Where have I been?
Busy Busy Busy!
Well, this is going to be a catch-up catch-all blog today as I have been neglectful in keeping this upto date.
So quickly, here’s what has happened:
Windermere Marathon: Well as you can guess, I didn’t make my Boston qualifying time of 3:45:49. I missed it by 3 minutes and 8 seconds. I won’t go into it all here, it would take WAY to long, but you can read my review of the race here. And here’s a link to some of the pictures. The last one says it all.
Trip with my Dad: Well about two days after finishing the marathon I headed off to Terra Haute, In., to meet my Dad and visit his old stomping grounds. What an amazing time we had! It started off with an amazing meeting of my Dad and Wanda his cousin who he lived with when he was 12 through 18. They hadn’t seen each other in over 54 years! In fact almost everyone that met my Dad said, “Puzzy! (that was his nick name) We thought you were dead!”.
The trip started off with a miraculus meeting of Wanda who we had NO IDEA of where we were going to meet. We were just driving along and said, “Hey, let’s stop here at this gas station and see if we can call them”. So we went in and asked for a phone book and as the clerk handed me it we heard over the intercom, “Attention: Is there a Mooter, a Paul Mooter in the store?”. We turned and looked at each other and then walked to the center of the store and Wanda’s husband, Carl, walked over and said, “Are you Paul? We thought you were dead!”. Well, we couldn’t believe it! We had just picked this random gas station and they they were waiting for us. Truely a God moment!
We spent some great days going around and visiting Dad’s grade school, High School in New Goshen and then his old home stead where there once was a Mooter Gas Station / Gorcery Store.
Then we found the old grave site. What a strange feeling to see your name on a grave stone. In fact I was named after my Dad’s Dad.
Well we have so many good times and I will write more about them later including some audio recordings of my Dad telling the story how how his Dad died in the mine and even how to drive an old Model A Ford. (Not as easy as you might think!)
Suffice to say for now that I am so thankful to my wife for letting me go on this trip with my 84 year old Dad. This was a trip of a life time and I will never forget it!
Here’s a link to some of the pictures. Please be sure to check from time to time as I will have updated it with many more pictures and videos.
Ironman Volunteering: Guess what Steve-o and I are doing this Saturday and Sunday? No, not the race! BUT we are going to volunter on Saturday and Sunday so that on Monday we’ll have the 1st chance of registrying for Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2010!! OH YEAH BABY!!!!!
I knew some day I would FINALLY do a FULL Ironman and I thought it would be in 2009 but when I went to sign up I was SHOCKED at how much it cost so I just couldn’t pull the trigger. So this year we scrimped and saved and come Monday, Steve and I will drive over to CDA and plop down $550.00 (gulp!) for the honor of working our tail off to try and compete and complete our 1st Ironman next year.
A Year of 1st: This has been a year for 1st both for me and Steve.
For me, it was my first Ultra Marathon of 37 miles. Steve joined me for the last 10 miles and was instrumental in getting me to the finish line.
For Steve this was his 1st Marathon and although he had some cramping issues he was so proud to have finish such a tough distance. Great job Steve!
For both of us it was the 1st time we had ever ridding over a 100 miles. 101.6 to be exact!
EWU – Sprint Triathlon
Did a Sprint Triathlon with my good buddy Steve (don’t follow me I’ll get you lost) Warrington on Saturday and here’s the Race Report!
Well?….I think I’ll put this on my must do yearly race as its low key, well run, and just a good time (cheap too, only $15.00 not $25 unless you wanted a shirt).
However….my running buddy beat me! Turkey! I think he’s training too well!
Normally when we do tri’s together, I beat him out of the water, he catches me on the bike and then I’ll catch him on the run. This time we finished our pool time together because we both “agreed” that this would just be a “fun” race, but when we got on our bikes about 3 or 4 miles in I was already getting tired and he got about a 1/2 mile lead on me and stayed that way pretty much the whole way. So I thought, no biggy, I’ll catch him on the run….nope, didn’t happen!
We’ve been training together and pushing each other and one of the things I showed him was the thing called “gliding” and it works. (Basically it’s taking shorter strides (which he has a tendency to overstride) and increasing the cadence of your feet turnover. This gives your legs a chance to recoup a little and your breathing also will recovery AND you don’t really slow down. In most cases I find that I actually speed up, and this works on hills as well.)
Well I guess he’s got that down pretty well cause I saw him starting up the hill as I was heading down and I thought I would be able to catch him but it didn’t happen. I NEVER saw him! DANG! He was FLYING! Not sure exactly what our time was but I think he had 1:07:?? And I had 1:12:??. Not sure, the results are not out yet.
But I will do this again as it’s close, and the weather was PERRRRRFECT! (Although last year it was raining). The course is not tough, but not easy either. There is a rather steep, short hill right near the start and then it’s a mild downhill and climb to the turnaround (6 miles) but when you come back and you see that hill, it doesn’t seem all that steep until you’re on it, and I was totally in the wrong gear and wasn’t able to change it as I was already standing up and grinding away.
Then you start the run off on a little steep hill and you don’t really get a chance to catch your breath until about 1 mile, but that’s another downhill, which of course you have to come right back up at the 1.5 turn around.
