Marathon Brothers Blog

weekend running.

Well I stuck with my plan for the week. I ran three miles on thursday at a slow pace and I ran two miles on friday at a pretty slow pace. Saturday I ran 7.75 miles in a little over an hour It was a good run until I tried to catch a guy around mile 6 my 7th mile was terrible. but that gives me 23 miles for the last week It was a pretty good week. I need to bump up my milage on wednesday and saturday now and try and bump my miles upwards towards 26 27 miles I would like to be doing over 30 miles a week by july. With my CPE going in june july and aug Im a lot worried how this whole thing will go. But I’ll be sleeping several nights a week in fort wayne so maybe running’ll be easier. who knows. Well that was my week in a nut shell. I’ll post with my next week plan tomorrow

mike

May 28th

Well it’s Thursday and so far I’ve stuck to my plan. I did three miles on monday with speed work. Tuesday I ran three miles nice and slow like. Wednesday I actually did 8 miles with 800 meter half mile hard runs. I couldn’t go back to jogging so I’d run hard for 4 mins and then walk for 4 mins. I know it’s not ideal but my legs were still pretty toasted from the monday work out. Today it’s thursday and I just got finished with 3 miles. I only ran 28 min. but I got out and my legs were tired but it wasn’t a bad run my lungs were fine. Tomorrow I want to keep it light so I might only just do 2 miles and then rest for Saurdays big run. I want to try and do 13 miles. I’ve mapped out the route and feel pretty good about it. But considering by friday I’ll already have run 19 miles for the week I should drop my long run miles. It will greatly depend upon how I feel after my first 2.6 miles. If I feel good I take one route, if not so good, another. well man just keping the fire burning.

mike

May 26

ok I’ll break down what my plan is for this week your formate is pretty easy to follow so I’ll try the same.
Monday: 2 miles light, 1.5 miles speed reps Total 3.4 miles
Tuesday: 3 miles light, push up’s sit ups, core work out
Wednesday:7 miles, 6 800 meter reps; total: 7 miles
Thursday: 3 miles, push ups sit ups core.
Friday: 3 miles, light.
Saturday: 12 miles. 10:30 pace.
Sunday: rest day.

So far I’ve done the Monday reps my legs were sore this morning. I’m not used to the reps so my legs hurt.
Oh! Krista and I ran a 5 K on saturday. I ran 11 miles on friday and then followed it up with the 5 K on saturday. I actually felt pretty good I ran with her at her pace so it was 3.2 miles at 30:30 mins. Krista won here age group… (it was a fund raiser for westview teens going on a missions trip) but she still won and was really excited about it. We plan on doing 3 miles today along with the core work out.
As to the weight loss. I’m tired of the flat lining. I’m cranking out between 15-20 miles a week and it’s not enough so, my drastic measures is the add a 3 mile run on tuesday thursday and maybe thrash my arms and abbs on those days as well. I’ve not been good at my push ups and sit ups for the last month and a half. Maybe the change will be good for me. Well thanks man for the encouragement. C.U Later
mike

Chris: Week 3… Hitting the wall

Week 3 ended with my longest run to date.  I had previously only run 10 miles and when I did that it was a 12 minute pace at best.  Today I ran according to schedule with an 11-miler at an 11 minute pace.  A little slower than last week’s long run but within the limits setup by the training.  I was supposed to run the 11-miler between 10:40-11:20.  Here is how the week broke down.

Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 40 Minute Jog
Wednesday: Cross Training at the Gym
Thursday: Speed Workout 10 x 400m at 8:10 pace
Friday: 30 minute Jog with Kelly doing 2 minutes of running then 2 minutes of walking instead of Cross Training or Rest
Saturday: 20 minute jog
Sunday: 11 Mile Long Run at 11:01 pace

The 40 minute jog this week was alone.  I did it after the baseball game so the boys couldn’t join me this time.  The speed workout was done at the gym again.  The speed workout is getting easier despite more reps.  I have added a core workout to my gym training.  When I am at the gym (cross training or running) I do Planks (2 reps, 1 minute per rep), side crunches (25 pound weight side to side 50 times), and the Roman Chair (12 reps).

