Back to the Early Days

Woke up late yesterday and wasn't able to get my Wednesday run in. Instead, I ran today, and I will run again tomorrow. This will still give me a day off from running before Springfield, since I will not be running the Tulsa Run this weekend, just a day before the Bass Pro Shops Marathon.

Still tapering, I ran a very light 4 miles this morning. The weather wasn't ideal--it was windy and just kind of spitting when I started--but the run ended up being great. In order to get a little extra sleep this morning, and to stay off of the hills, I ran the old neighborhood route I used to run. I really enjoy that old route. It's so much more scenic than the Creek Turnpike Trail. It's also much quieter, without cars speeding by on the turnpike right next to me.

Ironically, being back on this old route enabled me to put aside thoughts of the marathon for a little while. I simply enjoyed the activity of running. It reminded me of the reason I started running about a year and a half ago: simply, to get fit. No long distances. No competitions. That is not to say that I dislike either of these things, but they do sometimes distract me from the sheer activity of running.

At one point during my run, my thoughts did turn back to this Sunday for a moment, and I remembered my goal for these last months of training: to embrace challenge. I have endured for weeks now, but I had forgotten to embrace each training (and the challenge, pain, and soreness that sometimes accompanies). I have learned there is some pain in running distances, but, at the risk of sounding entirely too metaphysical and over the top, it is a great pain (pun intended). A pain worthy of being embraced. And it's a pain that I will never feel performing any other activity...


...except maybe running 50 miles.

10-29-09
Distance: 4.13 miles
Time: 36:27
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:49
Rabbit count: 1

Counting Down

Saturday's run was the first in my week of tapering leading up to the Bass Pro Shops Marathon in Springfield this coming weekend. The new path leading north past OSU-Tulsa and back to the Center of the Universe and the Union Depot (not my picture) was a nice change. Ended up logging 7.74 miles on my Garmin, so when I got home, I ran up the street and back to get in a full 8 miles, and I left it at that.

This morning was a cool, breezy, short run to Memorial and back. My first mile was a warmup (9ish minutes), miles 2 and 3 were notably quicker (around 7:30+), and the fourth mile was a cooldown (around 8 minutes).

Great idea from Patty that I think I am going to implement in Springfield: no music until around mile 16. It will give me something to look forward to, and it will be something to reward myself with. Just one of many great tips she was imparting to us during Saturday's run from her near 30 marathons now. A great benefit of running groups like ours. Thanks Patty!

10-26-09
Distance: 4.03 miles
Time: 34:38
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:34

10-24-09
Distance: 8.01 miles
Time: 1:11:33
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:54

A Tired, Rainy, Final Normal Run

Had this not been my last day of "standard" training for a while, I think I would have turned my alarm off and slept in this morning. This has not been a great week for sleep, and last night was probably the worst as far as the number of hours I got in. But I've been looking forward to today's run, as it is my last "normal" run before I move into final marathon training, for a while now.

I will begin to taper beginning this Saturday for the Nov. 1 marathon in Springfield. I would guess that I will not exceed 12 miles this coming Saturday morning, compared to the 16 miles scheduled for the Advanced Full group listed in the Route 66 schedule. I have decided that I am not going to completely stop running next week. I did that before OKC, and I think it did more harm than good. However, I will not run the distances I am running now, nor will I run with the relative intensity I am running with right now. Probably 3-4 miles a few days next week, just to stay in the groove and to keep my legs flexible.

Following the marathon on the 1st, I'll move into three weeks of a recovery/taper combination. Again, a few short runs the week after Springfield (and I will not be running the complete Mock Marathon on Nov. 7--probably just half), a pretty regular running week the week after (including the full 10 miles on Saturday, Nov.14), a few 3-4 mile days the week before Route 66, and the same the two weeks between Route 66 and the Vegas Rock n' Roll marathon on December 5. After that...I'll take the rest of the month off!! While I hate to take days off from running, it will be so nice, especially after the November/December I have planned, to rest.

