Getting back to Boston

Recovery run during the Super Bowl, in two sections. Took my son over for his first visit to the athletic club; he rode the bike for 30 minutes, while I ran the first 4 miles, and then went downstairs for some ab work. I went down to supervise, then went back to the dreadmill to finish the final 3 miles. Easy run, nothing special, legs felt pretty good after yesterday's hillclimbing.

Had to gut one out on this Groundhog Day -- literally. Waited two hours after eating to run; it wasn't enough. Stomach cramps hit after 4 miles. Thought about quitting right away, then figured out, one, it wasn't getting any worse (although not better either) and two, I could push through it as long as it didn't progress to cricket-feeding time. Since the evening's buffet was staying put, I kept going, and even threw in another mile at the end. Total nine miles, with 8 X 100 strides at the end. Total time 79:37. All in all, a darn good run when circumstances were going against me.

Got off work late, wife got off later (in fact, she's not home YET, three hours after I got home). So I put dinner in the oven for the teenager, told him to watch it and turn oven off at the appropriate time, and went to run. And run. And run. A half-marathon on the dreadmill, in fact. Finished in an hour-54, a clocking that would have thrilled me a year ago. Tonight, it was just a good progression-type training run, with the last half-mile at GMP mainly because I still could and because I wanted to FINISH AND GET OFF THAT BELT.

Then I did what I believe is the coldest icebath I've ever had. Falling overboard on "Deadliest Catch" couldn't be much colder, and that's the Bering Sea in January. But that should certainly flush all the lactate out of my legs, along with the rest of the blood that was in there.

Speaking of blood, I took off my left shoe after the run to find blood on the sock, and dried blood on a couple of toes. But I really cannot figure out where the blood came from. There is no visible wound. I did notice a little bit of irritation in that area during the run, but nothing unusual, and it really didn't last that long.

So then I capped off the night by registering for Newport. I'm committed now (or maybe should be committed). Just have to come up with the money for the trip now. A good stimulus payment in the next four months would help :)

Change of plans in mid-run tonight. Was scheduled for 8 mile recovery on the dreadmill, but legs felt good after last night's dread-half, so I decided to flip days and run Thursday's planned 11-mile GA. Threw in some fartlek, and my usual progression, then bumped it to GMP for the last mile and 6:40 pace for the final 400. Handled that pretty well, I thought.

 Nice to have any remaining uncertainty out of the way. it's Newport now. So I can focus on that, and just lock in for the next 16 weeks on scorching the shores of Yaquina Bay, or whatever it's called. I really like how my training is going so far; better than I had hoped after being sick so recently. Maybe my legs needed to rest at that point.Build tthe base, learn to lay down 7:30-ish miles, and go to Oregon from Boston in May confident that I'll be back in Boston 10.5 months later. That's the plan, anyway; let's see if I can pull it off.

Legs felt like I'd run 33 miles in the past three days when I started tonight's recovery run. They just did not want to get loose. Finally, around the four-mile mark (which seems to be my magic distance), they got going. It was definitely a recovery run (76:17 for eight miles, followed by an ice bath).

Saturday's Crackhead distance is 18 miles. That will give me 66 for the week -- and there's still 16 weeks to Newport. Somebody asked on RWOL how many miles we thought we'd run this year, and I guessed maybe 2400. I'm starting to think that will be low -- maybe way low, barring injury or major burnout. But we'll see. I should put in about 1200 before June 1, and go from there. 

Didn't expect too much when I started this morning's run with the Crackheads -- and the Crackheads were out in force; I estimate maybe 300 people out there. My legs felt really heavy. Which probably worked out in my favor, since there was no chance of going out too fast. Just set out at what felt like a really slow, plodding pace -- which turned out to be about 9:40 to 9:45 (I remember when a 9:40 run felt like a sprint). And I just kept plodding, down the river trail, through Burns Park, across the freeway on the Funland loop, back through the soccer fields, and down the trail to the skate park.

