On The Road Again

Dear Reader(s):

If you had suspected that the lack of activity on this blog was directly proportional to my lack of training activity, consider your suspicions validated. Indeed, I took off nearly the entire winter to be gluttonous, lazy and sloth-like prevent injury. However, with the return of pleasant weather, I have decided to begin training for another fall marathon.

I have not yet decided on a marathon, but have limited my choices to the following (see Marathon Guide's list of fall marathons):

• Cape Cod Marathon in Falmouth, MA on 10/25/2009
• Duke City Marathon in Albuquerque, NM on 10/18/2009
• Cherokee Road Runner's Marathon in Louisville, KY on 10/??/2009
• Budapest Marathon in Budapest, Hungary on 10/04/2009

Any reader who can provide a compelling argument for one marathon over the others will be given a medal, or some other token of gratitude.

I just noticed a 'Monetize' tab in the blogger interface. I'm sure that means that this blog will soon make me quite wealthy, so perhaps I'll be able to finance the trip to Budapest.

Stay tuned for updates, route maps, product reviews, movie* and television drama** spoilersand random other things.

* It was just a dream. She hit her head. Never left Kansas. Never even left her house.

** It was just a dream. Chad Allen is autistic and has an extremely vivid and detailed imagination that focuses exclusively on the goings-on in a fictitious hospital in Boston's South End.

Post Marathon Week 2

After taking Monday off (scheduled for a 4-miler), I continued with the regularly scheduled week. The new, advanced program only allows for one day off per week. While this shouldn't be a big problem, I don't want to push myself into an injury just yet.

Tuesday: 6 x 400m repeats at 5k pace with 3 minutes of walking/jogging between. These riverfront repeats were sandwiched between 1 mile jogs to and from the waterfront.

Wednesday: 4 easy miles.

Thursday: 3 x 1 mile repeats at 10k pace with 3 minutes of walking/jogging between. 1 mile warm-up and cool-down.

Friday: officially sanctioned rest day.

Saturday: Tempo run. 10 minute warm-up, 15 minutes at marathon pace, 10 minute cool-down.

75-90 minute easy run scheduled for tomorrow.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

I woke early today (9:45am early, that is) to witness the beginning of the NYC marathon. Using the online tracker, I was able to track all of my friend(s) progress throughout the race. Right around 2:30pm today, I was alerted of EP's finish. Congratulations to EP upon finishing the race. I really can't think of a better place to finish a marathon. I'm shooting for the 2009 NYC marathon myself. I watched Paula Radcliffe fly to her second straight victory this morning and was rather inspired by her insane performance. Upon watching her enter and finish in Central Park, I vowed to run the race myself next year.

Yesterday's was a tempo run that consisted of 10 minutes of jogging, followed by 10 minutes at marathon pace, then 10 more minutes of jogging. Tempo runs are fun. I jogged over to Louisville's Central Park, then turned it up a notch as I toured St. James Court, the park, and the surrounding streets. Old Louisville is pretty charming this time of year, aside from the crime.

Today's run was an easy run. Still, after having just watched Ms. Radcliffe's performance, I felt more like running. I was told to run for 60-75 minutes. I covered 8. 3 miles in exactly an hour, a pace that was a bit quicker than "easy" for me. My goal, for my next marathon, is to maintain that pace throughout. It may be a pipedream, but all of this speedwork should help.

Repeats

After taking yesterday off (I was supposed to run 3 "easy" miles), I decided opted to go through with today's scheduled repeats. While Tuesday's repeats were 4 x 400m at 5k pace, today's were 3 x 1 mile at marathon pace. I really am not quite sure about those paces, but used my own subjective, exertion level scale.

For completing my first marathon, I've decided to reward myself with some sort of device to replace my Nike Plus. My training will definitely benefit from the feedback and motivation. I had been considering a GPS/heart rate watch from Timex, but I've now settled on the Forerunner 305 from Garmin. It's rather large for a wrist watch, but can double as a bike computer and is apparently quite accurate.

