Post Marathon Blues & Running Through the Holidays

I had a plan all mapped out. Well, sort of. I hadn't plugged in all the mileages, but I had decided on how I'd set up my weeks to train for Shamrock (base miles on Monday and Thursday, Speedwork on Tuesdays, lifting on the "off" days of Sunday and Wednesday, and long runs on Saturday).

I need to bounce back quickly -- March 18 is not that far away! -- but I'm feeling like I'm already a bit behind schedule. I missed my run last night because of working late, and so I went out this morning instead of doing speedwork tonight. I'm ok with that, and from my uninspiring runs the past two weeks, it seems like waiting another week before hitting the track for the first time in almost a year is probably a good thing.

I've now run three time since the marathon: 3 miles on wobbly legs on Thanksgiving, a 6-miler on Saturday where everything below the knees really hurt, and today I felt really exhausted after 5 miles. In my defense, it was 60F with 90% humidity. That's definitely not my best running weather, but I weathered (ha!) a lot worse in the summer and I ran most of a marathon two weeks ago. I can't have lost that much conditioning in two weeks, right?

I'm not sure if the problem is in my head, my lungs, or my legs (or all of above!). I am very committed to running a better marathon and even doing a better job sticking to the parts of training that I hate (hello, speedwork!), so it seems like my head's in the right place, but I've also had probably the most stressful month of work that I've ever had, and that's definitely taken it's toll both physically and with my level of focus. My legs feel like they're still tired. We'll see what happens on Saturday, but the good news/bad news is that I'll probably take some extra days off from running due to a business trip. Lungs? I can't tell. I'm not breathing as badly as I was earlier in the week before the marathon, but I don't seem quite all there. Of course, it was warm and humid today, and I never feel like my lung capacity is at its best then. If Saturday is dry and cool, it'll be a much better indicator of my respiratory health.

I bounced from Shamrock pretty quickly, I think, but then didn't have push myself. The marathon was a Sunday, and the following Thursday I ran a slow 7 miles, and then for about a month I didn't run longer than 7 or 8 miles. In April and May, while I still had cool weather, I started getting back into the double digits and then pushed myself to my best-ever months in June, July, and August. I don't have the luxury of a month off now, especially when it will be extremely challenging to get the miles in around the holidays.

Last year, I kept increasing my distance in the weeks after the Philly Half. On the next two Saturdays I ran 14 and 16 miles, my two longest-ever runs at the time. I don't think I hit double-digits again until I ran 13.1 on January 1, but I feel like those long early December runs helped me get caught back up quickly in January. Our weekends in December are packed, mostly with fun holiday stuff, but it means I have to get good long runs in when I can. If I can get back into the double digits this Saturday and on next week's long run, I'll feel like I'm at least starting from the same place I was last year. The weekend after that, I have the Celtic Solstice 5-miler, which several people have told me is a great race. Depending on how much I actually "race" the five-miler, I may do a longer run on Sunday to supplement it or I may just be content with it.

Either way, I think a nice long run is on my "nice" list for Christmas Eve.

Sorry for the boring post, but this IS my running blog, not my creepy cat ornament picture blog.

Christmas Evil

This post has nothing to with running, or marathons, or food, and everything to do with rampant holiday cheer.

Most of the time, I love cats. My wife and I have three cats, Higgy, Pooka, and Elizabeth. I volunteer at the cat adoption center at the local Petsmart, from whence Elizabeth the Kitten came. One small thing that we do each year to help homeless animals is to purchase the annual "Luv-a-Pet" ornaments from PetSmart charities each year.

I'm glad to try to help, but you have to admit that some of these things are pretty creepy:

(Ok, this guy looks a little evil, but no more evil than cats actually are.)

(A cute snow kitty. How whimsical! Not evil at all!)

(Again, not evil at all.)

(A cat playing hockey? This is the Stanley Cup of cute.)

(What could be cuter than a tobogganing cat? Two tobogganing cats!)

(Well, alright. A little creepy I admit, but Siamese are untrustworthy. No pattern. Nothing to worry about.)

(Oh no! Why does this cat want to kill me? They can't get more evil looking than this one, can they?)

(WE HAILS ARE DEMIN LORD! I CAN HAZ UR SOUL?)

(Phew. This one's cute again -- oh no! Those eyes! Those terrible, demented eyes!)

(The 2010 and 2011 models are cute again. I guess you could say there's a lack of originality,
but I'll take a different-colored "Lucky" every year after those creepy 2007-2009 ornaments.)

You can buy Lucky the Cat, Chance the Dog, or an assortment of more real-looking dog ornaments to help PetSmart Charities here. I've had a nice laugh at some of their ornaments but I do believe it's a worthy cause.