After the turnaround at the skate park, I started a game. It was called Pass As Many People As You Can. I don't know if the people I was passing were running 18, 10, 5, or just happened to be out there at the same time as us Crackheads. Didn't matter. I just kept picking them off. I probably passed 30 or 40 people, got passed by zero. Got back to the surgical hospital in 2:50 for exactly 18 miles. Definitely the best run I've ever had on that particular run, where I have had some problems in the past. I would not have been happy if this was a race, but for a training run 16 weeks out, it went really well.

Interesting day. Crashed early last night and slept for 12 hours; the rest of me felt great when I got up but my back had completely locked up and took more than an hour to loosen. Then my wife and I spent some time planning the trip that will include my flight to Oregon for the marathon, then I worked on my taxes and FAFSA for my son enrolling in college. (Yuck and double yuck). After all that, I was ready to run, but by now there was a time consideration. DW and DS wanted to go to the athletic club, but it was already past 6:30 and the place closes at 8. Got there and got on the dreadmill at 6:50; a little math told me that at recovery speed, I had time to run 7 miles but not 8. So I ran seven, maybe a little faster than I had wanted because of the time constraints. Averaged exactly 9:00 for the seven miles. 

Had to flip a couple of days this week. I'm supposed to attend a social event tomorrow night at the Governor's Mansion (unknown if the Gov will actually be present) for the agency where my wife works, which will eat up a good chunk of the evening. Thus, no time to do 14 miles tomorrow. So I did it tonight instead. Took me just a smidge under two hours on the TM, watching the Obama newser along with the punditry afterward. Folks, I don't like running for two hours on the dreadmill, but my schedule doesn't lend itself to doing anything else. So I suck it up, as I told Cindy in an email, and put up with the DM.

All in all, for two hours on the dreadmill, it was a pretty good run. Averaged obviously right at 8:30 miles. I've run 10Ks at slower paces than that. No fartlek this time, just steady, consistent 8:30 miles.

Had our Youth Home recognition dinner at the Governor's Mansion, or to be more precise, the banquet hall/ballroom attached to the back of the mansion, which I had no idea existed. Nice shindig. Pam got a door prize of a gift certificate from Bosco's, which is a restaurant we've been wanting to try, so that works.

The dinner broke up at 8, we went home, I changed and hit the TM at 8:30 for my GA run. Seven miles at just over 9:00 pace, then strides for a mile. Legs really took 6 miles to loosen up, although a little stretching might have helped in that area :) I think to get to my 70-mile goal for the week, I'm gonna have to get up early Friday and do 4 or so on the TM at the AC before work. But we'll see how that works out. Saturday's run has been moved to the River Market, which should be a little more favorable for my 8 miles of planned GMP in the middle of the 17 miles. Also gonna have to start early so we have time to get out of town and head for Fayetteville for our Valentine's weekend date. 

Another night on the dreadmill, while hoping the evening's Mexican dinner doesn't bite me...

Pretty much a steady 9:00, slowly accelerating until the last 800 when I bumped it up to GMP. Total time about an hour-46. Legs felt OK from the beginning, but they did not want to keep moving for nearly two hours. So just sucked it up and did it anyway. No attacks from the Enchilada Brigade, fortunately. 

Easy eight on the TM, except to baby the big blister I got on my right heel last night (never had one in just that spot before), I shifted to more of a midfoot landing, and thus got a big blister on the ball of my right foot. That one, however, is not nearly so tender, and I think the one on my heel is going to improve quickly.

Plan to get up early tomorrow to go to the AC for a quick 4 or 5 on their TM, then shower, dress and go to work. This is as close to doubles as I get, having finished tonight's run at 9 p.m. and start tomorrow's by 6:30. Then 8-10 Saturday morning before I leave for Fayetteville, and 17 sometime Sunday.

My version of a double -- after running 8 last night ending at 9:00, back on the TM first thing this morning. Weather was nice enough to go outside, but I wasn't sure how my legs or blistered feet would hold up -- and didn't want to be semi-stranded two or three miles from home with work looming.

