for the week leading up to the race. I wrote in my last post my hopes for the race and what was happening and what I expected to happen. Well, my expectations were completely scrapped by the events that actually transpired through the day.
There was one part of the day which really set itself a part from anything else, and that was my wife deciding to wake the boys up and bring them down to be at the finish line for the race. There really is no better surprise than to have to have my loved ones waiting for me as I crossed the finish line. Not only that, but my wife gave up her Mother's Day morning to bring the boys down to see my cross the finish line. I really don't have a way to thank her for such a selfless act that meant so much to me. Basically I was sprinting across the finish line when I saw them standing there....the end of the race was after and overpass so I was going pretty fast. I saw them right after I crossed but I couldn't slow down at that point so I had to go past them, then as my brain caught up to the events I then had to compose myself a little so that I didn't end up completely breaking down. There is no possible way I can thank my wife enough or appropriately for what she did.
The not as important part was the race itself, the second part of my expectations. I had posted that I was hoping with my training that I would be able to finish the race in under 1:45, with the belief that would put me in the top 50. If that had happened I would have been incredibly excited about how things went. I had a plan going into the race where I split up the mileage into three sections. The first 4 miles I wanted to really do a good push at a pretty fast pace, the next 6 miles were to be a nice cruising pace, with the last 3 miles I would push hard to the finish, especially the last mile. So I lined up in the top 50, cruised nicely out the start to get to a spot around those that were sprinting out the start and into a good groove. I was able to get to a nice spot about a half mile down the road, which was oddly right at about the house my father grew up in.
The first 4 miles has a little more hills than I expected, but some nice views of the Pioneer Valley. But I hit the four mile mark and went tried to slow and stretch my stride some. I didn't use GPS or even wear a watch to keep my time. I just put on my playlist and went, not worrying about the time. I was figuring that I wouldn't get too high or too low if I just ran and didn't compete, I mean really, I wasn't going to win. The winner jumped out to an early lead and finished the race in 1:24:54, which was about 5 minutes faster than the next runner! Through the next 6 miles I found the nice flat roads a long the Connecticut River. I was passed by two people during that time which was fine. I hit every water stop through those miles to recharge with drink and to pour water over my head once. I was wearing a hat but it had gotten too hot to deal with so I needed to cool down. The only issue I really had, was at about 8 miles the course went by a Water Treatment Plant, I am guessing a few people probably had an issue with running past that smell.
I hit the ten mile marker and started to increase my pace. I caught up to one runner that had passed me (the other was pretty far ahead) and ran with them for a little time. The final water stop was at about 11.5 and I downed a quick gulp and put everything I had left. There was a significant hill at the point that was really hard after over 11 miles. But I made it up, went all out through the slight down hill and sprinted to the finish line. The results of how it all went can be found here:
http://www.coolrunning.com/results/13/ma/May12_WMAMot_set1.shtml
Thank you all to have supported me, pushed me, and read my blog thus far. Special thanks to my wife for allowing me spend time training and listening to me, and my parents for randomly letting me buy running shoes and footing the bill. I am going to continue to run and post and hopefully decide soon if I want to run a half marathon in Swanzey NH or the Clarence DeMar Marathon in Keene.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Half Marathon Playlist
I have uploaded a playlist to iPod. I think it will be a good one that will keep me energized through my race.
Afrojack - As Your Friend
Cascada - Evacuate the Dance Floor
Ke$ha - Blow (Cirkut Remix)
Swedish House Mafia - Greyhound
The Black Keys - Gold on the Ceiling
Eminem - 'Till I Collapse
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Can't Hold Us
Outkast - Hey Ya
Volbeat - A Warrior's Call
Skrillex - Bangarang
Filter and The Crystal Method - Trip Like I Do
Foster the People - Don't Stop
Slipknot - Before I Foget
Youngblood Hawke - We Come Running
Linkin Park - One Step Closer
Linkin Park - Bleed it Out
The Go! Team - The Power is On
Skillet - Awake and Alive
Scorpions - Rock You Like a Hurricane
Calvin Harris feat. Neyo - Let's Go
Alvin Risk - Nemesis
Jimmy Eat World - Pain
30 Seconds to Mars - Up in the Air
The Goo Goo Dolls - Rebel Beat (as suggested by my wife - Extra motivation)
One last light jog, then need to carb load Saturday for some good fuel. GETTING EXCITED!!
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Race Week
I have read and been told that toward the end of a training cycle, when it is time for a race, it is time to tapper down your workouts. I am sort of doing that I think, looking to run more days than I normally do, but far less miles per day. I usually run four days a week at 8 miles for three days and a long run on the last day. My long run this past weekend was 11.6 miles which should put me in good shape for the race. I didn't push too hard on the long run work out, ending up finishing with an average pace around 8:05. I didn't push to 95-100% on it because I want to leave everything on the table this weekend, not on a workout.
