Vets Day Trail Race

I had the opportunity to participate in the 4 mile Veterans Day Trail Race in Kansas City this weekend. I LOVE the challenge and variety that trail running and racing offers. Most of my training this year has been with longer more aerobic runs so a 4 mile trail race was quite the challenge for me. I was pretty much redlining most of the run, and after the first 2 miles I did walk some of the hills just to get my heart rate back under control.

It was a new course through the Wyandotte Lake area in Kansas, there were several areas of the trail that were cambered and leaf covered. I was one of the lucky few towards the front that did not take a wrong turn off of the path. As you can see, just by looking at the course here, it would not be difficult to do so.

The course is almost all single track which made it difficult to pass. But, being a fairly low key race, everyone moved when asked. There were no huge hills like Run Toto Run, but there were plenty of little ups and downs to keep a person challenged. Here is a snapshot of the elevation.

I started fairly close to the front because I knew it was going to be difficult to pass once we got into the trees. I let a few people jump out ahead of me knowing that some of them would fall back as we got into the race.

 I was able to pass quite a few people but after mile 3, I was passed back by two of them. I kept right on the tail of one of the guys but just didn't have the strength to pass him back again. He didn't walk any of the hills but I was able to make up my ground on him on the flat and downhill sections. I was hoping that he was going to wear himself out running up the hills. He was pretty tough and was able to stay in front of me. I finished the race in 31:04 and 10th place overall. As you can see by the times here, it looks like pretty much everyone behind me took a wrong turn on the trail.

This was a fun race and also very difficult. I had the pleasure of introducing trail running to a friend from Bethany and also had the opportunity to meet fellow Dailymile badass Sherrie who recently ran 54 miles on 9/11.

It's Tuesday and I am still a little sore from the rocky and uneven terrain but I can't wait to get back out there again!

Attempting to smile for the camera.

Yeeehaww!

Swimming Anxiety

I am not typically a worrier, in fact I generally use stress as a motivator. I am all about pushing myself and testing my limits but currently, I seem to have a real battle going on in my mind. There are less than 3 weeks until the Hy-Vee Triathlon and my swimming confidence is far from where it should be. It seemed to be getting better, I had a nice couple of swims last week then I sent a video to the coach and he  gave me some pointers to improve my technique. I am going to be honest and tell you that this really 'effed up my swim this morning. I had an extremely difficult time trying to relax, which is a huge part of swimming. When you are running or biking, you don't have to think about much, it's pretty automatic. Being a new swimmer I have to try to think about hand position, body position, arm position throughout the stroke, how and when to kick, when to breath and how to breath without sucking in a gallon of water.It's all pretty damn overwhelming, mostly because I have signed up to swim 1500 meters in a lake in less than 3 weeks.

I am not defeated! 
My plan is to battle those little negative thoughts that keep creeping into my head, you know the ones that say, "will I have to have a boat pull me out?" and "can I stay relaxed and not panic in the water?". There is extra pressure because I will have several family members there to watch and the company I work for is sponsoring the event. How's that going to look if I drown in front of my family or have to get pulled out of the water in front of coworkers? The mind can be cruel.

My plan is to watch a YouTube videos on swimming techniques daily hoping to train my mind what good technique looks like. There are some great Total Immersion videos that teach you the little intricacies of swimming easier and more relaxed. I have written some positive affirmations to help build my confidence and force out the negative thoughts, and I will continue to work on relaxation, confidence, and skills in the few training swims that I have remaining. I know that I can do this, I just have to relax in the water and take my time getting through the swim one stroke at a time.

The start of my swimming affirmations

If you are really bored, this is my swim intervals video that I sent into the coach.

This is what swimming is supposed to look like.

The Aftermath

Marathon # 4 is officially in the books, there were no unicorns or glitter in this thing, only sweat and pain. Ok, maybe that's a little dramatic but it was pretty damn tough. The Coach and several others asked what I thought went wrong. Great question.
I worked my ass off training for this thing and had at least a couple of training runs where I managed to run 24 miles in 3:15 running in zone 2 heart rate or less (that means I was running at an easy pace). Maybe it was partially mental, maybe it just wasn't my day. I don't recall doing anything different or out of the ordinary that would have caused the meltdown.

