Second post snow-pocolapse run

Apparently that was what the cool kids were calling it, snow-pocolapse. Of course as soon as the news reported it all those kids who use the term became uncool, much like me.

I ran yesterday and deviated from my normal base run route a bit. I ended up with a similar mileage amount. It actually came up shorter than I had thought it was going to be. I kept thinking ok, I am getting some good miles in now. But then I looked at my watch and found out, nothing special. That's ok with me.

I felt really sore yesterday both before and after the run. I guess it it just getting back into it after two weeks of not running. I considered going today, but I think I will take a day off and recuperate a bit. Plus it is raining like crazy out. I would like to run down the big hill to check out Johnson Creek, a creek that runs to the south of my house. With a rain like this combined with the snow melt it becomes more than a creek and often floods. I imagine that it would be really fun on an inner-tube!

One of the things I got in my goody bag from the Seattle marathon was a heavy rubber band for resistance exercises. I have figured out a couple and given my stomach and legs a pretty good workout. I just found a site that has several exercises that can be done with the band. It sort of freaks me out as I keep envisioning the band snapping. Perhaps that is what I get after years of tormenting my sister with rubber bands! I am curious to try some of these and work them into my routine. Mostly I want something to do while I watch TV to supplement my horizontal stretching.

Seven in the slush

I could take it no longer. Two weeks without running. Two weeks reading a running book and getting inspired. Two weeks taking creatine and feeling stronger. Two weeks without running, did I already say that? The great thaw of 2008 is in full effect, but there is still a ton of slush in the roads. I waffled quite a bit as to whether or not I wanted to go out. I finally decided to take Ruthann's advice and head for the track. But on the way I noticed that the roads had a least some clear ruts so I veered onto my usual base run path.

Despite needing to go a little slow and having to weave back and forth between ruts and not to mention the lady not paying attention who jumped into my path with a big snow shovel, the run went great. I was a little full from lunch when I started out, but I soon warmed up into a comfortable run. I even kept my feet moderately dry until I was about a mile from home when a foot deep puddle ended that. The run was pretty warm and I found myself stripping down (well taking off my heavy running shirt layer anyway.)

I am so glad to be back on the roads, roads that aren't piled with feet of snow.

Official Seattle half marathon results

Today I got a magazine formatted result booklet made of newsprint of all the results for the 2008 Seattle Marathon which of course held my official results. In my age bracket (40-44) I came in 354th out of 408 runners with an official time of 2:31:15 and a chip time of 2:24:32, lame but that is ok, good to set your personal record low anyway so you can easily beat it next time. I am actually glad I ran it slow considering my ankle, though mostly it was the humidity that killed me. I have to say I am glad I finished, next time I go for under 2 hours.

The best time in my age group was a Canadian at 1:20:07. Fastest overall mens half marathon time was 1:11:48 from local runner Steve Dekoker. Kristi Houk finished the womens at 1:23:03. Mens Marathon finished at 2:33:57 from Beaverton's Stuart Burton and womens by Annie Theissen at 3:02:04.

The total number of runners was 15535. The majority of runners - 8194 - ran in the half. The Chi running coach I met at Powells , Keith McConnell, PhD of Eugene,finished the full marathon walk at 5:31:53.

More snow, no go

This being the most snow I have ever seen in Portland, my running shoes are beginning to collect dust. I braved the drifts yesterday and walked to the store. On the way I saw someone actually running (or trying to anyway). I was equally impressed and irritated. She really shouldn't have been out there. She ran in the roads to avoid the snow drifts and even though there weren't many cars, there were still a couple. And those that were out had little or no control of there driving. But props to her for making the attempt as dangerous as it was.

The hardest part of the walk was that each step would land funny in the snow and twist my ankle. It was also tough on the knees. By the time I made it home with my groceries I was exhausted and felt like I had gone on a good run. Part of that was my gigantic boots I wore, they each way a ton. It was like running with ankle weights.

The cross-training snow shoveling has been the biggest boon of our snow. I have never gotten such a good workout on my shoulders.



Here are some more.

More snow

Well it just keeps coming down here in Portland. I went to my GP for a check-in yesterday and walked to his office. Most of the snow had melted at that point, but the surface was extremely slick. In a couple of hours it had melted enough that I really could have gone for a run, but then again there were a ton of slick spots so I am sure I was better off watching TV! The news was saying we should get another 6 inches today starting at noon, but it is 10 right now and we already have 2 on the ground. This is to be followed by freezing rain until Wednesday when we are supposed to warm up, so crazy slickness everywhere.

