Back on Antibiotics 9 Days Pre-Marathon

Thought I had my bronchitis, sinus infection, et al beat. But still battling.

It was October 10th when I first felt the soreness in the throat, leading to coughing, sneezing, chest congestion, etc.  My usual course of action with sickness like this is to run right through them.

After 12 days my symptoms got worse, so I visited the doctor, who told me I had bronchitis, sinus infection and conjunctivitis to boot. So October 22nd saw me starting my 7 day Cipro treatment.

Even though the warnings on the label said Cipro users stood a chance of tendon rupture, I decided I needed to get one last long run in a few days into treatment. So I did a nice, slow 19 miler on October 24th. Felt like I was starting to get back to normal that week.

Fast forward to Thursday, November 4th, 10 days before the Malibu Marathon. Sinus pressure, still coughing, etc. I felt like I was getting sick again. The doc made room for me on Friday, I told him my marathon was just 9 days away, and he prescribed me another antibiotic, Azithromycin.

To boot, Friday morning, I woke up with pink eye again. WHAT'S GOING ON WITH ME!!??

The good thing is that this is just a 5 day treatment. The bad thing is it is starting to give me the "heartburn" feeling I tend to get from these types of antibiotics. But with just 3 more days of treatment, that should give me 4 days to recover prior to the marathon next Sunday.

Today I ran 42 minutes and felt like crapola. I've heard antibiotics dehydrate you. Not sure, but I certainly had a tough time finishing 6 miles, let along 26 miles.

Tonight I'm pondering what I'll do tomorrow. Normally one week prior to a marathon I might try to do 7 to 10 miles at marathon pace. That is my goal, but I won't push it too hard. My training at this point can hurt me more than it can help.

So for me at this point, I'm hoping my body magically recovers, feels good and I can have a fun (not competitive) marathon next Sunday. May not be in the cards, but I'm hoping for the best...

P.S. It is now Sunday morning. I got up at 6:20 a.m. (felt like 7:20 a.m. due to the time change) and ran 9.5 miles in 70 minutes. Felt o.k. Energy level was a little higher than yesterday and it was cooler outside, which helped. Nice final training run for the marathon next Sunday.

Betting on Long Runs to Power Me Through the Marathon

I started training for the Singapore Marathon at the beginning of June, then changed my plans 7 weeks ago to run the slightly more local Malibu Marathon on November 14th.

This blog has not dwelled too much on my daily/weekly mileage over the last 22 weeks, but I do track it. I measure weekly mileage starting on Sunday through the following Saturday. Here it is for those of you who like numbers:

5/30-6/5: 43 total miles, 10 mile longest run

6/6-6/12: 42 total miles, 8 mile longest run

6/13-6/19: 25 total miles, 6 mile longest run (back problems took me out this week)

6/20-6/26: 50 total miles, 10 mile longest run (came back and ran a 17:27 5K)

6/27-7/3: 34 total miles, 6 mile longest run (this week the stomach flu laid me up a bit)

7/4-7/10: 46 total miles, 7 mile longest run

7/11-7/17: 34 total miles, 13 mile longest run (2 full days of travel cut into my training)

7/18-7/24: 60 total miles, 15 mile longest run

7/25-7/31: 40 total miles, 6 mile longest run

8/1-8/7: 57 total miles, 17.5 mile longest run

8/8-8/14: 54 total miles, 17 mile longest run

8/15-8/21: 57 total miles, 19 mile longest run

8/21-8/28: 57 total miles, 22 mile longest run

8/29-9/4: 41 total miles, 8 mile longest run

9/5-9/11: 44 total miles, 10 mile longest run

9/12-9/18: 60 total miles, 22 mile longest run

9/19-9/25: 43 total miles, 7 mile longest run (ran 17:30 5K)

9/26-10/2: 53 total miles, 22 mile longest run

10/3-10/9: 45 total miles, 9 mile longest run

10/10-10/16: 42 total miles, 19 mile longest run

10/17-10/23: 21 total miles, 5 mile longest run (sick with a cold, bronchitis, sinus infection)

10/24-10/30: 45 total miles, 19 mile longest run (still recovering, ran 19 on antibiotics)

10/31-11/6: TBD total miles, 13.5 mile long run on Halloween (still recovering...)

Average weekly mileage 45. At my marathoning peak 15 years ago I was running upwards of 80 to 90 miles per week. I've aged quite a bit since then and stay up too late and don't sleep enough...so I'm happy all things considered to average 45.

