Sorry I havent been doing much updating lately. My wife and I took a week and a half vacation to California and I've been pretty busy this week. I think I'm really starting to see some results from my therapy at MSHC and I'm hopeful I'll be able to come back even stronger and faster than before. On Tuesday I went in for another treatment and the doctor was surprised at how my flexibility has been improving and I've actually been kind of surprised myself. Nobody is going to mistake me for a gymnast, but my hamstring flexibility is much better than it was a few weeks ago. I've also been very consistent at doing some strengthening exercises for my hips/glutes and I can tell that I have made a lot of progress compared to where I was 6 weeks ago when I first went in for treatment.
I got a few runs in on our vacation. We went to San Francisco, Yosemite, Monterrey and Napa Valley. One of the runs in Napa Valley literally went straight up a mountain. I knew their would be some uphill, but I was working hard and running almost 10:00 pace going up the hill. It was so steep I couldn't even run normally coming down because I would have wiped out. It was one of the toughest runs I'd done in a while. The weather was so great in Northern California and so miserable back here in Houston. I haven't particularly enjoyed going out run with the heat index in the upper 90's or the low 100's. I've felt pretty good on my runs and I feel like I'm running with better form with the exercises and work I've been doing. The real key will be when I get out on a long run or a harder workout and we'll see how my form holds up when I'm tired.
I was going to try to run with Sam this morning but he's taking a little time off to recover from an achilles injury so I decided to get an extra hour of sleep and just torture myself over lunch. I think the temperature was pushing 95 and the heat index was around 100 and there wasn't a lot of shade on the route I ran. I did 7.25 miles in 53 minutes and it was tough in the heat, especially the last couple of miles. Saturday I may run the Dad's day 5k with one of my friends after my 12 mile Kenyan Way run/warmup. I'm just hoping to run about 6:30 pace and see if I can hang with my buddy. Tomorrow morning I'll try for about 8 miles and then I have another appointment for treatment. That's about what's new with me.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
An update on training and therapy
It's been a while since I've posted, but I've gotten back into running and I think I'm making some progress with my hamstring injury. At Sean's recommendation, I went to the MultiSport Health Center for treatment for my hamstring and to take their FMS (functional movement systems) screen. The FMS screen is a series of 7 mobility/flexibility exercises they have you do and they grade you from 0 - 3 on each one depending on how well you do it. It helps them pinpoint areas of weaknesses or muscle imbalances which can lead to injuries. I scored 14 out of 21 points and they told me that people with 14 or below have a 50% increased risk for injury. The two biggest problem areas that they pinpointed for me were my very tight hamstrings and my hip/glute muscles weren't properly activating so they were weak and ended up forcing my hamstrings to do more work. For shorter runs and races my hamstrings could deal with it and I could get away with it, but for long training runs and marathons this is why they said I was always falling apart really bad at the end. Even in my two good marathons where I've run 2:47 - 2:48, I've really struggled at the end of the race and felt like I was just hanging on and trying to finish. The doctors have been doing active release techniques (ART) therapy on my hamstrings and hips and they gave me a list of exercises and stretches that I work on daily. I can feel a difference when I run and it seems like things are getting better. I haven't done any real long runs or speedwork, but it seems like my legs feel better than they usually do. I can also feel the muscles in my hips working more when I do my exercises before I do a run. I think this is probably a good thing.
I'm not training for anything in particular right now and I'm working on just enjoying my running while I continue to recuperate. I don't think I'm going to run any of the summer 5k's around Houston other than maybe the July 4th 5k. I was pretty burned out both mentally and physically training for Boston and I wouldn't have run it this year if my dad hadn't qualified for it. It was tough training for it because I didn't really enjoy the training, particularly with a bum hamstring, and I felt guilty if I missed workouts. Now that I'm not training for anything in particular, I don't feel bad if I miss a day here or there and it makes it a lot more enjoyable when I am running because i want to be running and not because I feel guilty if I miss a run. I hope to continue making progress and build my mileage back up and be back in racing shape for some of the fall races. I'm not sure how being a new parent and the fall races will mix, but that's my main goal for now.
Friday afternoon Sam called me up and asked if I had been running yet or was going to run and I needed to get a run in so I headed out the door about 4:45. About 5 steps into the run I wondered what I was getting myself into because it was hot out. Sam had left his place about the same time so I headed down Blossom until I ran into him and then turned around and did a little over a lap at the park and then headed out back down Blossom to his place and then I looped back home. I didn't have a Garmin so I don't know how long the run was, but we were doing about 7:00 pace at the park and I think I probably did 9.25 - 9.5 miles on the day in 67 minutes. I was pretty beat when I got home and I checked the weather and it was 95 degrees out. I wouldn't be surprised if the heat index was over 100.
