i finished the week with a 14 miler today, which felt great. i'd like to think that it's because i'm in such a fine state of conditioning, but i'm thinking that the fact that it was only 70 degrees outside helped the situation considerably.

in any case, today's route was hilly, or at least as hilly as it gets in the midwest, but i felt strong for the whole run, which i'll chalk-up [ no pun intended ] to the the "honey stingers" i've been taking. i'm trying to practice taking the gels early on in the training program this time around, since i had a hard time getting them down after mile 16 in the flyign pig marathon . you'd be surprised how hard it can be to get them down after you get a few miles under your belt. according to the program , i have a relatively light week in store for me - i'll be running 4, 8 and 12 miles and will probably try to work in a few 15-20 mile bike rides while i'm at it.

starting last week, i've switched to my "official" training program instead of from running between 25 and 30 "base" miles a week [ usually accomplished by running something like 5, 7, 5 and 12 miles ]. for the flying pig marathon, i used the "the non-runners marathon trainer", which was perfectly appropriate, given the fact that i was a "non-runner". it's a great program, but this time i wanted a program that would be slightly less abusive and give me more time to crosstrain.

so this time i'm going to give hal higdon's "senior" program a try. contrary to what one might assume given the title, it's not just for old people:

"Is the schedule below designed only for older runners? Not necessarily, although if you have been running marathons for a number of years, you may have been searching for a program with relatively low mileage and less of a time commitment that will allow you to continue to race 26-milers without getting burned out. Same if you've followed my Novice schedule before and are looking for some variation--particularly a program that will allow you time do some cross-training. If you're a Clydesdale, you also may have come to the conclusion that high-mileage weeks raise the risk of injury too much. You need more rest time."

last week, as the program prescribes, i ran 4, 8, and 12 miles and hopped on the bike for a brisk 12 mile ride on one of crosstraining days. i can already tell that the program is just what i was looking for. at least for myself, when your long miles get beyond 12-14 miles the difference between can be huge. and since i'm not an elite athlete, the reduced running schedule helps me to guard against getting the dreaded "plods", which are an early sign of overtraining:

"Of course many people fail to pick this up and continue training, usually even harder, and go on to develop what Bruce Fordyce calls the "plods". Symptoms of this are sore muscles, heavy legs, sluggishness and a general feeling of fatigue and malaise. If you are sensible enough to rest completely for 24 to 48 hours then the "plods" should disappear completely. If you do not then you will crash into the full blown overtraining syndrome, with persistent muscle soreness, loss of interest in training, an increase in resting heart rate and changes in sleeping patterns. Once all this has happened then recovery will take 6 to 8 weeks, during which time it is impossible to train or race effectively."

so this week, i'll continue with the program and run 6, 6, and 14 miles. i think i'll probably pick up somewhere between 20 and 30 miles on the bike.

it's hard to believe that the chicago marathon is only 7 weeks away.

warning: the following post contains explicit references to bodily fluids. if you're the type of person who doesn't like reading about such things, feel free to skip this post.

so, i'm in the midst of my weekly 12 miler. mile 9 to be exact. everything is feeling pretty good despite the humidity and i've stopped for a sip of gatorade. i glance down and am quite surprised to see a white foamy substance on my groin. "sweet jesus, i've lost control of my bladder," i think to myself. oddly, i don't even feel the urge to urinate. and i'm only in mile 9, which is a considerable distance, but not so far that you might lose control of your bladder or succomb to the dreaded runners trots. and yet, there's no doubt that there's a white foam on my groin. being the dedicated runner that i am, i wipe away the substance and try not to let it distract me from finishing the last 3 miles. but it gets worse. i begin to suspect that something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. despite the fact that i don't feel the urge to urninate the white foam keeps appearing. and right on cue, there are lots of people, young and old, walking around in my neighborhood. with a look of worry, they are eyeing my groin.

i get to mile 10 and i've had enough of people looking at my groin and am getting distracted at how long this running induced incontinence will last. luckily, i'm close to home and decide to cut the run short. i walk in the house, and have the type of exchange that you can only have with if you've been in a relationship for over 10 years.

kris asks, "how did the run go?"

"well, i had to cut it short, because apparently i've lost control of my bladder. i keep getting a white, foamy substance on my groin. it's wierd though because i don't feel the urge to pee."

"white, foam? did you get your shorts out of the washer? ha! that's soap, you dope. diane had the same problem once when she pulled her shorts out of the washer when there was some soap left in the fabric."

"oh." i say, sheepishly.

i didn't run in madrid because it was hot and, well, there were better things to do than navigate the urban jungle in running shoes.

despite the time off while in madrid, i decided to pick up where i left off and attempted a full week of 4, 6, 4 and 12 miles. everything went fine until the 12 miler today. it's so, very, very easy to overestimate your conditioning. i haven't been eating so hot lately and i'm starting to pay the piper. today's diet consisted of rice krispies, a bit of popcorn and potato. if you're 110 pounds this might give you the proper fuel for running 12 miles, but i'm well over the 200 mark and i can burn that off in the first couple of miles. too make matters worse, it was hot and humid. i'm a sweathog and me and humidity don't get along so well. hi. ho.

i made it and i guess that's what counts, but it wasn't pretty. next week, i need to start getting my diet in order. i think i might try something like 5, 7, 5 and 12 miles, which seems appropriate given my current conditioning.