All sorts of levels of athletes were present: There was a guy with a full carbon bike, solid wheels and was out of the pool after doing 500 meters in about a minute! (Well, it seemed like a minute, that guys was FAST!) Then there was a 5 year old girl who ran the 3.1 miles with her Mom. She was SOOOO cute! Also I saw a least three father and sons doing the tri together which is always cool. There were a few ironman (and women) doing the race as well.
All in all it was a nice way to start the day and season, although I never thought I would like doing a tri in a pool, it wasn’t too bad. We had four people in our lane and just discussed our finishing times and lined up accordingly and it worked out well. We passed the father son team in the pool twice, but saw them at the end and they both had LARGE smiles on their faces so I know they had a great time together.
So that’s my race report. I still want to put together another report about the Windemere Marathon but have been too busy to do that.
So for now…TriMoot..OUT!
Nerves
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!
Why am I so stinkin nervous? I feel like I’m ready to crawl out of my skin! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dang!
I don’t recall being this nervous for any race! I mean I remember being VERY concerned looking at the swim portion of my 1st triathlon up in Colville back in 2006. I remember asking the race director, “Are you sure that’s the right distance for the swim? It looks awfully BIG!”. I think I asked her twice!
But man oh man I don’t recall feeling this much anxiety!
Okay, big breath….SIGHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
It’s just a marathon. It hasn’t changed. It has always been and always will be 26.2 miles. So what’s the big deal?
The BIG deal is this time I’m running for a time goal of 3:45:00 so that I can qualify for the Boston marathon in 2010. So I guess that explains this antsy feeling along with having all this energy and not having an outlet for it.
My poor wife has had to endure my crazyiness feeling for the last week. I’ve been on edge, short with her and I hate to repeat myself, but feeling like I’m about to crawl out of my skin. Whew…Not a big fan of this feeling.
But it’ll be all over tomorrow.
Today, Friday the 15th, I’m going to head over to the race expo at 5:00 after work and pickup my race packet and peruse the booths. I usually buy some kind of trinket, like a new pair of socks or sunglasses, just something to remember the expo by. One thing I won’t do is try any of the food. THAT’s a mistake! The last thing you’d want to do the night before your big “A” race is eat something that puts your GI track into a spin. (That was tactful, yes?)
Once again this silly little blog has helped me to relax a little. Nothing like putting it down on paper(?) to help relieve a little stress.
I will report back on Saturday or Sunday with my race report, for good, or for sad.
You can also follow me on Twitter, TriMoot.
Okay, so this email I just sent out sums up how I’m feeling right now:
Oh man oh man oh man!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s almost time!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t bear it another minute!
I feel like I’m about ready to crawl outta my skin!!
I’VE GOT TO GO RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh man! I don’t think I’ve EVER been this excited, nervous and just plan scared!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay..maybe it’s just the coffee.
TriMoot – Out!
Ready?
Whew…it’s getting closer.
What is?
Whtaya mean “What is?”
I mean, what’s getting closer?
What? Have you not been reading this blog?
Oh, THAT “What is”.
Yes, my 1st attempt at qualifying for Boston.
Are you ready?
Shez, I don’t know.
Whataya mean you don’t know?
I mean I don’t really know! I’ve put in a lot of miles. I’ve done a fair amount of speed work.
So you should be ready.
Well, I just don’t feel ready.
Well how do you think you’re supposed to feel?
I don’t know. I guess I think I should feel, like, way confident. You know, like nuthing is going to stop me from running 3:45:00, I mean NUTHIN!
You know you’re spelling nothing wrong, right?
Yeah I know, I was just trying to be cool and make a point. I’ll stop it.
Good, you sound stupid.
Okay okay, point taken. But back to what I was talking about: Yeah, I just don’t know how I’m feeling. My last long run felt terrible, but I was a little sick so maybe that doesn’t count.
I had a good run at Bloomsday, but heck, that’s only 7.5 miles.
Yeah, but last year you did the Coeur d’Alene half marathon in a 7:32 pace for a time of 1:38:44 seconds, so lets see, if you double that you should be able to do this marathon in a 3:18:00 or so.
Yeah right. That was LAST year AND 26 miles is WAY more than 13. I don’t know.
I just know my long runs have been done at a 9:30 to 10:00 min per mile pace using the Jeff Galloway method of running, and while it DOES make a ton of sense in that I don’t tear up my legs running all those miles on the weekend, I’m just nervous that I don’t have enough speed work in to make up the difference of running at that slow pace.
Well, all you can do it try.
Yeah, I guess that’s what this marathon is really all about. Just a touching point to see where I at. I really don’t expect to make it, but I will give it my best shot.
So what’s the plan? How do you plan on running? Are you going to stay with the Jeff Galloway method of running 4 minutes and walking 30 seconds the whole way? See, I HAVE been reading your silly blog!
Okay okay, sorry about that.
Yeah, I don’t think it’s wise at this point to change anything up. (Nothing new on race day, right Jeff & Erick at “The AgeGrouper“?)
So what does that mean exactly?
Well, that means I run 4 minutes and then walk for 30 seconds.
Well wait a minute, won’t that change the pace you have to run for the whole race?
Yeah, it does, instead of running a consistent pace of 8:34 per mile I have to run a 8:05 pace to make up for the walk breaks.
So how is that better?
Well, according to Jeff Galloway’s method, the 30 second walk allows your legs enough recovery that when you start back to running you actually have to hold yourself back from running too fast. And both Steve, my running buddy, and I have 1st hand experience with that. I mean it just happens. We’ll be running along right after our 30 second break and the next thing we know we’re flying along at an 8:00 pace and we have to say to each other, “woh..slow down there!”.
