The Year in Running

I started this year injured and pretty much end it not much better. That’s not to say it was a terrible year running. My big accomplishments were completing my first triathlon and running a decent marathon. In between, according to DailyMile, I traveled 1,008 miles and spent 134 hours running. (I was able to squeeze in another 75 miles swimming and 1,198 miles cycling.)

Overall, I’m pleased with how the year went. My Achilles still isn’t healed. That is an ongoing issue I want to put to rest in 2010. Running-wise, I feel like I did the best I could with the limitations I had. A 3:09 marathon is pretty good. My best running performance of the year was the 2:04 20-miler. My foray into the triathlon was interesting. I don’t think I raced particularly well, doing a 2:34, but I learned lots and was able to maintain fitness without running too much. What’s more, I got back into swimming, which is helping me get stronger and do real cross-training.

I might do a 2010 goals post. It could be fun to lay out actual goals for the New Year.

Race Report: Harrisburg Marathon

I certainly never thought I'd run a marathon in Harrisburg. But things happen in life and you go with the flow. Leading up to the race, I felt mostly good, although I was bothered by lower leg muscle tightness. This is a long-term problem I've had. Naturally, I skipped massage or even the stick and kinda wished it away. Bad move. Saturday morning, I woke up with a severe leg cramp. My left leg was sore the rest of the day.

I went to Harrisburg with a few goals in mind. At the very least, I wanted to run under 3:15. A "good" race would be under 3:10. The miracle would be under 3, which I knew as far-fetched. I'm not a very good race strategist. I don't like to hold back early in races. So when we started out in Harrisburg, I ran pretty hard. Through mile 7, I was on 2:58 pace. It was here that I knew it wouldn't happen. The pace felt fine but I began to slow just a bit. If that's happening early in the race, it's a bad sign. This was my 15th marathon. There are enough marathons under my belt not to get too concerned about going out to fast. My theory is you need to test your limits, assess them realistically, then adjust. So I adjusted. By the halfway point, I was at 1:30 with full knowledge I'd slow down in the second half, which of course I did. My main goal during the last half was to feel pretty good. I made some terrible mistakes. First, I forgot to use Vaseline on my nipples. I didn't want to be one of these guys. That meant a pit stop at mile 16 to take care of that. The biggest error was in eating. Harrisburg only had water stations every 2.5 miles. I took a gel at mile 10.5, then missed one at 17.5. That meant my second gel came at mile 20 after a series of pretty brutal hills from 18-20. I felt spent by then. Finally, I needed to stop to pee. That's the first time I've had to do that during a marathon in many years. It seemed more a decision of comfort than anything else . The last six I ran really cautiously out of fear of cramping. It was probably the right decision because I started to have problems at the end, and felt absolutely terrible at the end.

The final result: 3:09:17. 36th place out of 909. The splits tell the tale of two races:

Mile 1: 7:00
2: 6:50
3: 6:43
4: 6:45
5: 6:48
6: 6:46
7: 6:54
8: 6:51
9: 6:47
10: 6:48
11: 6:56
12: 6:57
13: 7:05
14: 7:04
15: 7:04
16: 7:13
17: 7:13
18: 7:30
19: 7:25
20: 7:53
21: 7:40
22: 7: 38
23: 7:43
24: 7:53
25: 7:50
26: 8:02

Race Time

It's time. There's about 40 hours until I start my 15th marathon. I've gotten nervous before each one. This is no different. There's always the phantom injuries, the sluggishness, irritability, then the doubts. My guess is it's always the fear of failure, not so much of running slowly but not reacting well if/when things go bad.

There's no prediction for this one. I'm relatively healthy. My Achilles isn't perfect but it's probably as good as it's been in over a year. My fitness is pretty good. I'm a bit wary of my endurance because I haven't been able to run as much during this training cycle. But in the end, it's whatever the day brings. I'll see how I feel at the start, and go from there. It might be a 7:30 pace feels good, could be 7:15. We'll see. I'm tempted to play it conservatively because of the weather forecast: sunny and high of 65. It shouldn't be that warm during the morning, but warmer than I'd like. Considering I've been carted off to the hospital twice from dehydration, I'm going to be careful, even though the local hospital is the title sponsor. Time to face the pigdog again.

