Training on Vacation

It just so worked out that Week Three of the training program coincided with a family vacation up to Minnesooota. Lori's family has a cabin up on Lake Ada, so we took the kids up there to spend some time with some of the in-laws. It was a week full of fishing, eating, drinking, swimming, sun, washers... and, yes, even marathon training.

Despite being on vacation, I managed to stick to my workouts. I got five days of running in along the two-lane highway that runs by the cabin: Minnesota 84. The nice thing about Week Three was that it was a step-back week, meaning I didn't have a really long run. So my runs consisted of:

• Sunday (Father's Day): 3 miles
• Monday: 5 miles
• Tuesday: 3 miles
• Wednesday: rest
• Thursday: 5 miles at marathon pace
• Friday: 6 miles

I got up every morning to go fishing at sunrise (check out the pic to the left - beautiful!), so I ran at different times during the day varying from 8am to 3pm. While it was hot in Minnesota, I avoided the St. Louis heat wave that hit back home. The runs all went pretty well, although I was quite sluggish from some late nights, poor sleep, and, ahem, a bit too much Bud Light throughout the week (that's ok, I can detox this week). And it was fun exploring where the highway led. On my last, and longest run, I ended up finding another nearby lake right around 3 miles up the road. It was an oasis after running on the pavement along nothing but trees and farmland - so it worked out well for my 6-mile round-tripper and was a sweet discovery to end my training up north.


Here's a pic of me with Lake Ada in the background after completing that final run. In total I managed to knock out five runs for 22
miles... all while on vacation. I feel pretty damn proud of that accomplishment alone. Let me give myself a Barry Horowitz pat on the back (sorry if you're not familiar with the WWE wrestler).

Big time thanks go out to Lori and the rest of the family for supporting me and helping me make sure I got my workouts in. To the kind folks that pulled over or slowed down on the highway as they passed me, thank to you for helping keep me safe and waving hello. To the S.O.B. driving the Coca-Cola truck that refused to pull over, accelerated, and almost blew me off the road, I meant it when I flipped you the bird and yelled out "Screw you!". He's lucky that there's hardly anything that would keep me from drinking my Coca-Cola Classic or my Diet Coke.

As for my my cross-training following my long runs, well, it was a bit poor. I ended up not doing much at all on those days other than drive (15 hours each way). But it was all worth it. The vacation was very much needed and a blast.

Now I'm back in the Lou and back on track. I already got my Monday workout in (an easy 3-miler and some strength training). Tomorrow I up my Tuesday run to 6 miles. After a step-back week, I'm supposed to have a good burst of energy tomorrow, but I'm still pretty darn worn from the vacation and the drive (and probably the beer). We'll see how the run goes. .

I'm approaching double-digits in the countdown to the race - just barely more than 100 days left of training and fundraising. This is becoming all too real, all too fast. I can say right now that I'm dreading the 11-miler that is waiting for my on the Fourth of July later this week. But it's just one step to crossing that finish line. Giddyup!

"It's Like a Sauna In Here"

That has to be one of my favorite Kramer lines from Seinfeld. If you don't know the scene, it's where Kramer is sitting in the sauna at the health club and he's looking for an opener to begin a conversation with the man next to him, who he thinks is Salman Rushdie... classic!

Well that's what it felt like the past two mornings outside in St. Louis - Friday probably being worse than Thursday.

Thursday morning I had 3 miles to "run". I thought about doing it outside, but I opted for the gym. I did have one of my tougher times getting out of bed, and actually slept in a bit, thereby thwarting any plans to maybe add in a strength workout after the run.

I got to the gym and "ran" 3 miles at a decent pace. Finished in 26:12, which is an 8:44 pace - much faster than what I have been running lately. And the good thing was that I didn't really feel I was pushing it. Afterwards, I did a good cooldown stretch and then worked my core for 15 minutes. I needed that.

Thursday night, I was gearing up for my long run on Friday. I had a lot to do at home and I was also trying to upgrade my iTunes to version 8.2 and my iPhone to the new Operating System (3.0 - woohoo, copy and paste). The process took me three hours on my sluggish computer (sigh). Before I knew it, it was past midnight. And I was planning on getting up at 4:45 to hit the trail for 9 miles in the sauna outside.

