Week 12 Day 2

Interval trail run for 9.15 miles. A good trail run with 10 x 100m towards Hubbard. The speed run started at mile 7.

1 8:47   
2 8:01   
3 7:44   
4 7:41   
5 7:24   
6 7:43   
7 7:51   
8 8:00   
9 8:06

Week 12 Day 1

Cross workout for an hour. 8 min abs, lunge, weight lift, dumbbell bent-over rows, parallel bar dips.

Week 11 Day 7

Trail towards Black Point. Good run for 16 miles in 2:04:24. It was -3C and light snow. The form is better and my calves are only slightly sore. So it is much better than the run last Sunday. Both feet are a little painful on different areas. I am not sure the reason.

Week 11 Day 6

Trail run towards Hubbard for 5.72 miles in 45:27 minutes, pace at 7:57/mile.

Week 11 Day 5

Crossworkout for an hour. 8 min abs, chest, pull-up, hamstring stretches, lunge.

Week 11 Day 4

Although the road is snow cleared, I chose to run on treadmill, which is always tougher as the indoor temperature is about 20C.

I ran easy pace for 9 miles. The incline was set at 1.0 for 4 miles from 4-8. Most pace was on 8:00m/mi.

I am happy with it.

Week 11 Day 3

Today I slowed down a bit and ran at the recovery pace to get my calves recovered. The pace is about 8:30 for 5 miles. It is a good run on treadmill.

Week 11 Day 2

9 miles with 10 x 100m. 100 started from mile 8.5. The 100m quality wasn't great. The shoes are not quite good for speed workout. The padding is a bit slippy. Quite windy, some hills (Allen heights). Calves hurt.

mi Pace (min/mi) Elevation (ft) 
1 8:26 -167 
2 8:27 47 
3 8:13 -9 
4 8:11 -9 
5 7:57 -24 
6 7:50 0 
7 8:05 14 
8 8:40 16 
9 8:49 34

Week 11 Day 1

Rest as schedule. I did 8 min abs, 8 min chest, hamstring stretches and lunge for about 40 minutes.

Week 10 Day 7

Today is my high, 15 miles. I couldn't dare to try a hill again. I need to give my body some adjustment. So I ran on the trail towards Timberlea as it was cold (-5C). I thought towards the bay would be cold if wind blows.

RunKeeper lost signal between mile 3 and 5. When the signal came back, it reported I ran about 4 miles with average pace at 10:30. I knew it wasn't right. I never ran at such a slow pace.

I tried some marathon pace.

Mile Pace Elevation(ft) 
6 7:23 -52 
7 7:41 41 
8 7:17 -5 
9 7:33 -2 
10 7:38 -27 
11 7:24 -13 
12 7:34 -56 
13 7:21 -88

I think running at 7:30 pace is still my comfortable pace. On a flat course, I think I can run 7:30 as a MP, which would give me 3:17 for a marathon.

Having said that, my calves are quite sore after 15 miles. So I am not sure if my calves can take that pace for a marathon.

Week 10 Day 6

Easy pace on treadmill today. I tried one mile at 7:00 pace, which is my plan starting pace for my 10K race on Jan 5. I wanted to feel the pace to see if it is comfortable enough to start with and maybe keep another mile, then increase to 6:30 for next 4 miles. I am targeting to finish in 40 minutes but I am not sure if it is too ambitious or not. We will see.

Week 10 Day 5

Rest as schedule. I thought to do some cross workout, but didn't feel right after 15 minute biking, so I stopped doing abs or chest.

Week 10 Day 4

9 miles easy pace today on Allen height. The elevation and pace as following:
 

Week 10 Day 3

Today I covered 5 miles easy run on treadmill, 1% incline for the first 3 miles, then flat for 2 miles.

Week 10 Day 2

Today I ran on the trail. Tempo started from mile 4 to mile 8. The pace was:

7:11
7:18
7:10
6:48


I haven't run tempo for a while. I certainly felt comfortably hard. I am not sure if I could speed up another 10 seconds which is the McMillan's suggestion tempo pace (slowest) for me.

I felt good after the mile cool down (8:31 pace).

