David Taylor Gonzales

running and other things

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I’m a husband, father, son, and runner

  • Nutrition and Training

    I mentioned in my last blog that I wanted to capture and share what I eat in a day. There’s a couple reasons for writing this. The first reason is to show y’all what I am doing for fuel during before, during, and after training. The second reason is because nutrition is an area of health that I have consistently lacked discipline in, even well into my weight loss journey two years ago. It really wasn’t until I got serious about this big marathon goal that I started to really seriously analyze what I put in my body and paying attention to macronutrients. I think sharing what I’m doing now that I have some discipline under my belt might be helpful to someone who is early in their weight loss journey as well. I find that what I do is fairly affordable and easy to execute and that has been the key to any long term discipline I’ve experienced in my life.

    To answer a common question right off the bat, no, I do not count calories. I am not a bodybuilder and I have no intention of entering that world. I’m pretty happy with my physique overall and I don’t see any utility in tracking my nutrition that closely in this current training block, especially because my caloric needs fluctuate wildly from day to day. I try to keep my eating intuitive: if I’m hungry, I eat and try to make the best nutrition choice available.

    Alright so, let’s get started. Today is Thursday, October 2nd. Usually dinners are planned a week in advance by my wife but we are missing our weekly house church meeting where food is usually provided so it’s unclear what we’ll have tonight. I suspect I’ll be grilling chicken when I get home from work but we’ll see.

    There is no training on the schedule today. However, my breakfast is the same everyday regardless of training: 2 eggs, 4 servings of egg whites, one slice of sourdough bread with Cholula hot sauce. Estimated macros: 36g of protein, 45g of carbohydrates, 15g of fat. One critique I have of my breakfast is that I should probably make it a more carb heavy meal since I’m eating that meal after a run 5/7 days of the week.

    After breakfast, I usually drink water with 1 tsp of creatine monohydrate to promote brain health, muscle hypertrophy and reduce inflammation. My creatine supplement suggests two tsp daily but from what I’ve read, that’s only necessary if I’m trying to “load” my body with creatine within a week. I don’t see the need for that and I’m halving the dose so that I’ll be fully loaded by my race day and reducing the risk of GI issues from loading the creatine into my system too quickly. My creatine of choice is Optimum Nutrition’s orange passionfruit. It tastes fine. I don’t hate it but it’s not my favorite flavor by any stretch. I’m sure there are better flavors out there so keep that in mind.

    I take my coffee to work everyday in a tumbler but I don’t drink any of it at home. I try to delay my caffeine intake until around 8:30 AM. Someone on a podcast said that delaying caffeine for 90 minutes after waking is good for your Circadian rhythm and since I don’t depend on coffee for waking me up, I figure it doesn’t hurt me to do. The macros and calories for coffee are negligible.

    I take my lunch to work almost every day but the meal varies. Usually I’m taking leftovers from last night’s dinner and that’s what we’re doing today. Last night we had our egg and pork “slop” bowls with kidney beans, spinach, red onion, garlic, and nutritional yeast. This is one of my favorite meals Lane makes throughout the week. Even microwaved the next day this meal is an all time favorite for me. Estimated macros: 15g of protein, 35g of carbs, 8-9g of fat. If I had to nitpick this meal, I wish I had bought a leaner pork for lower fat content but that’s a really minor issue since I ate this on an off day. I also had the rest of my tub of greek yogurt that I had in the mini fridge at work. Estimated macros on that: 14g of protein, 6g of carbs, 3g of fat. I didn’t have a full serving left in the tub so the macros on a full serving 2/3 of a cup are slightly better than what I had (17g protein, 8g carbs, 5g fat).

    As a snack in the afternoon, I’ll drink a meal replacement whey protein shake around 2 PM. I always get hungry before dinner so the protein shake has become a must have otherwise I’ll snack on the candy on my coworker’s desk all day. My whey protein is the Gold Standard Vanilla Ice Cream flavor by Optimum Nutrition, you can pick it up from Costco for around $60 and you get 80 servings per container so it’s pretty affordable compared to something like Transparent Labs which I see all over Youtube nowadays. Estimated macros: 24g protein, 4g carbs, 1g fat. By the way, I’m not sponsored by Optimum Nutrition and I know I’ve mentioned them twice in this blog. It’s important to me that y’all know this blog generates literally $0 in revenue lol.

    Tonight’s dinner is chicken and rice. It’s one of my favorites that my wife makes during the fall and winter season. If I know her, she’ll make it with her parmesan baked broccoli which will make me fart a lot but it’s delicious.

    Update: I guessed right! We had chicken and rice with the delicious broccoli. I had one chicken breast with rice and about a half cup of broccoli. Estimated macros: 40g protein, 40g carbs, 20g fat. A critique of this meal for the sake of macros, it’s a little high in fat. Most of my meals are. What can I say, I love olive oil and I married an Italian woman who loves cheese.

    My carbs were very low in the evening so I ate some Pretzel Crisps with chocolate chips while watching The Office with Lane before bed. I always overeat these things but thankfully they have 0g of fat so the stakes are pretty low when I get out of wack eating them. I had about 2.5 servings which comes out to 5g of protein, 60g of carbs (probably about 10g of chocolate chips as well) , and 12g of fat.

    Total macros for the day: 129g of protein (on target), 200g of carbs (off target), 59g of fat (roughly on target). This was a rough estimate and I’m not an expert in nutrition so it’s entirely possible that I’m wrong about these numbers. Take that for what you will. The macronutrient count wasn’t the point of the blog. I felt like I was on track today but I did feel like I was a bit higher on fat than 59g so it’s possible that the estimate is incorrect. The carbohydrate number is worth monitoring because I really should be getting closer to 350g for my bodyweight (170 pounds). Most people training for a marathon try to shoot for well over 300g of carbs per day (up to 500g in some cases). I will be working to incorporate more grains and fruits into my diet in the next 3 weeks.

    It’s not lost on me that I introduced this blog as an opportunity to share what I eat before, during and after my runs and then proceeded to share a rest day’s nutrition instead. I’ll take a moment here to share what I change in my nutrition on my long run days, since those can look quite a bit different than Thursdays. Pre-run: overnight oats with whole milk and chocolate chips. Post run: family breakfast which includes protein pancakes, bacon, eggs and egg whites, and homemade sourdough pan fried with coconut oil (don’t knock it till you try it). Lunch: grazing on leftovers from the week. Usually there’s a leftover pasta of some sort that I’ll take. A protein shake is included here or a magnesium supplement if I’m still quite sore from the training load. Dinner: something high carb, not particularly healthy. Pizza is a common choice but we sometimes do street tacos with grilled chicken.

    This was a fun one to write! I am always learning and I’m never perfect. I hope this blog was insightful, and, maybe even helpful.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 39

    9/25

    It’s my brother Zach’s birthday. He’s 27 years old. He got engaged and graduated college a few months back. His future wife, Katie, is really an incredible woman. It’s been amazing to see him grow and change in the years since Covid. We fought a lot when we were young and it led to a lot of distance and resentment in our late teens. We restored our relationship about 7 years ago. He’s an amazing man. I’m really proud to be his brother.

    Today is my sprint workout since I took Tuesday off. I am doing 10 intervals for 15 seconds at 4:20/mi pace. I haven’t done a sprint workout in a month or two but with my increased fitness, I think this workout should go fairly well. I’m excited to get the fast twitch muscle fibers activated!

    Okay that was a pretty tough workout. I found a small hill and decided to do all of my intervals up the hill to reduce the impact on my joints. I think that was a good decision overall but it made the 15 second intervals feel like an eternity. Regardless, the soft tissue in my legs don’t feel beat up and that’s a win (but my quads are smoked).

    9/26

    I had another sleep in day. I think my body is fighting something off which is unfortunate. I may try to run a couple miles to shake things out before my long run tomorrow morning. I get frustrated when I feel like I’m falling behind and missing workouts. This is a good reminder that sometimes the training is as much mental as it is physical. Taking unscheduled rest days can cause me to feel shame and I have to remind myself that training while sick/fatigued would actually be counterproductive. Still, any time I’m not putting mileage on the legs or weight training, I feel like I am doing something wrong. The glass half full outlook would be that I’ve so consistently integrated my training into my daily life that when I take a day off, it feels like a task is incomplete. This training cycle and this race won’t last forever. There’s a hard deadline to the season of training that I have been in. I’m trying to make the most of everyday in training but I know Lane is looking forward to having her husband back (I am looking forward to spending more time with her as well).

    I thought about doing a shakeout run this evening in preparation for tomorrow but decided against it. With the accumulated fatigue from the last week, I think relaxing and getting quality sleep tonight is going to do my body more good than an easy mile or two. My buddy Elliot, who has the same sub 4 hour goal as I do, is going to run with me tomorrow. We’re going to do a RPE style workout for 17 miles

    9/27

    It’s long run day! I woke up at 5 and started the pre-run ritual: pee, hydrate, eat overnight oats, foam roll and light stretching in the basement, then lace up. I feel really good today. My heart rate variability improved a bit last night so I know my body appreciated the sleep and taking a day off. Elliot’s gonna be arriving at 6:05 AM. Here’s the workout structure:

    4 miles at conversational pace
    2.5 miles at RPE 6/10
    2.5 miles at RPE 6.5/10
    4 miles at RPE 5/10
    2.5 miles at RPE 6/10
    2.5 miles at RPE 6.5/10

    Elliot’s running 18 today so I’ll cut the last interval short since I only need 17 miles. This will put me at 34 miles for the week. It’s a bit lower than I wanted, but given the fatigue and poor sleep on Friday, it’s a solid training week overall.