Back on the Roads

Have you seen my legs?

Apparently, they're still somewhere out there between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Manyunk.

If you happen to see them, tell them that they must return to Manchester, because their services are required ASAP. I had seven months between Shamrock and Philly, giving me some time to take it easy and time to run base miles over the summer without really worrying too much about my long run distances for several months.

There's no such luxury this time, with Shamrock looming on March 18. I don't want to rush back, but there's definitely times over the holidays in which the miles are going to be tough to get in so I want to start getting my long runs back in and get started on some speedwork, even if I probably won't get much consistency till January.

This is the weekly plan that I hope to follow (mileages will vary):

Monday: 5-7 mile "regular" run

Tuesday: Yasso 800s (track workout) -- I'm hoping to start this week, but will probably still be taking it a little easy with a slow pace and only 3 sets, adding a set each time until I get up to 10. Supposedly the pace at which you run the 800s predicts your marathon time. I have to do a little more research on them since I haven't really done speedwork (for example, do I run them at a fast but comfortable pace or do I just run them as fast as I possibly can?)

Wednesday: Weights

Thursday: 5-7 mile "regular" run

Friday: Weights

Saturday: Long run

Sunday: Cross training (biking or NordicTrack)

I think speedwork and strength training (and I need to figure out exactly what this routine will be) will help give me more strength and endurance to help this marathon hurt less and hopefully go more quickly. I'd love to get down into the 4:30s. I'm not planning a fall marathon next year at this point, so I'd like have a better one so I don't become obsessed with revenge.

(If the mall can put up Christmas decorations in October,
I can start thinking about St. Patrick's Day before Christmas.)

I have to do a better job recognizing though, that things aren't going to always go according to plan, and that 30min on the treadmill is better than nothing.

Though I'm going to push myself more than I have in the past, the time for that was not this week. I ran 3.1 miles on Thursday morning, and it felt like I was still out at the end of the marathon course. If my legs could talk, they'd have been asking for some walk breaks. Today went a little better -- I ran 6 miles in about an hour (I forgot to re-start Garmin) but it was definitely all I had in the tank. I bounced back more quickly from Shamrock, so maybe I wasn't quite as beaten up. I'd like be back in double-digits by next Saturday, but I know it's most important this point to just be flexible and see how I feel as I recover.

I'm Still Thankful For...

I've been writing this stupid blog for just over a year now, and one of my first posts was a belated Thanksgiving post. All that stuff still applies, so let's take this year's a little less seriously.

I'm thankful for:

Walk Breaks


Naps


Finish Lines


And Starting Lines

Adventure!

Snacks
and much, much more.

It's been quite a year, and I am thankful for all its ups and downs. Happy Thanksgiving and thanks again for reading!

Losing Seasons

From my mostly-defunct Orioles blog:

For years, Red Sox fans have shown up in Baltimore with their "Fenway South" signs and their "Let's go Red Sox chants" and their arrogance. Last night, they were sent home packing.

The 2011 Orioles weren't especially good at baseball by major-league standards. But they played hard for 162 games and they didn't quit.

Hmm...I'm not very good at the marathon, but I didn't quit. This kind of makes me the Baltimore Orioles of marathon runners, doesn't it?

That's cool. I love the Orioles.



(Note: This post is meant much more in the spirit of "making fun of myself" and was just something stupid that I thought of yesterday, not actually serious criticism nor rampant negativity.)

Race Report, Part II: Philadelphia Marathon Event Review

Since I did such a long race report that included pre-race, my race report, lessons learned, and post-race adventuring, I wasn't planning on doing another multi-part race report.

But, two days removed from the event, I realized that I wanted to talk a little more about the event itself, as independently as I could from my own race experience, for someone that might be thinking of the Philadelphia Marathon.

My advice: Do it!

Course
Either the half or full marathon is a good tour of Philadelphia (to be more clear than I was yesterday, the half course is the first half of the full marathon course), but first half is the more interesting: downtown, along the Delaware, South Street, Old City, University City, Fairmount Park.



The second of the course is generally a very pretty run along the Schuylkill River, but generally lacks the varied scenery of the first half. It's interesting to see street side of Boathouse Row, and Manyunk is like a fun little town nestled within city limits of Philadelphia.

I can't decide which part of the course is tougher. For me, obviously, the second half. But if I ran them independently of each other the first definitely has the bigger hills. Whether you run the half or full, the finish at the Art Museum is spectacular.

