Race Report: San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon 2009

Warning! Long Race Report ahead! For a shorter version, see previous post.

Yesterday, I ran the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon for the 1st time. Last year, I survived it and ran about 18 miles of it, and had to walk the remaining 8 miles. The day after that race in '08, I vowed to come back a year later, train hard, and run the entire race.

The moment finally came to redeem myself, and I took full advantage of the opportunity. The weather was perfect at the start: low 60s, overcast, slight wind, and a little drizzle. I got to sleep around midnight and had my alarm set for 3:45 a.m. When the alarm went off, I was thrilled that I had gotten sleep this year. Last year, I may have gotten 45 minutes worth of shut eye. After turning off my alarm, I quickly went downstairs, turned on the coffee maker and started eating my bagel. My plan was to eat a little, drink some coffee, and have about 32 oz. of water before heading over to the start. I got 2 bathroom stops in before I left.

Lisa, who is my MVP of this race, was willing to drive me to the start at 4:30 a.m. For those of you that know Lisa, she doesn't like to get up early (and early is before 8 a.m.!). We left on time and traffic was excellent. I got to the Start Village around 5:10 a.m. and actually got to experience the pre-race festivities. Last year, I didn't get to the start until 6:30!!!

I met up with my cousin and his friends and we warmed up, had some more food, took a salt tablet, tested the Cytomax (not bad, definitely better than Accelerade!), and had more water. I hit the porta potties 3 more times before getting into the starting corrals. Last year, we started at the end of the corrals because we were late getting to the start. We ended up having to weave through thousands of walkers, before finding room to run. This year, I started up in corral 6, near the 4:00 pace setter. My goal this year was to run the first mile with the 4:00 pace setter to make sure I didn't go out too fast, and then try to run around 8:45-9:00 pace for the rest of the race.

The race started and we were off. I was much more calm this year, partly because I was familiar with the course and partly because I knew that there were 4 hours of racing ahead of me and I needed to conserve energy. I was most concerned with keeping my emotions in check and staying relaxed. I stayed with the 4 hr pacer for the first mile and was feeling pretty comfortable.

Mile 1 - 8:46 (I thought the pace setter was going a little fast, but it was still comfortable)

The next two miles went by quickly as I tried to establish a relaxed pace and find someone to run with. I'm glad I had my Garmin, because most of the runners along side me were running at a quicker 8:30 pace (which I wouldn't have known if I didn't look at my watch) and I found myself trying to keep pace with them at first.

Mile 2 - 8:41

Mile 3 - 8:50

The next mile was downhill, and I tried not to run it too fast, but ended up banking a lot of time anyway.

Mile 4 - 8:17 (Saw Lisa for the first time!)

After that, I was back on track.

Mile 5 - 8:42

Mile 6 - 8:46 (One of my 5th graders was here to cheer me on. Thanks Jill!)

Mile 7 - 9:01 (Saw Lisa again!)

Mile 8 - 8:50

At this point, we were headed up highway 163 for a 2 mile slight incline. I was feeling pretty good at this point and had a good rhythm. The problem was that I had hydrated too much at the start and had been looking for a place to relieve myself for the last few miles. I didn't want to waste precious seconds waiting in line so I promised myself that I would use the first porta potty that was unoccupied. At mile 9, I finally found one and was in and out in 30 seconds.

Mile 9 - 9:29
Mile 10 - 8:42

At this point I was feeling great. I had made it through 10 miles without much fanfare. I was pretty much on autopilot at this stage and looking forward to transitioning onto Friars Road where the crowd support was excellent. There weren't too many fans on the 3 mile stretch of highway. The last mile of this stretch was downhill and again, I banked some time here.

Mile 11 - 8:13

As we turned onto the ramp and entered Friars Road, I got a shot of adrenaline hearing all the crowd support and cheerleaders. My goal was to get to the 13.1 mile mark, where in my head I believed that the race would truly begin.

Mile 12 - 8:50

Mile 13 - 8:32

Half Marathon Time - 1:55:39

When I hit the official halfway mark, I began to gear down mentally for the real race to begin. I began to set small goals for myself. The first was to get to mile 14 and have another GU with water.

Mile 14 - 8:35

The next mile was where I started to feel some tightness for the first time in my left hamstring. I stopped at the aid station briefly (probably less than 15 seconds) to stretch and squeeze the muscle.

Mile 15 - 9:01

At this point, all that was on my mind was about getting to mile 16 so that there would only be 10 miles left in the race. My legs weren't getting worse, so I just tried to keep running smooth and easy. I called my brother at this point to let him know that I was 3 miles away from the 19 mile mark where he was going to be cheering for me with his 3 year old son. I remember this stretch of the race a year ago, where my race began to completely unfold. I kept thinking to myself, 'Keep it together. You're doing okay.'

Mile 16 - 8:43

Mile 17 - 8:34

I ran past the GU station here and grabbed two more for the road. 'Come on, Joe. Get to mile 18. No cramping. Not like last year.' At mile 18 last year, my legs were done. Toast. I had to hobble the next 8 miles to the finish line. My thought was that if I could get to mile 18 without cramping, I had improved from last year.

Mile 18 - 8:45

Things were looking okay at this point and I was starting to feel good about my chances. I allowed myself to experience this feeling for about 10 seconds before reeling it back in and scolding myself for celebrating too early. I knew that I wasn't halfway done with the race until I had hit mile 20. At the aid station, I took another GU and stretched quickly before continuing on.

Mile 19 - 8:38

I saw my brother, his son, and his friends at this point and that helped me get up the 2 bridges that I would be crossing in the next mile. Last year, I remember cursing at those bridges and barely being able to get up and over them. This year, I was actually speeding up and passing people.

Mile 20 - 8:25

When I finally got to the 20 mile sign, I was ecstatic - halfway done!!! I took another salt tablet and chased it down with some water. Only a 10K to go. We passed by Sea World and I was feeling decent. I knew I had a shot at not only breaking 4 hours, but reaching my A goal of 3:50. But I knew that if I wanted to hit my A goal, I would need to run the last 6 miles at a faster pace than the first 20. So I started to speed up.

Mile 21 - 8:18

I think I pushed the tempo too hard on that last mile as the adrenaline wore out on me. I slowed the pacing for the next few miles, stopping to stretch at each water stop.

Mile 22 - 8:38

I kept talking to myself to keep myself on track mentally. 'One more mile to go and then it's only a 5K'

Mile 23 - 8:46

This was probably the hardest part of the race for me. Even though I now only had 3 miles to go, I felt like I was running out of energy, and my legs were failing me. I decided to take my last GU at this point. To keep me going, I focused on street signs about 200 yards ahead of me and told myself, 'just get to that point.'

Mile 24 - 8:57

With 2 miles to go, I decided it was time to go for broke. I mustered everything I had in me and turned the last 2.2 miles into a tempo run.

Mile 25 - 8:08

As I was heading into the last mile, I saw my co-worker that had given me great advice about the marathon and was one of the people that had talked me into running the marathon last year. She cheered me on as I headed into the last mile and change.

Mile 26 - 8:18

Only .2 to go. I forgot about the .2 and was almost out of gas. 'Why does there have to be an additional 385 yards? Someone needs to make this a straight 26 mile race.' At the finish line, I could hear Lisa yelling encouragements to me. I flashed her a huge smile and let my emotions loose. I flashed her the 'I love you' sign and pointed to her to acknowledge her significant role in the quest to break 4 hours. Then I let loose with some fist pumps, tears of joy, and screams of elation as I crossed the finish line.

1st Half - 1:55:39

2nd Half - 1:53:16 (Negative Split!)

Official Time - 3:48:53 - 8:45 pace and new PR by 51 minutes!!!

Afterwards as I was walking through the finish line area I took some time to reflect on the journey. 18 months ago, I wasn't even a runner. Without first measuring the cost, I set out to run a marathon a year ago; a race that I had no right running in, because I wasn't properly trained. But I was stubborn and did it anyway and paid dearly for it. So this year I set a goal for myself and promised that I would put in the work and effort to run the marathon the right way. I set a goal of 4 hours and focused on this for the whole year. So when I crossed the finish line and achieved my goal, it was one of the greatest feelings that I have ever experienced and a feeling that I will never forget.

Here are a few quick shoutouts to those who deserve mention:

Lisa and my girls - thanks for believing in me and allowing me to take up so much family time to run

Fellow Bloggers and readers (especially aron, billy, willis, and gary) - thanks for sharing all your training advice and racing tips

God - thanks for running the real race for us through your son Jesus Christ.

Here are some pictures from the race.

Showing off my shiny new medal!

Exhausted

Got to meet Ryan Hall after the race!

Back at home, celebrating with my 3 girls!!!

3:48:53!!!

• Absolutely perfect day for running - cloudy with a little drizzle, temps in the 60s.

