Tucson Marathon Today - There's No Fooling This Body

29th marathon down the hatch. The good news is that I finished today's Tucson Marathon. Around mile 17 I was having some doubts.

I digress. Two weeks ago I decided to sign up for ANOTHER marathon, 2 weeks after the Malibu Marathon. This was kind of an experiment to see how many body would respond so soon after the last marathon. My hope was to run a sub 3 hour marathon.

Today's 26.2 miler was basically 2 runs. The first half of the marathon I ran in 1 hour, 27 minutes and felt just fine. That feeling lasted until about mile 15, at which point I noticed my quads could no longer respond.

By mile 17, my quads were TRASHED and I started alternating walking and running. And so it went for the next 4 miles...walk 20 steps, run as best I could.  Around mile 21 I was able to take in more fluids, namely a sports drink called "Xood" that the race was serving up, and I was able to regain some composure with a slow paced "death shuffle" to the finish.

Yup, it was one of those days. The weather was fairly warm and dry and once again I wasn't getting enough fluids in. But while that did impact my running, I'm not going to kid myself.  I did not do the base mileage homework for this marathon, and there's no fooling your body into running a fast marathon. But I enjoyed trying, as painful as it was.

I was also happy that I ran a very comfortable 1:27 half marathon over the first half of the course. I was running at a moderate effort.

Overall my time was 3 hours, 14 minutes. Talk about crash and burn! 1:27 1st half vs 1:47 2nd half.

Time to recuperate...and think about 2011.

Cat's Out of the Bag - Running the Tucson Marathon on December 12th

I guess someone actually reads this blog.

Last Sunday I mentioned I was running another marathon in two weeks and that it would be fun to SURPRISE some friends who also are running this marathon...which happens to be the Tucson Marathon.

Yes sir, today my friend Dave called me up and said, hey, I was talking to Jim, and Jim asked about my training for Tucson...and he mentioned you're running it too. GULP, the cat's out of the bag! Gee thanks Jim! :>

But that's o.k., it was all in fun. Oddly though, I never mentioned  Tucson in last week's post, though I did mention it several times in Twitter.

So yes, 3 weeks post-Malibu Marathon and I am now about a week away from another marathon. Not a lot of tapering necessary for this marathon as I had about a 5 month illness-induced taper for Malibu. Since Malibu, I've been doing very moderate training, with an easy 15 miler last Sunday.

This is not my first time running the Tucson Marathon, but assuming all goes well it will be my first time FINISHING the race. About 8 years ago I DNF'd (Did Not Finish for those unfamiliar with this running acronym) at Mile 20 due to severe shin splints.

Shin splints is a rarity for me but I had them going into that race. That was a problem because the Tucson Marathon is one of the most severely downhill marathons in the country, with an elevation drop of over 2,000 feet and starting elevation close to 5,000 feet!

So I'm going into this race knowing that I'm nowhere near my peak, nearly 2 months away from any solid training. But having done a 26.2 miler 3 weeks ago and feeling recovered, I know I can cover the distance. The question is, can I go under 3 hours. We shall see. I'm a pretty good downhill runner but I haven't exactly trained for a downhill marathon.

Malibu Marathon Was a Success

Well today I ran the 2nd Annual Malibu Marathon in approximately 3 hours, 5 minutes (still awaiting the "official" time)!

I'm thrilled with this performance taking into account my month-long battle with colds, bronchitis and other ailments, average training mileage of 45 miles a week and course conditions.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day today! But beautiful days don't necessarily translate into good marathon weather! The darn wind was still out there, with some pretty major gusts on PCH near Mugu Rock!

Today was a day that everything seemed to finally go "right" for me. No potty breaks during the race, no logistical fumbles like at my last marathon and no big mistakes!

My race strategy was to start nice and easy and work into it. Easy to say, but not always easy to do if you feel good at the start of a marathon. But given my sparse training, medical trials and trevails and the dry, windy conditions, I didn't want to chance screwing up another marathon!

The strategy worked PERFECTLY!  From mile 1 on, not one person passed me and I passed roughly 20 people, nice and steadily. I did not do stupid things like speed up for no reason (a lot of people do this and it does you no good at mile 9 of a marathon...it just hurts you).

