A Running Partner Helps A Long Run Fly By

I had great luck today, I had 2 running partners. First, my 3 year old asked to come on my run and since I was only running 24 km I said ok. (Next week I will have to pass since I have a 32 km run coming up.) So, we went to his swimming lesson, arrived home at noon, had a bit to eat and then packed the car with our gear (running gear, water, toys, food for both of us, and the chariot).

Since I was taking my son in the running stroller I figured the best route for least water, bumps, and maximum side walk space would be along the canal. So we headed down to Dow's Lake and parked. We began the run, my son quickly breaking out his food supplies since he mostly skipped lunch, and started from Dow's Lake towards Laurier.

At about the 4 km mark, I ran into Steve Mahood who ran on the 2007 CBC Ottawa Gotta Run team with me. He had about 16 km to go and was running near my pace so we joined up for our run. My son had passed out at about the 2 km mark and stayed sleeping until about kilometre 16.

Steve and I caught up, ran a little too fast, slowed down often to keep from blowing out but kept up a steady chat for most of the run. Things got a little quiet around the 18 km mark when we were both pushing it. It was good to catch up with an past running friend and it made the kilometres just slip by.

Makes me think I should run with someone more often, it was a good time and I still achieved my goal (while pushing the running stroller no less).

Cool Tech

Some things amaze even me. Now this one has been around for a while but I still think the idea is cool. In some races they will send an SMS message (a small text message of up to 140-160 characters) to the cell phone of a friend/family member with your time/place as you cross at certain points in the race. In Paris they will be sending out an SMS at the half way point 21.1km and at 30km.

The service is being offered by Gaz de France. In case my explanation was not clear, here is an animation they put together demoing the service: http://marathondeparis.jetmultimedia.fr/img/PopUp.swf

So far the site to register for this service has been flaky. I can not figure out the combo of name and birthdate it wants from me to register me. No error mesages, just a little > Invalid < message.

So once I figure out how to get into the site I will see how many people I can register. If you are interested in me adding you to the list then send me a mail with your cell number. Family and friends first. I will also try adding my twitter feed so that it gets twittered. That will show up here or on the right or on my feed if you are subscribed.

Going Strong

Looking at the mileage so far this year I am blown away. Wow, the miles add up when you are training for a Marathon.

This year's training is going very well. Having completed my first Marathon last year I am more confident that with this year's outing. I feel stronger, I am completing my longer runs without the problems that plagued me (calf pains), I am not very sore after my long runs (only stiff for a day though the blisters I have collected last week had me limping a bit on Monday and Tuesday).

Running this much means more shoes. The pair I have now I purchased in the fall last year and I will need to get a new pair to break in for the Marathon. The ones I have now are no longer lasting to the end of my long runs. So they are fine for shorter (10km-ish) runs for a while.

As for some of the issues you must deal with when you start running for 3+ hours (if you are a 4h 28min range Marathon runner, my time from last year), I have been revisiting them recently:

• Blisters: little ones and a huge one on my arch from my orthotics. I am double socking it with under/wicking socks but it is not stopping the fact my feet need to build up some callouses to handle the beating.
  
• Friction Burns (only thing I can think to call them) in private areas, under arms, nipples. Body Glide (looks like a stick of deodorant) has helped out here very well. One note, don't wear one of your favorite shirts when using Body Glide or other anti-friction creams since you may end up with a shirt that is now permanently stained from the oil I assume is in the product. Not sure if the stain came from Body Glide or something else I tried.
• Training takes a long time. You need a supportive spouse when you have 2 children under 4. My wife is a key part of my training plan, her support helps me attain this silly goals I set.
• Sleep is critical. You need more. Missing it (sick, teething 6 month old, overtime) leads to lower energy, possibility of injury and of course being overtrained (which basically translates to under rested for a simplistic look at it).
  
• Food is critical. Junk in, junk out. Be good to yur body, refuel during your run (I refuel about every 45 mins and take water every 20 mins or when I feel thristy).
  

Your body is not a temple, it is a big house of cards and each piece of food, each ounce of sleep, and each training session is just one small piece of the foundation that keeps your house strong.

Underslept + Hard Training = Overtraining

My 6 month old has been teething for about 3 weeks now. He is onto the 7-8 teeth now. My wife, bless her soul, has been taking the brunt of it in the night times (getting up with him) but we are all not getting enough sleep. A screaming kid in the house in the night time does not a good sleep make.