• Had a number of awesome supporters including Lisa, who made it to 3 different stops on the race, my brother and friends, a student, a co-worker, and lots of friends. Thanks for your support - it certainly made a difference.

• Ran my heart out today including running a negative split.

• And the icing on the cake was meeting Ryan Hall afterwards and getting his autograph!

• Race report to follow soon - I'm heading over to my parents tonight for a family celebration!

Marathon Goals

It's hard to believe that the San Diego RnR Marathon is less than a week away. I've been eyeing this day for a full year now; a chance for redemption and to truly "run" the race and not just complete it. After surviving the race a year ago, I vowed to never submit myself to this kind of torture again. This promise lasted about 24 hours as my thoughts quickly turned to going back and gaining redemption for myself AND preparing for the race properly and running it the way it was supposed to be run. So the grand plan was formulated:

• Take the summer off to recover and heal with lots of swimming and a few runs here and there
• Use the fall to build up a good mileage base of 30-40 miles/week
• Train for the SD RnR using the Pfitz 18/55 plan

I've never worked for something this hard and this long before. It seems kind of unfair that it all comes down to one day: either my legs show up or I blow up. And then it's back to the drawing board. Now I do realize that I put myself in this predicament given that there are many races to choose from during the year and I only chose to race once. But that's the way I wanted it and after this Sunday, I'll reflect on the process and create a new plan and vision for my running.

For now, it all comes down to Sunday. Here are my A,B,C goals for the race:

• Goal A: 3:50 - this translates to an 8:45/pace. I've been training at that pace for the last few weeks and I don't think I'm quite comfortable at that pace for 20+ miles, but who knows how things will pan out on Sunday.

• Goal B: Sub 4 - 9:09/pace. This has been my major focus since the day after my first marathon blow-up. I feel like this pace is realistic given my training run paces and I feel pretty good about achieving this goal. I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't be extremely disappointed if I didn't hit this goal.

• Goal C: New PR. A PR is always a PR and that's worth celebrating even though my current PR is 4:40.

As for the week ahead, I still have a few runs left including a 12 miler tomorrow in my "dress rehearsal" gear, I'm hoping to get lots of rest (getting to bed around 10 p.m.), and planning to eat sensibly.

For those that have the day off tomorrow, enjoy the time off and to everyone else, have a great week!

3:51 - Foreshadowing?

This past Sunday, I had originally scheduled my last 20 mile long run. However, because it was Mother's Day, I was going back and forth between running it on Saturday or Sunday. Saturday morning, we celebrated my niece's 4th birthday at the Strawberry Fields in Carlsbad. My cousin, who is also running the San Diego RnR, was there, and we decided last minute to go run together that afternoon.



He has completed a few triathlons before, including an Olympic distance one in Hawaii, but has never run more than a 10K. His training for the RnR has been off and on, and most recently disrupted by a sprained ankle. But he was feeling good, and wanted to try and run 15 miles with me. We decided to go to Lake Miramar to run because it was a 5 mile loop, and it would be an easy way for him to run 15 miles, and me to get in another loop to make 20.



My plan for this long run was to run it slow and try to stay on my feet for as long as possible. I had run my last few long runs at close to marathon pace, so I figured that I should try to run this at true run long pace - MP plus 2 minutes. My cousin is trying to run his 1st marathon in 5 hours (11:00/mile+ pace) so I had no problem keeping the pace slow.



We completed the first loop in a little less than an hour, which was a bit slower than I was hoping for. When we returned to the parking area, he stopped to grab another Gatorade, and we were off again. The second loop was about the same pace, but he was now definitely feeling it in his legs.



He was debating whether or not to go one more loop, and I convinced him to at least try it. He restocked with Gatorade and I took a GU. The first mile and a half were fine and then he started to cramp. We walked a quarter mile and then tried jogging slowly for a little bit. He started to cramp again and we began walking again. He was resigned to walking the final 3 miles and I was debating whether or not to just run ahead. I didn't want to leave him behind so I ran to the next quarter mile marker and then back to him. I did this a few times before he decided that he was feeling up to jogging again. We started slow again, and this time we made it to the completion of the loop without his hamstring cramping up again.

At this point, the total elasped time for 15 miles was a whopping 3 hours and 10 minutes (12:40/mile pace). My legs were tired from being on the road for so long, but at the same time, they were itching to stretch out for a quicker paced run. So I decided to run the last lap on my own and just see how fast I could go. I had forgotten my Garmin so I didn't know what my time was until I finished the lap. I felt pretty good throughout and finished the last 5 miles in 41 minutes (8:12/mile pace).

Overall, I was glad to have spent 3 hours 51 minutes on the road, which hopefully will be the same time that it will take me to complete the RnR marathon. The run itself was okay, because so much of it was run at a slow pace. In some ways, I'm not even sure if I can call it a long run because I walked good portions of it.

Oh well, either way, I'm done with it. Now it's TAPER TIME!!!

4/1200m Intervals are TORTURE!!!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of running a brand new set of intervals. I've only started running intervals under my first Pfitz training cycle. The first set, which consisted of 5 sets of 600m repeats with 45 sec. of rest between, was relatively easy. In fact, my thought after my first ever interval training session was, 'This is fun!' Then came the next level of intervals which was 5 sets of 1000m repeats with 2 minutes of rest in between. That was run at the same pace as the 600m repeats, and the extra 400 m no longer made intervals fun.

This week, I had on tap the third level of intervals. This called for 4 sets of 1200m repeats with 2 minutes of rest in between. My first thought was that there was no way I could run this distance at the same pace as the other intervals. I was dying at the end of the 1000m intervals and I would still need to run another 200m. But in the end I decided to HTFU and at least try and see what would happen.

The plan was to run 10 miles total including the intervals. I started running at a slow pace, knowing that I would need all my energy to complete the intervals. After running 5 miles, I slowed to a jog for about a minute to get ready for the first 1200m. When the minute was up, I sped up to a shade under 7:00 mile pace. At first it felt okay. My leg turnover wasn't too fast and my breathing was okay. After 400m, my legs started to tire and I was doubting whether I could finish another 800m. The good thing was that I had, "Eye of Tiger" blaring on my MP3 player to give me motivation. I made it through the next 400m and now only had 400m to go. At this point, I just tried to keep a quick leg turnover and relax my arms. Somehow I made it to the end and slowed down to a walking pace. The intervals call for a 2 minute jog, but my heartrate was so elevated I had to walk. Before I knew it the 2 minutes were up and I was back to sub 7:00 mile pace. The second set was worse than the first, but not quite as bad as I thought it might be. The rest definitely helped me out.

At this point, I was halfway done. My legs were doggone tired, but I knew that if I could get my mind motivated I could fight through the last 2 intervals. The 3rd set was even tougher, as expected, but I pretty much gave it my all, and didn't know if anything was left in the tank for the last one. Looking for a motivation, I thought about the Biggest Loser episode on Tuesday. I thought about Ron (a 50 year old dad weighing a tad under 300 pounds) walking a marathon on a bum knee. It took him over 13 hours, but in the end he finished. Now, whether or not he actually did it without help (it is Reality TV) is another story, but I didn't care about the truth. I just needed motivation. So I thought about Ron finishing, and it was just enough to get me through the last interval.

With that out of the way, the rest of the week calls for another 10 miler on Friday, a 5 miler on Saturday, and then my last 20 miler on Mother's Day. I've been running my long runs at a quicker pace the last few weeks, so I'm thinking about truly running my long run at MP+90 seconds and staying on my feet for a good 3 1/2 hours.

Happy TGIF everyone and have a great weekend!!!

NO MORE SPICY PASTA!

I spent the last four days in one of my favorite cities, Seattle. We were up there for a family wedding, and I was able to take a few days off so we could sightsee with Lisa's family. The trip overall was fabulous, with great eats and breathtaking sights. To start off, my brother-in-law got us a steal at the Marriott Residence Inn on Lake Union via Priceline.

The going rate there is in the high $100s/night, but he was able to negotiate us a rate of only $70! We primarily ate around the area and had views of the Space Needle and Mt. Ranier.

While we were there, I celebrated my 37th birthday. I thought about doing a special kind of run to commemorate my 37 years here on Earth. Maybe I could run for 37 minutes OR run 3.7 miles OR run for 3 hours and 7 minutes. After debating for awhile, I finally decided on something completely different and gave in to my daughters' desire to go swimming in the hotel pool. So while they went swimming, I relaxed in the hot tub and gave my legs a rest. The later half of the day was dedicated to the wedding. Afterwards, while walking to the car to drive back to the hotel, I passed by a coffee shop (Seattle has plenty) that caught my eye.

