After CIM I took the time off I'd promised myself.
For the first couple of days that was easy, but once the stiffness had gone it was a lot harder to hold myself back. Still - after a week without running I was a little disappointed to feel some residual pain in my left knee. I booked another physiotherapy appointment to find out what was going on.
A few days before I had the PT visit I found myself in Boulder. It's only a 30 minute drive from our house and I'd read about the Newton Running lab there. If you haven't heard about Newton - it's a relatively new (couple of years) old shoe company who believe landing on your midfoot/forefoot is the most natural way to run, as well as being the fastest and most efficient way to run. They design shoes to try to achieve that, as well as recommending you change your running style to shorter strides, concentrating on landing on the mid-foot. Very much like Chi-running. I'd read reviews in a couple of places with some people saying that they'd been injury plagued before switching to their newtons.
The shoes aren't cheap, so my intention was just to check the place out. When I got there I found myself being fitted by Danny Abshire, the co-founder of the company and designer of the shoes. Pretty cool. Danny showed me how to run in them, and helped change an insole I'd brought with me to add extra support. I can get a 15% discount through runners roost, and when I mentioned that to him - he said they'd match that. So I walked out with my Christmas presents...
But I didn't run in them. The plan was still to take December off and I had the PT appointment coming up. When I saw the doctor he suggested a few new exercises - trying to give additional motion to my left hip which was tight, and some calf stretches too. I mentioned the time I was taking off, expecting to be congratulated, and got the opposite reaction. He told me to get back to it straight away, reasoning that if I wasn't running, I couldn't be providing feedback on the new exercises.
Twist my arm doc. The next day, after 10 days off, I was back at it. I ran 6 slow miles in the newtons. They were definitely different. I'm naturally a heal striker so I had to really concentrate on my form and kept catching myself slipping back to old habits. The next day when I woke up - no knee pain at all. That was a little bit of a shocker. I hadn't had that happen for a couple of months. I decided to push things a little more. I ran 8 miles both the next two days. Again - no pain. I took a day off, and then ran 13 one day and 8 the next. No pain. Amazing. I'm sure it was partly the exercises, but the shoes and changing styles was likely the biggest contributor.
This was partly proven out today - Christmas Eve. We had a snow storm come through yesterday dropping 8 inches. Knowing that I'll not run so much on Christmas day, I very much wanted to get 10 miles in. 10 miles on the treadmill is my vision of hell, so with some suggestions from the RW boards I took the kayanos that I'd been running in recently and screwed in 20 x 3/8th inch sheet metal screws to each. They worked great. They gave me the grip I needed to run on the compacted snow.
Literally half a mile in I could feel my left knee again. I was still trying to maintain the mid-foot form, and the pain went away a little, but after 6 miles it was definitely back. Rather than risk damage, I came home, switched to my newtons and ran the rest of the miles on the treadmill. No pain. So definitely the shoes help - I'd had the kayanos fitted at a running store using the slo-mo video so know that my form in them was good, albeit as a heal striker. Still - this was all the proof I needed. From now on - I'm a newton guy. Great shoes, and a local company to boot. I've still not completely got used to the style. I find myself regressing back - at least to the longer strides. It's going to take several months before I do it naturally.
I've spent the last few days getting my running plan together for Boston. I'm going to use the Pfitzinger 55-70 mile plan. After the rave reviews from my friends on the RW forums, I figured I owed it to myself to train the right way for once. I realized I didn't have the recent mileage to jump straight into a 70 mile / week program, so have adjusted it slightly - starting off with the 50 mile plan for the first few weeks and then merging them together. I've run 53 miles in the past 8 days so am pretty much on track. The 'official' start date I've set myself is next Monday. That will be 16 weeks until Boston. With the help of the newtons and chi running I'm hoping I can get through this cycle healthy !
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
California International Marathon (CIM)
While Chicago was a 'whole experience', I decided CIM would be more of a business trip. I flew in Saturday afternoon and had a flight home Sunday after the race. I went straight to the expo from the airport. It felt similar in size to the Denver one I'd attended 7 weeks prior. Then to a super market to find some supplies and finally the hotel. I'd chosen the Vagabond Inn - by far the cheapest of the recommended hotels. It really wasn't bad, and was walkable to both the expo and the finish line. After unpacking I headed out for dinner with 'GoAnnie' from the runners world forums. I hadn't slept well the past few nights so after dinner went back to the room, watched the end of the Texas v Nebraska game then went to bed early. CIM is a point to point course so buses were due to take us from the hotels at 5:00am
I wrote a race report for the runners world forum - I've included it below.
Race Day
Wake up. Don't look at the clock. It's still the middle of the night. Looked at clock. 1:50am. Uggh. Nice one. 2 hours until the alarm. Go back to sleep. Right ?! Good luck with that. Toss and turn. Finally it's 3.45am. Think positive. Don't think of it as being early - that's actually 4:45am mountain time. No. That's early. Breakfast, shower, let's do a daily on runners world - maybe I can be one of the first despite being on the west coast. Can't. I can get to every site except runners world - the hotel is blocking it ?! Or RW is flakey again. Facebook instead. Ok - concentrate. Get your stuff together. Time to get to reception. 5am - here comes the bus. Must be at least 100 of us waiting - we're not all getting on that thing. GoAnnie had talked about race reports where people got to the line late because they missed the first bus. Try to get up close to front. Phew - I'm on. Here we go. Chat with the guy next to me. Trying to BQ. He just found out it's closed. Sorry man. I can only imagine. This drive is taking forever - 26.2 miles seems a hell of a long way. 45 mins driving and I'm going to run back downtown ? Lucky I've got $40 for a cab if the knee plays up. Better to DNF than damage anything. Right ? I probably shouldn't be thinking like that. Ok - we're here. It's 5:50am. 70 mins to gun time - please don't make us get out. Thank you. Lots of people do leave. It's 28F and windy - you think you're going to 'warm up' ?! Sit there in seat and tape knee. Decide it's not a good attempt so rip it off and tape it again. No tape left so hopefully that lasts. Eat a double pack of shot blocks and drink some gatorade. Close to 6:30am now - 30 mins. Time to go. Strip down and put clothes in checked bag. Put on large trash sack and leave bus. OMG. It's cold. Stand in potty line, then drop off checked bag and stretch. Tape on knee starts slipping down towards calf. Great job Richard. Now what ? Guess we see how long it holds up. 10 mins to go. Wander up towards start line. Where should I stand. Let's try 3.15 pace group - stand at edge. A bit of a pretender. Probably should be a bit more realistic. Best case everything holds together and I beat Chicago time, although not very likely. Still - after all the expense to come out here I'd rather make a good effort and crash and burn than take it too easy. 1 minute to go and get pelted with throw away clothes. Shouldn't have stood at edge. Off comes trash sack and we're away.
Start slow Richard. Seriously - s l o w l y. A race is only lost, not won in the first mile. I read that somewhere. Hey - don't cut me up - I can't go any faster, it's pretty packed in here. Thud - sound of runner a few back tumbling and follow up yelps as others go down on top. Stay calm. Ok - a downhill, not too fast. Here's the first mile marker. 7.35. Perfect. Ahead of a 3.20 pace but slower than the 7.26 for a 3.15. No knee pain yet so worst case only a 25 mile taxi ride now. A little faster now. Take the apexes. I read that too. We're doing a lot of rolling hills - seems tougher than the video. Running strong. Keeping constant and picking people off on every hill. 7.16 second mile. Ok - good. A little fast, but now you're on 7.26 pace. Where's that 3.15 pacer going - seems like it's a bit fast. Guess he knows what he's doing, maybe it's a strategy - positive split ? No - that's not good. Let's hang with him a little longer. More hills. Some wind. This is colder than Chicago. I wasn't expecting this in California. Here comes the next split. 7.08. Hmm. That's 20 seconds too fast. What's this guy doing. We're just 30 yards behind the 3.10 pace group after 3 miles - can that be right ? Garmin is accurately calling the miles, let's stick with that and not this guy. Let them pull away, they'll be coming back to you later if they go out this fast.
7.15 next mile - and that's letting them go ? Stay consistent. How's the knee. Ok. Tape now completely off knee and over top of calf. Should I stop and rip it off ? Nahh. It's not bothering me, although imagine runners behind wondering what a bit of flapping tape is going to help with. Another water stop - run through it. I've still got my small bottle of gatorade. 5 miles in and I haven't drunk 10 oz ? You need to have finished this by the next stop. Promise me. Learn from Chicago. 7.18. All under pace. Keep this up and you're looking at 3.13. Don't think that way. Zone out - listen to your body. Here comes 6 miles and the first relay check point. Lots of people turn off. Wow - a confidence boost. 7.23. Mentally calculating - so here comes the quarter point. Stop it - you're not supposed to think like that. Break it into mini races. Thinking about 26 miles is overwhelming. I read that too.
7.24. Good - more around what I want to be doing. 19 to go. What did I just say ? Take a gel shot. Can feel my stomach sloshing. Another water stop - take some finally. More hills - hey - this may be net downhill, but there's a lot more up than I was expecting. Mentally strong on the hills. I live in Colorado - a 200 foot hill is a pimple. 2 girls next to me looking strong - we seem to be keeping a similar pace. Mile 8, 7.30, Mile 9, 7.29. Hmm - just a few seconds slower than pace, but still feel good. Looks like the knee will at least get me to the half. Promise me you'll run to the half, even if it hurts. You can drop out then. 7.16, 7.12, 7.24, 7.25 - half in exactly 1.37. Take check. Not bad. You ran your first half marathon ever just 7 months ago and struggled in just under 1.36, and here you are just a minute slower in a marathon and feeling pretty good. Now if I have to stop I bet the cab will be under $20. Stop thinking like that. Need to be mentally strong. Stop thinking about stopping - it's making you soft. I tell the guy next to me 'now the race begins'. Picturing Chicago I'm running towards the United Center now. The start of the boring part of that course. Beginning to over take people with few going past me. Nice feeling. Mile 14. Another 7.25. Going well.
UGGH. Where did that wind come from. Brutal in our face, must be 20 mph at least. Guy next to me leaning like he's in a hurricane. Doesn't that hurt your legs ? Need to find a tall person to get behind. Can't see anyone. Still running with the 2 girls. Get behind them. Can't be more than 5 foot 4, but they're close together so maybe it helps a little. Now the wind's from the side. That's not fair. 7.37. Uggh. That's all wind. Probably 15 seconds slower because of it. Need to push through it. 7.29 for the 16th mile. 7.24 overall pace at the moment. Nice. Wind still tough - long straight road into the wind. When do we turn off ? Do we turn off or is this to the end. Wish I knew the course. More wind. This wind is worse than a hill. I'd take a hill anytime over this. What's that up ahead ? Oh great. Here comes a hill and we've still got the wind. Nicely tempting fate there Richard - why did you have to think that ? Wind and hill are worse than just wind. 7.27. 7.29. Finally - we're turning.
