Race Recap: 2012 San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon

In my experience, the recap that someone gives after a bad race reflects more about what that person wants to have happened rather than what actually took place. With that said, I am going to do my best to give an accurate depiction here of what actually took place on November 11th, 2012, for better or worse.

Let's start at the end: 3rd place, behind one local guy and one out of town African. Doesn't sound that bad right? Well here's some perspective: 1:13:25 and 1:21:17. The former is my time at the half marathon mark last week. The latter is a time I would in other circumstances not even consider a workout, but here it was my closing half of the race. My final time was less than 10 seconds faster than my 2008 performance at this race, when I was in significantly worse shape, and also stopped midway to use the bathroom...

So the question becomes, how did I arrive at this sorry state of affairs? The sad fact of the matter is I don't really know. There are things that I would do differently in training if I could do it all over again, to be sure, but I don't believe that was a major issue. And once you remove training from the equation, all you're really left with is a list of lame excuses.

It was hot and humid. Yes, but only for me? Nope. It only gets worse from here. I had a cold that week? A runny nose and some gross yellow mucus aside, it didn't bother me in training at all, so not much reason to think it derailed my race. Maybe all I'm left with at the end of all that obsessive second guessing is the old cliche: it just wasn't my day.

Which is such a lame cop out.

I made it through the first 10 miles in just under 56 minutes feeling fine, and I kept it moving ok through the halfway mark. During miles 14 and 15, I noticed that the same effort level was only getting me 5:45s or so, where previously it had gotten me mid 5:30s. I began to contemplate the possibility that I was in trouble, but I figured if I could keep my pace to the mid 5:40s, I could still come away with a decent performance.

Well by mile 17 that ship had already sailed. I was hurting, and hurting good. Dizziness, exhaustion, and all of the other usual suspects that have previously come to bear during the last 3 miles of marathons were now here to stay for an entire goddamn hour. So I jogged on. By mile 20 I was above 6 minute pace, and I was resigned to suffering through it. I slogged through at 6:30 pace until mile 25, when nausea and lightheadedness rendered that impossible as well. My last mile was probably somewhere north of 7:30.

Since we are now several weeks removed from the aforementioned debacle, I’ve moved on to focusing on the winter and spring seasons, but I still feel some lingering disappointment for how things turned out. In the end, I believe that feeling the sting of disappointment means that you actually care about what you’re doing. And to paraphrase an old classic, caring is half the battle.

Looks like a beautiful day, huh?

Already looking a little grim, but better than that Kenyan dude back there

At the time, thought I was going strong.  In hindsight, hanging on for dear life.
Last two photos courtesy of Mark Wright of Wright Stuff Photography

The Coach-Athlete and Husband-Wife Relationship: How Does it Work?

So it’s November, the declared month of thankfulness. Although I don’t think it should be limited to just one month, I do appreciate the fact that it reminds people to take a step back and reflect on those that have truly made a difference.

When I was traveling with the Trinity cross country team, to the national meet last week, we had ten glorious hours of travel time on the first day. On the positive side of things it led to some bonding time. One runner asked me for instance, how exactly things worked with Jer, my husband, also being my coach. At first I thought about the fact that for a good amount people it just does NOT work. Then I kept trying to think of all the times Jer and I had arguments about training or racing or anything coaching related. The problem I began to notice during this time was that the memories that kept popping up, while trying to find the bad ones, were some of the most wonderful moments I have had with Jer. Besides my college coach, Jer knows my running career better than I do. He knows what works and what doesn’t. He supports me in every way possible. He knows how to motivate me. He has gotten me to perform far better that I could ever have imagined myself doing. I honestly can’t think of anyone else who would be a better fit for me as a coach. Of course, in any relationship, communication is KEY. We always talk about what's going on as to make sure we're both on the same page. Now this does not mean we have never had running related disagreements, most of the time it's lively discussion in which we don't always agree, but I wouldn't say any of them have put a strain on our relationship . And no, there is not a clear cut separation from our husband-wife and coach-athlete relationship. We don’t put on separate hats when we’re playing different roles, it just intermingles. I believe it works because we have such a strong relationship in both aspects of our marriage and running that it has formed into a unique part of our lives. Heck, I'm even trying to be play the self-designated role as Jer's coach now! He's learning to adjust :) Also, since we live with one another it's pretty obvious he knows what my sleeping, eating, and lifestyle habits are. We both help to keep each other honest when it comes to these choices in life and it's been pretty easy to live as close to the ideal running lifestyle as possible when you have someone there to keep you in check.

The more time I have had to reflect on Jer being my coach the more I realize how far we’ve come as a couple. We have grown so much together over the last seven plus years that we’ve somehow managed to have even fewer arguments than ever before. I’m still having a hard time even remembering the last time we did argue, running related or not. It is quite shocking seeing as how both of us are rather opinionated. I absolutely consider myself lucky to have the type of husband, best friend, and running coach that Jeremy is. I think we’ve figured out a great system, and it works because he is just that phenominal of a guy and of course, because I’ve learned to listen :). He has been just as invested in my running as I am, if not more so, and I know that I don’t say it enough, but I am truly grateful to have him in my life. Today, on this pre-Thanksgiving day three years ago, Jer asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I’m just glad I was lucky enough to have been asked.

ENGAGED! Fall of 2009

Jer trying to calm my nerves fall of 2008

The running + the personal = AWESOME!

Me being a proud coach after Jer's PR! circa Spring 2012

Race Day: 2012 San Antonio Marathon

Tomorrow is race day.  The weather isn't looking quite as bad as it could've been, so I'm going out with plans to run aggressively and try to PR.  

The competition looks fairly intense, with a small contingent of Kenyans and some very good Texans.  Everything has gone well so far so time to get some sleep and see what happens tomorrow.  Good luck to everyone else running tomorrow.

Taper Taper Taper

Hey everybody.  This Sunday is the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon.  I'm kind of excited.

