Better Late Than Never!

This post is loooong overdue. The Denver Marathon was over a month ago and I haven't posted on how it went.

First I want to thank my unofficial coach, Dana Roueche for all the tips, advice and encouragement. I put a lot of time into the training cycle and by the end I was exhausted and filled with self doubt.  Had I done enough? What else should I have done? I had such a horrible experience last time - what if that happens again? Dana got me to relax and focus on the plan for the race rather than what I had or had not done in preparation for it. In fact, his turn by turn guide to the course was very helpful as I felt like I knew the course before I had even run it. So - Thanks Dana!!

One of the most valuable things Dana got me to do was look pretty hard at was the pace I was planning.  Based on my training plan and a nifty app called PaceCalc, I was convinced I was training for a 4:10 marathon. This would have meant 9:30 pace throughout the race. I had run up to 8 miles at 9:30 pace in training...but no more. In hindsight, there was no way that running 9:30 for 26 miles - in fact, had I tried it I might (probably would) have had a horrible day.  Instead I set my sights on a more realistic target of 4:30 - 4:35, which would be a pace of 10:15.

On race day I was ready. This year, unlike last year, I was able to remain healthy all the way up to the race. I was able to do the full taper, my legs felt fresh and I was good to go. There is a tendency to go out too fast and kill your chances of finishing strong, so I paid close attention to my pace early on and I hit the first mile in 10:05.  Right on track! I soon found the pacers for 4:30 and I fell in with them at about mile 2. I had my energy gel stops mapped out and I sailed through the first half in 2:11 - about a minute off of a 10 minute pace. Easy, peasy lemon squeezy.

Then around mile 16 I started to slow.  Mile 17 I hit at a 10:09 clip, then I had to wait for a port-o-let at mile 18, and I never got close to a 10 minute pace for the rest of the day. I did hit 20 miles much faster than I did in training (by 20 minutes) but I was pretty much out of gas at that point. It was 13 and 14 minute miles after that...walk a tenth, run a tenth, and so on for the last 6 miles.  In the end, I finished in 4:52 which was far off of my 4:35 target, but in reality it was a successful day.

First, in the Colorado Marathon in 2011 I hit 19 miles and was in physical pain. My knees felt like I had rocks in them grinding at the bones, and I was not capable of running. I wound up walking in the last 5 miles and finishing in 5:45; so lopping 53 minutes off of my previous marathon was pretty impressive, even if I do say so myself.

Second, as I touched on before, I was healthy all the way up to the marathon. Last year I was sidelined with a case of plantar faciitis that kept me that from running much for the last month before the marathon. And while I was in agony last year and gimping my way in, this year I wasn't hurt, my tank was just empty. I was able to run a couple of minutes, and when I was out of breath I'd walk a couple of minutes. For the record, I did run the last half mile to the finish - there was no way I was walking over the line!

Lastly, last year I barely was able to run afterwards due to my aching knees - in fact I ran a total of 48 miles from May until December, and it wasn't until mid-May this year that I decided to do another marathon. This year I have run more than 80 in the month since, and I am already looking at doing another next year.

For next year - I will focus more on a 10:15 to 10:30 pace, which would put me at 4:28-4:35...I think the pace setters were going a little too fast. And I need to fuel differently before the race so I have more gas in the tank at the end. I'll be another year older, but I will also be wiser, and that seems to be as important as physical conditioning. See you out there next year!

What I learned from a 16 year old girl

I went out Monday for 4 miles in my Vibrams.  I've been running in them once a week, low mileage, to help strengthen my ankles and knees and the supporting muscles therein.  I've had no problems in them at all, but I've been adding time in them gradually.  Monday was different.  I was only a mile and half into the run (a 4 miler) when I started feeling a hotspot on the ball of my right foot.  I knew what was coming so I headed back, but by the time I got home I still had developed a half-dollar sized blister.  I was really fretting about it because it hurt to just walk in my dress shoes at work all day.  How was I going to keep training with this thing on my foot?  I was thinking about the 16 miles I have coming up this weekend and the thought of 16 miles on blistered foot doesn't sound like any fun at all.

