What ever it takes!

4:30 am.  Running a little late today, slept in all the way until my alarm went off this morning.  Just a normal General Aerobic run this morning 10 miles out and back, there is a really neat overlook of the Bay and Golden Gate bridge at Crissy Feild  just over 5 miles out on my run so I stopped there for a few minutes and just took in the view and the beautiful morning. 

Had some nerve pain in my entire right leg this morning, can't really pinpoint where exactly it hurts just kind of aches all over.  I really need a massage.  Started out limp running the first mile and thought it would lossen up, it did a little but never felt great.  Just a good run to get the miles in, never very fast.

10.3 miles in 1:16:15  7:24/mile average.

5:00 am.  Went to the INXS concert last night for the party here at VMWorld, ate lots of really bad food and stayed out way past my bedtime.  INXS is actually really good, the replacement singer for Michael Hutchence is very good.  I saw INXS back in the 80's and I actually think the new singer is a better live performer.  He sounds all most exactly like Michael Hutchence but better.  Weird, anyway.  How does this relate to running?  Oh yeah.  So I got kind of a late start but that's OK cause it was a recovery day, my right leg was really bothering me today, I tried to stretch out extra good before the run, which helped a little but I was pretty much limp running the whole time.  I tried to take it easy, but probably went faster than I should.  It's hard to run the same route you have been running every day but at different speeds.  I went out to Fort Mason, but instead of going up the hill I went out to the end of the peir and took in the stars and view of the city for a minute or 2 and then headed back.  Stomach was pretty upset from all the finger foods last night too.

I have a 10 mile Tempo run tomorrow, not sure how that's going to go, I'm going to try and eat better today and stretch out as much as possible.

5:00 am.  Ah, finally done with our show,  1 down 1 to go. Finished up last night but not to late.  got to bed by 10:30.  Today was a 10 mile race simulation day, my leg is still bothering me quite a bit so I started out slow and just tried to work it out the first mile.  1st mile in about 8:00.  I stopped and stretched out a bit when I reached the embarcadaro, started out as fast as my leg would handle, I pushed through the pain and just tried to keep around a 6:30/mile pace.  Had a pretty good headwind when I hit Peir 39 but figured that would help on the way back.  After the 5 mile turn around point my leg finally got tolerable to run on but still kept my pace slower than I would want a Tempo run pace to be.

Ended up running 9.2 miles in 1:00:10  6:32/mile average pace, with the 1 mile warm up 6:40 average.

Not to bad considering how bad my leg was hurting, I can barely walk but can some how manage to run a 6:32 pace.  Funny.

I have my last long run tomorrow (17 miles) and then I'm officially in taper mode.

At SFO airport right now coming home for the holiday weekend and then back to San Fran next Tuesday for yet another 2 week show.  fun fun...

5:00 am.  Back home again, It's nice to be home.  Was planning on running the SunCrest loop again today with Ryan, but he bailed on me, some family reunion excuse.  So I started out my normal BullRiver route to Smiths, glad I didn't have to do SunCrest, my leg wasn't up for it.  My leg started out stiff but loosened up and felt pretty good after about 3 miles. 

2 Miles into the run in the construction zone on 92 I ran into 2 girls.  I startled them pretty bad and about got pepper sprayed in the face.  After I convinced them I wasn't some crazy 5:00am rapist out with a headlamp and running clothes I helped them down the cliff wall created by the construction and we ran for about 2 miles together.  I learned about one of their pet mice and listened to her apologize to some poor lady that she had butt called 3 times starting at 4:30am.  They complained that my 8:30 pace was to fast for them, so I left them alone and went out ahead.   Went up the Suncrest Road about 2 miles and turned East on Westfield, I had never gone this way before and found it very enjoyable.  Followed it out to Main Street in Alpine which was exactly 8.5 miles from home.  Turned around and took the same route home.  Ran into the 2 girls at the SunCrest/Westfield intersection and stopped to say Hi then cruised home.  Second 1/2 of the run was definately more fluid and faster.  My leg started hurting like it had just run 15 miles instead of just hurting for no reason.

