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Preparing for the 2014 Dopey Challenge

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8 weeks from today I will be heading down to Orlando to take part in the 2014 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, specifically the inaugural Dopey Challenge. This is a four day event from Thursday January 9th through Sunday January 12th and consists of a 5K (3.1 miles), a 10K (6.2 miles), a Half Marathon (13.1 miles) and a Full Marathon (26.2 miles) for a total of 48.6 miles.

This weekend I am running the 2013 Philadelphia Marathon and after this I have less than 8 weeks between this event and the Dopey Challenge in which I need to build in recovery time, ramp up my distance and taper again. This is a pretty short span of time (unless you are one of those folks who runs multiple marathons a year). I actually have done this process twice before, I ran the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2011 and the Walt Disney World Marathon 8 weeks later in January 2012 and I ran the Philadelphia Marathon again in 2012 and ran the ‘Goofy Challenge’ 8 weeks later in January 2013 (Philly2Goofy!) and will pretty much be using the same approach this time.

The first time I did this I used Hal Higdon’s 8 week back to back marathon plan just as Hal designed it. I changed it up a little for the 2013 Goofy Challenge so that my Saturday runs would be exactly half the distance of my Sunday long runs to try and mimic the Half plus Full scenario. Training, in addition to building endurance and general well being, is the place to simulate and practice race conditions. The small modifications for the Goofy were simple to slip into the plan as it just meant adding a mile or two the day before the long run. Dopey training calls for a somewhat different approach.

Although I plan to similulate the 4 day event by doing 4 consecutive days of running, I still need to build in some recovery time, some rest time and some taper time. With that in mind I adjusted Hal’s program slightly to similuate race week just twice during the training plan but these will be on the longest distance weeks to make the training most effective. See below.

Back to Back Marathon Training Plan Philly to Dopey

Back to Back Marathon Training Plan
Philly to Dopey

I think the key to this training plan is to take advantage of as much rest time as the plan allows. I have used Hal’s Intermediate 2 Marathon Training Plan for my last 5 marathons and the back to back plan follows a similar pattern with the exception that Mondays are rest days vs cross training days. The plan still calls for 5 days of running each week with the same pattern of a semi-long run each Wednesday and the long run on Sundays. I also allowed myself one race (the Thanksgiving 5 miler for the Bucks County Road Runners).

I’m getting pretty excited about this now. I have reached my fund raising goal for Team Up with Autism Speaks so that pressure is now gone (but not the pressure of completing the 4 day event of course) and I have chosen to run both the 5K and 10K in costume (yeah…not sure how that is really going to work out) and the Half and Full Marathons in ‘Team Up’ gear. At the end of the day very few people are running these events to PR. This is a Disney race where there is so much atmosphere and entertainment along the courses to take in. Not to forget the toll that 4 very early mornings will take on the body in addition to the events and some park time (I know, that is all my personal choice). My goal is to finish the event with a smile on my face with great memories and most importantly knowing that I raised money for a worthy cause. PRs can wait for other times. This event is going to be fun.

My planned 5K costume

My planned 5K costume

My planned 10K costume

My planned 10K costume

I’m not saying that this plan works best for anyone other than me but having used it a couple of times I am comfortable with the approach and hope to stay fit and healthy enough to get to the start line and to finish the event. My travel plans are fixed, I have my advanced dining reservations (including a character dine) and I am looking forward to buying lots of presents for my two little boys who will be cheering my on from back home in Pennsylvania). I look forward to meeting up with all my Facebook friends who are also taking part in the Marathon Weekend and look forward to meeting new people and seeing my favorite characters out there on the course and in the parks. This will be my third consecutive Walt Disney World Marathon and ultimately my second Goofy (as a matter of doing the Dopey too). Lots to look forward to over the coming weeks.

Thank you for reading.

Marathon Training – Week 17

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Week 17 Training

Week 17 Training

Week 17 is done. We are essentially there. Only one more week to go and three short runs to do over the week (3, 4 miles and a 2 mile shakout run) before the big day.

The main plan this week was to follow the schedule, take some time to rest and relax and stay healthy. I will be taking in my usual dosage of Emergen-C in the week leading up to the marathon but this week was focused on the taper. The week called for 5 runs (4, 5, 4, 3 and 8 miles) but as my wife and I ran the Trenton Half Marathon on Saturday I decided to run the 13 miles for the race in place of the 3 and 8 mile runs over the weekend. This allowed me to have an extra couple of rest days leading up to marathon week.

