Wow, This is Good Reason to Run a Marathon the Day After Thanksgiving!!

Via: Online Schools

Free Form Training Runs Add Spice to the Daily Routine

Today was President's Day, one of 10 Federal holidays that I get paid not to work.  The banks, libraries, post office and stock market were also closed, though I know many people that worked anyway, including my real estate agent, the guys across the street putting a new roof in, the FedEx guy, the workers who made our sandwich at Subway and my boss (no, he doesn't work at Subway).

Perhaps coincidentally (to the fact that a new roof is going up across the street), I discovered a roofing nail in my car tire yesterday. The tire remained inflated overnight so I decided to drive the car to a local tire shop where I found more guys who had to work on this fine holiday. Twenty minutes and $20 later I was off to the gym for my standard 20 minute workout.

At this point I was about an hour into my "quick" errand to fix the flat tire but I wanted to slip a quick run in while I could without my wife knowing (shhh....don't tell her...she doesn't read this blog as she hates the fact that I run).  But I figured I could get away with a 40 minute run and quickly slip in for a shower before she shes me.

So I took off on my run, with no plan in mind. These are usually my best runs, the ones where I have no idea where I'm going. So I head south from my gym and decide to figure it out as I go. About 10 minutes into the run, it dawned on me that it had been probably 10 years since I ran up a particular hill in Newbury Park.  This was the perfect opportunity to do so.

In Google Maps this area is called the Potrero Open Space, accessible at the crest of Wendy Drive (there is parking available). I accessed the trails from Reino Road and found a trail that took me to the top of the hill and back down towards Wendy Drive. There were some challenging, rocky hills that I had to walk up but once I made it to the top of the hill, I was rewarded with panoramic views of Newbury Park.  Instant gratification!

I do plan to do this trail again very soon, now that I'm reminded how cool the view is at the top! But next time I'll have to bring the video cam!

All told, I ran about 46 minutes, got a nice hill/trail workout in and was able to slip in to the shower without my wife noticing the sweat and dust on my legs.  I rewarded myself (and my wife) by taking the kids out the rest of the day.

On a side note, still no races on the calendar for me, but I'm doing about 35 miles per week. Just enjoying running for the sake of running at the moment!

Training Without Any Goals in Mind

It has now been 7 weeks since I ran the Santa Barbara Marathon and I'm still in kind of limbo mode, still running, but without any particular goals.

Some friends are urging me to train for the L.A. Marathon, but that's only 7 weeks away and I don't have enough time to train sufficiently for that.

I had planned to run the 25th Anniversary Great Race of Agoura Hills' Cheseboro Half Marathon on March 27th, but I already have several other commitments that day.

When there's a race paid for and committed to and calendarized, I train harder. There are other races out there I could pick, but I think I'm procrastinating because a) deep down inside I'm feeling like I don't have the desire to train "hard" right now and b) I'm enjoying just getting out there and running without any particularly urgencies, goals and pressures.

We had a lot of rain the other week and somehow I managed to stay dry all but one day that week. I LOVE running in light rain and in between storms, when the air is clean and cool. 

The only thing I don't like about the rain is that it muddies up the trails that I usually run in. So I'm relegated to the roads when it rains. But I don't mind.

This time off from running hard and racing is good for my body and brain. But I'm still doing about 35 miles per week, so it's not like I'm completely slacking off.

And as I start to feel stronger and gradually build up the mileage, what I've been doing once or twice a week is "fartlek" (yes, I know, I reacted the same way when I first heard that term, and in fact still do). Fartlek is Swedish for "speed play" - a training system where fast burst of running are interspersed with slower running.

The beauty of fartlek, other than its cool name, is that you can do it anytime in any workout. What I like to do is run a long road with cross streets, running one block fast, one block slow, one block fast, one block slow, alternating to get a little speed workout in without the inconvenience of driving to the track.

By introducing a bit of this fartlek training into some of my everyday runs, I ease my way back into the mindset of training hard and picking a new race to conquer!

