Mother Nature, can you, not?

I saw a blog post on the VCM website this week from an “elite” runner who was struggling with his running.  The writer commented about how the fun had been missing from his work-outs.  As a result, he felt as though he was floundering with his training.  I’m not in the same place as this person, but I have had a distinct feeling of change in my training.  As I’ve mentioned previously, running used to be done on my own schedule, at distances of my choosing.  I understand that not everyone sticks to their training schedule as closely as I have been adhering to mine.  I know that I can alter the schedule when needed, but I’m trying my best not to mess too much with it.  After all, I am a rookie marathon runner, and 26.2 miles is not a distance to be trifled with.  So, with this in mind, I headed out for my first 17 mile run on Saturday.  This was the first time that a distance has felt “real” to me.  Yes, 15 seemed like a lot of miles, but, for some reason, 17 felt more intimidating.  It’s almost like my brain had drawn a line in the sand and dictated that- “If I can run 17 miles, I can run a marathon.”

Seventeen miles? Really? Never, ever thought I’d run 17 miles.  It was just a year ago that I was excited to run 5 or 6 miles!  Now that I’m closing in on the actual marathon date, I’m already wondering what happens next.  Will I become one of the 60% of people who don’t run a second marathon (a statistic that I can’t seem to confirm)?  Will I continue to run weekly mileage that seems ludicrously high, just to maintain my current level of running fitness that I’ve worked so hard to achieve?  Will I be able to go back to my old days of running lower daily mileage and be able to feel good about it?  Come to think of it, this brings up a question that has been careening around though my head… Why do people run more than one marathon?  Explaining the first marathon is easy; I just tell people that I simply had no clue about the level of training and commitment that the marathon demands. But what drives runners, and a lot of them, to want to run another, and another? (If you have a great answer to this one, I’d love to hear your thoughts- Please leave me a message.

So, it turns out that my 17 mile day actually turned into 16.22.  I drove into town to participate in one of the RunVermont Hannaford’s group runs.  I thought that the miles would be easier if they were done with other runners, on flatter terrain than I have at home.  This logic might have held true if Mother Nature had been kinder.  The wind was whipping and the temperatures never got out of the low 20’s.  I was cold and tired, when at mile 13 I managed to, while walking around a patch of ice on the bike path, sink into a puddle of ankle deep water with both feet.  By the time the incident registered with my wind-chilled brain, I had taken several steps through the ice-cold water.  This misstep turned last few miles into quite the mental challenge.  I had really hoped to make the 17 mile mark, but once my car was in sight I couldn’t command my legs to go the extra .78 miles.  In fact, after running 16+ miles, I could barely command my legs to get into my car.  And now, the question remains… How will I manage to do this all again on race day, especially with an additional 10 miles tacked on top?

Now it’s onto another week of training.  Superman has Lex Luthor and Batman has a plethora of arch rivals.  Maybe, just maybe, my old nemesis, Mother Nature, will cut me a break as I head towards this weekend’s 18 mile long-run. 

Until next week,

Greg

Cross Country

Stick With It

If you’ll indulge me for a moment, my running story this week starts with a brief history…

Years ago, I bicycled from New York to California.  We took 70 days and covered 4300 miles.  I recall training a lot for that trip.  Although, maybe “training” wasn’t the right word for it.  I just simply loved cycling, and lived to ride.  So, although I may have bumped up my pre cross-country training mileage, I didn’t really need to modify my riding, other than to get used to carrying about 40 lbs of gear.  This was a group trip, organized by a cycling organization.  So, despite the fact that we had taken some rides together as a group, we didn’t really know each other prior to departing from the George Washington Bridge in NYC.  There was one member of the group who was simply out of shape.  We couldn’t believe how slowly he rode, and how he had to walk every hill while in New York State.  The rest of the group was already strong and was having no difficulties.  This struggling cyclist had two choices: he could either drop out of our ride and head home, or push through his obvious pain and suffering (both mental and physical) and carry on.  He chose the second option and continued to ride with the group.  By the time we made it through Pennsylvania, he was basically having no real difficulties in keeping up, and by the time we hit the Midwest, he was seemingly just as strong as any of us. He made it all the way to California with the rest of the group. 

Is the connection between this story and my marathon training obvious? I started running just about two years ago.  When I began running, I would find myself exhausted after a very short time.  In my defense, running in Underhill is, well, hilly… so I could probably blame my exhaustion on the terrain.  Either way, I kept running.  I follow many running sites online, and love reading their inspirational running quotes.  My favorites seem to be the ones with the general theme of “if you finish last, you’re doing better than the people on their couch.”  There really is something to be said about trying new things, and sticking with them.  Children get frustrated when they don’t have immediate success with new endeavors.  They have the expectation of doing well, right from the start.  Maybe we, as adults, aren’t that much different.  We, too, expect success as soon as we begin.  I love the success stories of those who struggle in the beginning.

