Thanksgiving Runs...

We are in Florida on the annual Thanksgiving migration.  Compared to New York, Florida is hot, flat and humid.  And a welcome change.  Unfortunately, one thing that did not change was the one constant in New York over the last several months: rain.  The day before Thanksgiving, we got almost an inch and a half of rain.  I managed to run in a light drizzle and ran a neat 5 miles.

Thanksgiving, though, I was determined to put in a good run before turkey, pie and mashed potatoes.  I actually made the mashed potatoes based on a recipe from Giada de Laurentiis (basics: potatoes, butter and cheese.  What could go wrong with that?).

So, anyway, got up and ran about 8.5 miles.  I had wanted to do a turkey trot, but the St. Pete trot was about an hour and a half away.  Eh, so I just ran around here.  8.5 sunny miles, with a distinct wind.  I went with a comfortable pace, with an eye on my heart rate.  First mile 7:28; second mile: 7:28; third mile: 7:28.  I have never, ever, run three miles in exact same pace as measured by Garmin.  I mean they were within 0.3 seconds of one another.  I couldn't do that again if I tried.  Next 5 were all within a band of 7:31 to 7:22 per mile.  That is a fantastic pace and still a little freaky in terms of consistency (I didn't realize that I had run 3 straight at 7:28 until I got home and looked at the data.)

That made my decision to eat well yesterday an easy one.  Sadly, the highlight of the meal was not my potatoes.  Rather, my sister in law made the pie on the cover of the November Southern Living:  a pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crumb crust and pecan strudel on top.  That was delicious.  And I am sure low fat.  Calorie wise, I bet it accounted for 7 of the 8 miles I ran in the morning.

That is what Thanksgiving in Florida is all about.  Today is Auburn/Alabama, and another day of gluttony (burgers, beer for lunch; stone crabs and wine for dinner.)  And today it is sunny and bright.  Ahhh, vacation.

Beautiful Race Picture

Last Saturday morning I had to volunteer to help with a race in Central Park in order to secure my entry to the NY Marathon. The race was a 60K -- over 37 miles. We had to be there at 6:30 a.m., and I actually got there early, about 6:15. It was still dark when I arrived, but as I waited, the sun rose. Dawn over Central Park, and it was beautiful. I have lived in New York almost 17 years and never seen dawn in Central Park. It was beautiful -- oranges and purples and blues playing over the trees. Anyway this is a picture I snapped with my Blackberry over the reservoir, looking west to east.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Race Report and a Copse of Trees

As I have said, I am kind of a military history nut. I love military history, and one place I have been several times is Gettysburg, which is actually only about a 2 hour or so drive from New York. In Gettysburg, on top of Cemetery Hill, is a "copse of trees." I have never heard that term - copse - used before or since to describe anything. At any rate, it is the furthest that the Confederate Army reached in Pickett's Charge on the final day of the battle. Thus, the copse of trees is referred to as the "high watermark of the Confederacy."

Well, today I ran a four mile race in Central Park. It was a great day for running, and turned out to be a great race. It started when I picked up my race number: 238. Wow! First corral, so I start at the very front. And that's 238 out of probably 5000 or so runners. Starting with the big dogs in the front means several things. First, there are no slower runners to dodge, and almost clear space from the get go. In fact I was worried about being the slowpoke, so I started in middle of the first corral. And they were some serious runners in there, and they start fast. I was worried about keeping pace and going out too fast, in fact.

After a rousing national anthem on a sunny morning with about 50 degree weather in Central Park, we are off! First mile is down some and then up a big hill. I am going fast. First mile: 6:45. That's really quick for me. Second mile is mostly downhill, 6:40. Oh wow, this could be a good day. Heart rate is high, but not crazy high -- like 90%, which is OK in a 4 mile race. Third mile is uphill again. 7:01. Now there is only one flat mile to home, and I was secretly thinking I wanted to be at 28 minutes (7:00 per mile). That was very much in play, absent total disaster. I push pretty hard on the last mile, and ended up running a 6:34. Wow, Wow. My net time was 27:10, with an average pace of 6:47, good enough for 262nd place, out of 4700 runners.

