What’s Next?

May14
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

With my marathon behind me, I’m not left wondering what is next? I’m a mere 14 months I’ve went from running my first 5k, to my first 10k, to my first half-marathon to my first marathon. Now, where do I go?

Short Term

More focus on speed work. I think I would have enjoyed my marathon more had I been able to do it in about an hour less. Okay, that is sort of a joke…but the faster I get, the quicker I can get the 26.2 miles over with. More importantly I have PR’d all races I’ve ran this year, and I want to keep that going. When it comes to the Bluegrass 10,000 I want to cut off SIGNIFICANT time. Last year it took me over an hour and six minutes to complete…that was a 10:39/mi pace. This year I want to get that down below 9:00/mi. That is a lofty goal, but since I was able to do 5 miles at an 8:23/mi pace last month I am pretty sure I can do this. I have 7 weeks to get ready.
More strength training. I really need to diversify my workouts. For the past… who knows how long all I’ve done is run. No strength, no flexibility, no other cross training…just running. While that isn’t always a bad thing, if I really want to finish losing weight I’m going to have to diversify.
Hit my weight goal. I had hoped to hit 140 pounds lost by my 2 year anniversary of starting (which I don’t remember an exact date, but am celebrating it as May 31st). Marathon training makes it almost impossible to lose lots of weight. I did manage to lose 7.2 pounds from the start to the end of my training, which I’ll consider a victory… but to really switch it up a gear it is time to get with it. I have came to terms that I won’t hit my goal by that date (that’d take 8.2 lbs in 17 days), but the sooner I hit it the better. Maybe by vacation? (which gives me 39 days). Probably still a stretch, but I can hope.

Long Term

Next Half. I am already registered for another half-marathon (the Iron Horse in Midway in October). Last year I ran it as my first half and put up a respectable 2:11:28. This year I want to break 2 hours.
Next Full. Hahaha… maybe never.
Duathlon. This is something that I may work on. First thing is I’d have to get a bike, learn how to ride it and learn how to ride it well. This is a likely next step.
Triathlon. This is a lofty goal, of which I may never get to. If I can achieve the duathlon then I still have to worry about learning to swim. Yes… I don’t know how to swim. Most adults can do this, but not me. I guess maybe it is time to learn?
What else? Chime in and let me know what I should try next?

Posted in General - Tagged 2012, training

Flying Pig Recap

May14
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

* Editors Note:  I started on this post a week ago, worked on it on and off for 7 days and as usual I have not proofread it.  Things may be disjointed, illogical, etc. but it is what it is

Never. Ever. Again. That is my initial thought as I finished my first marathon on Sunday. I can’t say that will be true, nor can I say it will be a lie… but it was an experience that I’m glad is now over with.

I’ve been struggling the last few days on how to put this into words. Despite reading blogs from some of my friends who also conquered the Flying Pig, I still haven’t really found my flow on how I want this to go.

For the most part leading up to this race my nerves had been pretty calm. I wasn’t worrying about things, no anxiety, no problems… until Friday afternoon. The more I started thinking about it the more I started to worry. Luckily, I have the attention span of a snickerdoodle, so I was able to forget it pretty quickly. The interesting thing to me is that I had no anxiety at all. For both of my half-marathons I always had anxiety dreams leading up to them.. sometimes weeks or more out. I would dream things like I forgot to set my alarm, or I was in a building talking and forgot to start… I always made it to the start line, but sometimes it was 2-3 hours late. This time I didn’t have any of that… maybe it was the tiredness of all the training that made me have a deeper sleep and thus preventing such dreams, or perhaps it is because I trained hard and had confidence in myself?

Let’s fast forward to race day. I keep wanting to type lots of stuff here that isn’t relevant at all to the race, and since this is a race recap lets try to stay on pace.

Posted in 99 Days of Training, Marathons, Races, Training - Tagged 2012, awesome, hotel, marathon, mild, morning, music, outdoor, PR, race, run, spring, travel

It’s race time!

May06
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

As I’m sitting here, silhouetted by the glow of my tablet, I’m trying not to let emotions catch up with me. It is less than 75 minutes until my Marathon, the biggest physical test/achievement of my life. I’m surrounded by my family, though they are all snoring away in the lumpy hotel beds, which makes this extremely special to me.

Had a genie told me 2 years ago that I’d be here, my response would have had to have been “who am I cheering for?”. There is no way it could have been me. Two years ago I had never ran a mile in my life.

If you had asked me a year ago I would have assumed it was to run the half….even that was a stretch. But here I am, primed and ready to Bring It!

I have my 26.2 magnet ready to go on the truck when I finish. Last year I thought about getting one after finishing my first 5k. I realized that anyone can do a 5k. I’m not meaning to diminish the accomplishments of finishing a 5k, but millions of people complete those each year. How many people can actually say they finished a Marathon? Less than 1%. So, instead of staging protests against me, help me celebrate…for I am the 1%….or will be in a few hours at least

A big thanks to my wife and kids…I didn’t realize what I was getting you all in to when doing this….thank you for supporting me and loving me…I love you all so much.