Week 10 Day 1

Rest as schedule.

Week 9 Day 7

Running 11 miles (pace 8:12) on Hammonds plains to practice a hill run. It is the first time running on a hilly course.
It was tough. My lung has the capacity but my carves are killing me.

Week 9 Day 6

Easy run for 5 miles then did some cross workout:
8 min abs level 2
8 min chest level 1
a few variety of Hamstring stretches

Week 9 Day 5

Rest as schedule.

Week 9 Day 4

As usually, it is a 9 mile run today. So I had to get up early. Yesterday it was raining, luckily today it is not raining.

In order to take care of myself not to get injured, I slowed down my pace. As usually, mile 3 is always a hard mile, then my body was fully opened up, so it was easier. I tried not to run too fast to get my knees warning signal back. It was a good run and I didn't feel knees pain at all.

Because of this knee issue, I suspected I probably over strided or running with a poor form. It could be the sudden mileage increase and run too fast. I read an article saying if you don't take the expert advice, that is, slow down and build mileage gradually, it is not whether you will get injured. You will get injured. Only the question is when you will get injured.

Anyhow, I did some research on the perfect running form. There is a great analysis on youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMgIViinuQ

Looking at the video, Moses Mosop seems to apply his leg muscles strength efficiently when the foot touched the ground. It is some kind of leaping from the ground. As I remember, My legs are usually more lazy lifting from the ground.

The other point I notice is that his feet were never pointing up to the sky. They were always down towards to the ground and when touching the ground, the foot was parallel to the ground forming a middle-foot strike.

Today I concentrated on this technique and tried to apply it. However, I don't think I quite get there yet. Having said that, I certainly felt the power from the ground especially running up hill feeling so much lighter and easier. I will keep practising. Here is today's pace:

mi	Pace(mi)Elevation (ft) 
1	8:26	-104 
2	8:44	-37 
3	8:10	43 
4	7:47	-45 
5	8:02	32 
6	7:47	-30 
7	8:05	44 
8	7:41	-11 
9	7:53	18 
10	7:43	43

Week 9 Day 3

This week is a step down week, so today is a rest day but I did some cross workout.

8 min abs Level 2
8 min Chest Level 2: 15 x 3 x 3. This is hard. I couldn't finish the last inner chest 3 sets in full. My arms are not strong enough and too tired. I only covered 5-8 reps on each set.
Lunge 2 x 12 each side
Hamstring stretches 2 x 30 seconds each side

Week 9 Day 2

Another long run during the week day, I got up early and covered my 7 miles with 10 x 100m intervals. 100m interval started at mile 6.

Week 9 Day 1

Today is a rest day, but after work, I did some cross workout:

Bench press 3 x 8
One-Arm Dumbbell Row 2 x 15 each side
lying hamstring stretch 2 x 30s each side

Week 8 Day 7

After getting up, I didn't want to have breakfast and wait for a couple hours to run. So I drank a little water to recover dehydration during the night and had a couple bites of banana. I made some sport drink (lemon juice + a pinch of salt and a pinch half tea spoon of sugar) and put on running gears and off to the trail.

It was quite chilly outside but not too bad. Running along the trail and looking at the bay, it was so wonderful. I saw a few people walking with their dogs and a couple runners.

Last week hard runs caused my knees having some warning signal, a little aching occasionally during the run. So I had to ease a bit. Today I slowed down a little but probably still fast according to experts. The pace for my 14 miles are as following:

Mi Pace(min/mi)
1 8:42
2 8:34
3 7:31
4 7:39
5 7:55
6 8:04
7 7:56
8 8:33
9 7:47
10 8:07
11 8:05
12 7:33
13 7:41

Week 8 Day 6

Today I ran on trail to cover 4 miles requirement, but ended with 4.9 miles. I tried MayByRun Adroid app, but I didn't set the voice notification, so I didn't know how long I ran. I stopped at Bike & Beans and set the voice however, I didn't like the artifical machine voice (text-to-speech). So I switched back to RunKeeper.

Back home, I did some cross workout. I focused on my hamstrings which are quite tight. I need to work on the flexibility in order to increase my stride length to increase speed.

