My alarm is going off in 4hrs, 49minutes! Then, I'm off to San Diego for my first Triathlon, a mini-Sprint. Pretty excited, which explains why instead of sleeping, I'm up watching YouTube Transition videos and blogging. Ok.. this will be me tomorrow. Ha.. not.
Thanks Jason Bahamundi for this inspiring and motivating video.
Man, I have a L-O-N-G- way to go!!
Life Of An Aspiring Triathlete: Inspiration and Motivation Friday - 10/22/2010
>> check out 1:00 and 1:45 marks.. awesome!
Ok.. time for bed. My next post should be my recap of the Fearless Races Inaugural Triathlon.
.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Heart Damage and Marathon Running
As a doc who underwent major open heart surgery in 2006, and is now trying to lose weight and get healthy by training to run the 2011 Los Angeles Marathon, and do Triathlons .. this article was very interesting to me!
For those that are not familiar with my cardiac escapades, you can peruse more here: About Me (& my heart)
In brief, Canadian researchers looked at twenty runners (70% were men), and ran a battery of tests before, immediately after, and several months after, the Quebec Marathon (that's 42.195 Km for us metrically-challenged Yanks). Testing included VO2max and cardiac MRI. They found temporary changes immediately after the race, including edema and inflammation. From this, they suggest possible cardiac damage, possibly from transient decreases in blood flow to the cardiac muscle itself. This was felt to be most evident in the less-fit runners, and also exacerbated by dehydration. All seems to make sense to me. None of these 20 runners died or had any events during the marathon. And, all the cardiac changes resolved and reverted back to normal baseline several months after surgery. The study speculates that this temporary heart damage might explain sudden deaths during marathons, or like the recent death of Fran Crippen during a 10K open water swim competition. While Mr. Crippen was clearly fit and in peak cardiac condition, it sounds like the conditions of the race were arduous, hot, and he was indeed dehydrated.
Here are a few quotes from the article, followed by my quick thoughts.
Yes, I can believe that. But, I think it is actually a seven fold transient increase in risk, during exercise. (like the death of swimmer, Fran Crippen) On the other hand, the profound 2-3 fold decrease in cardiovascular risk is permanent, every day for the remainder of your life.
Driving the same route in Los Angeles, the risks of dying might be about equal.
My take home message from this article is that I am aware of the risk. As I've mentioned in my "About Me (& my heart)" page, I know that there is a very small chance that something bad might happen during the few hours that I am running, biking, swimming, or racing. But, I am fairly certain that something equally bad (or worse) will happen someday, while sitting on the couch, being fat and sluggish. I'll go with the lifetime 2-3-fold decrease in my cardiovascular risk, looking better, feeling great, being energetic, playing with my kids, etc.
In the meantime, I always keep a mindful eye on training smartly, safely and being prudent. I will also look into the VO2max parameter, as I am unfamiliar with that. And, be a little more cognizant of avoiding dehydration. When I run, I'm liberal with my walking breaks. Primarily, I am interested in finishing the distance, not hitting a blistering pace or PR.
I know what's at stake, and I don't plan on going anywhere soon. What do you think about this article?
For those that are not familiar with my cardiac escapades, you can peruse more here: About Me (& my heart)
In brief, Canadian researchers looked at twenty runners (70% were men), and ran a battery of tests before, immediately after, and several months after, the Quebec Marathon (that's 42.195 Km for us metrically-challenged Yanks). Testing included VO2max and cardiac MRI. They found temporary changes immediately after the race, including edema and inflammation. From this, they suggest possible cardiac damage, possibly from transient decreases in blood flow to the cardiac muscle itself. This was felt to be most evident in the less-fit runners, and also exacerbated by dehydration. All seems to make sense to me. None of these 20 runners died or had any events during the marathon. And, all the cardiac changes resolved and reverted back to normal baseline several months after surgery. The study speculates that this temporary heart damage might explain sudden deaths during marathons, or like the recent death of Fran Crippen during a 10K open water swim competition. While Mr. Crippen was clearly fit and in peak cardiac condition, it sounds like the conditions of the race were arduous, hot, and he was indeed dehydrated.
