Duke City Marathon Training & Fatherhood

Marathon Training & Fatherhood

Preface: 

My life compared to the life that my wonderful and amazing wife Arlene has gone through are two, 1 million times different situations and zero comparison should be made. I need that to be infinitely clear, that zero comparison should be made between the differences of our roles as parents. I’m solely writing this as a father, and the experience I’ve encountered with running and having the light of my life - Santiago, around as a new experience. So, runners out there, please note that being a father is completely different from the path a mother has to follow. It’s like we are still training and racing on a track, and the mother is racing and training on a technical trail with weighted shoes that force you to run underwater every now and then…

The Joy of Training:

With Santiago being only 5 months old, it sure feels like a much longer time when thinking back. This year has seemed to have been on a slower setting than most - which I am grateful for. The moment he was born to my first run was a mere 2 days off. That first run as a dad felt like a survival run. A run where I had to make sure I got home safely and ran it almost in fear, clicking off some rather quicker splits than I would normally run. Sub 7 minutes for an “easy” run were logged on the good old garmin. Arlene told me, this was due to the fact that I wanted to get home quicker, which made perfect sense.

After about a month of infrequent running, I got the opportunity to run a trail race - Cedro Peak 25k in April. I could test my grit and attempt to grind out 15 miles in the forests. That race was a success, even with limited sleep and the guilt of leaving home early to attend a running event. I ran it hard, pushed myself on the trails and wound up 3rd overall with some friendly company.

Finishing Cedro Peak

With a steady climb of mileage after this race, I thought I was on a good track to hit some mileage numbers in the 60s to 70s. But, it took much longer to climb. My mileage chart started to look impressive with a steady stock market increase, but the true numbers were still in the 50s. I was ok with that. As long as I was making progress, then all would be fine.

Realizing that sleep wasn’t a huge priority, just as long as I got some, then I could zombie myself out of bed to run before the summer heat would get to me. Sprinkle in a few workouts or the occasional 5k race over the summer, and I was maintaining fitness. However, marathon fitness wasn’t there. I needed to get a long run in, and some tempo runs in, in order to feel somewhat ready for 26.2 miles.

The Gang: Adam, Ben, myself & Sean

By this time, it’s August, and I’ve had a few weeks off juggling life, back to school stuff, youth coaching, and a 10k trail race that I am an RD for. But, all in all, the training has been decent for a vintage man of my stature.

The plan has been to race the Duke City Marathon in October. This plan has been on my mind since the moment we found out that Santiago would be in our life. I’ve never raced this marathon, and thought it would be a logistical breeze compared to traveling and leaving home to run another race. Why not run a marathon in our own backyard? And the more I thought about it, the better I felt about the situation.

Training has been good and the following has occurred:

• Since June, I’ve had 9 weeks over 50 miles per week (this is weak, but I’ll take it for now).

• Only 5 tempo workouts, averaging 5:40-5:50 pace.

• Longest long run has been 18.5 miles.

• 10k race in 34:54

Based on this gibberish, I am still hoping to run a marathon faster than 2 hours plus my age - so a marathon faster than 2:42 in October. I’ll be celebrating my 42nd birthday and what better way than to do that by running 42 kilometers! More importantly is having my family there and for me to see Santi immediately afterwards. I am beyond thrilled to continue this journey with him and Arlene there. Otherwise, it's not even worth doing this selfish endeavor. Waking up early to leave my family would only be a way to stay healthy, but the competitiveness in me to do see what I can create with this life seems to be more fun and a test of what this body can really do. But, I yearn to be that proud dad who gets to hold his child after a long and tolling race.

Last Week of Training (week of 9/2/24):

Monday: 8 miles

Tuesday: easy 7 miles

Wednesday: 3x1 mile tempo (5:48, 5:38, 5:34) w/3 min recovery

Thursday: easy 8 miles

Friday: easy 7.4 miles

Saturday: easy 8 miles with the stroller 

Sunday: Chips and Salsa 10k race - 34:54. 12.5 miles total.

