Taper Pains

I don't know what's going on with my body lately but it's definitely cause for concern. First of all, I'm dealing with an increasingly painful neck and upper back to the point that I have very limited range of motion with my head. Using a heat pad on and off last night only seemed to make it worse as it was really stiff this morning. I just popped in a couple of pills of Motrin so hopefully that'll net better results. Or I can just attribute this to the joys of getting old.

I'm also dealing with some congestion. There's good moments and bad moments throughout the day, but I'm not too worried since I don't feel feverish or ill.

The biggest concern right now is my right ankle. Best case scenario: the hypochondriac in me is rearing its ugly head and it's just soreness after 17 weeks of marathon training. Worse case scenario: the 2 words all runners fear most - an onset of a stress fracture.

It's not necessarily painful as I can still run on it just fine. But there is some lingering soreness in the inner bone of my right ankle that hasn't been going away with very slight swelling in that general region. As it stands right now, I have 3 marathons I have signed up for in the next 3 months with CIM up next weekend. This is NOT the time for me to go through this. Then again, when are injuries ever convenient?

For now, I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping this last week of taper takes care of all that ails me. Especially in lieu of the very ambitious goals I've set forth for myself for CIM.

Round and Round

After two days off from running, it was time to drag my fat ass over to the track for my favorite workout - VO2max intervals...woo hoo! Wait, you can't tell I was being sarcastic there, couldja? Stupid blog.

Anyway, it was great to be running again but did want to take it easy on my ankle and hamstring. On Pfitz' plan, tonight called for 8 miles + 3 x 1600m. Target range was 6:45-7:09 and while the spot on my ankle became sore again, the hamstring didn't really bother me. I'll take 1 outta 2. Also, cut the workout short by a mile since I was pressed for time. Here were my splits:

I - 6:37
II - 7:00
III - 6:52

Yeah...pretty all over the place, right? I also didn't wear my lightweight Mizuno Elixirs, instead opting for my regular Mizuno Wave Nirvanas. Definitely felt them slowing me down but I want to be cautious heading into the last week before the marathon.

Tomorrow morning - a 9-10 mile Turkey Trot with the Trail Runners Club!

Ok, gotta run - time to pick up the girlfriend from the airport and fight the pre-Thanksgiving rush. Ugh...why did she have to pick today of all days to fly?

Anyway, have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Race Report: Santa Monica Mountains 30K

First and foremost - a major thank you to Sarah and Wendell over at PCTR for putting together a fantastic race! The course, the aid stations and the finish area...all top notch.

To the race - the Santa Monica Mountains 30K. As my marathon training program winds down (I'm officially in "taper" mode right now), I've been a little stressed out about my current state of being broken down, both mentally and physically. Then came a suggestion by Lori, one of the good peeps over at the Runner's World forums (my home away from home), to run in this race with her. Something about the idea really grabbed me as I've been avoiding trail running to train for CIM and desperately needed something to reinvigorate my love for running, period. We managed to enlist Rachel as well, another local forum member who just ran a tremendous marathon at Santa Clarita a couple of weeks back.

The run would start at 8:30am so I was up by 6am, went through my usual pre-race routine (coffee, bathroom, mixing my Cytomax, etc) and was out the door and on the road by 7am. After a 45 minute drive up the coast, there I was in La Jolla Canyon ready to get dirty again. I saw Lori not soon after I parked and also ran into fellow trail club members, Stuart and Jess - both of whom were running the 50K (!) this morning. After saying hello to Sarah (1 of 2 of the aforementioned race director/couple), I finally met up with Rachel (who spend the previous night boozing it up if you can believe that). After some pre-race instructions, the group was off!

Lori, Rachel and I said we'd run the course together, taking our time and enjoying the run as we were all hobbled with some kind of injury. The trail quickly narrowed to a single-track that climbed La Jolla Canyon. Some controlled anarchy ensued as the faster/impatient runners tried to edge by the folks biding our time to run/hike the ascents. It was fine as we were pretty willing to let these folks go on their merry ways. The climbing continued to Mugu Peak, where we got our first glimpse of the ocean. There was some morning cloud cover but the view was still spectacular. I just couldn't put my camera away for long as there was almost always something I wanted to snap.

