113th Boston Maraton

(This posting is way late for a race report, but I'll try to highlight some of the important points)

April 20th, 2009

113th Boston Marathon

2:44:24 (PR), 6:16 pace, 266 place overall, 9th from Illinois

It was slower than I should've, could've, and wanted to go.

But, I have to be pretty happy with the outcome:

• I finished the race.
• I had fun.
• I didn't have any major physical difficulties or blow-ups.
• In addition to the Newton hills, I had nasty 15-25mph head winds for THE ENTIRE race. It was steady, and it got worse as the race progressed.
• A conservative race ultimately left me finishing very strong and disgustingly fresh. I've never before experienced that in a marathon...?
• I snatched a shiny new PR: 2:44:24.

The days and 2 weeks leading into the marathon, my activity was much less than ideal... I put in 27 miles in the previous 7 days; I didn't have any speed work for basically 2 1/2 weeks; my diet was garbage... plus I felt like I was consistently sore. My hip felt like a mess. I was about 138lbs going into the weekend.

Needless to say, I was a complete nervous wreck leading into and throughout the whole marathon weekend. Concern for the weather didn't help. I had no idea how many miles my hip was going to give me, or how fast it was going to let me roll, or if it was going to completely blow up like it did in the most recent tempo run. I was going to war, and I had the very valid concern that I would do some serious damage to myself. I just didn't know where or when that potential blow up might happen. The hills AND the wind combined worked doubly against me. That said, I performed a minor miracle as I had no major pains of any kind during the race.


1st Half: 1:21:37 (6:13 avg)
Paced a good part of the first half with Jason and Dan (through about 10 miles). This helped me morally and was tactful with the early wind.
We took the first couple miles ridiculously slow due to the downward slope. It was a good strategy, as it helped me to loosen up and get ready to roll. I found it amusing that we easily had 1000 runners in front of us after the first mile. I passed most of them over the next 15 miles, and all but 265 of them were passed before reaching the end. I can probably count on 1 had the number of times I was passed after the first couple miles.

2nd Half: 1:22:53 (6:19 avg)
I was running alone for most of the second half. Before the hills (16ish), I had a stead stream of runners to pass. Occasionally, a few guys would try to keep up with me, but eventually I would drop them.
Once I got to the Newton Hills, it became fewer and far between. I had nobody to work with, and nobody to draft from. I basically was left playing a game of leap frog... jumping from one pack to the next. Cutting each of them up as I went along. When I would pull away, some of the runners would draft off my back, sucking on my energy... only to be dropped a few minutes later. Eventually there were no more packs. I then had to reel 1 runner in at a time.
To boot: The wind was steadily picking up through the hills, and significantly on the back side as I got closer to the finish/downtown/ocean. Rarely would it let up.
In spite of a much more difficult environment in the second half, I only lost about 6 seconds per mile, or 1min 22sec from my first split. Most, if not all of that loss was in the hills and being conservative on the down slope from 21-23. Some of my better miles were the last couple miles. I was defintely fatigued, but I was still able to hammer away and keep my pace. This was by far the strongest I've ever felt at the end of a marathon.

It wasn't perfect race, but all things considered for the day, it was about as good as I could've asked for.

I still question how I might have ran with a little more help in the second half of the race. I often found my mind wondering and losing focus in the hills. I was rarely, if ever being challenged by other runners. If I had some pacing, I feel like I could've run a more clean and possibly a negative split.

After I crossed the finish line, I felt disgustingly fresh. I had no major pains in my body whatsoever. I looked around and thought, "That wasn't so bad. What was I so worried about?" I even did a small cool down a few minutes later (about a 1/2 mile + some karaokes).

Who does that?? I just ran a 2:44, and then bothered to do a cool down?!

So bottom line: I may not have had fair shake with the weather and a bum hip, but I still had a very solid Boston Marathon. 266 out of 23,000+. 9th out of Illinois. If I would've used Buffalo on my registration, I would've been 1st.


Mile Splits
1 - 6:42.1
2 - 6:09.8
3 - 6:08.4
4 - 6:07.3
5 - 6:16.7
6 - 6:06.3
7 - 6:09.1
8 - 6:17.3
9 - 6:14.0
10 - 6:15.1
11 - 6:12.1
12 - 6:06.3
13 - 6:10.2
13.1 - 1:21:31
14 - 6:12.1
15 - 6:18.1
16 - 6:07.1
17 - 6:26.4
18 - 6:26.6
19 - 6:17.4
20 - 6:22.7
21 - 6:33.7
22 - 6:16.3
23 - 6:25.2
24 - 6:12.4
25 - 6:18.7
26.2 - 7:32.9 (6:14ish)
Total - 2:44:24

6 days from Patriots Day

I'm just adding it up now… and really, in spite of my hip difficulties in the past couple weeks, I'm only missing about 22 miles from my schedule. Most of which was from the Friday / Saturday that I initially had my mini blow-up... or basically, only 2 maybe 3 runs were skipped from my schedule. Bottom line there: I’m trying to reassure myself that it's really not that bad of a situation. I have 6 more days before the marathon.