That's my best result ever, by far. That's a good day, a new PR on several levels - time, pace, etc. A new time on my NYRR bib. And this was also my final race to qualify for next year's NY marathon; in other words, I am now in. Awesome day all the way around.


So what does this have to do with that copse of trees at Gettysburg? Well, all day I have been thinking the result is almost too good to be true. I mean, 6:47! 262 place? Holy smokes. But is this as good as it gets? Is this my high watermark? Will I ever reach this point again?


I've been in good shape before, but always lost it. Always slid backwards and then looked back at that achievement with wonder that I ever did it.

So, is today my copse of trees?

Off topic because of boring workouts

This week my runs have consisted of late night runs on my home treadmill. I run in the dark because the treadmill sucks up so much power, it can pop the circuit breaker it is on. Of course, on the same circuit, I have this 60 inch plasma TV that I watch when I run, so it is not entirely the treadmill's conspicuous consumption of energy that overloads the circuit, but it has been a couple weeks of runs on a treadmill, late at night, in the dark with the TV on. Not very exciting.

A couple of non-running thoughts, though. First, one of my favorite football players is Hines Ward. I love his back story -- disadvantaged childhood, great athletic success, played for Georgia, and now a great NFL player. There was a nice piece on him in last week's New York Times. One of his biggest skills is his downfield blocking. Wide receivers don't make the highlight reel for that, and some just don't do it (see Randy Moss). But Hines Ward always does it ruthlessly. Anyway one of my favorite pictures is from Super Bowl XL (50 -- wow, I remember Super Bowl XII). When he caught a touchdown pass, he leaped with joy into the end zone. Sports Illustrated had a camera right in front of him and took a great picture of his smile -- that is right his smile -- as he leaped into the end zone. Here it is:


Anyway, I watched a game with Pittsburgh init and he is just a really great player. And I hope that some day I can display as much emoiton and joy as he felt when he leapedinto the end zone on this play.

A more sobering note. I have been watching WWII in HD on the History Channel. I am kind of a military buff anyway, and this is right up my alley. But these images are humbling. And makes one realize the true sacrifice made by the Greatest Generation. If you get a chance, tune in, but be prepared. It will make an impression.

And I watched an episode of Intervention on A&E. Wow, what a gripping story. If youdon;t tear up during that, heart must made of lead.

What can I say excpet I watch random stuff when I run late at night? No football (yet), no basketball, hockey is hard to watch while running. After all, when I ran 14 on a treadmill this summer, I watched four episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond back to back.

I miss running outdoors and races. Next week is Thanksgiving and off to Florida!

Bearish heart rates and Choices

I have gotten the courage back up to hit the bricks (treadmill really) and run again. So, earlier this week I ran on my home treadmill. (I have a treadmill in my house, but generally don't run on it. It is nice enough, but if I am home, I like to run outside, particularly during the summer.) My treadmill is also not level -- it has an incline to it. The readout says it is at 0.0, but after one particularly terrible workout about six months ago I got out a ruler and measured the height of the deck at the front of the running surface and the height at the back. About a one inch difference. I measured the length, and a little high school geometry had it at a 1.75% incline. Ahhh...that explains why it is so hard to run a normal pace on it.

Anyway, I have now run three times this week on my home treadmill, with my heart rate monitor on. All three workouts were consistent on speed (about 8:20 miles) and distance (5.5 miles). My average heart rate was about 154. The greatness of Garmin and SportTracks allowed me to compare this to a workout I did back in September, the day after Labor Day, on my same home treadmill. That was probably the peak of my training, before the wheels came off at work, and after about four months of solid running and training. For that run my average heart rate (same pace) was ... 145, about 7% lower than the three workouts this week. I know that the heart rate on that September run might have been an aberration (it happens), but probably not. And my body may not be over the effects of the marathon 2 weeks ago. Or maybe it is the lingering effect of the 4000 beers I drank last weekend at my college reunion. But, whatever, it is a significant difference.

