Hal Higdon Training: 12 Mile Run + Time to HTFU!

Today was the hardest, most exhausting run I have had in my life. It was harder than any of the Triathlons. It was harder than the 10K I ran at a 7:20/mile pace. It was harder than any wind sprints or laps I ever had to do playing football. It was even harder than the 16 miles I did seven days ago!

Now everyone has bad days while training and you should just chalk it up to that, but this was somehow different. And Annie had the same experience. We both were sucking wind the entire run. Our nutrition and hydration were spot on and neither of us can figure out why it was so hard. The only thing we can come up with is that it is actually part of Mr. Hal Higdon's training plan. Last week he had our long run set at 16 miles and we slowly had worked up to that distance and did quite easily. Then this week it was only 12 miles. We went into this morning's run thinking this run was going to be a breeze, no problems, and we were horribly mistaken!

So just to give a recap: We got out of bed a little late and started around 8am. We walked outside and it was hot and humid. My sunglasses immediately began to steam. It usually takes me about 2 miles to find a nice groove and this did not happen the entire run. About 4 miles into the run my right foot was numb. I have been having some minor comfort issues with my right foot since I bought new shoes. I have been adjusting how tight I am tying the laces and today I think the were a little too tight! So I stopped running and adjusted the laces. It felt a little better but overall I am not very pleased with this pair of Asics. I cannot remember the type of Asics and I am not at home to check but I will let everyone know later.

After about 8 miles of struggling I told Annie we just needed to Harden The F*** Up and finish the run. She agreed and we sucked it up for 4 more miles. The last half mile almost ended me. It was only 5 minutes long but felt like an eternity. I could not have done another mile. My legs were sore, my ankles were pounding, my breathing was all over the place .... I was toast. This was the first time since I began running seriously that I felt like I was going to vomit while running and it happened on multiple occasions today!

As I sit here my legs feel beat and I am going to go home and take a nap before I go to bed!

Tomorrow is an off day and I imagine that it will be much needed. Then on Tuesday we do 4 miles, Wednesday is 9 miles, Thursday is 5 miles, and the weekend long run is 18 miles. I am dreading the 18 miles right now!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Hal Higdon Training: 5.1 Mile Run

Run Miles this week: 32.1

Tomorrow is an off day and then we have a 12 mile run as our long run scheduled for Sunday. In Higdon's plan he had us do 16 miles last weekend and only 12 miles this weekend. I am guessing Higdon suggests doing it this way to let your body recover but also to help prevent overuse injuries. It is pretty funny to me that I think of a 12 mile run as being short.

Annie and I got up at 5am again today to get our 5 miles in. It was 48 degrees out so I had to go with a long sleeve DryFit shirt today and I am glad I did because it was still 48 degrees when we got home 47 minutes later. Nothing to really report about this run, pretty ho-hum. My legs are still feeling good!

Tomorrow is a fun Saturday of working, chores, and cleaning. Sunday is the 12 mile run and a Steelers thrashing of the Bengals. Glad it is the weekend!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

7 Mile Trail Run

Text message to Annie from me at 3:00PM: "Call me if you want to go on an adventure!"

That is how the trail run idea came about. I was over in West Houston this morning for work and at lunchtime I hit a Subway and realized it was right next to an REI. I went inside and ended up finding some Trail Running Shoes (Salamons) on clearance and also picked up some trail runners socks. I was ready.

We were supposed to run 8 miles this morning but we both went to bed late and decided to get a couple extra hours of sleep and run in the evening when I got home. And Annie had an off day so it worked out perfect.

A couple of hours later we were on our way to Huntsville State Park, which is the site of my 50K! We found the trail and got our gear on and started to run. The trail was awesome - roots, sand, leaves, and elevation changes. I was loving it ... but some others, Annie, were not! She did not pay proper respect to the roots and ended up taking a tumble or two or three! I can joke now because she wasn't hurt and ended up landing in the sand but the fact is you have to pay extra attention to your footing because one little misstep can end your day rather quickly!

We ended up doing 7 miles. Hal Higdon wanted us to do 8 miles but we ran out of daylight and those trails were a little spooky when it got dark!

After this trial trail run I am stoked to do the 50k race. Pretty sure it is going to take me 6.5-7 hours to finish and I am going to be in a great deal of pain when done but for some reason I can't wait to do it!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Hal Higdon Training: 4 Mile Run

Higdon's plan called for an easy 4 mile run today and that was exactly what I did!

Actually slept in to about 7am! Since the Steelers were on late last night I didn't get to bed at my normal early hour. It was actually fun to not run in the dark for once on a weekday.