I began my training for this race on July 8th, 3 weeks after having set my marathon PR of 2:27:38 at Grandma's Marathon on June 16th.  There were 18 weeks between July 8th and this Sunday's race.  In the previous 17 weeks (prior to this final week of taper), I have run 2,009 miles, or an average of 118 miles per week.

Lots of workouts, lots of miles.  The weather for Sunday looks absolutely terrible, but you know what?  It was terrible last year too.  The only thing I can really do is try to feel out what pace is sustainable on race day, and not go faster than that.  I think I can still lower my PR.  I just have to run under 5:38 per mile for 26.2 consecutive miles.  Piece of cake, right?  Eh.

If, by some miracle, we get a wonderful cold front before Sunday at 7:30am, I will attempt to run the race at under 2:26 pace,  or about 5:33/mile.  If we have awful weather, then it's just about competing with whoever shows up.  Here we go!

Taper Time 2012

As much as things change over time, some always stay the same.  Here are some:

• Before every marathon, I feel like I should have done more/better/harder training. 
• I check the weather forecast at least 3 times per day.
• I always get nervous about tapering down my training.

This is my last 100 mile week, and it's just barely going to be 100. The last time I ran less than 110 miles in a week was the middle of July, so it's always a scary experience running so much less than usual.  The inescapable feeling is always that you're slowly but surely getting out of shape, no matter how crazy that might seem.

This morning I did one of my standard last workouts: 10k on the track, alternating each 1k between fast and "medium".  Today I averaged roughly 5:00 pace for the fast k's and 5:40 pace on the slow ones, with the total 10k being 33:16.  I believe this is the first time I've ever broken 34 minutes in this workout, so I'm taking it as a good sign.  

In the end though, the marathon is an entirely different beast than shorter distances.  While it's nice to know that I'm probably in close to PR shape for 10k, how I'll do in 9 days at a distance over 4 times longer is still a bit of a question.  In the end I take confidence from this being my 3rd marathon in the last 12 months - I have a lot more experience than I did this time last year.  That plus the cycle of long run workouts I've done makes me feel pretty good about where I'm at.  This is what that series looked like, in all of it's glory.

• 11 weeks out: 26.2 miles at 6:07 pace
• 9 weeks out: 22 miles with 18 miles at 5:46 pace
• 7 weeks out: 24 miles at 5:56 pace
• 5 weeks out: 24 miles at 5:51 pace
• 3 weeks out: 22 miles with 20 mile race at 5:45 pace 

So here we go! I for one am getting very excited for marathon time.

The Final Countdown

As of today, there are 16 days separating me from the 2012 San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon.  The competition: unknown.  The weather: unknown.  My goal time: unknown.  But before the next two weeks and two days elapse, all of these will have an answer.

On Sunday I did a 20 mile race in a little under 1:55, or 5:44/mile.  It was hot and humid, and I suffered accordingly, but thankfully still got some solid work done.  My last really hard workout was Thursday.  It went about as well as I could expect - not great at first, but in the end I covered 14 miles at 5:31/mile, with the last 4 miles at 5:18 pace.  The weather has changed a lot since then (it's currently 50 degrees outside, compared to a low of 70 when I did the workout) which has me hoping for a beautiful wintery day on November 11th.

But we shall see.  In the meantime, I'm wrapping up my training and trying not to get too nervous too soon.  Race day will be here soon enough, and I know I'll have more nerves than I know what to do with by then.

Happy Running,
Jeremy

Races as Workouts (20 Miler Tomorrow!)

Where I work, there's a common saying when someone is being honest about something unpleasant: they'll precede whatever they're about to tell you with the term "full disclosure." For example: "Full disclosure, I was out drinking until 2am last night so I haven't been listening to a word you've been saying".  Or something like that - you get the idea.

So here's my full disclosure: I am in general opposed to the idea of racing with anything other than the intent to give your honest best effort to win.  There is nothing lamer in this world than the guy you beat in a race who then goes on to describe how this was "really just a tempo run for him".  It's demeaning to the actual winner of the race, and it's demeaning to the concept of racing in general.  One of the things I've been pleasantly surprised by post-college is how the nerves before a race never really go away.  Whether it's a major marathon or a local turkey trot, when I'm on that line, the butterflies come back like I'm still a 15 year old high school freshman.

BUT.  I have, on many occasions, made the decision to do a race in place of a planned workout.  And I'm doing it again tomorrow.  When I originally laid out my training schedule a few months ago, I was planning on doing 3x5 miles at roughly 5:30 pace, with 1 mile recoveries at ~6 minute pace, for my workout tomorrow.  It was supposed to be one of my last hard efforts in the last true full week of training.  But instead of trucking around by myself for an hour and a half in crappy weather, I've decided to do a local 20 mile race.  Now I get the thrill of racing, the nice perk of water stops, and a good way to simulate the particulars of the marathon 3 weeks from tomorrow in terms of clothing, warmup routine, etc.

So if you happen to be out on the Leon Creek trail on the Northwest side of San Antonio, be sure to say "hi" to me.

I should hopefully be winning by quite a bit, but if I'm not, I will be sure to not feed the actual winner any bullshit about this being a workout.  Because at the end of the day, the point of a race is to win the race, and if you lose sight of that, well I don't know what to tell you.

http://www.scallywompus.com/site/index.php/events/167-alamo4battleofleonfeatured.

Cheers!

Training Update and Race Recap

Sunday, October 7th:
24 mile tempo run.  Did this on my traditional Hill Country Village 10 mile route, done twice, with a 4 mile neighborhood add on in the middle.  It’s moderately hilly, but the weather was nearly perfect, which made it easier than it should’ve been.  Ended up running 5:51 pace for the whole thing, with the last 10 miles in 58:03.  By way of comparison, last year I did this same workout 3 minutes slower, fading over the last few miles to over 6 minute pace.

Thursday, October 11th:
8x1600 w/ 400 recovery on the track.  Averaged 5:09 for the 1600s, but just as importantly averaged 6:25 pace for the 400 recoveries, which meant the total workout was 16k at 5:26/mile.  More importantly, this was done partially in the rain, which makes everything epic.

