Weekly Plan, July 6-13

Time to pick up the pieces after a really awful last week. I need to get my running back up to where it should be, get my marathon training plan hammered out, fix my nutrition plan, and get my kendo back on track.

My watchword here, I think, is simplify. I have a tendency to make over-detailed, elaborate plans that prove impossible to follow, given my busy schedule (a common failing among runners, I think). I need a training plan that is realistic for my marathon, and I need a workable nutrition plan. I also need to start ramping up my kendo, getting ready for the summer camp later this month.

Running: 60 miles, 16 distance; finalize marathon training plan.
Nutrition: follow posted nutrition plan.
Kendo: make classes at Mudokwan, home practice sessions.

End of week assessment, June 29--July 5

Running: 41 miles (missed by 24 miles). Absolute, godawful train wreck of a week. I thought this would actually be a very good week for running: the weather looked decent, I had a bit of free time (my last such time before I start teaching summer school next week), and I have a really nice mileage base in the 60 miles-per-week range. Instead, I ended up flying over 2000 miles, driving another 1300 miles (all in the space of four days), and scrambling just to get little runs in here and there between airport stops and hotel stays. Awful.

Nutrition: awful here, as well. No real control over my nutrition at all this week. I don't think I've gained a whole lot of weight--maybe back up to 170--but I don't feel very light or healthy, either.

Kendo: aforementioned travel wrecked my kendo for the week, too, aside from home practice drills when I got back home this weekend.

July 5: perfect ending

My sweetie and I at baseball today.

Running: 5 miles, time n/a (179) A perfectly lousy ending to a perfectly lousy fitness week. I spent the entire day at Little League baseball, followed by an evening filled with so many family matters of one sort or another that I was forced onto the treadmill late in the evening, and this despite the fact that the weather was absolutely beautiful. Pounded out a stupid little run in the basement and then called it a day. Yech.

Nutrition: not so good here, either.

Kendo: I did manage a kendo workout at home, including some good footwork drills and kata.

July 4: travel on the Fourth

Landed in a driving rainstorm in Indianapolis.

Running: miles, time n/a (178). Flew home today, which of course meant early rising, airports, crowds, etc. Throw in a pouring rainstorm, just for good measure, when I returned home to Indy. No time at all for a run until nearly 11:00pm, at which point I slogged out weary little miles on my basement treadmill.

Nutrition: airport food--enough said.

Kendo: I acually managed to work in some kata practice after my run at home this evening; the only kendo I was able to accomplish this entire awful week.

July 3: and yet another long drive

The large wooden Indian at Big Cabin, Oklahoma; a landmark on my drive today.

Running: 4 miles, time n/a (177). Had to really scramble for a run today. I had the return drive from Joplin to San Antonio (11 hours, 650 miles) staring me in the face, and I still wanted to at least try to make my weekly mileage goal of 65 miles running. I decided to try a split run; some miles on the hotel treadmill in Joplin before my drive early in the morning, and then a few more miles in San Antonio after my run, in the evening.

That sounded like a good plan, but there were, as always, complications and problems. Turns out the hotel doesn't open its fitness center until 7:00am, which given my long drive was not at all feasible. So I had to piece together an outdoor run in the parking lots and streets around my hotel, all the while keeping one eye on the skies because of rain (which eventually came down in buckets). I think I managed to bang out about 4 miles, but of course this is just an estimate.

My idea of doing a few miles at the other end, in S.A., fell through entirely. Didn't even arrive until 8:30pm, at which point the temp was still 102 degrees (!). This, along with the exhaustion of driving 1300 miles in two days pretty much wiped me out.

Nutrition: road food, again. Mostly, I was concerned with staying hydrated in that godawful Texas heat.

Kendo: nothing.

July 2: long drive

Hasty pic of the Dallas skyline.

Running: 9 miles, time n/a (176). Got up really early (4.45am) and did an 11 hour, 650 mile drive from San Antonio to Joplin, Missouri today (I'm helping my parents while dad's ill in the hospital). Obviously not much time for running, but I did squeeze in a pretty decent run on the hotel treadmill late in the evening.

Nutrition; travel made this an open day, of course.

Kendo: nothing.

July 1: Texas heat

Sundown on the running trail at Randolph.

Running: 5 miles, 38.16.19 (7.6 pace!) (175). Flew to San Antonio to be with dad early this morning, and spent the day visiting him in the hospital and doing various other family-related things. Dad's had quite a scare: severe bronchitis with pneumonia, and a host of complications related to the medicine he's taking, but he'll be all right, eventually.

Couldn't do anything about running until nearly 8:30pm in the evening. Mom and I went to our old haunt, the Randolph Air Force base running trail. I know this trail well, running it whenever I visit mom and dad. It's the best option available to me in San Antonio, and I consider myself very fortunate that mom's status as a retired Air Force civil service employee gives us access to the base. It is a long, flat 10 mile route around the base flightline, well-marked and quite safe.