Then I was watching the Olympics this week.  I don't remember her name, but one of our gymnasts has a broken toe.  She is still competing, and has it all taped up.  When the reporters asked her about it, she said "It's only a toe."  I've broken a toe before.  I could not have done what she's been doing with a broken toe, but I figured that she's been training long enough that she can tune out the pain.

So I thought about that in relation to this blister.  Yes, it hurt.  Yes, it's in an inconvenient spot on my foot.  But I have been running more these last two months than I have in my life.  Last week was my biggest mileage week ever at 29, and will be eclipsed by a 32 mile week this week.  Surely my body can handle a little blister.

I shifted my 8 mile run from Tuesday to Wednesday to give the blister some time to settle down.  By Tuesday morning the fluid had gone from it.  It no longer hurt when I walked.  Tuesday night I had all but forgotten about it.  I ran my 8 miles Wednesday and it didn't bother me in the least.  4 more miles at race pace Thursday, no problems.  Today the skin covering the blister has dried out more and is not sensitive at all, and I am actually looking forward to my 16 miles tomorrow.

Lessons?  Pain is temporary and your body is capable of recovering from things quickly.  Don't make too much of little things.  Trust that your training has your body ready for what you need it to do, and most importantly, it's ok to adjust 'the plan' to accommodate the unexpected.  And next time I run in the vibrams I am bringing my travel size body glide.

My biggest week....

Bake 3 hours @ 90 degrees and you have 1 tired zombie

 

I'm roughly halfway through my training plan for the Denver Marathon and this past week was one of my biggest weeks mileage wise ever.  I rolled over 25 miles with a 13 miler on Thursday, and I did not track the distance I ran on Saturday while chasing people up and down hills in Lakewood at Run For Your Lives.  I may have had a bigger week last year, but I certainly did not run 4 days during the week last year and volunteer for 3 hours of 90 degree heat-fueled zombie transformation.  If I did three days a week last year I was lucky.  So I wanted to look back at week one of my training and compare to this week to gauge the progress I have made.
Week 1:
Mon:  3 miles, easy pace
Tues:  3 miles, easy pace
Weds:  Strength/Core
Thurs:  3 miles, tempo pace
Fri:  Rest
Sat:  5 miles, long pace
Sun:  Cross training

11 miles total, with some biking, yoga, and weights/core exercises.  Now let's look at week 8:

Mon:  5K test run
Tues:  6 miles, race pace
Wed:  3 miles easy + Spartan Workout
Thurs:  13 miles, long pace

Fri:  Rest
Sat:  Run For Your Lives!
Sun:  Cross training
25 miles total (with probably 2 more miles of hill repeats on Saturday).

For the elites, and even the gazelles around Boulder, this is maybe not a lot of mileage, but for a mastodon like me, it's a lot.  And here's the great part - it felt great.  I have no more aches or pains than I had that first week.  In all honesty, I probably have fewer aches and pains than I had that first week.  I have only missed a couple of running workouts, which I think makes a huge difference.  I've not made every Wed/Sun workout, but I've done more of them than I did last year.  Halfway through training and I am feeling very positive about my progress.  It's fun to be in better shape now than I was 8 weeks ago.  It's fun to be 6 pounds lighter (24 pounds less stress on the knees with each step) and it's fun to know that the best is yet to come.

It's not the heat, it's the humidity

I got a decently early start for this morning's 12 miler. We had some rain last night so the temperature was down a bit from this last couple of weeks (64 degrees vs. 70+ the last two weeks). However, when I stepped out of the car I started sweating immediately. According to Longmont's Weather Underground the humidity stood at about 90%. I started out and the humidity was immediately oppressive.

 I was trying a new app today, called "Zombies! Run!" which mixes dialog in with your music. The intro is that your helicopter has crashed on it's way to a safe zone after the zombie apocalypse has happened. The people in the safe zone talk to you, and you pick up materials and supplies along your run to the base, and there are a multitude of missions to go through. Sample:

 "Hello...running person. I don't know you but I have you on camera. There's a small army of zombies to your left...you need to get to move faster." At one point there was a zombie moaning in my left ear. It was creepy! That was also my fastest split of the day.