More importantly though, while I'm not fooling myself into thinking I'll be running a sub 2:40 marathon like the good ole days, I am very pleased to have run 18+ miles 7 times (I'm rounding up the 17.5) in preparation for this marathon. As long as I "hold my horses" and not take off running Malibu like a 10K race, I should be able to do around 3 hours for the marathon.

That said, the Malibu course has a 200 foot climb over 4th quartile of the course (miles 18 to 24) which may present some challenges. Not exactly a "fast" course it would appear. The good thing for me is the course I ran my long runs on had some hills.

13 more days until the marathon...time to start easing up and resting....

Sunday's Long Run: Powered by Cipro

After nearly two weeks of sore throats, blowing, sneezing, massive chest congestion and to top that off, conjunctivitis (pink eye), last Friday I decided a trip to the doctor was in order.

I pretty much always "run through" colds. I feel that it helps me both physically and mentally and that it helps move some of the "stuff" through my system.  Usually the cold goes away in a few days. This one I thought went away on October 14th. But on the 15th, I found out otherwise.

The biggest wild card in my training over the last 5 years has been injuries and illnesses. I blame my kids for both, but I still love them! Comes with the territory. It wasn't my 5 year old's fault that some other kid in his preschool class came to school with pink eye!

So two weeks of misery and I'm off to the doctor on the 22nd, figuring he'd give me a 5 day Z-Pack antibiotic to beat this thing. He looked and listened and told me I had bronchitis and a sinus infection. Ycchh! My head WAS hurting. So he put me on 1000 mg of Ciprofloxacin a day for 7 days.

My fear with antibiotics based on previous experience is that they tear up my gut and give me heartburn. And that does bad things for my training, which already went down the tubes for weeks 5 and 4 prior to my marathon.

In the meantime, I spoke with my friend Dave, who said for me to get a "decent" performance at the Malibu Marathon on November 14th, I really needed 1 more long run, since my last one was 2 weeks ago. I'm thinking the chances of that were quite slim given how I felt. But between that discussion and my catching this awesome Will Smith motivational video on Saturday, I was determined to run 18 to 20 miles on Sunday come hell or high water.

My body was dragging and I got to bed too late on Saturday night, so I didn't wake up until 8 am on Sunday. But I reminded myself, you're on drugs getting over bronchitis, dude. Don't kill yourself.

So by 8:20 am I was out the door. I didn't take my morning Cipro. Jeez, I was reading the label and it said it could cause inflammation and tearing of a tendon...doh!!...and here I am running 2 1/2 hours. Ughh. Coughing and spitting every 20 yards or so, I left my mark on Newbury Park. At least it would allow me to retrace my steps should I get lost.  In fact, the coughing got so bad at times, I thought I was going to lose a lung.

But after awhile, things settled down. I didn't concern myself with pace and told myself I would just slog this out. I drank fluids and took in my "GU" packs and steadily moved along. By 11 am I had run a loop around Newbury Park, later determining my run was about 19 miles in 2 hours, 40 minutes. That was about an 8:25 average pace, as slow as I've ever run, but I DID IT! I celebrated at the pumpkin patch later that day with my kids.

So it is now Wednesday night, October 27th. I have one day of Cipro left. Still coughing but not nearly as much. Seems like everyone I meet these days has this same cough.

With 2 1/2 weeks left, all I can do is stay fit, maybe do 12 to 15 this weekend, then ride in the taper to marathon day.

And stay healthy!

No Long Run, No Race and No Running!

That was my weekend. After weeks of decent training and long runs, my plan was to run a 5K in Westlake Village yesterday. Didn't happen.

Has been a week since the cold that knocked me out and about 5 days since I thought I had it completely beat, but doggone it...I still have the congestion in my chest.

The congestion in and of itself seems to remedy itself after moving around a bit and loosening it up. But my body has been telling me...SLEEP...PLEASE SLeeppp....ZZzzzz. I've been having a hard time waking up before 7 a.m. And the feeling continues.

But...I was DETERMINED to run the 5K yesterday, even knowing I was low on energy. But then came hurdle #2...the wife...

My wife has been laid up with a cold and/or sinus infection for the last 4 or 5 days, and she laid down the law with me yesterday. YOU ARE WATCHING THE KIDS!

The kids weren't getting up for a 5K and my body wasn't cooperating anyway, so other than a visit to IHOP, I didn't do much of anything on that rainy, dreary Sunday.

But then towards 6 p.m. I thought I might be able to sneak out to do a run. Within minutes, instead of running, I was driving off to local pediatric Urgent Care because both of my little ones came down with a combination of pink eye, cold/sinus infection and ear infection.

