Evolving Through Cancer

14 months ago I finished an Ironman
13 months ago I was diagnosed with cancer
12 months ago I went through surgery and radiation
Last year we lived and loved, waited and hoped...
1 week ago my doctors said they were pleased with my progress
3 days ago I signed up for Ironman Maryland
Yesterday I built my training plan
Today training began
Today I stopped looking back
Today is Day 1...

Myrtle Beach Marathon Recap - All Good

I decided to let this race sit for a couple weeks before putting together a recap.  Immediately after the race I felt great about the whole experience, but I wanted to look over the data and break things down to find those things I would have done differently.

After some reflection, there really isn’t much of anything I would change.  Based on my preparation and training, I think I squeezed out about every ounce of effort and performance I could have on race day.  There’s no such thing as a perfect race, but I truly felt like I didn’t leave anything out on the course.  It took 6 marathons and 2 ultras to finally feel that way at the finish, and it's a nice feeling.

I’ll try and recap the race as succinctly as possible.  The weather was outstanding – about 40 degrees and clear at the start, with some wind, but not enough to really have much of an effect.  We got to the race about 30 minutes before the start, and were able to stay in the car and stay warm, which was a nice change from my usual routine of 2 hours early and walking around freezing.  I settled in just behind the 3:35 pace group, since that was around the time I was hoping to post.  I hadn’t done a specific marathon plan, but had kept my mileage fairly high while doing a triathlon training plan, so I didn’t really know what to expect.  My long runs had gone well, but I hadn’t pushed the pace in a long time.  I figured I’d hang around the pace group for the first few miles, and see how things felt.  Great anthem, strange pre-race appearance of an elephant (some sort of wild animal theme this year), and we were off.

First half of the race - flat and fast

As usual, the first mile was pretty congested, so I hung behind the 3:35 pace group and tried no to trip anyone or be tripped.  By mile 2 the crowd was thinning, and the 3:35 group felt a little slow, so I moved out ahead of them figuring I’d see them again later.  I never saw them again.  I settled in at a pace between 7:45 and 7:55 a mile, was feeling good, and fell in with a group that was holding that pace consistently.  After about 6 miles my legs were feeling good, and I was starting to think this might be a solid PR day.  I also really needed to pee.  Decided I’d hold it for a bit since there weren’t a lot of options to take care of business.  I was running without a Fuel Belt or an iPod for the first time in a race, and although it felt a little naked, it was forcing me to pay attention to how my body was feeling, and so far it was all good.  I kept the sub-8-minute pace going until the half-marathon runners peeled away around mile 12, and then the bathroom and nutrition could wait no longer.  Bathroom, gel, water, and powerade at the mile-12 marker, and then I was back at it for the always eventful second half.

Second half - beach views and getting warmer

Miles 12 through 17 continued right along the beach, with nice views and lots of sunshine.  Spectator support was kind of sparse, but enthusiastic.  The volunteers at the water stops were great.  Lots of them, and very supportive.  I’m a fan of having names on the bibs.  It adds a lot when people are cheering for you by name.  After my pit stop I was able to get back to sub-8 pace pretty quickly, and continued to feel good until mile 21, when I took another quick stop for a gel and some hydration.  I was still feeling pretty good, and knew at this point I was looking at a PR.  I also started upping the game a bit, and thinking about going under 3:30.  I decided to step the pace up and roll the dice.  Worst case I would flame out in glorious fashion.   Better to burn out, than fade away.

The last 5 miles, like most of the race, were nice and flat.  This is the point in most races where I turn up the music to try and distract myself from all the people going through various types of distress, especially cramping.  With no music to turn up, I just focused on the pace and my breathing.  Once I hit mile 25 I knew I had a shot at sub 3:30.  I didn’t want it to come down to the wire, so I stepped up the pace for mile 26 and ran a 7:18 split.  Finally, I broke into what felt like a sprint for the last .2 miles.  I’m guessing it didn’t exactly look like something out of Chariots of Fire, but I did manage to pass several people down the finishing chute, and crossed the line feeling completely spent.

Final time: 3:27:00.  My favorite part of the race is my splits for the last 5.2 miles.  I finally had something left for a ‘kick’ at the end.  Not much, but something.

My friends and I also set a significant PR in the beer tent after the race.  This wasn’t the usual “here’s one watered down low-carb, gluten-free, organic, almost-beer, and now you can get more for $10 each.”  This was 5 different kinds of beer, no tickets, no rules, just right.  We rehydrated in style, went home for a quick nap, then met up with some more friends for good food, good drinks, and much poker into the early morning.  Easily the best marathon day/night I’ve ever had.  Thankfully the race was Saturday morning, because by 2PM Saturday the beautiful race weather had turned into pouring rain, and by 8PM the rain had turned into a rare snowstorm in Myrtle.  The next morning it was 28 degrees, with an inch of snow on the grass, and howling winds.

I would HIGHLY recommend this marathon to anyone, new to the sport or a seasoned veteran.  Very flat course, outstanding organization of the expo and the race, awesome volunteers that really seemed like they wanted to be there.  Swag included a nice tech shirt, a toasty fleece blanket with the race logo, and a very nice finisher’s medal.  The beer tent was a winner, but they also had pizza, and bagels, and muffins, and pretzels, and Smartwater, Powerade, chocolate milk, Krispy Kreme, etc.  They didn’t mess around with the post-race refuel.

I’m guessing I’ll be back to run this one in the future.  I managed to catch a monster cold right after getting back home, so I took a full week off from all activity, and I’m back into triathlon training again.  2013 is still my year to give tri’s a try, but a 3:27 only puts me 12 minutes off of a BQ time, so I’m thinking 2014 might be the year I try to get a BQ.  Don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but it never hurts to start thinking about new goals and challenges.

