Monthly Summary - November 2009

Here's November:

Swim: 25,011 yards
Cycling (outdoors): 0.0 miles
Cycling (indoors): 5:35 (hours)
Run: 62.40 miles
Strength Training/Yoga: 5 sessions

Approximate monthly total training/racing time: 28:30 hours

Weight: 169.5 pounds

This was another month that proved you have to roll with the punches. I had lots of training and racing plans for November. In the end, it was a pretty low volume month without any racing at all. But, that's fine. I was super careful about my achillies and kept Saturday's race at the front of my mind. And, from where I'm sitting right now at least, it looks like it worked.

The one thing I am a little disappointed about is that I didn't get outside on the bike a single time. I did spend some time on the trainer, but not riding outside was just laziness. I definitely could have. That will hopefully be different in December.

It was a good month outside of training. We had a few friends come visit us in LA and are finishing up a nice, relaxing week in Wainscott.

I got on the scale today and between the month of light training and the last week of somewhat heavy eating, I'm heavier than I want to be coming into the race. Again, whatever. I guess.

I can't believe 2009 is just about over. I am happy that my 2009 race season almost is! Get through this week. Race on Saturday and then start thinking about 2010!

Self Control

I'm finding out an extra challenge of scheduling an "A" race so close to Thanksgiving: trying to maintain disciplined eating over the Thanksgiving weekend. Going to my in-laws on Long Island hasn't made things any easier.

With my taper in full force, I'm already feeling pretty fat and lazy. And I'm surrounded by temptation - of course the apple and pumpkin pies, but also the heavy meals and just having a kitchen full of food I normally avoid even having around. I've been trying hard not to overeat and to mostly avoid desert. I've been fairly successful, but it would have been more fun if the race had been last weekend!

I'll be keeping that in mind when I'm scheduling my races for next year.

And now it's just a week

One week from today. It's funny how the last six weeks have affected the way I feel about this race - in good ways and bad. I didn't plan on having a six week taper and I've been thinking so much about my stupid legs that I haven't really been able to focus my energy on getting ready for the race. Finally though, I'm feeling pretty good. My achilles didn't tighten up at all during this morning's run. It's been good for the last few runs. It sucked having to pull back over the last six weeks, but if I can get to raceday feeling ready to run, it will have been worth it. I'm not nervous or anxious, which is good. I'm not super familiar with the course or the profile, which is not so good. I'm psychologically prepared to just go out and see what I can do, which is good. I haven't totally figured out my clothing or nutrition plan, which is not so good. Fifty miles is a bit long to go in without a plan, so I've got some work to do this week.

Here's what I know:

• It's hilly! Officially the course elevation gain is 10,731 feet! And from the profile (available on page 10 here), there's very few places where it's flat. There are six places where it looks like you climb at least 1,000 feet over just a couple miles. For comparison sake, the "hilly" 7 mile Griffith Park loop has a total of about 1,100 feet of elevation gain. And that's a "hilly" run. For further comparison, the only other 50 miler I've done, the JFK 50, is hilly for 15-16 miles and then pretty much flat as a board for the next 26 before finishing up with some little rollers. Uh oh!
• My base. I have a great base and have run 50 miles before. I've run 27 miles as recently at six weeks ago. I'm feeling pretty healthy. I'm not going to break any records, but I'm going into the race in pretty good shape, all things considered.
• The course is beautiful. The views are supposed to be amazing. Hopefully, I'll be able to take them in. At least a little bit.
• 50 Miles! I'm excited to finally get another 50 miler under my belt. And I'm excited to be able to work it in around a visit with the Valet Reader.
  

Here's some of what I have left to figure out:

• My nutrition plan. There are well-stocked aid stations every 3-5 miles. I want to carry one-handheld bottle. I'd like to mainly rely on Infinit for as much of the race as possible.
• What I'm going to wear. I'll nail this down when it gets closer and I know the weather, but I'm thinking of starting in shorts, long sleeve t-shirt, lightweight gloves and my sweet pink hat. I've heard that the course isn't very technical so I'll start the race in my Brooks Defyance instead of trail shoes.
• Course and Raceday Logistics. Unfortunately, it's going to be a really early morning. The race starts at 5AM! But I probably need to be there around 4. My god. Also, I can give the race organizers "drop bags" which they'll put at various places along the course. Unlike Ironman special needs bags, supposedly I'll get these bags back after the race. I'll put some socks, an extra pair of shoes, a long sleeve shirt and some Infinit, but I need to work on exactly what will go where.

Fast wishes to Johnny Tri and anyone else racing at Ironman Cozumel tomorrow!

