Jpodz’s Blog

Towards the beginning of last week, I started to notice my ankle was beginning to send a sharp pain up through my shin. So I decided to give my training a rest for a couple days. After all, what could 3 or 4 days missed out of 10 weeks hurt? Well after the 4 days, I tried running on it again, and needless to say, nothing changed. I have now missed a whole week and a half of training and it still hurts to run on it.

So it looks like my marathon running days are put on hold, at least for now. I still want to run, but with Fall almost here and Winter peeking it’s evil little head around the corner, there is no way in hell I am running in the snow for 10 miles. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up a marathon next Spring, but for now I’m going to concentrate on healing this dreaded ankle pain and go back to hitting the weights harder than ever.

It kinda sucks, I really enjoy running. It gives me a chance to be on my own for an hour or so, which allows my to be alone with my thoughts. Just me and Judas Priest/Megadeth/Iron Maiden/Motorhead/Some other form of heavy metal blasting on my iPod. It’s a pretty good good ride.

Yesterday began my second week of training. I ran a, what should have been easy, 2 miles. I say it should have been easy, because if I had any common sense, I would have waited until the later afternoon to begin running. But, being the genius that I am, I decided that it would be alright to run at 3:00 in the afternoon when it was blistering hot outside. I’d say it was well over 100, but I’m not sure. I was still able to finish in under 20 minutes though, so that made me pretty happy.

Here’s my training schedule for this week…

• Monday: 2 Miles
• Tuesday: 3×12 Minutes, 2 Minute Walk Breaks
• Wednesday: 30 minutes Walking
• Thursday: 25 Minutes
• Friday: Rest
• Saturday: 8.5 Miles, 2 Minute Walk Breaks Every 20 Minutes
• Sunday: Cross-Training

Last week, I was able to complete 8 miles on Saturday in 1.5 hours. I’m learning a lot as I go along, but I found that I can push myself pretty far.

Everyone has one of those "Man, what a dumb thing to do…" kind of moments, right? Well mine was yesterday. If you take a look at my running schedule, you’ll see that I had to run for 20 minutes keeping at a pace of 9 minutes per mile, which would bring me at a little over 2 miles in 20 minutes. Well, I use a pedometer to calculate my distance because I usually run on a curvy road, which would be difficult to accurately judge the distance with a car. So after my run yesterday, my pedometer said I only ran 1.6 miles in 20 minutes, which is a terrible time.

So, needless to say, when I got home I was feeling pretty crappy because I had really pushed myself during the run. It took me a full 2 hours to realize that I forgot to change the stride distance on the pedometer. So, in layman’s terms, because the pedometer judges distance by my steps, and there are definitely less steps in running than walking for the same distance, I had an incredibly inaccurate distance reading on my oh-so-trusty pedometer. Good thing too, because I was quite upset that it took me 20 minutes to do a mile and a half when my best mile is 8 minutes.

Today is a rest day, and boy do I need it…

So I’m about half way finished with my first full week of training. Some easy runs here and there, even a light 30 minute walk yesterday to let my legs recuperate from the previous days. My training for this week has (and will be) like this…

• Monday: 2.5 miles at 11 minutes per mile.
• Tuesday: 3×10 minutes at 10 minutes per mile with 2 minute walk breaks.
• Wednesday: 30 minutes of walking.
• Thursday: 5 minute warm up walk, 20 minutes at 9-10 minutes per mile, 5 minute cool down walk.
• Friday: Rest
• Saturday: 8.5 miles with 2 minute walk breaks every 12 minutes.
• Sunday: 1-2 hour hike.

As the weeks progress, my training will become more rigorous. I’ll keep you updated. On a side note, I got myself a new pair of running shoes. My endurance has gone through the roof and my calves don’t hurt as much after runs. I’m now sporting a new pair of Nike Air Pegasus’ with a new found love for running.

Although I am training for a marathon, I found that running also helps with stress relief. I usually train directly after work, which leaves me feeling much more relaxed and tranquil than before. It gives me time to be alone with my thoughts and let them go as each foot hits the pavement.

I think I have finally found my niche…

Posted in City Of Trees