Here are a few quotes from the article, followed by my quick thoughts.
"We know that regular exercise reduces cardiovascular risk by a factor of two or three in the long run, but while we're doing vigorous exercise such as marathon running, our cardiac risk increases by seven,"
"One 2007 study, published in the British Medical Journal, looked at 30 years of marathon data and put the risk of dying at 0.8 per 100,000 runners. According to the researchers on that study, running a marathon is half as risky as driving the same route on a normal day."
Driving the same route in Los Angeles, the risks of dying might be about equal.
My take home message from this article is that I am aware of the risk. As I've mentioned in my "About Me (& my heart)" page, I know that there is a very small chance that something bad might happen during the few hours that I am running, biking, swimming, or racing. But, I am fairly certain that something equally bad (or worse) will happen someday, while sitting on the couch, being fat and sluggish. I'll go with the lifetime 2-3-fold decrease in my cardiovascular risk, looking better, feeling great, being energetic, playing with my kids, etc.
In the meantime, I always keep a mindful eye on training smartly, safely and being prudent. I will also look into the VO2max parameter, as I am unfamiliar with that. And, be a little more cognizant of avoiding dehydration. When I run, I'm liberal with my walking breaks. Primarily, I am interested in finishing the distance, not hitting a blistering pace or PR.
I know what's at stake, and I don't plan on going anywhere soon. What do you think about this article?
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Woof, Woof
Some firsts today:
- first time in a wetsuit
- first open water swim in ocean for a distance
- first open water panic attack
So my friend is a surfer and on the dive team for LAPD SWAT. Last night, we had dinner, and I asked him for a few crash tips to help me get through the ocean swim in next week's Inaugural Fearless Races Triathlon in San Diego. He told me..
(1) in freestyle, try to stay horizontal and straight, butt up, and roll like a log from side-to-side. When your head naturally rolls out of the water, take a quick breath. Only bring your arms up and forward enough to clear the water and reach forward.
(2) rescue strokes, use sidestroke preferably, but also ok is: doggy-paddle, flip on back and make angel wings, and if all else fails, hold onto a buoy or lifeguard surfboard until you get your breath back. I did not know, but this is totally legal. Even in an Ironman. You just can not get ANY assistance with forward progress. Good to know!
Today, I went out with the LBTri group for their Swim Clinic. The plan was a half-mile ocean swim. Yikes! That's 800M. 32 lengths of the pool. Sh*t..
The coaches stressed the importance of "sighting" and also mentioned rescue strokes. They added what I think they called "lifeguard stroke", which is basically like freestyle, but keeping your head above the water.
The coaches stressed the importance of "sighting" and also mentioned rescue strokes. They added what I think they called "lifeguard stroke", which is basically like freestyle, but keeping your head above the water.
So we were to swim out to the first buoy and turn right and swim parallel to the beach. And then turn back in. Swim a rectangle. A beautiful sunny day in Long Beach, by the way. Wrestling with my new Xterra Vortex3 wetsuit was an interesting experience.. (I'll spare you the pictures in case you just recently ate).
Walked briskly into the water and dove right in. I felt ok, and quite confident. Started out strong, but was not really paying attention to sighting the buoy every 2-4 strokes, like they advised. Finally, I looked up and noticed I was kind of by myself, and WAY left of the buoy. Cr*p.. turned myself around and started stroking like mad to catch up to the group. Later, the shore spotter/coach Charles said he was screaming my name because I was swiming off towards Catalina.
