Maybe This Isn't So Bad

Rochester is a cool place.  The Michigan Rochester, specifically.  Moving from Minnesota was (and still is) hard, and having no good place to run whilst I was living with my folks for those few months just made things worse.  But last month, I moved to Rochester—hoping things would be better.

They are.

I'm living within walking distance of downtown Rochester, which means I can walk to a really cool small-town "main street".  Even better than that are all the great places to run.  Here's a map and the rundown (pun intended):

I'm live near the red star.  (I suppose it is sort of a planned community...)

1. The blue line is the Macomb-Orchard Trail.  It's a paved trail that goes east about 30 miles from Rochester to Richmond.  It's a great place for bike riding, and I'd like to make it out to Romeo, MI before the year is over.
2. Following the Macomb-Orchard Trail, one can get to Stony Creek with ease.  Stony Creek (the orange triangle), is a great Metropark with paved trails, hiking trails, a lake, hills, and all kinds of fun things that are free if you enter on foot or by bicycle.
3. Heading southwest from my apartment along the green line is the Clinton River Trail.  It's a crushed limestone trail that eventually connects all the way out past West Bloomfield (about 30 miles).  If I were to ride my bike to work (which I hope to do), this is the way I would go.
4. Rochester itself is a great place to run.  Calm, residential streets on a (mostly) grid-like system.
5. From downtown Rochester, one can connect to the Paint Creek Trail.  This dirt trail heads northwest from town all the way out to Lake Orion (about 10 miles away).  This is my favorite place to run, and the colors along the trail are fantastic right now.

In fact, this past weekend I went on my longest bike ride ever and went to Lake Orion and back.  On my way out, I came across these signs:

Signs Read: "CAUTION: Stay on Trailway, Archery Range"

Uhh, ok.  This is likely the most dangerous place I've ever cycled through.  I risked gaining a few extra holes in my body and continued to Lake Orion.

I expected the trail to put me close to downtown Lake Orion, but it ended in a CVS parking lot.  Befuddled, I turned around and headed back.  I made a quick stop at the Paint Creek Cider Mill, and after a total of 20 miles, I completed my longest ride ever.

Now I just need to find some fun races to do around here!

A New Plan

With racing on hold for the foreseeable future (with a few low-cost exceptions thanks to SteveQ), and my motivation to run slowly returning, I've come up with a plan that that may keep me sane for the next few months.

Instead of training for a specific race, I'm going to rebuild my base.  I'll start at 20 miles next week, then increase that by 10-15% per week until I get to about 50mpw.  This build-up phase will take between 2–3 months.  From there, I'll stay mostly constant at 50mpw.

I'll de-emphasize speedwork, but will throw in the occasional fartlek to keep things exciting.  I won't do hill repeats, but I'll stick to my hilly routes (the benefit of living at a local elevation maximum in St. Paul).

At some point, I'll race again, and when I do, I'll switch to a speed phase.  I'm thinking some pseudo-Lydiard periodization here, but whatever happens after my "base phase" will be determined by whatever race I do, and I've got no clue what that will be.

Not my ideal 2011, but I'll try and make the best of what I've been dealt.

To Run

Why do I run?  I can't really offer a reason other than I run because I run.  Some days I run because I want to get faster.  Other days it's to let off steam.  Still other days it's to enjoy the world in which we live.  I just run.

I haven't run much lately.  In fact, there was almost a 2 week gap between runs.  We had the best weather since November, and I didn't run.  There have been some major personal changes in the last week or so, and I guess I've just been in a funk.  Typically, I'd run to de-stress over something like this, but I just didn't feel like running.  Even last night, my first run in 12 days, I didn't really feel like running.

One excuse I could give would be the major change in my 2011 racing calendar.  Here's the calendar:

Securian Winter Run, 1/29/2011

Yup, that's it.  Because of some of these changes, race fees got axed from the budget.  No Irish for a Day 10 mile, no Brian Kraft 5k, no Red, White and Boom Half.  A change like this is enough to strip one of the motivation to run pretty quickly.  Why punish oneself with 12x400s if there isn't a race you're training for? But I suppose that's just an excuse.

To be honest, I'm at a loss for what to do.  I like each of my runs to have a purpose.  Each one should fit with the others like pieces of a puzzle.  So when people say that even though I'm not racing this year I should still run, it's just not that simple.  Why run 5 miles when I can run 3?  Why run fartlek when I could just lounge around at home?  When I run, I just don't know what to do.

My apologies for this departure from the usually light-hearted tone of this blog.  I've had a lot on my mind lately, and this post is mostly an outlet for those thoughts.

