Chicago Marathon, Part II

I love Chicago. If it wouldn’t be such a drastic change in lifestyle for my kids, we’d already be living there. Since we can’t live there yet, we do our best to make a trip at least one time a year. Fortunately, we have some very close friends who live there and as an added bonus, they don’t mind us staying with them when we come into town. This weekend it would be Jen, I, my cousin Tim and Aunt Marilyn who would be guests at Casa de Papczun for the weekend. We all agreed that we would take it easy in the City on Saturday, doing our best to stay off our feet after we hit the expo in the morning. The Chicago marathon Expo is the expo’s of all expo’s, but the highlight for me was meeting Ryan Hall and his wife, Sara there. Jen and I were just strolling down a side aisle and there they were, at a booth promoting their Foundation called “Hall Steps Foundation” signing autographs. What caught me off guard was how few people there were there. It was as if nobody knew who he was and it seemed like the Marathon organizers didn’t know he’d be doing that because that guy of all guys should have taken center stage at an event like this. I quickly pulled out my race bib and asked him to sign it. I also shared with him that I had been telling everyone who said they wanted to follow my progress online that I had registered under the name Ryan Hall just so they could see a great time! They both thought that was pretty funny but unfortunately Ryan withdrew his participation from his race earlier in the month so he wouldn’t be giving me that US Marathon record that I was looking for!


Race day as they all do came pretty early on Sunday with us getting on the Metra and getting downtown at 6:30. The forecast for the day predicted temps in the mid 80’s with clear skies so I knew the weather wasn’t going to be any help at all. Typically, I really like it to be down in the mid 40’s at start time. This day we’d be starting in the low 70’s. That’s great weather for spectators, not so good for runners. My first impression of the Marathon when we got into the start corral was man, this is incredible. There’s something about being a part of 38,000 runners who are all sharing a common goal of trying to finish a marathon that is hard to fully express in words. The other element that made the experience so incredible was the tremendous spectator support that was out there on the course. It wasn’t like other events that I’ve done where there have been spotty spectators at best. Chicago was non-stop people from start to finish. Each neighborhood that I ran through had its own identity and its own unique way to celebrate the runners. Whether it was dressing up in costumes, making signs, playing instruments, or handing out candy along the way, each spectator I passed made this marathon unique. One of my favorite moments was running through the northside of town and there along the side of the road were some people holding what had to be a 12’ tall cutout of Brutus Buckeye. I had to shout out “OH” and there was on cue a thunderous “IO” response. A lot of runners near me laughed and one even commented how cool of a saying that was. Of course it is.

The excitement and energy of the crowd wasn’t going to be enough to carry me through all the remaining miles on this day though. I knew that by the time we got to mile 13. The heat was catching up with me and of course, the lack of any real training miles in my legs would be my real limitation. I told myself at that point to just try to get to mile 17 and than evaluate what to do at that time. I knew Jen would be in that general area and if it was going poorly, I could call it a day then. Mile 17 came and although I was suffering, I was able to play a mind game with myself that I was finally down into the single digits of miles left in the race so there really wasn’t that many more to go. Funny how after you’ve run that far those 9 remaining miles seem short. That would be a game I would play in my mind for the remainder of the race as well as giving in and walking. I began that at mile 18. I’d walk a little bit and then run for a little bit. Honestly, my legs felt relatively fine and I wasn’t noticing any pain where my fracture occurred but it was I just getting tired. I hadn’t done any type of cardio work for longer than 2 hours and the way this day was going, I knew it would be closer to a four hour effort to reach the finish. I knew there was no dishonor in walking though as there were a lot of people walking at this point in the race. I had seen people walking as early as mile 10 so I knew I was ahead of a lot of people out there. So the remainder of my race would be walking for a while and running for a while. I’m actually surprised that I finished as quickly as I did because it felt like I was doing so much more walking than actual running.

I crossed the line in 4 hours and 32 minutes. That was 45 minutes slower than I thought I should have finished. My only consolation was that my cousin Tim finished 30 minutes slower than his goal time and Pat finished 40 minutes slower than his goal time. We all agreed that if we had been running the race solo, that we would have quit that race. This was by far the worst marathon that I’ve ever run but it’s also the one I’m most proud of. Although I wasn’t physically prepared to run this race, mentally I was able to persevere and make it to the finish line. I’m officially retired from marathons now. I think I’m better suited with how little time I seem to have these days to run ½ marathons and shorter events. However, as I’m sitting here in a Columbus hotel the night before the Columbus Marathon (Jen is running the ½), I’m getting the itch again. Maybe another shot at Chicago next year?

Here is the data from my Garmin for the day. The first two miles are bogus data as my watch was having trouble dialing in with all the tall buildings we were running next to.

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Chicago Marathon, Part I

It has been a long time since I've sat down to blog anything. So long in fact that I wasn't sure I would remember my username and password here but fortunately, I was able to retrieve it from the back of my mind and here I am...sitting at my laptop typing away my 2010 year. My big (and only) goal for the year was the Chicago Marathon which occurred last weekend (10.10.10). From my initial registration in early February, it's all that I've had on my mind. Turn a corner in my house and there was a copy of the route staring me in the face. Open up the cabinet door to grab a snack and there was the route map asking me if I really wanted to grab an Oreo. No matter where I turned, Chicago was staring me in the face. So knowing there was a hefty registration fee on the line, I decided I'd try to find a way to get to this marathon healthy for a change. Some reading this post might remember that I have a poor history with marathons. Training for Columbus in 2008 I suffered a stress fracture in my Femur and was only able to complete in the 1/2 marathon. Cleveland 2009, had IT Band issues, started suffering at mile 10 but gutted it out to finish in under 4 hours. Then in the fall of 2009, I suffered a hip flexor strain which set me back but on minimal training leading up to it, I completed the Columbus marathon in 3:38. My goal for Chicago was to get there healthy and finish faster than 3:30. In the back of my mind, I was hoping that my training would go so well that I could get a Boston Qualifier which for me would be finishing faster than 3:15. No pressure though, the real goal was just to find a way to get to Chicago healthy.


