Running on Beer

This is the fifth week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again.

This week was a vacation week. I took my family to Cedar Point, and we stayed in Hotel Breakers. There was little time spent off Cedar Point’s property this year – this is probably the fifth time my wife and I have been to CP or Sandusky, and seventh or eighth for me, and at least the second for my kids. In prior years, we made it up to Marblehead Lighthouse, South Bass Island and/or Kelly’s Island, and we’ve also taken trips to Firelands Winery and the Merry-Go-Round museum. This time it was all Cedar Point.

The weather was nice compared to the heat wave last week. In fact, there were times we wish we had jackets.

Monday: 8 + 10 * 100m strides. Obviously, I ran this around the Cedar Point Penensula. Lake Erie was very rough, and lake conditions were yellow-flag. I put my feet in the water anyway because why not. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance. Overall, 9.16 in 1:20:03 (8:44 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Tuesday: 5 Miles Recovery. I took this slowly, partly because of GI issues, and partly because I did *a lot* of walking on Monday – we entered the park before the general admission gates opened and didn’t leave until 10:00 PM. The Lake Erie beach conditions went to red-flag. Anyway, 5 miles in 44:54 (8:59 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Wednesday: 8 miles. For doing a lot of walking and standing over the past two days, I felt oddly good. I had been expanding on the “running area” and watching where other runners run, and sometimes see interesting things… like where they keep explosives! Hydrated with water. 8.01 miles in 1:10:03 (8:45 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Thursday: 4 miles recovery. After a start in large swarms of bugs, I was a little more adventurous on this run – I ran outside the park and down Cedar Point Road – which was the old way to get to Cedar Point prior to 1957 (Cedar Point was opened in 1870, which pre-dates the Ford Model T by only 38 years). Lots of nice houses along there, all with private beaches and structures. 4.01 miles in 35:24 (8:50 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Friday: On Thursday evening, the bugs came out again – as we were leaving the park EVERYONE was trying to wave them out of their face, and when we entered the hotel, we stopped in the vestibule to make sure we brushed off any stowaways. Between the two buggy experiences, I decided to sleep in and run Saturday.

Saturday: 12 mile long run. Got up late – I had set an alarm for 5:30, but it was set to M-F only, so I didn’t end up getting up until 7:30. I ran around the park and the nearby subdivisions. Weather started at 63-ish, but quickly rose to 72. Hydrated with Nuun. Almost cut the run short because I told my wife I should be home between 8:30 and 9:00 (I got home around 9:15, she was not angry). 12.04 miles in 1:44:58 (8:43 min/mile pace).

That’s the week. 38 miles of running in some decent running conditions. On to the next!

This is the fourth week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again.

Monday: 9 with 5 at HM Pace. The last TWO pace runs were rough due to weather. This one was no exception, but execution was better! Kept it in the township park, where there were two polite dog walkers I’ve seen several times, and another gentleman that was walking around, and I think he was picking up trash (!!!). The HM pace portion was 5 miles in 39:01 – a 7:48 pace. The goal pace was 7:30 – 7:50, so I was within the range. Overall, 9 in 1:14:52 (8:19 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: Supposed to be 5 miles, but travel to and from Chicago messed that up.

Wednesday: 10 miles. Ran in East Fork. Prior to starting, I realized one of my RunLites was dead. It was rainy-ish going to the park with some drizzle, etc. Then around mile 7 it started to rain harder. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance. 10.26 miles in 1:32:19 (9:00 min/mile pace).

Thursday: I went to bed last night with heat advisories. Today was warm, and the dead RunLite is really dead (I tried charging it, no dice), so I ran around with one headlight (earworm!). I did my normal twice-a-week form and mobility drills and then ran an easy 5 miles, stopping once to pick up trash and yelling at geese three times (twice near a highway patrol officer doing paperwork in the nearby parking lot). I actually did tell one goose to “hiss at me again, motherfucker!” Finished with stretches, squats (with weight!), single-leg squats (no weight), one-leg deadlifts (with weight!), and five pull-ups. 5.01 miles in 43:46 (8:44 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

• 

Friday: 16 miles with 10 at M pace. So today was an excessive heat warning…

I set out with a 16 oz bottle of water, a 16 oz bottle of Gatorade Endurance, and a “Hoppy Trails” Gu. My watch complained at me for every one of those 10 miles, as I never got a good pace. I alternated water and Gatorade until I ran out of Gatorade (around mile 12-13), and not long past I ran out of water, so I drank some at the park’s fountain and added ~4 oz to my water bottle for the last 2 miles. I did a fair bit of walking in this, but I survived. I took the Gu at mile 8, but I didn’t take much as it didn’t taste very good. Overall, 16 miles in 2:43:15 (10:12 min/mile pace). I’m sure yesterday’s weights didn’t help, and also not having many carbohydrates last night and going to bed a little late didn’t either.

