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Last Sunday morning’s run was to be my last 20 mile run before tapering for the Philadelphia marathon. However, the surprise snow storm on Saturday froze overnight and turned my running course into an ice skating rink. I still did the 20 miles that morning and got an intense workout to my stabilizer muscles. But I didn’t feel it was quality given I had to decrease my pace to stay safe.
Since then I’ve been itching to do another long run, but scheduling it is tough because I’m now within the typical “three week taper” phase of training. So, I was able to fit it in at 3:30 am this morning, before work. I didn’t want to wait until Sunday because that is exactly two weeks prior to the marathon. At least this gives me a couple extra days of buffer.
I ran an average pace of 8:21, but my goal was to stay below 8:30. Only one of my miles crept above at 8:31. I think it was mile 15 and there were some minor hills involved. I didn’t use any gu because I wanted to get to that feeling of no energy and fight through it in the end… Mission accomplished.
I also used this run as an opportunity to test out RunKeeper’s audio cues. I’ve used them in the past, but the settings weren’t very granular. A recent update to the app allows me to configure the pace cues at quarter-mile intervals. This worked well this morning because I was reminded of my pace every .25 miles without having to check my Garmin 310 so frequently. If my quarter pace was too slow, I pushed a little extra in the next quarter to compensate.
I was worried that quarter mile pace cues would get very irritating after 20 miles, but they ended up being very useful. Thank you RunKeeper. I will use the same technique in the marathon to help me achieve my goal of 3:10.
So my taper has officially begun but i will continue to do speed work through next week. Tomorrow I will run the Conquer the 5k(s) at the ETS campus in Princeton. And on the 12th I’m registered for the Tough Mudder. I plan to run that pretty slowly, and have fun since it is just 8 days before the marathon. I wouldn’t want to injure myself for Philly 🙂

I ran 20 miles at Mercer County Park with Bill Scannon this morning. It snowed yesterday into the evening, even though Halloween hasn’t come yet! This caused more than 600,000 power outages across NJ including my home which slightly affected my punctuality for the 5am run.
So that made today’s training run tough, not because it was 20 miles but because the Mercer County Park bike/running path was frozen over with ice and snow. It was particularly difficult to see where the ice and snow were on the path at 5am, even with my headlamp. So my plan of running consistent 8:30s was crushed. I had to slow things down to about a 9:00 pace for the first ten miles because of the conditions.
This run was not ideal for marathon PR training, but it was a tremendous workout for all my stabilizer muscles. Even after ditching the path and running the roads, we still encountered lots of frozen spots, much of it black ice. When we met up with the rest of the Sunday morning distance runners at 7am in the East Picnic Area, we recommended they skip the path and stick to the roads. Once the sun rose things got a little better (note: a little, not a lot better). So we managed a few 8:30s and 8:40s in the last ten miles. This was to be my last long distance training run before the Philadelphia Marathon three weeks from today, but now I’m tinkering with the idea of a second long training run later this week.
Nice running with you today Mr. Scannon.

I have been pretty negligent with my site; I doubt anyone really reads it anyway. My last post is from May 2011… Life gets busy and there’s little time for writing updates. I’ve turned toward posting updates on facebook.com much more frequently than on my wordpress blog. It’s just easier since I have an app on my iPhone for it. I’ll have to see about changing that. Perhaps there is an iPhone app to make it easier to post.

It’s about four weeks until the Philadelphia marathon, and only three weeks until the Tough Mudder. My plan is to qualify for Boston 2013 at this November’s Philly Marathon. Based on my age, that means I now need a 3:10 finish to qualify. My performance at the recent Asbury Park marathon leaves me with much doubt that I can accomplish the task. Sure, there was wind and sand on the boardwalk, and most of the mile markers were missing. But really, how can one truly gauge how they will perform on marathon day when all the training is done at different speeds? Slow long runs, fast repeats, easy runs, etc. My last set of Yasso 800s averaged out to about 3:06, but that’s not really a very scientific indicator.

I ran a good 15 miles on the tow path with from friend Dimitri yesterday. The pace was 8:28, which I was happy with. Unfortunately, my kneecap is suffering some pain from that run. Hopefully today’s workout and stretching help it recover. I’ll use ice again tonight too. And my Tuesday morning yoga class always helps to set things straight. I really need to get in a speed workout tomorrow, and I’d like it to be another set of Yasso 800s.

