The importance of the group

Distance: 5.6 mi

Time: 47:39

What a spectacular morning…  I turned off my headlamp and ran under the light of the full moon.  It reminded me of a few mountain bike rides I did back in the day with a group in Ventura, CA.  A full moon ride anytime is fun, but add wide open vistas on top of the cliffs overlooking the Pacific?  …awesome.  This run was just as fun though.  Although my desperate attempts to SLOW DOWN failed miserably.  I wanted to run 10 minute miles and ended up running 8:45s…  I finally just gave up and went with it.  It was a comfortable, talking pace and the people I ran with are all training for something big (marathons or big tris) so there was lots of discussion of tapering, eating, training and post race binges…!  Pretty funny.

It’s always good to hear what others are going through.  It lets you know that you are not alone with your feelings, both physical and mental.  I trained completely alone when I ran the LA marathon in ‘96.  I realize now that this was one of many mistakes I made.  I had no idea where I was at with my training… I just ran.  I thought the way I felt was wrong or bad somehow.  I thought feeling tired and run down meant I was out of shape, so I trained harder.  Yet another mistake.  And so it went.  It was a miracle I actually made it to the finish line of that race.  I had no one to share with (that would understand from a runner’s perspective) or talk to.  I went to warm up races alone and didn’t say a word to anyone the entire time I was there.

One of the things I vowed to do this time was make sure I made friends and enjoyed the people I ran with.  I hesitated in joining a group though, because I felt like I was slow and there would be no one to run with.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.  In fact, I wish now that I had joined 6 months earlier.  Who knows what shape I would be in…?  I found, immediately, a group of runners that were similar in pace and goals to me and we have been fast (…err… slow…?) friends ever since.  We share with each other everything from training strategies to embarrassing moments.  It really helps.

Here are some of the common threads that we are all feeling/thinking.  There are 6 of us:

We are tired.  We are hungry… all the time.  We are curious.  Our races are all coming up soon and we are full of wonder.  We obsess over useless details and overlook the big picture.  We want to get it over.  We are ready to move on.  We are nervous.  We are not sure if we can do it.  We are not sure if we are ready, even though we know we are.  We are sore.  We wonder what it is like to sleep in.  We are tired of washing running/biking/swimming clothes every day.  We are excited.  We struggle with motivation and ponder what the heck we are doing this for.  We are planning for life after “the race” (I can’t stress how important this is).  We love this journey and wouldn’t trade it for anything… Except maybe a pizza and a nap… 

Shoey love

Distance: 4.5 mi

Time: Track Workout

First, a point of clarification.  From the emails and comments I got about the last post it seems that some people think that I was the one that got injured.  This is NOT TRUE.  My FRIEND got injured, I was merely bringing it up to point out those funny things that runners worry about when the big race gets close.  I’m fine… really… I always run this slow.

I found it hard to run slow tonight (he says… contradicting his last sentence…).  I was really trying to slow it down to save myself for Saturday.  But either I always run this slow and I’m just now noticing or I’m running faster… easier… if that makes sense.  Anyway, I usually run 1:30 quarters when we run mile pace (no… I could never sustain that pace for a whole mile…) and when I was running “slow” tonight, I ran 1:35…  so much for saving myself.

OH!!!  I got new shoes!!! {insert happy new shoe dance here}

I have been very disappointed with my Asics Gel Kayanos.  They just didn’t hold up to the mileage, event though they are advertised as a high mileage shoe.  My lowly Asics 2110s are older and are still plugging along, although they are getting a bit tread bare.  So I was in my favorite running shop and decided it was time to get new ones so they would be broken in just in time for the marathon.  I decided to go with Asics (yes, I love Asics) 2120s this time.  Kind of a mid priced/mid to high quality shoe.  I have Neanderthal feet…  Flat, wide at the ball and narrow at the heel… not my most redeeming feature…  not that I have a lot of redeeming ones…

Oh, never mind…

I have been buying 2E widths and they do OK, but they suggested I try a 4E just to see how it fit and it’s MUCH better.  Lots of room in the toe box but still tight around the heel (which was always the problem with New Balance… the heel box was too big and my heel slid around in it).  Asics is the only shoe I’ve found that has this combination.  Everybody else’s “wide” widths… well… aren’t…

Anyway, it’s the only real piece of equipment we need to run so it’s good for discussion.  If my first run in these is any indication, we are going to have a long and happy relationship.  Oh… I also got a pair of “Sock Guy” running socks.  Very comfy and they seemed to do quite well with the copious amounts of sweat I put in them.  It was nice to just forget about socks, shoes and feet for a run.  Sock Guy also makes socks that have the number 26.2 on them… heh…

AFTER I run it, though.  ONLY after.

