Slowly getting consistent and slower

May 26, 2011

herb running 4 Comments

I’m starting to run again with some sort of consistency now. Before it was a day here or there scattered with no running days in between. The biggest measure of improvement is the fact I’m starting to feel like myself again, and by that I mean the antsy feeling throughout the day of when I’ll be able to run again isn’t so predominate.

Even if the mileage is something I would scoff at 3 months ago, I’m happy to be getting that little bit in. The hamstrings are tight immediately after, but I stretch it out, and for the rest of the day they’re actually pretty good. It’s now a habit of mine to constantly test things whenever walking anywhere. Stepping up on curbs with an overstretched stride or leaning into my step when walking up inclines have become the two most used methods for assessing how things are. When no one’s looking, I’ll even do a little trot or jog sometimes. That pulling feeling is almost gone. At times I even expect it to hurt and I find myself backing off a bit as a reflex when testing it, and then when there’s surprisingly no pain, I wonder if it’s because I reflexively backed off, or if it’s truly significantly better.

Things still aren’t 100% right though. It’s hard to tell if it’s the injury, loss of fitness, or the fact that my muscles are so overstretched they have as much bounce as wet sponge. Or, am I just super aware of every little twinge or ache because I am so scared of exacerbating the injury? The fact remains, however, I am now slow. I don’t care about the speed. Or at least, I try not to. I was hoping I could bounce right back into training once I was past this injury, but I can see I might very well have a long road ahead of me. I’m giving thought to skipping a fall marathon this year. I’ll have to decide later in the season based upon how things go. I think my only hope may be Philly again since its so late in the season. As much as I would like to have something like that to focus on, part of me would like to just ditch the idea completely. Even now, I still struggle with not putting pressure on myself to maintain a certain pace when running and I’m not even fully recovered from being injured. I think giving up on the idea of a fall marathon, and racing for the rest of the year might be better for me in some ways.

I’ll take it easy for the summer and maybe decide then.

Starting over

May 10, 2011

herb mindless dribble, running 3 Comments

I haven’t posted anything in over a month. That’s not to say I haven’t written anything. It’s just that I’ve basically been in a very rough place in terms of running, and as a result, its been hard to get through writing about it; and even harder to re-read it without rolling my eyes in disgust.

So, I got into the habit of writing, and then deleting half ass half-finished dribble. The post where I whined about how I missed the Boston marathon on a day where the fastest race times happened under the best of conditions, made me want to reach through the computer screen and punch myself. The few of you who read this blog can thank me for deleting that.

To sum things up, over the past month, I’ve been struggling with whether or not to run, how much I can get away with running and weighing it against whether it will negatively impact my hamstring tendonitis. All the while, I’ve gained weight and have seen my fitness fly out the window.

About a month ago, I went to see an orthopedic doctor who was snivelling little nerd. This wasn’t the likeable kind of nerd you might be familiar with. Rather, he was a bitchy little arrogant bastard with a strong resemblance to Dustin Diamond… except nerdier, if that’s even possible. And he wore nerd glasses. …fuckin nerd.

Oh, I see, and um, what medical journal did you read that in?

Why the venom? Well, I have very little tolerance for the type of attitude he displayed, considering he is someone in healthcare and is getting paid a lot of money to help me with a situation I’m desperately trying to get fixed. Long story short, when he suggested NSAIDs, I mentioned reading about how they were found to inhibit tendon to bone injuries and asked him what his thoughts were. Considering I’m there to get help with my tendinitis, I think the question was more than applicable.

His response was to smirk and say “oh, and was this a medical journal you read this from?” Obviously, he took my question as a challenge. When he finally did address my question, he dismissed it as something that only occurred over long term treatment. To mention the article stated this was after a 2 week course would surely not have produced a constructive conversation, so I withheld further questioning.

Asking him for “permission” to ask another question resulted in him rolling his eyes and responded with a “Yes, of course you can” with an underlying sigh of exacerbation and disgust. Well, fuck, you, you little nerd. I walked out of there with a prescription for flector patches and physical therapy sessions which were to be conducted across the hall in the same building, and a follow up appointment with the promise of a cortisone shot if things did not improve.

