Onward to Number Sixteen

I ran 5 miles today and I'll run 5 more on Thursday. I ran tonight on one of my very first and oldest routes. With the time change, Bonelli is off limits for a few months so I was back on the streets again. I went over to Via Verde and ran the streets on what used to be my fave 3 miler on the dirt before the city paved it over (anybody hearing Joni Mitchell in their head?).

The two 5 milers in the middle of the week is reminiscent of the week just before the IMT Des Moines Marathon. I'm repeating that week because, you guessed it, I'm running another marathon this weekend. Three weeks since Des Moines and I'm going to toe the line at another starting line and work my way to the finish.

Before Des Moines I explained that I was running it in part because I wasn't going to be able to run the Harrisburg (PA) Marathon, because my wife said so (just kidding). So I signed up for Des Moines with her blessing. Before I'd even gotten to Des Moines, she surprised me with Harrisburg as a 25th Anniversary present. Sweet, huh.

I've had my eye on Harrisburg for several years now for a couple of reasons. Of course there are the obvious ones of it being in a state I hadn't run yet, but there are other even better reasons.

My in-laws live in Anneville, PA not too far from Harrisburg, so the marathon gives us an excuse to visit them and offers us a really affordable room rate. Back in 2005, the marathon was run on November 13, my wife's birthday. I always thought it would be fun to celebrate it in PA with her Dad and step-mom. Plus, I really like the idea of killing two birds with one stone. This year the race is almost a week before her birthday but we will still have a good time with her family.

I have no expectations for a finishing time, except to actually finish. There really wasn't much time between PA and IA to recover and train properly. The best I can hope for is that everything I did leading up to Missouri and then Iowa will carry me through PA. With the eating season starting last Friday, my diet has been out of control with sugar and flour. And boy could I tell the difference on tonight's easy 5 miler. I vowed on Sunday to stay away from the stuff this week, but so far the first two days of the week I've failed miserably. Hopefully I can "dry out" before Sunday.

Runners and Dogs

I haven't had a weight sessions since Monday, 10/12. I may have gotten one in on Wednesday, 10/21, but it isn't written down in my log. I've had trouble scheduling something with my trainer since I returned from Cleveland but I finally made it to the gym on my own on Saturday for a chest/triceps work out after my 12 miler.

The 12 miler was done on the San Gabriel River Bike Trail, just like my last 12 miler the weekend before Des Moines. I ran the exact same route and finished it in 1:50:31 (9:13 pace), slightly better than the 9:15 pace from 3 weeks ago. One end of the bike trail wraps around a park behind the dam. There was a flurry of activity at the park with a middle school or high school cross country meet and a dog agility course going on.One nice thing about this run is that I sped up as I went. My first few miles were in the 9:30 to 9:40 range. By mile 9 I had dropped the pace to 9:02 and mile 12 was completed in 8:14. It is not often that I can end a training run faster than I started. I am usually the king of consistent pace throughout. Because I was still pretty fatigued from the relocation trip, I moved my run:walk interval down to 5:15/0:45 from 6:15/0:45. That made the pace all the more satisfying from the previous run.

This morning, Sunday, I got up to the bright sunshine compliments of the the time change and headed over to Bonelli for a 5 miler. The route was split about 50/50 on the trails and asphalt. Bonelli was also a flurry of activity with more runners and dogs involved. Today the Muddy Buddy was being run and a crew of Search and Rescue guys were out on a training hike with their heavy gear packs and their dogs.

I ended the week with 27 miles. I tallied up 135.2 miles in the month of October.

The Move Wrap Up

The drive to Cleveland, OH went off without a hitch. We arrived there in the early afternoon on Monday, after having driven nearly 800 miles on Sunday from Oklahoma City to somewhere east of Indianapolis. I have made it safely back to California after having caught the rapid transit near Tyler's new place and catching a flight from Cleveland at 6:30 this morning.

The only real snafu was trying to retrieve his stuff from the UHaul trailer. Things had shifted in the trailer and blocked the sliding door. They sent out a contracted service guy who tried for over 2 hours to no avail. We drove the trailer to the UHaul center the following morning, Tuesday, to see what they could do. They were clueless as what to do. A good samaritan happened by and took charge of the situation. He was able to wiggle his way into the small opening and move things around and bang around a little on the tracks and got the door to move up and down.

Yesterday my parents drove up from my their home about an hour south of Cleveland and spent part of the day with Tyler, before he had to go to work, and then we hung out most of the rest of the day.

I was able to get a 5 mile run in on Tuesday around the neighborhood. My planned 4 miler on Wednesday was postponed to spend more time with my parents. Leaving Cleveland so early this morning got me back home around noon. I took advantage of the afternoon sunlight and warmth and ran the Bonelli Sunday Morning Loop. I haven't run that loop in a long time.

The run was a slow run over the hilly course. It is especially tough to run as I was sobbing like a baby. I miss my son.

The 4 days driving and the finality of the move were physically and emotionally draining. Leaving Tyler there was much, much, much harder than I ever expected it to be. He is staying with his godmother for a few more days until he gets stuff settled into his place but after that he'll be there alone for a while. His girlfriend will eventually join him there.

Tyler - Good Luck, Have Fun and Work Hard. Call if you need ANYTHING! We are proud of you and love you!

700 Miles, Plus 5

The migration northward continued today. Thanks to all the kind words on Tyler's behalf. I've had him read all the comments.

We left Gallup, NM this morning and arrived in Oklahoma City, OK this evening after exactly 700 miles of driving. I drove the entire width of New Mexico and I swear that entire state is one long hill from west to east. Tyler took over in the afternoon and got us through the pan handle of Texas without any run ins with the local law enforcement and then continued on into Oklahoma. It was amazing the difference in color coming across the border, Texas was dry and brown, whereas OK was green, very weird.

Once we arrived in OKC, I headed straight to the fitness center. As much as I don't really enjoy the treadmill, it was the best option. After a day of 11+ hours in the truck sitting, it felt really good to move the legs a bit. I took it easy at 10:00 pace, except for the last mile because the hotel manager was trying to shut the room down. I upped the pace and pushed the time limit a little but got the 5 miles in.

I ended the week with 12.8 miles, which is a little lower than average for me one week post marathon. The journey continues (on all fronts).....

620 Miles

I got up this morning and instead of jumping into the shower to get ready for work, I jumped into my running clothes and headed over to Bonelli. I ran a loop that included the Cottontail Trail, out around the airport (Brackett Field), through the RV park and part of the picnic loop. The run was about 7.8 miles in 1:12. After I came home and showered I jumped in Tyler's truck with him and started driving.

Tyler, the oldest son, is moving to Cleveland, OH to begin his journey as a culinarian. He graduated in June and was not having much luck finding jobs in SoCal so he took a peek in the Cleveland area and found a couple prospects. He made a quick trip there, interviewed and was offered two different jobs. He accepted one and packed up his stuff in a UHaul trailer and now he and I are driving cross country to his new digs.

We made it to Gallup, NM today logging about 620 miles. We hope to make it to Ohio by Monday. He will be staying with his god mother for a time until he can find his own place.

This is the culmination of all that we as parents invested into his life. While it will be tough on Mom for him to be so far away, we are excited for his success. His grandparents and a bevy of aunts, uncles and cousins live within an hour, so all things considered he will be in good hands. Exciting times!

Des Details of Des Moines

For Des Moines I packed lightly with only a carry-on. I’d checked the weather for a while and the lows in the 40’s with highs in the 60's had me packing my Marathon Maniacs singlet and a short sleeve shirt. Of course I had my shoes, shorts, socks and fuel belt as well. I’d run plenty of runs along the beach with starting temps in the 40’s so I figured a short sleeve would be fine. I had a throw away sweatshirt too and at the last minute I threw in my gloves.

When I arrived in Des Moines at 4:30 in the afternoon, I realized I had underestimated the feel of 40 degree weather. At that point, in what should have been about the warmest part of the day, the temperature was 48-degrees. The heater in the shuttle stop felt good.

I checked into the hotel and then walked over to the expo. I was staying at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. It is in an historic building. The décor was dated by had a certain charm. The walk to the expo was about ¾ of a mile. I was glad to have my micro fleece jacket with me. On the way I passed a Walgreens and made a mental note to stop there on the way back to get some Gatorade to fill my water bottles. As I walked I began worrying about whether my short sleeve shirt was going to cut it in the morning. I’d already written off any idea of wearing the singlet.

Bib and packet pick up went smoothly. The expo was about the size you’d expect for a small city marathon. I’d looked around the expo a little by then and had bought myself a new larger, zippered pocket to hold my gus on the fuel belt The race shirt was a long sleeve tech shirt. I considered wearing that in the race over my short sleeve. But then I started thinking about all the negative mojo I’d read about from wearing a race shirt before you’ve actually earned it. I finally decided to pick up a long sleeve tech shirt. I debated between an alien green, that would have matched my shoes, or simple black. The black one won out. I decided it might not be such a bad idea to channel a little bit of Donald on race day. He likes to race in black and he’s the one that put the negative mojo race shirt idea out there in the first place. (BTW, I still have the shirt from the 2008 Big Sur Marathon stuck way up in my closet. I wasn’t able to run that race and I’ve never worn the shirt. I plan on running that race some day and I wasn’t going to let that shirt get in my way).

