As I tend to do, I've been thinking about races far into the future, that being 2013. After my last marathon I decided I was done with trying to run a marathon too early in the year, i.e. February. Through Twitter I learned of the Vermont City Marathon, which takes place in Burlington, Vermont at the end of May. This marathon sounded great so I decided that I'd run it in 2013. The only problem with it is that it's one week before the Covered Bridges Half Marathon, in Quechee, Vermont, which I've run for that last two years and will run again this year. This event was my first race since embracing running and it's that best course I've run to date, so I've had it in the back of my mind to run it every year. I've also run (and will run) this race for charity each time. Now I'm sure there are plenty of people that can run a half marathon a week after running a full, but as of yet, I'm not one of those people, nor do I ever expect to be. So, this year's CBHM will be my last, at least for awhile. The Vermont City Marathon will also like by my most challenging as all previous marathons I've run (and will run - Toronto Waterfront Marathon) have been (is) relatively flat, Burlington, Vermont is one hilly town.
My fall race for next year will likely be the Baystate Marathon that takes place in Lowell, Massachusetts in October. I think I learned about this race early last year and was surprised I never knew about it. I went to college at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and I live less than an hour from the event and I'd never even heard of it before. When I went to Myrtle Beach to run my first marathon last year, I was shocked at how few of the locals seemed to know about this event, I think it had something like 17,000 runners (marathon and half marathon), I mean it was a lot of people jamming up the streets. The Baystate Marathon is considerably smaller than the Myrtle Beach Marathon, and since I wasn't a runner back in my school days, I guess I really shouldn't be surprised that I never knew about it. It still seems mind boggling that there's not more general knowledge of an event that stops traffic and has several hundred to several thousands of people in the road.
I'm definitely decided on running the Vermont City Marathon next year, and I'm fairly certain about Baystate. The thing about the Baystate Marathon is it's convenient, so there's relatively no coordination required, i.e. travel and hotel arrangements, so it's possible that if another fall event catches my eye between now and then, well, I can always run Baystate in 2014. I've added countdown timers for both events in the left column at the bottom.
I started running seriously about 2.5 years ago, which has essentially been all minimalist running. When I started minimalist, or barefoot, or natural, running, I was hard pressed to find resources about the subject online. Today there's a lot of quality information available about the subject, but with it has come an ever increasing white noise generated by people talking about the subject and passing themselves off as experts. As this noise has gotten louder, I've found I'm just not as interested reading about the subject as I once was. In fact, I can remember the last time I was really excited about a new barefoot running resource.
A couple of days ago my friend Alan T. posted a video title The Principles of Natural Running, by Dr. Mark Cucuzzella on Daily Mile, which is available from Dr. Cucuzzella's website Natural Running Center and is embedded below. After watching this video of Doc Mark running barefoot, I felt like a klutz, this guy is amazing, but more than that, he explains some of the things that have been sussed out by barefoot running guru, Barefoot Ken Bob (BKB) and many others. For example, the 180 steps per minute cadence, this is a principle that BKB discussed well before barefoot running got the attention it currently has. In this video, Doc Mark explains this as being our natural rhythm, one that can be seen repeated in many activities that we do, such as jumping rope. I found this video to be very informative. It reiterated things I've known, reminded me of things I've forgotten, introduced things I didn't know or really understand, and made me aware of several flaws within my own form. This is the first running resource I've been excited about in awhile and I plan on making use of the source website to improve my running, which I believe will result in making me a faster more efficient runner.
Update 2/11/12:
I ran another three miles today and I tried to apply some of the principles discussed in the above video. During both of these runs I've felt as though my lungs were the limiting factor, which I mentioned on Daily Mile for both of these runs. Not knowing what I was talking about, I thought I needed to increase my lung capacity, but, thanks again to Alan T. who pointed me in the right direction, it looks like it's a diaphragm strengthening related issue. During both of these runs I felt a slight pain in my right side under my ribcage, which I just assumed was a cramp, but was actually a stitch, which I found some information about here: http://www.brianmac.co.uk/articles/scni10a1.htm
I wanted to add this bit to this post because I feel it's related to the above. I have a sense of being ready to advance to the next step, one I don't think I was really aware of other than having a desire to reach what I believe is my potential, which in simplistic terms would translate to a faster pace. Until know, however, the way hasn't been clear.
