2 Days 0 Pain = The Right Decision

Sorry for being mysterious and disappearing toward the end of the week. I ended up taking an unscheduled rest day on Thursday. I’ve had a pretty mean case of tendonitis in my right knee. I had been icing and taking ibuprofen (at least when I remembered to take it), but by Thursday, the pain had progressed from a dull ache to a sharp burning pain.

I had a three mile easy run scheduled for Thursday. My knee was screaming as I put my shoes on and  laced up. It was about then that I had a stroke of genius  (I took special note because it doesn’t happen all that often). What if I just take a night off? After all, it’s just 3 miles. Then, with the scheduled Friday off, I would stack up two rest days. Maybe it would actually do my knee some good?

Well – it must have. Saturday I finished a six mile pace run, followed by seven miles on the trails in Peters Canyon on Sunday. All done without pain. Sometimes I just amaze myself…..

The other thing that was pretty amazing is I ran both days without the muscle fatigue that I had been feeling ever since the L.A. Marathon. I had talked to a friend  about it a few weeks back and he assured me not to worry. As he put it, “One day you will go out for a run, and voila! Everything will feel normal again.” I’m not quite normal, but I feel like I’m getting there. A word of advice for anyone anyone else running their first marathon – in the following weeks if you feel physically and/or mentally exhausted for a while – don’t worry - one day you will go out for a run, and voila! Everything will feel normal again.

Of course, all this rest left me a little short on miles this week, with only 27.5 in instead of the planned 32, but if it means my knee is on it’s way to recovery, I’ll take the fewer miles.

On the plan this week:

• Monday: Row 4 miles.
• Tuesday: This week we’re changing from intervals on the track to hills in Shady Canyon. About 5 miles with the club.
• Wednesday: 3 miles. I’m swapping Wednesdays and Thursdays so I follow Tuesday’s hard workouts with an easy one. I’ll follow this with a resistance workout: One set each: Single leg squat, oblique bridge, lying draw-in w/ hip flexion, quadruped. Two sets each: Lying Hip Abduction, Cook Hip Lift, Kneeling Overhead Draw In, Knee Fall Out, Single Leg Squat Jump
• Thursday: 6 mile easy run.
• Friday: Rest day.
• Saturday: 13 mile long run.
• Sunday: 6 mile pace run, followed by a resistance workout: One set each: Single leg squat, oblique bridge, lying draw-in w/ hip flexion, quadruped. Two sets each: Lying Hip Abduction, Cook Hip Lift, Kneeling Overhead Draw In, Knee Fall Out, Wall Jump
• Total mileage: 37

This week’s proprioceptive cue: Pulling the road. I will imagine the road is a giant treadmill with the road moving away from me. This should force me to plant my foot and then pull the road backwards. This forces a couple of things: (1) stiffen in anticipation of impact, and (2) pull. The result is minimizing ground impact time and pulling into the next stride, which is supposed to make me more efficient. Of course, I’m supposed to do this in concert with the previous three cues as well – falling forward, navel to spine, running on water. This for a guy who has trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time….

Time for a Marathon Debrief

At this point, the Long Beach Marathon is legend. I look back fondly at my journey through the streets of Long Beach and laugh at all the trials and tribulations. That means that I'm probably ready to take an honest view of what worked and what didn't.

What Worked
(1) Long runs. Many of them. All in all, I put in 2 20 milers and 4 other runs over 16 miles. And dozens of runs over 10 miles. This time I had the confidence that the distance would not be a problem.
(2) Multiple dress rehearsals. I put in three runs that I would classify as full dress rehearsals. Wore the clothes that I wore on Marathon day. Down to the same socks and shoes. Practiced everything (except drinking on the run).
(3) Fuels and electrolytes: No cramping this time. So the gels and Endurolytes worked. Also, my last dress rehearsal let me know I needed more electrolytes than one capsule every 30 minutes.
(4) Miles. And more miles. Long slow ones. 750 of them. While they didn't make me fast, they gave me the confidence that despite my lat marathon experience, 26.2 miles was within my grasp.
(5) Fueling strategy. I said this before. Breaking this race into a series of 3 mile runs was key.

