LA Marathon Recap

Clearly I'm terrible about post-race recaps... as this one has taken me nearly FOUR YEARS to do! But, for those of you who stumble across this blog and wonder how it turned out, let me try to recap as best as I can with my terrible memory.

So, raceday morning I ended up being slotted on one of the earliest buses to the race venue at Dodger stadium. That meant getting up about 4:15am, driving to the finish area, parking and then taking the half hour bus ride to the start. Once I arrived to the empty parking lot, it was ~55 degrees F and there was over two hours until race start... not ideal, to say the least. I sat/laid in the parking lot, listening to music and waiting for time to pass.

Eventually, it was time to warm-up and head to the start. Fortunately, when I arrived there, I ran into a friend from my triathlon days, former pro-triathlete, Chris Tremonte, who was visiting from Seattle and, along with 2 friends, was also trying to run right around 6-minute pace. These guys, arrived in costume though, with dollar store fur coats, gloves and jeggings.

As the race started, we all had nerves and purposely went out easy, chatting and making jokes throughout the first downhill mile. When we hit the first mile though, we were all shocked to see just how SLOW we'd actually gone though -- 6:30!! It was time to get serious!

After that, we picked up the pace and settled in. For the next 12 miles, thru the half, we ran hip-to-hip, chatting a bit, but mostly just cruising, through downtown LA, Hollywood and into Beverly Hills... Here's a look at splits:

6:30, 5:55, 5:55, 5:58, 6:16, 5:59 (10K: 37:54)
5:54, 6:00, 6:11, 6:03, 6:02, 6:05 (20K: 1:15:33 (37:39))
6:10 (didn't get a 1/2 split, but believe it was right about 1:19:30)

At the half, the four of us were still together and had settled into a good rhythm. I believe that's the point that Tahoma (went on to run a 2:42:43) pulled away and left us behind. The remaining three of us continued to work together and ran within 20-30ft of one another thru about 14-14.5 miles... and THAT'S when it got lonely! By mile 16, Chris and his other buddy had fallen off and I was entering a long straightway, completely on my own.... my pace fell to around 6:20 and stayed there for the next 4-miles.

Miles 14-16: 6:05, 5:54, 6:02,
Miles 17-20: 6:18, 6:19 (30K: 1:53:31 (38:18)), 6:22, 6:24

At mile 20, after the long straightaway, we began to climb into the hills for the remaining 6 miles through Brentwood and eventually, down to the Santa Monica Pier and that's when I began to hit the wall. At the same time, Chris had caught back up to me and passed looking great. From there on out it was simply a battle to keep running and keep from losing as little time as possible.

Miles 21 - Finish: 6:42, 6:40, 6:49, 6:56 (40K: 2:35:30 (41:39 - 10k)), 6:43, (final 1.1mi - 7:47))

Finish Time: 2:44:09 (6:15/mi pace)

In the end, I fell short of my goal again only improving my PR marathon pace from 6:20/mi to 6:15/mi pace, but I can say that thru the use of the Hanson's Marathon Method to training, I came away in better shape off, completely injury free, off of fewer training miles than with the Jack Daniel's plan in the two years prior. As I'll probably never have the time to dedicate to trying to better this PR, it's one that I'm happy with and an endeavor that I'm so happy I undertook. I think a great time with friends, striving for something beyond your limits is worth it every time. Hopefully if YOU are trying for the 6-minute-mile pace marathon, you'll have better luck than me... but either way, HAVE FUN!

Cyrus

Final Wrap-up

Last couple weeks have been crazy. With work travel, getting sick and preparing for my post-race trip to Asia, I have been spread thin to say the least. I think that I have come through it all pretty well. Got in some good workouts (below), but also came up short on a few. Mentally I'm in a good space for the race, determined to run smart for one and try to negative split the course. The only nagging issue that I'm having is my sciatic nerves. They have been REALLY bothering me ever since last weekend when I went snowboarding and rode powder on Saturday. It really aggravated that nerve in both legs and I can barely sit now without them being very apparent and painful. I've been noticing them on the runs too but am hoping that I can get through it on Sunday. I'll try to write another short update from LA tomorrow evening, but if not. Go to the LA Marathon website on Sunday morning for live tracking, Facebook updates, etc. Race goes off at 7:25am PST. Look for me to run a bit slow in the first half (shooting for 1:20-1:21) and then to try to pick it up in the back half. Goal is to get under 2:40, as I think I'm not quite in good enough shape to attempt the original 6min pace goal.

