A change of heart...

Well, after my reoccurring ITBS problems, I have only run a few times in the past month, but I have kept my cardio reasonably high at the gym by riding stationary bikes. I had resigned myself to not running the marathon, but I've had a change of heart and will attempt it this Saturday. My time is certainly going to be slower than I was planning on, but I will still be able to say I ran a marathon and it will set my PR bar pretty low for me to be able to break it next time. For those that will be there, I will be the slow guy with the saved head and goatee (Bib#816).

After initially deciding to drop out of the race, I had canceled my hotel reservations. So last night when I decided I was back in, I checked and there was not a single hotel room left in logan or brigham city. I've been searching the hotel sites over and over again all day today hoping that someone would cancel their reservations and luckily, at about 5:30 this evening a hotel room at the Quality Inn came available. Better yet, it has 2 queen sized beds and the option for a crib, so Sarah and the kids are making the trip as well. I'm so excited that they will be there to cheer me on, it will absolutely help me push through to the finish line knowing that they will be there waiting for me.

Day 87

Now that I am starting to run at night during the week, I really need to stop procrastinating, especially on my longer runs. My training plan called for 9 miles, so I decided it might be helpful for my fitness to run up 3900 South to Wasatch Blvd. and back. I was completely gassed trying to run up some of those hills and my time going up really sucked. I did, however give my Amphipod Full Tilt Hydration pack another try and had no issues with it at all, so at least I got that out of it as well. I ended up going 9.45 miles in 1:53:07 for a very sad pace of 11:58 (I told you going up killed my pace). I did keep my heart rate down though to an average heart rate of 167 bpm.

I just can't win

I've decided to do my weekday runs in the evening now because I am having too hard of a time waking up early enough to get the runs in now that I have to be to work by 7:30. So yesterday I was ready to do my run, then remembered that my Dad needed a ride to the Instacare to get another shot of antibiotics for his cellulitis. So I picked him up at 7, thinking it shouldn't take too long since he had already been seen the night before and just needed a 2nd shot. The Dr ended up thinking the cellulitis was still spreading, so she took more blood work to test and said that if his white cell count was higher, we'd need to take him to the ER. After waiting forever, the results came back and it had dropped, so he finally got his shot and I took him home. I didn't end up getting home until about 9:30, and I still needed to finish loading some things onto a computer that I am fixing for a friend at work, so I wasn't able to run at all. I am going to get my run in tonight no matter what, since it is 9 miles.

I am also thinking about running another half marathon coming up in a few weeks. I've got to get some longer runs in anyway, and this one is a fundraiser for an organization that provides financial assistance to families who have lost young children to cancer. They are closin the new Legacy Parkway and the entire race is on the parkway itself. They have a half marathon, 2 mile fun run and a 20 mile bike tour for any interested. Here is the info.

Oops, I forgot to post the results

Distance: 13.15 miles
Duration: 2:34:59.01
Pace: 11:48 / mile

Day 83 - Provo River Half Marathon

Another case of bad luck for me where everything seemed to go wrong. My calves started cramping around the 2 mile mark, then Mother Nature Called and I ended up standing in line at the bathroom for 10+ minutes, then to top it off my hip (IT Band) started hurting around mile 9, which really slowed my pace. But, I still pushed through it all and finished, so I will take it and use it as motivation to keep my training up for the Top of Utah Marathon coming up.

Day 76

If you were wondering, no I have not died. My IT Band flared up so bad that I could barely walk and I had to take a few weeks off to rest. I was so bummed out about it, that I kinda just blew off the blog. It finally started feeling better last week, so this past Monday I went out for a short run and there was little to no painm so I am getting back into the training. My hardest thing right now to do is slow down my pace, I keep going out at a much faster pace that I can sustain right now since the injury, so I have to keep catching myself and I have to focus on shortening my stride which helps keep my IT Band from hurting too much. Today is supposed to be a long run, but Sarah has got our whole day scheduled and planned already, so I decided to swap rest days and I will go out for the long run tomorrow, though it won't be the 16 miles that the plan calls for since I missed a few weeks, I will probably do 10-12. As long as I am feeling relatively well, I still plan on running the Provo River Half Marathon next Saturday. I really want to beat my 2:14:09 pace that I ran in it 2 years ago and I think I have a good chance at it this year as long as I can stay somewhat healthy between now and then.