The physical therapy only lasted one session. The therapist seemed like a real nice guy. He did an evaluation. Asked me to do some stretching exercises during my session. At this point I’ve been stretching every night and made a lot of improvement, so none of these were a problem. By the end, he said I really didn’t need to come back. In a way I was happy thinking it meant I was improving, but as I was leaving, I said to myself, “well, shit, now what do I do?”. I was hoping for something a bit more proactive to improve my situation.

So for the past month I’ve been running here and there. Sometimes, I was rather unintelligent about it. Running 7 minute miles around central park wanting to believe things were better was probably one of those stupid things. Running 12 miles another day, thinking if I kept it slow it would be ok was another mistake. For the most part, when I stayed disciplined and stayed slow with the mileage low, running didnt seem to make it worse, or at least not much worse. But as time went on, as grateful as I was to be just running easy after not being able to run at all, the satisfaction gradually wore off and was no longer enough. I really miss the phyiscal feeling after running a hard effort and the sense of accomplishment and pride when I can honestly tell myself I did a good job.

Last week, after reading posts from others who have had this injury and the length of time it took to heal, I realized I need to stop and get this healed as soon as possible before it turns into a life long thing. I took a full week off. A full 7 days. Nothing. No running at all. I canceled my follow up appointment with the nerd and made an appointment with another doctor, coincidentally on the same day. As I mentioned, the nerd was ready to give me a cortisone shot on the follow up visit if I wanted it; the only reason I kept the appointment in the first place.

I’m learning what a mistake that would have been. The new doctor referred me to another physical therapist and specifically wrote massage therapy and electric stimming. I’m excited about this. He also spoke about platlet rich plasma injections as a possibility and said no way to cortisone shots.

Now for the real good news. I ran 4 miles yesterday on one of my favorite flat paved paths. I focused on not allowing my leg to feel that pulling sensation. I did this actually in preparation for my appointment with the doctor today. I figured if I’m going to test things out I should do it before my conversation with him. It felt a lot better than I would have thought when done. The typical tightness afterwards wasnt really there an hour later, nor was it the next day.

When I spoke to him, he mentioned I could run if it didn’t hurt, which is the most confusing advice. This thing never really hurts during running. It hurts afterwards and the next day. I tried discussing it with him and I sort of came to the conclusion I’m going to have to figure this out myself as to when it’s best to run. I tried again today and did 6 miles. I let the pulling feeling happen a bit more this time, again to test it out. The pulling sensation, or the stretching sensation still had some discomfort, but there was a familiar feeling to it and I honestly thing it may be improving. It wasn’t the sickly injured feeling, but more like a sore muscle that needed stretching, rather than one that’s being damaged when stretched. Best way I can describe it even if it doesn’t make sense. I recognized this and it brought back memories from when I had achilles tendonitis and things started turning around, so I’m very hopeful right now. It’ll be quite a while before I’m running tempo pace and intervals, but shit… I can’t wait until I can do that again.

With that said, right now I run with a slow and heavy feeling and with a lot of effort. But today, I really enjoyed it. I almost felt fast, even if my “fast” is now over 30 seconds per mile slower than my marathon pace for just a 6 mile run. But, it doesn’t bother me.
I’m confident it will come back. And I’ll be happy just to be able to put the work in. Man, do I miss it.

Balance

April 7, 2011

herb health, running, training , 7 Comments

Running has been pretty sparse lately. I think I’ve only done 4 miles since my last post. Those 4 miles went pretty well and the next day I was no worse off. I intended something like that every other day with a mandatory rest day in between. Yesterday would have been the 2nd run, but the rain and other things made it inconvenient. Rather than fight through my schedule to get the run in, I figured less is more at this point and took it as a sign holding off for another would be better.

Today it’s absolutely gorgeous, so I intend 5 in central park today while making sure to keep everything feeling good in the hamstrings as I run.

Over the weekend I was climbing the walls, really wanting to do something long. With lack of anything better to do I headed to the gym with my wife with no real plan or idea of what I’d be doing once I got there. Most cross training options I think would tend to aggravate my hamstrings just as much as running.

By chance, a yoga class was starting so we jumped in. Holy cow. I had no idea how f*cked up I really am. First off, I’m not surprised I’m a little tight in the legs in every way you might think someone could be tight, but it’s much more severe than I ever imagined. Hips, calves, shins, quads, everything. I couldn’t do some of the most simplest poses, say like um, …sitting. I couldn’t even sit cross-legged without my knees being in the air as high as my shoulders.

namaste

I’ve stopped stretching a while ago. I used to be very diligent about this. At one time in my life I could do a full split. Then I’ve come across studies that seemed to go against conventional wisdom and suggest that stretching doesn’t prevent injuries. I never enjoyed it so I bought into the belief and let myself go in that department. I got away with it for quite sometime. Probably longer than any study would have been conducted, but I’m convinced that had I kept stretching I wouldn’t be injured like I am now.