Seeing my namesake on the window, I had to stop by for an Americano. It hit the spot and I was feeling energized after an afternoon of wedding dancing with Lisa and the girls. When we got back to the hotel, it was time to watch Game 7 of the Bulls vs. the Celtics. Having grown up in Chicago, my sports' loyalties still remain in Chicago. In the 80s and 90s we were definitely spoiled, having the best basketball player on the planet in Michael Jordan. We watched the first half in the hotel room and then decided to go have some dinner and catch the second half at a restaurant nearby. We walked across the street to a row of restaurants and decided on another narcissistic choice: Joey's.

The game was on inside at the bar, the place was pretty hip inside, and the menu items looked excellent. At this point, I was thinking about maybe getting a run in after dinner, since Sunday was definitely booked and I needed to get my long run of 17 miles in. After browsing through the menu, I decided on a seafood pasta dish: seafood linguine. Bad mistake. The food was terrific, but I would pay for it later on that night. Game 7 was exciting, but the Bulls just didn't have enough to take out the defending champs. When I returned to the hotel room at 8 p.m., I quickly changed and headed to the exercise room with my 2 gels, MP3 player (nope, still don't have an iPod), and water bottle.

The exercise room was small, but they had a TV. Being that I was the only one in the gym, I got to handle the remote control and volume. I flipped to an ESPN classic of the Rumble in the Jungle: Ali vs. Foreman. The first 2 miles were run at 8:57/pace. Then, my stomach started to rumble. Pit stop #1.

After relieving myself, I got back on and started to run again. I picked up the pace a little and ran the next 7 miles at 8:48/pace. I took a gel at mile 7 and was feeling good again. At mile 9, the rumbling started again, and soon after, I was back in the bathroom. After another good cleansing, I got back to running and soon after took another gel at mile 11. Less than a mile later, I hit pit stop #3. At this point, I was just happy to be near a bathroom and glad to be almost done. Wanting to finish off the run strong, I ran the last 5 miles @ 8:00/mile pace. I was thankful to be able to complete this leg unimpeded.

• Overall it took about 2 hours, 33 minutes, including all pit stops, to run the 17 miles (9:00/pace). And the one thing that I will never ever do again is EAT SPICY PASTA before a long run!

Thanks for reading and have a great week everyone!

Back on the Bandwagon

It's been awhile since my last post for a variety of reasons. Here's how life has been hitting me lately:

* Got sick for a weekend - NOT the swine flu
* Hosted cousin's family with a newborn for a week (6 kids in all, their 3 plus our 3)
* Trying not to stress out about my job for next year(teacher's union decided to take a pay cut, which may in the end save my job)
* Got my annual physical and eye exam (everything looks good so far)
* Watched my two oldest daughters win their respective spelling bees! (Katie spelled the word, "Colossians" and Emma managed to spell one word correctly after her only competitor spelled, "leg" incorrectly =)

In the midst of all this, I've continued my marathon training as I approach my final month. Although I only ran 4 times last week, it was probably my toughest training week I've had. Here's a summary of that week:

Tuesday: 8 miles easy (run in 90 degree weather, still a little sick, one of the worst runs ever!)
Wednesday: 9 miles w/5x1000m @ 6:50/mile pace (I have never done 1000m intervals and this was by far much harder than the 12 miles with 7 at LT pace)
Saturday: 12 miles - 9:00 pace
Sunday: 20 miles - 14 @ 8:33 pace, overall 20 miles @ 8:51/pace

I originally had 17 miles scheduled for Sunday, but since I had missed a 20 miler previously because of injury, I thought it would be a good time to add a few more miles. I was definitely spent at the end of the run, but I felt good running the 14 miles at 8:33 pace. At this point, I'm feeling pretty good about being able to run under 4 hours. Now, I'm starting to think that a 3:50 marathon may be possible. Am I fooling myself?

This week I travel to Seattle for a family wedding. It's probably not the best time to be traveling, given the recent news with the Swine Flu. I'm leaving Thursday and won't be back until Sunday evening. I have a 17 miler that I need to squeeze in somewhere; it'll probably be on a treadmill early in the morning. At this point, I'm just hoping to return to San Diego with everyone in my family healthy.

Have a great week everyone and stay healthy!

32 Miles in 1 Day!

Okay, so that title is a little deceptive. The miles weren't consecutive, but over a 24 hour span. I ran 12 miles yesterday at 2:00 PM and followed that this morning with a 20 mile run.

The plan was to run a 6 mile loop around my home, fuel up, and then go out for a 14 mile loop. Boy, did that plan completely get thrown out the window. All was good when I first set out. The skies were cloudy and I was wondering if the rain was going to come. The forecast had predicted a 10% chance of rain, so I figured I would probably be okay. After the 1st mile, it started to drizzle. It was intermittent and didn't bother me much. At this point, I was debating whether or not to increase the first loop to 8 miles so the second loop would be shorter. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to run a little further and didn't think fueling later on would make much of a difference.

When mile 4 came around, the rain started to come. My first thought was that it would come and go like the drizzle previously, but it never stopped. My gear kept me pretty dry for the first few miles, but as the rain continued, I ended up getting drenched. At this point, I was debating whether to keep running outside or continue the run outside. I still had 2 more hours to go, and didn't want to run the risk of getting sick for being in the rain for too long so I decided to head home to change gear and head to the gym for the remaining miles.

First part of the run:
9.37 miles/1:25:36/9:08 pace (a little quicker, probably because I was trying to outrun the rain!)

When I got home, I quickly changed, took a gel, and got to the gym 5 minutes later. The gym was absolutely packed today. They have close to 20 treadmills and there was only 1 available, the last one by the wall. I didn't care because I was dry and inside! I had 10.7 more miles to go and knew this was going to be the hardest 10 miles I ever ran, outside of running the last 10 miles of the Rock and Roll marathon last year.

Mentally, I broke down the run into 3 sections. The first part was to get to 3.0 miles which was relatively simple. The next goal was to get to 5.7 miles where I would fuel up again with another gel. That proved to be pretty difficult. My legs were shot from the run yesterday and I had to stop to stretch my hamstrings a few times. With 5 miles to go, I broke it down into 5-1 mile segments. After each mile, I walked for 30 seconds and drank some water. The last 3 miles were especially difficult, but I tried to think about what it would be like if those were my last 3 miles at the RNR marathon. This helped a little with the pain. When I got to the last mile, I mustered enough energy to increase the pace to MP, 8:57/mile, and finish the run. After the run, I was exhausted but glad to be finished.

Second part of the run:
10.7 miles/1:43:00/9:38 pace

Total run:
20.07 miles/3:08:36/9:24 pace

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the run. I knew that my legs were going to be tired from yesterday's run and experienced that soreness, but was glad to know that I was able to run the mileage at a quicker pace than expected. I don't think that a sub-4 marathon is in the bag yet, but I know that I'm close. I have one more 20 miler planned, and I think that I'm going to try and run that a little quicker and see how I feel.

Up next, another 50 mile week. In the meantime, lots of rest, an easy 5 miler tomorrow, and lots of time on the couch watching the Masters!

Halfway Done!

Went to the gym today and ran 12 miles at a 9:30 pace. Legs were okay, but towards the end they got pretty tired. I'm supposed to run 20 miles on Sunday, but decided to push it up to tomorrow because I want to watch the Masters tournament Sunday afternoon and I'll be going to church on Easter Sunday in the morning.

For the week, I've logged 30 miles, but still have 25 more to go. 20 tomorrow and 5 on Sunday.
I've never run double-digit mile runs back to back so I'm not sure how much my legs will have recovered by tomorrow, but I'll keep you posted on how things turn out. I'm thinking that my pace will probably be above 10:00 pace. We'll soon see . . .

No More LT Runs!

With only 8 weeks to go until the Rock 'n Roll Marathon, I feel like every workout is critical, especially since I missed two weeks of training, including a 20 miler. Today's run was definitely the hardest workout I have had since I started running. I have been thinking about this run for the past few days, knowing that I would have to be totally focused and strong mentally to nail this run. The schedule was to run 12 miles with 7 at LT pace. My initial thought was to run them at 8:30 pace, thinking that I still have another 12 miler and a 20 miler this week. But the competitive side of me scolded myself for trying to take a short-cut. I've been attempting to run all my LT runs at 8:00 pace, and didn't want to lower my expecatations, especially on my last LT run on tap.

So, I prepared myself to run them at 8:00 pace. I decided to do it at the gym, since I wanted to make sure my pace was precise. The first 3 miles of the run were a warm-up and I ran them around 9:20 pace. At the end of the warm-up, I turned on my MP3 player and cued it to an 80s mix of When in Rome, Anything Box, Erasure, and other New Wave artists. The length of the mix was longer than the rest of the run, which worked out perfectly. I set the pace to 7.5 mph, which is 8:00 pace. The first mile was okay. My HR was around the 160s and I mentally geared up to sustain this pace for the next 6 miles. To help me through the LT miles, I broke it down into smaller segments. The first segment was to get through the first 2 miles. This would leave me with 20 laps to go. The next milestone was 1.5 miles later, which would put me at the halfway point of the LT run. The last milestone was with 10 laps to go, which I could then do a count-down to 0.

