Scatter Plots! (and other marathon musings)

The marathon was almost 6 months ago, but some things still linger…

No, I'm not running in my marathon shoes anymore—I'm using them as everyday shoes.  Yet, I can't bring myself to take my timing chip off.  Sure, if anyone has an RFID reader, they'll be able to pick up my name, age, and hometown, but how many people carry RFID readers and hold them up to people's shoes?

Another reminder of the marathon that lingers is my watch.  No, it isn't normal to get rid of your watch after a marathon.  What does remain is my split times in the memory of my watch.  This isn't too big of a problem (my watch has a 150 lap memory, and the marathon takes up 27 of those laps), but I don't know how to erase individual workouts.  So, if I save a set of hill repeats or some intervals, I can't delete just that workout, leaving me with the choice of deleting all workouts (including the marathon) or deleting none of them.  I'm down to about 70 laps left, so the day when I have to erase the marathon is fast approaching.

Geeky engineer alert!  Data ahead!

That day won't be too bad, though, because I've already recorded the data.  Today, I analyzed the data:

Here's a plot of my split time for each mile.  Excel isn't too great at working with times, so the y-axis has some funky gradations.  You'll note that my average pace up through mile 17 was 10:20—which is almost exactly a four-and-a-half hour pace, which was my goal.  If you remember, mile 18 is where my quad got all funky, and my pace slowed considerably (the overall average pace was 11:02).  All this to say that had it not been for my quad, I would have hit my goal time.  Of course, other things could have happened, and my main goal was to finish.  This year, however, I already know I can finish the marathon, and I've got my sights set on a sub-4-hour time.

The Week in Reverse: Week 3

3 weeks done already?  You betcha.  Highlight from week 3: a karate kicking/jumping/punching dude.

Sunday, March 21: 6 miles, 55 min.  My first run in the median!  I've missed the Summit median so much.  It was cold enough so that it wasn't muddy.  I also managed to run perfectly even splits: 27:30 out, 27:30 back.  Crazy!

Saturday, March 20: 35 minute Tempo Run.  The good news is that I still have the ability to push myself on runs, and boy, did I ever.  This was one tough run.  I enjoyed it though—well, except that I forgot to check the wind, and ended up running into it on the way back.  I also got to see how high the Mississippi River water level was.

Friday, March 19: Rest.

Thursday, March 18: 3 miles + strength training.  I discovered that the treadmills on the outside of the cardio center do not need to be signed out, so the time is unlimited.  Therefore I can do a proper warm up and cool down and still get the full 3 miles in.

Wednesday, March 17: 4 x Hill.  I switched hills.  Instead of the Marshall Ave. hill, I did the featured hill from the marathon course, which goes along the river parkway up to Summit.  It's not quite as steep as Marshall, but still plenty challenging.  There was a woman who was also doing hill repeats on the same hill, but she wasn't very friendly.

Tuesday, March 16: 4 miles.  Uneventful 4 mile run.

Monday, March 15: 3 miles + strength training.  I had two conference papers due this day.  I emailed them off to my advisor, and got ready to head to the Rec.  Then my advisor called.  We had to fix something.  I fixed it, sent him the paper again, and got ready to head to the Rec.  Then my advisor called.  Repeat this process 3 more times.  Finally, around 3pm, I made it to the Rec.  It was a little busy (but not too bad because it was Spring Break).  After I finished up, I turned around to get a rag to wipe the machine off, and right in front of me was karate kicking/jumping/punching man!  It is almost impossible to describe what he was doing, but try and combine karate with tae bo and Sweatin' to the Oldies in your mind, and you won't be too far off.  He was completely serious about what he was doing, and I had to follow him all the way down the hallway, because if I tried to go around, I would certainly have been punched in the face by one of his flailing appendages.

The Week in Reverse: Week 2

My Road ID is here!  Check it out:

Remember, you can get a discount on your own Road ID by checking out my coupon code here.

This update is delayed a bit, but here's how week 2 went:

Sunday, March 14: 5ish miles.  This was supposed to be a long run of 7 miles, but I had very little time on Sunday, so it ended up being just shy of 5 miles.  Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day out, and I enjoyed this run.

