One week to go

Well, I'm in my last week of tapering and one week before the marathon. This past week, I went back to the doctors about my knee. He basically said he did not want to do anything right now, but put me on some anti-inflammatory drugs until the race. So, I'm taking Aleve twice a day. The runs I went on last week were ok, the knee would hurt a bit, but it never got worse. So, I'm still stretching and resting, and hoping for the best.

This week, I only have two runs before the race, so its all about rest. I ran 31 miles last week, which is the shortest mileage in about 2 months. I think this week, excluding the marathon, I have only 10 miles to run. Big difference.

I look back at my training log and I've run over 30-miles a week for the last 32 weeks, and many of those weeks were over 35 miles. I've run a lot in the last year, 1,591.6 miles to be exact. I think I'm as ready for this race as I can be.

So here is my plan. Run. Finish. Enjoy myself. If it hurts, I'll stop and stretch. If it hurts too much, I'll walk. I've done all I can do to get ready.

Another Doctors Appointment

Well, ran twice so far this week, and had knee pain both times. Yesterday, I felt a pulling sensation in the side of my left knee, which went away after a bit, but then came back toward the end of the 5-mile run. Today, the pulling sensation was there the whole time. It did not get worse, but it did not get better either. This past weekend, I felt the pulling, but also my right IT band was hurting at the end of my 12-mile run. I'm still rolling and stretching each day, but not doing my leg exercises. So starting tomorrow, I'm back doing the exercises.

I'm freaking out a bit since the marathon is a week from Sunday. I'm considering pulling out of the race and concentrating on getting better, but Thea suggested going to the doctor one more time.

I called and luckily they had a cancellation and will be able to fit me in tomorrow. So, I'm going to go, explain the issues, and see what he says. Wish me luck!

Taper - Week 2

So, I've made it through my first week of tapering, and I gotta tell you, I feel more tired than I did during the heavy weeks of training. I'm not sure what it is, but my runs have been tough and body just feels worn down. Last week, I ran about 35 miles, which is about 75% of the week before. My long run was 12 miles, and I was really pooped after it.

In fact, my IT bands were really tight and my knees were sore after that run. I have not changed anything. I'm eating the same, still rolling the IT bands twice a day, and sleeping the same (which is not enough probably), but that run messed me up. My left quad near my IT band is still sore today.

Of course these pains and my performance this past week discouraged me. I fear I'm not going to be able to finish, or that I'll be hobbling across the finish line. I've decided I don't want to just finish this race, I want to be happy with my performance. This may be hard to accomplish since I'm so critical of myself, but I think if I can finish the race the way I've finished the 20-mile runs, I'd be happy.

I also want to enjoy the race. I think back to many other races, and they are such a blur. I'm thinking about pace and catching the person ahead of me instead of soaking in the experience. In my training lately, all I've been thinking about are the pains I'm feeling instead of enjoying the experience and dealing with the pain. I have to remember that running, like life, is a journey that is to be experienced and enjoyed and not just pushed through until the finish.

As I start my second week of tapering, the miles drop even more. My total this week is to be about 30 miles, about 60% of two weeks ago. I need to run slow and consistent. I need to deal with the pain, stretch when I have to, stop when I have to, and enjoy my final preparation. As I was driving last night, I could not believe that in two weeks it will be done. Now is the time to start enjoying it.

Time to taper

Well, I have three weeks left until the marathon. I've been running hard and am a bit tired. I had my last 20 mile run this past weekend and it went pretty well. I ran the back half of the marathon route first and then a portion of the front half. The back half is pretty hilly, so I wanted to test it out to see how bad it might be. I did ok, but I hit the hills at about mile 5 instead of mile 17 like I will during the race. I'm sure those hills are going to kill me come race day.

I have not really been having any IT band issues, but did have a "new" pain form in my knee near the end of the 20-mile run. This time the pain is on the inside of my left knee below the knee cap and was pretty sharp. It hurt for a second or two, then went away. After about 19 miles, it hit again, caused me to slow, but again went quickly away. I ran a recovery run on Sunday and did not have any problems. We'll see how this week of running goes.

Anyway, as for the taper, I've been reading a lot about tapering and why its necessary. Most say tapering is needed because a runners body/muscles are being broken down during heavy training and the taper allows the body to heal. I read somewhere that it takes three weeks to fully recover from a 20-mile run... yikes... and I've done three in the last seven weeks.. I guess I need that tapering.

From what I've read, for the three weeks proceeding the race, the weekly mileage should be cut. The first week, the mileage should be cut by 25%, the second 50% and the third 70%. That's a lot less running. I need to keep the intensity and pace up, but just cut the mileage. I've been running a lot of miles around race pace, so I figure, its time to cut that back a little and try and run a bit slower. The last thing I want is to get hurt during the tapering phase.

