12 Weeks Until the Folsom Blues Breakout Half Marathon

My plans for stilling in running shape over the summer haven't gone according to plan due to a number of reasons with the main one being that I overdid it a bit in the spring, it's been a hotter summer than usual, I've gone on a few spaced out vacations that have interrupted my training flow, and I haven't been that good at sticking to my diet.

I had planned to keep my distances up and complete a nine and ten mile run in each month. I've done a couple runs over eight miles but nothing over nine. I'm sure I can ramp back up, but depending on the heat, it'll depend over how many weeks.

What worked well for me for the Shamrock'n Half Marathon in the Spring was targeting a one mile increase in my long run (Saturday) every two weeks while doing at least eight miles in the other week. I'd also run a couple of five mile runs during the week. I'd like to do the same this go around along with adding a 3.5 mile run on the Sundays following the 8 miler.

To be on track for that, I'd need to do a long run of seven miles today. I currently have a bit of a cold, so I decided to go for 3.5-5 instead. I'm pleased to report that I did the five. I think if I also do five miles on Monday and Wednesday with an optional 3.5 tomorrow depending on how I feel, that I should be able to go for 8 next weekend and be right on track.

If not, last year I followed a seven week plan to get up in distance for the Four Bridges Half Marathon (which is now the Folsom Blues Breakout Half Marathon), and if things don't cooperate this year, I could do the same plan again. I pulled a muscle in my right hamstring using that training plan - in part because it was intense and also in part due to my efforts to set a new 5K PR, so I'd rather go with a slower route.

As part of this, I'm going to have to keep an eye on my weight and get back to my diet. I was 180.8 this morning, and I had originally hoped to be in the 167 range by race day. The low 170s are now more a realistic goal, but it's going to be a bit of work. I've been thinking that I need to up the protein I eat while backing off a bit on carbs (especially after running and before days where I'm not running). Hopefully that combination helps me out with my training.

Four Bridges: My First Half Marathon

After all the training and time off to recover from the hamstring injury, it was finally time for the Four Bridges Half Marathon. The questions rattling around in my brain would be answered. Would I be able to run the full 13.1 miles having only done a long run of 11 miles in my training? Would my hamstring issues hamper the run or would I make it the full distance without any issues?

The weather was good for running a half marathon: cool, but not too cool. There were a lot of runners there (not surprising, as there were a lot of people at packet pickup the previous day). The runner were divided into 3 waves, and I (also not surprising) was part of the final wave. The waves were spaced 5 minutes apart, and we got off on time at 8:10.

As I tend to, I started off a touch fast. I kept telling myself to slow it down, but I'm not sure that I really followed through on that. As has been becoming common for me, my second mile was faster than the first (although just by five seconds). I ran each of the first seven miles in less than ten minutes leading me to believe that I'd beat an overall average of 10 minutes per mile. I finished the eighth mile in 10:04, but as I saw the "8 Mile" sign, I started to feel a bit of stress in my right hamstring.

At this point, the hamstring was mostly just a minor annoyance, and I completed the ninth mile in 10:02. Things got a bit more worrisome in the tenth mile, and I started to mentally calculate how much farther I'd have to run before I could walk the rest of the way and still make the 2:45 cutoff.

When I hit the tenth mile marker, I took a more positive attitude and just keep repeating "three miles to go" in my head (thankfully at this point, I was pretty worn out and was able to stay mentally occupied without going crazy by doing this). I gave up another 23 seconds on the 11th mile (I ran it in 10:23 compared to the desired 10:00). My 12th and 13th miles both fell off from pace, but I'm glad to say taht I didn't stop and walk at any point. When I crossed the finish line at around 2:11:30, I knew I didn't hit my goal but was glad that I got close.

Based on the unofficial results, I missed my 10 minutes per mile goal by 29 seconds:

It is interesting to note that my Garmin watch told a slightly different story regarding my pace (the timings from above were based on the Garmin): the showed my overall pace at 9:56 but that I had ran 13.25 miles (0.15 miles beyond the expected 13.1).