On top of that, some of the balancing poses that require standing on one leg showed me how injured my hamstrings really are. It wasn’t so much a lack of balance or strength, but my leg just buckled as soon as I would try to support my weight using my hamstrings. That was another surprise.

It became clear to me I could use this as a tool to detect problems I’m having that I might otherwise be tempted to dismiss. Looking back it’s obvious I’ve been too focused on certain aspects of my training that I’ve lost sight of a bigger picture. I need to balance things out a bit more. I guess figuratively and literally. Otherwise I’ll just be setting myself up for another injury to creep in.

Since then I’ve been adamant about stretching everyday. I plan to get in a routine that includes some sort of yoga on a regular basis. As of now I have no clue what I’m doing so I can’t realistically do anything on my own at this point. But, I’ll try to find a couple of classes to get familiar with the basics besides downward dog.

Googling images of downward dog is another way to learn

Injury update (and opting out of other bull$h*t)

March 31, 2011

herb health, mindless dribble, running 3 Comments

Ok, so this is my second post in a row where I used swearing in the title, but at least I’m censoring it a bit this time. I’m finding it quite liberating. Also, it seems swearing gets more hits to the blog. Obviously, people like to read swear words, so I’m trying not to disappoint.

Anyway, I’ve taken a full week off from running since finally realizing the tendons in my hamstrings were royally screwed up. Thankfully, there’s been noticeable improvement everyday. Each morning is less tight than the day prior, and stepping up on curbs causes less pain as well. After a full week, I decided to test things out by doing almost 6 miles in central park. This consisted of the lower 5 mile loop with about .7 miles for the road at 60th and 5th ave leading to and from the loop. I never skip Harlem hills, but knowing this injury, I knew that I would be making things worse if I were to include them.

The whole time while running, I focused on trying not to aggravate my hamstrings. I maintained a small stride to do this. I was mostly successful and by the end of the run things were even better than I thought they’d be. The running wasn’t easy, and by that, I mean it was tiresome in my leg muscles. I can’t for the life of me figure out why that is. How could I possibly go from running 20 miles without effort to having tired legs after 3 miles? Do you lose so much fitness in a week from doing nothing? The answers to the obvious questions most would ask are.. I ran a full minute per mile slower that what I do 20 at, and, no, aerobically this was no problem as I was carrying on a full conversation.

The next day I can’t say I noticed an improvement like I have every other day, but it didn’t feel like i regressed either. So I went out for another 6 and it didn’t go well. In fact, it was worse than the day before. I remember thinking to myself while running how much I missed running. And, I mean that easy effortless feeling of moving fast along with feeling the kind of effort that’s welcomed… almost what’s craved. This felt broken, and it was not the result of pain from my injury. I wasn’t in pain. It was just this weird tiredness in my legs in muscles I never feel tiredness in. And in my lower back also in places I never felt tired before.

I have to admit, that during the week away, while things felt like they were improving quickly, I was still secretly hoping Boston could be a possibility. But, this second run absolutely killed it and in some way it was almost a relief. I guess the realization that this is absolutely out of my control took some pressure off, but it doesn’t change the fact I’m still pissed at the situation. This is true especially when I think back to the sacrifices I made to stay so consistent with training. Oh well, I whined about that in my last post so I’ll skip it here. But the point is, I’m now ready to cancel those hotel reservations :(

The scary thing about all this, is that you think there might actually be a possibility this is one of those injuries that never fully goes away. The rational side of me believes mostly this isn’t true. But, when I think about how long I’ve felt that twinge, before it became a major problem, I realize can’t remember a time not feeling that twinge. That’s also sort of the reason how this whole thing was able to creep up on me the way I did. It was like I turned around one day and said, “Hey, this isn’t getting better.” But, my point is if it took this long to get so bad, is it going to take this long to go away?

Any way, in the meantime; something non-running related, I joined a CSA which I’m very happy about.