So mapping out a plan and working with an old friend of mine who helped coach me during my bicycle racing days, the plan was to stretch out my training so that in lieu of a typical 20 week training plan, I would slowly build up over 8 months so my body would have time to adjust to the increased mileage and this would also give me ample opportunity to rest. Going through the spring the training was going great. I was shedding pounds and becoming a stronger runner. I entered the Cleveland 1/2 marathon and ran a PR time of 1:38. Mid-distance runs (5 to 6 miles in length) were becoming easy. I was feeling that running tempo's at 7:30 min/mile were becoming too easy. That was a good feeling.


Unfortunately, that feeling was about to change in mid July. I had just completed a tough hill workout and on my next day's recover run, I noticed some soreness in my shin. Not thinking much of it I continued on my run and chalked up the soreness to a tough workout. That soreness lingered on for the next several weeks so at the end of July I decided to breakdown and go see my sports medicine physician just to see if there was anything serious going on. Sure enough, there was trouble in River City. Doctor said the x-rays didn't show a fracture but there was signs of the bone trying to heal in the area where I was having some pain so that was an indication of some micro-fractures. His recommendation, back off on weekly runs but still try to get my long runs in. Sweet Chicago was still on track! The next big run after this appointment was a 15 miler. I've taken to doing all of my long runs down in the Valley on the Towpath. Although it's an out and back route to get the mileage in, it's always a softer surface than the road, there's plenty of drinking fountains and bathrooms on the route so it's a lot like running unsupported like I would in a long road race. I have to believe that if the bone wasn't fractured before that run, it certainly was afterwards. In hindsight, what I should have done was not to do the long runs but keep up with the small runs and do those on a treadmill. I knew at that moment, that any great time in Chicago was most likely out of the question. My only hope was to get back on the bike, renew my membership and the gym and try to cross train until I could get healed up enough to start running again. It took about 4 weeks before I could really start running again but it was slow tempo, short distances and on a treadmill. Before I knew it, the Akron Marathon was staring me in the face and I had previously registered to run the 1/2 as a test for Chicago. I find it funny that when I registered, I thought it would be a test to see what kind of time I might be able to aim for but this time, I was running it to test my leg and to see if I could even run Chicago at all. The aim was to run slow and try to finish pain free. I finished in 1:48 which wasn't horrible and I only had mile soreness in my leg. I saw that as a win-win situation, I knew I could run Chicago and I thought I could put together a good time.

With only two weeks between Akron and Chicago, the only thing I could do was be optimistic.

Part II of Chicago Marathon coming tomorrow night.

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Miner's Blog Update

I have no idea if there is anyone out there in the blog-o-sphere who bothers to read this blog or not anymore. More timely updates would probably guarantee more readers. Since my posts have in general been sports/fitness related, I will avoid filling in details from the past several months like Christmas, Elves & More, New Years, etc. If you really want to know the details, check me out on Facebook.

Having made the transition last year to 'runner', I felt it was time to make a shift back to more generalized training. What exactly does that mean? To me, it means having a good balance in several different activities. Fitness should be more than cardio and it should mean more than being able to run 26.2 miles or riding my bike 100 miles. All those are great goals from specific sports, and I have had fun achieving them both, but with my two sons getting older, I'm really having to find the need for better balance so that they can grow up with having a father around...something that I wasn't given the pleasure of having until later in life, but that's a story for another day. (I think my careful use of punctuation has avoided a run-on sentence there but it looks like I pushed it to the limits!)

In 2010 I will only be running one marathon in the fall. This Monday I registered for the Chicago Marathon that happens on October 10th. In my previous training experiences, I believe that I need a substantially long training block which gives me lots of rest periods to get me to the start line healthy and in peak physical condition. I have had some type of injury at the two marathons that I've run which kept me from performing at my best and the third one I had to completely cancel due to a stress fracture in my thigh. By picking a marathon in the fall, I have 10 solid months of training time to get me up to the long training runs that I need to complete it while not hurrying the process and putting my body under any additional stress. What I like about this concept is that it also allows me the opportunity to get back on the bike. I never really got off the bike but there's a huge difference between commuting to work and riding with my buddies from the race team. I have no intentions of racing this year as I don't think I can sacrifice Saturday's and Sunday's away at the races but I look forward to joining the team on the ritual Thursday night training rides out at Middlebranch. For anyone who has ridden with the team there, those efforts are more difficult than 90% of the races that I have ever entered.

So, as I mentioned previously I wanted to have a more rounded fitness routine. So far I have only addressed running and cycling, not quite well rounded yet. I'm happy to say though that I now have a membership at my neighborhood gym (The Natatorium in the Falls) where I am swimming three days a week and doing some strength training. I'm hoping to also start lifting with Tim House at his local fitness local (a.k.a. his basement)as he has a lot of experience and can help guide me in the direction that I need to become well rounded. So how do I do this while still not sacrificing time with my family....early morning workouts. I am at the gym or in my basement by 5:00 a.m. to get it all in before work. It makes for a long day but I'm willing to live with it.

Until next time,
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Columbus Marathon

This past Sunday was the 30th annual Columbus Marathon. This was my second marathon attempt this year, the first being in the spring in Cleveland. Having run the half marathon in Columbus last year, I knew what to expect and I wasn't disappointed. Cleveland has a lot to learn from other cities. From Columbus, they can learn how to put on a great event. Plenty of free swag, a great, safe course, plenty of fluid stations and most importantly, lots of people out cheering you on. Of course, Cleveland struggles here in that they run their event downtown and in the business districts where people don't live. Nobody wants to drive to actually cheer on strangers running...do they?

After losing 8 solid weeks and the majority of my long training runs due to an injury, I had no real expectations other than trying to make it to the finish line. (For example, in lieu of running 40-50 mile weeks, I was running 8 to 20 mile weeks. Lost lots of opportunities there to increase fitness levels). Sunday morning I woke up early feeling good, ready to tackle the days challenge. For me, that usually means trying to calm the nerves and get some food in me. This time around I had no problems. I think I finally got my thinking right in that all I was doing was going out for a long training run. Nothing less, nothing more. This took all the stress away from me for the day and I think that helped big time when I approached the start line that morning.

My plan for the day was to hook up with the 3:30 pace group which would equate to roughly an 8 minute/mile pace. I knew that this was probably a bit too ambitious but I didn't want to sell myself short as I knew that on any other day, I could probably comfortably keep that tempo. The miles went exactly as I remember them going last year, effortlessly. There was a point around mile 6 where I contemplated leaving the group and going ahead since I felt that great. Fortunately I was able to reason that there was still a lot of miles left so I was patient and decided to wait until later in the race to make moves like that if I still felt that good. That decision probably saved my day from disaster.

