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Thursday, June 4, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Bolder Boulder 10K
I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the race itself, as it turned into a run for me that became more like a college homecoming parade back in the days of visiting Western State College in Gunnison, Co. than it was a 10k race. Obviously every race has a goal, and everyone, no matter how little they think they are prepared, or what has happened leading up to a race, always thinks at some point before the gun goes off that they will catch "lightning in a bottle", or something to that effect. I remember a 4 miler on Thanksgiving Day 2 years ago in which I threw up in a bathroom of a 7-11 30 minutes before the start, and as a guy who still hasn't run a sub 20 5k officially, I went through the 5k that day around 19:26. I bonked on the last mile, but still finished in just over 26 minutes for the 4 miles.
I was pretty quiet on Sunday after getting up and around. I didn't do much, I didn't leave the house after about noon I think. I went to bed around 945 and was up by 330 to try and get out of town. This is where the story starts to get weird. I did my normal morning routine, although when I went in to "read the paper", I had no luck. So I got my stuff together, figuring I would stop for a SF Red Bull on the road and do business then. I stopped about halfway down to Boulder, and still no luck. I got to Boulder and parked my pickup at a place that was about halfway between the start and finish line. I walked in to pickup my packet, and as I was headed back about a mile to my truck, I ran into jon_a from the MRT section of RWOL. Him and I had run Colorado together about 3 weeks ago and so we chatted for a while. At this point I'm running behind, so I jog to the pickup, store my stuff and am thinking I'll hit the water closet on my way back, but by the time I got back to where they were, the lines were huge and I was less than 5 minutes from the gun. I decided to gamble...
I lost. The first mile went great, around 1.6 or so, it was time for me to find a restroom. NOW. Luckily there are portolets all over the course. After a couple minute pit stop, I started running again, PR, anything special is now out the window. I fought with my legs for the next mile and a half, just feeling like they had nothing in them. Around the halfway point, I have accepted that I'm just looking to finish the race at this point. Boulder runs through a lot of residential stuff whre college kids live. At just around halfway, a dude was holding a skull shaped beer bong and I had stopped to collect myself. He looked at me and said "You wanna hit this?"...I said "It's not Key Light is it?" He said it wasn't, and the next thing you know I'm on the business end of 3.5 beers at 725 in the morning on a Monday. I got cheered, and backslapped, and high 5s, but what I really got out of it was the ability to run the last half of the race, taking in the people, the places, and the craziness that is that race. It was pretty cool. I've always been so focused on racing that I never pay attention to all the things around it. I had fun, but was obviously concerned about my lack of energy, but that was answered the next day, as I came down sick, which leads me to believe that I was in the process of getting sick that morning. Simple enough answer.
On Thursday nights, a buddy of mine and I usually go to Road 34 here in town. I've detailed that place here before so I won't go into it, but last night we stopped in for a couple quick beers and we talked, I saw Moose, one of the bartenders, hanging out and having a couple drinks. I hadn't seen him working for a while, so I went over and said hello and inquired to his lack of presence the last couple weeks. He told me that he had quit his job and was moving to San Francisco with his girlfriend. He had no job, no prospects, nothing. Her job was taking her there, and he wanted to be with her, so he's going. I guess there are still people in the world who care enough about each other to do things like that for each other. I had to smile when he told me the story, but saddened at the same time to see him go. He was always good to me, always took care of me and my friends when we came in, and come Monday, (lol) he'll be in Frisco. We covered how things had been for me for a little while, had a drink, hugged, swapped phone numbers and said goodbye. Good luck Moose.
I was pretty quiet on Sunday after getting up and around. I didn't do much, I didn't leave the house after about noon I think. I went to bed around 945 and was up by 330 to try and get out of town. This is where the story starts to get weird. I did my normal morning routine, although when I went in to "read the paper", I had no luck. So I got my stuff together, figuring I would stop for a SF Red Bull on the road and do business then. I stopped about halfway down to Boulder, and still no luck. I got to Boulder and parked my pickup at a place that was about halfway between the start and finish line. I walked in to pickup my packet, and as I was headed back about a mile to my truck, I ran into jon_a from the MRT section of RWOL. Him and I had run Colorado together about 3 weeks ago and so we chatted for a while. At this point I'm running behind, so I jog to the pickup, store my stuff and am thinking I'll hit the water closet on my way back, but by the time I got back to where they were, the lines were huge and I was less than 5 minutes from the gun. I decided to gamble...
I lost. The first mile went great, around 1.6 or so, it was time for me to find a restroom. NOW. Luckily there are portolets all over the course. After a couple minute pit stop, I started running again, PR, anything special is now out the window. I fought with my legs for the next mile and a half, just feeling like they had nothing in them. Around the halfway point, I have accepted that I'm just looking to finish the race at this point. Boulder runs through a lot of residential stuff whre college kids live. At just around halfway, a dude was holding a skull shaped beer bong and I had stopped to collect myself. He looked at me and said "You wanna hit this?"...I said "It's not Key Light is it?" He said it wasn't, and the next thing you know I'm on the business end of 3.5 beers at 725 in the morning on a Monday. I got cheered, and backslapped, and high 5s, but what I really got out of it was the ability to run the last half of the race, taking in the people, the places, and the craziness that is that race. It was pretty cool. I've always been so focused on racing that I never pay attention to all the things around it. I had fun, but was obviously concerned about my lack of energy, but that was answered the next day, as I came down sick, which leads me to believe that I was in the process of getting sick that morning. Simple enough answer.
On Thursday nights, a buddy of mine and I usually go to Road 34 here in town. I've detailed that place here before so I won't go into it, but last night we stopped in for a couple quick beers and we talked, I saw Moose, one of the bartenders, hanging out and having a couple drinks. I hadn't seen him working for a while, so I went over and said hello and inquired to his lack of presence the last couple weeks. He told me that he had quit his job and was moving to San Francisco with his girlfriend. He had no job, no prospects, nothing. Her job was taking her there, and he wanted to be with her, so he's going. I guess there are still people in the world who care enough about each other to do things like that for each other. I had to smile when he told me the story, but saddened at the same time to see him go. He was always good to me, always took care of me and my friends when we came in, and come Monday, (lol) he'll be in Frisco. We covered how things had been for me for a little while, had a drink, hugged, swapped phone numbers and said goodbye. Good luck Moose.
Monday, May 18, 2009
3 days in the writing
I started writing this about 3 days ago, and had intended to rant a little, but as the days have moved on, I kept getting pulled away, and now the things I was going to talk about have moved to the back burner, as life is happening fast for me right now. But that's a good thing.
I'll hit 2 of the things I had started to write about very quickly, then move on. #1 Bucket List Marathons. I have no problem with this, people of all abilities running a race is one of the great things about running. My only thought is that if you ran one in your life, don't spend the rest of it telling people you are a runner. Or a marathoner in the present tense.
The Raven who was showcased on ESPN. I got into a couple debates about it on Runners World, and all I will say is that at some point, even the healthiest of things can be considered a disease. If they had showcased it by showing all the people coming out to run with him, his clearing of the 100,000 mile mark, and that was it, I would have walked away from the story thinking it was a neat piece. Once they started to talk about how much he hurt, how he couldn't get from room to room some days, how his back was so messed up, it changed the story for me. If I drink 8 beers a day to fight my inner demons, at some point go see a doctor who tells me that I should stop drinking, yet I don't listen, should I be celebrated for this? It's an unpopular opinion I know, but again, just because it's physical activty, doesn't make it healthy when it gets out of hand. And that's all I'm going to say on that anymore.
