My Journey to the 2016 WDW Marathon (comments welcome) Updated 11/10

[Neoflynn]

Everyone has bad runs, and it's easy to dwell on a bad run. I think you have the right approach - don't think about the bad run, just focus on how excited you are to be officially training for the marathon!

This is definitely my focus going forward good or bad im not going to dwell on any runs just keep moving forward to the next one

Joining in on your journal. I love run training reports. Congrats on all the great races you've done. A fellow runner in our Galloway group always goes to run the Peachtree. He loves it! Can't wait to read more.

Welcome and thank you, Yes the Peachtree is an experience for sure, hopefully I wont bore you to much...

Your Team Jack N shirt caught my attention, are you from Nebraska or was the race there? I live in Nebraska so anything related catches my eye! And for bad runs I just get over it then & there, no need to dwell on it. I've been running for over 20 years and used to dwell on bad runs back in high school. If there's a specific issue to address then I attempt to fix that (like not drinking enough or tieing my shoe too tight), but if it's just a 'bad' run then I let it go as tomorrow is a new day.

I am not from Nebraska but my step dad was so I have grown up a die hard Husker fan and I am a strong supporter of Team Jack. I'm really trying to not dwell on anything going forward just keep my eye on the prize at the end of the grind that will be training

 

[LSUlakes]

A bad run is still a better feeling than no run. I know how you feel with the summer heat, and its during this time of year that I also experience a "bad run". Some days, a easy 6 feels like 14. I try not to think about to much. I do however just check a few things like water consumption, weight gain/loss, and sleep. I can usually find that one of those departments is the cause for a poor performance, and try to correct it in the future. I am interested in reading up on your training program. Good luck with training, its always fun to officially start preparing.

 

[Neoflynn]

A bad run is still a better feeling than no run. I know how you feel with the summer heat, and its during this time of year that I also experience a "bad run". Some days, a easy 6 feels like 14. I try not to think about to much. I do however just check a few things like water consumption, weight gain/loss, and sleep. I can usually find that one of those departments is the cause for a poor performance, and try to correct it in the future. I am interested in reading up on your training program. Good luck with training, its always fun to officially start preparing.

Thanks for following along I will have an update on this weeks training on sunday, as for the bad runs I think the number one reason has been the heat, Its been upper 90s with 60%+ humidity most days and that is just not comfortable to run in but I'm trying to slog through, the one bright spot is that once I start hitting my really long runs it will be in the fall and winter and ill be feeling much better right now I'm trying not to worry about my pace so much and try to just get consistent miles in

 

[Neoflynn]

TRAINING UPDATE 8/2


THE WEEK THAT WAS
So my marathon training officially kicked off this week. I will once again be using the built in Coach on the Nike+ Running App. I have successfully used this for two of my half marathons and really like having everything right there on my phone and it also gives me notifications of what the next day holds. I may do some switching around with runs on certain days but my main goal is to actually hit the required millage each week. The one thing I like about this plan is it will ramp up the mileage slowly and is actually a step down from what I have been doing to start off with, My hope is that this will really allow me to focus on dialing in my pace I know I wont be able to run a full at the same pace Ive been running my recent halfs at so this is a key for me. The other thing I like is that it mixes up the runs with Fartleks, Tempo runs, Progression runs, Etc. this helps keep it from getting to boring and I will really try to focus on hitting the type of run that it calls for each time. So how did week 1 go.....

Monday 7/27 - Rest Day
yes oddly enough my training program began with a rest day, but honestly after pushing myself pretty hard over the weekend ( a total of 16 miles Saturday and Sunday) it actually was much needed and welcomed

Tuesday 7/28 - 4 mile fartlek
Tuesday is my one set day off from work (I work retail so my schedule varies week to week) and is usually spent hanging with my 3.5 year old son, but I always get out for an evening run after my wife gets home from work. Todays 4 miler called for some fartleks wich is one of my favorite types of runs. I headed out from the house and got into a fairly easy pace for the first mile then alternated between fast and easy every two minutes. I think I did ok with this run but I did have to slow down significantly during the easy parts on the second half. I know that I took the fast parts TOO fast and the heat and humidity didn't help. Oh well lesson learned ill know what to do better on the next one

Wednesday 7/29 - 3 mile easy run
I had an early shift today which meant getting off at 3pm not exactly the ideal time to run in the heat but it would have to do. Since it was pretty hot I headed to one of my favorite parks that has a fairly shaded running path. Today's run actually felt pretty good and I stayed right around the pace I'm hoping to hit for the marathon. I like that right now that pace feels slow to me that gives me hope that I will be able to maintain it over the much longer runs I have ahead of me.