What I hope to do this week leading up to the race on Sunday is to do a good set of workout. I started with 4.5 miles today, I hope to have a work out of 4-6-6-4-2 riding up to Sunday. I might no do the 2 on Saturday or not run on Friday and to another 4.5 or something like that. I am not really sure at this point never running a half marathon before. I guess it will be a see how it goes sort of thing. As of right now my body feels really good, so I don't want to push anything too hard the week of so I don't get injured or have any glaring soreness.
Alright, so I am getting really excited about running my first half marathon this weekend. I don't know what to expect from it. The race is in Whately Ma which is where I grew up. My home Town is South Deerfield Ma which is the northern bordering town. My parents house is about a mile from the Whately Town border. So it is sort of a home coming for me to be able to do my first big time race at home. I know my parents will be there by the end of the race, hopefully between 9:30 and 9:45 for me. My wife and kids will not be attending this one for two reasons. First it is Mother's Day and it wouldn't be fair for me to force my wife to drag the kids around at 5 am to then sit around for and hour and a half or so while I run. By the way, I wasn't aware that the race was actually on Mother's Day when I signed up, I thought it was Saturday. The second reason my wife and kids will not be attending is that the race is at 8 am on Sunday morning, with packet pickup starting at 6 am. That would me leaving the house around 5 am to prepare and I am not about to wake everyone up at 5 am to, again, sit around and wait for me to run.
I really have not been thinking about the actual race very much yet, meaning visioning my run and my technique. I have been thinking a lot about how I handle the week and specifically the Friday and Saturday leading up to the race. I want to make sure I have my meals planned out and that I have my self sufficiently hydrated for the week so I don't have to over hydrate in the morning and end up needing to use the bathroom around mile six or seven. During the work week it is fairly easy to stay hydrated, I have a desk job and can keep a bottle of water by to drink and get in around 64 oz of water in daily. Weekends are where I struggle with that so this Saturday I will have to make sure I watch what I am drinking through the day. I will also be stretching more during the week, not just before and after a workout. I am going to need to do some leg stretches additionally two more times a day.
Finally in preparation I am going to create a new playlist for my run what will hopefully be 1:45 in length. I just received an email from the race director this morning stating that there is going to be over 300 people in the race this year, which is up from the 220 or so from last year. I would like to come in the top 50% of the race so my target time to keep is that 1:45 which should equal 8:10 per mile. I am pretty sure with my training that I can do that, so my goal is to finish under 1:42 which should put an average pace just under an eight minute mile. To do that I am going to be creating a new playlist with some of my favorite and most high paced music to help me keep a nice even and fast pace.
I will post a pic of my results on Twitter the day of the race when they start to display them. That way hopefully the people that wanted to know how I did can get that information pretty quickly. I will post again probably Monday after the race to chronicle how my body feels the day after and also how I feel I did in the race. Being the first one, I am just happy to able to say I did it.....something even a year ago I never thought I would do.
What I hope to do this week leading up to the race on Sunday is to do a good set of workout. I started with 4.5 miles today, I hope to have a work out of 4-6-6-4-2 riding up to Sunday. I might no do the 2 on Saturday or not run on Friday and to another 4.5 or something like that. I am not really sure at this point never running a half marathon before. I guess it will be a see how it goes sort of thing. As of right now my body feels really good, so I don't want to push anything too hard the week of so I don't get injured or have any glaring soreness.
Alright, so I am getting really excited about running my first half marathon this weekend. I don't know what to expect from it. The race is in Whately Ma which is where I grew up. My home Town is South Deerfield Ma which is the northern bordering town. My parents house is about a mile from the Whately Town border. So it is sort of a home coming for me to be able to do my first big time race at home. I know my parents will be there by the end of the race, hopefully between 9:30 and 9:45 for me. My wife and kids will not be attending this one for two reasons. First it is Mother's Day and it wouldn't be fair for me to force my wife to drag the kids around at 5 am to then sit around for and hour and a half or so while I run. By the way, I wasn't aware that the race was actually on Mother's Day when I signed up, I thought it was Saturday. The second reason my wife and kids will not be attending is that the race is at 8 am on Sunday morning, with packet pickup starting at 6 am. That would me leaving the house around 5 am to prepare and I am not about to wake everyone up at 5 am to, again, sit around and wait for me to run.
I really have not been thinking about the actual race very much yet, meaning visioning my run and my technique. I have been thinking a lot about how I handle the week and specifically the Friday and Saturday leading up to the race. I want to make sure I have my meals planned out and that I have my self sufficiently hydrated for the week so I don't have to over hydrate in the morning and end up needing to use the bathroom around mile six or seven. During the work week it is fairly easy to stay hydrated, I have a desk job and can keep a bottle of water by to drink and get in around 64 oz of water in daily. Weekends are where I struggle with that so this Saturday I will have to make sure I watch what I am drinking through the day. I will also be stretching more during the week, not just before and after a workout. I am going to need to do some leg stretches additionally two more times a day.
