The HRM Chronicles

I've been about as good at updating the Pigdog as I have running. This is a strange period for me. I'm not completely healed from the Achilles injury, yet I can comfortably run up to 20 miles a week or so. After the tongue-lashing from Anonymous, I've tried to enter "21st century training." That's meant wearing a heart monitor three of the last four runs. (One was an Eagles victory celebration run that didn't need my heart rate recorded. I'm sure it was off the charts.) So far, so OK. I don't really like wearing the thing or the overly complicated system. My runs have been in the 8:00 per mile range with my heart rate around 128-130. Is this right? I have no idea. The usual formula for finding training pace is to find the maximum heart rate. I'm 36. That gives me a max heart rate of 184. That would put my effort during these runs at about 70 percent. As far as I can tell, that's about right for an easy, normal run. Right now, I'm not sure what I do with the heart rate info. It's nice to know, but I haven't figured out what zones to keep my runs in just yet. Besides, I'm not really doing radically different workouts. I go for easy 4.5-5 mile runs.

The more interesting thing for me is healing the Achilles. That's when I can get back to training for real. The data stuff is interesting, yet I don't quite see how it would be anything more than a guide. I don't want to just follow numbers on a watch all the time. My guess is I'd use it to set a baseline for training, with particular emphasis on using the HRM to keep recovery runs as true recovery.

Recovery Month

I have a bad post-marathon habit: getting hurt. The way it usually goes, I do fine recovering from the race, then start to feel completely out of shape. That's the strange part about marathons: other than the race itself, there's disturbingly little running for about six weeks, considering a three-week taper and three-week recovery. When I finally do start running, naturally it ends up being too much, too soon. I'm trying not to repeat this with low mileage but moderate intensity. Taking into account lights and stuff, my pace is probably at 7:20. But I'm only doing five miles at a clip with no real long runs. I hope to keep it this way through the holidays, aiming for 10-11 days every two weeks. We'll see. My hamstring's a little tight and I get creeping hints of ITB syndrome.

5 miles, 38:20

Back in the Swing

This week, I ran six days for the first time in a while. It reinforced an oddity of training. The fifth straight day running for me is easier because my body is used to it. I'm not running far -- mostly, five miles a go -- but the pace is getting better: today's run was at about 7:20 per mile. My goal for the rest of the year is to do 30 miles per week regularly, which isn't so easy with holiday parties and work obligations. My secondary goal is to stay at 160, another thing that's not as easy when you're out at parties with lots of food and drink. Come the New Year, training starts for real.

5 miles, 36:45.

An Autopsy

It's best to reflect on races a few days later, after the exhileration or, in my case, the disappointment wears off. As JPJ pointed out, I definitely met the pigdog. I wasn't make it up. I've come up with a series of culprits that doesn't include Beck, who did ask me if I was OK when I passed her last at like mile 23.
1) Preparation: I didn't train enough. Everyone is different, but I need to do at least four or five 20-mile runs.
2) Hydration: Duh. In the days leading up to the race, I didn't eat right or hydrate properly. Part of that was just a crazy week at work, but most of it was laziness. I missed some water stations on the course and didn't circle back. Also, a tip to Wayne: lose the volunteers standing in front of the tables blocking them and holding two cups. They're in the way. It's also unclear what's what by having the same color cups and relying on them to shout where the water is, where the Gatorade is. I'm not bitter. Really.
3) The Guy in the Tutu: OK, the guy in the pink tutu with the wand who took GWOT Mark to Chinatwon last year returned. I reeled him in by mile 24, his pink ballerina dress in my sights when I lost lucidity. This hurts.
4) Fate: It's trite, but shit happens. The cool part of the marathon is you never quite know what's going to happen. The wheels can come off, things can all go smooth, legs can cramp, whatever. Too bad, so sad.

At risk on intense boredom, here are my splits up until I went batshit crazy. This shows how out of shape I was. I hit my pace of 7:35 in the middle miles. This is where I wanted to stay until the Wall. I should have kept that pace until mile 20 at least, preferably 22. (In Philly, when I did a 3:01, I ran a 6:46 23rd mile.)
Mile 1: 7:47
2: 7:24
3: 7:38
4: 7:43
5: 7:40
6: 7:34
7: 7:42
8: 7:29
9: 7:33
10 :7:35
11: 7:36
12: 7:35
13: 7:35
14: 7:31
15: 7:35
16: 7:36
17: 7:40
18: 7:41
19: 7:43
20: 7:49
21: 7:54
22: 7:59
23: 8:00
24: 7:59
25: 8:07
26: ????
watch time for 25 miles: 3:12

