Last week was a busy one. I managed to get 21 miles of running in at three different locations. Although I think blogging in general is self indulgent, this particular blog is to communicate training progress for folks who have donated to my effort to support Hope for the Warriors. Enough said.
Yesterday I did a 3 mile run locally. Did the first mile in 8:00, which is pretty quick. Second mile in 7:40, fast for me. After mile two I was at a local track, and took off my shoes to run the first lap of mile 3. The track is made of cement and it was very warm. I stayed on one of the white lane stripes for a quarter mile. I'm doing this to strengthen my arch and work on proper form. I don't run in the Vibram sole shoes, but do believe that heel striking is a bad thing an encourages injury.
Yesterday I did a 3 mile run locally. Did the first mile in 8:00, which is pretty quick. Second mile in 7:40, fast for me. After mile two I was at a local track, and took off my shoes to run the first lap of mile 3. The track is made of cement and it was very warm. I stayed on one of the white lane stripes for a quarter mile. I'm doing this to strengthen my arch and work on proper form. I don't run in the Vibram sole shoes, but do believe that heel striking is a bad thing an encourages injury.
Last week I suffered some anxiety about my shoes. I've had custom orthodics since 1987 and typically this is not a problem for me. However, I bought Asics a couple weeks ago and they were giving me some pain in my right foot. It felt as if I was stepping on a golf ball along my arch and midfoot. So I went to Fleet Feet in Monterey and talked to the guy that helped me in 2009 when a month before the Big Sur Marathon my feet were bothering me. I bought some New Balance shoes last week and didn't experience any changes to the discomfort after a run. So I decided to strike out sans arch support. My feet aren't flat, but I've got a mental crutch as much as physical one in the orthodics.
So, yesterday's 3 mile run was my third without arch support. So far so good. As long as I strengthen my feet and arches I should be in good shape. We'll see.
Did 8 mile Quantico loop on Friday, averaging about 9:28 min per mile pace. Did a <3 mile trail run at Garrapata State Park on Tuesday that included a 550 ft elevation climb and baby rattlesnake on the trail. And did 7 miles from Monterey to Pacific Grove and back along the bay on Tuesday at a 8:30 pace. Right now my race pace is 8:55-9:05 and for my long runs I plan to run around 9:45-10:15 per minute. This is to follow the Hal Higdon plan of about a minute slower than race pace for long runs.
So that's where I stand right now. Training week 1 begins today. I plan to do a 10 miler this week.
Diet is steady. I currently weight 191 lbs. This is a great weight for me, considering I graduated high school at 195 and college somewhere around 210! I would like to run the race in November a bit lighter, maybe at 185 or so. We'll see. Only plan to cross train once per week right now so the emphasis is definitely on running. As the miles pile up this summer I may drop a few more lbs. Never a bad thing, and a wonderful side effect to running a lot. I've learned a lot about nutrition (though I still can't really spell it) though this has been a trial and error learning experience. My breakdown during the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon was disheartening, but I've learned from it. Replenishing depleted systems is important, and I will train smartly.
That's it for now.