Thursday 7/30 - Cross Train Day
This is one area where I have never been good, I know adding in different types of non running workouts can really help with your running but its just not something I have ever been able to consistently get good at. My wife has had tremendous success losing weight doing a variety of workouts and one of her favorites is the Jillian Michaels Shred dvd's. She offered to do one with me for my cross train workout and I accepted. She chose the One Week Shred Strength workout since its focused on the core wich is what I was looking for. I will say this those workouts are no joke and I used muscles I wasn't used to using and felt it afterword, this particular workout is super intense as its meant to be done everyday for a week to really boost whatever goal you might have. I don't think I would do this one again but may look at one of the other less intense Jillian workouts.

Friday 7/31 - 5 mile easy run
This run was originally supposed to be on Saturday, with today calling for a 3 mile run but since I was running a 5k Saturday morning I decided to switch them this week (it just made sense) I went out in the early afternoon (around 11) and just decided to stick to my neighborhood, even though it wasn't as hot as it had been the humidity still sapped me more than I thought and my pace suffered, I also found out just how little shade there is in my neighborhood. So pace wise this run wasn't quite where I wanted it but it wasn't that far off to where I feel bad about it. I got the miles in and that's what matters

Saturday 8/1 - Hero Run 5k
This race holds a special place for me as it was my first ever 5k two years ago, I originally hadn't planned on running it this year but when my wife said she wanted to run and we were able to secure the grandma babysitting service we signed up to run together. Running with my wife is not something that we get to do very often so it was great to be able to run with her and just enjoy the run. we had a good time and while I wasn't able to guide her to a new PR ( I think it was too hot for that) we still had fun and I think I will probably wind up doing this race every year that I am able

Sunday 8/2 - Rest Day
So that completes my first week of marathon training and I'm feeling good so far, the week called for 15 miles and I was able to hit all 15 with out to much struggle. Looking ahead to next week it calls for 19 miles with the longest being 5 miles on Tuesday and Saturday. Here's hoping the heat isn't to bad

I think one thing I would like to start adding each post is something interesting I found for the week mostly running related but not always, this weeks article is 26 tips for running your best marathon but I think a lot of these could apply to any race...
http://www.runnersworld.com/race-tr...d=10152946050251987&adbpl=fb&adbpr=9815486986

 

[SarahDisney]

Sounds like week 1 went pretty well - you're already starting to learn from when things don't go well, and it will only get better as you go along!

Thanks for sharing the article - there's some really great information there!

 

[LSUlakes]

Thanks for following along I will have an update on this weeks training on sunday, as for the bad runs I think the number one reason has been the heat, Its been upper 90s with 60%+ humidity most days and that is just not comfortable to run in but I'm trying to slog through, the one bright spot is that once I start hitting my really long runs it will be in the fall and winter and ill be feeling much better right now I'm trying not to worry about my pace so much and try to just get consistent miles in

I understand how you feel. For summer running outside I have two options, 1. Run before sunrise when RH is 95-100% and temps are ~75, or 2. Run at sunset with 90+ but RH 55+. Both do not feel great, but after about two weeks it gets better, although the miles are still a slower compared to fall/winter. Just hang in there, and the hard summer miles will pay off come the cooler months.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Hey thanks for the great article. There were some thought provoking points and pieces of advice that went down in my notes as I progress towards the Detroit Marathon in October. Looking forward to this thread and January!

 

[Neoflynn]

TRAINING UPDATE 8/9

Week 2 of marathon training is in the books here is how it went...

