Marathon Induced Insomnia...

...is in Full Effect!

 

So much for my plans of getting a little extra sleep each night this week before the big day. I was prepared not to get much sleep the night before the race, but waking up at 3am (incidentally the time I will wake up on Sunday) everyday this week is getting ridiculous. I lay there thinking about the race itself, getting to the race, hydration, nutrition, etc. and I cant get back to sleep. I hear that this is normal before a big race, but I have never experienced it like this before. I want my sleep! Hopefully, I can break this cycle for the next few nights.

This week has been pretty lackluster in terms of runs, I skipped Monday's 30 min spin on the bike and yesterday's 5 miler. My legs are feeling a bit heavy and tired. I got in 30 minutes on the bike tonight and then 3 or 5 miles Thursday night with the group from ARC. Friday afternoon I will head to Dodger Stadium for the expo and Saturday I will be attending the Mt Gleason Runner's luncheon and trying to rest and stay off my feet as much as possible.

I have made my checklist for Pre-Race, Race, and Post-Race and now will gather everything together and check and re-check it several times before leaving the house at 4am Sunday morning.

26.2 - The Final Week

As I sit here writing this, one week from now, I will be about 3 hours into my first marathon. I am sitting here thinking, where did the last 18 weeks go? It seems like yesterday that Glenn sent me the marathon training plan that I would follow, boy time sure flies.

Yesterday, before my last long run with Coach Craig and the SRLA kids, I told him, I couldn't wait to get the marathon over with and move on with my life. He told me I was approaching it the wrong way and that I should enjoy my first marathon. After thinking about it for a while...he's right, I want to enjoy all of the aspects of this marathon from the expo, lining up in the "mosh pit" as Chris put it, all of the sights along the way and particularly...crossing the finish line! I have worked hard for this, I have overcome a serious injury and now I need to focus and enjoy this experience.

This week's schedule has just a few runs of a couple of miles and some rest days. I will focus on preparing mentally for the race this week. I will put together a nutrition strategy for the race as well as my pre-race plans on race morning. I will try and get extra rest each night and start to add extra carbs to each meal this week.

Yesterday, we did an 8 mile run, which I made a tempo run (1:13:39/ 9:12 mi) out of it. Today, I did an easy 4 mile run with the first 2 miles at my marathon starting pace (12:00 mi) and the last 2 miles at a bit faster pace (11:00 mi). Physically and mentally, I think I am prepared for this task...we'll find out in 7 days.

26.2 - The Mental Challenge

As I have stated before, this will be my first full marathon and from what I have heard from all of my friends that have run a marathon, the biggest challenge will be the mental game. I think back to September 2007, when I ran my first half marathon (Disneyland) and what I felt before that race. I was nervous, excited and unsure how my body and mind would react to the distance. I was under-trained, under-prepared and went into it with a bit of an ego thinking I would run my first race in 2:30...boy was I wrong. I hit the wall...no, I splattered against the wall at mile 10 and struggled to get through the rest of the race. I finished in 2:41:31 and felt horrible, in fact, I didn't run again for several months. All I know, is that I don't want that to happen this time.

So how do I prevent that from happening? I think the best way to approach the race is to first, get rid of the ego and time goal. My goal is to just finish the race...upright and not requiring a ride in the "big, red, limousine". At one time, I thought that 4.5 hour time goal was within reach, but given the severity of my injury 2 months ago and I missed training for 3 weeks, I have had to for go any time goal at all.  I need to break the race down into much smaller, more manageable segments. I will break it down in 10K increments, since that is a comfortable distance for me and I run a 10K route in training, I can imagine that run in my mind. I have to start slow and pace myself, I am running 26.2 miles, not a 5 or 10K race. I must not get sucked into the crowd at the start, I need to pick a pace and stick with it.

Once I get to mile 20, that is where things will get challenging since I have never run more than 20 miles and I will be entering uncharted territory. If I stay focused and look at it as the final 10K, I think everything will be OK. Dont get me wrong...this will be a challenge, one of the biggest in my life, but if I stick with the game plan and stay focused, I will cross the finish line!

