Adjusted Reality

This has been a very interesting few months, but here we are.

First up, August and September I nailed the hell out coming in rested and fresh to a 2 month half ironman cycle to which I PR’d the shit out of my race and generally feel like for the first time I actually RACED a 70.3 instead of survived it.  Lots of happy warm fuzzies about those two months and the race that capped them off.

Then, probably because I raced the hell out of that race, I found myself a little less able to jump into marathon training with as much enthusiasm as I had last year.  Maybe it was the weather taking forever to dip below scorching and then heading directly to polar.  Maybe it was feeling satisfied with the run of that race left me less hungry and with something to prove like last year.  It just took longer to get going, mentally and physically.

Either way, the first week or two I had to pull myself into run training by the ear.  The 10+ hours of training that had been so effortless during tri season was definitely in the realm of EFFORT.  My paces weren’t magically dropping, frankly, I ran one of my slowest runs of the YEAR after a particularly awesome/awful crossfit session early in the cycle and I was kinda frustrated.

The redeeming qualities were some magical long runs.  A 20 miler where I felt like I could keep going forever at last year’s marathon pace finally got my confidence up.  Then, I ran an 18 faster than I’ve ever done a long run before and I didn’t die.  Like, at all.  I also nailed a 50 mile week and two weeks in the 40s without injury.

This month, with the cooler temps, the paces finally came down.  I know it’s science, but it’s just so bizarre to me that I can slice a minute per mile off EFFORTLESSLY going from 70 degrees to 40.  Most of my November run average paces have started with a 10 (some with the help of the weather, some not).  This helps when you want to run a marathon with a pace starting with 10.

I thought my November mileage was dismal, but it’s pretty much equal to last year’s training (~115 miles vs 122 miles, both times missed one long run), so at least I didn’t get worse.

And now, it’s race week.  Here we go!  The weird thing about endurance sport is we spend time practicing what we’re going to do for race day, but only certain parts at certain times.  It feels like FOREVER since I did that 18 (2 weekends ago) and even MORE FOREVER since the 20 (4 weekends ago).  The flip side is it also feels like forever since 10 minute miles were anything but normal pace.  So, that’s where I’ve arrived at and those are what I roll into race day with.  Ready for launch!

Pre-race:

I’m hoping to learn from what I did wrong last year and what worked really well in triathlons this year.

• No cute shoes: I’ve been wearing various running shoes this week full time and I continue will do the same until after the race.  This will hopefully prevent my temporarily broken ankle that was magically- better-but-off the day of the race.
• Eat like a normal human this week: a) I bought My Fit Foods so I didn’t have to stress about cooking and having leftovers for a short week.  b) Eat breakfast on Thanksgiving even though I’m going to eat turkey day foods later.  c) Don’t eat a whole plate of dessert and feel sick after, save that for post-race.  d) Eat throughout the day not all at once.  e) Eat something before 6pm on Friday, bringing food for lunch instead of relying on the airport to feed me.
• Keep with the pre-race fueling that has worked: planning on trying to replicate Kerrville because I felt awesome – Friday night: steak/chicken/fish, potato, salad (or similar).  Saturday lunch: same meal, but a little smaller.  Saturday peppered with snacks like fruit, potato chips, nuts, sunbutter, cheese, etc.
• Speaking of eating, stick to a nutrition plan day of: kind bar and coconut water and purple stuff AM, start with disposable gatorade in handheld and toss it when it’s done and then live off the course, one gel per hour (plan one caff gel around hour 3, maybe have an extra caff gel in case i need the pep).
• Shakeout run outside on Saturday.  I think the treadmill did not do me a service last year as my last run.
• Going to a movie on Saturday to chill out and take my mind off the next day (and to give Zliten a break from my pre-race babble).
• Not running around for 3 hours trying to find a replacement cable, hopefully.

Fashion plan:

It may be superstition, but I wore a certain nike top and tri shorts and red visor during both long runs that went really well.  So, guess what I’ll be wearing?  Also, I’ve got my wonder woman blue star skirt that will go well with the space theme and has an extra pocket, and matches the ensemble, but I’m iffy on it (I’m not sure I’ll appreciate an extra layer with the 63 degree race start/73 degree high forecast).  Rounding it out will be my “new” (probably close to 100 miles on em) purple bondi 3 hokas and blue and white compression sox.  I will look a bit of a mess but really, who cares.

Other stuff… like I said above, taking my handheld with a disposable gatorade so I can toss the bottle mid-race and still have gel storage.  My nice sunglasses seem to be MIA since the last race (but I haven’t made a lot of effort to find them) so I’ll probably just wear some randos.  Aquaphor instead of body glide has made my life, so I’ll be lubing up with that.

