Saturday, September 27, 2008

Updates

Anybody have any idea what to do about this? The band had been coming loose for a while now, but this week that side came off completely. It was really annoying today on my long run taking my splits. Now, for many runners, this would be the perfect excuse to upgrade to a Garmin. As much as I'd like to do that, I really can't afford it. Is there some kind of adhesive that would work to hold it together? Is it worth it? Any help is much appreciated.

Marathon training is going really well. I've been really surprised at how much endurance I've had. I was really worried after my mile training that it would take a long time to work up my miles, let alone running them at a good pace. I've been following the FIRST plan (except for the long run). My interval and tempo runs have been awesome. I haven't had a problem running the prescribed paces. I've actually been able to keep my times well under that pace on all my runs. The long run is a different story. The program started out with a 13 mile long run. The next week had a 15 mile run, and today was supposed to be a 17 miler. That's still a little to much for me, but I am getting there. Last Saturday, I planned to do an 8 mile run at about an 8 minute pace. I ended up doing 9 with a 7:26 average pace, and still feeling like I could do more. Today I planned for 10, with the option of doing 11 (or maybe even 12). This run was a lot harder than last week's. I could tell within the first half mile that it was going to be tough. I still managed to do 11 at a 7:57 pace, but it definitely took more out of me than I was expecting. Overall though, I'm very pleased with my training so far.

Other Updates:
The cross country season is about half over. The middle schoolers I am coaching have made tons of progress. It has been fun to see the improvements. I've got 18 kids this year. That is a huge team compared to the 3 I had last year. We did, however, just have progress reports which made about half the team ineligible with poor grades. Fortunately, they will only miss one meet before they are allowed to come back (if they've gotten their grades up). So, that's good news.

I now have a 5 year old! My oldest daughter had a birthday this week. She's very excited to be five. We had a birthday party for her today. You gotta love the excitement of little children.

12 comments:

nwgdc said...

sheesh! at first i thought you marathon countdown said 7 days... and not many long runs?! but then, aha!, 97 days...YOU'LL BE FINE!!

Vava said...

Sorry to not have any advice on the watch strap - what a bummer. Your training paces are awe inspiring to be sure! And congratulations on raising a beautiful 5 year-old!

Nikemom said...

LOL. Get a garmin! You won't regret any dime that you spend on it. Or you could use duct tape for the old one. I coach middle school cross country too. I would like to chat with you sometime on how you 'train' them. You can email me at nikemomof2[at]gmail[dot]com. :D

C said...

Happy belated birthday to your 5-year old. She's adorable!

billdowis said...

I also wish I could afford a Garmin... someday.

Have you tried Gorilla Glue? That stuff works on a lot of stuff... I am not sure if it would work on the watch strap but it might say something about the materials it is effective on the bottle. It is in the hardware section.

Thanks for checkin out my blog... keep us updated on the watch band!

Pat said...

see if goodwill has an old watch you could take the strap from. Or maybe play it again sports. Is that strap detachable?

congrats on the 18 runners. That's a lot more. You must be running a great program.

Jess said...

No clue on the watch strap. My answer is always to go out an buy a cheapie at Wal-Mart or something.

Glad to hear the marathon training is going well!

And happy birthday to your daughter!

Unknown said...

I would highly recommend Garmin 405. It ROCKS !!! You can always find a good deal on eBay or Amazon.

Happy Belated Birthday to your cute daughter !!!

Bill Carter said...

Hi Reid

Man, you are really getting fast. Make sure you get in those long runs because the marathon is just so long. My last race, which went so lousy was a great 20 miler and a horrible 6.2. I went through 20 in right around 2:14 and the last 6.2 took me 53 minutes! I just totally bonked and it was a bummer. Also make sure you have a plan for electrolytes/fueling.

Best of luck.

Nitmos said...

My Timex sport watch ripped and I just lathered it full of super glue and, while not the prettiest repair job, keeps it together just fine. I've been using it for 2 more years all full of super glue on the tear spot.

J~Mom said...

My youngest is almost 5! Happy birthday to your daughter!

Michelle said...

Hi Reid,
Your doing incredible miles at such fast pace!! I ran today in defyance and i love them!! I ran my fastest 5 miles in 47.05. For me that is fast! The defyance made me do it!!! :O)