Weekly plan, November 30-December 6

Hammer time, as far as my running is concerned. My marathon is on Saturday; and while I will take Friday off, I am otherwise going to treat this as a normal week, rather than do a regular taper.

Running: 56.2 miles; marathon Saturday.
Nutrition: veggie, but otherwise an off week.
Kendo: make both Mudokwan classes, practice at home on small strikes and hiki techniques.

End of week assessment, November 23-29

Running: 49.8 miles (.2 short). Almost made my 50 mile goal, but not quite, thanks to the Town Run Trail Park's rather odd length. A decent week, though I must confess that I feel more strained and sore from all the trail running than I'd like.

Nutrition: probably way too many sweets, but otherwise a good week.

Kendo: not bad, though rather a light week here, too, because of the holidays.

November 29: long trail run

The White River along my Town Run Trail Park run.

Running: 14.4 miles. My last longish run before the marathon. I did two laps at Town Run, which qualifies as the longest trail run I've done to this point. A solid run, but I was pretty sore afterwards.

Nutrition: good veggie day.

Kendo: no time for anything here today, between my rather time consuming long run and various holiday activities.

November 28: street running

Back on the asphalt today.

Running: 10 miles. A busy Saturday, so I didn't really have time for another trail run today. So I did one of my old-school runs along Lantern Road. A good enough run, I suppose, though my street shoes are totally, utterly shot. I have a new pair on order, but they haven't arrived yet, so I had to use my sad sack old shoes. Consequently, my feet were much more sore than they should have been when I finished.

As a little bonus, I managed a 2 mile walk with my sweetie this evening.

Nutrition: decent day. Julie and I ate at Cracker Barrel, which is normally not a paragon of healthy eating. But we both did their veggie plate, so it turned out okay, I suppose.

Kendo: Managed a bit of kata practice this evening.

November 27: Black Friday

Ran along the White River today.

Running: 7.2 miles. I actually found time to get out on the trail late this afternoon, for a nice circuit. No problem with blisters this time, because I managed to get some decent running socks.

More generally, I am seriously hooked on trail running. I'm running with joy and enthusiasm, and looking forward to every chance I get to make it out onto the trail.

Nutrition: pretty good day. My sweetie and I ate at Chili's, which serves a nice black bean burger. Still a bit heavy on the sweets but hey, it's Thanksgiving.

Kendo: Mudokwan has no classes today, but I tried to somewhat make up for this with a decent home practice session, with kata.

November 26: Thanksgiving run

Running: 5 miles. Not much of a run today, it being of course a holiday. I finally managed a few treadmill miles late in the evening, but that's about it.

Nutrition: better than I might have hoped, given that Thanksgiving is traditionally a calorie-rich, no-holds-barred eating day.

Kendo: nothing today, naturally enough.

November 25: down day

Nothing today, mostly due to a very busy pre-Thanksgiving holiday rush. I had hoped to get in at least a few miles today and take tomorrow (Thanksgiving) off, but instead it looks as if I'll need to do some sort of run on Turkey Day.

November 24: more trails

There's still just a bit of greenery along the trail.

Running: 7.2 miles. My schedule opened up a bit, so I took advantage and headed out to Town Run Trail Park again. I'm going to try to do as much trail running as I can prior to the Tecmseh; I need to work the muscles necessary for trail running. Pretty decent run today, though I developed a few blisters, due I think to bad socks (all of my good running socks have mysteriously vanished, so I've had to run lately using ordinary sweat socks, with predictably poor results).

Nutrition: good veggies, and (as usual) too muc chocolate.

Kendo: pretty large class this evening. We worked on the usual drills, with Hiro leading us in a marathon session of men suburi--I lost track at 600 reps. Hiro wants us to work particularly on our grip--tenouchi--with a relaxed snap of the fingers and wrists. He reiterated something I also learned in Memphis; the need to relax one's strength at the moment of the strike.

We also managed quite a bit of bogu time and jigeiko. I focused on trying to strike straight ahead, as Hiro has suggested, without falling off to one side. had a good jigeiko with Jay, and Hiro in that regard.

November 23: a bit short

Running: 6 miles. Today is my stairs workout in the Wellness Center--the only such workout I'll do this week, given the holiday schedule. Even then, I was compelled to cut things a bit short today--I usually do 7 miles--due to my busy teaching day.

Nutrition: not too bad, but meals a bit sporadic.

Kendo: practiced kirikaeshi and kata with Nathan this evening.