January, Hokas, and Myrtle Beach Marathon

2013 is apparently running on fast forward.

Somehow we’re almost halfway through February, and it barely feels like the new year got started.  Stepped up training has swallowed up my calendar, and the days are just flying by.  A little too fast for my taste, but there’s definitely not time to get bored.

January marked the beginning of my first-ever triathlon training cycle, and it has definitely been tiring, but overall I consider it successful thus far.  I’m still a little too run-heavy on my plan, but that is by design with a marathon that is now just 5 days away.  Twice-a-day training is not easy to schedule, but I didn’t really expect it to be.  Here’s where I ended up for the month of January:

Running – 19 runs, 178 miles

Cycling – 9 rides, 188 miles (2 outdoors, 7 trainer – lousy weather)

Swimming – 7 swims, 5 miles

Lifting (upper body, core) – 8 trips to the gym

Running continues to go well, with a couple of nagging minor injuries, but generally overall good health.  Bad weather meant more trainer rides than I would have liked on the bike, but I expect to get outdoors more as the weather improves.  I really like riding the bike outdoors, and enjoy speed entirely too much.  Swimming is getting better, but still not great.  I need to work on my stroke and building my lung capacity.  Or else grow fins and gills.  I’m open to either approach.

In my continuing tinkering with my footwear, after much research I added a pair of Hoka Bondi B shoes to the rotation.  I’ve only worn them on one 10-mile run so far, but I was very impressed with the maiden voyage.

There really was no break-in with these shoes.  They are designed for ultra-cushioning, and they deliver.  Despite the maximum cushioning, I still put a part of Superfeet Green insoles in them, and they felt great.  I’m planning to make these primarily my devoted long-run shoes, so they won’t get a lot of use in terms of volume of runs, but they will get a lot of miles.  I’ll keep providing updates as I get more experience with them, but first impressions are VERY promising.  Unfortunately these shoes come with a non-trivial price tag, so I’m also curious to see how well they hold up.  If I’m only getting 300-400 miles out of these like most of my other shoes, then I don’t know that the ROI will be worth it.  We shall see.

This coming Saturday I’ll be lacing up the shoes for the Myrtle Beach Marathon.  I’ve tried to maintain a fairly heavy marathon-training plan within the triathlon training I’ve started, and I think it has worked fairly well.  The obvious test will come Saturday when I see how my legs respond.  I’m tapering this week, with only 2 runs, no bike rides, and primarily just focusing on swimming.  I’m not entirely sure of my strategy yet for the marathon.  I ran two marathons, and 50k, and a 50-miler last year, but didn’t really ‘race’ any of them.  I haven’t ‘raced’ a marathon since the Marine Corps in the Fall of 2011.  I’d like to give it a go this weekend, and see if I can’t pull a PR.  I’ve been nursing a minor groin strain for a couple months, that some days doesn’t factor at all, and other days really starts talking to me at around the 10-mile mark.  Right now I’m leaning towards starting out the race with the 3:35 pace group, and just seeing how I feel.  If things feel good, I’m going to see if I can hang with that pace for the whole run.  This race will have a few new twists for me:

• No support team – my family won’t be making this trip, so I’ll be running this one solo.  Two good friends of mine will be running the half, and I’ll be staying with them for the weekend, but I’ll be on my own once the gun goes off.
• No Fuel Belt – I’ve always run with my own drinks, gels, etc., and my family has helped me swap out my fuel during the race.  This time I’ll be relying on the fuel stations to get me through.  I’ll carry two Gu with me, and that’s all.  Will feel a bit naked out there, but we’ll see how it goes.  I’ve learned that I require a lot less food and drink during races than I used to think, so I’m not too concerned about this as long as it’s not freakishly hot.
• No tunes – iPods are prohibited for this race, so no motivational music for me.  I usually try to run the first half of races with no music, and fire up the iPod for the second half, so I don’t think this will be a big deal.  Would have liked to have had the option, however.

Looking forward to the weekend, and looking forward to reworking my training plan post-marathon to more evenly work on the three disciplines.  Still need to sign up for some shorter triathlons between now and the 70.3.  Also need to win the lottery.

5 Days 'till My First 50

The prep work is largely complete.

Somehow, barring a stray sniper clipping me on my last short run on Wednesday, I made it through my training plan with no significant injuries.

Saturday morning at 7AM I’ll be taking the first step in my first try at a 50-mile Ultra.  According to some who dismissed my 50K as “just a long marathon”, this will be my first foray into ultramarathons.  I’ve never gone beyond 32 miles in a single run before, training or racing.  The great unknown.  Testing my mental and physical boundaries.  I’m really looking forward to this.

I've survived 24 weeks of training specifically targeted for this race.  My underlying training plan was specifically defined for running.  I tried to add in cross-training, including weight training, along the way.  I was able to stick very closely to the plan.  You never know what you’re body is going to feel like on race day, but mentally I feel good about my training:

• 1,055 miles of running
• 297 miles on the bike
• 33 trips to the gym for strength training (mostly upper body and core)

Despite the hurricane currently wreaking havoc on the Eastern U.S., the forecast for Saturday looks good.  Lows in the 30s, highs in the upper 50s, and sunshine.  I know better than put too much stock in extended forecasts, but I’m hoping this forecast holds up.  Mostly just hoping the rain stays away.

I’ve got my race day strategy figured out, and have a loose plan for nutrition and hydration.  Past races have taught me that I have a tendency to overhydrate and over-carb (gels, chomps, etc.) on race day, so I’m taking the less-is-more approach here that worked well in my recent marathon.

My biggest focus this week, aside from packing properly, is getting sleep.  I can’t fix my poor job of getting sleep over the last few months, but I can get myself to bed early and sleep as late as the taper allows this week, so I’m feeling well-rested on race day.

