Goofy Challenge training, part 12

The weather didn’t hold. We had a nice winter storm come through yesterday, which started as I was about a 1½ into my 20 mile run. Now, I’m a Minnesotan born and bred, so I figured it would be okay. In short, I finished the run, but it was like running 20 miles through the sand with winter running gear on. Oh, and the temperature was dropping as the wind picked up. The arms of my winter running pullover froze from the wrist to the elbow, my running gloves were frozen, as was my hat and the mesh of my running shoes. I had frozen snow on my heels from the tops of my shoes to the bottom of my running tights.

All in all, not the greatest conditions to run in, but oddly, I didn’t think of stopping and finishing the run inside. I certainly didn’t think of quitting and heading home. I just kept thinking that all I needed to do was finish the next part of the run, and then the next, and so on-soon I’d be done. I’ve run in colder conditions, snowier conditions, but the combination yesterday was definitely some of the worst weather I’ve run in. To top it off, normally when the weather is this bad, people stay home, but with yesterday being the last Saturday before Christmas, the roads were pretty busy. This meant watching cars much more closely as I can to intersections, but I didn’t really have any trouble with cars coming close to me or having trouble seeing me (I’m pretty big, so kind of hard to miss when there’s a snowy backdrop). I wasn’t even all that worn out. I was sore, and still am today, but I wasn’t exhausted. I may run the Goofy slower than I ran the marathon the last two years, but I’ll be able to do both fairly easily. I think it’s sheer stubbornness that’s getting me through the training now.

Happy holidays everyone!!

Goofy Challenge training, part 11

I had a fairly easy 12 mile run last Saturday, a nice route I hadn’t run in about two months. The weather was surprisingly warm, about 30 degrees, with not much wind and no precipitation. At least, not when I was running. By the afternoon, the wind had picked up and the temperature began dropping, fast. By evening, when my family and I went to a Christmas gathering, it was in the single digits and heading further south. We had a front blow through, literally, that was a precursor to the generally dismal weather we’ve had all week. Today it’s sunny, but it is not going to stay that way for long. We’re supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow, which should be done by this Saturday-the day I run my last 20 miler. Oh joy! I planned a different route so that I wouldn’t be doing laps like two weeks ago and as long as the weather holds, I should be fine.

This was the last intense week for my training, as I start to taper next week. I’m excited to do the races, but there is a small part of me that just wants to get it over with so I can relax a bit with my family. I’m still looking for a job and although I do have a project I’m doing for an old employer and an interview tomorrow for a good position with a great company, I’m getting more and more nervous, given the state of the economy that I may not find anything anytime soon. It does make it a little tough at times to justify doing the marathon, but so far, my wife and my mother have both said that since we had already budgeted for the trip that we should go. So, I’m going, obviously, but still, I really wish I had to take time off work to be able to take the trip. Oh well, maybe something will happen with the interview tomorrow and I’ll be able to look forward to starting a new job when we get back home!

Goofy Challenge training, part 10

Yesterday, I planned on running 20 miles (my square 4 mile route in 5 laps), even with the cold and wind. I’ve done it the past two years to train for the WDW Marathon and only once have I come in early (last year during an ice storm) and finished on the elliptical inside. Now, I’ve done it twice. It was not the cold and wind, but the snow, drifts, and lack of snow removal early on Saturday morning. We didn’t have a foot of snow or anything like that, but we had enough snow starting Friday night that by the time I went out at 7:00 am, the snow was about 3-5 inches, unless I ran into a drift-then the snow was part way up my calf. Naturally, the sidewalk that drifts the worst is next to the busiest road I run on during any of my training routes. The snow drifts here because this stretch of road has agricultural test fields for the University of Minnesota alongside it, so for half a mile, I have the same conditions as running in the country. It’s always a windy place and generally not my favorite part of my routes.

During my first lap I ran through a few drifts, before I jumped to the side of the road to run. The traffic wasn’t bad yet, so I was fine, but I knew I’d have four more laps of drifting snow during this mile stretch. As I made the next turn on my square, the sidewalk was in decent condition, so I was okay, but then I made the last turn to go back towards home and I was faced with crappy sidewalks again. I made it through the first lap about 4 minutes slower than I planned, but felt that I knew what the conditions would be for the other four laps, so I would be fine.

