Posts Tagged ‘Shamrock Half’

Even in a mild winter like this, running isn’t always easy. The lack of daylight makes it hard to be motivated; lunch runs at work aren’t as exciting as a couple of co-workers have dropped off with running and other has had an injury that set him back; and up and down temperatures make getting dressed a huge pain.

One of my favorite signs at one of the hotels in Virginia Beach two years ago.

Here I am, though, having one of the best running winters ever despite having several colds and a brief stomach bug. I’ve kept my eye on the prize — a return to Shamrock in Virginia Beach, which is now just four weeks away, and the Cleveland Marathon in May. I’m going to have something cool in between too that I’m not quite ready to reveal.

Today I did something I haven’t done in four previous Shamrock Half Marathon training sessions — my mileage went over the race distance. In my first Shamrock, I think I hit 10 miles once; in my second and third races I worked up to 10 miles, but also battled injuries and lack of sleep with my newborn son; two years ago it all changed when I moved back to Bedford, trained on hills, and ran multiple 10-milers with a friend.

Only one other time in my half marathon training have I even hit 13.1 miles — that was summer 2008 when I trained for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon and had a 13.2-mile run.

Today I ran 14 miles. Had I not signed up for the Cleveland Marathon, I’m pretty sure I still would have run 14 miles today. It’s just part of my always-evolving approach to running — more high quality miles, stronger miles, and more overall confidence.

Today’s run was also just under a 9-minute pace, which was kind of surprising after I started a bit sluggish. In a quick look back at my training over the past year, this is one of my top 5 fastest double-digit long runs and the second of this training cycle to come in under a 9-minute mile pace.

My approach to long runs since last summer and picking up the pace is paying off on shorter runs, as well as races. Two years ago, my friend and I never ran under a 9-minute pace on Bedford’s hills, but we went to that race full of confidence. The forced hill training, running in the snow and often crazy wind paid off with my still-standing PR of 1:42:52.

With my effort today, and knowing what transpired two years ago, I’m setting my “A” goal for Shamrock at 3 minutes faster than my PR. I have to put it on the line to go for a sub 1:40. That’s about a 14-second increase per mile, which scares me a bit, but if I’m running on average 20-30 seconds faster per mile for an easy pace than I was two years ago, there’s no reason this can’t translate to a sub 1:40 race day.

Halfway through training for the Shamrock Half Marathon, and the early stages of training for the Cleveland Marathon, this is one of those crucial weeks as I need a mental and physical boost for the next 5 weeks.

I could not afford to get sick like I did at the beginning of the week, so I fought back the best I could. Lots of fluids and lots of rest. As I briefly wrote about the other day, I managed to quickly get over my stomach bug. It seemed to have zero impact on how I felt running — in fact, that extra forced rest probably helped.

Today I had another moment to help me focus on what’s ahead — I decided last night to “sleep in” and do my long run whenever I woke up.

Just a week ago I was all about getting up early for my long and practicing what I would do for the Shamrock Half. With that race having a 7 a.m. start, I need all the dress rehearsals I can get. Last night, though, I was tired and I didn’t want an alarm waking me up.

This morning I woke up about 5:30 a.m. and had to use the restroom. After I got back in bed, I tossed and turned and thought about what happens on Shamrock morning — it’s usually a bit chilly and it’s dark for a while. No different than today. So I got up this morning and hit the road by 6:30 a.m. for an easy paced 12-mile run.

Training this winter has definitely been easier than most winters with the warmer temperatures, but it’s truly been a challenge for so many reasons. As I spend time thinking about things like I did today, I realize so much of it is mental. I feel like I’ve been mentally tough for a while, so it’s something I haven’t experienced in a while.

It impacts my training, my sleeping, and my ability to write anything worth reading, but I hope with my small victories this week that I can move on from these issues.

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’m not happy with January for a variety of reasons, but how can I complain about it? I spent half of it not feeling well, but I still managed to accomplish more this month than any other January. Here are the highlights:

• My first-ever January race. A trail race is more of an experience than an actual race, but the bloodshed led to some good lessons learned.
• Most miles ever in January. I’m disappointed with 81.5 miles, but in comparing what I did two years ago when I was on my way to a PR in the Shamrock Half, I have more mileage — both in quantity and quality.
• My long run is back to double digits already with a 10-miler this past weekend.
• 478 push-ups.

All in all, I am in a good place heading in February. Next month is sure to be full of more miles and additional speed work as I narrow down a goal for Shamrock. I’m also eager to start my core streak.

