Surviving After Boston

Wed, May 16, 2012

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: 9.98 miles avg. pace 7:18

Tue, May 15, 2012

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:00:00

Late Evening: 7.18 miles E + 3 hard hill sprints

Mon, May 14, 2012

Mon, 14 May 2012 06:00:00

Evening: 14.04 miles on a hot windy afternoon. I ran with this one again with my new running partner. We ran a couple warm-up miles then went into our workout of 3-2-2-1 @ 5:35-5:45 goal effort. Well we struggled a bit with the heat and the wind so it wasn't the prettiest workout, but not a lack of effort! For the 3 mile we went 5:36 w/wind, 5:38 w/last quarter mile into the wind, 5:53 all into the wind and all uphill. Took 90 sec. recovery jog and then went 5:42 all into the wind, then 5:56 into the wind and mostly uphill. We grabbed some water at Andrew's house, our throats were bone dry and the heat was getting to us. I was questioning if we'd be able to finish the workout. After about a good 3 minute rest we went back out for a 5:32, 5:39 all but a 1/2 mile into the wind with some downhill. I lady pulled out of a gas station and almost made me a hood ornament. Andrew probably saved me with a warning, somehow I got out of the way. We both decided to just run the last mile as a 1/2 mile and called it quits for the day. Heat acclimation charts show this workout needed to be around an average of 5:50, but we hit an average of 5:42 for the entire 7.5 miles of tempo. Avg run pace 6:40 pace

Predicted 3 M Finish Times by Temperature (just for the 3 mile tempo portion)

http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html

Temperature Time min/km min/mile

60F/16C or below 17:00.0 3:31.3 5:40.0 (ideal temp and avg pace we wanted)

65F/18C 17:06.6 3:32.6 5:42.2

70F/21C 17:13.8 3:34.1 5:44.6

75F/24C 17:21.7 3:35.8 5:47.2

80F/27C 17:30.2 3:37.5 5:50.1 our 1st 3 mile tempo was 5:42 average, so we probably ran too hard if comparing what we wanted to run for an ideal 60 degree of 5:40 avg.

85F/29C 17:39.4 3:39.4 5:53.1

90F/32C 17:49.2 3:41.5 5:56.4

95F/35C 17:59.7 3:43.6 5:59.9

100F/38C 18:10.8 3:45.9 6:03.6

Calculations are based on data from Daniels' Running Formula by Jack Daniels PhD.

Sat, May 12, 2012

Sat, 12 May 2012 06:00:00

Long day standing around in the sun coaching at what I would call a poorly run track meet. The meet wound up being around 2.5 hours behind. This threw off my nutrition intake and gave me more sun than I could handle today. Not a good mix of problems before a long run.

Ran my 1st ever run with my new friend Andrew who ran Division III and has very similar college times. I found out today we are almost a perfect match in fitness, so I think we're both excited to have each other to train with. I found myself breathing really hard because he and I were motoring away with the chit chat. The plan was 14 for Andrew and 17 for me with a 8-10 mile tempo run @ 5:45-5:55 pace with maybe a couple faster miles at the end. It went exactly as planned and it felt surprisingly easy! I've been doing these workouts on my own for the past 3 years, so having a partner made this workout feel about 10-20% easier than it would have been on my own. Splits 6:48, 6:18, 6:02, 5:48, 5:48, 5:48, 5:52, 5:48, 5:42, 5:31.

Avg run pace for 17 miles 6:36 pace

Fri, May 11, 2012

Fri, 11 May 2012 06:00:00

10 easy miles around Fort Avg. 7:24 pace

Thu, May 10, 2012

Thu, 10 May 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: Core work

Evening: 7 miles 7:10 avg pace

Wed, May 09, 2012

Wed, 09 May 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: 5.16 miles in town loop 7:03 avg pace

Evening: 9.23 miles - 2 mile warm-up then [4x200 w/200m jog recovery 35, 36, 33, 34], then [2x400 w/400m jog 71, 71], [1x800 w/800m jog rest 2:26], [2x400 w/400m jog 71, 69], finally [4x200 w/200 jog 33,34,33,31], dragged my legs around for a 2 mile cool down.

The workout was pretty much identical to what I did 2 weeks ago, but I'm running higher mileage and have more workouts layered on top of each other now. Today, was really windy from the north but cool out. So I think I'm doing well to run these paces with a full recovery. The 800 wasn't at goal pace of 2:20, but it's going to take some practice to dig that deep. I know my speed endurance is weak right now, but I hope to improve that in later weeks. In all reality my speed endurance probably won't come back to full form until I start racing some short track stuff like the mile, 3K, and 5K races.

