San Antonio: Rock & Roll Marathon

Sunday, November 16, 2008
7:30 AM, San Antonio, Texas
http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=48026560&rsID=72893

My Goal:

• Wanted: between 3:15 - 3:30
• Did: 3:54:29
  

My Rankings:

• Overall: 1452 / 7618
• Gender: 1084 / 4070
  
• Division: 103 / 405
  

It's been two days now since my first marathon run and I'm still barely able to walk. My left calf is swollen, to the size of my thigh, and terrible, shooting, pains coarse up and down it whenever I try to put any weight on it. Supplies are running low; the only edible items left in my cupboard are beans and a can of seasoned cabbage I never had any intention of ever eating... and still don't. I must find a way to get food soon or my only option will be to amputate! I could call a friend or call for carry-out but that involves walking to a door which now seems further than the 26.2 miles I had already ran. The situation seems hopeless. "How did it come to this?", I ask myself as a hollow echo rumbles through my belly and I eye my lame leg in anguish.

It all started the Wednesday after the Iron Star Half Ironman. I was resting to give myself some time to recover and by Wednesday my legs were feeling almost back to 90%. It felt like a slow run would do my legs good so I decided to go out for a slow five mile run that afternoon. Halfway through the run, my thirst for speed took hold of my better judgment and I decided to throw some fartleks into my workout. Seemingly, everything went well with the run and I quit that night happy with the time I had finished in.

An hour after the run I could tell something was wrong because my left calf muscle was cramped up into a perpetual knot. Over the next few days leading up to the marathon I tried massage, ice and heat packs, herbal remedies and anything else I thought might help. By race day the knotted muscle had loosened up and, though I could still feel it was there, I decided to go through with the race.

That morning, I arrived at the race early and my brother, Ty, came along to bandit run part of it with me. Special note to all future marathoners: bring a roll of TP with you! With 20,000+ people waiting to get that last stop in before the race, your chance of finding a stall with TP are slim to none. I had to use my gloves...

Corral #1 was were I was to start from (right behind the elite runners) which seemed like a good idea when I was registering but today I felt out of place. There was no way I was going to keep up with the other runners in corral #1 after heavily lacking in training, due to a hip problem which sidelined me for over a month, and a knotted calf muscle. A blast from the starting gun rang out and my first marathon had begun! As expected everyone in corral #1 passed me up (even some dude who was speed walking)!

For the first five miles I felt great and was keeping up with the 3:15 pacer. Soon after the five mile mark, my knotted calf muscle woke up and began making sure I knew it was there. By mile ten, the pain was bad... to the point where I could not maintain my normal running form and the pacers began to pass me up. At the expo the day before, I had stopped and listened to the Rock Doc who was giving tips to all the runners about how to take care of themselves before, during and after the race. One thing he had said was now playing over and over in my head as I continued to run; he said "you should continue running only as long as you can maintain your run form". Well I could no longer maintain my running form and I was honestly thinking about dropping out of the race at this point because the pain was so bad.

The thought of dropping out lasted for maybe a quarter mile and then, being the stubborn person I am, I decided that if I could not maintain my normal running form then I would adopt a new running form. There was no way I wasn't going to finish today, I had been looking forward to this race for far too long to quit now! If I reduced my speed, pronated my left foot, landed slightly more on the heel and put less weight on my left leg, the calf pain was severely reduced and bearable. My new running form seemed to be working well until another three miles had passed at which point I noticed I was developing a large blister on my left foot. I tried making some further adjustments to my running form and though I found some relief there was no way around it... I was going to have a huge blister when I was finished!

At mile 17 I had a major crap attack and needed to stop and use the restroom; perhaps eating an entire large pizza, the night before the race, wasn't as good an idea as I thought it was! At mile 20 I noticed a very sharp, biting pain at the top of my left hip but compared to the other pains I was feeling, it was mild and I didn't pay much attention to it. At mile 23 I had to use the restroom again; definitely want to stay away from that pizza the night before a marathon! Around mile 25 I saw Ty again and he ran with me for the last mile and then ducked off the course for the final .2 miles. My legs may have been hurting but my upper body felt incredible and I felt as though I had barely pushed my cardio fitness level so I sprinted the final .15 miles. I crossed the finish line at 3:54:29... much slower than I had wanted but what an incredible rush and a relief to be finished. I'll be damned if my time was going to bring down my spirits at this point! It took a whole 20-30 minutes before my elated mood and the endorphins began to subside and I began to notice the pain in my leg again.

Damage Report: Three hours after the race, there was a knot on my calf about the size of a ping-pong ball and I had a blood-blister on my left foot the size of a quarter! That biting pain on my hip, I noticed at mile 20, was from the gel packs I was carrying on the inside of my shorts. The tops of the gel packs were sticking out the top of my inner pocket and rubbing against my hip. They had rubbed off all the skin on my hip in an area the size of a quarter and I had blood all on the inside of my shorts from it!

