Finally getting back to running after taking quite a lot of time off so I finally have something to write about again. I began my 24 week training plan this Monday and will be doing 43 miles a week for the first few weeks (then I ahve no idea what my coach has planned for me). I have forgotten what it feels like to be running hard several days in a row. My shortest runs are 6 miles with long runs of 9 for now and 1 day off a week. I am just glad to be running again and hope I can keep it up til the marathon.
I don't have too much to write about, but thought I would just go ahead and take this chance to give a few updates.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Friday, May 4, 2012
Finally Running Again!!!
It has been a very, very long time since my last post. This is not because I have not wanted to write anything. I simply have not had anything to write about. My last marathon was on February 19. Up until 2 days ago, I had run once since then totaling a whole 4 miles. That is the longest break I have had since I was injured my freshman year of high school and had to sit out 3 1/2 months. People were always really surprised when I would tell them I was taking some time off. Yes, I was partially just being lazy, but there was a bigger reason than that.
I was burned out. I had done too much, too soon, with too little training. To put it simply, I ran myself into the ground. Looking back on it, I'm just happy not to be injured. I ran 4 marathons in 4 months with very minimal training (if you could even say I did that much). Insanity at its finest. I knew something was wrong when I was sick to my stomach the night before my last marathon and had been dreading it the whole week before. Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist once said "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." I had read this before but never quite understood it. I now know exactly what he meant. I was simply doing too much. I had to take a break and get back to running for the right reasons. I love running because it is a passion of mine. But the stress of so many marathons without preparing my body beforehand was taking a toll on my body and mind. As soon as I stopped loving it, it becomes a miserable task. By taking a long break, I allowed my body to recover and to get back to the reason I run - for the love of the pain and the accomplishment that comes with finishing any run.
Two days ago, I was studying for finals and needed a break to clear my mind. Unknowingly, I was starting my marathon training. During that run, I felt a sensation I hadn't felt since high school. I was enjoying myself and actually felt good running on a normal training run. I went running the following day. Lemme tell you, I hate being outta shape. It was miserable. Muscles were sore that I didn't even know could hurt. I was running slower than I had run in a very long time. It was a very tough run... and I loved it! That is what I took so long off for. The love of the pain that comes when your body is screaming from soreness and you push it harder and faster anyways. I am back. The passion of running is finally back and I am ready to run!
After that first run, I sat down and figured out all the dates for the upcoming year. I am very detailed when it comes to running and planning everything out. So here is what I have to look forward to (and anyone who actually reads this can look forward to reading about as well):
12 weeks to get in shape
July 30: beginning of 24 week training program (hopefully under the brilliant guidance of Coach Devlyn Lovell)
Jan. 13: Chevron Houston Marathon
50 Miler sometime in the spring
By choosing to run the Houston Marathon, I will have to find a different 50 miler to run than originally planned. I will need more time to recover and add more distance to my training. I have not found one yet (haven't really looked much), but I hope to run the 50 miler towards the end of March or some time in April. I know it is still a long way away, but from past experience, it comes up on you much quicker than you can imagine.
Having never really trained properly for a marathon, I am excited to actually give it a try this time. I know I have said this before every marathon, but I have seen the effects when I don't train, and don't want to be in that spot again. I have some very lofty goals for myself and realize that if I want to ever reach my peak in running, I will have to get some self-discipline in regards to training. I am still very young for distance running and have years until I even begin to near my peak. By hopefully gaining the discipline now, it will be much easier to accomplish at least some of my goals.
I know this isn't all that exciting of a post to read, but just thought I'd write something since it has been awhile. I hope to start writing more often now that I am finally training again. This next year is going to be a fun time. It will be difficult, but I am ready for a challenge again.
Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this. I do write it as motivation for myself, but I love to share my running with anyone who will listen. Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this.
And as always, I know that it is God who has given me the talent to run. I have done nothing to deserve it and would be wasting a gift from God if I did not use it. He has given me this gift, and I will continue to run knowing this and being thankful every day that God has allowed me the ability to run.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The Science Behind the Mile
This post was inspired by a friend who graciously gave me a ride home from campus earlier tonight. The topic of running came up. My friend was surprised when I mentioned how much strategy and science there is behind racing specific distances. This post is an attempt to explain the science I have learned to race with through the mile. I know there are others out there, but my own biased opinion is that this one is the best. I apologize now for anything that I fail to explain clearly.