With Monday rapidly approaching, the Bolder Boulder looms on Memorial Day. I am excited. Although it's just a 10k. it has a marathon like feel to it because over 50,000 people will run it. I have run 4 10k's in my life up to this point, with half of them being in Boulder. My first BB was a mess, with last year's being almost scientific in the way that I ran. I remember talking to Marty and Steve in PM, saying I wanted to run a 42:59, which isn't that fast, but I had run a 46:xx in Boulder the year before, a 44:xx was my PR, and the last 10k I ran was a 46:xx as I was fighting injury trying to get ready for Chicago last year. I ran a 42:58 at last years race, within 1 second. It's a 6:59 pace. The thing is...I have no race plan, I can't even think about a goal time right now. Last year I ran this same race, after running the same marathon, and PR'd. so logic would tell me it's possible for the same thing to happen here. The difference this year is that after I ran my May marathon last year, I took time off, to let myself heal and recover, as opposed to this year, where I took 2 days off running, and I actually biked those days, and got back after it. With 5 weeks between then and Steamboat, I had no time to rest. The curve of recovery to strength again is the biggest question mark for me at this point. Running a poor time at Boulder is not the end of the world, not with 13 days to the Steamboat Marathon, and a taper coming...
On that note, I still don't know what to do about my taper. I ran 5 days as I headed into my last marathon, and think I'll be around the same this time. Although with more miles. I was in the 20's last time, I'm thinking more like 30 something this time.
Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. It's the beginning of summer. The beginning of a new season, the best season of all. I'll talk to you after Boulder.
I'll hit 2 of the things I had started to write about very quickly, then move on. #1 Bucket List Marathons. I have no problem with this, people of all abilities running a race is one of the great things about running. My only thought is that if you ran one in your life, don't spend the rest of it telling people you are a runner. Or a marathoner in the present tense.
The Raven who was showcased on ESPN. I got into a couple debates about it on Runners World, and all I will say is that at some point, even the healthiest of things can be considered a disease. If they had showcased it by showing all the people coming out to run with him, his clearing of the 100,000 mile mark, and that was it, I would have walked away from the story thinking it was a neat piece. Once they started to talk about how much he hurt, how he couldn't get from room to room some days, how his back was so messed up, it changed the story for me. If I drink 8 beers a day to fight my inner demons, at some point go see a doctor who tells me that I should stop drinking, yet I don't listen, should I be celebrated for this? It's an unpopular opinion I know, but again, just because it's physical activty, doesn't make it healthy when it gets out of hand. And that's all I'm going to say on that anymore.
With Monday rapidly approaching, the Bolder Boulder looms on Memorial Day. I am excited. Although it's just a 10k. it has a marathon like feel to it because over 50,000 people will run it. I have run 4 10k's in my life up to this point, with half of them being in Boulder. My first BB was a mess, with last year's being almost scientific in the way that I ran. I remember talking to Marty and Steve in PM, saying I wanted to run a 42:59, which isn't that fast, but I had run a 46:xx in Boulder the year before, a 44:xx was my PR, and the last 10k I ran was a 46:xx as I was fighting injury trying to get ready for Chicago last year. I ran a 42:58 at last years race, within 1 second. It's a 6:59 pace. The thing is...I have no race plan, I can't even think about a goal time right now. Last year I ran this same race, after running the same marathon, and PR'd. so logic would tell me it's possible for the same thing to happen here. The difference this year is that after I ran my May marathon last year, I took time off, to let myself heal and recover, as opposed to this year, where I took 2 days off running, and I actually biked those days, and got back after it. With 5 weeks between then and Steamboat, I had no time to rest. The curve of recovery to strength again is the biggest question mark for me at this point. Running a poor time at Boulder is not the end of the world, not with 13 days to the Steamboat Marathon, and a taper coming...
On that note, I still don't know what to do about my taper. I ran 5 days as I headed into my last marathon, and think I'll be around the same this time. Although with more miles. I was in the 20's last time, I'm thinking more like 30 something this time.
Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone. It's the beginning of summer. The beginning of a new season, the best season of all. I'll talk to you after Boulder.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
20 miles, are you kidding?
Two weeks exactly has passed since the Colorado Marathon, and 3 weeks remains till Steamboat. After my 10 last weekend, in which I stopped every 2.5 miles to walk and give myself a break, I had been feeling stronger each day as I ran. Although last night, I ran .10 miles after work. My boss is out of town, and I worked 6 days and about 58 hours. I figured I was entitled. I went home and showered instead, meeting my buddy Sean at the Town Pump, Ft. Collins' smallest bar, and then we went to Coopersmiths before I came home and called it a night. It had been a long week for both of us, and I needed some sleep in advance of the 20 miler. I had been feeling good on most my runs, so I felt confident.
I went to Gib's NY Bagel shop this morning. http://gibsbagels.com/ and had breakfast. I came home and did laundry for a few, and got out for the run around 10:30 am. It was already 70 degrees. I felt pretty good for the first half of the run, but by mile 13, I had stopped sweating, which is bad. It meant I was dehydrated. Long story short, I pushed till 18 or so before it really started to go bad. At 18.5, an ice cream truck went by. The fact I had no money on me is the only reason the big ice cream cookie is not still in my belly. I wrapped up the run, my calves, and my toe were hurting, but not injured. Looks like Steamboat is a go.
I really hope to BQ in Steamboat. Part of the reason why is that I will not have to run a fall marathon then. I can run 5 and 10 k's for the summer, build base, but mostly is that I can still go to Chicago in October without having to worry about marathoning the next weekend. It's a trip I've grown to love, although for different reasons this year. I'm starting to think it's importaint that I go.
With a change in what I usually do during the summers, I have made plans to go out east this year. I booked a flight to the east coast on Friday to see a friend of mine, that I am sure never thought I would make my way out to visit him, I hope the big city is ready for a little country. And I hope that they are all ready to see me.
Next Monday is Boulder. I signed up last week. It's a special race for me, and another milestone race. This and Horsetooth are the only races that I have done each year since I started running. I'm very excited this year, and the weather looks good for a nice race. I don't know what to expect out of Boulder, except a good time, but I can't wait.
Thanks for reading this everyone, not much to report now, but felt like I wanted to say hi.
I went to Gib's NY Bagel shop this morning. http://gibsbagels.com/ and had breakfast. I came home and did laundry for a few, and got out for the run around 10:30 am. It was already 70 degrees. I felt pretty good for the first half of the run, but by mile 13, I had stopped sweating, which is bad. It meant I was dehydrated. Long story short, I pushed till 18 or so before it really started to go bad. At 18.5, an ice cream truck went by. The fact I had no money on me is the only reason the big ice cream cookie is not still in my belly. I wrapped up the run, my calves, and my toe were hurting, but not injured. Looks like Steamboat is a go.
I really hope to BQ in Steamboat. Part of the reason why is that I will not have to run a fall marathon then. I can run 5 and 10 k's for the summer, build base, but mostly is that I can still go to Chicago in October without having to worry about marathoning the next weekend. It's a trip I've grown to love, although for different reasons this year. I'm starting to think it's importaint that I go.
With a change in what I usually do during the summers, I have made plans to go out east this year. I booked a flight to the east coast on Friday to see a friend of mine, that I am sure never thought I would make my way out to visit him, I hope the big city is ready for a little country. And I hope that they are all ready to see me.
Next Monday is Boulder. I signed up last week. It's a special race for me, and another milestone race. This and Horsetooth are the only races that I have done each year since I started running. I'm very excited this year, and the weather looks good for a nice race. I don't know what to expect out of Boulder, except a good time, but I can't wait.
Thanks for reading this everyone, not much to report now, but felt like I wanted to say hi.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
One Weeks Time
So a week removed from the Colorado Marathon, I've run 4 days since then. Wednesday was 3 miles, Thursday was 5 miles. I took Friday off, knocked out another 5 on Saturday, followed by a 10 mile run on Sunday in the rain. I feel pretty weak still, but not as weak as a have after the last 2 marathons. I'm encouraged. This week I think I'll pick up a few today, take tomorrow off, then try another 10 miler after work on Wednesday, go between 5 and 7 for the remaining days, then spike a 20 mile run on Sunday. It gets me into the 40's for the week this week, and then gets me one more long run as I push to Steamboat. My boss is on vacation this week, so I get to work 7a-6p straight M-F this week, and then 7a-4p straight on Saturday. This couldn't have come at a worse time as I try to finish my preparations, but it's just another hurdle to get over. The week after, I will try a medium long run on Saturday, rest Sunday, then off to the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day. I'm starting to get excited for that one, although I haven't had much time to process much of anything here lately. I'm pretty much just trying to get through each day and move onto the next. Life as I had known it for a while has started to look a little smaller in the rear view mirror, and the next thing for me to address is where I live. It has been time for me to move for a little while now, but I had been waiting on some stuff. Looks like I'm ready to get some new digs.