Saturday morning I really wanted to sleep in, but the weatherman on the news had said it was going to be 86 degrees by 9:00 am so I forced myself out of bed to go to the Kenyan Way long run. The temperature was in the upper 70's and it was really humid and I struggled for a lot of the run. I was running with Sam, John and a high school guy who's name eludes me. Sam took off after about 7.5-8 miles and left us behind and I had no desire to try to keep up with him. We'd been averaging about 7:05 pace for the first 8 miles or so and I was just trying to hang with the group to each water stop. We eased up the last couple miles and ran about 7:20 - 7:25 pace the last couple of miles and I ended up at 10.6 miles on the day. I was pretty beat after doing about 20 miles in 2 runs in 14 hours, but my legs felt really good and didn't hurt at all when I was finished.
Sunday I took the day off and Monday I ran 6.5 miles at the park at 9:00. There was a pretty good crowd out this morning with the Memorial day holiday. I averaged about 7:10 pace and finished in 47 minutes. I saw Bill running at the park and passed him going the opposite direction a couple of times. I would have turned around and run with him, but I needed to get back home because somebody was coming over a little after 10:00 and I was running tight on time.
I'm not training for anything in particular right now and I'm working on just enjoying my running while I continue to recuperate. I don't think I'm going to run any of the summer 5k's around Houston other than maybe the July 4th 5k. I was pretty burned out both mentally and physically training for Boston and I wouldn't have run it this year if my dad hadn't qualified for it. It was tough training for it because I didn't really enjoy the training, particularly with a bum hamstring, and I felt guilty if I missed workouts. Now that I'm not training for anything in particular, I don't feel bad if I miss a day here or there and it makes it a lot more enjoyable when I am running because i want to be running and not because I feel guilty if I miss a run. I hope to continue making progress and build my mileage back up and be back in racing shape for some of the fall races. I'm not sure how being a new parent and the fall races will mix, but that's my main goal for now.
Friday afternoon Sam called me up and asked if I had been running yet or was going to run and I needed to get a run in so I headed out the door about 4:45. About 5 steps into the run I wondered what I was getting myself into because it was hot out. Sam had left his place about the same time so I headed down Blossom until I ran into him and then turned around and did a little over a lap at the park and then headed out back down Blossom to his place and then I looped back home. I didn't have a Garmin so I don't know how long the run was, but we were doing about 7:00 pace at the park and I think I probably did 9.25 - 9.5 miles on the day in 67 minutes. I was pretty beat when I got home and I checked the weather and it was 95 degrees out. I wouldn't be surprised if the heat index was over 100.
Saturday morning I really wanted to sleep in, but the weatherman on the news had said it was going to be 86 degrees by 9:00 am so I forced myself out of bed to go to the Kenyan Way long run. The temperature was in the upper 70's and it was really humid and I struggled for a lot of the run. I was running with Sam, John and a high school guy who's name eludes me. Sam took off after about 7.5-8 miles and left us behind and I had no desire to try to keep up with him. We'd been averaging about 7:05 pace for the first 8 miles or so and I was just trying to hang with the group to each water stop. We eased up the last couple miles and ran about 7:20 - 7:25 pace the last couple of miles and I ended up at 10.6 miles on the day. I was pretty beat after doing about 20 miles in 2 runs in 14 hours, but my legs felt really good and didn't hurt at all when I was finished.