That said, it has its disadvantages. Really just one: the climate. San Antonio in June is no picnic, and it is best to get any running out of the way very early in the morning--preferably before 8:00am. We couldn't do that today, so we had to wait until nearly sundown, when the temp was still in the 90s. Bearable, but miserable. I did a quick--very quick--exhausting little run.

Nutrition: doing best I can here, but obviously I have little control over my options right now....

Kendo:...and of course, kendo is again on hold.

June 30: best laid plans...

Neighborhood run was best I could do.

Running: 7.5 miles, 1.05.43 (8.8 pace) (174). Had to work in a quick run on Little Dog, and...

Nutrition:...eat on the run, and...

Kendo...forego kendo class. The reason? My dad is very ill and in the hospital, so I'll need to drop everything and fly to San Antonion first thing in the morning. Needless to say, this is fairly wreaking havoc with all my plans, fitness and otherwise.

June 29: back at Potter's Bridge

The rail bridge at Forest Hill Park in Noblesville.

Running: 7 miles, time n/a (173). In my ongoing attempt to get some variety in my running, I made the drive out to Potter's Bridge, and ran my old Potter's Bridge/Forest Park Run. Perfect running day; beautiful, with pretty low temps for this time of the year. great run.

Nutrition: fairly healthy day; had a good salmon for dinner.

Kendo: couldn't come up with time for any practice today, again.

Weekly Plan, June 29-July 5

Should be a good week, schedule-wise; need to get some writing done and prep for teaching summer school, but otherwise an open enough schedule that I can get some variety into my running life. I should also be able to do some good kendo, as well.

Running: 65 miles, 16 distance.
Nutrition: free week, but finalize marathon training plan.
Kendo: make classes at Mudokwan (no classes at Baxter Y), home practice

End of week assessment, June 22-28

Running: 60 miles (made goal). A good week. Had some tough runs, and got stuck on 7.5 as my base run, for some reason. But had a nice distance run on the Monon, and generally a good run-up for marathon training.

Nutrition: pretty free-wheeling here, for a variety of reasons. Really need to get back on some kind of program again, by the time I start marathon training.

Kendo: good week. Two classes, and progress made on footwork and timing.

June 28: back on the Monon

The new bridge on the Monon.

Running: 15 miles, 2.08.11 (8.5 pace) (172). Really needed a change of pace, so I drove out to the Monon Greenway for my long run today. A perfect day for running; the temp and humidity finally are a bit more bearable. The Monon was crowded, but I had a very nice run.

Nutrition: pretty solid day here.

Kendo: more kata practice this evening.

June 27: night running

My sweetie and her parents watching baseball today.

Running: 7.5 miles, 1.04.12 (8.7 pace) (171). A very long day of Little Baseball; a tournament with my stepson's travel team, from 6:00am to 8:30pm. I had no choice but to do a late evening run around Little Dog, the last lap of which was quite dark. this isn't a problem, really, except for a stretch along Lantern Road with no sidewalk, no street lights and lots of turns in the road. I'd rather not run this route in the dark again.

Nutrition: complete bust day. Did manage a fairly healthy salad for lunch at McDonald's (food choice being pretty limited near the ballpark) but every thing else was pretty much junk food.

Kendo: I'm really making an effort to restore my daily practice routine, but not much time at all today--just some kata practice at night, after my run.

June 26: rare Friday class

Running: 5 miles, time n/a (170). A short little treadmill run in the basement today. I couldn't do my usual early morning run around Little Dog, and the day became far too hot and sticky for a decent outdoor run after about 10:00. So, I took to the treadmill, and kept the run short because I had kendo in the evening.

Nutrition: again, meals were pretty irregular; not a good week here.

Kendo: a rare Friday class at Mudokwan. I normally can't attend Friday classes, but I did so this week to make up for Tuesday's absence. It was a small class, but enjoyable. We did our usual drills; but since Friday's class is only one hour long, we didn't have much time for jigeiko. Hiro concentrated a great deal on dojo etiquette this evening; a good thing, what with my upcoming kendo camp in July.

June 25: finally back in Southport

Robin and Sugawara-Sensei in jigeiko; the pic is a bit odd because I'm still learning to use my new cell phone camera.

Running: 7.5 miles, time n/a (169). Yet another difficult 7.4 miler, this one on Lsntern Road. The culprit on this occasion was dehydration. I underestimated the humidity and heat for a late afternoon run, and paid the price.

Nutrition: meals pretty irregular today, because of schedule.

Kendo: finally managed to make it to a class at the Baxter Y in Southport, where for one reason or another I've been pretty scarce, lately. While Mudokwan is still my home, I like working with Sugawara-Sensei and the kendoists in his class; they can give me a different perspective n my kendo and what I need to improve upon.

A good class this evening, too, with drills and a good bit of jigeiko with my friend Robin. Sugawara-Sensei thinks my timing is coming along (though as always there is room for improvement) and I've improved my timing in my forward strikes during kirikaeshi. My backwards strikes were off, however. He also encouraged us to take bigger steps and really follow through on our men strikes.

