2012 Malibu Marathon Yesterday Was My 30th Marathon

It was "one of those days" for me yesterday as I completed my 30th marathon at Zuma Beach in Malibu. The best part of the day was crossing that finish line!

My official time was 3 hours, 17 minutes and 53 seconds, or about 18 minutes short of where I wanted to be. But, as Mick Jagger would say, you can't always get what you want! But I tried hard enough to get what I needed...which in this case was simply a finisher's medal.

My strategy this race was to let everyone take off and battle it out, while maintaining a nice, easy 6:45 per mile pace.

I digress. I had set the alarm on my watch for 5:20 a.m. At 5:30 a.m. I awoke not to the sound of my watch alarm, but the sound of my wife flushing the toilet. Surprised, I looked at my watch and realized it said 5:30 a.m. DOH! Luckily there was plenty of time. (I guess I have my wife's overactive bladder to "thank" for getting me to the start of this race....shh, don't tell her I said that.)

Wish my wife's bladder had gone off at 6 a.m. in hindsight. The marathon was supposed to start at 7 a.m., but one of the busses was late, so it didn't start until 7:35 a.m. - I hate when that happens.

After the excrutiatingly longest (yet very well done) rendition of the national anthem I've ever heard, the race FINALLY started. I didn't see the first 3 mile markers but I felt as was going easy enough. But when I reached mile 4 I discovered I was at a 6:30 pace. By miles 7 to 10 I was feeling dried out. Mile 5-ish there were boxes of water and a table off to the side of a road, but no people to hand them out. Not good. Kind of like seeing a mirage in the desert.

I guess maybe I didn't hydrate enough in the morning because I was completely parched by mile 7. Up ahead I saw a port-a-john and some people. All right, water, I thought. Nope, just some people cheering. Oh well, just wasn't my day. But thankfully a buddy of mine handed me some Gatorade later on.

My body just wasn't up for the sub-3 hour challenge yesterday. Biomechanically, my lower legs were not up to the task. My feet hurt and my calves ached, and I was getting that "twinge" in my left calf that forced me to walk home on a long run 2 weeks ago. I had to play it safe and run flat footed most of the last 8 miles of the race. With one pit stop and 5 or 6 walk breaks, I pushed through the finish line in 3:17. That still got me 22nd overall out of 658 finishers.

This was my 30th marathon and 2nd slowest ever. The only time I ran slower was in 2002 at the Sunburst Marathon in Indiana, where after taking a wrong turn with other runners, I backtracked, injured myself and walked to the finish in 3:30. That said, I still was really happy to finish yesterday. Just "one of those days" indeed!

There's no doubt in my mind that I could run a sub-3 marathon with my recent 1:24 half marathon time. Self diagnosis tells me that my body had not recovered from the half marathon (3 weeks ago) followed by the long run the weekend after.  And that was preceded by a 5K, 2 long runs, another 5K, 3 long runs and a 25K race, in reverse order. My calves were screaming for relief after the half marathon and I ignored them, choosing to "squeeze in" one last long run, where my strained calf made it clear that my body needed more recovery, not more mileage.

Enough about ME already! John Fedoroff of our own Thousand Oaks demolished the course record in 2 hours, 37 minutes! To my knowledge he's the only person that has run sub-2:40 on this course! John had planned to run the New York Marathon that was cancelled after Hurricane Sandy hit.  John previously ran a 2:34 at the 2011 Boston Marathon.

Only 6 runners managed to dip below 3 hours yesterday, telling of the challenging nature of the course. Benjamin Atkins of Westlake Village was 4th place overall in 2:53. Steve Smith of Newbury Park, top finisher in the 50+ age category, came in 10th overall in 3:07:56. Nice job!

And getting back to me again to finish this out...the good thing about this marathon for me, other than finishing, is that I'm only moderately sore today. That means quicker recovery and time to start pondering my next running adventure!

Three Days Until Yet Another Marathon

Hard to fathom that I am 3 days away from yet another marathon, my first marathon in nearly 2 years. It took 4 complete days off and a week of light running to get me here, but it appears the sharp pain in my left calf that ended my plans for a final 18 miler on October 28th is final gone.