The second lap, which I did in reverse, broke down almost immediately. Now the snow plows were out in full force. This is great for drivers, but the snow’s got to go somewhere, right? Where does it go? On the sidewalk, of course, so now I have about 6 inches of snow to trot through. Unless the wind gets it and starts drifting, which my busy section of road did. The second lap I ran in the road, but had to be very conscious of where the cars were and hope that they saw this large, bundled person lumbering down the road towards them. During this lap, I starting thinking about finishing inside. I don’t like to split the workout like that, but sometimes you have to doing this kind of thing. I got through the second lap and started the third, again reversing myself so I was headed in the same direction as the first lap. The busy road drifts were worse, bad enough that I was not on the side of the road any longer, but at the edge of the right lane. Luckily, traffic was not bad for the time I was on the road, but I decided that I would finish this lap and head inside.

I probably should have figured out which of my routes I could graft onto this run to be able to go farther before coming inside, but I couldn’t remember distances for the routes I could have done, so I decided to try to stick it out. I got done with the third lap and came in to finish inside. This was not the way I thought my 20-miler would go, but I have another one in two weeks, so we’ll see how that goes. The joys of running in Minnesota in the winter!

Goofy Challenge training, part 9

This past Saturday, there was no snow, but I had an interesting run anyway. My 12 mile run was cut short by about a mile and a half due to tummy troubles. There is nothing like getting a gurgly tummy at the point farthest from home. I tried to tough it out, but had to think quickly to re-route myself home. It was also cold, so that did not help, but I made it home and everything turned out fine.

This Saturday is my first 20-miler this training cycle and I think that I will do my 4 mile route in a 5 lap loop, rather than do my 20 mile route. The weather is supposed to be cold with some snow, which doesn’t bother me, but the events of last Saturday have given me pause about being too far from home. Additionally, my wife will be at her sister’s house to bake cookies while I’m running, so calling for a ride is out. I’d rather be around a loop I know well and I know has a couple of restrooms on it I can use. Let the run begin!

Goofy Challenge training, part 8

Saturday, we had snow. Not a lot, but enough to cover the roads and sidewalks during my 18-mile run. It certainly wasn’t bad footing or anything like that, but I flashed back to last year, when it was snowing or below zero the last six weeks of training. This weekend should be better and I’m only running 12 miles, so there you go.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Goofy Challenge training, part 7

I live in an area of the Twin Cities which has a deceptively large number of hills. After all these years, I did not realize how many hills are in my surrounding neighborhood until last Saturday’s run. I ran 17 miles, no big deal for me after three years of marathon training, but it was a new route in an area I had thought was relatively flat. Imagine my surprise when I turn a corner about 6 miles in and I’m faced with one of the steepest hills I’ve ever run up and as I slow to a walk, I realize that I will have several more hills like this. This was the first run this year that I actually considered cutting short and finishing on the elliptical at home. I didn’t quit, though. I kept at it, kept running, and finally finished. I was done a little quicker than I thought I would be, but still I was slower than I’d have liked to have run.

I planned this week’s 18 miler to avoid too many hills. Most of the route I’ve run before, but I added several miles of new roads. I’ve eyed these roads for a couple of years and since we shouldn’t have any snow this weekend, I thought I’d give it a try. We’ll see how it goes!

Goofy Challenge training, part 6

Tis the season (no, not Christmas, although it is my favorite holiday, so in a way, I do mean Christmas) to have that morning gut-check and make the hard decision: run outside in the dark and cold or run downstairs on the elliptical? Except for the long run on Saturdays, which I’ll do in rain, snow, sleet, etc. much like the USPS, I’ve gone outside for my training run two or three times in the last several weeks. I have noticed that my long runs are better, seem easier, and seem to be not as stressful as last year, when I got outside as much as possible.

