Cotton Shirt?!?!?!?

I went to the marathon expo yesterday all atwitter about the prospect of walking out with my race bib and, more importantly, the race shirt. Sugoi is one of the sponsors for the marathon and they make GREAT shirts. So my only concern was whether or not they were doling out short sleeved or long sleeved shirts. Well, that all turned out to me moot when I found out that, rather than a sweet micro-fiber Sugoi shirt, they decided to hand out Hanes Cotton Tee Shirts?!?!? Are you kidding me??? I paid 110 dollars and they hand me a cotton tee??? That's like booking a night at the Ritz and getting a hammock and a mosquito net for a room. Elite racing (the guys who put this one) I'm very disappointed! Of course, they'd let me buy a great Sugoi shirt with logo and "finisher" across the front for $35...

Let's move on to other news. The weather it turning hotter and hotter. It's 80 here today and it looks like tomorrow is going to be even hotter. Greaaaaaaaaat. In light of this information I've made a last minute change in my race gear. I'm ditching the Camelbak because I think it'll be too hot, and I'm going to use two hammer flasks instead. I'm going to fill one with two hammer gels and two scoops of HEED (electrolyte stuff), and the other is going to have two hammer gels and Perpetuem (proteins). Essentially I'm making energy/electrolyte/protein concentrate for the run. I'll wash it down with water, as there will be water along with the Cytomax on the course. I'm not thrilled with this last minute change, as I like to keep my hands free when I run, but I think the weather is forcing me make this adjustment. We'll see how it works out.

Go Cardinals!

Wish me luck.

Last training run

I did 4 yesterday and 3 today. I have to admit that it was a little weird knowing that the next time I put on the shoes, shorts and shirt it will be "go time" for the marathon. I'm 80% certain that I didn't do too much damage to my training by missing some training over Christmas and New Years, but we'll reserve total judgment for the "post 26" blog. I'm more concerned about the weather. All winter long I've been training under the assumption that a freak snow storm would hit the day of the marathon. It rained two years ago and last year was very cool, so the last thing on my mind was how to prepare for a hot day. It's supposed to be 75 on Sunday.

Now I'm sure you are saying something like "Dummy, it's Arizona!!! Hot is par for the course." Well, again, it's been very mild this winter. As well, most of my runs start at 5 am, which means that I've been training in a temperature range of 37-44 degrees every morning. As well, I usually escape the sun, as it's not up before 7:30. Also, I ask you to consider that my long runs also start early and tend to be no hotter than 60 degrees at the end of the run. The marathon starts at 7:40 (the sun will be up) and I don't plan to be off the course before 12:20 (mid day heat). So here's my strategy to beat the heat:

I'm going to avoid, at all costs, the Cytomax "fruit punch" electrolyte drink served at the Marathon. Gag. Choke. Spit. If you want to try some, you can pick it up at your local WalMart, Target, or Safeway...ummm nuff said. I've decided to take my CamelBak 50 on the run with me and I'll fill it with a little extra HEED (my electrolyte drink of choice) and some Perpetuem (fuel so I don't start to cannibalizing my musles). I'll get an even larger and more boring list of pre-race stuff up here after I go to the Expo tomorrow.

Now get back to work...

Pep talk from my friends???

First, I did 5 miles today, which is probably the shortest run I've had in the last 2 months. It felt like nothing and that is encouraging. Speaking of "encouraging", I've had two conversations in the last 4 days that I can only file under the category of Karma.

On Saturday I was getting a tune up from my chiropractor, and friend, Matt Teusink. He asked what my target finish time was for the marathon and I told him, without a hint of embarassment, I was targeting something around 4:30. He laughed and asked, "What, are you walking the thing???"

Ok, I can take a little ribbing. It's not the fastest Marathon, but I kinda figured 4:30 was respectable. I moved past the conversation with a slightly bruised ego, but I shook it off. Then, last night, I'm talking with a friend of mine, Rob McKay and, like Dr. Teus, he asked what my target finish time was for the marathon. And again I responded with 4:30 and what does he say? "Are you walking the thing???" In the immortal words of Charlie Brown AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

4:30 is NOT walking!!!!

This bring me back to the Karma I referenced earlier. When I was young I used to tease my mother about her sub-sonic pace during her runs. I would "speedwalk" next to her and and torment her until she unleashed a profanity laced tirade that told me it was time to leave. Now that I think of it, I guess that was why she and I never ran together. Ah the clarity of hindsight. Anyway, Mom, your pace was fine and I was an unkind bully, and now I'm getting it in spades. I apologize.

4:30 is NOT walking!!!!

Now get back to work...

Ideal taper for the marathon???

I did 13 yesterday at 10 minute/mile pace and it felt good. As well, I woke up this morning and my calves were a little sore, but not in a way that would scare me away from the Marathon this weekend. So now it's time for the "taper strategy". Here is the normal train of thought on how to effectively taper:

Rest - Don't overdo the week before your marathon. Cut your miles down by a lot. Heal your body so it works to it's fullest potential.
Nutrition - Head toward the carbs and hydrate when you eat, as water and carbs will make your body more efficient in creating much needed glycogen. Eliminate alcohol and coffee, as they can cause problems with dehydration and unwanted intestinal issues during the race.