High schools in Texas race a fake mile. We actually run a 1600m race which is technically a little bit longer than a mile but is much simpler than trying to get the conversion correct down to the inch, wait centimeter, wait... screw the conversions. That is why we race a 1600m "mile". Outside of Texas, and throughout the rest of the world, the common "mile" race is 1500m long. But we are Texas and everything is bigger in Texas, including our mile :)
Austin Marathon -- 4 Marathons in 4 Months = Complete
Let me begin this by letting everyone who reads this know that I absolutely HATE hills! I completely understand why John the Baptist preached "Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low..." Luke 3:5. This obviously points out that Jesus very strongly disliked hills and John the Baptist was trying to help Him out a bit and get rid of the hills and mountains so Jesus wouldn't have to deal with them. Apparently they forgot about the New World (probably because it hadn't been discovered yet) and never got around to removing the hills from Austin.
Anyways, to the real point of this post. This past Sunday (Feb. 19) my brother and I ran the Austin Marathon with a priest friend, Fr. Michael.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Upcoming Plans
Ok, as promised at the end of my last post, here is what I am planning between now and the 50 miler next February. As I will be posting this to fb and I get more comments on my posts there than on this site, please feel free to offer suggestions of other runs/races I should consider that are not included on either site.
So, the first thing I have to do is finish my 4 marathons in 4 months. The final marathon in this journey will be
Feb. 19 which is now 24 days away. This will be an interesting marathon because it is the first one I will be repeating. Every other marathon I have done was done for the first time. I'm hoping my little remembered knowledge of the course will help. One thing I am definitely not looking forward to is the hills. Being from San Antonio, I used to get plenty of training in on hills and loved them. They always gave me an edge over my competition in races. Unfortunately, after moving to college station, I realized that it is COMPLETELY flat here. I have not been able to find one good hill to train on. Austin being known as a hilly course, which it is, is not going to be a good thing having not been able to train on hills (not that I'm training much anyways).
After the marathon, I plan to come back and run 2 5Ks 2 weeks later. One is supporting a pro-life organization on March 3 and the other is a race I want to try and win on March 4. I plan to use the first one to gauge where I am on my pace. I know how I used to run a 5K, but it's been over 2 years since I've run one and I'm not used to racing fast. I'll probably put in some time on the track before my marathon to strengthen my legs for the marathon and get some speed for the 5Ks.
On June 25, I will begin my training for my next marathon and the 50 miler which is the end of all this and the beginning of my road into ultra running. I will be running the Bryan/College Station Marathon on December 4 with the help of my high school coach. He says I should be able to run a 2:45. I say he's insane (sorry coach if you ever read this). But, he's never steered me wrong before so I'll listen to what he says and do what I'm told. After that marathon, I will have two months to recover and prepare for the 50 miler. I will have to put in at least one 30 mile training run at some point, if not multiple runs of at least this length.
As for between the 2 5Ks at the beginning of March and the beginning of training in June, I don't have any specific plans. I am looking for runs that would be fun to do and hope to find a few more 5Ks to throw in there. I really miss the speed and tactics of a real race (it's a little hard to race a marathon when you are still trying to figure out why you continue to subject yourself to the pain). If anyone knows of any 5Ks nearby or any interesting runs they would suggest running, please let me know. I'd love to take a look into them and see what I can do.
God bless each and everyone of you who reads this. May He watch over you and protect you in all that you do.
So, the first thing I have to do is finish my 4 marathons in 4 months. The final marathon in this journey will be
Feb. 19 which is now 24 days away. This will be an interesting marathon because it is the first one I will be repeating. Every other marathon I have done was done for the first time. I'm hoping my little remembered knowledge of the course will help. One thing I am definitely not looking forward to is the hills. Being from San Antonio, I used to get plenty of training in on hills and loved them. They always gave me an edge over my competition in races. Unfortunately, after moving to college station, I realized that it is COMPLETELY flat here. I have not been able to find one good hill to train on. Austin being known as a hilly course, which it is, is not going to be a good thing having not been able to train on hills (not that I'm training much anyways).
After the marathon, I plan to come back and run 2 5Ks 2 weeks later. One is supporting a pro-life organization on March 3 and the other is a race I want to try and win on March 4. I plan to use the first one to gauge where I am on my pace. I know how I used to run a 5K, but it's been over 2 years since I've run one and I'm not used to racing fast. I'll probably put in some time on the track before my marathon to strengthen my legs for the marathon and get some speed for the 5Ks.
On June 25, I will begin my training for my next marathon and the 50 miler which is the end of all this and the beginning of my road into ultra running. I will be running the Bryan/College Station Marathon on December 4 with the help of my high school coach. He says I should be able to run a 2:45. I say he's insane (sorry coach if you ever read this). But, he's never steered me wrong before so I'll listen to what he says and do what I'm told. After that marathon, I will have two months to recover and prepare for the 50 miler. I will have to put in at least one 30 mile training run at some point, if not multiple runs of at least this length.