Weekly Total: 60.4

Top 3: In reverse order from left to right

Getting ahead of myself - Injuries

We all tend to do this a lot - start planning for races before you are even ready to run.  Circling those far off race dates in the calendar, in hopes that you will be on the starting line, or just day dreaming about the possibility of crossing off one of your bucket list races.  Well, at least I do.  I tend to do this all too often, especially when I am not running.  The unknown of when I "will be training" seems to make the possibility of any race just a registration click away.  My wife can tell you that, when I am hurt, my race options seems to double throughout the season - "Honey, I want to do this race, oh, and then we can do this race.".  I guess the mind moves way faster than the body, but this seems to help with the mental aspect that I am not running.  The hope that I will be back training again is the light at the end of the dark and torturous tunnel.  And with the thought of races, comes the reality of training and getting stronger; running with your friends, and pushing each other to achieve a goal.  Those are definitely not occurring when you are cross-training by yourself, or sitting around waiting for your injury to heal.  Or thinking, "I'm not a competitive cross-training, why am I do this?".  But the fact of the matter is, that you, or I, will be able to run again, and enjoy all the aspects that it entails.  And know that these auxiliary workouts are going to get you healthy and running again.

As for me, I am still cross training with my trainer - Lawrence, twice a week.  My massage therapist - Laura, is continuously making my muscles and tendons feel like rubber, and I have seen a Dry Needling guy/Doctor, named Nick Speegle who will stab me a few more times this week while sending electrodes through those wonderful metal needles.  The goal of all of this is to heal my left achilles and test it out on Friday.  My achilles has been bugging me since forever ago, and it has really flared up recently after the marathon last month.  So I thought, it would be best to fully heal it and start off fresh this year.  I still have plenty of time left (the rest of my life, I guess) to figure out what races I really want to do, and until then, I will focus on the important aspect of recovering and healing.  Once that is accomplished, then I can break out the red marker and start circling all those races dates... or more importantly, all those sunday long run days with the Dukes Track Club.

Post Phoenix Marathon and Onward

After taking a much deserved week off, and this past week of easy trotting around to reflect more clearly on my performance from the 2017 Rock n Roll Arizona Marathon, I've decided I need to jot some things down.  I know my performance of 2:35:37 isn't much to write home about compared to my previous times, but it was an all-out effort and a stride in the right direction as I set my sights on faster times to come this year.  After toeing the line in Arizona and coming across the finish, I was pleased to feel stronger and fitter than the abysmal effort that occurred in Boston last year (I don't even like to mention that marathon).  Honestly, I wasn't ready to run a marathon in Boston, so I set my sights on Arizona as a lower key race to get the wheels back.

As I look back at my training, I know I could have done more... we always think we can do more.  And I feel it was enough for my body at the time.  Now, I know I can start to push the envelope a little more for a spring marathon, and reevaluate the training that proceeds that race.  I am not getting any younger, and perhaps my best marathon days are behind me, but there is still a carrot leading me to accomplish a huge goal, and that would be to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials.  Those standards came out earlier this year and they seem within reach, even for this old man.  It's truly a privilege and honor to be able to just run freely.  I never seem to forget how quickly it can disappear, or how we can take it for granted.  All I have to do is step out the door and enjoy the freedom of being outside.  It's a gift, and I don't want to take it for granted.  And with that gift, comes a small personal goal.

Olympic Marathon Trials Standard (rumored):
Men - "B" Standard 2:19:00 Full Marathon

With the right attitude and smarter training, a sub 2:19:00 is within striking distance.  It sure is easy to talk about, or write about, so in the meantime I'll just focus on improving upon my most previous marathon time and strive for something in the 2:20s this spring.  Right now, I feel excited to train more effectively for a spring race, and hopefully I make another step in the right direction.  As for my training for Arizona, I was able to accomplish the following:

- Over the course of 15 weeks, I only averaged 55 miles a week
- Over the course of those 15 weeks, I averaged 6 miles of tempo runs a week
- Longest run was 23 miles
- Cross trained twice a week for the duration of 15 weeks

After looking at that raw data... there's plenty of room for improvement and more importantly, HOPE.

  

Week 4 of Marathon Training

Another solid week in the log. After all that traveling last week, this week felt great. It's always a good feeling to be back in a routine and sleeping in your own bed. 

As for training, I felt that things are starting to pick up, and that my fitness is slowly coming around. I had two workouts this week; one tempo run on Wednesday, and a long run workout on Sunday. That Sunday run was a little intimidating at first, and I was really nervous beforehand. It was another Jack Daniels workout, but it was a pretty big one, with longer bouts of recovery, which to me can be difficult since we'll be on our feet for so long. Nevertheless, it went well. And it was great to have so many guys at this past Sundays long run. 

So if you're wondering what torturous workouts I did, here they are: Wednesday was a 3 mile, 2 mile & 1 mile tempo repeat. Sunday's long run was a 4 mile warm-up followed by 2 mile tempo, 3 mile tempo, 2 mile tempo & 1 mile tempo with 1 mile recovery in between. Interesting and tough! Well, it went well and the week was great! Onward to the next week. 