I've also heard that my body will begin to ache a bit more during this period. As the body repairs itself, it will hurt. They say don't freak out at each new pain... do they know who they are talking to???

Well, I get to run an easy 5-mile run today. I'm looking forward to getting out there and testing out that left knee. Hopefully everything will go well, and I can enjoy this tapering.

What a doof

The Frederick Marathon organizes two training runs to allow folks to meet other runners and have a chance to run part of the course. This weekend was the second scheduled training run. I missed the first due to other commitments, so I was excited to run in this one. They had two loops planned, a 10-mile and a 20-mile option. Since I ran 20 miles last weekend, my plan called for a 14-miler this weekend. So my plan was to run the 10-mile loop and then continue on for an additional 4 miles.

The advertisement for the training run said water and Gatorade would be available throughout the course, but I had to bring my own GU. So, as I got ready, I packed my GU, and hydration pack. I was not planning to run with the hydration pack, but brought it just in case. The weather was calling for pretty cold temperatures, 28F at 7am maybe warming to 35F by 9am, so I wore long pants, long sleeves, my hat and gloves. I also brought along a print off of the turn-by-turn directions for the 10-mile loop.

I got to the parking deck about 6:50am and gathered my stuff. The directions said to meet outside the parking deck near Carroll Creek. So as I headed to the creek, I noticed the town was very quiet and peaceful. The sun was just starting to rise, and the breeze was rather cool. When I got to the creek I looked for the people. I could see no people, anywhere. As I wondered why no one was around, I remembered the direction said outside the West Patrick parking deck... and I had parked at the Court St deck. So I ran down Patrick a bit to the deck. As I made my way back to the creek, I noticed it was just about 7am.

But when I got to the creek again there were no people.... it was kinda eerie, , absolutely no people. I began to wonder if I missed everyone. I had RSVPed for the training run, and responded to a post on Frederick Steeplechasers site, but the funny thing was I was the only person to respond... maybe no one else was running this training run???

So, I went back to the car, got the hydration pack, and started out on the course myself. Since the advertisement said there would be aid stations, I would stop at the first one and ask if I was the only one to respond.

The first mile took me down Market street to 5th, then onto Bentz. This was the same route I took during my first 20-mile run several weeks ago. Heading down Bentz took me to Baker park, where I knew I would see the other runners. As I circled Baker park, again it was totally dead... not a single runner, but the day was beautiful. After circling around Frederick High, I came back toward Baker park down 2nd. After about 4.5 miles I knew I had to be wrong about the day.

I stopped and stretched the IT band after mile 6 somewhere near Hood college. Mile 7 and 8 took me through a new subdivision and right by Thomas Johnson high school. I took my GU at 8miles and passed Emma's pre-school at mile 9. By mile 10 I was back at the parking deck down town.

At this point, I knew I had to be wrong, or someone had forgotten to tell me the training run was cancelled. I looped Baker Park one more time for the last four miles and finished in about 1 hour and 50 min. My left knee kinda started bothering me at 13.5 miles, but I stopped and stretched and it seemed ok after that. I realized I had not stretched it since mile 6... If I don't stretch, I can't make it...

When I got back to the car, I used my phone to go back to the website. The training run is scheduled for March 28... I knew I was right....I just kn.... wait..... today is March 27th.... damn, I am such a doof

2nd 20-mile run

In my training schedule for the Frederick Marathon are three twenty mile runs. The first was about three weeks ago and the details are here. At the end of that run, I was pretty sore and my IT band ached the last 5 miles. I could barely run for a couple of days and my next long run had to be cut short. So, as I prepared for this run, I was nervous.... about the distance, about my knee, about my attitude. I had gone to the Doctor about my knee and he gave me a cortisone shot, which was suppose to help and last for three months. I'm also suppose to start working on core exercises, which I am.

I got up at 6am to prepare to run. After dressing, I had a bagel and some caffeine. I got my hydration belt, my two GUs, my sunglasses, and my (extra) knee strap and got ready to go. I also taped my left knee with the KT tape. Kinda felt like batman with so much stuff strapped to my waste. I hit the road at 6:50am.

My plan was stop and stretch my IT band every 4 miles whether I needed it or not. I wanted to hydrate and take a GU every 8 miles. I had a 10-mile loop worked out, and I planned to run it twice.

First four miles went easy... I stopped and stretched... no problem

Second four miles went pretty easy... I stopped and stretched and had water and GU. Every once in a while, I felt something in my knee... but not bad... I was having tightness in my right hamstring, but the stretching helped.

I stopped at 10-miles to turn around. I stopped and stretched. So far feeling good.

At Mile 11, left knee started bothering me... my first thought was "shit!" and I almost stopped and turned toward home. I stopped and stretched, shorten my pace, and my knee stopped bothering me.

Mile 12, my right knee was getting achy... so i stopped and stretched... seems like a trend

Mile 14, felt pretty good, but still decided to stop and stretch.

