That Was a Short Off Season

So after the Toughman this year I felt I had set, and reached, some pretty lofty goals for myself. I finished in the top 5 of my AG for all three of my sprints. I had clocked a sub :40 10k. And of course had an amazing first 70.3 experience.

I'm at that magical moment right now where the next year's season really starts to come together conceptually and I'm setting some even steeper goals for myself. Rather than dance around the issue, here they are.

1. Finish the LI Marathon with a sub 3:00 time, thusly qualifying for Boston even if they lower the qualifications.
2. Finish with a sub 5:00 70.3 at Mooseman in June.
3. Complete the 'Little Red Lighthouse' 5.85mile swim in September.
4. Finish with a sub 4:45 70.3 at Toughman in September.
5. Run both the NY Marathon and the Philly Marathon in the fall.

I know this is nuts but as of this moment I am in the best shape of my life, I have no injuries, and I am feel incredible motivated to accomplish these things. I have already begun a 25-week training program for the LI Marathon that will bring me up to 70+ mile weeks in March. Use this base to break into cross training to build up to Mooseman. Relax a bit then kick into speed work in the summer. I'm doing Providence 70.3 to gauge my late-summer fitness then attack the Toughman in the fall. NY and Philly Marathons will be my dessert for a year of intense training and racing.

I can't wait. Did 5 miles of speed work tonight and feeling good....

Reboot

Wow, this thing is dusty. It's been nearly two years since I've done any substantial work on this site so I feel I have some 'splainin to do.

In brief, 2008 was a fantastic year for me. I ran hard, broke into triathlon, met my wonderful 'coach' Alicia and ran 2 marathons in the same week.

2009 was an even better year for me personally, just not so great my racing. After starting the year off with a 3:18 in the National Marathon I then fell way off the bandwagon and danced my way through an aborted season. In lieu of training I spent most of my time traveling, moving in with Alicia and adopting two wonderful kitties. In October, Alicia and I became engaged and spent much of the rest of the winter in the early planning stages for our wedding.

By early spring of 2010 I was finally ready to jump back into training and although this blog was dorment, my season was far from it. I began the year with a tremendous finish at the Pittsburgh Marathon, 5th, 3rd and 1st place AG finishes in my 3 sprints, a 10k PR and a 5:09 finish in my first 70.3 distance triathlon. Sprinkled in there were also an open water swim in the Hudson, a few half marathons, 2 duathlons, losing nearly 20 lbs and packing healthy bulk of muscle as never before.

Phew - I'm tired just writing that.

I'm booting this blog back up as a means of pushing me towards my race goals of 2011, of which I have several pretty big ones - beginning with a BQ/PR at the Long Island Marathon in April. In pursuit of that goal I'll be following an 18 week marathon training plan, with my progress updated here! I'll have an update, along with some design upgrades rolling out shortly.

Oh and in case you're wondering, the wedding is in 4 days....

Hello World !

*Yawn*

Is this thing still on?

Wow... it's 2010. Almost a year since my last post. How are you? ... Mmhmm. So... last year. My season last year was problematic to say the least. I signed up for too many races, actually toed the line at only few of them, raced too hard, trained too light. I had some fun, Philly Marathon, a Long Island sprint, back to Block Island for the 15k. But ultimately it was an aborted season. Not that that's a bad thing, I had a lot of fun with my family and friends. Drank a lot of great beer, worked hard and most importantly got engaged!

But this year I've circled my wagons and am ready to go all out. My bike is tuned up, I have two new boxes of GU and a fresh pair of Brooks still in the bag. The goal - a Half Ironman in September. It's over 23 weeks away but I have 15 lbs to lose and hundreds of miles to run, bike and swim just to get there.

I can't wait.

Let's go.

"A Wonderful Weekend", or "A Disaster in the Running"

So on May 3rd, Alicia and I went down to Philly to join my brother's family for the weekend. It's always wonderful to see them and my wonderful little niece. She's in that stage where every time we visit her she seems like they're swapping in a entirely different baby. It seems like yesterday I was holding her while she was just hours old, oblivious to the world. Next thing I know we're in Naked Chocolate and she's walking over to me for the first time. Now she's talken' and running and giggling up a storm (especially when Aunt Alicia bounces her on the knee, it's like a baby opiate).

