Yesterday I ran 3.1 miles again, using the same route as Monday. I ran the entire time, save for about 45 seconds waiting at a red light. I felt good by the end of the run. I walked a 1/4 mile to bring my heart rate down then did about 15 minutes of stretching. My only disappointment was such a slow pace… just over 14 minutes.

Today I toned down my run just a tad. I was ready for a change of scenery and ran 2.6 miles along a different route. I ran a little be better pace at 13:45, walked it off for a 1/4 mile, and stretched.

I had an interesting thing about changing the scenery… On one hand, a change of scenery is nice and breaks up the monotony of a routine route. On the other hand, a change of scenery makes it difficult to gauge time and distance. The thing is, if I don’t change my scenery often, I might get spooked on Marathon day.

I’m planning to run about 3 miles again on Saturday. Next week, however, I might tone it down for a week–something like 20 minutes out and back, running only, and running a little faster. Then, over the following weeks, I’ll add more time with longer times on the weekends. Around the 2nd week of February I’ll start my official 16 week training program.

When I first started my training, I thought for sure I had the perfect 16 week marathon training plan. Now, however, I need to find something that is more realistic for me–something that is four days per week that lends itself to a long run on marathon day which will be a Sunday. My original 16 week plan had a long run on every Saturday and I’m not sure how to adapt the plan for a seamless Sunday long-run. Anyway, I’ll figure something out.

I was going to begin hitting the gym tomorrow for cross-training, but I need to wait another week–I have too much going on right now. I figure I’ll do legs on Tuesdays and upper body on Friday. My run days are currently Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday. My logic for doing legs on Tuesdays is so they aren’t sore for my Saturday long-run. But again, I’m still trying to figure out a seamless plan. Any tips are appreciated.

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I’m a day late posting, but I did complete a 3.1 mile run on Saturday morning; thus, I completed 100% of my weekly training goal. My pace was pretty good (for me) for the first mile and a half. I walked a few, then I did some interval training for about a mile and a quarter. I ended up with an overall 13:50 pace, which is slower than I’ve been going in the past couple of runs. I attribute my slowness to the steak dinner the night before topped off with some Coldstone.

We’re in the process of moving at the end of the month, and my wife is having a major surgery tomorrow. So, we’ve had a busy weekend trying to get as much prepared as possible. My wife will be out of commission for at least 6 weeks. Needless to say, this was the last weekend we had to do the things together that we needed to do. In all that, I took note of how crappy I felt during my run Saturday morning, so I made of point of picking up some better food at the grocery store today.

I know what to eat when  training, but the fact is, you have to prepare in advance for best results. I’m now stocked with oat meal, eggs, fresh fruits and veggies, tuna, yogurt, protein powder (for gym days), water, green tea, wheat bread, and so on. I’m two weeks into this marathon training now, week 3 starts tomorrow, and for me, the 3rd week solidifies a habit–in this case, a running habit–so I might as well eat right.

Even though I’m in pre-training, I’m going to add weight-lifting to my two rest days–I’ll have 1 day off per week instead of 2. Instead of focusing on bulking up, however, I will be focusing on toning. I’ll be doing high reps with light weights. I’ve already dropped about 8 pounds in the last two weeks–and that’s without watching my diet–I reckon I’ll drop a lot more over the next 6 weeks. I tend to plateau at 230–I’m aiming for 190-200 by May–but I think I’ll shatter the plateau with all the running.

I know from experience changing my diet will only enhance the weight-loss, give me more energy, and improve my running time–my mile was 9:30 just 2 1/2 years ago. My plan for my first marathon is to run a 12 minute pace–I don’t know if that’s considered slow or fast for a first timer. I’m open to suggestions here.

When I went to bed before midnight last night, I was not sure if I would run in the morning before or after the sun came up. Turns out, I forgot to turn off the alarm on my Blackberry. I rolled on out of bed at 0540, stretched my back, and hit the road. After my run, I walked for about 5 minutes and stretched for about 10 minutes.

I discovered Log Your Run last night and mapped out a nice 2.6 mile course for today. The only reason for 2.6 was because I mapped yesterday’s 35 minute run and knew how far I went. Anyway, it’s a neat tool. I’m sure there are more sites out there that do the same thing, but this one was quick and to-the-point.

I had no startling revelations on today’s run. I just ran. My form was better, my pace was better, my breathing better… I actually had a better idea what was happening to me from a physiological standpoint–and psychological for that matter…

However, I did realize that 26.2 miles is a lot further than I thought–As for this morning, I don’t particularly care to imagine running nine more 2.6 mile runs. I’ll get there.

Happy New Year.

I had a great run this morning–about 2.5 miles in 35 minutes. My pace is improving, my endurance is improving, and my form is improving. I’ve eliminated a few incidences of lower back pain I had experienced last week by taking time to stretch my lower back before and after my runs. Anyway, this morning was great: I ran the first 16 minutes, walked for two minutes, continued running, and walked a total of 3 more minutes; thus, I ran 86% and walked 14%.

Toward the last 10 minutes of my run I started getting a little tired. I started thinking about random stuff. In a flash, in pops to my mind the Navy Seal David Goggins. This guy is not only a hero, he’s an ultra-marathoner. When he started running he was at 280 lbs–just look at his pictures on his website. What an inspiration David is. More so, he talks about pushing through the pain. The more I thought about him, the faster I started running. This guy totally pushed me.