I think our food, and the whole industry around agriculture, along with the FDA and USDA is so broken it’s quite frightening when you think about the path we’re going down. I’ve never really written about this, and if I were, you would might think I was a conspiracy theorist if you aren’t already familiar with the situation. I’ll tell you right now, I’m no extremist by any means. But, I feel like there’s this big reality out there that the majority of America knows nothing about. There are so many “definitions” and “standards” put in place by these institutions we believe are there to protect us. In reality, these definitions are so ill-defined, vague, and deceptive. Often, people make decisions with the best of intentions because of these definitions. It turns out, those institutions which we believe we can trust have become so twisted and corrupt that not only are they useless, but they’re quite destructive.

I might write more about it in future posts, especially since there will probably not be much in the way of running. In the meantime, spend some time watching this. It’s a little tough to get through the first 10 minutes, but it’s very informative.

I fucked up!

March 22, 2011

herb running 13 Comments

I fucked up royally! And now I’m paying for it right at the point where I should be reaping the rewards of my hard work.

Let me begin at the beginning.

Back in December, right after Philly, I jumped right back into marathon training for Boston. I was so gung-ho from having such a stellar race. I was greedy. Being so close to sub-3, I was anxious to get back into training.

Looking at my log, I didn’t even take time off. A week after Philly, I ran 15 miles at 7:46 and logged it as an easy run. The next week, there’s a 6 mile tempo at 6:30 mid-week and a 22 mile run at 7:30 on the weekend. All the while I’m writing notes in my log about how my hamstrings are tight.

I started the 18 week Pfitz plan somewhere around that. I remember having to start in the second week of the plan because there was only 17 weeks left to Boston. I think it was right around the time I did the Ted Corbitt 15K.

I ran through cold, snow, and ice this whole winter. I actually enjoyed it after a while too. Getting up at 4:30am on a daily basis to run 30 half mile laps at marathon pace made me feel bad ass. I did this in 7F degrees most of the time. I ran tempos in this weather. Around and around. There was no place else to go with the amount of snow we had. Given the cold, nothing melted anywhere, so I even did 42 laps for my 21 mile long runs on the weekend. But, there was something comforting in these laps. I learned to like them, but even more, I realized I was getting faster and stronger so I couldn’t wait to do more.

But, after almost every run, my hamstrings would tighten up and things hurt during the day. It didn’t interfere with my running… yet. So, I kept things up and I dismissed it thinking it was just the effects of hard training. This isn’t something so out of the norm either. I don’t even blame myself for not seeing the warning signs at that point.

But then, things got harder starting out. Things always hurt at first. I would have to run a good mile or two at a crippling 8:30 pace before my legs warmed up. But they got better, and I was able to bang out that 15 mile marathon pace mid-week, or that 6 mile tempo. It was my morning ritual. The winter sucked so bad, there was no way to enjoy running casually for fun, so all my running was for training and that’s what I enjoyed.

But week after week, the time to warm up took longer, the pain I felt throughout the day became more intense and lasted the whole day. Walking would always hurt my hamstrings for the rest of day. Stepping from the street up on to a curb hurt my hamstrings. Tying my shoes even hurt my hamstrings, and I mean while bending my knees. I couldn’t bring my knees to my chest even while bending my legs,

But, I kept going. And I did so because I’m foolish like that. If I have a goal, its hard for me stray even when that goal is becoming counterproductive. It’s almost OCD in a way, and I know most other runners can identify with this. Getting a certain weekly mileage in, just to log that number becomes less than a means to end, but rather a goal in itself. I had a plan and it was Pfitz 18-55/70, and to deviate would be giving up in my mind, even when I started suspecting I should be cutting back.

So the straw that broke the camel’s back? About 2 weeks ago, I ran the 25K with hamstring pains. I didn’t write about this in my race report, but part of the reason I went out too fast was because my legs were in pain and it was hard to gauge if it was my hamstring problems or effort that was too hard. The best way I can describe it, it was hard for me to find the right pace because my hamstrings were what I was focusing on, and I guess fear made me push too hard too fast; maybe in the hopes of warming them up so the pain would go away.

But, the 12 mile “recovery run” at 9 minute miles the next day made me question why I was out there and what the fuck I was doing. I was out there because I planned for 70 miles that week.

