The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

We have had a solid three weeks of rain here in sunny, northern California.  The official stats for my town record us at 20 days of rain in March with 16.27 inches!  That's enough to discourage even the most resilient of souls. 

Don't get me wrong, I like the rain.  I even like running in the rain in the winter, as long as I am prepared for it:

• hat with a bill to keep the rain out of my eyes
• wool socks (I love my green smartwools)
• a decent outer layer up top

The problem with that many rain days is that it starts to wear on you over time.  I was doing pretty well--either braving the rain or squeezing runs in between rainstorms--until daylight saving time hit.  Since I am an early runner, I was enjoying the extra light in the mornings.  Then all of a sudden, daylight savings add this insult to injury.  It's darker and I really don't feel like getting out of bed an hour earlier. 

Saturday, I had just about had it.  A growing sense of cabin fever began to really get to me.  So, I geared up and went out for a medium-long run.  When I left it was cloudy but not raining.  The rain came about 3 miles into the run.  A sprinkle, then a downpour.  No problem for me, I'm dressed and ready.  The downpour lets up and to more of a sprinkle followed by another downpour.

I was running an out & back course and about a half mile before my turn-around point, the rain starts to turn to hail.  To misquote the country song:  "If you're going through hail, keep on moving!"  I enjoy the crunchy feel of hail under my feet.   I decide to make this run a half-marathon distance so I tack on a little more before making my turn. 

As I'm running in the rain, hail, wind, and fog I begin thinking that this run is perfect for preparing for the San Francisco Marathon.  It's always windy going across the Golden Gate Bridge.  It's usually foggy.  This is the exact type of training I need.  Add to it this route is a pretty fair facsimile of the course elevation profile, and I am having a great training run--building mental toughness.

Two more miles of rain and then it suddenly cleared up.  The clouds even turned from dark grey to light grey with some hints of yellow.  I finished the run after sunset, with my headlamp on, but felt pretty good.

The sun is out today, I guess Annie was right.

Running and Reading

Whew!  It's been a few days since my last post.  I have been trying to catch up from the Half Marathon last week.  I am also trying not to become that guy who obsesses completely over running. 

But I am also at a bit of a decision point.  I am in between two training cycles.  I successfully completed my Half Marathon (yeah, I know it doesn't need to be capitalized, but to me it's capital letter worthy)--no major injuries, met my goal, yada, yada, yada.  I am now getting ready to transition into training for the San Francisco Marathon.  The only problem is that I have yet to pick a training plan.

Enter the reading.  Right now I am pretty much reading anything I can find on the topic of marathon training plans.  What I am finding is that while there are are lot of free half marathon plans online, full marathon plans tend to require an investment.  First stop--the local library--to my dismay, they only have one book on running, The Idiots Guide to Running by Bill Rodgers.  Nothing wrong with Bill Rodgers, but this book is written more for the entry level runner and not real specific to marathon training. 

Next stop, my favorite local used book store, Books of Paradise.   These guys are getting ready to close their brick and mortar store and transition to just online sales, so on my first visit, they are selling everything for 60% off.  They only two books on running:  Galloway's Book on Running, by Jeff Galloway and The Complete Book of Running, by James Fixx.  I read Jim Fixx way back in the day, so I opt for Galloway.  A few days later, I find out via Facebook that the bookstore is having a "every book is $1 sale," so I figure I might as well pick up Fixx for a buck. 

While I'd like to give a little respect to the dead, the Fixx book is not really turning out to be helpful on the specifics of marathon training.  Galloway, on the other hand, has a thorough plan for training for marathons and differentiates between goals of finishing and various time goals--now we are getting somewhere.

In my internet browsing on the topic, I keep reading about Pfitzinger's marathon training plans (and some insane workouts on the way), so I decide that to be thorough, I ought to pick up a copy of Advanced Marathoning.  The local Barnes and Noble didn't have it, but Amazon.com to the rescue--the book will be delivered by my friends at UPS any minute now (What can Brown do for me?  Bring my book!).

I used a hybrid Galloway/F.I.R.S.T. plan for my half marathon trianing--mainly because I only had 10 weeks to move from 5K fitness to the half marathon.  But there are some very appealing things to me in Galloway's plan.  I especially like that he has you do long runs of at least your race length, if not longer.  For the HM, this meant I worked up to 16 miles--compared to some plans that have you peak out at 10-11 miles.

However, for the marathon, I am wanting to put in a larger base of weekly miles and the Galloway marathon plan for a 4 hour marathon only builds weekly mileage into the mid-40's.  Enter Pfitzinger.  I am strongly considering what is commonly called the Pfitz 18/55.  It is an 18 week program that builds up to 55-mile weeks. 

I realize that I am a novice, not an advanced marathoner, but I also realize that I am venturing into a world that I know nothing about, so I thought I'd like to get some race-specific info as I launch into this. 

The best part, I get to build on my previous training cycle and count the miles toward my marathon goal:  241 miles down, approximately 700 to go!