Sunday I took the day off and Monday I ran 6.5 miles at the park at 9:00. There was a pretty good crowd out this morning with the Memorial day holiday. I averaged about 7:10 pace and finished in 47 minutes. I saw Bill running at the park and passed him going the opposite direction a couple of times. I would have turned around and run with him, but I needed to get back home because somebody was coming over a little after 10:00 and I was running tight on time.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Central Park - New York City
I was up in New York City for the first time in my life last Thursday - Sunday. My wife had been up in the NYC area for work the first part of the week so I flew up Thursday to spend a long weekend in the city. We had beautiful weather most of the time we were there and had a blast. There was so much to do in so little time. Friday went to the top of the Rockefeller Center and then we took a 3 hr bike tour along the Hudson river and over the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn and back across the Brooklyn bridge into Manhattan and back up along the Hudson river. I haven't ridden a bike in quite a while and I had a sore butt afterwards. The weather was so nice out that I barely even broke a sweat. I had wanted to get up and go running Saturday but it rained Saturday morning so I decided to sleep in instead. Sunday was quite a bit cooler and windy, but I went out for a run that morning before we had to check out of our hotel. The temperature was about 50 degrees out with 20 mph winds, but it was sunny out. I hadn't brought a lot of warm stuff for running, so I was trying to decide if I wanted to wear my Boston jacket while I ran. It was my only jacket I had packed and I knew I needed it for the rest of the day and I didn't want to get it all sweaty. I decided to head out and take my chances in the cold. It was about 10 blocks from my hotel up to the south end of Central Park and then I ran a full lap around the park. It was a little harder than I expected with the wind and the terrain had a lot more hills than I expected. The Olympic trials in 2007 did about 4 loops around Central Park and that was not an easy course. I forgot to bring my camera to snap some pics while I was running, but I got started late enough that I didn't really have a lot of extra time to be taking pictures. It was a beautiful day out and after about 5 minutes I was warm enough though the blasts of wind were kind of chilly at times. I did learn that when you run along the sidewalks in New York if you stay on the metal grates above the subway, you get a nice blast of warm air that keeps you warm. According to mapmyrun.com, my route from my hotel and around the park and back was 7.6 miles and I ran it in about 51 minutes which was a little under 7:00 pace. Considering the hills and the wind it was a decent pace. I felt good during the run though my quads were a little sore at the end of the run in the same areas where they hurt after Boston. It was a fun run to do and it's cool to say that I've run in Central Park. I think New York would be a fun place to live for 6 months or maybe a year because there is so much to do, but I don't think I'd want to be there much more than that.
Friday, April 30, 2010
To marathon or not to marathon
As I've trained for and run my last couple of marathons, I have felt like a tortured and conflicted soul. I really don't enjoy the 20+ mile long runs all that much, and I don't really like running for 2-1/2 or 3 hrs at a time. When I am training for a marathon it seems like my life consists of run, work, eat, sleep, repeat in varying order and I always feel tired and beat up. My body hasn't really been 100% since a 10k I ran on Thanksgiving day and my 2 marathons since then have both been worse than I would have liked as my training has been somewhat limited compared to what I would have liked to have done. As I suffered through a painful last 10 miles of the Boston marathon, I had plenty of time to think about how much I hated running marathons and wondering why I put myself through the torture. I don't enjoy getting up at 4:30 to go up to Conroe to run 20+ miles on Saturdays when training for Boston.
On the other hand I'm extremely competitive and I love challenges. I don't run to stay in in shape or primarily for the social aspect. I run because I'm driven to push myself and I want to win races and set PRs and beat other people in races. I enjoy speed workouts. I like running hard and pushing myself. I know that I have the potential to run a sub 2:40 marathon if I do the right training and stay healthy. After my last two sub-par marathon times, I'm motivated to come back and PR and prove that I'm better than that. One of my friends, Sam, who I've run with over the past couple of years with the Kenyan Way has stepped up his training big time over the past 9 - 12 months and run some impressive times. For the past couple of years we had pretty similar race results and would finish close to each other in races. Sometimes I'd beat him, sometimes he'd beat me. Last fall I PR'd in a 1/2 marathon and he beat me by 40 or 50 seconds. Then we ran separate 10k's on Thanksgiving day and each PR'd and I think I had a 20 or 30 second faster time. Then my training went downhill and his flourished and he ran a 2:40 marathon and I ran 2:54. I really believe that if I could stay motivated and disciplined enough and injury free that if I put in 80 - 90 miles a week consistently for 6+ weeks leading up to a marathon I should be able to break 2:40. Of course that's a big if.
Even though I don't like the training and the pain and suffering of the marathon and I seem to continually be asking myself why I keep torturing myself, there is something that seems to keep drawing me back to wanting to run them. There's an allure and a challenge to the marathon. It's such a brutal and tough race and a true test of who is the toughest person out there. If I'm running a 5k or a 10k and have a bad day, I'm only seconds or a couple minutes at most off of my good race times. Halfway through a race I know that it's only a matter of minutes before I'm done. When you are out there in a marathon and things fall apart with 10 miles to go, it feels like an eternity. I can think of numerous great American marathoners and some of the best US and International performances. Outside of the current crop of US track athletes, I'd be hard pressed to name many great American 5k track stars beyond Bob Kennedy and Adam Goucher. I'd like to have a long streak of consecutive Houston marathons and one day be listed in the program with 20 or 25+ consecutive marathon finishes.