In other news, I find myself getting caught up a little bit in the Denver Nuggets playoff run that they have going. I don't watch a lot of pro basketball anymore, but near the end of the season, as the Nugs grabbed the #2 seed in the Western Conference, I started to pay closer attention. I think I was like everyone else around here, thinking that it's great, but when they run across Kobe and the Lakers, that the same thing that always happens will happen. Well we sit here today, the Nuggets can close the series with Dallas tonight, and the Lakers are in a dogfight with the Rockets, who dismantled them yesterday minus Yao. I still think in the end that the Lakers are too much, but it would be nice to see the Nuggets finish whe Mavs off tonight and then have Kobe and the boys have to fight and bang with Houston for another 3 games.
Manny was caught being Manny this last week, and although it's a "No sh*t" moment for most of the world, it's still bad for baseball. I'm not a fan of his, or the Dodgers, and the bad part is that the Dodgers will probably still be in first place when he comes off suspension. The funny part has been listening to the Sox fans talk about how the team took out the trash before he got busted. You have to be a moron to think that he wasn't doping while with Boston. It's funny how it's ok when someone like that plays for your own team, how skewed a point of view can be.
I am putting some thought into what I'm going to do with my summer. Obviously I'm going to do a lot of running, and what happens on June 7th will go a long way to tell me what I will be doing with my summer. If I BQ, then I may bypass any fall marathons this year, and maybe work on a sub 20 5k, or see if I can blow through my half marathon PR. It might open me up for a trip or two, as the last couple years I have gone to only a couple places, and used the rest of my time off for in town visitors. I'm thinking of someplace that will make me happy, where I can have fun.
In other news, I find myself getting caught up a little bit in the Denver Nuggets playoff run that they have going. I don't watch a lot of pro basketball anymore, but near the end of the season, as the Nugs grabbed the #2 seed in the Western Conference, I started to pay closer attention. I think I was like everyone else around here, thinking that it's great, but when they run across Kobe and the Lakers, that the same thing that always happens will happen. Well we sit here today, the Nuggets can close the series with Dallas tonight, and the Lakers are in a dogfight with the Rockets, who dismantled them yesterday minus Yao. I still think in the end that the Lakers are too much, but it would be nice to see the Nuggets finish whe Mavs off tonight and then have Kobe and the boys have to fight and bang with Houston for another 3 games.
Manny was caught being Manny this last week, and although it's a "No sh*t" moment for most of the world, it's still bad for baseball. I'm not a fan of his, or the Dodgers, and the bad part is that the Dodgers will probably still be in first place when he comes off suspension. The funny part has been listening to the Sox fans talk about how the team took out the trash before he got busted. You have to be a moron to think that he wasn't doping while with Boston. It's funny how it's ok when someone like that plays for your own team, how skewed a point of view can be.
I am putting some thought into what I'm going to do with my summer. Obviously I'm going to do a lot of running, and what happens on June 7th will go a long way to tell me what I will be doing with my summer. If I BQ, then I may bypass any fall marathons this year, and maybe work on a sub 20 5k, or see if I can blow through my half marathon PR. It might open me up for a trip or two, as the last couple years I have gone to only a couple places, and used the rest of my time off for in town visitors. I'm thinking of someplace that will make me happy, where I can have fun.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Colorado Marathon
I posted a pretty long race report on RW, but thought I would do something a little more complete here, if for nothing more than having it for myself, as the RW one will slide off the front page and be lost for all time in the next day or so. I had some things on my mind that I thought running this race would help, help me move on, help me find peace. What I found is that when I woke up race morning, as I got ready to catch the bus up to the start line, a lot of memories from last years pre race were there. I smiled a lot, and was very much distracted.
I spoke of my training log in my last post, how little I had run. On Friday I went to the running store, bought some GU's, which I hadn't even used one since this same marathon last year. I had 2 Powerbar Gels from a previous missed long run, so I bought 3 Gu packs, called rocket or something. I mention this because it shows how really unprepared I was. I also switched Gatorade flavors to carry to, because the Fruit Punch might have stained my new "Kal" racing shirt I made. I bought some orange on my way to the buses.
Once I stepped on the bus though, I filled with fear. The last time my legs saw 20 miles was this marathon last year. I felt ok, but as I talked about in my last entry, I had done very little running the last month or so. My weight was up to around 182, and I had been biking and using an eliptical, but not nearly enough for a guy who was trying to marathon. I really thought about asking them to let me off the bus.
We got up the canyon and I was so nervous. I watched the digital thermomoter on the bus continue to drop as we headed up the canyon, till it settled around 37. My drop bag had some warmer weather stuff in it, but turns out it was perfect. The girl from Fox 31 in Denver was running so I watched their news the night before, figuring on a weather report geared to this event. They said rain and 30's. There wasn't a cloud in the sky though. Another perfect race day. I met Jon, Victoria, and Sean, three people I met from RW the day before at the start line. And literally before I knew it, the gun went off...
Miles:
1 : 7:58
2: 7:46
3: 7:42
4: 7:23
5: 7:32
6: 7:48
7: 7:34
8: 7:53
9: 7:45
10: 7:40
11: 7:56
12: 7:54
13: 7:52
14: 7:43
15: 7:48
16: 7:50
17: 7:49
18: 7:47
19: 8:01 Here we go. The one thing I will say is that I was amazed how long it took for me to get into the 8's. Plus this had the first big uphill on ot once you are out of the canyon.
20: 8:10
21: 7:59 No clue how that happened
22: 8:19
23: 8:50
24: 8:39
25: 8:59
26: 8:42
.38: 3:47
3:30:41 on the gun.
At the 8 mile mark, I was doing the math in my head, if I sped up, I could still run a BQ I told myself. That thought lasted about 30 seconds. I went through the half about 3 minutes faster than I ran the Horsetooth Half 2 weeks prior. Around 17 or so, I started to think about beating last years time. Around 20, I was thinking I could get in under 3:30. It's easy to see that the last 6 or so miles were hard on me, they have been each other time I've run a marathon. The last miles seemed easier to me. At least easier than before.
I spoke before of how this run was supposed to be a sort of therapy for me, thinking I would go out and get lost in the beauty of the canyons, the river, the trees. I was out there for 3.5 hours and except for one location around mile 18 or so, I thought about the run the entire time. I don't remember much of what I was thinking at that point, but the race was on my mind the entire time. This was a completely musicless race for me. I did not wear an IPOD for any runs during the training and did the race with nothing but my thoughts.
The entire way down the canyon, I thought about watching my pace. At the 10k mark, when I screamed out "Just 20 to go.", the crowd seemed less than impressed. Tight asses. As I climbed the hill to Ted's Place, right around mile 17, there was tremendous crowd support. A got called Kal a couple times, since it was on my shirt, and also had people say I was still smiling. I was because I was happy knowing that within a couple miles, even if I crashed, I could still walk in and have a 4 hour marathon. Around 18 or so, a kid from the Marines and I started running together and talking. He said he could feel cramps coming on, and we distracted each other with talks of other marathons and times we had run. When I hung the corner to get on the bike trail, I remember my legs locking up at that point last year, but I pushed on. As I crossed the wooden bridges where the last miles are ran, and also where I had been running about 4 times a week before the injuries, and where the HTH finished, I shuffled off to the dirt trail that runs along the path and used it for a lot more of the race. I told myself, just make the tunnel that's halfway to the next water station, and you can walk for a little while. When I reached the tunnel, I talked myself into making that water station. I walked through every one, start to finish. I carried my own Gatorade, but got water and a few second break at each one. It made a lot of difference for me. Just after that water station, someone says "Keep it up Kal, nice job." I looked over, and the kid who caught me at mile 4 of Horsetooth was there. I asked him why it took him that long to catch me, lol. I'm proud to say, I saw his first post on the marathon thread this morning. I made the next water station, walked through it, and got going once more. About another half mile or so, me and a kid from Utah started to talk. He had run RNRAZ in January and was doing this, same as I did last year. He wanted to stop and walk and I told him just to stay with me till the water stop, we would walk through it and go to the finish. As we approached about 25.5, there are 2 hills there that you have to do. I warned him about them, seeing as he had never run the course before. We hung the last corner and had about .40 to go, he took off, and I had nothing left. I went in as fast as I could, but it was more like a jog, a lot like the rest of the run.