The pasta dinner was decent. No tickets were required; they crossed your name off a list as you went in. I sat with some folks from the Chicago area. The speakers were Terry Hitchcock, Charlie Engel and Jeff Galloway. They each had some good stuff to say. On the way back to the hotel, I tried to stop by the Walgreens. It was already closed at 8:00 on a Saturday night. Des Moines doesn’t exactly have a thriving night life.

I ended up watching “I Am Legend” in my room and then laid out all my gear before getting some sleep. Since I was planning on wearing both the short sleeve and the long sleeve shirt, I pinned my number onto my shorts; something I don’t think I’ve ever done before.

I woke up a on my own just a little before the alarm went off at 6:00 after a good night’s rest. I made my traditional oatmeal by warming the water in the in room coffee pot and eating it out of the coffee mug. I’d brought along my own plastic spoon. I laid in bed and watched the local morning news and weather. Since upping the morning food intake seemed to work so well for David in Hartford I had an energy bar about an hour later along with some coffee. I got dressed and applied the Body Glide to my thighs and feet and headed down toward the race start around 7:30. I wore a throw away sweatshirt on top of the tech shirts. The plan was to run with it until it was no longer necessary. I freaked myself out a little with the 33 degree temperature the weather people were talking about all morning on the news. After using the port-o-pot I lined up in the staring corral with the 4:10 people. There was still about 20 minutes before race start.

I soon realized that the sweatshirt wasn’t going to be necessary. Although my intent was to toss it off, I have a hard time throwing away a perfectly usable sweat shirt so I got out of the corral and left it at the bag check. When I got back to the starting area the corral was overflowing and people were lined up on the sidewalks. There was little hope of getting back up to the 4:10 pace group.

The race started right on time and it took me 2:00 to get onto the street and across the starting mats. My panic goal became to catch the 4:10 pace group as quickly as possible and then hang with them throughout the race. I’d picked up a pace tattoo at the expo and had it folded up in the pouch of my fuel belt as a back up.

I was so intent on catching up to the pace group I ran right by the Iowa State Capital building and the Mile 1 marker and never saw either of them. I’d upped my run/walk interval to 6:15/0:45 and started it soon after the race started and kept with it all the way to the end. I managed to spot the Mile 2 marker at 18:13, but still hadn’t seen the pace group. Soon after that we left downtown and entered some of the prettiest neighborhoods. Around Mile 3 the half marathoners veered left while the rest of us headed up our first hill. I really enjoy hills. The hills were small in comparison to the ones in Missouri but they were hills none the less. The rollers continued for the next 4 miles or so down some nice tree lined streets. Around Mile 6 there was a female guitarist/vocalists whose beat matched my pace perfectly. I thought how nice it would have been to have her following me along the entire way.

I periodically checked my time against the pace chart in by belt. At Mile 6 I was at 55:26, a few minutes ahead of the project 57:13. I was happy to have a little cushion assuming I’d need it later on. I still had a long way to go.

Soon after mile 8 we came to little keyhole loop in the course. It was our first chance to seem some of the folks that were ahead of us. I saw the 3:30 and 3:45 pace groups heading back. I never did find the 4:10 pacer.

After that we entered about 8 miles of basic straight away on an out and back section of the route. At Mile 10 we got a good look at some of the really fast guys on their way back at around Mile 14. On the long section of Kingman Blvd it seemed like some of the locals hadn’t realized it was marathon morning. They were trying to drive across and down the course. The local law enforcement did a great job of keeping the cars out of our way. The runners were far enough apart that they could allow a car every now and then to cross our paths. Mile 12 included the lap around the wonderfully soft Drake University track A mile later I was half way done. I checked my clock. I was at 1:58:01 at the 13 mile mark. I pulled out the pace chart and saw that I was supposed to be there at 2:50. Something didn’t compute. The pace chart was supposed to be a tattoo but I was using it as a chart so I was reading the number backwards in mirror image. I was supposed to be at the half at 2:05, duh half of 4:10. I was almost exactly 7:00 ahead of schedule. I’d been running 8:50 miles consistently from mile 9 through mile 14.

There was a slight rise after coming out of the track back onto the roads. My legs felt it a lot more than I expected and I began to worry that I’d pushed it too soon. Mile 15, my longest mile of the day, came in at 10:24 and included a bathroom break.

Just before Mile 16 we left the streets of Des Moines for the bike paths. We ran the bike paths through several parks and along the Raccoon River for the next 9 miles. Miles 16 and 17 were slight down hills and I knocked those off in 8:40 and 8:37.

Since my water belt only had water rather than my usual Gatorade I was diligent about getting the Gatorade in at the water stops. I’d started my Gu’s around Mile 7 or so and had half of one every couple of miles. I used 3 gels and sucked on 2 Clif blocks.

Somewhere around Mile 12 or so, I’d taken my thumbs out of my gloves. Keeping the gloves half on, half off seemed to keep my hands at the right temp. As the day warmed up a bit, we’d hit some nice sections of the route where I’d debate about removing the long sleeve shirt and then we’d turn a corner and get blasted by the chilly wind, so I never did take it off. By the last 2 miles in town I was plenty warm enough but didn’t want to stop to take the time.

When I hit the 20 Mile marker I was at 3:01:28. I didn’t need to look at the pace chart to realize that I was ahead of the 4:10 plan. I knew that I only needed to finish the last 6.2 miles in just under an hour to go sub 4:00. My mantra became “just don’t slow down” The next 6.2 miles were done in 8:36, 9:13, 9:03, 9:00, 9:40 (as we climbed up from the river back onto MLK Jr. Parkway. That was a little discouraging but I managed to hang on), 9:12 and 2:01. At the finish line my watch read 3:58:13. I was very, very happy with that result. I never in a million years expected to run that. After I stopped running I realized just how stiff and sore my legs were. I can’t remember the last marathon that they hurt this much. I hobbled around the finish area for a few minutes.

The finish area had some great food. There was the usual water, bananas, oranges and bagels. There was also yogurt, pulled pork sandwiches, sliced apples, ice cream, potato chips and Erin Baker’s Breakfast Cookies. At the result tent, I picked up a printed result sheet like that comes from a receipt printer. It read 3:58:11. The text messages that my wife and Joe received gave my time as 3:58:09 and the official results posted on the website later say 3:58:10, a second or two one way or the other doesn’t change the sub 4:00 finish or the satisfaction.

Unexpected result notwithstanding, the IMT Des Moines is a highly recommended race. The race is big enough that you are never alone, but not so big that you spend a lot of time and energy jockeying for position. The course is absolutely beautiful. The downtown area is spotless and lined with flower pots. The tree lined streets with fall color and the houses are nice to look out. The aid stations were numerous, always well stocked and staffed. The extensive bike path system is a joy to run, to be away from traffic and a cambered street is nice. Spectators aren’t a huge factor for me, but they were plenty and seemed to be enjoying themselves. The medal is substantial. I commented to the girl that gave my mine about how heavy it was. She said I’d earned it – Nice! The post race food was plentiful and as good as any I’d seen elsewhere. Before and after the race we all got plenty of emails from the RD keeping us up to date. I really liked the finish time print out. It will fit nicely in the scrapbook Lisa has been keeping of my marathons.

Next fall if you are looking for a nice little city marathon to run, I would highly recommend you consider Des Moines. Just be sure to visit the local museums on Friday, Saturday or Sunday because they are all closed on Monday. And bring your own Gatorade or buy it early. It's all good!

IMT Des Moines Marathon

The quick update:

3:58:11

Inexplicable, unbelievable, ultimately satisfying.

All the gory details when I get back home.

I-O-Why

In two days I'm off to the middle of America, to Des Moines, Iowa, to run another marathon. So why Des Moines? And why now? There's a few good reasons:

1. I really wanted to run the Harrisburg Marathon in Harrisburg, PA in November (the why of that I will explain in another post). But with the big Anniversary Party for my parents we deemed it out of the question this year.
2. I really wanted to run more than one state in 2009 to capitalize on my Yasso directed training plan.
3. My wife wasn't going to be able to join me wherever I went so I went on the lookout in states that she had little desire to visit. Iowa fit the bill.
4. Des Moines in in Iowa.
5. Iowa is a state I haven't run a marathon in.
6. Lisa didn't mind missing out on Des Moines.
7. I found a decent airfare and hotels are relatively inexpensive in Des Moines. (compared to places like San Francisco, New York City and Washington, DC).
8. Seven reasons are enough.

This last week of training was an easy one, just two 5 milers to be run at an easy pace. Tuesday I had the chance to run in the rain. I ran the picnic loop in Bonelli and ran through the middle of a high school cross meet that had just recently finished up. The run in the rain was a rare opportunity and I enjoyed it. At least up until the point that I got home and looked down at my shirt and realized I'd suffered the dreaded BNS (bloody nipple syndrome). Oh joy.

Wednesday we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate the oldest son's 22 B-day. Tonight I headed back over to Bonelli for what may end up being my last after work Bonelli run of the season. It is that time of the year where the daylight starts to run out faster than I can. I ran the Cottontail route in an easy 53:31 for the 5 miles.