    I really enjoyed running with Elliot. Like I said in the video, I had way more juice because we were together and I think it would’ve been really challenging to do this workout without him. I probably would’ve just done an easy run if I was by myself (nothing wrong with that, I just liked the change of pace). Total stats: 17.01 miles, average pace 8:59/mi, average heart rate 142 BPM. The rest of the day is going to revolve around family time and eating enough food to make up for the 2,023 calories we burned this morning.

    After my shower, I went to Men’s Breakfast at my church. I ate 7 biscuits to get some carbs in me. The message was on Jonah, and what it looks like to live in obedience to God. I told the guys sitting at my table that obedience was something that I thought was optional in the early years of following Jesus. I assumed, foolishly, that because God’s grace covers me, I could proclaim Jesus as my Savior while changing nothing about my life. After a few years of living that way, I hit rock bottom and realized that this “freedom” I thought I was living in wasn’t freedom at all, it was the opposite. It was keeping me chained to a life that I didn’t want anymore. I realized that obedience to Christ wasn’t the path to the boring and limiting life that I was fearful of. I had some time to reflect on what life has looked like since fully committing my life to Christ. God has given my life more adventure and meaning and fulfillment than I ever had in the debauchery of my youth.

    The rest of the afternoon, we went on a family walk together and ate really good food. I received a $100 Pappo’s gift card from work so we picked up pizza and chocolate chip cookies from the Battlefield location around 6 PM. I walked almost 37,000 steps today. Pizza and cookies were the perfect meal to end the day.

    9/28

    Today I slept in a bit, hoping to see my heart rate variability continue to improve so I can go into this next week of training with good health and recovery. I woke up around 7:30 and my HRV was 130 ms so my body is clearly back to baseline average. We went to church at 9, went on a short family walk around the block (I went barefoot, something I haven’t been doing lately). After that, Joy and I played at her water table outside in the front yard and then grazed on leftovers for lunch. I am thinking about doing a blog on what I eat on a daily basis just to give y’all an idea of what I’m doing day to day as we approach the peak of my marathon training. I think my nutrition has been pretty good overall but I know I make plenty of small (and sometimes big) mistakes day to day.

    This evening, I did a strength workout focusing on the usual: posterior chain, (more specifically, calfs, hamstrings, glutes, lats, and traps) quads, shoulders, upper chest and few sets on the biceps as well. Here’s the full list of exercises and sets:

    Dead hang 45 seconds (warm up)
    Pull-ups x 4 sets
    Barbell lunges x 4
    Weighted shrug x 4
    Barbell shoulder press x 4
    Trap-bar deadlift x 4 (light weight, I am being very careful with my back)
    Weighted single-leg calf raises (one 35lb dumbbell in hand)
    Dumbbell lateral raise x 2
    Hammer curls x 3

    9/29

    Today was the first speed workout of the week. I set this as a seven mile steady tempo run. I wanted something challenging, but shooting for a pace that I can hold for about an hour. I estimated that that pace was 7:40/mi. I woke up a bit late, so I decided to shorten it to a 10K so I could be showered before Joy woke up. One mile in, I felt pretty good. 7:49/mi average pace. From there, I picked it up and the legs felt springy going into mile 3. Maybe it was the improved leg turnover from the sprint workout last week, maybe it was finally getting good rest. It was around the 24 minute mark where I realized I had a very good chance of breaking my previous 10K PR (47:51) so I sped up. The per mile pace I needed to break was just about 7:36/mi and I was averaging 7:37 when I decided to accelerate. I was holding a steady pace in the 7:10-7:25 range, plenty of speed to bring my total average pace down below 7:30/mi. I didn’t feel out of control at all. The pace felt really easy to hold without having to stare at my watch. I set a new PR today. Total stats: 6.28 miles in 46:43, average pace 7:27/mi, average heart rate 150 BPM.

    Seeing such consistent progress in these speed sessions, especially in the last two or three weeks has been really encouraging. I am eager to get to race day but we’ve still got two weeks of peak training to get through before we taper. Two goals are in front of me now: stay consistent but more importantly, don’t get injured. If I show up at the starting line with my body intact, I’ve got a really good chance of breaking four hours on November 2nd.

    I feel well rested and recovered for the training ahead. I drank my magnesium tonight to help with sleep. Tomorrow is an easy 6 mile fartlek run. Here’s the structure:

    1 mi warm up (9:30 pace)
    1 mi on (8:00/mi pace)
    2 mi off (9:30/mi pace)
    2 mi on (8:00/mi pace)

    9/30

    I woke up and pressed snooze on my alarm. Didn’t wake up again until 7:20 AM. This was the best night of sleep I think I’ve had in 2 weeks. I feel really well rested. I’m bummed about missing my run, but I honestly think it’s for the best. I have a VO2 Max workout tomorrow and I feel confident in my ability to execute well with the extra day of rest. All the research I’ve seen points to long runs being more important than weekly mileage so, even though this week I’ll only hit 32-36 miles, I haven’t missed a single weekend long run in training and I don’t intend to start this week.

    I got home from work and grilled up some chicken for caesar salads. Lane is on a 5k stroller run with Joy while John takes a cat nap. I’ve decided I’m going to do some light weight training in the garage just to get some exercise benefit despite the day off. I kept the volume and sets super low today: 3 sets of pull-ups, 3 sets of barbell skull crushers, single-arm dumbbell rows, and 5 sets of barbell bicep curls. I am excited for tomorrow’s run. Since I know my body needs about 10-15 minutes to warm up on these mornings, I’m giving myself a full 15 minute zone 2 warm up before the intervals start. Here’s the workout structure: 15 minute zone 2 warm up, 2 x 15:00 @ 6:45/mi pace, 10 minute cool down (no pace target). If I feel good tomorrow, I’m allowing myself to speed up to 6:20/mi and if I feel rough, I can throttle back to 7:10 pace. 6:45/mi is Garmin’s estimate of my lactate threshold so this one should improve my high aerobic capacity. I’ve been doing these workouts consistently throughout the year and they have helped me maintain faster paces without burning out.

    10/1

    It’s October. It still doesn’t quite feel like fall. The high will be 88 degrees and sunny today but I’ve noticed the sun setting earlier and earlier with each passing day. These morning runs have been getting dark as well.

    I got out the door by 6:15. I am going to shorten my cool down a bit so I can be home in time to help with the kids. I completed 12 minutes of my warm up and felt good enough to start the intervals. I could tell in the first 100 steps of this run the legs felt fresh. The intervals were the exact right amount of challenging, about an 8/10 by RPE. I wasn’t sure if holding pace at 6:45/mi was sustainable because I haven’t done intervals this long at my estimated lactate threshold before.

    It wasn’t as “flowy” as some of my speed workouts the last few weeks but I was able to hold the pace for both intervals. Interval 1 was run at an average pace of 6:45/mi and the 2nd interval was an average pace of 6:47/mi. I was in the pain cave for portions of this run but I was able to get my heart rate down to 134 BPM during my recovery interval in between which helped going into the 2nd interval. The last 45 seconds of interval 2 was run uphill and I was able to get my heart rate up to 175 BPM, the highest heart rate I’ve had in months. I’m very proud of my mental fortitude today. I’ve learned over time that these speed runs require more mental strength than physical strength. I had so many mental off ramps, opportunities to quit on this run but I didn’t take the bait. In prior training sessions I might have. I didn’t cheat myself today and that’s as big a win as the workout itself.

    If the weather holds up tonight, I’ll jog to group. I haven’t had a low mileage easy run in awhile and that might be a nice shakeout after this morning. If I do that, I’ll take tomorrow off and get prepared for 18 miles on Saturday. We’re driving to St. Louis for my sister in law’s wedding shower so I’ll be doing the long run out of town. The terrain in the in law’s neighborhood is very hilly but I am looking forward to a new route! I may drive down to Grant’s Trail and run there. Since I did a workout last week on my long run with Elliot, I’m going to keep this one easy and mix in some marathon pace in the last 3 miles.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 38

    9/18

    Joy woke up in the middle of the night three times. Lane and I didn’t get any sleep between 1 and 3:30 AM. I’m glad today is a rest day. I do not plan on doing anything except going to work, coming home, playing with the kids, and going to sleep. This is my last recovery week before my taper for race day so I’m trying to take it seriously. If overnight sleep isn’t going well because of the kids, then I’m going to be very mindful of that throughout this week and weekend.