My New Compression Tights

Readers of this blog know that I'm pretty "old school" when it comes to running.  No GPS, no HRM, no CIA, no, wait, what?  Anyway, it may surprise you that I know own compression tights.  New Balance Windblocker tights, to be exact.  Surprised me too.  And it's a convoluted story of how I got them.  In essence, I wanted to register for the Securian Half Marathon in person at Run 'n' Fun.  By registering in person, you get 25% off any purchase made in-store.  A pretty sweet deal.  I was in the market for new pants and/or tights that were better suited for winter.  So, after trying on more things than I care to recall, I ended up with these compression tights.  They were the only things that fit my criteria and were available in my size.  So here we are.

I'm skeptical of all the compression fanatics out there.  Some of the theory behind compression gear makes a little sense, but if it were that big of a deal, runners would have been squeezing their muscles long ago.  It actually seems rather silly that the mere act of squeezing muscles will cause us to set new PRs.  Long story short, if you want to run faster, put the investment into running more miles and crafting a better training plan.

Yet, here I am, with a pair of compression tights.

I tested them out today, and they behaved like I expected.  Like tights.  The windblocking fabric kept me comfortable, and my legs propelled me forward.  I didn't notice any extra benefits from the compression.  I didn't run 4 minute miles.  I didn't leap over buildings in a single bound.  I stayed warm, and I ran.

The awkward part about these tights is New Balance's approach to runner safety.  Concerned that runners may not have a RoadID (which is must-have for all runners), they put a "tape" in the pocket on which you can write emergency information.  In reality, this "tape" looks more like a pull-tab just above my butt.  Here is the placement:

No, pulling it will not make me say "Somebody's poisoned the water hole!"

Goals for 2011

Before I talk about goals, I have an announcement.  Adam from The Boring Runner has informed me that I  won the "Yaktrax Award" for the Freeze Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k.  The prize is virtually nothing, but I am virtually thrilled to receive it.  I hope to use my title to help other runners in need--those who have found themselves snowy, cold, and without traction in life.  I will not stop working for them until our coefficients of friction have increased and our Domes inflated.  Here I stand.

---

2011 is here, and I'm starting to put together races and training for the upcoming year.  I've not finalized my race schedule yet, but here are the ones I'm looking at right now:

• Securian Winter Run Half Marathon
• Irish For a Day 10 Mile
• Human Race 5k or 8k
• Cannon Falls Duathlon
• TC 1 Mile
• Brian Kraft 5k
• Croixathlon
• Red, White, and Boom Half Marathon
• TC 10 Mile

There will be other races, but I'm most certain about these.  I had considered the MDRA Grand Prix, but since I missed one of the events already, I don't know if there are enough races left that I would do to make it worthwhile.

Anyway...  Beyond races, I'm hoping to join the circus setting a few goals for myself this year:

• Race More:  I like racing, and there are so many good races around here that I'd like to experience, so I'm going to do some of them.  I'm not constrained by marathon training this year, so I can race more often without worrying as much about injury.
• Add More Variety To Racing: I have a confession to make--I've never raced a 10k.  While I don't have a 10k on my schedule yet, I'd like to do one.  And a 10 mile.  And a 1 mile.  And more Fun Size Marathons.  Variety is good for the body and for the mind, and doesn't hurt with packets of M&M's either.
• Average AT LEAST 40 Miles Per Week: The thing that helped me the most last year was not drowning an increase in mileage.  40 mpw isn't super high, but I think it's a pretty good goal to shoot for.
• Run a sub-20 5k: Let's just call this one Unfinished Business.
• Run a 5'20' Mile: This is an "out there" goal, but 5'20" is the fastest I've ever run a mile, so if I can match that, I'd be happy.
• Don't Drown: I'll be doing 2 or 3 triathlons this year, and each one during which I do not drown will be a victory.
•  Rehab Roy: Roy is my faithful 2-wheeled companion (below).  Roy is a bit tired, though, and will need some work if I want to do some duathlons and triathlons.  {Rant: Did you know that Roy would be banned from the Rev3 Cedar Point Triathlon?  I'm not doing that race, but Katie is thinking of it, and she told me this awful news.  What kind of a triathlon bans mountain bikes?  Not a great idea for a competition that tries to seem not so elitist.  /Rant}  For Roy to make it through another year, I'm going to need to replace the brake and shifter cables.  A new chain may be in the works, too.  After this, I expect Roy to live many, many more years.

Have you thought about your goals for 2011 yet?  Do you like planning as much as I do?  Are you hopelessly attached to a 13 year old mountain bike?

Objects at rest...

