Week 43 Wrapup

I didn't run at all this week, as I want to give my legs some good recovery time after the marathon. They were only really sore for a couple of days, and all soreness was pretty much gone by Tuesday. I'll run a few easy runs next week, and then possibly start a more structured program the following week.

My dad goes to a spin class at his gym 5 days a week. With nothing else but spin class and a slight decrease in food intake, he's lost around 20 pounds in 2 months. Kudos to him. He'd been bugging me to go try it with him, and since I wasn't doing any running this week, I went with him on Thursday.

I figured I was in pretty good shape, so I should be able to at least keep up with him and the rest of the class. I figured quite wrongly. After 5 minutes of pedaling, my legs were burning and I wanted to get off. I kept pedalling for the rest of the session, but after about 10 minutes, I didn't even attempt to keep the same cadence or stand up at the same times or anything.

I tried to explain to people, "No, you see, I just ran a marathon and my legs are still recovering." It's possible there was even a grain of truth in that. However, the real truth is that distance running ability just doesn't translate to cycling ability. Different muscles and whatnot.

The worst part of the spin class is that my butt was so sore afterward. In fact, my butt was sore after the spin class for longer than my legs were sore after the marathon. That's wrong.

I went and got new shoes on Friday. I had put over 600 miles total on the two pair I have, so they're getting close to needing replacement. Also, they were never quite the right shoes anyway, since it turns out I need something more in the way of stability.

I got the Mizuno Wave Alchemy 8. I tried on another Mizuno pair, and a couple from Saucony, Asics, and Brooks, but I liked these ones better. They were the most comfortable of any I tried. All the others were too narrow in the toe, or too tight in the heel, or seemed like they had a spot that would rub, etc. Plus, I like softball, so buying Mizuno again makes me feel like a softball player.

I haven't run in the new shoes yet. I'll probably do my next few runs in the old shoes to try to squeeze a few more miles out of them, then start with these when I start getting into long runs or fast runs again.

Week 43, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 189.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.9

Today's blood pressure: 129/89

Today's food: 12 oz pepsi, 8 pieces sushi, a few bites of noodles with meatballs, cheeseburger, grilled asparagus, bowl of peach cobbler, pluot, bowl of peanuts

Today's exercise: day of rest

Week 43, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): 191.0

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.1

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: pop tart, meatball sandwich, costco samples, 4 pieces cornmeal breaded fish, broccoli with cheese sauce, tall glass of grapefruit juice cocktail, pluot, bowl of sherbet, handful of marshmallows

Today's exercise: none

Week 43, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): 189.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.1

Today's blood pressure: 144/83

Today's food: 1/2 pop tart, donut, yogurt, banana, potato salad, chimichanga, salad, chicken pot pie, bowl of sherbet, bowl of peanuts

Today's exercise: none

Week 43, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): 191.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.3

Today's blood pressure: 134/96

Today's food: banana, yogurt, 2 donuts, nectarine, leftover broccoli chicken pasta, bowl of sherbet, banana, bowl of peanuts, bowl of ice cream

Today's exercise: 1 hour spin class

Week 43, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 192.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.3

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: donut, banana, yogurt, tuna sandwich, plum, 1/2 big grab bag of doritos, plum, 1 1/2 meatball sandwiches, noodles, small handful cinnamon bears, bowl of sherbet

Today's exercise: none

Week 43, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 192.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.2

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: 2 mini donuts, plum, bag of pizza flavored Combos™, big piece chocolate cake, hot dog estilo sonora, plum, banana, small bag of gummi bears, half pb& j sandwich, broccoli with noodles, 4 donuts, 1/2 bag of cinnamon bears

Today's exercise: none

Week 43, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 193.0

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.0

Today's blood pressure: 146/86

Today's food: mini chocolate donut, gummi letters, plum, cookie, 1 1/2 bowls of gumbo, plum, sweet tomatoes (salad, bowl of soup, muffin, macaroni, bowl of ice cream), microwave popcorn

Today's exercise: none

Week 42 Wrapup (Park City Marathon edition)

Last days before the Park City Marathon

I ran a tempo run on Tuesday, then left Wednesday after work to drive to Utah. The rising water level in Lake Powell has made for a resurgence of tourists, and consequent lack of cheap hotel rooms in Page. So, I drove all the way past Kanab, then slept in the back of the car at a rest area off 89.

