European Trifecta

Another summer behind me, another chance to get back on track with training. This time, though, we moved to Poland, and we happened to arrive in a heat wave. For a month it was 90 degrees or more! Training was not easy, but on top of it was jet lag from the move and all the new hire activities (lots of dinners, eating, happy hours, tours, etc.). We were in a hotel for a month, awaiting our house. This meant a lot of people (and one dog) in one room, constantly eating out since our kitchen looked like something kindergarteners would use for make-believe. Diet was not strong. We had about a 5-mile bike to get to school each way, meaning we'd put in about 60-80 miles of cycling a week with trips to downtown on the weekend. When the weather finally broke, we were treated to beautifully clear skies and temps in the 70s. Suddenly my long runs skated by, with a couple of 20 milers feeling great. I also started hockey and took on a year-long swimming challenge. The body came back a bit.

Warsaw Marathon

The day dawned bright a clear, a big improvement over the last two weeks of misty rain, clouds, and cool weather. The race temp was 49 F but it felt warmer in the sun. I have never seen a city marathon so relaxed; the start area was not closed off and family and friends could walk an athlete to the bag drop trucks and over to the start line. The pace started off relatively slow on somewhat narrow roads. I was surprised that the 3:20 and the two 3:15 pace groups did not seem to be out faster. I hovered between them, thinking a 3:20 would be respectable, but by halfway, I was on 3:18 flat pace, far too slow for the 3:15 group. They were running erratically, as I would run a 7:09 mile and fall back from them and then a 7:30 mile and be ahead of them. It wasn't good pacing so I left them, running the last 12k at 7-8 seconds faster than the first 5k. I only felt stronger from halfway on and I kept it in the bag, knowing that there was no glory in a faster time, and other races loomed this fall. By 39k I had passed the second 3:15 group, dwindled down to a few. It was a 3:14 flat to wrap up the day, which felt great for the training I did (or lacked). 

Recovery seemed to take longer than it should for a race that went so well. I felt great immediately after, sore the next day, and worse the next. I swam a lot that week and jogged on Thursday and Saturday. But the dead legs lingered throughout the month. 

Venice Marathon

Dawn over Venice could mark the beginning of a great day - just not for me. I didn't run well here three years ago and today would be more of the same. Even staying near the terminus, I had a decent 25 min walk to the buses. From there we drove out to the athlete's village which was another 800m walk after the buses let out. Where a few years ago there were tents, now it was just open space (filled with people). It was another mile walk to the starting line. By the time the gun went off, I already had about 3 miles in me. It was hot for marathon weather, and sweat came early. 

Things were fine for much of the way. I ran easy, hitting 7:40s per mile for a lot of the way. I came up on a pace group and ran the next 3 K with them, all of them slower than it should be. My rhythm was disrupted. I vowed to leave them if they missed a fourth straight K but they suddenly went way faster. It would spell the beginning of the end for me. I hit the park in ok shape, but on the rise up the causeway, I missed my first split. I continued to fade from there, and by the time I hit the island, it was all over. I had nothing left. I faded and walked about 5 times on the bridges. By the time I saw the family at about 41k I was exploding. My bonk was hard and unforgiving. The worst part was that after finishing I had about a 2 mile walk back to the hotel (where I couldn't shower) before a cab to the airport and then renting a car, followed by a 90 minute drive up north. I made it a few hundred meters in the crowded streets before sitting down and cramping up. Eventually I could stand and limp on. It was a terrible blow, and not encouraging for the week ahead. 

Completely spent with 1K to go

A lonely road to the finish line

Frank Shorter said, "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another." Unfortunately, I would not have that luxury. 

Frankfurt Marathon

We spent the week eating and drinking out way across northern Italy. The pain in the legs was significant for the first few days but faded. The walking helped. A lingering hitch behind the knee was all that remained come the day before the race. We had a little hang-up as the hotel we booked, which was just blocks from the train station and start/finish line and expo, turned out to be the seediest street I have ever been on, not just stayed. Sex shops were on every corner, prostitution rampant, and more people doing meth on the street than I care to see. We saw someone shooting up between their toes, women with scabs all over their faces, and many without teeth. The noise went all night, and at 9am the next morning, the club on the bottom floor of our building was still going hard. People would drop their pants at random, or burst out shouting. We decided safety was more important and left after just one night. 