Running Has Been the Constant in My Life for 15 Years

Ever since Cinco de Mayo 1993, the second most constant, recurring activity in my life has been running.  The only other more consistent activity I can think of is my habit of brushing my teeth and using Listerine 2 times per day and flossing every night.

Yes, I started running on May 5, 1993 and diligently started tracking the number of miles I ran each day on an Excel spreadsheet.  This same spreadsheet is now over 6,000 rows long as I continue to add to it.

This spreadsheet is nothing too fancy.  Basically started out by jotting down how many miles, rounded to the nearest tenth of a mile, I ran each day. There is a column showing cumulative year-to-date mileage and later I added columns to show 7 and 10 day rolling average.  There is also a cumulative mileage column along the lines of the odometer on my car.

In late 1998 I started thinking, wouldn't it be interesting to see how much of my life is spent running each year. So I started tracking the number of minutes run each day along with the mileage.  Eventually I stopped tracking mileage on a "precise" basis (e.g. driving the course to get an exact tally or wear a device that measures mileage like the Nike+ iPod chip that I quickly grew tired of) and started estimating mileage based on time run and running effort.

The next year, 1999, was my personal record for most mileage run in one year: 3,645 miles. It took me 28,809 minutes, or about 480 hours, not including stretching and showers, to run those miles.  I ran a decent 2 hour, 36 minute marathon that year, one minute off my personal best time. That's the last time I ran under 2 hours, 40 minutes in a marathon.

But I 'm not so sad.  I had a good string of marathons from 1996 to 1999 (6 sub-2:40 performances). While injuries, aging and life has prevented such performance since then, I have not stopped running.

Through thick and thin, girlfriends, breakups, marriage, kids, job changes, good times, bad times, happy times, stressful times, sadness, frustration and everything else life threw at me, I've continued running.

I write this literally at 1:20 am on a Thursday night.  It was 11 pm when I started, but my 4 year old apparently has the stomach flu and I've alternated between keyboard and changing sheets. But I still plan to drag my lifeless body out of bed at 6:30 am to do my daily run.

Running keeps me sane and whole.  Without running, I wouldn't feel good. Even when I don't feel good, I go out there and run. Running is "me" time, time that no one can take away. Running is my rock. My good friend that I can turn to when I need to clear my head.

Been Running Since May 5, 1993 and Tallying Mileage Ever Since

Since running the Santa Barbara Marathon on December 5th, my training has been pretty sparse.  I took the first 3 days post-marathon off and ran only 10 miles the entire week.  Then more recently, my bad back problem made a reappearance and I was hobbling around for a week, walking like an 99 year old man, beginning on Christmas Eve.  Thanks to my stellar chiropractor I was back in action after 2 treatments.

On New Year's Eve, after dining on sushi with my 6 year old and reading Power Ranger stories to my 4 year old, then after a couple glasses of bubbly, I updated my 16 year old, 6,100 row Excel spreadsheet that tracks my daily mileage.  In fact, I updated the spreadsheet while celebrating the New Year with my Twitter friends.

Yes, my obsessive compulsive side forces me to jot down how much time and how many estimated miles I run each day in my daily calendar book, then periodically (used to be weekly, then monthly, now annually) I updated the manual scribbles from my book into the monster spreadsheet.

If I lose this spreadsheet, I lose a big part of me. This 1.3 MB spreadsheet is the Bible of my running. I used to study it like I was studying for an exam. It was fun to see trends...weekly mileage, how I did in a race after running at a certain level, etc. Now it is more chore than anything. But it is something I must do.  It is a 16 year running journal and I'm determined to maintain it.

My running began on Cinco de Mayo 1993, the day after telling a marathon runner co-worker, in my drunken stupor at a chili cook-off, that I would run next year's Los Angeles Marathon. While I don't remember the specifics of that first run, I look at the spreadsheet and see that I ran 3.2 miles that day.

Something I DO remember about that first run is that I had to stop because, as I recall, my ankle hurt. So I ran a few blocks, stopped, started again, stopped, and so on. I see in the log that the next day I did not run, but the day after that I ran 3.2 miles again.