One key decision still remains open …. the official post-race celebratory craft beer.  These races serve as an excuse to overspend on an unusual craft-brewed Stout, so I have to choose wisely.  If that’s the biggest worry on my mind right now, then I know I’m feeling confident.

Bring on the Fiddy.

July Training Recap - Strong in the Saddle

July was a good training month.

According to my trusty training spreadsheet I ran the most miles I’ve ever run in a month, 192.34 miles, and came through relatively healthy.  I also logged the highest weekly total I’ve ever run, 58.63 miles, and the numbers only get bigger from here per the ultra plan I’m following.  My legs seem to be adjusting fairly well to the increased workload.  Still not getting enough sleep.  Broken record on that one.

The more interesting stat in July is my mileage on the bike.  I’ve generally substituted my Sunday recovery run with a relatively long ride on the bike, and I’m really enjoying the time in the saddle.  I think I like the speed a bit too much.  Hopefully that doesn’t end up getting me hurt in new and even more spectacular ways than running ever offered.  Although I only got in 5 rides in July, I managed 193.06 total miles, with a longest ride of 53.55 miles.  I think the biking is helping the running, and the running is helping the biking.  At the very least it’s giving my feet a break on Sundays and keeping the pounding in check.

Here’s the recap for July:

Running:  18 runs, 192.34 miles

Biking:  5 rides, 193.06 miles

Lifting:  8 trips to the gym

Sadly, zero times in the pool.  I’m planning to get there eventually this summer, but for now the running and biking are working for me, so they’re winning out when I need to decide what to do.

This Saturday I have a 24-mile long run on the plan, which will be the longest training run I’ve ever done.  Planning to try the 25 minutes running / 5 minutes walking approach which I need to adopt as part of my Ultra strategy.  Will also walk any major hills.  Still trying to get over the mental hurdle of feeling like I need to be running all the time.  We’ll see how it goes.

2012 First Half Review - Ready for Ramp Up

With the start of July I’m trying to take stock of my year thus far, and figure out what is working, what needs tweaking, and where I need to man-up.

I consider the first half of the year to be successful based primarily on one criterion … no injury-forced downtime.  That’s not to say that I haven’t had some angry body parts along the way – IT Bands, Plantar Fascia, Calf knots … but I’ve been able to pay attention to them and manage them such that they haven’t put me on the sidelines.  Adding the bike and swimming (but far too little swimming) has helped, as has mixing in some PT exercises to keep my right knee/quad working well with the rest of my right leg.

I was doing a much better job of cross-training early in the year, but once I made the decision to run a 50k, and then train for a 50-miler in the Fall, I shifted back to a more run-heavy plan.  I know this runs counter to the notion of cross-training to reduce the repetitive strain of running, but I need to get a feel for how my body reacts to higher mileage than I’ve tried for marathon training, and I need to ramp up to the peak of 70 weekly running miles that my current plan calls for.  I’m still getting out on the bike at least a couple times a month, and I should be doing better with the swimming now that the neighborhood pool is open for the Summer.

Here are the stats for the first 6 months of the year:

Running:  90 runs, 757.34 miles total

Biking:  18 rides, 349.8 miles total

Swimming:  10 swims, 7 miles total

Weight training:  41 trips to the gym

March was my best month so far this year, with 157 miles run, 99 miles biked, 2 swims, and 8 trips to the gym.

Race-wise, I paced a friend in a half-marathon in March, ran a 200-mile 12-person relay and my first-ever 5k in April, and ran the Outer Banks 50k in May.  No races in June, and nothing firmly planned between now and the 50-mile run on 11/3, although I’m hoping to run a few 5ks, maybe a half-marathon, and a full-marathon close to the Ultra as a long training run.

I’m really liking the training plan I’ve got going now, but the mileage is a lot higher than anything I’ve done in the past, and I’m pretty wiped out by the end of each week.  I HAVE to start getting more sleep to keep with this plan and stay healthy.  Unfortunately, knowing what to do doesn’t magically get it done.

Running on Sand

5 weeks to go until my first 50k.  Suddenly it all seems very real.

I’ve been plugging away at my training plan and staying fairly healthy, and haven’t really given a lot of thought to the specifics of the race.  Now that it’s visible on the horizon, I’ve started contemplating the biggest factor that will be a major deviation from my training.  29 of the 31 miles are on the beach.  Total training experience running on the beach, life-to-date:  0 miles.

I’m really undecided on the whole shoe factor.  Lots of folks insist on running barefoot or in minimalist shoes on sand.  I certainly understand this, but it would be too major a departure from what I usually do when I run.  I’ve pondered the pros/cons of wearing trail-running shoes, but haven’t found any specific info either in favor of or opposed to trail shoes on sand, and I would need to buy a pair and quickly break them in before I’d try them out in a race.  Lots of information against road shoes on the beach, especially with regards to the heel digging in too well and ramping up the effort much higher than a regular run.  What to do …. What to do??

This weekend I’ll be heading to Kitty Hawk to visit my parents, specifically to try two longish runs on the beach to see what I’m up against.  My plan is to lace up an older pair of my trusty Gel Nimbus, and see how they do.  As long as I stay near the water line in the more packed sand I’m thinking this will work out fine for me.  I’m going to start Saturday morning’s run from the actual marathon start and go for 10-11 miles.  Then Sunday, depending on how I’m feeling, I’ll start from around where I stopped on Saturday and put in another 10-12 miles, making any gear adjustments I think are needed based on Saturday’s experience.  Hopefully the weather cooperates.  The weather is always a roll of the dice in the Outer Banks.