A very messy starting area finally released into the streets, and for most of the run, things were fine. I felt pretty good considering it was my second marathon that week, my third in a month, and not as young (or well-trained) as I used to be. But by 30k, the deep emptiness just got to me. I started taking walk breaks at aid stations to hydrate since it was pretty warm again for a marathon. At first, these were about 2k apart but soon they were 1k apart and getting harder. I really struggled, but not in a crampy bonk way. Just out of gas. I limped in, my time very certainly my slowest marathon ever (when you control for trail/mountain races).  I can't say I enjoyed it, but I can say I did it. 

Fine here?

Near death at the end

Venice and Frankfurt in a week!

Grandma's Marathon

In the crisp dawn air, looking down a corridor of pine trees, I can see Boston in the distance. Granted, it's a 1500 mile drive from where I stand now, and a good 9 hour flight from my next home, but today, all that lies between me and that race is a 26.2 mile time trial along the lakeshore. 

But let's not forget the title of this blog. After humidity, gastritis, 53 hours awake traveling home, 1000mi of driving in 3 days and housework, I had a tough transition to say the least. But the hits kept coming as we found our flight leg from Chicago was delayed (17 hours in the end). This would lead to a missed connection to Duluth. We tried to get there another way, another airline, no go. What if we flew to Minneapolis, Madison, or Milwaukee? No, full. What if we flew from Lansing, Flint, or Detroit? Sorry, no seats on connecting flights till Sunday or Monday. We had no choice; we drove. I put in a good 5+ hours to Beloit, WI before we took a rest in a Super 8. After 6 hours rest and a quick bite, we drove on trading the time behind the wheel in order to save the legs, arriving after about another 6-hour haul. Expo, dinner and rest was all we could manage before a 4am wake up. 

Not the quick flight we planned on

Jumping into the last open seat on the bus, I sat and joined 59 other hopefuls singing "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield which was blasting over the radio. I would hear those lyrics in my head throughout the day. 

Staring at the blank page before you, Open up the dirty window Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find 

All feelings of guilt about my cheat shoes left me when I look around me in the corral and see nothing but Nike Vaporfly shoes on every competitor. The weather, which has been in the high 70s the last week and is aiming for 80s and 90s on Sunday and Monday now has cooled to the mid-50s. The sun is out and the wind, with strong gusts, is from the Northeast, so we have a tailwind the entire way. There could not be better circumstances for the race. 

I break tradition, Sometimes my tries are outside the lines We've been conditioned to not make mistakes, But I can't live that way 

Early miles peel away. Though I have targeted a 7:01 (3:04 marathon), I can't seem to avoid running between 6:51-6:57. It's all time in the bank, and I have to ease way back in order to not drop even more time. By 10k I have nearly a minute in hand, and by halfway, I cross in 1:30:20, which is just too fast. I can't go slower it seems, but at the same time I have no delusions about going sub-3. My only goal from this point forward was to not hemorrhage back time.  

Full stride near the finish

I see Sarah and my friends with whom we worked in South Africa, Jay and Sara, at mile 19. All systems are go, and I feel as if I have not yet began to race. But a letdown sets in, and Lemon Drop Hill looms in the distance. In 2017, I don't remember this hill but as I see it coming over the next mile, I know I am going to remember it this time. Slowing significantly up the overpass, I managed to grab back most of the time lost on the up, though it is my first "slow" mile at about 7:03. My stomach sours significantly and I now have 4 miles left to hang on. At 24, there was not much left in me. As Gary Bjorkland said, "Grandma's Marathon starts in the middle of the woods, runs along the beautiful shores of Lake Superior, and finishes at a pub." I say, it was "19 miles of bliss, 5 miles of work, and 2 miles of absolute pain."

Trying to hold on to sub-7 pace around 23 miles

Reaching for something in the distance, So close you can almost taste it

Thank god the bricks have been removed from Superior Street, but even though I wanted to push at this point, I had nothing. The bridge over the highway was a zap, and as I came off the back side, a stiff headwind blasted me in the face. I had been yo-yo'ing between 6:55s and 7:03 per mile for the last few.  I turned off the water along the freighter and a guy that I had been near all race said, "Go with me. Come on!" I told him I was broke, and he said just go, but when I stuck the pace, he was not with me. Oh well. I rounded another corner, saw Sarah at 26, and just held on. I could go no faster, and I crossed the finish line in 3:01:39 with absolutely nothing left. I put it all out on the course and came home with nothing to spare. Collapsing into the arms of a support crew, I was put in a wheelchair, my vision blurred and dizzy. It took a few minutes but I got up and walked out of there, 8 min and 21 seconds to the good of Boston. In all my training I did not think I would get here, especially not after the injury and the heat and stress of leaving China and driving all the way to the race. I probably have not run a better race, or at least not in a long time. 

