Week 11 was capped off with a 12 mile run this morning at Sugar Land Memorial Park. My pace group’s run had has go north out of the park along University Blvd, turning into the University of Houston @ Sugar Land campus and running around the parking lot twice, and then returning to the park via University again. From there we turned east onto Commonwealth Blvd and followed that all the way to Oilfield Rd before turning once again to the park. Once back at the park we then ran both loops of the park to finish.
It was a really good run. I finished in 2:06:30 which puts me right at the pace I’m trying to maintain. I listened to my friend who told me to eat a bigger breakfast before these longer runs, and that helped maintain my energy level throughout out the run (supplemented with 2 Gu packs during the run as well). I didn’t bonk at all during the run, and maintained a pretty consistent pace. Perhaps the only drawback was learning new things that became sore: my arms and right shoulder especially are screaming at me right now.
The rest of the week’s training was uneventful except for the fact that we were impacted by Hurricane Ike all week. Last Saturday’s run was cancelled so it has been two weeks since I last ran a long distance. I was able to get in all the required training this week, despite the storm recovery, and fortunately our running group took the effort to plan out a route that was mostly free of storm debris.
In week 12 we ratchet the mileage back down to a 10 mile long run; the Houston Half Marathon is about a month away so I have full confidence in running that, since I effectively was only a mile away from that today.
I’ve been pondering the idea of getting a second set of wheels for my bike for a while now. Since I’ve been occasionally racing, it is convenient to have a set of wheels with the the race tires and tubes already installed. I didn’t necessarily want to spend the bucks on a set of carbon fiber wheels, at least not yet, so I thought about getting a second Bontrager Race Lite wheel-set; these came with the bike and I’ve been really pleased with them. They are only 1660g for the set so I’m not saving a ton of weight if I upgrade.
Luckily the folks at Bike Barn suggested a different approach. They pointed me to the Bontrager Race wheel-set, which are only 139g heavier than the Race Lite version, coupled with the Bontrager Race Lite Hardcase tires. These should prove to be a great and resilient wheel-set for training and long century rides.
Unfortunately the wheels did not come with rim tape properly installed (whoops!) so after a couple of flats this morning I had to go back and have them fix it. They were gracious enough to do it immediately so I should be all set for my next ride.
Yesterday I capped off my first official week of marathon training with the Fort Bend Fit training group. Their training plan have 3 runs during the week with a long run every Saturday morning. I’m in the Red group, for those with a 10 to 12 minute per mile pace over 5K. I’m presently running closer to a 9 minute mile which would place me in the Yellow group, but I want to see if I can maintain my pace over longer distances before I change running groups.
This week’s Saturday run was approximately 3 miles. It was a nice, easy run compared to some of the other runs earlier in the week where for one reason or another I kept bonking. Running in a very large group is actually great fun and really helps keep motivation up. My pace for the entire run, including a couple of waits for lights, was 10:30; average heart rate was 162 with a peak of 173.
This Saturday was also the first time I wore my Amphipod Running Belt with 3 bottles. It was reasonably comfortable, and having liquid available anytime during the run was nice, but at this point I’d really rather not wear it. I can get away with not wearing it on 30 minute or less runs, but longer than that it is mandatory.
For the week as a whole, I ran 2 hours 16 minutes and 10.5 miles, plus a few cycling rides and a cycling criterium on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to week 2 where Saturday’s run is 4 miles.
Running so far this summer has been going well. Resting a couple of weeks after I hurt my knee, plus some running form advice from my friend Teri, led to me being able to run much further, faster, and with no discomfort. I was even able to go on a great ~7 mile run around the US Naval Academy when I was visiting Annapolis for work a couple of weeks ago.
I’m currently signed up for the Aramco Houston Half Marathon on January 18, 2009 but I may try the full marathon depending upon how training progresses and how my run in the Houston Half marathon on October 26, 2008 goes. Balancing running time with bicycling time will likely prove to be the most difficult part of the training season.
This week I went swimming laps two times. The first time was a rude awakening. Not only did the swim kick my ass, it was distressing just how poor I was swimming in otherwise good condition. I realized later I started way too fast, and went too early in the morning, before I had eaten anything.
Later in the week I went again, and went deliberately slow and focused primarily on the breaststroke instead of the freestyle. The second experience was much better than the first. I was able to get quite a few laps in and felt great afterwards.
I realized after the first time I went that I hadn’t been lap swimming since high school, when I was on the swim team… so since about 1986. Even though I’m in much better shape now than I ever was then, I don’t know how to swim anywhere near as good as I did then!
Here’s looking forward to many more swims!
Yesterday was another run, but unfortunately resulted in an injury. My left knee was a bit sore from wearing some ill-fitting boots the day before, and I wrongly assumed that the run would help it out rather than hurt it more.
I ran about three miles total, at a much faster pace than the prior runs, and all it served to do was make the knee very difficult to walk on. The walk back to the house was even worse.
A few hours of ice, compression, and Aleve helped a little bit, but a night’s rest with the compression seemed to help more. So far today I can walk on it without any pain or discomfort, but it doesn’t feel 100% either.
I think I’ll take some time off from running and throw away those boots!