Shint Splints, Vacation, and new Sneakers!

Hey guys! Since my last blog I had been taken it more or less easy.  I have been experiencing shin splints in my lower left leg and it has been pretty  painful.   Since my last writing I had run twice prior to going on vacation. The first run was 4.8 miles around the lake.  My splits were about average for me ,my first mile being the best of course and then I tapered off through the rest of my splits.  They looked like this;

Mile 1 – 9:04

Mile 2 – 10:37

Mile 3 – 11:35

Mile 4 – 12:23

I did finish 2 yards ahead of the last trek along the lake with an average pace of 11:18.  My second run was on July 6^th during my lunch break from a detail (extra paid road job).  My intention was to run a quick 3 miles but the shin splints were really painful so I only went 1.6 miles.  This was by far the worst workout I have had in the last 6 months!

Next, it was a good time to take a short hiatus from running this week.  My shin splints have been feeling a bit better and I took my family on a vacation to the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  We had a great time.  Instead of running we got what I consider a lot of cross training in.  Here is what we did;

Monday (7/9) – We went to StoryLand which is an amusement park for kids.  My cross training on this day was dodging kids and parents, as well as getting miles of walking in over about 5 hours.

Tuesday (7/10) - We went to theLost River caves and gorges.  This time I had a back pack on with my youngest son in it who weighs about 25 lbs. (back pack weight NOT INCLUDED).  A ¾ mile hike up and down stairs and into caves is as much cross training as anything.

Wednesday (7/11) - We went for a about a 1.3 mile hike through some of the trails in Franconia Notch, NH.  Again I was wearing my son on my back and it was a great workout.

The rest of our trip was more relaxed and nothing I did could be construed or mis-construed as training!

I will be purchasing a new pair of shoes hopefully this week before my long run.  The shoes I currently own are Brooks and although they have been good to me they are old and have a lot of miles on them.    I am actually going to go to a ‘real’ running shoe store to purchase some new kicks!  You see, I have no idea what my gate is or whether I am an over pronator or an under pronator or any of the other myriad of factors that go into buying a new quality pair of sneakers.  When it comes to running shoes I am torn between New Balance, Reebok, Nike, addidas et al…  I am going to go see the Pro’s and let them help me out!

Feeling refreshed from vacation I decided to test out the shin(s).  On 7/14 I ran 3 miles which took forever.  I think I may have been a bit dehydrated as temps soared into the 90’s with what felt like 100% humidity.  It took me 39 minutes to complete the trek.  The next evening before work I ran again it only took 31 minutes for the same 3 miles.

As a novice runner I am finding it difficult not to over train.  I also have to take into account my different schedule compared to the 9 to 5ers (seethis blog for my career and schedule).  This all being said I have significantly improved from December (2011) when I decided to take on the challenge of running my first marathon.  I have taken on average minutes off my average pace! 

Until, next time, #keeptraining!

Getting stronger and stronger

As a novice runner I sometimes am afraid to challenge myself.  I get nervous about getting hurt or too tired.  Maybe it's just me protecting my body or my thinking that I can't run "that fast". 

This week I took those fears head on.  I started out  on June 23rd with a 4.4 miler which took me 57 minutes. Not my best effort but not terrible either.  The next day I ran 3 miles in 33 minutes.  After this run I felt pretty good but yearning for more satisfaction!  This is when I took the 25th off and on the 26th I ran an 8 miler which took me a dreaded 1 hours and 47 minutes.  Although, I felt great afterwords.  I accomplished my longest run of the season thus far.  As a more experienced and accomplished runner told me it doesn't matter how long it has taken you to run 8 miles because 8 miles is 8 miles.  I agree with her thinking.  this is also the time where I decieded to go for it and ratchet up my shorter runs

Next, on the 26th I tackled the lake (AKA the resovoir).  Man, I started out like a lighting bolt.  Now to put this in perspective a lighting bolt for me at this time is less than a ten minute mile.  In fact my first mile was 9:44!  I felt like a young sprinter!!!  My other splits were very good as well at:
Mile 2: 10:27
Mile 3:10:44
Mile 4:10:51.

What was really great about this run was that I was extremely consistent for the whole run.  The only time I fell off the pace at all was my last 8/10'ths a mile which is mostly uphill anyways!  Such a confidence booster to run such consistent miles at this early in my marathon training. 

