See BamaDave Run (and Lift)

[Buk]

I am sure that you are going to break the barrier this time around Dave.
Enjoy the taper!

[BamaDave]

Thanks, guys! It would be great if it comes together, although I still think it's a borderline thing for me. The safer thing to do would be to shoot for a 3:02 or 3:03, but I'm more likely to go for the 2:59:XX.

---

WED. 11.29.06
AM RUN

TOTAL DISTANCE: 8.2 miles
TOTAL TIME: 1:03:52

-- This run contained a mixed interval pyramid of 0.25/0.38/0.5/0.63/0.5/0.38/0. 25. After two off days of rest since my Sunday long run, this felt easier than usual. I'll take that as a good sign! I have read a couple of articles that stated that speedwork intervals during a taper should be run around 5K pace, so I slowed down a little bit on most of these versus the past few times I have done them... but all were still under 6:00 pace except for the 0.63 and second 0.5, which were slightly over according to the Garmin. Those are entirely on the dirt road where I always seem to slow down. Either that or the Garmin loses signal due to the overhead tree canopy.

My throat was bothering me this morning. My wife had a severe cold last week, so if I am going to get it, bring it on right now, please, so it will be gone before the end of next week!

My left leg is bugging me, too. I think it could be a nerve, because there is discomfort at times all the way from my hip to my foot. Not anything that I can't run through, but I hope it will clear up. Yesterday I was thinking about how I had no signs of taper madness, but today I think I am getting paranoid!! LOL!!

It was really warm and humid this morning - not Summer level, but enough that I must have wrung about a gallon of sweat out of my tank after I ran that last interval this morning. Too warm for a marathon! I don't think it will be this warm for Rocket City... it sounds like the weather gurus are expecting a cold front at the end of next week. Hopefully not on Friday night, since that would likely mean WIND for the race!

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Uh-oh! It's setting in! Weather obsessing as well. I haven't said it yet but good luck with the quest for sub-3.

[BamaDave]

Thanks, Jim! My biggest weather fear is rain, but there's no way they would have a clue about that at this point.

--

WED. 11.29.06
PM WORKOUT

A. FRONT SQUATS: 10x120; 10x155; 8x165; 6x175

B. CHIN-UPS: +30#: 7; 6; 4

C. BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUATS: 100# (2x50# DB's): 5 ea.; 5 ea.; 5 ea.

D. BB ROWS: 185#: 5; 6; 5

E. SWISS BALL PUSHUPS: 23; 15; 11

F. GAGNE'S CYCLONES: +30# DB: 10 ea.; 10 ea.

G. HANGING LEG RAISES w/ TWISTS (left-center-right): +20# ankle wts.: 18 (6 ea. position); 12 (4 ea. position)

-- My only major comment is OWWWW on the split squats -- it has been a few weeks since I've done those!!!

[BamaDave]

THURS. 11.30.06
AM RUN

DISTANCE: 5.05 miles
TIME: 41:17
AVE. PACE: 8:10/mile

-- This run was pretty much a waste of time, I imagine. My cold is kicking in, and my left leg is still bothering me... enough that I felt like I was running with a slight limp much of the time. My next run (Sat) is supposed to be 11 miles with 48 minutes at tempo pace faster than marathon pace. If my leg is still bothering me, I'm not going to do that, though... this needs to be gone completely in the next 9 days!

[Mahler]

Dave,
Sorry to hear about the leg. Your bad days running would be pretty good for me. LOL

[UpNorth]

Stay healthy! Remeber, ALL of the experts say you're not going to improve on anything between now the race. Feeling good should be at the top of your responsibilities -- This isn't just taper madness is it?

[BamaDave]

Thanks, guys!! Not just taper madness - I've definitely done something to irritate one or more spots on my left leg. I'm even limping when I first get up to walk now. I felt this Mon and Tues but then obviously irritated it by doing speedwork yesterday. I still don't think it's any big deal and should clear up fairly quickly.