I knew this marathon was going to
be tough, but I have to admit it was tougher than I let myself believe. As it
turned out, this was my slowest marathon to date, although it was not my worse,
that still belongs to the Myrtle Beach Marathon a year ago. The difference
between Hyannis and Myrtle Beach is that I had the benefit of experience this
time around. This time I managed to keep an overall positive attitude. I had
expected to complete this race faster than my time at Myrtle Beach, which turned out to be overly optimistic, but even as things started to fall apart, I managed
to take it in stride.
I started out with a race pace of
10:30 min/mi, and for the first 5 miles I was quite pleased with how well I was
maintaining that pace. After 5 miles however, my pace just continued to slip,
which surprised me as I felt as though I was maintaining a steady pace. When I decided
on a pace of 10:30 min/mi I knew, in the absence of my planned training, even that pace might have been a bit optimistic. The plan had been to adjust my pace as
needed, but it turned out that my pace just continued to slip, 11:00 min/mi,
11:15 min/mi, 11:30 min/mi, 11:45 min/mi, all by itself. Reflecting back, I
don't believe starting at an even slower pace, such as 11:00
min/mi, would have made enough of a difference to carry me through to the
end at a steady pace. The issue wasn't pace, it was a lack of the conditioning
required to successfully run 26.2 miles. Had my error just been running too
fast in the beginning, I don't believe it would have become apparent after
5 miles as it did. I had also started to feel the fatigue set in well
before the halfway point, which I believe is also an indicator of poor
conditioning.
The wind during the marathon was
between 18-20 mph, but other than that, it was a beautiful sunny day. The
weather forecast predicted temperatures in the low 30s (°F) at the beginning of
the race then warming to the upper 30s throughout the day. Dressing for this
race was a bit complicated due to the wind speeds so I made my best guess and
went with warmer, at least for the beginning. The course is a 13.1-mile loop
that those running the full marathon would simply run twice. This halfway point
provided a convenient location for my sister to meet me with some lighter gear
if I felt I needed to dress down. Just after the point where the half
marathoners peeled off, I met my sister as planned and I swapped out my running
jacket for a vest and my skull cap for a visor cap. It wasn’t that I was
burning up by the halfway point, rather it had became obvious that fatigue was setting
in, so I figured at worse, a little cold might help to fend off the fatigue. I
remember feeling a sense of dread at the midway point, I already felt drained
and I had to run the whole loop again. I changed, buckled down, and just told
myself to "get it done." Somewhere around 19 or 20 miles, as my body
was giving out, I reflected on my training leading up to the race and I
realized just how ridiculously unprepared I was for this race. From 20 miles on
it was a constant struggle to keep moving forward, my legs were shot and I
started walking/running, which slowly became more walking than running. The
closer I got to the end, the further away it seemed to get. It must have been
somewhere around 23 miles when I transitioned to mostly walking. I'd walk and
then try to start running again only to get a few steps, I was spent and
everything hurt. I tried to walk as quickly as I could, which I actually think
helped loosen up my legs a bit. After many more false running starts I was
eventually able to get the legs going for the last half mile to the finish
line.
Despite this being
a grueling race for me, I managed to keep my spirits up and cracked jokes
with the race volunteers saying things like, "Am I winning", "Am
I gaining on the leaders", "I'm getting ready to make my move any
minute now", etc. I've only seen a few pictures so far, but I was really
glad to see myself smiling in a lot of them. My sister even commented that she
was surprised to see me in general good spirits at the 26-mile point and at the
finish. I also made it a point to thank the volunteers as I knew they were
hanging tight for us stragglers, and they were great and encouraging all the
way to the end. I actually did have a good time, even while I was in agony. I
found it all to be quite amusing and found myself chuckling quite
often. I even laughed out loud at one point when my legs just refused to run. I
was just not prepared to run this, yet there I was.
