Marathon Training Day 60

3 miles in VFFs on treadmills at the community center in the morning.

Phil
3 miles / 29:56
9.978 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 32:38
10.878 minutes / mile

5 miles in VFFs on treadmills at the Rec in the evening.

Phil
5 miles / 49:16
9.853 minutes / mile

Niki
5 miles / 55:42
11.14 minutes / mile

Back to runs that feel good.  But, running on treadmills is hella-lame.

Marathon Training Day 48

5 miles in VFFs at the community center, Phil on treadmill, NIki on elliptical.

Phil
5 miles / 51:43
10.343 minutes / mile

Niki
5 miles / 58:00
11.6 minutes / mile

We didn't run outside because it was drizzling.  Running inside in long sleeve shirt was difficult, I was sweating profusely.  It was a difficult 5 miles for me.  I think I was pushing the pace a bit hard, though.

Niki did not enjoy the elliptical.  She hardly got a workout at all, she says.

Marathon Training Day 39

We ran 3 easy miles at the rec today in Vibrams. 3 miles seems like almost nothing now.

Phil

3 miles / 29:56

9.978 minutes / mile

Niki

3 miles / 35:23

11.794 minutes / mile

Today was my (Niki) personal best! The first 2 miles seemed so easy, much easier than running has been in a very long time for me. My next goal is to run at least 3 miles without stopping. I'm getting closer every day.

Marathon Training Day 38

4 miles in VFFs on treadmills at the Rec.

Phil
4 miles / 43:41
10.921 minutes / miles

Niki
4 miles / 48:38
12.158 minutes / mile

Today was definitely less easy for Phil than yesterday.  Phil still has some ankle pain (on the verge on spraining one or both it seems).

Niki felt better today than she did yesterday, so that is awesome. She says today actually felt easy.

Marathon Training Day 37

3 miles in VFFs on treadmills at the Rec.

Phil
3 miles / 28:16
9.422 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 36:17
12.094 minutes / mile

We both had personal bests today.  Fantastic!

Niki still has some arch pain when she walks.  Phil's ankles hurt less (guess that means they're getting stronger?).

Marathon Training Day 34

5 miles at the Rec on treadmills.

Phil
5 miles / 62:34
12.513 minutes / mile

Niki
5 miles / 64:18
12.86 minutes / mile

Phil ran in VFFs and Niki ran in shoes.  Phil ran at Niki's pace most of the time.  He sped up towards the end, but only ran when she ran and walked whenever she walked.

It was an easy 5 miles.  Feels good.

There was a dance marathon going on at the Rec, looked like fun.

We played 6.5 hours of Twilight Princess today.  We beat the game in 51 hours 3 years ago.  Such an awesome game.

Good day.

Marathon Training Day 32

3 miles at the Rec on treadmills in VFFs.

Phil & Niki
3 miles / 38:05
12.694 minutes / mile

We ran at Niki's pace today because yesterday she said she was pushing herself too hard to keep up with me.  It was a pretty easy run today.  Felt good.

Tomorrow is a rest day and, hopefully, a new wine day!

Marathon Training Day 31

Niki here. We ran 4 miles at the rec today. I wore regular running shoes and Phil ran in his Vibrams. Today felt a lot harder than usual for me. By the end of the run I felt very worn out like I had no energy left. Phil felt fine though.

Phil

4 miles /42:50

10.71 minutes / mile

Niki

4 miles / 51:44

12.93 minutes / mile

I hope today only felt hard because I had a long day and I've been very tired lately. I had an early class this morning, which meant I didn't get enough sleep, and I stayed late to get research done. I am definitely taking it a little easier tomorrow and hopefully getting enough sleep tonight.

Marathon Training Day 30

Niki here. We ran an easy 3 miles at the rec today in our Vibrams. My calves hurt a little, but not as much as they did last week. I am slowly building up muscle in my legs.

Phil

3 miles / 29:00

9.667 minutes / mile

Niki

3 miles / 37:12

12.4 minutes / mile

We both beat our best times today! We are awesome! Running is getting easier every time. Eventually I will get my pace down to 12 minutes per mile. For now, I'm just glad I feel good after I run.

We are watching the olympics right now. They are showing women's figure skating. Neither of us like figure skating much. I would much rather watch hockey or curling. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

Marathon Training Day 27

7 miles on treadmills at the Rec.  Not in Vibrams because our calves and ankles are not ready.

