Saturday, January 5, 2008

Near Death Long Run

Ok, that's a bit of melodrama, but I really could have passed out.

I have jumped into the the Hal Higdon Novice 2 schedule for a May 4 marathon, which means today I (barely) ran 9 miles at a 9:33 pace. I did it on a treadmill because my wife/mommy won't let me run outside in the Winter with the other kids. To compensate, I kicked up the incline to 1.0. I ran a 10.1 miler (at a slightly faster pace, same incline) on Tuesday and actually didn't feel as wiped as I did today.

Any thoughts on what I could do to make it through training? Sip a sports drink? Be more hydrated? I ate pretty well in the morning, but have been losing weight lately. Generally, I have been getting stictches.Ideally, I'd run the marathon at a 8:30-9:00 pace or better. It's my first.

6 comments:

Jeremy said...

May 4 marathon, eh? I'll definitely be checking that out! Good luck training... eat some power/energy bars a half hour before workouts, works for me ;)

Nader Alfie said...

Wow, man. To think that I could have solved everything with the equiavlent of simple a glass of OJ. Dang.

Anonymous said...

Wow. How to make the distant workout on a treadmill? Shoot me now. I don't know how you go that distance on a treadmill once, much less everyday. It boredom would kill me.

Anonymous said...

you do not sound prepared for training for a marathon - get to the book store and buy a decent book on running - cancel this race run a half instead and try for the marathon next year.

over 1 hour of activity - you need to fuel yourself - sports drink / gu / sports beans whatever sits well in your stomach.

I don`t know what plan you are following but I do not see a week where you have a 10 and 9 mile run in Higdons plan - these plans are there for a reason - you can not expect them to work if you don`t follow them - recovering from a 10 mile + run takes time.

You should be slowing down not speeding up on your long runs and you should not be training at your expected marathon pace.

I know this sounds harsh - but you need a wake up call or you are going to end up very hurt

Nader Alfie said...

Paul,

You're right; it's tough. The thing I do is throw on my ipod and watch the tv screen (usually sports with a lot of movement). To be sure, I can't wait until it warms up and I can go outside.

Anonymous,

I will take your comments very seriously. I am not quite ready to quit on doing a marathon, but will go get a solid marathon book and experiment with sports drink/gu/sports beans.

If it looks like I am going to hurt myself, I will switch it to a half.

Anonymous said...

wow Nader, keep on training! Rabena ma3ak. Love your posts by the way.