San Antonio Marathon (Em Edition)

I've had a good week to reflect on the marathon and to try and figure out what exactly happened. For those of you that don't know I made it through half way before I started "hitting the wall"...hard. I tried to hang on and just finish the race, but I started getting random foot pains in my right foot at about mile 19. I dropped out at 20 because I could tell it was changing my stride and I didn't want to seriously injure myself long term by hobbling the next 6.2 miles. But by that time I was already running low 7's per mile.

Jer and me mean-muggin' before the race

I've never been more prepared to race the marathon than I was on that day. Mentally, physically, and emotionally I came in to that day ready to conquer 26.2 miles of downtown San Antonio. My mileage was in the high 90's, low 100's the entire season. I took my workouts by the horns this time around instead of being scared shitless like I was last year. I was also not afraid of the race itself, it was no longer an "unknown" for me. I feel like the taper towards the race was great, my legs felt very fresh leading up to the race. The funny thing about last Sunday was even though I was going through the missions at a slower pace this year compared to last, the miles seemed to come quicker this time around. This is one of the little things that reassures me it was not a mental problem by any means.

oh you know, just running next to Desiree Ficker, no big deal or anything

During the early part of the race I was completely fine, unphased even, by the conditions. Just look at the pictures prior to mile 12..."oh look, there's Em! She's having a freaking blast!" But then, out of no where, it starts getting ridiculously hard to hit 6:30's even. Keep in mind, most marathoner's "hit the wall" at around mile 20, mine was 6 to 7 miles prior to that. Something just wasn't right. I couldn't, and still can't really, figure out why my body was having this hard of a time hitting paces that I was easily hitting in workouts, on much more tired legs. My body was completely shutting down. During the middle of the night, after the race, I woke up because my legs were throbbing, as if I'd run the entire race. Again, this was another reassurance I didn't just wimp out when the going go tough - I put my body through hell that day, it just wasn't giving me the results it usually does.

It's a bird, it's a plane, noooo..it's the FOG!!  haha..still have that smile on!

I scheduled an appointment with my doctor earlier this past week to get a blood test. I wanted to see if a low ferritin level could have been the culprit, but with a level of 107, compared to the 8 I had in March, we knew that low iron levels weren't the reason for my massive blow up. It made sense too since my workouts prior to the marathon felt great. The doctor suggested that it was primarily because of the atmospheric conditions (completely shitty ass racing weather) and my previous history with my asthma that had led to me crashing on race day. That answer doesn't sit too well with me. Jer and I both ran a half marathon in Houston 3 weeks prior, and did a marathon simulation at a much faster pace than I went on race day, in very similar conditions (63, with 100% humidity). I didn't come anywhere close to crashing, in fact, I felt great! The only difference between the two days was that the weather the couple days prior to Houston were just as crappy as race day, compared to the marathon, where things had been very pleasant leading up to that day. Perhaps my body just freaked out and tried preparing itself for the worst since it didn't have time to get used to the nasty weather.

Regardless, I hate not knowing exactly what happened, especially when I know that I was so much more prepared for it. That's the downside of a race like the marathon. I came in more relaxed...like NOT throwing up before the race like I did last year, and ready to take on the world, well the marathon anyways : ) It is very frustrating, especially knowing I don't really have much in the way of results to show for this past season. I trained trough all of the races I did, in hopes of being that much more prepared for the marathon. It's a real bummer to say the least, but one of the great things that has come out of this is figuring out what kind of person I am when things go horribly wrong. Last Sunday was the day I had been training for since June! Day in an day out went into preparation for November 13th. Well things didn't go anywhere near as planned and I still came out of it yearning to be a better runner, even though it's looking more and more like I didn't have a whole lot of control of what happened on race day. It's made me realize that I have a serious passion for this sport of mine, and that makes me really excited about the future! One of the best things that did happen that day was seeing my best friend, my inspiration, my husband  finish SECOND OVERALL WITH A 3 MINUTE PERSONAL BEST!!!! I mean seriously people, he ran that much faster compared to last year in MUCH crappier conditions. I was/am really proud of him. He trained his butt off and it really paid off for him. It definitely put me in a much better mood knowing that he killed it.

My better half

So that's that. I never want to be one of those people that only talks about the good/great races and never mentions the complete blowups. For those of you that are wondering, I've had quite a few people ask me, NO, I will not being doing another marathon within the next month in hopes of hitting the trials standard. It was NEVER the plan to race another marathon if things didn't go right in San Antonio (Jer and I talked about it a good amount before and during the season). I was already cutting it pretty close, for me, if I had qualified, to compete at the trials just two months later. The plan was, if things didn't go the way we planned, then I'd focus on having a freaking blast in the early months of 2012..oh you know, like indoor races and what not : ) There will be plenty of time to talk about the winter and spring season though, I don't want to get ahead of myself, which I already am. Oops!