This race was very well organized
and the course was not only beautiful, but it was just a great racing course in
general. I know that if my training went the way it was suppose to, I would
have PR'd on this course. What struck me about this event was the stark
contrast between this one and the Smuttynose Marathon at Hampton Beach. I felt
that they were more or less the same size, and just assumed that these smaller
marathons didn't have the same perks found in larger ones, such as at Myrtle
Beach. However, the Hyannis Marathon proved that assumption wrong. First, the
Hyannis Marathon actually had a mini race expo, Smuttynose didn't have anything
like this. Second, all the amenities I had expected to be at
Smuttynose, but weren't, were available at Hyannis, such as a bag-drop, drink
stations where they were suppose to be (cough), post race food was abundant and
available for us stragglers, and the traffic control was excellent.
The course itself was just better
than Smuttynose. A big problem with the Smuttynose course was a severe road
pitch to the right, which is really difficult to run on and resulted in me and
several other people I talked to during and after the race having some IT band
issues. The roads at Hyannis were nearly perfect in regards to pitch, something
I was very happy for. Smuttynose also claimed on their website that they are
the flattest course in New England, but I don't believe they have a right
to that claim. First, my Garmin, as imported into my runkeeper.com, shows an
elevation change of about 1,100 feet at Smuttynose, but only 800 feet at
Hyannis. Second, it just seemed less hilly, and the hills that were on the
course were gentle climbs.
Since this race is in February,
the weather from year to year varies dramatically, which has resulted in the
cancellation of the race in the past, so it's a hit or miss year to year. Nonetheless, I
can definitely recommend this event if you're looking to run a well
organized marathon in the northeast in February.
I have it in my head not to run
another marathon at the end of the winter season. I ran Myrtle Beach last
February, which ended up having temperatures in the 70s on race day, which
doesn't really workout when you train in temperatures below 40°F. This time
around I just couldn't seem to avoid injuries, which I think, in part, had to
do with the colder temperatures. Here in New England, daylight is limited, which I've found just makes training that much more
difficult. Oh, and lets not forget about snow, which increases road hazards
and/or sticks you on a treadmill for most of the season.
When my calf got injured for the
third time, I debated whether or not I should participate in this marathon. I
had decided to go forward partly because the odds at that point just seemed
against me which just made the challenge that much more appealing. To my
amazement, I managed to show up to the starting line, I finished the
marathon, and I managed to do it with a good attitude. It was a good experience
and I'm glad I decided to go for it. I learned a little more about running and about
myself. Nonetheless, I don't believe I would run another marathon if I don't
feel I'm property trained to complete it. In the future, if I find I'm just not
ready, I’ll know that when I decide not to run a marathon it'll be because I
"won't" rather than I "can't". I didn't PR at Hyannis, but
I beat "can't" and that's an experience that'll stay with me and
maybe even carry me through to my next PR.
My thanks to my sister Natascha
who hosted me over the weekend and provided the much needed logistical support
to get me through this race and just committed to being there before, during,
and after, and to her girlfriend Saraphina (@saraphina) who despite having a
ton of work this weekend managed to come out and support me. To my parents for
their continued support as I trained, a great dinner the night before, and for
freezing their butts off during the race. To my sister Michelle who help me
edit this post and has always been a support for me.
I also want to thank my running
friends on Daily Mile with special thanks to Alan (@basicbare) and Alyssa
(@alyssarun) for their encouragement and support through these last four months,
visit their blogs at http://barefootjourney.org
and http://notarunner.com, respectively.
Just a note. I completed the Hyannis Marathon yesterday. It took me about 5 hours 40 minutes, which is longer than it took me to run my first marathon about a year ago, and a full hour longer than it took me to run Smuttynose this past October.
If nothing else, this is a perfect example of why training is so important. The fact that I could even complete this marathon given my relative lack of training this time around (as realized during the run) is amazing to me.
I'll write up a small race report soon with a few more details about the course and the day in general.
