Nashville & Indy Half: Week Three Training

Week three is over and I did decide to sit out of the Augusta University Half Marathon on Sunday. I really hated to to cancel but honestly, I wasn’t ready. I could have gone and I’m sure I would have finished but not in the way I would want to finish. I did go pick up my race packet and shirt. This was kind of a waste because for some reason their shirt orders got messed up and I had to take a medium shirt. I wear a extra large!

With my back issues I didn’t run on Monday. I felt like another day of rest was needed. By Wednesday I felt back to normal. I decided to put my training schedule on sync with the Nashville and Indy halfs. Training this week felt a little easier for sure.

The unusally warm weather really has the tree pollen in full force. On Friday the temperature hit 87 degrees. Even for Georgia that’s pretty warm. I’m glad I started taking Claritin for my allergies a few weeks ago. Once the tree pollen gets to the levels where they are now I have to use Flonase and Pataday as well. Even with all three it doesn’t always cut it.

The treadmill workouts on Wednesday and Thursday felt pretty good. I’m used to being on a treadmill again. Honestly, I think workouts on the treadmill will continue at least once a week from now on. On Saturday I was outdoors in a sleeveless shirt and shorts and ran a nice steady and slow pace. I’m glad I got out there early because it started warming up pretty quickly.

After my run on Saturday I decided to install an HDTV antenna in my attic. Bad idea! Well, it was great that I can get rid of three cable boxes now and have eight HDTV channels over the air but… when I got up on Sunday morning my back was feeling it. My lower back and left side of my hip was killing me. The standing on rafters at a weird angle and holding a flashlight under my arm really strained my back. This back issue is getting frustrating. Kim (my wife) spent about five minutes doing karate chops on my back and hip and it did help. Another tool I use and for some reason I’ve never mentioned is my “Thera Cane”. It’s a short walking cane looking device that has various nubs you can use to self massage your body. It works great let me tell you. I bought mine several years ago on Amazon I think. You can learn more about it at, http://www.theracane.com.

I did add crunches and leg raises to my workout routines this week. The back issues have me convinced I’ve neglected by core long enough. The crunches aren’t bad but I sure can feel the strain when I do the leg raise exercises. Ouch!

Even with the back issues I’m feeling pretty good about my training for Nashville. I don’t see any reason I won’t be ready. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to run at the pace I would like but its far enough away that I can’t really tell. Losing ten pounds should make a difference. I’m working on it.

Ok, that’s enough rambling for this week. Here’s the breakdown.

Breakdown for the week:

Monday: Canceled run due to back.
Wednesday: 12 minute race pace/2 minute walk/12 minute race pace.
Thursday: 5 minute race pace/1 minutes faster & 2 minute walk (x6)/5 minute race pace.
Saturday: 5.49 miles at a 12:59 minute mile pace.

Approximately 11 miles for the week.

Nashville & Indy Half: Week Two Training

I finished this week’s training realizing I only had seven days until the Augusta University Half Marathon and I’m not ready. Maybe in three weeks I could be ready but more like four weeks. I could blame my cold and broncitis or my back issues, or my schedule but I won’t. I’m not ready because I didn’t focus enough.

My back problems continued this week as well. Seems to be muscle related and not joint thankfully. Even with the lower back pain I played eighteen holes of golf on Friday. It was painful at times and I had to swing with a much shorter and slower swing. Gauging distance was difficult because my usual yardage was way off. On the plus side I seemed to hit the fairway more often than usual. Might need to think about this when my playing picks up later this year. In the end, playing golf seemed to help my lower back. The spasm just below my left shoulder is still there on occasion but that doesn’t seem to affect my running or golf really. On Saturday my lower back seemed to be back to normal.

Saturday is my usual long run day but I decided to scrap it. By then it was starting to sink in that I’m not ready for the AU Half Marathon. I haven’t made a definite call but I think I’m going to bow out of the AU Half. It’s hard for me to make it official but I’m certainly leaning that way. The St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Half and the Indy 500 Mini Marathon are more important to me and I don’t want to do something stupid to spoil it. I’m running with my daughter and son-in-law for both events and I would hate myself for missing either of them. I’ll decide by Friday.

Breakdown for the week:

Monday: Ran 3.94 miles at a 12:25 per mile pace.
Wednesday: 16 minute race pace/2 minute walk/16 minute race pace.
Thursday: 9 minute race pace/2 minutes faster & 2 minute walk (x4)/9 minute race pace
Friday: Eighteen holes of golf, mostly walking

Approximately 11 miles for the week.

