The Week in Running

It was a step-back week for me. The weather was crap and I wasn't feeling great. Little things hurt me, like my hamstring, the ever-present Achilles and a new friend, a sore knee. These kind of dings are to be expected. Training for a marathon is hard work. The body is liable to rebel at some point. What's key, I think, is listening to these signals to ease up. It's easier said than done. I was lucky this week because the weather sucked, giving me an excuse to cut back on mileage. The week ended on a high note when I ran two loops of the park at sub 7 pace. It wasn't too difficult. That kind of hard, fast hilly run gives me confidence for Boston, but also hope that I can figure out a pathway to 3. I've bided my time for a while when it comes to the sub-3 marathon, and I think it's time I figure out how to do a new push. Fitness-wise, I feel great now. I'm only about 152 pounds, and I feel fast when I run. The frustrating part of my quest to run a sub-3 marathon is I know I have the ability and the toughness, but I'm held back by my body not digging the hard work. That's led me to figuring out a balancing act of how much is too much. I think I'm figuring it out. The Boston should be a warm up to giving a serious shot at it this fall, probably in Philly. Is it possible? All I know is if I felt the way I did today, when I did 6:50 miles in the park, I can do it.

The Injury Paradox

The hardest part of being a runner is knowing when to ease off running. The entire activity is geared in the exact opposite direction. It's about denying discomfort, pushing through pain. That can lead to problems. Runners are, as one would expect, rather single-minded when it comes to injuries, which makes them even worse. A Runner's World survey found 2/3 of runners suffered an injury in the past year. That's remarkable. What other voluntary activity can claim such an attrition rate? That means most runners look to avoid injuries like the plague. I'm no different. I've been beset by some problem or other for the past few years. It's frustrating. I've come to the conclusion that the Achilles problem I"ve had for the past 18 months isn't going anywhere. But I've adjusted my training enough to keep major difficulties at bay. At the end of the day, that's what it comes down to, I think, figuring out your weaknesses, working to eliminate them but also simply taking them into consideration. I feel like I've gotten to a place where I can deal with my injuries. I'm ready to start running fast again.

Week in Running

This week marked two months until the Boston Marathon. I wanted to get in a solid week after getting derailed last week. I think I did that. For me, there are three key runs to complete, the rest is gravy. 1) speed: I got in a pretty solid six miles at tempo pace. 2) medium-long run: took care of that with a 10 miler mid-week. 3) long: my highlight of the week with 20 miles at a 7:30 pace, a great run if dangerously close to being too fast. The week's training was rounded out with a nice Vibrams recovery and a 5.75-mile Riverside run at aerobic pace. This leaves me pretty much right on schedule, with two 20-milers already down. My big focus remains recovery. The Achilles isn't too happy, so I need to ease up a bit this week before resuming hard training.

The Week in Running

For the most part, it was a week to forget. I came down with some kind of illness on Tuesday that threw me for a loop. Then a friend came to town on Thursday. I'm happy with how the week ended, with a very solid weekend, including a nice long run that was done in tough conditions. At this point, I'm pretty hopeful for Boston.

Week in Running

The training is ramping up. Boston is 10 weeks away. Spring marathons are always tough because the winter just isn't a great time for training. We've been lucky in New York to avoid much in the way of snow, which can easily screw up training. This week was a success, overall. I had an extra off day again, just because of other plans in the evening. The four running days I had were pretty solid, particularly yesterday's long run. It was the first 20-miler of training and done in Central Park. The 7:35 pace is pretty fast for that distance and terrain. Hopefully it means I'm in shape, not that I'm overdoing it. The Achilles is holding up alright, sore after hard workouts but better after I give it some rest. At this point, I'm pretty happy to run four or five times a week. It means the runs should all have a purpose, rather than just getting in the miles.

Month in Running: January

I closed out January today with an 18-mile long run, the farthest I've gone since the Harrisburg Marathon. This month marked the start of training for Boston. It went pretty well. Overall, I ran 152 miles and 19 days. I supplemented that by swimming seven miles in seven sessions. Twenty-six workouts in 31 days is pretty good. The Manhattan Half Marathon was the highlight, giving me some confidence that I'll be in shape to run a decent Boston. The majority of my running took place in Central Park. My bet is this will get me ready for the hills.

Manhattan Half Marathon Report

Today was the first test of the Boston Marathon training. I really only began Jan. 1, since December was probably my worst month for running in a decade. My training log shows just 31 miles run in the entire month, a mere mile a day. Lots of stuff prevented me from getting out there as much as I'd have liked. That's alright, since the body needs time to regenerate. Even mentally, I can't train hard all the time anymore.

Rather than regurgitate the details, I'll re-post my race breakdown from DailyMile. This qualifies as a success in my book. According to the MarathonGuide.com race predictor, my time puts me on track for a 3:08 marathon. Right where I'd like to be.

DM post:

A successful race overall. The Manhattan Half has special significance to me because in 2002, when it was still held in August, I suffered mightily, kept stupidly pushing a sub-7 pace in 90 degrees, and ended up collapsed at mile 12 with severed dehydration. Ending a race at Mt. Sinai Hospital is never a good thing. Thankfully, the race subsequently was moved to the winter, so that wasn't going to happen again.