Yeah, but how does that help?
Well, supposedly when you get to the tougher miles, like 20 or 21 you’ll have more left in your legs than if you ran consistently for the same miles. Which hopefully will mean that if I get to 21 miles and I feel good and I’m still on target for a 3:45:00 marathon (which would be right on 3 hours) than I “should” have enough legs left that I could run without having to take any more walk breaks, if I wanted to.
Well, then what’s your worry? Sounds like you should be able to do it.
I don’t know. I just know how I’ve felt after running 25 miles at a 10:00 minute per mile training pace and I’m having a hard time thinking I could run 25 miles at a 8:05 pace. Seems to me I should have been doing more long runs at race pace but when you do that you tear up your legs and it takes forever to heal up for you next training run. Questions questions questions!!!
Well, I guess you’re going to find out in less than two weeks.
Yup, May 16th.
Where’s the start?
Just past the state line by the Grey Hound race track. We start at 7:30.
Where’s the finish?
Looks like it’s near the Spokane Arena but still inside the park. Here’s a link: (Here)
What’s the weather supposed to be?
Well, they’re predicting 64 degrees and sunny. Which sounds pretty good.
Well, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Just go out there and do your best!
Yeah, I think you’re right. Just go out run as hard as I can and if I make it great. If I don’t, then figure out what needs to be fixed and fix it. Right?
Right!
Okay, well, thanks for chatting with me. By the way, who are you?
You mean you don’t know?
Another Bloomsday and sub 60
Wow! Who would-a-thunk-it?
Yup, another Bloomsday and another sub 60 minute race! Can’t believe it!
I was ’supposed’ to just jog this and use it as a recovery run from my 28 mile training run from yesterday, (Supposed to be a 30 miler but I felt TERRIBLE! More on that later), but when I got up today my legs felt pretty good. In fact they felt great! (Another thanks to Jeff Galloway’s (JG) method of running!) But, I had told everyone I was just going to walk/jog this, and use it as a recovery run and really enjoy it. You know, eat ice cream sandwiches, joke around with everyone, just really relax. So I gathered up my camera, and my phone and the more I moved around at home, the more I realized how good my legs felt and I thought, well, maybe I’ll jog/run for a little bit.
Well, by the time I pulled out my bike and got ready to ride down to the start, I realized I had already made up my mind to RUN. I wasn’t sure how hard I’d run, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to just lallygag around. So I thought I would start by running a 7:30 pace and then see how far I got.
Well I parked my bike, worked my way up to the front of the yellow group and started looking around for some friends. Sure enough I spotted Susie who had earned the 2nd seeding by running a 21:21 at the Susan G. Komen race. That time was good enough for 2nd place in her age division of 20 – 24 (such a young age…sigh) Oh and by the way that’s a 6:52 pace per mile, YIKES! That’s SMOKIN! Here’s a picture of her smokin finish: (here) (She’s the one in the cool shades)
Then I spotted my Saturday morning running buddy; Speedster, “Steve-don’t follow me or you’ll get lost-Warrington” and he looked fit and ready to rock-n-roll! He was running for the Spoksman Review Corporate Cup which has placed 1st in their division for the last 3 years (I think), and you can see his stats here. He was attempting to do a PR today and had run the course numerous times in the last few weeks in preparation for getting just the right strategy. I’m not sure what his time was but knowing Steve it’s a good one!
Another friend was Vern “Ironman” Newby who has done the Coeur d’Alene Ironman Triathlon numerous times and looked scary good today! I mean he looked ripped and ready to set another PR. I’ll have to wait to see what his time was. All I can say is, don’t get in his way!
Last by not least was Russ Johnson another Saturday morning running buddy who also looked ready to tear up the course. I would see him later in the race, but wow, he’s been putting in the miles you could see that.
Well, finally we were all set to go and I still hadn’t decided how hard I was going to go. I mean I was still a little stiff from yesterdays long run but I felt good enough to at least go for a little while at a 7:30 pace, so that’s what I decided after the gun went off.
As usually EVERYONE took off out of the starting gate like they were shot out of a cannon! I on the other hand, being of sound mind and sore legs just kept a close watch on my Garmin to make sure I didn’t exceed a 7:30 pace, which is hard to do when everyone is flying by you so fast. In fact one of those folks was Russ Johnson. As we were heading down the hill by Peaceful Valley he came up to me and looked like he was out for a relaxing jog, tipped his hat and was gone! The next thing I saw was his jacket flying off and thrown to the side quickly followed by his hat. I was like, “Wait! That wa a nice hat!”. But he was gone and I never saw him the rest of the way. Whew…glad I wasn’t trying to keep up with him!
One of the things I promised myself this time around was to try and enjoy the race rather than concentrating so hard on my pace. So I endeavored to do that as the miles rolled by, and for the most part I did. As usual the people were loud and encouraging and bands bumped us full of great rhythm and inspiration. One of the most endearing ’bands’ was a couple sitting under the covering of their truck canopy who were performing something that sounded like a polka. She was playing an accordion and he was playing a stand-up bass. Everyone that ran by later commented on how cute they were. Although I had a hard time trying to run to the beat of a polka. Heck, I have a hard time even trying to DO the poka. (Is that the one where you put one foot in and one foot out?)