I find I have an ever present sense of disbelief as I get closer and closer to February 26th and the Hyannis Marathon. My training for my last marathon, Smuttynose in October 2011, went really well and I arrived at that race feeling ready. A week after that race I went out for my 3rd or 4th post marathon run and had a pull or strain in my right calf, which prevented me from running for a couple of weeks after. Other than being inconvenient, I didn't give it much thought. Little did I know that this injury would continue to rear it's ugly head. Needless to say, my training over the last 3-4 months has been sporadic, which prevented me from increasing my milage gradually and from just running those critical long training runs that get you ready for a marathon. It has been frustrating and a bit depressing.
In my last post, I laid out a last ditch effort plan to try and make it to the marathon. In that post I said the plan was not ideal, but it was "realistic". I later thought that "realistic" was incorrect, I should have used the word "possible". The truth is it was a longshot and, while committed to following that plan, I was also prepared to concede that fact that Hyannis might not happen if I got injured again or I just wasn't conditioned enough to run a marathon. The week leading up my last opportunity at a long run before the race included 3-6 mile runs after weeks of not running at all. I ran those miles with a bit of a cavalier attitude, I just felt that whatever was going to happen was going to happen and if I was so fragile then I wasn't going to be able to run 26.2 miles anyways. I then ran my long run on Sunday and was surprised to find that out of my planned 20 miles, I ran 19.2, which was well within my criteria for deciding whether or not I would be able to complete the Hyannis Marathon and therefore run or not run. That 19.2 mile run wasn't pretty, it was slow, and afterwards my body felt similar to how it felt after running my first marathon - everything hurt and it lasted for days.
Naturally, my muscles were very tight after this long run and I was constantly concerned that by running my scheduled miles in that condition, I was just asking for an injury to reoccur. I wasn't being so cavalier this time around because now, after completing that long run, I knew running Hyannis was "realistic". Ultimately I felt it was just as important if not more so to complete the remaining miles on the training schedule since my training had already suffered so much. I needed these miles, not just for my body, but for my mind as well. I took each run slow and continued to stretch, use my foam roller to massage my calf muscles, soak in Epsom salt bathes, and use my ultrasound as needed. After each run this week my legs felt a little better than the run before it and all in all things are moving in the right direction. Nonetheless, I remain weary of something going wrong before I get to the 26th and don't expect to shake that feeling until I'm actually a few miles into the marathon.
I've been considering my race strategy during my recent runs and plan to incorporate some of the things I've been doing in hopes that it will prevent a reoccurrence of the past injuries during the race. The following is a part of my post to Daily Mile for today's run:
As a result of my bout with injuries over the last several months, I've been starting out my runs slow to feel out how my legs are doing and gradually warm up the muscles. This seems like a good strategy in general and has been working out very well for me, so I'll incorporate this into my run next Sunday.
On today's run at about 3.25 miles I shot to the left to get out of the road for a car coming around a curb, and I felt a slight pinch in my left calf (as opposed to my troublesome right calf) which was an all too familiar feeling. I immediately dropped down to my What-About-Bob™ pace (baby steps), which I've been doing when ever I think something might be about to go. The thinking is that if something in the legs feels out of sorts, the pinch/sensation/whatever is the warning, ignoring it risk it becoming a sprain, pull, etc. The pinch didn't turn into anything else. Whether or not my reasoning is correct or not, it seems to be to me, so I'll incorporate that into my strategy as well.
Pace is going to be a little tricky to figure out. I know it won't be my target of 9:40 min/mi since the training just hasn't been there. With this in the back of my mind, I was initially thinking 10 min/mi, but this might not be realistic either. I'll probably settle in somewhere between 10:15 and 10:30 min/mi and try to adjust as things go.
I was very pleased with my fueling strategy during my 19+ mile run last Sunday, which is more or less what I used for Smuttynose - but more practiced. The trick here is to stick with the plan.
Runs left before Hyannis are 8 tomorrow, 3 Tuesday, 4 Wednesday, and 2 on Saturday. All I need to do is stay uninjured.
I just need to keep doing what I'm doing this and keep my goals in mind:
Show up to the starting line, and
Finish the marathon.
Just finishing this one is going to make this one memorable. I'm anticipating this one to be tougher than Smuttynose, but I plan to try and enjoy this one as much as I can.
