The "Real" Training is in full swing, and I'm officially registered for the race!!

Well so far so good, I'm nearly two weeks into my "real" marathon training and I'm feeling great. I'm running four days a week and cross training one day each week. Each week gets a little harder with the runs getting a little farther, for the most part that is. To give you an idea of what I'm doing to get ready, I will show you what this week and next look like.

Monday 20th - 3 miles
Tuesday 21st - 4 miles
Wednesday 22nd - Cross train (elliptical)
Thursday 23rd - 4 miles
Friday 24th - Rest
Saturday 25th - 5 miles
Sunday 26th - Rest

Monday 27th - 3 miles
Tuesday 28th - 5 miles
Wednesday 29nd - Cross train (elliptical)
Thursday 1st - 4 miles
Friday 2nd - Rest
Saturday 3rd - 6 miles
Sunday 4th - Rest

As I look farther into the training schedule it definitely seems daunting. However, if I just take it one day at a time, it doesn't seem all that bad.

Previously I had talked a lot about the knee pain I had been experiencing. While I would love to say it has completely disappeared, that wouldn't be true. I still get the knee pain occasionally but it is very limited in frequency and intensity, and usually doesn't last long after a run. This has been huge for me, and hopefully I can keep up the run schedule I have now. If it does return, I will likely have to cut out a day of running.

The only other thing that I've done since the last post, is register for the race! It took me this long mostly due to my laziness, but the longer the wait the more it cost, so I went ahead and registered. This means if I back out I'm out $100 bucks, and I'm not going to waste that money!

Well not a whole lot more to say now.

Current Shoe Mileage: 62.7

Next time....Bonk??

My Goal: I'm gonna run my marathon faster than Ben Gibbard and Flea!

I had originally thought I was going to post on android phone running apps, but it turns out that none of them really do all that well unless you want to shell out some money. And I don't. I will say that I have been using Time Runner Lite, and for my needs it works okay. The only problem is that it will occasionally drop the GPS signal and that messes with your distance and pace calculations. So if you're trying to do a distance only workout, as opposed to a time interval workout, this can be a problem. I have decided to do additional work in the app area.

So instead, I'm going to write about my marathon goal. Originally I had planned on trying to run the marathon fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but at a time of 3 hours 5 minutes, it seemed a little out of reach for a first time marathoner. And since I wanted to be proud of my time and not "just finish" (not that that's anything to scoff at), I started thinking of a time goal. Well my big sister/personal trainer sent me a link for a little motivation. It was how the lead singer for Death Cab for Cutie, Ben Gibbard, changed his health for the better by becoming a runner. Here it is; http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-544--14174-0,00.html

In the video attached to the article Ben says his goal was to run faster than Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. So with a quick google search, I found out that Flea finished the marathon in 3:52:59. Toward the end of the article it states Ben's time was 3:56:34. So it hit me, I think I can do better than both of them! I know it seems silly, but thinking about out doing these to guys with considerably more resources than myself really gets me excited about the marathon even more than before. I'll never be a famous musician like either of these guys, but I could at least say I did this one thing better than both of them.

Well, I guess we'll see if I can do it! Hopefully it doesn't rain on me like it did on them. Also, here is a link to another Runner's World article, this time about Flea. http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-243-544--14174-0,00.html

Current Shoe Mileage: 20.8 mi

Coming up, the REAL work begins...

Shoe Shopping!

It didn't take long to realize my cheap running shoes weren't going to cut it. It was only after a few weeks that I started to have knee pain, and like I mentioned before, a common reason for this is inadequate shoes.

So I did some internet searching for a good place to buy shoes and came across the Salt Lake Running Co. On their website was a section on biomechanical analysis. It is basically where they tape you running and make shoe suggestions based on how you run. I could go into it more, but I will just link to it here.

http://saltlakerunningco.com/home/about-us/biomechanical-analysis/

After a quick run on the treadmill, the very helpful sales associate said I overpronated when I ran, and showed me on the video playback. There is a couple of good articles on this, and of course I will link to them here.

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319-327-425-0,00.html

http://www.trifuel.com/training/strength-training/correcting-overpronation

The first link has a good cartoon video on overpronation, when I watched the video of myself running, my own overpronation seemed more cartoon-ish than the cartoon video.

The second link is an excellent article sent to me by my personal trainer/big sister that gives a bunch of tips on correcting overpronating. A good read, and from what I was told while shoe shopping, most people run in this manner to a certain extent.

So, back to the shoes. After watching the video the sales associate said I had two basic options when it came to shoes. I could get a traditional shoe and/or insert that gave additional support when I overpronated or I could get a "flat" shoe that focused more on correcting the problem rather than compensating for it. The idea of the less supportive flatter shoe is this; the basic form of the modern running shoe has changed very little since the 70s, and there has been almost no change in the amount of running related injuries since then. So why are we still using this form? Additionally, when the average person takes his/her shoes off and runs, he/she will more often than not land with a more mid-foot foot strike and all but eliminate overpronation. Since running barefoot doesn't really work outside on pavement, a flatter shoe is the best option. And of course, there are drawbacks.

The first and most troublesome for me, was I would have to actually think about running and concentrate on landing with a mid-foot foot strike. Could I do this easily? I have been running the same way my whole life and changing now seemed like it would be hard. The second drawback, if I am successful in changing how I run, I will be sore where I haven't been before after a run. This also didn't sound pleasant. What did sound pleasant was properly correcting overpronation and combating a whole slew of problems before they ever start, and getting rid of my knee pain the right way.