So I made sure I was looking around, and enjoying the sights and sounds and even was able to encourage a few people by yelling at them. Well, I mean it in an encouraging way, like, “Come on! Let’s get up this hill!”. At least I hope they thought I was encouraging them.
Well as the miles went by I remembered that Steve mentioned he was going to take his sports gel around the 3 to 3.5 mile marker so that’s what I did. Knowing that “Doomsday Hill” was approaching I figured I would need all the help I could get. So I downed that, and then at the 4 mile aid station I took my 1st water to help wash down the gel. (Mine was a GU orange burst and Mmm Mmm good! You know it had to be good as I had just used about 8 of them yesterday on my 5 hour training run and I was still able to choke it down.)
Well as everyone who has ever done Bloomsday knows, after passing SFCC and starting the downhill run to the base of “Doomsday” you get the full view of that intimidating hill. But I was feeling pretty good and just tucked my head down, started into my “glide” per JG’s instructions, and concentrated on my form and breathing. The next thing I knew, I was at the top and not even out of breath! Well, not completely out, just about 90%! That’s also another spot where I “encouraged” everyone by yelling, “LET’S GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”. I’m not sure if it really helps anyone else but it certainly does me some good!
Once at the top of the hill I continued doing the glide to let my lungs catch up with my heart and pretty soon I was right back into my stride and back on my 7:30 pace. (No, I wasn’t able to keep up the 7:30 pace up the hill, but I was able to dip under an 8:00 pace for the hill)
I was still feeling the affect of the gel and seems like I was just cruising along when I turned onto Broadway. Now normally this stretch I’m pretty exhausted and seem to struggle and although my legs were warning me to slow down or else, my lungs felt pretty good and my heart rate wasn’t in the scary zone yet so I just kept plugging along.
Finally around the 6 or 6.5 mile mark I was looking for a friend of my who always mans the aid station, Todd Caddy, and sure enough there he was handing out high fives, so I took one as I went by and that seemed to help spur me on.
So by now I knew I wasn’t going to do a PR, (last year I was able to make a 55:22 for the 7.46 distance) so I concentrated on trying to at least get a sub 60. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to as I was beginning to feel a little tired and actually went into oxygen debt. You know what that’s like, right? It’s like having asthma and every time you try and get a breath it feels like your throat is closed off. Not one of those feelings you want to have when your heart is beating like a race horse! So once again I did the glide routine. ( I know, I’ve mentioned this numerous times and the best way to describe it is you really concentrate on your form, keep you feet low to the ground, shorten your stride and quicken your turnover. It’s a great little trick that allows your legs to rest and your lungs to regroup and grab some air while maintaining a pretty good pace. All I can say, “It works!”.) Sure enough by the 7th mile I was all recovered and ready to push on in for a fast finish. (My last mile was at a 7:15 pace, YIKES!)
So as we all turned the corner onto Monroe street you could see the finish line less than a 1/4 mile away, and there was a gal next to me who said, “Let’s go get our T-Shirts!” and took off like a shot! So I agreed and took off after her, and actually managed to pass her (I think the speed work on the track is helping!) and tore across the finish line in 56:44. It wasn’t a PR but I was sooooo happy to have another sub 1 hour Bloomsday that I shouted at the top of my lungs like a wild man! YAHOO!!!!!
I love this race and each year it just seems to get better and better and is run so smoothly. I talked with a couple from Seattle who ran this for the 1st time and they were so impressed on how friendly everyone was, and by all the volunteers and all of the people on the course who supported all the runners. Yup, I said, that’s Spokane!
Well, I mentioned at the top of the “short” blog that I would talk more about my “30 miler” that I ran yesterday.
You see, one of my goals this year is to qualify for the Boston Marathon 2010 and I’ve been following a Jeff Galloway program and it called for a 30 miler on Saturday. Well, I knew I had Bloomsday coming up but since my #1 goal this year is Boston I decided I would just walk/run Bloomsday (HA!) and concentrate on the 30 miler.
Now before you go, “Oh wow, dude!” let me explain the Jeff Galloway method and program. On all the long runs you always run it 2 minutes slower than your race pace. So my goal race pace for Boston is 8:30 so I should be running my long runs at a 10:30 pace, but I just can’t do it. That just seems way to slow, so I shoot for a 10 minute pace, and so far it’s been working like a charm. But that’s not all, not only do you run at a slow pace you run it using an interval of a 4 minute run followed by a 30 second walk. That’s right, you get to walk! And you know what? It works! It’s amazing!
The idea behind Jeff’s method is the 30 second walk is just a long enough rest that it allows your running muscles to recover so when you start your run again your legs feel fresher. So if you start this from the very 1st mile, by the time you get to the higher miles, say 20 or 21, you’re going to be able to finish whatever distance your doing with fresh legs and the big bonus is, you haven’t beat your legs up so that with just a one day rest you can go out and run again.
I know you’re probably thinking, “yeah, right”. BUT IT’S TRUE!
Steve and I have been doing this for the last few weeks and it is truly amazing! Last weekend we ran a 25 miler and averaged a 9:57 per mile pace for all 25 miles. Sure, right after, our legs were tired and sore and even our ankles felt sore, but the very next day Steve went out for a run and felt great. I waited until Monday, went out for an easy 6 and wound up doing 8 miles at a 8:15ish pace and it felt great! No kidding!
