The countdown continues

It was weird running a slow, 3 miles this week.  I didn't even take my phone along.  I just ran a familiar route near my apartment that is ~3 miles, maybe a little less.  It was hilly but I didn't push it.

I had a friend tell me that I would feel like a very tightly wound spring during the taper.  He wasn't kidding.

All week I've been itching to run.  And when I did run, I wanted to run more.  I can certainly see why this makes people start out way too fast when they run their marathon.  Maybe I'll have to get a super short jog in that morning or day before?!  It seems strange that my last long run was so long ago.  It kind of makes me feel anxious, but I know that a taper is a trusted tool to make sure your muscles are at their best.  Trust the taper.  Right?!  Right.

At any rate, I leave tomorrow morning for Big Sur.  I'm working a short day today and relaxing tonight.  Dinner is set for tomorrow night at 5pm in Carmel.  I feel more excited than nervous, so at least that's good.

I still can't believe it's here already...

Reality Check Run

I realized a few weeks ago that despite running a ton of hills during training (both steep and long), I've not come close to the hill that awaits me in Big Sur.  Hurricane Point.  Longer and steeper than the famed Heartbreak Hill in the Boston Marathon.  Granted, Hurricane Point arrives at mile 10 and not mile 20 like in the Boston Marathon, but it's still a huge bitch.

I posted a while back about this hill.  The climb is 1.84 miles long at ~4.47% grade although some GPS systems map it at a 4%.

I decided to one up it.  After running 4 miles along a very flat trail, I ran 2 miles up a hill in Rancho Palos Verdes which is a notoriously hilly area where I've done a bunch of training runs.  I've never run up Hawthorne Blvd though, for good reason.  The road crests at the appropriately named "Crest Drive".  The hill climb is a 6% grade.  I managed under 10 minute miles up and back down.  I didn't push it since I'm in the taper period...and I had to run a lot of the hill on the gravel/rocks that are next to the road since there isn't a bike lane or sidewalk.  But regardless I'm still really happy I ran <10mpm on such a steep incline.

I felt okay going up, although a 2 mile long incline really does suck a lot.  At one point I felt like I MUST be getting close.  I checked my phone quickly and I had run 0.8 miles.  Ouch.  The downhill wasn't much better honestly, because it was just as steep on the way down.  However!  Now that I've gotten a much worse hill out of the way...I feel even more ready for the marathon.  I pretty much have no running this week (supposed to run 3 and walk 2...haha) and then it's showtime.

6 more days.  

Trying for an easy 3 miler...

...FAIL.

But fail in a good way, I suppose.

I was supposed to run some short, easy runs this past week.  My usual loop is 4 miles.  One more mile wasn't going to hurt, so I set out after work to coast through the run.  I tried to keep a pace where I wasn't getting winded, even on the hills.  Like I've said before, I won't check my pace during the run, so I just kept going until I was back at my apartment.

4 miles in 33 minutes...8:25 min/mi.  So much for taking it easy :P

Tapering is awesome

Despite an extremely stiff two days following the 20 mile run, my other runs went well through the week.  It's nice that the distances have lowered a bit which doesn't cut as much into my evenings as before.

This weekend was the Long Beach Grand Prix and so I needed to run in the morning before we headed down to see the Le Mans race.

Unfortunately for me, it was extraordinary windy on Saturday.  Sand was in my eyes, my ears were burning from the cold wind, and my body was constantly being sandblasted.  I was supposed to run 8 miles and only churned out 6 mostly because I just couldn't take it anymore.  Even my GPS was unhappy:  it apparently thought that I had run 15.55 miles.  Nice.

In other news, I checked out my marathon log spreadsheet today and I'm up to 397 miles for this marathon.  Pretty wild!  That would let me run from here to...Vegas!

20 miles

This year I got to "celebrate" Easter by running 20 miles.

I've been dreading this run for pretty much the entirety of my training, despite knowing that a full marathon is even longer.  I geared up with a bunch of jelly beans, new socks, and a long sleeve shirt to keep from freezing once the sun went down.