It seems like every marathon I've run has been painful and brutal on my legs. Even in my two good marathons I felt like I was just holding on for dear life trying not to fall apart the last few miles and praying my hamstrings had enough left in them for a strong push to the finish. Some days I wonder if I'm cut out to be a marathoner or if I should stick to just shorter races. I really like running half marathons and they don't seem to beat me up so badly. I know that my wife would love for me to take a break from marathons for a long while. She doesn't particularly enjoy me rolling out of bed at 5:30 or earlier on Saturday mornings to go running and then being wiped out the rest of the day. Some days I think that if I could just train hard for one season, break 2:40 and check that off my list I would be content to stop running marathons, but if I broke 2:40 I know that I would just want to run a 2:37 marathon and finish one averaging 5:59 pace. I probably would never be content. I have a love/hate relationship with marathons. I love running them fast and setting new PRs, but I hate training for them and all the agony and misery that the training and races inevitably seem to bring. Every time I run a marathon I tell myself that I'm just going to quit running them, but then a week or two afterwards I must have forgotten all the pain and misery and I'm inspired to run another one and do better than the last time. If I run a bad marathon, I want to come back and redeem myself and if I run a good race, I want to run the next one faster and improve upon it.
I think I can handle running 1 marathon a year. It's usually the training for the 2nd one that really burns me out. Since I started running marathons I've done two marathons about 3 months apart each year - Chicago 07, Houston 08, Houston 09, Boston 09, Houston 10, Boston 10. I always seem to be in better shape for the 2nd marathon, but I'm also pretty much burned out by then too.
So what's next? My first goal is to get healthy and improve my leg strength and flexibility. In the next week or two I'll be going to Koala to probably start some sort of physical therapy/rehab program to work on my hamstrings. I have some other big changes on the horizon too. My wife and I are expecting our first child in September and that will definitely change my life a bit, and we'll just have to see how fall marathon training goes with a baby girl interrupting my sleep every night. I don't have any plans to race anytime soon. I'd like to run some of the summer 5k's but we'll see how my recovery and hamstrings are doing. I'd rather take a month off and recover and miss the summer 5k's and be able to get back in shape for some of the fall races than start training too hard too soon and have lingering hamstring problems all summer long. The heat and humidity kick my butt and I don't usually run very fast in the May/June/July races here anywhere so it won't give me too much heartburn to miss them. It was quite depressing last summer where I seemed to get progressively slower every race I ran. I still haven't done any running since Boston, but I may go out for an easy run at the Park sometime tomorrow.
On the other hand I'm extremely competitive and I love challenges. I don't run to stay in in shape or primarily for the social aspect. I run because I'm driven to push myself and I want to win races and set PRs and beat other people in races. I enjoy speed workouts. I like running hard and pushing myself. I know that I have the potential to run a sub 2:40 marathon if I do the right training and stay healthy. After my last two sub-par marathon times, I'm motivated to come back and PR and prove that I'm better than that. One of my friends, Sam, who I've run with over the past couple of years with the Kenyan Way has stepped up his training big time over the past 9 - 12 months and run some impressive times. For the past couple of years we had pretty similar race results and would finish close to each other in races. Sometimes I'd beat him, sometimes he'd beat me. Last fall I PR'd in a 1/2 marathon and he beat me by 40 or 50 seconds. Then we ran separate 10k's on Thanksgiving day and each PR'd and I think I had a 20 or 30 second faster time. Then my training went downhill and his flourished and he ran a 2:40 marathon and I ran 2:54. I really believe that if I could stay motivated and disciplined enough and injury free that if I put in 80 - 90 miles a week consistently for 6+ weeks leading up to a marathon I should be able to break 2:40. Of course that's a big if.
Even though I don't like the training and the pain and suffering of the marathon and I seem to continually be asking myself why I keep torturing myself, there is something that seems to keep drawing me back to wanting to run them. There's an allure and a challenge to the marathon. It's such a brutal and tough race and a true test of who is the toughest person out there. If I'm running a 5k or a 10k and have a bad day, I'm only seconds or a couple minutes at most off of my good race times. Halfway through a race I know that it's only a matter of minutes before I'm done. When you are out there in a marathon and things fall apart with 10 miles to go, it feels like an eternity. I can think of numerous great American marathoners and some of the best US and International performances. Outside of the current crop of US track athletes, I'd be hard pressed to name many great American 5k track stars beyond Bob Kennedy and Adam Goucher. I'd like to have a long streak of consecutive Houston marathons and one day be listed in the program with 20 or 25+ consecutive marathon finishes.
