GENINE’S 2013 IMMT 70.3 RACE REPORT

MIND HEART OVER MATTER

GENINE’S 2013 IMMT 70.3 RACE REPORT

After falling in love with this race and the venue last year, Matt & I decided to sign up for IMMT70.3 2013 when the online registration opened last September.  I was determined to come back to this course racing better than ever.  Fast forward 8 months.  My yo-yo approach to diet and workouts has been running rampant.  This entire past spring season has been 2 -3 weeks good eating & workout schedule followed by weeks of being off the deep end.  Emotional, stress eating, etc.  I can blame it on a busy work schedule, or other commitments, but at the end of the day I made the decision to have other things take priority over what I wanted most.  Rather than beating myself up over my current physical condition (which is my normal MO), I decided to approach this race being thankful for the best I have to give at this moment.  Since, after all, I can’t change the past.  What’s done is done.  I can’t be upset over results I didn’t get because of the training I didn’t put in.

We arrived in Mt. Tremblant Friday evening after a looong 10 hour drive from NJ- mostly due to rush hour traffic in Montreal paired with construction.  Ugh…  But once we were there, all was forgotten as we settled in.  We met up with Ed & Margie for dinner later that night & then got a good night’s sleep.  We slept in a bit on Saturday morning, had breakfast, then met Ed for packet pick up at 10:15.  After that we took a quick walk around transition & the expo. Then it was time for a quick swim in the lake.  Water was a beautiful 65 degrees and clear. It had been steadily raining all day.  By 3:00pm we decided to rack our bikes as it didn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon.  We went back to the room, showered and got all of our race gear prepped for the next morning.  We met Ed & Margie for dinner at 6:00 and we were back in our room by 7:30. It was a leisurely day.  Exactly what I was hoping for and desperately needed.  You see, as an early surprise (sorry guys… it’s about to get real for a minute here.)  for the month, my “friend” arrived earlier that morning.  Women – you know the 2 days out of the month where you just want to curl up in a ball and cry because the cramps are so bad and ALL of the energy is sucked out of your body?  Yep, this was to be my Saturday & Sunday… race day.  ::sigh::  My mind quickly switched from “just taking it easy because of my lack of training” to “Oh my gosh… I’m really questioning  whether I can finish this race.”  I began pumping large doses of ibuprofen into myself, had a brief pity party and then decided I would do the best I can.  That’s all I can do.  My strategy would not change.  It just involved a few more drugs!

Walking to transition on race day

Mt Tremblant village at 6:00am race day

Ed, Matt and me before the race start

The alarm went off at 4:30am Sunday and the rain had stopped. Hooray!  I got up and ate my breakfast of oatmeal with agave/craisins, slice of toast with pb&j, a banana and a cup of tea. Oh! And a fistful of pills!  Matt & I walked down to transition, dropped of our gear & then walked back up to our room to leave our gear bags, get our wetsuits & walk down to swim start.  (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this race venue because of these simple logistics?  So EASY!)  We met Ed & Margie down by the beach, chatted for a minute & then it was time for Ed’s wave to start.  Matt’s was next at 7:25am, which left me alone until my start at 7:40am.  I got in the water for a brief warm-up swim.  I was relieved to not have my wetsuit feel like a boa constrictor around my chest as it had the day before. For the first time in a long time, I was afraid to start the swim.  Not my normal jitters. I was SCARED.  I had no idea how my body was going to react.  Because of this, I lined up in the back.  I was the very last woman in my wave to enter the water. 

Buoys were to the right and kayaks to the left.  I quickly realized it was a mistake to be in the VERY back.  I swam past a few people & then stayed far left (couldn’t mentally deal with people this day), swimming easily with slow, smooth strokes.  I made my way around the course by way of zigzagging between the safety kayaks.  Luckily each of them was kind enough to keep me pointed in the right direction.  I mean literally pointing me with their paddle in the proper direction! Ah well… I kept catching a glimpse of my silver ring in the water.  It says WARRIOR on it.  So it kept my mind focused.  My swim was terribly slow but I made it out of the water without incident.  Part One of my day complete.

My Warrior ring

After the long path back to T1, I popped some more drugs and started out on the bike.  The start of my ride was one of the worst feeling parts of my day.  I felt as if I had ZERO energy.  I shifted into my easiest gears and told myself to give it time.  It’s a long ride.  See how it goes.  Just keep pedaling.  All while the entire field of racers went zooming past me.  It was difficult to see everyone go by.  For me, the bike is the only time in a race that I feel I stand a chance to be even a little competitive.  But I stayed focused on myself and kept on going.  Slow and Steady.  Once I got out of the village and onto Rt117, it was fun to see all of the pros on their way back in from that first section.  I caught myself with a big grin on my face.  Man, I love to see them out there! I am always amazed at what spectacular athletes these people are!  As I got some nutrition in me, I found a little more energy and in the final miles of the course, I was finally able to catch and pass a few of the people I recognized who had passed me at the start of the ride.  I felt a little vindicated.    But by the end of the ride, my cramps were kicking back in and despite eating 4 Gu’s & a bar on the bike, my stomach was growling.  Part 2 of my day was complete. 

In T2 I changed my top to my Dana Farber running shirt.  I haven’t worn it to race since my first Mooseman in 2008.  It was just the emotional boost I needed.  More drugs, hat, shoes and it was time to “run.”

Even on my best day, I use the term run loosely with myself. I am not fast and I am okay with that.  I knew this day may be more walking than running, so I was already mentally prepared.  As I made my way around the course, I began to mentally make a list of thing I was grateful for.

1.    The rain stopped for the race, but there was still a nice cloud cover to keep the sun away making for great race conditions.

2.    Matt is the best support a girl could ask for.  Seeing him out on the race course lifted my spirits immensely.

3.    The spectators and volunteers at this event are THE BEST!! Cheering and supporting every athlete like they were the winner. It was truly amazing! Like none I have ever seen. Cheering, bell ringing, horn blowing from driveways, windows, front porches and house boats!!

4.    Much of the run course is on a “rails to trails” type path along the water that runs into the lake, so I listened to bull frogs, water birds, chickadees and water running in a stream.

5.    Dragonflies danced around the path in front of me.

6.    I got to see Ed on the run & give him a high-five.  He had a crash AND flat on the bike, but despite some nasty road rash, he was giving it his all! So proud of him!

7.    My heart swelled as I felt the love and support from my family & friends.  It was coming all the way from Western PA/NY and NJ, but I felt every bit of it!  And boy did I need it! Thank you!

8.    Anytime my mind wandered, I found myself thinking of cousin Katie and how hard she has fought to WIN her battle with leukemia! YES!!! And how Judy, Nathan and Dan fought for one day more.  My pain in THIS moment was temporary.  And I drew strength from them.

9.    The determination of the “back of the pack” racers is inspiring.  No matter the age, the physical limitations or even just leg cramps, nothing was stopping them.

And finally my FAVORITE sign of the day, “Your body lies.  You can do this.”  Awesome.  And absolutely true.

As I ran down the chute through the village to the finish among all of the spectators cheering, with Matt waiting & cheering for me at the end, I had to smile!  I did it!!  It was not pretty, but I finished.  It was all I had wanted from this day. 

Crossing the finish line in 7:13:46

It has helped me to re-focus on the rest of my summer.  Getting back on a consistent path of healthy eating and training that I know I can do… one that I can be proud of.  I am looking forward to July as it brings almost 2 weeks in NH.  Our favorite place on earth! And August brings a week in Warren (our PA hometown) with the Tango adventure race kicking that week off.  Then it’s up to Maine for REV3 Old Orchard Beach Half-Iron.  It will be my first ocean swim…. YIKES!!  Can’t wait!!

February was awful.

I haven’t posted anything recently because there were several weeks where anything I would have written, would have been negative and defeatist. Who wants to read that?