Posted in Marathons, Races

Pre-Race Thoughts

May05
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

With less than 24 hours until my first marathon I have a gauntlet of thoughts that have been going through my mind…

Am I really ready for this?
I am confident that I have trained enough, but not confident in my confidence
Maybe I shouldn’t have had so much for dinner last night during our family birthday party?
I definitely shouldn’t have had that piece of pie for breakfast
What if it rains? I don’t want to ruin my running shoes.
Am I insane for doing 26.2 miles? (Yes)
Where do I go next?
The training has been long and hard, will it be worth it?
Will I be able to walk after the race?
Will I be able to walk the day after the race?
What should I eat today?
What should I drink today? Perhaps only water?
What time should I wake up tomorrow?
What should I drink/eat before the race?
What should I have a celebratory dinner?
Will I feel like eating a celebratory dinner?
Why does typing this list make me hungry?
Will I be able to hit my target pace?
Should I even try to hit my target pace?
Should I get with a pace group?
Am I too nervous right now?
Maybe I’m not nervous enough?
Maybe I should stop worrying about this list and just get ready to run

Posted in Flying Pig 2012, Half-Marathons, Races, Training

Tentative Flying Pig Playlist

May04
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

I really need to pick up some speed…coming up with this many songs was a chore. I hope I don’t have to use them all, but they are here in case.

75 tracks in playlist, average track length: 4:03
Playlist length: 5 hours 4 minutes 16 seconds
Right-click here to save this HTML file.

Playlist files:

1. Pink – Get The Party Started (3:12)
2. AC/DC – Highway To Hell (3:28)
3. House Of Pain – Jump Around (3:32)
4. Ludacris – Roll Out (4:56)
5. Pitbull feat. Chris Brown – International Love (3:29)
6. Queen – We Will Rock You (2:02)
7. Michael Jackson – Beat It (4:18)
8. Maroon 5 – Moves Like Jagger (feat. Christina Aguilera) (3:21)
9. Styx – Mr. Roboto (4:50)
10. K7 – Come Baby Come (3:55) READ MORE »

Posted in Half-Marathons, Races - Tagged 2012, half marathon, music, playlist

99 Days of Training: Day 98

May04
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

99 Days of a Training is a 99-part series that I will document my daily progress towards my first marathon. Each day I plan on recognizing a word or phrase that corresponds with that day’s training. This series will conclude on May 6th, 2012 when I toe the start line (or somewhere in the back of the pack) at the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati, OH

Wow.. I let the ball drop on this, didn’t I? I was on a roll for a long time and now it has been 12 days since my last update. Sorry to both of my followers for the laziness.

Well, here we are… 2 days from the culmination of this training. To keep with the theme of this blog post (training), I’ll just give you a recap of the training. I’ll write another post later about the rest.

Today I got in a “shake out” run. A short, 1.85 mile, very slow run. I didn’t put much energy into it, I just got out and loosened up my legs. I’m ready to go.

With training almost done I just have to remember that I’ve trained, I’m ready, it is time to go.

Posted in 99 Days of Training, Training - Tagged 2012, 2mi, 99 Days of Training, marathon, mild, morning, outdoor, run, spring, training

99 Days of Training: Day 86

Apr22
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

Today’s run was brought to you by the word: hill.

I thought I knew hills. I was wrong. I ran up a few today that made even the RunTheBluegrass course look timid. You can see the elevation map on by looking at my RunKeeper data for today. My low point on the run was at 0 ft. above sea level, with a peak at 186 ft. I was scheduled for 12 yesterday, but that didn’t happen due to work. Since I did 6 yesterday I debated about how many to do today. Since this was my last scheduled double-digit run, I decided to get in 10 (that and my co-worker was at the hotel waiting on me to get back so we could venture out in LA).

For my run I started at my hotel in El Segundo, CA and ran to the beach (2.7 miles there). I had to run through downtown El Segundo, which was a pretty little town. The only problem is there were many stop signs, traffic signals, slanted sidewalks, etc. The good thing is there was a sidewalk the entire time. I scoped this out yesterday when on my way to the beach for a run, so I knew I’d be good.

I started out feeling great, running a quick pace. Too quick, perhaps. My first mile was a 9:19. By the time I got to the beach it was beginning to sink. It wasn’t so much that I ran too quick too early, but the hills that they have leading to the beach. It was pretty brutal.

Once I made it to the beach I proceeded down about 2.3 miles along the road, then onto the Strand. The Strand is a beautiful area of multi-million dollar houses along the beach, with a running trail. The problem is the hill going down to the Strand (see pic on right) was a big ‘en. To the point that at the bottom I was having to slow down to avoid falling. The thing was insane. Even more insane than running down it was I tried to run up it. I made it, but it drained me for the rest of the trip. By that point I had already put in 6.5 miles, so this made the last 3.5 miles a real challenge.