How did I know it was 3.2 miles and not 3 miles or 3.5 miles? Well for many years, in my youth and without wife and kids and life's goings on consuming my time, I would literally drive the course I ran and track it on the car's odometer.  I drew a map of my neighborhood and tracked distances for various courses, streets, turnaround points, etc.  But I was really into it back then.

Today I measure most all of my runs by time, not by actually measured mileage. I have a pretty good gauge on my running speed and generally can estimate fairly well what my pace is, be it 7 min/mile, slower or faster.  Obviously it isn't 100% accurate, but based on the 42,900 miles I've run between May 5, 1993 and December 31, 2009, I think my pace estimate is pretty well dialed in.

So here's to a Happy New Year and New Decade 2010 and may you resolve to track your mileage in a monster Excel spreadsheet like me!

For the record, I logged 1,971 miles in 2009 over the course of 14,346 minutes (or about 239 hours). Wow, that is a lot of time spent running! But I love it!

Eleven Days After the Santa Barbara Marathon

This is 32 year old Andrea McLarty of Santa Barbara, women's winner in 2:52 and 11th place overall! This gal is fit! Photo credit: Simon IbsenThe Santa Barbara Marathon was on Sunday, December 6th.  For the next 3 days, I didn't run.  I think this is a pretty good practice.  With 25 past marathons in the bag, one thing I do know is that your body needs to recover after the marathon.

Muscle soreness is the most blatant sign that my body is trying to recover.  My calves, quads and hamstrings were the most sore those first 3 recovery days.  In fact, I had to walk downstairs very carefully, holding the handrail, one step at a time the first 2 days.

My neck, shoulders, traps and arms were sore too.  Not as sore as my legs, but they were feeling the strain of running 26.2 miles (well, actually 29.2 for the entire day). What I should have done was schedule a massage. But work has been crazy busy and I simply didn't make the time.

Advil was my friend the first 2 days post-marathon.  I didn't take too much...just 2 tablets in the morning and 2 at night. 

Although I didn't run the first 3 days post-marathon, I did get off my butt and walk around as often as I could. The longer I sit in one place, the more painful it feels to get up.  Don't know why that's the case, but it is.

The other sign that I'm in recovery mode is how I feel. Grumpy, tired, yucky are a few words to describe my mood and body the entire week after the marathon.  Not to mention, I was constantly hungry.

My body deserved whatever it wanted the week after the marathon. I don't eat a lot of red meat but that thick juicy steak last Saturday sure tasted good!

But in the meantime, people left and right are getting sick. At the office, at school, friends...people are getting sore throats, the flu (I had lunch with a buddy last week who came down with the flu 2 days later that has lasted now a week), etc. 

I think it was Sunday, the 13th that I started to feel a scratch in my throat...so I immediately downed 2,000 mg of chewable Vitamin C tabs and got to bed early.  Your body is more susceptible to illness after a marathon...somehow I awoke on Monday feeling about 80%.  I'm still feeling a bit "on the edge" of getting sick but with some luck and sleep I'll get past this.

As far as running, I've been running 2 to 4 miles at an easy pace for the past 7 days.  I'm at the point now where I can start doing my "normal" base training of roughly 5 to 7 miles a day...when I get adequate sleep.  So on that note, I shall end this post and attempt to hit the sheets!

The Day of the Santa Barbara Marathon

In my last post, I described my day before the marathon on Saturday, December 5th.  The next day was Marathon Day.

Before going to sleep the night before, I did remember to set my watch alarm to 5:30 am. But I realized midway into my first dream that 5:30 am probably wouldn't cut it for a 6:30 am start.  But to no avail, I stayed asleep.  (Note to self: plan better next time.)

Luckily though, even though the Bacara is an expensive, fancy resort, the phone in the room next door went off at 5 am sharp and I heard it clear as a bell like it was a Motel 6 paper thin wall. So I was up and atom.

