I like the way you think Evryday I drank a few glasses of tea at supper and found myself starting this post at 12 am wide awake. I did my quicky weights session this morning. I am really sore from my Sunday run but from a stupid attack, not using sunscreen on my legs. The joints and muscles feel pretty good, a little tight. Hip was talking just a little, did my pt and ibts stretches, should be good by tommorow. Lynda and I are hauling fertilizer to pump on corn fields today. Watching the news and glad we are farming in dry old sw NE this year. My neighbor is drivng truck for us this week hauling corn to an ethanol plant in CO.

Much abbreviated version of Cliff's "Survival of the Fittest" diatribe, I believe Evryday! If memory serves correctly....Cliff was often much more verbose than that! - to which Norm would respond w/a grunt, "Sounds good to me" & bring his mug to his mouth. ...nice overview tho For whatever reason, I seem to have a difficult time following training schedules ....course, not knowing exactly which one I should be on just now may be a small part of the challenge..(do I focus on the HM in 10 days or mostly stay on the full training schedule for the Oct marathon?)....the other thing is that I mix it up depending on how I feel after I warm up! which trail I've chosen, who's running w/me, yada, yada, yada.....but frequently, it goes a lot like this: schedule says 4 easy (I feel great so, I do 4 easy+, & 2-4 more - tempo, hills, surges, whatever!) or schedule says 6 X 440 5K pc...I feel like lead & do 4 easy! .... Yesterday, schedule said "rest day" but I was antsy ALL day! finally did yard work! Today's said 5-6 hills 5K-10K pc (? I'm still all over the place w/that one) & (everything around here except Highline Trail is HILLLS! just depends on how I 'hit' them) soooo, 6.73 hilly miles. all mixed up! surged some, walked some - 11:38 ave pc (2 of em @ 9:51/10:11) - total ascent:815' - total descent: 813' (lost 2 feet somewhere!) No direct news from IA....other than news networks! Which is taking the flooding further downstream as the Cedar Rapids area is receding....some folks are being allowed to go in to check status - even return to some of the homes to start clean-up.....news pics still look pretty bad! This is going to be awful for the farmers there too, (I'm remembering aerial planting!) but maybe somewhat beneficial for those elsewhere? Sizable to do list today again....must get off computer....! Have a Great Tuesday Everybody!!~ C

Cindy - you've already done a HM, so I'd do that as a training run and keep my eye on the ball. Here's how I look at it, in order of importance (just my opinion and worth what you paid for it) : 1) the more miles, the better, and they should be mostly easy. I've read in at least two well-respected books that it's FAR better to go too slow than too fast! You want the biggest base you can possibly get - right now you have an OK base, you could certainly grow it. You can't build a big base unless you're going slow enough. 2) one long run + one sort-of-long run per week. The second longish run really seems to help. 3) one quality run per week if you feel up to it (with all those mountains, you can't miss!). Hills, intervals, tempo, whatever, but I think you really have to be careful here. If how and when you do those is by feel, then fine! It sounds like you're good at listening to the ol' bod. But...here's my mantra: Consistency and lots of miles over the long term is what does it. 10 - 12 mi used to wipe me out for the rest of the day, now it's just - eh, no big deal - but it took more than a few 10+ mi days to get there. I'm looking at others' logs and seeing plenty of folks who do 20+ mi *training* runs, and all they do is keep consistent, slow, steady. All that hill repeat this, striders that, tempo blah blah is just extra stuff to add speed (and fun/interest, granted), but you need the big base miles first; the bigger, the better. I presume your goal is to complete your marathon comfortably, rather than race it per se. Finally, the latest research shows that post-marathon heart damage is mostly seen in people who are running less than 35 mi a week. This is what got me motivated to get up to at least 35 vs. the more usual advice of 25 mpw. Again, just my 2c. Gawd, I'm wordy Arla PS Carol - I teach college biology, so yes I'm one of those awful math or science teachers.

I love shrimp cocktail.....and the sauce is my favorite part. Thanks for the recipe. and some good running discussion. I finally got in 3 miles this evening.

