Yeah, another DNF. This time @ mile 16. I was cruising along around 11 minutes a mile. Some faster, some slower, but generally at 11 minutes. I went by RPE instead of HR and everything seemed to be okay...until I started chaffing. My HRM belt was messing with me. My nipples were not feeling good against my shirt. My shorts decided to mess with me as well. Yeah, too much info, but you get the idea. All was going well until after the half-marathon point, then it went south.
Once I got to mile 16, I decided to bail simply because the fun run wasn't fun anymore and I didn't need to cause a monsterous chaffing incident with myself. I still have scarring on my chest that looks like that damn Suunto ANT+ belt.
So from now until I completely heal up or if I get the newer Comfort Belt, no more HR Training for me. Just as well, I want to go by feel anyway.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
My So-Called Training Life
Since my office move further north, it's been a struggle when it comes to finding a groove for training. The longer commute times (from 23 to 45 miles one-way) have gobbled into my free time, so I've had to consistantly re-evaluate my training over and over. Also, not having access to things that I did from my previous office location (namely, an on-site gym) has also made things more challenging.
However, I do believe I found a decent groove to work from and I've been trying to make a go of it for the last month. This past week, it is improving.
Basically, it's going like this:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Sandbag Strength Training during lunch, 6 mile run in the evening w/4 miles at tempo pace or entire run as a fartlek.
Wednesday; Metabolic Conditioning workout during lunch (although I've missed a few of these sessions since I started), easy 3-6 miler in the evening.
Thursday: Sandbag Strength Training during lunch, Interval runs based off of time @ sprint pace or tempo pace.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Medium Run (unless its an event)
Sunday: Long Run or event
Funny thing is, I've done the sandbag training almost consistantly for the past month (thank you Josh Henkin @ Sandbag Fitness Systems for the Sandbag Fundamentals program!), the running...not nearly as much as I want. Mileage since my utter FAIL at Mt Si this year has only been: 4 mi for one week, 19 for another, 5 for the next, and 17 for the past week. It's going to be tough to build up to having a solid 40-50 mile week by the time the Oregon 100 comes.
However, I am hoping that I've been developing plenty of running karma due to my volunteering at races. This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of being the trail director for the Redmond Watershed 12-hour ultra. This kept me in the middle of the action the whole time. After 10 hours of being there, I then swept the big loop of the course and ran an overall 6 miles for that day on rolling trails. It was a good day for sure, better than last year's heatwave. I have a few more races that I'm volunteering for during the rest of the year, like the 20th Century 100k. Hope to build that trail running karma to where my races won't punish me severely!
However, I do believe I found a decent groove to work from and I've been trying to make a go of it for the last month. This past week, it is improving.
Basically, it's going like this:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Sandbag Strength Training during lunch, 6 mile run in the evening w/4 miles at tempo pace or entire run as a fartlek.
Wednesday; Metabolic Conditioning workout during lunch (although I've missed a few of these sessions since I started), easy 3-6 miler in the evening.
Thursday: Sandbag Strength Training during lunch, Interval runs based off of time @ sprint pace or tempo pace.
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Medium Run (unless its an event)
Sunday: Long Run or event
Funny thing is, I've done the sandbag training almost consistantly for the past month (thank you Josh Henkin @ Sandbag Fitness Systems for the Sandbag Fundamentals program!), the running...not nearly as much as I want. Mileage since my utter FAIL at Mt Si this year has only been: 4 mi for one week, 19 for another, 5 for the next, and 17 for the past week. It's going to be tough to build up to having a solid 40-50 mile week by the time the Oregon 100 comes.
However, I am hoping that I've been developing plenty of running karma due to my volunteering at races. This past Saturday, I had the pleasure of being the trail director for the Redmond Watershed 12-hour ultra. This kept me in the middle of the action the whole time. After 10 hours of being there, I then swept the big loop of the course and ran an overall 6 miles for that day on rolling trails. It was a good day for sure, better than last year's heatwave. I have a few more races that I'm volunteering for during the rest of the year, like the 20th Century 100k. Hope to build that trail running karma to where my races won't punish me severely!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Agony of My Feet: 2009 Mt Si Ultra Race Report
The score: Me - 1, Mt Si - 2.
