In addition, the plan calls for a minimum of two cross-training workouts, to enhance aerobic fitness and build endurance while still giving the running muscles a break. I’ve been primarily riding a stationary bike on the cross-training days, which I’m enjoying, because I feel like I’m coming to each run ready to attack rather than on the edge of burnout. It’s also kind of cool because I haven’t spent a lot of time on the stationary bike in the past, so I’m seeing the kind of quick improvement you really only get to enjoy when you’re new at something.

I kind of jumped into the plan a little late – I was waffling on whether or not to do the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon in June, which would have allowed for more training time, but eventually I decided that a weekend trip to San Diego just before the kids got out of school would be a bit of a hassle for our family. By the time I made the decision, though, the Orange County Marathon was only 13 weeks away, and the FIRST plan is 16 weeks long, so I had to tweak the plan a little. Fortunately, I’d been gradually increasing my weekly mileage anyway and was already up to 15 on my long runs, and I’d already been doing some speedwork, so I didn’t have to make any ridiculous jumps in my training..

This weekend will be my first 20 miler - the first of four for me, although the 16-week version of the plan would have included five. I’m actually thinking of making the second-to-last 20-miler into a 22, because many runners I know have found that doing a 22-miler helps prepare them better mentally and physically for the big 26.2.

TODAY’S RUN

The book called for a tempo run of five miles at a 7:45 pace. However, it said nothing about a warmup, so I talked on an easy mile at the beginning. I was a few seconds too slow on the first mile of the tempo portion, which was mostly uphill, but more than made up for it the rest of the way, ending with an average tempo pace of 7:36. I’ll take it!

BY THE MILES
Miles today: 6
Miles this week: 13.19
Miles this month: 79
Miles this year: 205.68

So, today I made a point of working out at the gym today. I started off with 35 minutes on the elliptical trainer as a recovery workout from yesterday’s 12-mile run. Then I did a free-weight routine incorporating freeweights and a physio ball. I finished with some exercises I found in an online video/article in Running Times. Basically, I did the pedestal and Myrtl routine as presented by Coach Jay Johnson in the first video. Before doing it, I was worried it would be too easy for a long-time weightlifter like me. Either I’m not in the shape I once was (which I’ll admit is true) or this is harder than it looks, or both. But, I did get through it, and I can see from doing the exercises how they’d be especially helpful for a runner — they use a lot of the same hip muscles that were getting sore on the Newport Blvd. run on Thursday.

Today’s run: Peter’s Canyon, with a few added miles
Peter’s Canyon is of course a favorite run for many in the central Orange County, with its dirt trail, beautiful scenery, moderately to extremely challenging hills (depending on which trails you run) and central location. Many people start the run from Cedar Grove Park on Pioneer Road in Tustin, which offers convenient parking and a bike/horse trail (your choice of dirt or blacktop) that runs about three-quarters of a mile to the Peter’s Canyon entrance point on Peter’s Canyon Road, off Pioneer. (There is some parking available on Peter’s Canyon Road as well, but it fills up quickly.)

Including the trail to and from the Peter’s Canyon entrance, the more popular, less hilly loop is about seven miles.  The group I was running with added an extra ~5 miles getting to and from Cedar Grove Park, making for a 12-mile run.

BY THE MILES
Miles today: 12
Miles this week: 29.17
Miles this month: 41.25
Miles this year: 41.25

Today’s run: Newport Blvd. in north Tustin
A six-mile run, but it feels like seven. It ascends 401 feet over the first two miles, descends 152 feet over the third mile and turns around — meaning you’re going back uphill in mile four, before descending for the last two miles. Although the road isn’t especially windy, there are enough turns that you really can’t see how far you have left to go before you reach the apex, which is about where the bridge pictured above is. It’s especially difficult when running before sunrise — also probably not the safest run, since portions of the road offer very little lighting.

BY THE MILES
Miles today: 6.05
Miles this week: 17.17
Miles this month: 29.25
Miles this year: 29.25

Am I wrong?

So, this morning was all about Yasso 800s, which are much more fun to say than do. Basically, this is a workout program invented by Runner’s World’s  Bart Yasso and includes 800 meter intervals with roughly a quarter mile of recovery in between. You start off with 5 in a workout, gradually working up to about 10. They are supposedly one of the best interval workouts for those training for a marathon, depending on whom you ask. Supposedly, once you get up to 10, these are a great indicator of your potential marathon time — if you can do 10 800s in 3 minutes and 30 seconds, you can probably do a marathon in about 3 hours and 30 minutes. More on that theory here.

