Training Widget

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Marine Corps Marathon

Day 669 - October 31, 2010

It was a beautiful morning for the marathon today. I'll write more later, but wanted to share that I finished, I qualified for Boston, but I did not break 3 hours.

Official time was 3 hours, 11 minutes, and 32 seconds. There are a lot of great stories I hope to share when I've had a chance to recover. I had a great first half and was still doing well at 16 miles. I started to cramp up a bit at 17, but fought it off until Mile 19. Then the wheels fell off - hamstrings cramped up and it really slowed me down. But, I finished. I even set a PR - my previous best marathon was a 3:31. For 2010 - I pulled off the trifecta - PRs in the 10 mile, half marathon and full marathon.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

5 Days and Counting

Day 664 - October 26, 2010

Today was just an easy three. I've been reading a lot about carbo loading and avoiding the bonk. One of the coolest things I found this week is an Endurance Calculator.



I don't know that I believe the 2:14, but I hope the conservative estimate of 3:15 is correct. I was happy to see that my max VO2 is around 60 based on my resting heart rate of 47 (that's an average of the 45 I had this evening and the 50 I counted at work this morning).

Another great article was just published in PLOS Computational Biology by Benjamin Rapoport. Metabolic Factors Limiting Performance in Marathon Runners provides a lot of interesting relationships between, carboloading, max VO2, and marathon pace time. I'm really interested in seeing how this plays out for me. There are plenty of equations and graphs to really get your inner running science geek excited.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

A new all-time mileage for the year.

Day 661 - October 23, 2010

You may remember that last year I pushed really hard the last four months and got my yearly mileage to 1460 - an average of 4 miles a day. Well with this morning's ten mile run, my total for the year so far in 2010 is 1467! It is only October 23. Ooo, hope I didn't pull something patting my own back!

I can't wait to see how far I can go this year. One week until Marine Corps. I'm really looking forward to it!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Disappointment

As most of you know, I've been busting my tail all year to get myself in shape for the Marine Corps Marathon in DC and ultimately qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2011. I got an email from a friend today informing me that Boston is closed. Apparently, the registrations sold out in 8 hours.

10 days before my marathon - man that is demotivating.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

ZOMBIES - Everywhere

Day 655 - October 17, 2010



Charlottesville was a scary scene this morning as hundreds of zombies showed up for breakfast at Lee Park and the start of the Danger, Zombie, Run 5k. We humans were spotted a 90 second head start and had to not only avoid the chasing horde, but also hidden zombies along the course who popped out of no where to steal your soul (a red ribbon taped to our backs).

You probably heard the joke about going hiking and not having to out run a bear, just the slowest person in your group. Well that was the mentality today. I got out quick off the start and let the zombies feast on the crowd behind me. Some might call that cowardly. I call it survival.

My only close encounter came when the course doubled back around for the finish and we had to mingle in with the lapped runners. Two zombies tried to make a dash and steal my ribbon, but I found another gear and put some sidewalk between me and the dead.

I pushed on to the safety of Lee Park and finished the run in second overall (19:00). I was hoping to run about 30 seconds faster, but there were no splits on the course and my internal GPS must have been off. Still a good finish and happy to have survived. I think less than 10 out of the 400+ runners finished with their souls intact.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Not the run I was looking for today

Day 648 - October 10, 2010

The higher temperatures today caught me off guard and I failed to keep myself hydrated. I felt great for the first 14 miles, but then the wheels came off. I had to stop and stretch out my hamstrings several times, and by mile 19 I was walking, still 4 miles from home. Luckily my running partner sent a car back for me when he finished. Not the run I was looking for 3 weeks out from the marathon.

The video below is my left calf still spontaneously cramping 2 hours after the run. I can't believe I got that dehydrated despite all the fluids I carried with me.