A Lean and Hungry Look

Relaxing 4-mile loop with Maja (our dog).  I hadn't run with her for months due to the fact that she doesn't like to go much faster than 7:30 pace and wears down after about 6 miles, but it was great to have her with me this morning.  With a little snow on the ground, I had to put on long sleeves, gloves, and a hat.  Happy October!  We're heading down to St. George this afternoon, so my next entry will be a race report early next week.  Good luck to everyone down there!

Easy jog to keep the legs loose.  Opened up briefly on the downhill in the final mile.  Everything feeling good.

I'm writing this 2 days after the fact and after thinking things through for a while.  With that in mind, I guess I should start with the positives: (1) I got a new PR by about 60 seconds; (2) I ran some pretty strong miles along the way; (3) I took a risk early on and managed to hang on without completely crashing; (4) I managed a PR even after having my hamstrings start cramping at 18; (5) for my first marathon in 3 years, I did pretty well; (6) Brooke (my wife) BQ'd by over 5 minutes; (7) Katie (my sister) finished her first marathon; (8) I had lots of support from friends and family; and (9) it was a gorgeous day for a marathon.

Now for the gritty details.

As usual, I hardly slept on Friday night.  I went to bed early and fell asleep relatively quickly, but there was still a fair amount of activity all around me, and I woke up a couple of times and had difficulty getting back to sleep.  When I did fall asleep, it would only be for short intervals, followed by seemingly long periods of wakefulness.  I tried to stay relaxed, but I didn't succeed too well.  When my alarm went off at 4:15, I was up immediately.  I ate half of a plain bagel for breakfast and started sipping water.  Brooke, Katie and I got on the bus around 4:55.  I was feeling pretty upbeat and excited about the race.  I ate a banana and kept sipping water.  I didn't chat too much on the bus, but went over my race strategy a few times in my mind.  For the record, this was the plan: (1) 0-7: relax and keep pace between 5:35-5:38; (2) 7-14: on the hilly section, don't obsess about pace or splits--just recognize that I'll give a couple of minutes back here and don't kill myself trying to maintain even splits; (3) 14-20: ease back into marathon pace of 5:40 or better; (4) 20-24: start hammering and take advantage of the strong downhill; and (5) 24-finish: give everything I have left.  If everything went perfectly, I wanted to run under 2:30.

Here's how things played out in reality:

Warmup was great.  I loved having access to the elite runner area, particularly the favorable runner-to-port-a-potty ratio.  The easy access to the fire barrels was also nice.  About 45 minutes before the gun, I ate half of a Power Bar (some orange smoothie thing that actually tasted better than disgusting for a change) and started stretching lightly.  About 30 minutes before, I started some light jogging in the elite corral.  About 5 minutes before, I decided to ditch the long-sleeve tee-shirt and get rid of my drop bag.  The drop bag area was a bit of a disaster, since everyone seemed to have waited as long as I did to discard their gear in an effort to stay warm.  A huge mass of humanity was crowding the two U-Haul trailers, and as the gun time approached, people just started hurling their bags in the direction of the trailers, sometimes hitting fellow runners in the process.  After I had discarded mine, I felt like a salmon swimming upstream trying to get back to the corral.  Fortunately, I did so without getting trampled or smothered, and in plenty of time to get a good spot near the front.  I had decided to run with my Garmin but without my HR monitor strap.  (I didn't want to fuss with it and wanted to focus on running based on feel, not on data.)

After the horn, I took off at a reasonably quick clip, hoping to avoid any early jostling or tripping.  No problem there.  About 400 meters in, I heard Sasha's voice coming up behind me, saying, "Dallin, I think that's a little fast," or something like that.  Figuring that Sasha would run a first mile of 5:10 or so, I figured that my pace was way too fast, so I backed off a little.  As Sasha caught me, I said hello.  I never saw him again until the finishing area.

Mile 1: 5:50 - I didn't look down for this one and wasn't going to worry about my first split, since I just wanted to establish a good rhythm).