Now as I have mentioned before my days off are scrambled about because of my work schedule.  I can't always have my long runs on Saturday's. In fact, my long runs will rarely be on the weekends! That being said I started my new week of training on Sunday.  It was Hot and Humid out and I decided that for my second full week of 'official' marathon training I would run a 3 miler.  Once again I felt fantastic.  In fact I can see how more experinced runners get addicted to this stuff.  I mean again I ran my fastest mile since High School!  My first mile was 9:09, my second was 10:17 and my last mile was 11:49.  Again the last 7/10th's of this particular track is uphill so I am not terrible disappointed with the last mile.  I would like to run it better, but that will come with time.

Today, I really wanted to run around the lake but my body is telling me to take a break.  Also, Hal Higdon who's marathon book I have read has really stressed rest days, so today is a rest day. I haven't decided about tomorrow yet.  We shall see how the day goes.  I am working OT during the day and back in at midnight and I have to sleep sometime.  Wednesday will probably be another double shift as well and Thursday is my short (or as my wife calls it my long) day.  Let's just see what this week brings.  Until my next blog you can follow me on twitter at 1st_marathon.
 
Nate

Training, consistency and blogging!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I am going to make an honest effort to blog some more.  After all many of us trying to reach a goal like to hold ourselves accountable through writing these blogs.  I am not going to do that.  I will be holding myself accountable on the street.  As a novice runner if I wait much longer to start training I will be WAY behind in the pack. 

My first Goal is to reach 25 miles in a week by the end of July.  I really need to consistently log miles.  I ran 4.34 miles yesterday and as soon as my other half gets home from the market I will log some more miles today.

I am loosely using Hal Higdon's novice 1 marathon training program.  Since I have already been training since December I feel that I want to try to get over some hurdles that have been keeping me back.  My IT band has been giving me problems on my long (10+) mile runs.   This is not an excuse to not go on long runs.. Anyone who has had pain in their leg to to an IT band issue knows what I am talking about.

Finally, I am asking you for feedback. Are my blogs well written, inspiring, dull, boring or whatever.  Please follow me and leave a message here on twitter .  As always KEEP TRAINING! 

In "Running Purgatory" for another few days.

If you have read my last blog you know that I had minor surgery on Tuesday. The Doctor has put me out of work and out of running for 7 - 10 days. I am gauging my progress and would really like to believe that I will be back to work on Monday and running by Tuesday. As of the writing of this blog I am still sore but much better than the previous days. It is difficult to occupy my time without work, OT, and running. I have played a lot of PS 3 with my 4 year old. Who by the way is getting increasingly good at the Cabela's hunting game! I have also discovered "Words With Friends" and that has helped me bide some time. It has been great to spend more time with the kids and wife but let me tell you I am ready to get back to work. By work I mean actual work and training 'work'. It is frustrating to have all this time on my hands and not be able to use it productively. I mean, I guess getting healthy is productive. I have had my fill with the News and ESPN and just want the Super Bowl between my New England Patriots and the New York Football Giants to come already! In fact, the quicker that gets here the quicker my ability to work gets here. I have made so much progress since December and am a little worried that I will take some big steps back but I guess we shall see. As for now I am in "running purgatory" at least until Tuesday. I will keep you all updated!

Good News, Bad News and Taxes!

 My second blog focuses on my inability to run for the next 8-11 days.  Unfortunately, I am going through minor surgery tomorrow and that is actually the good news. Also in the good news  category is spending more time with my two boys. I am really 'bummed' about not being able to train during this time because I should begin to be building more mileage by now. That is the bad news and it is just something that just has to be done! 

In my Profession as a Police Officer I have to be at 100% percent and ready to go from 0 to 100 in a moments note.  We have NO light duty clause and if I am chasing down a 'bad guy' I don't want to get hurt or not be there for my fellow Officer's.  That being said I normally hate to miss work and tend to go back as soon as possible.  In the past, I have gone back to work way to soon virtually ignoring what ever the good Doc has had to say. This time however I am training for a marathon and I would rather be out temporarily than out of training all together.  While I'm out I am going to be mentally preparing for the journey that lies ahead of me.  Will be watching some inspiration Mohammad Ali and Michael Jordan YouTube.com videos.

Also,  since I will be taking some time off of training and work I must occupy myself with something productive. Therefore, I will be gathering all my tax info so that my "tax guy" can process my documents and get me my refund!

