SPRINTING TO STRONG

Back from another incredible summer working in Maine. It’s time to start running again. I’ve missed it, and I’ll be the first to admit it. 

To keep myself in check, I taped my brand spankin’ new 16 week marathon training plan to my wall right next to my desk! Day 1 was yesterday with 3 miles. Day 2 is today with 4 on deck. Not sure which race I’m training for yet, but you guys will be the first to know. 

For now, I’m just happy to be back. I missed you guys! 

“When most of us were consumed by the clock, trying to shave off minutes from our marathon times, Micah showed us a better way to run, one focused on absorbing the beauty around us, not rushing through it…If the measure of a man is the friends he has, then Micah True , 58 when he died, was a giant.” -RW Article

Hey Guys,

So this is way past due considering the race was nearly 3 weeks ago, but I figured I should make it official anyway so here goes!

Even though it was a VERY early morning wake up to get to the start at 6:15am, for my first time running in DC, I can’t complain. The fast, flat course was pretty nice for the most part, the spectators and fans were fantastic, the weather started a little chilly but pulled through between 48 and 50 degrees for the duration of the run. The organization was great as well and I thought the start and finish at the Washington Monument was phenomenal.

Here were my individual results. In my last post, I was aiming for a 1:26:00, even though my pace calc prediced a 1:28 ish run. Nice little surprise to actually cut 2.5 minutes off my ideal time to finish in 1:23:31.  I hit negative splits for each mile of the 10 which felt pretty great and allowed me to finish strong on a small uphill at the end.

Not sure if I’d do this race again. I most likely will just based on location and convenience, but wasn’t something I will scramble to register for next year.

Hope you all have great race weekends coming up! Can’t wait to read all about them!!

I’ve been pretty quiet the past handful of weeks due to lots of changes, but I’m back! AGAIN! More details to come, hang in there with me! But now to the point……

The 2012 DC Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Miler is this upcoming Sunday which means that I will be making my way down from Baltimore to DC to attend the race expo and pick up my packet tomorrow afternoon. I’m kicking myself for not just having my bib and packet sent to me, but realize that I’m pretty much out of luck at this point.

My last distance race was the Under Armour Baltimore Half-Marathon in October of 2011 which I ran in 1:58:11. Based on my time last fall, the pace predictor on RunningTimes.com estimates that I will complete this weekend’s 10 mile race in 1:28:40. With that said, I would ideally like to hit somewhere closer to 1:26:00, but it’s been a long winter and if we’re being honest, I did not train as competitively for this event as I usually do for races. So, we’ll see. I’ll update this when race times are posted Sunday evening! Cross your fingers for me!

Miss you all! Glad to be back!!!

MY ENTRY IS IN! Anyone else vying for a spot?

What races are you all looking to run in the new year?

90 miles left to run.

17 days left to run them in.

REALLY hoping to make this November goal.

Also, looking into registering for spring races. I’m interested in any distances between 10K and full marathons. Location not a factor, just awesomeness.

Suggestions anyone??

Did 3.3 miles split between HIITs on the treadmill yesterday (8mph sprints with 6mph recovery) and 10 mins on the ArcTrainer. Felt like effort, but definitely could have done much more work with more time.

That workout brings me to 410 miles. Only 90 left to go until I hit 500 for the year!

With Tuesday’s 6 mile workout and yesterday’s 3.3 mile HIITs, my 2011 milage summary just hit 400.  Wham, bam, thank you Sam! 

Only 100 left to go in November to cross that goal off the list for the month!! 

Okay, okay so maybe I’m a day late..but who cares!!!??  It’s GOALS time!

Here’s the plan for the month of November.

1. Eat some kind of vegetables and/or fruit at EVERY meal.
2. Create a marathon training plan and stick to it.
3. Lift weights/weight training 3x week.
4. Eliminate candy and desserts from my diet for the entire month.
5. Drink 2 nalgenes of water every day.
6. Record all workouts in dailymile.
7. Hit 500 miles on my dailymile training. I’m at 388 right now so that means I need to cover 112 miles in November alone.

The morning began with a nervous train ride downtown to Camden Yards. After checking my bag (which I was almost positive was going to be stolen or missplaced in the mess of 25,000 other people’s bags), wandering around a bit, watching the finish of the 5k and the leaders in the marathon sprinting by, I finally found my way to the 13 mile point at the inner harbor where the Baltimore Half Marathon would begin.

I started in wave #3 with others who, like me, had registered with expected finish times of about 2:15.

 We crossed under THIS and 13.1 began…

—

At one point, I saw this girl in pink after we had merged with the full marathon course. Her shirt made me laugh even as my left knee was clicking with aches so when I saw her again around the 10 mile mark, I figured a few more smiles couldn’t hurt, so I used her as my pacer. It definitely kicked my butt into high gear. She may have been short, but damn those little legs were quick! 

In case you can’t read it, her shirt says “Keep going even if it hurts…that’s what she said.”

And then, miraculously it was done! Really don’t remember much about the details of the run. But I remember this…

There were two guys I met at the light rail station on my way downtown for the race earlier that morning. These guys and I parked our cars in a lot that had 4 hour time limit meters knowing full well we would not be getting back to that parking lot in any way, shape, or form within 4 hours. I know, rebellious, right? Anywho, they turned out to be pretty damn awesome and the one on my right just happens to own a restaurant called Bonefish Grill in Owings Mills, Baltimore which I plan to eat at in the very soon future!

Great racing day, great people, great event.