Eugene Marathon Recap

I don’t even know where to start with this recap. I’ll write about the days leading up to the race later, but now I need to get my thoughts about the race down on paper before I forget. 

Race morning went perfectly. We (My mom, dad, brother, and sister, and The BF’s parents) were up at 4:45 and out of the hotel by 5:20. I wasn’t sure what the parking/drop-off situation was going to be like near Hayward, so I wanted to make sure we all got there super early, and we were a 30 minute drive away. We were at the start by 6:00 and miraculously snatched up a parking spot .25 miles from the start/finish! Getting up early and drill-sergeanting everyone around totally paid off. We walked towards the start to get our bearings, stopped at Port-a-Potties, and finally settled on a post-race meet-up point. The hour flew by and before I knew it it was time to head to our corrals for the 7:00 start!

The half-marathoners all started in Corral A, and I was in Corral C based off of my predicted finish time. I was kind of bummed because this would mean I couldn’t run with my the others (my sister and brother, as well as The BF’s dad, were all running the half marathon), but I was also happy to have the chance to run my own race. I made my way to the 3:45 pacer and asked him his strategy. He said he was planning to run between 8:25s and 8:35s for the whole race. I decided that that was way too fast for me, given how poorly my training had gone this last month, and settled into a spot right between the 3:45 pacer and the 4:00 pacer. I had a high goal of running a 3:45, but felt like a 3:49 would be more realistic. I just wanted to see that 3:4-:–, whatever the time actually was.

Then, we were off! The weather was perfect. It was 50 degrees with a slight breeze and the sun peeked out from the clouds. Truly perfect running weather. Because I was trying to hit a certain time without knowing the mile splits, I struggled in the first few miles to find a good rhythm. My first mile was like a 9:10, and I immediately panicked. My initial plan was to run 9:00 miles to either the 10K or 13.1 and then pick it up, depending on how I felt, but that 9:10 scared me. I sped up just a little and tried to stick with a group of people running just slightly faster than me. I don’t remember my split for the next mile, but I do know it was much faster. And so was Mile 3. And Mile 4. I realized I was running what had to be 8:40s or 8:45s, but I also realized that I felt great, so I just decided to stick with it and hope this Eugene Marathon Magic rubbed off on me.

Somewhere around Mile 4.5 or 5 I started chatting with this wonderful lady, Nancy. She was from Eugene and told me all about the course as we ran along. It was her first marathon and she was hoping to BQ, which for her would be a 3:50. We decided to run together, and do what we could to make sure we both reached our goals: her a 3:50, and me a 3:49. We chatted and ran together for the next 12  miles!

I saw my family at Mile 10, and I was so happy to see them! I thought I’d missed them a mile earlier so I was very happy for the boost in morale. They told me that everyone running the half marathon was only 1:30 up ahead, and my dad told me to ‘go get them’, which made myself and the runners around me laugh. There is no making up 1:30 in a marathon in a short amount of time! Soon enough the half marathoners split from our course to head to the finish, and we kept going. I was so happy that everyone was having a great race though, and I knew from how far ahead of me they were that they would all come in under 2:00, which was their goal.

Fueling was going okay. I still haven’t found a good running food, so I stashed some things in my pockets that I knew I could at least stomach. I had a Larabar (dates tend to sit well) and a Honeystinger. I started eating bits of the Larabar around Mile 6, and took Gatorade or water at most aid stations. I felt pretty good overall, though a bit hungry. I was expecting this, though, and just tried not to let it get to me.

At the halfway point I was still feeling good but was definitely getting that inkling of hunger, fatigue, pain, and general malaise that I think most runners encounter on long runs. I made sure to pop a few Advil, if only for a psychosomatic boost. I ate a bit more Larabar and drank plenty of Gatorade.

I finally told Nancy that I was going to put in my headphones and pick up the pace at Mile 16. I did this at my last marathon and it really helped. Saving my music for the final push is a huge motivator, and it allows me to soak in the crowds and fun in the first miles when I’m not in agony. She told me to go ahead, and that she’d try to keep up and  made sure to get each other’s bib numbers so that if she stayed behind, we could look each other up later.

