Eleven Days After the Santa Barbara Marathon

This is 32 year old Andrea McLarty of Santa Barbara, women's winner in 2:52 and 11th place overall! This gal is fit! Photo credit: Simon IbsenThe Santa Barbara Marathon was on Sunday, December 6th.  For the next 3 days, I didn't run.  I think this is a pretty good practice.  With 25 past marathons in the bag, one thing I do know is that your body needs to recover after the marathon.

Muscle soreness is the most blatant sign that my body is trying to recover.  My calves, quads and hamstrings were the most sore those first 3 recovery days.  In fact, I had to walk downstairs very carefully, holding the handrail, one step at a time the first 2 days.

My neck, shoulders, traps and arms were sore too.  Not as sore as my legs, but they were feeling the strain of running 26.2 miles (well, actually 29.2 for the entire day). What I should have done was schedule a massage. But work has been crazy busy and I simply didn't make the time.

Advil was my friend the first 2 days post-marathon.  I didn't take too much...just 2 tablets in the morning and 2 at night. 

Although I didn't run the first 3 days post-marathon, I did get off my butt and walk around as often as I could. The longer I sit in one place, the more painful it feels to get up.  Don't know why that's the case, but it is.

The other sign that I'm in recovery mode is how I feel. Grumpy, tired, yucky are a few words to describe my mood and body the entire week after the marathon.  Not to mention, I was constantly hungry.

My body deserved whatever it wanted the week after the marathon. I don't eat a lot of red meat but that thick juicy steak last Saturday sure tasted good!

But in the meantime, people left and right are getting sick. At the office, at school, friends...people are getting sore throats, the flu (I had lunch with a buddy last week who came down with the flu 2 days later that has lasted now a week), etc. 

I think it was Sunday, the 13th that I started to feel a scratch in my throat...so I immediately downed 2,000 mg of chewable Vitamin C tabs and got to bed early.  Your body is more susceptible to illness after a marathon...somehow I awoke on Monday feeling about 80%.  I'm still feeling a bit "on the edge" of getting sick but with some luck and sleep I'll get past this.

As far as running, I've been running 2 to 4 miles at an easy pace for the past 7 days.  I'm at the point now where I can start doing my "normal" base training of roughly 5 to 7 miles a day...when I get adequate sleep.  So on that note, I shall end this post and attempt to hit the sheets!

Long Runs are Better When You're Not Alone

Today marked the end of my "real" training for the Santa Barbara Marathon.  The event is on December 6th, 3 weeks away, but for all intents and purposes my training is done.  Time for a 3 week tapering off period as I rest my body up for the race. 

Today's long fun of roughly 20 miles took me from the Starbucks on Reino Road to Pacific Coast Highway via Sycamore Canyon.  I've been training for the marathon for 29 weeks now and believe it or not, today was the first time in those 7 months that I did a training run with another human being!

My good friend Dave is 56 years old and one of the top age group distance runners in Southern California.  He is tougher than nails and an inspiration.  Dave has done nearly 50 marathons through the years with an average, not best, but AVERAGE time of 2 hours, 52 minutes, an unbelievably outstanding statistic.  Dave is a rock.

You would not know Dave is 56 by looking at him. Dave and I used to run together all the time as we both live locally here in the Conejo Valley. But six years ago with the addition of kids into my life, my training took a nosedive and I opted to train on my own.  But we still talk all the time.

Just so happens that Dave also signed up for the Santa Barbara Marathon because he wanted to be part of this inaugural event (race director Rusty Snow recently indicated there are over 2,000 marathon entrants, which is outstanding). 

In recent months, Dave developed a case of plantar fasciitis, a condition where the bottom of the foot/heel becomes irritated and swolen.  It often takes months and months to gain relief from the problem.  That didn't get Dave down.  He is DEDICATED and took to pool running, diligently straping a floatation device to himself and running in the pool for an hour at a time.  (I could never do this unless perhaps a TV could be floating in the pool in front of me.)

So after months of pool running and a month until the marathon, Dave started back on the roads again. He asked me if I wanted to run long with him today in preparation for the marathon and I said SURE!

So we started off from Starbucks at 6:30 am.  It was windy and cold so we both wore an extra layer.  Within a mile I took my layer off as the wind didn't seem that cold. Dave followed suit a mile later.  About half the course is paved, from Starbucks up Reino Road, turning right on Potero Road, then left onto Big Sycamore Canyon Road, which winds its way down Sycamore Canyon towards the beach.