I packed my bags tonight. I'm working tomorrow and catching a flight out on Saturday to arrive in Des Moines just in time to hit the expo and the pasta dinner and then call it a night before race day on Sunday morning. I've played with a race predictor and that little PR at the Santa Monica 10K would predict a sub 4:00 marathon. It is doubtful that I could do that, but I'm thinking I might try to shoot for a 4:10. When it comes down to it I will be happy just getting across the finish line.

Fifteen Down.....coming real soon!

**scoop - hang on for details on Sixteen Down, sooner than you might think.

Santa Monica 10000

What a race it was. I signed up for this event back in the end of July, long before I ever considered running Des Moines. It wasn't until recently that I realized that the two events were on back to back weekends. Running a 10k the weekend before a marathon probably isn't the wisest choice based on conventional training wisdom but that's the way it goes some times.

I originally signed up for this event with the hopes of bettering my 10K time. My only 10K was run late last year, again just a week before a marathon. By then my right hip was already in a bad state. That 10K was on rolling hills in Temecula and my 55:45 time there was pretty indicative of my training and physical condition at the time. Back in July when I registered for the SM10000, my training was going pretty well. The Santa Monica 5000/10000 has some pretty slick marketing and they promised the "fastest road race in Santa Monica." The clincher was the race t-shirt designed by Ed Hardy Sport. My wife signed up as well to walk the 5K, so we made an event of it.

We got up at 5:00 a.m. and left the house by 5:45. We got to Santa Monica around 6:30 and parked, for free, near the finish line. The start and finish were about a mile apart. We walked down to the starting line to get our bib and chip and had plenty of time to mill around before the race start. The 5K started at 7:30. Once Lisa had passed the starting line I jumped in with her and walked about a 1/4 mile with her before heading back to the start of the 10K.

My race started at 8:00 after the kids 2.5K. My goal for the race was to run 8:30 pace to achieve a finish time around 53:00. This seemed like a good idea in light of the marathon and would be a solid improvement on my 10K time.

I started off a little too far back in the pack and worked my way through the starting line crowd for a Mile 1 time of 8:25. We ran down Main St. in Santa Monica but I didn't see much. My second mile came in at 8:11. I settled in to a rhythm after that and Mile 3 and 4 were 8:24 and 8:25. Those two miles were a consistently gentle uphill. At the 4 mile mark made a u-turn and headed back down the hill to the finish line at the pier.

Mile 5 came at 7:41. When I saw the time I actually said out loud, "Oh, crap!" I hadn't meant to run that fast. I didn't need to run that fast to be assured of a PR. But at that point with the PR pretty much assured unless I completely fell apart I just decided to give it all I could and see how much of an improvement I could really make. I knew that I might pay for it next weekend, but I had the take the chance. I kept right on pushing the pace and passing a few folks and ran mile 6 in 7:25. At that point the finish line was clearly in view and I could hear the announcer urging runners on to get in before 50:00. I gave it all I had for those last two tenths. When I crossed the line, the clock read 50:12. My watch, which I started when I crossed the start and finish mats, read 49:53:47. The race was chipped timed so once the official results are posted I will update the time and post it over there on the side bar. At any rate I made a significant improvement in my 10K PR and had a heck of a fun time doing it. (By the way, Lisa walked the 5K in about 50:00.) **Official results are in at 49:52.2!

We hung around the post race events for a bit and then headed out to find some breakfast. We ended up at Norms, locally renowned for be opening 24/7 365 days a year. The hotcakes, scrambled eggs and bacon hit the spot. Now I will take it easy for the next 6 days and see what happens in Des Moines.

Cobbled

When I first decided to add Iowa to my 50 state goal I hadn't even finished Missouri and I needed a plan. I looked at Hidgon's multiple marathon schedules (for those folks doing marathons close together) and I cobbled together a schedule using Yasso's plan that seemed to work well in Missouri. I basically had 6 weeks between the two races, so I divided the schedule into 3 two week sections. The first week was Recovery, the second Go and the third was Taper. During the Go and Taper weeks I used Yasso's weekly mileage and compromised between the two for the long run. Two weekends ago Yasso would have had me do a 22 miler, instead I used Higdon's 18. Last weekend I gave myself a goal of 14 to 16 and ended up with the 16. This weekend the goal was 10-12 miles.

During the week I held to Yasso regimen fairly well. Tuesday and Wednesday I made it to Bonelli before sundown and did 5 and 4 at an easy pace, about half on trails and half on roads. Thursday called for 6 miles on a hilly route. I knew right where I would go, but my right IT band has been acting up a little lately. I remember the PT telling me, when the thing was really bad, No hills and No concrete. Many of my runs in Dallas and last weekend's 16 miler were on concrete. Since I'd pushed that rule a little and was paying for it, I decided to turn the 6 miler into an easy-ish run rather than the hills. I ran the streets of Covina at a 9:04 pace. It seemed like a good alternative.

I was pretty much on my own today for the last long run. The CA Cruisers were going to be a huge presence at the Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon tomorrow so they were taking the day off today. I slept in and didn't get started until well after 9:00. It was of course a beautiful day for a run; overcast and in the 60's. I headed over to the San Gabriel River Bike Path and clocked my 12 miles in 1:51 using a 6:1 run:walk interval. I was pretty happy with the 9:15 pace. It would be really nice to be able to keep that up next weekend in Des Moines.

Go/No Go

As heard during my long run late Sunday morning: I was on the Marvin Braude Bike path sharing the road with various forms of perambulating individuals. One couple that passed me on bikes were over heard saying, "Don't even go there!" Only a few minutes later a different couple went by, again on bikes, and were over heard saying, "You've got to go while you got the chance." I had to smile about the opposing views on Going.

I was on the Marvin Braude Bike Path because I had just returned to Southern California from Dallas/Fort Worth. I had been in Texas since Tuesday at a Users Group Meeting learning all I could about a new to us product. The conference was over Saturday afternoon, but I hadn't scheduled my return flight until Sunday morning. I boarded the flight at 7:30 CDT and landed at LAX around 9:00 PDT. After gathering my luggage and taking the shuttle back to my car I headed straight down to Dockweiler State Beach for my long run. After the 16 mile run, then I went home. Some people thought I was crazy for doing that, but I call it efficient use of time and location.

I was able to get 3 runs in over the 4 days in Texas. On Tuesday I ran 7 miles in Dallas starting at my hotel near the Galleria in North Texas. I ran along some major roads without sidewalks in many places and no bike lanes. I made it into a nice neighbor near the Northwood Club.

The other two days I was in Fort Worth. One day I ran around town and then headed out to the Trinity Trail and headed north east for an 8 miler. A couple of days later I went back out to the Trinity Trail and headed north west. That end of the trail was nicer than the other. It runs into Trinity Park. It was Saturday morning, so I was joined on the trail by the local Team in Training group and ended my run meeting up with a couple of the orthodontists at the Users Meeting.

I had started the week at home Tuesday morning before my flight to DFW with an 8 miler that included 3x1 mile repeats. All in all, I was able to get in all my runs and ended the week with 46 miles.

Prior to leaving for DFW, I had only been back in town for 4 days. That Saturday I got in an 18 miler and then on Sunday I ran an 18k Trail race; the Pt Mugu Trail Run. I'd done this race a couple of years ago when it was called the La Jolla Canyon Legend. Everything was the same except for the name. I was slower than I was then at 2:04:28. It was a fun and challenging course. That week, the Ohio week, ended at 48.2 miles and the month of September came in at 143.4 miles.

I'm actually back home for 2 weeks straight, the taper weeks, before boarding another plane this time bound for Des Moines to tackle state #15.

Mo Better Trail Runs

I've been back home since late Thursday night. Lisa and I had a wonderful time in Mohican reliving our honeymoon. The weather was gloomy and wet, just like it was 25 years ago. The weather didn't matter then nor did it matter now. We went out and visited all the sights in the park, including the Covered Bridge, the Falls, the Fire Tower and the Gorge Overlook. We had dinner one night in the nearby town in one of two "fine dining" establishments. After chatting with the waitress it turns out it was the same restaurant from 25 years ago, just under new management with at new name. We definitely enjoyed our time there.

Of course the two days in the park weren't all romance and nostalgia; I had to get a couple of runs in. One of the first things I did was send an email out to Nick. I know he runs in Mohican regularly. I has hoping we could hit the trails for a 6-8 mile run. Unfortunately the logistics didn't quite work out but I was able to get in a couple of shorter runs on my own.

Wednesday morning I parked at the dam and ran the trails to Little Lyons and Big Lyons Falls out to the covered bridge and back to the dam on the Pleasant Hill Trail. It was raining but the tree canopy is so dense that I didn't get all that wet. The second day, I parked at the covered bridge, ran through a campground and out the Hickory Gorge Trail to another camp ground and back. About 4 miles the first day and 6 the second. They were probably some of the easiest trails in Mohican and its wasn't exactly what the Yasso program might have called for, but it was fun.

Findley Run

The 50th anniversary party was a great success. My parent's were very appreciative of the travel certificate for an Alaskan Cruise.