Day 51 and 52

I took the last 2 days off as well to see if I can get rid of this pain. Sarah suprised me today and took me to Salt Lake Running Company to get me an early Anniversary present - The Marathon Stick. It's for massaging my muscles after running and it helps push the lactic acid from your muscles which aids in your recovery. I also had a chance to talk to Seth Wold who helped me pick the right Stick model for me and gave me a lot of advice. I described my hip pain to him and found out it's my ITB. I had read that it might be my ITB, but because my knee hadn't hurt at all, I kind of blew it off before. Seth gave me advice on using the stick to help with my ITB. Seth Wold is currently the fastest Marathon runner in Utah - he ran a 2:22 marathon in winning Ogden this year. I always love going to Salt Lake Running Company instead of just going to a big sports chain store because the workers are all runners and I pick up a lot of great advise from them.

Day 50

Today was my rest day, which was well needed. My hip/upper leg still has a small pain in it, so I may take 1 more day off to try and get it to heal a little more.

Day 48

Well, I got home late because our city puts on a fireworks show every year on the 3rd of July, so I got out later than I wanted to (about 7:30). Because of missing 2 long runs while I was hurt, then coming back during a step back week, today's run was 5 miles longer than my previous longest run during this training, so I once again ignored my pace and went purely by my heart rate because I didn't want to hurt myself. I knew that my little 20 oz water bottle wasn't going to be enough, so I strapped my 2 liter camelback full of powerbar endurance drink on and ran 12.0 miles in 2:21:33 for an average pace of 11:47. My average heart rate was 165. I was a little slower than I wanted, but I felt great at the end and made sure to do just about every stretch I could think of.

Day 47

Today was a rest day and I worked a bit later than I normally do, so I woke up and made everyone breakfast. After work, we were invited by my friend Ryan to go over to his Mom's house by Granite High to hang out and watch fireworks. We had a great time, although I shouldn't have eaten 3 hot dogs. Now it's late at night the night before I am supposed to run 12 miles and I am still awake. I just loaded up my camelback with some powerbar sports drink and put it in the fridge so that I can just grab it and go in the morning. This will be my first time running with it, but I won't be able to carry enough to take me through the run otherwise.

Day 46

I slept in today so I was already in a hurry, so of course I start running and my right hip flexor started hurting which forced me to slow my pace a mile into the run. I ended up stopping around halfway and doing some lunges to stretch out my hip. That lessened the pain and I was able to speed up again. I think it was hurting because I was running a little late yesterday and didn't stretch after my run as much as I normally do. My mile splits were 9:33, 11:39, 10:36. My full numbers for the run were 3.01 miles in 31:51 for an avg pace of 10:36. My avg heart rate was 152 bpm.

Day 45

I woke up early and got in 6 miles before work, it felt great, though I was sure to keep my pace down a little over the first half. My mile splits were 11:16, 11:41, 11:41, 11:16, 10:52 and 10:00. The totals ended up being 6.01 miles in 1:06:53 for a pace of 11:08/mile. My avg heart rate was 159.

Day 44

I was really tired this morning and kept resetting my alarm, so I ran faster more out of necessity than planning. I ran 3.00 miles in 29:36 for an avg pace of 9:53/mile. My avg heart rate was 167. Hopefully I get more sleep tonight since I will be waking up extra early in order to run 6 miles tomorrow.

Day 43

Today was a rest day, after work I did a little bit of yard work, we took the kids to a park with their scooters and let them ride around for a while, then we came home and made banana smoothies. Not too bad of a day. I also weighed in at 178.8, which is down from my high of 204 at the start of the year.

Day 42

Today is my cross training day. I always have a problem on Sundays because I like to sleep in after a long week, then between church and family dinner, there is not much time left. We decided to go for a walk as a family along the Jordan River Parkway and feed some ducks. It's probably less than I should have done, but at least I got my heart going a little bit pushing the stroller down the trail. :)

Day 41

We went fishing this morning and then again this evening, so the only time I had to run was in the afternoon. Wow, that sucked. I made it through the 7 miles, but at a lot slower pace than I would have liked. I ended up running 7.00 miles in 1:24:27 for a pace of 12:04/mile. My avg heart rate was 168 bpm.