Quick Race Summary.
Felt great at the start, it wasn't raining as had been forecast. Temperature was in the mid to high 50's and felt good. I never once felt like I was overheated or dehydrated, in fact I was trucking right along but when I checked my heart rate at the 10K split it was a little higher than I thought it should have been. I didn't panic but I was a little concerned because we still had 20 miles to go. I focused on being relaxed, face, shoulders, arms, breathing....nice and easy. This worked for a little while but it still continued to creep up and by the time I hit mile 12 I was into zone 4 and I knew I couldn't maintain the pace for another 14 miles. I kept it going until mile 15 and then it was all down hill from there, mentally and physically. My back and my feet started hurting (this is not typical at all for me), and then after 20 I was pretty much done. My calves and feet were cramping and it was a miserable slog to the end.

I was pretty mad about the whole thing for awhile during and after the race but I am over it now. I know I did the work, I ran a fair race, and I do see another marathon or more in my future.

For now...I am going to focus on recovery and getting back to the basics...enjoying running. I feel my strength is in the half marathon or less, I want to get better, stronger, and smarter at the marathon plus.

I know this still doesn't answer the question....what went wrong? Here are possibly a few reasons, no excuses, it's all water under the bridge now but these are some things that I will change.

• Sleep number bed at the Radisson - I didn't like it the night before my half mary in Springfield and had it again in Fargo. That's the only thing I can think of that caused my back pain. Sleep number beds are out of the race plan.
• Mental - this whole BQ thing seems a little heavy. I like to set and reach goals, but I am not sure that this one is for me. I don't mean to sound like a whiny giver-upper because I am not. But I am not going to hang my entire reason for running on a BQ, it's not worth it. I run for me.
• Tactical - Next marathon will be on my time at my pace. No pacers, no pressure, just a nice relaxed pace with the goal of finishing with a negative split and not wanting to die afterwards.

If you would like to know more about the Fargo Marathon, Jim Weatherly gives a pretty spot on review on his blog 50 after 40.

Here's the rest of the story.

Mental Preparations

This is my visualization....thanks to Photoshop!

The Fargo Marathon is now just a few days away. The marathon is not a task to be taken lightly. Not only is running 26.2 miles a challenge within itself, but now I will be trying to do it in less than 3 hours and 20 minutes. There will not be anything easy about it. It's interesting how distorted the perception of time can be. Spending 3 hours relaxing with loved ones can go by in a flash while the same 3 hours while running a moderate pace can seem like an eternity. The physical work is done, it's mostly mental now.

You always reap what you sow.
I have put in well over 700 miles of training so far this year. I have worked hard to get to my current level of fitness. I am stronger than I have ever been as a runner.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not and act, but a habit. - Aristotle
Long runs, intervals, hard tempo runs, speed work. Sometimes it sucks but the fact is, you have to run faster to get faster....and that's not easy.

Happiness - the fruit of the desire and ability to sacrifice what we want now for what we want eventually.
As one of my Dailymile friends once said "Training isn't all unicorns and glitter". It's easy as hell to find excuses not to get in a run, but it feels ten times better afterwards when you do it anyway.

You can do anything you want to do, if only you believe with sufficient conviction and act in accordance with your faith; for whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.
7:30 - 7:38 average pace - 26.2 miles - I am ready, it will happen.

Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.
I know I can.

You have to believe in yourself when no one else does, that's what makes you a winner.
I believe.

A huge thank you to Coaches Jeff and Diane at PRSFit for kicking my butt into shape, and all of my Dailymile friends for the daily confidence and support throughout. It just wouldn't be the same without you.

My post race visualization. Ahhhhhh!

Countdown to Fargo

The taper is on! There are now 17 days until the Fargo Marathon and there has been a lot of hard work and sweat created along the way. I am feeling good mentally and physically. There have been many ups and downs while training for this marathon and it's been a long tough winter / spring of training. I am ready to roll!

So, what have I done to train for my fourth marathon and what have I learned?