Now it's a side wind and even a little behind us. I laugh in the face of a tail wind. The 2 girls talk briefly and one drops back - I can imagine a 'no - you go on' type thing. The other keeps pace. Another guy in a white shirt is there too. The 3 of us are overtaking everyone, although we're just keeping consistent. Mile 19. 7.33. Hmm - a little slower. I feel decent, just a few minor twinges from the knee. In Chicago this was where I started bonking - hope it's not starting again. 7.35 for the 20th mile. Don't worry - that's just 8 seconds over pace - you're still a little ahead of 3.15 and still feel good. Just a 10K to go. Yes - that's what you're supposed to think. I read that. I've only run one 10K - the Bolder Boulder. That was tough. Ok - don't think that. Just picture the distance. 7.30 next split. Way hay. That's going the right direction. Should I be drinking more ? My stomach still feels like it's sloshing but I haven't had much. Take a quick sip. No bonk yet and just 5 to go. The girl drops back. Maybe I've got this right. I can't believe after such a crappy last 6 weeks of training that I'm running this much better than Chicago. Thinking about my acceptance post on BATTASS. What's the level called again ? Can't remember. It's the lowest one. Something fluffy I think. I'll take it.
22 miles. 7.43. No. That's not in the script. Where did that come from ? Still feeling okay. Guy in white DROPS ME. Come back. Uhoh. HTFU. Calf starting to cramp. No you don't - I won't permit that. Try to relax. Relax ? Idiot. Stop talking to yourself. Last little hill over a bridge - I read about this on the CA forums. Flat to the end. 7.46. Ok - still okay. 3.15 still possible if I can speed up. Just a 5K to go. Come on 7.30 pace to the end. That's just 8 mph. Easy peasy. HTFU. Seriously. Count down the city streets. 50 something down to 9. Seriously ? These blocks seem big - I've got to run 40 of them ? 7.57 next split. Nooo. What's going on ? 2 miles to go. Suck it up. 15 minutes of pain. 8.01. Baah. There goes 3.15. Running in treacle. People passing me now. Can feel and taste the shots in my stomach. Should I stop to be sick ? No. Gut it out. What's this - giving out twizzler sticks ? That's all I need - my teeth stuck together. No thanks. A mile to go now. Water station ? No thanks again - I can drink when I'm done. Other people suffering too. Over taking some, others flying by. That's going to be me one day. Nice crowds. Downtown Sacramento. Mile 26. 8.12 split - slowest of the race. There goes 3.16 too. Not much you can do now. Just a few hundred yards left. Wow - is that guy alright. He's staggering diagonally like that famous video of the Olympic marathon finish. Hope he makes it. Last turn. Oh yes - they're going to split men and women for separate finishes. A tradition here. Stick to the right. Final sprint. I can't. Legs don't want to. Here comes the line. Don't be the person in the photo stopping your watch. Hands in the air, try to fake a smile, across the mat. Click stop. What does it say ? 3.17.43 Wow - you dropped fast. Hey - wait. I've just run another marathon ! And despite the last 4 miles it seemed a little easier than before. Realization. 3 mins better than just 8 weeks ago on a tougher course and with a very limited training program. On cue knee starts to lock up. That's ok - sorry. I'll look after you now. Promise. Medal, photo, find checked bag. Warm clothes. Not bad. I'm in the Goldilocks club.
So that was my race. Better than I was expecting. I still know I can do better. I need to get a handle on those last 4 or 5 miles. I don't think the bonk is carbs related. I do a good job loading, and if anything think I take too much before and during the race. At the end I was very dehydrated - the same as I'd been at Chicago. I think that's probably more the culprit. That, and the limited training I'd been able to do this cycle. Still - lots of positives, and lots of lessons I can apply for my next race.
CIM was a decent race. The course wasn't the most exciting, but the finish is nice downtown. If the weather had been a little warmer and the wind hadn't been so strong it would have been a lot more 'enjoyable'. I doubt I'll go back, but if you're thinking about it and it fits your timing - I would definitely recommend it.
After the race I hobbled back to the hotel, checked out, then went to the post race FE at the Pyramid. Met some of the California folks. Then headed to the airport. Our flight was delayed several hours due to snow in Denver. I finally got home a little after 9pm and didn't get to bed until midnight. A long day, but a fairly successful day. I felt a lot better about it than I had after Chicago.
I wrote a race report for the runners world forum - I've included it below.
Race Day
Wake up. Don't look at the clock. It's still the middle of the night. Looked at clock. 1:50am. Uggh. Nice one. 2 hours until the alarm. Go back to sleep. Right ?! Good luck with that. Toss and turn. Finally it's 3.45am. Think positive. Don't think of it as being early - that's actually 4:45am mountain time. No. That's early. Breakfast, shower, let's do a daily on runners world - maybe I can be one of the first despite being on the west coast. Can't. I can get to every site except runners world - the hotel is blocking it ?! Or RW is flakey again. Facebook instead. Ok - concentrate. Get your stuff together. Time to get to reception. 5am - here comes the bus. Must be at least 100 of us waiting - we're not all getting on that thing. GoAnnie had talked about race reports where people got to the line late because they missed the first bus. Try to get up close to front. Phew - I'm on. Here we go. Chat with the guy next to me. Trying to BQ. He just found out it's closed. Sorry man. I can only imagine. This drive is taking forever - 26.2 miles seems a hell of a long way. 45 mins driving and I'm going to run back downtown ? Lucky I've got $40 for a cab if the knee plays up. Better to DNF than damage anything. Right ? I probably shouldn't be thinking like that. Ok - we're here. It's 5:50am. 70 mins to gun time - please don't make us get out. Thank you. Lots of people do leave. It's 28F and windy - you think you're going to 'warm up' ?! Sit there in seat and tape knee. Decide it's not a good attempt so rip it off and tape it again. No tape left so hopefully that lasts. Eat a double pack of shot blocks and drink some gatorade. Close to 6:30am now - 30 mins. Time to go. Strip down and put clothes in checked bag. Put on large trash sack and leave bus. OMG. It's cold. Stand in potty line, then drop off checked bag and stretch. Tape on knee starts slipping down towards calf. Great job Richard. Now what ? Guess we see how long it holds up. 10 mins to go. Wander up towards start line. Where should I stand. Let's try 3.15 pace group - stand at edge. A bit of a pretender. Probably should be a bit more realistic. Best case everything holds together and I beat Chicago time, although not very likely. Still - after all the expense to come out here I'd rather make a good effort and crash and burn than take it too easy. 1 minute to go and get pelted with throw away clothes. Shouldn't have stood at edge. Off comes trash sack and we're away.
Start slow Richard. Seriously - s l o w l y. A race is only lost, not won in the first mile. I read that somewhere. Hey - don't cut me up - I can't go any faster, it's pretty packed in here. Thud - sound of runner a few back tumbling and follow up yelps as others go down on top. Stay calm. Ok - a downhill, not too fast. Here's the first mile marker. 7.35. Perfect. Ahead of a 3.20 pace but slower than the 7.26 for a 3.15. No knee pain yet so worst case only a 25 mile taxi ride now. A little faster now. Take the apexes. I read that too. We're doing a lot of rolling hills - seems tougher than the video. Running strong. Keeping constant and picking people off on every hill. 7.16 second mile. Ok - good. A little fast, but now you're on 7.26 pace. Where's that 3.15 pacer going - seems like it's a bit fast. Guess he knows what he's doing, maybe it's a strategy - positive split ? No - that's not good. Let's hang with him a little longer. More hills. Some wind. This is colder than Chicago. I wasn't expecting this in California. Here comes the next split. 7.08. Hmm. That's 20 seconds too fast. What's this guy doing. We're just 30 yards behind the 3.10 pace group after 3 miles - can that be right ? Garmin is accurately calling the miles, let's stick with that and not this guy. Let them pull away, they'll be coming back to you later if they go out this fast.
7.15 next mile - and that's letting them go ? Stay consistent. How's the knee. Ok. Tape now completely off knee and over top of calf. Should I stop and rip it off ? Nahh. It's not bothering me, although imagine runners behind wondering what a bit of flapping tape is going to help with. Another water stop - run through it. I've still got my small bottle of gatorade. 5 miles in and I haven't drunk 10 oz ? You need to have finished this by the next stop. Promise me. Learn from Chicago. 7.18. All under pace. Keep this up and you're looking at 3.13. Don't think that way. Zone out - listen to your body. Here comes 6 miles and the first relay check point. Lots of people turn off. Wow - a confidence boost. 7.23. Mentally calculating - so here comes the quarter point. Stop it - you're not supposed to think like that. Break it into mini races. Thinking about 26 miles is overwhelming. I read that too.
7.24. Good - more around what I want to be doing. 19 to go. What did I just say ? Take a gel shot. Can feel my stomach sloshing. Another water stop - take some finally. More hills - hey - this may be net downhill, but there's a lot more up than I was expecting. Mentally strong on the hills. I live in Colorado - a 200 foot hill is a pimple. 2 girls next to me looking strong - we seem to be keeping a similar pace. Mile 8, 7.30, Mile 9, 7.29. Hmm - just a few seconds slower than pace, but still feel good. Looks like the knee will at least get me to the half. Promise me you'll run to the half, even if it hurts. You can drop out then. 7.16, 7.12, 7.24, 7.25 - half in exactly 1.37. Take check. Not bad. You ran your first half marathon ever just 7 months ago and struggled in just under 1.36, and here you are just a minute slower in a marathon and feeling pretty good. Now if I have to stop I bet the cab will be under $20. Stop thinking like that. Need to be mentally strong. Stop thinking about stopping - it's making you soft. I tell the guy next to me 'now the race begins'. Picturing Chicago I'm running towards the United Center now. The start of the boring part of that course. Beginning to over take people with few going past me. Nice feeling. Mile 14. Another 7.25. Going well.
UGGH. Where did that wind come from. Brutal in our face, must be 20 mph at least. Guy next to me leaning like he's in a hurricane. Doesn't that hurt your legs ? Need to find a tall person to get behind. Can't see anyone. Still running with the 2 girls. Get behind them. Can't be more than 5 foot 4, but they're close together so maybe it helps a little. Now the wind's from the side. That's not fair. 7.37. Uggh. That's all wind. Probably 15 seconds slower because of it. Need to push through it. 7.29 for the 16th mile. 7.24 overall pace at the moment. Nice. Wind still tough - long straight road into the wind. When do we turn off ? Do we turn off or is this to the end. Wish I knew the course. More wind. This wind is worse than a hill. I'd take a hill anytime over this. What's that up ahead ? Oh great. Here comes a hill and we've still got the wind. Nicely tempting fate there Richard - why did you have to think that ? Wind and hill are worse than just wind. 7.27. 7.29. Finally - we're turning.
Now it's a side wind and even a little behind us. I laugh in the face of a tail wind. The 2 girls talk briefly and one drops back - I can imagine a 'no - you go on' type thing. The other keeps pace. Another guy in a white shirt is there too. The 3 of us are overtaking everyone, although we're just keeping consistent. Mile 19. 7.33. Hmm - a little slower. I feel decent, just a few minor twinges from the knee. In Chicago this was where I started bonking - hope it's not starting again. 7.35 for the 20th mile. Don't worry - that's just 8 seconds over pace - you're still a little ahead of 3.15 and still feel good. Just a 10K to go. Yes - that's what you're supposed to think. I read that. I've only run one 10K - the Bolder Boulder. That was tough. Ok - don't think that. Just picture the distance. 7.30 next split. Way hay. That's going the right direction. Should I be drinking more ? My stomach still feels like it's sloshing but I haven't had much. Take a quick sip. No bonk yet and just 5 to go. The girl drops back. Maybe I've got this right. I can't believe after such a crappy last 6 weeks of training that I'm running this much better than Chicago. Thinking about my acceptance post on BATTASS. What's the level called again ? Can't remember. It's the lowest one. Something fluffy I think. I'll take it.