I will leave you with a quote from one of the greatest, living, coaches out there.

"The genuine athlete must have a strong spirit, vigorous and sane, not easily demoralized or defeated. This resolute balance, allied to intelligence, is the mixture necessary for success" -Vigil.

Race Recap: San Antonio Marathon (Jer Edition)

I think that for runners, more than any other group of athletes, it is sometimes very difficult to be completely satisfied in a performance. No matter how well we do, we often have a mindset of “well, I could have done just a little bit better”. That’s pretty much how I feel about my race on Sunday. I PRed by a solid 3 minutes, but I lost by 2 more. I put myself in a position to do something really good, and I executed, but now I find myself thinking about how to put myself in a position to do something great. Anyway, on to the actual recap.

Sunday was not a pleasant day. Since I had been compulsively checking multiple weather forecasts for several days in advance, I was aware of this well in advance, but that didn’t make me any happier about it. At race time it was 63 degrees with a dew point of 62, far from ideal, but also cool enough that I wasn’t feeling terribly hot while waiting around for the race to start. One big plus was that it was very overcast, since direct sunlight can drastically increase how hot one’s body actually gets during a race.

I did about 5 minutes of jogging with Em, some light stretching, and then a few strides from the start. During this time, I also grinned like a moron every time Shalane Flanagan, Brent Vaughn, or any of the other OTC peeps came striding by me. I don’t often warm up in the same area as Olympic medalists.

So the race went off, and I sauntered off the starting line at what I figured was a reasonable pace. I had decided once I was sure the weather would suck to not shoot for any particular time, since I didn’t know how my body would respond as the temperatures got higher. I definitely wanted to PR, and I figured even in bad conditions there’s no reason I couldn’t run 2:32 pace and still be able to finish strong the last 10k. My first mile was a little too fast (5:38) but I intentionally eased off the pace for 2 and 3 (5:47, 5:49).

Great photo taken by our friend Mark Wright early on in the race.

At this point, I could tell that David Fuentes, who is a friend of ours, was going out at a fast enough pace that I wouldn’t be able to see him much longer. I felt very good about my preparation for this race, but at the end of the day, David’s half marathon PR is 4 minutes faster than mine - if I was going to beat him, I was just going to have to run an even paced race and hope that he would come back to me. Going out with him wasn’t really an option (he went through the half marathon mark about 30 seconds faster than my half marathon PR), so I was essentially stuck in no man’s land. I caught some half marathoners, stayed as relaxed as I could (repeating “calm down, stay calm” over and over in my head) and just tried to get through the early miles using as little energy as possible. Most of my miles in this section were between 5:40 and 5:48, with the exception of one quicker one (5:34) when I saw my family around mile 9. I also took a gel, for the first time in a serious race, around mile 10.

The marathon splits off from the half marathon around mile 11, and at this point the spectators confirmed what I was already pretty sure of: I was in 2nd, but was over 4 minutes behind 1st, and at least a couple minutes clear of 3rd. Plus side is I could essentially coast in if I wanted to and have 2nd locked up, downside is 15 miles is a long way to go with no one anywhere near you. I hit the halfway mark at 1:14:53, but I was still feeling really good.

All by myself...don't wanna be...

I remember going back and forth between periods of feeling really confident and strong, and periods of questioning whether I was in for another blowup like last year. At this point the longer tempo runs paid off, at least mentally; since I had already gone through a few workouts where I had to go 18+ miles, it wasn’t anything terribly worrisome during the race. Around 18 miles the sun came out completely, and I realized it was pretty damn warm, but I had been throwing water on myself already and that seemed to be doing the trick.

At 20 miles (1:54:30 or so) I knew I just had to run 35:30 for the last 10k to get under 2:30, which would have been amazing. I had been averaging about 35:30 per 10k thus far, so I really started to get pumped up around then. I knew I had to be catching David, but at this point there was no real way to get an idea of whether he was 8 minutes or 2 minutes ahead of me. All I knew is I couldn’t see him, and I was rapidly running out of real estate. I stayed pretty steady through miles 21 to 24, all between 5:40 and 5:50, but I was definitely getting outside of my comfort zone. Just a sip of water through all of the water stops, as I didn’t have enough oxygen to spare for actually drinking much. I also lost the coordination to throw the water on my head, so it mostly ended up flying onto the road behind me or drenching my jersey.

Mile 24!

By mile 24 I had pretty much accepted that I was getting 2nd - David would have to stop and take a nap at that point for me to catch him. But I got an absolute TON of satisfaction in running sub 6 minute pace on the same route where, last year, I was on the verge of throwing up and running 7:20 miles. During mile 25 or 26 I spotted a co-worker with a giant sign that read “Jeremy Daum is my hero”, which pretty much made my day. Mile 25 was 5:53, and mile 26 was 5:58, and then I was in the finish chute feeling pretty damn pleased with a 2:30:34 marathon. I ran the 2nd half in 1:15:41, a good bit faster than the 1:19:50 I closed in last year. Considering temps were in the 70s this year, versus 50s last year, it was a vastly better performance and a really great way to finish the season.

