Addicted to Exercise

My third attempt at the Indy Mini didn’t go quite as well as the previous two, but I still had loads of fun.

We all headed toward the start area about an hour before the race, hit the bag check area, and found some other important landmarks. I did about a mile or so of a warm-up run and some drills before heading to the start corrals. I could tell even then that this was going to be a really humid day.

I am always inspired to be a part of a group this large. There were runners everywhere. The corral seemed to be packed tighter than I remembered, but it’s just still amazing to look back down the road and see runners as far back as you can see.

I took off running at the start. It was a sea of people, but there was plenty of room to run. It was a lot warmer and more humid than last year, but I decided I would rather stick to my plan and give it a shot than back off now. After a few miles I knew it was going to be a long day. I was dumping two glasses of water on my head at each water stop after the first few miles. The bands along the course were awesome as usual. The Austin races could really learn a thing or two from this one. I hit the timing mat at mile five, which was the farthest point away from downtown.

Before I knew it, we were making the turn in to the track. They make a big deal to tell us that they won’t let anyone in there without their race number clearly visible, so I had a chuckle as I saw some dude fumbling to put his shirt back on. The humidity was really starting to get to me as I went around the track. I knew I was all right, but I was still slowing down. I swung out wide for the cameras and really tried to focus on my running form.

I felt a bit discouraged as I exited the track, knowing I wasn’t running nearly as fast as I wanted to be, but I was determined to finish bravely. I had to talk myself up a little bit, especially when I passed the remaining mile markers and was surprised at how slow I was going.

The long straightaway back was punishing, but finally we made the turn and I knew the finish was not far away. Just before the mile 12 marker was a water stop, and I remembered the folks there saying they would see us on the way back as we passed them early in the race.

I was just happy to make it in. My time was a disappointing 1:31:37. A look at my watch told the story. My heart rate was really high for the entire time, and I’m actually a bit impressed I managed to maintain that level of effort for that long. My legs had a new sensation at the end of this race that I had never felt before. As long as I kept moving, I just felt tight, but if I stood still it felt like my legs were flowing down into my feet. There was just no strength in the muscles in my lower legs.

This does bode well for the marathon training, though. I felt like I was just crawling at the end, but as I switch back to marathon training, that is plenty of speed, and I am ready to attack it.

Yesterday I met the group for the traditional 30-minute run plus stretching that we do the day before the race. That felt good, and filled me with plenty of confidence. I intended to go out and run a PR today, and I knew I was in the shape to do it.

This morning I arrived plenty early for some warm-ups. The weather wasn’t too bad yesterday, but today the humidity was out in full force. I was sweating a ton by the time I was doing the pre-race drills. I lined up pretty close to the front and got ready to go.

My goal was to run the course in 40 minutes. The gun went off, and we took off running. I got to the first mile marker right on schedule, but I knew I would lose some time in the hills. My water stop strategy was to grab one cup to drink when I needed it but always get one cup to dump on my head. That burst of cool felt really good. I felt really good running. I know I still carried a lot of tension in my upper body, but I think I did a little better with my hips and legs. We were through the hills after four miles, and I felt pretty tired from then on. By mile six I was just ready to be done, and I was really happy to make the last turn and see the finish line. I saw the clock and knew I didn’t make my goal, but I did have a healthy PR. My time was 40:29. I took a big bite off my time from last year (more than a minute), so hopefully this means I’m in such better shape that I’ll start knocking down more of my records this year.

Finishing early does have its rewards. I walked straight over to the massage tent and hopped in. After ten minutes or so I was done, and a nice big line had formed by then.

Well, it wasn’t pretty, but it was a huge PR and I’ll gladly take it. The stats don’t look too bad: 26.2 miles, 3:34:11, 8:11/mi. There’s a bit more to the story, though, so I’ll just start at the beginning…

I have to say I liked the new setup for this race, even if it did mean we got a harder course. I drove towards the start and had no trouble finding parking and meeting up with the rest of the crew. After all the traffic snarls of the last couple years it was a welcome relief to not have to worry about that. I checked my bag of clothes, made a quick hydration adjustment, and wandered over to the starting area. It all felt much less frantic than previous times. I was prepared to use the trash bag and bottle trick, but I did not end up needing it. I lined up just ahead of the 3:20 pace group, which was reasonably close to the front.