From there, things were never the same. I struggled the following week. Skipped the VO2 intervals in the plan because I knew something was very wrong. Worse than ever in fact. I somehow managed a decent paced long run at 7:03 the following weekend and thought I’d be ok. But then, the next week was even worse. I couldn’t even walk, much less run without pain. I decided to take 3 days off and had suspicions my Boston marathon was in jeopardy.

Then midweek, I picked things back up a bit and went easy. But then comes the weekend. I wanted to believe things were better, so out of stubbornness, I squeezed out another 20 last Sunday at 7:19. And, I cheated too. I popped a tylenol before starting. Mask the pain. Brilliant, right? And, the whole time I felt as if I had a knife sticking out of my right ass cheek. If it’s not my right ass cheek, its my upper hamstrings, but it’s usually both at the same time.

For the past few weeks, I dread the idea of physically carrying out the action of running. Don’t misunderstand. I smell the spring coming. The weather has gotten so much better. It’s prime time for running hard and racing and I’m dying to do it. But it’s like I lost my legs. Ironic that I push through throughout the shittiest winter, and now comes one of the best times for running and I can’t do much. I flinch at the thought of the pain that comes with running for me at the moment. I can’t even walk up the stairs.

So I had the Sleepy Hollow half planned for this weekend. Up until today, I’ve been trying to figure out how I can get things fixed so I can run a good half, but I know I cant. Today, I couldn’t do 7.5 miles at an 8 minute mile without being in pain the whole time. Sub 3 in Boston? There was a time, before all the snow melted, I’d bet any amount of money I would go sub-3 in Boston. Now? Less than 4 weeks before the race? I should feel like I’m in my prime. I’ve never been in worse condition.

So my focus will now be healing. I’ll schedule an appointment to get this checked out. Right now, I suspect I have some form of tendonitis in my upper hamstrings. This isn’t a muscular problem; I’m convinced of that. Plus, it seems to behave like some sort of tendonitis. Things hurt at first, but become easier after warmup, and then hurt much later afterwards. Morning time, and nights are also difficult. It was the same way for my achilles and plantar fasciitis.

Hopefully, I can jump back in soon. I’m thinking the Brooklyn half should be my target. Its cutting it close give the time I suspect I’ll need to heal and the time I’ll need to ramp back up. But I have to have something to focus on, even if it’s temporary.

As far as the marathon? There’s always the fall. And I’ll try the Pfitz plan again. But, I’ll be more intelligent about it and I’ll have better conditions to train in any way.

Caumsett 25K 2011 Race Report

March 6, 2011

herb running 4 Comments

I did the 25K in Caumsett Long Island. The results were not what I hoped for, but they were acceptable and I’m content. I finished in 1:43:42 which gives me a VDOT of 53.4. It’s the same VDOT I got from my 18 mile race last September, and it’s also my highest, but I was hoping to see proof of an improvement.

Considering how focused I’ve been on my training recently, I expected better, but I’m also convinced this was due to a poorly executed race. In short, I went out way too fast. It felt right, but seeing the pace on the Garmin, I knew it was way too fast.

The course was a 5K loop including a shitty out and back on a narrow lane with potholes featuring a 180 degree sharp turn around. This took place right after the loop closes, which features yet another 180 degree turn, but only slightly better. Since I was doing the 25K, it was 5 laps of this. There was also a 50K, which was the USATF National championships, so they had 10 laps of that. I happened to have done it last year. The 25k also happened to be the Long Island associated USATF championships.

A loop with two out and backs

I did the first mile in 6:14. A little nuts. I tried to slow it down to my target pace of 6:37, but did the 2nd mile in 6:30. I didn’t get my 3rd mile split since there was no marker, but my official 5K chip split was 20:03.

The second lap things began feeling tough and my 2nd 5K split was 20:35, so 10K in 40:38.

I started having my doubts while out on the third lap. I contemplated calling it quits quite a few times. I figured I’m getting accurate splits, so I’ll bring it in for 15K and either DNF or sand bag it for the final 2 laps. It was raining damn hard at times and the wind was near impossible to run against when closing the lap. I did the 3rd 5K in 20:48. 15K in 1:01:26. About 20 seconds and considerably off my weak 15K “PR” from December.

I’m slowing down, but I have enough for more so I go out for the 4th lap. This winds up being my slowest lap. Halfway through I have the mother of all headaches and I wonder if I’m having an aneurism. Well not really, but yeah, kind of.