Tomorrow is a rest day, but I may run a few "easy" miles or hop on the bike.

Back On The Horse

So, I've decided to continue this blog. You're welcome, dear reader(s).

After taking it rather easy during 0 week (immediately following the marathon), I've hit the road again with the goal of running another marathon in the spring. Additionally, I'm determined to finish in under 3:20. This is an ambitious goal. And it will be extra hard for a person who is carrying around many extra pounds of fat. However, it'll keep me motivated.

0 week was surprisingly painless. There was tightness and soreness on Monday and Tuesday. Stairs were a struggle. By Thursday, I felt fine. I am fairly insensitive to aches and pains, so there was likely some low-level pain that I was ignoring. Still, by Friday, I was anxious to tie on the old jogging shoes to see how my legs held up. A light, 2-miler proved invigorating and rather painless.

The weekend saw a couple more light runs: 3 on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. Nothing strenuous. No pain at all. This Hal Higdon guy sure seems to know what he's talking about.

I've now entered HH's Post-Marathon Recovery Guide Week 1. Having moved myself into the "Advanced" bracket, I will now be introducing speed work, including tempo runs and repeats. Thanks to Google maps, I have been able to mark off a nice 400m track right along the river. After a 1.1 mile warm-up jog from home to the river, I can stretch, run the repeats, then warm-down on the 1.1 mile jog back.

I may be jumping the gun a bit with the advanced training, but I've identified a real need for goal setting and would be rather bored with another similar 18 week program. The introduction of speedwork will make the whole routine more exciting and, hopefully, satiate any competitive drive I might develop.

In any case, today's run included the 1.1 warm-up jog, then 4 x 400m repeats along the river, each book ending a 3-5 minute slow jog or walk. A couple of young skateboarders and a police officer (parked in his car and intermittently napping and eating) watched me as I ran, then walked, then ran, then walked. I had not realized that my self-classification as an advanced runner would bring with it my first fans, but I was delighted to have them. I'm pretty sure the skateboarders snapped some iphone video footage of me and I will undoubtedly show up on youtube as "fat, running douche bag with orange-tinted sunglasses who runs in circles, narrowly missing a jig-lift crane. twice." Stay tuned for that.

I'm hoping to schedule a race for the end of week 4 of the post marathon program. And will definitely try to do a turkey trot like thing on Thanksgiving morning (in order to grant myself license to gorge later in the day - while watching "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" for the thirtieth time in 2 days and listening to Guaraldi's holiday record - and not feel bad about it).

Just Another Long Run

First off, my condolences to EP and family who lost a matriarch this past week. Having experienced a similar loss 10 years ago, I can say with a great deal of certainty that, although a person may be corporeally inaccessible, her influence and wisdom tend to exhibit an incalculably long half life.

Yesterday's long run covered roughly 26 miles, 385 yards, which qualified as my longest run ever. The pre-run dinner I described in my past post proved to be mildly disastrous. Lesson to any reader who may be considering a marathon: avoid the turkey sausage on the eve of a marathon. There are times in which it is appropriate to experiment with wild fowl forcemeat. The night before a marathon is not of these times.

Following is a synopsis of the race day:

1. 6:15: Awoke, drank two large glasses of water and prepared a bowl of oatmeal


2. 6:25: Waited near the bathroom for nature to run its course


3. 6:35: Waited longer (see 2) before eating oatmeal


4. 6:50: Upon waiting an inordinate amount of time, I decided to scrap the oatmeal and head out to find some coffee. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And these times were "McDonald's Desperate"


5. 7:05: Ordered pancakes, orange juice and black coffee at McDonald's. Enjoyed the pancakes alongside a rag tag bunch of hobos, bindlestiffs and ragamuffins (comrades of whom would make an appearance later in the day)


6. 7:20: No movement on the natural front. Panic was starting to set in. Departed McDonald's to head to race site


7. 7:35: Arrived at race site, Louisville's Water Tower on the Ohio River. Folks were wildly negotiating adjacent fields to illegally park and avoid having to walk any distance at all. Apparently, as a force of habit, they were seeking the prime spot at the Walmart parking lot. Ironically, each of these lazy fucks was about to run/walk either 13.1 or 26.2 miles. Have I mentioned that I harbor less-than-pleasant feelings about the mental and physical habits of people in these parts (even those who are active enough to participate in a foot race)?