So far, a best out of three fight - I've lost this one. However, as long as the race still is being held, I will continue to return and not only even up the score, but make my victory table very lopsided.
I went into this run with less training miles than my previous year and the previous one before that. However, I had more gumption (or so I thought). My only goals this race were:
1.) Finish.
2.) Finish in the cutoff.
Fail on both counts. However, I didn't quite fail on the lack of training (even though my miles were absolute crap.)
An early morning drive with the family to the race start, I had prepared for the strong chance that I was going to be aid-less from the Cedar River turnaround (mile 34.5) to the finish. In my second drop bag, I had packed my hydration pack and a large thermos of flattened Pepsi. I was going really old school, all the way to the Karo Light Syrup I had in a gel flask to consume for some of the run.
The "gun" went off just after 5:15am and I went at a VERY conservative pace (15-16 minute miles). I eventually felt my body warm up well and began to run 12 minute miles instead once I got on the Sno-Valley Trail. I ran a bit with Francisco, a first time 50 mile runner. I told him what to expect from Rattlesnake to Cedar River and back, giving him some tips from my training runs there and previous experiences. (Francisco finished in just over the cutoff, but a 50 mile finisher all the same.)
As I continued on the trail, I saw that I was making decent time. Just enough to make the cutoffs. When I got back from the first turnaround (9.9 miles) and to the dropbag point at mile 14, I started to feel some hotspots on my feet - my left more than my right. I took off my left sock and slatered some vaseline on the area and continued. I should have kept that damn baggie of vaseline with the popsicle stick on the course, cause I was going to regret it later.
When I got back onto the road (it always seems longer when you head back), I proceeded to cruise easy on the asphalt. My road shoes were doing what they do best, run on roads. Nice downhills and flats to really get your flow going.
When I reached the 20.4 mile aid station, those hotspots started to feel HOTTER. I should have asked for Vaseline or something at this point, but I was...stupid. I pressed on and things started to go further south for me.
I ended up doing more walking than running as I was trying to reach the self-service aid station @ 24.3 miles. My legs were sore, calves and hamstrings were nagging the hell out of me, but the hot spots were now big blisters and I had one on each foot. I began the hike up to the second drop bag at mile 28.9. This was the place where I eventually dropped last year. I was dead set on not doing that this year and finishing. Well, I did half of that anyway.
The hike/walk with mild running combo got me to my dropbag with a good 12 minutes to spare. However, my time got gobbled up quickly after asking for duct tape and proceeding to tape up my damaged feet. I should have read up more on my Fixing Your Feet book by John Vonhof. You should only tape up after draining those blister bastards.
I strapped on my hydration pack and filled my bottles with pepsi with the help of an aid station volunteer, then setoff to Cedar Falls. As I went past the crowd, I felt some confidence and started to run. The tape didn't feel too bad...until the blisters exploded underneath. It turned into the horrific pain that I had last dealt with at Dizzy Daze a month ago. But unlike Dizzy Daze, I had more distance to go for Mt Si and both feet were suffering.
I was at a slow shuffle, seeing everyone else passing me (although I did appreciate all their encouragement) and then coming back the other way. I eventually made it to Cedar Falls, over 25 minutes from the time I was shooting for. The aid station folks were still waiting for me and gave me a ride back to the start. I was so grateful for them being there, race course volunteers are very critical to making these events work and work well. All runners should always give thanks and also volunteer as well, giving back to the community that supports their habit.
In the end, I covered 34.5 miles and took a very LONG 8 hours and 50 minutes doing it before I surrendered to my blisters. Further than last year, but still no cigar.
Post-race: I had to take two days off from work due to the inability to walk (blisters had wrecked some of the tendons in my foot, causing severe inflammation), my nervous system was fried, and my endocrine system was heavily taxed. I do know that I can build upon this failure of a race and make the rest of my running calendar for the year before the Oregon 100 a better one for sure.