    9/19

    We had the same sleep problems as the night before but not quite as bad. Lane took the shifts for me since I had to be up early to get one of the cars registered at the DMV. I pressed snooze on my alarm at 6 AM, decided I’m going to run tonight after dinner. I feel like I can afford to do so since I only have to run 11 miles tomorrow morning. It should be manageable.

    I ran 4 miles, I was going to make this a tempo run around 7:45/mi pace but my good buddy Tim decided to join me. He’s a former high school soccer player with some running experience but now he mostly mountain bikes and fly fishes. His girlfriend runs and he has started to join her on occasion. I could tell pretty quickly that whatever natural talent he had as a runner hasn’t left him since high school. I thought we’d keep it very slow since he hadn’t run four miles in years but we ended up running a touch faster than my marathon pace. Total stats: 4 miles, 8:56/mi average pace. I forget how much I enjoy running with friends.

    We’re having some friends over for desert and drinks when the kids go down. I’ll refrain from the alcohol so I sleep well and start my run tomorrow morning around 5:45/6.

    9/20

    Okay so 5:45 AM didn’t happen. I had a splash of wine and didn’t get to bed until 11 PM. Even though I only drank less than a glass, I always notice my sleep quality diminishes when I consume alcohol the night before. I told Lane the next day, “This might be an overreaction, but I really feel like unless we’re on a date or I have the next day off from training, I don’t think I’m going to drink anymore.” She chuckled and smiled at me, not because she didn’t believe me, but because she knows I’m halfway serious.

    I ran in the afternoon when Joy took her nap. I structured a workout into the 11 miles today: 5.5 miles a touch slower than marathon pace (9:30/mi) and last 5.5 at 8:00/mi pace. I wore my race day “kit” (a term I was unaware of until recently). It’s not flashy, just a gray singlet, black shorts with sewn in lining, my Brooks Ghost Max’s and my Darn Tough socks.

    It was a humbling run. Because of the long distances I’ve done recently, I overestimated my ability to execute without prep. I ate a solid breakfast but my lunch fueling was severely lacking. It was 75 degrees at the start which didn’t sound too hot, but comparing that to the 55 and 60 degree long runs I have been doing up until today, it was hot enough to make a big difference. I wasn’t adequately fueled or hydrated. The first half of the run came and went without much to report other than a slightly elevated heart rate due to the hotter temp. Once I started the faster second half of the run, I knew within the first 2 miles I was in some trouble. I was able to keep 8:00/mi pace for the first two miles of the run but the wheels quickly fell apart from there. I felt severely dehydrated on mile 8 so I decided to call it a bit early. Total stats: 10.83 miles, 8:57/mi average pace, 146 BPM heart rate (y’all know from my other blogs how high this is for me). I was a bit frustrated with my performance but it’s not about being perfect in training, it’s about being good. I’ve been very good, even if today didn’t feel very good.

    9/21

    Today I did my strength training workout. I focused on my posterior chain and quads as usual but also did some work on my side delts, shoulders, biceps and and chest. Full workout and number of sets: barbell back squat x 4, weighted calf-raise x 4, trap-bar RDL x 4, barbell shoulder press x 3, pull-up x 3, dumbbell row x 3, shrug x 3, barbell skullcrusher x 4, dumbbell lateral raise x 4, dumbbell flat bench curl x 2, hammer curl x 2.

    I’m writing this Wednesday before this blog is published. One thing I noticed the day after this workout is that my upper back, just to the right of my spine at the lowest point of my trapezius muscle, is very sore. It actually hurt to laugh on Monday morning. It has improved throughout the week through some stretching and foam rolling, but the pain has persisted so I am going to the chiropractor tomorrow (Thursday after this blog goes live) to get an adjustment.

    9/22

    Today was a tempo run. It was difficult to show up for this one but I’m learning more about how long it takes for my body to warm up. When I started around 8:00/mi pace, it felt impossible to hold. Once I got to the 1.5 mile mark, I was able to settle in and accelerate down to 7:25/mi for most of the run. This was another success, one where I could see year over year improvement. I never look forward to these runs when I step outside in the mornings but I feel great once I get my legs underneath me. Total stats: 5.64 miles, 7:39/mi average pace.

    9/23

    Joy woke up in the middle of the night again. It was a rough night of sleep for all of us and when we woke up, it was raining, dark and gray outside. It felt like 5:30 AM even as I was packing my lunch for the day. I’ve decided today is gonna be rest and recovery. It’s been pouring rain all morning. My body probably needs the rest anyway, I’ve had some back pain since my weightlifting session. I think I might have tweaked it a bit during my last deadlift set. I need to get back to filming those workouts so I can be confident that I’m keeping good form. Tomorrow I’m going to keep my Threshold running plan and move my sprint workout to Thursday. When I got home from work, we had a small break in the rain so we went on a 1 mile family walk. My legs should feel really fresh assuming I get to bed by 10 PM. It’s 9:34 as I type this.

    9/24

    Happy Threshold Day! I woke up at 6 like usual. I found it easier to get up than most days, I finally got to bed at a decent time and the kids slept through the night. I noticed on my morning report that my heart rate variability dropped to 104 ms which is a bit alarming. I’m worried I might be getting sick. Despite the data, I actually felt mostly fine, a slight sore throat but nothing a little hydration couldn’t fix. I foam rolled my back in the basement before heading out because it’s still sore from weight training. I’m considering a chiropractor appointment later this week.

    Here’s the workout structure: 1.25 mile warm up, 2 x 10:00 intervals @ 6:50/mi pace, 1 mile cool down. I kept my heart rate in Zone 2 for my warm up and it started pouring down rain on me about 10 minutes into the run. I realized I was in some trouble since the pace was about to speed up significantly. I decided against running all out to hit the pace goal and to keep things in control but speedy. The goal shifted from speed and performance to control and injury prevention. It was still really dark out with some muddy spots so the last thing I needed was to slip and sprain an ankle.

    Final stats: 5.08 miles, average pace 8:05/mi. Interval 1: 7:13/mi pace. Interval 2: 7:02/mi pace. I’m still proud of my performance considering the less than ideal weather conditions. Garmin counted this as a tempo workout even though I built it to be a threshold run. I didn’t quite hit the pace targets I was shooting for so that probably explains it. Not a big deal.

    The last 7 days of training have been good but not perfect. I have some work to do on my humility, that much is clear after last week’s shorter long run. I can’t be taking this training block for granted, that’s when the training load will sneak up and bite me. Right now, I’m healthy and I should do whatever I can to stay that way. As Peter Attia has said before, the most important thing we can do as we age is stay in the game. Failing a workout, missing a training day due to weather, sleeping in occasionally because of poor sleep, none of those things take us out. Injuries take us out of the game. And that’s what I’m working hard to avoid as race week approaches.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 37

    9/11

    Today is the usual rest and active recovery. My training readiness is 89 as of this morning at 10 AM so I’m going to be very fresh for the weekend. I am running my distance PR on Saturday so I’m going to fully rest and stay out of the garage today. I went on a short lunch walk to keep the blood flowing. My parents are getting into town tonight to help me with the kids this weekend while Lane is in Charleston with her sister. I am a little stressed about her being gone and working a full day Friday while my mom watches the kids. I know she’ll do great but this is uncharted territory for our family. It’s a good opportunity to learn how to trust God with my kids and wife.

    9/12

    Lane left early this morning. Mom picked her up at 5:30 and then I went out for 5 miles when she got back from the airport to watch the kids. Today was all easy. My training readiness was very high, 98 this morning. Even so, I kept the miles very easy today to prepare for the long tomorrow morning. I completed 5.17 miles at a 9:54/mi pace. I’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight so it’ll be important to get to bed as early as possible just in case I don’t get full rest. If things go the way I hope, I should be in bed by 9 PM and asleep before 10.

    9/13

    I woke up at 5 this morning. I felt pretty fresh but I got just under seven hours of sleep so it was a bit less than optimal. Still, my training readiness score was a 83 so I wasn’t super concerned about performance. Similar to the last two long runs, I ran the first nine miles easy, right around 10:06/mi pace and then ran the last seven miles at an average pace of 9:00/mi. My average heart rate on this run was a tick higher than usual (137 BPM). That wasn’t a huge surprise since almost the entire second half of the run was uphill. The weather was PERFECT today and I am enjoying this route I’ve done for the last two long runs so I think I’ll keep that going as we creep closer to that 18-20 mile threshold.

    After the run, I showered and worked on hydration before heading to the Pregnancy Care Center for the Walk for Life. The PCC is a really special organization in Springfield and my wife is going to start volunteering there next year. She’s really excited for that and I’m happy that she has found a cause she’s passionate about that she can devote some time to outside of the kids.

    The turnout for the walk was awesome! I thought last year’s walk was big but this year felt even bigger. There’s nothing online about size of the event which is a bummer because I’m curious if it just felt bigger or actually was. If it was, it makes me wonder if the increased attendance was related to Charlie Kirk’s assassination. We’ve all had time to reflect on that this week. I’m heartbroken for his wife and kids. What a horrible tragedy. I didn’t consume a lot of Charlie Kirk’s content online but as a conservative father, I agreed with a lot of his views on parenthood, Christian virtue, his pro life stance and his politics. I admired from afar his willingness to talk with people who disagreed with him. I think we would do well to talk with people outside of our ideological bubbles just like he did. I certainly would benefit from it.