That sort of confirms what I suspected: I lost fitness over September and October, and explains why the marathon was not as easy as I had hoped it would be. I am kind of thinking a April marathon is next, and so my short term goal is just to get back to running 4-5 days a week and building strength. That will bring fitness back, and set up well for next spring.

A quote to inspire over the coming weeks:

Choices

What we have is based upon moment-to-moment choices of what we do. In each of those moments, we choose.

We either take a risk and move toward what we want, or we play it safe and choose comfort.
Most of the people, most of the time, choose comfort.

In the end, people either have excuses or experiences; reasons or results; buts or brilliance.

Individuals either have what they want or a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not.

~ Anonymous

Post Marathon Thoughts

1. A great experience. While I wish I did better, I am happy with my result. Really. I have pictures from my March race that motivated this fitness kick. Compare that to a picture from the marathon. Wow, what a difference seven months can make.

2. Injury report -- Four, count 'em, four dead toenails, and two nasty blood blisters under two of them. And a huge blister on the side of the big toe on my right foot. The second toe on my right foot is now only moderately disgusting; after the race it was unbelievably gross. Before the race, that toe already had toenail issues (it was purple and dead, with a new nail growing underneath). I trimmed the nail the night before, and thought this could turn out badly. Race day produced an enormous blister on the end of the toe, a blood blister under the new nail, and just all around grossness. But, remarkably, it didn't hurt too badly. And now it is just a black toe with a seriously messed up toenail that I suspect will fall off any day.

3. Mentally, it was a struggle. This last month was one of the longest work months for me in years. (Lawyers work in billable hours; I billed more hours last month than I have in almost ten years. And that is a lot.) In fact, I worked the the entire Saturday before the race on Sunday. I was supposed to fly out on Sunday night --marathon day -- for a trial that started Tuesday. I flew out at 6 a.m. on Monday (day after the race) instead. That is just hard to focus and be tough on race day. I also couldn't risk just crushing myself in the race -- I had a big work week in front of me. So, that inability to mentally focus on the race was a factor. As was...

4. Lack of Training -- I didn't train enough in September and October. Hey, that's life, work, etc. Hard to be too mad about that.

5. FIRST. The FIRST training program did not get a clear shot with me. As my life got busy in September and October, my workouts became fewer and fewer. In reality, I hardly ran 3 times a week, much less run 3 times a week and do the 2 cross training workouts FIRST called for. So, in reality, I kind of ended up doing the Runners World "busy man" workout. That schedule was three hard workouts a week, and other runs or workouts were gravy. That was the best I could do, so that became my plan by default.

6. Garmin Running with my Garmin was both a blessing and a curse. Watching the data, I knew my heart rate was too high early in the race and thus probably unsustainable over 26.2. And, as it turned out, I couldn't sustain it. But was that because mentally I knew my Garmy had me running too fast and hitting a wall? Or, did I simply hit that physical limitation as reflected by my Garmin? In other words, did I go out too fast? Or did the Garmin create a self-fulfilling prophecy? I am undecided. And the virtual race partner went crazy on mile 24 and really threw me out of sorts. Initially, it tracks your projected finish time versus a "virtual steady state training partner", and shows how far ahead or behind you are of that racer. Late in the race, the ahead/behind had huge swings. I had it set on 8:00 miles. Thus, if I ran an 8:30 mile, I thought I would be 30 seconds behind. But my pace guy was going crazy. On a walk break, it would show me like 20 minutes behind. I would say to myself "holy sh-t, I better get going!" And then when I was running I would be only 8 minutes behind. It should just track the gap, as I didn't have the distance programmed in. I am guessing that the algorithm goes a little crazy after 20ish miles. All in all, would I run with Garmy again? Yes. But with a huge grain of salt.

I haven't decided on a future running goal yet. My A-1 goal is not to lose fitness and gain a bunch of weight this holiday season. Maybe a late March or early April marathon. For now I have to work the NYRR 60K (that's right -- 36.6 miles) on Nov. 21, and run a 4 miler on Nov. 22. And then I am in NY marathon in 2010. And I will be there, faster, stronger, fitter.

