I actually ran my smartest and gutsiest marathon while having an extremely BAD day. It started when my glands felt swollen on Friday after the drive up to Sacramento. I took some Vitamin C Friday night and woke up feeling ok on Saturday morning thinking that I had averted the disaster of being sick on race day after 7 months of training. I drank more OJ and relaxed on Saturday keeping off my feet and watching football games all afternoon.
Sunday on the bus ride to the start I was relaxed and my resting pulse was in the mid 60's, when my normal resting pulse is 45-48. With the excitement of the race I normally might see my pulse in the mid 50's but readings of mid 60's while sitting down was a bad omen. Being an accountant with a love of tracking numbers, I take my resting HR every morning and I know it goes up when I'm either on the cusp of getting sick or recovering from a tough workout. Being an optimist I decided to stick my plan of going for a 1:44 split in search of a negative split 3:23-3:25 or at worst a 3:30 BQ.
With perfect mid 40's temps and cloudy weather, I started off with a couple of 8 plus minute miles and my HR was already up near 160, another bad omen of things to come. My plan was to keep my HR around 150-155 until the half way mark but I was at a consistent 160 by mile 5 running at just under 8 minute miles. Through miles 9-13, I continued to run at slightly sub 8 pace on the mostly downhill sections and my HR hovered at 160 even on the down hills. I hit the half on target at 1:44 but my right hamstring (an old injury) had started to bother me at mile 3 and my calves were screaming from mile 8. To even things out, my quads were toast by mile 15 and I developed what turned out to be a half dollar size blister on my right foot all with 11 more miles.
By the half I had changed my objective from a 3:23 to a 3:30:59. By mile 18 I was just trying to get to mile 20 and at mile 20 I promised myself I’d take a short walk break at mile 21 and calculate the time I needed to run 3:30:59 with 5 miles to go. At that point I pulled off the pace group. The short walk break made me feel better but it did not lower my HR as I’d hoped and I ran miles 22 and 23 at 8:25 pace as my HR stayed at 172. My heart rate had been above my threshold of approx. 168 since mile 15 so I knew I was running on empty. I walked some more at the start of mile 24 and that resulted in a mile 24 split of 8:53. Not good. My Garmin showed an average pace that had slipped from 7:55 to 8:01 and at the mile 24 mark I calculated that I'd need to run 17 minutes over the last 2.2 (7:45 pace) and I was completely out of gas. I’d run at an average of 94% of max HR for the past 10 miles so I conceded my goal and I walked the 2 miles up to the 26 mile mark before shuffling to the finish line. I know if I finished in 3:32, it would eat me up for the next six months so I opted to call it a day. I finished in 3:46.
Today, I’m back at work feeling sore as can be having to once again retrieve my marathon cane from the back of my closet. My glands are swollen and my throat is sore but I know that I left if all out on the course, every last bit of what I had yesterday, even a few tears at mile 24. I’d be lying to say I’m not disappointed as I’m finishing up this report today but that’s the deal you agree to when you take on a challenge like the marathon. There are going to be tough days and some may call them forgettable days and we all have them. For me, yesterday wasn’t forgettable, it was truly memorable. I’ll remember it as my best marathon, the day I ran my heart out and truly tested myself when the odds were stacked up against me and I almost reached my goal. There's always another race and I’ll give it another shot next fall.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Holcomb Valley 25k June 8, 2008
Pics from my recent trail run up at Big Bear. I wasn't racing just running for fun. We had perfect weather and a whole pack of Trailheadz at the race. I think we were putting our best foot forward in the picture below.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Ryan Hall spotting
After last Sunday's 15 mile Holcomb Valley trail race on my way back to the Big Bear Motel 6, I spotted Ryan Hall out on a recovery run (per his blog). He was following his brother on a bike and running at midday. He was cruising along at what I estimate to be sub 6 minute per mile pace. I got this picture as I drove past with one hand out my passenger window. I wish I had some video footage.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Fun run
Wow, picasa2 software makes uploading pictures so easy. We had a fun 10 mile run/hike out at Limstone late yesterday afternoon. You can see the Limestone sicks in the background.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Tendonitis again?