Mile 2: 6:09 - I turned on my Garmin light and saw this one and panic set in.  I had just settled in with a small group whose pace felt just about right.  When I saw how slow this mile was, I realized that 2:30 was not in the cards for this race.  Even this slow pace felt very quick.  Nevertheless, I was not willing to throw in the towel this early, so I threw in a surge to see if I could recover from a slow split without killing myself.

Mile 3: 5:36 - I suspect my HR jumped quite a bit on this mile, but I felt okay.  However, for being my first split in my target range, it certainly didn't feel relaxed.  I knew at this point that I would be working for a more modest goal, but figured I'd just do my best to follow my race strategy to the half, then reevaluate there.  I took my bottle from the elite station and ripped off my first Enervitene packet.  I ran with it for about a mile, then took a couple of small sips.

Mile 4: 5:35 - Still not relaxed, but feeling pretty strong and still wanting to run as close to 2:30 as possible.

Mile 5: 5:42

Mile 6: 5:24 - I think I passed a couple of people during this mile, which would explain the increased tempo.

Mile 7: 5:30 - Took a few sips from my bottle and grabbed my second Enervitene packet.  The crowds in Veyo boosted my spirits.

Mile 8: 6:40 - Veyo.  I got passed here by a guy I had passed during mile 6, but I didn't care.  The plan was to avoid going anaerobic up the hill and to prepare for the real start of the race at 14.  I took a full packet of Enervitene here.

Mile 9: 6:19 - I think this was the point at which I started to feel a headwind.  It wasn't terribly strong, but strong enough that I wished I had a group to share the work with.

Mile 10: 6:11 - Still trying to work the hills without blowing up.

Mile 11: 6:40 - The hill here wasn't as steep as Veyo, but it felt pretty challenging, especially with the headwind.  I took a few sips from the bottle again and held onto the next Enervitene packet.

Mile 12: 6:17 - Still watching the guy who had passed me on Veyo as he traded leads with a Latino runner who had a very distinct, forward-leaning form.  Gradually finished another Enervitene.

Mile 13: 5:53 - Finally done with the hilly section.  Starting to warm up the pace a little.

Half: 1:18:42 - At this point, it was clear that 2:30 would have to wait for another year.  After taking a little inventory, I decided that running under 2:35 was a worthy goal that was within my reach.  I decided to give myself a little bit of a buffer on the next section, figuring that as long as I could hold between 5:40 and 5:50 through 20, I'd have enough energy to really hammer the final 10k.

Mile 14: 5:56 - I don't remember what happened here except that it took me a lot longer to get my gloves off and safely stored in the rear pockets of my shorts than it should have.  I passed the guy who had passed me on Veyo but couldn't see the Latino runner anywhere.  I never saw him again, so I assume he must have really turned it on from about 13 on.

Mile 15: 5:40 - Right on pace.  Took a few sips from my water bottle at the aid station and held onto the next Enervitene packet.

Mile 16: 5:32 - 2:35 still felt well within reach.  Starting to feel the burn, though.  I think this is where I passed a new guy I hadn't seen before.  As I caught him, I asked how he was doing.  He replied, "Just one of those days."  I offered him my Enervitene, but he said he was okay.  I think it may have been Dave Holt?

Mile 17: 5:43 - Still going reasonably strong.

Mile 18: 5:52 - I started feeling some real tightness in my right hamstring, about halfway down.

Mile 19: 6:23 - I think this is where the hill takes you up beneath the Ledges Parkway overpass.  As I climbed the hill, I really felt the effort, and my right hamstring started to cramp.  I used a good portion of the water in my bottle to spray on my leg in an effort to ease the cramping.

Mile 20: 6:02 - The cramping started in my left hamstring here.  I've never had cramping in a race before, so this was surprising and disappointing.  I started to feel my stride shorten as the hamstrings seized up, and my pace slowed commensurately.  I came through 20 at 1:59:04.  From this point on, I started taking a water cup at almost every aid station and splashing it on my legs.

Mile 21: 5:45 - This would have been much faster (probably 5:25 or so) without the hamstring problems, since the grade is pretty steep.