Last quarter mile of the run..all up hill!

Finally! The finish line!

So I’m happy. But not completely satisfied. I have some thoughts on how to improve, but that’s a discussion for another day. For now, it’s the magical off-season, and I’m going to enjoy some much needed relaxation time with my darling wife and my cute furry children. And coming soon, my first spring marathon. Maybe in better weather?

Awards Time!

Race Day

Good morning everyone...

It's marathon day.

It's a little humid and gross out, but we're going to just play it by ear in terms of figuring out a pace. Emily is bib F2 (which I think technically means she's #102) and I'm bib #3.

Here we go!

The marathon countdown continues!

So the past couple weeks have been crazy busy/exciting! Jer and I are days away from the San Antonio Rock n' Roll Marathon! As Jer mentioned in the previous blog post, we've put in great amounts of mileage and tough workouts, compared to what we did last year and now we're simply counting down the days until we're on that starting line!

3 weeks ago we competed in the Houston Half Marathon with the goal of making it somewhat of a marathon simulation. The plan was to run 6ish miles before the race in hopes of getting our legs a little tired and then competing in the half marathon by hitting goal marathon pace. We both had a blast, not to mention negative splitting the second half because of how excited we got. It was good training for taking water in on the run and making sure we don't throw up the GU we tried out as well. It'll be our first time taking GU during the marathon. Last year we  really didn't think about it until it was too late to really try it out, so instead of potentially sabotaging our marathon we relied on water and Cytomax.

Anyways, it was a ton of fun. I got to run with people pretty much the entire way except the last 3 miles, that doesn't happen very often, especially in the longer races. It was also great getting a feel for what goal marathon pace is during a race. Although I did get a little excited and run faster than what I was planning on, I definitely don't see myself getting that carried away during the marathon. I know better : )

Jer and I are in taper mode now and will leave you with some pictures and a little movie from the Houston Half Marathon.

RACE VIDEO

Mr. Daum's Delicious Pasta Dish

Before we even hit the first mile..all smiles : )

Jer roughly half a mile from the finish

That face = maybe a little faster than marathon pace

Self-braiding..it's a gift

Below is added bonus. One of the things I LOVE about Houston/Clear Lake (besides Jer's family of course) is Morning Kolaches! I literally force Jer to go there with me ANY time we're visiting. One time I even persuaded Jer's brothers to pick up a dozen of them before they came to visit us in San Antonio. I have looked everywhere for something that is similar to their mouthwatering Bacon & Cheese Kolache here in San Antonio, but it's hopeless. I will forever rely on this shop, that unfortunately is closed on Sundays, to get my fix. Luckily, we were able to pick some of these bad boys up the morning before the Houston Half on our way to pick up the packets. They are truly a delight! (Yes, I know I'm obsessing over something that is in every possible way bad for you, but averaging ~100 miles a week has put me in a state of mind which is guilt free when it comes to what foods I eat.)

They are not lying here folks..there truly is an explosion of flavor!

These are soft, buttered rolls filled with...

oozing cheese and diced pieces of bacon! 

Rest, Irritation, and Performance Enhancing Awesomeness: Taper Time

Two weeks from today, Emily and I will be running the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon. This fact doesn’t terrify me as much as it has in the past, although running a marathon all-out is still an intimidating proposition. I like to think that this time, unlike last time, I’ve truly done everything to be ready on the day. Is that true? Beats the hell out of me. I thought I was ready last year, ran 23 miles at 2:29 pace, then blew up like a car with 4 flat tires and a missing axle. That’s on fire. Good news is there are a couple of things I can take confidence from:

1. Better long runs and long tempos. I actually sucked it up and ran the full 26.2 miles sometime in August, and 2 weeks ago ran a 24 mile tempo at 5:58 pace - much faster than I’ve ever run for a steady run of that length. Confidence, increased.

2. Mileage has been pretty good. I don’t actually know if it’s any higher than last year, but I’ve averaged something like 108 miles per week since the beginning of June, when Em and I got back from our honeymoon. Pretty good. I would call it lower mileage for a serious marathoner, and I know I could definitely do a little more next time around, but for working full time and fitting this running nonsense in around a life, I’m pretty happy with myself.

3. Additionally, this marks the first time I’ve been training full steam and been in good shape for an entire year leading up to a race. I haven’t been seriously injured or derailed in any way since January of 2010.