After 3 miles at a steady 8:00 pace, I took my one and only gel, a Double Latte Power Bar Gel. I downed it with half of my water bottle and kept going. The LT run got pretty hard with about 1.5 miles to go. I began to get a cramp in my side and my legs were definitely feeling it. At this point, I took off my ear plugs and just focused on each lap. With 1 mile to go, I told myself, 'let's finish this with a bang!' So, I increased the speed to 7:53 pace just so I could say that I ran the 7 miles at sub 8:00 pace (7:59 to be precise).

When I finished the LT portion of the run, I was beat, but I wanted to finish the run strong so I slowed it down to an 8:57 pace, which is my goal marathon pace, and completed the last 2 miles. When I finally finished the 12 miles, I was spent. I'm not usually one that sweats a lot, but my shirt was completely drenched. I couldn't even sit back in my car on the ride home because I didn't want to get my chair all sweaty and disgusting. But in the end, I felt great for finishing a very tough LT run.

12 miles/1:42:00/8:30 pace

Tomorrow is a rest day (watch Tiger and the Masters) and then my plan is to run a 12 miler on Friday, followed the next day by a 20 miler.

Valencia Hills

This weekend, my family and I decided to take a trip up to L.A. to visit my sister and her family. After renting for a year and watching home prices plummet, they found a great house in Stevenson Ranch. Our kids are similar in age and love playing together, so we figured it would be a fun time hanging out for the weekend.

I had an 8 mile run with 8/100m strideouts on schedule for Saturday, and because our day in L.A. was already filled with a trip to see Noah's Ark, dinner, and a movie, I decided that it was best to run early Saturday morning. Knowing that I had a 14 miler that I was going to run the next day, I decided to run around 9:00/mile pace. It was great being outside early in the morning just as the sun was rising. There's something therapeutic about being outdoors with the mountains in the background, sun just rising, wind in your face, and no one to have to share the world with (except for a few other runners!). It was a little chilly out, so I wore my gloves. My hands always get cold for early morning runs. The rest of my body always acclimates within the second mile and stays relatively warm. The run itself was relatively uneventful, but peaceful. At the end of the run, I ran my strideouts. I really enjoy the speedwork that I only started doing this Pfitz cycle. It's definitely challenging, but it's the favorite part of my workout. Here are the numbers for this run:

8.0 miles/1:09:17/8:40 pace

Sunday's run was a 14 miler, the longest since my injury a few weeks ago. Because I was staying in L.A. until Monday, I knew that I would have to run this in my sister's neighborhood. I initially mapped out a 3.5 mile loop in her area that I figured I would just run 4 times. When we got to my sister's house on Saturday, I decided to drive the route so I would be used to the turns and the street names. Turns out, my sister lives in a pretty hilly community. They're up on a big hill so there's nowhere to run but downhill, which means that I'd have to run back uphill at some point. After driving through the route, I made the decision to not run the 3.5 mile loop 4 times. The uphill climb back up to my sister's house was a mile long, and I figured that if my legs were pretty shot after the first loop, I wouldn't go back down and would end up running a short 1/2 mile loop on the street where my sister lived, 20 times to make up the last 10 miles of the run. Instead I decided to let my legs take me in every different direction, as I descended the initial hill and then down another hill into a retail district. There, I made a few loops around the shopping center. I started my run at 7 a.m. in the morning so there was very little traffic.

After getting to mile 12, I decided it was time to run back up the hills. I picked the street with the most gradual slope and began the uphill portion of the run. Because I had run even further down the hill than I had originally planned, I had a 1.5 mile climb with 500 ft. of elevation. The first mile was okay, as I slowed down my pace and shortened my strides. However, the last half mile was the steepest portion and I had to break down the climb into shorter portions where I would identify a spot ahead, run to it and then take a short 10 second break. Eventually I got up to the top, ran an additional .5 mile to get me to 14 miles in all. This hill was definitely the most challenging hill I've run, more so because of the length of the hill, more so than the steepness of it. The run overall was good, but hopefully not too taxing on my legs. I have a pretty big mileage week coming up. Here are the numbers:

14.0 miles/2:11:51/9:25 pace

This week is my Spring Break, and I'm looking forward to getting lots of rest, spending time with my family, and focusing on the 55 mile week ahead.

First Time Intervals

Last night, I ran my first set of intervals on the treadmill. Not sure what to expect, I decided to start conservatively and increase the pace as necessary. Having never raced a 5K before, I wasn't sure what pace to run the 600m intervals at, so I decided to start at 7:30/mile pace and see how my heart rate was after the first interval. To begin with, I ran 4 miles around 9:00/mile pace and then started the intervals. The first one was relatively easy and my heart rate was only in the low 160s. So after a 45 second jogging break, I ran the next one at 7:19/mile. My heart rate was a little higher, in the mid 160s, so I decided to run the next one a little quicker. The 3rd interval was around 7:09/mile and this brought my heart rate to the high 160s. Knowing that I could push my HR a little bit higher, I ran the last 2 at 7:00/mile pace. This finally got my HR working at close to 100% VO2 max rate - in the mid 170s. To finish off the run, I ran around 2 more miles to complete the 8 mile interval run. The next time I run the intervals, I think I'll start at 7:00/mile pace and go from there. Overall, I enjoyed my first set of intervals. Between intervals and tempo runs, I think that I prefer the intervals, probably because growing up, I've always been more of a sprinter than a long distance runner. Who knows how long before that switches around.

On Tuesday I also ran a GA 8 miler at 9:00/mile pace. Tonight I ran a recovery 5 miler at 9:30/mile pace. Tomorrow is a rest day followed by another 8 miler with strideouts and then a 14 mile long run on Sunday. This week will bring my mileage to 43 for the week. Surprisingly this is a recovery week per Pfitz. Next week is the highest mileage week of the program - 55 miles! The good news is I have Spring Break, so I'll make sure that I get lots of rest in between runs.

Recovery Week Completed

I am so thankful for getting through a week of running with no foot issues. To finish off my recovery week, I had two more runs scheduled. The first was an 8 mile GA run on Thursday that went well. I ran it at an 8:26/mile pace and felt good throughout. My legs definitely appreciated the 2 week layoff. One of the things that I focused on while running was something that L.A. Runner had mentioned in his post about mid-foot strike running. I remember reading in the book, Chi Running, about the benefits of the mid-foot strike and how to try and alter your running gait to achieve that. One of their illustrations was to imagine a bar sticking out sideways from each foot. As you run, pick up your feet to avoid tripping over the bar. This helps you create the imagery of your feet moving in a wheel like fashion and encourages the mid-foot strike. It also recommends a slight forward lean that used gravity to keep you moving forward. The Chi Running book has some interesting concepts that the author truly believes will lead to injury-free running. Maybe if I had focused on that a little more, a few weeks ago, I wouldn't have gotten injured in the first place . . .

The next run was a medium long run of 12 miles that I ran this morning. I got up at 5:15 a.m. after not sleeping more than 5 hours. Whenever I am scheduled to run early in the morning, I find myself trying to get to sleep early, but usually can't fall asleep because I'm so anxious to fall asleep that I end up getting wired. Anyway, when the alarm went off, I got up, had my coffee and bagel (I think that's going to be my early morning meal as I didn't have any bathroom issues during the run), and got ready for my run. I left the house at 6:00 a.m. (still dark out), and set out to run 12 miles at Marathon Pace (around 9:00/mile). During my injury, I missed a 15 miler with 12 at MP, so I decided that this run would be at MP. The first mile was right on target - 9:00/mile. The next few miles, I fell into a good rhythm and ran them at 8:45/mile pace. At mile 6, I stopped off at home to refuel with a double latte Power Bar Gel (not bad, I don't mind anything that tastes like coffee). After washing it down with water, I set off for the last 7 miles. By this time, my body was feeling better and I ran the next 4 miles at 8:30/mile pace. Still feeling good, I increased my pace and finished off the last 3 miles with times of 8:20, 8:10, and 8:00. I'm feeling good and looking forward to getting back on the Pfitz plan next week. Only 9 more weeks until the marathon!

On another note, this past Saturday, my 4 girls (DW and 3 daughters) and I went to Torrey Pines State Park to do some hiking. We hiked up to the top of the park which was about a mile long. It took us awhile as my 3 year old needed to be carried part of the way. The incline was about 7.5%! Once we got to the top, we had some lunch, checked out the gorgeous views, before hiking down a trail (another mile) to the beach. Once we got to the beach, we had to walk another mile back to the parking lot. On the way there, the girls and I played in the water and collected some shells. In all the 3 mile loop took around 3 hours! Here's a picture my DW took of my oldest daughter and I jogging up to the top:

Day 2 of The Comeback

Okay, so that's a little dramatic for a blog title, but it seems like a huge accomplishment at this point to be able to run 2 consecutive days without pain. It's kind of strange, but I feel like the first 7 weeks of training happened months ago. I guess the days pass by a lot slower when I'm not running.