Monday 8/3 - Easy 3 with a finish
Today called for an easy paced first 2 miles and then a faster paced last mile, I went to a park that I hadn't really run at before but it was nice as the path was roughly 1 mile long and mostly flat. I always try to finish my runs hard when I'm not following a specific plan so I do enjoy when my plan calls for that, The first two miles I ran at around 10 per mile and I was able to notch the last mile in 9 mins so I felt good with that

Tuesday 8/4 - Cross Train
Today was originally supposed to be a 5 mile run but it turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far and I just was not feeling running outside and while I could have moved it to the treadmill I really hate doing that unless its necessary so I decided to juggle the schedule around and did my cross train day today instead, I did a ufc workout using my Xbox Kinect and while it did get the heart rate going, I didn't feel it benefited me as much as Jillian did the week before so I may go back to another one of her workouts

Wednesday 8/5 - 3 Mile easy run
I got off work at 7 tonight and headed over to one of the parks I frequent for my runs, I did a lap wich equals roughly a mile and then decided to just run down the street for about half a mile then head back and do a last lap in the opposite direction, I really liked the way this worked out as it changed the scenery a bit and helped me not get to bored, my pace wasn't as even as I would have liked but I did manage to run negative splits which is always a good sign

Thursday 8/6 - Easy 3 mile with a finish
This day again called for 2 easy miles and then a faster finish, I headed home from work and decided to run in my neighborhood since there was a threat of rain in the area. My pace was still pretty steady much like my Monday run and I ran the last mile in 9'09 wich felt good. I am still working on slowing myself down during these easy runs as its far to easy for me to take this a little faster since I'm used to running the longer miles but I know has I start heading into the higher mileage weeks I need to conserve my energy on these shorter runs

Friday 8/7 - 5 Mile Fartlek Run
Today was a prime example of how sometimes you just need a good run to settle yourself down. I had been having a little bit of a rough evening and was feeling frustrated with how I had let it bother me and as I headed out the door I was certain it was going to be a terrible run, but after about a mile all my worries faded and I started to really enjoy the alone time this run provided. Today called for the same type of fartlek run as last week just with an extra mile but I decided to change it up just a bit and go by distance instead, this is easier for me to keep track of as my app gives me updates every quarter mile. So I did a quarter mile fast then eased off the next quarter I felt really strong through the whole thing and was able to average a 9'49 per mile pace, now again this is probably faster than I should be going but at this point I can get away with it

Saturday 8/8 - Rest Day
I had originally planned on running my other 5 mile run for the week today before I went in to work, but I just did not feel good when I woke up so I decided discretion was the better part of valor and pushed the run to sunday after work when hopefully I was feeling better

Sunday 8/9 - 5 mile easy run
After a long day of work you might think the last thing I would want to do would be go run but I find for me that its a great way to unwind and let the stress of work disappear. I went to another of my local parks and got a nice easy 5 mile run in. The pace was right around my goal marathon pace and I like that this feels slow to me, it gives me hope that I will be able to maintain it through out training and then race day

The coming week is going to be tough for me as far as getting all my miles in as Ill be flying out Thursday to then help my mom drive across the country as she is moving here to Georgia from Wyoming. I'm hoping to log as much as I can before then but I'm not to concerned as I know ill be adding some extra miles the following week when I have a half marathon race scheduled

Final Thought
One thing that I really enjoy is motivational/pump up style video's and someone posted a great one in another group I'm in so I thought I would share it here for those of you that may need a boost this week

 

[Neoflynn]

Sounds like week 1 went pretty well - you're already starting to learn from when things don't go well, and it will only get better as you go along!

That's one thing that I try to do is always learn from each and everyone run, wether it be good or bad

I understand how you feel. For summer running outside I have two options, 1. Run before sunrise when RH is 95-100% and temps are ~75, or 2. Run at sunset with 90+ but RH 55+. Both do not feel great, but after about two weeks it gets better, although the miles are still a slower compared to fall/winter. Just hang in there, and the hard summer miles will pay off come the cooler months.