Tue, May 08, 2012

Tue, 08 May 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: Core work

PM: 7.5 miles Glacial River Avg. 7:09 pace + 4 hard hill sprints

Mon, May 07, 2012

Mon, 07 May 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: 4 miles observatory loop 7:04 avg pace

Evening: 2 mile warm-up + 4 strides

9x1000m w/60 sec. rest - miscounted otherwise I would have done 10, oh well

[3:24, 3:24, 3:25, 3:27, 3:25, 3:25, 3:24, 3:23, 3:18] Avg - 3:24

Well I averaged 1 sec. faster than a couple weeks ago, so I guess you could say I'm improving!

2.33 mile cool down

Avg run pace 6:33

Sun, May 06, 2012

Sun, 06 May 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: 10 miles in town loop avg. 7:10 pace

Evening: 5 miles in town loop avg 7:12 pace

Sat, May 05, 2012

Sat, 05 May 2012 06:00:00

9 miles @ Kettle Moraine on Blue loop. Afterward we did some grilling around a camp fire with friends. Jen's 1st time at the trails, she really enjoyed them. Best of all I think her knee came out okay after running the hills.

Fri, May 04, 2012

Fri, 04 May 2012 06:00:00

Evening: Medium long run on Glacial River Trail - 4 mile warm-up, 3x2 mile w/90 sec. rests @ 1/2 mp pace, [11:36 5:48 avg], [11:38 5:49 avg], [11:31 5:45 avg] 4 mile cool down Avg run pace 6:43. Windy and humid, but cool enough to make it comfortable.

Thu, May 03, 2012

Thu, 03 May 2012 06:00:00

7.44 miles star school + 4 hard hill sprints at the end - Avg pace 7:27

Wed, May 02, 2012

Wed, 02 May 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: 4.4 miles around Fort @ 7:45 avg pace. 75% humidity and 75 degrees

PM: 10 mile progression run - wow the heat was tough to deal with today. I'm not acclimated for the heat yet. I managed to work through it, but I was way off on my end target pace for the progression. I was hoping to finish in 5:40's and struggled to hit 6:17! Nonetheless, I did a good job accomplishing the progression going 8:09, 7:53, 7:45, 7:43, 7:30, 7:15, 6:50, 6:48, 6:35, 6:17. (Glacial River Trail toward Jefferson out and back)

Tue, May 01, 2012

Tue, 01 May 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: Core exercises

Evening: 7.27 recovery miles Avg pace 7:57

Mon, Apr 30, 2012

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:00:00

AM: 5 miles easy running on Glacial River Trail out and back. 7:49 avg.

PM: 16 miles going Pepple to County Line Rd. at the max end of easy pace for me. No shortage of hills on this rolling country side route. Finished a couple miles at the end around 1/2 mp effort. Went 7:25, 6:47, 6:52, 6:49, 6:37, 6:39, 6:29, 6:33, 6:35, 6:41, 6:34, 6:33, 6:32, 6:46, 5:41, 5:41 Avg run pace 6:35

Sun, Apr 29, 2012

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 06:00:00

Afternoon: 7.66 very very easy miles helping Karen with some 200 and 400 repeats. Total of 12x200 and 3x400

Avg. the 200's in high 40's and 400's in the upper 1:40's

I probably would have run another run, but I ran out of time with all the graduate course work I had to work on today.

Sat, Apr 28, 2012

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 06:00:00

Morning: 3 mile warm-up around Camp Randal, then hopped a bus to the start.

This was my 2nd attempt at the race and I did much better this time around. Last year I ran 29:21 on what I would call a perfect weather day. Today I ran 26:56 on a terrible weather day! Winds were 15-20 mph with gusts of 30 and light to hard rain at times. This is a neat race because it has a lot of down hill, but also has some really steep climbs. The coolest part is the finish into Camp Randal Stadium where the Big 10 Badgers play football. The small down hill finish really helped me finish hard today.

I signed up for the race on Sunday and submitted my time from Bank of America, but apparently they weren't able to verify or didn't have the time? I wound up with a terrible corral assignment. So right before the start I sneaked into the elite corral to ensure I wouldn't be walking with the walkers. At the start all the UW-Badger football players, hockey players, and cheer leaders were there to greet and send us off. Wow, those football players are huge!