Head games

Distance: 5.6 mi

Time: 48:10

The beginning of my “light” week in advance of 24 miles on Saturday started with some serious “hoofing und poofing” as my lungs complained a bit about being put to the test after sitting in a car for 4 1/2 hours yesterday.  My legs chimed in about half way up a big nasty hill and then I got to listen to all the body part bitching for about another mile until I finally got warmed up.  It’s odd that my lungs give me as much guff as they did today.  Normally it’s my legs and hips that complain.  But by the end of the run everything was fine again with the world and I got to enjoy a full lunar eclipse during the run.  It was REALLY cool…  fer a geeky, Star Trek watchin’, aliens are out there, nerd like me…!  It was beautiful.

We get beads for special occasions like when more than 100 people run or its really hot or really cold or raining, etc.  so the regulars were pushing our “bead master” to give us a special bead for running during an eclipse.  I don’t think it worked, but it was funny.  Just another special moment that I would never have had if I weren’t up at 5am for a run.

My friend Kathy overstressed herself on her long run last Saturday.  She was trying to make 22 miles and ended up bonking at 20 AND hurting her knee in the process.  She is REALLY frustrated, upset and afraid this is going to keep her from running her marathon.  Although nobody but her knows how bad it really is, I tried to comfort her a bit and make sure that she rests it.  She has trained very well to this point and will have no problem with the marathon distance unless she pushes too hard and hurts herself even more.

This, for me, brings up a recurring runners nightmare about training all of this time only to have the wheels come off on the last lap.  If I get hurt IN the marathon, that just makes for great war stories later (maybe even with scars!)…  But I am terrified of doing something stupid days to weeks before the event that takes me out.  Yes, I know that it’s all a part of the journey and there will be other marathons if this one doesn’t work out, but when I see somebody go down like this it makes me extra careful about where I step when I run…

I have had several people now question my sanity for wanting to run full marathon distance BEFORE the marathon.  Maybe it is crazy… but for me it’s a psychological thing.  I just want to know in my mind going in to the race that I have already bagged that mileage.  I know this means very little, physically, in fact it might even be bad for me, but I need the confidence.  I need to be able to look back in recent memory, not 12 years ago, and see me running this distance.  It might seem a bit silly, but I think it’s all a part of that “I’m not a runner yet” mentality I carry with me.  If I can run marathon distance without support…  THEN… I can call myself a runner.

I have guilt… sorta… Ok… maybe not.

Distance: 5.7 mi

Time: 48:55

I have guilt…

…well… not really…

On a day of the week when, for the last 3 months, I have been running between 13 and 22 miles…  I did not.  I ran 5.7 decadently short miles with some friends.  I could have extended out my run to 10 miles, but I didn’t.  I feel like I just cheated on a test and got away with it…

…heh!

Actually, what I’m really doing is following my plan, it just feels like cheating…  I decided when I successfully bagged 22 miles two weeks earlier than expected that I would split up the extra two weeks and give myself 3 weeks between my last two long runs of 24 and 26.  Kind of like a practice taper.  The first week after would be a recovery, then a fast, high mileage week, then a very light, slow week, which started today.

Everybody thinks I’m nuts for trying to run marathon distance before the marathon, especially twice.  But it has always been a part of my plan and I really don’t think I could run a marathon without proving to myself that I could run the distance unaided first.  I would rather crap out and drop out of a training run than have to step off on race day.  Not that it would really mean anything but I would still be disappointed.  At least this way I know I can go the distance.  And I can also practice one of the toughest things during a taper.  Controlling my eating.  Currently my body still wants to eat like I’m running 40 miles a week, but during my light weeks I have to back off on the calories a bit and it’s going to take some practice.

Right about the time we turned onto the last stretch for home today, my legs were finally ready to run.  I charged up the hill to the finish and then stopped.  It was almost a shock!  My body was ready to go and I stopped?  Howzat work?!  I briefly considered making a turn and doing another couple of miles, but didn’t.  This was like a little gift from me to my body for getting me this far…  and it feels good…!

Of Dads and Sons

NOTE:  This post is not about “running”, but it is… And it’s something I wanted to share.  This is going to be a big post.  A blogopotamus, even…

Some things in life come naturally to me.  Some things take a bit more work.  And then there are those things that I really struggle with.