    I completed 38.7 miles this week. Next week is going to be a bit lighter which I am looking forward to.

    9/14

    This week is a structured de-load so we’re only going to hit 30 miles. My long run is 11 miles on Saturday so I should feel really fresh as we get closer to peak week. I’m looking forward to more “off” time and taking it easy with the family. We’re having friends over on Friday night so I’m glad I won’t have to go to bed right at 9 PM like I have been recently.

    Today (Sunday) was my last full day with my parents so I spent most of the day in active recovery mode, just walking around and being with the kids. At the end of the night, Mom left to run a couple errands and I worked out in the garage while the kids slept. I did pull-ups, barbell back squats, trap-bar deadlifts, calf-raises, shrugs, and hammer curls. I just wanted to get the heart rate up a bit. It peaked at 155 BPM so we got some anaerobic benefit even though it was only 35 minutes. When she came back, she had Andy’s custard so we ate that together and chatted. It was really nice to talk about the future and business together. Having her and Dad in town has been really great this weekend. We had a lot of fun together.

    I miss my wife. She flies back tomorrow at noon. I am so excited and I can tell the kids are too.

    9/15

    Today is an easy progression run. I woke up at 6:10 and headed out the door almost immediately. No warm up, no nonsense. The first mile was easy so I used that first ten minutes of the run to wake myself up and sped up from there. Total stats: 5 miles at 9:07/mi pace. My heart rate stayed pretty low (134 BPM). It’s a little higher than I’d like for that pace, but I’ll blame it on muscular fatigue due to the weight training yesterday.

    Lane flew in a little before 12 PM. I texted her and she said that when she got there, John gave her the biggest smile she has ever seen from him. Joy was super excited to see her too. If you know her, you know she screamed the moment Mama came out of the terminal.

    My legs feel really fresh so far this week. I’m excited (and nervous) about my high aerobic run tomorrow morning. I know I CAN execute the pace goals tomorrow but it’ll depend on how I sleep and if I have any DOMS in my legs.

    9/16

    Happy Threshold Day! I woke up around 6:10 AM and spent some time reading the bible before I headed out. I am trying to read the Bible in a year so I’ll keep this blog updated with how that goes as well.

    This was a great run but it was not a great start. I did a quarter mile warm up, thinking that’d be enough to get my legs underneath me. It wasn’t. From there, I did 4 miles at 7:00/mi. I was feeling very unsure of myself for the first ten minutes. I wasn’t sure if holding seven minute miles was going to be possible but once we got through that first ten minutes or so, my legs warmed up fully and I found the pace to be challenging but manageable. Around the twenty minute mark, I thought I was running too slow but my watch showed 7:05/mi pace. I realized I can run this pace and stay in a good flow state which is really awesome. It’s further proof that my aerobic fitness is improving. When I’ve run this pace in the past, I’ve had to obsessively check my watch to make sure I’m in the right pace zone but on this run, I was able to trust my legs. I finished the run with a quarter mile cool down. Total stats: 4.5 mi, average pace: 7:20/mi, average heart rate: 155 BPM. My heart rate peaked at 171 BPM which is at the lower end of my Zone 5 heart rate. I accomplished the goal of keeping my average heart rate predominantly in Zone 4 which is perfect for high aerobic training like this. It’s 12 PM now and I feel quite fresh. The training volume is lower this week which probably explains why my legs don’t feel as fatigued as they usually do on Tuesdays (Monday and Tuesday runs are usually 5.5-7 miles each).

    9/17

    It is Wednesday my dudes! I did my anaerobic sprint workout. Here’s the structure: 10 minute Zone 2 warm up, 10 x 0:40 @ 5:00/mi pace with 2:30 recovery in between (10:30/mi), 10 minute cool down (8:50-9:50/mi range). I haven’t done one of these workouts in awhile but I felt pretty fast. I’ve said this before when it comes to my high aerobic training, a lot of these pace zones (anything faster than 7:00/mi) used to be very difficult for me to control earlier this year but ever since we started ramping up marathon training a couple months ago, my aerobic fitness has really improved. I found keeping my pace in the 5:00-6:00/mi range was manageable without having looking down at my watch constantly.

    This week, because of all the varied speed training workouts, I had a lot of opportunities to see quantifiable proof of my growth as a runner. I’m really proud of my consistency. I was so nervous about getting injured during training but God has protected me all year. I’m so thankful for that and for a wife who lets me train hard and run fast.

    At bible study tonight we’re going to read Mark 6:1-13. There’s two stories in those verses, Jesus being rejected in his hometown of Nazareth and Him sending out his disciples to preach and perform miracles. We’ve been structuring our study around everyone bringing in questions which has really enhanced our discussions. I’m excited to hear everyone’s thoughts about what it means to be a “new creation”, why Jesus was unable to perform as many miracles as he could in other areas around Capernaum and Galilee, what it looks like to be “sent out” and how we are called to relate to people and the world around us. I’m thankful for our group.

    We still have six weeks to put hay in the barn before race day.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 36

    9/4

    I completed a 5.5 miles easy today. The weather is cooling down. The sun rises noticeably later into the morning now. The sky was dark and full of purple clouds. I was struck by how quiet the neighborhood was. It felt as if the whole city decided to sleep in because of the dark. I didn’t structure in any strides or speed play intervals for this one. I said it in my last blog, my training has been good but it hasn’t been perfect. I’m still playing a bit of catch up from missing my run on Tuesday. I want to keep the legs fresh for Saturday’s 15 miles. That will be the longest run since my distance PR which I set back in late September last year.

    I focused on eating carbs today in preparation for Saturday’s run. I heard from someone that carb loading isn’t something you only do the day before, but even two or three days out because those nutrients will still be in your system on race day. I had eggs and sourdough for breakfast, leftover salmon Mac ‘n Cheese for lunch, a protein shake and Lane’s marinara pasta bake for dinner. For desert I had a couple gluten free brownies and three oatmeal chocolate chip cookies later that evening while I watched my Cowboys lose to the Philadelphia Eagles. I probably went a little too hard on the sweets today but I should be fine.

    9/5

    I ran 3.5 miles with Travis this morning. He and Jenny just had their fourth child two weeks ago and it was really good to catch up and hear about how life has changed and how things are going for them. We kept the miles pretty easy, we hovered around marathon pace for most of the run. I wanted to go slower than that when I made the plan for this week but we both felt really good as we warmed up. I don’t like depriving my legs of faster speeds when I feel up for it. I don’t think it’s going to negatively affect my long run tomorrow. The plan is an early bed time tonight, wake up around 4:45 and start the run around 5:30 AM tomorrow. I want to be done before 8 AM so I don’t miss out on making family breakfast.

    9/6

    Happy Long Run Day! I woke up at 4:45 like I planned and started eating overnight oats. I tried them cold and I actually enjoyed them that way. Saves time and the texture didn’t bother me so I’m happy with that small change to the race day routine. I bought a honey Stinger Waffle that I brought with me to try during the run. They contain 19g of carbs but are a little high in fat (6g). I got out the door to start the run a little after 5:30 AM. The legs felt fresh so I stuck with the original workout plan today: 8.5 miles easy (average pace: 10:13/mi) followed by 6.5 miles at marathon pace (average pace 8:45/mi). The easy miles felt really easy, in part because it was 54 degrees outside with no sunlight for the first hour and ten minutes of the run. My heart rate never left zone 2.

    I ate the Stinger waffle at the 45 minute mark even though I didn’t feel like I needed it. I figured it’d be better to eat it as a precaution (and to experiment with my stomach) to prevent bonking. I ran down to the Galloway area and once the marathon pace miles started, I turned around to head back home. The legs felt really good going into the faster miles. I didn’t consider this until later but the waffle was really easy to digest and I’m glad I had it with me. I’m gonna continue to use them for fuel for these long runs to see if I want them with me on race day. Based on how today went, I think I’ll do one at the 1 hour mark and 2 1/2 hour mark on race day. We’ll tweak that as I continue to train these last eight weeks.

    13.5 mile mark. I felt really good, especially once the sun came up

    We only have two months left before race day. I’ve been building up to this race for so long, the idea of training being over is hard to imagine. I’ve gotten very accustomed to the rhythm of my training weeks.

    9/7

    Lane decided to sign up for the Bass Pro Half Marathon so we’re going to run together. Because of this, she has moved her long run to Sunday so that we don’t have to plan for both of us to be gone multiple hours on the same day. She ran seven miles during the kid’s nap while I watched some football. I was able to complete my 50 minute strength training workout this afternoon. I focused mainly on my quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves and back. Because running is my main focus, my gym training emphasizes lower body workouts and strengthening my posterior chain. I did three sets of pull-ups, three sets of walking lunges with dumbbells, four sets of trap-bar deadlifts, four sets of barbell back squats, three sets of single-leg calf raises, and three sets of candlesticks for my core. I also mixed in four dumbbell bench press sets. I’m an imperfect man, what can I say. The “gym bro” workouts are still tempting. In all seriousness though, part of why I did that specific workout today was to see if my Costochondritis issue from July is healed or not. I haven’t exercised my chest since June. This was an anaerobic workout which I don’t do a lot of so I enjoyed switching things up.

