Getting Close

We are getting close. Counting this Saturday we are eight weeks away from the big day! It is a good thing as the weeks are seemingly a little long with all the training. With that said we did manage to get in our run on Sat. It actually felt wonderful, my body had recovered from last Saturday's run and with a distance of 12 miles is seemed like an easy morning. I ran with the TNT group this morning, actually just with a friend as everyone in the group is running or walking different distances and paces. We completed the 12 miles with an average pace of 9:32. If felt pretty good as we ran the hills part of our running course. It was a cool and crisp morning, wonderful to run without the humidity that has become a part of so many of our runs. Ron also completed his 12 miles. He is battling a sore hip but still managed to complete the miles in about the same time. Hopefully some stretching will help relieve some of the discomfort so he is able to run a little more during the week.
We are still training during the week and amazingly I was able to complete much of the schedule even after the long 20miles last sat. This week I logged about 30miles. It is crazy what your body is able to accomplish with proper training.

WE DID WHAT??

YES, we did our first 20 mile run this Sat. I am so glad it is over with. For those of you who have visited us or know the area we ran basically all the way from our house to downtown and back. We ran the west side of the river due to construction which made for a big hill on our way back. I have to admit I walked at that point, about mile 15 and I was about done at that point...not a pleasant sight, I was breathing so hard I think the walkers who WALKED past me were wondering if I was going to be okay. We ran with our neighbor and her running group, they did a great job putting out water and Gatorade along the path, about every 3 miles there was at least a drinking fountain or their water stops. The stats are as follows, a total of 22.5 miles, 3hours and 50mins, average 9:50running time. We ran walked the last 2 miles or so back to our house. Ron and I ran together as the kids were with a sitter. It was great running together, no I didn't get too crabby at mile 15. We took four Gu's along and one bag of running beans and ate all of it. I think we are going to need more the longer we go. The GU's tasted so good the longer I ran, it became half my motivation for the last 6 miles.
After the run Ron sat with the hose to try and cool off. We started the run at 8:30, later that our normal Sat runs, I was not used to running in the noon sun. I actually enjoyed a nice cold bath, always seems like such a crazy idea but it always feels great. Ron made it to the bed and then his stomach kicked in. Sad for him he spend the rest of the day and evening running back and forth from the bathroom, he just couldn't hold anything down. Crazy, as we really watched fluid and energy replacement during the run. The good news is that there were no huge blisters or big muscle pulls. Besides for some very sore legs, stiff hips I think we are both going to make it through this weekend okay.

Mapping Tulsa Running Trails

With my Garmin 305 GPS running watch I have enjoyed collecting the data; pace, heartrate, and the GPS data. With a fitness program SportTracks http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/ you can upload my runs, biking, and canoeing data. Then you can look at your splits and other graphs. Also with my GPS data I have used it with my GIS program ArcView to make maps of the trails of Turkey Mountain.

Today I got a call from Norman with the Tulsa Running Club http://www.tulsarunningclub.com/ to map some maps of the Tulsa area running trails; River Side, Lafortune, Creek Turnpike, and others. I am thinking about using GoogleEarth and GoogleMaps to map the trails and other features. Below is the a test map of Lafortune Park.

View Larger Map

MUD ROCK AND HILLS RACE

It turned out that the weather from hurricane came through mostly on Sat and we awoke to a beautiful morning. The humidly was gone from the air, the sky was a crisp clear blue and Ron was out for his big Turkey Mt-Mud Rock and Hills run. The kids and I loaded up and made it to the course and had a lot of fun giving all the runner's high fives. They were all full of mud but most everyone had smiles on their faces when they saw the kids. Ron did great. He completed the entire 25Km/15.5miles in 2hr and 48min. The big thing was that although he was very tired at the end he was not sick-those of you who know Ron and his track record will understand. There was about 200 runners-some crazy ones running a 50km course. There was about a 2000 feet change in elevation through out the course so I think that Ron got more of a workout this Sat for his long run than myself. It is nice to change up the training with some races, always fun to get out and run a different course under different conditions. I was just glad I was not the one running in all that mud as ron fell twice, thankfully he was not hurt and is still able to continue on our marathon training.