I was happy to hit the 1/2 marathon mark. Not only for the mental benefit of knowing I was half done, but to also lose 9,000 runners who wouldn't be going the rest of the distance. Running solo on training runs, I don't have to worry about adjusting my stride or pace for others. Running in a large group like this I was always having to make minor adjustments as people were trying to squeeze into the smallest of holes to move up. Seemed sort of funny to me to make such great efforts for such minor gains.

Approaching the water station around mile 15 I took a bit too long to get my water and get moving again. Although I run through the stations, the pacer leading the group does not slow down at all. Not sure how they do that but I learned it's better to get ahead of them before a stop rather than get behind them and try to catch back up. Mile 15 found me not being able to get back into the group. I wasn't worried as I was only 10 feet behind them and not losing any more ground to them. This pattern would hold up until mile 18 where things slowly started to get away from me. The data below shows that at each mile, I started adding on seconds per mile. I account this to two things, the lack of training runs at these distances and not enough nutrition during the race. I had a bowl of cereal in the morning and then I popped Cliff Blocks starting at mile 3 and continued every 3 miles until mile 12. I had taken the Gu they were handing out at mile 7 but that didn't settle well with my stomach. I missed the Gu stop at mile 15 and started popping the Cliff Blocks again after mile 18 once my stomach settled down. I also learned at Cleveland to avoid the Gatorade as the mix's are a bit heavy and tend to upset my stomach as well. Instead of an energy drink, I was running solely on water. I assume at this point that I had depleted my body of the glycogen it needed and that my body was burning fat for fuel. I'd be interested in some others observations on this so feel free to send me your comments.

The last 10k were rough in all honesty. I was tired but my body just plain hurt. I was happy that my hip injury wasn't causing me problems, but now my legs, bones and joints just hurt. That's to be expected though and all you can do is suck it up and carry on. At mile 20, I certainly wasn't going to quit and run, walk or crawl, I was making it to the finish line.

Finishing this race was awesome. I was a big boy and didn't cry but it was an emotional experience. Glad to have completed it, glad to have pushed myself to my limits and glad that I had fun. I can honestly say that I had fun on Sunday.

So what's next? As of now, that's too early to say but I'm considering tapering back to only 1 marathon a year. Most likely a fall marathon so I can do all my running/training outside in lieu of on a treadmill during the winter. I'm going to continue to run and look for 1/2 marathons and 10k's to keep my fitness level but I'm also looking forward to getting back on my bike and getting back out with my friends.

Here's a link to my Garmin Data.

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11 Days to Showtime

Only 11 more days until the Columbus Marathon. You can say that I've been training for this event for over a year now since it was my intent to run the full marathon there last year but injury forced me to downgrade to the half instead. I have been running nonstop since then.

I'm beginning to believe however that marathons might not be my 'thing'. Here's my case history: Columbus 08' injured w/ fractured femur; Cleveland 09' ran marathon with an IT Band injury but I finished the race; Columbus 09', Hip Flexor strain and thigh splints. So far I'm 0 for 3 in terms of getting to my goal races healthy. I wonder how many runners get to their races really feeling good?

I'm still planning on running the race. I've worked too hard at this point to quit. The good news in all of this is that I'm finally back to running some mid level distances (14-16 miles) which gives me some confidence but the bad news is that I'm running them painfully slow to keep the pain manageable, approximately 60 seconds/mile slower than my goal pace. If I complete the race, I should expect to finish up around my Cleveland time which is just under 4 hours. That's a hard pill to swallow considering that I was on target for finishing at 3 hours and 30 minutes.

I will stop complaining now and focus on having fun which is really why I got into this thing in the first place. It will be fun running among 12,000 other runners. It will be fun seeing the thousands of spectators line the streets cheering everyone on. It will be fun to cross the finish line at the end of a hard effort. My plans are to enjoy this one and worry about the future another day.

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My rambling thoughts...

I seem to be starting all of my blog updates these days with…it’s been a long time since my last blog. To be honest with you, I find myself using Facebook more these days than anything else, so if you’re interested in more timely updates, I’d recommend checking me out over there.

I’ve heard the media report in the past months that as Americans, we are living in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I’m not an economist and I don’t pretend to be one but until this last week, I wasn’t completely feeling the effects of this recession that we’re living in. Last week, the office that I work for unfortunately laid off 10 employees. That might not seem like a large number until you realize that this is 25% of the entire staff. Fortunately, I wasn’t one of the 10 and I still have my job. Unfortunately, I lost the opportunity to work with, learn from and mentor to some of the greatest architects, interior designers and architectural interns that I knew. It was a big blow to the office and I can only imagine what they are all going through at this moment. Unfortunately for the State of Ohio and our great nation, these 10 only make up a small handful of people that are loosing their jobs everyday. I do not have the answers on how to solve the situation but I can only trust that our elected officials can and do so quickly. Also, if you’re looking for a new building or having your current one renovated…give me a call!

The only reason I am bring this up is I’ve been thinking a lot about the media statement about this being the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I am fortunate to still have my grandparents who grew up the Depression and I’m lucky to be able to have a great relationship with them. I wonder if my grandparents would have been interested in buying the new iPone or LeBron James new $160 pair of basketball shoes. I don’t have to think a lot about this because I know the answer is no. Priorities for this greatest generation were to simply live, buy food, clothes and try to keep your house. Times are different now then they were then so it's not an easy apples to apples comparison for me to make so I will refrain from doing so.

Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t condemn those who have the expendable income to get these gadgets, for those who may not, please play it more conservative so I don’t have to keep paying for your mistakes. Of all the s@#t I've had to deal with because of my parents, the lesson of being financially conservative seems to be paying off for us right now.

I’ve been asked why I’m not racing this year. Focusing on running is a good excuse but it’s not the only reason. In all honesty, I just can’t justify the economic cost this year. From the $60 USCF race license to the $20 min. race entry fee, that’s money that I’m taking away from my family for things that they could be doing. If I look at the savings for an average year of cycling, I’m already at $300 on these fees alone, not factoring in things like food, travel, equipment, etc. I know it doesn’t seem like much and in the big picture, it’s really only pennies to the dollar but I made the decision early in the year that I’d rather save that time and cost and keep it in the family, perhaps to help pay for our family vacation…which by the way we didn’t go on this year just to play it super conservative. I hope the situation will change so I can get back out there with all of you next year.