Things learned:
- Acetaminophen, Caffeine, & Codeine pills from Canada make for a very fast and effective pain reliever on the course (better than NSAIDS since it doesn't inhibit the muscle's ability to repair itself). In the USA, it's known as Tylenol 1 w/Codeine, however this version has caffeine since it's from Canada. It's composed of 300 mg of Acetaminophen, 15 mg of Caffeine, and 8 mg of Codeine Phosphate (a very low dosage). Taking two of those took effect in under 15 minutes and if it wasn't for those blisters generating new bits of pain every time I took a step, I believe I could have gone on.
- Brooks socks (the Burn model - yeah, "Burn") are good for anything below 13.1 miles. Anything past that for me, I have to expect problems.
- I need to boost up my base, which means that I need to run longer on the weekends. A 2-hour run might be good for maintenance, but I should learn to stay on my feet for 4-6 hours at a minimum. As Mark Twight from Gym Jones said, There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. If I want to run long, I have to train to run long. There are no shortcuts.
Well, that's the story and I'm sticking to it.
Run happy & safe everyone!
So far, a best out of three fight - I've lost this one. However, as long as the race still is being held, I will continue to return and not only even up the score, but make my victory table very lopsided.
I went into this run with less training miles than my previous year and the previous one before that. However, I had more gumption (or so I thought). My only goals this race were:
1.) Finish.
2.) Finish in the cutoff.
Fail on both counts. However, I didn't quite fail on the lack of training (even though my miles were absolute crap.)
An early morning drive with the family to the race start, I had prepared for the strong chance that I was going to be aid-less from the Cedar River turnaround (mile 34.5) to the finish. In my second drop bag, I had packed my hydration pack and a large thermos of flattened Pepsi. I was going really old school, all the way to the Karo Light Syrup I had in a gel flask to consume for some of the run.
The "gun" went off just after 5:15am and I went at a VERY conservative pace (15-16 minute miles). I eventually felt my body warm up well and began to run 12 minute miles instead once I got on the Sno-Valley Trail. I ran a bit with Francisco, a first time 50 mile runner. I told him what to expect from Rattlesnake to Cedar River and back, giving him some tips from my training runs there and previous experiences. (Francisco finished in just over the cutoff, but a 50 mile finisher all the same.)
As I continued on the trail, I saw that I was making decent time. Just enough to make the cutoffs. When I got back from the first turnaround (9.9 miles) and to the dropbag point at mile 14, I started to feel some hotspots on my feet - my left more than my right. I took off my left sock and slatered some vaseline on the area and continued. I should have kept that damn baggie of vaseline with the popsicle stick on the course, cause I was going to regret it later.
When I got back onto the road (it always seems longer when you head back), I proceeded to cruise easy on the asphalt. My road shoes were doing what they do best, run on roads. Nice downhills and flats to really get your flow going.
When I reached the 20.4 mile aid station, those hotspots started to feel HOTTER. I should have asked for Vaseline or something at this point, but I was...stupid. I pressed on and things started to go further south for me.
I ended up doing more walking than running as I was trying to reach the self-service aid station @ 24.3 miles. My legs were sore, calves and hamstrings were nagging the hell out of me, but the hot spots were now big blisters and I had one on each foot. I began the hike up to the second drop bag at mile 28.9. This was the place where I eventually dropped last year. I was dead set on not doing that this year and finishing. Well, I did half of that anyway.
The hike/walk with mild running combo got me to my dropbag with a good 12 minutes to spare. However, my time got gobbled up quickly after asking for duct tape and proceeding to tape up my damaged feet. I should have read up more on my Fixing Your Feet book by John Vonhof. You should only tape up after draining those blister bastards.
I strapped on my hydration pack and filled my bottles with pepsi with the help of an aid station volunteer, then setoff to Cedar Falls. As I went past the crowd, I felt some confidence and started to run. The tape didn't feel too bad...until the blisters exploded underneath. It turned into the horrific pain that I had last dealt with at Dizzy Daze a month ago. But unlike Dizzy Daze, I had more distance to go for Mt Si and both feet were suffering.