Reason I say that is because I'm annoyed that I'm not getting more quality in my taper right now, but I'm at least able to run. Slower stuff hasn't been bothering me at all. Otherwise, I’m pretty much a nervous wreck and I’m reaching for whatever I can to keep a sane mine. My ultimate fear is that I’m going to be 2 miles, 10 mile, 15 or 24 miles deep in Boston… and all of a sudden not be able to bare another step.

Last night (Monday), I went about 9 miles w/ Kmac, including some strides. The pace was a comfortable 710's, going down to about 640's. I felt good the whole way.

Saturday was my last moderately long run before the marathon. 14 miles. It actually went pretty well… a similar pace to last night’s. Saturday's run was a pleasant surprise and somewhat reassuring considering Friday's workout turned into another mess.

So much for "Good Friday": I was starting to feel better through the week, so I took a shot at one last tempo. The goal was for 5 miles of tempo inside of an 8 mi run.
The Tempo started off into some nasty wind (guessing 20mph steady). First mile was about 6:10. Second mile and a half got down to about 5:50. So far so good. I felt strong and comfortable. After the turn, with the wind at the back, Jason and I rolled. We hit a 5:30 mile. Then out of nowhere in the next 1/2 mile, my hip started to tighten up again. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Some very sage advice from the kid: "If it's hurting, we should stop right now."
It was smart. I wasn't gaining anything from going further. My endurance and turnover were still there, but I was hitting a breaking point again. There was no sense in blowing it up this time around.

I was able to walk for about a mile, and try to relax some of the muscles and attachments around the actual hip socket, and then lightly jog the bit home. Not a total loss, but definitely not a confidence booster.

As far as the physical therapy… I'm still not totally sold on my ASTYM treatment. I think it seems to be breaking up some of the scar tissue, but it's not loosening things up the way I'd like to see it. I had my 3rd treatment yesterday, another today, and once more before the marathon. I’ve also been doing a fair amount of exercise to strengthen and stabilize my gluts.

I also think I'm in desperate need of a massage. Anyone know of a good therapist?

The clock is ticking. 6 days to go. Mentally, I feel like a nervous wreck. It’ll be a miracle if I can get through this thing.

The waiting game

My running obsession has slowly taking over the rest of my life. Especially when its around a race and a marathon.

I'm completely unproductive at work right now. All I can do is think about running. I'm search for stuff online, calculating spreadsheets, thinking about my training and what went right or wrong... I'm obsessing splits and paces, previous race results, other people's results, trying to predict where I might place in this year's standings, workouts, what I should be doing between now and the gun, the Boston Marathon course itself and every bump and pimple on it,.... I'm shopping for gear online, checking the weather multiple times a day, the historical averages for the weather.... thinking about what I'm going to pack 11 days from now.... I mean this is really getting out of hand!

Here I sit at the helm of a speeding freight train at work... ridiculous volatility in the market, my portfolio P&L is fluctuating $50,000 +/- during the day, and instead of trading up a storm, ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT IT RUNNING!!

Disgusting.

Here's a video of a car driving the Boston Marathon course. I've played it 5 times already, and I know that's just the start of it...




I have another Astym treatment tonight with Julie. I actually had to get a prescription for this. I'm basically willing to do whatever I need to get this thing feeling better.
Things seem to really have loosened up in the past couple days. I was able to do a solid 10 mile run last night, with a progression towards marathon pace for about 2 miles before cooling down. I'm very hopeful that last week's mishap was a fluke, and I've managed this mini-crisis accordingly (and will continue to do so).

Today is off from running. I roll again tomorrow with one final push through early next week... Then becomes an increasingly annoying and anxious waiting game for the starting gun, and then actually crossing the finish line. I'm going to become absolutely infatuated with every minute detail of April 20th, 2009... and everything that could/should/would/and will happen between now and then.....

Prevention Mode: a possible marathon breaking injury

Let me start off with this: the quote from my last posting was "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger".... well that's a bunch of BS. Don't believe it. Apparently, doing a 20 mile progression run a few days after an 8K is not wise.

OK, everyone can say it now... I'm an idiot! You told me so. But at the time, I was able to rationalize what I was doing: A) I wasn't sore after the 8K and I tapered a ton the previous week for the Shamrock. B) The first part of that 20 was feeling good (and to clarify, I was even feeling good after too). C) I WAS listening to my body and just rolled with it. D) The weather turned to HELL on Earth, but it wasn't killing me. SO, IF A+B+C+D, THEN it should be alright to finish the run strongly. The old saying "Listen to your body". Well my was speaking loudly and saying, "Giddy up".

Apparently, that still wasn't not smart logic. Doing a hard 20 a few days after an 8K is still not wise. It took its toll on my nagging hip.