It seems like every marathon I've run has been painful and brutal on my legs. Even in my two good marathons I felt like I was just holding on for dear life trying not to fall apart the last few miles and praying my hamstrings had enough left in them for a strong push to the finish. Some days I wonder if I'm cut out to be a marathoner or if I should stick to just shorter races. I really like running half marathons and they don't seem to beat me up so badly. I know that my wife would love for me to take a break from marathons for a long while. She doesn't particularly enjoy me rolling out of bed at 5:30 or earlier on Saturday mornings to go running and then being wiped out the rest of the day. Some days I think that if I could just train hard for one season, break 2:40 and check that off my list I would be content to stop running marathons, but if I broke 2:40 I know that I would just want to run a 2:37 marathon and finish one averaging 5:59 pace. I probably would never be content. I have a love/hate relationship with marathons. I love running them fast and setting new PRs, but I hate training for them and all the agony and misery that the training and races inevitably seem to bring. Every time I run a marathon I tell myself that I'm just going to quit running them, but then a week or two afterwards I must have forgotten all the pain and misery and I'm inspired to run another one and do better than the last time. If I run a bad marathon, I want to come back and redeem myself and if I run a good race, I want to run the next one faster and improve upon it.
I think I can handle running 1 marathon a year. It's usually the training for the 2nd one that really burns me out. Since I started running marathons I've done two marathons about 3 months apart each year - Chicago 07, Houston 08, Houston 09, Boston 09, Houston 10, Boston 10. I always seem to be in better shape for the 2nd marathon, but I'm also pretty much burned out by then too.
So what's next? My first goal is to get healthy and improve my leg strength and flexibility. In the next week or two I'll be going to Koala to probably start some sort of physical therapy/rehab program to work on my hamstrings. I have some other big changes on the horizon too. My wife and I are expecting our first child in September and that will definitely change my life a bit, and we'll just have to see how fall marathon training goes with a baby girl interrupting my sleep every night. I don't have any plans to race anytime soon. I'd like to run some of the summer 5k's but we'll see how my recovery and hamstrings are doing. I'd rather take a month off and recover and miss the summer 5k's and be able to get back in shape for some of the fall races than start training too hard too soon and have lingering hamstring problems all summer long. The heat and humidity kick my butt and I don't usually run very fast in the May/June/July races here anywhere so it won't give me too much heartburn to miss them. It was quite depressing last summer where I seemed to get progressively slower every race I ran. I still haven't done any running since Boston, but I may go out for an easy run at the Park sometime tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Boston bust - 3:04:12
I'm not sure even where to begin. I've had a couple days to think about my run and numerous thoughts have crossed my mind. I did re-qualify for Boston if I wanted to run it next year. This was a new personal worst for me excluding my first marathon that I DNF'd. I'm disappointed with the results, but the worst part is I don't even really know why it went so bad. I did beat Minnie Mouse though (more on that later) I thought I was in shape to run a ~2:50 or better and I hit the half at 1:25 and things were falling apart before mile 15 and with 11 miles to go, I was no longer running for time, but just to finish. Last year when I ran Boston, I got to the top of Heartbreak Hill around mile 21 and I thought I was going to break 2:45 and I started down it and my legs just couldn't respond. This year I went out easier and my quads were toast before I even got to the Newton hills.
We arrived in Boston on Saturday and was on the same flight as several fellow Kenyan Wayers who I had trained with some - Guy, Andres, Monte, Jiyhe. I arrived at my hotel and saw Jeff, another Kenyan Wayer and I found out that a large group from the Kenyan Way was staying at the same hotel. At the marathon expo, Team Hoyt had a booth set up and Dick Hoyt was there and I got a signed bobblehead of Dick and Rick Hoyt. If you've never heard of them before, they have an amazing story. Rick was born as a quadriplegic and his parents refused to institutionalize him and pushed for him to be integrated into society. His dad (Dick) started running races pushing Rick in his wheelchair and they have now run over 1000 races together including 6 Ironman triathalons. The video on the website might put you in tears.
Sunday I took it pretty easy and stayed off my feet for most of the day. On Sunday evening I was in my hotel room and we were watching a show on the weather channel about the Badwater Ulramarathon through death valley and they talked about this guy that dressed like a fairy in a pink tutu and ran a bunch of races and I thought to myself- I would probably give up running if a dude like that ever beat me.