Of all the things that I have struggled with in my life, one of the things that I think I am worst at is being a dad…

Don’t get me wrong.  I love my children more than anything and would gladly jump in front of a truck to save them if need be.  I would never hurt them and have seldom raised anything more than my voice against them.  But I have just never been comfortable in the “dad shoes”.  I don’t play with my kids enough.  I feel like all I do is follow them around and bark at them for doing things they shouldn’t.  I want to help and care and teach and play… but sometimes I feel like I just don’t know how.  Even after almost 10 years of trying…

My son, especially, has always been somewhat of an enigma to me.  My one time dream of being the baseball coach/soccer coach/scout master/etc. was dashed early on when he showed little to no interest in sports.  I kind of felt like I had lost my connection at that point.  Instead, he doesn’t even like to watch sports, doesn’t like to go outside because that’s where the bugs are, and obsesses about things like video games and Pokemon.  While I have tried to learn about and show interest in the things in his world, I’m just not a gamer.  He also “hates” exercise.

I have been increasingly worried about him.  He has gained a substantial amount of weight because of his sedentary existence and I know that he has my genes.  If he doesn’t learn how to control his weight and find something to do for exercise, he will fight an uphill battle for the rest of his life with his health.  He also does not eat as well as I would hope.  I know he is 9 and he has the tastes of a 9 year old.  At this point he prefers hot dogs to steak, which is wrong on so many levels.  But he does not eat enough of the right things and eats too much of the bad stuff.  But how do I get through to him…  How can I make a connection…?

Surprisingly enough, the answer came from him.  One day at dinner he said that he wanted to try… of all things… running.  I nearly choked on my food.  I didn’t know what to say.  My wife gave me that “SAY SOMETHING” look and I think I mumbled something encouraging and asked when he wanted to start.  Again, surprisingly, he said “today”.

I guess he had seen me losing weight and feeling better by running and, although it had taken him a year to process, he had decided to give it a try.  My mind was a mix of excitement and the natural fatherly doubt.  I had gotten lip service before about bicycling, etc. so I had my doubts.  But I was certainly willing to do anything to help him, so off we went.

Immediately my coaching instincts kicked in.  Children (he’s so smart that sometimes it is hard to remember that he IS just a little boy) must train carefully for sports like distance running.  Little muscles don’t develop the same way pre vs. post pubescence.  Doing things like intervals, fartelks, long runs and speed work are out of the question, especially if the child is overweight.  Too much stress on little joints can cause horrific problems later.  Not to mention that these types of workouts are HARD… even for adults.

The balancing act for me is not to dive so far into “coach” that I forget to be “dad” and “running buddy”.  If I wanted to have any hope that this would work, it needed to be two things…  Fun, and “comfortably” uncomfortable.  In other words, other than pointing out some simple form mistakes (he pumps his arms too much and needs to relax his upper body), we would just run AND we would run when he said to (at MY pace, he wants to go too fast, which is typical of any new runner) and walk when he said to.

We set a goal of exercising for 30 minutes and headed to a park with an easy trail.  Our only rules were 1.) Listen to your body and tell me what you feel, and, 2.) No whining!  Our objective was to try to get around the park trail (1.25 miles) in 30 minutes.

The first night, we walked most of the way with a little jogging.  We goofed around a bit and talked about runner’s etiquette (stay on your side of the trail, hold your line through turns, etc.) and form.  I pointed out when I could hear him breathing hard and told him that was his body telling him to slow it down.  We made it around in 28 minutes.

You never know when you do an activity like that if that will be the first, last and only time, so you hold your breath when you ask again, but when I asked him if he wanted to go again I got an enthusiastic “yes!”.  For me, this was one of the most exciting answers in our relationship.

I’m not going to bore you with the details of every run, but we have been running together now about 3-4 days a week for 3 weeks.  Milestones he has achieved so far include running 1/4 mile without stopping, running more than half of the park trail and setting a new PR of 18:54 for the trail last night.  He was especially thrilled when I told him that the first time I ran the same route, just over a year ago, I did it in just under 15:00 and that if he kept it up, he could beat that soon.

I think there is a spark there,  and I hope to keep fanning it until it flames up.  Even if it means that I run my mileage in the morning and then run with him at night.  The extra mile or two won’t hurt me and it may make all the difference in the world for him.  He is giving himself genuine self compliments, and well deserved.  I haven’t seen this much from him.  He is curious about going farther and faster.  We talked about running shoes, what happens when it gets cold, how to drink on the run, etc.  I even planted the seed of running a 5K in the spring.  At first, he balked at the idea.  Then, later, he asked me how far a 5K was in miles.  I told him just over 3 and reminded him that he can already do over a mile.  At this point he paused and then said… “I could probably do that… If you think you could keep up with me…”

!!!!