Here is the February summary: Lower back was giving me grief. Then my hips decided to join the party. Then I got a head cold that worked it’s way into a sinus infection. I was feeling as if I had aged years in just a few weeks. Anytime I’d think about this summer’s races, I’d wonder if I’d even make the start line this year. (In hindsight, it’s funny what being in pain can do to your thinking)

Fortunately, things are going much better now. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve progressed from just being happy to finally be moving again, to catching myself pushing myself a little too much during my workouts. (But wow does it feel good to put a bit of speed into my run workouts!)

In terms of my weight, I can’t give you an exact number. After February, I figured any progress I had made could have been lost, so I’m not getting on the scale this month. I know there is work to be done and that I’m out of time. I’m changing it up a bit and removing grains and starches out of the diet and going back to lots of vegetables and about the same amount of meat.

The easy carbs are going to come from fruit and those are going to be eaten somewhat sparingly. Most of my carb intake is going to just pre/during/post my workouts. 

Last week was a solid effort. 8 workouts and I felt that I was in control of my eating. More importantly, I’m just feeling good and actually looking forward to my workouts. (How about we keep that feeling around forEVER).

The 50-60 degree weather this past weekend didn’t hurt either.

So there you have it. I’m hopeful that things will continue to go well and I’ll have a bit more to write about on here.

Manhattan Half Marathon 2013 Race Report

(This happened January 27th, I just never got it posted)

I actually tapered my workouts leading into this event. It just happened to fall into the right place on my plan for this to happen. So I was feeling well rested going into this.

When I woke up the temperature was 11 degrees. I had thought it was going to be 20 or so. I look up the temperature in Manhattan, 20. Alright, that’s more like it.

Todd picked me up, I haven’t seen him in weeks. Along the way, we drive up on an accident that must have happened in the last 5 minutes.  What is typically a 3 lane bridge had the far right lane closed off for repairs. Now keep in mind that there is no sun glare because there is no sun yet. There is hardly any traffic on the roads. Yet somehow this person seemed to have missed the fact that the lane was closed and must have driven full speed into the big sand drums in front of the Jersey barriers. I say full speed because the result was he ended up upside-down in the 3^rd lane of traffic. At first we thought we might miss the race because they had us at a complete stop. I guess we were fortunate enough to have been there before the ambulance and tow, because they slowly let us through after a few minutes. (driving over a pile of sand)

We luck out in terms of parking and we stayed in the car for a few minutes longer before going out into the cold. We decide there will be no warmup and we won’t be going to the front of the corrals. It’s not going to be a fast day. They had collapsed the corrals by the time we had arrived so we just hopped onto the back around the 8000s. It took us nearly 8 minutes to reach the start line from the gun time.

Todd hasn’t been running much. Which is kind of crazy, the last NYRR event he ran, back in November, he set a new PR pace for his NYRR runs. 6:31 I believe. Now he’s going to run with me…. Slowly.

We kept the pace conversational for the most part, there were some hills that probably upped my HR outside of conversational. The first 3 miles were at nearly 10 min/mile. Which isn’t surprising we started with about 8000 people ahead of us probably 500 or so behind us.

Because of our pace, I guess I had a chance to look around a bit more than I usually do. I’ve run 20+ races here and somehow this is the first time I’ve noticed that you can see the Guggenheim from the run course. I’ll chalk that up to showing how focused I typically am during these events.

Once we hit the hills on the north side of the park, we were able to move through some of the crowd and we were able to pick up the pace. I didn’t have a watch on. Todd had a new GPS watch and at some point said that I had us pacing at 8:40 min/mile. Which was feeling great. I think my longest run in January was just shy of 9 miles and my biggest week was just over 20.

It was definitely cold and breezy in places, which for someone who sweats as much as I do, makes it uncomfortable. If I had a way to keep warm until the start and then immediately after a race, maybe it would make sense for me to always run in shorts. (At least for 10Ks or shorter, maybe not 13.1.) We were reminded of how cold it was at the aid stations, the Gatorades were like slushies. Todd grabbed 2 and was concerned that he was going to get brain freeze as he downed the 2^nd.

Around mile 9 or 10, my hamstrings and lower back started to tighten up a bit. Hard to say whether it was fatigue or the cold. Todd was starting to feel the lack of training miles around that point as well. We took the pace down a bit, not much. Even though this was going to end up being a training run, I still wanted to stay under 2 hours.

We managed, but not by much. 1:58:38.

I finished feeling good that I’ve got the fitness to run an easy half marathon at the end of January. Not sure that I’ve been able to say that in past years. Let's see where this takes us.

Getting back on track

Hopped on the scale on January 1^st and was given an instant jolt of reality. It’s a shame there isn’t a “Biggest Gainer” competition somewhere. I’m really good at stacking on weight.

In the list of quotes off to the side there is one that says “A goal without a plan, is a wish”. So my New Year’s Resolution is to plan better.

Using the information in my previous post, I put together my weight loss plan. I created an 8 month goal with monthly goals as well. Maybe it should be every 2 weeks, but I’ll adjust as necessary.

The amount of weight I need to lose between now and August 1^st is reasonable if you look at the amount of weight I need to lose each week to accomplish it. So that is the graph that I am using as my “This is realistic” guide.

Of course, that long slowly descending line leading to  Aug 1^st isn’t really how I’m planning for things to happen. My first bit of being unreasonable is my plan/hope that I lose much quicker earlier in the plan, and then become much more reasonable as time rolls on. Monthly loss percentages I’m planning on. (6.5, 3.7, 2.8, 2.8, 2.4, 2.4, 1.8).

I’m weighing it heavily in the front because I’d like to feel less calorie restricted once I’m into race season. Also, there’s the added benefit of being at race weight DURING race season.

The 2^nd bit of unreasonable in the plan above is my August Goal. My goal weight is a number that I have no memory of seeing on the scale. It’s 9 pounds under my High School graduation weight. It’s also about 14 pounds lighter than I’ve ever been for any race I’ve ever competed in.

Wait!? Is that healthy? Yes it probably is. I just think I’ve spent so much time “overweight” I barely know what “healthy weight” feels like.

13 days in and my first month goal is very much in reach. This should be the toughest month. Although the toughest challenge this month may be the last weekend of January when I run the Manhattan Half Marathon. It will be hard to keep away from over eating the rest of the day.

Fueling for the 13.1 properly will be a challenge. Keep in mind I’ll be happy to just get the miles in as a training run, but I’d be happier if I could “race”. If for nothing else other than use it as a benchmark moving forward this season.

Alright, as for other challenges I’ve created for myself: My overall strength isn’t that great so I’ve started doing more strength training. I’m lifting weights from time to time but there are 3 things I’m really focusing my attention on.

Ab Ripper X, my pushup plan and Lunges. I’m making sure I do each of these things at least every 4^th day. (I’m shooting for every 3 but sometimes it’s not possible).

The good news here is I can already tell a difference after less than 2 weeks.

I’m mixing other stuff in as well but I’m being careful not to do too much too soon. I have plenty of time to improve, so no need to rush.

I updated the race calendar on the right side of the page here to reflect this year’s dates. Those are just possible races. The only ones that are on the schedule are.

Columbia Triathlon (Olympic)

Newfound Lake Triathlon (Olympic) (Previously Mooseman)

Mont Tremblant 70.3

If I had to guess at what happens after that.

NJ State Olympic (as I’ve never done this and it’s nearby)

Kinzua Country Tango (probably as a relay)

Old Orchard Beach Rev 3 70.3

NJ Grand Fondo

Buckman Triathlon

NYC Marathon

That doesn’t include the 8 other NYRR races I’ll do this year. That is a bunch of events and it would be fun but I’m guessing I’ll not get to do all of them. I’ll take what I can get. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year!

Tis the season, for weight loss discussions

Weight loss requires you to burn more than you eat. But you need to eat enough that your body doesn’t go into starvation mode and try to hold onto every calorie you put into it. You figure that out by finding your BMR. Set it to sedentary to see what your body needs are, then subtract the extra exercise calorie burn on your own, on the days you exercise.
http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

I think a 1000 calorie deficit between diet AND exercise, is really as much as you should try as it gives you 2 pounds per week. But more importantly, if you go beyond that, I find you are very likely to fail because of a tendency for binge day(s), as it is truly too much. Actually 1000 is probably too much and why so many plans suggest 500 as it is more easily maintained.