In related news, my legs have been exceptionally cooperative lately.  No significant injuries, and generally just wanting to move fast (or fast for me).  I’ve dropped several pounds since the start of February, and I’m attributing a lot of this to the weight loss.  Amazing what a difference it has made in pace and general endurance.  Yesterday morning I did 8.3 miles at an average pace of 7:39, which I’m pretty sure is the fastest 8 miles I’ve ever run.

It didn’t feel effortless, but it did feel good.  Hopefully I can keep this vibe going over the next 5 weeks.

My First Half (witted) Marathon

This Friday morning I’ll be piling my assorted run stuff into the car and making the drive to DC to run the first ever RnR USA Nation’s Capital Half-Marathon.  I’ve finished marathons before, so I guess technically I’ve run a half-marathon, but never with the added bonus of intentionally stopping at the halfway point and beginning the arduous task of beer-recovery.

Since this will be my first half-marathon, I have a pretty good chance of setting a PR.  Training has been going very well this year with the addition of swimming and riding the road bike, and I’m as healthy as I’ve ever been going into a race.  My fairly simple typical mindset of ‘if I’m going to run it, I might as well run hard’ would indicate that I’d be carefully plotting my goal time, pacing, hydration, etc., but not this time.  This time I’m running just for the fun of it.  I’m running to return the favor of running with my best friend growing up who ran with me through the brutal last 8 miles of the Marine Corps Marathon in the Fall.  The guy who got me through the toughest stretch of running I’ve probably ever experienced.  The guy here smiling and encouraging me while my mind and body were plotting evil things to spring on me just a few miles later:

Not to create the impression that this is some overly sentimental experience, the race will most likely just be a break to sober up a bit, and get all that unnecessary sweat out of our systems to be properly replaced with all things Irish and Stout on St. Patrick’s Day.  We will no doubt get all crazy and party like rock-stars until at least 8:30PM.  Maybe even 9:00 if we decide to step it up a notch and take our Geritol.

We’re going to run this thing together, and have had no conversations about pace, or finish times, or any of the usual details.  None of that really matters to us this weekend.  If we run fast – great.  If not – probably even better.  As long as I’m still healthy at the finish I consider it a success.  And to the finishers go the Guinness.

We're Going Streaking...

I am a creature of habit.

True of many aspects of my life, but especially true of exercising.

I’m best about working out and training, and most effective, once I get into a groove where it feels wrong not getting something done.  A groove where I no longer try to figure out how I’m going to fit in a workout, but take it as a given that I will workout and I start revising the rest of my day accordingly.  There’s always the risk of taking this to extremes and getting the dreaded overuse injury, but when managed properly this type of routine is where I find myself most centered, both physically and mentally.  It’s even better when I don’t really realize it has happened.

When I went to pull my data off my Garmin after yesterday’s 20-mile run, I took a close look back through my recent training for the first time in several weeks.  In the middle of January the whole family made our pilgrimage to Orlando for some Disney/Universal goodness, complete with lots of calories and little exercise, with the exception of 6,000 laps around the parks and competitive line-standing.  It was a much-needed break from real-life, personally and professionally.  Immediately after returning from that trip I signed up for a 50k in May, and realized that my cross-training based workout routine needed to shift towards the running side of the scale, and I needed to ramp up the mileage if I wasn’t going to be left for dead somewhere on the beaches of North Carolina mid-50k.

It started innocently with a 5-mile run on January 19.  Since that point, including this morning’s trip to the gym, I’ve gone 40 straight days of either running, cycling, swimming, lifting, or the occasional day of doing some combination of these activities.  I don’t have the data to substantiate it, but I’m about 99% certain that’s the longest streak of exercise/training I’ve done in close to 20 years.  The best part about it is I didn’t even realize I had been that consistent until my friend Excel let me know.  Here are the actual stats from the last 40 days:

Running:  21 runs, 169.31 miles

Cycling: 5 rides, 97.92 miles

Swimming: 4 swims, 4750 meters

Lifting:  12 trips to the gym

Mixing in activities other than just running has been the key to this steady progress.  Nothing feels repetitive right now, and (knock on wood until my knuckles bleed) I feel pretty healthy.  I have a half-marathon coming up in 3 weeks, which will be my first official half-marathon ever.  I’m running it with my best friend who paced me through the last 8 miles of the MCM back in November, so we’re just planning to have a good time and I’m not looking to ‘race’ it.  Regardless of what I do, assuming I finish, it will be a PR.  My plan is to do nothing the day before the race, so that will definitely mark the end of this streak, if it doesn’t already end before then.

I’m happy with this consistency, but would like to be getting to the pool more often.  I’m also doing some comparison shopping between trainers for my bike, so I can get some more miles on the bike without being dependent on getting out for a full-blown ride.  However, like all things cycling, this represents a pretty serious dollar investment, so it may have to wait a while.

On top of this, I’m trying to drop about 7 pounds to get down to what I think is my ideal race weight before the 50k in May, but that’s a story for another blog post.  My experience has been that it’s hard to drop weight while in the middle of a training cycle, and this time is proving to be no exception.  We’ll see how it goes.

An Unexpected Blog Reader

When I launch my mindless chatter into blogger-world with a simple click of the ‘publish’ button, I don’t often give much thought to who might stumble upon it.  I assume it will mostly be folks like myself, with a shared interest in running and fitness, and a shared sense of purpose around self-improvement while avoiding injury.  Perhaps someone will find my words amusing …. maybe informative … hopefully not annoying.  I often entertain myself …. perhaps more than I do others …. definitely more than I entertain my wife.  For some odd reason she sticks around, for which I am eternally grateful.

Recently I posted a review of PureFit nutrition bars, where I tried to give a useful assessment of the bars without getting bogged down in the details.  In this review I mentioned my experience eating Balance Bars around the 10-mile mark of my long runs throughout training for my first marathon.  In the review I wrote the following “Worked great for a while, but after enough long runs I got to the point where I couldn’t stand the sight of Balance Bars.”  This was much less a commentary on Balance Bars than a case of too-much-of-a-good-thing, where even something you like can get tired after too much repetition.  Probably more of a Pavlovian response where my brain started equating balance bars with the medieval beating I was putting on my legs.  Regardless, these words were launched into the cyber world and I didn’t give them much more thought.

