Just a quick update to say the 11 miles (well, actually 10.8) went well. I took it very slow, but at least got it done and didn't feel too horrible afterwards despite the full fledged head cold. The best part about running with a head cold is running works like an anti-histamine so you can actually breathe when you run!
I should also add a caveat about CrossFit, I only do the workouts twice a week. I can't do CrossFit on the same days as a long or pace run and I definitely need rest days! Twice a weeks seems to give me enough time to get over being sore, but still build strength.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Back on Track for Marathon #4
I had real delusions that I would keep up with marathon training while my daughter, that I hadn’t seen in 18 months and who had never been to Korea, was visiting. It might have happened had I not been hit with another wicked case of bronchitis the day after she arrived. That coupled with multiple long days on my feet touring tourist attractions and theme parks, left me facing week 4 of training with a massive mileage deficit.
Better the first few weeks than the peak or last! So, I’m ready to be back on track and am doing my best to ignore the new head cold that hit today (geeze, really?!?) I made it to CrossFit, which included 1.5 miles of laps spread through the work out, so I only need 1.5 more after the work out to get my easy 3 finished. Despite the many rounds of push-ups, wall balls (where you squat and then jump up and toss a medicine ball at a 9 ft. up the wall), the running laps were my chance to catch my breath and relax before the next round (it took almost 30 minutes for 5 rounds). Of course, when my coach found out I was taking the running laps easy, he said I wasn’t pushing hard enough. Ummm, I wanted to barf through the first of each set of 3 laps, I guess it isn’t hard enough until you actually barf your morning cuppa.
Anyway, after 3 months of CrossFit I now feel I can say it is great and good for my RA riddled body. I have looked for years for something that would do as much for my upper body as running has done for my lower and have finally found it. Lifting weights on my own just aggravated my joints, but the faster pace coupled with constantly changing up what you are doing seems to be working. I admit, I am nowhere near lifting the kind of weights that are prescribed for accomplished CrossFitters, and I need modifications for many things like push-ups because my RA damaged wrists don’t bend much anymore, but with the proper attention to form and modifications AND not letting myself get carried away, I am gaining strength at a nice rate and my joints are handling the increased work load. I’m actually really excited about my half marathon test race in March 18th to see what kind of improvements CrossFit has made to my running pace. Following workouts that make my shoulders sore, I can sure tell how much we depend on them to run!
I’m not too worried about my 11 mile long run this weekend, at least not about the distance; the weather may be another story….
Better the first few weeks than the peak or last! So, I’m ready to be back on track and am doing my best to ignore the new head cold that hit today (geeze, really?!?) I made it to CrossFit, which included 1.5 miles of laps spread through the work out, so I only need 1.5 more after the work out to get my easy 3 finished. Despite the many rounds of push-ups, wall balls (where you squat and then jump up and toss a medicine ball at a 9 ft. up the wall), the running laps were my chance to catch my breath and relax before the next round (it took almost 30 minutes for 5 rounds). Of course, when my coach found out I was taking the running laps easy, he said I wasn’t pushing hard enough. Ummm, I wanted to barf through the first of each set of 3 laps, I guess it isn’t hard enough until you actually barf your morning cuppa.
Anyway, after 3 months of CrossFit I now feel I can say it is great and good for my RA riddled body. I have looked for years for something that would do as much for my upper body as running has done for my lower and have finally found it. Lifting weights on my own just aggravated my joints, but the faster pace coupled with constantly changing up what you are doing seems to be working. I admit, I am nowhere near lifting the kind of weights that are prescribed for accomplished CrossFitters, and I need modifications for many things like push-ups because my RA damaged wrists don’t bend much anymore, but with the proper attention to form and modifications AND not letting myself get carried away, I am gaining strength at a nice rate and my joints are handling the increased work load. I’m actually really excited about my half marathon test race in March 18th to see what kind of improvements CrossFit has made to my running pace. Following workouts that make my shoulders sore, I can sure tell how much we depend on them to run!
I’m not too worried about my 11 mile long run this weekend, at least not about the distance; the weather may be another story….
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Onward and Upward: New Running Year
I have written my opening blog for the year about 4 times and just filed it because I can’t seem to decide what I want to say. I was hoping by now to have run my birthday Cooper’s Test so I could report on that, but I’m sick with a wicked head cold so until I can breathe, I’ll put off a fitness test. In the meantime, I’m reflecting on my past running and looking forward to my future goals.
I wish I could go back and talk to Beginning Runner Me. I would tell her first off to keep better records! I wish I knew what I was running at the start. I have vague memories of 2 mile run/walks, but have no idea what my time was, or heart rate, or feelings. I’ve logged so many miles now that runs I was sure I would never forget have faded into blurred memories. I started running in 2007, missed a lot of 2008 to surgery, and finally started keeping records in 2009. I know I didn’t run a lot those first couple of years, but being able to look back and see how we have grown is one of the greatest motivators so I wish I still had a window to those first months.