When we got to Mile 16 I felt fantastic. A little tired and a little hungry, but I was not breathing hard at all (thank you sea level races!) and I knew I had more in me. I got down to what I assume was an 8:20 pace, put in my headphones, and just sort of put my head down and ran. I started passing a lot of people, which made me think either they were all running out of steam or I was getting too cocky with my pace. But I still felt great so I just went with it. I couldn’t really eat much more after this point, but that’s always been the case for me on long runs. Food just doesn’t sit well, so I relied on Gatorade and water from here on out. I was hungry but okay otherwise.

Around Mile 19 I started to get tired. but this was the point when I told myself to really just focus on my goal and keep going. I knew if I kept this pace up I could come in at least a minute under 3:50, and I told myself that if I walked, I would fall short of that goal. I didn’t walk once the entire race, except to duck into a bathroom around Mile 14. I ran through every aid station, which I feel really good about (other than accidentally dumping a cup full of Gatorade in my eye.. that burned!).  I just told myself I had run a great race thus far and I wasn’t going to ruin it in the last 10k. I also told myself, as I do on most of my hard runs, that once I finished I never had to run again if I didn’t want to. Sometimes it helps!

The last five or six miles were, well, predictably tough. I was fatigued, my arms were tired, I was really hungry but my stomach was too upset to eat anything, and I just wanted the race to end. I just focused on running to the next mile marker, instead of thinking about having five miles left to run. It helped, and I think I ran these last five or so miles at around an 8:10 pace. At Mile 25 I tried to pick it up a little more but couldn’t talk myself into running that much faster–my mental game just wasn’t there, and I kept telling myself “you can pick it up later.” I sort of zoned out, and before I knew it I was at the 26 mile mark and realized I should have forced myself to run harder that whole last mile. I ran the last .2 as fast as I could and loved finishing on the track.

I finished in 3:45:05, with an average pace of 8:36. It’s an 11-minute PR from CIM, and I wound up crossing the finish line right behind the 3:45 pacer. I was shocked that I’d caught up to him after all.

I hobbled right to the pancake booth, grabbed some pancakes, some water, some potato chips, and some chocolate milk, and sat down for a second. I felt pretty good overall, though (which makes me wonder if I couldn’t have run just a bit harder, but I know that’s just me getting greedy!). I finally made my way to the meet-up spot and found everyone, and we all headed towards the car.

* * *

I am so happy with this race. I had so little faith in my training and my abilities going into this, and I truly thought a 3:45 was well outside of what I could achieve. Every single long run I ran was at a 9:20 pace or slower–in most cases much slower. I had been feeling terrible this last month and every run felt like a struggle. I thought there was no way I could run a 3:45 at Eugene, and was expecting to run an average pace of 8:59 or something like that. I can’t believe I had such a good race, based off of my poor training. On the one hand, seeing that time makes me want to shoot for a BQ sooner than later, but on the other hand I know I need a break from long, slow training runs for awhile. But the seed has been planted and the little plant is growing more and more!

For now I have a few run races coming up. A trail run in June, and then my brother, sister, and I are running 26.2 miles for our 26th birthday in July. It’s not an official race, and will just be the three of us running around Seattle, but I’m really looking forward to it. It will be slow and relaxed and fun. Other than that, I’d like to work on some speed stuff this summer, especially since I have no interest in trying to do long training runs in the heat again this year! I’d like to finally get that sub-20:00 5K, and maybe clock an official sub-6:00 mile time at a local mile race.

Marathon #2 is in the books!

Pre-Eugene

I don’t know how this happened, but Eugene is just 2 weeks and 2 days away. It really snuck up on me! I think not ‘officially’ beginning training until one month ago has helped this training cycle fly by. I am really happy with how training has gone in some regards, and a little dissapointed in others. But there’s nothing I can do about it now! Time to look forward to my last long run, and then tapering.