OK, since this is a running blog I am going to also let you know what races that I am registered for thus far.  I will be running Boston's Run to Remember on May 27th.  If I feel good a week after I will run the Worcester, MA half marathon on June 3rd.  Worcester will be a mid-week or "game day" decision all depending on how I feel and how my body reacts to the Boston Half.  Last time I ran Boston I felt really well afterwards. I am hoping for a similar result! In between Boston and Worcester I am hoping to run a few 5/10k's. This will get me in better shape an hopefully continue my motivation.

When I become de-motivated I listen to this video on YouTube.com and I usually get a ton of motivation back.  As I write it is 3:45 pm on Monday and I have been up since 10:00pm on Sunday.  Watch the video and you will see why I am STILL AWAKE and STILL MOTIVATED! 

By my next entry I will have had my surgery and will keep you updated on the recovery! I suspect I will get some Play Station 3 time in with my oldest son. 

Please follow me on twitter at 1st_marathon !

Until next time,

Keep Training!

Who is this new blogger? Husband, Father, Police Officer and all around busy guy!

So your reading my blog. Thanks for coming.  My first blog will give you 'some' background on who I am both personally and professionally.  Professionally, I work as a Police Sergeant in a smallish Town outside of Boston, MA.. I have been a Police Officer since 2001 and my journey has taken me to many places both good, bad and disgusting!  I am not a "war story" blogger and for that most of my professional work life will be left out of my blogs.  The only exception is that it frequently interferes with my personal life and it will I will reference it there.  For example; I work an odd schedule to most of you out there.  I get weekends off once every six weeks.  So sometimes I will be referring to my "weekend" and it will not be Saturday/Sunday!  Second, I don't work 9-5.  I mean sometimes I do but that is usually overtime for me affectionately known as Oscar Tango (phonetically spelt out) or simply OT.  My 'normal' work days are two midnight to 8am and two 4pm to midnight shifts over a three and a half day span.  Sounds fun right?  It is definitely difficult and between my second midnight to 8am shift and my first 4pm to midnight shift I only have 8 hours off.  This is known as a "short" day. My wife calls it a long day for obvious reasons.

Personally, I have been married since May of 2005 to a supportive, loving and caring woman.  I have two great children Michael (4 years) and Benjamin (7 months).  In 2010 I ran a half marathon in Boston, Ma.  That was the healthiest I have ever felt but I also struggled during my 13.1. It took me 2:38 to finish. I struggled for many reasons. One of those was that I was in a serious job related motor vehicle crash in August of 2009 and it has affected me to this day.  Although I am much healthier now, I still feel the remnants from this crash.  I had to take time off of running to really focus on getting healthy.  In December of 2011 I have finally felt well enough to start training again.

Now that I am training I have set a goal of completing a marathon. I have always set BIG goals.  Why, well it's in my nature I guess.  I have decided to run a marathon. I know, wow, a freaking marathon.  It is going to be ALOT of training and I understand that.  On October 28th, 2012 I will be running in the 36th annual Marine Corps Marathon.  While doing this I am going to be running to support the Semper Fi Fund.  YOU can help support my mission by donating to this cause here. People have asked me why have I chose the Semper Fi Fund?  Those who know me are aware that I have never even served in the Military.  Here is my answer.  They (the military) go to foreign lands, to places I have never heard of to protect US from harm.  In protecting us, they are protecting my family. They often get hurt like Lt. Cameron Kerr.  Lt. Kerr lost his leg while serving in Afghanistan. His military buddies call it a "paper cut" cause it was "only one limb". Seriously, I can't fathom this.  Lt. Kerr has an amazing attitude despite his disability.  I am also running for Semper Fi Fund in the memory of 1st Lt. Scott Milley. 1st Lt. Milley was an Army Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan.  Finally, one of my best friends son's is currently serving on a CH53 Sea Stallion (helicopter) as a mechanic/gunner in Afghanistan.

Now you know the reason why I have chosen the Semper Fi Fund.  Please stay tuned for future updates on my training.  My goal in the marathon right now is to finish. In finishing I want to beat the bridge! Beating the bridge for those of you that don't know means getting to the 20th mile in 5 hours which is a 14 minute pace.  If I don't get there in 5 hours they (event organizer) bus you to near the finish line.  I will BEAT THE BRIDGE!

Till next time,

Nathan