With the records I have, I can see that in the last 3 years I have logged over 2,250 miles, about half of which have been barefoot. The miles show in my races, where times have gotten shorter, the efforts lighter, and the recoveries much easier! There is no doubt in my mind that I have increased in health, strength, and endurance, but I also know that I have great room for improvement.
I have lots of great running plans for my future! Of course, I have the Great Wall of China Marathon in May, and will probably run a half marathon in March as part of my training plan. For the fall I want to work on my shorter distances and strength training. I need to keep an eye out for chip timed 5Ks (which are in short supply in Korea) and continue with my newest tangent, which is CrossFit. I have goals there too! I want to be able to handle the weights prescribed for women without having to scale down and I’d love to do even one hand-stand push up and a good pull up. I’ll even put out there that I want to lose 10-12 lbs before the GWC marathon just so I won’t have so much weight to haul up all those stairs, but weight lifting and marathon training do not lend themselves to significant weight loss so that isn’t a primary goal for now.
So here I am, poised at the start of my 6th year running (WOW, that just hit me!) looking forward to another great year! Marathon training Starts Monday, Jan 16th
I wish I could go back and talk to Beginning Runner Me. I would tell her first off to keep better records! I wish I knew what I was running at the start. I have vague memories of 2 mile run/walks, but have no idea what my time was, or heart rate, or feelings. I’ve logged so many miles now that runs I was sure I would never forget have faded into blurred memories. I started running in 2007, missed a lot of 2008 to surgery, and finally started keeping records in 2009. I know I didn’t run a lot those first couple of years, but being able to look back and see how we have grown is one of the greatest motivators so I wish I still had a window to those first months.
With the records I have, I can see that in the last 3 years I have logged over 2,250 miles, about half of which have been barefoot. The miles show in my races, where times have gotten shorter, the efforts lighter, and the recoveries much easier! There is no doubt in my mind that I have increased in health, strength, and endurance, but I also know that I have great room for improvement.
I have lots of great running plans for my future! Of course, I have the Great Wall of China Marathon in May, and will probably run a half marathon in March as part of my training plan. For the fall I want to work on my shorter distances and strength training. I need to keep an eye out for chip timed 5Ks (which are in short supply in Korea) and continue with my newest tangent, which is CrossFit. I have goals there too! I want to be able to handle the weights prescribed for women without having to scale down and I’d love to do even one hand-stand push up and a good pull up. I’ll even put out there that I want to lose 10-12 lbs before the GWC marathon just so I won’t have so much weight to haul up all those stairs, but weight lifting and marathon training do not lend themselves to significant weight loss so that isn’t a primary goal for now.
So here I am, poised at the start of my 6th year running (WOW, that just hit me!) looking forward to another great year! Marathon training Starts Monday, Jan 16th
 |
| Onward and Upward! |
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Chuncheon Marathon and a New Marathon Maniac
WOW, where do I begin! We spent the night in the city of Chuncheon so I wouldn’t have any problems getting to the race start in the morning and my parents and daughter could sleep in. This meant a chance to drive the marathon route before race day. I’m so glad we did because I got a much better look at the scenery when I wasn’t focused on running.
This view would be solid runners for miles less than 24 hours later! With the race being run around a long lake, created by damning the river, we had many points where we could see runners for many miles. There was no point in which the crowd thinned out! It was solid runners as far as I could see ahead and behind!
When I asked the desk clerk to call me a cab, he indicated that I should just walk. Umm, no thanks, I’d rather not take a 30 minute walk before a 5 hour run, let alone get lost on the way! The cab driver got me within a block of the start area and refused to enter the fray of marathon traffic so I still had about a 10 minute walk to find the my club tent (guess I should have walked afterall). Turned out, the club never found the tent and settled near the changing rooms. The only poor soul at the tent site was a guy that had traveled up on his own like me. Unlike me, he had registered for the race through the club and they had his bib and chip! (I believe he did finally track down his bib.)
With a field of 20,000 runners, Chuncheon is huge! There were 9 corals that started in 3 minute increments, beginning about 10 minutes after the elites started. The race has a 6 hour cut off, which is generous by Korean standards, but pretty much eliminates the mostly-walking crowd that usually brings up the rear in US marathons. There were also pace groups in each corral that overlapped the pace groups of other corrals. In other words, when I was running with the 4:00 pace group I was really excited until I realized they were from 3 corrals behind me, which meant I started at least 9 minutes before them and we were only a few miles into the race.
