I failed to plan, but I don't plan to fail.

It is now about a month and a half from the half marathon.  April 28th is the date.  I still do not have a training plan for it.  That is, I am not following any plan.  I typically print out a plan and then follow it to some degree.  I always stray a bit from the plan, but I still have a plan.  This year, I have none.  This does not mean I am not training, because I am.  I do not want to be accused of saying that I am not training and then I magically have a good time for the half.  Nor do I want to be accused of saying I'm not training and then, not so magically, not getting a good time and blaming it on not training.  I just am not following a plan.  At this point, it is really too late for me to come up with a plan.  I am doing a test, though.  I am kicking up my strength training and my kettlebell training, and my speed and power workouts.  For some reason right now, I am really more into lifting and step work and that sort of thing.  I have been riding my bike more as well.  I'm beating the hell out of my legs.  I think any success I will have this year will be because my overall strength is good.  I feel like the Christopher Columbus of running right now.  He too, did not have a plan.  He just got on the Mayflower and headed for India.  He was thinking, "I'm going to see if the world is flat and I'm going to stop in India for some stuff."  As we all now know, he ended up in the United States.   Scared, lonely, hungry for spice and in a land that was not which he sought.  Yet, it worked out for him.  I don't want anyone to think that I would refer to myself as Christopher Columbus, but there are similarities.  I set out in some Saucony Kinvaras to see if I can get a good time in the half marathon in a different way than I have before.  I'm scared and lonely too.  Being a history major, I feel the need to interject some historical data into my running stories.  If I majored in astronomy, maybe somehow I would work in the Milky Way or a worm hole.

Plan B of my non plan is to fluctuate my weight up and down three or four pounds a week.  This confuses my legs and my body and makes each run that much more interesting.  I have thought about running with weight packs but I save money by just filling my love handles.  For a few days, I will eat pretty healthy.  Then for a few days, I will eat everything I see.  Many trainers talk of muscle confusion.  I like to confuse my stomach.  On the day of the half, I could quite possible have the strongest stomach ever.  I will just laugh at all the people standing in line at the Porta Potty, because I will be able to hold everything in.  My abs will be strong from the inside out.  I'm working on a reverse six pack.  You can't see it, but I know it is there.  Beauty is skin deep, right?  My beauty is skin, lard and stomach lining deep.  Or it will be.

I have had good runs, I have had bad runs and I've had so so runs.  My lifting is going great.  I have not felt this strong in a long time.  I attribute much of the gains in strength to the pushups I do.  Simple yet effective.  My legs are tired and a bit sore from the added lifting, steps, biking and  sprints that I am doing.  My legs will be used to all this well before the half and I'm anxious to see how the running feels when this happens.  I decided today to pre-make some meals for the week so I can control my food intake.  I think this will enable me to be at least 5 pounds lighter by the half.  I'll start increasing the long runs.  The long runs are the part of all this that I am enjoying the least, but I have to do it.

I'll close with my brief sermon on exercise.  Yesterday morning I just felt kind of gross.  Headache, a tiny bit nauseous and not at all motivated to run.  I went out anyway and just told myself to let my body dictate the run.  I went out three on a nice trail with my friends and started feeling tired, so I turned.  I did a combo of running, sprinting and walking the three miles back.  It felt awesome.  The short sprints I did, with the river to my right, felt really good.  My stride felt right.  My knee didn't hurt.  My head didn't hurt.  Running, exercise and fresh air.  Nature's medicine.

I can't honestly say that I'm looking forward to the half, but I'm pretty exited to see what I can do.

Succombing to Saucony

Ed -

Did I spell that right?  Succombing?  Spell check says, "Oh HELLZ no! It's 'succumbing.'  Cracker ass mutha f&%$#^."  I have the Detroit 2.3 version of spell check.

I got the silent "B" so that's like almost nailing it.  9.5 biotch!

Bob mentioned his Kinvaras in his last post and I chimed in that I owned a pair as well.  I bought the Kinvara 3's at Dick's Sporting goods early this summer because I have a need to buy a new pair of running shoes every six months.  I don't wear them out nearly that fast, but I miss that new shoe smell so much.

Actually, I have a geeky runner reason to do it.  I alternate shoes every run.  Doesn't matter what sort of run it is, but I like to have two different pairs of two different brands and switch back and forth.  The logic for this comes from hearing about how running shoes with tons of support and structure are actually bad for us over time and weaken our own God given structural support for our knees, hips, etc.  What I figure is that if I rotate between shoes, I'm getting a different sort of support structure and my body is rotating back and forth adjusting for it, ergo no weakening!