Here are a few workouts from the past few weeks:

3/7: Tempo Run - goal: 10-miles at 6:11/mi pace
Came up short on this one. Had a higher mileage week the past week and my legs just felt dead. Additionally, I was running on a very muddy/icy/snowy trail...
did 7-miles as: (6:01, 6:10, 6:08, 6:18, 6:10, 6:17, 6:18) - avg: 6:11/mi

3/5: Track Workout - goal: 6 x 1-mile at 5:50/mi pace with 400m jog recovery
5:36, 5:50, 5:48, 5:45, 5:49, 5:48 - felt great... barely noticed this workout.

3/3: Long run: 16-miles at moderate pace (6:41/mi)
This was a rough one... avg'd 6:51 pace throughout.

2/27: Tempo Run - goal: 10-miles at 6:11/mi pace
Was in a hotel in Twin Falls Idaho and not feeling the best. Tried to do this tempo on the treadmill but pulled the plug at 2-miles and instead did 3 x 2mi at 6:08 goal pace:
12:17 (6:09, 6:08), 12:15 (6:08, 6:07), 12:21 (6:14, 6:07)

2/25: Track Workout - goal 4 x 1.5mi @ 5:50/mi pace
We had a big snowstorm in Denver, so I was forced to hit the treadmill for this, my first workout after the break from the Austin half-marathon.
8:41, 8:41, 8:40, 8:41 - avg 5:48/mi pace - felt good.

Austin Half-Marathon

I think I was expecting too much out of this race. Immediately following the race I was a bit dissapointed with my time, but a couple of friends put it into perspective for me.

First, I wasn't tapering for this race. It was a "train-thru" situation. Additionally, I had been doing a lot of work travel in the days and weeks leading into the race and lastly, I was sick for most of the week leading into the race.

That said, I had been hoping to run a 1:14 or 1:15 but apparently I had also forgotten how hilly the course was. I had it in my head that it was a 'fast' course, but word from everyone in Austin was that it was anything but that.

The morning of the race I felt good and we all had IDEAL race conditions! 40-ish degrees, clear, and light winds. I couldn't have asked for better. I felt pretty fresh and was hoping to run a controlled effort (though splits would be all over the place due to the varying terrain) and see what I still needed to work on over the final 4 weeks of training.

Here are my splits:

Livestrong Austin Half-Marathon

5:33, 5:36, 5:54 (17:45 5K)

6:02, 5:51, 5:50 (35:58 10K)

5:32, 5:42, 5:42, 6:04 (57:54 10mi)

6:07, 6:04, 6:29 (1.1mi)

1:16:26 (5:50/mi avg)

Overall, I am pretty happy with the results. The course has a long uphill section from mile 3 to 6. From mile 6 to 9 it's mostly downhill and then at about 9.5 miles on home it's really hilly with a couple really aggressive pitches. For almost the entire race I barely noticed the effort aerobically. The issue was with fatigue in my muscles. Additionally, I did have some GI distress at about 9.5 miles, which was luckily very short-lived. By Mile 10, I was feeling fine again but the muscle fatigue was certainly an issue.

I'm encouraged by my level of fitness and the fact that I did train thru the race but I am nervous for LA none-the-less. The idea of running twice the distance at only 10-15 seconds slower per mile is daunting but I am hoping that my leadup into the race will be much better next time around and I will come in much more relaxed and ready. 4 weeks to go (actually 3 at the time that I write this now..!)! 

Happy Training to anyone reading this! 

Race Week...

As I mentioned in the previous post, things could have been better as I headed into the week of my "test" race. If being on the road for work, sleeping in hotels and eating out all week wasn't bad enough, I also was in the middle of a cold that had just wiped me out.

Monday and Tuesday I felt terrible and had meetings all day long. I got in an easy 6.25mi on the treadmill on Monday but Tuesday I was destroyed. I got done with meetings at 5pm, went up to my room, took some Nyquil and next thing I know it was 4:30am in the morning!! I still wasn't better, actually, I felt worse than ever, but luckily later in the day I would begin to feel the health coming back to me.

That night I headed out for an easy run in Austin and surprisingly made it 7.50 miles pretty easily and felt good.

By Thursday morning I was feeling about 80% back to health and so decided to fit in the track workout that I had hoped to have done back on Monday. I was still in Austin and one of my old training buddies from Riptide, Pete Mallet decided to jump into the workout to help with pacing.

2 x 3-miles @ 5:50 pace w/800m ez jog rest

1. 17:20 (5:47, 5:48, 5:45)

2. 17:22 (5:47, 5:42, 5:53)

Avg: 5:47/mi pace

Surprisingly after being sick, I felt pretty fresh. With the exception of the final hard mile, most of the workout was just running on cruise control and feeling good.

