2010 St. George Marathon

Beautiful day, beautiful course.

Best part,
Elite corral to start!

Ahead of schedule through 10,
Then, time slipped away.

A little behind at 13,
No chance to recover though.

Body and mind alternating in a ying and yang,
A tug of war.

This is easy, this is not.
Goal pace is comfortable why can't I hold it?

Happiest 3:45 marathoner in St. George today,
After spending a long time not knowing if I'd find my way!
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Last night's sleep: to bed @ 2315; out of bed 555; slept pretty good even though I was up a couple of times during the night

~6:30 Grape-Nuts cereal w/skim milk

~7:00 smoothie: blueberries, cherries, yogurt, cranberry juice & Twin Labs Ultra Fuel

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OBJECTIVE
1 mi. warm-up
2 mi.@ 6:52
1 mi. cool-down

ACHIEVED
1.01 mi. WU
2.00 mi.@ 6:48
1.04 mi. CD

~9:45 pm

Got away from work late tonight. This run was on my schedule for tomorrow morning. However Dr. Cadena has agreed to see me prior to office hours. Since this is my last run, I decided I didn't want to run again until the marathon once I receive treatment. That explains how I found myself finishing up this run after 10 pm at Memorial Park.

The run went okay. My legs were a little sore from the light resistance work and stretching I've been subjecting them to. I'm not worried about that. My left calf/Achilles flared a bit with what felt like repetitive muscle strain and my right shin splint was "there" but not problematic. The half marathon pace felt easy on the cool evening air on rested legs.

Looking forward to an all-out carbohydrate binge tomorrow.

PRE RUN
water & pure protein bar

POST RUN
water, hamburger patty w/cheese & grilled chicken breast
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Knocked at all of my resistance work and stretching this morning:

1 set each

kneeling overhead draw-in
lying draw-in w/hip flexion
box lunge
stability ball leg curl
AROM hip extension straight leg w/ball
AROM knee wall slide bil full w/ball
AROM lumbar bridging hamstring bil w/ball
AROM lumbar bridging w/alternating leg
Resist lumbar bridging w/hip abductors w/elastic band
Resist hip ER side lying w/elastic band
Resist knee sidestep w/elastic
Lunge stretch
Supine hip extension
VMO dip
Spider stretch
Cat stretch

I felt okay - not great; not bad. Right shin splint issue was more prominent this morning.

Today is the last day of carbohydrate depletion. Tomorrow I'll throw the switch on loading. I'll also see Dr. Cadeña early tomorrow morning. I'm also supposed to have my last run tomorrow but I may change things up to get more recovery time from post-treatment until the starting line.

Day -3 Intake

Last night's sleep: to bed 22:20; got up 5:20; slept pretty good only up once

~6:00 16 oz. water

~7:00 8 oz. water & 2 string cheese

OBEJECTIVE
dynamic stretching warm-up
1 mi. warm-up
2k @ 6:52 w/ 90 second active recovery
1 mi. @ 6:32 w/ 90 second active recovery
1k @ 6:18 w/ 90 second active recovery
1 mi. cool-down

ACHIEVED
1.04 mi. WU
dynamic stretch
2k @ 6:42 w/ 90 second active recovery
1 mi. @ 6:23 w/ 90 second active recovery
1k @ 6:12 w/ 90 second active recovery

5:24 AM 59º 84% 0 mph

Felt pretty good.

Started carbohydrate depletion yesterday so I should be good and ornery by the end of the day tomorrow. In know the Western Australian method (and other studies) suggest you don't have to follow the old-school protocol of the eastern bloc countries but the whole 7-day approach gets me into a mindset that seems to help my racing.

Went to see Dr. Cadeña yesterday. Very surprising diagnosis. The problem I've been experiencing with my ankle for the past two weeks is apparently shin splits. I've had shin splits before (about three years ago) but they were nothing like this. Cadeña worked his magic and I felt pretty good today. The issue was there this morning but it was latent. I'll go for another treatment Thursday morning and get a tape job. Hopefully that's the last I have to think about shin splits!