Having an injury—no matter how minor it may be—allows one to reflect on their running.  I haven't been running much since my knee started acting up—maybe 2 or 3 times a week.  It's given me time to think.  Time to meditate on a running season that, by many measures, was a resounding success.

In truth, I've needed to make a special effort to listen to my own advice.  Whether it was helping someone figure out a training plan, or giving advice to someone who has an injury, I had one piece of advice: listen to your body.  Well, I've been listening, and it's been saying "take it easy, Matt.  A few weeks of taking it easy will not ruin your running life."  So it goes.

Beyond making the effort to not run (yes, not running requires more effort than running), I've been able to look back at how I've grown as a runner.  How I've become more dedicated, smarter, and in some ways, faster.  To explain this, I'm going to look back into my past a bit.

As a kid, I didn't run.  I played soccer when I was a child, but mostly because it was fun and my parents thought it would be good for me.  I stopped sometime around 1st or 2nd grade.  I did nothing for many years.  I did the mile in gradeschool, and was super happy when I could get into the 10:xx range.  My gradeschool did the mile by running a big rectangle in our parking lot.  10 laps to a mile.  My strategy was to run the short sides of the rectangle and walk the long sides.  I was thrilled when they made the rectangle longer so that it would be 8 laps to a mile (meaning the long sides were even longer).

I was an awkward kid.  Sports weren't my thing because I sucked at them.  All the way through high school, I could count the number of baskets I made in basketball as less than 20.  And we played basketball a lot.  My PE teacher was also the b-ball coach, so he would throw in a token dodgeball game, or weightlifting day, but 90% of what we did was basketball.  I hated it.

This changed my sophomore year.  I was going to join the soccer team.  But, in a school of ~100 students, the soccer team was cancelled that year due to lack of interest.  Dejected I was, but a seed had been planted.  A few days later, Mr. Sprow, my chemistry/advanced algebra/physics/calculus teacher wanted to know if I'd join the cross country team.  I had absolutely no clue what a cross country team was, but said ok.

I was in for a rude awakening.  My second day of practice involved a 6 mile run.  I just about expired.  I was slow that season.  First 5k time was 34:30, second was 38:40.  I was last on my team, and usually last in all the meets.  It was a great day the first time I didn't come in last, and I managed to break 30 minutes that season.  I was just as slow during track season, and it was more embarrassing because one can't hide in the woods and walk.

I got a little faster my junior year, but in my senior year, things changed.  The fast people on my team graduated, so I just needed to run faster than one of my teammates to be the fastest on the team.  It took a few meets, but I assumed that mantle, and didn't look back.  That was the season I almost broke 20, and was 2 places shy of being named all-conference.  In track that year, I even earned points on my own for the first time.  I had a great year of running.

Then I stopped running.  I had every intent of keeping it going in college, but I would run maybe 2 or 3 times a month, and then it stopped altogether.  I was a runner without a team, and only then did I realize how much the team was a part of me.  If I were ever to become a runner again, I would need to learn how to run as my own team.  I would have to carry the sport that I loved on my own.

Stay tuned for how these experiences shaped my 2nd running life.

Well, Now What?

It's typical to get the "post-marathon blues".  With the main training goal firmly in the rearview mirror, no one would fault a marathoner for being a little...lost.  Well, I'm not lost.  (As I always tell Katie, I have an impeccable sense of direction, and that I'm remarkably modest.)

Some of it may be that I'm still on a high from the marathon—even a week and a half later.  Maybe I'm setting myself up for an eventual letdown, but the 2010 Twin Cities Marathon is one of those races that I'll remember for a lifetime along with the first race I didn't come in last, and the first race I finished first on my team.

But I've also set some short term goals for myself racing-wise, and I'm still trying to assemble the long term goals.  Here's what I've got going on:

Short Term

• Tesfa 5k:  This is a great race that Katie and I did last year.  It's really small, and it's on a beautiful course down in Ft. Snelling State Park.  I've set this as my "post-marathon recovery race".  I'm following Higdon's advanced post-marathon plan, and this 5k will be the flourish at the end.  I considered doing the Monster Dash 10 Mile a week earlier than the Tesfa 5k, but decided against it.  It think it might be too soon to race a 10 Mile, and I'm not going to pay 50 bucks just to do an easy 10 mile run.  If I enter a race, I'm going to race it!
• Turkey Trot:  Katie and I are still working on our Thanksgiving plans, but I'd like to do some sort of a Turkey Trot wherever we end up going.  Of particular interest is the Turkey Trot put on by The Parade Company in Detroit just before the best Thanksgiving Day parade in the country.  There's a 5k and a 10k (plus the Mashed Potato Mile), so I'd have plenty of options.  If we stay in MN, I need to do some searching.

