Running Thoughts: Week 4

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: 

Fundraising Minimum Achieved!

I'm excited to say that my dear family and friends have helped me achieve my minimum fundraising goal of $1,750 in contributions towards the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  If you gave,

Thank you so much.  I'm so overwhelmed and grateful!

If you considered giving, thank you also.  I'm touched and encouraged.

This is a tough economy, so I wanted to be sensitive and let you know when the funds were no longer necessary.  My LLS fundraising page may not show that I've achieved my goal yet, but the checks are in the mail and it's just a matter of paperwork and time until it is updated.  

Wow, so now I really have to run the marathon.  People are praying and giving hard earned monies towards my efforts so it's time to make good on my word.  I will do my best not to let you down.  

In that light, our training run yesterday was 8 miles long.  I really struggled last week (7 Miles), but this week was so much easier.  I think having a full week of not-being-sick was key.  Cardiovascularly, I'm feeling good, but have my moments.  My running friend Gabbi has an injured right knee and she struggled, but did great nonetheless.  It made me thankful that I'm not having to train with an injury.  That has to be tough.

I'm considering training with a run/walk interval.  One of our coaches (Coach Ken) emailed this to us last week regarding "all running" and "run/walk intervals":

The following shows the results of three different types of runners that all run a 10 minute pace and the results they would achieve with different race strategies.

• Run 26.2 miles at a constant 10 minute pace: Finish time = 4 hours 22 minutes
• 8/2 run/walk interval for 26.2 miles, running at a 10 minute pace and walking at a 13 minute pace:    Finish time = 4 hours 38 minutes
• Run 18 miles at 10 minute pace, walk 6.2 at 16 minute pace: Finish time = 5 hours 11 minutes

I found this information to be useful as I run about a 10 to 11 minute mile, so these numbers were directly applicable to me.  I don't want to finish the Marathon feeling completely wasted and exhausted, so I'm considering the 8/2 or 8/1 run/walk interval.  Also, in the Rock n Roll San Diego, there is an aid station and a music band every mile, so perhaps I'll just treat the aid station as my 1 minute walk as I enjoy my Dixie cup of Gatorade.

Track workouts start this week.  Again, my thanks to all you who contributed towards LLS.  There's no way I could do this without you.  Go TEAM!

PS. If you have a GPS running watch (Garmin or the likes) that you're not using and want to loan or sell it to me, would you let me know?