Finally in preparation I am going to create a new playlist for my run what will hopefully be 1:45 in length. I just received an email from the race director this morning stating that there is going to be over 300 people in the race this year, which is up from the 220 or so from last year. I would like to come in the top 50% of the race so my target time to keep is that 1:45 which should equal 8:10 per mile. I am pretty sure with my training that I can do that, so my goal is to finish under 1:42 which should put an average pace just under an eight minute mile. To do that I am going to be creating a new playlist with some of my favorite and most high paced music to help me keep a nice even and fast pace.
I will post a pic of my results on Twitter the day of the race when they start to display them. That way hopefully the people that wanted to know how I did can get that information pretty quickly. I will post again probably Monday after the race to chronicle how my body feels the day after and also how I feel I did in the race. Being the first one, I am just happy to able to say I did it.....something even a year ago I never thought I would do.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Back in the Saddle
Well, now that the vacation is over I am back into my regularly scheduled programs......Sort of.
Vacation at the Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando Florida was fantastic. We had a great time and can't wait to go back when our three year old is a little older (and hopefully tall enough to ride all the rides!). I went down with the intention of getting in a couple of short runs to keep the muscles working correctly. That all went to heck once we started staying at the parks late to watch fireworks as well as staying up late while the kids played. I don't tend to function well waking up early when I go to bed late. Most experienced runners will tell you that running on less than 6 hours of sleep really affects your body. The good thing was after basically taking a week off, my body and especially my legs feel fantastic. I have been able to really push some good runs in and get myself back to where I was right before I left.
So now I am under 2 weeks until my first running of a half marathon. I am getting excited about it, but with the nicer weather and other things going on, I will have less time to write about how things are going. So I am changing this blog slightly. I am not going to go in depth about what I ate and those kind of things. I will be doing more of a weekly summary of how things are going and where I am in my "training". At this point I think that is going to be a good way to go about it.
I did mention before vacation that I would like to run the Maine Marathon this year, and although I would like to do it and have until July to really decide, I am starting to lean away from it. I am looking at all the things I would like to do with my kids this summer and the amount of time that I would have to dedicate to running and they don't match up. I am instead rethinking about running a second half marathon in Swanzey NH this fall. Right now that just feels a little more like the right thing to do instead of trying to push 4 hours out of a weekend day just to run.
To summarize my week, we got back from Orlando on Friday later in the afternoon. I ran about 7.25 on Saturday, a little over 10.5 on Sunday, 8 on Tuesday and 8.5 on Wednesday. I am going to be taking tomorrow off, then probably look to run 8 on Friday, something under 6 on Saturday, then 12 on Sunday. Next week will then be a light week of jogging to make sure I am fresh for Sunday!!
Vacation at the Walt Disney World Resorts in Orlando Florida was fantastic. We had a great time and can't wait to go back when our three year old is a little older (and hopefully tall enough to ride all the rides!). I went down with the intention of getting in a couple of short runs to keep the muscles working correctly. That all went to heck once we started staying at the parks late to watch fireworks as well as staying up late while the kids played. I don't tend to function well waking up early when I go to bed late. Most experienced runners will tell you that running on less than 6 hours of sleep really affects your body. The good thing was after basically taking a week off, my body and especially my legs feel fantastic. I have been able to really push some good runs in and get myself back to where I was right before I left.
So now I am under 2 weeks until my first running of a half marathon. I am getting excited about it, but with the nicer weather and other things going on, I will have less time to write about how things are going. So I am changing this blog slightly. I am not going to go in depth about what I ate and those kind of things. I will be doing more of a weekly summary of how things are going and where I am in my "training". At this point I think that is going to be a good way to go about it.
I did mention before vacation that I would like to run the Maine Marathon this year, and although I would like to do it and have until July to really decide, I am starting to lean away from it. I am looking at all the things I would like to do with my kids this summer and the amount of time that I would have to dedicate to running and they don't match up. I am instead rethinking about running a second half marathon in Swanzey NH this fall. Right now that just feels a little more like the right thing to do instead of trying to push 4 hours out of a weekend day just to run.
To summarize my week, we got back from Orlando on Friday later in the afternoon. I ran about 7.25 on Saturday, a little over 10.5 on Sunday, 8 on Tuesday and 8.5 on Wednesday. I am going to be taking tomorrow off, then probably look to run 8 on Friday, something under 6 on Saturday, then 12 on Sunday. Next week will then be a light week of jogging to make sure I am fresh for Sunday!!
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