Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Return (Part 2)

How much training can someone that would be considered a "beginner" marathon runner actually get done in 6 weeks? Not much really. But it would be more than what I did last time...which was zero. This time, I wouldn't be leaving an expo thinking, "Did they say they trained for a marathon? People actually do that?"

Ideally, you'd want to give yourself enough time to build up a good base, then work in some speed training and marathon pace tempo runs. Then the last phase of your training includes race prep along with the taper. At least that's what I was told. That's a lot to try to squeeze in 6 weeks considering you'd want to spend about 6 weeks for each phase.

So, what was my plan to pull off an 18-week training program in 6? Simple math...break everything down into 2-week phases. I didn't know if it was going work, but I had no real goals. It's not like I was going to try to qualify for Boston. I just wanted to finish the darn distance and finish it without bonking as bad as I had 11 years prior. But I did have a few things motivating me. A co-worker of mine finished a marathon in 4:35 earlier that year and I thought I could run faster than that. I also wanted to beat Oprah's time of 4:29:20 which was P. Diddy's goal. He was able to do it in 4:15:54. I guess I thought that if these "non-runners" were able to do it, I could too, and do it faster. But whatever. My motto was "train to finish" and if I ran a faster time than them, then all the better.

My plan was to build up the miles for two weeks, hold that for two more weeks, then taper the last two. I was told that I needed to run a few 20-mile runs just to get my legs use to that distance. I figured the weekly long run would look like this: week 1 would be 16 miles, weeks 2, 3 and 4 would be the 20-miler weeks and I'd taper with 16 in the last. What actually happened was this: Week 1, bonked at mile 15, walked the last. Week 2, bonked at mile 16, walked 2 and stopped. Week 3, got in 18 miles but too tired to continue so stopped there. Week 4, made it all the way to 20 but felt more exhausted than I would have liked. Week 5, bonked at 12. There was a lot of bonking going on and because of that, I went into the taper week lacking confidence and motivation. This was going to be an interesting 26.2 miles of running.

The last week before the marathon, I tried reading race reports and even watched "The Spirit of the Marathon" to try to get myself motivated and psyched up for the big day. Nothing helped. I found the movie rather boring probably because I couldn't relate to any of the main characters. Then a coworker of mine suggested that I read "Born to Run." I found the motivation I needed in that book. I was ready...kind of.

I headed up to Sacramento the night before the race and met up with John who picked up my race bib. 5150. How appropriate. (In short, a 5150 is a 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold that is placed on someone that is danger to himself or others or is gravely disabled...basically, you're some kind of crazy.)

After some Thai food, we headed back to the hotel to have a pre-race beer at the bar. I overheard a couple guys talking about just completing a 50-mile race. I thought, "Hey, I just read a book about people running 'ultramarathons.'" This guy is one of them. And he's going to run the marathon tomorrow? Now that's crazy. I'm still hoping to get through this one OK.

I had a pretty decent night's sleep. Got up in the morning and went down to have some breakfast along with all the other marathoners. We hopped the shuttle to the start where I sat and listened to more folks talking about all the marathons they've done and the ones that they've already signed up for. Geez people. How many marathons do you need to run? I just wanted to do this one and be done with it. I still didn't know what I was going to run. I figured I could at least try for a sub-4 hour. Why not. Get it done and never have to run this distance again.

One more trip to the porta-potties then I headed to find a pace group to run with. How did I decide which group to run with? 3:30? Hmmm. These guys looked fast. 4:00? Yeah, looks like I can hang with these guys. But it didn't look like a fun group. 3:30 again? No. These guys still looked too fast. Let me check out the 3:10 group. I wouldn't be running with them but I'd like to see what a BQ group of guys look like. Yeah, way too fast. Guess it'll be the 4:00 hour group. So I headed back to the back of the pace groups to settle in. But what's this? 3:40? Wow. There are a lot of female runners in this group. This was the female BQ pace for my age group. I could at least try to hang out with these ladies. If anything, I'd have nice scenery for 26 miles or however long I could hang with them.