Due to other festivities, I didn't start running until 5:30pm which kinda sucked because that meant I'd be finishing in the dark.  Aside from that, I felt ready to go.  I decided to do a long, flat run at a reasonable pace.  I wore my new knee brace for the first time which helped immensely.  I am happy to report that I didn't have any severe knee pain through the whole run!

The run felt slow and steady.  It seemed to take forever to reach the halfway point which was a bit frustrating, but I didn't feel overly tired...mostly just bored.  The sun was already beginning to lower in the sky by the time I was turning around.  The second half of the run was straight into the wind, yet again.  I was smart this time and took gloves with me to avoid the cold hands syndrome.

It was a weird feeling this time around.  I never really felt sore or super tired.  I mostly just wanted not to be running anymore, haha.  The last 30 minutes of the run were in complete darkness.  I had blinky LEDs on, but no headlamp unfortunately, so I just shuffled along the bike path trying to follow the edge as closely as possible.  The run took about 3 hours and my mile pace was just shy of a 9 min/mile pace the whole time which made me extremely happy.

At no point did I stop, even to eat the jelly beans.  I consumed a pack before, one around mile 11, and the final one around mile 16.  The caffeine content of the final pack didn't seem to make too much of a difference, but I definitely felt more energetic after eating a pack of sugar pellets, hah.

I felt pretty good by the time I got home and felt like I could have kept on going!

Overall this was probably one of my best runs, mostly just because of the boost of confidence it gave me.  I feel like running 20 miles is a great indication that I can tack on another 6.  I felt like I could keep going and managed to keep a pretty great pace for 3 hours straight.

Now begins the fun part - the taper!!

ENERGY!!!

Stocked up for the 20 mile run & the marathon!!

Another long Sunday afternoon run

Yesterday was the day of the 18 mile run. I had been dreading this for a while, especially after feeling so terrible running 16 miles...but the marathon is a month away and it's go-time.

I bought a bunch of pre-run "fuel" in the hopes that I'd avoid hitting the wall this time around. I bought Gatorade "Fit" bites, which turned out to be for non-endurance activities and not exactly ideal for workouts over 2 hours long. I ate two of those anyway as well as a pouch of Jelly Belly Sport Beans and pounded a bunch of Gatorade. I also decided that instead of just water, I'd put Gatorade in my hydration belt in the hopes that my electrolytes, etc would stay up.

It was extraordinarily windy yesterday and I decided not to run along the beach. I've been getting really frustrated with running the strand for a few reasons:

1) it's boring

2) it's completely flat which isn't exactly helping me for Big Sur

3) it gets super congested in areas like Venice/Manhattan Beach

4) the Manhattan Beach area splits into a bike path and a ped path. On the weekends when I'm doing my long runs, unless I go at 6am, this area is covered with walkers, strollers, kids, dogs, and just a ton of people in general. AND it smells like dog poop which is not really what you wanna be gasping in at mile 12.

5) it's supposed to be a bike path only and some cyclists that assume the path is their personal velodrome like to blaze past you as close as possible to remind you that you're not supposed to be on the path

I searched around online and found out about this little trail:

http://www.ci.manhattan-beach.ca.us/Index.aspx?page=379

It's only 7.5 miles round-trip, but I figured with the distance added on to/from my apartment, plus some spare miles somewhere I should be able to get the total up to 18 pretty easily.

I ran along Sepulveda Blvd, which was definitely the worst part of the run, and then ducked behind the Fry's Electronics to find the entrance to the trail. It was secluded and laden with trees which brought some much needed shade at 3 in the afternoon. The trail winds through Manhattan Beach all the way down to the Hermosa/Redondo border. The trail is covered in wood chips which was a nice change from cement. There were plenty of flowers and blooming trees that provided lovely scenery and some nice aromas as I cruised down the trail.

What I did not realize was that the trail goes downhill the entire way to Redondo Beach which means by mile 8ish I have to turn around and go uphill...straight into headwinds.

The run back home was pretty gnarly to be totally honest. My knee started hurting around mile 10 and the winds were brutal. Even the trees didn't protect me from the wind as it seemed to be blowing straight down the corridor of the running trail. I felt slight relief once I was back on Sepulveda because I knew the run was nearly finished, but the winds were even worse once I was out in the open.

