Marathon Brothers Blog

sept 30th

mikebrown — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:46:23 +0000

Well last saturday I ran to La Porte and back a very good 20 miles. My time was not good at all It took me 4:09 to run those 20 miles. I know its not great but I didn’t eat really well the day prior and I feel like I could do better. I ran for 1:40 min today and felt pretty good about that too. I feel ready to tackle this monster called the chicago marathon!!! So for the next couple of days I’ll probably run for 1:30 tonight and then try and run for 2 hours on friday or saturday and then taper down for the next week by next friday I’ll probably be running only 3/4 miles.
I’m thinking about changing my eating habits for the next 7 days or so that way maybe I’ll loose some weight. I figure the last four days I should start eating carbs and stuff.
Well I’m ready man… how about you?

Sept 8

mikebrown — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:43:12 +0000

Well saturday went as planned I ran for and hour and 50 minutes. Yep some where around 11 miles or so. I felt pretty good. The problem was that I then had to tackle my roof following that. So my day started at 6:40 with a 2 hour run and then I worked on my roof for the next 11 hours. I was pretty wiped out. But today was much better. Monday I worked at my dads house putting up siding but ran for 1:45 minutes the last ten mins or so I was hitting it pretty hard. Tonight I’ll run with krista and try and get in an hour or so. That’ll give me 2:45 for the day!!! That will be around 15/16 miles for the day. That’s not too shabby considering what I have been doing. I’m excited to be getting back into the groove of things. We’ll I’ll talk to you again probably around friday or maybe saturday night. More than likely sunday evening. C you later man!!

Mike

September 3

mikebrown — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 02:52:35 +0000

Ok well yesterday I didn’t do exactly what I said I was going to do. I did run for an hour. I ran 60 mins but there is a hill near here that I slammed 10-12 times for about 40 minutes I felt like that was pretty good. The first time I tackled that hill I felt like dying, but after a while I’ve noticed that it’s not so bad. I’m going to skip friday’s runs and take a 2 hour run on Saturday. I plan on slamming water all day tomorrow and eating lots of pasta ect so I’m good and carbed up for Saturday. No I’m sure your wondering about my distance. Well I’ll be honest at this point distance is not what I’m looking at I’m trying to run for time. before this whole kaput summer I was doing quite well. But at this point I’ll behonest I’m not so sure. But I’m working on it. Saturday will be the test. If I can run for two hours at a 9.5 or 10 min pace we’ll see how we sit. If I fail I guess it’s another week of trying to get up to that standard. Well so long buddy until Saturday night.
mike

hey Im backl

mikebrown — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:29:40 +0000

I won’t get into why I’ve been gone so long but let me just say that I’ve been quite busy. Yesterday I ran for 90 minutes I only ran at a 10 min pace but I did do 9 miles so I was pretty happy with that. Now that I’m back with a more regular schedule I’ll try and get back to blogging this sucker again. Yesterday morning like I said I hit 9 miles and then in the evening krista and I hit a local hill for 40 min. It wasn’t hard but I did run. Tomorrow I plan on running something similar maybe try and run for 10 or 11 miles and then in the evening i’ll try and hit that hill again. Im trying to slam the next month or so and get back to where I was. My problem is that I was up to 13-15 miles so my guess is that by next week I’ll be back up the 13/14 miles but after that the 17 mile mark you hit will be hard to get after. My legs will ready to DIE. But hey what’s a little stress.

Chris: Long Time No Blog!

chrischristensen — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:45:34 +0000

I have been horrible. If anyone was actually following this blog they wouldn’t be anymore! :)~

A quick recap of the past few weeks.

1) I ran a 15-miler at 10:40 pace.
2) Strained a muscle in my calf
3) Became the Cross Country Coach for Addison Community Schools
4) Took 3 weeks to recover from the Calf Injury
5) Ran quite easily this week

I was trying to run a 17-miler today but the time off paired with some wicked heat left me with only 13.62 miles. I’ll take it despite being disappointed. In the end, I feel back in the game and I’ll be ready to tackle the 17-miler next week. I should also be able to go back full-speed this week.

Anyone seen Mike?

Chris: Great Week, Tough Long Run

chrischristensen — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:31:06 +0000

This week I had the time and drive to get all of the workouts in. Each workout felt great and I was really looking forward to the long run. The problem is I underestimated the impact the big week had on my body and I ate fairly poorly the night before. That combination led to the most forgettable run so far. Hydration seemed to be a problem throughout the entire run even though I was drinking regularly and mentally it just wasn’t there.