I wanted to put on paper my plan for tapering, which I am going to try to be pretty diligent about. Because of my foot injury and the uncertainty about whether I would actually run Eugene, my training got a little delayed and I only get a two-week taper this time around. Therefore, I need to be extra mindful about tapering properly and staying healthy. Here are my goals, besides reducing the miles I run (this will begin Sunday):

• No sugar
• Core daily: crunches, push-ups, plank
• Take my vitamins
• Eat well in general
• Drink plenty of water!

I know, I know, you’re probably wondering why I am cutting sugar after writing this post about eating whatever I want. But hear me out–I’m not a total hypocrite. I’m cutting out sugar for the two weeks so that I can maximize my taper efforts. If I only have two weeks to taper and prepare for the race, I need to do everything I can to ensure that I stay healthy and also happy. Two weeks isn’t a long time to give up sugar, and my hope is that it’ll help my muscles recover faster from my last long run in the little time I have. Maybe it won’t, but it’s worth a shot!

I have been so bad about core work. Again. Why it is so hard for me to stick to a core routine I do not know. But in these two weeks, as I cut back on my mileage, I’ll throw in some light core work daily, just to make sure I’m  not losing any more core muscles with my decreased mileage. I am not expecting to really increase my core strength in these two weeks, but running less will mean I’m using my core less, so I want to supplement that loss with some crunches here and there.

Vitamins, healthy eating, and staying hydrated are all a part of maximizing my taper process and helping my muscles repair themselves in time for the race. Nothing shocking there.

What is your taper process? Do you prefer a two-week taper or a three-week taper? 

(And please excuse the two-sentence draft form of this post that I accidentally published earlier! It’s definitely Friday. )

The Weight Post

I think at a certain point, almost every running blogger writes a post about this controversial yet very important topic: weight.

Runners, for the most part, are obsessed with weight. They worry about gaining a few pounds unintentionally, they think that losing a few pounds will ensure them that PR, they look at Paula Radcliffe’s washboard abs and think, “If only I had those abs, I’d be fast like her!”

“Yes I won this race but CHECK OUT MY ABS”

There’s some truth to that, for sure. Gaining 15 pounds over the holidays probably will affect someone’s running. Losing 10 pounds, if it’s there to lose, might help them hit a PR. And obviously, anyone who can pull off wearing a racing brief in public is fast. It’s like an unwritten law.

I’m no exception to this. I’ve certainly hit points where my pants were snug and I freaked out. I probably could improve my running by losing a few pounds. I wish my love handles would disappear and I wish my arms were more toned. I want Paula’s abs. And this extends beyond runners, obviously. I think most women out there can relate to my constant desire to ‘lose a few’.

But last month I took part in something that has really changed my views on weight, health, and happiness. I attempted the Whole30 challenge. Whole30 is basically a month-long dietary reset. The point is to eat only very clean foods for thirty days, to flush out the bad stuff in your system and help you change how you think about food. 

My sister talked me into doing it with her, and I was game for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I love the topic of healthy eating. I like learning about nutrition, I enjoy researching healthy foods and meals, and I do like to cook healthy meals for The BF and myself. I thought this would be a fun way to expand my healthy cooking repertoire. The main reason I agreed to join her, though, is that I eat a lot of sugar. I have always had a very strong sweet tooth. I can put away a pint of Ben and Jerry’s in a single night. I eat office candy like it’s my job (I wish.. can you imagine being the office candy-eater? Dream job right there). I stock my house with cookies, baked goods, and ice cream. I love sugar. However, I know that this is a bad habit. Eating so much sugar does a number on my body, and I always struggle with bonking, blood sugar ups and downs, and feeling like crap in general. I wanted to use this program to reset my sugar intake and potentially reduce my daily cravings. Also, let’s be honest–I thought that if I could nip this sugar craving in the bud, I could shed some stubborn belly fat.

Throughout the program, I found myself eating relatively well, and enjoyed eating more salads and less pasta. But I still craved sugar. I kept thinking, “At some point this is going to click and I’m just going to stop craving cake altogether.” That never happened. By the end (or, close to the end–I caved a few days early when I decided I needed a bagel after a 19-mile run) I felt better overall, and certainly healthier, but I still wanted sugar.