I hit the wall at 10 miles today and I am looking at what I did differently last week compared to this week.  Last week I got a shot of energy around mile 8 that I did not have this week.  It was hotter but Kelly reminded me that I did not use an energy gel on this run.  I did make the 11 miles but there were some issues after the run.  Specifically I was pretty out of it for about 2 hours.  I tried to rest but couldn’t get comfortable.  This might have been due to the fact that I drank a protein drink (whey protein) about 15 minutes after I got home.  The drink is mixed with milk and it didn’t settle well.  I was careful about water but I might have over done the hydration.  I eventually felt better but I want to be careful and find the right mix that ensures a great run every week.

I do have some disappointing news.  From what I understand the Run Thru Hell has been cancelled this year.  Harrison and Dolores Hensley run the event and Dolores suffered a stroke in November.  They have decided it is best to focus on her health.  It is a bummer but if I were in their shoes I would do the same.  Maybe something will spring up to help support the two of them this year.  No T-shirt necessary just something nice for the great people that support runners like us.  Speaking of which if you have not checked it out get over to the Running with E’s website.  Eric and Kerri are another couple that do great things for runners and ask for nothing in return.

This week’s schedule is pretty much the same with a longer run on Friday.  Here is the breakdown:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Jog 40 minutes
Wednesday: Cross train 30 minutes
Thursday: 12 x 400 meters at 8:20-9:00 pace
Friday: Jog 40 minutes or rest
Saturday: Cross Train 30 minutes
Sunday: 13 miles at 10:40-11:20 pace

I’m with you on the weight loss.  I’m still in the 220 lbs range and plan to run Chicago closer to 180 lbs.  I started the training at 232 lbs so 12 lbs are already gone.  As for drastic you might want to be careful there.  Drastic will usually sacrifice performance and energy.  I do it much heavier than you and I would hate to see you do something that might actually set you back rather than help you.  Just keep running and building your endurance.  No matter what I weigh I will run in October.  My hope is that I do it at 180 or less.  I am confident that if I make the right choices most of the time (Starbucks is an exception, must have Mochas for everyones sanity.) and keep my plan the weight will go down.

May 22

Ok well I’ve kinda started my training plan for this marathon. Mondays are light days I’ll run with krista 3-5 miles at a pretty slow speed. Wednesday this last one I’ll start working on speed drills. I did about 7 miles and i did six 800 meter runs at an 8 min pace. I kicked my butt me tell you. today I did a slow run for about 12 miles I did it in 1:54 and I felt pretty good about that. My last 12 miler was 2:08 so that’s not too bad. I’m still trying to drop about 10 lb. its not coming off easy and I may have to resort to some drastic measures to take it off. I really don’t want to run 26 miles with an extra 10 lbs.
Thats pretty much my training plan mondays light work out tuesday and thursday push up sit up and maybe for a few weeks a thrashing. Fridays/ saurdays will be long runs 12 miles plus so there you go.

mike

Chris: Week 2… Sticking with the Plan

I completed Week 2 and it was a great one.  I stuck to the schedule and completed all of the workouts.  Here is a review of the workouts:

Monday: Rest Day
Tuesday: 40 Minute Jog
Wednesday: Cross Training at the Gym
Thursday: Speed Workout 8 x 400m at 8:10 pace
Friday: 30 Minute Jog or Rest Day (I chose the jog, more on that later)
Saturday: Cross Training at the Gym
Sunday: 9 Mile Long Run at 10:40-11:10 pace

I did the 40 minute jog with Caleb and Noah and they both did a great job.  The jog caused us to be a little late for Caleb’s baseball game but the exercise and time together was worth it.  Cross Training on Wednesday was a late night affair.  I actually didn’t get to the gym until after 9pm but thankfully they are open 24/7 during the week.  I did the speed workout on the treadmill this week and it was actually easier than at the track.  I didn’t have to keep looking at my Forerunner for pacing as the treadmill took care of it.  Since it was a speed workout it wasn’t as boring as the usual treadmill run.

Friday’s 30 minute jog was the highlight of the week.  It was raining and I had every excuse in the world to take the optional rest day.  Instead, I ran in the rain and it was awesome.  I felt great the entire run and honestly I was disappointed when it was over.

Saturday I added a little bit to the cross training.  I added 2 sets of 1 minute planks (core torture), 2 sets of 12 on the Roman Chair and ended with 50 sitting barbell crunches. 