The race got off to a fast start, but not as fast the Bank of America 8K I ran in March, so I settled into about 10th place and sucked off everyone else. I split a 5:04 for the 1st mile, which was way too fast. Most of the 1st mile is down hill with some small uphill sections so maybe it was a 5:10-5:15 effort? I was hoping to average 5:20's today, which I thought was a reasonable goal for the conditions. Probably not an ideal start though.

I was able to recover fairly well from the early fast pace, running a 5:21 for the 2nd mile, which has a really long steep hill that contains a few 90 degree turns in it.

Miles 3-5 I was bucking the wind off the lake. It wasn't terrible, but hit us at a tough point in the race. I managed to split another 5:20 because I recognized another runner from Fort I've never raced against because he had a singlet that said Vos Sentury out of Fort. I had learned he was a pretty good college runner and I think he's around 22-25 years of age.

I pulled up along side Voss and ran shoulder to shoulder with him for a short time before he would eventually surge and begin to pull away. This mentally hurt me and I dropped a 5:35 mile. I'm still mad at myself for this mile because I think I would have had a chance to beat Voss if I had upped my effort to 95% for a short while.

Mile 5 I would rebound to a comfortable 5:29 pace if there is such a thing in an 8K race. I should have pushed this mile a little harder, but I didn't really mentally have it in me. I came to life in the last 600 meter or so though! I blew past 3 runners with an excellent kick, probably my best to date. My pace for the final part of the race shows a 3:50 mile pace.

This was a solid race for me coming off a major marathon blow-up! So I'm really happy about running this race because I feel like I can move forward now with some confidence in my training plans. I'm excited about the next 7 weeks of training now that I'm healthy and in good spirits.

A few of my local running friends came to watch my race. They stood in the rain just to see me run, that was cool. I also talked with Voss and exchanged emails, so maybe now I have someone around my abilities to actually train with? It sure would be nice to have a training partner for some of the hard intervals and long runs.

I finished with an 8.38 mile cooldown in 7:39 pace feeling pretty good, so I'll probably put some more miles in later today.

Evening: 4.25 miles

Fri, Apr 27, 2012

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:00:00

3.5 easy miles on main street route

Thu, Apr 26, 2012

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:00:00

7.63 recovery miles + 4 light hill sprints. The legs were dead today. My nutrition intake and sleep have been poor lately. I've been slacking due to a very busy sched.

I decided to carb up with some pizza tonight. Hopefully, some good sleep and pizza will help me bounce back strong for Crazy Legs.

Added some strength exercises and core work during lunch.

Wed, Apr 25, 2012

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:00:00

No AM due to meeting

Evening: 2 mile w-up, 6x1 mile - goal 5:35 pace w/ 1 min recovery, temp nice cool 55, but a NE cross wind of 12-15 mph made these mile repeats a little tougher. Just tried to keep the effort in the 90% range on these tempo intervals. All felt good running with flat legs today in 5:27, 5:31, 5:31, 5:31, 5:31, 5:25., quick 1 mile cooldown before I jetted off to pick up Jameson.

I think my legs are a little flat from not sleeping well last night. I keep thinking my 1st attempt at managing a large track invitational for my track team this May. So many things to plan! The end of the school year is always jam packed with stuff. Jumps and Hopes for Heart, track galore, oh and a end of year field day, 8th grade graduation planning, etc.... Ahhh

Here's a link to the county paper that put me on the front page and did a nice little write up of the Boston participants from the area.

http://dailyunion.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubSectionID=110&ArticleID=11371

Tue, Apr 24, 2012

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:00:00

8.61 miles w/6 hard hill sprints on the bigger hills during the run. I'm so ready to just start pounding out the doubles, but I'm going to try and hold off while incorporate quality speed training 1st.

Mon, Apr 23, 2012

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:00:00

8.27 miles (8:00 min pace) on random route around fort + 5 hill sprints

Sun, Apr 22, 2012

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 06:00:00

AM: 8 miles going Star School w/random add-on + 6 hard hill sprints (7:45 pace)

PM: 2 mile w-up

5 x (2x200m - Goal 35 sec w/200m recovery jog + 1x400m - Goal 70 sec w/400m recovery jog)

2 mile cooldown

Did these on the middle school track with a strong N. wind of 12 mph. Nice and cool, but more windy than I expected. I tried to keep the effort on these at 90% regardless of the times.

