Treadmill Warrior

With  2 weeks left before my half marathon, I have paused for some reflection.  My training over the last 7 weeks has not exactly happened as I first envisioned, nor has this blog which was meant to be a running diary of my running. 

Crazy as it (doesn't) sound, 36 y/o father of 2 hasn't allocated as much time for this training as 31 y/o guy without any kids did for my marathon back in 2008. 

Back then, I was really focused on the accomplishment of running 26.2 miles.  I needed to run.  I needed to finish that race.  Becoming a marathon runner meant something to me, like somehow I needed the achievement as part of my personal portfolio.

Now?  Eh.....I don't need it anywhere near as much.

Don't get me wrong.  I want to run.  I still enjoy running very much.   I want to run this race.  I want the accomplishment.  I want the feeling of achievement that comes with it.

But, my self image, my feeling of self worth, it isn't tied to running these distances any more.

Some of it probably has to do with the "been there, done that" aspect.  I've already run 2 halves, one in Las Vegas.  I've already run a full marathon.  This isn't new.

Some of it probably has to do with TheKids also.  On one hand, they just make everything more difficult.  It's much harder to get out of the house for a couple hours to go run when they are stuck on me like stink on a homeless person as soon as I get home.  It is really hard to justify, at least in my head, doing something that is unnecessary for myself when I could be taking TheKids to the park or going on a bike ride with TheBoy.

At this point, I'm still committed to finishing this project, but I'm not half-crazed about it.

I'm curious to see how I'll feel in the few days leading up to the race.  Will I be excited about it?  Will I just be wishing for it to be over?

I guess we'll see.

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Since my adventure in the wilds of Farwell, MI back on Labor Day weekend, I've been running twice a week, but it has mostly been inside on the treadmill.  Not the best way to train, but at least it is something.

The weekend of the 7th, I had TheKids while TheWife was in Kentucky for a wedding.  As such, getting out for an outdoor run was not going to be in the cards.  I planned on going to the gym on both Saturday and Sunday morning, running each time.

On Friday night, after the kids went to bed, I sat at the kitchen table and worked for a little bit.  When I got up from the table, I had a shooting pain down my right leg from my groin-ish area to my knee.  It flared with each step.  It's not something I've had before and I have no idea what would have brought it on.  I had taken the kids to the park, but I hadn't bounced around at all.  Saturday morning, I was wincing with each step.

At the gym, I did a bunch of extra stretching, rode the bike for 20 minutes, and loosened up the leg on the treadmill by walking up a pretty good incline.  After it finally felt OK, I did an easy 5k.  Not exactly the training I planned.  And no more shooting pains.  Weird.

On Sunday, I came into some football tickets at the last minute and took TheKids to their first Lions game with Grandpa and LaLa.

So, no running on Sunday either.  Lions won, though.

By the way, I told TheBoy about how sometimes it's hard to get into the bathroom quickly at a profootball game and that he should tell us he has to go potty before it becomes an emergency and he pees his pants.  He really took that to heart.  He peed before we left the house.  Then again at Grandpa's house.  Then at a port-a-john outside the stadium.  Then 5 more times in the stadium before halftime was over.  Then, one last time as we walked out of the stadium.  No accidents, so there's that.

On Tuesday the 10th, it was 90+ degrees and TheWife took TheKids to TheAunt's house to go swimming.  Guess who got a free night?  Went to the gym and ran.  And sweated.  And sweated some more.  It was f'ing HUMID in there.  Did 6 miles on the treadmill and had an awesomely disgusting puddle to clean up when I was done.

The weekend of the 14th, I mixed it up a bit.  Ran from my home to the gym, then did an hour on the treadmill, then ran home.  Altogether, that was about 10.5 miles with 4.5 being outside.  My thought being this would be easier on my knees.  And I was right.  Didn't have anywhere near the discomfort I normally do if I did all 10.5 outside.

This weekend, TheWife is out of town again for another Kentucky wedding.  She's never gone to Kentucky before in her first 33 years on the planet, then has 2 Kentucky weddings in 16 days.  So, I stayed home with the kids which means I'm running on the treadmill.  This morning, I did 80 minutes.  Trying to do something different again, I ran the entire 80 minutes on a 5% incline, but at a slower pace of only 5mph.  So, the distance wasn't as much as I'd normally cover in that amount of time, but I still burned just under 1000 calories.  Tomorrow morning, I think I'll do the same thing.

Next weekend, being the last weekend before the race, I'm planning on getting outside for maybe a quick 6 or 8 miles.  Nothing crazy.


Anybody interested in joining me for the race on Oct 5th?  Plenty of spots available.

http://heroesonhines.com/#

$59 for a half marathon is a heck of a deal and the proceeds go to a worthwhile cause.


See ya.

1000 Page Views and 2 Hours of Sweaty Hell

Congratulations to us?

Being new to this blog game, I have no idea if 1000 pageviews is really a lot.  I have no idea how that translates into the number of people that have actually read anything I've written.  Given the relatively low number of actual followers, I am sceptical of this number.  Still, 1000 sounds like it could be a lot, so I'm just going to go with it.

Congratulations to us!!!!!

Thank you so much, all 1000 of you, for reading my largely incoherent ramblings about the dumb things I do while trying to run my comeback race.  I've enjoyed the creative outlet and plan to continue on in some way even past my Half in October.


In the last 2 weeks, I've managed to run all of 3 times.  The frequency of my runs narrowly surpasses the frequency of my recent blog posts.  2 of those 3 have been on a treadmill, so they barely even count.

