Plans for 2013

I'll be racing here in March!

After the disappointment of the California International Marathon earlier this month, many of you nice people asked me if the fact that the Boston Marathon qualifier didn't happen meant I'd continue this blog past 40. The answer is still no, for the reasons I outlined in this post. I do plan to continue writing regularly here until my birthday on January 21--but after that I'm closing this shop.

I won't, however, stop trying to qualify for Boston. My hotel at CIM was crawling with runners in their Boston Marathon jackets. On Monday while I was driving to work I saw a guy running down Highway 119 wearing that jacket with the green piping and the unicorn logo. The jacket is everywhere--except in my closet. I really want to hit the streets of Boston--whatever craziness the weather might bring--and be able to say I'm in that rarefied group. Even if it takes me until I'm 50 or beyond, I'm going to keep after it.

So what does that mean going forward?

Right now it means....not doing much. I ran for the first time since CIM on Monday. It was just a 35-minute easy run at a low heart rate. I didn't wear the Garmin. I was just glad, after the cold/cough finally loosened its clutches, to be out there at all. Today I got to run again, this time with some 30-second pick-ups thrown in. The pick-ups felt good. I'd say my legs are fully recovered. Darren is easing me back into things very slowly. It's a good thing, too, because between my cold, the kids' birthday party, Christmas prep and then my son and husband catching the cold after I started feeling better, there's not a lot of spare time or energy around my house right now.

BUT.....

I have signed up for two races!

My next attempt at the BQ will at the Eugene Marathon on April 28. I laugh a little at this choice because Eugene is in Oregon, and it rains a lot in Oregon, and after CIM you might think the last thing I want is another four hours of marathoning in the rain. Truth is, though, it was the wind that killed me at CIM. Rain alone I can handle, and I certainly prefer it to heat and bright sunshine. Plus Darren called the course a "good one for going fast."

Prior to Eugene, I will be running the Canyonlands Half Marathon in Moab, Utah, on March 16. The scenery in the photo above speaks for itself!

I am excited about these two races because I will not be traveling to them alone. Kathy and Cynthia, my two best running buddies, will be toeing the line at both. Kathy's the one who organized the Canyonlands trip, and there will be a bunch of fun ladies there from her running group. In Eugene, meanwhile, Tricia, my fellow CIM 2012 survivor, will be there as well for either the full or the half, and today I found out that Corey will be there, too, gunning for a BQ of her own.

So you see, BQ by 40 may be going away....but I am not quitting the quest. While I won't be keeping a formal blog, I will be writing race reports on these two races, and any others that 2013 brings (if I don't BQ at Eugene, you can bet there will be a fall marathon, too). If you'd be interested in getting those race reports once the blog ends, send me your email address. I'm compiling a mailing list.

Let's hope "'13" proves to be a lucky number next year!

The CIM Suckfest in Brief

It's a race you've lost, not a relative. Nobody's dead.

--Sybil Gordon (in Chariots of Fire, after Abrahams loses to Liddle and sulks about it)

Official results aren't yet in on the California International Marathon site, but according to the Garmin the bad news is:

4:06:38.

I'll have a doozy of a race report for you soon. It features a start line that looked like a refugee camp (if refugees wear trash bags), 26 miles of headwind (I think we had .2 or so where it was more like a sidewind), my first-ever mid-marathon port-a-john stop at Mile 17, 3 1/2 hours of jungle-like rain (nice sun after that, though) and the first race where I had absolutely no desire to hang out at the finish line.

The best parts of the experience were the post-race shower and hanging out with Tricia (now a marathon finisher!!).

I'll close by saying....I'm sorry the BQ by 40 story's last marathon was this one. A lot of you were rooting for me, I know, and I feel like I've let you down. Honestly, I gave it all I had. I can see it's an excellent course on a good day. But today wasn't a good day. Some days, Mom says, are like that.

CIM Goals & Race Plan

Maybe I should call this post The Art of Racing in the Rain (apologies to Garth Stein, whose book I haven't yet read).

Yes, it's true: "heavy" rain and 18 mile-per-hour winds. If I'm reading the course map right, we'll be running right into those winds for a good chunk of the course. The race is still five days out. I'm hoping that wind forecast will be revised. You can't do anything about wind except maybe draft off of other runners (and when you do that it's only polite to take a turn being the trailblazer yourself)......or revise your finish time expectations.

Rain, however, I can handle. This being high and dry Colorado, I didn't train in it even once, but I used to run in it all the time in Houston and New York City. Here are the tips I plan to follow on race day:

1) Wear a garbage bag while waiting at the start.
2) Wear a baseball cap to keep water from dripping down my face (thanks, Raina, for this one!).
3) Lube up with Body Glide and (on my feet) Vaseline.
4) Have a friend hold dry socks and shoes somewhere on the course. Lucky for me my old friend Angela is coming from the Bay Area to watch, though she may change her mind when she sees that forecast.
5) Change quickly after finishing into dry clothes.

