Life Lessons on Success

In college, you take a course for 10-15 weeks (depending on what type of calendar your university runs on), then you take the final exam, and then you receive your grade, which offers some high-level feedback on your performance. Running is very similar - the training is the course itself, the race is the final exam, and your posted time is the grade. To analyze my whole performance in "Newport 101", I need to look at both the race and the work I did throughout the term. If there's anything I learned from my educational programs, it's that the grade you earned matters less than the knowledge you acquired. So if you just want to know that information, scroll to the end for my "report card." Otherwise, read on.

I signed up for this race in November at the recommendation of a few friends from the Portland Frontrunners. It's an extremely small race (capped at 1,000 runners), and because most of the course is along the water, it's incredibly scenic. Plus, a few of them had already signed up, and I convinced Erin to sign up, so I knew I'd be in for an awesome weekend with friends.

After Erin's numerous endorsements of it and stumbling upon a copy of "Advanced Marathoning" in Powell's, I decided to give Pete Pfitzinger a try. His plans had all of the components that I was used to -- recovery, speed, long runs, general aerobic/medium long runs. Worth a shot, right?

Sometime during the first quarter of the year, things began to fall apart. Alright, I'm being a little dramatic here. But when you're healthy as can be, and then get some abnormal lab results (low iron levels, high liver enzymes), and then feel like you can't go as fast as you used to, you can't help but feel a little broken. The dietary fixes that my doctor and supporters recommended (nix gluten and dairy, cut back on coffee and tea) hadn't seemed to help either, which made the whole thing even more frustrating.

Race Week
In an effort to keep myself from freaking the eff out, I tried to relax as much as possible, and squeeze in a few recovery runs. (I still had to work, but fortunately, the Memorial Day holiday made for a short work week.) So I did the following:

-Mon: 6M run; wine tasting

-Tues: massage; started getting some head cold

-Wed: 3M dress rehearsal run; haircut

-Thurs: 3M am run; leisurely evening stroll through the neighborhood 

-Fri: 2M run

Stretching our arms out across the big gates. A for effort, right?

Carb-Loading (Wed-Fri)

Right before the carb loading process started, my doctor received my latest batch of lab results, and the celiac panel came back negative. Once he ruled out celiac, I decided to incorporate more gluten into my diet/the carb loading process. I'm not sure if it were the wheat, the increased sugar, and/or the increased salt, but my skin started drying out. Funny -- I think I have a love-hate relationship with carb loading. It always sounds like a wonderful thing (because you get to eat all the processed, sugary crap that you avoid the rest of the time. However, by Friday, I was over it. My stomach just felt bloated and uncomfortable, and I just wanted the race to be done so that I could get back to my normal diet.

Race Eve

I still had to go to work on Friday. (Relaxing? Yeah...notsomuch.) But I took a half-day, so I brought my luggage with me. Including my foam roller. And so this day came to be known as "Bring Dr. Noodle to Work Day".

Erin, Kelly, and Traci were kind enough to pick me up from work. After that, we stopped at Fred Meyer to get groceries, dropped Traci off, and made our way to Newport.

From L-R: Me, Traci, Erin, Kelly. Note that I still have my work ID clipped to me.

The rest of the evening involved checking into our incredible vacation rental, packet pickup and pasta dinner with the Frontrunners.

View from our balcony. VRBO for the win!

Runners! (Photo credit: Erin)

We ended up turning in (or attempting to turn in) around 10:00, so that we could be up in time for the early 7am start.

Race
No matter how late you set the alarm, it always seems to go off way too early. Even more so when you have four different alarms going off almost simultaneously. So at the ripe hour of 4am, Erin and I forced ourselves to wake up and eat some breakfast. I started with the iron supplement and vitamin C tablet, and then waited about 30 min to eat my combo of millet porridge (millet with dates, almonds, and agave) and coffee. Erin and I ended up having a fantastic chat as we ate, got ready, and drew on each other with Sharpies.

Around 6:15, Erick drove Erin, Daniel, Richard, and me to the start. On our way, my mom called to say good luck. 6am calls like that warm my heart. I also ate a banana.

The race starts from Yaquina Bay State Park, which is along the Pacific Ocean. I wish I could say more about it, aside from that we got to breathe in fine, salty ocean air as we waited to start.

See that ocean behind us?? From L-R: Daniel, Richard, me, Erin

PFRs with our honorary member! Photo credit: Erick

 I warmed up with some dynamic stretching (you know, lunges, mountain climbers, etc.). A few minutes later, Erin and I exchanged a pre-race fist bump, and then headed to the starting area. The start of the race was no-frills (I think because of the size of the race). After the race director made a couple announcements (none of which were the singing of the national anthem), they fired the gun and we were off. 

Miles 1-5 (6:36, 6:44, 6:50, 6:43, 7:02)

During mile 1, I met Adam, a 20-something runner from Seattle who was also shooting for sub-3. As soon as I saw my split for the first mile, I knew that I started out way too quickly. I tried to rein it in, but when you're super-competitive and running with other people, pacing becomes a challenge. Over the next few miles, we built up a good group of runners who were gunning for sub-3s as well. I also saw Kelly and Erick around miles 1 and 3.

Adam (in white singlet) and me. Photo credit: Kelly

We ran by the condo where we stayed, and also along the ocean. Around mile 4, we turned onto Bay Blvd, which is where most of the race takes place. After running on the boardwalk for a bit (I know, how quintessential), we ran by the finish line and up the biggest hill of the race.