Pretty jacked at the finish but looked at watch for first time

Drench yourself in words unspoken

I have not run faster in over 20 marathons, spanning back more than 8 years to my last Boston. 

My time put me 11 min faster than 2017 but yet I finished 129 people back this time. This race has obviously become much more competitive. The number of women around me for multiple miles outnumbered the men at that time, something I have never seen in any race. But I didn't come here for anything other than a time to get me into the Boston Marathon, and it is pretty safe to say I have done that. While there are no guarantees, I must be in. In no time in the 10 years since the BAA has held a graduated qualifier has the accepted time been over 8 minutes. I expect to be admitted, but I will have to wait until September to be sure. But for now, I am a BQ'er and that makes 3 straight decades of my life that I have qualified for Boston. 

Today is where your book begins, The rest is still unwritten

For my Fourways boys - see you April 2023!

Pre-Race Jitters

When 2022 began, I set a goal to requalify for the Boston Marathon and join my friends from South Africa back in Beantown for the 10th anniversary of the bombings. My first real training in several years was sailing along and I was building mileage and nailing a pace that had me scoping the 3-hour marathon again. Then one day, for no rhyme or reason, I finished a run and went to the ground. Searing pain in my lower back had me doing MRIs and physical therapy. It ultimately proved to be a strained muscle, perhaps a stressed ligament in the hip area, which pulled on the back/pelvic joints. 

The injury cost me 15 days off and another 2 weeks to get back to reasonable running shape. In that time, the weather turned disgusting, and regular runs were leaving me stumbling to the finish, with legs twitching all day, a constant headache, nausea, and even occasional diarrhea. I'd had enough. There was no way I was going to be able to do the kind of training needed to run a Boston Qualifier in these conditions. Running was supposed to be my outlet, my break from the stress, and instead, I was going on runs and suffering, only to be more and more fed up with the Chinese on the path, cutting me off, covering their mouths and noses as I ran by, and blasting annoying music. I called off the marathon attempt - well, I would still run in June but easier, no pressure for the time. I cut back my mileage to 40mpw, took away the 20 milers, and readjusted the goal pace to around 7:19/mile (about a 3:12). I started to feel better and running became manageable again. 

When it became clear that my fall marathons would be too late to use for Boston, I had a choice to make - miss Boston or pony up and do the work and hope it was enough to give it a go. So I got back to it, adding mileage and resuming the long run. My weeks got back to 50 or so miles with a few workouts. I went from 0 runs over 16 miles to doing three 20 milers in three weeks. Karma for my injury came full circle when weekdays of gross heat and humidity turned to slightly cooler, rainy Sundays, making those long runs possible again. I wasn't running necessarily all that much faster than pre-injury but I was running longer, more consistent workouts in significant humidity, and I was feeling great, recovering well, and my hope is that all these months put together will pay dividends when the gun goes off June 18th. 

Then the humidity became bad. I got gastritis in the final weeks and no run felt good. I even took an extra day off at the end. Stress was at it's highest in the final days, trying to leave a country with no certainty of being able to get out. It was not an ideal finish. 

Some key workouts are listed below:

• 10x1K - most of them under 4 minutes.
• Continuous cutdown run. 1 mile easy. 3 miles @MP (7:10, 7:00, 7:02) 3 min jog, 2 mi @ HMP (6:47, 6:39) 2 min jog and 1 mile @ 10K (6:15). 
• After a 10 miler, I planned on 2 mi warm up and 4 mi MP. Instead ran 7:13, 7:12, 7:02, 6:53, 6:34, 5:58 in a cold rain, absolutely unloading. 
• 2 mi warm up. 3x2mi @HMP (6:40, 6:37) 3 min jog. (6:31, 6:31) 3 min jog. (6:38, 6:36) 1.5 mi down.
• 10mi "warm up" with Sarah in 1:18:47 and then changed into the new Vaporfly. 8mi solo sub MP (6:52, 6:49, 6:53, 6:52, 6:49, 6:46, 6:48, 6:44).
• 4 mi warm up. 2x4mi @MP (7:10, 7:08, 7:04, 7:04) and (7:09, 7:05, 7:08, 7:04) with 3min walk. 4 mi cool down.
• 2mi warm up. 4x1200m (4:46, 4:44, 4:48, 4:48) w/ 2min walk on each. Then 4x400m (88, 88, 85, 87). 2mi down.
• Yasso 8s (800m) in 2:59-3:01 w/ 2 min recovery. 