What Didn't
(1) 24 week training plan. Too long. Somewhere around week 16 or so I was ready for it to be over.
(2) Pfitzinger. Just too much for this new runner in an old body. About the same time I was burning out, I was also breaking down. Spent the last 5 or 6 weeks continually tired. I thought that having two rest days a week would be good, but the grind of the medium long runs during the week got to me.

When I look at the list above, there is only one thing that really stands out. 24 weeks of Pfitzinger. Just too many miles for too long for me. Interestingly, I didn't break down physically (well, except for two weeks of the creeping grunge), but mentally I was toast.

What's Changing
Albert Enstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. And he seemed like a pretty bright guy. So it's time to make a few adjustments.
The big change is that I'm going to go back to Hal Higdon. I had good results with his plans in the past. I'll start with his Advanced-I Marathon Plan. The big differences are 18 weeks, and only one day a week off. With Higdon, recovery occurs using short runs (3 - 4 miles) instead of the extra day off and long recovery runs.

Then, somewhere around the midpoint, I do a reality check and see how I feel. If I still feel good, I'll continue down the path. If not, I'll step back to his Intermediate-II Marathon Plan. One of my FB/Twitter friends followed this course for Chicago and whacked about an hour off her marathon time.


For now, it's back to recovery (3 easy miles last night).

I'm Now Official

I've been running around for a year with a chip on my shoulder courtesy of America's Finest City. When I ran my first (and last) marathon (San Diego Rock N' Roll 2008), I really had no idea what I was in for. My 30 mile peak weeks were woefully inadequate. I approached every training run like it was a race. I thought I was in good shape when I was able to finish 14 or 16 miles in a 10:14 pace by running BTTW. Little did I know what was in store for me on race day. I finished, but I really felt like the course and distance got the better of me.

Well, the one thing I really detest is not being in control. And San Diego was the ultimate beat down. The streets were in control. The weather was in control. The distance was in control. I was not. So I knew at some point I would be back. That day is today. I'm now official for the Long Beach Marathon. I pressed the submit button. I shelled out the dough.

I know I could have done it earlier and saved some money, but being an old fart, I am never sure how my body is going to hold up to the rigors of training. And especially this time. I chose the Pfitzinger 24/55 training plan (24 weeks, 55 mile peak weeks) because it is difficult and demanding. As I move into the last 8 weeks of training, I'm still wondering if I'm going to hold up. As you all know, there have been some trials and tribulations the past couple of weeks. Little tweaks here. Little niggles there. Lots of tired all around. But, to put in a 20 miler and feel strong afterwards - well I have a new lease on my running life.

This isn't about ego. This isn't about having fun (face it - 5 hours on my feet in the sun with chafed thighs, blisters the size of the soles of my feet and bloody nipples is not my idea of fun). This is about getting even. This is about taking this marathon monster and beating it into submission. This is about finishing on my terms. Even if that is a 4:45 marathon.


So there we go. Mental training. Submit button clicked.

Beeyootiful!

The clock struck the first day of summer, and the weather Gods replied with one of the most beautiful mornings in quite a while. Day before yesterday was dull, drab and drizzly (I was able to literally wring water from my clothes when I wrapped up my run). Yesterday though was absolutely beautiful. Gorgeous. It's tough to find words to describe the weather.

I got out about 8:30. It was 68 degrees. Breezy but not windy. Sunny. No humidity. Puffy white clouds in the sky. I headed to Crystal Cove for what was going to turn out being an epic Father's Day run:

My five mile recovery run wrapped my step back week. Final mileage: 32.5. Big fail though was that I never made it onto the ergometer or to the gym....

So, I'm now back to my mileage ramp. On the schedule for this week:

• Monday: Rest day. Will probably hit the erg today. I'm feeling rested after last week.
• Tuesday: 9 miles - first 5 GA, last 4 at Half Marathon Pace
• Wednesday: 5 mile recovery. Hi the gym for some stretching and core work.
• Thursday: 9 miles GA
• Friday: Rest day.
• Saturday: 15 mile long run
• Sunday: 5 mile recovery run. Hit the gym for some stretching at a minimum.
• Total for week: 43 miles

And, now that I've made up my mind on doing the marathon, I laid out the rest of my training plan yesterday. I'm doing the Pfitz 24/55 plan (24 weeks, peaks at 55 miles per week). I had to whack 3 weeks off the endurance phase, so it's really the Pfitz 21/55. Now I understand how these things can be so daunting. Sixteen more weeks and 750 training miles to go. That doesn't include the 225 already under my feet. Deep breath. Deep breath. The journey has begun!