Goofy Challenge training, part 5

Training is going well, but you’d think that having my days open again (still waiting for a new project to ramp up) would get me out the house and running outside. I do my long runs on Saturdays outside, but I’ve run on the elliptical downstairs for all of my other training for the last few weeks. Last week, the weather was not very cooperative, so I didn’t mind too much. This week is cold (it IS late October in Minnesota after all), but sunny. I didn’t run on Monday, so I ran yesterday-downstairs. I ran this morning, but again, downstairs. At least the weather is supposed to be decent enough the rest of the week, so I intend to get outside to run tomorrow and Friday. I will run outside Saturday (only really bad weather deters me from running outside on the weekends.

I think the issue is partly not knowing my job status, partly not sleeping great due to waking up at 6:30 am and having the sunrise an hour away (my son insists it’s not morning when I try to get him up!), and partly not feeling the most positive in general. I know the job situation will be fine, eventually, but I truly hope that I will have to arrange for time off to go down for the marathon.

Goofy Challenge training, part 4

So, today is the last day of my contract project position. It’s worked out well and it was great to get a paycheck again! I also have the project with my former employer lined up and should be starting that soon, hopefully sometime next week. I’m not sure how long it will take, but I’ll take anything right now, especially with this employer.

I find it interesting that I was not blogging during my time on the contract position, but I was actually busy with home-related things when I’d get done with work (I should point out that the office where I worked is three miles from my house). This included my training for the Goofy Challenge in January. I had to start running in the late afternoons and it was a bit of an adjustment, but I got used to it. I will enjoy going back to running in the mornings on Monday and I hope to be able to keep doing that during this next project. If not, late afternoons aren’t so bad.

I’ve been following Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I training program since the beginning of September and my fears of too may miles have been unfounded so far. I’ve only missed a couple of days, including this past Wednesday, when I found out I did not get a job that I really wanted. Other than those few days, I’ve been running quite a bit. I’m getting a little faster, which I attribute to the base training I did this summer and to realizing the extra miles are not a bad thing. I ran 12 miles last Saturday at an 11:14 pace. I think I can trim that down a bit and have a decent shot at 11:00 for the marathon. I’m still not sure how I’ll run the half-marathon, but I know that I’ll probably try to stick to that pace or a little slower. I really want to make sure I’m not going to burn out during the marathon.

As far as food and eating goes, well, I’m doing better, but I need to be much more rigid about the portions and more realistic about the choices. I’d really like to be at 200 lbs, if not 195-199, and I know I’m running out of time to get there. Training for the Disney marathon is always problematic in terms of food because you’re training during the holiday season, which for eating and food choices, really starts in October when the Halloween candy and caramel apples and the pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks!start appearing. Fortunately, my contract position was at an office that had vending machines, so I brought my lunch every day but one, when I tried a vending machine lunch that wasn’t too bad.

Also, when I did the last two marathons (and this next one), my wife has insisted on me having my own room Saturday night before the race. Even though we’ll be at Saratoga Springs for the trip, I booked a room at Pop Century for Saturday night. The CRO person I spoke with when making the reservation thought it was funny when I said that my wife and three-year-old son were kicking me out of the room Saturday night because they didn’t want to get up at 2:30 am!

Hopefully, I’ll be able to blog more to track the training, but we’ll have to see, I guess.

Goofy Challenge training update, part 3

Started the actual training program last week. I’ve decided to follow Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I Marathon Training program to see if I get in better shape for the Goofy Challenge. I’ve tweaked the schedule to accommodate the days I typically run. Counting the Goofy Challenge runs, I’ll do over 600 miles for this training, which is more in an 18-week period than I usually run in 7-8 months. I feel that I can do this, though, because I’ve been getting bored, basically, with the training program I’ve used for the past two marathons. It will mean a lot of running in November and December, but hopefully, the winter weather will be closer to 2006, not last year. Two years ago, I ran in the snow twice, I think. Last year, I ran in the last five weeks of the training, including a couple of snow-ice storm type days that drove me inside after several miles.

I’m also trying to be much, much, MUCH better about food and eating. I gained a bit a weight, 5-7 lbs, over the summer as I continued my job search (still looking, but I did get a short-term contract job), so that should help with the predilection to graze a bit in the afternoons. If I could just lay off the Starbucks!

We also booked our DVC rooms for January and we’ll be staying at Saratoga Springs Resort for the first time. That should be interesting. We did cut one day off the trip, though, in hopes that I’ll have to take time off from work, just like my wife will have to do.