A couple of miles later, we began our descend into La Jolla Valley (my personal favorite part) where we found ourselves in a narrow single-track that ran through a vast landscape of dry brush in a valley enclosed by mountains off the distance. Somehow, the order in which we were running in (Rachel, me, then Lori) never seemed to change. We hit our first aid station somewhere around mile 7-8 where Rachel and I took a quick bathroom break followed by a quick raid of the goodies the station had to offer (boiled potatoes, cookies, chips, etc). Lori wanted to keep moving so on we went back through La Jolla Canyon to the Ray Miller trail.

This was another section that ran alongside the coastline so again, the camera was almost always out (as was the sun by this point). After more climbing, we descended down to the fire roads of Sycamore Canyon where we hit aid station #2. This time, I bided my time and lingered a bit longer as I stopped to shove whatever food I could into my eager mouth. Again, sliced boiled potatoes, cookies, chips and...a cup of coke. I topped off my water bottle and started back on the fire road but realized my stomach hadn't quite settled so I took a couple of walk breaks.

At this point, I did a quick assessment of my legs. Due to all the climbing and such (which wasn't nearly over), my right hamstring was pretty tight. The bone on my right ankle was still a bit sore and I'd begun to develop a 'hot spot' on the bottom of my right foot from all the friction. Still, I think I was faring better than the girls - especially Lori. She was a gametime decision but opted to run it anyway, in spite of a bad left leg. She would fall back a little bit here and there, but gutted and practically limped her way through to keep pace. Rachel was having problems with her IT band but was looking stronger than the rest of us.

We almost missed the Fireline/Overlook trail that would begin our final major climb of which we would mostly hike. Thanks to another runner, our attention was snapped to attention and like a herd of goats, we started the final arduous road up. The old hamstrings were definitely sore at this point and the climb seemed to go on forever. Still, thanks to the camaraderie and small talk we engaged in throughout the run, it wasn't bad at all. And did I mention...the view??

With about 2-3 miles left, our little group broke up with Rachel running ahead, me taking some final pictures from the Overlook/Ray Miller trail before running down the remaining miles and Lori gutting it out to finish strong. That's pretty much the order we finished in when it was all said and done back at La Jolla Canyon. Total running time = 3:43:57, with 19.13 miles covered. We treated ourselves to some post-race snacks (chili!) and a couple of cans of ice-cold coke for me.

I'm left with some sore hammies and right ankle, but it was definitely worth it and ended up having a great time running with the girls from Runner's World. See you guys at CIM, right? ;)

Thanks again guys at PCTR for putting together a great day for us runners...I will definitely run one of your races again!

ps - a special shout-out to my girl Sara who PR'd in the Philadelphia Marathon this morning - bad knee and all...proud of ya babe!

Yay Trails!

In preparation for my first trail race since spring, I wanted to get in a trail run with my new Mizuno Ascends that I've yet to break-in. What better way than to hit up the tried and true fire roads of Westridge Canyon I thought.

I made the windy drive up to the trailhead and was off and running by late morning. The first 3.5 miles is practically a sheer climb up 600+ feet from the start. After about a mile or so, the shoes started feeling really tight on the sides of my feet. Pausing to stop and relace did the trick and I continued on my way. The climb was arduous but nothing I wasn't accustomed to. It's steep but not steep enough to keep me from running it.

At the end of approximately 3.5 miles, there's a bathroom where I took a brief break and a water fountain that I took a sip from. I continued on west down dirt Mulholland that basically overlooks most of the San Fernando Valley. The road started dropping after about a mile and since I had planned on turning around once I hit mile 6, I knew I had to climb this part back up. But I didn't care...I really enjoyed being out in solitude and nature passing the occasional runner/mountain biker along the way. For the first half of the run, I was all smiles.