Following the run, I got cleaned up and dressed and sat down to put on compression socks and ended up falling asleep for around 45 minutes.

That’s the week. I was considering a shakeout run on Saturday to get those 5 miles in, but given the heat, my wife’s reaction to falling asleep in the chair, and the laundry-list of things I need to do, it’s unlikely. 40.27 miles for the week.

This is the third week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again.

Monday: 8 miles + 10 Strides. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it, and with a bit of GI issues that even persisted through the day. Not sure what I ate, but something got to me. The run started with watch issues, and phone issues. My watch decided to update before I ran (Garmin, your timing is impeccable). Then, my phone decided to reboot (that one is rare). Then, during the strides, my watch decided to reboot. UGH. Overall, 9.26 miles in 1:20:18 (8:40 min/mile pace). Finished with stretches and four pull ups. And Garmin thinks I ran a 6:07 10k (uhhh, nope!).

• 

• 

Tuesday: 5 miles recovery. Didn’t sleep too well last night (despite getting to bed at a better time), and got up late. Then my watch decided to update again. Didn’t really push these miles until the end (I saw another runner and was going to pass him 😈, but he stopped just before I went to make my pass). 5.02 miles in 43:26 (8:39 min/mile). Finished with stretches, squats, single-leg squats, unweighted single-leg deadlifts, and FIVE pull-ups (went up one!).

Wednesday: 10 miles. Returned to East Fork Park for this one, and miraculously didn’t have to wait on my watch. However Monday’s GI issues decided to return, which ruined the last half of this – the first 5 were in 45:50, the second five were around 54 minutes. Overall, 10.01 miles in 1:39:13. I don’t even want to talk about the pace.

Thursday: miles. Ran in the park and got there kinda early. It was warm (72 on my phone, 75 on the park’s message board), so I went shirtless. When I arrived, I saw lightning in the sky, but no thunder and it ultimately didn’t storm. Started things off with form and mobility drills and capped off my 4 miles with some squats, single-leg squats, and unweighted single-leg deadlifts. And then I forgot to do pull-ups. Overall, 4.01 in 35:15 (8:46 min/mile pace… not pushing it!). Later on, I did some planks, hamstring curls, and crunches.

Friday: 15 miles. Last night was the homebrew club meeting, so I was up late. I still rolled out of bed early enough to finish the run at a decent time. I took both water and Gatorade Endurance with me. I had meant to bring some Hoppy Trails Gu with me, but I forgot it. I kept this in the park and the subdivisions next to it. The first 10 miles were slow – most of the miles were longer than 9 minutes. During the last third of the run I brought it back to have an overall pace just under 9 minutes per mile. Alternated Gatorade Endurance and water at roughly each mile. 15.02 miles in 2:14:49 (8:59 minutes/mile). After my post-run stretching, I did five pull ups to make up for not doing them yesterday.

That’s it for a rough week. 43.33 miles. 6.5 hours of running. Next week’s going to be a tough week – two speed days. 😱😮

Upcoming Race Schedule:
July 30: NKU XC Series #2
Aug 6: NKU XC Series #3 / Brian Rohne Cross Country Championships.
Aug 17: Bulldog Blast 5k
Sept 21: Hudepohl 14k Run
Oct 20: Columbus Marathon

This is the second week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again this time.

Monday: 10 miles. Ran this one in the park and the subdivisions next to it. It was a warm morning, but not too bad. 10.02 miles in 1:26:16 (8:37 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: 4 miles recovery. Ran this in the park (and got out late thanks to a late night at an amusement park Monday evening). 4.03 in 34:21 (8:31 min/mile). Also did leg workouts – squats, single-leg squats, and unweighted one-leg deadlifts in the park, and did some planks and hamstring curls later in the day.