You can't do anything about the weather except try to make the best of it. Those of you who ran the Boston Marathon earlier this year know that all too well.

My taper runs this week have gone well, including the 4x1 mile at race pace workout I had yesterday. I ran it on the treadmill at a 1% incline with each mile at an 8:27 pace. My heart rate cooperated nicely, staying between 155-163 on all four miles.

That positions me nicely to go with the plan Darren and I discussed on Saturday afternoon. Darren, like my husband Dan and like me, said his only concern is whether I've done enough time on my feet (long runs). Due to my back issue and a September cold, we couldn't ramp up to the point where I could get in a really good number of 3-hour-plus length runs. But on the other hand, I did well in my half-marathon in October, I've felt good during the training since then and I'm feeling healthy and rested. Even my twingy hamstring has cooperated for the last three weeks.

So Darren thinks if all comes together, I can get the Boston qualifying time of 3:44:59 or better.

So that's my goal: 3:44:59

Here's how he wants me to execute:

1) Run about an 8:30 pace for the first half. That would put me through the half-marathon mark at 1:51:30. A little slower is OK, but he absolutely does not want to see anything faster.
2) After the halfway point, I'm allowed to pick up the pace if I'm feeling good. He thinks 8:20 to 8:25 miles at this point would be safe, but NOTHING faster than 8:20. I'm to hold these paces through Mile 22 if possible.
3) After Mile 22, if I've been able to hold the pace, I can either speed up more if I'm still feeling good OR slow down a tad if I'm feeling tight or tired. If I do slow down, he thinks I should still try to maintain 8:40s in order to make my time goal.
4) I'm not to worry about my heart rate, though I do plan to have the strap on (liberally lubed with Body Glide) so I can analyze it later.

 Here are some additional things I plan to do:

1) Start with the 3:45 pace group. As long as they are not running faster than 8:30/mile, I'll stick with them through around 15 miles. If they're a little slower (like 8:34 or so), it's probably to my advantage. Slower at the beginning is good.
2) Wear my pace bands from Races2Remember in case the pace group doesn't work out (maybe because they are going too fast). These will save me from trying to do math with an increasingly addled brain.
3) Turn on the tunes at Mile 18. This really helped with "the Wall" in Houston and I hung on to it as as reward for getting through the earlier miles according to plan.
4) Carry a bottle for the first few miles at least so that I don't have to scrum at crowded aid stations. Ditch the bottle when things spread out and it starts to bug me to have it in my hand.
5) Stick to my trusty Shot Bloks with water every 4 miles or so for fuel. (Darren thinks I need to learn to love sports drink, but we agree we'll save that task for the next marathon.)

I'm rooming with Tricia, and am very excited for her to finish her first marathon, which I think she'll do in style. There will also be numerous other bloggers there. I'm excited to meet Amanda, Margot, XLMIC and others.

And I'm VERY excited to see Angela. I've known her since first grade. Her whole family is an inspiration and not just in running (though they excel at that). She's mentioned in my first post on this blog. It would be an honor if I could qualify for Boston with her there.

Getting back to the issue of the wind....I will be unhappy if it doesn't turn out to be the perfect day. I'll be disappointed if I don't meet my goal for this race. But I'm determined that ONLY something like weather, which is totally beyond my control, will keep me from it this time. Damnit, all you can do is try. In marathons, even on perfect days, you NEVER know.

As the author I mentioned at the beginning of this post put it: "There is no dishonor in losing the race. There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose."

I'll see you guys on the other side!

Race Notes for CIM

I'd rather be fast than pretty.

Since the Detroit International Half-Marathon went well for me, I wanted to take down my approach to the race, both before and during, so I can do enough of the same things ahead of the California International Marathon to ensure I feel prepped. This is more like a series of notes than a proper blog post--apologies for that. It also doesn't say anything about training. I'm leaving that in Darren's capable hands.

The Week Before: This was about minimizing stress. I was in bed by 8:30, lights out by nine, every night that I could be, including the night before a library workshop I co-presented up in Keystone the Thursday before the race. I also skipped a shake-out run (on Friday) because Dan and I were traveling, we'd had a stressful evening and morning with the kids and had ended up almost missing our plane. We also found when we arrived in Detroit that Dan was feeling sore-throatish. I had no desire to push it with him not feeling 100%, so we sprung for room service that night and slept 12 hours afterwards. The one piece of business I did take care of was collecting my bib and getting my corral changed from the very-back one to the third one from the front. But I didn't linger that day at the expo. I needed to rest and knew it.

