LBCM 2006 - Building to the Future

How can I best describe my training this year? A Roller coaster. I had high hopes of lowering my PR and qualifying for Boston (3:15). Who knew that a turned ankle in March may have started a cascade of events that would totally alter my training this year. After I turned my ankle, I had a series of injuries that never let me get traction with my training. Left ankle sprain, then left toe issues, plantar fascitis, left quad issues, then right calf and right shin issues. I had 6-7 good weeks with Pfitzinger and then it was up and down from there. Glimmers of hope followed by a week of marginal runs. It culminated in almost no mileage 4 of the last 5 weeks of training, except the long runs. Then the last week of taper, my wife and son come down with a cold and I start to feel sick the Wednesday before the marathon and started antibiotics to prevent a full blown cold. It may have done the trick.

This may all be ‘laying the mattress”, but these are the facts. In fact, I was very close to just not running this year, and I decided that wasn’t me. It may not have been my best training, but I invested the time and I was going to get to the finish line, even if I had to walk it in. This was the first year I have had some major adversity with training. You learn a lot about people when things don’t go right. It’s much easy to have a great training cycle and go out and hammer PRs. I did that 3 years in a row. The mind is much stronger than the body, and mine was letting me down at the wrong time.

Pre Race

We had a nice TM happy hour on Friday. Many of the Chicago people were there and several new folks. It was truly a pleasure to meet everyone and I can’t reiterate strongly enough how we can meet on an Internet board, but somehow act and feel like old friends.

Race Day

I was staying downtown for the race and woke up to make my usual pre-run breakfast., bagels, peanut butter and honey. Except the honey I got from my m-i-l was “fake, sugar free honey” You know what they say, nothing new on race day. I spent quite a bit of time trying to decide on apparel. I finally decided on a long sleeved shirt, shorts, gloves, and a hat. It turned out to be just right. I took 800 mg of Ibuprofen and got dressed.

I took a cab to the start, and as usual arrived too early. I walked around trying to stay warm, used the facilities and stretched. I then checked in my gear, and headed to the start line. I saw Chad and Paul and wished them luck. As I reached the area where the preferred corrals entrance was, I saw some elites running laps and warming up. I decide to test out my leg and run a few laps. The pain was still there despite 2 weeks off. I thought, at this point I can’t not run. I have the rest of the off season to recover. I could see into the elite tent with everyone stretching, talking and applying Body glide. I entered into my corral and had some fun watching the “bouncers” trying to prevent people from jumping the fence and entering the corral. I think 9 out of 10 people make it over, with the 1 person who gets caught, just running about 50 yards down, trying again and getting in. After the usual pre race stuff, we were off. I was across the start within a minute and 15 seconds or so. This race more than any other one I have done was all mental. I knew I didn’t have my A-game physically, so I tried to break the race down into chunks, defined by people I would see along the course. My wife, son, m-in-law and my wife’s cousin would be at mile 4-ish and 10. I have some friends from work that would be at 8, 18 and then run with me from 21-26. So, here’s how the race went.

Miles 1-4 (See family)

8:58/8:27/8:23/8:08

I felt like my right shin was acting up and slight calf pain from the beginning. I seriously though about giving up here, but from experience this year, it has taken 5 miles for me to get loose. So I decide to reevaluate at 5. At mile 3 I shed long sleeved shirt and ran in my technical long sleeved shirt. As expected, seeing my family at 4 really gave me a boost. I stopped and went over to my son, all bundled up in the stroller and gave him a big kiss. He was so excited to see me. He had apparently been practicing his chant “Go, Daddy, Go”. I took a pee break at Lincoln park (before mile 5) and somehow had an 8:08 mile with the break.

Miles 5-11 (See friends from Work and family)

8:17/8:27/8:14/16:30 (mile 8,9)/ 16:15 (mile 10,11)

I saw my friends around mile 8 and It was at this point that I started developing a blister on my right instep. Several of these miles were going south with and the pace was pretty effortless. Ironically my calf/shin hurt less, either b/c they hurt less or I was focused on my expanding blister.

I didn’t see my wife at mile 10 as planned which was very demoralizing given my mental state. I turned on my Ipod Shuffle at this point, knowing that I wouldn’t see a familiar face until mile 18. The miles weren’t difficult based on my effort, but the pains were increasing, both in my shin/calf and my blister.

Miles 12-18

8:15/8:05/8:26/8:31/9:06/?/?