Just in case the weather takes a colder turn, I’ll have a tee, arm warmers, capris, and a jacket, but I don’t expect to need any of that stuff.

Race plan:

I never know exactly what is going to work exactly when race brain finally takes over, so I’ve broken down the race for myself a few ways.

Specific Pace/Hour Plan:

• Hour 1: around 11 minute miles/average
• Hour 2: no faster than 10:45 (but no slower than 11)
• Hour 3: no faster than 10:30 (but no slower than 11)
• Hour 4: no faster than 10 (but no slower than 11)
• Last chunk of the hour: turn down for what (fast as my legs will go)

This lands me at about mile 22-23 when the clock hits 4 hours and sets me up for a nice PR.  This is also how I’ve been running this cycle, first mile is ALWAYS the slowest and the last is usually among the fastest unless something is wrong.  Keeping to 11 minute miles the first hour will be a huge challenge, but I think it will pay divedends in my late race energy.  I think the last two years I’ve started two quickly and this will help me not go out all happy puppy.

Pacer Plan:

• Start with 4:50 pacer.
• Around 6, leave 4:50 pacer and find 4:45 pacer by 11-12.
• Around 16, leave 4:45 pacer and find 4:40 pacer by 22-23 (I will be REALLY proud of myself if I can speed up with 10 miles to go)
• Turn down for what (hang the fuck on or see what my legs have in ’em)

Sometimes numbers get hard.  This lets me follow the white rabbit.  Of course, sticking with any of these pacers is a PR, and I’ll continue to assess what I have that day, but if latching onto something is needed, this is what I’ll do.

Simple Plan:

• Run 10:30-11 minute miles until mile 13.
• Run faster the second half.

I am confident that if I can keep my head on straight, I can negative split this thing.  It is how I instinctively run.  I need to watch the start of the race (oh my, 9:45s feel effortless, let’s go for a 4:15 I have no business trying to run) and wherever that trouble trap is going to be between mile 13 to 20.  Hopefully, my fueling strategy will stave off the lows (I didn’t get them in Kerrville and my long runs have generally been good), but I’m ready to fight those fuckers.

Thoughts:

I have had some success planning the thoughts I will carry into the race, because if I don’t plan for positivity, negative thoughts tend to take their place.

1. Remember that long races have highs and lows that oscillate.  I just need to keep my head on straight during the lows and try to hang onto the highs as long as I can.  Also, negative thoughts = need sugar and/or caffeine.

2. The faster I finish, the faster I get to see Zliten.  Also, I gotta rock this race because he doesn’t get a chance to run it and at least one of us has to have an awesome day (hopefully both, he loves volunteering).  I’ve done a decent amount of running on my own so I’m ready for it, but I can’t rely on a Zliten save around mile 14 again…

3. I promised to go back to tell the forum folks who gave me advice how my race went.  I will be MUCH happier to report that I held strong through the race and PR’d.

4. Just like I really wanted to feel like I nailed a 70.3 this year, I really want to nail a marathon at my current fitness.  This will also free me up to make a decision about my race in Feb not based in the need for revenge.

5. I don’t have a lot of deep thoughts this time, really. I have a process to follow, I have backup processes if the wheels start to come off.  I’m smart, I’m strong, I’m tough, and I will conquer this marathon like I’ve conquered the last three races I have if I just do my thing and get my brain to stay out of the way of my body.

6. Also, I am THANKFUL (tis the season) that my body has held up with only minor complaints and is ready to take on this major feat of strength which is a marathon and have the luxury of doing it on the beach in FL and going on a cruise right after, and spending my marathon recovery week snorkeling and diving.  Life is hard, yo.

And on that note, I’m off to do all the things.  And try to rest as much as possible.  We’ll see how that works out.

I’m banking on some pretty sweet 70.3 fitness as about half the oomph to get me through a marathon with a short training cycle.  I’ve also done it last year, and the year before (with a suuuuuper short cycle, in fact, I’d be recovering from it today instead of just starting taper).

Every year it’s been an order of operations:

1. Recover from Kerrville 70.3.

2. Do a long run as quickly as possible (6 days after in 2012, 13 days after in 2013, 20 days after for 2014 only because I was sick 13 days out).

3.  Ramp up the weekly miles to support the long run (all easy).  This year, in 2014, I actually did this BEFORE doing a long run, which is the right way.