8. 7:40: Avoided the mess of illegal parkers and found a parking spot at Cox park (pronounced, inexplicably as COCKSIZ park) about 1/2 mile from the race site


9. 7:50: Arrived at starting line. Still waiting for some movement (see 2)


10. 8:10: Someone fires a gun. People start running. I follow


11. 8:15: First accessible bathroom (at Cocksiz Park) becomes visible. At this point, I feel a significant pressure change within my abdomen. Terrible gears start to turn. An intestinal doomsday machine has been irreversibly engaged. Forces beyond my comprehension are set into action. I make a bee line to the bathroom and enter the last stall on the right, thinking (like the parking situation earlier) that no one will think to approach the remotest spot. Bizarrely, I was wrong


12. 8:20: (Discontinue reading if you are uncomfortable with the human I/O process or thermodynamics) Ever heard of a water hammer? Before I met my wife, who once worked with nuke-uh-lur power plant cooling systems, I had not. Actually, the more general term is fluid hammer. In short, a fluid hammer is a pressure surge that occurs when moving fluid experiences a sudden change in momentum, like when a dam breaks. I become physically acquainted with the phenomenon while huddling in the last stall on the right. Unfortunately, so did a constant parade of fellow runners. Since the stall was missing a lock, no fewer than 5 men became acquainted with the concept of the fluid hammer. I lost ~ 5 minutes in that bathroom. Things were getting off to a great start
13. 8:25: After that lesson in thermodynamics, I got back out on the course and continued on, feeling somewhat relieved. At that point, I was stuck in a large crowd of walkers and slow runners. I focused my energy on passing the herd.
14. 8:55: As I slowly put the walkers and slow runner behind me, my attention was again shifted to my gut, where more dark machinations were taking place. Since I was very familiar with much of the course, I determined that the river front park, right around mile 6, would offer a bank of public restrooms. I set my sights on mile 6 and kept on keeping.
15. 9:05: As I arrived at the river front park, I veered off course to the bank of restrooms. Unfortunately these were all locked. In front of them, though, was a cache of porto-o-lets, or port-o-johns, or plexi-johns or plastic shitters that had been freshly installed to serve the participants in the Hunger Walk (an event to take place downtown later in the day). While I was disappointed to be forced to enter a johnny-house, I was somewhat delighted to find that I was the first to enjoy its amenities since its installation. I ratcheted up the volume on my ipod and tuned out the other details of my visit. However, I began to hear the distinct sounds of voices coming from just behind me. I paused the iPod and heard male voices that seemed to be coming from inside the crap-o-let septic tank, or worse, inside my own septic tank. Upon closer examination, I determined that the voices were in fact narrating the goings on inside the johnny cabin. After several unpleasant minutes, I emerged to find 3 tramps staning just outside, about 4 yards away. They were laughingly uproariously. As I ran past, they implored me to discontinue my run. Clearly, they were concerned with my well-being, but I was not to be deterred.
16. 10:05: From the debacle at the riverfront to the half-way point, I passed 0 more toilets, so I was forced to endure the wrath of the turkey sauasage. Although the pain was waning, it was still clear that the evil had not yet worked its way out. I knew that I would soon be passing through Chikasaw Park and that the grounds hosted a fine, early 20th century carriage house that had been converted into a bathroom. Fortunately, no other runners knew about this landmark. And more surprisingly, it seemed bereft of Okies and nogoodniks. It was at this place where I finally exorcised the demons.
    