Awesome race photo, in my opinion.

Miles 6-10 (6:52, 6:59, 6:56, 6:53, 6:49)
By this time, we (the sub-3 group and I) fell into a good groove, which I think helped keep our paces pretty consistent. Once we hit mile 8, I took my first Gu (Hammer vanilla). By mile 10, my quads started feeling tight, and I started questioning my mistake of starting too quickly. For some reason, I also felt like I needed to shit. (There were other points where I felt like I had to pee or vomit. I didn’t actually stopped, but I’m sure it rattled me.)

Miles 11-15 (6:55, 6:46, 6:46, 6:58. 7:03)

I kept up with the sub-3 group until the halfway point, and then they started slipping ahead. I hit the halfway point in 1:29:30, which made me feel like I was still on-track for a sub-3 marathon. Shortly after that, I took my second Gu (Salted Caramel gu) and some water to wash it down. Shortly after that, I started hating life. Which, when you have 13 miles to go, is not the best feeling to have. I had to tell myself such things as "Eyes on the prize", "You have worldwide supporters" (thanks to dailymile, etc.), and "Only 2.5 miles before you get to turn around and head back home."

Miles 16-20 (7:12, 6:58, 7:04, 7:07, 7:00)

Mile 15.5 marks the turnaround point on the out-and-back portion of the course. After turning around, I saw Daniel, Erin, Michael, Steve, and Jose (and exchanged a side-5 with Erin). Seeing Daniel and Erin gave me this adrenaline rush that I think helped me run a sub-7 mile. As I did in MCM, I took my beloved chocolate cherry Clif Gu with two shots worth of caffeine (Gu #3) at mile 18, in hopes that it would kick in at mile 20. Kelly drove by me, which helped push me along. Somewhere between miles 18 and 20, I began to wonder why we do these things. When you're in the midst of what feels like personal hell and don't want to talk to anyone, you don't really have a good answer to that.

Miles 21-26.2 (7:10, 7:04, 7:25, 7:17, 7:20, 7:29, 6:33 for 0.2)

Once I hit that mile 20 marker, I started whispering to myself out loud, "It's just a 10K..." Also, I started doing math. I knew that sub-3 was out of reach, but after hitting the mile 20 marker in 2:18 (first-ever sub-7 min 20 miler!), I realized that I could do the next 10K in 47 min (about 7:30 pace), and still PR. That's doable. I kept doing math after I hit each mile marker, just to keep my mind occupied and give myself an approximation of how much longer I had left.

I reached the 21 mile marker and thought, "Where the fuck is that caffeine from the Gu?!" because it hadn't kicked in yet. Around mile 22, some spectator yelled out, "You're almost there!" Lesson on race etiquette - unless there's less than a mile left, I am not "almost there."

My initial plan was to take my last Gu at mile 23, but because I didn't feel like Gu #3 ever kicked in, I took #4 (Honey Stinger) a quarter-mile ahead of schedule. Thank God, because I started feeling the effects of that Gu at mile 24 (with about 15 minutes to go). All I could think about when I got to mile 25 was, "Only 8.5 minutes left. Now where's that damn hill to fly down?!" Around mile 26, I knew that I had secured a PR. I finally summited the hill, and just had to get down it. Once I hit the top, I could hear Kelly and Erick, and I just picked it up as much as I could (without losing control on the downhill).

To the finish! Photo credit: Erick

I rounded the corner for the finish, and bolted for it. I stopped my watch, saw "3:04:03," and said, "Oh fuck! I didn't break 3:04?!" Two seconds later, the announcer called my name and said, "coming in at 3:03." After catching up with all the people I saw on the course, I walked over to the results table. I told the volunteer that I thought I PRed, and he said, "If you needed to break 3:04, then you did." He then handed me the little printout.

Time: 3:03:48 (7:01/mi)

Place (A/G/O): 2/26, 20/444, 23/789

9th marathon

7th consecutive PR (Personal Record)

2nd consecutive BQ (Boston Qualifier)

After seeing that, I was floored. I definitely wasn't expecting second in my age group. And given how I felt during the middle of my training, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have doubts about beating my previous personal best.

I made my way to the recovery area, got my T-shirt, some food, and my and Erin's bag. After that, I decided to go back to the finisher area to see if I could catch any of my friends, and I managed to run into (like that pun there???) Erin. Though she didn't PR, she got second in her age group too, and seventh female. Rock star!

The two of us eventually reunited with Daniel, Richard, Erick, and Kelly, and basked in the sun. I commented that my upper body felt more sore than my lower body, which was exactly the opposite of what I felt after any of my previous marathons. Hmm. In any case, we took a bunch of photos, and then headed back to the condo so that we could shower and get ready for the awards ceremony.

Runner love!

The boys

The girls. I already had on my compression socks at this point, and didn't want to deal with the pain of peeling them off and forcing them back on.

Post-race Celebration
The awards ceremony was pretty cool. It was definitely bare bones/no frills, but just knowing that I earned something made it special.

Companion second place plaques

After the ceremony, we said goodbye to Erin and Kelly, and then proceeded to enjoy the rest of the weekend. And by enjoy, I mean check out Newport, eat, drink, and be merry.

Daniel and I

Wine

Bacon-wrapped tuna mignon. Amazing.

