Training for 2/28/13

February is done!

(Which means it’s Kara’s birthday, so happy birthday, Kara!)

I finished it off this morning with my next-to-last tempo run before Shamrock. Yesterday’s shorts weather was long gone. It was chilly, windy and raining (even though I clearly remember yesterday the weatherman saying there was no rain in the forecast for the next seven days.)

Clark was home, so I didn’t have to feel bad about leaving Pepper while I ran. He looked anxious while I was getting dressed, but I think that’s because he was worried I was going to make him run with me anyway, haha.

I did an easy warm up mile, and then I hit the start button to time 30 minutes at tempo pace.

The wind was at my back for the first two tempo miles, until I got to the ferry, and they both clocked in around 7:17/mile. The third mile was through the swamp and had a bit of an uphill, and I think it was more like 7:20. Less than halfway through the fourth mile, I made a turn and had to run head-on into the wind. I guess I sped up anyway, since I knew I was almost done, because I wound up running about 4.2 miles by the time the watch hit 30 minutes, an average pace of 7:09/mile.

I slowed down and ran the last two miles home at an easier pace. I finished the whole 7.2-mile loop in about 55:07, overall average pace of 7:40/mile.

That put a fork in February, so here is my monthly summary:

Mileage:

• Week 1 (Feb. 1-2): 2.5 miles
• Week 2 (Feb. 3-9): 14.9
• Week 3 (Feb. 10-16): 32.7
• Week 4 (Feb. 17-23): 46.7
• Week 5 (Feb. 24-28): 43.8

Total: 140.6 miles

Kind of a slow start, to say the least, thanks to the cold I got while on vacation. I figured out I missed about 64 training miles altogether. At least 13.1 of the 14.9 miles in the second week were a surprise half marathon PR. That was cool.

I got things going again finally during the third week, and I finished the month with a couple of strong training weeks (except for that 20-miler that turned out to only be 5.) The seven-day stretch between Monday, Feb. 18, and Sunday, Feb. 24, I ran 62 miles. (I track my miles in my log Sunday to Saturday.)

Looking ahead to March, I’m feeling really good about the Whale Challenge in a couple of weeks. Today, they posted online our bib numbers for all the races. I’m 16088 in the 8K and 73 in the marathon, so I should be starting in the first corral for both races.

All 10,000 half marathon entries are sold out, as are the 9,000 entries in the 8K. The marathon, which has 4,000 spots, typically doesn’t sell out.

They’ve also posted online the medals and race shirts we’ll be getting:

Short-sleeved on the top is for the half, long-sleeved on the bottom is for the full.

I’ll get the marathon medal in the middle, and the 8K medal to the right of it.

Half and full finishers will also get a hat and another shirt at the finish line, but they never release pictures of those beforehand. You have to finish to find out what they look like.

And then, of course, there’s all the Yuengling at the finish line, but I know what a keg looks like, so they don’t have to post pictures of that.

The weekend after Shamrock, there’s a local 15K I’m considering, based on how I’m feeling after the marathon, of course. I haven’t run an official 15K (9.3 miles) since Jan. 2010, and I’m pretty sure I could blast my PR. This is the only 15K I’ve ever seen in this area, but until this year, it was always held the same weekend as Shamrock, so I couldn’t do it.

Training for 2/27/13

Yesterday was not a good day for Pepper. First, he had to stay home alone while I ran. Then, he had to stay home alone some more while I went to work. The worst, however, was when Clark’s dad, who had agreed to get Pepper after work and take him back to Clark’s parents’ house, since I had to work late, forgot about him!

It was around 8:30 p.m., three hours later than Pepper normally gets to eat and use the bathroom, when I got home. I was expecting a big mess in the utility room, but somehow, he’d held on all that time. He took a five-minute pee when he finally got out though, haha.

I felt so bad! After he’d eaten and gotten more water and been in and out again, Pepper just wanted a big hug, and all was forgiven. Clark’s dad called a little while later to apologize again for forgetting Pepper, and to make sure he’d survived.