I learned more about marathoning on this one day than I had ever known before. I didn't run in Chicago because I was unprepared, but also because I was scared. When this same race went bad for me last year, it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me in my running career. I was afraid of how it felt at the end, how when it got tough that I would quit and I didn't want that feeling again, never in my life. I learned a lot about myself yesterday. More than I have in a long time. And I hope to apply it in the next 5 weeks, and for the rest of my running career.
Thanks to Stephen and Kyle, both of you helped a lot the day before the race. Sean, both my buddy from here, and from Wyoming, you guys are awesome, as was Jon, and everyone else I met this weekend.
So I have 5 weeks to Steamboat. I'm trying to figure out a running schedule that gets me there, and gets me 15 minutes in about 2 weeks. A lot of those minutes will be confidence. There is a half in Denver I might race on the 17th, then the Boldre Boulder is on the 25th. Then I would have a 13 day taper into Steamboat. Where to stick a 20 miler in there is the question, as I don't think I can do it this weekend. I'll keep you updated.
I spoke of my training log in my last post, how little I had run. On Friday I went to the running store, bought some GU's, which I hadn't even used one since this same marathon last year. I had 2 Powerbar Gels from a previous missed long run, so I bought 3 Gu packs, called rocket or something. I mention this because it shows how really unprepared I was. I also switched Gatorade flavors to carry to, because the Fruit Punch might have stained my new "Kal" racing shirt I made. I bought some orange on my way to the buses.
Once I stepped on the bus though, I filled with fear. The last time my legs saw 20 miles was this marathon last year. I felt ok, but as I talked about in my last entry, I had done very little running the last month or so. My weight was up to around 182, and I had been biking and using an eliptical, but not nearly enough for a guy who was trying to marathon. I really thought about asking them to let me off the bus.
We got up the canyon and I was so nervous. I watched the digital thermomoter on the bus continue to drop as we headed up the canyon, till it settled around 37. My drop bag had some warmer weather stuff in it, but turns out it was perfect. The girl from Fox 31 in Denver was running so I watched their news the night before, figuring on a weather report geared to this event. They said rain and 30's. There wasn't a cloud in the sky though. Another perfect race day. I met Jon, Victoria, and Sean, three people I met from RW the day before at the start line. And literally before I knew it, the gun went off...
Miles:
1 : 7:58
2: 7:46
3: 7:42
4: 7:23
5: 7:32
6: 7:48
7: 7:34
8: 7:53
9: 7:45
10: 7:40
11: 7:56
12: 7:54
13: 7:52
14: 7:43
15: 7:48
16: 7:50
17: 7:49
18: 7:47
19: 8:01 Here we go. The one thing I will say is that I was amazed how long it took for me to get into the 8's. Plus this had the first big uphill on ot once you are out of the canyon.
20: 8:10
21: 7:59 No clue how that happened
22: 8:19
23: 8:50
24: 8:39
25: 8:59
26: 8:42
.38: 3:47
3:30:41 on the gun.
At the 8 mile mark, I was doing the math in my head, if I sped up, I could still run a BQ I told myself. That thought lasted about 30 seconds. I went through the half about 3 minutes faster than I ran the Horsetooth Half 2 weeks prior. Around 17 or so, I started to think about beating last years time. Around 20, I was thinking I could get in under 3:30. It's easy to see that the last 6 or so miles were hard on me, they have been each other time I've run a marathon. The last miles seemed easier to me. At least easier than before.
I spoke before of how this run was supposed to be a sort of therapy for me, thinking I would go out and get lost in the beauty of the canyons, the river, the trees. I was out there for 3.5 hours and except for one location around mile 18 or so, I thought about the run the entire time. I don't remember much of what I was thinking at that point, but the race was on my mind the entire time. This was a completely musicless race for me. I did not wear an IPOD for any runs during the training and did the race with nothing but my thoughts.
The entire way down the canyon, I thought about watching my pace. At the 10k mark, when I screamed out "Just 20 to go.", the crowd seemed less than impressed. Tight asses. As I climbed the hill to Ted's Place, right around mile 17, there was tremendous crowd support. A got called Kal a couple times, since it was on my shirt, and also had people say I was still smiling. I was because I was happy knowing that within a couple miles, even if I crashed, I could still walk in and have a 4 hour marathon. Around 18 or so, a kid from the Marines and I started running together and talking. He said he could feel cramps coming on, and we distracted each other with talks of other marathons and times we had run. When I hung the corner to get on the bike trail, I remember my legs locking up at that point last year, but I pushed on. As I crossed the wooden bridges where the last miles are ran, and also where I had been running about 4 times a week before the injuries, and where the HTH finished, I shuffled off to the dirt trail that runs along the path and used it for a lot more of the race. I told myself, just make the tunnel that's halfway to the next water station, and you can walk for a little while. When I reached the tunnel, I talked myself into making that water station. I walked through every one, start to finish. I carried my own Gatorade, but got water and a few second break at each one. It made a lot of difference for me. Just after that water station, someone says "Keep it up Kal, nice job." I looked over, and the kid who caught me at mile 4 of Horsetooth was there. I asked him why it took him that long to catch me, lol. I'm proud to say, I saw his first post on the marathon thread this morning. I made the next water station, walked through it, and got going once more. About another half mile or so, me and a kid from Utah started to talk. He had run RNRAZ in January and was doing this, same as I did last year. He wanted to stop and walk and I told him just to stay with me till the water stop, we would walk through it and go to the finish. As we approached about 25.5, there are 2 hills there that you have to do. I warned him about them, seeing as he had never run the course before. We hung the last corner and had about .40 to go, he took off, and I had nothing left. I went in as fast as I could, but it was more like a jog, a lot like the rest of the run.
I learned more about marathoning on this one day than I had ever known before. I didn't run in Chicago because I was unprepared, but also because I was scared. When this same race went bad for me last year, it was the worst thing that had ever happened to me in my running career. I was afraid of how it felt at the end, how when it got tough that I would quit and I didn't want that feeling again, never in my life. I learned a lot about myself yesterday. More than I have in a long time. And I hope to apply it in the next 5 weeks, and for the rest of my running career.
Thanks to Stephen and Kyle, both of you helped a lot the day before the race. Sean, both my buddy from here, and from Wyoming, you guys are awesome, as was Jon, and everyone else I met this weekend.
So I have 5 weeks to Steamboat. I'm trying to figure out a running schedule that gets me there, and gets me 15 minutes in about 2 weeks. A lot of those minutes will be confidence. There is a half in Denver I might race on the 17th, then the Boldre Boulder is on the 25th. Then I would have a 13 day taper into Steamboat. Where to stick a 20 miler in there is the question, as I don't think I can do it this weekend. I'll keep you updated.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
The April Fool
So way back near the end of March, I decided that I better get my ass in gear and get signed up for the Colorado Marathon before the registration closes. Everything was going well, I seemed healthy, then the day I signed up finally, I felt a little tweaky from my left inner groin area. The upper part of my IT band was hassling me, and suddenly I went from marathon training to just trying to get miles.
For this training session my miles per week were as follows
Week 1: 28.1 I ran a New Years Eve 5k and then partied my ass off on NYD
Week 2: 43.7
Week 3: 36.9
Week 4: 63.1
Week 5: 60.0
Week 6: 40.1
Week 7: 70.1
Week 8: 48.2
Week 9: 51.8
Week 10: 53.9
Week 11: 47.4
Week 12: 25.6
Week 13: 5.0
Week 14: 25.1
Week 15: 26.3
Week 16: 9.3
Week 17: 29.2
Week 18: 13.8 so far, with another 10 or so to come.