By the time I reached the buoy, I was really winded, totally gassed-out already. I was having a hard time seeing buoys and shore buildings, and had swallowed a fair amount of seawater by now. I saw a glimpse of some swimmers and a tiny leaning buoy, and started heading off towards them. I tried the sidestroke, and that was ok, but my shoulders were on fire at this point. Floated on my back for a few seconds, then flipped over to freestyle. Looking down, all I saw and felt was green cold salty water, and my limbs were very fatigued. I started hating the feel of the cold seawater on my face. I did a half-ass logroll and took in a big breath of air, along with a half-gallon of seawater. Sputtered and started looking for shore or buildings or anything. Panic. I had read about it, and heard about it.. been warned about it. Never really thought it would happen to me. It did. Next thing I know, the other coach in the water, Chris, came alongside me and asked how I was doing. I said, "I can't see sh*t. I can't do this." Chris says, "Yes you can. Just calm down and stop moving. Find your target, point to it with both hands together, and just do an easy breast stroke. Nice and slow" I did this for awhile, felt like I was going nowhere, just treading water, resting, bobbing like cork. Maybe I was moving forward, but I think glaciers move faster. Once I calmed down, and my breathing came back to normal, I added some legs. Since my head was above water, my butt was now down (and my legs). So, I was swimming at a forward tilt, running in the water. Ok.. I can do running!! I did this for awhile, running on my underwater treadmill. Basically, I was doggy-paddling. I started to feel and appreciate my wetsuit buoyancy, and that gave me some confidence that, indeed, I would not drown today. Started trying to go a bit more horizontal, and do some freestyle strokes, but kept my head above water. I was still having sighting problems, and I could feel my left goggle lenses with my left eyelashes.. weird and not-so-good feeling. I knew this forward tilt/legs down in water was way less efficient than horizontal freestyle, but I was willing to take that today over putting my face back in the cold, green, ocean water. So, back-n-forth.. freestyle to doggy-paddle to freestyle. I started making decent forward progress. I was basically doing run-walk in the water. I ended up swimming a triangle back towards shore, instead of a rectangle.. but I think I finished stronger. Finally my fingertips brushed sand.. hooray, terra not-so-firma (but I'll take it!). Got myself out of the water, and did my beached whale imitation for a minute. Coach said I did great, more than twice what I would need for the mini-sprint Tri, and it only took me about 23-minutes. I think about .4 miles he guessed.
HUGE Thanks to Chris and Charles, the coaches and Founders of LBTri. Totally friendly, expert, and just plain terrific. The other club members were also a friendly and great group of people. Many are doing the upcoming Santa Catalina Triathlon on November 6, 2010. GOOD LUCK!!
Ok.. that was a great and new experience for me today. Definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I think I'm ok with the ocean swimming now. I just need to improve my technique and endurance. LBTri then ran an awesome Transition Clinic, which was also very helpful. Up to now, I have been relying on YouTube and blog race recaps to learn how to do my transitions. I'll do a few mental transitions and an actual dry run, and I should be ok. I think this doggy is ready to paddle his way thru his first triathlon!
HUGE Thanks to Chris and Charles, the coaches and Founders of LBTri. Totally friendly, expert, and just plain terrific. The other club members were also a friendly and great group of people. Many are doing the upcoming Santa Catalina Triathlon on November 6, 2010. GOOD LUCK!!
Ok.. that was a great and new experience for me today. Definitely outside of my comfort zone, but I think I'm ok with the ocean swimming now. I just need to improve my technique and endurance. LBTri then ran an awesome Transition Clinic, which was also very helpful. Up to now, I have been relying on YouTube and blog race recaps to learn how to do my transitions. I'll do a few mental transitions and an actual dry run, and I should be ok. I think this doggy is ready to paddle his way thru his first triathlon!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Singing in the Rain.. Not
Plan for today was to meet-up with my new running group, Sole Runners, at 8AM. But, girls and wife had an important tea party to go to by 10am, so I decided to run before the meet-up. It was my first outdoor short run after my Long Beach Half-Marathon last Sunday.
