Back to Back weeks of 13 miles - Not Good

Last Saturday (7/23) was the Hoffman Estates/Alexian Brothers Hopsital Half Marathon.  As planned, I ran in this race.  Yesterday (7/29) I ran another 13 miles.

My takeaway lesson from running 13 mile runs back to back (week-wise)?  I'm not up for it.

It was tough.  When I got home from the run I thought I was going to pass out.  It took me a few hours to finally regain some energy and feel good.

Until I build up some more stamina, I need to avoid running such a long distance in back to back long runs.  I should have capped it at about 9 miles.  I know I would have been fine at that distance because I felt okay up until that point when running yesterday.

Another lesson I've learned is to take it easy in terms of working out (even non-running workouts) the day before a double-digit run.  I got a good night's sleep the night before the run.  My diet was appropriate too.  I did, however, have a very good strength-training workout the night before and that may have tired me out some.

I'm resting today and then tomorrow I'll try to run about 6 miles on an indoor track.  I'll be fasting come Monday (8/1) and at that juncture my workouts are going to be both shorter and probably a bit less strenuous as well.  During Ramadan I will not be running any double digit runs.

Training for a Half Marathon in Ramadan

August 1st will mark the first day of fasting in the month of Ramadan.  Once again I will observe this religious duty, but this year, unlike any of the many Ramadans of the past, I'll also be training for a half marathon.  This will be a real challenge!

I'm running in the Chicago Half Marathon on September 11, 2011.  I'm running for Team Red White and Blue (TeamRWB), a charity that helps reintegrate wounded veterans into civil society, and the race happens to fall on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Even though the race is just 12 days after the end of Ramadan, I can't pass up the chance to do something meaningful on this solemn date.  I've experienced a lot and changed a lot over the last 10 years because of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.  I don't want to forget 9/11.  This seems like a reasonable way to remember this national and human tragedy.

I ran a half marathon last Saturday (7/23).  That's 13 miles run 7 weeks before the 9/11 Half Marathon.  This weekend I'm going to run another 13 miles.  Normally I wouldn't run my max distance (I've never run more than 13.1 miles - yet) but I know that hitting this distance during Ramadan will be very difficult and rather than forego this long run, I'm going to suck it up and run it now.  One either 8/31 or 9/1 I'm going to run another 13 miles.  That will be one or two days after Ramadan is over but it will give me a good 10 days to rest up for the race.

During the month of Ramadan I plan to run either first thing after breaking my fast (which is at sunset) or about 1 hour before breaking the fast.  I'll experiment during the first few days to see which works best.

I probably will not run more than 60 to 75 minutes at a time, so in order to get myself conditioned for the 9/11 half marathon I'll try to up my total miles.  Last Ramadan I ran 30 miles in the last 10 days of the month to raise money for charity.  Maybe this year I'll try to set a tougher goal.  We'll see.

Summertime fitness

It's been a very good summer as far as workouts are concerned.

I ran a half marathon on May 15, 2011 in Schaumburg.  I ran and lifted weights during our family vacation during the last week of June.  Now I'm getting ready for my second half marathon of the year (on July 23rd).  I'm at or slight below the 200 pound mark and am about 15 pounds away from my 185 pound goal (from back in February 2010).

In addition to these personal workout highlights, I've also been running and lifting weights consistently.  As of today I'm at 369 miles (my year-end goal for total miles run is 600).  I'm about 30 to 50 miles ahead of schedule!