22 miles. 7.43. No. That's not in the script. Where did that come from ? Still feeling okay. Guy in white DROPS ME. Come back. Uhoh. HTFU. Calf starting to cramp. No you don't - I won't permit that. Try to relax. Relax ? Idiot. Stop talking to yourself. Last little hill over a bridge - I read about this on the CA forums. Flat to the end. 7.46. Ok - still okay. 3.15 still possible if I can speed up. Just a 5K to go. Come on 7.30 pace to the end. That's just 8 mph. Easy peasy. HTFU. Seriously. Count down the city streets. 50 something down to 9. Seriously ? These blocks seem big - I've got to run 40 of them ? 7.57 next split. Nooo. What's going on ? 2 miles to go. Suck it up. 15 minutes of pain. 8.01. Baah. There goes 3.15. Running in treacle. People passing me now. Can feel and taste the shots in my stomach. Should I stop to be sick ? No. Gut it out. What's this - giving out twizzler sticks ? That's all I need - my teeth stuck together. No thanks. A mile to go now. Water station ? No thanks again - I can drink when I'm done. Other people suffering too. Over taking some, others flying by. That's going to be me one day. Nice crowds. Downtown Sacramento. Mile 26. 8.12 split - slowest of the race. There goes 3.16 too. Not much you can do now. Just a few hundred yards left. Wow - is that guy alright. He's staggering diagonally like that famous video of the Olympic marathon finish. Hope he makes it. Last turn. Oh yes - they're going to split men and women for separate finishes. A tradition here. Stick to the right. Final sprint. I can't. Legs don't want to. Here comes the line. Don't be the person in the photo stopping your watch. Hands in the air, try to fake a smile, across the mat. Click stop. What does it say ? 3.17.43 Wow - you dropped fast. Hey - wait. I've just run another marathon ! And despite the last 4 miles it seemed a little easier than before. Realization. 3 mins better than just 8 weeks ago on a tougher course and with a very limited training program. On cue knee starts to lock up. That's ok - sorry. I'll look after you now. Promise. Medal, photo, find checked bag. Warm clothes. Not bad. I'm in the Goldilocks club.
So that was my race. Better than I was expecting. I still know I can do better. I need to get a handle on those last 4 or 5 miles. I don't think the bonk is carbs related. I do a good job loading, and if anything think I take too much before and during the race. At the end I was very dehydrated - the same as I'd been at Chicago. I think that's probably more the culprit. That, and the limited training I'd been able to do this cycle. Still - lots of positives, and lots of lessons I can apply for my next race.
CIM was a decent race. The course wasn't the most exciting, but the finish is nice downtown. If the weather had been a little warmer and the wind hadn't been so strong it would have been a lot more 'enjoyable'. I doubt I'll go back, but if you're thinking about it and it fits your timing - I would definitely recommend it.
After the race I hobbled back to the hotel, checked out, then went to the post race FE at the Pyramid. Met some of the California folks. Then headed to the airport. Our flight was delayed several hours due to snow in Denver. I finally got home a little after 9pm and didn't get to bed until midnight. A long day, but a fairly successful day. I felt a lot better about it than I had after Chicago.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Training, Taping, Tapering, Thanks Giving and a Trot...
Just catching up the last few weeks.
On November 14th the plan called for a 17 miler. I was anxious to see how the exercises were helping my knee.
For the first 5 or 6 miles, everything was great. No pain. But then around 8 miles I started to feel it again. I run a loop so have the option at 9 miles to turn for home, or to keep going. After stopping and stretching, I reluctantly turned for home. The pain was minor, but I didn't want to risk it. With 3 weeks to go to CIM, not the confidence boost I was hoping for.
Looking at my running log, the start of the knee pain coincided with a new pair of running shoes. The kayano 15s had been my 3rd pair in a row, and had checked out okay on the slow-mo video, but still - it seemed a little too much of a coincidence. That afternoon I went back to the running store, got a refund on my orthotics (they'd come with a 4 week guarantee), and used that money towards a new pair of kayano 16s. It may just be mental, but if it helped - I was all for it. Worst case I had 2 pairs of shoes I could rotate.
Sunday off, I went back to treadmill running on Monday. The shoes felt great, and so did the knee. I'd get off every mile or so and do one of the stretches the physio had given me for a few seconds. I ran 6 miles Monday, 6 on Tuesday and even managed a double on Wednesday (6 in the morning, and 6 in the evening), and another 5 on Thursday. If I didn't have a marathon in a few weeks, I wouldn't have been pushing so hard, but I was feeling no pain.
Then at the weekend I tried another test outside. I adapted the plan to run 17 miles again. This time it was a lot better. For the first 8 miles I didn't feel a thing. At 8 I had to stop at some lights, so used the break to lie down and stretch. Then I ran another 3, and then stopped again to stretch. I did that 3 times in total. Either my knee was getting better, or the stretching was 'fixing' things each time. I ran the 17 miles, and ran them pretty quickly. Partly the exuberance of getting out side with minimal pain, and also because I was foolishly trying to make up for lost time and training, but I ran them @ 7.38 pace. I know, I know - not smart, but for me it was a big test. With a marathon in 2 weeks, if I couldn't get through 17 miles at a pace that was 20 seconds / mile slower than I hoped to run in the real thing, then I should be thinking about dropping out. I iced the knee afterwards.
The next day the knee was a little tender so I took the day off - in fact to be safe I took 4 consecutive rest days. Then it was Thanksgiving Day (and my 41st birthday !) and time for the 4 mile Turkey Trot in Wash Park. The anniversary of my first race last year.
The weather was great - forecast to be close to 70 later in the day, it was in the 50s at 10:15am as we lined up. I'd met 4CHI - Phil - and his brother before the race. I thought I was fairly close to the start line, but when the gun went off I had to spend a good minute weaving through the joggers. 10,000 runners were estimated although many unofficial. I didn't have much of a plan - my ideal was to get under 25.52 - the time for the AA wave in the Bolder Boulder, but with the limited training and knee issues - I didn't want to push it too hard. I tried to maintain a 6.28 pace to get there, and was successful for 3 of the 4 miles. For some reason the 3rd mile came in at 6.40. I didn't feel bad - perhaps just not concentrating. So I finished in 26.07 - nearly 4 minutes faster than the year before, and enough to place me 9th out of 322 in my AG. The best news - no knee pain at all.
The next day it was a little tender again. I'm seeing a pattern here. No issues on the day, but a little sore the next. I did go for a very gentle recovery run and met another runner on the trail from out of town needing directions. I ran with him for a few miles and we chatted about Boston. Immediate common ground - one of the great things about the sport.
The next morning, on a whim I logged into the 'injury section' of the runners world board. I looked for anyone with advice for my minor knee issue. And found it in bunches ! My injury is also known as 'runners knee'. There was a lot of advice from others who'd had it and beaten it. There was also some great information on how to tape it. I learned about the McConnell method and found a video on youtube that showed me how to do it myself. I hadn't planned on running that day, but taped my knee and went for a half mile jog to see how it felt. Amazing ! No pain - nothing. Just a few pieces of tape to pull the knee cap back in line, and it felt good as new. I ended up running close to 7 miles and would have run further if we hadn't had plans.
Finding this taping method was perhaps the final piece of the puzzle. I'll rest and take things easy this next week, and then tape the knee on race day. The advice from the boards very much mirrored what the doctor and physio had said. Rest on it's own likely won't help - I need to stretch the IT band and strengthen the quad. I'll spend much of my December doing that so hopefully I'm good to go in January. The taping is a little bit like a safety blanket - giving me the piece of mind I needed, and also preventing further inflamation. The tape is literally doing what the stretching and muscle strengthening will do - pull the knee cap back to the correct positioning, so the beauty of it is that it's not masking the pain - it's preventing it.
On November 14th the plan called for a 17 miler. I was anxious to see how the exercises were helping my knee.
For the first 5 or 6 miles, everything was great. No pain. But then around 8 miles I started to feel it again. I run a loop so have the option at 9 miles to turn for home, or to keep going. After stopping and stretching, I reluctantly turned for home. The pain was minor, but I didn't want to risk it. With 3 weeks to go to CIM, not the confidence boost I was hoping for.
Looking at my running log, the start of the knee pain coincided with a new pair of running shoes. The kayano 15s had been my 3rd pair in a row, and had checked out okay on the slow-mo video, but still - it seemed a little too much of a coincidence. That afternoon I went back to the running store, got a refund on my orthotics (they'd come with a 4 week guarantee), and used that money towards a new pair of kayano 16s. It may just be mental, but if it helped - I was all for it. Worst case I had 2 pairs of shoes I could rotate.
Sunday off, I went back to treadmill running on Monday. The shoes felt great, and so did the knee. I'd get off every mile or so and do one of the stretches the physio had given me for a few seconds. I ran 6 miles Monday, 6 on Tuesday and even managed a double on Wednesday (6 in the morning, and 6 in the evening), and another 5 on Thursday. If I didn't have a marathon in a few weeks, I wouldn't have been pushing so hard, but I was feeling no pain.
Then at the weekend I tried another test outside. I adapted the plan to run 17 miles again. This time it was a lot better. For the first 8 miles I didn't feel a thing. At 8 I had to stop at some lights, so used the break to lie down and stretch. Then I ran another 3, and then stopped again to stretch. I did that 3 times in total. Either my knee was getting better, or the stretching was 'fixing' things each time. I ran the 17 miles, and ran them pretty quickly. Partly the exuberance of getting out side with minimal pain, and also because I was foolishly trying to make up for lost time and training, but I ran them @ 7.38 pace. I know, I know - not smart, but for me it was a big test. With a marathon in 2 weeks, if I couldn't get through 17 miles at a pace that was 20 seconds / mile slower than I hoped to run in the real thing, then I should be thinking about dropping out. I iced the knee afterwards.
The next day the knee was a little tender so I took the day off - in fact to be safe I took 4 consecutive rest days. Then it was Thanksgiving Day (and my 41st birthday !) and time for the 4 mile Turkey Trot in Wash Park. The anniversary of my first race last year.
The weather was great - forecast to be close to 70 later in the day, it was in the 50s at 10:15am as we lined up. I'd met 4CHI - Phil - and his brother before the race. I thought I was fairly close to the start line, but when the gun went off I had to spend a good minute weaving through the joggers. 10,000 runners were estimated although many unofficial. I didn't have much of a plan - my ideal was to get under 25.52 - the time for the AA wave in the Bolder Boulder, but with the limited training and knee issues - I didn't want to push it too hard. I tried to maintain a 6.28 pace to get there, and was successful for 3 of the 4 miles. For some reason the 3rd mile came in at 6.40. I didn't feel bad - perhaps just not concentrating. So I finished in 26.07 - nearly 4 minutes faster than the year before, and enough to place me 9th out of 322 in my AG. The best news - no knee pain at all.
The next day it was a little tender again. I'm seeing a pattern here. No issues on the day, but a little sore the next. I did go for a very gentle recovery run and met another runner on the trail from out of town needing directions. I ran with him for a few miles and we chatted about Boston. Immediate common ground - one of the great things about the sport.
The next morning, on a whim I logged into the 'injury section' of the runners world board. I looked for anyone with advice for my minor knee issue. And found it in bunches ! My injury is also known as 'runners knee'. There was a lot of advice from others who'd had it and beaten it. There was also some great information on how to tape it. I learned about the McConnell method and found a video on youtube that showed me how to do it myself. I hadn't planned on running that day, but taped my knee and went for a half mile jog to see how it felt. Amazing ! No pain - nothing. Just a few pieces of tape to pull the knee cap back in line, and it felt good as new. I ended up running close to 7 miles and would have run further if we hadn't had plans.