The next morning, I drove the rest of the way into Provo, rested at Tyler and Danniey's for a bit, then met friends at Fuddrucker's for lunch. After lunch, walked the Provo Canyon trail for a little bit in an attempt to acclimate a little to the altitude, then went over to Dave's. After Scott got there, we went for a quick 3 mile run around Dave's neighborhood, which suddenly had a lot more hills than I remembered. At Dave's house, Scott gave me the best compliment I've yet received on my recent weight loss. He said, "You look like you actually had cancer".

Friday, Danniey and Tyler and I went to Cafe Rio for lunch, then I picked up Shane and went to Park City. Shane thought it would be too gay for two guys to sit around the hotel together, so he suggested a date to the movies. This would have been only slightly less gay but for the fact that we went to see Death Race, whose explosions and T&A were well suited to un-gay-ing our date. The movie was every bit as stupid as I imagined it would be and yet still totally awesome.

After the movie, we picked up our packets, then headed to the restaurant where everyone was meeting for dinner. Dinner was really good, but I had wanted to get in a lot of carbs, and was disappointed that my seafood fettuccine had too much seafood and not enough fettuccine. That's not a complaint I ever thought I would make.

Once we got back to the hotel, I found out that somehow I had taken off my Forerunner at Dave's and left it there the previous night. I was really angry about this, because I've tracked every single training run, and was really looking forward to getting a good mapping of my first marathon. I really wanted to know how each hilly section would impact my mile split times, how long I was stopping for water, etc. Plus, I wanted to know my pace and how much time I had left at any point on the course. Shane and Scott tried to convince me that I might be better off without it, and I could certainly see the wisdom in that. Sometimes on the training runs, knowing how long was left made it difficult to finish, where not knowing could have kept me going easier. I still really wanted it, though.

I agonized about taking 2 hours round trip to drive back and get it vs. trying to get a good night's sleep. In the end I opted for sleep. However, I had a nasty headache (most likely from the altitude), and didn't even get to sleep for about three hours. This made me furious, because if I had known that, I definitely would have spent the time driving back to get the Forerunner.

On race morning, I had half of a Clif bar, and a really gross Lara bar. This was all washed down by the breakfast of champions: a can of Diet Mountain Dew Code Red. It was pretty cold when we walked out to the start. Most people were waiting inside the fieldhouse at the start, so even though they had plenty of porta-potties, people didn't really start using them until right before the start, since they didn't want to go outside. Scott had to pee before the start, so he got stuck in the line, and we didn't cross the start line until a couple of minutes after the start. (We had chips, but the timer wasn't tracking chip time or splits for this course.)

I was running with Scott, who had done four previous marathons but was a little out of shape, and Shane, who had done three marathons and is an excellent runner, but had just had a trail race of almost 12 miles the previous weekend. So, neither of them were looking to score an excellent time out of this race, and they were both committed to sticking with me to bring me in.

The first mile or two were kind of tough because it was cold, and I was breathing heavily to get enough oxygen out of the thin air. My hands were numb and I had to shove them in my shorts for a while. By the time a couple of miles had passed by, I was breathing fine, and my hands were warmed up. The first several miles were either slight neighborhood hills, or the gentle 2% grade of the rail trail. We did stop again after a few miles for Scott to poop. I think that took a few minutes off our time, but without the Forerunner, I don't know if it's 2 minutes, or 10 minutes, or what. Just outside of Park City, Shane and I defiled the watershed with a pee stop in the bushes which killed another few seconds at least.

When we got back into Park City the hills started coming faster and harder. The highest point of the course is about mile 18, and I had thought it would be all downhill from there. It wasn't. There were still a couple of really steep hills, including a two block section that just about everybody had to stop and walk.

At just after mile 20, my left knee started having these sudden throbbing pains that would come on quick but then leave equally so. I tried to tough it out for a mile, then stopped for a minute to stretch to see if that would do anything. It didn't, so I soldiered on, and after a couple of more miles, it went away. The remainder of the race was uneventful, and although I didn't feel like I could run any faster than I was running at the end, I didn't feel like I was going to die or anything.

We finally crossed the finish line at 4:55:06. It's not a good time, but my only real goal was to beat 5 hours, so we did that. If it had been a flat course at sea level that we had started on time, it could have easily been less than 4 1/2, I think.