Mile 16, stopped, had water and GU and stretched... my legs were tired, but nothing hurt

Mile 18, felt pretty good, but by now I was paranoid, so I stopped and stretched.

Last two miles were not bad... no real pain except for expected achy legs. And I never used the extra knee strap!

So, I did it, and without too much pain... afterwords, I showered, ate and went to the park with the kids. Ended up playing Trac Ball for about two hours. As I sit here and write this, my legs are tired, but feel good. I think I'll be able to run tomorrow!!

This run gave me a bit of confidence and made me think that I may be able to do this marathon thing..... which is in about 43 days... yikes!

Mental focus

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been having this knee issue. I'm pretty sure its IT band problems, but I'm no doctor. So, I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor on Tuesday to get an evaluation of my knee. In the meantime, I have been stretching, rolling (with a hard foam roller), and using KT tape to aid in healing. I guess it must be working since I ran my runs this week, including 12 miles today, without any knee pain. But as I have read, doing what I'm doing is fixing the symptoms but not solving the problem. So hopefully the doctor and his physical therapist will be able to help me solve the problem. I'll let you know..

Having this knee issue is kinda taking the fun out of running. I find myself thinking way too much about my knee and not enjoying the run. I realize that keeping good form will help me to be injury free, but the running where my mind wonders or enjoys the surroundings is what I'm looking for. But my hypochondria has always got the best of me. For example, I went to the dentist, who took an x-ray of my mouth. After looking at the film, she informed me I had a tooth with extensive decay inside, with no apparent decay on the outside. I also had no pain. She took another x-ray to be sure, and this time the x-ray was clean. She still wanted to do something due to the issue in the first film. She decided to wait until my next visit and look again, but since then my tooth has hurt. The more I think about it, the more it hurts.... typical...

The point is that I have to unfocus my mind on the particular issue of my knee, and refocus my mind on the enjoyment of running. I should be encouraged that my knee was pain free last week, and look forward to better runs this week. I have a big week ahead of me. My next 20-mile run is next Saturday and I'll do the best I can..... as long as my mind cooperates!

Injured...now what?

Last weekend I had my first 20-Mile run. As I mentioned in a previous post, I felt really good until about 15 miles, when the outside of my left knee started to hurt. I kept running. By the end of the run, my knee was pretty sore. Now, I've had this problem before. The pain is usually above my knee and to the outside and occurs after long runs. The first time was on the towpath after a 15-mile run. It happened again on a a 14-mile run near home. Just recently, it happened near the end of the Cloud Half Marathon. In each of these cases, I rested, iced, stretched and continued to run. Of course, I did Internet searches and diagnosed myself with IT band issues. I bought a foam roller, and did the crazy stretches, and it seemed to get better.

After this 20-mile run, I tried to run the day after, and my knee was too sore, but by the second day, I seemed to run 3-miles fine. I then travelled to Albuquerque, and ran 6, 8, 6 mile runs with no apparent problems. On Saturday was a 14-mile run, and about 6-miles in, I felt some pain in my knee. By mile 7 I had to stop. I turned around and walked the 5-miles home. This has never happened before, I never had to stop and walk home.

I iced and rested, and tried to run on Sunday. I felt a twinge at 4-mile and by 5 I again had to stop. This time the pain was a dull ache and was lower on my knee, but still on the outside.

So, I'm bummed. I need to go to the doctor and figure out what this really is. My marathon is only about 8 weeks away.... not sure what will happen, but Thea keeps telling me to not give up.

I'm calling the doctor on Monday to see if he can get me in. I'll post an update soon.

Longest run to date

I've been running for a long time, but never considered myself a long distance runner. But my decision to run a marathon forces me to run distances I have never run before. This weekend, I ran my first 20-mile run. I was a bit anxious since I've been having a bit of a problem with my IT band causing pain in my left knee after long distances. I've been stretching the IT band and watching that knee, so I was hoping all would go well.

I chose a route that did not start from my house. I first did that because of the snow and how dangerous the sidewalks were around my house, but as the sidewalks were cleared, I kept the route since it was more exciting (kinda like a race) to drive to the start line. I had mapped a 10-mile loop starting and ending at Baker park, and winding around downtown Frederick.

After having a bit of breakfast, I started running about 7am. It was about 30F and a bit windy, but not too bad. Here was what I was thinking during the run

Mile 1 - Boy its kinda cold, maybe I should have layered more.
Mile 2 - I wish the roads were better labeled, I think I'm lost
Mile 2.1 - Ok, now I know where I am. Damn, I'm hot, I wore too many layers.
Mile 5 - Oh no, no sidewalks, I hate running on the shoulder
Mile 6.3 - Shit, I should have turned right on Patrick not left.... better turn around
Mile 8 - Should I stop for a drink and GU, no, I'm good
Mile 10.5 - One loop done, feeling good, will have water and GU
Mile 12.5 - Whoa, whoa....... damn I did not see that ice, I hope I did not hurt anything in that fall
Mile 14 - I feel slight pain in my left knee - better stop and stretch
Mile 15 - Knee is bothering me, but not getting worse, but whats going on with my right Achilles
Mile 17 - Only three more miles
Mile 18 - Need to stop.... will have water and GU.... need to stretch that knee again
Mile 19.5 - This has been the longest mile ever, and both my knee and Achilles are sore
Mile 20 - I did it, who can carry me back to my car??