Almost 680 miles to prepare. Less than 40 mpw average. The last 6 weeks were a wreck. I'm still a little off, but the race must go on.
Last week I made a life changing decision, one that will change my life forever. Good or bad, the jury is still out on that. The last couple years have been a real struggle for me. A lot of things have gone on in my life that I don't fo into on here, mostly because I feel there are some things that aren't to be shared. I know people think drugs or alcohol when they read something like that, but I assure you it's not. I dedicated a lot of my time and effort into something that turned our to be a dead end. To put that much time and effort into something and know that it was all for nothing, that all your pain, sweat, and tears were givin in vain is a hard thing to do. But sometimes a person has to realize that the only way to find happiness is to endure pain first, and I have for almost 2 years. I've decided that I need to be true to myself, and that's what I'm doing.
When I quit on Chicago after my IT issue last year, I was drained, worn out, had no fight left in me. I wanted to back out of Colorado this year, but after spending my day Sunday in the bottom of a bottomless bottle of beer, I went and ran on Monday, and part way through that run, I decided that for my heart and soul, I needed to do this. After all these months and all these miles, I can leave this baggage somewhere on the course, and return to the road I was on years ago, the one to happiness, to successful running, to the rest of my life. Belief in others is foolish, you can only count on yourself. I used to believe in this saying, but thought for a little while that maybe you just needed to find the right person to believe in. I was wrong.
Expect to see a 4 hour marathon or so. There is no tracking, but am making arrangements with a couple of people from runnersworld.com that I will give at least an update or two on the course, since some walking will be upcoming for sure, and my fuel belt has a spot for my blackberry.
I expect this to be my last entry before the race. I know some people might think it foolish to do this, but remember, they're just miles.
Good luck to everyone racing this weekend. Especially Steve, because as long as I finish, my 3rd marathon was better than yours, I'll figure out how to run that 2:58 in Steamboat, like you did in Philly, after Sunday :p
For this training session my miles per week were as follows
Week 1: 28.1 I ran a New Years Eve 5k and then partied my ass off on NYD
Week 2: 43.7
Week 3: 36.9
Week 4: 63.1
Week 5: 60.0
Week 6: 40.1
Week 7: 70.1
Week 8: 48.2
Week 9: 51.8
Week 10: 53.9
Week 11: 47.4
Week 12: 25.6
Week 13: 5.0
Week 14: 25.1
Week 15: 26.3
Week 16: 9.3
Week 17: 29.2
Week 18: 13.8 so far, with another 10 or so to come.
Almost 680 miles to prepare. Less than 40 mpw average. The last 6 weeks were a wreck. I'm still a little off, but the race must go on.
Last week I made a life changing decision, one that will change my life forever. Good or bad, the jury is still out on that. The last couple years have been a real struggle for me. A lot of things have gone on in my life that I don't fo into on here, mostly because I feel there are some things that aren't to be shared. I know people think drugs or alcohol when they read something like that, but I assure you it's not. I dedicated a lot of my time and effort into something that turned our to be a dead end. To put that much time and effort into something and know that it was all for nothing, that all your pain, sweat, and tears were givin in vain is a hard thing to do. But sometimes a person has to realize that the only way to find happiness is to endure pain first, and I have for almost 2 years. I've decided that I need to be true to myself, and that's what I'm doing.
When I quit on Chicago after my IT issue last year, I was drained, worn out, had no fight left in me. I wanted to back out of Colorado this year, but after spending my day Sunday in the bottom of a bottomless bottle of beer, I went and ran on Monday, and part way through that run, I decided that for my heart and soul, I needed to do this. After all these months and all these miles, I can leave this baggage somewhere on the course, and return to the road I was on years ago, the one to happiness, to successful running, to the rest of my life. Belief in others is foolish, you can only count on yourself. I used to believe in this saying, but thought for a little while that maybe you just needed to find the right person to believe in. I was wrong.
Expect to see a 4 hour marathon or so. There is no tracking, but am making arrangements with a couple of people from runnersworld.com that I will give at least an update or two on the course, since some walking will be upcoming for sure, and my fuel belt has a spot for my blackberry.
I expect this to be my last entry before the race. I know some people might think it foolish to do this, but remember, they're just miles.
Good luck to everyone racing this weekend. Especially Steve, because as long as I finish, my 3rd marathon was better than yours, I'll figure out how to run that 2:58 in Steamboat, like you did in Philly, after Sunday :p
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Horsetooth Half Marathon
Tomorrow is the 19th of April. My 3rd annual Horsetooth Half Marathon is coming up in the morning. This race was the first half marathon I had ever run, and probably my all time favorite race. I can still remember the days leading up to both of the other ones. 2 years ago, I went out for my Saturday run before the race and cramped up, freaking me out and causing me to drink about 3 bottles of Powerade Zero the night before and freak out. I also remember consuming a Red Bull, and a Spike before reaching the starting line, lol. Last year, I went to the packet pickup, and drank beer for 3 hours with fellow runners, probably left the 30 seconds that I finished behind my PR somewhere at the Miramont Fitness Center's FAC that was going on. I've logged around 7 miles this week, but some bike and eliptical time. The race will happen, it may be my slowest half ever, but I'll finish it. As will the full marathon here in 15 days. But that's another story for another time.
I've come to a realization in my life. After being a fairly serious runner for about 2.5 years, having run 2 marathons, 5 halves, and countless 5 and 10k's, that at this point, I'm not a high mileage guy, at least not right now. When I ran and was successful in my first marathon, I ran around 45 miles a week, but I also used an exercise bike, an eliptical machine and weights to cross train. After RNRAZ last January, I used those things less and less, and by the time I was trying to get ready for Chicago last summer, I was pretty much just running and doing nothing else. At my current weight, my legs and feet just don't like it. My toes are still bothering me, as are my left knee and IT band. The old routine for me was to get up @ 5, lift by 5:30, nothing major, just some muscle building. Then I would get 5 or 6 miles on the road at lunch, maybe pick up another 2 or 3 after work, then an hour or so on the bike or eliptical, then off to shower and refuel. Good cardio and lower impact. My long runs on the weekend were easier for me, and I stayed healthier. The allure of being a 70-80 mile a week runner has really gotten me in a bad spot, and really, to be a good marathoner, a person doesn't need to run that many miles. The time will come, when I want to be a sub 3 guy, or around there, that I will have to run those kinds of miles, but hopefully my body will be prepared for it by then.
I know some people will chime in and say that miles don't cause injury, that intensity does. Well the simple truth for me is that I can't (or won't) run 9:00 miles for 75-80% of my training. I like to run fast, and feel that I am running easy, and when I do those kinds of paces, I feel out of whack, unnatural. And I also feel like when I run slow, that I am very heavy footed, that my turnover is very slow, thus I am pounding on my feet and knees.
I have this half tomorrow and the full in 2 weeks. The Steamboat Marathon is in 7 weeks, and my base is still very good, I just need to get the running part of it going again. Lots of long weekend miles, shorter miles during the weeks and lots of bike time is what's coming up for me. But when I get ready for Denver in October, it'll look a little different from a training standpoint. I think the Daniels' plan will still be used, but we'll probably set the max mileage at 50 or so, instead of 70.
Good luck to all those running this weekend. Especially those of you in Boston, have fun, but not too much.. Leave it all on the course.