The course was hilly, but the hills were not steep. Unfortunately, steep or not, it seemed like every mile of the course was either uphill or downhill. I was doing great for the first half, my splits were:
5K 33:04,
10K (29:41) 1:02:45,
15K (29:06) 1:31:51,
20K (32:02) 2:03:53
Half 2:13:31
Despite taking a bathroom stop and eating a traditional Korean race treat, the ubiquitous Moon Pie, I was still doing well by 25K, (34:01) 2:37:54, this is about when my calves decided they had had enough of the hills. Following a stop at the aid station for something like Ben-Gay to be rubbed all over my legs, one look at my calves told me I was toast. They were swollen up and hard as rocks. From 25K-30K I managed just under 39 minutes (30K 3:16:58), and 30K-35K was about a minute longer, but by then walking wasn’t reliving my cramping calves and my 35K-40K split was a painful 44:29 (40K 4:40:34). By this time I was mentally shot. I thought there was no way I was going to PR, but I could crawl and still finish the marathon so I resisted the urge to sit on the curb and cry. I tipped the bill of my cap down and stared and the asphalt in front of me while I ground out the last 2 kilometers in just a touch over 17 minutes.
Even though I was hurting and discouraged, I did manage to perk up and run across the finish line, stopping to hug my mom and daughter before running over the timing mats.
I missed a PR again, by 3 minutes and 31 seconds, but I met my goals for my double header. Even though the wheels fell off I managed my nutrition and didn’t run out of glycogen, I finished a full marathon in bare feet (the first of the two marathons), and qualified for Marathon Maniacs (#4381). So I’m happy with my results.
After the race, we walked over to where the Seoul Flyers were supposed to be (again, never found them) and after hunting around for a while I finally gave up and decided to put my feet up for a few minutes against a statue. A nearby running club handed me a bottle of Makoli (Korean rice beer, very yummy) and I put my feet on the small pedestal. I was afraid to actually put my feet on the statue since I didn’t know who it was and didn’t want to offend anyone. Then something very Korean happened. They are wonderfully helpful people, but can be a bit abrupt and personal. A total stranger walked up and told me I needed my feet higher. I guess I didn’t react fast enough because he picked my feet up and moved them up so my legs were straight. Then he told me to take my shoes and socks off. I guess I didn’t react fast enough to that either because he then proceeded to remove my shoes and socks! Frankly, I was too worn out to care so I just let him do it. My parents assumed he was someone I knew, “Nope, never seen him before in my life!” With my feet properly airing, he moved on and I rested for about 10 minutes before putting my shoes and socks back on (a complicated and painful process I would rather have avoided by keeping them on in the first place,) and we headed back to the hotel to pack up the last of our things and for me to get a shower so my family could stand to be in the car with me.
AFTERMATH: Following a shower, I donned my knee high Injinji compression socks and draped my legs across my daughter’s lap for the drive home. Once I got home, I switched to thigh high compression socks to sleep (yea I know, really sexy, LOL). I don’t know if it was training or the compression stockings that get the credit, but I was not in pain the following morning. My legs were no more sore than the day after an aggressive workout with weights. I could walk down stairs fine, get up from chairs, and put my socks on all by myself! I can’t tell you how shocked I was not to have sore calves. After my first marathon I could hardly walk down stairs for days. My secondary goals were to PR, and to not be in pain for days. I may have missed the PR, but being able to go about my business the day after without hanging on the rails to go down stairs or taking 10 minutes to get up from a chair is a pretty big success in my book, and important for someone with RA.
COMPARISON: In both races I felt like I managed my nutrition and hydration well and I had a couple of gels still in reserve at the end. I believe it was running slow that just about ruined me in Seoul. It changed my gait and stressed my hip flexors. For Chuncheon I walked more, but when I ran I ran faster, but at a more comfortable pace. Unfortunately, I was flat out unprepared for the hills and paid dearly for my lack of hill training. Bowing to the piriformis problems I have been having, hill work seemed risky and my higher priority was to run barefoot. I stuck to a flat training route and didn’t develop the muscles I needed to deal with hills. (Note to self, if the race elevation map looks like a sine wave, TRAIN ON HILLS!!)
RA Update: The RA is fine, no flare from the stress of the race or the 5 hour drive. No stiff hands or hurting joints or any residual problems. Although I hurt plenty during and the rest of the day after the race, it was all very short lived.
For the next couple of weeks I’ll take it easy and enjoy my family visiting, then hit the gym with a vengeance! I plan to do a lot of stair and weight work over the next couple of months in preparation for my next round of marathon training. I still have the Great Wall of China on the docket and am crossing my fingers that nothing gets in the way. My piriformis is responding very well to bi-monthly deep tissue massages so I hold hope that it will be healed in time to use steep trails to prepare for China. I have to admit, by mile 20 of Chuncheon, the half marathon in China was sounding pretty good, but now that the post marathon amnesia is setting in, I’m ready to register for my next adventure in 26.2 miles.
 |
| When we ran through the tunnel, all the runners yelled. When we got to the other side, we could hear all the yelling from the tunnel! |
I got up early and puttered around while breakfast settled and my coffee sunk in. I had planned to have a bigger breakfast, but I was still somewhat full from my big bowl of Bibimbap the night before, a lovely Korean dish with rice, veggies, an egg, and hot sauce all baked in an earthenware bowl and then stirred up, YUM!