Enjoying more celebratory drinks with the Frontrunners at Rogue Brewery. Top L-R: Richard, Tyson, Steve, Steve, Steve. Bottom L-R: Me, Jose, Daniel, Erick

Over my years of marathoning, I've learned that the run is about way more than just the miles themselves. (Chicago '12 was about the ALS Association, Eugene '13 was about the disappointment of missing goals/how far I've come as a runner, and MCM '13 was about coming home to the city where I got into this stuff and making dreams come true.) Newport, for me, was about community. While I achieved great things in Newport, what made the experience even more special was being able to celebrate those achievements with my runner family.

I also thought about the various supportive communities in my life. Frontrunners holds a significant place in my heart -- I joined Front Runners NY and PFR soon after moving to each city, and both offered me welcoming, accepting environments in cities where I knew hardly anyone. The dailymile community helped me believe that I could survive the inexplicable ailments, and reminded me to focus on the small wins. And of course, my community of family and friends, that believe in me even when I don't believe in myself. I may have passed the course, but I don't think I could've pulled any of this off if it weren't for their love and support. Therefore, I dedicate Newport to the incredible community I've been able to develop and maintain.

How has community influence your successes?

PS I did a race analysis, but because that didn't seem related to the theme of this post, I'll be making that into a separate post.

What's Done is Done

The taper -- the time when you back off from running, and then have to deal with the emotional overload that comes from not running. Well, alright, maybe you don't have to, but I feel better when I do. And right now, my way of dealing is by putting it out there for everyone to read.

With five days to go, I'm equal parts calm and terrified. Okay, maybe equal is a lie. But I'm feeling calm and terrified. And a bit excited too. But because calm isn't as exciting to discuss or read about, I'm going to discuss the fear factor.

I haven't talked much about goals because my one big time goal for the marathon is to break 3 hours. Perhaps I've said it before, but I'll say it again anyway. The thought of running a 2:xx marathon scares me shitless. I'm trying to stay calm, because I know that if I get worked up, I'll use that energy to fly through the first half, only to die in the second half. So we'll see how that plays out on Saturday morning.

Taper mode seems to turn me into a huge worrywart. Every little niggle (Aussie slang for minor ache/pain) makes me worried that it's going to turn into something major on Race Day. Which then makes me worried that my sub-3 is out of reach. But all I can do is rehab and foam rolling. You know, all of that ancillary stuff.

I also dealt with iron deficiency this training cycle (and no, I still don't have any idea what's causing the deficiency), and I know that it affected a good chunk of my runs during the second half of this training cycle. How? Paces that used to feel easy suddenly started feeling challenging. And I'd be lying if I said that didn't make me doubt whether I can achieve my goal.

I haven't done as much core and strength work as I probably should have over this training cycle. And that makes me worried that I've kissed that sub-3 goodbye. But I had my first 200-mile month during this cycle, and I lived to talk about it. And that counts for something, right?

As I type all of this, I'm telling myself that worrying about the 15,000 things that could potentially go wrong is like a rocking chair -- it'll help me bide my time, but it won't get me anywhere.

Source

That I need to crush self-doubt. That I'm greater than the injuries that have plagued me. That I've put the miles in, have done the speed work, and what's done is done. And most importantly, that I have an incredible network of friends (real-life and social media runners) and family who believe in me, and will be cheering me on from the race course, sidelines, and across the country. And that, my friends, is how I've calmed myself down. Oh, and listening to my pre-run playlist of Kelly Clarkson, David Guetta, and the like.

My project for the next few days is to keep myself calm and relaxed. I have my pre-race massage scheduled for tomorrow (Tues), a haircut scheduled for Wed, a reunion with the lovely and fierce Erin on Fri, and a weekend at the coast with some awesome running friends. Plenty of things to smile about, right?

Analysis Paralysis: 25 Days to Newport

Hola! Happy Seis de Mayo! Or belated Cinco de Mayo. Whatever you want to call it.

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Yes, yes, I know, I owe you all an apology for being AWOL the last two weeks. Unlike my last absence, I can't say that I was on any epic adventures. Unless long runs count.

First things first. Let's all take a moment of silence to mourn the lost of my beloved Garmin Forerunner 305. The intermittent issues from a few weeks ago became more frequent, and after rounds of troubleshooting at 6am with Garmin Tech Support (because 6am is the only time I can catch them while they're open), I accepted that I needed to buy a new watch. Fortunately, Garmin has this awesome program where you can send in your old watch for a $99 credit toward a new one. New Garmin at a discounted price? Yes, please! So I ordered the Garmin Forerunner 220. It has yet to arrive, but when it does, I will be writing a review on it. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a photo from their website.

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While I've been (im)patiently awaiting its arrival, I've been running my standard routes. Half the time, I haven't bothered to time them. The other half, I use the iPhone stopwatch, and use that as my excuse to run with music. It's been nice to become temporarily unplugged, but the data nerd analyst in me can't wait to get my new watch so I can resume recording my runs and poring over splits, etc.

Speaking of analyzing things, I've been analyzing my performance this training cycle to the point where I'm mentally psyching myself out. It's a problem, people. (The psyching myself out, not the data interpretation.) The last couple weeks, I hadn't felt as springy on some of my workouts. I tried to figure out whether it was due to not sleeping enough, not eating/drinking enough, pushing myself too much on the hard days, or something else. The other day, I had coffee before my run and felt much faster. And then it dawned on me that cutting back on my caffeine could be contributing to this issue. 

Yes people, I tried cutting out coffee to help with the iron issue. The first few days involved agonizing headaches and withdrawal.