Anyway, today's plan was to go back to the crime scene (where I was initially injured) to get in 6 miles. I decided to do a progressive run and start at 10:00/mile and end at 8:00/mile. Overall it was a great run and I was glad to be able to complete it without pain. There were points during the run where I felt like the pain might be coming back and I tried to "run lighter," which of course I couldn't really do, but it made my mind feel a little better, thinking that I could avoid a deja vu moment.

Here are the numbers for the run:

Mile 1 - 10:00/mile
Mile 2-3 - 9:00/mile
Mile 4-5 - 8:30/mile
Mile 6 - 8:00/mile

Tomorrow is a rest day, followed by an 8 mile run at MP (9:00/mile).

Tonight, I relax and watch The Biggest Loser!

3 x 0 = 9

After another layoff for 7 days, I finally decided to go for a run and test my left foot. Given that the last time I tested it, I pushed a little too hard, I decided to go slow and easy this time around. I left the Garmin at home so I wouldn't be too hard on myself for running too slow and try to push the pace. Instead of my usual 6 mile loop, I cut it in half and only ran 3 miles. It felt so good to be on the road again. My foot felt fine throughout - 0 pain. Woo hoo! And when it was all done, I got to experience the runner's high that I had been missing for 2 weeks. Now that's a feeling that I definitely missed. You could say that I was on cloud 9!

My plan going forward is to run around 30-35 miles this week to get myself back on track and then, if everything is feeling good, I'll jump back into the Pfitz program and continue. I know that I probably lost a little in the 2 week break, but I'm also hoping that the rest will have given my legs a much needed break and give me fresh legs to push hard until the Rock N Roll Marathon on May 31st.

Only 1o weeks left!

Injury Update

After taking a complete break from running and blogging for a full 8 days (longest layoff since my first marathon last June), I hit the payment once again this past Monday for a 6 mile run around the neighborhood. The legs definitely felt heavy throughout the run, but my cardio was still okay. After running the first 3 miles at 9:00 pace, I decided to speed up pace and see how everything felt. The next mile was run at 8:00 pace. I was somewhat winded after that and slowed down to 8:30 for the next mile. Then came mile 5. I slowed it down a little more and then felt the pain in my left foot again. It got progressively worse until finally at mile 5.5, I stopped and walked the rest of the way home.

So, I'm back on the injured list, resting my foot for another week. Hopefully come Monday, I'll be ready to get back on track. The break has been good as the Pfitz program really had me burned out with the high mileage (high by my standards). It was actually relaxing to not have to think about when I had to fit in my run during the day. And it was refreshing to be able to sleep in each day.

However, now that the marathon is only 10 weeks away, I'm getting worried that if I don't return soon, all of my gains from the first 7 weeks will go away. On the other hand, I know from last year that if I return too quickly and push too hard, too quickly, I'll end up back on the injured list and possibly be way undertrained. So what do I do? I guess take it one day at a time. Come Monday, I know that I'll be running easy and starting with 3-4 miles and then progress from there. I'm thinking that I'll take a week to ease back into the program and then start where I left off from on the Pfitz program.

Sick and Injured

After Thursday's run, I came down with a mild stomach flu. It wasn't bad enough to stay home from work on Friday (I probably would have if I wasn't a teacher, but putting together sub plans takes forever, and I figured with some Advil, I could survive the day), but bad enough that I decided to skip my Saturday run of 7 miles. On Sunday, after 3 days of needed rest, I was ready for my long run of 18 miles. So, I headed to the gym to run it on the treadmill. Yeah, you heard it correctly; 18 miles on the treadmill. My stomach was still feeling a little queasy so I figured if I needed to use the bathroom, it would be right there waiting for me, and I wouldn't have to worry about being 8 miles from home.

I ran at an easy pace, 9:40/mile, and watched the World Baseball Classic on ESPN: Dominican Republic vs. Panama. It's amazing how you get so interested in something that you really don't care about, when you are bored to death! My brother came by the gym around mile 5 and we ran side by side for the next 5 miles. Then the pain in the bottom/lateral side of my left foot started acting up. Each step produced a slightly more dulling pain that didn't go away. At mile 11, I knew that I probably should ditch the idea of going the full 18 miles. My legs felt fine and my breathing was okay. I tried running one more mile to see if the pain would subside, but it didn't. In fact, I had to change my running gait a little, which is a sure sign to stop. So, I hopped off at mile 12.

I had a similar pain last year when training for my first marathon; it was probably from ramping up the miles too quickly. I have a feeling that it's the same this time around. My plan is to rest it for a few days, cross-train and see how it feels on Wednesday. If everything feels great, I'll continue on my training, otherwise I'll rest some more. The good thing is that I planned an extra week for my training, knowing that I would probably need it for either injury or sickness. I guess this is the week to use it!

Got my a** kicked today!

Today, I had scheduled an 11 mile GA run. I decided last minute to run it after work and was debating last second about whether or not to run the hilly route or the safe, easy treadmill option. Last night, I went out to eat with Lisa at her favorite Chinese resturant (she loves stir-fried szchewan string beans). The food tasted great, but all day today, my stomach was not feeling good, plus, I got a horrible night's sleep (only 4 hours). So, I was thinking that maybe I should just run at the gym so in case I wasn't feeling great, I could just bail on the run. The other thought on my mind was, 'just take a day off!' I hate when negative thoughts like that get in my head. I know that if I let that thought in, I'll start skipping workouts left and right. To give me some inspiration, I hopped on Youtube and watched the Rocky IV training montage. I love the music of his training and it always gets me going, especially on the early morning runs.

I decided to run the hilly route, figuring that once I got over the first steep incline, there would be no turning back, unless I would want to re-climb the same hill going in the opposite direction. Everything started out fine. The initial 3 miles were the climb portion and I was running around 8:45/pace. After that, it was downhill for the next 2 miles and my times sped up to 8:20/pace. Mile 6 and 7 were flat and I started to tire, running them at an 8:50/pace. Then mile 8 came. I knew that I would be climbing for a mile and tried to break it down into 10 0.1 mile chunks. I made it through the climb without stopping, but by the end of the mile, I was spent. I stopped to finished my Vitamin Water, walked a little, and then tried to pick up the pace to finish the last 3 miles.

By the time I was finished, I was done, defeated. No runner's high today, no
fast time, just a completed run . . . barely. The thoughts returned to head to quit the training and take a break. Tried to cheer myself up with a good cup of coffee and some dinner, but was still exhausted from the run. Listened to the song, "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. That helped. I think it's time to go to bed, call it a day, and start a new day tomorrow, forgetting about what happened yesterday. There's a great quote from the Bible that always helps me:

". . . forgetting what is behind, and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal . . ."

The Biggest Liar

There are two T.V. shows that I watch religiously: House and The Biggest Loser. (I've been off the Heroes kick for about a month now). Part of the draw to The Biggest Loser is watching the inspirational transformations of the people trying to change their lives around for the better. It also gives me extra motivation when I'm running, especially when I'm in a rut and thinking about quitting on a run early. The way the episodes work, the contestants with the lowest percentage of weight loss are in danger of getting voted off the show. When a contestant does get voted off, the show then fast forwards to current day (I think the show was taped a few months ago). They talk about what the contestant has been up to and how he/she looks today. Well, last week's contestant, Dane, who weighed 420 pounds at the start, got voted off. So at the end of the show, it showed how he was doing. One of the things that he did with his wife was run a marathon! They showed segments of them running the race and the joy of crossing the finish line together. It was quite a feel-good moment. Then they showed the time that he finished in:

3:53

I yelled out, "3:53?!?!" in disbelief, which I said loud enough for Lisa to hear upstairs. 'There is no way he ran that in 3:53!' I thought. Lisa came downstairs and said nonchalantly, "They train all day long, it's possible." I thought, it could be possible, but considering that this guy ran a sub-4 hour marathon in his first attempt, supposedly out of shape just 2 months prior at 300+ pounds is mind-boggling and a little disheartening to someone like me, that had a 4:40 first marathon time! It bugged me for the rest of the night and then I forgot about it until tonight when I was browsing the Runner's World Discussion Boards. It turns out that the show fabricated the achievment. He was actually running closer to a 6 hour time and got picked up by a van and driven for 3 of the closing miles! The time when he crossed was supposed to show 5:53, but the first 5 was doctored to show a 3. Here's a link from the L.A. Times with the apology from NBC. Here's the other link to the Runner's World Discussion.

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It's disappointing that they tried to sensationalize his accomplishment (to his credit, he did run 23 miles), but they should have at least consulted a runner before putting that time up. I'm sure many vocal marathoners questioned the time and called them out on their mistake. As for the show, I'm still hooked. Dane is off the show, NBC apologized, all is forgiven!