Look, I will never drag my children into anything they don’t want to do.  I’ve seen too many “Soccer Moms” and “Coach Dads” that ruin the experience for their children completely by being way to overzealous.  And I may not be the best at playing dollies or Pokemon.  But if I can encourage an interest and “create a monster” in running for him, I’ll walk over a thousand miles of broken glass barefoot to do it.  For now, I remain cautiously optimistic and simply try to be as encouraging as supportive as possible.  But deep down inside… I REEEEEALLY want this to work…

…and I’m really proud of him…

Hot toast and cold peanut butter

Distance: 8 mi

Time: 1:08:20

I woke up a wee bit early this morning because I knew that, since I ran less than 12 hours ago, I would need some more food before I ran.  Do you know how hard it is to maintain enough coordination to spread cold peanut butter (homemade!!  mmmmmm….) on a piece of toast at 4:45 in the freakin’ A.M.???  I crammed what was left of the mess down my piehole and added some apple juice and declared victory.  Sometimes any landing you can walk away from is a good one…

The usual suspects showed up for the run this morning along with one wide, bleary eyed newbie that I’m sure was thinking the same thing I did my first time… “What on earth are all these idiots doing here this early in the morning?”  …actually, it’s a question I still ask myself from time to time.  I’m sure glad they are there, though…

Well, it’s official.  The season of panic and self doubt has begun.  Most of the training has been completed and many people have marathons or big triathlons that they have been prepping for.  Now the months of training are coming to an end and many of them are in their tapers.  Around here we have the Heart of America marathon this weekend (one of the oldest, toughest and cheapest ($25) marathons you will ever run… I dare ya…), St. Charles marathon on the 16th and the club triathlon national championships (which CMC has been national champions of for 3 of the last 4 years) in Innsbrook, MO. next month as well.  All I heard all morning was how people don’t think they are ready and how they haven’t made their distances yet, etc.  I can definitely empathize.  Although I am on track to meet my goals, I have not made a couple of distances and it was a horrible feeling.  Nothing destroys your confidence quicker than a long walk back to the car.  I want to say something.  Maybe bark a little encouragement at them or something.  But my lack of confidence in my running experience keeps me from it.  I have done nothing to prove myself as a runner other than sticking to a plan.  I want to go to the St. Charles marathon and support my running buddy, Kathy, as she tries for her goal of running a marathon before she is fifty (she’s 47 and she will do fine, but she’s nervous), but I don’t want to put extra pressure on her so I haven’t asked…  Is that a weird way to think?

Speed, evil thoughts and a short, long one

Distance: 4.5 mi.

Time: Speed work

Yeah baby!  Speed work!  Even though it was 95 today, I was really looking forward to getting back to this workout.  My work schedule has prevented me from doing it for 3 weeks and I missed it… in a sick, demented sort of way…

Mother nature cooperated by sending a stray thundershower just to the west of us and, although it didn’t rain on us, we got a nice breeze and some cloud cover until we were almost done…  Thanks Ma!

It’s not that speed work makes me “faster” as much as it takes my focus off of mileage, in flight re-fueling and such.  I just run ’til I start to wheeze and then stay there until I see the finish line.  All the hoofing and poofing forces me to think about things like breathing (which I usually totally forget about on my long runs because it’s not an issue… ’cause I’m slow like dat…) and form.  I run my long days with short, choppy steps and I higher turnover.  It actually feels good to lengthen my stride out and reach for the next step a bit.  It also makes me work different muscle groups and even use my upper body a bit more.  All good reasons to do it…

Also, some of the best local runners come out for these sessions and it’s fun to see them fly…  Although I have had the occasional fantasy about tripping them as they pass me… AGAIN… AND AGAIN…

!?!?!?

Ahh well… what was that saying…?  …something about age and treachery…

Tomorrow is 8 yummy, tasty and deliciously flat miles on a course my legs know so well I can pretty much just check out and leave them to it.  And for the first time in a LOONNNNG time,  this will be my longest run of the week… NOT SATURDAY!  YEIIIPPPPEEEEEE!!  I’m not sure which I love more… My long runs… or getting to skip one every now and then…

Lifting “the weight”

Distance: 6.2 mi

Time: 50:30

Spent the two evenings since my long run helping a friend cut up a 50 foot tall, 32 inch diameter section of a maple tree that blew down in the wind storm we had last week. It nicked the side of her house, but only knocked down her gutters. She’s lucky… A direct hit from a branch that big would have destroyed her house. Anyway, the two day chainsaw fest taxed my chainsaw muscles for the first time in a year, leaving my back and large sized ass end feeling stiff and sore (me with a sore butt is akin to a giraffe with a sore throat…), so I was hoping this morning’s run would loosen things up a bit.