On Sunday I thought I had hurt myself doing the extra because the start of the long run was hard.  I was dragging pretty bad.  The truth is I had a horrible lunch for a long run.  Mashed potatoes and Gravy, Roasted Chicken (I ate the skin) and Macaroni and Cheese.  The run got better though and between miles 6 and 7 I got an awesome endorphin rush.  I could have run another couple of hours feeling like that!  Instead I stuck to the plan and finished at the 9 mile as prescribed in the training plan.

This week is more of the same of this week except I run 11 miles on Sunday.  The plan is working well for me and giving me a realistic approach to the marathon.

May 15

I know it’s the 16th but i didn’t run today. i ran yesterday. I was able to complete 11.6 miles. I was pretty wiped out by the end… I was disappointed in my legs. The night before I had eaten a large amount of pasta spaghetti but I seem to work better on pizza. Any way it took over 2 hours to knock out 11.61 hours and that was really disappointing but considering my first 10 miler was monday that’s not too bad. I also made a pretty big mistake. I tried it with brand new shoes. My feet were pretty tore up by the end of the run. Word to the wise break the shoes in prior doing long runs. so whats’ the dates for the run through “hell”?

Chris: Weight Training

I agree with you that getting the weight off can be a trial.  I’m not a big fan of the slimfast stuff mainly because it doesn’t satisfy me.  I do eat well and I’ve become a lot more careful with what I eat on which days.  Thursdays and Sundays are now big meals because of the intensity of the workouts.  I have also noticed that tossing in a light weight training day twice a week has helped shed a few pounds.

Congrats on the 10 miles man.  I am scheduled to run 9 miles Sunday and then 11 the following Sunday so I too will squeak in 10 miles by the end of May.

I have to say I am really happy with the current program I am on.  You might want to take a look at Dave Kuehls’s book because it just lays it out so easily.  You are a big ahead of the starting point in the training but no doubt you could figure out a way to fit it into where you are now.

Congrats also, on the church.  Having you closer is always a good thing and now it is absolutely essential that you do the Run Thru Hell with me.  Have Krista run it with us or if she doesn’t want to do 10 miles she can do the 4.5 miler.  Either way you get the shirt and your parishners with love it!

Tonight is speedwork so I will be at the track for 8 x 400 meters.  The last two weeks I did 6 x 400 and the last one was hard.  I’m excited to see how my body will react to amping it up another two sets.  It looks like we have a couple of followers for the blog as well.  If our struggles can help others or keep them motivated that is awesome.

blog may 11

i have been really lax on my blogging. But I have not been so lax on my running. I’ve been kinda pushing myself lately. Last wednesday I ran 8 miles then saturday I ran 8 miles and then today I ran 10.2 miles . soooo I met my goal for getting 10 in by may. I’ve not really been following a training plan.. I know I should but I’ve been running long enough that I knew I could get to 10 with only a little training plan help. starting in June I’ll start a serious training regimen for the following four months and see how well I do. I was pretty happy I ran 4 with krista then did 6 by myself. My time was only 1.46 hours but turns out to be a 10 min pace. I need to try and get my time down. I was runing my 8 miles in 1.18 so I’m really close to 10 miles at 90 mins.
I ate a huge amount of pizza friday night and saturday I ran like nobodies business. I realized that I carbo loaded and I didn’t even need a bananna or water. Today even though it was slower I still felt great cuz I at some pizza last night as well. What was really exciting is that my knee wasn’t hurting at all!!! way cool on that issue.
Now as to running this summer I would love to but it looks like we’ll be taking a church in kingsford height indiana which is just south of la porte indiana. We’ll be a lot closer to you guys, I have no idea about getting up there but it sounds fun.

I started a crash diet. I’ve ran and ran and I still weight 183 lbs. Basic training OCS IOBC iraq bosnia and I still weigh 180 lbs give or take. So because I didnt’ want to be training with all this weight on I decided to go on a 2 week slim fast diet. good healthy dinner but only shakes for breakfast and lunch for two weeks… we’ll see if that takes off 10 lbs or so. It better I mean… come on seriously. We’ll bro I’m going to go and get some sleep.
I’ll c u later

Chris: Week 1 Done… For real!

Again, I have been very busy and not blogging like I should be but I am back to give a weekly update and a breakdown of the week to come.

