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
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….