Plan B

Something that you quickly learn in distance running is things go awry. There seems to always be something during a long run that will surprise. The trick is figuring how to deal with the unexpected. The most frustrating mishaps are those that are self-inflicted. I'm feeling that way now. I planned to run the Philadelphia Marathon. In the back of my mind, until recently, I worried I wouldn't be able to do it because of my Achilles. So I procrastinated on the very basic necessity of marathon running: signing up for the race. You can imagine where this is going. The marathon is now sold out. So I'm moving on. I'm bummed because a few good friends are running the race, and I had plans to try to keep up with my friend Tom, who is on his way to a sub-three hour race. I was an idiot. No use dwelling on it.

Plan B is the Harrisburg Marathon. I think I went there once during a field trip. Maybe. It means moving up the race two weeks and compressing training. I'm fine with that. After the race on Sunday, I just want to get to the start healthy. I have enough time to add some needed endurance with a couple more 20s. Harrisburg is only three hours from NYC, and the race seems alright. I kinda like smaller marathons, although there are drawbacks. The major one is running alone. I love running alone most times, but it slows me down during races. I noticed in Indy and New Jersey times when nobody was around me. I have a feeling it'll be that way in Harrisburg. Still, I'm excited to run a new marathon and see a city I'd probably never see otherwise. Onward to Harrisburg.

A Very Good Day

I haven't posted here in a while. Since the triathlon, I've gone back to running mainly, only I'm trying to cross-train more. It's gone alright, although I still have pain in my Achilles. My plan has been to cut down on junk miles and concentrate on four or five quality runs a week. That's worked pretty well.

Today, I put my fitness to the test. It's a little less than two months before the Philadelphia Marathon. I wanted to see where I am. The NYRR 18-Mile Marathon Tune-up was perfect for that. The day went better than I could have hoped. Going in, considering my 1:38 in the Brooklyn Half, I figured a 2:15 would be a good result. In the back of my mind, of course, I wanted to do better, particularly since I had a couple nice runs in the past few weeks.

I awoke to find a steady rain. This doesn't bother me too much, other than water sloshing in my shoes and some slippery lines in the park. Waiting around in the rain pretty much sucks. Since I ran the race pretty fast last year, I got put in the first corral. This worried me a bit because I'm not in that kind of shape. The first mile includes the Great Hill and came in at a respectable 7:26. I figured this was a nice pace to do for the first loop, then see how I felt. But then I started to go faster. The next mile was 7:14, then I dropped to 6:56. The thing is, I felt fine, just a little worried I'd blow up halfway through the race. The rest of the first six-mile loop went that way, as I locked in on a pace a bit over 6:50, depending on how hilly the mile was. I expected to slow down the second loop. Didn't happen. Most of the miles were sub-6:50. I started getting confident here because I'm always best in the middle mile. For whatever reason, I feel strongest then. I did the second loop faster than the first. I began to slow a bit in the last loop but surprisingly didn't give up too much time. Miles 15 and 16, for instance, were 6:46 and 6:47. I eased to a 6:52 for 17 before, incredibly, doing the final mile in 6:35.

The final result: 2:04:05, 6:53 pace. 75th place out of 3534. 20th in my age group.

Why? That's the question I keep going over in my head. I'm not training a ton -- my typical week tops out at 50 miles. The Achilles still isn't healed. Here's what I've got so far in my investigation:
1. I've allowed my body to heal more in training with swimming and sometimes cycling.
2. I'm eating better and dropped about five pounds since the tri. Ana doesn't like it, but carrying around less weight helps lots.
3. The Achilles isn't healed, but it is better, at least to the point where I'm not worried about pushing myself.
4. I've had some good quality runs lately.
5. I had an accidental taper because of a trip to San Francisco.
6. Being in the first corral put me with some fast people.
7. I had a couple great night's sleep.
8. The rain was annoying but helped me keep cool and ward off dehydration
9. I ran in lightweight trainers
10. I just had a good day.

That's the thing, the last one. I've run for 10 years now, and some days are great and others suck. There have been marathons I've run during both good and bad days. When things are good, they can be incredible. Today I felt light. There are very few feelings better than feeling strong after running 14 or 15 hard miles. There were times today when I felt apart from my body, almost observing it running. That hasn't happened in some time. The mystery is how to time the good days for race days. I don't have the answer to that.

The open question is what does it mean. That time works out to a marathon, naturally, slightly above 3 hours. Can I go under it finally? I'm not ready to say. But it's not outside the realm of possibility if I can train well over the next six weeks and avoid aggravating the Achilles.

