6 Things I learned running 3 marathons in 3 months

So After running the Fox Valley Marathon, the Twin Cities Marathon and the Naperville Marathon in 3 months. I am happy to report, I'm done with marathons for 2014. But I had a lot of fun, and I did learn a few things.

1) The first marathon is the hardest. Fox Valley was on Sept 21 and was a strain on the body and mind. Not because of the race, but because I hadn't run any marathons in 9 months. My mind and body were not prepared for it, and I started too fast and suffered a lot. Twin Cities Marathon was two weeks later on October 5th and It was a bit easier to deal with the mindset of marathon running. Even though the course in Minneapolis-St. Paul, was pretty hilly.   But I felt more confident of finishing. Getting to Naperville, November 9th, I was confident of finishing, and mentally relaxed, and had a lot of fun doing it, there was no pressure, and at 4:10:16, was the fastest marathon of the three. Once you mind and body understands the task at hand, then it's time to enjoy to see what you can do. It actually became fun.

2) It's not the running, but the recovery: People were curious what I did between marathons to prepare me for the next race. Answer: Not much. My runs were easy and in moderate distance. My longest run was 17 miles two weeks before Naperville. Other than that, it was slow and short in mileage. After each marathon, 2-3 days were taken completely off before going back to running. I got massages and chiropractic adjustments in those days off. The most important part was getting back to easy running as soon as possible.

3) Let's hear it for running form: After toiling on working my running form for the last three years, it really turned out to be the positive for this endeavor. Because I worked on a balanced running form and a midfoot strike, I got through the marathons with zero injuries. When I wanted to run, I ran. there was no physical issues to hold me back. I stretched and foam rolled several times a week.  And at 45 years old, that's a really good place to be. I ran in Sketchers GoMEB 2's for Fox Valley and Twin Cities Marathon, and I ran in New Balance 1400v2's for Naperville. I switched to the New Balances because of chafing of my toes in wearing the Sketchers. New Balance were way more comfortable in that distance.

4) Nutrition is important, sorta: When you run in marathons, you can't help to notice the sheer amount of gels and food people carry with them, Saw a runner in Naperville finish with six gels still around their waists. It's easier to carry what you exactly need, instead of what you think you need. And in all of these races, additional nutrition was available on the race route. So always check to see what the races offer.  In these events, my food choices were very simple to follow. Clif Gel bloks before the start, 2-3 GU gels for the rest of the race. Combination worked pretty well. I stayed away from chocolate flavors because they irritated my stomach. Huge fan of Gu's salted Caramel gel's. Simpler the better. Find choices and stick with what works.

5) I'm ready for 2015: Training well into November makes training rather easy for the rest of the winter and into the next year. Hopefully the weather will be a bit easier than last year (fingers crossed), and I can take this momentum and keep going through the winter. Why stop? It's way too hard to start up again.

6) But I'm glad I'm done: Don't know if I'll do this again, it was fun, but man, I'm really tired.

"I hope I get it!" The Marathon Lottery.

This year is the first time the Chicago Marathon 45,000 spots are being decided by lottery. A chunk of them went to multiple finishers, fast finishers, and charity participants. The Other 25,000 spots are being decided by lottery. Which means unless I run a marathon faster than 3:20, I've probably run my last Chicago Marathon. My home race.

Of course, there are other marathons with the lottery system:  NYC, Marine Corps, Houston and of course Boston, to name a few. This year, the NYC Marathon had 77,000 Lottery entrants, only 9,170 of them got picked to run the race. That's about 11%.

It's not the question of the race or it's quality, but of the effort and stress required to get in, in order to participate. Just to get to the start line. As if life wasn't hard enough. As if training wan't hard enough. I thought running was to be fun, and a way to be get rid of stress, not create more of it. There is now a dividing line here and that's not running to me. Those who get in. And those who don't.

Running is supposed to be an inclusive sport of all people, types and shapes. Everybody has a story. And that story is not only propels us to run, but defines our lives.  There should be a freedom here of what we choose to run, and what we don't. Not the other way around. This all seems rather exclusive. That's not running to me. At all. And it certainly takes the happiness out of it. It has all the fun of waiting to hear back if you got a job.

I know there is an attraction to these races, history and bit of romance, but these races are like a really good restaurant.  It's occasionally nice to have and wait for, but really I hate to wait for food. To eat. No matter how good it is. And no matter how good the food is. I'm hungry, and I want to eat.

I don't know what the answer is, so I'm going to do to other races instead. Races I can sign up for now, train and prepare for, with a piece of mind, that I don't have to worry if i'm in it or not. There are so many wonderful alternatives to Chicago, so I'm going to explore them. Fox Valley Marathon, Twin Cities Marathon, to name a few. According to the Marathonguide.com website, there are 32 marathons around the United States and Canada on the same weekend as the Chicago Marathon. And 31 are taking registrations.

The other alternative, is to simply run fast enough, so I won't have to worry about lotteries.

I'm working on that, too.

Happy Running!!!

Rules of the treadmill.