So what's my take-away from this? For 5Ks and 10Ks, it may not matter as much how wide I take corners, but over the course of a half marathon, it certainly does. If I had cut off just 1/3 of the extra, I would have finished just under 2:11 and hit my goal. Definitely something for me to keep in mind if I'm insane enough to tackle another half marathon (which I likely will).

And so now, I'm left with different questions. The aforementioned, am I insane enough to do this again as well as when will my muscles recover from this one?

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Six

Just a week to go until the Four Bridges Half Marathon and my worst fear was realized: I've suffered an injury, and I'm concerned that I'm going to have to pass on running the half marathon.

On what was meant to be a six mile run on Tuesday, I felt a cramp in my right hamstring and stopped just short of three miles in. I had figured that it was just a one day soreness (from running too soon after the GPTW run on Sunday) and expected it to disappear by the time I played tennis on Thursday. But that was not the case. A few points into the doubles match, the hamstring cramped up, and my mobility was limited. My hopes for running the half marathon were starting to disappear.

Taking a look at what little I ran compared to what was recommended, it's easy to see that I was pretty short on miles this week:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Oct 15	Oct 16	Oct 17	Oct 18	Oct 19	Oct 20	Oct 21
4BHM Plan	7.0	5.0		6.0		12.0
Actual		3.00		Tennis

Plan Mileage: 30.0
Actual Mileage: 3.00

I'm still not positive that the hamstring will be healed by next Sunday. I've been putting heat on it, stretching it, and then icing it in an attempt to expedite the healing. So far, I'm not sure that it's been helping. The one thing I do know is that I won't be following the Four Bridges Beginner Training Plan for this final week:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5.0	3.0		3.0			13.1

Plan Mileage: 24.1

I'd like to get out and do at least a mile before Sunday to get some faith in the hamstring, but I won't attempt anything until it feels fine. If that doesn't happen in the next week, I'm not sure how I'm going to determine whether or not to go for it.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Five

Just two more weeks to go until the Four Bridges Half Marathon. That's the key point I need to keep in mind for the next two weeks in regards to training. This week was the first that I did less miles than planned, but the long run is the important one, and I exceeded the needed miles for that one:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Oct 08	Oct 09	Oct 10	Oct 11	Oct 12	Oct 13	Oct 14
4BHM Plan	6.0	3.0		5.0	3.0	10.0
Actual	6.25	3.35			11.00		3.11

Plan Mileage: 27.0
Actual Mileage: 23.71

As you can see, I skipped out on a 5 mile run. I had intend to do that run on Wednesday, but after the 6 miler on Monday, my right heel was a bit tender and both of my knees were a bit sore. After the three miles on Tuesday, neither of these problems went away, and so I decided to skip out on Wednesday to have a better chance to heal by Friday. My heel and knees are definitely feeling better, but I'll have to pay attention to them over the next two weeks.

Based on the Four Bridges Beginner Training Plan, this is what I'd run in the upcoming week:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
7.0	5.0		6.0		12.0

Plan Mileage: 30.0

I have tennis on Thursday, so at a minimum, I'll have to make an adjustment for that. Based on the prior week, I think it's unlike that I'll do the full 30 miles ... more likely I'll run the long run of 12 miles and then a couple of 6 milers. But we'll see how it goes. I'm much more interested in completing the 12 miler and finishing the week without much pain than finishing the full 30.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Four

With week four of training in the books, I'm now just three weeks away from the Four Bridges Half Marathon. I completed my longest run of the year yesterday beating my previous long (from July) by a twentieth of a mile. More impressively, I finished 10 minutes faster than I did in that run in July. Further proof that all of this training is making me a stronger runner.

