Day After the End of the World

Woot! Okay, it's weird to celebrate a run when the wheels come off so completely... but didn't it make the next run feel utterly fabulous by comparison?

To top it off, it sounds like a good learning experience. Fluids are good. And, I must note, starting with a warm-up walk probably didn't hurt, either. Going for sleep-deprived and discombobulated into a run with no transition was something your body apparently didn't appreciate.

And on an even more serious note, I have to point out that when I get a run like the one you had on Saturday, I take it as a sign from my body to shut it down and try again another day. The potential downside of pressing on in a situation like that far outweighs whatever limited physiological benefit you may have derived. Food for thought.

Yeah, morning is way better than evening in Summer. No worries about pace or hr. Just get in the miles. Saturday, I wanted to avoid the sun and also experienced the TM a little, I did 5 miles at Life Time, starting @12:00 pace and never under 10:00. Heehee.

Mark - Well, I was't celebrating on Saturday but Monday felt REALLY good. I know fluids are good but I just didn't realize it would mess me up that bad. Since then I have taken my camelbak and had much better results on my runs. I am not sure I need a warmup walk on my evening runs but when I run by myself I always do a warmup walk just so I can compare apples to apples.

The problem with shutting it down on saturday, it was an out and back and by the time I started to feel really bad I was only about 1 mile away. At that point, I was ready just to be done and I knew I could dig deep and finish 1 mile. I wasn't looking for any physiological benefit, I was just trying to survive and finish so I could get to my car. I understand what you are saying and there have been times where I have bagged a run before but there wasn't really a good option at that point for me.

Jerry - I agree, I don't worry about pace and HR too much during the summer. I am just not accustomed to running in the evenings during the summer. Congrats on finding the treadmill, I have to say it does help during the summer months.

Tuesday - 5.51 miles @ 9:16 pace

Today's run consisted of 2 x 15 minutes at MP with a total of 50 minutes of running. My goal time is 9:00 at this point, so we started out with a 10 minute warmup and again the rest of the group went out at a 9:15-9:20 pace and I decided to hang back and run closer to 9:35-9:40 which is still a bit too fast, in my opinion, but it was still a good clip. At the 10 min mark, I dropped the pace down to 9:00 and I could tell I was working a bit. Then after the first 15 minutes, we got a 5 minute break of easy running and I dropped the pace down 9:35-9:45 and then we hit another 15 minute of MP and that time I dropped the pace down to 8:55 or so. At this point I knew my HR was high but I could tell I was holding steady on the effort. We then ended with a 5 minute cool down. I felt good afterwards but I knew I had worked hard

Wednesday - 6 miles @ 10:49 pace

I decided to head to the YMCA today at lunch instead of getting up and running after I had just run last nigt. It was a smart move because I felt good during the run. My pace was between 10:10-10:30 for most of the run which included a 5 minute warmup, thus the reason the pace is slower. HR was in the low 160s for most of the run too, exactly where I want it on an easy run.

Thursday - 4.89 miles @ 9:23 pace

Another group run tonight but this time it was only 10 minutes at MP for a total of 45 minutes. So the rest of the group continues to hammer down on the warmup, I was back with 2-3 others running 9:35s and then we dropped the hammer at 12 1/2 minutes down to 9:00 for the next 10 minutes. I felt much better tonight than I did on Tuesday and I think it was due to lower humidity or something because it didn't feel as bad. Anyways, I eased back to about 9:25-9:35 after the 10 minutes were up to finish the run. At the very end I was only passed by 1 person too instead of nearly 1/2 the group like Tuesday. I did have to push the pace the last mile a bit but nothing terrible. Felt good to not be passed by everyone...small victories which will hopefully not bite me in the butt later.

Off today and have 6 scheduled for Saturday. I hope it doesn't turn out like last Saturday, we have family pictures afterwards.

It's good that you have more people in your back of the pack group, now. You just realized your ego could be bruised in order to have a good marathon a couple of weeks sooner than your new running buddies or the rest of the group. I'm glad you're respecting what your HR is doing.

I noticed you have (probably) the Houston Half on your schedule in late October. The Houston Striders put on a good race, yet it's been snake bit on temperatures the past few years, so don't completely give up your heat acclimitization when the weather cools.

I haven't registered for the End of the World Marathon, yet, as I have a new boss and need to get permission for taking that day off.

Keep it up and enjoy the heat.

Great running Joel--I feel your pain about those runs when the heart rate just sky rockets even at low pace. I've had few of those too, where my HR is still around 160 even after walking!

