Though my overall mileage isn't much higher this time around than my last marathon, my 25:12 four miler has me feeling great about BQ-ing in May. Why is that? Thanks to Hal Higdon, my miles have been shuffled quite a bit.
Here's three ways I'm training differently:
1) Not being afraid of the long run. In the old days, I was scared enough of my long runs that I'd rest the day before and after them. Hal's got me running 8-10 miles the day before the 17-20's, and many of those mid-long runs are at marathon pace. While I don't like running both days on the weekend, there's no denying it's made a big difference. I will say, though, that Hal wants me to cross-train on Monday's, and I'm making a slight concession to my age there and resting, instead.
2) The mid-week, mid-long run. I've always felt this was lacking in my plan. For previous marathons, I rarely went beyond six miles during the week, but Hal has me going 8-10 every Wednesday. Though it makes for a longer lunch hour, I'm not running on Mon. and Fri. and only running 3-5 on T/Th. so I'm actually missing less work time than when I was six miles four to five of the work days.
3) Hammer Nutrition. I'm using HEED for all three of my quality runs and Recoverite after every run. The stuff is expensive but the stuff works. Being diabetic, I can easily evaluate the effect on my blood sugar and it's much smoother than other stuff. I'm a fan.
I'm still not in perfect shape. I'd like to add some more speedwork in, but my shin still isn't 100% so I don't want to risk going faster than 1/2 M pace. I'm also still about four pounds heavier than my marathon PR. But I've got eight weeks to get healthier, faster and lighter. True, they'll be eight of the highest mileage weeks I've done, with three 50's in there, but I'm giving myself better odds right now than I would've two months before my other marathons.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
On Diabetic Athletes...
The Triabetics were at camp last week. This group seems like a lot of fun, though I have little interest in hopping in the pool or on the bike at present. Running running running seems to be working the best for me right now. At any rate, one of the non's (non-diabetic counselor) wrote a good story about the experience. Check it out here.
If doing an Ironman is a little insane, here's something that's off the charts insane. I received an e-mail last week about Søren Lilleøre, a Danish man with type 1 diabetes who is competing in the Marathon Des Sables - a six day ultra-marathon across the Sahara Desert, which sound a little warm. At any rate, the race was supposed to start yesterday, but massive storm delayed it until today. You can keep up at Søren's website.
And finally, regarding this diabetic athlete, I'm looking forward to Friday, when I switch endocrinologists about nearly ten years. I'd chosen my current group out of sheer laziness -- the office is located a half mile from my house. For the first five years, I saw the head doctor - a pleasant enough fellow who happens to be an overweight Type II diabetic. 99% of the time, I'm not judgmental about someone's weight, but when that someone spends 90% of their time telling Type II's diabetics to lose weight.... well, you get my point.
Five years ago, I switched to a young female doc at the same practice and things started to take a turn for the better. She was more up on the technology and I was glad she was my Doc during my thyroid cancer scare. But soon after that, she quit private practice to work in a lab.
Since then, I've bounced around the practice, never feeling as if anyone I've seen was interested in cutting edge breakthroughs, like CGM.
About six months ago, I realized how much I was missing when my co-worker's wife (whose is on MY insurance) got CGM approval from a group with a much better reputation for not just tolerating diabetes, but attacking it.
While this group is a half hour drive from home, the reality is I only see my endo two-three times per year, so it's not a big deal. After waiting four months my appt., the big day is Friday, and I'm looking forward to it. Definitely hoping to get on CGM in the near future, at least for my marathon training.
If doing an Ironman is a little insane, here's something that's off the charts insane. I received an e-mail last week about Søren Lilleøre, a Danish man with type 1 diabetes who is competing in the Marathon Des Sables - a six day ultra-marathon across the Sahara Desert, which sound a little warm. At any rate, the race was supposed to start yesterday, but massive storm delayed it until today. You can keep up at Søren's website.
And finally, regarding this diabetic athlete, I'm looking forward to Friday, when I switch endocrinologists about nearly ten years. I'd chosen my current group out of sheer laziness -- the office is located a half mile from my house. For the first five years, I saw the head doctor - a pleasant enough fellow who happens to be an overweight Type II diabetic. 99% of the time, I'm not judgmental about someone's weight, but when that someone spends 90% of their time telling Type II's diabetics to lose weight.... well, you get my point.
Five years ago, I switched to a young female doc at the same practice and things started to take a turn for the better. She was more up on the technology and I was glad she was my Doc during my thyroid cancer scare. But soon after that, she quit private practice to work in a lab.
Since then, I've bounced around the practice, never feeling as if anyone I've seen was interested in cutting edge breakthroughs, like CGM.
