Offline for Another Month With a Follow-Up Eye Surgery

Well due to complications resulting from my retinal detachment surgery last Fall, I'm back in the surgery seat tomorrow. Yes, quite depressing. Just when my training was starting to feel good, I'll be away from running for about a month, starting tomorrow.

But the good news is that with all this rest, and hopefully an eye that has regained some of the vision lost due to macular/retinal issues, I'll be back at it with renewed energy. With rest "forced" upon me, my body will go into hibernation mode I suppose.

Yes, I'm still signed up for the Boston Marathon on April 16th but with a month of quality training time removed from my schedule at the peak of my training, I will likely be bailing out from the race :<

There's always next year...

2012 Marathon Trials Winner Meb Keflezighi is Motivational For a Number of Reasons

Before I get to that, a brief update on me. Boston Marathon is less than 3 months away and until I hear about my "next steps" for my lousy 20/70 vision in my right eye. If I hear that surgery is viable to correct the vision, that will sidetrack my training. In the meantime, last Saturday I was able to comfortable boost my long run to 12.5 miles in 1 hour, 35 minutes. If the rain is pouring too hard tomorrow morning, I'm hoping to run another 15 minutes longer.

So last Saturday was the 2012 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, where, the top runners around the country who met qualifying time standard competed for 3 slots to the Olympics. The men's "A" standard (and thus receives funding support to the trials) was a 2:19 marathon, 1:05 half marathon or 28:30 10,000 meters on the track. The women's "A" standard was a 2:39 marathon or a "B" standard of 2:46 full, 1:15 half or 33:00 10,000 meters. I'm happy to say that back in the day I met all the women's standards...though unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on how you look at it) I'm not a woman.

So in a nutshell, naturalized U.S. citizen Meb Keflezighi, won the Men's Olympic Trials in a personal best time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 8 seconds, with favorite Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman rounding out the top 3. Notably, the top 2 are both California residents (Mammoth Lakes).

At age 36, he's the oldest winner of the Marathon Olympic Trials after an injury slowed him down at the 2008 trials. In 2004 Meb won the silver medal in the Olympics, the first U.S. male medal winner in the marathon since Frank Shorter in the 1970s.

Perhaps though, this is what inspired and impressed me the most with his recent performance. Only 68 days prior to Saturday, Meb finished 6th place in the New York City Marathon. But he did something really lame that day. Something I can relate to. He accidently ran with a Breath Right nasal strip in his left shoe. And it messed up the ball of his foot so badly that he got an infection. As a result, he had to take extra time off to heal.

Yes, this world class runner made a rookie mistake that I can relate to! Like the day I stupidly ran 45 minutes in "barefoot" running shoes in my first attempt. Even the best of the best make boo boos. This is really motivating! We're all human and we all make mistakes! But we move on!

Congratulations all trials winners! The women's top 3 that are going to the Olympics are Shalane Flanagan (2:25:38), Desiree Davila (2:25:55) and Kara Goucher (2:26:06). Agoura High alumnus and 2004 Olympic bronze medalist and U.S. marathon record holder (2:19:36) Deena Kastor finished 6th in 2:30:40. Not bad for a 38 year old who became a mother just 10 months ago!!

Time, Training and Tenaciousness Tames the Training Tiger

This past Saturday I ran a hilly 11 miles and change in 1 hour, 24 minutes. This was my longest run since my first detached retina surgery on September 15th. A comeback milestone while I decide if I will run the Boston Marathon in April.

What was most satisfying about this run is that it felt effortless. The weather was agreeable as I stepped out the door around 8 a.m. Not particularly prepared for a longish run, I had a few glasses off sweet tea and brought no liquid with me. But I was perfectly fine.

Dogged by tight hamstrings since and sluggishness since getting back into running 2 month ago, as has been the case in previous layoffs, suddenly, out of the blue, my body kicked back into gear. No explanation, no rhyme or reason.

But maybe there are some reasons for this. Perhaps it is my knowledge and experience from nearly 19 years of running that it was only a matter of time. The passage of time, the consistency of my training and the tenaciousness in my mind that I would keep the faith in my comeback.

As with anything in life, success is not easy to achieve. It takes effort.

