mattn792

Being totally transparent, odds are I’m going to bag my official marathon time in favor of taking in the full experience of the marathon day.  Photo ops, food, drinks, whatever, as Disney intends marathon weekend to be.  I know I would leave Florida with regrets if I didn’t do that at least once on this trip, and for the half marathon I really want to use it to hopefully erase the ghost of Nashville.  

So tomorrow is going to go as originally planned, and hopefully my official time will meet my goal.

For Sunday, in terms of measuring up to my time goal for the fundraiser, I’ll use my moving time as calculated by Strava rather than the official time.

Day 2 (10k) is wrapped up.  A little slower paced today as we ran together until the Cinderella photo line, where my prettier half broke off.  Also did some strategic walking and took a few more park photos.  Unofficial time 1:13:45.

Day 1 (5k) is in the books, unofficial time 33:44.  Didn’t end up doing any walking, there was enough congestion at certain points to keep my pace nice and comfortable.  Feeling fantastic so far 

We are checked in and ready to get to it!  Got our bibs, six souvenir shirts,  and purchased a couple other small items from the expo.  I feel about as good as can be with all the training ups and downs and am ready to get started tomorrow morning.  

If you’re reading this and interested in using my results to make a contribution toward @jimjum12’s fundraiser, please click over to the thread in G/S/B (specifics from me are on page 4):

About 24 hours after I kicked off yesterday’s odyssey, I’m really impressed at how good my body feels, including my right foot.  I could definitely get at it today, which again bodes well for day 4!

Well to start off today’s post, I want to announce that the charity thread will kick off tomorrow morning and run through the night of January 1.  I wanted to launch it tonight, but…

I put in my final long distance training run today.  15 miles, and boy did I feel it by the end.  And while I’m comfortable journaling from the recliner, I need to be at my pc to properly attend to the charity thread.

Last night was not a righteous preparation for today as my parents had their annual Christmas party, with party food and party beer.  Despite the improper prep, I still nailed the time goals for the first three races, but that back half of the marathon is going to be dicey, no matter how ready I am from a dietary standpoint.  So the 5 hour goal time might be optimistic.  But we’ll see when game day comes!

I’ll probably do another journal update or three, but I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has tuned in, and I hope you’ll all visit the charity thread and consider putting in a few bucks!

I got to meet Steranko at Heroes Con last year, and after I introduced him to my now fiancée, he made sure to emphasize that I should never let her go.  I 1000% agreed, and one daughter later, we're doing pretty darn good.  

Top 3 all time con interaction for me.

These last two days have each presented their own challenges.  Yesterday I felt good but got on the treadmill and immediately did not want to be there, turning in an ugly 4 miles, while today I did not want to run at all, yet me and the energizer husky went out and turned in a 30 minute 5k.  I wanted to take advantage of tomorrow's weather to try and sneak in my 16 or so miles, but that probably won't happen because I have to put in a half day of work and get my new car registered.  Hopefully I can at least do a few, but...it looks like another high in the mid-30s on Sunday kinda long run again.  

Next day, feeling pretty good.  Foot is a touch sore on and off, but I could definitely get back out there.  And getting an idea of how I’ll feel on day 4 was much more important than hitting my time goals during the practice run.

Practice Goofy complete, all time goals met!  

5k goal - 37:30

10k goal - 1:15:00

Half Marathon goal - 2:30:00

Not sure why Strava didn’t show the total time, but it was 2:26:23.

No sign of the 8 mile boogeyman today, and my foot held up real well throughout these three days.  Real happy with how things are trending.  

For those wondering, “load management” means I walked a significant portion of the end of each, roughly 0.5 to 1.1 miles, depending on the race distance.  It definitely helped me stay that much fresher from day to day.  There will be no load management for the monster though.  Come game day, it’s all hands on deck for day 4.

First two legs are in the books and went very well, load management plan seems totally workable too.

I’ll post the full results for all three legs after tomorrow, but I found myself dwelling today - I’m going to do a half marathon tomorrow.  For practice.  This isn’t the pinnacle event.  Yow.

Yesterday was 5 on the treadmill as it was still icy out.  Temps hit 50 today and melted everything, so with low to mid 40s forecast through the weekend, we plan on doing a practice Goofy Challenge.  That’s the first three legs of the Dopey - 5k, 10k, 1/2er.