I hit up my buddies to see if they were brave (or dumb) enough to join me, and Chris and Mike made it out to the lake. We had to start in a different spot because setup had already began for the annoying boat races scheduled for the weekend. People who run at Creve Coeur Lake are probably all too familiar with this phenomenon. This is a personal opinion, but the boat races really bother me. They end up blocking off part of the trail system causing confusion and eliminating a couple well-traveled loops. Plus the boats disturb the hell out of the natural lake, which ends up leaving a myriad of dead fish on the beach afterwards to stink up the place for a good week. This happens a few times each summer and is just a big hassle. Something that I'd rather be selfish about not not have to deal with.

For the run Friday morning, it was hot as Hades, and really humid - "like a sauna" as Kramer would say. But somehow we pushed through about 9 miles. Our calculations were a little off as we had to take a detour where part of the trail was flooded. We ran the first 6.5 miles together. Then I faded into the heat as my legs got sluggish and my body told me why I need to get more sleep than 4.5 to 5 hours a night. I told the two of them to go on ahead. They finished a couple minutes ahead of me. Still I managed a time where my pace was about 9:15 - much faster than I'm used to for longer runs. But I guess that's the result of running with a couple guys that just have more horsepower than I do. They push me to be better, and I will be because of it.

It's funny. We talked a bit about this after the run, while throwing back some warm G2. In school I was always that kid that didn't have to work hard and still got A's. And it was easy for me. I remember so many classmates that worked their tail off to be a B or even C student, and occasionally maybe they would bring home a very proud A. Throughout my life I've been that kind of kid when it came to athletics. I'm a B athlete, who can occasionally pull out an A, but only with a bit of luck and a helluva lot of hard work. It can be frustrating, but I've come to accept it. We all have different talents, different strengths, different things we're good at. The guys said I was being a bit too hard on myself, but I really wasn't getting down. I think a big part of training and preparing for a race like this is knowing your body's limitations and setting realistic "stretch" goals. For me, to complete the Chicago Marathon in 4 hours is a good stretch goal. It'll be tough as hell, but I can probably do it should all things go right. For me to qualify for Boston, well, there's no way in hell that's ever going to happen. And I understand that.

When I got to the gym to shower up, I weighed in... 169.4 - that's a full 2.0 pounds lighter than what I was 24 hours prior. Gotta push the fluids and rehydrate, I guess. And so I did all day long. I managed to get through the Friday workday without falling asleep in my cubicle, which is no small feat.

So here I am, ready for the weekend, some vacation time, a little R-n-R, and I've already got my long run in.

Spots Still Open to Run the Chicago Marathon for St. Jude

The last update I got from the St. Jude folks is that our Chicago Marathon Heroes team has 143 members. They still have room for more, including people that didn't make the race's registration deadline. Yes, St. Jude has some bibs left for those procrastinators out there (like me).

If anyone is interested in joining the team, running/walking the race, and raising money for St. Jude, there's room up aboard this wagon, so I'm puttin' the word in the streets.

Gimme a holler, shoot me an email, or post a comment if you're interested or on the fence. With 16 weeks to go, you probably need to be running a bit already in order to get your mileage up to be able to run the race and minimize the risk of injury.

Or go check it out yourself at the Chicago Heroes Main Page.

Remember that if you do take the plunge, tell them I sent you by putting my name on the "Recruited by" line on the St. Jude Heroes Commitment form.

Over $1,000 raised already!!!

I must tip my grubby Cubs hat (which I wear in all my races) to all my supporters out there.

I just logged onto my Heroes site to finally get some much-deserved, formal thank yous out to those individuals that have so generously made donations to St. Jude. What did I find? I surpassed my $1,000 goal. Already!!! Not even two weeks into this journey. Thank you so much!

I'm speechless.

God bless you all.