The timing of that injury I guess was not such a bad thing. It literally forced me to take it easy, with 2 weeks remaining before a planned marathon. I guess having 5 17+ milers between September 2 and October 5, followed by a 5K on October 14 (as well as September 23) and half marathon on October 21, was reasonable training. I didn't exactly blow the doors off with my buildup, but I've set myself moderate expectations for this Sunday.

My goal is anything below 3 hours. If I average 6:50 pace for the entire race, I can do it. Given my middle-of-the-road training, I am DETERMINED this time not to go out too fast. The first 18 miles of the course are pretty flat/downhill. With fairly cool temperatures expected over the weekend, I'm hoping I can average about 6:45 pace up to mile 18. That would get me to mile 18 in 2:01:50. I could then target no slower than 7:00 pace over the final 8.2 miles to achieve my goal.

Malibu Marathon Elevation ChartIf it doesn't work out, no big deal. I'll be happy enough to finish this one in one piece after what I've been through the last few years. I just need to run smart and not worry about others around me.

I ran this course 2 years ago on a hot day and after training that was severely impacted by colds and  bronchitis. My time that year was 3:05 but I was generally faster then, able to run a 5K in the 17:30 range. Now I'm running closer to 18:15 in the 5K.

I'm o.k. if I give it my best shot and can't get my time goal, but run a solid race. I'll be bummed out if I pull up lame with an injury. Crossing my fingers...

Long Run Gone Wrong Two Weeks Before Marathon

That is...if I actually can run the marathon now.  My plan this morning was to run an easy 18 miles this morning, two weeks prior to the Malibu Marathon.

Rarely have I run long two weeks out from a marathon, but I decided this time that it would make sense because my last long run was 3 weeks ago, 5 weeks pre-marathon. Generally my final long run before a marathon is 3 or 4 weeks out.

The reason for the change in plans is that I opted to do a 5K 2 weeks ago and a half marathon last week, to remind my body what it's like to run fast. It was probably a mistake running 2 races in successive weekends, but it felt fine at the time.

There was some lingering soreness in my lower left calf after the half marathon that finally subsided late in the week. So yesterday I felt fine to run long today, Sunday. The only complicating factor was that I was on my feet the entire day, from soccer games in the morning and afternoon, errands, a carnival and a kids' halloween event. I was on my feet from sunup to 9pm. My calves were aching.

But I was a good trooper and set out on my run at 7 a.m. this morning. Actually felt perfectly fine, pretty good in fact, through the halfway point in an easy hour and 7 minutes. Turned around on the out and back course to PCH, ran a mile, then, BOOM, the sharp pain in the lower left calf came out of nowhere. I changed my gait a bit to continue running without stressing the calves as much, but that only worked a mile or so.

Long story short, I had to walk roughly 5 miles back home. Arrghh! So frustrating.

Got home in total cumulative time of 2 hours, 54 minutes, so it took me 1 hour 47 minutes to walk/jog from PCH back to Newbury Park. Not bad I guess.

But now I'm a bit concerned about being able to recover in time for the marathon. I took 3 Advil as soon as I got home and have been icing the calf for over an hour. Might have to take several days off from running. Maybe longer.

Can't remember the last time I had to walk this far on a long run. Not good. But I had no choice. Will have to stay vigilant with the rest, ice and Advil.

Signed Up For Malibu Marathon, My Foot Hurts, My Butt Hurts, But It's All Good

With 4 long (over 16 mile) runs down the hatch over the last 6 weeks, I decided to bite the bullet yesterday, the day the $20 promo code discount expired, to sign up for the Malibu Marathon on November 11, 2012.

I hemmed and hawwed on this but decided to save $20 rather than wait until the last minute as previously discussed about 3 weeks ago. After running a progression over the previous weekends of 17 miles, 18.5 miles, 20 miles, a 5K and 10 miler, then back to 21 miles last Saturday, I feel my marathon endurance is there. Now it's a matter of, can I run at the pace that I'd like to run.

This upcoming weekend is a busy one, filled with kids' AYSO soccer games and my son's birthday party on Sunday morning. As a result, and I rarely do this, I decided to get up early this morning, Friday, before work, and get my long run out of the way for the weekend.

It was a perfect morning for a run, with cooler temps than we've had of late. Today I did another run down to PCH, touched PCH with my foot, then scrambled back up Sycamore Canyon. Total distance was about 18.5 miles.

