Sunday, October 24, 2010

2 Weeks Down, 2 To Go

Well I'm two weeks into my training for back-to-back marathons, with two weeks to go.  This next week will be the peak week (with bad weather, it looks like). 

Today I ran 12 miles.  It was a little windy the first half of the run, and my legs were tight and fatigued-feeling. However, at 6 miles I took a gel, and within a mile I felt much better.  I actually felt comfortable.  Whether that was due to the carbs, or to not having to run into the wind, I don't know.  I'm starting to wonder if I've been running with depleted glycogen stores.  I wonder if that might be why I've been struggling the last couple weeks on my long runs.  Last week's 10 miler I didn't fuel at all during the run.  I'm thinking I should make sure to fuel and hydrate properly, taking careful consideration to drink, even when I'm not thirsty. 

This last week I felt a little better than the first week, but my legs were still fatigued feeling and I have really struggled to maintain a modest 10-min mile pace.  I even had an extra rest day in there on Thursday because Gavin was sick and I had to pick him up from daycare that morning, so I missed my run. 

This will be an interesting week.  I'm hoping that my body is going to rally and get used to training again.  I'm excited about this marathon, but I'm feeling less confident.  I'm hoping that my conservative goal of 4:20 is doable.  It feels very conservative a goal to me, but given my recent long runs, I'm not so sure.  On a positive note, I'm over the cold.  So hopefully I can just stay healthy for two more weeks.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Redemption Race Training begins

So, yeah, I decided to run a redemption race this fall.  I feel like I left a lot out on the course at the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon, being sick, and all.  And my body felt a lot better in the days that followed than it sometimes did after my long training runs.  So I decided that I still had a marathon left in me, and I was going to go for another race to get a "win" under my belt for this year.

I'm running the Rails to Trails Marathon in Norwalk, WI, on November 7.  It is a small, low-key race, put on by a small town.  It's run on a former railroad bed turned bike trail.  It's claim to fame is a 3/4 mile tunnel that we get to run through.  Lots of nice positive comments about the race, from what I've been able to tell so far, even though it's only the third year they've done it.  I'm looking forward to a better race, with a more conservative time goal, and hoping to be able to run it like a marathon should be run.

So I couldn't wait to start running again, and started on Monday last week.  Did 6 miles, and in retrospect probably shouldn't have started out with that, since I'd just taken an entire week off.  It felt good, though.  Tuesday I ran three miles.  I found a training plan by Hal Higdon for "between marathons."  He's got plans for two weeks between, four weeks between and six weeks between.  So, I am doing his four weeks between plan.  Relatively low mileage, especially the first couple weeks.  So Tuesday is when this plan is supposed to start, and I was only supposed to do 2 miles.  Well, that wasn't enough in my mind, so I did 3.  Wednesday was 3, Thursday was 4 and Friday was 6.  Then today was 1-2 hours.  I did 10 miles (approx. 1 hour 40 minutes). 

I must say, this week was a little tough.  I felt sluggish and slow.  It felt like an effort to maintain 10 minute miles, when a month ago, 10 minute miles would have felt fairly easy.  But I did just go 26 miles not two weeks ago, so I was okay with the struggle.  I think perhaps I would have been surprised if it had felt easy.  It may not have been a good strong effort, but it was 26 miles, and my body knew it, if my brain didn't.

So it was a little sluggish.  Today was my 10-miler.  Which I was going to go 12 until I started thinking about it and decided yesterday that maybe I shouldn't push it, and only go 10.  In retrospect, now I'm thinking maybe I should only have gone 8 or 9.  I'm feeling it tonight.  I went easy and slow and the first mile felt great, but then it started to get hard.  I had to struggle and push it to maintain my pace.  I probably should have just slowed down.  It is a "long run" after all, and you really can't run them too slow, but I'm stubborn and in the middle of a run sometimes you don't think.  I did feel some twinges in my knees today.  Which I wasn't expecting.  Friday my right knee hurt, right on top of the kneecap.  It was a new location for knee pain for me.  I iced it friday night and saturday, and this morning it was gone, so I knew resting it was good.  I was hoping not to have it come back today during the long run.  There was a shadow of discomfort at times, but the surprise came when my left knee started twinging.  I was probably inadverdantly and unconsciously favoring my right knee.  But tonight my legs feel sore and my knees too, but there is no pain to speak of.  I'm feeling okay, still confident.  I think perhaps I should either not have run monday, or else gone shorter than the 6 miles.  My body hasn't run 5 days in a row in a very very long time (trying to think of the last time, actually, and can't- it's been months).  So I probably jumped back into training a little harder than I should have.