A Case of the Mondays... and Tuesdays

5:00am rolled in Monday morning, and I had a ruff time getting out of bed. But I still managed to get to the gym. My hamstrings were actually pretty sore from riding the bike on Sunday. I guess that's what I get for not hopping on a saddle for 3 months. I still hammered out three miles, though, sticking to the program. I also got a second wind and hit the weights hard. I went through Lori's strength program, including working my legs, and I was dog tired afterwards.

The workout made pushing through the work day Monday tough. Not that Mondays don't normally suck. Yes, I had a total "case of the Mondays" - all day long, and even into Tuesday.

5:00am rolled in this morning (Tuesday), and if I thought Monday was tough, today was a whole 'nother story. Call it a case of the Tuesdays. The storms overnight felt like a ginormous thunderhead just hovered over our house pelting it with rain, wind, hail, and lightning bolts all night long (queue up the Lionel Richie song). It was as if I were Charlie Brown or something. Turns out I wasn't the only one that felt like this last night. The whole metro area got pelted. Both my alarm clocks went off, and I quickly turned them off (no snooze button today). And, yes, I actually laid back down in bed. Normally, this is a terrible idea. But somehow I averted drifting off for a couple hours and got my butt up after about 10 more minutes of rest.

So, off to the gym albeit a bit late. My legs were really sore from Sunday and from the strength training yesterday. Still, I got my 5 miles in and a good stretch to boot. I even tried out a PowerGel pack. Strawberry Banana this time with a caffeine. I'll no doubt need to write more another time about gel packs and fueling for races. Right now I'm experimenting, and the PowerGel was definitely more tart and a bit rougher consistency for me than the Gu gel packs I tried last week.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is a rest day for me. Normally I would be running three miles and doing more strength training, but with a vacation coming which calls for some serious driving time, I need to adjust the program a bit. That means that I need to skip this Wednesday's workout and move everything up a day for the next two weeks. That starts with Thursday's "thou shall not train" day moving up to Wednesday this week so that I can get my long run in Friday.

As for fundraising, well, all I can say is WOW! Barely more than a week into this effort and I'm at $740. Thank you, everyone!!! I continue to be amazed every day and humbled by your support and generosity. I sometimes am apprehensive of asking people I know to make a donation. Too often I feel that awkwardness that goes with it all. Then people end up donating, sometimes people I least expected for whatever reason, and had I given in to that apprehension and not asked, then St. Jude would just be short that additional money. So with the knowledge that it's going to a phenomenal cause, and helping save the lives of children and providing families with hope, I think, "If it's for charity, how can I not, at the very least, ask for support?" This was the approach employed by Celebrity Apprentice winner Piers Morgan, and it makes perfect sense.

Blogging while cross-training

With my iPhone in hand, I figured there was no better way to pass a 30-minute cross-training session on a stationary bike than by updating my diary.

After my day off on Thursday I hit the gym at 5:15 Friday morning. Yeah, I managed to drag myself out of bed despite not crashing until midnight. I ran those 75 laps (5 miles) at marathon pace... Came in at 44:51. It was a little tougher than expected, but a crappy night of sleep will do that. Still, I was happy with my performance. Plus the new shoes are starting to break in. And the pain from my plantar fasciitis is really starting to fade - tell me again why I waited so long to get new shoes once the foot pain started.

Saturday morning brought my first long run in this program: 8 miles. I've never run my long runs slower than marathon pace. It just never made sense to me to practice at less intensity. I guess the football and baseball player in me is just too used to the "perform how you practice" mentality, so I've always gone all out. But I'm gonna stick to the program and try to run the long runs at 30-60 seconds slower than goal pace.

That was easy this first run as it was the furthest (or is it farthest?) I've run since the Indy Mini on 5/2. I put my feelers out Friday to my buddies who might be willing to join me for all or part of the run. I did get one brave soul to meet me at 6:30 at the lake for the whole shebang. He just signed up to run his first major race (the NY Marathon) and he's also running for charity. So he gets it. And it was great to have a partner to talk to during that first long run. He's a good minute pace faster than me, but he lowered his standards to tag along. (Thanks, Mike). Great weather: 60s and not too humid. Great scenery at the lake. Simply put, great run!