Saturday, March 13: 30 min fartlek.  I really enjoyed this run.  Katie and I been in Iowa Friday and Saturday, so when we got back around 7pm on Saturday night, it was already dark.  I still wanted to get my run in, so I went.  It was my first time running outside at that time of day, and there was no one out.  I ran up and down the river road, and it was a warm and foggy evening.  Real eerie, but real cool.  The run itself was fun, and I enjoyed picking out streetlights or trees to sprint to.  By the way fartlek is a running technique with lots of speed variations (it literally means speed play).  You jog along, then pick out some object in the distance and sprint towards it.  Then jog for recovery.  Repeat.  We did things like this in high school, but it was much more rigid along the lines of "run fast when stopwatch beeps, jog when it beeps again, repeat".

Friday, March 12: rest

Thursday, March 11:  40 min run.  This was a tremendously busy day.  I had 2 presentations to give, so I was looking forward to the run.  Once again, David joined me at the dome, and it was the last night of Dome Running for the season.  This is exciting because it means the weather is getting better, but I'll miss running in the Dome for a few months.

Wednesday, March 10: 3 x Hill.  Now this was a tough workout.  I did the Marshall Ave. hill again.  I managed 2 repeats before the air got to me.  Yes, it was a pollution alert day, and I could really feel it in my lungs.  So, for the 3rd repeat, I did the slightly less steep hill on Marshall between Cleveland and Fairview.  Still a workout, but at least I could breathe.

Tuesday, March 9: 3 mile run.  Nothing too remarkable here.  I still long for when the median of Summit is solid enough on which to run.  Soon, soon…

Monday, March 8: 3 miles + strength training.  Another workout on the deathmill.  I hate treadmills soooo much.  When I get about 5 minutes into the run, it feels like I've been doing it for hours, and it is just sooooo boring.  After that, I did strength exercises, and discovered that if I use 2 dumbbells, I can simulate a bench-press without the need of a spotter.  Yay!

Road ID Coupon

I bought my Road ID yesterday, which is a cool wristband that carries emergency information in case something happens to you while away from home and you don't have ID with you. They're really a great idea, and you should get one.

I'm hoping to make it easy for you to get one because I have a Road ID coupon code. It's for $1 off any of their products. It doesn't seem like much, but the Road IDs are pretty affordable to begin with.

This offer only works for the  first 20 people to use it, so act fast! Enter the coupon code:

ThanksMatt625848

during the checkout process.

Marathon Registration Over Half Full

Thinking of doing the Twin Cities Marathon this year?  Well, act fast because registration is over half full!

Road ID Discount

Just a quick update here.  Steve over at Steve in a Speedo is offering a 20% off discount code for any Road ID product.  These are fantastic things that have emergency contact information on them for when you're out running/cycling/swimming/skiing/snowshoeing/yak hunting/etc…  They look pretty cool too.  So take advantage of the promotion by getting the code here.

This is what a Road ID looks like.

A New Training Plan and Week 1 in Reverse

I guess that one of the benefits of early marathon registration is that it has given me motivation to start training.  Yes, it's early to start training for October, but I'm not doing marathon training right now.  I've started following Hal Higdon's Intermediate Spring Training Plan.  Last year, Hal Higdon said that if I followed his plan, I would finish a marathon.  He was right, so I have no problem going back to him for all my training needs.

The focus of this plan is building strength and speed.  No looong runs, but a lot of hill workouts, intervals, tempo runs, and other such things.  I'm using this build speed so that the sub-4 hour marathon becomes a reality.

As for what I did in week 1, here it is, in reverse.

Sunday, March 7: 6 miles, ~56 min.  This was fantastic.  The weather was spectacular (shorts and shortsleeves weather).  There were gaggles of people out.  I did a Summit/River Rd. route, and managed to nail a puddle as I turned around.  I worried about my feet, but my Nike socks did a great job.