December-January

• Indoor Triathlon:  Once things got ramped up for the marathon, cross-training went by the wayside.  I'm going to try and get back in the pool, and maybe plan some sort of indoor triathlon for the winter.  They seem like fun events, and the playing field is much more level because everyone uses the same equipment.
• Winter Carnival Half Marathon:  Not too sure on this one.  Katie is interested in doing this race, and it looks intriguing (and cold!).  I don't know if I could put in the training necessary to do well here with the Christmas holiday and all, but we'll see.

February-March

• St. Patrick's Day 10 Mile:  I'm considering making this my next "A Race".  It has good timing, and I've never raced a 10 mile before.  The training for the race would give me incentive to keep my base mileage up, which will help immensely with my plans for the summer.

Long-Term, Summer 2011

• I've been informally referring to Summer 2011 as my "Summer of Speed".  I'm going to take a year off of marathoning to focus on shorter distances.  In particular, I'd like to see how low I can take my 5k PR, with the big goal being finally breaking the 20 minute barrier.
• A PR-Buster 5k: I need to pick a race that I'll focus on for really working on that 5k PR.  The Brian Kraft PR is appealing because it's a really fast field and a flat course, but it's so early in the season that I may not be really ready for it.
• 2 or 3 Triathlons:  I enjoyed my triathlon experience this past summer, and I'd like to try my luck at a couple of them next summer.  I don't know which ones I would choose, but I do know that I'd like to do more of them.
• Red, White, and Boom! Half Marathon:  I enjoyed this race last summer (even in the humidity).  I'd train hard for this and maybe shoot for some ungodly fast time like 1:30.  If I could do that, it would set me up pretty well for my next goal…

Super Long-Term, 2012

• BQ:  If you had asked me after the 2009 TCM if a BQ was on my radar, I would have told you "Sure, when I turn 75 and the qualifying time is 4:45".  Things are different now.  Running a 3:42 marathon puts a BQ within reach—at least mentally.  A 31 minute drop in time is no small feat, but neither was a 67 minute one.  If I did make a run at BQ, it would certainly be at the Twin Cities Marathon.

2013

• Boston Marathon:  Well, this just follows from the previous one… ;-)

These plans are still in a state of flux (except the Tesfa 5k, which I'm 100% sure that I'll do).  Got any suggestions of races or goals?  I'm open to pretty much anything at this point.

What Now?

It's now been a week since the triathlon, although it seems like ages ago.  I've got some more pictures from the event that I'll be posting soon.

The question now is what am I going to do for the rest of the year.  I'm certainly no triathlete, so no more triathlons for the rest of this year.  (I'll admit that it was fun, though, and next year I'll do a few more.  My plans for next year, though, are the subject of another post entirely.  A post that I probably won't write until December.  Or January.  But I digress.)

My racing schedule for the rest of 2010 is lighter compared to the year up to this point.  Here's what I've got planned:

• My main focus: Twin Cities Marathon.  I don't want to give the impression that I'm only focusing on this now.  This has been my big goal and main focus for months now.  The triathlon was a healthy diversion, and it was set up such that it would support my marathon training.  I think looking at my results from the triathlon, you'll see that my running didn't suffer by adding the biking and swimming.  Refreshingly, though, with the triathlon being done, I can go to running almost exclusively.  Sure, I may get a swim in every now and then, and I think Roy deserves to get his wheels spinning every so often, but the mantra is going to be "run.  Run.  RUN."  In fact, I did the first of 3 twenty mile runs today, and it went really well.
• Beyond the marathon, I've got a few ideas for what I could do.  I'll certainly take the needed recovery time, but I'm looking at a few races in Oct/Nov.  The first is the Monster Dash.  Katie and I did the 5k last year, but since it's so crowded, I don't want to do the 5k this year.  I'm leaning towards the 10 mile race, but I'm not going to make any decisions about this until after Twin Cities.  I want to see how the recovery is going before committing myself to that distance.
• I'm 99% sure about the next race: the Tesfa 5k.  Once again, Katie and I did this last year, and we both had a fantastic time.  I LOVE small races, and Ft. Snelling is a fantastic place to run, so we'll most likely be there again.  And, this year we have the annual state parks pass.
• I don't have anything specific for after the Tesfa 5k, but I'm considering an indoor triathlon sometime this winter.  That may happen in 2010 or 2011, depending on the schedules.
• Not related to racing, but I'm really looking forward to Dome Running this year.  Strange, isn't it? I love running outdoors, but there's just something about spending your evening with the whole Twin Cities running community.