First thing I did was go outside to grab the Gatorade bottle I placed outside the door to keep it cold (the mini-fridge didn't have room for it).  My Gatorade was gone.  Darn it!  Who took my Gatorade!!??

Another odd thing.  No coffee maker in my fancy schmancy hotel room. What the??  Pretty much every single hotel room these days has one. But not the Bacara.  Well, I later discover that there is complimentary coffee in the main lobby...but would have loved to have it in my own room.

My 2nd chocolate chunk muffin went down nicely at 5:30 am. Probably would have been good to eat more, but that's all I had other than some leftover trail mix.

So after dressing and downing the coffee, my goal was to warm up a bit and get my bodily functions moving, if you know what I mean.  For some, all it takes is a cup of coffee.  For others, ya gotta move around a bit. I ran slowly, for 10 minutes, I came back to the room, bodily functioned. Then repeated this process 2 more times. Huh??  Yes, I believe it was Return of the Quesadilla.

So I suddenly realize that the race STARTS in 20 minutes and I'm 1 1/2 miles away. So I go through all the preparations, change into my singlet with a long sleeve coverup and gloves (it is about 40 degrees outside...pretty cold), pack my bag and jog to the start of the race.  I've already run 3 miles today.  Not exactly a good idea.

With 7 minutes to spare I get there and there is a mass of people at a the local Ellwood School in Goleta.  I'm all warmed up, sucked down a "GU" packet and drank all my water.  Given the race was to start very soon I removed my 2nd layer and gloves, knowing I would not need them during the race.  I dropped off my goody bag and situated myself in the runner corral.

Within a minute, there is an announcement.  Accident on the 101 freeway. Race has been DELAYED by 30 minutes!  Wait a sec!!! I'm ready to run RIGHT NOW!!!  You've got to be kidding me!?  We're not running on the 101 freeway, are we?  So now I'm standing there, freezing, in light singlet, no gloves, no warm pants.  DAMMIT!!!  This sucks!!

This was no fault of the race organizers and they handled it quite well, offering up several heated rooms for runners to congregate in like sardines.  But I was very frustrated, having never experienced such a long race delay in my 16 years of running.  I was fuming but most people took it in stride.  The atmosphere of the race was very laid back. People were having fun.  I was soon over it. But still cold!

Lesson learned...prepare for the worst case scenario.  I should have worn a 2nd layer and throwaway gloves for this unlikely situation.  As it stood, I was freezing, burning calories off just to keep warm.

So 20 minutes later we are lining again, and of course, before the start of the Star Spangled Banner, I've gotta pee.  So I run off, and in the most respectful and quick way possible, I manage to finish as I hear "land of the free" (as I'm thinking, "land of the pee" for me that particular moment).

Kudos to the race announcer.  He did an OUTSTANDING and entertaining job organizing the start of the race and using humor to ensure proper placement of faster runners in front.  Too many local races start dangerously due to slower runners and walkers situating themselves at the front of the pack.  This race had 3,000 runners and got off to a perfect start at 7 am.

The Santa Barbara Marathon course overall is pretty flat with some rolling hills.  I wouldn't call it a fast course but it is a very runner friendly course.  Well organized, decent number of water stops, very clearly marked.  Over half the course takes place in Goleta actually, including an initial 12 1/2 mile loop.  The crowds were supportive and gracious. While the race ends at Leadbetter Beach, only the last 1 1/2 miles of the course provided ocean views.  The weather was perfect for a marathon.  Mostly mid 50s to low 60s.

While I was perfectly happy with my 3 hour, 16 minute performance, there are always lessons to learn from. For starters, I made not one, but TWO porta-john stops in this race, adding about 3 minutes in lost time.  I'm thinking it was the quesadilla but I must figure out how to eliminate this problem for my next marathon.

After the first pit stop (around mile 4) I felt good enough to gradually make up a 1 1/2 minute gap and pass by the pack of runners I'd been running with before the stop.  This took place around mile 8. BIG MISTAKE!  I wasn't really trying that hard to catch them but what I should have done was take my time and reel them in.  I just wasn't thinking.

