Another year almost gone

So, I have continued to run, train, generally live my life, everything I've done for the last several years, except post here (or the other blog). Life gets in the way more than I'd like, but in some way, the lack of posting indicates that I'm active and healthy.

So much has happened this year that summing it all up would be really hard and kinda dull for anyone else but myself. A couple of quick highlights from the year: my son joined Cub Scouts and I'm an Assistant Den Leader, so we have a lot of fun with that. We took a trip to Walt Disney World right after Thanksgiving that was a great break from work and a nice way to get into the holiday spirit. 

I ran a few races this year and enjoyed running them. Training was sometimes a struggle, but right around the time I ran the Twin Cities Marathon I realized that I needed to relax about how I trained and ran races. I'm still happy with my paces and race times, but I had to accept that I may not get much faster or be able to continually set PRs in every race. Now, I'm not saying I'll just slow down and accept a longer race time or a pace that would be much slower than the past couple of years, but I'm getting smarter about how to train for the race and the course.

For example, training for the Dopey Challenge in January (5K, 10K, Half Marathon, Full Marathon on consecutive days) is going much better once I realized that trying to train for a specific goal time in the full makes little sense. I have three races in three days to run before I line up for the full and I needed to adjust my thinking about what kind of race I want to run. I don't plan on going too slowly, but I'm not trying to run a fast time (for me). Instead, I'm trying to focus on keeping a comfortable pace so that Sunday morning, when I line up to start the marathon, I won't feel drained and dreading the next 4-5 hours I'll be running.

It is very liberating to have realized that training doesn't have to be driven by a goal time. That only makes sense if you're running a couple races a year and can devote time to proper recovery. But since I tend to run a race every 6-8 weeks, I need to learn better strategies to be race ready without burning out or getting injured. Time will tell if I learn that lesson or not, but I'd like to think I have.

When will spring appear?

We were teased with spring last week, the snow had melted, the roads and sidewalks were clear and dry. I thought I'd be getting back outside regularly now. This week a dentist appointment kept me inside on Monday, then the weather became not-spring. Wednesday and today, I was inside. Tomorrow I want to get outside even if only for a part of the run. I'm feeling frustrated but I know that the snow will melt, the temps will rise and I'll be out regularly.

Busy, busy

The race schedule I posted in March may indeed have been too ambitious, but only by one race. I ended up not doing Twin Cities this year, as I just didn't have enough time after the duathlon to get my long runs in. I'd been averaging about 10 miles for the long runs for du training (plus 16-20 miles on the bike). I wasn't able to shift from that distance to marathon distance in time. Instead, I focused on WDW Goofy training.

Training for Goofy is going fine, although I have found that I have had a nagging soreness in my psoas muscle in my left leg which sometimes makes it tougher to maintain the paces I'd been doing earlier in the year. Must be getting old ;-)

Been a while

Since my last post, I've run the Walt Disney World Marathon, setting a PR and had a much more active recovery period than I planned. I've also pretty well set my race schedule for the year and it seems ambitious to me although I know several people who are planning on running more races than I am, so it may just be that I haven't planned this many races.

This year I have the following races planned:
January - WDW Marathon
March - Get Lucky Half Marathon
April - Get in Gear Half Marathon
May - Fargo Half Marathon
June - Minneapolis Marathon
August - Minneapolis Duathlon
October - Twin Cities Marathon & Monster Dash Half Marathon

I may do a half on July 4th, depending on family plans.

And in January 2013, I'm planning on the Goofy Challenge at WDW. Seems like a full schedule to me when you consider that I'm also starting swim lessons in a week (never learned to swim and now's the time).

So a busy schedule should keep me busy for the year. As long as I avoid injuries and the weather doesn't get cataclysmic, I should have a great year.

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Taper time/Year End Running Review

Taper time for the Walt Disney World Marathon. On January 8, I'll be at the start line for my 8th marathon since 2007, the 6th WDW race. My training has been very good, mainly because, unlike the last four years, I have not had to deal with snow. Like, at all. As in, a brown Christmas this weekend. I've had some snowfall, to be sure, but nothing at all like last year, when by mid-December we had about 20 inches of snow and most seemed to fall on weekends, which meant not being cleared in time for long runs. This year, I had one long run with snow on the ground, and a few other runs that had either snow or somewhat icy conditions. I have had to run in cold weather, but even that has been manageable. 