 Since this was my long run I was keeping my pace between 10:40 and 11:40. They went like this:

1. 10:40 
2. 10:30 
3. 10:27 
4. 10:14 - Zombie! Run! 
5. 11:30 Mile 5 is where I felt the humidity get to me. Ate a fuel gel. 
6. 10:55 At this point I was doing the math in my head as to whether I was going to make it back, or have to walk it in. 
7. 10:52 Surely I was going to run out of energy at this point...but the gel kicked in and I got a second wind. 
8. 10:52 Ok, staying consistent. 2/3 of the way there. 
9. 10:55 Around this time the sun came out so now it was hot AND humid. I knew at any time I was going to run out of gas. 
10. 11:04 Starting to feel the heat.  I made a bargain with myself. If I could run 5 minutes I would walk 30 seconds. This is also the point at which I had run the farthest since the marathon last May. 
11. 10:35 Run 5/walk 30 seemed to work really well! I still had enough juice to close this thing out. 
12. 10:56 It was hot, humid, and it was over!

A couple of other things I did differently today was, firstly, I wore my hydration backpack so I had PLENTY of water, and on a day like this that had to make a difference. Secondly, I put Nipguards on, and that made such a big difference compared to the last couple of weeks.  Once I get sweating, I don't stop and on my longer runs I started getting some chafing issues. All of this is why I much prefer run in 40 degree weather rather than the summer heat. So...hydration pack, Nipguards, gel packs and zombies. 12 miles, done!

Another day, another reason to run

I was really, really tired this morning when the alarm went off.  It's been a long work week and I didn't get to bed when I wanted to, etc, etc.  I was seriously tempted to snooze the alarm and run tonight, but that is an even less attractive proposition than getting up and running.

I was pondering that on my run this morning.  Thursdays are my tempo/hard run days, and I am getting to really like them.  I have always trained this way:  I try to run at less than a 10 minute pace, and if I have gas in the tank I run faster.  In other words, I would run as fast as I could for as long as I could.  I hadn't yet embraced the paradox that to get faster you need to go slower.  Easy pace, tempo pace were not terms in my vocabulary.

I'm very internally competitive, so one of the reasons I like the easy pace days is that they give me permission to run slower than I would otherwise.  I'm also liking my hard run days for the same reason - they give me permission to go for it.  My trial 5K was (for me) a blistering 8:24 pace.  At the end I was well and truly spent.  Today, 14 days later, I ran 8:42 for 3 miles and it honestly didn't feel that hard.  Well - I was slow to warm up, so the first mile was a little rough, but I ended with a 8:18 pace for the final mile, and it felt easier than the 9:24 I ran for the first mile.  At the end of the run I felt like the dogs you see in the park with the slobbery wet tennis ball in their mouths.  I was having fun not paying attention to my pace and just running, and even though I get a sense of satisfaction in marking the check mark on my training plan, today was about running as fast I wanted just because I could.

That feeling carries through into the work day too.  I got to work a little later than normal, but knowing my workout was done already had my head clear and I could focus on work without worrying about getting my run in later.  The mental freedom running provides is a fantastic boon, and is another thing that keeps me rolling out of bed early in the AM to lace up my kicks.  As nice as sleeping in can be, it's never made my day easier to get through.  Now if I can get to bed earlier, then I'll have the best of both worlds!

What are your thoughts on the subject?  Are you an early riser, or a evening exerciser?

Feeling the burn....

I've completed 5 weeks of training now.  In these 5 weeks I've logged 84 miles and run for almost 14 hours in total.  For the elites, this is a week's worth of training, but for a mastodon like myself, it's a lot.  And I'm feeling it.

My summary page from the iPad app "Run Journal"

This is where rest days and my bi-monthly massage are great.  I'm also using ice packs on my knees, not because I need them, but precisely because I don't need them, and I want to keep it that way.  I also see the wisdom of the back-off week.

For example, this past Saturday I had my first real long run, a 10 miler that I did half on concrete/asphalt and half on gravel or dirt trails.  It's my first 20+ mile week, up from 18 the week before, which is a pretty big jump from week to week.  This week my long run is 7 miles - three miles less than this past week, a mile less than it was two weeks ago.  Total mileage will be 19 for the week, and I'm betting that the 7 miles on Saturday will feel easy and leave me with fresher legs for week 7 which goes up to 24 miles with a 12 miler on Saturday July 7.