Finding this taping method was perhaps the final piece of the puzzle. I'll rest and take things easy this next week, and then tape the knee on race day. The advice from the boards very much mirrored what the doctor and physio had said. Rest on it's own likely won't help - I need to stretch the IT band and strengthen the quad. I'll spend much of my December doing that so hopefully I'm good to go in January. The taping is a little bit like a safety blanket - giving me the piece of mind I needed, and also preventing further inflamation. The tape is literally doing what the stretching and muscle strengthening will do - pull the knee cap back to the correct positioning, so the beauty of it is that it's not masking the pain - it's preventing it.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Patella Femoral Syndrome
So that's what's going on in my left knee. A minor case of patella femoral syndrome. My IT band on the outer side of my left leg is tight, so it pulls the knee cap slightly over that way. That leads to additional rubbing of cartilage on cartilage, and the pain I've felt.
Just backing up a few days. I took most of last week off running. I'd gone to Runners Roost to have my new shoes checked out on the slow-mo video. They'd said they were fine, but the sales lady took literally 2 seconds to tell me that. I took a drive up to Road Runner Sports in Thornton for a second opinion. I tried on several new pairs of shoes but with so few miles on my current ones, and with them getting the thumbs up there too, I decided to stick with my kayano 15s. I did get some custom insoles made to help distribute the foot strike more evenly across the foot.
I went for a very easy 3 mile jog Saturday and felt pretty good, so decided to attempt the longest run on the CIM training plan - a 22 miler on Sunday. It was partly a test. If I couldn't get through a good portion of it, then I'd consider canceling my December marathon. Things started off well - far better than the week before. The plan was to run around 8 min/mile pace, which is my marathon goal pace + 40 seconds. About 5 miles in I could feel some tightness in the knee but it was very minor. Still, it was constantly on my mind. I tried different running styles - standing tall, leaning forwarders a little, exaggerating the heal strike on the left foot, all to see if I could get any cues of how to help. After 10 miles I could feel a little pain so started thinking about calling it a day. I decided to run one more mile to the half way point where I'd left some gatorade. I'd stop and take inventory. So that's what I did. I stopped for less than 30 seconds to switch out bottles (I use a lower back carrying sleeve). I stretched my leg and rubbed the knee cap and started back up. No pain. Nothing. I figured it would come back in a mile or two, but it didn't. So I kept running. The next 'bail' point was 17 miles - that's where the loop I follow gives me the chance to turn towards home. No need - I felt fine, so I kept going. My pace for the first 21 miles was 7.48 min/miles. For the last mile, wanting to practice for a race, I picked it up and ran a 7.21, so overall 7.47 average. Faster than I'd intended, but best of all - my knee felt fine.
Monday was a rest day, and I could feel some tightness in my legs and knees - not unusual following a 22 miler. Tuesday it was much better, but I decided to take another day off to be safe. I'd casually chatted with a doctor at the running store but decided to book an official appointment with my doctor for Wednesday. That morning I almost canceled because everything felt fine, but went anyway. That's when I learned it was a minor case of patella femoral syndrome. He sent me upstairs to the physio, also a runner, who gave me some exercises to loosen the IT band and strengthen the quads to counteract. He also offered to tape my leg the Friday before the race which would help.
I was very glad I went. Knowing that it wasn't a bone on bone issue, and something that was very fixable made me feel great. I took Wednesday off, and then ran a gentle 10K on the treadmill Thursday to minimize impact. I iced the knee straight afterwards. It felt great, but it's normally the next morning where I can feel it. Nope - I woke up and couldn't, so ran another 6 miler on the treadmill Friday. Again - everything good. Very encouraging. CIM is literally 3 weeks away, so the taper is beginning.
While things appear to be slowly getting back to normal, it definitely messed up my training schedule for CIM. No track, no fast or tempo runs, lots of rest days, just easy and long miles. The weekly mileage has been around 25-30 instead of 60-70, and that with the majority in the single long run. My expectations now center more on just completing it at a reasonable pace, chalking up marathon number 2. Gone are the goals of the sub 3.10 time that I'd been harboring. Those will still be there another day.
After 70 degree temps this week which I missed either with rest days or treadmill running, today it's cold. It snowed last night and there's a bigger storm due in this afternoon. Today was meant to be speed work, which I don't want to risk yet, so I'll switch things around and do my long run for the week - 17 miles - today, and likely take a rest day tomorrow. The Broncos have an early game anyway so that works out.
Just over 3 weeks to CIM, and then the rest of December off...
Just backing up a few days. I took most of last week off running. I'd gone to Runners Roost to have my new shoes checked out on the slow-mo video. They'd said they were fine, but the sales lady took literally 2 seconds to tell me that. I took a drive up to Road Runner Sports in Thornton for a second opinion. I tried on several new pairs of shoes but with so few miles on my current ones, and with them getting the thumbs up there too, I decided to stick with my kayano 15s. I did get some custom insoles made to help distribute the foot strike more evenly across the foot.
I went for a very easy 3 mile jog Saturday and felt pretty good, so decided to attempt the longest run on the CIM training plan - a 22 miler on Sunday. It was partly a test. If I couldn't get through a good portion of it, then I'd consider canceling my December marathon. Things started off well - far better than the week before. The plan was to run around 8 min/mile pace, which is my marathon goal pace + 40 seconds. About 5 miles in I could feel some tightness in the knee but it was very minor. Still, it was constantly on my mind. I tried different running styles - standing tall, leaning forwarders a little, exaggerating the heal strike on the left foot, all to see if I could get any cues of how to help. After 10 miles I could feel a little pain so started thinking about calling it a day. I decided to run one more mile to the half way point where I'd left some gatorade. I'd stop and take inventory. So that's what I did. I stopped for less than 30 seconds to switch out bottles (I use a lower back carrying sleeve). I stretched my leg and rubbed the knee cap and started back up. No pain. Nothing. I figured it would come back in a mile or two, but it didn't. So I kept running. The next 'bail' point was 17 miles - that's where the loop I follow gives me the chance to turn towards home. No need - I felt fine, so I kept going. My pace for the first 21 miles was 7.48 min/miles. For the last mile, wanting to practice for a race, I picked it up and ran a 7.21, so overall 7.47 average. Faster than I'd intended, but best of all - my knee felt fine.
Monday was a rest day, and I could feel some tightness in my legs and knees - not unusual following a 22 miler. Tuesday it was much better, but I decided to take another day off to be safe. I'd casually chatted with a doctor at the running store but decided to book an official appointment with my doctor for Wednesday. That morning I almost canceled because everything felt fine, but went anyway. That's when I learned it was a minor case of patella femoral syndrome. He sent me upstairs to the physio, also a runner, who gave me some exercises to loosen the IT band and strengthen the quads to counteract. He also offered to tape my leg the Friday before the race which would help.
I was very glad I went. Knowing that it wasn't a bone on bone issue, and something that was very fixable made me feel great. I took Wednesday off, and then ran a gentle 10K on the treadmill Thursday to minimize impact. I iced the knee straight afterwards. It felt great, but it's normally the next morning where I can feel it. Nope - I woke up and couldn't, so ran another 6 miler on the treadmill Friday. Again - everything good. Very encouraging. CIM is literally 3 weeks away, so the taper is beginning.
While things appear to be slowly getting back to normal, it definitely messed up my training schedule for CIM. No track, no fast or tempo runs, lots of rest days, just easy and long miles. The weekly mileage has been around 25-30 instead of 60-70, and that with the majority in the single long run. My expectations now center more on just completing it at a reasonable pace, chalking up marathon number 2. Gone are the goals of the sub 3.10 time that I'd been harboring. Those will still be there another day.
After 70 degree temps this week which I missed either with rest days or treadmill running, today it's cold. It snowed last night and there's a bigger storm due in this afternoon. Today was meant to be speed work, which I don't want to risk yet, so I'll switch things around and do my long run for the week - 17 miles - today, and likely take a rest day tomorrow. The Broncos have an early game anyway so that works out.
Just over 3 weeks to CIM, and then the rest of December off...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
One Year In
It's November already. How time flies. It was the realization of turning 40 last November which spurred me back to running. Reaching the one year point got me thinking about how far I've come and the mistakes that I've made.
My first runs were last October. I've kept track of everything in a spreadsheet. Last November I ran 52 miles, almost all on the treadmill. I ran my first race - the 4 mile Turkey Trot in Wash Park on November 27th. I'd hoped to run below 30 minutes, but was just a few seconds over that. While intuitively I'd known it would be harder to run on pavement than a treadmill, that was the first tangible evidence I had. This year I hope to run that same race again with the goal to run below 25.52 to qualify for the AA wave in next year's Bolder Boulder, so more than a minute per mile faster.
Last October I was 183 lbs. Now I'm 153 lbs. Since the summer of 2008 I've actually lost close to 40 lbs.
Back then I didn't have much of an idea about training plans. I'd basically go and run 30 minutes on the treadmill, 3 times a week. As I was able to run further and faster I'd basically just up the distance, but still try to run close to the fastest pace I could go. It wasn't until after I'd run my first half marathon in May that I looked into creating a more detailed training plan for the Chicago marathon in October. I looked at several plans online and came up with one that I thought might work, varying mileage through the week with an increasing mileage long run each weekend. Even then I had no idea about different paces. I thought that by running a fast pace for all my training - including the long runs - was the best way to prepare. What benefit could jogging slowly possibly do ?
Since last November I steadily increased my mileage. December was my first 100 mile month. I was amazed that I'd run that far in a month. The weight was falling off - 4 or 5 lbs a month. For my New Year's resolution I set a goal to run 1000 miles for 2009. I figured it would take me the year. I reached it by the start of August. From January to May I averaged 120 miles / month. In June as I started my Chicago plan, I increased the mileage. 150 in June, 170 in July. 205 in August. My first 200 mile month. September and October dropped a little as I had to taper for, and then run the marathon, but I still averaged 170 miles / month. Again - mostly all at or close to full speed.
I can't completely knock the approach. It did get me a BQ at the first attempt, but now reading the Pfitzinger plan, and getting advice from more experienced runners, I've realized I've been doing a number of things very wrong. It's surprising that I didn't get injured much during the year.
Unfortunately that luck seems to have run out. The past 10 days I've been getting knee pain during and after most runs. Nothing too bad. It'll hurt for a few minutes, then stop. A few hours after the run it's as if nothing had happened, but it's something I need to shake. It's definitely impacting my running.
In hindsight I probably shouldn't have signed up to CIM so soon. I should have taken a month off giving my body time to recover with just some gentle training, then slowly got back to it.
Still - I did sign up for it, and with the money all spent I'm going to see how things go over the next few weeks. I've decided to stop training this week and take 3 or 4 days off. Then I'll try a gentle jog Saturday. If I don't experience any pain I'll run my long run on Sunday, again at a slow pace. That's the longest run before CIM, so I'd then be beginning a gradual taper anyway. If the pain doesn't stop - then I will. I signed up for CIM wanting to beat my Chicago time, but I'm realistic to know that pushing myself for it could set me back for future races.
I don't want to over dramatize this - having experienced knee pain last year and worked through it, I'm confident that a little R&R will help fix things and that I'll be able to go ahead with my second marathon of the year. I may adjust my expectations, but that's okay. I went to the running store earlier and had a custom support added to my shoe. With the slow-motion video analysis of my running gait they told me everything looked good, which makes me feel more confident that rest is all I need. I've already got the fitness base, so taking a few days off really shouldn't have much of an impact.