Despite all the pains I went through during this race, words cannot describe how happy I am to have finished in spite of these obstacles! In retrospect, the physical pain I was now enduring was nothing to the emotional pain I could imagine if I would have quit at mile 10 or anywhere afterwards. This race has taught me that if I want something, I'm going to make it happen and I'm going to get it. That is part of my stubborn nature and so far it is a character trait that I'm glad to possess.

I can't wait till February when I get to run the Austin marathon! That is, if I manage not to starve to death before then! I may have to eat that seasoned cabbage...

IronStar Half-Ironman Triathlon

Sunday, November 9, 2008
7:00 AM, Conroe, Texas
http://www.eztoregister.com/results/Ironstar08.htm

My Goals:

• Swim
• Wanted: under 40 minutes
• Did: 33:53.3
• Bike:
• Wanted: under 3 hours
• Did: 3:01:29.5
• Run:
• Wanted: under 2 hours
• Did: 1:50:17.7
• T1:
• Wanted: under 9 Minutes
• Did: 7:54.5
• T2:
• Wanted: under 9 minutes
• Did: 6:05.3
• Overall:
• Wanted: under 6 hours
• Did: 5:39:40.4

My Ranking:

• Age Group: 5th of 14
• Swim (Age Group): 3rd
• Bike (Age Group): 5th
• Run (Age Group): 4th

The IronStar Half-Ironman was my first half-iron to compete in and I had a ton of fun! I rode along with Patrick and Amy, on Saturday, to Conroe. They rented a not so mini mini-van that was big enough for all three bikes and a bunch of bags. It was a short two and a half hour trip to the packet pickup at the La Torretta Del Lago Resort. The resort was undergoing heavy construction but it's going to be a really nice place when it's all finished up. It did have some crazy mind-altering carpet though (check out the photos)!

There were less than 500 people entered into this race, I think, so the packet pick-up expo was pretty small. We didn't have to wait in any lines, to get our packets, and we were in-n-out fast (which was good since we were all getting motion sickness just from staring at the carpet)! After the expo we went to Target because I needed to pickup a throw away pair of flip-flops. It was a 1/4 mile walk from our transition area to the swim start (over construction areas no less) so I needed something to walk in since they were not guaranteeing that our shoes would still be there when we finished.

After picking up some shoes we went to the hotel, in Montgomery, and unloaded all of our gear. By this point it was already getting late so we hurried off to an Italian restaurant.

Race Nutrition:

Personally, I've found pizza to be the perfect meal the night before the race. Lots of carbs, protein and fat... what more could I ask for? Maybe it's not in the perfect proportions but it seems to work for me and I digest it easily. I ordered a veggie pizza and some soup. Race morning I had a pancake and two cliff bars. After the swim I downed a pack of shot bloks. While on the bike I took a bottle of perpetuum that contained 7 scoops which works out to about 910 calories. I also took a salt tablet during the bike and had my camel back on and filled with water. After the bike I ate another pack of shot bloks and took another salt tablet. During the run I had a GU every 6 miles and took a bunch more salt tablets for reasons I will explain below.

Race Morning:

I managed a good 5-6 hours of sleep, the night before, which was surprising because I wasn't worried or nervous at all and I fell asleep easily. We awoke at about 5:00am, packed our gear and drove down to the race. The parking for the race was 1/2 mile away from the transition area so it was a bit of workout lugging all of our crap down there (plus I wore a pair of uncomfortable flip-flops like a moron).

At the transition area, I got all my stuff organized fast and before I knew it, it was time to head down to the swim start. We walked the 1/4 mile down to the start and even when I was in the water about to begin, I didn't have an ounce of nervousness. I think this is because I'm becoming more confident in my physical abilities. It never once crossed my mind that I wouldn't be able to finish or that I would have trouble finishing it. I see myself at the finish line, happy and in good spirits. The only thing that slightly worries me is getting the finish times I want but that doesn't make me nervous, it gets me motivated.

Swim:

This was the best swim I've ever had during a race! Normally I have a few minutes of panic or trouble breathing until I can get a rhythm going but this time I fell into a groove right away. I was in the "zone" and felt very relaxed the entire time. In fact, looking back, I wish I would have pushed myself harder during this portion since my breathing and heart rate felt like it was running at an idle instead of a pedal to the floor racing speed! The other reason I did good on the swim had a lot to do with my new wetsuit. It was my first race with a wetsuit and boy does it make a difference! I'll definitely try to make more use of it next season!

T1:

I cut myself a lot of slack when it came to transitions. When I left the transition area I wanted to feel comfortable and ready to tackle the next leg of the race and as long as that took less than 9 minutes I would be happy with it. After the swim I had a major crap attack so I ran to the porta-potty. By the time I had finished and got all my bike gear ready to go, almost 8 minutes had passed. I beat my goal and I felt great so all was well!

