A Passion for Running

Do you ever feel like this? I know I often do.

To those of you who I’ve not responded to, I ask for your forgiveness. And I offer that same forgiveness to those of you who have not responded to me. It’s ok. Carry on. I still love ya.

That felt rather good. Tell you what? Pass this on!

That’s what I was thinking a week after Red Deer. But the coach has other plans …something about a proper recovery?

I took one week off after the marathon and had my first run today. A nice 35 minute jog around the river valley. I felt good with one little niggle in my right foot that went away 15 minutes into the run.

And the instructions from Andrew are to do more of the same for another few weeks. “Just jog around” he says. And I think, “Who am I to argue with a guy who got me to a PR?”.

So, I’m taking it easy and healing up. Apparently, I’m going to need the rest because Andrew’s taking my training up a notch for the two months prior to Regina.

Cool.

I’m going to wrap up the Red Deer Experience with a few thank you’s.

Coach Andrew: Holy cow! You da man! Somebody give this guy a hat that says GENIUS on it. Thanks for your patient and thorough guidance this past several months Andrew. I can’t wait for the next kick at the marathon!

Aaron and Tanya: You know what these great friends of mine did? They got up early with their one-year old, drove 90 minutes and came to see me finish. Aaron brought cigars so, upon returning home it was beers and cigars to celebrate. Thanks bud!!

My Family: Lori and the kids came along for the trip and it was really fun! We stayed in a hotel with a swimming pool and the kids were so excited about the whole thing. Cool.

You: So many people have rooted for me while training for this marathon. And you’ve left such wonderful comments. You rock.

*sniff*

My favorite one first. It’s pretty far into the marathon – I’d say about 30k in and I think I look decent. One thing you might note is that there’s no one around me. The race was pretty spread out at this point. I’d say that I was passing runners every five minutes or so at this point.

Now, I’ll switch to early on in the race. I remember this spot of the race pretty clearly. I’d say it was at about 5k so it was pretty soon after I’d kicked into race pace. I remember it because of #122 I’m passing in the picture. See her gel flasks? She had two more on her back side and I remember thinking how differently we were approaching the whole fueling thing – her with four flasks of gel, and me with nothing. I looked up her number and she’s not in the results so it looks like she might have DNF’d.

These next two pics are at about 35k. I remember because I passed that walker (there were very few people out there!) and then spotted the photographer moments later. I was really digging deep here. Things were starting to hurt.

And, of course, the finish photo. Don’t you think I look just slightly relieved to be finishing?

This is part seven
Part one is here
Part two is here
Part three is here
Part four is here
Part five is here
Part six is here
———-
Two powerful realizations came out of the Red Deer experience.

The first was the thrill of passing people throughout the race. It was absolutely intoxicating and empowering. I will never forget the feeling of reeling runners in – especially during the latter miles. Woohoo!

The second realization came to me the day after the race. It was the realization that I had actually raced that marathon. Raced it. In previous marathons, my focus was mostly on surviving the experience. In every marathon previous to Red Deer, I’d gone out less than confident in my ability to reach my goal – I never felt the confidence of knowing I could be strong throughout the race.

In contrast, Red Deer was all about executing a plan. A plan I was confident in. And a plan based on abilities I’d tested amply so that on race day, I was racing at the top end of my aerobic threshold.

Red Deer was transformational. And you still cannot wipe the smile from my silly face.

This is part six
Part one is here
Part two is here
Part three is here
Part four is here
Part five is here
———-
Success in Red Deer was a huge win for me. A personal best for anyone at any time is a big deal, but this PB had a lot of extra goodness packed into it.

An explanation is in order. You see, since my October 2004 injury, I changed pretty much everything I did relating to running:

1. Stopped Using My Brakes: I was a deeply entrenched heel-striker. I replaced that with ball-of-the-foot running. A big change.
2. Adopted the Pose Method of Running: The method was the system I used to change lots of things including running on my heels. Total adoption of the method was long and painstaking. It took about two years before I felt fully comfortable with it and another six months before I felt ready to put it to the test by training for a marathon.
3. Ditched My Nikes: Specifically, I ditched the high-heeled-big-on-structure Nikes I’d run in for over 15 years, and replaced them with the most minimalist shoe I could find – a shoe that has virtually no cushioning or support.
4. Made the Move to High Mileage Training: For a long time, I had this feeling that magazine articles with titles like “Get a PR Marathon on 40 Miles a Week” were leading me down the garden path. I felt I needed to increase my mileage to maximize my potential as a runner. I began reading about Arthur Lydiard and shortly thereafter found my coach. Venturing down the high mileage path was the ultimate test of the other changes I’d made. If those changes were not good ones, I knew I’d pay for it – after all, prior to making the changes, I used to break down (in various ways) at much lower mileages than I was about to attempt.