I just used Latin in a sentence.  Twice!  Etc and ergo.  Sweet.  My daughter who was a Latin wiz in high school would be so proud.  Side story:  she came with me to my 30th high school reunion and wound up having a blast.  We went on a tour of my old school and they had this huge mural of our seal and motto painted on this one wall.  My best friend from school, Dwayne, was talking to his daughters about it.

"What's 'Esse Non Videri' mean, dad?" One of them asked him.

He didn't hesitate, "I Didn't Do It."  My daughter's head snapped around at me like I should say something. I just shrugged.

So I rotate shoes and I think it helps me out from a physiological standpoint.  The fact that I buy a new pair every six months also means I retire a pair every year with about 400 to 450 miles on them.  I read someplace that's a good thing because it helps prevent injuries.  Bottom line, though, I get to buy new shoes every six months!

It's like a mini Christmas party for me, and, yes, I'm goofy like that.

The Kinvara 3's I have now are the blue and bright green version.  Voila:

Here they are situated in juxtaposition to my older and more preferred pair of Saucony's; my A4's.

Damn, that was one adult sounding sentence.

I do like the Kinvaras, but I love those A4's.  They are so light and almost zero drop in them from heel to toe.  I bought them for road races and to help move me to more minimal shoes (again with the get away from structure theme) and ran in them for a year now.  I still use them for 10K races just because they feel so stinking good, but the heel on the left one is beginning to show some wear.

It's really not horrible, but I don't like that it's so far back.  I've been told my form is good, but obviously I scuff that left heel now and again.  The right shoe shows nothing like that.  Still, the heel is almost flat so I put them on to race even if they're no longer in the training rotation.

I've never been a real brand fanatic,  but Saucony gots a good thing going and I'm probably going to pick up another pair of the A4's next time out.

Now for a random picture of one of my dinners when my wife is out of town.

. . . and, yes, I'm in front of the TV.

Shoes

Bob -

I'm am going to get off the story of me for a bit and talk about me for a bit.  Not young me, or middle me, but me right now.  Monday, October 1st me.  I still find it amusing writing a blog, because when you write one, you assume people are going to read it.  Then, you assume people aren't going to read it.  Then you find yourself saying to people, "hey, I'm writing a blog."  And they go, "about what?"  And I go, "Well, it is about running and me...and Ed.  Running."  And they say, "really, how do I find it?"  And I say, "go to blah, blah, blah dot blah blah blah, but I write really stupid stuff, so just don't think I am that weird, it is just the stuff that goes on in my head."  Then I realize their eyes are going into the back of their head and it is time for me to throw up and leave.  I wonder if Hemingway went through this stuff when he told people he was writing a book about fish and the sea.  We will never know.  Due to the fact that he is dead.  When I go to the great running track in the sky, people can refer to blog post #61 to see what made me tick.  Again, that would be assuming anyone gave a crap.

So, here is the point of this whole thing.  I have waited too long to get new shoes.  Mine are literally falling apart.  There is almost nothing left of them.  I do like minimalist shoes.  I have the Saucony Kinvaras.  I love them.  I can't wear anything with much build up in them.  Ever since my plantar's issue, I have been wearing these and Vibram's.  Vibram's for some training and the Kinvaras for most of my runs.  I taught myself to run more on my forefoot and to be less of a plodder by wearing these shoes.  I believe they helped me to be able to keep running.  Actually, I know they have.  This is my second pair, but I got really attached to both of them.  I still have my first pair.  There is not much left of them, yet they are very comfortable.  If I got new shoes this close to the run, I could really screw myself, but I have a picture in my head of my shoes just falling off me at mile 23.  Like Forrest Gump and his braces.  Would I bust out and go faster or would I have really bloody feet?  Being that I am a cabinet maker and an amateur cobbler, I could probably fashion some shoes out of roadkill.  A rabbit on one foot and a deer on the other.  Three miles of this would get me some attention and maybe an endorsement or two.  Start my own line of shoes.  Nourse Roadkillers.  The logo would be guts.  The motto would be, "If you don't have Guts, then you don't get glory."  I think I just figured this thing out because I really am a bit worried that my shoes will tear, but now the thought of wearing a deer and a rabbit sounds pretty good.  And the inflow of money sounds even better.  I can't wait to get this marathon over.