As for between the 2 5Ks at the beginning of March and the beginning of training in June, I don't have any specific plans. I am looking for runs that would be fun to do and hope to find a few more 5Ks to throw in there. I really miss the speed and tactics of a real race (it's a little hard to race a marathon when you are still trying to figure out why you continue to subject yourself to the pain). If anyone knows of any 5Ks nearby or any interesting runs they would suggest running, please let me know. I'd love to take a look into them and see what I can do.
God bless each and everyone of you who reads this. May He watch over you and protect you in all that you do.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Houston Marathon (3 of 4)
It's been awhile since I've written anything. Not because I've been super busy or anything, but more because of the lack of stuff to write about. I kinda took a break from running for most of Christmas break. Funny, because I was planning to run a marathon the last weekend of the break. Oh well. Lack of training didn't stop me from running.
Just over a month after my brother and I finished our second marathon together, we ran The Chevron Houston Marathon. It was an awesome run! With the lowest amount of training I have ever put in to a marathon, I was able to run my second fastest time of 5 marathons. Although, I was still over 15 minutes off my PR, I was really happy to have finished with such a good time.
For anyone who has read any of my past posts, if you are expecting horror stories like the ones from the last 2 marathons, you will be disappointed. The weather was perfect for running. Anyone who likes the crazy weather up north may have thought it was a little warm, but for this Texas boy, it was perfect!
So I'll go ahead and give a brief overview of how the run went and then move on to what I have planned next. The marathon started at 7am and my brother and I went off with the goal of running a sub 3:30 and not stopping. I was able to do this in both of my first marathons, but hadn't been able to finish a marathon without stopping in the past 2 due to trying to stay with others who were hurting. Just a quick note, a 3:30 is right around an 8 minute/mile pace.
While we were waiting in the corral for the race to start, I told my brother that I was going to hit the wall between mile 15 and 16. I had run enough marathons and knew my body well enough to be pretty certain of this with my lack of training. We planned to go out just below an 8 min/mile pace to build a buffer to allow us to slow down in the later miles of the marathon and still finish at our expected time. Our first mile was 7:44. At one point in this first mile while my brother and I were both trying to keep the other from pushing too hard too early, I made the comment that we were at an awkward pace. For those who run long distances often, you know what I'm talking about. We all have our favorite paces that we can run at for an extended amount of time. And then there are those awkward paces just between our favorite paces where we just never feel comfortable. We feel like we must either slow down or speed up, but we can't continue at the current pace. Well, anyways, apparently 7:44 is one of those awkward paces for me, or at least was on that day. So, not wanting to slow down, we sped up a bit. The next 8 miles were all run within a range of 7:29-7:31. Talk about consistency!!!
We dropped down to a below a 7:20 pace for a mile or two after that. The reason for doing so you might ask? There was a little boy who was running the half who was passing us at that point. I was blown away because he looked like he wasn't even a teenager yet. I wanted to ask him how old he was so I picked it up to stay near him as I tried to find a way to ask a complete stranger how old he was without seeming like a creeper. I didn't want to throw him off his race though and knew I needed to slow down so I eventually decided to just to get his number off his bib and find out how old he was later by looking up his results. He ended up being 12 years old and ran a great time for being so young!
After our little adventure with trying to learn how old the kid was, we settled back down to our pace from before and kept running. When we hit mile 15 I started to feel the miles adding up on me and at 15.25 I hit the wall. It wasn't like a sudden rush of pain or anything, but it was definitely necessary to start slowing the pace if I wanted to keep going on. We started to slow down the pace and ended up around 8 min/mile for a bit. Around mile 19 or 20 (they all run together), the 3:20 pace group caught up to us. My brother had trained a lot for this marathon and was feeling strong. We decided to pick up our pace and try to stay with the group. After about a mile though, I had to slow down again. I had around 6 miles left and had a 10 minute lead on the 3:30 pace group. I wasn't really worried about not making my time, and decided to try to finish with as little pain as possible.
My brother wanted to finish below 3:20 though. Having trained much more than I had, it wouldn't be fair for me to try and hold him back, especially when I wasn't injured at all and was only slowing down to be more comfortable. I have no doubt that if I was in any type of pain, he would have gladly slowed down and given up the race to stay with me and pull me through. But I wasn't in pain and wasn't gonna need to be pulled through the last few miles. Knowing he still had more to give, I told him that I was going to slow down because I hadn't trained enough and knew I needed to slow the pace, but told him to keep going. I know he felt bad about leaving me (we finished the 2 previous marathons at the exact same time down to a 100th of a second), but he needed to have a good race and this was a perfect day to do it at.