Of course, this only proves my theory that when Pepper poops on the floor in the hour he’s left alone while I run, he’s doing it out of spite.

Last night was Clark’s final one in Vegas (he passed the contractor’s exams yesterday.) He went to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop, the one featured on A&E’s “Pawn Stars.”

Imagine my surprise when he sent me this picture:

That, my friends, is a ring worn by someone from the 2000 Winston Cup Series championship team — the one that Bobby Labonte drove for!

While I’m not into collecting all that NASCAR memorabilia anymore like I did when I was younger, a championship ring would be pretty cool. One problem though — it’s $15,000.

I thought that sounded like a lot, until Clark said the newer Super Bowl rings in the case were up to $100,000.

Anyway, this morning, since I only had an easy run on the schedule, I got to take Pepper again.

It really warmed up after all the rain passed through overnight. It was so warm, I got to wear shorts and a long-sleeved T-shirt, and Pepper didn’t have to wear his jacket. It was also pretty windy, but I let that slide today.

We ran an uneventful lap around the 5.5-mile loop. Next week, my Monday and Wednesday easy runs drop back down to the 4.5-mile loop, and then the week after that, the last one before the marathon, they’re only 3 miles each.

When we got home, I ate some breakfast, and then did my push-ups workout, ab exercises, invisible chair-sitting, weights and stretching.

Training for 2/26/13

This morning, I ran my last hill repeats before Shamrock. It was a rather cold morning, but the wind was calm for once, and I beat the rain that’s supposed to move in later today.

I drove out to the Sharptown bridge (no bicycle today), parked my car in the pull-off area near the bridge and did a mile on the flat road to warm up.

I ran up and over the bridge six times this morning. Traffic seemed especially heavy. The “shoulder” on the bridge isn’t even as wide as a bike lane, so if there’s traffic coming from both directions, the vehicle approaching me doesn’t have much room to give me. It gets a little bit scary when that approaching vehicle is a semi.

I managed to avoid getting clipped by a passing vehicle long enough to get in all six repeats. I did another mile to cool down, for a total of 5.3 miles today.

When I got home, Pepper was not happy with me for leaving him alone, but what else is new? At least he didn’t poop in the floor to punish me this time.

I showered and ate some breakfast, and then went in town for my court appearance. I just showed them my current registration, and everything was dropped, no fines. Now that whole headache is finally behind me.

Training for 2/25/13

NAILED IT!!

I am so proud of this past week of training! It was the last high-mileage week before Shamrock, and I really needed it to go well after falling off the wagon a bit this month. After five good weekday runs, I had two big runs left over the weekend to finish off the week strong.

I did it just like Hal Higdon wanted it to go — 10-mile pace run Saturday and 20-mile long run Sunday on tired legs.

The weather was less than stellar for running this weekend, but it’s February, so, no big surprise. Saturday, it was raining off and on and a little on the breezy side, but not nearly as cold as it had been earlier in the week.

I put on a pair of capri tights, a light long-sleeved top, my rain running jacket, my Shamrock finisher’s hat with the brim and a light pair of gloves, and set off for a lap around my 10.5-mile loop.

This pace run didn’t fly by the way the shorter ones used to at the beginning of this training cycle, but I maintained what felt like a manageable pace and finished the loop in 1:23:32, a 7:57/mile average pace.

I think, based on the past several pace runs I’ve done, I’m going to stick to 8:00/mile for my goal pace at Shamrock, instead of dropping it to 7:50. That’ll get me in just under 3:30, which is the whole point. I’ll save 3:25 for another marathon.

I drank a glass of chocolate milk, did lots of stretching and ate plenty the rest of the day Saturday, including a big spinach salad and half a large pizza for dinner, to get ready for the next day’s long run. I haven’t forgotten the last couple of crappy miles of that 19-miler last month.