After stopping to catch my breath at mile 6, I turned back around to retrace my steps. It was nearing noon around this time as the sun hit its zenith in the sky. The day was warm no doubt, but not unbearably so. Probably around the 70's with the occasional breeze here and there. Still, I kicked myself a little bit for not deciding to go with the visor.

Legs were feeling a little heavy at this point, so I took it easy - even though the last couple of miles were mostly downhill. My 22-ounce bottle of Cytomax was nearing its end and I was starting to get hungry. I finally reached the trailhead again after about 2 hours total time with 12 miles covered (to a 'T').

Definitely enjoyed myself out there. And the right leg held up ok (though I did experience a little ankle soreness). Bring on Sunday!

The Good, the Track...and the Hypochondriac

First of all, I'd like to announce that I will be running the Houston Marathon come January 18th! I got a late, comped entry this morning as the short running documentary Cody and I have been working on, Running for my Father will be showing at the Houston Expo (the race that was featured in the movie)!

My hope is that it goes as well, if not better than premiere night a couple of months back. For the race itself, I will be pacing my Cody to hopefully a sub-4:30 finish (which would be a PR of over 30 minutes for him!). Fingers crossed folks.

___________________

After taking the past couple of days off of running (yay taper), my body was anxious to get going again. Anything beyond 48 hours and I quickly grow irritable and restless. By mid-afternoon today at work, I was ready to explode.

I was finally able to wrap things up at work by 6:30pm and made the shortish drive over to Beverly Hills High track for my VO2max workout. On schedule was 8 miles + 5 x 600m @ 5K pace. After a 3 mile warm-up, I took off for my 5 x 600's w/ a 90 second recovery in between sets (target pace 2:18-2:25):

I - 2:19
II - 2:19
III - 2:21
IV - 2:21
V - 2:24

I normally push myself on the last one, but I had this nagging voice in the back of my head telling me to take it easy...you're too close to the marathon to get injured. Ok fine...but wouldn't ya know it, being the true hypochrondriac that I am, two nagging injuries became exacerbated as I was jogging the remaining mileage around the track.

First, I became very aware of the soreness in my inner ankle bone that's been lingering. It's not too bad or debilitating but there is a dull pain there that arises after some of my workouts lately. The words "stress fracture" immediately jumped into my mind and I started doing what I always do knowing that I over-pronate on my right leg a bit - I began trying to adjust the plant and gait, which seems to only make the problem worse.

Second, I've been experiencing some 'popping' and 'clicking' sensation on my inner hamstring tendon behind my right knee. As I was doing the wind-down miles, I started thinking to myself, hmmm...if I had to choose between 1 of 2 the lingering discomfort I've been having, which one would I pick and gamble with not knowing the severity of either? Before I had a chance to decide, the hamstring tendon started acting up - only worse than I've ever felt it. No pain...just severe discomfort knowing that it doesn't feel the way it's supposed to feel.

Whether either one of these concerns were legit or not, I decided to cut the 'cooldown' portion of my run by a mile, giving me 7 miles for the night. It felt good to be out there running again...I just hope that what I was experiencing was nothing to be concerned about.

Screw It - I'm In!

Call it the anti-treadmill long run.

I've been avoiding running trails partly to adhere to the Pfitz 18/55 marathon training program as closely as I can, but also because I feared injury like a rolled ankle, tripping on a rock, etc before CIM.

But boy, have I missed trail running.

As such, I decided to run the Santa Monica Mountains 30K this Sunday in place of my scheduled 16 mile long run. My hope is that the air quality will have improved by then and that I can re-discover the joy of running again without worrying about time, mile splits and such. And it's in Sycamore Canyon - one of my favorite parks to run in!

It falls 2 weeks before my big goal marathon but I should be fine as long as I pace myself and don't do anything stupid. Plus, I finally get to break in my 'new' trail shoes!