I will be excited to watch your progress with the group runs, the MP miles, etc.....I'm always looking for better ways to get myself to be able to finish a marathon feeling good! My best was my 4th marathon, with about 4:45. The 5th and 6th were almost slower than my first.....Eeek!

Oz - My ego took a back seat the first time I ran with the group. There are some seriously fast guys in this group but I have to remember to be smart and do my own thing when required during the group runs. I am glad to see a few others are finally getting the fact that they are running too fast. I hope more figure it out soon, I don't want to see anyone get hurt.

Yes, the Houston Half is on my list of races, I just haven't signed up yet. I will in a few weeks. Apparently the race has new management, not sure what that means exactly but last year's relay was a disaster, the 1/2 was good but apparently the relay portion had some major issues like no clear signs at the turnaround which made some runners run an extra 1-2 miles.

As for the weather, both Tuesday and Thursday runs with the group are in the evening throughout the entire season so I will continue to get plenty of evening/heat runs in throughout this cycle. So far I can tell it is making a positive difference in my running despite feeling like I am going to die during some of the runs.

I just officially signed up for the Day After the End of the World but I am still not showing up on the registered list. I will check next week and if I am still not on the list I will email them. I thought he was doing it once a week but maybe less often for right now.

Peg - I have never experienced a run like that before but that is because I usually don't run in the hottest part of the day. Glad I am not the only person though, that does make me feel a bit better.

I really hope this group helps me with improving my marathon time. A 4:59 marathon PR for a runner who can run 6:28 for 1 mile is not acceptable to me. I should be much closer to 4 hrs than that. I sure hope this does the trick. I want to run Boston at some point in my lifetime.

Saturday - 6 miles @ 9:49 pace
Group run this morning but I wouldn't really call it a "group" run considering I didn't actually run with anyone except for the first 1/4 of a mile or so. A small group of us, about 6-8, met up before the normal group run to do some extra miles but I was only doing the 6 miles and then leaving as I had family pictures today and then a TON of other activities planned. We set out and I hit the first mile at 9:57 and the rest of the guys were already a good 20-30 secs in front of me. Most of the rest of the run was down in the upper 9:xx pace and my HR was a little higher than normal but still within the LSD HR range which I was glad to see because the pace was about 15-25 secs faster than I have been running my long runs at. Overall pace was between 9:38-9:57 and the HR was between 160-172. The 172 is a bit too high but nothing to be concerned about at the end of a hot/sweaty run. Also, the route contained a lot of little risers, I wouldn't call them hills but they are more up/down than I am use to on my flat routes. It was a nice change.

After my run, we had family pictures with my wife's family and then my FIL and I took the kids to the Downtown Aquarium for shark weekend, which turned out to be a bust for shark stuff but the kids still had a good time. Then we went to a minor league baseball game, despite the fact the league isn't associated with MLB, not sure how that works but whatever. The field is really nice and very kid friendly, they have a splash pad, playground and even a Ferris wheel. We arrived 1 hr before the game so the kids could play and only stayed until the 4th inning. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Monday - 5 miles @ 10:18 pace
Today was a solo run in the morning and I could tell I had a rest day yesterday despite having a crazy Saturday. My legs were extra peppy today which hasn't been a normal thing for me lately but I think all these group runs are starting to pay off. My pace was between 9:36-9:48 and my HR was an extremely low 160-164 for the entire run. My HR has NEVER been that low for a run like that. I felt good except I had some stomach issues due to all the grease I had on Saturday/Sunday. Tough having family in town when I am not use to eating out any more.

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Just a little history since January about why I don't eat out as much any more and why I didn't do a blog earlier this year. After (and for almost year before) my 1/2 marathon in January, I was having extreme abdominal pain and was being woken up due to the hunger pains I was having at night. I just thought I was extremely hungry all the time due to all the miles I was putting in. Come to found out I had an ulcer and acid reflux which was being caused by a disease called Eosinophilic Esophagitis. It is an allergic inflammatory condition of the esophagus typically caused by some kind of food. Symptoms are swallowing difficulty, food impaction, and heartburn. It took nearly 3 months to figure it out but once I was put on Prilosec I have felt a ton better and haven't had any issues. I did try going off Prilosec after 3 months, per doctor's orders, but after 3 days I was feeling the pain again. Also, I found out I am allergic to 15 different foods and some of the more impossible ones to avoid are soy and yeast....yeah how does a runner avoid those, they are in every kind of bread known to man, except tortillas. So I eat a LOT of tortillas now. Some of the more common ones are chicken, celery and carrots and every kind of nut except peanuts. So eating out is pretty hard but I still do eat some of the things like bread but that is only when it is a last resort. So far I haven't had any bad reactions to anything but I wasn't really having reactions before, it is all internal. I plan on getting another scope done at the end of the year to see how things are doing. Plus I plan on going to a specialist to see if there is anyway I can get off the Prilosec. I don't want to be taking that for the rest of my life.