Moving forwards, however - I'm going to have to drastically change the way I train. While I'll likely increase the mileage to 60 - 70 miles / week, those miles will be run much smarter. A combination of long runs at a slower pace (marathon pace + 40 to 80 seconds per mile), recovery runs at an even slower pace, tempo runs at half-marathon pace, some repeat sprints at varying distances, and perhaps even some cross training and a few races. I've read blogs of other runners on the Boston runners world boards and have seen that similar plans have lead to huge improvements. I'm not sure if I'll see the kinds of gains that they have, but if I can get a little faster and avoid the injuries, then that's fine by me. I'm at an age where runners typically see a decline. A 35-39 year old needs to run 3.15 to qualify for Boston. A 40 - 44 year old needs 3.20. At 45 that time drops to 3.30, reflecting what appears to be a steep decline in running performance. Who says life begins at 40 ?!! :)
Still. A year into this, I'm very glad I got back to running. I love my level of fitness. I'm very happy with the weight loss and the way I feel. I'm proud to have achieved the Boston qualifying time at the first attempt. I also realize there's still a long way to go and hopefully some improvement to be had.
My first runs were last October. I've kept track of everything in a spreadsheet. Last November I ran 52 miles, almost all on the treadmill. I ran my first race - the 4 mile Turkey Trot in Wash Park on November 27th. I'd hoped to run below 30 minutes, but was just a few seconds over that. While intuitively I'd known it would be harder to run on pavement than a treadmill, that was the first tangible evidence I had. This year I hope to run that same race again with the goal to run below 25.52 to qualify for the AA wave in next year's Bolder Boulder, so more than a minute per mile faster.
Last October I was 183 lbs. Now I'm 153 lbs. Since the summer of 2008 I've actually lost close to 40 lbs.
Back then I didn't have much of an idea about training plans. I'd basically go and run 30 minutes on the treadmill, 3 times a week. As I was able to run further and faster I'd basically just up the distance, but still try to run close to the fastest pace I could go. It wasn't until after I'd run my first half marathon in May that I looked into creating a more detailed training plan for the Chicago marathon in October. I looked at several plans online and came up with one that I thought might work, varying mileage through the week with an increasing mileage long run each weekend. Even then I had no idea about different paces. I thought that by running a fast pace for all my training - including the long runs - was the best way to prepare. What benefit could jogging slowly possibly do ?
Since last November I steadily increased my mileage. December was my first 100 mile month. I was amazed that I'd run that far in a month. The weight was falling off - 4 or 5 lbs a month. For my New Year's resolution I set a goal to run 1000 miles for 2009. I figured it would take me the year. I reached it by the start of August. From January to May I averaged 120 miles / month. In June as I started my Chicago plan, I increased the mileage. 150 in June, 170 in July. 205 in August. My first 200 mile month. September and October dropped a little as I had to taper for, and then run the marathon, but I still averaged 170 miles / month. Again - mostly all at or close to full speed.
I can't completely knock the approach. It did get me a BQ at the first attempt, but now reading the Pfitzinger plan, and getting advice from more experienced runners, I've realized I've been doing a number of things very wrong. It's surprising that I didn't get injured much during the year.
Unfortunately that luck seems to have run out. The past 10 days I've been getting knee pain during and after most runs. Nothing too bad. It'll hurt for a few minutes, then stop. A few hours after the run it's as if nothing had happened, but it's something I need to shake. It's definitely impacting my running.
In hindsight I probably shouldn't have signed up to CIM so soon. I should have taken a month off giving my body time to recover with just some gentle training, then slowly got back to it.
Still - I did sign up for it, and with the money all spent I'm going to see how things go over the next few weeks. I've decided to stop training this week and take 3 or 4 days off. Then I'll try a gentle jog Saturday. If I don't experience any pain I'll run my long run on Sunday, again at a slow pace. That's the longest run before CIM, so I'd then be beginning a gradual taper anyway. If the pain doesn't stop - then I will. I signed up for CIM wanting to beat my Chicago time, but I'm realistic to know that pushing myself for it could set me back for future races.
I don't want to over dramatize this - having experienced knee pain last year and worked through it, I'm confident that a little R&R will help fix things and that I'll be able to go ahead with my second marathon of the year. I may adjust my expectations, but that's okay. I went to the running store earlier and had a custom support added to my shoe. With the slow-motion video analysis of my running gait they told me everything looked good, which makes me feel more confident that rest is all I need. I've already got the fitness base, so taking a few days off really shouldn't have much of an impact.
Moving forwards, however - I'm going to have to drastically change the way I train. While I'll likely increase the mileage to 60 - 70 miles / week, those miles will be run much smarter. A combination of long runs at a slower pace (marathon pace + 40 to 80 seconds per mile), recovery runs at an even slower pace, tempo runs at half-marathon pace, some repeat sprints at varying distances, and perhaps even some cross training and a few races. I've read blogs of other runners on the Boston runners world boards and have seen that similar plans have lead to huge improvements. I'm not sure if I'll see the kinds of gains that they have, but if I can get a little faster and avoid the injuries, then that's fine by me. I'm at an age where runners typically see a decline. A 35-39 year old needs to run 3.15 to qualify for Boston. A 40 - 44 year old needs 3.20. At 45 that time drops to 3.30, reflecting what appears to be a steep decline in running performance. Who says life begins at 40 ?!! :)
Still. A year into this, I'm very glad I got back to running. I love my level of fitness. I'm very happy with the weight loss and the way I feel. I'm proud to have achieved the Boston qualifying time at the first attempt. I also realize there's still a long way to go and hopefully some improvement to be had.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Just 6 weeks 'till raceday...
After much deliberating, I chose CIM. The California International Marathon on December 6th in Sacramento.
Air miles get me there and I found a cheap hotel and car hire deal. Unlike Chicago where I flew in a couple of days early and then took an extra day before coming home - this is much more of a 'business trip'. I arrive at 2pm the afternoon before the race. I'll get the car and drive straight to the expo, pick up my chip and bib, then go to the hotel. There's a FE that night which I may attend, although more likely I'll probably just relax at the hotel.
The course itself is point to point, so I'll drive to the finish line early on race day, hopefully find a parking spot, and then take one of the buses to the start line. The start is at 7am and is meant to be an undulating course back into the center of Sacramento. If all goes well I'll pick up the car and be back at the hotel around 11am. There's time for a short rest, and then off to the airport for a 3pm flight back to Denver. I did notice there's a Denny's next to the hotel so I'll likely stop in there for a 'healthy' brunch. It'll be interesting to see how my body feels after being cooped up on the plane so soon after a race.
December seemed a long way off, but after I booked everything I took the middle Pftiz plan (40-60 miles / week) and mapped out my training schedule. Just 6.5 weeks, so really only 3-4 weeks of actual hard training with the rest taper. I feel I'm already at a fitness level to run a decent race so this is more a maintenance and fine tuning exercise than having to push myself to another level. That I'll try next year for Boston when I do the 60+ miles / week program starting in January.
I was out at a party last night and met a couple of other runners - both having run plenty more marathons than me and both were trying hard to qualify for Boston. Makes me realize that even though I think I can run a little faster, getting in on my first attempt was still pretty special. Not that it matters now - that's done, I've now got to get ready for Sacramento.
Over the summer when I was training for Chicago, my biggest concern was the heat - I've got the opposite issue today. I'm writing this on a Sunday morning just before heading out on a long run. 21 miles are called for. It's 35F outside with a strong wind and snow in the air. At least I won't overheat... And to think. This time last week for the Denver marathon we hit 85 degrees. Fall in Colorado.
Air miles get me there and I found a cheap hotel and car hire deal. Unlike Chicago where I flew in a couple of days early and then took an extra day before coming home - this is much more of a 'business trip'. I arrive at 2pm the afternoon before the race. I'll get the car and drive straight to the expo, pick up my chip and bib, then go to the hotel. There's a FE that night which I may attend, although more likely I'll probably just relax at the hotel.
The course itself is point to point, so I'll drive to the finish line early on race day, hopefully find a parking spot, and then take one of the buses to the start line. The start is at 7am and is meant to be an undulating course back into the center of Sacramento. If all goes well I'll pick up the car and be back at the hotel around 11am. There's time for a short rest, and then off to the airport for a 3pm flight back to Denver. I did notice there's a Denny's next to the hotel so I'll likely stop in there for a 'healthy' brunch. It'll be interesting to see how my body feels after being cooped up on the plane so soon after a race.
December seemed a long way off, but after I booked everything I took the middle Pftiz plan (40-60 miles / week) and mapped out my training schedule. Just 6.5 weeks, so really only 3-4 weeks of actual hard training with the rest taper. I feel I'm already at a fitness level to run a decent race so this is more a maintenance and fine tuning exercise than having to push myself to another level. That I'll try next year for Boston when I do the 60+ miles / week program starting in January.
I was out at a party last night and met a couple of other runners - both having run plenty more marathons than me and both were trying hard to qualify for Boston. Makes me realize that even though I think I can run a little faster, getting in on my first attempt was still pretty special. Not that it matters now - that's done, I've now got to get ready for Sacramento.
Over the summer when I was training for Chicago, my biggest concern was the heat - I've got the opposite issue today. I'm writing this on a Sunday morning just before heading out on a long run. 21 miles are called for. It's 35F outside with a strong wind and snow in the air. At least I won't overheat... And to think. This time last week for the Denver marathon we hit 85 degrees. Fall in Colorado.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Denver Marathon
Ok - that title's a bit misleading. It should really be Denver Half Marathon.
After Chicago it took me a couple of days to get my legs back under me. It still hurt to walk downstairs on the Tuesday, so I dismissed thoughts of running in Denver the next weekend. On the Wednesday things weren't quite so stiff so I went for a fairly easy 5 mile jog. At least that was the intention. It felt great. I picked up the pace each mile and finished with a huge smile on my face. Thoughts of another race started to creep back. That said - there's a big difference between a 5 mile jog, and running in a half or full marathon race. I didn't want to just jog the race itself - I'd at least want to be semi-competitive. I decided to run again Thursday and this time push things a little harder. If I started to fade I reasoned, then clearly I wasn't ready. Quite the opposite. I ran well - finishing strong on a 6 mile hilly loop at work at around 7.10 min/mile pace.
I still wasn't sure, but decided to take a rest day Friday and check out the marathon expo at lunch. Big mistake. Once I got in there and felt the energy from the other runners my entry was a foregone conclusion. Still - I didn't sign up Friday, figuring I could fool my mind into not caring so I could at least sleep well Friday night. It worked. The best night of sleep for over 3 weeks.
I sought advice from friends and other runners and finally decided to sign up for the half marathon. I went to the expo to sign up for it but agonized for several minutes over which box to check - the half or the full. Remembering the pain of the last few miles in Chicago, surely my body hadn't recovered fully and I'd just be opening myself up for more of the same. Reluctantly I checked the box for the half marathon.
Race day Sunday - up at 4:30am. I took my scooter down and parked a couple of blocks from the start / finish. Gotta love the local race. Off came the license plate, now a 50cc vespa - legally parked on a bike rack. I stood at the 7 min/mile pace sign in the start area and chatted with Bruce from the gym at work in my trash bag porto potty. The weather was great. Temps in the high 40s, with the sun rising into a cloudless sky. 80+ degrees were called for, but not until long after the race was done. A far cry from the week before in Chicago. At 7am we were off.