Between the scenery, very good crowd support and interesting things or people to see along the course, it's at least a visually stimulating journey. My favorites were the Sixers Dance Team, Eagles Drumline, and the goofy costumed entertainers at mile 11. After three years, I still can't figure out what the hell they are but they always make me laugh.

I can think of just a handful negatives about the course. I can think portions of it are very crowded (the start and Chestnut Street namely). A few more port-o-potties at some of the stops would have been helpful, and later in the race the aid stations were running out of cups. The volunteers continued to fill water bottles, trying to save cups for those who didn't have bottles, and I have no complaint at all with the aid station volunteers who numerous and friendly. There were aid stations approximately every two miles, which seemed adequate to me. (I did have my hydration belt.)

There's a lot of history and a lot of interesting sights along the course. For a lot of runners, that's probably reason enough. For all you other shallow folks like me, let's talk about the expo and swag

Expo
The expo at Philly is a little bigger than the one at Shamrock, but also more crowded -- the seemed to make not the best use of the available space in the convention hall, but at least it was crowded with cool stuff: Whatever supplies you were looking for, whether last-minute stuff for the race or just some new gear, you could probably find it here.

While I didn't like the race merchandise as much as I did in previous years (the main logo stays the same, but the designs change a bit each year), there's a good selection of race logo merchandise. I went with two hats (a white one to try as a running hat and a black one that I just thought was cool) and a fleece jacket.


Swag
I've run the Philly Half or Marathon each of the past three years, and the main giveaway has always been a long-sleeve Endurafit tech shirt with the race slogan on the front and course map on the back. I like the shirts, especially since the maps are on them, but the sizing is a little funny. I have three "mediums". 2009's is on the small side, tight in the arms; 2010's is perfect; and 2011's is probably really a "large". The course maps, cool. The slogans, another matter. 2009: "Running Means..." (Signs all over the city filled in cheesy slogans "Running Means Independence", "Running Means a Rhino is Chasing You", etc.). 2010: "Push Through". 2011: "Best Time of Your Life." I already mocked that one yesterday. Still, it's a good giveaway.

The ubiquitous drawstring goodie bag also has a bottle(?) of coconut milk, some chocolate-covered berries, a therapeutic wrap, and a voucher for Sixers tickets. This will be seriously cool if the NBA ever resumes play.


Overall Impression
Two days after my race, I'm not feeling nearly as negative about myself (more on both that and on the tragic deaths of two participants on Thursday), and I think I can say I'll remember the experience with a good amount of pride, even though I still want to use this race as motivation to do better next time.

But, all that aside, I think this is a good event. The post-race party and swag don't stack up to Shamrock, which seems to just have a more "fun" atmosphere. Philly doesn't really have any post-race celebration at all. (As Nancy clarified below.)

However, there's a lot to do in Philadelphia, but it's manageable to see a lot during the weekend and if nothing else you see a good portion of the city during the race to at least be able to orient yourself later (I know downtown very well from having worked there years ago). It's a visually interesting course -- it has Shamrock beaten in that regard -- that with good support, a good expo, and good swag (if you care about swag). I thought the course was challenging, and positively mountainous compared to my only other marathon, but I've heard that among marathons Philly is still considered "flat and fast."

Train better than I did, and you might even have "The Best Time of Your Life."

Race Report: 2011 Philadelphia Marathon (or "Best Time of Your Life, My A**")

I never hit the wall, because the whole race was the wall.

When I look back on the 2011 Philadelphia Marathon in the days, weeks, months and years ahead, I'm not sure how I'll remember it. I failed by all but the very minimum standard (just finish) that I'd set for myself, but I still feel like I did accomplish something. Right now, though, I'll say that it was miserable. I hit the wall at Shamrock, but I would say that I mostly enjoyed the race. Yesterday, I hit the wall earlier in the race, and I would count the 2nd half of the marathon as the most miserable, joyless 13 miles I've ever run, with the exception of one hell of a rush at the finish.

It sucked. I knew I wasn't as ready as I should have been and that it would suck, and I was prepared to accept the consequences, but I underestimated the level of pain I would be in. I don't remember much pain from Shamrock. (Though I think the pain was there and I just chose not to remember it because I am overall very happy with it. Chris is right -- i could barely walk after Shamrock, too.)I mostly remember that I "just" got to a point where my legs just wouldn't go anymore. Yesterday? Very painful.

I finished in 5:07:17, about nine minutes slower than Shamrock. Let's get that unpleasantness out of the way. I have to consider this a setback, a failure, a bad race, but I do not do think my failure was quite complete.