Saturday afternoon, I watched the Nationwide Series season opener at Daytona. That last lap wreck was crazy. I’ve never seen the entire front end of a car get sheared off, go through the catch fence and fly into the stands like that. A lot of people were injured, and there’s still one person in critical condition with head trauma caused by something that flew off that car, so I hope everyone gets through it and recovers.

Sunday morning, I woke up early, fed Pepper, ate my own breakfast and got on the road for 20 miles.

It was still warm enough for capri tights and just one long-sleeved top. It was supposed to be clear but windy. It wasn’t windy yet, which really made my day, but it wasn’t clear either. I figured the clouds were on their way out though.

Wrong! Not long after I started running, it started sprinkling. By the end of the first mile, I was running in a full-on downpour. I hadn’t worn a hat with a brim, so the rain was getting in my eyes, which I can’t stand.

I was starting to wonder how much of that I could put up with, and if this 20-miler was going to be a repeat of last week’s attempt. But then, by the third mile, it started to taper off, and by the time I’d finished four miles, it was done for good.

Once the rain let up, I was in a better mood. Around 7 miles, I ate a bag of Jelly Belly Sport Beans. When I got to Galestown, 10.15 miles into the run after some of the extra roads I’d run to add on mileage, I just turned around and decided to make it an out-and-back.

The sun had come out by this point, and the wind was starting to kick up, but the way it was blowing, I didn’t have to run head-on into it much for the second half of the run.

I was keeping the pace nice and easy. Last week, I’d looked online at the training plan I’m following, and reread what Hal wrote about why long runs should be slow:

“I know this is tough for you. You want to go out on those long runs and BLAST! Don’t! Normally I recommend that runners do their long runs anywhere from 30 to 90 or more seconds per mile slower than their marathon pace. This is very important, particularly for advanced runners who do speedwork during the week. Listen to what the Coach is about to tell you! The physiological benefits kick in around 90-120 minutes, no matter how fast you run. You’ll burn a few calories and trigger glycogen regenesis, teaching your muscles to conserve fuel. Running too fast defeats this purpose and may unnecessarily tear down your muscles, compromising not only your midweek workouts, but the following week’s long run. Save your fast running for the marathon itself. There are plenty of days during the rest of the week, when you can run fast. So simply do your long runs at a comfortable pace, one that allows you to converse with your training partners, at least during the beginning of the run.”

I’ve been consciously keeping the pace slower on my long and easy run days, and based on how well my speedwork went throughout training (when I did it, that is), I think it’s paid off so far. We will see in the marathon, of course.

I ate another bag of Sport Beans around 14 miles. Once I passed the ferry on the way back, I only had 4.5 miles to go, yet I felt like I’d barely started. Was this going to be the easiest 20-miler I’d ever run?

I really shouldn’t have acknowledged how good I felt, because soon enough, it came back to bite me. There’s a saying among runners — in a long run or race, whether you feel good or bad, don’t worry, because it will soon pass. It’s amazing how quickly you can go from feeling like you’re skimming along the pavement to feeling like every step is a struggle, and vice versa.

The last four miles of the run felt much, much harder than the first 16 had! But I kept up the pace, and wouldn’t let myself even entertain the thought of a walk break this close to the end. Around two miles to go, I had to really face the wind for the first time all day. Fortunately, it was only about a mile before I made one last turn for home and got out of the wind.

I polished off that last mile and finished 20.3 miles in 2:57:18, an 8:44/mile average pace. All in all, it was a great 20-miler.

I did a little stretching and took a shower, and then Clark and I went to Mike’s house to watch the Daytona 500. Danica Patrick made history again, becoming the first woman to lead a Sprint Cup race under green (and I didn’t have to feel guilty because I hadn’t wimped out on my long run, haha), and she finished eighth. Bobby had a decent run and avoided all the wrecks, and finished 15th. Unfortunately, Jimmie stupid Johnson had to ruin the whole day by going and winning the thing, but I guess it can’t all go my way.

This morning, Clark had to leave at 4 a.m. to get to the airport for a flight to Las Vegas. He’s taking a test tomorrow that, if he passes, will get his company a contractor license in Nevada. That, of course, left me home alone with Pepper.