I've come to a realization in my life. After being a fairly serious runner for about 2.5 years, having run 2 marathons, 5 halves, and countless 5 and 10k's, that at this point, I'm not a high mileage guy, at least not right now. When I ran and was successful in my first marathon, I ran around 45 miles a week, but I also used an exercise bike, an eliptical machine and weights to cross train. After RNRAZ last January, I used those things less and less, and by the time I was trying to get ready for Chicago last summer, I was pretty much just running and doing nothing else. At my current weight, my legs and feet just don't like it. My toes are still bothering me, as are my left knee and IT band. The old routine for me was to get up @ 5, lift by 5:30, nothing major, just some muscle building. Then I would get 5 or 6 miles on the road at lunch, maybe pick up another 2 or 3 after work, then an hour or so on the bike or eliptical, then off to shower and refuel. Good cardio and lower impact. My long runs on the weekend were easier for me, and I stayed healthier. The allure of being a 70-80 mile a week runner has really gotten me in a bad spot, and really, to be a good marathoner, a person doesn't need to run that many miles. The time will come, when I want to be a sub 3 guy, or around there, that I will have to run those kinds of miles, but hopefully my body will be prepared for it by then.
I know some people will chime in and say that miles don't cause injury, that intensity does. Well the simple truth for me is that I can't (or won't) run 9:00 miles for 75-80% of my training. I like to run fast, and feel that I am running easy, and when I do those kinds of paces, I feel out of whack, unnatural. And I also feel like when I run slow, that I am very heavy footed, that my turnover is very slow, thus I am pounding on my feet and knees.
I have this half tomorrow and the full in 2 weeks. The Steamboat Marathon is in 7 weeks, and my base is still very good, I just need to get the running part of it going again. Lots of long weekend miles, shorter miles during the weeks and lots of bike time is what's coming up for me. But when I get ready for Denver in October, it'll look a little different from a training standpoint. I think the Daniels' plan will still be used, but we'll probably set the max mileage at 50 or so, instead of 70.
Good luck to all those running this weekend. Especially those of you in Boston, have fun, but not too much.. Leave it all on the course.
Monday, March 23, 2009
On the Fly
So here I sit, 41 days from the marathon. Anyone who looks at my training log either thinks I'm forgetfull and no longer am logging miles or that something is wrong. Unfortunatly it is the latter. Moving back to last weekend, I had to make an emergency trip back home to the valley to see my family. I left on Saturday after work, but before I left, I went for a quick 5 miles that didn't go very well. I could really feel my left groin bothering me. When I tried to go out on Sunday and get my Q1 in, I could barely run. I wound up taking Sunday and Monday off and then coming back with 10 miles Tuesday. On Wednesday, I went out for 5 at lunch, and the plan was to get another 5 after a meeting a work. Well at the meeting, I was informed that everybody was taking a 10% pay cut, so me and one of the guys went to have a couple beers insetead. On Thursday I went out and ran 4 X 12 minutes @ T pace, with 2 minute rests. Including the 2 mile warm up and cool down, it was 10 miles total. It was also probably the best marathon specific workout that I have ever had, with the possible exception of a 20 miler I did before my first marathon, before I knew what LSD was. Friday morning I got up, felt a little sore in my legs, went down to Runners Roost, ponied up the 95 bucks for the marathon, and was planning a 13.1 mile run that day. No go. I tried to run Saturday at lunch, same result. My thigh on my left leg feels torn up inside. Rewind to Thursday afternoon. My left foot was bothering me some that day, but having missed some runs, I wanted to try and get out and get my workout in, especially having missed my previous Q workout. I tested it, and it felt ok to run the 10 miles on. Looks like it changed my gait though, bothering my thigh, my knee, and my groin all at once. So bottom line is this. Last week I ran 20 miles, I haven't made a Sunday long run in 2 weeks, and although I'm on the mend, I probably will have almost taken 6 days off by the time I resume.
I went to watch the Colorado Mammoth play indoor lacrosse last night, (it was entertaining, but I still prefer hockey) and as I watched the game I was thinking alot about training, marathoning, and such. For both of my first two marathons, I trained for 13 weeks. 11 hard than a 2 week taper. When I tried to prepare for Chicago last year, it was right around the 12 week mark that I broke down. Looking at the calendar, this is right about in that same time frame. The difference right now is that, when I was training for Chicago, as the days and workouts came and went, I really felt like I was never getting anywhere. Looking back, I still think I could have saved the Chicago Marathon this year, I just didn't have it in me to continue on in the training when I knew it wasn't working for me. I could have worked throught the IT issue and still run it. I just don't think I had the fire in my belly to go out in front of all these people I knew, and not be able to perform to the standard I had set for myself. Not one anyone else has set for me. I don't feel that way right now. I have made tremendous gains in my training this time, with Thursday night's run really showing me how far I have come, in really what has been a short time. I was running less than 35 mpw when I first started this program, and although I only hit 70 one out of the three times I was supposed to, and even with this time off, this marathon is not only doable, but I can still get in around the time I want to I believe.
I will hopefully return to running tomorrow, for 5 miles or so. Then run the rest of the week, leading up to Sunday. The Daniels' program Q1 workouts are now out the window. My next 4 sunday workouts will go as follows (hopefully) 19 this Sunday, 20 the following, 21 the weekend after, then the Horsetooth Half Marathon, then my 2 week taper. The 2 marathons that I have made the starting line to, that's how I did my 20's. The Q2s will still be run each week, but the long stuff will change.
No worries people.
I went to watch the Colorado Mammoth play indoor lacrosse last night, (it was entertaining, but I still prefer hockey) and as I watched the game I was thinking alot about training, marathoning, and such. For both of my first two marathons, I trained for 13 weeks. 11 hard than a 2 week taper. When I tried to prepare for Chicago last year, it was right around the 12 week mark that I broke down. Looking at the calendar, this is right about in that same time frame. The difference right now is that, when I was training for Chicago, as the days and workouts came and went, I really felt like I was never getting anywhere. Looking back, I still think I could have saved the Chicago Marathon this year, I just didn't have it in me to continue on in the training when I knew it wasn't working for me. I could have worked throught the IT issue and still run it. I just don't think I had the fire in my belly to go out in front of all these people I knew, and not be able to perform to the standard I had set for myself. Not one anyone else has set for me. I don't feel that way right now. I have made tremendous gains in my training this time, with Thursday night's run really showing me how far I have come, in really what has been a short time. I was running less than 35 mpw when I first started this program, and although I only hit 70 one out of the three times I was supposed to, and even with this time off, this marathon is not only doable, but I can still get in around the time I want to I believe.
I will hopefully return to running tomorrow, for 5 miles or so. Then run the rest of the week, leading up to Sunday. The Daniels' program Q1 workouts are now out the window. My next 4 sunday workouts will go as follows (hopefully) 19 this Sunday, 20 the following, 21 the weekend after, then the Horsetooth Half Marathon, then my 2 week taper. The 2 marathons that I have made the starting line to, that's how I did my 20's. The Q2s will still be run each week, but the long stuff will change.
No worries people.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Big Toe
So last week after my Q2 workout, I came down with a sprain in my big toe on my right foot. When I went out and did my 19 mile run on Sunday, about 14 miles in, it really started bothering me to the point that I really was worried about it. I had to pick up the pace at that point and go back to 7 minute miles, and for a couple minutes I really thought I was in a bad way. I had been reading about Turf Toe, and how it can put people out of action for almost a month. Upon further review though, the pain was on the top of my foot, and resonating it's way down to the toe. A little ice and some Advil, and after yesterday's 13.1, I am unconcerned about it. I think it was just a ding from all the miles I have been running.
I don't rant much in my blogs, mostly because I figure "what does anyone care what I think?", but I've never made any secret of the fact that I love Colorado, and Ft. Collins in particular. But here lately, as I get out and about on these longer runs, I am tending to notice some things, and they are some things that bother me about my little community. At the corner of Mulberry and Lemay, right out in front of the Home Depot/Wal Mart complex the past week or so, there has been a guy with a sign asking for money. Don't get me wrong, I am not here to say "I hate the homeless.", or anything like that. It's just that we never have had much of that around here. Ft. Collins actually has a decent sized homeless population, and about 3/4 mile away from where I work, there is a park where they are allowed to habitat, sleep, and such. The police allow them to stay there and don't bother them, and in agreement, they do not populate the neighboring parks and areas. And literally, there is pretty much never any trouble that comes from them, but seeing this really reminds me of areas in Denver that I have been to, and it makes me feel like my little town isn't quite so little anymore. I hope that makes sense...
