Running Shape

With my eye on the Maine marathon in October, I started running again this week. I had an awfully lethargic winter, as it sometimes happens with folks like me who live in the northeast but don't ski or do many outdoor winter activities. I did a good amount of yoga, but before this week, my last run was likely in November, I think, maybe even October.

I decided I needed to get back into "running shape" a bit further in advance than I did last year. I won't start the real training until June, which gives me 3 months. Last year, I only gave myself a month of consistent running, which I think is what led to some of my injuries, as well as feeling less prepared overall throughout training.

This time around, I'm planning on following the Hal Higdon Training Program - Intermediate 1. I found out about this program from the Runner's World Forum, and it came highly recommended from many marathon runners. It looks great to me because I prefer to run more days than not running, and this doesn't involve any speed training, which, honestly, I really don't like and tend to half-ass. Also, it allows for cross-training once a week, which allows me time to do yoga and/or disc golf, which makes me happy.

My first run of the year was a 2-miler on Saturday. While slow, it was actually pretty fun. I was incredibly sore on Sunday, and slightly less sore today. Today I went for a 3-mile run, and let me tell you, it is still very much winter here. It's around 25 degrees, which wasn't too bad, but the wind chill was awful, particularly on the second half of the run. That coupled with feeling like I was going to lose my lunch for the last mile (my body abruptly reminding me that dairy and running are an awful combination), today's run was less than spectacular. I felt like I was crawling the last mile, barely above walking speed.

It's good to get this down so I can look back and remember that, at one time, running 3 miles was quite a challenge. But I know I'll get back into running shape in no time, because bodies are amazing like that. It's a wonderful reminder of how temporary discomfort often turns out to be, and how well I can adapt if I stick to it. Life metaphors, blahblahblah.

The Barefoot Runner

I never got around to my post-marathon-post, did I?

Well, to be honest, I wasn't happy with my marathon performance.  I was about 20 minutes slower than the year before.  I started too fast, I hit the wall earlier, and I didn't have a good time.  I felt pretty disappointed and defeated, unsure if I would ever go through this process again.  I stopped running for several months.

Fast forward to this week. LTB and I drove cross-country to see his family.  We always drive, as travel can be a lot more fun when you don't treat it like something that has to be done and over with as soon as possible.  One of the benefits is that we listen to a lot of audio books, and it's really great to experience a book with someone else in real time, pausing the mp3 every so often to share thoughts and comments.

One of the books we listened to was Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall.  What an absolutely fantastic book.  I definitely recommend it to every runner, and everyone who thinks they hate running.

I think Amazon can summarize the book better than me, but what I took away from it is that my approach to running this last marathon was all wrong. I kept trying to figure out ways to distract myself from what I was doing -- listening to music, planning out my day, writing lyrics in my head -- anything but being present in the moment. Throughout training, running felt like something I had to get over with, something in the way of the rest of my life. Too focused on times and outcomes instead of paying attention to the moment.

So completely off from where I need to be.  Today, LTB and I went for a run in the woods.  No watches, no iPods, no expectations. I took my shoes off a little ways in.  Barefoot, as in, naked feet.  It felt amazing, invigorating. My knee pain, which reappeared as soon as I hit the trail in my sneakers, disappeared as soon as I slipped my shoes off.  I felt like a kid again, and remembered that running is freaking fun and we are designed to do this.  We ran for about an hour, slipping my shoes on and off periodically, after barely working out for months.  I felt so completely in the moment.  Because, when you're dodging pointy sticks on the path, it's kind of impossible to think about anything else.  

It'll take a while before I can run with bare feet for any significant amount of time, but I am really into it.  I'm usually quite suspicious and very reluctant to follow trends. This feels right to me.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Right now, I got my eye on the Portland, Maine 2013 marathon.  It's at the end of September, so training isn't through the winter.  Maybe I'll do it barefoot.  But, I should probably run barefoot more than 20 minutes before I make any bold statements.

Get me to the finish line, Lady Gaga

This time tomorrow, the marathon will be over. Ready or not, I'm running 26.2 miles.