Adidas Runners Campaign

I just saw these on another running blog and I thought I would post them here as well. Runners, yeah we're different. I can relate to most of these, except I am not very good at doing the snot rocket thing. And I have yet to completely strip down in public.

Winter workout today

I have always heard cross-training is really good for runners. Since I am not much for swimming in pools, I don't care for gyms (though a local community center's isn't too bad) and cycling in Portland has gotten ridiculous, I have had to improvise. So my summer cross-training activity is mowing our lawn with a push mower, great for the upper body as well as cardio. So now I am coming up with a winter version, sweeping/shoveling snow out of our driveway and paths. Again, great upper body and cardio.

I have also been keeping up with the stair stepper. I have done 1000 steps twice and today I found I could go faster and completed 1200 in 15 minutes. Anymore than 15 minutes of it is currently beyond me. I think it just gets boring, but I have been able to watch a goofy British puppet sci-fi show called Thunderbirds on my computer while I do it. Oops I am sorry, they prefer to be called marionettes.

Ok, I had better stop and put on some dry clothes. Between the shoveling and the stair stepping, I worked up a good sweat.

Freeze out: day three

So again today we are faced with the frozen tundra. Since this rarely happens in Portland (to this extent anyway), we don't have the road clearing resources to deal with it. Its not that big a deal, I'd rather have libraries, but it does mean no running. Not that I would run on a salted street either. I guess the forecast calls for more snow on Thursday and freezing rain by the weekend, so it doesn't look like I am going anywhere.

For just such occasions I found a portable stair stepper that I can use to get exercise (now that the driveway is clean anyway). You can find it on Amazon here. It is kind of cool, but a completely different exercise than running. I really feel it in my thighs and it also gives me a little pain in the knees. I don't do it much, but I think I will jump on it today and give it a whirl. I find the darn thing to be really hard, but I do like that it has a counter. The most I have been able to do has been 1000 steps, we'll see about today. Maybe the cold will get me moving.

First weather-out

Today we had the start of our first big winter storm of the year. My buddy and I decided to cancel our run, so there you have it, my first DNRBOW (did not run because of weather) or TDCTR (too damn cold to run). It was a good thing I didn't run as I was pooped after working outside preparing for the storm, cleaning gutters, blowing out hoses, etc. But ready now as soon as I add an extra blanket.

Yesterday I ran into a guy who teaches Chi Running in Oregon; Keith McConnell, PhD of Eugene. I met him when I recommended a Chi Running book to a woman he was with. She had been talking about running injury free. When she saw which book I was pointing at, she laughed and told me about that Keith was a Chi Running instructor. They both had run in the Seattle Marathon; her in the half and him in the marathon walk. I think it would be great to take classes from him. They are also both aiming for the Eugene Marathon in May, which puts a thought in my head. It would be a good time frame to train for it. I would love to do under four hours.

Base run today, new route (sort of)

Before I write too much about my run today, I saw a funny t-shirt for sale over at Threadless.com, and it is only $5!

I am not sure if I will actually buy it or not, but I thought it was funny, we'll see.

So today I headed out for my first back-to-back run since the half. I haven't wanted to overdo it, but I won't be able to run on Friday. I started out on my typical route until I ran into an older woman plodding along in front of me who turned down my route. I always feel bad passing slower runners, goodness knows I have been passed enough times. It is not really a big deal if you are comfortable in YOUR run and what YOU are doing, but there is a little something that bugs me when I get passed. So I decided to not run through the Reed parkway and instead go one block west and run streets. This put me at the college in a different spot and closer to the west canyon bridge (I normally first cross the east bridge.) Then instead of looping around the other bridge, I decided to loop the other direction and run through the canyon. The canyon path gets muddy in our wet winter weather, but I figured a dry week ought to make it ok, plus I wanted to check to see if my buddy and I could still run it this weekend (his first run in years, and it is supposed to snow!) So through the canyon I went.

The route change added about a half mile to my run. As I checked my watch coming back out of the canyon, I set a mini goal to make the full run in under an hour. I missed it by 90 seconds, running my string of missing running goals to two. Oh well, no biggie, on to the next!

I have been drinking a whet-based protein powder drink soon after every run. It really gives me a boost in energy and is supposed to facilitate the recovery process. You mix one giant scoop with 3 ounces of water and get this thick chocolaty drink (they also have vanilla at Trader Joes). I like it a lot and have become an advocate. Seems to work really well. And considering I tend to have a diet that is somewhat low in protein anyway, it is good for me. Next I'll try the vanilla.