On Wednesday night, I did 5 easy, but I was definitely pretty sore during that run, especially my hip. It just didn't seem to want to loosen up at all. Thursday was off. Friday's goal was for an easier 8-10 miles, then 15 on Saturday. Half way into Friday night's run turned into a mess though. My hip was just wouldn't loosen up. I stopped to stretch for a couple minutes. Then started running again. Half mile later, the pain became unbearable.... everything tightened up so much that I literally couldn't take one more step. Running any further was out of the question. I knew it was over. The question was "how much over?"

I hobbled from the lakefront path over to Irving Park, grabbed a cab and went home. Walking was even difficult at this point. I was cold, in a relative good deal of pain, and extremely disappointed with myself. It was really a very depressing experience. I had no idea how much damage I actually did to myself. The tachometer has been riding on the redline for a while now, and I finally blew past it and the engine shut down.

After getting I home, took a long hot bath (heat seems to feel better on the hip than ice), stretched, got on the foam roller for like a 1/2 hour, iced, and slugged down 800mg of Motrin.

Saturday, I felt a little better. Not a ton, but enough to want to attempt a little rehab. I did some very basic leg exercise and core stuff at the gym, then spent the rest of the day taking it easy. Sunday, I felt a little better. I took it completely off from physical activity.

Monday, I felt a little better. I emailed teammate, Jill Lohmann (aka the life saver) first thing in the morning, and was able to see her later in the day. We basically came to the conclusion that its a soft tissue injury (very good thing - as opposed to the hip socket), and that there has been a chunk of scar tissue around the the ilium and the "iliac crest", where some major connective tissues have become irritated. This is where the TFL, Glutes, ITB, abs, lat, blah blah blah... all come together. Basically a clusterfuck. Per Jill's recommendation, I ran very easy on Monday night from the store, and then she checked me out again afterwords. Things went much better than Friday, albeit I was mildly sore.

Tuesday, I went in to see a colleague of Jill's to have a technique called ASTYM done. Its purpose was to try to loosen things up, and especially break up the chunks of scar tissue to promote faster healing. It was kind of a funky "scraping" of the skin/muscles/tendons using plastic tool. Nothing painful - but like trying to flush the effected area out.
My initial impression is that it may have broken up some of that tissue. I ran later at night, and it seemed to be a little better than Monday's...... this is very good! I'm seeing progress. I have another ASTYM treatment on Thursday evening.

SO - I've come very close to what might be a marathon breaking injury. I'm trying to manage it as much as possible and be as careful as possible. If the hip seizes up like last Friday, then I'm in trouble. Since then, the pain has subsided. I have 13 days to go before Boston, so of course I'm a bit paranoid. Welcome to a marathoner's taper!

At this point, the hay's in the barn. I know I'm in great shape. For now, my most important goal is to get to the starting line healthy. If I keep things in check, I should still have a blow out race. It'll require a less aggressive taper, which isn't ideal, but it'll do. I'll worry about my pace expectations next week.

Just when you think Old Man Winter's done...

You go out for a run, and he kicks you in nuts!

I got home from work yesterday and had to deal with another nightmare: I needed to run my final 20 miler, and essentially cap off my Boston training.

It was absolutely pouring outside, 20mph steady winds coming from the south, and about 45 degrees (though it felt much colder in the rain).

As you could imagine, I was dreading stepping outside for this. 20, UGH! I nearly bailed a few times. I knew I would better off if I just got outside the door, but I kept dragging my feet. I hate that feeling. I knew it would be rewarding once I finished the run, or even just got a mile into the run... but those first steps are sometimes the most difficult steps a runner ever takes.

By some miracle, the rain let up just a little bit when I was about to leave. I went out south 10 miles in to the wind, and came back north with it. I averaged 7's on the way out... +/- 5 to 10 seconds for a few. After 5 miles in, the sun actually started shining. In spite of the wind, it was somewhat pleasant.

I turned at 10, and it was game on. I don't think I changed my pace very much, but I certainly rolled it with a little help from the wind. 6:40... then 6:32... a few of 6:30's... then a few 6:25's.

....then all of a sudden as I was passing by McCormick Place and going towards downtown, I saw one of the wildest skies... Like straight out of a movie, a massive black cloud quickly swallows the tops of all the skyscrapers. To its east, total sunshine and a blue sky. To its west is a blood red sky. Very ominous, to say the least!

Unfortunately the black cloud, which was now above me, was literally full of shit! The winds picked up, and were coming at me from every direction. With in a minute, it started to literally dump buckets of water on me. A few minutes later, ping ping ping ping!! I'm getting nailed by sleet and then HAIL! Hail sucks. It stings!! I don't like it. Then it starts to thunder and lightening.... All of this goes on for a few more minutes, and then things die down as the black cloud rolls out onto the lake. Absolutely crazy.

Looking back at it, I can't believe I didn't run for shelter. All I did was run harder though. I wanted to finish the fucker. I wanted my taper. As I was going along side Lake Shore Drive, I even got slammed a couple times by cars hitting puddles. "Fuck you, I'm not quitting!!!"

I rolled on. 6:20, 6:15, 6:15, 6:10... then cooled down the last mile and a half.