Sunday Speedwork

Yesterday was Speedwork Sunday! The plan called for a 40 minute fartlek. I got out early in the AM after dropping my son off at the NAC for his workout, so I headed over to Crystal Cove and did my workout.

I was targeting 4 miles. Only got in 3.85, but my pace during the fast pieces was good. At one point I ran a 7:32 pace for 1/4 mile. Overall I was pretty pleased with the workout.

The best part of yesterday is that my back was completely fine! I woke up without any pain or discomfort, put in my workout, and had no pain or discomfort in the afternoon. I hoping that it was a muscular thing and not something more serious, but right now it's feeling pretty good.

I'm not travelling for the next couple or three weeks, so I should be back on track with the training plan. I am also about to start a new marathon training cycle with Cal Coast. I guess I need to decide which marathon I'm going to train for....

Twelve in the Heat

Yesterday's run was fun. Fun but slow.... Twelve miles in wilting heat (at least wilting for us Southern Californians).

The last of our long runs had us running around the Newport Back Bay for a nice little 12 mile jaunt. The heat was oppressive, and we started at 7:30 AM! I wilted, but still finished - out of water, out of energy, and at an 11:00 plus overall pace - but finish it I did! Unlike my 16 miler a couple of weeks ago, I didn't have any cramping. My legs - more specifically - my calves, just ran out of juice!

Over the next couple of days, I will post some photos and descriptions of the Back Bay trail. For now, photos are posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennsphotos2007/sets/72157605107842366/

Just biding my time...

With only a couple of weeks left until the big day, I'm just biding my time. Put in my 4 miles yesterday and 4 miles today. I'm trying real hard to take it easy and to not end up hurt before the marathon.

Three weeks and counting!

Three weeks left until the big day! Got my paperwork in the mail late last week. I'm back in Corral 12 with my anticipated finish time of 4:30. I need to find out if they actually have pace teams or if we are all kind of on our own....

Work has been hectic these past weeks too. Last night I was supposed to put in 4 miles, but didn't get home until 8 o'clock or so, so I decided that I would be flexible and do it tonight. So, this week will be short runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and then a 12 miler to wrap up the week this Saturday.

Taper has Started

Well, I guess we are on the downside of our training program at this point. Our peak mileage week was last week at 33 scheduled miles. This week we drop our short runs from 45 minutes (4.5 miles) to 40 minutes (4 miles) Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We have a long run on 14 miles on Sautrday this week, and 12 miles on Saturday next week. Then we really do taper by droping miles down to 3 a day 3 times a week with a 6 mile long run, then 2 miles a day 3 times a week before the big weekend.

I'm looking forward to the marathon at this point. I want to be careful to make sure I don't injure myself prior to the big event. I am also looking forward to post recovery in a couple of months to work on driving mileage up closer to 50 a week or so.

New Long Distance Record!

Yesterday's long run let me set a new distance record for me! Prior to our 14 miler, my previous long distance was my half marathon back in January.

I wish I could say yesterday's long run was without incident, but I can't. I managed to keep a 10:00 pace through the first half of the run. I took a bit of a walk break to down some fluids. At mile 9 I was still at a 10:15 pace. But, at that point, I just ran out of lungs! My legs actually felt pretty good, but all of a sudden at mile 11 I watched my heart rate start spiking. 160, 164, 166... Finally at 172 I decided to walk for a bit to get my rate to drop back down. I took about a half mile or so off and watched my heart rate drop into the 140s. The bottom line was my ending pace was 10:42 for the 14 miles. Definitely better than my half marathon back in January, but nonetheless was a little disappointed that I couldn't keep the pace the whole 14 miles. I am hoping that by marathon time in six weeks, my tapering will allow me to keep at a 10:00 pace for the entire distance, but it really points out to me just how amazing it is for someone to run a marathon at a sub 6:00 pace!

At this point still shooting for 4:30!