4. Do my first 20 as quickly as possible (13 days after in 2012, 20 days after in 2013, 27 days after in 2014).

5. Take a stepback week to let my body process all that ramping up.

5. Maintain a decent amount of miles until 3 weeks out, and then start gradually tapering.

I’ll admit that the initial ramp up is a little rough, pulling you by the nose instead of a gradual build, but within about 2 weeks it becomes the norm and my body adapts.  I’m actually finding this cycle that my recovery is better than ever.  I’ve been just bopping along with training.

Zliten decided to go tweak his knee (doing non-running related stuff) so he’s been a little low on the miles – he did 3.3 miles with me Thursday night and was all smiles (once you get used to that steady stream of endorphins it’s hard to quit).  But, as coach, I didn’t let him pick up training and do the 23 or even a 20 because that would be crazy after being out most of the week.

I bailed on the 23.  I was definitely iffy on the merits of doing it, and I wasn’t doing it solo.  I had considered an easy 20, because it’s the last week to do it, but I also wasn’t convinced that would be the absolute best use of my time.  My next thought was do something a little shorter and speedier (warmup, a good handful of m pace miles, cooldown, somewhere between 15-18).

I had thought about doing the faster practice this week and doing a 20 next week (2 weeks 1 day out) to let Zliten have one more 20.  Not optimal, but I definitely didn’t feel worse for wear after my last 20, so it was in the running as a possibility.  So, I had lots of options and I was waffling back and forth on what to do.

Then, I went to the internet for advice.

Even though the second training plan I brought up had a 20 miler 2 weeks out, I guess it was the advanced high mileage plan for Boston prep, because suggesting that on the internet apparently is like kicking someone’s dog and insulting their mothers.  How dare I consider running the magical 20 with only 15 days to recover?  Apparently I’m asking to be injured, sick, and mentally addled, probably in conjunction with wearing a scarlet letter A on my chest or something.

Ok, fine, I can concede that.  Probably not the greatest idea.  Three weeks out of Kerrville I did my second 13 (long run) and then chilled out a bit on the run miles, so makes sense.  So, whatever I did this weekend was it, and then it’s taper time.  So, even more pressure to get this right.

Then I got paralyzed in that decision and decided to post my dilemma to a forum I frequent (that generally has sane people) to try to get ideas.

Total mistake.

Apparently my training thus far was an affront to the marathon distance (not enough miles, ramped up too fast), swimming and biking don’t count at ALL in building running endurance fitness (I heartily disagree over years of experience with it), and the best thing I can do is to run way less miles (now that I’m ramped up and absorbing training just fine?) and accept defeat right now that my marathon is just shot.  Wow, thanks for the confidence guys!

I know that the traditional path to a marathon does not include doing a lot of training on the bike and in the pool, but I feel so fit after my 70.3s I’m ready to leap.  Once I drop the other sports, and after a little adjustment period where it’s weird and awkward to RUN ALL THE MILES, I feel good.  I admit, it IS harder to do 90% running instead of splitting between all 3 sports, but I’m rolling less hours overall, with a lot less intensity overall, so the load feels very similar at the end of the week.

I was riled up for awhile about it, but at this point, I’ve realized this – if you’re going to do non-traditional things, you have to forge your own ground and ignore the haters.  You have to march to the beat of your own drum.  I certainly wouldn’t recommend everyone jump up in miles the way I do, but this isn’t my first rodeo.

It started one year I experimented on a half marathon 6 weeks out of an olympic tri, and I PR’d it (the half marathon that is, it’s actually still my PR).  I was going to do it again the next year, but it got rained out.  2012, I tried the 70.3 to marathon, and while it was so, so, hard, I had a great experience and was hooked.  Last year, I did it again but picked one NINE weeks out.  I PR’d by 21 minutes.  If any of these had gone badly, I would not continue to do this.  I’m not a moron.

And, this doesn’t flatten me for weeks or months or anything.  The first marathon ended and I took a nice long offseason (but that was planned, I’d done 24 races in 12 months and it was time for a break).  Last year, I logged almost 60 miles in December not counting the marathon and I was already ramping up for a half in January.  So, this level of training didn’t kill me, injure me, or otherwise negatively affect me.

I also have the benefit this year that this is not my only shot.  Yeah, I want to PR and have a great day, and I’m on track to do so.  However, I’m signed up for another one at the end of February.  Getting up to fit enough to do a marathon and then having 3 more months to fine tune?  Pretty sure that’s going to be the breakthrough one.  However, I’m also going to nontraditionally train for that one too because I’ll be ramping up for an early season 70.3 as well.

But, I’m sure that run fitness can’t translate to bike and swim, so there’s no way I’m going to PR that one either, according to the internet.  I may as well just give up now.  Riiiiiight.