My last 20 miler, about 2hr 16min... 6:48 average. Solid considering I had the Shamrock a couple days earlier. I couldn't be happier to have it done. My reward is that I get to start my taper (I'll still be 70+ this week though, since I'm already 40 deep).

It sucks that I can't get out of the terrible weather! Its really dragging on and depressing. Old Man Winter won't quit. I just want a nice calm, 60 degree day... maybe even a couple of them. Is that asking for so much??

.....What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.....

Shamrock Slush

BofA Shamrock Shuffle 8k
Course Map

Weather for this year's Shamrock Shuffle was ridiculous. I don't know why I would've expected differently for Chicago racing conditions though. There are two seasons here: really hot and really cold. Regardless it's always windy. This is a terrible city to race in. If you buy a bib ahead of time, you're cursed for a bad race. The window of opportunity for optimal conditions is narrow and unpredictable. The Shamrock Shuffle (late March) and Chicago Marathon (Columbus Day weekend) ALWAYS fall on the turning points of those two seasons.

I woke up on Sunday to an absolute disaster: Low-mid 30's, steady 15-20mph winds, and at least 2-3 inches of accumulated slop on the ground... and the snow was still dumping. The streets were literally covered in slush cake. It was impossible to walk outside without soaking your feet in this nasty frozen water. You know what it's like: the ground was a little too warm to actually keep the snow packing, but too cold to keep it from melting fast enough... and there was a lot of it!Over 30,000 people were registered for this thing, but apparently only about 13,000 die-hards actually showed up to run it. For me, this was no different than any of the other crap that I've had to deal with this winter... so it running wasn't a question. I certainly can't blame anyone for not wanting to deal with the conditions though. It was cold, windy, and an absolute guarantee to be head-to-toe soaking wet from this frozen slop by the end of the race.

I rode down to Grant Park with Chris and Jason. That worked out to be a life saver. We hid in an underground parking ramp near the starting line, so we were able to go through the pre-race motions while being insulated from the elements. We each had top-100 bibs, which meant we didn't need to mess around with the masses or lines at the corrals. We went right to the front of the starting line with about 10 minutes before the gun.

When we got to the line I saw my old friend, two time Olympian Deena Kastor, and we talked for a couple minutes. Aside from a new elite-team comptition this year, Shamrock has stopped paying out for the winners in recent years, so there hasn't been high-profile draw... but Deena was there. I'm sure she got a pretty appearance fee though. It may actually tied to a return for the marathon in the fall...? Anyway, it was kinda cool because she was nice enough to entertain a conversation with me (as opposed to saying, "beat it loser"). I should've mentioned that we actually have a mutual friend... No doubt that she know's my boy out in Mammoth. It would've been funny to see her reaction ...all I could think about was how bad of an experience this was going to be though. No doubt, the Queen of Distance USA had the same concerns.

I really had no idea what I was going to be able to run in these conditions. I just thought that I'd go out and try to stay as comfortable as possible, and try to get it over with as quickly as possible so I could get dry. Under better circumstances, 27:20ish (5:30's) was my 'conservative' goal. Today, I was just hoping to PR (previous was 27:55).

Fellow Fleet Feeter, Rob Chenoweth was near me at the start. He's a much more experienced runner than I am, much faster, and has always been willing to offer me good advice over the last couple years. He consistently is very strategic and successful with his racing, so it's hard not to respect what his plans were. He said he wasn't intending on blowing the race up (not that anyone was), but he was trying to at least run it as a fast tempo and progress it. It was common sense. I thought that I should try to pace with him through the first 1/2 mile or mile and if I felt comfortable, then I'd just settle into my own groove. He wound up doing what he said he would and picked it up, but he never really left my sight throughout the race.

Within 400 meters of the start, I was soaked. Frozen water was everywhere and impossible to avoid. Every step was into an inch or two of slush. Nothing appeared to be plowed. Maybe it was, but it didn't seem to help. My kick created a nasty rooster tail that had especially soaked my entire back side and shorts. My feet were sopping wet. My singlet was over a thin long-sleeved shirt... both weren't totally drenched yet, but would get there.

Winds were supposed to be from the NNW. It's hard to tell where they were actually came from though, because it always seemed to in my face - regardless of direction.

For the most part, that 1st mile was kind of chaotic as people were jumping out and running different paces all over the place. We went north on Columbus as you leave Grant Park, and continued until you get to Grand Ave. I hung off of Rob's back for a bit. Jason was a bit further in front. Mike was with me for the first 1/2 mile. I passed the marker at 5:28. Not obscenely fast, but a little faster than I would've liked. However, more importantly I felt good.

Mile two turned west onto Grand Ave, then to State Street and turned back south again. State included running slight hill as you cross the bridge and get back into the loop. Things thinned out quite a bit here. I really didn't have much of a pack to work with. The climb to get up the bridge was annoying and slippery. I spent the mile gradually passing a few people that went out too fast. Winds continued to swirl, so it definitely wasn't always at my back as we headed south. Mile two was 5:37.

