Failure to Fuel is Not Good!

I received a rude reminder yesterday. Failure to fuel properly is not good. Especially on long run day. But, I'll start at the beginning....

The weather this time of year in Southern California can be difficult to dress for. If it's 20 degrees outside, you can layer up for a run. But how do you dress when it's mid 40's to start and mid 70's by the time you're done? What I do is delay my start so that I don't have to worry about carrying discarded layers. So, I didn't make my way out the door until 10:30AM. The problem? No breakfast. I would find out later what a huge FAIL this would be.

On the plan was a 16 miler. It was an absolutely stunning day, so I decided to try a new route - a beach run:


I think a lot of other people had the same idea:

I started on the boardwalk (well, we call it a boardwalk) in Newport Beach. Did I say it was a spectacular day?

My run went to the north for 8 miles. By mile 4 I had left the confines of Newport Beach for the paved paths of Huntington Beach. It will be along this route that my next race (Surf City Half) will make it's way:

The start/finish line without it's bunting:

I slowed at mile 6 to pop a couple Endurolytes and a Hammer Gel. I was already starting to feel spent. Not a good sign with 10 miles left to go. As I pushed on I tried to use the sights to get my mind off my ever slowing pace:

I turned around at mile 8. I was physically hurting, which was real interesting because on Saturday I whipped out an 8 miler with no problem. The difference? Look at the second paragraph above. No breakfast. No fuel. No go.

I stopped at mile 11 to quaff a couple more Endurolytes and another gel. But I also had to rest. If there is a good place to stop on this route, it's the world famous Huntington Beach pier. They don't call it "Surf City USA" for nothing:

These folks are missing Woodstock something fierce:

From there it was *still* five more miles. Another mile down the trail my calves started cramping. Man. This is less than a half marathon and I'm in pain and cramping. Jeesh. If I was less experienced I'm sure I'd be pretty down in the mouth today. But instead, I pushed on the best I could, part shuffle, part walk, part stop and eventually made it back to the car. Final stats: 11:34 pace, at a heart rate of 75% MHR. That pace *is* a little skewed since everything after mile 9 was slower than 12 minutes. Ooooof.

All of you experienced runners know what I'm going to say next, but I'm going to say it anyways. There are three lessons here:

1. Fuel fuel fuel. If the tank is empty at the start, it ain't getting full along the way! I should've had my apple fritter.
2. Bad runs are as important to your training as good ones are. If nothing else, the bad runs will remind you of what you should be doing.
3. You should be living in Southern California.

That wrapped up a short 29.5 mile week. Travel early in the week and my desire to keep my "I'm not using a hotel treadmill" streak alive, meant my running week became a three day week. Got my hill repeats in on Thursday though, so the week wasn't an entire loss.

On tap this week will be my new modified plan that I discussed yesterday:

• Monday: Ergometer! I'll grab the Concept2 workout of the day and pull the chain for a few kilometers. Stretching and core work.
• Tuesday: 9 mile tempo run. Yikes!
• Wednesday: Erg erg erg erg. Stretching and core work.
• Thursday: 4 mile GA run.
• Friday: Scheduled rest day
• Saturday: 20 miles. Note: grab apple fritter on my way to meet up with the group
• Sunday: 8 miles GA run
• Total planned: 10 kilometers on the rowing machine, 41 miles on the trails

Finally - anyone here follow Penny (@southbaygirl) over at Planet Ynnep Running? (If not, shame on you!) She lives on that hill over there. Did I say it was a spectacular day?

On tap tonight - a date with my rowing machine.

New Year. New Goals. New Results?

As mentioned yesterday, it's time to bare my soul and layout my goals and aspirations for all to see. Besides, it keeps me honest and accountable. Normally, this is the point that I tell you how many marathons I'll run and how many miles I'm squeezing in this year. But, I'm going to throw a little change up here. No. I'm not going to stop running. But I am planning on running less.

First, some of you have told me I need to change the title of my blog. As much as I'd like to, I feel that I'm still a bit on the large side. Yes - I've managed to drop a lot of weight over the last two and a half years. As of today, I'm at 216 pounds. Yes - a far cry from the 260 I was at when I started this whole thing, but it's still 4 pounds more that I was at in October for the Long Beach Marathon. And at 5' 11", 216 is still too much to be carrying on my frame. So, here's goal #1:

• Drop 30 pounds and change the name of my blog by 12/31/2010

To do this I'm going to need to start to carefully watch my intake. Which includes starting to judiciously measure portions. Some eat because they run. I run because I eat.