So, with the worst winter in Chicago in a few years, and my somewhat blah performance at the Houston Marathon, my only getaway has been the treadmill at my local fitness center.

As we talked about before Treadmills (see Turning the "Dreadmill into the Treadmill"), I decided to take the attributes, and use them to prepare for the my next race, The Country Music Marathon, in April.

Treadmills are not a true replacement for outside conditions, but they can aid in getting you ready for when you go back outside.

My Goal for the Country Music Marathon is a sub 3:40 marathon, but the course is quite hilly, so I have two simple rules for the treadmill.  That 1) The hill mode will always be on (unless I'm doing high speed intervals in which the treadmill will be at 1% grade) and 2) 1 will try to exceed my normal pace on a regular basis with either progression runs or intervals. Being on a faster pace helps expand my lactate threshold, and helps me sustain a faster pace for a longer period of time. Since Chicago is so notoriously flat, getting used to the resistance of climbing hills now will help until I can get outside and run on hillier terrain in the area. So, I'm trying to go uphill or go fast, or both.

So here are three workouts I've done in the last three days: No treadmill workout is longer than 45 minutes.

Friday: Hill reps at faster than standard pace. warm up for a mile, then 5 minutes at a 6% grade climb at 8:05 -7:54 a mile (my standard pace is around 8:30), then recover for three minutes at 0% grade. Repeat cycle 5 times. Cool down with one mile easy.

Saturday: Progression Run: Put treadmill in hill mode, put it on level 4 or 5. Highest hill should not exceed 3%. Start 1 mile at standard pace, then for the next 4 miles, increase pace 1/2 mile per hour.

Sunday: Intervals: Warm up 6x800 meter @ 6:40-7:00 per mile with a 2:00 recovery, then cooldown. Treadmill is set at a standard 1%.

As I do more treadmill workouts, I'll post them.

Happy running!

Observations on the Houston Marathon

So, long story short, The Houston Marathon was not one of my better efforts. I was undertrained and overmotivated. Coming in at 4:15:38. It was too warm, and training through Chicago Polar Vortex's did not help. The races 55 degree temps, deemed cool by Texan standards, left me feeling fried about mile 20.

The Houston course reminds me a lot of the Chicago marathon course, except for the constant right hand, slightly uphill bend between miles 17-20. Just kind of annoying, and not good for my right IT band. I would run it better by running down the middle of the road. But that might have of have been about my suffering pace at that time, than anything else. Few hills going back into the city 20-25, mile 26 is flat. Latter half is sunnier than the first half.

At the race expo, everyone gets a standard T-shirt, and being disappointed by this, I bought a techincal shirt, and then reading the race info later, everyone gets their techincal t-shirt (and a glass mug) after they finish. So, I have three shirts from the race. That's what I get from not reading the material before the race.

Also at the expo, Meb Keflezighi (Who won the Half Marathon National Championships the next day) was signing autographs and taking pictures, which I missed in the middle of expo glory. But I got this pic of him as he was finsihing up:

On race day, the pre race events included two religious services.

The cliched running sign of 2014 will be:  "_________, run like they do in the Hunger Games!"

Worst repeated sign: "If you fart, you'll run faster!" I hope that doesn't catch on.

Post race set-up was one of the best I've ever seen. You got your finisher's shirt, Your glass mug, get back your race bag, get an ice cream bar, have a hot breakfast (eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy) soft drinks, milk, snacks, change your clothes in a real changing area,  and sit in a chairs like a real human, and being all under the same gigantic roof only a few feet from the finish line. All of this, with your waiting friends and family in a seperate meeting area.  The Chicago Marathon could learn a lot from this race.

At every single mile marker, there was a person yelling out split times based on the race clock.

People calling out my name with a Texas drawl, sounds pretty cool.

People were so nice. Friendly, warm and welcoming. They really enjoyed that you came to Houston, and they hoped you come back. I think I will come back.


Happy Running!

Starting the year off early.

Many months ago when I was selected to run the Houston Marathon on January 19, I really didn't give it much of a thought, winters here for the last two years have been very mild. That wasn't the case after surviving the week with the coldest temps in over 30 years, and it's taken a toll on my marathon training schedule.

Signing up for the 14 mile Polar Dash was originally an after thought, but I realized that the Polar dash would actually be more helpful for training and race prep, for Houston which is a week away. I've never raced in January in Chicago before.

Racing in the wintertime in Chicago, is always taken with a grain of salt. You truly don't know what you're going to get until race time. Less than a week ago, the temps were -15 below zero, and we got 11 inches of snow.  On race day for the Polar Dash, The temps were in the 30's, after a day of torrential rain. There was a lot of snow, ice, and puddles.

Great Odin's Navel, there were a lot of puddles. Deep, long wide puddles of ice cold water.

At first, you tried to avoid them, and at the end, you just didn't care. I was jumping and bounding over mounds of snow and running through mud, it was like running a very long cross country race. Several times I ran straight through mud, but at the end of the race, I realized my shoes looked like this:

(My shoes after finishing. Clean. And soaking wet. Probably forever.)