As we passed the second marker, I heard some of the crowd cheering for the 2nd place female. I knew I didn't have a chance against Deena, but I wasn't expecting anyone else to be close to me. According to Mike, it was Tera Moody (which makes sense) trying to shake up the 3rd place chick. It worked. She eventually beat her by a big 50 seconds. Tera's definitely a great runner, faster than I am, but she never posed a threat to me. I dropped her within the next 1/2 mile.

The rest of mile 3, I had a little bit of a pack form as we headed west into some more steady wind. We also had a good incline with the Jackson Street bridge. 3 or 4 of us in this pack were working together to catch and pass some stragglers up ahead. We hung within reach of each other until Roosevelt, at 4 1/2 miles. I missed the 3rd mile split, but I'm guessing it was closer to 5:34ish.

Mile 4 had us turn back east towards Michigan Ave. We also went over our 4th bridge. These bridges were a pain because they all included small, slippery, sloppy hills. The bridges themselves were extremely slick since the footing was on corrugated or grooved wet steel. Four through 4 1/2 had our little pack with a few guys coming and going. No major tactics here. We all seemed to just want to get out of this mess as quickly as possible. The splashing in the slush was taking its toll too. My legs were frozen. They felt like stiff concrete. I had small ice chips accumulating near my ankles, between my skin and the socks, or the socks and the shoes. We passed the 4 mile mark at about 5:30ish.

Once we hit Michigan Ave, we headed south again to Roosevelt. I could still see Rob and Jason a little in the distance. There may have been a couple guys in between them, and then maybe 8 or so guys between myself and Jason. One of the guys with me started putting in some surges as we went down Mich Ave. Each of us traded places every little bit, but no one ever left a 10 foot radius of everyone else. We rolled by a couple of guys that were slowing.

After we turned onto the hill on Roosevelt, it would be about a quarter mile up, then another quarter mile into some wind for the finish. This is where the race really begins.

I doubted any of these poor bastards had been through the shit that I've been through in the last several months. I mean this race was extremely annoying with the slush and wind... but come on... Barrington in pouring rain a few weeks ago, and those tundra runs were far worse! I never saw a single other guy out there on our Saturday runs, aside from our Austin Bound crew. My legs love hills right now. I love horrible conditions. So between myself and the few around Jason there were still maybe 6 to 8 possible kills. Let's say 6 of them within reach, including whatever was left from my little pack. I toasted all of these guys on the hill! Literally, it was like round the turn... surge... then power and more power up it. 400 meters later and I'm on top. I now had 10 feet+ on the next guy behind me.

Everything was frozen. Everything was wet. The snow was still dumping down. I couldn't feel my toes, my legs, my fingers. My feet were ice. And somehow I had turn onto Columbus and head into the wind for a last 400m+. Man up and push for a little longer, and the pain would be over. I knew this wasn't turning out to be as fast as I had wanted, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Just don't let anyone pass me!

Jason still had some distance on me. He looked to be dropping 2 guys (one later dubbed Mr Candycane). They were all just a little too far ahead for me to even consider catching. After the 2 he dropped though, there was 1 more straggler for the taking. He was maybe 20 feet up. It was gonna be work. I knew if I went for him nobody else would catch me from behind unless they had a monstrous kick. I doubted it in this garbage... but ya never know. I had to commit now or lose my chance. As I started to fill the gap, he wasn't pulling away. 15 feet between us now. Maybe 300m until the finish. I put in a big push to close it some more. 5 feet now. He didn't even know I was coming! Nothing behind me from what I could tell. Only 100 meters to the finish. I dropped everything I had to plow through the slush, pass him, and put some cushion between us. He didn't even care. I looked back and nobody else was challenging me. Done. 27:35 on my watch. 27:38 officially (I lose the 0:03 due to the elite start versus chip start).

(Reamers creamering Candycane; Getting my final kill; Kicking it home; The trail of dead bodies behind me)

In the full last mile, there were maybe 10 kills for the taking. I did it. I hung in there until the right time, and then I passed all of them. Everyone that was in my sight from the bottom of Michigan Ave to the finish line. None came back to get me. THAT was a strong finish. Even though it wasn't the overall time I wanted, it was a very solid race.

I continued my streak of strong Shamrock Shuffles. It was an unofficial PR by 20 seconds, and in the worst racing conditions that I could've possibly imagined. Deena was only about 20 seconds in front of me. The win was about a minute off last year's pace. 60th place over all for me... which was kind of disappointing, but apparently $$$ for the elite team competition brought in some studs from the surrounding states.

Splits:
5:28, 5:37, 5:34, 5:30, 5:25 = 27:35

On to the next thing....

Tomfoolery in Barrington!

I packed away 89 miles last week - that's the most I've ever ran in 7 days. It was my peak week for Boston (I'll bump up for 1 more week after Shamrock, but it won't be that many miles). Also it was probably the 3rd time that I've gone 80+ within a 7 day period during this training. Aside from some standard aches and pains, and constantly being tired, I'm actually holding together pretty well.

Runs last week included the 1:16:28 Cary ½, a recovery run, some easy + moderate runs, a light progression on Friday with a few miles at marathon goal pace, and a big PHat 24 miler on the Barrington hills.