On the day after, my left knee is sore and my right Achilles is really sore and tight. I'm not sure I'll be able to do my recovery run today, but I'm glad I got through my first 20-mile run. And the best part, I get to do it again in three weeks!

A week of rest

This marathon training program I'm following calls for a week of rest every third week of training. Rest is defined as less running, not no running! At this point, the training weeks consist of about 20 miles during the week and about 20-25miles on the weekend. The runs during the week are staying constant, but the long run on Saturday is building to reach the marathon goal. The week of rest is basically cutting the mileage in about half, allowing the legs to recover for the upcoming increase in mileage. This week calls for about 25 miles total since next weekend is my first 20 mile run.

Running 25 miles in a week seems like a breeze now, after building to about 40 miles per week. Actually, a couple of days this past week I felt a bit antsy because I was not running. Friday was such a day. So, I decided to take an unscheduled run outdoors. Please realize this was the first run outside in about 2 weeks due to the crazy snow we have been getting this year. I also wanted to get out to check the road/sidewalk conditions knowing that I really wanted to do the 20-miler on the road next week. So, I bundled up and hit the road.

There is still a lot of snow out there. The streets are clear, but there are no shoulders and many of the sidewalks are not clear. So, it was a bit of a challenge. I ran around the neighborhood, keeping to the street when the sidewalks were covered. I left the neighborhood on my normal path to the adjacent neighborhood and quickly realized I do not like running on the street with no shoulder. Those cars move very fast! I turned around and headed back to my neighborhood.

I got just over 4 miles in, and while it was nice to be outside, it was very hard to keep pace. In addition, I had to keep looking at my feet to make sure I was not stepping on snow/ice chucks or black ice. I kept thinking that running the neighborhood was not so bad, but if I was tired at the end of a long run, I may not be as careful, and would probably hurt myself.

Looking forward to next weekend, I need to find some place with sidewalks/streets plowed well so I don't have to worry about my footing. Running 20-miles is a challenge enough without having to worry about jumping over snow banks and slipping on black ice. I know the downtown area is more maintained than the location I'm at, so I may start there.

How hard can it be to find 20-miles of road/sidewalk with no snow or ice only two weeks after the 50+ inches on snow dumped during the Blizzard of 2010??? Argh...

Running with Captain Kirk

As you know from my previous posts, we got a ton of snow in Maryland. To be precise, we got about 50 inches of snow in about a week of time. Government offices (where I work) were closed for 4.5 days. We did not see a snow plow for a week. Needless to say I've been spending time on the treadmill. Typically this would be ok with me, but I'm also training for a spring marathon, so this means I have to spend a lot of time on the treadmill.

Saturday was my long run for the week. I was scheduled to do 18miles. On Friday, I took a walk to assess the neighborhood and local streets and knew I'd have to do this run on the treadmill. The sidewalks were not plowed, and the roads, though slightly cleared, had no shoulders and in many cases only one lane was plowed. So I knew I'd have to start mentally planning for this indoor run. The only way I've been able to get through the long treadmill runs was to watch an action movie. Chick flicks just don't do it for me (not sure they ever do), and dramas are too boring. Comedies work sometimes, but can also be too boring. Action/adventure movies seem to keep me interested enough to get through the long treadmill miles.

For today's run I chose Star Trek. I saw this movie in the theatre and loved it. I love origin movies, and this was one of the best. In fact, with the time travel and all, it actually re-wrote the Star Trek history and opened the door for many more movies. Anyway, this is not suppose to be a review of Star Trek, just an example of the type of movie that gets me through 18 miles on the treadmill. Great characters, great interactions, great story, and great action..... just what I needed. I started the run kinda slow (8.5 m/m) and kept it that way for about 5 miles. I then pushed the pace to about 8.2 m/m and the incline to 0.5%. I ran this was until about 8 miles. At this point, I stopped to get some water and a GU ( less than 1min). I then increased the incline to 2% for the next mile. After mile 9 I deceased the incline to 0.5% and upped the speed to 8m/m (I was feeling pretty good at this point). After mile 12, I stopped for some water (less then 20 sec) and a short stretch. Between mile 12 and 15 I played with the pace, upping and lowering it as it felt natural. Never less than 7:30 m/m and never greater than 8:30 m/m. At Mile 15, Spock and Kirk beamed aboard the Romulan ship and the real action began!!. At 16.2 miles the movie ended and I quickly stepped off the treadmill to put in a CD from the Big Bang Theory (great sitcom) to finish the run. Finished 18 miles in 148 min and 25 sec. an 8:15m/m. I'm pretty happy with that.