Wednesday: 8 miles with 4 @ HM Pace. Given the pace portion of this workout, I kept it in the park instead of going to East Fork like I normally would. It was hot and sticky, and despite my best efforts, I was unable to maintain the 7:30 – 7:50 pace range – my HM pace portion ended at 7:59 min/mile pace. During the first few miles, there was some thunder, and it started raining around the time I ended the HM pace portion… so I dropped off my hydration vest (with my phone, which was not in a Ziplock bag) in my car and kept running the cool down, only for the rain to stop. Overall, 8 miles in 1:08:39 (8:35 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Thursday: 4 miles recovery. Since it was a holiday, I had a smoker to start. I got a pork shoulder on the smoker and got running. 4 miles in my subdivision with squats, single-leg squats, and unweighted one-leg deadlifts after my run on my driveway. 4.01 in 34:03 (8:29 min/mile pace).

Friday: 14 miles. I’m not sure why my legs felt like lead, but they did. It was hot and sticky. I started hungry (even after a piece of toast with peanut butter and honey). My Aftershokz’s battery died about 10k in. I moved at least six e-scooters that were left across paths (I don’t understand the mentality of people that leave these things blocking sidewalks – they’re pissing off people that would likely be ‘on their side’). 14.01 miles in 2:09:50 (9:16 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

• 

• 

That’s it for a rough hot week. 40 miles, not my fastest but this is the first time I’m doing marathon training during the dog days of summer!

This is the first week of my marathon training plan for the Columbus Marathon. The marathon is October 20, 2019. I’m following the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan again this time.

I signed up for the Columbus Marathon for three reasons:

1. It’s flat and a great race, according to my former boss (it was also his first and best marathon)
2. It’s not a long drive from Cincinnati – only about 2 hours.
3. It’s in the fall. There’s really only three ‘safe’ fall options in the state – Columbus, Northern Ohio/Mentor, and Youngstown. By safe, I mean not-September, since it’s a mixed weather bag, and not trail because the overall goal is still to BQ.

I’m changing a few things this time around. One is more core strengthening. I’ve been wondering if my late-race quad issues is because of a weak core (and I sit all day because work). So I’m going to add one-legged squats, single-leg dead lifts, hamstring curls, hip bridges, planks, crunches, and Russian Twists into the mix.

Monday: 8 miles + 10 x 100m strides. Ran in the park and the neighboring subdivision on a warm and sticky morning. Overall, 9.42 miles in 1:21:58 (8:42 min/mile pace). Finished with stretches, squats, and 4 pull-ups.

Tuesday: 3 miles easy. Ran in the same park, but kept it in the park. Finished with stretches, single-leg dead lifts (body weight only), and single-leg squats. 3.27 miles in 27:45 (8:29 min/mile).

• 

• 

Wednesday: 10 miles. Ran this one up at East Fork, which was a little bit of a struggle due to the heat and hills and due to GI issues late in the run. Overall, 10.28 in 1:33:21 (9:05 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 5 miles recovery. Ran in the township park. Another hot and sticky morning. 5.02 in 44:18 (8:49 min/mile). Adjusted my post-run to include fewer (by one set) of normal squats, but added single-leg squats and unweighted single-leg deadlifts. Later in the day, I did some planks, hamstring curls, and hip bridges.

Friday: 13 miles with 8 at M pace. This was not a run. This was a ride on the struggle bus.

The weather was hot and sticky. There were a lot of sidewalk closures (Cincinnati MSD doesn’t seem to give a damn about anything that isn’t Mud, Shit, or Debris). I ran out of Gatorade. Overall, 13.12 (because one does not run 13 miles without tacking that 0.1 on the end) in 1:55:07 (8:46 min/mile pace). My intended pace for the M pace miles was 7:50 – 8:15, but my average pace for that portion was 8:36 min/mile.

• 

• 

So that was a week. A hot and sticky week. A week where I ran 41 miles. It’s the end of June, and I ran 145 miles in June. It was mostly a good month (even though the ending kinda sucked).

I didn’t rework my pace ranges for my next marathon. My overall pace at Glass City was 8:07 min/mile, so I’m within the range I trained at, and my goal for Columbus is to drop from 3:33 to 3:25, which would require me to be between 7:50 and 7:55 per mile. That’s possible! I charted my cumulative pace throughout Glass City and found that before the wheels fell off after mile 20, I was down to a 7:59 min/mile pace. Hopefully, the additional strengthening will help.

Cheers!