My First Triathlon Is...Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day.  We're going tonight to pick up race packets down at the race site, and the plan is to get there tomorrow when transition opens at 6am.  It's been an interesting few months mixing in some swimming and biking to my running, and we'll see if any of it has paid off.  I'm feeling good about the race, but it hasn't been my main focus.  I've actually slacked off the biking and swimming a bit in the last few weeks because of an uptick in running.  Anyway, here's how I'm going to approach the race:

Swim
My swimming expectations are pretty low.  I'll be starting in the second wave, so there will be the majority of 300 competitors starting after me, and thus I'll probably get passed pretty often.  Since I've got a 3 minute head start on the next wave of swimmers, I figure that I'll be overwhelmed by them before I even get to the turnaround.

I'm confident in my ability to swim the full distance.  Even if wetsuits are disallowed, I know I can make the full swim--it will just be considerably slower.  In practice, I was able to go 450 yards in about 11 minutes.  I figure that might be a good time goal for the race, but I won't be wearing my watch, and I'll be happy just to get out of the water.

T1
Well, you saw how well my T1 practice went.  I hope to just be as quick as possible without forgetting anything.  I will say to myself all during the swim: "double knot your shoes, double knot your shoes..."

Bike
This is where everybody who didn't pass me in the swim will end up passing me.  That's ok too, because I'm going to take the bike easy to leave something in me for the run.  Energy spent on the run will allow me to do better than energy spent on the bike.  I'm going to be a slow biker--I can be a moderately fast runner as long as I don't overdo it on the bike.  I'm also going to be bringing along a bag of Gu Chomps and I'll energize myself a bit over the course of the bike segment.

T2
Not actually worried about this as long as I don't forget anything.  I don't have the silly clipless that have clips fancy bike shoes, so all the I'll do is rack my bike, take my helmet off, and grab my race number.

Run
This will be the only part where it will look like I'm racing.  Even though it's a 3.3 mile run, I'm going to pace myself like a 5k and try and gain back as many places as I can.  I'm guessing most people (particularly in my age group) will be far enough ahead so that I can't pass them, but I can at least try.  If I can do the run in 23-24 minutes I'll be very happy, and as long as I'm under 25 minutes, all will be peachy.

I'm going to do the whole race sans watch, so it will be a good experiment to run without any indication of pace.  I'm going to go totally on perceived effort, and I hope this will let me run a bit faster.  I haven't raced sans watch since high school, so I hope I don't crash and burn here.

I have some secondary goals too:

• Don't drown
• Avoid sharks
• Don't get lost
• Beat any and all costumed competitors (no one wants to get beat by Elmo)
• Put left shoe on left foot and right shoe on right foot
• Helmet on forwards
• Discover a better way to go to the bathroom in my tri suit
• Get an intense and/or hovering race photo
• Avoid seizures 

Alrighty then, I'll have an update on how things went sometime tomorrow!

My High School Self Surprises My 2010 Self

I began running in high school.  It was mostly on a whim.  I figured that I should stop being anti-social, so I decided to join the soccer team.  Being a small school (about 100 students), there weren't any tryouts to get on the soccer team.  In fact, there were so few students in my school that they cancelled the soccer team.  The next day, my chemistry/algebra 2 teacher stopped me in the hallway and said I should join the cross country team.  I had no idea what that was, but I said ok.  Being the kid who thought an 11 minute mile was tough, you can imagine the awakening I got on the 2nd day of practice when we ran 7 miles.

Throughout my sophomore and junior years for both cross country and track, I was slow.  I was even a member of the Slow Group.  I really enjoyed my time in the Slow Group, and didn't mind being slow.  Sure, I was thrilled the first time I didn't come in last at a meet, and that 5k time of 38 minutes was a bit embarrassing, but we ran because we enjoyed it and each other.  We didn't need speed to keep us coming to practice each day.

Then they graduated.  Most of the Slow Group graduated, and I was left with a choice.  I could go to my senior year and still be slow, or, I could work hard over the summer, and assume the mantle of being the fastest on my team.  I chose the latter.

My parents recently sold the house I grew up in and have moved to the 'burbs.  The last time I was home, I had to go through a lot of my things, and came across this piece of orange construction paper:

Yes, my pre-engineer self constructed a scatter plot.  I remember pulling out the green marker after each meet my senior year and putting my time on the chart.  I notice some interesting things about this chart.  First, there is the negative trend line.  I got faster over the course of the season.  I also notice how optimistic I was—I constructed the chart so that when I got that 17:xx time, it would fit on the scale.  That never happened, though.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the plot is what happened at the 4th and 5th meets, and then the 9th and 10th meets.  My time went up for the 4th meet (DeLasalle), but then dropped to give me a PR at the next meet (LHN).  The same thing happened for the 9th meet (Plymouth Christian) into the 10th meet (conference finals at LHNW) where I ran my fastest time ever.  Is there something to be gained from this?  I remember the faster times better than the slower ones, but I do remember that DeLasalle's course at Stony Creek was fairly hilly, and that the weather was warm for Plymouth Christian's meet at Cass-Benton Park.  Was there something about being slow that pushed me harder in my next meet?  Conference finals was the race of my life—the course was perfect, the weather was perfect, and I was going to run as fast as I could.  I pushed, and I pushed.  I fell short, though, and missed being all-conference by 2 places and breaking 20 minutes by 4 seconds.

