A Three Hour Tour

A week of running: October 13th through October 19th.

Monday
Rest day, no running just upper body workout.

Tuesday
In the morning I went to the gym and worked on leg muscles, focusing on exercises that specifically worked on running strength.  I bought a new book:

It's pretty cool, with lots of good workouts and a real effort at trying to explain why they work along with a mixture of mostly good and some bad science.  Its training programs focus on time running, not distance, and of course I'm all about the time now.

I also picked up this book:

No I'm not planning on running a marathon.  It had the word "Renegade" in the pre-title.  I'm  sucker for that kind of pitch.  Their focus is distance in their training, but I forgive them because the longest distance that they ask you to run is 16 miles which I could do in a little less than 3 hours at a 11 minute/mile pace.  I think I could hold that pace for three hours, I think.  This book also has realistic guide lines for pace, even for somebody as slow as me.

In the evening I ran for one hour on the treadmill at the gym while watching the Avengers on my phone.  I'm tired of music.  I'm tired of audible books.  I downloaded the Netflix app onto my phone.  I didn't want to watch anything too intense (the gym is public).  I had my Yurbuds and bluetooth device.  The guy on the treadmill next too me even watched, no sound for him - weird.

My son cooked dinner and I was late getting home.  He had to go to class but was kind enough to leave some food out for me.  I felt bad because Tuesdays and Thursdays are his dinner nights.  Those are the nights he is usually around to chat with.  I decided to make Tuesday night a fend-for-ourselves night and Thursday my rest day, in the future, so that I would for sure be around to hang out with my son.

Wednesday
I ran twice.  In the morning I ran an interval run successfully outside.  I had to approximate distance because I only allow my Garmin watch to show me time and pace.  Upon returning home I found I had run half mile (~800 meter) intervals with half mile recoveries for about 90 minutes.

Five of them with a little Progression run at the end.  They look fairly consistent too, which is good for me.  Interval pace averaged in the 8 minute/mile range which is really good for me. In the evening I did another 1 hour treadmill while watching the Avengers.  I had to race home from work to get this run in and then dash off to meet my wife at an "event" which included dinner and speeches.  Hanging out with my wife was the best part.

Thursday
I ran 1 hour in the morning skipping my usual strength building so that I would be home in the evening to visit with my son.  Next week it will be a rest day.  My son made scones and they were very good.

It's a good thing I went running in the morning, because that afternoon and evening (before scones) I had a pretty serious case of gastroenteritis.  Fortunately it wasn't so bad that I had to call in sick at work.

Friday
Still feeling the effects of my upset intestinal tract I didn't go for my morning 2 hour run.  This made me sad because even though I'm not running for distance, my Garmin told me I was on track for a 60 mile week if I could stick with the training plan of two runs on Friday.

I ran for two hours when I got home from work, but was not able to squeeze in the second one hour run.  I thought maybe I could manage that Saturday and get back on track.  My Friday afternoon run was supposed to be a tempo run at goal pace, but my beleaguered intestine was having none of that.  I was fortunate to run the time without interruption at the porta potty.

Saturday
I did a full body workout at the gym with an emphasis on strength training (weight lifting).  While I was lifting a woman came over and asked how many hours did I run on Sunday?  I see lots of people on my long Sunday morning runs, but didn't recall seeing her.  Nevertheless, I told her it depended on which week it was, but typically 2-3 hours.  In truth I had only managed one 3 hour run and that was mostly recovery pace with walking breaks.  I think I managed 12.8 miles.

After weight lifting I went up to the dreaded treadmill and knocked out an hour run time.  I never did manage that second run.

Sunday - The Three Hour Tour
For this, my second three hour run I had a mission.  I wanted to maintain a minimum of an 11 minute/mile pace.  If I could do this I could manage 16 miles, the most that the Hanson Marathon method called for.  Three hours is really the recognized time limit for any physiological gains in running.  I may have read one article that said 3.5 hours, but another said 2.5 hours.  Three hours seemed like a good compromise.

I took my water belt and 3 gels, including 1 Roctane to serve as my opening carb salvo.  I preloaded with toast and lardo followed by a banana shake.  I had my tunes set on my Fleetwood Mac Pandora channel.

I went through all of my water and had to stop to refill both.  I almost finished off the refills also.  I didn't bonk, or hit the wall, but my hips were definitely feeling like cramping as I came in the final mile.  I even manage to sprint the last 200 yards.  My average pace was 10:35 minute/mile and I ran 17.22 miles.

I still don't want to run a marathon.  I probably could with a little more training, maybe managing a sub-5hour effort, but nah.  I definitely feel prepared for the half-marathon.

Culinary

 Bottomless Pit from the night before, a blend of chocolate and coffee in a beer tipping the scales at 12% abv.  Served chilled, decanted and using a small sipping wine glass.  It was divine.

 Some cured salmon.  You can see the cure I used in the pan above.  It took the moisture right out of that salmon.  I removed the skin on this attempt.  I like how it allows for an even cure all around.

I didn't have bagels.  But I had whole grain sesame seed bread, toasted, with a veneer of sour cream and thin slices of the cured salmon.  My new favorite pre-running breakfast.