Oxygen Deprived

I got lots of rest last week, at least from running and this week has started the same way. Maybe I have a sleeping disorder, no... it's probably a waking disorder as that's the part I seem unable to do.

So here's where I'm at:

Monday: Day off...

Tuesday: 3.36 miles of an easy pace. Decent short run. Pace was fast even when trying to slow it down. Maybe I should increase my easy pace? Yet, it wasn't that easy by the time I was done. Weather and empty hunger pains ended my run a little early but it was better than not running at all. Stride rate was good though.

And here's what's in store for the rest of the week:

1. 3 or 4 easy runs followed by 6 to 8 x 20 to 30 second strides. I really need to start remembering to do these strides as I'm normal almost done with my run when I realize I haven't done them yet.
2. 2 miles easy pace + 2 x (15 to 20-min tempo pace with 3-min rest) + 10 to 12-min tempo pace + 2 miles easy pace
3. 2 miles easy pace + 12 to 13 miles or 100 minutes marathon pace, whichever is less + 2 miles easy pace

Note: Numbers 2 & 3 reflect my original marathon training plan and probably need to be adjusted. Possibly I'll leave number 2 as it is and just shorten the marathon pace portion of number 3 to something that's not completely above my level of running.

I wonder if there is such a thing as 1/2 marathon pace? Never mind, it would most likely be even faster and therefore above my ability at this point, yet something I should probably look into soon.

Posted by Heath at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

There's not a whole lot to talk about for this past week in training, if you can even call it that. It started off with some needed rest from my misadventure the Saturday before which then turned into a week of rest and finally ended with some frustration at my lack of motivation.

Monday: More much needed rest from the previous Saturday.

Tuesday: Ended up being yet another day of rest. I heard you should rest for 3 days after having heat exhaustion but to be honest I felt really good and should have ran anyway.

Wednesday: 5.76 miles at an easy pace. Good run, after a few days off my legs were feeling good and pace was pretty strong.

Thursday: Another day off?! Seems I'm getting a bit carried away with this whole rest thing.

Friday: 8.24 miles of mixed, tempo and easy running. Good run, I felt pretty fresh since I haven't done much running this week. It was a little cooler out and the breeze felt good at times. At other times it was windy which made it hard to hold my pace when going up hill. I'm stoked about 4 miles of tempo pace though! I actually thought I only did 3 and was surprised when I got home and realized I did 4. Maybe I ran through a time warp.

2 miles easy pace (10:11/mi) + 4 x (1 mile tempo pace (8:12/mi) with 1-min rest) + 2 miles easy pace (10:11/mi)

Saturday: I had the best intentions but I missed my morning run then the day got really hot and by the time evening came around I had been working outside all day and was just too beat to run.

Sunday: 3.28 miles at an easy pace. Harder run, took too much time off this week and I can definitely feel it. Just trying to get some mileage in before weeks end.

In light of both the heat exhaustion experience and the fact that I recently switched from the full marathon to the half. I told myself that taking it easy one week wasn't going to kill me and in fact, it might just be what my body needs (Friday seemed to support this theory). Of course, like most good things even rest should be kept in moderation and not taken to an extreme.

Posted by Heath at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It's official, I've been in contact with the race director for the American Discovery Trail Marathon and I'm now registered for the half marathon, instead of the full. It was kind of a tough decision because deep down I feel that I can run a full marathon. How well? That's still up in the air but even with the abbreviated training program I've been doing I feel like it's possible.

I didn't make the decision based on how some of my recent runs have gone though maybe I should have. I made the decision based on a hard look at the priorities in my life right now and how my schedule, with a good number of those priorities, is either about to or needs to drastically change. So, in an attempt to better balance those priorities I just felt it was the right thing to do.

To quote myself in a recent email:

"I've been realizing that my priorities with other things in my life haven't been set to well. I could still do the training yet be able to cut back a little bit and not have the stress of needing to get such long runs in. This in turn should give me more time for the other aspects of my life that have been neglected. I mean, I'm not sure why I was in such a hurry to run a full marathon as I've hardly done any racing. It was probably just the excitement of it but I want to continue to run, get in better and better shape and learn more about running for years to come. That should be my goal, not just getting a marathon under my belt. It's a tough decision though because part of me knows I can do it (how well though?). Like Jeff has posted about recently, I need to find that balance where my priorities are in order."

