Resurrection

Well, it's pitiful how long it's been since I've posted on this blog, or run with any consistency whatsoever. In fact, I went 44 days without running a step. However, this past week I managed to drag myself out for a 3.5 mile slog, and have gotten in equally painful runs of 3 and 5.3 miles since then. Let me tell you, a lot of fitness is lost with 6 weeks of no running. I'm hopeful that if I manage to string together a few weeks of consistent running that I'll get back into the swing of things and regain my fitness relatively quickly.

Speaking of running, the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon is on 7/4 and I really, really need to get off my butt and change over to the half marathon from the full. If I can make it even THAT far. Maybe I'll go for a PW instead of a PB.

Let's see, other news... our chickens are doing great, getting bigger all the time. They pretty much have free run in the backyard during the day, which is nice for them but a bit messy. Good fertilizer for the lawn but not the patio! The cat seems to be afraid of them, luckily. Our garden is doing well, although I'm regretting not planting any green beans this year - think it's too late to put some starts in the ground? We had a bumper crop of strawberries and blueberries, and the rasberries are slow and steady. Tomatoes and zuchinni have a long way to go though, but I guess it's not even July yet...

Where Have I Been?

The interesting thing about a running blog is that it's hard to write about running when you don't do any running! I feel like "Bless me Father for I have sinned. It's been over a month since my last blog post". I think when I last checked in here I was anticipating the Eugene Half Marathon on April 29. Well, that actually went better than I expected it would. 1:39:42 was the official time and I was happy to get it. I was halfway thinking before the race that I would run the first 10 miles at target marathon pace (8:00) and then pick it up over the last 5k if I was up for it. Of course I quickly abandoned that objective shortly into the first mile, as I always do, and put together a string of miles in the 7:20 range (after a slow first mile dodging runners). I didn't feel so great the first 2 miles but then felt okay for a good chunk of time. Then, my lack of mileage since the Tokyo Marathon reared its ugly head and it was a struggle from about mile 9 on. Still, it was faster than I thought it would be so I was happy, and being a part of the inaugural Eugene Marathon weekend was a lot of fun.

However, since then I've really been at a low point as far as motivation goes. I keep reconfiguring my marathon schedule, and then ignoring it and skipping runs. Running once a week does not make for a good marathon training cycle. So, I will likely run the half marathon on July 4th instead of the full, and hope my motivation comes back for a fall marathon.

A little more consistency...

I've managed to get two 5 mile runs in over the past few days so I think I'm getting back on track. The efficiency is definitely off - I think my long-lasting cold had more of a fitness impact than I thought. I should finish this week with 35 miles or so, and hopefully continue to build for a while. The half marathon is a week from Sunday and I'll be curious to see how my training goes between now and then. My best time in the half is 1:35:59 and I can't imagine coming anywhere near that but I hope to make a decent showing anyway. I'm glad to be getting more frequent running in because I was missing all of the data analysis that goes along with it (heartrate vs. pace, average pace per mile per month, etc.). Despite loving to analyze all that, I have yet to figure out how to hook my Garmin up to my pc.

10 Miles

Today was a beautiful day in Portland and I took advantage of that to get a nice 10 mile run in. My heartrate was pretty good but my legs could definitely feel that I haven't run much mileage since Tokyo. I managed 9:03 pace with an average HR of 149, so I don't think I was going too fast but I will likely run a bit slower as my long runs get longer again. I'm planning to alternate long runs with fast-finish long runs (ala McMillan) for my July marathon training.

Back in the Swing of Things

I'm starting to feel like my old self again, with 3 runs in this week and a long-ish run planned for tomorrow. I didn't feel super great on my runs this week but I could definitely feel some fitness still there and I'm hoping I'll be back to normal in a few weeks. I have a half marathon coming up in Eugene, OR on 4/29 that should be a lot of fun. My parents lived in Eugene for 7-8 years so I have a lot of good memories from visiting them there. I'm not expecting a PR in the race but it will be fun anyway. My main focus is building my mileage back up and getting my marathon training in gear. Plus, spring is finally here in Oregon so it's so great to get outside and run in the nice weather.

In unrelated news, our chicken coop is nearly built (well, we have a ways to go but made a lot of progress today). I need to figure out how to post pictures in here so I can show the coop and our chicks that we got 2 weeks ago and they're now about 3 times as big as they were. We're calling them Rhoda, Diddy and Ruttager. Rhoda is a Rhode Island Red, Diddy has puffy cheeks (get it? Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy) and Ruttager just because we needed a Simpson's reference in there somewhere. Ruttager is all black so Black Bart was the alternate name.

Ahhhh, Running Again

Wow, that was one long cold virus. Just about 4 weeks (I'd say I'm 90% recovered at this point). I guess that's one way to take a 2 week break from running! Actually, by the end of the 2 weeks I was sort of not looking forward to running. But, 5 minutes into my run on Sunday and I remembered why I love it. Must be those endorphins or something. Anyway, I managed 3.4 miles on Sunday and 3.5 miles today, so hopefully it won't take me TOO long to get back into the swing of things. I'm going to have to do a major overhaul of my training plan for the July marathon, but it's far enough away still that I think I'll be okay. I'll have to spend a good chunk of time getting back to my pre-Tokyo fitness but I should have some time to improve upon that (barring any major setbacks). I'm psyched to be back at it!