Side plank 3 x 15 seconds each side
Hip rotation stretch
Gluteal Stretch 2 x 30 seconds
Lying hamstring stretch 2 x 30 seconds
Kneeling hamstring stretch

Week 8 Day 5

Rest as schedule.

Week 8 Day 4

It is relatively long run today. The sunset is much early now. So I had to get up early to cover today's 9 miles run. I ran 9.2 miles on Allen heights with 7:41/mile pace. The first 3 miles are always harder than the rest even much slower. I guess my body hasn't warmed up fully.

I didn't feel tired when I came back from work. So I did 8 min abs on level 2 which is 40 x 2 x 3 (upper, middle and lower abs) = 240 sit-up and 8 min chest on level 1 which is 12 x 3 sets x 3 (upper, lower and inner chest) = 108 push-up.

Week 8 Day 3

Treadmill incline 2, easy run for 5 miles, pace at 7:57/mile

Week 8 Day 2

Today I ran on Treadmill for 8 miles including 10 x 100m intervals.

Week 8 Day 1

Rest as schedule.

Week 7 Day 7

Today I broke my own running distance record. I ran 13.23 miles in total in 1:42:00.

It was an early morning 8:30am. I just got up and had a banana and a couple mouth of water. The sun was out but there was light fluffy snow. The temperature was 2C. After learning the lesson from my frozen dick last time, I put a comfort underwear to avoid my dick frozen again.

I put on my Samsung Android phone with Runkeeper on. The Runkeeper reported my pace was 7:20 on the first half mile. Wow, that was too fast for the first ever half marathon run. So I slowed down a bit. After the first mile, it was 7:30. I was still too fast although I was comfortable enough. So I slowed down again. The second mile was 8.09/mi. My plan was to run the whole distance with an average 8:00/mi pace, as I had never run such a distance and I didn't know if I was capable to run with my normal pace 7 minutes and something.

Due to the inaccurate Runkeeper mapping last time, I measured my distance on Google Map before the run, so I knew where I should return. Surprisingly this time Runkeeper was very accurate as there was no u-turn bend on the route.

After the half way, I felt good and comfortable but I could felt my legs a bit tight. The half way average pace was 7:48/mi. I think I read Pfitz book discussing about the marathon pace in the second half of a long run, but I couldn't remember if it was in my today's plan. Anyhow, I felt good enough, so I increased my pace but keep comfortable enough to finish the rest. Mile 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, the pace was about 7:16-7:23.

After mile 12, I still felt good but I planned to use the rest to cool down, so I slowed down the pace and did some short sprint drill to stretch my legs. Mile 13's pace was 8:18.

It was a great run. I never feel so good after a Sunday run, although I could definitely feel my quads sore.

One more note is that for the first time I took a drink with me. I made my own energy drink. Reading some articles, I know through sweat a runner loses Sodium and Potassium which are the main ingredients of a sport drink. Potassium can come from lemon juice. So I added little sugar, salt and lemon juice into water and mix. That was my energy drink. Every 3 miles, I took a mouth of the drink since through the night I was probably a bit dehydrated and I couldn't drink too much before the run.

Week 7 Day 6

Easy run on the treadmill for 4 miles in 31:45. I set incline to 2 and 3 from time to time.

Week 7 Day 5

Rest as schedule.

Week 7 Day 4

I am happy with the run. I haven't run in the morning for a while. It was 2C, nice sun rise. I ran on the road with some hills. The total was 8.63 miles in 1:03:19.

Lesson learned: I only wore a pair of running tights and it wasn't enough to keep my dick warm. After the run, my legs were ok, but my dick hurt a lot. It was as cold as ice. Now I understand why runners wear tights and also a short on top.

Week 7 Day 3

I ran on the treadmill with incline 2. Started with 9:13/mi for half mile, then 8:34/mi for another half mile, then 8:00/mi for the next 3 miles. cool down for a few minutes. In total 4.2 miles in 35 minutes.

Week 7 Day 2

Today's plan is 8 miles with 4 miles Lactate Threshold (LT) run. However, I couldn't finish the plan. I still haven't recovered from the Sunday's race.