With that said, here's my weekly mileage compared to the Four Bridges training plan:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Oct 01	Oct 02	Oct 03	Oct 04	Oct 05	Oct 06	Oct 07
4BHM Plan	6.0	3.0		4.0	3.0	8.0
Actual	7.00	4.20	4.70	Tennis		9.15

Plan Mileage: 24.0
Actual Mileage: 25.05

With as well as things have gone so far, I do have to keep in mind a half marathon is still four miles longer than my long run of the week. I'll add at least an additional mile to that in the upcoming week. Speaking of which, here's the Four Bridges suggested plan for the upcoming week:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
6.0	3.0		5.0	3.0	10.0

Plan Mileage: 27.0

I'll be making a good deal of alternations to the plan this week. For starters, there's a 5K at work on Sunday, so I'll be moving Friday's 3 miles to Sunday. I'd like a day of rest before racing that 5K since I'd like to try to beat not only my 5K PR but also 27:00, so I'll do the long run on Friday instead of Saturday. To get enough rest for Friday, I'll move Thursday's run to Wednesday. There's a chance of rain on Monday, but hopefully it won't be enough to affect my plan.

The schedule I'm taking on for this week will likely result in me needing to make adjustments to the following week of running also. But we'll worry about that once I get through this week.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Three

I am now halfway through my training (week zero through week seven) for the Four Bridges Half Marathon. So far, so good. But the next four weeks will be tougher than these last four, and a couple of tennis matches will make things even more difficult (at least schedule-wise). I wouldn't be surprised if I don't hit planned mileage in all of the next four weeks.

With that said, here's my weekly mileage compared to the Four Bridges training plan:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Sep 24	Sep 25	Sep 26	Sep 27	Sep 28	Sep 29	Sep 30
4BHM Plan	6.0	3.0		4.0	2.0	7.0
Actual	6.50	3.35	4.60	3.35		6.11

Plan Mileage: 22.0
Actual Mileage: 23.91

I rearranged the schedule to allow for a day of rest before Run for Courage on Saturday. If you saw my post about that race, you'll know that the day of rest (and my half marathon training, majorly paid off.

We'll see how fatigued my legs/body are after the race on Monday when I start "Week Four" of training. Speaking of which, here's what's recommended by Four Bridges:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
6.0	3.0		4.0	3.0	8.0

Plan Mileage: 24.0

Since I have tennis on Thursday, I'll be moving a run to Wednesday. My long run last week was 7.75, so I'll probably target 9 on Saturday rather than 8. I'd like to have Friday to rest, so I'm thinking that I'll move the remaining two miles from the planned Friday run (the first going to Saturday) to the other days targeting 6.5 on Monday, 3.5 on Tuesday, and 5 on Wednesday.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Two

I survived the second "official" week of Four Bridges Half Marathon training and have recovered nicely from the Making the Grade/Run for Education 10K that I ran last weekend although my first couple runs of the week were at a slower pace that usual (part of the recovery process as I understand).

Here's my weekly mileage compared to the Four Bridges training plan:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Sep 17	Sep 18	Sep 19	Sep 20	Sep 21	Sep 22	Sep 23
4BHM Plan	5.0	2.0		4.0	2.0	6.0
Actual	4.65	3.65	4.75	Tennis		7.75

Plan Mileage: 19.0
Actual Mileage: 20.80

I ran fewer miles this week than last (20.80 versus 22.60) but was still above the planned mileage. I think the decrease was necessary as part of the recovery process, and since I still beat the planned mileage, I'm in good shape for the upcoming weeks.

I ran one fewer time than planned, but with tennis on Thursday, and the 10K being on Sunday rather than Saturday, I think this will turn out ok.

Taking a look at the upcoming week, here's what's recommended by Four Bridges:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
6.0	3.0		4.0	2.0	7.0

Plan Mileage: 22.0

I'm doing the Run for Courage 10K on Saturday, so I'm going to have to make up an extra mile somewhere during the week. Since my long run last week was over 7 miles, I'm not concerned about shortening the long run for this week. Additionally, it'd be preferable to not run on Friday to rest up for the Run for Courage, so I'll likely run Monday through Thursday this week.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week One

My "second week" of training for the Four Bridges Half Marathon is in the books. This week was the first that was guided by the training program on the Four Bridges site. This week's running included a 10K race, and it will be interesting to see how that affects my training in the upcoming week.