I got up a little while later and fed Pepper, and then I got dressed for today’s easy 5-miler. (By the way, I couldn’t believe how not at all sore my legs felt this morning.) Pepper was anxiously watching me put on my running clothes, and I could see the wheels spinning in his head as he did the math — either he was going to have to run too, or he was going to have to stay home alone.

I got him into his jacket (it was a lot colder this morning than the last two) and harness, clipped on his leash and walked out to the road with him. I didn’t know if he was going to run or not, but, much to my delight, he just picked up a little stick off the side of the road and ran the entire 5.5-mile loop with me, without complaint!

It was so much fun to run with him this morning. I held him to a reasonable pace, and had a great time with him. And when we got home, he got a treat.

I decided to hold off on the strength training until this evening. I just did some stretching.

I’m feeling really good about Shamrock at this point. It’s less than three weeks away! All the super long runs and really long speed workouts are done. In fact, I only have one more double-digit run, a 12-miler next weekend.

February is almost over, NASCAR is back, Daylight Saving Time and spring are just around the corner and I’ve officially made it to the taper in one piece. It’s a good day.

Training for 2/22/13

This morning, Pepper and I went to the trail for our usual Friday trail run. We did a quick lap around the 3-mile loop. At home, I gave him a treat, and then I did today’s push-ups workout and some stretching.

Before I went to work, I went to the Delaware DMV, got my tint waiver validated and then finally got my car past inspection and the registration renewed. (Either that center brake light was working at the moment, or the inspector didn’t care, but he never mentioned it.)

My plate expired last May. The fine for letting it go that long was a whopping $10, haha. Since it’s been nine months since it expired, and the fine was only a quarter of the registration fee per year, I technically just got half a year for free.

Anyway, that’s taken care of for the next two years, and now I can go to court Tuesday morning, show them my updated registration and get that ticket dropped.

I’d still like to figure out what’s wrong with that stupid brake light though.

This weekend is an important one in regards to Shamrock training. Tomorrow is 10 miles at goal marathon pace, the longest pace run I’ll do, and then Sunday is the final 20-miler.

Tomorrow is supposed to pour rain most of the day, with a 13 mph wind, but it should be warmer than this past week. I can handle rain when it’s not on the verge of turning to snow. I’m obviously not excited about the wind though. Sunday is supposed to be clear, but windier.

Other than running, I’m looking forward to the official start of NASCAR, with the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Bobby starts 23rd after finishing 11th in the first qualifying race yesterday.

Training for 2/21/13

This morning, I went to the track for my longest interval workout of this training cycle, eight 800-meter repeats with 400 meters of recovery between each. With warm up and cool down miles, I was planning on putting in nine miles at the track today.

Today was sunny, but, once again, very cold and breezy. The feels like temp was in the teens with the wind chill. Half of me wanted to get out there and nail this speed workout. The other half wanted to forget about this whole “running outdoors” business and stay burrowed under the covers at home.

Somehow, the runner half of me won out again. It’s a good thing both this training cycle and winter are coming to an end, because I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. It’s getting harder and harder every day to convince myself to just get out there when it’s as bitterly cold as it is. I’m OK once I get going, but I am so sick of layering up and still feeling frozen for the first bit of every run.

I got dressed, ate some breakfast and drove to the track. One good thing about this cold weather — it keeps away the walkers. I had the place all to myself the whole time I was there today.

I fired up the iPod and started on my warm up mile. The wind was kind of in my face on the backstretch, and then really in my face when coming around the bend back to the frontstretch. Thirty-six laps of this? We’ll see…

I started the first repeat. I think I could have used a longer warm up today; my legs were still freezing cold, and the time showed it. I was aiming for 3:25 per repeat today, and the first one clocked in at 3:34. Ouch!

I did a recovery lap, and then ran the second repeat. I felt more completely warmed up by the time I finished that one, in 3:26. Much better.