10-22-09
Distance: 6.02 miles
Time: 50:27
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:22
Rabbit count: 1
Possum count: 1
Unidentified animal count: 3

10-21-09
Distance: 8.02 miles
Time: 1:09:00
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:35
Rabbit count: 0
Deer count: 1
Unidentified animal count: 1

Walking on Water at Zink Lake, and Other Garmin Anomalies

A friend of mine at work jokes with me that when I speak of going for a run, I really mean, going for a jog. This morning, my friend was probably more correct than usual in my case. My legs and back were still worn out after Saturday's run and the bathroom floor tiling project that ensued shortly thereafter. A mindless, utilitarian jaunt 3 miles out and 3 miles back on the Creek Turnpike Trail west, and 54:04 minutes later, I was looking at my Garmin with disgust--and relief. There was an unusually cold wind blowing up from the south this morning that woke me up quickly and had my teeth chattering and tears flowing right away. The turn to the west about a half mile in helped with this, but the weather did continue to be a surprising factor for the remainder of the run.

Saturday's run was...not bad. While loops can be boring, I do like being able to compare one 6-mile stretch to another, and another...and yes, one more. With Saturday being my last long outing before Springfield, I decided to forgo the 2-mile out-and-back that would have been necessary to complete our scheduled 22 miles, and I simply decided to run the loop for a fourth time for 24 miles. The final loop was very lonely, but I kept telling myself that loneliness was good, since I'll probably be pretty lonely both in Springfield and in Las Vegas. It was a great opportunity to work on the mental aspect of the race--an aspect with which I have a lot of trouble. I have become so accustomed to chatting for 18 miles or so, and completely forgetting about the task at hand, which is nice at times, but not especially realistic in the context of a race.

I must confess, I did sneak my Garmin in under my glove this past Saturday, but I was very good about not checking it, and my pace remained consistent on all four loops. Typically on my long days, I don't check it too often, especially when I know the path well, and I know exactly how many miles I will end up with. But apparently the Runners World gods were watching, and they knew I was being sneaky, so they sabotaged my efforts to have a harmless little "recording" of the morning's run. About 2 miles in, I peeked under my glove at my beloved Garmin (at someone else's behest, I'm sure), and to my chagrin, I realized that it had somehow stopped almost immediately after I left Veteran's Park. Probably hit the button twice in my nervousness at using the forbidden device. I started it back, but it was too late: my time, distance, and pace recordings were already screwed up.

When I later plugged my Garmin into my computer and uploaded the data to mapmyrun.com, the map showed a straight line from Veteran's Park to the path on the west side of the river (to the very spot where I had realized the problem and restarted my Garmin), at a diagonal that crossed John Zink Lake for close to a mile.



Pretty impressive running, I'd say. If only I could have done this at Lake Hefner this past April! Of course, it wouldn't have helped my time at all, but running across water probably would have made me feel better about the race in general.

The fact that Springfield is only two weeks away hit me last Thursday during my morning run, and to be quite honest, it scared the hell of out of me quite a bit. Doesn't matter that it's not my first, nor that I have been running 20+ miles during several of my Saturday runs this past month. It is still daunting, and after OKC, perhaps even moreso, now that I know what to expect.

I recently hunted down the insoles I had previously been using in an attempt to combat some PF I was experiencing with my old Asics, and put them in my Nikes. My "new" Nikes (not so new anymore with about 350 miles on them) have really been tough on my feet. Felt like I was running with wooden planks strapped to my feet the Saturday before last without them! My hope is that the extra padding from the insoles will help. I will definitely be looking at New Balance, Saucony, and maybe even that Pearl...something brand after Springfield. I will probably retire the Nikes with a little less than 500 miles on them, but really, they have been problematic from the start.

Apologies for the unusually long post. Took some vacation days last week, and I'm catching up.