But there was some running to be had this weekend as well. After a year of talking about it, my brother had finally pulled on some running shoes and logged in the miles during lunch. Sure enough, he challenges me to the 10 Mile 'Broad Street' Run in Philly. "Just 10 miles? Down one road? How hard can that be?"...ahhh, hubris.

We woke up around 7, had some coffee and gave baby a good-bye kiss then jogged out the door. I had expected it to be a little damp and chilly so I wore shorts, but a tight long-sleeved top with a light tech-top above that and my running hat. The morning had rained earlier and was still threatening by the time we made it to the race start. A little breezy, and chilly, I was very glad to have planned ahead. With a big 'Good luck' hug, chas and I went to respective corrals.

I felt good. I was in the first corral, and I even moved up to the front of the pack. It was only 10 miles! A straight run! I had visions of PR's in my eyes as I took to the starting line. For those who haven't been to a big race start, typically the way it happens is that there are wheelchair races that go first, then the pros, then the first amateur pack, which I typically qualify for. So they announce "Five minutes 'til Wheelchair racers! Wheelchair racers take your mark!" This will usually mean that they'll sound a gun for the wheelchairs, then the announce when the runners can go, then sound a second gun for the footrace to begin. Well I don't know if something went wrong or if they had a miss-start or something because suddenly I hear "Runner's get set! GO! *boom*!!" With a moment of confusion, everyone just takes off, one big heard of elite runners, amateurs and somewhere in the mess the wheelchair racers.

But we go, and I feel great. I'm huffing along at a good clip, dodging the camera crews and spectators that crowd the starting mile and begin to feel my place in the herd. Running a very introspective sport and if you ask me what I think about when running, I couldn't tell you. I think about a whole lot, but a whole lot of nothing. Much of the time is spent monitoring how I feel. How are my legs? Ok. Me knees don't hurt, that's good. I'm breathing well, 'inhale, exhale', my head doesn't hurt. Am I thirsty? Hungry?

It's hard to explain but there is something called the 'V02 Threshold'. As you exercise your body uses up a lot of oxygen and much of it gets used as a sort of muscular vacuum cleaner, the oxygen 'sucks' up the nasty chemicals produced by muscles working hard. The V02 threshold is the limit at which your various body-systems can get fresh oxygen to the muscles and if you pass it, these nasty chemicals start to build up and cause fatigue and pain and 'heaviness' etc. Long story short, you start to pant, and turn red, and sweat and it's not a good thing if you still have miles and miles to go.

One of the skills you learn as a runner is to correlate how you feel at any given moment with your V02 threshold and to back off or speed up according to the race. Well, I crossed that first mile in just under 6 minutes, a very good pace for me and definitely over my limit so I decided to back off a hair. And then a little more. Then a little more. Suddenly my mental alarms started blaring and my control room's lights were turned red.... Something was very wrong. I knew that I was well under my max V02, yet I couldn't stop panting, and I mean PANTING. The next thing I know I am a mess of sweat and I'm barely moving. I was experiencing the runner's equivalent of a persistent check-engine light and steam pouring out the radiator. At around 1.5 miles into a 10 mile race I was so far into the red-zone I had to pull to the side and walk. This was not good.

With the fastest runners still whizzing by me, I pull to the side and take off my t-shirt, then my long sleeve. I would have just thrown it away but it was actually a really nice (and expensive) shirt so I balled it up started to jog. No good. I walked for about 5 minutes to the first (the first!) water station and had about 3 cups of the ice water & gatorade. I splashed some in my face and just started to sort of trot along. Slowly I felt the engine temperature needle dip back into the red zone, then to the yellow. Hesitantly, I pushed the accelerator a little bit and started to move. This was some of the toughest running I've ever done, water at ever station, gatorade when I could, another 2 minute walk break and ultimately I was looking at making 8 minute miles (my marathon pace is around 7:20/mile, it might sound close, but 40 seconds a mile is a huge difference). Whenever the sun broke through the clouds I felt like I was in a sauna. My breath felt like hot syrup pouring out my mouth, it was terrible.