6:30am, and boy was it dark still! And.. drizzly. Yuck! Nothing that any self-respecting Seattle-r would call "rain".. but still, enough to fill me with dread and sink my mood. Speaking of Seattle folks, a few days ago, Slomohusky blogged about the joys of rain, and running in rain.. So, I pulled up my bootstraps (shoelaces), determined to do this run. Besides, it was only supposed to be 45-50 minutes. How hard could it be?
Almost immediately, I could tell I was running tense, fearful of my footing and a slip-n-fall. My legs felt fatigued, tight, and burning almost immediately. But more so, my mind and heart were just not into it. It wasn't my half-marathon 6 days ago, or any injury. I felt fine. It's funny how mental outlook plays such an important role in all things. And this morning, I didn't give myself a chance in h*ll. I plodded out a mediocre 3 miles in ~ 43 minutes, then walked along the water towards the Sole Runner's meeting spot.
My mood improved watching these rowers and stretching. Also, a great song, "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin, came on which really reminded me what a blessing it is that I am pain-free, and can move and be active today, despite the rain.
Met up with some great people at Sole Runners, learned about Chi Running, and really enjoyed the social scene. A really positive, friendly, & outgoing group of runners! Thanks again to TheRunningGreenGirl for persistently inviting me and encouraging me to check them out. Looking forward to running with the group soon.
I'm sure if I did my run after the meeting, with the Sole Runners, I would have had a much better (and more enjoyable) run. It's all mental, baby.
Tomorrow is a new day!
First-ever, open water swim clinic and transition clinic. First mini-Tri next week!
Hope it doesn't rain.
6:30am, and boy was it dark still! And.. drizzly. Yuck! Nothing that any self-respecting Seattle-r would call "rain".. but still, enough to fill me with dread and sink my mood. Speaking of Seattle folks, a few days ago, Slomohusky blogged about the joys of rain, and running in rain.. So, I pulled up my bootstraps (shoelaces), determined to do this run. Besides, it was only supposed to be 45-50 minutes. How hard could it be?
 |
| Dreary! |
My mood improved watching these rowers and stretching. Also, a great song, "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin, came on which really reminded me what a blessing it is that I am pain-free, and can move and be active today, despite the rain.
Met up with some great people at Sole Runners, learned about Chi Running, and really enjoyed the social scene. A really positive, friendly, & outgoing group of runners! Thanks again to TheRunningGreenGirl for persistently inviting me and encouraging me to check them out. Looking forward to running with the group soon.
I'm sure if I did my run after the meeting, with the Sole Runners, I would have had a much better (and more enjoyable) run. It's all mental, baby.
Tomorrow is a new day!
First-ever, open water swim clinic and transition clinic. First mini-Tri next week!
Hope it doesn't rain.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Just Doing It
I do not use Nike shoes.. but damn they make some good ads and commercials..
This is one of my favorite Nike commercials.. get's me pumped up and just makes me want to go run. It's called "Courage" and the killer soundtrack is by "The Killers"
"I got soul, but I'm not a soldier.."
Recently, I found this awesome Nike billboard ad that really spoke to me. Actually, these words have been speaking to me for years, as I lay on my couch watching TV and eating Cheetos cheese puffs.
I found it on OnTay's blog, TheRunnerGuy. Thanks OnTay!
This is one of my favorite Nike commercials.. get's me pumped up and just makes me want to go run. It's called "Courage" and the killer soundtrack is by "The Killers"
"I got soul, but I'm not a soldier.."
Recently, I found this awesome Nike billboard ad that really spoke to me. Actually, these words have been speaking to me for years, as I lay on my couch watching TV and eating Cheetos cheese puffs.
I found it on OnTay's blog, TheRunnerGuy. Thanks OnTay!
JUST DO IT
.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
2010 Long Beach Half-Marathon
Finished my second half-marathon, ever. Felt much better finishing this time, compared to my first effort (2010 Disneyland Half-Marathon). And, I achieved a new PR by 7 minutes, 13 seconds. I'm still doing too much walking. But overall, my running is improved, so I'm happy about that!
Breaking Rules..