Source

Then I did some more research, and found that polyphenol intake shouldn't occur within an hour of consuming an iron-rich meal. I'm taking that to mean that my mid-morning mug of coffee is still within limits, but all the other cups I had been drinking are not.

But back to my analysis issues. We're 25 days out (holy whoa...), and because some of my workouts haven't gone according to plan, I've been doubting wondering if I have a sub-3 hour marathon in me. I know I've put in the miles, but I just haven't felt fresh and my workout times (for recovery and GA runs) seem slower than they were during MCM and Eugene '13 training. I think I just need to "trust the training" and trust the Pfitzinger plan, and also silence the demon between my ears (i.e., my brain). But still, what if? And what if I can't fix my issues in 3.5 weeks?

Alright, I know that this is complete stream-of-consciousness, but that's the story of my life.

How do you silence your demon and stop wondering, "What if?"

Halfway to Newport: Week 6 Training Recap

What's happening out there?

So 6 weeks down, and 6 weeks to go. I'm officially halfway done with the Pfitz 55/12 plan, which is just mind-blowing. Where have the last six weeks gone? I know I was in Puerto Rico, but April is just a giant blur. I feel like my life this month has been run, eat, work, shower, sleep, and maybe socialize a bit. Yes, I've hit my weekly mileage goals for the last two weeks (and for 4/6 weeks of this cycle), which makes me happy. But I still feel like my life is work and running.

And speaking of time zooming by, my birthday's tomorrow. Where the hell have all of these years gone? I need a drink right now. But for the sake of my sleep cycle, I'll be good. Because the last thing I need during the 55-mile week of my training plan is a bout of insomnia. 

I finally returned to my doctor on Thursday for follow-up lab work. Despite the iron supplementation, my iron levels managed to drop. Actually, I think plummet would be a more accurate description of the change. I know that endurance training breaks up your hemoglobin stores, but between the last test and this one, my weekly mileage has only increased by about 10 miles. So this had to be due to something else. With that, I turned to the Google. And learned the following:

-Polyphenols (present in coffee, tea, and wine) inhibit iron absorption (Source)

I don't care so much about the tea, but for those of you new to my blog/life, coffee and wine are two of my favorite things.

Source

Source

-Eggs and dairy inhibit iron absorption (Source)

As a result of my lactose intolerance, I consume little dairy. However, I consume 3-4 eggs a day. Damn you, chicken eggs! Why must you be so delicious?

-Symptoms of iron deficiency include fatigue and increased sensitivity to the cold (Source)

Over the last few weeks, I was feeling really tired (which I just assumed was due to not sleeping enough), and noticed that my Raynaud's flare-ups were becoming more frequent. (I kid you not, I would drink a smoothie in my house, and my fingers would go numb and white.) I hadn't opened up too much about this in my previous recaps, because I didn't have a real explanation for why (and neither gluten nor dairy seemed to be a good explanation). So we'll see if proper/increased iron supplementation will help this. In the meantime, I have an appointment scheduled to see a specialist next month.

What is "proper supplementation"? Well, I'm glad you asked! To promote absorption, it should either be taken on an empty stomach, or with vitamin C (e.g., orange juice). I mentioned my medical issues in a dailymile post, and one of my DM friends (who has a similar issue) suggested taking it first thing in the morning, and right before bed, and not eating for an hour before or after either dose. She also suggested cutting back on my beloved caffeine, and reassured me that even though it'll be painful, it'll be worthwhile.

And now, onto my workouts!

After reviewing my training log (aka dailymile), I concluded that the big theme of this week's training was the mental game. Namely, the challenge of sucking it up, putting on your big boy shorts, and dragging your ass outside. And even though we discussed that last week, the mental component is huge in this sport because of how much time you spend on the streets/trails with you and your thoughts.

Mon

Planned: rest or xt

Actual: rest (and maybe some foam rolling)

Tues

Planned: Recovery 5 mi

Actual: Recovery 5.01 mi at 7:50/mi pace

Thanks to an Instagram post from one of my Bostonian friends, I remembered that today marks the one year anniversary of the Boston Bombings. I had to dedicate part of this run to them, and just think about how lucky I am that I'm still alive and able to partake in this sport.

After my Boston dedication, my thoughts drifted to other things - my training plan (and whether I can pull off this crazy-ass goal in 6.5 weeks), my job, and smaller matters like my upcoming birthday plans, and what I was going to eat when I got back home. I love recovery runs, because they give me a chance to just run and think about something other than target paces.

Wed

Planned: VO2 max 10 mi with 5 x 1000m at 5K race pace (6:33/mi); jog 2 min between

Actual: VO2 max 10.09 mi with 5 x 1000m at 6:26/mi pace

This was my first time doing a VO2 max workout, and I'd be lying if I said I weren't intimidated by it. The workout: 10 miles with 5x1000m at 5K pace (6:33/mi) and 2 min jogging in between. So I did a 3.19 mi warmup (1 mile to the track, and 2.19 on the track), then this workout, and then a 2.65 mi cooldown (1.6ish on the track, and the rest was the route back home).

For this, I used the Workout option in the Garmin settings (first time ever for that!), and for the sake of accuracy, temporarily switched my Garmin to metric settings. So I ran this, and then checked the results when I was done. Before I converted it back to statute (to get the splits), I saw "5.00km, 19:58", and was floored (I'll save you the math, 20:00 for 5km = 6:26/mi pace). Once I converted it to units I can understand, I was even more stoked.