1st set [35.84, 36.25, 1:13.6]

2nd [ 35.31, 35.42, 1:14.47]

3rd [35.37, 34.75, 1:11.32]

4th [35.60, 34.57, 1:11.35]

5th [34.18, 34.98, 1:10.95]

Sat, Apr 21, 2012

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 06:00:00

14 miles easy with Voss and Reedo on the S. shore of Lake Geneva. Voss went around the whole lake ~ 21 miles while Reedo and I turned at 7. Neat run, most of it goes through a bunch of rich people's back yards. Cold to start, only 32 degrees, but warmed up to 45 by the time we finished. Had a nice breakfast at Voss's brother-in-law's diner. With the hills and stairs we averaged just under 9 min pace, which I feel is about the same as 8 min pace on the road.

Fri, Apr 20, 2012

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:00:00

9.69 miles (7:47 pace) to Hoard Road and around Rock River Park + 3 hard striders + core work

Thu, Apr 19, 2012

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:00:00

7.95 miles on random route around Fort. Rainy and 40 degrees tonight. Had to get this one in late because I spent my earlier run time trying to find my lost wallet - errr Hopefully, it will show up tomorrow. Avg run pace 7:43 The run felt really good, so if the next few days go well I'd say I'm in the clear to resume regular training again. I'll probably run Crazy Legs 8K in Madison since it's a big local event.

Wed, Apr 18, 2012

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 06:00:00

Well I ran 6 miles around fort feeling good. Another day or so and I'll be fully recovered. I could have run a lot more today, but I'm getting more benefit keeping the volume reasonable. Anything longer would be too much strain and anything shorter wouldn't help as much with flushing everything out.

Long day with the teams' 1st track meet today right after school. I noticed my concentration and mental focus was really out of wack today. I'm probably still suffering from the nervous system shock I went through. I'm still in pretty good spirits though. Maybe it has to do with being balanced. Today, I was reminded of why running is so important to me. Everyone piled into the gym at the begining of school to applaud me for finishing the Boston Marathon. Most everyone knew I went through a very difficult race out there. I thanked them for the support. I let them know that they gave me the strength to finish a very tough race on a very difficult day. I also made sure to let them know how much they inspire me to be a runner. It was very rewarding, more rewarding than any trophy or title I've ever won. Perfect day for a game of track too! 60's and sunny w/no wind.

Tue, Apr 17, 2012

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:00:00

3 miles around hilly charlestown. 84 degrees Hot! (8:18) pace. I guess the goodnews is I don't think I'll need a long downtime for this marathon. The legs felt suprisingly strong, but the body wasn't digg'in the heat. I'm leaving for home tonight with the family.

Mon, Apr 16, 2012

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 06:00:00

Went through the hardest race I’ve ever faced in my lifetime. The last 24 hours have been absolutely miserable. Flu like symptoms kept me in bed sick as a dog last night. I ran my 2^nd slowest ever marathon in 3:02.05 (about 25 minutes slower than I wanted) and wound up hooked to an IV, but I’m satisfied with the result! It was my 1^st hot weather marathon and I stayed with my plan. In hindsight my plan should have been different, but if you make a decision good or bad you’re the one that has to live with the results and I’m not discouraged. It’s a learning process and if you race the marathon long enough it’s a matter of time before a humbling marathon becomes part of your race history.

I must admit I was a little worried about this race being a blow up before I even started due to my inexperience of a hilly marathon course and even more lack of experience with nutrition and the heat was just an additional factor that no one could have predicted. Who would have predicted it to be the 2^nd hottest Boston in history?

Every marathon I’ve run I’ve failed to stay on pace and I haven’t quite found what works for my nutrition during the race. The plan this time was 2 cups of water every water stop and electrolyte pills with GU gels every 4-6 miles or whatever my body could handle in the heat. Of course this was all just a guess because the longest training run I did in this kind of heat was last summer! My nutrition plan turned out to be a catastrophe! I hydrated and ate well leading up to the marathon and I have no doubts about it. During the race Ishould have been drinking the Gatorade instead of water. At my last marathon the Gatorade was not sitting well, so I abandoned it for this one. Big mistake! The electrolyte pills weren’t enough. I was on goal pace for about 10 miles when I started to run out of electrolytes and my body stopped absorbing the water. Somehow I stayed tough and maintained a 6:02 pace through the ½ marathon mark, but I knew I was in trouble because shortly after 1/2 I felt my 1^st calf cramp. I took the cramp as a warning sign. I made a very smart decision to back off the pace and start switching over to 2 cups of Gatorade.