Fast run today

I am reading a running book called Brain Training for Runners. It is very interesting so far, but I really don't think it is for me. The program is a little aggressive and prepares you for a specific race, of which I am not training for anything right now. Still I enjoy reading about other people's thoughts on running and it always gets me fired up to get better.

One of the concepts he has is talking about (and others that I have read) are the different types of runs that you can do. Here are a few of them he mentions:Intervals - doing alternating fast and slow running; Hill Repeats - sprinting up hills for a short distance; Temp Runs - Runs slightly slower than your goal race pace; Base Runs - the building blocks of any program, just your all purpose runs that get you to your weekly mileage goals, and others. So today I did a Tempo Run. Actually all I did was push myself to run faster. If I caught myself slowing down I would up the pace. It was a somewhat tough run but it felt really great. After a couple miles I was questioning whether I should do this, but I kept going. I know I slowed down a bit towards the end, but that's fine. I think I got the benefits out of it that I needed.

I have done these in the past and have noticed some pain in one of my knees or sometimes hips. Nothing like that today. If I had noticed it I would have abandoned the plan and run a more basic run or if really bad crawled back home on hands and knees. This is another concept that Matt Fitzgerald (the author of the above book) discusses; the importance of listening to your body and following it's instructions. This is a concept I wholeheartedly embrace. Your body is your best coach. More on this later.

One last note before I get to work. last night I managed to give myself a new sports injury. It is probably one of the more common sports injuries in America as it took place on teh couch as I was cheering for my Blazers. They hit a great three-pointer and I wildly shook my fist as I jumped off the couch. Well I think in doing so I managed to do something to my elbow, probably hyper-extended it a bit. I call it couch-potato elbow. To add insult to injury (no pun intended until I wrote it) the Blazers ended up losing the game on a last second shot by Orlando. Grrr.

Slow return

Yesterday was the first time I have run since the half. Good thing I suppose, take it easy and rest after the race. I would be more inclined to really believe that if I had been able to do solid training for the race. There were several times I felt like I had reached at least a moderate peak of performance readiness, but each time I hit that plateau, something always kept me from keeping it up (or improving on it). I was sick for those two weeks and that really set me back and then rolling my ankle the week before hurt too. The ankle injury and subsequent setback acted in many ways like a taper, but it was too much rest I felt.

So now I am getting back into it, but slowly which is fine. Dealing with my my groin twinge has been a pain, I would much rather do several shorter runs than just stop for a week. It feels a bit better now, but I am getting the itch to run again and I am really going to have to force myself to get back into things rather than bull through the china shop of my physique. I'll be able to do it, Tomorrow I am planning on a base run of 7 miles or so and then I am going to run with a friend who is just getting back into running this weekend, so that will be slow. Then I begin the steady increase again untill I hit that 30 mile a week total that seems to work so well for me in terms of establishing a base.

Getting back into running after a marathon

I have noticed that after a marathon event that it is both hard to break from your established training routine and get back into it at the same time. In reality it is good to give the body a rest after the rigors of preparing, break the habits of training(assuming you aren't going to keep up with your routine, which for the most part is everyone) and ease into your post marathon life. Unless you injure yourself this is often tough to do. After I did a full marathon two years ago, I found myself running 15 miles on a grueling course just to prove I could do it. Bad idea, my body was tapped after the big even and pushing myself too hard was a mistake. I should have done several recovery runs instead of another big one.

This time I am going the extreme opposite and not running at all, not really by choice though. I seem to have pulled something in my groin area. I am not sure when, and I first noticed it a couple of days after I got back from Seattle. It doesn't hurt too horribly, it might be a slight hernia. I am going to give it the weekend and see how it goes before seeing my doc about it though I need to go back anyway for a cholesterol check. We'll see.

I think there must be a happy medium. Keep up the running, but let the training routine go. I have found one of the hardest transitions is laying off the food. You up your caloric intake, get used to it, run the race and then have to go back to eating less. It's hard, I like food (especially carbs) too much.

Unofficial time

I just got my UNofficial time, a disappointing chip time of 2:24:32. But like I said considering the humidity and my ankle, I am happy.

I didn't know this but apparently my registered time is based on the actual gun start and not chip time.

*All results are based on Official, gun start, time in accordance with USATF rules for scoring road races (a complete listing of the rules may be found at www.usatf.org). Chip Times have been provided for your information. Please note that due to the very high density at the start line, some Chip Times are not available.

That is sort of lame, I wonder why?