I'm feeling pretty great, actually.  For the last couple runs this week, I felt energized, light on my feet, and more excited than panicked.  The speed training on Wednesday involved a series of 400 meter sprints, which I ran faster than I have throughout this entire training.  Each 400 around 1:40-1:50 -- not terribly fast for a sprinter, but great for me.

Sporting my new KBVCM shirt before my final run

Today I did a quick 3-mile run.  They say it's good to run the day before the race, so I saved this one for today.  I was supposed to run it at my planned marathon pace, which felt soooo slow for a 3-mile run.

It's fairly warm and humid again today (around 80° right now), and breathing wasn't entirely comfortable.
Tomorrow's high is 76 and partly cloudy.  It looks like it'll be in the 50s for the start of the run, which is absolutely perfect.  I'm grateful.  The hard thing with this training is that the majority of it seemed to be in the winter, or at least cool spring weather.  I don't feel like I've had enough time to get used to running in the heat.  I'm not quite sure how to deal with this for future marathons, when we may not be so lucky with the weather.

The rest of this day will involve consuming tons of water and gatorade, eating carbs, stretching, and not doing much else.

For the marathon, I decided that I'm going to listen to music for the last half.  Last time, I didn't listen to music at all, believing the crowd would adequately energize me.  Unfortunately, after 13 or so miles, the cheers from the bystanders become more annoying than motivating, and I mostly want to be left alone.  The idea is that when I start up my playlist, it will reset my mindset.

Behind the cut is my well thought out, tested throughout training, and slightly embarrassing list of songs that will get me to to the finish line.  I've never listened to so much pop music before this year's training.  At least I balanced it out with some pre-nose-job Hole.

This two-hour long play list will not be played in order.  I'm all about the shuffle.  You know, the list seems to be too short, but Spotify says it's 2 hours.  It is somehow comforting that 2 hours of music doesn't look like that much.

I think I may need to go back and add some Dolly Parton.

running out of time

Holy crap, the marathon is one week from today.  I have no idea where the time went, and I can't really believe it's going to happen.

The last couple weeks have been a little rough.  Ever since the 20 mile run 2 weeks ago, my energy level has gone way down.  However, I did complete the 20 mile run!  This is huge as I actually never completed a 20-mile run (without stopping to walk), well, ever.  During the training two years ago, I never made it past 17 miles.  Even during the marathon, I walked/ran the last 8 miles.  It felt good.  Exhausting, of course, but I felt prepared for it.

I did, however, run out of water and stopped in a corner store at the 17.5 mile mark to buy a gatorade.  That whole experience was strange.  I feel completely insane after running anything more than 15 miles.  But, as soon as I had my gatorade, I finished the last 2.5 miles no problem.

The following week, I began to show signs of overtraining - heavy legs, increased perceived exertion, and probably the worst bit was being rather unmotivated to run the longer runs.  Fearing that I may have already peaked, I cut back my running a little bit this week.  I played a few rounds of disc golf in place of one of the runs.

Then, I headed down to Montpelier to run in a 5K on Thursday, which was interesting.  My time was not fantastic - something like 27:30 (8:50ish mile).  I really should be running a 5K closer to 25 minutes, but I suppose that's not what I've been training for.  It was hard to get the right pace, and there were SO many people it was tricky to pass.  The nice thing about the marathon is that there's plenty of time for the crowd to space out.  The first 2 or 3 miles are a bit cramped and chaotic, with slower folks moving way too closer to the start line and faster runners underestimating themselves.

Today I attempted to run 8 miles.  I started too late in the morning, and it got way too hot and humid.  At the moment, it's a cozy 87 degrees.  I made it 6.5 miles before I stopped to walk.  I just felt like I couldn't breathe and I was going to pass out.  I really hope it's not this hot next Sunday.  I don't know what I'll do, besides drink an absurd amount of water.  Right now, wunderground is showing a high of 70 and partly cloudy for marathon day.  I can live with that, but what the hell do they know this far in advance?