Everyone says.. DO NOT try anything new on race day. (eg. shoes, gels, supplements, etc) Throwing caution to the wind, I cautiously tried a few new things, and I lived to tell the tale.
- new socks
- Hammer Endurolyte Capsules
- New GU Gel, sort of.. GU Roctane vs my usual GU Espresso Love
Carb-Load Dinner #1: Sole Runners!
The Sole Runners met at a Long Beach Pizzeria for an excellent pizza/pasta dinner to launch their upcoming Fall/Winter Training session. I finally got to meet TheRunningGreenGirl in person, as well as Sole Runners Founder/Coach Steve Mackel. What a great group of friendly & positive runners! Also, briefly met Love2Mags. Signed up for the next training session. One of the mentors gave me this tiny satchel with a handwritten inspirational quote that the Sole Runners hand out to runners on the course. How cool is that? Really nice!
I was going to save it for during the race, like mile 11.. when I would be sucking wind and really needing it. But, I had enough gear, and decided instead to open it up right before I left early Sunday morning.
Saturday Expo
Went to the Expo late afternoon, right before a carb-loading pre-race Tweetup arranged by Glenn (@GWJones00 of TheRunningFatGuy). Registration & bib pick-up went very quick and smooth, almost without a hitch. They didn't have any more of my size expo shirts. Not entirely unexpected, since I strolled in with only an hour left in the expo! Hopefully, @Chicrunner can help me out here .. because the shirt looks AWESOME!!
Earlier in the day, I had almost the worst luck a runner could have the day before a race. My 3-yr old daughter dropped a book on my right little toe. Not just any book, a large picture dictionary. She can not even read yet! What is she doing walking around with a dictionary? It was not that bad, and actually didn't even hurt.. but I decided I did not want it rubbing against my 4th toe for 13.1 miles. I was going to use a bandaid or wrap it in a tegaderm from my work. At the expo, I found these cool Injinji Performance Toesocks, which looked interesting and felt great. They have 5 separate little sleeves, one for each toe and all seamless.
Carb-Load Dinner #2
Tweet-up pasta dinner at La Parolaccia in Long Beach. Bunch of running tweeps! Did not get to meet everyone, but it was a fun lively bunch of us, and the food was great. Service was ok, especially for a pretty large group. Got to chat with TheRunningGreenGirl, Love2Mags, and our gracious host, Glenn, TheRunningFatGuy. There were others, but unfortunately I didn't catch tweet handles. I think Carol.. and Trevor (who was running his first-ever Half-Marathon!).
I went home, procrastinated, ate some more, and finally got around to arranging my music, and getting my gear together. Surfing the web while songs loaded, I reread @RunnrGrl 's Chicago 10-10-10 Recap. Great read. I liked the idea of chopping a race into parts, each with it's own "plan". Speaking of music, I guess I should add one more new thing.. I decided to go without my iPod this race. Instead, I just loaded my music on my Droid phone using this program called DoubleTwist. I have been running with Nuun water for my long runs, but my wife says the race is so well-supported, I should just use the water stations. I decided to pack a few capsules of Hammer Endurolytes, which I have never tried before. Directions say take 1-3 capsules every hour. Hmm.. I did NOT tell my wife about the electrolyte caps or the new Toesocks. She would just call me crazy and tell me not to use them on a race day. She did tell me to try the GU Roctane for my first gel.. which I did.
RACE DAY
Alarm: 4:15am, ugh. Stuck to my routine here. Toasted english muffin with a little peanut butter. Coffee. Tried to go to execute a pre-emptive strike against the runner's trots.. nada. Drove to the Metro station to take the Blue line to the race. Still hadn't decided about my socks, so I brought my old C9 socks with me. One more trip to the porta-potties. Felt some rumbling.. but still, nada. Guess I'm bringing it with me. I knew some of the runner tweeps, bloggers, and some work friends of mine, were going to meet at the back of Corral #4, so that's where I headed. My knees felt great. Feet felt great. Socks felt great. I ditched the old socks and decided to roll the dice on my fancy new Injinji socks. Runners started packing in, and still no sign of anyone I recognized. Something didn't seem right here..