Love2Mags suggested something that is intriguing: 2010 in 2010. Mags - you had me thinking for a while. I mean really thinking. That one is almost too good to pass up. But, instead I really need to spend time working on some jiggly parts - core and abs. I can (a) spend time in the gym, or (b) spend time on my rowing machine. Ummm, (b) wins. I can combine some core and ab work with a great cardio workout. I'd like to row one to two days a week, and spend three to four days a week in my running shoes. So, goal #2 translates to:

• Run 1250 miles and row 500,000 meters (310 miles). That works out to an average of 25 miles run and 10 kilometers rowed per week.

I'll be reducing the days and miles run and starting up on the ergometer. Not quite sure what I'll be blogging about on rowing days. The color of the walls in my garage? Who knows. My son still has a Hudson single scull in the boathouse. Maybe I'll venture out on the water when it warms up.

I learned early on that training for a marathon and losing weight are mutually exclusive. Limiting caloric intake makes it tough to effectively train. So, the LA. Marathon will be my last this year. But, the weight loss should make for a little more quickness. In lieu of a marathon goal this year, goal #3 is:

• PR at 5K, 10K and Half Marathon distances

Once March passes, I'll start to race more and be more serious about shorter distances. Puke threshold? I guess I'll find out.

And finally, I really need to:

• KEEP IT FUN!!!!

I learned last year what happens if things start going sideways. This year I reserve the right to change up on the fly. If things becoming drudgery, I'll mix in some new stuff. Fresh = Fun.

So there you go. Keep me honest folks! I'm counting on it!

On the platter this morning: 16 miles. Uff.

Happy New Year! Looking Back at 2009

It's that time of year. Time to look back to see what went right and what didn't. This time last year, I set four goals:

1. Build my base to 35 - 45 miles per week
2. Put in 1500 miles during the year
3. Run one marathon
4. Keep it fun!

Time for accountability!

Build my base to 35-45 miles per week: FAIL. Actual weekly average was 29 miles per week. My inexperience showed when setting this goal. I didn't include things like marathon recovery, illness, etc. If I would have thought about it, to *average* 35 mpw means that I would need to run closer to 45 mpw during training. If I would have followed Pfitz to a tee for Long Beach, I may have had a chance. As it was, I only averaged 33 mpw during Marathon training! Ain't going to achieve my goal with that effort!

On the positive side, I did hit a couple of milestones. I put in two weeks over 50, 11 weeks over 35, and 30 weeks over 30 miles. Compared to last year (2008), my weekly mileage represents a 53% increase! Maybe that's why I'm a little faster now than back at the beginning of the year.

Put in 1500 miles during the year: YESSSSS! When I set this goal, I thought this would be a no brainer. After all, 35 miles per week for 50 weeks (yes - I did plan a couple weeks for vacation) is somewhere around 1750 miles. Plenty of cushion right? Well, maybe not so much. It took me to the last day of the year to get this done. On the positive side though, I found this goal kept me more motivated than any other over the last month of 2009. This was *definitely* the stretch goal.

Run one marathon: YESSSS! October 18, 2009 - Long Beach. Still get goosebumps thinking about it. I missed my time goal. I had to resort to a brisk walk at times the last six or seven miles. All those things that weren't supposed to happen. And it still provided a sense of accomplishment like very few other things have. How can so much go wrong but the end result still feel so right? Total. Positive. Experience.

Keep it fun: MEH. This goal I honestly have to give the waving hand to. It started out fun. Things were fun because I was so bad it wasn't hard to get better. Check it out - in the months of April, May and June, I set PRs at every distance. And not just by a few seconds:

• April 9; 25.24 5K PR (by 1:15) at the Costa Mesa Community Run
• June 6, 2009: 55:00 10K PR at the Wrigley River Run. And this was *after* stopping at the water station to talk to a friend. And walking during mile 4.
• May 3, 2009: 2:09:07 HM PR (by 9:52) at the Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon. This was the prime example of peaking at the right time

But after that, everything became an effort. The miles were big, the time commitment big, and the trails the same as I had been running for two years. Even though I PR'd at the Long Beach Marathon by half an hour, my inability to break 5 hours was a real downer. Every race after that was like a giant step backwards, culminating in the Shelter Island 5K that was 1:30 off my PR, and the Make Room for Santa 10K a full 1:30 slower than five months earlier. I let it get to me. Running became drudgery. It's easy to tell someone that they shouldn't be too critical of themselves - that it happens to everyone. Yeah - it's easy to tell someone. It's infinitely more difficult to put it into practice. It took the realization that if I dilly dallied any longer my 1500 mile goal was in jeopardy to get me out the door without force again.

In short - I learned a bunch of things this year. Some of it was about running. A lot of it was about myself. Face it - anyone can run. It took desire that I didn't know I had to keep plugging away. It took imagination and adaptability that I didn't know I had to make changes to my plans and techniques to keep moving forward. I guess it's not always as easy as just putting one foot in front of the other.

On tap tomorrow: goals for 2010.