My previous training runs had topped out at 20 miles, and those 20 mile runs had not even gone all that well. This race, despite being over six miles longer, felt way easier than those long training runs. Even with the altitude and the hills, the lower temperature more than made up for it. People write about how difficult the marathon is in the last six miles, but I wasn't feeling that. I don't know if it was because I was running with other people (which really helps to keep you going) or if it was because I was just so excited that it wasn't so hot and that I was going mostly downhill. But, I didn't feel like the last six miles were particularly more difficult than the six miles before it. I had the little thing with my left knee, but that wasn't a big deal in the overall view of the race. And, at no point in the race did I have any pain in my right shin, which was great since it had been bothering me a lot the previous week and a half.

After the race, Scott left, and Shane and I went to lunch with Tyler and Danniey. I went with Tyler and Danniey to visit Nena and Granddad, then went and got my car from Shane and went back to Provo to watch the Olympic marathon. My legs were sore after the race, but not that much more sore than some of my training runs. And driving back the next day, they weren't nearly as uncomfortable sitting in the car as I had feared.

I have to say this was a great first marathon experience. Many people questioned my choice of running this one as my first. I certainly wouldn't have chosen it myself, but Scott had already planned it, so, I thought I'd just roll with it. The course is absolutely gorgeous. You can't fully appreciate everything you're seeing, since you're focused on running, but you get to experience way more of the area than you'd ever see from the road. There were plenty of aid stations, with plenty of gels and food and stuff at them, too. I ran without the camelbak, and never felt like I was wanting for liquid or gel or anything. There weren't a whole lot of spectators on this course, but Tyler and Danniey did come up for the finish, so that was nice.

I would definitely run another marathon, but I don't particularly want to train for another marathon, at least not during the summer. I think this is how those crazy people who run a marathon every weekend get started. They don't want to train, so they just keep racing over and over again so they won't lose their abilities and have to retrain to get them back.


Please go see Shane's writeup on his blog (with pictures!).
Also, here are pictures from the official photographer.
You may also see the overall results for the race.
NEW! (9/1/08) Shane's update - featuring "The Gayest Photos of All Time"!

Week 42, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): didn't take (traveling)

Weight (weighted moving average): n/a

Today's blood pressure: didn't take (traveling)

Today's food: 2 pop tarts, banana, subway 6 inch tuna on wheat, yogurt, large cherry coke, sunflower seeds, chicken caesar salad, 450ml apple juice

Today's exercise: day of rest (and pain and suffering)

driving back from utah

Week 42, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): didn't take (traveling)

Weight (weighted moving average): n/a

Today's blood pressure: didn't take (traveling)

Today's food: 1/2 clif bar, mini lara bar, 3 gels, sports beans, clif shot blocks, 1/2 bagel with cream cheese and honey, peach, 1/2 banana, pint chocolate milk, jake's (1/4 pound cheeseburger, small fries, ridiculously large strawberry banana shake), oatmeal raisin cookie, can pepsi, swedish fish, 1 slice dessert pizza, banana, tuna sandwich

Today's exercise: run a marathon

in utah

Week 42, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): didn't take (traveling)

Weight (weighted moving average): n/a

Today's blood pressure: didn't take (traveling)

Today's food: banana, 2 pop tarts, café rio (2 salmon tacos, beans, rice), cisero's (herb bread with olive oil, caesar salad, seafood fettucine, bite of gnocchi)

Today's exercise: none

in utah

Week 42, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): didn't take (traveling)

Weight (weighted moving average): n/a

Today's blood pressure: didn't take (traveling)

Today's food: banana, subway six inch tuna on wheat, 450ml orange juice, gummi letters, sunflower seeds, 2 hershey's kisses, fuddrucker's (buffalo burger, a few fries, 1/2 pepsi), gummi letters, 4 peanut butter cookies

Today's exercise: run 3 miles on hills

driving up to provo

Week 42, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 190.0

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8

Today's blood pressure: 142/87

Today's food: yogurt, banana, burger king (2 tacos, rodeo cheeseburger), egg in the hole, pretzels, gummi letters, 1/2 banana, sunflower seeds

Today's exercise: none

Week 42, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 191.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.9

