Training for a Marathon Only 6 1/2 Weeks Away

Nutella on a toasted bagel is not a bad pre-run snack, though I encountered this empty jar recently.On April 20th, I committed to running the Ojai 2 Ocean Marathon on Sunday, June 5th. Generally speaking, this is not something I normally do. Usually I give myself 4 to 6 months to train for a marathon. In fact, the only times I've given myself such a short amount of training time is when I've already run a marathon, feel recuperated, and decide to use the mileage base to run another one soon thereafter -  like running the Tucson Marathon just 4 weeks after the Malibu Marathon late last year. That didn't work out so well for me!

But this race sounded fun and it is a first time event. Plus it has a nice downhill. So without any particular time goals in mind, I'm signed up for it.

One thing I do have going for me is that my base mileage year to date is a consistent 40 miles per week, which to me is enough base to be able to ramp up my long runs to get a few 20 milers in before race date. I did 15 on April 21, 18.7 days later on the 24th, then another 18 miler last Saturday, April 30th, on a windy day. 

Tomorrow it sounds like I'll be blessed again with overcast skies and cool temps in the morning as I seek to get a 20 or possibly 22 miler out of the way.

With 6 1/2 weeks before a marathon, I really only have 4 1/2 weeks to train, factoring in a bare bones minimum 2 week pre-race taper (usually I taper down the mileage over 3 weeks).

So with only 4 1/2 real weeks to train, a decent 40 mile/week base, but no long (16+ mile) runs on my body since last year's Tucson Marathon, my strategy is to focus on getting 3 or 4 long runs in. There's not much time to consider speedwork or a 10K tuneup race. I'd love to fit a 5K or 10K into my training, it probably will hurt me more than help me with the marathon just 1 month away.

Run Streak Ended by Massive Rain Storm, 40-50 MPH Winds and Flooding

At least I have a good excuse. My 3 month, 5 day, running streak came to a halt this past Sunday due to the massive rain storms that brought 40 to 50 mile winds and 5 inches of rain to the Conejo Valley.

My plan was to run 16 miles in 2 hours, but when I awoke up to torrential downpours I decided I'd wait it out. I waited and waited and the storm got worse. We have a large trampoline in the backyard and the howling winds blew it across the yard. I thought we would love some trees but they managed to stay planted to the ground (but hundreds of other trees around town weren't so lucky).

Then I discovered that the rain gutters in the back side of the house were clogged. So in rain pouring down as hard as 2 inches per hour, I was out in my jeans (I lack proper wet weather clothes...native Southern Californian that I am), soaked, on a ladder. I had attempted to band-aid the rain gutter issue by placing the green waste bin under the area where water was falling down. But it was full within 40 minutes and immovable.

And there were the drains in the backyard. The rain came down so hard that every leaf and piece of bark in the yard was inserting itself into the downspouts, clogging them up. So I spent over an hours in a 2nd pair of jeans clearing the drains and sweeping the water towards the front of the house.

After a trip to Home Depot and a Pinewood Derby appearance, I was beat. My body was sore in new places on Monday. And after seeing and reading about how many trees were downed, running outdoors on Sunday would have been a treacherous experience. Guess I could have run at the gym...but I hate treadmills.

So while my run streak has come to an end, I'm actually feeling pretty good. I think I needed that day off, with or without epic rainstorms.

Got Me a Run Streak Going on Nearly 3 Months!

Of course now that I wrote this, my streak is bound to end. Which wouldn't be a bad thing.

Miraculously (knock on wood), I've survived all of 2011 so far with getting sick. My runner friends will be amazed by this because of my long string of medical malfunctions.

But even on an average of 6 hours' sleep, I've been able to stay healthy. So it dawned on me that I haven't taken a day completely off from running for a long time. Looking at my monstrous Excel running log, I've been running daily since 3 days after the Tucson Marathon, or December 15th.

