Kurt's Marathon Blog: Times slowly improving

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Times slowly improving

Ran my 5.5 hill route Wednesday nite. Overall time was 70:43. Icky when compared to last year, but slowly improving. This is the third time I've run this route this month. The first time was 77:22, and the second was 72:58. If I can drop another 8-9 minutes off my overall time before the next marathon, I'll be a happy man.

We're very on track this March in comparison to our goals and in comparison to our effort in March 2007. My times, especially in the 8.5's, are behind what they were last March, but I suspect that I'll catch up within the next 30 days.

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A Bit of History

I have always wanted to run a marathon. When I was a young kid, I watched in rapt awe the Olympic marathon runners, sprinters, and boxers. I imagined myself running those long roads behind the pace vehicles, and sprinting into the stadium to a cheering crowd to win the marathon in under two hours. I promised myself that someday, I would run this very special race.

This glorious dream, however, has ever been clouded by a dismal reality: I am an incredibly slow runner. Always have been. And, to be frank, running is a bit difficult for me. Long torso, very short legs. Not a good runner’s combination. I'm 6 ½" taller than Jennifer, but we have the same in-seam. So, why would a pokey runner like me want to take on a marathon? Because! Such a silly question.

I didn’t run much until I started fighting in 1977. I worked out like a maniac during my fighting years and was always in good shape. Fighting workouts (sparring, training, plus weights) were 4 or 5 days per week, and usually lasted 5-6 hours per day on non-school days and 3 hours per day or more on school days.

Road work (running) was in addition to my workout schedule. I ran mostly on dirt roads in the Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles where we lived. Most days were either hot and windy, or were blazingly hot and windy (it is, after all, a desert). It was during one such run, alone with my thoughts on a hot and dusty dirt road in the middle of nowhere (no Walkmans or CD's back then) that I realized one of life's cruel paradoxes: my leg strength (leg pressed over 1250 lbs on several occasions) and kicking speed and agility (could do the splits and had several KO's and TKO's from kicks) somehow did not translate into running speed. [As an aside, nothing has changed. In the summer of 2004 I leg pressed several "show off" sets of over 900 pounds on the sled in front of my wife and older kids. A few days later, Heather and I ran together. She looked like she was walking and I felt like I was going to have a coronary.]

I tried all sorts of things in my fighting years to help me run faster. Nothing worked. I thought that discipline might be the problem, so I got up early in the morning and ran before the rising sun. I threw up every single time. It was bad, and I abandoned that plan after only two weeks. More leg-presses didn't help. Neither did additional stretching. Heavy ankle and wrist weights seemed like a great idea. No use. I even bought one of those cute, flimsy runner's shorts with the built in underwear. It was more like a woman's high cut panty with a few shards of cloth attached to the outside so I would still look like a guy. I felt airy (but not particularly manly), and I didn't run any faster. Anyway, raw eggs by the half dozen (yup, I swigged them - just ask my mom!), pickled Ginseng root, fresh fruit shakes, herbal drinks. Nothing helped.

My running didn't improve when I went to college. I occasionally ran with folks from my dorm but had serious difficulty keeping up. The worst was when I was dusted in my junior year on a 3 or so mile run by a guy who was much older than me who smoked and claimed he hadn't run at all since High School. Regardless, whenever we finished running, my gums would ache and I would hack up a lung, but the folks I ran with would recover in just a few minutes.

After serious reflection and contemplation, I developed a grandiose yet practical self image: I was like a Clydesdale horse. A Clydesdale is an imposing, powerful, and majestic beast. Larger and grander, but less quick, than its equine peers. While I still love that imagery, the more accurate assessment is that I ran like a little donkey. Perhaps even a billy goat. Yet, I still wanted to run that marathon.

When I joined the military, I ran fairly regularly. By Air Force Regulation, my age group had to complete the 1.5 mile run in 12:30. My best time ever came when I was a cadet. We ran on tarmac (an old aircraft ramp and runway) which can be a quick surface. I set out on a fast pace and I ran like the wind. I pushed so hard I could feel the asphalt bursting into flames beneath my feet! Actually, it was my bubble that burst when I was lapped by two old LTC’s who looked like they were lightly jogging. I was embarrassed. My time: a dismal 9:42.

During my 8 years on active duty I enjoyed some pretty runs. While stationed in the Philippines, I occasionally ran on a concrete path that cut through some jungle on base and crossed a ravine via a wooden bridge. It was gorgeous. Spring and summer runs in Washington D.C. were my favorite. I will never forget starting at the Pentagon, running along the Potomac river, crossing the bridge into D.C., and running around the Lincoln Memorial and sometimes the reflecting pool. The mileage varied depending on how I ran, usually 3-4 miles. I don't recall passing many people (unless they were very old, on crutches, or were otherwise injured). When I did pass someone, they usually caught up then dusted me on the way back to the Pentagon. I didn’t mind too much because the scenery was so lovely.

I ran my first two races while at the Pentagon; a 10K and a 9+K. I trained very hard for the 10K, and finished in 52 minutes and change. And, while I finished in the bottom half, I wasn’t the last finisher! I ran a 9+K a few months later. Slower time, but it was more of a cross country affair where we had to duck branches and jump over stuff. I don't recall my time, but it was definitely not in the top half of the finishers.

