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.

Get Real

Got my 'more cowbell' on recently and spectated at a Sprint Tri to support a friend.  The folks I was with are all about running, and biking, and swimming, and all things racing.  Someone mentioned the 50k I ran recently, and after a lot of nice, supportive comments, this was the last one I heard:

"Nice job.  Now you should run a REAL ultra."

Ouch.

OK.  Here's where I'll be November 3rd going after the 50 mile mark.

Time to turn the training dial up to 11.

My First Ultra .... Done

It was every bit as difficult, and every bit as rewarding as I expected.

Don't let the smile fool you ... soft sand is not my friend.

Full report to come....

A Fool and his Fuel

3 short days until I hit the beach for my first 50k.  I’m feeling good about most every aspect of the race – even the weather:

The one piece where I’m still a little shaky is my fuel/hydration strategy.  Both of my last 2 marathons have been challenging from about mile 18 onwards in terms of gels, sportsdrinks, etc.  Basically, I can’t get anything more ‘down in mah belly’ as I reach the critical point of the race.  It appears to be a function of overfueling.

On race day I tend to drink a little more and take gels a little more frequently than during my training runs, since I’m usually working a bit harder and going a bit farther than I do in training.  I try to do anything I can to avoid cramps once I’m out beyond 20 miles, but apparently I’m overcompensating.

Cramping has never really been an issue for me.  I’ve never had any trouble with cramping in training runs, and my only significant race-day cramping was in the MCM in the fall, which was due in part to my inability to eat or drink anything beyond mile 17.  I created the very problem I was trying to avoid by sucking down too much gel.

This time I’m going to try following the fueling cadence that I follow during training, and hope the slightly warmer temperatures I’ll be facing (compared to training), and the slightly longer distance I’ll be facing (compared to anything I’ve ever done before) don’t slap me down.  Because 29 miles of the race are on the beach, I’ll also be using more calories than my normal road running (per the infallible source of knowledge known as the internet), so hopefully that doesn’t throw everything off.  Going to give it a shot and see what happens.  Cinco de Mayo should be exciting.

I’ve been pondering, and writing about, the possibility of straying a bit from my Asics Gel Nimbus relationship of many, many years and possibly giving Brooks a try.  Assuming my legs don’t fall off and wash out to sea on Saturday, my plan after recovery is to step up my trail running, since it’s something I enjoy more and more every time I try it.  Thus, yesterday I pulled the trigger and ordered a pair of Brooks Cascadia 7 in all their green glory:

No chance I’ll wear them before the weekend and risk making the fasciitis gods angry, but I’m really looking forward to giving them a go in a few weeks (orthopedists be damned).  I thought maybe this was the first step in a new direction in shoes, and then I saw a link to the new Gel Nimbus 14 Limited Edition…

I do likes me some yellow.  I’m such a sucker.  Must resist …. Must resist …. Must resist …

Tapering Towards Ultra

I’m in the midst of my taper for my upcoming 50k that looms a mere 9 days away.  I don’t find that I get terribly moody during a taper, I mostly get bored.  I’m so used to allocating time for running and cross-training that I just feel like there are holes in my day.  I even got up at 4:15 this morning to do a short run before an early work call, and because it was raining outside I went back to sleep and will do the run this evening.  It just didn't seem worth all the stretching and getting soaking wet for a short run.  That’s something I would NEVER do during the meat of a training plan.  Taper lazy more than taper madness for me.

I’m still not sure exactly what I’m feeling about this race.  Training has gone very well, and I feel good about my fitness.  I’m looking forward to my first run ever beyond 26.2 miles.  I’m just not sure about the whole beach/tide thing after my practice runs a few weeks back.  I’m mostly just hoping for good weather, and we’ll all just deal with whatever Neptune throws our way on the shores of the Atlantic.  I’m definitely looking forward to some good (bad) food after the race and a beer or three to celebrate.

They finally posted the times from the 5k I ran on Friday.  I finished in 2^nd place with a time of 20:27.

I’m still surprised by my time and pace, and I think I could push it and go sub 20-minutes if I sign up for another one.  Depending on how recovery goes after next weekend maybe I’ll shoot for that sometime this Summer.  Haven’t really given a lot of thought to my running plans after this race.  Hopefully they don’t involve any doctors or PT.  That would be another first for me.

From Next-to-Last to Next-to-First

Surprised, to say the least.

That pretty well captures my reaction to my first attempt at racing a 5k on Friday night.  The only other time I did a 5K was a run/walk with my son last year, where I finished in 217th place out of 218 participants.  I though at least I could build on that finish.

I felt pretty sure I could hold around a 7:00 mile pace for the whole race, and I knew that based on last year’s results that would give me a shot at a good finishing place.  When we lined up for the start I saw a couple guys that looked pretty serious, with the tell-tale shaved legs to go with the fact that they were actually toeing the starting line, so I figured I’d try and stay close to them for pacing.  They went out fast – honestly too fast for me, but we all got left in the dust by a kid that blazed out of the start and never looked back.  I figured he would burn out after a couple of miles, but he never slowed down.  I think he might still be running.

After about a mile I was feeling pretty good, and was moving along in 5^th place.  After mile 2 I was in 3^rd place, but really only running with one other runner since turbo-boy was so far ahead we couldn’t even see him.  The guy in second was actually the husband of a woman my wife works with, who just randomly happened to be at the same race.  This guy has done multiple Ironmans, marathons, a 50-mile Ultra, and just did his first 100-mile Ultra a couple months ago.  Super nice, super down-to-Earth guy, but when I saw him at the start I figured he was going to eat everyone alive.  On a hill around mile 2 I caught up to him and passed him, and still felt pretty good.  The whole course was surprisingly hilly.  For some reason I assumed it would be much flatter.

The last 1.1 miles I tried to push the pace and hoped I wouldn’t flame out.  By the time I crossed the line the kid that won had already changed his clothes, eaten his dinner, and was doing his homework, but I still felt good and completely surprised that I held the pace I did.  I was so surprised that it took at least a minute before my brain turned from pudding back into a functioning organ and I realized that I hadn’t stopped my watch at the finish.  Thus my finish time was …  ?????.  No idea.  Nothing posted online yet, and I also didn’t think to ask anyone after taking full advantage of the free post-race beers.  All I have are the splits for miles 1-3:

Now the focus shifts back to my first 50k in less than 2 weeks.  At this point I just hope that I stay healthy for the next 12 days, that the weather cooperates, and that the high tide on race day doesn’t force us to run in the water too much.  I’d like to have some skin left on my feet by the time I reach the finish.  More importantly, I’m planning all the assorted food I’ll be eating after the race that I haven’t had in the three months since I decided to lose some weight before the race.  Mmmmm … pizza.