Seems like it's one injury or another, but who ever heard of ischial tuberosity tendonitis? It's tendonitis of the sit bone or more commonly called a pain in the ass. It's actually inflammation of the tendon attachment of the hamstring to the sit bone. Just when I thought I had experienced every running injury possible, I come up with another one. The cure is the usual RICE or rest,ice, compression and elevation. I'm not sure about how I can apply compression to it although squeezing into some butt hugger jeans might do the trick.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Boston 2008
I ran my 2nd Boston marathon a couple of weeks ago and it was a fantastic experience. Highlights of the week included having dinner with two of my first cousins and their husband and fiancé, respectively. I also enjoyed seeing a play with Meredith, a day trip out to Concord and Lexington as well as two group dinners with some friends from the South Coast Roadrunners.
We arrived in town on Wednesday evening the 16th so we had four days pre-race for me to relax and catch up on my sleep after finishing a grueling tax season. Thursday and Friday we did some sightseeing and I did a couple of easy runs. I ran a 5 miler along the Charles on Thursday and I ran a portion of the Freedom trail from our hotel near the Finish Line over to the North End where I lost the Trail amidst the Italian Restaurants of the North End. The Trail is marked by a red line down the sidewalk but they apparently repaved the sidewalk in the North End and didn’t re-paint the line. Saturday we rented a car and headed out to Concord and then Lexington. After spending some time at the historic sights, I drove down to Hopkinton to drive the course. The hills were more plentiful than I remembered adding to my pre-race anxiety. On Sunday morning, we watched the US Women’s Marathon Olympic Trials on a loop course in town. Other than spending too much time on my feet it was an exciting morning as the racers passed by us several times on the loop course through Back Bay and Cambridge. Sunday afternoon we took the T down to Government Center and then walked across the Charles and to see the US Constitution, America’s oldest battleship. By the time we got back to the hotel at 6pm my feet were sore from all of the walking.
On Race morning I met up with Jane and Amy and we headed over to the Common to catch our bus to Hopkinton. More standing in line before we got a seat and headed out of town. Our bus was held up in traffic for a good half hour at the freeway exit so we were glad to finally arrive in Hopkinton. After arriving, I stayed at the athlete’s village for a half hour and then began walking the mile to the start hoping to get there in time to see the elites and the start of the first wave. Unfortunately, I was late and heard the gun when I was two hundred yards from the starting line. After the first wave headed out, I had no trouble finding a porta-potty and I relaxed for a few minutes before the second wave runners started to fill the corrals. The temps were a comfortable 50 and the skies were mostly cloudy. I qualified to run in the first wave but since I planned to run a leisurely race I opted to enter in corral 16 with the 3:45 runners. Nothing eventful happened over the first 13 miles but the crowds were very enthusiastic. I ran as slow as I could down the hills and I walked the steeper down hills to save my quads and I covered the first half in exactly 2 hours. When I finally hit the hills, the sun was out and the temps were up into the 60's but the slight headwind kemp me cool as I slowed down quite a bit including mile 15 at 9:45 and mile 16 at 10:00 and then got back on track around a 9 minute pace. After Boston College the fun starts as the course heads downhill again and I picked up the pace as I weaved through the masses toward the finish. I ran a few sub 8 minute miles between miles 20 and 25 and then I stopped briefly at the 25.5 mark to see Meredith and then made off to the finish. I felt pretty good at the end for just run/walking a marathon and my finish time was 3:55. See pictures below.