It’s all about focusing …

I continue to have a variety of things on my mind, nothing more dominant than the other. So for my 833rd blog post, here are a few of those things:

• January has felt like an up and down month, but in looking back at my previous Januaries since I started blogging, this may be the best first month of a year that I’ve had since January 2004 when I started running. That includes a trail race, a nice double digit long run under a 9-minute mile pace and, after tomorrow, more than 80 miles for the month.
• I’m thinking about doing an “core streak” in February — an exercise every day than engages the core. I’ll think of some guidelines in the next couple of days, but I think it would a great addition to what already seems to be working for me in the past few weeks.
• Speaking of what’s working, the 100 push-ups challenge is back in full force. I struggled a bit last night, but I’ve stayed solidly in column 2 and have seen an increase of 10 with my max test in this short time. This time around, I have realized one of major problems with not ever completing this or getting beyond 4 weeks — my goal has never been to do 100 consecutive push-ups. That defeats the whole purpose. My goal, this time, is to do that.
• I’m not ready to talk about weight gain/loss, but I have lost a very little bit each week this month. In looking back at various times I’ve written about weight, I tend to say the same thing. I just know I want to lose a few pounds and hit the Shamrock Half Marathon with weight not being at the forefront of my mind. I know that I’ll weigh less than 2 years ago when I set my PR, and getting another few pounds off me will be me an additional confidence boost.
• I haven’t talked much about my goals for Shamrock, but I will soon. I need a speed test or two to figure out if my “A” goal in my mind right now is realistic. Only 7 weeks to go!
• Scott and I announced some great #runchat news last week — we are speaking at Fitbloggin’ 12. FitBloggin’s mission is “To bring together the community of health-conscious bloggers for education, networking and friendship.” You can read a little more HERE about us being at Fitbloggin’. We’ll have more details in the coming months.

Three weeks into the year and I can’t believe that I’m saying training for the Shamrock Half has gotten off to a bad start. Sort of.

Last weekend, I wrote about not feeling well. My mileage fell short by a few miles and I had a long run that just didn’t feel right. It was nice to push it, but it left me feeling bad later in the day.

All last week I struggled with feeling good — lots of snot, headaches and everything else associated with a cold. That led to completely skipping a run, something I haven’t done in a while.

Then yesterday I felt pretty good again. My head was stopped up, but I felt like I could think clear. I went out for 8 miles and had a great run. While it was a bit cold, I enjoyed every second of it. The super snot rockets I got out made me feel even better.

Then yesterday afternoon I took a nap that made me feel crappy again. Same thing last night; then today it’s like I couldn’t even wake up. I decided to stay home from work because going to work every day last week obviously didn’t make me feel better.

Now that it’s afternoon, I once again don’t feel too bad. This up and down and up and down thing is annoying — I feel like the end is near and I know that taking today off running will only help.

Today is all about rest and fluids. I want to run tomorrow and I want to run 10 miles this weekend. I want to have a normal week of training and get my focus back on what I want to do for the Shamrock Half.

My training cycle for the Baltimore Marathon was definitely the best. Any issues I had were minor.

In these first couple of weeks of Shamrock Half training, and now Cleveland Marathon training, things haven’t started so well. While last week’s trail race was a ton of fun, the tumble I took really left me banged up and threw off my whole week. I still have scabs and bruises.

Instead of my first run coming Monday, it came Tuesday; I was planning to do my long run of 8 miles on Saturday, but I just didn’t feel up to it after I ran Thursday and Friday; I ended up just not feeling well at all Saturday, which led to waking up not feeling great Sunday; I actually debated on not running today, but after a nap I felt better and ended up doing a mid-afternoon run of 7 miles.

At the end of all this, I’m glad I pushed through it today. I’m disappointed in falling short of my planned distance today and for the week, but getting in an hour of running felt good. It was actually my first run of more than an hour in the winter in more than 2 years. Last year I didn’t run anything beyond 4 miles in the winter.

I won’t let some minor setbacks get me down, but I certainly hope I don’t have any other weird things come my way any time soon.

I signed up for the Cleveland Marathon on Friday, which drastically changes my approach to the whole year. I have been indecisive about what to do this spring for a couple of months now – while the Shamrock Half Marathon is my No. 1 priority, I believe that a spring marathon will only enhance my experience in Virginia Beach in March.

With doing some initial planning, the timing is perfect — Shamrock is 9 weeks before Cleveland; this summer I ran the Lynchburg Half Marathon 9 weeks before the Baltimore Marathon. My planned mileage and long runs before Shamrock really don’t change all that much by signing up for the marathon.

I have had a lot of thoughts wrapped up in my head about a spring marathon, and it’s relieving to finally have the chance to get them out. As I hinted yesterday, this hasn’t been an easy decision.

When the Runner’s World Holiday Run Streak came to an end Sunday, the next day I did what just felt right — I went for a run. Then I went for another run Tuesday. 41 straight days of running.

Today, though, as I shift my focus to Shamrock Half Marathon training, the streak comes to an end. I thought about extending it to 50 days, but that mark is no more special to me than 41. In fact, streaking isn’t all that “special” of a thing to me, but it’s a lot of fun. Those people who go for 100 days or 1,000 days, I completely understand why — it’s just not for me.