6 days ago, I was on a 19 mile run, and as I came down to the last 4 miles or so, I was on Drake heading west. With the exception of College Ave, Mullberry, Drake, Prospect, Horsetooth, and Harmony roads ( the main roads here in Ft. Collins) almost every road in this town has a bike lane on it. I spend a lot of time running in bike lanes, mostly because it's asphalt instead of concrete, and because the sidewalks are either full of people walking, or, people on bikes????even though they have a bike lane. So as I headed west, there were 3 guys walking west and the sidewalk was only wide enough for 2, so one of them was pretty much walking in the street. A car honked at the guy to get out of the road, and had to go into the other lane to get around him. As the car drove to the next light, one of the guys picked up a rock and started running to try and get within throwing distance. I'm watching this happen, thinking to myself that if this guy hits that cars window with a rock and breaks it, I'm going to have to step in. I'm 15 miles into a run, there are 3 of them, but I can't just let it slide. So the light turns green and the Pontiac speeds away, unharmed. The guy goes to his knees, hacking because he ran about 300 feet and as I pass him, he looks sideways at me, and I utter "dumbass" as I go by. He heard me, but said nothing in return. Kids in general are idiots these days. When I was young, even up till I was just getting into high school, if I acted up, my dad whipped my ass. And good. Fear of an ass kicking didn't keep me from drinking, or smoking, or things like that, but stupid shit, like that kid, you didn't do because you knew there were consiquences for your actions. It doesn't seem to be that way anymore.
End rant.
Lower miles than I wanted this week, I did the 13.1 over the hills of Horsetooth on Tuesday, after doing the 19.1 on Sunday. I was about 5 minutes quicker over the HTH course than I was about 10 days prior, which was good, and I figured I would head out for a 10 mile run on Wednesday after work...well I got 3 miles and that was it. My thighs were pretty trashed from the hills. I took Thursday off and did my Q2 last night, totaling about 8.2 miles of interval work. At the beginning of this training cycle, I was running a lot of doubles, just getting miles. Now that we are within two months of the marathon, that will change for me. Praise Jesus for daylight savings. Most of my runs from now till the end of the cycle will be of double digit miles or more, with the possible exception of the occasional recovery run, or if my Q2 calls for less than 10. This gets my body ready for longer runs, plus it will probably give me an extra day off during the week, as I start doing some 22's and really get to the hard part of this training plan.
That said, maybe 5 or 6 after work to finish the week, then into my pickup and to the other side of the state. My sister is in failing health right now, at age 33 and I need to go visit, before I don't get the chance to again...
I don't rant much in my blogs, mostly because I figure "what does anyone care what I think?", but I've never made any secret of the fact that I love Colorado, and Ft. Collins in particular. But here lately, as I get out and about on these longer runs, I am tending to notice some things, and they are some things that bother me about my little community. At the corner of Mulberry and Lemay, right out in front of the Home Depot/Wal Mart complex the past week or so, there has been a guy with a sign asking for money. Don't get me wrong, I am not here to say "I hate the homeless.", or anything like that. It's just that we never have had much of that around here. Ft. Collins actually has a decent sized homeless population, and about 3/4 mile away from where I work, there is a park where they are allowed to habitat, sleep, and such. The police allow them to stay there and don't bother them, and in agreement, they do not populate the neighboring parks and areas. And literally, there is pretty much never any trouble that comes from them, but seeing this really reminds me of areas in Denver that I have been to, and it makes me feel like my little town isn't quite so little anymore. I hope that makes sense...
6 days ago, I was on a 19 mile run, and as I came down to the last 4 miles or so, I was on Drake heading west. With the exception of College Ave, Mullberry, Drake, Prospect, Horsetooth, and Harmony roads ( the main roads here in Ft. Collins) almost every road in this town has a bike lane on it. I spend a lot of time running in bike lanes, mostly because it's asphalt instead of concrete, and because the sidewalks are either full of people walking, or, people on bikes????even though they have a bike lane. So as I headed west, there were 3 guys walking west and the sidewalk was only wide enough for 2, so one of them was pretty much walking in the street. A car honked at the guy to get out of the road, and had to go into the other lane to get around him. As the car drove to the next light, one of the guys picked up a rock and started running to try and get within throwing distance. I'm watching this happen, thinking to myself that if this guy hits that cars window with a rock and breaks it, I'm going to have to step in. I'm 15 miles into a run, there are 3 of them, but I can't just let it slide. So the light turns green and the Pontiac speeds away, unharmed. The guy goes to his knees, hacking because he ran about 300 feet and as I pass him, he looks sideways at me, and I utter "dumbass" as I go by. He heard me, but said nothing in return. Kids in general are idiots these days. When I was young, even up till I was just getting into high school, if I acted up, my dad whipped my ass. And good. Fear of an ass kicking didn't keep me from drinking, or smoking, or things like that, but stupid shit, like that kid, you didn't do because you knew there were consiquences for your actions. It doesn't seem to be that way anymore.
End rant.
Lower miles than I wanted this week, I did the 13.1 over the hills of Horsetooth on Tuesday, after doing the 19.1 on Sunday. I was about 5 minutes quicker over the HTH course than I was about 10 days prior, which was good, and I figured I would head out for a 10 mile run on Wednesday after work...well I got 3 miles and that was it. My thighs were pretty trashed from the hills. I took Thursday off and did my Q2 last night, totaling about 8.2 miles of interval work. At the beginning of this training cycle, I was running a lot of doubles, just getting miles. Now that we are within two months of the marathon, that will change for me. Praise Jesus for daylight savings. Most of my runs from now till the end of the cycle will be of double digit miles or more, with the possible exception of the occasional recovery run, or if my Q2 calls for less than 10. This gets my body ready for longer runs, plus it will probably give me an extra day off during the week, as I start doing some 22's and really get to the hard part of this training plan.
That said, maybe 5 or 6 after work to finish the week, then into my pickup and to the other side of the state. My sister is in failing health right now, at age 33 and I need to go visit, before I don't get the chance to again...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Q2
This is the first time so far this training session that I have written about a specific workout that I have done. My running log is available for everyone to see on RWOL.
http://traininglog.runnersworld.com/profiles/e1195ed2a8194cf6bbd220a914b648c6
It doesn't tell the whole story on certain runs though. On a workout like yesterdays, my average pace was very good, but it was an interval workout, so 40 of the 50 minutes were spend at what would be a higher intensity.
I left work at 5pm, still daylight, and still shorts weather here in Fort Collins. I knew that barring a setback, that I would finish right after sunset. I mapped the run earlier in the day, and thought I had put together a nice 11 and some odd mile route that would be perfect for the run. I took off up Mountain Ave to the west. The wind was blowing out of the west pretty good, so the 2 easy miles at the beginning were a little harder intensity than I had hoped for. I started the 20 minutes at Threshold Pace still heading west. At 2 minutes, I got caught by a traffic light, just for a second, but stopped my Garmin. About 2 minutes later into the run, I looked down to find that I had never restarted it.
I'll give a little backround into my Threshold runs here lately. Last weeks Q2 was 2 easy, followed by 2 x 15 minutes @ T pace with 3 minute rests. I was staring at the Garmin at about 10 minutes into the first one, counting the seconds till the rest period. The week before was 4 x 1 mile @ T pace, with 1 minute rests, followed by 5 easy minutes, then another 3x 1 mile @ T pace. Needless to say that I didn't even do the last 3 repeats of that workout. 2 weekends ago, I ran a 5k on the Colorado State campus with the intention of running it at T pace, (which is about 30 seconds slower than I have run some 5k's in my life). Near the end I was gasping, but the biggest reason I did it was to work on my breathing. I read a lot about it in the Daniels' book, but seem to be stuggling with it. It's something that I needed to get figured out.