My training officially began on January 3rd. Coach had me on a plan of three build weeks followed by a week of recovery. My three build weeks consisted of hard tempo runs, hill repeats, and a long run to finish of the week, not to mention two days of strength training that includes lots of ab and core work. The recovery weeks are not necessarily easy, but they are not quite as intense as the build weeks and he encourages a race at the end of the week.
My first race of the year (which was not on a recovery week) was a trail run that I could not resist. Run Toto Run is a 10 mile, 20 mile, 50K race through Wyandotte Park in the Kansas City area. I ran the 10 mile race, it was very difficult but it was amazing! Snow, mud, hills, creeks, hills! It was all a pretty awesome experience and seemed to go by quickly. More trail running is definitely in my future!

Living in rural Missouri and having a job that requires a lot of hours does not make it easy to find "local" races. So my next race didn't happen until March 26 where I ran the Frisco High Line Trail run in Springfield, MO.  Springfield is a 4 hour drive, so I made a quick trip up the night before, raced hard, and drove home. The High Line Trail is a former railway bed that has been paved. It is flat and fast! I smoked my half marathon PR finishing in 1:33:45 and ended up placing tenth overall!

There were many times throughout my training that I became frustrated about the difficult runs and trying to juggle my training and my work schedule. I have missed some runs and workouts throughout this period but with a lot of careful and creative planning I was able to get most of them done. There were a lot of days when I seriously asked myself why I was doing this. People think we are crazy for what we do let along getting up at 4am some days just to get in a planned run.

So, with all of this hard work and the mental and physical struggles that I have put myself through, I have to stop and ask myself why. Why do we run and train and suffer like this? Is it some form of addiction or insanity?

Yeah, it's probably a little of both. But I can tell you that the sense of accomplishment after completing a tough workout or obtaining a PR in a race is fantastic.

I am pressed for time, as usual, as I am writing this and I realize that I didn't really give any great tips or advice on how to train for a marathon. It doesn't take any more than the usual things that anything worth doing takes. It's about commitment, dedication, hard work, sweat, and being humble but confident in your ability for growth.

With this being said, Fargo will be my fourth marathon.

My goal is to qualify to run the Boston Marathon next spring.

My goal time to finish in Fargo is 3 hours and 15 minutes.

This is a little better than 7:30 / mile pace. It may be a little aggressive, but I do think that it is possible to finish in 3:15 or very close to it. My Boston qualifying time is 3:20 so I have to give myself a little cushion. You never know what will happen over the course of 26.2 miles.

Frisco High Line Half Marathon Report

My training plan called for a half marathon on this particular weekend and the closest thing that I could find was the Frisco High Line Run for Scouting half marathon in Springfield Missouri. A nice little 4 and one half hour drive from home...road trip!

While checking the weather for Springfield it looked like it would be between 34 and 46 degrees with some rain in the late morning or early afternoon, a little cooler than I would like it to be, but very doable. Saturday morning, this is what I woke up to. A beautiful 36 degrees and a steady rain!

When I arrived at the race start I was able to meet up with fellow Daily Mile friends David M. and Jon W.  David just finished the Rocky Racoon 100 and Jon was there as not only part of the support crew but helped pace David for 20 miles in the event, very cool! They are a couple of great guys and some serious running machines!

Luckily before the race start we were able to hang out inside of a warm building while we hoped that the rain would stop. At one point shortly before the start, somebody announced that they would delay the race while a storm cell passed by. At this time there was a some thunder and lightening. About one minute later, the same guy came out and announced that we were going to start soon and needed to head to the start line, so much for waiting out the storm. At the start line, there was a small group of us up front and most everyone else was huddled under a tent about 100 feet behind the start line. (hello - you are running 13.1 miles, you WILL get wet!) 

We were started off with a train whistle in honor of the Frisco High Line Trail, the rails to trails path where we were running. 

OK - too much fluff detail going on in the post so here is the breakdown.

My goal for this race was to run even 7 minute splits or even a hair under. Like a rookie, I cruised through the first mile at 6:35, much faster than I intended. I wasn't too upset though because it felt good and I was able to slow down and relax a little while keeping a solid pace. My second mile was spot on 7:00, perfect! I felt like I was locked in at a good steady effort at this point. After mile 2 I didn't hear my watch sound off the splits and I didn't see any mile markers again until mile 6. I went through miles 3 - 6 in 6:57, 6:47 and 7:03 - things were looking good and I was just about half way through the race. Because this is an out and back course I was able to count that there were 8 or 9 people ahead of me and when I hit the turn around I noticed that there was not really anyone close enough behind me that would present a challenge. 