The distances fit perfectly in our training schedule, so we’ll see how this all shakes out. Hoping to hit my goal times for all three, and I feel good about that happening.

Today was supposed to be in the low 30s with snow for an hour or so in the AM.  It instead snowed for about 9 hours.  Not a huge amount of accumulation, but I’m not training for conditions like this, so onto the treadmill I went!  Got in 11, solely because the gym was closing before I could make 12:

Salt tablets were a huge boost today, no 8 mile boogeyman!

I let the baby plan our route on Wednesday.  4 miles uphill, straight into an icy headwind, or at least that’s how it felt.  

We did a family 4 today, and baby definitely did not get a say in our route 

This was actually the first time we’ve been able to run together in quite some time as our respective training plans are finally overlapping again.  But it’s in the 30s these next several days, so we can’t take the baby for tomorrow’s 12 miler.

And it’s not only cold, but the air is stupid dry right now.  Wish it was still in the high 60s…

Today’s splits:

I edited 2-4-6 to 4 today, 4 tomorrow, 4 Saturday, and hopefully 12 Sunday.  Today went awesome with the energizer husky, but she’s now on holiday at her vacation home, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

I had to skip today, unfortunately still dealing with bouts of light headedness.  

I think 2-4-6 will be the plan over the next three days.  I feel like I should aim for longer distances, but as my pretty half / consigliere reminds me, don't increase by too much from week to week.  So especially with this week's shortfall in mind, I should probably keep this coming week to 24 miles, max. 

Well unfortunately I missed out on my usual Friday yogurt session and today’s training run, for a reason I’d have never even considered until I was hideously ill…food poisoning.  Struck Thursday night after a prominent chicken lunch.  Short duration, hard hitting.  I’ve had a previous bout or three in my life, but this one was easily the worst.  The stomach was bad, but when I say everything hurt, I mean EVERYTHING hurt.  And the fatigue was such that I could barely even lift the baby, had to call in grandma to fill in because I was useless.

Luckily I’m pretty much back to normal today, but I gave my body one more day to recoup before getting back at it tomorrow.  This weekend was supposed to be roughly 5/12, so tomorrow I’m just planning to go and see what I can accomplish.  If I make 12, then yay!

The energizer husky and I did 2 yesterday (9:16 pace), then a 5k today (which we finished in just under 30 minutes, hooray!).  Despite the quality results, with the nice weather, and feeling especially good physically today, I definitely did not want to be out there.  But...embrace the grind!  It's all going to be worth it in the end.

About 24 hours later, the AAR on my 10 miler is very positive.  My legs feel fantastic, and my right foot, though shrieking in the early AM when the baby waken me up half a dozen times, is feeling normal sore by midday.  I think we’re in business.  

Interestingly, I find the mental aspect of carrying on a tad challenging.  I occasionally find myself thinking, “I just ran 10 miles, how awesome!  Wait, I gotta do more?!?”  Can’t rest on the laurels, the build must go on.

I wound up skipping the planned 2 for Wednesday and did the upper body exercises instead, then off Thursday aside from a 10000 step kind of walking day, and then my usual Friday yogurt lattes.

Yesterday…5.  Today…10!  21 total for the week 

I walked a little extra early on because I didn’t quite know how I’d feel once I passed 7 miles, but overall it went really well.  The 8 mile boogey man reared its head once more with a handful of attempted calf cramps, hence the lousy 9th mile, but I’m really happy to say that a continued focus on form and relaxation helped me work through them very effectively.

This run gives me confidence that as long as everything keeps trending like this, the 5k, 10k, and 1/2er are all in the bag.  I need to get closer to 20 before expressing my feelings about the monster.

We’ve also been discussing pace planning, and I think there’s a good chance I’ll walk at least the last mile of the 5 and 10k no matter how I feel.  Call it load management.  I don’t think that plan will interfere with staying at or under my goal times though, which is nice.

Well, the bug ended up lingering, and though it didn't slow me down for the wedding, it was enough to keep me from doing any extensive physical exertion until last Friday, when I got in a solid yogurt lattes session.  Saturday we met some friends in the city and walked like crazy, but my foot was no worse for the wear.  Hooray!