So, pile that one with the training which I have been working very hard to on, and I was blown this week. I rested on Monday instead of cross training, I ran hard on Tuesday, then cross trained on Wednesday, but Wednesday night was a low sleep night so I took off Thursday/Friday/Saturday, and did my long run today.

I needed the break,even with skipping one of my runs, my legs were heavy at the start of the run today. I was facing a 29km run today at a goal pace of 6:09/km. I was blown at about 27km and at 28km I stopped and walked the rest of the way home (only .43km). Actual time was 3hr 1min 55sec or 6:24/km.

Not bad considering I only started to dial up the distance last month, but I am hoping I get more sleep this week so I can tackle next weekends 32km with a little more pep. Here I am hoping to have pep running 32km, heck I am pretty stoked I can hammer out 28km right now. I got a glimpse today that even with a compressed training schedule (I wish I had 4 more weeks) I should be ready for the Marathon in April.

Now, I am going to go crash and read a book while I wait for my family to get home.

Weight Goal Tracking

So far I am doing well with the weight goal. I am using FitDay for PC (we purchased it a few years ago and it helped then, as it is now). I am using it to plan my daily calorie intake, track my exercise and plan my weight loss goal.

The PC program costs money but you can use the web based software for free. Go to http://fitday.com and sign up for an account. You can even sync your online account with your PC software for an extra cost (not something I plan to do).

So how does it work for weight loss? You put in your stats (weight, age, height, etc.), select a desired weight goal and an end date when you'd like to reach that weight. The software then tells you the average weight per week that you must lose to reach your goal. I currently need to lose 1.34 lb/week to reach my target of 175 lb for April 5. As you will see, at the start I have been losing more than that a week.

So how is it going? Well, first a disclaimer on my results. I was sick with Tonsillitis one of the weeks and I have been fitting a mild stomach flu this week which is mostly just curbing my appetite (nothing serious). So far, since Jan 1, I have lost 7 lb.

How have I done that besides the extra help with appetite suppression brought on by a wickedly sore throat and an upset stomach? By having a calorie deficit everyday since I started tracking with Fitday (I know that for sure, but I am pretty sure I was eating less than I burned while I had Tonsillitis as well) I am losing weight steadily for now. I am sure the weight loss will start to slow as it usually does, but hopefully the combination of running 3 days/week, strength training 2x/week, and cross training 3 days/week will help to keep the fat burning alive.

Here are some Fitday graphs to show my progress so far. The first shows my progress so far this month. As you can see, I have lost 2.33lb/week on average. A little higher than I'd like but I find that when you first start a diet you lose your first few pounds fast.

Next up is a graphs showing the last five days of calorie intake versus output. As you can see the long run on Sunday is a real big deficit. I'd aim to eat more after those long runs but I already fill up on food immediately after a run and feel pretty good. I think I might add a sports drink as well to increase the carb intake for muscle refueling (beer is a good choice as well ;-).

I'll give further updates as time goes on to show how tracking my calorie intake/outtake, tracking my exercise, and the increased exercise routine is helping me with my goal. Two of the big reasons I am doing this is to help reduce running injuries and to be lighter which means faster when I run. My sneakers might even last longer which means I save some money ;-)

Dial Up The Distance

Well, this weekend was a bit of a stress test. Was I ready to start dialing up the distance in my training?

Apparently so. I did a 19km run this Sunday and though I start to lag a bit on the last 3 km, I kept a fairly consistent pace for the first 16km. I was also feeling pretty good (though very tired) last night and today I was tired. My legs were pretty good today given the run, but my muscles were tired and the hips were a little sore.

This is good, since I have to start logging the long runs if I stand a chance of completing the Marathon on April 5. That's only 11 weeks left of training.

Last week I started strength training and that really did my legs in. My large butt muscles were very sore Thursday and Friday. So I took off Friday, got 4km of skating in on the canal on Saturday, and then my run on Sunday.

Today was another strength training day and I am not as sore this time around. I skipped the rowing today since I am still run down from the big run yesterday. Tomorrow is back at it though with another rowing workout and strength training.

Be Gone Sickness

Ok, the meds worked and I am feeling better. I am back at work and back into training.

Here was training the past two days:
* Monday, Jan 12, 2009: Rowing Machine for 30 mins
* Tuesday, Jan 13, 2009: Running, 20 min warm-up, 3x1 mile (1600 metre) repeats with 1 min Rest Interval between miles, 10 min cool-down.

Plan is to get in some gym time tomorrow including strength training and some spinning. Then Thursday is swimming for 30 mins. Running again on Friday and Sunday.

Rest on Saturday.

It feels good to be back.