All through the race we could see and hear the lightening and thunder as it continued to rain. The wind and rain were at our back on the way out, so when we turned around it was right in our faces. I think it hailed a little too because at various times it had a nice sting to it as it hit my face. 

Whether it was knowing that I was really not going to gain or lose a position or that fact that we were now running into the wind my pace slowed on the back half. I ran miles 7 and 8 in 7:07 and 7:18 respectively, then by mile nine my feet were cold, soaking wet, and felt like bricks. I slogged through mile 9 in 7:23, then I think my mind drifted off in mile 10 because I dilly-dallied through it with a 7:33 pace so I had to kick it back into gear and ended up finishing with 7:14, 7:28, 7:24 and final push of 50 seconds at the end. 

Race stats copied from Training Peaks log.

I was cold, soaking wet, and my face was frozen, but I finished with a nice PR,10th overall and 3rd in my age group! In retrospect, not bad for such crappy conditions, i'll take it! I even scored an extra medal for my age group award!

Looking back at my Garmin stats, my heart rate didn't make it into zone 4 which tells me that I could have run this a little faster. I know that if I would have had a someone closer to me either in front or behind it would have helped push me to a faster finish. 

I am in no way unhappy with this race, but I am also not completely satisfied with the result. The great thing is that I know I can run it faster next time, especially if I have some competition to push me.

Finally, a quick but important plug for my motivators.

First of all, Jeff and Diane at PRS FIT have helped to keep me motivated and educated along this journey. They have helped my train smarter and harder while staying pretty much injury free the entire time. I have been working hard this year in preparation for the Fargo Marathon. My goal is to qualify for Boston there. With a lot of hard work and a little luck I will do just that. Qualifying or not, it's pretty much guaranteed that I will have a PR there. If you are serious about putting in the time and effort to improve your running, I would encourage runners at any level to contact them for assistance. 

Second, and no less important, the great Daily Mile friends who continue to inspire and and bring positive thoughts to every workout. I feel lucky knowing that it has reached the point where I can participate in almost any race across the U.S. and even internationally, and find a friendly Daily Miler. I even moved from a city of well over 100,000 people to one of 3,000 people in an entirely different state and was able to connect with local Daily Miler Sara D.  in my new town. Pretty awesome stuff in my book!

Sioux Falls Half Race Report

Sprinting to the finish!

While training for the marathon, every fourth week coach gives me an easier mileage week with a race at the end of it. It's a great test to see where I am at in training. Last weeks race was the Sioux Falls Half Marathon. With my heart rate training zones adjusted and the recent progress that I have been making I really felt like I had a solid chance of running my fastest race ever at this distance. Discussing my race goal with Coach the day before, I had told him that I wanted to finish under 1:38 which was my previous PR (personal record) at this distance. Coach agreed and thought I could pull it off, then he used one of his motivational tricks and tried planting a seed in my mind. He told me that one of the people he coaches (who shall remain nameless) had just finished a half the week before in 1:36, I thought that would be pushing my luck and pretty much blew off that competitive jab he gave me. So here is how it all unfolded.

The Race

With my goal time set, coach had me break down the race by 5K times. He told me that it was much easier to break the race up into 5K goals than to think about how many more miles there were. I took his advice and the morning of the race I wrote on my hand where I needed to be for every 3 miles. My goal was to average 7:25 per mile or better so my 3 mile goals were 3(22:15), 6(44:30), 9(1:06:45), 12(1:29:00).  When my first 3 mile split came in at 21:24, I didn't feel like I was pushing the pace too much and was happy that I had banked a little time in case I started slowing down a little. As I write this, I see that I ran the second 3 at exactly the same pace 21:24. This put me almost 2 minutes ahead of my goal pace at 6 miles, I has banked a little more time, I was still feeling good, things were going great! I did my best to focus on keeping my arms and shoulders relaxed and trying to keep a good running form. At mile 9 my time was 1:05:03, I had run the last 3 miles at 22:15 (goal pace) and had not lost any of the time I had banked. This meant that I had to just hang on for another 4.1 miles and I even had a little wiggle room. I was still feeling good but I also knew that could change at any moment. Upon reaching the 12 mile mark I was still running some strong miles. I reached 12 at 1:27:16 which meant that I was still running fairly consistent splits and had run the last three in 22:13, pretty much goal pace. At this point I knew that I was going to decimate my goal of coming in under 1:38! My plan was to try and kick hard the last 1.1 miles but I didn't know how much kick I had remaining and I was not sure exactly where the finish line was. Mentally, I really like to know where the finish is so that I can gauge just how hard to kick to the end. I completed mile 13 in 7:25, right at goal pace, and then kicked it down for the final sprint to the finish. My final time was 1:36:18, I smoked my previous best by over 2 minutes! This was one of the better races ever for me. I felt good the entire run and I really believe that breaking the race down into 3 mile segments helped too.

