Bored waiting for the GF to get off of work. Thought I’d sketch the monk from D3 

THE RUNNING CHRONICLES (2 of 27)

What follows is part 2 of a series that tells the story of how I am attempting play catch up to prepare for the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon after slacking off my training. you can view the rest of the series here.

DAY 2 - Strength Training

After yesterday’s run, I was pretty excited to get back into training, especially since today’s effort was going to depart from my typical workout. Now, those that know me well, know that I’m not a gym rat at all. Not that there’s anything wrong with going to the gym, it’s just not my thing I guess. Not only am I hesitant and ignorant of how to do proper workouts, gyms scare the living hell out of me. Running is my alone time, my form of meditation, my church. Believe it or not, I run because I actually ENJOY running. The health benefits are just a neat little perk that happen to be tacked on. As a result, when training, I do almost no exercises other than running, knowing full well that I’m shorting myself. It’s just how I roll. So, not only do I not enjoy doing “workouts”, I can’t imagine doing them in a room full of other people. It would just throw me off.

So, because of my lack of prep, I’m forced to do some strength training (which I should have been doing anyways). I just have to find a way to do it in the comfort of my own home. After doing some research (I swear, what did people do before YouTube and Google?), I went and bought a couple of 10lb dumbells and a chin up bar. Heh, this should be interesting. 

The plan was this: do a series of 10-12 strength exercises with a low amount of repetitions under no or light loads, all the while sprinkling in some quarter-mile runs at a 5K pace (a run that’s roughly 1:00/mile faster than my marathon pace). First, I’d run 2 miles to warm up, run the quarter-mile at a 5K pace, do 5-6 different workouts, run down 4 flights of stairs, chunk off another quarter-mile, run back up the stairs, finish off the rest of the routine, then do a third quarter-mile. Twice.

Again, early efforts can be very deceiving. The first pass through was a bit trying, but I made it through without much event. The leg exercises (burpees, squats, weighted squats & lunges) were pretty simple, as that is where most of my strength lies. The upper body workouts, though, were another story. Specifically the chin ups and chair dips. Man, I have NO upper body strength to speak of. It kind of made me laugh while I was “doing reps” (man that’s funny to say, even funnier to type), but it felt good knowing that I was trying something new, and made me eager to see the benefits. 

Firing off the quarter miles was some of the toughest running I’ve ever done. I’m basically training my legs to run quality speeds while fatigued, a common occurrence when running 26 miles, and man was I fatigued. Individually, the workouts weren’t much to write home about, but when they were compounded within a short amount of time, having to run at an elevated pace was difficult to say the least.

The second pass through saw a boost of energy from me. Call it a “Second Wind” if you will (See what I did there?). The workouts were felt tougher because of my exhaustion, but the fire in my belly pushed me in that familiar and satisfying way. What can I say, I love enduring!

Unfortunately, the quarter-miles during the second repetition would prove to be more strenuous. I started to feel it on the 5th run. A slight twitch in my right calf. I quickly recognized it as the precursor of an oncoming cramp, so I slowed my pace a bit, since I was well under my target anyways, which was probably one of the reasons I was having trouble in the first place, but i digress. The problem compounded on the following two runs, infecting both of my calves, telling me to abandon the last run altogether before I started actually hurting.

A little heartbroken again, I climbed the stairs back to my apartment to finish out the rest of the workout, paying close attention to my legs as to make sure I wouldn’t overdo it and cause injury to myself. 

Other than that little snafu, the exercises were awesome to accomplish, instilling me with confidence and a bit of entertainment from just my usual running routine. I can’t say that I’ll continue such a harsh regiment in the future, but it definitely changed my opinions on doing traditional workouts. Just don’t expect to see me in a gym anytime soon though.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow, which will be a “rest day”, which translated means a few miles of easy running. 

The Running Chronicles (1 of 27)

What follows is part 1 of a series that tells the story of how I am attempting play catch up to prepare for the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon after slacking off my training.

BACKSTORY (Scroll down to “Day 1” to skip)

A few months ago, my cousin Jason messaged me via twitter, with the proposal to run the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon in June. With reluctance, I accepted, mostly on the precedent that most people that approach me with an offer to run, quickly fall off within a few weeks. It’s no fault of their own, marathon training takes A LOT of commitment, and it’s awfully daunting to dedicate yourself to it on top of the rigors of everyday life. My general response is, “Tell me when you register, then I’m down.” since once the fee has been paid, they’re pretty much locked in.

Not only did Jason register, though, he stayed dedicated through his training, updating me every now and then via twitter, and occasionally asking me for advice. It felt good to help him out and I was proud that he was remaining dedicated, but for some reason, when it came to MY training, I just couldn’t get into the rhythm of running the 30-50 miles per week that I KNOW it takes to get my body prepared. I could probably make a metric fuck-ton excuses, but let’s be honest and chalk it up to plain old laziness.