To sum all this up, there was a lot riding on Red Deer. I really wanted to do well there to prove to myself that the changes I’d made were the right changes, and that they were worth the effort!

Getting a PR on the tough Red Deer course was ample validation for my efforts and the pressure I’d been feeling for far too long was quickly replaced by joyfulness. I’ve been all smiles since Sunday – you just can’t get that thing off my silly face.

Onward!

This is part five
Part one is here
Part two is here
Part three is here
Part four is here
———-

Click on the thumbnails to view larger pictures. I’m told the actual race photos will be ready in 7 to 10 days.

Me in my gear the day before the race

Finisher Medal

Finisher Technical Shirt – Front

Shirt – Back

Logo on Front of Shirt

Quote on Back of Neck

This is part four
Part one is here
Part two is here
Part three is here
———-
I had several comments asking me various questions about my fueling and hydration strategy for the race.

Pre-Race

Hydration: I drank a litre of Gatorade and a litre of water in the four hours leading up to the marathon.

Fueling: A big bowl of Kashi Organic Flakes & Berries cereal and a banana.

During the Race

Hydration: I drank water at most of the stations which were placed every 3km on the course. I’m terrible at running and drinking so I would grab a cup, drink one or two gulps down, and resume running. I never stopped running for more than a few steps at the water stations.

Fueling: I did not fuel during the run. I did not drink Gatorade or Gels or anything else. Why? During my entire training cycle, I trained without fueling during runs. My intention was to train my body to supply the fuel (glycogen and then fat). The idea is to train the body to burn fat and, if you introduce gels etc, it interrupts the body’s transition to what I (and Andrew) feel is the proper source of long distance fuel. My opinion is that gels do nothing but cause glucose spikes that energize for a few minutes and then leave you worse than before you took them. You also run the risk of getting ill due to your stomach not being able to handle the fuel that late in the marathon.

Without taking fuel, I had to rely 100% on my training and I think it paid off because I’ve never run so strong.

This is part three
Part one is Here
Part two is here
———-
I’m going to write a review of the Red Deer Marathon on Complete Running but I thought I’d say a few short words about the event here too.

1. It’s absolutely beautiful – breathtaking in several areas.
2. It’s essentially a trail run – about 38km on pavement, 4km on crushed gravel and 4km on dirt. I never ran on an actual road.
3. It’s extremely well run with lots of super volunteers.
4. Free race photos! There were several photographers covering the event. I can’t wait to see the pics!
5. An awesome technical running shirt.
6. And a nice medal.

I’ll post some pics of some of these things shortly.

Part one of my Red Deer Marathon race report is Here
———
Here are my paces for the marathon. The course was measured in kilometers so I’ve listed them along with the minute per mile pace I hit for each. As you can see, there were few kilometers (six) where I hit my 7:54 minute/mile target. All the hill climbing made that pretty much next to impossible. I could have pushed harder but that would have put me out of my aerobic zone and into severe bonking territory. This race was all about being at the edge of my aerobic zone without blowing off my fuel reserves going up the hills. I slowed slightly at 25k and then again at 35k. Even with the slowing, I still passed a lot of people in those sections of the race.

I’m working on some more details about race and will also answer your questions – in particular, I got several comments about my nutrition plan both before and during the race. Stay tuned!

1-8:59
2-8:38
3-8:39
4-8:04
5-8:20
6-7:37
7-7:46
8-8:04
9-8:07
10-8:04
11-8:01
12-7:27
13-8:06
14-7:58
15-8:00
16-8:04
17-8:02
18-8:55 bathroom break + shed a layer of clothes (lost a minute)
19-7:50
20-7:56
21-8:02
22-8:09
23-7:52
24-8:09
25-8:12
26-8:14
27-8:24
28-8:04
29-8:28
30-8:16
31-8:17
32-8:54 very long climb
33-8:16
34-8:20 quads were beginning to really tighten up here
35-8:27
36-8:30
37-8:35
38-9:12 really battling
39-8:55
40-8:53
41 to 42.2-8:56