However, since I didn’t start this JG method until about 2 months ago, I had to sort of ‘adjust’ his program to fit my condensed schedule. So I bunched together some of the long weekend runs and instead of doing a 20 miler one weekend and follow it the next weekend with some mile repeats I bunched all the long weekend runs together so we’ve done something like: 12, 15, 18, 21, 25, & 30 for the last 6 weeks. That’s not a good thing to do.
Most programs follow a 3 week schedule with the 4th week designated as a recovery week. You still run and do speed work but everything is backed off a notch or two. Volume is the same, but effort is reduced. This allows your body to rebuild and repair itself rather than always tearing it down week after week.
Well I KNEW I should be backing off this weekend, but I have the Windermere marathon in a couple of weeks and I felt I needed to get that 30 miler in so that I wouldn’t hit the wall so soon in the marathon or perhaps even at all. (You’ll have to read Jeff Galloway’s book to find out more about that). So suffice to say, I had a TERRIBLE run yesterday.
I was supposed to do a 30, but as soon as I took the 1st step I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do all 30.
I woke up on Saturday morning about 5;15 and I felt lousy. I had a sore throat and I felt like I had just finished swimming and had that nasal feeling in my sinuses. I was soooo bummed! So I went back to sleep until 6:15 and finally got up but I still didn’t feel very well.
Sure enough as I was starting the 1st 11.2 mile loop (I have a B.E.A. UUUUUtiful route out west of town), about halfway into it I knew this was going to be a rough run. It’s too bad, because all week long I was looking forward to doing this run. I know 30 miles sounds like a ridiculous amount of miles but when you run it at a slow pace it’s absolutely fun!
I had picked out a good story to listen to on my MP3 player (Invasion of the body snatchers by Jack Finney) and I had eaten tons of pasta all week long so I was mentally and I thought, physically ready to go out and have a 5 hour fun fest! (By the way, did you know you can now download MP3 books from your local library? It’s awesome!!!)
Anyway, long story short, (well, maybe not short but I won’t go on and make it longer…OKAY, I’ll SHUT UP!) I had a very difficult run. When I finished my 2nd loop and had only 22.6 miles completed I was sooo depressed and I felt VERY fatigued, but I just didn’t want to stop at that short distance. (Perhaps it’s one of those times I should have listened to my body..duh!) So I pushed myself back onto the road for a 4 mile out and back to finish up, but about 2 1/2 miles out I knew I just couldn’t do it, and if I pushed anymore I might regret it. So I turned around and slogged back to the truck.
I still did a 5 hour run but it was a 28 miler instead of a 30 so that tells you what kind of pace I had..ugh.
BUT…this was a great weekend. I’m thrilled to have been able to get under 60 minutes again for Bloomsday, and I think I’m going to take Monday as a rest day. Whew!
TriMoot…out.
What a WEEKEND!!!!!!!!!
Yahoo! Bloomsday Weekend!
This has always been an exciting weekend here in Spokane. Over 40,000 people crowding into our little city getting ready to run a somewhat tough 7.46 miler with a pretty good long steep hill.
We have the picking up of our race numbers.
The perusing of the Expo with all it’s free tasty treats.
Picking up some little trinket at the Expo to help remmeber this years Bloomsday.
But this year is different. Different in a good, and bad way. Well, I guess not bad, but more of a sad way. This is the 1st year that I don’t have ANY kids running or walking in Bloomsday with me, nor any of them attending the Expo with me. Sigh…..
But what IS exciting is I have a 30 mile run on Saturday before Bloomsday! Oh yeah baby! 30 stinkin miles! I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!!
I know, I know, you’re saying, “What? Are you outta your mind?!!” Well, maybe just a little, but that’s okay too.
You see, according to the Jeff Galloway method of running and his schedule that I’m following in my hopes to get ready to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I’m SUPPOSED to run this long on this weekend.
Yes, I’ve been slowly building up each and every weekend. Last weekend my running buddy and I did a 25 miler and although near the end we were starting to feel fatigued, we were able to finish with a smile on our face and a great feeling in our guts. And then there were the preceding weekends of 21, 19, 15 milers, and all the speed work in between.
You know what? Those speed workouts take more out of me and my legs than the slow endurance runs on the weekends. Really!
So anyway, this weekend is going to be SOOOO great!
But, I won’t actually be “racing” Blooomsday like I did last year. Last year I had a goal of doing a sub 60 minute race and was fortunate enough to complete that with a 55:20. But since I have a 30 miler the day before this race, I’m just going to jog/walk it and REALLY enjoy it.
So heading over now to pickup my race number and then browse the Expo and then back to work.
Tonight I do all the prep for tomorrow’s long run, I’m SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!
TriMoot, OUT!
Where am I?
Gosh…I have no idea where I am in regards to marathon training. Or at least that’s what it feels like.
I’ve always done the typical kind of training for marathons, run run run, a little speed work, a little hill work, then run run run some more.
Now enter Jeff Galloway and his run/walk/ run method and I feel like I’m all over the map as far as pace and where and what I’m supposed to run.
Last weekend my wife and I were in Boise to visit Mom before her operation (which by the way went well..no cancer!) and ofcourse I had a long run planned of 18 miles. Normally I’ve been using the 4 minute run, 30 second minute walk system that Jeff recommends for a time-goal marathon plan. BUT I read an article from Amby Burfoot where he talked about Jeff’s method and how he, Amby, uses a modified cycle of a 9 minute run and 1 minute walk.