As to how much of Protein, Fat and Carbs...

Protein: You definitely need to make sure you are getting your daily requirement of protein, which nobody can say exactly, so here is how to figure your range. 1.2-1.7g per kg of bodyweight. If you are getting at least that much, you aren’t hurting yourself.

Carbs: This is what is going to give you enough energy to do... Well about anything. The more simple the carb in terms of Glycemic Index, the faster it’s going to give you it’s energy. So it’s important to only eat the super simple ones right before you are going into a workout, or as you are working out.
(I’m a believer of Atkins/low carb ONLY if you aren’t working out at all. If you are trying to be athletic, low carb is only going to give you weak workouts)
I’m a fan of volumetric carbs, to fill the stomach away from workouts. Low glycemic carbs. Raw veggies for example.

Fat: Personaly, fat chills out my brain. If I’m on a diet and I’m at work and I suddenly feel that my brain is really buggin’. Just BEGGING me to eat something, I find that if I have a few almonds, cashews, spoonful of peanut butter... that is enough protein and fat to turn that signal off. An apple or some strawberries or other lower calorie fruit can sometimes work as well, but for me it lasts for a shorter window of time. So depending on how far I am from my next meal, I will choose accordingly between the fats or the lower calorie fruits.

As for how much fat versus how much Carbs per day since I didn’t address that. The more you are working out, the more carbs you will need. As long as your are burning them I don’t think it’s a big deal. If you are counting calories and you know you are in a calorie deficit, they are being burned. No worries then.
Same with Fat right?... Well yes but the trouble with fat is the calorie density. You don’t get to eat as much fat in terms of volume. So if you are someone that doesn’t like to have an empty stomach. Having a higher fat calories rather than carb calories is going to be an issue.
I try to find the least amount of fat I can eat without sending my brain into fits of feeling starved.

Speaking of which, I feel there are 3 ways to feel hungry.

Empty stomach: This is where it’s growling and vocally telling you the fire will be going out soon. Easy to recognize

Brain: The brain needs energy to work. I feel if your blood chemistry is missing something, your brain starts to tell you to go and eat something. Sadly for me, it doesn’t specify what. Only by tracking my foods can I look to see my protein/fat/carb balance to see if I’m severely off track in any single one of these things. It’s important to know, because if you are off in carbs, because of a workout, and you eat some nuts... Guess what, your brain is going to tell you to keep eating because you didn’t provide it the carbs that it wanted. Likewise if you are low in fat or protein and you snack on something that  isn’t providing the proper nutrient.

Muscles depleted: You are in a calorie deficit, there is only so much you can expect from yourself if you don’t fuel properly before your activity. I do well if it’s an actual workout, but if I get into a project that is physical and I didn’t fuel for it because it wasn’t a planned "workout". I might find myself feeling tired, and feeling tired definitely makes you want to eat.

Which brings me to another point. You need to get enough sleep. As I just said above, if you are tired, you are going to search for energy to get you through your day. If you are feeling tired, figure out if it’s because of lack of sleep, or lack of food. If it’s lack of food, you should probably decrease your deficit a bit, because it’s not going to be sustainable. It’s likely you are going to cave in, in a bad way in an attempt to get calories to keep you going.

Lastly in terms of being athletic and improving, you need to fuel properly. Which is why we lose the weight now rather than during race season. This is more for when you are getting into longer workouts but I’ll include it now anyhow.

Use this as a guide for grams of carbs/hour during exercise:
low end
(Body weight in lbs/2.2)x.7

high end
(Body weight in lbs/2.2)x1

Then of course you’ve got to have your recovery drink/snack. I’m not going to say what is best here. I’ll just say that when I started take it seriously, I noticed a difference in terms of being able to get to my next workout feeling better. I used a powdered drink mix. Here is a link that will explain what you should consider, seeing how not all workouts are equal.
http://www.trifuel.com/training/health-nutrition/triathlon-recovery-%E2%80%93-importance-of-nutrition

A couple of good links.
http://www.trifuel.com/training/health-nutrition/the-real-value-of-protein
http://www.poweringmuscles.com/article.php?id=89

Keep in mind that if you lose a bunch of weight, you may need to put new numbers into the equations as you go.

Body type/ metabolisms are different from person to person. I'm someone that has a metabolism that seems to store fat very efficiently. To be thin requires a ton of effort. So some of my descriptions above may not make any sense at all to someone that has a very difficult time gaining weight.

Let's see what happens.

A number of weeks ago, we found out that Hines Ward is teamed up with Got Chocolate Milk and is racing the Ironman Championship in Kona HI next fall. We are from Western Pennsylvania originally, so anything Steelers related is going to catch our eye. Putting Triathlon into the mix makes it even more enticing.

To create our video submission, we gathered bunches of the race photos we've taken. Then we asked Ruth to help us out. That's when we got into full production mode.
We borrowed a bunch of great gear from friends. Ruth created a list of shots she wanted to have available and we spent a few very long days working on getting all the footage.
We hadn't used the equipment before so we had a bit of a learning curve. The first shoot of the day didn't turn out as we had hoped. Fortunately, we had time to learn from our mistakes and from that point on, things moved along quickly.
We were very busy, but it was a fun weekend. One of those "not your average weekend" situations, that create memories we won't soon forget.

Well here is the result. Genine's submission to Got Chocolate Milk? 
Now we cross our fingers and wait.
(If you have a good internet connection, click the cog and increase the video quality up to HD!!)



Here's a link to find many of the other videos that have been submitted.
This link will likely only be useful for a week or two because of how I used the filters.

Yikes!! Time to get going.

Hopped on the scale when we got back to NJ the day after Thanksgiving. That was scary but it seems to have triggered the motivation switch in my brain. I've been tracking calories all week. I've been to the pool at 6AM twice this week and I'm running like a man on a mission.
Of course it's only been a few days but I'm hoping this is the rally I've been waiting for. The biggest hurdles are to stay well rested and to keep healthy food available.

The week leading into Thanksgiving was rough. I didn't think much of it at the time, but the other thing that was triggered upon my return to NJ were a few shingles blisters on my ankle. So strange but maybe it's like my own personal stress meter or something. Who wouldn't want one of those? (sarcasm).

I hadn't been going to my normal pool much of this year. It's always way too busy unless you are there at 5 or 6AM. So I had been going to other locations. Well, I'm almost afraid to say it out loud, because I might jinx it. The pool actually looks and feels clean right now!! I don't think I've been able to say that for the last 2 years. I've often questioned if they've drained it in the last 24 months, but kind of didn't want to know the answer to that.
I'm crazy slow right now and 2500m seems like a good stopping point for a workout. I know it will improve in just a few weeks. Which I can't say for some of the others I've seen at the pool this week. There is one guy that puts in the time but has not improved a bit in the last 12 months. I'm seriously considering inviting him to one of my lessons with Coach Q. It's just wrong to spend that much time in the pool and not get any faster. Or at least have it feel easier!!

One final comment just for keeping track of things: I no longer feel injured!
I spent so much time the last couple years with hamstring issues. That bit of tension or whatever you want to call it just changed everything. I never felt like I could push hard. I think I was modifying my stride to avoid further injury. It was a huge drag.
My last few runs have felt great. I'm not saying I'm in great shape. Just that everything is moving well, and that I'm hoping will lead to better times ahead.

NYRR 4 miler Race to Deliver

Late race report here. Last Sunday I ran my 9th race of the year for NYRR, a 4 miler in Central Park.
I didn't wear my watch. I was just going to take what I could get. My training has been hit/miss because of commuting issues with the trains here in NJ.