On Friday I did go out around lunchtime and walk a couple of miles around the campus at work to keep loose and to burn off any nervous energy. Taper mode isn’t always easy but I have to say I feel very relaxed going into the marathon this year. My goal is to enjoy it. In 2011 the Phiadelphia Marathon was my first marathon and I was tremendously nervous. In 2012 I put myself under a little pressure with a time goal to beat 4 hours (which I did at 3:59:05). This year I’m running with my wife. It will be her second and my sixth marathon. I want to get through with a smile on my face and both of us feeling good. After all I have the Dopey Challenge coming up 8 short weeks later and want to stay healthy for that.

Weather wise this week it was all over the place. I was in winter gear last week, ran in shorts mid-week and ended up running the half marathon in near freezing temperatures. They are predicting a snow flurry next week but it looks like the temperatures will be similar on race weekend as they were last week. Hopefully as comfortable.

Not much to do this week except try and bank some sleep before the weekend. I’m sure before next weekend I will be getting a little more antsy but this is more with excitement than nervesnous (I hope). My goal is to be writing a great week in review next week and a great race recap.

Fingers crossed.

2013 Trenton Half Marathon

2013 Trenton Half Marathon

Here is the countdown:

1 week until the Philadelphia Marathon

8.5 weeks until the Dopey Challenge

Thanks for reading.

2013 Trenton Double Cross Half Marathon – race recap

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2013 Trenton Double Cross Half Marathon

2013 Trenton Double Cross Half Marathon

The motto for today’s race was ‘do no harm’. My wife and I are a week out from the 2013 Philadelphia Marathon and we decided to sign up for this race as a way of practicing running together under race conditions before the marathon next week. Usually we wouldn’t schedule a race this close to a big event but seeing as this was just over a week from the big day which would allow for a couple of extra rest days and the fact that one of use has done something ‘Goofy’ in the past we thought we could pull it off.

What a great race. I will go through the details in this recap but overall it was such a nice event. Very easy expo, great souvenir race shirt, easy logistics (well somewhat), close to home (20 minutes from my house) and the sun was shining. What more could we ask for?

Packet pickup took place on Thursday and Friday (although they pretty much set up the expo again outside the stadium this morning). It was pretty easy to get the packets picked up and I did so for me, my wife, my (future) brother-in-law Mike and a work colleague and her husband. I was pretty much in and out of the expo in under 25 minutes and that included a tasting of some kind of chocolate milk(?) and picking up a couple of odds and ends at the National Running Center stall for my wife and Mike.

Easy packet pickup

Easy packet pickup

A small expo which was not overwhelming

A small expo which was not overwhelming

A half zip top which is a change from just a race shirt

A half zip top which is a change from just a race shirt

Race day morning weather called for temperatures in the low 30s getting up to the low 40s. It was every bit of the low 30s for sure when we set out. Mike met us at our house at 6:30am and we drove to the Pennsylvania side parking lots and took the 10-15 minute walk across the bridge over into Trenton, New Jersey. The race is called the ‘Double Cross’ as you cross the Delaware River twice during the run. First from Trenton, NJ over to Morrisville, PA around mile 4 and then back later in the race around mile 6.

It was a chilly start and we were all pretty numb in our fingers and toes despite all the winter gear. Bag check was not complicated and the port-a-potties were plentiful. The race was to start at 8:00am and the 10K at 8:30am. There was a slight technical hitch at the start line and the race started about 8:10am. Not a big deal but we were standing there a little longer than planned. For some reason they set up the starting chute between two banks of port-a-potties which made us shift up more towards the front of the line as it was kind of, well, stinky…

Arriving at Arm & Hammer Stadium before the start of our race

Arriving at Arm & Hammer Stadium before the start

Lined up in the starting chute waiting for the gun

Lined up in the starting chute waiting for the gun

The announcer did a great job of describing the sights we would see as we ran around the historic area. This is in the area where General George Washington crossed the Delaware River in December 1776 to defeat the Hessian forces in Trenton, NJ (this is a history lesson coming from a British expat with dual citizenship). There was a group of Revolutionary War re-enacters at the start line with pipes and drums too trying to get everyone into the spirit. After the National Anthem the gun (or probably a musket) went off and we set out on the road.

It was strange running on these streets as these are the roads that I travel to and from work everyday and I never really get to see them at this pace (or from the outside of a car) and it was nice to look around a bit more at the surrounding areas. My wife and I set off at a planned pace of 10 minute miles using Galloway walk breaks with intervals set at 4:00/0:40. This was to be practice for the marathon next week.  We ran together at the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half in September and paced around 9:10 per mile but today as said earlier the plan was to ‘do no harm’ before next week.

Early selfie in the first couple of miles. Sun low in the sky but still chilly.

