8mi long run / 25mi for the week

This morning we ran 8mi along the Los Alamitos Creek Trail in Almaden Valley - our longest 'long run' of the season so far. And that makes 25mi for the week having run shorter distances last Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

This morning I ran too fast to begin with - a common mistake - which made the run a little harder than it needed to be. However this week I learned that the wife of a friend who had been battling breast cancer for several years passed away in April. She was four years younger than me. There is nothing fair about cancer. I finished strong and steady this morning in honor of her.

Time Trial #1

I'm actually cheating by posting this to the blog and back-dating it.

We first ran a time-trial at Track on 6/23 - I completed 3mi (12 laps) in 27m:55s and was happy to have finished in under 30min (10min mile pace). I didn't realize it at the time, but part of the reason to run this trial was to baseline our ability at the time. Jump ahead to my 8/4 post - you'll see that the training over the summer seems to be paying off.

During this June evening Track work-out, I gave it my all, although I also recall that it was fairly warm. Still the improvement by 8/4 is notable!

10mi weekend / 11wks to Kaua'i

We met at Rancho at 6:45am for a 5mi run yesterday (Saturday) morning. Then I put in another 5mi this morning on the treadmill at 1% incline.

On the treadmill I ran approx. 9m40s miles which is close to my personal best half marathon pace. Not sure I could have sustained that for 13mi though. And my target pace is 8min23s. So while I'm getting there, I need to drop more weight, build more endurance and increase speed.

It's Father's Day - I found myself thinking a lot about my Dad, who succumbed to lung cancer. In his memory I will meet my goal.

Kaua'i is 11wks from today.

Rancho San Antonio Park - Hills & Heat

My car thermometer indicated 85F just before the start of our run this evening. We ran 5mi, the first half mostly uphill ascending approx. 270ft. That's 2% grade, on average. It turns out this is quite representative of Kaua'i where I can expect it to be warm and the average grade for the first 7.5mi is 2%.

It was a tough run, but very satisfying! Nobody said this would be easy.

I'm told as the runs get longer at Rancho San Antonio, we climb even higher. Something to mentally prepare for.

My first online donation came in today! Thanks Rob!!

Tuesday Night Track

It was hard! Teamed-up with a partner. One lap of the track at a 'challenging' pace followed by a couple of minutes of strength exercises while your partner completes her lap, then another lap at 'challenging' pace, then another round of strength exercises, etc. We fit in 6 laps. Strength exercises included plank, side plank, push-ups, lunges, crab walk and bridge. Did I say it was hard?

On the other hand, my partner was Leah - a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor - who now runs marathons despite the fact that the chemo damaged her heart. Makes you remember why you're doing this. It wasn't that hard tonight.

I take-on the hills at Rancho San Antonio Park again in two days.

Hellyer Park Long Run

We were introduced to 'Run-Walk' this morning. You choose an interval such as five or ten minutes, and divide into running:walking portions such as 4:1 (follow 4min running with 1min walking), or 8:2 (follow every 8min running with 2min walking).

This is a concept promoted by world famous marathoner and run coach Jeff Galloway. It's counter intuitive for most, but you can run faster half marathons and marathons this way! Different muscles are used for walking vs. running, so you give your running muscles a chance to recover while you're walking.

I joined a group running 7:1 this morning. We ran 6mi. This is the same distance I covered a week ago. A week ago, however, I ran it all - no walking. It's pretty interesting that we covered the same distance in the same time despite taking regular walking breaks. And I feel GREAT right now - I really don't feel fatigued at all. Last week I was tired.

Half the reason I joined Team In Training was to learn how to run / make it more enjoyable / get in to shape. We're off to a great start!

(And next week I'm going to start fundraising - which is the other half of the reason why I joined Team)

A great run tonight at Rancho San Antonio Park. 4mi - the first 2mi straight up hill. It was grueling. Over the summer this run will get longer and longer - the first half always uphill. But this is the practice I need for Kaua'i.

After the 'long run', we took a few moments to listen to an honoree. Doug was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer in 2002, stage 4 out of 4 meaning he had tumors all over his body. To try to save Doug's life he was brought to the brink of death a number of times between 2002 and 2006. By 2006 it wasn't looking good, but doctors told him that there was a new experimental drug called Bundamustin. They suggested it was worth a shot.

Now in 2009, Doug is celebrating his third year in remission. He notes that when one has had cancer, you're never advised to use the other 'c' word - 'cured'. But for three years since the Bundamustin treatment, doctors have been unable to find tumors.

That's what it's all about. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society supports cancer research such as the development of drugs like Bundamustin. Team In Training raises money for LLS.

Last Saturday was the first Team In Training training event - a 'long run' on the Los Gatos Creek Trail. There are a couple of hundred of us training together. You know - it seems like there are as many volunteers as trainees! This is a great organization.

It was up to us how far we wanted to walk or run - up to 6mi. I hadn't run outdoors since last fall, although I had been running on the treadmill. I was going to try 5mi.

I completed 6mi and felt great! I actually forgot to time the run so I'm not sure what the pace was - but I'd estimate approx. 10min miles. I need to run 8:20 miles to achieve my target time, but this is just the beginning.

I've never been to Hawaii, but based on all I've heard and seen my expectation is that it will be beautiful. But I need to tell you about the Kaua'i Half Marathon.

The good news is that the last 5.5mi is downhill.

The bad news is that the first 7.5mi is uphill. An average 2% grade for 7.5mi. An over 800 ft climb. And: hot, humid, might rain.

And I'm determined to break 1:50.

Wish me luck!

While this is my initial post, I've actually been training for a couple of weeks now. So I'm going to make a few posts over the next few minutes to catch you up.

I actually took the decision 5wks ago to get in shape and fundraise for cancer research. But in fact the Team In Training season hadn't started yet. So I trained on my own.

One of the metrics I'm going to report in this blog is weight loss. I'm too ashamed to admit what my weight was to begin with, so I'm not going to use absolute numbers. My goal is to drop my weight by 15% before Kaua'i. 5wks in, I'm 23% of the way there!