These days, I have other goals for my running.  I run so that I can get that sub-4 hour marathon.  I run so that I can go for miles and miles.  I run to get away from it all, even for only an hour.  But, when I'm on a hard tempo run, or when I'm scaling a mountain in mile 7 of a half marathon, and find myself ready to ease up because it's getting tougher, I can still see that clock ticking at the end of the long final straightaway around Thelma-Spencer Park  19:50…19:51…19:52…and I push harder.

If I ever find myself with a DeLorean and a Flux Capacitor, maybe I'll go visit high school Matt and tell him that he may have been on to something.  I probably never would have ran a 20:03 if I hadn't ran a 22:43 the previous meet.  Heck, I would have never ran a 20:03 if I didn't limp across the line in 38 minutes just 2 years prior.  Some people are born fast.  Others, like me, need to run a marathon in almost 5 hours to run one in less than 4.

Thoughts on a Sub-4 Hour Marathon

I've found myself in a bit of a conundrum lately.  Now that I have officially started marathon training, I find it is important to solidify my goal.  My first marathon was great—I enjoyed the experience and I finished.  But, I went out too fast, fell apart in the final miles, and ended up with a time less than ideal.

But I'm ok with that.  That experience has caused me to approach my upcoming marathon not as avoiding the failure of last time, but as pushing myself toward a new and more exciting goal.  I initially set this new goal as "run a marathon in less than 4 hours".  Why 4 hours?  In my mind, 4 hours separates the plodders (a group of which I was proud to belong to) and everyone else (which I hope to become).  My intent is not to demean those who run a 4+ hour marathon, but I think it's important to set goals that push us ahead.  I feel that 4 hours is attainable for me, and that's my goal.  Sure, it involves taking almost 50 minutes off my last marathon time, but if I work hard enough, I can do that.  There lies my conundrum.

I've been training hard.  I've done intervals.  I've done tempo runs.  I've ran so many hills that my vertical distance is probably close to my horizontal distance.  Because of all this, I'm in great shape, and I'm running stronger and faster than I have at any time since high school.

So, what do I make of this?  Well, using fancy gizmos known as running calculators, I decided to see if I could predict my marathon time.  I put my most recent race (22'06" from the Brian Kraft 5k) into these calculators, and this is what I get:

McMillan Running: 3:35
Runworks.com: 3:31
Runner's World: 3:32

So, all 3 say I should be able to run a marathon in about 3 and a half hours.  Sounds great, right?  Well, a caveat is that it's hard to predict a longer race from a short race like a 5k.  But, even if I add 10 minutes to those predicted times, it's still in the 3:40 − 3:45 range.  In marathoning terms, that's a whole lot faster than 4 hours.

Can I run a marathon in 3:45?  I don't know.  What I do know, however, is that with a goal of 4 hours, my training paces are slower than I think they should be.  To train for a 4 hour marathon, I should do my long runs somewhere between 10 and 11 min/mile, and my marathon "pace runs" at 9:09/mile.  Comparing that with what I'm actually doing, I haven't run slower than 9 min/mile since early April.  Ratcheting myself down to 10 min miles might not even be possible right now.  I do understand the importance of going slow on the long runs, but 9:30/mile is probably as slow as I'd like to go.

What do I do?  I don't know.  I think I'm going to shift my goal to a 3:45 − 3:50 marathon and train based on those paces to start.  I may also enter the Red, White, and Boom! half marathon on July 4.  I've never run a stand-alone half, but I feel like it would be a much better predictor of what I'm capable of than a 5k.  If you've got any suggestions, though, I'd love to hear them.

My Shoulders are Sore

Running is primarily a lower body activity.  Sure, it's very important to have good core strength to keep up the running form, but it's still focused on the legs.

Well, swimming is not a lower body activity.  Even though I kick in a frantic and haphazard manner, my arms still do most of the work.  So, here are my workouts from the past 3 days:

Monday Morning: My first "swim"*.