At the moment I have to admit that I'm feeling a bit discouraged and anxious about the marathon.  With the fatigue, and the lousy 5K, and today's run, I'm afraid of failure, although I'm not sure exactly what that means apart from a DNF.  I do believe I am stubborn enough to get to that finish line one way or another, even if I'm finishing on my knees.

I have readjusted my goals.  Originally I wanted to finish the marathon in under 4 hours.  With how training has been going, I think that 4:15 (9:44/mile) is more realistic, and still faster than 2009's time.  More than that, I want to run the entire time (apart from slowing/stopping to drink liquids, of course).  That is the main goal.  They do have pace leaders at the marathon.  Last time I couldn't actually FIND them, but I will make more of an effort this time.

Sigh.  I can do this, right?

Hills and Frills

Following last week's 16-mile run, I had a bit of a breather with a 12-mile run yesterday. It's strange to think that I'm now at the point that 12 miles doesn't feel like a big deal. However, I'm not thrilled about next week's 18-mile run. That sounds impossible. Will I ever stop thinking like this?

Poor LTB's feet are in bad shape. He went down to PA to visit some friends for a few days and returned without his sneakers. His friend will ship them back, but we still had the 16-miler to contend with. Like a rockstar, LTB slipped on his Vibram FiveFingers and hit the pavement. He got the barefoot shoes last summer and has walked all over town with him, but this was the first time he ran for a long distance.

I don't know how, but he made it 14 miles before he started walking, practically leaving a trail of blood on the sidewalk. He took pictures upon returning home, but I'll save you the gross-out and post the day-after-bandaged-feet instead.

He's managed to continue with all the scheduled runs, and he's slowly healing. Blisters are the worst. A few weeks ago, I had some bad ones on the back of my heels thanks to my fairly new Doc Martins, and then my sock slipped down my heel at some point during the run. It hurt a lot, but enough to block it out and continue running. By the time I got home my sock was soaked in blood. That's alway nice to see. Ah, the joys of running.

A weird thing happened during yesterday's run. It was a Saturday, which meant there lots of people downtown, and lots of bikers, pedestrians, dogs, etc. on the bike path. I turned the corner onto the waterfront path, and suddenly found myself surrounded by runners with bibs pinned to their clothing. I suddenly panicked, feeling for sure that I was not where I was supposed to be, and someone would be escorting me off the path at any second.

Not to worry, it was the Burlington Unplugged half-marathon. I actually ran this a couple years ago, and remembered my frustrations with the number of non-racers on the path. That's kind of the deal with this race. I thought about doing it again this year, but wanted to save the money, and completely forgot about it until I was pretty much in it.

It was kind of fun. Conveniently, I was running 12 miles, about the length of the race. People were cheering on, trying to pass me, handing out water (I didn't take any, feeling certain someone would call me a fraud. 4 miles later, when I ran out of my water and off the race path, I regretted this decision).

My times have been ... acceptable. I don't feel I'm as fast as I want to be, and I'm afraid I won't make my sub-4-hour goal. For long runs, I'm closer to 10 minutes/mile than 9:10. I know I still have time, and ultimately, I think it's more important that I finish the thing and run the whole time without any injury.

I have noticed that when I do time my runs (which I do most of the time), my minutes per mile is definitely related to the changes in elevation, which I suppose is not too surprising. I'm also not sure if I've measured my miles correctly, but that's a different story. So, when I'm running a mile that's level or downhill, I can do it under 9 minutes, even if I'm on my 11th mile (the 15th mile may be a different story). However, the hill on Battery Street? The 6-block half-mile hill that is the bane of my existence? That takes that mile up to like 10:15.

Obviously there's hills in the marathon, including the Assault on Battery. I don't even know how I managed to do the first half of the 2010 marathon in under 2 hours. But I did. Let's see if I can do it again.

sticky fingers

Today I completed a 14-mile run, the run yet this year. It went pretty well. My pacing has become a lot more consistent, and I'm right where I'm supposed to be, which is 45-60 seconds over my planned marathon pace.

