Conundrum

I have a conundrum.  I like races.  I would think that everyone like races.  I mean it's great to actually run with a group of people instead of that little guy in your head when you head out alone each morning (unless you have a cool running partner like I do!).  Races are great because of the camaraderie between runners you haven't even met!  We all get together because we have the same problems: IT band, runner's knee, back problems, stomach issues, traffic, time constraints, weight loss, plantar fasciitis, running routes...

But we all experiences these issues, and we thus have a large network of people to give us encouragement.  Running is NOT an individual sport.  Running is probably the largest group sport in the world.  The Country Music Marathon will have close to 40,000 individuals running as one, from the elites to the walkers.  We're all the same.

Yes, I love races.  I have a rather important 26.2 mile race on April 19th.  The question is, do I run a 10k the weekend BEFORE the marathon?  Back in 2006 (was it that long ago?), I did run a 10k the weekend before, however I didn't have the knowledge I have know, and definitely did not have the base milage.  This particular 10k is flat, which would be an incredible chance to get a PR, something like 43 minutes or so.  The two things I'm worried about are fatigue and injury.  Fatigue I'm not worried about TOO much, because I'll be tapering already and will have a fairly easy week working up to the marathon.  Thus, injury is my largest concern.  I've not experienced an injury during a race to this point, but there is always a chance.  I would hate for 20 weeks of preparation go down the drain the week before a marathon.

What do I do?  What do I do?

Adios...I'm upset I have to watch the President again.  I mean, jeez, how much face time does he need?  I guess when you are trying to get over $3.6 TRILLION budget passed, you have to sell it...

My unborn children need a stimulus package.

(sorry about the political rant, but I just saw that Obama is having an hourlong 'speech' tonight)

Mid-Marathon Report Card

My marathon training hit it's midpoint a couple of weeks ago, culminating in my first 20+ mile training run.  I thought it would be a good idea to give myself some grades on parts of my training up to this point.  I had a few goals while using Hal Hidgon's advanced-I training guide:

• Weigh 175 pounds on marathon morning

Grade:  A.  I started this training (roughly) in mid-December.  I weighed 189.2 on December 14th.  As of March 8th, I weigh 179.2.  10 lb loss without changing much of my diet.  I believe in order to make my weight, I will need to change up my diet just a tad.  The alcohol consumption will be taken out completely after this Saturday.

• Do not skip any workouts

Grade:  B+.  It is tough to define what I skipped as there are some days that you may have 3 miles scheduled, but you need the day off.  Your legs and head both tell you that the muscles need some repair time.  I believe I only skipped out on Amy once and, if I recall, it was because I had IT-band issues.  The weather has been cold thus far in the training, but that has not deterred me.  I could improve with incorporating some weight-training.

• Incorporate Speed/Hill workouts

Grade: B.  Hal's guide calls for speed/hill work once a week.  I've done pretty well with the speed work as I'm up to 7 yasso's on the track, however the scheduled hill work hasn't been completely adopted.  I run at Percy Warner Park that has incredible hills, but I don't measure off a quarter mile of hill and sprint up and down a half dozen times.  I just run the 11.2 and do the hills that way.  Eh.  I need to work on pace runs and some tempo runs.  

• Diet

Grade:  D.  My diet has barely changed.  My portions decreased a bit, and I'm going out to eat less, but I'm still eating things I shouldn't.  I don't eat fast food anymore but I started drinking 2% instead of skim (I'll thank my mom for that).  I have stepped up the carb loading for long runs and races, but it hurts that I can't eat meat on Fridays and runs are on the weekends.  I like some protein with my carbs.  I hope to improve this the most.  

• Enjoyment

Grade: A+.  It's nice to have a running partner and it's fun to run in groups for the long runs.  My first go around with this marathon business I had neither.  It's great this time around.  I'm looking forward to races and long runs, and even don't mind getting up at 5 for them OR skipping my Friday night debauchery.  

So there you have it.  I need to improve some aspects, but as I told Amy after our run last weekend, I'm very happy with my training.  My normal, without-thinking pace I run while I'm alone is roughly 8:40, which is a vast improvement over last year.  My heart-rate is down to about 143 while doing those miles.  I feel good. 

Booya

Training Runs and Bad Vandy Basketball

Whenever you plan your marathon training, it seems as if everything is set in place for you.  I've been following Hal Hidgon's marathon guide and it's nice because every single run is planned out for you.  All you have to do is run.  That's it.  Dummy proof.  Well, this plan doesn't take into account when college friends come into town.  They pick one football game and one men's basketball game to attend each year.  The past couple of seasons, they have come into town when Vandy plays our hated rivals, the Florida Gators.  Gross.  

This puts a strain on the running schedule because my friends and I like to have a good time, which means we like to go downtown, stay out late, and have some adult beverages.  This isn't conducive to a good workout the next day.  This time, however, I told them that I have my first training run (14 miles) with the Nashville Striders on Sunday, so Saturday HAS to be tame.  I also flip flopped my off day, so I ran my pace run on Friday and took Saturday off.  This meant that my Friday night would be the crazy night.  Well, it was, and I'm glad I had all day saturday to recuperate.  Saturday I took it easy, had a nice Noshville breakfast, played some apples to apples with my friends, and went to an Eric Brace show (lead singer from Last Train Home) at Station Inn.  I didn't necessarily get to bed as early as I should have for a 7 am start in East Nashville, but I wasn't hungover for the training run either.  

Sunday morning was a pretty cold morning, with the starting temperature at about 20 degrees.  I struggled with my decision as to what I should wear.  I opted with a long sleeve running shirt with my SportHill InFuzion top.  I didn't wear long spandex, and when I arrived at Bongo Java in East Nashville, I saw I was the only one not wearing them.  I guess that's the Montana in me.  

This was my first training run with the Nashville Striders, and I was nothing less than impressed.  We had at least 150 people ready to run the 14 miles, and the group had water/gatorade stations at 3, 5.5, 9, and 11.5 miles.  Everyone was very friendly and was very happy when I saw some bagels, bananas, and fluids at the end of the run.  I will definitely be attending the rest of the Striders' training runs.

The run itself went really well.  The route was most of the first half of the Country Music Marathon, which is fairly hilly and challenging.  The plan was to run with 9 minute splits, which is 50 seconds more than my predicted marathon pace.  The legs felt great even when heading up a 2 mile hill from miles 3 to 5.  The pace was fast slow enough I could talk, yet fast enough to let me know we were running.  I really had no complaints, but I did have to stop a couple of times because my running partner Amy had some stomach issues.  Twice we had to stop for a few minutes, the first of which I stood outside and got a little chilly, but the second time we stopped in McDonalds, so I was out of the elements.  The one time I felt a little frustrated was at the end of the run when Amy said 'I think the end is at that red light'.  Well, the red light seemed like a mirage, everytime I thought we ran for a few minutes, I'd look up and it seemed like we didn't get closer.  Eventually we made it and now I feel optimistic about how the marathon in St. Louis is going to turn out.  

Oh, and Vandy lost by 25.