Week Summary:
Just the two workouts plus a short session of 4x200 on Wednesday.  I tapered a bit on Friday and Saturday to get ready for the 10 Miler on Sunday, but still ended up running 128 miles for the week.

Sunday, October 14th:
Weather at this race is always a gamble, and this year we lost.  Fortunately my last workout on Thursday had also been in humid conditions, so I was more or less used to it.  Could’ve been worse, last year it was nearly as humid and also windy.  My goal going into the race was to run somewhere between 5:12 and 5:15 pace, or 52:00-52:30, but anything sub 53 would’ve been ok by me.  My PR going into this was 54:15 from last year.

When the gun went off, I found myself running next to Ben Zywicki, a very solid runner from the Woodlands who had won the Bayou City Classic 10k (where I was 3rd) in the Spring.  The big surprise, however, was that we separated from the rest of the field almost immediately.  Usually this race has at least one elite East African, but this year it was just Ben and me all by our lonesomes.  I went out hard (too hard, in hindsight) and hit the first two miles in 5:03 and 5:07.  After another 5:07 for mile 3, I decided to drop back a bit, since I am in no way ready to run that kind of pace for 10 miles.  Sure enough, I faded over the last half of the race, but hung on to finish 2nd in 52:37, losing by 21 seconds to Ben.

Back in March, racing Ben Zywicki and Chass

This race was a good checkpoint along the way - not a dramatic leap forward, but a solid step in the right direction.  I think I hit a good balance of still doing hard training and high mileage leading up to the race, but also being ready to run fast and compete.  I’m slowly deciding how aggressive I want to be at San Antonio this year, and I’m leaning towards aiming high.  This Thursday morning I averaged 5:32 pace for a half marathon of alternating 1ks, the fast ones averaging 5:09 pace and the slow ones averaging 5:55 pace.  Is that kind of pace doable for twice as far with evened out pace and a taper?  Probably not, but if the weather is decent I think I’ll roll the dice and find out.

A Week in Numbers

The minutia of training is in general pretty boring, but I thought I'd throw out a more detailed recap of my week just to give a little snapshot of the days and ways of me in "working hard" mode. Starting with Sunday, September 30th, here...we...GO!

Sunday (Workout): 20.4 miles in AM including 16 @ 5:37 pace, 4 miles in PM easy. Total 24.4 miles.
Details: Ventured over to Trinity to do a workout. The workout itself was pretty simple: 10x 5 minutes hard, 5 minutes easy.  In the end I wimped out and only did 90 minutes (so 9x), but that got me to a nice even 16 miles.  The workout felt great for the first half - I came through the first mile in 5:15 and thought “oh man, I’m gonna tear this thing apart!”, but here’s a pro tip: Don’t get cocky until you get past the hour mark.  My last few “on” portions were probably north of 5:30 pace, which isn’t great, but the “off” parts never got much above 6 minute pace as far as I could tell.  5:37 pace for 16 miles is always a good day, so I’m chalking it up as a win.

Monday: 7.5 miles easy in AM, 6.3 miles in PM. 13.8 miles total
Tuesday: 11 miles easy in AM, 6 miles easy at lunch time.  17 miles total
Wednesday: 10.3 miles easy in AM, 6 miles easy in PM. 16.3 miles total


Thursday (Workout): 16 miles in AM including 12 miles @ 5:32 pace, 6 miles easy in PM. Total 22 miles.
Details: I did the workout on the Trinity track, meaning a total of 48 laps when all is said and done.  The repeats felt tough, but not overly so - at times it was hard to tell the difference between a 75 seconds lap and an 80 second one.  Those may sound close together, but believe me one will put the hurt on you a whole lot quicker.  I tried to close the workout down hard, and in the end my splits were: 10:26, 10:30, 10:22, 10:28, 10:17.

Friday: 10.5 miles easy in the AM, 6 miles in the PM. 16.5 miles total
Saturday: 8 miles easy in the AM, 7.3 miles easy in the PM. 15.3 miles total

Totals
Mileage: 125.3
Runs: 14
Workouts: 2
Quality Miles: 28
Easy Miles: 97.3
Average Pace for Quality Miles: 5:34/mile
Average Pace for Easy Miles: 7:38/mile

Training After College: The Necessities

Little known fact: I am a big fan of lists.  It’s pretty much my favorite thing ever.  And while I am by no means an awesome professional athlete, I do know a thing or two about training hard after college.  So here’s a list of things that I can’t live without - everything an aspiring post-collegiate has to have.

1. Shoes.  Lots and lots of shoes.

Here’s a chart of my weekly mileage for the last 10 weeks.  

That dip in the week beginning Sept 2nd is actually 110 miles

So that’s 1,213 miles (an average of 121 miles per week) in the last 2+ months.  Even if you wear your shoes for 700-800 miles per pair like yours truly (not that you necessarily should), that’s quite a few pairs per year - especially when you start considering racing flats, lightweight trainers, etc.  So if you can find a supportive local running store, or a willing shoe company to spot you a few pairs, that always helps.  Because those things are like, really expensive on their own.  

2. Foam roller.

Get it.  Use it.  Love it.  Some people ask what book you would bring to a desert island if you could only bring one.  I would bring a foam roller because my IT bands would get really tight from running in tiny circles on sand.

3. This one is important: the right job.

All of us non-professionals have to do something to pay the bills.  Exactly how you pay the bills is a big determinant of whether you’ll be successful in training.  I’ve worked a few different jobs now after college, some of them great, some of them not so much, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that sometimes the total hours that you work is not really the most important factor.  My current job (and the one I’ll be at for the foreseeable future) is with a company that values employees who have outside interests and hobbies.  So instead of hiding the fact that I’m spending 2 hours a day running, I can just tell my boss that I’m gonna go knock out 6 miles at lunch and get nothing more in response than “cool, see you in a few”.