Monday, we went up to the east side of Cleveland to visit a good family friend. The wife gave a reading at our wedding and she is our oldest son's godmother. And she's Italian. So we ate the whole day. We got there in time for lunch of chicken soup, homemade pizza and eggplant parmesan (from home grown eggplant), Texas caviar and cranberry orange bread. A few hours later we had dinner of veal, spaghetti, garlic bread and any leftovers from lunch and a wonderful tiramisu for dessert. Between the 8 of us we killed the entire desert.

Today is our last day at my parent's house. We are taking the kids back to the airport later this afternoon. Today offered me the most time to get in the 10 miler that was scheduled in the middle of the week. Back on the Yasso plan that would have meant the week with the 10 x 800's. My original thought was to try to do this workout on the track at the local HS football stadium. Other options were the marked trail at the Wellington Reservation I'd run on Sunday.

I drove all the way across town, less than a mile, to find out that the track was locked up and had a no trespassing sign. In the end I decided to head out to Findley State Park and run the Thorn Mountain Bike Trail. I always enjoy that run. It was a humid one this morning. The trail was the driest that I'd ever run it. Usually I'm slipping and a sliding all over the place. Along the way I saw at least 9 deer bounding off through the woods, an owl, a group of about 12 wild turkeys, 2 great blue herons and a mushroom about the size of a football helmet.

I ran about 9 miles total in 1:28. After the run I did some push ups, sit ups and tricep dips since I haven't gotten to work out at all since last Tuesday.

After dropping off the kids at the airport, Lisa and I are heading down to Mohican State Park. We are spending two nights in the lodge before heading back to California. 25 years ago we spent our honeymoon in the lodge for two nights. It will be a nice way to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. Our actual anniversary is September 29.

Mirror Image

We made it to Ohio with only an hour delay due to bad weather in Atlanta. The kids made it it this morning after taking the red-eye into Cleveland.

I got up this morning for a 12 miler on the rails to trails path near my parents home. I'd checked the weather when I packed and was pleased to see the daily highs in the high 70's - low 80's. I packed my running gear accordingly - a couple of sleeveless and a short sleeve. What I hadn't given much thought to was the overnight low and the cool temps I'd be starting in.

I headed over to Kipton to jump on the same trail I'd run when I was here in June. When I got out of the car the temperature was 47 degrees. The only thing that was really cold were my hands. It took a couple of miles before they warmed up. Otherwise, the cool Ohio air was pretty nice to run in. I ran the same 12.5 miles as I did back in June. This time around it took me 1:53:14 compared to the 1:57 in the heat of June; a nice little improvement aided immensely by the cool temps.

I will likely get up tomorrow and continue the mirror image theme by running 4 miles at the Wellington Reservation I discovered in June. The rest of the day on Sunday will be spent at the Golden Anniversary Celebration.

Vote For Pedro

Being that I work in the Oral Care sector of the Health Care Industry, I am pretty adamant about getting my twice yearly dental cleanings. I had one the other day. The hygienists at this office do a general health screening that includes blood pressure and pulse. My BP was 114/68 and my pulse was 43. This was two days after running the HOA marathon. They seemed like pretty good numbers to me.

This week is still kind of a recovery week but also kind a week to get back into training for Number 15. I did an easy 5 miler in Bonelli on Cottontail and for the second time recently didn't see a single bunny.

I moved that run up a day, so that I could do a leg work out with my trainer on Tuesday night. Have I mentioned before how much he loves doing leg workouts, I should say making me do leg workouts. He even let me do dead lifts but threatened me with bodily harm if I didn't keep the form right. I was a good student.

Today, Wednesday, just before leaving work, he and I had the following text exchange:
Chris: How are the legs feelin'?
Darrell: Haha. A little sore. What were you expecting?
Chris: Paralyzed. Haha
Darrell: Almost, but not quite.

I'm still loosely following Yasso's plan, so today was 7 miles with hills and not to be treated as an easy run. With somewhat sore legs I decided to keep the distance the same and dialed back on the intensity and the hills. Rather than running the long hill I did the rolling hills in Bonelli. It was a good run and I took a good long time, 1:19.

I'll be up early tomorrow for a 4 miler and then I'm catching a plane to Ohio to for my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration.

Changes

With the completion of Heart of America, state number 14 on my quest for 50, some changes were in order on the blog. First and foremost was the change from Thirteen Down to Fourteen Down. I know you probably already noticed. We lived with that last title for 9 months, it was time for it to go. I also updated the blog layout back to one available in Blogger. I really wanted something that takes advantage of the whole page. I tweaked the colors to my liking. I guess I have a thing for that brownish-orange color. Its was also time for the WxDx almost daily postings to go as well. I do like the idea of posting more frequent, yet shorter posts. We'll see how it goes.

You may also have noticed the countdown over there to Fifteen Down. Yes, the next marathon has been booked. I was feeling pretty good going into Missouri and really wanted to take advantage of that and the air fare war that was going on a couple a weeks ago. I scoured marathonguide.com for something that might fit the bill. My wife really has no vacation left, I was going to be traveling alone. For some reason she has little desire to visit the middle of America, so Des Moines won out over Albuquerque. In 5 weeks I'm back off to the IMT Des Moines Marathon.

It has been an odd week mileage wise in that the HOA marathon was on Monday. Last week was oddly low, at 13, and this week was oddly high, at 40.2. It all evens out in the end but it looks, well odd, in the books.

I ended the week with an easy 4 miler on the Picnic Loop in Bonelli. In, 2X around and back out gets it done. I wore a new pair of Brooks Adrenaline 8's I'd had stashed away in the closet. The pair that I wore at HOA had over 350 miles on them. Although I update the shoe mileage log semi regularly I wasn't thinking. Ordinarily I wouldn't have used 350 mile shoes for a marathon but my other choice was completely unused shoes which seemed like a less wise choice. The new 8's will be broken in nicely for Des Moines.

Powder Canyon

I guess this is why they call it Powder Canyon. My legs were covered with this fine dust half way up to my knees.

The recovery schedule I put together for myself had 6-8 miles on it today. I decided to head on over to Powder Canyon. This is a run the CA Cruisers did back in May. I had a note in my log that read, "LOVED THIS RUN!!" Today was a good day to go back and give it another shot. The basic route is about 8 miles, with many options to change it up or down.

Last time I was with a group of folks some of who had scouted the route. This time on my own, I took a wrong turn and went down a long section that dumped me into a neighborhood over a mile from where I needed to be. I thought the trail look unfamiliar and I didn't remember running such a steep downhill the last time. The lack of bike and foot prints should have been my clue but I stubbornly kept going. I turned around and walked back (off the clock) up the incline to get on track.

The rest of the run went off without a hitch. I ended up running for about 90 minutes and will call it 8 miles of running. The legs are a little sluggish but otherwise feeling good.

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An HOA update: Joe sent me a link to a photo essay on the Heart of America Marathon in the Missourian. Pay close attention to the photo of the dudes in the ice tub. There's also a great shot of the young guy I mentioned at the finish line.

The HOA Afterglow

I was originally going to title this post "The HOA Aftermath", but then I thought that had too many negative connotations and there's really nothing negative to say about the Heart of America Marathon or my training leading up to it.

It is well documented that the last couple of years have been a struggle in terms of running. In 2006 I broke the 4 hour barrier at Seafair and crossed the finish line with Rob and then went on to set my Personal Best of 3:40:52 at St. George in the fall of 2006. I finished the year with a couple of slow but thoroughly enjoyable trail marathons. In 2007 I started off the year with a decent showing at Eugene on a flat course for a 3:44:39. I ended the year with 3 marathons in about 6 weeks time, all over th 4:00 mark. This was the beginning of the downward spiral. My legs were beginning to rebel and my training was pretty much stagnant. I refused to believe that I was running too many marathons since I knew plenty of others that did more with seemingly no negative consequences.

I started 2008 with a Winter Trail Running Series and eventually succumbed to a stress fracture in my right tibia. After 12 weeks of ZERO running and months of physical therapy, I began running again in June with 6 months to train for the St Jude Memphis Marathon. I suffered from shin splints along the way and went into the race with an inflamed hip. I was in pain from the first step but hung in there with Joe for a 4:36:15 finish. The canted roads of Memphis just exacerbated the hip issue and I started 2009 barely able to walk, let alone run.

A new doc, a orthopedic specialist and a runner, sent me off to a new physical therapist, also a runner for treatment of severe IT Band Syndrome and possible Femoral Acetabular Impingement. Jeff, the PT, worked wonders and the exercises they had me doing really helped strengthen the weakness in my legs. After 2 months of work I was running again, slower than ever (really as slow as when I first started in 2003) but I was running and pain free.

I kept running slowly and went to Jeff religiously. I was able to run a half marathon in March and even took on the Malibu Creek Trail Challenge in May. It was my slowest attempt at that race, but I wasn't hurting. I went out on a limb and signed up for the San Francisco Half. It was about this time that the Heart of America idea was hatched and I signed on.

