feeling better and my first 20 miler done!

After my last post I was about as discouraged as I could have been.  What a difference a week and a half makes.  The greatest pluses in terms of making my ITBS manageable I believe have been well timed rest, Motrin, ice... a lot of ice, and my big blue foam roller.
I am definitely a creature of habit and the foam roller is now a part of my daily routine.  I wake up, brush my teeth, start coffee, then I start rolling my butt and IT bands on the foam roller.  The first couple time I used the roller I could tell how much I needed it because of how bad it hurt.  Now I can roll my legs for a few minutes and there is little soreness.  To me that is a sign that things are getting better.  After I roll my legs in the morning I put it in my backpack to take it to work to do the same thing on my lunch break.  I always have to make sure the door to my classroom is locked during lunch because I can only imagine what my students would think if they walked in and I was using the roller on either one of my buttcheeks. Finally one more time before I get in bed and I am good to go.  On the days I go on runs I also roll my legs before and after. 
I took off 5 consecutive days from running last week and also helped a ton.  Since then here was how my week looked...

Sunday - 8 miles
Monday - 4 miles
Tuesday - 6 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles
Thursday - 7x800 meters intervals (Yasso repeats) w/ .25 miles rest in between.  Totaled 5 miles
Friday - off
Satuday(today) - 20 miles

After each run I put ice packs on my hips where it is an IT hotspot and I also rubdown my legs with ice that I freeze in a cup. 
Today my run was great, despite it raining/drizzling for the first 18 miles.  I ran at a pretty slow pace, which is actually what I am supposed to do on my long runs.   What I was happiest about the most was that I ran this route over some bigger hills and I felt great running my last mile at my race pace of 8:52/mile.  At mile 20 to have something left in my tank, no matter what the pace, I must be doing something right. 
Now I am just hoping that my body responds well in the time after, because usually it gets most sore about 24 hours after a run. 
Thanks to those of you who wrote me encouraging emails after my last post, I really appreciate it.  

IT Band issues

Last week I only ran 3 of the 6 days my schedule due to the tightness from my IT band.  After taking those days off I felt pretty good and was able to do my long run of 19 miles on Sunday morning.  I averaged a 9:45 mile which is 50 seconds slower than the 8:55/mile pace I hope to keep during the marathon.  I was pretty pooped at the end and I thought, "How in the world can I run 7 more miles at a much faster pace than what I just ran?"  I hate when self-doubt creeps in because it can really mess with my head.  I was done with that run though, and in my mind that is all that counted.  Post run was nice as I took an ice bath while eating fried eggs and a Coke that my wife brought me.  Yes, it sounds as odd as it probably looked.
The bad news is how my body, more specifically my legs, reacted afterwards.  I took the day off after the run and then tried to get out there again yesterday.  My plan called for 10 miles but all I could muster was 8.5.  The only way to describe the pain that I have in my upper quads and knees is debilitating.  After this last run I could hardly walk.  At night I could hardly sleep as my legs and knees ached.  As I moved my legs from a bent to an outstretched position it hurt like all hell.  When I walk down stairs my knees scream at me to stop. 
It seems that at this point all I can do is not run for a while.  This is hard because I have my first 20 mile run this weekend and I really don't want to miss it.  I need to balance the need to try and get better with the need to keep up my fitness.  I am stubborn and that doesn't help.  It does help that my wife is more than encouraging but also practical in the advice she gives me.  After work we are off to go find a foam roller to do some stretching.  Hopefully that, along with other stretches I have found on the internet combined with some time off things can get better.  If not I feel like all bets are off for my even running in the NYC Marathon, and that is the biggest blow in terms of self-doubt after 11 good and hard weeks of training.   

the good, the bad and the ugly

While my blogging hasn't been very consistent, keeping up on my training has...  for the most part.  The latter has proved to be more and more difficult in the last few weeks.  Let me break it down for you.

The Good:

1.  I am more than halfway done with marathon training.
2.  I have finally lost a few pounds... 3.5 to be exact.  Anything at this point is welcomed.
3.  I have had some awesome runs where I really kept a consistent "race pace" and felt good afterwards.

The Bad:

1.  Knee pain, especially in the last week or so.  This Friday I ran 9 miles at race pace and I could hardly move my left leg later that night.  The pain has persisted all weekend.  I think it is an IT problem because the pain goes up the outer upper thigh.  I am pretty concerned about this being a lingering problem at this point.  I don't know how to balance taking time of to heal (hopefully) while keeping up my training/fitness.
2.  Over the next 7 weekends I have one 19 mile run and three 20 mile runs.  If I felt healthy I wouldn't be as weary about this.  I felt great after a 17 mile run a week and a half ago, but that was before my knee problems.