PRE RUN
weight=159.5
water & 500 mg glutamine

POST RUN
water & multivitamin

Day -4 Intake

Last night's sleep: to bed @ 21:40; got up @ 5:00; okay sleep - got up a couple of times

~5:00 water & 500 mg glutamine

~6:00 water & multivitamin

~6:30 water, 3-egg scramble w/Canadian bacon & sharp cheddar cheese

~9:00 3 scoops protein powder, 2 heaping tablespoons peanut butter, 6 ice cubes, 16 oz. skim milk

~10:30 8 oz. water

~12:00 garden salad, grilled halibut & 16 oz. water

~15:00 8 oz. water

~18:00 pure protein bar & 8 oz. water

~21:00 string cheese

Day -5 Intake

Last night's sleep: to bed 22:30; out of bed 4:55; a bit restless, up multiple times

~5:00 water & 500 mg glutamine

~6:00 water, multivitamin & string cheese

~9:00 2 poached eggs, Canadian bacon & water

~13:00 2 chicken breasts

~15:00 red beans w/green onions & cheddar cheese

~15:30 water

~20:00 grilled salmon fillet, low-fat cottage cheese & water

The father-and-son Ironman team, Dick and Rick Hoyt, Team Hoyt.

OBJECTIVE
8 mi.@ 7:40-8:29
2x20 sec. high knees
2x20 sec. bounding

ACHIEVED
8.14 mi.@ 8:10
2x20 sec. high knees
2x20 sec. bounding

5:22 AM 74° 87% 1 mph

Cooler temperature this morning was nice. Stayed focused on "staying within the day" and had a good run. The runs - successful or not - of my yesterdays don't matter today. Nor do the runs of my tomorrows. Today is the day that matters and today was a good, solid run.

I think I'll try to get in to see Dr. Cadeña today or tomorrow and, depending on how I feel for this coming Saturday's run do the same thing next week. Also, will probably try to see my massage therapist tomorrow. It's all preventative and gets me in the mindset of racing.

PRE RUN
weight=160
water & 500 mg glutamine

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

OBJECTIVE
2 mi. WU
12 mi.@ 7:09 (marathon pace)
2 mi. CD

ACHIEVED
2.88 mi. WU
4 mi.@ 7:11
3.35 mi.@ 8:44

5:53 AM 78° 80% 3 mph

This could be classified as an unmitigated disaster. I felt fine the first 3 miles at marathon pace. In fact, I even got into a rhythm where I was comfortable but by 4 miles the wheels had fallen off. I have no idea what's happening to me the last 10 days. I feel fine then all of the sudden I don't. When I hit that point I'm done and can't get back on track. I haven't had anything like this in my running experience. It's not like I suffering a specific injury or particular issue. It's like overall fatigue or something. I don't seem to be able to will myself out of the mire.

I'm now wondering if I'm still recovering from my half PR effort 2 weeks ago. Or if it's associated with stress caused by my job uncertainty. Or maybe it's both ... or neither ....

PRE RUN
weight=158.5
diet V8 splash, 500 mg glutamine & oatmeal w/brown sugar & skim milk

POST RUN
SlimFast & water
Later, PBJ smoothie & multivitamin

OBJECTIVE
6 mi.@ 7:40-8:29

ACHIEVED
10.25 mi.@ 8:09

6:02 AM 79° 90% 0 mph

Back in the saddle. Felt okay after taking a day off work yesterday. Back in the game in time to taper! Ha!

PRE RUN
weight=160.5
water & 500 mg glutamine

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, chocolate milk & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

OBJECTIVE
6 mi.@ 8:30-9:40

ACHIEVED
6.04 mi.@ 9:05

5:25 AM 77° 79% 3 mph

Started easy; stayed easy. Still feeling an overall, general fatigue.

PRE RUN
weight=159.5
diet V8 splash & 500 mg glutamine

POST RUN
diet V8 splash, multivitamin & PBJ smoothie

OBJECTIVE
dynamic stretching warm-up
1 mi. warm-up
1x3k @ 6:52 w/ 2 min. active recovery
1x2k @ 6:32 w/ 2 min. active recovery
1x1k @ 6:18 w/ 2 min. active recovery
1x800m @ 6:05
1 mi. cool-down

ACHIEVED
1.02 mi. WU
dynamic stretch
1x3k @ 6:50 w/ 2 min. active recovery
1x2k @ 6:35 w/ 2 min. active recovery
1x1k @ 6:21 w/ 2 min. active recovery
1x800m @ 6:23
1.29 mi. cool-down

total time = 55:53
total distance = 7.10 mi.