Weekly Plan, November 23-29

I'm trying a fairly radical departure from accepted wisdom and my own past practices in prepping for marathons. I'm going to pretty much forego the usual multi-week taper, opting instead for just a couple days rest right before the Tecumseh Trails, and otherwise maintaining a pretty steady 50-60 weekly base, with a decent long run, leading right up to the actual marathon itself.

Why? here's the thing: I've pretty much decided that, in 2010, I'm going to pursue an ultra-marathon, trail running vision for my running mantra. And to that end, I think that 26.2 is just a number, and not an altogether intimidating number to me anymore, at that. I want to treat 26.2 not as some high, extraordinary peak, but rather just a longish run, on my way to eventually running ultras. to that end, I'm going to see if I can mentally shift my thinking, by just folding the Tecumseh trails into one long, ongoing training program, a means rather than an end in itself.

Will this work? I don't know. I may be setting myself up for some severe overtraining. But I don''t think so. I think, rather, that I'm transforming myself into something more than merely a guy who runs marathons. I want to be an ultra-marathoner, and that takes a somewhat different mentality.

Nutrition-wise, I'm going to take Thanksgiving week off. I'll still go veggie, of course, but I'll relax on everything else, by way of realism during the holidays. I think given my high level of running, this is feasible, with much of a weight gain.

Kendo-wise, I want to prep for the Johnson Cup. To that end, I plan to focus on small men, kote and do strikes, and to work on my hiki techniques.

Running: 50 miles, 15 distance
Nutrition: veggie, but otherwise off week for holidays.
Kendo: make Tuesday class (no class Friday because of the holiday), home practice.

End of week assessment, November 16-22

Running: 52 miles (missed by 8). A good week. I came up a bit short because of that cancelled training run, but otherwise feeling very good. Got in a solid 20 miler, and my first real trail run. Feeling strong these days.

Nutrition: an off week here, I'll admit. My veggie diet is going strong, but I've been on a chocolate tear, lately.

Kendo: pretty good week. Didn't much like missing class Tuesday, but couldn't be helped. I had a good class Friday, and I'm gearing up for the Steve Johnson Cup in a couple of weeks.

November 22: trail running

Some trail run pics from this afternoon.

Running: 7.2 miles. A bad news/good news thing today. The bad news was the cancellation of the scheduled 13 mile training run for the Tecumseh Trails Marathon. I received an email from the organizer indicating that only three of us signed up for the run, so they decided to put the kibosh on the whole thing. I was quite disappointed; I really need some trail running experience of some kind before the Tecumseh Trails--I don't want the first time I lace up my new trail running shoes to be my very first trail marathon. That's not a great idea at all.

The good news, however, is that after some research, I found a really decent trail not far at all from my house: the Town Run Trail Park, a 7.2 mile run along the White River, with the trail head located at 96th street and Hazel Dell--about fifteen minutes from my house. It's used primarily by mountain bike types, but the website indicated that hikers and trail runners were acceptable (if greatly outnumbered; I dodged bikers all day, but only saw one other runner). So I laced up my Razors and did what amounts to my first real trail run.

I have to say I'm hooked; I absolutely loved my first taste of trail running, and I'm pretty well determined that this will only be the first of many such runs. I've not done much trail running until now, not from a lack of desire--I've done quite a lot of reading on the subject--but rather a lack of opportunity. There just aren't very many trail runs readily svailable in Fishers. Or so I thought; this Town Run Trail Park will come in awfully handy.

Today I learned a lot. I learned that trail running is a different animal from street running, for a variety of reasons. First, I found (as I've read in various trail running books and mags) that trail running is pretty strenuous, more so than straight street running or treadmills. The constant adjustments and different obstacles and angles on the trail worked different sets of muscles, so I was pretty sore when finished--more than I would have believed from a mere 7 miler. Second, I left the ipod in my car; a good decision, as it turns out, for I found trail running requires more concentration than a street run. Letting my mind wander is standard operating procedure on the street; it's a very bad idea on a trail. Third, I found the bikers on the trail to be far more courteous than their Monon Greenway counterparts. I'm not sure why, but they were as a rule much more polite.

At any rate, a good but exhausting run. I'll need to do a lot more work on the Town Run in the near future, the better to prep for the Tecumseh Trails.

As a bit of a consolation prize for shorting my mileage goal, my sweetie and I did another nice 2.5 mile walk this morning.

Nutrition: my sweetie started the holiday baking season, so I again ate more in the chocolate and sugar department than I probably should have.