I’ve certainly gotten stronger as a runner.  I’m now at a point where I’m not embarrassed by my mile times.  Could they be better?  Sure they could.  But I’m getting there.  I get passed by runners who make me feel as though I’m the out of shape guy bicycling in New York.  But I’m no longer wondering if I should drop out and go home.  I’m pushing through, and I’m going to make it to California, or, in my case, to the VCM finish line at the Burlington waterfront.

Afterward: This morning I ran the GMAA 10k Sap Run.  The temperature at the beginning of the race was 8°, without factoring in the wind-chill.  Despite this, Over 100 people showed up to run.  The really weird part… everyone was cheerful!  Sure, there was a lot of complaining about Mother Nature’s Springtime cruelty, but everyone was happy.  I had a PR! But again, this was my first 10k, and a PR was pretty much guaranteed. A special shout out to RunVermont’s Jess Cover for allowing me the opportunity to blog about my training for the PUBVCM, and for answering all my newbie running questions!

Until next week,

Greg

Rejuvenation

Rejuvenation

I recently read an article which mentioned that many elite runners run with a cadence of 180 steps per minute.  After reading this, I looked online to see if I could find 180 bpm music to accompany me on my runs.  I know that music is a controversial topic for some runners.  I don’t use it frequently; however, it can provide motivation, especially on dreary winter days…  How does this topic fit into this week’s blog?  After writing, rewriting, completing, and proofreading this week’s blog, I was back online looking for more 180 bpm songs to add to my running playlist.  Low and behold, guess what song I found on the list? Read on…

Am I dating myself if I start quoting Bob Dylan?  Maybe I am, but he and I agree on this… The times they are a changin’.  This applies to several aspects of my life, as well as my running. Last week, my blog focused on how overwhelmed I was feeling with the bump-up in my training mileage.  However, I think I frightened several of my friends, running partners, and perhaps…blog readers.  So this week, I’ll tell you about several changes that took place which rejuvenated me. 

Daylight-saving time went into effect and is providing a welcome break from the afternoon darkness.  Don’t get me wrong, I love having the alarm go off at 4:30 AM, but the prospect of being able to run after work is a motivator.  It’s completely uninspiring to go into work in absolute darkness and come out of work into a world devoid of sunlight (especially since my classroom has no windows).  Behold! Daylight-saving time and the tilt of the Earth (which, as a science teacher, I had to throw in) are now working in our favor!

Thanks to my friends at Run VT, I picked up a new pair of running shoes this week.  If you consider yourself a runner, you know the power of a new pair of shoes! These are the lightest and, thus far, most comfortable shoes I’ve worn.  Thanks to these new shoes, I’m sure to score a PR during the VCM.  Of course, it helps to have never run a marathon before… this makes a PR guaranteed (as long as I can reach the finish line).  As a side note, I also picked up my first pair of compression calf-sleeves. I’m sure that my new “wearables” are making me a fashion statement, but the statement may not be a positive one!  As a side note, whatever happened to having “normal” color choices in footwear?  Am I the only one who thinks that orange, day-glow yellow, and fluorescent green don’t necessarily make a color combination that I want to wear?

I had a meeting with Brian Loeffler at On Track PT.  He gave me some great advice on my running stride and form, as well as some stretches to help my aging body.  Seeing yourself run on video in extreme slow-motion is interesting and very revealing.  Who would have thought, since humans have been running for millennia, that there was a plethora of information to be gleaned by watching slow-motion video of your legs in motion?

I ran 15 miles yesterday, which is a personal best for me in terms of long distance.  I couldn’t handle the thought of yet another cold, blustery, slush-covered run, so I headed for the indoor track.  Who knew I’d ever need to use the third digit of my lap-counter!  The best part was that I felt strong throughout the entire 120 laps and didn’t fall asleep immediately upon arriving back home. 

               So, yes, Mr. Dylan was correct:  The times they are a changin’.  In fact, the future is looking quite bright (and, no, it’s not just daylight-saving time)!