Tuesday Morning: 4 mile run at 7'54" pace.  I'll admit that this was a faster than I had intended, but I felt good, so I kept the pace going.

Tuesday Afternoon: Another swim, 50 yards longer than my first.

This Morning: 7x400 on the track.  With a new race under my belt, I was able to calculate a new interval pace, so these were faster than the last set of 400s that I did.  So, these 400s hurt.

Now, you would think that my legs should be in rough shape after 2 tough runs in a row, right?  Nope, my legs feel fine and my shoulders are quite sore.  It's a weird feeling to have my upper body this tired.  I had been doing strength training over the past few months, but that just doesn't compare to the workout I apparently got while "swimming".

* At this point, when I say "swimming", I mean that I do something that roughly approximates what other people call swimming.  Maybe someday I can lose the scare-quotes.

I'm Probably Crazy (Advice Needed)

Well, I just may have gone off the deep end with this one.  (This post may be a bit lengthy, but I really would appreciate your advice)  Remember the fun contest in which you helped me garner 3rd place?  Here's a reminder:

(Yup, still running at the speed of light)

Well, the prizes for getting 3rd place came this week.  One prize is a pair of sunglasses that are going to Katie.  The second prize is a tri suit from Sugoi like this one:

Now, you are probably saying: "Matt, you don't do triathlons.  What's up with that?"  To this I respond: "Ditto."

Next summer (2011), I had planned on changing up my training and doing some smaller races and incorporating a triathlon.  I would also forego a marathon in 2011.  But, now I have this new tri suit.

Well, after talking with my favorite triathlete (that would be Katie), I think I may have a new plan for this summer.  Katie has cajoled a bunch of people from here chemistry class to do a sprint triathlon in August.  I'm now trying to decide if this is a thing for me.  Here's where you get to help me decide.  Consider these bits of information:

• I'm training for a marathon, and not just any marathon, but a sub-4 hour marathon.  This will be my "A Race" and I must not forget this.  Trying to take 50 minutes off my previous marathon time will not be easy, and I must be laser-focused on my training this summer.  (btw, I think the sub-4 hour goal is doable based on my current state of running).
• My cross-training sucked last summer.  Really—I occasionally did a half-hearted bike ride on cross-training days, and went for morning walks in the last few weeks of training, but I most definitely did not cross-train.
• I'm going to follow Higdon's Intermediate 2 plan this year (skipping over Intermediate 1), so it will be a considerably more difficult training program than last year (3 20 milers instead of the 1 last year).  Considering I already have a solid running base now, I'm not worried about stepping up to Inter. 2, but I just need to be aware that this is no walk in the park.
• On the weekend of the possible triathlon, I'm scheduled for a 9 mile run at marathon pace on Saturday, followed by a 19 mile long run on Sunday.  The triathlon is on Saturday (if it were on Sunday, I wouldn't do it because the 19 miler is very important in building up to 20 miles the next week).  Higdon suggests a 10k race in place of the 9 mile, only if I'm able to run it under control (meaning: not at 10k pace, but at marathon pace).  The triathlon would replace this 9 miler.
• Swimming is good for core strengthening.  I neglected my core last year, and I'm guessing that's why everything fell apart at mile 18: I didn't have the core strength to keep proper running form, so my form degraded and killed my quad.
• I'm not a swimmer.  More accurately, I'm really not a swimmer.  I can swim, but I know absolutely nothing about how to do swim strokes.  I'm not worried about having the endurance to do a 600m open water swim (the running will give me the cardio base), but I am worried about being so inefficient as a swimmer that cardio endurance won't help.  (Edit: Discovered that the swim is actually 400m, not 600m)
• I have a month before marathon training starts, so I can focus a lot on swimming in that time.
• I'm not worried about cycling.  I have an old mountain bike, and I'm not going to be fast on it.  But, the bike ride is only 13 miles, so I'll be able to ride it without too much trouble.
• I have a new tri suit.

So, here's what I plan to do in order to get ready for this tri:

1. Get in the pool.  I need to make sure I'm comfortable enough with swimming to convince myself that I'll survive a 600m swim.  All I need to do is complete it—I'm not going for any records.
2. Swim 2x a week in the month of May.  My focus will be entirely on form.  As I said, I'm not worried about the endurance (although I will make sure to swim at least the race distance a few times).
3. Do cycling 2x a week.  I'm not going to remove any runs to do the cycling—I'll treat them as recovery rides in the evenings of hard run days.
4. Swim 1-2x a week once marathon training begins.  I'll do it on my cross-training Mondays, and replace a Thursday recovery run every other week.
5. Do the Tri.  Like I said, I'm replacing a 9 mile run at marathon pace.  I need to be super-disciplined to do the tri so the effort does not go beyond the 9 mile run pace run.  The tri will be done as an extension of my cross-training.
6. Still do the 19 miler the day after the race.  (Higdon puts the long runs on the day after the hard run to make sure the legs are tired and that I don't run the long run too fast.)
7. Probably the most important part of the plan: Never forget that I'm training for a sub-4 hour marathon.  If tri training gets in the way of marathon training, I need to drop it and focus on the running.  