The Ugly:

1.  My top of middle toe on my left foot.  No matter what shoes I wear or what I do I get a nasty blister.  You can thank me for no picture. 
2.  Me running in "hot" weather.  I have stated this before,  I don't do well in heat.  And since I live next to the coast where it is perpetually overcast this time of year, I classify anytime the sun is shining on a clear day as hot.  A few weeks ago it was one of those clear days and I was miserable.  As I was running my wife drove by on her way to the dentist.  Since she knows my disdain for running while its sunny out and the fact that I looked like crap, she made a point to look at the temperature gauge on the car.  It read 65 degrees.  Seriously, 65 degrees.  Most people would give anything to run in weather sunny and 65 but not me.  Am I the biggest wimp or what?
3.  I forgot band aids over my nips for an 8 mile run.  I had scabs the next day.  Enough said.

Hopefully it won't be another month until I update this blog again :-)

I hate hills

One of the things I like about this training plan that I am doing is that despite running 6 days a week, I always seem to feel fresh.  I had a hard run last week where I ran hill repeats of .23 miles x 4.  Even though this workout only lasted 19 minutes it was by far the hardest yet.  I just plain and simple don't like running up or down hills.  It is disappointing because I think trail races like the ones on www.pctrailruns.com by far look the coolest but once I look at the elevation gains and losses it makes me cringe.  I actually did one of these races in Montano de Oro a few years ago and here is the elevation chart...

Basically this race killed me and my quads.  I couldn't even walk down stairs for about 3 days without holding onto the rails.  Nevertheless, days after my hill repeats last week I could still feel the effects.  My butt and all the surrounding muscles (the ones I don't realize I have until they start to hurt) were really sore.  Once I got going on my subsequent runs I felt better and I knew at that point I needed to start adding more hilly routes to my regular running routines so I am ready for the Verrazano and Queensborough Bridges.
Today was the first of those hilly days and thanks to my new running watch I can upload the run like magic...

I think at the 3.5 mile mark I was all the way down to about 12:00/mile pace which was the top of the biggest hill.  I should have just walked at that point because I would not have been going any slower but it was more of a mental thing and wanting to push through.  I know in my first marathon I told myself "no walking" and I was glad I did because it really made me keep going.  In my second marathon I forgot how tough the marathon really was and I didn't tell myself "no walking" so of course I did.  That made for a long day and a lot of walking, because once you start it's really hard to start running again.  I'm hoping to be well enough prepared come November that walking doesn't even enter my mind. 

my shoes thanks to the Running Warehouse

Everybody has vices.  For my wife it is jeans.  After going in our closet to count she has a total of 21 pairs!  It is not like these are the $30 variety either.  I won’t write too much about this because I don’t want to get in trouble. 

This is normal, right?

My vice?  I like me some good running shoes.  Unfortunately I do not rival my wife in the overall number (compared to her jeans) nor time put forth shopping for them.  For her I believe it is all about the process of going shopping.  More often than not she goes shopping, buys something (which I call getting her fix), then decides she doesn’t like what she bought and returns it two weeks later.  I would say only one of two articles of clothing she ever buys makes the cut and is not returned.  Case and point, today she returned two pair of shorts to Motherhood Maternity.  Last week she returned a bra from the same purchase.  Only one tank top made the overall cut!

What costs more, these jeans or both of my pairs of running shoes?

We just found out we are having a little girl!

I, like most guys, are all about the hunt for the good bargain.  Normally this comes through purchases at the Running Warehouse.  Normally their prices are about 20% less than retail, but with their constant sales, it can be more than 50% off of retail.  Honestly I don’t know how they stay in business with this model, but they do.    

For the past 3 years or so my main pair of trainers has been the Mizuno Nirvana.  I guess I would have to equate this pair of shoes as driving in a nice Cadillac.  Because I am not rich and old I have never actually driven in a Cadillac.  Nevertheless, I know how they are supposed to drive.  They are big, fast and comfortable.  Hence the shoes are pretty big, 12.2 ounces, feel fast (even though I am not), and are just about as comfortable for a long run as I could hope for.  This is Mizuno’s top of the line shoe for support, which I can tell as I moderately pronate on my right foot.  When I run in these shoes I do not get “dead leg” which has happened when I have put a lot of miles on their next model down for support, the Inspire. 

Mizuno Nirvana 7

Without getting a deal these shoes are really expensive.  $140 bucks expensive.  Even a guy like me who loves to buy running shoes can’t justify that.  Right now the Running Warehouse has last years model on sale for $69.88.   If you are a Facebook fan of their store you can get an additional 15% off of all their sale merchandise by clicking on their promotion tab.  This lowers the cost of the shoes to $59.40 pretax to go along with free 2 day shipping.  This is a grand total of 58% off retail!  Best thing is you don’t have to go shopping at Ross to get brand names for less.  

Because Running Warehouse also price matches I found the current model for $99.99 on another website.  All I did was print it out and take it down to their store (their business is mostly online but I live in the same city as the retail store) and voilà, $99.99 plus tax!  Their customer service is the best.  Even without this deal the shoes still sell for $120, which is $20 cheaper than the retail price.  Not too shabby. 

The second pair of shoes that I am training in are the Saucony Kinvara.  This is almost the lightest shoe that I have ever worn at 7.7 ounces and feels like I am wearing socks instead of shoes.  They are a tad bit narrow for my feet but I was shown a new way to lace them up which makes them feel wider than they actually are.   They are quite different than my Nirvana because of such a small stature and them being closer to the ground which give me more of a feel for the road.   I have only put around 30 miles on this shoe so far but I am looking forward to taking them out on some longer runs to see how my legs and feet hold up.  This is the first truly neutral shoe I have run in for a really long time but so far so good. 