I finished 67th overall out of 1137, 10th in my age group, and the 51st male.

Tech notes: 

I chose not to wear the compression leggings on for this race. I had only worn them once during a training run and wasn't ready to try them on race day yet.

I did not use any gels or other fuel options for this race. It was a cool morning, the weather was perfect and I was pretty sure that I could run my goal time without needing to take anything considering the conditions and actual running time. I did take a little water and Powerade throughout the run but not much. I had made sure to drink lots of fluids the day before and the morning of the race so that I was well hydrated. Other than being slightly cramped in the calves, I felt great after the race. I was planning on taking some Endurolytes before the race but I didn't get them set out the night before and forgot to take them.

Once again for you runners, I highly recommend breaking your next race up into 3 mile or 5K splits. It is so much more mentally manageable for long runs. This was great advice from the Coach.

Daily Mile

Daily Mile is a social media network for athletes. The greater portion of athletes are runners but there are a good variety of other endurance athletes on this site as well. It is an extremely supportive online community where I post my workouts. We comment on each other's workouts, share triumphs and tribulations, and can ask or answer a variety of training related questions. Here are some great Daily Mile members that I have had the pleasure of meeting from the Sioux Falls area. It is such a great thing it is to spend time with like minded people that understand the allure of running as you I do. Non-runners just don't understand why we would torture ourselves with chaffing, cramps, muscle soreness, and running through the various crazy weather conditions.

Awesome group of Daily Mile friends!

Me with Angela and Matt. This was their first half and they both ran a fantastic race!

Trying to finish strong!

Healthy, Beautiful, Deadly?

Running is healthy and beautiful for sure.

Last week I completed a three week buildup in my training. It's been a challenging three weeks, not only to complete my workouts but to find the time to do so. In those 3 weeks I ran 131 miles and biked 137, not to mention the strength workouts. To the non-runners this probably sounds crazy, but I have goals in front of me and I enjoy my activities. Workouts may seem like a hassle before you begin them and then there are bad workouts where a run just doesn't go well and you can't wait to be done, but I ALWAYS feel better and have a great sense of accomplishment when I am done. It's like a drug. It makes you feel better, it makes you look better and it gives you more energy, how can you lose?
Working out and training is obviously not all roses and rainbows. There are time conflicts with work and family. It takes careful planning and time management to get these things done. Secondly, there are generally some aches and pains that go along with training. Sore muscles, bruises, and a variety of other minor maladies are all part of the amateur and professional athlete's life. This year I made a couple of visits to the physical therapist, mostly due to over-training and not really knowing what I was doing. Other minor injuries this year have included ...

Bloody Shin from biking

The infamous 'bloody nipples" from shirt chaffing.

Losing a toenail.