Entire run was 17 miles in 2:03:30.   7:15/mile avg pace.  Not bad with the incredibly slow start.

 Really glad to get that run done, now on with the taper.  2 weeks to Logan.

6:00 am.  Met Ryan at his house, I told him to find a flat 10 mile route to do a semi tempo run.  I wanted to try and simulate my Monday 10 mile treadmill run.  Found out it's much harder to do outside.  We seemed to either go to fast or to slow, never could hit our splits quite right.  After the first 5 miles of pretty fast pace we decided to do the second half at just a comfortable 7:00/mile pace, my leg was hurting still pretty bad and neither of us could really quite get into it.  Ended up doing 10.2 miles in 1:08:37 6:45/mile average pace.  Not exactly what I wanted out of my run this morning but I can't always get what I want I suppose.

5:00am.  Came to the realization that my leg isn't going to get better on it's own, today was a recovery day so I made it such.  30 minutes on the elliptical trainer, and then 1200M swim in the pool.  Did some leg presses and leg extensions on the machines in between.  I tried to keep my heartrate up on both the elliptical and swimming.

I've come to a strange place in my training, I've spent the last 16 weeks obsessing over 1 marathon and now I've realized I've put in the time and nothing I do at this point is really going to get me any faster.  I've almost written it off now, and know that what ever happens is what happens.  I've already starting just wanting to get it over with so I can move on to the next level, what ever that may be.

At the Airport now off to San Francisco again, definately going to just take it easy the next 2 weeks, try and get some relaxing runs in but mostly try and get my leg feeling better for race day.

5:00 am.  Back in SanFrancisco, Probably should have done the elliptical again today but I knew I would spend the day feeling sorry for myself it I didn't get my run in. 

Today was suppose to be a VO2 max day 3x1600's but when I woke up I knew my leg wouldn't be able to handle that.  Ran my normal route out over Fort Mason, pretty windy, misty, cool this morning, but felt good.  My leg was hurting but I managed through it, on the way back with a tail wind I decided to get a couple of Marathon Pace miles in so I ran from the Crissy Field rest stop to Fort Mason at 6:10 pace, and then when I got to the Embarkadaro street I did another 6:05 mile.  Oddly enough my leg hurts the least at marathon pace, maybe I should just go everywhere at marathon pace.

9.5 miles in 1:06:10.  7:00/mile average total run.  My hotel this week adds about 1/2 mile to my runs.

4:30 am.  Another "recovery" day so I decided to not push it and went to the hotel gym and did the elliptical machine for 1 hour.  It said I went 7, so I put down 7.  My leg definately likes the elliptical more than running, I feel practically no pain on the machine so it's probably a good choice to try and recover with.  I pushed pretty hard, set the resistance to 12 and tried to keep my heart rate above 130, which is very difficult on the elliptical I've found. 

I would like to get out and run tomorrow and Saturday but I guess it all depends on how my leg feels each morning.

4:30 am.  So I had an apiffany yesterday and decided what I needed was a compression sleeve to wrap around my calf.  So after work I went on a 4 mile trek through the hoods of San Francisco to find the only Sports Authority in town.  They had exactly what I had pictured in my mind so I tried it on in the store and wore it back to the hotel.  I could tell that at least for just walking it totally fixed the problem. I went to bed excited that I may be able to actually get a run in today without pain.  Woke up, put on my sleeve and headed out for my normal San Fran run.  No pain walking to the door, but as soon as I started running it hurt again.  I put up with the pain down Market street for 1 mile and then stopped to stretch out on the Embarkadaro.  After that the pain got bareable, I found that toe striking totally  alleviated the pain, luckily I had dabbled in toe striking on some short runs so I started doing that, wishing I had worn my Nike Free's.  Ended up going 10 miles cause I wanted to make it to the drinking fountain at Crissy Field.  On the way back I actually felt good enough to get my lamp post 100's in did 8 of those.

