The Return of Ray

Last night I did an 8 mile run on the treadmill. I did the first four miles at 9:00 minute miles and the last 4 at 9:40 minute miles. I kept the incline at 1 percent to more closely simulate actual running conditions.

Everything about the run felt good. I ran it a little faster than my normal pace, but it seemed like I had just enough strength to keep going. Although I did take 1 minute breaks after mile 4 and 7. I felt tired the rest of the night. But it was a 'good tired' and made me realize I had worked out just the right amount. I've got a little soreness today, but nothing serious.

Tonight I'm thinking about a 7 mile run. I'm not sure how my body will react to 15 miles over 2 days, but it's going to have to get used to getting pushed a little more. Tomorrow is a rest day before the Saturday long run. I'm flying to Las Vegas tomorrow for work. I hope there is some place to run near The Strip. I hope running in hotter weather will go ok.

I had some slides made into jpg files for the History section of our company web site. One of the photos made me laugh. It was a picture of Ray, a former mechanic in one of our garages. Ray was a great guy. Always had a smile on his face, always had a positive disposition. And he was somewhat dim whitted, which made you like him even more. In the picture, Ray is hard at work with a huge smile on his face.

When I saw the picture it made me luagh and remember Ray. I knew I had to share it with the manager of the fleet. He and I have told Ray stories and enjoyed remembering his antics. Instead of just emailing the picture to the fleet manager, I went to his office after he had gone home and set his wallpaper to be 'Smiling Ray'. I'll leave for Las Vegas tomorrow so I won't hear about it until I get back. I wonder if the fleet manager will figure out it was me? I'm sure he'll be up for a few laughs and a few more Ray stories when I return.

The Fighter

Last night I went to the gym and did some elliptical. I went for 45 minutes and burned 806 calories. That was about 60 calories more than my 45 minute elliptical workout last week (I had the machine on a higher resistance setting and good tunes on the ipod).

It seems like the time I have the most difficulty running is toward the end of my long runs. By then I'm close to 3 hours into the training. So I'm not sure if 45 minutes of elliptical is benefiting my long runs? Maybe I'd be better off setting the elliptical on a low resistance setting and going for 2 hours? I have so many questions...I need to do some more reading. I wish there was an educated person I could ask.

It's time for the kick-butt motivational running song of the week. The song for this week is: Christina Aguilera's Fighter.

The song is about someone who has gone through a really crappy relationship. At this point I have to stop and say that the reason this song is motivational for me is not because I have been through bad relationships...I never have. L is the most wonderful woman in the whole world. She's not perfect. But she is great at all the important things. And the things that she's not good at really don't matter that much to me.

Do you remember that girl from high school who was really beautiful...and knew it? There is nothing worse than that conceded "I'm too good for you" attitude. That is sooo not L. She is humble, meek, gentle and puts other people before herself. And she is a 10 (on a 10 scale) on top of that. I'm the luckiest man in the world.

But despite being married to a great woman and never having a 'psycho chick' girlfriend, this song is still motivational. It starts out slow talking about how she's glad she has been through a lousy relationship because it made her a stronger person. The song builds until about 2:45 when it hits the part the runners of the world have been waiting for...

...but in the end you'll see, YOU WON'T STOP ME!"
I am a fighter...I ain't gonna stop...there is no turning back...I've had enough
(The song continues with the chorus)
Makes me that much stronger, makes we work a little bit harder, makes me that much wiser, thanks for making me a fighter.
Makes me run a little bit faster, makes my skin a little bit thicker, makes me that much smarter, thanks for making me...a fighter.

When I'm listening to this song (and nobody is looking) I like to lip sync the second line, "I am a fighter...I ain't gonna stop". It's positve reinforcement. It gets the blood pumping and gives me the power to keep going. People who've been through really dysfuntional relationships might grow bitter or callused when they hear this song. For me, it motivates me to be a better runner.