Wow, Ironman Isn't for the Poor

On a lark, I checked out the Coeur d'Alene Ironman, held next June. I couldn't really imagine doing an Ironman, but then I used to say the same thing about a marathon. Pretty much anything is possible, I figure, so long as your choice is finishing or risking embarrassment. In any case, the race is nearly sold out. The entry fee: $550. Really? Marathons are like $80. I think the triathlon I just did was $120. I paid like $20 to do a 50k in Brooklyn -- and it came with a post-race pizza party. $550 is a whole lot of money, isn't it? Then again, the thing would probably take me 11 hours, so it's like $50 an hour. I'm sure there's a good reason for the pricing with the infrastructure needed to run such a long race. Still, it's pretty eye opening. It says something about triathlons overall. The demographics are so high end. Even the Ironman has an "executive challenge series." Alas. That's a reason why, if we're talking about endurance stuff, my heart is with the ultramarathons, which tend to attract more weirdos than corporate bigwigs.

What's Next: Philly Marathon

Even before the triathlon, I got to thinking what's next. The tri training was great. It's refreshing to do several different sports, rather than just one. No matter what, it got me to believe in the power of cross-training, something that probably could've saved me from injuries. A few friends are running the Philly Marathon in November, so I decided to aim for that. The timing is perfect: it's in about 16 weeks. My fittness base is pretty good right now. The main concern is how much I can ramp up the running safely. That's why I decided to take an unusual approach to my training.

Unlike last summer, I'm not going to do a high-mileage training program. I'm still a believer in the idea that if you want to run well you need to run lots. I'm also a realist. I can't start doing 60-mile weeks. And I'm not sure I want to. Instead, I'm crafting a training program around Pfitzinger's 55-mile plan with some important caveats. One is I'll only run four times a week. Just a year ago, this would be blasphemy for me. A couple years ago, I'd probably sneer at runners who prepared for marathons with so few workouts. Times change. The big difference is I'm not going to work out less. Instead, I'll ride once a week and swim two times per week. What I hope is this will mean a comparable fittness level and more quality runs. I want to eliminate junk miles and workouts where I'm going through the motions. Another change that will be tougher: run half my miles on soft surfaces. I'm committed to avoiding injuries this time around, even if it means sacrificing performance.

All these changes mean my goals for the race are different. I doubt I'll come anywhere close to three hours in the marathon. Right now, my guess is 3:20 is a much more doable goal, although I'm going to see where this new training regimen will take me. So far, so good. I've had some great workout this week and felt remarkably fresh. We'll see how the 45-mile bike ride in the morning goes.

First Is Always the Hardest

Trying something new is hard. I remember my first marathon, in Philadelphia in 2000. I had no idea what I was doing or what to expect. I ended up running the race in something like 3:47, including some unforeseen walk breaks the last few miles that made me feel like a total failure. I learned. Within two years, I finished a marathon in 3:02.

So I approached the New Jersey State Triathlon with realistic expectations. Cycling is entirely new to me, and I took two decades off swimming. My main goal was to feel strong at the end. By that admittedly tame measure, I succeeded. The breakdown.

Pre-race: I got to the start area early enough to warm up plenty in the lake. My big dilemma was whether to wear a wetsuit. The water temp in Lake Mercer registered an incredible 77.9, meaning it was .1 within the legal zone for wearing a wetsuit. I was told to wear one if allowed because it makes swimming much, much easier. The purist in me blanched, and I didn't want to try something new on race day. In the end, I decided to dance with the girl I brung, so to speak, and swim in a suit. I knew I made the right decision once I got into the water, which by that point was at least 80 degrees.

My other concern was about my bike, particularly my complete inability to care for it. By luck, I asked a guy near me with a floor pump what he thought of my tire pressure. He told me they were "basically flat," so we added quite a bit more pressure. It gave me a lot of confidence knowing that at least my tires were right heading into the 23-mile bike.

Swim: I got a nice surprise in that nobody kicked me in the head. Overall, it was very civilized. What I struggled with is the vagaries of open-water swimming. I never felt comfortable I knew where I was or where I should be. That meant I tended to look up quite often and sometimes just stop swimming to assess the situation. There were collissions, probably about a half dozen times. These also slowed me down. Still, I finished up feeling OK. 31:40, rank: 341/743

Transition1: No, I didn't practice, and it showed. I ran past my bike, got confused, ran back again, still missed it. The whole thing was a total fiasco. I'm shocked I got out of there in four minutes. I was also struck by how much harder it was to run out of the water than I thought.