Seattle half marathon

I am back home today and resting my legs and feet. On a good and surprising note I had no trouble with my ankle at all. I am not totally positive on my time, but I know it is around 2:20, about twenty minutes slower than I was shooting for. Good thing I have my ankle as an excuse!

My morning started at 5:00 when the alarm clock went off at my buddy Paul's house. Strange alarm clocks are always weird, but the wake you up quick! The weather was a bit unclear so I brought a cold outfit, a medium cold outfit, a warm outfit and a wet outfit. So the first order of business was a peak outside. It was a bit chilly but not bad. I decided to forgo the tights, and chose my long sleeve shirt. It was misting outside so I took my running/rain jacket along as well. I went through my loosening routine (which I had earlier promised to go through and will do so again, soon I say). I had all my gels, bloks and sport beans. Water was ready, watch, chip, bib, hat and gloves. I actually ended up with everything I needed and forgot nothing!

The cab got me to the race a hour early, so I walked around the Seattle Center to get a lay of the land. I did a bit of warm-up jogging to test the ankle and loosen up. I met a few people and chatted. I took care of my bathroom need with the exception of privacy, my latch was broken and I was walked in on, I hoped that wasn't a bad omen. The weather seemed great as I walked around, cool, no wind, perfect for running. I would soon change my mind about that!

Despite all the recon of the area, I made a fatal (ok, not fatal) mistake and thought the line up was on the wrong end (I wasn't alone, oh my, was I NOT alone!) With five minutes to go, the half-marathon walkers got off to a late start, so I breathed a sigh of relief about not being in the right area. As I made my way to the starting line, I had to wade through the over 12000 runners and their 24000 supporters including baby strollers (not allowed in the starting area) dogs (not allowed) and bikes (not allowed). When the starting horn sounded I was nowhere near teh line, and I was not alone. I finally made it to the street and crossed the start seven minutes behind, but I had a timing chip so no worries. The starts of marathons are always so much fun because there are so many runners AND you get to pass a bunch of people. It is really hard to pace yourself at the start so you don't get off to too fast of a start. You get runners in front of you that are moving just a little bit slower than you, so you speed up to get past them only to find another runner that is running just a bit slower than you. Oddly they send the walkers out first, so you have to pass all of them as well. The walkers are especially frustrating as you get large groups of friends who line up all across the road and you have to figure out a good way to break through them without clobbering anyone. But all in all it is an amazing experience at the start.

The race started near the Space Needle and went through downtown Seattle. After a mile or so I started to realize that what I initial thought of as perfect running weather was actually unseasonably warm. Another half mile or so and I was once again reminded of what 100% humidity was. I wasn't even out of downtown before I had to veer off and remove my jacket and hat. After two miles I was completely soaked in sweat and I started to get a little worried about hydration. But I was ready, I had my water bottle, my gels and electrolite replacement candies, so I wasn't too worried. At about mile 3 I was exhausted and began to feel really glad I wasn't doing the entire 26.2.

The runners were amazing to see in the giant mobs. This race was 1.5 times as large as Portland and at one point as we were heading some interstate bridge, you could see this huge mas of runners all up the bridge and curving around into the distance, another advantage of the late start. Amazing!

After 4 miles or so, my passing of runners began to slow down a bit. I had made it past most of the walkers and the people taking the run slowly. I was still passing a number of folks, especially those slowing down for the aid stations. I hit up a few of them for refills on my bottle and I took another gel. The aid stations were numerous enough in Seattle, but they didn't have as many goody stations as Portland. I never saw one station where I could grab gels despite the fact that Gu was a major sponsor. Portland also had lots of bands even though it doesn't call itself a "rock and roll" marathon. I saw one bluegrass band the entire race. Also there were not as many spectators for Seattle though I tried to slap high fives with as many kids as I could find.

We entered a quarter mile tunnel which was sort of interesting. I was really sweating and pulled off to grab my bandanna. As I neared the wall of the tunnel I sort of fell into it. I really needed to be aware of the hydration issue in this humidity. I righted myself before anyone came over to see if I was ok. And I was, just a little dizzy and tired. I was surprised I was feeling this way so early in the race.

At mile 5 we turned off our road we had been on and started along the shores of Lake Washington. I saw my bridge extending out into the fog that I wanted to run on, but I was AGAIN glad I wasn't doing the 26.2 and thought I don't need no stinkin' bridge! At this point the race really stared to even out as we all settled into our paces. This is another really fun part of the race as you begin to see the same people over and over again. You pass them, they pass you. All of these unspoken mini races begin to form. My participants were an older man in American flag shorts, a woman in a purple outfit, another woman in a red shirt, a couple of ladies who gesticulated wildly (my first mission, get past them before they poke me in the eye). We all would pass each other back and forth. It is really odd that you never (at least me anyway) talk, but I know we are all aware of each other. I think I was the guy with the orange jacket tied around my waste.