Ok, that’s enough for my ramblings right now. As you can tell, the recent changes at the office have had a profound effect on me and I’ve always treated this blog as my therapy session, whether anyone agrees or disagrees with my statements. I promise that the next blog posting will be much happier.

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Updates

I've said it more than once so far this year but this time there seems to be some actual truth to it. I am finally riding my bike again. Let me emphasize that I'm only riding, not doing hardcore 2x20's or other threshold training workouts for all my racing buddies out there. I'm happy to be just back out on the bike. I was finally able to get serious when I got back to commuting to work via bike. It's only 5 miles into work but on the way home, I can take as long as necessary. With quick access to the Valley and having both Tim and Josh living up here, it makes for a nice opportunity to get some decent miles in. My hopes are to stay consistent and to at least ride after work 2 out of the three days that I ride in by bike (I can't ride everyday due to having to drive to project meetings, pick up the kids, etc.). I most likely won't ever get that high end race fitness that I would need to be competitive this season but with no racing (other than jumping into the Chapel Races in July) on my schedule this year, I'm not worried. I only need to try to stay close to Troche and House on our training rides. Fortunately they're good 'mates' and although Troche takes sheer delight in dropping my a#$ on any climb now, he always seems to wait up.

Marathon news......I'm training for Columbus this fall. I'm not becoming a marathon junkie, only want to have a better experience than I did in Cleveland this spring. After Columbus I'd like to be able to run the giants of marathons like New York, Chicago and of course Boston. Who knows, maybe add London and Berlin to that list! I won't get ahead of myself.

See you out on the road...don't pass by too fast.

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Cleveland Marathon

How do I even start blogging about my marathon experience? I guess the easiest way to get things rolling is to say that I am most proud of my wife for completing the 5k run the previous day. She was inspired to start running after being part of the experience in Columbus last fall. She’s never cared about athletics and I don’t believe that she’s run a day in her life previous to training for this but she did it, she had fun and she’s decided that she’d like to do more 5k events this year. I am now busy scouring the internet finding some local 5k runs for her to go to. I love it.
I apologize now but this blog post is going to get lengthy so get a cup of coffee, something to snack on and get comfortable. As I hinted in my previous blog posting, I have been having some issues leading into this marathon. It all started when I bought a new pair of shoes. I had been previously running in a pair of Nikes and was having big time issues with blistering and loosing toe nails. I went to my local running shop (who will remain nameless for now) and explained to them the problems that I was having. Under the guidance and direction of the experts there, I switched to a pair of Mizuno’s that gave me more room in the toe box. The sales clerk also took another look at my old Nike’s and my feet and suggested that I go to a lightly supported shoe in lieu of the more support that I was used to. He said I was a neutral runner and that I could get away with any shoe. Being an architect, I followed his advice strictly for aesthetic reasons…..nothing more. Within a week, I regretted that decision as my legs were feeling extremely sore. I took them back and switched to another pair of Mizuno’s that they said were the same exact shoe to my Nikes in terms of support. They lied to me or were badly misinformed. I tried running in those shoes for three weeks but the pain just kept getting worse and worse. I was stuck between a pair of Nike’s that hurt my feet or a pair of Mizuno’s that hurt my legs. In the process of this 5 or 6 week time frame, I severely cut back on my mileage and intensity so I could get healthy It was last Saturday (May 9th) mornings run where I went out for a quick 3 miler where I gave up. My legs hurt so bad I could barely complete it and there were several times when my legs were about to give out. I decided I had to make some changes quick so somewhat salvage Cleveland. I quickly showered, put the kids and headed up to Hudson to another running shop called Vertical Runner. I took in both pairs of shoes and explained the issues that I was having with them. The clerk had me tried on both pairs of shoes, walk around in them to analyze my stride and then he did a test that I haven’t seen since I was a little kid buying shoes at the Gold Circle. He tested to see where my toes were at. Here’s where the story gets funny to you and aggravating for me. He said that although Nike’s are narrow in the toe area, if I was running in the right size of shoe I wouldn’t have that issue…my shoes were too small for running! What? Are you kidding me? That’s a mistake that I would expect to get if I bought stuff at Foot Locker of Dick’s, not a professional running store. The next thing that aggravated me was he told me that my Mizuno’s were not the same support but lightly supported which explained the pain I was having with my legs. I left the store with a new pair of Nike’s that were a half-size larger than I previously had. The only question now was how could I get ready to run 26.2 miles in a little over a week if I could barely get through 3 miles earlier that day.
The only answer that I could come up with was I had to take the entire week off from running. The best I would be able to do is to take my dog out for some long walks so I could get some time in my new running shoes. The other thing that I did was schedule an hour long massage for my legs. Having had several massages before on cycling trips, I’m a believer in the benefits of massage and highly recommend them to anyone.
Come race morning I was nervous. More nervous than I would normally be on any given race day which struck me as odd as this was really only a training run now, absolutely no pressure to hit any specific time. Even with that, I had a hard time controlling my nerves and had difficulty eating anything before the race. I was able to keep down half a banana and a third of a Cliff Bar. I knew this wasn’t going to be good but my only hopes were to get to the start line, start running and start getting some nutrition in me before it was too late. I need a bit more than 100 calories to complete a marathon. The plan for the day was to jump in with the 3:30 pace group and to see how far I could go. In all of my long training runs, I kept paces similar to that so it didn’t seem like it would be a terrible stretch. I was running with my good friend Patrick from Chicago who I knew would be strong and I figured having him there would be extra motivation to keep me on track. With the start bell finally going off, we were on our way. Our pace became comfortable and once we made our way through a few of the slow pokes, we found ourselves running with the 3:20 pace group. I wasn’t worried about the tempo; I was only worried about my stomach that wasn’t settling down. I’ll cut the story somewhat short, my stomach never really let up. One minute I would feel good, another I would feel bad. I was happy though that my legs were feeling good. That feeling wouldn’t last much longer however. It was mile 10 exactly when the pain crept back into my legs, exactly where it had been only one week earlier. I knew I was in for a long day and Patrick could tell I was in trouble. I told him to go ahead and run his own race and not to worry about me. With a little more convincing he left and quickly made his way up the road.
Each mile after this became more and more difficult. My only relief was knowing that at mile 13 I would see my wife cheering me on and I was hoping that would be enough to carry a bit further. It was and I was happy to see her. I was very close to giving up and the pain was really unbearable at the time but I made the decision to take it mile by mile, to complete what I had started. I had spent too much time training for this to just give up. So, mile after mile I ran, taking water at each water stop and waving goodbye as each pace group passed me by. My only goal from the start was to the finish the race and that was my only thought as I struggled on, mile after mile. As I turned onto Lakeside, I could see the finish line but my feet wouldn’t pick up the pace, I could only struggle on with the miserably slow pace that I was moving. Seeing my lovely wife at the finish and my family cheering me on as I limped in made it all worth while. A bit embarrassed and disappointed in my time, I was happy to have it over with. I am only disappointed really in that I couldn’t enjoy the moment. What I was hoping for to be a fun experience turned into 10 miles of fun followed by 16 miles of torture. Sitting here 24 hours later I can now take pride in accomplishing something that most people will never even try. Will I try another one? Not sure. I’ve told myself I’d wait at least a week or two before making that decision. My only plans for now are to find that 26.2 sticker for my Subaru.