Eventually I made it back to my apartment and didn't feel like going to sleep. I never felt like I hit "the wall" like I did on the previous long run which was nice. I think I'll stick to the sport beans when I run the marathon :) I stretched for a long time, showered, and stretched again. Today I barely feel sore which is awesome. Even my bad knee seems to be holding up! Four more weeks to go!!!!

Yesterday's stats:

18 miles

2:31:46

~8:33 min/mi

249 ft elevation gain

5.5 miles in the hills

After taking a few days off to help my knee recover, I decided to run the swanky Beverly Hills run again. I cut a mile off of the route I did the last time just to avoid pushing it too much.

Apparently I was more than ready to get back on the horse:

5.5 miles at an 8:11 min/mile pace

I feel better already.

Trying to kick asthma's ass

I'm now taking Singulair at the recommendation of my doctor in the hopes that it will aid in further opening of my bronchial tubes. I'm hoping I'll notice this more when I'm running uphill...

Speaking of running uphill, my most recent run has officially rendered my knee nearly useless. My doctor recommended that I take a week off and go easy on my runs, especially since my knee was swollen when he examined it. He prescribed Celebrex to attempt to reduce the swelling a bit on a temporary basis.

Nothing like a marathon to increase your trips to the pharmacy 10 fold...

A swanky 9.5 miles

Last Thursday I decided to try this route that I found online that winds through residential Beverly Hills. It's close to work and I thought it would be a nice change to run in the daylight before dealing with my commute.

By starting at work, I'd add on about 2 miles (there and back). I was looking forward to a completely hilly, non-flat run that would involve mile-long inclines.

I changed in my car and had a slight panic when I realized that I had left my inhaler at home...I opted to run without it since I wouldn't be running more than 10 miles. It was definitely noticeable, especially when I was churning up the hills trying to reach Sunset Blvd. I'm happy, though, that my lungs can handle this much exertion even without the inhaler. The run was sunny and pleasant and I got to drool over some of the most stately homes I've seen in a while.

When I got back to work, I checked my pace and discovered that I ran at an 8:45 min/mi pace on average, despite feeling like I was running slowly. Woohoo!

1.84 miles of UNGHH

I decided to see if anyone had actually mapped out their run of the Big Sur marathon with their cell phone GPS so that I could get an idea of what I'm gonna be up against in a few weeks. I've obviously researched all of this and know what's ahead and have seen the photos...but I wanted to see the hard data.

This is what I found:

Well...

I guess I don't need any additional validation for all of the crappy hill training I've been doing.

Burn, baby, burn!!

Back in the saddle

I ran 4 miles last night at an 8:26 min/mi pace and felt awesome afterward. No knee pain today so I'm happy that I didn't piss off my joints by pushing it last night.

Fingers crossed my knee is back to pseudo happy status!

Poopsticks

My knee has been swollen since my big run on Sunday. I've been cutting all of my runs in half this week and have been going nice and easy.

6 more weeks...

15.97 miles

UGH!

Let me say that again. UGGGGHHHHH!

I finally understand what people are talking about when they hit "the wall". I ran 16 miles today along the beach, utilizing the extra hour of daylight. The sun was warm but not oppressive. The weather was probably low to mid 60s which I think is the perfect running temperature. I was excited and ready to go and set out with my nerdy hydration belt. I planned on doing an out and back path...not my favorite since I think it's a little boring, but I didn't want to have to coordinate a ride if I did a one-way run. Maybe next time I'll try and do that...

Anyway, the first 8 miles were really good. I felt great, my stride was open, and my breathing got steady and rhythmic after the first few miles, as per usual. I ran along the creek and it was bright and pleasant and I felt relaxed. When I reached the halfway point and turned around, I immediately realized my error: I'm now running directly into the wind coming off of the ocean.