So he ran off and dropped down to below a 7:30 pace for the last few miles and finished at 3:17 something. I trudged along, even putting in a 9:36 25th mile, but was able to finish strong. I ran the last .2 miles at a sub 6:30 pace was a dead sprint for me at the moment. I finished the marathon 8 minutes after my brother did with a time of 3:25:sumthin. My legs were shot from the last sprint I decided to put in, so after crossing the finish line, I stopped and hunched over for a second to give my legs a break. Then I got a huge helping of humility.
As I straightened up, I looked to my right and saw yet another young guy who had done the run that morning, but this kid ran the full marathon. I was blown away at how young he was, and having just finished within seconds from where I did, I had to ask how old he was. This kid was 13 years old and had just finished a full marathon in less than 3:26!!! He's a beast!!! I would never have even considered running a marathon at that age! I remember a day in 8th grade (age 14) at cross country practice when my brother and I ran 4 miles and thought we had conquered the world. This kid just ran 26.2 miles at a younger age!!! That puts everything I have done to shame lol. I have no idea who the kid was, or anything about him other than his age, but he is my role model.
Anyways...
After the marathon, I found my brother and we headed back to College Station for the start of the Spring semester. I had finished my 5th marathon, running my 2nd fastest time with the littlest amount of training (I do not condone running marathons without training), my brother had finished his 3rd marathon with a PR of close to 10 minutes if not more, and we had taken one step closer to completing our 4 marathons in 4 months journey. Houston was the 3rd of 4 marathons. We are now 1 month and 2 days away from our our 4th and final marathon, The Livestrong Austin Marathon. We will be traveling to Austin soon and hopefully, I will be in better shape for it. I have some exciting plans after that, but nothing set in stone yet. I will write another post soon about some of my plans, but it's off to class now. Don't wanna be late.
Never forget that everything we do is a gift from God. My ability to run is not from anything I did myself. Rather, God has blessed me with an awesome gift and I am just beginning what I hope to be an amazing adventure that will take a lifetime to see just how far I will be able to push myself with the grace of God, and his angels always carrying me through the hardest parts of my runs. God bless everyone who takes the time to read this. Never forget how blessed you really are.
Just over a month after my brother and I finished our second marathon together, we ran The Chevron Houston Marathon. It was an awesome run! With the lowest amount of training I have ever put in to a marathon, I was able to run my second fastest time of 5 marathons. Although, I was still over 15 minutes off my PR, I was really happy to have finished with such a good time.
For anyone who has read any of my past posts, if you are expecting horror stories like the ones from the last 2 marathons, you will be disappointed. The weather was perfect for running. Anyone who likes the crazy weather up north may have thought it was a little warm, but for this Texas boy, it was perfect!
So I'll go ahead and give a brief overview of how the run went and then move on to what I have planned next. The marathon started at 7am and my brother and I went off with the goal of running a sub 3:30 and not stopping. I was able to do this in both of my first marathons, but hadn't been able to finish a marathon without stopping in the past 2 due to trying to stay with others who were hurting. Just a quick note, a 3:30 is right around an 8 minute/mile pace.
While we were waiting in the corral for the race to start, I told my brother that I was going to hit the wall between mile 15 and 16. I had run enough marathons and knew my body well enough to be pretty certain of this with my lack of training. We planned to go out just below an 8 min/mile pace to build a buffer to allow us to slow down in the later miles of the marathon and still finish at our expected time. Our first mile was 7:44. At one point in this first mile while my brother and I were both trying to keep the other from pushing too hard too early, I made the comment that we were at an awkward pace. For those who run long distances often, you know what I'm talking about. We all have our favorite paces that we can run at for an extended amount of time. And then there are those awkward paces just between our favorite paces where we just never feel comfortable. We feel like we must either slow down or speed up, but we can't continue at the current pace. Well, anyways, apparently 7:44 is one of those awkward paces for me, or at least was on that day. So, not wanting to slow down, we sped up a bit. The next 8 miles were all run within a range of 7:29-7:31. Talk about consistency!!!