With a field of 20,000 runners, Chuncheon is huge! There were 9 corals that started in 3 minute increments, beginning about 10 minutes after the elites started. The race has a 6 hour cut off, which is generous by Korean standards, but pretty much eliminates the mostly-walking crowd that usually brings up the rear in US marathons. There were also pace groups in each corral that overlapped the pace groups of other corrals. In other words, when I was running with the 4:00 pace group I was really excited until I realized they were from 3 corrals behind me, which meant I started at least 9 minutes before them and we were only a few miles into the race.
The course was hilly, but the hills were not steep. Unfortunately, steep or not, it seemed like every mile of the course was either uphill or downhill. I was doing great for the first half, my splits were:
5K 33:04,
10K (29:41) 1:02:45,
15K (29:06) 1:31:51,
20K (32:02) 2:03:53
Half 2:13:31
Despite taking a bathroom stop and eating a traditional Korean race treat, the ubiquitous Moon Pie, I was still doing well by 25K, (34:01) 2:37:54, this is about when my calves decided they had had enough of the hills. Following a stop at the aid station for something like Ben-Gay to be rubbed all over my legs, one look at my calves told me I was toast. They were swollen up and hard as rocks. From 25K-30K I managed just under 39 minutes (30K 3:16:58), and 30K-35K was about a minute longer, but by then walking wasn’t reliving my cramping calves and my 35K-40K split was a painful 44:29 (40K 4:40:34). By this time I was mentally shot. I thought there was no way I was going to PR, but I could crawl and still finish the marathon so I resisted the urge to sit on the curb and cry. I tipped the bill of my cap down and stared and the asphalt in front of me while I ground out the last 2 kilometers in just a touch over 17 minutes.
 |
| joined by my daughter after crossing the finish line |
Even though I was hurting and discouraged, I did manage to perk up and run across the finish line, stopping to hug my mom and daughter before running over the timing mats.
I missed a PR again, by 3 minutes and 31 seconds, but I met my goals for my double header. Even though the wheels fell off I managed my nutrition and didn’t run out of glycogen, I finished a full marathon in bare feet (the first of the two marathons), and qualified for Marathon Maniacs (#4381). So I’m happy with my results.
After the race, we walked over to where the Seoul Flyers were supposed to be (again, never found them) and after hunting around for a while I finally gave up and decided to put my feet up for a few minutes against a statue. A nearby running club handed me a bottle of Makoli (Korean rice beer, very yummy) and I put my feet on the small pedestal. I was afraid to actually put my feet on the statue since I didn’t know who it was and didn’t want to offend anyone. Then something very Korean happened. They are wonderfully helpful people, but can be a bit abrupt and personal. A total stranger walked up and told me I needed my feet higher. I guess I didn’t react fast enough because he picked my feet up and moved them up so my legs were straight. Then he told me to take my shoes and socks off. I guess I didn’t react fast enough to that either because he then proceeded to remove my shoes and socks! Frankly, I was too worn out to care so I just let him do it. My parents assumed he was someone I knew, “Nope, never seen him before in my life!” With my feet properly airing, he moved on and I rested for about 10 minutes before putting my shoes and socks back on (a complicated and painful process I would rather have avoided by keeping them on in the first place,) and we headed back to the hotel to pack up the last of our things and for me to get a shower so my family could stand to be in the car with me.
AFTERMATH: Following a shower, I donned my knee high Injinji compression socks and draped my legs across my daughter’s lap for the drive home. Once I got home, I switched to thigh high compression socks to sleep (yea I know, really sexy, LOL). I don’t know if it was training or the compression stockings that get the credit, but I was not in pain the following morning. My legs were no more sore than the day after an aggressive workout with weights. I could walk down stairs fine, get up from chairs, and put my socks on all by myself! I can’t tell you how shocked I was not to have sore calves. After my first marathon I could hardly walk down stairs for days. My secondary goals were to PR, and to not be in pain for days. I may have missed the PR, but being able to go about my business the day after without hanging on the rails to go down stairs or taking 10 minutes to get up from a chair is a pretty big success in my book, and important for someone with RA.