Here's my weekly mileage compared to the Four Bridges training plan:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Sep 10	Sep 11	Sep 12	Sep 13	Sep 14	Sep 15	Sep 16
4BHM Plan	3.5	2.5		3.5	2.5	5.0
Actual	4.75	3.30		5.00	3.35		6.20

Plan Mileage: 17.0
Actual Mileage: 22.60

Looking at my mileage for the week, I have some concern that I'm overdue-ing it too early, and that my weekly mileage increased perhaps too much over the previous week. I started the week a bit strong due to concern over when I'd get my second run in for the week: I had a billiards competition in which I was competing Tuesday night that had potential to continue to the next two nights (we additionally played Wednesday). However, I got home early enough on Tuesday to run, so I was concerned over nothing.

Taking a look at the upcoming week, here's what's recommended by Four Bridges:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5.0	2.0		4.0	2.0	6.0

Plan Mileage: 19.0

I have tennis on Thursday, so I'll likely do that run on Wednesday. I'm a bit concerned about 7 straight days of physical activity as well as how much my body is going to be ready to run on Monday. Also, I want my long run of the week to be 7 miles. I'll probably move a mile from Monday to Saturday to address those items. Worst case, I could additionally move a mile from Monday to Tuesday to allow more recovery.

Two weeks down and six more to go, and my body is holding up pretty well so far. Hopefully I'll still be able to say the same in five weeks.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Zero

When I signed up for the Four Bridges Half Marathon in late July, I had a training plan in mind for a slow ramp up to the 13.1 mile distance that involved completing a 9 mile run in July (which I did), a 10 mile run in August, 11 in September, and then a 12 in early October. Unfortunately, a cold derailed my efforts in back half of August, and I didn't train for two weeks. Left with just 8 weeks to train, I've decided to do a modified version of the 7 week beginning runner plan from the Four Bridges website.

Having not ran for 2 weeks and knowing that next week the plan would be to run 17 miles over 5 days, I decided to unofficially target 15 miles in 5 days this week. I hoped to run 17 so that I'd be a week ahead of schedule with my long run being near 5 miles as I'm interested in doing a 10K (6.2 miles) next weekend. I was a bit concerned with this plan as I haven't ran more than 3 days in a week this year and my max mileage in a week was probably around 15 miles.

Although running on back-to-back days was tough with quite a bit of soreness, my results far exceeded my expectations: I ran a total of 19.1 miles during the week roughly equaling the suggested amount for week 2. Here's my day-by-day breakdown:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Sep 03	Sep 04	Sep 05	Sep 06	Sep 07	Sep 08	Sep 09
2.75	3.40		3.85	3.65	5.40

Total Mileage: 19.10

All things considered, I didn't feel as sore as I expected Sunday morning. Don't get me wrong, I certainly did feel sore just not enough to not take the dogs for a walk. I felt good enough that I think I will be signing up for the Making the Grade Run next weekend. I've heard that the course is hilly and with the extra days of running, I'm a bit concerned about setting a new "personal worst". However it will be good to get a feeling for how I respond to adrenaline from "race excitement" in conjunction with sore muscles.

This upcoming week will be the first one (of many) where other sporting activities interfere with my desired running schedule. I have Site Games Billiards on Tuesday and potentially on Wednesday and Thursday if my team does well. I'm hoping to be able to still work in at a least a short run on those days if needed.

The Four Bridges plan for the week is:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
3.5	2.5		3.5	2.5	5.0

Plan Mileage: 17.0

I will likely replace the 5.0 mile run on Saturday with the previously mentioned Making the Grade Run. I'm also hoping to do an additional half mile each mile to finish the week with just over 20 miles.