Archive for: running

My Final Long Run…25 Miles

Posted by Jim on April 9, 2012

Number 25I’ve not written a blog in the past week because there has been so much going on lately.  I start a new job tonight (night shift), my wife is home from work for the last couple weeks with a foot problem, taxes are coming due and life is completely chaotic right now.  But I’m still getting in my training runs.

One Tuesday I ran a speed workout of 6.9 miles.  I ran 5 minute intervals at about half-marathon speed with 3.5 minutes of jogging and 1.5 minutes of walking between each interval.  I felt like it was a good workout.  I’m trying to avoid injuries this close to the marathon, so I thought this workout was just the right thing.  Overall, I finished the 6.9 miles in about 78 minutes.  It was a warm day, about 84 degrees.

The next day, Wednesday, I ran another 6.5 miles at an easy pace.  This run, like yesterday’s, was on the asphalt roads in the Chattanooga Battlefield Park.  As I’ve shared before, I really enjoy running in the park because of the scenery, the shade and the minimal amount of motor vehicle traffic.  This run, although a tad shorter than yesterday’s, was six minutes longer.  The weather today was a beautiful 74 degrees.

After taking a couple days off because of other priorities, I went back to the park for another run on Saturday.  This run was 5.3 miles at a moderate, but comfortable pace of just under 12:00 a mile.  I am hoping to run at about this pace for the marathon on April 28th.

Yesterday, Sunday, was my final long run for the marathon.  I will run some moderately long runs of 8-12 miles on each Saturday between now and the marathon, but this was the last 20+ mile run before the marathon.

I went to the Ridgeland High School track to do my run.  I’m trying to follow the doctor’s advice about running on more forgiving surfaces, especially for my long runs.  The school’s track is surfaced with recycled tires (like most school tracks these days).

My original plan was to run 22-23 miles, but as I was running I realize that that would mean completing 88-92 laps around the track.  And if I was going to run that far, why not just make it an even 100!  So I did.  I had filled several bottles of water and grabbed a couple Clif Bars and gel packets for the run.  I believe I drank nearly 100 ounces of water, 30 ounces of Gatorade (the original yellow, of course), and ate 840 calories during the run.  I also took Ibuprofen during  the run to help with the knee pain.

I fell much less knee pain than usual during this long run.  I’m not sure what helped the most, the pain killers or running on a softer surface.  Regardless, I was thrilled to finish with maybe half the pain that I felt after my last long run.  I even skipped icing the knees when I got home.  I did develop a sore toe/toe nail on my right foot from this long run.  Hopefully it doesn’t develop into anything that interferes with my running.

The 25 mile run took me five and a half hours.  I timed each split with my watch/heart monitor and was excited to see that I ran a negative split (a faster second half) by six minutes.  I felt so good after the 22nd mile that I ran the last three miles in 12:40, 10:44 and 9:25 respectively.  The average for the first 22 miles was 13:35 a mile.  I was particularly pleased with the sub 10 minute final mile.

[PhotoCredit: Lincolnian]

Categories Milestones, Training
Comments (0)

A Visit to the Knee Doctor

Posted by Jim on April 2, 2012

Knee x-raysYesterday I did my “off week” long run of 12 miles in the Chickamauga Battlefield park.  The run was nearly two hours and fifty minutes and, as usual, I had knee pain for the last hour of my run.  I didn’t take anything, so the pain was a bit worse than usual.  Last week my wife set up an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to take a look at my knees, and the visit was this morning.

I arrived at the doctor’s office about 20 minutes early knowing that I would need to complete the medical history paperwork for my first visit.  As I sat waiting for my name to be called, I continued to worry that the doctor would simply reply to my “It only hurts when I run” with a simple “quit running”.  But when I finally saw the doctor and shared my problem, he had a little better advice.

I felt kinda silly because the pain isn’t something that lasts long or occurs outside of long hikes or runs.  And the medical exam didn’t reveal any pain or knee problems for the doctor.  But he seemed to understand the issue and recommended the following:  1) continue taking the walking breaks during my long runs as that seems to be helping, 2) don’t do my long runs on the Tennessee Riverwalk or other concrete surfaces (instead run on a local school track), 3) do stretches before and after all of my runs to stretch my Iliotibial band.

I’ve never been much for stretching, so that will take some getting used to.  But the doctor seemed to think that the stretches would do the most to alleviate my problem.  So stretching it is.

[PhotoCredit:Maigh]

Categories Training
Comments (0)

An Easy Week of Running

Posted by Jim on March 31, 2012

This past week was basically a recovery week that I had not scheduled.  I took the day off after my long run on Sunday, and only ran 3.8 miles on Tuesday.  The Tuesday run was my first trail run since my 10k trail race back in December 2011.  It was an easy run around the Back Country Trail loop in Cloudland Canyon State Park.  I had worked about five hours before the run helping put in a new trail in the park.  So I was a bit exhausted when I did my run.

Because of scheduling issues I didn’t find time to run during the next couple of days.  So I didn’t run again until yesterday (Friday).  I ran 7k (4.3 miles) at the Walker County Community Center.  This is the crushed rock trail of one kilometer in length.  I enjoy running at the Community Center because the trail is comfortable and there are a couple moderate hills that give me some variety and extra training.  I always run a little slower here because of the surface.  I finished the run in 55:38.

Categories Trail Runs and Hikes, Training
Comments (0)

Longest Run Ever!