As it turned out, the feet did OK, but the legs weren't that great. I guess I'm  not quite up to semi-doubles, although I guess I could get there with a few more sessions like this. Anyway, just a steady 30-minute run at 6.5, which comes out to 3.25 miles if you're not up to the math. Shower, breakfast, off to work.

Weird morning all around. For one thing, I got a good night's sleep, which is rare. Felt good, went out to meet the group -- but when I start running, my right fifth metatarsal is quite painful. Nice. Is this a stress fracture? Well, didn't hurt at all standing or walking, doesn't seem to be getting any worse, so I'll keep going. Wind is blowing 25+; got one gust between two tall buildings downtown that darn near took my legs out from under me. Seconds earlier, a guy running near me tripped on the trolley track and DID fall down. Finally, about the two-mile mark, the foot quit hurting. Run's going pretty well at this point, although the temperature seems to be falling (I dressed for mid-40s, not expecting it to fall further) and the wind is not letting up.

 Then I get back into downtown LR at the five-mile mark and my cellphone beeps. I'm on call, like I am every other weekend, but I have never once gotten called during my Saturday morning run. Until today. Medical exchange gives me a message to call a patient who was in clinic yesterday and wasn't doing very well. I cut off my run, head directly back to my car (fortunately not too far away) and call her. She's not doing well now either, and wants to come in to get her implanted pain pump adjusted. But she lives an hour away. I tell her to come in and meet me at the office. Then I go home, shower, get dressed, and go to the office to open up and get ready for her. We got the pump adjusted, I gave her a prescription for nausea, and then I'm able to proceed with my Valentine's weekend plans. But my planned 8-mile run (already abbreviated because of those weekend plans) got cut to 6. Oh well. I may run 15 or so tomorrow morning from my hotel, or I may take the day off and let that foot rest.

Very good run this morning. Not that my legs felt that strong, or that I ran that fast, but it was a good run over a new trail that I hope to use again and again as the years go by. I just learned yesterday that a friend who lives in Northwest Arkansas is also a marathoner; he ran a 3:36 in his first race last fall. He tipped me off that Fayetteville has an excellent (and expanding) system of trails, and I set out this  morning from my hotel to explore them.

Most striking thing about the run was the snapped trees all along the route. Fayetteville and all of northern Arkansas was hit recently by a severe ice storm which knocked out power to most of the area; some outlying areas STILL do not have power restored. Fayetteville's power is back and the trails (fortunately) are clear, but the trees along the trail look like they were hit by a tornado. Or a bomb. BIG trees snapped in two. One huge branch, broken off its tree, was suspended over the trail by surviving branches. If there had been any significant wind this morning, I would have been extremely leery of running under that branch; if it falls, anyone unlucky enough to be under it might well be skewered by the falling limbs.

Anyway, once I got oriented and got on the trail itself, as opposed to streets paralleling the trail, it was a very pleasant run. Temp was about 35, no wind to speak of, overcast, and a little damp after overnight rains. The city of Fayetteville has spent a LOT of money on this trail -- numerous bridges over creeks, a 300-yard tunnel under the I-540 freeway, mile markers set into the pavement so that no one can steal them. And they plan to build more than 100 more miles of additional trails. One surprising thing is how flat the trail is. Fayetteville is a very hilly/mountainous town, but they kept the trail really flat. The way they did that is to run it through creek bottoms, hence the need for numerous bridges. From my hotel on the southwest edge of town, I ran east for two miles to get to the trail system, then headed north until after crossing under the I-540 freeway, then turned northeast for another two miles. At that point, I turned around and retraced my path back, finding parts of the trail that I missed the first time. Of course, the tunnel cut off the GPS signal to my Garmin, so I'm not entirely confident of the distance it gave me, but it says I ran 17.8. Maybe I ran more than that; I don't know. Took me a bit under three hours, a 9:42 average.