Day 40

Today was a rest day, which helps after running 8 miles in the last 2 days and then getting ready to run 7 miles tomorrow, all in my first week back from taking time off to let my knee recover. My body feels great now, no pain at all which I am thankful for. I really like my new shoes, they are much more comfortable than my Nike's. I'm going to try to get to sleep early tonight because besides running 7 miles, I am taking my kids fishing in the morning as well.

Day 39

I ran in the evening today as well because I didn't think it was a good idea to only have 8 hours between my runs as I am just 5 days away from recovering from knee pain. I love running on the Jordan River Parkway, but the bugs at night are a pain. Today's run was 3.00 miles in 31:40 for a pace of 10:33/mile. My avg. heart rate as 173 bpm.

Day 38

I stayed up way too late last night, so I was too tired to wake up this morning. So, I ran my 5 miles at night. It was pretty hot, so I waited until the sun went down. Sarah decided it would be fun to bring her and the kids and let the kids play at a playground along the trail while I ran, which did motivate me at the end to push a little bit to get done as it was getting pretty dark. My final numbers were 5.00 miles in 54:38 for an avg. pace of 10:55/mile. My average heart rate was 179 bpm.

Day 37

It feels great to be back healthy and running, I got up early and drove out to the 4800 south trail head of the Jordan River Parkway. I kept an eye on my heart rate and ignored my pace to make sure I didn't over do it while I am coming back, so I was a little slower than I would normally like. My run was 3.0 miles in 33:30 for a pace of 11:10/mile. My average heart rate was 158 bpm.

Day 36

Well, today was a rest day, so naturally I went for a hike. I took the day off and we all went on a hike up to Timpanogos Cave. For those who don't know, it's a 1.5 mile hike each way with a 1000+ rise in elevation. I carried my 3 year old Ella the whole way up and down while Sarah carried our baby Jocelyn in a baby carrier. The other 3 kids (Lindsey-5, Emery-7 and Robbie-9) hiked the entire thing, I was very proud of them.

Day 35

My knee felt great this morning, so after the rain stopped, I decided to go for a short and slow run to test it out. I drove down to the Jordan River Parkway for a run so that I could still run on asphalt instead of concrete, but without the crown that streets have. I started out my first mile at a 10:35 pace, so I slowed it down and was at 11:12 for my 2nd mile which should have been about right. Then, letting my competitiveness kick in, I started thinking that was too slow and I kicked it up for my last mile and finished the last mile in 10:38. I hadn't been watching my heart rate much though and was shocked to see that in the last mile, it reached 192 bpm (my supposed max heart rate calculates to 191 bpm). While I was certainly pushing it, I didn't feel like I was giving it my maximum effort. Luckily, my knee still feels great, so the run was a success although I went faster than I should have. I am going to ease back into my training schedule now, giving myself a rest day tomorrow, though I may change the view on my watch and replace the larger pace field with my heart rate for a little while and not worry about pace at all. This does make me want to calculate my max heart rate more accurately by running hill repeats to push it as high as I can, but I am going to wait until after the marathon for that.

My final stats were 3.00 miles in 32:28 for an average pace of 10:48/mile. My average heart rate was 177 bpm.

Day 34

I haven't been getting more than 4-5 hours of sleep every night this week, so it was great being able to sleep in today. I finally got up around 9, and Lindsey, Ella and I ran to Costco to grab a few things. When we got home, I hurried and got the lawn mowed just in time, because it started raining right as I finished and it poured for a long time. Sarah put me to work today though since I couldn't be outside doing yard work. We swapped the boys and girls rooms since the girls need more space since there are 3 of them. I think it would have been easier work digging up trees and pulling weeds like I had planned. :)

My knee is probably about 95%, I only felt a hint of soreness, not really pain today. I may go out for a short run tomorrow morning to test it out (and try my new shoes :) ).

