Marine Corps Marathon - true grit

This was my “true grit” marathon –  I had some problems, I pushed through them, and I finished running up that last hill to the finish line.  I was in pain and severe discomfort for the better part of 12 miles, but I did it. The Marine Corps Marathon. The MCM. This is a medal that I feel very good about earning. And it's a great medal!

The MCM is the 3rd largest marathon in the USA, 8th largest in the world. The event does not shop or marque "elite" runners and there is no prize money. It is a runners marathon.

Something like 30,000 runners signed up and 23,513 crossed the finish line. I don’t know what happened to the 6,487 runners that didn’t finish, but I assume that some didn’t make it to the starting line and some didn’t make the timing cut offs across the 14th St Bridge across the Potomac or the intersection of 14thSt and Madison..  The timing cut off is necessary since they have to open up streets – after all, this is a really busy city and traffic rules!

The Marine Corps Marathon is an AWESOME event and I would love to run it again. Obviously, since it is a Marine Corps event, Marines are omnipresent. There are Marines at the start, on the sidelines , there are Marines running, some with full packs, and of course, Marines at the finish line.  I had Marines bark at me to keep going, encourage and help me when I was struggling, and patch me up afterwards. It was a great experience, even as painful as it was for me. But overall, this is an event steeped in honor for the tradition of the Marines and their service. It was inspiring to me to be there. I felt, I feel, honored to have had the privilege of running it.

This marathon began as they all do, lots of adrenalin and excitement at the beginning with the real event starting after mile 10. The picture to the right is the starting corral area - I'm ambitiously lined up among the 4:10 finishing group, yet I'm so far back that I can barely make out the starting line (the orange/red hoops waaaay past the green highway signs).

As we get going there is the rush of excitement as we run across the Key Bridge and through Georgetown (miles 4 through 6), and then around the edge of the Lincoln Monument. It is all very, very cool and very fun (for now).

Once past the Lincoln Monument I had been running for over an hour - which is fine - after all, I've trained for this, but the race is not even halfway done.

Then we enter a park area that takes us down to the end of Haines Point. Between miles 12 and 13 things become very somber as we ran down to the end of the Point – on the side of the road were placards with pictures of Marines that were killed in action in Afghanistan and Iraq, followed (I was told) by family members holding US flags. There were a lot of pictures and a lot of flags. A LOTof flags. It was very quiet as we ran past them, save for a few runners saying “thank you” to the flag holders. It was gut wrenching and emotional. These are the families of Marines that gave their lives to their jobs. How many of us are prepared to do that????

This picture is somewhere between mile 12 and 13. From my own critical perspective everything looks ok except that I seem to be clutching my fists - I'm not as relaxed as I would have wanted to be. Footwork look ok right now, but that will change.... I remember the guy to my right as being a pretty good guy.

My race plan was to stay at a conservative 10m/m pace and then begin to work on reducing my splits after the halfway point. For the first 13 miles I felt like I was running very much within myself and that I was holding myself back. All good. I totally anticipated that by the time I rounded Hains Point at around mile 13 that I could begin to reduce my splits to get closer to the 9m/m times that I’ve been training to. 

Unfortunately I started getting cramps in my left hamstring around mile 14 and then in both legs later. Having some experience with them, I instinctively knew where to rub and how to adjust my stride in order to manage the cramp, but they were persistent and would not go away. The irony of this is that I managed to get through all of my training, including my long, long runs without cramping and I was hopeful that I had figured out how to beat them (a combination of endurance and nutrition). So I was very concerned when the first onset of cramps came on.

It was in the low 40’s when I left the apartment, but the forecast called for mid-50’s around mid-day. A perfect day for running. I figured that we would be in the high 40’s at the start, so I opted to run in short running shorts and a couple of thin upper layers. For the period before the start I wore some throw-away pants and a sweatshirt which I got rid of just before the gun went off. Overall, I felt great and very comfortable, and anticipated a great day.

Unfortunately, my legs never warmed up. Even thought the temp went up into the low 50’s, I could feel that my legs were cold, cold, cold. And getting tight, tight, tight.  But I did not equate that tightness with the potential for cramps – I fully expected to them to warm up and loosen up.

Well, that never happened…

Around mile 14.5 I started to get the spasms in my left hamstring. I pulled off to the side right away, worked on it and felt like I had alleviated the issue, and got back into the game. But spasms kept coming back…  I began to realize that it was probably due to my legs being so cold so I started to look around for someone’s discarded pants (runners toss clothes that they don’t want to carry, but usually that happens in the first few miles), but no luck there.  I had a long sleeve shirt with me and I was considering some method of wrapping at least one of my thighs with it, but realized that I probably would not be able to keep it on very well.

Somewhere near the mile 18 marker I was in enough pain that I pulled into an aid station and asked them to tape up my leg.  The Marine medics helped me stretch my leg and applied some kinesio tape and that seemed to help a lot – for a bit. This pic is about a mile after that pit stop and I'm eating the banana that I had been carefully carrying - that is the Capital Building behind me - I felt good - I'm going the distance!!

Unfortunately, by the time I got to the 14th St bridge at mile 21, I was in trouble again.

BTW - throughout all of this, I had a great attitude, chatting with fellow runners, sharing comments with spectators. I've seen some other pics of me at marathonphoto.com taken in areas where I know I was in pain, but I have a smile on my face and I'm chugging on.

Oddly enough as I trotted through mile 20 I remember thinking “holy cow, mile 20 – I only have 6 miles to go!”. And then I hit the bridge…  There was no steep ramp or anything unusual about it – we basically ran in the HOV lane, which consequently is devoid of any sideline supporters (which were awesome by the way), but it was mile 20+, I was tired, in pain, and now both legs were cramping and in spasms. From the waist down I was soooo uncomfortable. My steps were short and quick, my pace down to around 11m/m.  I had gone through all of my change of stride tricks to help stretch out my muscles, but at this point there was no helping them anymore.  

I realized as I hit the bridge that I was going to have to grind this out like I never have before. For inspiration, I just looked across the river to Arlington Cemetery and remembered the gang of 4 Marines that I saw earlier trudging along with their full packs. If they can do it, I can do it. (granted, I'm easily 30 years older than they were..... but still)

I realized that this, the distance between where I was at the beginning of that bridge and the finish line, was the deep dark chasm that I-must-cross. I never once thought about stopping and hitching a ride to the finish line. It never crossed my mind. The only thing that worried me was how long it would take me. And naturally I thought “if I run, I’ll be done sooner….”, a familiar refrain of mine. But I was quickly getting to the point where I couldn’t run, and that was scaring the shit out of me. 

Around mid-bridge I finally had to walk, but oddly enough I was able to power walk. It was painful to run, but damn, I could power walk...!  I had plenty of stamina and endurance; I was just having a very difficult time running. I found that I was actually passing people who were “running”. 

