jokach's marathon training blog

I had my first decent weekend in awhile, getting 10 miles in yesterday, and almost 8 again today (although not by choice today). Ever since i've moved, i've found out how BAD google maps tends to be when you're plotting courses to run. I'm not totally familiar with the new area I live in, so I really count on the maps from google to get a good course in, and it failed me today.

I wanted to head out for about 6 miles today, but because street names were a little different, I ended up missing 2 turns and doing almost 8. Thankfully I knew where I was, so I didn't get lost, just had to run a little longer to get home. I realized also that if I head south on Route 100 from the house here, its ALL HILLS, I mean, like climbing a mountain. I expected to run a little hill as I passed the Subway down the road, but it was one hill after another, then another .. It might be nice when i'm in better shape, but for now, they really suck.

There is a little pain in my lower back from yesterdays run, which flared up a bit this morning, but I think its related to my right hip and hamstring being sore. I also noticed when putting my shoes on today for the run, that my sole is falling apart totally on my right shoe, that probably didn't help either. I'm not in a terrible amount of pain, and I should be okay as I loosen up throughout the week, but I must head out for new shoes... Another great thing about where I live now is that The Finish Line running store is only 5 miles from my house over in Emmaus. AWESOME! Its supposed to be one of the better running stores in the area (I think they are at the Lehigh Valley half also). I'll have to head out and get shoes since its been almost 4 months since I had shoes (although remember that I haven't really been running much in the last 2 months).

So the last good thing is that I got on the scale this morning and I lost 2.5 pounds since last week and came in at 198.6. At least i'm heading in the right direction as far as my weight goes. I know that the first week of eating better is generally water weight loss, but i'm hoping to kick-start my metabolism to start burning more calories each day ... but that will take time.

Things are going well, no complaints ... on to watch the game ...

I've been pretty much absent from writing in my training blog, just been kind of busy doing other things. I find that I don't spend as much time 'connected' anymore, just kind of enjoying the better side of life. Its much less stressful these days, which is a good thing, I can't really complain.

So i've still been running, although not longer distances and have been working on eating better this week. I expect to get on the scale tomorrow to hopefully see myself lose a couple pounds over last week. I'm slowly starting to ramp up miles, very slowly so I don't injure myself in order to get myself in shape for the spring. I'm considering the following plan for the spring and then the fall ..

1. Ocean Drive 10-miler (should be a good start, I always enjoy running this) - 3/29
2. Lehigh Valley half-marathon (maybe, just maybe) - 5/3
3. Delaware marathon (again, new course this year) - 5/17
4. Lehigh Valley Hospital marathon - first week of september if its happening again this year
5. ????? dunno

Well, i guess its better than nothing. I haven't registered for anything yet, its all a matter of whether i can get the weight off and get some serious miles in. Its difficult because its SO COLD out right now (although warmer here in the Lehigh Valley then it was in the Wyoming Valley thankfully). Regardless, I'm not joining a gym and wasting my money like I did last year ... I know i'll end up running outside anyway in the cold, so why bother!

I did take a look at last years training at this time, and I wasn't too far off from where I am now, although I didn't put on quite so much weight last year. It should be interesting. I've considered doing weights again, and even pulling out the Pilates for runners book that I bought 2 years ago (although I remember injuring myself doing that ... maybe not a good thing).

Anyway, I'm plotting out my course for the day, so we'll see how it goes...

As I've written in the couple of posts since I completed the Marine Corps Marathon, running has kind of taken a back seat to everything else in life. Its unbelievable how fast you lose your aerobic ability and how much weight you put on .. and we all know that the weight thing is the reason we all exercise, right? So I finally went and got on the scale this morning to assess the damage of 2 months of "not-really-running-seriously" .. ugh, 201 pounds. I put on 15 pounds in 2 months, not so good.