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Down to the wire

Have to make this one quick...lots to discuss but very little time to do it. Less than two days until the start of my first marathon. Am I ready? I'm not really sure. The past month of training has been really bad. I haven't been able to get the volume and intensity in that I needed to so I'm going into Sunday's start feeling a bit under prepared in all honesty. I'll talk more about the reasons why in my next blog post.

I've always approached Cleveland where my only goal for myself was to finish standing up. I've tried to keep myself pretty level headed in terms of not focusing on time at all. I think this has been a good approach for me because I've not set myself up for failure. I'm going into Sunday feeling relaxed, well rested and in all honesty ready for a pretty fun run. I'm looking forward to the physical and the mental challenge that will come. I'm looking forward to being back into the mix with several thousand other runners who all share the same passion. I'm also hoping that the excitement of the day along with running the whole race with my good buddy Patrick will aid me in at least a few of the miles. The lesson that I've learned through this training process is this; 26.2 miles is a hell of a long way to run. I don't care if you're a sub 3 hour marathoner or a 6 hour marathoner, the effort needed to tackle this monster is almost overwhelming. For all those who have beat me there, I sincerely applaud you. I hope that after Sunday, I can proudly call myself a marathoner and display the 26.2 sticker on the back window of my Subaru.

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Is it over yet?

Less than 3 weeks to go until Cleveland. I'm not ashamed to say it but I honestly can't wait until the big event. Sure I'm super anxious to push myself to run 26.2 miles but the other part of me is I'm just anxious to be done with it. I have seemed to slip into a cycle where everything just seems to hurt. Not painful like broken bones pain, just sore like sore muscles and joints. Part of the problem I'm sure stems from my shoe issues. I'm still trying to find that perfect pair. My Nikes are too old and cause my toes issue due to the tight toe box. My Mizuno's are spacious in the toes but have made my legs super, super sore. I'm now deciding to train in my Nikes but run the race in my Mizuno's. I'll suffer the consequences later. Besides that, I think I'm just sore from the weeks of mileage that I've been continually running. My body is in great shape for runs up to 7 or 8 miles, but continually doing longer runs on the weekend is taking its toll. I'm learning a valuable lesson, I need to rest but then start running those longer runs sooner in the marathon training plan if I'm going to take another shot at Columbus later in the Fall. I just need to make the physical adaptations of running at that distance just like I did when I started getting to 5 or 6 miles in length. That being said, I'm happy that I'm still relatively healthy and barring any disaster like catching the Swine Flu, I should be on the start line very shortly.

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5 weeks to go

To be exact, there is 5 weeks, 3 days, 18 hours, 31 minutes and a few odd seconds until the start of the Cleveland Marathon. I sit here today terribly frustrated and worried as I'm feeling a bit nervous that I may have sustained yet another marathon ending injury. My left leg is again hurting similar to how it did when I ended up with a stress fracture. How could this have happen? I'm sitting here really contemplating that... I picked up a new pair of running shoes as my old Nike's were well past their expiration date. I switched brands to a pair of Mizuno's as the Nikes were too cramped in the toe area as I've been having issues with blisters and bloody toes. The Mizuno's opened up a bit and in the few runs that I have in them so far I can tell a world of difference. Besides that, this past week was actually a rest week so my mileage was way down. I put in a solid 13 mile run on Sunday where my buddy Pat joined me on the later half, but mileage, tempo and terrain (trails) were nothing out of the ordinary for me. I am still sore from that run so I must have over did it and I'm praying that this will all quietly go away tomorrow. Waking up in the morning and limping to let the dog out though brings back some bad memories. I'm going to wait another day before I schedule a doctor's appointment.

brian

Running...ouch

This past weekend was another long one...18 miles. I wasn't as pumped up about this one for some reason as I was when I had to run 17 miles the previous week..probably because it was only one more mile :)

Thanks to a hint from my wife on the weather forecast, I decided to run the 18 on Saturday in lieu of Sunday. I'm all about avoiding bad weather at all costs when I'm running. It's work enough, why throw lousy weather into it?

This week I decided to focus more on my nutrition during my run so I can figure out how much and what I should be eating during the event. This week I carried along a Gu and some Jelly Belly Sport beans that I picked up from somewhere as well as some Gatorade. My cousin lent me his belt a few weeks ago that has 4 small bottles on it as well as a pouch for carrying some food. Man, I look more geeked out than I normally do but unless I want to run circuits around my house there's just no other way around it. The solution...turn up the tunes on my iPod so I don't hear the bystanders and countless wildlife creatures that pass my way laughing at me. I seemed to do better this week but I'm still having problems getting it to work out right for me. This time my stomach was a bit upset. I think I'm getting a bit too much sugar and in lieu of bringing only Gatorade, I'm going to try to pack half water and half Gatorade to give my stomach a break. I had planned on hitting the drinking fountains down on the Towpath but they're still turned off for the season. Darn freeze/thaw cycle.

I would link to my data now but once again, the Garmin site is down. That site seems to be down every week. If you're a Facebook friend you can see the link there. If not, get on Facebook and become my friend so you can see the data!

