Invidkllr’s Marathon

Running without headphones bores me to death.  I realize I may have to just tough it out during my coached runs, but I love music and it usually can put me in a good place mentally.  I’ve been experimenting with different types of music, different albums, and moods to find the setlist that hits it just right.  Descendents, As I Lay Dying, Placebo, Archers of Loaf, Pelican, Opeth, De La Soul, uhmm *cough*Avril Lavigne *cough*.  I was doing pretty good with that list, but needed to change it up.

A few weeks ago I tried something new….mp3 book.  Yes, it did get my mind off the running but on my Shuffle, I accidentally skipped to the next track and when i tried to go back I would have had to listen to the same 20 minutes I had just heard.  It was very annoying and I decided book on Shuffle was no bueno.

I’m back on the music setlist again but slightly altered.  The metal and hardcore was inspiring but made me run faster and harder, which for long distance didn’t help me.  Too chill and slow, like The Album Leaf or Explosions in the Sky, just put me to sleep and I want to stop running and just lay down.  Placebo has been great.  Good tempo, catchy songs.  Archers of Loaf stayed on.  Added some Ladytron and MC Chris (it makes me laugh).  I kept Avril, cause it’s so damn catchy.  So medium tempo music seems to fit me best…and maybe some bad radio bubble gum pop.

Well I started running about a month ago 2-3 times a week….again.  I feel stronger now and those 2.5-3 milers are pretty easy now.  I even got the girlfriend to join in on a few runs.  I did a 5 miler last week and had to walk a little bit towards the end, but I still felt good about it.
I also made a big decision to join an actual marathon training group.  With the referrel of a good friend and local bar owner, I joined the Rogue Running group.  I attended the finish line welcoming at her first marathon on that cold, cold day a few years ago and I remember thinking, “F*$% THAT!”  Now I’m training to finish one myself.  I must be crazy, but I’m still excited.

Summer is in full effect here and it is hot hot hot.  I’ve been missing runs for the past 6-8 weeks.  I blame it on the heat.  The last time I ran after work, I could barely make it the 2 short miles without stopping to walk.  It was 99 degrees.  There are a only about 7 months until the Austin Marathon.  I’ve decided that I need to quit being a p*$$y and just get out there an run.  I have been playing in the soccer games, so I’m not total jelly yet, but I do need to hit trails.  Starting next week I’m going to try a 6 month marathon schedule and see how that goes.

A coworker just showed me this site that I think will be very helpful in picking out new run routes that give me just the distance that I need.   www.mapmyrun.com  Town Lake runs are great but with gas prices the way they are it makes it difficult to justify driving all the way downtown if I’m at home just for a run.  Neighborhood runs lack the “scenery” that Town Lake runs have but money is money and gas is expensive.

My run log says that as of today I have run a total of about 72.5 miles this year (2008) so far.  Wow!  I’m impressed.  It makes me glad that I’m tracking these kind of stats even though they are the very basic of stats I should be recording.

With summer coming up on us quickly I am getting a little worried about being motivated to run in the heat.  I imagine I’ll be drinking A LOT more water at work.  I may also have to start shedding the shirt when running so I can try to get rid of this famers tan I’ve developed.  My arms and face are looking pretty good, but my pastey white chest, back and upper arms needs some help.

Shaving the legs has also popped into my mind.  It’s been about two years since I shaved my legs for cycling, so it’s nothing new.  It does make it more comfortable when I’m kneeding sore muscles.  We’ll see.

I ran another 5 miler on Sunday and it went well.  I did have a weird tendon behind my right knee act up a bit when going uphill, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.  If I move my leg a weird way it sometimes bothers me, but today it has been fine, so I will try an EASY 2 mile run today and see how it goes.

I found some books and skimmed through some at Half Price yesterday.  There’s a lot of information out there…. almost too much.  I’ll make a purchase of one or two books today maybe.

I’ve got to get some new music on my Shuffle.  I haven’t changed the music out in a while.  Actually I’d like to just get the 2Gb shuffle and hand the 1 Gb Shuffle down to by son.  I’m sure he’d love that.  So far my favorite bands to run to:  Placebo, Descendents, The Wedding Present, Born Against……  The hip hop on my playlist just doesn’t get me motivated to keep running.  The steady pop punk beat seems to be working.

I’ve done a pretty good job of cutting down on the drinking of the alcohol and it of course makes things easier.  I’m trying to limit myself to two drinks when I go out, though I might have more if I’m not running the next day.  As it gets hotter I will have to pay more attention to what I drink to keep from getting dehydrated.  Which the weather man says tomorrow it’ll be in the upper 80s to lower 90s.  Summer death runs look out!

Last night, Sunday April 27th, was a cool night for late April due to a storm front that moved in that morning.  I hadn’t run since the Tuesday before so I was overdue for a run.  I planned to do a 4 mile run.  Half way through I was feeling pretty good and skipped the water break at 2 miles and just kept going not wanting to lose my pace.  and almost being done, I felt pretty strong still.  I kept on going and did the last leg without any troubles (Congress / Mopac loop around Town Lake).  I ran 5 miles in 50 minutes.  I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before.  I was pretty excited and even more excited that I probably could have done another mile or two but I knew Mr. Trainer would have griped at me.

Books…If anyone has any good suggestions for books on marathons to read, let me know.

I pulled that calf muscle and that slowed me down and a week before last I had this weird stomach cramp thing going on for about 5 days that was beginning to worry me.  A doctors visit or emergency room was close, but alas, it faded.  I ran 4 miles yesterday and it seemed to go alright, though I had to walk about 30-50 yards twice.  This weekend I had plenty of opportunities to run but my body would not go.  It was very frustrating.  But I did get some well needed rest.

I still need to work on my diet more.  I’ve been on a sushi kick lately and thanks to Zen, I can afford a $3 sushi roll quite often.

Last night I decided that when I go out I am going to limit myself to only 2 beers or 2 mixed drinks.  I’m a social butterfly and I’m out alot at clubs and bars.  It’s very easy for me to be out almost every night and drink.  Yeah…. that’s gonna have to stop…. or at least the drinking that is usually attached to it.  It’s now getting in the way of my training now and that’s bad.  It’s a good change.

Last week was going really well, then the weekend hit.  My brother and four of his friends came to town and I went out Sat and Sun and drank more than I should and slept late and hung out with my bro all weekend, so I missed my 4 mile on sat and my 2 mile on sun.  I laughed it off, but I am really upset at myself.  I’m running my 4 miles today after work and I’ll do 2 miles tomorrow after work so that will kind of put me back on schedule for a thursday 2 mile run.  I’m not getting to the point where I may have to quit drinking period to get done what I need to get done….quit drinking as much….let’s leave it at that for now.

Last week I had some weird leg muscle things going on that I got little nervous about just because a lot of this is new for me.  I did get my Google Calendar all set and Kirk has setup my schedule for me on that.   I’m going to go ahead and plan on doing the Lonstar 5k May 17th.  I’ll need to get my chip so I can have an official time and be all pro like.  That will be the first race in my training.  Last summer I ran the 5k BunRun in about 33 minutes and that was with 2 weeks of half ass training.  As the miles are getting added on to my schedule I am not looking forward to the increase in heat that Texas provides for us.