I didn't have high expectations. I figured I should take the first mile slowly, then try to get around a 7 min/mile pace and see how things went. My PR at Georgetown had been at that speed so I reasoned that in the unlikely event I could maintain it, then a PR might be in order. I didn't want to get to the end of the race with too much left, but just 7 days after a full marathon I didn't want to suddenly run out of steam half way round. First mile 7.13, then as we ran down into Lodo I picked things up a little (6.52). Early in the race I was running on feel, ready to throttle back at the first sign of distress. It didn't come. The miles ticked by (6.56, 7.07, 7.00, 7.01, 7.00) and I was feeling good. The crowds were a lot smaller than Chicago, but still much better than the Colfax race earlier in the year. The aid stations were good, and the course was interesting. I decided just a couple of miles in that I was going to run the full marathon the next year.
Round City park, then up to Cheeseman. 6.58, 7.05, 7.14 (the incline in cheeseman), 6.59. Ok - now I've run 11 miles and I'm still feeling strong. I'm not going to bonk, so time to push things a little more. 6.48, 6.42 for the last 2 miles, then the bit at the end and I crossed the line feeling great. Hardly out of breath. The easiest half marathon I've ever run (ok - I've only actually raced 3 of them - but still).
Looking at my garmin I realized it had been off. It showed 13.26 miles instead of 13.1, so the spilts I'd been using would have been slower than I thought. Instead of running close to my PR, I ended up at 1.32.25. 40 seconds slower. That's about 3 secs/mile more than it was showing. That was unfortunate because I was pacing myself very much to the watch. Given how good I felt at the end, I'm pretty sure if the watch had been accurate I could have run that little bit faster. Still - a week after Chicago, I was happy with the performance. Over 3 minutes faster than the Colfax half 5 months earlier and a much more relaxed, controlled run. Enough to place me 80th overall for men, and 96 for the whole race - out of some 4500+ racers. I even had my name in the paper the next day (listed the top 100).
After the race I met up with Bruce again, then waited to support the full finishers. With the great crowds the week before I felt it was the least I could do. I stood on the course half a mile from the finish and yelled a few 'HTFU' and cheered on the racers.
In a masochistic way, I'd been hoping to have suffered more in the race to confirm that my decision to just run the half was the right one. Unfortunately the opposite happened, which meant I'm still second guessing the decision. If there was another marathon in Colorado this season I'd have already signed up. I want to knock at least 5 minutes off my full time to get to a level that I feel more accurately reflects what I can run. I don't want to let my fitness go and then have to train myself back up, so I'm looking for one more marathon this year. As I type this I'm considering either Las Vegas, or CIM (California International Marathon) in Sacramento - both in early December. I've got the airmiles for both, and have found cheap hotels. This time it would be more of a business trip. Fly in the day before, go to the expo, sleep, race, go straight to the airport and fly home.
I've bought a book for the Pfitz training program and with a December race would get 7 or so weeks to change things up a little. The program I'd used for Chicago was cobbled together from several I'd seen on line. I'd been running my long runs at marathon pace, which I've learned isn't the smartest thing to do. I'm hoping to make a decision today. I can then shut it down for the season, before starting up again for Boston early in the new year.
After Chicago it took me a couple of days to get my legs back under me. It still hurt to walk downstairs on the Tuesday, so I dismissed thoughts of running in Denver the next weekend. On the Wednesday things weren't quite so stiff so I went for a fairly easy 5 mile jog. At least that was the intention. It felt great. I picked up the pace each mile and finished with a huge smile on my face. Thoughts of another race started to creep back. That said - there's a big difference between a 5 mile jog, and running in a half or full marathon race. I didn't want to just jog the race itself - I'd at least want to be semi-competitive. I decided to run again Thursday and this time push things a little harder. If I started to fade I reasoned, then clearly I wasn't ready. Quite the opposite. I ran well - finishing strong on a 6 mile hilly loop at work at around 7.10 min/mile pace.
I still wasn't sure, but decided to take a rest day Friday and check out the marathon expo at lunch. Big mistake. Once I got in there and felt the energy from the other runners my entry was a foregone conclusion. Still - I didn't sign up Friday, figuring I could fool my mind into not caring so I could at least sleep well Friday night. It worked. The best night of sleep for over 3 weeks.
I sought advice from friends and other runners and finally decided to sign up for the half marathon. I went to the expo to sign up for it but agonized for several minutes over which box to check - the half or the full. Remembering the pain of the last few miles in Chicago, surely my body hadn't recovered fully and I'd just be opening myself up for more of the same. Reluctantly I checked the box for the half marathon.
Race day Sunday - up at 4:30am. I took my scooter down and parked a couple of blocks from the start / finish. Gotta love the local race. Off came the license plate, now a 50cc vespa - legally parked on a bike rack. I stood at the 7 min/mile pace sign in the start area and chatted with Bruce from the gym at work in my trash bag porto potty. The weather was great. Temps in the high 40s, with the sun rising into a cloudless sky. 80+ degrees were called for, but not until long after the race was done. A far cry from the week before in Chicago. At 7am we were off.
I didn't have high expectations. I figured I should take the first mile slowly, then try to get around a 7 min/mile pace and see how things went. My PR at Georgetown had been at that speed so I reasoned that in the unlikely event I could maintain it, then a PR might be in order. I didn't want to get to the end of the race with too much left, but just 7 days after a full marathon I didn't want to suddenly run out of steam half way round. First mile 7.13, then as we ran down into Lodo I picked things up a little (6.52). Early in the race I was running on feel, ready to throttle back at the first sign of distress. It didn't come. The miles ticked by (6.56, 7.07, 7.00, 7.01, 7.00) and I was feeling good. The crowds were a lot smaller than Chicago, but still much better than the Colfax race earlier in the year. The aid stations were good, and the course was interesting. I decided just a couple of miles in that I was going to run the full marathon the next year.
Round City park, then up to Cheeseman. 6.58, 7.05, 7.14 (the incline in cheeseman), 6.59. Ok - now I've run 11 miles and I'm still feeling strong. I'm not going to bonk, so time to push things a little more. 6.48, 6.42 for the last 2 miles, then the bit at the end and I crossed the line feeling great. Hardly out of breath. The easiest half marathon I've ever run (ok - I've only actually raced 3 of them - but still).
Looking at my garmin I realized it had been off. It showed 13.26 miles instead of 13.1, so the spilts I'd been using would have been slower than I thought. Instead of running close to my PR, I ended up at 1.32.25. 40 seconds slower. That's about 3 secs/mile more than it was showing. That was unfortunate because I was pacing myself very much to the watch. Given how good I felt at the end, I'm pretty sure if the watch had been accurate I could have run that little bit faster. Still - a week after Chicago, I was happy with the performance. Over 3 minutes faster than the Colfax half 5 months earlier and a much more relaxed, controlled run. Enough to place me 80th overall for men, and 96 for the whole race - out of some 4500+ racers. I even had my name in the paper the next day (listed the top 100).
After the race I met up with Bruce again, then waited to support the full finishers. With the great crowds the week before I felt it was the least I could do. I stood on the course half a mile from the finish and yelled a few 'HTFU' and cheered on the racers.
In a masochistic way, I'd been hoping to have suffered more in the race to confirm that my decision to just run the half was the right one. Unfortunately the opposite happened, which meant I'm still second guessing the decision. If there was another marathon in Colorado this season I'd have already signed up. I want to knock at least 5 minutes off my full time to get to a level that I feel more accurately reflects what I can run. I don't want to let my fitness go and then have to train myself back up, so I'm looking for one more marathon this year. As I type this I'm considering either Las Vegas, or CIM (California International Marathon) in Sacramento - both in early December. I've got the airmiles for both, and have found cheap hotels. This time it would be more of a business trip. Fly in the day before, go to the expo, sleep, race, go straight to the airport and fly home.
I've bought a book for the Pfitz training program and with a December race would get 7 or so weeks to change things up a little. The program I'd used for Chicago was cobbled together from several I'd seen on line. I'd been running my long runs at marathon pace, which I've learned isn't the smartest thing to do. I'm hoping to make a decision today. I can then shut it down for the season, before starting up again for Boston early in the new year.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
BQ Baby ! (with some mixed emotions)
So I did it. I qualified for Boston at my first attempt. I'm happy and proud about that. It was a goal I'd set early in the year, long before I'd even run 10K. It was the driving force behind all of my training runs. To set down a goal, work hard, and achieve it was a great accomplishment. But in the back of my mind I'm still a little disappointed. I thought - and expected - that I'd have run faster than I did.
As I'd feared, I slept badly. I was up early and left the hotel by 6am. It was bloody freezing. Literally. The temperature was 31F at that point. I'd decided not to check clothes (a decision I'd later regret) so was wearing a large trash sack over my tech shirt, shorts, arm panties and gloves. I was exhausted, but the adrenaline rush of the day was keeping me going. This solidified my decision to take the conservative approach and run with the 3.20 pace group. Just get the time I need for Boston and worry about a faster time another day. Inside I still harbored thoughts of pushing the pace a little bit more.
I was in the corral at 7am and basically hung out there, warming up, stretching - using my personal 'porto potty' (trash sack and gatorade bottle - naturally with a really wide neck). Just before 7:30 I took off the sack, left the bottle at the side of the road - with others that looked like they'd been used for the same purpose - and we were off.
It was crazy. 45,000 people running a marathon. With my garmin and the pace group I was able to hold back and not run with the hares. Even if I'd wanted to go much faster it would have been tough those first few miles with the volume of runners in the city streets. The crowds were huge, I felt good - I was finally running the marathon that I'd been promising (threatening) myself for 20+ years.
After about 4 miles as we headed out of downtown up towards the zoo I started to pick up the pace. Nothing dramatic, but enough that I left the 3.20 pace group behind. I hit the 10K in 46.22 - a 7.27 pace, so already over a minute ahead of the group. I later read that the verizon tracker was predicting a 3.15 finish. Given I was running 7.20 - 7.25 pace, I was myself thinking I was going to be 3.14 or faster. I kept it up, through Boys Town with the cheerleaders, and back downtown. I hit the half in 1.38, and 30K at 2.19. Both predicting out at 3.16. I was feeling good and in my mind was trying to decide when I'd pick up the pace - was the 20 mile mark too soon. Should I wait until 22 or 23 ? When I checked my 19th mile split I saw I'd slowed. For the first time a mile was below the 3.20 pace (7.38 min/miles). I didn't pay too much attention, but then when the 20th mile was even slower I realized I was in trouble.
Those last 6 miles were not fun. I knew I was bonking, I knew I had about 4 minutes in hand, and each mile was calculating how much I could afford to give up and still make my BQ. At mile 24 the 3.20 pace group went by. Not good. By that stage I was giving up 30 seconds / mile. I tried to force myself to hang with them, which I did for a while, and then they started pulling away. I can remember thinking about all the miles of training and pain I'd gone through and how I needed to grit it out for just 15 more minutes and it would be worth it. I stayed in touch with the group, and when I hit 25.2 I worked out I needed to be inside 8.30 for that final mile to make it. At that point I think I realized I was just going to do it. I was starting to cramp, every step was painful, but with just 8 minutes of suffering left I gritted it out and ended with a 7.50 mile, getting in 41 seconds under my BQ time.
Official time, 3.20.18.