It's a decision that I feel good about. I'm excited to stick with the training program (tailored slightly I'm sure), to better my fitness and performance levels and to enjoy life with as little additional stress as possible.

Posted by Heath at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

In continuing to blog well after the fact, here's how last week turned out. I ran (and walked) for a total of 30.32 miles in roughly 5 and 1/2 hours.

Monday: 4.29 miles at an easy pace. Decent run, legs felt good though I was a little low on energy (just tired). Kept it a bit short so as to not push to hard in anticipation of my long run later in the week.

Tuesday: Slept in and wasn't able to fit a run in later in the day. Plan was to just run a little longer on my other easy runs to make up for it. After all, some days you just need to rest.

Wednesday: 4.32 miles with intervals. Didn't get much sleep and tried to make up for it by sleeping in a little. This only left enough time for my shortest workout of the week. Being so tired I had a hard time hitting and keeping some of my paces but overall it was still a pretty good run.

1 mile easy + 3 x 1000m (.57mi) @ 8:42/mi pace with 3-mins of rest between + 1 mile easy

Thursday: 6.67 miles followed with 6 strides. Good afternoon run. Some pain in my left shin again but once I got going it was completely manageable. Struggling to hit my pace a little bit, I've been hitting faster paces lately even when I focus on going slower. I think it's from the speed work (probably a good thing) so today I focused again on my stride rate which helped get me back into the correct zone.

Friday: Another bad morning for getting a run in and again, I wasn't able to make up for it later in the day. I had originally planned to pick up the mileage slightly again today, like yesterday, so I could get my weekly mileage in without running on Sunday (since I didn't run on Tuesday).

Saturday: 15 mile LSD. I had originally planned to do 13 but then thought, since I missed Friday that maybe I would run a little longer (which I need anyway) and only have a short run on Sunday or possibly even still take Sunday off.

It was really hot (95 F) and I was getting a much later start than originally planned. I set out from a new location at around 10:30 in the morning and headed north on an urban trail (the same one that cuts all the way through town) up across the USAFA. I started the run completely hydrated, with a full 36oz of water in my fuel belt and more fluid in the fridge at my work which was only a block or so away. The first 3 miles went great; I was feeling good, enjoying the new scenery and holding a good pace. I was planning to do an out and back where I would turn around at 7.5 miles and with the way I was feeling I was thinking about trying to throw some marathon pace into the mix on the way back.

But shortly after hitting mile 3 something happened, I found it getting harder to keep my pace and without even thinking about it I had taken a couple of walking breaks by the time I hit mile 5 – one at about mile 4 and at mile 5. I found this a little strange as I don't normally walk, at all. I don't have anything against walking, I just don't do it. If I'm having a hard time running then I might end up moving pretty slow but I've always really tried to keep running. At mile 5 I found myself standing under a tree and not feeling very well. I took a couple minutes, drank one of my 6oz bottles of water, gued and decided to take off my shirt (another first while running) to see if I could cool off a little bit.

I really didn't even realize what was happening. I did think about turning back for a moment which would have still put me in at 10 miles for the run. And if I was feeling well I could have extended that even further once back by where I started. But I felt like I was just having a couple tough miles and that I would just snap out of it. And I seemed to be right, for a mile or so anyway things went pretty well. This trail has lots of hills and I felt like the overall elevation gain was also pretty decent.

At mile 6 the walking started up again with increasing frequency and duration but I continued on literally out into the middle of nowhere. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew the further I went the further it was to get back out but I just kept going. Was I just so determined to get my weekly mileage in or did my long run have to be 15 miles? Was my mind even working at this point? I don't know.

By the time I got to 7.5 miles and turned around I wasn't feeling good at all, I was walking more than I was running and to be honest, some of my thoughts where pretty crazy. Occasionally, I would see a biker ride by and I recall having the growing urge to say something, to ask for help. But what would they do, put me on the back of their bike and give me a ride? Call for help? It just didn't seem sensible at the time. Once or twice I felt like someone might have noticed that I was doing that well by the way the looked at me but I'm not totally sure.