Pretty good day for a Monday. Got plenty of rest after an early crash, work was not too bad, the weather's decent and the run went pretty well. Schedule for Sunday was an 8-miler followed by 10-mile GA with strides. Since I did 18 on Sunday, I decided to ditch the 8-miler entirely and do the 10 on Monday as per the original schedule. If I then do 13-8-11-rest-20 for the rest of the week, that would be 80 miles -- my biggest week ever, and what I had planned to max out with on this plan. I may still max out at 80, but now I'll do at least two 80 weeks.

As for tonight, I ran most of it at 8:30ish pace with 10 strides at the end at 6:40 pace. Legs felt really good considering I ran 18 yesterday. After a fairly bad week last week, I feel like I've moved up a level and am in better condition. Maybe it's just because I've gotten a couple of good nights' sleep recently; adequate rest seems to be the weak link in my training.

Back on the TM tonight for 14 miles I really did not feel like running. Talk about having to push myself through a workout for more than two hours. But I pushed through. As sometimes happens with me, the legs started to feel better as I went along, although overall I was very tired.

Speaking of my legs, something weird is happening below my left knee for the last week or so. Intermittently during a run, particularly early in the run, I feel a brief, sharp pain on the outside of my tibia, and my knee feels like it wants to buckle. No pain in the knee itself, only in that one spot. 

But I'm definitely in better shape, maybe almost as fit as I was for Memphis three months ago.  Not as fast as I was then, but in very good shape.

Easy 8 on the TM at the athletic club tonight. Barely felt like I'd run at all when I finished in 73:37. Well on my way to 80-plus this week, which would be a PR, and that's without a Friday morning jog.

Family duties kept me off the TM tonight. So I'll get up in five hours (brain not turning off right now), and head to the athletic club for 10 on the TM tomorrow before work. That will put me on track to finish my first 80-mile week with 20 on Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, that 20 will be with the Crackheads, most of whom are running their one and only 20-miler before Little Rock in four weeks. I'm kinda missing running my hometown race, even though I have my target set for Oregon in May. Thought about running the half at LR, but economics convinced me not to -- couldn't see paying $80 to run 13 miles on a course I could (and have) run in my sleep, and will run essentially in its entirety Saturday morning. I'm paying less than that for the full 26 at Newport, travel costs aside (which are not insignificant). I'll just do another 20-miler the day before LRM, and I may or may not even attend the race. What I really ought to do is find some way to help out at the race, but it's probably too late for that.

Bad night's sleep, very good run. Up at 5 today to go to the club since I could not run last night due to family stuff. Got there at 5:30 and claimed one of  the treadmills that faces the street with a built-in TV. Couldn't see out the window because of reflections from the lights behind me; TV wouldn't stay on for more than 30 seconds at a time. No matter. Legs started to feel pretty good between 4 and 5 miles, and I decided to crank it in the last half of the run. So I ran 3 of the last 5 miles at GMP, which for me right now is about 7:40 pace. Felt strong throughout, even with the lack of sleep.

Now we'll see how a couple of things work out: How I feel through a Friday clinic, always the worst of the week; and how I feel tomorrow morning when I join the Crackheads for a 20-miler. Hopefully 23 hours rest will let the legs spring back. If not, at least I got a good workout in today, and I'm set up to finish my first 80-mile week tomorrow.

Oh yeah, got to try out my new pair of shoes this morning. My adidas Supernova Glides arrived yesterday. Great fit, comfortable, light, good cushioning, nothing rubbing me in the wrong places. Once I discovered that adidas runs a half-size small and adjusted, their shoes have been great for me. Last week's blisters are still there, but they don't hurt at all, they're just loose skin.

What a difference a year (or 54 weeks) makes. On Feb. 9, 2008, I did my first 20-mile run (almost). Took me 3:25, which was a huge struggle with a lot of walking. Today, in a cold rain, 3:09 over the same course, and it was a LOT easier -- not that it was easy. And it was also a full 20.

Talked to Coach Tom after the run about two things: volunteering at LRM, and becoming a coach. Tom warned me that since I'm so OCD, I will have to be really careful as a coach not to push people beyond the breaking point and get them hurt. The idea is to get them ready, but not get them injured. As for volunteering, I still haven't definitely decided to do so, but the option remains open; they can always use more people.