Also, I get to work from home permanently now which has made eating a lot easier for me. I can control what I eat and when I eat. I was super excited when my boss said I could work from home, he works in MN so its not like I see him every day anyway. This has helped me lose nearly 20 lbs since January and I feel a million times better than I ever have before since I started running. Sorry for the long explanation but I thought it worthy of mentioning at some point so you knew what was going on.

So it looks like I am a little behind in my blog. I plan on catching up here in the next few days but since I have been away I have watched most of the Olympics, still have 23 episodes on DVR. Gone to Arkansas for a week's vacation with the family and gone shark fishing. My son is really, really into sharks and we went shark fishing last year so we decided to do it again this year. We had a blast and we had a lot more activity this year than last year. We were able to bring 2 on board with us (then released), 4-5 were caught but couldn't get into the boat for one reason or another and 5-6 we fought but they broke the line before we could see them.

Overall, my running is still going well and my paces are getting faster each and every week. I am loving this new running group and they are really pushing me to my limits. LOVE IT!!! Also, I signed up for the Houston 1/2 marathon on Oct. 28th, first race of the season. Also, I signed up for the full marathon in December, but I think I already posted that, if not, well I will repeat it again. I am super excited about this upcoming racing season.

I will post more about my runs later today or tomorrow.

Here is how my week went about 3 weeks ago.

Week 7/30 - 8/5
Monday - 5 miles @ 10:18 pace
Today was a solo run in the morning and I could tell I had a rest day yesterday despite having a crazy Saturday. My legs were extra peppy today which hasn't been a normal thing for me lately but I think all these group runs are starting to pay off. My pace was between 9:36-9:48 and my HR was an extremely low 160-164 for the entire run. My HR has NEVER been that low for a run like that. I felt good except I had some stomach issues due to all the grease I had on Saturday/Sunday. Tough having family in town when I am not use to eating out any more.

Tuesday - 5.35 miles @ 9:18 pace
Group run today and the goal was 45 minutes with 4x5 mins @ MP with 5 min easy in between. This was a tougher run than I thought it would be since you are basically doing surges from easy/GA running to marathon pace throughout the entire workout. Not a terrible way to test your goal pace but when it is nearly 95 degrees out with 60-70% humidity, it sure does make for a tough workout. I made it through without issue and I nailed my 9:00 goal for the MP portion.

Wednesday - 6 miles @ 10:51 pace
Ran in the morning so I only had about 7-8 hours in between workouts & my body could tell I had worked hard last night. Pace was about what I expected 10:19-10:25 & HR was where I thought it would be which was between 159-165 for most of the run. The cool thing is this use to be my GA pace and it is becoming more like my recovery pace.

Thursday - 4.84 miles @ 9:22 pace
Group run again, this time it was 45 minutes with 1x10 mins @ MP. This was much easier on the body and a TON less mentally taxing too. First 10 minutes is a warmup, next 10 is at MP and the final 25 minutes is a cooldown. However, the warmup/cooldown is more like GA/easy pace which for me right now is about 9:30-9:45. I can tell these MP runs are getting easier, which is a good sign.

Sunday - 7 miles @ 10:52 pace
So I had to help my brother-in-law and sister-in-law move Friday and Saturday up to Dallas so today's run was done in Dallas before the wife, kids and I went up to Arkansas. Let's just say yesterday was a really LONG strength workout. My body was tired and I am not use to the hills and yes there are a few hills in Dallas. Anyways, it was a decent run despite being tired and fatigued due to the lower humidity. Pace was between 10:17-:10:39 and HR was a lot lower than I expected at 148-167. Good easy long run...if 7 miles can really be considered long, it was the longest for the week.

I will try and catch up a bit more soon.

Hi Joel, Your running is looking strong and your paces certainly are getting faster! Sounds like those groups runs are the perfect thing to mix into your training! Keep up the great work!