Anyway, that’s what I did this morning. I got brave when I got of my car and thought it was warm enough to go without my gloves — big mistake. By the time I was done, I had to keep my hands inside my shirt for several minutes before I could grip my car keys well enough to unlock the door. But other than that, it was a great workout — tough, but not too tough. The kind of workout that leaves you feeling more energetic than when you started.

BY THE MILES
Miles today: 6, including warm-up, 5x800m intervals, 5x400m recovery, cool-down.
Miles this week: 11.13
Miles this month: 23.21
Miles this year: 23.21

(By the way, if anyone knows of a useful widget for tracking miles on a blog, I’d be most appreciative!)

Today’s run: Tustin Sports Park loop
A 5.11-mile course, mostly on bike trails. It’s nice that you really avoid traffic for the most part on this run. What is a bit disconcerting is the complete lack of lighting on the bike path beginning at Portola Parkway and continuing for just over half a mile. The next mile, ironically, is lit up like Broadway, with brightly light concrete pillars every ten feet, to the point that I have to wonder A) how much it costs the city to keep all of those lights on and B) if anyone using the bike path at night would mind even a little if two-thirds of the lights were shut off. Seriously, for the cyclists who use the path, I have to wonder if it’s more dangerous driving through the pitch dark of the first half mile or the blinding lights of the next mile.

In daylight, however, this is a pleasant, basic run, from which one can easily take off a mile or add as many miles as desired.

BY THE MILES
Miles today: 5.13
Miles this week: 17.21
Miles this month: 17.21
Miles this year: 17.21

Thankfully, I can say I’ve had many runs in the interim, although I have been unforgivably lazy about blogging and did have a major interruption to my running life.

Shortly after I began doing track workouts (see last post) I began noticing some pain in my lower abdominal area. I had hoped it would go away on its own. We runners are used to the fact that aches and pains will always be a part of our lives, but, with a little rest, stretching, foam rolling or roller-sticking or, in some cases, physical therapy, it can usually be dealt with.

At first, that tried-and-true method seemed to be working, but, long story short, when I finally broke down and had a doctor check it out, it turned out I had a bilateral hernia that would require surgery and rob me of a month and a half of running and even more speedwork.

But, perhaps my biggest running accomplishment of 2009 — even bigger than the marathon — is that I am back. One of my biggest fears as a runner has always been that, if I ever stopped running, even for just a little bit, I’d never start again. Back in high school, I’d end every cross-country and track season with a promise to myself that I’d continue running in the off-season. Every off-season, I’d stop running altogether. From high school to my mid-twenties, I think I ran a total of about 8 miles. (Those times I was gutsy enough to try give running another try, promising each time I’d stick with it.)

Now, running has been a part of my fitness regimen for about 12 years, and I’ve never allowed myself more than a few days off from at least some form of cardio, always worried that if I took a break, that would be the end. 2009 was my most intense year of running ever, likely leading to the aforementioned hernia. But still, that fear lingered that if I stopped running, I’d become that guy I was in my 20s whose only exercise was going to the fridge for another beer.

Yet, here I am. I took the four weeks of the doctor recommended, and laid off the speedwork for six weeks thereafter. I’ve added 10 pounds, which I am working on shedding again, and I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me to get back to where I was before the surgery, but, with 95+ miles each in November and December, I can safely claim that I am still a runner.

Today’s run: Spyglass Hill
A 12-mile loop, up 373 feet over the first three miles and mostly flat or descending thereafter. Beautiful views of Carona del Mar and Newport Bay along the way. Ran with my running club, averaging a little faster than I should have at 8:28 per mile.

BY THE MILES
Today: 12.08
This week: 12.08
This month: 12.08
This year: 12.08

I had my second track workout this morning. Last week, I had basically programmed my workout into my Garmin Forerunner in advance so I wouldn’t have to remember what to do at each interval. However, on my Saturday run with my running club, a vastly more experienced running friend explained to me that the Garmin, while a valuable tool, is not so precise that it can tell you to the foot exactly how far you’ve run, and that its margin of error is about 15 feet. It was suggested to me that I use the Garmin only for stopwatch purposes, for keeping track of my interval splits, but not for telling me exactly where and when each lap starts and ends.

