Well, after doing absolutely zero running (or cardio of any kind, for that matter) since my last marathon 3 months ago, I've decided to give it a shot and do another one. This time, I'll actually have all 18 weeks to train, as opposed to the 9 week commando training I had to do for my last one. But there's a catch (ain't it always that way?).
The marathon I want to run is in Hawaii, on December 9th. That means that my training will be in the freezing cold in Rochester, and the marathon will be in the sun and heat of hawaii.
Starting Week: 8/1/2001
Marathon date: 12/9/2001
That's a total of 17 weeks by my count! Perfect!
My training schedule is as follows:
| Week | Day | Mileage | Time | Notes |
| 1 | ||||
| Tuesday | 3 miles | -- | -- | |
| Wednesday | 2-2.5? miles | 21:09 | ::gasp:: ::gag:: ::heave:: Despite running a marathon (all 26 miles of
it!) 3 months ago almost to this day, I was sucking wind big-time on my first run. It was supposed to be 3 miles,
but zero exercise, not much sleep, and bad eating for the past 2-3 months has clearly taken their
toll. Just to add to the excuses, it's also hot and muggy, and I'm sore from lifting weights, too! Hopefully I'll be back up to speed soon. Man. ::gasp:: I was supposed to go 3 miles, so I started my familiar little 3.4 mile circuit around the Park Ave. area... I ended up cutting it short, and even with that, I walked part of the way. I'm not quite sure how far I went (my guess is 2-2.5 miles), and between the running and the walking, it ended up taking me 21 minutes. I used to do 3 miles in that time! [a very slow] minute-mile pace | |
| Thursday | 3.4 miles | 33:47 | Well, I did a tad better than yesterday. I paced myself a
bit more, and was able to go the full 3.4 miles, but I did have to run-walk parts of it. The
heat is pretty brutal here this time of year, but the reason I had to walk parts of it was
because my cardiovascular system is on strike. So I ran for a while, sucked a little wind, walked until I had my breath back, and started running again. Pretty soon I think I should be able to run the entire distance; I'll just have to pace myself. 9.91 minute-mile pace | |
| Sunday | 4.2 miles | 39:39 | This was supposed to be a 6 mile run, and I thought I was
doing a 6 mile route that I'd done in my previous marathon training, but I messed up. There was
an extra loop I needed to take in order for it to be the 6 miles. Oh well -- I still felt good, it was hot out, a reasonably hilly run, but I paced myself, and ran the entire way (no run-walking!), despite having boozed it up a bit last night (Park Ave fest).9.42 minute-mile pace | |
| 2 | ||||
| Wednesday | 3.4 miles | 32:13 | Ran this one with a friend of mine who wanted to stop a few times during the run. Probably good for me, too, since it let me catch my breath. I just subtracted out the walking times, so the time of 32:13 isn't continuous running, but it reflects the running time. Not gonna bother figuring out my pace, since I didn't run straight through. | |
| Thursday | 3.4 miles | 30:54 | OH MY GOD is it hot out. 90+ degrees, tropical humidity... I think of the times I complained about training in the snow, and realize I had it damn good then! I ran the whole 3.4 through, and nearly died when I finished -- spent 30 mins in a cold shower trying to cool off, and still was sweating for a while after it. Man! 9.08 minute-mile pace | |
| Friday | 3.4 miles | -- | Didn't happen -- I ended up spending the evening cleaning up and installing an air conditioner instead. I think the trade-off was well worth it, as do my furry tormentors that share my apartment. | |
| Sunday | 5.2 miles | 47:02 | I ended up running a bit short on this one (1.8 miles short of the 7 I was supposed to do). I actually thought I was running a 6 mile run, but I opted out of running up Cobbs at due to the heat, so I fell even shorter. On this run, I discovered incontrovertable proof that Darwin was a quack scientist. I'm on about mile 4, and some idiot in a car decides to pull up next to me, stop, roll down his window, ask my if my name if John, and if I work out at a particular gym around here. First of all, I don't know this guy from Adam -- second of all, wouldn't the labored breath and body covered in sweat give this guy a clue that I was somewhat busy at the time? Survival of the fittest my ass -- it's survival of the most reproductive, and clearly it doesn't take much of a clue to wield a penis. Ah, that rant felt good. Anyway, I felt pretty good after this run despite the heat -- so I may be falling short of my mileage, but I'm definitely improving, and feeling good after my runs now. 9.06 minute-mile pace | |
| 3 | ||||
| Tuesday | -- | -- | A friend of mine who does mountain bike racing took me to an "easy course" through the woods at Lechworth state park. Let me just say that this guy is insane. We're barreling through the woods on a tiny little path with roots and rocks everywhere, up and down hills... and if that isn't bad enough, there's barely room for a bike to fit between the trees. After riding for 1.5-2 hours through this, I was beaten like a stray dog (and probably looked like one, too). I'd bought it a few times, and spend the uphills sweating and heaving, and spent the downhills fearing for my life with my brakes screetching. Was fun, but man does my ass hurt now. | |
| Wednesday | 3.4 miles | 28:43 | My legs are a big banged up from the cycling yesterday (I've got my first bruise in 5 years thanks to one of my spills), but after working through it for the first block or two, I felt pretty good! In fact, I shaved off over 2 minutes from my last run of this distance! wooohoo! Getting back there... now to work back to under 8 minute miles.... 8.44 minute-mile pace | |
| Thursday | -- | -- | I went for a pretty good 50 minute spinning class today instead of running. My legs were still a bit banged up from the mountain biking experience, so I decided something lower-impact than running would be a good idea! Got a nice cardio workout, which should help too! | |
| Sunday | 5 miles | 41:31 | Even though my schedule says to go just 5 miles today, I decided to go 6 instead. I figured I might as well, I have the course laid out -- but today just wasn't a good running day. I didn't eat anything but a banana, and I ran a bit too hard, so at the 3.5 mile mark (where I'd been running close to 8 minute miles), I walked for a bit (well under a mile), then picked up and finished running the last 1.5-2 miles. 8.36 minute-mile pace | |
| 4 | ||||
| -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| -- | -- | -- | -- | |
| -- | -- | -- | -- |
This meant there was no way I could train effectively for the marathon -- but I decided to go to Hawaii with my team anyway, both for moral support, and because I'd already paid for half of the trip already!
I ended up donating the money I made to my friend Charissa, and going anyway. As it turns out, there was a 73 year old woman in our group who was walking the marathon -- this inspired me!
I said to myself "I know you're out of shape, and haven't been training, but if she's going to walk it, the least you can do is try to run it!" So run it I did (run-walk actually) -- I petered out at mile 16 or so. I just didn't have the endurance built up. Then at mile 18, I got some serious blisters on my feet that I had to slice up (I didn't have the needed callouses built up).
But whatever, I carried on, and ended up finishing despite not training! Not a wise thing to do, and I wouldn't repeat it, but I'm far too stubborn to not finish what I start! :)
There are some other pictures from the trip to Hawaii here and also some pictures from Kauai here
.....
Other strange adventures, stories, and pictures can be found here. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at: andrew@AmbrosiaSW.com
Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.