Sadly due to my work schedule fluctuating I am at the mercy of it as to when I get to run, wich somedays means running in the high temps but I usually try to back it off a bit those days and make sure to hydrate properly. The one thing the does make it easier is knowing how much better I will be in the fall just having pushed myself through summer

Hey thanks for the great article. There were some thought provoking points and pieces of advice that went down in my notes as I progress towards the Detroit Marathon in October. Looking forward to this thread and January!

One thing I know is there is no such thing as to much knowledge when it comes to running and training glad I could help you out

 

[IamTrike]

Sadly due to my work schedule fluctuating I am at the mercy of it as to when I get to run, wich somedays means running in the high temps but I usually try to back it off a bit those days and make sure to hydrate properly. The one thing the does make it easier is knowing how much better I will be in the fall just having pushed myself through summer

Running in the heat is brutal, but you will feel like superman when fall gets here and the temperature drops. I'm always amazed how I magically become faster when it get's cooler.

 

[SarahDisney]

Sounds like you're doing great adjusting the plan when it doesn't work with your schedule.

Thanks for sharing the video! I definitely struggle with getting up to go run some mornings - maybe I should find a way to make this video my alarm!

 

[LSUlakes]

@Neoflynn , its been a little while... how's the training going?

 

[Neoflynn]

@Neoflynn , its been a little while... how's the training going?

thanks for checking up on me @LSUlakes yes I'm still here, and yes training is going ok, not perfect mind you but ok, and ill have a more detailed post later, just have been super busy and havn't had much time to write up the necessary posts but ill try to get back at it soon

 

[LSUlakes]

Still fighting the good fight?

 

[Neoflynn]

all right so I realize that I completely fell on my face in trying to keep this journal up but now that we are closing in on the home stretch I thought I would give it another go. So far I feel like training has gone pretty well....not perfect mind you but pretty well. I am over the half way mark and while part of me can see the light at the end of the tunnel, part of me is still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I plan on running 26 miles. My training is funny because up to this point I haven't had to tackle a distance that I hadn't previously run that will change in the next few weeks and think that will be the time where I make or break my training
This up coming weekend ill be tackling my 8th half marathon and I plan on not setting any sort of time goal and just run by feel as I find that to be the way I achieve my best results Ill try to update this a little more regularly as we move ahead toward marathon weekend for those that may still be following along...

 

[LSUlakes]

all right so I realize that I completely fell on my face in trying to keep this journal up but now that we are closing in on the home stretch I thought I would give it another go. So far I feel like training has gone pretty well....not perfect mind you but pretty well. I am over the half way mark and while part of me can see the light at the end of the tunnel, part of me is still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I plan on running 26 miles. My training is funny because up to this point I haven't had to tackle a distance that I hadn't previously run that will change in the next few weeks and think that will be the time where I make or break my training
This up coming weekend ill be tackling my 8th half marathon and I plan on not setting any sort of time goal and just run by feel as I find that to be the way I achieve my best results Ill try to update this a little more regularly as we move ahead toward marathon weekend for those that may still be following along...

Glad to see you are back and doing well. Don't forget about the last 0.2 miles. lol At this point whats your longest long run? Are you going to do more than one 20 miler before race day? Good luck with your half this weekend and let us know how it went.

 

[Ariel484]

Don't put too much pressure on yourself...you're right that it's a weird spot when each successive long run is the longest distance you've ever run.

Take it one week at a time - you'll be fine! Good luck this weekend!

Don't forget about the last 0.2 miles. lol

 

[Neoflynn]

Glad to see you are back and doing well. Don't forget about the last 0.2 miles. lol At this point whats your longest long run? Are you going to do more than one 20 miler before race day? Good luck with your half this weekend and let us know how it went.

Thanks @LSUlakes, Yeah that last .2 might actually be the hardest part lol, So far my longest run has been 13 but my plan calls for 14 this weekend so I plan on doing a 1 mile warmup right before my half to get the extra distance. I will have two 20+ mile runs, a 20 miler in week 20 and 22 in week 21 of my 24 week plan (for reference I'm using the beginner marathon plan built into the Nike + running app) after that I have a 2 week taper before race week. thanks for the well wishes ill be sure to update with my results this weekend

Don't put too much pressure on yourself...you're right that it's a weird spot when each successive long run is the longest distance you've ever run.