A running selfie in the first couple of miles.

The route took us through some of the historic sites around Trenton and past the State Capital building, Thomas Edison College and some of the surrounding neighborhoods before heading us out and across the historic ‘Trenton Makes, The World Takes’ bridge across into Pennsylvania.

A trip around historic Trenton

A trip around historic Trenton

Trenton Makes, The World Takes...we run

Trenton Makes, The World Takes…we run

Crossing the State lines

Crossing the State lines

Crossing the bridge...don't look down

Crossing the bridge…don’t look down

Made it to our 'home' State

Made it to our ‘home’ State

As we ran across the bridge we noticed that it wasn’t paved and that it was a metal grid which you could see directly straight down. Two things crossed my mind…(1) don’t look down and (2) thank goodness I’m not on the barefoot/minimalist shoe bandwagon. Ouch. The bridges were not very long and once we crossed into PA we took a small route along the river (past the parking lot with my car) and up just beyond the Delaware Canal (at which point we were able to recognize where we were in relation to where we usually train) and then down alongside the river up to the second bridge. This was probably the most crowded part of the race as we were merged with the 10K runners for this period. Once we crossed the second bridge (my wife and I snuck onto the sidewalk at the edge of the bridge (which was just a wooden boardwalk and still not paved) we split again from the 10K runners as we reached mile 7.

Speaking of mile markers they were all a little off. Don’t get me wrong, the race was indeed a half marathon (my Garmin said 13.16 which was close enough) but the mile markers seemed off. Myself and many people around me had their watches beeping at a mile distance about 0.1 miles before we reached the mile markers. This happened consistently through mile 8 when suddenly we were ahead of the mile marker at mile 9 then behind the mile marker at mile 10 again. It didn’t make much difference to my wife and I running with our Garmins but I’m sure if you were to run with just a stop watch your head must have been going crazy as your splits would have been all over the place.

Between miles 7 and 9 there was a pretty big hill as we ran a loop around Cadwalader Park. It was a nice run. The surrounding neighbourhood had lots of old historic houses and I have to say I really enjoyed the scenery throughout. As we turning out of the park we were getting close to the last 5K of the race which had us run up Route 29 and up into Arm & Hammer Park home of the Trenton Thunder baseball team. We entered the stadium in right field and ran the warm up track to cross the finish line in front of home plate. It was great that they had the announcer over the p.a. system announcing everyone crossing and even had the stadium big screen showing the runners running in. It was very much like running through the stadium at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports during the Walt Disney World Marathon earlier this year with the only difference being a 50 degree difference in temperature and this being at mile 13 vs mile 19. My wife and I crossed the finish line together in 2:06:59. We actually ran under the 10 minute pace (around 9:40 minute pace) but both felt good coming through the finish.

The medal itself was really nice. It was big, heavy and detailed. A nice touch for a race only in its second year.

At the finish line with our medals

At the finish line with our medals

The 2013 Finisher Medal

The 2013 Finisher Medal

Myself, Mike and Shari

Myself, Mike and Shari

It was already a great day for us but we got to witness a couple more great things today also. Firstly there was 5-year-old Anthony Russo who broke the world record for being the youngest person to run a half marathon. Wow. He ran alongside his mother for the race and sprinted the last 200 meters to the line to the roars of the crowd.

5 year old Anthony Russo running with his mother

5-year-old Anthony Russo running with his mother

The finish line in sight and all on the 'jumbotron' for the crowd to watch

The finish line in sight and all on the ‘jumbotron’ for the crowd

a 5 year old Half Marathoner. Impressive!

A 5 year old Half Marathoner. Impressive!

The other wonderful thing to see was a friend of my wife, Abby, as one of two guides leading a blind runner to complete his first Half Marathon. Way to go Abby, it was inspiring watching you run in.

Abby running as a guide entering the stadium

Abby running as a guide entering the stadium

Once we had seen all the excitement it was time to grab our stuff from bag check and make the trek back over the bridge (our 4th crossing at this stage) back to the PA side of the Delaware River to pick up the car and head home for a nice hot shower and lunch with the family.

Mike and I showing of our race shirts and medals

Mike and I showing of our shirts and medals

This was a great race which I would highly recommend to anyone. There are a couple of challenging hills at mile 4 and mile 7 but the rest of the course is relatively flat and there is plenty to see on the course. This may be one I return to next year.

Thanks for reading.

2013 Run The Bridge race recap

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2013 Run The Bridge

2013 Run The Bridge

Yesterday I took part in the ‘2013 Cooper Norcross Run The Bridge 10K’ race. This is a race across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge spanning the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania and then through the streets of Camden, New Jersey and along the waterfront before finishing in Campbell’s Field home of the Camden River Sharks baseball team.