5152 Minutes

I’m spent. The Vermont City Marathon crew wanted to have rookies blog about their training experience, so here is my current reality… My previous three blogs have been light-hearted with humor peppered into the dialogue. But now that I’m entering into the weeks of training with higher mileage, I’m beginning to feel overwhelmed. I’m exhausted.  And the worst part is that I haven’t yet hit the really long weekly mileages. A three-mile run used to feel fun and leisurely. I ran when I wanted to, and I ran the distance I felt like running. If I wanted a day off, I took a day off. When I trained for my ½ marathon, it was much easier, with much lower mileages, and less time commitment. I’ll admit that after training for the ½ marathon, I really enjoyed getting to the point of running 10 miles every Sunday. I was doing this regularly before beginning my full-marathon training plan. My thought was that if I continued to run 10 miles each Sunday, I could run a ½ marathon whenever I wanted to, without the need to rebuild up to that level of performance. Despite this level of pre-conditioning, I’m just now admitting to myself, and anyone else that will listen, that 26 miles is REALLY FAR! I knew I’d need to train a lot to build up to the proper level of endurance, but I guess I didn’t really comprehend the task at hand. I’m starting to feel as though my real marathon isn’t the one taking place on Memorial Day weekend, rather it is all the time that I am putting into the training. Running is starting to completely consume my life!  I did some basic math calculations this morning and figured out that my training plan has me running a total of 562.1 miles over 18 weeks. Five hundred sixty two point one miles of training for a 26.2 mile race. That’s 21.45 miles of training for each mile run during the marathon. Another calculation shows that, in total, my training plan has me running 5152 minutes or 85.88 hours (assuming my race speed of 9:10 min/mile). Let that sink in… roughly 86 hours of training for 4 hours of race time! Wow, that’s quite a ratio!

I vented about my exhaustion to a veteran marathon runner. She told me that I’m looking at it in the wrong light. She explained that the marathon isn’t about the 4 hours on course, rather it is about learning that if you can pass mile 20, you can do anything that you put your mind to. She went on to say that the 5152 minutes of training doesn’t just get you 4 hours of marathon running, but a lifetime of pride.

With all of the above ranting and raving, there is good news and, perhaps, light at the end (or is it the middle) of the tunnel: I ran 14 today. It felt good, and I had enough energy left over to go skiing afterward! And now, on to another week of training.

Yours in exhaustion,

Greg

385 yards?

385 Yards

I love winter, I really do.  I think that the changing of the seasons is one of the reasons we love living in Vermont.  We have world class autumn foliage which gives way to a winter season that is just long and hard enough to substantiate incredible bragging rights to anyone other than penguins or polar bears.  With that said, last Monday I snapped.  I'd had enough of the endless need to bundle up in eight layers just to walk to the mailbox.  So, I threw caution to the wind and went out for a run in shorts and a tee shirt.  In my mind, I was imagining 75° temperatures and flat terrain.  Oh wait, it wasn't my imagination; I was in Florida last week.  And given the -20° weather I had left behind, and the -20° that I'd surely be returning to, I wanted to squeeze every last drop out of my ability to run in the warmer weather.  Unfortunately, my travel plans did not allow for my usual long-run on Sunday.  To my amazement, and perhaps with some disappointment, I was forced off of my sacred training schedule.  After all, I did the mathematical computations, and taking into account that a Boeing 737 aircraft is 129.5 feet long, it would have taken 489.26 laps to accomplish my scheduled 12 mile Sunday run while on my flight.  Surely the flight marshal would have tackled me if I had tried to run 489 laps up and down the airplane aisle (including swimming type flip-turns in the cockpit).  

A 12 mile run?  Wow, that's really something, especially when I consider the fact that just three years ago a three-mile run seemed like a long distance accomplishment.  When I ran my first four miles, I posted the accomplishment on Facebook.  I was proud of the accomplishment and was probably looking for accolades from my friends.  I mean, hey, this was something... I had run four miles! I recall doing the same for my first five-mile run, and then again at six miles.  At some point, I began to acknowledge to myself that I was indeed becoming a long distance runner and that I should probably stop posting these accomplishments online.  My distances just kept getting longer and longer.  Although, as I sit down to write this blog, I look back on my Facebook comments and now realize that I never really did lay off of running related posts. I seem to have found one for my first ten-mile route, my first race ever (the GMAA Labor Day 15k), and my first 1/2 marathon (the GMAA Green Mountain 1/2).  I look forward to the day that I'll be able to post about running 26.2 miles - that's how long a marathon is, which, if you're reading this post you already know.  However, I'd like to focus for a moment on the small little decimal 0.2 miles on the end of the number.  I recently read an article that referred to a marathon being 26 miles and 385 yards long.  As I sat on my flight to Florida, I thought about this 385 yard reference. One might think that it's some sort of cruel joke to run 26 miles and then need to do an extra couple hundred yards on top of that, but I'm thinking the opposite. If I can manage to successfully run the first 26 miles, I plan to thoroughly enjoy those last 385 yards. I hope that with each footfall, I can revel in the thought that I've completed my first marathon. At least that's my current plan, assuming that I can actually complete the first 26 miles.  And then, after reminding myself that 385 yards is just the equivalent of 8.92 Boeing 737's, I'll probably post the accomplishment on Facebook!

Fondly,

Greg

Medical tent?