It’s kinda funny, the route we ran today was one I had been thinking I wanted to run again, then we get the email saying this is the route we are running today… Maybe I should start thinking about winning the lotto… hmm…

Today’s route was a true 10K (one of my favorite distances) that has a long straight section with two long hills in it. They are not overly hard or steep… just long (one is about a mile and the other is just over a half mile) and back to back with a small down between them. The route ends on a big downhill that you can really open up and fly on so, all in all, it’s a favorite of mine. As usual, we started out in the dark and stayed in the dark for over half the route. More and more headlamps are appearing!

I took off at a moderate pace just to see how I felt and after a bit of a warm up I discovered that I felt REALLY good! I sped up and made contact with the lead pack and stuck with them for over half of the run. They finally dropped me about the middle of the last big hill, but that is still much longer than I usually hang with them. I finished at an 8:08 pace. I think I could have run a little faster but I was pleased with this pace on this hilly a route. I think I have pretty much shaken my fear of the hills in the KC Marathon. I don’t think there is anything it can throw at me that I can’t handle.

I haven’t mentioned my weight in a while. It just seemed to be one too many things to obsess about. I am down to between 185 and 190 now. I doubt I will make my goal of 170 by race day, but I feel good and seem to be able to handle longer runs with the extra weight, as long as I slow down. So I think I will run KC anyway. If I can get below 180, that would be even better, but I’m not worried about it anymore. I know now that as long as I keep running and moderate my intake, I will eventually meet my weight goal as well. I am to the point now where I have started to shift priorities a bit. I know that my weight will take care of itself as long as I take care of me. It’s actually a really nice feeling to not have to worry about it so much (Pay attention? Yes. Worry? No.). Although I still need to lose weight, I don’t feel like I’m in as much danger of a health crisis as I was a year ago when I got this silly marathon idea. Now the marathon seems reasonable, I consider a 6 mile run as “short”, I’m 55lb. lighter, my resting heart rate is 48 and my blood pressure is normal. The rest of it will take care of itself.

Tripper

Distance: 13.5 mi

Time: 2:14:29

Well, that was stupid.  Nothing like going for a 13 mile UNSUPPORTED run because you forgot your hydration pack and were too stubborn to go back and get it.  Oh, and I had lots of opportunities to call the run short (ran right by the truck at 5 miles, at which point I felt great…) but NOOOOOO… I gotta get my mileage in and stick to my plan.  Why wait one more day (it’s supposed to be cooler tomorrow, too…) and be prepared when you can “man up” and hurt yourself today?  Sometimes you have a bad run and there is no reason for it.  You do everything right and it still falls to sh!t…  Some days?  It’s pretty obvious what who the problem is…  And to top it all off, about mile 9 I was starting to fatigue and tripped over an infinitesimally small bump on an entrance to a bridge and went down in a heap right in front of the guy I was running with and took him out too (at least he landed on something soft and squishy… me…).  What a mess…  I got this HUGE bruise on my pride and scraped my ego all up… I think I even dented my dignity (it’s so small it’s hard to tell, though…).

But.

Believe it or not, through all of this, I still had a pretty good run.  I was happy with everything up to the last 3 miles, when I ran out of energy completely and had to walk a bit.  But even then, it was a good learning experience, a pretty day, and the people I ran with were great (even the ones I took out…).  In the end, there were no injuries, no blood, no scars and no cameras so it didn’t really happen…!  And I bagged another 13 miles.  I’m good with that.

My favorite Jelly Leg recipe

Distance: 6.7 mi

Time: 1:02:25

Recipe for Jelly Leg:

1- LOOOOONNNNNNG work week with over 1000 miles of driving

1- 22 mile run

1- 7.5 mile run (with 102 running nuts)

1- 6.5 mile run (the hilly kind works best for me, but choose your favorite)

4 days of very little activity

Dash of dehydration

Directions:  Insert 22 mile run.  Enjoy thoroughly.  Mix 1000 mile drive and 4 days of little activity together and add after 22 mile run.  Next add 7.5 mile run and 6.5 mile run back to back.  Add dehydration to taste.  Now blend, mix, puree, tenderize, spindle, fold, mutilate and then rub generously on legs.  No baking required.  Cooks in own juices…

PRESTO!

Serves one.