Sycamore Cove Beach, across PCH at the bottom of Sycamore Canyon

I reached PCH in 1:09:30 and finished the 2nd, mostly uphill half of the out-and-back course in 1:15. That equates to about a 7:41 per mile pace, as compared to the 6:50 pace I'd like to maintain for the marathon to get below 3 hours. I've never tried to run my long runs at marathon pace, preferring to work on my endurance at about 45 seconds to a minute slower than race pace. No need to burn my body out on these long runs.

To get the body adjusted to marathon pace, my preference is to toss some races into the training mix - 5Ks, 10Ks and half marathons. Between an occasional race and sometimes running "fartlek" (love that word) into a morning run (basically add some speed at periodic intervals during a run...also called "speedplay"), that's how I attempt to "tune up" for a marathon.

Would be even better for me to get out on a track once a week and run intervals, like 800 meter repeats, but with all that I have going on I just can't seem to make that commitment. So while I know I'm leaving something on the table with my training, I'm doing pretty much the best I can given my life's daily adventures.

This morning's run overall ended up being moderately miserable. Once again I had trouble with timing of my, ahem, bodily functions. Years ago at the advice of a friend I experimented with taking psyllium husk the night before a long run or marathon to ensure I wouldn't have this problem. It worked for awhile, then periodically didn't. So I stopped using it. Time to try it again. Psyllium is basically Metamucil. I'll leave you with that.

I also encountered a strange, new problem with the ball of my right foot. It started really hurting about 15 miles into the run, to the point that I had to stop to see if my socks were causing the problem. Kind of a sharp pain. I think perhaps I just bruised the ball of the foot. Time for some ice and Advil. For some reason, the pain was sharpest when running on a flat to slightly inclined surface. It wasn't as big of a problem when running up steep hills, for whatever that's worth.

So now, later in the day, my butt hurts. But (or butt), I think I'll be o.k. I believe I deserve a beer. In fact, there should be a rule. Running 16 or more miles on a weekday before work should be rewarded with one or two icy cold beers that night.

Knocking Out the Cobwebs With a 10K Race

Yes, I guess I did run like never before last weekend...my first 42 minute 10K, 11 seconds slower than the first 10K I ever ran back in July 1993, 2 months after starting running.

But I don't mind. I had been back to running less than a month after 5 1/2 weeks away from running and this was a good way to "work out the kinks." My hamstrings have been sore and stiff and the day after the 10K they seemed to have loosened up. While 42 minutes isn't blazing fast for me in a 10K, the 6:46 pace was much faster than the slowpoke training pace I've been running.

Now I've got a bit of a sore right outer knee, something new for me, but it doesn't seem to be impeding the running too much. My right hamstring has been sore too. Guess I gotta give it a day off or two as I've barely taken a day off since coming back to running.

In any case, my advice is, if you're looking to improve your speed and aren't motivated to run on the track, consider signing up for some local races as training runs. It costs a bit of $$ but usually it goes towards a good cause. Plus, it makes it more enjoyable to run fast when you're running with others.

Back Running After a 5 1/2 Week Hiatus and Los Angeles Marathon Results

After 5 1/2 weeks without running a step due to doc's orders after an eye surgery, I finally started pounding the pavement again on Sunday, March 18th. The next day was followed by a head cold that I've finally fought off (knock on wood) but I've been very gradually working back into it.

At age 47, I'm finding my recovery and buildup times have grown quite a bit as compared to 20 years ago. But then again, in 20 years of running, I've never taken 5 1/2 weeks off, even for a running related injury. And this latest comeback comes on the heels of 45 days taken off after my initial eye surgeries back last October. Needless to say, my fitness level has taken a hit.

1 1/2 weeks back into running, pretty much daily, an FINALLY, this morning, my body started to oblige again. The biggest sticking point for my running after taking time off seems to be my hamstrings. They get sore easily. I'm not big into stretching but a bit of hamstring stretching off and on seemed to make them feel better. Nothing fancy. Just find a wall about hip heighth, pull one foot up and start stretching.

So at this point I have no race plans but as my fitness improves I'll start planning my next event. I'm itching to run a marathon but I'll need 4 to 6 months to train.

Speaking of marathons, the Los Angeles Marathon was also on March 18th...perhaps that was my motivation.