KathyK wrote:Hi Joel, Your running is looking strong and your paces certainly are getting faster! Sounds like those groups runs are the perfect thing to mix into your training! Keep up the great work!

Thanks, I really do like the running group so far. I am still a bit nervous about how their training strategy will correlate to the full marathon. So far it feels more like it is geared towards running a super fast 1/2 marathon and just surviving the full marathon. I have heard a few comments from other runners that say the same thing. So far so good though and I will keep plugging away.

Week 8/6 - 8/12
Monday - 5 miles @ 10:40 pace
Today I was in Mooresfboro, Arkansas as it was our first morning on vacation. We went Diamond mining yesterday and didn't find anything. It was kind of a bust as a storm came rolling in about 45 minutes after we arrived so we had to leave. Anyways, the run was HILLY on the way out which caused my pace to be really slow on the front end and I negative split the run, went from 10:23 down to 9:33.

Tuesday - 5 miles w/ 2x3 hill repeats
Today we were in Petit Jean state park in Arkansas and will be here for the next few days. The workout was 2x3 hill repeats and I was easily able to find a hill since that is pretty much everything is around here. I found one that I thought was the right distance that would mimic what we have back home but apparently it was longer and steeper, which is fine by me seeing as we don't have very many hills back home. I ran each repeat between 1:13-1:18 (6:53-7:15 pace) and it was roughly .18 of a mile and roughly 75-100 feet in elevation. So a pretty decent hill, especially for a flat lander like me. Did a 2 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown.

Wednesday - 6 miles @ 10:50 pace
Another run in Petit Jean, Arkansas and this was just a nice and easy run. Pace was solid (10:07-10:28) and HR was low (156-165). Nothing else to say about this run.

Thursday - 4.67 miles @ 9:38 pace
Ran in Eureka Springs and there were some MAJOR hills today. The workout was 45 minutes with 15 mins @ MP. Boy did I try to hit 9:00 but wasn't able to hold it because the hills killed me. It didn't help that the MP portion was on the biggest hill of the run, it went up 150 feet in elevation in less than a .25 of a mile. I was doing my best to keep the pace as close to 9 but once I hit the top of that hill I was in the high 10:30-10:50 range. I think I accomplished the goal of the workout though since my HR spent a lot of time in the marathon range which is 158-179 for me. The good sign is that my avg. HR for the entire run was 166 and got up to 173 avg at the end....SWEET!!!!!

Sunday - 8 miles @ 9:47 pace
First group run back after my trip to Arkansas and I have to say driving 11 hrs the day before didn't help....I got to drive 8 1/2 of those hours because my wife got sick along with my son....NO FUN!! My HR was through the roof today with it being between 166-190 on average....NO BUENO!!! My pace was decent but I probably should have slowed down, 9:26-10:06. Definitely not my best long run ever but considering the circumstances, I was ok with the effort.

I'm back...

Erin wrote:I'm back...

Woohooo, glad to see you back....I already posted to your blog.

Here are a couple of pics from our shark fishing expedition this year. Our son Matthew is HUGE into sharks so we decided to take him shark fishing last year and now it is becoming an annual tradition. We caught 4 sharks on the boat last year and 2 on the boat this year despite this year being a lot more active as we caught about 4-6 on the side of the boat that just didn't make it into the boat. This is all catch and release so no sharks were killed during our trip.

Fun pics, Joel! Your kids certainly are cutie-pies!

Great pictures. The kids seem like they have grown a ton since January.

Kathy - Thanks, they are definitely cute...I can't lie!

Michele - Yep, Matthew plateaued during the summer but over the past 3-4 weeks after we bought him his fall pants he decided to spring up a few inches on us...he now has a few high water outfits that will have to last him a few months. Audrey did the same thing when we bought her some new dresses, I think she grew 1 inch in about a week because her newest dress no longer covers up her rear end...it is so cute but now we have to buy stuff for underneath to cover her legs and bottom.

Week 8/13 - 8/19
Monday - 4 miles @ 11:03 pace
Ran at the YMCA today and it was probably a good idea since my wife and son were still sick. I ended up cutting it a mile short since I needed to go get the meds for my wife and son. The run was good, pace was 10:10-10:45 and HR was 150s/160s for most of the run. However, the pharmacy was a different issue. I spent over 1 hr trying to get the right meds for both my wife and son. What a pain in the butt.