...all minor, laughable injuries. It's just a part of the journey. As athletes we can easily be our own worst enemies while training and competing. It's all about pushing yourself to the next level. Going farther, going faster and getting leaner, meaner, and stronger. But there is a line. We have to be smart about it. Do you have a plan? Do you follow it or overdo it? We must learn to listen to our bodies, knowing when it is time to push and when it is time to recover, heal, and regroup. Backing off is no easy task. Do you know when to do it? Can you do it?
My two trips to the physical therapist were due to lack of a balance in my training. I was running harder, farther, and longer than I should have been. I was not taking proper time for recovery and I was neglecting proper strength training. Again all of this resulted in minor inconveniences for me with fairly quick and easy solutions to my injuries. I was lucky.
This last weekend somebody I went to high school with wasn't so lucky. I was on the high school wrestling team for a couple of years and the coach's son was a year ahead of me. He was an all star on the team. He went on to be a very good wrestler in college, then he went back and took over for his father, coaching at the same high school from where he graduated. His name was John Chapman. His wife is the track and cross country coach at the same high school. They were running the Bix 7 together for the second year in a row. Unfortunately at about mile 6, John, 41 years young, had a heart attack and passed away. I never really knew John very well, but it sure hits close to home. I will be 41 in September, it's scary. As an athlete you don't expect these things to happen to us because we eat well and we exercise; we are healthy. You can read about John here and here. It's a terrible tragedy.
It's been a hot and humid summer. It's easy to feel a little invincible after a good hard workout. We are not invincible, in any way.
Please, listen to your body, train smart, and be careful out there.

RIP John

Training Update

I have not posted since the Fargo Marathon back in May, mostly because there hasn't been anything too exciting to post and I have been super busy. Since finishing Fargo I have enlisted a coach to help me with my training. Not because I have any hopes of becoming an elite athlete but because I was feeling overwhelmed with my summer training. As I have mentioned before, I am signed up to do a century ride as a fundraiser for JDRF and have plans to run the Mankato Marathon in October. I am a runner at heart but was talked into doing the ride because it is for a great cause, it is for one of the major charities that my company supports, and of course....I love a challenge. I did not even own a road bike until May so I had not clue as to how to train for a 100 mile ride while also maintain my marathon training.

The Coach
I found Coach Jeff from PRS Fit through my running buddy Jenn. Jeff trains his athletes mainly through heart rate training. I am just over one month into my training with Jeff and I can tell you that it has been a positive experience so far. He gives me enough workouts to keep me busy but not so much to cause injury. Jeff provides me with running, cycling, and strength training work outs. An interesting fact is that in the five weeks that I have been training with Jeff, I have had two complete rest days, one was during week one which was more of an evaluation week, and the second rest day was because I just could not fit a strength training workout into my day due to job responsibilities. This busy schedule fits right in with my restless personality, but it is also tempered with enough variety through the week to keep me injury free.

The Ride

Currently most of my weeks consist of 3 days running, 2 days cycling, and 2 days of strength training. Although it's not my favorite thing to do, I am enjoying the cycling. What a great way to cover much more ground than running, and it presents a unique set of challenges. My rides so far have been 1-3 hours in duration with my farthest ride being right at 40 miles and my average pace is typically about 15.5 mph. I still have a long way to go though because I am anticipating my century ride to take about 9 hours. Luckily I will have some other people to share it with. By the way, I have now raised just over $1,000 for the ride. I still have at least $2,000 to go. Thank you so much if you are one of the people that have helped donate towards my ride. If you have not yet but would like to, it is super easy, quick, safe, tax deductible, and can even be anonymous if you prefer. Just go here to donate to my ride, thank you so much for your generosity!

The Run
It has been difficult to figure out where my running performance had progressed. At this point in my training it is mostly building and maintaining a strong base. It has been a little different because the coach has us mostly run in prescribed heart rate zones for a certain duration of time. This means that you don't always know exactly how far your run will take you. Terrain, weather, and general overall well being can cause some fluctuation in distance. This is the first time in all of my years running that I really have not paid any attention and up until today, could not tell you how many miles I ran this week or last.

Last week was my first performance test since employing a coach. I ran the "Salute the Troops" 10K race. I can only remember running one other 10K, so I was a little worried about race strategy. How fast to go out, and what kind of pace that I could maintain. I was fairly confident that I could hold 7:30 for the 6.2 miles and if things were really clicking along, I might even be able to run it a bit faster. Unfortunately 80 degrees and 90% humidity do not make for ideal race conditions. I won't get into too many details other than I went out way to fast which is a common mistake. I just had a tough time judging my speed for the first mile or so. My splits were 6:55(whoa hoss!), 7:25, 7:23, 7:46, 7:53, 8:05, 1:10. Yep, that's pretty much what you would call a regressive run.