Well, I decided to try that cycle out in Boise and oh my gosh…..I hate it! Okay, to be fair there were many variables to this run:
1. Out of sync with my normal routine as far as sleeping, eating, etc. (Didn’t sleep well at all, AND we had to get up at the butt-crack-of-dawn to catch our plane to Boise so I was really out of wack, AND I had eaten a high level of fat the night before the run…ribs, hmmmm, wonderful ribs….but WAY too much fat!)
2. I ran a very hard Wednesday run at work: (Half a dozen fartlets while waiting for everyone to show up to do a Beacon hill run (VERY STEEP), then run down (VERY STEEP and FAST) then a medium paced run back to work.
3. New shoes. Not just new, but totally new make and model and type. (I am a neutral shoe runner but bought a shoe with just a little more stability, (Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9)
So back to the long run in Boise: When I started out, I walked a good 1/2 mile and then started very slowly, probably 9:30 to 10:00 mpm pace. I noticed right off that my legs felt heavy even though I hadn’t run since the Beacon Hill run. I also had a bunch of things happen that made me feel out of sorts; Couldn’t get my Garmin to show the right screen; The stories I had downloaded and was planning on listening to had expired; And my running gear just didn’t “feel” right for some reason…very strange; Attempted to run down by the river on an old trail only to have to turn around due to small streams flowing across the trail; So by the time I finally got back on the Green Belt in Boise and settled down, it was probably 2.5 to 3 miles but now my right heel was feeling sore (like last fall when I had to cut WAY back in my mileage to let whatever it was (is?) heal..no pun intended).
So I’m sailing along doing my 9/1 cycle and just not feeling good. Was tired, my legs felt like anvils and for something new, my calves felt REALLY tight, which I rarely have ever experienced. Instead of this being a great run down memory lane in Boise (used to live, run and bike there) I was struggling and a few times into the run thought about calling my wife and having her pick me up, (LOOSER!)
Finally got to the turn around point and headed back and finally switched back to my 4/:30 cycle which helped a little but by this time I was feeling really fatigued and my :30 second cycle was turning into a full minute, sometimes more cycle. Ugh!
So looking back: I believe one of the reasons I had such a terrible long run was I was fatigued from the hard hill and fartlet runs on Wednesday. The shoes ‘may’ have caused the calve issue but I didn’t break the shoes in at all, other than wore them around the house for a couple of hours. And last but not least I was not properly rested and perhaps was fighting off a flue or cold.
So, jump to yesterday (4/18/2008) I had scheduled a 21 mile easy run. My running group was planning on doing a pre-Bloomsday course on the Centennial Trail and since I run on that trail ALL the time I just didn’t want to do another 21 miles of it. So I got up at 6:00 AM and headed out to my very favorite ‘road’ course which starts at the Indian Canyon golf course and then goes along the Ridge Road that overlooks Spokane and is dirt, then finally turns West heading out towards wide open spaces with lots of horses, deer and wild turkeys. I love this course and probably could do it every weekend and never get tired of it. In fact our running group (http://soleandspirit.wordpress.com/) ran in the area most all of this past winter because it’s always plowed and all those farms and visits look amazing covered in snow!
So yesterdays run was just about perfect. I used my old shoes, my Garmin had no issues, my MP3 player had all the stories renewed and although my heel complained every so often, I would concentrate on keeping my form and somewhere about half way into the run it stopped complaining. The weather was “perrrrrfect”! When I left the house it was about 38 degrees and the longer I was out the warmer it got, although I never felt too warm. About 12 or 13 miles into the run I passed by my truck, so I dumped off my outside shell, reloaded my pockets with “Tri-Berry” GU (Mhmmmm, good!) and headed back out for another 8 for a total of 21 miles. And the best part? I didn’t feel tired!!!!!!!!!!! I felt I could have gone another 5 or 6 miles!
Now, keep in mind that I’m following Jeff’s instructions to the letter: 4 minute run, :30 second walk and at a pace that is 2 minutes slower than my marathon goal pace of 8:05. When I got done, my average pace for all 21 miles was 10:00 on the nose! I felt so fresh afterwards, just like Jeff said I would. I came home, took a shower, cleaned and mopped the floor in preparation for our dinner party and of course I was eating like a horse the whole time as I had burned over 2700 calories, but over all, I felt great! I did sit down prior to cleaning and watched about 30 minutes of basketball and put my feet up, but at no time did I feel like I was about to collapse or that my legs were about to give out. And that’s how I normally feel prior to adopting the Jeff Galloway method. In fact my normal routine would have me taking a map for a couple of hours. Around 3:00 in the afternoon, my wife and I and our dinner guest, Margo & Terry Jett, took our bikes and headed out to the same place I had run earlier in the day and had a very enjoyable ride. It was still warm, although a slight breeze was blowing and made it feel cooler than it was, but what a great way to share this beautiful area AND do a little recovery ride. My legs felt GrrrrrrrrRATE!
This method just makes good plain sense! However, I will say that I am nervous about how this will all work out. I haven’t been doing enough of the hill repeats and speed work and my “test” marathon is coming up on May 16th so I don’t think I’m going to be ready to run an 8:05 pace for the whole 26 miles. I’m using this race as a touching point to see where I am in my training. (Although a couple of weeks ago I mentioned to Steve, my partner in crime, that I “thought” I was close to being able to actually use this race as my qualifier, but that was a pipe dream. Not ready, not even close.)