I finished in 2:03:43. Really not bad with the conditions and my lack of high speed long distance running in the last few weeks, but I felt comfortable, and pushed as hard as I could. 

The Polar Dash was a bit of a mess, course was haphazard, not much organization, and a bit too long, but I really didn't mind it. It's not a big race, and it's relatively new. I got a nice fleece jacket out of it, and some well timed hot chocolate. And I was running with good friends. A really much more interesting running experience than I really expected. 

How often as an adult do you have to run in ankle deep freezing water to get what you what really want? Sure, runners complained for the first few miles (but runners complain about everything), but as soon as you realized that there absolutely nothing you can do about it, you just got on with the task. The discomfort was gone with a change of clothes, a hot shower and a cup of coffee, and you are left with a great story to tell. 

Though I have a fear of puddles now. 

Observations:

- Race Temp was 37 degrees. I wore shorts. I was fine with the temps. Very comfortable. However, many people approached me after the race to tell me that, in fact, I was wearing shorts. Thanks for the update. 

- Thumbs up to the Polar Dash organization for keeping runners up to date about how terrible the conditions were going to be, without making it sound like it was an update from Homeland Security (It's going to be RED conditions on the course). 

- Had to hold my tongue walking behind a loudmouth out of Soldier Field parking who was explaining how the term "Redskins" was not an offensive term. This was coming from a man who was a) Not a Native American, and b) a Redskins fan, which for many reasons, the worst football team in the NFL (in my humble opinion). Bears and Packers fans should thank the NFL Gods everyday, that they are not Redskins fans.

- Ran six miles with a man who like the rest of us running on asphalt, but was wearing Yaktrax on his shoes which made a loud thwacking noise with every stride. He was wearing headphones, so he couldn't hear it, and he couldn't hear what we were saying about him. 

Turning the 'Dreadmill' into the Treadmill.

So we have no choice, there is a major snowstorm coming and a deep freeze, and welp, we have to use a treadmill. And we hate the treadmill. This is why we call it the "dreadmill" right?

There are some things treadmills do better, but I think a few guidelines will make it a much more useful tool:

Split workouts in two. 
Need to do 12 miles on the treadmill? Do 6 miles in the morning and do 6 miles in the evening, or 8 in the am and 4 in the pm, Make one of the workouts a tempo or interval run, add hills. Use the other run for recovery. Mileage is mileage. Doing two-a-days will keep you sharp and break up the monotony. Treadmills are poor, poor analogs of long distance running. Don't waste your time trying to make it one.

Your Treadmill run should always be in a hill program.
Forget getting on the treadmill set it at 1.5% grade and set it at at 9:09 mile pace. Your are wasting the treadmills' potential, and destroying your own morale. Running a standard set grade, just adds to the monotony, and does nothing to add to the experience of running outside. It's like driving a Ferrari to a grocery store. Sure you can do it, but is that really the best use of a Ferrari? Put the treadmill on a hill or random hill mode, adjust the intensity, and use that as a base running mode.  Not to mention this is Chicago, and we have no hills, and since every freaking race on the planet earth has hills, then you might was well train and prepare for them. Make hills your friends. The resistance and variable pitch to running on a treadmill on hill mode, makes you a much better, faster and comfortable runner on the flats.

Adjust your pace.
It's same thing for speed, you have the opportunity to run at a faster pace, than you would on the road, this makes it a perfect opportunity to work on leg speed and running efficiently at a faster pace. Change the pace after you warm up after a mile or so, and do progression runs, increasing the pace every mile. Or run tempo at your goal pace or faster than your goal pace. Test yourself to the limit. This is the perfect opportunity to do so. Time flies when you're kicking your own ass.

Happy Running!! Stay warm!!!

Things a runner should be doing in the dead of winter (That's right now).

Two clicks, and you've signed up for your springtime race. But hey, that's like what? 5 months away. And it's snowing outside.

For us runners it's easy to lay off and wait for the spring thaw. Chicagoans have a seasonal amnesia, we forget the previous times we have been in this situation and we forget about the issues that keep coming up year after year, and then it's too late, and then our spring is not what we wanted at all.

So, as a reminder, here a list of things you should be doing right now to be race ready in the spring:

You should be strengthening your core (Once or twice a week now, once a week, in the spring, and then drop it in the late spring, because you need to run more, and strength train less, and yes you can take a Crossfit class).

You should be working on improving your running form.(The more efficient, the faster and more relaxed you are, the faster you can go).

You should be doing speed work and tempo work on the treadmill (These tough workouts makes the time on the 'mill go much faster, and you should be totally using the hill modes).

You should be running in the snow (Running in the snow improves core work, balance and strength).

You should be building a base of steady miles (Base miles get you into a easy consistent running schedule and prepares you for the spring). 

You should be taking a yoga class (flexibility and relaxation).

You should be foam rolling (flexibility and injury prevention).

You should be working on or get consulted on a training plan
(Better preparation on a week to week plan keeps you sharp, and properly trained for the results you want). 

You should be getting used to running in less than perfect conditions. (Because you spring race might have a "winter" surprise).

Well, that's plenty to do, so get to work.

Happy running!!!