    I am learning to cherish my legs. I try to remind myself of how thankful I am for my body overall, but with marathon training, my lower body has been taking a beating. Earlier this year I was spending a lot of time in the gym lifting for muscle growth in areas that didn’t directly help my running. I would do hammer curls, triceps extensions, bench press, lateral raises, and shoulder press. Though those things certainly aren’t a bad thing, they were a symptom of having more time on my hands. Now that my weekly mileage is creeping up into the high 30s and low 40s, that time is diminished. I’m only able to work in one or two weightlifting sessions per week (assuming no rest days). That means if I’m to use strength training to improve my running, my legs need most of the attention. I’m going to focus on unilateral leg movements such as Bulgarian split squats (though this is one that has caused me knee issues in the past so I keep the dumbbells light), dumbbell walking lunges, and single leg calf-raises. I’m going to experiment with single-leg deadlifts with my trap-bar next week. I don’t know if that movement is stable with the trap-bar or not but we’ll find out. If it’s not, I’m okay doing a bilateral movement to strengthen my hamstrings.

    9/8

    I pressed snooze on my alarm for the first time in awhile. Lane and I stayed up last night watching The Wire and I didn’t fall asleep until 11:11 PM according to my watch. I convinced myself to get out of bed at 6:09 and had to rush out the door. Today was a 6 mile progression run. We started out at an easy warm up pace, which felt great in the brisk 54 degree morning. Then, we sped up 30s/mi for each mile. Total stats: 6.23 miles in 54:38, 8:46/mi average pace. My splits were 10:08, 9:33, 9:03, 8:29, 8:00, and a fast 7:17 to close out the last mile. I have started incorporating more of these progression runs into my training in recent weeks, partly because I enjoy them but also because they teach me how to accelerate in a controlled manner. It’s easy during a run to speed up way past my heart rate zone or pace target and then slowly settle into it but I know that with nerves, excitement and crowd energy, my body is going to want to sprint that first mile. I need to learn how to stay in control of my body so we don’t burn through glycogen stores in the first 15 miles of this race. There’s a reason “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” is one of the most common clichés.

    Joy woke up a bit early today, Lane took her to go potty while I was in the shower. That was a good reminder of why wake up on training days has to be 6 AM at the latest. Still, we threw down the miles and I’m excited for this training week. It’s going to be high volume again (38-40 miles total), with a sixteen mile long run on Saturday. Lane is out of town this weekend for her sister’s bachelorette trip so my mom’s coming into town to help me with them when I’m at work. Next week is going to be a recovery week to give my body some rest.

    9/9

    I completed my threshold workout this morning. Here’s the structure: 10:00 warm up followed by two 18:00 intervals @ 7:00/mi pace with a half mile of recovery in between. This was one of the hardest workouts I’ve completed in this training block. I’m super proud of the effort today. When I first started ramping up my training to prep for the marathon back in April, I did a threshold workout where I attempted to hold 7:00/mi pace for one 17 minute interval. I couldn’t hold that pace and it was nearly a max effort. The fact that my high aerobic capacity has improved this much in 4-5 months is really encouraging. Workouts like these are really intimidating but there’s nothing like that feeling of accomplishment when I complete one, especially if I feel like I executed well.

    Total stats today: 6.63 miles, total time 51:04. Average pace: 7:42/mi. Average HR: 149 BPM. This run was also a 10K PR for me. I’m curious what I’d be able to throw down if I fully trained for a 10K. That’d be a fun thing to do in a couple years. I have had some sciatic nerve issues and some ankle pain recently so I’m going to the chiropractor this afternoon so we can get adjusted and hopefully relieve some of that. Turns out, if you run 45 miles in seven days, you’ll be sore. Who knew?

    9/10

    I slept in today until 7:15. Lane and I stayed up late talking and had a really fun conversation about parenthood, the future and things we’re looking forward to as our kids grow. My body was pretty fatigued from the workout yesterday so I’m going to push the run to tonight after Bible study. I plan on running 4 easy miles this evening and I’m gonna keep them pretty easy.

    I ran one mile to bible study and ran a longer route home so I could complete five miles total tonight. I kept the miles easy. I skipped the strides on this run since I couldn’t see that well in the dark. I’m looking forward to my rest day tomorrow! I need to take advantage of those days as much as possible so I can handle the miles on my legs. My peak week is just a month away, I estimate that I’ll run 45-48 miles that week.

    I’m excited for Saturday’s long run! It’s going to be the longest run of my life. I ran 16 miles last September to celebrate hitting 500 miles in 2024. I’ll run an extra 0.1 just to pass last year’s PR. My folks will be in town to help out with the kids while Lane is out of town and I’m working. She leaves Friday morning and my job is to keep the house from catching fire and to try to maintain the training routine.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 35

    8/28

    It’s Thursday. It’s rest day. I feel really good going into this weekend. Often on my rest days I find myself “cheating” in small ways: doing pull-ups in the garage, jogging lightly during my lunch break walk, etc. Today I really took it easy. In fact, it was a borderline lazy day. I took 3,800 steps. I didn’t walk on my lunch break. I didn’t run. I stayed out of the garage. I’m proud of giving myself a true rest day even if it felt strange to do so. My mental and physical preparedness for Saturday’s long run should be pretty high.

    Like I said in my last blog, I am making nutrition and fueling a bigger part of my training to simulate race day conditions. I went to Fleet Feet to buy Gu Gels for the first time. They had really weird flavors for sale but I wasn’t brave enough to try them. I can’t imagine choking down anything chocolate flavored in the middle of the race. I went with strawberry banana. This Saturday I’ll be using the gels at the 40 minute 80 minute, and 120 minute mark of the run. I’ll monitor my stomach throughout the run. I’ve mixed in some marathon pace intervals into this long run which are totally optional for me depending on how I feel. I’ll be running around Table Rock Lake area (Indian Point) so I may just do easy miles if the route is weird or more difficult than expected.

    8/29

    I ran 2.4 miles just to shake out the legs in preparation tomorrow. We drove down to Branson after work. The traffic was insane so it took a little longer than an hour to get to the condo. We got the kids down to bed around 8:30 and I was right behind them. According to my watch I was asleep by 9:30. My father in law offered to drive me to a neighborhood with a nice 1.4 mile loop for me to run tomorrow. I feel bad that he’ll be waking up early with me but according to him, “old men don’t sleep.”

    8/30

    Sunrise on Table Rock Lake. 6:05 AM.

    I woke up at five. Based on my previous long runs, I’ve found that I can perform well as long as I finish eating 45 minutes before I start. I got my overnight oats down by 5:15 and started stretching and waking up. I put the Gu Gels in my inner short pocket and I was impressed by how unnoticeable they felt against my thigh. That was a good sign.

    I started the run just before six. The route Brian showed me had rolling hills with a short, steep climb at the halfway point. On my first lap I felt really strong. I enjoyed the hills, something I don’t get to experience in my neighborhood back home.

    Lap two was rough. Not sure why. I was feeling uneasy in my stomach. There was a dark moment in the first 30 minutes where I wasn’t sure I’d finish the run. I kept the pace slow to see if I could work through it. It subsided by the three mile mark but it became clear to me that running two three mile intervals at marathon pace wasn’t going to be realistic. I thought to myself, “if you keep these next eight miles easy, truly easy, you can run the last three at marathon pace if you’re up for it.”

    My plan going into this run was to begin fueling starting at the 40 minute mark. When I crossed that threshold, I tore open the Gu Gel, gulped down about half of it and as the liquid hit the back of my throat, I realized I made a massive mistake. I couldn’t stand the flavor. I forced myself to finish the gel but I was very nervous about how I’d fare the rest of the run if my main fuel source was going to be unusable. Heads up for those of you who haven’t tried Gu gels: they aren’t as “liquidy” as I expected them to be. I found them tough to swallow because of the thickness which is especially difficult if you’re dehydrated. If you want a soft gel that goes down similar to a liquid, Gu isn’t it. And that’s to say nothing of the flavor, which I really disliked. The strawberry banana flavor tasted like sugary medicine. The nutrition facts say that only 7 of the 23g of carbohydrates come from sugar but it tastes like all sugar.

    I passed an elderly couple on mile ten, they asked how far I was running. I grinned and said, “fourteen miles” and instead of the usual gasp and horrified reaction I sometimes get from people on these long runs, the woman exclaimed, “Oh! To be young again!” Her reaction made me laugh. Something about what she said gave me juice for the last miles. It was a nice reminder of what I’m thankful for.