I decided that made sense, but that if I was going to rely on the track to tell me where each lap started and ended, I would need a track that was 400 meters — the track I used last week was 300. So, I found a track I could use, brought my list of intervals and paces, and then …

I realized that per-mile paces wouldn’t do me much good on splits of 1200m, 800m or 200m. I had two paces to worry about: 6:55 and 6:25. I needed a 1200m, two 800m laps and four 200m laps at the 6:55 pace and 4 200m laps at a 6:25 pace. This meant doing mental math at 6 a.m. while driving — not the best combo.

I did OK with the 6:55 pace — I figured half of that was 3:27, a quarter was 1:43, and so 200m would be 51 seconds and 1200m would be 5:11. Not bad for calculating in my head, I’d say.

Unfortunately, I didn’t do as well with the 6:25 breakdown. I used the same mental math process, breaking 6:25 down to 3:12, and then breaking that in half and in half again, but somehow, I came up with 42 seconds as my goal time.

I did well with my intervals up to that point, particularly considering that I used my watch as little as possible, and then only looked at the lap time, not the Garmin pace estimates. I finished everything within a couple of seconds of my goal times, and always erring on the low side. But when I got to the four 200m laps at the supposed 6:25 pace, I was finding I couldn’t do it.

First I hit 48 seconds. Then 46. Then 44 seconds on the last two. Later on, of course, I realized that the time I should have been shooting for to keep a 6:25 pace was 48 seconds, so I’d made or surpassed that each time. A 42-second 200m would have been at a 5:36/mile pace.

It was a good workout, and a good learning experience, but next time I’m doing the math ahead of time.

I was a little worried that finding a track that was accessible at 5:30 a.m. would be a problem, but fortunately, the local sports park actually had the gate unlocked and open.

It was actually kind of fun. The speed intervals were 800 meters at a 6:34/mile pace. The first one seemed a little too easy, but by the third, I was pretty out of breath, which reminded me that I need to do a lot more speedwork. I’m actually thinking of changing my current running plan to one that incorporates more interval training in addition to tempo portions on regular runs. The new plan also comes from Runner’s World and is recommended for intermediate runners. It’s only a six-week plan, so I have a few weeks to decide.

I’d love to hear from other runners on how much speed work they do.

I repeated the cycle four or five times before giving up. I’d start out, planning to take it temporarily until I reached my goal weight, at which point I’d give it up and adjust my calories to keep the weight off. It sounded great, in theory.

But of course, that which sounds too good to be true usually is, and was in this case. I’d start taking it, and find my metabolism skyrocketing. I never even took the recommended about, because I’d feel agitated and irritable all day. I’d have constant cravings for food, which I’d more often than not give in to, although I would exercise consistently during these periods. And the weight would come off.

Eventually, I’d reach a point I was satisfied with and decide it was time to stop taking the product. Here;s where things would always go awry.

My metabolism would drop, of course, but the plan was to adjust my calories. Unfortunately, by then I’d be in the habit not of controlling my food intake, but of gratifying every craving. Inevitably, I’d find myself wanting to eat as much as I’d been eating while on Hydroxycut, only it wasn’t being burned off. The weight would come back on as quickly as it had come off.

(Incidentally, I had a very similar experience with creatine, which would accelerate muscle growth, but the benefits of which would disappear as soon as I stopped taking it.)

Around late 2004 as the first season of “The Biggest Loser” was coming to a close, I felt inspired to try losing weight the right way — regular exercise combined with a balanced, low-calorie diet. Not only did the weight come off (35 pounds over 6 months), but I’ve managed to stay fit consistently since then. Sure, I’ll see the scale start to creep up every now and then, but it just serves as a reminder that I need to adjust by eating a bit. It’s much easier to do when one has formed good habits to begin with.

While training for my marathon, I was focusing more on making sure that I included the right things in my diet than worrying about saying no to the empty calories. Because of all the running I was doing, I hovered around the same weight the entire time, despite giving in to a lot of cravings.

I was worried that when I was done with my training, I’d find it too difficult to control my eating and that I’d start putting weight back on. I was especially worried when I pulled my calf muscle during the race and had to stop running for about a week. But, my hunger has subsided as my mileage has decreased, and I’ve actually lost two pounds since the marathon.

I don’t know what will ultimately happen to Hydroxycut, but I’m sure there will be always be some other shortcut to weight loss on the market. Personally, I believe the natural approach will always work better and more permanently in the long run.