I put myself in the back of the 2000 corral because I really have not been starting off quickly lately. That got me to the start line 2 minutes or so after the starting gun.
First mile was an 8:30 pace.
Second Mile I lost track of my math and stopped trying to figure it out.
As we cut across the transverse in Central Park, there were now huge piles of wood chips from all the trees/branches they've had to deal with from Hurricane Sandy. We are talking 10 feet high, 10 feet wide and maybe 50 yards long. I'm guessing there was much more that went elsewhere.
3rd mile, felt like I was climbing the hill rather well. Didn't feel like I was losing ground to those around me anyhow.
Finish, didn't even bother looking at the clock. I just ran in as quickly as I could, hoping I could offset the slow first mile split.

Well for the first time in 3-4 years of running these races, my timing chip wasn't read. So I had to wait until pictures were posted. Then I had to dig through the finish line pics to find myself. I crossed at 33:45. So less the 2 minutes at the start gives me a 31:45, or 7:56 min/mile. Nothing to write home about.
Todd on the other hand knocked 10 seconds off his best pace ever at at NYRR run. He ran on a 6:33 pace. He figured that was his Marathon training pay off.

The biggest thing slowing me down right now is my weight. I'm really sick of talking about it but not being able to get any momentum behind it. I guess it's going to have to become THE focus in order to get it going. So I've got to set some short term goals to make that happen. More on that later.

Long Overdue Marathon Update

-->

The journey to the 2012 NYC marathon was interesting. I started the refinance of my home loan a month before the marathon. 2 weeks before the marathon, I start getting calls about needing estimators and inspections on the house. That was no big deal except then there were complications. (which turned out to be minor but felt like a big deal to me at the time). I knew it was bothering me because instead of my typical zen’ed out state when I would be out running. All I could think about were these problems.

To add to my worries, when I signed on to my online banking Saturday, the normal login page was gone. In it’s place was a notice from the FDIC. The bank had been closed by the FDIC and they would be mailing me a check for the balance of my account, which I received about 11 days later. Thankfully I had a 2^nd account with some cash in it and that my mortgage payment was paid just before the bank was closed down. I did end up having to pay interest on my credit card because I didn’t have the funds to pay the entire balance from the other account. Stress and Frustration.

Then there was the fact that a hurricane was on the way.

I did have a bit of good fortune in the fact that a generator I ordered a number of weeks ago, happened to be delivered the Tuesday before the Hurricane hit. My biggest mistake was not going out to buy extra gas cans to fill during emergencies. I was hoping that because I had actually spent the money on this, that the hurricane would spin out to sea rather than head towards NJ and it wouldn’t be needed.

I spent the better part of 3 days preparing for the storm. Last year’s storm had so much rain that we spent the majority of our time in the basement running a shop-vac to get the water off of the floor. Eventually we just had to pull the floor drain and mop everything towards that. So we spent time taking important stuff out of the basement, just in case.

Well as I’m sure you are aware, the hurricane brought a lot of wind, created a storm surge for those that lived on or near the coast but fortunately, there wasn’t much rain, a couple of inches. So our basement didn’t have any problems at all. We did lose power for a couple days. Actually 80% of our town was without power. We were probably one of the few houses in the area that didn’t lose a tree. I was amazed at how many trees fell and ever more amazed at how little damage they caused on our block. Only one person had the roof of their garage damaged. A few others had wires torn from their house. Compared to the damage that occurred along the coast, the mess and what damage we had on our street seemed like a minor annoyance.

My place of work in NYC was out of power Monday night until Friday Evening.

Here is a video of the sky from our house. The flashing lights are electrical explosions from transformers. The video is cut short, it continued for about 2 and a half minutes like this.

Seeing all the damage on TV. Then hearing from friends and co-workers that have been without power for days, my stress about my refinance and banking issues were gone. Perspective can do that for you I guess.

Unfortunately, that stress was replaced by my feelings about the fact the Marathon officials and the Mayor of NYC kept saying that the marathon was still going to be run. There were so many people in need of help. Using any amount of city support to run a race, rather than helping those people seemed very wrong to me.

Then to as I started to read the social media (twitter/facebook) to find that people were saying that they would go to the race and Boo the runners as the went by. (mild). Find an overpass and spit on runners as the passed. (medium). Take their fire extinguisher and spray the runners. (ANGRY). Now I was even concerned for my safety running this event.

I spent way too much time stressing on this. When should we get our race number? They are telling us not to go into the city unless we have to because of the traffic and such. I hadn’t heard from Todd who was also running. I kind of figured that if he still wanted to run it, that I would go, rather reluctantly…. I think. It’s just so wrong tho’.

So when they finally cancelled the race, (I received a number of texts and phone calls almost immediately as it was announced on TV) I’m not sure that disappointment was the best way to describe my feelings. In fact I probably laughed about the fact that NOW they decide it’s probably best not to run it. I finally got a message from Todd. “Race cancelled, You can’t make this stuff up!”

I received messages from friends regarding other Marathons that I could still sign up for. The one that probably made the most sense was to drive up to New Hampshire and run in Manchester as it was the same day as NYC.  I could have stayed with my brother for the weekend. But my work had been closed for a week. I’d have to get back to NJ immediately after the race AND, it’s not the NYC Marathon.

I appreciated all the offers, kind of made me wish that I could do all of them. Instead, I’m looking forward to going back to my normal triathlon training and leave the challenge of the marathon out there for a while longer. It’s good motivation.

Unfortunately, I haven’t done a single workout all week. My commute to the city was already a 3 hour chunk out of my day. With all of the problems with the train lines, I’m now dealing with 4.5 to 5 hours a day commutes. Which made me realize just how tight my schedule was. That 1.5-2 hours extra is basically my window where I fit my workouts in. I was speaking with a transit worker today and he feels it’s going to be quite some time until the entire system is back to normal.

I guess I’m going to have to make a plan to get my workouts done in the morning again. Which means I’ve just got to get to sleep earlier and putting my alarm clock further away than my nightstand. (I can hit snooze for a long time without realizing I’m doing it). I just need to change some habits. I’ll let you know how it goes.

NYRR Grete Gallop 13.1

I was very undecided about this race. My stomach was a mess the day before. I also knew that because of the 10:30 start time, parking would be tricky.
I had thought about arriving early to get extra miles in, or staying late and getting extra miles in.
Genine was already in Central Park. She left very early for the 6:30 Duathlon start.
I woke up around 7:30. Stomach seemed alright but I didn't drink much if anything because I didn't want to have any trouble before getting to the city.
The drive was simple enough but as expected, street parking wasn't going to happen. $20 to park in a lot. Ah well. At least I have time to walk around and stretch out a bit this time.
So what's the plan? Practice marathon pace, then add extra after the race? It's a really nice day but Genine will already be on her way home by the time I finish. Well let's just see how this goes and I'll figure it out along the way.

About 10-15 min to start, I eat an entire pack of clif blocks. I've got 2 GU's with me.

First 2 miles are pretty congested and I'm working my way through the crowds. It's a big race. I think 6,000 finishers. I'm looking at my splits and seeing that I'm on 9:00s. If I'm going to to follow marathon pace, I should slow it down... Mile 3 is an 8:33. You know what? My cardio is fine with this. My legs?? I've run 20 miles already this week. They are feeling alright at the moment. There are plenty of good prediction models out there figuring out your possible Marathon finish based on Half Marathon finishes. Let's do this.

I definitely went into this race under hydrated and with fewer calories in me than I'm used to. Instead of trying to run and drink at the aid stations, I've been walking so that I down the entire cup. It's a warm day and I'm definitely losing fluid. :45 min in for the first GU. :30 min after that for the 2nd.

At the 10 mile mark, I started to think about what my PR is at this distance. 1:50:xx?? That was back in 2008. I don't think I'm on pace to break that but I also know I've only got 5K to go. I start to really focus on pushing the pace where I can. (mile 12 turns out to be my fastest mile @ 8:20)
Did I mention I'm not wearing a hat? Why does this matter? Well I'm really grey for 42 and as we get into the final half mile, any older men that I pass, suddenly find another gear and make a point of passing me back. It's kind of funny.