My left knee only bothered me slightly, and the quick stretch really helped it. I was tired and my shirt was soaked and salt stained, but I did it. Not only was this my longest treadmill run, but my longest run ever. I'm pretty proud of myself. My training calls for a recovery week next week, and my first 20-mile run in two weeks. Hopefully the roads will be better by then, but if not, I'll have to find another good action movie, and hit that treadmill again!

I see a treadmill in my future

In Maryland, we got about 25 inches of snow as of Saturday afternoon. Now thats a lot of snow. Growing up in Illinois, I remember many large snow storms, but not many top this amount of snowfall. When I was in the 8th grade, my family went on vacation to Florida (where my grandparents lived) in January (1979), and came back to a huge amount of snow. I don't really remember how much we got, but we had to crawl over the snow to get to the house. We parked the car down the road at the neighbors and our fresh Florida oranges froze while we tried to dig out our driveway. I think I went to school only a few days that January. Well here we are in 2010 and the snow fall amazed me. This picture was taken Saturday morning, and shows my patio table with about 24 inches of snow on it. The black pole next to it is a broom handle I stuck in the ground to get a feel for the level of snow. Only about 30 inches of the 65 inch handle is showing. My wife went out to measure the handle and almost did not come back because the snow was up to her waist in the backyard.

So, needless to say, my outdoor running will be a bit limited in the near future. The first issue is how to shovel 24 inches of snow?? I tried, I really did, but its a ton of snow. Thankfully, my neighbor has a snowblower and after she blew some of my driveway, she let me have a turn and I finished the driveways. In this picture, I'm actually snow blowing the street. I look way happier than I really was. I did get it finished, but it shows just how much snow is on the street. One of the guys I worked with asked if I was going running, and whether I plowed an eight mile path before hand. I told him I plowed a 0.1mile loop on my driveway and planned to run 80 loops!

In reality, treadmill running is all I'm going to be able to do in the near future. I don't mind the treadmill, but I'd much rather run on the road. The treadmill forces you to go at a constant speed and is not forgiving. When I run on the street, my pace picks up and drops off as I feel necessary. Pushing a button does not work as well. But I do it and I typically watch TV to make the time go quicker. So for the next week, I'll be watching a lot of sitcoms and movies on DVD. I hope the snow get cleared somewhat by next Saturday, since I have that 18 mile run planned. I'm not sure I'd survive 18miles on the treadmill, but if i gotta do, I'd do it.

Why did I choose winter marathon training?

A 16 miler

Ok, I did it. I ran my 16mile run and it was not too bad. The weather was very nice and felt pretty good for the most part. Here is how it went.

I started out at about 10am. My plan was to run an 8-mile loop from my house, stop and get a drink and GU, and then do another 8-mile loop. The first few miles were kinda tough, nothing hurt, just felt a bit sluggish. The wind was a bit stonger than I expected. weather.com said it was about 10mph. The sidewalks in the area are only partially cleared of snow, so in some cases I ran on the street, or parking lots, and other time I just ran over the snow. As the run progressed I kept a 7:50m/m pace, which felt comfortable. I stopped after 6 miles to stretch my legs and at 7 miles to tie my shoe.

Got back home, got a drink and a GU (and some nipple protection I forgot), and was back out. I felt fine for miles 9 and 10. I stopped and stretched the IT band at mile 11.5. At mile 12 I was running over snow, when I slipped and twisted my knee, twice. I swore so loud I think the passing cars slowed to make sure I was ok. I slowed the pace down, but my knee was ok. I stopped again to stretch at mile 14, but still no pain in my knee. My IT bands felt tight, but no pain. I finished the run at 16.08 miles with an average pace of 7:56m/m. The garmin said 2:07:33, but I was out for about 2:15 including all stops.

Overall, I'm very happy with this long run. I'm also happy my knee was pain free. I think the stretching and foam rolling really helped. I also think going out slower made a difference. I still need to go to the PT, but it'll have to wait until after the big snow storm this weekend.

Next weekend I'm suppose to do 18miles on Saturday. Yikes

Long run on the wrong day

I'm going to run my long run today. I know today is only Thursday, but i have to do it. This weekend (Friday and Sat) we are suppose to get 2 feet of snow, and I really want to do this run on the road. So I'm going to do my long run on Thursday. This goes against everything I've done in the past. I always rest before my long run. Not this time, ran 8 miles yesterday. So we will see how it goes.

My goal is 16 miles. Again I have to run this slow and easy. I used this calculator before (Runbayou) and it says with my race pace, my slow runs should be around 9m/m. I will try and run this slow.