Dave and I both chatty types, which is a nice trait to have on a long run.  We hadn't run together for a while so we had lots to talk about.  It certainly make the run go a lot more quickly when you run with a buddy!  I've done the run myself many a time and while I always enjoyed it, it was a lot more fun today. 

We resolved NOT to run too hard or fast as we both are coming off injuries and illnesses that have hampered our training.  All we wanted to do today was run a nice, slow, easy 20 miles and we accomplished that goal.  At times we had to remind each other to slow down. 

We found the temperature to be quite bipolar running down Sycamore.  We both wore gloves and I took mine off 3 miles into the run.  But every mile or so we would hit a real cold patch, only to find a warm sauna-ish stretch moments later.  It was kind of bizarre how quickly and extreme the temp changes were in the canyon.  Towards the bottom of Sycamore Canyon, 2-3 miles from the ocean, it stayed pretty cool, to the point I had to put my gloves back on.

Dave and I have an understanding that when one of us needs to stop (restroom, water stop, etc.), we stick together.  I'm a Type A that has to continue movement, running circles, as Dave does his thing.  Dave is more low key and has no problem stopping to stretch in the middle of a run.  We've run together enough to know each other's style and work with it. No need for explanation.

So on the return trip we made our way up the tough 800 foot climb and at the top knew that we were on the final leg of our latest marathon journey.  Two more miles to Starbucks and we paced ourselves in, congratulating each other on getting it done.

In our "younger" days we'd hang out for a bit at Starbucks and savor the camaraderie. Today we both had to quickly drive off for family activities. I sat in my seat and attempted to lift my left leg to take the emergency brake off.  Damn was that tough.  I hard to literally pull my leg upward with my hands.  Those darn hamstrings were sore, but in a good way.

Thanks Dave. You helped me through my first 20 miler for 9 weeks. You're a good man and a good friend.  And a damn good runner.

Beaten by a 15 Year Old Girl?? I Don't Think So!

Well the good news is that last week I upped my mileage to 50.  The bad news is that I'm running out of training time for the Santa Barbara Marathon, now less than a month away. In fact, I generally plan to have all of my long, hard training done 3 weeks prior to the marathon, so as to taper off the mileage gradually over the final 3 weeks.  I won't be needing much of a taper this time around.

While I didn't get around (yet again) to doing a long run, I did make it to the Calabasas Classic 10K on Sunday.  I highly recommend this well run local event.  It is HUGE with over 1,900 runners in various events and well organized. The goodie bags have a really nice "technical" shirt made out of a breathable material.  This is the only event I can think of that offers up such a nice non-cotton shirt.

As has been the case on a recurring basis over the last 6 months of training, I encountered some challenges this weekend. For the umpteenth time, I caught yet another scratchy throat and cold from my little guy on Saturday.  So in my haste I decided to down about 10 chewable 500 mg vitamin C tablets on Saturday. Big mistake I'll later find out.

I get to bed at 11 pm and am awakened by something around 1 am but I can't remember what.  Playing to my favor was the recent time change, which provided an extra hour of sleep and helped me wake up feeling more refreshed. But my throat felt nasty and I would have loved to continue sleeping.

But I got up and out, grabbing a large coffee from 7 Eleven (I hate Starbucks because they don't offer the flavored cream that I like) and a blueberry muffin.  Breakfast of champions.

My goal was to get some mileage in by warming up for a few miles, running the 5K at 8 am at a moderate pace, running the 10K at 9 am a solid pace, then cooling down.  I succeeded in my goal.

The normal pre-race routine consists of the following: park, get race number, get timer chip (for larger races like this), get goodie bag, bring stuff back to car, pin number to race shirt, tie timer chip to shoelaces, drink, eat, visit the porta-potty, warm-up, change shoes, change shirt, chat with fellow runners, then get to the start of the race.  This all pretty much worked out for me.

But after jogging the 5K in about 21 minutes, the 5,000 mg of vitamin C combined with jumbo cup of coffee worked a number on me. Seems I had a bit too much acid in my innards. So with about 5 minutes to spare before the start of the 10K, I would have liked to head right into the head.  But even with 15 beautiful, sky-blue porta-johns sparkling in the sunlight of the Calabasas City Hall parking lot this fine morning, there were 30 other people with the same goal in mind.