So, what happened this weekend?  Only, like, my best breakthrough run of this cycle.  I went out with a very flexible plan, and discovered my body had found it’s way out of the mileage haze.  It wanted to cruise faster than normal, so I let it.  The first 7 miles were between 11-11:22, and then I found another gear for the next 9 – between 10:20-10:40.  It felt natural, and my cadence and stride felt pretty great.  That was 16.  I decided to do two more to cool down, but my legs didn’t really want to slow, so those were 11:04 and 10:50, respectively.

The result: the fastest I’ve ever run anything over a half marathon by a LOT, and a huge confidence boost going into the next 3 weeks of taper.  I celebrated by stretching, an ice bath, a beer, and a delicious sandwich (yay, splurge day).

I do have some weirdness going on in my left shin/calf that I’m a little worried about.  I can run/walk/etc no problem, but I’m feeling a few twinges now and then.  I know it’s knotted all to hell (been doing lots of self massage and going to officially address that this week at the chiro and massage), but as a runner, anything in the shin is scary – we fear the hell out of stress fractures.  I don’t think this is it.  Pain that moves around and cycles generally is muscular, but it’s definitely a wakeup call to treat myself right.  I’m taking a few extra days off running this week and frankly, if it’s a wash and I swim and bike most of it, life will go on.  The hay is in the barn. Taper is for addressing these things.

However upset I was at the people on the forum, I actually am thankful for two reasons.  A great path to me to accomplish a goal – to be told I can’t.  So, thank you, random internet people.  You may have gotten into my brain for a bit, but I can ASSURE you that you’ll be in my brain in the latter marathon miles, and I’ll be fighting hard to prove you wrong with a shiny PR.

Also, if this is going to be limping through a marathon, I’ll be excited to see what I can do at the end of February with 3 more months to train.

Life is beyond super busy, but it’s been a while so let me drop a marker in the ground with how it has been.

Last year, this time, my run game was totally on the up and up.  I found speed and endurance and just about every run was like sunshine and puppies and rainbows.  After a legitimately shitty period of running legs during 2013 triathlons after sustaining a knee injury in the spring, it was like being a butterfly that emerged from a cocoon.  It was like, 3 weeks after tri season ended, my running attitude and aptitude somehow pulled a 180 and I was on top of the world.

This year, I’m still in that cocoon.  Mostly.  The wings might be starting to poke through but the transformation is not as dramatic as last year.

It’s a bit unfair to compare.  Last year my run was SO SHITTY during tri season that I really had nowhere to go but up. I was running so below my capacity it was sort of… how could I not run better?

Last year this time, it was so much more temperate bordering on chilly.  We’re finally having our first morning where it’s below mid-60s and humid at dawn this weekend (and actually, mid-60s and humid has been the best of it, it really feels like summer has just continued on, really).  Last year the weather was pretty much perfection from Kerrville to Space Coast.  Not so much this year.  Last week’s run ended at 86 degrees on the thermometer and feels like WTF.

Also, I think I raced Kerrville harder this year, and then went on vacation, and then spent the first week back with my mystery sickness/allergies, and then decided to wreck my bod at a crossfit class and post my slowest run of the year after.  When you have only TWO three week blocks to train, and one of them is just hampered with issues, it’s not exactly a confidence booster.  Another 180 from last year, where training just sort of cruised along.  I was kind of scared of how good I was doing last year, this year I’m scared I’m not improving at all.

However, the goal for the last three weeks was simply volume, and besides the first week, when I was sick, I nailed it.  I just expected the easy pace to drop off a little quicker like it did last year.

Week 1: 21.5 miles ran (which for how AWFUL I felt, was pretty good, though I wanted to hit 35)

Week 2: 40.5 miles ran (40 planned, check and check)

Week 3: 50 miles ran (weekly run mileage PR!)

Midweek miles have just been runs.  A few hilly, a few hot, some before work, some after, some at lunch, some with headlamps, some in full sun.  I’ve put a *little* effort into parts of a small handful of them but mostly they’ve been miles, easy pace/effort.

Week 2 and 3 had long runs (because I’m not counting 6 miles as anything but “holy crap I’m still recovering”).  My 16.5 miler (15-18 planned) was… how shall I say… a character building experience.  Everything felt *off* immediately and never got better.  I was cranky, I had technical difficulties with my music, it was HOOOOOOTTTT and I really just hated every step of it.  Not the best initial long run of a short training cycle.

However, I realized even during the crappy run that it was good mental practice.  Last year, with the weeks of sunshine and rainbows, I showed up to the race feeling off at mile 1 and it threw me HARD.  Now I know that not feeling awesome isn’t an emergency, it’s just one of the cards you draw on the day where you toe the line.  It’s just a longer day of managing that.