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: yogurt, banana, panda house (chicken teriyaki, honey shrimp, lo mein, small pepsi), last of the bag of gummi cola bottles, coca-cola pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, bowl of peanuts

Today's exercise: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 8:57, 1 mile cooldown

Week 42, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 191.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8

Today's blood pressure: 139/91

Today's food: yogurt, pluot, banana, gummi cola bottles, salmon burger, pluot, 1/2 bag of pretzels dipped in frosting, one more pluot

Today's exercise: none

Week 41 Wrapup

Now that I'm deep into the taper, I find I'm hungrier than I have been in a while. I have no idea if these two things are related, but I do know this: WIth my caloric intake way up and my caloric expenditure way down, I have effectively halted my weight loss trend. I'll take at least a week or two off after the marathon, too, so I might put on a pound or two by the time I start running again.

I've also noticed something else about my diet as I look back over the individual days. Shane previously chastised me for the amount of "crap" in my diet, and he should be understandably concerned about the increase in the crap percentage in my diet over the last couple of weeks. I'm sure it's just because I'm hungrier and snacking on everything I can find, but it's probably not a good way to enter into the last week before a big long race.

I've also started hurting a lot more over the last week or so. I've got the shin splints again, this time mainly in my right shin. I've been icing it every day, and it kind of goes away after I've been running for a few miles, so I think it will be okay for the race. Still, it would suck to come so far only to drop out for injury at the last minute.

The idea of the taper seems to be to push yourself almost to the edge, then back off to let your body come back rested and stronger for the race. I think that since I was starting from such bad shape to begin with, I probably pushed myself way over the edge, and the taper's nothing more than some temporary breathing room until I do it again Saturday.

Week 41, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 191.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: 1/2 donut, 1/4 chicken pizza, watermelon, peanuts, pretzel coated chicken with cheese sauce, broccoli, 2 dum-dums, gummi letters, doritos, pluot

Today's exercise: day of rest

Week 41, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): 190.0

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.7

Today's blood pressure: 137/83

Today's food: hot dog, plum, ny strip steak, donut, small caesar salad, watermelon, 1/2 chicken pizza, mashed potatoes and gravy, donut

Today's exercise: run 8 miles

Week 41, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): 190.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8

Today's blood pressure: 142/85

Today's food: yogurt, gummi cola bottles, taco, 2 slices pizza, cupcake, tootsie roll, tootsie roll pop, popcorn, gummi letters, bowl of cherries

Today's exercise: none

Week 41, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): 191.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.9

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: yogurt, 2 plums, gummi cola bottles, hot dog estilo sonora, chicken and broccoli pasta

Today's exercise: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 8:57, 1 mile cooldown

Week 41, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 190.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8

Today's blood pressure: 130/82

Today's food: yogurt, peach, gummi cola bottles, gumbo, microwave popcorn, watermelon, becki's heath bar dessert

Today's exercise: none

Week 41, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 190.0

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8

Today's blood pressure: 128/79

Today's food: yogurt, 2 plums, casino buffet lunch (salad, chicken, red chili, carne asada, mashed potatoes, etc.), butter toffee popcorn, gummi cola bottles, chicken and broccoli pasta, becki's heath bar pudding dessert, big bowl of popcorn

Today's exercise: run 2 miles

Week 41, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 190.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.9

Today's blood pressure: 121/76

Today's food: yogurt, 2 plums, half a banana, huge handfuls of butter toffee popcorn, gummi cola bottles, 1/2 a steak, watermelon, bowl of cherries

Today's exercise: none

Week 40 Wrapup

Starting the taper now. I had made a miscalculation in scheduling, and ended up having to do my speedwork right after a big dinner on Wednesday. By the third interval, I really felt like I might puke, so I cut it short by one interval so as to avoid that.

The big news is this: A few hundred feet from the end of my long run (12 miles), I looked down and saw a red streak on my shirt. Initially I had thought I must have brushed up against something and got a streak of dirt on my shirt. After a second, I realized that I had got my first bloody nipple. I was surprised, because I was wearing exactly the same thing as last week's 20 miler, in nearly the same conditions. I've felt a little chafed on every long run for the last few weeks, but didn't think it had progressed to this point.

Either way, I was really proud. If I keep this up, I could be mistaken for a real runner. I've now shaved my nipples preparatory to band-aids or NipGuards™.