I left the military in January, 1993, and went to grad school. I didn’t run at all and my weight shot up. I caught chicken pox in 1995 and was so sick I was forced into physical rehab. I wore a heart monitor 24/7 for several months, and then for a few more months only when I exercised. I worked out five days a week and checked in every day for a BP and pulse check. For the first two months or so, I crawled out of bed, lifted, walked my laps, then went home and crawled back into bed. My day was done. Finally, my stamina began to improve and life eventually returned to normal.

For the next several years, I trained my son K2 in martial arts, and over the last three of those years focused on full contact fighting. I couldn’t find a sparring partner for K2 that was even close to being good enough, so I took on that role as well (he was prohibited from hitting me in the head for the reason that each of you know about). We fought many rounds, but I didn’t lift often or run much, so I constantly fought the battle of the bulge.

And, believe it or not, I still wanted to run a marathon.

Finally, I was in San Diego during the summer of 2002, and decided that enough was enough. I began jog-walking in June and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery and fresh air around Jen's parent's house. When we returned to Lincoln in August, I immediately started working out 4-5 days per week (treadmill, then stretching and lifting). I initially walked 30 minutes, and within a few weeks I was up to an hour, and alternated between a walk, a jog, and a sprint. Weight lifting and stretching usually went for two hours.

After several months I became more serious about the nutrition piece. I bought a food scale and a weight loss program for my Palm Pilot. I counted every calorie, and weighed or measured every thing (except water) that went into my mouth. And I did so religiously. I became so obsessed that I convinced myself that, if I didn’t work out that day for the requisite 3+ hours, I would die. I don’t know how much I weighed when I first started in June, 2002, but by mid 2004 I weighed 222 pounds, benched just under 300, and I looked and felt great. And I kept on working!

Then disaster struck.

I tore my right gastrocnemius playing basketball on the last Saturday in Jan 2005. It was bad. The tear was high and low, ripping most of the ligament off the upper left head of the muscle, with a smaller tear near the Achilles tendon. I could not put any weight on my leg for over two months. After four months of crutches and cane, my lower back wigged out, and that cost me another several months. I tried to work out several times near the middle and end of 2005, but it was far too painful. Recovery was going to be incredibly slow.

I have had many other injuries, but for some weird reason all of my big injuries have been on the left side of my body. Left ankle (twice, with crutches for 9 weeks on the second injury), broken left arm, torn cartilage in left knee, left rotator cuff tear, broken nose several times (my nose still bends to the left), lower back, left thumb. Just a few muscle pulls on the right side and a couple of stab wounds in the middle. In all fairness, I’ve had minor injuries all over; broke all my fingers and toes at least once, several cuts, etc. But, all the serious stuff (except the appendix, which doesn’t count) was on my left side. Throughout all of these I healed quickly. Not this time.

I finally resumed working out in mid 2006. Those first workouts were agonizingly painful! I could only walk short distances the first two weeks or so, then finally progressed to a jog-walk. I wanted to avoid re-injury so I went slow, and in that first month jog-walked a modest 45 miles. No lifting, just jog-walking. By the end of 2006 I had completed 321.5 miles. This included 3 "long distance" jog-walks (2 x 21.5 mi and one 15.33 mi) and 9 medium distance jog-walks (8.5 mi on the walking trails here in Lincoln). My dream to run a marathon was alive again.

Concerning my long distance walks, the first was 15.33 mi, which I completed in 5:18:08. The other two were both 21.5 mi on the MOPAC Trial. The trail is a crushed limestone path which was converted from an old rail line, and starts in the rural hamlet of Wabash and goes into Lincoln. The scenery is fantastic. My first attempt was at a snails pace (7:08:58) and I stumbled to the finish line. But I finished. I started too late in the day and had poorly estimated my pace, so I arrived at the trial head two hours after sunset. It was a moonless night, which made the path quite tricky.

On my second effort, I shaved almost 31 minutes off my time (6:38:08). I learned a lot on that walk, especially concerning blister management. I had to make 48 minutes in stops to work on my toes and the bottom of my feet. Apparently, I wore the wrong socks. Regardless, that 48 minutes is included in my overall time, so my time would have been around 5:50 with better equipment and proper blister management.

A CANDID ANALYSIS

To get ready for this run, I have had to look at everything. Strengths, weaknesses, how I used to do things, what worked and what didn't. Everything was, and still is, on the table.

I think my running problems involved a nexus of several issues, some of which I had control over and some I didn’t. Short legs, no control. Scheduling, significant control (weather, work, and children’s schedules always impact). Organization, control. Poor endurance, control. I have no natural speed, but probably would have been a lot faster if I had better scheduling, organization and endurance.

In looking back, my effort has always been solid, but my organization has always been poor. I worked hard and ran quite a bit, but running was always an "on again, off again" proposition. Sometimes I ran 4-5 days a week, but at other times ran only once or twice a week, and occasionally a week or two would slip by without running at all. Until last year, I never recorded my miles, time, or the dates that I ran, so I had no idea what I really did and could not accurately analyze my progress.