What I learned this week is that 18 miles is a heck of a long way. I finished up with the thought of how am I ever going to run another 8.2 miles? It was that difficult for me. I think my long runs are on a much more difficult course than the marathon will be (lots of elevation....you'd see it if I could link to it) so I'm hoping the more difficult training course pays off for me on race day. Also, I had just ridden 40 miles the day before with Tim House which I know affected my legs. My current cycling schedule is that I seem to ride my bike only once every other week. Not nearly enough to keep up with the elderly in their motorized wheel chairs but I'm hoping to make cycling workouts a bit more regular now but with all the irons in the fire I'm not too optimistic. My cycling season starts May 20th...look out!

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And then there was one....

This past week I received some bad news from my training partners for the Cleveland Marathon. Both my brother-in-law and cousin went to the doctor to get some leg pains checked out. Several x-rays and MRI’s later, both of their doctors told them that because of the injuries that they sustained, that their marathon ambitions for this spring would most likely out of the question but there was a chance that depending upon their recovery process…maybe they could attempt the ½ marathon. Wow, sounds exactly like my situation last fall. Looks like I’m running Cleveland this year solo. Running is a tough sport. I once read in my running magazine a coach say that you need to be an active runner for at least a year before you attempt training for a marathon. At the time I thought it was a crazy statement to make but now that I’ve been running consistently for a year, I can see the absolute truth in that comment.

This weekend I took several steps into unchartered territory. Previous to Sunday’s run of 17 miles, my longest run was 16 miles about 4 years ago. With having run 15 miles two weekends ago, I felt pretty comfortable that I’d have no issues but based upon the injuries that I’ve been hearing about, I couldn’t help but be a little nervous heading into it. I used the same strategy that I did several weeks ago where I decided to run down from my house down to the towpath trail in the Valley. This allows me to get the majority of the miles on somewhat softer surfaces therefore limiting the overall abuse on my body. Seems to have worked out well because as I sit here today typing this blog, I’m feeling pretty decent. A little sore but nowhere like I would have expected it to have been. Here’s the link to my data.

Overall the run was good. Some things that I learned from my run:
1. Eat something substantial at least a few hours beforehand next time. I had only eaten a bowl of Cheerios about 4 hours before I started running. I had planned on being out on the run much earlier than I thought I would have.
2. Eat something while running. I had packed an energy bar and a Gu with me. I was able to eat about half a bar and I never ate the Gu. I paid for this big time as I was feeling great up to mile 15. After that I started feeling really sick and pretty tired. It took me a long time to recover after my run. A 2 ½ hour effort take a bit more than Cheerios and half an energy bar…oh and some Gatorade, at least I didn’t forget to hydrate during the run.

It took nearly 3 hours before I felt like I could even eat anything and keep it in my system. I know better than this as this isn’t my first experience in endurance sports. Not sure what I was thinking but I’m glad to have paid the price on a training run and not race day.

brian

Pain Is......

Pain is having to run on the treadmill to get your 15 mile run in for the day. I pride myself for having a high tolerance for things like riding for endless hours on the trainer but yesterday I came to the limits of what I'm physically and mentally able to do. I had been watching the weather all day and there looked to be no end to the downpour that was happening outside of my window. I don't mind running or riding in the rain, but mid 40's and rain is just no fun so running for 2 hours in the rain results in even less fun. Knowing that this was my only day to get that run in (I can't make it up today due to how much time it takes) I gave in and headed to the gym to find a good treadmill. Once there, I found a treadmill and got started. It wouldn't have been so bad but now that football season is over, there's just nothing on to watch. One TV had golf (boring), another was set to HGTV, one was on Fox News (who watches that crap?) and another was set to VH1. So with limited bad options, it was about trying to keep some good tunes flowing through my headphones and do some people watching while not looking like the resident pervert. I think I succeeded in both choices but at the end of two hours I was done. I couldn't have done another 2 minutes on it if I had wanted to. I'm hoping for better weather next weekend.

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Training Progress

I missed it. I missed the near 50 degree on Saturday and hence the opportunity to hook up with some teammates to get the first road ride in for the year. I had a pretty full schedule and unfortunately it just didn't turn out in my favor. That's ok, I see it's supposed to be even nicer tomorrow so I think I'll be taking a little bit of PTO and getting a nice long bike ride in. The weekend wasn't a total disaster, I did get some running in. Saturday I was at the gym when they opened the doors at 6:30. I knew with my schedule for the day that if I didn't get it in then, I wouldn't be getting it in at all. On tap was a 6 miler at race pace. For me that means running 6 miles at a 7' 30" tempo. I'm a bit of a sissy and I know through experience that I need a long warm up before I can get my engine firing on all its cylinders. I'll fess up, I ran that first mile at an 8'00" pace before I pushed it up to race pace. I made up for it by running the last mile at a 7'10" pace. Well looking at the math, I guess I didn't quite make it up but came close!

Sunday was another long run day, this one being the long day at a slower tempo. My program showed me needing to complete 11 miles. I was a bit nervous heading into it as the last time I ran a 9 miler I had some pain in my left femur, the same leg that I had the stress fracture in last summer. I noticed that the discomfort was on the outside of my leg and not on the inside where the fracture occured so I figured with close monitoring and taking my increases in mileage pretty conservative, I should be ok. The goal in Cleveland is to just finish the race, nothing more nothing less so there is really little reason for me to push things too hard right now. So w/ the break in the weather, I ventured outside on the roads for the first time of the year. Hard to believe that I've been confined to running indoors for almost 6 weeks but time flies. I don't mind running outside, in fact I enjoy it more but it seems as though few people in the Falls shovel their sidewalks so I'm forced to run in the roads. I'm ok w/ running there if I have to but I prefer the safety of the sidewalk when possible.

One thing that I realized about running outside, it's not as easy as running on the treadmill. I haven't googled any research on this but I have to imagine that it takes more effort to move yourself outside than to keep yourself upright on the treadmill. I'll have to do a little more research on this. The second thing I noticed is how much I missed running outside. I get super warm inside so having the cooler air keep my core temperature down was nice as I was able to run the route in a bit more comfort. It's also nice not to have to watch episodes of Tool Academy or Rock of Love on VH1. The last thing that I noticed is that there are some really weird people living in the Falls. Besides those running during the middle of winter :) I noticed a lady walking down the street carrying a 'boom-box' like she is an extra in Beat Street. Yes, I am that old-school to pull out a pop culture reference like that.