China was oppressive, both in weather and behavior. There was a lot of racism and anti-Westerner sentiment that made things challenging. Two years of no travel outside of China (and restricted, stressful jaunts here). It's one thing to be challenged by the weather and another to be challenged all of the time in every aspect - from professional to athletic, to personal. My only two marathons in China were 6 days after not running for 3 weeks in hotel quarantine and the other after a summer of no running due to heat and after 8 days off in Tibet. Hell, even before that I only jogged a marathon in my final year of India. So it's been a hell of a long time since I challenged myself to rise up. Just getting to the US was a breath of fresh air. I can only hope that just 6 days of not working, eating well, cooler weather, and stability/security will leave me primed for the hardest race I will have run in many years. Will it be enough? Time will tell.

Literally. Not only has the Boston Qualifying time for my age group dropped from 3:15 to 3:10 in recent years, but Boston has also become so popular that on any given year, it takes a time 2-7 minutes faster than the cut-off to be accepted. Not only does this mean I have to run faster, but I won't know how fast it takes to enter until September. Sitting on my run for more than three months until I find out my fate is not the easiest way to do this (assuming I go sub-3:10 in the first place). But I have no choice. Come decision day, my time will be accepted or it won't. 

The Pain of Potential Dreams

 Well, I didn't start a blog with this title to publish stories about things going smoothly. 

I have been running better than I have in years. I felt good. But we know this does not last when 2020/2021 continues into 2022... After two months of consistency, base, and improved pace, I have hit a roadblock. 

Thursday - March 3. A 10-mile workout. After a 2 mile warm-up, it's 3x2 mi at half marathon pace. I cruise them in 6:40-6:30s, but I feel a clicking in my butt. It is uncomfortable, but it doesn't hurt and doesn't stop me from running well, so I persist, that is until the workout ends. The second I stop, BOOM! I cannot walk. There is a pain up my leg that cannot be good. I limp home on the cool down but when I change to shower, I cannot stand. I am on crutches that night and know this is a big problem.

Was it too much volume? (Doubtful). Was it the new shoes and a footstrike issue? (Probably not since it didn't happen with the new shoes and didn't hurt Mon-Wed on different runs in different shoes.) Am I getting old? (Yes, but that's irrelevant). It is possible that with this increase in training, my weak right ankle has led to an imbalance and it has created this problem. Maybe not (due to accute onset), but I'll work on it just the same. 

A visit to the doctor Friday and then an MRI Saturday. The pain which was radiating all over my back and ass Friday has subsided and is now localized directly behind my right kidney but on the bone. I fear stress fracture, just as I had back in about 2006. Alas, the MRI is negative, but I cannot run. The pain is oscillating between my pelvic bone/sacrum area and deep in my ass cheek, like where the leg plugs into the pelvis. One time it hurts there, then later it hurts on the pelvis (back). It seems to change daily and over the day itself. 

I go to the physio for a 2nd opinion, and he stretches and cracks me in 50 different directions before sending me to do a series of strengthening exercises. I am free to cycle so I put in an hour a day on Zwift, wanting to kill myself out of boredom. Monday (10 days after the injury) I am back in for more stretching and strength. The pain is no better. We decide to back off the cross-training and exercises to alternating every other day. I was supposed to be back running by this day so I am devastated. 

There is no fracture. There doesn't appear to be a tear (I can do explosive movements). He thinks I have a problem with the pubocapsular/pubofemular ligament. This puts pressure on the sacroiliac joint, which explains the floating pain. I'll buy that. So with no break, tear or inflamation, what do I do? He says recovery should quickly.... I took Celebrex for 6 days to no effect. Icing shouldn't help (but I do it anyway). I then sat on a hard massage ball for hours a day, trying to release this stress. Improvements came. So I started running. After 15 days off, I tried and failed. The next day was better. I struggled the following. So I booked an appointment with the city's best sports medicine doctor. He thinks it is a muscle strain, gives me topical rubs, and says we do a shot in the sacrum gap if it doesn't clear. 

Now I am a week of jogging in and looking like I might be past it. I have lost endurance and speed. 

At the new year, I had more than a training plan's worth of time to prepare. I was solidly moving toward a fast time. All that work gone. Cardiovascular fitness lost. Consistency. I will have to build back now in less than 3 months, and do the most significant distances and workouts in the highest temps and humidity. We have hit 90 degrees in March with humidity never to abate. I don't have high confidence in my ability to do what needs to be done. There's no excuses, only this time to get it done. But it will be a challenge now, moreso than ever before. 