4. Even more important: The Right Spouse.

That look?  That's love, baby

Or be single.  Because if you’re with someone unwilling to put up with some unusual habits, you’ll be single soon anyway.  I’m not going to say that dating fellow runners is the only way, but man it sure helps.  Let’s review:

• I only stay up past 10:30pm in the winter, because I can run later in the morning and it’s still cool
• I get up 90 minutes earlier than I need to before work each day to get my run in. 
• I literally spend 14 and 15 hours on average each week just running.  That doesn’t include stretching, core work, extra driving to get to a track, or anything else.

Most people would have divorced me by now.  If your significant other doesn’t accept the crazy ways of distance runners, it’s going to be a lot of extra stress that you just don’t need.

5. Love what you’re doing

This one is last, but it’s the most important.  A lot of the things that define cross country and track in college disappear immediately once you graduate.  Teammates, coaches, structure, a predetermined race schedule: all gone.  So if you only ran because someone else expected you to, or if you rely on others to motivate you, it’s pretty much inevitable that at some point you’ll wake up for an early morning 10 miler and say “why am I doing this?”

My big advantage?  I love getting up for that 10 miler.  I love setting my own race schedule, and creating my own training, and just getting out there to see how fast I can go.  So if I had one piece of advice for anyone looking to continue training, at whatever level, after college, it would be to figure out what it is you truly want to accomplish.  For me it’s as simple as being better than I was; no further thought required.  Once I decided I was going to take this at least somewhat seriously, the training itself became as routine a part of my life as waking up in the morning.  

Happy Running!

Another Week of Training (9/23 to 9/29)

Closer to marathon time means long, difficult workouts.  It also means I take lots and lots of recovery between each workout, so I usually only get in two per week.  This week's two workouts were:

• 24 mile progressive run
• 20x1 minute fast, 1 minute medium + 10x30 seconds fast, 30 seconds medium

The first one was done on Sunday, and it kicked my butt.  I went into it planning to run about 6:20-6:30 pace for the first 10 miles, gradually pick it up, and maybe knock out the last 7-8 miles at sub 6 pace.  Instead, as usual, I started out much faster than planned and decided slowing down would be wimpy. 

So I ran 6:08 pace for the first 5 miles.  Then sub 6 pace for the next 9 miles. Then 5:55 pace for the next 5. Then 5:50 pace for the last 5, for a total of 24 miles at an average pace of 5:56 per mile.  It wasn't the hardest workout I've ever done, but I made it harder on myself by doing it in heavy trainers (Asics Nimbus for the win!) and starting later than I should have so it was good and toasty by the last ten miles.  But after lazing around the house the rest of the day (and annoying Emily by constantly complaining about my poor achy legs) I was mostly better.

After three easy days, I did the fartlek on Thursday afternoon.  I had worked a little late the previous night, and needed to go in to the office early that morning, so I decided to risk the weather and do an afternoon workout.  In the end I lucked out and it was relatively cool and overcast.  Heck I even got rained on a little bit.  I ran the whole thing around the main road loop of McAllister Park, which is 1.83 miles.  Although I cut the run a little short (it was originally supposed to be an hour total, not 50 minutes), I still got in a solid 5 loops in 50 minutes, which comes out to 5:28 per mile for the whole thing.  There isn't really any way to tell exactly how that pace breaks down, but I felt like I was pushing hard on the fast parts.  If nothing else, as I write this my calves are extremely sore, which is a sure sign I've done some faster running.  Also, public service announcement, 30 seconds on / 30 seconds off is deceptively hard.  Avoid if possible.  

So that's my week.  I'll wrap it up to somewhere around 120 miles with some easy running today and tomorrow, then do the whole song and dance again next week.  As of today, 44 days until the race!

Marathon Training, Once Again, Begins

Eight weeks from race day means six weeks of what I think of as “true” marathon training (the last two weeks is the taper).  Granted I’ve already done lots of training - some of it pretty marathon specific - but now is when everything else gets thrown out the window so I can focus solely on running 26.2 miles as fast as possible.

Wednesday was my first workout in this cycle.  It was on the shorter end of the spectrum (no 20 mile tempo runs yet), but it’s good to kick things off with something a little more manageable.  The workout was 3 by 3 miles fast with 1 mile recoveries at a quick pace, plus an extra fast mile at the end, which I usually make 1.1 miles so I can get a nice even half marathon.  So 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, then 1 mile hard.

When I start focusing on a particular marathon training cycle, I’m looking to dial in on a certain pace.  You can’t always know ahead of time what’s reasonable to shoot for in the race, but by repeatedly trying to sense how different paces feel, you can hopefully prevent an outright disaster.  So going into the workout I was trying to get a handle on how fast 5:30 felt, with an eye towards having 5:35 or so be my goal pace this fall.

But this time I ran 16:14, 16:05, and 15:59 for the 3 mile segments.  The recoveries were 6:06, 5:56, and 6:00, and the final fast mile was 5:09.  In the end I covered a half marathon in 1:12:05.  So what did I learn?  Well, I’m faster than I’ve ever been before - usually it’s a struggle to keep the repeats in the 16:35-16:45 range.  And averaging 5:30 pace for the whole workout makes me think that soon that pace will be achievable for a marathon - which would be 2:24, or three and a half minutes faster than my PR.

But whether that day will arrive by November 11th remains to be seen.  For now, the workouts will get longer, and harder, and with any luck I’ll continue feeling as good as I’ve felt thus far.  

Next on tap is a hilly 24 mile progressive long run on Sunday.  I don’t have a specific goal for this workout, other than to run the last ten miles at sub 6 minute pace and get the overall pace to low 6:00s as well.  Happy running everyone.

With Apologies to Mr. Tergat

Although the long deceased Mr. Prefontaine probably still holds a strong lead in running quotes remembered by the American populace, my favorite saying comes from the former world record holder Paul Tergat: “Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'."