Take it one week at a time - you'll be fine! Good luck this weekend!

That is my focus right now just trying to enjoy conquering new challenges each week, I think mentally I'm ready for everything now its just getting my body to cooperate and thank you also for the well wishes

 

[SarahDisney]

Glad to see you checking in again!
Going for that new furthest distance every week is definitely hard. But if you go in believing that you can do it, it makes it a little easier (at least for the short distances I'm working at ... I think the same thing should apply for your distances, but I might be wrong).
Just keep up with your training and I know you'll be able to do it.

And don't worry about that last 0.2 miles ... you can always crawl that if necessary

 

[Neoflynn]

Race Report: Volition America Half Marathon

Sadly I had to work late the night before this race which meant I got very little sleep but having battled insomnia most of my life I am able to deal with a lack of sleep fairly well. So the alarm went of nice and early and after getting myself ready eating a quick breakfast and grabbing my bag (which I had wisely prepared the night before) I was out the door. I arrived around 6:15 for the 7:30 start which gave me plenty of time to get parked, use the facilities, warm up a bit and make my way to the start area. Unfortunately it was pouring rain on this morning and I didn't have high hopes that it would clear before race time, but I guess the "no rain" dance I did in my car worked because right as I headed to the start area the rain stopped, now I just had to hope that it would hold off for the race.

This is a national race series started by a former military member and it benefits Folds of Honor which gives scholarships to children of military families that have been lost in combat so there were some nice ceremonial things they did before the start such as playing Taps and then having a woman speak who had been helped by folds of Honor after the loss of her husband in Afghanistan, hearing her speak was pretty moving and really helped get me ready to run. Right before the were supposed to play the national anthem and then start us, they came over to speaker to announce there would be a delay due to a Department of Transportation issue. Apparently they had closed a road that we were supposed to run on and it was going to take some time to clear it up but they didn't know how long sadly they said it could take upwards of 30 mins which it did, not exactly what you want to hear but everyone tried to make the best of it and I got to know some of the people around me as we all chatted and waited. Finally we got the all clear but for some reason they felt they needed to go through all of the pre race festivities again, all we wanted to do was run but alas another playing of taps another speech about what we were running for then finally the national anthem and off we went.
after being held at the start for so long I needed to use the facilities again but had no idea what options there would be along the course but luckily I knew of another park less then a mile from the start that had restrooms, so once we got there I broke off (and I wasn't the only one) did what I needed to do and got going again, I tried to monitor my pace closely earlier on as I have a bad habit of going out to fast, I had to adjust my pace a few times but eventually settled in by about mile 2. My goal for this race wasn't necessarily to PR as I was sort of treating it as a glorified training run but as I settled in I was running somewhat close to a potential PR pace so kept an outside chance that it might happen, we hit the one and only significant hill around mile 6 and that sapped my legs a bit but I kept on trucking, one thing I did notice was that they didn't have a lot of water stops which is one reason I always bring my hydration belt with me even to races ( I would much rather have water and not need it then the other way around) I also always bring my own race fuel wether the race has their own or not. (speaking of race fuel I have Officially switched from Gu to Clif Bloks more on that in another post) as we hit the turn around and headed back I felt pretty good and luckily the rain had held off. The rest of the race was pretty uneventful and I felt good right up until the final mile or so when I started laboring a bit, as I hit the home stretch I knew I hadn't done enough to PR but when I looked over at the clock as I approached the finish I saw roughly a 2:05 finish time which I was totally happy about. All in all I enjoyed the race and it went to a great cause so I am glad I did it but I'm not sure I would run it again. The medal and shirt were very generic and didn't have the race distance or date on them at all and that was kind of a bummer for me as thats one thing I look for but oh well.

That is it for this post I will try to get back into posting my training reports and have decided to jot some notes in a journal after each run to help with that. on another note Sunday was the anniversary of my first ever Half Marathon hard to believe that just over a year later I will run a marathon