Monday, July 30, 2012

First month in the books

It's hard to believe it, but the first four weeks of our training plan have already whizzed by. Gregor and I devised our secret plan before he headed northward home during the last week in June. Before he left, we were running together most days, building slowly so that we would be ready for the start of our plan. We have both dealt with some nagging pains and little injuries in the first few weeks of training. But, we dealt with them responsibly by taking time off, which is one of the hardest things to make yourself do, and we're stronger for it and will be better for it in the long run (pun intended).

I have no problem at all with running alone, in fact I enjoy it most days. But I will say I am stoked to have my training buddy back down south in a few weeks to tackle some of the monster miles we have planned. It would have been nice to have him this week too, when I attempted my first true track workout since April. In the early stages of introducing speed, we have been using fartlek-type intervals and some tempo. For instance a typical fartlek interval workout would be: 8 miles with the middle 20 minutes going 1 minute hard, 30 seconds easy recovery. It's a way to get your legs movin' without stressing about splits, intervals, and all the other mental games the track plays with you. But this past Wednesday, it was time to hit the track and leave behind whatever pent up animosity I have towards it. The workout was 12x400 at 5k pace, with some warm-up and cool-down to reach 7-8 miles total for the run. 400s or quarters might seem preferable to a longer interval, but if you're doin' em' right, they are equally brutal. And if you're doing 12, it begins to be a test of endurance as well. I ran them all in 77-81 seconds, a little too inconsistent for one-lappers, but as an inaugural battle on the track, I'll take it. My coach used to say that if you fade more than five seconds from your first rep, then chances are you're probably done and you're at the point of diminishing returns from your workout. But, my first rep was 78, so I stayed in my range. I did have the excellent company of my parents at the track, both of whom are training for the City of Oaks half marathon and who insisted on meeting at 6:30 AM. A little early for my liking, but it's always nice to have someone out there hurting with ya!

Speaking of hurting, I also ran my first true trail race on Saturday AM. I warmed-up with a 4 mile run to the race site and warmed up even more during the 6k race. It was the Race to Sustainability, celebrating local businesses and their sustainable efforts. Cool stuff. It also utilized the underused Carolina North Forest, an awesome and too often forgotten network of trails running through the heart of Chapel Hill. See more info about the race here: http://www.sportoften.com/events/eventDetails.cfm?pEventId=9363 The race didn't start til 9, which is a bit unusual but I'm all for a relaxed approach. But this did mean muggy, hot, sweaty humidity. I do a fair amount of running on trails but I guess most of it is pretty easy running because the race hurt. My garmin clocked 3.95 miles for the race, so it was a little longer than 6k. I ran in the front pack of four for the majority of the race. It consisted of two youngsters, an older ripped-up dude, and myself. The majority of the race was ran on single-track trail, so we were running single file, making it hard to pass. The older, ripped-up dude flew by us all at about the 2 mile mark. At this point I was right behind one of the young guns. He seemed content leading, so I let him lead knowing I would have to make a move around at some point. With about a mile to go the youngster was fading and the trail widened so I decided it was time to go. Much to his dismay, which he made known, I skirted around him and made a decisive break-away. I knew I had to pass and go if I wanted to hold onto 2nd. I ran hard and the last mile ended up being the hardest, which may have worked to my advantage in holding off the two young guns. I finished about 30 seconds behind the older, ripped-up dude, and in retrospect I probably should have gone with him when he passed, but easier said than done. In addition to it being my first trail race, it was the first Race to Sustainability as well. It was a fun event and a great start to the weekend.

I polished off the 50-mile week with a 13 mile long(ish) run. The reason I include "ish", is because they will become much longer all too soon. I'm happy with where I am at this point and how I'm progressing. I can feel my running legs coming back and I'm beginning to recover quicker. Good stuff all around, though, this is still the building phase.

Peace,

Wilbie

Monday, July 23, 2012

Let's get this show on the road!

Welcome to The Building Phase! We are delighted that you've made it this far to see the bare bones of our archaic blog. We promise to make it more colorful and less of an eye-sore soon!


To get you up to speed we are going to start off with a Building Phase Q&A. This will explain the ins and outs of our initiative, and explain to you how you can be involved!




The Building Phase Q&A
What is The Building Phase?
The Building Phase is an initiative to be active in the community through an active lifestyle. Specifically, through the “building phase” of marathon training, we will also work to “build” at Chatham Habitat for Humanity by raising money and hosting regular work site days.
What is our rationale?
Through the process of raising money for the 3 Ring Cycle, a great ride put on by Chatham Habitat in early summer, and through working with Habitat in different capacities, we realize our ability to inspire people and to raise money for the great cause that Habitat is. When we decided to run this marathon in the fall, we saw it as an opportunity to be active in our activeness. We are spritely young men with the ability to rally and inspire, why not run for something bigger than ourselves?
How will The Building Phase work?
We, both experienced athletes, are training for the City of Oaks Marathon that will take place on November 4th, 2012 in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is our hope that as we build in our training we can help Habitat build as well. The Building Phase will support Habitat two-fold; through donations and through work site days.
Donations can be made in two ways: in the form of a flat payment or in a recurring format. Our original idea was to have people sponsor per mile of training/racing we do, but this would become a bit complicated and cumbersome. To ease the process, and because we do still like the idea of being sponsored per mile we run, we have outlined some suggested donation tiers based on our training plan. If you would like to check-in weekly, every other week, or monthly and donate based on our progress, then by all means do! We hope that if you decide on a flat donation that you will still check in for our weekly blog posts.
At this point (7/23/12) we are entering week 4 of serious training out of an 18-week training plan. Each week ranges from 43-85 miles. Suggested donations will be dependent on these ranges. Here are the totals as it stands now:


Week 1
43-53
Week 2
49-61
Week 3
44-58
Week 4
44-56
Week 5
46-60
Week 6
52-65
Week 7
50-62
Week 8
60-81
Week 9
61-73
Week 10
50-62
Week 11
60-81
Week 12
64-85
Week13
50-62
Week 14
60-81
Week 15
67-80
Week16
60-70
Week 17
60-70
Week 18
60-70



So, at the minimum it will be 980 miles and at the maximum it will be 1230. If we were to conquer the minimum mileage of 980, which is nothing to sneeze at, then here's what suggested donations would look like:




Mileage
Donation per mile
Total Donation
980
5 cents
$50
980
10 cents
$100
980
25 cents
$250
980
50 cents
$500




And if we hit the maximum of 1230 miles, then it would look more like this:




Mileage
Donation per mile
Total Donation
1230
5 cents
$62
1230
10 cents
$123
1230
25 cents
$308
1230
50 cents
$615




All of the total donations are approximate and merely suggestions. Every dollar counts, every dollar helps.


As for donating time on the work site to the cause, at this point we are planning on hosting a handful of Saturday work days. There will probably be one or two in September, two in October and one in Novemeber. We are working on getting the dates finalized for those work days. But, we anticipate those being fun events and they are a great way to be involved with The Building Phase. The time we put in on the work site is just as valuable as the money we raise.
We appreciate you taking the time to read our long-winded explanation of our initiative. Now, it's time to get the ball rolling! You can be expecting blog updates about how the actual running is going in the next week. We are both finding our running legs and gaining fitness at this point.
To make a donation you can follow follow this link:
We appreciate your support and so does Chatham Habitat for Humanity. Thanks for being a part of The Building Phase Team!
Gregor and Wilbie