I've always heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing the same way over and over and expecting different results. I have a new definition: Running 20 miles in a cold rain in February. 

Main side effect of yesterday's activity was not a sore back or sore legs. It was sore abs from last night's little ab session at the AC. Really hard to bend over or cough or anything of the sort until some NSAIDs kicked in in early afternoon. After that, I was fine. Took care of some things that needed to be taken care of this afternoon, like filing FAFSA and my taxes (one refund, one with taxes owed), then went for a 10K recovery run on the riverfront.

The weather was absolutely perfect -- 50 degrees, just a hint of a breeze, not a cloud in the sky. It felt like I was running SO slow -- and I averaged 9:15. I would have been thrilled to average 9:15 in the LRM 51 weeks ago today. If I had, in fact, I might have just checked 26.2 off my bucket list and then moved on to something else... naw, I wouldn't either. I can't be satisfied with that. Now if I'd run a BQ on my first marathon, I might have called it quits after running Boston, but not a 4:02:XX.

Today is my first prescribed day of recovery doubles on Pfitz, so I wrapped up the day tonight with another easy 5 on the TM to get to an even 11.25 for the day. Considering I ran 80 miles last week, my legs feel remarkably good. Knock off 75 this week, then a stepdown week. 

Interesting evening -- and run. First, had to drive an hour away to see a patient in the hospital. Pam joined me out of boredom, I guess. By the time I got there, saw the patient, we drove back, got some dinner and got home, it was nearly 8:15. I had to let dinner digest a while or risk feeding some crickets, so the run couldn't start until 9:15. Both the fitness room and the club close at 10. I went to the fitness center and got through 7.5 miles on the DM before the security guy showed up and kicked me out. So I went outside and finished my run, guessing at the needed mileage, then went back and measured it in my car after I finished.

The run itself was supposed to be a 10-miler with 5 miles at LT. Got through the warmup and four miles of LT before I got booted. So I headed out at LT pace on a route I was pretty sure was close to a mile. Turned out it was 0.9. So my tempo run was a tenth short. Big deal. The rest of the run, the cooldown if you will, was actually 1.8, so I totaled 10.2. I thought the tempo part went really well, better than I had hoped. A 7:20 pace actually felt kind of easy. Even outside after I got booted.

One of those nights where the box labeled "Easy Miles" above is a misnomer. Nothing about tonight's run was easy. My legs were not sore after last night's tempo run, but they kinda felt dead. It really took about 12 miles tonight for them to respond. In the meantime, the sweat glands decided to come back from vacation. It wasn't any warmer in the fitness room, at least it didn't seem any warmer, and I had the fans on full blast, but the sweat just poured off. I had to stop the TM twice to go reload my water bottle, and even that wasn't enough.

But with all that, I persevered, I got in my 15 miles, even ran the last mile at roughly GMP, and I managed to finish before the security guy showed up to toss me out again -- but not by much. Took me about 2:19 to finish 15 miles, including the breaks. I'm pretty sure February is going to be my alltime PR for mileage in a month, even with 2-3 fewer possible running days and some marginal weather.

Easy 8 tonight at the club. Able to commandeer my own fan tonight, so the relatively warm temperature was not as much of an issue. Jus kinda cruised at something like 9:10 pace. No muss, no fuss.

I'm kinda reassessing my training approach for Newport. Emphasize miles over speed, or combine miles AND speed, or back off on the miles and stress speed? The miles/speed combination worked well for me for Memphis, but it also carries the highest risk of injury and/or burnout. I think for now I'll keep doing what I'm doing, but be hypervigilant for signs that I can't maintain the program. Good news is that the base building ends in a couple of weeks, then it switches to more speed-oriented work (although still plenty of miles).

Legs felt DEAD tonight. No snap at all. Stretching didn't help a bit. I was all ready to shut my run down at 8 miles tonight when suddenly at about 7.4, I started to feel some signs of life south of the acetabula. Still not great, but enough to run two more miles at a decent pace before I shut down. Not the scheduled 12-14, but at least a decent run. I'll probably get up early tomorrow for 4 or 5 at the AC before work to try to get the kinks out.