Long Run Sunday: 20 Miles...on the Treadmill!

Still bad out. You can definitely smell the smoke from all the way down here in West LA. As such, the treadmill plan had to go into effect.

Since we would be running indoors, my friend Cody and I took our time and headed over to my gym around 9:30am. I didn't expect that there would be a problem with him using the gym as a guest and I was right, they were pretty cool about it. He would be running 15, I of course had 20 miles to run. Yikes.

Not a whole lot happens when you're running in place so I'll spare you the mundane details. There was a lot of alternating between running with music, some brief chit chat, and running in silence while watching the football game on TV. I ran the first 3 miles at approximately 8:45 pace, ran the next 14 somewhere between 8:00-8:30 pace before picking up the pace a bit running the final 3 at about 7:45 pace. A .5 mile cooldown brought my final tally to = 20.5 miles.

So, what's it like running 20 miles on a treadmill you might wonder? Quite simply, it's like...running 20 miles on a treadmill. There's no other way to describe it. Monotony, heaped on top of more monotony. You can try adjusting the speed every so often, changing up the music on your iPod - none of this changes the fact that you're exactly where you were when you started. One positive would be that my joints probably thank me for sparing the pounding from the mostly concrete path down by the beach.

But still.

I was happy when it was over. VERY happy.

___________________

And finally, to all the folks that were expecting to run in the Pasadena Marathon and Half-Marathon (especially those that traveled a great distance) - I am very sorry that the race was canceled.

It was definitely the right thing to do given the conditions, but...man, that just sucks. Especially because this was supposed to be the inaugural race. Sucks for the race directors, the people that gave so much to put it together, and of course - the runners.

Ugh. Bummer. Bummer time infinity.

Good Luck Pasadena Racers!

..and I really mean that.

As many of you may have heard by now, there are raging wildfires throughout Southern California reducing many homes to ashes and the air quality barely breathable. Add to it very unseasonably warm temperatures, and you have the makings of some serious less-than-optimal race conditions. As of press time, there were notifications going out to registered runners that the event might get scrapped altogether. Yikes.

Bad news aside, some of my favorite folks from the California Runner's World forum were meeting for a prerace carbo-load dinner tonight that I simply could not pass on. After strapping on my helmet and gear, I made the approximately hour-long journey on my motorcycle through LA traffic (yep, even on Saturdays) to a restaurant in Pasadena. There, I was greeted by runners like Ryan, Lori, Emil and Ingrid among others - and eventually, a giant heaping bowl of pasta for yours truly (I may not be racing tomorrow, but I do have a 20-mile long run planned...read below).

It turned out to be a very fun evening of talking shop and playful banter, and not the usual getting-to-know-you, awkward Q & A back and forth. These people are both successful in life as well as in running (a doctoral student/ultramarathoner, a pilot/1:19 half-marathoner for example) and it's definitely nice to finally meet some of them in person as it was to break bread with certain folks yet again.


A major thanks to Raymond and Renee for putting this event together. And once again, good luck tomorrow guys - run smart and kick some butt out there!

____________________

I was wavering back and forth between running my 20-mile long run either: a) at the beach where I can soak my legs in cold beach water afterwards, or b) to actually jump in as a bandit in the Pasadena Marathon and run it there (I know, I know).

Turns out, the correct response was secret answer 'c' - none of the above.

On my way to and from the restaurant, I could not help but notice how ash-ridden the sky was from what I could see directly in front of my headlight. Not only that, but my eyes started buring slightly and chest felt a little congested after being exposed in the open air for awhile.

So instead?

I'm doing them on the treadmill. At my gym. All 20 miles. Indoors. GULP.

Will I make it? Stay tuned folks. This might end up ugly.

It IS November...right?

Sunny + warm this morning by the time I made it out for my run at 9am.