Day 33

My knee is nearly healed, just a little bit of pain off and on today. My new shoes got here today, I can't wait to go out in them.

Day 32

I woke up today without any pain in my knee at all, which was the first time since this happened. It usually hurts the most when I first get out of bed, then lessens as it warms up during the day. There is still a little pain there if I have been walking for a while, but not bad at all.

Day 31

Well, my knee was feeling great today with only a small amount of pain. But then, my cousin Sidney gave Robbie his old skateboard while we were at their house for a birthday party. When we got home, I let Robbie try it out in the alley next to our house, but then when we were about to go in, I decided to show off and took a turn on the board. It started off well, but it was dark and I didn't see a rock which brought the board to a halt and sent me sprawling. I put out my foot to catch my balance and not fall and it just happened to be my left foot and my knee is hurting again. I am an idiot.

Day 30

My knee is feeling much better today, other than a couple of times, I didn't feel any pain at all. I think I should be ready to ease back into my training next week if everything continues.

Day 29

After discussing my symptoms with some friends online, I am 99% sure that I have pes anserine bursitis. My symptoms match up perfectly with it, plus it is said that having tight hamstrings is a big cause of this, which anyone who has seen me try to stretch can attest to me having some of the tightest hamstrings possible. I have no flexibility whatsoever, it's pretty sad. The good news is that it's nothing big and it should go away after a week or 2. Also, it helps knowing what it is so that I can work on stretching exercises for my hamstrings as well as strengthening my quads.

http://www.sports-injury-info.com/pes-anserine-bursitis.html

Day 28

It's painfully slow, but there is some progress in the my recovery. The pain in my knee is slightly less painful. I'm hoping that it doesn't take too much longer.

Day 27

My knee feels slightly better, but still pretty painful, especially to the touch. I am going to rest it another week, then if it still is hurting I will go in and have it checked to see if is more than just tendonitis or bursitis. This sucks.

Day 26

Not being able to run is killing me. I am going stir crazy. It is feeling better though, so hopefully it won't be too much longer. I am going to wait until there is no pain and I have my new shoes.

Day 25

Well, I think I am going to have to take a week or so off (hopefully) because my knee is still hurting. Based on where it is, I think it is just bursitis or tendonitis, but I am going to rest it. I have also decided to start running the Jordan River Parkway instead of on uneven roads, plus I am going to go with a Motion Control shoe rather than the Structured Nike Triax 11's that I have been using because based on the wear patterns on my shoes, I am still overpronating in the Triax's. I just bought some ASICS GEL-FOUNDATION 8's for 25% off at footlocker.com.

Day 24

Today was not a good day. I woke up and got out of bed and as soon as I stepped, I felt a pain in my left knee. I am not sure if I laid on it weird, or if it is something that has just been gradual and it is finally presenting itself, but it's a small but sharp pain on the inside lower part of my left knee. I decided to still go on the run, hoping that it would go away after I warm it up. After about a half mile at a 9:20 pace, the pain was still there and I felt like I was hobbling, so I cit the run short. I've iced it down and also had an ace bandage on it at various times during the day and it is still a little sore, but not much. I think I may need to look into getting some new shoes based on this though. I am an over-pronator and currently run in Nike Air Triax 11s which are stability shoes, but my wear patterns on the shoes still show some very uneven wear, so I will probably buy some motion control shoes to see if they will help. I think that these shoes also are a little narrow which has something to do with the foot pain that I seem to continually get.

My stats today were 0.54 miles in 5:02 for an average pace of 9:20/mile. My average heart rate was 149 bpm.

Day 23

Today was the first running day of my 4th week of training and although I didn't get enough sleep again last night, I felt great out there this morning. It was about 57 degrees and a little bit windy, but luckily it wasn't too bad. I continue to feel better and better out there and I think my pace is starting to show that. Today was my slow day in which I was trying to keep my heart rate around the low to mid 160's which I did for the most part, though I kind of surged at the end and it got up to a max of 183. The run ended up being 3.00 miles in 30:28 for an average pace of 10:09. My average heart rate was 163 bpm.