The weather was a little warm out, around 78 degrees, so I decided some hydration was needed. I was going to wear my nathan's hydration belt with gatorade in one of the 10 oz containers but Annie suggested I try the hand held container she has been using. She doesn't really like the hand held container because it starts to hurt her arm after a few miles. It straps to your hand and has a compartment to stores keys and stuff. I only filled it up 1/2 way (10oz) and really enjoyed running with it. I barely even noticed it was in my hand! I think on my under 5 mile runs this is going to be my hydration mechanism of choice from now on.

Here is what it looks like:

As for the run, my legs were a little sluggish. They still felt fine but I had to focus to get myself in the groove. I wanted to keep myself in the 9-9.5 min/mile pace time and I did with a total run time of 36:50 over 4 miles.

Tomorrow morning at 5am Annie and I are scheduled to run 9 miles. This should be a good test of my conditioning of where I think I am and where I actually am relative to my upcoming 50k event.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Rest Day

Some updates:

• I received, "The Essential Triathlon Swimming DVD" in the mail today. A big Thank You to Kevin Koskella from TriSwimCoach.com for sending it out to me. I am going to watch it over the next couple of days and then after the ultra trail run bust some butt working on my swimming and give everyone a day-by-day review!

• My legs feel great today after the 16 mile run yesterday. It had a little fatigue last night and ended up going to bed around 9pm. I was a little tight when I woke up but after a shower and some coffee I felt fine. I had to drive about 150 miles today and even when I got out of the car I still felt fine! So that is good.

• I need 21 points from Mendenhall and the Steelers Defense to win my fantasy league game. It is a PPR league so receptions to the RB are good (trying to send a message to Ben).

• Tomorrow is a 4 mile run and I am looking forward to it!

• Going to go buy some trail running shoes and some heavy duty socks this week and begin training with them.

• Annie and I got a new couch in the game room. It is big and ugly but oh so comfortable!

• Steelers 24, Broncos 10.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Hal Higdon Training: 16 Mile Run

16 miles in 2 hours and 42 minutes. This is a 10min/mile pace, which is exactly what we were trying to run. Pacing is made simple by the Garmin 305!

Annie and I got out of bed around 6am and had some coffee and a whole wheat bagel with peanut butter. This has become my standard go to breakfast pretty much every morning and I don't want to do anything different on long run days! It was 60 degrees and overcast out so it was a perfect day for running! I planned on a GU vanilla bean each hour and had 20 oz of Gatorade on my hydration belt. I rubbed some body glide on my feet to prevent friction from my socks and on my nipples to prevent tons of pain! Body Glide is a gift from God for us endurance cats!

We went and parked at a Walgreens in Kingwood and did our run on the Greenbelt trails. These are a series of concrete trails that meander around the community for like a 100 miles. Lots of people were out running and biking today so it was fun to be out. The first 10 miles were relatively easy. My HR was between 138-144 for the entire time and my legs felt great. Around mile 11 we planned to refill our hydration belts at a water fountain in front of the library. Well, we got to the water fountain and it was broke. We were about 3 miles from the car and forgot to bring cash or credit with us so no stopping at a gas station. On mile 12 I took the last swig of my Gatorade. Being the planner that I am I had a gallon of water in a cooler in the trunk of the car and we made it there at mile 14 and we both were thirsty! We quickly filled up our hydration belts and took off to finish the last 2 miles of the run.

The water at the car really paid off because as soon as I hydrated I had a new bounce to my step. Annie said the exact same thing! We finished off the last two miles and then slowly walked back to the car and did a series of stretches. Got home and slammed some whole wheat waffles and had another coffee! Very solid run today!

So now the question is could I have done another 15 miles that would be required to complete the 50K trail run that I just signed up for? Actually, I am not sure. I need to break it into two parts: Conditioning and Body. I am pretty confident that if my body can hold up my conditioning will be fine. I felt fine after today's run. My legs feel like I ran but I am in no way limited right now and probably could have done another 5-7 miles without much fatigue. And I guess I really will not be able to answer this question until I do it. So on December 5th I guess we will see!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

That didn't take long ....

I let it marinate for about 12 hours and I have decided to .... do the 50k Texas Trail Race!

Just signed up 10 minutes ago. Already paid so no turning back now!

It is amazing at how excited I am about the ensuing pain that is going to be thrust upon my body in a little less than a month!

See the post below for more details ....

Should I do this? Am I Crazy?

After you read what I am about to write you will understand the title of this post.

