3/29/09 - 40 Miles!

Finally ran 40 miles this week! Not to mention all but 4 miles was on a treadmill. This was my best week of training so far, and I am feeling pretty happy with where I am at right now. My plan from here is to run 40 miles a week consistently, and keep doing the same weight lifting program until I finish school in mid May. Then I'll add a few miles per week, and start doing more speed work for the last 6-7 weeks of training before I start taper. The idea is basically to build a strong base, to the point where running 40 miles a week is easy. This will allow me to get in the tempo training that I need without risking injury or getting too sore.

The weight training program I have been following for the last few months is below. It is basically geared around building general strength. This has helped me lose some body fat, and I have definately gotten stronger. Once I finish school and start doing more race specific training, I will do less weights and more plyometrics and running related exercises. I lift weights 3 times a week, usually tues/thurs/sunday. I alternate between the A/B workouts, so that one week is A/B/A, and the next week is B/A/B. I do some additional ab and core exercises, but for the most part, the workouts below are all I do in the gym. I put the amount of weight/number of reps that I currently can perform in parentheses. I will update this again in a few months, and hopefully the numbers will be higher.

A)
Squats: 5 sets x 5 reps (175 lbs)
Overhead press: 5 sets x 5 reps (70 lbs)
Deadlift: 2 set x 5 reps (185 lbs)
Pullups/chinups(alternate): 3 sets to failure (set 1 max: 16/18)
Abs: 3x 12 reverse crunch

B)
Squats: 5 sets x 5 reps (175lbs)
Bench Press: 5 sets x 5 reps (140lbs)
Inverted Rows: 3 sets to failure (set 1 max: 28)
Pushups: 3 sets to failure (set 1 max: 60)
Plank: Hold for 3 minutes

40 Mile Weekly Total:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 8 mile run + weights(A)
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 8 mile run + weights (B)
Friday: 8 mile run
Saturday: 4 mile treadmill run + weights (A)
Sunday: 12 mile run

3/22/09 - Spring Breakdown

The title of this weeks blog is spring breakdown because 1) I was on spring break, and 2) My body really felt broken down this week. I don't know what it was, but I just didn't have that extra umph that I usually have. Maybe the change in the schedule messed me up. Whatever it was, this week was rough. On tuesday, I ran a 9 mile run, and it was both mentally and physically painful. The last 2-3 miles felt like the last 2-3 miles of a 13 mile run. Usually 9 miles is the perfect distance to where I can kick it into another gear at the end and finish the last few miles strong, but this was not the case on this day. Thursday again was 9 miles, and this was the best run of the week. Friday was a painful 4 miles on the treadmill, and I swear I almost stopped about 5 times between 1-2 miles. I just had no energy. I took yesterday off, and ran 9 miles on the treadmill today. Todays run was mentally pretty challenging. It wasn't quite that bad, but overall I was pretty dissapointed with the week. I was hoping that since I was on spring break and had all this extra time, I could put in a good week, and it turned out to be the opposite. The good news is that it is almost April, and the days are getting longer and warmer. Less than two months until I am done with finals! Then the real training begins...

34 total miles this week
Monday - rest
Tuesday - 9 miles
Wednesday - 3 miles + weights
Thursday - 9 miles
Friday - 4 miles + weights
Saturday - rest
Sunday - 9 miles + weights

3/15/09 - March Madness

The title of this weeks blog is "march madness" because a) its march, and b) I was just watching the ncaa march madness selection show while doing my sunday run at the gym. St. Mary's got robbed!! 26-6 record, and 4 of those losses were without their star player. Anyone that follows college basketball knows why I am upset, and anyone that doesn't follow college basketball probably doesn't care, so I won't dwell on it too much. The first sporting event I ever went to was a St. Mary's basketball game, and I have always been a huge fan of their basketball team though so I am dissapointed. Although I must say, it is pretty cool to hear all the ESPN analysts and hosts talk so much about this little school from Moraga.

Anyways, this week was rough to say the least. The 13 mile run last sunday wasn't so bad while I was doing it, but I definately felt it throughout the first part of the week. Tuesday's run was painful, and I think the transition from so much treadmill running to suddenly a 13 mile long run was a mistake. Nevertheless, I was able to get in 34 miles this past week. I have spring break this coming week so I should have more time to run. If nothing else, I have no excuse not to spend some extra time stretching.