I ran a 10k on Saturday. It was the fastest I’ve ever run for 10k on the roads. I ran 31:42, or 5:06 per mile. I'm pretty pleased with it. Back in the day, I was only the 5th best runner on my high school team - if I’m being honest with myself, it’s great that I’ve gone from a 10:15 high schooler two miler to running 10k road races that average faster than that - more than 3 times the distance, at a faster pace, in a row.

I don’t really know how much more improvement I have in store. Quite a bit still, for sure. I know that I am already working hard. Quite a bit harder than a lot of runners - not all, but most, probably. Many athletes have gotten to where I am currently without ever running ONE 120 mile week, let alone as many as I've done.

But I also know that if I ask myself, “can I give more”, the answer IS “yes.”

Yep, more than this

That doesn’t necessarily mean running more mileage than I am currently. At least not THAT much more. A lot of what I can do better is little stuff: resting more, stretching more, doing more speedwork It can be accomplished without adding more volume. But more than anything, it’s about a better mindset. I can focus more. I can give more. And for the next 8 weeks, until I line up at the start of the San Antonio Marathon, I'm going to.

Just Grinding Away

Some weeks of training are boring - nothing notable, nothing exciting. This was not one of those weeks! This was pure excitement. Let’s take a look back:

Sunday I ran a marathon in 2:40:38. Not in a race or anything, just up and down one of my old workout routes from college. Two miles down one street, two miles back. Two miles down another street, two miles back. Two miles down the first street again...You get the idea. Here’s a very rough map:

First annual Contour/La Jara Marathon

So that was fun. Or at least satisfying once it was done. I blew up a bit the last couple miles when dehydration really set in - the pace climbed up from 6:05 for the first 22 miles to 6:20-6:30 for the last four, but the total comes out to 6:07 per mile.

I did some easy running on Monday, some more easy running on Tuesday, and then - after an easy ten miler in the morning, I went to the track for some fast repeats on Wednesday night. The workouts was 2x(600, 400, 300, 200) with equal jogging recovery after each, plus an extra 400 jog between sets. I got a little optimistic on the first set (1:40, 64, 46, 30), which is to say I did all of the repeats way faster than I should’ve. Consequently , I blew up awesomely in the 2nd set (1:43, 65, 49, 30). They don’t look THAT much slower, but each one featured an all-out death-grimaced final sprint just to hit those times. And the recoveries turned into awkward, painful crawls. Truth be told, it was kind of fun.

Friday morning I went out for a long tempo at a relatively relaxed pace - the goal was 14 miles at 5:50/mile. My legs were tired from the track workout Wednesday, but the pace was pretty easy to hit, and I got through it with nothing more than some mild boredom and the annoyance that comes from running almost 30 miles on a 2 mile stretch of Contour Road in a single week. Final result: 14 miles at 5:46/mile.

I rounded out the week with some more easy running on Saturday, and hit my new highest mileage ever: 135. Woo.

I took it really easy yesterday - less than 14 miles in two runs - and today I did the SARR Labor Day 5 Mile Whine Run. I’ve done it the last two years, with times of 26:17 and 26:30, respectively. There were some solid local guys at the race today (something that wasn’t true in the past), but I was able to run away with the win by a pretty good margin, with a new course record of 25:38. The course is very hilly, including a first mile that is basically 100% uphill, so I’m really pleased with the time. It’s nice to be able to run the same course in multiple years and compare times. Last year did have some nasty winds that slowed times down a good amount, but this year featured much more usual Texas September weather, and regardless the wind wasn’t so bad that I would expect to run 52 seconds faster without being in MUCH better shape. Which is encouraging. 

 

During the first mile of the race

Right after the finish. Jeremy tired.

 Now back to training! Happy running everyone.

Dog Days of Summer

It’s been a while since I put anything up here. In fact, if I recall correctly, the last thing I wrote was something about sucking in a road 5k, battling severe depression, and contemplating trading in my flats for a nice badminton racquet.

Well, turns out most badminton racquets run at least $20, which is likely more than I could get for a pair of reeking, worn-down racing shoes. So I got back to training. And training has been going really, really well.

It didn’t at first though. After Grandma’s, I gave myself 3 easy weeks, culminating in the aforementioned 5k race, after which I entered a phase I think of as “serious training”. Most running books will warn of the dangers of increasing mileage too quickly, but I went ahead and jumped from 65 miles (during the last recovery week) to 100 miles the next week. I knocked out a few light workouts with one of the Trinity runners that was in town, which was fun, but any workouts that I did on my own were...difficult.

Cruisin' at 5:38 pace

5:40 pace felt incredibly fast, given that I had less than a month earlier gone 5:38 pace for 26.2 miles. I would finish tempo runs feeling like I could MAYBE go one more mile, and then only if someone held a gun to my head.

Then, about two and a half weeks ago, something flipped. Around this time I was competing with some coworkers in a 4x400m vs 1600m race, during which I ran the 1600 in 4:32. Maybe this is what caused the shift, or maybe it was just good timing, but since that day, I’ve felt like a million bucks. That week was 120 miles. The next was 126. This past week I took a few days much easier, but still hit 123 miles.

And the workout...oh the workouts. I did 11 miles alternating fast and slow with Rob at an average of 5:52 per mile just 2 days after the 1600m race. The next workout was 5k @ 16:25, followed by 4x200 (granted, with very, very long recovery) at 29 apiece. Three days later I did a tempo on our bread and butter Hill Country Village route, covering 10 rolling, hilly miles in 54:54, my best time on that course by over a minute.

One 24 mile long run later and a few easy runs later, I was doing 8x1600m on the track at an average of 5:13 each, but with the 400m recoveries done so fast that I came through 16k in under 55 minutes. That workout, done 20 seconds faster than I did it in March of this year, sandwiched between setting my 5k and 10k PRs, showed that I’m in terrific shape for races in the 5k to half marathon range. But what about that pesky marathon I’m supposed to be training for?