So, back to the question, “Where am I?”, I think I could be on pace to run a marathon in late June or July BUT then I would have the issue of heat to worry about, so honestly, I don’t really know where I am. I hate the thought of doing all this training and then having to wait until the fall to actually attempt running a qualifier. I also hate having to spend $95.00 on a marathon knowing that I won’t qualify, but, perhaps it’s a good idea to at least attempt it, just to see where I am.
Well, right now, 1:00 PM on Sunday, Steve should be done with his 25K Spokane River Trail Run which I opted not to do because I made a promise to my wife not to do so many events this year, and it doesn’t really fit into what I’m attempting to do which is all road running. Hopefully Steve had a great run and didn’t fall too many times! (Watch out for those roots!)
TriMoot out!
Speed Work…ugh!
My 1st Ultra…Yahoo!
I did it!! YAHOO!!! March 7th 2009
Wow, my 1st Ultra. I can’t believe I ran the whole thing!(Link to audio of the run…No, not the whole thing!)
I basically hung with the main core of the runners; there was probably close to 20 or maybe less, I got there late and had to run past the group as they had already started, go to the state line, turn around, start my watch and catch up. Wasn’t bad, but that 1st mile was 7:45…NOT the way to start things off!.
The main group would run a couple of miles and then walk for about a minute and we did that pretty much through out the run with occasional longer stops at where the support vans parked. There we had gator aid, COFFEE and bananas.
I found I was constantly pushing ahead of the group, not cause I was trying to, it just happens since I normally run a faster pace but shorter distances. (Most of the miles were around a 9:40 pace except near the end) So I tried to make sure I stayed with them and stopped when they did. I think that REALLY helped.
I did hit the preverbal wall at 20. Don’t know exactly why that happens, I mean I was keeping up with my gel’s and bumble bars and even a banana, but right on schedule at 20 miles I felt way tired and weak. I stopped at a wonderful aid station (Some folks from the BRCC group volunteered to provide aid, what timing! There were two stations) and took in some pretzels, gorp and gaiter aid and probably stayed a good 3 minutes as I felt I just needed to.
Finally around 23 or 24 miles which was about the top of Doomsday Hill everyone stopped again, but since I had just seen Sandy at the carousel downtown and had walked with her for a couple of minutes I felt like I just didn’t need another stop, so I pushed on down the hill and never saw the group again, which I kind of liked. Not that they weren’t great company, they were, but I like the solitary feeling at that time. It just felt right.
As I crossed over the Meenach Bridge and then turned north on the trail just after the bridge and behind SFCC, 26.2 miles came up. For some reason that is a magical number, so I stopped my watch, yelled at the top of my lungs, “YAHOOOOOO!!!!!!!” and then started off again. That was a GREAT feeling!
The path up till this point was snow free except for just a couple of places between Pines and Argone, and those places were only about 20 yards long and no problem. (Had screws in my shoes….yes, and rocks in my head, but that’s another story). But the snow behind SFCC and going north was PLOWED! There still were a couple inches of hard packed snow and ice, but it was somewhat more smooth and easier to run on and with the screws in my shoes I didn’t really have any problems, even though it was up hill all the way to the military cemetery.
Just past the 27 mile marker was a good friend Steve Warrington from my Saturday morning running group and he planned on meeting me there to finish off the run. So there he was waiting with all sorts of food and drink and ready to go, even though a little earlier he had already run 5 miles with our Saturday group. I drank half a bottle of gator aid and ate a delicious peanut butter sandwich (just half) and then we took off.
I was still feeling pretty good, but was very nervous about this part of the trail since my wife and I had scoped it out earlier in the week and assumed by what we saw that it was going to be very difficult since there was so much snow. I was shocked and ecstatic to see that the trail was almost completely snow free partly because it gets more sun since it’s so open and since someone had plowed it.
Steve was great company as he just chatted away the miles, although the only time I ran a sub 9:00 minute pace (besides the 1st mile) was with Steve. He seems to speed up the more he talks! (HAAHAHA! I love teasing him!!)
As we passed the 7 mile bridge we were around 33 miles or so and started up a couple of big hills to the parking lot and I was beginning to feel the miles in my feet and ankles and general fatigue. Now this part of the trail my wife and I checked thoroughly and past the parking lot the snow was solid across the path and about 8 inches or deeper, so I was REALLY dreading this part, knowing how tired I was. BUT low and behold, SOMEONE had plowed this section too! All I could do was shout, “THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!!!!!” I KNEW I was going to finish when I saw that, (all though I still wouldn’t admit it even to Steve…didn’t want to jinx anything).
But even though it was plowed I was starting to feel pretty fatigued. There had been a guy in front of us for about 3 or 4 miles and my 1st instinct was to try and catch him, but knowing there was a BIG hill right near 36.5 miles I thought, “don’t be stupid..just finish!”.
My wife was waiting for me at the top of the hill and I finally shouted out, “I think I’m gong to make it!”.
Wow, what a relief! I mean I really didn’t know if I would make it! My longest run in training had only been 20 miles followed by 11 miles the next day and I remembered how I felt on both days, tired! I remembered after that training run that I had a lot of doubt whether I could actually do this thing.
But there it was, a sign post with 37 miles written on it, and 37 painted on road, so as I started to cross over the line, I stopped, and rolled across it! I’d done it! I ran (yes and walked) THIRTY SEVEN MILES!! And, the best part? I didn’t feel like I had to be rushed off to the medical tent! I didn’t feel like running another 37 or even another 2 or 3, but I still had a little (just a little) left over, and that’s a GREAT feeling!