5 mile run
Plyometrics (repeat each exercise once):
Jump squats – 30 secs
Run stance squats – 30 secs
Airborne heismans – 30 secs
Swing kicks – 60 secs
Squat reach jumps – 30 secs
Run stance squat switch pick ups – 30 secs
Double airborne heismans – 30 secs
Circle run – 60 secs
Jump knee tucks – 30 secs
Mary Katherine lunges – 30 secs
Leapfrog squats – 30 secs
Twist combos – 30 secs
Rock star hops – 30 secs
Gap jumps – 30 secs
Squat jacks – 30 secs
Military marches – 30 secs
Run squat 180 jump switches – 30 secs
Lateral leapfrog squats – 60 secs
Hot foot jumps – 60 secs
Pitch & catch – 60 secs
Jump shots – 60 secs
Football hero – 60 secs

Round 1 | Round 2 | Description
30 | 30 | standard push ups
1+9 | 1+13 | wide front pull-ups
15 | 10+11 | military push ups
5+7 | 3+11 | reverse grip pull-ups
25 | 18 | wide fly push ups
2+9 | 2+10 | closed grip overhand pull-ups
15 | 15 | decline push ups
22@20lb | 15@20lb | heavy pants
6+10 diamond push ups
20L@20lb | 25L@20lb |  lawnmowers
20R@20lb | 25R@20lb | lawnmowers
12 | 11 | dive bomber push ups
23@8lb | 33@8lb | back flys

Abdominal exercises – 25 reps each exercise in this order:

1) In and Outs (moving your legs in and out)
2) Bicycle
3) Reverse Bicycle
4) Crunchy Frog (In and outs with your hands out to sides)
5) Fifer Scissors (lying on back one leg hovering over the floor, one up and a 90 degree, switch scissor style)
6) Hip Rock and Raise (reverse crunch with legs in butterfly position)
7) Pulse-ups/Heels to Heaven-Reverse crunches with straight legs
8) V-up roll ups
9) Obliques Side Crunches
10) Leg climbs
11) Mason twist (Quick oblique twists, “punching floor” to each side with legs above the floor)

Warm up:
1) 100 Single-arm with paddle and buoys (50 x 2)
2) 100 Finger Drag
3) 100 Catch-ups

Workout:
8 x 50 (#1, #2 – :45 sec rest)
       (#3, #4 – :30 sec rest)
       (#5, #6 – :20 sec rest)
       (#7, #8 – :15 sec rest)

4 x 100 with paddles and pull buoy
        (#1 – breathe every 3 strokes)
        (#2 – breathe every 4 strokes)
        (#3 – breathe every 5 strokes)
        (#4 – breathe every 6 strokes)

4 x 100 Kick

50 x 2 Free
50 x 2 Finger Drag
50 x 2 Sprint

Swim down:
100 free

Jeannie and I went to Gold’s for the noon spin class on Friday. I tried to find a bike that was ready to accept my cycling shoes, but unfortunately I couldn’t. There must be a way to easily detach the foot strap component from the peddles on those spin bikes, but with no light and little time I couldn’t figure it out. Spin was good though, even in my running shoes — I liked the music mix. Class was one hour.

We did some brief calistenics: push-ups, abs, and core work on the stability ball.

Then I told Jeannie I would meet her at home and handed her the car key. I wasn’t sure how far it was, or which way I would run. It was fun just to start running and plot a course once I began. I took Grover’s Mill to Town Court, and followed it to Lawrence Station Road. Then I took Baker’s Basin Road before hopping onto the D&R Canal Path. I took the path as far south as it goes from Baker’s Basin, which ends at Mulberry Street in Trenton (just about 6.1 miles from Gold’s Gym). Then I headed to Olden Ave via New York Ave, and off to Ewing Township.

The distance when I reached my house was 8.75 miles, so I lapped the block one time to add another quarter mile. I felt great after the run, but my middle toenails still get bruised on longer runs.

Warm up:
1) 100 kick
2) 50 pull R
3) 50 pull L
4) 100 free

Workout:
12 x 50 kick (alternate, :15, :5 sec rest)
5 x 100 free (descending rest :45, :30, :15)
8 x 50 pull (:30 sec rest)
6 x 50 free (descending rest :45, :30, :15)

Swim down:
200 free

I) 300 yard warm-up routine; alternate through twice:
1) 50 with kickboard
2) 50 pull-buoy
3) 50 freestyle swim

II) 300 yard freestyle sprint; alternate through three times:
1) 50 easy pace
2) 50 at full speed without worrying about perfect long strokes

III) 3 x 100 Pull buoy (and hand paddles if you have them)

IV) 300 yard kick sprint routine:
1) 50 kick
2) 50 kick sprint
3) 50 kick
4) 50 kick sprint
5) 50 kick
6) 50 kick sprint

V) 200 yard freestyle swim down

Total 1400 yards

Routine for “Hard Core Abs” at the DJ Health Club:

1) Ball conversion, aka, Ball pass, legs to arms, with a small lift of the hips at the top, x20
2) Hold ball between straight legs and move side to side,touching the floor with feet, 10 each side
3) Lay on back, right leg bent, left leg up straight, crawl up the leg, hand over hand, x 20
4) Repeat #3 with right leg, x20
5) 20 normal crunches
6) Repeat 1-5

7) Roll outs on the ball
8) Side bends on the ball, bend the left leg, leaning left side on the ball x20
9) Switch to laying on ball, full situps on the ball, x20
10) Repeat #7, on opposite side
11) Repeat #8
12) Anotheer set of legs climbs on left leg
13) Leg climbs on right leg

14) Leg Scissors
15) Repeat 7 – 13

16) Supermans on ball
17) Reach backs on ball to touch back of the knee
18) Toe touches , left leg to right arm, overhead.