I worry about my knee. During many of my long runs (>13 miles), the outside of my left knee hurts. I have not been to the doctors, but the folks at RunningAhead say its probably IT band problems. It only hurts during long runs, and stops when I stop running. So, I've been stretching, strengthening, and rolling on a foam roller to try and loosen the band up. If I continue to have this problem, I'm afraid I will not be able to do the long distances. A trip to the Doctors and Physical therapist is on order, and I will do that soon.

I have to beat that snow and get this run in. Wish me and my knee luck and I'll let you know how it goes.

Race Report - Cloud Half Marathon

Saturday was the Cloud Snapple Half Marathon. As mentioned in an earlier post, my goal for this race was to run at 8m/mish and not push it too hard. This was a training run for me and not an all out race.

The race was set to start at 9am along the C&O towpath with a start line at the Carderock recreation center. Since I had never been there before, and it was suppose to take me 45 minutes to get there, I decided to leave my house at 7:10am, so that I could pick up my packet and timing chip. The weather for the day was suppose to be cold and snow. Earlier in the week it was suppose to snow Friday night, but as of Saturday morning the snow was not suppose to come until after lunch.

I got to the Recreation center about 8:00ish, and the Cloud people were setting up the tables for packet pickup. I sat in the car listening to the radio for a second, and the weather report was a high of about 20F. At 8:00am it was about 18F and felt like 10F. I went to pick up my packet and timing chip, and for the first time that day I noticed how cold it was. Pretty frigid. Got my packet and jumped back into my warm car. Since I got there so early, I got a prime parking spot, about 50ft from packet pickup and about 100 feet from the start line.

At about 8:30m I started to get antsy, so I put on my hat and gloves and took off for a mile warmup. I ran down the recreation center road to the last parking lot, turned around and ran back. I'm sure glad I got there early, it was have sucked to park that far away. By the time I got back to my car, my hands were freezing. I knew I had to protect them better.

At 8:45am, I headed down to the startline. The towpath is not wide and there were about 350 people at the race. Needless to say, the start was crowded. I stood next to a group that talked about running 9m/m. I decided to move a bit closer to the front.

As I was adjusting my Garmin, I heard what I thought was the national anthem. I turned to the guy next to me and asked him. He just kinda shrugged as I noticed the IPOD earbuds in his ears. After some inaudible announcement, a small buzzer sounded that I guessed was the start of the race. Being in the middle of the pack, I did not move. About 1 minute later we began moving and when I crossed the timer mats, I hit the timer on my Garmin and we were off.

Mile 1-3 - These miles were pretty laid back. I was passing lots of folks as I try and find someone at my pace. About mile two I catch up to a blonde gal and a guy with earbuds (different guy). They seemed to be on about a 7:45m/m pace. I settled in. The first aid station was at 2 miles. I passed it. Wind was kinda chilly, but the running felt easy. The towpath had a lot of sticks, rocks and ruts, so I had to watch where I was going. My times:

Mile 1 -7:58
Mile 2 - 7:40
Mile 3- 7:37

Mile 4-6.5 - By mile 4 it had started to snow just a little bit. I left the blonde, who had slowed down a bit, but kept pace with the earbuds guy. By mile 5, the snow had picked up quite a bit and the towpath started to get slippery. A guy slipped and fell in front of me, but recovered and kept running. It was at this point, that the lead running passed me going the other way. For a second I had the thought of turning around and start running back, who would know?? I figured someone would turn me in so I kept running. Mile 6 aid station had lots of workers, but again I zipped by. The turn around was just a cone in the middle of the towpath. Earbud guy did not see or hear the two girls yelling "half was done, turn here" and he kept going. As I turned around, the girls ran after earbud guy and told him to turn. I slowed and yelled back, "you put in more milage!!", to which he said "You think they'll give me credit?" I was now ahead of earbud guy. My times:

Mile 4-7:40
Mile 5 - 7:29
Mile 6 - 7:33
Front split - 49 min 43 sec

Mile 7-10 - Earbud guy passed my about mile 7, and I kept up with the guy that slipped earlier for a while. Snow was coming down real hard now. It kept getting in my eyes. In fact, several times I had to wipe icicles off my eyelashes. It was really annoying. But I was not hot or cold, just right. If my face got cold, I lifted my neck warmer over my mouth for a few seconds and I felt better. It was also getting harder to see the towpath. by about mile 9 or 10 there had to be 2 inches of snow on the path. This made it very hard to see the ruts and foliage on the path. Stepped in several ruts and was lucky not to twist an ankle. My times:

Mile 7 -7:30
Mile 8 -7:32
Mile 9 -7:37
Mile 10 - 7:41

Mile 11 to finish - Was in the zone, running smooth. Had to keep watch of the ground, which was even more snow covered. Passed a bunch of towpath hikers at the mile 11 aid station. They asked how much we were running, and seemed impressed with the distance in this weather. Also at mile 11, I passed earbud guy, who was clearly beginning to struggle and ran alone for the remainder of the race. Several people yelled good job as I passed them, but I really did not feel I was speeding up, only keeping pace. By 12.3ish I noticed my left knee started hurting. The same IT band issue. I considered stopping to stretch, but decided not to since I was close to the finish. I pushed through and finished in 1hr 40min. My knee was hurting a bit at the end, but stopped hurting as soon as I stopped. My times:

Mile 11 -7:41
Mile 12 -7:41
Mile 13 -7:45
0.15 mile - 1:04

Back half split - 50min 17 sec - only 34 seconds slower than the first half.