10 miles in 1:12:00  7:11/mile average.

4:30 am.  1 week to go, I'm going to take a good long break after this race I think.  This morning really makes me wonder what is going to happen next week, I start out my run thinking I wont even be able to finish 26 miles let alone PR.  Then after about 5 miles everything seems to loosen up and I can run just fine.  Also it seems the faster I go the less it hurts, so I guess as long as it holds up for 1 hour longer than today I'll survive.

13 miles out to the Golden Gate view point, really nice morning for a run, probably high 30's clear skys with really bright stars,  there was a low fog under the Golden Gate bridge so they had the fog horns going.  It's really a neat experience early in the morning.  My Garmin died 3 miles into the run,  probably not a bad thing, I need more runs without it.  All I know is it is 6.5 miles out to that point for a 13 mile total run.  Don't even really know how long it took.  I'd guess 7:15ish average.

5:00 am.  3.5 on the Elliptical in 31 minutes.  Wasn't going to do anything today but not much to do in a hotel room at 5:00am when you can't sleep past 4:30am, so I headed to the hotel gym.  Did the elliptical and then some core exercises and stretches.  I actually feel like my leg may be healing.  Maybe another elliptical day tomorrow and then try and easy run Tuesday.

5:00am.  Was going to do my whole workout on the elliptical this morning but after 2 miles I decided my legs were feeling pretty good and decided to try the treadmill out.  Had a little bit of pins and needles pain at first but that went away quickly, after 1/2 a mile I started feeling really good, best I've felt in 2 weeks.  Probably went harder than I should have on a recovery run but it was so nice to finally run relatively pain free that I let it out a little bit.  Ran 1 mile at marathon pace but don't feel like it counts as a marathon mile cause it felt so good.  :)

2 on elliptical in 20 minutes.

5 on treadmill in 34:22  6:52/mile avg.

4:30 am.  Pretty fun run this morning, my Garmin battery was dead again so I just ran to run.  Last day long enough to go over Fort Mason so I tried to take it all in 1 last time, for at least 1 more year.  My leg started out pretty bad, but after 1 mile it was fine,  ran pretty easy out to the Crissy Field rest area on the way back once I got over Fort Mason hill  I picked up the pace to what I thought felt like a marathon pace but was probably slow at first, Then when I got to the Embarkadaro I picked it up quite a bit, I really wish my Garmin would have been working cause I was going pretty fast, I would guess sub 6:00 pace for the last 2 miles.  It felt really good and was really fun to run  fast, lots of joggers out this morning.

5:00 am.  6 on the Elliptical in 52:00.  Think I'll probably just stick to the elliptical this week for all my easy miles,  it definately is easier on my leg.  I'm feeling pretty healthy over all and my leg at the moment feels good.

Finally get to tear down this conference today, and fly home tomorrow.  I've been away to long it will be good to get back home.

4:30 am. Was going to do the whole workout on the Elliptical but my leg felt pretty good after 2 and I moved over to the treadmill for another 4 mile in 28:30. 

Finally going home, at the airport now waiting for my flight.  2 days to race day hopefully an nice relaxing day tomorrow.  Hoping to head up to Logan early to get aclimated.

5:00am went to the gym this morning and decided to just swim,  did 1200 meters in about 40 minutes.  Sat in the hottub and steam room for a while and then came home.  My wife Britt decided about 4 weeks ago to start training for the Halloween 1/2 with some friends.  (She won't let me run it) so she wanted to go for a run.  I told her I would come and push Zach in the stroller.  We did my Sunday recovery loop for 5 miles in 45 minutes 9:00/mile pace.  I was pretty impressed she actually held 8:30's for a lot of the time but the final hill did her in.  She told me she could only run a 10:00 pace so she is a liar.  The stroller got 2 flat tires as soon as we hit the dirt road so I ran with totally flat tires and a 60 lb "baby" the whole time.  Made the effort seem hard.