In my more youthful marathon days, somehow a song would come to mind that carried me through the marathon. Not something planned, but usually just some catchy tune on the radio with a cadence that would help me maintain my pace. This happened today. One of my Facebook friends posted this video of her niece covering Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" and she does such a nice job with it that it became "that" song for me today. The 1-2-3 cadence in my mind helped me maintain my pace even through the brutal 3 hills in the last 6 to 8 miles. Here it is...thanks Julie Lavery!

I was fine until mile 22, when I started getting cramps in my quads. If I have one complaint about the race, there was not enough fluids. We went miles at a time without water and the advertised coconut water seemed sparse. I could have used Gatorade or some other electrolyte drink badly. It was way too dry out there.

I managed to merge into the half marathon right after it started, which was both good and bad. Suddenly there was a massive tide of people in front of me that I had to veer around. But the good thing is that after running completely alone for miles, I got to wrong with people again...until the half marathoners veered right at Leo Carrillo.

At that juncture of the race was a daunting hill, but after having absolutely no idea where the other full marathoners were, suddenly the course was clear and I saw 2 targets up ahead of me. One was "road kill" - he was walking. I waved to him. I've had days like that. The other guy was slowing and I was able to reel him in around mile 21 or so.

Physically I was fine the entire race until mile 22, when my quads started feeling like they were gonna cramp up, mostly on the uphills. I fought them off and made it to 24 mile mark, where most of the rest of the race was downhill.

It wasn't pretty, but I made it. I'm sore, but the beauty of finishing a race at Zuma Beach is that you can cool off your legs in the Pacific Ocean afterwards, which I did. My final smart move of the day.

So while this time is 30 minutes slower than my personal best from 15 years ago, I had an excellent day overall and am thrilled I was able to complete this marathon. Things generally went right for me.

Looking forward to finding out my place! Now off for a beer!!

The Yin and Yang of Sunday's Long Run

Probably wasn't a great idea to do a long run this past Sunday morning. My right hip flexor (where the leg meets the groin) had been sore for a week. But I still ran an hour on Saturday morning.  Got home and took kid to soccer game. Meanwhile we had a birthday party at the house most of the afternoon. Mom flew into town Friday night and that kept me busy. Kids were amped up on sugar Saturday night.

I was moving around on my feet from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, the day before my planned 20 miler. And it was hot this weekend. But I was determined to get my long run in.

Plan was to leave at 6 a.m. and finish around 8:20 a.m. to beat the heat on Sunday. Problem though...my body was so worn out from Saturday that I slept through the alarm and didn't get out the door until 7 a.m.

So in any case, I managed to run through my tiredness and "deal" with the hip flexor issue to slog through just under 19 miles in 2 hours, 17 minutes. It was not one of my prettier runs and was not one my most enjoyable runs. But I did it.

About 15 miles into the run, I felt on irritation in my throat, which I though was a particle or something. It didn't go away when I got home, and then I started sneezing. so after my mediocre run I'm treated to what I thought were allergies the rest of the day. It was warm and slightly windy out and it certainly felt like an allergic reaction.

Well the next day...BAM...here comes the sneezing and runny nose. Yes, my first cold of the Fall. But I still ran 5 miles that morning to clear out my head. That night, though I don't like doing this, I took a Nyquil that knocked me out and dried me up. The next morning and day I was a zombie, parched mouth and lips, no energy, felt like I hit a brick wall.  But I still managed to run a SLOW 1.5 miles in the morning, once again, to "clear my head."

By Wednesday I felt about 60% and today, Thursday, I'm back to 90%. I still get the chest congestion but my morning runs help me unclog that with some massive coughing attacks.

And I visited the chiropractor today to work on my hip joint. I think I made some progress in attacking my hip flexor issue. Crossing my fingers...

So while I'm quite happy to have completed this long run, one of my final ones prior to the Malibu Marathon on November 14th, this was not one of my better weeks!

So why the Chicago Marathon medal you ask!? I was reminded of the Chicago Marathon this weekend because it was a spectacular finish in nearly 80 degree heat. Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru won his 2nd Chicago Marathon in a row in a time of 2:06:24...pedestrian compared to Haile Gebrselassie's 2:03:59 2 years ago in Berlin. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2:42:47 exactly 15 years ago. That was my 5th marathon and a PR at the time (even with a 1 1/2 minute mid-race "pit stop).