This was the first time I have run this race although my wife has run this the last two years and my father-in-law has also run this event a few times. This was also a 10K race and I do not seem to run many of these. My PR for a 10K was set back in August 2011 of 52:07 at the Philadelphia LiveStrong Challenge. I hadn’t run a 10K race since then. I had it in the back of my mind that I was going to see how I felt given that I was 16 weeks into marathon training and if I felt okay I was going to go for a new PR. I wanted to see what I had in my legs going into the marathon and still I had a couple of weeks left for recovery and rest (the dreaded taper) before race day of the marathon.

We set our clocks back on Saturday night which provided an extra hour of sleep (not that I really took advantage of it) and the plan was to meet up with my father-in-law, my sister-in-law and her new fiance (see what I did there Mike?) at a central meeting point and drive down to the starting line together at the baseball stadium to pick up our race numbers and packets. Needless to say not all of us set our clocks to the correct time (not mentioning anyone in particular) but the good news is that we were all together before the race with our numbers on and ready to go.

All of us pre-race with the Benjamin Franklin Bridge as our backdrop.

All of us pre-race with the Benjamin Franklin Bridge as our backdrop.

I had done a 10 mile training run early on Friday morning and the weather was great. I was running in a t-shirt and shorts. What a difference a couple of days make. I woke up to find it was about 40 degrees and the wind made it feel about 10 degrees less. I dressed in my winter gear (tights, long sleeve shirt, gloves and a beanie). I wasn’t sure if I should wear an half zip over my t-shirt but I thought if I was pushing it I was better a little too cold than too hot as that would impact how I felt during the race.

Meeting the Camden River Sharks team mascot 'Finley' the shark before the race

Meeting the Camden River Sharks team mascot ‘Finley’ the shark before the race

We wished each other luck and headed for the walk to the start line. I wanted to get a little ahead so I wouldn’t get stuck in the pack and everyone was fine with that (they probably prefered that but I’ll say it was to encourage me, right?). The start line is at the base of the bridge on the New Jersey side. It’s probably a half mile walk from the stadium up to the start line. I had not eaten before the race so I had a Gu (yummy Salted Caramel) with me and a bottle of water and headed out.

I had turned my Garmin off when I was inside the stadium bathrooms as it had lost its signal and when I went to turn it back on it crashed. I rebooted it twice on the walk up to the start line. No good. Uh oh. I had also forgotten to stretch while I was getting my gear together and checking my bag. As I still had a few minutes I pulled over to the side of the road, rebooted my watch a third time and did my stretches. Third time was the charm with the Garmin. Well, almost. It had reset itself completely. I quickly set the watch up from scratch and changed the display to what I needed for the race (Distance/Time/Average Pace) and headed to the start. Once at the start line you actually had to jump a barrier to cross to the start line. I did that very carefully.

Wearing an extra layer at the start line waiting for signal to go.

Wearing an extra layer at the start line waiting for signal to go.

There was a decent crowd at the start. I think in total there were about 3,200 runners. What you see from the start line is the climb up the bridge. Nothing too exciting really. It was pretty crowded. Having run the Golden Gate Bridge earlier this year and having driven this bridge many times I remembered that you cannot really see much over the sides especially from the center lane of the bridge which was where I started.  The starting horn sounded and off we went. Not much time for selfies or bridge shots when you are aiming for a PR so this will pretty much be a recap and you’ll have to take my word for what I saw on route 🙂

View from the start line

View from the start line

The run up the bridge was pretty crowded as expected. It took almost the first mile to really start spreading the crowd out so there was quite of bit of weaving for me at the begining. I know it’s a bad habit of mine but I wasn’t as far up as I really needed to be among the pack of runners. Once I had reached the crest of the bridge for the first time I was able to let loose a little on the downhill section. I was wearing my Jeff Galloway Gymboss timer but I ignored the first couple of walk breaks as I wanted to get into position for the race and I felt okay. I was pushing hard but it was comfortable.

The turnaorund is at the base of the bridge on the Philadelphia side and then you are faced with running back up the bridge again. Honestly I just put my head down and didn’t think about the incline. I was running comfortable and it didn’t seem to bother me. There was a water stop on the way back across the bridge so I took my first walk break which was a little out of sequence but I took it for the full 40 seconds and then headed up the bridge and down into Camden.