The blister was starting to get worse and I was now forming one on my left foot. My calf was hurting now. I stopped to use the bathroom again, just after mile 15, accounting for the slow mile. Two of my 4 marahtons, I have needed to use the facilities at this point. Each time the same thing happens. There is virtually no line, but all the stalls are occupied. I position myself near one side of stalls and wait. A fraction of a second after I leave my prior spot, one of the stalls on the far end opens and some runner who just showed up at that instant runs in. I react and move to that side, when a stall opens on the side I just vacated, taken by some guy who just showed up at that moment. I finally decide a tree was getting watered. At mile18, I popped another 600 mg of Ibuprofen, hoping to limp in from there. I was noticeably slowing at this point. It was from here where I encountered the wall. I was just hoping to get to mile 20 when I would have some company to help me take my mind off the pain. The music was stuck in a stretch of slow Coldplay songs that just wasn’t doing it for me and I was trying to find some upbeat music.

Mile 19-22

8:44/8:42/9:21/9:24

All Iremember is the sweet smell of Torillas. I have very few mwmories of this stretch of the marathon, maybe b/c I am so zone din or b/c I don’t drive this area of the course much. Whatever it is, I remember tortillas.

I have 2 friends from work who really wanted to run with me. I was initially resisting the idea, but as the marathon got closer, I had a feeling that the company would be needed. I am so glad I did. I was cycling through my high energy music. My first friend was supposed to meet me after mile 20, but I didn’t see him there. Since I was using these meeting points as mental motivators, I started to get angry that they had changed the plan on me. But this is when I started to turn it around. This is why I will claim that the timeclock will not accurately measure what I did. I was slow for this mile. Then my friends showed up at mile 21. I had to stop to stretch and massage my calves which were really bad by now. We started picking up the pace. I started thinking about how pain was temporary and how Lance Armstrong has a high pain tolerance and I could suck it up for 3 miles. Also, near Chinatown, I may have hallucinated a big picture of a wall. What was odd in this hallucination was that unlike the Murals on the Kennedy expressway where the picture is of runners breaking through the wall. This was just a picture of an intact wall. I thought was cruel to see and got a little angry. I got some of my really upbeat music and kept cycling through them.

Miles 23-26.2

8:50/8:47/8:40/10:45 (1.2 miles)

Consistent miles. Not my fastest, but my most consistent. This is usually where I break down during my previous marathons, but I found a way to keep it together, despite my body rebelling. I would focus on the feet of someone ahead of me and just listen to my music and go into a trance. I told my friends I don’t want any water, just tell me when I am at a mile marker. This worked for me, since I was pleasantly surprised when the mile marker would arrive and my speed was steady or increasing. I really hate the stretch up Michigan avenue. It seems like an eternity. I especially dislike seeing McCormick place and knowing how far that is while driving a car. Then to see the big buildings Downtown seemingly stationary despite my forward motion. For all these reasons plus the headwind this year, I really hate this section. I think that is why the staring at the feet worked. I didn’t spend all the energy obsessing about how much further I needed to go. I also used some mind tricks from mile 18 in, thinking about my familiar routes from home and thinking, I just need to get from home to the Glen (my 6 mile loop), or from the glen to home (3 miles), from Glenbrook Hospital to home (1.2 miles). I saw my wife during my ascent of Mt. Roosevelt and got a mini-kick into the finish. It is cliché to say that that is the best part of the marathon, but I really love that turn onto Roosevelt. I wanted to have that feeling again and that helped me make the decision in mile 5-8 to not give up. That turn and all the people cheering reminds me to be thankful for finishing the marathon, despite the time. Once inside the chute, I got medaled by Julie Jam and saw Bob who had finished a few minutes ahead of me and David K. Does it get any better than that?

I hope this report doesn’t come across as some “against all odds” report. It isn’t that dramatic. It represents a milestone for me and my mental attitude. I was not at all taxed aerobically at this pace. So I know that the added miles this year did its job. I just didn’t have the wheels to go with the engine this year. I know that when I can get through my next training cycle without injury, that I have a good shot at a PR, maybe even Boston. Talk is cheap, and it will remain to be seen whether it will happen. But, I am stronger mentally from this marathon and the training was working. I found ways to get through tough mental stretches and ways to block out pain. So I am encouraged for the future. The building blocks are in place and when it happens, I’ll look at this seemingly un-distinguished marathon finish as a big part of what got me there.

So, Is it possible to be happy with a marathon that is not a PR?

I say yes.