Mile 22: 6:11 - I got passed here and had no response.

Mile 23: 6:08 - I was just trying to hang on at this point, but the pain had affected my stride enough that I couldn't seem to squeeze more speed out.

Mile 24: 6:04 - Passed again.  Why did I choose this sport, anyway?

Mile 25: 6:22 - Really hurting, and pretty oblivious to the time.

Mile 26: 6:15 - Trying to pull a little more speed out.

Last 0.2: 6:07/mi pace.  And that was with a bit of a modest kick through the finishing corral.

Finish: 2:37:04.  This is petty, but I am pretty mad that I didn't find 5 more seconds so that I could tell myself that my new PR was 2:36 instead of 2:37.  The Garmin displays only hours and minutes, and I couldn't see the clock (I am near-sighted) until it was too late, but that probably didn't matter anyway--the only thing I cared about at this point was finishing the stupid race.  Still, it bugs me.  (My old PR was similar: 2:38:02.)

Had I finished under 2:35, I think I would have called the race a near-complete success.  Although I am pleased that I managed a PR in spite of the hamstring problems, I am disappointed to have put an entire season into training for this event only to have found another 60 seconds at St. George.  I'm going to take some time to think about where to go from here.  Right now I'm considering a few tweaks to my training.  First, I think I need to rotate between hill work and speed work.  I lost all kinds of time on the hills and my training consistently showed that my HR jumped when I was climbing.  I think I need to address that weakness if I want to hit my goal.  Second, I think I need more long slow distance and higher mileage.  I felt exhausted and lethargic during much of my training, and I think that may have been a result of doing too much training at high intensity and not enough mileage at a comfortable pace.  For me, I don't train as well when I'm not enjoying myself, and much of my training this summer felt like drudgery.  I want to rediscover the joy of running, and for me that means more time at a lower intensity.  Third, I think I need to swallow my pride and incorporate some shorter racing into my training.  As it is, my goal race pace feels like 5k or 10k pace to me, and that's no way to run 26.2 miles.  I need to get back to a place where 5:40 feels slowish, and where I can run a 5k at a significantly faster pace than I can run a marathon.  (Keep in mind that I ran a 10k 2 weeks before St. George at a pace of slower than 6:00/mile.)

I am toying with the idea of running the Grand Slam again.  I love the new schedule with only 4 races, and especially the fact that it no longer includes D-News and that Top of Utah is an alternate.  It is tempting to run it again and to try to race myself into 2:30 shape.  However, I worry that 2:30 is near the top of my ability, and that running 4 marathons in a year may not allow me to run at my peak at St. George.  I need to give it all some additional thought.  For now, I'm not thrilled with the race result, but I am pleased that I didn't fall apart completely after being pretty aggressive in the early going.  I need to keep in mind that a PR is a PR, and that it could have been much worse.

Congrats to all the bloggers out there who ran great races!

After Saturday's race, I hobbled around for hours trying to be a dad and to watch Brooke and Katie come in.  Fortunately, I was able to cheer both of them on and the kids were super patient.  Unfortunately, I felt like I was walking on a 95-year-old's legs the whole time.  In spite of a great massage (thanks, Ivan!) at the finish, my hamstrings were still killing me and my left hip felt injured.  It got worse throughout the day, and I was concerned that I was looking at another layoff due to injury.  Fortunately, by the time I woke up on Sunday the real pain was gone and my legs just felt really stiff, just like they're supposed to after a hard race.  I hollered in pain when I got out of the car in Fillmore for a potty break on the way home, and again when we got home, but the hip just felt stiff, not injured.  As a result, I decided before going to bed last night that I'd get up and try some light jogging to warm up the legs and speed up the recovery.

For the first 400 meters or so, it felt like I had 15 people hitting my legs with sledgehammers.  I almost turned around and went home.  After that, though, I think the crowd thinned out and there were only 2 or 3 people swinging at me, so I decided to trudge on.  I should point out that what I was doing cannot really be called running, but I was managing to propel myself forward with some daylight under my feet, so I guess I satisfied the technical definition.  By the final mile, I was getting closer to normal form, although the hamstring tightness felt similar to the last 6-8 miles of the marathon.  Fortunately, the run warmed the legs up enough to allow for some quality stretching after I got home.  Hopefully the effort will help speed up my recovery.