I remember when I 1st ran Boston back in 1983 and crossed the finish line; I went DIRECTLY to the underground parking and collapsed on one of the cots. I mean I was DONE! My back hurt, my feet hurt, my hurt hurt! But this was very very different.
So to sum up..it was a great time, and yes I want to do more of these!
But 1st……Qualify for Boston!!!!!
PS: Here’s a link to pictures: (Here) But as of 4:50 PM on 3/8/2009 I haven’t copied them up. Should be up soon!
TriMoot: Out!
Next Day Notes:
Well, the feet are fine…now. The top of my right foot was a little tender starting around mile 32 but today everything feels good! (thanks to the glutamine and BCAA recovery drink I take..really works!) And thanks to Dennis Clute for helping me with training and nutrition, I really didn’t know where to start!
Yesterday after the run I could hardly go up or down stairs and I HAD to use the hand rail. Today I was able to walk down with only a little pain and mild stiffness. I remember after I ran my 1st Boston that I couldn’t walk for about a WEEK! I am definitely going to do the Jeff Galaway method of running to prepare for qualifying for Boston this year. It’s OBVIOUS that it works! I mean I didn’t do EXACTLY what he recommends, but I did enough that I was able to complete all the miles having NEVER run past 26.2 miles and the last time I ran 26.2 was 1985!!! So it makes such complete sense to me now, that I’m going to purchase the book, CD, whatever it takes so I can get ready for qualifying.
The Amaryllis
Strange how things just come together. I was loading some podcast onto my MP3 player today and noticed I had this picture of the Amaryllis. So I thought I’d do a search and see if I could find anything about this event in my life back in 1965. Here’s what I found: (This takes place in Singer Island, Florida, the area I grew up in)
The Story of Amaryllis
The day was September 9th, 1965. Gale force winds from Hurricane Betsy whipped the normally calm seas off Singer Island into a frenzied nightmare of 20-foot breakers and 80-mph winds. Palm trees leaned horizontally away from the onslaught, but many uprooted and were sent soaring by gusts of unthinkable velocity.
A lone ship struggled against uncertain odds. The Amaryllis was nearing the safety of the Palm Beach Inlet, but found itself being literally blown into the shallow waters less than a mile from the beach. The crew made desperate attempts to compensate for the winds and the storm damaged steering, but the gale force winds were too much and the foundering ship grounded on the shore immediately in front of the Rutledge Inn.
As dawn broke, so did the fury of the storm. Where last night had been a beautiful beach, now rested the storm beaten wreck of the Greek banana freighter, Amaryllis. As the day went on it soon became evident that that this great 450 foot ship would be resting here for some time.
Shortly thereafter, local surfers found the ship to be one of the most spectacular surf spots in the area. A little more than three years later, the foundered ship was finally removed from the beach, and towed out to its final resting spot about one half mile from shore in about 75 feet of water.
Here are some memories of other people whose lives were touched by this ship:
More memories: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/accent/content/accent/epaper/2009/03/03/a1d_surfing_web_0303.html
More good stuff: http://surfhistoryproject.org/docs/PBP%20Article%20P1.pdf
Page 2: http://surfhistoryproject.org/docs/PBP%20Article%20P2-3.pdf
This must be a log of sorts about different ships. You can do a Ctrl F and type in Amaryllis, and you’ll find interesting data going back to 1829
http://www.islandregister.com/ship_data2.html
More to come as I tell you why I posted this.
Okay, so WHY did I post this? Well, because I lived in the area where this happened back in Florida and we used to go down to see the ship a lot. I mean it was bigger than life! At least to me it was. I would have been…lets see, 11 years old, when this happened, and I can remember going down to the beach with my family and seeing this HUGE ship jammed into the beach! It was the biggest darn thing I’d had ever seen! And I remember the longer it sat there the cooler the beach became. I mean on one side the beach was being built up, but on the other side it was being washed away. So much so that it uncovered a reef that must have been covered over years before, but now it was a brand new place for fish, sea urchins, moray eels, lobsters, you name it, came and populated it.
What was cool, was that the people on the boat just started hucking things over the side and each thing they threw over would eventually become encrusted with barnicles and sea creatures and would start a reef of their own. It also created territories for barracuda’s to guard! That was the scary part! You would be skin diving and come across a piece of the ship and there would be a BIG barracuda guarding it’s treasure and they would NOT back down! You could go up to them and the just stay there and wouldn’t budge. You could see their fins go up in like a warning, “stay away buddy, or there’s gonna be trouble!”, but if you continued pushing closer to them, they would eventually back down. But MAN, those teeth! (These pictures are not mine, but they show how big these things are, and they look even BIGGER underwater!)
I remember a time I was diving with a good friend of mine, Mike Ellis, and he always wore a St. Christopher’s medal, and one day we were out on the reef and all of a sudden a BIG cuda swam right underneath Mike because he was curious about the “shinny thing” hanging off of Mike neck. That always made me wonder, “Why do they make diving mask with a nice shinny chrome ring around the glass?”.
Well eventually they must have thrown enough stuff off of the ship so that they were able to get a couple of tug boats and pull it off the shore. Wow, what a sight!
TriMoot…out…mmm, I might add some more later.
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