NY Marathon Race Report, Part 2

Picking up from last report, the first seven or eight miles were great. Smooth. Fast. Easy. (I reprinted my splits below for posterity). No lingering aches or developing issues.
But I was concerned about my always creeping up heart rate. And I was over pace. My Garmin race buddy had me over 2 minutes ahead of him (My Garmin has a virtual race partner, who runs at a constant pace. You can then see if you are ahead or behind him. More on this later.)

And running in Queens produced one memory that will stick with me a long time – I saw an Achilles runner with no legs. Achilles runners are the special needs or handicapped runners. Some are blind, some are physically handicapped, but all the epitome of effort. At about mile 12, I saw a relatively young kid with no legs, running with crutches and a large prosthetic spring- like leg attached under his waist. No legs. I thought to myself “Wow – did I really just see someone on crutches, no legs, racing through the marathon? “ That is some good fire.

Anyway, after I passed the half way point, I knew it was going to be a long ride home. My dreams of Boston Qualifying were long gone; my miles were averaging around 7:45, and my half time was 1:43. But now I was focused on the 3:30 goal. I was on time for that, and just don’t get over excited –it is still a long 13 miles to glory. And I was getting freaked out about my heart rate, by now consistently in the high 160’s – averaging 90% of max.

But now we are coming to my favorite part – the 59th St Bridge and First Avenue. The trip up the bridge seemed to be longer than I remembered and more uphill also. But what goes up must come down, so I am ok with it. And my wife and daughter are at mile 17.5. But I am not feeling so good.

Turning off the bridge onto First Avenue was everything I had remembered. People cheering everywhere and wow -- what a sight looking down First Avenue. Brings chills thinking about it. Here is a YouTube video of First Ave filmed by someone in an apartment overlooking the street.
Another of my favorite parts is running by Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital on 68th St and seeing the children from the cancer ward cheering you on. Fred’s Team is a charity that runs to raise money for cancer care, and this is their cheering station. It is so inspiring to see the nurses and patients out there clapping and enjoying the day.

My right hamstring started to tighten up. And I was a little dehydrated. The marathon has water stops at every mile. My hydration plan was plan was to alternate the miles water, Gatorade and skip. So I would drink two out of every three miles. It wasn’t an overly warm day and I wasn’t sweating that much really.

At First and 80th, hooking up with the family was great. My 9 year old was jumping up and down saying “Daddy don’t stop! Keep going! Don’t stop!” I wanted to stop right there and take a nap. My hammy hurt, I was peaking in HR in the mid 170’s –over 95%, which is darn near impossible to maintain. I took a piece of bread for fuel and went on. The bread was a really bad idea – it sucked all moisture out of my mouth. Had to get an extra cup of water for that.

Up First Avenue to the Willis Avenue bridge, at 124th. Made it about halfway up the bridge and took my first walk break just at the mile 20 mark. I wasn’t going to make sub 3:30 and had lots of cushion to make 3:30 something -- I figured I could run 9 minute miles over the next 6.2 and easily hit my goal.

After a walk break, I ran some, walked some. Right hamstring was really, really tight and it hurt badly. I felt like I wasn’t moving my leg at all, just swinging it with my hip. For about 20 seconds I thought of quitting, but I wasn’t going to do that. Miles went by slower and slower, and I wanted to save some energy for the Fifth Avenue stretch and Central Park (which starts at Mile 23 or so). And the miles just kept getting longer. Thankfully my heart rate was under control and would slow when I took a walk break (if your HR doesn’t decrease with a decrease in effort, it is a major concern.)

I met the family again in Central Park at Mile 24. I actually felt OK at this point and it is all downhill from there. Crowds were just awesome, and the fellow runners were just chewing up the pavement. I was looking forward to the end, but this was a blast.
Resolving to stay strong and run out the finish, I made the turn out of the park at mile 25 and onto Central Park South. Great crowds again, and a nice 8:30 minute mile would put me in at around 3:38 or so. My Garmin racing buddy was going crazy. I would be behind by 8 minutes, and then 15 the next. So I couldn’t really figure out my “cushion” for a 3:3x time, but the clocks on the course were all over.