By the way, I ate a juicy burger and fries on Saturday night and a steak on Sunday.  Oh, the joys of post-marathon gluttony!

Wow, it was chilly this morning!  I should have worn gloves.  The legs are recovering nicely now, and I probably felt 50% better this morning than I did at the best point of yesterday's 3-mile spasmodic lurch in a generally forward direction.  I ran down 900 South through the Gulley, then down 15th to Emerson and back up the hill to 17th and home.  As I emerged from the Gulley, I saw a guy running south along 15th East with a briefcase, apparently trying to get to his bus stop.  He was moving at a nice clip, especially for being in a suit.  The funny thing is that he continued at the same clip on 15th East just a bit ahead of me all the way to 15th and 15th (passing several bus stops along the way)--he was still cruising along at the same clip when I turned on Emerson.  Admittedly, I was not breaking any land speed records this morning, but I never gained an inch on him.  Wish I could have figured out who he was.

What a beautiful day for an easy jog!

Slept in and called it recovery. 

Relaxed pace with Maja in tow. After running with Brooke most of the summer, she does much better at holding a steady pace and not stopping dead in her tracks when she sees sprinklers within 200 meters or so. Beautiful, brisk morning. Right hamstring is still pretty tight, but legs are otherwise recovering nicely.

Took another day off in the interest of recovery.  Right hamstring still feeling pretty tight.

Easy, relaxed pace up to Wasatch, across Parley's and out to Millstream Lane and back.  Listened to This American Life on the way out.  Although it is usuallly my favorite podcast by far, this particular episode just didn't do it for me.  The entire thing was based on conversations 9 TAL producers had with travelers at a rest stop about 90 minutes north of NYC.  Some of the stories were mildly interesting, but the cumulative effect on me was boredom and a really slow pace.  As a result, I listened to Coldplay on the way back and picked up the pace.  By the final half mile, I was moving along pretty well.  Right hamstring still bugging me, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good.

Easy effort with Maja.  As I was leaving, Brooke asked me to turn around because she thought she had seen something on the back of my right leg.  It turns out there's a pretty dark bruise in the vicinity of where I've been feeling tightness.  I wonder what that means--a tear, maybe?  Feeling a little concerned about it, I took it easy on the run and kept my stride purposely short.

Took yesterday and today off after setting up an appointment with a physical therapist (Ryan Fuhriman) to have the hamstring looked at.  I went in today and learned the following:

• It was probably a cramp that slowed me down around 18 or 19 of SGM, but when I kept running on it, I did some damage to the tissue.  There was a palpable difference in the quality of the tissue in the area  where the pain has been.  The bruise Brooke noticed was several inches below where the damage took place, but gravity does that after a few days.  Ryan was sure that the bruising was caused by the strain.
• The damage is pretty minor and will not require time off, just a temporary reduction in mileage and intensity while it heals.
• I had some pelvis alignment issues that Ryan addressed through different releases and adjustments.  It's unclear whether the alignment issues were a cause or effect of the hamstring problems.
• After the releases, the alignment issues improved considerably.  Ryan wants me to come back next week to see if the alignment problems return.
• I have neural stress that could be a contributing factor to the hamstring problems.  Ryan gave me some exercises that should help me improve in that area over a period of several months.
• I should be stretching twice a day.  I'll try to do that by stretching after my run and before going to bed.
• Another contributing factor may have been lack of strength in the portion of my hamstrings that failed.  Ryan gave me some exercises to work on (with a T-band) that should help improve the strength.  One of them involves doing butt-kicks with the two ends of the band around my ankles.  He suggested mixing things up with this one, doing some "intervals" where I jog in place slowly for 1 minute, then up the pace for 30 seconds, etc.  These are supposed to be pretty difficult at first but should get easier as my strength improves.
• He had an assistant do an ultrasound treatment on the hamstring to speed the healing process.