Saturday, March 6: 30 min Tempo Run.  A Tempo Run is a very specific workout with a 10 minute easy warm-up, 10-15 minutes of building speed gradually, and a 10 min cooldown.  The building part is tough, and I pushed myself pretty hard.  The hardest part, though, was choosing a route that avoids red lights.  When I hit a light, I turned so that I could keep going, but it didn't always work out.  In the future, I may drive and park at the river, or maybe the lakes.

Friday, March 5: Rest

Thursday, March 4: 3ish miles, 40ish min.  This is the one spot where I deviated from the plan.  It called for 3 miles and strength training.  I wanted to take advantage of the Dome while it was still open, so I ran there.

Wednesday, March 3: 3 Hill Repeats.  These were tough.  I picked the Marshall Ave. hill, and it is steep.  Definitely one of the tougher workouts of the week.

Tuesday, March 2: 3 miles.  Nothing special here, just a good, early morning run.

Monday, March 1: 3 miles + Strength Training.  I suffered for 30 minutes on the deathmill, did a bit of strength training.  I ran into the problem of needing to do bench presses, but without a spotter.  I'm not lifting much weight, but I know you shouldn't bench without a spotter.  I think I solved that problem this week, though.

That was my week.  Below you'll find my personal training calendar, I haven't filled it out completely, but it will always be up to date.

Barking Up the Wrong Concourse

Man, has this Dome gone to the dogs!  (That's funny on so many levels, I just can't help myself).

While it was a nice day yesterday, Dome Running on Thursdays has become part of my routine, so I went anyway.  When I got there, this is what I found:

If you can't tell from the picture, those are dogs—lots of dogs.  It was hilarious, and loud.  I was thankful that they were confined to the lower concourse.  I like to run, but outrunning hundreds of dogs at one time might have been a bit much.

David joined me again, and this time we didn't end up running for many laps without happening upon each other.  We also remarked on the music—yes, music—that was being piped over the loudspeaker.  This is the first time there was ever music.  It was oldies.  And don't get me wrong, I really like Oldies, but these were the type of oldies that they remix into elevator music—and this isn't ideal for running.

One more week of Dome Running left.

Dome Running and a BIG Announcement

What am I doing in the Metrodome on Thursday nights during the winter?  Hanging out with Brett Favre, of course.

Actually, the MDRA opens up the upper concourse of the dome on Tuesday and Thursday evenings during the winter from 5pm to 8pm.  It costs a buck to run, and one lap around the outer wall is about 0.4 miles (2.5 laps/per mile).

It isn't too exciting running indoors (you can only look at a hot dog stand so many times before you want to bang your head against a wall), but it is infinitely better than a treadmill, particularly when Minnesota is being Minnesota and throwing bone-chilling temps your way.  It isn't too crowded when I get there after class (usually about 7pm), so it's eerily quiet for a bunch of people running in a circular hallway.

I ran into a pitfall with dome running this week when David said he would drop by around 7 too.  I started running, figuring that when he showed up, I'd spot him.  As it turned out, in the 3:30 it takes me to run around the concourse, David arrived, got ready, and started running without me seeing him.  We didn't cross paths until I had put about 7 laps in.  After that, though, things were good—I had forgotten how great it is to run with other people.

Dome Running goes for 2 more weeks, so drop by while there is still time.

Big Announcement

This probably won't be a surprise to many people, but I've decided that I'm not "one and done".  Yup, I am now registered for the 2010 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.  My goal this time is to complete it sub 4 hours.  I think it is doable since I was on pace for a 4:30 finish last year before my quads went wonky. I'm going to post more this week about my new training plan and other marathon related stuff.

One more thing: if you, or someone you know will be training for the TC Marathon, it would be great to run with someone else on occasion.  The solo training wasn't bad last year, but having a partner on those long runs would help out a lot.

Poll: Do I Run the Twin Cities Again?

Alright, it's poll time.  With registration already open for the 2010 Twin Cities Marathon, I need to decide very soon if I'm going to do it.  If I do it, I'm going to shoot for a sub 4 hour time.

Vote and comment!

(disclaimer:  While I value your opinion, I have the ultimate authority as to whether I do crazy things—like running marathons)

Should I Run the 2010 Twin Cities Marathon?