I woke up Monday and walked about 10 minutes to where the buses were loading for Hopkinton and I got on a bus a little before 7:00 am. After a few minor delays we arrived in Hopkinton and the weather was pretty nice out. It was sunny out and in the mid to upper 40's. I had forgotten to bring sunglasses to the start with me, but I hadn't really planned on wearing them during the race anyway. I found a large group of Kenyan Way runners and hung out with them before the start and I was feeling pretty good about the race and relaxed. The only real complaint I had about athletes village was that they must have used the world's thinnest toilet paper in all the port-a-potties. I don't think it even qualified as single ply. It was more like 1/2 ply or 1/3 ply. I would have to use one hand to turn the entire roll with the other hand very gently pulling the end of the tp away from the roll. If you just grabbed the end and pulled it, it would break off and then getting it going again was kind of like when you have a roll of tape that sticks to itself and it is kind of hard to pull it off of itself. The other funny thing is they had a bunch of military or national guard people around the athletes village and some snipers up on the roof of the school. I guess they were there to take out people who were cutting in line at the port-a-potties. It seemed to work though since I didn't see anyone cutting in line and I didn't see anyone get taken out either.
I started to head over to the start line about 45 minutes before the race to give myself plenty of time. It was warm enough out that I just went with a singlet and gloves and didn't wear arm warmers or a long sleeve shirt which worked out fine. One thing I didn't think about beforehand was that if it was sunny out, I could be out in the sun for 3 hrs in the heat of the day from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and I ended up getting a nice sunburn on my arms, shoulders, back of the neck and face. That didn't ruin my race, but it sure didn't help it either. I started out fairly easy and was able to stay in the 6:20 - 6:25 pace for the first four miles which were downhill. I felt pretty good the first part of the race and was determined to keep it relatively easy and not push it hard until the end and I really wanted to run a negative split marathon. I was sticking right on my plan and went through the half in 1:25 and I still felt good at that point. I knew that a 2:45 was pretty much out of the question, but I thought that with a relaxed 1:25 first half, I should be able to run a faster 2nd half and I was hoping that I would beat my 2:48 from last year and maybe even PR.
Somewhere between mile 13 and 16. In the 16th mile, there is a pretty good downhill and then the 5 miles of the Newton hills begin. As I got to the first downhill, my quads started hurting like they had hurt last year going down heartbreak hill except this was 5 miles earlier. I had felt that same pain before and instantly I new that my race for a PR and fast time was done. There isn't much more demoralizing than realizing you have almost 11 miles to go and it is all going to be very painful. I quit looking at my Garmin for the most part and just focused on staying relaxed and keeping going. Another problem I had is that I laced my shoes too tight because I was worried about them being loose like they had been on a couple of my training runs and around mile 16, I could feel it digging into my foot. A little after mile 17 I had to stop for a few seconds and loosen the shoe and I saw I had a nice bloodstain on the shoe from it digging into my foot. After I loosened the laces it didn't bother me the rest of the race though.
The Newton hills were miserable this year in contrast to last year when I felt really strong going up them. I kept trudging on and saw my time slip further and further away. Going down heartbreak hill I looked up and saw the back of a Kenyan Way singlet and saw my friend Shawn Emerick just ahead. I told him good luck and finish strong. With a little over 3 miles to go I stopped for a minute to down a bottle of water and a couple orange slices that a friendly spectator was giving away. I don't think that I was staying well enough hydrated during the race even though I was trying to get fluids at every other mile. I don't think the lack of good hydration had anything to do with my quads being destroyed in the first half of the race. Shortly after I started running again I noticed that Jace was just ahead of me and I put in a little surge and told him I'd try to stay with him for a bit. That lasted all of about 15 seconds until I told him I didn't have it in me.
With 3 miles to go I jsut kept thinking it was like running a lap at Memorial park and then I would be done. Somewhere with a couple of miles to go, I get passed by a guy dressed like Minnie Mouse. I just didn't feel like I had anything in the tank and I wondered if it was worse to get beaten by Minnie Mouse or a guy in a pink tutu dressed as a fairy. When I hit the mile to go mark I tried to pick it up a little and started catching a few people and when I was half a mile out I really started cranking it in. With around a 1/4 mile to go you make a couple of quick turns and then get on Boylston and can see the finish in the distance ahead. The crowds are packed 8 - 10 people deep along the road and just roaring and I could see Minnie Mouse up ahead and I started sprinting as hard as I could. I kept getting closer and I caught Minnie Mouse with about 200 yards to go and I kept pushing it in for my 3:04 finish ahead of Minnie.