This poor organization led to poor endurance. An athlete can't build endurance without long miles or consistent running. When I fought, I generally ran for 2 miles at a time, and I don't recall going over 2.5 miles at any one time. At the Pentagon I generally ran 2-3 miles at a time, and occasionally would run as much as 4.2 miles per day. I ran only three days per week and didn't run at all during the winters. Not enough.

The final problem was, I think, I deceived myself with my leg strength. Essentially, I had the wrong kind of muscle development and the wrong kind of strength for running. And, in the past when I wanted to run faster, I hit the leg presses and dead lifts even more, which made me stronger but even slower.

WHAT I MUST TO DO TO SUCCEED?

The key challenge I face in this marathon, as I have so delicately foreshadowed, is speed. The marathon is 26.2 miles, and everyone must finish the race in 6 hours. I’ve put in a lot of miles to get ready, and have three long treks under my belt, so I can finish. The 6 hour time limit, not the distance, is the problem.

To finish in time, I must average just under a 4.5 mph pace. Unfortunately, I cannot run the whole way (not in this lifetime), and my standard walking pace is just barely over 3 mph (which would have me finishing in about 8 hours). My pace on my last 21.5 miler, which was in October of last year, was around 3.3 mph in great weather. The time including the 48 minutes in stops, and I mostly walked the trail. Without the stops, the pace jumps to almost 3.7 mph. My pace on my last long jog-walk, 14.63 miles, was just over 4 mph, but I ran in very cold weather, heavy winds, and was occasionally slowed by snow and ice. This bodes well for runs in warmer weather.

I can’t run the whole way and won’t finish in time if I walk. But, with a good plan and a lot of preparation, I can jog walk the race and finish in time.

My general plan, which I made back in November, was to work on my speed and endurance so that I can maintain a 5 mph pace for the first 15 miles, then cut back to a 3.8 mph pace for the remaining 11.2 miles. The longer I can maintain the 5 mph pace, the better.

To make this plan work, I have recorded my workouts since mid-2006, which has helped considerably. I also have a good running schedule, and my long distance runs have helped greatly with my endurance. I now vary my distances (not the same mileage and route over and over), have nifty shoe inserts, and use my stop watch for interval training and PTA's (a much more advanced version of my PTA - Pain, Torture, and Agony - runs of yesteryear).

The interval training seems to be working well. I jog the first 20 minutes or so, then do "splits" the rest of the way. I started with a 2/3 split (2 minutes jogging, 3 minutes walking) and now vary around an 8/2 split, depending on the weather, my strength, etc. Sometimes I will adjust a split mid-run. If I’m feeling strong, I’ll skip the walk split and pick it up again next time. If I’m very tired, I’ll walk and extra minute or two, take that time off the jogging split, and then resume the regular time at the next jog. So far, I have not been able to run 5 miles without walking 4-6 total minutes, but my time has improved to where I now complete the 5 miles in about an hour anyway.

PTA's are very useful but are my least favorite workout, and I can only do them when there is no ice. I modify the time for my walk and jog splits, then add a "sprint" split for 30 seconds or a minute. For that split, I sprint as absolutely fast as I can. It rotates walk - jog - sprint, and I will skip a walk split (I don’t actually skip it, I just jog it) whenever I can. So far, I haven’t skipped many walk splits, because its hard to pick up my lungs off the cement, spray off the gravel and dirt with water, and then stick my lungs back into my chest, all while I am jogging.

Concerning weight training, I have stayed off most leg machines and am focusing on my abs and lower back. I’m doing abs very differently from my fighting days, which has saved my back a lot of grief. I lift for my shoulders, arms, and upper back at maintenance levels, which will help my body break down fat instead of muscle for energy on the long runs. It will also help me burn of extra weight.

I still have a long way to go before I'm ready. But, I started early and am making good progress.

SOMEONE IS GOING TO ASK, SO . . .

I haven’t bought another pair of cute she-man running shorts this time around. I’m not going to, either. I did buy some impact shorts, but I wear sweats over them. I’ll be buying the ankle-length running tights (thermal and non-thermal running pants) but will wear shorts over them, too.

Next, most of you are aware of my eye problem. We have been able to slow considerably, but not stop, the losses. Time is not yet of the essence, but my window of opportunity is shrinking (literally). So, if I'm going to do a marathon, I had better do it now, just in case. If you have further questions, please call me or send an email.

THANK YOU!

I hope you enjoy my blog! I very much look forward to your postings, and appreciate your many years of friendship (Barry and Peggy - 23 years, Lynn and Ruthanne - 21 years, Stan and Becky - 13 years, Curt and Susan - 13 years). My Nebraska friends, and of course family (Jennifer - 24 years and counting, mom - current age plus 9 months), are a great source of strength as well.

I will cherish each opportunity as it comes, and will give this marathon my all. And, if I get injured, we'll try it again next year! So, give me all the advice you can, whether on running, nutrition, avoiding injury, or just keeping my head in the game. Any support, encouragement, insults, ridicule, ideas, or experiences you may have will be greatly appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you!

Kurt's Marathon Blog

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Times slowly improving

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