However, last Monday I received an unexpected email from the woman who handles PR for Balance Bar who had read my post.  It was a very nice email expressing her disappointment that I had grown weary of Balance Bars, but pointing to several new product lines and flavors that they had launched that I might find more appealing based on my use of the bars as a mid-run fueling option.  She also offered to send me some samples to try, asking if I had any preferences for lines/flavors, and asked that I provide some feedback.  After Igot over the initial shock that she had found the post and taken the time to write, the whole thing left me with a huge grin on my face.  I’ve gotten on my customer-service soapbox many times on this blog, and I’m someone that values the customer experience extremely highly, so the fact that she was reaching out when I hadn’t ever attempted any contact or provided any direct feedback to Balance Bar was just too cool.  Maybe not my most eloquent way to describe the experience, but for lack of a better word I’m sticking with ‘too cool’.  As an aside, it also made me realize what a massive PR headache the rise of social media must be.  So many venues for sharing unfiltered opinions – fair or not.  Trying to monitor and address all the chatter must be maddening.

I wrote her back letting her know I’d love to give them another try and would happily share my thoughts via the blog.  I gave her a couple flavors that sounded good and looked forward to receiving a few bars in the mail.  Two days later the following showed up at my door:

36 Balance Bars in 18 different flavors/types.  Awesome.

I’ll be giving the full collection a test-drive over the course of the next few months of training.  This past weekend I tried the Balance Bar Bare – Sweet and Salty Peanut Butter bar at mile 20 of a 30 mile bike ride.  It was very, very tasty.  In fact, it was tasty enough that I’d have one of these as a snack pretty much any time – workout or not.  It was, however, pretty tough/crunchy and pretty dry, so I don’t know if I’d recommend it as an eat-as-you-run option in the middle of a long run.  It was great, however, for a short water/snack break in the middle of a long ride.  If this first bar is any indication, I may be rekindling my prior relationship with Balance Bars and training.  Reunited and it feels so good.

I’ll keep sprinkling in reviews as I work through the various flavors in ‘Project Balance Bar’.

Money Where My Mouth Is

A lot of money.

A lot more than I planned.

A lot more than I imagined.

As is often the case with me, I know what I’m supposed to do, but don’t always put that knowledge into practice.  When it comes to marathon training, this is especially true for cross-training.  I lift and do core work 2-3 times a week, but that’s a force of habit from before I decided to try running marathons.  I’ve ended up at the orthopedist after each of my three marathons, for three different reasons.  I know I need to be cross-training to work complimentary muscles, create balance, and counter the repetitive-use issues that I get from running, running, running.  My obstacles, or more accurately excuses, have been that I don’t have a pool available to me beyond the summer, I don’t own a decent bike, and I really, really dislike riding the stationary bike.  My wallet and I have addressed these excuses, so now things get interesting.

Swimming – I went straight from the parking lot of my orthopedist to a local Lifetime Fitness with multiple pools and signed a contract.  I don’t love distance swimming, but I’m learning to like it.  So far I get there a couple times a week and usually do something between 1000 and 1500 meters.  I swam swim-team for 10 summers as a kid so I have a decent stroke, but I’m unlearning a lot of my sprint habits and learning a stroke and cadence more conducive to extended sessions in the pool.  I know I’ll never ‘enjoy’ swimming like I do running, but it’s growing on me and it’s a nice way to burn off some steam after the kids are in bed, since the pool is open 24 hours.  The swimming (so far) hasn’t required a big $ investment … cycling, on the other hand….

Cycling – After far too much research, and a bad case of sticker shock, I invested in a Scott CR1 Team road bike 2 weeks ago and am now officially menacing the highways of NC.  I didn’t realize how much bikes can cost, and this has made my investment in running, which before I thought was fairly high, look like a drop in the bucket.  The upside is that having invested the dollars is more than enough impetus to get me to invest the time to get a proper return on the investment.  So far I’ve only done a few long rides, but I really enjoy getting out on the roads and exploring.  Too soon to tell if it’s helping my running, or helping me avoid too much running and thus stay healthy, but it’s a fun alternative.  Buying a new bike in December is probably not the best timing, but the weather has been pretty mild this winter which is nice.  It’s also made it very easy to come up with a wish-list for Santa.  Maybe too easy.

Right now I’m not officially training for anything, just mixing things up and trying to stay healthy.  With my run this morning I passed 1,000 miles for the year, which wasn’t a goal or target of mine, but is a nice little milestone.  Considering I lost all of January, half of February, and all of November to injury I’m glad to have been able to get that many miles completed.  The only race on my calendar right now is a half-marathon in DC on St. Patrick’s Day for which I’m not planning to specifically train.  I’m planning to spend some time over the holiday break figuring out what I want to do in 2012.  I’ve got all the ‘raw materials’ now for a triathlon, but not sure I want to head down that road … yet.  The lure of an Ultramarathon is still very strong, and I think that might be where I end up sometime next year.  For now I’m enjoying not being on a specific plan, but once the new year rolls around I know I’ll be yearning for some structure.

Since my blog posts have been far too sporadic lately, I probably won’t get another post up before Christmas and/or New Years, so Happy (and Healthy) Holidays to everyone.  If you see me on the road on my bike please take pity on me and give me a wide berth.  My technique has a long way to go to catch up to my intentions.