Well, this morning I took advantage of the (cough, cough) wonderful weather we’re having this weekend to knock out a new standard workout for me in a marathon buildup: 1x marathon at roughly 10% slower than goal pace. Since my goal pace is somewhere in the 5:30-5:35 range, that means doing 26.2 miles at 6:03 to 6:09 per mile, which, given the weather (overnight low of 78, dew point of 73-75), I would have been happy with anything 6:15 and below. But, true to form, I went out at 6:05 pace for the first 18-20 miles, suffered for the last 10k, and ended up covering a marathon in 2:40:38 (6:07/mile), my 5th fastest marathon ever. That is a long way to go by yourself, but I’m glad that I was able to stay focused long enough and not wimp out 24 miles in, when it’s all too easy to say “oh, I’ve already done enough”. As of today, I have 11 weeks to prepare for the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon, so it’s just a matter of keeping the hot streak going, and not pushing myself too hard too soon.

Me circa 2011 Whine Run

Next up for me is the Labor Day Whine Run 5 Miler, next Monday, which I’ve done the last 2 years. I’m really excited to get out and race again, as it feels like forever since I’ve lined up and put myself out there.

Jeremy’s Recap of Emily’s Experience at the US Half Marathon Championships

Em's Race Bib for the US Half Marathon Championships

These days Emily is more than a little busy with [other things], but don’t worry: I’ve got spare time out the wazoo. 

In the weeks before the US Half, Emily was looking like a million bucks. Maybe more than a million. Here are some quick workout rundowns:

May 10th: 4x2 miles with 3 minute jog recovery in 11:27, 11:40, 11:45, 11:35, with the total workout adding up to 9.1 miles at 6:06 pace.

May 17th: Fartlek totalling up to 9.15 miles at 6:05 pace.

May 20th: 17 mile long run at 7:22 pace

May 22nd (25 days before race): 8x400 w/ 200 recovery, averaging 77 for the 400s and 49 for the 200s. Total of 17:36 for 5k.

But Emily has a stunning, glaring weakness. She SUCKS at running while she can’t breathe. You see, Emily has had various asthma-esque issues for as long as I’ve known her, but we thought we had the right medications to keep it under control. But the root cause of these problems is that Emily is allergic to EVERYTHING in the world. Pine trees? Yep. Grass? Of course. Air? Maybe, honestly I lose track.

And when Emily’s allergies act up, she can’t breathe. Not that she gets what you’d traditionally think of in an asthma attack - it’s more like she has to do all of her runs while breathing through a straw. So the workouts go from 6 minute pace to 6:40 pace. And every run feels terrible. And she starts to think, why in the HELL am I going to go run a race against a bunch of elite runners and make a fool of myself? So Emily went up to Minnesota with me with every intention of just cheering for me while I ran Grandma’s Marathon.

But once we were there, the atmosphere was too much for her. The excitement, the energy, the fast runners everywhere you turn - by Friday afternoon, Emily was telling me, “well, I’ll do the race, I’ll just play it safe and start nice and slow”. As a test, she did a mile on the track Friday morning, in 6:03, and said it felt “horrible”.

So Saturday morning rolls around, and of course I have NO idea what’s going on, since I’m getting ready to run a marathon an hour later. But little do I know, while Em is talking about “just running 1:21 or so” (roughly 6:11 per mile), her first mile is 6:03. And her 2nd is 6:09. Her 3rd is 5:57, and already thoughts of “playing it safe” are out the window. Slow 4th and 5th miles are the last attempts at conservatism, but every mile after that is sub-6. There’s something magical about running within yourself and then catching TONS of people the last half of a race, and Emily was right in that moment. 5:54, 5:59, 5:54, 5:52, and 5:57 took her through 10 miles in a new PR of 60:04.

A few more people passed, and three more miles in the 5:50 range, brought her home in 1:18:14, a new PR by nearly 3 minutes. Her last 10k was roughly 36:26, and her last 10 miles were under 59:30. Was that the outcome we were hoping for a few weeks earlier? Not really. Was it awesome given the circumstances? Absolutely. She finished 36th place, right at half way through the field, when she was hoping "not to get last".

Sometimes things just go to hell, and there’s not much you can do about it. But you have to soldier on and see what you’ve got, and every once in awhile it turns out okay. And now, please wish the lovely lady some luck as she gets allergy shots for her allergies to EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD.

Thanks you, and good evening.

Em's view right before the start of her race

Jer Presents: Five Lessons from a Spectacular Beatdown or, Free-da’s 5k Race Recap

Today I ran a 5k, and man, did I get crushed. Here’s me at the start:

Look, I'm winning! Surely this lead will hold up...

And here’s the finish. In this picture, I am not visible, because I am 30 seconds behind:

Maybe I'm a speck back there?  Let's get the CSI people to blow this
sucker up, I'm sure I'm in there somewhere

Since nothing really went right for me today, I’ve decided to search for the mythical silver lining in the cloud that is my apparent inability to run a 5k within a minute of my PR. So here we go. Also, it should be noted that I arbitrarily decided this list would have five items before I started writing, so if it looks like I either stretched some material thin to get to five (or smashed eight different thoughts together to limit the number) I apologize. But I’m sure as hell not going back and changing the title or editing anything. Psh, that's for quitters.

1. Never being afraid to race is a good thing. But it doesn’t make you invincible.

There are some runners out there who have a deep-seated fear of putting up a sub-par performance with their name next to it. And maybe that’s not a terrible thing, but it often leads to a crippling inability to race well when things haven’t gone EXACTLY perfect. These are the people who, when asked what they’re training for, will say the 2015 Boston Marathon, or the 2020 Olympic Trials. Anything sooner would require a frightening commitment to actually racing, which inherently means exposing yourself to judgement, shame, and the pitiless numbers on the clock when you cross the finish line.