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 8 miles (4outdoors/4 treadmill + weights)
Wednesday - rest
Thursday - 8 miles treadmill + weights
Friday - 5 miles
Saturday - 5 miles treadmill + weights
Sunday - 8 miles treadmill + abs

3/8/09 - Sunny Sunday!

It finally feels like spring! The sun is out and I got a good 13 miler in today. Running outdoors vs. running on the treadmill is a totally different ballgame. There are so many other variables to deal with: random hills, wind, other people in the way, heat, sun in your eyes, cars, crossing the street, gravel... The biggest difference however is the pavement. Treadmills are rather shock absorbant. After running on mostly treadmills for a few weeks, I was not used to the pounding and impact on the knees that I was exposed to today. It was a good reminder that I can't do all my training on the treadmill! Many marathon training programs actually recommend that you do your long runs on trails to prevent the effects of constant pounding on pavement. I may hit the trails once I start putting in more mileage this summer, but then again... none of the 26.2 miles is going to be on a treadmill or on a trail, so might as well get used to it.

For my long today, I wore my heart rate monitor. I usually dont like wearing it unless I am actually using it to train, but I was interested as to what my heart rate would be. This was because on Friday I had a doctors appointment. The nurse was getting my resting heart rate and she looks at me and says:"umm... are you like a runner or something?" Little did she know that was a huge complement. She said that she got my HR at 44bmp, and usually that means you are some sort of endurance athlete. I told her I was :). But anyways, my average heart race for the run was 139, and my highest heart rate was 154, which was probably on one of the hills.

This was my highest weekly total so far, at 38. Pretty close to the 40 miles a week that I have been hoping to get to. If I go a little slower on friday, I can add 2 miles there and keep everything else the same. That would be a reasonable routine that I should be able to follow for another few weeks. Either way, tomorrow will be a well deserved rest day!

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 8 miles on treadmill+ weights
Weds - rest
Thurs - 8 miles on treadmill + weights
Friday - 4 miles fast (about 6:30 pace)
Saturday - 5 miles on treadmill + weights
Sunday - 13 miles (took 1 hour 43 mins, which is 7:55 pace)

3/1/09 - Bad News/Good News...

The title of this weeks blog might imply that there is more to this blog than there actually is... since both bad or good news would mean that there is some "news" in the first place. There isn't... really. But the "bad news" is that it rained pretty much all week again, and worse, it rained againnn on sunday... which as you know is my excuse to not get a good long run in. However, the "good news" is that I actually am kindof starting to like running on the treadmill! In fact, I don't really mind it at all anymore. Not to mention, since I am at the gym it is easier to do abs or lift weights afterwords.

On tuesday I ran 5 miles, then drove to the gym and lifted, which was awkward because I was like sweating in the car on the way to the gym. Gross. I guess I could run to the gym, but then I would have to run back after I lifted which I don't like doing.

Anyways, this week was really good after starting out slow. 36 miles for the week. Yaay, and considering that I did 31 miles in 4 days, thats pretty good. I felt really good today even towards the end of the 9 miles, and no injuries so far (knock on wood).

If you scroll down you will see that I did 9 miles on a treadmill twice this week. You might be thinking "last week you said that you could only do 8 miles max on a treadmill" (or maybe I am just flattering myself thinking that people actually read this blog let alone notice things like this). But anyways, I realized that after the 60 minute max on the treadmill, it can go for another 5 minutes which is like a cooldown period. However, you don't have to cool down, so technically the treadmill has a 65 minute max. Which allows me to get in 9 miles before it turns off. I then stop and restart it before I warm down.

Watching the news today while running on the treadmill, the weather lady said that it's gonna be another rainy week. Hopefully I can put in another good week like this one!

Monday - rest day
Tuesday - 5 miles + weights
Wednesday - rest day
Thursday - 9 miles on treadmill + weights
Friday - 8 miles on treadmill + abs
Saturday - 5 miles on treadmill + weights
Sunday - 9 miles on treadmill + abs