faster with age

     No miles today or tomorrow to rest my hip the best I can before Saturday. I don't think I have as much confidence in being able to run the marathon as my orthopedic doc does and before going to him on Tues I had pretty much decided I wasn't running Saturday. My wife and I decided we were going down either way and doing some hiking in Zions if I didn't run [or if I don't end up running very far]. I'll have no way of knowing if all the anti-inflammatory meds are working until I'm a few miles into the marathon because everything feels normal. So I guess I'm going to give it a shot. The doc doesn't feel like I can do any permanent damage so I guess the worst that could happen is having to quit at mile 3 and catching a ride to the end. I don't think I would walk it out if I have to quit way early. I'd save it for hiking with the family in Zions. I plan to start out with the 3 hour group and see how it goes for a bit. I felt pretty confident about a sub 3 hour 4 weeks ago after TOU half. My times from my last 2 races [TOU 1/2 and Des news 10k] both had me running St George at 2:56:57 on Sashas race predicter. My training has been so poor the past few weeks that I'm sure I have lost some fitness. I've only been able to run more than 2 1/2 miles 5 days out of the last 4 weeks and 14 days out of the last 6 weeks. I only had one full week of running in the past 6 weeks and that was 4 weeks ago. Hopefully my biking and hiking has kept me from losing too much fitness but the running muscles haven't had much use latley. If my hip holds out I'm quite confident I can PR. I should still be in better shape than I was last year when I ran 3:14 into that huge headwind. Last year I wasn't able to run until the last 4 weeks before the race. Kind of the opposite of this year. Good luck to everyone running Saturday.

     I went into this race with a lot of doubts. My training had gone well this summer until 6 weeks ago. Since then it kind of fell apart. I only had one week out of the last 6 that went as planned. I was only able to run more than 2 1/2 miles 14 days out of the last 6 weeks and only 2 days in the past 3 weeks and that was 2 1/2 weeks ago. . On my last real run my hip flexor came up very sore and kept me from being able to run more than a mile and a half at a time. Last Monday I could still only run 2 miles before the pain would come on and quickly intensify. I finally had to admit to myself that this race wasn't going to happen. That was tough. I talked to my wife about it and we decided to go down anyway for a short vacation [since we already had a room and time off] and spend some time hiking in Zions park. We have an orthopedic surgeon [specializing in sports medicine] that comes to town once a week. I decided as a last ditch effort to go see him and was able to get in on Tuesday. I figured I was just wasting money because I was sure I was just going to be told to go home and use the R.I.C.E. method. After checking me out and looking at the x-rays, he said the joint and ligaments looked good and nothing torn [I have no pain exept when I run]. He said it was a hip flexor muscle that became inflamed when I run and figured if I got started on a high daily dose of ibuprofen until the race I could give it a try without risking permanent damage. I started on the meds and went out hoping for a decent run the next day but only made it 3 miles before the pain came. I rested it the next 2 days and went down to the race with very low expectations.

     I decided that there was a good chance that I wasn't going to make it more than 5 or 6 miles. If that happened I could borrow a phone at the mile 7 aid station in Veyo and call my wife. She could come in through the back way and pick me up.I let her and my son know that this was a likely outcome and told them I thought my odds of finishing were below 50%. Secretly inside I think I felt it was less than 20%.