FUUUUUUU

For the next 4.5 miles I went headstrong into moderate winds. My eyes were tearing up from the breeze and my hands were frigid. I have no idea how much this slowed me down since I wasn't checking my pace, but I tried not to think about it. By the time I got back to the path that parallels the beach, I was extremely cold but felt energized now that the wind wasn't right in my face. I refilled my water bottles quickly at the water station and hustled along the final 4 miles. Right around mile 15 or so, I started to feel brutally tired. My muscles weren't sore and my breathing wasn't raspy...I just felt physically drained. The desire to lay down on the ground and take a nap was high. I just had to stop in my tracks for a minute and stretch my legs and arms for a mental refresh. I didn't have any source of calories with me, so I just dug in and ran the last mile back to my apartment. Mind over matter!

When I got home, I was wobbly and tired; I didn't feel energized like I normally do after a run. I stretched for a long time and then took a very hot, bubbly bath. My legs were pretty sore the rest of the night and stairs were rough.

I think I'll try eating some of the Gu Chomps around mile 14 on my next long run and will make sure if I'm running around sunset that I have some sort of gloves to keep my hands warm. That was way more distracting than I would have expected!

6.71 miles

I got home from work today and discovered that my rear rotor was totally gauged and my brake pad is worn almost all the way down. These are nearly new brake pads, so I think something is messed up with my caliper. Hooray!

It was a crappy day at work and I opted to run off some frustration. Did some laps around my neighborhood in the cold and somehow pushed an 8:20 min/mi average pace. Maybe running angry should be my strategy?!

Eh.

I was supposed to run 4 miles but decided instead to get my eyebrows waxed, watch Game of Thrones and bake cookies.

Sometimes you just have to say no.

I almost forgot!!

Gu is NOT for me.

I just can't do it. The texture and the sweetness are just too much for me. I couldn't get it down without chugging a huge amount of water and then I had an unsettled stomach from the water amount and felt sloshy for the first half mile of my run. I've heard different flavors have different results but it's really the texture that totally weirds me out. It just seemed like the packet was never going to end.

Ew, eww, EWWWWWWW

Hot Tamale

It was 85 today.

No, let me clarify...it was 85 by 9am today.

My 14 mile run just did not come to fruition. I made it 12 miles. I drank the entirety of my hydration belt 3 times and at that point decided that it was probably healthier for me to just stop running in the direct sunlight instead of finishing my run.

Muscles feel fine. Knees feel fine. Breathing was as expected, tricky in the beginning and then it balanced out. I think it would have been a relatively good run at a solid pace had it not been SO. FREAKING. HOT.

Thank god the marathon starts at 6am; heat is apparently my running weakness.

Bizarro run

Ran 7 miles tonight along the beach. Felt TERRIBLE.

I could attribute this to one of several things:

1. New shoes that I haven't broken in

2. Used my inhaler too close to the start of my run

3. Felt cold the entire run

4. Tried to run with music for the first time in months and got extremely angry at my ear bud wire entanglement and the fact that my sweaty ears caused them to constantly slip out. UGH.

The weirdest thing ever about this run, however, was that I ran at an 8:10 min/mi pace...which makes me wonder how well I could be running if I didn't have all of these issues tonight?!

Also? No knee pain. It's gotta be the shoes. Not to advertise, but I bought a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 sneakers which are supposed to be great for overpronators. Looks like I won't need to have an IV of ibuprofen after all...

3.89 miles

Easy peasy.

Did my usual neighborhood loop today at an 8:15 min/mi pace. The hills seemed petty and I felt unstoppable. For one of the first times during this whole mess of training, I feel strong and confident. BLAMMO.

13 miles

After practically not running for a week.....

(I know, I know...)

I ran 13 miles today along the beach. It was flat, sunny, warm, and relatively easy. I again struggled through the first 3 miles with my breathing but after that it was fine. Ran at a 9:04 min/mi pace. When I reached the halfway point, requiring me to turn around, I felt like I could keep on going. Even the final, massive hill was easily conquered and I kept up my flat beach-trail pace all the way up!

Booyah.

I tried to consume one of those "Gatorade Recovery" drinks afterward and it was barely consumable. It was like drinking a thick, sugary syrup. The flavor was lemon-lime-orange. I do not recommend it at all. I think I'll just stick to regular Gatorade which seems to do just fine at replenishing my electrolytes.