Bike: As much as I love the Tour de France, I'm not a good cyclist. Something about the bike makes me lazy. I tend to take it easy when I can. Maybe I just need to work at it more. Whatever the case, it was humbling. I got passed by dozens of people. The NJT marks your age on your calf, so I saw the numbers streaming by. When I saw 53, I finally picked it up a bit. The overall effect was dispiriting. It's no fun getting passed constantly, and I fell into a rhythm of ignoring it and concentrating on enjoying my ride, with a lot of focus on hydration and eating. In this area, I definitely succeeded, drinking a bottle of Gatorade and another of water and eating a gel. I felt ready to do well in the run. 1:14: 32. 428th.

Transition2: Much easier time, mostly because there wasn't much to do. I put on socks for the run, kept my sunglasses on, then took off.

Run: I'm a runner. I threw off my helmet and couldn't wait to get at the trail and find some of the people who passed me on the bike. I was hurting a bit at this point but I have a lot of faith in my ability to run through fatigue. Mostly, I did well. I started the first couple of miles at or below 7-minute pace. After mile 3, I eased up, mostly because I wanted to finish feeling alright and without blowing up. I picked off people the entire time, probably about 30 of the 40 who passed me on the bike. 45: 15. 68th.

All told, I finished in 2:37:42, smack dab in the middle of my age group. I'm OK with that, although I know I should do much better than 31/75 in my group. It's pretty clear what I need to work on to get better. For one, I have to get more comfortable in open water. My guess is I wasted a lot of energy taking short breaths and worrying about where I was. Cycling is a must. I just don't know what I'm doing out there. My bike times are an embarrassment. To put it into perspective, the finisher immediately before me rode seven minutes faster and the one following me rode nine minutes faster. That's crazy. The run is the run. I should do it at 7-minute pace or below, but it's not that big of a deal. I was within the top 10 percent in that category.

My big decision now is whether to find another race to work on those things, move up to the half Ironman or start training for a marathon in the fall.

Hiccups

I've started reading an interesting book called Body, Mind and Sport. It's a little crunchy, preaching the need to connect the mind and body in exercise in a way that gets past the "no pain, no gain" mentality. I'm a little skeptical, because I've never thought the enjoyment of exercise being mutually exclusive from getting over pain. One part I do embrace is how it's the process that matters much more than the outcome. That made it quite easy for me to get over not breaking three hours in the marathon. I appreciated the training that got me to the point where I was in position to accomplish that.

Another important aspect I've found in distance running is to embrace the unexpected. In any long journey, things happen not quite as we expect. Every marathon has moments that go awry in some way. That can be what makes it interesting. My adventures in triathlon have already had curveballs, mostly because I haven't done enough planning. Today, I found out that if you don't make a rental car reservation quickly, there won't be cars anywhere in New York City. That was a bummer. But there's always a way. I'm now taking my bike on a NJ Transit train and hitching a ride with my uncle. If worse came to worst, I was willing to ride 15 or so miles to my aunt's and then to the race. Why not? I've had much worse before marathons, including a cancelled flight that made running the race impossible, severe stomach problems, etc.

I'm sure that won't be the first bump in the road, particularly since this is my first triathlon. My only hope is that the snafus are minor and don't involve something major during the swim or bike. I really don't want to try to change a flat in the midst of the race. That would suck. Other than that, I'm ready for whatever comes my way. I'm really going into this pretty blind. I have no idea how long it will take me, or how much it will hurt.

No instant gratification

I've decided to try to update more regularly, even if just briefly. A friend of mine sent me a USA Today article about an organization to help the homeless get back on their feet through running programs. It would seem like people in such straits would have bigger fish to fry, but this makes total sense to me. Running can be very therapeutic, helps build self-esteem and gives a very helpful structure. The director of the program has a great quote summing it up: "It's a very egalitarian sport in the sense that running rewards effort. It gives people the strength to connect that with the recovery process. There's no instant gratification."

Tri Countdown

I've been pretty terrible about updating the Pigdog. That's not right. In that time, I've continued to train for my first triathlon, which is now just six days away. Overall, it's gone fine, although my training hasn't been very focused. Instead of following a strict regimen, I've aimed to run twice a week, bike twice a week and swim twice a week. Within those, I try to do a long ride and run once a week. Here's how I feel going into the race in each discipline:

Swim: This is the great unknown. I put in enough time in the pool, I think, doing about 2000 yards each workout, usually with sets of 100s, then 200s, with some 400s. Lately, I've concentrated on doing longer sets without sacrificing form. I'm a mediocre swimmer.