As I was starting my journey back I was just a few hundred yards away from the interstate that runs through town. Do I try to hitchhike back? At this point I still felt like I was going to get a second wind. That though it was up hill and down on the way out that over all I would be losing a lot of elevation which would have to make things easier.

WRONG!!!

Without going into all the details of everything that happened over the next couple of hours I could best describe what took place as a death march. I was able to run less and less until finally I couldn't run at all. My heart rate was sky high, even when just walking and way too high when trying to run. I was having chest pains and cramping in my legs. My stomach was upset and several times I thought I was going to be sick.

I did try to ration my water, I ate some energy beans I had with me and I tried to take advantage of any shade I could find along the way. I even thought about lying down to take a nap here and there but I didn't do it. I kept myself moving, even in the shade I continued to pace in circles feeling as though if I stopped walking I wouldn't be able to start again. I tried numerous attempts to run again as the thought of walking all the way back out seemed horrible. Each time I was only able to continue for a minute or so, if even that long. I ended up running out of water several miles from the end. So much for rationing. All I could really do was just keep going. I did think a lot about the water and Gatorade that awaited me back at my work, sitting cold in the fridge, just a block or two from my jeep.

During my last couple miles there was an older man walking just a few hundred yards ahead of me at one point and I thought for sure I'd catch up to him. He came into view occasionally and he appeared to be walking with a pretty bad limp. But I was never able to catch him and he just continued to get further and further ahead.

I have my garmin set to pause if I slow down below a certain pace, I believe its 3.5 mph, assuming that if I'm going below this speed than I'm obviously stopped, or at least not running. Fortunately, because of this my mileage reading on the way back wasn't completely accurate. It ended up being a mile off due to all the pausing caused by my slow pace. So it only showed 14 miles when I made it back instead of 15. This was great because I really didn't know how I was going to make it another mile. The bad part was the time it showed was also wrong and I had been out there even longer than I thought.

What was planned to be a 2 to 2.5 hour run turned into a 3.5 hour painful ordeal. Finally, I made it back and headed over to my office where I was able to take on some additional fluids. I ended up nearly fainting a couple times though and ended up calling home for a ride. My family is awesome! They took care of me, got me home safely and feeling better in a matter of hours. Mostly with rest, a lot of fluids but I do recall something about a wet towel on my head and a cold bath.

From reading online my wife Julie thinks I had heat exhaustion. I'm just surprised how fast something like this can come on and how dangerous it can turn out to be. I should have turned around at mile 5 but I thought I would get over how I was feeling, I mean I run 5 miles all the time and never feel like that. But that should have been the sign I listened to and in the future I'm going to be a lot more aware of what my body is trying to tell me, even if it means erring on the side of caution and not getting all of my mileage in.

Lessons Learned:
1. Always listen to your body and try to make good decisions based on how you feel, even if you need to err on the side of caution.
2. Always carry a cell phone on these longer runs.
3. Don't underestimate the heat.
4. Don't underestimate the importance of being properly hydrated, and fueled for that matter.
And from last week's misadventure…
5. Always let your loved ones know where you are going and how long you'll be gone.

Sunday: Some much needed rest.

Posted by Heath at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Where does the time go? I've been so busy with work, work, vacation, work and well... just life. Last week was my 3rd official week of training for my early September marathon and here's how it went.

I ran a total of 35.5 miles in roughly 5 hours and 45 minutes with an average pace of 9:43/mi.

Monday: 5:45 miles at an easy pace though it didn't feel all that easy. Struggled to stay on pace and had pain in both my left shin and my right upper hamstring.

Tuesday: 4:25 miles with 3 sets of intervals (8:42/mi pace for 1000m (.57mi) with 3-min rests) in between a warm up and cool down mile. I'm loving the speed work - it feels so good to run faster!

Wednesday: 4.74 miles at an easy (hard) pace. Left shin was really hurting, stomach got really upset and both nipples ended up bleeding again (same shirt as last time - shirt has been demoted to a garage work rag now)!

