Impending Doom

Last week was a major mental and physical confidence boost for me.  I haven't had a strong high-mileage week (for me) in 3 or 4 weeks.  I tied my highest mileage week ever of 38 miles; however, this time around I averaged a much faster pace.  The last time I hit 38 miles in a week my average pace was 9:39/mi, and this time I managed 8:58/mi.  The most surprising run for me was my last run of the week, following my Saturday long run.  I did 8 miles at an average pace of 8:40/mi.  That's like a tempo run for me, but I felt great during the run!

I've got a 42-mile and a 46-mile week scheduled for this week and next week, before I start to taper down for the Marine Corps Marathon.  Once again, I'm in a spot where I feel like I haven't trained hard enough, I haven't run enough long runs, I haven't pushed myself hard enough on tempo runs, yadda yadda yadda.  I felt the same way for my last marathon, well technically I came to that realization during my last marathon, but I thought for sure that this time around I had a better training plan in place.  For the most part, I've stuck to it, but I still have a shadow of doubt in my mind about my fitness level for the upcoming race.  Maybe that will always be the case.  Perhaps I'll be preparing for my twentieth marathon years down the road saying, "Man, I should have trained harder for this.  I'm not ready.  This is going to be a disaster!"  Do all runners feel this?  I'd love to hear any stories about pre-race jitters, or how people deal with feeling like they're going to fail miserably on race day :-P

Regardless of all the doubt, I'm still incredibly happy with my performance last week and I'm excited to see what I can do this week!  I'm committed to my race now and I'm going to see it through.  I really just hope to see an improvement from my last marathon time of 4:22:00.

Weekly Running Summary:

Monday:       Off

Tuesday:       6.00 miles; 53:50; avg. pace 8:58/mi

Wednesday:  6.00 miles; 53:45; avg. pace 8:57/mi

Thursday:      6.04 miles; 55:35; avg. pace 9:13/mi

Friday:          Off

Saturday:      12.00 miles; 1:48:30; avg. pace 9:02/mi

Sunday:        8.00 miles; 1:09:20; avg. pace 8:40/mi

Happy Running!

Back to Running...Sort Of

Now that I'm back from Hawaii and our lives have returned to normal, I got back to my training plan.  Running went surprisingly well after taking a solid 10 days off from running completely.  I didn't accomplish any impressive mileage last week, but I managed to cover some ground.  My first day back I did 4 miles on a treadmill and it kind of sucked.  In fact, at one point I drifted over to the side of the treadmill as I was running and the edge of my foot caught the stationary part of the treadmill and the belt made this extremely loud screeching sound.  At least 5 people on elipticals and bikes turned around to glare at me.  I hate running inside.

Once I got back outside, running felt like second nature.  I put in another two 6-mile runs last week, neither of which were impressive times, but all of the familiar sights, sounds, and smells reminded me of how much I enjoy running.  I certainly require some motivation to get out the door on occasion, but it never fails that once my feet are monotonously plodding over the pavement my mind clears and I become overly aware of the things around me.  I think running connects me to the world, and brings me into the present moment more so than anything else I do.  It's almost like a meditative practice for me, and by the time I finish a run I've long forgotten why it was so hard to get out the door in the first place.

Weekly Running Summary:

Monday:       Off
Tuesday:       4 miles; 40:00; avg. pace 10:00/mi
Wednesday:  Off
Thursday:      6.01 miles; 56:25; avg. pace 9:23/mi
Friday:          6.04 miles; 57:00; avg. pace 9:26/mi
Saturday:      Off
Sunday:        Off

Total Mileage: 16.05 miles
Total Time: 2:33:25
Average Pace: 9:34/mi

Happy Running!

Not Running in Maui

I had the trip of a lifetime in Maui last week.  I went with my 14-month-old son and we had an amazing time.  I was the best man in my best friend's wedding.  We had exquisite dinners, we lounged on the beach, and I took my son to the emergency room at 4am the first night there.  Alright so that last one was a bit of a downer.

My son was getting over the same cold that my wife and I have had, and, unfortunately, it turned in to croup.  After flying for 14 hours plus a 6 hour time difference we were exhausted  by the time we got to Maui.  I was elated to get to our hotel room and put my son down for bed, only to have him wake up in a coughing fit every hour or so later.  I finally couldn't take it anymore and asked the hotel desk clerk to call me a cab to the hospital.  We got to the ER and after explaining his symptoms to 4 different people and going through the usual entry-level poking and proding we saw the doctor and he quickly diagnosed him with croup.  A nurse gave him a steroid injection and a few hours later he had almost fully recovered and napped well.

It was a rough start to our beautiful Hawaiian vacation, but I was just so happy that he wasn't suffering anymore.  I think that first night was more traumatic for me than him; hearing him struggling to breathe while he tried to sleep was unbearable.  Following that crummy first day and a half, the trip got exponentially better.

Seeing my best friend and his new wife for the first time in months was awesome!  They make a wonderful couple, and I was so honored to be included in their wedding.  Unfortunately, my wife, whose best friend is the bride, couldn't get time off work to go to Hawaii for the wedding, but to our amazement they Skyped her into the wedding!  She got all dressed up back here in VA and signed on to Skype and watched the whole ceremony from her own chair in the back of the wedding.  Everyone came by and said hello to her, and they even got photos together after the wedding.  There's a great picture of me, my son, and the bride and groom holding a laptop with my wife on the screen.  It was such a cool event to be a part of.

Here are some photos of Maui.  (Most of the pictures I took were of my son, and I don't put pictures of him on here so they're mostly just scenic pics...there is one of him and I swimming but you can't see our faces, so I figured that was okay.)

The view from our hotel room balcony

A day at the beach in Wailea

More Wailea beach

The view from the amazing hot tub at our hotel

A picture from the beautiful scenic drive on Hana Hwy.

Another picture along Hana Hwy.

Swimming in the ocean with my perfect little man

 I didn't do any running while I was in Hawaii, mostly because I couldn't.  I didn't have a jogger and I was there alone with my son.  They only way I could have run was to carry him in my arms while doing so...and that wasn't gonna happen!  It felt nice to take a week or so off.  I think it was closer to two weeks, but who's counting?  Now that my vacation is out of the way, I need to hit the next few weeks hard in preparation for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 28, 2012.

Weekly Running Summary (~2-weeks starting Aug 28, 2012):

Monday:       Off
Tuesday:       6.00 miles; 53:30; avg. pace 8:55/mi
Wednesday:  6.00 miles; 52:35; avg. pace 8:46/mi
Thursday:      6.01 miles; 56:10; avg. pace 9:21/mi
Friday:          Off
Saturday:      Off
Sunday:        Off

Total Mileage:  18.01 miles
Total Time:       2:42:15
Average Pace:  9:01/mi

Monday:       Off
Tuesday:       Off
Wednesday:  Off
Thursday:      Off
Friday:          Off
Saturday:      Off
Sunday:        Off

Total Mileage: 0 miles
Total Time: 00:00:00
Average Pace: 0:00/mi

It felt kind of weird to type out that last week with all the zero's.  Oh well.  I'm back to running, and the break felt good.

Happy Running!