Pre-race
Chris, who was running the half (her second), and I got to the Expo at the Philadelphia Convention Center at around 2pm on Saturday. Packet pickup went smoothly. The expo seemed to take up about half of a very large convention room, and it was tightly packed and crowded. I bought a hefty load of Philadelphia Marathon-logo apparel, and we met up with a few other runner-bloggers who were running the race. (Thanks to Amanda from www.runtothefinish.com for organizing the meetup!). It was while we were hanging around chatting that I noticed my legs were feeling very tired (more from an overall exhausting week, I suspect, rather than a tough week of running) which turned out to indeed be a harbinger of doom.

(Oh, that doesn't look so bad. As you can see, this isn't my first rodeo.)

We looked around the expo for a little while, grabbing our Shamrock Marathon cups at the J&A booth, when I remembered that I wanted to buy a book, because I had forgotten to bring anything to read at the hotel. I was looking for something that would mostly be entertaining stories rather than serious training tips, so my choices seemed to be My Life on the Run by Bart Yasso and Run! by Dean Karnazes. Since Bart Yasso was sitting there at the Runner's World table, I picked up his book, got it signed, and chatted for a minute.



Having accomplished everything we could at the expo, we headed over to Reading Terminal Market, next to the Convention Center, to each have a cookie from the Famous Fourth Street Cookie Company. Let me just say that they are famous for a reason, and leave it at that.



We had dinner (and my pre-race beer) at Sotto Varalli on Broad Street. It certainly was adequate carb loading. With the long day ahead, we were in bed by 10:00.

(Ready to run.)

The Race
The Dream
I got up at 3:30am for a peanut-butter sandwich and some water, and went back to bed. I got up "for real" at 4:15 to do my IT band stretching and foam rolling, apply sunscreen, put BodyGlide everywhere, and try to psych myself up with some pre-race Van Halen. We left the hotel around 6am, accompanied by our friend Maryrose, who came to watch us and some of her other friends.

We were in our corrals a little before the 7am start, and I chatted with a friend of Maryrose's who was running the half and also starting from the super-elite orange corral. It was great to have some company, because it made the interminable wait for the wave start a little less, well...interminable.



The race started, eventually, and while I didn't feel great (in terms of overall energy level), I felt "ok" and I hoped that would be enough. I'm not going to be do a mile-by-mile recap like I did for the half marathon last year, because it would make me too angry to type, but over the first several sections of the course, eastbound through downtown Philly, south on Columbus Boulevard, and northwest on Front St./South Street/Sixth St., I was exactly where I thought I needed to be in terms of pace. I saw the Eagles Drumline, which made sense because my beloved Birds were in NY for their game that night against the Giants, and the Sixers dance team, which didn't make any sense at all since the Sixers don't exist in any meaningful sense right now, although I welcomed the distraction. (We did get Sixers ticket vouchers in our packet and the new owner of the Sixers ran the marathon.)

On the next phase of the course, the long flat westbound stretch down Chestnut Street, I continued to hold back. This is the part of the course where I usually make up time because it's flat and straight with great crowd support. I hit the six-mile mark at midway point of Chestnut at just over an hour. Perfection.

After Chestnut Street, things got a bit more difficult: The long hill on 34th Street, the steep up and down hills of the zoo and Fairmount Park. At least I didn't see people peeing on the zoo this year. Miles 7-11 is the hilliest part of the course. I wonder if I should have eased up more here, though it likely wouldn't have made much difference on this day.

The farthest west point on the half marathon course is just around mile 11. From there, it's a mostly downhill or flat two-mile charge back to Eakins Oval. At this point last year, I pushed myself toward a great half marathon finish. This year, I held back, knowing there were many miles left to run. I felt tired, and as I saw the signs throughout mile 12 directing half marathon finishers to the right and marathoners to the left and a turn back to the west, the wiser part of me contemplated packing it in at 13.1. Instead, I kept to the left and descended into Hell.

(You have chosen...unwisely.)

In hindsight, I believe that my familiarity with the half marathon course was part of my undoing. Though I paced myself well, I think my mindset was to think "I'm almost done" as I progressed through the first half of the course. It was very disheartening to reach the place that had always been the finish for me, where I've had two of the happiest moments of my running career, and turn back out for another 13.1 that I was beginning to suspect that I didn't have in the tank.



The Nightmare
I finished the first half of the marathon in 2:15:02, which was almost exactly where I wanted to be. But I felt weak. Not only was I under-trained (however, I had reason to believe I wasn't that under-trained), it was a warm day compared to the last two Philadelphia Marathon and Half Marathon race days, and I think for me it was just "one of those days", because things started to go wrong soon after I made the turn out toward Manyunk. Still, at some point in the race, and I don't remember exactly where but it was definitely rather early, I decided that the moment I crossed the finish would be amazing, and I wasn't going let anything -- be it fatigue, pain, the (relative) heat, or dissatisfaction with myself -- take that moment away from me.