After I crossed the line I cramped up, and was literally looking to hurl. My biggest fear as a volunteer cut off my timing chip from the shoe was that I might be sick on him ! I drank some water and that subsided, but then the cold hit. It was still in the 30s and now in just my running gear I was freezing. That's when my decision to skip the gear checked really hurt.
I hobbled towards the hotel and fortunately managed to get a lift with a bicycle taxi. He let me go up to the room to get the cash. Without that, I likely would have ended up in the medical tent.
So why the disappointment ? I'd run a 3.22 in training 5 weeks before the race, on my own, in Colorado on a hilly course, carrying my gatorade. I figured that with the race day atmosphere, the extra oxygen, the water stations etc - I should be able to knock more than 2 minutes off. I'd harbored serious thoughts of sub 3.10 (Yasso predicted 2.55 !!!), and even with my decision to go with the 3.20 pace group had felt I should run at least a 3.15.
With that said, I later heard from other members of the runners world boards who'd expected to achieve similar goals, who'd run into even worse issues and finished in far slower times. While I'm pretty sure I can run faster than that - I'm starting to realize that there are many factors that go into it. The lack of sleep, likely the very cold temps, the fact that it was my first race and I wasn't really sure of the pace / strategy I should use, all played into how things worked out. I'm proud of the way I gritted it out over the last few miles. I can only imagine how disappointed I'd have been if I finished just 42 seconds slower.
I'm going to take a few days to recover and then get out and jog a little. I've pretty much ruled out running Denver this weekend. I was clearly naive to think I could do that. I signed up for Boston today so that I could lock it in and give myself the next goal to aim for, although I may try to do another marathon before then to get the time that I feel I can do. Still - a major achievement. A BQ at the first attempt. A year ago I could barely run a mile at any sort of pace. I'm sure the disappointment will fade. It's already started to.
As I'd feared, I slept badly. I was up early and left the hotel by 6am. It was bloody freezing. Literally. The temperature was 31F at that point. I'd decided not to check clothes (a decision I'd later regret) so was wearing a large trash sack over my tech shirt, shorts, arm panties and gloves. I was exhausted, but the adrenaline rush of the day was keeping me going. This solidified my decision to take the conservative approach and run with the 3.20 pace group. Just get the time I need for Boston and worry about a faster time another day. Inside I still harbored thoughts of pushing the pace a little bit more.
I was in the corral at 7am and basically hung out there, warming up, stretching - using my personal 'porto potty' (trash sack and gatorade bottle - naturally with a really wide neck). Just before 7:30 I took off the sack, left the bottle at the side of the road - with others that looked like they'd been used for the same purpose - and we were off.
It was crazy. 45,000 people running a marathon. With my garmin and the pace group I was able to hold back and not run with the hares. Even if I'd wanted to go much faster it would have been tough those first few miles with the volume of runners in the city streets. The crowds were huge, I felt good - I was finally running the marathon that I'd been promising (threatening) myself for 20+ years.
After about 4 miles as we headed out of downtown up towards the zoo I started to pick up the pace. Nothing dramatic, but enough that I left the 3.20 pace group behind. I hit the 10K in 46.22 - a 7.27 pace, so already over a minute ahead of the group. I later read that the verizon tracker was predicting a 3.15 finish. Given I was running 7.20 - 7.25 pace, I was myself thinking I was going to be 3.14 or faster. I kept it up, through Boys Town with the cheerleaders, and back downtown. I hit the half in 1.38, and 30K at 2.19. Both predicting out at 3.16. I was feeling good and in my mind was trying to decide when I'd pick up the pace - was the 20 mile mark too soon. Should I wait until 22 or 23 ? When I checked my 19th mile split I saw I'd slowed. For the first time a mile was below the 3.20 pace (7.38 min/miles). I didn't pay too much attention, but then when the 20th mile was even slower I realized I was in trouble.
Those last 6 miles were not fun. I knew I was bonking, I knew I had about 4 minutes in hand, and each mile was calculating how much I could afford to give up and still make my BQ. At mile 24 the 3.20 pace group went by. Not good. By that stage I was giving up 30 seconds / mile. I tried to force myself to hang with them, which I did for a while, and then they started pulling away. I can remember thinking about all the miles of training and pain I'd gone through and how I needed to grit it out for just 15 more minutes and it would be worth it. I stayed in touch with the group, and when I hit 25.2 I worked out I needed to be inside 8.30 for that final mile to make it. At that point I think I realized I was just going to do it. I was starting to cramp, every step was painful, but with just 8 minutes of suffering left I gritted it out and ended with a 7.50 mile, getting in 41 seconds under my BQ time.
Official time, 3.20.18.
After I crossed the line I cramped up, and was literally looking to hurl. My biggest fear as a volunteer cut off my timing chip from the shoe was that I might be sick on him ! I drank some water and that subsided, but then the cold hit. It was still in the 30s and now in just my running gear I was freezing. That's when my decision to skip the gear checked really hurt.
I hobbled towards the hotel and fortunately managed to get a lift with a bicycle taxi. He let me go up to the room to get the cash. Without that, I likely would have ended up in the medical tent.
So why the disappointment ? I'd run a 3.22 in training 5 weeks before the race, on my own, in Colorado on a hilly course, carrying my gatorade. I figured that with the race day atmosphere, the extra oxygen, the water stations etc - I should be able to knock more than 2 minutes off. I'd harbored serious thoughts of sub 3.10 (Yasso predicted 2.55 !!!), and even with my decision to go with the 3.20 pace group had felt I should run at least a 3.15.
With that said, I later heard from other members of the runners world boards who'd expected to achieve similar goals, who'd run into even worse issues and finished in far slower times. While I'm pretty sure I can run faster than that - I'm starting to realize that there are many factors that go into it. The lack of sleep, likely the very cold temps, the fact that it was my first race and I wasn't really sure of the pace / strategy I should use, all played into how things worked out. I'm proud of the way I gritted it out over the last few miles. I can only imagine how disappointed I'd have been if I finished just 42 seconds slower.
I'm going to take a few days to recover and then get out and jog a little. I've pretty much ruled out running Denver this weekend. I was clearly naive to think I could do that. I signed up for Boston today so that I could lock it in and give myself the next goal to aim for, although I may try to do another marathon before then to get the time that I feel I can do. Still - a major achievement. A BQ at the first attempt. A year ago I could barely run a mile at any sort of pace. I'm sure the disappointment will fade. It's already started to.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Marathon Eve
Writing this the evening before the race from my hotel room. I hadn't planned on adding to the blog until after the marathon, but I'm needing something to do to fill the hours before I can attempt to sleep. Race kit is out, number pinned on, chip attached to shoe, clif shot gel packs ready, garmin charged, etc etc.
I'd love to be able to go to sleep now, but then I'd also love to win the lottery and I'm realistic to know that neither are going to happen. My sleep this past week has been horrendous. Despite getting a prescription of ambien from the doctor, I've still not been able to get more than 6 hours a night, and that mostly sleep drug induced so not good quality. I'm feeling very rough at the moment - at the point to where I'm convinced I'm getting a sore throat because I'm so run down. Not much I can do about it now though, and fortunately just one more tough night to go. The race starts at 7:30am, so tracking back through all the things that have to happen first, I'm going to be setting my alarm for 4:30am. I'd be amazed - and frankly ecstatic - if I managed to sleep to anywhere close to that late. My biggest concern is that the lack of sleep impacts my performance - I guess I'll know in 16 hours.
I flew into Chicago yesterday. It looked like half the plane was full of marathon runners. I tried to convince myself that was silly, but speaking to the girl next to me found she was running it - so maybe it wasn't so far fetched. I was out with a friend last night, and then this morning took the bus to the expo. Huge ! The thing was enormous. I met some friends from Chicago, and some neighbors from Denver, and was still in and out in a little over an hour. I tried to convince myself to not buy the $65 top, but with all the training for this first marathon I figured it was worth it. Back to the room attempting to nap, I eventually gave up and lay around watching college football finally heading back out for some noodles. I'm not a big pasta guy, and I'm sure every Italian Restaurant within 20 miles of downtown is fully booked anyway.
So here I am. 7:30pm. Sitting in the hotel room with just my nervous thoughts. Waiting. Tick tock... :)
I'd love to be able to go to sleep now, but then I'd also love to win the lottery and I'm realistic to know that neither are going to happen. My sleep this past week has been horrendous. Despite getting a prescription of ambien from the doctor, I've still not been able to get more than 6 hours a night, and that mostly sleep drug induced so not good quality. I'm feeling very rough at the moment - at the point to where I'm convinced I'm getting a sore throat because I'm so run down. Not much I can do about it now though, and fortunately just one more tough night to go. The race starts at 7:30am, so tracking back through all the things that have to happen first, I'm going to be setting my alarm for 4:30am. I'd be amazed - and frankly ecstatic - if I managed to sleep to anywhere close to that late. My biggest concern is that the lack of sleep impacts my performance - I guess I'll know in 16 hours.
I flew into Chicago yesterday. It looked like half the plane was full of marathon runners. I tried to convince myself that was silly, but speaking to the girl next to me found she was running it - so maybe it wasn't so far fetched. I was out with a friend last night, and then this morning took the bus to the expo. Huge ! The thing was enormous. I met some friends from Chicago, and some neighbors from Denver, and was still in and out in a little over an hour. I tried to convince myself to not buy the $65 top, but with all the training for this first marathon I figured it was worth it. Back to the room attempting to nap, I eventually gave up and lay around watching college football finally heading back out for some noodles. I'm not a big pasta guy, and I'm sure every Italian Restaurant within 20 miles of downtown is fully booked anyway.
So here I am. 7:30pm. Sitting in the hotel room with just my nervous thoughts. Waiting. Tick tock... :)
Monday, October 5, 2009
The week is finally here !
It often seemed this week would never get here. When I signed up for my first marathon - Chicago - on March 3rd this year, it was over 7 months away and all a bit surreal. Sure - I was spending the money, but it wasn't really going to happen - right ? I've said I should run a marathon ever since I was a boy watching the first London Marathon in 1981. Since then talk is all I've done. I've had a count down clock on my igoogle home page that started at 120+ days. I've planned my whole training and racing calendar for the year around this race and now here I am - with less than 6 days to go.
The nerves have started to get to me. Mostly at night. I've been having trouble sleeping the past week. I tried melatonin last night which actually seemed to make things worse. I've been up since 1.30am today.... so this morning I ratcheted my response up a notch and called my doctor. Still waiting to hear back, but I'm hoping I'll have a 7 day ambien prescription to get me through. Not ideal, but faced with the prospect of 3 hours of sleep a night for the next week my biggest fear is my body will be run down and I'll get sick. With the swine flu making the rounds - definitely not something I want to experience after almost a whole year of training.
I haven't posted the last few weeks - mostly because I'm in my taper and haven't felt that I've done a whole heck of a lot that warrants blogging. I ran around 40 miles the week after my last full distance training run, with a high of 13.1 on the Sunday. That run was a little more painful than I expected and I felt heavy legged. In hindsight not really surprising given I'd run 2 marathons in the previous 14 days... I was a little nervous I'd overdone things, but as I've cut back on the distance through the taper I've felt the speed and power coming back.