Saucony Kinvara

As for the deal part…  both last years and the current model retails for $90.  Since there is relatively no difference between models and last years was on sale, I went for that.  I can’t remember the numbers exactly, but I believe they were on sale for around $60.  With a monthly email I got an additional 20% off of the sale price.  I believe I paid around $55 total for these shoes.  That makes for 39% off of the retail price. 

All in all I love these both of these shoes right now and I love the Running Warehouse for making me not feel guilty for having the both of them.  If only they sold women’s jeans.      

finding my pace, bonking and Will Ferrell

One of the things I am unsure about as I prepare for my marathon is what pace I want to try and run during the race.  There are so many factors that go into this decision and I know I won’t have an accurate answer until much closer to race day.  However different runs throughout the week have me running different paces depending on how fast I predict to run the marathon on race day.   It is in my best interest to have a general idea of how fast I want to run.  My biggest problem now is how fast I think I should be able to run opposed to how fast I actually can run over the course of 26.2 miles.

One of the common “formulas” for calculating your potential marathon time is to double your ½ marathon time and add 10 minutes.  On the New York Road Runners website they said that since the course is not fast and conditions can vary it is safer to estimate 15 minutes using the same calculation. 

Using that method and taking my time from my last race, roughly 1 hour 42 minutes x 2 + 15 minutes = 3:39. That would be at an 8:21/mile and I would shave off a cool 18 minutes off of my PR.  A PR is an accomplishment all its own, but by 18 minutes in the greatest marathon on earth would be unreal.   

The thing I don’t really like about this calculation is, even though I should be able to run that fast, for that long, I don’t think I can.  After I ran both of my marathons with my buddy Dan I told him, “I’m never doing that again.”   My body ached and the last 9 miles of each race was torture. 

Some factors that lead to me being so miserable was that I never ran any 20 mile runs in training and I didn’t really have any hydration/nutrition plan.  This go around both of those issues will be addressed, and that makes me wonder just how I’ll do if I don’t bonk.  For those non-runner types who are unfamiliar with the term "bonk", click here, but not here.  The latter will just confuse you when you think about doing that during a marathon.  I guess it would be cooler to justify a poor marathon time using the that definition though.  "Yeah, I bonked around mile 18 and it just took longer than I expected." 

"I can run the marathon faster than Matt"

Another plus in running a sub 3:50 would be that I would beat Will Ferrell’s marathon best of 3:56:12.  I’m not going to lie, I was a little upset when I found out the guy who famously jiggled down the street streaking in Old School has a faster marathon time than I do.  And it’s not like he did it when he was 20.  He was training for the marathon when he was filming that movie in 2003.  Keeping all this in mind if I had to list my marathon goals as of right would now they would have to be…

1. Beat my previous PR of 3:57:14
2. Beat Will Ferrell’s PR of 3:56:12 (no streaking involved)
3. Run sub 3:50

And even if I don't end up beating Will Ferrell's time, I guess I can always come back to this picture down here, because at least he looks like a runner.  

being 32 years old

I've tweaked the training schedule to allow Thursday to be my day off instead of Friday.   Our Bible study is on Thursday, which does not give me enough time after work (once work starts back up) to run, eat and be out the door by 6:30.  Also this allows my long run to be on Saturday instead of Sunday.  This works perfectly because I am a HUGE fan of the NFL.  I am one of those guys who lives and dies by how the Denver Broncos play.  Lately it hasn't been too pretty.  I am also one of those guys who love to play fantasy football.  I honestly feel like I could write a whole blog on that topic.   I guess I don't because I know I would get a WTF look from my wife when I ask her if she's read my post on a strength of schedule analysis or bye week drafting.  It's much "cooler" to be writing about what I am writing about now.

a picture says a thousand words

I am in the middle of week 3 and the big miles have not started yet.  With that being said, I do feel fresh and strong right now.  The lower abdominal strain that has kept me out of my city basketball league has not really been noticeable after I get warmed up during the first .5 mile of each run.  I am going to the chiropractor for the first time in about 7 years to alleviate a crick in my neck today.  For some reason I always thought that I would be immune from all the little problems that happen once you get into your 30s.

The hardest part of being in my 30s is actually having to think about what I am eating and knowing that if I don’t I will start to put on weight.  Ever since high school I have consistently been 165 lbs.  When I lifted a lot of weights in my early 20s I got up to 170 lbs.  When I ran my first marathon in 2007 I got down to 155 lbs.  Within the last year or so I have said goodbye to 165 and the scale normally tips somewhere around 170, which is what I weighed the morning I started my training.  Ideally I would like to be around 160 lbs come November and so far I have gained half a pound!  Definitely not the end of the world, but I feel I have been “good” with what I have been eating.   I still have 15 weeks for the scale to start going in the right direction, and I think/hope it will, but right now I’m a tad disappointed with this one aspect of everything.