Taking the kids out of school early and heading to Logan around 12:00, show the kids my college stomping grounds.

Hope to see some of ya there tomorrow.

Left for Logan yesterday around noon, took the kids out of school early and headed up to look around, get checked into the Hampton Inn and get some swimming in for the kids and hottubing for my wife and I.  The Hampton Inn was a bit further away from downtown than I thought but when I checked in they told me there was a shuttle from the hotel first thing in the morning.  It was actually a very nice hotel and we had the pool to ourselves so it was really nice and relaxing.  Swam for about an hour then took an hour nap before packet pickup.

At 5:00 we went to the Packet pickup ran into a few friends, Ryan called at that point and said he was going to dinner at Fire(something) pizza and asked if we wanted to meet him, we invited our friends and he had some other friends ended up having 17 people meet at the pizza place for dinner, which was a bad mistake, we waited 2 hours for a table that big.

Got back to the hotel at 8:00, got the kids to bed and then me.  I fell asleep pretty easy but around 10:30 some kids were running up and down the hallway and woke me up, I never really did get back to good sleep after than.  Got up at 4:00 am with no alarm, got ready and went downstairs.  The hotel had provided a small breakfast for the marathoners starting at 4:15am which I thought was really nice.  I tried turning my Garmin on to see what time it was and saw that it wasn’t turning on, dispite charging it all night, this was really upsetting, Carina Heilner came down around then I told her about my watch and she told me she had her old one if I wanted to borrow it so I agreed.

Ryan had convinced his wife to drive him to the buses in the morning instead of taking the hotel shuttle so I caught a ride with them, rode the bus up with Ryan, he guessed that to win the masters category he would need to run a 2:43.  So at that point 2:43 was our new goal, but we decided to follow Paul Petersons course tool for a 2:40 finish giving us some wiggle room.  Got on one of the earlier buses and went directly to the portapotties then down to the warm tent.  At 6:30 we decided to hike back up to the portapotties one last time and then warm up a little.  The line was pretty long giving us only about 10 minutes to warm up.  My leg was bothering me a little so I decided to wear my compression sleeve more as a mental aid than anything.  Lined up at the front with Sasha, and the Kenyans, introduced myself to Allie and told her good luck.  The race started maybe 5 minutes late but I’d consider it on time.  The guns went off right in my ear scaring me half to death and we were off.  

I’m sure one of every rookie runners dreams is to be able to run with the lead pack of a marathon for the first mile or so, well lucky for me the Kenyans enabled this dream to happen, they took off surprisingly slow, my first mile goal was 5:55 pace the lead pack was only going at about a 5:50 pace so I with about 11 -12 people in the lead stayed pretty much together for the first mile, my leg was feeling decent I was afraid I would be limping the whole 1^st mile but it seemed to hold up.

Mile 1 = 5:53

Sasha and the 2 Kenyans started to break away a little bit, I was happy we hit our first split pretty much as planned, I had printed out the course tool to small to read while running but knew the second mile was suppose to be right around 6:00 still feeling good and content to let the pack naturally break up.

Mile 2 = 5:58 (right on track)

I counted, Ryan and I were in 10^th and 11^th place, I looked behind and there was already a big gap between us and the next person behind, I thought to myself this is perfect if I can just stay here for another 24 miles I’ll be perfectly happy J  (wishful thinking)

Mile 3 = 5:52 (11 seconds to fast)

The next couple of miles where just kind of pleasant, nice cool breeze and little rollers mostly down hill.  Even though I couldn’t read the planned splits I knew we were for the most part on track.

Mile 4 = 5:57

Mile 5 = 6:07

Mile 6 = 6:06

Mile 7 = 6:08

Mile 8 = 6:03

First signs of trouble at this point, my right hip and right thigh started acting up, I kept falling back from Ryan a few yards and then would try to catch back up on the up hills, up hills felt better at this point

Mile 9 = 6:14

Ryan slowed down a little bit for me, I felt bad and tried to get the pace back up,

Mile 10 = 6:08

I fell back about 5 yards or so, Ryan tuned and asked if I was OK, I told him my leg wasn’t going to hold up and not to wait, he left me at this point.  He was looking very strong and I was glad he left, I didn’t want to slow him down anymore.  Some times  a man just needs to be left to wallow in his own misery.