Here are some highlights of running 41 straight days:

• 3 races (the streak started with the Turkey Trot; Christmas Classic; and Jingle Bell Run)
• 0 consecutive days of only 1-1.9 miles for “rest” days
• 114.4 miles
• Weather ranging from wind chills in the teens (yesterday) to about 60
• 5 different cities and 2 states — Lynchburg, Bedford, Roanoke, and Richmond, Va.; and Asheboro, N.C.
• Wide range of times of day, from as early as about 6:30 a.m. to as late as 9 p.m.
• Ran in 2 different years
• Hit 2 big milestones — hit 1,000 miles for the year Dec. 17 and passed the most miles ever in a year on Dec. 21.

In the past couple of weeks, I spent a lot of time reflecting on a great year. Now that the calendar has flipped to a new month and a new year, there’s a feeling of starting something new. The great thing about this year is I don’t have to start over like I did last year.

The Runner’s World Holiday Run Streak — running at least a mile every day from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day — gave me some solid miles and solid runs that makes for an easy transition into training mode. I actually hit day 40 today of consecutive running days, but today was different — the first “official” day of training for the Shamrock Half Marathon.

So with this run, my focus shifts to the year ahead, and here are 12 thoughts for the next 12 months that are on my mind.

1. My “A” goal for the first quarter is a PR in the Shamrock Half Marathon on March 18 in Virginia Beach.  Two winters ago I trained in one of the roughest winters around here in years and still managed to set a PR. This year is looking much better weather-wise (although I would love some snow at some point), and my mind will once again be set on beating my best time, which is 1:42.52.

2. I’m still undecided on whether or not I’ll run a marathon in the spring.

3. I want to get my weight to under 180. I don’t know what it is right now, but my letter to myself the other day is something I’m staying focused on. Weight is just a number, I know, but if I could stop eating stupid, I know that my race times would drop even more.

4. Barring injury, I will pass 5,000 running miles since the beginning of 2007 (I didn’t log miles from 2004-06). I have about 750 to go, so that should happen in late summer/early fall.

5. Speaking of mileage, I will not set an overall mileage goal again this year. It was definitely a great thing to focus on in 2010, but I liked how last year went with my “finish it stronger than I begin it” goal — a little more than 400 in the first half of the year and a little more than 600 in the second half. Right now I just want to run; mileage goals will be secondary whenever I realize I’m close to something.

6. I will buy a new GPS watch sometime this year.

7. It’s weird in January to think of things that will happen 11 months from now. It’s that feeling of that time will never get here. I know it will, so assuming everything goes like I hope, I want to return to the Christmas Classic 5k in Bedford and break 22 minutes.

8. I need to do some bridge training to better prepare myself for the loneliest and most difficult mile of the Richmond Marathon.

9.  I’m going to start riding my bike at least once a week when the weather warms up and I have a little more daylight in the evenings. I fully intend to continue to increase my cross training this year and I want the bike to be a part of it.

10. My sister is running the Monument Avenue 10k at the end of March. I’m not sure how much I had to do with talking her into doing it, but it will be just her second race. I’m really looking forward to her completing it.

11. When May rolls around, I will hit the campaign trail hard for Relay for Life where I will once again run lots of laps for a great cause. My donation page is active now.

12. I have failed to mention it on here, but I am doing the Mountain Junkies’ Frozen Toe 10k this weekend in Roanoke. It will be the first race I’ve ever done in January, but it certainly won’t be a race for time. It’s a trail race around Roanoke Mountain with some generous elevation change. Similar to the Trail Nut 10k last year, I’m looking at this event to gain trail running experience. I think it will be a great way to kick off the year.

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

November may very well have been my successful running month ever, but not because of a race or certain mileage. The fact that I could run injury-free the month after doing a marathon means more to me than any PR or mileage mark ever well.

After two previous marathons that left me questioning everything about running, my post-Baltimore Marathon experience has me more excited than ever before about what’s ahead.

November was a great month to run just to run, something I haven’t done in a while. It was fun to run however far I felt like going, how fast or slow I felt like going and to do a couple of races with no major pressure.

I ended November with 67.7 miles and now stand at 957 miles for the year. After today’s run I now have less than 40 to go before hitting 1,000 miles.

This month will be somewhat of a transition from running for the fun of it to getting back into training mode for the Shamrock Half Marathon. It’s nice to not be as concerned about building my mileage again — I have a great base that I can just feed off of to quickly get to double digit runs in January. I feel like I can put my focus on quality runs rather than certain miles. That said, I fully expect more mileage for the upcoming training period than I have before for a half.

I also need to get my diet under control this month. December is ridiculously hard to do that, but my biggest focus will be not going overboard. With the Holiday Run Streak in tact, running won’t be an issue — it’s the cross training things I still need to do, as well as putting down seconds of the great holiday meals.

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net