Predictions

This is the down time. I only run twice more before Sunday, once tomorrow and another short one Thursday. I'm resting, treating my blisters with my trusty supply of Aquaphor, brushing up on my Maurice Herzog and eating pasta in many forms. One thing I've started to contemplate is my time goal. My accuracy is usually pretty good. Only once was it way, way off, when I trudged home at Boston in 3:30, not the 2:59 I unwisely predicted. I don't have that much to go on for this run, since I haven't done any races since the Philly Marathon in November and I don't run with anybody regularly. My guess: 3:25. I fear Stroh of Arabia will lose me somewhere around mile 16, an ignominious repeat of the Mothers and Daughters Against Teen Smoking 4-Miler in 2000, when he brutally left me seized by hayfever a couple miles in. My only hope is that the pressure of the GWOT leads him to what I'll delicately call "improper race preparation" now that he's been on the ground nearly a week.

Tapering

Normally, I taper for three weeks, following the last true long run. Some people do two, but I've found three better for healing the little injuries the build up during training, cutting mileage in the first week by 50 percent, then another 20 percent. This time around, there wasn't time for a three-week taper. Thanks to too much going on, I only ran three times last week, about 17 miles. This week, I'll do another 9-10. While I can't say I feel in great shape, I don't have any major injuries to heal, just some blisters that don't want to go away. Some running book I have says there's no benefit from training during the last two weeks anyway, so worries about training deficiencies should instead by channeled into prayers.

Re. JPS's insinuation that "buck hunting" meant something a little more risquee than video games: Not so. Buck Hunter seems like an urban substitute for golf.

Re. Dr. Jim MD's Sheik memories: I don't think the Camel Clutch was on display that night at PW. If memory serves, however, you got into Sgt. Slaughter's grill, possibly even questioning his patriotism.

8 miles, 1:02:14

A Week to Go

This was a tough week for running. Thanks to travel, work obligations and my quest to improve my accuracy hunting buck, I rarely ran. I'm tapering now, so I guess that's OK, although the lack of running has made me simply feel out of shape. But my blisters are healing, my hamstring and IT band feel alright, and it looks like it might not be too hot next weekend. Maybe there's hope.

Unrelated, good to see the Iron Shiekh is dealing with his retirement in a constructive manner. I wonder why he wasn't asked about Bob Backlund.

4.5 miles, 34:39

A Month To Go

The marathon is four weeks away. In the three weeks since Stroh of Arabia suggested we run it, I've come pretty far. No matter what, it's impossible to be completely prepared with six weeks preparation. I ran 44.5 miles this week, including 19.5 yesterday, putting me right on the training plan. I felt bad at the end of the run, and stale at the beginning from a comparatively high mileage week, but the recovery went well, thanks to a few things. I hydrated and planned out my gels well. This makes a difference. Stretching helped, so too did Endurox, a ribeye steak and several Red Stripe that evening. But I think Vaam is the secret. I definitely recover quicker when I take the stuff. I have no idea why. Looking ahead, this week is key, the last serious training week before a two-week taper. I'll do 45 miles, including 20 on the weekend and hopefully a couple of runs home from work.

4.5 miles, 36:25

Running Posture

My main worry about running a marathon so soon is injury. After several years blissfully without injury, I suffered a bunch of annoying ones, though nothing serious: plantar fasciitis, IT band, hamstring and the occasional sore back. Today, during a recovery run, I tried something new: I adjusted where I held my hands. Normally, they drop near my waist, since I've found it important to run as relaxed as possible. Watching Chasing Kimbia, I noticed the Kenyans running with their hands higher. I gave it a whirl, holding my hands closer to my chest, and while not completely natural, it seemed to help. I ran faster than I have lately and felt less soreness in my IT band, hamstring and back. It seems to give me more power. I finally started to regularly do strength exercises, which I've always neglected. This might help. We'll see.

Other good news: Google has found the blog, making it the No. 1 and 2 results for "internal pigdog" searches, ahead of both the IRS (?) and "Pigdog Journal." And Trust but Verify, a cycling blog about the Floyd Landis doping case, links to the Chasing Kimbia post. Cool.

5.75 miles, 45:26 (That includes a stop to give two Italian tourists directions to the Met. They were at 79th and Riverside, walking toward Jersey, not so close. I always worry after running away that my directions are not exact enough, leading these poor tourists to wander aimlessly and hate the city because they got bad directions. This time, I think I was pretty exact, even estimating the walk to be 20 minutes.)