Weak 3 post

• 'Weak 3' workouts were ok. I had a busy travel week and ended up taking Monday and Tuesday off. I ran 2 miles (speed) workout with the dog around the park, went to the gym Thursday, I ran 4 miles Friday at a good pace, and then the gym again Saturday.
• Speaking of the gym, I'm trying to make my two gym days a week more of a total body workout. I experimented today by doing a light weight high rep leg work out in the middle of my usual upper body workout I had been doing. I added kettle bell squats, kettle bell lunges with a twist, and dumbbell side lunges, My hamstrings are sore already.
• Tomorrow will be a long run of 6 miles for Father's day. 

Long run week 2

• First off just got my new shoes this week,  Hoka Bondi 4, and I am super happy with them. I did a short run Friday of 3 miles to break them in a bit first. On Sunday I had my long run to do and was wondering how it would go. I ran 8 miles and they felt great over my previous shoes I had been running in. They are 4 ounces lighter and feel a bit softer too. I actually ran my 8 mile run today 15 seconds faster per mile than my 6 mile run last week. Speaking of pace....
• Once again I tried mentally thinking about slowing down on these long runs, but I feel like my legs just have muscle memory and I pretty much slip into my normal pace for most of the run. I think that's going to be the challenging part of my long runs.  
• Already feeling sore from the long run a few hours later, tomorrow looks like a good rest day. 

High Altitude running #2

• I was in Lake Tahoe this week for work and needed to do one run during the 3 days I was there. I decided to do my cross training day at the hotel gym on Monday since I was pretty sore from my long Sunday run. The next day I had some open time in the afternoon so I ventured out to do a short run. The temp wasn't bad in the 70's, but it turns out I was going to be running at 6100 feet. I barely made it 2 miles. I did a lap from my hotel around a small college nearby that had a bark dust trail on the back side. It had a nice hill up to the college where I had to stop both times I went by. 
• After my run I proceeded to have a nice cough for the next hour or so and drank a lot of water. I travel to Rocky Mountain States quite a bit for work so I'm hoping my runs there eventually get easier or at least longer the more I go. 

Training Run #4 First long run

• Sunday was my first long run to do. It was 6.2 miles (10k). I finished it about 40 seconds per mile slower that I typically would run 4 miles. At first it was hard to mentally make myself slow down, but it paid off in the last 2 miles of the run where I don't think I could have made myself go faster anyways. Above is a picture of Oaks Bottom Wildlife refuge, there is trail that follows the top side of the wetlands. I always include the Bluff trail on my long runs. It gets me off running on concrete for 2 miles and I enjoy trail/ forest running rather than sidewalks and cars making right turns that never look who's coming from their right and blocking the street. I know every runner feel this pain. 
• The run ended up being pretty hard. I was sore and limping around afterwards but by morning I was ok. I think this might be how it will be for a while until I get use to increased distances. 

TRAINING RUN #3 and Cross Training Day

• Friday due to kid/work schedule just did another speed workout about 2 miles around the local park with the girl in the picture above. This is her reward towards the end of the run as we're leaving the park. 
• I also ordered new running shoes. I like my Hoka Stinson Tarmac which I hit 100 miles on this week but, are a bit heavy. I'll keep running with them in the rotation but drop them down to be used for tempo runs or recovery day runs. I just retired my Hoka Mafate for the summer. They have a pretty aggressive out sole and are a great trial/winter running shoe. I break them back out in November when the rain comes back regularly. Anyways I ordered Hoka Bondi 4s, They are several ounces lighter than both my current Hokas and am looking forward to running in them. I have bought my last 3 pair of running shoes from Running Warehouse. It's a great online running store. They usually always have a coupon online you can find to save 10-15% off and they have free 2 day shipping. The best part is your can return shoes you have run in!!!! I haven't had to do this yet but it available. I've never heard of this anywhere. You have up to like 90 days to run in them. I've have been burned before by getting 'fitted' at a running specific store in town. All shoes seem great jogging around in a store. I barely got 10 miles on them and hated the shoes I bought. Now they have been regulated to walking the dog to the park shoes.
• Saturday's work out was Elliptical runner for 10 minutes and upper body weight lifting: 10-12 reps set of 2 Dumbbell bench, 1 arm rows, military dumbbell press, dumbbell curls, one armed triceps dumbbell raises. Then repeat back on elliptical for 10 minutes and lifting again. 

Training run #2

Running in Denver

• I was 'suppose to run' Tuesday but it was 93 degrees out and I really didn't feel like dealing with the heat and elevation. When my friend called to see what the plan was after work he opened with 'you really don't want to run today do you?' , I was like 'Thank god, I didn't want to run in this heat'. So we went out to dinner and drank beer instead. Success! 
• I did have a good conversation with my friend before dinner about marathon training. He's run dozens of marathons competitively over the years, so knows a thing about training. He said marathon training is like training for a 10k but with 1 long run on the weekend. I was starting to over think the whole 'what training plan should I folow?!?!?!', and realize it's not that complicated and just have to build up my mileage on the long run week by week. 
• Basically I'm going to follow this plan: Runner's world Marathon less is more training plan.

• Wednesday when I got back to my hotel after my day I had no excuses and had to go for a run. It was slightly cooler (80) so it shouldn't have been as bad.This run kicked my butt. It was suppose to be a 3 mile run. I had to stop twice, I could not catch my breath. I did a 5 mile run earlier in the year here and it knocked me down 30 sec a mile and was hard but I didn't need to stop. 2.5 miles later when I got back to the hotel my neck and back of my head was actually throbbing. I drank a bunch of water and then developed stomach cramps for the next 24 hours. After doing research on Web MD apparently I had heat exhaustion, elevation sickness, or food poisoning. I now suspect the last one. DAMN YOU FREE BREAKFAST BUFFET!!!!!

First: blog, training run, marathon.

Goal: Portland Marathon October 3
Quick run down of me and where I'm coming from for first post:
1. Training for first marathon, previously furthest run was the Seattle Half Marathon 15 years ago (2000).
2. I'm now 40 years old with a job that travels 3-4 days a week and have 2 kids. So no excuses for no time to train right?
3. I'm 6' 4'' and weigh 240lbs. I've been running Cross Country and track since Freshman year in high school. I did run track at Jr. College and have stuck with 'distance' running as my main form of exercise since I was 15 yrs old. In the past year I've added weight lifting and elliptical runner at a gym for cross training and a way to reduce my mileage/impact on my feet because......
4. I am battling a Achilles/heel tendinitis issue in my left heel for several years. I'm sure I'll go down that hole through out the blog later on.

First training run: Today I did a speed work out of 2.2 miles 'fartlek' style. I ran 60 sec. faster than my current 'running pace' for 400m at a time with breaks for my short distance running partner, 7 yr old lab that's more interested in marking stuff, swimming, and chasing squirrels than running.

Next run: TBD? miles in Denver at elevation and 90 degrees with good friend and  past High School XC/track teammate. Wish me luck!