    Mile eleven started and I picked up the pace. The quads felt great when I stretched them out and quickened my cadence. I looked down at my watch after the first quarter mile. Current pace: 8:05. A full minute faster than my marathon goal pace. I frowned and throttled back down to 8:45. Even on tired legs I wanted to go faster. Something in my brain was telling me I had more to give. I told myself that if I still felt that way at the very end I’d turn it loose for the last half mile. And that’s exactly what we did. I found a guy ahead of me on the road running at a pretty quick pace, visibly faster than me. I turned on the jets going into a long steady uphill. He was visible as I crested but still a good tenth of a mile ahead. I managed to pass him after a quarter mile or so. I turned around and easy jogged back to the truck to finish the run. Total stats: 14.06 miles, 9:51 average pace, average HR 136 BPM.

    My father-in-law took this picture. He was walking the loop as I ran.

    This is probably the best I’ve felt after a run of similar length. I’m fatigued but my fitness has noticeably improved based on how I’m feeling right now.

    8/30

    John woke up around 5:30 this morning and I wasn’t able to get back to sleep until six. Once I did, I was able to sleep until eight which I was very thankful for. I still need to rest and fully recover from the miles so I’m going to do Lane’s mobility workout after lunch and some light bodyweight exercises since we’re not in Springfield and I don’t have access to gym equipment down here.

    Turns out I’m not very mobile. That was a pretty difficult fifteen minutes. My TFL and IT band are really tight. I’m glad I did the workout because it showed I have a lot of weak spots in terms of flexibility and strength in my legs. They are probably limiting factors in my running so it’s worth considering adding some of these exercises to my weight training sessions as a cool down. I did decline push-ups, Bulgarian split-squats, lunges, single-leg calf raises, and straight leg dead lifts (just to stretch out the hamstrings). It wasn’t a structured workout, just trying to keep the blood flowing today. I have a five mile hill sprint workout tomorrow. I have to take advantage of the hills when I’m out of town like this. It’s an easy thing to neglect when I’m in Springfield.

    8/31

    I slept in today. It’s been hard to wake up early with the kids recently and I didn’t get to bed until later than I wanted to anyway. John woke up at four again so I had to put him back to sleep. I am looking forward to getting back to sleep training him this week. We had to pause it because he got sick a couple weeks ago. We’ll all start sleeping better once he figures that out.

    The whole family woke up around eight. Lane and I decided to run at the same time since her parents offered to watch the kids. We ran different routes but ended up together for about half a mile. I completed five miles with five 45 second hill sprints mixed in. I think I was wearing my watch too tightly during the first two miles. I found a small stretch of steep downhill trail that I really enjoyed. I don’t have the right shoes for terrain like that, but the change of pace and the technical nature of it really got me excited for next year. (Spoiler alert: I’m probably going to make trail running a bigger part of my overall training in 2026.)

    I am doing a VO2 Max workout tomorrow to get some speed work in. We’ll do 5 x 2:00 @ 5K pace which means we’re targeting 6:30 pace or a perceived exertion rate of 8/10. Since I didn’t have access to any gym equipment this weekend, I shouldn’t have any left over fatigue in the quads or hamstrings. We’ll see how tomorrow morning goes.

    9/2

    My buddy Tanner was in town visiting from Phoenix so we had a late night catching up. I didn’t get to bed until eleven so I woke up this morning feeling very tired. Since we’re starting our sleep training again with John, I’m taking today off. Lane needs to be able to get some strength training in when I get home from work tonight and since I didn’t wake up for the workout this morning, I’m gonna take the day and get back in the saddle tomorrow morning.

    Sleep training went really well! John was able to put himself to sleep within three minutes of laying him down tonight. I’m really proud of him and I’m excited to finally get him into a regular routine. It’s going to be good for our family.

    9/3

    John woke up a couple times in the middle of the night. I went in there around 4:30 to put him back to sleep but despite the interruption, I still woke up at six and was out the door in time to get the VO2 max workout completed.

    I ran 5.77 miles. Here’s the workout structure: 1.25 mi keeping heart rate in zone 2, 6 x 2:00 @ 5K pace (6:28/mi average), with 1 minute recovery jogging in between, followed by 2 miles of cool down mileage at marathon pace (average 8:56/mi). My average heart rate was 144 BPM and peaked at 177 BPM during the last interval. The legs feel pretty fresh since I took yesterday off. We’re gonna do a short anaerobic sprint workout to and from bible study tonight. Tomorrow’s run will be 5-6 easy miles followed by 3-4 miles with 4 x 60s strides on Friday. I’m trying to stay fresh for Saturday’s run while still getting close to my weekly mileage goal of 35-38 miles.

    The run to and from Bible study wasn’t really a sprint workout. I mixed in some strides as I jogged but I ate too big a dinner (pork, eggs, kidney beans, spinach, nutritional yeast) about an hour before I left so I wasn’t able to really get after it. I ran a total of 2.5 miles this evening.

    I was consistent with my training this week. Not perfect, but consistent. The biggest lesson I’m learning from marathon training is all about consistency. It’s almost impossible to execute every workout perfectly every week when I’m trying to also balance kids, job, community responsibilities, etc. but I’ve drawn a good boundary for myself: I can’t say no two days in a row. That rule has served me well in training and I think there’s a lot of value in incorporating that into all facets of my life.

    Every long run after this Saturday will be the longest run I’ve ever completed. As race day gets closer I can feel myself getting more anxious, there’s a fear about my ability to execute on the big day and hit my sub 4 hour goal. But I have to remind myself that I still have plenty of time to put hay in the barn. I’m doing a good job of clocking time and miles on the legs. I’m getting stronger. It’s time to trust the training, trust the plan and ultimately trust that God is in control no matter what.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 34

    8/21

    I rested today. It’s been a slow ramp up coming back from sickness. To reward myself for actually taking a day off, I’m gonna do a threshold workout tomorrow after work. I haven’t done enough high aerobic work recently and I want to train in a higher zone. My hope is that doing so will improve my body’s ability to clear lactate from my bloodstream in the higher paces and heart rate zones.

    8/22

    I completed my threshold workout Friday evening. Here’s the basic structure: 1 mile warm up in Zone 2, 3 x 8:00 @ 7:00/mi pace and a cool down. I felt fully recovered from sickness which is a great sign. Unfortunately I had GI issues during my cool down. I planned to run a mile or 2 at the end but dinner didn’t sit well with me. I’m glad it didn’t affect me during my intervals but my mileage will be a little lower this week. That’s okay. I’m trying to be okay with not being perfect.

    8/23

    I did my long run, 10 easy miles during the kids nap time. I mixed in marathon pace at the end but it wasn’t a structured part of the run. I put on an absolute clinic on how NOT to fuel for a run. I had a high protein, low carb breakfast, too much coffee, not enough water, and leftover pasta too close to the run (about an hour before). Thankfully I didn’t have any GI issues but I felt heavy, sluggish and thirsty for much of the run. It hasn’t been as hot recently and it’s going to cool down even more later next week.

    I completed 19 miles, my lowest weekly total since February which is WILD to think about. I went into this year, before I started marathon training, hoping to average 15 miles per week. I’ve been well above that this year, a significant shift from even last year. I’m really proud of the work I’ve put in. Hopefully it translates well on race day. Fueling is still my main area of weakness right now, I really want to have that more dialed in when these long runs start to get longer. It’s going to become a necessity once these runs approach the three hour mark. I’m committing to doing all my long runs in the early morning going forward so I can practice fueling with plenty of time before I take off.

    8/24

    Today I completed 45 minutes of strength training. I tried to take short breaks and do high intensity load so that I could get some anaerobic benefit. I enjoy some of the anabolic training because I sometimes get paranoid about injury risk as I increase mileage. I focused on legs like usual with 3 sets of barbell back squats, trap-bar deadlifts, walking lunges with dumbbells, weighted calf raises. I mixed in some arm, shoulder and core work as well. I am attaching a video showing some of the workouts I did, specifically the pull-ups and leg work.

    I am going to do a speed workout tomorrow even though the legs are tired. I think it’s good to do those workouts when I’m fatigued because it forces me to go off of relative perceived effort (RPE) instead of pace.

    8/25

    I woke up at 6 AM to run. Okay well, technically that’s a lie. I actually woke up at 4:50 AM to put John back to sleep. The kids have been sick and it was a rough night. Lane was with him multiple times overnight so when he woke up a little before 5, I decided to go in there so she could catch a couple Z’s before it was time to get breakfast ready for the kids. I nodded off in the rocking chair while holding him until 5:55 AM. I didn’t feel great so I only did 4.3 miles. Nothing about my recovery and readiness was optimal for this run but I’m really proud of my cadence. I felt like my mechanics were really dialed in. We kept this one moderate, just sustained marathon pace.

    8/26

    Today was a 7 mile progression run. I did a better job of getting enough sleep last night. The kids are finally starting to recover from sickness so we weren’t interrupted in the middle of the night quite as much. I started at 9:20/mi pace, and completed the last mile in 8:11. The MSU XC team was out this morning and I found myself glancing over as they ran in the grass alongside me. College athletes run like deer. It was mesmerizing to watch. These morning runs are really good for my training. I feel great throughout the day after and I end up eating better and hitting my macros because I’m not paranoid about overeating before an evening run.