Splits: 6:18, 6:14, 6:32, 6:30, 6:32

I'm still shocked that I hit my target pace for every interval, my pace for 2 of the 5 intervals was faster than my goal 5K pace, and my overall pace for the speed work was faster than said goal 5K pace. After the last week of workouts, this was a nice confidence booster.

Thurs

Planned: MLR 12 mi

Actual: 2 rounds of the RYBQ 10x10 strength routine

I had a charity event to go to on Thurs night, and decided to use Thurs morning to get the follow-up lab work done. So as a result, I swapped my MLR and rest days. And decided to use this rest day for ancillary strength work

Fri

Planned: rest or xt

Actual: 5.01 mi at 8:06/mi pace (am); 7.03 mi at 7:46/mi pace (pm)

Part 1: This might be the one time I felt more cranky after a run. First, it was cold (39°). Second, my stomach was not feeling so hot. Excuses, excuses. The gist of it is that I wasn't feeling very springy. Also, I think my Garmin was having an off day as well. It tried saying that my usual 5.03 mi route was 4.96 mi.

Part 2: Well, I can say that tonight's run was much better than this morning's. For starters, it had to have been about 20 degrees warmer.

I ran through my neighborhood again. I should really branch out, except I was feeling lazy and didn't feel like thinking of a new route. Initially, I didn't want to go out, but by the first mile, I felt glad I was out there. During mile 4, I thought of Erin's comment on my latest blog post, and started thinking about US states and capitals (for some of the states), and then the capitals for some foreign countries. That's probably the highlight from this run. Well, that and it felt like redemption for this morning's awful run.

Sat

Planned: Recovery + speed 6 mi with 6 x 100m strides

Actual: 6 mi at an unknown pace + 8 x 1 block strides

So my Garmin decided to crap out again. Except this time, I didn't even hear it beep. I just looked at it around the time I expected it to beep for mile 1, and it said 0.36 mi. I was at the MAX station, so rather than try restarting it, I just decided to take the MAX to 24 Hour and deal with the treadmill. Once I started on the treadmill, I couldn't get into a groove. So I left (feeling all defeated), went home, and after some hemming and hawing, decided to run my usual 5M loop with my headphones and phone, and time myself with the stopwatch. Music definitely helped get me back into a groove.

My playlist gave me flashbacks to the following events: Dad Vails '06, Eugene '12, Chicago '12, R Baby 4 Miler '09 (first race I averaged a sub-7 pace), and maybe some others that I'm not thinking of. Also, I saw two different CT license plates on this run (aww nostalgia time! haha). It was like a journey through the last (almost) 28 years.

Based on the Garmin time from run #1 and the stopwatch time from run #2, I'm estimating that my total time for this 6 was 47 min.

Sun
Planned: Marathon specific 15 mi with 12 mi at marathon race pace
Actual: 15.03 mi at 7:27/mi pace, with the last 12 being at an average pace of 7:19/mi

After Easter brunch, a nap, and accepting the fact that I had no valid excuse for missing this run (partly thanks to everyone's FB, IG, and DM posts about Boston), I headed out for an early evening run.

Today's workout: 15M with 12 at marathon goal pace

After a 3 mile warmup (and a side-5 from a diner at my neighborhood taqueria), I picked up the pace, except my legs were not feeling sub-7 minute miles. Somewhere between mile 4 and 5, I had the thought of, "Oh crap, did I lock my front door?" And one of the last places you want to have that thought is in the insular midst of the Springwater Corridor. So I decided to make this workout into one 10M loop and one 5M loop. Once I hit mile 5, turned around, and continued at a speedy clip back home. Fortunately, I had locked my door.

For my 5M loop, I just headed down my street 2.5 miles, and then turned around. I heard some kid belting out "Let it Go" from "Frozen," which just made me laugh. Started thinking about random things, like the US states and their capitals (rattled off all 50 of each in my head). Oh, and how lovely the houses are, along with how much apartment rents are over there. At some point during my run back home (probably around mile 14 of 15), I felt like the lactic acid had been flushed from my legs.

MGP may not have happened (average pace for the 12 was 7:19), but I gave this what my legs had in them. More importantly, I sucked it up, put on my big boy shorts, and got out there. And THAT is the bigger win, in my book.

Planned total: 48 mi
Actual total: 48.17 mi

How do you maintain a healthy balance between your running/professional life and your personal life? 

Do you own a GPS watch? And if so, has it given you satellite reception issues?

Eyes on the Prize

Hey there! Happy Monday!

This past week was definitely rough. I didn't get as much sleep as I should have, and my seasonal allergies decided to wage a war.

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Oh, and this was the first week of the Lactate Threshold + Endurance Mesocycle. Not a fun combo. I saw firsthand how the lack of sleep can negatively affect a workout (and make you crave all sorts of unhealthy foods), but I also saw how focusing on a goal can get you through a bad workout (or workouts).

I was on the phone with my friend Benjamin (who I convinced in 2010 to take up the sport of marathoning) last week. Benjamin's currently training for the Ottawa Marathon, which is just a week before Newport. Given this, you'd expect that we'd have had lots of training stories to swap. However, our conversation was focused on marathon goals. Specifically, how do you determine said goal, and how do you distinguish between too conservative, realistic, and too ambitious. I always err on the side of too ambitious, so I'm probably not the best person to ask for advice on this (unless the advice you want to hear is "Go big or go home"). After hanging up with him, I remembered that Erin wrote an excellent post on this for The SF Marathon's blog (and I'm not just saying that because yours truly makes a cameo in it). Goals are supposed to be a bit terrifying, but if you break up your goal into smaller benchmarks, it helps make it a little less terrifying. So I forwarded him a link to her post.