1  9:08
2  8:59
3  8:33   Decided this is my pace for the day.
4  8:44   Walked the water stop.
5  8:36
6  8:35
7  8:34
8  8:45    Congestion as they split lanes for faster finishers
9  8:26
10 8:36  
11 8:34
12 8:20
13 8:27
.1 0:55

1:53:17  8:39 min/mile

I'm happy with this. My 1:50:xx was when I weighed 175. I'm guessing I'm 190 right now. And yes, I visualize myself carrying a 15-20 pound dumbbell during many of my runs and it's frustrating.
The good news is that if I get through the marathon without injury. I feel that I'm in a really good place in terms of momentum. I'm hopeful that some of these nagging injuries the last couple years may be behind me. I find myself thinking about Columbia Tri and MontTremblant 70.3 2013. Keep up the training and drop the weight and those will be a lot of fun.

For now, it's taper time for the marathon. It seems like a really long time to taper, but what do I know about Marathon tapering? Just follow the plan and see what happens.

A big week of running. NYC marathon prep

This will likely go down as the longest training report ever.

The week following my 18 mile run wasn’t so good. I knew I had to get back on track to make sure that I’m prepared. So I followed the next week’s schedule completely even tho’ it meant running in less than perfect conditions.

Tuesday was 5 miles: I forgot to put on my compression sleeves. I was feeling good, but 2 miles in my right calf started to grab now and then. Wasn’t awful but kind of annoying having that happen so early in a run.

Wednesday was 9 miles: The humidity was unreal. Not terribly hot low 70’s perhaps. I was completely soaked at the end of the run. If it were a longer run my toes would have pruned up. The run went well tho’. Legs were fine, I had remembered to wear my compression.

Thursday 5 miles: With compression, another nasty night of humid running. 5 miles doesn’t seem like such a big deal tho’. I’m just glad that my legs have felt good right from the start.

After every run, I’d have 4 ice packs out, feet and knees. I’m not having any major issues but I’m trying to keep it that way.

Friday and Saturday the weather was fantastic. I was very tempted to do my long run Saturday because of this. I knew this was likely to be my peak volume week tho’. (the schedule wanted the next week to be the peak). So I wanted to make sure I had proper rest going into the long run.

Sunday morning was going to start in the mid 40s and not get much higher than low 50’s and it was going to be raining mid/late morning. Then on/off all day. I had set my alarm to wake up early to try and beat the rain but I didn’t fall asleep easily, so I abandoned that idea.

Now I had decided that I should use this to prepare for a possible cold rain on race day. So I decided to run from the house rather than going to the canal path or something. This was going to allow me to stop at the house 3 times. Which meant I wouldn’t have to carry water unless I decided that I should.

I set out a rain jacket, trash bag, extra shirt, hat, nutrition and water. I planed on starting with no hat or jacket tho’. I decided to wear my reflective vest because it’s grey enough out there that I figure it would be a good idea.

Just before 10, it starts to rain. I down a whole packet of Cliff Blocks. I start running on the hour. For the first time this week, my right leg seems to be tracking well. That’s a really good sign. Oddly enough, my left shin was the tight problem area to start off. I close to 2 miles in, I stop under an awning and squat down to give those calf/shin muscles a good stretch. I can really feel that left side as I do this. When I start running again, it’s noticeably better. The thing is, on race day, I’ll barely be off the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. I really doubt I’ll have the opportunity to do this once I start. I’ll be in a flood of people with some 30,000+ people behind me. (seriously, I believe that there are going to be 47,000 runners this year.) So I’ll have to really work on these stretches before the race. My hands were cold the first few miles as well.

5+ miles in, I stop at the house. Chug some water, a bit of EFS gel, bathroom break and back out the door. Heading out the other direction this time. Initially I was thinking of running 5 miles this way, but realized I could go 6+ easily which would give me options the 2^nd time around to go longer or shorter if needed.

I was feeling good but I was soaked. Just like at Mooseman this year, I realized the extra weight was keeping me warm. I was very glad that it wasn’t windy. That would have made things worse. As I was heading back to the house, I was thinking what I should try for the next couple laps. Hat? Rain Jacket? Trash bag? But then it stopped raining. Well mostly.

Nearly 12 miles down:

Back at the house. Change into dry shirt. Drink water. Take EFS flask with me. Bathroom break. Out the door to repeat the first 5+ miles. The dry shirt feels good. It would have been smart if I would have towel dried my hair and threw a hat on. Not that I’d have these options on race day.

Legs are feeling pretty good. Keeping my mind occupied by trying to think of things I’d need to take with me the morning of the race if it’s going to be a rainy day. My pace still feels right although I have no idea what that pace is. I’m hopeful that it’s around 9:30.

As I’m getting close to home once again, I realize I’ll have 17 miles in. Schedule calls for 19. Which would be a new personal best. Thing is, I’m not sure I’ll get a super long run in next weekend. We’ve got a half marathon in Central Park Sunday and I’m not sure that we will have time to tack on the extra miles before or after it. So I decide I need to find some things out right now. I’m going to go 3 or 4 more miles on this final leg.

17 miles down:

Stop at the house. EFS is gone, Down a GU with Double Caffeine, Water, Bathroom Break. Out the door. I look at my watch and figure it’s likely I’ll be running 10 minute miles from here on out. So 40 minutes to go. Shouldn’t be a problem. I can cut it to 3 miles and still hit 20 if I need to.

Getting started is kinda rough but mentally I’m still in this which is good. The beginning of the 2^nd mile has a long down hill.  At the bottom I could turn and make it into a 3 mile out and back. The legs are not enjoying hills, up or down. I’m going keep it a 4 mile loop tho.

At the turn around, I’m at 19. When I walk and high step to stretch my legs I’m now starting to feel that there is a possibility that something could cramp. They are really tight. Every step is a new PR for distance tho’. I visualize the fact that the way home will get me in and out of the Bronx on race day.

I start to get into a bit of trouble tho’. Not my legs, my back. My weakness has finally caught up with me. Low back, left side is now very tight which of course carries into my glutes and hamstring. So things are getting uncomfortable. Which I suppose is not surprising at this stage of the game. When I stop to walk, I’m finding it very hard to get started “running” again. (I had to stop at a couple intersections). So I make a decision to not stop unless it’s absolutely necessary. I’ll have to keep this in mind on race day, towards the end of the race.

I get back to the house, look at my watch and see that I’ve finished at 1:20 PM. So 3hr 20 minutes. Or 200 minutes.

21 Miles! My first 40 mile run week! 3+ hour run!

That is a good list of Firsts for me.

Once I’m back in the house, I think I’ve made one mistake. I should have bought the bags of ice for my ice bath before my run. Then I realize, if I got in the tub right now, there would be a chance I would not be able to get back out! I’ve got to stay on my feet and keep my legs moving for awhile.

I mix up my recovery drink and down that. Energy wise I’m feeling much better than I did after the 18 miler two weeks ago. I think that’s because I put too many calories in that day and my stomach got funky. I can’t say for certain that is why but I had no stomach issues at all today.

The low back thing concerns me. Fatigue is obviously the cause so I guess I’ve got to get a few solid weeks of planks in. It can only help.

That is likely going to be my peak week. I love the fact that I was feeling pretty good to mile 19. I’m very hopeful that I may feel better beyond 19 miles because I won’t be running 19 miles the week leading into race day.

Eventually I felt like I was good enough to hop in the car and go pick up a burger and a couple bags of ice. The heated seats in the car felt great on my back. Getting into the tub was slow going but I got it done. (whomever gave me the clue about adding the ice after you are in the water, thank you).

Then I had a massage at 7PM. It would have been nice if it were scheduled a few hours earlier but it was still effective for sure.

Finally it occurred to me that I hadn’t figured out just how slow my run was. So I fired up the pace calculator and found out that I averaged a 9:32 min/mile. That time included all the breaks. I was not in stopwatch mode. I just used clock time. That was very encouraging.