For sh*ts and giggles last week I decided to do a couple of slightly faster runs on courses I'd been doing for a while to get an idea of my fitness. I got my fastest time on a 5 mile loop I'd been running recently at work, and then last Saturday took on the 5 miler that I've been running at home at least once / week since the start of the year. I'd been a little concerned that my fastest time was one I'd run back in the spring and I hadn't got close to it since. True - I hadn't ever really pushed for it since, but it was something in the back of my mind. Had this training program actually added anything ? The answer Saturday was a resounding HELL YES. I took close to 40 seconds off my previous fastest time, and even felt there was some more gas in the tank. I was over a minute faster than a 5 mile race I'd done earlier in the year (Cherry Creek Sneak). Clearly the training has helped. I averaged 6.41 min/miles. It got me thinking. Once the next two weekend marathons are out of the way, I'm going to look for a 5K and try get below the 19.50 qualifying time I need for the AA wave at next years Bolder Boulder.
Yesterday was an easy 8 mile loop from home, around city park and back. After the faster run the day before I purposely held back, but still ran a reasonable 7.25 min pace.
So that brings me to the final week. As a marathon newbie I have so many questions, but fortunately my preparation and the runnersworld notice board for the Chicago race, where many others like myself - inexperienced to experienced - share knowledge, has been a great help. One tip for instance - while humorous - has definitely helped set my mind at rest for one practical concern. The corral I'm in closes it's gate 30 mins before the race stars. 30 mins ??? But I'm Captain Slackbladder. I'm going to need to go to the bathroom at least twice in the last 30 mins ! :) With 45,000 people packed in the concern was that I'd either lose my place in the corral that I'd had to earn through a half marathon in May, or run with the mental image of a full bladder. Over to the advice from the board. One great idea - wear a large trash bag to keep warm leading up to the race (something I'd done at the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half), but couple that with an empty bottle of gatorade. Voila - the privacy you need in the minutes before the race to have your own porto potty... I've heard from others that people just squat there in the corral to relieve themselves, so this approach seems relatively civil...
Not a whole lot planned for this week. Assuming I can get my sleep issue resolved, I'm hoping to get a gentle 3 miler in today. Then tomorrow the plan calls for 4 x 400m laps, with the final run - another 3 miler Wednesday. Thursday off, then Friday I catch the flight to Chicago. I'm going to do the Western Australian Carb loading method for the race so will do a short intense run Saturday morning and then fill up with carbs for the rest of the day. I'm meeting some friends for the expo, but other than that hope to hang quietly around the hotel. I'm not expecting to sleep much Saturday night (hence my desire to at least get one decent night's sleep before then !!)
The race itself is less than a mile from my hotel and starts at 7:30am. Not sure if I'll post again before that. If all goes well - I'll have finished before 11am and have a whole day in Chicago to enjoy. There's a post racerunnersworld meetup in Bucktown that I'll likely attend, dragging along some old drinking buddies. My flight is the following afternoon. From the Monday onwards I'm going to be trying to get myself back in shape for the Denver marathon on the 18th. I haven't made the final decision yet - I'll wait until I've run Chicago, but given my current level of fitness and the fact I've done back to back marathons in training - I'm leaning towards running that one too. Hopefully I've got the BQ monkey off my back and I can 'enjoy' the local race.
Ok - enough for now. Even writing about this is making me nervous.
The nerves have started to get to me. Mostly at night. I've been having trouble sleeping the past week. I tried melatonin last night which actually seemed to make things worse. I've been up since 1.30am today.... so this morning I ratcheted my response up a notch and called my doctor. Still waiting to hear back, but I'm hoping I'll have a 7 day ambien prescription to get me through. Not ideal, but faced with the prospect of 3 hours of sleep a night for the next week my biggest fear is my body will be run down and I'll get sick. With the swine flu making the rounds - definitely not something I want to experience after almost a whole year of training.
I haven't posted the last few weeks - mostly because I'm in my taper and haven't felt that I've done a whole heck of a lot that warrants blogging. I ran around 40 miles the week after my last full distance training run, with a high of 13.1 on the Sunday. That run was a little more painful than I expected and I felt heavy legged. In hindsight not really surprising given I'd run 2 marathons in the previous 14 days... I was a little nervous I'd overdone things, but as I've cut back on the distance through the taper I've felt the speed and power coming back.
For sh*ts and giggles last week I decided to do a couple of slightly faster runs on courses I'd been doing for a while to get an idea of my fitness. I got my fastest time on a 5 mile loop I'd been running recently at work, and then last Saturday took on the 5 miler that I've been running at home at least once / week since the start of the year. I'd been a little concerned that my fastest time was one I'd run back in the spring and I hadn't got close to it since. True - I hadn't ever really pushed for it since, but it was something in the back of my mind. Had this training program actually added anything ? The answer Saturday was a resounding HELL YES. I took close to 40 seconds off my previous fastest time, and even felt there was some more gas in the tank. I was over a minute faster than a 5 mile race I'd done earlier in the year (Cherry Creek Sneak). Clearly the training has helped. I averaged 6.41 min/miles. It got me thinking. Once the next two weekend marathons are out of the way, I'm going to look for a 5K and try get below the 19.50 qualifying time I need for the AA wave at next years Bolder Boulder.
Yesterday was an easy 8 mile loop from home, around city park and back. After the faster run the day before I purposely held back, but still ran a reasonable 7.25 min pace.
So that brings me to the final week. As a marathon newbie I have so many questions, but fortunately my preparation and the runnersworld notice board for the Chicago race, where many others like myself - inexperienced to experienced - share knowledge, has been a great help. One tip for instance - while humorous - has definitely helped set my mind at rest for one practical concern. The corral I'm in closes it's gate 30 mins before the race stars. 30 mins ??? But I'm Captain Slackbladder. I'm going to need to go to the bathroom at least twice in the last 30 mins ! :) With 45,000 people packed in the concern was that I'd either lose my place in the corral that I'd had to earn through a half marathon in May, or run with the mental image of a full bladder. Over to the advice from the board. One great idea - wear a large trash bag to keep warm leading up to the race (something I'd done at the Georgetown to Idaho Springs half), but couple that with an empty bottle of gatorade. Voila - the privacy you need in the minutes before the race to have your own porto potty... I've heard from others that people just squat there in the corral to relieve themselves, so this approach seems relatively civil...
Not a whole lot planned for this week. Assuming I can get my sleep issue resolved, I'm hoping to get a gentle 3 miler in today. Then tomorrow the plan calls for 4 x 400m laps, with the final run - another 3 miler Wednesday. Thursday off, then Friday I catch the flight to Chicago. I'm going to do the Western Australian Carb loading method for the race so will do a short intense run Saturday morning and then fill up with carbs for the rest of the day. I'm meeting some friends for the expo, but other than that hope to hang quietly around the hotel. I'm not expecting to sleep much Saturday night (hence my desire to at least get one decent night's sleep before then !!)
The race itself is less than a mile from my hotel and starts at 7:30am. Not sure if I'll post again before that. If all goes well - I'll have finished before 11am and have a whole day in Chicago to enjoy. There's a post racerunnersworld meetup in Bucktown that I'll likely attend, dragging along some old drinking buddies. My flight is the following afternoon. From the Monday onwards I'm going to be trying to get myself back in shape for the Denver marathon on the 18th. I haven't made the final decision yet - I'll wait until I've run Chicago, but given my current level of fitness and the fact I've done back to back marathons in training - I'm leaning towards running that one too. Hopefully I've got the BQ monkey off my back and I can 'enjoy' the local race.
Ok - enough for now. Even writing about this is making me nervous.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The second 26.2 mile training run
Uggh ! My training program has had me running increased long distance runs each weekend. I've been doing it in pairs, so the first weekend I ran 16 miles, and then again the next. The following weekend it was 18, and then again the next, and so on up to back to back 26 milers (since I was going that far - I had to run the extra 0.2 miles...). The whole process has been very enlightening. Typically the first week I step up to a new mileage, I've suffered over the last few miles. Then the following week - it's that much easier. I'm very glad I've gone all the way up to the full distance. I can't imagine having run just 20 or 22 miles in training, and then having to go through the pain of the extra 4 or 6 miles in the real thing. Now that I've completed my 2 full marathon distance training runs, the distance doesn't concern me.
Back to my initial thought. Uggh ! Last weekend I ran my first 26.2 miler. The weather was perfect. Overcast, temps in the 50s. I left out several bottles of gatorade on the course, and set up my ipod to keep me entertained. I maintained a 7.44 pace the whole way, finishing in a little over 3 hours 22. My BQ time is 3 hours 20, so I was very happy with this effort. The furthest I've ever gone. Running on my own, in hilly Colorado, and not even pushing myself as hard as I felt I could go. I was already starting to plan my sub 3.10 true marathon... That brings me to today's run. The second 26.2 miler. I slept well and went out a little faster. I hit the half at exactly 1.40 - so well on track for the 3.20.59 for Boston. I was still on pace at 20 miles and then it all fell to pieces. Bonk. The last 6 miles were well over a minute slower than I'd been running. I finished in 3.27. I'm pretty sure the back to back marathons in a week were to blame, although it may have been the warmer temps, or just a bad day for me. Still - I can take many positives from the experience. I wanted to stop and walk, but I didn't let myself. The bloody quote from Lance Armstrong was constantly in my mind 'pain is temporary - quitting lasts forever'. Nice one Lance. But I did grit and bear through, so now feel that I've perhaps experienced the worst that can happen and know that I can conquer it - albeit bloody slowly...
And now for one of the nicest words in the world. Taper.
Back to my initial thought. Uggh ! Last weekend I ran my first 26.2 miler. The weather was perfect. Overcast, temps in the 50s. I left out several bottles of gatorade on the course, and set up my ipod to keep me entertained. I maintained a 7.44 pace the whole way, finishing in a little over 3 hours 22. My BQ time is 3 hours 20, so I was very happy with this effort. The furthest I've ever gone. Running on my own, in hilly Colorado, and not even pushing myself as hard as I felt I could go. I was already starting to plan my sub 3.10 true marathon... That brings me to today's run. The second 26.2 miler. I slept well and went out a little faster. I hit the half at exactly 1.40 - so well on track for the 3.20.59 for Boston. I was still on pace at 20 miles and then it all fell to pieces. Bonk. The last 6 miles were well over a minute slower than I'd been running. I finished in 3.27. I'm pretty sure the back to back marathons in a week were to blame, although it may have been the warmer temps, or just a bad day for me. Still - I can take many positives from the experience. I wanted to stop and walk, but I didn't let myself. The bloody quote from Lance Armstrong was constantly in my mind 'pain is temporary - quitting lasts forever'. Nice one Lance. But I did grit and bear through, so now feel that I've perhaps experienced the worst that can happen and know that I can conquer it - albeit bloody slowly...
And now for one of the nicest words in the world. Taper.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Quick Intro
I grew up in England. I was always a decent runner. Never the fastest, but usually in the upper percentiles. I firstly ran track, and then moved to cross country. I wanted to run the London Marathon when I hit 21. I signed up, got in, but then got injured in training and didn't go through with it. Ever since then I've always thought I needed to run one. I started working in London, then got transferred to Chicago, and finally moved to Denver. Life took over and other than a few well meaning attempts to start running again, I pretty much became a lazy blob. Then I turned 40 and decided I'd run out of excuses for not running a marathon. I started training, slowly at first, entered a few races, and have basically spent 2009 getting myself ready for Chicago on October 11th. My goal is to BQ at the first attempt. As I've done more and more, I've realized I can push myself further and further and feel good doing it - well - maybe not actually while doing it, but afterward. I'm now thinking of running the Denver marathon the weekend after Chicago as well, and looking to try some of the more demanding races next year. Mt Evans ascent, Pike's Peak, and perhaps a smaller ultra. We'll see... talk is cheap.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