As I finished, I went into the shoot, got my metal, and they needed me to give back my timing chip. I struggled with my laces, which were double knotted, a nice volunteer held me get my chip off. I went and got water and some cold pizza. As I walked to cool down, I talked to a guy who finished in 1:31. He also complained about the ruts, etc. Soon I noticed my hands were freezing since the sweat from my gloves was beginning to freeze. I grabbed another piece of pizza, and headed for my car. There was at least 3inches of snow on my car, which I hurriedly brushed off and headed home.

Overall, it was a good training race. Weather kinda sucked, but the race was well organized, people were nice and numbers were small. There really was no spectators, which was the only real down side. I'd do it again. I'm a bit worried about my knee in the long distances, but I'll talk about that in a later post.

My "official" numbers

57 out of 332
16 out of 58 in age group (40-49)
Official time 1:40:28

Cloud Half Marathon

On Saturday morning, I'm going to be running in the Cloud Half Marathon in Carderock, Maryland. This is the inaugural race organized by Cloud High Athletics. Its basically a 13.1 miles up and back race run along the C&O canal towpath. I've run the towpath several times, but never that far south on the towpath. It claims to be flat and fast. Since my marathon training calls for a 14mile run on Saturday, I thought this race would be a good motivator. I have specific goals for race. I have no desire to try and PR on the race. I want to run it slow like a training run. I'm shooting for 8:00m/m or so. I ran the Parks HM in September in about 7:26m/m, so this might seem slow, but I need it to be.

I've been still having some issues with me knee and hamstring. Actually I woke up this morning with some sharp pains in my left knee, but it did not bother me during my run. So, I want to get in the miles and go slow. Hopefully, I'll have no problems with the legs. The day of rest tomorrow will help,

The weather on the other hand is not going to cooperate. Forecast calls for temperatures in the teens and snow. I'm not good running slow in the cold., so it will be a challenge to meet my goal.

So wish me luck, and I'll report back after the race!

Back to the cold.... and snow??

After a week of running in shorts and t-shirts, I had to put back on the long sleeves and hats for my run yesterday. I decided to do a half marathon pace run to test out the legs after the shorter recovery week last week. The weather was partly sunny and about 33F, so it was not too bad. Last week it was sunny and 75F in Florida, but whose complaining. Anyway, the run went ok, and I enjoyed it, but I gotta say I really do not like cold and the wind. It makes the running harder and less enjoyable. Other runners talk about how they enjoy running in rain and snow.... feeling the crunching of the snow beneath their shows.... hogwash... it sucks... cold, wet, uncomfortable. None of these sound enjoyable to me. But, I do it because I know I need the training to reach my goal, and I know running in bad weather will make me a better runner. If I say this enough times I may convince myself.

This weekend I have a planned 14 mile run. I have decided to do the Cloud Half Marathon race as part of that run. Weather forecast is 20F and snow... it will make me a better runner, it will make me a better runner, it will make me a better runner.... argh

A Week in Disney

Well, this past week was my recovery week in the marathon training. Every three weeks, the training plans has a week of shorter runs to allow the legs to recover. So, from my plan, I was suppose to do about 2o miles this week instead of the 35-40 I typically do. The plan had me doing 4 miles on Tues, rest Wednesday, 5 miles on Thursday, rest on Friday, 6 miles on Saturday, and 4 miles on Sunday. No problem and sounds easy, right? Well, this week was also my family's first trip to Disney World in Orlando. So here is a quick (and no way complete) recap of the Disney trip...


Sunday, 1/17/10 -ran an easy 4 miles at home before getting ready to leave... travelled from Dulles to Orlando, and take bus to Caribbean Beach Resort. Walked around resort, checked in, had dinner, went to bed


Monday, 1/18/10 - Magic Kingdom - On the Bus by 9am, spent all day at the park, saw many characters, did many rides (love that Haunted House!), saw parades, and stayed for the fireworks, which were amazing. Got back to the resort at 9:30pm and was exhausted. We had to have walked 10miles. Feet were tired and a bit achy.