Tough Going at Mile 23.5 of SB Marathon...Up Cliff Drive (Photo Courtesy of Simon Ibsen**)They caught up with me again around mile 11, then a few miles later, I believe around mile 15 or 16, I made pit stop #2.  Yikes! At that point the wind came out of my sails a bit but I remembered my goals...run under 3 1/2 hours and finish with a smile on my face.  Given I had passed the halfway mark in 1 hour, 30 min, I had plenty of leeway to get there.

The last 10 miles took us through residential areas, bike paths and later, a 170 foot climb up Cliff Drive.  My hamstrings were killing me around mile 19/20 and I walked for about 5 minutes. Then I thought, there's no way I'm gonna walk the rest of this course!  I resolve to shuffle my way in, come hell or high water. The 3 or 4 GU packs I took in earlier in the race must have started kicking in, as I picked up a steady pace to the finish.

My friends all did well and we enjoyed sharing stories after the race. None of us have anything to prove. We all went out and gave it our best shot on that particular day with whatever training each of us, given life's challenges and surprises, could muster. 

The beauty of running a marathon is that we all have our own reasons for running...a challenge, competition, a charity, exercise, etc...and all run together on the same course at the same time, cheering each other on. 

At the end of the day, while I didn't quite make the "big" comeback I really was seeking to do when I started this adventure on April 27, 2009, I'm certainly glad I did it.  I'm thrilled that I'm here writing about it, uninjured!

I've now taken 2 days off.  Tomorrow I'll be back at it.  So stay tuned...

**For more of Simon's photos from the race, visit:

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049400&id=1201644501&l=4537a0414a

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049534&id=1201644501&l=91f6b964bd

www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2049539&id=1201644501&l=a678d592dd

Another Marathon Down the Hatch! Completed the Inaugural Santa Barbara Marathon!

Today is Tuesday and I'm still a bit sore from my 29.2 mile day on Sunday. 

Yes, I ran and completed the Inaugural Santa Barbara Marathon two days ago! I think it was my 26th marathon.

Yes, I did run 29.2 miles. 26.2 mile marathon plus 3 miles of running before the race. But more on that later.

On Saturday morning I said that my goal for the race was to finish with a smile on my face.  Goal achieved! I also said that, based on my level of training, my goal was to run something under 3 1/2 hours...I finished this one in 3:16...the other goal achieved.

That's not to say that I wasn't disappointed with a few things.  But hold that thought.

So Saturday morning I ran 2 miles, after 3.5 mile runs on Thursday and Friday.  Yes, for those paying attention, you are correct, I did not heed my own advice and take at least one day completely off.

I stopped by Fresh & Easy in Newbury Park to pick up some stuff to bring for my overnight stay in Santa Barbara....mmmm...chocolate chunk muffins for breakfast (at 5 a.m. I eat whatever will go down), water, Gatorade, snacks, etc. I also opted to grab a pre-made turkey sandwich, chips, fruit, trail mix and ice tea for the lunchtime drive to Santa Barbara.

Ah yes, eating a 4 course meal in the car reminds me of this humorous video spoof on our hands free cell phone law.

Race number pickup was at Santa Barbara City College.  The expo was not particularly large but everyone was really nice and it was fun to walk around.  I met up with my friend Chaz (congrats on your 3:38 dude!).

View of the Pacific right next to the BacaraI splurged and decided to stay at the fancy schmancy Bacara Resort in Goleta, just 1 1/2 miles from the start of the race.  I spent an extra $100 on this place but my rationale was that I could sleep a little longer and walk to the start of the race. Most people took busses leaving by 5:15 am for the start of the 6:30 am race.  I also thought it would be fun to convince my wife to come with, but she opted not to.

So here I am at this fancy hotel all alone with no place to go. Yeah!!! The cell phone didn't work there, nor did the wireless access! But luckily they had "free" high speed internet access (offset by the $24 they charged me to park the car for one measly day).