Indoor bike - November 22
Time: 1:00

Run - November 24
Distance: 6.1 miles
Time: 51 minutes
Course: Northwest Woods, East Hampton, NY
Conditions: Sun and clouds, low 50's

Swim - November 25
Distance: 2,400 yards
Time: 46 minutes

Elliptical - November 26
Time: 45 minutes

Strength - November 26

Swim - November 27
Distance: 2,600 yards
Time: 55 minutes

Run - November 28
Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:07
Course: Northwest Woods, East Hampton, NY
Conditions: Mostly overcast, gusty winds, low-50's

Two Week Countdown

Today was the 47th running of the JFK 50 in Hagerstown, Maryland. The JFK 50 was my first (and so far, only) ultramarathon. I had a great time training for and racing the JFK 50. It was a beautiful day, I had great support from Elizabeth, Assaf and my in-laws and ran a great race. Since that afternoon, I've been trying to get back to the ultra distance and, after pulling out of last year's JFK 50 with IT Band and knee issues, I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll get my chance two weeks from today at the North Face Endurance Challenge in the Marin Headlands.

My achilles is definitely not 100%. And my fitness isn't where I hoped it would be. But I've said variations on those things before in the final weeks before a race and, at this point, it's just time to suck it up, get to the starting line as healthy as possible and see what happens from there. On that note, I've been careful this past week - I wanted to test myself a little just to see how the achilles would hold up, but I knew that I had to be conservative. I ran the 7.1 mile loop in Griffith Park on Tuesday night (but ran pretty easy - I was doing this loop in ~56 minutes before; on Tuesday I ran it in 1:06), took it really easy on Thursday morning and then hit the Mulholland Fire Road today for some off-pavement, somewhat hilly running. A total of 20.25 miles this week. Not bad, but not what I'd originally planned. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't feel a little extra tightness in my achilles or if I said I wasn't thinking about it nearly all the time, but - and this is a big "but" given my deal with Elizabeth - I haven't had any pain and it never got so tight that I thought I should stop. For the next two weeks, I'm going to take it easy, try not to lose too much more fitness and focus on the goal at hand.

On another note, check out the pies we baked today for an early Thanksgiving dinner with friends tonight. Not that I'm proud of us or anything!


Congrats to those of you who ran the JFK 50 today and good running to those of you like Rom, who are hitting the Santa Monica Mountains tomorrow with PCTR! Also, good luck to anyone racing at Ironman Arizona tomorrow - after seeing Jordan Rapp kill it at Canada and be such a great sport at the finish line supporting the last finishers, I'll definitely be rooting for him to win!

Run - November 15
Distance: 8.8 miles
Time: 1:16
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny, mid/high-60s
Notes: Stopped every 10-12 mins. to stretch calves

Indoor bike - November 16
Time: 50 minutes

Strength - November 16

Swim - November 17
Distance: 3,280 yards (3,000 meters)
Time: 1:01

Run - November 17
Distance: 7.1 miles
Time: 1:06
Course: Griffith Park loop
Conditions: Night run, high 50's

Run - November 19
Distance: 4.75 miles
Time: 41 minutes
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny, mid-60s
Notes: Stopped every 10-12 mins. to stretch calves

Strength - November 19

Swim - November 20
Distance: 3,171 yards (2,900 meters)
Time: 1:01

Run - November 21
Distance: 8.4 miles
Time: 1:06
Course: Mulholland Fire Road
Conditions: Sunny, mid-60s

Ups and Downs and a Decision

Emotionally, it's been a roller coaster of a week, with a low point on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning when I just about talked myself into giving up on even planning on running the Northface 50. Physically, though, it's been pretty much all good. I'll take it.

The Northface 50 is sold out. On Tuesday night I just happened to check the list of registered runners and my name wasn't on it. I sent the race organizers an email to see what the deal was and told them that if I didn't get my application in before it sold out that was OK because I'd been having some injuries. They got back to me Wednesday morning and said that they had my application but hadn't added me to the list yet; I could choose whether or not to do it and if I chose to bail, they'd tear up my check. Very very cool of them, but it did mean that I had to decide and I was sorta hoping that the decision would be made for me! I spent an agonizing morning, talking to Elizabeth, some friends, Coach John and myself. On the one hand, not doing the race would take the pressure off and I could spend the next four to eight weeks healing and recovering and getting ready for 2010. On the other hand, I want to do the race, I have a great fitness base and my achilles has been progressing very nicely. My "advisers" were split, but nearly everyone (sorry, Rom) thought there was no reason for me to throw in the towel just yet.

In the end, after many hours of back and forth, I decided to give it a shot. Giving up now doesn't make sense. What do I have to lose? The registration fee, yes. But I can live with that. Other than that, nothing really. My true recovery and healing time for 2010 will start on December 6. I promised Elizabeth that if at any point during training or the race, my achilles became painful, I would stop running, evaluate the situation, and call it quits if need be.

So, I now have 22 days. I'll get in a reasonable number of miles each week, giving myself good recovery between runs. I'll try to do some longer-ish runs, but it's unlikely I'll do anything longer than 10-12 miles. My goal will be to maintain some of my fitness (but not even think about gaining back what I lost over the last three weeks) and get to the starting line as healthy and uninjured as possible.

This morning I had my third pain-free and tightness-generally-free run of the week. It was just 5.6 flat, easy miles, but it felt good. I'll get back out on Sunday before watching the Chargers make mincemeat of the Eagles. Assuming I can make it through the next 22 days, I know I won't be getting, or even looking for, a PR at the race, but I will be in the Marin Headlands on December 5 to give finishing a shot!