Towards the end the 4th lap the out and back portion of the loop is getting to me. There are a lot of others on the narrow path and the orange cones that are supposed to be dividing the road into the 2 lanes each going in opposite directions are scattered occasionally to mark water filled pot holes. The terrain is a bit tough to race fast and passing others isn’t easy despite their courtesy and willingness to get out the way. I finish the 4th 5K in 21:11. This was a 6:49 pace. Just absolutely awful.

The last lap wasn’t so bad, but I pushed my hardest here. It wasn’t so bad because it was the kind of lap that went by surprisingly quick mentally. But, in actuality, it was only slightly better than the 4th. 21:06.

After that, I went to get my splits and saw my overall pace was 6:41. Not happy at all, but I knew immediately I didn’t run this wisely. I ate a turkey sandwich, did another 3 miles around the course to make it over 18 miles for the day and promptly headed home.

Later at home, I realized the time was equivalent in terms of my previous best performance. That made it a bit easier to swallow. At least I’m not any worse. Nonetheless, it would have been nice to see proof that the training is paying off.

Should I eat my cockatiel’s eggs?

February 4, 2011

herb mindless dribble , , , 6 Comments

She laid four of them.

They’re not fertilized, just as chicken eggs aren’t. She’s very healthy. I make sure of that. And she is well taken care of; and loved. She was never given antibiotics, medications, or hormones. For all intents and purposes, she is free range and is allowed to fly around the house during the day until we get tired of cleaning up her poop.

These are all the traits I would want from a chicken whose eggs I would eat. Would I be a hypocrite to not eat these?

Assuming you’re not vegan, and you eat chicken eggs, could you make an argument not to eat these other than “eewwwww, gross!!!“?

Did I mention she's also not fed a "corn only" diet?

Monotony

January 26, 2011

herb running 5 Comments

If you don’t already know, I’ve been following the 18 week 55-70 mile plan from Pfitz’s Advance Marathoning. The plan calls for a lot of miles during the week, with about 3 of those on weekdays going over 10 miles and up to 15 miles. Early in the morning at 5:00am is the only time where I can fit a run this long into my schedule. And around that time it’s still dark. But besides that, there’s been snow and ice everywhere on the paths and trails I typically go. I would take my yaktrax and run through snow if it wasn’t as high as my shins, but there’s just been so much accumulation over the past month, and with the freezing temperatures, none of it seems to be going anywhere. So, there’s really no reasonable place to run that I know of other than my development which consists of a half mile loop.

I’m quite fortunate to have this loop in my development, since it is quickly plowed after every snowfall. Not only that, there’s very little car traffic here. Anyone who comes in are either lost or their final destination is in the development. There’s no exit other than the way you come in.

It’s as if I have my own personal track, although its far from flat, not that I mind. When others have to turn to the treadmill, I can usually get away with going right outside my front door. I only have to deal with the cold, and this January has been quite a challenge so far. I’m still wondering how icicles form on my facial hair and eyelashes when running in 7 degree weather. Is it frozen sweat? I have no idea.

On top of that, the typical coughing we all get after running hard in cold weather seems to have stuck with me throughout the days recently. I decided to skip the Manhattan half in order to avoid turning the cough into a bigger problem.

But to run this loop and do lap after lap, for 20 miles becomes a serious mental challenge. But to then have to do it day after day every morning, in the dark freezing cold, I often start out asking myself why am I doing this? Running half asleep around and around has become mentally painful before even starting. I have a recovery run tomorrow of 5 miles which I will probably be doing as loops given the current snow. But 5 miles of 10 loops feels like a day off in comparison. The 11 miles, then 7 miles, then 21 miles for the rest of the week is what’s scaring me.

Throughout this all, nothing seems to change or let up. Every lap looks exactly the same. Every morning looks exactly the same. And the weather doesn’t seem to change. With a forecast like this I might find it mentally easier to run 21 miles on the treadmill this Sunday.

Looks like it's going to snow

A review of 2010

January 5, 2011

herb mindless dribble, running , , 2 Comments

With the end of the year, I’m compelled to write the obligatory post where I look back and review how it all went. In all honesty, it was a very good year for me. Better than any other so far. In terms of my race times, I’m in a place now where I couldn’t imagine being before 2010 started. Yet, nothing really feels that different.