Phil
7 miles / 84:12
12.029 minutes / mile

Niki
7 miles / 94:21
13.479 minutes / mile

I ran 6 miles at a 12 minute/mile pace and only stopped to walk long enough at the 6 mile mark to drink some water.  I can tell that my stamina has increased.  I had a great time running today.  My knees were a bit sore right after the run, but the loosened up with some stretching.  Also, my HR peaked around 166.

And Niki did very well, also!   She beat her/our last 7 mile time by 8 minutes.

When we got home, I took ibuprofen and iced my calves to head off the inflammation and pain that I think might be impending.  We'll see how my calves feel tomorrow.  Niki didn't ice or take any drugs, so if I am much better off than she is, I'll know I did something right.

Niki introduced some high school girls to engineering today.  Go Women in Engineering!

We went to see a bunraku-style puppet show of The Hobbit this afternoon: it was god-awfully horrible.  Niki and I wanted to walk out.  But, we couldn't, so we tried to fall asleep.  Didn't help much.  Never again shall we even consider a show which is even remotely appropriate for children.

Looking forward to cross training tomorrow.

Marathon Training Day 24

3 miles on treadmills in Vibrams at the Rec.

Phil
3 miles / 29:06
9.7 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 43:12
14.4 minutes / mile

Personal Best for Phil!  WHOOP!

I ran at 6.2 (9.667 minutes / mile) the entire time.  It actually didn't feel too bad.  And it feels great to have run 3 miles in less than 30 minutes.

Niki, on the other hand, was having calf pain issues and ended up walking most of the way.  Her calves hurt even more now.  She refused to take ibuprofen or ice them.  She'll probably be in pretty poor shape tomorrow.  I feel for her.  She feels how I felt when I first got my Vibrams: righteously awful calf pain.  It goes away eventually as your calves get stronger.  But those first couple of weeks are rough.

We ran late tonight because my meeting with Rego lasted a very long time and the Olympics are on.  It's surprisingly hard to get motivated to run while the Olympics are on.  It feels so good to just sit in front of the TV and watch other people engage in athletics.  But, then something about figure skating came on and we had no problem turning it off.

And now I have to wait before I can go to bed so my post-run snack can settle.  So, you get to read more while I wait.

I finished reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  It is an extremely good book which I highly recommend.  It was recommended to me by a friend who told me it helped renew his love for running and he thought it would fire me up about running (since we are training for a marathon we definitely need firing up).  It fired me up all right.  I finished it in 3 days and lost several hours of sleep because I could not put it down.  I even had dreams about running.  Which is awesome!  I cannot wait until it warms up so Niki and I can go running outside and really reap one of the best things about running: nature.  Trail running is something I am really looking forward to.  Niki doesn't want to start reading it until she finishes re-reading Lord of the Rings for the 6th or 7th time.  LotR is also a great book, so I understand her reasoning.  But I still cannot wait for her to start reading Born to Run because I know that she is really going to enjoy it.

Special Note: My heart rate peaked somewhere around 165 - 170 and was under 100 again before I stepped off the treadmill after my cool down.  That is awesome considering that when we first started training my HR would peak at over 200 and I wouldn't have even run a mile (and that was at a slower pace).  I was in the zone for a very fit person my age.  Apparently, I am very fit.  Or, I am not very fit (only moderately fit) and I was working too hard.  Niki's HR is seeing similar improvement.  (My HR right now, more or less at rest, is 88 bpm.  So, I'm not a well conditioned athlete yet.  Actually, that's a very bad RHR.  Maybe blogging is more stimulating than I thought.  Or, I am in terrible shape and it's a miracle I survived today's run.)

Marathon Training Day 23

3 miles on treadmills in Vibrams at the Rec.

Phil
3 miles / 30:38
10.211 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 37:42
12.567 minutes / mile

Niki shattered her personal best today.  BAM!  Way to go, Niki.

My treadmill was possessed.  It had a 30 minute limit and it wanted me to run 3 miles in those 30 minutes.  Well, so did I, but it was a bit overzealous.  I put it at 6 and it went at 6.6.  I thought, OK... I can do this.  NOT.  I dropped to a walk at .7 miles and caught my breath and worked out a side cramp.  When I started running again, I put it back at 6 and it went to 7!  I managed to convince it to slow the hell down to 6.3 or so and was able to run for a while longer.  I ended up stopping and walking 3 times (Niki only stopped and walked twice!) and pounded my way to barely beating my last time.  Had the machine not been trying to make me make up lost time by running too fast, I probably wouldn't have been so gassed and probably could have made it 3 miles in under 30 minutes.  Oh well, next time... i.e. tomorrow.

