Change in Training Plan

So, since it has been really hot and humid here, I have decided to start running in the mornings.

Tiffany (my wife) and I go to the gym every Mon, Wed and Friday. I use to run while she was working out at the gym, but now I will use these days to focus on cross training. To tell the truth, I haven't been doing much XT lately.

So I will run Tuesday, Thursday and Sat. mornings. Three good things should come of this.

1. Since I'm still going to go to the Gym on Mon., Wed. and Friday, I will get my XT in.
2. Running in the mornings will be a ton cooler, then running a 4:00 PM.
3. Once my long runs get up there, running them on Sat. will be easier than fitting it in on Friday. Even though at some point I was planning on doing my long runs on Sat.

I've also decided to make Sun. an official rest day. No running or XT. I wonder if this will help me get out of yard work as well....hmmm....

Any way, here's what the rest of this week looks like:

Wed: XT
Thu: 3 Miles
Fri: XT
Sat: 3 Miles
Sun: Rest

The heat was deadly today!!

Well, I guess I'm going to have to face the fact I will need to starting getting up before 5am for my runs. My past few runs have been run in almost 90 degree weather. Today it was 93 with 49% humidity! I was looking forward to my run all day and was actually feeling pretty good the first part of the run. I planned to run 2.5 miles today, but a little over 1.75, I was forced to walk.

There was about a half mile were there was no shade. All of a sudden, I felt drained. I even purchased a Nathan QuickDraw Plus water bottle, to make it easier to carry and drink water. I also, made sure that I drank lots of water today, since I knew it was going to be the hottest weather I had ever ran in. Needless to say, neither precaution helped.

Although I was forced to walk, twice, I did complete the 2.5 miles. Considering the weather, I think it went alright. I just need to start running in the morning. The only issue is getting up a hour earlier each day.

Anyone have any tips for getting motivated to get out of bed in the morning?

As if having to run in 90+ degree weather isn't motivation enough.

Half-Marathon Progress Report - 17 weeks To Go!

3 MILES!!!

Well, I'm back up to 3 miles again. This time I'm going to stay there.

This week went very good. However, I missed a turn on one of my runs and ended up only running 2 miles on Wed. I was suppose to run 2.5, but just forgot my route. I think I need to look into getting a GPS unit again. Maybe for my birthday.

Not much more to say right now, so here is what next week will look like:

Mon: 2.5 Miles
Tue: Rest/XT
Wed: 3 Miles
Thu: Rest/XT
Fri: 3 Miles
Sat & Sun: Rest/XT

Hope everyone else's training is doing good!

Half-Marathon training progress – 18 weeks to go!

Well, I've got 18 weeks to go until the half-marathon. Last week was really nice, because my shin splints were starting to fade away. Monday and Wednesday's runs were really good. During the runs I could tell that my shins were getting better and I knew that it was only a matter of time until they were 100%.

Friday's run on the other hand was really tough. I decided to run over lunch, because we had dinner plans Friday night. The first thing I had to deal with was the temperature. It was the hottest day of the year so far and no clouds in the sky. The second thing was hills. The route that I took had four major level changes. Although, it was a very hard run, I think the hills have helped to strengthen my legs. The muscles in my legs are starting to pop out!

So about this week. This week is on to a great start! No Pain!!! Although I never thought of my shin splint pain as being bad, there was a lot of discomfort during the start and cool down of my runs. Tonight, I didn't have any pain. I forgot what it was like to have your legs feel almost refreshed after a run. I had very very little discomfort during my warm up and nothing during or after my run!

We'll see how the rest of the week goes. Here is the plan for this week:

Mon: 2 Miles
Tue: Rest/XT
Wed: 2.5 Miles
Thu: Rest/XT
Fri: 3 Miles
Sat & Sun: Rest/XT

Half-Marathon Progress Report - Week 19

Well, last week went pretty good. Shins were still bothering me a little, but the are feeling good much better.

Friday's run was amazing. The weather was perfect and I felt myself getting back into being able to run and breath at the same time. I completed a 2 mile run that felt really good. At about the 1.5 mile mark, I was breathing really good and feeling like I could run miles. I thought about running more than 2, but knew I should stop. After the run, my Shins ached, so I didn't do anything over the weekend.

This morning my shins they felt fine. As a matter of fat, the felt the best they have in the past few weeks. The is good news. This evening I run 1.5 miles, following my cutting back plan. My Shins felt fine, but it was hot and humid. It was 86 when I got done with my run. It was a challenge to run in hot weather, but it will prepare me for future races this summer.

Here is what the rest of this week will look like:

Tue: Rest/XT
Wed: 2 Miles
Thu: Rest/XT
Fri: 2.5 Miles
Sat & Sun: Rest/XT

I've been iPodified

by my wife

Shins Feeling Better

I ran my planned 1.5 miles last night. Although my shins did hurt the first few minutes, it quickly went away. The discomfort came back during my cool down, but after some stretching, it went a away again. I iced them for about 15 minutes and that seems to really be helping.

I going to rest today as planned, in hopes my shins will be even better for my run on Friday, which will be a 2 mile run. The place where I'll be doing more of my running has some hills. I think that's good, since it will prepare me for races with hills. I think it may even make me stronger.

Still taking these next weeks easy. I am going to try to run mainly outside again. For the couple weeks before I got the Shin Splints I was running on a treadmill. Someone even told me yesterday the shin splints could have came from running on a treadmill. He said whenever he runs on a treadmill, he gets them. Something about running at the same speed the whole workout and not having a log of room to move? I don't know, but since I'm planning on running a long race on the road, I think it would be best to train for it by run outside.

That's it for now.

Half-Marathon Progress Report - 20 Weeks

In 20 weeks, I will hopefully be running my first half marathon. From now until the race, I will try to post at least a weekly report on how my progress is going.

Here is this week's report:

After trying to get back into the swing of things, I now have a mild case of shin splints. I started icing and massaging them and took a few days off from running. I'm also going to cut back my running and try to ease back up to 3 miles over the next 3 weeks.

Here's what happened. Leading up to the Arbor Day 5k, I missed a lot of runs. Then the Arbor Day 5k proved to be a very hilly course, which took a lot out of my legs. After two weeks of rest I tried to jump back into running. Although I did lower my runs to 1.5 miles the first week, 2 the next and 2.5 last week, I now have shin splints.

I took a few days off to let them heal a bit and did a short mile this evening. I've been massaging my calves and legs, stretching and icing to promote healing, so hopefully the shin splints will not stay around too long.

Because of the shin splints, I'm cutting back a bit for the next few weeks.

Here is the plan for this week:

Mon: 1 Mile
Tue: Rest/XT*
Wed: 1.5 Miles
Thu: Rest/XT
Fri: 2 Miles
Sat: Rest/XT
Sun: Rest/XT

*XT = Cross training i.e. swimming, cycling, strength training, walking, yoga or aqua running... NO RUNNING