We closed down urgent care at 8:15 p.m., brought home our stash of eyedrops and antibiotics and that was the end of my weekend.

Not a good weekend. Still not feeling up to snuff. But I'm alive and hoping that this forced rest helps me in 4 weeks as I run the Malibu Marathon. What I'm really hoping is that I can run one last 18 to 20 miler next Sunday.

The Yin and Yang of Sunday's Long Run

Probably wasn't a great idea to do a long run this past Sunday morning. My right hip flexor (where the leg meets the groin) had been sore for a week. But I still ran an hour on Saturday morning.  Got home and took kid to soccer game. Meanwhile we had a birthday party at the house most of the afternoon. Mom flew into town Friday night and that kept me busy. Kids were amped up on sugar Saturday night.

I was moving around on my feet from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, the day before my planned 20 miler. And it was hot this weekend. But I was determined to get my long run in.

Plan was to leave at 6 a.m. and finish around 8:20 a.m. to beat the heat on Sunday. Problem though...my body was so worn out from Saturday that I slept through the alarm and didn't get out the door until 7 a.m.

So in any case, I managed to run through my tiredness and "deal" with the hip flexor issue to slog through just under 19 miles in 2 hours, 17 minutes. It was not one of my prettier runs and was not one my most enjoyable runs. But I did it.

About 15 miles into the run, I felt on irritation in my throat, which I though was a particle or something. It didn't go away when I got home, and then I started sneezing. so after my mediocre run I'm treated to what I thought were allergies the rest of the day. It was warm and slightly windy out and it certainly felt like an allergic reaction.

Well the next day...BAM...here comes the sneezing and runny nose. Yes, my first cold of the Fall. But I still ran 5 miles that morning to clear out my head. That night, though I don't like doing this, I took a Nyquil that knocked me out and dried me up. The next morning and day I was a zombie, parched mouth and lips, no energy, felt like I hit a brick wall.  But I still managed to run a SLOW 1.5 miles in the morning, once again, to "clear my head."

By Wednesday I felt about 60% and today, Thursday, I'm back to 90%. I still get the chest congestion but my morning runs help me unclog that with some massive coughing attacks.

And I visited the chiropractor today to work on my hip joint. I think I made some progress in attacking my hip flexor issue. Crossing my fingers...

So while I'm quite happy to have completed this long run, one of my final ones prior to the Malibu Marathon on November 14th, this was not one of my better weeks!

So why the Chicago Marathon medal you ask!? I was reminded of the Chicago Marathon this weekend because it was a spectacular finish in nearly 80 degree heat. Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru won his 2nd Chicago Marathon in a row in a time of 2:06:24...pedestrian compared to Haile Gebrselassie's 2:03:59 2 years ago in Berlin. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2:42:47 exactly 15 years ago. That was my 5th marathon and a PR at the time (even with a 1 1/2 minute mid-race "pit stop).

Sometimes Races Don't Go As Planned

So this past Sunday my plan was the run the Camarillo Half Marathon as a training run. A way to gauge my speed over a longer distance than 5K/10K. With the Malibu Half Marathon only 6 weeks away, this would be a great, local opportunity to kick up the training a notch.

But sometimes things don't go quite as planned.

I paid $65 to enter this race, a significant amount of money for a local training run. Would have been a lot cheaper to just go out and do a hard "tempo" run locally, but that's no fun.

My body was not quite ready to do a full bore half marathon on Sunday. The week prior I ran a solid 21 miles and 2 week prior I ran a decent 5K. But last week was HOT, which made me tired, cranky and dehydrated. My training was mediocre at best.

So come Saturday, I decided to run an hour, not hard or anything. If I was really planning to do an "all out" half marathon the next day, I would not have run more than 30 minutes the day prior.

In any case, what I noticed is that my right hip flexor (where the upper inner leg meets the groin area) was sore.  I believe my body was still in recovery mode from the prior 2 weekend's runs.  I crossed my fingers and hoped my body would magically feel better Sunday morning.

I woke up. Felt pretty much the same. But I had to go and make the most of my $65.

Long story short. I actually ran pretty well for the first 30 minutes of the race. I was in 6th place overall, behind 5 much younger stallions than this old geezer, when 5th place stopped and turned around. We had shared some doubts about the course (e.g. did we make a wrong turn) magnified by a lack of mile markers. He stopped and asked someone, they apparently didn't know, and he turned around. I, the sheep that I am, followed him, soon realizing we had indeed been going the right away.

