13 Weeks Until Race Day

Here we are with blog post #2. This week's total mileage was 21, with 10 of those being today. Thursday was a major battle of wills between myself and the pillow, but I prevailed (barely). 10 miles was another uncharted distance, but I think we covered it well. My average pace per mile was 9'13" - pretty respectable with 2 walking breaks for water and power gel. That would put me in roughly the 4 hour range for the actual marathon. As you'll see from today's clip, power gel/GU is the ever-so-appetizing source of calories during these longer runs. The consistency, especially when it's cold, isn't so pleasant, but it is a quick shot of calories to help keep the legs moving.

You'll also see me try to show you my watch after the run (a little blurry, I know). Most of you know what a gadget freak I am, so before I started training I set out on eBay to find some man-toy that would give me something besides running to be interested in. The result was a combination heart rate monitor and GPS watch. The heart rate monitor lets me know well in advance of my heart beating out of my chest. The GPS has functions to show how far I've gone, at what pace/speed, elevation, latitude/longitude, location of Osama Bin Laden, etc. Needless to say, it's pretty slick and a great training aide.

Next week is a setback/recovery week. These weeks are built into the plan every 3rd week to (hopefully) let the body recover and be stronger for the next "hard" weeks. So far, that seems to be working, keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks for stopping by,

B

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Getting Started...and Caught Up

OK folks, let's get caught up to speed before I dive headfirst into this blogging thing. Late last summer, a couple friends (thanks Mike and Nathan) decided that running a marathon would be a good idea. After some heavy convincing (thanks in large part to the Big Sur website), I decided that I would give this thing a go.

Now mind you, I've always had a pretty strong aversion to running (unless being chased or chasing a soccer ball) , but after researching marathons and training, I decided that this would be a great goal/personal challenge for me. In what amounts to a 30 week training plan, we will build up the mileage to prepare for the marathon (26.2 miles, if you're counting). The first 12 training weeks were the get-ready-to-train-for-a-marathon-you-rookie-you part of the plan. Mike and I have been following the plan faithfully since October 1st, running 4 days a week at relatively low miles just to get used to running (Nathan is some kind of superhuman being that didn't need the amateur plan).

Leap forward to today, and we're in week number 17 (13 to go until the big day). The general plan has shorter runs during the week with a long run every Saturday, with the mileage adding up pretty rapidly. Mike and I survived a chilly 9-miler last week and have the first big 1-0 on the docket this week. Nathan is sidelined for a few weeks with a bum ligament, but is swimming like a fish to keep up his fitness.

My plan for this blog is to give updates about once a week or so, with some pictures and maybe even with some video clips if I'm feeling especially ambitious.

Here's a quick pre-run clip with my faithful training partner.

Stay tuned for more...

B

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