I was zonked afterwards, though, and took a half-conscious nap on the couch as I fought drifting of for a prolonged snooze... I can see this happening after every long run. But that's the nature of marathon training I presume, especially during the summer in the STL.

And then, somehow, I was dumb enough to work in the yard for two hours after lunch. I guess it needed to get done. I should have just stayed on that couch, but I managed to tear myself away from Executive Decision right after Steven Seagal bit it. Where are my priorities? A bad movie should always rank above household responsibilities, right? So I burned ~1,000 calories running and another 700 or so sweating my tail off in the 2 o'clock sun. Man, was I pounding the Powerade and water all day. I'm quickly learning that I'm going to have to eat and drink all day long to maintain a good weight during this program. And for this cross-train session, which is nearly over, I'm pretty sore. But I know this easy ride will help me recover.

And there it is... Timer's up. Not too bad.

So Week One is in the books. 24 miles. And I'm already at 44% ($440) of my goal for St. Jude. I guess I should have set a higher standard. But there's no harm in blowing that goal out of the water. Thank you all for your support!!!

With my cross-training session done, Week Two here I come.

Thou Shall Not Train on Thursdays

What a past four days!!!

My fundraising campaign got going as I sent out my first wave of emails late Sunday night before crashing. By the time I woke up Monday morning at 5:00am I already had my first sponsor (Thanks, Brian and Mel. You guys are awesome!). Also got my first follower for this blog (yo, Matty!) Gotta love my West Coast peeps (did I just say that?)As if I needed much motivation to hit the track for my first run of the program, seeing those early connections got me awfully psyched.

I tried out my first Gu gel pack Monday morning. I never tried one before in training or during a race (more on this in later posts)... this wasn't necessary for my Monday distance, but I wanted to give it a shot. Not terrible, but not bad. With my new Brooks Adrenaline GTS shoes laced up, I hammered out 3 easy miles on the short track at Bally's. 15 laps around the cardio equipment using the middle lane = 1 mile. So I did 45 laps. I know, sounds nuts. But for shorter runs, I really don't mind it. Plus it allows me to really get a feel for how I'm pacing. The most I've ever run on that track was 8 miles (ugh! yes, 120 laps). Rather than run in the rain, I opted for the short track. And for me, I've learned I like running like a hamster around a short track rather than like one on a treadmill in front of the TV.

Following my 3 miles I also got in a decent strength workout. Lori put together a workout for me a while ago to integrate with my training. It kicks ass. And my ass too. Most importantly it takes into account my need for an efficient and effective strength program so I can make sure I get into work on time. Post workout, I weighed in for the first time in a while: 173 lbs. That's my baseline for this marathon program. I know keeping a good weight will be tough. I don't want to dip below 165, and ideally I'd like to hang around 170. Easier said than done in the St. Louis summer.

Monday morning the sponsorships kept rolling in, and before I knew it I was already at more than 20% of my $1,000 goal. My friends and family are so generous, so kind, so supportive! It's not that I didn't necessarily expect it, but it's always humbling to see people get behind a great cause like the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I even got my first sponsorship from an individual I didn't contact directly myself - simply awesome!

5:00am Tuesday morning rolled in. Ugh, already not liking that alarm clock. But I got my tail to the gym. This time 75 laps around the track (5 miles). I felt pretty good, but already started to get a blister on my foot. This is something I often struggle with. I obviously quickly learned not to ever wear cotton socks on a run. I'm blaming the new shoes, and hopefully after a week or so, this will be a non-issue. Even though I was inside, it was warm and humid as hell in that gym. I joked with the maintenance guy as he was working on the thermostat: "You turning the heat up?" It must have been hot, my post-workout weigh-in had me at 171... already down 2 pounds from just 24 hours ago. Better push the fluids.

