Holding down the couch like its my job

The calendar is up in my room, and that only means one thing, and that thing is that marathon training is starting up on February 1^st. Which marathon am I training for? Not sure yet. Maybe Grandmas again, maybe Med City, maybe something else. Whatever though, I mean four months is a long time. I better be prepared rather than unprepared if I decide to do a spring marathon, whichever one.

So, running has been tough lately. On Tuesday, I ran, and I chafed. Like, real bad. I was chafed in places where no dude wants to be chafed. If you’re a guy I think you know what I mean. So I took two days off- completely off, save for core work. It sucked. I usually don’t wear body glide because I usually don’t chafe, except in the late miles of marathons. I learned my lesson this time. This morning I got up and ran, although not as far as I had planned. I went three. Three whole miles.

One of my problems was that I wore my GTS 11’s for the first time in three months or so. Bad idea because today was the first day over freezing in forever, so the streets were filled with slush. It was a slog fest, and I doubt I could have gone very far anyways because of the conditions. I was sweating even after the three miles I did run. Despite that, I’ma try and run tonight after work if I can.

Run #2-

I ran after work because I couldn't leave today at just three miles. It was still pretty warm outside when I got home around 9:30, but same song second verse, really. I decided to count time since counting miles was pretty much useless since the roads were so bad. Usually my winter runs are confined to one or two routes because people don't shovel their sidewalks, but today it was bad everywhere. Definitely should have hit up the indoor track.

I missed the Milrose games, which I'm pissed about, but I heard ESPN 2's coverage wasn't that great either (surprise, surprise). But I got to see the tail end of the Gopher Hockey game and the NHL all star fantasy draft. I'm not sure what I think of the new format yet, I'm sure I'll write a post on it, but not right now because my head hurts like nobody's business.

Pretty solid weekend

This week has been a pretty solid one for me on a few fronts. First, and the latest development, upon planning my runs for next week, I found that the hotel I'm staying at is only two and a half miles from a forest preserve. Supposedly there's also a trail head only a mile and a half or so from my hotel too. To tell the truth, I'm really pumped; it'll be a nice break from the suburban roads of St. Paul. Second, I'm a winner! Twice! First, a couple weeks ago I entered the runhappy.com daily contest and won a Brooks Nightlife prize pack. It consists of a LED light magnet, a nightlife vest, and a nightlife cap. I usually don't go all out and dress up bright for night runs (although maybe I should, I almost got killed crossing the street the other night; apparently the new twilight movie gives teenage girls the right to run over people in order to get to the theater) although I will if I have to run on the street for a while at night. I'll bring the whole kit to Chicago with me just in case, but it usually doesn't get dark enough in the summer to warrant a headlamp or anything. In the winter though, I suspect everything's going to see a lot of use.

Second, I won the Good Fortune Giveaway runners pack on Frayed Laces' blog. I'm super pumped about this. It includes, among other things, a fuel belt, a Brooks water bottle, the movie Volcanic Sprint, and most importantly, a Hansons/ Brooks singlet signed by Mike Morgan and Kevin Hanson. Have you seen that man Mike run? holy crap. Check this out. Woah. Guy runs a 2:15 marathon in '06 and doesn't look like he's lost a step at all. Other than that, I'm psyched because I don't have a fuel belt anymore (I had one, but left it at one of my runs), and who couldn't use another water bottle? I've got a Running Warehouse one that came along with a pair of my Adrens, but its in pretty bad shape. As for the movie, I've got to be honest and say I haven't heard of it, but I'm pumped to watch a running movie.. any running movie. My 8 hour shifts at work are getting pretty long lately.

Lastly, I've discovered the magic of doubling up my runs. It makes for a long day so I won't double during the weekdays, but on weekends its a godsend. Wake up at 6, put in a few miles, go to bed, wake up and do whatever and then put in a few more miles. Awesome. In fact, in an hour I'm going to make today a 19 mile day. I know that conventional wisdom says you're not supposed to break up a long run because the point of a long run is endurance. Fine, point well taken, but my whole thong right now is 1) laying down a base, and 2) mental toughness. I think going out and running 7, 8, 9 times a week goes a long way to accomplish goal #2 imo.