We dropped down to a below a 7:20 pace for a mile or two after that. The reason for doing so you might ask? There was a little boy who was running the half who was passing us at that point. I was blown away because he looked like he wasn't even a teenager yet. I wanted to ask him how old he was so I picked it up to stay near him as I tried to find a way to ask a complete stranger how old he was without seeming like a creeper. I didn't want to throw him off his race though and knew I needed to slow down so I eventually decided to just to get his number off his bib and find out how old he was later by looking up his results. He ended up being 12 years old and ran a great time for being so young!
After our little adventure with trying to learn how old the kid was, we settled back down to our pace from before and kept running. When we hit mile 15 I started to feel the miles adding up on me and at 15.25 I hit the wall. It wasn't like a sudden rush of pain or anything, but it was definitely necessary to start slowing the pace if I wanted to keep going on. We started to slow down the pace and ended up around 8 min/mile for a bit. Around mile 19 or 20 (they all run together), the 3:20 pace group caught up to us. My brother had trained a lot for this marathon and was feeling strong. We decided to pick up our pace and try to stay with the group. After about a mile though, I had to slow down again. I had around 6 miles left and had a 10 minute lead on the 3:30 pace group. I wasn't really worried about not making my time, and decided to try to finish with as little pain as possible.
My brother wanted to finish below 3:20 though. Having trained much more than I had, it wouldn't be fair for me to try and hold him back, especially when I wasn't injured at all and was only slowing down to be more comfortable. I have no doubt that if I was in any type of pain, he would have gladly slowed down and given up the race to stay with me and pull me through. But I wasn't in pain and wasn't gonna need to be pulled through the last few miles. Knowing he still had more to give, I told him that I was going to slow down because I hadn't trained enough and knew I needed to slow the pace, but told him to keep going. I know he felt bad about leaving me (we finished the 2 previous marathons at the exact same time down to a 100th of a second), but he needed to have a good race and this was a perfect day to do it at.
So he ran off and dropped down to below a 7:30 pace for the last few miles and finished at 3:17 something. I trudged along, even putting in a 9:36 25th mile, but was able to finish strong. I ran the last .2 miles at a sub 6:30 pace was a dead sprint for me at the moment. I finished the marathon 8 minutes after my brother did with a time of 3:25:sumthin. My legs were shot from the last sprint I decided to put in, so after crossing the finish line, I stopped and hunched over for a second to give my legs a break. Then I got a huge helping of humility.
As I straightened up, I looked to my right and saw yet another young guy who had done the run that morning, but this kid ran the full marathon. I was blown away at how young he was, and having just finished within seconds from where I did, I had to ask how old he was. This kid was 13 years old and had just finished a full marathon in less than 3:26!!! He's a beast!!! I would never have even considered running a marathon at that age! I remember a day in 8th grade (age 14) at cross country practice when my brother and I ran 4 miles and thought we had conquered the world. This kid just ran 26.2 miles at a younger age!!! That puts everything I have done to shame lol. I have no idea who the kid was, or anything about him other than his age, but he is my role model.
Anyways...
After the marathon, I found my brother and we headed back to College Station for the start of the Spring semester. I had finished my 5th marathon, running my 2nd fastest time with the littlest amount of training (I do not condone running marathons without training), my brother had finished his 3rd marathon with a PR of close to 10 minutes if not more, and we had taken one step closer to completing our 4 marathons in 4 months journey. Houston was the 3rd of 4 marathons. We are now 1 month and 2 days away from our our 4th and final marathon, The Livestrong Austin Marathon. We will be traveling to Austin soon and hopefully, I will be in better shape for it. I have some exciting plans after that, but nothing set in stone yet. I will write another post soon about some of my plans, but it's off to class now. Don't wanna be late.
Never forget that everything we do is a gift from God. My ability to run is not from anything I did myself. Rather, God has blessed me with an awesome gift and I am just beginning what I hope to be an amazing adventure that will take a lifetime to see just how far I will be able to push myself with the grace of God, and his angels always carrying me through the hardest parts of my runs. God bless everyone who takes the time to read this. Never forget how blessed you really are.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
White Rock Misery
I am finally getting around to writing about my experiences and thoughts from the marathon I ran this past Sunday. I will be blatantly honest. It was the WORST run of my life. There were many great experiences on the way and I was able to learn a lot, but it was a completely miserable run due mostly to weather conditions.
For those of you who are looking for a very brief description on what happened at the marathon, I would suggest not continuing on. I am going to just write out all the things I feel are worth typing and have no idea how long that may go on for. For those of you who wish to hear the long version of the race, here you go...
For those of you who are looking for a very brief description on what happened at the marathon, I would suggest not continuing on. I am going to just write out all the things I feel are worth typing and have no idea how long that may go on for. For those of you who wish to hear the long version of the race, here you go...
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