Combine the great running weather with a generally better training regimen and I have the makings of a great race. Now, I know that almost anything can happen between now and the start of the race, but realistically, I should be set for a shot at yet another PR. This year, I had experienced the following PR changes:

Half Marathon as of 1/1/11 2:09 (2010 Get in Gear)

Half Marathon as of 12/31/11 1:46 (2011 Monster Dash)

Marathon as of 1/1/11 5:17 (2007 WDW Marathon)

Marathon as of 12/31/11 3:56 (2011 Twin Cities Marathon)

My 2011 WDW Marathon time was my first sub 5:00 at 4:46 and I dropped that PR by 50 minutes in October at Twin Cities. 

For the 2012 WDW Marathon, I'm looking for about 3:50, but sub 4:00 is important and anything below 4 hours is fine with me. 

I surprisingly and thankfully spent the year injury-free, unlike last year, but I think a lot of the problems I had last year were related to my weight loss, which occurred mainly in 2010. This year I did lose a bit more weight and I seem to have found a maintenance weight, around 160 lbs. I'd look to lose just a bit more, but I'm happy with where I am now. 

I've also learned to relax more with many of my runs, which keeps me from being too critical when one doesn't go as planned. To me, this is a key concept for me to continue to work on. Overall, I'm very pleased with my running this year and I hope to start 2012 off with a great race at Disney. 

Update

Short update-training for 2012 Walt Disney World Marathon continues. I'm feeling good about the training cycle and my progress. I have a goal in mind and a dream goal. I hope to better my Twin Cities Marathon PR from October (3:56). I'm aiming for 3:45 at Disney, with the dream goal being faster than that (no specific time). The weather has been good this year, although mainly because we've had very little precipitation since August. I've felt more relaxed on most of my runs and look forward to getting outside each morning I run. It's nice to feel more comfortable with my training, progress, and overall place in life as I prepare for the race.


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Twin Cities Marathon: I ran how fast?

Yesterday, I ran my first Twin Cities Marathon (although it was the 30th year of the race). My goal was to run a sub-4:00 race, with the dream goal being 3:50. I finished in 3:56:34, taking 50 minutes off my PR, which I set this January at the Walt Disney World Marathon. It was a good race, with a few rough miles at the end. Basically the last 3-4 miles are a gradual incline with a nice little decent in the last 1/2 to 3/4 mile. It's a great course and I will run it again sometime. I'm setting my sights on the Chicago Marathon next year, so I may have to wait another year before I tackle the race.


 I felt good most of the race, although I did walk more than I'd have liked that last few miles. After thinking about it, I realized that the weather was warm (not hot, but warm - it was about 50 degrees at the start of the race and 70 degrees when I finished) and sunny. This probably sapped a little energy out of me, because I had some arm warmers on through most of the race, finally shedding them at about mile 19 or so. I also thought my Garmin 405 Forerunner had died, so I used a Timex watch for the race. This meant I didn't have my lap paces available to me. I ran the race by how my body felt and how the pace felt. I must have done all right, although I'd love to see what my splits were for the race. I am certainly not complaining (and last night, I tried charging my watch again and seems to be working again-weird).


When this year started, my marathon PR was 5:17. Now my PR is 3:56. I plan on getting it down even further. I have ideas for Walt Disney World in January and the marathons after that next year, but for today, I'm going to enjoy this race.

Overtraining?

I may be overtraining right now, which is really not optimal, as I have a half marathon in three weeks, the Twin Cities Marathon in seven weeks and the WDW Marathon in January. I've never run so many races in one year as this year and I'm wondering if I was too ambitious with this race schedule.

Counting from January 2011 to January 2012, I have run or plan to run:

January 2011 - Goofy Challenge + Disney 5k
April 2011 - Get in Gear Half-Marathon
June 2011 - Minneapolis Half-Marathon
September 2011 - Disneyland Half-Marathon
October 2011- Twin Cities Marathon
January 2012 - WDW Marathon

Now, for some runners, that's not a busy race schedule, but for me, that's about double the number of races I normally run. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited that I can run that many races, but having not trained for that many races before, I'm not sure if my training plan is appropriate.