Thursday: 5.02 miles at easy pace. Went back to bed in the morning due to rain but made time in the afternoon for my first run on vacation in Pagosa Springs. Found some good back roads, a nice high school track and made my way down a county road for a bit. Elevation is just slightly higher than home at around 7100 ft. My left shin and right upper hamstring still bothered me at the beginning of the run. Overall a good run and the hot springs are excellent!

Friday: 5.06 miles at easy pace. Lots more rain but was able to get my run in the morning between rain storms. Good run, tried to explore the area a little more in preparation for my long run but quickly realized I had already found the best spots to run at. Turned back along the San Juan river and looped through the previously found territory.

Saturday: 11+ miles of mixed (tempo & easy) running. I was really excited about the workout I had scheduled and thanks to the hot springs my left shin and right upper hamstring felt great. The workout called for 2 miles easy (10:11/mi), 5 x 5-min at 8:12/mi with 1-min rest, followed by an hour of easy pace running. From my previous runs I had it all figured out, I would run my first mile down to the high school with the good track, then I would do a half mile up into a neighborhood and back so as to be back at the track at two miles. Then I would do the speed work portion of my workout on the track. Afterwards, it was off down the county road (CR) for my hour of easy pace running.

The 2 mile warm-up went well. I arrived at the track, hung my fuel belt over a fence post started off. Since I was running for time I didn't figure the lane much mattered and ended up running in #4. This was actually my first time on a track and I loved it. It was an artificial track, kind of spongy and it felt really good to run on. Holding this faster pace for 5 minutes wasn't too bad at first but by the 4th and 5th set it was getting pretty tough. Focusing on my stride rate seemed to help quite a bit. While heading down one side of the track with the breeze at my back I really could notice how humid it was from all the recent rains. It was a pretty area to run at though, quiet with mountains off in the background and surrounded by rolling hills covered with Pine and Aspen trees.

Once finished with the track I grabbed my fuel belt, gued and headed off down the CR I found for my hour of easy running. Since my easy pace is roughly a 10 minute mile, and since I was 1 mile from the hotel (in the opposite direction), I decided to do an out and back of 2.5 miles down the CR. That would put me back at the high school at 5 miles and then with 1 mile back to the hotel I should be just finishing up my hour of easy running by about the time I get there.

Almost as soon as I started heading down the CR it started to lightly rain. It felt good and didn't really bother me though it did look like it could get quite a bit worse. I was determined to get my full workout in so I keep on going and going and going... The CR wound around through some private land. It was all uphill and I thought it would stay that way for the entire time but then I crested a ridge (7400+ ft.) and started to head down into a valley.

By the time I was almost to where I needed to turn around the sky opened up and it started to downpour. Within seconds I could feel my socks and shoes become wet and heavy with rain. I decided that was close enough to my turn around point and that I had probably pushed it to far anyway and headed back. I found myself running harder than the easy pace my workout called for but I felt like I was so far out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a downpour that I just felt the need to pick up the pace. Then the lightening started to strike all around. And as I came back over the ridge which, due to a rather large clearing, I found myself to be almost the tallest thing around. At that moment lightening crashed within a couple hundred yards of where I was. I almost stumbled and fell down from it as the booming thunder erupted. I found myself fighting the urge to stop and kneel down as far away from the tall trees as I could. Then another strike hit almost as close as the first. I honestly started to fear for my life at this point. You hear about runners or people doing stuff in the mountains getting hit by lightening and now I could see the headlines: "Runner Struck Dead!" or "Stupid Runner Killed In Rain Storm!"

I didn't have anyway to get a hold of those I was on vacation with and they didn't know exactly where I was at either (there's a lesson or two there somewhere). So, I did the only two things I could do, I prayed and I ran faster with my only goal being to drop some elevation and get back down to a lower spot in the valley where I was more familiar with the area and where I wouldn't be such a target for lightening. The worst part was the anticipation of waiting to hear when and where the next lightening crash would happen. I kept this faster pace up for miles and needless to say my pace wasn't easy but I was definitely getting a good workout, that's for sure. As I got close to the high school the rain started to let up and the lightening subsided. I finished my run, completely drenched and with 1 bleeding nipple but I made it back safe and sound and that's all that matters.

Sunday: Rest

Posted by Heath at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)