At one point as I trudged across the bridge, alternating between power walking and jogging, I noted to a fellow struggling runner that this looked like our “bridge too far”; there were many, many runners up against the road side not running at all, or walking very slowly, or leaning again the road-side barriers for support, and all of us seemed to be fighting our own personal battle to get off this bridge. It was a sorry sight, yet inspirational in a  "I-will-get-off-this-bridge" kind of way.  What was also weird for me was the recurring thought "weren't these people ahead of me before???" 

The next gut-check moment came after we cleared out of Crystal City, which by the way, was a very welcome oasis of support after getting off the bridge.  I am certain that spectators looked at us as if we were zombies stumbling through their streets, but they did their best to amp us up. There was a group of spectators handing out cups of beer and tequila shots (not a good idea) – I have a feeling that most of it was being consumed by the volunteers!

But as soon as we left Crystal City and wound our way around the Pentagon it was as if we hit the desert again; devoid of spectators save for security guys and an occasional Marine shouting encouragement. We had two hard miles to go. You can tell from this picture that I am not doing well (I am on the far right). I am landing on my heels because I can't get my foot out in front of me. Interestingly enough, as uncomfortable as I was, I was passing the other runners in this picture... crazy, eh?

I continued to alternate between power walking and jogging and at one point was with a woman who was threatening to throw up at any moment (she didn’t) – I stayed with her for a while and kept engaging with her, hopefully to help her get her mind off of her own discomfort – and it kind of helped me too. For what it's worth, she recovered and scooted ahead of me, leaving me in her dust... 

At mile 25 I was a mess of pain from the waist down. Everything hurt: my quads, hams, knees, feet, ankles, calves - everything.  Plus, I was so tense from dealing with the discomfort that my entire torso was tight.  One mile and one hill to go and I continued to alternate between power walking and jogging, jogging more so that I could be done quicker. At this point I am concentrating so much on the mechanics of running that I have tuned everything else out. I am literally concentrating on surviving and running as efficiently as possible. I am in so much pain that I am numb.

Just before mile 26 the crowds were back. I hooked up with a guy (you can just see his elbow ahead of me) who seemed to have the same level of determination as mine. We looked at each other and we both said “we’re going to take that hill”. At the mile 26 marker I knew that I was there - the feeling is so powerful -  it is impossible to describe. It's mile 26 - 2 tenths of a mile to go. Just 2 tenths. C'mon baby, c'mon....

The final approach to the finish line is a slightly curved uphill grade lined with Marines and there is no way that I was not going to run up that hill to the finish line. No way. I totally put aside  my pain and discomfort and I ran that last 2/10 of a mile as hard I could, all the while saying “c’mon baby, c’mon…” with the Marines yelling and cheering for all of us to get up that hill all the while.

The emotions upon crossing that finish line is nothing short of incredible - It is totally indescribable - you have to run a marathon to appreciate it.  I wish that I could describe it. It is so, so powerful, the emotions are so huge.

As I stumble down the finishers area, I wind up in front of a Marine Captain who places my medal around my neck, steps back and salutes me – salutes me!? – and I’m thinking that whatever I just went through pales in comparison to anything that he and his compatriots have done. While shuffling down the finishers area there is another line of Marines  who are giving their congrats to the runners and all I could say was no, this is really all them, not me at all.

After getting water, a few necessary pictures with Marines and so on, I was in enough discomfort that I took myself to a med tent and let a Marine Physical Therapist help me out.  He and a female colleague worked on me, fed me salty chicken soup, and basically did what they could to alleviate my discomfort. I was soooo uncomfortable. Now that I was no longer moving my muscles were just cramping hard. I am in spasms and it was so painful…  but the good news is that they pass, life goes on, and I am good now.  I was able to walk around the finish area a bit, rescued my bag from the UPS truck bag check, put on some warmer clothes (I was freezing – a typical post long run thing…), found the Metro and went home, stopping by for 3 double cheeseburgers on the way. A reward for a tough day.

BTW, these pics with the marines were taken before I got to the med tent and belie the discomfort that I am in... You can't tell that I can barely walk, yet I am soooo thrilled for having completed the run that I am jumping up and down inside. I pushed my sorry ass through the miles and crossed the finish line. 

My finishing time was 4:57:40 – way beyond my 4:20 goal.  In my gender/age group I finished 396^th out of 715, and 14,672 out of 23,513 finishers.  The guy that won did so in 2:21 (a 5:23m/m pace). The last person finishing did so in 7:22, a 36 year old woman, who persevered and FINISHED. I wound up averaging an 11:21 m/m pace. Not athletic material, but respectable enough given my circumstances.

Today, the day after, I’m a little stiff, but not too bad; my left knee is a bit sore, but all in all I am good. I will walk with Reece a good 2-3, maybe 4 miles, and then tomorrow do a very easy 2-3 mile run.

It was a great experience.  It was not what I would call a “good marathon”, but it was a marathon that grew me. Without a doubt this marathon has changed my life. I was not going to quit.I dug deep and I found that I had the grit to complete it.

(If you would like to leave a comment I've been told that it may be necessary for you to temporarily allow 3rd Party Cookies - it's not my thing... it's seems to be a Google Blogger thing... For example, if you use Chrome as a browser, go to "Settings", scroll down to the bottom and select "Show Advanced Settings", select "Content Settings" in the Privacy section, and then un-select "Block 3rd Party cookies...".   I would not recommend leaving your settings that way, so be sure to reset it back to block 3rd party cookies.)

One and a wake up - MCM

It's down to today and a wake up, assuming that I can get to sleep. 3AM wake up call so that I can start going through my pre-run process and out the door by 4:40. I wish that I was one of those that could just wake up and run - that would be nice.

I got my bib yesterday in anticipation that the crowds today would be nuts. As it was, there were ton's of people and long lines (I hate lines) and naturally I got into the wrong one first. I did suffer myself through an extra line just so that I could get access to the Books VIP toilets - but I suspect that it will be worth it given the press of people in the starting area needing to take a pre-start wizz.

To help loosen myself up a bit I did 2 miles this morning, all the while wishing that I was doing more. In a weird way I feel like a penned up pony (if only I could run like one!).

As I've trained for the MCM I've become acutely aware how easily it would be for running, something that I've pretty much taken for granted, to be taken away from me. A little twist, a small mistep, a minor misjudgement, and suddenly I could be hobbling and unable to run for several days or more. So as a consequence, I savor the opportunity to run this event tomorrow and I hope to do it proud. I hope that I can run up that last hill with strength and dignity. I hope.

Tomorrow's sunrise is at 7:30, starting gun at 7:55, and I should cross the starting grid by 8:10. I can't wait. A little more than 17 hours to go.

3 days and a wake up

Three days and a wake up… I'm going to run it.
October 27, 2013.
The MCM – the Marine Corp Marathon.

I am jazzed, I am excited, and I am pumped. I am thrilled to have the opportunity and the privilege to run this event.

And I am more than a little nervous. I am ready, but its a long way and anything can happen.

I am confident, but not that confident. I have trained as much as I can, I have run hills, intervals, long runs, worked muscle groups, stretched, massaged, and I’ve seen my chiropractor regularly. I am as ready as I’m going to be.