As far as lack of improvement between now and the race --- that's one of the reasons why I thought it was odd that the training plan I'm following had the longest (48 minute) tempo run of the entire program during this week! That seems like it could be excessive or even risky this close. At this point, it doesn't look like I'll be getting the workout done.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Hang in there, Dave! (Where that kitten pic?)

Hope youtr leg feels better soon and I would skip that run as well.

[UpNorth]

Originally Posted by twinsavsvikingsfan

Hang in there, Dave! (Where that kitten pic?)

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

One week!!!!!!!!!!! How's the leg?

[BamaDave]

LOL!! I am hanging in there for sure... The leg is much better than it was on Thursday, although I still wouldn't run on it today even if I wasn't recovering from the stupid cold (that's going away fast as well). I still can't figure out what I did to the leg, but I definitely aggravated it on Wed and Thurs. I'll probably just take it easy again today and possibly try running tomorrow, but I think that's doubtful. I can always sub in a CrossFit routine if I want to do some heavy breathing!! Talk about an extreme taper if no running tomorrow... from 59 miles last week to 13 this week!!

[BamaDave]

P.S. Taper paranoia definitely rearing its head. Yesterday I was convinced all day that my weight was skyrocketing, because my jeans felt tight in the waistline. However, I finally figured out that it must have been due to salty Chinese food the evening before, because when I pulled off my socks I noticed that my legs above my sockline looked swollen. Obviously high salt food plus lack of exercise caused me to retain a lot of water. LOL! I checked the scale this morning and weighed in at 182.5, which is actually the lowest AM reading I've had recently after a day without exercise. This is still well over where I was this time last year -- I noted a reference to my weight being 173 in September 2005. I think I was more like 175-178 by the time Rocket City rolled around, though. One of my upcoming goals will likely be to very slowly shed some weight and get back down to about 175 while hopefully preserving most muscle gain. I'm thinking about getting back into some Crossfit stuff for awhile after the marathon... if I can handle it while continuing to train for the 50K race(s).

[BamaDave]

National Weather Service forecast coming into view now for the marathon on Saturday:

SUNNY, MORNING LOW: 27..... HIGH: 49

Sounds good to me!! A little cold for the start, but if it's sunny, it will will probably be in the 40's before I finish. This is good, now I just need the winds to cooperate.

[BamaDave]

SUN. 12.3.06
AM WORKOUT

CROSSFIT "BARBARA"

5 ROUNDS FOR TIME (3 minutes rest between rounds):

20 Pullups
30 Pushups
40 Sit-Ups
50 Squats

TOTAL TIME: 51:53

Individual round times:

Round 1: 7:01

Round 2: 7:50

Round 3: 7:39

Round 4: 8:21 (miscalculated time between rounds 4 and 5 and only rested 2:21)

Round 5: 9:32

I don't remember whether I have done this workout before - it's pretty hard! Especially when you haven't being doing CrossFit routines in awhile. I was pretty slow on pullups and was down to doing singles by the end of Round 5. Pushups weren't too bad - I have been doing those pretty routinely the past few months. Sit-Ups were slow - I did full range of motion sit-ups. I'm used to doing weighted sit-ups at somewhat slow tempo and don't seem to be very good at trying to do unweighted ones with any speed. Squats were the easiest exercise by far. I noted my Heart Rate at 120 after round 3 and 124 after round 4, so I did get it pumping up into the low aerobic zone but not anywhere near where it goes during a run.

I still have some lingering pain in the left leg today, most notable when I first get out of bed or up from a chair. I would have run today if I wasn't tapering, but I am really leery of aggravating it again and then having it heal only at the last minute before Rocket City. I'm not even sure I'll run on it tomorrow!

[Bill2380]

That's a lot of squats for a rest your legs workout. Hell, it's almost "Murph" without the run and I remember what my legs felt like after that. Good luck with the race.

[UpNorth]

You picked one of the "girls" to reintroduce yourself to CF, during your taper, while healing an injury!? You are crazy