One thing I DID do right on Saturday was immediately unpack my stuff and arrange it for Sunday morning.  I untied my shoes, I attached the timer chip to the shoes (and tried it on to make sure the chip didn't impede my running), affixed the bib number to my race shirt, laid out my shorts, socks, additional layers and cap. Then I laid out my race bag (used to transport items to the finish line), 2 bandaids (to cover up the nipplage), petroleum jelly (to slather on my toes, heel and chafe-worth body parts), room key and watch.

What to do for dinner?  I started getting hungry at 5 pm and opted to venture out into Goleta. A few miles down the road I found civilization...including a completely packed Costco store (there was a long line at the food stands outside too!).

Most people try to carb up the night before a marathon by eating pasta.  But I wasn't in a pasta mood.  So naturally I, uh, stopped by the Baja Fresh adjacent to Costco and ordered quesadilla with chicken and an order of rice.  Probably not the best choice the night before a marathon.  In fact, in hindsight it was a pretty lame choice as I rarely eat that much cheese at one sitting.

So as I notice as I get in the car that stomach is gurgling and the seat belt feels tighter.  Yes, cheese quesadilla w/chicken probably not the wisest choice for final pre-race meal. But heck, it tasted good!

I spent the rest of the night sending mostly obnoxious (as usual) tweets from my http://twitter.com/ConejoJoe Twitter page and caught many episodes of that great MSNBC documentary "Lockup."

Time passed by and I before I know it my wife is sending me emails telling me what an idiot I am for staying up so late the night before a marathon.  OK, she was right.  So at 11 pm I went to bed.  But not until I had a chocolate chunk muffin for dessert.

YA KNOW, THIS POST IS GETTING KINDA LONG. I SHALL CONTINUE IN THE NEXT POST!

The Day Before a Marathon is the Time to Relax and Reflect

Today is Saturday and tomorrow is the Inaugural Santa Barbara Marathon.  My goal for this marathon is to finish this marathon with a smile on my face.

Today I'll drive up to Santa Barbara, visit the race expo to pick up my bib number and check out the cool running stuff for sale by vendors, check into my hotel and basically vedge out.

It is 9 am right now and before I make the drive, I will run a mile or two, but that's about it.  I didn't practice my own advice and ran about 3.5 miles each of the last few days, but I ran slowly.  I have a hard time taking an entire day off from running solely for the purpose of resting.  Call it obsessive-compulsive, but I prefer to save up my rest days for injuries and illnesses.

Last time I ran a competitive marathon was just over 5 years ago, when I ran a 2:48 at the age of 40.  I trained 70 to 80 miles per week for that marathon and it paid off.

Since then, my life has been a blur.  While I never stopped running, I did stop serious training as my family grew in size and simply put, I got too busy and tired to train hard.  I did run the L.A. Marathon as a "training run" in 2005 and I believe that is my last full marathon until, hopefully, tomorrow!

I've been training for this marathon since late April. Early on I set a goal of peaking at 60 to 70 miles per week in September/October, but I never managed to get over 60.  In fact, my mileage was way down in these critical pre-marathon months due to swine flu, back spasms and other lame excuses.

So while I'd love to run even just a sub 3 hour marathon, I know from past experience (25 marathons) that I CANNOT FOOL MY BODY in the marathon.  The marathon distance is unforgiving.  I haven't been training at a 6:52 pace, which is the pace required to break 3 hours.  If I go out at that pace from the start, no doubt I'll be hurting big time at mile 20.

My goal is to ignore my pace, my watch and other runners.  The marathon is a highly individual sport. We all have our own goals. I know there will be other 45 year old runners there who I should beat handily if my training had been stronger, but they will be ahead of me tomorrow if they've done their homework!

And that's o.k. with me because I've aligned my expectations with the reality of my training. I ain't gonna run a 2:45 marathon tomorrow.  My expectation is to run something under 3 1/2 hours, which is still good (heck, that time will get me into the Boston Marathon).

All that said, maybe, just maybe, I'll get lucky, feel amazing good at the 20 mile mark, pick up the pace a bit, start passing runners who went out too hard, and finish in under 3 hours.

Ya just never know.