My FL project pushed my training sideways some, but hopefully not so much as it would make a difference.  My experience with Chicago (2011 and my only other marathon) has taught me that my training will get me through the miles. I feel strong, and most importantly nothing hurts, nothing feels out of sorts (which is very amazing considering the work that I’ve been doing). I have even lost 5 pounds doing this work over the last 3-4 weeks, but I think that is a good thing.

Among the things that I am fretting about is how to dress for the day…  It will be cold (maybe high 30’s? or low 40’s?) between the time that I get off the Metro and the sun rises, and then it should warm up to the low 50’s.  I love running in the high 40’s and low 50’s, so that part is good. But the trick is making it through the couple of hours before the start without becoming a popsicle. I know that I’m going to have to wear stuff that I will ditch at the start of the race, but the big decisions are what to take to ditch.

Another thing that I’m fretting about is the 14^th St Bridge crossing between miles 20 and 21 – I am told that this can a tough point, possible more so with wind.  I have also heard that the jaunt through Crystal City and then up to the Pentagon can be a drag, which sucks since those will be the toughest miles.

But oddly enough, I already know that on marathon day I will not think about any of those things or any others, and I will simply relish the day, the people, the run, and the opportunity to have been able to participate.

Yes, I would love to do spectacularly well from a timing perspective, but I will be thrilled to post any kind of a  respectable time. My immediate goal is to finish the race. I joke with people about “crossing the finish line vertical and preferably running”, but my serious goal is to finish with anything better than a 4:20hr posting. Making my stretch goal here will depend on the day, energy levels, how things are going, etc., etc.  If I hit it, or even come remotely close to it I will be over the moon with excitement.

I have a race plan and a nutrition plan. I hope that I remember it while I’m running (I sort of lost track of things during Chicago….).  I will start with the 10m/m group and depending on how I’m feeling, start working on decreasing my splits.  26.2 miles is a long way and there are plenty of miles to do things.  Nutritionally, I am planning on doing my banana thing: I’ll eat a banana prior to the start, another at mile 4 and the second one at mile 12. I’ll do GU at miles 8, 16, and 20. I’ll have an extra GU in event that I can/should suck one down between 20 and 25 – it all depends on what my stomach will handle at that point. I will also hit every water station and take down at least 4oz of fluid.

Like I said – I am as ready as I can get. Three days and a wake up.  I can’t wait.

training interrupted (by life...) but I still got 17 miles in

When there are 4 weeks to go prior to a marathon I'm not one to want to make any serious changes or deviations from my training plan. But unfortunately life happens, deviations take place, and somehow or another I'll compensate, recover, and do well.

With 4 weeks to go to the marathon I've gotten myself involved in a project that has totally inhaled my time. Last week I managed to squeeze in 13 miles, but the week before was a paltry 3 miles, and I felt guilty doing those 3. The only upside is that the project involves a heavy measure of physical exercise, so I had been calling it "cross-training" - except that it didn't help me today.

Today, after not being able to get my last long run in a week ago, and before tapering for the MCM, I got in 17 miles. I wanted to do 20, but the humidity was too much, and more importantly, boy did I feel the effects of not running. The last long run of any significance was 19 days prior, not counting a 6 miler that I got in 3 days ago. My endurance levels seemed to be ok, but my legs were not there. And I'm guessing that it is because they had been on vacation for too long. With 18 days to go, I am going to have to adapt my taper to make sure that my legs don't forget how to run without negating the positive effects of the tapering period.

My point here is that I'm very surprised by how much not keeping up with a 20-30 mile per week routine affected me today. I realize that everybody is different and I am sure that some people, probably most people, are not affected by a gap in their running schedule. But clearly, I am. What I've learned is that I will loose what little edge I have if I am not constantly on top of it.

The 17 miles that I did, albeit in the very, very high humidity of FL, have totally drained my legs. They feel soooo done. I'm going to force myself to do at least a 2 mile run/walk tomorrow, and then step into my regular taper prior to the marathon.

Quick aside:  I did my run with bananas and a single gu. I strapped the bananas to my waist belt with velcro cable ties, ate one at mile 4 and the other at mile 12, sucking down the gu at mile 8.  Awesome.

I'm jazzed and excited. 18 days to go !

Miles and miles and miles

I’m learning many things among them being that serious, and I mean serious, marathoners run some serious miles in training. I mean like 60-80 miles a week (maybe more?). Makes my 40 miles a week look anemic. But for the time being, as I have been saying: To each to their own ability - and I’m working hard to improve mine.

I've also learned that runners that do serious miles simply do a lot of miles *everyday*, like 8-12 miles almost every day, along with a long run or two in there somewhere. Do the math and you'll see how quickly you get up to 50 miles/week at that rate. But this is also really hard on the body and definitely does not work for me. I have found that if I manage my miles, time on my feet, and apply rest periods between run days, that I can have a very satisfactory running experience. I have to be careful not to let my competitive nature take over and try to claim a 100 mile/week.

But I love running the miles. I love the feeling of just chugging down the path, that feeling of being in a groove, the feeling of my body exerting itself. It is so hard to explain. It is odd that even though I might feel discomfort in different areas, i.e. my achilles, or a hamstring starting to fire, or whatever, that as long as I get my head back into a groove I can overcome those discomforts.

I did 18 miles last week after a scheduled  down week with a long run of “only” 11 miles, and while doing the 18 miles felt good, it was hard. At mile 16 there is no doubt that I was struggling. I was tired, I was fatigued. Fortunately a woman passed me right at mile 17 and I was able to use her as a rabbit and she basically got me to my truck. Crazy how that works. For those of you that run, you’ll know what I mean. I would have made it on my own, kind of clunking along, but having someone to chase really helps.

This particular 18 miler was an out-and-back along the C&O Trail in MD. This picture has me running northwest with the canal on my right and a rock bluff on my left. The Potomac is on the other side of the rock bluff. This particular morning was after some rain, which made the trail a bit softer. When it's dry, it feels harder than cement.

It’s a weird feeling running out 9 miles knowing that I’m going to have run all the way back in order to get home. It's a trail along the river/canal, no houses, no roads. During the week the trail there are few people using it. From time to time I might come across another runner, walker, or cyclist, but not too many. There are no short cuts, no buses, no one to call. If I want to get home, I have to make it on my own. In a way it’s kind of empowering. 

In a previous post I've mentioned the mental negotiation that I go through as I run the miles: only 3 miles until I get to turn around and head back, 2 more miles to a Gu, only 6 miles to the end, and so on. On this particular occasion I had a very scary thought which I am sure I am destined to relive: It occurred to me that at the pace I was running (~9-9:30m/m) that once I got to my turn-around spot that I had another 1hr20-25min or so to get home. For some reason, the time bothers me more than the distance. And when I start fixating on how long it is going to take me to finish, I start wanting to run faster in order to get it over with. This is a problem for me since for longer distances makes it more difficult for me to finish strong.

Miles and miles... run, run, run...