June 24: more rough running

Running: 10 miles, 1.27.12 (8.7 pace) (168). Another unpleasant morning run along Little Dog. The problem wasn't with the distance, or the pace (both of whch were pretty good), but trouble again with my NipGuards. My right one slipped off (again) and got my new Father's Day shirt bloody (again). Argh!

Nutrition; not so good here, I'm afraid; scarfed a lot of chocolate today. Really need to get settled on a marathon training plan and get back on the wagon.

Kendo: Wednesdays are always off days for me and kendo.

June 23: missed class

Up with the sun again.

Running: 7.5 miles, 1.09.33 (8.9 pace) (167). Another morning run on Little Dog. I did 3 laps again, mostly just to even out my distance numbers from yesterday. Not a bad run, though a bit slower than yesterday.

Nutrition: good enough day, I suppose. I'm working on simplifying my nutrition plan for my marathon training.

Kendo: had to miss class this evening; Julie was nable to take care of my daughter, Rachel, so she would have accompanied Nathan and I to the dojo. Rachel's done this on numerous occasions before, and never complained, bless her heart. But it is very tedious for her to sit around and watch others do kendo, and since it is also terribly hot, I decided it wouldn't be fair to ask her to go to the dojo again. So we stayed home.

I tried to at least partially remedy the situation with a full practice session at home, including the first three kata. I'm focusing in particular on smoothing out my footwork.

June 22: all-weather running

Paddled around on the Indy canal this afternoon.

Running: 7.5 miles, 1.06.33 (8.8 pace) (166). Another tough morning run on Little Dog, this time caused by a torrential rainstorm that got me soaked to the skin. I had pretty much expected it, having waited out one early morning shower only to get caught in a second one, but with my treadmill down I just had to pretty much resign myself to an outdoor run, come what may.

I did have a nice afternoon, however, renting a paddle boat with the kids and floating around Indy's Canal district. Pumping that boat wasn't such a bad workout, either.

Nutrition: stayed pretty healthy today. I'm thinking I'll still follow my ultra nutrition plan, but with a few simplifications to make it more realistic.

Kendo: got in a decent little home workout today; the first in a long while. Did footwork drills, similar to what we've done recently at Mudokwan, trying to smooth out my steps.

Weekly Plan, June 22-28

Okay, time to re-think things. First and foremost, I'll need to re-formulate my running plan for a marathon, rather than an ultra-marathon. The bigger, more attractive races (Chicago, Marine Corps) are already closed, so I'm thinking a smaller, more modest marathon: the Louisville Marathon, on October 18 (I would also very much like to run the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon again in November, but I may have a scheduling conflict). A 16 week training plan for Louisville would begin next Monday, June 29, so I have a week to come up with a new plan.

Nutrition-wise, it's time to get back on the wagon. My busy travel schedule over the last couple of weeks really made following any serious plan a challenge. In fact, it was nearly impossible, so I didn't try, opting instead for going generally healthy and hoping my running would keep things in check. It has so far--my weight right now is 165, right in the middle of my acceptable range. But I'd like to do a bit better, and I need to think about a good nutrition plan for my marathon training goals, so this week I'll come up with a new plan.

Kendo-wise, I really need to get re-focused. My travel schedule wrought havoc with my kendo, too, as did the miles I put in trying to get ready for the ultra. I need to most of all to get my home practice program back up and running, and to prep for my upcoming summer kendo camp in Tennessee.

Overall, a lot to do.

Running: 60 miles, 15 distance; finalize new training plan.
Nutrition: free week, but stay healthy and formulate new nutrition plan.
Kendo: make at least two classes this week, and get my home practice back in gear.

End of week assessment, June 15-21

Running: 56.5 miles (missed by 13.5). Not a great week here, obviously. I'm not so upset, though, about missing my mileage goal, which was geared towards training for the ultra-marathon which I have now decided to postpone.

Nutrition: travel and holidays made it a free week, but didn't do too badly for all that.

Kendo: a down week again. Made one class at Mudokwan, but that's about it. One of the main reasons I'm postponing the ultra-marathon.

June 21: one of those days...

A cool old tree along my route.

Running: 8.5 miles, time n/a (165). Quite the irritating time in the running department today. I did an early morning run on Little Dog that turned into a very muggy sweatfest. Lately, this has meant battles with a runner's nightmare: nipple burn. I deal with this by wearing NipGuards (whoever invented those things deserves a Nobel Prize), which I did this morning--except one of them fell off, creating a painful, nasty, bloody time. To make matters worse, I was wearing the new, white Under Armour shirt my kids got me for Father's Day, which was stained pretty badly. So I cut my run short and staggered on home.

I planned to finish what I wanted to be a 16 mile run (this would have given me 60 for the week; short of my goal, but respectable) on the basement treadmill. Unfortunately, my treadmill--my brand-new, shiny, awesome new basement ride--wouldn't work. The problem seems to be the start button, which will not engage the treadmill. The thing is still under the manufacturer's warranty, so I can surely get it fixed. But not today.

Augh!

Nutrition: Father's Day meant pretty much an open day, since the kids wanted barbecue, ice cream at Handel's, etc. Who was I to argue?

Kendo: nothing again.