Growing Runs and Growing Pains

As of this writing we are 3 weeks away from the Marathon. The past month has been the most intensive part of the training ie. I’ve run lots of miles. I ran 88 miles in July, 100 miles in August, 102 miles in September ( this is low due to my knee injury which forced me to cut back for 2 weeks), and so far 120 miles in October with 2 days of running left. The miles have had their effect on me, some good and some not so good.

The good news is that it appears I am on track to have a decent shot at finishing the Marathon. Since that has been my goal all along, I consider this huge. I’ve completed one 14, two 15's, and one 20 mile run. The times (miles per minute) for these longer runs are now almost identical to the times for the shorter runs (5-10 miles). I have chosen to consider this a good thing since I’ve never been able to significantly increase my pace at any distance. The fact that it isn’t falling off at such long distances gives me hope that at least I’m getting stronger and more conditioned if not faster.

Now for the not so good news, at the beginning of the intense training period my left knee was still very weak and sore and my right knee was starting to hurt too. I iced both knees multiple times a day, never leaving home without my cooler full of ice packs. I slept with a heating pad between my legs. I went through large amounts of Epsom salts. The pains would  slowly improve until the next long run then come back again.

One day, I wore my running shoes to work. All day, I was walking "crooked". Once I decided it wasn’t me, I started exploring other possible explanations. That led me to look at the bottom of my shoes. From the inside heel to the outside heel, there must have been at least a half inch difference of tread height. This difference continued through the entire length of the shoe to a smaller degree. Both shoes were in the exact same shape. This prompted a trip to the local running store. This store is devoted to meeting the needs of the running addicted. I explained to the young clerk that I thought I needed new shoes. I showed him my old ones and also told him that my knees were hurting. He examined them briefly, told me that the wear pattern was common, and determined that I needed a more stable base.  Ok, I could go with that. But then he asked me to walk barefoot across the room while he watched. Yes, he confirmed, I needed a more stable base. I checked his name tag to see whether he was a Sports Trainer, a Podiatrist, or maybe even an Orthopedist. Neither, he was just your average Joe “I need a job because I just got out of college with a worthless degree” Blow. Obviously, I was skeptical. Next he measured my feet. Joe decided I needed a size 9 and a half!!!

 “I wear an 8 and a half”, I sputtered indignantly.

“No,” he stated calmly,” you wear a 9 and a half.”

After trying on a few models, I swallowed my disgust and picked the least offensive pair. It was a strange feeling, I could actually wiggle my toes in them! Could this be right?

Running addict that I have become, I didn’t let my new big feet stop me from training. I had 2 months to break in my new shoes before the race. So, I kept running and running. The day of our 18 mile training run, coach and I once again went into Philly. We had run our 15 along the Schuykill River and it had gone very well.  It made sense to go there again. Only problem, I was sick. I was up all night with another case of the runs (I seem to get this same illness about once a quarter). By mile 5, I had already blown up 3 porta-potties and was fading fast. At mile 8, I tried to refuel with large amounts of Gatorade and a banana. By mile 11, I gave back all the Gatorade, banana, and most of what I had eaten in the past 24 hours to yet another porta-potty. That’s when it happened. I quit, gave up, surrendered. For the first time since the training began, I did not finish a run that I had started. I staggered out of the porta-potty, (trying to forget what had just transpired) and told coach I couldn’t go on. Good man that he is, he volunteered to run and get the car for me. Before he left, he instructed me to find a park bench and wait for him. We were 2.5 miles into an 8.5 mile loop. I was very thankful and touched as I watched him run off until I realized that he was running in the wrong, LONG direction. Ok, so the world does not revolve around me. I started walking the other, SHORT direction, looking for but not finding a park bench. We ended up getting back to the car at about the same time. He was pumped about the run. He really needed it. He has spent so much time running with me that he must have been bursting to finally run at his own pace. The walk had helped calm my stomach down as well although at least one concerned person commented on how bad I looked! I went home and spent the rest of the day on the couch.  