My Home Page on the iPad's "Run Journal"

I did want to touch on my 10 miler from this weekend for a minute.  I started at the 119th street trailhead for the St Vrain Greenway and warmed up on the gravel side path for the first mile, then turned south and headed for the Left Hand Creek trail.  Because the city has the trail torn up at Main Street, a big chunk of the trail is a detour on Missouri Avenue but that's no biggie - it's either going to be concrete on the trail or asphalt on the road.  When the trail hits Sunset there's another crushed gravel path that is well shaded (a relief at the end of my run as the temperature had climbed into the 70's).  That path goes for about 3/4 of a mile, then crosses Hover and the trail becomes the Lobo trail.  It's a nice wide dirt trail the winds through farmland and parallels the railroad tracks (for at least as far as I went this weekend).  It is a nice and well maintained trail.  I was rounding a corner, getting clear of a stand of trees with Collective Soul's "The World I Know" driving me forward.  The chorus was crooning "So I walk up on high / And I step to the edge / To see my world below" and there in the middle of the trail was a golden eagle.  It had a chunk of something in it's talons and it was just standing there with it's wings slightly spread and it's beak open about an inch, just staring straight back at me.  I stopped in my tracks and there we were, about 20 feet apart, me not moving and him just standing there daring me to get closer.  Just as I was wondering how long this standoff would last he decided to take his snack and get moving.  He spread his wings, and with a few flaps was soaring up and over the trees to my left.  It's moments like that one that make me love running.  It could be the sunrise lighting up the front range at the precise moment I crest the hill by Union Reservoir, or the eagle, or any of a number of other things.  They don't happen too often, which is good or they would lose their value.  Their rarity more than makes up for sore muscles, hurting knees and blistered feet (though I haven't had those in a while).  Most importantly, they do NOT happen when you sleep in or sit on the couch.  You have go out and chase them down, and that is what running is all about.  How's that for a moment of zen?

Running, drinking, and running some more

It's hard to believe, but I am almost 25% done with my marathon training.  My long run this week is 8 miles, which will be my longest run of the year...in fact, the longest run probably since the marathon last year.  I'm excited because everything so far has been going very well, so this is a big test for me physically.  I've also started seeing some weight come off which is a nice side benefit to all this running.  Last year I got down to about 175 before the marathon, which was what I weighed when I graduated college in 1996.  If I can get down into the 150s we will be talking 1980's since I saw a number that low on the scale.  Focus is the key...and fewer nights like Friday night.

I went out with a couple of buddies Friday and ended up drinking more than I should have, and staying out much later than I should have.  My long run Saturday was a hot, painful sorry mess of a run...but I got it done and my time wasn't that bad either, even though I felt like I was running in molasses shoes through a field of peanut butter.  Note to self; next time Kurt calls and wants to go out, make sure it's not the night before a long run.  :-)

Tonight is strength and core, so we'll see if I can conquer my nemesis workout without being brought to my knees like last time.  Tomorrow for my hard run I am going to target 26 minutes for 5K, assuming the smoke from the Rist Canyon fire isn't as bad as it was yesterday.  I ended up on the treadmill for 4 miles because the smoke was so bad outside I could barely see the end of our street.  Anyway, if I can hit 26 minutes I'll feel like I am making good progress. 

By the way, I saw a quote today that really resonated with me - "If you're tired of starting over, stop giving up."  I love it.  Git'r'done!

What doesn't kill us...sometimes just makes us sick.

One of my commitments in training for this marathon is to do more strength training than I did last time, which was essentially none, so this should not be hard.  As I prepared for the Spartan race in early May, I did some of the "Spartan WODs (Workouts Of the Day) from emails the race peeps send every night.  Much of the exercises focus on body weight (push ups, wall sits, leg lifts, burpees....LOTS of burpees) so you can do them anywhere, and with the exception of exercises like pull ups or sand bag carries, they can be done without access to any equipment.  In that vein I, hit Wednesday night pretty hard.

I did the following workout:

• 10 pushups
• 20 crunches
• 25 squats (I did them on the Bowflex with 100 pounds but you could do body weight)
• 20 lunges (10 each leg)
• 30 jumping jacks
• 60 second wall sit (never done this?  60 seconds is an ETERNITY!)
• 10 leg lifts

Repeat - do circuit 3 times.