I don't have the aches and pains I had last year as I lost weight, but I've noticed that a few of my long runs the last several weeks have not felt as strong or as good as earlier this summer. I don't think it's the heat and humidity (although those are contributing factors), but general wear and tear that I am not used to. I do think that my better consistency in doing core work has helped, as has keeping the weight off. I'm open to suggestions and thoughts about training more heavily than normal. I'd like to end this race cycle with some PRs and a good feeling going into next year's races.


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Busted Run

Yesterday I was planning on an 18 mile run. Although I intended to get up and get out on the road early (for a weekend), I slept in a little longer than I planned. I was trying a new water bottle belt that didn't work so well and I had to go back home to get one of our older belts. Then I started out relatively fine, but a little fast. I tried to slow down several times to be at the pace I wanted (around 8:40), but found myself going faster more often than I'd like. I ran the first 5-6 miles on a familiar route, but was trying a new addition to my route to get a 9 mile out to do an out-and-back run. It was hillier than I realized and I had run hills yesterday. About 8.5 miles in, something started to not feel right about the run. I kept at it for a while longer and then stopped my run.

This is only the second time I've stopped a run early in about 8 years of running. I have ended runs outside due to weather, but finished them on my elliptical. This one I didn't finish. Something just didn't feel right. I was disappointed, but didn't feel down. Until about an hour or so later. Since then, I've felt off, wondering if I should have toughed it out or somehow tried to finish. I suspect i could have finished, but maybe I needed to not complete this run to remember how much planning to run is an important as doing the run.

Sorry for the rambling, but I'm still processing the run and the lessons I learned.

Belated Race Report

Last Sunday, I ran the Minneapolis Half Marathon. Last year I ran the full marathon here and swore to never run it again. How time changes things. Since I've felt better and faster recently, I decided to give the half a try again. I'm glad I did. In April, I ran a half and set a new PR of 1:55:48. That course was not nearly as hilly as the course I ran on Sunday. I planned on treating the run as a supported training run (and then didn't use the water stops at all), so I figured finishing under 2:10 would be fine with me.

As I started the race, I was able to find a good pace and kept it mile after mile. While I didn't use the water stops, I did take my gels and Endurolyte drink regularly. I felt good, even on the hills, and actually set another PR, finishing in 1:55:18. True this is a PR by .3 seconds, but considering I had figured a slower race, I was very happy. The weather really cooperated, too, cool temps at the beginning of the race, clear skies, no wind, basically a perfect day to run.

So now I'm beginning my training for the Twin Cities Marathon in early October. Part of that training will be running the Disneyland Half on Labor Day weekend. I'll get my Coast-to-Coast medal when I finish (for doing races at WDW and DL in the same year) and I'm excited to be going to Disneyland for the first time. After Twin Cities, I'll start training for the WDW Marathon, where it's my plan to PR again. I'm trying to get to where I can BQ (Boston qualify) and I know that a lot of hard work is ahead of me. I'm ready to go, bring it on!

Long time

Yes, it's been a long time since my last post and much has changed. Not drastically, but still my life today is different than I thought it would be even a year ago.

Several good things have happened, both personally and at work. I have lost even more weight and I'm currently hovering between 158-160 lbs. I do want to lose a little more weight and then stabilize between 150-155. I'm okay where I am now, but I think that little extra less will help with another really neat thing that has happened in my personal life, which is I've been running much better and much faster lately.

In late April, I ran a half-marathon and set a new PR of 1:55, which was my first sub-2:00 half. I was extremely excited and very happy with my training and how well the race went (despite yet another race in the rain). The next weekend I ran 13 miles at the cabin and finished almost as fast. My paces have improved dramatically and I attribute that to a few things: weighing less, believing I can run faster, and great support from family and friends.

On a professional level, I was promoted to manager and given a direct report. Although I knew this was in the works, you never know for sure in today's business climate. Also. I was able to go to a conference at WDW and I got to stay at Coronado Springs for the first time. The resort is fine, but not as nice as others on site.

Laura and Sean joined me at the end of the conference and we stayed at Pop Century. We had a great time, even the day we had thunderstorms (not rain, thunder & lightning) ALL day. From 6:30 in the morning until 8:00 at night with very few breaks, we had full-blown thunderboomers. It was an interesting experience in the parks.