If I had a bad race and I didn't feel that I had been training enough or if I had gone out too hard or had really bad weather conditions I wouldn't be as disappointed, but I had a lot more mileage and my hamstrings were much better than before Houston when I ran 2:54 and I fully expected to run faster than that, especially considering the good whether conditions. I did 20+ mile long runs up on the hills in Conroe as well as a lot of hill work around the cloverleafs. I got a massage on Friday before the race, but that was 3 days before. My quads were really sore when the therapist worked on them so I don't know if that was a sign that they were in trouble before the race or if I just wasn't recovered from the massage and that hurt my race.
I'm going to take a couple weeks off of running and I may take a little while off of racing and concentrate on improving my flexibility and strength before I start training hard again. My quads are still in agony today and I shuffle around pretty slowly and avoid stairs as much as possible.
My dad ran his first Boston marathon and finished in 3:48. He was hoping to run a little faster, but still did pretty good for his first Boston.
We arrived in Boston on Saturday and was on the same flight as several fellow Kenyan Wayers who I had trained with some - Guy, Andres, Monte, Jiyhe. I arrived at my hotel and saw Jeff, another Kenyan Wayer and I found out that a large group from the Kenyan Way was staying at the same hotel. At the marathon expo, Team Hoyt had a booth set up and Dick Hoyt was there and I got a signed bobblehead of Dick and Rick Hoyt. If you've never heard of them before, they have an amazing story. Rick was born as a quadriplegic and his parents refused to institutionalize him and pushed for him to be integrated into society. His dad (Dick) started running races pushing Rick in his wheelchair and they have now run over 1000 races together including 6 Ironman triathalons. The video on the website might put you in tears.
Sunday I took it pretty easy and stayed off my feet for most of the day. On Sunday evening I was in my hotel room and we were watching a show on the weather channel about the Badwater Ulramarathon through death valley and they talked about this guy that dressed like a fairy in a pink tutu and ran a bunch of races and I thought to myself- I would probably give up running if a dude like that ever beat me.
I woke up Monday and walked about 10 minutes to where the buses were loading for Hopkinton and I got on a bus a little before 7:00 am. After a few minor delays we arrived in Hopkinton and the weather was pretty nice out. It was sunny out and in the mid to upper 40's. I had forgotten to bring sunglasses to the start with me, but I hadn't really planned on wearing them during the race anyway. I found a large group of Kenyan Way runners and hung out with them before the start and I was feeling pretty good about the race and relaxed. The only real complaint I had about athletes village was that they must have used the world's thinnest toilet paper in all the port-a-potties. I don't think it even qualified as single ply. It was more like 1/2 ply or 1/3 ply. I would have to use one hand to turn the entire roll with the other hand very gently pulling the end of the tp away from the roll. If you just grabbed the end and pulled it, it would break off and then getting it going again was kind of like when you have a roll of tape that sticks to itself and it is kind of hard to pull it off of itself. The other funny thing is they had a bunch of military or national guard people around the athletes village and some snipers up on the roof of the school. I guess they were there to take out people who were cutting in line at the port-a-potties. It seemed to work though since I didn't see anyone cutting in line and I didn't see anyone get taken out either.
I started to head over to the start line about 45 minutes before the race to give myself plenty of time. It was warm enough out that I just went with a singlet and gloves and didn't wear arm warmers or a long sleeve shirt which worked out fine. One thing I didn't think about beforehand was that if it was sunny out, I could be out in the sun for 3 hrs in the heat of the day from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and I ended up getting a nice sunburn on my arms, shoulders, back of the neck and face. That didn't ruin my race, but it sure didn't help it either. I started out fairly easy and was able to stay in the 6:20 - 6:25 pace for the first four miles which were downhill. I felt pretty good the first part of the race and was determined to keep it relatively easy and not push it hard until the end and I really wanted to run a negative split marathon. I was sticking right on my plan and went through the half in 1:25 and I still felt good at that point. I knew that a 2:45 was pretty much out of the question, but I thought that with a relaxed 1:25 first half, I should be able to run a faster 2nd half and I was hoping that I would beat my 2:48 from last year and maybe even PR.