Chris and I plugged away the 24 with about ½ of the run at 6:30-6:40 pace. It was pretty nasty, especially since we tried to make the course as complex as possible and include a maximum amount of hills. In the end though, we both finish very strong. I can say with confidence that those 24 miles will wind up being more difficult than the Boston Marathon itself.... obviously at a much different pace though.

The highlight of that run wasn't the miles or the hills the pace though.... it was something much more beautiful!
Good ol' Oak Knoll Road recently received a fresh coat of black top.... something that a stuck up suburbanite bitch like Sue Cass would even be proud of! But what did some little Barrington hooligan decide to do with that pretty new surface job? Well just what any rich little brat would do: soil it by spray painting a gigantic cock in the middle of the road!! ...right outside of the area's most gorgeous estates, horse farms, and the Barrington Country Club. Absolutely brilliant!! ....It reminds me of the old-time favorite “Treasure Trove” scene in Super Bad:




So yeah....

Shamrock Shuffle is this coming Sunday. It's hard to believe, but in 2003 that was the first race I ever ran. I've purposely pulled back my mileage this week to help recover for this perennial favorite. Sunday and Monday were completely off, I'm running a few days mid-week to give me a track workout and some 11-12 milers, Friday will be off again, and then a shakeout on Saturday AM.

If things go right, Shamrock should help to solidify some confidence in myself after Cary. I know Cary couldn’t be a fluke, but together both races will give me a good indication of what I'm capable of in Boston. I have about 3 ½ weeks to go.

As far as my injury update.... I'm not feeling totally fresh, but the days off this week have helped. My hip is feeling better after a lot of work on the foam roller and a massage from Sarah. It looks like I've had my own treasure trove of knots in my Glutes, Piriformis, TFL, et al. This has actually been on both sides too, and I know that some of this deep down soreness has been an issue for a while... I'm saying that possibly for the last year plus, I've had pains in my ass. I only assumed that this was some normal function of higher mileage and more intense training...?? I'm an idiot. So it seems perfectly likely that some of these deep knots have been the root of my other issues, such as tight hip adductors and groin muscles that have plagued me numerous times before.
I have another massage and a day off tomorrow. I'm hopeful that the worst of this is over and I continue to roll on.

The Ides of March

That cold of mine turned out to be a bitch. Nothing like hacking my lungs out and having my head feeling like a punching bag for 3-4 days. After some heavy doses of nyquil and theraflu, I'm feeling better... I don't get sick often, but when I do, it sucks.

My hip is still a mess. I've been stretching, digging at it, and trying to massage it on my own quite a bit, and I'm not seeing much improvement.

Friday Nite Fight: an 18mile a blood bath. I ran with Chris after work, and whatever is going on in my hip started flaring up about 1/2 way into the run and got progressively worse the further we went. We really weren't pushing the pace at all... 7-7:15's. Maybe a couple 6:50's, at best. Whoopie. It was never completely unbearable, but all I could think was, "How the hell am I going to race/tempo 13 miles on Sunday?... How am I going to peak next week?" I finished that 18mi pig with a death march to the door. Probably my worst run of the training season. Saturday's 5 filled out 70 miles for the week. I spent a good part of Saturday massaging and icing.

---------------

March Madness Cary 1/2 Marathon

Course map (see elevation)

After feeling like garbage this past week, I was fearful of this morning's race. Cary is/was my first chance to test my fitness for the year and how much this training has helped me. My fears were a DNF because of my newly acquired hip pains. Feeling sick during the week wasn't going to help the cause either. It's amazing how quickly some aches and pains can become problems!

Cary is dubbed as the most difficult 1/2 Marathon in Illinois. It's a great predictor race for the Boston Marathon - many of us are convinced the course is even slightly more difficult than Boston.

My goal was basically to go out and treat the thing as a long tempo run - and if by some miracle I was feeling good, I'd start to roll. I was assuming I would PR my half even if I only ran it as a "tempo." My previous PR was 1:19:58. 6's get mid-1:18's. If I didn't PR, it would've been a disappointment.

The weather was perfect. High 30's at the start, w/ light wind and clear skies. Singlet and shorts weather (a rarity considering the last 4 months of arctic training).

At the start, we had Dave Strubbe (FF'er and a possible winner if lo-teens were good enough)... Moster Mike, Chris Woods, Pflipper Kepler, Kfan, Shooter Ras... and Johnny Lance Romance starred as "The Bandit". For the most part, we were all looking to go out conservative and just run some hilly tempos.

I ran the first few miles with Monster... It was nice to have him there - almost calming and kept me from getting into too much trouble too early. Mile 1 has a slight up hill, then a steady down hill through 2.5.... this is one of the bigger down hills on the course and since it's early (like Boston), it was important to keep control. We went through 1 & 2 at right about 5:50's. It seemed like a relaxed tempo pace and I felt comfortable… obviously with some downhill help though. Things were setting up as a lead pack appeared to have about 10 guys (Dave included), then a large gap with a chase pack having another 10 guys. Mike and I kept about 20 meters off the back of the chase, and then another large gap to the runners behind us. I knew some of these douche bags in front of us weren't for real (they couldn't be, Chucky was leading them!)... road kills were gonna be for the taking.