Aside from that news, my life is generally going well. I have a half in two weeks, then my next race is in August. We're still doing the Disneyland Half in Sept. and I'm going to do the Twin Cities Marathon in October, possibly with a guest runner.

Until next time, keep moving forward!


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Random thoughts on post-marathon training

It's been almost four weeks since I ran the Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World. This was my fifth straight year doing at least the marathon and the first time I have done an more active recovery. Two days after running both the half and full marathons, I ran three miles with no pain (soreness, yes, especially in my quads). I ran 3-4 miles two days after that and 6 miles on the Saturday after the marathon weekend. The last several years I didn't get back to 6 miles until at least 4 weeks after the race. Now, four weeks later, I'm planning 10 miles (hopefully outside if the weather cooperates ).

I feel so much stronger and better having lost almost 60 pounds since July 2009, most of which I lost last year after buckling down in March and moving to a vegan lifestyle. I am eager to get back into race training and will be starting a new base program as I prepare for a half-marathon in late April.
As spring approaches, I'll ramp up my cross training, getting back on the bike to explore some of the great trails around the area.

Also, I signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon October 2. My wife and I are going to do the Disneyland Half-Marathon in early September. With a few 10K races mixed in, I should have a fun, full year of racing.


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2011 Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend

The race report I posted a few days ago seems fairly accurate, if brief. So I thought I'd post some memories of the weekend, rather than a full report a week later.

First, my wife and I swore we would not do the 2012 WDW Marathon, but as we sat on he bus to the race start on Saturday for the half I looked at her and said "We're going to do this next year, aren't we?" So we've decided that yes, we'll be back. Whether I do the Goofy again isn't clear yet, but my wife will do the half and I'll do at least the full.

I'd like us, with our son, to try the 5k since he enjoyed the Kid's Race a lot, but that may be too long of a distance for a 6 year-old to walk without carrying him for some distance. He will at least do another Kid's Race, as he's already asked about it. Next year we will make sure that we register early enough to do the Friday race. He did the Saturday race, which was a bit of a logistical nightmare to get myself and my wife from the finish of the half back to the resort and then over to Disney's Wide World of Sports in time for the race. We made it fine, although my wife scrambled to get to the race area at the back of DWWOS. He enjoyed the race and so did I, even though I had to run with him!

This year, our niece came down with us to watch our son, primarily during the packet pickup and expo and Saturday morning while we both ran the half. It was great having someone else to help keep him busy and allow us to get our packets, check out the expo, and get to the start of the half without worry. She was a real trooper and she said she had a good time, which is good as we'll ask her to go down with us again next year, if she can.

Random thoughts on the races: Running with friends rocks! I don't train with my wife and rarely run with anyone else, so I'm not used to running partners, but I had good friends to run both the half and full. Stan and I ran both races and Josh joined us on Sunday. These guys kept my paces in the right range, which directly contributed to the PR I got in the full. I really enjoyed running with them and I hope to race with them again next year.

There seemed to be more characters out on the course this year, including a few I'd never seen before: Launchpad McQuack from Ducktales and Chicken Little and Abby. I think that Disney did a great job keeping the runners' spirits up this year. Last year the cold made racing tough, I can't imagine how the folks lining the course must have felt. This year we had perfect running weather both days and everyone-racers, volunteers, spectators-all seemed to enjoy themselves.

Walking around Epcot with four medals Sunday after the race was great, so many people congratulate you that it feels like those medals are weightless. When I went to meet my wife and son after the race Sunday, I took the boat from Boardwalk over to International Gateway (I was a bit tired by then!) and as I got on the boat with my clanking medals, everyone on the boat cheered for me. I was not expecting that at all and I felt really proud of what I'd done with my races.

What's ahead for this year? I plan on running the Twin Cities Marathon in October. My wife and I are considering doing the Disneyland Half in September to get our Coast to Coast medals. I plan on stretching my training this year to prep for a BQ race as early as next year, too. Stay tuned!

2011 Walt Disney World Marathon weekend

Four days after Sunday's marathon and I'm already in the post-marathon blues. This past weekend I ran the Goofy Challenge with good friends, in great running weather, and at paces that I hoped to do. The trip could not have gone any better in my mind. I was only 5 minutes off my half-marathon PR and that after deciding not to push during the race. I set a new marathon PR by 8 minutes and felt pretty good after the race. Yet, I miss seeing my friends and, as always, I miss being at Walt Disney World. I'll have a more comprehensive race weekend report up very soon, but I wanted to get a brief post out now that I'm back home.