I notice the neon green pace sign. "4:15".. hmm, that would be a 2:07.30 half-marathon pace!! Sh*t.. I'm in the wrong corral! Idiot! I took a picture of the sign marker at the front of corral #4, while standing in the back of corral #3. Duh.. too late now. I hugged the fence and let these Wave 3 guys run by, hoping to merge back into the stream near the back of Wave #4.
My race started, and I was off running. Felt pretty good, and once the crowd thinned, who do I run into? Glenn.. (TheRunningFatGuy). I also met a friend of his, blogger Slomohusky. We ran together for a few minutes and chatted before they pulled away. I mainly did run/walk, and tried to stay in a higher heart rate zone, to determine my walk intervals. I'm not sure that worked out too well. My heart rate never really got too high, or too low, so it ended up just being random run/walk intervals. I managed to stay well-below 170 and realized that I'm way undertrained. For averaging 146bpm, I wasn't moving very fast. I need to work on my cardiac conditioning, and losing a few more pounds. But more so, I just need to get more medium and long runs in. What ended up bothering me most were my knees & hips. After Disneyland Half, I was sidelined with a left quad injury for 3 weeks, so I really only got in 2-3 mediocre long runs before Long Beach, with mainly crosstraining (swimming & rowing) in between. Definitely undertrained. Oh well..
No real drama out on the course. I used 2 GU gels.. first the Roctane GU at around Mile 3-4. No noticeable difference over the regular Espresso Love GU. Alternated about every 3-4 miles gel breaks with water+Endurolytes. I was worried about stomach pains so I only took 1 Endurolyte capsule (instead of 2-3). Early on, I felt like I had to pee, and possibly more. Surprisingly, I just kept passing bathrooms and felt like I could make it to the next bathroom. Around midway, my bladder and bowels decided to stop bugging me and go along with my plan. From the start, I felt like I was sweating a lot for some reason. I missed the first water station that was on the left. I was on the right and couldn't cut across the herd of stampeding runners. I hit all the other water stations, but skipped the gatorade/powerade, on the advice of my wife. Along the beach path, around Mile 6-7, it got really crowded. I don't know why I was in such a rush, since I'm so slow.. but I decided to pass some walkers on the right, in the sand. I did not twist my ankle, but as soon as my right foot hit the sand, I got a sharp pain in that ankle. That's about it. Ran thru it and it went away. Humbling.. I saw a lot of fit-looking runners along the way, stopped, leaning on trees, fences, each other.. stretching out their legs with pained looks on their faces. I hoped they weren't running the full marathon, because they still had a long way to go! Maybe I paced myself better this time, but I didn't have any cramps until the very end. My legs felt good. Feet felt good, and pretty light & cool. I noticed the lack of any seams or stitching rubbing across top of my toes (unlike my old socks). Preliminary two thumbs up for the Injinji socks! Around Mile 12, I had a few fluttery twitches in both calves. Stopped for a few seconds to get my calves sprayed with Kool 'N Fit .. which really did seem to work nicely.. or maybe it was just a cool refreshing placebo. Whatever works..
Was really starting to feel some pain around mile 12.5 in my right hip and knee, but I was still running. I heard my name and looked left.. saw my wife and 3 kids jumping up and down screaming my name at mile 13. This time, I managed to actually smile and RUN across the finish mat: 3:06:59
Sorry no race pics. Major props to Glenn and others who seem to do full video documentaries and tweet while running a marathon. Don't know how you guys do it?! I just focused on not falling or dying. I did have to switch up my playlist on my phone at one point, so this was my chance to take my only race shot.
Reflections..