6 weeks to the MCM

2 more 20milers on the schedule and then it’s downhill from there!! I am jazzed

CAN I do it vs do I WANT to do it

While doing an easy 6 miles over a somewhat hilly route (not crazy hilly, but several 150+ft elevation transitions), I started thinking about the “can I” and “do I want to” conundrum.  In other words, “can I” run this route over these hills, and assuming that the answer is yes, “do I want to”?

Yes, I can, and Yes, I want to. 

But then I took it to the next level such as running a marathon.  And the answer remains the same: yes, I want to, and yes, I can.  But I noted that I switched the order, wanting to do it, which then led me to being able to do it.  Which interestingly is in line with the concept of being goal oriented.  If you have a goal in mind, the chances of achieving that goal are pretty good. Of course it always helps if you include a plan on how to achieve that goal. But still, if you believe in it, then it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

And not to beat this to death, but obviously if there is something that I don’t want to do, then the likelihood of me being able to do it diminishes significantly, even if it is something that I “can” do. You get the drift.

Want to, can do.

A tough 20 miles capping a 45 mile week

Today’s 20 miler capped a 45 mile week for me, 13 miles more than last week.  Oddly enough I did this to myself on purpose in order to push myself beyond my normal comfort zone.  I also realize that 45 miles is chump change for a lot of marathoner’s but as the saying goes, to each their own ability… 

I ran on the C&O Trail again, starting right at sunrise.  It was a little gloomy under the trees without the sunlight, but things brightened up quickly.  Within my first couple of miles I came within 10 feet of a deer that was standing right on the edge of the path. I slowed to a walk so that I wouldn’t spook it any more than I was going to and hoped to take a picture, but she quietly slipped back into the forest and out of sight.  It’s kind of amazing how easily they can disappear amongst the trees.

I was also running with my heart monitor (and I’ll have a separate post on this) and my intent was to keep my heart rate within my “burn and churn” range between 125 and 143 bpm, and I pretty much did.  My average HR was 131 with a max HR of 143. I was hoping that if I ran within “the limits” that I would feel strong in the last few miles, but possibly because this was a really hard run week, I didn’t. The last 3 miles were really, really hard! On top of that, my feet were starting to hurt. The trail is basically crushed rock and I sought to run along the edges that were a bit softer and had more soil than rock content.  In some places I was able to run on the sort-of low grass. But with little recent rain the ground was very hard, and boy did I feel it.

Another by-product of getting tired is sloppy running and posture failure. As I got tired, particularly as I was entering mile 16, I noticed that my footfalls were flatter and I felt that I was pounding the ground vs stepping through. I would try to adjust my stride and body posture, but my legs were simply tired – I was running out of juice. As I got tired and failed to maintain my posture and form, my knee’s started to bother me. In addition, I could feel my that hamstrings were tightening and I felt like I was edging ever so close to cramping. I sucked down another Gu at mile 17 and I sipped my water/Gatorade mix throughout. Interestingly enough, between thorough miles 16 and 18 my HR was fairly nominal (mid 130’s), but as I got to mile 19 my HR started popping into the 140’s. I found that by managing my breathing I was able to manage my HR some, but obviously I was reaching a point of fatigue. I should also mention that it was getting warm (mid 70's) and about a 90% humidity. I was dripping sweat and my shirt and shorts were soaked. The good news is that I didn’t cramp and I finished my run successfully with a nice 9:30m/m pace average. Of interest to me is that last weeks 18 miler average pace was 9:00m/m, on a week that I only logged 33 miles. Obviously I was tired from the start for this 20 miler.

Earlier in the week I had a marvelous (and hard) 10 mile run around DC – across the Key bridge, along the Potomac all the way around East Potomac Park and then back across the Memorial bridge. It was a good run and the weather was great.

8 weeks to the MCM !!   Next week is a “down” week with my longest run closer to 10 miles. I am looking forward to that!

16 miles turns into 18 (well, 17.84)

Once again I wound up running further than I intended.  And in this case also faster than I intended.  I had gone  up to the C&O Trail (MD side of the Potomac) for my "16 miler" and around mile 3 wound up running with "Mike" who was putting in 18 miles. We had started from almost the same place, so his turn around spot on the trail was just a little bit further than mine would have been, so I figured what the heck, I don't have any problem doing the extra couple of miles.

Quick aside: The C&O trail is a great place to run - I really enjoy it, particularly very early in the morning before people start to arrive.  Today I saw a young buck (maybe a 6 pointer?)  and came within 20 feet of him. Pretty cool. Something that I don't see everyday.

And BTW, while I prefer to finish my runs on whole numbers, my spot to get off the trail happened to be at 17.84 miles...  I would have run that extra 0.16 miles except that a) I didn't realize how close I was to my mile marker, b) I was tired, c) it would have required me to run uphill, and d) I was tired! I'd had enough...  but I would have done it had I known...

The other little issue of having run with Mike was that he was running a little bit of a faster pace than I was intending to run, more or less 8:45-8:50 minute miles, whereas I was thinking of keeping it to somewhere around 9:00 to 9:10 pace.  But I was actually looking for some company for this run and figured that extra effort on my part would be worth it - and it was.  It was a great work out and I wound up averaging a 9:00 min/mile pace overall, which puts me right on target for reaching my 4 hour marathon - assuming of course that I can run the next 8 miles at a 9 min pace (not so sure about that).... My right quad was starting to fire around mile 16 and I fought it off by changing my gait until I found something that relieved the stress or tension on it and I didn't think about it at all during the last mile.

While I wasn't sore, and didn't cramp, I was definitely tired by the time I was done.  The temptation to just lay down in the grass in the parking lot was incredible... but I didn't do it!!! Instead I walked around the parking area for a bit, did some stretching, then drove home and took my dog for a mile walk. I was feeling really tired, but that mile walk was wonders for my legs. Then a nice cold bath... ahh heaven...

All in all, I'm getting more confident about being able to do reasonably well in the MCM.  Even more happy about the fact that I've staved off any cramping issues this year - I've come close... but I've avoided them. Big win for me. I believe that the reason is simply that I am paying more attention to my fueling and my endurance level is substantially improved.

Next week is 18 miles (again) - going to try to work on my negative split strategy.
63 days to the MCM !!  (9 very short weeks)

Leesburg 20K - great run, great event

I probably had the best race event of my very short running career.  Somehow or another I managed to eat right the day before, rest enough, fuel myself in the AM, not drink too much fluids before hand, not start out too fast, manage my fuel and fluid intake during the race, and had enough juice to finish strong.  The net result is that I averaged an 8:39m/m pace, well under my 8:59m/m goal.  And the bonus is that I had a lot of fun doing it. Best of all, I had a great "event test" run with my new Newton's and I am pleased that they didn't let me down!

Up through around mile 4 I can claim all of the credit, but then I managed to hook up with some good company that was compatible with the pace that I wanted to set, we had good conversation, and we able to encourage ourselves to a strong finish.  I’m not sure that I would have run as strong as I did without them. It was a lot of fun and it felt really good to run with them.