As I laid out in the last post I have been following a training regimen that will have me at a 4 hour marathon in 4 months.  I switched some things up this week because I want my long run to fall on Sunday like the Chicago Marathon will.  This was partly out of strategy and honestly part of me being too tired to run it on Saturday.  I chose instead to do the cross training I missed on Friday and I talked my weak self into the idea that running the long run on Sunday fits because it is the same as the marathon.  We will see how that holds up this week.  Anyway, here is how my week looked:

Monday:  40 minute run which was done on a treadmill at the gym
Tuesday:  Cross Training at the gym
Wednesday:  Speedwork - 6 x 400 at 8:10 - 8:40 pace
Thursday:  Rest Day
Friday:  Rest Day
Saturday:  Cross Training at the gym
Sunday:  7 mile run at 11:40 pace.

My long run pace today was a bit slower than recommended but that was because I had the pleasure of running the last half with my 7 year old Noah.  He did a great job running the last 3 miles with me.  He is training for his first 5k coming up in June.

This week should look like this:

Monday:  Rest Day
Tuesday:  40 minute jog (3-4 minutes off of Marathon Pace)
Wednesday:  Cross Training (Biking, weight training, swimming, etc)
Thursday:  Speedwork - 6 x 400 with 2 minute rest between at 8:20-9:00 pace
Friday:  30-40 minute jog (3-4 minutes off of Marathon Pace) or rest day
Saturday: Cross Training
Sunday:  9 mile long run at 10:40-11:10 pace

I am feeling great!  I definitely could have gone further today and there was a lot less pain this week after the long run.  I’m working on hydrating properly and found out today that they will be using both water and lemon-lime Gatorade Endurance Formula at 20 aid stations throughout the course.  Powergel will be available at aid station 13 and bananas will be distributed at aid stations 15-18.  As my long run grows I am going to add these items to my course to work on getting use to having them at that point in the run.  Here is a breakdown of where the aid stations will be courtesy of the Chicago Marathon Website:

Aid Station Locations
AS 1 - State St. between Washington St. and Monroe St. - Mile 1.70
AS 2 - LaSalle St. between Ohio St. and Huron St. - Mile 3.25
AS 3 - Stockton Dr. north of LaSalle Dr. - Mile 5.05
AS 4 - Cannon Dr. north of Fullerton Pkwy. - Mile 5.75
AS 5 - Broadway St. between Aldine Ave. and Belmont Ave. - Mile 8.05
AS 6 - Clark St. between Belden Ave. and Webster St. - Mile 9.35
AS 7 - Wells St. between North Ave. and Burton Pl. - Mile 10.50
AS 8 - Wells St. between Grand Ave. and Hubbard St. - Mile 11.80
AS 9 - Franklin St. between Washington St. and Madison St. - Mile 12.50
AS 10 - Adams St. between Racine Ave. and Throop St. - Mile 13.90
AS 11 - Ogden Ave. between Van Buren St. and Jackson Blvd. - Mile 15.30
AS 12 - Jackson Blvd. between Sangamon St. and Green St. - Mile 16.35
AS 13 - Taylor St. between Lytle St. and Loomis St. - Mile 17.80
AS 14 - 18^th St. between Blue Island Ave. and Throop St. - Mile 19.20
AS 15 - Halsted St. between Canalport Ave. and Cermak Rd. - Mile 20.15
AS 16 - Archer Ave. between Wallace St. and Canal St. - Mile 20.90
AS 17 - Wentworth Ave. between 29^th St. and 31^st St. - Mile 22.30
AS 18 - Michigan Ave. between 34^th St. and 33^rd Blvd. - Mile 23.50
AS 19 - Michigan Ave. between 28^th St. and 26^th St. - Mile 24.20
AS 20 - Michigan Ave. between Cullerton St. and 18^th St. - Mile 25.10

It is important that we get used to hydrating and refueling at these points.

I’m writing this from Scribefire (an add-on extension to Firefox) so I haven’t read your posts yet.  I hope all is going well and I’m looking forward to running with you a little this summer before the race.  Maybe you can come up in August for the Run Through Hell which is held in Hell, Michigan.  It is a 10-miler and the best part is you get a shirt that says “I ran through Hell.”  Every pastor should have one.