Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on April 30th, 2007 in Chicago, Marathon, Training

I am so focused on my training plan, I made my plan into a JPEG and I’m using it as the background on my desktop. This way, I can see what I need to running whenever I use my computer.

Since I have a quad-monitor setup, I pretty much see the plan whenever I’m using the computer, regardless of how many windows I have open

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Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on April 29th, 2007 in Training

Today I crossed a new milestone….I’ve run 500 miles for the year so far.  I’ve also completed my 4th consecutive 100+ mile month.

I’ve added up the number of miles I’ll be running as part of my marathon training and including the marathon, I will run another 1028 miles

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Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on April 28th, 2007 in Chicago, Marathon, Training

I completed the first week of my marathon training this week.  Pftizinger’s plan actually starts on a Mon and ends on a Sunday, but I log my weeks with Sunday being the first day.  As a result, this week ended up being just 20 miles of running.

Since the plan starts off pretty easy, I actually feel well rested.  The toughest part of the week was holding back and not going for a run on the rest days.  I was tempted on both Wednesday and Friday.   Unfortunately, I couldn’t resist running an extra mile today so I can end the week at 20 miles instead of the not-so-round 19 miles.

I’m currently alternating 2 pairs of shoes, but the older one has 327 miles on them so far.  I only use them for the shorter runs, but I think I may need to change them.  I’ve been having a very slight knee pain, but I’m not quite sure if it’s because of the shoes.  I will need to try and monitor it more closely over then several runs.

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Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on April 22nd, 2007 in Races, Training

This week is the start of my marathon training for the Chicago Marathon in October. My goal for this marathon is to run under 4 hrs. This will be the first leg of my journey on the way to Boston. My hope is to run under 4 hrs this year and then run 2 marathons in 2008 while I try to qualify for the Boston marathon in 2009 when I’ll be 40.

I’ll be following the 24-week, 55-mile Pete Pftizinger plan from the Advanced Marathoning book.

I have no doubt that I will make the time run the necessary mileage and perform the required workouts. My only fear is my right knee. Even though it seemed to have been fine for the last 5 weeks or so, I started to get some slight discomfort last week. I’m resting it for now, but I’m hoping it holds up for the next several months. The first few weeks of the plan will actually be lighter than the 40 mpw I’ve been running recently so hopefully that would help.

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Posted by Derek Lee-Wo on April 18th, 2007 in Training

I’m in South FL this week on business. Before I left, I told my wife that I may not do much running since it would be hot and humid and I thought I would make it a rest week before I start marathon training next week. I still packed my running stuff anyway.

I arrived in FL on Sunday around noon. I decided to go for an easy 5-mile run in the evening. It was overcast so it seemed ok. Well….that was the toughest 5 miles I’ve run in a long time. The air was so heavy, I felt as though I couldn’t breath. I ended up taking a lot of walking breaks and I must have spent more time walking than running during the last 1-2 miles. I was also completely drenched in sweat. After that I figured I would take the rest of the week off

As it turns out, a cool front moved in and the temperature on Tuesday morning at 5 am was a very nice 52F and dry…..perfect weather for running. I headed out for a 6-7 mile run, but the weather was so nice and I didn’t know how long it would last, I decided to run 10 miles. I have never run further than 7 miles during the week, but it felt great running the 10 miles.

This morning was almost as nice with the temperatures in the upper 50’s so I ran 4.5 miles this morning.

It’s definitely warming back up. I leave FL on Friday so I figure I’ll rest for the next couple days until I return to TX. My wife has been laughing at me as I told her I was going to rest, but I just can’t seem to help myself.

I realize that TX gets hots in the summer, but at least it’s not as humid and since I run in the mornings I should be fine.

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