About six months ago, I realized how much I was missing when my co-worker's wife (whose is on MY insurance) got CGM approval from a group with a much better reputation for not just tolerating diabetes, but attacking it.
While this group is a half hour drive from home, the reality is I only see my endo two-three times per year, so it's not a big deal. After waiting four months my appt., the big day is Friday, and I'm looking forward to it. Definitely hoping to get on CGM in the near future, at least for my marathon training.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Another Unfriendly Google Post...
In other words, a post that's about so many things, it's about nothing.
1) For the first time in a long time, I'm sick... slight fever, head stuffy sick. I would've taken the day off but I had a conference call an hour ago. However, I will be going home this afternoon and crawling under eight blankets in the darkened basement.
I am a remarkably healthy person - coming down with stuff once every year or two, partially due to the fact that I am a Zicam freak. However, this bug was un-Zicam-able and I'm on the ropes. And the problem - I think - with being a healthy person is that when you get something, you've forgotten how bad sick can be.
2) Before all of this, running-wise I was hanging on splendidly. In fact, just 24 hours ago I ran 17 miles @ 7:57 pace, and 24 hours before that did another 8 @ 7:47 pace.
3) In last week's Run4Luck, I beat my PR by 45 seconds, giving myself a VDOT of nearly 52, my highest in years, so I'm in good shape.
4) In shape for what? A little shin pain several weeks ago caused me to back off my training. While I probably could put together a good BQ shot @ Wilmington, I'm opting for the Bob Potts Heritage trail marathon. It's a rail-to-trail course, flat as a pancake. Two weeks later in the spring, which could be a problem weather-wise, but oh well.
5) I cured the shin (mostly) by backing off on speed work and returning to racing flats. I'm wearing Asics Hyper-Speed for all of my runs and that's working much better.
6) Still a big fan of Hammer products. Switching to them has helped a lot. Also a big fan of Zensah compression sleeves on the legs after the big runs. They're good, too.
7) Along the idea of products, I recently received a Tech 4O watch to try. It's cheaper than a Garmin, because it uses pedometer technology rather than a GPS. I had one run with it, which went fairly well. However, I'm trying to tweak the settings and am having a bear of a time figuring it out. That being said, I've been in a massive time crunch of late and don't want to blame the device - yet... For now, let's just say that the Tech 4O is a cheaper way to measure your distances than the Garmin, though it's probably not as accurate or as intuitive. But hey, yo, we ARE in a recession. But seriously, I intend to test this sucker out more, because I think there is a market for it.
That's all - I need more meds now.
1) For the first time in a long time, I'm sick... slight fever, head stuffy sick. I would've taken the day off but I had a conference call an hour ago. However, I will be going home this afternoon and crawling under eight blankets in the darkened basement.
I am a remarkably healthy person - coming down with stuff once every year or two, partially due to the fact that I am a Zicam freak. However, this bug was un-Zicam-able and I'm on the ropes. And the problem - I think - with being a healthy person is that when you get something, you've forgotten how bad sick can be.
2) Before all of this, running-wise I was hanging on splendidly. In fact, just 24 hours ago I ran 17 miles @ 7:57 pace, and 24 hours before that did another 8 @ 7:47 pace.
3) In last week's Run4Luck, I beat my PR by 45 seconds, giving myself a VDOT of nearly 52, my highest in years, so I'm in good shape.
4) In shape for what? A little shin pain several weeks ago caused me to back off my training. While I probably could put together a good BQ shot @ Wilmington, I'm opting for the Bob Potts Heritage trail marathon. It's a rail-to-trail course, flat as a pancake. Two weeks later in the spring, which could be a problem weather-wise, but oh well.
5) I cured the shin (mostly) by backing off on speed work and returning to racing flats. I'm wearing Asics Hyper-Speed for all of my runs and that's working much better.
6) Still a big fan of Hammer products. Switching to them has helped a lot. Also a big fan of Zensah compression sleeves on the legs after the big runs. They're good, too.
7) Along the idea of products, I recently received a Tech 4O watch to try. It's cheaper than a Garmin, because it uses pedometer technology rather than a GPS. I had one run with it, which went fairly well. However, I'm trying to tweak the settings and am having a bear of a time figuring it out. That being said, I've been in a massive time crunch of late and don't want to blame the device - yet... For now, let's just say that the Tech 4O is a cheaper way to measure your distances than the Garmin, though it's probably not as accurate or as intuitive. But hey, yo, we ARE in a recession. But seriously, I intend to test this sucker out more, because I think there is a market for it.
That's all - I need more meds now.
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