I think many people who finish Whole30 come away with a new relationship with food. They realize that they don’t have to have bread at every meal, or that dessert isn’t a requirement after dinner–it’s an option, and it should be reserved for special occasions. They feel better eating a relatively clean, more nutritious diet. Makes total sense, right?

Well, that’s not what I got out of Whole30. I realized, about halfway through the program, that I wanted to eat cake. I wanted to have a beer. I didn’t want to live a life of dietary restrictions, and I didn’t want to view sweets as a bad or negative thing. Life is short, and we only have so much time to suck all the pleasure and joy we can out of it. Yes I lost a few pounds on the program and was happy with my weight and body, but I realized that more than being thin, I wanted to be happy. And happy to me means eating whatever the fuck I want. It means eating a sleeve of Thin Mints while watching bad TV. It means baking a cake just because. It means enjoying Easter candy–lots of it.

My happy place.

I would rather eat what I want and have love handles than deprive myself of what really brings me joy to maintain a certain weight. Maybe I’ll always have some belly fat. Maybe I’ll never be able to pull off a racing brief. Yes Paula looks great in them and has amazing washboard abs, but she also probably restricts her junk food intake to maintain her race weight. Running is what makes her happiest, and she sacrifices certain foods accordingly, I’m sure. Running makes me happy, yes, but only when I can eat a bagel afterwards. I am happiest when I can eat whatever I want, and my sacrifice is knowing I will never have those abs. I run to eat just as much as I eat to run. So bring on the Reese’s eggs! I have to enjoy them while they’re around.

Feel free to share your thoughts on food, weight, and running. 

———–

Let me end this with a disclaimer: I know I am not fat. I have never been overweight. I am not trying to say that I’m fat. My point in all of this is that everyone has something about themselves they’d like to change–skinny people, fat people, everyone. We all find flaws in ourselves and while some people prioritize looking a certain way and giving up certain foods, I am happiest when I give up looking a certain way and prioritize food.  

Eugene is Back On!

Sorry to my three readers that it’s been so long since I last posted. Running has been crazy lately, so I haven’t even known where to start with the posts. I guess I’ll sum up the last six weeks, if only for posterity’s sake.

Last time I posted, I was coming back from a mysterious foot injury and was getting ready to dive into Eugene Marathon training. Well, go figure, things did not go as planned:

• Trained for Eugene for two weeks.
• Got taxes back, realized Eugene wasn’t going to happen (damn airfare. Why does jet fuel have to be so expensive?)
• Decided that since traveling to Oregon was a no-go, I’d find another race here in Colorado.
• Decided I didn’t want to train for a marathon here; that if I was going to run another one, I wanted the benefit of sea level racing.
• Decided that if a marathon was out, a new distance was in, and registered for the Golden Gate Dirty 30, a 5oK here on the Front Range.
• Started training as best I could for the 31-mile, 8,000ft elevation gain race, despite being unable to actually run up the mountains here because of ice and snow.
• Got my long runs up to 2:50 (though that was only 14 miles–icy trails make for slow running).
• Realized maybe Eugene could still happen, if I go and The BF doesn’t.
• Magically found a hotel relatively close to Eugene.
• Decided to give Eugene a go, despite not having specifically trained for it at all (this was like two days ago).
• Am now gunning for a marathon PR at Eugene, and will potentially run the 50K in June as well, if my legs don’t fall off on April 28th.

Whew. 

So now the marathon is back on. I’m nervous that I’ve wasted too much time running long and slow for the 50K so far, that I haven’t put in the speed work I need to hit a PR, and that I’m not prepared for this race at all. But I would be more upset if I didn’t at least try, if I gave up, than if I went and ran my best and fell short.

My foot is still giving me a little bit of trouble. It doesn’t hurt like it did initially, but it still hurts from time to time, and it seems like it’s getting a little worse. I haven’t been too worried about it, but with Eugene being only 5 weeks away, I need to start taking really good care of it–icing a lot and stopping if it hurts too much.