Lucky for me there were mostly guys in line. Yes, that sounds bad, but guys take half the time as gals in the bathroom (based on my vast experience).  So the line moved and I found myself quickly entombed in a porta-john, where within seconds my internal combustion vaporized into the scary blue liquid seas below.

But something still didn't feel right, and it wasn't my scratchy throat.  It felt like someone had kicked me in the %^&* and their boot was still lodged in there.

In any case (and without further elaboration), I did make it to the start of the race, felt fine, and actually ran a respectable 38:50, good for 1st place in my age division, and nearly a minute faster than my last 10K time.

The final 2 miles of the race I was running neck and neck with a young kid who I later found out was 17. He ended up beating me by like 9 seconds.  Just couldn't seem to reel him in. But when I saw the race results, somehow a 15 year old girl showed up 3 seconds ahead of me (and right behind the boy).***

Just wait a sec!?  There was no 15 year old girl*** ahead of me!  How the heck did that happen? I contacted the people who did the timing, who reviewed the video and said they did see a female in front of me, though she didn't look 15 and she did not look like someone who could run a sub-39 minute 10K.

This was a double loop 10K. While we were finishing the race, we were passing many of the walkers and slower joggers. What I suspect happened is that she decided to cross the finish line at the end of lap 1. I asked the timers what her 5K "split" was, but they said they weren't tracking splits.

So I KNOW she didn't beat me, THEY know it and I know the other runners in the 10K know it, but anyone else who checks the race results will think this 15 year old girl beat me out*** for 12th place overall in the Calabasas Classic.  At least for now. Darn it!

I'll get over it I guess.

All that said, I feel really good about my performance and more importantly, how I feel.  At this particular moment (Tuesday night 9:30 p.m), I feel GOOD!  And that's what's important :>

*** A post mortem 11/12. Upon further review the race timers determined this young lady, who provided me fuel for the title of this blog posting, was actually in the 5K and was moved from 12th place overall in the 10K to DEAD LAST in the 5K in 1 hour, 38 minutes.  I kid you not! Well I feel kind of sorry for her now but at the same time, I feel vindicated!!

Long Run Plans Went Up in Smoke

Last week's mileage was 38.5 with a "long run" of only 7 miles.  I could make excuses, but I won't. No, actually I will, it'll make me feel better. I had planned on a long run on Halloween morning as I knew with my sugar high that night I'd want to sleep in on Sunday. So around 9 pm I start smelling smoke, like a fire pit.

No big deal, close the windows, hopefully they will put the fire out in an hour or so. But the smell of smoke kept getting stronger and stronger, to the point it started infiltrating my house.

I walked into the garage and it smelled like an ash tray, about as strong as when major wildfires hit us close by in Thousand Oaks last year.  Maybe worse.  I go to bed around 11:30 pm smelling a distinct scent but there's nothing I can do about it.  Again, I'm hoping they will be good neighbors and put the damn thing out.

2:30 am. Wife wakes up and says there must be a forest fire. She calls the fire department. I go outside and hear teenagers 3 doors up from us, still partying outside. I tell her the smoke must be coming from them.  Too late. Fire department drives up street to investigate. I'm too tired and embarassed to walk outside.  I go back to sleep at 3:30 am.

6:30 am. My 6 year old wakes up. I can't move or breathe.  Stench of lingering smoke surrounds us.  I'm tired, cranky, unable to move. I open the windows (thankfully they put their fire out finally) to let some fresh air in. Way too tired and incoherent to do anything other than pour Rice Krispies and milk into bowl.

7 am. 4 year old wakes up. Pillow over my head. Spongebob on the TV. Hoping the kids get along as I lie on the couch. Fighting, arguing, punching, crying ensues.  I give up. Coffee maker turned on. I'm up. I'm cranky. I'm tired. I'm coughing from the smoke. No way in hell I'll be running long on Saturday. But I do resolve to have a word with my neighbor up the street...

So here I am, 32 days from the Santa Barbara Marathon, feeling undertrained, tired and embattled as I've fought through 2 major back spasms, swine flu, sore throat, sore knee, sore big toe.  Planned training schedule basically UP IN SMOKE!

But ya know what, THE PAST 3 DAYS I've actually felt great!!  The time change has been good to me. While I feel quite underprepared to run the type of marathon that I'd like to run, overall I feel fit, healthy and happy. And that's what's most important. 