17 Weeks of Semper Fi

With the first step of a humid, mid-tempo, fairly unremarkable 10 mile run on Sunday, my training for the Marine Corps Marathon is officially underway.  I am so looking forward to both the race itself and the many weeks of training.  With so many stressful variables swirling around in my life right now, running is one of the few things where I feel I am in control.  Injuries may come along that knock me down for a bit, but I make the plan, I execute against the plan, and I drag myself across the start and finish lines on October 30^th.

I am definitely in better shape going into this training plan that I have been for the prior two marathons.  I put together a 19-week base-building plan, and with the exception of one week of no-running to deal with an ankle issue, I stuck to the plan.  I completed 379.29 out of 407 planned miles, and kept up with upper-body lifting 3x weekly, and lifting legs (mostly) weekly.  Most of my nagging injuries (calf, hip, ITBand) have gone into hiding, but I am dealing with some recurrent soreness/tightness with my left groin that I’m monitoring.  Not any true pain, but it’s letting me know that it is not entirely happy.

As for the next 17 weeks, the key will be finding the intersection of what I know I need to do and what I actually put into practice.  For example, I know I need to x-train, particularly with some bike training to hit my quads where running doesn’t seem to do much work for me.  However, I’m doing a lousy job of this so far.  Bad runner …. bad.  I know I need to hit the gym and include core work, and I’ve been really good about doing this as much as 3x a week so far.

Other ‘need to do’ items:

• Need to stretch – before and after runs, and on non-running days
• Need to ice bath after any run longer than a half-marathon
• Need to drop 5 pounds – gotta get more lean – cut down on amount of weight when lifting (and amount of food when eating)
• Need to include more speedwork in my mid-week runs – this was a big positive training for M2
• Need to slow my pace on my long runs
• Need to stay diligent about mid-foot strike form at all speeds
• Need to work more hills into my collection of running paths
• Need to do more long runs without my iPod – no earphones allowed at MCM – pretty sure Marine snipers take you out if you get caught
• Need to continue fine-tuning my hydration/fuel plan – didn’t execute on this terribly well in my last marathon and my stomach wasn’t pleased with me by the end of the race
• Need to sign up for some races between now and MCM – 5k, 10k, Half … something
• Need to get more sleep – I’m very bad about doing this, and I know I need to get better.  Find myself dragging by Thursday afternoon after consecutive days of 5AM runs.

The list goes on and on.  I’m pretty good about most of these things, and I’m pretty good about knowing what I need to do.  It’s all about the execution.

In other news, following the great success of the ‘Sweat Your Thorns Off’ 5k (and the great comments I got – all of which are greatly appreciated), my son and I will be running a real-life 5k this Saturday morning.  We went and got matching C9 Technical shirts at Target last weekend, and he’s been ‘training’ all week.  I don’t think any course records are in jeopardy, but it should be a lot of fun.

Training Update and Tempo 10k

Two more weeks of training in the books (technically in the spreadsheet) and things are progressing nicely.  I hit all my goals for running and lifting, and have not picked up any new ailments to add to the sad, long list.  My right Achilles is still giving me some attitude, but nothing that concerns me.  Otherwise my legs don’t feel a day over 80.

Totals for weeks 5 & 6:

Running (Goal – follow the training plan, or else!)

Week 5:  Plan (5 runs, 17 miles total)   …   Actual (5 runs, 19.45 miles total)

Week6:  Plan (5 runs, 18 miles total)   …..    Actual (5 runs, 21.21 miles total)

Lifting – Upper Body (Goal – 3 days a week)

Week 5:  4 days

Week 6:  3 day

Lifting – Legs (Goal – 1 day a week)

Week 5:  1 day

Week 6:  1 day

Abs/Core (Goal – 3 days a week)

Week 5:  3 days

Week 6:  3 days

I’m officially giving myself a gold star for the last two weeks.  Maybe I can print this out and talk my wife into hanging it on the refrigerator.  Enough with the kids’ report cards and art projects.  Haven’t they gotten jobs yet?

I will readily admit I’m fighting the urge to add more miles to the long runs.  This mileage-buildup plan is ultra-conservative, and I miss the double-digit mileage runs.  However, I recognize that my legs are composed of a mix of eggshells, fine china, and balsa wood, so I follow the plan.  However, within the constraints of the allowed distance, I needed to add a little speed work to see how my fitness is progressing, and test the ghosts of injuries past.  Headed out on Sunday morning, for the start of training week 7, with a plan of running a tempo 10k, looking for an average pace better than 8:00/mile, and looking for progressively faster negative splits for each mile.  Controlling my pace is not a strength of mine, so this would be an interesting test.

Net result – much goodness.  Overall average pace for the 6.22 miles was 7:49/mile.  Splits for the full miles:

The run felt pretty great.  The pace was surprisingly easy throughout, and I had plenty of gas left at the end.  My right Achilles was a little tight at the beginning, but loosened up well.  My right knee felt a little tight from the injury in my last marathon, so I may need to up the leg lifting to twice a week to see if that helps.  I suspect it’s mostly in my head, but I don’t want to deal with that injury and the cho-pat strap again.  Overall I’m happy with my training progress so far.  There’s still the small matter of keeping that pace going for 20 more miles, but I’m convinced that will come.  Plenty of time, and plenty of will.

Noticed that my shins were getting sore after running in one pair of my Gel Nimbus, so I added up the mileage and had crossed 340 miles, which is about as far as I can stretch a pair before my legs go Mel Gibson on me.  I’m not exactly the lightest runner in the world, and my shoes pay the price.  Ordered a new pair of Gel Nimbus and I’m eagerly awaiting their arrival.  I like the Pearl Izumis so much I thought about ordering another pair of them instead, but I need some more long runs in the PIs before I’m completely sold.

Running Blog? Really? Are You Sure?