I'd used the same marathon plan for the better part of 4 years. I needed something new to get me through to HOA. I've got several books and magazine articles with plans. I compared them all and settled on Bart Yasso's Intermediate Plan from his book "My Life on the Run". It was a 16 week plan. I jumped into it at week 2, just in time for HOA. I chose the plan because it was more challenging than what I'd been using but not so much so that I would risk getting injured again. I was a little apprehensive because the plan went up to 50 miles 4 weeks before the marathon and 50 miles had proven to be my threshold for injury in the past.

I zealously adhered to the plan. I looked forward to the hill days and even endured a 10 x 800 workout that I ended up kind of enjoying in a sick sort of way. I kept my easy days easy and my long run pace in check with a 5:1 run:walk system. And all along my legs were pain free.

Why am I so happy with my 4:23:05 at HOA? It's because it is a time that is in line with where I started back in 2004 and 2005, but I feel much better at the end of the races than I did back then and I recover much better. I feel like I'm on track for further improvement. At least I hope so.

Is the Yasso plan magical? I doubt it, but it does have years of experience behind it with Mr. Yasso and the many runners he has trained. The combination of run distances, tempos and workouts just seemed to work well for me.

Some of the other things that I think contributed to my comeback include:
1) working with a doc and a PT that are runners and understand runners. They both knew there was no sense in telling me not to run.
2) I switched out my shoes. I stayed with Brooks but on the advice of the PT I went from the Trance to the Adrenalines.
3) I went back to a run:walk schedule for the long runs and the marathon (I may go back to running only some day, I may not). The walk break has really helped me to dial in my hydration. I take a drink when I walk, I tend not to when I'm running.
4) I began working out with my trainer, Chris, more seriously in March at a smaller gym. I really think the gains in upper body and core strength have been beneficial. I even throw in a few leg workouts now and again.
5) About the same time I started taking supplemental protein. It may seem like snake oil, but I really think it helps in recovery after my longs runs. I have never felt as good as I have after a 20 and 22 miler as I did this time around.

Each of these things alone can't be entirely responsible for my recovery but all together I think they were just the right prescription at just the right time.

I mentioned that my right knee tightened up during the race around mile 20. Soon afterward, I'd forgotten that it ever hurt. Later that day my heels were sore and overnight my legs were a little sore but not terribly so. On Tuesday morning the only real pains I had was in my quads from the downhill running and now two days later they don't really hurt. I ran an easy mile on the treadmill Tuesday afternoon at the gym before my workout with Chris and tonight I walked between 4 and 5 miles in Bonelli.

I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing and I really hope I can stay on this positive trajectory with my running.

The Heart of America Marathon

This was a great little marathon in the middle of America - Columbia, Missouri. It was my 17th marathon overall and my 14th state.

Back in May, Joe was penciling in his race schedule for the year, which has grown considerably from his first scribbles in May. He was thinking of running the Heart of America (HOA) on Labor Day. Since we'd been getting together for marathons the last 3 years I was game for another and Missouri would be a nice addition to the state collection. For my MO marathon, I had considered The Spirit of St. Louis, Lewis & Clark or the Berryman Trail Marathon. But a lot about HOA sounded intriguing. The size of the field, the challenge of the hills and the 50th running were high points

I flew into St. Louis on Saturday evening. Joe swung by, picked me up and off we went to Columbia. Columbia is a small town in the middle of MO dominated by the University of Missouri. The race expo was about 4 tables including packet pick up, a course map and elevation, the local running store selling some stuff, and close outs on previous years t-shirts. A highlight was Hal Higdon was there. He was signing any book and copies of his new novel "Marathon". It was an advance copy. They were individually numbered as he signed them. I got #73.

After that we drove the course on Joe's suggestion. I hadn't driven a course since I drove the Seafair marathon. At that particular race I was attempting to break 4 hours. Driving the Seafair course and seeing all the hills there freaked me out. In this case driving the course was a great idea. This course advertised the hills a lot, so it was good to see just how bad the hills really were. After seeing them I wasn't concerned, especially since I wasn't in 4:00 shape anyway.

We also took part in the Pasta Feed. It included a great presentation of past winners of the race. Each of them gave some perspective and thoughts on their experience. Probably the coolest was Joe Shroeder, the winner of the very first HOA in 1960. Hal Higdon gave a speech as well. He won the HOA in 1968, ran the 25th running and ran it again in 2001. The MC was Bill Cook, the founder of the Columbia Track Club and the race. The CTC obviously puts their heart and soul into this race and into the running community in Columbia. It's a great small town flavor that you don't get at many big city marathons. Of the 9 of us at our table, 5 of us were Marathon Manics, #440 (me), 1228 (Joe), 622 Bruce, 1472 (Bil), and 1473 (Cristy). That was pretty cool. We had no idea until we got to talking. The others were a race photographer, 2 spouses and a guy, Roy, who'd lost 70 lbs running (and could probably qualify as a Maniac). I think he has run 5 or 6 marathons this year.

Race morning came early. Joe was up at 4:00. I slept in to 5:00 with plenty of time to eat my ritual oatmeal and get dressed. The race start was about a quarter mile up the road from the hotel at the corner of Monk Drive and Stadium Blvd. Start time was 6:00. The race packet had included battery operated red flashing lights that clipped onto your hat or shorts. It kind of neat to see the red lights bobbing down the road ahead of us.

Joe and I had discussed race day strategy several times leading up to the race. Joe was planning a fairly conservative 2:1 run:walk ratio with plans on "finishing uprightl in anything under 5:00." Last year at St. Jude we ran over 25 miles of the race in lock step together. This year I felt like my training and recovery from injury was setting me up for a decent return to marathon and I was itching to see how well I could do, especially with the hills. I enjoy running hills. We settled on a plan where we'd run together for the first mile and then it was every man for himself. It was a race after all. After leaving Joe, I settled into my 5:1 schedule that had served me so well in the training, while Joe settled into his 2:1.

Based on my long runs I was hoping optimistically for a 4:20 finish. I wasn't sure what effect the hills were going to have on that. One huge bonus for the day was the weather. The temperature was in the mid 60's with fog to start and heavy cloud cover remaining throughout the race. HOA's reputation is hot, humid and hilly. The hills weren't going away, the humidity was there but in check and thankfully heat wasn't an issue this year.

With the hills I knew that keeping splits at every mile would be difficult to gauge progress. The HOA has a tradition of providing splits every 3 miles. Volunteers are stationed and read off the time as you pass and write down your number and corresponding time. This race is "old school" when it comes to timing. No chip time here.

Joe and I ran the first mile in 10:24 - a very nice warm up pace.

By Mile 3 I was at 29:40, nicely under my target of 10:00 per mile.

At Mile 6 my watch read 59:05, nearly a minute ahead of schedule but far to early to get excited yet.

The next split at Mile 9 had me at 1:28:45 - still pretty much on target.

Mile 12 split was 1:58:17, getting close to 2 minutes ahead.

Between Mile 12 and 15, two things happened. The first was a bio break. The second was Easley Hill. Easley Hill had looked treacherous in the car, but running it was much better than anticipated. My run:walk schedule had me running the entire thing.

Mile 15 split was 2:33:53, now nearly 4 minutes behind pace with most of that lost in the bathroom at the bottom of Easley Hill.

By Mile 18 I had closed the gap slightly at 3:02:48. Soon after this I began catching up to the folks I had been running with at the bottom of Easley Hill. One by one I overtook then and kept passing people right up to the end of the race. Around Mile 20, my right knee began to lock up. My ITBS was coming to haunt me, but it didn't stop me.

By Mile 21, and with the majority of the big hills behind me, I was at 3:31:27, inching closer to my goal time. Some how I completely missed the Mile 24 split.

I crossed the finish line in 4:23:05. Overall pace was 10:02. Nearly perfectly meeting my expectations. I was quite content with that. I jumped into the ice bath provided at the finish line and soaked for a few minutes and then took a spot on the curb to wait for Joe. Joe ended up coming in right on schedule and still upright. It was a great race for both of us.

While I was running I kept seeing Joe Shroeder (the first HOA winner) and his wife in a Suburban. I'd run up to them and they'd move ahead. At the finish line I finally figured out what was going on. Four finishers behind me was Kevin Shroeder, Joe's son. We had run the whole race within a few yards of each other. He had a cool shirt that said, "My Dad won the first Heart of America Marathon" and his kids had "My Granddad won the first Heart of America Marathon" t-shirts too.

We'd met a young guy, maybe in his 20's, at the start. This was his first marathon. He had a pretty big contingent of family and friends out routing him on. I came upon him around Mile 22 and let him know he was looking good and was going to finish. I got to see him finish a little bit after me. It was obviously an emotional experience for him. It was neat to witness and we got to chat for a few minutes afterward.

The majority of the route is on rural two lane roads. The roads aren't closed to traffic, but the few drivers that were out were mostly courteous. Running with such a small crowd you end up striking up conversations with many different folks as you tick off the miles. The crowd was pretty different from most races. It was mainly locals and a lot of hard core marathoners, like 50-Staters and Maniacs. I met several other Maniacs at the race start and along the route including, Brent #1555 and Tom #38. I leap frogged with Barefoot Rick Roeber a couple of times. There were no costumed runners, no pretty boys and no "Teams" (not that Teams are bad). It was just a bunch of folks that love to run. There were no bands, no screaming spectators. There weren't a lot of frills but it was a solid race, done well by the CTC. They'd had 50 tries to get it right and I think they've done it. The race would lose some of its appeal if it grew too large. This year with the 50th festivities the race saw the biggest number of finishers ever at 277. We'll see what next year brings.