I am getting faster and I was interested in a comparison in my progress in just a week (since this is my 2nd Tuesday easy run since I got the Garmin and have heart rate data to show similar effort) and was happy with what I found. On 6/2, my pace was avg. heart rate was 161 bpm and my pace was 10:29/mile. So, today I improved my pace by 20 seconds/mile and my avg heart rate was within 2 bpm.

Day 22

Today was a rest day which was nice because I was exhausted this morning. I didn't get much sleep last night, so I reset the alarm about a dozen times this morning. I'm going to hopefully get to bed earlier tonight so that I will feel a lot better in the morning when I go out for my run. I just hope that it isn't raining while I run.

Day 21

Today is the end of week 3 and called for an hour of cross training. I normally have been trying to do it in the mornings, but it didn't work out today. The plan recommends walking, biking or swimming, so I thought it would be fun to go on a family walk. We walked about 2 miles in a little over an hour as I pulled Lindsey and Ella in a wagon while Sarah pushed Jocelyn in a stroller and the boys walked. We had a great time, even if it was kinda weird going for a walk with 5 kids at 9 at night :)

End of Week 3 stats - 15.00 miles in 2:35:33 for a pace of 10:22/mile.
Training totals so far - 46.7 miles in 8:23:17 for a pace of 10:46/mile.

Day 20

This week is a step back week, so the long run was only 5 miles, but it goes up to 9 next week. I was up too late again last night after making the bad decision to get our grocery shopping done last night. I also have to work today still, so I got up at out the door by about 5:45 this morning, hoping to be done and to work by 7:30. My run was 5.00 miles in 53:13 for a pace of 10:38/mile. My avg. heart rate was 158 bpm.

Day 19

Today is a rest day, and it certainly is nice considering I've been pushing myself a little faster this week, not to mention that my last 2 rest days were spent doing yard work the entire days. I've been at work all day, and then we are going to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate the kid's last day of school. I have to work tomorrow as well as get a 5 mile run in early before work, so hopefully I will be able to get to bed somewhat early (ie:before midnight) tonight. I am thinking about driving down to a trail head and doing my run on the Jordan River Parkway. It will depend on how early I am able to get up though.

Day 18

Today was another 3 mile run at an easy/recovery pace which was helpful because I was a little bit sore still from pushing myself yesterday. I tried to keep as even of a pace as I could through the whole thing which I did a reasonably good job of. I finished up running 3.00 miles in 32:02 at a pace of 10:40/mile. My average heart rate was 153 bpm.

Day 17

I was a little bit sore today, but once I got out running it all went away and I was feeling great. That was my best run by far up to this point in training. Wednesdays are the training days where I am supposed to push myself as fast as I can handle, it should be at or near race pace. Also, today's run went up a mile (Wednesday runs add a mile every 2 weeks to a max of 10 miles). My run today was 4.00 miles in 38:51 for a 9:42/mile pace. My average heart rate was 170 bpm.

Day 16

I felt better today than I did on my last run, but I still need to be getting more sleep. It was about 60 degrees this morning which felt great. I ran 3.00 miles in 31:25 for an average pace of 10:28/mile. My average heart rate was 161 bpm.

Day 15

This was another "rest day", I've got to stop doing this. I working out in the yard for about 9 hours today, better that the 12 or so from my last rest day, but still too much. I started just meaning to dig up the chinese elms that keep sprouting up everywhere, but I ended up going along the fence and digging up grass to make a flower bed (there were already rose bushes along that fence, but surrounded by grass. My back is sore, I'm glad the training only calls for an easy 3 mile run tomorrow, I just hope that the rain stops by morning.

Day 14

No pilates this week for me since Robbie has been hogging the front room television :). I did some workouts with free weights as well as some stretching exercises to hopefully help me become more flexible, plus I did 6 sets of 25 crunches to work on my core. I wanted to go for a walk this evening, but had family over and it was too late by the time they left.

End of Week 2 stats - 16.16 miles in 2:57:26 for a pace of 10:58/mile.
Training totals so far - 31.66 miles in 5:47:43 for a pace of 10:59/mile.