Breakthrough Run

This week is a step-down week for me where my mileage drops from 46 to 37. I have been looking forward to this week as a chance for my legs to rest up for the next progression to 54 miles/week. The week didn't start out well as Tuesday's run was a GA run scheduled for 8 miles + 8/100m strideouts. I ran them at the gym on the treadmill where the plan was to run at 8:34/mile pace. As soon as I started running, I didn't have a good feeling and doubted whether this would be the first workout that I would quit on. By mile 2, I was feeling light-headed and knew I should have fueled up before the run. I had to pause after mile 3 to take a water break (I hit the pause button, giving me 45 seconds to walk to the water fountain and back and then continue), which gave me enough energy to go 2 more miles before having to take another water break. After that, I had to slow it down to 9:09/mile pace for the rest of the run. When I was done, I was pretty dejected and surprised that I couldn't hold that pace for the entire 8 miles. It was one of those feelings where you think about quitting and wondering if all of this is worth it.

After sleeping on it, I ran my recovery run the next day, listening to my music, and just trying to enjoy the blessing of being able to run. I felt much better, knowing that yesterday's feelings were not how I truly felt, but just captured the disappointment of the run. As I've heard from other runners, I should have just chalked it up as a bad day, moved on, and forgot about it.

Today, I had scheduled another GA run of 8 miles. I decided to run this one around the neighborhood trails and the park nearby at an 8:30/mile pace. As I started out, my shins were tight and killing me. This lasted for about 2 miles, before they loosened up. Then everything kind of fell into place. My rhythm was smooth, my legs were firing at a good turnover pace, and my breathing was at a steady cadence. The first few miles were at an 8:20 pace and then each mile got progessively quicker. The last three miles were run at 7:50 pace. When I was done, I was elated because I felt that I had made a huge breakthrough towards increasing my overall speed/endurance. From a pacing standpoint, this was one of my best runs thus far. It left me with a feeling that I can accomplish my goal of breaking 4 hours in the marathon come May 31st. Here are the numbers for the run:

8.0 miles/ 1:04:54/8:07 pace

Getting Lapped and Long Run Sunday

Yesterday, I went to the park with my girls to ride their bikes. It turns out that only the oldest one, Katie, age 7, wanted to ride. She's been looking for challenges lately and decided that she wanted to ride 10 times around the park. It's quite a large park as there were 2 adult flag football games going on. I brought my Garmin so I could run my 5 mile recovery run there. In the beginning Katie and I ran/biked together. Then she started to speed up. I tried to stay with her, but would have to maintain an 8:00/mile pace. Knowing that my 17 miler was the next day, I decided that it would be better to run slowly. Eventually she lapped me and then ran my last lap with me. She is really turning out to be quite the athlete. She may become the first triathlete in the family.

For my 17 mile long run this week, I decided to run it early on Sunday morning. I got up at 4:45 a.m. and had some coffee and a bagel. As Burger mentioned in his post earlier this week about his early morning runs, I then spent the next hour waiting for the digestive system to go to work. After feeling cleansed, I set out for my run. The plan was to run 3 out and backs in different directions, using my home as a base to fuel and get more water. The first loop was 5.5 miles total. I ran north from my home and ran through the neighborhoods of the kids that I teach. I wanted to run a little farther, but my digestive system, unfortunately, didn't cooperate, so I had to head home to tend to business. The first loop was run around 9:45 pace as it took some time for my legs to wake up.

After fueling up with a Chocolate Expresso GU and water, I set out for my next 5.5 mile loop. This time I ran west from my home on a route that I usually run. Nothing unusual on this loop, although I was amazed at how many runners were already out at this time (7 a.m.). I picked up the pace a little bit and averaged around 9:20 pace. I once again fueled up and then put on a water belt for the last 6 miles.

My last loop was due east and headed for the start of the Tour of California. The final leg of the bicycle race, won for the 3rd time by Levi Leipheimer of the Astana team that Lance Armstrong rode with, started off in the town next to where I live. The race didn't start until 12:00 p.m. so when I arrived around 8:15 a.m., no bikers were there. The start of the race was a little farther than I expected, so I ended up running almost a mile more than I planned. My legs were definitely feeling it on this loop, but the adrenaline kicked in after passing by the Tour of California starting area. The last 3 miles were run at around an 8:50 pace. Here are the numbers for the run (including pit stops and walking around the Tour of California area):

17.74 miles/2:51:20/9:40 mile pace

Taking the advice of Aron, I soaked my legs in cold water in my bathtub after my run. I didn't use ice, but it sure felt like there was ice in the tub. My legs went numb within the first minute, so I was able to sit in the tub for about 10 minutes. We'll see how I feel tomorrow and if my legs are less sore. If not, the good news is that next week is a step-down week. After 46 miles this week, next week's plan is only 37 =)

Random Running Ruminations

It's been awhile since I last posted even though I've had the week off for Winter Recess (one of the many perks of being a teacher). Lisa's been sick all week with the flu, so I've been relegated to being Mr. Mom for the week. She's finally feeling better, so I thought that while I have the chance to blog, I should take it. Here's some of the things that have been going on:

* I ran my long run at L.A. Fitness last Saturday. I didn't feel like running outside so I ran 15 miles on the treadmill. Thankfully, ESPN was showing an indoor track and field meet, so the time passed quickly.

15 miles/2:25:00/9:40 pace

* I followed up the 15 miles on the treadmill with another 9 on Tuesday. It was an LT run, and I wanted to run the 4 miles at 8:00 pace so I decided to use the treadmill to make sure I was right on.

9 miles/1:18:10/8:42 pace

* The next day I ran a recovery run of 5 miles. I ran this one outside and I ran it slow and didn't bring my garmin. My legs were pretty shot from the last two runs.

* Thursday, it was beautiful out and I decided to run at Lake Miramar. It's a nice 5 mile loop so I ran it twice. My pacing was a little quicker than I was planning and it turned into an LT run at the end. The last 3 miles were run at 7:5x pace

10 miles/1:22:44/8:17 pace

* My times are getting quicker and I feel my endurance improving. Last year, I remember running my long runs and not being able to walk naturally the next day. Now, I'm able to recover quicker and my legs are used to the longer distances. I'm also developing a blister on the big toe on my right foot. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do about it, besides NOT popping it.

* I got my 2 pairs of Saucony Rides in the mail this week. I labeled them with a sharpie so I don't mix them up. I'm not sure what the best way is to rotate them. I'm thinking about primarily training with 2 of the pairs and seldom using the third pair, saving them for my marathon race in May.

* I got the DVD, Running for My Father, in the mail this past weekend. I watched it with my family and they all loved it. I'll be writing up a review soon to share with everyone. It came with high expectations and certainly lived up to it!

* My family and I almost went on a cruise last second with Carnival Cruise Lines. Because everyone was feeling better, we decided to check the cruise lines to see if there were any last second cruises available leaving from San Diego. There was one today, but they were booked solid and put us on the waiting list. This afternoon (4 hours prior to sailing), a cabin opened up, but it was the Penthouse Suite. It was a more than what we were expecting to pay so we passed it up. If only a cheaper cabin had been available, we might have been sailing on the Pacific Ocean tonight. I thought about running a long run on the deck of the ship. The decks laps are usually 1/3 of a mile long, so for my 17 miler this weekend I would have run 51 times around the deck! That would have made a great story.

Sleeping In and Amazon.com

So much for getting up early today so I could spend some more time with my girls. I was tired from yesterday afternoon's 5 miler, even though it was a recovery run. I ran it at a 9:30 pace, but my legs were feeling it last night so I decided to scrap the early morning run. Turns out, my girls had a play date this afternoon, so I didn't end up missing too much time with them.

The plan was to run the 10 miles outside and try to pick up the speed a little. The general aerobic run was the one run that was most confusing to me in terms of speed. The long run is 10 to 20% slower than marathon pace. The lactate threshold run is run at about 15K pace. The recovery runs are around long run pace. But the general aerobic runs are not explained in detail. I've been running them at between long run pace and marathon pace, but have been thinking that maybe I should be running them a little quicker since it is a shorter distance. So today, my plan was to run them under 9:00 pace. The beginning of the run started slowly as my legs took a while to warm up to the chilly temps (50 degrees - I know, boo hoo, spoiled Californian). I wore shorts and a t-shirt for the run. But once they warmed up I got honed into an 8:30 pace. It was a hilly run and I decided to run the hills hard and run the downhills and flat portions at a smooth, relaxed pace. Overall, the run was great and I ran the fastest 10 miles to date! Here are the numbers:

10 miles/1:24:34/8:28/mile

On another note, I found my shoe online at Amazon.com for only $39. So I picked up two more pairs. They're the Saucony Trigon Ride and the color is alright, but hey, I'm on a teacher's salary so I'll take what I can get. The only question is whether I should pick up more than that. Have you ever purchased more than 3 pairs of the same shoes before?