The good news is I kept track of everything and I will use that information to tweak the workouts and food this week.

I’m back to where I left off when I peaked before. This week is the 13-miler and last time I did 13 it felt great. This week I’m going to take Friday off for rest instead of running like I did last week. I’m hoping this tweak paired with a careful diet will give me another great run on Sunday.

July 6

mikebrown — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:43:27 +0000

Ok I have a lot to catch you up on. I move this last week and my life is in a lot of chaos. Last saturday 27th I ran a mini marathon in 2.11 it was 2 min slower than my time in iraq last year but I hadn’t really ran in a month. this weekend I ran 5 miles in 42 mins and 6.6 miles in 62 mins which is not terrible. I ran the 5 on saturday morning and the 6.6 on sunday night. I plan on running again on Wednesday. My life right now is seriously stressed and I don’t exactly know what to do about it but to keep plugging along. I’m sorry for not getting on her more hopefully now that I’m not living in three different places things can go better.

mike

Chris: Confidence

chrischristensen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:19:12 +0000

The time off for the allergy thing really hurt my confidence. It took a few runs to feel better but I was still slacking off during those first few weeks. The 9-miler on Sunday did a lot to boost my confidence. For one I felt great during the entire run. I even ended it with a dead sprint in the last half mile. I finished with a 10:25 pace which is about 15 seconds ahead of the scheduled time. I should have stuck to the training but I was feeling good and listened to my body.

This week I have stayed on track. Kelly and I made a decision to begin eating more at home and it has had a huge impact on my weight. Within two weeks I have dropped 7 pounds and I am pretty sure that has to do with the sodium content in restaurant food. It was hard at first because neither of us wants to cook in the afternoon but we have been doing it and it is working well. Monday was my rest day and Tuesday I went on a nice 4-miler at about 11 minute pace. Nothing fancy just an easy run as scheduled. Yesterday I was in the gym for circuit training and a core workout and today was a speed workout which I ended with another core workout.

I started a running log this week because I have noticed that certain runs feel better than others and I want to see if food or sleep are the reason for that. The log is fairly simple and is just a record of my workouts and daily food and sleep.

I found out last night that I will be the new Cross Country coach for Addison Community Schools. I’m very excited about the opportunity and have been reading a lot about exercise physiology and how it affects kids. It will be interesting to see how this new coaching gig will affect my own running.

Chris: Feeling the HEAT!

chrischristensen — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:42:14 +0000

It has been hard to run this week. I had hoped to stick to the plan but baseball and softball (thankfully finished now) took up Monday-Wednesday. After 2+ hours in 90+ degree weather I was in no condition to run at all. I missed Tuesday’s easy run and Wednesday’s Gym workouts but food intake has been low so weight is not an issue. I honestly don’t feel like eating a whole lot because of the heat.

Tonight is the speed workout and I’m going to the gym to complete it. I prefer doing the speed workout at the gym anyway because it is easier to keep track of speed on a treadmill rather than on a track.

Tomorrow I am switching things up a little and heading back to the gym instead of doing the easy run. I am doing this because Saturday I am running with my youngest Noah (age 7) in the Concord Classic 5k. I will count it as the easy run and I should be fine going into the 9-mile long run on Sunday.

I’m so proud of myself. Two posts in one-week!

Chris: Starting Over… Kind of

chrischristensen — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:26:43 +0000

I’ve got to try harder to post a little more often. Not because anyone other than you and I read this but because it helps motivate me.

The allergy spell set me back a week but I’m fine now. I took advantage of the week off to realign my training with the time frame that I have. Had I continued on the pace I was on I would have been two weeks ahead of the marathon and I don’t want to burn out or not have anything planned for those couple of weeks. Sounds lame but it’s true.

So this past week was the same as Week 1. I did miss the Tuesday easy run (40 minutes) and took the rest day instead of the easy run on Friday. I did this mainly because I put a strong focus on the gym this week. Specifically on my core. I got three strong core workouts in and it helped a lot on Sunday’s long run. I made one mistake and that was working my legs too hard on Saturday’s circuit. I tried to be Mr. Tough Guy and leg pressed about twice what I usually do. I did it with ease but felt it on the long run. My legs were pooped.

This week I intend on getting all workouts in regardless of schedule. If I have to be in the gym at 10 pm I will be there.