In any case, the next day, Sunday (yesterday), was the 2nd Annual Camarillo Marathon. The first running of the event on October 3, 2010 was dogged with problems, including a lack of fluids and port-a-johns on the course. The 2nd annual event was originally planned for last October but scheduling issues ensued. The marathon race results this year showed 96 finishers; about a 40% drop from the prior year. That didn't stop 27 year old Peter Ellis of Issaquah, Washington from blowing away the field in 2 hours, 45 minutes, a full half an hour before the next finisher.

Next year's Camarillo Marathon is planned for January 6, 2013. Something to consider, if you like flat, low key marathons.

Predicting Your Anticipated Marathon Time Based on Other Races

Have been running regularly through the holidays, though nothing too long, speedy or intense. Generally 30 to 45 minutes per day. Would love to kick it up a few notches but the holidays and year-end crazyness make that a challenge.

After a visit to the eye doctor the other week, my spring marathon plans may be a bit up in the air. Since the vision in the right eye is terrible and not correctable with lenses, I will be doing another eye surgery next year, quite possible in the January/February time frame. If I can get my running mojo back and ramp up to 20 milers by late January, it's possible to run a decent marathon.

Speaking of marathoning, a topic of interest to most marathoners is how to predict your marathon time based on your times in other distances. Over the years I've used rules of thumb to predict my time, such as multiplying my 10K time by 4.7 and multiplying my half marathon time by 2.1. The resulting total is my predicted marathon time, assuming I've done sufficient long distance training.

To use these formulas, you have to convert from hour/minute format to total minutes in decimal format, then after doing the calculation convert the resulting number back into hours/minutes.

For example: If I've recently run a 38 minute, 25 second 10K, to predict my marathon time, first I convert the 38:25 into decimal format. To convert 25 seconds into minutes, divide it by 60 seconds and the result is .42. Then add .42 back to 38 and you get 38.42. Multiply 38.42 by 4.7 and your marathon time is 180.57 minutes.  Now time to convert .57 back into seconds by multiplying by 60. That equals 34 seconds. Add that back to 180 and you're running a 180 minute (3 hour), 34 second marathon.

OK, that's a bit technical, so I have a better solution. Visit www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/site/calculator and try the great running calculator that calculates all sorts of projected race times based on a range of actual times. Typing in a 38:25 10K into this calculator generates a predicted marathon time of 3 hours, 17 seconds.  Pretty darn close to the rule of thumb.

Check it out! It's simple, quick and great!

Ran 14 Miles This Weekend...Most I've Run in 4 Months

Perfect weekend to run...temperatures in the 60s, no wind, no rain. So I ran. Not too hard, but I got out there. Six and a half miles on Saturday, 8 miles today. My hamstrings are tight and my rump is sore, but I"m surviving.

I looked back and this is the most I've run in one weekend since the weekend of September 10-11, the weekend prior to my detached retina surgery.

Something I'm learning more and more with age is that my body needs more time to recuperate from runs. When I was younger, I could force the issue and run hard day in , day out. Not so these days. Old habits are hard to break though...

Running a Local Turkey Trot While Still Feeling Sub-Par

Seems that as I age, I'm "off" more days than I'm on. After my 45 day hiatus I started back up with running. Then all of 18 days later I'm back with what's become my standard early winter cold.

I'm always wondering what I can possibly due to eliminate this issue of catching colds when those around me are sick. Sometimes it just feels impossible. A co-worker had been sick for several weeks and while I steered pretty clear of her, her office is next to mine and many of the documents she touches come to me. So while I diligently washed my hands as much as I could, there was only so much I could do.

Then of course my wife was sick for several weeks. Hard to stay away from her :>

November 14th was my opthamologist visit to check out the eye with the no-longer-detached-retina. The first words out of his mouth as I sat face to face, just a foot away from him, was "I just got over a cold that knocked me out all weekend." CRAP I'm thinking. There's absolutely no way out of this situation. He's literally touching my eye and placing drops in it and I'm thinking, I'm screwed. Sure enough 3 days later the storm in my sinuses and throat came.

