October 2006 Archives

First of all let me say I felt great when it was done - like I would have felt after a long, say 20 mile, training run ... and that's how I ended up running the last 1/2 of the marathon, like one of my training runs ... s-l-o-w-l-y. No surprise there - I trained to run long and slow, and that's what I ended up doing ...

Before I go into all that went wrong, I want to tell you what went right. It was an absolutely beautiful day. The sky was clear and sunny and the air was crisp. It was a perfect Fall day. I also want to tell you about the amazing friends I have and how they supported me throughout the day. My friend Julie and her son Ya Ya were there at Campbell Park on the way out AND on the way back! Julie's hug and words of encouragement were definitely appreciated. My friend Cathy was there at mile 20 as well! And at the finish line were my husband, Peter, and friend Brenna. Several friends and my brother called to wish me "good luck" and to check on me when I was done. All of their efforts are so appreciated!

So am I crying about my finish time of 4:34 when my goal was 4:00? Not at all! I did, after all, meet at least one of my goals - to finish without injury. But 20/20 hindsight is an amazing tool ... and I'm always up for learning from my mistakes.

So, what went wrong?

Why is taper so hard? I guess it's because we spend so much time gearing "up" for a race that gearing down just beforehand it is antithetical to the way we think of "progressing" ... If I felt underprepared before taper, I feel totally unprepared now, with the race only two days away! Yikes ... Now, I realize it's a mental game ... I have to keep telling myself rest is good, rest is necessary. Eat well, stay hydrated, get enough sleep, repeat ... but it's sooo hard!

I can't believe that in just two sleeps from now I'm going to be at the starting line of my first marathon in what, two years??? Yeah, I've been there before ... but this time I actually have a time goal - to qualify for Boston in sub-4:00:59. I've never put this much pressure on myself before to finish in a specific time ...

I'm a little excited and a little nervous - par for the course I guess. I've done my prep work, though maybe I could have done more speed work. I'm sure my body will adapt to the marathon distance and rhythm once the race gets underway ... and I have another reason to finish ... no matter how long it takes me.

I LOVE my Calfee Luna Pro bike ... it's been at least three weeks since I've been on it, due to ramping up my running mileage on the weekends in preparation for Silicon Valley Marathon on Oct. 29th. Since my mileage was cut way back this week I decided to take advantage of it and do some seriously fun biking this weekend. Not to mention the weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately. My intention was initiatially to ride only 25 miles on an out and back course from my house. But we (my husband and I) got out there and I was having such a blast I decided to join him on his planned longer route ... hoping that I wasn't making a BIG training mistake.

I justified the longer ride on two counts: Firstly, tomorrow I have a deep tissue massage appointment which should help refresh the legs and secondly, it was good for me mentally to be going "fast" for a change, AND doing something I love. Really, constant training for a marathon just makes me feel so incredibly s-l-o-w, because well, I am going slow compared to swimming and cycling.

I did the minimum required run training this week. My plantar fasciitis is behaving itself. I'm enjoying the cross training and yoga aspects of taper ... and I feel as ready as I'm going to be for my A race. Bring it on ...

Well it's less than a week until the Silicon Valley Marathon (SVM) and I'm feeling GREAT... physically that is. I'm healthy, touch wood, and have no aches or pains to speak of. But self doubt has begun it's slow, insidious creep into my mindset. Will my plantar fasciitis stay under control, or will it flare up on race day? Did I really do enough to train? Due to my plantar fasciitis I basically gave up doing much speed work at all. Will my nutrition be on? I've been experimenting with different sports drinks with mixed results. Sometimes my stomach is okay and other times it most definitely is not.

But, as with all my past events, when it comes down to race day I just tell myself I've done my best to prepare, and whatever will be, will be. You never know when you start a training run, or race, how it's actually going to unfold ... I've had days where I start out feeling great and end up feeling lousey, and vice versa. I just hope race day is one of the latter.

The more I read about other people's experiences in completing multiple Ironman Triathlons them ore I realize just HOW important a constant good diet is. I've been making a concerted effort over the past month to "get back on the wagon" regarding making better nutrition choices, and am starting to see some improvements, though I'm not where I would ideally like to be yet. Last week I missed Dr. Clyde Wilson's 2nd talk on Marathon and Triathlon Race Day Nutrition, but I did buy his booklet containing all of the same information ... and I actually read it, which reinforced a lot of what I already had been taught but conveniently tended to forget when a plate of french fries or glass of wine was at hand.

I am determined to focus on three key limiters this off season, including 1) diet 2) core strength and 3) swimming efficiency. To address # 1 I've been trying to eliminate junk food, limit wine drinking to two glasses on the weekend, and increase the number of servings of fruits and veggies I eat every day to five. In addition, I've been doing a lot of research on Ironman Nutrition and found out an interesting thing that I never knew and am going to give a try ... Coconut oil, in moderation, it seems can help you lose weight and increase energy levels. Click here to read about one triathlete's experimentation with it as a supplement.

Today I got up early to check on my brother's progress in the Tonroto Marathon, but the website didn't publish real time reasults. So I called his cell phone thinking that my nephew, Connor, would answer ... and he did. Wade was holding steady at the 1/2 way point and was about 2 minutes ahead of his predicted time. It was looking good ...