My goal had been to do my first mile at somewhere around a 9:30 pace, which I did, then steadily but slowly improve on that as I felt stronger, start running harder after mile 8, with hopefully a nice kick during the last mile. And things turned out pretty much according to plan:

Mile 8: 8:46

Mile 9: 7:46

Mile 10: 7:45

Mile 11: 8:03 (ran into some traffic)

Mile 12: 7:38

Last 4/10 of a mile: 7:59 pace

Somewhere around mile 4 I connected with “Sarah”, a 40-something woman who it turns out is a very accomplished runner, having already run the MCM twice.  We seemed to share the same goals for the event so it was easy to run with her.  Then around mile 7 I became aware of 2 guys that were drafting us and at first I started asking them if we were holding them back, but they insisted that it was more like we were pulling them along and we were  doing fine setting the pace.  As soon as we finished mile 8 I started kicking it up a bit, helped somewhat by the slight downhill  that we had and as soon as we finished that mile I was almost afraid to let my companions know that we just did a 7:46 split. But they were cool with it and ok to continue at that pace, and so we did. By the time we got to mile 12 with 4/10 of a mile to go, I wanted to see if I could push to the finish, and everyone started humping it up a bit more.

Sarah’s young son had joined us around mile 11.5 told us that we had this little bridge go over, then a 90 degree turn to the finish.  But unbeknownst to me, as soon as we turned that corner we had a bit of a hill…  Ok, it was not much of a hill, but I was pretty close to running out of gas and dealing with a hill was not something that I was looking forward to.  As soon as we hit that corner, one of the guys that I was sprinting with at time just took off on me.  It’s like he fired a new engine and just took off up that hill.  I started to take off after him, thinking that yeah it would be fun to finish with him, but as I started to amp it up, discretion took over – I wanted to finish the race…. not fall flat short of the finish line, or worse yet, hurt myself.  So I finished, strong, albeit not as strong as he did – but hey, I can play the “age” card; I probably have 10 years on that guy.

My right Achilles was somewhat tight the rest of the day and today (the day after), so I’ve been icing it after walking Reece (my dog), and wrapping it from time to time for support and warmth.  No stretching or serious exertion.  The running group (Potomac River Running, a group that I’ve gotten to know) invited me to join them on Tuesday afternoon for a group run, but I’m not sure that I should.  We’ll see come Tuesday PM.  I want to do 16 miles this weekend, so I need my feet, ankles, calves, Achilles,hams, quads, etc., to all be in good shape!

I do want to send a shout out to the Potomac River Running (website: www.prraces.com) group that organized this event. I haven’t run that many events, but the Leesburg 20K was one that I thought was one of the best managed events that I have participated in.  The sign-in at 6:00AM was seemless, plenty of porta johns,  a well organized start, a nicely marshaled route, lots of hydration, and a well managed finish line.  Best of all, I had a great time (both figuratively and literally).

69 more days to the MCM !!!

Why do we run marathons? I did a survey

It occurred to me that people that run marathons might actually be certifiable nuts...  So I did a survey few weeks ago to attempt to find out why we do it. Why do we run marathons?

As I go through my own training for my second marathon, I find that I keep asking myself the question "why am I doing this?" Not because I have doubts or lack of desire, but simply because I have become very interested in why it is that we put ourselves through what we do. There is a lot of training, lots of miles, lots of time, tons of discomfort, it costs money, injuries happen, and so on. And we do it just to run 26.2 miles with 100's if not 1,000's of other running nuts. What drives us to do it?

I hosted the survey at http://whydowerunmarathons.blogspot.com/2013/07/why-do-we-do-it.html which asked 4 basic questions:
1) an open ended question: What drives you to want to run a marathon?
2) How many have you already run (options are 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4+)
3) What is your age group,
4) and Are you Male or Female.

If would like to contribute your thoughts, just go to http://whydowerunmarathons.blogspot.com/2013/07/why-do-we-do-it.html.
  - 4 questions, totally anonymous, take you 60 seconds.

Summary of results so far:

First the demographics

• 48% of the respondents have run 4 or more marathons, 
• 15% are thinking about running their first, 
• 15% have previously only run one marathon, and 
• the remaining 12% have run between 2 & 3 marathons. 
• *What might be key here is that 60% have run two or more!! 
• 33% are in the 40-49 year old range,  25% in the 30-39 age group,   19% are 50-59,   10% are over 60 years old, and the remaining 13% are under 30.
• 62% male, 38% female  (I believe this number is a little skewed, since my personal observations is that at least half the runners in my marathons have been women, if not more)

At a very top level, it seems that we run marathons for a sense of accomplishment; it is a challenge, and we want to see if we can do it. It is a difficult enough of a challenge to not be taken casually, thus providing the sense of accomplishment upon its completion, and for some people, the need to do it again.

To paraphrase some of the general themes that I’ve received:  I want to see if I do it.  I gave birth to a child, can I run a marathon? I’m the only one in my office that will run 26.2 miles. I ran one marathon, can I do better in another one? If I run a marathon (or more than one) I will impress my friends… and so on in that vein.  

The “Can I do it?” trend was typical for first timers or it was a “bucket list” thing along the lines of “several people in my social circle have done it, therefore I need to do it too”.  But for the 15% that have only run one marathon, the phrase “I did it, I survived, I’ll never do it again” was pretty consistent.

There was also a secondary thread that was goal oriented (similar to “accomplishment”, yet different); by scheduling to run a marathon, the goal was to train and exercise accordingly with the net goal of staying fit.  In other words, the marathon itself was the reward, the party, for all of the training. By having the implied obligation to run the event, it became compulsory to train for it, and therefore lead a reasonably healthy lifestyle.  This may be what leads runners to participate in multiple marathons. It may also be that the event (the marathon itself) provides a sense of purpose in one's life.  This was implied, but not specifically stated, (I am grossly paraphrasing and reading between lines here): "I am going to run a marathon and I will surround my everyday life with those things that support achieving that goal".

Some respondents are naturally competitive (and obviously naturally athletic) and their reason for running a marathon is continuous improvement. Can they do better. This group just loves running, is good and accomplished at distance running, and in general loves the atmosphere of a marathon. One respondent wrote to me about the mystery of the event, i.e. there is no telling what is going to happen between the starting line and the finish line (and it’s true – 26.2 miles is a long enough of a distance that anything can happen, be it weather, event organization, personal fitness or injury, and so on).

Another thought that seemed to be streaming in was that everyone enjoyed the buzz and activity surrounding a marathon.  Runners all seem to like the excitement before the start of the race, the support during the event, and of course, the finish line events.  In large marathons there is a carnival atmosphere that just amps up the buzz and excitement.  Obviously, many smaller marathons have little, if any buzz, and is targeted to the serious and hard core athletes.

One response that struck home with me (because we are in the same age group and apparently share the same thought) discussed the desire to run because people that he’s known are now dead or very unhealthy due to life style choices and his goal was simply to live a healthy life right up to the day that he keels over during a run. (I know that sounds morbid, but I agree – I’d rather drop on a trail or a road during a run than in a nursing home….)