Julie Fingar, ultramarathon great, was our group pacer. I didn't know how great she was at the time but she introduced herself, offered some words of encouragement and reminded us to stop and drink at every aid station. "I won't stop until the halfway point but you guys should stop and drink at every aid station." I thought, "Wow, what a stud, she doesn't need to drink for 13.1 miles."

Then we were off. Most of the race was uneventful. I drank a cup of water and a cup of electrolyte drink at every aid station. Took a GU every 4-5 miles and a salt tab every hour just like I practiced during my long training runs.

I felt good approaching mile 20...the dreaded wall. I ran right through it. I felt surprisingly good. The pace felt comfortable. I was actually going to do this. But I didn't want to jinx myself. But somewhere along the mile 22 section, Julie sped up a bit. I was the only one who followed her. I guess when she realized it, she slowed her pace back down and I kept on going. There were only a few miles left, I figured I should put some more effort in to it now. I crossed the line with an official time of 3:38:25. Big PR. I was quite impressed. And still am. Although I've been told that that's too slow for what I could actually run it. Meh, I don't care too much for racing.

I made my way through the chute to look for N. Thanked her for her support, lined up for my post race massage and headed back to the hotel. On the walk back, I thought, that was actually not too bad. I could have either ran it faster or gone another 5 miles, couldn't I? Like I said, I don't care to race or run another marathon faster, but could I run farther? There was the challenge. And so my entry into the ultramarathon distance was born. But not for another 15 months....

Monday, July 9, 2012

The Return - Nine Years Later (Part 1)

What happened to me in the years following the 2001 SF Marathon? A whole lot of not running long distances. I ran very little in the following years. Then stopped being active altogether for a couple years after. Gained about 25 pounds, and for someone who only weighed 130 for years prior, that was huge. I owed it all to fast foods and sodas, in mass amounts. And I'm talking about the Super Big Gulps, at least once a week, all in one sitting.

When did I realize what I was doing to myself? I always knew but for some reason, I thought it was OK. I wasn't exactly in a great place in my life at that time. 2004 was especially a rough year. So what was the breaking point? It was literally my belt. I had a belt that fastened down with a clasp, and in my denial kept using the same mark to hold up my jeans.

My jeans weren't getting tighter. I've always had an issue with proper jean fit so usually had to buy a couple sizes up and used a belt to hold them up. It was the high quality leather belt that I got from the Banana Republic that couldn't handle the increase in girth. Holding up and stretching under the strain of an additional 3 inches is a lot to ask of from a $30 BR belt. The stitches popped under the pressure and the clasp fell to the floor as I was standing in front of my full length closest door mirror. I couldn't believe what just happened. Not that the belt broke, but that I let myself get this overweight.

I didn't jump back in to racing or even running. I started with eating better and stopped drinking sodas. I started biking to work and with the mountain bike that my brother-in-law gave me, headed to the trails on the weekends to do some mountain biking.

After building up a lighter mountain bike, I figured I should try racing it since I felt so fast on it. Keep in mind that there is a difference between feeling fast and actually being fast. I was probably overusing the granny gears and spinning at 200 rpm and moving a couple inches at a time up the trails. But I still felt fast. So in 2008, I signed up to do a 3-race mountain bike duathlon series and a sprint off-road triathlon at the end of that series with TBF Racing.

After the first duathlon, I was ready to quit. It was a run-bike-run race with a double loop on the bike course. I was cold, wet, dirty, miserable and bleeding when I got back for the bike to run transition. I fell off my bike so many times that there was a point in the race where I just wanted to walk my bike so I could avoid falling. I finished that last 2-mile run, dried off and drove home. All I kept thinking was, I have 2 more of these races and a sprint tri? I'm already so over it. But with a little pep talk from my fiancé at the time, I stuck through it and even ended up winning my age group in the sprint tri.

In the years following, I raced a few more off-road sprint triathlons, tried out orienteering races with the BAOC and even raced in a few adventure races with Nor-Cal AR. I really enjoyed spending time on the trails but didn't care about being competitive. It was all for fun and fitness and I have kept it up since.