The Best 2 Laps of the Day

This morning the alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. and I got up to get ready for my run. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have been going to the gym early to get my run in so I have the afternoons free to spend with my three girls. As I arrived at the gym at 5:30, I saw my three running companions who each run at least 6 miles every time they are there. In some ways it's like running with someone except that they run at their own pace. Today's run was for 8 miles + 10/100m strideouts.

The strideouts today went well and I have figured out an easy way to run them on the treadmill. I started off at 5.0 mph and increased the speed to 9.0 mph and ran that for .05 miles (80 meters). Then I slowed it back to 5.0 mph and jogged that until .1 miles. Then I increased the speed again, this time to 9.1 mph until .15 miles. Again, I decreased the speed to 5.0 mph and jogged until .2 miles. I continued in this pattern every 1/10 of a mile until I finished 10 sets of 100m strideouts with a short jogging/rest period in between. For the last 100m strideout, I ran it at 10mph. As I thought about the last strideout, I looked on the monitor and saw that I was running at a 6:00 mile pace. I was physcially pushing the pace and struggling to hold on, and all I could think was, "elite marathoners run more than 1 minute per mile faster than this pace for 26 MILES?!? " Unbelievable!

Here are the numbers for the run:

8.0 miles/1:13:30/9:11 pace

At school today, my 5th grade students had P.E. at the end of the day. We're currently working on physical fitness testing and one of the areas tested is the one-mile run. As you can imagine, 5th grade students don't like to run AT ALL! I've been trying to preach to them the virtues of running, but to little avail. So, I tried a different approach today. We only had 15 minutes for P.E. today, so I decided to run with them. I ran with some of the slower runners and encouraged them to breath from their stomachs, relax their arms and shoulders, and run at a slower pace so they could complete the 2 laps without stopping to rest. It was fun running with them and I think they enjoyed seeing their teacher run with them.

40 Mile Week

I made it through my first 40 mile week! My legs are pretty tired and I will definitely benefit from a rest day tomorrow. Today's 14 mile run started off slowly as my legs were still sore from the running during the week. However, as the run progressed, my legs loosened up and my muscles got warm, ready for the challenge ahead. At first, my plan was to run around the neighborhood and avoid the hills, but after the initial 3 miles, I was feeling good, so I decided to run the hills nearby. There's an 11 mile loop near where I live that includes an incline of 600 feet in the first mile of loop. I remember the first time I ran it, and I was left huffing and puffing the whole way. Today, being a long run day, I was running at a slower pace, which made it easier to climb. I was still winded at the top, but ready for the decline over the next few miles. The view was spectacular and helped me make it through the run. Here are the numbers for the run.

14 miles/2:13:02/9:30/mile

Have a great week everyone!

WARNING! Running on a treadmill can be dangerous!

This morning I woke up early to head over to the gym for a 10 mile run. I found my usual treadmill, halfway between the CNN news and Fox news TVs. It's always interesting to see two opposing views covering the news. It makes up for the boredom of running on a treadmill. Halfway through, I hear a loud THUD! Turning around, I see a man flying off the treadmill onto the floor. Turns out that the person before him left the treadmill on at a 6.7 mph speed. So when he took his first step to get on the treadmill, he fell on his face (which was the THUD!) and then the treadmill took him right off and onto the floor! A bunch of us stopped our workouts to see if he was okay. Luckily, he was alright, but his ego was definitely bruised as he quickly walked down the stairs and out of the gym!

The rest of the workout was without incident and I finished the run: Here are the numbers for the 3 runs this week thus far:

Tuesday LT run 8 miles/1:11:00/8:53/mile
Wed Recovery 4 miles/slow pace/didn't bring my garmin
Thursday 10 miles/1:33:00/9:18/mile

This morning was definitely the closest I've come to skipping a workout. My legs were feeling pretty heavy and sore from the upped mileage. This morning as I was heading out the door, I kept thinking to myself, "Why am I doing this? It's not like I'm getting paid to do this. I'm not anywhere close to winning anything for my times. I should be home sleeping in my comfortable bed." But in the end, I realized I'm doing this because I can. I have the ability to run and I'm should be thankful for that. Also, by pushing myself, setting challenging goals, and accomplishing them, I'm able to apply that to the adversity that life presents everyday. So for now, I'm still on track. But who knows, it may be soon that I'll need more inspiration to keep pushing on towards my goal to break 4:00:00.

Week 2: Getting harder

I successfully completed week 2 of the Pfitz 18/55 program. Now when I say successfully, I mean injury-free. It definitely is getting harder and these weeks are by far the easiest as I am only running 4 days a week. This week I start running 5 days a week and I am definitely getting sorer each day. I am wondering how my body will respond this week when I run a total of 22 miles on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For now, I am just hoping for the best and hoping that my body will adjust accordingly, having never put my body through this kind of mileage.

For the week here are the numbers for the runs:

Tuesday 8 miles/1:15:00/9:23 pace + 10/100m strideouts
Thursday 10 miles/1:33:45/9:23 pace
Saturday 4 miles/38:06/9:32 pace
Sunday 13.1 miles/2:02:53/9:23 pace

Tuesday and Thursday were run on a treadmill in the early morning. On Tuesday I had a banana before I ran, and it went through my body in about 3.3 miles as my run continued off the treadmill and into the men's locker room. 2 minutes later and 1/2 pound lighter, I finished the run without any further issues. THAT is why I like to run indoors early in the morning. On Thursday, I skipped the banana and was able to run unincumbered.

Wednesday night, I went to RoadRunner Sports to spend my $125 gift certificate from my 5th grade class. Since I already bought a pair of shoes from Amazon.com, I spent it on accessories. Some of the things I purchased was an energy belt, gloves, gels, and a pull-over.

On Sunday I ran with the energy belt and it was somewhat freeing not having to hold a water bottle while running. It felt tight around the waist, however. I tried loosening it a little, but that just caused the water containers to bounce up and down more. I'm sure I'll figure out a way to use it properly.

Well, it's off to bed now as I'll be up again at 4:45 a.m. to do my 8 mile run. I'm excited because it's a lactate threshold run, so I'll have a chance to run at a faster pace. The plan will be to run 2 miles at an easy pace, the next 4 at a much faster pace (8:00 - 8:20/mile) and then finishing with 2 more miles at an easy pace.

Have a great week everyone!

Why Nala's Quest

When Lisa and I got married 11 years ago, one of our first major purchses together was a Siberian Husky puppy.





We fell in love with her as soon as we saw her ice blue eyes and her beautiful coat of black and white fur. It took us awhile before deciding on a name. In the end, we went with Nala, Simba's mate from the Lion King, because of her playful, friendly disposition. From the start she was a rambuncious, free-spirited puppy, and all she wanted to do was explore new territory and play. Once familiar with her new home, she now had a new desire: RUN!!!

11 years ago, I was nowhere close to being a runner. For me, exercise was going to the gym and lifting weights. But I did take Nala on walks to Starbucks, strapped a harness on her and went roller-blading with her, and played catch with her in the snow. But I hardly ever went running with her because I HATED to run. Well, Nala was born to run and when she was off-leash, she would run around the dog-park at high speeds continuously until I was bored and had to rein her in to go home.

Four years later, our first daughter was born. Two years later, our second daughter was born. By that time, we were too busy with our girls to be able to spend adequate time with Nala. So we gave her away to my brother-in-law where she was pampered and treated like a queen. Last year, she had major complications from bleeding ulcers and had to be put down. She was only 10 years old.

I decided to name my blog "Nala's Quest" in honor of her. Running for her came naturally. When she ran, it seemed effortless, and she enjoyed it. I'm halfway towards emulating her as a runner. While I do love running, I'm still learning to run efficiently. It'll come eventually. In the meantime, I'll continue to run while remembering Nala's quest.

Week 1 - Check!

Well, I made it through my first week of training. Granted it is going to be the easiest week, by far (not counting the taper weeks), but still, I survived without injury, which is my goal as I go through this Pfitz cycle.

Yesterday, I was planning out my 12 miler, and after feeling the onset of a sore throat, I debated whether it was better to get rest and sleep in or run early. Before turning in for the night, I decided to run early. Then around 2 a.m. I woke up and my throat felt worse. So, I turned off the alarm and decided to run later in the day.

It turned out to be pretty good weather for running, despite the forecast for rain. It was windy, but cool and overcast. I decided to do a hilly run today and try my best to stick to the pacing that Pfitz recommends. His pacing calls for running the long run 10 - 20% slower than marathon pace. My goal is to run at around 9:00/mile which would translate to running between 9:54/mile and 10:48/mile for my long runs. For the most part, I was able to keep it in that range, but towards the end, I sped up a little, just to see how my legs would feel at marathon pace. Overall the run went well and my new shoes felt pretty good. Here are the numbers:

12 miles/1:58:01/9:50/mile

Week 2 calls for pretty much the same runs with a few more miles tacked on. As for me, I'm exhausted from my run and will be going to sleep early tonight!