I headed off to my Bikram Yoga class and told Connor that I would check in with him after my class, at which point Wade should be finished. Class felt extremely challenging today even though the series of poses was identical to the ones we did on Tuesday evening. But, I told myself, it was only my second time doing this type of yoga class, which is done in a heated room. I actually became somewhat nauseous during class and had to rest while others continued with the poses. When we went from standing postures to the mat I regained my composure and finished the class feeling more strong, and definitely limber. I have always been more of an evening exerciser, and I guess yoga is no different for me. The first thing on my mind after class was my brother and so I called him again ...

Ran a hard 10 miler today - pushed the pace on purpose to see what it would feel like running 10 miles at marathon pace ... well it felt way harder than I would have liked. Granted, I didn't start until 1:00 p.m. and it was the hottest part of the day (but it was a cool day overall), and I hadn't eaten as well as I should have to fuel my body beforehand.

Overall I'm happy with the workout but don't think the pace (9:04/mile) is going to be manageable on race day ... at least I think that was my pace. Since I don't train with a GPS 10 miles is my best guess at the distance covered. I know it's very close, but in fact it might have been a bit further IF I go by what my occasional running partner Julie says it is based on her Garmin readout.

I can only hope that it was indeed 10.5 miles instead of 10.0, because then my pace actually calculates out to 8:38 and that SHOULD feel hard to me. But 9:04 shouldn't. Enough about me, my brother, Wade, is on my mind today ...

It felt so good to just go out after work today and let it rip. I ran as fast as I could for what I estimate to be four miles, along a familiar trail. I don't know the exact distance but if Julie were running with me she would know!

I went to the park with a friend who walks, so when I was finished my run I turned around cooled down as I walked back to meet her. It was a beautiful cool fall evening and I felt exhilerated at the end of my workout as I watched the sky turn from blue to purple to pink to grey.

I've been so focused on controlling my pace for so long, in preparation for the Silicon Valley Marathon, that it was nice to just let fly for a change. My chest and lungs started to hurt as I pushed the pace, but I tried to stay focused on form and get into a rhythm. I consciously tried to perform nasal breathing but that didn't last long, as I was desperately in need of more rapid O2 exchange from the start ... So I focused on making strong, powerful exhalations, and the pain diminished. It felt like it does when I'm racing a 10 k, and sure enough my pace was pretty much what I would expect for that type of event averaging an 8:45/mile.

For the past several years my training has focused only on the long distance events such as marathons, centuries, and 1/2 and full Ironman triathlons ... I reaped the health benefits of endurance training and I get a lot of enjoyment out of being able to negotiate the potential pitfalls of a "long course" event. There's so much preparation, planning, calculating and thinking during an event like that. You have to on top of your nutrition, your pace, your equipment, your hydration ...

Running for FUN is something I haven't done enough of lately ... this weekend I ran the San Jose Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon with my friend, Anna, who came down to the South Bay from the North Bay where she is now living. This was her first race after having her first child about 8 months ago. She was awesome, steady and smiling from ear to ear the whole way. Her new training partner, Rachel, was doing her first race ever - she never ran before hooking up with Anna, and she did awesome! At the 10 mile mark Anna noted that this was officially Rachel's longest run ever, in her life! To Rachel's credit, she didn't miss a beat, keeping her rhythm constant and staying focussed on the distance left to go, rather than the distance covered.

It was so much fun being part of their personal victories. I enjoyed cheering them on, running backwards and taking pictures along the way to commemorate the event, and focussing on my form while running slower than my usual pace.

Sooo, I attended this free nutrition seminar last night at a local Sports Basement expecting to hear the same old stuff I already knew but thought worth hearing again anyways, planning on using it as a motivational kick in the butt to get my diet back on track. I've been struggling these last several months, falling into several old bad habits, such as snacking on high sugar (refined) junkfood, not eating enough fruits and vegetables, and overeating late at night. I KNOW what to do ... I just haven't been doing it ... it's a vicious cycle once I start falling off the healthy eating bandwagon it gets harder and harder for me to turn myself around and start making healthier food choices again, even though I KNOW I would feel much better if I did ... Did anyone see Super Size Me (the movie)? There's no doubt in my mind after seeing that movie that overdosing on refined sugar, bad fats and salt is poisonous to us as biological organisms ... but I still can't stop myself sometimes!!! Arrgghh!!!

So anyways, this talk last night on Muslce Fueling and Recovery was just the motivation I needed ... read on to see what the good Doctor had to say ...

Well today was my last loooonnnngg run before Silicon Valley Marathon on October 29th, 2006, and it's TAPER time (my favorite part of the training schedule). I am a little more optimistic about my goal of sub-4:00 on race day but not much ... I ran 21 miles in 3:31 today with friends who are both experienced marathoners, so they knew the importance of sticking to my run:walk shcedule of 10:00 run followed by 1:00 walk. Overall this run was faster than my 19 mile run the week before, but still a far cry from the 9 min/mile pace I'll need to qualify for Boston. I have decided that whatever happens, happens and if I don't qualify for Boston it's not the end of the world - the sun will still rise in the East and set in the West and I will somehow go on living ... I really am a convert, a triathlete a heart, and even though the thought of qualifying for Boston is appealing, it isn't what makes me get out of bed in the morning. Triathlon training does. Even after today's hard run, I'm looking forward to getting up early to go swimming tomorrow morning!

The really good news for me today is that I had only one bathroom stop at mile five, and none after that! Also, my plantar fasciitis stayed under control, and my piriformis issue seems to have resolved itself. I felt "good" at the end of it all, and compared to any of my previous marathon training seasons this is an improvement! I'm not sure if I could run much faster than I did today, but after a 4 week taper who knows?