I am proud to say I completed the circuit the prescribed three times.  The I felt like a week one contestant on The Biggest Loser.  I got nauseous, felt like throwing up and almost went down.  I drank some water, grabbed an ice pack and put it on the back of my neck, laid down for a few minutes and felt better.

On the plus side, I hit my target pace (8:55 - I actually ran 8:50) for my tempo run Thursday morning.  By comparison, the discomfort of the tempo run was nothing to the Biggest Loser moment of the night before, and Saturday's long run was a walk in the park.  Training week two - over and out!

Week one - done and done!

Week one is in the books. I completed every workout and even adhered to my rest day, which for me is hard. The run of the week was the 5 mile long run on Saturday. It was warm (56 degrees) and really humid. The clouds were hanging low and along the St Vrain greenway it was foggy. I love runs like that where everything feels kind of surreal. Anyway, I took it slow, trying to adhere to my long run pace, and a funny thing happened. I lost track of time and pace, and the final two miles flew by. I felt like I was gliding effortlessly along, and the last two miles were well under my target pace, but I could not have helped it if I wanted to. My last mile was close to my tempo pace, but my heart rate was around 150, about 30 beats lower than my tempo run. This was, for only the second time in 8 years of running, the elusive runner's high in action, and it was wonderful. This is what makes running worthwhile.

Week 1 - almost in the books!

Today is one of the harder days for me in my training plan...the rest day. It feels like I should be doing SOMEthing. I have to force myself to remember that this is when muscles repair themselves, rebuild connections, and you become stronger. No rest = injuries. Injuries = no marathon, or a painful one like last year. So today, I rest.

Yesterday was a tempo day. The target pace was 8:55 and we ran 9:29. Not bad for my first tempo run. Hopefully I can improve on that next week. Tomorrow is a 5 miler for my long run. Today, I rest.

Day 3 and I'm still 100%! Woot!

I'm 3 days into the training plan and I'm still perfect. Everything is feeling good, I'm energized and looking forward to my workouts. I may have to move my long run to Friday this week as graduation is Saturday and I don't know if I will have time beforehand. Yesterday was my second run, 3 miles at easy pace. I went early because I knew I would not have time after work and it was lovely to get out while the world was still waking up. As it gets hotter I will definitely have to do that more often. I intend to spend some time in the heat though, as I need to get acclimated for Run For Your Life in July. Tonight was strength and core, and I did a circuit-style body weight routine capped with one mile in my Vibrams. It was a heckuva workout, though it didn't really seem to get my heartrate up that much. The third one minute wall sit about killed me! But with RFYL coming up, it's going to be good to get a bunch of these kinds of workouts under my belt. Tomorrow it's 3 miles @ tempo pace - which is 8:55. Per my race-pace tool: "Tempo" run - 8:55 min/mile Tempo runs help you improve your running economy and your running form. They are often described as hard but controlled runs, and they will help you prepare for races of 10,000 meters to the marathon. I'm hitting this one early because we will probably have taco night tomorrow night. It's all about balance!!

Day one - in the bag!

Today officially started my marathon training. It was no huge deal - 3 miles easy pace - but it was important because I'm off to a good start. It's hard because distractions arise so easily, but I have to keep up with my plan.

One thing that I've never done before is to really look at my goal times and build my plan off of that. For example, 3 easy miles...what does that mean? Well, my pace calculator app for the iPad tells me this about that:

"Easy run - 10:40 min/mile
Top coaches and exercise physiologists believe that most runners should do 80 to 90 percent of their weekly training at the easy run pace this includes your long runs, done at approximately the same pace. Easy runs build your aerobic fitness, and your muscular and skeletal strength. They also help you burn more calories and recover for harder workouts."

This is interesting, because my historical method of training was to go out as fast as I could for each run. Running slower than I could seems counter intuitive, but I have to trust the plan. I did pretty good - I averaged 10:21 over the three miles, which is awfully darned close to 10:40.

Tomorrow: second verse, same as the first!

End of the week catch up.