5:00am Wednesday morning. Damn alarm clock! But got up again, and out the door. This was my first time running three consecutive days since probably my days playing football at Washington University in St. Louis. So it's been a good 12 years. Another 3 easy miles. This time I hit the strength training hard. 45 tough minutes and some exercises I wasn't used to. I even worked my legs (which as my bird legs attest, I rarely do). I'm paying for it all today... still it felt great! Ended up going for a post-dinner walk with Lori and the kids. Man, were my legs feeling it, especially on the uphills pushing that stroller. Probably wasn't the smartest of moves, but Thursday (today) was coming up and...

well, Thursday is a day of rest (applause!!!). Thou shall not train on Thursday's.

Hal Higdon's Intermediate training program calls for five days of running a week and a sixth day cross training. That means there is one day to rest, and he demands it from those using his program. One might even say it's a commandment you do not break. Thursday, which really represents Friday on the training program, is intended to be a recovery day so that you can push hard the next two workouts (a hard run and a long run back-to-back).

So that's where I'm at right now. Those are the details to my first few days of this craziness. I doubt I'll keep up with all this detail as I'm being stupid and staying up almost til midnight writing right now and I have a 5-mile run at marathon pace waiting for me with the 5:00am alarm clock buzzer.

Goodnight and Godspeed!

Day 1: The Journey Begins

After some technical difficulties and some quick help from a nice support person at St. Jude (thanks, Sara), I got my Heroes fundraising page up and running. Check it out: Pete's Fundraising Page. I spent a lot of time on my "message", but I think I'm happy with it - it's honest, forthright, sincere, and hopefully not overwhelming, which are all qualities I find effective whenever I'm approached by a charity.

I also have my training program set. I reviewed a number of programs, and the Heroes team gets a nice online program from Active.com, but ultimately I opted for Hal Higdon's Intermediate I Program (thanks, Phil). I might be foolish for taking on a program like this, especially considering I've never run a marathon before. But I've completed six half marathons and have been running for about three years fairly consistently now. Ultimately I just want to finish the race, but the competitor in me has my eyes set on a lofty goal of finishing under four hours (03:59:59). That's a 9:09 pace. I've been an 8:45-9:05 pacer for my half marathons, so I think that's doable, especially if I stick to the program and avoid stupid mistakes. But only time will tell.

This program requires six days of training a week - five days of running and one cross training day with some strength training and stretching commingled on the lighter days. I've only been doing four days a week up until now, so the commitment alone of six days a week is going to be a challenge. The program requires long runs on Sundays, but because Saturdays just work better for me for that time commitment, I'm moving all the days up. So long runs will be on Saturday, the Tuesday workout will really be done on Monday, and so on. That means my 18-week program started today. I had to do 30 minutes of cross training and think about the 18 weeks ahead. Boy, did I!

After dinner I took Lori and the kids for a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood. They're coming along for the ride, so there really was no other way I wanted to start this program - spending some time with my inspiration. We talked quite a bit about what was ahead. The whole family got excited. Okay, who am I kidding? Lori got excited. Gabriel almost fell asleep, and Emary, well, she just liked seeing the occasional group of kids playing and dogs barking.

I'm about to send out my first wave of emails to people about the race. I'm excited and anxious about how it will be received.

Tomorrow starts my first running day of the program... 3 easy miles.

"Run Today. Live Tomorrow." is Officially Launched

The 2009 Chicago Marathon is 18 weeks away!

I'll be updating this blog regularly as I keep a diary of the countless ups and downs that come with training for a major endurance event and fundraising for a charity that, quite honestly, comes to mean more and more to me every day.

This will be my first marathon, and this will be my first serious charitable fundraising effort as an adult. It's about time.

I look forward to this journey - one that I'd never thought I'd embark on.

I'm excited for setting stretch goals, achieving them, meeting a personal milestone, and doing some good that goes way beyond myself.

I'm nervous for the possibility of failing... of falling short, of getting injured, of the stress I'll put on my body, my life, my family.

I'm anxious to get started and for how it might conclude. The race is 26.2 miles and, for me, will last between four and five hours. Mile one is just part of a long journey - just as week one is just part of a long 18-week program.

Here we go! May God be with me. In the immortal words of Cosmo Kramer: Giddy up!