Last Saturday was our first 20 this year.  Suffering through that painful 16.5 brought some mental toughness confidence, but that 20 gave me the other side of the coin.  This was just a super pleasant, floaty, mostly painless, happy fun run in spite of just about everything crapping out that day.  Who gets a floaty 20 miler?  That shit is supposed to be hard, right?

My headphones broke at mile 7.  We didn’t bring enough money for gatorades and had to beg for ice/tap water at our second stop.  It reached 86 and was full sun by the end, which was actually hotter than the week before.  But somehow, this one was just a-ok super fine.  I mean, about mile 17, it got to be some effort.  Before that it was just playing around outside.  And this was exactly, on the nose, marathon pace from last year.  Just sublime.  This was the run I was waiting for, for sure.

This week is stepback week, and then I have four more weeks until the race after that.  With these short blocks, it seems that the first half is slogging through a base build, and the second part is where I find all the fun gains when I push myself a little.  Here’s hoping!

A few things I’m looking forward to in the next few weeks:

• Doing my first 23 mile training run next weekend.  Same easy pace as the 20, but Zliten is convinced that closing that gap between training distance and race distance will help. We’ll see.  This will be 3 weeks out from the race, and if I feel like it’s doing irreparable damage I’ll cut it short.
• Speeeeeeedwork.  A few short interval sessions to keep my legs remembering how to turn over faster than a jog, but mostly some tempo work so I remember what it’s like to string sub-10 min miles together and not die.
• Fast finish runs/progression runs.  I tend to run this way anyway, but I’ll be pushing those last miles a little harder.
• Marathon pace.  There will be a lot of “x miles with x at marathon pace” and hopefully once it’s cooler, marathon pace will get a lot easier.
• Actually making a better “best guess” about my marathon pace.  Right now, I’m going to start out around 11 min/miles and cruise a little faster as I get warmed up.  We’ll see if that’s realistic closer to Nov 30th.

Honestly, right now, I’m targeting about the same finish time I was targeting last year – around 4:40.  This is a time I fully believe I could have at least came close to if I had the right day, and didn’t blow up between miles 13 and 20.

And maybe that’s what 2014 is about.  Having the right day, against whatever else life throws at me.  I’ve been able to have some good solid races this year, races where I’m executing on the day on paces that are either at or above my expectations with my training… so… I’m hoping to continue the trend November 30th.

Other stuff:

I’m trying to get in the habit of doing the DOZEN twice a week.  It’s a great set of strength sets that works everything BUT your main running muscles and leaves you fresh.  Sadly, it has also illuminated how terrible I have gotten at pushups, and I’ll be working on that.  Only being able to do 13 from my toes is a little bit embarrassing.

I’m really trying to stress the stretching, foam rolling, and recovery.  I get away with a little more during tri season since swimming and easy bikes tend to loosen me up pretty well, but only running wears me down more.  More relaxing on weekends instead of being everywhere, ice baths, and taking care of myself is on the plan.

I’m sticking with the fruits, corn, and potato for carbs type thing but I have gotten a little lax.  French fries are TECHNICALLY on the list but I probably shouldn’t get them as often as I have been.  I’ve been eating beans not instead of other carbs but with them.  I’m going to get through Halloween (being reasonable), and then redouble my effort from now until the race (with an exception for Thanksgiving, of course).

I think it may be worth tracking at least part of my food intake.  I may spend a week or two tracking everything that’s not veggies, fruit, meat, nuts, non-sugary dairy (cheese good, ice cream, bad), or running fuel.  I have no idea how many calories I’m eating right now, and don’t really want to know, but I think that having to track outside that realm means I’ll eat less of the other stuff.

Had my every-few-years blood draw and doctor confirmed I am a perfect specimen.  The only thing she said was outside OPTIMAL (but within normal) was my B12 and D3 levels, so I got me some suppliments and I haven’t really felt much change, but I am only a month out of recovering from a hard race, so this may shine a little better next year.  Also, she said eating a little MORE red meat might be helpful.  Odd when your doc tells you that, right?

I still am trying to figure out music on my runs.  I’m using my phone, which is old, and heavy, and tends to turn the volume down during and lose connection.  The benefit is I run with music a lot less and mind it less too, but I do like some tuneage to motivate for particularly long/hard sessions.  Also, I used to use a music service (zune) for 15 bucks a month that worked for both me and Zliten, and I got 10 free songs per month.  I’m not sure how I’m going to beat that. 😛

And on that note, back to busy life.

Question of the week: Any music player/service suggestions that don’t start with i-something that you love?