To those of you who are runners, cyclists, swimmers, triathletes: is this crazy?  And, even if it is crazy, does my plan sound like a good plan?

Morning vs. Afternoon Runners

While I was training for the marathon, I ran in the mornings.  I did this for two reasons: first, I'm a morning person, and I like to start my day off with a run.  Second, I wanted to avoid the summer heat.  So, I ran in the mornings.  Lately, though, I've been running when I get home in the afternoon.  It doesn't get light until about 7:45 now, and I've been getting to the U earlier, so I've squeezed out my morning run.  Should be no big deal, right?  Sunshiny afternoons and a good way to wind down the day—just like cross country practice.  Well, I don't enjoy running in the afternoons for one major reason:

Afternoon runners aren't nearly as friendly as morning runners.

I'm a waver.  It's a gesture from one runner to another that we acknowledge each other's trials and tribulations and that point in time.  It's a simple wave.  Sometimes it's accompanied by a "good morning" or a "keep it up".  80% of morning runners return the gesture.  In the afternoon, only about 10% wave back.  And since there are considerably more runners in the afternoon than the morning, I look like some sea mammal whose flipper is going into spasm constantly because I keep waving for seemingly no reason.  I'm not sure of the reason for this phenomenon, but I posit that it has something to do with the passive-aggressive nature of all Minnesotans.  They're nice enough to be outside with other humans, but when it comes to interacting, they're much too busy.

When Appropriate

Spectators are an interesting crew (a crew which I strongly encourage you to join next Sunday). All walks of life can cheer you on—including those who may not be familiar with marathoning. So, it makes sense that the marathon organization would put together a "spectators guide" to clue people in on all the complexities of the marathon. (You can download the guide here: 2009 Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend Spectator's Guide )

While paging through the guide, I came across a rather perplexing statement. On the page where they give suggestions on what to cheer, is this one:

Welcome to St. Paul! (when appropriate)

This marathon does go through 2 cities, the second one being St. Paul, so putting the wording "when appropriate" makes sense on some levels. But, I imagine the circumstances that led to the inclusion of this directive went something like this:

The first time the marathon published a spectator's guide, it included the suggestion of cheering "Welcome to St. Paul". Some kind-hearted, and most likely over-exuberant, spectator read this, and after they set up somewhere around Lake Calhoun (which is in Minneapolis), they cheered wildly: "WELCOME TO ST. PAUL!! WELCOME TO ST. PAUL!!" Most of the runners were probably scratching their heads, and so were the nearby spectators. The next year, the spectator's guide included this: "Welcome to St. Paul! (when appropriate)"

TC Marathon Countdown: 7 days

Dances with Squirrels

I must have done something to anger the squirrels in Minnesota. There seems to be a concerted and extremely effective effort by the squirrel community to attack me. On my 20 miler a few weeks ago, a squirrel leapt at my head from the top of a fence. Only quick action on my part assured that he didn't actually hit me. Today, though, I wasn't so lucky. I was running on Summit, and noticed a group of cyclists going down the road. As my gaze returned to what was in front of me, a squirrel scurried across the sidewalk, and threw a fast-acorn at me. Having no time to react, the acorn hit me just millimeters to the right of my right eye.

No more long runs left in the training plan. The race is drawing nigh.

TC Marathon Countdown: 8 days

Observations

I ran 12 miles today. It was grand. As it turns out, I also had a lot of time to think. I thought about how different my running is now compared to when I started running. And I made a list. In my head. Now in a blog.

Then: Running in the afternoon

Now: Running in the morning

Then: Running in groups (Go Slow Group!)

Now: All by my lonesome

Then: Sounds of nature and Harper Woods in my ears

Now: My iPod. (I hope to change this soon)

Then: Stopping at Tim Hortons, Harper Woods Fire Department, and sprinklers for water

Now: Carrying a water bottle

Then: LSD was, at max, 8ish miles. (Well, except when PZ had us run the long way to Liggett, but I didn't make the whole way anyway)

Now: 12 miles today, 26.2 in 2.5ish months

Then: High Fives when running by a teammate (unless we missed, which was common, for me at least)

Now: A wave to other runners, but not always reciprocated

TC Marathon Countdown: 78 Days