Back to running

Well, yesterday was a standard running day. My training plan has me doing 40 minutes a day, three times a week. At 40 minutes, I'm able to cover about 4.1 miles without pushing real hard. At first I was a little bothered by the fact that despite all of my training, I'm still so slow. But last night, I went back and checked my history as I was training for the OC half. Back then, I was good to do a 10:30 to 11:00 mile on a long run these days I'm at least one minute faster, so I guess I shouldn't complain. It still means that my marathon time will be in the 4:30 to 4:40 range, but for a first timer that's not too bad. I know - patience. One year ago I wasn't even running.

My next little project here is going to be figuring out how to program my Forerunner 305 as an electronic pace wristband. I'm sure it can be done - I just haven't spent the time to figure it out. I have some feelers out on a couple of forums. I'll get it figured out by Spirit Run this Sunday.

Schedule Chaos Part 2

Okay - yesterday was supposed to be a 40 minute run on my Cal Coast training plan. But, the day was also schedule chaos from top to bottom. Doctor's appointment in the morning, pick up youngest son from school in the early afternoon, and a CDM baseball game in the mid afternoon. This still usually doesn't create a problem because being light later, I'm able to do a short run in the evening after the game and before dinner. But - the game was a thriller with CDM pulling out a 9-8 win. Whenever scores run up that high, it means that instead of
an hour and half for a game (remember - high school baseball only goes 7 innings), we are talking significantly more time. That was the case. We were treated to almost 3 hours of baseball. At least it was a decent game - the bats (for both teams) woke up and there wasn't the dearth of mental mistakes that normally accompanies high school baseball at CDM's level.

I rescheduled yesterday's run to today (normally a cross train day or rest day). This creates another problem though. This Sunday, I am running in the Spirit Run (10K), a fun, low key run that benefits local schools. I'd like to PR this weekend, since the last time I ran a 10K, I did it with about 10,000 other souls in Dana Point on Thanksgiving. The issue with that race (Dana Point Turkey Trot) was at one point early in the race, I had to slow to a walk as runners funnelled from a street to a narrow two way trail. I ran that one in 1:00.00, and know that I should have been able to take a couple of minutes off of that. But, the thing that I was struggling with this weekend was that if I didn't do some schedule juggling, I would be running 5 days in a row - quite a no-no. So I decided that by moving yesterday's run to today, I'll remove Friday's run, do my LSD on Saturday, 10K on Sunday, and then short run again on Monday. At that point I'll be back on track until next Wednesday when I'll be travelling (again).

Back to Work

I'm back from a short business trip, so I'll be hitting the trails again this evening. Sunday is normally a rest day, so I didn't miss anything there. I was on a plane yesterday, so I'll trade a cross train day today with a 40 minute run that would normally have happened yesterday.

Starting this week, the training plan I am using starts to lengthen out. We are at 40 minutes a day, three times a week plus our long run. That means that this week will be around 21 miles. Our long runs will be increasing by a mile or two per week until we get to 20 miles in about 6 weeks when we begin a three week taper leading up to the San Diego Rock N' Roll Marathon on June 1.

Final thing - I want to approach my first marathon as an event instead of just a race. I am looking for a camera that is small enough to carry around on my longer training runs and on the marathon. So far I've settled on an Olympus 790 SW. I am having fits though with eBay and trying to pick one up from the Olympus store. I'll fill you in on that adventure later.

Long Run Day to End a Week

Yesterday was our weekly long run. I think we got it done just in time. It was a little cool when we started, but otherwise perfect running weather. By the evening yesterday, it was *cold*, windy, and threatening to rain. The news was saying that it was snowing in the mountains, so I guess the predicted storm finally made it here. I'm glad we ran early!

Speaking of running - this past week was a tough one for me. There are a couple of things going on right now. I'm trying to drop another 10 pounds before the RnR Marathon on June 1. I tried to increase my mileage a couple of weeks ago, too. This week I started feeling soreness and pain - just like my shoes were dying. No shin splints or anything, but just nagging muscle soreness in my calves and shins. I also felt very tired all week. In fact, during yesterday's run, at about mile 6, I had the same experience that I had during the half marathon. These have me concerned about the viability of making it through a marathon.

