Month: July 2009

Hey, blog-o-folks!

I’m still here, and life is pretty good. Summer has been very, very good to me, though, to tell the truth, I’m ready for a little vacation from summer vacation.

I’m recovered from Mooseman (Physically, at least – Mentally, I’m still not over it. No more Halfs). Recovery wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d thought it would be, and I was back up to about 20 miles/week running in 2 weeks. I haven’t really hit the bike again much (I think 2 or 3 rides) since, but that’s fine – the next goal is the NYC Marathon. And I’m going to crush it. (Maybe)

We did the annual vacation in Vermont, which was awesome, but wet. This summer, in general, has been miserable weather-wise. But it was great to hang out with the kiddos and wife, to get some good eats, and to mentally regroup.

I’m busy at the office, traveling a bunch. But it’s the good kind of busy, and I’m mentally ready to make sure that training doesn’t suffer.

I started using Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I training program. It seems to fit me pretty well: cross train on Monday, run Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, rest Friday, tempo run on Saturday, and long run on Sunday.

Well, it worked well until today – long run #4 blew goats. Part was humidity – swear to gosh that it must have been 75 degrees and 99% humidity. Which, I’d usually love, but I think that Beer on Friday watching The Rivergods and delicious wine (with a surprisingly compelling website) on Saturday didn’t help. Neither did doing Saturday’s tempo run at 4 PM and 85 degrees before a 6 AM long run.

I made it the 5 miles to downtown Mystic, but had to call it quits. Not quite a full-on bonk, but I couldn’t keep running. No pacing, no ability to control temperature, and I just really wanted it to rain. (Which it did as soon as I got home).

Breakfast and church helped – I took the kids canoeing on the Mystic River after lunch, and we caught the tail end of the Seaport’s classic boat parade – my favorite (and I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture) was a yacht straight out of The Great Gatsby, complete with flappers and bathtub gin. Only thing missing was jazz on a Victrola.

Anyway, I think I’m going to modify Hal’s plan a bit. Instead of running short (3-5 miles) on Tuesday and Thursday, I think I’m going to do the longer midweek run on Tuesday, and do the weekly tempo run on Thursday, so I’ve got a day of recovery before the weekend. I’m going to flex the long run between Saturday and Sunday depending on my schedule. The remaining short run will either be a recovery run on Sunday (If I went long on Saturday), or will be time on the bike on Saturday. (Man, I loved the Tour this year)

This is marathon 4 (Really?). My takeaways from several go-rounds, and from watching Melissa train:

• Hit the long runs. More than anything else, having miles in the legs and a little bit of endurance is the key to finishing the marathon.
• Be consistent in training. Even if you’ve got to cut a midweek run short, it’s important to do SOMETHING, otherwise the legs get tight, and tight legs get hurt.
• Shed weight. I’ve got about another 6 weeks where this is possible, and it makes a HUGE difference once the 20 mile runs come around.

So, that’s my plan. I really don’t want NYC to suck.

Other stuff:

1. I hit up the XO last drill weekend to see if we could do the Newport Naval Station Triathlon even though it’s drill weekend. He said “Sure.” I didn’t ask for followup, so that’s on tap for this weekend.
2. New Haven 20K. Best race of the year. One of these years, I’m going to have one that doesn’t suck.
3. Friday nights are Family Fun Runs over at Bluff Point. We’re hitting about 50% of them, but they’re a blast.
4. I’ve pretty much written off the Terramuggus tri series this year – too darn busy.

Hope everyone else is well. Hopefully, I’ll actually use this blog again, and not end up on Jon’s “Dead Blog” list. I’ve been using DailyMile – best mileage tracker since Nike+, but without all the Flash overhead. I’m also using Nike+ again, but not entirely pleased.