So I shall ponder whether or not I will actually run the marathon at this point.  I may defer to a Spring marathon instead.  But in the meantime, I'm looking forward to a fun Calabasas Classic 10K run this Sunday!

Back at It, Almost Recovered

I'm not real happy to report that last week's mileage was only 28.5 feeble, slow miles as I battled a combination of lower back pain, hot weather and general tiredness and lazyness. My longest run was a slowpoke 5.5 miles.

Six weeks until the Santa Barbara Marathon and at this point I'm not really sure I want to run it.  My mileage and training has been hampered by illness and injuries but we shall see. 

Truth be told...the back spasm was less of an issue than my general inability to wake up and run.  I am so looking forward to the additional hour of sleep this Sunday as Daylight Saving Time goes away until the spring.

In the latest Runners World magazine the publisher had a nice discussion about his own training and how he's doing all the right thing in preparation for an upcoming marathon.  Something that hit home with me was his insistence on getting to bed early enough so that he could wake up for his early morning run.  He mentioned he was dedicated to the task, with the occasional exception of his hometown team playing late.

My commitment to this "comeback" marathon has waned of late I think in large part to my inability to train properly.  On the other hand, MY SLEEP HAS BEEN INADEQUATE for most of the last 6 months.  Probably 75% of that is my own fault...staying up late with this website that I love, writing, corresponding...and then winding down at midnight with the TV on.  Not good at all for the training...

So here I am at 10:15 pm...writing this blog post and planning on a 20 minute run afterwards.  Shower and get to bed by midnight. 

Do as I say, not as I do...

I'm Sitting Here Writhing in Back Pain Again

Darn it!  It was only a few months ago that a major back spasm sidelined my running for 3 weeks.  I visited the chiropractor and the problem finally went away.  Well at 3 a.m. Monday morning my 4 year old awoke me out of a deep sleep to help him go potty...I turned too fast as I was getting out of bed and...SNAP...there goes my back again.  First froggies, then 4 year olds.

Strangely, while my current back spasm and nerve irritation makes cause me excrutiating discomfort when I'm sitting down, I can run without major incident.  This is good. Weird though.  So in the meantime I'm back at the chiro office 3X per week. 

In the meantime, last week I had 48 miles of running under my belt, ending with my slow but steady 16.3 miler on Sunday.  I was able to get that much mileage last week only by doubling up my runs 3 days.  Not particularly enjoyable for me but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

The other good thing is that I pretty much feel 100% recuperated now from my wonderful swine flu experience.  Just when I'm over and done with one injury, illness or other stumbling block in my training, some new issue pops up.  Boy am I glad I'm not a professional runner.  I don't know how I could deal with so many setbacks!  But as a casual runner, it is easier to take these problems in stride.

That's it for tonight.  Better get to bed before midnight or I'll turn into a pumpkin.

True Grit Running This Week

Today was a day of sheer grit and determination.  Seven weeks away from the Santa Barbara Marathon and I felt that if I didn't get a long run in, I would not be able to run the marathon. 

The last 4 weeks were supposed to be 60 mile weeks for me, but between getting the flu and slowly recovering from it, my training has been way off the plan.  In fact, last week's total mileage of 16.5 was the lowest in recent memory for me. Not good.

This week and today, I STILL don't feel quite right.  I'm not sick. But my body is still recovering from being sick.  Still coughing in the morning and sluggish and tired overall.  Wasn't able to wake up earlier than 6:45 a.m. this week.  So to make up for the short morning runs I doubled up on Tues, Wed and Thurs.  Not fun!  But I felt I HAD to get my mileage where it needed to be.

It was nice, cool and rainy up through Wed. Then Thurs through Sat it was unseasonably hot out. Between the heat and my inability to drag myself out of bed early, I was worried about my critical long run today.

Good luck!  It was cool out when I started my run at 8 a.m. today! And the temp didn't rise higher than about 75 degrees.

The goal: Run for 2 1/2 hours. Pace irrelevant.  Normally I run around a 7 min pace but given the way my body has felt, I'll settle for anything!  Just need to knock this run out.

But 20 minutes into the run, physically I felt like stopping.  Just didn't have anything in the tank. But I swallowed my pride and ignored my dead legs...and resolved to KEEP RUNNING, even if it felt like I was walking!