Besides that bit of a break, it was a pretty uneventful run. I am happy to say that I completed the run, I felt good and at no time did I ever feel like I couldn't complete the run. In fact, I felt like I could definitely keep going which is a good sign that my training is coming along nicely. Now if I can just get that cycling training back on schedule. Here's to good weather and the ability to get out of work tomorrow.

Data from my run:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/2052134


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I'm back!

Miner's Blog is back ladies and Gentleman. Not that it actually went anywhere, I just haven't had that much to blog about recently. For all of my riding friends out there, I'm happy to say that I'm finally, finally back on the bike. I think it's safe to say that I have started training for the 2009 road racing season. Let me just start things off here by saying that my season will once again be different this year. I am registered to run the Cleveland Marathon in May. Therefore a lot of my training time will be dedicated to that event. That being said, I learned my lesson last fall by putting all of my eggs in one basket. I got hurt and couldn't do anything. This year I am dedicated to finding that right balance between running and cycling hoping that somehow each can be supportive of the other. Since I am not a gifted athlete in either discipline, this will most likely result in me being mediocre at best this year. Good news for my competition...bad news for my teammates.

I have assembled my training program for the year and as I can make it more user friendly to look at, I'll post it here online. Currently, it's a bunch of scribble that only I could decipher. In short though, it looks like this, I'll be running four days a week and riding my bike three days a week. I'll have one rest day which will most likely occur on Mondays. Riding time right now consists of me on my trainer at 5:00 am in the basement. Not ideal as I've turned into a non-morning person but I've got to get it in when I can and unfortunately that's it. I've always tried to keep the training as invisible to my family as possible so I don't sacrifice quality family time. With the kids now getting older, that's leaving me to these ungodly hours of the day. I'm hoping this can change a bit once the weather gets out nicer but I'm not holding out much hope.

One thing is for sure, the running can't be sacrificed on the weekends as that's when I need to do my marathon pace runs as well as my long runs. Cycling and unfortunately racing will be determined day by day as I can't blow the prep for the 26.2. in May.

I'm really looking forward to training on the bike which I can honestly say isn't something I was all that excited about even 2 weeks ago. I think this later start will do me a lot of good too. Normally I train hard starting in November but come May, I'm completely spent. Now, I should start to really feel good in May or June, when it really counts and when the weather is pretty decent. I'm hoping that this leads to an overall longer cycling season for me this year. We'll see, only time will tell.

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Presenting My Best of 2008

This is something that I started a few years ago and in the midst of having to listen to all the endless countdowns for everything from the greatest Holiday destination of the stars to 2008's best movie soundtracks, I proudly present Miner's Blog.....Best of 2008.

Miles ridden: 2,500.
I'm noticing a disturbing trend here. I'm down 1,000 miles from last year and down 2,000 miles from 2006. It's to be expected though as I literally hung up the bike in mid July after the last Chapel race and besides a few weekdays spent commuting to work, I haven't been on it since. I predict great pain in early 2009 for my body when I try to get back into my 2x20's.

Best 2008 Bicycle Racing Experience:
I really have to think back on this one since it's been 5 moths without racing. I had a lot of good races. Race at the Lakes is always a blast because of the proximity to my house and the usual turnout of teammates. I would say the Chapel Series this year was my favorite experience. Cheap Racing, good eats at the end of the series and a large turnout of Stark Velo mates. It's also the one race of the year where guys seem to race tactically which makes it fun. For me, the added bonus was that I surprisingly went into the series with good fitness so I rode pretty aggressively. I hate being pack fodder and would rather be off the front or off the back from trying.

Best Cycling Purchase:
Once again I laid pretty low on the bike accessories this year. I ended up buying Nicholas a new Haro BMX bike. He had a blast racing out at the Akron Derby Downs this summer. My new bike purchase in 2009 will hopefully be a BMX cruiser for myself. Not sure I'll race it...yet but it'll be fun to go out there and ride on the track. BMX racing is how I got started into this sport as a kid so it's fun to see this path come full circle.

I don't know if I can call this a cycling purchase, but I was able to scrape up enough money to pick up the new Garmin 405. This watch is amazing and it's now clear that I am addicted to numbers, data and just plain information. I never thought of myself as a 'techy' guy as I don't need those kinds of toys, but when it comes to physical exercise and training, I'll get any proven gadget that I can to help me improve myself. Somehow in my own mind that justifies the purchase. I will clearly be a dork on my bike this year with my PowerTap giving me all the power data that I can consume and my Garmin giving me endless information as well. I can't wait to hear the comments from House and Troche.

What I missed in 2008:
Not much time spent on the bikes means not much time spent with my good friends. I miss those times the most. I remember saying this last year but I hope that I can find a better balance between running and cycling.

I also missed the annual trip to Boone, North Carolina. Hopefully I can find a way to resurrect that trip for 2009. There's nothing better than taking a cycling specific trip with friends where the only thing you have to do is to have fun, eat, sleep and ride your bike for three full days.

What I hope to accomplish in '09:
My plan in 2008 was to upgrade to Cat 3 and that obviously didn't happen. Not sure if I can state that as a major goal for me this year or not. It would be cool to be able to upgrade to race with all my teammates who seem to be progressing in the sport but what I've learned in the past 5 years of cycling is that I'm not really as good as you think I am. I know that's hard to believe but I don't seem to have a lot of natural God given talent, it all comes from lots of hard work. With the boys growing up, Elves & More and work, there doesn't seem to be that much time anymore that I can dedicate to my bike. I think I can be content being an average Cat 4 who goes out and rides with his friends for the fun of it and not necessarily because I'm trying to accomplish specific wattage goals on my PowerTap. I'm not giving up racing, look for at the usual places in 2009.

Off the bike, I hope to complete my first marathon in the spring. I will be targeting the Cleveland Marathon (I plan on registering today) in May with the goal of completing it and then I will target the Columbus Marathon in the Fall with my goal of getting a Boston Qualifying Time. Running is something that I'm really enjoying. It's really therapeutic for me and I love the fact that I can go run for an hour and feel completely destroyed as if I'd just been out riding my bike for 4 hours. I also love when I tell people that I went out for an easy 10 mile run.

I also hope to help grow Elves & More this year. Tim and I determined that our volunteer base has outgrown our contributor base. We need to continue to grow both but we need to find more funding. We think we could have easily built 2,000 bikes this year and I'm sure we could have just as easily given away 2,000 bikes. Here's to finding more money in 2009!