I can not be anything but happy. I may be slow, but I am blessed to be able to move. I was undertrained for Long Beach, and still managed to PR by 7 minutes! Even sweeter.. this time my legs did not feel totally wrecked and useless after the finish. The whole event was so nice and well-run, well-supported, awesome shirt, nice medal, etc. I can see why it is one of my wife's favorite marathons. And now, mine too. I used to think running was just about shoes and running. I can now see how so many bloggers get freebies and post reviews for products. Without even trying, I feel like I could review a half-dozen different products from this race alone! (but, I'll spare you) Finally, typing up this race recap, I realize how much goes into other people blog posts.. and for all of that, I am grateful. This is my first "real" recap, so my apologies if this is too long, too short, or too rambling. Thanks for reading this far. Time for me to go look for my next race..
Breaking Rules..
Everyone says.. DO NOT try anything new on race day. (eg. shoes, gels, supplements, etc) Throwing caution to the wind, I cautiously tried a few new things, and I lived to tell the tale.
- new socks
- Hammer Endurolyte Capsules
- New GU Gel, sort of.. GU Roctane vs my usual GU Espresso Love
Carb-Load Dinner #1: Sole Runners!
The Sole Runners met at a Long Beach Pizzeria for an excellent pizza/pasta dinner to launch their upcoming Fall/Winter Training session. I finally got to meet TheRunningGreenGirl in person, as well as Sole Runners Founder/Coach Steve Mackel. What a great group of friendly & positive runners! Also, briefly met Love2Mags. Signed up for the next training session. One of the mentors gave me this tiny satchel with a handwritten inspirational quote that the Sole Runners hand out to runners on the course. How cool is that? Really nice! I was going to save it for during the race, like mile 11.. when I would be sucking wind and really needing it. But, I had enough gear, and decided instead to open it up right before I left early Sunday morning.
Saturday Expo
Earlier in the day, I had almost the worst luck a runner could have the day before a race. My 3-yr old daughter dropped a book on my right little toe. Not just any book, a large picture dictionary. She can not even read yet! What is she doing walking around with a dictionary? It was not that bad, and actually didn't even hurt.. but I decided I did not want it rubbing against my 4th toe for 13.1 miles. I was going to use a bandaid or wrap it in a tegaderm from my work. At the expo, I found these cool Injinji Performance Toesocks, which looked interesting and felt great. They have 5 separate little sleeves, one for each toe and all seamless.I bought two pairs for $20 cash .. still undecided if I was going to wear them or stick with my cheapo Champion C9 socks from Target. It would be a game-day decision.
Carb-Load Dinner #2
Tweet-up pasta dinner at La Parolaccia in Long Beach. Bunch of running tweeps! Did not get to meet everyone, but it was a fun lively bunch of us, and the food was great. Service was ok, especially for a pretty large group. Got to chat with TheRunningGreenGirl, Love2Mags, and our gracious host, Glenn, TheRunningFatGuy. There were others, but unfortunately I didn't catch tweet handles. I think Carol.. and Trevor (who was running his first-ever Half-Marathon!).
I went home, procrastinated, ate some more, and finally got around to arranging my music, and getting my gear together. Surfing the web while songs loaded, I reread @RunnrGrl 's Chicago 10-10-10 Recap. Great read. I liked the idea of chopping a race into parts, each with it's own "plan". Speaking of music, I guess I should add one more new thing.. I decided to go without my iPod this race. Instead, I just loaded my music on my Droid phone using this program called DoubleTwist. I have been running with Nuun water for my long runs, but my wife says the race is so well-supported, I should just use the water stations. I decided to pack a few capsules of Hammer Endurolytes, which I have never tried before. Directions say take 1-3 capsules every hour. Hmm.. I did NOT tell my wife about the electrolyte caps or the new Toesocks. She would just call me crazy and tell me not to use them on a race day. She did tell me to try the GU Roctane for my first gel.. which I did.