Two hours, 26 minutes later, I was done.  I was not surprised this afternoon when, using MapMyRun.com found out I ran 16.3 miles today.  That equates to about a 9 minute per mile pace. I slogged my way through this run.  But I did it!  It didn't feel good today.  But mentally it was necessary that I was able to PUSH myself into making it happen!

So for those of you who, like me, don't feel up to a particular run...change your mental outlook, tweak your goal and MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Slowly Coming Back From the Flu

The last time I wrote was last Wednesday, my first run after 5 days off with the flu.  On that day I ran a slow 1.5 miles on the treadmill.  The next day I did 2 miles, then 3.5 miles on Friday, steadily increasing to 4 miles on Saturday, 5.5 miles on Sunday and another 5.5 today (Monday) slowly but surely regaining some energy. 

My weekly Monday to Sunday total was a personal low of 16.5 miles during a time frame 2 months prior to the marathon in which I had planned to be running 60 mile weeks.  The prior week was only 25 miles total.  As you can see below, I've been on a descent for the last month after a previous comeback from a back injury.

I have to admit, I'm starting to have doubts about my ability to run this marathon at the sub 3-hour level.  There have been too many problems with my training...it seems every other week I get sick or a new injury pops up.  I'm really frustrated that every time my training starts looking good, I'm forced to back off.

That said, I'll continue plugging away. What I really need to do is regain enough energy to run a 20 miler this weekend to maintain my long distance fitness.

On the injury front, a spot below my left knee has had a chronic pain for 4 months now and I'm visiting an orthopedist in Thousand Oaks to assess the problem.  The good thing is that it hasn't significantly impacted my running.  The bad thing is that it has been a chronic weak leak for me when crouching, bending and standing. 

Today I ran a solid 40 minutes after work.  For some reason with the change of the seasons in the air, my body stopped waking up early.  Oddly, this also happened to my entire family.  The good thing is, we get an extra hour of sleep on Halloween night as Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 p.m. on November 1st.  Getting that hour of sleep is always very welcome in my household!

One Flu, Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Instead of breaking into a 60 mile week with a 22 miler last week, I ran 25 miles Monday through Thursday and not a single step until today.  For the first time ever, I have refrained from running for 5 DAYS STRAIGHT, not due to injury, but to an evil, nasty FLU!! 

Yes indeed. Well what brought me to this lovely place probably started September 27th. On that day, we had a big party at our house for the mom-in-law.  But the teenage stepson wouldn't get out of bed.  Being the good stepdad I am, I attempted to cajole him into stepping out and saying hello at least. But he wouldn't budge, even just to greet Grandma. Later that night Urgent Care said he had a strain of H1N1.

So as a special birthday gift we rewarded Grandma with Grandkid quarantine duty the next 3 days. In the meantime his little brothers caught something too, though not quite as bad.  I washed my hands with soap and warm water every chance I could...hoping, praying, pondering the longshot chance that I would not be affected by this influx of yuckyness.

So I'm in the clear still on Thursday, thinking I'll run 22 miles on Saturday morning and be primed with my longest training run for the Santa Barbara Marathon. Yep, then a 5K the following Sunday to sharpen up a bit!  Calm before the storm.

At 11:45 p.m. PDT, Hurricane Dry Heave hit, and came back and hit again, once an hour, until 5 a.m. Friday morning.  I'll refrain from providing more graphic details of this wonderful experience. Truth be told, there are better ways of shedding pounds.

One flu. Am I going cuckoo? How is it possible to get sick and injured so often?  Nearly one third of my blog postings have to do with this topic!

In my younger days I was out running, feeling light and lean after a stomach bug, sometimes the next day. Not so with this one. I was on my back most of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Was OK to work on Tuesday but not yet run. Though I did run up the stairs...my feet felt real light, my chest is majorly conjested so I felt asthmatic.

So today, Wednesday, I did get out and run 1 mile in 10 minutes.  It felt pretty good all things considered and I was able to breathe a little better, but not deeply.

Am I fretting about this?  Nope. I've come back time and time again from injuries and illnesses. This flu was pretty bad but, heck, I'm already feeling better.  Still 2 months until the marathon. My biggest challenge will be mental...how to pump myself up to run 22 miles after another off week.

I'm Over the Cuckoo's Nest and ready for As Good as it Gets, Jack.