I got me a running streak!  If I can keep this up until next Tuesday, I'll have a 3 month run streak! Yippee!!

The reality of it is that I'm not a big fan of running streaks because they aren't particularly healthy. It's nice to have goals and to be dedicated to running, or anything positive for that matter, but it is perfectly find and a good thing to take a day off now and then.

But...since running "gets me going" in the running and makes me feel good, if I'm not sick or injured, I go for a run. Mind you, some days I run more, some less. My average daily run so far in 2011 has been 5.9 miles. From time to time I'll run 2 to 3 easy miles as my "off" day.

Since I don't usually track running streaks, I'll have to look back in my running log to see what my longest running streak is over the last 17 years. For all I know I may be in the midst of it!

On that note, so far this year I have zero races under my belt and pretty much zero plans, other than I bought an entry into the Calabasas Classic 5K all the way in November (great race). My longest run of the year so far was this past Saturday, with roughly 14 miles. Time to start thinking about my plans...

Marathoning: It's All About the Mileage

Call me a purist, but for me and all of my competitive running friends, marathon training is ALL ABOUT THE MILEAGE!

As I've discovered over the last several years, you can't fool your body into running a fast marathon without doing the homework. Putting lots and lots of miles "in the bank" is the way to go.

Forget about speedwork. If you are stretched for time, get more miles in.

I started running in May 1993. I gradually built up my mileage and for the year 1996 through 1999 average 3,500 miles per year (yes, that is an average of 9.5 miles each and every day).

That was a LOT of work, but those were my best marathon years, when I ran a 2:37 in 1996, 2:35 Personal Best in 1997, 2:37 in 1998 and 2:36 in 1999.

Things kind of went downhill after my 2:35 because I didn't let my body recuperate long enough and injured myself doing speedwork and too many races. That led to groin pulls, hamstring ailments and other problems.

That was a long time ago and I'm a lot older now, not to mention tired, working a full-time job with a family and kids while I blab away about my training and other topics here on Conejo Valley Guide. But I'm just happy to be training, fit and healthy.

Last year's mileage for me was 2,092, slightly higher than my 2008/2009 total mileage. I've averaged roughly 2,000 miles per year over the last 3 years. That's quite a bit less than my peak mid-1990s mileage, but enough to enable me to run moderate marathon times in the low 3 hour range at my advanced age of 46.

I've been tracking my mileage on an Excel spreadsheet that has grown to over 6,500 rows since May 1993. It shows I've run 44,993 miles through December 2010. Maybe I do need to get an oil change or have my filter replaced at least!

I also track the number of minute run each day. As of 12/31/10, I had run 15,744 minutes in 2010, which equates to 262 hours. Damn, that's a lot of time! But worth it.

Quite Nicely Recovered From the Malibu Marathon...What's Next...

My recovery from the Malibu Marathon on November 14th has gone about as well as any marathon I've ever run. One week post-marathon, I was running 6-7 miles pain free and my training was pretty much back to normal this past week.

This weekend, I ran 1 hour, 33 minutes on Saturday and 1 hour, 50 minutes on Sunday, a total of 27 miles. There's a bit of soreness in my left leg, but I think that's more due to my half day of yard work yesterday.

The best recoveries mirror the best tapers, slow and gradual. I think I was able to do this. This is one area where experience truly pays off. I've injured myself way too many times the month after running a marathon, thinking I was invicible as my body is struggling to repair all the micro-tears.

My quick recuperation made me feel yesterday that I left "too much on the table" at Malibu. Though I gave it my best effort, a 3:05 for me was slow and reflected the dryness of the day, some dehydration, my battle with illness for a month and some challenging hills on the course. But my recent 5K time told me I "should" be able to run a marathon in the 2:50 to 2:55 range.

Looking back, I've run 28 marathons since 1994. I keep telling people I've run 25, having lost track. Only 2 marathons (Malibu and last year's Santa Barbara Marathon) in the last 5 1/2 years, largely paralleling the growth of my family.