Upcoming Race Schedule:
July 30: NKU XC Series #2 (tentative- I may have a work conflict)
Aug 6: NKU XC Series #3 / Brian Rohne Cross Country Championships.
Aug 17: Bulldog Blast 5k
Sept 21: Hudepohl 14k Run
Oct 20: Columbus Marathon

Welcome to another week of the in-between workouts.

Monday: 9 miles. I ran this in the park mostly because of the rain. It was VERY rainy over the weekend and I ran through a lot of rain this morning. Kept it in the park and ran with probably too little attention being paid to my surroundings – at one point, I was running and heard a hissing like a tire going flat, and it was one of Satan’s Waterfowl. I was running right through a swarm of the fuckers. Then, on another pass through that area, one tried to chase me (I’m too fast, and it smartly stopped). 9.05 in 1:18:24 (8:40 min/mile pace). Finished my run with stretches, squats, and 4 pull ups.

Tuesday: 3 miles. Kept this around the neighborhood. Overall 3.15 in 27:02 (8:35 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 9 miles. This kinda went off the rails. I ran this in East Fork and got a little bit late of a start. Got partway out and away from the parking lot and started getting abdominal cramps, and of course I’m nowhere near a bathroom. This pretty much killed the pace of the run and made it mostly unenjoyable until about 8.4 miles in where I made it back to the campground. 9.4 miles in 1:32:10 (9:48 min/mile pace). Finished the run with stretches and squats.

Thursday: 5 miles. Most of me didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning, but I did anyway and got a nice 5 mile run in. Despite the expectation of rain, I didn’t get rained on. 5.07 miles in 43:20 (8:33 min/mile pace). Finished the run with stretches and 4 pull ups.

Friday: Planned 13 miles. The reality of today was that I had to drive from Cincinnati to Columbus and back, and Columbus traffic in the afternoon SUCKS BALLS. There just wasn’t time (unless I wanted to make my wife very angry with me). Then on Friday night, we heard a loud SLAM from the garage. We checked the vehicles and I checked to ensure the car didn’t roll into the garage (I was above and away from the garage, but thought that it sounded like something hitting the garage). Nothing found, we went to bed and I thought ‘if I get up at like 6, I’ll go do my long run’. I got up at 8. Then when my wife tried to leave to the store, we found what made the noise: the garage door spring busted.

So that was my week. 27 miles. The lowest in a while, but since next week is entering the second marathon training round this year, it’s okay to have a little break. Cheers!

Monday: 9 miles. It was kinda rainy when I started, and pouring rain for the last two miles. Kept it in the park and the subdivisions on either side. 9.34 miles in 1:20:56 (8:40 min/mile pace). Followed my run with squats as well as my stretches and 4 pull ups.

Tuesday: 3 miles. Rain was expected, so I ran in my neighborhood. When I finished, I noticed one of my neighbors had started running, which was good to see (maybe it’ll keep some of the lesser-intelligent people in my subdivision from blocking sidewalks or letting their dogs roam free). 3.26 miles in 27:49 (8:32 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 8 miles. Ran in East Fork to get my hill on, and decided to change some stuff up a little. Ran down to the camper’s boat ramp (I was heading for the beach, but… see the pics), and then back up and onto the Batavia-Williamsburg path and back to the parking lot. 8.02 in 1:10:43 (8:49 min/mile pace). Followed my run with squats as well as my stretches.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Thursday: 5 miles. Ran this in the park to give my legs a rest and prepare for the next day’s miles. After my run, I did 4 pull-ups on the bar in the park. 5.18 miles in 44:32 (8:36 min/mile pace).

Friday: 13 miles. Ran in the park, the subdivision next to it, and the someday-will-be-connecting subdivision. Of course some asshat over there backed their car out with ZERO regard to anyone around her (I don’t call this subdivision “Asshat Acres” for nothing… I hope I scared her straight with my angry disapproving look). Finished the run at the back of the park and did 4 pull ups. 13.18 miles in 1:53:47 (8:38 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

That’s it for the week. 39 miles ran. Friday afternoon felt particularly rough, but I even mowed the lawn after.

I’m between plans, and this is an odd week that sort of went off the rails, but not in a bad way. I was in Portland, Oregon for a conference, and when near the Nike Headquarters, one should put on their New Balances and take a few runs.