Going in, I didn't have any defined goal, other than run under 1:35 and feel strong throughout. i borrowed a number from @jim k b/c he wasn't able to run the race. The downside of this was getting corralled farther back than I should. The upside was passing lots of people. I forgot to bring a gel. That's OK because the half distance is right between where I feel like I need that kind of boost. The splits all over the place. Central Park's topography is probably partly to blame -- there are rolling hills with two significant ones, cat and harlem hills. The course was two loops of the park with an extra 1.1 tacked on at the end.

Mile 1: 7:56, good practice of squeezing through tight spaces

Mile 2: 7:06, finally getting room to run normally

Mile 3: 6:47, a surprise split but the fastest part of the course going downhill before Harlem Hill

Mile 4: 7:01, this is the biggest hill of the course

Mile 5: 6:50

Mile 6: 6:42, completed the first loop

Mile 7: 6:44, a DM sighting of Running L pacing some runners to 1:35

Mile 8: 6:54, includes the second time up Cat Hill

Mile 9: 6:44, like mile 3 a fast one

Mile 10: 7:06, Harlem Hill for the second time

Mile 11: 6:47, always find it much easier running a course I know quite well

Mile 12: 6:42

Mile 13: 6:37, still had energy

final .1: :40

Not a bad day, particularly this early in training. Throwing out the crappy first mile, I averaged 6:50 miles on a tough course. The only mile that stands out as weak is the 7:06 at mile 10. Still, it's understandable all things considered. I'm most encouraged that the last mile was the fastest and I didn't end totally wiped out -- or with an IV in my arm. It ranks in my top five fastest half marathons.

13 Weeks to Boston

Exactly 13 weeks from today, I'll line up in Hopkington to make my way to the city of Boston in the marathon. I first ran the race in 2003, coming off a great race at Chicago the previous fall. I made several mistakes in preparation, including running a 50k race in February as a "training run." I found out that fatigued me more than I thought. The race went terribly. I had thoughts of running under three hours, only to realize five miles in that I was in trouble. The final 16 miles weren't so fun. I finished in 3:30, sunburned, depleted and dejected.

This time will be different. After a break from much running due to an illness and some other stuff, I've strung together about a month of solid training. I'm only running four times a week. The idea is to make the runs productive, much like my Harrisburg preparation. This isn't the way I want to train, it's the way I have to train without aggravating my still-balky Achilles problem. I'm mixing in two nights of swimming to offset the missed miles. There's no real way to replace running miles, of course. When I start to get into the peak weeks of training, I'll probably add in another day of running.

So far, training is going well. Last week, I ran 30 miles and swam another two. My long run is up to 15 miles, without many problems other than regular Achilles soreness. Thanks to a stomach problem a month ago, I'm off ibuprofen entirely. I'm stuck with ice if stuff hurts.

That leaves the big question of a goal for Boston. I want to be completely realistic. I don't have the capacity or really interest this winter in killing myself in training. The course is very tough, too. With all that in mind, my goal is to qualify again for Boston with a 3:15. That works out to 7:30 miles. I would also like to run as close to a negative split as possible. Boston starts downhill and really makes you go out too fast. This time, I won't fall into that trap.

Year in Running/Cycling/Swimming

I'm starting to really love DailyMile. One of the things it nails is community. People on DailyMile really do support one another. For me, it's nice but not incredibly important for my own motivation, but it's quite nice to see. What's more, I like seeing how other people train and, in particular, videos of where they run. The second thing DailyMile does nicely is analytics of your training. Today I was emailed a link to a page with my year in running/biking/swimming. The total mileage is screwy, since a mile running, biking and swimming is very different. The figure that most interested me is that I worked out 255 days. This is probably a little low. I'd prefer it to be closer to 300. The full report is here.

2010 Running Goals

I’m not usually one for setting out New Year’s resolutions, but I like to set goals. With that in mind, I came up with my five running goals for 2010.

1. Revive the Pigdog: I’ve become a spotty blogger, both at @bmorrissey and here. It probably figures, since I spend my day writing for Adweek and Adfreak. My updates on DailyMile have also cut into writing here. That’s going to change in 2010. At least two posts to both the Pigdog and @bmorrissey each week, without fail.

2. Run a good Boston. One of my great running regrets is failing at Boston in 2003. In retrospect, it was the end of my greatest streak in running, starting with the 3:02 at Chicago that continued through the winter to my first 50k. I came to Boston hoping to break three hours. It didn’t happen. Looking back, I realize I was still screwed up from the 50k. This year, I’m finally going back to Boston. I want to run a solid race, hopefully under 3:15 so I qualify again for 2011.

3. Get healthy. I haven’t felt healthy running in some time. Harrisburg was encouraging because it made me realize I can run a pretty good marathon while dealing with my Achilles injury. The trick is to minimize the mileage through cross-training. That’s not going to fly in the long term. I need to figure out how to heal the Achilles through stretching, PT, something.

4. Go long. This might seem counter-intuitive to my getting healthy goal, but I’d like to do a 50-miler next year, probably the JFK 50. Ultras have always intrigued me. The closest I’ve come is a pair of 50ks. I loved them, mostly because they were low-key and more fun than big marathons. If I get through Boston in OK shape and figure out the Achilles, I’d love to arrange my fall around the JFK.

5. Have a running adventure. I haven’t had one of these in a while. Running is fun, at least it should be fun. I want to travel somewhere for a fun race, something like the Reach the Beach relay or a long trail run in a place of the country I’ve never been.

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