Race Ready

I did a little speed workout yesterday. It was good, nice and short. I totaled four miles. Today I went for a five mile easy run. I pushed Alex along in the stroller. I feel really good. I went down to the store today to get some energy gel. I bought some Gu. I also bought some Nuun. It is an energy drink that I learned about recently. It is really cool. It is just a tablet that you put in water and it dissolves to an energy drink. It's great because it doesn't have all the bad for you sugars. I also bought a running shirt. I've been just using a t-shirt. It works, but all the sweat just stays there on the shirt and by the end of a run my shirt weighs about ten pounds. This new shirt should work great. Well that's it for now. I only have three short days till the marathon.

Great News

I went for a seven mile run today on a track and I felt great the whole time. I used to think that 28 laps on a track would be really boring, but it didn't seem that long at all. I even tested my speed a little to see how my back would handle it. I did a 400 meter lap on the second mile at 1:21 and another one for the first lap of my seventh mile at 1:20. That is not a great 400 meter time, but it was pretty good for having just run six miles. It was pretty cold and windy too. I think the temp was about 50 but it was really windy and it felt like it was about 40. Well, if I have a couple more runs like this I might think about pushing myself a little on the marathon for my 3:25 time. We'll see.

Recovering

Good news: I went for an easy three mile jog today and it felt great. I was very cautious because I didn't want to aggravate my back. I went a mile up the road here, then came in and ran another two on the treadmill. The whole run felt great. When I stopped though, I felt my back tighten up a little. Nothing to worry about. I'm still taking some Motrin to help loosen up my muscles. I have Icy Hot that I am using too. Here is a tip for you. Never put Icy Hot on imediately after a hot shower or bath. It normally feels great. A nice soothing cool followed my a warm tingling sensation. It feels good. If you put it on when your skin is already hot or warm: it burns. I looked at my back and everywhere the Icy Hot was was bright red. I had to go lay down on the bed with the fan on high. The burning sensation went away after just a few minutes, but they should put a warning on the label or something. Well, that is all I have for now. Tomorrow I hope to be able to run five or six miles. Just another easy run. Keep your fingers crossed.

Bad News

Yesterday as I was getting Alex in the car, I pulled my back. It was really annoying because I've done the same thing hundreds of other times before and never had a problem. This time I guess Alex has grown too big. When Amanda came outside, I was on my hands and knees. That was pretty humiliating, I couldn't even stand up. She helped me up. I took some medicine and it helped, but I still hurt. I took a hot bath this morning and then sat down and didn't move for a few hours, when I finally started to move around I was surprised that I didn't hurt nearly as much. I am aching now, but I hope it will go away so that I can run this marathon. I am definitely not going to push myself now. Maybe I'll make a four hour goal for myself. I'll see how I am feeling the day of the race. I'll keep you updated and let you know how I am feeling.

Long run

I ran 17 miles today on my longest training run before the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon. I would have liked a few more weeks to build up some more endurance, but I am glad i have something specific to work for. I felt pretty good today, except for the slight dehydration towards the end. I really should start carrying water on my longer runs.

Baton Rouge Beach Marathon

Well, I did it. I just signed up for the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon on December 1st at 7:00 AM. I also reserved a hotel for the night before. There is no going back now. I have paid my money: no refunds. It will be fun. This will be my second marathon. My first marathon, the Top of Utah Marathon, was over five years ago. My time was 3:26:46. My goal for this race is to finish faster than that. I would like to beat three hours, but I don't think I am ready for that yet. I had to cut off a month from my training and modify it a bit so that I would be ready for this marathon. Maybe three hours can be my goal for the Salt Lake City Marathon in April. I've got a ways to go to prepare for that race. Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted on my training and I will definitely tell you about the results. It is just three weeks away. I hope the Thanksgiving feast will not get in the way too much, especially since we are having two of them this year.
This race is pretty small. In the past, there has only been about 100 people doing the marathon and 400 or so doing the 1/2 marathon. If I plug my last time into last years results or the year before, I would be in the top 5 or 10. Anyway, I'll go rest now for my upcoming training week.

Marathon Training

This was a good week for marathon training. I found a marathon I want to run on December first. It is a couple hours away from here. I mapped out a training schedule for the next four weeks. I will be ready for this marathon. I ran ten miles on Tuesday. I ran twelve miles today. This week totaled 32 miles. I feel good. I've been a little sore this week, but I feel really good today. I have a 35 mile week lined up next week. I will run 15-17 miles on Friday or Saturday. I have a couple of speed workouts lined up for this week too. I want to beat my time from the last marathon which was 3:26. I haven't done a lot of speed work, so I don't know if I will be able to beat that time. I will though, be able to run the whole thing and not be as sore as I was after the last marathon. I have only 3 weeks until this marathon, so wish me luck.

On another note, yesterday we went to an air show. It was pretty cool. We stayed there all day. Alex napped a little bit in the stroller. The Super Hornet is a very loud airplane. It is very cool. At first Alex was scared and cried about the loud airplanes, but once he realized that the planes wouldn't hurt him, he was very excited. He was so excited that he was jumping and screaming (for joy, not fright), and pointing up to the sky. The show ended at 6:30 or so and we were home in time for bed time.