Posted by Jim on March 26, 2012

Twenty-Two MilesYesterday I completed my longest run ever…22 miles.  Now, it wasn’t fast.  And I finished in pain, but I did finish.

I completed my run in just under five hours on the Tennessee Riverwalk in Chattanooga.  I enjoyed most of the run as it was a beautiful day of about 76 degrees.  And, if you’ve read any of my other posts, you know how much I enjoy the scenery on the Riverwalk.

The only real challenge was the knee pain that became much worse for the last four miles.  As usual, I started feeling the pain after a couple hours of running.  I swallowed three Ibuprofen and things seemed okay for more than an hour.  I took walk breaks for two minutes after every ten minutes of running.  But after my walk break at the 18 mile marker, I found it quite painful to start running again.  So I decided not to take any more walk breaks as the pain of starting to run again was too much.

I have only completed one other run of over 20 miles in my lifetime.  That was about 10 years ago.  But this run was more than a mile longer than that run years ago.

I feel ready for the marathon on April 28th.  I will do a 10-12 mile run this next weekend and one more 20+ run the weekend following.  After that I will start my taper for the marathon.

[PhotoCredit: WallyGobetz]

Categories Trail Runs and Hikes
Comments (0)

Chickamauga Battlefield Run

Posted by Jim on March 19, 2012

Chickamauga Battlefield cannonsI can’t believe how many beautiful places there are to run in the Chattanooga/Chickamauga area.  I thought that the Tennessee Riverwalk was my favorite place to run, but now the Chickamauga Battlefield is competing for that top rank.  The park was the site of one of the biggest battles of the Civil War, just ten miles south of Chattanooga.  The park management has worked to keep the landscaping as close as possible to how it appeared in September 1863.  This means most of the park is wooded with a scattering of open fields.  Various roads crisscross the park allowing a variety of routes for runners and bike riders.  Vehicle traffic is allowed on all of the paved roads, but traffic is limited to 25-35 miles per hour.

Running in the park usually means running in the shade of trees along the road.  The terrain is often flat or with some gently rolling hills.  And I have yet to run in the park and not see a deer or two, or on one occasion a couple dozen.  This weekend I headed over to the park for my weekend long run.

Since I ran 19 miles last weekend, I planned for 10 – 12 miles this weekend.  I decided that a run of about 2 1/2 to 3 hours would be about right.  I parked near the battlefield museum and started running on the west side of the park.  Since I knew about how long I should be running, I didn’t worry about the distance and just took any path that seemed interesting.  I figured I could measure the distance on Google Maps when I got home.  I crossed the park, ran north on the east side of the park and cut back to the west after  about two hours of running.  At one point I missed a turn I wanted to make and headed out of the park.  I turned around and found the path heading up a hill into the woods.  I had no realized from the map I was carrying that the path was really a dirt road.

I was not exactly sure where I was as the path entered the woods, and I soon found myself on the wrong path heading north.  After nearly three hours of running, I came out of the woods onto McFarland Avenue which borders the park on the north.  I ended my run and walked the mile back to my truck.  Total run time was 2:56 and I calculated the run at 12.2 miles.

[PhotoCredit: Rob Shenk]

Categories Training
Comments (0)

Marathon Training By the Numbers

Posted by Jim on March 17, 2012

My Training Log SpreadsheetFor anyone who has read more than a couple of my blog posts here, you know that I am interested in numbers.  I enjoy playing with statistics and numerical data.  It keeps me motivated.

There is a challenge to not become obsessed with the numbers and letting it drive my training.  I don’t try to beat my best time on every training run, nor do I feel bad if I miss a training goal.  But plugging the numbers into my spreadsheet after every run helps drive me to keep running.  As the miles accumulate and the weight drops, I know that I’m getting closer to my goals.  So numbers are important to my training.  (The above spreadsheet is a screenshot of my training log, in case my love for numbers needs verification.)

I’ve run three times since my last blog post, so let me give you a quick rundown on what I’ve been doing.

I’ve been trying to increase the average distance of my daily runs during the past couple of weeks.  Most of my weekly runs (not including my once a week LSDs*) had been about 4 miles.  This week I was shooting to average about 4.5 miles for each run.  I did 4.3.

On Wednesday I ran 4.3 miles at the Walker County Community Center.  This is the crushed gravel path laid out in a 1 kilometer loop.  The run was slow at just over an hour.  I took a break from running on Thursday to give my calf a rest and went back to the Community Center yesterday.  I had hoped to run six miles yesterday, but a thunderstorm burst in the afternoon cut my run short at 3.7 miles.  This run was on of my slowest in months.  I ran a 14:37 pace.

Today I decided to change the oil in the riding mower and get started on mowing our 5 acres property.  I got the main yard done, finishing a little after dark.  So my run ended up taking place on the treadmill in the garage.  I ran at a 12:30 pace for 4 miles with 1.5 minute walking breaks every 10 minutes.  It was a faster pace than my normal run, but I felt great.  Tomorrow I will do 10-12 miles at a slow pace.

At the bottom of this blog you can see the cumulative numbers for my marathon training.  But for fun I’m going to post them here for you:

Total Training Miles: 317.7
Total Training Time: 69 hr. 35 min.
Total Weight Loss: 14.75 pounds

Avg. Weekly Miles: 16.2
Avg. Run: 4.9 miles
Avg. Pace: 13:09 mile
Longest Run: 19 miles
Longest Race: 6.2 miles

…since October 1, 2011
* LSD = Long Slow Distances

Categories Training
Comments (0)
Next Page »