After a while I did start to feel slightly better, and then by mile 8 or 9 I felt something close to Ok. I finished with total resignation to the race, just happy to not be out there, and of course within 10 minutes of crossing that line it started to drizzle. Ahh, that felt good. Then it started to rain. Ahh... this is a little unpleasant. Then it started to pour... Ahh, crap. So now I put my long sleeves back on and find shelter under a tree hoping to find my brother sometime soon. In his credit he finished with a strong 1:30 (strong? actually that's terrific, congrats chas) and we make our way back to the subway with the herd.

So there it is, I think I finish around 1:14, not great but elated to have finished this one. It wouldn't have looked to good if it were I who dropped out of my brother's first race, ehh?

National Marathon Race Report

S'boot time I write this one. Last weekend Alicia and I traveled to D.C. for my first significant race of the season. We traveled in Bolt Bus style, watched some BSG and arrived downtown D.C. a little after lunch. After a quick walk around it became beautifully apparent that D.C. is about 3 weeks ahead of NYC weather wise, so most of the flowers on the trees were just getting ready to open and we were given a nice preview of what the cherry blossoms will be.

As usual, you can just skip all the "weekend in D.C." stuff and drop down to the Race Report Section, below.

Expo:

The expo was held in the Armory next to RFK stadium. A pretty stupid idea considering that the Armory has some crazy homeland security rules with metal detector wands and going through your bags and such. 8 thousand people arriving, mostly from out of town with bags and luggage all had to go through two lines of this. Ugh, anyway. If I can use the word, the expo was 'whelming.' You get your shirt, your bib, a few (less than 4) stands selling discount equipment and gu's and that's about it. Race Gear was limited to some t-shirts and hoodies which was disappointing, I'd have liked a race mug or hat or some such. For a race with 8k people, this wasn't exactly a terrible expo, but it was sub-par to say the least. Oh, and save for a bag of peanuts the entire schwag bag was filled with applications to for insurance programs, advertisements for other races, a stick of women's deodorant and a random 2-pack of AA batteries. I have to admit, by the time I left expo I was in a pretty bad mood, what kind of race would this herald? I spent $75 on this?

We traveled via metro to my Aunt and Uncle's home in Capital Hill and WOW was it a nice area. This part of D.C. is just plain gorgeous, good looking restaurants & bars and the homes were very well taken care of. You could tell it wasn't an uber-rich community, none of the homes were opulent but they were all very well taken care of. Well maintained gardens and fences, very nice. That night was a relaxing evening around the fireplace with a delicious dinner of baked chicken parmesan (oh yeah, it rocked) and plenty of bread.

Pre-Race:

Due to some last minute jitters, I don't think I've ever slept worse before a race. I doubt I got 2 hours of sleep all night. Of course come morning I'm so wound up it doesn't really even matter. I pound a bagel, have some water and I'm out the door. It was a gorgeous, silent morning in Capital Hill. By 6 I was jogging to the race start and it was maybe 45-50 degrees, not exactly beach weather but very comfortable for jogging. Dawn was still about an hour away and I had brought my headphones but it was simply too nice and silent. In fact, I never actually put them on for the whole race, a first for me.

The pace leaders for the run were all marines corp cadets and they were some pretty lean looking guys. They held their balloons high but said nothing, as I'd come to realize, marines don't exactly make the best conversationalists let alone race motivators.

Race Report:

The sky was only beginning to lighten when we crossed the starting line. My charming marine pace leaders (3:10 by the way, with no other big races coming up, why not aim for a BQ?) ditched their balloons before the first mile let out so it was bit hairy trying to keep up with them at first, running in and out of people. Keep in mind, in addition to 2k marathoners there were about 4k half-marathoners and our 7:11 min/mile pace is a very common half-marathon pace so we were in the middle of a sea of runners. The first mile was actually pretty tough, the pace felt fast and I didn't know how long I could keep up, turned out our first mile was 8:05, almost an entire minute slower than our race pace... That didn't make me too happy.

After a few blocks the sun was finally starting to rise over the trees behind us and just as we crested a hill, all of central D.C. gained that kind of hallucinatory/glittery early morning glow. We ran up Capital street, so called because it brings you directly to the capital building, so the first 3 miles its right in front of you. Such a gorgeous start and then you curve around it and alongside the mall until mile 5 or so.