In 2010, John G, the buddy I ran with in my first marathon, was running the California International Marathon, CIM, trying to qualify for Boston. He convinced me to give the marathon another shot. I was scheduled to work that day so put in a request to get that day off. Fortunately, I was granted the day off, but unfortunately, the approval came 8 weeks from race day so I told him I'd just come up to watch. He convinced me that 8 weeks should be enough time to train, especially since I wasn't trying to qualify for Boston and with all the triathlons and adventure racing I've been doing, I should have a good base. So, after considering for a couple weeks, I signed up and began my training with 6 weeks left before the marathon.

(Stay tuned for Part 2)

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

2001 SF Marathon...My Return to Running?

With the next running of the San Francisco Marathon a few weeks away, I felt it fitting to finally write about my experience...over a decade late but here's my story..

11 years ago, I set out to do what I thought was the ultimate goal for any runner...to complete a marathon. Back then, I was 22 years old and thought I could do anything when it came to running. I actually didn't consider myself a runner...at least not a long distance runner. I never ran anything longer than 10 miles and for the few years leading up to that point, I had done little to no miles. Words like nutrition, hydration, bonking had nothing to do with running as far as I knew. And "the wall?" I never even heard of that term before. But I wanted to be a "real" runner. The marathon was going to be the glorious beginning to my distance running career.

I can't remember exactly when I registered to run the July 9th 2001 SF Marathon, but I think it might have been a few weeks before the race was scheduled. It was one of those moments when you're hanging out with your buddies and someone mentions the marathon, then another friend chimes in saying he's always wanted to try one. And eventually everyone is joining in saying they've always wanted to run a marathon. Kind of like how you've always wanted to try eating some new exotic cuisine but was always afraid of the possibility of getting diarrhea from it. So with no time left to train, I decided running a few miles here and there would be sufficient to prepare my legs for 26.2 miles.

The big day came and it was a typical San Francisco morning, cool and a bit foggy. Back then, the course began and ended in Golden Gate Park. I had no idea what my finish time would be. Neither did Jesse or John, so we didn't care about lining up with a pace group.

The race started out well enough. We made our way through the park and up towards the Presidio. We dropped down into the Marina and I was feeling pretty good at that point. I said to John that the pace felt comfortable and I think that I could maintain it. A 4-hr marathon sounded reasonable. From there, we ran along the waterfront towards the Bay Bridge which was about 10 miles into the race. We were plugging along at about a 9-min/mi pace. That's about where we dropped Jesse.

At mile 13, we reached an aid station where I grabbed my first Dixie cup of water and a couple slices of Power Bars. Still feeling fresh, I headed up to the Haight back towards the park. Not even a mile later, I started feeling tired. I ventured into a new distance and although I was mentally feeling good, my body was starting to break down.

I reached into my pocket for a Power Bar Gel which I had gotten the previous day at the expo. Never tried one before and didn't know what it would do other than provide me with some energy. Luckily, it didn't cause me any GI issues and it did provide me with some energy. Within a few minutes, I felt better. But it was short lived. After a few minutes, I started fading again. One gel worked great so I took another. Nothing. So I took my third and last gel. That was enough to get me to the next aid station just inside Golden Gate Park.

Got a couple cups of water this time and a couple more gel packs. But now I was starting to feel nauseous. I tried taking in a gel but ended up cheeking it like how a monkey does it when he's saving food for later. I just couldn't take anything down.

Then, I finally hit the wall. For good. Mile 20. I didn't know what the wall was back then. But there I was. Completely sapped. Moving at about 20 minutes/mile. This last section of the race took you south along the Great Hwy to Sloat then back the same way. It took me 2 hours. Two freaking hours to "run" (or what I thought was running but was actually just a shuffling of heavy legs and feet) 6.2 miles to the finish. In my head, the motions I was making with my arms and legs was, in fact, running. Two of my friends met up with us at this point to cheer us on and offer encouragement and it never crossed my mind at the time that they were walking next to us as we were "running." I would have been better off just walking. Somewhere along this stretch of our death march, Jesse caught back up to us. The three of us slowly, and very painfully, made our way to the finish. Mission accomplished. Hardly, but it was over and done with.

What did I learn from it? Nothing at that time. Was this the glorious intro to distance running I was looking for? Not exactly. Why would I ever want to put myself through a hellish experience like that again? You can keep your distance running. Heck, why even run. I was done...or was I? Yeah, I was done.