4. I haven’t had a bad workout since the end of September. I think I’m on a hot streak. Maybe. Okay this one is more of a hunch, but the past three weeks have been pretty good to me, and I think just maybe I will have this marathon thing figured out enough to survive.

Two Whirlwind Weekends of Races

What the heck have we been up to lately? It’s hard for me to even keep track of it all. Last weekend, Chass, Emily and I headed down to Houston along with our friend David Fuentes to race the confusingly named USA 10 Miler (it stands for United Space Alliance). I think that was a bit of a wake up call for all of us. Not that any of us ran terribly - Chass was 3rd in 52:44, I was 5th in 54:15, and Emily was 1st in 60:48. I suppose it just wasn’t up to expectations of where we thought we’d be. Sure, conditions weren’t great, a little humid and a little windy, but it’s easy to make excuses and difficult to take a cold hard look at what you’ve been doing and what you could do better.

So if last weekend was a time for reevaluating, this weekend was a time for (mostly) celebrating great workouts and races (Emily’s been a little under the weather this week). First Em and I headed south to a small local race by the river to watch Amy and Rob race - for Rob, this was the first race he’s done since February, when he was knocked out with a fracture in the navicular bone of his foot, an injury that is sometimes career ending. Amy won handily with a time of 16:58, and Rob ran strong for 2nd to a good local guy, beating his time in the time trial we did last week handily (16:19 compared to 16:47 last Monday).

After the race, I got to talk to Chass, who had just done a workout of 4 by 2 miles with 3:00 jog recoveries. Last year Chass did a very similar workout in an average of 10:02 per 2 mile, 8 days before running 51:18 for a 10 mile race. This year he averaged 9:54 per repeat, which just sounds ridiculous to me - I’d be hard pressed to do 2 of those in a race-type situation.

Then today I averaged just a hair under 6:00 per mile for 24 miles. Certainly not the fastest workout I’ve ever done, but it’s up there for longest, and it was good to get this one out of the way. The end of the season is rapidly approaching, and it’s good to feel like I’m gaining momentum, rather than losing it.

But unfortunately it’s now time for the mowing of the lawn, before the wife and I get down to business cooking up some borracho beans. They speed up recovery from long workouts by at least a day, and that is a scientific fact*. I leave you with pictures and videos!

*This is almost certainly not true.

Jer at the 10-Miler

Chassy

Rem Dog almost to the finish

Melting from the rain!

Tired guys post race

VIDEO OF THE SPACE ALLIANCE 10 MILER

Start of the Strut Your Stuff 5k/10k

Two Robs?!

Amy!

High Five!

VIDEO OF THE STRUT YOUR STUFF 5K!!

Hitting the Road

Waterbear Racing (that's the unofficial name of our little running group for now) took our first official road trip a couple weekends ago and had a blast!

We left Friday and traveled to the Eder household in Ft. Worth for a delicious homemade dinner! Afterwards we piled in the car, again, and headed to Dallas. It was our first time renting out a hotel room in Dallas, less than 3 miles from the start of the race (thanks Coach!), and attempted to calm our pre-race excitement in order to get a decent amount of sleep. 

The morning of the race reminded me of what it's like to have an overnight trip with a team again. I had forgotten what it's like to room with a handful of people who each have their own pre-race rituals. It was a neat experience...girls braiding hair, Chass shaving his legs being Chass, Jer making sure everyone has everything. 

We headed to the YMCA where they were shuttling racers to the Arboretum. It was beautiful and the first time I had ever been to any Arboretum for that matter.

The race itself was awful, for me. I finished 3rd with a time 30 seconds slower than what I ran a month prior,on a much tougher course. Hopefully this was my official "bad race" of the season. I let nerves get the best of me and ended up not eating enough for fear of throwing it up. Running on an empty stomach doesn't work for me. Lizzie had a tough time too, battling sickness, but she still pulled through to get 6th place in the field of elites. Amy did great, especially for her first road race as a post-collegiate athlete. She finished 2nd overall, behind a former Trinity teammate of ours (D'Ann Arthur), with a time of 36:27.

The boys blew away the competition with a strong 1-2 punch! Chassy cruised it in for the win and Jer followed for a nice 2nd place finish. Jer's second place came somewhat as a shock since he could barely run the two days prior to the race due to IT band issues. The fact that he even got on the starting line was a shocker, but the pain was all gone during the warm-up so he went with it.

Although the race didn't play out exactly the way I was hoping, it was still nice knowing that the awards we ended up winning more than covered the cost of the trip - so not a total bummer. Afterwards we listened to the fun 80's cover band they had and then made another food stop at the Eder house before heading back to good ol' San Antonio! Now, picture time!

Chassy

Amy

Coachy

Em

Liz

The group!

HERE is an article from the Dallas newspaper that mentions our little group from the race! 

Next up, Jer, Chass, and myself will be heading to Houston for a fun, flat, 10miler this weekend!!