My one run of any merit was this past weekend while we were up north for the holiday weekend.  My father-in-law has a great place on a lake near Farwell, MI.  I've ran up there for years, mostly to sweat out the beer from the night before or to get away from the kids for a little me time.  Pre-training, I had a standard 3 or 6 mile trek.  The 3 mile loop ran 3/4 of the way around the lake, then back home.  The 6 mile trek went 3/4 of the way around the lake, then into town, then back.

I've been running increasingly longer distances every other weekend. This time, I set out to go as far as I could in 2 hours, going out for 60 minutes, then turning around and going back.  Based on previous longer runs, I figured that would end up somewhere in the 12-13 mile range.  To start, I did the first half of my standard 6 mile Farwell circuit, running 3/4 of the way around the lake, then into town.  Then, I hopped on the rail-trail, a converted former railroad, and headed west.

The railtrail is paved with ashphalt, so it was a bit easier on the knees.  And, it is in the middle of freakin' nowhere.  If you want to kill someone in peace and quiet, this is the place for you.

I hit the rail-trail at just before the 30 minute mark and headed west.  I started to feel a bit of a "pull" in the bottom of my foot, so I stopped a couple times to stretch it out.  The last thing I want at this point is a recurrance of my plantar faciitis.  Unlike 5 years ago, I'm not going to get cortisone shots and gut out my next race.  Faciitis walks in the door and I'm retiring for good.

At exactly the 60 minute mark, I turned around and started heading back.  No idea how far I actually was at this point since there isn't much in the way of distance markings.  A few minutes later, I decided to take a picture to the east and to the west to show just how desolate this trail is.

Altogether, I ended up on this trail for 60 or 65 minutes and saw 4 or 5 people on bikes.  Nobody else.  No buildings.  No roads crossing it.  There were a couple snowmobile trails that shot off of it, but you couldn't really see anything other than what these pics show.  For the first half mile or so, I could hear the main road in the distance, but eventually it was just silence.

I was hoping to maybe see a deer, but that didn't happen.  I did see what I think were some turkeys crossing the trail, but they were far enough that I'm not entirely positive they were turkeys.  No squirrels or rabbits.  A few grasshoppers and butterflies are the only instances of wildlife I can actually confirm.

As I was listening to a podcast that I had already downloaded, I'm not even sure if I had cell service.  I guess it's possible that had I encountered danger or had a heart attack, I might have been in some trouble.  I did have a small folding knife tucked into my water belt for all the good that would have done for me.

How did the run feel?  Glad you asked.  It felt like crap.

As I waited for the kids to go down for their naps, it was after 2pm by the time I headed out.  The temp was in the high 80's and very humid.  I had indulged in a few semi-tolerable Busch Lite's the night before and probably hadn't done a great job of hydrating that morning.  I also didn't really fuel up particularly effectively as I had eaten a Nature Valley bar for breakfast and a turkey/salami/cheese sandwich for lunch, along with 2 or 3 diet Dews. 

And I'm a fat turd who isn't running nearly enough to call this "training".

So, I kept a decent enough pace for the first 60 miles out, even taking a few swigs from my water belt, but as soon as I made the turnaround to come back, my legs felt like lead.  It was a struggle from that point forward.  Miles 7-9 (approximately) was on the railtrail heading back to Farwell.  I probably slowed to a walk for a drink, a faciitis-preventing foot stretch, or just to rest maybe half a dozen times in this 3 miles.

As I got closer to town and could see the big water tower that's says "FARWELL", I checked my watch and noted that I was behind schedule by a couple minutes.  This was enough motivation that I picked up my pace for maybe a mile or so before that leaden feeling came back. 

For the last 3 miles, heading back to the Lake from town, I slowed to a walk maybe another half dozen times.  I even called TheWife to let her know I was going to be a few minutes past my 2 hour estimate so she wouldn't get worried.  She asked if I wanted to get picked up, as if I would allow that to happen.  I'm slightly stubborn and I'd have to be legitimately injured to even consider not finishing what I started.  Even an injury probably wouldn't do it unless I had to resort to crawling.  Crawling might be the line.

Not 2 minutes after hanging up with her, my father-in-law pulled up next to me and offered me a ride.  I thanked him for the offer and declined.  Later, I verified with TheWife that she hadn't sent him on a rescue mission.  I was ready to be pissed as that would be an open assault on my manliness and could not be tolerated, but he had been in to town for a hardware run and that is the way he'd normally come home.  Marital crisis averted.

I walked/ran back to the cottage and clicked off my watch at 2:06:36, so that 2nd half was a good minute-plus per mile slower than the first half.  Not good at all.

Thankfully, I didn't have much pain afterwards.  My knees and ankles were a bit sore and I did the normal Fred Sanford shuffle the rest of the day, but nothing out of the ordinary.  The next day was largely pain-free and I even snuck out during naptime to play some golf.

Monday morning, I ran on the treadmill at the gym for a few miles. I had to labor through that.  My legs just didn't seem to respond like they are supposed to.  I suppose that is just some of the lingering effect from Friday.

Looking ahead, this coming weekend will be all treadmilll as I am solo-parenting while TheWife attends a wedding out of town.  The following weekend I had pencilled in a 14 mile run, but I'm going to have to give that some thought.  I planned for that to be the apex of my "training" and I'd then dial it down for the last few weeks before the Half.  If it is anywhere near as hot and humid as this past weekend was, I may need to make some modifications.

As for my writing, I've come up with a non-running topic that I'm considering sharing.  It has to do with one of the presents my daughter received for her third birthday and the innappropriate pictures I took of it.  Let's just say Buzz Lightyear enjoyed a little R'n'R with one of Barbie's friends.