T-shirts like this never get worn by yours truly. This color just doesn' do it for me.In any case, the cold made it (as usual) into my lungs and I'm coughing up stuff in large chunks in shapes like Maine, New York and Massachusetts every morning and my chest hurts from all the hacking. And a week later was Thanksgiving and we had no out of town plans, so I figure, why not go run the local Turkey Trot at The Oaks mall.

The race got off to a nasty start for me. With only 20/70 vision in my right eye (more on this situation in a future post), my depth perception is in bad shape and I didn't see the bump in the road 10 steps into the race serves as a walkway towards the mall. After nearly falling flat on my face, both hamstrings immediately were sore. It was bizarre, like they decided to go on strike. They weren't sore before that. All I could think of is that my body simply was telling me it wasn't ready to be speedy again, 25 days into running again and 11 days since my first 5K since coming back.

But this was a "fun run" for me and I kept on running. While running isn't so fun for me when my hams are sore and my chest is full of yucky stuff, I continued onwards to at least break under 20 minutes, several minutes slower than my "typical" 5K time. But hey, I'm still glad I did it.

Tonight, December 1st, I'm still coughing to some degree and have a little bit of stuff left in my chest, but I feel good enough to have my first glass of red wine for about 3 weeks. Yay!

I see Conejo Valley Guide on the back of this shirt. :>

Feeling Under the Weather While Running in Wet Weather

With my wife battling a cold for the last 10 days and a co-worker bring a cold to the office, I kept a positive mental attitude, proactively loaded up on vitamin C and washed my hands all the time to steer clear of catching something myself.

It was a galiant effort. But it got me. Finally. Dammit.

While I did my best to heed off the cold, probably what did me in was insufficient sleep. Hey, I like writing and sharing information, but it does keep me up later than what my bedtime should be.

But I continue to do my best, running through a head cold. Helps me clear out my system. But yesterday it was pouring rain most of the day and I didn't stay out too long.

This brings me to running ware in the rain. It is so infrequent that I run in the rain that, while I know what I should be doing, I usually am not prepared to do it. I wore 2 layers of cotton and it was raining on me. Within 15 minutes the shirts were soaked. Not a good thing as those wet, heavy shirts can do quite a bit of chafing on the chest. Luckily, I didn't run long and I escaped the dreaded shredded nips.

Layering is good. In the colder winter months I layer my tops and often take the outer layer off during the run. But in the rain, the outer layer should repel the water. If you anticipate taking off the outer layer, the inner layer should too. A "technical" shirt made out of non-manmade materials is the way to go. If you are running in strong rain, placing protection, like a bandaid, over the nips, is not a bad idea.

I survived that run. This morning I woke up and it felt like a bus hit me. My sinuses are clogged. But I got out there anyway for 35 minutes. Felt terrible most of the run.

Ah yes, the joys of winter running when sick. The toils of a marathoner.

Coming Full Circle in the 5K - What 45 Days Off Does to Your Aerobic Capacity

So on Halloween I was given clearance to start aerobic activity again after a 45 day hiatus due to multiple eye surgeries. 45 days off from running is by far the longest I haven't run since the beginning of my running endeavors in 1993.

While it sure felt great to get out there again, I knew regaining my aerobic conditioning would not be easy.

As mentioned in previous blog posts, I was signed up to run the Malibu Marathon that took place yesterday, but obviously had to bail out due to my eye surgeries. However, I had forgotten that many, many months ago, last March to be exact, I had signed up to run the Calabasas Classic 5K. Yes indeed, I was signed up to do 2 races in 1 day. Kind of lame of me, but hey, I wanted to get the early bird discount way back when.

The Calabasas Classic 5K/10K is one of the biggest local races, with over 2,000 participants in the 2 races (split about 75% 5K and 25% 10K). It is a well orchestrated event and the goodie bag alone, with a nice "technical" shirt and other items, is worth the cost of entry. Not to mention, the medal you see to the right is given to all finishers. What a neat gesture, as people love getting great swag and momentos at local races!

So since I had already paid to run the 5K, I decided, what the heck, it would be fun to actually run the race.

Mind you, I had only been back running for 12 days since my doctor's blessings. Without a day off in those 12 days and Friday/Saturday my legs were pretty darn stiff and non-responsive. While I had felt pretty good the first week back to running, my body was starting to rebel a bit.

