A few weeks ago, I signed up to run the Mercedes Marathon, February 12 in Birmingham.
There are several reasons why... I've been running nearly ten years and haven't aimed for a marathon, the boss at work is picking up half the registration cost, Birmingham is not an overnight trip, I've been running as well as ever, I can be accountable to my coworkers for my training runs, and I have the best and most supportive wife ever.
So I'm nearing my third week of my marathon training plan. I started by basing everything on heart rate, running easy runs, tempos, intervals and long runs at certain percentages of max HR. I'm now revising that by sprinkling in a little of Jack Daniels' training methods, and using heart rate a little more for my easy runs and follow mile pace for the others. My goal pace is 8:45 per mile, or a 3:50 marathon.
My longest run was a 13-miler last Saturday. This week is a lighter load week, 24 miles, and back up to 37 next week, with a 14-mile long run.
I feel great so far.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Swag
A perk of working at the running store is the chance of scoring free stuff. Sometimes a shoe rep will stop by and hook us up with t-shirts or hats or whatever. Other times, as with my new Pearl Izumi shoes, the company will run contests to inspire salespeople to sell their shoes.
This is what the Brooks types did back in May, if memory serves. Sell X pairs of our shoes and get _________. Now I'm a loyal Brooks believer and customer in addition to salesman, so I didn't need much prompting to sell their product. At the same time, I won't say no to a chance like this. My awards came in the mail earlier this week, much to my delight.
This is the Brooks DNA t-shirt I received. Different than a lot of the other shirts I own, which are mostly grey or black. And the playing cards are a nice touch.
The shoes are the next level I achieved-- DNA shoes were the prize, and I'd hoped to score a pair of their new Pure Project shoes. When that got shot down, I had to "settle" for these.
I present my new Brooks Adrenaline 12 stability shoes. Blue is the color we got at the store and solid black is also available, but I went for the greenies, to be different. I took a good whiff of them beforehand (loves me the smell of fresh running shoe-- it's like sitting in a new car) then put them on to head out for today's five-miler. Incredible. I love the Adrenaline 11's, but the 12's are lighter weight and just as comfortable. The new guys are a welcome addition to my shoe rotation, which now stands at four.
This is what the Brooks types did back in May, if memory serves. Sell X pairs of our shoes and get _________. Now I'm a loyal Brooks believer and customer in addition to salesman, so I didn't need much prompting to sell their product. At the same time, I won't say no to a chance like this. My awards came in the mail earlier this week, much to my delight.
This is the Brooks DNA t-shirt I received. Different than a lot of the other shirts I own, which are mostly grey or black. And the playing cards are a nice touch.
The shoes are the next level I achieved-- DNA shoes were the prize, and I'd hoped to score a pair of their new Pure Project shoes. When that got shot down, I had to "settle" for these.
I present my new Brooks Adrenaline 12 stability shoes. Blue is the color we got at the store and solid black is also available, but I went for the greenies, to be different. I took a good whiff of them beforehand (loves me the smell of fresh running shoe-- it's like sitting in a new car) then put them on to head out for today's five-miler. Incredible. I love the Adrenaline 11's, but the 12's are lighter weight and just as comfortable. The new guys are a welcome addition to my shoe rotation, which now stands at four.
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