two months

That's how long it took for me to decide to run another marathon.  I figure my second will definitely be easier and faster than my first. (Really, just about anything would be easier and faster....) I will start training after recovering from Bustinskin 72.3 in September. (Two miles were added to the bike. As if 70.3 wasn't enough already).

I explained to a friend at lunch why: the pure pleasure of long-distance running.  Here's another visual explanation.   I'm feeling particularly inspired by Shalane Flanagan, pictured below winning the 2010 US Half Marathon Championships in Houston: 1:09:41.   Maybe I'd run faster with gloves, arm bands and compression socks too!

Now to pick out a race! Fantasy races to be considered:

Cayman Islands Marathon (can't imagine where they could find 26.2 miles on Grand Cayman!). Think Warm. Think December.

Antartic Ice Marathon (could it be anything other than Ice??). Also December. Not Warm.

Or perhaps a half marathon on wheels in Verona:

The possibilities are endless! Stay tuned.

More on Paleo Nutrition & grouse

I have been feeling very blue lately and figured that maybe VLC was to blame for low serotonin. Maybe it is slacking on my exercise in the winter darkness.  Or working some very long hours in January and February.  Regardless, I have been eating more carbs this week, and I feel a little better, particularly with some major deadlines behind me. But still worried that it's not the right direction. Grabbing m&m's by the handful just isn't a long-term solution.  Nor is snacking on the pastries at work, which call to me when I'm in the right mood.

But I am still (1) wanting to lighten up (mood & body fat); (2) maintain good health and avoid the  shark swimming in my gene pool, Type II diabetes.

The PaNu blog I like included a link to this new forum, PaleoHacks. I thought I'd share (and mostly keep track of it for myself by putting it into a post).  I will start writing down my food again and keeping good records.

My legs are wanting to go for a run. My knee is crunchy & coach says walk. I stretched today and did some bending exercises to lubricate the joint. Standing in the kitchen made me "aware" of my knee. It didn't hurt. But it felt a little swollen or puffy or something. So I am taking the nastiest supplement of collagen derivative, gelatin and glucosamine, plus highly refined fish oil.    And trying to figure out how many slacking bad habits I can repent.

The slack started when at the beginning of this year, I felt like I had reached my #1 and ONLY goal for 2009 (regain my fitness and lose weight) and I should now deal with finances and other aspects of my life.  My brain took that as "Instead" of health, not In Addition to health.  When the weather turned icy, I stopped riding my bike to work and started skipping mid-week runs.  And after Odie bit me I started asking my son to walk him in the evenings.  Now I have a crunchy knee.

I have bigger plans in my life than being sidelined due to a crunchy knee.  I found a goofy body weight training program that is so silly I won't name it. But it looks like a good program, even though I am a sucker for the Point-N-Click Download it now.  Looking at the materials, I keep thinking, I could do this.  So I will be sure to take before-n-after photos so I can create a cash-cow someday a la 4HWW.   Or maybe this guy has a better idea about work.

Even better, what to do with your unique talents and why I like what I do for a living. It's not work, it's a calling. So here's the plan. Do the PaNu 12 steps. Take Notes. Post here.  Live big. Start my new body weight exercise mission.  And take the dog for a long therapeutic walk tomorrow. And maybe run a tiny bit?  I'll check with the knee first.

sea shell races

I enjoyed my run today (6.7k in a hour - including cool down walk). I was a bit annoyed with myself, having skipped my mid-week runs. I blame it on the icy weather. But I saw others running, and truth be told, I easily slip into an over-work habit when I am writing on a deadline (like now).

Somehow I TOTALLY FORGET that exercise, particularly running, increases my energy, relieves tiredness and reduces stress. Now, what's to not like about that when a deadline looms??? Maybe it's just that I like the adrenaline of hyper-focus and long hours. Dunno.

But anyway, I ran 6.7k in a snowstorm on the beach. The snow was wet enough to stick to the heels of my shoes, requiring occasional clearing. I ran into the wind first on this out-n-back along the North Sea. Everything looked dusted with sugar. The wind had swept the sand, revealing the tops of seashells. With the addition of a sugar frost, the seashells looked like they were racing one another, the snow forming a slip stream on the sides of every shell. I imagined a school of porpoises in minature.