11 miles @ 8:22 pace. Threw in some MP splits from miles 2-7:

Mile 2 - 8:07
Mile 3 - 7:43
Mile 4 - 8:15
Mile 5 - 8:14
Mile 6 - 8:12
Mile 7 - 8:11

Finished at 7:15 for mile 10 before using the final mile as a cooldown. Ran a better time than I expected, but still...not feeling great out there. Then again, didn't help that it hit the 80's as my run wore on. What's up with this weather??

Intervals, Intervals, Intervals...

To those familiar with the Pfitz plan, can you tell me why I'm running so many intervals in the waning weeks with nary a tempo to be found? I'm sure there's some sort of method to his madness, but was of the understanding (according to Pfitzinger) that for marathon runners, the order of workouts by importance were: 1) the long runs, 2) lactate threshold/tempo runs, and 3) VO2Max workouts. Hmm - go figure.

Anyway, followed the schedule and did my VO2Max workout tonight like a good boy, but switched up the venue and ran it at Beverly Hills High instead of Santa Monica to avoid the absentminded running group that also runs there every Wednesday nights. It was MUCH nicer, the area was actually lit with soccer practice taking place in the field.

Warmed up with 3 miles then did 4 x 1,200m @ 5K pace (w/ 2 minute recovery jogs in between sets). Here were the paces...nothing stellar and definitely felt fatigue in my legs after the 2nd one (target 5:00-5:22):

I - 4:52 (oops, too fast)
II - 5:02
III - 5:12
IV - 5:09

Cooled down with the remaining miles, running the last mile at 7:42 pace for fun. Ho hum.

_____________

In other news, this story really pissed me off. Some follow up here too.

The LA Marathon was my very first marathon (March of 2007) and I also ran it this year. It was a marathon I had intended on turning into an annual tradition as it takes place in my backyard in the city I grew up in. Whenever people bashed or knocked it, I vehemently stood up for it and citing the diversity in culture, as well as the wonderful crowd support you see along most of the way.

When Devine (the previous company that ran the show) sold the race to Frank McCourt and co., many people anticipated changes for the better. I guess noone could've predicted this debacle however. First, moving the traditional race day from the first Sunday of March to Presidents Day Monday (2/19) seemed like a questionable move. But I went along with it since it moves it up earlier in the year AND the earlier start time was definitely a positive in my eyes.

But this latest move to Memorial Day?? Seriously, what were they thinking! Ugh. I've already written them and posted various times voicing my displeasure (along with countless others) so I'm going to spare a longer rant here. It just seems like they didn't give a damn about runners who were either: a) already knee-deep in training programs with some that made travel accommodations, and b) the potentially HOT weather in May that runners will most likely be faced with. Hell of a start fellas.

Me? I'll be running San Diego come May, thank you very much.

Long Run: Windy City

My "long" run in a nutshell:

The Bad:

1) Legs were still sore from yesterday's tempo
2) Dealt with wind gusts ranging from 15-20 MPH for most of the run
3) 16.21 miles obviously not the 17 I planned on running
4) My average pace - won't even tell you what it was
5) Had to walk the final half mile home

The Good:

1) Miles 1-6 went well
2) Have another 50 mile week to seek some sort of redemption before taper

Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Guts and (Hopefully) Glory

"Most people run a race to see who's the fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." -Steve Prefontaine

It's been a tough past few days kids, I ain't gonna lie. Just when I have a decent workout and think I'm on the road back, I have a crappy one and start doubting my abilities as a runner. This roller coaster ride of good/bad workouts has rendered me both physically and mentally exhausted. But it's not over. With CIM almost exactly a month away, I still have two more weeks of 50-mile weeks before the taper process begins.

Today, I had one of the toughest workouts in recent memory. The Pfitz plan had a 8-15K race listed today. Since I swore off racing until marathon day, I needed to run 10 miles to complete 50 miles for the week (assuming I complete tomorrow's 17-mile long run). I decided to turn the 10 miles into a tempo - 6 miles at lactate threshold to be exact.