Tuesday, 1/19/10 - Epcot - got up at 6:30 and put in 4.5 miles. The resort had a 1.2 mile loop around a lake, which I ran about three times. The weather was wonderful, about 55F and slightly windy. We were on the bus by 9am that morning to Epcot. We spent the whole morning doing a Kim Possible adventure that took us to many of the countries at Epcot. Later in the day we did several rides and attractions including Soaring, which was amazing. Again stayed for the fireworks, and did not get back to the resort until 9:30ish. Again we must have walked 10miles and my feet hurt.


Wednesday, 1/20/10 - Hollywood Studio - on the bus just after 9am. We still did a lot of walking and went on the Tower of Terror and the Indiana Jones show, which was cool. We got back to the resort by 8ish and just relaxed. Feet felt a little better, but legs were a bit achy. In bed by 10pm


Thursday, 1/21/10 - Got up at 6:30 and put in just over 5 miles. Today I left the 1.2 mile loop and ran through the resort and parking lots. Not bad, it was a bit warmer this day, about 70F at 6:30 and 90% humidity. I was soaked after this run. Went to Animal Kingdom - We knew this was going to be a short day since the park closed at 5pm - Got on the bus at 9am, saw some shows, saw some animals, went on Expedition Everest roller coaster - now that was a great coster. Went back to hotel after park closed, but instead of relaxing, we left the kids with the inlaws and went to Downtown Disney. Walked more, had dinner at the Planet Hollywood (thought they were all closed), and walked some more. Again, my feet were hurting by the end of the day. We must have put in another 10 miles.

Friday, 1/22/10 - Back to Magic Kingdom. On the bus by 9am, and saw new characters, and new attractions, but also visited some rides we went on Monday. It was a great day. At 3:30pm we left and went to a musical dinner review called Hoop Dee Doo. It was a great time, and there was no walking!! After dinner we went back to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. We get back to the resort at 9pm-ish and was in bed before 11pm.

Saturday, 1/23/10 -Got up at 6:30am and put in my last 6mile run of the week. I wore shorts and t-shirt all week, and this run was really nice. The weather was perfect. We had breakfast in the resort, checked out and headed to the airport for the trip home. Got the kids to bed about 9pm.

All-in-all, I'm glad this was a light running week for me. The amount of walking made my legs and feet ache, and a hard running week may have spoiled my time at Disney. I'm not sure it was really a recovery week. I guess I'll find out this week as I get back to the harder training. My plan calls for 38 miles this week, with a 14mile run on Saturday. I plan to do the Cloud Half Marathon on Saturday for my long run.... but more on that later this week.

Mental toughness

Long distance running is all about the mental state you are in while running. I know for me, if I question whether a long run is going to be good or bad, it will be bad. I've heard that running is 90% mental and 10% physical. I don't think the percentages are that lopsided, but I definitely know that having the right mental attitude can get you through the later miles much easier.

Today was my long run. All day yesterday I flip-flopped on whether I was going to do a treadmill or an outside run. I get tired of wind and cold and thought that I'd give myself a break and run indoors. But my conscience was telling me to go outside. I know that in two weeks I'm running a half, and that marathon is going to come quicker than I expect, so I better hit the actual road if I want to be well trained. Then at 3am, I awoke with a cramp in the arch of my right foot, it went away quickly, but it kept me up cause I was thinking of what injury I may have (I'm a hypochondriac by the way). Anyway, I got up at 6:30am, forced myself outside and started the run. Slight wind and 33F, not bad.

I wanted to keep an 8:00m/m pace, and run easy. I wanted to be able to finish the run and not be exhausted. But my mind kept thinking of the upcoming vacation (We are going to Disney tomorrow), all the things I needed to do, and how I really did not want to be on the road. As I finished the 12 mile run, I kept pace really well, but was more tired that I thought I should be. My hands and face were freezing and I just did not enjoy the run. On the good side, I kept pace and I really did not have any aches and pains.

I think the only way to get past a bad run is to learn from it and look toward tomorrow. I know that my mental state plays a big part in how I run. As I move forward in my training, I know I will have good runs and bad runs. Tomorrow will be a good run, and a good day!

Uh-oh, I fartleked while running today

Its not what you think.... beans had nothing to do with my run today. Even though my wife would rather hear Tootlek, Fartlek is a Swedish word that means "Speed Play" and is a form of speed work used by athletes. I like this kind of speed work, because it allows a lot of flexibility, and it does not wear you out the way a tempo or pace run would. So here was my workout today

1 mile - easy (8-8:30pace)
0.25 miles - <5k pace

0.25 - easy

0.5 miles - 5K pace

0.25 - easy

0.75 miles - 5K-10K pace

0.25 - easy

0.75 miles - 10K-HM pace

0.25 - easy

0.5 miles - 10K pace

1.25 miles - easy

My legs felt worked out after this run, but it did not wear me out. I enjoyed this run a lot. Now, I gotta get me one of these shirts!