I made it...

21.26 miles that is in 3:41:40, it took me 3 tries but I did it today.

I won't say it was easy, in fact I pushed through more pain than I ever thought I would. I also never would have made it without the support of my lovely Wife. She gets up early on her day off and drives out and meets me at the 13 mile mark and takes all my pods and refills them with water and Gatorade for me. I am only able to carry 46 ozs of fluid so if she didn't do this for me there is no way I could go that far. And then to top it off when I get home she is making me a nice breakfast and boy am I hungry. My HRM says that I burned over 4600 calories for that run... wow.

I was good through mile 18 at that point I told my body "Just a little more than a 5k to go." At 18.5 miles my body said "hey this is where you got to last week, we could stop and walk a little" My reply was "Yeah thats what you told me last week and you lied you wouldn't start running again.

At mile 19 my body said " hey look 19 miles done you could stop here thats farther than last week" my reply " Ummmmm yeah we are doing 21. 19.75 miles my body said "oh come on look you have done 19.75 miles thats a lot" My reply was "yeah and so a mile and a half is just a little drop in the bucket.

At mile 20 my body really protested "look you just made to the farthest point you could please, please stop here." at that point I took my headphones out and said "shut the heck up you are going the full distance and that is all there is to it"

Fortunately my body listened to me or I quit listening, when I came around that last corner and saw the end of the last block I sped up. I don't think it was a big speed burst but it was more speed. When I got to the end I hurt but you know what not anymore than on any of my other long runs and as I write this the soreness is slowly fading but the knowledge that I did it is still with me.

It was important for me to make this distance today not because it was my third try but because last year this very weekend. The last one in Sep Dennis and I had a goal to run to Sutter and back on the bike path 9.2 miles. When we set that goal we were only running 3.5 miles at a time so it was ambitious but we made it. I wanted today the anniversary of that date to be the day I did the 21.26 and it was.

So, So, Soooooooooooo Close

Went out for my 21 mile run this morning. Felt really good, for the first hour I listened to a sermon by my old pastors son David Myatt. It was a really good message and kept my attention the whole time. After that it was music as usual. DW met me at about the 11 mile mark and refilled my water pods that were empty and then headed down to the 13 mile mark to wait there and refill my Gatorade pods.

At just before 17 miles I started to hurt bad, tried to push on and decided to allow myself a 5 minute walk. Did some stretches walked 5 minutes and off again but the pain just came back after about another mile. Did a couple more walk then runs and finally called it. Called DW and she came and picked me up. I am glad I did not continue to try to push. I was really sore but was able to stretch it out without too much pain.

Final total was 18.5 miles again my farthest run on my own and considering I have not been getting in as many miles during the week that I need that is not bad. Next week it will be farther even yet.

My HRM said I burned 4226 calories HOLY CRAP thats a lot. Spark People Said it was like 3100 I figure the real number is somewhere in between.

When I got home DW made me some awesome biscuits and gravy had a 1300 calorie breakfast that was needed.

Now out to the fruit stand for some yummy peaches

Yoga X

Well week 4 is done, finished with Yoga X today. I really looked forward to it for the first time. I guess I am finally getting used to it. I still can't hold some of the options as long as they can but I push and push and I know I will get there sooner or later.

Sunday I officially start the Phase 2 of the Classic routines should be fun. I know P90X and fun in the same sentence what can I say I must be ill.

21 mile run scheduled for tomorrow and the way I feel this week I am making it!!!

Have a great weekend

Week 4 Day 2 And Some Rain

OK so woke up this morning a 3:30 to go run, well when I let the dogs out I noticed it was just pouring rain. Run didn't happen except for the mad dash to my truck to roll up the windows...oops... let the dogs back in and went back to bed. I sure hope Denny didn't show up to run cause I was sleeping.

To bad the rain was here I was looking forward to running this morning, tomorrow is another day.

Core Synergistics today felt really good recovery week is great. Tomorrow is Kempo X Just bring it

Recovery Week

Alright started recovery week today and officially switched to the classic program from the lean program. Today was Yoga X and I think that is just what my body needed. I just finished and showered and man do I feel good. I like the way my body feels after the yoga but I sure dread that workout and I don't know why... but it is what it is.