That conversation got me thinking about my own crazy-ass goals. I'm sure I've said this somewhere on here, but my goal for 2014 is to run a sub-3:00 marathon (pace: 6:52/mi). I'd be lying if I said that running a 2:xx marathon didn't freak me out. But that fear helped push my sleep-deprived and congested self out the door and through all of my workouts. Because what scares me more than the goal itself is the thought of disappointing myself and everyone else by not meeting it.

Mon
Planned: Rest or xt
Actual: Rest

Tues:
Planned: Recovery 5
Actual: 5.02 mi at 7:42/mi pace

My piriformis was bugging me for the first 1-2 miles. And then I'd pick up the pace, only to remind myself that it was a recovery run. During either mile 3 or 4, I noticed that I was just clunky (short strides, tight arms, and what seemed like bad form to me). So I focused on relaxing my arms, keeping my upper body straight, and lengthening my stride. And it definitely helped!

Splits: 8:07, 8:08, 7:37, 7:22, 7:21, 7:15 (for 0.02 mi)

Wed
Planned: MLR 12 mi
Actual: 12.11 mi at 8:02/mi

I'm trying to think of positive things to say about this workout, but all I can come up with is "I did it" and "I didn't lose my ID, etc."

In the spirit of time, I opted to do this workout after work. However, 12 miles when you've slept about that many hours in the last 3 days -- not the best mix. Couple that with this nagging thirst for water for at least half the run, and it's probably clear why this workout went so poorly. Mid-run, I had to remind myself that I did the right thing by running, because "the sub-3 marathon isn't won on the couch." But then I couldn't help but doubt whether sub-3 will happen in Newport. And then...I just got in my head a little too much. And need to get out of my head.

Thurs
Planned: Rest or xt
Actual: 1 round of RYBQ 10x10 strength routine

Fri
Planned: LT 11 mi with 6 mi at 15K-half marathon race pace
Actual: LT 12.14 mi with 6 mi of speed (splits unknown because of Garmin issues), and 2x1' RYBQ SC

As much as I hate working out after work on Fridays (especially after a long week), I decided that an extra hour of sleep was worth the tradeoff.

Today's plan was to do 11 miles, with 6 at 15K-HMRP. So I did 3 miles as a warm-up, and then started my LT work. Shortly after my watch beeped for mile 1 of the LT portion (around Steel Bridge on the east side), I thought I heard a second beep. However, I thought that I was just hearing things because I knew it wasn't my watch telling me that I had run another mile. So I kept going, and as I approached the Hawthorne Bridge, looked at my watch because I figured that it should've beeped for mile 2 by then. Wouldn't you know that the damn Garmin was displaying the "Lost Satellite Reception" message, and hadn't logged the last mile (est.) of my speed work (#garminfail). I restarted my Garmin, reset it, and continued with the workout.

Long story short, this workout turned into 3 miles w/u, 2 mi speed, restart Garmin, 4 more mi speed, and 3 mi c/d. (And yes, in case anyone's wondering, later in my workout, I re-ran that stretch where my Garmin cut out to try to guess how far it was...and it was about a mile.)

Estimated speed splits: 7:14, 7:17 (for 1.08 mi; this was the wonky lap), 7:04, 6:56, 6:50, 6:59

These splits definitely fell short of my target pace of 6:45-6:48. But I know that I gave this workout everything I had, because I was spent by the time those 6 miles were up.

Sat
Planned: Recovery 5
Actual: 4.17 mi at 7:59/mi pace

Sun
Planned: Long run 16 mi
Actual: 16.01 mi at 8:12/mi pace

I didn't get to do all of my grocery shopping yesterday, and knew that it'd be best to wait until finishing that to go running. What I didn't take into account was the fact that the forecasted high for today was 70º. Between the higher-than-usual temperatures, my still-tight quads, and this annoying sinus congestion I've had the last few days, this run may have been doomed from the get-go. But I told myself I wasn't going to get any closer to my goal by shirking out of a run.

I hadn't really planned a route, but I wanted to make sure I passed my house multiple times in case I needed to stop for water. (I brought a pack of Clif Shot Blocks, just in case I needed mid-run fuel.) Also, breaking up the run like that made 16 miles seem more bearable. So I did one 6 mi loop, a different 6 mi loop, and a 4 mi loop.

Around mile 3 (the turnaround point for loop #1), I saw Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, which makes the effort (and the hill that preceded said view) a little more worthwhile. Shortly thereafter, I saw a vanity plate with "TNA MLT" printed on it (somebody clearly loves their tuna melts), and suddenly, a tuna melt sounded amazing. Other food cravings on this run: chips and guac (inspired by my local taqueria, which I passed at miles 6 and 12), pita and hummus (inspired by Nicholas, which I passed at miles 7 and 13), and cupcakes (inspired by the guy I saw between miles 14 and 15, who was sitting in Whole Foods eating one). Also, even though I love curry/Indian food, the smell of it while running is absolutely nauseating.

I didn't end up stopping for water (though I probably should have). I ate half the pack of Shot Blocks at mile 8 (and they never tasted better), and the other half at mile 13. Yes, I toughed it out. But does the saying "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?" ring true?

Planned total: 49 mi
Actual total: 49.45 mi

What mind games (if any) do you use to get yourself through a workout that you're not feeling?