Marathon Training Day 18

3 miles downed at the Rec in our Vibrams.  That's right, Niki's arrived today.

Phil
3 miles / 30:41
10.228 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 40:20
13.444 minutes / mile

I got to 2 miles pretty easily at a 10 minute / mile pace, then took a 1/10 mile water break and then ran the last 9/10 at a 9:40 minute / mile pace.  I probably pushed a little bit too hard, but it felt so good up until the last quarter mile.  My left ankle started hurting (on the right side) and I got a nasty cramp in my side.  But I powered through (like a champ/idiot) and made it.

Niki put her Vibrams on as soon as she got them out of the mailbox and she didn't take them off until just now.  We went grocery shopping before running (saw my advisor at the store) and she wore them while we shopped.  She was pretty excited to have them, finally.  She liked running in them quite a lot, too.

We both posted our best times yet.  Niki is getting close to breaking 40 minutes.  I probably still have a little ways to go before I break 30 minutes.

In related news, we have been exhausted lately.  Also, I'm reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Great book.

Tomorrow is rest (yes, please).

Marathon Training Day 17

3 miles downed at the Rec.

Phil
3 miles / 33:52
11.289 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 40:59
13.661 minutes / mile

I ran on an elliptical because my left knee was bothering me today.  Niki rocked out on a treadmill and is showing some nice improvement in her pace.

I think I might bring my Vibrams with me tomorrow and run/walk in them.

Marathon Training Day 16

On the first day of our third week, we ran 3 miles.

This morning, we got to the CC before it even opened (we walked through something near 4 inches of snow) and had to wait a couple minutes for someone to come unlock the door.  The staff recognize us now.  Dedication!  Results:

Phil
3 miles / 34:15
11.417 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 41:26
13.811 minutes / mile

That is Niki's fastest time yet on a treadmill.  I didn't beat my best time, but I ran the entire way, only stopping once for a water break.  So, that's an accomplishment.

Niki has her last qual tonight.  She'll be missing Lost.  I will not be missing Lost.  I will be torrenting it the second it is available online so Niki can watch it tonight.  It is imperative that Lost be seen the night it airs or else the episode will be spoiled.

Tired.

Marathon Training Day 13

Lucky Number 13.  We ran '07 miles today!  WHOOP!

We ran on the treadmills at the CC.  We went at about dinner time for normal people, so there was no one there.  And then, we monopolized the treadmills for the next...

Phil & Niki
7 miles / 102 minutes
14.571 minutes / mile

That is a faster pace than our 6 mile run last week.  Quantifiable Progress, WHOOP!

At the beginning, Niki was feeling not quite up to it, but then she rallied and finished strong again.  She needs a couple miles to warm up.  I like running at Niki's pace; it's not hard for me and I feel great during and after the run.  Our current pace is slow compared to our goal pace of 12.5 minutes per mile, but we still have a lot of time left to get there, so we're not worried.

Our goal pace for the Geist Half Marathon is 13 minutes per mile.  That's a fairly long way off from where we are now, though.  7 miles at a 13 minute mile pace would take 91 minutes, 11 minutes less than our current time.  Our current pace is 4.1 miles per hour and our goal pace is 4.6 miles per hour.  On the treadmill, the speed is measured in miles per hour and when we run at Niki's pace, we run at 4.7.  Right now, Niki can only run about a half mile at that pace.  A ways to go...

Niki ordered her Vibram Fivefingers today.  She got the Pink KSOs.

Tomorrow's training is cross training: Wii Fit and some walking!

Marathon Training Day 11

Today, we ran 3 miles.

My right calf no longer hurts much at all.  My left calf, on the other leg, still is sore.  Mom recommends an anti-inflammatory and an ice-pack to combat the probable inflammation which is causing the pain.

We ran at the CC, which was unexpectedly empty tonight.  Niki ran all 3 miles on the elliptical and I did 1.5 on the elliptical before deciding it was not enough of a workout for me and switched to the treadmill which was probably too much of a workout for me, given the state my calf muscles are in.  Results, ho:

Phil
3 miles / 35:09
11.717 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 36:00
12 minutes / mile

I am offsetting the 300 calories I burned while running with another 500 calorie snack (the same as last night).  +200 calorie run, whoop.  If I actually manage to get fatter while training for the marathon, I am going to write a book and make tens of dollars teaching people with fast metabolisms how to gain weight despite exercising.  Tens of dollars, I tell you!