     I decided to start out the race with Clyde and Logans 3 hour pace group since that is what I had been training for before everything went south. We took off and I was feeling great. We hit the first 2 miles in 6:50 and 6:44 and I was still feeling great. Miles 3 and 4 we hit in 6:27 and 6:18 and the pace was feeling too fast for me. I was running with Steve Piccolo and we both decided we had better back off the pace a bit and let them go. At this point my hip was feeling good. Somewhere before the 5 mile mark the pain started coming back and by the time I reached 5 miles it was getting bad. We got to mile 6 and it was bad enough it was causing me to limp. I decided at that point I was finished as it just kept getting worse and I knew there was no way. I wanted to walk but decided to see if I could just keep running the last mile down into Veyo. I told Steve I was dropping out at Veyo and the decision was made. Just as you come into town the road levels out and I realized the pain was actually a bit less on the level. It was still pretty bad but had improved slightly. Just enough that I didn't have to favor it. We ran through the intersection in town where I was going to quit and Steve and I exchanged goodbye good luck see you laters but I couldn't stop. The aid station was about 150 yards ahead and I decided I would stop there. The aid station came and went and I was still running. It was just too hard to stop and say it was over even though my better sense told me to. I kept running with Steve up Veyo hill as I kept telling myself what an idiot I was because now I was going to have to walk all the way back to Veyo past all the thousands of runners that were now behind me. We hit mile 8 on the hill and the pain wasn't getting worse so I figured I could at least make the aid station at mile 9 before I quit. We finished off Veyo hill and into the next section of mostly uphill rollers. For the past few miles the pace had been feeling a little to hard. My heart rate was much higher this morning than it was a month ago when my training was good. I had known this for a few miles but I kept pushing on because it didn't matter if I burned out since I would be quitting soon anyway. We went by mile 9 and since it was still uphill, my hip was about the same. Steve and I were still running together and I started to realize that I might be able to do this. Now the problem was I felt totally spent and I had a long way to go. In my other marathons I have always felt quite fresh at the half and sometimes even on to 18 miles or so but I was already feeling terrible. At about 10 miles I told Steve that I was going to slow down. He started to slow down with me. He had been running so strong and I told him I needed to really slow down and he ought to keep going. He went on to have a great run finishing in 3:02. At this point it was still uphill and I slowed way down. People were passing me right and left. This ended up being my slowest mile of the race at 7:39. I stopped at the aid station and stretched and walked for about 1/2  minute before taking off again. I felt very slow and in survival mode already and wasn't paying any attention to my Garmin or worrying about time goals. I was surprised that mile 12 came in at 7:22 after stopping at the aid station at the beginning of the mile. I went through the half in 1:31:15 and my hip was about the same. I got to the big downhill that starts during mile 15 and just like I figured, my hip started getting worse. Back to limping mode. I spent time again at the aid station at mile 15 before finishing the rest of that downhill. It did get feeling better again after it flattened out some but took a lot longer this time. I knew there were only a couple more hills that steep but they were much shorter. My energy level was still low but didn't seem to be getting worse. The next miles 16 through 23, I felt about the same and I spent 20 to 30 seconds at each aid station. After mile 23 the fatigue got worse but I tried to keep the pace from slowing too much. The thought of how happy my wife and son were going to be for me when they saw me coming up to the finish just to see I made it let alone in a good time really kept me going those last 2 miles. As I hit that last stretch some energy came from somewhere and I picked up the pace and passed a lot of people.I ran the last .2 at 6:32 pace and finished in 3:05:21.It wasn't the sub 3 that I had been training for earlier but it's a PR by 9 minutes and I was thrilled with that time under the circumstances. 

1- 6:50

2- 6:44

3- 6:27

4- 6:18   Too fast slowed down

5- 6:39

6- 6:31

7- 6:33

8- 7:22    start Veyo hill

9- 7:20    Finish Veyo then rollers

10-7:12   uphill

11-7:39  Big slowdown mile. Getting passed like crazy. Still uphill gradual

12-7:22

13-7:01      Half in 1:31:15

14-7:15

15-6:48     Big downhill

16-7:02    

17-7:06

18-7:26    aid station stop

19-7:24

20-7:14   aid station

21-6:45

22-7:30   aid station

23-7:18

24-7:02  aid station

25-7:31  aid station

26-7:10

26.25-6:32 pace  [1:39]

In hindsight I think I underestimated my loss of fitness over the past month. I think I must have lost some speed but my endurance was still decent. I had been riding my bike and hiking to try and stay fit while I couldn't run but it's not as good as running. I may have been able to run a better time if I had run the first 10 slower and saved it for the second half. At least I would have felt fresher for more of the race. At 9 miles I already felt like I had done 20. I'm happy with the race and glad I got to meet a few new bloggers in person. I still would like to run a marathon one day fully trained and uninjured. Just once?

     Spent the night in Mesquite. Had the normal muscle soreness I usually get on the day after a marathon. Going up and down stairs hurts. Hip flexor isn't to bad. less sore than yesterday. It tightened up yesterday after the race once I had stopped running and was sore walking. 

     Still some muscle soreness [mainly on stairs] but much better than yesterday. Hip flexor very little soreness, just certain moves cause discomfort.