Sometimes Races Don't Go As Planned

So this past Sunday my plan was the run the Camarillo Half Marathon as a training run. A way to gauge my speed over a longer distance than 5K/10K. With the Malibu Half Marathon only 6 weeks away, this would be a great, local opportunity to kick up the training a notch.

But sometimes things don't go quite as planned.

I paid $65 to enter this race, a significant amount of money for a local training run. Would have been a lot cheaper to just go out and do a hard "tempo" run locally, but that's no fun.

My body was not quite ready to do a full bore half marathon on Sunday. The week prior I ran a solid 21 miles and 2 week prior I ran a decent 5K. But last week was HOT, which made me tired, cranky and dehydrated. My training was mediocre at best.

So come Saturday, I decided to run an hour, not hard or anything. If I was really planning to do an "all out" half marathon the next day, I would not have run more than 30 minutes the day prior.

In any case, what I noticed is that my right hip flexor (where the upper inner leg meets the groin area) was sore.  I believe my body was still in recovery mode from the prior 2 weekend's runs.  I crossed my fingers and hoped my body would magically feel better Sunday morning.

I woke up. Felt pretty much the same. But I had to go and make the most of my $65.

Long story short. I actually ran pretty well for the first 30 minutes of the race. I was in 6th place overall, behind 5 much younger stallions than this old geezer, when 5th place stopped and turned around. We had shared some doubts about the course (e.g. did we make a wrong turn) magnified by a lack of mile markers. He stopped and asked someone, they apparently didn't know, and he turned around. I, the sheep that I am, followed him, soon realizing we had indeed been going the right away.

At that point, my hammies felt like rocks. My right hip flexor was tight. I slowed down considerably as we both ran back to the start. Not wanting to be confused with the finishers, I tore off my number and called it a day. My body needed a little break.

It is now Tuesday night. While I didn't actually take a day off, I ran light the past few days and am feeling better. Next stop...a 20 to 22 miler this Sunday, followed by a 5K next weekend.

My good friend, 57 year old Dave Louks, was the top masters runner in the Camarillo Marathon. This workhorse ran a 2:58, good for 5th place overall out of 235 finishers. The VC Star contacted me to ask about the race. Apparently there were some issues (that I wasn't aware of given I didn't do the whole course). So I had them talk to Dave and...wallah...he is prominently featured in this article that, unfortunately, highlights some major shortcomings of this inaugural race.  I do hope they can work out the kinks and come back next year.

Tune Up For the Marathon by Alternating Long Runs with Races

In my last post I highlighted my training plans leading up to the Malibu Marathon in mid-November. After nailing a couple decent 22 milers, a couple 17s and a 19, I felt I had developed plenty of endurance for the marathon. Now what I need to do is stay healthy and starting tuning up my speed for the distance.

Since I don't have the time or desire to do speedwork on the track (admittedly this would be good for me to do, but I know my body and schedule and don't feel I can commit myself to doing this weekly), the next best thing is to find some local races.

My goal in these races is not necessarily to go all out and go as fast as I possibly can. To do that would mean I would have to lay off the training for a day or two before each race. And I don't want to do that in the middle of training for a marathon.  The goal is to use the race as speedwork, test how my body feels running faster than I normally run and get used to running in a race.

I would prefer to run 10Ks and half marathons every other weekend, alternating long runs on non-race weekends. But life does get in the way...kids' soccer games, birthday parties, etc. So I did find a 5K race this past Sunday, a half marathon in another week, then another 5K in 3 weeks.

My 5K on Sunday went slightly better than expected. My goal was to run anything under 18 minutes. I ran 17:34 and won the race outright, which was a lot of fun! For my efforts I won a $40 gift card at a local restaurant. Not a bad return on investment!

My favorite book on marathon training, Hal Higdon's "Marathon: The Ultimate Training and Racing Guide," has a performance prediction table that indicates a 17:34 5K equates to a possible 2:49:22 marathon time if you do the proper marathon training and a fast course, good weather and a rested runner.

So it looks like I'm on the right track with my training and am crossing my fingers the weather continues to be courteous. (Unfortunately, forecasts for this weekend indicate Santa Ana winds and major heat...gulp!).

One Week Break From the Long Run

Since last writing in mid-August, I ran 2 consecutively longer training runs leading up to Labor Day weekend. 19 miles on August 21st and 22 miles on August 28th. I felt fine after both endurance building runs. My weight has been steadily dropping too, down to 141 lbs from about 146 lbs when I started training in earnest exactly 3 months ago.