Then, about 1/3rd of the mile from home, I had an enormous cramp in my left hammy. AHHHHHH! I had to pull up and hop off the course. It wasn’t so bad that I collapsed (as happened to a guy about 10 yards ahead of me), but it rendered me immobile. I stopped, stretched, rubbed it, hobbled some, and about that time a Dutch runner named Martin (it was written on his jersey), stopped and said “Come on we are almost there. You can make it.” And then he was gone. Hardly Knute Rockne-esque, but he was right, and I started again, slowly at first and then back in stride. After about 100 yards from the finish, I saw Martin and gave him a thumbs up and said thanks. But I knew that the cramp had just cost me the 3:3x.

Jogged across the line, feeling glad it was over, sorry that the last 6 miles were such a trudge, but also pleased with the world and everyone in it. I had just finished the New York marathon and set a PR.

After the Finish Line
After the finish line, they hand you a mylar blanket wrap and your medal. And then you have to walk down this road trying to find your truck with your bag from the start. Medical people are everywhere, like every 20 yards. I honestly felt nauseous. And my gut was in a huge knot, feeling terrible. I felt neither of those things in the course, but at the end I felt dizzy and faint and just sick. But I kept walking. If I sat down, I knew it wasn’t going to get any better and I would be in real trouble. I ate the energy bar in my finisher bag. And drank Gatorade. Slowly started feeling better. I remember thinking, “I am never doing that again.” A half marathon is so much easier and manageable.

After I got my bag and headed out to meet the family, I was already thinking about next year. How I was going to train, what I was going to do differently. And vowing to myself, “I’ll be back.”

Distance Split time Avg. HR Time
1.00 9:17 150 (81%) 0:09:17
2.00 6:35 153 (82%) 0:15:53
3.00 7:34 165 (89%) 0:23:27
4.00 7:48 165 (89%) 0:31:16
5.00 7:42 164 (88%) 0:38:59
6.00 7:32 165 (88%) 0:46:31
7.00 7:36 167 (90%) 0:54:08
8.00 7:48 167 (90%) 1:01:56
9.00 7:44 168 (90%) 1:09:41
10.00 7:35 166 (89%) 1:17:16
11.00 7:45 169 (91%) 1:25:01
12.00 7:45 169 (91%) 1:32:47
13.00 7:46 171 (92%) 1:40:33
14.00 7:50 172 (93%) 1:48:23
15.00 7:54 174 (93%) 1:56:17
16.00 8:10 177 (95%) 2:04:28
17.00 7:28 174 (94%) 2:11:56
18.00 8:15 169 (91%) 2:20:12
19.00 7:53 172 (93%) 2:28:05
20.00 8:54 173 (93%) 2:37:00
21.00 8:57 168 (90%) 2:45:57
22.00 10:03 163 (87%) 2:56:01
23.00 9:07 165 (89%) 3:05:08
24.00 10:50 159 (85%) 3:15:59
25.00 9:27 164 (88%) 3:25:27
26.00 9:06 166 (89%) 3:34:33
26.81 6:38 172 (92%) 3:41:12

NY Marathon Race Report, Part I

The day started off ominously. I had a 5:30 wake up alarm, but at 5 am, Mrs Wolve rolled over and said "Oh my God, its 6 am, and you've misssed your ride!" It was like a bad movie, or at least a Seinfeld episode. I jumped up about 10 feet in the air, and was already getting dressed. And then I realized my wife had forgotten about daylight savings time. I had not. So I wasn't late -- I was now actually up 30 minutes early.

And I opened the window, and... raining. Not hard, but rain -- not drizzle. A quick peek at the weather radar on my laptop showed rained all over the area, with no break until 10 am. That is not so bad -- the race was supposed to start at 9:45. But that did mean sitting in the rain waiting for the race start, for about 3 hours. The race start village is all outdoors on a coast guard training area under the Verrazano Bridge that goes from Staten Island to Brooklyn. It is like a college -- buildings, parking lots and open space. Lots of open space. 3 hours in the rain. Sitting in the mud. OK, whatever. Its been raining here all summer, so not that big of a deal. I just put on rain gear, and got in my ride.