Tuesday - 6.2 miles w/ 3x3 hill repeats
Today was my first hill repeat workout with the running group and I have to say it went pretty well except it took nearly 2 hours to complete the entire workout from warmup to cooldown. We do a lot of extra things in between. Things like a 2 mile warmup, then active stretching exercises, then we get into the actual workout and do 3x3 hill repeats with a 3 minute jog in between each set. Then after that we do another 2 mile cooldown and then recovery stretches and then 5 minutes of core. Let's just say this is going to be a TOUGH workout each week. I did the hills between 45-52 secs which is 6:10-7:24 pace for .19 miles of a hill. Not too bad for my first time.

Wednesday - 6 miles @ 11:32 pace
I only had 7 hours between this run and the hill workout so I knew it was going to be rough. My HR was higher than I wanted it to be, 162-173, and my pace was SLOW, 10:31-11:30 but I made it through the workout and now I get 1 1/2 days off before my next workout.

Thursday - 4.93 miles @ 9:12 pace
Today's group run was 45 minutes with 1x10 minutes at MP. I felt good today so I decided to push the pace a bit faster than 9:00 and got the 10 minute segment down to 8:48-8:55 range depending on which mile it crossed over. I was pretty pleased with the effort and glad it was only 10 minutes of hard running today.

Sunday - 9 miles @ 9:38 pace
So I am starting to realize that this group is just too fast for me right now on the long runs. I ran the first 2 miles with them today at 9:34 and 9:28 pace but then slowly backed off to 9:45-9:50 pace and felt much better and I was able to power home in 9:31, 9:35 and 9:36 but my HR was a bit higher than I would have liked, 176-182 for most of the run when it should be in the low 160s. I am trying to not get too concerned about the HR but in the past when my HR has been this high on long runs it hasn't been good for me on race day.

Wife's b-day today and last night we went out with her parents so I missed my group run. I tried to go running at the YMCA yesterday but apparently they shut the entire place down for 2 days so they could fix the floors and all the equipment. Not sure if this is an annual thing or not but I am impressed they would shut the whole place down. Of course it was a minor inconvience to me since I didn't get to run like I was supposed to yesterday. I decided to skip today as well because it is supposed to be a stepback week but so far all we have done is increase mileage this week and only get to cut 2 miles off our long run on Saturday. I am a bit confused on how this group gets through a season because so far 7 weeks into the program and we haven't had a step back week and the week we finally do we only decrease our overall mileage by maybe 1-2 miles. I don't really get it but I think taking this extra day off this week will help me recover. I am starting to feel a lot of fatigue in my legs and even some pretty good soreness that could be considered a bit too much right now.

Tonight the wife and I go out for her birthday, just the two of us while the kids spend time at the grandparents, we were planning on Taste of Texas http://www.tasteoftexas.com/ which is a really nice steak place but after last night's "heavy" meal she is reconsidering. So who knows where we are going. Then tomorrow we are having dinner with my parents. Birthday's around here seem to be getting crazier and crazier with 3 days of celebrations....hmmm!! It sure is FUN though.

I have 8 miles on tap for Saturday and I hope the extra rest is going to do me some good. I need a good long run to get some confidence back.

Have a fun date night with your wife!!
3 days of birthday celebration sounds good to me...will there be 3 days of birthday cake? That's always my favorite part

We need to get together sir. Like dinner...your family and mine....

Hope you and your wife had a great dinner last night, and a good run this morning.

If the training plan's strain seems to be getting to you, don't be afraid to take a day off or ease up a bit. You'll get there - just remember to get there in one piece!

Kathy - We had a great time on date night and the entire weekend was a blast. As for the cake, there were 3 desserts and 2 of them I partook in but decided to avoid the first one. The 3rd one though was a triple chocolate cheesecake from a local bakery and it was AMAZING. We froze some of it because it was so darn good. It is my wife's favorite and I think she has had another piece already. I have not and I am trying not to but I may break down and have some this weekend.

Michael - You guys want to come over and watch a Texans game one weekend? Let me know which Sunday works for you guys and we can set something up.

Mark - We had a great time on date night and a great weekend with the family. She loved her surprise scavenger hunt too.

As for the run that Saturday morning, let's just say I am glad I went at 5:10 with the early birds. There were only 4 of us who came early and I was able to run with them for about 1 mile before I let them go and slowed down. I was able to keep my HR down and my pace was slow but on a day when the dew point is 80 you have to make those kinds of decisions sometimes to keep things going in the right direction long term.

I took a day off the thursday before and it was the best decision I could have made, combine that with the slower long run on Saturday and I was rip roaring to go this week. I have had a great week of running, so I am happy!