moving right along, know thy corral

I don't feel completely better yet from my cold but I couldn't wait to get back to even my limited training...ran 10 miles today...

It was like I was expecting some great endorphin rush or something...

I suppose I got it a bit but nothing crazy really - even though my effort was difficult fighting the cold, soreness from a recent massage therapy session and the elements (dramatic wind, hills, the threat of rain, cold). It was a bit of a let-down but I'm glad I was able to do it - all at race pace too (9 minute miles) believe it or not.

I got my registration card in the mail today for the marathon. It's required in order to get your race number from the race Expo (read: place to get numbers and spend a ton of money on marathon shwag) using your registration card. I now have an official race number and a couple other things. I now also have a wave (orange) which tells me I start my race at 10 am, not 9:40 or 10:20am. I also know that my corral is "A" which helps race organizers funnel us, like cattle, into corrals when we are about to start the race (there are 5 or so for my wave).

Getting closer.

last chance to give!

http://www.active.com/donate/teamibdkids/jason_white_01

take a moment and give if you haven't already :) One week left!

argh... another cold?

i have yet another cold... just a nose/throat/sinus thing that prevents me from feeling anything other than tired and VERY hungry.

I'm trying very hard to give it yesterday and today to go by so that I can run again on Monday or Tuesday without fear of overtraining or hurting myself (because I'm sick).

I tried running yesterday for 3 miles... It took 2 of the 3 miles to actually get into a rhythm. And prior to mile 2 it was as if my abdomen wasn't my own... felt really weird...

Oh well, I guess it's better to have this silliness occur now than on race week...

Getting closer! I'm getting very excited :)

I visited the race Expo for the Denver Marathon on Friday and enjoyed seeing the vendors there - kinda got me pumped a bit quite honestly.

Have no fear, I'll be running again tomorrow or the next day in prep for the big event.

Meanwhile... I have been able to get drywall up on the ceiling of the new room I'm finishing in the basement...

um, oops

I read something today on the nyc marathon site about tapering and it was espousing that you should only run your race pace maybe once a week total from here until race day..... oops.

I ran a simple 5 miler today in 43 minutes... my race pace is 9 minute miles... the pace i ran today (while i THOUGHT i was running slower than a 9 minute mile .. was 8:45 minute miles...

oops...

I'll try harder to run slower from now on ;P

whoa, from 37 to 39 in 2 hours!?

This last Saturday I did my final long run prior to the tapering phase of my training.

It was about 15 miles and, remarkably, I was able to do 3, 5 mile loops all at faster paces each time (a progression run).

More remarkable was the temperature...

I started at 8am or so and it was 37 degrees... By the time i was done (an unspecified amount of time later) it had gone all the way up to 39 degrees.

Well, should NYC be really cold on race day... hopefully this will have prepared me. If not, I'm joining the Navy SEAL's...

TAPER!

Hallelujah, praise the lord... my taper has arrived, much like a christmas gift I waited for as a child.

Why is this so important to me? Well, there are a number of reasons:

- shorter runs
- more time with my family, as a result of shorter runs
- less emphasis on logging the high miles
- more emphasis, heavy emphasis really, on knowing what my race pace feels like so i can recreate it.
- milestone closest to the actual event
- even closer to wearing new running shoes (right after the race really)
- let the healing begin...

This last one is the most important really. The taper is not so much about reducing training in order to peak or something... that's just a nice side-effect. The taper is meant to allow the body (muscles, bones, cartilage, blisters etc.) to HEAL. I know that might sound silly right? Why would a runner, a theoretically in-shape being, need to recover from something? Is there a real injury that every marathoner has that we don't know about?

Well, to be quite honest, yes. Each marathoner who works hard and piles on the miles is doing some level of damage to their muscles at the very least. The good news is that all that stuff heals during "recovery" which might be a day off a week or two. The bad news is that your body never fully has time to heal enough to get back to where it was before. Believe me, this is true.

The Taper is meant to allow your body to take a break prior to the big event. Reducing weekly mileage by 10-50% has a DRAMATIC effect I'm here to tell you. Whole muscle groupings complain less (if at all) anymore. Seemingly insurmountable aches and pains reduce to mere inconveniences that sporadically pop up from time to time unexpectedly (if at all).

All that said, I'm REALLY happy to be tapering - but not for any of those silly technical reasons... I like it because I can be lazy (to some extent) and, in this case in life... it really pays off to be lazy :)

side project - which one?

Some of you know me well, some very well, some only a little.

I think that even the folks who know me a very little know that I'm happiest when occupied. I'm also very content when striving for seemingly unattainable goals. That said, I typically have a couple side projects going in my life.

- Most know that me and Lisa (the wife) have another kiddie on the way - a boy! We are due late January 2009.

- All of you know I'm running the NYC marathon on Nov 2nd.

- All of you know I'm soliciting donations for my favorite charity right now :)

- Not many know but, I also am finishing a basement room (previously an unfinished work room) into a full-on bedroom for guest - because the 4th bedroom will become babies room and we still need a guest room.

ON that subject - I've been able to do the demolition of what was in there previously, framed the room with 2x4 studs, replaced a window with an energy efficient one, relocated all the wiring and also partially insulated (as of yesterday).

While running provides some level of stress relief and balance, doing home improvement provides somewhat of an artistic outlet as well.

Not sure why I'm sharing this with the world per se - guess I'm just overly proud of what we are accomplishing as a family lately (I say this because both my son and daughter and also my wife are helping build this room).

busy, busy :)