Mile 11 = 6:24

Mile 12 = 6:10

Coming out of the canyon a few things happened, first the sun started hitting me, which I’ve mentioned before I don’t do good in the sun, and second there were people on the side of the road cheering me on,  I kind of don’t do well with the cheering crowds it’s a little too emotional and I have a hard time focusing.  Got to the flat part and could really feel myself coming apart.

Mile 13 = 6:16

Kept trying to hold on, Hit the ½ mark at right around 1:20:00, only 30 seconds or so behind the plan for a 2:40:00 finish but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to run on the flats at the same pace.  Around mile 14 the first person past me, I knew at that point I must really be slowing cause last time I had checked I couldn’t see anyone behind me.

Mile 14 = 6:10

My leg at this point was really bothering me, I knew I wasn’t going to hit my goal and could feel another Ogden crash happening if I tried to keep it up. I mentally told myself I needed to slow it down or I might not finish,  taking it down to closer to a normal training run pace really seemed to help and the pain went away.  So I changed gears.

Mile 15 = 6:24

Mile 16 = 6:17

Mile 17 = 6:31

Another 2 guys past me, a little demoralizing but at that point I didn’t care much about anything.  Thought OK, just 8 more to go.  I can run 8 miles in my sleep.

Mile 18 = 6:34

The uphill began, in a way it was a relief, the uphill change of muscles actually felt good on the leg but slowed me down a lot.

Mile 19 = 6:49

More uphill, don’t like it as much anymore.

Mile 20 = 7:11

The long uphill really took it out of me, it forced my pace to slow down a lot and I never really could get my legs moving again.

Mile 21 = 6:57

Mile 22 = 7:04

I started thinking my leg was going to cramp up, wanted to stop and stretch it out but told myself stopping would be the end of me, tried to take longer strides to stretch. 

Mile 23 = 7:20

Started running up main street, all the cars and commotion was mentally tough, Allie past me right at the 24 mile sign, I told her I was going to cramp up, she told me not to think about it.  I really wanted to catch up with her and use her a a pacer but she was flying and I kept getting slower.

Mile 24 = 7:27

Mile 25 = 7:19

Really not having a good time at this point, but knowing it was only 1 mile to go kept me focused and the thought of wanting my kids to see me finish strong kept me alive.

Mile 26 = 7:18

Turned the corner and saw the finish line, what a relief, very happy I didn’t ever let my mind totally take control and force me to stop.  A slower than hoped for finish is way better than an all out crash.

Gave my kids and wife a high five crossed the finish line in 2:52:30 according to Garmin, can’t remember the official time.

I thought for sure I would cramp up as soon as I finished, but I didn’t.  Went and got a free massage, which felt great.  Talked to Sasha a bit.  He made me feel better about myself by telling me it is way to hard to train for a marathon while on a business trip and then expect to perform well.  I really didn’t want to make excuses for myself., Like work or my leg pain, but they definitely all play a part.

I’m a little disappointed that all the time and effort I put into this didn’t pay off a little more, but there is always next year I suppose.  Going to take some time off of running now and try and recover.

Oh, forgot to mention.  Ryan finished in 2:45:??  didn't quite get the masters win, lost it by 30 seconds.  I hope I didn't keep him from the win, but looking at the splits he left me before we really got off track.

 
   

1600 M swim in 40 minutes.  Can't walk but swimming feels good.

30 minutes on the elliptical, some light weight lifting.

1200 M swim in 30 minutes. 30 minutes of weights.

 Finally I can walk almost normal, itching to get back on the treadmill but I know I probably shouldn't.  Going to give it until Saturday to run again, we are planning a family trip to Yellowstone and I promised my wife I would run 8 with her there so I will save that for my first run.