But the striking result of this survey was the number of repeat marathoners. 60% of the respondents have run two or more marathons (48% have run 4 or more!!).  This flies in the face of the fact that running a marathon is very hard and sucks so much out of your body, plus it demands so much attention to training.  Obviously, there are exceptions for those individuals who are naturally athletic and have the right genes. 

30 years ago the average finish time was 3 hrs 30 minutes. Today it is at least 60 minutes longer, if not a bit more.  Any runner that is out there hoofing it along for over 4 hours (and I am one of those) is in danger of doing damage to their body – there is so much that can go wrong.  The prevailing wisdom is that after 3 hours of running we are starting to significantly break our body down.  I suspect that those runners that are repeat marathoners are running sub 3:30 events. In hindsight, I should have asked that kind of question in the survey...

But my overall conclusion from the responses that I've received is that the key reason that so many people are drawn to running a marathon is because it is hard, but it is doable, and when you succeed and cross that finish line, there is a tremendous feeling of self accomplishment.  And apparently that leads to the wanting to run another one…

My own reasons have changed a bit, but not by much.  My first marathon was simply a personal call to a challenge.  My running level had amped up enough for me to consider that yes, I would like to attempt to run a marathon.  At a physical and mental level, a marathon is a difficult, yet reachable objective that forces me to train for it, i.e. exercise, and to eat sensibly. I get to apply a level of "mind over matter" to get through the tough spots (of which I have many) and succeeding in that, I believe, makes me a better person.

To me a marathon is a very individual event; oh sure, there are people that cheer me on towards my endeavor, run with me, and so on, but on marathon day only me, my endurance, and my legs will carry me from the starting line to the finish line - it's all me - no one else can run it for me. And being able to cross that finish line is a very personal achievement.

And guess what?  I'm going to run my second marathon on Oct 27 - the Marine Corp Marathon, and I am very excited about it! And I'm totally expecting to run a third marathon at some point after that.

(If you would like to leave a comment I've been told that it may be necessary for you to temporarily allow 3rd Party Cookies - it's not my thing... it's seems to be a Google Blogger thing... For example, if you use Chrome as a browser, go to "Settings", scroll down to the bottom and select "Show Advanced Settings", select "Content Settings" in the Privacy section, and then un-select "Block 3rd Party cookies...".   I would not recommend leaving your settings that way, so be sure to reset it back to block 3rd party cookies.)

Tough week

This was a tough week for me – I did a two-fer (two runs in a day) on Tuesday, hill repeats on Thursday, then a very hilly 7 mile trail run on Friday, and capped it with a 15 miler on Sunday. In total it was 33 miles for the week, which I know pales in comparison to what serious runners put in, but it is was I was comfortable doing.  I usually run 5 days a week, but this week was only 4 – my right Achilles has been a little tight, so I am trying to exercise some measure of level headedness and not overdo it to the point of not being able to run.  My mantra this year has been to stay uninjured.  Besides, the runs that I did were very productive and touched on all the elements that I wanted.

The mistake I made however was on Saturday.  Feeling the need to do something physical, I went down to the gym with the thought of doing some light upper body work – which led to also doing some leg work (leg curls, leg presses, calf presses), and because I felt so empowered, it led to a more rigorous workout that I ought to have considering that I was going to run 15 miles the next day.

I did the run, but it was so very much not my best run by a long shot.  My legs were totally toast after mile 10.  I started to feel the effects of my legs  not having the juice as soon as I hit my first significant hill around mile 7.  My legs just did not have it to run up that hill – so I sucked on a Gu and walked up most of it.  The Gu helped and I seemed to be ok of the next series of modest hills.

I had run up from my apartment into Great Falls Park and then up a trail into River Bend Park.  The trails were beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the run.  I was on trails that I had mostly not been on before, was navigating by dead reckoning, and it was a blast.  At one point, knowing that I was heading towards the Potomac River I wound up on the trail that switch-backed its way down a reasonably high ridge (probably a 200 ft drop in elevation).  I remember thinking that if this trail didn’t drop me where I thought it was going to that I was going to have to run back up that switch-back, something that I did not think my legs were going to appreciate.  But fortunately I did wind up at a trail that runs along the river that would take me back to Great Falls Park.  The first picture is looking back upstream on the trail I was running, and the second is in the direction that I'm going. (yes, that is the edge of my finger on the left frame - I could crop that out, but...)

I like running on trails for a variety of reasons, but I am learning that trail running is very different than road running.  First of all you have to pay attention to the ground and what is in front of you.  Secondly, you have to make sure that 

you pick up your feet.  There is no such thing as “gliding” like I try to do on hard packed surfaces.  And finally, it is really hard to appreciate your surroundings.  So as a result, my times on trails suck because I’m enjoying where I am and I’m still learning how to run on uneven trails.

The route back home involved a lot of uphill…  coming out of the park there is a 200 ft elevation uplift over a bit more than a mile.  I’m on an asphalt road at this point and it is just a smooth grind up and out of the park area.  I just chugged up the road at a steady pace, somewhere around a 9:45m/m pace and felt ok.  I got a bit of relief for the next couple miles and then had an uphill challenge for the next 4 miles, with the last ½ mile being the steepest. I sucked another Gu down at mile 12 and that helped some, but on that last ½ mile I was suffering (a very slow 11m/m plod).  At one point I almost fell on my face as I tripped on the edge of sidewalk slab.  I managed to catch myself, but I had the thought that if for some reason that I hadn’t, I would have just laid there for a while to rest up some….

I walked Reece for a mile after I got home, took an ice bath, did my protein shake, hydrated, iced my Achilles, etc… and all is good.  I was a little sore, but not horribly.  Achilles ok the next day – maybe we’re going to be ok.  We went to a pool party later that afternoon and someone asked me if I could run a marathon this week if I had to…  My first inclination was to say no, but oddly enough as I was finishing up my 15 miles and evaluating how tired I really was, I wondered if I had another 11 miles left in me, and I thought that yes, if I had to do it, I could.  So my answer to the question was yes… but I’d rather not, just yet… 

83 more days to the MCM!   (12 weeks)

2 weeks to the Leesburg 20K

Negotiating my way through 14 miles

I find it interesting how sometimes I negotiate my way through a long run.  But don’t misunderstand me, I love to run, I like the feeling of running, I love the exertion. But sometimes on a long run I get bored and it’s not enough to just be running – There is the long term view of why I am where I am in my training program, i.e. this long run fits here in my endurance training program, but sometimes it does get monotonous.

Yesterday I did 14 miles on the Mt Vernon Trail (runs along the Potomac, across from DC) on a simple 7 mile out-and-back route.  Around mile 4 I started thinking “3 more miles and I get to turn around”, then at mile 7, the turn-around point, it was “Yipee, I’m heading back!”, at mile 12 it was “17-18 minutes or less and I’ll be done!”, and at mile 13 it was “if I run faster I’ll be done sooner”….  You get the drift.  I wonder what other runners do to talk their way through the run...

