Sunday, February 19, 2012

Week in the Rearview Mirror: February 12 - February 18, 2012

This last week went very well, and the nice, relaxed runs are quite pleasant. My bruised right instep is almost completely healed now, with just some very minor tenderness. For the most part the weather has been quite agreeable, with only Saturday morning being cool and rainy. On that day, I did a bit of treadmill running at the gym, and even had fun doing that.

Here is what last week looked like...



Day   Activity   Distance (in miles)
Sunday Elliptical 1.60
Running 5.01
Monday Rest Day
Tuesday Elliptical 0.79
Running 6.14
Wednesday Running 6.04
Thursday Running 5.38
Walking 1.10
Friday Rest Day
Saturday Walking 1.00
Running 6.00

These are my time and distance totals for the week:

Activity   Time Total   Distance Total (in miles)
Running 4:14:52 28.57
Walking 0:30:50 2.11
Elliptical 0:30:00 2.39
Overall Total 5:15:42 33.07


Only 6 days till the Cowtown Marathon...it is nearly upon me now. This week will be mostly a taper week, with the big day on Sunday. I've been really feeling good in the last several weeks, so the only issue "should" be keeping the week in 'taper mode'. I did somehow pickup a minor allergy issue in the last couple of days, but it doesn't appear to affect my breathing in general...just makes me a bit lethargic, especially towards the end of the day. The energy during my workouts doesn't seem to be affected at all.

The February pushup challenge (400 in the month of February) continues to go well. I started with a set of 20 each day, and I've progressed through 3 sets of 10 with a 45 second recovery to doing 4 sets of 10 with a 45 second recovery. I've met the goal of the challenge for the month at this point, but I'll see how it feels to keep some momentum going on this. I've modified the pushups and pullups this week so I'm doing pushups one day, and pullups the next (not both in one day), and I'm up to 5 sets of 4 pullups with a 45 second recovery on those days. I do plan to stop this on either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, so I won't be sore in any way from that on marathon day.

I may have missed a day of stretching on my own at home, but I did attend an hour long Yoga class on Tuesday evening, Thursday evening, and Saturday morning (with another one scheduled for Sunday evening). I'm really liking the Yoga classes...I find that they are not only good for stretching and strengthening, but I'm learning quite a bit about the background and other aspects of Yoga from one of the instructors (Bill). I've been the only guy in the class for each of these sessions, but for some reason it doesn't "feel weird", and I just feel like one of the learners (and not the odd man out).

Happy Running Everyone !!!

8 comments:

  1. Looks like you are ready for Cowtown... Good luck!

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  2. Hey Michael, do you know what corral you are in? What is your pace going to be?

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    1. Scott, My bib number (according to the Entry Confirmation) is 428, and they have me assigned to Corral #4. Although I'm sure my first mile (maybe 2?) will be a bit slower than the others (the first one almost always is), my plan is to settle at a pace somewhere between 9:30 and 9:45. If I can hold that kind of pace on the hills for this course (doubtful, but perhaps) this would land me right about 4:15(ish).

      Given that I WILL miss running the tangents correctly, and the fact that my training runs didn't have as many hills as are on this course (and it will be a bit warmer than several of my long runs), I won't be overly disappointed with anything under 4:30 (a 10:15 pace).

      What about yourself..?

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    2. My Bib is 1402 and I think I'm in Corral #5, but I don't know for sure. Did you get an email telling you? Regardless, I'm planning on running pretty conservatively and I might hang with the 10 min/mile pace group. If I feel super good and confident I may pace around 9:45 if that feels easy while I'm running. Overall, I'd like to keep that slow and easy pace at least until 13 miles. Most likely I won't pace any faster until mile 20ish if I have strength then. Overall, my goal is to enjoy the race and would prefer to get under 4:30. If I go over 4:30 it means I struggled.

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    3. Scott...I didn't get an email telling me the Corral number, but I went to the Cowtown website and in the upper right hand corner it says "Need your BIB confirmation, Click Here". When you do that, it will ask for your last name, birthdate, zip code, and the last four digits of your credit card you used to pay the entry fee. The next screen will be the Entry Confirmation which you can print and take with you to packet pickup. It says it is required, but I don't know if that is absolutely true or not

      Your pacing strategy and plan seems sound to me, and I'm sure you'll have a great race. Best of luck to you on Sunday !

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    4. Thanks for the tip about printing the confirmation, that totally slipped my mind. I am in corral 3, but I would rather be in corral 4 or further back. If you want, look for me while your are running and we can chat a little and pass some time before you speed past me. I am also going to the pasta dinner on saturday.
      Good Luck Michael, I hope you do great, and above all, enjoy the experience!

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  3. I'm impressed with your yoga! It's hard to fit that in with running that much. Extra points for being the only dude. :)

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    1. Believe it or not, attending the Yoga classes is more of a treat than anything else (at least at this point). I've had the chance to learn under three different instructors over the six classes I've attended, and while there was one instructor that I didn't enjoy, the others were very good and really make it interesting.

      Of course, now that the promotional period is over and I'm sort of hooked, I'll need to see what I can do about paying for it going forward. :-)

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