Friday and Saturday were two more easy runs (7.50 & 6.00 miles respectively) leading into race day.

Catching Up

Wow, life has gotten away from a bit here. Somehow 17 days have flown by since the last time that I had a chance to update this and a lot has been happening...

I'll start right after my last post: On the 7th it was time to do another tempo run. Due to conditions, I was on the treadmill again:

Tempo Run: 9-miles @ 6:06/mi pace

6:05, 6:05, 6:06, 6:05, 6:06, 6:05, 6:05, 6:06, 6:06

Avg: 6:05.75/mi pace

Unfortunately, I think that this workout was the final straw for my immune system, and within 3 hours I was beginning to feel pretty sick. By the next morning, a cold/flu was on me. I tried to fight thru it, but had to take things extremely easy, logging only 7, 7 and 9 mile easy runs for each of the remaining days of the week. 

On Sunday night I headed off to Dallas for an entire week of business travel before (hopefully) racing the Austin half-marathon the following Sunday.

Week 12 Track Work

Hit the track tonight for Week 12's Strength workout:

4 x 2 miles @ 5:50/mi pace (goal: 11:40)

w/800m jog recovery

11:22 (5:34, 5:48)

11:37 (5:43, 5:54)

11:34 (5:49, 5:45)

avg 11:41 (5:45.5/mi pace)

After doing an easy 6.25mi run yesterday evening, my legs felt pretty good this morning, so I was excited to see how they'd handle this workout tonight. Obviously, I was (once again) overzealous on the first interval, coming thru the first mile in 5:34! When I saw it, I couldn't believe it because it felt like I was barely moving, but it was an eye-opener and made me be much more aware of pace in the second half. Still overall, ran too fast tonight, but for whatever reason this 5:45 pace is just seeming to stick more than the 5:50's. Hopefully on raceday I'll have the brakes on so much for the first few miles that this won't cause an issue. 

Tomorrow is a long awaited rest day and I am excited for it! Happy Training to all of you out there in the Blog-o-sphere, I'm off to bed!

Close Call!

Rounding out week 11, after the track workout that I wrote about last week, were a couple more hard workouts, which left my legs completely zapped by the end of the week. On Thurs I had my tempo run again, which I had to do on the treadmill due to the weeks snow. 12-miles on a treadmill with 9 at Tempo SUCK by the way. Here's how it went:

9-mile Tempo Run @ 6:06/mi pace

6:06, 6:04, 6:05, 6:06, 6:06, 6:05, 6:06, 6:05, 6:05

avg 6:05/mi pace

While workouts like this are terribly mind-numbing (especially if you do this at a gym like mine where there's no TV and you're just staring out a window blindly into the night), they are nice because the treadmill locks in the pace and you can just (literally) fight to stay on. Either way, it was a long night, followed once again by lots of core-strength exercises. 

Friday, I got quite the shock though. About 3 minutes in to what was to be an easy 7-mile run, I was running through some grass, not paying attention, of course, and managed to step on a rock that I didn't see was there. Rolled my ankle really badly and had to take a 5 minute time-out to assess the situation. All I could think of was "SHHHIIIIITTTT, 10 weeks of training out-the-window!!". Luckily after a few minutes of massaging it and generally checking things out, I felt okay to finish out the run and did so with very little pain. About 3 hours later though, I'd pay for it! My (right) ankle had swollen up to about twice the size of normal and was really painful. Of course this change happened AT the dinner-party that I had gone to for the evening. So, upon returning home at about 11:45pm, I finally was able to start damage control. Ice, heat, ice and some time with the ultrasound got the ball rolling, then I took a few aspirin and hit the sack with my foot elevated on some pillows for the night. 

The next morning when I woke up, luckily things were more under control. Although I wasn't at 100%, the ankle felt like about 70%. That said, I made the call to push off the long run that was to be done that morning to Sunday and instead headed out for an easy 8-miler. More careful recovery on Saturday and by Sunday I was ready to attempt the long, 16-miler for the week... even though my tired, sore legs were begging me not to. 

Long Run: 16-miles @ 6:41/mi pace

Avg'd 6:45 pace for entire run (incl. first and last miles)

The ankle didn't give me any problems on the long run but I did definitely fall apart. Managed to hold onto 6:41/mi pace thru mile 12 but then hit the wall, and was reduced to around 7:00/mi pace for the last 4. Given that 31 miles of the 60 that I ran this week were between about 5:45-6:50/mi pace, I was just happy to have survived it all and definitely am gaining more and more of an understanding of this Hanson's mentality of "Accumulated Fatigue". I can't imagine how good it is going to feel when I can finally race on fresh legs! 11 weeks down, 6 to go! Happy Training!