Week 4: Two Miles Short

And so the marathon training continues. I fell two miles short of the weekly mileage goal, but all in all in was a pretty good week. I upped the long run to 17 miles. I feel like I'm within easy striking distance of 26.2 and I still have eight weeks to go until the October 17 warm-up marathon. My last two marathons I hit the wall and hard at mile 20. And let me tell you, there was nothing proverbial or metaphorical about it. My goal this year is to not hit a wall, or at least not let it hit me. I should have plenty of time this fall to prepare for a good performance at St. Jude in December. Here's my week:

Monday: 2

Tuesday: 9

Thursday: 6

Friday: 6

Sunday: 17

Total: 40

Week 3

Sorry to keep you waiting. Work is not leaving much time to blog. But all the same I am quite pleased to report the successful completion of Week 3 of Koach's plan. Here's how it went down:

Monday: 6

Tuesday: 8

Wednesday: 4

Thursday: 3 (8:17 pace)

Saturday: 2

Sunday: 16

I'm halfway through Week 4 and on target to reach the planned 42 miles. On another note, I all of a sudden dropped a couple pounds. I weighed 166 this morning, down from the 168-170 range. It is nice to know I am capable of losing a pound. I was beginning to wonder.

Week 2: Redemption at Sea Island

After failing miserably at following my training plan in Week 1, all went according to plan in Week 2. I completed the Koach-prescribed 38 miles!

Monday: 6

Wednesday: 8

Thursday: 6

Saturday: 16

Sunday: 2

Running the long run at Sea Island was awesome. Anita Beth ran eight miles with me. I'm really proud of her progress after last spring's stress fracture. We put in three or four or our miles on the beach. Atlantic Ocean beaches are so much better for running than those I've been to on the Gulf Coast. The sand is more packed and the slants to the water are minimal. There's nothing like listening to waves crash against the shore while you run.

The Island itself is so pristine and beautiful. It was a true joy to run down there. After our long run, Anita Beth and I enjoyed a 90-minute couple's massage in the Cloister Spa. Wow.

My only complaint about the whole weekend was that the restaurants were too good and therefore I ate too much, but I guess that's really my fault.

But seriously, I've got to start watching my calorie intake. I'm not losing any weight and that's crazy if I'm logging almost 40 miles a week. I cut cokes out of my diet a month ago and it had some effect. I'm hovering around 170 pounds and last week I weighed as little as 167 or 168. I'd like to get down to 160. After the weekend at Sea Island I was back at 170 this morning. It's time to cut something else out of the diet. I'm thinking it's going to have to be bad carbs. What are bad carbs? In my diet they are french fries, those silly little 100-calorie cookie packs that my secretaries keep stashed in the office kitchen, potatoe chips, and sweet tea. Oh yeah, and BEER! I may allow myself a Bud Light every now and then, but nothing more, and definitely no more Sam Adams (x2 in the Atlanta airport last night watching the Yankees-Red Sox) or Sierra Nevada's or Blue Moons. They are tasty, but not worth it.

There. Maybe now that I've declared it on the World Wide Web, I'll actually follow through and do it. I'll try to report back next week.

Week 1

Booooooo! That's what my fans would be yelling at me if I had any fans. The heckles would come due to my abysmal performance in the first week of my training plan. It was supposed to be a 36-mile week. I ran 22. I hope Koach doesn't give up on me. I have decent excuses. The work week was brutal, including Jackson to Corinth, an 8-hour trial and back to Jackson on Wednesday, followed by another drive to Selmer Thursday night. The traveling completely wiped me out. Eight hours of driving sandwiching eight hours of arguing with John Ferrell is no way to spend a Wednesday.

Monday: 4

Tuesday: 4

Saturday: 14

Despite by belly flop of a first week, I did enjoy being back on Highway 350 with my running buddies Greg and Lee on Saturday.

I will not let the week-1 failure deter me. Week 2 started today and I hit the pavement with gusto this morning. Bring it.

Buds