 Despite the fact that I didn't run the smartest race, I did finish in 46:36 (goal time was 46 or faster), which was good enough to be the overall winner of the race! It pays to pick the right race I guess, but it was particularly sweet because my father was there to see it. There may have only been 20 people in this race, but you know what, it still counts!!

In summary, my training seems to be going well so far. Next week will be interesting because we start to step up the mileage. As always it will be challenging trying to fit my training in while working 11-12 hour days, but, I am not sure that I would have it any other way either!

Special thank you to my wife and daughter for putting up with and supporting my passion / hobby and listening to me talk about all sorts of weird running things. And to my running / fitness friends for being just as crazy about running or working out as I can be at times.

Fargo Marathon Recap

8am on 5/22/10 was the beginning of the Fargo Marathon, my second marathon.
Here is the short and long of it all.

Summary (for those of you that don't care about the technical stuff)

Starting weather: pleasantly cool with a light rain (perfect)
Finishing weather: warm, sunny, and strong gusting winds (not perfect)
Goal time: 3:50
Actual finish time : 3:55:43
Overall place: 308 / 1878
Gender place: 471 / 1124
Age group place: 89 / 182

My goal for this race was to finish in 3 hours 50 minutes. After mile 22 I "hit the wall". My quads started to ache, my calves were cramping, and my right knee had a little bit of a twinge. At this point I believe all but the knee can be attributed to not taking in enough sodium. The knee I blame on not doing enough running specific strength training.

Overall, I felt great throughout the run until after mile 22, then it felt like the longest 4.2 miles of my life.

A marathon is such an interesting beast. You train 18-20 weeks for (in this case) 4 hours of running. Certainly there is much more to it than that, there are many mental and physical challenges along the journey. But the rewards are well worth it as well as the camaraderie of other marathoners.

The Details

Now for the good stuff!

I really feel like I learned some good information from my first marathon, and I am almost certain that # 3 will be even better. Here is what I have learned, the mistakes I made, and where things went well.

The Friendships
Before I talk about the actual marathon and training details I have to give a plug to the great DailyMile people that were at Fargo, I know there were more, but these are the ones I know and had contact with.
Jenn - I have spent many hours running with Jenn here in Sioux Falls. She has dramatically improved her running skills within the last year and will continue to grow. She's a great friend, keep your eye on her training, she will likely be qualifying for Boston this fall in Chicago.
Jenessa - This was Jenessa's first marathon. I had the great opportunity of first meeting her in St. Cloud for the Earth Day run where she PR'd her half marathon. She finished strong in Fargo and will also only get better. Way to go Jenessa!
Rob (aka Rob the Runner) - If your are on DailyMile you have got to check out his mileage. Rob is such a great spirit and inspiration on DM. In celebration of running Fargo, Rob was sporting the "mara-hawk" hairdo, check it out!
Emily A. - What a sweetheart! Emily and I had the same race goal and I had the pleasure of running with her for almost the first half of the race. She wasn't feeling it and eased off of the pace after awhile but she still had strong performance for the day.

The Training
When I first started training for Fargo, my intention was to use Higdon's Intermediate II plan. I quickly figured out that this plan was a little too aggressive for me and backed down the the Intermediate I plan. Not a huge difference but it did not have the 50 mile weeks. My running is a great mental release for me and I found myself overtraining and becoming injured three different times throughout my training. Between a hamstring problem, a knee problem, and tendonitis I guess that I am lucky to have even completed this marathon let alone PR it.

 I am my worst enemy with my training and created my problems by not allowing my body proper rest among other things. I am going to use a well respected coach this time and see if I can have a more successful training period.

A lot of equipment for such a minimalist sport!

Fuel and Nutrition
During the Twin Cities marathon in October I made the mistake of not taking my gels or drinking enough water because I didn't feel like I needed it. At that time I was also hung up on using one type of gel, which was the orange GU with caffeine (another mistake). This time, after some experimentation, I switched to the Hammer Gels. So far I love them. They are the best tasting and easiest to consume gels that I have tried. What seems to work for me is to consume one gel every 4 miles (or about every 35 minutes). I also drank water at every water stop to keep hydrated and help break down the gels. The one thing that I will change on my next marathon is to take in some electrolytes. Once again Hammer Nutrition offers Endurolytes, an electrolyte replacement. I actually purchased these before Fargo, but had not trained with them and was not comfortable using them. Side note: For the second time, I also consumed a 5 hour energy drink moments before the start of the race. Does it help? I like to think so, but it's difficult to say for sure at this point.

