An Announcement and a Recap

I'll discuss my week of training in a moment. But first, an announcement. I'm serving as a social media ambassador for the Oregon Wine Country Half Marathon on August 31!

Source

It's no secret that I love running. And unless you're a new reader, it's no secret that I love wine. So naturally, I'm all in favor of anything that combines those two loves. But why should you join me out here (besides the chance to run with me)?

-The Willamette Valley is beautiful, and Labor Day weekend in Oregon is typically dry.

Source: Destination Races

Source: Destination Races

-It's Labor Day weekend! With the extra day off (assuming that your employer gives you the holiday as paid time off), a long weekend is that much more feasible!

-The Post Race Wine and Music Festival, with over 20 different wineries from the area. 20 different wineries in one place? It's like one stop shopping!

So join me! And act now before registration fees increase on July 1.

Back to your regularly scheduled report.

No major lessons on the food front. The other half recently read about Harvester Brewing, a new-ish gluten-free brewery with a gastropub. The beer is derived from chestnuts and the menu looked amazing, so we were both intrigued enough to make a date night out of it on Friday. Verdict: It was probably the best gluten-free beer I've ever had! The dark ale with hints of espresso flavor? Mmm! The food was quite delectable too. 

When I was refilling the soap dispenser in my bathroom the other day, I discovered that the soap contains milk in it. Yes, I should've expected this from the "milk and honey" scent, but I bought the refill jug long before resolving to cut gluten and dairy out of my diet, and never thought twice about it until the other day. 

Until Wednesday, my energy levels were very consistent and high. From Wednesday to Friday, I still had consistent amounts of energy, but less than before. I'm attributing it to a lack of sleep.

Also, my skin seems to dry out incredibly quickly if I'm dehydrated (which makes sense, because my body's probably usurping water from my skin so that the rest of my organs could function) or handling cardboard (damn move).

Workouts (Planned / Actual):

Mon - Rest or cross training / one hour spin class

Tues - Standard warm-up, recovery 6 mi, 2x1' standard core / Standard warm-up, 6.01 mi at 7:47/mi pace

Wed - DS routine, GA 9 mi, IT Band Rehab routine / Standard warm-up, 9.11 mi at 7:38/mi, IT Band rehab

Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest

Fri - Standard warm-up, GA 9 mi with 8x100m strides, strength workout, Standard warm-up, 5.03 mi at 8:03/mi, DS routine

Sat - Standard warm-up, recovery 5 mi, DS routine / Standard warm-up, 9.08 mi at 7:35/mo, 2 rounds of the 10x10 strength workout

Sun - Standard warm-up, MLR 13 mi, 2x1' Standard Core / Standard warm-up, 13.1 mi at 7:55/mi pace

Total - 42 mi / 42.33 mi 

I may have swapped Friday and Saturday out, but I still hit my weekly mileage go! Also, my foot doesn't seem to feel much better or worse. Okay, let me be specific, 42 miles this week felt like much less than that. Maybe it's related to the added ancillary work?

Anyway, off to bed. Happy Monday!

Summertime!

Summer's finally here (almost)! How can I tell? At 9 pm, it's still bright outside. I live for these long days!

You know what else screams "summer" to me? Ice cream. The other half recently introduced me to Coconut Bliss ice cream. Coconut milk-based, minimal ingredients, maximal flavor. Despite the fact that I seem to be unable to put have trouble putting the pint back in the freezer once I take it out, I highly recommend it! To be honest though, soft serve is more my thing. Back to Eden (the absolutely wonderful vegan, gluten-free bakery I finally tried about two weeks ago) apparently has soft-serve, dairy-free ice cream, and so I may have to go back there and get some to celebrate the official start of summer.

Another summer delight: mojitos. Fortunately, rum is distilled from sugarcane (and not grain), so I can still enjoy those. Unlike my former friend, the vodka-soda with lemon.

In all seriousness though, after two weeks of minimal gluten and dairy, my stomach seems to have dropped the swords of revenge. Maybe not 100% (my GI system seemed to retaliate a bit after drinking gin, and I later learned that gin is also distilled from grain), but compared to how it felt the week before Newport, I'll take that.

I'm still being mindful of my caffeine intake, and my energy levels have still been pretty consistent. I kid you not, I wake up after about 5 hours of sleep, only have 1 (sometimes 2) cup of coffee, and can still last about 18 hours. It's crazy! Maybe there is something to that extra iron dose (and pairing it with vitamin C, while limiting my coffee and wine consumption).

So now let's switch from food to training. I can't wrap my head around the fact that I'm already 2+ weeks into my multi-marathon training plan. All of the workouts have been either recovery runs or general aerobic (GA) runs, so it feels more like funning at times. But the "fun" is what keeps us coming back for more. Am I right or am I right?