I didn’t have any real formal goals for 2010 except for wanting to sharpen my PR in the half. I went into 2010 with a half marathon PR of 1:29:16 set back in 2007. Since then, I felt I never ran a good half and as a result, never broke 1:30 again. My hope was to break 1:29, and eventually go under 1:28 at some point.

In 2010, I raced 3 half marathons. I broke 1:30, just barely, on the first attempt in the Manhattan half with 1:29:48. I was happy with that.

I then broke my PR in May, just barely, with a poor performance at the Brooklyn Half with 1:29:05.

The Queens Half was then done in July, but I switched it to a training run due to 88 degree heat and 63% humidity.

Third was the Bronx Half where I not only broke 1:29, I also broke 1:28, and came close to breaking 1:27 with 1:27:10.

To top it off, I also ran an 18 mile race with a pace of 6:44. At that pace, there is a 1:28:16 half marathon split somewhere.

Then came the Philadelphia marathon in November where my official half marathon split was 1:29:12. That split alone broke my pre-2010 half marathon PR, and I went on to PR for the whole race itself. So, For 2010, I think I can confidently say I was successful at my goals for the half marathon.

But getting back to Philadelphia and marathons in general, my lifetime goal is to eventually go sub 3. It has been a goal since I ran my first marathon in 2006, and along the way I’ve had several doubts as to whether or not this could be a possibility. I never hurt as much as I did in 2009 when I ran the NYC marathon with 3:14:54. I questioned what it would take from me to simply run that time in the marathon again and wondered if I would even be able to do it.

In 2010, I ran two marathons with the other being Boston in April. Philadelphia was nothing but a success for me. I ran the race the way I wanted and was pretty consistent overall up until I cramped up towards the end. Leg cramps seem to be something I almost always struggle with in the marathon, and I’m still not sure why. But rather than trying to prevent them, which I’m convinced I can’t, I’m learning to run through them. At the end, I crossed the line with a net time of 3:02:25. I realized that breaking 3 hours is something I will do one day.

But what made Philadelphia even more of a success was the way I went into it. I was pretty level-headed and not a bundle of nerves relatively speaking. Which is more than I can say for any prior marathons I ran, including Boston in 2010.

In Boston, I’m not sure what happened. Recent bouts of strep throat mixed with hypochondria led me to believe I was ill and almost skipped going to the starting line. Ironically, I wound up taking more than 4 minutes from my PR, finishing with 3:10:45, and to this day, I’m not sure how I pulled it off. On a good day, I wouldn’t have thought of even coming close to my PR at the time. By the way, I never got leg cramps in Boston either. Go figure.

In between I ran two ultras. Something, I’ve always wanted to try. One was 50K, and the other was a 50 miler. They were both more training runs than races. The 50K was more of a tune-up for Boston actually with no time goals. Aside from the GI problems, I enjoyed the 50K very much and would like to do another in the near future.

With the 50 mile race, although I really wasn’t racing it, I went into it thinking a pace of 8:30 or so would be doable. I fell apart somewhere passed the 30 mile mark and walked most of the end. I was under trained and under prepared in terms of hydration, nutrition, etc. I carried nothing and naively thought the aid stations would be enough.

I learned a lot, however, including that I was not yet ready to do something like this the way I would want to do it, and wrote a somewhat controversial and incoherent post about it. I decided that I could I not focus on this type of distance without it interfering with me focusing on my goal of breaking 3 hours in the marathon. With that said, I have goals of doing another 50, but have doubts as to whether or not there will be one in 2011. The JFK 50 has a somewhat appealing allure, especially since my sub 3 hour goal aligns with guaranteed entry to that race.

Other than that, I had some loose goals regarding mileage of over 200 miles a month with around 2600 for the total year. I realized the naivety of this goal and refuse to have mileage goals like this for 2011. Illness, injury, and training plans all interfere with this. Being that I’ve done 2 marathons this year for example, both requiring a taper and a recovery period, that alone has requirements that conflict with maintaining a certain amount of mileage for the month. Therefore, my goal for 2011 will just be to stay focused as I currently am and just getting in the miles week by week when I can without making excuses.

Nonetheless, despite my lack of mileage goals, a mileage summary for the year is still appropriate for a post like this.

Monthly Mileage Totals Mileage Totals
Jan 180 Jul 201 Year to date 2417
Feb 203 Aug 205 Lifetime 11081
Mar 225 Sep 200 Highest Weekly 79
Apr 149 Oct 258 Average Weekly 46.3
May 252 Nov 152 Average Monthly 201
Jun 167 Dec 223 Yearly Goal -137.9

76 miles less than 2009, but its a minor, meaningless detail considering the success of 2010 compared to 2009.