So that's what I did. After trying on 8 pairs of shoes, I settled on a pair of Nike Free light running shoes. I spent $100 bucks and I think I did pretty good. I didn't want to spend that much but went into the store with the mindset I was going to buy shoes on how I felt about them, not on the price. I do want to add that choosing the flatter shoe was made easier by the store's very generous policy of a 30 day exchange policy, don't like the shoe-just go back within a month and pick a different pair. At my current rate, that is about 40 miles!

The additional downside to the flatter shoes, according to the sales associate, is I will get less mileage out of them. They normally quote 300-500 miles for a pair of shoes, and he said I will not get much more than 300 with the shoes I purchased.

Now the question is, how do the shoes perform? Great, actually! I have done two half hour runs at just over 3 miles each and I have no knee pain to speak of. The upside to this is the soreness in new muscles was also minimal. While I do have to think about my foot strike, this is much easier than I had anticipated. When you think about it, what else are you thinking about when you run? Also, the shoes do most of the work for you. When I stop thinking about it, the form factor of the shoes takes care of most of the foot strike location. The added bonus, which was explained to me at the shoe store and which I did not believe, is that I'm faster. My strides are shorter and my cadence quicker, the end result is I am covering more ground. On my first run I added a quarter of a mile and on the second one, a run I would characterize as easy, I still managed to crack 3 miles.

So I can definitely say the shoe store trip and subsequent purchase was a success!

Current shoe mileage: 6.5 mi

Coming up, where to run and a look at running/training apps..

Knee Pain and tackling the Elliptical

In the short time I've been training I have developed knee pain commonly referred to as "runner's knee". How do you know if you have runner's knee? Ask yourself the following questions;

Do you run?

Do you have knee pain?

If you answered yes to both of these questions, there is a good chance you have runner's knee. Okay, so there is more to it than that but you get the idea. And while it can be easy to diagnose, it's definitely not easy to remedy, and there is a good chance it never goes away fully. There are a lot of causes; inadequate shoes, overpronation, weak thigh muscles, leg misalignment, the list goes on. There is also a good chance that it is a combination of these issues. Therefore, there is also going to be a combination of things to help get rid of the pain. These can be; new shoes, thigh muscle exercises, icing your knee, taking anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen, and just plain running less. The last one is where I will be starting.

It seems silly to write, but the fact of the matter is the best training for running a marathon is to run................a lot. So what to do when running just plain hurts? You can ride a bike - stationary or not, swim (well you can, I can't), step aerobics, rowing, or use an elliptical. I happen to have access to an elliptical thanks to the gym at work, so that's what I have chosen. I had never used an elliptical before, so my first concern was getting a comparable workout. My trainer/big sister gave me some suggestions on setting the level and what a comparable pace for her was. It's important to note that these were based on her experiences and what worked for her, and I was just going to have to hop on the thing and figure out what was best for me. It did give me a place to start though.

The elliptical I have access to has a whole bunch of options I won't be using. What was important for me was the level, motion, and speed - in this case they used RPMs. The hardest thing for me was controlling this pace, unlike a treadmill where you set the pace and so long as you don't push any buttons you keep this pace, the elliptical forces you to just work as hard as you can to maintain it. The Level setting controls how difficult it is to perform one rotation, and the Motion setting controlled the incline, which just seemed like a dumb way to label it.

Anyway, after about five minutes of flailing around and pushing buttons, I settled on a level setting of 8 and a motion setting of 4, while trying to maintain an RPM of 65. This seemed to be giving me approximately the same workout. I do want to point out, I probably wouldn't have been able to make this assessment without having been running for a month. I also want to point out, I was wrong. I decided to use the elliptical in the same manner I was running, with intervals. I also decided to jump in where I was at with my runs at a faster pace for nine minutes and a slower pace (walk) for one minute for a half an hour. So with the elliptical set I went for it, and at about minute eight of the first interval, I was struggling. But, I had made up my mind and finished the workout. I may have dipped a little below the 65 RPM mark a few times, but I kept it as close as I could and finished the last half of the last nine minute interval where I started it.

So what did I take away from the elliptical? Well a few things:

My knees didn't hurt afterwards.

My arms were tired and sore afterwards.

I didn't go as far as I do on runs, only about 1.8 miles vs. 3 miles or so.

I did get a really good workout.

So needless to say it was a success. I worked muscles I don't normally on a run and I truly felt like I wasn't slacking off by not running. I will definitely keep using the elliptical when it makes sense for me. Take this week for example, I am on my week off and have no desire to go into work just to workout. Since I don't have an elliptical machine and I'm not getting a gym membership, this week I run.

Now since I will still be running a lot I still need to pursue other ways to keep from getting knee pain.

Coming Soon........


Shoe Shopping...


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And now I run...

I have decided to resurrect this blog in order to chronicle my new adventure, a marathon. It's something that I have wanted to do for awhile, but due to laziness, haven't. I have plenty of excuses not to, everyone does, so I decided there was no reason not to do it now. I will be registering for the Utah Valley Marathon being held on June 9th, 2012.

http://www.utahvalleymarathon.com/

I began my training on December 5th, 2011, and have been running for a half an hour three times a week. Depending on whether or not I am running outdoors or on a treadmill, I am hovering around 3 miles a run.

My personal trainer/big sister is helping me with a training regimen. I am doing interval runs, where I run for an amount of time and then walk for an amount of time. This is currently up to a 9 minute run and a one minute walk. So far so good.

Coming up......

Knee Pain and Tackling the Elliptical