I was planning to do 3 mile easy run, then 7 minute pace for my LT run, but after 3 mile easy run, I could only do the LT for one mile at 7:00, then drop to 7:30, then 8:00. At mile 6, I felt my right back a little hurt, my calves were tired and couldn't absorb the pounding well, my left knee was a little hurting as well, so I reduced speed again and carried on for a mile. Finally I gave up the last mile to save myself to get injured.

It was really a tough training.

Week 7 Day 1

Rest as schedule

Week 6 Day 7

I finished my 7k relay race in 28:40, the average pace is 6:36/m, which is 8 seconds faster than my 5K pace 6 weeks ago.

I didn't have a fancy watch, so I don't know my split. It was a 4.75 loop route. I think I was a bit too slow on the second loop. Mentally I felt there were another 3 loops to go so I had to leave enough puff for the distance. I was on leg 2. In front of me, there were probably about 10 runners. On loop 2, a lady passed by me and I couldn't catch up all the way. After that, I didn't see anybody pass by me. On loop 4 and loop 5, my legs were tired (my legs were not fully recovered after 9 miles run on Thursday) and I reminded myself to keep my form and keep running as I have trained for so long. I exchanged my frequency to a wider stride for a couple times.

The weather was a bit cold. When we drove to the race venue at 6:30, it was -3C. I wore a running short. I couldn't find the toilet, so I had to put my long tights on top of the short. I wore a hat and gloves when I ran (most people do). When I started run, the sun has already came up. After the first loop, I realized all those protection was a mistake. I was too hot and started sweating. I took off my hat and gloves and threw to the side, but I couldn't stop to take my tights off. We live and we learn!

In the last 200 meters, I sprinted. That was good. I didn't feel awful after the run and recovered to normal quite quickly. Of course, the legs are still a bit sore.

Week 6 Day 6

Today I am supposed to do a 4 miles recovery run, but tomorrow is a 7k race, so I skip this for an extra day recovery.

Week 6 Day 5

Rest as schedule.

Week 6 Day 4

I ran 9 miles on treadmill in 1:07:20.

Week 6 Day 3

Rest as schedule.

Week 6 Day 2

Today I completed 8 miles with 8 x 100 interval on treadmill. I finished in 1:03:45. It is dark when I get home from work at 5:30.

Week 6 Day 1

It is supposed to be a rest day. However, this Sunday I am going to have a 7k relay race, so I go back to the Hal Higdon's plan for a week to prepare for the race. I did 3 miles in 21:45 on the treadmill, then did 8 minutes abs and 8 minutes chest.

Week 5 Day 7

Today I covered 10 miles. I was supposed to run 11, but at the end, I didn't have enough commitment to run another loop. I finished in 1:14:00.

Week 5 Day 6

Today it is a recovery run. It is the first time to run with a group since I started my training plan. It was great and slowed me down. I ran 5 miles in Golden Gate Park with San Francisco Frontrunners group. I forgot to start my watch, but I think it was probably 40 to 45 minutes. It was quite slow for me. After 5 miles, I didn't have a sweat.

Week 5 Day 5

To cover yesterday's mileage, I ran 9 miles, two laps (4.5 mile a lap) around Lake Merced in San Francisco. Yesterday's flight was 14 hours delay. My run routine had to change from yesterday to today.

Week 5 Day 4

Today I was supposed to run 7 miles, but the flight was delayed again. Some flash came out from the left engine, we were forced to land at Indianapolis airport and waited for the next day. So no run for today.

Week 5 Day 3

Rest as schedule.

Week 5 day 2

Interval run today. Ran around the mall and capitol hill in Washington DC with 10x100. Many traffic lights, so many stops. Finished 7.2 miles in 1:03:42.

Week 5 Day 1

From this week, I am going to switch to the Pfitz 55/30 plan. So today it is a rest day.

Week 4 Day 7

It is an early morning, the sun hasn't raised yet. It was a bit chilly. I ran around the capitol hill, the national mall and towards Monument for 4 loops. 10 miles in total in 1:15:00. It was very nice to see so many people running there. It was quite different to my normal solo run.