Talked to Denny at church today, he is the young man that ran with me last monday. He didn't run any other day last week cause he had to work 12 hour shifts and besides he said I worked him so hard monday it was thursday before he felt normal again. Nice to know I can do that to a 20 year old...lol. Anyway he is going to run with me in the morning and at least one more day this week, I think it is good he is taking it slow. Who knows next year at the San Francisco Marathon it could be 3 of us Me, Dennis and Denny.

Well I hope your weekend was a good one and that the coming week doesn't beat you down.

Remeber just "Bring It!"

Almost

Set out to do 21 miles this morning and didn't make it. I fact 10 miles was as far as I got. I think a lot of things factored in, bonking this week being one and then me pushing the leg and back workout really hard. DW asked why I pushed so hard on my leg workout and my response was "cause I'm a guy" geesh she couldn't figure that out...lol...

I was very disapointed at first but then had a nice talk with myself and said "self just relax next week will be better no more bonking and you will make it just fine" I felt better after the self talk.

It was a good thing that DW was meeting me at about the 13 mile mark to refill my waters so that I didn't have to stash a cooler and could keep running while she refilled them for me. Since she hadn't passed me yet I just turned down the road I knew she was coming on and sure enough after about 5 minutes there was my ride home. At least I didn't have to walk like 4 miles.

Next week will be BETTER!!!!!

BONKED....

Yup thats what happened Tuesday morning on my run...BONKED... bigtime. I felt like I was running through wet concrete it happened at about the 2.5 mile mark and never got better. I really thought I was going to have to stop and walk and that was only on a 4 mile run!

I hink what happened was the limiting carbs. I did P90X last year while running but I was not logging anywhere near the miles/week that I am now, I think I simply depleted all my stores. I also think I wasn't eating enough calories for the ammount of exercise I was doing. So long story short I am eating my carbs. I know that P90X's diet guide has a formula but it is set up for those just doing P90X, I am traing for a marathon on top of P90X I should have seen this coming. Oh well I missed my workouts Tue and Wed, didn't run after Tue. I did legs, back and ab ripper x yesterday and felt great. Did Kempo X today feel great, so I guess the carbs were the problem.

Will be doing 21 miles tomorrow... Holy Crap!!!!! I can't hardly believe I will only need 5.2 more miles for the marathon.

Good news on Dennis' knee, I was talking to a longtime runner today and he said it really sounded like I.T. Band syndrome. Well I looked it up on cool running and sure enough all the symptoms listed are exactly what he is experiencing. So I printed the article for him and he is going to take it to the Doctors appt with him Tues.

Basically I.T. Band syndrome is caused by over training without enough stretching. Point 1 I had told him he was pushing hills way to much and to hard. Point 2 I told him to stretch more. I guess it just comes with age... wisdom that is. Its not that I have been running that much longer but I have taken the time to read all I could get my hands on about what I was getting myself into and how to prevent injury while doing it. I am 21 years older than Dennis and have had enough injuries along the way that I don't really want to have anymore at this juncture of my life.

AHHHHHHHHHH youth we knew everything back then.

Have a great weekend

New Direction

So Denny showed up at 5 this morning and we headed out for our run. I will have to say he did pretty good for his first run he made it almost 1.5 miles and then walked for a while and headed back and met me at the end, he did run about another mile after his walk. He is going to come over tomorrow morning but I bet he's real sore.

Dennis did try to run yesterday and still had that knee pain, so he is going to wait until he sees the doctor before he tries again. He did tell me he would ride his bike along with me on my long runs to keep me company, now that is pretty cool.

Did plyometrics today, it was suppose to be cardio x but that workout just wasn't enough for me, I am going to switch over to the classic from the lean program for phase 2 & 3. I did get my cardio up really good with plyo today and burned almost 1000 calories according to my HRM.

Hope your long weekend was good

Week 3 Already!?

Wow week 3 day 1 of P90X done today Core Synergistics. Hard for me to believe that it going by this fast. I am going to do another round in Jan but I am going to try to do it with a group of people from church so I think I am going to modify the lean and classic together cause I don't want to repeat the lean but don't want them to fail the classic either.