Cycling: The bike hasn't been as easy as I thought. I probably thought my running fitness would totally carry over, but it hasn't. I've been hampered by being clueless on the bike, not knowing much of anything about how it works, what to do when something goes wrong, etc. This is an area I need to work on. Biking 24 miles on a flat course doesn't seem so bad to me, though.

Running: I feel great here. My Achilles is finally getting healed. The last few runs I've done have been great. The half marathon went alright, considering how little I run, and I've had several good runs since then.

So that brings me to my worries. They're all around the unknown. The marathon is familiar to me, I know the rhythms of it, what to expect and what will happen. The tri is different altogether, with lots more to consider. If I could do it over, I'd have done a sprint race first. Alas, no going back now. My concerns:

Surviving the swim: I haven't done any open water swimming. This was pretty dumb. I'm going to the try out swimming in the lake the day before and morning of the race. My main goal is to stay relaxed. To that end, like any new triathlete, I worry about getting kicked in the head and freaking out.

Gear: Do I wear a wetsuit? (It's unclear what the water temp will be.) Do I clip my shoes onto my pedals? Do I bring a tire pump in case of a flat? Is my bike working OK?

What I'm not worried about:

Fitness: I could be humbled by the tri, but I feel like I have plenty of fitness to complete it without much drama. The one thing I noticed on a brick workout is my heart rate elevates when running after cycling. I'll have to watch that. Still, I'm in great cardio shape and getting stronger in both cycling and swimming. The other week, I went for a 42-mile bike ride, then ran 5.75 miles at 7:15 pace. It wasn't that bad, either. So long as I stay relaxed and feel my way through the swim, I know I'll be fine.

A Very Belated Race Report

My return to racing was, thankfully, uneventful. The most stressful part of the Brooklyn Half Marathon was getting to the start. Thanks to NYRR disorganization, I walked 45 minutes until arriving at registration. Then they didn't have my number. Then it was back another half mile to the start, barely in time. The day was pretty warm, even at 8am, mostly because the sun was strong. That made me even more cautious, since I don't have a good track record with the heat and I drank a couple glasses of wine the night before.

I'd forgotten my HRM, so I decided to go purely on feel. My guess was around the 7:30 mark would be pretty good. That's quite a bit slower than I've run before, but I'm only running twice a week now and frankly still getting over the Achilles injury. Thanks to the number snafu, I farther back that I should have been. This was a mixed blessing. It kept me from going out too fast, but I gave up time the first couple miles.

Mile 1: 8:07
Mile 2: 7:44
Mile 3: 7:32

The Brooklyn Half began in Prospect Park, which we'd circle twice for about seven miles. The first three miles brought us around to the top of the park. I was weaving through people the first couple miles but soon settled into a nice pace. It didn't feel too stressful.

Mile 4: 7:22
Mile 5: 7:42
Mile 6: 7:30

One of those miles is not like the other. Again, the NYRR came up small. At mile 5, I was on my second loop. I came around to the second water station to find no water. Now I'm not in the back of the pack or anything. The volunteers were doing what they could, but the race had 12,000 runners. I ended up grabbing a cup and scooping out my own water.

Mile 7: 7:33
Mile 8: 7:15
Mile 9: 7:24

These are the miles of a half I consider the middle miles. They're typically where I try to be strongest. This was doubly so because the course exited the hills of Prospect Park for a straight shot down Ocean Parkway to Coney Island. I felt pretty good and tempted to pick up the pace. But I held back because I could tell I wasn't as well-trained as I'd like. It wasn't a fitness thing, just a running thing. My body wasn't used to exerting that much running effort. Cardio-wise, I was fine.

Mile 10: 7:28
Mile 11: 7:31
Mile 12: 7:25
Mile 13.1: 8:14

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how I finished the race. I started feeling tired at the end but never had any real problems. My effort was moderate enough to have a brief conversation with another runner on the boardwalk as we looked for the finish line.

Final result: 1:38:53, 7:32 pace. Leaving out the first two miles and the cup fiasco, my miles were all at 7:33 or below. That strikes me as about right. One thing I noticed that pleased me is I was a little stronger on the hills in Prospect Park thanks to a little extra upper body strength from swimming. Still, I doubt I can run fast again while training equally, if not more, in cycling and swimming. I'm just happy I can still run a decent half marathon.