{"id":6,"date":"2007-10-10T14:09:28","date_gmt":"2007-10-10T21:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/?p=6"},"modified":"2007-11-02T07:24:13","modified_gmt":"2007-11-02T14:24:13","slug":"8-27-07-week-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/?p=6","title":{"rendered":"8-27-07 – WEEK ONE"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAY ONE – ONE HOUR CROSS TRAINING<\/strong>
\nWell, my first day of training was already rough. I got up late. My alarm didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go off when it was supposed to. Lucky for me, I have a cat who can tell time. Nino was walking on my head, meowing, just a few minutes after my alarm should have woken me. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Day One of Marathon Training! How exciting!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to do it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to snooze my alarm and sleep another half hour, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t trust that darn thing to get me up on time, so I better just get up.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

I got up, but putzed around on e-mail and wasted about a half-hour of my training time and tried to let myself out of it again. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just cross-training, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even running.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I could skip it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Holy Cow, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only the first day and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already trying to cheat!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Get your butt out of bed and get going!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Prudence won and I got myself up, dressed, and onto my bicycle, headed for the office, where I would pick up my gym gear, walk to the gym, then do an hour of weight training. At the office, there were all sorts of important<\/em> things I needed to do and I managed to waste another half-hour of my training time. After having wasted an hour total, I should really have been out of time to exercise, but I know that I can be difficult to get to the gym sometimes and I leave myself extra time for when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in these moods. So, I shifted a few inconsequential items on my calendar and I forced myself to get on over to the gym and do an hour of cross-training as my first marathon workout. Yeah!!! I did it!!! Day One is a success!<\/p>\n

DAY TWO – SPEED – 1.1 MILES AT 7 MPH<\/strong>
\nI was so excited as I rode my bicycle home from work last night, there were 3 separate people out running at 9:00 pm. I know what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing! Yesterday was exactly 20 weeks from the P.F. Chang\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Rock \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Roll Arizona Marathon. I know they were training for it.<\/p>\n

Now I find myself thinking, \u00e2\u20ac\u01537 miles per hour? What on earth could I have been thinking when I wrote that?!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That is FAST.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I hope I can do it.<\/p>\n

I did it! Wow, it was hard, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe it. I am really in trouble. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only Day Two and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m already struggling to complete my training requirements.<\/p>\n

It took me about a quarter mile to get my speed up to 7 miles per hour and then it was all I could do to hold it there. I kept looking at the mileage to see how close I was to my 1.1 mile goal. One tenth of a mile. Two tenths of a mile. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to be joking! This is gonna take all day!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Three tenths of a mile. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is ridiculous! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 how many more tenths of a mile? Eleven minus three. How many is that? I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even think!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Four tenths of a mile. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maybe I can do it, but how many are left?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Eleven minus four. I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I cannot even do simple math at this pace, this is insane.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Five tenths of a mile. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wait, I know this one, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a HALF MILE. I actually have a half-mile in. I may be able to make it, but I have six tenths of a mile to go. Oh no! That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already done. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not gonna make it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Then I got temporarily into \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Zone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d where the running seems effortless and the distance just clicks away. However, it was very, very, very short-lived and I was thrust out of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Zone\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with at least three tenths of a mile to go. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is so ridiculous. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna run 26 miles if I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even run one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Get a hold of yourself, this is your first week of training. Training has to start at the beginning, it can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start at the end. One mile is enough for today and if you do it, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as good as doing the whole marathon. Just do this 1.1 and congratulate yourself for refusing to quit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Aw, man, still two tenths of a mile left. You know, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just really not that far, but at 7 miles per hour, it seemed really far. I started counting down from .18. Seventeen\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Sixteen\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Fifteen\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Fifteen\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Fifteen? How can it still say Fifteen?!?! Oh, wait, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 14, and 13. Oh man, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna make it. Twelve. Eleven. Oh, can I please be done now? Please?!? Ten\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Ten\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look again or it will still say Ten\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Nine\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6Eight\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 WILL THIS NEVER END?! Five. What? Five? How did that happen? Where did Seven and Six go? Oh wait, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the Three, and the Two, and the ONE! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m done. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m done. Done, done, done, done done! I did it.<\/p>\n

Man, this is gonna be a LONG 20 weeks!<\/p>\n

DAY THREE – RACE PACE – 1.4 MILES AT 5.25 MPH<\/strong>
\nI was very encouraged by my run today. It was EASY! A speed of 5.25 mph was not hard to maintain. I found myself jogging along thinking, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh man, is this easy! I could do this all day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Then I thought, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hang on a second, I am<\/strong> gonna have to do it all day in January – well not all day, but a lot of a day – five hours or maybe six. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know about that.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Then I got scared thinking about having to keep that pace up for five hours.<\/p>\n

However, I calmed myself by focusing on the fact that this is still the beginning of my training and the fact that I really was not having to exert much effort at all to keep the pace. I told myself that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just continue to build my stamina and strength until 26 miles is as easy as 2 miles and that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just go ahead and enjoy the fact that today was easy. Something tells me that lots of other days aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gonna be this easy. I better enjoy the easy ones while I still have them!<\/p>\n

DAY FOUR – EASY – 1.5 MILES at 4.6 MPH<\/strong>
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m looking forward to today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s run. It sounds ridiculously easy. I fear I may be doing something wrong if training is this easy. Oh wait, I looked at Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s run and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a half mile at 7.5 miles per hour. That will likely kill me, so I better just enjoy today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy run.<\/p>\n