I was at a slow shuffle, seeing everyone else passing me (although I did appreciate all their encouragement) and then coming back the other way. I eventually made it to Cedar Falls, over 25 minutes from the time I was shooting for. The aid station folks were still waiting for me and gave me a ride back to the start. I was so grateful for them being there, race course volunteers are very critical to making these events work and work well. All runners should always give thanks and also volunteer as well, giving back to the community that supports their habit.
In the end, I covered 34.5 miles and took a very LONG 8 hours and 50 minutes doing it before I surrendered to my blisters. Further than last year, but still no cigar.
Post-race: I had to take two days off from work due to the inability to walk (blisters had wrecked some of the tendons in my foot, causing severe inflammation), my nervous system was fried, and my endocrine system was heavily taxed. I do know that I can build upon this failure of a race and make the rest of my running calendar for the year before the Oregon 100 a better one for sure.
Things learned:
- Acetaminophen, Caffeine, & Codeine pills from Canada make for a very fast and effective pain reliever on the course (better than NSAIDS since it doesn't inhibit the muscle's ability to repair itself). In the USA, it's known as Tylenol 1 w/Codeine, however this version has caffeine since it's from Canada. It's composed of 300 mg of Acetaminophen, 15 mg of Caffeine, and 8 mg of Codeine Phosphate (a very low dosage). Taking two of those took effect in under 15 minutes and if it wasn't for those blisters generating new bits of pain every time I took a step, I believe I could have gone on.
- Brooks socks (the Burn model - yeah, "Burn") are good for anything below 13.1 miles. Anything past that for me, I have to expect problems.
- I need to boost up my base, which means that I need to run longer on the weekends. A 2-hour run might be good for maintenance, but I should learn to stay on my feet for 4-6 hours at a minimum. As Mark Twight from Gym Jones said, There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. If I want to run long, I have to train to run long. There are no shortcuts.
Well, that's the story and I'm sticking to it.
Run happy & safe everyone!
Friday, April 10, 2009
A Tweak-Tweak here, a Tweak-Tweak there...
I'm still alive. Very busy, but still training. Starting to find my groove.
Basically, due to job office relocation (same company, longer commute), my training time has been gobbled up by the commute. So I'm left with doing short runs during the week (so no midweek long runs). But that's okay. I found that my body can't really tolerate that right now anyway. So it's going to be workouts during lunch (sandbag training for strength, some rope work, and some runs - hopefully it won't rain out there too often since I won't have any indoor facility to do those things), short runs immediately when I get home of 30-60 minutes, a long run on Sundays, and maybe a middle distance or short run on Saturdays.
I've also recalibrated my HR zones, going off of the Karvonen method for HR calculation (the Suunto T-Series HRM's seem to use that) and getting my resting HR from my morning averages (64 bpm) and my MaxHR from the Dizzy Daze run at the end (191 bpm), I end up with a completely different set of zones from when I did my metabolic test. I believe that my aerobic capacity has improved since then and my training runs seem to prove this as well based on the Training Effect that is being generated and my ground speed improving overall. I'll get into this later on.
Main focus: Dial into the Zones more and treat next week's 50 miler (Mt Si) as a practice in walk/run combos, hydration/fueling, pushing after mile 29 before Rattlesnake Lake, and then throwing the hammer down for the remaining 15 miles on the downhill to finish (hopefully within the cutoff).
Basically, due to job office relocation (same company, longer commute), my training time has been gobbled up by the commute. So I'm left with doing short runs during the week (so no midweek long runs). But that's okay. I found that my body can't really tolerate that right now anyway. So it's going to be workouts during lunch (sandbag training for strength, some rope work, and some runs - hopefully it won't rain out there too often since I won't have any indoor facility to do those things), short runs immediately when I get home of 30-60 minutes, a long run on Sundays, and maybe a middle distance or short run on Saturdays.
I've also recalibrated my HR zones, going off of the Karvonen method for HR calculation (the Suunto T-Series HRM's seem to use that) and getting my resting HR from my morning averages (64 bpm) and my MaxHR from the Dizzy Daze run at the end (191 bpm), I end up with a completely different set of zones from when I did my metabolic test. I believe that my aerobic capacity has improved since then and my training runs seem to prove this as well based on the Training Effect that is being generated and my ground speed improving overall. I'll get into this later on.