It seemed like the start came sooner than I expected it to, and the crowds started moving. Unfortunately, there were a LOT of walkers in front of me, and many of them were wearing those “half” signs on their backs. I had to stop and go and weave quite a bit in the first mile. Hopefully they will learn from that and do it better next time. I really wanted to run by feel, so I did not look at my watch. I was feeling really good. The hill on Congress seemed much easier than it did on our training run a week ago. I saw Frank right at the mile two marker and figured he must have lined up closer to the start. Somewhere in the crowds, I got ahead of the 3:15 group. I figured they were held up worse than I had been. In retrospect, I maybe should have slowed down, but I felt good so I did not really pay attention. Those first few miles just felt comfortable.

The first really interesting part was the turn from Lamar on to 5th. We were going straight into the sun, and I could not see anything. There were crowds lining the streets, but I could not make out any more than shadows. Back on Cesar Chavez, I found Ivi just after the Lamar bridge. She had planned to run with me for most of the race just as a long training run. She joined in and quickly reminded me to slow down. We were still on flatter ground, and things felt good. There was a nice pack of cheering Gazelles at about mile 7. We went up the little hill to Lake Austin Blvd and kept on going.

When we reached Enfield and then Exposition, I backed off on the climbs to conserve some energy. We’ve run that stretch of road a ton of times, but I felt like even though I slowed down it was still just chewing me up. Running on Exposition between cheering crowds seemed out of place. It was great, but it still seemed odd since we are usually there in the early morning silence. I recall Ivi asking me if I wanted to make the turn that the half marathoners were taking. (No!) She wasn’t working very hard, and she kept yelling at the crowds to get them fired up if they were being too quiet. I was dismayed when we reached 35th and they made us take the “long” way around the corner. I guess I was really used to taking the turn lane in all the training runs.

Nothing much happened for the next couple miles. Then, on Hancock, Lucy jumped out of the crowds to hop in. She had been threatening to do that, but she had been sick the last week so I wasn’t sure if she would be there. She was the one that talked me into joining the Gazelles, way back when running under about a 9-minute pace for more than a few miles was really hard work for me and she was one of those super-fast people. I felt like a rock star running with her and Ivi through there. My parents were on Shoal Creek, and they seemed happy to see me.

Great Northern is a subtle climb, and I slowed down a little bit. In retrospect, this was a turning point. I didn’t slow down much, but at this point of a race like this most of the people around are all going the same speed. The result was that people started going past me, and that instantly made me feel much worse. I wasn’t ever the same after that. Lucy and Ivi talked me through that part, and I put in some more good miles, but the damage was done. Also, another mistake I made started to catch up with me around then. Whether by getting better at not spilling or just not sweating as much with the cool weather, I had taken in too much water in the early parts of the race, and my stomach felt a little bad. I did not feel much like having my gel at mile 16. (My normal schedule is to take one of those every four miles.) I skipped a couple water stops, too, trying to feel normal again.

From mile 17 to 19, I kind of drifted in and out. I was still running reasonably well, but I was feeling worse and worse. I did not have any particular thing wrong that I could point to, but it was just getting harder to lift my legs. Lucy tried asking me about random things to try to distract me, but it didn’t make a big difference. At the mile 19 marker, the amount of race remaining seemed manageable for a moment or two. I knew I could finish from there, or so I thought. We had caught up to Kevin in this section, and Ivi pressured him to keep pace with us. She just seems to have unlimited energy, and she was still pumping up the crowds, too.

I saw my parents again on North Loop, and that was also where Lucy left. I was really struggling, but I guess my parents could not see it. They said later that I looked really strong when I went by there. I could see that the slowing pace was getting on Ivi’s nerves. I didn’t have any sharp pains or anything, but my legs were just really heavy. In this section, I started dropping into a couple steps of walking every now and then. Oh, I was mad about that. This was farther than I’d ever made it in the past running continuously, but making it the whole way would have to be a goal for next time. I knew I needed to get something at the Clif Shot zone, but my stomach was telling me that it would not allow it.