Damnit

Really bad week at work. No motivation or drive to run. I'm realizing how truly difficult it is to get in training runs when you just don't feel like doing anything at all. I feel crappy and don't want to run...but then feel even worse when I skip a run because of guilt. If I skip a night for something fun, at least then there is an excuse (kind of?) Now I just feel lazy and sadface. I really have no excuse other than being in a sour mood...

ARGHHHHHHH

ZOMG crazy day

Woke up early this morning and met up with my friend and headed down to Palos Verdes, a very hilly area we determined would be perfect for training purposes. Mapped out a 13.1 mile run and went for it. Chugged along at a good pace, even through the hills. I'm finally feeling strong now on hills, even when they drag on forever. I didn't need to use my inhaler until the end of our run and amazingly my legs did not feel sore at all during/after. I tried out some of those "energy jelly beans" that Jelly Belly makes. I have no idea if it made a difference or not. I'm going to try and do a similar run next weekend without them and see how I feel. I haven't really thought much about how I'm gonna get calories in during the big race...I've heard mixed things about Gu.

After our run, we stretched and had breakfast and then I had to scramble to pack because I'm going to Colorado tonight for a snowboard trip! Wooooo, adventure time!

Mixed feelings...

Sometimes training for this marathon makes me very sad. Not sad in a tear-jerking sort of way, but sad in the "wow, where have my evenings gone" sort of way. Often I have to re-arrange plans or cancel them entirely so that I can fit a run in after work. I don't work a 9-5 job and I have a commute on top of it so by the time I'm home it's a crazy rush to fit everything in before bed.

Drive, work, drive, run, stretch, shower, eat, sleep.

I've realized that if I have plans and need to fit in a run beforehand, I get incredibly stressed out. I can't seem to relax during the run and feel like I'm on this tight schedule. Due to that feeling, I usually just try to avoid planning things so that I don't have this cramped evening...but that obviously leads to me feeling like I'm not seeing my friends and/or having down time.

I've thought mapping a run near work before heading home...but I'm not sure I want to sit in my car for almost an hour after a long, sweaty run, lol. Maybe I should just suck it up and start running in the mornings. Did I mention I'm not a morning person? Yeah. Not at all...

7.3 miles

Did another hike as an alternative to running. I figure cross-training is just as important so it's good to change up the routine a little. I'm sure there are people out there who will argue about that, but whatever. The hike was an intense uphill for 3.5 miles (3000 ft elevation change) and back down 3.5 miles. My quads, calves, and knees are all sore now. The air was crisp and it felt wonderful being outdoors.

Good week

Once my sickness went away, I started feeling really great and felt like running practically every day. Kept on my training schedule this week and have been really putting away the miles. Breathing has been getting more regulated, but my knees are still pretty sore after my runs, regardless of the length. Still just using ibuprofen to fix that issue...

I'm wondering if it has something to do with my shoes. I've been running on a pretty old pair of Newbalance sneakers for a while now...it might be time to replace them.

4.7 miles

Did a hike today with some pretty decent inclines. Still feeling pretty sick, but at least I'm getting in some form of exercise.

Sick

Feverish with chills. Haven't been working or running. This sucks....

3.16 miles

Ran tonight in the very cold weather without proper protection. Felt cold the entire time and just couldn't warm up, despite hauling ass at an 8 minute flat pace. I ate a huge pasta dinner afterward and still felt odd. I think I might be getting sick...

10.35 miles

Ran an intense 10 miler today that was mostly uphill and included some of the steepest, most intense hills I've experienced yet. Never stopped. Took the hills slow and steady, despite intense quad burning halfway up the incline.

 I ran without my hydration belt which was a huge mistake. Never has garden hose water looked so appealing (I was running through neighborhoods). Ran at a 10:06 pace. Not bad for being pretty hungover...

...oops, did I say that? (this is why this blog is called BAD marathon runner btw, haha!)

Unexpected

I can't run with music anymore.

Maybe it's because I listen to Pandora and can't control what song comes up next...or avoid advertisements without paying...but I feel more comfortable running with just the sound of my feet hitting the pavement and my (very heavy) breathing. It's pretty nice not being distracted by my headphone wire banging against me as I run as well.

