So, after making it through trapeze school without injury I'm one week away. This has been a great experience and even if I drop out at mile 17 I'm so glad I did it. I'm in the best shape I have been in since I was in my 20's, and I feel great. This is one of those things that when you finish no one can take from you. I'm so excited for this next week to go by so that bit can ml be race day.
I have chosen to stay with the New Balance Minimus series. These are Minimus 2's. I was able to pick up these two pairs for dirt cheap thanks to Tori. I originally ordered a neon yellow pair, but they didn't fit right and I had to ship them back. They didn't have my size in that color after I returned them, so Tori ordered me the gray and black pair to replace them. I received the second pair on Thursday the 28th of March. I am going to try to break them both in by the race.
So, here is the halfway mark. 41 days until the race and I feel OK. I'm not going to lie and say I feel great, but all in all I have been doing well. Recently I have been having some sleeping problems that have been nagging me, and that is making it harder to get motivated in the morning.
I completed my for half-marathon distance run this past weekend and I felt better than expected. I finished in 1:50 (8:40/mile) and burned 2001 calories. I was tired later in the night, but not as wiped as expected.
So, the biggest issues heading into the second half of my training are:
- Burning through water weight. Currently I'm losing about 5lbs per 10 miles.
- Learning what foods react best with my body for runs. I don't want to eat the wrong thing and need to go to the bathroom 5 miles into the race.
- Breaking in my new running shoes. I just ordered 2 new pairs of NB Minimus 2's through Tori's work.
So, that's it in a nutshell. I just need to keep training (with more core workouts) and push the next distance. Unfortunately I just saw that its supposed to snow AGAIN this weekend!
I ran with MapMyRun! Distance: 3.00mi, time: 26:00, pace: 8:40min/mi, speed: 6.92mi/h. http://mapmyrun.com/profile/JMontiverdi</div>
Damn! These treadmill runs are killing me. 8 miles on a treadmill is a level of hell that no one should have to endure. The Bruins are on, so this will be short. Done.
I ran with MapMyRun! Distance: 8.00mi, time: 01:12:00, pace: 9:00min/mi, speed: 6.67mi/h. http://mapmyrun.com/profile/JMontiverdi
Today was a great workout day. First thing this morning I hopped on the treadmill and knocked out 8 miles. I felt great other than wanting to tear my hair out after being on a treadmill for that long. I actually feel like the treadmill was created to be a torture device, and its combination with people being obsessed with bad TV is killer.
I had the added bonus of having a girl from the gym tell me that I was a beast today. Compliments always help the moral and give you fuel for the next few workouts.
There are less than 50 days left for training. I need to decide if I just want to finish the race for fun, or go for time
If I go for time I would love to be under 4 hours. I know that's a big goal but we'll see what happens.
I ran with MapMyRun! Distance: 8.00mi, time: 01:12:00, pace: 9:00min/mi, speed: 6.67mi/h. http://mapmyrun.com/profile/JMontiverdi
As I get closer the the race I find myself getting more aggressive with my average speed. In this run I was trying to stay a bit slower and I was fighting ice and snow. Its a good thing the conditions are so crappy because it is helping me slow down a bit.
I recieved an email today from the BAA to confirm my personal information. It said we are 7 weeks out and they need to make sure we are aware that a package will be coming from them with some important information. This will include our pickup ticket for our number. We cant pick up our numbers until the weekend before the race. I am looking into getting a hotel room so that I dont have to drive to Boston that morning to get on a bus and come back to Hopkinton.
We are watching the NFL combine right now and I cant imagine running as fast as these guys. Running a 4.34 40 yard dash is crazy. I would be happy if I could run an 8.00 40.
I ran with MapMyRun! Distance: 9.20mi, time: 01:24:03, pace: 9:08min/mi, speed: 6.57mi/h. http://mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=5136131263622545409
Wow, its been 15 days since my last post and I have learned one thing! There is a reason people from New England don't win the Boston Marathon. In a word, SNOW!!!
I just started running and training again again. Yes, that's two agains. Almost starting over with 50 days left makes my training a bit tough. I have a 20 mile run with Karmin schedule for the end of March. Right now I can do a 13 mile run without an issue. I ran 6 miles this morning on the treadmill in 56 minutes. I HATE RUNNING ON THE TREADMILL! Its so boring to be running for an hour just staring at a crappy TV with a show you don't like on it. It looks like I might have to stick with treadmills for a little bit longer since we are supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow this weekend.
I'm thinking of making a gaming and technology Blogger site. What do you think?
Sicko! I'm finding that I'm able to run longer distances at faster speeds now. Its just the beginning, but after about a mile and a half I find cruise control kicks in. Once I'm in that groove I feel like I can keep going for as long as I need too (Sicko, again!).