I've also decided not to run the Singapore Marathon in early December due to logistical and financial reasons. Just isn't quite worth it spending $3,000 to run a marathon on the other side of the world at this point. So now I'm looking at several local marathons. Mind isn't made up yet but I better choose one soon.

Yesterday I took a different path and ran The Oaks Mile, an inaugural 1 mile race down Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks. It was a fun diversion but I'm not exactly sure it was the best move for me. On the plus side, it gave me a chance to test my speed. I ran a 5:15 mile, about 15 seconds slower than what I'd be happy with, but not a surprise given my lack of any speed training (heck I haven't really done any track work for over 10 years) and 1 week off a 22 miler.

But after the race a familiar, nagging little soreness reappeared in my left knee. Not so bad that I can't run or walk, but something that I better take care of with ice and Advil.

So today I intended to go long again, but 45 minutes into the run realized the 1 mile race made my legs stiff and slightly sore. I bumped into some friends halfway down Sycamore Canyon and ran back up with them. Time for a nap!

Father's Day Started With a 5K Run

Last Saturday while picking up my 4 year old son my back spazzed out and my training was placed on hold for several days. My chiropractor in Camarillo, Dr Jensen, whipped me back into shape by Wednesday. I ran very slowly with a back brace on Tuesday after my initial adjustment on Monday, then after my 2nd appointment on Wednesday, felt pretty much back to normal by Thursday.  Nice!!

My last adjustment was at the end of December, so I had gone nearly 6 months without a visit. That was a no no. I'll be back to once a month adjustments to keep my back in order.

The 2 day layoff must have been good for me, because today I was able to run a 5K in Newbury Park and actually feel up to par. In fact, I actually won the entire race in a time of 17:27 (though later I discovered the course was actually about 3.06 miles (not the standard 3.1 for a 5K), so technically I ran closer to a 17:45 for my purist running friends.

In any case, I felt pretty good about being able to run under 18 minutes at age 46 without any type of speedwork, other than the 10K race I ran a few weeks back. Gives me more motivation to start training hard again...but I'd have to stop blogging or something so I'd be more rested for it :>

Since personally I'm not a big fan of interval work on the track, my goal will be to run more local races this year as I train for the Singapore Marathon in December. It felt great pushing my body today. Running  a hard 5K race is a good way to shock the body and lungs into a higher level of training!

The Day of the Santa Barbara Marathon

In my last post, I described my day before the marathon on Saturday, December 5th.  The next day was Marathon Day.

Before going to sleep the night before, I did remember to set my watch alarm to 5:30 am. But I realized midway into my first dream that 5:30 am probably wouldn't cut it for a 6:30 am start.  But to no avail, I stayed asleep.  (Note to self: plan better next time.)

Luckily though, even though the Bacara is an expensive, fancy resort, the phone in the room next door went off at 5 am sharp and I heard it clear as a bell like it was a Motel 6 paper thin wall. So I was up and atom.

First thing I did was go outside to grab the Gatorade bottle I placed outside the door to keep it cold (the mini-fridge didn't have room for it).  My Gatorade was gone.  Darn it!  Who took my Gatorade!!??

Another odd thing.  No coffee maker in my fancy schmancy hotel room. What the??  Pretty much every single hotel room these days has one. But not the Bacara.  Well, I later discover that there is complimentary coffee in the main lobby...but would have loved to have it in my own room.

My 2nd chocolate chunk muffin went down nicely at 5:30 am. Probably would have been good to eat more, but that's all I had other than some leftover trail mix.

So after dressing and downing the coffee, my goal was to warm up a bit and get my bodily functions moving, if you know what I mean.  For some, all it takes is a cup of coffee.  For others, ya gotta move around a bit. I ran slowly, for 10 minutes, I came back to the room, bodily functioned. Then repeated this process 2 more times. Huh??  Yes, I believe it was Return of the Quesadilla.

So I suddenly realize that the race STARTS in 20 minutes and I'm 1 1/2 miles away. So I go through all the preparations, change into my singlet with a long sleeve coverup and gloves (it is about 40 degrees outside...pretty cold), pack my bag and jog to the start of the race.  I've already run 3 miles today.  Not exactly a good idea.