At that point, my hammies felt like rocks. My right hip flexor was tight. I slowed down considerably as we both ran back to the start. Not wanting to be confused with the finishers, I tore off my number and called it a day. My body needed a little break.

It is now Tuesday night. While I didn't actually take a day off, I ran light the past few days and am feeling better. Next stop...a 20 to 22 miler this Sunday, followed by a 5K next weekend.

My good friend, 57 year old Dave Louks, was the top masters runner in the Camarillo Marathon. This workhorse ran a 2:58, good for 5th place overall out of 235 finishers. The VC Star contacted me to ask about the race. Apparently there were some issues (that I wasn't aware of given I didn't do the whole course). So I had them talk to Dave and...wallah...he is prominently featured in this article that, unfortunately, highlights some major shortcomings of this inaugural race.  I do hope they can work out the kinks and come back next year.

Summer Ended and Autumn Began, but No One Told the Weatherman

The coolest summer I've ever recalled ended last Wednesday and Autumn began on the 23rd. Two days later, we're into not only the hottest weather of the year, but all-time record temperatures on Monday, the 27th (it reached 113 degrees in Downtown Los Angeles before the thermometer apparently broke).

Sandwiched in there, my plans were to do a 20+ miler on Sunday, come hell or high water. And I did. It wasn't pretty though.

My previous 22 milers went without a hitch. Nice and steady, mostly road runs in overcast conditions.

Sunday's run was different. I knew we were in for high temps, so I opted to run to PCH from Newbury Park down Sycamore Canyon. My first foray down there for about 3 months. The most brutal aspect of this run is coming back up the 800 foot ascent from the canyon.

With the help of an alarm, I was out the door at 6 a.m. It was still dark out and thankfully not hot yet. In fact, it was on the cool side. Better yet, it stayed cool pretty much the entire journey down to PCH, where I ran through the campground at Sycamore Canyon.

At PCH I headed west and ran until I reached the entrance of Thornehill Broome Beach, where you see all the RVs lined up enjoying the ocean. From there I turned around and successfully navigated my way back up the canyon, where it continued to stay cool until I reached the steep ascent. From there it was a slow journey in about 80 degree 8:30 a.m. heat. Total distance covered was 21 miles.

I was sore the next day but in a "good" way. Looking forward now to this coming Sunday, where I will get a reprieve from the 20 miler and try my luck at the Camarillo Half Marathon. My goal there is to run about a 1 hour, 20 minute race, which is about 6:06 per mile. That might be a stretch but if I can do that, I'll be comfortable with a 2:50 to 2:55 marathon target.

One rookie move came on Saturday...in my haste to eat on Saturday, I downed a can of Chunky Beef Chili. Mistake. Did not sit well with me on Sunday. I survived. But...note to self...keep the food simple the day before a long run or race.

Tune Up For the Marathon by Alternating Long Runs with Races

In my last post I highlighted my training plans leading up to the Malibu Marathon in mid-November. After nailing a couple decent 22 milers, a couple 17s and a 19, I felt I had developed plenty of endurance for the marathon. Now what I need to do is stay healthy and starting tuning up my speed for the distance.

Since I don't have the time or desire to do speedwork on the track (admittedly this would be good for me to do, but I know my body and schedule and don't feel I can commit myself to doing this weekly), the next best thing is to find some local races.

My goal in these races is not necessarily to go all out and go as fast as I possibly can. To do that would mean I would have to lay off the training for a day or two before each race. And I don't want to do that in the middle of training for a marathon.  The goal is to use the race as speedwork, test how my body feels running faster than I normally run and get used to running in a race.

I would prefer to run 10Ks and half marathons every other weekend, alternating long runs on non-race weekends. But life does get in the way...kids' soccer games, birthday parties, etc. So I did find a 5K race this past Sunday, a half marathon in another week, then another 5K in 3 weeks.

My 5K on Sunday went slightly better than expected. My goal was to run anything under 18 minutes. I ran 17:34 and won the race outright, which was a lot of fun! For my efforts I won a $40 gift card at a local restaurant. Not a bad return on investment!

My favorite book on marathon training, Hal Higdon's "Marathon: The Ultimate Training and Racing Guide," has a performance prediction table that indicates a 17:34 5K equates to a possible 2:49:22 marathon time if you do the proper marathon training and a fast course, good weather and a rested runner.

So it looks like I'm on the right track with my training and am crossing my fingers the weather continues to be courteous. (Unfortunately, forecasts for this weekend indicate Santa Ana winds and major heat...gulp!).