After about 2.5 miles, we had reached one of the rarities on the course: fairly level ground for about a mile. At this point, I had to make a decision: maintain my effort and stick with mike (which really meant to stick with closer to 6's due to the early down hills), try to keep my pace even and hope to catch some guys as we went on, or make a move now. My hip wasn't bothering me (at least nothing to be concerned about)... that cold/cough wasn't an issue. Breathing was fine. Heart rate was fine. Plenty hydrated. Fuel in the tank. All systems go..... Mike said "Go gett'em".....

I chose to hunt rabbits.

In the next mile, the chase pack started to split up as guys either realized they went out too fast, or purposely tried to blow the group up. This is one of the coolest parts about racing that spectators or back of the packers never get to experience.... once people start getting comfortable - someone goes and makes things uncomfortable for everyone else.... an opening comes, and runners start messing with the pace a little, and they blow things up to widdle away the competition. I knew that some of these hacks were gonna be easy to kill, especially since I could see Chucky leading the way of 10 guys.

.....I closed the gap pretty quick with a few of the guys in front of me. Mile 3: 5:45. By 3.5, 2 runners were gone. Now the hills started bumping. The term "shredding" comes to mind for the next 4-5 miles....

Barrington in negative degrees.... Barrington in freezing rain.... Barrington in 6 inches of fresh snow.... No water... no gu... Just the Tip... Chris Woods' Hill... Verdo's Hill... The Hill with No Name.... Tempos progressing during snow storms and 20mph winds..... a steady base of 60-70miles a week w/ inter-week spikes into the 80's... all of them fresh on my legs and in my memory...

I literally shredded the chase pack between the 2.5 and the 4.5, and now the adrenaline was flowing. Nobody even put up a fight! Honestly, I was a little confused by their tactics... either I was too fast or they screwed up big time with an overly aggressive early pace! The first hill was at about 4 miles... I swear I was going faster up it than down it.... I mean I wasn't, but it was like taking candy from babies!! I put in a few surges on the hill and 4 guys just let me go. Mile 4: 5:52. On the back side of 4's rolling hill, I took a few more. We round a turn, and nobody even cares!? I hammer further to get away from them. Mile 5: 5:34!! The chase was officially smoked. Chucky and his followers were all dead. I felt strong and they were my fuel. Those tempo runs and hills were paying major dividends.

At this point, there was a large gap between anyone in front of me (200+ meters)... the lead pack had gone around a turn and blown itself to pieces. Obviously I wasn't going to win this thing, but there was still a chance I could take a few more guys. I was just thinking maintain, maintain, and surge when I got near someone slower than me. I had no idea how many were actually ahead of me... I was guessing still 10+? Each of them would probably pose a much better challenge than the last few.

Miles 6-8 were basically all up hill. The top of the course was at about 7.5... 6 was 6:06, 7 was 5:52, 8 was 5:49. I probably had another 4 road kills over those miles - two would come back to bite me in the butt at around 10, but at the time they didn't pose any major challenge.... they were running together and I'm guessing just hung off my back far enough to reel me in later. The only entertaining part of this hilly stretch was a guy from Universal Sole (a main competitor to Fleet Feet). Those hills were annoying and I could tell he was starting to fall apart... I passed him like 3 times over a ½ mile, and he'd always come back with a surge and put 10 feet on me. I was even nice about it one time and told him just to "hang on, man." Then on the incline at about 7.5, I buried him and the next guy in front of us. It's a pisser of a hill, but I knew that I'd be able to relax on the back side of it for the next 1-1/2 miles.

Mile 9 is my favorite mile on this course. It's goes down hill and then flattens out. Nothing up. Hammer time! It's really the only chance on the course to open it up. If you've still got it at this point, throw down. I could see 1 guy probably 200 meters ahead of me, then a few more maybe a quarter mile ahead. Slim pickings from here on. I put it into high gear... I went for Mr. 200. Mile 9: 5:33.

That was a gutsy move and maybe it would hurt me in the end, but at the time I had no idea I was being followed. Mile 10 has a bitch of hill - basically retracing part of 3's downhill, which then turns and spikes up again at 11 and a last hill before 12 finishes.

I passed Mr 200 meters with a solid surge going up the hill on 10, but by the top of it, two of my former road kills came back and passed me. At the time, I was toasted and needed something flat to bring my heart rate back down. I needed to save something for the last hills. I couldn't do much about it. They put about 10-20 meters on me over the next series of hills as we advanced through 12, but they weren't too strong to get too far away. Mile 10: 6:02, 11: 5:53, 12: 6:02.