With 7 minutes to spare I get there and there is a mass of people at a the local Ellwood School in Goleta.  I'm all warmed up, sucked down a "GU" packet and drank all my water.  Given the race was to start very soon I removed my 2nd layer and gloves, knowing I would not need them during the race.  I dropped off my goody bag and situated myself in the runner corral.

Within a minute, there is an announcement.  Accident on the 101 freeway. Race has been DELAYED by 30 minutes!  Wait a sec!!! I'm ready to run RIGHT NOW!!!  You've got to be kidding me!?  We're not running on the 101 freeway, are we?  So now I'm standing there, freezing, in light singlet, no gloves, no warm pants.  DAMMIT!!!  This sucks!!

This was no fault of the race organizers and they handled it quite well, offering up several heated rooms for runners to congregate in like sardines.  But I was very frustrated, having never experienced such a long race delay in my 16 years of running.  I was fuming but most people took it in stride.  The atmosphere of the race was very laid back. People were having fun.  I was soon over it. But still cold!

Lesson learned...prepare for the worst case scenario.  I should have worn a 2nd layer and throwaway gloves for this unlikely situation.  As it stood, I was freezing, burning calories off just to keep warm.

So 20 minutes later we are lining again, and of course, before the start of the Star Spangled Banner, I've gotta pee.  So I run off, and in the most respectful and quick way possible, I manage to finish as I hear "land of the free" (as I'm thinking, "land of the pee" for me that particular moment).

Kudos to the race announcer.  He did an OUTSTANDING and entertaining job organizing the start of the race and using humor to ensure proper placement of faster runners in front.  Too many local races start dangerously due to slower runners and walkers situating themselves at the front of the pack.  This race had 3,000 runners and got off to a perfect start at 7 am.

The Santa Barbara Marathon course overall is pretty flat with some rolling hills.  I wouldn't call it a fast course but it is a very runner friendly course.  Well organized, decent number of water stops, very clearly marked.  Over half the course takes place in Goleta actually, including an initial 12 1/2 mile loop.  The crowds were supportive and gracious. While the race ends at Leadbetter Beach, only the last 1 1/2 miles of the course provided ocean views.  The weather was perfect for a marathon.  Mostly mid 50s to low 60s.

While I was perfectly happy with my 3 hour, 16 minute performance, there are always lessons to learn from. For starters, I made not one, but TWO porta-john stops in this race, adding about 3 minutes in lost time.  I'm thinking it was the quesadilla but I must figure out how to eliminate this problem for my next marathon.

After the first pit stop (around mile 4) I felt good enough to gradually make up a 1 1/2 minute gap and pass by the pack of runners I'd been running with before the stop.  This took place around mile 8. BIG MISTAKE!  I wasn't really trying that hard to catch them but what I should have done was take my time and reel them in.  I just wasn't thinking.

Tough Going at Mile 23.5 of SB Marathon...Up Cliff Drive (Photo Courtesy of Simon Ibsen**)They caught up with me again around mile 11, then a few miles later, I believe around mile 15 or 16, I made pit stop #2.  Yikes! At that point the wind came out of my sails a bit but I remembered my goals...run under 3 1/2 hours and finish with a smile on my face.  Given I had passed the halfway mark in 1 hour, 30 min, I had plenty of leeway to get there.

The last 10 miles took us through residential areas, bike paths and later, a 170 foot climb up Cliff Drive.  My hamstrings were killing me around mile 19/20 and I walked for about 5 minutes. Then I thought, there's no way I'm gonna walk the rest of this course!  I resolve to shuffle my way in, come hell or high water. The 3 or 4 GU packs I took in earlier in the race must have started kicking in, as I picked up a steady pace to the finish.

My friends all did well and we enjoyed sharing stories after the race. None of us have anything to prove. We all went out and gave it our best shot on that particular day with whatever training each of us, given life's challenges and surprises, could muster. 

The beauty of running a marathon is that we all have our own reasons for running...a challenge, competition, a charity, exercise, etc...and all run together on the same course at the same time, cheering each other on. 

At the end of the day, while I didn't quite make the "big" comeback I really was seeking to do when I started this adventure on April 27, 2009, I'm certainly glad I did it.  I'm thrilled that I'm here writing about it, uninjured!

I've now taken 2 days off.  Tomorrow I'll be back at it.  So stay tuned...

**For more of Simon's photos from the race, visit:

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