Since I had 1/2 a bottle of wine with dinner last night, I pushed the run to the evening rather than attempt it in the morning. When it was time to lace up and head out (at approximately 4:30PM), the sun was just starting to set, painting the westward portion of the sky a breathtaking pink and orange.

First 2 miles were warmup and with the legs already feeling heavy, I knew it was going to be a long night. When the alert went off at mile 2, so did I - doing the almost mile loop around my local park. Throughout the initial mile at tempo pace, I did not feel good at all. By the 2nd mile, I wanted to quit. I seriously would not bet on myself to churn out 4 more miles at this rate. I decided a change of scenary might do me some good so I opted to leave the park just as I hit the 3rd mile @ LT pace and headed into the local surrounding neighborhood where I also frequently run.

The longer stretches of nearly empty suburban streets felt better for me. And even though some streets were at slight inclines, it did me good to be able to try to relax my body and focus in on leg turnover. Small stretches of the run felt ok, but almost as soon as it did, I would start struggling again with my brain telling me that I lost fitness and to quit after the 5th mile. Then, the aforementioned Pre quote came into my head and a thus began a mantra of "run with your guts" and "finish". The 6th and final mile led me back to where it started, at the park. The last mile of a tempo always feels like the longest but I did eventually finish, absolutely spent and out of breath.

Mile 1 - 8:56
Mile 2 - 8:52
Mile 3 - 7:23
Mile 4 - 7:15
Mile 5 - 7:09
Mile 6 - 7:35
Mile 7 - 7:28
Mile 8 - 7:20
Mile 9 - 9:53
Mile 10 - 10:01

Final two miles were cooldown and it was then when I realized how much everything hurt - especially might right knee and hamstring. It was definitely not tne fastest tempo I've run, but certainly the toughest. Now I need to rest, recover and rally for tomorrow's 17 mile long run to complete this week.

And hopefully, regain the consistency and confidence of a few weeks ago.

A New Day

Ran 11 miles this morning at general aerobic pace.

In the spirit of "change", I decided to run a route completely new to me. Very hilly at times through mostly residential neighborhoods. Aerobically, felt sluggish and a little out of shape even (as evident by slightly higher than normal HR per pace) but things got a little bit better after mile 5.

Finished strong with last 3 miles at 7:58, 7:20 and 7:56, respectively. Overall average pace of 8:23.

Change is good. Wink, wink.

A Step in the Right Direction

Since I was operating on relatively fresh legs after throwing in the towel early yesterday, I decided to move up tomorrow's run to tonight.

On schedule was a track/VO2Max session where I was to do 8 miles with 5 x 600m at 5K pace. Target time was somewhere between 2:13-2:26 per each 600m. The night was cold and breezy (hello November) but it definitely felt good to be out there. Wearing ear-warmers and gloves, I used the first 3 miles to warm up before picking up speed. Here were my splits:

I - 2:19
II - 2:19
III - 2:21
IV - 2:22
V - 2:20

Legs felt good at the end of it and used the remaining 3 or so miles to cool down.

I re-read what I wrote yesterday and was a little disgusted with myself. But I think I just needed to vent a little bit (thank you my very understanding running audience). I just told myself to 'HTFU' and look ahead with dwelling on the past. Still have 3 weeks to push myself before taper. I'm entirely in control of my own destiny. It's put up or shut up.

Let's go.

A Thin Line..

Running's always been a love/hate relationship. Today was definitely a notch on the wrong side.

Of course, if I abided by the rule of thumb that running hungover is and always is a bad idea, I probably would not be feeling the way I'm feeling now. Throw in some pretty gusty headwind and you have a recipe for a not-so-great running day.

I'll spare you the rest of the details of today's failed attempt at a long run and just say that my heart wasn't in it and I ended up walking over to a friend's house so she could drive me home.

It's more than a little disheartening to find myself losing steam as I count down to the few remaining weeks leading up to CIM, when I feel like I should be surging towards the finish. Something has to give...I need to find my running spirit/mojo back.

Soon.