     Legs are feeling pretty good today and no soreness in the hip flexor under normal activities but I'm sure I wouldn't have to run very far for the pain to come on again. I don't think it's any worse off than it was after it first got sore 2 1/2 weeks before the marathon.

     The leg soreness is pretty much gone today. Soreness from hip flexor is gone also [I'm sure it would quickly come back if I ran a ways]. I went 15 miles on the mountain bike. I had good energy and really hammered on the way back.

I decided to try my first run since the marathon. Everything has been feeling good but I figured I'd be happy if I could make it a mile before my hip flexor would get sore. I was amazed to end up going 3 miles without it bothering me. That was as far as my longest run 3 days before the marathon and I was on lots of ibuprofen for that run and it started giving me pain at the end. Today no meds and I felt like I could have kept running but decided to play it safe. This is encouraging and looks like I didn't set back my recovery from this hip flexor thing by more than a week or two by running the marathon. 8:07 ave pace.

     Ran out to get the newspaper this morning and added .2  to make it a mile. At noon I ran 3 miles. My hip flexor didn't give me any problems again [which was my main concern for post marathon recovery] but the plica syndrom [ knee pain] that struck the week before the hip flexor problem, bothered me Monday and today. It started right from the beggining of the runs but never got too bad. When it first struck before the marathon, it always hit just beyond 2 miles but quickly got bad enough that I couldn't run. I took ibuprofen for it before the marathon and that completely took care of it but now it must be aggravated from the marathon. It's nice to know the pain isn't damaging anything but it's very annoying. 

     Congradulations to my Dad who just swept the 4 gold medals in mountain biking at the Hunstman World Senior Games in St George in the 75 to 79 year old age group.

      After taking  another 4 days off I went for another run. I ran 3 miles without any pain from my hip or my knee. On the two 3 milers I did last week my hip flexor did good but my knee [plica syndrom] bothered me right from the start. Today everything was good start to finish without meds.  I felt great and would have loved to go for 10 but played it safe with 3. Ave pace 7:48

     I went out this morning hoping to run another 3 or maybe 4 miles without pain but today my knee started getting sore at a little over 2.5 miles so I quit at 2.7. I didn't take any ibuprofen this morning. I wonder if I take ibuprofen and run a few more miles, if it would heal faster or slower, than no meds and less running? I was more worried about my hip flexor after the marathon but it seems to be giving me no problems. My knee felt good on Monday's run but got sore that evening while hiking downhill out deer hunting.

     Did a 4 mile run this morning. first 3 miles 7:56, 7:13, 6:26. Then 1/2 mile recovery at 7:07 pace then last 1/2 at 5:45 pace. I took ibuprofen 3 hours before running and had no pain. 

     Ran 4 easy miles. Took ibu a couple of hours before the run and everything felt good again. 8:27 pace. That gives me a whole 13.5 miles for the week and a whole 25.7 for the past 3 weeks combined. Whahoo.

          Ran a 6.2 mile run with 4.2 fartlec. 2 miles warm up at 7:40 ave pace. Then 5x1000 at 6:24 ave pace with 1/4 mile rec. at 8:00 pace. 6:35 ave pace for 4.2 miles. This was by far the best run I've had since the marathon and everything felt good. I took ibu. before running.

     34 degrees this morning which was 10 deg warmer than yesterday morning. There was a little bit of blowing snow. I started a short run this and my knee was a bit sore so I bagged the run and did a 15 mile mt bike ride. 

     Ran 4 easy miles this morning in very windy and below freezing weather. My knee felt good until the last half mile when I felt a very slight pain. 8:28 pace.

     Ran 1 mile warm up then 3 miles 6:18, 6:26, and 6:17. Then 1/2 mile cool down. I ran about the pace I was planning for the 3 mile tempo run but it felt more like race pace tonight. I didn't feel like I could have run any faster. I can't run very many miles right now so I figure I'll run some of them fast. I haven't been doing much on the bike because it bothers my knee a bit too. I took ibuprofen tonight and everything felt good.

     Started to run and my knee started to get sore after 1/2 mile so I quit and went on a 20 mile mt bike ride. This ride didn't bother my knee at all. It seems like my knee is doing best  when I run every other day right now