So far I've been great about the training, but slacking on the part where I blog about it.  I did a spartan workout for my strength/core day on Wednesday, and it worked me over pretty good.  I've got a couple of good programs set up for going forward so that's good.  I really slacked on the strength and core training for the last marathon and paid for it the last 6 miles.  If I die this time it won't be because I didn't do the work.

Next up was the hard run.  This week it was two miles @ an 8:45 pace.  Bookmark this, because I clearly remember last go-round (last year) I did a 6 or 7 miler in 9:00 pace and it wasn't that tough.  2 miles at 8:45 had me dying!  But I did it, didn't give in to the voice saying "walk!!  Just for a minute..." and I ran the whole 2.  That kind of mental discipline is key in running distance (not that 2 miles is really 'distance' but we play the way we practice.....).  The key thing is that after my knees felt so racked up on Monday this week, by the hard run yesterday they felt great, no issues at all.  Let's hope it stays that way.  My mantra is STRETCH WHEN DONE.  It will keep my body happy.

Today is my day off.  Poker night.  Beer/Margaritas and a 4 miler tomorrow morning.  Crosstrain on Sunday, then I start the REAL training plan on Monday.

Pre-training - Day 2

My official marathon training schedule kicks off next Monday with 3 miles (easy).  This week I'm mimicking that schedule, just backing off the mileage a bit to get back into it.  Yesterday and today I did 2 miles.  I know, big whoop...but it is amazing how stiff my knees are and how unwilling my legs are - and I've not taken that much time off.  To be fair, today was much easier than yesterday, despite the 82 degree heat.  I have a friend in Phoenix who is dealing with 106 degrees so it's all relative, but 82 is HOT for me.  My ideal temp for running is between 40 and 45 degrees, so 82 kills me.

Anyway, tomorrow is a core/strength day and I have a whopper of a Spartan workout planned.  I doubt I will be able to complete it, but I will give it my best shot - and eventually I will complete it.  I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow night. 

I'll wrap up this week with 10 miles total, and ramp up to 14 next week.  Sunday is a cross training day so I think I'll go hiking up in Wild Basin (maybe) or I might get on the bike if the hiking plans fall through.  As God is my witness, I am not going into this marathon under trained.  More tomorrow - have a good night!

Getting Serious Now!

It's a week after the first ever Spartan Military Sprint and I am jonesing for the next challenge.  Since I am now a member of Team Beef, I have decided to start training for the Denver Rock & Roll Marathon.  The only problem is, despite having completed the Spartan race (slowly), I feel like on a fitness scale of 1 to 10, I am about a 2.  Realistically to start training for a marathon I feel you should be starting at about a 5, and fitness is not something you can fake or put in extra time to catch up on.  As I found out last year, it's all about time on your feet, and you cannot rush that piece or you risk an over training injury.  It breaks down like this: the less trained you are, the more likely you can over train, and hence the more likely you are to get an over training injury.  So the simple task is to train as hard as you can and not any more.  Easy, right?

Last year, I trained somewhat sporadically, often following a mish mash of training plans, including the Runner's World 'three day a week' training plan.  I skipped more training sessions than I should have, and about a month before my race I developed plantar fasciitis, so my remaining training time was limited.  In the end, like the Spartan race, I finished but it was not painless.  In fact, my knees hurt so bad after the first 16 miles of downhill that I didn't run much for the remainder of the year.

I started this year with some hit or miss running, but with no specific goals in front of me, I haven't been exactly focused.  My training for the Spartan Race was 3 running sessions with burpees mixed in and a day where I did 240 pushups in 48 minutes.  Looking back on that, it's a miracle I finished the race.

So the question is, what am I going to do differently this time?  For one thing, I have the power of the iPad.  I have an app called 26.2 that has mapped out a plan for me based on my parameters - race date of September 22nd, training plan = beginner, goal time is 4 hours 30 minutes.  Hit save and BOOM - your own marathon plan.  It's heavy on running - 4 days per week - but light on mileage to start.  One day is dedicated to strength and core, and another day is blocked for cross training.  In my corner for both of those off days - Spartan workouts.  Strength, core and cross training are key components of the Spartan plan.  With these weapons at my disposal, I can't help but succeed.

Oh, yeah, there's the little thing called actually DOING the work...

...to be continued.