Three times I have run back to back marathons within 6 weeks of one another. The last time I did this was 1999, where I ran a 2:45 Cleveland Marathon then 3 weeks later I ran a 2:40 Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego. Don't know how I did that.

It generally is not a good idea to do much racing 2 to 3 weeks after running a hard marathon. But if you feel good after 4 weeks, heck why not.

So yesterday I decided what the heck, I'm going to run one more marathon before the end of the year. This marathon is 2 weeks from today. I have the approval of my wife, so I'm good to go and signed up.

I know some other people running this marathon and, unless they read this blog (which they probably don't, since only 7 people read it I think), I thought it would be fun to surprise them when I show up at the race.

Nothing serious...just having fun. Yes, just another nutty marathoner I am.  But all I really want is a 2:59:59 or faster marathon, since it has been 6 years since ran under 3 hours, geezer that I am.

Betting on Long Runs to Power Me Through the Marathon

I started training for the Singapore Marathon at the beginning of June, then changed my plans 7 weeks ago to run the slightly more local Malibu Marathon on November 14th.

This blog has not dwelled too much on my daily/weekly mileage over the last 22 weeks, but I do track it. I measure weekly mileage starting on Sunday through the following Saturday. Here it is for those of you who like numbers:

5/30-6/5: 43 total miles, 10 mile longest run

6/6-6/12: 42 total miles, 8 mile longest run

6/13-6/19: 25 total miles, 6 mile longest run (back problems took me out this week)

6/20-6/26: 50 total miles, 10 mile longest run (came back and ran a 17:27 5K)

6/27-7/3: 34 total miles, 6 mile longest run (this week the stomach flu laid me up a bit)

7/4-7/10: 46 total miles, 7 mile longest run

7/11-7/17: 34 total miles, 13 mile longest run (2 full days of travel cut into my training)

7/18-7/24: 60 total miles, 15 mile longest run

7/25-7/31: 40 total miles, 6 mile longest run

8/1-8/7: 57 total miles, 17.5 mile longest run

8/8-8/14: 54 total miles, 17 mile longest run

8/15-8/21: 57 total miles, 19 mile longest run

8/21-8/28: 57 total miles, 22 mile longest run

8/29-9/4: 41 total miles, 8 mile longest run

9/5-9/11: 44 total miles, 10 mile longest run

9/12-9/18: 60 total miles, 22 mile longest run

9/19-9/25: 43 total miles, 7 mile longest run (ran 17:30 5K)

9/26-10/2: 53 total miles, 22 mile longest run

10/3-10/9: 45 total miles, 9 mile longest run

10/10-10/16: 42 total miles, 19 mile longest run

10/17-10/23: 21 total miles, 5 mile longest run (sick with a cold, bronchitis, sinus infection)

10/24-10/30: 45 total miles, 19 mile longest run (still recovering, ran 19 on antibiotics)

10/31-11/6: TBD total miles, 13.5 mile long run on Halloween (still recovering...)

Average weekly mileage 45. At my marathoning peak 15 years ago I was running upwards of 80 to 90 miles per week. I've aged quite a bit since then and stay up too late and don't sleep enough...so I'm happy all things considered to average 45.

More importantly though, while I'm not fooling myself into thinking I'll be running a sub 2:40 marathon like the good ole days, I am very pleased to have run 18+ miles 7 times (I'm rounding up the 17.5) in preparation for this marathon. As long as I "hold my horses" and not take off running Malibu like a 10K race, I should be able to do around 3 hours for the marathon.

That said, the Malibu course has a 200 foot climb over 4th quartile of the course (miles 18 to 24) which may present some challenges. Not exactly a "fast" course it would appear. The good thing for me is the course I ran my long runs on had some hills.

13 more days until the marathon...time to start easing up and resting....