I think the pain began to creep into my quads at around mile 15, and I had to start taking walk breaks at mile 18 instead of the 21 that I made it to at Shamrock. Pain soon became agony. I got to Manyunk, and it seemed like the turnaround point would never come. I gratefully accepted a cup of beer at the very welcome unsanctioned beer table at mile 19 and some bacon that was being handed out outside a restaurant.

I tried to run as much as I could, knowing that the more I ran, the more quickly I could end this ordeal. I could still have my moment, even if the race sucked. Even if I sucked. (I don't mean to be overly negative here on the blog, but my thought process at this point in the race was very pessimistic. I was so mad at myself.) I tried to split the race into 10-minute segments with three minutes of walking and seven minutes of running, but seldom could I maintain that. I had visions of a 6-hour finish, or no finish at all.

I rallied a bit over the last three miles, and when the 5:00 pace group passed me, I tried in vain to keep up. Still, it seemed that things maybe were not quite as bad as they seemed, and the last three miles of the race really did pass more quickly than I thought they would. It was a disaster, but not as big as a disaster as it seemed at mile 18. Since the second half of the marathon is an out and back, I'd been able to see what was waiting for me, and my impression was that I had a pretty hefty uphill ahead at mile 24 or 25, but it never seemed to come.

I hit Boathouse Row (mile 25) and was overcome with joy -- I knew that my trial would soon be over. I would guess I ran the first half the last mile, trying to decide if I should take one last walk break. I did so as I went by the art museum, not wanting to get "caught" walking by the cameras at the finish line. As I rounded the art museum, the course went downhill and I charged. I knew the finish line was ahead, but with a curve in the road I couldn't tell how far. Luckily, it was right around the bend, and I was almost in tears with relief as I crossed. There will be better days than this, I hope, but my moment was not taken from me. I'm not happy with how I did, but I endured for the medal and so it means something to me.

(After breakfast, we finally felt well-enough to pose.)

I also admit that I really wanted to finish because I didn't want to not be able to wear all the Philly Marathon crap I'd bought the day before. Whatever it takes, right?

Lessons Learned
After Shamrock, I had a whole litany of things I wanted to do differently. Some of them I did: more long runs, better pacing through the first half of the race, and a better job eating throughout the whole marathon. Some of them I did not do as well on, namely speedwork and strength training. Those are a must. I really don't care how fast I am, but I want to do everything I can to make sure no marathon is this un-enjoyable again. My quads need to get stronger. I felt like my cardiovascular endurance was sufficient yesterday despite my need for multiple inhalers to help fight off cold symptoms earlier in the week; it was my legs that were not strong enough.

There's really only lesson from this one. It's hard to accept that I didn't work hard enough, but it's the truth. I could blame the warmer-than-usual weather, since I get stronger when the temperature gets lower, say that Philly was hillier than I expected (I don't think it's considered a bad one, but compared to Shamrock, OMG.) and accept that "some days you've got it; some days you don't" is probably a part of most runners' experiences, but the lesson I want to take from this day, this miserable but still somewhat triumphant day is "Just shut up and work harder."

Virginia Beach, I am coming for you. I will not waste another chance. I'm going to take a few recovery days and then I'm going to make sure I go down to the Shamrock Marathon a better runner and stronger person than I am now.

Congratulations!
Congratulations are in order to Chris, who finished her second half-marathon and scored a new PR! Though there aren't Disney characters to distract runners, I think Philly is a tougher course. Also congratulations to Derek, who, after laying waste to our age group at HACC Dash, ran a PR 1:36 in the half, and Nick, who ran the half after recovering from the Baltimore Marathon, and had cheesesteak eggrolls before the race and still finished. Trust me, no small feat!

Feasting!
After running 26.2 miles, ok, ok, after running most of 26.2 miles, the celebration began. Brunch was at Little Pete's, my favorite diner-type restaurant.

(Our server said they'd had a steady stream of race customers. I figure the Kenyans went through at around 9:15)

I declared my intention to drink 26.2 beers to numb my aching quads. Though I only made it through 4 (post-brunch, 2 at dinner, and 1 during the Eagles game), I will say that I enjoyed them all!

Dinner was spectacular. Cheesesteak eggrolls from the Continental Mid-town.

I slept through 90% of the Eagles game, but a win's a win. We wrapped our weekend in Philly up with an amazing breakfast at Molly Malloy's at Reading Terminal Market.


Now, the race is over. The feasting is done. I have four months to Shamrock and it's time get serious. The climb up the wall begins now.