Running goals for 2011? This will be the first year where I truly attempt to break 3 hours. I’m hoping Boston will be it. If not, I’ll try again in the Fall. And, if not in the Fall, then there’s always 2012.

I would also like to have a half marathon time with 1:25:xx. Maybe somewhat aggressive considering 1:27:10 is my current half PR, but I’ve learned the farther I reach, the farther I’ll go, even if I fail to get all the way.

Goals for this blog? None. I was unsure where I wanted this to go it when I started, and it hasn’t really taken the shape I imagined, or hoped it would. It feels it’s become something more for me than anything else, but I’m ok with that — for now. That’s not to say things can’t change in the future.

As far as “resolutions”. Well, I hate those. I don’t see why a one particular day out of the year should be one where we decide to change something about ourselves for the better. Everyday is a day I try to improve something new, or continue to work on something that I want to improve. Nonetheless, it might be appropriate to state a particular goal I’ve been focused on for a quite a time, and that is to have more patience. I feel running has helped me with that in a lot of ways. Patience, and faith.

Now, I have to learn how to apply it to the way I deal with other people.

Trip from hell

December 26, 2010

herb mindless dribble, running 3 Comments

At the moment, I’m in Dusseldorf, Germany in an empty hotel, 5am local time. My wife and I are the only people here. There isn’t even any staff around since they’re all gone for the Christmas holidays. I’m not sure how the arrangements were made, but my mother-in-law somehow worked out a deal with the owners that we’re able to stay here while the place is closed.

Now, combine my situation of being in a deserted hotel with the fact that there is 3 feet of snow outside. I’m told there has been this much snow for over a week. Not being able to run, with nothing to do, I’ll be climbing the walls by the end of the week. It’s beginning to feel like a scene from the The Shining.

The roads don’t seem to get plowed, at least not around the holidays. My wife, who is originally from this area, is even questioning why they’re not yet cleared. And, you can forget about sidewalks being shoveled. No one does that here. The cars seem to manage to get through ok enough on most main roads though, albeit slowly. The snow there is all packed down at this point. But, there’s no sign of pavement anywhere.

This will make for some interesting running, if any. I have no idea when I’ll be able to even attempt to see what it’s like. This is because I have nothing with me except the same jeans and tee-shirt that I’ve been wearing for the past 40 plus hours. We’ve literally had the trip from hell with delays and layovers, and to top it off, only two out of three suitcases made it through. The one missing is, of course, the one with all my clothes, including my running shoes. To make matters worse, the connecting flight with the 6 hour layover was between Continental and Lufthansa, so I’m not even sure which airline has my bag. Both are clueless as to where it is.

So I’ve lost one day of running so far, which was yesterday, the day we arrived. I only had a 5 mile recovery run planned anyway. Today, the prospects don’t look good either. Even if I had my running gear getting out there will be a shit show, but I’d gladly take it.

There’s a gym nearby, which I’ve used on occasion. They’ve allowed me to purchase a weekly pass when I’ve stayed in Düsseldorf in previous years. I might try to get access to one of their treadmills. That is, if they’re not closed for the entire holiday week. That kind of thing is more common here than you might realize and there doesn’t seem to be a predicability as to which businesses will do this.

I was looking forward to coming here, because there is absolutely nothing to do except the one thing I love to do when there’s nothing else to do. The running here is fantastic along the Rhein river. It’s a nice open landscape with a path that goes on for miles and miles with beautiful views of the river and city. There are a few bridges that can be crossed so that you can return along the other side.

The Rhein is not the only place to go either. There’s also the area around Graphenberg Wald. I blogged about this last year around this time. The week I come here, is a week where I typically think and worry about nothing. The days are short in terms of light, sunrise at 10, sundown at 4:30, and they go by pretty slowly. Now, that, mixed in with getting a good solid run in every day really allows me to feel like I’ve had some time off when I return home.

But, without the possibility of getting that run in, the vacation becomes the antithesis of what I described. It turns into something more like a jail sentence. This is my first morning waking here, and I’m already stressing out about how I’m going to get through each boring day. Let’s just hope this vacation doesn’t end like the movie did.

Inevitable at this point

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