Fysical Phitness

I'm finding it's getting harder to motivate myself to run. I try to run right away when I get home from work, but last night I couldn't get motivated. I ate dinner with the family, and then "The Wife" left for a meeting. The kids went to bed around 8:30, so I could have done it then, but I chose computer time instead.

Finally, I looked at the clock and it was 11:00pm. I couldn't believe I had procrastinated that long. I was incredibly hard, but I managed to get my running stuff on and head out the door.

Once I was running I was fine. It was cool and cloudy with no moon or stars so it was difficult to see the road. As usual I didn't see even one car on my quite street. The run went well...especially the last lap when I kicked it into high gear. I ended up running just over 4 miles.

As I mentioned in a previous post, health benefits aren't the main reason I run, but it's nice to be healthier and more fit. When I started training I had hit 200 pounds for the first time in my life. Now I'm down to 179. Here's what I like the best about being more fit (from the bottom up)...

- My calves and legs are firm, they used to be squishy.
- My legs don't rub together in the shower anymore. I hated that.
- My size 34 pants fit again. (36's are too loose, but work with a belt.)
- No more 'Man Boobs'
- No more scary double chin

My goal has always been to do the marathon once, and then be done with running. We'll see if the health benefits are enough to keep me running past June 17th.

Sunday morning emergency

I ended up deciding to rest last night (Sunday). That means I've done almost nothing for 3 of the last 4 days (Saturday being my long run). Part of me is ok with the break because I'm starting to feel some non muscle knee and hip pains. They are not constant but they tend to be on the sharp side when I feel them.

So Sunday was a church service I may never forget. I went to the early service because I needed to do an announcement about a missionary. Seconds before I was supposed to do my piece, the heard something across the aisle. A man said, "Hold on pastor". I looked over and I saw 2 people looking at Lester Olson. Then I heard him making a strange gurgling noise.

Someone said, "Call an ambulance". So I ran out the back of the church to a phone and called 911. The 911 operator said, "Is this an emergency"? I said "Yes, I'm in church and someone is having a stroke or a heart attack". He immediately got the ambulance on the way.

He verified the address, and then asked if the phone would reach the patient. I said no, but ran into the sanctuary and interrupted group prayer to get a cell phone. The 911 operator called me back on the cell phone and asked some questions.

They had taken him out into the foyer and Diane (who is a nurse) was performing (chest compressions) and John was doing the mouth to mouth. I heard someone say, he has a pace maker, your not supposed to do CPR if they have a pacemaker. I had no idea so I kept out of it and the nurse kept performing CPR.

The 911 operator asked if he had a pulse and if he was breathing. I asked, but they were so busy I didn't really get an answer, and the cop showed up moments later (maybe 5 minutes or less after the phone call) and continued the CPR. Soon after the paramedics arrived with a portable defibrillator. They used it 3 times, which I remember thinking was not a good sign. They continued doing CPR after using the defibrillator.

I glanced at Lester's face...it looked like he had no muscle control. It looked the way people look when they are in the coffin. I had seen enough, so I went back in the sanctuary to pray.

I heard he had a pulse when he left the church...but it was weak. The nurse said that his pulse was stopped for quite a while.

It was a very sad thing that happened but trying to look on the bright side, it was good it happened in church. The call went to 911 almost immediately. CPR was begun almost immediately. The police station is right across the street, so they go there very fast. Lester lives out in the country, so if it had happened at home (with just his wife there) it would have been worse.

Our pastor had to deliver the sermon after going through this difficult experience. He is an amazing man.

My prayers go out to Lester and the whole Olson family. Lester's son Mark Olson is Minnesota State Representative for district 16B.

Sweet 16

Saturday was my day to run the weekly long run (16 miles this week). I had planned to get an early start on Saturday morning, but I woke up to a hard steady rain. I waited until the afternoon before I realized it was not letting up. Since I was not interested in running the the pouring rain for 3 hours, I decided to go the the health club and run on the treadmill. I've run a lot of miles on the treadmill this past winter, but I stopped after reading that it was not as good as running road miles.

I got to the health club about 2:00. I set the treadmill to at 10 minute miles and started out. I also set the incline at 1 percent (I had never done that before) to make it more like 'real' running.