I have no idea how people run without music… at a minimum the music is entertaining.  More importantly to me, the beat provides me with inspiration. Sometimes I’ll even listen to a podcast, but that tends to not help me with my cadence.  I know this woman in Michigan who recently ran the JFK 50 miler, and one of their rules is no earbuds or headphones.  She told me that she tried singing to herself, talking to whomever she could, but after 8-10 hours of running it has to get very tough.  It is not only a physical endurance test, but also a mental one.

Running on the Mt Vernon Trail was ok – it’s safe traffic-wise, reasonably runner friendly (except for all of the bicycles), no major hills, paved, and you can go a long way.  The downside however is that it follows the GW Parkway for the most part on which there is a lot of traffic.  And lots of traffic means lots of vehicular exhaust in the air, and I don’t think that’s real good for lungs, especially when you are running and sucking in lots of air. 

Even at 6:30AM on a Saturday there was what I would consider as significant traffic.  If it was windy, or even just breezy, that would help a lot. But yesterday morning was still and hot and humid.  I would have preferred to run the C&O canal path, but there has been a lot of rain and I wanted to avoid the mud.  Also, knowing that it was going to be a still and humid morning, I was hoping that the more wider-open area next to the Potomac would have been a bit cooler.  Maybe starting earlier in the AM or on a Sunday would be better.

But all good – It was a solid run, I averaged a 9:07 pace which (I think) I could easily have sucked below 9.  At mile 7, the turn-around point, I took a few minutes to pull some nutrition out of my camel-back and that process squandered some time, even though I was still moving, something that I would not have done in a timed event.  Regardless, I managed a slight negative split. 

One of the new things that I experimented with was slugging down a 5HR shot at mile 7, and I very positively felt its effects during the next few miles. My intent was to see if the B12 (the primary component of 5HR) would help me. I did the whole shot, but it’s likely that I only needed maybe half.  I did GU at miles 4, 9, and 12.  I also sipped on my watered-down Gatorade throughout the run. For tracking purposes, I went through almost 48oz of fluid (6 cups).  I felt no cramping or major fatiguing – I was tired at the end, but I could have gone another mile or so if necessary.  So far so good.

105 days (15 weeks) to the MCM!!  

13 very humid miles on the C&O Trail

I pushed out 13 miles very early this morning on the C&O Trail.  My original goal had been 12, but as usual, I talked myself into  another 1/2 mile past the turn-around so that I could post 13 miles.  It's so easy to do... after doing 6 miles, another 1/2 mile is nothing.  The hard part is that I then have 6.5 miles back to the truck, but since subconsciously I know that I'm on my way back, it somehow seems easy.

The great news is that I was able to turn the run into a nice negative split (the last half of my run was faster than the first), and the best news is that I ran the 13th mile at a nice 7:30min/mile pace!

The humidy was a very thick 95% even at 6:30AM.  I was careful to be sure to consistently be sipping fluids (I had brought along my camelback - filled it about a 1/3 with gatorade, froze it overnight, and then filled it with a bit more gatorade and the rest with water).  I was probably sipping fluids every 1/2 mile or so, perhaps even more often than that. It was so humid that by the time I was done my clothes were dripping wet.

This picture is around mile 2 I think...  I came across a couple of deer and they stayed just ahead of me.  You can just see one of them in the path.  The other is to the left of the path.

Somewhere around mile 9 or 10 I became aware of someone pacing behind me.  I figured that he would simply be passing me at any moment, but he never did.  I was trying to maintain a constant pace but he seemed content to draft behind me, so I eventually eased up a bit and he wound up finally coming abreast of me.  By this point we were around my mile 11 or so, and I was hoping that I could get him to run with me since I was  becoming fatigued and perhaps a bit of conversation would help me finish strong. But unfortunately he was at the end of his run and that was that.  He did however thank me for setting his pace.

So I was left to my own devices to finish - which is fine.  I'm going to run a marathon, and it's going to be me and me alone that runs the distance. I'm not sure why, but when I got to mile 12 I felt kind of surprised. My legs were feeling really tired and I was ready to be done, but of course I still had to get to my truck. In a way I was just thinking that the sooner I got to the parking lot, the better; so the faster that I could run the sooner I'd be done.  I didn't really feel like I was running a sub-8 pace, but obviously I was. Net-net, it was a great run.

Post run, I made sure to walk for a good bit to shake out the lactic acid build up, did a protein shake as soon as I got home, took my dog for a 2 mile walk, and then finally enjoyed a nice ice-bath (just lovely!).  It is evening right now, and even though my legs are a little stiff if I sit for too long, my legs actually feel pretty good!  So like I said, it was a good run!

11.5 on the C&O Canal Path

This was a good run week starting with a 2 miles shakeout from last weeks 11 mile run, followed by a 5m jaunt with a local running group from Potomac River Running, then 6, 3, and 11.5 miles.  That made for a total of 27 miles, which while nothing for the serious runners, was a lot of miles for me.  As I prep for the Marine Corp Marathon, I know that I’ll be doing many 30+mile weeks, but I’m just trying to train carefully and methodically.  I don’t want a repeat of last year.

I enjoyed the 5 mile run with the running group, although I was not crazy about the route.  It involved having to cross too many roads, and since it was in the evening, there was a fair amount of traffic.  Given the stores location (on Leesburg Pike in Falls Church) it is kind of hard to avoid traffic situations.  But I enjoyed the run nonetheless – good people, good pace. I'll run with them again I think.

The next day I did two 3 mile loops around my apartment area; this is actually a really good work out because very little of is flat.  I’m either going up or down, and there is a very nice uphill finish on each loop, making it great training for the MCM. During my first loop I was dragging so badly at 2 miles, that I almost pictured myself just doing 3 miles. So I sucked down a Gu, pretended like I had someone running with me and we had 6 miles to do, and kept going. While I know full well that the Gu was a great stimulant for me, I also wonder how much my mental imagination of running with someone got me over the hump.  I actually had a really good run that day, averaging a 8:30 pace.  I even clocked a 7:45 split on mile 5 (slight downhill – fun to take advantage of that stretch).

Sunday’s long run was a different story altogether though.  I went back to the C&O Canal path (6:30AM, 67deg, 95% humidity) with the goal of making it to a hill on the west side of the Reservoir.  That hill is on the MCM path and hits right around mile 7, so I wanted to experience it to see how steep and long it might be.  I picked a spot to jump on the trail about 4 miles from the hill, the thought being that I wanted to have some miles on me before I got to it so that I would be a little tired by the time I got there and still finish with an 11-12 mile run.  It turns out that it’s a good hill, but not bad at all. And there is a slight downhill grade afterwards providing some relief – so all good. 

In order to get back on the trail I had to run all the way down MacArthur Blvd to Canal Rd where I found a tunnel that goes under the road and the canal back to the trail.  I’m not big on tunnels, and it gave me the creeps.  It was well lit, paved, and I could see the other end, but it still gave me the heeby-geebies… yuk!