22 Miler Today - Training for the Malibu Marathon in 9 Weeks

Today I nailed another 22 miler in 2 hours and 45 minutes. It was easily my best long run of the year as it consumed very little effort on my part. The long distance training is starting to pay off.

Last week after my little 1 mile fun downhill race on Saturday, I was unable to muster up much energy the next day for a long run. Good enough. I had run a 22 miler the week before.

Yesterday I wasn't terribly thrilled at the prospect of waking up early for a long run, but the weather was my savior. Without an alarm, I got up at 6:30 a.m. and was out the door 15 minutes later under early morning cloud cover that stuck with my for about 80% of my run. It was a nice, cool morning run that I was able to really enjoy.

My marathon training started 3 months ago when I committed to run the Singapore Marathon in early December. But my friend may or may not run the marathon now due to work demands, so I used that as a cue to bail out (thus saving me about $3,000 in travel expense!) and find a more local race.

My local options are the Santa Barbara Marathon that I ran last year, the inaugural Camarillo Marathon next month or the Malibu Marathon on November 14th. I opted to try something new, leaving Santa Barbara out of the running. Camarillo sounds like a nice flat course but is too soon for me. So I'm doing Malibu!

The Malibu Marathon starts at the Camarillo Airport and heads down past Naval Base Ventura County to PCH, where it runs some hills along the ocean to Zuma. It does not appear to be a particularly fast course and there appears to be about a 200 foot climb from mile 18 to 24, but its all downhill after that. I'm not looking to do a personal best...my goal is to just go under 3 hours and have some fun.

Malibu International Marathon Elevation Chart

So now that I have a new marathon in the works that is only 9 weeks away, I've got about 6 more weeks of training left before a 3 week taper. Working within the bounds of my son's Saturday soccer games, birthday parties and other activities, I used the CVG listing of running events to map out a schedule that intertwines long runs with races.

So my current weekend long run and race schedule is:

Sept 19th: 5K Race in Camarillo - To start developing some speed; a 10K would have been better but a local one wasn't available.

Sept 26th: Long run (20+)

Oct 3rd - Camarillo Half Marathon - Goal is to run at a pace that translates into a 2:58 or better marathon. My rule of thumb is that a half marathon times 2.1 = projected marathon time. For me this means I'll target running the half in less than 1 hour, 25 minutes (2:58 = 178 minutes, divided by 2.1 = 85 minutes).

Oct 10th - Long run (20+)

Oct 17th - 5K Race in Westlake Village - Again, would be nice to do a 10K but I want to stay local.

Oct 24th - This is only 3 week pre-marathon, which is getting pretty close. I'll probably run 16 but I'll see how I feel.  Doing a 22 miler today in my opinion and experience WILL NOT help my marathon performance at this point but some may disagree.

Oct 31st - Not aware of any local races this weekend so I will probably opt to do 10 to 12 miles at marathon pace.

Nov 7th - We're gaining an hour of sleep this day (YAY, my favorite day of the year!) and I'll do at most 8 miles. Nothing too strenuous.

Nov 14th - Malibu Marathon

One Week Break From the Long Run

Since last writing in mid-August, I ran 2 consecutively longer training runs leading up to Labor Day weekend. 19 miles on August 21st and 22 miles on August 28th. I felt fine after both endurance building runs. My weight has been steadily dropping too, down to 141 lbs from about 146 lbs when I started training in earnest exactly 3 months ago.

I've also decided not to run the Singapore Marathon in early December due to logistical and financial reasons. Just isn't quite worth it spending $3,000 to run a marathon on the other side of the world at this point. So now I'm looking at several local marathons. Mind isn't made up yet but I better choose one soon.

Yesterday I took a different path and ran The Oaks Mile, an inaugural 1 mile race down Moorpark Road in Thousand Oaks. It was a fun diversion but I'm not exactly sure it was the best move for me. On the plus side, it gave me a chance to test my speed. I ran a 5:15 mile, about 15 seconds slower than what I'd be happy with, but not a surprise given my lack of any speed training (heck I haven't really done any track work for over 10 years) and 1 week off a 22 miler.

But after the race a familiar, nagging little soreness reappeared in my left knee. Not so bad that I can't run or walk, but something that I better take care of with ice and Advil.

So today I intended to go long again, but 45 minutes into the run realized the 1 mile race made my legs stiff and slightly sore. I bumped into some friends halfway down Sycamore Canyon and ran back up with them. Time for a nap!