COMPARISON: In both races I felt like I managed my nutrition and hydration well and I had a couple of gels still in reserve at the end. I believe it was running slow that just about ruined me in Seoul. It changed my gait and stressed my hip flexors. For Chuncheon I walked more, but when I ran I ran faster, but at a more comfortable pace. Unfortunately, I was flat out unprepared for the hills and paid dearly for my lack of hill training. Bowing to the piriformis problems I have been having, hill work seemed risky and my higher priority was to run barefoot. I stuck to a flat training route and didn’t develop the muscles I needed to deal with hills. (Note to self, if the race elevation map looks like a sine wave, TRAIN ON HILLS!!)
RA Update: The RA is fine, no flare from the stress of the race or the 5 hour drive. No stiff hands or hurting joints or any residual problems. Although I hurt plenty during and the rest of the day after the race, it was all very short lived.
For the next couple of weeks I’ll take it easy and enjoy my family visiting, then hit the gym with a vengeance! I plan to do a lot of stair and weight work over the next couple of months in preparation for my next round of marathon training. I still have the Great Wall of China on the docket and am crossing my fingers that nothing gets in the way. My piriformis is responding very well to bi-monthly deep tissue massages so I hold hope that it will be healed in time to use steep trails to prepare for China. I have to admit, by mile 20 of Chuncheon, the half marathon in China was sounding pretty good, but now that the post marathon amnesia is setting in, I’m ready to register for my next adventure in 26.2 miles.
 |
| Korean Royal Palanquin |
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Hi-Seoul Marathon 2011
The weather was looking wonderful for my second ever marathon, first ever fully barefoot marathon, YAY! Low’s in the 50’s at the start and a predicted high in the low 70’s. I was up at 4am and out the door to catch the subway into Seoul by 5am. It was a long trip, first drive to base, then catch a cab to the train, then an hour and a half on the train to Seoul City Hall, thankfully there were no train changes!
Arriving at the start, I decided it was warm enough that I didn’t need pants or socks/flip-flops to keep me warm until the gun went off so I stuffed them in my bag and headed to the bag check. I’ve read many times that Koreans can be very aggressive, but my interactions with them have always been delightfully pleasant with people standing in orderly lines to wait their turn, etc. I can’t say the same for bag check, it was like a piranha feeding frenzy! We are given plastic draw string bags and sent to stand in line for stickers so your bag has a number and you have a matching number to stick on your bib. All was fine until we got close to the start and they had run out of stickers. People were getting antsy and when some poor guy was sent out with a handful of stickers he was mobbed like something from an Argentinian Soccer game! In my attempt to get my hands on a sticker I was stepped all over (not the best time to be barefoot), shoved into a planter hard enough to leave bruises on my shins and almost had the stickers ripped out of my hands by other runners. I finally managed to get the stickers in the right places and realized I was never going to get near the truck to place my bag because of the angry mob trying to get stickers. About that time a bag went sailing over my head and into the truck so I thought, what the heck, and hurled mine over about 20 people with my fingers crossed that I would see it again at the end of the race.
It was actually a very small marathon by Korean standards. There couldn’t have been more than a few hundred people for the full and probably less than 1,000 for the full, half, 10K and 5K combined. While waiting for the start I chatted with a few runners, including an Ironman wearing a shirt from the Gobi Desert Marathon, WOW!!! The news station covering the races came up to take shots of my feet. They panned from my face, to my bib, to my bare feet, asked me to move them up and down like I was running, and then wanted to see the bottoms, LOL.
Finally they fired off the fireworks to signal the start and we all shuffled under the arch. Since it was a small marathon, staying at the back and not passing people didn’t give me as slow of a start as I had planned so I still ended up taking off too fast. There were no spectators or trash cans along the course so when I was finally ready to ditch my jacket, I handed it off to a very confused police man.
My plan for gels was one every 30 minutes or so including one just before the start, for a total of 10 over the course of the marathon, but I only managed to gag down 8. It worked though, I never hit the wall as far as exhaustion or lack of glycogen. Mentally though I was feeling pretty over the whole thing by mile 20 and my hip flexors were bothering me from 15 on. I don’t know what I did wrong, but by the time I hit 20 I was in way worse shape than I was when I ran 19 or 20 for long runs and I was running slower. I suspect running slow and walking actually added to the impact and hurt me more than it helped.
Over the 5 hours I was on the course, I talked to many people, American and Korean, and other than the debacle at the bag check I had a great time. Once the miles were into the teens I put in an ear bud and lost myself in my audio book and eventually switched over to music. At 20 miles I was feeling discouraged because I felt more tired and sore than I should have at that point. At 23 miles I was beginning to perk back up despite being about .4 over the markers for distance. That meant a 26.6 mile marathon and I was barely hanging onto my pace. By 25 I was digging deep and we were running down a freeway that was in total gridlock. Seriously, they ran us up an onramp and onto a freeway for the last mile!!! It was even packed with rush hour traffic so we were choking on exhaust fumes.