45 minutes on the elliptical, then 30 minutes of weights.  I was really tempted to get on the treadmill but told myself to stick to the plan. 

I've gained 8 lbs since Saturday, is that normal? 

2400 M Swim in 1 hour.  This was the first time I really pushed myself swimming.  I usually just do it to relax and recover, but today I decided to push it a little.  Also first time I've gone over 1 mile, not because I couldn't before, just because usually 1 mile feels like enough.

Got home and Britt wanted me to take her running on the Jordan Parkway trail, she was afraid to go alone she said. I was going to ride my bike with Zach in the trailer but last minute decided to try and run.  My leg hurt pretty bad but it felt good to run and it was a beautiful day.  We did 6 miles in 55 minutes, the furthest Britt has ever run before, she looked pretty strong the whole way, next run for her will be 8.  I've decided to take time off of my training and focus on getting Britt ready for her 1/2 marathon.  It's better on our relationship and on my leg.

5:30 am.  All I can say is I'm really glad I'm not running St. George this weekend.  I'm a complete wreck.  My leg still hurts, I pulled a muscle in my neck and I'm coming down with a pretty nasty cold.  This morning I was pretty sure I wouldn't even come to work, but at 5:00 am I woke up and decided to go to the gym and worst case just sit in the hotub and steam room.  By the time I got there I felt OK and started on the elliptical for 15 minutes, then was feeling better and decided to try running, so I did 3 miles on the treadmill at 7:30 pace.  Stretched out a little bit and went to the Hot Tub.  Actually quite happy I got out of bed and did some excercise, I'm sure I feel a lot better now than if I would have stayed home.

Taking double shots of emergen -C.  Last week I felt bad for myself cause I felt good but couldn't run because of my leg, today I just feel like crap.  Maybe my body is telling me something.

5:15 am.  Feeling a little better today, woke up a bit stuffy but not bad, I knew once I started moving it would get better.  Decided to just hit the lap pool today, did 1600m in 45 minutes.  Kind of slow but I worked on different breathing techniques and strokes.  Hopefully I will get a run in tomorrow, would love to be able to get a longish run in this weekend while the weather is perfect.

Finally, I'm human again. 

4:45 am.  Still a little bit congested and my leg started out stiff so I did 10 minutes on the elliptical to loosen up, then I went to the treadmill, started out at 7:30 pace to make sure everything still worked properly, then started kind of a progressive ladder.  It felt great to get my heart rate up again.

6 Miles in 40 minutes 6:40/mile average.  Ran my last mile in 6:10.  

Last night I had Britt totally strip my leg muscles, hurt so bad I started crying but I could tell it was helping, after today's run my leg feels almost normal for the first time in close to 4 weeks.  Really excited to be running again.

Ryan is running the Dublin Marathon in 4 weeks (lame, I wish I could go to Dublin) so he is already back to marathon training.  I told him I would try and tag along on his 20 miler this Saturday, we'll see how that goes.

So, due to all the recent single women runner attacks lately Britt wanted me to run on her long run with her, so I told my boss I'd be in to work late today stayed home and helped get the kids ready for school.  (I've never done that)  After we got all the kids to school I took Britt out on my 10 mile trail run, except we started at the bottom of the hill cause she was afraid she wouldn't make it home.  Went out on the Bull River Trail around Smiths and back,  It was only 7 miles when we got back to the car and she really wanted to get 8 in so I drove the car home and she ran up the hill through our neighborhood home.  

This is the furthest she has ever ran, and because of me pacing, the fastest she had ever averaged for any distance.  She did 8.05 miles in 1:14:00. 

This is good for me to help her get ready for a race for a couple of reasons, 1 it's probably good for me to run slower and get recovered, and 2 she feels like running isn't all about me for once.  I think she can totally do a 1/2 in under 2 hours, she just needs a 9:09 avg pace.