The Day Before: On Saturday I did the "race prep" workout Darren scheduled for me. It amounted to about 2 miles with some race-pace pick-ups. I did it on the hotel treadmill, not wanting to stress my back or my twingy hamstring with more concrete than I had to. I was so cautious I actually did most of the warm-up part on my old friend the recumbent bike. Race pace felt really fast to me, even at sea level, and I shook my head at the idea that I could do that for 13 miles. Just goes to show you.....the day before does not necessarily indicate what the day-of will be like.

After that, I went back to the expo with Kathy, Melissa, Tina and Kelly. It was fun, distracting and I got some good deals on shirts for Dan, socks and some Shot Bloks. But this is something I would *not* have done had I been running the marathon instead of the half. In California, I plan to spend the afternoon before the race on my bottom in the hotel room drinking water and watching movies.

That afternoon and early evening were spent sitting around and eating dinner at Eric's parents' house. We watched the Michigan-Michigan State game. It was perfect, and bedtime was again early.

What I Ate: As usual for me before a race, I cut out all dairy, sweets, high-fiber foods and anything gassy from my diet starting on Friday. Dinner Friday night was some kind of chicken, white rolls, salad and water. Lunch on Saturday was a subway turkey club on white with no cheese and some Baked Lays. Dinner at Eric's parents was gnocchi with red sauce (no cheese), salad and white bread. Breakfast the day of the race was a few handfuls of Special K cereal, a hard-boiled egg and black coffee. I also started drinking water as soon as I woke up. This all worked like a dream and I had no "issues" during the race.

During the race, I had two or three Shot Bloks at around Mile 4, some Sport Beans around Mile 8 and some more Shot Bloks between Miles 10 and 12. I drank only water on the course, at the beginning from my little handheld bottle and later from the aid stations. This also worked like a charm. I actually felt the lift I got from the Sport Beans about five minutes after eating them.

After the race, I felt great and was able to immediately drink a container of chocolate milk and eat a banana. I didn't get hungry again until much later, when I downed an entire plate of chips and guac myself.

What I Wore: Skirt Sports sleeveless top, Asics arm warmers, North Face bra with pocket (which is where I stashed my Shot Bloks and Sport Beans), Nike Tempo Shorts, Tommy Copper calf sleeves, Balega socks and Brooks Pure Flows shoes. I didn't wear a hat and didn't need one. This made for some seriously bad hair and race pictures, but I don't really care about that. The hat I would have worn is my black Boulder Marathon hat, and this is the one I will take to CIM too.

Mostly this outfit worked fine. I give a huge thumbs up to the calf sleeves and the bra. The shorts were fine, but were starting to chafe in the thighs by the end of the race, something I'll need to deal with in a race that's double the length. Not sure if Body Glide will do the trick or if I need different shorts....I'll try some things out on long runs this cycle and see how it goes. Ditto for my shoe-sock combo. The shoes felt nice and light, but the bottoms of my feet were starting to blister by the end of the race, not something I want happening only halfway through a marathon. This happened to me in Houston, too, but much later on in the race. I will be experimenting with different socks on long runs to see what works.

I will probably wear something very similar in this race. I don't like the way I look in sleeveless shirts, but it was nice when it got warm in the tunnel, and later on, when the chilly air felt good, to have my arms bare to the wrists. Ditto for the legs. I'll wear capris only if it's really cold.

What I Listened To: I turned on my music (all Mumford & Sons playlist!) at the halfway mark of this race. In marathons, I typically turn it on at Mile 18. I plan to stick with this. I also used my tiny iPod Shuffle instead of my big iPod Touch. This worked well, too.

Warm-Up: This was a big flaw. I didn't really warm up at all and didn't really have time (I did do some 100-Ups in the corral--thanks to Jill for this idea). I'm not sure how to deal with this. It's really hard to time a warm-up and still position yourself properly in the line-up for a big race. CIM was capped at 8,000, which means there will be only slightly fewer people than were lining up for Detroit (the full and half-marathoners all started together). I'll have to talk to Darren about this. I've never warmed up for a marathon and it's my understanding that you mostly don't need to. But on the other hand I need every second I can get and I don't want to waste any time starting too slow because I'm improperly warmed up.

Things I'm an Advocate For:
--Staying in the host hotel--it's worth the extra money to be able to leave as late as possible, use your own bathroom as many times as necessary and be close to your room when you are finished with your race. At CIM, Tricia and I are staying at the host hotel.

--Arriving two days before the race--this means the day before is true downtime, not the negotiation of airports and check-ins. I'm doing this at CIM too.

--Sleeping a lot in the weeks before a race. My social life is about to get cut way back. That's OK. In fact, it's now time for nap. God love you if you read this far! Any advice or thoughts are welcome!