Just looked at my training plan and realized I’m already in the 5^th week of my mileage-buildup plan, and I seem to have forgotten to blog about my running.  Not that my tumors, and Mr. Mom adventures, and fancy new shirts aren’t all riveting, but I need to get back to some training logging and blogging to hold myself accountable.

With the exception of not making it to the gym much during week 2 while my wife was out of town, I’ve stuck to the plan fairly well.  My right hip, right knee, left calf, and feet have all been pretty cooperative.  I’ve got some tenderness in my right Achilles over the last couple weeks, but it’s been manageable so far with a little ice and my good friend Advil.  I set goals around running, lifting (upper body), lifting (legs), and abs/core work.  Here’s how it’s gone so far:

Running (Goal – follow the training plan)

Week 1:  Plan (4 runs, 14 miles total)   …..    Actual (4 runs, 16.12 miles total)

Week2:  Plan (4 runs, 15 miles total)   …..    Actual (4 runs, 14.57 miles total)

Week 3:  Plan (4 runs, 16 miles total)   …..    Actual (3 runs, 13.09 miles total)

Week 4:  Plan (4 runs, 12 miles total)   …..    Actual (4 runs, 15.34 miles total)

In week 3 I substituted 40 minutes on the stationary bike on the meanest setting I could tolerate to try and get a little cross-training in the mix.  Didn’t really enjoy it much.  Fresh air is my friend.

Lifting – Upper Body (Goal – 3 days a week)

Week 1:  2 days

Week 2:  1 day

Week 3:  3 days

Week 4:  3 days

Lifting – Legs (Goal – 1 day a week)

Week 1:  1 day

Week 2:  1 day

Week 3:  1 day

Week 4:  1 day

Also did lunges and my hip Physical Therapy routine on separate days in weeks 1, 3, and 4.

Abs/Core (Goal – 3 days a week)

Week 1:  2 days

Week 2:  1 day

Week 3:  2 days

Week 4:  3 days

No gold-star for hitting all my goals, but I’ve made a decent run at it.  I’m having a hard time keeping my run distances as short as the plan dictates, but I’m not willing to risk another injury, so I’ll stick with the schedule.  I’ve been focusing on form, and haven’t really worried about my pace.  Looking at the stats it looks like I’m averaging around a 9-minute mile.  I need to slow that down a bit and teach myself how to hold good form at a slower pace.

Now that the weather is warming up I’m looking forward to getting my sweat on.  Let's see what you've got Mother Nature..

Semper (freaking) Fi - Marine Corps Marathon

Enough with the ‘TBD’ in the list of upcoming races.  Time to get serious about running again.

As of 12:03 Eastern today I am officially registered for the Marine Corps Marathon on October 30^th.  Oo-rah!  Game face on?  You bet:

The Eye of the ..... Lemur?

This one has been on my to-do list long before I ever got serious about the possibility of running a marathon.  I grew up in a military family (Navy), spent the bulk of my youth living in the suburbs of DC, and have always felt the pull of this race.  The two marathons I’ve run have both been smaller affairs (less than 3,000 runners), and I want the experience of a big ‘event’ race.  I’m only planning to do one marathon this year, and this is the one.

Last marathon I kept my goals to myself until the last minute, but not this time.  I’m putting them out there for the blogging world to see, and counting on my blog friends for virtual accountability and kicks in the ass as I move through my training:

    Marathon 1 (3/21/10):  4:14:07

       Marathon 2 (11/14/10):  3:54:22

         Marathon 3 Goal (10/30/11):  3:34:00

Yep – I want to cut another 20 minutes off my PR.  By my calculation that’s an 8:09 pace (yikes), so I’ve got a lot of work to do.  Gotta stay healthy ….. gotta stay healthy …. gotta stay healthy.

As of this past Sunday I’ve already started ‘training’.  For my last race I used the training plan from marathontraining.com, and I was generally happy with the results.  I did get injured in the last 2 weeks of training, but I think I know what lead to that injury.  This time around I’m going back to marathontraining.com, but in addition to the 17 week training plan, I’m also doing the 19-week ‘mileage buildup schedule’, for a total of 36 weeks of training, which started 4 days ago.  Here’s the buildup schedule:

Click to Enlarge

I’m planning to follow this pretty much as-is.  I’d like to add a half-marathon around the time this 19-week plan finishes, but that’s July in the South, so the options are VERY limited.  If anyone has any suggestions for a June/July/early August half-marathon reasonably close to Raleigh North Carolina please let me know.

The marathon training schedule looks like this:

Again ... Click to Enlarge (that's what she said)

Last time I followed this exactly as written, including a longest long-run of 23 miles.  I think this was a major contributor to my injury.  I didn’t get hurt on that run, but I think it pushed me to the point where I was primed for an injury, and wasn’t able to effectively recover from that run while still following the training plan.  This time around none of my long runs will exceed 20 miles.  I’ll also be focusing on slowing down during these long runs.  I worked on revising my stride to be more mid-foot during my last training, but I’ve found that I have a hard time slowing down while maintaining this new form.  When I try to slow down, I revert to a heel strike.  I’m trying to solve this riddle during the buildup plan so I can do a better job with this during the race training.  I run my long runs too close to my marathon pace, and it stresses my sadly fragile body too much.

The other thing that contributed to my injury was not sticking with lower-body weight training during race training.  For whatever reason, my right leg get out-of-balance strength-wise when I run regularly.  I knew this from M1, knew I should be lifting legs during M2 training, but I didn’t stick with it, and I paid the price.  This time, in addition to periodic lunges and hip PT exercises, I WILL lift legs at least once a week for the full 36 weeks.  No excuse for not doing it.  I’ll be tracking that on the blog as well, and encourage abundant virtual abuse if I start slacking.

I need to drop some weight that I accumulated while broken-down after the last race, and I’ve started working on that as well.  Carrying even a little extra weight makes my knees and feet unhappy while training.