Main focus: Dial into the Zones more and treat next week's 50 miler (Mt Si) as a practice in walk/run combos, hydration/fueling, pushing after mile 29 before Rattlesnake Lake, and then throwing the hammer down for the remaining 15 miles on the downhill to finish (hopefully within the cutoff).
Monday, March 30, 2009
The Dizzy Data
The data from Dizzy Daze is an interesting one.
After the hard run with Thomas in the 3rd loop, I walked pretty much everything at the end. My walking speed at 13-14 minutes a mile had my HR anywhere from 141 bpm to 150 bpm. If I pushed my walking pace, it went close to 160 bpm. But check out my EPOC/TE numbers, they're LOW. I'm hitting the high 1's to low 2's for Training Effect if this was segmented in separate runs for each loop.
In theory, I could start LOW for the 30-60 minutes of a run and progressively increase my HR (and therefore increase speed). This would generate a higher training effect, but only do it just a little bit. If I plan this right, I could start the first half of a race at a low EPOC/TE and gradually go to a higher EPOC/TE in the second half of a race. Negative split anyone? :-)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Earning the shirt: Dizzy Daze Race Report
http://databarevents.com/dizzy.asp
The short: Flat course of 3.2 mile loops around Greenlake. Wet, cold, muddy, blistered. Chose the Marathon distance, finished in 6:55:37.
The long: Originally, I was registered for the 50k. The race only had two options: 50k and 100k. However, a few days before the event, the RD (and fellow Marathon Maniac, Jonathan Bernard) had opened up a newer option - a marathon distance. This was a good thing for me. I could still participate, but not go nearly as long. It's nice when you have a bailout option in a race. If you're not feeling so good, you can opt to stop, but not be considered a DNF if you reach a certain designated spot to drop. If I was feeling good, I would continue to the 50k. If I was falling apart, I would do my best to hold it together until the marathon point.
My original plan was this for the run:
1.) Keep my HR within my aerobic range (around 138 bpm)
2.) Shoot for a finish no later than 8-9 hours depending on whether I choose to do the 50k or marathon option
The night before, I got two whole wheat Peanut Butter & Strawberry sandwiches cut and bagged up, my Nathan's hydration pack filled with 2 liters of water (opted not to run with hand-held bottles this time), two packs of Espresso Love GU, a pack of S!Caps for electrolytes, a pack of TUMS Smoothies, some basic pain-killers, my clothes, and my Suunto HRM ready to go for the next day.
I woke up around 4-ish in the morning and realized I wasn't going to make it to the 5am early-start after getting dressed and breakfast, but I could make it to the 6am start. I popped my vitamins and drank some Super Orange Emergen-C, drank some chocolate milk and headed out the door after getting changed into my gear. As I was on the road, I started having GI issues. Seems the vitamin C boost mixed with the chocolate milk in a bad way and I was suffering for it. I had to make a pitstop at my office on the way to the race course. Lesson learned.
I got to the race start, but since it was so rainy and dark around there - I had no clue where anything was. Thankfully, someone else showed up and told me where the start would be once the official start time happened. So, I started running at 6am exactly and ran into the darkness. As I was going, I found that I was running in the wrong direction. My friends who started earlier were coming in from the other direction! Oops! But I had already started and since it was a loop, there was no point in turning back around since it would be the same distance in either direction. There was a double-blessing in disguise going this way. Seems my GI issue from earlier wanted to come back to attack me once more. I saw a 7-Eleven in the distance (about a quarter-mile away) and I headed there to beg the clerk to let me use their bathroom. Thankfully, he showed mercy and that was the last GI issue I had.
I got back onto the course and continued with the mantra of Forward Relentless Motion. Heart Rate was doing great and I eventually finished the first loop in under an hour with the pitstop time at the 7-Eleven. I re-checked in with the RD and proceeded to run in the correct direction (counterclockwise). It was much easier this way since I was running against traffic and wouldn't get so spooked by cars.