So race day, I had very low expectations. I was running to have fun and test myself, not compete. That was certainly the way the race went.

The gun went off at 8 a.m. My legs actually felt o.k., slightly better than the prior 2 days, and my breathing wasn't labored or anything. While I couldn't run "fast" by my standards, I had situated myself in a spot where I was stuck behind slower runners at the start of the race. This allowed me the mental enjoyment of passing dozens and dozens of runners the first mile of the race.

But after the first mile, that was pretty much it. While my legs were moving, I simply was not able to run "fast" (again by my own standards). About a year ago I ran a 17:30 5K in Camarillo without any speed training. Yesterday I had absolutely no gears and ran a 20:11, effectively the slowest 5K I've ever run (my first ever 5K was 19:42). But hey, it got me 45th place overall out of 1,500 participants. Gotta look at the positive side. And 4th in my age group.

NO REGRETS! Given everything I've been through, I was perfectly happy with my time. Heck, that was a 6:31 per mile pace, 11 days and no rest after 2 major eye surgeries and 45 days of zippo running.

Still, I was a little bit exasperated, trying to run down 2 kids, ages 11 and 13 (according to the results) that were directly in front of me. Heck, add them up and double it and I'm still older than them. I'm gonna run down those kids down next time :> (loved seeing those kids doing so well out there).

After the race my chest was so tight and sore I though I might get a stroke or something. But not to worry, my lungs were simply not used to sucking down all that air so quickly. My aerobic capacity had taken a beating and was in shock I think. Within an hour I was back to feeling fine.

The morning after the race most of my lower body was sore, though mainly my shins and hamstrings.

Feels good to get sore again. I'm baaaaccckkkk. Or on my way, at least.

Run local races. It's great motivation for getting aerobically fit.

7 Days Back Into Running and Starting to Feel the Love Again

Last Monday I was cleared to start physical activity again after my 45 day hiatus from running and other physical activities. While my retina detachment is fixed, my vision in the affected eye continues to be terrible, absolutely terrible. But luckily that is offset by the excitement of RUNNING again.

The first week back at running has been a crescendo of positiveness. I was very careful to start out very slowly and not run too far. The first week, last Tuesday (the 1st) through yesterday (the 7th) was fraught with off and on sore shins, hamstrings and calves. I had hoped to run an easy 8 miles with some friends on Sunday morning, but woke up nursing sore shins. Shin splints from time to time have been my nemesis, causing me to drop out of the Tucson Marathon with them years ago.

But this morning I felt different. The air has been cool, we gained an hour of sleep on Sunday as Daylight Saving Time went buh bye and I started feeling like myself again. Just easy, enjoyable running around town. No major pains or aches.

With the Boston Marathon still 5 months away, today made me felt like I've still got my mojo.

In other news, I'm hoping that I can last until age 100 so I have a chance at beating Fauja Singh's 8:11:15 record performance at the Toronto Marathon on October 16th. That equates to 11:59 per mile.

The way I see it is as follows. I can easily run a 7 minute pace marathon at age 47. If I slow down by 5 seconds per mile for the next 53 years, I'll be able to run a 11:25 pace in the marathon at age 100, demolishing Singh's new age group record!

Congratulations to Singh! You are an inspiration!

Back to Running After a 45 Day Hiatus

At my appointment on Halloween this past Monday my treat was hearing from my eye surgeon that I could resume full activity. So after 45 days, it is time to get this old body in gear again.

Not everything is currently a treat. The vision in my right eye is absolutely terrible. Objects are blurry, distorted and I have to get within a few feet of something to read with the eye, but hey, at least I can run.

My butt and hamstrings now hurt. Yes sir, here I am, former 2:35 marathoner, slogging away at a nearly walking pace as my body readjusts to physical activity. Two days of running 3 to 4 miles and I'm sore.

Taking it easy and slow to get back into it. How the heck am I going to run the Boston Marathon in April? I'll get there. The key I think is to keep my expectations low and to not rush the training.

I was invited to run 10 miles with friends this Sunday morning. Not sure yet if I'll do it. I don't think I'll be able to keep up just yet. But today is only Wednesday, so I'll see how I feel on Saturday.

Back at it!