That didn't last too long, because I got back on the 5k horse on Sunday with the energizer husky, and my foot was shrieking the next day.  No biggie, me and the baby did 4 miles in spite of it.  The "nice" thing about plantar fasciitis is that, once you start moving, the pain fades.  I did still invest in a few compression socks, which I wore for the first time today, and I found that one of they're significant benefits is to keep the foot from tightening up during prolonged periods of sitting.  I also ran two miles with it on, and it was perfectly comfortable.  I'm going to do at least two more tomorrow, barring any unexpected obstacles.  We're basically two months out at this point, so it's time to really buckle down.

3-4-2-2 is a far cry from 3.1-6.2-13.1-26.2, so the distance has to stretch each week now.  Luckily our social calendar is pretty much empty up till race time, outside of the holidays.  This weekend is going to bring at least the 8 miler, possibly 10.  Want to at least hit 20 total miles this week, and ideally climb to 40 at the apex of training.  

Despite the setbacks during training, I honestly feel really good about where I am at this point.  Just gotta keep the good times rolling and the miles building. 

Tuesday and Wednesday brought back-to-back 5k excursions, both of which went really well.  Today I wanted to squeeze in the planned 8 miler, but it was a workday, and I couldn't swing it on top of the rain and all the prep for leaving out tomorrow for my brother's wedding.  Plus, I feel just the slightest touch of a bug...which better be gone by the morning if it knows what's good for it...

I will go hot sauce and Jack Daniel's on your az!

I successfully completed 2 miles and then a 10k over the weekend, as planned.  Me and the energizer husky had our groove on, so she went with me for the entire 10k.  Ten minutes ahead of goal pace at 1:04:28 and felt awesome 

My foot stings a bit today, but again, 8 miles in two days.  Hoping the day off today takes care of it, but I’ll skip running tomorrow if need be.  This week’s scheduling is a touch trickier as my brother’s wedding is this weekend, but that’s life.

Today's daddy/daughter 5k clocked in at 30:11, so well ahead of my goal time.  Couldn't have done it without her support, napping in the running stroller and all. 

The question now is, do I actually want to move this fast on game day?  This is a four day endurance event after all, and no matter the training between now and January, I don't expect to be able to run a 9:45/mile marathon.  Especially after logging 22.5 miles in the three prior days.  But...January is still a ways away, let not make any assumptions and see how these longer runs in the coming weeks go.

My right foot is a touch sore now, but not the shooting pain that I had when the pf was at its worst, so I'm optimistic that this is just a side effect of logging 9 miles in three days.  Next two days are off days from running, with no exercise on tomorrow's docket.  Saturday/Sunday is a planned 2/6.

Howdy.  It's been nearly a month since my last update, and unfortunately that's largely due to going back to square one with my running.  My plantar fasciitis recovery plateaued pretty abruptly after a two mile indoor track run on September 11th, and my prettier half convinced me to take a decent amount of time off.  Indoor track has turned out to be a key component in this problem, as I'd come to surmise later that all the turning on the roughly 1/8 mile track was significantly contributing to the very injury I was trying to kick.  So much for the controlled environment being beneficial!

When I officially started the re-build up on September 24, the weather was much better, so I got back at it outdoors rather than indoors.  I started with only a mile, and since then have climbed back up to 4 as my longest run.  Honestly, my foot feels almost back to normal at this point, and the rest of me feels great. I have a four run/week training schedule in place, and this week's longest will be 6 miles. 

The only hiccup so far -- two miles on the indoor track on October 7.  Moved well, felt good during, but by that night I felt like I had suffered a setback.  Since we were out of town visiting my brother, I took the next two days off and then got back to it outdoors.  Nearly broke 18 minutes on the first two miler that I did, which was nuts considering I didn't even feel like I was moving at that fast of a pace.  Me and the energizer husky have duplicated that effort multiple times, and we kept a sub-10 minute pace for our four miler, even with an honestly walk included in the middle.  And I haven't felt like I needed to push to keep that pace, it's feeling very natural.

So the results speak for themselves - being outdoors, with far fewer turns, and a much easier time settling into and keeping my proper form, has been key to my foot's recovery.  The only downside is that when winter shows up, there's going to be days where I need to run but mother nature will be in a mood, and the indoor track is no longer an option for me.  Cold, especially over 30 degrees, I can deal with.  It's ice and snow that worry me.  And I dread the thought of doing something like 16 miles on a treadmill, so let's hope it doesn't come to that!