Finished up my second loop and was on for my third. I was starting to struggle to keep my HR low, but staying on top of things. Then one of my Maniac buddies (Thomas Tan) had caught me in the middle of my loop. He had early started at 5am and was on his 6th loop. He was also getting really tired and achy (IT Band issues). I was totally cool with him running with me, but I warned him that I was going slow due to HR training. Seems that my body and spirit decided to break all the rules after that. I stopped focusing so much on my HR and proceeded to run more. I began to push the pace with Thomas coming for the ride. What was a shuffle at 13 minutes/mile became 8:30-9:00/mile and no stopping until we reached the end of the loop. I messed up my original plans, but I didn't care. I felt awesome moving that fast. It was very liberating. Thomas only had two loops left to do and was going to only go to the marathon point. With how soaked I was with finishing three loops, the marathon option would be my choice as well.
With 5 loops to go, I started to walk it all. Now when I walk, I walk with purpose. My stride and leg turnover is pretty decent (12-13 minutes per mile has been my best speed for fastwalking, I usually can hold a 14-15 minute per mile pace better). I found that I was able to complete each loop in about 47-50 minutes every time. This was a positive sign that I could complete the race in well under my 8-9 hour planned time. At this point, it was a mental game when it came to the loops. I got through the 4th and 5th loops easily. I even did a quick errand and got my friend's tiresled harness out of her car (yeah, I said tiresled - I need it for my training for the Oregon 100! Gotta develop that core strength!)
In the middle of the 6th loop, I started to feel alot of discomfort in my left shoe. The pain was relatively familiar. A rock? Gravel? After another series of muddy puddles and getting filthy, I sat down at the aid station to check my foot out. My shoe was empty. Small grains of sand, but nothing that would make me feel like this. I wiped out what I could and then continued on my 7th loop. The pain didn't go away though. I stopped again on a bench in the park and decided to take off my sock. That's where I freaked out. Somehow, all of those puddles of dirt had sand as well. The dirtsand-water got into the shoe and into the sock. I wiped a rather LARGE, putty-textured glob of sand off of my left foot and saw the blister underneath. The clump of sand rubbed so much and grew so large, it might as well been a rock. I wrung out the sock to see more dirty water, put it back on, and proceeded to finish up the run. I thought, "Okay, we're fine now. Can't get any worse." Wrong.
Ann Treason said one time about ultrarunning, "It hurts to a point, then it doesn't get any worse." Ann was wrong or I wasn't at "the point". A large bolt of pain shot through my left foot and I winced hard. That pain was extremely familiar and something I hadn't experienced in a very LONG TIME. The blister popped open and I had to finish up the current loop, one more, and a .6 mile out-n-back. This was the point where I knew I had to suck it up hard. I played alot of mental games with myself to focus on other things. I kept reminding myself that I'm almost done and just had one more loop left.
I hit the aid station and decided that I'd do my best to run some of the last loop. Run to the tree and walk. Run to the traffic light and walk. Run to another landmark and walk. Going around a loop over and over, you get familiar with how far things are due to passing by them so often. I finally hit the aid station to finish the last loop and it was time for the final out-n-back. For that, I shut everything off in my head and ran for it. I knew I could hold it together to do this. There was no dropping, especially now.
I came screaming into the finish in 6:55:37, a sub-7 hour marathon. The longest marathon I've ever done, but the only marathon where I've ever walked the most.
I hung around to recover, chatted with my fellow Marathon Maniac friends who were still running the longer distances (much respect to my brothers and sisters in suffering!), and was so happy to be involved in this. This was the kick in the ass that I needed. Despite all the training and all the focus on numbers, I needed this. The distance. The pain. The accomplishment.
My first race for 2009. I can say that I've earned my t-shirt and definately earned my self-respect to start wearing my Marathon Maniacs singlet again.
So, now I'm at work, feeling mild soreness and twinges. Have a Johnson & Johnson Advanced Healing Compeed pad on the blister I had to cut open (it got really dirty inside after it popped). But ya know what? I'm feeling fan-freakin'-tasic right now and I'm looking forward to the next event and my continued training.
