Saturday (10/15) was my longest long run yet at 12 miles and given that ever run thus far has been very different I was not sure what to expect. I experimented a little bit by having an english muffin and half a glass of OJ at home. My thinking was to get the body started with some easy to digest sugars and carbs. I think the experiment paid off since I felt good during the run and I was not that hungry afterwards, so this might be something I will try again for the next saturday run.

We went 12 miles down the Arizona canal, which was surprisingly busy with plenty of walkers and even teams training. The nice benefit to the other teams being out there was the increase of aid stations throughout the route. We carried our own water, something I am a little more comfortable doing, but it was nice to know the stations were there just in case. I ended up with a time of 1:36:56 which is about 8:04 minutes per mile.

This coming saturday we back down a little bit and go 10 miles, this marks the end of what I am calling the first stage of our training. This is our 6th week (out of 18) so I am basically breaking down the program into 3 stages. During the second stage we start putting up more miles during the week, as well as longer saturday runs. The third and final stage gives us the 2 20-mile runs before tapering down for race day. I set out to run ~ 8:00 miles and after 12 miles I am very excited to be on target and more importantly that I have managed to stay injury-free.

Our long run today was 11 miles and it just wasn’t a good running day. A group of 5 of us went out at about 8:30 and I could feel my body was in for a long day. I usually settle in after about a mile or two but today even at the turn around point, I could not get into a comfortable form.

At about the 6.5 mile mark, Bob and I dropped our pace and fell from the group, running by ourselves watching the group get ahead. We were talking about how we just didn’t have it today, I think we were just coming up with good excuses to make us feel better! With about 3 miles left, my head finally kicked in and my legs decided to pick up the pace a little bit. I knew I was slowing down and needed to pick up some time. I ended up with a time of 1:29 which is about a 8:05 minute mile pace. Not bad for not feeling it early in the run.

I created a new category on this blog specifically for these running posts, Sarah got a subscription to Runner’s World and they have great little bits of information which I hope to capture here for future reference. Let me know if rather not see these kind of posts.

This past saturday was my second long run that is part of the marathon training program. We had 10 miles down the canal (a 5 mile loop) and it felt good. I had a goo package before getting started since I did not have anything to eat and needed a quick sugar boost and another one at the turn around point. Given it was a little warmer than usual, I took a bottle of water with me to make sure I kept hydrated, however, carrying the bottle did not feel very comfy so I might have to invest in a water belt in the near future.

I ran with a group with five other runners all training for the same event. We had a very consistent pace running about 7:50 minute miles which was a little fast but my legs felt very good. At about the 2 mile mark, I had to drop off the pace of the group since my tummy was asking for some attention. In any case, I am not necessarily intimidated by the 20 mile run which is a few weeks away (first week in December).

Our weekly tuesday/thursday runs moved away from the canal since it was getting dark much earlier and people were still out. We are now running along a golf course/park in a trail that is shared by walkers, joggers and bikers. Needless to say things got a little crowded in some of the turns. This greenbelt has a few up and downs so it is a little harder to keep a good pace. I would expect this is a little more realistic to the conditions we’ll see during the race so I welcome the change. This weekend our long run consists of 11 miles, my goal is to finish with the group this time around.

We went to our running group meeting at 6:30am for our weekly long run. The nice thing about it is that they setup aid station(s) through the route which makes a difference when you are going for a few miles. So today we went for a nice 9 mile jog which put me over the 1 hour running mark. I ran the route with the group for the majority of the 9 miles in 1:15:00 which keeps me within my ~8 – 8:30 minute pace.

We went to go get breakfast afterwards and came home to crash! We are now laughing because I really don’t remember when it was the last time that I ran 9 miles just for the fun of it. This is about 1/3 of the 26 miles and I feel good about where I am today as far as my fitness. I have 3.5 months to knock out the remaining 18 miles ;o)

First rule about running club… sorry, not the right way to start this off. Today we attended our first group run with the group that meets at the Scottsdale Running Company. This week is the official start of our training schedule so I put in 3 miles yesterday and ~6 miles today. Funny how a long day at work can be so motivational in these cases.

I ran with a couple of guys at a pace of about 8:00-8:30 miles, which is the range that I would like to run the race at. I will make a final decision in the next couple of weeks as I have put more miles and maybe after a long Saturday run. It was a nice feeling to be running with other people and Sarah also found the experience to be pretty motivating as well. She stepped it up a notch at went about 4.6 miles! The group meets Tuesday/Thursday/Saturdays and quite a few people are expected for the Saturday runs as the marathon date gets closer. Regardless, I think we found the motivation that we needed to make sure we meet our mileage.