Hiya 40's! I was just reading and thinking about how far everyone has come. We've got half marathons as training runs, 50K's, faster 5K's, kids graduating, and crops going to market, just to name a few. Consider yourselves all "high fived" Arla, I forgive you re: teaching college Biology. I actually like math and science ('cept for the labs which always seemed terribly tedious and slow). Finally had a run that felt good this morning. Have been working hard to get my blood sugar and insulin doses lined up right for early morning runs. Made one more tweak this morning starting at 3:00 am that helped...at least for today. I'm thinking about going to a "camp" in the fall for people with diabetes who like to stay active http://www.diabetestrainingcamp.com/ . Includes individual and group help from drs, ex phys, dietitians, coaches, etc. It also sounds like lots of fun, and the location is beautiful (Snowmass, CO). Off to work now. Love this workin' from home stuff....

Re: heart damage: Here's the latest, in its "English" version: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/02.01/99-marathon.html And the original abstract in "doctor-ese": http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17101848?ordinalpos=8&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum Troponin and NT-proBNP are molecules they look for to determine whether or not you've had a heart attack. Notice that the < 35="" mpw="" runners="" had="" increases="" in="" troponin="" and="" nt-probnp.="" however="" what="" isn't="" mentioned="" in="" the="" abstract="" is="" that="" when="" there's="" been="" a="" heart="" attack="" the="" increase="" in="" troponin="" (i'm="" not="" sure="" about="" nt-probnp)="" is="" much,="" much="" greater="" vs.="" what="" was="" observed="" in="" the="" less-trained="" runners.="" another="" study,="" indicating="" that="" some="" of="" the="" effects="" may="" be="" more="" than="" just="" transient:="" />http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16554314?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed So what's happening here is that, one month post-marathon, part of the heart is not relaxing normally between beats. Notice however that they didn't follow the runners for more than a month. In another thread someone posted this: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/06/13/marathon-study.html?ref=rss ..so the pieces of the puzzle keep coming in. Unfortunately, there havn't been that many studies, and they've all been pretty small. Still, it makes intuitive sense to me that, the more you train, the less of a beating your body takes on marathon day. Arla

Hi All , Very busy week so just popping in. Arla- Way to go with all that schoolwork.Thanks for all that info, I will read it later. I am , however , following your advice. I have been lucky (knocking on wood) enough to be maintaining about 40mpw lately and having a splendid time doing so. With the last heat wave gone, the runs have been coming easily. Heat has been a big issue with the Budster running with me though and I have been planning his runs where I can swim him regularly. I also dropped him home on Sunday's long run (16.1m) after about 8 miles. Kelly- before I forget (space cadet that I am) ,Pittsgrove ,NJ is about 1.5 hours south of me.Nice area of the state. I loved Yosemite when I went there. Fortunately the bears (and their poop) were nowhere to be seen. Jim- glad the weather's holding out for you and your crops are doing well.Fingers are crossed for that to continue.Good going on your running too! Leslie- thanks for making my stomach growl with that recipe.I love shrimp. Evryday- I too like the way you think. I keep going back to the Ben Franklin quote that goes something like: "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be Happy" Jewels- Way to go with your DD. Congrats and good luck with all your schoolwork! Carol- Good to hear your running is going better.That camp sounds like a way to keep you going strong for the long run. Cindy- still thinking about your sister and family when I see the news.Thank goodness it was mainly(sorry about the pets) material things that were lost.Maybe a bright side will be a better relationship between her and you for the future. have a good one folks..

Got up early to run then the computer showed we had a pivot offline, so we raced over there so if we needed a tech to look at it we could get on the list early. Verdict was it was stuck so it would wait a bit then got home in time to shut another pivot down online before it ran out of fertilizer then we both did our runs. Afterward hauled some bags of lava rock to put in the wheel tracks of the stuck pivot and gave it a tug with Dodge cummins and nursed the fert tank and restarted the one we shut down. I did 4.0 with rea pole speedwork. Run 3 poles @ 5k, 1 pole float, 2 poles faster than 5k, 1 pole float, then 1 pole fast. Did 2 sets of those with full recovery jog in between and actually enjoyed it and felt fast today. Sooo an easy run tommorow then 5k race for speedwork on Sat then back off a little for the 10 days or so before the local 5k . I better get back at it will catch up to ya all later.