Well, that's it for my 2008, time to move onto 2009. I didn't do all that I wanted to with my racing, but sitting here on December 31st, I'm very lucky to be where I'm at. I'm happy and healthy, I have a loving wife and two wonderful boys, I have a great job and I'm a partner in Elves and More. This year, Tim and I along with countless volunteers and contributors, helped make Christmas special for 1,000 kids living in the Mason Park neighborhood in Akron. It's good to be a part of something larger than just yourself. Happy New Year!

brian

The month of December

December. What a wonderful month. It's just too bad that I historically have to fit 6 months worth of work into 31 days. Between clients trying to get projects out before the end of the year (Bidding is historically better during the winter) and Elves & More I also threw in a new project into the mix this year....a trip to Portland, OR.

I was contacted by NCARB in the middle of the year about being a tester/reviewer for their new architectural registration exams. They originally wanted me to go to Tuscon in August but fortunately I had a conflict that kept me from visiting the desert during the hottest time of the year. When I heard there was a trip to Portland I jumped on it faster than Stephen Baldwin jumps on a really bad script. Portland is an area that I've always wanted to go to. Site unseen it was also a place that I could imagine living in. Now I would get the opportunity to visit at no cost to me! What could be better.



My good friend Pat up in Chicago's brother and sister-in-law just moved to Portland. When Pat found out I was going, magically the trip out west became more than just a business trip, we decided to head out a few days early to hook up w/ his family and try to get some snowboarding in on Mt. Hood. Unfortunately Mother Nature didn't cooperate with us and there was too little snow on Mt. Hood to justify taking the snowboard across the country so we decided to get some hiking in. That turned out to be the best decision ever because besides the lack of snow, they had unseasonably warm weather that was in the 50's and more importantly, it was nothing but sunshine.
On Friday, Pat and I decided to head up to Mount St. Helen's for some hiking. I've traveled with Pat before and whether it's a trip to a mountain or a trip to the grocery store, you are definitely in for an adventure. We made up our way to the last visitors center and got out to make our best effort to find some good trails. Everyone we talked to recommended us taking this one trail up to a neighboring peak to get the best view of Mount St. Helen's. We decided that we had a pretty decent view from where we were standing and decided to make it a quest to try to hike up to the crater. After all, that would be an adventure. The hard thing about Mount St. Helen's is really being able to judge distances. There is absolutely nothing left after the explosion in 1980. No trees, no vegetation, nothing. Nothing that we could use to really judge scale. What looked like a trek of only a few miles would be more like 7 miles one way. The other thing about Mount St. Helen's is that because there is absolutely nothing there to sustain them, there is really little signs of wildlife. I think we saw a few Elk which I was really surprised about and one bird. That combined w/ the total lack of wind there made for a very eerie experience. It was like you were truly hiking on Mars.





After 3 hours, we finally made it to the water fall on the Mountain. Unfortunately it looked like our goal was still about 1 hour further up. We were also at the end of the 'sanctioned' trail which was sort of a joke since the only thing that was there were rocks. Hard to disrupt the environment when there is nothing but rocks to hike over in my mind. It's for that reason that we decided to take the most direct route back to the visitors center.
I should clarify, we only did this because we were getting challenged by losing sunlight (It gets dark at 4:30) and on the hike out when purposefully trying to stay on the trail, we'd lose it because it was really hard to distinguish where the trail was and where it wasn't. It made for a really fun walk back. We got to experience an area that maybe only a handful of people and elk have but it made it difficult because there was some really tough terrain to navigate through.
In the end, we estimate that we saved nearly an hour by taking a bit more direct route. I would imagine that their established trail takes you so far out because of how much water might be running through the valley during the spring melt off of the snow on the mountains. With it being dry we were pretty safe. The only difficult part was having to climb a 30% slope back up to find the trail. It was a blast though and by far one of my best experiences in the mountain. I only wish we had more daylight to have been able to make it up to the top.


Day two in Portland brought a trip to the Columbia River Gorge. This time we went with Brad, Em & their friend from Chicago Evan. I don't want to take the easy road here, but Brad did a good job blogging it so I will refer you to his site as well as some good pictures for the day.



Today is the big Elves & More Delivery day. I can't sleep which is why I started blogging this at 6:00 this morning. I will blog about the delivery here in the next few days as well as hopefully get some pictures posted. All I can say is that although its only going to be in the 20's, there's going to be about 1,000 happy kids in Akron.

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My thought on Bernie...

A quote from today's Cyclingnews.com:

Bernhard Kohl is "terribly disappointed" over the two-year doping suspension handed down yesterday by the Austrian Anti-Doping Agency. He called it "the wrong signal and the wrong direction."

No Bernie, the only "wrong signal" and "wrong direction" that was taken was by you when you decided to dope and get away with it. I hope you have a miserable two years off the bike that is filled with endless saddle sores.

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Life Updates

Not much cycling...not much running...too much work. That sums up my last three weeks of life. I'm currently designing two building projects, one for Kent State and one for The University of Akron which is taking up too much of my time. Although they are lots of fun it's not leaving a whole lot of time to do anything else I'm afraid.

I was lucky enough to make it out on my bike a few weekends ago when we had the really warm weather. It had been 4 months since my last real ride so time went by fast and before I knew it, it was time to go back home. I haven't been on the bike since. You know it's too long since your last ride when the tire pressure is below 40psi. I'm hoping to get back on the bike a bit more routinely here this week. I hate to do it but it looks like it's back to early morning rides in the basement on my trainer. I normally don't mind trainer rides but I'm not looking forward to it this year.

I have been routinely running 3 times a week at the gym. Those workouts on the treadmill aren't actually too bad. It's a lot like riding indoors, w/ some good tunes on the ipod time goes by quickly. My only issue is that I get so hot that when I'm done running, I'm completely drenched in sweat. Fortunately I'm married and not looking to pick up chicks or else I'd be labeled as that weird sweaty guy! Who knows, I probably am already labeled that but I guess I don't care. What I don't know won't hurt me, right? My plan is to continue running 3 to 4 days per week, with one of those runs being a long one between 7-10 miles. Looking ahead to the Cleveland Marathon, I really have to be in full blown training mode in mid January so I don't want to lose any fitness or gain any excess weight that tends to happen to me at this time of the year.

Besides that it's Elves & More time. I'll be doing a lot more blogging about how that effort is going but in the meantime I'll say that the volunteer dates have all been set and registration is now open. Check it out.

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