I take pride in not being one of those people. I make a conscious effort to occasionally race on a whim, to just throw down and see what happens. And I always have this voice, deep in my brain, telling me “you never know, you could do something AWESOME!” Well that’s all fine and good, but today was most definitely NOT that day. I raced like a guy who ran a marathon three weeks ago and has been doing waaaaaay more beer drinking than training since then. And honestly, that’s okay with me. I like resting and relaxing for a few weeks. If you accept that sometimes you’ll surprise yourself with an unexpectedly great performance, you also have to accept that sometimes basic logic will prevail and you’ll race crappy. Because you’re woefully unprepared. Which brings me to item #2:

2. Marathon training is excellent for your long-term development. But specificity of training is, well, kind of important.

Quick, pop quiz, when was the last time I run under 5 minute mile pace for more than a minute at a time? I genuinely don’t know, but I’m going to look it up. And the verdict is.... the Rice 10k on March 23rd, 2012. Three and a half months. And that’s fine, in that stretch I ran a couple of 10k’s in the 32-33 minute range and a 2:27 marathon. I owned 5:30-5:40 pace. But 20 mile tempos do not a good 5k runner make. Two distances that are that far apart stress entirely different energy systems, and I am now wonderful empirical evidence of this fact.

3. Maybe it’s better to start the next training cycle feeling humble and hungry.

It seems stupid considering I got my butt kicked by a whopping 23 guys at Grandma’s Marathon, but with that many people ahead of you it doesn’t really hit home as much. And I achieved my time goal, which was always the main reason to seek out a cooler weather marathon rather than gambling with San Antonio’s awesomely fickle November temps. Now I don’t think I’m a super badass by any stretch, but maybe that 2:27 did get my head a little larger than it should be. Well now it’s back down to normal size, and I know that I’m going to have to pull out all the stops to keep moving that time down.

4. It is inspiring to see people doing something really, really well. Enthusiasm is awesome.

I’ve now done two races this year put on by IAAP’s Ceci Iniguez. Both have been almost comically well thought out - hand carved wooden statues for awards, themed shirts, costumed volunteers at water stops, complicated courses that somehow manage to be easy to follow, live music, personalized race bibs, and on and on and on. Today, there was even prize money for the winners of the race (pretty cool), paid with an oversized novelty check (beyond cool). I think, in a sense well outside of the narrow scope of running, that it’s just nice to see someone in their zone, excelling at something they obviously have a talent for. Even after my crappy race, I ended up having a GREAT time hanging out at the race, watching the Frida lookalike contest, and having more than a couple free Alamo beers. I have, over the years, been to too many horribly organized races to count, so seeing it done right makes me happy.

5. Yep, ran out of things. So let’s talk beer.

I’m going to start buying some Alamo beer when I go to the grocery store. The only time I ever have it is after races, and I always think, “hey, this is pretty good”, but I never buy any. While I admit I don’t know much about the economics of putting on a race, I assume that since I almost always see Alamo beer out at local races, they’re really going out of their way to be a part of these events. And the guys they have handing out the beer are always really cool when I talk to them. So it’s time to reward them. Thanks for the roughly 10,000 free beers you’ve given me over the last 5 years Alamo beer! I will now actually give you some revenue instead of just freeloading at races.

That's all I've got. Happy trails, SA, and if you're looking for a hot June 5k next year, this is a good one.

Room for Improvement

The post-marathon period has nearly come and gone. I’ve rested, relaxed, and gained some weight, and now I’m feeling ready to embark on yet another block of training.

Since I’ve had some spare time, I’ve been pondering my future in the great sport of distance running. That sounds a little overly dramatic. And I guess it is. For me, at least, hobbies are way more fun if I take them really, really seriously. Like too seriously. Consciously I may know that my times will never qualify me for a national team, or win a major race, but I get a ton of enjoyment out of training as if they someday will. Even if they won’t.

And overall my goal is just to continue improving. I had a really rough couple of years running-wise right out of college, but now that I’ve sorted everything out, the last two years have seen steady (if unspectacular at times) drops in my bests at most distances. I’m now fast enough to win most local races as long as no one studly shows up. It’s fun.

Look! I won a 5k in 16:37! YAY!

But as I said, the most fun I have is in treating my training like it’s obnoxiously important. So while I’m sure I could continue to knock out 15ish minute 5ks and high 2:20s marathons for a few more years, I feel a deep, compelling need to come up with an aggressive, borderline crazy scheme to reach “the next level”.

What does that mean? I don’t know. The fact of the matter is, no matter how much we might wish it weren’t so, every person has a limit to their potential. And I get incredibly annoyed when I hear someone talking about how they’re “training for the Olympic Trials” when they have yet to come within 10 minutes of the qualifying time. External goals are nice, and no, I would never bite someone’s head off for having a (borderline delusional) dream that they’re working towards, but the fact of the matter is that I sincerely doubt I could EVER run a 2:19 marathon. That’s 5:18 per mile. This year marks the first time in my life that I legitimately thought I could run a half marathon at that pace. And I have yet to actually do it. And even then, that puts me about as close to the Trials as Ryan Hall is to a sub 2 hour marathon. Which is to say, roughly a bajillion miles away.

This is me running a 32:14 10k.  But guess what? That's
only 2:16 marathon pace. Yikes!

So no, I will not declare my intention to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon. But, I do find myself wondering, if I wanted to continue dropping 2-3 minutes from my marathon PR each time out, what would I have to do? So I made a list.

1. Supplemental work. Yep, all that stuff I always intend to do each season but then totally forget about once I start running more. There are pictures of me at Grandma’s, and while I’m running pretty fast (5:30-5:40 pace), I’ve got limbs splaying out in all different directions, and I’m just generally conveying a sense of wild inefficiency. Like someone dropped a nice fuel efficient turbo diesel into an Amish horse drawn buggy. It looks like a wheel is going to fall off. Running is primarily governed by metabolic performance, but at some point, mechanical efficiency can limit your ability to run a certain time. Which brings me to my next point...

2. More speed. I am, by nature, slow as balls. That’s a technical term, but in layman’s terms it means that my 5k pace, for example, is frighteningly close to my max speed. In order to PR in the 5k, I now have to run around 71 seconds per 400. Right now, I could maybe do a single 400 in 60-61 seconds. In spikes. If I can regain some speed, then all slower paces should require less effort. If I’m going to eventually run a marathon at under 5:30 pace, that’s going to be a necessity.