The short: Flat course of 3.2 mile loops around Greenlake. Wet, cold, muddy, blistered. Chose the Marathon distance, finished in 6:55:37.
The long: Originally, I was registered for the 50k. The race only had two options: 50k and 100k. However, a few days before the event, the RD (and fellow Marathon Maniac, Jonathan Bernard) had opened up a newer option - a marathon distance. This was a good thing for me. I could still participate, but not go nearly as long. It's nice when you have a bailout option in a race. If you're not feeling so good, you can opt to stop, but not be considered a DNF if you reach a certain designated spot to drop. If I was feeling good, I would continue to the 50k. If I was falling apart, I would do my best to hold it together until the marathon point.
My original plan was this for the run:
1.) Keep my HR within my aerobic range (around 138 bpm)
2.) Shoot for a finish no later than 8-9 hours depending on whether I choose to do the 50k or marathon option
The night before, I got two whole wheat Peanut Butter & Strawberry sandwiches cut and bagged up, my Nathan's hydration pack filled with 2 liters of water (opted not to run with hand-held bottles this time), two packs of Espresso Love GU, a pack of S!Caps for electrolytes, a pack of TUMS Smoothies, some basic pain-killers, my clothes, and my Suunto HRM ready to go for the next day.
I woke up around 4-ish in the morning and realized I wasn't going to make it to the 5am early-start after getting dressed and breakfast, but I could make it to the 6am start. I popped my vitamins and drank some Super Orange Emergen-C, drank some chocolate milk and headed out the door after getting changed into my gear. As I was on the road, I started having GI issues. Seems the vitamin C boost mixed with the chocolate milk in a bad way and I was suffering for it. I had to make a pitstop at my office on the way to the race course. Lesson learned.
I got to the race start, but since it was so rainy and dark around there - I had no clue where anything was. Thankfully, someone else showed up and told me where the start would be once the official start time happened. So, I started running at 6am exactly and ran into the darkness. As I was going, I found that I was running in the wrong direction. My friends who started earlier were coming in from the other direction! Oops! But I had already started and since it was a loop, there was no point in turning back around since it would be the same distance in either direction. There was a double-blessing in disguise going this way. Seems my GI issue from earlier wanted to come back to attack me once more. I saw a 7-Eleven in the distance (about a quarter-mile away) and I headed there to beg the clerk to let me use their bathroom. Thankfully, he showed mercy and that was the last GI issue I had.
I got back onto the course and continued with the mantra of Forward Relentless Motion. Heart Rate was doing great and I eventually finished the first loop in under an hour with the pitstop time at the 7-Eleven. I re-checked in with the RD and proceeded to run in the correct direction (counterclockwise). It was much easier this way since I was running against traffic and wouldn't get so spooked by cars.
Finished up my second loop and was on for my third. I was starting to struggle to keep my HR low, but staying on top of things. Then one of my Maniac buddies (Thomas Tan) had caught me in the middle of my loop. He had early started at 5am and was on his 6th loop. He was also getting really tired and achy (IT Band issues). I was totally cool with him running with me, but I warned him that I was going slow due to HR training. Seems that my body and spirit decided to break all the rules after that. I stopped focusing so much on my HR and proceeded to run more. I began to push the pace with Thomas coming for the ride. What was a shuffle at 13 minutes/mile became 8:30-9:00/mile and no stopping until we reached the end of the loop. I messed up my original plans, but I didn't care. I felt awesome moving that fast. It was very liberating. Thomas only had two loops left to do and was going to only go to the marathon point. With how soaked I was with finishing three loops, the marathon option would be my choice as well.
With 5 loops to go, I started to walk it all. Now when I walk, I walk with purpose. My stride and leg turnover is pretty decent (12-13 minutes per mile has been my best speed for fastwalking, I usually can hold a 14-15 minute per mile pace better). I found that I was able to complete each loop in about 47-50 minutes every time. This was a positive sign that I could complete the race in well under my 8-9 hour planned time. At this point, it was a mental game when it came to the loops. I got through the 4th and 5th loops easily. I even did a quick errand and got my friend's tiresled harness out of her car (yeah, I said tiresled - I need it for my training for the Oregon 100! Gotta develop that core strength!)