Week 4 Day 6

Today I was supposed to do a tempo run, but the flight was delayed for 8 hours. When I got to Washington DC, it was evening. So the run was cancelled.

Week 4 Day 5

Rest as schedule.

Week 4 Day 4

Today I ran 3.2 miles with 10 minutes abs workout.

Week 4 Day 3

At the end of the Sandy hurricane, today I ran hill for 2.3 miles. At the end of the run, it was pouring and I was totally soaked.

Week 4 Day 2

I just completed another easy run on treadmill, 4 miles in 30:00. I tried wider paces and also reducing feet ground contact.

From what I read, elite runners have very short feet ground contact and the moment they touch the ground, the legs are very stiff and jerk the power for the speed.

Week 4 Day 1

It is raining outside, so I just completed my run on treadmill for 3 miles in 22:15. Today is the recovery easy run after Saturday tempo and Sunday long run.

After the run, I did 40 minutes cross workout: 8 minutes abs, 8 minutes chest, a couple set of lunges, a couple set of runner's stretches, a couple squat to stands.

Feeling good now.

Week 3 Day 7

I just finished the long run, 7.5 miles in total in 55:52. At the beginning, it was hard. I felt the distance very long after just 1.5 miles. I reminded myself that I had to cover the mileage in order to reach my goal. Experienced runners including book authors say the mileage is important to lead to the successful marathon.

After a couple miles in, I felt better and better. It ended with feeling good.

Week 3 Day 6

Today I finished 19 min tempo run. Including easy run parts, it is 5.38 miles in total.

1.4m - 11 min easy run warm up
2.75m - 19 min tempo
1.30m - 11.40 min easy run cool down

Week 3 Day 5

Rest

Week 3 Day 4

After early dinner, I ran 3.2m on the treadmill in 24:40. After that, I completed 8min abs and 8 min chest workout, also did a couple lunge sets and some stretches.

Today I felt yesterday's hill workout's little soreness. After the easy run and stretches, legs turn to normal.

Week 3 Day 3

It is the first time I run in the early morning (apart from the vacation time) as today I have an evening class to go. So I won't have time to run after work.

Before the breakfast, I completed 4 x 200 hill. In total, finished 2m in 16:00.

Week 3 Day 2

Today I completed 7k (4.375m)in 33:18.

Week 3 Day 1

Today I ran 3.2 miles in 23:19. After that, I did 8 min abs and the lower chest workout. I am feeling a little sleepy after the dinner.

Week 2 Day 7

It is 12:16pm now. I just finished my 7 miles (actual 6.87 miles in 52:49). The fall colourful leaves is great on both side of the flat trail. At the end of the 200 meter hill, I felt a little side stitch again, but recovered in a minute after a few deep breath.

Week 2 Day 6

Two hours after the breakfast, I did a 22 minutes fartlek + 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down. In total, 5 miles in 47 minutes. During the run, I had right side stitch twice, walking 3 minutes each. It could be drinking too much water in the morning, one cup of 2% milk and one cup of orange juice and a cup of green tea for the breakfast.

Deep breathing didn't help as much as a couple days ago.

After the run, I did 8 minutes abs, 8 minutes chest workout, runner's stretch, squat-to-stand and lunge. Probably it was a bit too much.

I hope I will be fully recovered by tomorrow for the 7 miles easy pace runs. Otherwise, I will have just to slow down a bit.

Week 2 Day 5

Rest as schedule.

Week 2 Day 4

Today I completed 3.2 miles again in 22:55. After that, I finished 8 minutes abs, and 1st group of the chest workout.

I also learned the pain on my right side of abs is called side stitch.

I had a little side stitch at about last 800 meters. I tried deep breath and exhaled empty during the run. It seemed help and it only lasted for about 1 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_stitch

Week 2 Day 3

Today I completed 5 x 130m hill run with one mile warm up run and one mile cool down run. That covered about 3 miles in total. The total workout was 27:10. After that, I did 2 x 2 x 10 one leg squat for balance, 3 x 12 runner's stretch for flexibility and 3 x 20 seconds squat-to-stand for joint mobility.