Bike:

I was a bit worried about the bike since I had just got a new tri bike and had only ridden it 4-5 times. I wasn't sure how comfortable it would be but it worked out great and I didn't have any position related pains the entire time! It was a cool day and a perfect temperature for riding! The ride was very scenic, winding through pine forests and as an added bonus it was mostly flat with a few small rollers! I saw Amy at around mile 18 and we chatted for awhile. Around mile 46 I developed a bad case of mental boredom and lost a lot of motivation and my pace slowed down considerably. After 3-4 miles though i became bored of being bored and gave myself a pep-talk and was able to get out of my funk. The remaining miles went by fast and before I knew it I was off the bike and into T2!

T2:

I really need to learn how to do a moving dismount off of the bike... I didn't fall but my dismount was none too grace full. After fighting my way off the bike I put all my run gear on and went to the porta-potty again! I was out faster this time, at 6 minutes, and I felt good and ready to run.

Run:

My legs felt surprisingly strong after the bike and I took off down the road feeling full of energy. Even though I felt great, I decided to pace myself and keep a 8 1/2 - 9 minute pace going. If I still felt good after mile 6 I was planning to ramp up the speed. Around mile four, my left leg went numb which was a relief in a way because I was developing a few muscle cramps but it was also pretty scary since I had never had that happen before. I ran on my numb leg for two miles and then decided I should stop at the next aid station. At the aid station I took two salt tablets and stretched my leg out for about two minutes. Almost as soon as I began stretching the numbness went away.

I got moving again at a cautious pace just in case the numbness should return. After a few minutes I was still feeling great and decided to pick up my pace but with the promise to grab a drink at each aid station in hopes of avoiding further numbness or muscle cramps. At this point, in the race, I zoned out and the next six miles went by very fast. I met Patrick along the way and he was looking strong and feeling good! By mile 12 the cool air was losing the battle against the blazing sun and the heat started to get to me. It was a long, hard and hot (that's what she said?) 1.1 remaining miles to the finish that felt further than the previous six I had done. Finally I saw the finish line and sprinted for it like a... well, like a person that wanted to be finished with a long ass race!

It felt great to finish my first half-ironman! I quickly grabbed two water bottles and my eye spotted a mountain of pizza boxes off in the distance! I scarfed down three pieces of pizza and headed back over to the finish line to watch for Patrick and Amy. Patrick finished in 6:00:54 and Amy finished in 6:21! It was incredibly fun race and I'm glad that I did my first half-ironman here since the venue and the smaller number of participants helped to make the whole experience more enjoyable! Special thanks to Patrick and Amy for asking me to go and for making the trip so much fun! Hopefully we'll get to race here again next year!


P.S. Don't carry a camera with you when running 13.1 miles! Not fully thinking things through, like I normally do, I thought it would be a genius move to run with my camera in my pocket and take pictures of Patrick and Amy as they crossed the finish line. The finish line was a long ways away from the transition area (they had to shuttle us back) so carrying my camera seemed like the only option if I wanted to take pictures. Well, as most people with common sense know, when you race you sweat a lot and you lose salt through your sweat. When I reached the finish line I took out my camera only to discover that it was covered in salt! Every little crevice was crusted over with salt! I was able to snap one final picture but then it died on me. I tried fixing it once I got home but it was already too far gone... it was a great camera. R.I.P.

Learning from my mistakes & remembering what I've done right

This season I'll be going on my third year of competing in triathlons. This season will also be my last year in the 25-29 age group and I plan on going out big by placing top 2 in at least one race this year. Yep, that's top 2... third place won't cut it! I don't care if I have to enter into a race where I'm the only competitor in my age group or if I have to create my own race, it's going to happen! I placed in, or near, the top 10 in most races this season and also placed in the top 5 during a couple of races. I have the right mental drive and motivation, I just need to perfect my training.

Competing against others, for those top 2 spots, will be new to me this year since I've only been inadvertently competing against others for the past two seasons. My motto has always been "you're not racing against anyone but yourself". This motto has held true for the past two season. In the past, I've only cared about beating my past times with little care as to where I placed. Now I'll be looking at old races to get the times of the top racers and it will be their times that I'm competing against and not my own. Should be fun to see if I enjoy the sport more, with this new competitive motto, or if I get burned out trying to push myself too fast beyond my current limits.

This season, I'll also be competing in a couple of ultra and regular 26.2 marathons. Finding a balance between going long distances and running so fast my lungs bleed is going to be difficult. That is where this blog comes in. I feel that I should have been keeping a log of my training, the past two years, so I could determine what I've done right and what I've done wrong.

This blog may not help all that much this season but I'm thinking long term here. I'll be posting race reports, general thoughts and weekly recaps of the training I've done. Hopefully I'll be able to review this later and learn what I've been doing right and what I need to improve upon. Cheers to the 2009 race season!