Sunday: Planned 8 miles. Since Thursday was going to be a waste and I had extra time on Sunday, I moved some runs up. I intended to do 8 miles… a friend texted me in the morning ‘how far you going and at what pace?’, I replied ‘8 easy’. Long story short, we went running together. Ended up doing 9.5 miles and he put the idea in my mind to do an AppCon Half Marathon. Went across the Hawthorn bridge and headed down along the east bank of the Willamette River to the Sellwood bridge and then back up the west side of the river. 9.5 miles in 1:24:59 (8:57 min/mile pace).

Monday: Planned 3 miles. This was really a little bit more of sight-seeing. Went across the N Steel Bridge and then back across the Hawthorn Bridge. 3.23 miles in 29:12 (9:02 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: Planned 8 miles. Actual: the Biennial AppCon Half Marathon Fun Run. Yeah, it happened. We ran across the Hawthorne Bridge, which they started the lift process when we were in the middle of the lift span (the process starts with them blasting a horn, starting an alarm and announcing over an intercom for pedestrians to wait behind the gates). Since both of us running are engineers, we turned around and watched a little. Yeah, that first mile was a little long 😂.

Then, we ran along the river as far south as we could before proceeding north and back across the Sellwood Bridge. Once we made it to Tillikum Bridge, we crossed it and then ran up to the Steel Bridge where we crossed back and finished along the west riverfront waiting on his FitBit to get to 13.2 miles. Mine made it to 13.29. GPS inaccuracy! All that in 1:56:25 (8:46 min/mile pace, an 11+ first mile and sub-8s for the last 2).

Wednesday: Planned 5 miles. I was running a little short on time from being out too late on Tuesday (I took a large group to Deschutes as part of the conference dine-around, and then we closed down Backpedal Brewing and 10 Barrel Brewing). Ran 4.19 across the Hawthorne Bridge and back across the Tilikum Bridge in 36:02 (8:36 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Thursday: Travel day.

Friday: Planned 12 miles. Since the week was crazy and I way overslept (9:30 PM bedtime, woke up around 7:00 AM), I just did 8 in the park and the neighboring subdivision. 8.03 in 1:07:08 (8:22 min/mile pace). Also did my stretching and squats (I was a bit lax on those during the trip) and did 4 chin-ups.

That’s it for this wild week. Planned 36 miles, ran 38, so I was close to the plan. Next week is like this week but maybe I’ll close the gap a little between planned and actual.

I’m in week four of the five-week recovery plan. The rest of the summer schedule is now up in the air thanks to vacation and work commitments.

Monday: 7 miles. I kept this in the park and the subdivision next to it. My legs were a little tired from the weekend – Saturday of work and Sunday at King’s Island. 7.05 in 1:00:40 (8:36 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: 5 miles. Hazy shade of winter or something like that. It was just below 50F outside, and worse I ended up parking my car outside overnight. Also, I’m not 100% sure my car has heat 😬. Got the gloves and a long-sleeve shirt out for the run. 5.06 miles in the park in 43:08 (8:31 min/mile).

Wednesday: Rest Day. I felt like running, so I went to the park and ran 3 miles. It wasn’t fast, but I enjoyed it (and the 57F weather was perfect for a short easy run. 3.11 in 27:06 (8:43 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 7 + 8 strides. So my watch is 🤬. I make a lot of use of the Garmin Connect calendar and workouts for this. I currently cannot copy the calendar OR individual workouts to my watch using either my phone (Android) or my iPad. So I ended up running 5 + 7 * 30 second strides (since reading Advanced Marathoning, I’ve converted to 100m strides) and then running the balance of 8 miles. It was getting a bit warm, and there were some very warm and very humid spots. Hydrated with water. Overall, 8.04 miles in 1:11:14 (8:52 min/mile pace).

Friday: 10 miles. Ran this one in the park and the subdivision next to it. Unlike Tuesday, I wore a sleeveless shirt and I would have considered going topless if it wasn’t for the vest. It was also foggy, which meant I was clearing my glasses often. Around 7 miles in I needed to stop in a port-o-let, so I took my gloves off and stuffed them in the unused pocket on the vest where they stayed for the last few miles. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance Watermelon. 10.05 miles in 1:27:11 (8:40 min/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. 33 miles and a range of temperatures from 49 to 70F. Next week is the last week in the recovery cycle, and it’ll probably be similar to this one (except the plan calls for 5 running days, so I won’t have an unscheduled ‘I just felt like running’ day.