I ran with MapMyRun! Distance: 6.05mi, time: 52:49, pace: 8:44min/mi, speed: 6.87mi/h. http://mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=893136015302048190
Today I ran out of time between work and things at home and I couldnt run. This is unfortunate because im already have to compress my training schedule since its based on 18 weeks and I started with only 13 weeks.
The kids came home sick and apprently gave it to mom so we're giving her the day off. Thanks mom for being a trooper and dealing with these monsters on a weekly basis.
I find these cross training days a bit of a waste. Not that I want to run more, but I dont have the means to do a lot of cross training. I will do some insanity, but I dont want to do that too much because it could be bad for my knees.
I dont have too much to say today. :/
I ran my first long run today, and due to some navigational issues I ended with only 7 miles instead of 8. Whoops.
I ran with MapMyRun! Distance: 7.03mi, time: 01:05:05, pace: 9:16min/mi, speed: 6.48mi/h. http://mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=661135990920199780
The kids were away for the weekend and I'm just catching up on my blog now. Saturday was a nice relaxing day. I can't believe how rested I will be when I head to work on Monday.
I ran with MapMyRun! Distance: 3.00mi, time: 24:28, pace: 8:09min/mi, speed: 7.37mi/h.
http://mapmyrun.com/view_route?r=695135983013747377
So, people we need to have a talk. I know people are reading these and not one person has commented saying "WAAA, now quit your bitching". For the past couple of days its been, "I had a shitty day". Reading it now I'm like damn I'm a whiney bitch. So, that's life and move on time.
So, today was a better day. I got to work and put in a 5.3 mile run first thing. I didn't follow the heart rate training because I can't get my monitor to work correctly. So, I ran a bit too fast and finished my run at a pace of 8:51/mile and I burned about 800 calories.
Well today started out sputtering since I couldn't sleep due to the massive wind storm we had last night. So, damn I was tired.
Things seem to get a bit better when I found out that it was warm enough to run in shorts for the first time this year. I enjoyed it so much that I realize after it was too late that I was running too fast. I finished my 3.7 mile run in 32:00 which is a 8:49 pace burning about 550 calories.
Then I received an email telling me that I didn't get the job I interviewed for and that was frustrating. Then later tonight the Bruins lost their first game of the season. This has been a very frustrating week.
Let's hope tomorrow is better.
So let me start with something from last night. Remember when I said, "I'm planning on running 5 miles tomorrow.". Well at that time I didn't remember that I had left my gym bag in Milford...
Let move to today. I woke up early (about 4:20) so I could drive to Milford and pick up my gym stuff. I got there about 5:00 and jumped out of my car to run into work real quick and locked myself out of the car (and yes it was running). After trying to jimmie my door open I ended up having to call my beautiful and supportive wife :). So, I end up getting to work too late to run. So I had to shower and go straight to work, where a little while later I realized that I forgot my lunch at home too.
Needless to say I didn't get to run today so I am moving my rest day to today and running 5 miles on Friday.
When I got home I finally got some good news in the mail. My confirmation of acceptance into the Boston Marathon!! Booya! Now I can look up my name and stuff on the Marathon website and see what heat I'm in on April 15th.
Today was a light training day. According to my marathon training plan states that I should do cross training on Mondays. So I did the cardio abs routine from insanity. It was a typical Monday, the kids were in school and by the time I got them it was snowing pretty hard. Its not supposed to accumulate to anything so running in the morning should be ok.
I did recieve my email from the B.A.A. today stating that I'm registered for the race. I looked up the official apparel for this years race and the colors are blue and yellow. Its the little things that are getting me excited, like the medals or the jacket.
Not much happened on Sunday. It was just a day of rest and getting stuff done for the week. I didn't exercise, but I did pick out the marathon plan that I am going to use for my training.
Saturdays are always crazy. I had to get the kids to gymnastics by 8:00 am and that's always fun. Then Dani had work and a meet before we had to pick up Cheryl from the Logan Express. After getting back around 4:45 pm I squeezed in a 4.2 mile run. I ran at a 9:36 minute/mile pace and burned 640 calories.
After my run and commotion of the morning it was time to party. It was Anne's 30th birthday party and it was a roaring 20's theme. It was a blast and I learned that my wife is a beast at flip cup and that Lindsay is a dancing machine. Happy Birthday Anne.
I picked up my entry form today from the office today. I need to submit my entry form asap to keep the cost at $300 for the race. I plan on submitting my form tomorrow after I get out of work. Oh, and in the middle of all this I have a job interview tomorrow at 1300.
I was a little sore today from Insanity last night, so time to stretch before bed so I'm ready to run in the morning.