Walls are being broken down people. Physical and mental walls. This can be done!

One Month to NYC Marathon

After the 18 mile Central Park run, I was feeling pretty optimistic. That run went better than I expected. Unfortunately, the next 7 days were awful. Every run took me at least 3 miles to feel like things were moving the way they should. So the first 3 were no fun at all. On top of that I had some crazy headache that had been building for over a week. My balance was being compromised as well which made me think that it was in my ears. I eventually realized that taking some Sudafed might actually help. Fortunately it did, I was going to the doctor the next day if it didn’t. I was getting very uncomfortable. I’m hoping that whatever is going on in there clears out soon. (I’d blame the pool but I haven’t been there.)

Sunday I went out for what I planned to be a 2 hour run. It ended up being about 70 minutes. As I said it was a bad week. I was probably 45 minutes in before my legs started to feel alright. Which was about the time the sky was looking really really black. I decided to get out of the storm and call it a day and call it a bad week.

So I knew that this week I had to get it done. Last week was practically a recovery week so hopefully things will get better.

Tuesday 5 mile run: Legs feel good right from the start. 2 miles in my right calf starts tweaking randomly again. Guess I should have put the compression sleeves on. I got through the run without too much trouble but I’m sure I was compensating in an attempt to not aggravate that muscle.

Wednesady, 9 mile run: This run went really well. I had my compression on tho’.  The last 5 miles still felt the best. I can’t believe how humid it is out there. I finished this run looking as if I took a shower somewhere along the run. I can’t imagine it could be like this on Nov 4^th. It will be much bigger challenge for me if it is.

Obviously I’ve been running much more that I have in the past. I’ve also switched from running in the morning to running after work. My legs are much more stretched and ready to go in the evening. Which I’m hoping will help keep me from being injured. Also, when I finish my run. I have time to ice my feet and knees. I never had time for that if I ran in the morning. Anyhow, our town is a pretty safe place but I’ve definitely been running into more groups of teens lately that have been shouting stuff as I go along. Not that big of a deal but I’m definitely noticing them being more obnoxious now that I’m running in the dark from 7ish-9PM. Guess there’s another reason to go back to running at 5:30 AM.

I had to go back and do more work on the car again last weekend. The brake on one side still seemed to get hung up from time to time. With Genine home it made it much easier to test things out. It’s impossible to spin a wheel and work the brake pedal at the same time. This week I adjusted the emergency brake cables. Of course in the back of my mind is the comment the guy at the garage had made a long while back. He said that one of the cables was frozen in place. That didn’t seem to be the case when I had the brakes apart last weekend but this weekend I had access to both ends of the cable. It took some time to get the center console apart to get to the cables but it wasn’t difficult. Once I got there, I took all the tension off the cables and sure enough… they worked perfectly. All I had to do was adjust the tension, the one side had tipped significantly and was pulling on that side just a bit even when the brake handle was all the way down. Pretty simple job. Hopefully I won’t have to do anything with the rear brakes on this car until the rotors need to be replaced.

Projects like this are keeping me from getting out on the bike or getting to the pool on the weekends. Which honestly, is fine with me. The marathon is the goal and it’s getting all of the attention. I’m definitely looking forward to getting back to the swimming and biking tho’.

Soon enough, only one Month to the NYC Marathon!

NYRR 18 Miler, Marathon Tuneup 2012

I passed up a fun long weekend back in our hometown to run this race. This race would be my longest run ever. I’ve been concerned about it because I’m right at the point of a marathon schedule where I get injured. Also, I’ve really been having trouble staying motivated at about the 12 mile mark of my long training runs. I was hoping that being in a race would give me a push through that tough spot. Also I wanted to see if I could get out there and just run my pace without any help beyond a simple lap counting watch.

I set everything I needed, out the night before.

Some key gear, that I didn’t use before:

Asics running shorts (the pockets are large enough to carry gel flasks)

Gel Flasks (carrying 2 with liquid EFS Kona Mocha)

CEP compression sleeves.

Sole dual layer socks

Black Cherry Shot Blocks to eat before the race.

Baggage: EFS recovery powder in a shaker and a bottle of water to mix it with after the race.

I woke up at about 4AM to leave just before 5AM. Hoped to be in the city by 6AM.

Ate my oatmeal and got out the door on schedule. Everything was going well. I was up near the race start at 6. Unfortunately, there was a street fair of some sort happening nearby. So they were towing ALL the cars on one of the Avenues. Which meant side street parking was tough to find. I spent 30 minutes looking before realizing I was out of time. Found a parking garage and crossed my fingers that it wasn’t going to cost too much. $12. Whew! I did look into this the night before but didn’t see anything under $30 online.

Race start is in the North East corner around 104^th St by the way. Run is counter clockwise.

I walk/jog to the start. I’m definitely later than I wanted to be. I had to check my bag and get online for a “Bio Break”. As soon as I saw the lines, I knew I wouldn’t be starting the run when the horn sounded. I also knew that if I tried to run, I’d find that there would be lines at every pit stop along the way for the first 3-4 miles. So I waited it out. (I really didn’t have a choice).

I cross the timing mat at the start line about 8:30ish after the horn sounded. This definitely allowed me to run my pace to start because I had so much room due to the lack of people. Of course it also meant that I would eventually have to run through all of the slower paces. Which turned out to be not so bad.

In my rush to make it to the start, I forgot my gatorde bottle in the car. I was going to need to hit the first few water stops.

As I was running through the first crowd, it was kind of interesting to see the vibe of this group. Some people fast walking. Some people “running” but so out of breath I was worried for them. (this is between mile 0 to 2). Then there was one lady that was singing along with her iPod… terribly. I felt badly for anyone around her that might be spending significant time within listening distance of her.

So my goal for the day was to run a 9:30 pace the entire time. That actually would probably be my secondary goal. My primary goal is to not get hurt! During my shorter mid week training runs, I feel that my legs feel like junk for the first 3 miles. Well that wasn’t the case today. I felt really good right from the start.

First mile 9:30 (ding!),

2^nd mile 9:38,

3^rd mile 9:06. You could probably create the elevation profile based on my splits.

4^th mile 9:21

5^th mile 9:26

6^th mile … I missed it because I was running to the water table. I am forearm blocked by a guy crossing ahead of me to the table who doesn’t want to slow down to pick up water. Then pushes me again on his way out. (Ever feel like tripping somebody?). But just then from behind I hear shouts of “Move to your left!!!” being repeated over and over. That would be the bikes making room for the lead racer. I realize I started 8 minutes late, but this guy was finishing 12 when I was at the 6 mile mark. Very cool to see the speedsters running through, although I think from this point on he had a significant advantage because of the cyclists making room for him. (he finished the race in 1:34:47 a 5:16 pace).

6^th  & 7^th mile 18:20

8^th mile 9:32

9^th mile 9:23 … Feeling really good to this point. I finished off my first flask of EFS but along with the water I’m curious if I’m over doing it with the calories. My stomach feels a bit odd. Maybe I should have waited longer to start with the EFS because I had the shot blocks at the start.

10^th mile 9:13

11^th mile 9:26

12^th mile 9:16 … Typically this is where I just want to stop running. That’s not the case today. The only issue at the moment is that I’m starting to feel the miles in my legs.

13^th mile 9:30

14^th mile 9:37

15^th mile 9:44 … At this point I’m pretty psyched about the fact that I’ve just run 15 miles without walking anything but water stops.

16^th mile 9:30 …

17^th mile 10:11 …  This would be a climb. Hamstrings are getting tight and my stride feels very compressed. I “funny walk” for a bit in an attempt to get some length back into the hamstrings. (Well not exactly like in the video but you get the idea). I can’t help but feel concerned about cramping although it doesn’t feel like that’s going to happen.

18^th mile 9:30

Total 2:50:22 for a 9:28 pace   1925^th overall/4320    1316^th male/2275      223 Age Group or 394

Obviously I am pleased with the results. I ran the pace I set out to run with very little discomfort. That was VERY encouraging.