The damage had already been done though. I would eventually fall to 7:30 pace and to eventually a walking pace when I experienced a very scary cramp that went up my neck into my head. The cramp caused me to become dizzy and almost fall over. I thought at 1^st I might be having a stroke when it 1^st came on. I now think it was just a neck cramp that moved up along the back of my head, but it caused me to become disoriented. It was a very scary feeling! I walked it off and it came back one more time later in the race, but again I immediately started walking and it went away after a minute or so.

I would also go on to walk several more times with cramping. I have no doubt the switch to Gatorade was the only reason I was able to finish. From mile 14 was a long slow race to the finish. Something I’ll never forget. It’s such a helpless feeling to be so far away from the finish with no gas left in the tank.

There’s an old saying that says death smiles at us all we can do is smile back. My loving wife and friend’s family all took the train to mile 17 to cheer us on. When I ran by them at mile 17 I pointed at my legs and yelled, “My legs are shot” and smiled at them. The rest of the way I stayed focused on getting to the finish, but that was one moment I really enjoyed in the race. My family had a miserable time getting around the course. It was a long day for them. I felt much love on a very miserable day not only from my family, but all of the amazing spectators, volunteers, and medical personnel. The medical teams had the hardest job in the city, when I made the medical tent it had just reached 50% capacity. When I left it was at 100% and the line to get in for medical attention was 200-300 feet of people sitting in wheel chairs with no shade available! My friend Todd finished almost 2 hours above his qualifying time. He said he say a lady fall down with her eyes rolled back in her head. Spectators swarmed her immediately. He said he saw another guy fall down at mile 26 and had to be wheel chaired away. A spectator told me 95% of everyone finishing over 4.5 hours were walking.

My 2^nd marathon was the journey to our condo. I barely made it back without the assistance of an ambulance. I was in the tent for an hour and a half while I received an IV of fluids. I felt a strong desire to get up and out of there because I could see the strain on the medical teams and I knew there had to be more people outside waiting to get in.

After about an hour I struggled to get to my feet, but once I was up standing I was steady and feeling okay to walk. I walked to the family area and found my wife and son. I started feeling sick again, so I found a shady spot to lie down. I would stay in that spot until about 5 pm. I couldn’t get up; every time I did I would throw up or get dizzy.

I was holding down the water and started taking down chips, so I knew I was on the upswing, but it took a LONG time to get back on my feet. Once I eventually made it to the train and back home I was confined to a toilet and a bed the rest of the night with what I would call terrible flue like symptoms. Jen thinks it was heat exhaustion to mild heat stroke due to the temperature swings I was experiencing last night.

From a competition standpoint I stayed on my goal pace through 10K (5:57 pace) going 6:18, 5:52, 6:00, 5:48, 6:05, 5:48 for a 37:02 10K (All of these felt good, I was just rolling with the hills. I had faster splits on the down hills and slower splits on the up hills, but everything was in check). I did exactly what I wanted to do.

The next 7 miles to the ½ went 5:54, 6:02, 5:56, 6:09, 6:12 (struggled with a side stitch), 5:58, 6:13 (legs were starting to fall apart here) for a 1:19:02 ½ marathon (6:02 pace). I was still on pace to be in that 2:35-2:40 time range.

After the amazing high of the Wellesley college girls at around mile 14 I was seriously worried about hitting my goal, little did I know I’d soon be worried about finishing! I went 6:20, 6:38, and 6:26 desperately trying to hang on for miles 14, 15, and 16.

Mile 17 is when everything came crashing down on me for good. I split a 7:16 and saw the family, which gave me a little boost going into the hills, but my legs couldn’t muster much. Miles 18, 19, and 20 were 7:33, 7:32, and 7:44.

I was so out of it I didn’t even realize I ran heart break hill. The next miles were 8:16, and 8:06. I had to walk mile 23 and 24 because of the painful feeling up my neck into my head that made me dizzy enough to almost fall over. These miles were 9:56 and 9:25. My competitive edge got me going again when I saw a few Kenyans struggling to finish. Mile 25 I managed 8:08 and my final mile came out to be a 7:16 as I found a stride that seemed to be holding of the cramping. I crossed the finish line running 6:21 pace with leg cramps and walked to about where they handed out medals. I started to feel like I was going to faint so I sat down in a wheel chair and I was off to the med tent.

A character building marathon to say the least!

Update on the race issues. Two nights after the race I woke up at 3 am ran into the kitchen and compared the electrolyte pills with my vitamins. I thought I was taking electrolytes during the race, but they were actually my calcium/magnesium/d3 vitamins. I had mixed up my vitamins with the electrolytes! That explains the nausea after the race and the reason I got heat stroke during the race. I can't believe I could make that kind of mistake. Unbelievable!