Last week we spent our family vacation on the northern shores of Lake Huron in Michigan's UP. We go to this special place called Cedar Campus just outside of Cedarville, MI that is so remote it is 45 miles to the nearest Wal-Mart or McDonald's. Electronics aren't allowed at the camp so for a week my kids go without TV, MP3 players, computer games, etc. and they survive! Actually, they hardly notice because they are too busy kayaking, sailing, swimming (brrr cold), hiking and playing on the beach with the friends they see every year. On Wednesday we sightsee around Mackinaw so we plan on walking a lot that day.Last summer I shocked everyone with my weight loss. This summer everyone was thrilled that I took up running and that I am training for The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. After I mentioned I run, I was amazed at how many people told me they run recreationally or competitively. I knew about Joy, my daughter's friend who placed fifth in the 3000m Race Walk at the 2007 USATF Youth National Championships. But there were also Mack, the businessman from Dubai, UAE (who I ran with 7/11); Rod, the excellent camp cook; campers David and his son Dan; and several college students camping at the sister site across the bay.
My big goal that I've been dreaming about for several months and designed my training plan around was to run to Cedarville and back... 16 miles. I wanted to do it Sunday 7/8, but bad weather required me to shuffle my plans for Sunday-Tuesday. I succeeded! I ran the whole way in just under 3 hours. My wife met me on her bicycle with 2 miles to go to encourage me, along with fellow campers Captain Kirk (seriously... he's a senior pilot for US Airways) and Mark, one of my weight-loss inspirations and now an avid cyclist. I ran out of water at 13 miles and Kirk went to refill my Fuel Belt flasks as Mark cycled by with a quart of water left in his supply. I learned the value of a great pit crew. Let me take this opportunity to thank the many volunteers who will be manning the water/aid stations and the thousands of spectators who will be cheering us on. Your participation makes a world of difference.
I set a new PR at the Firecracker 4 Mile race on July 4. This was the first time I ran a race at a repeat distance. My first race was a 4-miler back in early March, which I did at an 8:38 pace. I was really happy with my 8:09 pace on the Fourth - improving 30 seconds/mile in just 4 months. I love being a newbie - the improvement is so drastic at the start. The race predictors now put me at a 3:59:00 marathon time... ha, ha, ha. I'll be happy if I finish under 5 hours and I'm hoping for under 4:30:00.
Speed work on 7/3 consisted of 4x400, 4x300, 4x200 and 4x100. My split times were fairly constant. I missed the speed workout on 7/10, which consisted of 2x1200, 2x800, 2x400 and 2x200. On Friday, I decided to set my Polar to automatically take splits every 400m, and I did the speed work by myself on roads instead of a nice oval track. I modified it slightly by including a 1600m warm up and cool down and doing 400m recovery jogs between intervals instead of stopping. My split times were still fairly consistent but 10-15 seconds slower. I'm contributing the slower times to the lack of others pushing me, having to deal with hills, and recovery jogging instead of resting. But mostly I think it was because, unlike a track, I had no visual marker to run to that signaled the end of the interval and had to rely on my watch beeping at me to tell me when the interval was over.
The only disappointment this week was only being able to do 10 of my 12-mile long run. I ran in the heat of the afternoon, but I really think I was still wiped out from my 16-miler, speed work and the vacation. There are so many fun things to do at Cedar that every year I feel like I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.
I hope your training is coming along well. Don't let bad weather and the craziness of life get in your way. Shuffle the days around, look for indoor cross-training alternatives, or take advantage of an occasional unplanned day of rest. But mostly have fun! The joy is in the journey!
One step at a time,
Dave
Click here (Editor note on October 17 - I included the FW N-S article in my next post) to read the Fort Wayne, Indiana News-Sentinel article featuring Dave!
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