Although I couldn’t help but think about the additional 8.2 miles I’d have to run for the Marathon.  I’d say I started to feel every hill starting around mile 14. Up or Down. Immediately after the race 8.2 more miles sounded like it was going to be a problem. (and it might be). But now that I’ve looked at the Marathon Course Map and I’ve broken it up. I feel better about it.

16 miles gets me into Mahnattan. Which was my main goal for the year.

18 puts me half way to the Bronx.

20 puts me to the Bronx

21 and I’m out of the Bronx

23 I’m alongside the park and about a 5K to the finish.

There is a good chance there could be some bad miles towards the end but at least I’ve finally shifted my mindset to get to the Marathon finish line instead of just taking what I can get.

As soon as I finished running, I went to my bag and mixed up my recovery drink and chugged that and switched into a dry shirt. This is the first NYRR event I’ve done where I saw a ton of post race stretching going on. Me? I was all about getting my hamstrings stretched out and finding some water. I thought I was doing fine while I was running. Now that I’ve stopped, I was really feeling kinda funky. I should have brought a few bucks with me. Unfortunately my cash was in the car. Once I was  in my car I just wanted to get home. I had some Gatorade and a bit of water left over from the drive in, it would have to do.

It took an hour to get home. I stopped to pickup 2 bags of ice. Filled the tub and in I go. Then the 2 bags of ice got added. I probably should have had a bit more ice , or maybe I’m getting used to cold ice baths.

Once I was done with that. It was time to eat. But what? I should have prepared better for this. I was very hungry at this point and ended up ordering a pizza. Probably not the best choice. I watched some of the Jets/Dolphins game while I was eating. It was a close game but I wasn’t very interested. Eventually I set my cell phone alarm for an hour later and fell asleep. Woke up to find out that I was eliminated from my NFL Survival League. Knew I should have picked the Bills! I had the 49ers.

I finished the day by going and getting a massage. I felt pretty good but I know the next day or so could be ugly.

I guess the one thing I haven’t mentioned that shouldn’t be overlooked is this. My stride felt great! My right leg has been so funky for sooo long. I’ve kicked the inside of my left ankle so many times over the last couple years. Not Today!! I really hope it stays like this. It’s nice running and not feeling like you are going to injure yourself!

And finally, it’s nice to have a new “longest run ever”, I’ll worry about pace for some other event in the future. Right now it's cool just to have covered the distance.

Here's what's been goin' on

Last weekend I spent my Saturday working on cars and bikes.
I washed the 2001 Jetta, I couldn't find the sponge I usually wash the car with but there was another one in the bucket I use. Opened that up and for some strange reason, decided it was a good idea to use the rough side on a few spots on the car..... Really? What possessed me to do that? It did a number on the clear coat of the car. It's not awful but I was just amazed at my stupidity. I'm actually considering buying a kit to fix it back up. It's got 112,000 miles on it but it still looks good. (until now...) Really it's not horrible but it's one of those things that once you notice it, you see it every time.

Next I had to get the oil changed. Should I do it myself? Or go somewhere? I really hate to be under the car. Even with ramps and jack stands, I still worry that it's going to fall on me. So I went to a garage to have it done. They weren't busy so I mentioned my issues about the brakes and muffler. The muffler was just a band that had come loose. They reattached that for me. Then they said the back left caliper had brake fluid on it. I'd changed that caliper last year I think. Anyhow, I knew I had to look at that soon as well. That's something I can take care of myself tho and save a bunch of money.

After that I actually went to the pool and swam for a bit. I miss swimming. I would really be something to live somewhere when I could swim in a nice clean lake all summer. Pool swimming is a bummer when it's so nice out. I'd imagine an outdoor lap pool would suffice.
Then when I got home I did my lifting for the 3rd time that week.

Then I took my road bike out to the driveway to do some work on it. The clip on aerobars have been removed. I had to install the brakes. I had stolen the ultegras off of it for the tribike because it was easier to change the pads when I'd switch between my trainers and the race wheels. I had to run a new brake cable. I didn't feel like unwrapping the bars so I just ran it through the existing housing. It worked well. The cervelo brakes (or whatever brand they are) are kind of funky. The front one had some corrosion on the adjuster. So I ended up pulling all of that apart to clean and lube that a bit. Then I stole the pedals off my tribike and grabbed a saddle off the shelf and went up and down the street a couple times. It's nice not having the aerobars on there. I've got to work on dialing in saddle position and I probably will need to change the bar height as well and maybe stem length. In other words, it's a work in progress.

Sunday was a 15 mile run. I'm thankful that Todd decided to run with me, even tho he ran 12 miles Saturday. He stopped mid run for a bit of shopping but probably ran 13 of the 15 with me. All in all, it went well for me. I still really have trouble at the 2 hour mark. Something triggers in me that makes me want to stop at that point. I'm going to try taking in more calories during the 2nd hour to see if that changes anything.
Post run: recovery drink, ice bath, massage.

Missed my 4 mile run on Tuesday.
Wednesday I ran 8. It was an interesting run. You know how I've been complaining about my right leg being so awkward. How my foot strike it so random in it's placement and all that. Well, my right leg seems to be getting back with the program. It feels like it's moving properly most of the time now. It's been a really really long time since it's felt this way. I'm wondering what has changed. The massages helping? Is it because I haven't been on my bike in weeks? Or is it the run mileage? If I had to guess, I'd guess that it's my lack of biking. I'll bet my cleat position or something about my setup is throwing off my muscle balance in my right leg. I'm thinking of getting some speedplay pedals that have a ton of float to them to see if those work better for me.
Anyhow, obviously the good news is that the mechanics of my right leg for running is getting back on track. The bad news is that it changes a ton of stuff. My right foot was kind of hurting after the run. Also my pace has quickened which on one hand is great but not this late in a marathon schedule. I ran 5 tonight (Friday) and was constantly having to slow myself down. I may have to get my watch out w/ footpod to make sure I run slowly enough.

This weekend is going to be interesting. I mentioned the brake issue on the car. Well it turns out the piston isn't moving well on the other caliper in the back. So now I've got to work on both of them. If my neighbor is home to help me bleed the brakes, and if I can get the parts. I'll probably swap them out tomorrow. If not. I'll see what I can do with the current parts. Because I've got a run in Central Park on Sunday morning. There isn't a train that will get me there early enough, so that's not an option. Ugh. I really hope everything works out. It's about 100 miles round trip.

Not to mention, I'm already nervous about the run. 18 miles. My longest run ever. 3 laps around Central Park. I'm really hoping that running with all these other people will give me some race day energy and I'll find the 3 hours will fly right on by. I really need this run to go well. I'm right at the point where I've failed the last two years. Finishing this well, will be a serious confidence booster.

Weights: How to become more consistent?

I started lifting weights this week. As I was planning out what I was going to do, I thought about the fact that in the last 2 years I was never able to keep my weight lifting on schedule. I think I might have figured out why.

When I pulled out the paper that listed all the exercises from my training program, I remembered that it would take me about an hour to finish the workout. I think I need to adjust the plan to be in the 25-40 minute range or perhaps even shorter.

There have been times that the workout didn't happen because I didn't feel that I had an hour left in my day. So instead of doing part of it, I don't do any of it.
Then there are times when I couldn't bring myself to do the workout because I knew that I wasn't going to be able to stay strong through the whole list of exercises. So I'd put it off for a day when I might feel better...

It seems that I need to create a plan that feels much more "doable". So that I'm less likely to skip it.

Well right now, because of the marathon training, I want to take it easy on my legs. I'd rather do too little than too much seeing how I keep injuring myself preparing for marathons. So I've created a couple different workouts and they only take about 30 minutes.

One is all upper body which I'll do 3 times this week.

The lower body I think will break up into 2 lists.