Week 2 Day 2

I just finished 5.1km (3.18m) run in 23:13. I can feel my butt, abs and chest sore after yesterday's workout.

After consulting the experienced marathon runners on runningahead, it seems my current training plan is not going to get me to the target I want. So I decided to switch my plan to http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51150/Marathon-Personal-Best-Training-Program. I am actually going to following the 12-week Intermediate Spring Training Program, follow by 18-week Intermediate 1 Marathon Training Program on the website. The first part to build my fitness base and the second to reach my target.

Week 2 Day 1

Today I have done the cross workout. I did 8 minutes abs, 8 minutes chest and 8 minutes butt.

Week 1 Day 7

No stopping. Today is the long run, 6m (10km). One hour after my breakfast (a couple of whole wheat toast and a glass of orange juice), I went out. After one mile on the concrete road, I reached the Rails on Trails nice easy soft sandy surface (no more than 1% incline). Since the 5K preparation, I haven't done a long run. As it was on the flat nice surface, I completed the run in 50 minutes. It wasn't hard, but certainly it was easy pace.

At about 7km, my right side of abdomen was aching for about 1km. I still kept going though. I am not sure why. That happens sometimes in the past.

I feel good after the run anyway.

Week 1 Day 6

I am still in Cape Breton, staying in Pleasant Bay. Again in the early morning before the breakfast, I ran 5 km. The road has some incline, but it was more a comfortable pace, so it wasn't too hard for me.

It is cold again but still beautiful.

Week 1 Day 5

Today I am in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. I followed the program and ran 2 x 800 hard pace. My actual run was 3km in total. It was before the breakfast. I didn't have enough energy supply. After the run, I was exhausted.

It was cold as well, 5C. I didn't realize it would be that cold in Cape Breton, so I didn't prepare the right running clothes. I wore my sleeveless running vest. My arms were freezing.

Having said that, the sunrise scenery was spectacular.

Week 1 Day 4

Rest

Week 1 Day 3

Today I finished 3 miles + 8  mins Abs workout and the first group of 8 mins Chest workout. The 3 mile run wasn't at easy pace, but it wasn't too difficult. I set zero incline and finished in 25 minutes including 3 minutes 4.5m/h warm-up. Then I spent another 3 minutes cool down and some static stretching.

After the exercise, I had 30g Whey powder drink. Tonight's meal is thin crust spinach pizza and 1/3 pineapple.

Week 1 Day 3

Yesterday evening I only had 20 minutes to run after work and before the dinner. So I didn't follow the program. Instead, I ran 1.5m at 7.5m/h and incline at 4 for 15 minutes on the treadmill. I was busy preparing dessert (Strawberry & raspberry with ice-cream) and forgot to take the whey powder drink after the run. We had risotoo (salmon, scallops and prawn) for dinner, so I guess that would be enough protein and carbohydrate. By the way, my lunch was from Superstore's a BBQ Chicken breast with sweet potato and an apple.

Week 1 Day 2

Today is my first day to start my marathon training.

Following my 5K training plan, http://www.runningplanet.com/training/5K-training-program-beginning.html, which I didn't follow exactly, but helped me to reach my goal 5K in 22 minutes (actual run in 21 minutes). I was concerned about the target as I never reached it during my training trials until 4 days before the CIBC Run for the Cure when I did a final trial.

My new training will follow this plan http://www.runningplanet.com/training/marathon-training-beginning-competitive-runner.html.

Why am I mad to do this?
My inspiration comes from:
1. Colleagues and friends running Marathon
2. Team Hoyt - Dick and Rick Hoyt http://www.teamhoyt.com/
3. 101 year-old guy ran marathon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCY0Xx92YvQ

Why do I choose the beginning competitive program for my first marathon?
The answer is to prevent injury and do full body workout. The competitive training requires speed which requires not only leg msucles, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves, but also full body strength, abdominal, back, shoulder, and also flexibility, balance, joint mobility, etc.

This is the program I am going to use for the Cross Training:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-266-13523-0,00.html

Plus the previous used programs:
8 Min Abs Workout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkKCVCZe474

Chest Workout Level 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIaqbrWBexY

8 Min Butt workout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-IbQoVZbVs