The next few repeats got progressively faster — 3:24, 3:23 and 3:22 for the fifth one. Unfortunately, the wind was also getting progressively stronger.

The sixth and seventh repeats fell off a little, coming in at 3:23 and 3:24, but I managed to turn it back up for the last one, finishing the eighth repeat in 3:21, my best of the day.

After one more recovery lap, I drank some water, and then ran two more easy miles for a cool down. By the time I was doing my cool down, the wind had picked up to the point the gusts were almost driving me to a standstill when it was in my face.

While I was running the cool down, I tried to think back to a year ago at this time, to how this same workout went before last year’s Shamrock Marathon. I figured out it never happened, because I couldn’t run at this time a year ago, due to that weird pain in my right foot. That put things in perspective a little — the weather might truly suck right now, but at least I can run.

Anyway, this afternoon, they’re running the Daytona Duels (formerly the Gatorade Duels; I can’t keep up with this title sponsor nonsense), to set the rest of the field for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Bobby’s in the first one, which starts at 2 p.m. I got to watch these races last year, but today I have to work, so I’ll be following them online.

Training for 2/20/13

This morning, I got up before the wind kicked up, and did an easy lap around my 5.5-mile loop. It was already breezy though, and the feels like temp was down around 24 degrees, according to weather.com. Tomorrow will be cold again, but then it’s supposed to finally warm up some this weekend, into the 50s. Sounds a lot better to me!

I ate some breakfast when I got home, and then after Clark left for work, I did ab exercises, push-ups, invisible chair-sitting, weights and stretching downstairs again. I was at Walmart last night, but I forgot to get a light bulb to replace the burned out one in the attic.

Today, I went to the eye doctor for a regular exam for the first time in at least four years, maybe five. It felt like it was time to get my prescription updated.

The exam summary shows I have normal blood pressure, I’m 29.91 years old, I’m nearsighted and have astigmatism, but best of all, it reports I have photophobia — an unusual sensitivity to light.

This is good news, because it qualifies me for a tint waiver in Delaware, which means I don’t have to get it stripped off the front windows to get the car through inspection and then get it reapplied. What a relief!

When I first got my car’s windows tinted, on the last one I had, which was registered in Maryland and therefore legal, I did it purely for aesthetic reasons. But I’ve gotten really used to it, to the point where when I bought the car I have now, I had to get the windows tinted, because it felt uncomfortably bright in it all the time, even on a cloudy day. Ever since I got my license, I’ve always worn my prescription sunglasses to drive during the day, whether or not it’s sunny.

My eye doctor said he’s actually working with lawyers right now to get the tint law in Delaware rewritten to allow something on the front windows. He thinks it’s a silly law too. In the meantime though, I’m really grateful he signed that waiver for me.

And with that waiver, I can finally get the car past inspection and get the registration updated. I will no longer be a delinquent car owner!

I got some more good news today. My friend Brad, the one who let Clark and me stay at his place in California, got a new Garmin, and he wants to send me his old one, which still works fine, for nothing. Looks like I’ll be joining all the other technologically advanced runners soon. I’ll definitely use it for speed workouts and races, but I’ll probably stick to the ol’ Timex for the rest of my runs. I like not knowing.

He said it’ll get to me in plenty of time for Shamrock, which is good news. Greg, the guy from New York who was going to pace me for the second half, isn’t able to make it now, so I have a backup plan to stay on track for my sub-3:30. Plus, having the Garmin in the first half will help me keep from going out too fast. Probably.

I just hope I don’t turn into one of those Garmin users who whines about how the usually USATF-certified course was too long, when my Garmin shows I ran 26.6 miles or something at the finish line. Just about no one runs the tangents on a course perfectly, so just about everyone winds up running a little farther than the advertised race distance.

Training for 2/19/13

This morning, I didn’t wake up early enough to go to the track and do the interval workout and still make it to my regular Tuesday morning meeting on time. Instead, I swapped the interval workout with the 40-minute tempo run I was going to do Thursday, which was about a mile shorter and didn’t require driving into town to the track and back.