Coach adjusted my running plan for the next few weeks to make up for the lost run.  Yesterday was the test to see if I was back on track and ready to peak at 20 miles. We ran it in 3 hours and 59 minutes with much encouragment from coach. Our goal was to come in under 4 hours. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! We now go into our scale back stage (shorter runs) which allows the body to rest and recover for race day.

Oh yes, one more thing…I want to give a big shout out to Joe Blow!! My knees are no longer hurting before, during, or after any runs short or long. Guess I did need a more stable shoe, even if it was a size 9 and a half.

You go Joe Blow!! You rule the Running Store world!!

 

Chasing the Road Runner

I ran a marathon last week. It only took 128 hours and 12 minutes (5 days, 4 hours, 12 minutes). So at least we know that I can do it, just need to cut my time a little.

We also know that I can run half a marathon, 13.1 miles. I did that at the Philadelphia Rock N Roll Half Marathon a few weeks ago. My time was 2 hours and 27 minutes. In case you’re curious, I was neither first nor last in any category: overall, women, or age group. The winners came in right around an hour. The winner of my age/sex group came in at around 1 hour and 38 minutes. She was a freakishly fit and beautiful 54 year old woman and henceforth will be known as the Road Runner. I came in 259th (out of 473) place for women in my age group and 6257th out of 8843 women overall. Got a little work to do!

It was a perfect fall day, sunny and upper 60’s. There were over 15,000 runners. The race was run around much of the same course that the full marathon will use in November. It was a perfect training opportunity for me. The start and finish areas were at the Philadelphia Art Museum (think Rocky). The beginning of the race went through downtown Philly. After that, there was a long stretch along the Schuykill River where the old boathouses are located and so many elite rowing teams train. All along the route, there were live bands playing and numerous volunteer groups cheering everyone on.  There was one man dressed in a super hero outfit dancing to boom box tunes. Gatorade and Gu (energy gel) stations were positioned about every two miles. Porta-Potties were everywhere! What a relief.

The start was organized in “corrals” so that the runners went in waves. The faster runners went in the first corral, the next fastest in the second and so on. Coach and I were in the 16^th corral. You are assigned a corral according to what you estimate your finish time to be when you register. I think there were about 20 corrals. The race started at 8am but coach and I didn’t actually cross the starting line until about 20 minutes later when our corral was finally up. Each runner has an individual timing chip attached to their shoes so it doesn’t matter that you start late, your time is still accurately tracked. The wave starts also allow runners of the same ability to run together so that there are not as many collisions with faster runners pushing to pass slower runners etc. It was comforting to be surrounded by runners of similar ability. It would have been much more intimidating otherwise.

Coach and I started out slow. I was nervous about my knee holding up and needed to get my confidence. We ran at about an 11:30 minute per mile pace for the first few miles. Lots of other runners were passing us at that stage. As I got warmed up, we started slowly going faster for the mid part of the race. It was around miles 8 through 10 that we noticed other runners around us starting to slow down and drop out. Some were getting medical attention on the side of the road. Once we passed the 10 mile marker, we picked up the pace again. Now we were running at a 10:30 minute per mile pace and passing everyone around us. Each time I tell the story, the number of people we passed increases. At this point in time, I’m sure it was in the hundreds! Our last mile was our fastest at under 10:00 minutes per mile. At no time during the race was I out of breath or struggling. Toward the end, my legs were tired and heavy but I was not in pain.

We came into the finish line holding our arms in the air. It felt like a victory. We were handed a medal and proceeded to get our picture taken. After that, it was on to the “recovery area” where we were handed water, Gatorade, bananas, power bars, and chips. We looked everywhere for the beer tent but never found it.

I did some cyber stalking a few days after the race on the marathon photo web site. That’s where I “met” the Road Runner. She is what I will never be… a true runner. I admire her, respect her, love her, and hate her. I bet she never tripped on a walkway bridge and messed up her pinky finger. I bet she has actually run in Central Park. I bet her coach can’t keep up with her!!!  

Still…it makes no sense to expend energy being envious or jealous. I’ve accomplished so much in my short career as a runner. After all, I survived a half marathon and must have passed a thousand runners in the last 3 miles. Instead of being negative, I’m going to “find the pony”.  It’s time to channel MY inner Road Runner. Look out!

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