The Heart of America Marathon is aptly named for more than one reason.

W14D5

The last run is in the books. I got up again this morning to do my final run before the marathon as plotted out by Bart Yasso. I ran 13 miles this week which I believe is the most I've ever run in the week of a marathon. I feel confident about running that mileage for a couple of reason. One, because so far everything else has gone smoothly following the Yasso plan. Hills, mile repeats, marathon pace runs and long runs pretty much went off just like he wrote them in the plan. Secondly, the Heart of America Marathon is on Monday, technically putting it into next week and giving me an extra day of rest between the last run and the race.

Joe assures me that there is little chance of lightning in the morning in the Midwest. In the mean time the forecast has taken a turn for the better, now calling for 30% chance of "few showers". Sounds good to me. I've packed by baseball cap just in case.

Digging around the Internet for photos of Easley Hill, the big one all the race write ups mention, I came upon the photo at the top of this post. It is the Old Easley Cemetery. I'm planning on running right past that particular attraction.

I'm off to St. Louis in the morning. I hope to be back with a race report on Tuesday. Until then, enjoy you're long weekend and the unofficial end of summer.

W14D3

Good Runner - Bad Runner

I used some common sense this morning to get my 5 mile, easy pace, run completed. I needed to do the run this morning because we are planning on going to a concert in the park tonight. Under normal circumstances I would have postponed it a night or push it up a night, but this being taper week I wanted to stick pretty doggedly to the run every other day schedule set out for me.

Also under normal conditions I would have done this run outside, but I read an article about the air quality, or lack thereof, due to the fires that stated that the air quality is worse in the morning as the wind tends to die down and the bad air sinks toward ground level. It tends to get pushed back up the mountains as the day progress. So being the good runner, I went to the gym at 5:00 a.m. and put in 5 miles at 10:00 pace on the treadmill. I was a bad runner in that I ignored the 20 minute limit. I ran for 50 minutes but kept my eyes open to be sure that there was always at least one empty 'mill so I wasn't keeping anyone from getting their cardio done.

One more short, very easy, 3 miles before race day. Currently the weather forecast for Monday has me a bit worried. Just how scattered is scattered, exactly. Scattered rain and thunder is one thing, scattered lightening is something else.

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A cool stat that I just figured out was that August was my highest mileage month, EVER. I ran 202 miles. I've come close on two other occasions in 6 years of running but have never broken the 200 barrier. I wasn't even intentionally trying to, it just sort of happened. I didn't realize it until I tallied the miles last night.

W14D1

Stupid is as stupid does - Forrest Gump

I started off my last week of marathon training by sliding everything up a day. I figured the extra rest day before the marathon (and a travel day) would be a good idea. So instead of a rest day I was running 5 miles easy.

When we left work it was 100 degrees and dry as a bone. The air quality was well into the unhealthful region due to the wild fires burning to the north west of us. My first mile was done on the treadmill as a warm up before working out with the trainer. We combined biceps and chest today. It was killer. When I left there at 6:00 the temperature was still well north of 90 and the air was looking pretty bad.

I figured the best course of action was to head over to my other gym and use the treadmill for 4 miles. The only problem is Monday is really crowded there and there's technically a 20 minute limit on cardio machines. I contemplated waiting until 9:00 or 10:00 when the crowds would have thinned out a bit, but, on the way home I witness several other intrepid (stupid) souls out running on the streets.

So against better judgement I headed over to Bonelli for my favorite little 4 miler. The schedule called for easy but due to the conditions I took it "very easy". My pace for the 4 miles was just a little over 11:00 per mile - very easy for sure.

Bonelli, and the park and ride lot, were quieter than usual, but I was far from the only one out braving the elements. That made me feel a little better about my decision.

Tomorrow I rest. Heat and crappy air be damned.

W13D7

Another Sunday calls for the weekly tally of the miles. 32. Quite the drop on the graph from the 50 miles two weeks ago.

At this point all the work is done. I've been through this taper thing enough times before but it is still an odd experience. After the continual build in mileage and intensity for weeks to step back is unnerving. Calories pile up faster than they can be worked off. Tics, twinges and aches pop back up that seemed to have been in check during the hard work. Why they show up now in the easy weeks will always be an unsolved mystery.

Only 8 days to race day. The Heart of America will be my first Monday marathon. Some day I'll make it to the starting line of that other famous Monday Marathon. I've run a 5K on Monday, July 4 in 2005 and a half marathon on Memorial Day in 2007. I'll have to be on the lookout for a Monday 10k to round out the series.

Next week's schedule is either Rest, Easy or Very Easy and then it's off to the Heart of America. There are currently 182 intrepid souls signed up. There are 5 other Californians making the trip. There's still time to sign up. Only $25 registration! You can even sign up race morning for those of you with commitment issues. See you there!

W13D6

I.
When I was a kid I had a paper route. I took the route over from my best friend, John Varner, when he and his family moved to Washington state after the fifth grade. I delivered maybe 50 papers every day after school and on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. The Sunday edition had to be delivered before 8:00 or Mrs. Carmen was sure to call my parents and complain. I carried the papers in a canvas tote that I wrapped around my handle bars. My route took me past a do-it-yourself car wash. The car wash had a soda machine. Soda was a rarity at home, so with my route money I would stop nearly everyday and buy myself a nice cold can of Fanta Orange or Grape. Then I'd take a little detour off the route to the local A&P Grocer and buy myself a Hostess Apple Pie. Back then there was quite a variety of flavors, but I always got my Apple. I think between the "pop" and the pie it was around $1.00. I had that paper route from 6th grade through 11th grade. That's a lot of Fanta and Apple pies.

II.
I'm prone to headaches when I get dehydrated. Probably many of us are. I got these "dry brain" headaches long before I ever became a runner. I just knew if I hadn't had enough water, I would suffer later. Now that I'm a runner and I tend not to drink enough on long runs, I often spend the rest of the day with a head ache. A month ago after a 20 mile run, I had craving for a Diet Pepsi. I ended up drinking two big glasses and it seemed to fend off the head ache. So every long run since then, I've been rehydrating with a least one super size diet cola. As a family we gave up diet cola's a couple of years ago so I don't quite know where the craving came from, but it seemed to work and I'm stickin' to it.

III.
Today was the last long run before the marathon. The Cruisers had planned to run in Huntington Beach and I was able to join them. The first mile was leisurely as a group. I was running with Kenny. Once we got to the bike trail the group made a stop at the facilities. As we got going again, I fell in with the group at a comfortable pace. I realized that Kenny had broken away and was up ahead. I decided to catch up to him. It took me nearly a mile to catch him and I continued on with him at his pace. I realized that I was probably going too fast for the last long run before the race. Kenny's garmin indicated 8:30 miles. We kept that pace up to the 6 mile mark and then I insisted on slowing down for the return trip and gave Kenny permission to take off. He stuck along with me.

It was a warm, humid day at the beach. There seemed to be more folks out running than usual. The local Snails Pace running store had a group out, Team in Training was out in full force and a huge contingent of high school cross country kids were out as well. Since the run was "only" a 12 miler and because there are ample water fountains along the route, I hadn't carried any water. But we only stopped for water 2 or 3 times. Post run I could feel the effects with the tell tale pains developing up my neck.

On the way home I stopped at the first 7-Eleven and got myself a Big Gulp of Diet Pepsi. On my way to the check stand I spied the Hostess Apple Pies. I hadn't had one in a long time. The soda and pie came to $2.88. I had $3.00 in my wallet. I was a happy, nostalgic, man.

Tonight the Cruisers are having a BBQ and planning party for our destination race of 2010. Eighteen races have been submitted for consideration. I threw Twin Cities (MN), Oklahoma City Memorial or Duke City (NM) into the hat. It will be interesting to see what we come up with.

W13D5

I did manage to get myself up and out this morning. I was up a little after 4:30 and running soon after 5:00. The last significant workout is now history. 6 miles with hills.

I could see stars in the sky, so I took that as a good sign about the air quality. At the bottom of the hills the air was cool, but it warmed up noticeably as I climbed. One nice thing about running that early is not having to wait for traffic at the lights. It was interesting that the lack of light gave a whole different depth contrast to the slightly rutted trail up the hill. And as a bonus on the last trip up and down the hill it was light enough to spy 7 little bunnies for a BPM of 1.17.

I made it home and into the shower about the same time I would normally get up and get in. The morning run was a fun little diversion, but I think I will still remain an after work runner for the most part.

W13D4

For the most part I'm an after work runner. On the weekend I have no problem getting up at any hour to go for a run, but during the week I get up just in time to shower, eat, pack lunch, maybe iron a shirt and get to work within seconds of the official start time.

Today I had to make a decision. The plan was 6 miles with hills. My planned route was a couple of miles from home. The weather conditions were not in my favor. The temperature at 5:30 p.m. was 109F (43C) couple that with an air quality alert due to the wildfire. I considered heading south to the Powder Canyon run I'd done a while back with the Cruiser. Temps there were 105F, even the beach was 98F. I decided against a 70 mile round trip to run a flat 6 miler in those temps.