Over 22,000 people registered for the race and 18,881 crossed the finish line. There were 660 registrant from Ventura County and Agoura Hills and of those, 546 completed the race. The average time of all local finishers was 5 hours, 8 minutes and ranged from 3:04 to 9:57.

There were eight local finishers ages 16 and under and four 75 year old runners. The average age of all 546 runners was 40.

The winning overall times were 2:12:12 (men) and 2:25:39 (women). The top 10 fastest local Ventura County area participants by chip time were:

• Michael Conoscenti of Newbury Park in 3:04:43
• Jose Garcia of Oxnard 3:05:41
• John Wheeler of Simi Valley 3:08:35
• Ramon Hernandez of Thousand Oaks 3:09:03
• Erin Chenoweth of Ventura 3:09:55 (Top Local Female! 23rd female overall in race!)
• Levi Moellering of Moorpark 3:10:13 (He's only 17 years old! Nice job Levi! 1st place overall in his age division!)
• Golan-David Danino of Ojai 3:10:36
• Jason Griffith of Thousand Oaks 3:12:04
• Jose Lastre of Camarillo 3:15:09
• Brian Pidduck of Ojai 3:18:18

Other top 10 finishers in the age divisions included:

• Katie Tapia of Ventura 3:35:05 (9th place in 45-49 age group)
• Serafin Barajas of Thousand Oaks 3:59:45 (9th place in 65-69 age group)
• Sheila Galinsky of Camarillo 5:18:57 (9th place in 65-69 age group)
• Joe Herzog, Sr  of Simi Valley 5:52:09 (10th in the 75-79 age group at age 75! This was a highly competitive age group with a winning time of 3:19:21**)
• Thomas Sullivan of Camarillo 6:17:50 (2nd in the 70-74 age group!)
• Linda Loiselle of Camarillo 7:07:11 (2nd in 55-59 age group)

**In fact, I've contacted race organizers as the 1st and 2nd place finishers in this age group appear suspect. The exact names finished the prior year event in comparable times...except their ages last year were 33, not the 77 listed in this year's event. This could just be a big coincidence...but something appears off to me.'

Congrats to all that crossed the finish line, regardless of time and place! You all accomplished something special!

Long Hiatus But Soon to Come Back to the Running Scene

Well it has been a long time but I'm still here. As mentioned 5 weeks ago, I had another eye procedure and my surgeon gave me a thumbs down to running for 6 weeks post surgery. Well, I'm almost at that point now and am chomping at the bit to start running again.

One thing this extended hiatus has taught me is that my body does not turn into a blob after 5 weeks of no aerobic activity. I've gained a few pounds, but nothing a week or two of running won't take care of. Because I'm a bit obsessive/compulsive when training for a marathon, I tend to overtrain and as a result risk injury and illness. Now that I've seen what zero training has done, or not done, to me, I think I'll be apt to take more days off!

In the meantime, I've cancelled my Boston Marathon plans. I'm not one to run a full marathon with a base of zero miles. I guess I could train a few weeks before the race but I've opted to save my money and pick another marathon in the fall. I'm out $150. The Boston Marathon organizers are not flexible with injury situations and has a no-deferral. no-transfer policy.

Speaking of marathons, the L.A. Marathon (or I should say, the Honda LA Marathon as it is officially now called), is this Sunday. I know many people are running it. Amazing. after such a DRY winter, the weather report for this weekend is quite dreary (see weather advisory below).  An inch to 2 inches of rain this weekend and high temps in the low 50s!

Reminds me of my very first marathon, the 1994 LA Marathon, which was also run in the rain. I can't recall how much rain I encountered (seemed to not be too bad until I finished), but I can tell you that it didn't bother me that day. Good luck to all marathoners this Sunday!

"BY FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY... THE UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO DEEPEN ACROSS CALIFORNIA... WITH A COLD FRONT LIKELY SPREADING PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE ENTIRE FORECAST AREA. BEHIND THE COLD FRONT... A VERY COLD AND SLIGHTLY UNSTABLE AIR MASS WILL BRING A THREAT OF SHOWERS SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY... AND POSSIBLY MONDAY. SOME OF THESE SHOWERS COULD PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND SMALL HAIL. CONDITIONS WILL ALSO BE FAVORABLE FOR ISOLATED WATERSPOUTS ACROSS THE COASTAL WATERS.

THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY OF THE EXACT TRACK OF THIS COLD UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM... WHICH WOULD AFFECT THE DURATION OF SHOWER ACTIVITY BEHIND THE FRONT. HOWEVER... PRELIMINARY RAINFALL ESTIMATES FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY ARE GENERALLY EXPECTED TO RANGE BETWEEN ONE HALF AND ONE AND ONE HALF INCHES ACROSS MUCH OF THE FORECAST AREA... WITH LOCAL AMOUNTS UP TO 2 INCHES IN THE MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS."

Offline for Another Month With a Follow-Up Eye Surgery

Well due to complications resulting from my retinal detachment surgery last Fall, I'm back in the surgery seat tomorrow. Yes, quite depressing. Just when my training was starting to feel good, I'll be away from running for about a month, starting tomorrow.

But the good news is that with all this rest, and hopefully an eye that has regained some of the vision lost due to macular/retinal issues, I'll be back at it with renewed energy. With rest "forced" upon me, my body will go into hibernation mode I suppose.

Yes, I'm still signed up for the Boston Marathon on April 16th but with a month of quality training time removed from my schedule at the peak of my training, I will likely be bailing out from the race :<

There's always next year...

2012 Marathon Trials Winner Meb Keflezighi is Motivational For a Number of Reasons

Before I get to that, a brief update on me. Boston Marathon is less than 3 months away and until I hear about my "next steps" for my lousy 20/70 vision in my right eye. If I hear that surgery is viable to correct the vision, that will sidetrack my training. In the meantime, last Saturday I was able to comfortable boost my long run to 12.5 miles in 1 hour, 35 minutes. If the rain is pouring too hard tomorrow morning, I'm hoping to run another 15 minutes longer.

So last Saturday was the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, where, the top runners around the country who met qualifying time standard competed for 3 slots to the Olympics. The men's "A" standard (and thus receives funding support to the trials) was a 2:19 marathon, 1:05 half marathon or 28:30 10,000 meters on the track. The women's "A" standard was a 2:39 marathon or a "B" standard of 2:46 full, 1:15 half or 33:00 10,000 meters. I'm happy to say that back in the day I met all the women's standards...though unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on how you look at it) I'm not a woman.

So in a nutshell, naturalized U.S. citizen Meb Keflezighi, won the Men's Olympic Trials in a personal best time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 8 seconds, with favorite Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman rounding out the top 3. Notably, the top 2 are both California residents (Mammoth Lakes).

At age 36, he's the oldest winner of the Marathon Olympic Trials after an injury slowed him down at the 2008 trials. In 2004 Meb won the silver medal in the Olympics, the first U.S. male medal winner in the marathon since Frank Shorter in the 1970s.

Perhaps though, this is what inspired and impressed me the most with his recent performance. Only 68 days prior to Saturday, Meb finished 6th place in the New York City Marathon. But he did something really lame that day. Something I can relate to. He accidently ran with a Breath Right nasal strip in his left shoe. And it messed up the ball of his foot so badly that he got an infection. As a result, he had to take extra time off to heal.

Yes, this world class runner made a rookie mistake that I can relate to! Like the day I stupidly ran 45 minutes in "barefoot" running shoes in my first attempt. Even the best of the best make boo boos. This is really motivating! We're all human and we all make mistakes! But we move on!

Congratulations all trials winners! The women's top 3 that are going to the Olympics are Shalane Flanagan (2:25:38), Desiree Davila (2:25:55) and Kara Goucher (2:26:06). Agoura High alumnus and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist and U.S. marathon record holder (2:19:36) Deena Kastor finished 6th in 2:30:40. Not bad for a 38 year old who became a mother just 10 months ago!!

Ran 14 Miles This Weekend...Most I've Run in 4 Months

Perfect weekend to run...temperatures in the 60s, no wind, no rain. So I ran. Not too hard, but I got out there. Six and a half miles on Saturday, 8 miles today. My hamstrings are tight and my rump is sore, but I"m surviving.

I looked back and this is the most I've run in one weekend since the weekend of September 10-11, the weekend prior to my detached retina surgery.

Something I'm learning more and more with age is that my body needs more time to recuperate from runs. When I was younger, I could force the issue and run hard day in , day out. Not so these days. Old habits are hard to break though...