Week 2 Summary

So I finished my second week of marathon training. John Ortberg talks about the difference between training and trying. It’s amazing how things have to change when you move into a training mode. I think the challenge is actualizing the changes that have to take place in order to be successful.

Right now, the biggest struggle is adding the stuff that you have to do in order to be successful besides just running. Doing core exercises, stretching, and eating right are all critical to being successful in marathon training. Right now, I am not eating intentionally enough and did core and stretching twice this week (needs to be 4 times at least).

Completed 16 miles this week and heading into a step back week (weekly total mileage goes down). So that is fun but you always have to keep in mind the next week where the mileage jumps. This week is the calm before the storm.

Boring Facts

Ran 16 miles (long run 7 miles)

Lost 17 pounds (251)…

July 4th Week

Always tough coming off a long weekend for a fat boy. Normally that means I ate too much (check), which makes running even tougher. For a fat boy like me, running never needs to be any tougher. It’s tough enough. So that means off to the treadmill to get started again. It will also allow me to get a little stretching, core, and some weights in so not all bad to be running on a treadmill. Maybe one day, I will not eat poorly on a holiday weekend.

I am heading into week 2 of marathon training meaning I am doing 16 this week with 3 three milers and a 7. Last week was encouraging. I walked a lot less. My long run, I only walked for a minute (the last little stretch of a long hill). So that was great. I really need to continue seeing this improvement for the next 2 weeks before the training really jumps in the mileage.

Boring facts of the week:

Ran 15 mles

Lost 17 pounds sense I started back (251)

20 Weeks to Go: June 20

Running this week was a lot of fun (before today) and also very painful (today). I am writing this after my long run of 6 miles. The first 3 miles were fine and the last 3 had as much walking as running. It was painful. The nice thing is that my runs in the week are getting easier. The weekend is flat killing me. I am hoping that over the next 4 weeks, my body can catch up with my mileage. My mileage during the week goes up a little, but the long runs stay the same, so everything should catch up (I hope).

I started this training program late for the Marine Corp Marathon. I am hoping it all works out but I know that with running there are no short cuts. Where you are is where you are and the only way to change it is to put in the mileage and lose the weight to be in a different situation. I learned that denial is the first step to an injury or frustration. I guess that’s also true with life.

Week 3 of running (6/6/10 actual post)

There is an old saying, “A tortoise should always avoid the hot payment of noon time because he may be fried if he doesn’t move fast enough…”” Ok, I made that up. This week I ran in the heat of the day a few times and it felt like I was fried. There is nothing more fun (used extremely loosely) than being a fat boy running when it’s hot. Running is hard enough for me: I may want to pick a better time than late afternoon and during lunch. Summer running is just going to be a great joy.

On this journey of running the marathon, I have two great friends joining me. Now these friends are real runners, one may qualify for Boston (one of the great accomplishments of amateur athletics) and the other will most likely break 4 hours with no problem. The great thing about running is we relate to one another as we travel the same mileage on the same roads: I just get to see the scenery for a little longer period of time. I will never run with these guys because the only place we will see each other is the start, but there is a great camaraderie in just being out.

Data of the Week 3 of Training:

Ran 12 miles

Lost 10 pounds since started training

Why is the Tortoise wondering?

My Life as a Tortoise…

n tortoise [ˈtoːtəs]

a kind of four-footed, slow-moving reptile covered with a hard shell.

I have decided that I am going to try to blog weekly (my attempt to make a commitment without making a commitment) about my journey of running the Marine Corp Marathon. For most people, these weekly blogs on running will basically be something to be ignored or laughed at. The crazy thing of me writing about a blog about running is that I am not a pretty runner. Everyone knows the pretty runners, we all drive by them running down the road and wish we could be fast and fit like them. That’s not me, I basically consider myself more like a big, slow tortoise.. Rarely will I have good days because Tortoises don’t like to move, we would prefer to sit still and eat. This journey toward a marathon will be an adventure, at least for me…

So here are the goals for the marathon: Break 4:20 and lose 60 pounds. For a tortoise, those go against two core values; eating and not moving too fast, so we will see what happens.