Up early today for a quick 4 to work out some kinks -- and some frustrations. Yesterday was not good from start to finish, and I just needed to try to put it behind me. We'll see if I succeeded. A better night's sleep would have helped.

Call this a mini-race report: It's my first run at any kind of extended speed since Memphis, nearly three months ago. In three more months, I'll be in Oregon trying to get my BQ. Right now, I'm very pleased with my run this morning, but I haven't gone through the data in my Garmin yet. Let's see how I feel about it in 10 minutes or so.

The goal for today: 17 miles with 10 at GMP. The site: Murray Park with the Crackheads, who are in taper mode for Little Rock in two weeks, thus planned 12. I took their route and basically added 3 miles to the turnaround point. Weather: 40 degrees and very windy. I thought I was back in Memphis for a while, running directly into the wind from miles 3-7 and 11-15. I also thought I was underdressed given the windchill, although things got better once I got warmed up.

Now to the Garmin...

First mile, start slow and gradually build. Average just under 10:00. That's fine, consistent with the plan. Second mile, pick it up, 9:00 pace. Now, put the hammer down. Mile 3: 8:25. Good, but not MP. Mile 4: 8:17. Better, still not MP, and I turned back into the wind during this mile. Mile 5: 8:23. Now I better appreciate what I did in Memphis, holding my pace as well as I did in this kind of wind in the final 10K. It's HARD to run fast with this kind of wind in your face. Mile 6: 8:17. Better. Mile 7: 8:13, and this included the big uphill of the Big Dam Bridge (http://www.bigdambridge.org/).

But now I turn downwind AND get the boost of the downhill ramp off BDB. Mile 8: 8:05. Still not MP. Mile 9: 8:13. Mile 10: 7:56. FINALLY something under 8:00, although I'm really shooting for something in the high-7:40s as GMP. Mile 11: 7:54. Better still, but I'm starting to bonk a bit (should have done a gel back around mile 6). So, after nine miles at speed, I back off at the turnaround and head back into the wind. Jogged through miles 12-13 while my legs recovered, then picked up the pace a bit. Decided now my goal is to put the hammer down again in mile 17, taking advantage of the BDB downhill on the other side, to get that 10th mile at semi-MP. Mile 14: Faster, at 9:09. Mile 15: 9:02. Mile 16: 8:57, including the BDB uphill. Mile 17: 7:47. A REAL GMP mile, finally (even if I got a bit of help from the BDB designers), plus it was back into the wind. Evidently I went a tad farther before the turnaround than I had envisioned, because I'm still nearly a mile from my car after I backed down from GMP. Although I didn't back down much: 8:07 pace for the last .75.

So I ran three miles at sub-BQ pace, 7.7 at near-BQ pace, and seven miles of GA. Not a perfect MP run, but not bad. Wind didn't help, and I have run more than 150 miles the last two weeks, so the legs are a tad heavy. Next week is a stepdown week, and I think I need one. Pat thinks I'll either get another big PR in Newport or kill myself training for it. He might be right, although I'm going to really try to be alert for my body telling me to back off. Right now is one of those times, so I'm glad Pfitz threw next week's backoff in when he did.

One more thing: My first marathon was 52 weeks ago in Little Rock. One young man, Adam Nickel of Madison, Wis., did not survive that marathon; he crossed the finish line, collapsed in the chute and could not be revived. He was found to have died in part because of hypokalemia and dehydration related to the warm, muggy weather that day. I thought this morning that if we'd had this kind of weather one year ago, Adam Nickel might be alive today. And as I was leaving the park, driving down LaHarpe Blvd. toward the LRM finish in Riverfront Park, I noticed a little sign under the Mile 26 marker: "In memory of Adam Nickel". To Adam's friends and family, please know that we in the Central Arkansas running community are still thinking about him and you are in our prayers.