Somewhere between mile 13 and 16. In the 16th mile, there is a pretty good downhill and then the 5 miles of the Newton hills begin. As I got to the first downhill, my quads started hurting like they had hurt last year going down heartbreak hill except this was 5 miles earlier. I had felt that same pain before and instantly I new that my race for a PR and fast time was done. There isn't much more demoralizing than realizing you have almost 11 miles to go and it is all going to be very painful. I quit looking at my Garmin for the most part and just focused on staying relaxed and keeping going. Another problem I had is that I laced my shoes too tight because I was worried about them being loose like they had been on a couple of my training runs and around mile 16, I could feel it digging into my foot. A little after mile 17 I had to stop for a few seconds and loosen the shoe and I saw I had a nice bloodstain on the shoe from it digging into my foot. After I loosened the laces it didn't bother me the rest of the race though.
The Newton hills were miserable this year in contrast to last year when I felt really strong going up them. I kept trudging on and saw my time slip further and further away. Going down heartbreak hill I looked up and saw the back of a Kenyan Way singlet and saw my friend Shawn Emerick just ahead. I told him good luck and finish strong. With a little over 3 miles to go I stopped for a minute to down a bottle of water and a couple orange slices that a friendly spectator was giving away. I don't think that I was staying well enough hydrated during the race even though I was trying to get fluids at every other mile. I don't think the lack of good hydration had anything to do with my quads being destroyed in the first half of the race. Shortly after I started running again I noticed that Jace was just ahead of me and I put in a little surge and told him I'd try to stay with him for a bit. That lasted all of about 15 seconds until I told him I didn't have it in me.
With 3 miles to go I jsut kept thinking it was like running a lap at Memorial park and then I would be done. Somewhere with a couple of miles to go, I get passed by a guy dressed like Minnie Mouse. I just didn't feel like I had anything in the tank and I wondered if it was worse to get beaten by Minnie Mouse or a guy in a pink tutu dressed as a fairy. When I hit the mile to go mark I tried to pick it up a little and started catching a few people and when I was half a mile out I really started cranking it in. With around a 1/4 mile to go you make a couple of quick turns and then get on Boylston and can see the finish in the distance ahead. The crowds are packed 8 - 10 people deep along the road and just roaring and I could see Minnie Mouse up ahead and I started sprinting as hard as I could. I kept getting closer and I caught Minnie Mouse with about 200 yards to go and I kept pushing it in for my 3:04 finish ahead of Minnie.
If I had a bad race and I didn't feel that I had been training enough or if I had gone out too hard or had really bad weather conditions I wouldn't be as disappointed, but I had a lot more mileage and my hamstrings were much better than before Houston when I ran 2:54 and I fully expected to run faster than that, especially considering the good whether conditions. I did 20+ mile long runs up on the hills in Conroe as well as a lot of hill work around the cloverleafs. I got a massage on Friday before the race, but that was 3 days before. My quads were really sore when the therapist worked on them so I don't know if that was a sign that they were in trouble before the race or if I just wasn't recovered from the massage and that hurt my race.
I'm going to take a couple weeks off of running and I may take a little while off of racing and concentrate on improving my flexibility and strength before I start training hard again. My quads are still in agony today and I shuffle around pretty slowly and avoid stairs as much as possible.
My dad ran his first Boston marathon and finished in 3:48. He was hoping to run a little faster, but still did pretty good for his first Boston.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Boston Marathon tomorrow
We made it safely into Boston yesterday and I'm just relaxing and waiting for the race to get here tomorrow. The weather has been cold and raining off and on but the weather forecast is looking pretty good for the marathon tomorrow. It's supposed to get down to the low 40's tonight so I'm expecting it do be in the mid 40's at racetime. I feel pretty relaxed because I don't really have high expectations of a specific time I think I should be able to run. My hamstring still isn't 100% but it's much better than it was before Houston. I think I've lost a little of my speed from the fall but my endurance is better. I will be reasonably happy with anything under 2:50. I'm planning on trying to run 6:25 pace the first 4 miles to take it easy and then stay in the 6:20-6:25 range for the first half of the race. I really want to try to negative split the race and if it's cool enough then I may wear my Kenyan Way negative split shirt during the race. I didn't realize it beforehand but it seems like half the Kenyan Way group is staying at the same hotel as I am. I've run into 4 or 5 of them in the lobby. It should be a good day for running tomorrow.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
4/10 - 5 miles
Went out for a nice easy run at the park Saturday evening after the 3rd round of the Masters finished up. I did 5 miles in just under 37 minutes. I wasn't running particularly quick, but two guys passed me at the park which was a little surprising. Usually there aren't that many fast people out at the park on a Saturday afternoon. One of the guys was wearing those feet glove shoes that are kind of like a glove for your feet. I think it basically like running barefoot, but gives your feet a little protection from rocks and stuff on the ground. I've seen a few people out wearing them over the past month or two.
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