I might have someone to run with in the mornings during the week on my short runs. There is a young man at church that is going to run with me tomorrow, he wants to be a police officer and says he can't enter the academy all flabby... I agree with him but starting out at 4 miles may be a little ambitious for him although he did say he would walk if he needed to and my 4 mile route is a loop so I could pick him up on the way back. We shall see if he sticks with it.

Dennis was going to try a short run today I will see him tomorrow, I hope it worked for him but I did tell him he still needs to have a doctor look at that knee just to make sure its not tweeked.

Week2, 15 Miles And A Movie

Finished week 2 of P90X yesterday with Kempo X. I was kind of surprised it was the first time I had been able to do that workout with my heart rate monitor on. I pushed myself hard and kept up with them the whole time and could only get my HR to 143 at peak. Even when Tony said his was 164, I guess it has to do with my distance running. Good workout though and did burn a good ammount of calories.

I needed to carb load a little last night for my run today so I decided tha chinese sounded really good. Chow mein has a good ammount of carbs so off we go to a place I used to eat quite often... I don't know if they changed owners or what but the food was horrible. DW says it is probably cause we don't eat like that anymore... I just think that places food sucks now personally.

15.25 miles done this morning all by my lonesome. This was the longest run I have ever done on my own. It was kind of weird but not as bad as I had anticipated, like I have said before I know running is 90% mental and when you get over that mental hump you gots it beat. I am feeling it now and know I just have to get the miles in during the week to build the endurance back up. Next Saturday is going to be 21 miles that will be my longest run alone or otherwise, so it should be interesting to see how it goes.

OK so the title said something about a movie. I have wanted to see August Rush for quite sometime now and have just never gotten it. Shame on me, that movie was awesome, if you like music and haven't seen it you need to. It started a little slow but the wait was worth it. That movie will make you want to play or write a song. 5 stars. 2 thumbs up fantabulous and all those great accolades. I think I am going to buy it. I would like to have the soundtrack for my mp3 player while I am running, I could use it for inspiration while running.

Have a great and safe long weekend

Week 2 Day 5 and other things

Legs, Back and AB Ripper X today. I will say that I am getting farther already with the AB Ripper workout only on week 2 and can do far more than week one. Nice to see it come back so fast.

I have run 4 miles yesterday and this morning and will run 4 in the morning again tomorrow. It feels good to get back in routine, I really need to get the miles logged if I am going to do this marathon. I plan on doing 15 miles on Sat it will be kinda weird cause that is the longest I have ever run by myself.

Next week I plan on 4 miles every morning and then 21 on Sat, I might be pushing a little but I was looking at my spreadsheet and it has been 6 weeks since we did our last 20 mile run and as fast as time is going December will be here before I know it.

I really hope I can keep myself pushed for the long run, I have a goal set and was thinking about it the other day, when I first started running I was the only one pushing me. I was pushing me towards a goal and I made it. Granted that goal was only 3 miles but I went from nothing to that. I think I just need to push back the I hope I can make it thoughts and focus on the I know I can make it, I don't have to have someone there with me, although that is nice I can and will do this.

That last part was for me :) have a great day

Now Things Are Interesting

We tried to run after work today but after only about a 1/4 mile Dennis' knee started giving him pain again.... so we had to stop. He is going to have one of the physical therapists look at it at work tomorrow but I have a feeling he is gonna be on the shelf for a while. This leaves me to go the marathon training on my own. I think I am up for that and we shall see, it will be a little weird as we have trained as a team for a long time now but I really want to do this.

Having decided that I registered for the Cowtown Core Logic half marathon on Oct. 4th it is one we were planning to do and I figured if I registered today I would have to keep pushing through. Afterall there is a no refund policy.

I feel really bad for Dennis he has worked hard and this is eating at him but at the same time I don't want to see him hurt himself, he is only 26 and will bounce back from this and if he misses the marathon there is always the San Francisco marathon next July and we are doing that one. I want my picture of running across the Golden Gate Bridge.

As for P90X I got up at 4 am and did Arm and shoulders with AB Ripper X this morning. I am going to have to switch back to P90X in the afternoon and running in the morning. I always preffered running in the early morning only did the afternoons so I could run with Dennis.