Week 40, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 193.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.0

Today's blood pressure: 142/86

Today's food: yogurt, barbeque pork sandwich, 1/2 ear of corn, bowl of cherries, pot roast, green beans, mashed potatoes, watermelon

Today's exercise: day of rest

Week 40, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): 193*

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.7

Today's blood pressure: 133/72

Today's food: 1/2 clif bar, 2 gels, a handful of almonds, 1/2 t-bone steak, potato salad, small cup of gumbo, 12 oz pepsi, las cazuelitas (cheese crisp, sour cream shrimp, sopapilla, fried ice cream), gummi letters

Today's exercise: run 12 miles

* before running. 189.4 after running (total fluid intake: 2 liters)

Week 40, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): gone

Weight (weighted moving average): gone

Today's blood pressure: gone

Today's food: 2 donut holes, gummi cola bottles, 2 donut holes, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, 3 donut holes, tang, popcorn

Today's exercise: none

Week 40, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): 188.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.4*

Today's blood pressure: 131/82

Today's food: yogurt, banana, chow mein, orange chicken with fried rice, french fries, chili burger, many donut hole

Today's exercise: none

* new low

Week 40, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 189.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.6*

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: peach, gummi cola bottles, gummi alphabet letters, large piece fried chicken, potato salad, 3 donut holes, 2 glasses tang, 2 donut holes

Today's exercise: 1 mile warmup, (run 1 mile @ 8:27, jog .5 miles) X3, 1 mile cooldown (total of 6.5 miles)

* new low

Week 40, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 190.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: yogurt, medium mountain dew, sun chips, quizno's large bourbon chicken sandwich, peach, a few bites of 3 different panda express dishes, glass of tang

Today's exercise: none

Week 40, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 190

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8*

Today's blood pressure: 136/83

Today's food: yogurt, peach, barbeque chicken, spaghetti with meatballs, small bowl of popcorn

Today's exercise: run 2 miles

* new low

Week 39 Wrapup

The long run this week was supposed to be 20 miles. I stocked up on a wide variety of gels, clif energy chews, and even Jelly Belly Sports Beans™. I also stashed two frozen gatorades on the trail.

I hit the trail at 4:00 AM, and the first 15 miles went great. I felt like I had plenty of energy. By mile 16, though, I was really, really hot. After about 16 1/2 miles, I just held my head under a drinking fountain for about 5 minutes and didn't feel any better, so I just sat in the shade for a few minutes. I got up and ran to where I had the second gatorade, but didn't feel any better after that, so I just walked back to the car.

It was a really painful walk back, too. I was wearing my older pair of shoes, and I think I need to retire them soon, and definitely keep them on the shorter runs in the meantime.

The unofficial reading I got later in the day was a high of 113, so I don't think I'm being too much of a baby or anything. I saw lots of other runners on the trail that were running way faster who are probably able to manage it just because they're better trained, thinner, and not stupid enough to run such long distances. Either way, I was envious of the fact that they weren't as visibly struggling.

I'm debating whether or not to take steps to try to lose more weight (like actually diet). My new theory is that if I were to lose another 20 pounds or so, I'd be much better at running. This is based on the assumption that carrying less bulk around makes me run better, but also on the as yet unproven assumption that all the extra fat I'm carrying is actually insulating me and making my body hotter than it would be otherwise. If I can find something to back up this assumption, than I might actually try eating less (gasp!).

Either way, the one thing that I'm very clear about is that I will in no way be ready for a marathon in three weeks.

Week 39, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 189.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.9*

Today's blood pressure: 136/89

Today's food: banana, 1 1/2 salmon burgers, bowl of peanuts, pulled pork sandwich, 2 ears of corn

Today's exercise: day of rest

* new low

Week 39, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): 190.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.0

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: clif bar 400-500 calories of gels and things, 4 liters of gatorade, turkey sandwich, can of pepsi, peach, chips and salsa, 3 cookies, ribeye steak, baked potato, can orange soda, can pepsi, haagen dazs bar

Today's exercise: run 16.5 miles

Week 39, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): 189.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.0*

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: granola, 1/2 peach, spaghetti and meatballs, green beans, 2 pieces garlic cheese bread

Today's exercise: none

* new low