my shoes thanks to the Running Warehouse

Everybody has vices.  For my wife it is jeans.  After going in our closet to count she has a total of 21 pairs!  It is not like these are the $30 variety either.  I won’t write too much about this because I don’t want to get in trouble. 

This is normal, right?

My vice?  I like me some good running shoes.  Unfortunately I do not rival my wife in the overall number (compared to her jeans) nor time put forth shopping for them.  For her I believe it is all about the process of going shopping.  More often than not she goes shopping, buys something (which I call getting her fix), then decides she doesn’t like what she bought and returns it two weeks later.  I would say only one of two articles of clothing she ever buys makes the cut and is not returned.  Case and point, today she returned two pair of shorts to Motherhood Maternity.  Last week she returned a bra from the same purchase.  Only one tank top made the overall cut!

What costs more, these jeans or both of my pairs of running shoes?

We just found out we are having a little girl!

I, like most guys, are all about the hunt for the good bargain.  Normally this comes through purchases at the Running Warehouse.  Normally their prices are about 20% less than retail, but with their constant sales, it can be more than 50% off of retail.  Honestly I don’t know how they stay in business with this model, but they do.    

For the past 3 years or so my main pair of trainers has been the Mizuno Nirvana.  I guess I would have to equate this pair of shoes as driving in a nice Cadillac.  Because I am not rich and old I have never actually driven in a Cadillac.  Nevertheless, I know how they are supposed to drive.  They are big, fast and comfortable.  Hence the shoes are pretty big, 12.2 ounces, feel fast (even though I am not), and are just about as comfortable for a long run as I could hope for.  This is Mizuno’s top of the line shoe for support, which I can tell as I moderately pronate on my right foot.  When I run in these shoes I do not get “dead leg” which has happened when I have put a lot of miles on their next model down for support, the Inspire. 

Mizuno Nirvana 7

Without getting a deal these shoes are really expensive.  $140 bucks expensive.  Even a guy like me who loves to buy running shoes can’t justify that.  Right now the Running Warehouse has last years model on sale for $69.88.   If you are a Facebook fan of their store you can get an additional 15% off of all their sale merchandise by clicking on their promotion tab.  This lowers the cost of the shoes to $59.40 pretax to go along with free 2 day shipping.  This is a grand total of 58% off retail!  Best thing is you don’t have to go shopping at Ross to get brand names for less.  

Because Running Warehouse also price matches I found the current model for $99.99 on another website.  All I did was print it out and take it down to their store (their business is mostly online but I live in the same city as the retail store) and voilà, $99.99 plus tax!  Their customer service is the best.  Even without this deal the shoes still sell for $120, which is $20 cheaper than the retail price.  Not too shabby. 

The second pair of shoes that I am training in are the Saucony Kinvara.  This is almost the lightest shoe that I have ever worn at 7.7 ounces and feels like I am wearing socks instead of shoes.  They are a tad bit narrow for my feet but I was shown a new way to lace them up which makes them feel wider than they actually are.   They are quite different than my Nirvana because of such a small stature and them being closer to the ground which give me more of a feel for the road.   I have only put around 30 miles on this shoe so far but I am looking forward to taking them out on some longer runs to see how my legs and feet hold up.  This is the first truly neutral shoe I have run in for a really long time but so far so good. 

Saucony Kinvara

As for the deal part…  both last years and the current model retails for $90.  Since there is relatively no difference between models and last years was on sale, I went for that.  I can’t remember the numbers exactly, but I believe they were on sale for around $60.  With a monthly email I got an additional 20% off of the sale price.  I believe I paid around $55 total for these shoes.  That makes for 39% off of the retail price. 

All in all I love these both of these shoes right now and I love the Running Warehouse for making me not feel guilty for having the both of them.  If only they sold women’s jeans.      

finding my pace, bonking and Will Ferrell

One of the things I am unsure about as I prepare for my marathon is what pace I want to try and run during the race.  There are so many factors that go into this decision and I know I won’t have an accurate answer until much closer to race day.  However different runs throughout the week have me running different paces depending on how fast I predict to run the marathon on race day.   It is in my best interest to have a general idea of how fast I want to run.  My biggest problem now is how fast I think I should be able to run opposed to how fast I actually can run over the course of 26.2 miles.