10-19-09
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 54:04
Avg. Mile Pace: 9

10-17-09
Distance: 24.4 miles

This Would Make Me Freak Out

Great run this morning. Plenty of sleep last night, and a song by Filter I have never heard before got my pace up quickly. I ended with an 8:01 pace, which is my best since I moved to the Creek Turnpike Trail. Of course, that :01 drives me crazy, but it will be good motivation.

Yesterday's run was cut short because I needed to take my car in to the shop. Six miles on what I believe are the "hilliest" sections of the Creek. It was very dark, which concerns me in sections like the "tree tunnel" between Sheridan and Yale. I've run into my share of bugs as a runner, but if, while running through all of those trees, I accidentally, unknowingly ran through a web that contained this: ...then yes, I probably would freak out a little. (This was making its home outside our front window earlier this week. Click on it. Enlarge the picture. Go ahead and check this thing out.) Fortunately, the only friend I ended up coming in contact was this little guy: ...who apparently was wanting a free ride. (It's a caterpillar on my leg, in case it's tough to make out.) A buddy of mine said it simply caught up with me and jumped on, which very well may be correct. Anyway, the point here being, that trail is ridiculously dark, and even greater than my concerns about woodland creatures is my concern about accidentally finding the big branch that's laying across the path. (I've found quite a few smaller branches.) At some points, the path is completely invisible, which leaves me simply hoping that each footfall will land on pavement rather than the dropoff that leads to the ponds on each side of the path. Guess I'd better get a flashlight.

Twenty miles this Saturday.

I will leave you with this video that Runner's World magazine posted on Facebook this morning. (Even if you're not a marathoner, I think you'll still like it.)

Last Minute Marathon Tips: shot with Nikon D90 from Mike Kobal on Vimeo.

10-8-09
Distance: 6.01 miles
Time: 48:10
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:01

10-7-09
Distance: 6. miles
Time: 52:31
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:45
Rabbit count: 0
Caterpillar count: 1

A Quiet Run

This morning, I strapped on my MP3 player in preparation for a 6-mile run. I clicked the Power slide with no results. I pulled the player out of its armband home to see an empty battery icon on the face. Frustrating. I must have left it on after Saturday's run. So this morning's run was very quiet--and uneventful. A quick 6 miles and my run was over.

Saturday's run with the Runner's World group, and specifically, with the FOB 4, was a little more eventful. We started out at a surprisingly quick clip on this first long run in October. We ended up running all through the Downtown, Utica, and Woodward areas, including a slight detour that kept us on the city streets toward the end of the run. My legs were again really stiff and fatigued at the start, but this was shaken off within a few miles. The path included some good hills, and the pace remained pretty fast, so by the time we finished, I definitely felt as though I had been challenged. I was pleasantly surprised to see that our pace was well below the 9 min./mile mark. I don't know that I'll be able to sustain that for this weekend's 20-miler, nor for the upcoming marathons, but it was a respectable training pace anyway.

I ended up running on Friday last week, since it was storming Thursday morning. The rain would have been nice, but the lightning would not have, so I decided to wait. I ended September with just over 145 miles--the most I have logged in a month since I began running. Still a far stretch from the 200+ miles I see Tatur Dave logging, but I'm getting there!

It looks like cold weather really is upon us. I wore tights Friday and Saturday with temperatures in the low to mid 40's. This was nice practice, since I'll probably be running at least 2 of my upcoming marathons in tights. I'm glad to get in a few long runs before Nov. 1 in the garb I will most likely be wearing on race days.

10-5-09
Distance: 6.04 miles
Time: 50:16
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:19
Rabbit count: 0
Possum count: 1

10-3-09
Distance: 15 miles
Time: 2:11:22
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:46

10-2-09
Distance: 6.02 miles
Time: 52:01
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:47

9-30-09
Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:07:19
Avg. Mile Pace: 8:24