This guy looks mighty efficient.  I wonder if he
can run under 60 for 400?

3. But not as necessary as... More mileage. Longer workouts. The same stuff I’ve been doing, but MORE. And FASTER. That may seem antithetical to #2, but as a great coach once said, the key in training is always to add, never to replace. At the end of the day, my endurance is still nothing to write home about. I would likely consistently beat someone like Desiree Davila in a 5k or a 10k, but thus far she would annihilate me in a marathon. No reason that should be the case, other than me not working hard enough yet. So rather than sticking more to my comfort zone of 110-115 miles per week, I’ll make a conscious effort to maintain mileage in the 120-130 range for at least 4-5 weeks of the fall. This may be item #3, but it’s the most important one. I have to keep up the 14-16 mile long workouts, and maybe extend them farther. Anything else I do, without also doing this, would be completely pointless.

Without enough fitness, this is what 5:50 pace
looks like at mile 24.   Ouch.

So here we go. Official training kicks off on Sunday. Time to get serious. Obnoxiously serious.

Race Recap: Grandma’s Marathon

So, another season is finished. This has, without question, been my most successful stretch of training and racing ever. A year ago I had PRs of 15:16, 32:01, and 2:33:44 for the 5k, 10k, and marathon respectively. Now I’m down to 15:02, 31:15, and 2:27:38. First thing’s first: a quick recap of how Grandma’s Marathon played out.

Before I get into the details, it needs to be said that the organization and volunteers up in Duluth were simply awesome - it was very low stress getting to the starting line and taking care of all the little things that go into having a successful race. I’m really grateful for the fact that I was able to get some of the elite treatment with only a 2:30 PR. It may not seem like much, but being able to get a couple of my own water bottles on the course (mainly so I could tape my gels to them) was a small but significant perk. Most of the other cool aspects of the weekend - cracking jokes with Abdi, free dinner and drinks on Friday and Saturday, etc - were more a product of Em doing the US Half Championships, but it was still really cool being a part of that environment.

But on to the race itself. I got up really early to go with Em to the bus pickup for the US Half, which gave me plenty of time to relax and have a bagel and coffee. Afterwards I took my own bus up to Two Harbors, MN for the start. The only part of the course I saw was the first half mile, which was a steady uphill, but the weather felt cool and dry so I was a happy camper. After my warmup, however, I could tell it wasn’t that cool. I started to cook a little bit sitting in the crowd waiting for the gun to go off.

But when we got moving, it was downright chilly again. The Africans seemed content to jog the first mile, so I tucked myself right into the back of the lead pack, and momentarily fantasized about taking off and getting some good pictures. By the mile that ship had sailed, however, as the contenders took off from us pretenders and started hitting closer to 5 minute pace. I came through the mile in 5:35, and failed to entirely resist the uptick in pace on mile 2, which I hit in 5:25.

For the next 6-8 miles, I was treated to a non-stop parade of people passing me. First it was fast looking men. Then it was not so fast looking men. Then the lead women blew by me like I was standing still. All the while, I just kept checking my watch in disbelief: 5:34 for mile 3, 5:40 for mile 4, 5:36 for mile 5, etc. I thought to myself, can there really be this many people that are THAT fast? I’m averaging 5:36 per mile, which is high 2:26 pace...Surely not.

And just like that, I started to see the first implosions from the folks who blew by me earlier. The lead women started to come back to me. A 5:29 for mile 10 caught me a few of the not so speedy looking men. By the time I hit the half marathon mark, in 1:13:23, I was feeling pretty good about catching people the rest of the way. I was still feeling good, and by dumping water on myself at each water stop, I was staying relatively cool despite temps climbing into the 70s and not a lot of shade on the course.

Around mile 17 I got a little over-eager, with a 5:26 mile, and after slowing a bit the next mile (5:44), I overcompensated and hit 5:30 for mile 19. I lost a little momentum stopping briefly to grab my water bottle (ran right past it, and I didn’t want to miss the gel), but I was still feeling good at mile 20, which I hit with a total time of 1:51:52.

But then, the creeping sensation of hitting the wall started to come over me. I got water at one of the stops and could barely swallow it. A slow ache started to spread from my glutes to my hamstrings to my calves. I could feel my stride getting noticeably shorter. I prepared myself mentally for the worst, and told myself that if I could just maintain 6 minute miles I would still be under 2:30, which is not a bad day.

But mile 21, despite feeling terrible, was 5:41. Huh. And mile 22, which featured the supposedly worst hill on the course, was 5:43. And on the long downhill following that hill, I started to feel life coming back into my legs. 5:44 for mile 23. Right through the middle of town now, eyes ahead on the guys who had been slowed to a crawl by their own dead legs. 5:40 for mile 24. Really back on track now. People are screaming, I’m feeling good, and to make matters even better, it’s gotten much cooler all of a sudden. Cold even. 5:45 for mile 25. At this point a guy blows past me at low 5:20s pace, which was weird, but there wasn’t a chance I could pick it up and go with him.

Mile 26 was a winding trip past the convention center, during which my brain was not functioning properly. Having failed to split my watch on the previous 2 miles, I was looking at a running total of the last 3.2 miles. Around 15 minutes (so realistically, still over half a mile to go), I decided that the race must be almost over, so I should pick it up for the last 2 minutes. I have no idea why I thought that was true. After a minute of “picking it up”, I realized I could see the finish and it was FAR away, so I slowed back down. In the final straightaway, I saw one more guy struggling home, so I did my best track impression and kicked past him. It was probably a “kick” of about 5:35 pace, but whatever. In the end my last 1.2 miles was just barely sub 6 pace, but I crossed the finish line happy and tired in 2:27:38.

I'll do another post about what happens next, but for now here are many pictures of me thinking I'm finishing much faster than I really am.  Cheers!