Feels good to be back on a plan, and running with a purpose, even if the race is a long way in the distance.  This should be fun.

Planning for Training for Training for Marathon

The time has come to get back into running mode.

Healing mode has been ok, and mostly successful.  I got back out and ran on Sunday, and the ailments were mostly cooperative.  The weather is starting to warm up, and I’ve hibernated long enough.  I need a goal.  I need a target.  I need my Garmin and iPod and RoadID.  I love the smell of Biofreeze in the morning.

I don’t have any races officially planned yet for 2011, but that should change shortly.  I also haven’t chosen a training plan yet for my Fall marathon, but that’s in the works too.  I’ve got some new gear patiently waiting to be thrown into action.  Right now I’m backwards planning from a most-likely October race to figure out my strategy.  This time around, I’m going to put together a fairly regimented base-building training plan, which will then lead directly into a roughly 18-week marathon training plan.  If I’m doing the math right in my head, that means I probably need to get started before the end of February.

I’m also starting to think about some goals for Marathon 3.  M1 was old-school, bare-bones, Rocky running around in the snowy mountains in Russia training.  M2 was try-new-things, mix in some tempo work, cross-train (far too little), sweat-till-you -bleed training.  Unfortunately I screwed up my knee pretty badly a couple weeks out from M2, but the training still seemed to have worked as I was able to knock twenty minutes off my M1 time.  I know I want to knock more time off for M3, but I REALLY want to minimize my injuries this time around.  Tired of hurting.  Need to strike that delicate balance between pushing and breaking.  Thus far I’m not very good at it.

The weather here is begging me to get out and run this weekend.

If I get my plans pulled together, I’ll be running with purpose.  Good stuff.

OBX Marathon Go Time - Hurts So Good

The journey of a crapload of pain begins with the first step.

Bright and early Sunday morning I’ll set off on my second attempt at the noble pursuit of marathoning.  Weather looks good, gear looks good, execution on training plan looks good, knee looks bad.  Per the vast majority of advice, I have not run since Sunday.  Tuesday and Thursday I hit the gym for some light lifting and 30 minutes on the stationary bike at minimal resistance.  I’ve been icing 2-3x daily, putting a hurting on a monster bottle of Advil, doing my PT stretching every day, and rolling around on the foam roller whenever the spirit moves me.  I know this is going to hurt, but I’m pretty sure I can push through the hurt as long as I’m not doing any long-term damage.  Unfortunately I wouldn’t say I’m looking forward to this one as much as I’m looking forward to it being over.

I’m confident in my preparation, and confident in my fueling strategy.  The will is strong, but the confidence in the knee is shaky.  Not quite sure how this one is going to play out, but there’s only one way to find out.  I still want to come in under 4 hours.  We’ll see if want is enough.

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to enter my Ryders Eyewear / Gu giveaway.  Still taking entries until midnight Sunday (11/14).

Good luck to all that are lacing them up this weekend.

Run swiftly my friends.

Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

This was supposed to be the post where I revealed my marathon goals.  This was supposed to be the post where I recounted my positive changes in this training cycle.  This was supposed to be the post where I talked about tapering and how much I missed the grind of training.  This was supposed to be the time of positive anxiousness, where I knew I had the fitness covered, but respected the fact that you never know how your body will feel on race day.  This was supposed to be fun.

Plans change.  Mine changed at the 7-mile mark of my run last Sunday.  My right knee is not in a happy place.  Apparently my knee bone is connected to my pissed-off bone, but I’m trying to keep both in check.  Per my new plan, I gave my knee a test this morning.  There were no miracles.  No sudden, mind-blowing recoveries.  No confidence-boosting improvements from Wednesday’s run.  I didn’t expect much, and I got what I expected.

I bought a Cho-Pat strap for my knee, the kind with a strap above and below the knee, and wore it on this morning’s run.  The first half mile was pretty brutal.  Lots of tightness and pain where the quad meets the inner kneecap.  Once that loosened up a bit, it mostly settled into a dull ache, with an occasional shot of pain on the outside or inside of the kneecap.  I tried to mix surfaces, and hit some hills, to see if anything made things better or worse, and nothing really jumped out as good or bad.  I also made sure I went at least 7 miles, since that’s where the Cobra Kai decided to sweep the knee last time.

Ended up going just over 9 miles, followed by much Advil and ice.  And perhaps a beer or two.

Net result – disappointment that the rest and ice didn’t seem to make a discernible difference between Wednesday and Sunday, with slight encouragement that I got through 9 miles.

Bottom line – unless something gets considerably worse over the course of the week, I’ll be standing at the starting line Sunday morning ready for 4 hours of hurt.  Also, my knee can suck it if it thinks it’s going to make me throw out all my goals and just be happy to finish.  My goal is to go sub 4-hours.  My original goal, pre knee flop, was to run an 8:45 average pace, finishing around 3:50.  I’m still clinging tenuously to that goal, and will hold that grip until my body tells me otherwise.

Without an actual medical opinion on this, I’m not quite sure what to do this week.  Total rest?  Try another short run Wednesday to keep things loose?  Cross-train to try and kick my quads into gear?  Maybe a couple long walks?  I’ll definitely be stretching every day, icing multiple times daily, spending some quality time with the foam roller, and taking anti-inflammatories like Brett Favre on a Monday morning.  I may try and get to my orthopedist, but my work schedule isn’t making this very likely.

Time to start getting my mind ready for an unhappy body one week from now.  Time to channel a combination of Willis Reed, Jordan with the flu, and Kerri Strug on the vault.  Or maybe Rocky Balboa, since Clubber Lang summed up my prediction for this race....

"Pain"

Don't forget to enter my Ryders/Gu giveaway.  Entry deadline is less than a week away.