I ended up with a bleak 10:42 pace, which wasn’t bad considering how bad the hills were. I’m happy with that. This was my last double-digit run of the marathon training…. eek. It just hit me that I have less than 14 days until I run my first marathon. A year ago it seemed unfathomable to me that I’d even run a half marathon, but here I am about to be a marathoner.

Nutritionally I did good today… thanks to the run. With food and exercise factored in I took in 3,046 calories with a ‘budget’ of 3,697, thus a 651 calorie surplus. This was due to a healthier breakfast and splitting my lunch between lunch and dinner. Oh, and leftover cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory last night.

Speaking of lunch, I had lunch today at a restaurant in which the movie Rush Hour was filmed. Since I am a big fan of that movie I had to visit it once I saw the discrete sign stating their fame.

The food was great… a bowl of wonton soup and a huge plate of General Tao’s chicken. I was only able to eat about half of it, so I took the other half back to the hotel and had it for dinner. Combine some General Tao’s chicken with the included veggies and 2/3 slice of leftover cheesecake, it was an awesome dinner.

14 more days peeps… 14 days….

Posted in 99 Days of Training, Training - Tagged 10mi, 2012, 99 Days of Training, afternoon, awesome, hotel, marathon, mild, nutrition, outdoor, run, spring, training, travel

99 Days of Training: Day 85

Apr21
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

What a fun day. Despite working from 3am until about 12:30pm, I still got in an amazing run. For this run I drove to the beach, scoped out the path and set off on what ended up being a 6 mile run running parallel to the beach. Here is the view of the running/bike path that goes along the beach. It is a gorgeous route that I may have to hit up a lot more. Overall I put up 6.15 miles at a blazing (for me) 9:43 pace. It was relatively flat, so that aided in this. My low point was zero feet above sea level, with a peak at 65ft up.

Nutritionally I pretty much broke even. I took in an estimated 2,954 calories and with exercise factored in I had an allotment of 2,974. The biggest issue on the day was my breakfast at McDonalds. I had to be at work around 5am here in LA and the only option was Mickey D’s. It is amazing something so simple was 660 calories. And then to finish off with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. That would have went well, as they now have a healthy menu (called the Skinnylicious menu), but the bread they brought out was too tempting.

Tomorrow should be a better day. Not sure how many miles I’ll get in, but I’ll try to get in double-digits. I was scheduled for 12 today, but with work that didn’t happen. The 6 was a nice experience though.

Until tomorrow…

Posted in 99 Days of Training, Training - Tagged 2012, 6mi, 99 Days of Training, afternoon, awesome, beach, hotel, marathon, mild, outdoor, run, spring, travel

99 Days of Training: Day 84

Apr20
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

Today was a rest day, but that didn’t necessarily meant I rested. No running today, but I did spend most of the day walking around Hollywood. Very interesting place… reminds me a bit of Times Square in New York, with a bit of Chinatown mixed in. Seeing the stars on the walk of fame was pretty cool, as was seeing the big Hollywood sign. Luckily I probably burned a decent amount of calories walking around.

Unfortunately, my diet was pretty blah. I went over by about 850 on the day since I didn’t have any true exercise. I’d say my net calorie intake was substantially less since I did spend many hours walking around, but I have no real way of measuring that.

My work for tonight got postponed until the morning, so hopefully that’ll help me to have a better day eating tomorrow. I still have to be up at 3am PST, so it will be a long day. Luckily this shouldn’t be too hard and then I’ll have the next few days to do nothing but explore. Night 2/10 is about over here in Los Angeles, but it has been fun. The challenge tomorrow will be to find a good place to run. I have a 12 mile long run to get in, and with as much as I ate today I may have to do more than that to make up for it. Okay, I won’t.

Posted in 99 Days of Training, Training - Tagged 2012, 99 Days of Training, awesome, hotel, outdoor, rest, spring, travel, weight loss

99 Days of Training: Day 83

Apr19
2012 Leave a Comment Written by @drose0

Fun time today! I got in 4 solid miles (at a 10:03 pace), and that was after waking up at 6am, changing the sheets on the guest bed for my mom, cleaning out the litter box, vacuuming upstairs, making lunch for the big boy & his momma, getting them out the door, shopping at Wal-Mart (in my house shoes might I add) for stuff for them for the next week and a half.

The rest of the day was mostly spent in an airport or airplane. I left Lexington for LA at 11, had a 2.5 hour layover in Detroit and finally got to LA around 5 PST. In a fun 8+ hours of traveling, I actually didn’t eat a lot of junk food. A package of Biscoff cookies, 2 packages of peanuts and a package of pistachio’s throughout both flights, with lunch at Chili’s in the middle.

Nutritionally I was good. Even with some dessert (a small cup of Ben & Jerry’s Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream, which was AMAZING) I had a surplus of about 400 calories. Tomorrow will probably be a challenge though, as I’ll be touring around LA and working late at night.

Posted in 99 Days of Training, Training - Tagged 2012, 4mi, 99 Days of Training, family, home, marathon, mild, morning, outdoor, run, spring, travel, weight loss