One of the common “formulas” for calculating your potential marathon time is to double your ½ marathon time and add 10 minutes.  On the New York Road Runners website they said that since the course is not fast and conditions can vary it is safer to estimate 15 minutes using the same calculation. 

Using that method and taking my time from my last race, roughly 1 hour 42 minutes x 2 + 15 minutes = 3:39. That would be at an 8:21/mile and I would shave off a cool 18 minutes off of my PR.  A PR is an accomplishment all its own, but by 18 minutes in the greatest marathon on earth would be unreal.   

The thing I don’t really like about this calculation is, even though I should be able to run that fast, for that long, I don’t think I can.  After I ran both of my marathons with my buddy Dan I told him, “I’m never doing that again.”   My body ached and the last 9 miles of each race was torture. 

Some factors that lead to me being so miserable was that I never ran any 20 mile runs in training and I didn’t really have any hydration/nutrition plan.  This go around both of those issues will be addressed, and that makes me wonder just how I’ll do if I don’t bonk.  For those non-runner types who are unfamiliar with the term "bonk", click here, but not here.  The latter will just confuse you when you think about doing that during a marathon.  I guess it would be cooler to justify a poor marathon time using the that definition though.  "Yeah, I bonked around mile 18 and it just took longer than I expected." 

"I can run the marathon faster than Matt"

Another plus in running a sub 3:50 would be that I would beat Will Ferrell’s marathon best of 3:56:12.  I’m not going to lie, I was a little upset when I found out the guy who famously jiggled down the street streaking in Old School has a faster marathon time than I do.  And it’s not like he did it when he was 20.  He was training for the marathon when he was filming that movie in 2003.  Keeping all this in mind if I had to list my marathon goals as of right would now they would have to be…

1. Beat my previous PR of 3:57:14
2. Beat Will Ferrell’s PR of 3:56:12 (no streaking involved)
3. Run sub 3:50

And even if I don't end up beating Will Ferrell's time, I guess I can always come back to this picture down here, because at least he looks like a runner.  

being 32 years old

I've tweaked the training schedule to allow Thursday to be my day off instead of Friday.   Our Bible study is on Thursday, which does not give me enough time after work (once work starts back up) to run, eat and be out the door by 6:30.  Also this allows my long run to be on Saturday instead of Sunday.  This works perfectly because I am a HUGE fan of the NFL.  I am one of those guys who lives and dies by how the Denver Broncos play.  Lately it hasn't been too pretty.  I am also one of those guys who love to play fantasy football.  I honestly feel like I could write a whole blog on that topic.   I guess I don't because I know I would get a WTF look from my wife when I ask her if she's read my post on a strength of schedule analysis or bye week drafting.  It's much "cooler" to be writing about what I am writing about now.

a picture says a thousand words

I am in the middle of week 3 and the big miles have not started yet.  With that being said, I do feel fresh and strong right now.  The lower abdominal strain that has kept me out of my city basketball league has not really been noticeable after I get warmed up during the first .5 mile of each run.  I am going to the chiropractor for the first time in about 7 years to alleviate a crick in my neck today.  For some reason I always thought that I would be immune from all the little problems that happen once you get into your 30s.

The hardest part of being in my 30s is actually having to think about what I am eating and knowing that if I don’t I will start to put on weight.  Ever since high school I have consistently been 165 lbs.  When I lifted a lot of weights in my early 20s I got up to 170 lbs.  When I ran my first marathon in 2007 I got down to 155 lbs.  Within the last year or so I have said goodbye to 165 and the scale normally tips somewhere around 170, which is what I weighed the morning I started my training.  Ideally I would like to be around 160 lbs come November and so far I have gained half a pound!  Definitely not the end of the world, but I feel I have been “good” with what I have been eating.   I still have 15 weeks for the scale to start going in the right direction, and I think/hope it will, but right now I’m a tad disappointed with this one aspect of everything. 

the master plan

I am a week and a half into my 18 week plan to get me ready for NYC.  The plan is as listed below...