The way back was without incident, and I was able to get into a nice cadence.  It felt really good.  I wound up killing some time when I had to slow to a walk at mile 9 so that I could take off my camelback and get to a packet of Gu in a difficult to reach pocket, but aside from that I was very steady all the way through.  Notwithstanding, by the time I got to where my truck was, I was ready to call it “done”. The humidity just sucked the energy out of me - and I'm sure that the burger and beers the night before did not help...  Even though I had posted 11 ½ miles, and I always prefer to post whole numbers, I did not have it in me to do another ½ mile.  In retrospect, I should have toughed it out, but I didn’t.  Next time. 

My average pace was 9min/mile dead on, with which I was very pleased.  If I hadn’t had to walk while rescuing my last packet of Gu, I would have been able to post a sub 9min/mile pace!  (it is always the little things…).

139 days (20 weeks) to the MCM

Running tired

There is something about learning to run when you are tired – or at least much that I need to learn.  And it’s actually an interesting phenomena. 

In my case, I’ll get to a point in my (long) run where I’m starting to think that “I’m tired”, but naturally, I’m not done with my run.  And as is often the case, I may be 5, 8 or more miles away from my truck or home, so being tired is, well, just too bad.  I have to finish.

There are times when the thought crosses my mind (very briefly, mind you) that I could just walk…  but that would take so long to make it back to wherever, so I just continue to run.

The crazy thing is that not too long after I get this feeling I seem to get a second wind, like new-found strength and I’m fine for a while longer.

I would be kidding you if I didn't tell you that there was a mental part to this.  When I get that "I'm tired" feeling, I'm instantly evaluating if my body is really trying to tell me something or not.  At 56, I'm scanning all of my vital signs like a pilot does his instruments - am I in trouble or am I ok?  99.9% of the time I am ok, and I have to find the mental strength to get past it. And sometimes it is hard, really hard, to do - but it feels so good when I do, when I push past being tired and keep rolling.  I have no idea where that comes from and I wish that I could find a way to bottle it up.

The really hard part is towards the end of a long run, particularly if that last bit is uphill.  The tiredness becomes very heavy, and all I think about is “keep running and just finish”. I use any number of little mental tricks to keep me going: I’ll tell myself that I’m on mile 25 of a marathon and I’m going to finish and I will do it running. Or I’ll think about other people who have actually had to run for their lives or someone else’s and giving up was not an option.  I’ll also imagine a wire attached to the middle of my hips that is pulling me to the finish (or up the hill) – that last one works to keep me pumping. 

I’ve never been so tired that I literally felt like I was going to collapse (that’s a line that I won’t fret with).  I think that instinctively I’ve always kept a reasonable buffer in the tank, so to speak, so that bad or weird things don’t happen.

The hard part is that when I start to get really tired, I mean really tired, I start to not process thoughts very well, and as a result I have to be extra careful that I don’t make stupid decisions.  I’ve learned that this is likely caused by the flood of lactic acid in my system. Hot conditions will do that also, but for different reasons.

But the even crazier thing is that finishing a run tired seems to better condition me for the next run. Which makes sense of course; I am pushing the envelope a little bit, expanding my ability by a bit more every time.  It turns out that there is actual science to this:  As I endurance train, I am increasing the amount of blood that is being delivered to my muscles.  But note that it is not my blood volume that is increasing, but rather the ability for the blood to reach the muscles that need the nutrition.  It turns out that I am increasing the number and size of the capillaries that deliver blood.  In addition, I am becoming more efficient at burning fuel (glycogen and fat).

One very telling symptom of this cardio improvement is that I’ve noticed that my resting heart rate is in the 45-50 bpm range. An emergency room doctor that I happened to run with one day told me that if I ever had the misfortune to wind up in an ER to be sure to tell the attending nurses/docs that I was a runner, or else they would start giving me drugs to raise my heart rate!  I thought that was pretty crazy..

Of course, after “pushing the envelope” the trick is to recover adequately and properly so that my body can take advantage of that new endurance.  By that I mean, refueling properly (water, electrolyte replenishment, carbs and proteins), taking care of my muscles (stretching, rolling), and some rest (but not too much).

The more I get into running (all 4 years of it so far), the more I can see how deeply engaged and involved one can get.  It all depends on how deep you want to go and how much time you have to spend on it.  Overall, I think it’s pretty interesting!  I’m just hoping that I can keep my body healthy enough to continue.

148 days to the MCM!

Miles

I’m doing 20-25 miles a week as I do my pre-training for the Marine Corp Marathon in October and once I get into the heart of my training routine I’ll probably peak out somewhere close to 40 miles during certain weeks.  And to me, that’s a fair amount of running – and time…  And I started to think about other people that I’ve met or read about that do 30-40 miles per week just on a regular basis, then amp it up to 60+ for their marathon training. Some of these runners are running multiple times a day.  The question I have to ask is: do these people have a life outside of just running? Do they have jobs, errands to run, a house to take care of, have kids, a spouse, or friends?  You know… a life?  Do they go out for a beer on Friday or Saturday nights?

Perhaps it’s just me, but an hour’s run actually consumes more like 3 hours of my day if I take my pre and post run routines into consideration.  All told, those 20-25 miles take a reasonable, but very enjoyable, chunk out of my life.  So for those folks that are consistently doing 30-40 and more miles per week, either they run really, really fast or running is basically pretty much all they do.  And I’m pretty certain that when they are not running, they are cross-training…

So my point here I guess is that there are varying levels of running fanaticism. There’s the guys like me that want to run, like to run, and want to be better, but are constrained by the different priorities and pulls of a “life”.  And then there are those that live to run.  I have this image of those that live to run literally wearing running gear under their work clothes and then do the phone-booth Superman transformation (ok – they probably do it in a bathroom or perhaps their car).  Of course I’m assuming that they are actually working….  There was a story in Runners World about a guy who kind of had that way of life: as soon as 5:00 hit, he'd change clothes and be running down the road by 5:05 and then order pizza while running to be delivered to some corner so that he'd have something to eat for the run back to his car.  But guys like that are so not the norm.  C'mon man...

But nevertheless, I am hammering out my miles in the relentless effort to become more fit and physically capable of accomplishing a difficult goal.  I struggle with balancing training-time and other-things-I-need-to-do and I know that I'm not alone.  But in the end the personal reward is tremendous.  It’s something that I can’t describe to anyone and I’m sure that other runners feel the same.  And it’s more than just accomplishing something.  It’s almost like it’s an internal digestion and reaching for a certain “zen”, whatever the heck that is.  

I can’t wait for the MCM.  I’m excited and I hope that I am fit and can toe the starting line healthy!

176 days to go.

Marine Corp Marathon - I'm in !

It took serious persistence and knowing some html, but I managed to get registered for the MCM, running Oct 27, 2013!  The event sold out in 2 hours, 27 minutes.  Registration started at noon, and crashed immediately as thousands of runners hit the site.  I am just grateful that I had the time to be able to dedicate to getting registered.  Now I'm just hoping for a strong training period and a good run!
HooRah!  Here we go!

Goals?  Right now my goal is to cross the finish line vertical and preferably running !