Sunday's Long Run: Powered by Cipro

After nearly two weeks of sore throats, blowing, sneezing, massive chest congestion and to top that off, conjunctivitis (pink eye), last Friday I decided a trip to the doctor was in order.

I pretty much always "run through" colds. I feel that it helps me both physically and mentally and that it helps move some of the "stuff" through my system.  Usually the cold goes away in a few days. This one I thought went away on October 14th. But on the 15th, I found out otherwise.

The biggest wild card in my training over the last 5 years has been injuries and illnesses. I blame my kids for both, but I still love them! Comes with the territory. It wasn't my 5 year old's fault that some other kid in his preschool class came to school with pink eye!

So two weeks of misery and I'm off to the doctor on the 22nd, figuring he'd give me a 5 day Z-Pack antibiotic to beat this thing. He looked and listened and told me I had bronchitis and a sinus infection. Ycchh! My head WAS hurting. So he put me on 1000 mg of Ciprofloxacin a day for 7 days.

My fear with antibiotics based on previous experience is that they tear up my gut and give me heartburn. And that does bad things for my training, which already went down the tubes for weeks 5 and 4 prior to my marathon.

In the meantime, I spoke with my friend Dave, who said for me to get a "decent" performance at the Malibu Marathon on November 14th, I really needed 1 more long run, since my last one was 2 weeks ago. I'm thinking the chances of that were quite slim given how I felt. But between that discussion and my catching this awesome Will Smith motivational video on Saturday, I was determined to run 18 to 20 miles on Sunday come hell or high water.

My body was dragging and I got to bed too late on Saturday night, so I didn't wake up until 8 am on Sunday. But I reminded myself, you're on drugs getting over bronchitis, dude. Don't kill yourself.

So by 8:20 am I was out the door. I didn't take my morning Cipro. Jeez, I was reading the label and it said it could cause inflammation and tearing of a tendon...doh!!...and here I am running 2 1/2 hours. Ughh. Coughing and spitting every 20 yards or so, I left my mark on Newbury Park. At least it would allow me to retrace my steps should I get lost.  In fact, the coughing got so bad at times, I thought I was going to lose a lung.

But after awhile, things settled down. I didn't concern myself with pace and told myself I would just slog this out. I drank fluids and took in my "GU" packs and steadily moved along. By 11 am I had run a loop around Newbury Park, later determining my run was about 19 miles in 2 hours, 40 minutes. That was about an 8:25 average pace, as slow as I've ever run, but I DID IT! I celebrated at the pumpkin patch later that day with my kids.

So it is now Wednesday night, October 27th. I have one day of Cipro left. Still coughing but not nearly as much. Seems like everyone I meet these days has this same cough.

With 2 1/2 weeks left, all I can do is stay fit, maybe do 12 to 15 this weekend, then ride in the taper to marathon day.

And stay healthy!

Summer Ended and Autumn Began, but No One Told the Weatherman

The coolest summer I've ever recalled ended last Wednesday and Autumn began on the 23rd. Two days later, we're into not only the hottest weather of the year, but all-time record temperatures on Monday, the 27th (it reached 113 degrees in Downtown Los Angeles before the thermometer apparently broke).

Sandwiched in there, my plans were to do a 20+ miler on Sunday, come hell or high water. And I did. It wasn't pretty though.

My previous 22 milers went without a hitch. Nice and steady, mostly road runs in overcast conditions.

Sunday's run was different. I knew we were in for high temps, so I opted to run to PCH from Newbury Park down Sycamore Canyon. My first foray down there for about 3 months. The most brutal aspect of this run is coming back up the 800 foot ascent from the canyon.

With the help of an alarm, I was out the door at 6 a.m. It was still dark out and thankfully not hot yet. In fact, it was on the cool side. Better yet, it stayed cool pretty much the entire journey down to PCH, where I ran through the campground at Sycamore Canyon.