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Brief note before WDW Marathon

I plan on writing a more complete post about my training the last month or so before we head down to WDW. Have a few thoughts about training for a marathon during the winter, the impact a lack of stretching has on my progress, and what's next after the races are done. As we say at work, more to come.


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Thanksgiving

This is my first Thanksgiving since I became vegan and I'm excited about what I will be having for dinner. In an untraditional Thanksgiving Day meal, I'm having vegan enchiladas from Whole Foods with vegan mashed potatoes and apple cranberry quinoa salad. I also have a kale salad with tomatoes, cranberries, and pine nuts. I even got a vegan pumpkin pie.

I'm thankful for my family and friends, as well as the positive changes I have made in my life to stay healthy and happy. Thanks everyone for reading the blog. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Day for everyone here in the US and a great day for everyone around the world!


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Sometimes it's the shoes

Somehow over the last several weeks, I have gone from having a lot of foot pain to being pain free. I even went to an orthopedic urgent care because my left foot hurt so much. The doctor diagnosed plantar faciitis and said to stretch and keep running (I wasn't going to hurt anything). I do the stretches, when I remember, but I also bought new running shoes (Asics Gel-Nimbus). They seem to have helped do the trick. I don't have pain in either foot. I have lost enough weight (almost 50 lbs.) that the shoes I had been in (Brooks Adrenaline) seemed to be too much shoe for me. I noticed a difference almost immediately with the Asics. Yesterday, I bought two other pairs similar to the Asics (New Balance 1064s and Nike Vomeros) to have a variety of shoes to keep my feet from getting used to one style of shoe. I ran six miles of hill work in the Nikes this morning and my feet felt just fine. I never thought something like changing my shoes would make such a big difference.

6 weeks to Goofy

It's been a strange month for my training, work, and my personal life. Nothing bad has happened, but I've had one of those months where events collide to keep me slightly off balance. I've had a couple of weeks of great running bookending a couple week of not-great to almost-dangerous running, If you've read this blog for at least a year, you know I do not like running in the snow or after a snowfall that hasn't yet been plowed or cleared. I think this is because my first year of training for the WDW Marathon was practically snow-free with decent temperatures every time I went out.

Since then, I've run in what is the typical or normal Minnesota winter weather. I don't mind cold, dressed correctly it's not a big deal (although gels and whatever you're carrying for drink tends to freeze). I've run long runs over ten miles in wind chills between 10 and 20 degrees below zero. I do mind snow - a lot. I still get out and run, but I go slower, I worry about slipping, and I have to watch much more carefully for cars (as do all runners in this kind of weather). I find it hard to focus on the run, which doesn't help get my mind prepped for racing. I use colorful language when stepping in slush puddles, it's just not fun.

That was my long run two weeks ago - I ran twelve miles in a winter storm, which got worse as I ran. It was snowing about an inch an hour, I was out for about two hours and I started the run with about three to four inches on the ground. Saturdays are not priority days to plow residential streets (snow emergency routes were cleared, but not the side streets). It snowed hard enough that on my way back (I did an out and back for the first eight miles), my tracks going out were basically covered. The temperature was around 30 degrees, which meant the snow was heavy and wet. Great snowman weather, but not great running weather. Yes, I know I'm complaining, but with a slight smile - I'm out running, not sitting at home on my butt watching TV. It's a little funny getting covered in snow or frost running in the winter, coming with with my gloves and hat frozen.

Speaking of frozen, last week I had two runs end early due to injuries. My Friday run ended early because my right hip hurt. It felt like the ball and socket weren't fully moving freely. Ouch. Then Saturday, I was in the first few miles of a sixteen mile run when I noticed the fingers of my left hand were tingly and getting numb. It's happened before and gone away, so I thought I'd gut it out. My fingers felt worse as I got about six miles in, basically having gone numb. I was worried I may be getting frostbite, which would be bad on several levels. My main concern was that if I had frostbite, I'd have a heightened sensitivity to cold, not a good thing for a runner in Minnesota. I ended up calling my wife to get me. Between her not finding me and me continuing my run to get home, she never picked me up. I got home as she called, frantically looking for me, I told her where I was and she came home. I finished the run downstairs on our elliptical. My fingers ended up being okay, which is good, of course, but I was having an awesome run when I stopped at home. I was really down all weekend. I did get new running gloves, which I've worn twice now and they have kept my fingers warm and toasty.