That's all I can remember.  I'll get back to running tomorrow, but will try to keep the mileage down for the next week or so, and will start doing my exercises and stretches tonight.

Easy effort around neighborhood Memorial Day 5k loop with Maja.  Didn't notice any tightness in the hamstrings.  Did the prescribed stretches after the run.  It was gorgeous this morning, with what my kids used to call a "fingernail moon" in the east and a temperature that was perfect for shorts and a tee with gloves.  Too bad it won't last long.

I dropped Kaela and the rest of her carpool off at Sunnyside Park 45 minutes before their game on Saturday, then parked the car and ran from there.  I headed north and ran across the U campus, through lower Federal Heights up to Popperton Park, then up to the Shoreline Trail and all the way over to Sunnyside and back to the park.  The weather and temperature were perfect, the fall leaves were spectacular, and the run was invigorating.  I picked up the pace a little once I got off the trail above the zoo.  I had a little pain in my left hip during the faster portion of the run in the same area as in the final miles of the marathon and the rest of that day.  I probably need to spend more time stretching, but it's a little crazy right now with Brooke's family in town for her sister's wedding this afternoon.

I took Maja again and we enjoyed a very relaxing early morning run.  The pace was all of 8:00 per mile, and I tried to work on the form a little while running in the Nike Free's.  I had lunch with Chad and we chatted briefly about his experience training in racing flats.  I like the idea better than going straight to the VFF/barefoot approach, and may try it out the next time I'm ready to buy shoes.  I remember my old Nike Waffle Racers from high school (and still have one from the pair I wore when I broke 4:30 in the 1600 as a HS soph--pathetic, I know) and how much I loved wearing them, so I'm looking forward to trying it out in the next couple of months.

As I was getting ready to leave for work, Brooke told me that Janey (our 4-year-old) had told her before going to bed that the glow-in-the-dark bracelet she was wearing was "not magich, just a coincidence."  (That's not a typo--it's how she says "magic.")  I have no idea what she meant, let alone where she picked up the new vocab word.

After yesterday's run, I had a little nagging soreness in my left Achilles tendon (where I've had the problems before) throughout the day.  The pain was an inch or two above the insertion point, so I don't think it was the same as the tendinitis that gave me fits in 07 and 08, but I don't want to take a chance.  I skipped my run this morning and will probably limit myself to three runs this week, focusing on doing my stretches and toe raises morning and evening in an effort to stave off further problems before I start building my winter base.

Still feeling some soreness in the AT (mild), so I kept the mileage low.  I stretched and did toe raises twice yesterday.

Pace: 7:30.

The niggling soreness in my left AT is still there, but it feels different than the problem I had before--higher and largely on the outer edge as opposed to the insertion point on the inside edge.  In addition, it really doesn't bother me while running--I just have a very mild pain throughout the day.  While I'm a little concerned about it, I suspect it's one of those pains that will just go away after a couple of days as opposed to something chronic, so I'm going to keep running low miles unless it starts to get worse or hangs around for a few more days.  I ran in the Nike Free's with Maja and tried to focus on a more neutral stride.  The temperature was perfect for shorts and long-sleeve tee, and the run was relaxing, at least until I developed a blister from the shoes on the outside edge of my left foot, just behind the midpoint.  I think my feet may be a little wide for the Free's, because the blister seems to have resulted from my foot hanging slightly off the edge of the insole.  I've always hated Nike running shoes, but I got a great deal on the Free's and the concept intrigued me.

I woke up with a head cold, so I took it pretty easy on the run.  I brought Maja along and she did pretty well, even when I picked it up a bit over the final mile.  We went up to Wasatch and across Parley's and back. 

Felt sick all weekend and again this morning, and the left AT is still bothering me, so I slept in a little and skipped the run.  My grandma (my dad's mom) died on Friday, so my mom is coming home from Korea for the funeral (Dad has to stay with the missionaries).  She arrives tonight and will stay until next Tuesday.  It will be great to have her here!  Now I just need to figure out how to avoid sharing this cold with every member of the family while we're spending time together.