    8/27

    This morning was a 6 mile tempo run. 3 intervals x 10:00 @ 10k pace (~7:30/mi pace). I did not want to wake up for this one. I had to tell myself, “you don’t do this because it feels great when you start, you do this because it feels great when you finish.” That helped me get out the door. I was worried about some pain in my heel when I woke up but it went away almost immediately during my warm up so that was encouraging. I ran into my New Testament professor from college and I said hello to him. That was a fun blast from the past.

    This workout was a sweet spot for me. It was challenging, but not impossible. It wasn’t built to run my legs into the ground. A year ago, the idea of running at 7:30 pace for more than a minute or two would’ve been unimaginable. But as my fitness has increased and I’ve continued to lose fat, I’ve definitely gotten faster. I thought going into this run that 10 minute intervals at 7:30 pace would be touching close to my lactate threshold but I noticed how “flowy” the intervals were and how easily I was able to stay in range without obsessively looking at my watch. I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying myself during the 2nd interval.

    My Garmin tracked this as a tempo workout so it was certainly more intense than a base run, but I was proud that I was able to keep my heart rate in the 150-165 range during each interval. I’m working on adding more high aerobic exercise in this build cycle, something I’ve been neglecting this last month. The goal is to do 1-2 high aerobic workouts per week depending on how I recover from each weeks’ long run. That should put me in a good range if I commit to keeping my easy runs easy.

    I don’t have any profound reflections from the week. My bible study started last Wednesday and I’m really thankful for the group we have. We’re studying Mark and taking things back to the basics: reading the words of Jesus and learning how to live more like Him. I’ve said it before, I really think running teaches us about spiritual endurance in a way that very few things in life can. As always, I’m thankful for good health and God putting the desire in me to be a good steward of the body He gave me.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 33

    8/14

    Today was a much needed off day. Lane and I bought a whiteboard which we’re using as a training/family/meal calendar. We decided we need to share an off day so we can spend some time together. Thursdays are already scheduled for House Church every week so it was somewhat a no brainer. When we got back, I was feeling restless so I decided to go out to the garage and spend some time working out (I didn’t even log it, just 20 minutes with some pull-ups, hammer curls, core work, etc). I’m starting to notice something disturbing: I’m not doing a good job of allowing myself to truly rest. This marathon training block is creating a sort of underlying anxiety around training where I feel like I’m “falling behind” if I miss a workout or don’t execute well. I need to operate with more grace for myself and a better mindset. It boils down to trusting that I’m doing the right things, even if what my body requires is an off day.

    8/15

    I ran 3.5 miles with Travis at a 8:33 pace. It was good to spend some quality time with him and get the heart rate up in preparation for the long run tomorrow. We got to discuss parenting and how he’s excited for baby number four to come next week. I like days like this where we pick up the pace but can still have a conversation. Some of the truly easy runs get mundane. This was a good balance of challenge, especially on the hills, mixed with some good “flowy” segments as well. It looks like I might be running solo tomorrow for the half-marathon. Elliott texted me saying he’s worried he might have a micro-fracture in his foot. Super bummed for him. I’m hopeful he can still train and run with me on November 2nd. We both have the goal of breaking 4 hours so it’d be great to start and finish together.

    8/16

    Half-marathon day! I ran solo, but the good news was Elliot’s foot was okay. He’s gonna cross train this week so I ran this one by myself. Him and I will get to run together at some point in the coming weeks. I woke up at 5 AM to practice pre-race fueling with overnight oats. I was able to get the meal down 45 minutes before I started the run. It sat comfortably in my stomach which was a very good sign. That probably means that I can increase the volume of food as these runs get longer to really make sure my glycogen stores are fully topped off for fuel.

    After the run, I took a 90 minute nap in the afternoon. I woke up with a sore throat which I’m hopeful will go away shortly. The last thing I need is to get sick in the middle of the building phase of training. I’m not super worried about it since tomorrow I’m just doing a short lift and mowing the lawn. We’ll see how I recover tonight.

    8/17

    Okay yellow light. It’s Sunday morning and we’re getting ready for church. I’ll be honest, I don’t feel great. I got plenty of sleep but it wasn’t very restorative. I’m gonna try to be as light on myself as possible before mowing this afternoon. I will limit my activity level and try to find restful moments between now and the kid’s nap time. My throat is killing me but no fever, just the throat soreness for now.

    I mowed the lawn and stayed hydrated despite the sun. My workout went really well, I even PR’d for a single set of pull-ups! 9 is the new record. I think I can hit 15 in a row by the end of the year. I’m very fatigued and it’s unclear if that’s due to muscle soreness or immune suppression and sickness. We’ll keep monitoring it throughout the night and this week.

    8/18

    I woke up feeling like I’ve been hit by a train. My watch alarm went off at 6 AM and I was hopeful that I’d be able to get a morning run in and get a good start to the week. The moment I woke up I knew that was not in the cards. I hit snooze and waited for the kids to wake up around 7. I’m exhausted but I’m going in to work despite the fatigue. My watch says my overnight heart rate variability was 106 ms (a sign of sickness and not adequately recovering from training). My training readiness is in the low 60s. I still have a sore throat but now I also have body soreness, head fog and a cough. I haven’t had a proper rest day in awhile so this was my body’s way of forcing me to rest.

    I came home from work feeling so sick I could barely stand. Lane told me to take a long hot shower and lay on the couch until dinner. I did both things, trying to play with the kids as much as I physically could but the body aches were almost debilitating. I ended up going to bed at 8:30 PM.

    8/19

    I am working remotely today. My watch says I got 9 hours of sleep but it did almost nothing to help my body recover. I still feel bad but not as horrible as yesterday. Not much else to report. It’s a sweatpants day. I’m going to focus on hydration and protein to help with muscle soreness and promote good recovery for tonight. I might try to get a walk in tonight to get the blood flowing.

    I did not end up going on a walk. Lane made chicken white cheddar mac n cheese. It was phenomenal. I feel better and I anticipate a return to work tomorrow and a short easy run in the evening before bible study.

    8/20

    I ran 3.33 miles, 1.7 miles to and 1.1.6 back home from my bible study. I felt much better for moving my legs and getting the blood flowing. Kept the heart rate in zone 2, a truly easy run hovering around 10:10 pace. Our bible study is continuing through the book of Mark which we have been slowly studying since January. This week we talked about good soil, how we as Christians can posture our hearts so that the seeds of God’s Word can grow in us. It had me thinking about the habits I’m choosing to participate in that are bringing me closer or further away from God. I’ve said it before, I feel much closer to God when I’m running. There’s something about building physical endurance that teaches valuable lessons about the pain of life we all go through.

    I can be a pretty hardheaded person. I almost never want to take time off from training, especially in the middle of a marathon build. But my body needed it and I forced myself to mentally “get over” the feeling of falling behind. I have to trust that a setback can be overcome if I stay consistent when I’m healthy. Running through sickness isn’t productive, it just feeds my ego. That’s not what this is about. The moment this running thing becomes all about me is the moment I lose the love of it. There’s a reason that picture of 4 names on my arm precedes each of these blog posts. It’s about them. It’s about Jesus and using the physical body He has given me to glorify Him. It’s about Lane and becoming a more resilient and servant hearted husband. It’s about Joy and John and building myself into a father figure worth following.

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 32

    8/8

    I ran 4 miles with Travis this morning. It was my first early morning workout in awhile. My body has been craving a higher intensity aerobic workout for the last week so we did some interval training. 12 min warm up, then 5 x 2 minutes @ threshold pace with 2-3 minutes of recovery running in between. Total stats: 4 miles 8:08/mi pace. I’m glad we were able to get this one done together. There’s something about running with a friend that keeps me motivated during the higher intensity workouts. We were still able to talk and catch up a bit in between the intervals so it was a good balance and start to the morning. Tomorrow’s run is 9-10 miles, all easy. That will put me at 27 miles for the week and good position for the increased miles going forward. My ankle and right side TFL is a little sore which might have been due to running in the Hyperion Max’s which I reserve for my high aerobic/sprint workouts. I’ll do some stretching and foam rolling tonight to get ready for my long run tomorrow.

    8/9

    I did my 10 mile run in the heat of the day. It was 96 degrees in Springfield with a hot bright sun overhead. I set out water and a chia seed pouch for an aid station at the halfway mark. I ran my first 4 miles around the neighborhood before it became clear that I needed fuel. I was tired almost immediately. Even though these were supposed to be 10 easy miles, nothing about the run was easy (or fun for that matter). I texted my Dad afterwards and told him that this was one of my least favorite runs of all time. Now that I’ve had a day to process, I stand by the statement. I felt heavy and sluggish from the speed workout the day before and the foam rolling and stretching I did in the morning didn’t help at all. I had to pause the run to go by one of my rentals to check on a drainage issue and a broken doorknob at the seven mile mark so the interruptions for hydration and the house issues prevented me from getting into a good flow mentally. Still, we logged the miles and checked the box.

    27 miles for this week. It felt good to get some recovery time in after 3 straight weeks of stacking miles. I have a 5 mile easy run with strides mixed in tomorrow after church. We have another hot day incoming, looks like a high of 94 with a small chance of rain in the afternoon.