Once across the bridge the race seemed to be pretty flat for a while. There were a couple of turns and I wasn’t sure when the next water stop would be so I took a walk break only to find the water stop around the corner. Ugh. Well, never mind, I can run and drink at the same time but I am useless at making the trash with an empty cup while running. As we were now running on the city streets and were sheltered from the wind it started to feel warm. I was still wearing my beanie and gloves so I pushed my sleeves up a little and rolled the beanie up to let me ears out.

The race along the streets was fine and then we turned and headed towards the navy yards entering it through a back entrance. This took us up to the waterfront where we ran alongside the pier where the SS New Jersey now stands as a museum. At the waterfront the wind picked up and I’m glad I had my warm gear on. From there pier the race headed up a small incline and down back to the streets of Camden. My time was going well and I felt that it was going to be possible to run a new goal under 50 minutes. We turned to the left and I saw the stadium and was thrilled that I could see the finish line location up ahead and my time was great. What I hadn’t done was read the course map correctly. D’oh! We didn’t run directly back to the stadium but took a turn right and ran around some rehabed condos and approached the stadium from another angle. Was I going to make it in goal time?

I entered the stadium into right field and the finish line was in left field. I dug deep and ran to the finish line. I hit my watch and it read 49:08:55 (49:09 was my official time). I felt great. I didn’t hurt and I made a goal that I set myself. Here is my Garmin file with the map and my splits http://connect.garmin.com/activity/399334028.

New 10K PR

New 10K PR

The event was run for the benefit of the Larc School. The students of the school were on hand to hand out the medals to the runners. From there I grabbed my water and goodie bag, picked up my checked bag, stretched and headed down to the finish line area to wait for everyone to finish. I grabbed a good spot and was able to cheer everyone on and get some great pictures of everyone coming down the chute to the finish line.

A big shout out to my father-in-law who was running a race after a lay off from running for about a year. He looked good and said he felt good after the race so I’m pretty happy about that as is he. Mike and Rina ran into the stadium with smiles on their faces (I think they knew I was taking pictures) but as far as I know they had fun. Mike is running with my wife and I in next week’s Trenton Half Marathon so I am looking forward to running alongside him for the first time then. I like racing with family and friends. It is rare that I really go all out for a PR but as I made my goal today I felt justified for being solo. There will be many races I run to be with others but there are the occassional challenges I set myself. Today was one of those days and it felt great.

Mike running in

Mike running in

Looking good - my Father-in-law running in

Looking good – my father-in-law running in

Rina - all smiles

Rina – all smiles

The race itself was fun. There was no expo for this race. Packet pickup was from a local running store in South Jersey but seeing as none of us were able to get there we did race day pickiup (as it seems most people did). There was also a walk and a Kids race but as I was running I didn’t get to see how these went. Everyone seemed to have fun and the ability to park in the stadium parking lots, walk up and get your number on the day and check a bag was really convenient. I’d recommend this race for anyone looking for a fun 10K.

New 10K PR - 2013 Benjamin Frankling Bridge Run

New 10K PR –
2013 Benjamin Frankling Bridge Run

Thanks for reading.

Marathon Training – Week 16

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Week 16 Training

Week 16 Training

Week 16 is now complete. There are less than 2 more weeks to go to the Philadelphia Marathon.

I’ve really enjoyed my training for this year’s Philadelphia Marathon. Maybe it is because I’ve done this a few times now but coming off the feeling I had after this year’s New Jersey Marathon in May I have put a lot less pressure on myself and set out to enjoy this race.

My overall training mileage was about 10 miles less this week. I did manage to get out and cross train on Monday and luckily I took my workout indoors as this was the only day that rain would have impacted the workout.

The Tuesday through Thursday runs felt good and were uneventful (which is what you want at this stage in the training). It was a little foggy and cold (I was wearing my winter gear again) but it started to warm up on Thursday and was actually near 70 when we went out Trick or Treating with our kids on Thursday evening.

This weekend I was supposed to rest on Friday, do a 4 mile pace run on Saturday and an easy 12 mile run on Sunday. Of course our weekend plans did not allow for such a schedule but I moved my week to match the mileage and accommodate a race.

On Friday I ran (in t-shirt and shorts no less) a nice 10 mile run early before work. I needed to get this workout in as Saturday we were heading to Hershey Park with the boys.  On Sunday I had the Benjamin Franklin Bridge 10K run which I decided would be a goal PR race (which I accomplished in 49:09). I will be doing a separate race recap for this.

One thing I have done everyday since I started my journey back in August 2010 is to record my calorie intake. Can you guess which day this week I went to Hershey Park which included a slight detour to Hershey’s Chocolate World? 🙂

Hmmm....which day was I at Hershey's Chocolate World?

