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.

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!