Fast-forward to a few days ago, my cousin texts me telling me that he’s been in a bit of a training slump himself, asking for some pointers to get out of it. I know the feeling. You get to week 15-17 and the fire just gets put out. You’ve logged a few long runs, and even though you’ve been training all this time, the increased milage can put a toll on your energy levels throughout the day, making it harder to feel motivated to do the running that you need to do. I tell him to change up his routine a bit, run a different route, or a different time of day to shake of the rust. Sound advice, surely.

That’s when I start thinking to myself, “I’m giving all this advice to help him out with his running, when I haven’t done squat! I’m such a sham!” I start to panic a bit. How in the world can I prepare for a full 26.2 miles with only 28 days left to train? My weekly mileage is decent, but it’s not where it needs to be right now. My legs are weak, I haven’t done much in the way of tempo or marathon pace running, and I’m still carrying a few extra pounds.

I start to consider dropping out. 

I start thinking of a way to tell Jason. 

But something inside my gut tells me that that is not the right answer. I can’t bring myself to take the easy way out. I can’t bail out on someone who’s worked so hard and is counting on me to be there. Somehow, I have to find some way to cram my training into 27 days without injuring myself, which is no easy task. I can come to the terms that I’m not going to run a phenomenal race, but I need to do the best that I can with what little time I have. So I did a bit of research and found that it IS possible to put together a regiment within a month, as long as you have a reasonable amount of mileage under your belt, and are at decent level of fitness.

DISCLAIMER: I certainly don’t condone trying to train for a full marathon in a month’s time. My typical training period is about 16 weeks. I wouldn’t attempt this if you are new to running or if this is your first marathon. 

So, I mapped out a schedule that will focus on building my strength, VO2 max, and my lactate threshold. Now, muscles take longer to repair from long runs than they do from short ones. So usually during the last month of training, you would taper off your milage to allow your legs to recover before the actual race. Knowing this, it means I have to complete my training while trying to keep my milage at a manageable level. 

Finally, I decided to share my story with you guys mostly to hold myself accountable, but also because I’ve never undergone training like this before, and I think it would be interesting to document my thoughts after each session. To be honest, I don’t think many people will actually take the time to read it all (i tend to skip long-winded posts myself), but if this even entertains or educates just one person (other than myself) then it will have far exceeded my expectations. Really, I just want to have a good race.

DAY 1

Today I ran 12 miles, with 3 of those miles at my regular marathon pace (MP). It was a beautiful day, but the weather a bit hotter than I would have liked, which is par for the course for Walnut Creek. I usually try to run in the morning to dodge said heat, but since I didn’t have time this morning (Read: woke up late), I opted to run in the early evening. The warm up run was rather nice, and I fell into a slow rhythm that I felt I could maintain indefinitely.

Then I hit the MP segment and ratcheted up the pace. It’s been a while since I ran at a sustained MP, but my legs were feeling up to the task, and I was happily kicking away. Every now and then, my right shoulder would cramp up a bit, but it wasn’t bad enough to cause me alarm. I just focused on my breathing and ran it out till it disappeared. After a couple of miles though, my lack of training started to rear it’s ugly head. The pace wasn’t impossible to manage, but I definitely noticed how much more effort it took to maintain. At the last quarter-mile, the effect doubled, but I forced my way through, telling myself that this is the price I must pay for my apathy. I finished on the mark, did a mini fist-pump and started my cool down run.

By now, the sun had set, dusk had set in, and visibility of the trail was greatly diminished.  The cool down run should be pretty simple, right? It’s just a few miles at a pace similar to warm up.

No problem.

Nice and easy.

That was NOT the case.

The first mile I spent most of the time catching my breath from the MP, and kept my legs moving. Everything seemed fine. Then I hit the stoplight that signifies that I have a half-mile left. Almost home. It flicked red, so I stopped and hit the button waiting for the signal to go. When it flipped, I started off again, only to find that when I made it halfway through the crosswalk, my energy was entirely depleted. I hit what runners call “The Wall”. What this basically means is that I burned off most of my glycogen, and my body had switched to burning fat. This transition doesn’t happen instantly though, so the body goes through extreme fatigue while it does. This is called “The Wall”, and I usually hit it at around the 20-24 mile mark. Tonight I hit it at 11.5 miles.

Not good.

I was devastated, but not broken. I’ve hit “The Wall” many times before, so I kept my chin up, focused on a distant point, and slowly chugged my way through it, attempting to berate and motivate myself at the same time (It’s possible, trust me). When I made it back to my apartment, I talked to myself a bit more (Can you tell this will be a recurring theme?) to not feel to depressed about the run. I told myself that this is day 1, and I can’t expect to be at my normal fitness level off the bat, but it was still pretty disheartening. I re-hydrated, stretched, showered and started thinking about day 2.

Animating…