This week, I'm going to do a couple of things to see if they make a difference. First, based on all the coaching I've been receiving, doubling my mileage in one week was a big no no. So, for this week, I'll move back down to the training plan mileage. Second, as my overall weekly miles ramp up, I think I need to start eating more. In a timely move, I picked up the latest edition of Runner's World on Thursday. This month's topic is weight loss! One article in particular talks about caloric intake based on target weight. Based on that, I should be eating about 2300 calories a day. My food diary shows I am eating 1800 to 2000 calories per day. If this is true, then I am at a daily deficit of 1000 calories. This is about in line with the scale too - I lost 2 pounds this week. Time to start eating more! This week I'll try to get to 2300 calories a day.

Hopefully, these two tweaks will let me get back on track. Stay tuned!

I'm Back....

Sorry - I've been retiscent posting here the past few days. High school baseball season is in full swing, so I've had to take some time to watch some games. My son can't play right now due to injury, but I'm the volunteer photographer for the team (you can see some pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennsphotos2007/collections/72157604026883499/) and love baseball, so I'll make some time to go watch. I'm still motivated to run the marathon in June, so I'm certainly not going to give up my training time. The only thing left is my blog time. In fact, I am writing this on my day off (Sunday) with my cup of coffee in hand.

I'm feeling better at the end of this week compared to last. I put in another 30 mile week (24 running, 6 on the ergometer), and while physically tired, I'm sore like last week. One thing for sure - I had no idea how physically strong I had to be to run these distances. I am looking forward to working up to 50 mile weeks at my peak. What a challenge!

This morning I also found a *great* resource - Runner's World. Not the magazine - I am already a regular reader of that. But there are a series of discussion forums on their site. One of those forums is specifically a Southern California forum. I started reading and was amazed at the topics that were currently ongoing - Rock n Roll Marathon, long Orange County runs, etc. Looks like I have another way to whittle away the hours now.

Finally, I ran into quite a story on the Internet this past Thursday or Friday (don't remember the exact day). If I thought I was old for this port, the story I ran into puts me to shame. Evidently there is a 101 year old guy in the UK training to run his first marathon. You might check it out: http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4385601&page=1.

Well it's another week to look forward to. I have decided to reduce my training a bit - I think I'll take one cross training day (Thursday) and turn it into a rest day. Especially with long run Saturdays starting to go a little longer now. I seemed to have responded well to that adjustment over the last couple of weeks. I'll keep you all posted on my progress!

First week done!

Okay - my first week of Marathon training is done. Today's "long" run was a three miler. I've managed to keep myself in decent shape, so three miles isn't really a challenge. I aired things out a little and ran faster than my 10 minute LSD mile. I managed a 9:30 pace, but that was primarily because the way back was uphill. I was at 13:20 at the half way point, a little better than a 9:00 mile, so overall I was pleased.

Looking back at the week, this was a pretty light week. I ran a total of 14 miles, plus a little over 12 miles on the erg. The only injury to speak of are some blisters on my left heel. With all the running that I've been doing, I end up with blisters from rowing. Go figure.

The best part of this week has been the dropping of a couple of pounds! Yes - I've officially dropped back below 230 lbs. The weight loss thing is the toughest for me. When I first started excercising a year or so ago, 40 lbs came off pretty easy. Of those 40, 20 came off just be being active again. Then, I had to work real hard to shed the extra 20. I was working out a lot - burning 1000 calories per rowing workout. Obviously there was something that I wasn't doing right. Of course, what I wasn't doing right was balancing the calories. From my research, I found out that weight loss is really pretty simple - more calories out than calories in and the weight comes off. That meant that I was going to need to start calorie counting. Now - calorie counting is pretty simple right? I'll get into that answer tomorrow.

First day on the new program

So today was my first day on the new Cal Coast program. I cheated a little and ran 10 minutes longer than the program called for, covering almost 3 miles in my usual slow pace.

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, this program looks a little light. I understand that the program needs to be structured for non-runners, but week one includes 20 minute runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and then a 3 mile "long" run on Saturday. If I stretch the 2o minute runs to 30 minutes, then this week will be 12 miles. Well below what I was running on the recovery program.

So, we'll see how it goes. I got the go ahead to add a couple days of cross training to the schedule, so I'm sure you'll hear about my indoor rowing and weights on Tuesdays and Thursdays.