As we exited the freeway and approached the entrance to the park where the race was to finish I began to hear cheers and whistles that meant one thing, the Hash House Harriers were waiting for me with beer!!! I’m not really a big beer drinker, but it is the best thing in the world at the end of a very long run when the thought of something sweet makes you gag and your mouth is stuck shut from breathing hard for 5 hours. They were about 100 yards before the finish line and it was close to the 5 hour cut off so I hugged a few people, downed my Dixie cup of beer and did my best to sprint for the finish line.
My official chip time was 4:58:09, which wasn’t what I was hoping for, BUT I successfully finished before the course closed, ran the entire thing in bare feet, and as of today (Tuesday here in Korea) I am only the tiniest bit sore. So other than not setting a PR, I met the rest of my goals and will be ready to do it all again on Oct. 23rd!
Epilogue: Following a marathon, the brain of a runner is not particularly sharp and decision making skills are not at their peak. Since my HHH friends were so wonderful to meet me at the finish, I decided to tag along with them to watch the start of the Hash event for the afternoon. Before I knew exactly what was going on, I was entered in a running event called The Beer Mile. Still wearing my race bib and medal, I proceeded to run one last mile on a ¼ mile track that included chugging a beer at the start of each lap. I finished the mile in 4th place (thanks to a friend that let me pass her,) and then threw up all the beer (THANK GOODNESS!) Taking tired to a whole new level, I finally managed to convince a few people that it was time to go so I could follow them back to Osan (I had no idea where I was in Seoul for the hash event.)
Arriving at the start, I decided it was warm enough that I didn’t need pants or socks/flip-flops to keep me warm until the gun went off so I stuffed them in my bag and headed to the bag check. I’ve read many times that Koreans can be very aggressive, but my interactions with them have always been delightfully pleasant with people standing in orderly lines to wait their turn, etc. I can’t say the same for bag check, it was like a piranha feeding frenzy! We are given plastic draw string bags and sent to stand in line for stickers so your bag has a number and you have a matching number to stick on your bib. All was fine until we got close to the start and they had run out of stickers. People were getting antsy and when some poor guy was sent out with a handful of stickers he was mobbed like something from an Argentinian Soccer game! In my attempt to get my hands on a sticker I was stepped all over (not the best time to be barefoot), shoved into a planter hard enough to leave bruises on my shins and almost had the stickers ripped out of my hands by other runners. I finally managed to get the stickers in the right places and realized I was never going to get near the truck to place my bag because of the angry mob trying to get stickers. About that time a bag went sailing over my head and into the truck so I thought, what the heck, and hurled mine over about 20 people with my fingers crossed that I would see it again at the end of the race.
It was actually a very small marathon by Korean standards. There couldn’t have been more than a few hundred people for the full and probably less than 1,000 for the full, half, 10K and 5K combined. While waiting for the start I chatted with a few runners, including an Ironman wearing a shirt from the Gobi Desert Marathon, WOW!!! The news station covering the races came up to take shots of my feet. They panned from my face, to my bib, to my bare feet, asked me to move them up and down like I was running, and then wanted to see the bottoms, LOL.
Finally they fired off the fireworks to signal the start and we all shuffled under the arch. Since it was a small marathon, staying at the back and not passing people didn’t give me as slow of a start as I had planned so I still ended up taking off too fast. There were no spectators or trash cans along the course so when I was finally ready to ditch my jacket, I handed it off to a very confused police man.
My plan for gels was one every 30 minutes or so including one just before the start, for a total of 10 over the course of the marathon, but I only managed to gag down 8. It worked though, I never hit the wall as far as exhaustion or lack of glycogen. Mentally though I was feeling pretty over the whole thing by mile 20 and my hip flexors were bothering me from 15 on. I don’t know what I did wrong, but by the time I hit 20 I was in way worse shape than I was when I ran 19 or 20 for long runs and I was running slower. I suspect running slow and walking actually added to the impact and hurt me more than it helped.
Over the 5 hours I was on the course, I talked to many people, American and Korean, and other than the debacle at the bag check I had a great time. Once the miles were into the teens I put in an ear bud and lost myself in my audio book and eventually switched over to music. At 20 miles I was feeling discouraged because I felt more tired and sore than I should have at that point. At 23 miles I was beginning to perk back up despite being about .4 over the markers for distance. That meant a 26.6 mile marathon and I was barely hanging onto my pace. By 25 I was digging deep and we were running down a freeway that was in total gridlock. Seriously, they ran us up an onramp and onto a freeway for the last mile!!! It was even packed with rush hour traffic so we were choking on exhaust fumes.