So with the holidays over now (finally), my move to the Lehigh Valley complete and my job going well, its time to get serious again (or more serious). I checked out the marathon schedule for the spring, and there is no way the Ocean Drive marathon is a possibility, its only 12 weeks off, and with me being considerably heavier than I should be, I'm only going to struggle. I'm thinking something more in the May timeframe, like maybe Delaware again. I read that they totally redid the course this year, its not the same multiple loop marathon like it was last year, its a possibility I guess.

There is one thing that the MCM in October taught me, and that was again not to put myself into a race that I can't complete. I think I was trained decently for that marathon, but lost the motivation, and I still think I have to come to terms with that. You don't realize how badly a poor performance affects you until you really think about it. I really haven't seriously run since then, so its had a drastic effect.

Well I expect to get out and get 10 miles in if I can, and the diet officially starts. I hope to get in some weight work and i think I can jump rope in my basement now (i have to check yet). I think just becoming more active again and to STOP EATING GARBAGE is the way to go. Its so hard at holiday time to avoid the sweets and everything that goes with it, well, now that i've seen the scale, I think I have to motivation to stop...

Hopefully i'll write more often, i'm not terribly busy at this point, just not so much into training at the moment, hopefully I'll have a good week of dieting and pre-training and will be more motivated for the start of 2009, we'll have to see.

Its been quite awhile since I last updated my running blog, however I have completed my move to the beautiful Lehigh Valley. Its been a rough couple of weeks with moving and all, and running wasn't a big priority so I kind of fell off a little. I also haven't yet planned for the spring, not sure what we're going to do yet, but most importantly I have to get back on track. The worst part is that i've put on weight, and it'll be hard to get it off, but I know we can do it.

So now that i'm stationary again, we can focus on running. I started out this week by getting a few 3 or 4 milers in before work, and got 7.25 miles in today. I plan to get another 7 miles in tomorrow as I explore the new area I live in. Thats probably the best part is that I have a whole new set of running courses and areas to explore, and as I wrote when I finished the Lehigh Valley marathon in September, I have the rails to trails to run as well, if I can find them where i'm at. The funny thing is that even though i'm about 65 miles south of where I was, it seems warmer, even though the temperatures were the same. Its hard to explain, but maybe since there aren't as many mountains and valleys here, the temperature is more stable, I guess I don't know.

Its amazing how fast you lose your aerobic ability though .. it really didn't help that I flopped at the Marine Corps Marathon in late October, but I really had a lot on my mind at the time. It only took what, about 6 weeks to really fall off the wagon. I did write about how my body was killing me there for awhile, although I think my body has FINALLY healed up from all the poundings it took during the marathon seasons of 2008.

So will it be the Ocean Drive marathon in the spring? Or will I try something else? I guess I just don't know right now. I'm only about 20 miles from Reading, where they have the Pretzel City runs, you know, the wacky trail runs and all .. it might be worthwhile to try a half marathon on those courses, or even shorter distances, we'll have to see.

I'm excited to be back, hopefully i'll be posting more and updating the content on the website ..

The title of this post sounds like a bad movie, eh?

As I've been writing, I've drastically cut back on my running since the Marine Corps Marathon back in late October. I hope to get myself back into training mode in a few weeks once things settle down. But there is a reason why I wrote a post titled like I did .. my body is killing me!

I wrote last week that my back was hurting, when I didn't do anything ... and now my knees are starting to hurt too, when I didn't do anything. Could this be the results of running 10 marathons in 2 years time? Its possible. Ever since I cut my miles back, my body is killing me, I think because its had time to start recovering from the stress I've put it under, I hope I can overcome it. My knee isn't too bad, but its sore and achey after a run and even when i'm resting!

I've made the commitment to get serious about eating right, and ensuring i'm getting SOME exercise until I complete my move to the beautiful Lehigh Valley... at least it'll be warmer in the spring down here.

I probably didn't write that I am moving from Northeastern Pa to the Lehigh Valley area in early December. I wrote after the Lehigh Valley Marathon how beautiful the running trails and all are, now they are in my backyard (well, almost). Its a chance to get pumped up again about running, and hopefully we'll get through it all and back into training before we know it ..

Enough for now, gotta go take some ibuprofen ... :)