At PCH I headed west and ran until I reached the entrance of Thornehill Broome Beach, where you see all the RVs lined up enjoying the ocean. From there I turned around and successfully navigated my way back up the canyon, where it continued to stay cool until I reached the steep ascent. From there it was a slow journey in about 80 degree 8:30 a.m. heat. Total distance covered was 21 miles.

I was sore the next day but in a "good" way. Looking forward now to this coming Sunday, where I will get a reprieve from the 20 miler and try my luck at the Camarillo Half Marathon. My goal there is to run about a 1 hour, 20 minute race, which is about 6:06 per mile. That might be a stretch but if I can do that, I'll be comfortable with a 2:50 to 2:55 marathon target.

One rookie move came on Saturday...in my haste to eat on Saturday, I downed a can of Chunky Beef Chili. Mistake. Did not sit well with me on Sunday. I survived. But...note to self...keep the food simple the day before a long run or race.

22 Miler Today - Training for the Malibu Marathon in 9 Weeks

Today I nailed another 22 miler in 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was easily my best long run of the year as it consumed very little effort on my part. The long distance training is starting to pay off.

Last week after my little 1 mile fun downhill race on Saturday, I was unable to muster up much energy the next day for a long run. Good enough. I had run a 22 miler the week before.

Yesterday I wasn't terribly thrilled at the prospect of waking up early for a long run, but the weather was my savior. Without an alarm, I got up at 6:30 a.m. and was out the door 15 minutes later under early morning cloud cover that stuck with my for about 80% of my run. It was a nice, cool morning run that I was able to really enjoy.

My marathon training started 3 months ago when I committed to run the Singapore Marathon in early December. But my friend may or may not run the marathon now due to work demands, so I used that as a cue to bail out (thus saving me about $3,000 in travel expense!) and find a more local race.

My local options are the Santa Barbara Marathon that I ran last year, the inaugural Camarillo Marathon next month or the Malibu Marathon on November 14th. I opted to try something new, leaving Santa Barbara out of the running. Camarillo sounds like a nice flat course but is too soon for me. So I'm doing Malibu!

The Malibu Marathon starts at the Camarillo Airport and heads down past Naval Base Ventura County to PCH, where it runs some hills along the ocean to Zuma. It does not appear to be a particularly fast course and there appears to be about a 200 foot climb from mile 18 to 24, but its all downhill after that. I'm not looking to do a personal best...my goal is to just go under 3 hours and have some fun.

Malibu International Marathon Elevation Chart

So now that I have a new marathon in the works that is only 9 weeks away, I've got about 6 more weeks of training left before a 3 week taper. Working within the bounds of my son's Saturday soccer games, birthday parties and other activities, I used the CVG listing of running events to map out a schedule that intertwines long runs with races.

So my current weekend long run and race schedule is:

Sept 19th: 5K Race in Camarillo - To start developing some speed; a 10K would have been better but a local one wasn't available.

Sept 26th: Long run (20+)

Oct 3rd - Camarillo Half Marathon - Goal is to run at a pace that translates into a 2:58 or better marathon. My rule of thumb is that a half marathon times 2.1 = projected marathon time. For me this means I'll target running the half in less than 1 hour, 25 minutes (2:58 = 178 minutes, divided by 2.1 = 85 minutes).

Oct 10th - Long run (20+)

Oct 17th - 5K Race in Westlake Village - Again, would be nice to do a 10K but I want to stay local.

Oct 24th - This is only 3 week pre-marathon, which is getting pretty close. I'll probably run 16 but I'll see how I feel.  Doing a 22 miler today in my opinion and experience WILL NOT help my marathon performance at this point but some may disagree.

Oct 31st - Not aware of any local races this weekend so I will probably opt to do 10 to 12 miles at marathon pace.

Nov 7th - We're gaining an hour of sleep this day (YAY, my favorite day of the year!) and I'll do at most 8 miles. Nothing too strenuous.

Nov 14th - Malibu Marathon

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!