As for my fitness, I’m pretty happy with where I’m at, for the most part. That 2:50 run was two weeks ago, and last weekend I ran 8 miles for my long run, with 5 1-mile repeats in there (all sub-8:00). I’ve been running short intervals with the team on Tuesdays, and today had an amazing tempo run. 7 3/4 miles total, with the last 5 at a 7:35 pace. It was one of those “I can keep going at this pace forever, I am not even breathing hard or sweating and this is so easy!” kind of runs. You know, the best kind. The rare kind. I loved it, and it really did make me think that this PR might be within reach (A PR for me would be anything in the *8:– pace range; my current PR is 3:56:24). My “A” goal would be 8:45; my “B” goal is an 8:59 pace, and my “C” goal is to finish. I know that all the calculators out there say that because I could run a 22:00 5K right now I should be able to run a 3:35, but that seems really fast and really really impossible to me. Maybe I set my bar too low. Who knows.

January Goals: Recap

It’s the last day of January (how??) and so I thought I’d recap the goals I initially set for myself. Although maybe this should be titled, “Why I didn’t meet any of the goals I set for myself” instead. I think the only one I reached was lifting weights twice a week.

My goals were all fitness-related, and as it turns out, having a mysterious and painful foot injury kind of puts a damper on any fitness goals. I did not do 20 push-ups, because I couldn’t put weight on my metatarsal for a few weeks. The good news is, I did push-ups for the first time this morning, and it didn’t hurt. Hopefully I can keep those going! I did not run 20 miles per week, because, well, I didn’t run for like 2 weeks in January. And even last week I only ran 19.75 (damn .25!). I did not work out six days a week, because working out is really hard when your foot is so swollen it won’t fit into your Crocs, and you can’t walk on it at all. I did not swim once a week, because without knowing what the hell was wrong with my foot, I was afraid to even kick in the water.

But I did lift at least twice per week, because for a few weeks there that was all I could do! Even if I was only doing core/upper body stuff, it was nice to have something I could keep doing. There were three days in there that I didn’t work out at all, and that sucked.

But the good news is, I am running again! I had a successful first week of marathon training, and am trying to be good about icing and careful about mileage increase. Saturday was my first ‘long’ run, at 9.75 miles. I was supposed to only run 8 but I found myself on an amazing new trail, and it was flat and the sun was out and I was so happy to be running that I just couldn’t turn around. Oops. This weekend is 10-11 miles. I’m hoping that mixing up runs so that I’m running on the treadmill, stable sidewalks, and smooth dirt paths, I can safely keep building my mileage (KNOCK ON WOOD).

I don’t have February goals this month, other than to train smart and not get re-injured.

My First Running Injury

I should be posting about long runs and tempo paces right now, but I’m not. Why? Because I am officially dealing with my first injury. Last Saturday I woke up ready to run my first long run in my Eugene Marathon training cycle, but could tell instantly that something wasn’t right in my foot. It hurt to walk on. Not a lot, but enough to make me wait a day to run. I lounged around on Saturday and didn’t do anything, and my foot felt better by the evening. On Sunday morning, it hurt again. The pain was along the ball of my foot, and was worst when I pressed on that part of my foot. I consulted Dr. Google and figured it was probably metatarsalgia, a common running injury. The treatment? Rest. So I decided to take the entire week off. I could still lose a week of training and hit my goal long runs for Eugene, and I figured that it’d be better to give my foot too much time to heal than not enough.

Monday and Tuesday it still hurt in the mornings but was better in the evenings, and it wasn’t unbearable. Wednesday, however, I woke up and could hardly walk. The pain had shifted to the middle of my foot, and I spent the first half of the day limping around the office. The weird part was, by late afternoon, my foot felt fine again! I was completely confused. I was starting to worry that I was developing a stress fracture, but because it didn’t hurt in the evening, I figured that wasn’t possible.

Wednesday night I hardly slept. For the first time, the pain in my foot kept me awake at night. I finally rolled out of bed before my alarm. This time, I couldn’t walk at all. My foot was seriously swollen and was throbbing. I hopped on one foot to the kitchen for coffee (not even a busted foot will keep me from coffee!), and waited for The BF to get up. When he did I told him I thought it was time to go to the hospital. He pointed out that even if it was a stress fracture, we’d be paying a boatload to go sit in the ER and get told as much. I had made a PT appointment for the next morning, so we decided we’d either get into the PT that day, or just wait until Friday morning.