My feet are killing me. My legs feel a bit stiff, but not too bad. I did devote about 20 minutes to stretching after the run. I probably would have done more, but I really wanted to jump in the shower.

New this year is a bottle belt, which has been great. I remember seeing these on runners now and then, and I always thought they looked kind of silly. But now I'm not sure how I ever ran without them. I filled all four bottles up with gatorade, and then had an additional 12-ounce bottle hidden at the 12 mile mark (also conveniently by my apartment). It seemed to be the perfect amount of liquid for 14 miles.

Speaking of things I used to think were silly, let's talk about gatorade. In 2010, I was convinced that all sports drinks were simply sugary drinks that people consume when they want to feel slightly healthier than they do drinking soda. A bunch of overpriced propaganda for "athletes" to buy into, and defeat the purpose of the exercise in consuming all those calories. I ended up creating my own concoction, with water, juice and honey. It was kind of gross. So, this year, LTB bought a jug of powdered gatorade that he prepares before the run (meanwhile, I make our post-run smoothie.* Making the smoothie before the run and storing it in the fridge is the best idea ever).

It turns out that gatorade during the run is incredibly refreshing, energizing, and completely essential. Electrolytes or whatever, right? Water alone simply does not cut it for runs over an hour. I tried to find a link to verify this fact, but my computer isn't cooperating. So, either trust me or Google it up.

On that note, LTB did pick up some other gatorade products as part of their "G-Series." It was crap and a waste of money. That "pre-game" fuel made me nauseous and I felt weighed down for the first couple miles. No more of that, just plain old gatorade, even though it does make my fingers and face terribly sticky by the end of the run.

Did I seriously run 14 miles? It's kind of unbelievable. I felt tired towards the end, but I felt like I had my head in the right place, always remembering to only count the miles I'd finished, not how many I have left. Somehow, thinking, "woah, I already ran 5 miles! That wasn't so bad," is much much more comforting than thinking, "I have 9 miles left. Not even half way there." The latter line of thinking needs to be avoided as much as possible, for sure.

*Ingredients for my amazing smoothies: I've tried changing it up, but it doesn't get better than this: frozen strawberries, bananas, spoonful of peanut butter, couple spoonfuls of Cabot greek vanilla yogurt, almond milk, and whatever juice we have on hand -- usually grapefruit or orange.

Hello March

I've been slacking on keeping this updated over the last couple of weeks. Every run, I think about all I want to write about, and then I come home and have to go straight back to work after the shower. See, I got a new job, and I'm getting lots of overtime, which is great. Not so great for blogging. Well, the job is slowing down now, so I'm back.

I have some practicing to do, so this will be quick. Today, I had a 6 mile tempo run: 1 mile warm up, 4 miles at midtempo pace (for me, 8:15/mile was the goal), 1 mile cool down.

The snow was coming down pretty hard, but it wasn't too bad. I was getting used to the sunny 40° weather. Today was the first day I had to run with my gloves in a few weeks. It was cold enough that I didn't want to take off my gloves until after the second timed mile, so I'm not sure how fast I ran the first mile. Here's the breakdown:

Miles 1-2: 17:46 (8:53/mile)

Mile 3: 8:20

Mile 4: 8:39

Overall average: 8:37/mile

I'm falling a short of the goal, but that's fine. I can tell I'm working hard, and that's the point, right? In January, the best 4-mile run I completed averaged a 9:20 mile. I dropped an average of 33 seconds off each mile, all while running an easy mile on each side of the 4-miler. Not too bad. It's good to keep track of these things so I don't feel too discouraged when I don't meet the daily goals.

The last two long runs (9 and 10 miles), I ran at or below the goal speed, so I feel great about that. I can tell the tempo runs and the speed training is paying off.

Another victory: I made it through January and February without running on a treadmill! Every damn mile was outside, and it was great. Take that winter.

Overall, no stomach issues, no knee problems, no injuries at all right now. I still hate speed training, but the long runs are fantastic and I actually look forward to them. I'm doing pretty damn good. I know this training process will have its low points, so it's important to note the good times.