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| My Cheering crew, the Osan Bulgogi Hash House Harriers! |
As we exited the freeway and approached the entrance to the park where the race was to finish I began to hear cheers and whistles that meant one thing, the Hash House Harriers were waiting for me with beer!!! I’m not really a big beer drinker, but it is the best thing in the world at the end of a very long run when the thought of something sweet makes you gag and your mouth is stuck shut from breathing hard for 5 hours. They were about 100 yards before the finish line and it was close to the 5 hour cut off so I hugged a few people, downed my Dixie cup of beer and did my best to sprint for the finish line.
My official chip time was 4:58:09, which wasn’t what I was hoping for, BUT I successfully finished before the course closed, ran the entire thing in bare feet, and as of today (Tuesday here in Korea) I am only the tiniest bit sore. So other than not setting a PR, I met the rest of my goals and will be ready to do it all again on Oct. 23rd!
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| Not sure why they were rearranging the mats at that moment |
Epilogue: Following a marathon, the brain of a runner is not particularly sharp and decision making skills are not at their peak. Since my HHH friends were so wonderful to meet me at the finish, I decided to tag along with them to watch the start of the Hash event for the afternoon. Before I knew exactly what was going on, I was entered in a running event called The Beer Mile. Still wearing my race bib and medal, I proceeded to run one last mile on a ¼ mile track that included chugging a beer at the start of each lap. I finished the mile in 4th place (thanks to a friend that let me pass her,) and then threw up all the beer (THANK GOODNESS!) Taking tired to a whole new level, I finally managed to convince a few people that it was time to go so I could follow them back to Osan (I had no idea where I was in Seoul for the hash event.)
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Marathon training week 15
Late blogging again! What can I say, marathon training is very time consuming and some things just get put on the back burner for a while.
So to catch everyone up, I just finished my miles for week 15. Since I modified my Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan, this means I ran 12 miles today and will have my “training” marathon next weekend, EEEPP!
Everything is going great so far. There is something almost magical about the 20 mile run and last Friday was no exception. Once you get to that peak mileage run you have reached the top of the mountain. You have put on all the miles. You are ready for the big day! Granted, there are still quite a few miles left, and of course the big 26.2 ahead of you, but really, that is the frosting. Once you have hit your longest training run you have summited. I’ve had friends that ended up sick or injured at this point, didn’t run again until race day, and still managed a PR. I don’t recommend this route, but my point is that once you have mastered your long runs, you are there.
Tossing in an extra marathon does complicate this somewhat. I am significantly shortening my taper, but although I am adding to my training, I am also not planning to run either marathon full out. Clare asked me what my goal pace was because it looks like I’m shooting for a 4 hour marathon. Yes, that is how my plan is set up, but that isn’t how I plan to run. The Chuncheon marathon is hilly, I’m not sure how hilly so I don’t know how much it will slow me down, and I don’t know how the first marathon will impact the second. So at the moment, although my training pace runs would give me a sub-4 marathon, I am actually shooting for more like a 4:30, but if it takes longer, that is okay too.
So what really are my goals? 1) To finish a barefoot marathon. I will likely wear shoes for the second one since it will be colder and I want to spend more time looking at the view than worrying about every little piece of gravel on the road, but the race next weekend is my Barefoot attempt. 2) I want to qualify for Marathon Maniacs. Marathons are cheap and often here in Korea so I likely won’t have another chance to run 2 in 2 weeks without spending a bundle once we go back to the US. 3) to PR two more times. This shouldn’t be a problem since my goal pace of 11 minutes per mile for next week is a full minute per mile slower than I ran my 20 miler last week. This pace would give me a PR of several minutes and I know I can do better yet on the 23rd.
Could I push it and run a sub-4 hour marathon? Maybe, I would certainly like to think I could. I’ve trained for it and according to all the information I should be prepared, BUT it would hurt and I would hurt for days after, I would significantly increase my risk of injury, and it wouldn’t be as much fun. I can meet my first 3 goals without pushing myself to the point of pain, so why kill myself when I have the rest of my life to run a sub-4. I do hope to do that in the next few years, but until 2013, it wouldn’t do anything more than give me bragging rights. Once I open that 2013 calendar, then I only need a 3:55 to qualify for Boston, and THAT is worth the pain!
Next post should be a marathon race report!!!
So to catch everyone up, I just finished my miles for week 15. Since I modified my Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan, this means I ran 12 miles today and will have my “training” marathon next weekend, EEEPP!
Everything is going great so far. There is something almost magical about the 20 mile run and last Friday was no exception. Once you get to that peak mileage run you have reached the top of the mountain. You have put on all the miles. You are ready for the big day! Granted, there are still quite a few miles left, and of course the big 26.2 ahead of you, but really, that is the frosting. Once you have hit your longest training run you have summited. I’ve had friends that ended up sick or injured at this point, didn’t run again until race day, and still managed a PR. I don’t recommend this route, but my point is that once you have mastered your long runs, you are there.
