Guam on RunnersWorld.com

I was browsing RunnersWorld.com homepage yesterday and was surprised to see "Guam" on the Marathon Challenge Runner of the Week section. It turns out that a female military spouse, who is currently living in Guam, is one of the runners featured in the challenge. She will take on the challenge of running her first marathon. In her interview she was asked "What's it like to run in Guam?" and "What's the Runner's World like in Guam?". I found all her comments about the heat, spectacular ocean views, stray dogs, early race start times, etc. to be absolutely true. One thing she also stated was that "there is 5K just about every weekend". I'd say that this comment may be an understatement because there are many weekends in which there are two 5K races, most of the time on the same day and time. If you have a couple minutes to spare I recommend reading the interview.

Nothing special on today's training. Ran 6 miles during my lunch hour and 5 miles after work, all at an easy pace.

Today: Noon - 6M @ 7:02 pace; PM - 5M @ 7:20 pace

22 July

I practically spent my last day on Guam in the hot sun; celebrated Guam's 65th Liberation Day at the parade with family and then went for a run late afternoon at Tumon Beach. In my run I was hoping to get in 12 miles with a fartlek of 15 x 1' at ~3k-5k pace. I only ended up with 11 miles and did 10 x 1' because I was feeling beaten up from the heat. Running the entire 11 miles on the compact sand (good thing it was low tide), in conjunction with the heat, was probably the reason I had to cut the workout a bit short. It was still a good workout though.

Logging off and will be missing a day of running due to travel. Till then....

Today: 11M steady including 10 x 1' w/ 1' easy;
Mon: AM - 9M easy; PM - 6M easy

15 July

Yesterday I completed my first key workout since I arrived on Guam. I did an easy 6 miles in the morning and then 11 miles, which included 3 x 2 miles at half-marathon effort on the track, in the late afternoon. Because of the tough running conditions, 93 degrees, I decided to focus more on effort than pace. I ended up surprising myself running each 2-mile faster: 11:22 (5:43, 5:39), 11:15 (5:39, 5:36) & 11:00 (5:36, 5:24). I took 2 minute rests for recovery in between the 2-miles. It was a good workout, but I was completely empty and dead-tired afterwards.

This morning I ran 11 miles in the sweltering heat, about 97 degress RealFeel. It was so hot that I took in 40 ounces of fluid (20 oz Powerade & 20 oz water) during the 81-minute run. In the late afternoon/early evening, I ran an easy 4 miles on Tumon Beach (see photo below - 5 July post). Just as I was ending the run, I bumped into my running friend Fred, who ran the length of Japan back in 1983. I tagged along with him for 6 miles chatting the entire run, of course, about running. A total of 21 miles for the day.

Today: AM - 11 miles easy; PM - 10M easy
Tues: AM - 6M easy; PM - 11M including 3 x 2-miles @ half-marathon effort

Not enjoying my runs

My travel back home was flawless.....okay, that was a joke. I was delayed an hour in Brussels, two hours in London, and missed my flight to Guam from Japan. The two things that went right were: I arrived safely (which is all that matters) and my luggage was not lost.

I'm enjoying every bit of my stay back home, except for the running part. Words that best describe every run so far include: disappointing, horrible, drenched, bonked, no energy, cancelled workout....I think you get the point. The humidity has been sucking my energy dry in every run. The temperature itself hasn't been too bad, high-70s to low-80s, but with the combination of about 77-80% humidity the realfeel temperature is about low to mid-90s. It may not sound too bad compared to many areas stateside. I think the problem is that my body is still accustomed to the Holland weather, which is excellent running conditions even in the Summer.

In my morning run today, I attempted a fartlek workout of 3 x 3-2-1 at approximately 5k effort. I threw in the towel after my first set. There was no possible way of completing the workout as I was breathing like I was running an all-out 800m. And I wasn't running that fast. My percentage of max HR almost reached 100%. Even when running very easy my HR is consistently at about 75-85%. I learned from my first run back on the island that is almost impossible to run for 60-70 minutes without taking in any fluids. Today, I took some money along with me and bought a gatorade at a gas station on my run back home. It definitely helped and prevented me from feeling like I bonked. I think for the time-being I'm just going to do easy running to put in the mileage. Hopefully the body will get used to the conditions very soon.

Thur: AM - 12M @ 7:15 pace; PM - 7M @ 6:57 pace
Wed: 11M @ 7:10 pace

5 July

Had a good 20-mile run this morning averaging 6:35 pace for the workout. After 10 miles, which I avg'd 6:49 pace, I decided to pick up the pace a bit to where I was about 10% off of marathon pace, in my case about 6:25 pace. I had no problems doing that as I hit the next 6 miles (11-16) between 6:22-6:27. Feeling good at 16 I increased the pace a couple seconds/mile faster hitting miles 17-19 at 6:17-6:19. Last mile was a finish-strong mile at 6:05.

Friday's marathon pace run and today's 20-miler were good confidence builders in my fitness, especially that there's still 11 weeks to go till Berlin. I'll just have to stay injury-free and continue the hard work.

Tomorrow I begin my long flight to Guam for a 3-week vacation. I won't be able to get the mileage I want to put in this coming week, because I'll lose almost 2 days due to change in timezone and flying.

29 June - 5 July

Mon: 10.1M @ 7:00 pace
Tues: AM - 4M @ 7:17 pace; PM - 8.5M including 10 sets of 300m (52-54") + 200m (34-35")
Wed: AM - 5.4M @7:10 pace; PM - 7M @ 7:04 pace
Thur: Noon - 5M @ 7:09 pace; PM - 7M @ 7:17 pace
Fri: 13.5M with 8M at MP - 5:48,:46,:47,:43,:47,:45,:45,:40 (46:01 - 5:45 pace)
Sat: 5M @ 7:24 pace
Sun: 20M @ 6:35 pace

Weekly Total: 85.5 miles