They lured the men away
They promised wealth and riches
A thousand miles from home

Fifty-seven men on the hardest mile
Murdered for their troubles, left to die
Immigrant sons from Donegal, Tyrone & Derry
Their numbers were few but they did the job of many

The Hardest Mile -Dropkick Murphys

The Call of the Road

COVID has been awful - full stop. From a running standpoint, I have little to show for it. After my full run of the White Pine Trail in spring 2020, things have taken a turn. I managed the GZ marathon in December 2020 after almost 3 weeks of no running due to quarantine in moving to China. After taking most of the sweltering summer off running, I ran and won the Homeless Love marathon after a week off touring Tibet in Oct 2021. Now, all other races in China are canceled for the foreseeable future, meaning no return to the Great Wall Marathon for me. 

With the move to Europe nearing, I will have new opportunities. No more pitiful void of routes and events. No longer will humidity stifle my drive. An abundance of races will be in my neighborhood, and a plethora of beautiful cities will host more races than needed. It's time to rediscover my purpose.

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. My best training buddies from South Africa were there that day and they plan to return a decade later. I went a year after the bombing in an attempt to ensure my freedoms cannot be taken away. But in order to join my comrades for this anniversary, I would have to re-qualify - something that poses a significant challenge when the last two years have been pure junk running. In fact, I have not posted a BMQ (Boston qualifying time) in 8 years, at that very aforementioned Boston. At 41, this becomes one of my more difficult endeavors. In order to do this, I am going to have to do something I haven't done much of in the past decade - train.

Normally, I just run. Whatever miles I bank training with an XC team or getting out there most days is ok with me. I typically average around 30 miles a week. But that will not be significant enough to work this time. Other times, I race into shape, running races and finding fitness in the moment. But there are no races this year - I'll go from October to June without the chance to run one. I need a sub-3 hours, 10 mins just to register. That time alone will likely not be enough to get me in. Due to field size, faster times get priority. It could take a time 3-6 min faster to get in, which will not be known until long in the future. Due to a lack of races, I have determined my best chance of doing so is at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, MN, on June 18th, just 6 days after landing back in the USA after nearly two years away. 

I am largely following this plan, but improvising the month of May with other workouts I love. I had an extra 4 weeks from when I started the plan to the taper, and I am unsure how I will handle the heat and humidity of May. It is amazing what a little consistency can do for a guy. After just 4-weeks of 40 miles per week, I am strong and fresh. Due to the pace required, I have had to add two days a week of workouts in order to ensure that I have a threshold that will allow me to push the pace come race day. Holding on and surviving won't get me qualified. Additionally, I am using the long runs as a third workout, splicing in segments of marathon pace and faster to prepare for the race ahead. My workouts have been spectacular so far as I am punching out all of my goal times with relatively little effort. My recovery is solid. I am cautiously proceeding as to not push the pace or miles beyond the plan and risk overtraining and/or injury. If I do that, I only have myself to blame. At least this way, I have a plan to follow and then can offload some of that blame on the plan ;) The plan peaks at around 60 miles per week, and I feel that is sufficient for the work. I will emphasize pace over high mileage. 

My biggest fears are twofold: heat and safety. The humidity will be a problem. I have never run well in it, but the silver lining here is that I will be 1) in better shape going into the harshest months and 2) I will gradually ease into the hotter and wetter conditions rather than just starting right into the storm. I can only hope it is enough. Speaking of hope, I have another issue. Flights are banned to/from the USA and China. We aren't 100% sure if we can get back in time. Once there, I don't have a vaccination (the China one is insufficient for US standards). So, I have to get vaccinated immediately and hope that I do not experience side effects in the days prior to the race. We all will have to isolate somewhat as Omicron rages on because getting sick in the days prior to my one shot at this time will be the worst-case scenario. 

A new addition to the plan will be the experimentation with some of these high-tech shoes. I have the Nike Vaporfly Next %2 - a significant investment in my goal as they run about $225. I'll try them out for portions of the workouts/long runs closer to the race to get the legs used to the formation. I can't say I love the idea of the "cheat shoes" but they give a significant advantage and I could use the help. If they are legal, I am open to the idea. 

Space-age monstrosities

2020 sucked. 2021 sucked. Will 2022-2023 be better? Only TIME will tell.