This all sounds simple enough, yes? Let's see what I'm doing:

Rest - There's a convention in town for a professional association my company supports, and these guys work hard and play even harder. I'm supposed to spend two evenings out with them. Do you think they'll notice that my cocktail that looks like a Greyhound (grapefruit juice and vodka) is actually HEED Lemon Lime Electrolyte drink? Oh and then there's the golf tournament on Thursday. Oh and did I mention that I have a friend in town from New Zealand who swears he's going to take it easy this week; however, easy for a Kiwi and easy for me are very different.

Nutrition - aside from the parties I'll be attending, there's a lunch and dinner associated with the golf tournament on Thursday as well as dinner at the Rustler's Rooste on Friday. Did I mention that they have a 700 pound long horn bull in the front of their place? I'm sure I'll get something that will be marathon-friendly that night.

In summary, let's scan a checklist optimal taper and compare it with my actual taper:

Optimal vs. Actual
Cut miles back... yes
no alcohol... sort of
no caffeine... can't promise you that one
rest... I opted out of a second round of golf on Friday, does this count?
eat well all week... Rustler's Rooste offers a 2 pound "Trail Boss" Porterhouse steak, is that bad?

c'est la vie.

now get back to work...

Why couldn't I be a better golfer?

I finished out this week with an 8 on Wednesday and a 7 on Friday. Both were at an easy pace and I'm gaining my confidence for the Marathon after my "hiatus" during the holidays, and this brings me to an observation: not all sports are created equally. I offer the following two examples:

Golf - If you take a month off from golf, you can still go play 18 holes. Sure your touch around the greens will be off a little, but you can still go out there and do it. In fact, I have a friend, Cliff, who seems to play better when he takes bigger and bigger breaks between his rounds of golf.

Running - Take a break from running and you automatically fall backwards. Eric qualified for the Boston Marathon the first weekend of December and, understandably, he took some time off afterward. After about 3 weeks he sets out for an easy 3 mile run and the next morning his legs are sore. I experienced the same challenge this week.

I sure picked the wrong sport to tackle!

Now get back to watching NFL playoffs...

A great 7...crap!

I felt great on my morning run today and is scared the heck out of me. Sure, you are asking yourself, why is this dork so unhappy about a good run, especially after he complains so much about his bad runs. Well, because of my stomach-flu-induced hiatus, my muscles are peaking right now. I'm in top form, but I have to hold that form for 12 more days because the marathon isn't until the 18th. Can I stay peaked for that long? It's possible, but not probable.

Eric gave me the first realistic advise that I've had since I jumped into "panic mode" after my training went down the drain (literally) these past few weeks. Everyone else I've talked with says the same stuff to me, which is "oh, you got your 20 in? you're fine." But that 20 was a full 4 weeks before the marathon. The important 20 was supposed to be last week. So I was talking with Eric and he says to me, "It's as simple as this, you'll be fine up to the last 2 or 3 miles and then it's going to suck and I mean it is going to suck HARD, and you'll gut it out to finish the marathon." So then I thought about my other marathons I've done and 2 of them comfortably fell into the "suck hard" range, which gave me some solace. I'm confident that I can complete a "suck hard" marathon. So, I'm moving forward at full steam.

Now get back to work...

Dawn of the Dead

So, shortly after my last blog, I assumed all was well and that I was back on track for the RnR Marathon. I ran a 7 on Tuesday and 8 on Wednesday, and everything looked good. Then came January 2nd... Let me ask you, "what are the odds of catching two stomach flues in a 7 day stretch?" I wish that this was a rhetorical question.

Sooooo, this morning was perfect for running and my running partner, Brice, headed out for his twenty while I did practically nothing. Do you know how hard it is to know that you are physically able to run 20, but you are at home while someone else is doing it without you? I kept checking the time and thinking to myself, "he's probably at mile 10 now. I hope it's going well." I repeated this process ever 15 minutes until I was convinced that he finished his run. He might have caught a little rain at the end, but it should have been perfect running weather: 50 degree and cloudy.

I'm going to take one more day off and then I'll try to get back on track with three longer mid-week runs this week. If they go well, I'll give myself a green light for the Marathon. If not, then there's always the "Lost Dutchman" marathon in February.

New Year Thought:

Hey, to my faithful readers: 2008 was a curious year and I'm guessing that 2009 ain't gonna be much better, but one thing we can control is our perspective. When things go wrong we can look at the the pain or we can look at the friends who help pull us back up. I'm not going to turn this into some drawn out thing because I'm sure you can think of an example where bad things turned good. Not all do, but if we keep our perspective, we'll find more good than bad. Have a great 2009.

Now get back to work...