Tossing in an extra marathon does complicate this somewhat. I am significantly shortening my taper, but although I am adding to my training, I am also not planning to run either marathon full out. Clare asked me what my goal pace was because it looks like I’m shooting for a 4 hour marathon. Yes, that is how my plan is set up, but that isn’t how I plan to run. The Chuncheon marathon is hilly, I’m not sure how hilly so I don’t know how much it will slow me down, and I don’t know how the first marathon will impact the second. So at the moment, although my training pace runs would give me a sub-4 marathon, I am actually shooting for more like a 4:30, but if it takes longer, that is okay too.
So what really are my goals? 1) To finish a barefoot marathon. I will likely wear shoes for the second one since it will be colder and I want to spend more time looking at the view than worrying about every little piece of gravel on the road, but the race next weekend is my Barefoot attempt. 2) I want to qualify for Marathon Maniacs. Marathons are cheap and often here in Korea so I likely won’t have another chance to run 2 in 2 weeks without spending a bundle once we go back to the US. 3) to PR two more times. This shouldn’t be a problem since my goal pace of 11 minutes per mile for next week is a full minute per mile slower than I ran my 20 miler last week. This pace would give me a PR of several minutes and I know I can do better yet on the 23rd.
Could I push it and run a sub-4 hour marathon? Maybe, I would certainly like to think I could. I’ve trained for it and according to all the information I should be prepared, BUT it would hurt and I would hurt for days after, I would significantly increase my risk of injury, and it wouldn’t be as much fun. I can meet my first 3 goals without pushing myself to the point of pain, so why kill myself when I have the rest of my life to run a sub-4. I do hope to do that in the next few years, but until 2013, it wouldn’t do anything more than give me bragging rights. Once I open that 2013 calendar, then I only need a 3:55 to qualify for Boston, and THAT is worth the pain!
Next post should be a marathon race report!!!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Marathon training week 13
As I tumble into week 13 of marathon training, I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I still have my longest runs ahead of me, but my hardest pace runs are behind me and they went really well. My second 8 mile pace run was so successful that I made up the time from the warm up mile and finished with 9 mpm average for all 9 miles. Lots of splits in the 8:30 to 8:40 range. Today was 5 miles at pace and I even managed a 4:05 half mile split in the last mile! This Friday will be my 19 mile run, but it doesn’t scare me now since I’ve run 18 and what is a mile or two more, right?
It was a long emotional weekend and my RA is flared up (too many chocolate chip cookies probably played a large part.) A good 12 hour sleep helped, but the joints in my feet are swollen making it feel like I’m walking on marbles again. I was really worried about how it would affect my pace run today, but once I got out there and got moving the pain subsided. I’m tired now and my feet hurt again, but I don’t mind. Tomorrow will be an easy 5 miles with the dog and then a rest day and by then things will feel much better. My calf has not given me any further problems and my piriformis has stayed no more than background noise. My doc wants to do an MRI on it just to be sure there isn’t a pinched nerve or something since the pain has been going on for so long, but I doubt he will find anything.
I admit I’m feeling a touch burnt out on running at the moment, but I know that is more because of other circumstances in my life than the miles I’m logging. Once I’m on the road, I always wonder why I was so resistant to getting out there in the first place. Once I am done with the run, I’m very glad I didn’t let the nagging voices in my head stop me. I’ve logged well over 300 miles since I started training and have almost 200 left to go; this is low mileage training as marathons go. I’m already thinking ahead to training for next year. What I need to do differently, what is working now. I've already learned a lot this training cycle and the biggest lessons are yet to come! I've read that to really know what you are doing in a marathon, you need to train and run 4 times. I believe it!
It was a long emotional weekend and my RA is flared up (too many chocolate chip cookies probably played a large part.) A good 12 hour sleep helped, but the joints in my feet are swollen making it feel like I’m walking on marbles again. I was really worried about how it would affect my pace run today, but once I got out there and got moving the pain subsided. I’m tired now and my feet hurt again, but I don’t mind. Tomorrow will be an easy 5 miles with the dog and then a rest day and by then things will feel much better. My calf has not given me any further problems and my piriformis has stayed no more than background noise. My doc wants to do an MRI on it just to be sure there isn’t a pinched nerve or something since the pain has been going on for so long, but I doubt he will find anything.
I admit I’m feeling a touch burnt out on running at the moment, but I know that is more because of other circumstances in my life than the miles I’m logging. Once I’m on the road, I always wonder why I was so resistant to getting out there in the first place. Once I am done with the run, I’m very glad I didn’t let the nagging voices in my head stop me. I’ve logged well over 300 miles since I started training and have almost 200 left to go; this is low mileage training as marathons go. I’m already thinking ahead to training for next year. What I need to do differently, what is working now. I've already learned a lot this training cycle and the biggest lessons are yet to come! I've read that to really know what you are doing in a marathon, you need to train and run 4 times. I believe it!
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