Instead I committed to being a before work runner tomorrow. I'll be setting the alarm and getting up before 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning to get my original route done. The temperature will still be on the warm side for that time of day, around 80F. I'm hoping the air quality that early will be better than later in the day when the heat rises again to an expected high of 105F.

If I could just find some humidity, it would be a great training run for Columbia, Missouri.

W13D3

First a little blog trivia - my last post was my 400th post!

For the first time in a month Monday was actually a rest day.

The big news around here is the Morris Fire. It is burning in the San Gabriel Mountains in plain view of my home and work. It is probably about 10 miles north of our home. There is no danger for us deep down in the valley. The fire had just begun to burn Tuesday afternoon so I went on over to Bonelli and put in my easy 5 miler. BPM = 0, even though I ran on the part of the trail that I dubbed Cottontail a few years back due to the abundance of the little critters. I'm not sure what that was all about.

Tonight on the advice of the news, our occupational nurse and most importantly my wife, I did tonight's easy 4 miler on the treadmill at the gym. It has been quite a while since I've seen a 4 miler on the schedule. I set the pace for 9:50 and cranked up my tunes and read the close captioning on the Ted Kennedy's death. The time went by fairly quickly.

One good part about running at the gym is that I finally got in a weight lifting session. I worked with my trainer last Friday and not since. I intended on going on Sunday after returning from the beach but didn't. I couldn't go on Monday because we had friends over for dinner. Last night after the run I came home after the run to have dinner with my wife intending to go to the gym later, but never made it back out of the house. So finally tonight I got in a back and biceps workout.

Tomorrow is supposed to be my last hill run of the cycle. I'll have to see how the fire and weather cooperate and determine the best course of action then.

W12D7

Saturday's bike ride on the Marvin Braude Bike Trail was a very laid back way to spend the day. We road about 25 miles beginning about a mile off the path in Redondo Beach and then riding from here to here (the Marina Del Rey Marina). *thanks to cshellls photostream on flickr for the great shots. Check it out here for some more shots of typical views for the day.

The ride was a bit different from out usual ones with this group. We are usually teens to grandparents, but this time we were childless. There were 5 couples, all whose children have reached the age of "Independence." It was really a nice weekend. Without the kids we were able to enjoy a special dinner at the Cheesecake Factory at the end of the day. With fewer mouths to feed we upgraded our dining choices a little. We spent the night at the Crown Plaza hotel thanks to some really deep discounts from priceline.com.

The hotel was right on the MB Bike Trail so, I got up in the morning and put in 7 easy miles on the trail. I ran from the hotel back to the 0.00 mark and then turned around, ran back past the hotel onto The Strand, really part of the Marvin Braude, to just past the pier at Hermosa and back to the hotel. While I was out running, Lisa got up and out as well and walked 3 miles to the past the pier and back. I ran past a gym that was full of folks running on treadmills in full view of the bike path. I can't quite understand that. I'd much rather be outside. The Strand is home to some really outrageous beach mansions and some great beach views. The only drawback is much of it is concrete.

We had breakfast at a little hole in the wall at the end of the Redondo Beach Pier and then hung out at the hotel pool until the early afternoon and then headed back to reality.

I ended the week with 44 miles. The legs feel good. The hips are a little tight so I've got to be more diligent about stretching and rolling this coming week (Haven't I said that before?). Just over two weeks to race day!!

W12D5

A bike ride and day at the beach with friends prompted me to push my long run up a day. I took a vacation day on Friday to accommodate my scheduled 15 miler. The bike ride includes an overnight stay in Redondo Beach so I also scheduled my usual Sunday morning workout with the trainer on Friday morning at 6:00 a.m.

While at the concert last night I got a text from the trainer saying, "Hey! 6:30 tomorrow!" Apparently he'd had a cancellation. I texted back, "OK, cool." And then just for fun I sent him the following text, "I'm in Lancaster at the David Cook concert." I enjoyed his response, "Haha, nice. What time's that sh*t gonna be over??? You gotta get some rest, training at 6:30 and then you're running like 100 miles, right? Haha." 15 or 100 is all the same to someone who doesn't run.

The concert was good and short so I was home in bed by 12:00. I was up by 5:30 and had breakfast before going to the gym. We did a pretty strenuous chest and triceps workout. I left there, gulped down some water, changed my shirt and headed straight to my run.

I had picked Chino Hills State Park as my running destination. I figured the 4 mile climb up North Ridge would be good training for Heart of America. I started up the hill just running until I realized I hadn't set my run:walk timer. I ended up setting the watch for 5:1 but really only walked about 30 seconds during each break. I've found that taking the walk breaks is a good reminder for me to take a drink of fluids, something that I am notoriously bad about.

It was a beautiful sunny morning but not too warm. I ran up North Ridge to Four Corners and headed back out on Telegraph. I enjoy this route. I was running for about 1.5 hours before I encountered any other human beings on the trail and then it was a biker. Later on Telegraph I came upon a lone runner, a pair of runners and one last lone runner before all was said and done.

I ran for 2:21. I knew the route was somewhere between 12 and 14 miles. I was hoping for the later. I mapped the route once I got home and came up with almost exactly 13 miles. So adding in the mile warm up a few hours earlier at the gym I tallied 14 miles today. A tad off from the planned 15 but with the hill effort on North Ridge, I don't think I suffered a training deficit with that one mile deficit in the totals.

Tomorrow will be an active rest day with the bike ride. Have a great weekend.

W12D3

On tap today was 8 miles. The grid in the book said: 8 mi, mile repeats. The notes afterward mentioned 12 x 400's. Something didn't jive here. Was I supposed to run mile repeats or 400's? There's quite the big difference there. I consulted the version of the schedule from Runner's World. It confirmed the mile repeats: 3 x 1 mile @ 10K pace w/400 meter recovery, Total 8 miles with warm up and cool down. A good editor is a valuable asset.

I checked back in my log and found that I ran 4 x 1 mile repeats two weeks ago at 7:52 pace. That was my goal tonight. I headed straight over to the San Gabriel River Trail right after work. After the warm up, I ticked of the 3 x 1 miles at a much faster pace than expected. 7:33, 7:31 & 7:34. Cool!

The entire 8 miles took me 1:10:44 for an overall pace of 8:50 (7:33 for the mile repeats, 9:36 for the rest).

This is in comparison to the easy 7 miler I ran the night before in 1:12. Almost the same time overall, at a slower pace of 10:17.

Tomorrow I will finally get that rest day that got pushed out from Monday. I'm accompanying my wife to a David Cook concert.

W12D1

This is the third week in a row that finds me shifting the schedule up a day and running on Monday, which is usually a rest day. 8 miles easy.

I was off to Bonelli (no surprise there) and meandered around the trails on the north and west sides of the park. I even ran one section I rarely run. I've got my usual distances all worked out, 4 miles, 5 miles, 6 miles, and that section of trail just doesn't fit in.

I mostly ran for time. Based on the first landmark, I was on the slow train today, around 11:00/mile. That pace was perfectly acceptable as an easy run two days after the 22 miler. I ended up running for 1:34. Once home I g-mapped the route and came up with a little over 8.5 miles for an 11:03 pace. Nice and easy!

I did see the most peculiar thing on the north side of the park. A man was "walking" his dog, a Pembroke Corgi. The man was driving through the parking lot very slowly while the dog trotted along behind. When he reached the end of the lot, he pulled over, honked the horn, opened the door, the dog hopped in and off he went.

Who knows what you get to experience out on the run.

W11D7

My 6 miles easy this morning capped of the biggest week of the training cycle. And what a week it was:
M: 6 miles easy (I threw in some hills in Bonelli)
T: Rest
W: 10 miles with 10 x 800m (400 jogs)
H: 6 miles easy
F: Rest
S: 22 miles (long run)
S: 6 miles easy

Total mileage for the week was 50. 50 is that number I strive to hit. I've gotten to 50 a few times before and either on the way there or soon there after I end up hurt. This time around I am happy to report that all systems are go. From here on into the marathon things are on a downward sloping trend; less miles per week, less intensity, shorter long runs. Taper time!!

W11D6

I returned home from my long run this morning to a house full of women hell bent on spending the day scrap booking. I showered, ate a quick lunch. packed up some reading material, snacks and fluids, and headed out the door for a self imposed exile from the scissors, paper, adhesive and estrogen. I headed over to my refuge, Bonelli, found a comfortable spot to sit, read, rest the legs and soak up some sun. I found this little tidbit in the September 2009 Runner's World about the 26.2 adventure Joe and I are about the embark in in just over 3 weeks. Looks like fun, huh?

Back to the long run. In San Francisco the night before the half marathon I had a pasta dish with sauteed veggies in pasta that was tossed with olive oil and Parmesan. It sat in my stomach very well the next day. I have issues off and on with the traditional tomato sauced pastas on the long runs. Last night I tried my hand at a simple dish at home. Spaghetti with sauteed red pepper, zucchini, and summer squash with the oil and cheese. I'm happy to report that it sat quite well in my gut throughout the 22 miler. No emergency stops were required.