Scheduling and more treadmill fail

Missed a long weekend run due to a camping trip and ended up getting stuck on the treadmill again for one of my 4 mile runs this week. Once again, couldn't finish and only ran 3.16 miles. I need to promise myself not to do this anymore and just suck it up if the weather is bad because not being able to complete only 4 miles isn't exactly making me feel like I can complete 26.

No.More.Dreadmill.

Dreadmill

I get it now. I get why so many people bitch about running on treadmills.

I used to run on a treadmill and be "okay" with it.

NO MORE.

It was raining tonight and I decided to do my run at the gym since I was feeling a little sickly and didn't want to be drenched the entire time. I couldn't even finish my run. It was so disheartening...I only made it 3 miles and just felt awful the entire time. I kept looking at the time and looking at my speed and couldn't seem to run as fast as I do when I'm running outdoors.

My legs felt strange and sore and I didn't know what to do with my arms.

Is this normal?! What happened?!!

It's not the worst development ever...but nothing makes you feel worse than not being able to finish your run.

8.92 miles

Another Sunday morning beach run. I ran north this time to change things up a bit. Still struggling with the first three miles. I'm not sure there's a solution for that. Maybe it's the same for everyone? I guess it's hard on your body to go from sitting around to suddenly running...I just wish it wouldn't take 20+ minutes to do so. I ran an 8:30 min/mi pace today somehow. I refuse to look at my pace while I'm running because it's just not that important to me. It's kind of a nice surprise to see that I'm running at a decent pace though.

I'm still struggling a little bit with the big hill that comes at the end of the run. I'm able to run up the entire thing now, but I slow down a lot. Big Sur involves a 2 mile long hill at a 5% grade so I'm trying to get ready to endure that. Baby steps.

Hydrate with...wine?

Today went something like this:

Work busy 10 hour day

Rush home, change, run 5 miles

Turbo shower

Dinner/wine with friends

Provide ride home from LAX

Busy days make me feel productive, but wow am I exhausted. Proud of myself for actually running though despite the busy schedule. I guess it is possible to balance everything?!

6.88 miles

Ran along the beach this morning and felt good again. My knees were a little sore after the run, but nothing that couldn't be cured by walking around and a couple ibuprofen. I'm starting to realize that the first 3 miles of a run is the worst for me. My breathing never seems to settle in until after 3 and it seems like if I'm going to get any weird muscle spasms or stomach cramps they will show up between mile 2-3. Not super motivating to continue, but so far I seem to be able to run through it with success.

I ran a little under a 9 minute mile pace today. I'm still not setting any "time" goals for the marathon since it's my first one ever and I really don't know how I'll handle the Big Sur course. I really just want to finish under the time limit (6 hours). Maybe that will change as it gets closer to the race, but right now I think finishing is a pretty good goal :)

3.9 miles

I mapped out a loop around my neighborhood tonight and ran that. Once again, google maps was about 0.5 mi off for the pedestrian option, but whatever. Better to run more than less I suppose. I felt infinitely better tonight than I did Monday morning. I skipped a workout last night because I just couldn't find it in me to run, fearing a struggle like I had earlier this week. I have to try and pull it together to avoid skipping workouts just because I don't "feel" great about it. Running will make me feel better and I need to keep running to train properly.

I managed about a 9 min/mi pace tonight which I felt pretty good about. My course had some hills and was rarely flat. At least I regained some confidence.

This weekend I'm going to run along the beach one morning and see how that goes.

3.96 miles

I had the day off today for the New Year's holiday but ended up working anyway. I woke up early and went for a run and felt terrible. Sore legs, sore ankles, flaring-up asthma. Nothing seemed to be working in my favor. I stretched for a long time afterward and still ended up with sore quads. I I'm gonna blame the lack of running over Christmas for this and try and regain some semblance of desire to run more this week...

Feh.

The Christmas holiday really wrecked my training schedule. Yes, I still have 4 months until the marathon but jeez...I feel lazy after not running for a week and it's hard to get the motivation back to run again. I thought my biggest issue would be finding the time to run...but it seems like finding the focus is even more challenging.