The are several things I decided I really like about treadmill running.

1. Hydration - Whenever you're thirsty you can grab your beverage.
2. Pace - You can set the speed you want to run and not have to think about if you're running too fast or too slow.
3. Surface - The treadmill is padded, so it's easier on the knees and joints.

I felt like the incline was working my calves more than normal. I decided there was no way in heck I was going to make it 16 miles straight through, so I decided to take walk breaks (the Jeff Galloway method). I would run 1 mile, then stop and stretch out for 30-40 seconds. At the hour breaks I took bathroom breaks. I'm not sure if it's cheating to take breaks, but it was the only way I was going to finish.

It felt good to finish. I felt a whole lot better than last weeks 14.5 mile run. And I finished the 16 miles in less time than the 14.5 mile run...even with the walk breaks. I decided I was dehydrated last week. I lost 4 pounds on the long run and that's not right. So this week I ate more before my run and drank Gatorade Rain during the run (my new favorite).

I was planning on doing some lite elliptical today, but laziness won out. I'm considering a 2-3 mile run yet tonight. I'm sore from yesterday, but I want to get in good training before next week.

This morning something tragic happened in church. I may never forget it as long as I live. I'll write about it next time.

Training Update

Last night I worked until 5:00, finished mowing the lawn, didn't eat dinner because I was already 10 minutes late for a meeting at church. After the church meeting I had 45 minutes before the health club closed. I lifted weights (leg extensions and hamstring) and started elliptical. But by then I only had 18 minutes before it closed, so I did 10 minutes of elliptical I decided to go home and see if I felt up to running 3 miles.

When I got home I was quite hungry, overate, and then was too full to run. In addition, my left knee and right hip were in pain from the elliptical and Wednesday's run. Uh oh, I forgot...I wasn't going to make excuses (see my previous post on excuses). Anyway, I decided to call it good after the elliptical and weights and rest up for the Saturday long run.

I'm getting butterflies about the run tomorrow. The 14.5 miles totally kicked my butt last Saturday. How am I going to run farther than that tomorrow? I feel like I'm right on the line of pushing myself too far. I'm ok for now, but if I run too much more/harder I'm risking getting injured. Yet, I don't feel I've trained enough to do the long run this week. Maybe my goal is beyond my reach?

No, I'm unwilling to give up yet. I will run Saturday until I physically cannot run anymore. Then I will walk until I can't walk anymore. Then I will call for help, because I'm not into the whole crawling thing :-)

Some changes for this week's long run:

- No lifting today (Friday)
- Start the long run earlier in the morning
- hydrate with Gatorade instead of water
- hydrate more frequently

On that last note, I think I'm going to get a couple small clip-on water bottles. I've been leaving water on the side of the road, but that means no fluids for 6-8 miles.

Hopefully my next update will be more up-beat than my last post-long-run update.

Excuses, excuses...

Yesterday I did 45 minutes of elliptical. The machine said I burned just under 750 calories. I keep wondering if I'm wasting my time with the elliptical or if it is beneficial?

Today I did 5.5 miles at just under 9:30 minute miles. It's hard for me to imagine keeping that pace up for an entire marathon...and still coming in over 4 hours. It was an absolutely perfect evening for running, 60 degrees with a slight wind. Otherwise the run was pretty uneventful, other than me almost pooping my pants (I made it home just in time).

Today while I was running I kept thinking about a slogan they have posted on the wall in our health club, "99 percent of all failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses". I'm not sure who did the statistical analysis on that one. I'm sure my college stats professor would be asking if there was a Control Group or if it was a Double Blind study. But I found it motivational none the less.

I don't want to be one of those people who has a habit of making excuses. Lord knows I could find plenty of excuses to stop this crazy endeavor (don't get me started).

Today I'm resolving not to make excuses. So if I do fall short of my Grandma's goal, I'll at least be among the very elite group of people (1 percent) who still failed despite the fact they never made excuses. :-)