Well, I lied.  I said that I’m a VCM rookie, but I’m not… I’ve actually been in the marathon for several years, just not as a runner.  For many years, I worked as an EMT in the finish line medical tent.  While there, I dealt with ailments ranging from cramped muscles and dehydration to all out heat stroke.  One year, I started more IV’s over my five hours in the tent than I had in a full year of working on the ambulance (well, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration)! So, believe me when I tell you that, although the medical care is top-notch, I don’t want to end up in the medical tent!  Besides, there’s nothing worse than needing medical attention (read large-bore IV’s) from your friends!  So, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, in hopes of avoiding the tent, I’m sticking like glue to my training program.  I have a copy sitting on the kitchen counter, another in my briefcase, and yet another on my desk at work.  Last Sunday, according to my schedule, I needed to run an 11 mile long-run.  You may recall that the temperature on Sunday was ridiculous.  I live in Underhill, at the base of Mt. Mansfield.  

At one point on Sunday morning, a polar bear knocked on the door asking to come in and sit by the fire. We chatted for a moment, and then I needed to excuse myself to drive to the gym for a run on the indoor track. I’ll admit that I was a bit worried that my lap counter would heat up and burst into flames before I could click off 88 laps!  So, despite enjoying my normal long-runs, I was dreading the monotony of a long, indoor run.  Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong about what to expect on a cold and windy Sunday morning.  I thought that the track would be empty at 7:30 AM, but I ran into more marathon runners than I could believe.  Many of them, when they found out that I was training for my first marathon, were all too happy to impart words of wisdom. The list of “do this” and “don’t do thats” grew and grew as the laps clicked by.  As I ran, I found myself low on energy at about the nine-mile mark.  I briefly left the train of runners and headed to lobby to grab a snack.  I knew I was slightly hypoglycemic when I stood in front of the vending machines for about five minutes unable to decide on which energy bar to purchase. And now, I reveal my first of three main worries about the marathon… How am I going to deal with my nutritional needs along the course?  I think (maybe hope is a better word) that by the time the PUBVCM weekend comes, that my legs, heart, and lungs will be able to handle the mileage, as long as I can figure out how to stay energized along the course (You’ll need to read the following weeks to hear my other two fears!). 

  There is a real camaraderie among EMS workers, and I’ve come to realize that this same type of camaraderie exists in the running community as well.  Perhaps the camaraderie among runners isn’t as intense because it’s lacking the life and death aspect, but then again, the marathon medical tent can get pretty crowded around the four-hour mark.  Have I mentioned that I’m hoping for a four-hour finish???  Before becoming an EMT, I used to put EMT’s on a pedestal.  I remember having the thought, “Wow, that’s a really respectable thing that these people are doing”.  As I worked in the medical tent, I had the same exact thought about marathon runners.  I have great respect for anyone with the ability to run 26.2 miles.  Well, I’ve stuck with EMS for 20+ years; maybe I’ll stick with running just as long.  Though, perhaps, I should just focus on this one marathon first.  Till next week…

Fondly,

Greg

26.2: Miles, or Degrees Below Zero

26.2: Miles, or Degrees Below Zero

It’s 8° outside, and I’m heading out for my long run. My wife thinks I’m crazy. My daughter thinks I’m crazy. Heck, I’m questioning my sanity too. But what choice do I have? My training plan says that I need to run nine miles today, so I need to do just that. As a first-time marathon runner, glue would be jealous of how I stick to my schedule. I could take to the treadmill, or the indoor track, but the thought of running this week’s long-run on the treadmill- well, I can’t bear the thought… I dress up in several layers, then change several of them in favor of heavier layers, and head out the door. No, actually, not yet… first I need to undress once again, like a kid getting into and out of their snowsuit, to take care of nature’s call. The first step out the door takes my breath away, but I’m ready. I start out slowly. Maybe I do this because that’s what all the running literature says to do, and maybe it’s because my first mile is entirely uphill… you can be the judge. It’s hard to suck air through my balaclava, but I’m happy for the warmth it provides. It’s so cold outside that my hand warmers are shivering and asking to go backinside the house. The only exposed skin I have is around my eyes, and by the time I’ve gone ¾ mile, my eyelids have icicles on them. Not just normal icicles, but ones that would make Yukon Cornelius proud. Come to think of it, as long as I’m on a Rudolf theme, perhaps I should mention that my nose is now probably redder than his ever was. All of this may sound ridiculous, but the more ridiculous part is that I do this for fun, and actually enjoy doing it. I started running just two years ago. I honestly don’t recall why. If I had to guess, it would be to lose weight. Yes, I lost some weight, but while losing weight, I found that I lost something even better- When I run, I lose myself. The sound of my breathing and my feet hitting the ground mesmerize me and the miles just fly by. Well, usually they do… but when it’s 8° outside, the only thing flying by is my desire for more tissues. I haven’t begun to work on the “snot rocket” technique that most runners utilize. Perhaps I’ll try this technique when spring comes and I can finally pry the frozen balaclava off of my face. In the meantime, my training schedule waits patiently to be picked up again tomorrow…