Diving Back into Reality

I'm considering writing this recap the last part in "Operation Catch-up from Vacation." Not because this piled up during my trip, but because this sat on the back burner while I was working on everything that did pile up while I was away. That's one thing I hate about traveling. However, one thing that I love about traveling is that I get a chance to catch up on all of my magazines. During my flight home, I read this article by Dimity McDowell titled "How to be Epic." It's about McDowell's decision to do an Ironman, and the training that she did for it. While reading it, I couldn't help but wonder what'll come next after I accomplish my marathon goals. But that topic merits a post unto itself. After two posts (one and two) in as many days, I'll keep this one relatively short and succinct.

As far as tips of the week, I don't have much for you. BUT I do have something.

-Qdoba's chicken contains dairy. I learned this while traveling through Dallas on my way home, and trying to find something for lunch. Fortunately, they left their allergy menu on the counter, so I was spared any extra gastrointestinal discomfort on my flight home. But still, why do the seasonings for most of their meats contain whey? Oy. One reason why Chipotle ranks higher in my book.

-When traveling, research your dining options BEFORE you leave. The San Juan airport had nothing, except for a tacky airport bar that looked like it was straight out of the 60s (and was equipped with overpriced coffee and mediocre, unappealing breakfast options) and Cinnabon-type places.

-As I might've mentioned in last week's recap, my stomach was all out of whack by the time I left San Juan. So when I got back, I immediately jumped into my usual salad-a-day routine, and also threw in a smoothie-a-day (courtesy of the Nutribullet) in hopes of resetting my GI system. Within a few days, I was feeling better. Long story short, salad + smoothie = great reset button.

And onto the workouts!

Mon
Planned: rest or xt
Actual: hiking in the rainforest and paddle boarding

Tues
Planned: Lactate threshold 10 mi with 5 mi at 15K-HMRP
Actual: 4.05 mi interval work on the treadmill (1 mi warmup, 2 mi of 1 min on and 2 min off, 1 mi cooldown)

A recap of the last few days:
Sat - rest day/my friend's wedding (eat and drink way too much) 
Sun - recover from hangover/post-wedding brunch/walk around Old San Juan/hang out with the newlyweds and co. one last time (eat way too much; drink a little less than Sat)
Mon - hiking and ziplining in the rainforest/1 hour of paddle boarding (during which, a swift wind knocked me off of the board and into the salty lagoon) (eat too much; drink a little less than Sun) Tues (today) - spend 14.5 hours in transit to get back home, and 30 minutes after getting home, leave to go to the gym so I could run and get back into my routine. Today was 4 miles with interval work. 8 min warmup at 7.8-7.9 mph, 1 min at 9.3 mph, 2 min at 8.0 mph (x4), 1 min at 9.4 mph, 1 min at 8.0 mph, 1 min at 9.5 mph, and 6 min cooldown at 7.9-8.1 mph. Happy I did this.

Wed
Planned: Recovery 4
Actual: Recovery 5.02 mi

Meant to drag myself out of the house by 6. Didn't leave until 6:20. Oops. And I can't even use jet lag as an excuse, because the time zone I came from is 3 hours ahead of here. Also, last week I was running in 80º temps, and today, it was 44º. Ugh. Anyway, my legs felt a little tight on this run, which worries me a bit for the Bridge to Brews 10K. Perhaps I should foam roll tonight (and set a reminder in my calendar to do so). Got to run into the sunrise for part of this run -- hues of pink amidst the blue sky. Delightful. Also, my inner fat kid couldn't stop thinking about mofongo. I must find it in Portland. Maybe there's a food cart devoted to Puertorican cuisine?

Splits: 7:54, 8:05, 7:44, 7:21, 7:16, 6:18 (for 0.02)

Thurs
Planned: Medium long run 11 mi
Actual: Rest

I can't remember why I justified using this as a rest day, aside from my happy hour plans with my coworker (that we rescheduled once or twice beforehand).

Fri
Planned: Rest or xt
Actual: 6.03 mi

I waited until after work and picking up my B2B race materials to do this run. I don't know what it was, but I just wasn't feeling this run. It was one of those, "I feel thirsty and want water, and also can't wait to get home and eat everything in my house" kind of runs. I think I was getting over the jet lag too. Argh. On the plus side, I didn't spend any of my time on vacation feeling jet lagged.

Sat
Planned: Recovery 5
Actual: Easy 4.04 mi with PFR

Kept this one fairly easy and relaxed because of tomorrow's race. Ran with my friends Richard and Daniel (Richard's running the Newport half, and Daniel's running the Newport full), and was able to have a conversation with them. Also got a side-five on this run. (Granted, it was a fellow PFR, but a side-five is still a side-five.) Nice, misty weather too -- not too hot or too cold.

Sun:
Planned: 10K race (am); 11 mi (pm)
Actual: 1.09 mi warmup run to the race, 10K race, and 5.01 mi (pm)

Nothing noteworthy to share for the warmup run. Read this for my 10K recap. As far as the afternoon run goes, after I got home, I ate, cleaned my bathroom, and underestimated how much I didn't want to do those extra miles. But I eventually made my way out of the house with the intention of doing two 5M loops. However, my legs just weren't having it, so I ended up only doing one. I saw the ridiculous car with "The Christmas Story" leg sticking up from the roof (I saw this car during one of my long runs in September), and another car blaring rap music. I didn't think my neighborhood was a gangsta's paradise, but clearly, I've been proven wrong.