5:33 AM 77° 88% 4 mph

Wow! Nothing in the tank today. Rained during the first interval then stopped. Dodging traffic and muddles along Cypresswood Drive really took me out of my rhythm during the last two intervals (on top of that I was gassed!).

On the bright side, I hit my racing weight of 159 this morning. Hmmmmm is there a correlation between my weight and how I felt ...???

PRE RUN
weight=159
diet V8 splash, 500 mg glutamine & slice of whole wheat bread

POST RUN
water, multivitamin, SlimFast & puffed wheat cereal w/skim milk

OBJECTIVE
10 mi.@ 7:40-8:30
2x20 sec. stiff legged running
2x20 sec. no-arm running

ACHIEVED
10.26 mi.@ 8:12
2x20 sec. stiff legged running
2x20 sec. no-arm running

10:13 AM 82° 76% 8 mph rain

This one started out as a hot, breezy summer day. I was wondering how I'd hold up to the end as it seemed the temperature would only be rising. About two miles in to it, I looked to the south and saw huge, dark rain clouds. I started trying to guess when the rain would hit me. I figured it would be at about the seven-mile mark. Apparently the storm was moving faster than I judged. Around Mile 4, it started raining lightly. By Mile 5 the rain was coming hard and heavy. It didn't last long but sure unloaded a lot of rain. The sun gradually emerged for the last third of the run and it became quite hot and steamy.

I felt pretty good starting out even though my legs had residual soreness from Saturday's race. I raced in flats on hills over 13 miles so they deserve to be a little sore. When the rain came, the temperature dropped some and I felt quite good. By the last third, I was feeling very tired. I held on and drug myself home.

PRE RUN
weight=161
corn chex w/skim milk & diet V8 splash

POST RUN
diet V8 splash, 500 mg glutamine, multivitamin, PBJ smoothie

Unleashed a monster today!

1:28:43 official

9th place overall
8th place men
3rd place age group

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OBJECTIVE
2 mi.@ 8:30-9:40

ACHIEVED
2.02 mi.@ 9:11

5:25 AM 76° 70% 2 mph

Easy shakeout. Felt fine.

PRE RUN
weight=161
water

POST RUN
diet V8 splash, multivitamin, 500 mg glutamine & oatmeal w/brown sugar & skim milk

OBJECTIVE
dynamic stretching warm-up
1.5 mi. warm-up @ 8:30-9:40
5.5 mi. tempo run @ 6:52
1.5 mi. cool-down @ 8:30-9:40

ACHIEVED
1.54 mi. WU
dynamic stretch
5.5 mi. tempo @ 6:50 (6:50/6:51/6:52/6:50/6:48/[6:44])
1.84 mi. CD

5:52 AM 77° 85% 1 mph

This run was a breakthrough for me. I haven't been able to hit the target pace on these Thursday tempo runs for this entire training cycle. I've come close and had good efforts the past couple of weeks but today was different. I hit it! It required a great deal of focus. No wandering thoughts or moments of slack attention. I started steady and stayed steady throughout. I didn't ever feel like I was going to die but it was an effort.

Interestingly my 10k PR is 41:56. Today I covered 5.5 miles (0.74 miles less than a 10k) in 37:31. If I held the same pace through 10k (which I believe was possible), I would have run 42:22 - only 26 seconds off a PR in a non-race environment and less than ideal weather conditions.

I am reminded the brain is a powerful thing in running. It can work for you or against you. Many of running's seemingly physical barriers are actually mental. I need to remember this. I need to stay positive and believe.

PRE RUN
weight=161.5
diet V8 splash & 500 mg glutamine

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, diet V8 splash & low-fat granola w/skim milk

OBJECTIVE
2-6 mi.@ 8:30-9:40

ACHIEVED
6.09 mi.@ 8:30

7:33 AM 77° 83% 3 mph

Absolutely crushed this recovery run! ha!

PRE RUN
weight=161
water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & brown rice farina w/almonds, brown sugar, flax & skim milk

Just noticed I ran 210.7 miles this month. That got me wondering about my highest mileage month and how many times I've gone over 200 miles in a month. Looking back at my log, this is the third time I've gone over 200 miles, August and September 2009 being the other occurrences. This is my second highest monthly mileage ever with September 2009 being higher by about 13 miles.

Looking forward to September 2010. This could be my highest mileage month ever.