Things got really ugly for me in that loop around the IM fields. That uphill stretch up Avenue H kicked my butt on most of the training runs, and it did the same here too. I walked a little more, and cursed a lot more. Ivi was annoyed, of course, and I could only manage to whimper each time I started running again. I knew there were only about five miles left, and that should be nothing, but I was in panic mode. I just could not figure out how I was going to get there.

I don’t remember much of Red River. I know I walked a lot in there, and I know I walked up the hill on 38th to Duval. I know all sorts of foul awful things were coming out of my mouth. The marathon is just really, really hard. Nothing I do in training hurts like this. Ever. I was just not prepared in any way for what this feels like, and it showed. I was pathetic out there, and it was embarrassing.

I had hoped to run triumphantly down Duval, but unfortunately there was a good deal of walking mixed in. I just could not lift my legs. The Gazelles at mile 24 were awesome. They were the loudest bunch of spectators I saw the entire day. I ran through there, and that kept me going well into UT, but then I had some more walking fits. Finally, with the turn on to Congress towards the Capitol, I was able to get my legs moving again. Gilbert jumped out by the Capitol, and he scared me to death. He was yelling right in my ear and threatening to run right behind me. That got me moving faster than I had gone since several miles before.

There were tons of cheering people along the finishing straightaway. I knew that despite my mistakes I had a huge PR, so I smiled for the cameras and cruised in. After the line, I was dizzily wobbling around. Ivi came up behind me and pushed me off in the direction of the medical tent. I thought I was all right, but they looked at me and seemed concerned. They stuck me with a blood test and said my potassium levels were really off and I was completely dehydrated. They had said my temperature was too high, too. It was freaky. They had some ice on me and fed me a bunch of bananas, but eventually they let me go. I think those were the effects of my barely having any water or nutrition in the last 10 miles or so.

So, I’m happy with my PR, but I know I can do this better. This is one I can build on, though. This is the first time I’ve ever felt that level of pain because in the past I’ve quit way before I reached that point. Next time, it won’t be such a shock. I felt like I was going to die, but I didn’t. That gives me some confidence that I can take my training to the next level and be better prepared the next time I take this on. Unlike my previous efforts where I quit really early, my legs are totally used up. I’m writing this Tuesday evening, and it still feels like I just finished a monster workout at the gym. That tells me it was a pretty good effort.

I’ve identified several things that I need to practice. Basically, I can run really well in the shorter races because I can pretty much just take off running and no matter how dumb I am the race ends before I do. In the marathon, all those little mistakes add up, and you have to respect it a lot more to succeed.

- I need to be much more careful about my nutrition and hydration
- I need to ignore the people around me so I can recover a bit without getting overwhelmed
- I need to accept that the late part of the marathon hurts and be ready for it
- I need to practice running hard when I am already tired

So I’ll practice those, and then I’ll give it another go. In the meantime, I’ll be happy that I posted a solid time and took a huge chunk off my previous best.

I hurt.

This morning we had the annual really long race that’s not quite the marathon. The sponsor has changed each of the last couple years, and this time it was the Austin Radiological Association putting on a twenty-miler down in San Marcos. I really miss the good ol’ RunTex 30K they used to have in Buda.

I got there plenty early and in time to join the group for a two-mile warm-up. That felt pretty good, and I did the warm-up drills before getting lined up.

My plan was pretty simple. I just wanted to start out like I did on my long run a couple weeks ago and pick up the pace as I went, ending up with about 15 miles at speed. For once, I really felt like my brain played on my team. It was like I had a soundtrack of positive thoughts going on a loop the whole time. Unfortunately, I just didn’t have the legs to do what I wanted to do. I felt all right for the first five miles or so when I was running easily, but once I started picking up the pace my legs felt pretty heavy. The course was really hilly, so it may have worn me out early more than I realized, but even by the half-way point I felt like I had to work too hard just to keep my turnover going.