I told this story to my younger son at dinner. He looked at me quizzically. Porpoises can't swim, he said. I said, yes they can, and then explained that porpoise was another word in English for dolphins. He was thinking of Tortoises. Then we had a good laugh at the idea of tortoises trying to swim. They'd look the same as rocks trying to swim. You have to understand that my sons spend most of their waking hours speaking Dutch (and when they talk in their sleep, it's in Dutch too).

So, I've committed to getting both my mid-week runs in this week.  I think I will see more improvement in my speed if I work on it during the week. I'm downright leisurely on the weekend pace.

First Long Training Run 11 April 2009

I ran 13 or 14k Saturday. It was fun. Only thing was I ran 5k on Friday since my mid-week runs got off by a day - so my knees were still a little sore even this morning - just going up the stairs. They were fine when I took a spin with a friend who hadn't been on her bike since Oct. Easy 27k. Earn those chocolates! Odie slept a lot today. He ran both Fri & Saturday and was, well, dog-tired.


Weekend Workout Assigned: 10k
Actual: ~13.5k
Time 1:47 HRM 148 average; 168 max
Pace: ~ 10k/60 min. I took walk breaks when I felt like it. First one after about 15 minutes. More frequent after the first hour. I stopped to chat with my husband and son, who had camped on the beach overnight to get a good storage spot for the Hobie Cat at the sailing club. Stopped at the end to chat goodbye to running buddy. I subtracted chatting time to arrive at the estimate, using a pace of 10k/60min (my last race pace - probably a bit generous); actual time minus ~20 minutes standing around talking. A lot of walking towards the very end.

Comments
I estimated the distance because I ran on the beach, without obvious landmarks. I based my estimate on a comparable pace on other runs where I know the distance. I realized Saturday morning that the GPS I wanted to carry lacked fresh batteries. I commit to better prep & planning for next week.

Weather & Temperature: clear and sunny; 20C - probably cooler when I started out.

Aches & Pains? My knees were a little sore immediately afterwards. They were tender climbing stairs on Sunday morning. Took 200mg advil & extra dose of fish oil. Felt fine during & after my bike ride on Sunday. My mid-week training schedule was off by a day due to family committments. So I ended up running my second mid-week run on Friday morning, rather than on Thursday. Next week I won't run the day before the weekend run.

Questions for the Coach:
1. I do not know how to pace myself using a time/distance metric. I have always trained with a heart rate monitor and by adapting to my current physical condition - perception of effort, breathing, fatigue, etc. Do I need to carry a GPS? Run somewhere else on a pre-measured route?

2. I want to increase my pace. The woman I am running with on Saturdays can run faster, but has been satisfied with my pace so far. I'd like to try to speed up. When/how do I work on this? Once a week on my mid-week run, I have been adding high intensity intervals - short sprints followed by walk recovery.

3. The Paris race features a huge hill. How should I prepare for it, considering I live in "the low country"? I have been running up a hill near my house and running up a long flight of stairs in the Dunes. Is this enough? Add in treadmill with incline?

Next Week's Planned Workouts

Sunday - 26K bike ride (done)
Monday - easy row - weights (when I get done with this post!) (DONE - skipped the weights)
Tuesday - 30 - 45 minute run (at least 5 K) HIIT - Swim laps
Wednesday - easy row & weights
Thursday - 30 - 45 minute run (at least 5 K)
Friday - easy row & sauna (rest before run)
Saturday - assigned training run - 5k

Begin with the end in mind

I've decided to run my first half-marathon. I had so much fun running my first 10k in March, the City-Pier-City in The Hague, that I immediately started looking for my next goal. A half-marathon seemed impossible. So I picked a 16 K race, La Grande Classique in Paris in September. Then some of my colleagues at work talked up the Amsterdam Half-Marathon. So I set a new goal and will use the Paris race as a training tool.

I am using these goals to help me achieve my ideal body weight. I will use this blog to share my training plans, my progress, and my trip across the finish line. To help me meet my goals, I've enrolled in e-coaching with Jeff Galloway.