Hmmm….which day was I at Hershey’s Chocolate World?

The race was a great finish to a great week of running. I ran hard and felt good. Week 16 is done and now we continue the taper to week 17 which includes the upcoming Trenton Half Marathon.

New 10K PR - 2013 Benjamin Frankling Bridge Run

New 10K PR –
2013 Benjamin Frankling Bridge Run

Here is the countdown:

1 week until the Trenton Half Marathon

2 weeks until the Philadelphia Marathon

9.5 weeks until the Dopey Challenge (the event starts on a Thursday so I revised the countdown)

Thanks for reading.

October 2013 – month in review

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October 2013 - Nike+ Summary

October 2013 –
Nike+ Summary

178 miles this month.

No races to speak of this month. It has been heads down training. I started off the month experimenting with a new pair of shoes. This didn’t go according to plan. Lesson learned. It is not wise to mess with your shoes in the peak of marathon training. Luckily this did not result in injury so I was able to continue as scheduled for the rest of the month.

Although this month was very tiring I did enjoy the training. The two 20 mile runs that I did felt good and didn’t leave me feeling tired or achy. In fact this month I reveled in the long runs. These were my chance to get out and be alone with my thoughts as I approach marathon day so I focused on my technique and strategized about my fueling, clothing and practiced some mental games to get me through the many hours out there. The carrot at the end of the stick for me was the taper time before the marathon. The last three weeks in the training plan where the mileage reduces closer to race weekend. This year I actually have a couple of races scheduled in the weekends before (Ben Franklin Bridge 10K and the Trenton Half Marathon). I have never scheduled other races so close to a marathon before but it has me looking forward to things and diverts me from the ‘taper madness’.

The weather played a big factor this month as it started to get cold and I had to break out the winter gear. My last 20 miler was in temperatures in the low 30s. On the plus side, the pumpkin spice coffee has become my reward after the long runs so that has been nice.

My focus has been on my upcoming events which are fast approaching. I am very excited for running the Philadelphia Marathon with my wife. She has been training well and although we have not been able to do our long runs together as we juggle family time it has been great having someone to cheer along with and encourage. We are both looking out for each other and planning our races together.

I’m also at the stage where I am looking forward to next year’s schedule. I am looking for a Spring and Fall marathon to set my sights on for next year. I don’t want to travel too far from home (something driveable) so I have a number of contenders for the Spring so far (Delaware Marathon, Pittsburgh Marathon, NJ Marathon, Poconos Marathon) which are all around the same date. For the Fall I am considering one of the big ones, perhaps New York (if it is not too prohibitively expensive) and Marine Corps (which is also going to be a lottery from next year). Again, there is always Philadelphia (my ‘go to’ marathon).

Lots to look forward to. November is a big month. 4 races including the Philadelphia Marathon. Then only a few more weeks until I start my preparations for Walt Disney World Marathon weekend in January.

There are less than 70 days to go now to Marathon weekend. I am looking forward to running in January in the first official Dopey Challenge. The good news is that I made my fund-raising goal to be able to run the event with Team Up for Autism Speaks. If you are interested in learning more about Team Up and the events they have for 2013 and 2014, please head over to my page on their site and go from there.

Thank you for reading.

Marathon Training – Week 15

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Week 15 Training

Week 15 Training

Week 15 is now over. This included the last long run of the training program (20 miles).

As I started this week my training plan (Hal Higdon Intermediate 1) said “This is the peak week of your training. Rather than fear it, you should greet it with near the same enthusiasm you will greet the marathon one month from now. But, for the time being, take it easy.”

As you can see from my running log this week I actually ran 5 days in a row without a rest day on Friday as per the plan. That is because there are two people in our house training for the same marathon and we have a rule that our training does not get in the way of family time. We certainly know how to entertain our boys. Thankfully we have the stamina to do so. Our weekend was as follows:

Saturday – I was up at 3:30am to head out for my 20 miler (in nice 31 degree weather). I ran with enough time to get home to enjoy an ice bath before we had to all be out the house by 9am for the boys activities. After that we took the boys to the Kid’s Castle in Doylestown, PA for a mid-afternoon event and the over to Sesame Place for a Pass Member party which ran until 8pm. A long day for sure.

Sunday – My wife was up at 5:45am for her run. My boys actually let me sleep in until 7.25am (what a luxury on a weekend…they are never up that early on a school day). Once the second ice bath of the weekend had been taken (luckily not mine this time) we headed downtown to the Philadelphia Zoo for their Boo at the Zoo event.