We never got in that day, and I spent the rest of Thursday hobbling around. Towards the end of the day I could put just enough pressure on the foot to shuffle along in a pathetic, slow, hobbling way, but man, it hurt. I was more than ready to get a diagnosis on Friday! I was sure I had a stress fracture, that I’d be in a boot for weeks, and that Eugene was not going to happen.

And yet, when I got into the PT and they did X-Rays, there was no stress fracture! That was great news. The bad news? They don’t really know what is wrong. They did an ultrasound on my foot and found swelling in my third metatarsal joint, but have no explanation as to why it was swollen (mind you, I hadn’t done anything to aggravate my foot). They decided to inject the joint with steroids, a move that was as much diagnostic as it was curative. Either the steroids would work, and that would be that, or they wouldn’t, and we’d reevaluate.

Since the shot, my foot got 80% better. The next morning I could walk on it almost normally. This morning, I can walk normally as long as I intentionally pronate. I’m not going to run until it’s completely pain-free, or until I get the go-ahead from my PT. But if the steroids work, I just may make it to Eugene after all.I am still completely baffled by all of this: why my foot hurt in the first place, why it got worse so suddenly, how the steroids could work so quickly.. but I’m not complaining!

Here’s hoping my next post is a run report!

Looking Ahead: 2013

Following up with my January 2013 goals, I wanted to jot down some (mostly very tentative) 2013 race/running goals. Here you go!

2013 Goals

1. Run 26 miles on my 26th birthday: This is something I just realized was going to work out. I figure, I’m running a marathon in April, why not try to keep that endurance going through July so that I can run 26 on my 26th? (Plus the .2-gotta get that .2!)

2. PR at Eugene: I haven’t really decided on a time goal yet, but I would like to PR. Whether that’s a 3:55 or a 3:40, I’ll take it. As I start the training cycle and get a better idea of where my distance running is at, I’ll come up with a more concrete goal. But I do think that Eugene is a faster course than CIM. While it had a net downhill, CIM also had a lot up uphill. Eugene, on the other hand, is flat as a pancake (so I hear). 

3. PR at the 5K: Well, it didn’t happen in 2012 like I hoped, so I would like to get a sub-20 5K this coming year. Looking at my tentative tri schedule post-Eugene, I think I can fit in some decent 5K training.

Which brings me to…

(Tentative) Races

1. Eugene Marathon April 28th (NOT tentative!)

2. Summer Open Sprint Tri May 18th

3. Grand Junction Highline Hustle Sprint June 8th

4. Boulder Peak Olympic Triathlon July 14th

5. Steamboat Sprint Tri July 21

6. Evergreen Sprint Tri July 28th

7. Steamboat Olympic Tri August 18th

These are some of the triathlons I’m looking at for 2013. I think, after Eugene and 26 on my 26th, I’ll be ready for some short-course again, so I have mostly sprint tri’s on the schedule. I won’t be doing all of these, though. 3 at least, probably 4 at most. It’d be nice to have some more freedom this race season, instead of being completely overwhelmed with 70.3 training. But the nice part is, if I do decide to do a longer triathlon this year, I’ll have a base that I was lacking last year, so training for anything long is bound to be a lot less time-intensive. 2012 was all about building endurance. And it was slow, and tiring.

For now, though, my plan is to race short-course, and try to bring some speed back into my life. My running is at a pretty good place right now; the other day I ran 5 miles at a 7:50 pace. That’s something I haven’t done in a long time, and I am going to try really hard to retain at least some speed while I bust out my Eugene training. Falling back on short-course after the marathon will help bring it back, too.

So that’s where I’m at. I’m pretty excited for next year. Sometimes I can’t believe I’m running another marathon, and think I’m crazy for signing up for Eugene. But mostly I’m really, really excited to run another marathon, even if I’m already dreading those 18-20 mile training runs….. (seriously, are they ever fun??).

I’m not sure if I’ll pop back in with another post this month, so Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!