In the middle of the 6th loop, I started to feel alot of discomfort in my left shoe. The pain was relatively familiar. A rock? Gravel? After another series of muddy puddles and getting filthy, I sat down at the aid station to check my foot out. My shoe was empty. Small grains of sand, but nothing that would make me feel like this. I wiped out what I could and then continued on my 7th loop. The pain didn't go away though. I stopped again on a bench in the park and decided to take off my sock. That's where I freaked out. Somehow, all of those puddles of dirt had sand as well. The dirtsand-water got into the shoe and into the sock. I wiped a rather LARGE, putty-textured glob of sand off of my left foot and saw the blister underneath. The clump of sand rubbed so much and grew so large, it might as well been a rock. I wrung out the sock to see more dirty water, put it back on, and proceeded to finish up the run. I thought, "Okay, we're fine now. Can't get any worse." Wrong.
Ann Treason said one time about ultrarunning, "It hurts to a point, then it doesn't get any worse." Ann was wrong or I wasn't at "the point". A large bolt of pain shot through my left foot and I winced hard. That pain was extremely familiar and something I hadn't experienced in a very LONG TIME. The blister popped open and I had to finish up the current loop, one more, and a .6 mile out-n-back. This was the point where I knew I had to suck it up hard. I played alot of mental games with myself to focus on other things. I kept reminding myself that I'm almost done and just had one more loop left.
I hit the aid station and decided that I'd do my best to run some of the last loop. Run to the tree and walk. Run to the traffic light and walk. Run to another landmark and walk. Going around a loop over and over, you get familiar with how far things are due to passing by them so often. I finally hit the aid station to finish the last loop and it was time for the final out-n-back. For that, I shut everything off in my head and ran for it. I knew I could hold it together to do this. There was no dropping, especially now.
I came screaming into the finish in 6:55:37, a sub-7 hour marathon. The longest marathon I've ever done, but the only marathon where I've ever walked the most.
I hung around to recover, chatted with my fellow Marathon Maniac friends who were still running the longer distances (much respect to my brothers and sisters in suffering!), and was so happy to be involved in this. This was the kick in the ass that I needed. Despite all the training and all the focus on numbers, I needed this. The distance. The pain. The accomplishment.
My first race for 2009. I can say that I've earned my t-shirt and definately earned my self-respect to start wearing my Marathon Maniacs singlet again.
So, now I'm at work, feeling mild soreness and twinges. Have a Johnson & Johnson Advanced Healing Compeed pad on the blister I had to cut open (it got really dirty inside after it popped). But ya know what? I'm feeling fan-freakin'-tasic right now and I'm looking forward to the next event and my continued training.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Dizzy Thoughts
I had a pretty decent run yesterday and thanks to my buddy Rob T. and letting me borrow his old ANT belt, I had better readings using my Suunto t6. The old belt I had I found had cracks in it, which would explain the erratic readings from before. I still need to work more on keeping my HR in check, but I was able to stay in my low-intensity aerobic zone (below 138 bpm) for 40+ minutes out of a solid 47 minutes. Most of the increases in HR were around 1-3 beats above 138 bpm, which is a good thing...but it could be better. So in 3.2 miles, I'm able to run about 47 minutes. Based on this, I can potentially finish tomorrow's Dizzy Daze run in about 7.5 hours if I run/walk the 50k distance and keep my HR completely within my fat-burning zone. However, I could also do everything in 6.5+ hours if I opt to stop at the marathon point. I guess I'll just have to see how much I'm up for it. I really only need to do enough to get my endocrine system to respond appropriately in time for the Mt Si Ultra (doing the 50 miler again).
Then again, I could just run the first 6-7 loops in my low intensity and then run the last 2 loops at a harder pace to finish sooner and see how the EPOC looks afterwards. I'm sure I'll figure it out by tomorrow morning.
Then again, I could just run the first 6-7 loops in my low intensity and then run the last 2 loops at a harder pace to finish sooner and see how the EPOC looks afterwards. I'm sure I'll figure it out by tomorrow morning.
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