But then, without warning.... WHAM!, you hit the hills and from miles 6-9 you better have eaten your breakfast because they were intense. On a normal day I wouldn't want to have walked up them let alone run them for 3 miles but just when you think you've had enough you arch back around and have a long slow downhill back to the capital building. By this time the sun is up, the streets are starting to wake up and the Capital just looks inspiring. The marine cadets were clearly very moved (as were we all) the entire way back to Capital Hill. Once down from the hills we looped back towards the race start and soon were back at RFK where we dropped off the half marathoners and started back (for the third time) towards the Capital. At this point I noticed the youngest of the marines starting to move ahead and pick up time. By this point we were all warmed up and a little chatty-er so his classmate explained to me that he had just run his first half-marathon in 1:20 and volunteered for this race. He had never run a marathon before. We let him pull ahead of us at his own risk. Around this time our little pace group started to break up, one of the cadets had to use the bathroom, 2 people were just doing the half , etc so by mile 14 or so I was running alone.

I passed Alicia and my Aunt Clare still feeling very strong, and even as I entered downtown DC a second time (miles 15-19) I felt great. Of course hearing people saying "Wow, 18 miles and he still looks so fresh!" does wonders for your morale. Mile 20 brought us out of the city and over a bridge to a perfect little riverside jogging lane. We ran alone this path, about 4 feet wide of iffy condition asphalt, through miles 20-24 and I crashed. Miles 21-23 were pure torture. I was still pacing about 7:25 at this point but my legs were hating every step of it. I stretched, I walked, I drank a two cups of gatorade at mile 24 but nothing helped, I just needed to not be running anymore.

Around mile 24 I ran into what was left of the ambitious young marine pacer, conspicuously without his 3:10 bib on the back. He was barely shuffling along in such a way that it looked like he just kept tripping and was trying to prevent a fall. He recognized me and with a look pure pain and misery said "I didn't know it would be so far!". We shuffled together for another 100 yards or so when he fell back into a walk, a victim of the race.

In a final perfect course choice, from mile 25-finish you are running on another straight away towards RFK stadium. Seeing it right in front of you for those miles, gradually coming closer, and closer....and closer... and a little bit closer. It was impossible not to savor the feeling, the joy, the misery, the I'm almost there-ness. The cheering crowds, the cow-bells, the whistles, the car horns, the screams and cheers of finishers gradually getting louder and louder. Approaching the finish line in a marathon is the most powerful experience I've ever had and approaching the finish line having put in my second best time made it even sweeter. I crossed with 3:18, a mere 3 minutes off my personal best. A terrific race, with beautiful sights. This is going to be a very good season.

Final Results: 3:18:45 162/2059

Reboot for the New Year

Happy Holidays and an early New Year!

The last few weeks for me have been joyously, and decidedly, non-active. However, with the near year looming it's time to start planning my next year's races. I've already booked myself into the National Marathon in D.C. on March 21st, which is exciting. I hope that with an invigorated training schedule I can bring down my time a bit from last year.

In the New Year's Spirit I've decided on a few New Year's Resolutions -
1) Complete a Half-Ironman Distance Event
2) A sub 20 minute Corporate Challenge
3) Win the Run Around the Block race on Block Island

To do this I'll need to train for intelligently and specifically for each race. Something I've neglected to do in previous years.

Check back over the next few days to see my race schedule start filling up!

-S

Nerd Ranting

Ok, I'm sorry to the 1 or 2 people who actually read this but I need to tell the world.

This is a public service message regarding the word 'damp'

'Damp' functions in many ways, for example as an adjective - "This chair is Damp", meaning, it is slightly wet. As a verb you can 'Dampen' the chair and make it slightly wet.

HOWEVER, and please take the time to understand this, Damp can also be used to describe the action of lessening a vibration, for example shocks on a car will damp the vibrations caused by uneven streets.

Notice the difference between DAMPING a vibration, and DAMPENING something to make it slightly wet. NO ONE GET'S THIS RIGHT! AHHHHH! Et tu, Gizmodo?!?