My Saturday Run with The Mt. Gleason Runners

A few weeks ago I ran the SRLA 18 mile Friendship run and I met Coach Craig Moss and his kids, the Mt. Gleason Runners. I was impressed with Coach Moss and his group of kids that when the offer was made to  run with his group, I jumped at the chance. Saturday morning I met them at their starting point (McDonalds, doesn't get much better...does it?) and after some quick announcements from Coach Moss, he introduce me to the kids and the last thing he said was "Don't laugh at him, when you run past him." We headed out on the scheduled 11 mile run, which was a 5.5 mile out and back. During the first 5.5 miles, I would say hello to the kids as I was passing them and then I got in with a group of girls that was running at my pace and we stayed together until the water stop, when they stopped for water and I kept on going. I got to the turn around and there were a few kids stretching and walking, I just made the turn and headed back. I was feeling pretty good and decided to try and keep my pace all the way back. As I was heading back and came across students running the opposite direction, I would give them a thumbs up and say "Good Job" or "Way to go, keep it up" and I got a lot of smiles from that. I even heard a few kids say "Good job Bob" which really impressed me that they were actually listening to Coach Moss when he introduced me.

As I was heading back, I noticed my pace was slowing a bit because of some uphill sections of the run. Little did I realize, on the way out was all downhill....now I have an uphill run all the way back.

 As I was running back I would come up on some kids walking and would engage them in conversation. I asked them if this was going to be their first marathon, and when they said yes, I said "me too" and that put a smile on many of their faces. I noticed something funny, as I came up to kids that were walking, they would look over their shoulder and see me running, they would start running as to not get passed by the old guy. About 2 miles out, I came across this boy who was walking and as I passed him, I told him there was less than 2 miles to go. He started running and caught up with me. He asked me a few questions, so I took my ipod out and we started chatting. He told me his name was Arine (not sure of the spelling) and that this was going to be his first marathon. I asked him how he expected to do and he said he wants to finish in 6 hours or less. We started getting a light drizzle and the conversation turned to running in the rain and that he felt it was not good to run in the rain. I told him that there was a good chance (hopefully not) that we could see some rain on race day. He said, that's the marathon, that's different. I said to him, you need to know what it feels like to run in the rain, clothes, shoes, socks all wet and how your body reacts to it. He shook his head in agreement. As we came up to a small intersection, where a car was getting ready to turn right, I gave him a lesson in safety. He was getting ready to go in front of the car and I stopped him and said, "If you can't make eye contact with the driver, don't step out in front of the car, go behind the car". Sure enough, the driver never looked to her right before she pulled out. As we came to a stop light, he noticed my Garmin 305 and asked what it was. I explained that it was a GPS and that it would tell me my real time pace, distance, elevation and heart rate. He seemed impressed and then asked what pace we were running. As we started to run, I would call out our pace. We finished up with a short spring to the finish. I got my recovery meal (Egg McMuffin, hash browns and a large iced coffee) and headed home. Total run 11.21 miles in 1:51:28.

When asked if I would be back again...I said yes! I had a great time running with these kids. I normally train by myself except for Thursday night fun runs with our group, so this was a welcome change. Thanks again to Coach Moss and the kids for welcoming me! See kids...old guys can run too!  :)  See you next Saturday.

Sunday was an easy 6 mile run at marathon pace...finished and then went for a massage. Time to relax now.

Taper Time!

This whole concept of tapering before a marathon is all new to me. I understand the purpose, but I have never really done a full taper before any of the half marathons I have run in the past. I have just not run a long run the week before the race. Since the LA Marathon will be my first marathon, I am trying follow my training plan as closely as possible. The next couple of weeks look to be pretty light in terms of running.

Here is my plan for the next few weeks:
I am trying to rest and get more rest over the next few weeks, but that has become a challenge lately as I have been having trouble getting a good night's rest. I am trying to eat healthier meals while not gaining any more weight. I was able to drop 5 lbs in February and look to drop another few in the coming weeks. I have eliminated all swimming workouts until after the marathon as I am afraid to get sick before the big day. I will continue to do some light spinning on the trainer a couple of days a week. I know what clothes I will wear on race day and what fuel (Cytomax, Gu and Salt Stick) I will be using during the race. I know all of these things work and work well for me.

Now is the time for me to prepare mentally for the challenge of running 26.2 miles. I got a nice pep talk last night about the mental aspect of the race. One point that was made was that if things started heading south for me mentally during the race, I know now how to comeback and get back on track to finish the race. I have been blessed with a great group of supportive people who have and will continue to offer great advice with regards to running and finishing my first marathon. So to all of you whether I have said it in the past or not...Thank You!