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	3 x hill	Rest	5 m pace	10
2	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	30 tempo	Rest	5 m run	11
3	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	4 x 800	Rest	6 m pace	8
4	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	4 x hill	Rest	6 m pace	13
5	3 m run	7 m run	3 m run	35 tempo	Rest	7 m run	14
6	3 m run	7 m run	3 m run	5 x 800	Rest	7 m pace	10
7	3 m run	8 m run	4 m run	5 x hill	Rest	8 m pace	16
8	3 m run	8 m run	4 m run	40 tempo	Rest	8 m run	17
9	3 m run	9 m run	4 m run	6 x 800	Rest	Rest	Half Mar
10	3 m run	9 m run	4 m run	6 x hill	Rest	9 m pace	19
11	4 m run	10 m run	5 m run	45 tempo	Rest	10 m run	20
12	4 m run	6 m run	5 m run	7 x 800	Rest	6 m pace	12
13	4 m run	10 m run	5 m run	7 x hill	Rest	10 m pace	20
14	5 m run	6 m run	5 m run	45 tempo	Rest	6 m run	12
15	5 m run	10 m run	5 m run	8 x 800	Rest	10 m pace	20
16	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	6 x hill	Rest	4 m pace	12
17	4 m run	6 m run	4 m run	30 tempo	Rest	4 m run	8
18	3 m run	4 x 400	2 m run	Rest	Rest	2 m run	Marathon

Right now things are pretty easy going as I am on summer break and all I have is time on my hands.  My routine is to roll out of bed anytime in between 7 and 8, and usually I am running about an hour after that.  I am pretty lucky to live in a coastal climate where most of my runs are an overcast 60 degrees or so.  If the sun is out and the temp gets about 70 degrees I swear I think I am going to die of the heat.  

Proof I don't like to run in the heat

After my runs an average day is pretty grueling.  Mostly it involves going to the beach or the dog park, barbecuing, watching TV, doing some yard work or hanging out with my wife and our friends.

I am however a little nervous once the school year starts back up in late August because that is the same time my mileage really starts to increase.  Right now I am right around 25-30 miles a week which I am really enjoying.  At the peak of my training I will be around 50-55 miles a week.  That coupled with work, football on TV almost every night and a pregnant wife to look after will make things pretty challenging.  
The main difference in between this marathon and the two previous ones that I have run in are that I am following a plan for training.  In my previous 2 marathons I never once did any 20 mile training runs.  This go around I will have 3.  I feel more than anything else these long slow runs will hopefully attribute to me running stronger than I have in the past.  
The physiology between these long slow runs is pretty basic so I wish I had taken the time to incorporate them before.  Basically if I can train my body to conserve its energy for longer periods of time the more fuel I will have in my tank at the end of the race.  You can read more about it and my training plan here.  Previously I thought if I ran a shorter distance faster, that would be the same as running the longer runs slower.  What I did was just teach my body that around mile 13-17 it was time to shut things down.  
So in a nutshell, this is going to be my life until November.  Hopefully I will be as enthusiastic about all this when I am a few months in.  

selected for NYC Marathon

Since I started running about 5 years ago, the idea of running in the NYC Marathon has always been in the back of my mind as the ultimate running experience. I think it was a combination of the city being so exciting, Central Park being so beautiful, and Jay Z pumping me up with his song Empire State of Mind.

I never thought I would actually have a chance to run it though. I knew I was way off in terms of automatically qualifying with my times. I also knew I didn't want to beg money from my friends, albeit the charities are a good cause. Lastly, the lottery was a long shot. On top of that I am what some might call cheap. The thought of paying a $200 entry fee, $500 for a plane ticket and however much a hotel room would cost for 3-4 nights really made me cringe. It was due to those factors that I never seriously thought about trying to get into the marathon.

As my wife and I were driving one day we got onto the topic of things we have always wanted to do. I don't think I had ever brought up the NYC Marathon with her before, but I just said in passing it has always been a dream of mine. She encouraged me to go for it, which really surprised me because the training is such a time commitment. She said that since we were going to start to try to have a baby soon something like this would just get harder as the years go by.

Even with my wife's encouragement to apply I still had to get past the lottery process. I knew the odds were about 15% that I would get selected, but I had my fingers crossed. As the selection day came I was checking my laptop at work as the numbers scrolled by. It seemed like forever, but finally as I was able to put in my number it said I had been selected! It was so great to walk next door to my wife's classroom (yes, we teach in classes next door to each other) and let her know I got selected. She gave me a big hug which felt great. Even though I hadn't really done anything yet, I still felt so proud at that moment.

Fast forward a few months and the training has begun! My goal is to stay on top of the training and also on top of this blog which will chronicle my experiences and life in getting ready for the race in November. Thanks for reading.