After 12, any significant hills were basically done. I wasn't losing ground to the guys that passed me... nobody was gaining on me (there was a now big gap at this point)... and the couple other guys that were once about a quarter mile ahead of me were now for the taking. So we had 5 runners within 50 meters of each other, and about a mile to go. 1 went easy, and without a fight. Actually we all just blew by him. (turns out, he was pacing a legally blind guy that finished in 1:15!! Dang!!).

Now it's myself and 3 others. The odd man out was passed by the other two guys... and put a few surges on me as I came up to him. That fucker… I even told him we needed to work together to catch those other fuckers... I suggested we work together, and then he surges on me....??? Reeallly??.... I mean really!!?? Well lookie-looo, what do I see....? A turn with another slight hill after it. Then it would be 1 last turn and the final ½ mile on the home stretch. We round the first turn, I scoot from around the back of him and get on the inside, and on that ever so slightly upward slope... bu-bye! He's dead. Mile 13 passes: 5:41.

At this point, it was pretty much set. The targets in front were still about 20 meters ahead, and I had run out of chances to catch them... I just didn’t have enough flat spots to catch them, and they stayed strong on the hills. They didn't seem to be racing each other either (for all I know just out for a jog in the park)... so as I saw the finish line in the distance, I guessed any surge I threw at them would be met and probably crushed, and leave me out of gas. After 3 miles of coursing them, I opted to play defense to the previously dropped soul (this way I could still out kick the last 100 if I had to). The last .1 mi was in 33 seconds (about a 5:30 pace).

Finish: 1:16:28.... 8th place over all, 1st place age group, 5:50 average.... basically evenly split... a 3:30 PR..... my 10 mile PR.... and 75 miles over the last 7 hard days of running …all on the hilliest 1/2 Marathon course in Illinois, on the Ides of March.

Split recap:
1 - 05:51.6
2 - 05:50.2
3 - 05:45.9
4 - 05:52.6
5 - 05:34.2
6 - 06:06.3
7 - 05:52.7
8 - 05:49.1
9 - 05:33.7
10 - 06:02.0
11 - 05:53.0
12 - 06:02.2
13 - 05:41.1
13.1 - 00:33.8
Finish - 1:16:28

On the cool down, my hip was flaring up again. Sore within minutes of racing. My adrenaline clearly shut off any thoughts of pain during the race and gave me the chance to pound out a solid run... even if it was "unintentional."

I'll take it easy for a few days, but I should still have high mileage this week. This week should be my peak week for Boston. Next week I'm planning a solid 50% cut back into the Shamrock Shuffle. Per McMillanRunning.com, his predictors suggest I should get a more aggressive in the Shamrock on March 29th. I was going to shoot for 27:30. Now I have some cushion. I just need to recover and get the wheels turning by then!!

For now.... I'm just enjoying the moment. It was a great day. Congrats to all of my friends that ran! Even if you weren't racing, you all had great tempo runs. (ok, well welcome back to the hills, Pflipper!) Happy Birthday, Monster!

I can't get no sleep!

I feel like my #1 problem in training is my lack of sleep. Considering I have full time job that requires a highly stressful >50 hours / week, and requires me to wake up at 5:50ish AM... I don't know of an easy solution. To boot, when I attempt to socialize and go out during the weekends, I often pay the price by not being able to fall asleep on Sunday nights. That insomnia can carry through for a few days.

Hence my recovery suffers, and when I start bumping up my mileage w/o the recovery and sleep, I start feeling the growing pains. The insomnia feeds upon itself.

This latest problem child: some sort of annoying knot in my hip that just won't seem to quit. In addition, I'm now feeling like I'm getting sick. A nasty head-cold... full of coughing, a stuffy nose, and splitting headache.

Some very strong workouts in the last couple weeks - including a very comforting 7x 1200's on Monday night at 77-78's (basically my estimated Shamrock / 5:30 pace). Cary kicks things off this coming weekend on Sunday. I'm praying for sleep, this cold to give up, and my hip to wang itself out... otherwise, I fear that my latest push to step up my training is all for nothing....

What's coursing?

Great clip! --excellent song to run to, and ya gotta love the pikey by Mickey.

In spite of missing last Sunday's run and not manning up for a double, I should still hit about 73 this week. I'm a bit sore and I wish I would've spaced it out more with a double, but I should manage alright. A massage sometime next week should help a lot.

11 more to go tonight with some race pace for 4-5mi, and then 21 tomorrow AM in Barrington. The weather is awesome in Chicago for the moment... 60 degrees, light wind, and sunny blue skies. I haven't seen that in probably 6 months!! Luckily I'll be able to take advantage tonight. Tomorrow will be complete shit though - I'm expecting that 21 miles to be in a steady rain w/ 40 degrees and wind. Ugh.

Next week's looking pretty ugly - 2 track workouts, a mid-week 16 miler, wanting to still top 70, and then the Cary 1/2 Marathon on 3/15. I'm still not sure how I'll treat that race... I'm guessing very conservatively considering the mileage that I want to keep up before and after the race.

....and then there's the fact that "St Patrick's Month" is starting to kick off here. Probably the most drunken 3 weeks of the year for the city. I'm attempting to avoid it at all costs. We'll see how that works out!