Sweet Victory

So here we are, two weeks after the marathon. In no particular order: 1) I'm back to a decent workout level, but certainly not recovered. I ended up doing more than 15 miles over two workouts last Sunday (that probably wasn't brilliant), and while I was initially excited about that, I found I wasn't fresh enough to run again until Wednesday. So Thursday, I hopped on the bike (which I hadn't done for over a year) and banged out a nice lunch time ride). I'm planning on running trails over lunch today, resting tomorrow, and knocking out 8 or so on Sunday. I'm going to make it an effort to cross-train 1-2 days per week for the time being so that I can keep up my fitness while my legs recover from marathon pounding. 2) I am hopeful I get a little spring back in my step, as I'm planning on doing a half marathon next weekend, followed by a 5k the following weekend. The distance won't be a problem, but I'm a little curious if I'll have any speed. 3) I...

Well, that's probably not true, though it seems to feel that way to me this year. During this year's marathon plan, I averaged 46 miles per week and ran a 3:33. Last year, I averaged 32 miles per week and ran a 3:23. In 2007, I ran 30 miles per week (plus two days on the bike) and ran a 3:18. Sort of flies in the race of that, "to run faster, run further" talk, eh? Honestly, I don't know. I'm eager to blame the poor day on a lack of speed training, but am still wrapping my head around it all. The best part about blowing up your marathon plan so early in the season is that it leaves a lot of fall to race in. I'm looking forward to the Hands-on-House 1/2 Marathon in two weeks (where I have my current 1/2M PR) and a week after that will try to defend my title of two-time age group champion of the Knoebels Lumber 5k. Big dreams, folks, big dreams. Technically, the 1/2 marathon is three weeks after my marathon, and you're supposed to wait a month before ra...

Apparently, Invisible Illness Week was this week? I didn't even know it until now. At any rate, there's a meme going around about it, and though I don't usually play, I did. Enjoy... 30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know 1. The illness I live with is: Type 1 Diabetes 2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 1984 3. But I had symptoms since: A few months before. 4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Wow. I must be well-adjusted because nothing comes to mind. 5. Most people assume: I don't have diabetes. 6. The hardest part about mornings are: usually before I've had coffee. 7. My favorite medical TV show is: none of them unless by medical you mean the part in Road House where Swayze got stitches without a local. 8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my insulin pump, blood sugar meter and my CGM. I'm a diagadgaholic. 9. The hardest part about nights are: when I've had a very fatty meal (like a big steak) and can't tell what it wi...

Well, that didn't go as planned at all. DISCLAIMER: I've found that there are three kinds of people in this world. A. People who don't set goals. B. People who set reasonable goals because they get mighty upset if they miss them. C. People who set stretch goals and are cool with missing them. It's important to note that I'm a C. While what follows could be taken as ripping my performance apart, I'm really not. Well, I really am, but I'm ok with it. Understand, that I'm eternally grateful to complete my third marathon and that I'm especially grateful to be healthy enough to run at all. That being said, yesterday pretty much sucked. Reader's Digest Version: I finished in 3:33:45 . 5th out of 30 in my AG (I mistakenly Tweeted 4th yesterday) and 37th out of 305 overall. It was 15 minutes slower than my fastest marathon, and ten minutes slower than last year. The Summary: I went out according to plan and did a pretty good job of running 7:23 miles. I...

The Lehigh Valley Marathon is in 48 hours. Actually, in 49 hours I hope to be finishing it, in a Boston Marathon Qualifying time of 3:15:59 or better. This is my third shot at it, after an encouraging 3:18 two years ago and a somewhat disappointing 3:23 last year (both at the Harrisburg Marathon). I've been asked what my chances are and I've said I've got no reason to think I'm necessarily fitter this time around, but I have trained quite differently this time. In that spirit - and because taper madness has rendered me fairly useless for the regular duties of the day - I'm offering up 9 Reasons I'll Qualify for Boston This Time and 5 Reasons I Might Not... The good news... 1) I've put in more miles. Mind you, not dramatically more. My peak month last year was 182 and this year it was 191. However, my peak month this year came just last month, whereas in my earlier plan it was three months prior to the race. Common sense says to be a faster runner, run more...