Have a great week everyone!

Heroes, Slowing Down, and a New Ride

As a Netflix subscriber, one of the benefits is you can watch DVDs instantly online instead of having to wait to receive the physical DVD. With the lack of good shows on TV these days, I decided to browse the selections of programs that I could watch online at the Netflix website. I stumbled upon Heroes, which I've heard great reviews about from my friends, but have never watched before. So I decided to watch the first episode to see what all the hype was about. 43 minutes later, I watched the next episode, and then the next episode. The next night, I watched two more episodes. I think I'm hooked on the show. I usually have a rule about not watching new shows, because I can get addicted pretty quick. Now I know why I made this rule! Hopefully, I don't skip any runs to get caught up with the story line.



Since my last post, I've been out 3 times for runs. The first run was an general aerobic (GE) run of 7 miles followed by 10 reps of 100m sprints. The 7 miles were fine, run at about 9:10/mile pace. I have never done the sprints before and it was quite an experience for me. I enjoyed the quick burst of speed and the rapid leg turnover. I couldn't remember exactly what Pfitz recommended for the way the sprints were run, so I just sprinted them out one after another with a 10 second break in between. By the 6th rep, I was sucking air, but loving the burn in the legs. The next day, I could feel it in the quads. I usually only feel soreness after a run in the hammys and calves, but never the quads.



My next run was on Thursday. It was another GE, this time 9 miles. I got up before 5am to drink some water and stretch before heading to the gym. I know some runners hate the dreadmill, but I don't mind it, especially in the morning, where I have a bathroom handy in case I need it. I'm always amazed at how many people are in the gym at 5am in the morning. Don't people have a life?!? =) I even saw my principal at the gym. The run was pretty uneventful, but I did end up running next to two other women running longer distances on the treadmill, which helped the boredom. Usually when I'm on the treadmill, I take the time to think through my day, pray for others, and catch up on the news.



Yesterday was a long, tough day. Whenever it rains, we teachers know that it will be a crazy day. Indoor recess for us means that the students stay in the classroom, and we don't get the needed break that we usually get. The students don't get to run around, so they are wound up, which makes the teaching part even more difficult. There was a saving grace to the day (besides getting to watch two more Heroes episodes). When I got home, I found a package from Amazon! New shoes! I decided to give the Saucony Trigon Ride a try. I've now gone from a stability shoe, to a neutral shoe, back to a stability shoe, and finally back again to a neutral shoe. Being a relatively new runner (about a 1 year now), I've been following different salesmen's advice about shoes. Now that I've run about 1000 miles in different pairs of shoes, I'm going to follow my own advice and I think that neutral shoes are what I need. I went out for a recovery run this morning, 4 miles, and the shoes felt great. If everything feels comfortable the next few weeks, I'm thinking about stocking up on this shoe. I got a great deal on Amazon and saved about $30 over what they were charging at RoadRunner Sports.


Here are the numbers for the 3 runs:


7 miles/1:04:32/9:14
9 miles/1:23:00/9:14
4 miles/39:20/9:50


I've decided to run the GE, recovery, and long runs slower and at the recommended paces. Especially with the increase in weekly mileage, I know that I need to develop a better base before trying to increase my speed. It's difficult sometimes, because I just want to let the legs loose. I have to remind myself that I need to stay healthy and injury free and save the legs for the speedwork.


Special thanks to Aron, Billy, and Moz for the enouragements and/or personal testimony on Pfitz training!

Advanced Marathoning

I've been reading Advanced Marathoning, by Pete Pfitzinger, one of the premier running books to read if you want to seriously improve your running times. I will be starting his 18/55 program (18 weeks of training, maxing out at 55 miles/week) this week and am very excited, but at the same time nervous. My hope is to be able to complete it injury free. For my first marathon I tried Hal Higdon's Novice program and missed 3 weeks of training because of injuries. I also missed 3 runs of 15 miles or longer, which I believe contributed to me hitting the wall at mile 18. Below is the actual program:

I highlighted the different types of runs so I can visually see what kind of week I have ahead for me. The first two weeks should be relatively easy with a few general aerobic runs (green), a recovery run (yellow), and a long run (blue). With 8 weeks until marathon time, I hit the high point of the training, 55 miles for the week. That will consist of a 6 mile recovery run, a 12 mile lactate threshold run (orange), which is run at 15K race pace, 12 mile long run, 5 mile recovery run, and then a 20 mile long run on the weekend. The red color is the VO2 max runs, where I will be running intervals at certain paces to maximize my oxygen intake. I built in an extra week in case of injury or sickness, but (knock on wood), if everything goes fine, I'll just have an extra week of training. Tomorrow is day 1 of my journey to break the 4 hour mark. Better get to bed soon . . .

149

Tuesday morning, I got up for my first early run of the year. I woke up at 5 AM, drank a glass of water, and waited for my system to do its work. I'm pretty regular in the mornings and when I'm not, I'm worried that my workout will be interrupted . . . Well, there was no movement this morning, but I felt good so I went to the gym to run on the treadmill. I know that a lot of runners hate the treadmill, but I find that it serves its purposes. This particular morning, I figured that in case I needed to go run and relieve myself, I would have easy access. I ended up being fine and ran my usual 6 miles at an easy pace. Here are the numbers:

6 miles, 57:45 time, 9:45/mile

I've been taking it easy on my runs for the last 2 1/2 weeks, testing to see how my knee feels. Overall, I still feel some dullness on the knee towards the end of the run, but after RICEing it, it feels fine the next day. So, yesterday, I decided to "stretch my legs" and give them a chance to get out and run around (I feel like I'm talking to my girls).

My plan was to do a short tempo run. 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles at 8:00/mile, 1 mile cool-down. When I started my run, I felt great and was excited about pushing myself during this run. When mile 2 came, I started to kick it up a notch. I had the same cadence as my warm-up, but I just took longer strides. I tried breathing deeper, from my abs, and letting my legs take me down my usual course. At the end of the 2nd mile, I realized I had gone out to quickly - 7:41/mile. I knew I was going to run out of gas if I kept this up. I slowed the next two miles down a little, but by the time I got to the last tempo mile, I was done. I ended up using the last 2 mile as a cool-down. Here are the totals for the run:

Tempo miles -
Mile 1 - 7:41/mile
Mile 2 - 7:48/mile
Mile 3 - 7:58/mile

6 miles, 50:47 time, 8:28/mile

After the run, I weighed myself and saw 149 on the scale for the first time since high school. I've been trying to get down to the high 140s, as I think this will be the ideal running weight for me. I decided to go out and celebrate with Lisa by going out to eat at a Japanese restaurant and stuffing ourselves with sushi! When I got home, I stepped on the scale and found that I was back in the 150s!

Yogurt's organic isn't it?

This weekend, my brother-in-law came to visit us from Chicago. We always have a great time together, partly because my daughters love hanging out with him, and also because we eat out a lot and eat well. We ate so well, that Lisa and I temporarily fell off the healthy food wagon for the weekend. Let's see what we had this weekend: authentic Japanese food (Tajima 2), Hawaiian BBQ (L&L, love the macaroni salad), vietnamese food (pho), New York Bagels and cream cheese, and authentic Taiwanese food (Tea Station). Oh, and I should mention that we had frozen yogurt . . . 3 days in a row! Frozen yogurt places are the latest fad in San Diego. You walk into one of these shops and it's all self-serve. First, you choose from 15-20 flavors of frozen yogurt. Next, you pick any toppings you want, from fruit, to flavored syrups, to candy, and even cereal. Finally, you bring your cup to the cash register and they charge you by the ounce. Most places are 38 cents an ounce. For my daughters, knowing that we are going there for dessert is a great incentive for them because it means that if they don't finish their dinner, they aren't going to get any dessert. I think it goes without saying that they all got dessert each night!

This afternoon, my brother-in-law left for Chicago and so did our food splurge for the weekend. When we got home, I watched the Chargers fight valiantly to overcome playing without their top offensive and defensive weapons, L.T. and Merriman. In the end, it wasn't meant to be, but hats off to them this season for playing their hearts out and making the most of their season!

After the game, since my knee was feeling fine after a day of rest, I decided to go out for a very quick run. I ran a 3 mile loop and caught a beautiful picture of sunset/dusk on the way home. My knee felt okay and I didn't start to feel anything until the last quarter mile. Here are the stats for the run:

3 miles, 28:35 time, 9:32/mile

We'll see how things are tomorrow. If everything feels good, my plan is to ramp up in anticipation of starting my official 18 week marathoning training next week!