About mile 6 or so I started to feel a little woozy and started to feel a soreness in the hips. I couldn't believe it had only been 6 miles, still 7 to go! I began to get concerned about the hydration again. I had been drinking a lot of water, but the wooziness made me think that maybe it wasn't enough. I started in on the elctrolite candy. The sport beans were the perfect size, but the bloks (about a half inch square blocks of gummy bears) were a little much. I ate a third gel and continued on my way.

At mile seven we turned off of Lake Washington and started on our hills. People were really reacting poorly to the humidity and were dropping to a walking pace left and right. Fortunately for me I kick butt on the hills so I got to experience the thrill of passing more runners along with the pain. The hills at this part just kept going and going into this neighborhood. You get to a turn and think they were going to stop and nope there was more. So on we went.

After a mile or so of neighborhood, cheers and high fives we entered the arboretum. This was a really nice change back into nature and fall colors, but no relief from the hills. At around mile 9 or so I really started to feel pooped. I noticed I was tensing up my neck and starting to feel really sore. I started concentrating on relaxing which really helped my neck. I thought to myself this is why they offer massage at the end! I

On we went, another couple of miles of hills and beautiful scenery. As we left the Arboretum I took my final gel. There weren't any trash cans around and I really didn't want to litter. I spied a can coming up in a little urban park under a freeway, so I veered off and tossed my wrapper away. As I was coming back up the stairs to the race route, I was getting stares from other runners as if I had taken a shortcut! Well I hadn't so who cares. I had other things to worry about. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! After the gel I felt better though the mile 11 sign was not as much of a relief as I thought it would be. 2 damn miles to go, and don't forget the .1 (I'd really find out about that later!) I began to notice I was really slowing down. Lots of people were passing me. I still was passing other runner too though as well as a bunch of people who had resorted to walking. I didn't have a hill moment line I did in Portland where I passed so many people, but I did enjoy passing a couple of muscle-bound jocks who were really struggling. Take that muscle head!

I listened to my Ipod the whole time. I started with Buckethead on a friend's recommendation, listened to Stop Making Sense by the talking Heads for the middle (my favorite running music) and ended with Teddy Bears (the perfect beat to get me to pick it up and finish). As we came back into the city I could see the stadium in the distance, the promised land! The Space Needle looked really cool in the fog, all you could see was the base.

Mile 12 and people were really struggling and I started to see ambulances. At 12.5 there was a huge medical scene where a guy had fallen and passed out against a wall. They had a stretcher, but it was one of the cloth ones with poles and they decided to wait for the paramedics to get him in case of head injury? It was really creepy and we still had over a half mile to go. I felt really bad for the guy. As we neared the stadium, I saw more ambulances and a lot of other wisely walking to avoid them. My energy picked up, and so did my pace until that last .1. It was all hill up to the stadium, but we endured.

One of the girls I was pacing with was right in front of me. I passed her on the hill up to the stadum and he picked it up. We went back and forth as we neared the finish line. Neck and neck I leaned over to her and said "Hey,lets go in tied." She looked over at me and a huge smile broke out on her face. For some reason I have a hard time with finish lines and I thought it was 50 meters before the official one, so I slowed down after crossing. She looked back at me as if to say "let's go" when I realized my mistake. With all the people cheering in the stadium though I had no problem with my final kick to go in side by side with my racing partner. We cheered and high fived and congratulated each other. I hope we see each other in the future sometime.

2:20 or there abouts. I'll get the official time at some point. 20 minutes off my goal, but considering dealing with my ankle and the humidity, I was happy. And I made it before any of teh full marathoners got there! I received my medal, which was pretty cool (I wasn't sure if they gave one or not), it was a bit more artistic than the Portland medal. I moved over to the side and called my mom and then Ruthann. Lastly I called my buddy Paul to see where he was. I felt bad for him as he was stuck in the huge crowds for 40 minutes do to my late start and slow pace. I stumbled around looking for him. My legs were really wobbly. Way more than the full marathon in Portland two years ago. I think the humidity really took its toll. We eventually found each other and I greedily started guzzling my replacement drink I had prepared that he brought along with him.

Phew, I was done. Time for a shower (the necessity of which really became apparent as we drove back to his house). I felt my face and it was covered in salt crystals. I wonder how much water weight I lost. I love running!

Seattle PI

Photos