But, I'm on a plan now, and I'm feeling pretty good about it.  I expect this next week to be better than last week, but I won't be surprised to find myself still feeling tired and slow.  The key will be to continue to do my runs at a slow pace, and to continue to monitor my body.  I have to slog through this initial discomfort, but I think things will only get easier and my body will be back to its normal training form within another week.  I'm hoping for a good strong third week, feeling good and not tired, and then a taper week to build up some energy and restore the glycogen stores.  And then hopefully, a strong race in Norwalk.  That's the plan anyway!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

2010 Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon Race Report

Well this race went way worse than I ever could have expected.  4:58:11 was my time.  If you recall, my goal was to break 4 hours.  So I was an hour slower than I hoped for.  I've been trying to think of what went wrong.  I'm sure there are lessons to be learned here, but in order to glean those lessons, I need to figure out what went wrong.

The start was cold.  I actually had to scrape my windows on my car this morning because we had frost last night.  So it was cold (I think it was in the lower 40's at the start), but I made arm warmers out of trouser socks and was happy with them. 

The first 2 miles felt awesome.  I felt like I was going really slow, and in reality, I was going slower than my original planned pace.  So I know I didn't go out too fast.  By mile 10 I was off my pace, and knew that 4 hours probably wasn't realistic.  I battled stomach cramps and nausea most of the way. 

I'm pretty sure I was fueling and hydrating okay, at least for the beginning of the race.  I started having the cramps and nausea around mile 3.  I had some gatorade around mile 4, felt like crap, and switched to water only.  I had a gel at mile 5, another one at mile 12 or 13, and another one at 20.  Once I started feeling like I was ready to throw up, I drank less, because my stomach was sloshy and I just couldn't even think about putting any more into it.  I did sip every mile.  It was hard to eat that last gel.  I just did not want it, but I thought maybe I needed the calories. 

I ran 20 miles, and then had to stop and walk.  I was feeling dizzy and lightheaded and I thought if I stopped and walked a little bit it might help me feel better.  I said I'd start running again once I started feeling better.  While I was walking, I was weaving from side to side, felt like I was going to pass out, and completely zoned out of reality.  If I tried to pick up the walking pace, I started to feel even worse, so it was a slow walk.  I walked for five miles.  I should have tried to run a little bit, but I was so cold, and I was so sleepy, my eyes kept closing, like I was almost falling asleep.  And I felt like I couldn't get enough oxygen, I kept yawning.  I was so lightheaded, and I kept looking for good places to throw up on the side of the road if I needed to.  I actually wanted to throw up- I thought it might make me feel better.  My fingers were swollen and I couldn't walk straight.  I just wanted to curl up in the sun and take a nap.

Finally, I thought, maybe some gatorade would help.  At mile 24 I had a cup of gatorade.  I was expecting it to make me feel worse, but by mile 25 the nausea was better.  I started a slow jog.  I was able to run to the finish, and actually felt like my legs had a lot left in them.  Unfortunately, I had a side cramp that prevented me from really getting into a good form.  The side cramp started as soon as I started running.  I still had the abdominal cramps, but the nausea was much better.  So, the gatorade helped. 

I was able to finish under 5 hours.  What a difference from the way I planned this race.  My pace between 9 and 20 miles was slower than my long run pace!  So was I trained properly for this race?  I think so.  I'd run 4 half marathons previous to this race.  I followed a respected marathon training program (Higdon Intermediate 1), and hit two successful 20-milers in training.  I was prepared. 

So, I'm thinking that being sick is probably what did it.  I ate what I normally eat the days before and the morning of race day, nothing different.  I was ready for this race.  I didn't start off too fast.  I fueled properly during the race, I didn't hydrate too well once I started feeling so bad, but I don't feel that was contributing factor.  I can only chalk it up to being sick.  I can't see that I did anything wrong during the race.  I mean, I was struggling early, and my pace was conservative, so I just can't see what else could have affected me so much. 

So, what now?  Well, I finished.  Even though at times I thought I wasn't going to.  My legs feel remarkably good, actually.  I am sore, of course, but I think my 20-milers left me feeling worse.  So, I know I could have done better. 

I'm not anxious to do this again, but I realize that I have to avenge myself on this distance.  RACC has a big group that will be running the Green Bay Marathon next May.  I'm going to plan on that.  We'll see how training goes through the winter and spring.  Maybe I will try a different training program with some more speedwork in it.  That is one thing that I didn't have in this program.  Whether or not it would have made any difference, I don't know.

At least a week off now.  Maybe 2.  Hopefully I can get rid of this cold and let my body recover from training.  I'll start running again by training for the RACC Winter 10K Series, which starts end of November. 

So, to sum up, this was a disappointing first marathon, nothing like I expected.  I feel like I could have run better, and I still think I had more left in my legs.  But being sick really took it's toll on me physically. 

On a positive note, it will be easy to PR at my next marathon!