AND RUNNIN, RUNNIN and RUNNIN RUNNIN...

So goes another Sat morning. I was up nice and early although it was hard getting up this morning. I ran with the TNT running group so we ran the usual route of riverside, finishing up with the turnpike path complete with hills. This is what I tend to run though-out the week as it is so wonderfully right by our house. The only problem is that it is starting to get a little old, my brain knows every little curve, hill and mileage. It was a very humid morning, one member of the group said it was 94% humidity and boy did I believe her. It rained a little mid way through the run and by the time we finished every piece of clothing was soaked. Today we ran 14miles at an average pace of 9:50 M/M. The first 8 miles we managed about a 9:40 and then edged the 10M/M along the hills-always hard completing a run with the hardest part of the course, I guess makes for good training. I am now enjoying snacking on the runner's GU Energy Gell, just as long as there is water in sight-vanilla bean being my favorite. Ron took today off and is planning on running the Turkey Mountain Tatur Run tomorrow morning. It is raining heavily and so on top of being very wet, he is going to be very muddy. Well another week down and only about 9 more to go. This marks the start of some heavy mileage in the upcoming weeks, hopefully the rain will subside, and we continue to be injury free.

Count Down

Including this Sat there is only 10 more Sat long runs until the Marathon. It is hard to believe-I think that I have been running/training for about 25weeks, almost half a year! Seems crazy but time just keeps marching on, and we just keep jugging along.
This morning marks the start of Ron and I's training together, yes we have been running together but always on some one else's schedule. Own friends marathon is about 1 month earlier so they continue to increase the miles. Ron and I decided to decrease mileage this week and set out our plan for the next 10 weeks. You would think this would be a good thing but Ron informed me that we may decrease in distance but we need to start picking up the pace on our long runs-GREAT!! (this is what I get for asking him to run with me!)
This morning I was up and running by about 5:45, there is something to be said about running by yourself on Sat mornings in the peace and quiet-take note this only applies to Sat's! I ran a little over 13 miles on our hilly course with an average of 9M/M. Ron ran the same course starting about 8:30 and completed the same mileage but at an 8:30M/M. We both felt pretty good, cool weather made for nice running, although it was a little humid by the time Ron made it out the door. Besides for the achy joints we continue to be injury free-I am thinking that some glucosamine might be in order for the last couple of weeks.
Our weekly training sessions remain relatively the same although they seem a little longer and faster than a couple of months ago. Thankfully, another Sat run is completed.

Current Long Run Schedule/Goals (made by Ron)

9-6 12mile 9M/M

9-13 15M 9M/M

9-20 20M 9:45 M/M

9-27 13M 9M/M

10-4 ZOO RUN-6M, possible additional evening run

10-11 20M 9:30M/M

10-18 15M 9M/M

10-25 TULSA RUN 9M

11-1 15M 9M/M

11-8 10M 9M/M

11-15 26.2 RACE DAY

LONG RUN

Yes, the training has been continuing. I have just been unable to fit in updates while on vacations. The big news is that Ron and I had our longest run to date. 17.5 miles we managed to run this past Thursday. We had to move around our schedule but managed to get in all our miles for the week. For those of you who know the area we ran from about 40th st in town out to Holland state park to the end of the pier-no we didn't jump off, and then back. It was not too bad until the end. Somehow I melted and just about everything gave out, sorry to say Ron had to bear the brunt of my frustration, thankfully he still ran with me later in the week, although I do slightly blame him as our pace was faster and somehow he convinced me to run an extra .5 miles. It is a great feeling to have accomplished such a distance but that is not what I was saying after running about 2.75 hours.
So we are back on track, unfortunately the weather is not. We arrived home to wind, cold and rain. Ron braved the weather, I hit the treadmill for eight miles...eight miles too long on a treadmill, but it felt great after being cooped up in a car with three kids for 12 hours!