One will be exercises that I can do at home.
The other will be a list of things I can only do when I'm at a gym.
This way, when I'm at the gym (not often) I'll only be doing exercises that I can't do at home, making the most out of my time spent there.

I also need to come up with a short list of lower body, at home exercises that I can do after a bike or a run. It may be that I need 2 lists that I alternate between. The point is to get the weight training into the schedule.
I had always been thinking about weight lifting being on the schedule twice a week. Breaking it up like this will probably mean there will be weights 5 days a week. Let's see how it goes.

Can I make it to the NYC Marathon Start Line?

Last weekend was perhaps the worst I've felt during a run that wasn't preceded by a 1.2 mile swim and 56 mile bike, which I paced poorly (ahem.. Mont Trembant back in June).
Of course the pig roast / beer fest last weekend probably contributed as well....

Anyhow, I decided to try a number of new things in an attempt to build up and survive the marathon training.

1) Fueling during the run. I really haven't tried different products to know if one is more effective than another for me. I have been using GU because I like the flavors. Well I now have some EFS Liquid Shot that I'm going to use for awhile to see how that works out.

2) Calf Compression Sleeves. This past Thursday I was supposed to run 7-8 miles, I ran 3. My right calf kept freaking out on me. Everything would feel fine, then BAM! A muscle in my right calf would pull tight for a split second, making it feel that if I stepped on it the next stride, I would damage something. I'd stop and it would be fine... for another few minutes.
Not sure why it was happening, uneven pavement? Tight muscles? I can't say, but I decided that I was going to wear my calf sleeves for my long run and hope that it helps. Well that long run was today, 13 or so miles and not a single issue with my calves. I was on the even surface of the Canal Path but I'm hoping that the sleeves were part of the solution.

 3) Recovery Fuel. I've been eating something post run but maybe what I'm eating digests too slowly to be an effective recovery. (I can't be like Mirinda Carfrae and drink chocolate milk unless I take it with a bunch of those lactose pills). Of course many recovery drinks have whey in them and would likely to cause me grief as well. So after a bit of reading, I discovered that the Whey Isolate is probably my best bet because it's low on lactose. So I ordered up the EFS Ultragen. It's coffee flavored, it's drinkable. I'm hoping another flavor may be better but honestly I don't care. If it does what I need it to do, down the hatch it goes. It's not THAT bad.

4) Foam Roller. I've had this thing for a long time and it's just not been used much. Until now. I've actually got some "free" time since I haven't been swimming or biking. So I checked youtube for some help and started to do some rolling a few times a week. I haven't found a best video yet. Start here and just watch a bunch of "related" ones until you think you've got more of a clue than before. It's way too easy to avoid the painful areas. Suck it up and get it done. I'm told that it gets less painful if you roll often.

5) Ice bath after the long runs. This is a "must do" for me. Any time I run over 2 hours, fast or slow, my hips, knees and feet really need this. (really makes me wonder if I should be sticking to 13.1 as my longest event).

6) Ice packs on feet and knees after every run, no matter how short/long. Icing my feet isn't new to me. It's what I do to keep Plantar Fascitis from reappearing. Putting ice packs on my knees is new since Timberman 70.3 a few weeks ago. Honestly, running has me feeling really old lately. The ice definitely helps. If you've never tried it, you really should. Same with the ice baths.

7) Supplements: Triple Omega 3/6/9, Glucosamine / Chondroitin sulfate. I understand that these may not help me at all. As long as they don't hurt me, they are staying on the list. (feel free to comment) For what it's worth, I rarely use NSAIDs. If I do use them, I make sure they aren't in my system during a workout. (again feel free to offer feedback, always curious of others knowledge on the subject)

8) I have a number of prepaid massages saved up. I've booked a massage every Thursday night and Sunday night from here until the marathon on November 4th. I'll cancel along the way if I'm feeling good. I just wanted to have it on the schedule so I know it's available if I need it.

 9) Sleep. I've been very focused on going to bed early. Between this and a much lighter training schedule, I've realized just how tired I've been for way too long. It's kind of funny to say that marathon training has been a nice break or an easier schedule, but I've chosen a very novice program from Hal Higdon and only have 4 runs a week.

10) Diet: I've been having a very hard time over the last year to lose weight. It's typically not WHAT I'm eating but HOW MUCH. I'm not exactly sure what's happened over the last week but I'm not eating as much. Perhaps my body has adjusted to the lighter training schedule? Or maybe because I'm not exhausted because of the training schedule, so I'm not eating to get through my day? Or is it the run focus? I've heard that if you are a runner your body WANTS to be lighter. I don't know, a mix of all of them perhaps. All I can say is that I will be very happy to see the numbers on the scale getting smaller again.

There should be a 11th item on there but it hasn't really been happening yet so I didn't include it. I'll put it as a subnote here.

11) Crosstraining: Basic abs workouts, Light strength routine, swimming & biking.
I really tried to get some swimming in. I went to the pool twice and it was closed both times. Grrr.

My first confidence builder/destroyer is in 2 weeks. I'm signed up for the 18 miler in central park. That will be my longest run ever if I finish it. I'm hopeful that the race day vibe will help me once I reach the 2 hour mark. I really start to lose motivation at this point and I'll have another hour to go, maybe more. (If only I could run faster...)

Edit: I think I missed something. I just found this article regarding cool downs.

My new favorite Smoothie

I have a  new smoothie recipe that I really like.

You really can't go too wrong with your portions, it's depends on what you like.

1/2 to 3/4  cup almond milk (my lactose free solution feel free to use milk)

1 cup of frozen blueberries

½ to ¾ frozen or unfrozen banana

1 TBS of Honey (It’s not as good without the honey)

1 or 2 TBS peanut butter (to taste)

Throw some protein powder if you want to boost protein content. I’ve been using Rice powder.

Then toss some ice cubes in and blend.

I really don't like bananas but I love this. 

Maybe eventually I'll actually like/tolerate bananas because of this.

Update

Alright, let’s see if I can get back on track with writing some blog posts again on a semi-regular basis. I’ve been coming across all sorts of good stuff on the web that I’ve wanted to write about and link to and I really would like keep track of that information.

The first thing was information about bike fitting. Following Timberman, I really wanted to get back out on the road bikes, without areo bars. Which would probably mean that I would need to be fit to my bike again. I was never very comfortable on my road bike and so I was looking to compare it’s geometry to my tri bike. That turned into a whole lot of reading but at the end of it, I felt like I had a clue. Now I’m really interested to see a fitter and see how it all matches up. Once I confirm my understanding of  it all, it’s definitely going to help me when it’s time to shop for bikes. I’d been looking at cyclocross and 29ers and comparing geometry between frames. I was seeing how certain brands would be better for different body types right out of the box because of their geometry. At some point I need to get out there and start test riding some of them just for fun.

For now I’ll just leave you with this link that has a ton of information on the subject.

Link to Stack/Reach information

I’ll get back to this once I’ve had some time to work on it more.

I’ve also found a bunch of swimming videos that I found to be very interesting. I’ve definitely lost momentum in the pool. I’m starting to feel like I want to get back in there and get to work. (Too bad I didn’t feel this way all summer.)  If I lived near a nice lake with a good place to open water swim, this wouldn’t have been an issue.

I’ll eventually post something with all the swim video.

Of course my biggest disappointment right now is the fact that WTC/Ironman has dropped/canceled Mooseman for 2013. Writing out an angry rant here isn’t going to change anything so I won’t. I’ll just hope that someone else steps in and takes over the venue and does a nice job with it.

My focus right now is the NYC Marathon. I’ve decided to choose the most basic of plans out there. 4 runs a week, a plan that will hopefully get me to both the start line and finish line. (Obviously, not very quickly).

So far it isn’t looking very promising. First long run was cut very short at 5 miles. Then this weekend’s 12 miler was just awful. It was bad from mile 1 to mile 6. My legs were VERY tight and slow. 7-12 actually felt better. I’m certain my pace was still horrible tho. It’s too early to be concerned, I’m going to keep at it and see where I end up.