I’d thought about just sleeping in and doing the run this evening after work, but they were calling for more rain and wind later today, so I got dressed and got it done first thing.

This morning was a lot more pleasant than the past three. It was definitely warmer than yesterday, and while there was a breeze, it wasn’t the gusting winds from yesterday and Sunday. I also enjoyed seeing the sunrise.

I did an easy mile to warm up, and then started the timer on my watch for 40 minutes at tempo pace.

The run went the way these tempo runs have been going this whole training cycle. I started out a little slow — the first mile was 7:31 — and then progressively got faster. I wound up covering 5.45 miles in 40 minutes, a 7:20/mile average pace.

I eased up on the pace and ran the final 1.7 miles or so home for a cool down. I finished the 8.2-mile loop in about 1:02:30, an overall average pace of about 7:37/mile.

It dawned on me after the run today I only have two more tempo runs between now and Shamrock. Sometimes it feels so far away still, but when I think about it like that, it feels like it’s just around the corner. Less than a month!

Training for 2/18/13

You know what I’m sick of? Winter. Seriously, screw off, winter.

This weekend, I intended to run the easy 10-miler and 20-mile long run I didn’t do last weekend because of that cold. Saturday morning, I woke up to a lovely pouring rain/snow mix.

It took me until 12:30 p.m. to convince myself to go out in that, and that was only because Clark had a retirement party to go to at 3 p.m. and if I waited any longer I’d probably miss my chance altogether. It was cold enough to need tights, a compression mock neck top with a winter running jacket over it, gloves and an earband, but raining hard enough to need a baseball hat with a brim under the earband as well.

I layered up and headed out. It wasn’t a terrible run, but it wasn’t much fun either. I was over it by the time I made it to Galestown, and slogged through the last three miles. I finished the 10.5-mile loop in about 1:27, an 8:16/mile average.

I was happy to get out of all my soaking wet clothes when I got home. I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around. Clark went to the retirement party. That evening, we had a few people over to watch the Sprint Unlimited. Except for a big wreck early on that claimed Jimmie Johnson, it wasn’t a very exciting race this year. Kevin Harvick won.

Sunday morning was nice and sunny, but much colder than the day before, and windy. I believe the preferred term is “blustery.”

Things weren’t looking good for 20 miles. As I ate breakfast, a little voice was already reminding me, “It’s just a cutback week on the schedule, and you have another 20-miler next weekend anyway…”

And look how the little trees lining the backyard were practically laying over due to all that wind!

I decided to go to Trap Pond State Park and run… something. The 5-mile boundary trail would be pretty well protected from the wind by the trees, and maybe once I got going, I’d feel like doing all 20.

I drove to the state park and took off, with my water bottle and a pack of Jelly Belly Sport Beans. Everything on me was cold, but by the end of the first mile or so, I felt better. Except my feet — they were just about numb.

The first half of the loop wasn’t bad. I got the crap scared out of me by this giant wolf-sized dog that was standing right off the trail, but luckily, it was on a leash, being held by a woman standing even farther off the trail (?) and it only barked its head off at me. I even saw another runner who had on a hydration pack, so I figured he was probably doing his long run out there for the same reason I was.

Then I left the clearly-marked gravel path that makes up the first half of the boundary trail, ran a short stint down a road and got on the poorly-marked equestrian trail that makes up most of the second half. It had snowed a little the night before, and I was apparently the first person to try to follow the trail since then. There was also a ton of tree branches and other debris blown all over the place. This was the part of the trail on which I got lost when Kara and I ran it in November.

I was staying on the trail OK, and then all of a sudden, I was good and lost. I couldn’t find my way back to where I’d wandered off the trail, either. I trudged through the woods for a while, trying to find any trace of the stupid trail. When I got to a deep ditch, I knew I was way off.

I followed the ditch, until it made a 90-degree turn. I kept walking the direction I had been going, and I finally hooked back up with the trail.