Kendo: good practice session this evening at home. I put in some extra work on small men and kote, the better to prepare for the upcoming tournament.

November 21: shopping day

Running: 6 miles. My sweetie and I had a very fun day of shopping, movies, etc. A wonderful time, but didn't leave much room for a good run. I had to settle for a late evening treadmill slog in the basement, when I really was out of gas from a busy day. Not much of a run.

Making up for matters just a bit, my sweetie and I did a nice 2.5 walk this evening.

Nutrition: had to depart from my veggie ways for the second time this week. Julie and I had a gift certificate for Outback, which we couldn't pass up but (rather predictably) had no veggie options at all. So, I went with the tilapia.

Kendo: no time for kendo practice today, but I did manage to get my paperwork off to register for the annual Steve Johnson Cup tournament in Columbus, Ohio. This was my very first kendo tournament last year, held at my own dojo. This year I'll need to travel a bit, but that's okay. Should be fun.

November 20: working on timing

.

Running: off day.

Nutrition: decent day, though still fighting my chocolate cravings.

Kendo: a bit smaller class than usual, but still a pretty good group this evening. With rank exams only a couple of days away, we worked on kirikaeshi, jigeiko (using roughly the same sort of format that could be expected during the exams), and kata. Everybody looked pretty good, though Hiro tells us that we all have a tendency not to drive straight forward with our strikes during jigeiko, but rather fall to one side or another, which is sort of a kendo version of bush league. We'll all need to work on this.

As for myself--since I'm not testing, I focused my attention on timing, trying (as always) to bring my foot down at precisely the moment of my sword, particularly during my men strikes. I asked one of my classmates to film my strikes before class, so I can review them and see where I'm at, timing-wise.

November 19: distance day

Very much looks like late fall on the Monon right now.

Runnng: 20 miles. Thursdays are usually my medium-long runs, in the 12-13 mile range. But my schedule was rather peculiar today: no classes to teach or campus time, but an afternoon and evening trip to Ohio, speaking at the Western Civil War Roundtable. Bottom line: this was my best option for this week's long run.

So I did another 20 miler, identical to the one I did two weeks ago: down 146th street towards the Monon, to the 3.8 marker and back. A very good, comfortable run. I was sore afterwards, of course, but not too badly at all. In fact, I felt I could have gone a few more miles, had I wanted to do so.

Nutrition: One of those days that I had little control over my meals. I was a guest of the Round Table folks in Celina, who very graciously bought my dinner at the local Bob Evans. I really like Bob Evan's, as a rule, but they have no veggie offerings at all (not even a veggie omelette). So, I did the best I could: a flounder dish, with veggies on the side.

Kendo: off day.

November 18: Wednesday kendo practice

Running: 7 miles. A normal "stairs" day: 37 laps, 74 flights in the Wellness Center. I'm feeling no soreness at all when I complete this workout now, so I suppose I'm making progress.

Nutrition: 168. Good day here.

Kendo: tomorrow is looking pretty dicey schedule-wise; not sure I'll have any home kendo time. So I did a relatively rare thing by practicing at home on a Wednesday (my usual day off for kendo). Worked on kata and iaido.

November 17: maxed out

Working with Nathan on kirikaeshi at home this evening.

Running: 5 miles. On Tuesdays I do a 3 mile warmup run on the WC track, followed by 3 miles on a treadmill hills program. I've been adding a couple of levels at week, and today I tried to tackle level 13, at 7 mph with two maximum peaks at 9.9 degrees.

I made it most of the way, doing 2 miles at that pace and one 9.9 peak, but after that I was pretty much done: sucking in air, legs wobbly, the whole thing. I'm glad of this, I suppose--definitely maxed out. My quads were sore for the rest of the day, too.

Nutrition: 168. Pretty good, but I've been on a bit of a chocolate binge, lately, something I need to eliminate.

Kendo: missed class this evening; faculty meeting at AU ran long, then found myself in a monster traffic jam on I-69. Nothing new for either circumstance, but in the end I didn't make it home until fat too to late for class. To compensate, at least a bit, Nathan and I worked on kirikaeshi.

November 16: another Monday, and more stairs

Running: 7 miles. Mondays mean the Wellness Center and stairs, at least lately. Did my usual 7 mile/37 lap/74 flight workout. Felt no soreness afterwards, which I suppose means progress.

Nutrition: 169. Normal veggie day.

Kendo: worked on kirikaeshi with Nathan tonight, as well as the first three kata.