The Weather
Really nothing we can do about the weather. It's always the luck of the draw. Spring marathons are tough because you train through the snow and cold of winter, the nice cool spring days and then you hope it stays cool for your race. Leading up to Fargo it looked like it was going to be much warmer than what I had been training in. Luckily we caught a break on race day and had cool temps with a light rain, at least for the first hour. The clouds stayed out for the next couple of hours, then the last hour the sun and the wind showed up to add an extra challenge. I am glad that I was able to get a couple of warmer weather runs in pre-marathon so that I was somewhat acclimated to it.

The race actually finishes inside of the Fargodome, it's a great experience!

The Marathon
My game plan was to stick with the 3:50 pacer up until mile 23, then if I had anything left in the tank to give it some gas and finish strong. Throughout the race we were right on pace, even a minute or so ahead of goal pace at around mile 14. I kept falling behind the group at the water stops until somewhere around mile 16 when I actually found myself ahead of the pacer. This was not intentional but I went with it and did a decent job of maintaining about an 8:45 pace, at least until I finished mile 22. The pace group caught and passed me right after the mile 23 marker and I just didn't have it in me to keep up. My quads were aching and the last two miles my right calf started to badly cramp. I had to walk it off, I was afraid that if I kept running while it was cramping that it would get so bad that I might not be able to finish. I did a combination of running and walking to the finish. That last mile seemed like the longest mile ever.

In reflection, with better training and continuing to dial in my nutrition, I can realistically see taking another ten minutes off my PR for the Mankato marathon.

After the marathon with my running buddy Jenn.

The Technical Stuff

I have to say that I am very happy with my splits, they were pretty consistent until the bonk at 23. 

Looking at my heart rate, it took a pretty good jump about 1:45 into the race and continued a steady climb afterwards. This is where I believe that electrolyte replacement would have greatly helped.

Lots of details, but to me that's part of the fun. Knowing that there is room for improvement is a great motivator!

53 Miles

My first marathon has taught me many lessons, most importantly, patience. In training for the first, I selected a fairly challenging training plan and ran almost every run at a strong pace. Never really thinking much about recovery. If you run fast in training, you are bound to run fast in a race right? Right….to a point. Being a master’s runner (40+ yrs of age) changes the game a bit. I have to be a little gentler on the body whether I like it or not. I am still learning about running and researching what will be my next marathon training plan. If Fargo is my race, then I have until February to select the right plan for me. Until then I have been experimenting with aerobic base training and heart rate training.

It’s not glamorous, trust me, I used to check my resting heart rate and what it was right after a run, but never gave it much thought beyond that. My opinion was that it really did’t matter and that if you run harder your heart will get stronger. I was wrong. Using a heart rate monitor helps you gauge your effort and keep that effort within the optimal zone for what you are trying to accomplish on each particular run. This type of training is supposed to build up your aerobic capacity and improve your overall running abilities for all distance running. This training encourages you to listen closely to your body and not push yourself to the limit for each run but allow for recovery after every run. It is actually much more detailed than what I touch on here but I can tell you that it has made my runs definitely more enjoyable. I now closely monitor my heart rate during my runs and do not worry about how long it will take me to finish. In fact I enjoy my runs much more at this slower pace because instead of running at the top end of my abilities, I am running in a comfortable heart rate zone.

It has been a relief, training myself not to run by pace on the watch, but by effort. Forcing myself to slow down when the heart rate gets too high and making myself speed up if I take it too easy going downhill. Since my marathon I have been working to safely increase my mileage. In fact I just finished October with 173 miles, my highest month ever, and the week ending November 1st, I logged over 53 miles. If you want to learn more, below are some links with some explanation. I am also open to any thoughts or recommendations from anyone with experience with this type of training.

H.I.T – the book that started it all for me (this is an advanced running book but still has some good tips for an amateur like me)
Aerobic Base Training
Heart Rate Training