Day 13

I was really kicking myself this morning when I woke up for working for 12 hours in the yard yesterday. I was sore all over and could barely move getting out of bed, but after some stretching, and energy bar and a few cups of water, I got myself out on the road, though at a much slower pace. It was my "long run" day today and it called for 7 miles at an easy pace. My numbers were 7.00 miles in 1:20:57 for an average pace of 11:33/mile. My average heart rate was 164 bpm, which was right in the area it needed to be for this workout.

A funny thing happened to me during my run though. Since I was going so far, I brought a water bottle with my full of Gatorade. About 1.5 miles into my run, a little sparrow up ahead comes flying directly at my at about chest level. When he got about 5 feet from me, I jumped out of the way and he swerved the other way. Over the next 300 feet or so, he swooped down at me 4 more times trying to grab at the water bottle in my hand. I don't know if it was the color the bottle (neon green) or what, but he finally flew back to the flock of other birds on the power lines and left me alone.

Day 12

Well, today was technically a rest day, but it ended up only being a rest day in terms of not running. I was outside from about 8:30 this morning to about 9:00 this evening doing a mountain of yard work that I have been putting off. I ended up drinking about 80 ounces of Gatorade, 32 ounces of water and 16 ounces of milk, plus I had a huge chicken fajita, turkey sandwich and a slim fast shake this morning. Oh yeah, and Sarah made homemade chocolate chip coconut cookies and I had 2 of those. Even after eating that mountain of calories and drinking all that, I am lighter right now that when I got up this morning. I am going to go watch a movie with my kids and have my feet in a foot bath/massager for about an hour, so hopefully I won't be too sore during my long run tomorrow.

Day 11

Today was a crazy day. My oldest son had surgery to repair a Ventral Hernia, so I wasn't able to run early in the morning like I usually do. The surgery all went well and we came home, then my early Father's Day present came - a Garmin Forerunner 305. I love it because besides being much more accurate than Nike+, the additional data that it gives is great for my training (elevation info, heart rate monitor, 1000% better graphing data, etc.) But, by the time I was able to get out to run, it was almost 7pm and it was about 83 degrees, much hotter than the 55 it has been when I run in the morning. I downed an energy gel (I tried a new one, Honey Stinger brand - too thick and sticky for my tastes) and a glass of water and headed out. The training program calls for an easy run on Thursdays, so I intended to keep somewhere around a 10:30-11 minute pace, but the heat and sun was really getting to me the further I went into the run. I ended up running 3 miles in 33:19 for a pace of 11:06/mile and an average heart beat rate of 165 (with that heat, it kept climbing until it peaked at 185 bpm at the end of the run).

I haven't been able to find a similar running widget like I post with the Nike+ runs, but here is a link to the workout, it's amazing all of the additional data that I get with my Garmin.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/6237468

Day 10

I still haven't gotten back to were I was before the injuries 2 a year and a half ago, but I am certainly happy with my progress. In this training program, Wednesdays are the hard days where you are supposed to run at or near your race pace. I still want to get faster than this, but today was my best workout so far. I ran 3.02 miles in 29:52 for a pace of 9:52/mile.

Day 9

I woke up earlier than I have been because I have to go into work a little earlier this week. I felt great though and was excited to get back out running after a few days without running. I paid more attention to my pace today and it paid off with a faster pace than I have been doing and I feel great. Today's run was 3.14 miles in 33:17 for a pace of 10:35/mile.

Day 8

Today is another rest day, but I am working today so I still was not able to sleep in at all. That Yoga/Pilates workout I did yesterday must have been pretty good because my abs have been sore since. I know these rest days are important and will help me stay healthy, but they sure are difficult sometimes, I just want to get out there and run, but I will stick with the program and keep my eyes on the long term goal.

Day 7

This is the end of week 1 and calls for 1 hour of cross training. I'd like to mix some swimming in here during the 18 weeks, but today I decided to focus on my core and upper body. For core workouts, my wife suggested that I try her Yoga/Pilates video. I've had a few suggestions on doing Yoga to workout your core, so I figured why not. I could certainly feel it working my abs, but next time I need to make sure I wake up before my kids, so that I don't have 4 kids all pointing out to me that "this is for Mommies". The workout lasted a half hour and other than the time that the elastic band slipped off of my foot and snapped me across the back of my legs, it felt good. To regain my kids masculine view of their father, I spent the last 30 minutes doing bench presses and curls. :)

End of week 1 stats - 15.5 miles in 2:50:17 for a 10:59/mile pace and most importantly, my body feels great and I've had no injuries. I think the easing into the mileage that Hal Higdon put into the training program is a great idea and I am looking forward to going into the marathon injury free.