On another note, blogging friend Jason from "Addicted to Pavement" has recently started a new blog, with a new goal. Check out TriTheDream. His "dream" - to compete in the 2011 Ironman World Championships - is a worthy one. One of the best things about his blog though is that it's not just about his dream, he's writing to get all his readers to think about their own dreams, whether or not they involve 140.6 miles of pain. And not for nothing, it's one of the nicest looking sports blogs around!

Swim - November 10
Distance: 3,062 yards (2,800 meters)
Time: 1:00

Elliptical - November 10
Time: 1:00

Strength - November 10

Run - November 11
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 43 minutes
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Partly sunny, mid-60's
Notes: Stopped every 10 minutes to stretch calves

Swim - November 12
Distance: 3,609 yards (3,300 meters)
Time: 1:11

Run - November 13
Distance: 5.6 miles
Time: 46 minutes
Course: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills
Conditions: Sunny, low-60's
Notes: Stopped every 10 minutes to stretch calves

Catalina Eco Marathon - 2010?

As much as I hate to do it (or admit it), I'm about to pull the plug on Saturday's Catalina Eco Marathon. I'm still struggling with the decision, but I find it hard to imagine that I'll make the decision to go. I was excited about this one. But there's always next year, right?

The good news is that I've run twice in the last three days. Saturday evening I ran a really easy and flat 35 minutes. This morning I ran a really easy and flat 39 minutes. During both runs, I stopped every 10 minutes to stretch my calves for about a minute. I made a commitment to stop and stretch whether or not I felt the creeping tightness that killed my run last Monday. It never really got tight. I was thinking about it the entire f-ing time so, of course, there were moments when it didn't feel right (and my heart temporarily sank) but it never got to the point where I felt like I had to - or should - stop. The other part of my running plan, as suggested by Assaf and Merrill was to try running through it a little. Especially as long as it doesn't actually hurt. Regular mid-run stretching and not giving up right away because of a little tightness will be part of the plan for now.

Since I wrote last Wednesday, I've had another ART appointment, done a lot of trigger point rolling, stretched and done my eccentric calf exercises, taken a liberal amount of NSAIDs (which could be the reason it doesn't hurt, but I'm trying not to think like that!), been wearing the kinesio tape and did a pretty hard 45 minute session on the elliptical. Something (or somethings) seems to be working for now, but I'm still trying not to get my hopes up.

Which brings me to the other race on my calendar. Four weeks to go until the 50. I still think that I could do it. And I'd still like to do it. Even if a PR is unlikely and it won't be pretty. But that depends a lot on what I'm able to do this week and next. I'm going to try getting back into it really slowly. And I'll keep stretching during the run. And I'll keep my fingers crossed and see what happens. And I'll keep you all posted!

Swim - November 5
Distance: 3,609 yards (3,300 meters)
Time: 1:11

Elliptical (45 min) + Strength - November 7

Run - November 7
Distance: 3.9 miles
Time: 35 minutes
Course: Neighborhood
Conditions: Evening, low 60's
Notes: Stopped every 10 minutes to stretch calves

Indoor ride - November 8
Time: 1:30

Run - November 9
Distance: 4.75 miles
Time: 39 minutes
Course: Neighborhood
Conditions: Sunny, mid-60's
Notes: Stopped every 10 minutes to stretch calves

Achilles Update

It's now been 10 days since my last real run and I'm still not sure what is going on. By "going on" I mean whether or how much I'm going to be able to run this fall. As you can probably imagine, it's just about killing me and I'm having a hell of a time thinking about just about anything other than my achilles.

I've been injured a few times before, but this time is a little different. When I got achilles tendinitis in 2004 (pre-blog) and when my knee/IT band side-lined me in late March 2008, I knew something was very wrong. I remember the injury being painful pretty much all the time - running (of course), walking, stairs, strength training, tender to the touch, etc. This time though, I actually feel fine nearly all the time. Other than that first attempt at running the morning after my 27 miles, I haven't had any "pain" at all. Sometimes my achilles feels a little tight, but really nothing more than I would expect for a distance runner.

So, that lack of symptoms emboldens me - I start thinking that it's healing up quickly; I can run; I will be fine for my scheduled races. Then, I try to run. Like I did Monday night. When 10 minutes into an easy, flat run, my achilles tightened up and I walked home. No pain, but it wasn't right.

Yesterday I went to have some A.R.T. Dr. Ben came highly recommended by my LA endurance sports sources. He examined me and did some ART treatment. His conclusion: there's a little inflammation, but it's nothing too bad; I might be able to get back at it soon. Pretty much what I suspected, but it was good to hear it from a pro.

Now what? I give it a few more days and keep my fingers crossed. I'm not going to run again until at least after my next appointment with Dr. Ben on Saturday. Then, I'll take it from there.

Don't count me out just yet, but it's definitely not looking good.

to be continued...

Indoor bike - November 1
Time: 1:30

Swim - November 2
Distance: 3,280 yards (3,000 meters)
Time: 1:02

Indoor bike - November 3
Time: 45 minutes