Planned total: 47 mi
Actual total: 31.52 mi

More miles than week 3, but still significantly off from the plan.

And with that, the Endurance mesocycle of the Pfitz plan has closed. Crazy to think that one whole mesocycle is down. Ahh! Next up: the Lactate Threshold plus Endurance mesocycle. Aka the "meat and potatoes of the Pfitz plan" (IMO). Aka the scarier portion of this whole training cycle. Stay tuned!

How long does it take you to get back into the swing of things after a trip (both for workouts and life)?

Bridge to Brews 10K

I was going to lump this race recap into my week 4 training recap, but after typing it out for my dailymile followers, I decided it was worthy of its own post.

Source

Bridge to Brews is one of the local races put on by Terrapin Events, and gets its name because it goes over the Fremont Bridge (the I-405 bridge; only race in Portland to cross it), and ends with beer (as most races in Portland do).

For those of you who don't want to read a slightly lengthy race recap:
Official time: 42:13 (6:48/mi pace) (5 second PR)
Place: 44/2,466 (8/126 in age group)

I heard about this race before I moved to Portland, and was told that I should run it because a, it ends with beer, and b, it's the only race here to go over a freeway bridge. I never signed up for 2012 and 2013, and so I signed up for the 2014 race. I signed up in January, and as luck would have it, my doctor put me on the GF diet a month later. I have to admit, I wondered why I signed up for this race if I wouldn't be able to enjoy those post-race brews. But in the end, it is (or in theory, should be) about the running and not the beer. Right?

Packet pick-up was at one of the Foot Traffic locations (for those of you outside of Portland, Foot Traffic is one of the specialty running shops here, and the one where I typically buy my running shoes), and it was a breeze. No joke, I was in and out of there in about five minutes.

After running to the start (and showing up about half an hour early), I met up with some of the other Frontrunners who were racing, and posed for a pre-race photo. I discovered that they were also offering post-race cider and wine, so my fears about not being able to enjoy post-race booze were squashed. We hung around for a bit, and made our way to the start. They did a staggered start based on anticipated pace. Unfortunately, due to the crowds, I couldn't make my way up to the 8:00 or faster wave for their start. However, I was able to get to the front of the 8:01-10:00 wave, so I didn't end up getting bottlenecked at the start. I wasn't sure what to expect from this, as I don't normally do 10Ks. (The last one I did was Pints to Pasta in 2012.) My ultimate goal for 10K is to break 40 minutes, but really, a simple PR would've made me happy.

During the first mile, two people passed me, but I passed a bunch of runners who started in the 8:00 or faster wave. I focused on running the tangents, and my watch beeped right at the mile 1 marker (split: 6:58). We made our way up and over the Fremont Bridge (super cool to run on a freeway overpass and get a spectacular view of the city). Some people stopped to get photos, but they were courteous and moved all the way over to the edge. I continued to pass people, including one who also decided to wear the Portland Marathon '09 shirt. (I had mine on, and decided to say, "Nice shirt!" as I passed her. She appreciated it.) My split for mile 2 was 6:44, which was a good confidence booster. Mile 3 brought us on a windy route through the Pearl and NW Portland. Generally flat; nothing too noteworthy to report (aside from passing one of the guys who passed me during mile 1). My split was 6:35, which convinced me that a PR was within reach.

During mile 4, I saw my friend Daniel, and got a couple side-fives from other runners making their way to the turnaround point. I also passed the other guy who passed me during mile 1. Remained on pace for a PR. During mile 5, we headed up the Broadway Bridge to go back to the east side. I always hate that hill on my training runs, and worried that it would ruin my chances of setting a PR. However, I kept passing people, and my mile 5 split was still faster than my PR pace. I just kept trucking along to make my way to the finish line, and was still feeling good (okay, I was ready to be done running, but I was still passing people). There was a small hill just before mile 6, and my first thought was, "You've got to be kidding me" (it reminded me of Mt. Roosevelt in the Chicago Marathon). After I hit the mile 6 marker, I noticed that I had about 1.5 minutes to go in order to PR. I just told myself to keep pushing. As I rounded the last turn and saw the finish line, I noticed that I had about 10 seconds before my PR chances were lost, and gunned it. And then I made it with 5 seconds to spare.

A couple minutes later, I saw Daniel (who had also PRed), and eventually, we reunited with the rest of the Frontrunners we saw before the race. We also saw Mark W. and my friend Jeff, which was a great surprise, as I had no idea either of them were running this race. We posed for post-race photos, got our awesome stainless steel beer/cider/wine cups, and got some free booze (I did wine, the rest of them did beer). I went to the results tent to see if they had the official results posted, and was shocked when I saw my name on the first page of race results. I think I got more of a rush from that than from setting a new PR. (Side note: My previous PR was from the 2012 P2P 10K, which is primarily downhill.)

Overall, I think this race was well-organized. Packet pick-up was so easy, and the staggered start was a nice way to ease congestion. The only thing that annoyed me was having to hang around the muddy park, because my PF3s got so muddy that I had to throw them in the washing machine when I got home. (Okay, maybe "had to" is an exaggeration. But there was no way they were going back in my closet dirty like that.) I also appreciated the fax that while the beer line had 50+ people, the wine line only had about five. I know having to wait in an obscenely long line for post-race beer frustrated some people, so maybe it'd help if they had an additional beer tent?  Either way. Am I glad I ran this race? Yes. Would I run this race again? I think so.