As my breathing became a little more pronounced, I thought push through the pain… keep it going… I almost quit running so I could catch my breath. Then I thought about my daddy. He died just 2 months ago after 9 years of emphysema and COPD. My dad couldn’t breathe very well.

A week before he died, he had been hospitalized for a few days. My sisters and I had all traveled to see him and mom. At one point, I remember, the 5 of us were together in the hospital room… it was the first time it was just us 5 in probably 25 years… Within a couple of days we had to return to our homes and families. Dad was released to go home. We thought everything fine, especially because over the next few days we chatted with dad frequently–always saying I love you… Dad kept expressing his appreciation that we had all made the trip to see him… He said,

Thanks for coming son, it means a lot to me, and I’m proud of you…

It was if dad knew something we didn’t. Dad went home to be with the Lord while sleeping… he just stopped breathing…

As I run, I will praise God for the breath of life.

This book is a must read!!!

I really began to discover goal-setting around 1992 when my employer gave me a set of Tony Robbins tapes. From there, I started reading books like How to Win Friends and Influence People, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, The Magic of Thinking Big, The Power of Positive Thinking, 7 Habits, etc.

There’s a little more to it than that, but flooding my mind with these types of books substantially changed my thought patterns and my outlook on life. Goal-setting began to make even more sense as I began listening to tapes and reading books from people like Brian Tracy and Jack Canfield.

These authors and speakers are excellent coaches to say the least. I followed their goal-setting guidelines, making endless lists of where I wanted to be, what I looked like, how my house was decorated, who were my friends, etc. I narrowed down my list to a few items that I wanted to accomplish right now then I’d go at it. To this day, I still make lists.

I gotta say, writing down your goals is the most important and powerful means of attaining any desired outcome.

I can honestly look back and see that I’ve always achieved the things I wrote down. And, as I think about some of my endless lists, I remember writing down a goal about 10 years ago that said something to the affect of Run a marathon by age 40. I’ll be 40 in February. I find this fascinating because I totally forgot about writing down that goal until today, when I did something else that would cause me to be a little bit more accountable.

What I did was tell someone else about my goal. Of course I had already told my wife and children I intend to run a marathon; I had also told my mother and one of my co-workers. But, today I told the boss’ wife (and she’ll undoubtedly tell the boss).

I don’t know what compelled me to tell her, but doing so made the necessity of achieving my goal even more critical.

I mean, to me, nothing would be more embarrassing than to have the May 31, 2009 Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon in San Diego come and go, and for the boss or his wife come in and say, “Hey! I thought you were gonna run a marathon…”

The quality of the person you tell goes a long way toward goal accountability and achievement. So, make sure you tell someone who, in your life, will really stick it to you if you slack off–a family member is not as likely to do so.

So, here’s my two tips for goal accountability:

1. Write it down
2. Tell someone important
   

I’m still dealing with this stupid head-cold, but it felt awesome to get out for an early morning run. I’m in a pre-training phase right now, as I have not done any serious running for probably 6 months. So today was a 35 minute run/walk–I did about 2 1/2 miles mostly running, and I noticed my form is already improving. It’s a little embarrassing to post such low mileage considering a light run for most runners probably exceeds 5 miles, but I’ll be there soon enough.

One of the things that absolutely impresses me about the human body is that the more you work it, the more efficient it becomes. I mean, a mere week ago, I didn’t go very far in the allotted 30 minutes and it was about 50% running and 50% walking. And today my 35 minutes was about 85% running and 15% brisk walking.

I don’t have a method to measure precisely, but I have a pretty good idea what i did. I’m not overly concerned about it in this pre-training stage because in a matter of two weeks, or after 7 more run/walks, it will be strictly running. I’ll maintain 20 to 40 minute runs for a month before I hit the 16 week marathon training schedule. Even that will be relatively simple for the first couple of weeks–my long run then will be 4 and 5 miles respectively for weeks 1 and 2.

No matter, I’m enjoying my runs despite some tremendous pressures I’m facing in my personal life. My wife is having a major surgery next Monday and we will be moving in a month or so. Then there’s kids,  work, and the little surprises that make every day interesting. But, these are just part of life, and running certainly is a good way to stay focused while dealing with any given situation. In the end, for me anyway, it’s about finishing the marathon–finishing what I started–and proving I can do it.

Update: It’s after 10 p.m. and I’m so excited to run in the morning that I can’t sleep. What does one do?

I took a little time to surf some more running sites today. This is probably one of the most important things for me to do to stay inspired and encouraged. When I read someone else’ story of victory and read about the lessons they learned along the way, it helps me know that I’m not alone–it is also a good measure of whether or not I’m doing things the right way. I want to start reaching out to some of these marathoners who have gone before me so I can ask questions and glean from their experience.

I know the San Diego Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon is etching itself deep into my sub-conscious. For the last several nights I’ve been dreaming about it. I keep seeing myself running along the Balboa Park area… I keep seeing Petco Park near down town… Fashion Valley, Mission Bay, and Sea World… I keep seeing the U.S.S. Recruit at the old Recruit Training Center on the other side of the Marine Corp Recruit Depot. I love San Diego–the stomping grounds of my late teens and early 20′s–I can’t wait to go there and finish my first marathon.