Zoo time

Zoo time

A busy weekend (of many). Both my wife and I feel good and accomplished our goals this weekend. The boys seemed to have a blast and no one complained about being tired (although the boys fell asleep in the car…it’s as if they were worn out or something).

Now the taper begins. I’m looking forward to it actually. I know my mileage will be decreasing but I plan to maintain the schedule of 5 days running in the week. I actually set out my gym clothes for some cross training tomorrow. I will be up early to do 30 minutes on the stationary bike to keep myself loose going into the week. Ok…there is another reason I will be cross training and that might be my need to earn a few extra calories in the bank before our trip to Hershey Park next weekeend (planning ahead). This year during the taper I actually have 2 races planned. I have never done that before but the mileage doesn’t seem to impact my taper much. I have a 10K next week (after whatever I eat at Hershey…it’s all good carbs) and then a half marathon the week before the marathon. I will be running this nice and easy with my wife as we focus on form not pace in our final semi-long run before Philadelphia. The half marathon is on a Saturday so I will figure a couple of extra rest days going into the final week of training for the marathon.

This week the biggest change for me was the weather. I had to get all my winter gear out to use. My last three runs this week (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) saw me running in tights, a jacket and a beanie with progressively warmer gloves on each run (I still have the mittens for the really cold days). Fall is definitely here. I may have to say “so long” to the shorts for a while. That being said, the skies have been clear and the moon has lit my way (as well as the headlamp) during these last few runs. It has been refreshing.

This weekend was also spent cheering on my friends (via Facebook) running the Marine Corps Marathon. Next week is the New York City Marathon and I will be cheering everyone on knowing well that my turn is coming up a couple of weeks beyond that. I’m already looking forward to putting my 2014 schedule together for a couple of marathons in the Spring and the Fall. I have a little time and a couple of marathons to get through first.

1 week until the Benjamin Franklin Bridge 10K

2 weeks until the Trenton Half Marathon

3 weeks until the Philadelphia Marathon

11 weeks until the Dopey Challenge

Thanks for reading.

Marathon Training – Week 14

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Week 14. A mixed bag.

Week 14 Training

Week 14 Training

This was a step back week for me as my long run was only 12 miles. The actual running seemed to go quite well this week including a nice relaxed tempo run on Wednesday which felt good picking up the pace. Both weekend runs felt good. Sunday’s run was accompanied by a beautiful clear sky and full moon which lit up the way.

My morning runs are all around 5.30am so I am out and back before the sun rises. This also means I need to start getting to bed a little earlier. I haven’t been doing a great job of the early nights these and this week despite the lower mileage it all caught up with me.

This affected me in a couple of ways. The morning runs went fine as I said. It seems that I get my morning run in before more mind and body realize what I am actually doing. Later in the day I start feeling pretty fatigued. Not that my body is aching or craving rest it’s just a general feeling of being tired. One thing that was noticeable (and this may well be a factor of the long daily commute and the hours sitting in front of a computer screen) is that my vision was getting a little blurred. I only see out of one eye (my ‘supportive’ Wife calls me ‘Mike Wazowski’) so I was a little concerned and that actually took me to the ophthalmologist for a checkup.

Mike Wazowski

Mike Wazowski

The ophthalmologist gave me reassurance that nothing was wrong but said that I may be experiencing a little dryness in the eye for a number of reasons; change in the weather, the long commute, the staring at the screen AND not enough sleep. With too people in our house training for the same marathon it takes some schedule juggling to make sure we get our training miles in without being disruptive to our plans with the family. I do the early shift so my Wife doesn’t have to run in the dark. I am out running and back before anyone is usually awake and so nobody misses me. I hope the same would be said if I went out when everyone is awake! 🙂

The other thing that was noticeable this week was as my mileage was lower, my appetite was not. Often during training for my previous marathons I have gotten to the point that I was craving food (or fuel as we marathoners like to call it/kid ourselves). Last week I feel like my body was expecting another serious mileage week and was just craving food. Now, I am very careful (or try to be) about what I eat. I record my food every day in the LoseIt! app on my iPhone not to lose weight but to maintain. Last week I went through the craving week and although I didn’t eat badly I just overate a little every day. Not that the scale showed any difference but this may have added a little to the feeling of tiredness through the week.

The irony is that the weeks I seem to have little to no issues with my daily calorie budget are the weeks the scale doesn’t seem to like me. Last week when I struggled maintaining my calorie allowance the scale seemed to be sympathetic to me and didn’t add to the stress levels 😉

With less than 4 weeks to go now week 15 is going to be the peak week of training. The last 20 miler is coming up at the weekend and the taper is now in sight. I just need to make sure that I am resting well as this week will demand lots from my body and that I take advantage of some downtime and watch the diet. All seems to be going well otherwise.