Today was a total piece of cake! Shuffling along at 4.6 miles per hour isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even like work. My heart rate only went up to about 125, which is nowhere near where it would be if I was really working. However, it was boring. I wanted to go faster to get it over with more quickly, but I forced myself to stay at that pace because there must have been some reason I put it into my training schedule that way. I will need to have some easy runs to avoid getting burnt out.<\/p>\n

That speed is so slow that if I would run the whole marathon at that speed, I may not even finish in the alloted time. It would be almost seven hours of running and that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t leave much extra time for restroom breaks or shoe-tying or whatever. So, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a nice diversion in my training schedule, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get too used to running at that pace, though, \u00e2\u20ac\u2122cause it simply ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gonna cut it.<\/p>\n

DAY FIVE – REST<\/strong><\/p>\n

DAY SIX -PACER – .5 MILE AT 7.5 MPH = 8 MINUTE MILE PACE<\/strong>
\nA half mile. Half a mile. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing, right? Old ladies and small children can easily walk a half mile. You walk a half-mile at the mall just getting to and from your car. A half mile cannot be that difficult, so I told myself I was just gonna do it.<\/p>\n

I pushed myself to get up to speed a little too quickly and I started doing 7.5 mph a little bit before I was really ready, but I really just wanted to get it over with quickly, so I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take the speed back down and give myself more time to warm up, I just kept going.<\/p>\n

Well, not long into my measly little half mile, I was already starting to struggle. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I cannot believe this, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to be able to do a half mile? This is ridiculous!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The distance was crawling by at what seemed like an impossibly slow pace, considering how hard I was working and I wondered if I was going to have to give up, start over, and warm up properly.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Distract yourself, Marlo.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Look around. Try to see what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s on the gym T.V.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I realized that at the speed of 7.5 mph, I had a very hard time reading the closed captioning and that I had to look away from the T.V.s or risk crashing and flying off the treadmill. However, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when I noticed him\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Val Kilmer! There was a movie on a distant T.V. that had an extreme close-up of Val\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face and I knew that if they would just keep that up on the screen, I could stay distracted long enough to finish my half-mile. Then I wanted to laugh at myself, having to look at some movie star to get me through a little run.<\/p>\n

On and on the time went. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Like, how long can it take to run a half mile?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d So I looked at the time and it was all of about 6 minutes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how I think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m gonna do a marathon if I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even run six minutes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Here come the negative thoughts. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to be stopped before they get me. Focus!<\/p>\n

The gym music began playing Judas Priest, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You Got Another Thing Coming,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which was actually the song my high school class chose as our class song. Of course, attending a religious school, there was no way Judas Priest was going to make it into the yearbook, so we listed it as being performed by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153J.P. and the Gang.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Thinking of that made me laugh and put me back in touch with rebellious teenage days and I found determination to finish out the half-mile with no further thoughts of quitting.<\/p>\n

I continued to run, slower, for quite some time to cool down and I ended my workout feeling really good and proud and hopeful and scared. I feel like I can do this if the workouts don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t increase on me too dramatically too quickly. Wish me luck!<\/p>\n


\nDAY SEVEN – LONG – 2.1 MILES AT 6.35 MPH<\/strong>
\nVictory!!! I did it! I made it through Week One and I did all my workouts as planned and I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t cheat and I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t skip and I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fail. What a relief! I will have to look back on this week to remind myself of what success feels like in the upcoming weeks when the workouts get harder and harder.<\/p>\n

One thing I learned today is that impatience is gonna kill me. I was supposed to do my run today at 6.35 mph and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just not quite fast enough to just tear out of my front door at 6.35 mph. I have to warm up a little bit to get up to that speed, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcexercise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 any more than I really have to, and jogging at 4-5 mph to \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcwarm up\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 sure seems like \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcexercise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to me, so I just sorta walked around my driveway a little bit, then tore off down the street.<\/p>\n

The good news for me was that I was going too fast right from the get-go. That gave me encouragement to think that I might be able to make it. I slowed down to my target speed, but then I really had trouble holding it and I started losing speed and worrying, again, that I really wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to make it. I must have looked at my speed 100 times during this 20-minute run, trying to make sure I kept it at around 6.3.<\/p>\n

It was really hard for the final 3\/4 mile. I thought I was gonna puke, I wanted to stop, I panicked that today was supposed to be my \u00e2\u20ac\u02dclong\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 run and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only 2.1 miles, how do I expect to do a 26.2 REALLY LONG run if I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even do 2 miles, and blah blah blah, all that stuff your mind does when it wants the body to quit running, but I kept going. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad there weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t many cars because I was half delerious and I could have easily been hit by a car on a busy street.<\/p>\n

When I got home, I had to walk for some time to cool down and I made myself do my stretches. That is another thing I always resist. It just seems like more \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcexercise\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 to me, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just foolish not to stretch after a run and this is gonna be a long 20 weeks and far too easy to injure myself if I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start off, right from the beginning, doing things right.<\/p>\n

And, come to think of it, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s only 19 weeks now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAY ONE – ONE HOUR CROSS TRAINING Well, my first day of training was already rough. I got up late. My alarm didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go off when it was supposed to. […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-marlo","post-6","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-marathon-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.azrider.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}