Ok, over that last year I have been doing a lot of running. When I first started all this running I wasn't even sure if I actually even liked it. Let me rephrase - I was positive I didn't like running! Well, in the last 2 months something has changed and I am actually enjoying the heck out of running - there, I said it!

Not really sure when or how it happened but I look forward to waking up in the wee hours of the morning and pounding out some good miles. My body feels great afterwards and my fitness level is at a place I never thought even remotely possible.

So that brings me to the "Should I do this? Am I Crazy?" portion of the post:

Surfing around the web looking to find a running race to do in the winter months I came across this little ditty: Texas Trail Runs . This is a trail run in a State park (see map) about an hour from my house. If you clicked on the link you will see that on December 5th they are sponsoring a race with two distances - 12.5 Miles or 50K - I am kicking around the idea of doing the 50K!

How many miles is 50K? Well, I am glad you asked because I did a little conversion and the total miles would be 31 miles. Thirty-one miles over wood trails, horse paths, and campsites.

Now why the hell would I want to do something like this? Really, I cannot explain what the heck is going through my mind. I like to push my own limits and a race like this would do more than push. Every other event I have coming up or have completed I never once had a doubt that I may not finish. Well, with this one a big DNF (Did Not Finish) is a very real possibility. The longest run I have completed to date is 16 miles. By the time this race occurs I will be up to 20 miles in a single run and actually hitting the taper period of the Hal Higdon marathon training that I have been following. So the timing of the 50k could not be better to coincide with my training. Then once I finish this up I can jump right into my Tri training with some major ego-altering confidence!

Also I have been doing some reading about these ultra-marathon trail races and from the sound of it these are not as physically abusive to your body as running on concrete can be. Now, 50k is 50k and I am not under any delusions that it will be anything other than completely exhausting BUT my joints will respond better to grass and dirt than concrete - at least that is what I am telling myself!

Now here is my issue. I want to do this, but I do not want to go alone to the race. After 31 miles my body probably will not be in any condition to make the hour drive home. Annie works retail and it may be hard for her to get off on a Saturday 3 weeks before Christmas. Most of my friends are lazy beer drinkers (like I used to be) and will in no way get up at 4am on a Saturday and hang around a state park for most of the day as I attempt to run myself to death in the woods - they all think I have lost it anyways since I began Triathlon. Annie is going to see if she can get the day off and then she can do the 12.5 miler. Or as a last resort I might get a hotel room close and just crash out until I can go home!

So, fellow crazy workout buddies, let me hear from you - should I do this?

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Hal Higdon Training: 4 Mile Run

The Hal Higdon plan is pretty easy to follow. Basically, the miles you run during the week add up to what your long run is on the weekend. Example: We ran 4 miles, 8 miles and 4 miles. This totals 16 miles. On Sunday our long run is 16 miles. Pretty simple, eh? Every third week he does back off the distance of the long run so your body can recover. I am a big fan of simplicity.

This morning Annie and I got up when it was still dark out again and did our 4 mile run. Usually, Annie sets the pace and I follow. When I lead I tend to push too hard and spend too much time in the anaerobic HR zone. According to the experts (Higdon) this run should be done in a more aerobic zone. We both have Garmin 305's so this is easy to do, but I sometimes tend to drift away like the ADHD tard that I am and forget to use the Garmin. But today I wanted to set the pace because the last couple of Friday's we have been going too slow, IMO. I did not want to kill us but I wanted to keep us around a 9 minute mile. When it was all said and done we did the run in 35:53, which is just a tick under that 9 minute mile so we did good!

Overall another good workout. Annie is making me go out and be social tonight to some douchey wine bar or something. I want to do the long run tomorrow but she wants to do it on Sunday. We will probably do it on Sunday because I am sure I will be hanging around with a bunch of morons wearing Ed Hardy shirts and will need a drink or two to deal. It is amazing how once your life becomes centered around fitness and clean eating going out to clubs and bars really suck.

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff

Hal Higdon Training: 8 Mile Run

Annie and I got up in the wee-wee hours of the morning and did an 8 mile run. The alarm clock went off at 5am and I really didn't want to get up. I told Annie I wanted to sleep and she told me to get up. It is days like these when it is awesome to have a training partner!

The run went well. We did it in about 1:18, so a little under 10 minute/mile is what we averaged. It was another beautiful crisp morning and I absolutely love running in this type of weather!

Tomorrow is a scheduled 4 mile run but Annie has to leave for work at 6am so we are going to make tomorrow our rest day instead of Friday and run the 4 miles on Friday!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff