Milestones

Following the 5K race on Sunday August 20, my training has been steady, I have recorded the following runs:

8/21 - 3 miles (+ 11 mile ride)
8/22 - 2 miles
8/23 - 2.5 miles
8/24 - 3.5 miles
8/25 - off
8/26 - 2 miles
8/27 - off
8/28 - 4 miles

Last night I ran 4 continuous miles, marking my longest run to date (not including 4.5 miles on the Treadmill using walking breaks). Hitting that milestone obviously felt great, but it seems with every milestone mileage I hit I don't feel the same rush of excitement as the previous mark. I think this has to do with higher expectations now, I left the house last night knowing I could do 4 miles, whereas before I would start a run hoping to finish the predetermined distance. I'm planning on hitting the 5 mile mark on 9/9, and the 10K mark on 9/22, just prior to beginning my modified Hal Higdon's 18 Week Novice Marathon schedule which also includes a long run of 6 miles in the first week.


mile‧stone  /ˈmaɪlˌstoʊn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[mahyl-stohn]

1.	a stone functioning as a milepost.

2.	a significant event or stage in the life, progress, development, or the like of a person, nation, etc.: Her getting the job of supervisor was a milestone in her career.

Milestones are great stepping stones along the way to achieving my ultimate short term goal of running a marathon, and once I have achieved that goal, I will set my sights higher with new goals and new milestones to reach. If we set goals too high, we will often become discouraged along the way resulting in a lack of motivation to reach the goal. Milestones have a tremendous purpose in achieving these goals, as they allow progress to be tracked (and even celebrated) and give a sense of accomplish we can use to build confidence on. Personally I have 26 literal milestones, and have achieved four of them to this point and only after I finish the marathon will I cross the last of these milestones. So set milestones, but realize the journey does not end until we cross the finish line of the race.

I've had a few doubts creep in lately regarding my ability to train for and finish the ING Miami Marathon at the end of January. I'm going to wait another 6-8 weeks to make a registration decision, even though I would like the added motivation of dropping a non-refundable $80, this could result in pushing too hard which would likely end in injury.

I'm in my 10th week of running and increased my endurance from 1/3 mile to 4 miles, which does not sound like a lot, but it is a 1200% increase which I must say sounds much more impressive. This rapid rate of improvement will obviously slow substancially...to 300% over the next 10 weeks.

School started back last week, so back to being very busy with classes on Tue/Thu and work on Mon/Wed/Fri. I think I'm going to have to resort to some sort of caffiene intake, something I would rather avoid that may become a necessary evil to stay alert in my morning classes. I'm also going to resume reading "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller and "The Competitive Runner's Handbook" by Bob Glover to occupy any free time I have left.

Till next time...

"What has passed is already finished with,
What I find more interesting is what is still to come."

~ Emil Zatopek

First Race Report

Track Shack Celebration of Running
First 5K result:

Official Time 24:47
Net Time 24:29
Pace: 7:52.6
Divison: 20 out of 39
Overall: 296 out of 1369

Official Splits / Net Splits
7:50 / 7:32
7:50 (15:40) / 7:50 (15:22)
8:25 (24:05) / 8:25 (23:47)

Woke up around 5:50 and ate a Kashi bar and a piece of toast with 16 ounces of water, showered, dressed, stretched and was out the door around 6:40. My parents were nice enough to come along to cheer and we were met by Tyler and Mel (Brother and his wife), who rode their bikes to the race to cheer me on as well. Pre-race was uneventful as I was pre-registered, and thankfully avoided the registration lines which allowed me to take me time stretching and take in the race atmosphere. I found a place around in middle of the pack, and as the horn sounded I quickly made a move around the left side and found my stride...well until my shoe became untied about 2 minutes in to the race. I can only remember one time when this has ever happened while running, but I didn't think much of it, took my time to step off the course to re-tie.

First mile was faster than it felt at 7:50 (net 7:32) which I expected with this being my first race, but I felt good enough to push harder and hit mile two at 7:50...and well, this is where I got in trouble. I had to take two seperate walking breaks from mile two to three, due to a feeling that I might be seeing my Kashi bar again. The breaks were both short at 20-30 seconds each, but that almost cost me my goal time of sub-25. I came in the last .1 mile pushing as hard as I could, and after finishing, I really thought I was going to lose my stomach prompting me to wander around in the grass far from the finish line where I was joined by a few other participants who looked equally as spent (and queasy). Finished up the morning with some water, blueberry bagel and a banana before heading home.

Next up: Autumn Rock N' Roll 5k on September 30
Goal: Sub-23

Here we go

I most likely failed to report back on monday night because I had a horrible run. Not sure if was from lack of sleep, fatigue from the bike ride, or lingering effects from 4.5 miles on the treadmill on Sunday, but it was not enjoyable. I set out thinking of at least 3+ miles, trying to get some more mileage under my belt, but failed to clearly define a goal distance or route, big mistake. From the very start, my heels and achilles were in trouble and I basically had a mental breakdown less than a mile into the run. I told myself there was no way I was going to finish, and 3 walking breaks and 30+ minutes later I returned after 3 miles.

Very discouraged and still aching I took off yesterday completely as there is no real detrimental effects of missing a day, while the benefits were felt today. I mapped out a new route of 3 miles using MapMyRun (spent my lunch break mapping out numerous routes around Orlando to start mixing up my runs) and set out about an hour after dinner as the sun was setting. I really tried hard to maintain an easy steady pace and finished without any problems or discomfort in 26 minutes.

A number of factors played into rediscovering my confidence. First off, I drank about a gallon of water throughout the day taking care of any hydration issues. Secondly, my breathing was much improved over any previous runs, something that I believe was benefitted from cross training on the bike. Lastly and most important, my mindset was that I was going to go running for 3 miles and finish. That was it, no time goals, no pre-conceived injurys, no excuses.

I also picked up my race packet for the race that is now looming 3 days from tomorrow morning, and my race number for the whole Track Shack Grand Prix is "357" and if anyone is interested in tracking my results, you can at the TrackShack website.

"If you never take the first step of a race, then it is impossible to take the last." ~Carter Hunt

New Toys

Well I'm overdue for a post, here is my latest training progress:

Thursday ~ 10 mile ride and 2 mile run
Friday ~ OFF
Saturday ~ 10 mile ride
Sunday ~ 4.5 miles on the Treadmill
Tonight ~ 12 mile ride and a 3 mile run later

Last Thursday I picked up a Bell Ghisallo at Orange Cycle to protect my melon, along with some Cytomax Peachy Keen and various energy gels to try out. The helmet and Cytomax have worked wonderfully, while I've not had a long enough ride/run to give the gels a try. Then this evening I picked up a pair of Mizuno Wave Alchemy 5 and a trio of running shirts from Mizuno, Brooks and Nike (everything was less than $100) at Track Shack's anniversary sale. I could have gone without, but I can't pass up deals like that.

I'm heading out for a 3+ mile run, be back later...

Predicted Failure?

Well just as I anticipated, I was letdown by my second effort at 3.1 miles. I ran earlier than normal tonight at around 8pm and as I previously experienced, running in daylight seems much, much slower than at night. From the very start of the run, my legs felt like they were filled with concrete and I never got into a good rhythm ultimately resulting in a couple walking breaks late in the run. I knew I would not be able to finish the whole loop continously, but I also know that if I don't push myself past distances I am comfortable with finishing, I will never improve myself. I managed a dissapointing time of just under 25 minutes even with the walking breaks.

I hate the thought that creeps in while starting a run that I will not finish it, but managing and suppressing these thoughts is all part of the often overlooked mental side of running. Running seems so simple on the surface (that's a lots of S's), but can quickly become complex and complicated. Running is similar to golf as there is a fine line between thinking and overthinking, sometimes it is best to just do it while trusting my training and ability.

I purchased some motivation tonight in the form of prepaying for the Track Shack "Grand Prix " series which is a series of 7 races over the next 7 months including distances of 5K, 5 Mile and 10K. The cost of $143 (includes a ChampionChip) for 7 races seems affordable compared to paying $150 for a weekend golf tournament, and running is certainly more beneficially to my health.

" To succeed, you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you." ~Tony Dorsett

High Five Kay

Twenty-three minutes and fifteen seconds is all it took to complete a 3.1-mile (5K) loop through the neighborhood. My longest run to date, resulting in a wonderful "runner's high." Although this run was suppose to take place a few days ago, the old saying, "it's better late than never" seems to apply. Overall I felt very steady throughout the run, I got off to my now typical quick start and had to force myself to slow the pace before I ran out of gas. This was my first time running a 5K distance, however I somehow felt that I controlled my running and conserved energy enough to power through the hills late in the run and finish strong. Following what I feel was a successful run, I fear that runs in the immediate future may result in dissapointment if I compare them to tonight.

With my first 5K luming large in 13 days, I'm setting a new goal time of sub-22minutes.

Weight is up to 184.4, so no more cake for me. I'm going to cut back to 1200 calorie days. According to most calorie calculators, I can consume aproximately 2600 calories a day, follow the math:
2600-1200 (diet) + 300 (exercise) = 1700 * 23 days (left in august) = 39100 calories
1 lb = 3500 calories
39100/3500 = 11.17 lbs
184.4 - 11.7 = 173.23
Goal weight for the end of August was 175 lbs so this leaves a bit of room for error.

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." ~Ronald Osborn

I'm Back

Following a sleepless Wednesday night, I was far too tired to run on Thursday night and my one day off turned into three thanks to the Band Marino concert friday night and a sushi dinner saturday night at Amura's in Lake Mary for my dad and sister-in-law Mel's birthday. Certainly bad excuses, but excuses nonetheless.

Last Wednesday night, I ran 2-miles in the same 16:30 as the night before. I returned tonight to a run of 2-miles followed by a mile of alternating walking and gradual sprints. My legs definately felt the benefit of a three day rest, and one mile into the run I felt that I was flying along when a cramp in my lower right torso killed my paced. I managed to maintain pace enough to achieve a PR of 15:40 for 2-miles.

On the diet side of things I managed to eat almost half of a chocolate cake today for a late breakfast and scarfed down a pair of gigantic, but delicious chicken taco's tonight. I hit a new low weight of 181.4 on friday, but weighed in at 182.8 tonight.

I've now fallen behind on goal mileage for the month, and fear that trying to make up for that deficit may result in injury so I'll have to accept it.

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." ~Robert F. Kennedy