    8/10

    The sermon today was on the spiritual discipline of community, something I’ve been thinking more about in recent months. As a high school and then a college student, my Christian community of friends were really special to me, to the point where I probably made them into an idol. I struggled with that for a long time and it wasn’t until I married someone who was more introverted that I learned the value of intentional solitude and one on one quality time.

    In recent years, community has looked a lot different for me. As a husband and a father of 2, my main focus and my main community is my family. They deserve all my attention and leadership. Friends and extended family deserve parts of me too but it’s been an important thing to remember to always save the best of myself for my wife and our children.

    I listened to a Chris Williamson podcast episode with Mike Israetel as the guest and he said that something in your life will suffer when you go all in pursuing something else, even if the pursuit is positive. I’ve been thinking a lot about that. I was struck with fear at first. The thought crossed my mind, “Is my family suffering because of my training?” That didn’t make sense to me. I feel like a better Dad for the training I’ve done. I think the alone time with God that the running has afforded me has enhanced my drive to be a great husband and father. But the question kept nagging at me, “What is suffering because of the way I’ve chosen to orient my life?” It feels weird to admit but I think it’s friendship. I don’t think I’m as good a friend as I could be because of the choices I’m making. I spend 45 hours per week working, I spend, on average, 6-8 hours of my free time training. Calculate 7-8 hours of sleep per night, and there’s not much room for quality time with other people outside of my family.

    I’m thankful for my friend Travis who I run with once a week. I’m thankful for my friends I see at church on Sundays. But the late nights downtown are long gone. The college rental houses are occupied by different strangers now. I pass by them on Pickwick or Delmar sometimes and say the same thing to myself, “remember when ____ used to live there?” Sometimes I miss those days. I wouldn’t trade my life now for any of it but still, it’d be nice if all of us lived in the same city again. Everyone’s so spread out now.

    I ran 5 miles today and mixed in some strides to get the heart rate up. My body recovered well from the 10 miles yesterday despite the heat. I decided to skip on mowing the lawn. We haven’t had rain in almost a month and I don’t want to scorch the grass. Glad I can take that off my list of to-dos this week. I sat in my garage for 20 minutes and shut the door to use it as a makeshift sauna. No idea if it helped my body recover but I’m gonna keep trying it a couple days a week.

    8/11

    Tonight is a workout. I’m trying to be more consistent with the strength training. Up until now, I’ve avoided the gym for fear of soreness affecting my performance in my speed training days. I heard from a running coach who runs ultramarathons say something to the effect of, “speed work isn’t about running about peak performance, it’s about improving endurance so that your peak is higher on race day.” That has really changed my mentality when it comes to speed training. I’m not going to be afraid of running on tired legs or lifting heavy, even if I have a run the next day.

    I did a 45 minute strength workout, mostly focused on legs and back. Here’s the full breakdown:

    Pull-ups: 3 sets x 7 reps

    Barbell back squat: 3 sets x 12 reps

    Trap-bar deadlift: 3 sets x 12 reps

    Calf-raises: 3 sets x 12 reps

    Dumbbell shoulder press: 3 sets x 12, 10, then 8 reps (25lb dbs)

    Hammer curls: 3 sets x 8 reps (25lb dbs)

    Candlestick leg raises: 3 sets x 8 reps

    I’ve attached some video from my workout for anyone who’s curious. I’ve started filming myself to ensure good form and technique.

    The arm and shoulder work was purely cosmetic but the rest of the workout is going to help me achieve my marathon goal. I need stronger legs and if that means my speed work sessions suck a little bit, that’s okay. I don’t want a random threshold workout in August to be my best run of 2025. I’m trying to run my best on race day.

    8/12

    My speed work run was 7 miles. I woke up at 5:45 to get out of the house early so I can be on Dad duty when the kids get up. Here was the structure: 1 mile warm up, 6 x 1km at 10k pace (RPE 7/10), 2-3 min cool down in between each interval. I was surprised by how the legs performed. I expected to be moving through cement during the run but we were able to move faster than expected. I ran the 1km intervals around 7:20-7:45/mi which felt challenging but not an all out effort. I was surprised my Garmin counted it as a Base workout based on my heart rate data instead of a tempo workout. It felt like a high aerobic workout to me but I know to take some of Garmin’s tracking with a grain of salt.

    We’re sleep training John this week so I’m hoping to start doing these early morning workouts more consistently. I always feel better when I knock my training out early so I don’t have to think or worry about it later after work. It frees me up to spend more time with the family and get quality time with God. I’m going to wake up around the same time tomorrow to do a 5 mile easy run.

    8/13

    I woke up with a bit of a sore throat and my Training Readiness was in the mid 50s. I didn’t want to push too hard today but I felt too good to just do a slow run since I’m resting tomorrow. I changed it to a slow progression run. We started at 10:40/mi pace and cut 10 seconds off each mile from there and did the last mile at marathon pace with some strides mixed in. Total stats: 5.45 miles, average pace 9:56/mi. Kept the heart rate in Zone 2 for the majority of the run. I’ve run 17.6 miles so far this week. I’ll be taking tomorrow off so Lane and I can have some quality time then I’ll do 3-4 easy miles with Travis on Friday and a 13 mile workout with my buddy Elliot who I haven’t seen in months. I figured I might as well try to spend more time with friends if it’s been a weak spot recently!

    Keep Going!

  • Marathon Training Week 31

    8/1

    Friday 5 mile run at marathon pace. This was a perfect weather day. Couldn’t believe how good I felt. This was my second run in a row with no chest pain which was encouraging. This is my last ramp up mileage week before a rest week (32 miles this week, 27 miles next week). The increasing mileage hasn’t bothered me (yet). I think I’m going about it the right way by not increasing my long runs too drastically.

    8/2

    Today was my long run. I ran 12 today, my first time running that distance since May. I ran the first nine at easy pace, last three at marathon pace. This one was great for a couple reasons. I started at 6:30 AM. I love the early morning, waking up with the rest of the city and watching the neighborhood come alive. It was 65 degrees when I started. When I walked outside, I nearly shivered just from shock. at the temperature difference. That was a welcome change after the last 2 months of brutal humidity. I ran downtown for the first 4 miles and it was cool to see the sun come up over the industrial park. The middle portion of my run took place in Rountree, one of the most beautiful historic neighborhoods in town. I finished things off by stopping at the house for water and a Chia seed pouch and then ran the last 3 miles in my neighborhood. I came home feeling pretty good overall. Last week was about defining the easy run and I feel like I’m getting the hang of it. Mixing in different paces is also helping me improve. Picking up the pace on already fatigued legs is a very unique sensation and probably a helpful one for running a marathon.

    When I got home Lane was making pancakes with the kids so I hopped in the shower and then helped with family breakfast. I’m always on egg/bacon duty for our family breakfasts. I’ve really started to love cooking in the last 6 months or so. Saturday family breakfast is my favorite day of the week.

    8/3

    Nothing significant to report here. I ran 4.5 miles easy. I like doing some sort of shakeout or easy run the day after my long run just to keep my body in check and monitor my body’s overnight recovery after the high mileage day. I meal prepped 4 pounds of bacon wrapped jalapeno cheddar venison patties for lunches this week. I also broke my garbage disposal. I’m extremely frustrated about that. I might hire someone to fix it but I really would rather save the money if possible and just knock it out myself.

    8/4

    After doing some research I decided to go to Home Depot and buy the disposal and give it a shot myself. It took a couple hours because I had to pause and help with bath and bedtime with the kids. We got it fixed around 9 PM and I went to the garage for a short 15 minute back and leg workout. I did enough for the quads to get them sore. with a barbell back squat. I did 3 sets of 5 pull ups. I’m proud of myself for how much I’ve progressed in that area. I couldn’t do more than 3 pull-ups in a row when I first set the rack up. Lifting has taken a backset with the increased mileage but I still want to shoot for an hour of weight training per week for maintenance and injury prevention.

    8/5

    3.5 easy miles tonight. I just needed to get moving again. This week is much lower mileage which is giving my body some time to recover and prepare for longer runs and more intense workouts going forward. I’m going to do a tempo or threshold workout at some point this week, maybe Friday with Travis.

    8/6

    I’m running with Sam tonight after work. We’re gonna do 5-6 easy miles together. The original plan was to run to Drury University and do a 1 mile time trail. I’m curious what my PR could be (current best is 6:24/mi). I think I can get it under 6 minutes if I go all out. Sam texted me saying he’s pretty beat up from a long run he did on Sunday so we’re going to keep this one low and slow.

    Update: we kept this one low and slow (kinda). We both felt good going into mile 3 so we started mixing in some strides on the hillier sections of our route to get the heart rate up. We ended our run with an all out sprint down the street. My sprint speed got up to 3:24/mi pace which is easily the fastest I’ve ever run in my adult life. Total stats: 5.6 miles @ 8:47 average pace.

    I assumed that my increased mileage would mean less running with friends. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that so many of my runs, even some of my higher intensity workouts, have involved other people in my life. We’ll see if that continues as we get deeper into marathon training. 13 weeks to go!

    Keep Going!