Sunday: 3.4 miles, 8:23/mile, avg HR 153
Tuesday: 3.5 miles, 9:07/mile, avg HR 147

OK, I'm getting tired of this...

Another week has gone by and I don't seem to be recovering from my cold. I'm starting to think I have a sinus infection and maybe I should see a doctor. I attempted a run today and made it 2 miles before deciding I probably wasn't up for running. Heartrate wasn't too bad so my fitness isn't disappearing as fast as I thought it might, so that was encouraging. Sydney and Owen are still sick also and haven't been sleeping very well, so that makes it hard for any of us to get better. Vicious cycle. Of course it seems that everyone with kids goes through the exact same thing so I can't feel too sorry for myself. Sunday's 5k isn't looking too likely but I'm still hopeful.

Also, I still haven't followed up on the gasoline-in-my-diesel-engine thing. Chicken I guess.

Better than not running

I made it out for a 5.2 mile run today - not that my cold is much better. Well, maybe a little better. After the Portland Marathon my legs took what seemed like forever to recover, then I caught a cold that dragged on. By the time I got back into my running routine, it felt like I'd lost all of my fitness and I spent a good chunk of my Tokyo Marathon training just getting back to where I was before Portland. I'm trying to prevent that from happening again, and am having some luck so far. My legs recovered much faster this time, and even though I caught a cold again I've managed to get a few runs in here and there without going for long stretches of not running at all. Today's pace was 8:35 which was good, although the heartrate was on the high side. Probably should have run slower but I was just so glad to be out running again that I pushed it too much. Spring seems to be here all of a sudden, and it was so nice to be running in shorts outside again. Makes me realize what a drag it was to run in the cold and rain all winter, so I'm looking forward to nicer conditions for this next marathon training cycle.

Other than the run, yardwork is on the agenda for today. We picked up two apple trees and a peach tree yesterday so we have to get those planted. Our neighbors probably think we're insane because we've removed 3 big trees since we moved in two years ago. It's not that we are anti-tree but two of them had been planted too close to the house and the other was a fig tree that made a complete mess of the backyard. So we're now getting around to replacing them (with better positioning this time) but it will be years before they're decent size. Chrissy swears we're never moving again, so maybe we'll be here to see them grow up.

Back At It

My cold has abated enough that I ventured out today for a measly 3 miles, but it felt pretty good actually. About a year ago I decided never to run slower than 10 minute miles and after Tokyo I made a similar decision never to run slower than 9 minute miles. Today's pace of 8:40 felt pretty easy. I suppose there are those out there that would say that it's somewhat arbitrary to make a decision like that but it's my way of trying to continually lower my average pace. Since I'm shooting for 3:30 in the July marathon (Foot Traffic Flat Marathon) I need to get to the point where 8:00/mile isn't much of a strain. Otherwise I'll have a pretty challenging time maintaining that for the whole marathon. I plan to go to my first track workout this coming Tuesday - I've been putting it off because the workout I want to join is put on by a group of people I don't know. I'm sure it will be fine once I go a few times but the anticipation of that first time is intimidating me.

In non-running news, a gas station attendant put regular gasoline in our diesel Jetta last week. It was supposed to be biodiesel, which is why we got the Jetta in the first place, but somehow he ended up putting regular gas in there. Gasoline + Diesel engine = bad news/tow truck/large repair bill. I now have the enviable task of trying to get the service station to pay the bill.

Today's mileage: 3 miles, 26:00, 8:40/mile, avg HR 141

Itching to Run

I ran the Tokyo Marathon on February 18th and because I set a new PR I continued to be excited about running through a few weeks of recovery and light running. But then I had a few days where I was sort of dreading the beginning of my next marathon training period which was scheduled to start this week. THEN, I caught a cold late last week and have ended up not running much at all, and all of a sudden I'm itching to get to my training just when my body's not really up for it. I've read that if your cold is in your head (congestion, etc.) that it's okay to continue running, but if it's in your chest (which is where mine is right now) that you shouldn't run. So I took today off, but I imagine I'll run tomorrow if I've shown any sign of improvement by then. I did run a 5k this past Sunday while I was sick, and was encouraged to improve my PR by 21 seconds to 21:19. I'm hoping I can knock that down even further in a few weeks. The next big race I'm training for (other than the July marathon) is the Eugene Half Marathon on April 29. I love that town so I'm looking forward to the trip down there.

Inaugural Blog Post

After reading so many blogs over the past few years, it feels extremely odd to be entering the first post on my own blog. I suppose it will become less weird the more I do it. Anyway, I find it fascinating to read the blogs of so many fellow runners so I thought I'd give it a try myself.

I ran track and cross country in high school (middle to back of the pack if I recall correctly) and pretty much stopped running the minute I stepped off the track at the end of the final meet my senior year. About six years ago my wife got me back into running and we worked back up to a few 5k and 10k runs and I kept that up for a few years intermittently. Then in 2005 I started running again and it somehow managed to stick this time. With the help of a good friend (AZ) from college who serves as an online training partner and advisor, I managed to run my first marathon last October (Portland) and my second one last month (Tokyo), both of which I'm sure will be subjects of future postings.

This blog I expect will be primarily about my running, although I imagine that my wife (Chrissy) and kids (Sydney and Owen) will make guest appearances, especially since Chrissy is now training for her first marathon.