17. 10:15: With my stomach feeling better and a pocketful of gels and Sharkies, I marched on towards the finish and focused on replenishing any energy spent through metabolism or exorcism.
18. 10:45: At about the 19 mile check point, I was approached by a young man who was bounding along at a good clip. We began to chat a bit and matched pace for about 3 miles. After about a mile of running together, it occurred to me that this young man's name could only be Chris. Upon parting ways at mile 23, I extended my hand and said something like "good to meet you Chris and good luck with the final 3 miles, I'm going to go ahead to see if I can find a finish line somewhere." To which he responded, with a puzzled look, how did you know my name was "Chris?" And it was a good question. I think the evil that had taken hold of me earlier in the morning left me with a bit of clairvoyance.
    
19. 11:20: At the 23 mile check point, I decided to pick up the pace a bit. I knew I wasn't going to come anywhere close to my goal of 3:20, but knew I had something left in the tank (thanks to 2 gels and a pouch of sharkies).
    
20. 11:35: As I approached the 25 mile checkpoint, the course grew lonely. There was an older man (probably in his 50s) about 30 yards ahead, but I was unable to catch him at first. Still, I dug in and accellerated a bit. The man at the final fluid station handed me a water and a cup of sports drink. I attempted to slow to deposit the cup and bottle in a garbage bags, but my legs sort of swayed uncontrollably and I nearly lost my footing. The man near the garbage bag instructed me to focus on getting to the finish line. I heeded his advice.
21. 11:40: I began passing a few more folks in the final half mile. A young woman smiled and waved and wished me luck, to which I responded "Same, um, uh...to luck to you too," which makes little sense , but hopefully expressed my enthusiasm for her potential finish.
    
22. 11:44: As the finish line drew near, I fought the dull pain in my quadriceps and bounded down the slight incline towards the finishing chute. Upon passing the line, a man appeared asking for the microchip strapped onto my ankle. As I bent down to detach it, he yelped, imploring me to stand and allow him to do it. As I nearly buckled upon standing back up, I realized that his advice was sensible.
    

So, that was about it. An eventful morning. I milled about after the race for a bit. I cheered on the Chris fellow, ate a banana, drank some water, Heed (the official energy drink of the race, which tastes like water filtered through vanilla cake icing)and Jackson's Organic coffee, then began the long walk to my car. While my legs were a bit burny and sore, the walk was a good stretching opportunity.

The rest of the day was pleasant and involved a brunch at Lynn's Paradise Cafe (biscuits and gravy and grits) and a 3 hour nap.

Today (the day after) has been fine as well. I'm struggling a bit with stairs, getting in and out of chairs. However, each pain response is accompanied by a tinge of pride for having run 26.2 miles.

I've already started to plan out my 0-week plan, my 4-week recovery plan and my next marathon. Mentally, I'm ready to go. On Saturday, 25 April 2009, I plan to run the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon in under 3 hours and 20 minutes. It's an ambitious goal, but I plan to take advantage of hill work, tempo workouts, fartleks, interval training and, hopefully, some white magic.

The Final Countdown

9 hours until the marathon. At this point, I'm really hoping to just finish the race as all that is left now is the dotting of i's and crossing of t's. Hopefully, my training will prove sufficient to get me through the entire race. I'll know soon enough.

I enjoyed a large dinner consisting of angel hair pasta with sauteed squash and roasted sweet potatoes. Hopefully I won't regret that tomorrow morning.

My breakfast plans are not yet confirmed, but will likely involve some toast, maybe a granola bar, a handful of Crispix? Not really sure how I'll eat as I am sure my stomach will be a bit nervous (being unaccustomed to being awake at 6:30am).

I'll be bringing along several gels, some energy gummies and some Jelly Belly Sport Beans to be downed 30 minutes or so before the race.

So, this is it. I'll check back in if I survive the race.