2013 Walt Disney World Marathon

2013 Walt Disney World Marathon

2 weeks until the Benjamin Franklin Bridge 10K

3 weeks until the Trenton Half Marathon

4 weeks until the Philadelphia Marathon

12 weeks until the Dopey Challenge

Thanks for reading.

Marathon Training – Week 13

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Week 13 Training

Week 13 Training

Week 13 is now complete. 5 weeks to go. Only one more 20 mile run to go in a couple of weeks and then the taper begins. The race is now in sight. This week’s training went well. No ill effects or major fatigue. Yesterday’s 5 miler was a nice tempo run at a good pace. I hope I can sustain that for the upcoming Benjamin Franklin Bridge 10K run in 3 weeks time. That would be great.

Today’s 20 miler went well. I felt a little tired around mile 14 but got my second wind (or maybe that was the caffiene laced energy gel) and the last 3 miles felt great. My time was nothing spectacular but this was not designed to be a pace run just an endurance run. I came back and soaked in an ice bath (actually a bath filled with water from the cold tap only) for about 15 minutes or so to reduce any inflammation and then hopped into a nice hot shower. All being said I had run 20 miles was showered and ready for the day just after 9am today. Not bad.

In our house we are juggling two people training for a marathon at the same time. I started my long run today at 5am so I could be home in time for my Wife to get out and run her 18 mile run and not have our whole day disrupted. Mission accomplished. My Wife and I ran 38 miles combined today and were back at Sesame Place for their Halloween Spooktakular in the early afternoon. Actually this was our second visit of the weekend…in costume.

Fun times at Sesame Place this weekend

Fun times at Sesame Place this weekend

It seems many of my friends were running in marathons this weekend (Baltimore, Atlantic City, Hartford and Chicago) and/or will be running in the next few weeks (Marine Corps and New York). It’s getting to the exciting part of the marathon season when all the big races are being run. I have to wait patiently a week or two longer until Philly. It was really great following everyones posts and see their pictures on Facebook this weekend and I am really happy for all their successes.

Fall is definitely here now. I actually had to head indoors for a treadmill run this week. It was my first treadmill run since early August. I’ve been pretty lucky weather wise. Now I’m running through fallen leaves and routes lined with scarecrows and the temperatures are getting cooler. Good for running in the mornings but sooner than later it will change to the colder side. I remember last year at Philly it started around 40 degrees and I wore my gloves all 26.2 miles. I’m ready for it. I’ve got enough gear.

3 weeks until the Benjamin Franklin Bridge 10K

4 weeks until the Trenton Half Marathon

5 weeks until the Philadelphia Marathon

13 weeks until the Dopey Challenge.

An exciting few weeks ahead and I’m full of anticipation for some fun times. I’ll be running Trenton and Philly with my Wife. It’s great to be able to share this with her.

Thanks for reading.

Marathon Training – Week 12

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Week 12 Training

Week 12 Training

Week 12 down. 6 more weeks to go. Now we are in October so I can really say the Marathon is next month.

As usual it seems I skipped the cross training on Monday. Let’s face it, I’m tired from the long runs and I don’t think I have done the Monday cross training since the early weeks of the plan. I guess it doesn’t hurt to have an extra rest day at this stage.

As my Wife was away this weekend (she ran the Long Island Diva’s Half Marathon with her sister) I had to squeeze my long run into early Saturday morning. This week then was 5 days straight of running. Luckily it was a step back week. Total mileage this week was 36 vs. last weeks 47 so that helped. I know it sounds silly to look at it like this when in January I will be running 48.6 in 4 days (yes, its Dopey).

This week I did something really stupid..you can read about it here. Luckily for me I didn’t injure myself. That would have been upsetting after all this training and it would have been my fault. I know not to do anything silly from now on. I want to be healthy enough to keep doing this for a while.

The training itself this week felt fine (apart from the Wednesday run) and on the long run this week when I should have been slowest of all my runs I kind of turned up the heat. Not exactly my marathon pace but quicker than I should have. Given the hills where I run it felt great especially after worrying about the right foot for a couple of days.

Week 13 is the first of the 20 milers on the plan (although I did 20 last week). Then a step back, then the final 20 miler and then the taper. We are getting close to the race date. 5 more Sundays before the big one.

4 weeks until the Benjamin Franklin Bridge 10K

5 weeks until the Trenton Half Marathon

6 weeks until the Philadelphia Marathon

14 weeks until the Dopey Challenge.

It’s getting real. I’m getting excited.

Thanks for reading.