Not long after that, the trail crossed over that ditch, which had quite a bit of water in it. My feet had never really warmed up, and were already a little damp from the snow, and I was really pissed off by the thought of thoroughly soaking my feet. I don’t know how, but I managed to clear the ditch on a single jump, luckily.

Not long after that, the trail dumped me back out on the road. I crossed the road and followed a wider, more easy-to-see trail back to the parking lot where I’d started. I had to pee pretty bad, so I used the bathroom.

When I left the bathroom, I thought about doing at least one more lap. But the wind was cutting through my damp clothes, and the thought of running that second section of the trail again and trying not to get lost and trying to clear that ditch was not appealing. My car, on the other hand, parked 100 feet away, looked about the most appealing it ever has.

I gave in. A mere five miles into what was supposed to be a 20-miler, I just got in my car and drove away. It felt so nice and warm and un-windy in the car, I didn’t even feel bad about wimping out like that.

The rest of yesterday was pretty damn lazy. We watched qualifying for the front row of the Daytona 500. Danica Patrick became the first woman to win the pole position for a Sprint Cup race. For some reason, that made me feel guilty for skipping out on 75 percent of my long run that morning. Here she is being awesome and making history, and I’m just being the stereotypical wimpy girl. Not that it got me off the couch to do the other 15 miles though — it was still cold and windy outside, after all.

I found out Jimmie Johnson ran the half marathon that morning in 1:29, and was immediately pissed that he would have beaten me so bad, haha. He wasn’t even the fastest of the four drivers who ran it — Kasey Kahne ran a freaking 1:28. Aric Almirola ran a 1:46, and Michael Waltrip a 2:07, so I can say I’d have beaten two of the professional athletes at least.

This morning somehow managed to be even colder, and it was still windy. Better yet, when we woke up, we found the battery in the thermostat had died overnight, and the heat was off. Since it really wasn’t at all warm in the house anyway, there was no excuse to not do my scheduled easy run.

By the time I got home, Clark had gone in town, found an open gas station, gotten a pack of AAA batteries and gotten the thermostat turned back on, and it’d already warmed up to a balmy 53 degrees inside.

I ate some breakfast and then went upstairs for strength training. However, the only light bulb in the attic had burned out. (Both bulbs in the utility room and one of the bulbs in the kitchen had also burned out since Friday, which is weird, right?) So I just brought downstairs the stability ball, pull-ups bar and some weights, and did what I could downstairs. I did push-ups, ab exercises, invisible chair-sitting, weights and stretching.

This is my last week of training for Shamrock before the taper begins. Between the traveling, the sickness and then the recent cold snap, this month has not gone according to plan for the most part. I am determined to kill this final week of hard training. I have my longest track workout of the entire training cycle tomorrow morning, another 40-minute tempo run Thursday, 10 miles at goal marathon pace Saturday and the final 20-miler Sunday. No more excuses!

Training for 2/15/13

This morning, Pepper and I went out to the trail for our usual “easy” trip around the 3-mile loop.

It was another nice day for a run here, sunny and not too cold. Pepper quickly found a stick, and then we took off. He sailed right through the whole run today.

When we got home, I gave him a treat, and then I did today’s push-ups workout and some stretching.

This weekend is a cutback week on the training schedule, but instead, I’m making up the long runs I missed last weekend. I’m doing an easy lap around the 10.5-mile loop tomorrow, and then the second 20-miler Sunday. Then I’ll be back on track to do the last 10- and 20-mile runs next weekend.

The weather isn’t looking all that spiffy. Tomorrow is a 60 percent chance of rain and snow — I’m hoping more rain than snow — and Sunday is a slim chance of flurries and a 20 mph wind. Bleh.

My only other big plan for the weekend is watching the Sprint Unlimited, the non-points exhibition race, tomorrow night and Daytona 500 qualifying Sunday afternoon. Speedweeks have arrived! The Gatorade Duel qualifying races are next Thursday, and then next weekend is the season openers for the truck and Nationwide series, and, of course, the big one — the Daytona 500.