To force myself to do ancillary work, I wrote it into my multi-marathon plan. After 1 week of testing that trick (because week 1 of this plan was simply recovering from Newport), I think it's working. A brief recap of weeks 1 and 2 of workouts.

Week 1 (Planned/Actual)
Mon - Rest or cross training / 4.43 mi of cycling in 20 min
Tues - Rest or 5 mi / rest
Wed - Recovery 5 mi / 5.16 mi at 7:41/mi
Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest
Fri - Recovery 5 mi / 5.06 mi at 7:36/mi
Sat - Recovery 5 mi / 7.19 mi at 7:40/mi
Sun - Recovery 7 mi / 5.13 mi at 7:40/mi + foam rolling
Total - 22-27 mi / 22.54 mi running + 4.43 mi cycling

Week 2 (Planned/Actual)
Mon - Rest or cross training / rest
Tues - Standard warm-up, recovery 6 mi, 2 x 1' standard core / Standard warm-up, 6.24 mi at 7:45/mi, 2 x 1' standard core
Wed - DS routine, recovery 5 mi, IT Band rehab routine / DS routine, 5.01 mi at 7:40/mi, IT Band rehab routine
Thurs - Rest or cross training / rest
Fri - Standard warm-up, GA 7 mi + 8 x 100m strides, strength workout / Standard warm-up, 7.07 mi at 7:34/mi, 2 rounds of 10x10 RYBQ strength routine
Sat - Standard warm-up, recovery 5 mi, DS routine / Standard warm-up, 5.06 mi at 7:40/mi, DS routine
Sun - Standard warm-up, GA 10 mi, 2 x 1' standard core / rest (unless walking around all day in honor of PDX Pride counts)
Total - 33 mi / 23.38 mi

How's your training going? What do you think of the briefer recaps?

Confessional Booth

I have a confession to make.


No, this isn't where I jump into a room, and like on The Real World, start dramatically ranting about how I can't stand my roommates. (Fortunately, I don't have roommates.)


My confession? I need to change my training plan.


You see, when I was designing my training plan, I came across the Intermediate Marathon Program on Cool Running. Description: "For runners who currently run 25 to 50 miles per week and expect to run the marathon in under 3:30 for men, or 3:50 for women." I thought to myself, "This sounds like me. That's how much I run now, and that's my goal time. Okay, let's try that." As I penciled in all of the runs on my calendar, I didn't think twice about how the plan involves 6 days of running and 1 day off a week. I've been on that plan for about two weeks now, and what have I noticed (besides the 60+ runs that are on my calendar alongside my classes, research advising meetings, trips/visits, and other appointments)? A pain in my right leg that resembles sciatica (and shows up if I've been sitting for more than an hour), tightness in my IT bands, and a fear that if I run this much, and do (practically) nothing but that for the next three months, I'll come to hate and dread running (assuming that I'm not sidelined by IT Band Syndrome, Piriformis Syndrome, or any other injury that's possible). 


I love running. But I don't want to become obsessive about it to the point that I no longer enjoy it. Or become injured from overtraining and can't even run/finish Eugene.


I read at one time that cross-training (in addition to running) can actually help in marathon training. (Among others, Jeff Galloway, former Olympian and creator of the run-walk-run plan, endorses it in his marathon training plan.) How? Cross-training (e.g., cycling, swimming, elliptical, rowing machine) is a low-impact way to add extra fitness. Plus, you're using different muscles than you use for running!
(Other good articles on marathon training and cross training: here and there.)


Because of this, I figured that I should add some cross-training to my regimen. However, I had no idea which runs in my training calendar would be best replaced by cross-training. While considering all of this, I read about the Smart Coach app from Runner's World. You tell it a recent race time, what distance you're training for, how hard you want to train, and your race date. You can also tell it what day of the week you want to do your long runs. And the best part? It's free! (They have a paid version that comes with spiffy features such as daily email reminders of workouts and the ability to adjust your plan, but I think the free version is suitable for my purposes.) So I tried it out (what did I have to lose aside from the few minutes it took me to enter everything into the form), and was quite surprised. It came up with a plan that has 4 days of running a week, 3 days of rest/cross-training, pace times for all of my training runs, and a projected race time consistent with my goal. After Googling "smart coach reviews" and seeing good feedback, I've also found Hal Higdon's plans. His Intermediate 2 program seems great (5 days of running, 1 day of cross-training, 1 day of complete rest), though it's more generalized as far as what pace you should do each run. (Higdon's paid version supposedly offers more guidance, but since I've never used it, I can't confirm this.)


After reading all of this information, I think I'm going to adjust my plan. Any good plan (not just a training plan) must leave room for adjustment. You test the plan, and if it (or part of it) doesn't work, you figure out why it didn't work and how you can change it so you can achieve your goals.


Have you used a training program before (specifically, one of these)? If so, what was your experience like with it?