Running at Walt Disney World

Last week, my wife, 5-year-old son, and I went to WDW for our annual October trip (this is obviously not the same trip at marathon weekend in January, so yes, we go twice a year). While we were there, my good friend Gordon and his family were there, too. Since we were staying at the same resort, Pop Century, we decided to go running a couple of mornings. So at 5:30 on Tuesday and Thursday, we set out on 8 mile runs. We ran around Pop Century and ventured out onto the access road to take a back way into the Caribbean Beach resort and ran around that huge resort a couple of times before heading back to Pop. Both runs were great, good paces for both of us. Gordon is training for a marathon in mid-November (as well as Goofy in January) and I didn't want to disrupt his training. He was able to do a recovery-type week of training, though, so a couple of runs would fit into our different pacing. I thought the runs would stretch me a bit, but oddly it didn't as much as I thought it would. To me that means one thing - I can go faster in training and in races, but I'm not. I'm not sure why I'm not pushing myself as much as I could. I certainly don't want to re-injure myself, but I feel I could go faster longer.

So I've decided to take a page from Gordon's training (with his approval, of course) and do workouts similar to his workouts, rather than the same basic training I've done the last four years for the Disney marathons. I can, and will, push harder. Carefully, to be sure, but still extending the comfort zone to become faster for longer distance, training to be able to dig deep for the reserves I'll build up when I need them coming out of Animal Kingdom and facing a 6-7 mile stretch of boring flat roads and two themes all compressed at the end of the marathon course.

Tempo, distance, endurance, speed all will be my focus for the next eleven weeks. Those ideas and core work, something I've sorely neglected in past years. With my weight loss (down to 179 lbs. last weight check before we left on vacation), I should be taking advantage of the opportunity to keep losing more weight and getting stronger at the same time. I can, and will do these things, as I have goals beyond the 2011 WDW Marathon weekend and they involve a little race in a town called Boston before I turn 50 years old. I've got 5 years, I can do it. I will do it.

So I'm running across the bridge when . . .

This past weekend, my wife, son, and I went to Duluth. My wife and I met there while attending the University of Minnesota-Duluth twenty-three years ago tomorrow. We love Duluth and used to go up for a weekend every year after we moved back to Minnesota from our years in grad school in Indiana. It was a lot of fun and our son loves going to the shore of Lake Superior and throwing rocks into the lake. A good time had by all. Well, most of the time was good.

Saturday morning I ran 8 miles. Not a big deal any longer, nothing special, just a good 8 mile run to start the day. We were staying in Canal Park, which is a tourist-sort of area on Lake Superior, just off downtown Duluth. Part of the appeal of Canal Park is its proximity to the Aerial Lift Bridge, used by residents of Park Point, the 7 mile long sand bar jutting out from the city into the lake. The bridge allows access to and from Park Point, but, as its name suggests, will lift up to allow freighters, sailboats, and Coast Guard cutters to pass from the port to the lake or vice versa. It can take three minutes for the bridge to lift about 200 feet. It can take several minutes for a large freighter to pass through the canal and under the bridge.

Needless to say, the bridge is not something you want to be crossing when it is supposed to go up. Like I was crossing on my way back to the hotel finishing my run. There is a loudspeaker announcement that the bridge will be raised and clear the area. I was about 2/3 of the way across when I heard the bells go off and the voice telling me the bridge was about to go up, possibly with me on it. I sprinted, fast. I made it off the bridge, although the bridge operator scolded me on the loudspeaker, telling me to stop running. Right, I'll just do that and you'll have an hysterical 45-year old man who's afraid of heights, doesn't trust bridges, and can't swim standing on a hunk of metal rising up on 80 year old equipment (I know it's been updated, but the idea holds). I didn't look back as I came off the bridge, although I did walk to catch my breath. The rest of my run, all 4/10 of mile of it were uneventful.

I kind of wish I'd been running during my years in school there, I might not have panicked so much. Nah, I would have no matter what.