We arrived in town on Wednesday evening the 16th so we had four days pre-race for me to relax and catch up on my sleep after finishing a grueling tax season. Thursday and Friday we did some sightseeing and I did a couple of easy runs. I ran a 5 miler along the Charles on Thursday and I ran a portion of the Freedom trail from our hotel near the Finish Line over to the North End where I lost the Trail amidst the Italian Restaurants of the North End. The Trail is marked by a red line down the sidewalk but they apparently repaved the sidewalk in the North End and didn’t re-paint the line. Saturday we rented a car and headed out to Concord and then Lexington. After spending some time at the historic sights, I drove down to Hopkinton to drive the course. The hills were more plentiful than I remembered adding to my pre-race anxiety. On Sunday morning, we watched the US Women’s Marathon Olympic Trials on a loop course in town. Other than spending too much time on my feet it was an exciting morning as the racers passed by us several times on the loop course through Back Bay and Cambridge. Sunday afternoon we took the T down to Government Center and then walked across the Charles and to see the US Constitution, America’s oldest battleship. By the time we got back to the hotel at 6pm my feet were sore from all of the walking.
On Race morning I met up with Jane and Amy and we headed over to the Common to catch our bus to Hopkinton. More standing in line before we got a seat and headed out of town. Our bus was held up in traffic for a good half hour at the freeway exit so we were glad to finally arrive in Hopkinton. After arriving, I stayed at the athlete’s village for a half hour and then began walking the mile to the start hoping to get there in time to see the elites and the start of the first wave. Unfortunately, I was late and heard the gun when I was two hundred yards from the starting line. After the first wave headed out, I had no trouble finding a porta-potty and I relaxed for a few minutes before the second wave runners started to fill the corrals. The temps were a comfortable 50 and the skies were mostly cloudy. I qualified to run in the first wave but since I planned to run a leisurely race I opted to enter in corral 16 with the 3:45 runners. Nothing eventful happened over the first 13 miles but the crowds were very enthusiastic. I ran as slow as I could down the hills and I walked the steeper down hills to save my quads and I covered the first half in exactly 2 hours. When I finally hit the hills, the sun was out and the temps were up into the 60's but the slight headwind kemp me cool as I slowed down quite a bit including mile 15 at 9:45 and mile 16 at 10:00 and then got back on track around a 9 minute pace. After Boston College the fun starts as the course heads downhill again and I picked up the pace as I weaved through the masses toward the finish. I ran a few sub 8 minute miles between miles 20 and 25 and then I stopped briefly at the 25.5 mark to see Meredith and then made off to the finish. I felt pretty good at the end for just run/walking a marathon and my finish time was 3:55. See pictures below.
Boston 2008 Pictures
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
WTRS 21k
Ok. So maybe I've been a bit lax in posting, but I have been running nonetheless. Last Saturday was the final of 4 races in the 2008 Winter Trail Series up at Blue Jay Campground. I drove up with Doug, Michelle Barton's dad and new trail runner, Jannay from the South Coast Roadrunners. I ran the race with Jannay at a leisurely pace except for our ascent of West Horsethief during which I pushed hard up the steep grade. The weather was a perfect 60 something degree morning with sunny skies. I didn't spot too many wild flowers along the trail compared 
to what I saw the prior weekend back in the Irvine Open Space. I wish Baz held more trail races but I can understand why he doesn't want the grief of doing more. Being an RD is a thankless job. Here's a picture of Baz Hawley holding court pre-race. Just remember not to talk when he's talking or you'll hear his wrath.
to what I saw the prior weekend back in the Irvine Open Space. I wish Baz held more trail races but I can understand why he doesn't want the grief of doing more. Being an RD is a thankless job. Here's a picture of Baz Hawley holding court pre-race. Just remember not to talk when he's talking or you'll hear his wrath. I'm continuing to train to April's Boston Marathon with two remaining long runs to go and four weeks of training before I begin my two week taper. If all goes well at Boston, where I plan to jog as a long run, I hope to run a half marathon in May in Victorville and shoot for sub 1:30. At least that's the plan as of today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