I decided to just press on, and I made a game out of it. I would pick out the person in front of me and guess how long it would take me to overtake them. That kept me occupied for several miles. I had stopped looking at my splits because I knew I wasn’t doing what I wanted, but the fact that I kept picking people off felt good. That all changed a couple miles from the end, though. Somewhere around 17 or 18, we went up a steep hill, and it just sucked the life out of me. My hips were just killing me, and my feet hurt from running on really bad roads for the previous couple miles. I walked slowly through the water stop at 18, and between there and the end I had to stop a couple times to attempt to stretch out my legs. I did finish strong, though. Inside the last mile was a monster climb into the wind, and I was surprised to find myself passing people right and left. I was so happy to crest the hill and see the finish line. I ended up with 2:37:42 (7:53/mile). I lost a lot in those last couple miles, though. According to the official splits, I was averaging 7:38/mile through 25K.

I was in pretty bad shape in the finish area. My hips and feet were screaming, and I just could not find a way to stand or sit that didn’t bother them. I walked it off a little bit but mostly just sat around and stretched. It was more than an hour before I felt good enough to head out, and since I was already half-way to San Antonio I went the rest of the way to get in a visit with my sister.

As of tonight, my hips are mostly calmed down, but my feet really hurt. I think I re-aggravated the bottom of my left foot. It’s pretty tender, so I’m applying ice and doing everything I can in the hope that I can be back to running soon.

So I’m not sure what’s next. I guess that depends how my legs and feet feel. I had hoped to feel as good as I did a couple weeks ago, but I guess you can’t win ‘em all. This was a really hard course, and I’m happy with the way my brain was working. It just goes to show how important it is to have everything come together on the same day.

I showed up for the Turkey Trot on a mission. I wanted to post a great time and redeem myself after my showing in the marathon. I also decided that this would be part of my mental toughness training, so I wanted to go out fast enough that I would suffer a bit at the end.

I showed up early to warm up. I couldn’t find any of the Gazelles at the start/finish line, so I just took off on my own about an hour before the start. I ran back out of the course from the end for about three quarters of a mile and then turned around to run that section again the “right” way. It’s impossible to forget the big hill a quarter mile from the end, but I didn’t really remember that most of that last mile is all uphill. So, I was glad I saw all that during my warm-up.

By the time I got back, the crowds were already starting to form. It wasn’t packed, though, so I didn’t worry about it and just went about a block away to find a parking lot for some drills. I think my hopping and skipping amused some normal people finding their way to the starting area. I also spent that time affirming to myself that I was about to go out and have a great race.

When I came back I found my way to the front part of the start area and waited there for things to fill in. Shortly before the start I finally found a couple other people from my group. Before I knew it, it was time for the start.

The horn went off, and I took off running. I was going pretty fast, and just navigating through the crowds. I had wanted to try for a 6-minute pace, but when I got to the first mile marker I had about 6:10. I think I may have still had some of those hill repeats in my legs because I didn’t feel like I could go any faster. So, I just settled in and hung on for the ride. There were a lot of people ahead of me, but I knew that as the race went on I would pass most of them.

In the second mile, I started picking out people around me to pass. There was one dude that went back and forth with me several times in there, and I thought I had finally put him away on the hills in mile three, but he ended up coming back to pass me in the last mile. Through all that, though, there were a lot of people that stayed passed, so that was good.

When I hit the mile three marker still feeling good, I knew I had a huge PR in the bag. We had a long stretch down Red River that included a few short hills, and then, before I even had a chance to think about it, I was at the spot where I had turned around on my warm-up, so I knew I just had three quarters of a mile to go. I had noted where the half mile point was as well, so it was very easy mentally to break the last part of the race up into smaller chunks.

I powered up the hill, made the final turn, and cruised in. When I saw the clock I knew I was a little slower than I thought I could do, but I knew I still had a huge PR, so I was happy. I guess I didn’t give it all, though, because I didn’t collapse or find myself gasping for breath at the finish line. So, I’ve still got some room for improvement there.

So, I had 31:07 for the five miles (6:13 pace). That’s a really good time, and I think my smiles in the finishing area should have convinced everyone around that I was pretty happy with it.

I didn’t do much of a cool-down. I tried to jog around a bit, but it was really crowded. Later in the day, though, after consuming quite a bit of food, I went on a walk with my sister for a few miles. That was really to make up a little bit for all the food, but it did a good job of loosening up my muscles as well.