For the run, we had decided to do the crazy run from Yorba Linda to the beach on the Santa Ana River Trail. We'd last done this run in preparation for St. Jude. This time around we got started even earlier. I agreed to a 5:30 start, negotiated down from a proposed 5:00 a.m. start. It is still dark at 5:30 a.m., by the way. The conditions for this run couldn't have been more different from the last attempt. There was no wind this time, the temps were in the low 60's with heavy cloud cover that held throughout the run. By the time we finished the temp was just barely breaking 70. Terry, her friend Jeanne, and I ran the 22. Mike and Carol started at the other end and met us when we had just over three miles left to go with bottles of cool water.

We used the 5:15/0:45 run/walk schedule that seems to be working so well for us lately. Terry was using her watch for the run/walk timing and Jeanne was along for the run. At mile 3 I realized I'd forgotten to start my watch at the beginning. I started it then so I don't have an exact overall time. Estimating from the 19 that I timed, our overall time was somewhere around 3:40, 10:02 pace; a huge improvement over last years 4:00 run. We finished the 22 in much better shape than last time. Terry and I even raced the last few hundred feet to the finish. I won.

Today just proved the point that the conditions have a huge impact on the effort. We were blessed to have near perfect conditions today. Although a little heat, humidity and hills may have served me better for the Heart of America, I'll take it.

W11D4

When I got home from work I got a call from my wife. She and a coworker were going to Casa Moreno for a margarita. I decided to join them and had a large Dos X Amber and some chips and guacamole.

When I got home I changed and took off out the door for an easy 6 miler. I used one of my old routes I hadn't used in a while. I took it easy. I felt pretty good considering the beer and the 800's from the night before.

Lookin' forward to the rest day tomorrow, at least from running.

W11D3

Tonight was the last midweek 10 miler on the schedule. But it wasn't just any 10 miler. It was 10 miles with 10 x 800 with 400 meter jogs in between. I have never done that many 800's before. I was successful with 8 x 800 a few weeks back, so I was determined to make it 2 more this time out.

When I told my coworker and running buddy, Terry, about the plan for tonight, she thought I was absolutely crazy. We've got our longest long run this weekend coming up. Crazy I may be, but I'm only following the direction of the Mayor of Running. Things seems to be going pretty darn well, so who am I to argue?

Admittedly, speedwork is not my thing. During the first 800 I thought "this is going to be tough." The second and third were still a chore. But somewhere around the fifth one I fell into a rhythm. As daunting as 30 laps of the track seems when you think of it ahead of time, they just started clicking off. I'm not sure the 800's got any easier as I progressed, its just that after a while I stopped thinking about it and just ran. I'd have to say that I was pretty consistent throughout the entire 10 x 800's.

3:53, 4:00, 3:54, 3:54, 3:57, 4:00, 4:01, 3:58, 4:00, and 3:55.

Whether this translates to a 4 hour marathon as the mayor suggests, I'll leave to greater minds than mine to debate. All I know it that I'm am glad to have this workout in the books and I'm happy to see no more midweek 10 milers on the schedule through the remaining 3 weeks of training. Yeah!!

W11D1

My run today was an out and back, first the important stats: 4.33 BPM out, 1.0 BPM back (2.67 BPM overall)

The first run of the week got moved up a day again this week. The man called for 6 miles easy. To help facilitate the easy part I headed over to the trails of Bonelli. The route isn't necessarily easy because of the hills but the pace would be easy (because of the hills).

The whole thing took me 1:03, about 10 minutes longer than yesterday's 6 miler. 31:13 on the way out and 32:30 on the way back.

Tomorrow night I'm attending a work function for a product launch that exceeded expectations. In the first three months we've already overshot the annual forecast for the product. So we either are really bad at setting sales forecasts or our customers really like the product. Either way, with the current economic situation, it is nice to have something to celebrate.

W10D7

W10D6
The Cruisers planned to meet in Newport Beach to run the Crystal Cove route. It is a fun route, 11 miles total, with about half of that on the sand. Yasso's plan was for a 15 miler. The write up on Heart of America calls it "one of the toughest courses in America," and "Easley Hill one of the toughest climbs in America". Based on that, it seemed wise to get in some hills on my long runs. So I strayed away from the CA Cruisers once again.

I've got a 15 mile route near home that is almost always either going up or coming down. Terry was interested in joining me, as were Mike and Carol and another friend of theirs, Jeanie. Mike and Carol are early birds but thankfully they compromised for a 6:00 a.m. start. The route is Temple, Grand, Chino Hills Parkway and then snakes through Philips Ranch to make a big loop. We all ran together for the first seven miles with the girls in the lead. At the 7 mile mark Mike, Carol and Jeanie took Diamond Bar Blvd back to the start.

Terry and I continued on. The longest hills were still to come. I pulled Terry up the hills and she dragged me back down the other side. We each had our strong(er) suit and the other followed along. I’m not sure of the time or pace. I had started my watch but by the time I remembered to stop it, we had already had coffee and chatted at Starbucks and I was on my way home. The clock read 3:30 something when I looked. I think the run took us somewhere in the neighborhood of 2:30 to 2:40. No matter.

W10D7
I started off the day with a personal training session. Chest, triceps and abs this morning. That is always a good combo that I feel the next day or two. After that Lisa and I headed back to Huntington Beach for some more surfside relaxation. But before I could join her on the sand I had to knock out 6 miles on the bike path (I’d gotten in 1 mile on the t-mill at the gym earlier). It was after 11:00 by the time I got started with temperature in the mid 70’s. The run just felt right, everything seemed to flow. My pace for the 6 was 8:53, probably faster than the “easy” pace called for, but sometimes you just gotta go with the feeling. That feeling where everything just clicks and running seems natural comes by only so often. I’m still enjoying it nearly 10 hours later.

I ended the week with 47 miles, completing the schedule as written. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the 47 miles hasn’t been recorded since the week ending 2/12/2007 and only surpassed once since then; 6 weeks later. I’m riding high, being able to run this kind of mileage with relative ease. Those zero weeks and months are still fresh in my memory. Next week is the biggie and then its coast on in to Columbia.

W10D4

Another midweek 10 miler, but this time I got it done. 2 miles warm up, 4 x 1 mile repeats with 1/2 mile jog between followed by 2.5 mile of cool down. I headed back over to the San Gabriel River Bike Path, this time to the north end. I was happy for the cooler temperatures. I got started in the low 80's and it cooled down from there. There was a nice breeze that keep me cool and dry.

I accomplished the mile repeats even a little faster than I did three weeks ago. I knocked them off in 7:53, 7:44, 7:54 and 7:56. The entire 10 miles took 1:29:49 - 8:59 pace overall. I'm pretty happy with that.

I came home to a Veggie Burrito from my favorite take out Mexican place.

W10D3

See what happens when you break a streak or a good habit. When I first broke my blog streak I took rest days away and then a trip out out town away and now I've been 3 days with no bloggin' and I've been right here all along, even running once without a corresponding entry.

So to play catch up quickly and succinctly - I moved things around a bit. Monday is usually a rest day but I ran an easy 8 miler on the San Gabriel River Trail right after work. I stopped on the way home, parked at the dam and headed south from there. I've been running the north end of the trail regularly lately so it was a nice change of pace. But one asphalt bike path is pretty much the same as the next.

I pushed this run up to Monday because Tuesday I had an appointment with my trainer, freshly returned from his Hawaiian holiday. It rained the day he planned to surf, but he did get to deep sea fish and caught a 200 lb. marlin; pretty exciting. I felt like a work out with him and an 8 miler would be too much. We worked back and biceps. I actually had a little vein poppage on my skinny little arms, pretty cool.

Today was another easy run. Seven miles on the horse trails around Walnut. Nothing out of the ordinary to report. A few little twinges here and there, but nothing that some ice and rolling shouldn't take care of.

Tomorrow is the mile repeats. Let's hope it goes better than last Thursday's speedwork.

W9D7

It is August 2 so, it is time to take stock of last month's mileage. I ended July with 164.7 miles. Needless to say that is the highest mileage in months, in years really. I haven't come close to that since the first quarter of 2007. I'm amazed and thankful.

I ended Week 9 of HOA training with 43 miles on 5 days running. The marathon pace workout on Thursday could have gone better. On the other hand, the 20 mile long run on Saturday couldn't have gone better. Getting back to my old long run pace would be nice but hey, one thing at a time.

This morning I ran 4 miles easy in Bonelli just like on Tuesday. I thought for a minute or two about upping the run to 6 miles to make up for the 2 miles I copped out on on Thursday. But I came to my senses. The miles would have served no purpose other than to allow me to write 45 miles in the box at the end of the week instead of the 43 I did write in. Two miles, 5 weeks out from the marathon, will make little difference in the outcome in Missouri.

Later in the morning I made it back to the gym on my own concentrating on chest and triceps. I threw in some ab and leg work too for good measure. Later in the day I took a walk on the Sunday Bonelli 5 Mile Loop. 1.25 BPM and 0.6 BPM, morning and afternoon, respectively.

The mileage just continues to ramp up next week. The speed session is mile repeats. I enjoy those.