Tomorrow I am going to do my long run (11 miles) with the Mount Gleason Runners which is part of the Students Run LA program...looking forward to it, should be fun, I hope the rain holds off until we finish.

Have a good weekend!

Chinatown Firecracker 10K Race Report

2/28/2010

I got to Chinatown early and met my friend and RP, Melissa and we headed over to the registration tables. Once we got our bibs, goodie bags(probably the best goodie bags I have seen at a local race) and t shirts, we went looking for A Runner's Circle's tent. After making a couple of trips back to the car...don't ask...we headed to the starting line to watch the opening ceremonies. After the Boy Scouts presented the colors, and a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, the traditional Chinese ceremonies started with the drums, gong and dragon dance. After the dragon dance came the lighting of the 100,000 firecrackers.



After the ceremonies, Amy, Melissa and I did a nice little warm up jog down Broadway Ave. We started to make our way closer to the starting line and ended up about 2/3 of the way back. We started at a nice pace and after my 20 mile run on Saturday, I was definitely feeling my tired legs. The first 2.5 miles are up hill, actually there is about 500 feet of elevation gain in that 2.5 miles. We tried to keep up a decent pace but ended up walking a bit up the steepest portion of the course. I think Melissa's comment sums it all up...



We finally got some relief...it was all downhill from here on out. We picked up the pace quite a bit. I actually struggled to keep up at some points but eventually caught back up. We cruised through the Dodger Stadium parking lot and headed for the home stretch. We turned back on Broadway and could see the finish line and really pushed hard. In the end, Melissa came in at 59:39 and I did 59:40...so yes, I did get "chic-ed"...but I'm OK with it. We had a well run race. I enjoyed the race, I would like to do it again on fresh legs as I know I could shave a couple of minutes off my time.



After the race we met up in the beer garden with several of our friends. We then headed over to Ocean Seafood to try and catch the official "Tweetup" but we were late to the party. We did get to say Hi to everyone and then got our own table for some yummy Dim Sum. This day was a day of firsts for me...first time to Chinatown, first time running the Firecracker 10K and first time eating Dim Sum.

Be sure to check out Glenn - The Running Fat Guy's Race Report as well. He did a much more thorough report with pictures and video.

The 20 Mile Monkey is Off My Back

Since I started my marathon training plan back in November, I always dreaded the three 20 mile runs that were on the schedule. The first two 20 milers happen to hit while I was recovering from the groin injury, so I was never really faced with running them. Last week was a different story...I have been back to running for 3 weeks and completed the SRLA 18 mile run the week before. (Click here for race report) That 18 mile run didn't go so well. I started out too fast, I had hydration issues that led to cramping and the socks I was wearing were just not comfortable. Looking at my schedule, I had 5 days to figure out what was wrong and prepare for Saturday's 20 mile run. I sought advice from several trusted people and we came up with a plan that included new socks with more cushion, salt stick and a much slower pace. I was watching the weather all week and the forecast called for rain most of Saturday and since I was running the Firecracker 10K on Sunday morning, I couldn't switch the 20 miler to Sunday. I planned out two loops starting from home, the first was to the West and was 12 miles and the second was an 8 mile loop to the East. I decided that if it was raining, I could stop after the first 12 miles, change shoes, sock, clothes and reload the water bottles.

I woke up about 6am to pouring rain and didn't really want to get up and run in it, but I HTFU and got ready to go. I walked out the door at 7am in a light rain. By the time I got to mile 1, the rain had stopped and I shed my rain jacket. Everything was going well until mile 6, when the sky opened up and it just poured. I put the rain jacket back on and just slogged through. My shoes and socks were soaked, but I felt really good. I arrived home after mile 12 and changed, grabbed a PB&J and headed back out. It was raining pretty good, but the sky to the west was blue...but I was heading east. Thankfully the storm moved faster than I did and I was able to run 7 of the 8 miles without rain. When I crossed 18.40 miles, I was in uncharted territory and was unsure of what would happen. Surprisingly...nothing, I just kept moving along at my slow pace and finished the 20 miles. When it was all said and done I ran 20.17 miles in 4:01:39 (11:58/mile). I felt much better than last week's 18 miles, but between the socks, salt stick and slowing down...it made all the difference. Could I have gone another 6.2 miles? Maybe, but that test will come in less than 3 weeks. The next morning, I ran the Firecracker 10K in Chinatown...look for that race report tomorrow.