So as I got around 7 minutes into the first 20 minutes, I was coming up over a pretty good hill where I needed to take a right and continue up another. I shut down for about 30 seconds at that point and started to walk, sucking wind. I restarted and as the road flattened out and I seemed to be doing just fine. I finished the 20 minutes and went into a 10 minutes E after that. As I was coming to the end of that interval, I hung the corner onto the bike path that is the home stretch of both the Horestooth Half and the Colorado Marathon. The last 6 miles or so are raced on this stretch. I started the 2nd interval and after about 3 minutes, BINGO. My breathing was there. I nailed the last 17 minutes and probably could have easily carried it another 20 minutes or so. I got to the end, ran the 2 easy miles for a cooldown, and called it a night. I've had my 2 best Q workouts this week. It's quite exciting, don't you think?
I closed the night at Coopersmiths, enjoying the $18.68 dinner deal with a friend of mine. Nachos, a large pepperoni and sausage pizza, and a pitcher of Poudre Pale Ale. It's part of the Great Plates deal here in town.
http://downtownfortcollins.com/pdf-gateway.php/documents/GP_09_insert_final
I should go out for dinner again tonight.
http://traininglog.runnersworld.com/profiles/e1195ed2a8194cf6bbd220a914b648c6
It doesn't tell the whole story on certain runs though. On a workout like yesterdays, my average pace was very good, but it was an interval workout, so 40 of the 50 minutes were spend at what would be a higher intensity.
I left work at 5pm, still daylight, and still shorts weather here in Fort Collins. I knew that barring a setback, that I would finish right after sunset. I mapped the run earlier in the day, and thought I had put together a nice 11 and some odd mile route that would be perfect for the run. I took off up Mountain Ave to the west. The wind was blowing out of the west pretty good, so the 2 easy miles at the beginning were a little harder intensity than I had hoped for. I started the 20 minutes at Threshold Pace still heading west. At 2 minutes, I got caught by a traffic light, just for a second, but stopped my Garmin. About 2 minutes later into the run, I looked down to find that I had never restarted it.
I'll give a little backround into my Threshold runs here lately. Last weeks Q2 was 2 easy, followed by 2 x 15 minutes @ T pace with 3 minute rests. I was staring at the Garmin at about 10 minutes into the first one, counting the seconds till the rest period. The week before was 4 x 1 mile @ T pace, with 1 minute rests, followed by 5 easy minutes, then another 3x 1 mile @ T pace. Needless to say that I didn't even do the last 3 repeats of that workout. 2 weekends ago, I ran a 5k on the Colorado State campus with the intention of running it at T pace, (which is about 30 seconds slower than I have run some 5k's in my life). Near the end I was gasping, but the biggest reason I did it was to work on my breathing. I read a lot about it in the Daniels' book, but seem to be stuggling with it. It's something that I needed to get figured out.
So as I got around 7 minutes into the first 20 minutes, I was coming up over a pretty good hill where I needed to take a right and continue up another. I shut down for about 30 seconds at that point and started to walk, sucking wind. I restarted and as the road flattened out and I seemed to be doing just fine. I finished the 20 minutes and went into a 10 minutes E after that. As I was coming to the end of that interval, I hung the corner onto the bike path that is the home stretch of both the Horestooth Half and the Colorado Marathon. The last 6 miles or so are raced on this stretch. I started the 2nd interval and after about 3 minutes, BINGO. My breathing was there. I nailed the last 17 minutes and probably could have easily carried it another 20 minutes or so. I got to the end, ran the 2 easy miles for a cooldown, and called it a night. I've had my 2 best Q workouts this week. It's quite exciting, don't you think?
I closed the night at Coopersmiths, enjoying the $18.68 dinner deal with a friend of mine. Nachos, a large pepperoni and sausage pizza, and a pitcher of Poudre Pale Ale. It's part of the Great Plates deal here in town.
http://downtownfortcollins.com/pdf-gateway.php/documents/GP_09_insert_final
I should go out for dinner again tonight.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Halfway Home
So I had been blogging at Runners World for a while, but have decided to return here and just link to there from now on again. I like the format here a lot better and really don't spend much time on RW anymore.
As of Saturday I had completed 50% of the training for my upcoming marathon. 9 weeks down, 9 to go. More truthfully I actually have 7 weeks of real training left, 6 really if I really want to try and nail the Horsetooth Half 2 weeks prior. About a week and a half ago, I hit a wall in my training. It happened right around the same time as it did when I tried to prepare for Chicago last year. I backed off, took an extra rest day and missed some miles that week, and came back to have my best Q1 in about 3 weeks after that. It was very encouraging. I've done 32+ miles in the last 2 days, and am well on my way to the 70 mile week that is my peak mileage. Making sure that I am running at the right "easy pace" is really important for me at this point. Part of the reason I hit the wall again I think is because I get to doing too many workouts too fast and don't leave myself enough gas in the tank to run the "fast" workouts when the time comes.
As of Saturday I had completed 50% of the training for my upcoming marathon. 9 weeks down, 9 to go. More truthfully I actually have 7 weeks of real training left, 6 really if I really want to try and nail the Horsetooth Half 2 weeks prior. About a week and a half ago, I hit a wall in my training. It happened right around the same time as it did when I tried to prepare for Chicago last year. I backed off, took an extra rest day and missed some miles that week, and came back to have my best Q1 in about 3 weeks after that. It was very encouraging. I've done 32+ miles in the last 2 days, and am well on my way to the 70 mile week that is my peak mileage. Making sure that I am running at the right "easy pace" is really important for me at this point. Part of the reason I hit the wall again I think is because I get to doing too many workouts too fast and don't leave myself enough gas in the tank to run the "fast" workouts when the time comes.
3:15:59. I have to be realistic. I've gone into both of my previous marathons thinking about a sub 3:10, and the truth is that right now I am not ready to be able to run one that fast. My fitness level when I started this program was behind where it was for the previous 2. I still have no doubts that I can run a really nice sub 3:10, or maybe even a sub 3:00 at some point, but the base that I started this training program at was not nearly good enough. I was only about 25-30 mpw before I jumped into this due to injury. It's true what they say, that to really run a good marathon, it's a lot more than just 18 weeks. There is a lot of time beforehand, building base, doing the things that set you up aerobically, so you are stronger, in better shape to handle the taxing Quality workouts. My MP for Phoenix and Ft. Collins last year was 7:00 per mile. On Wednesday last week, I had a workout that had me run @ 6:55 for 20 minutes and I was cooked after that. I still have a ways to go with the training program, but I don't see myself being able to run 7:00 miles for 20 something miles at this point. What I do see is me being able to run them for about 17 on the downhills and then me crashing and burning like I did last year, and the results being exactly the same. I didn't marathon for a year after that happened last year, and I am not going to let it happen again. RNRAZ was such a positive experience for me, but mostly because I had no clue what to expect, I was ignorant to what a marathon was at that time. Ft. Collins was a much worse experience for me, and left me sour. As long as I stay realistic, there is no reason that I can't come out of Colorado healthy, happy, and having run a time that I will be satisfied with, hopefully leading me to a better race at the Denver Marathon in October, and hopefully Boston and NY the following year if things fall the right way.
Another kind of stupid thing I did at the beginning of all this was change shoes. I had been a Nike Structure Triax guy for the first 2 marys, but moved into a set of Asics DS Trainers and a set of Nike Zoom Elite 4s. I am very happy with both shoes. I got lucky, lol. Also I upgraded to the Garmin 405 when my 205 broke. Pros: The 405 acquires signal very quickly, and is much smaller. Plus I can actually wear the heartrate monitor it came with. Cons: It's too quick in how it adjusts your real time pace. The 205 processed info much slower, so if you were under trees and bridges and such, the pace didn't jump around so much. The 405 will almost instantly show you running a minute or two slower than you actually are, till you get into the clear. It's a little annoying, that and I really don't like the touch face on it. I am still music free on every workout this cycle. Even the 2.5 hour one on Sunday was no problem without it.
February closed here in Ft Collins with near record high temps, and we are still pushing the 60's and 70's almost every day. It's been a mild snow winter, but the wind has been so rough on us. It's blowing again here today, but it was 61 degrees at 6:55 this morning when I came to work. I actually have run in shorts for the last week or so.
I'll try and be better about keeping this up, but these are busy times.
Cheers
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