Pleasant surprise number one: it stopped raining on the way! Sweet. And not much traffic. Got there about 7, which was quick. So, it was a great morning really. I mean I am at the marathon start, sun is out, and the big show is about to begin.

The start village is like a United Nations camp. There are so many foreigners running the marathon, and they travel in packs. And wear all kinds of gear showing their national pride. A group of Peruvians were sitting next to me. Lots of Dutch, Germans, Italians, Poles and Mexicans. A great melting pot. Except many of those cultures don't understand lines. So the concept of lining up for a toilet is inapplicable. Dunkin Donuts had free coffee, and it was a madhouse. They were passing out free hats, and people were literally getting crushed trying to get one. It wasn't even cold -- people just wanted the freebie. (I'll post a picture when I can.)

As I was waiting for my last bathroom break, the announcement came: First wave to the corrals. The race has three waves that go out in 20 minute waves. I was in the first wave, which was for the fastest runners. I was way in the back of the wave, and kind of got in a rush to get to the corral. The corrals are separate starting divisions within the waves. Each corral was about 500 people. I wanted to run with the 3:30 pace group, but they were starting in the corral ahead of me. No big deal, except I would have to catch them in first mile or so. Again, not a big deal, but I had to get to my corral to be in the front. So I hustled to the bag drop, dropped my bag, and went to line up. I had forgotten to eat my banana and last energy bar, so all I had in me was an energy bar at 6 am. Also not so good.

And then I waited in the corral. And waited. And went to the bathroom again. And waited. And got cold. My heart rate was in the 60s, which I was pleased about. Time to line up and get close. Could barely hear national anthem and then BANG, and we're off. I crossed the line about 1 minute after the gun went off. WooHooo...Yeah!

First mile is just a zoo. Very crowded..and it is uphill, up the Verrazano bridge. In fact, it has the high point of the course on it, at mile 1. As someone said, its all down hill from there. First mile was about 10:20. That was real slow, but understandable. Fell in with the 3:30 pace group, and was feeling good. To make 3:30, we needed to run 8 minute miles. So a 10:20 first mile meant we now had 2 minutes 20 seconds to make up over the next 25 miles.

And I looked backover the bridge to Manhattan, and Wow what a view! Just spectacular. I also saw the flag flying on Ft Wadsworth (the starting village). And it was stiff pointing right at the bridge. Whitecaps on the river. Uh-oh. All that rain was followed by a strong breeze out of the NNE. And we are about to run 21 miles...NNE. 21 miles into the wind before we turn around and head for home. Not a crushing gale wind, but a strong breeze. That isn't good.

A quick pit stop on the side of the bridge in mile 2 (coming downhill), and still ran a 6:50 mile 2. Now off the bridge and running on the bridge access roads really. A huge crush of people, and I am running close to the curb; to dodge a walker, I step onto the grass off the road and run about 10 feet on the grass. And promptly step into a mud puddle. Oh dammit, my foot wet, sock wet, shoe wet and dirty. Dammit, that is just inconvenient, but I'll live. Lucky I didn't twist my ankle or anything. Heart rate is a little high, but by about mile 3 or so we (the pace group) are on pace.

And I am feeling great. The first seven miles go by so quickly and so smoothly, I am just in awe. The race is 25% over and I feel like I haven't broken a sweat. Remarkably smooth. Miles 3-7 all went around 7:30. I had left the 3:30 pace group because I had found some space, fell into a good rhythm and just let it flow.

I started thinking,... maybe BQ... maybe this will be a golden day. Still worried about heart rate, which was already around 85% or so which isn't so good. I kept saying to myself, slow down.. give up pace...save it..keep heart rate down...don't go out too fast..pace, pace, pace.

But hey, I felt great. I was running the NY marathon, and I thought, what the hell, enjoy the ride.

3:42

That is official the result:3:42:08. First half in 1:43; second in 1:59 (ouch!). Still all in all, I have a smile ear to ear.

Of course I am disappointed wasn't a 3:30 something, but it was a great race and great experience. Race report later.

Thanks to everyone for messages of support and interest, it really, really means a lot.