Have you ever signed up for an event and then cancelled at the last moment? How did you feel about it?

 

Nashville & Indy Half: Week One Training

 

Phase One isn’t technically over but I’m at the twelve week mark to get ready for the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon. I think it’s time to focus on Nashville and Indy the week after that. I have a little less than two weeks before the Augusta University Half Marathon. I’ll be honest here. I’m not ready. I won’t be ready. I’m pretty confident I’ll finish it but it will be far from easy. It’s a pretty challenging course which adds to the difficulty. I’ll accept whatever comes from it.

You may recall the end of the previous week I was suffering from muscle spasms in my upper back. I couldn’t get my regular Monday morning run in due to the same reason. It did get my speed work on the treadmill in on Wednesday but I stayed up too late to get my run in on Thursday. Since I missed my long run the week before I wanted to make sure I got that in so I skipped making up my Thursday run on Friday.

Saturday is my usual long run day. I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. to get it in since I had a 9 a.m. meeting the same morning and a 1 p.m. meeting that afternoon. I try to keep my Saturday’s free but this week it just wasn’t happening.

The day started chilly but I had a beautiful full moon to start things out & I got to see the sun rise too!

I was hoping to get in at least nine miles but my pace was so slow I ran out of time. I did get in eight miles though. The temperature didn’t change much at all during my run–even after the sun came up. Don’t know what’s up with my pace the past few weeks. It’s not like I’m fast anyway but I’m slow even by my standards. I was cautious because my back is still  a bit touchy so maybe that’s why.

One thing for sure eight miles is far from the 13.1 I’m going to have to run in two weeks! Has this ever happened to you before? You know, signing up for a run fully expecting to be ready but life gets in the way and you just don’t get there. I plan to run nine plus this coming Saturday but that will be the last long run before the event. I ran this event last year but the 10K and it was one of my best runs ever. A little disappointed I’m not ready but only a little. I knew this would just be a practice run in preparation for Nashville and Indianapolis. I guess that’s why I didn’t really focus much on it. I’ll be glad when it’s over so I can really focus on those two events.

Ok, I’ve rambled enough. Here’s my not so impressive breakdown of last week.

Breakdown for the week:

Wednesday: 16 minute race pace/2 minute walk/16 minute race pace.
Saturday: 8 miles at snails pace of 14:04 minutes per mile. (BTW: Far from flat.)

Approximately 11 miles for the week. About the same as the previous week.

 

Half Marathon Training/Phase One: Week Nine

I’m a little late posting this week. I had a problem with muscle spasms in my upper back over this past weekend that extended until Tuesday of this week. Everything seems fine now but it messed up my training plans a bit. No long run on Saturday so my mileage for the week was way down.

This will be the last post for the “Half Marathon Training/Phase One:” title. This week (which I’ll post about next week) will be “Nashville/Indy Half Marathon Training:”. This marks twelve weeks before the St. Jude Nashville Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon and thirteen weeks before the One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon. Those are the two races I’m really focusing on. I have a half marathon coming up in three weeks in Augusta, Georgia and while I’m training up for it, I won’t be quite ready. You should see my miles creep up for the next few weeks then after the half in Augusta they will drop down and then gradually increase in preparation for Nashville and Indianapolis.

Monday’s run was a nice 4 miler at a slow pace. It felt faster than the end result. Don’t know why really; I guess it was just one of those days. It felt good and even though I thought I ran faster, I always enjoy my Monday run. It’s been 11 days since that run and I can’t remember if it was cold or mild temperatures but I seem to recall it was a little chilly that day. We have had very few chilly days this year. I’m not complaining, no way!

Wednesday and Thursday are still my speed work on the treadmill. The Wednesday treadmill day is the worse for me mentally. The Thurday treadmill day is harder physically but I don’t mind it nearly as much. Remember speed is relative. HA!

As I said in the beginning of this post I wasn’t able to get in my long run over the weekend. A bit of a bummer but I don’t think it’s going to make much difference come the end of February when I run in the Augusta University Half Marathon.

Here’s the breakdown for the week:

Monday: Ran 3.99 miles at a 12:45 minutes per mile pace.
Wednesday: 14 minute race pace/2 minute walk/14 minute race pace.
Thursday: 10. minute run/1.5 minute fast + 2 minute walk (x6)/10 minute run.

Approximately 11 miles for the week.