I am going to go ice my calves now. 

Tomorrow, we rest.  Amen to that.

Marathon Training Day 10

Phil here (Niki is making Blueberry Bran Muffins).

Today's training: 3 miles.

My calves are KILLING me.  The mile and a half I ran yesterday in the Vibrams is to blame, I think.  Apparently my calves were not up for that level of activity and now they are letting me know in agonizing detail how they feel about my (mis-)treatment of them.

Oddly (or, maybe not), it hurts very much to walk, but it hurts very little to run or jog.  So, I ran on the treadmill today.  Bad Idea.  I am hobbling around like an old man right now.  And, we have to run another 3 miles tomorrow.  I will need to find a way to do an equivalent cardio/endurance workout to running that will not be murder on my calves.

We ran at the Rec and we saw that they are asking students to try out new demo cardio equipment so we went to check it out and found a nice quiet room of brand new high tech cardio equipment.  There were touchscreens on the machines.  You could watch TV, plug in your iPod, or do really nifty visualizations of your stats while running.  It was awesome.  The user interface on my treadmill was not yet finished and I managed to get myself to a screen which did not allow me to return to the main stats screen with all the nifty visualization options.  Oh well, it was still pretty cool.  Niki ran on an elliptical machine again.  Here are the results:

Phil
3 miles / 34:27
11.483 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 36:30
12.167 minutes / mile

To stave off weight loss, I have resolved to make my runs calorie neutral.  That is, to offset the calories I burn during a run, I eat an equal or greater number of calories as a snack after the run.  Tonight I burned just over 300 calories so when we got home I ate some yogurt (100 cal) and a glass of chocolate soymilk (200 cal), a granola bar (140 cal) and blueberry bran mini-muffiin (60 cal), for a total of 500 calories or +200 taking the run into account.  On top of that, we had pizza for dinner.

Finally, having the iPod shuffle was nice during the run.  I need to put more workout appropriate songs on it.  Deathcab for Cutie and Owl City are not exactly conducive to pumping oneself up.  A pretty awesome thing happened at the end of my run: I had 1/3 of a mile left to go and I was not feeling like running but then Disorganized Fun by Ronald Jenkees (longer album version: here) came on and I rocked the last 1/3 of a mile to what is probably my favorite jam right now.

Tomorrow: 3 miles.

Marathon Training Day 9

This morning we went for a 3 mile run at the community center.

Phil
3 miles / 40 minutes
13.333 minutes / mile

Niki
3 miles / 36 minutes
12 minutes / mile

I wore my Vibrams today and they rocked.  My calves are going to be killing me for awhile, but eventually they'll stop complaining.

When we got to the CC there were already 2 girls in there so Niki and I ran on the ellipticals for a while.  Niki ran the whole way on the elliptical (ran is not the correct word, because ellipticals are nothing like running) while I moped and was grumpy and slowly ellipticalled my way to 1.5 miles over 25 minutes.  The next 15 minutes I spent running on the treadmill at a 10 minute mile pace in my Vibrams feeling awesome.

Bonus Round: My iPod Shuffle came today.  I got the silver 2GB version.  That's just over a day of music, certainly sufficient for a marathon.

Tomorrow is another 3 mile run.

Marathon Training Day 6

Today's training was a 6 mile run and we killed it!

Phil, here.  I feel great.  Niki was complaining a bit during the run, but she pulled through strong near the end.  We ran at the community center.  We had to wait about 10 minutes for the treadmills to open up and while we were waiting we listened to a podcast about the public option.  But this isn't a blog about politics, it's about wine and running.  Here's how today turned out:

Phil & Niki
6 miles / 89 minutes
14.833 minutes / mile

We ran today at Niki's pace so we finished at the same time.  Whenever Niki changed her treadmill pace, I matched mine to hers.  I had a real easy time today.  My muscles felt fine afterwards.  Niki felt like she was going to die early on in the run and her legs were quite sore afterwards.  But, she finished and she feels great now.

We're taking showers now and heading out to see The Opera Show pretty soon.  It'll be our first Convocations show of the new year and we're really looking forward to it.

Tomorrow's training is cross training.  We'll be doing some Wii Fit, lots of stretching and then going for a walk around Purdue Village.