RACE DAY
 |
| Hand-written inspiration quote from Sole Runners. THANK YOU!! |
My race started, and I was off running. Felt pretty good, and once the crowd thinned, who do I run into? Glenn.. (TheRunningFatGuy). I also met a friend of his, blogger Slomohusky. We ran together for a few minutes and chatted before they pulled away. I mainly did run/walk, and tried to stay in a higher heart rate zone, to determine my walk intervals. I'm not sure that worked out too well. My heart rate never really got too high, or too low, so it ended up just being random run/walk intervals. I managed to stay well-below 170 and realized that I'm way undertrained. For averaging 146bpm, I wasn't moving very fast. I need to work on my cardiac conditioning, and losing a few more pounds. But more so, I just need to get more medium and long runs in. What ended up bothering me most were my knees & hips. After Disneyland Half, I was sidelined with a left quad injury for 3 weeks, so I really only got in 2-3 mediocre long runs before Long Beach, with mainly crosstraining (swimming & rowing) in between. Definitely undertrained. Oh well..
No real drama out on the course. I used 2 GU gels.. first the Roctane GU at around Mile 3-4. No noticeable difference over the regular Espresso Love GU. Alternated about every 3-4 miles gel breaks with water+Endurolytes. I was worried about stomach pains so I only took 1 Endurolyte capsule (instead of 2-3). Early on, I felt like I had to pee, and possibly more. Surprisingly, I just kept passing bathrooms and felt like I could make it to the next bathroom. Around midway, my bladder and bowels decided to stop bugging me and go along with my plan. From the start, I felt like I was sweating a lot for some reason. I missed the first water station that was on the left. I was on the right and couldn't cut across the herd of stampeding runners. I hit all the other water stations, but skipped the gatorade/powerade, on the advice of my wife. Along the beach path, around Mile 6-7, it got really crowded. I don't know why I was in such a rush, since I'm so slow.. but I decided to pass some walkers on the right, in the sand. I did not twist my ankle, but as soon as my right foot hit the sand, I got a sharp pain in that ankle. That's about it. Ran thru it and it went away. Humbling.. I saw a lot of fit-looking runners along the way, stopped, leaning on trees, fences, each other.. stretching out their legs with pained looks on their faces. I hoped they weren't running the full marathon, because they still had a long way to go! Maybe I paced myself better this time, but I didn't have any cramps until the very end. My legs felt good. Feet felt good, and pretty light & cool. I noticed the lack of any seams or stitching rubbing across top of my toes (unlike my old socks). Preliminary two thumbs up for the Injinji socks! Around Mile 12, I had a few fluttery twitches in both calves. Stopped for a few seconds to get my calves sprayed with Kool 'N Fit .. which really did seem to work nicely.. or maybe it was just a cool refreshing placebo. Whatever works..
Was really starting to feel some pain around mile 12.5 in my right hip and knee, but I was still running. I heard my name and looked left.. saw my wife and 3 kids jumping up and down screaming my name at mile 13. This time, I managed to actually smile and RUN across the finish mat: 3:06:59
Sorry no race pics. Major props to Glenn and others who seem to do full video documentaries and tweet while running a marathon. Don't know how you guys do it?! I just focused on not falling or dying. I did have to switch up my playlist on my phone at one point, so this was my chance to take my only race shot.
Reflections..
I can not be anything but happy. I may be slow, but I am blessed to be able to move. I was undertrained for Long Beach, and still managed to PR by 7 minutes! Even sweeter.. this time my legs did not feel totally wrecked and useless after the finish. The whole event was so nice and well-run, well-supported, awesome shirt, nice medal, etc. I can see why it is one of my wife's favorite marathons. And now, mine too. I used to think running was just about shoes and running. I can now see how so many bloggers get freebies and post reviews for products. Without even trying, I feel like I could review a half-dozen different products from this race alone! (but, I'll spare you) Finally, typing up this race recap, I realize how much goes into other people blog posts.. and for all of that, I am grateful. This is my first "real" recap, so my apologies if this is too long, too short, or too rambling. Thanks for reading this far. Time for me to go look for my next race..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)