What a fun day at the races! I had promised Gilbert earlier in the week that I would stick to somewhere around an 8-minute pace for this run, and that meant I was right in the ballpark of what Jay needed to do. So I took the opportunity to run the race with him. My game plan was to watch my GPS and hover just under 8 minutes a mile. Basically that meant just nudging the pace up a little bit any time I saw it drift over and easing back any time I noticed myself start to pull ahead.

I arrived at Motive a little more than an hour before the start and wandered around looking for the Gazelles tent. I found it, and soon the whole crew had arrived for the warm-up. We did a two-mile warm-up (out and back along the last mile of the course), and then I filled the remaining time with drills and hydration adjustments. I found Jay, and we made our way to the start. I think we were lined up about halfway back or so, but it’s hard to tell. We were in a thick bunch of people. They had some delays getting things going, but after standing around a bit we did get underway.

The first mile was “interesting” for me. I’m used to lining up closer to the front, and even up there you have a few people to dodge at a big race, but here it was actually pretty challenging. There was a little sidestepping involved, but we made it through without incident.

Following my tradition for this event, I missed the first mile marker, but we knew where it was. I know the first mile was a little slow, and the second one was a little fast. (That second mile is all downhill.) We gave a little back on the third mile, and after that we were pretty steady. I just stuck to the plan, making sure I wasn’t pulling ahead but pushing gently if the pace started creeping over 8. I got some water down the wrong pipe at the first water stop, and that was my reminder why I grab a little at each one. (There’s no pressure to try to gulp it all down then!)

After the mile 4 marker, the roller coaster section started. On the steep downhill, the important thing is to be smooth and protect your legs, so we eased on down and got to the timing mat for the climbing contest. I always figure climbing the big hill is a very personal thing, so it was all right if we split up a bit and regrouped at the level sections. We stayed pretty close together, and it was fun to watch several people pull off to the side during the climbs.

Somewhere in that section some kid was running really fast down a steep hill, and I recall overhearing someone saying that’ll hurt in a little while. Heh. I just remember thinking on part of the climb how much easier it was than the Wilke repeats we do in training (and we only had to do it the one time).

There is a little neighborhood section in the middle couple miles of the course, and I always think that’s one of the hardest parts. We just wind through there, and it’s hard to tell where we are. I was afraid Jay was falling back there, but he said he was all right and we should just do a couple more miles just like that before picking things up. (I found out later he had just slowed down to take in more water at the water stop there.)

Once we hit the mile 8 marker I knew we were mostly home free. It didn’t seem long until we reached 183 and the mile 9 marker. There were a bunch of Gazelles there cheering. I started pushing a little more in there since we were getting close to the end. When we made the turn into the final neighborhood at the mile 10 marker, I thought about how hard this section usually is. Since I was taking it a bit easier today, it wasn’t so bad for me. Still, I knew this was where I was going to have to work the hardest. I started to get a little meaner since I knew Jay had to really push through there. I felt like he was falling off a little bit, but in retrospect I was just pushing us a little harder! I stuck to the same strategy, though. I pushed, but I made sure he was keeping up.

Finally we reached that last mile where we had just been a couple hours earlier, and it was just as all uphill as it was then. We were passing people, though, so that felt good. I didn’t think Jay looked distressed enough, so I started yelling more. When we hit the last stretch, I broke out into a sprint and egged him on, and we finished with a really strong kick.

We ended up with 1:42:19, which was about 15 minutes slower than I did my half this summer, but it was a huge PR for Jay (congrats!), so I did my job. I had a blast out there, so I think I’ll do something like that again. We did a cool-down run on the same two miles where we did the warm-up, and it was fun to watch all the people still finishing.

That was a lot of running this weekend (and the most I’ve done in weeks). My hamstrings are pretty tight now, so I’ve been stretching them tonight. I had 20 miles for the whole weekend, which is a lot when I haven’t even officially committed to training for my next marathon yet!

I’m just happy every time I get to go outside and run. While we were hanging out afterwards Lisa (who had been out there cheering) said something about how I looked so happy and relaxed out there and she wished she could feel so good running that fast! I thought that kind of put things in a nice perspective. I am really thankful that I can go out and do that.