Also, my wonderful wife is letting me get my fathers day present early this year. She is giving me a Garmin Forerunner 305 that we found a smoking deal on. I'm excited for it to get here so I can use the GPS monitoring to keep track of elevation as well as speed and distance, plus the heart monitor will be a great way for me to know exactly how far to push myself and watch my progress.

Day 6

I actually surprised myself by waking up at about 6:15 and getting out by 6:45 instead of resetting the alarm a few dozen times and rolling out of bed around 8. I'm glad I did though because it is so much nicer to run early in the morning when it is still cool and somewhat quiet. I was very happy with my run today, I felt good and I was able to keep a somewhat steady pace. My cardio is still a bit ahead of my legs, I doubt I am getting my heart rate up all that high at this pace, but I want to wait a little while to get my pace faster until my legs feel a bit better so that I don't hurt myself. Today's run was 6.03 miles in 1:06:03 for a pace of 10:56/mile.

Day 5

Friday's are rest days designed to have you rest up for the longer runs on Saturdays. It works out well for me because I have got a busy day today taking Robbie to to the Pediatric Surgeon for a consultation about his hernia. I also had a filing come out last night when I decided to have a couple of dots candy that I had bought for the kids when we walked to blockbuster, so I also need to get into a dentist, but I am waiting to find out what goes on at the consultation this afternoon with Robbie before I schedule anything for that.

Day 4

I got a little bit more sleep than before, but still felt pretty tired this morning. I got out about 30 minutes later than I wanted to, but still had a decent run. My stats this morning were 3.12 miles in 34:18 for a pace of 10:58/mi. At least I am consistent, I think after a few weeks more of this my legs will have a little bit more conditioning and I will be able to push the pace a bit more.

Day 3

Once again I had a poor nights sleep and ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep, so I was not feeling energized this morning, but I still got my self out on the road. Once again the training program called for a 3 mile run, which I was really sluggish in until the latter part of the run. I ended up running a tiny bit faster than I did yesterday, which surprises me, but not by much. My final numbers were 3.16 miles in 34:47 for a pace of 11:00/mile.

Day 2

I just got back from my first official run of the new training program. It was hard to get much sleep last night because it was so hot in my house and I was worrying about my oldest son, Robbie, who developed a hernia yesterday and after a trip to the ER, we have a referral for a pediatric surgeon to have it surgically repaired. Despite all of that though, I finally dragged myself out of bed and got out for an easy run. According to my Nike+ I ran 3.18 miles in 35'06" for an 11:02/mi pace (yes, I'm still pretty slow). The time and mileage is right, but for some reason the graph on the nike site shows me finishing at a 34:50 pace, so I'm not sure exactly how that happened. I paused the workout when i stopped, then took the ipod out of my arm band and ended it, but perhaps I accidentally started it again for a few seconds while i was trying to turn it off. I am feeling pretty good though and love starting my day off with a run.

Day 1

Today is the official start to my training schedule, although it is a rest day. In the training plan, Hal Higdon says to spend this first day "contemplating the training that will begin tomorrow." I'm excited to start training, I just hope I am able to stay injury free and make it to September 19th. I think the thing I will have the hardest time with is making sure I get enough sleep and that I am able to get myself out of bed each morning. I've got to work on my core strength also to improve my running and endurance, so if anyone has any suggestions for core excersizes other than crunches, I'd love to hear them.

Here I go.

I started running 2 years ago and have had a blast, but after hurting my foot a few times that year (I suspect from overtraining), my running started to become very infrequent. I ran 2 half marathons that year, so I have signed up for the Top of Utah Marathon which is being run September 19th. I’ve settled on Hal Higdon’s Novice I training schedule which I start this week. I’m going to use this blog to record my training, health and emotions leading up to the marathon.