Week 4

Monday - 11 miles

Tuesday - 12 miles

Wednesday - am.w/u 2.5 miles (5:21, 5:28, 5:25) (5:28, 5:21) (5:15) c/d 3.5 miles. Pm. 6 miles. Total: 18 miles

Thursday - off

Friday - am. 11 miles pm. 6 miles

Saturday - am. 11.5 miles

Sunday - 4 easy, (5:28, 5:24) 1 mile easy, (5:25, 5:25, 5:27) 1 mile easy (5:21, 5:28) 1 mile easy (5:18) 5 cool down. Total: 20 miles

Total: 89.5 miles

Getting Back Into Rhythm

After a wonderful school year and countless hours spent thinking about a wonderful wedding, it was time for me to get back into "real" training.  I needed to decide on a marathon that I will do this fall, and come up with a training plan for that race.  And since the window to qualify for the Olympic Trials is slowly closing, I've decided on the Chicago Marathon in October.  I believe there will be a ton of guys looking to run the standard, and that race gives me roughly 4 months of training from after the wedding.

As soon as school got out, I finally got the motivation and energy to build up the miles again.  If I can recall, I was only running about 40 miles per week since the beginning of the year, and hadn't wrote a single mile in my running journal since my stress fractures in March of 2014.  So, I need to get back into a routine and get my act together!  I finally logged some miles in my journal at the end of April to keep myself accountable, and to my surprise, my mileage only stuck around 40/week.  But with school over, things are looking brighter.

I need to keep posting on this blog as well, so this will be the first of many weeks leading up to Chicago, and an OTQ time.  Also, after racing the Rock 'n Roll San Diego half marathon last Sunday, I now have a pretty accurate account of my fitness and where I should be training... (slow), but it's a start.  And in case you're wondering, I ran 1:10:54.  One of my slowest half marathons ever!  It sure is a kick in the ass, and now I have zero excuses to get back out there and train my brains out!

Racing outta shape, and too cheap to buy the photos...

With the Fiance at the finish!

Week 1 of marathon training:

Mon - drove back to ABQ
Tue - pm. 10 miles
Wed - am. 7 miles / pm. 9 miles
Thur - am. 4 miles / pm. 11 miles (bonked in the heat)
Fri - am. 6x1 mile w/3min rest (5:36, 5:30, 5:34, 5:25, 5:26, 5:23) 10 total
Sat - am. 12 miles in the foothills
Sun - am. 18 miles

Total: 81 miles

Club Cross Country Nationals

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted something, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything.  It's been a busy couple of weeks, and many miles have been logged.  I first starting writing this post before the USATF Club Cross Country National meet in Bend, Oregon, but now that the meet is over, I'll be entailing a summary of that meet, how the training went, and what lies ahead...

First off, I truly miss and love cross country.  It's such a heart pounding, gut retched feeling from start to finish, and a few strides past the finish for some.  This year the meet was in Bend, Oregon, which meant a mecca for beer lovers such as myself.  This also meant the home of Max King, who would be developing the course and transforming a lovely golf course into a hell bent European style cross country course with some hilly terrain - I was all for it!  Club Cross (as it's known to most post-collegiate runners) is usually a reunion type of race, where more than 1000 runners converge onto a city.  The reason for this is due to the "Club" mentality and camaraderie of racing together and scoring as a team.  Which, by the way, is the first time the Dukes Track Club has sent both a Men's and Women's team.  This was a huge highlight for me, and for everyone who raced.

So, to start things off, Phil and I left from Albuquerque after teaching all day at 5:27pm, and got into our rooms in Bend at 1:30am Saturday Morning.  We had to fly into Redmond first, then make the short drive to Bend.  Luckily, the Men's race didn't start until 12:45pm Saturday afternoon.  Well, once we: slept, woke up, get a short morning shake out to the course, and have breakfast, we were all ready to race.  The following Men and Women raced:

Men's Team:
Me
Tony
Phil
Neal
Brant
Matt
Chris
Mark
Sal
Loren
Matt

Women's Team:
Liz
Arlene
Sam
Stephanie
Vanessa

Well, I took a long break from writing this, so I'll end it quick...

The race was cold and hilly; hilly like a trail race with sharp turns and steep inclines and declines.  It was Epic, and I finished 49th.  The team finished 26th, which I was happy to have us finally score as a team.

More on training and the USA Half Marathon Championships.

Twin Cities Marathon/USA Marathon Championships

It's been more than a week since the USA Marathon Championships, and I think it's time to post my thoughts on this wonderful race.  I've spoken to many friends about how the race turned out, and the positives and negatives I took away from the weekend, but haven't quite put it into written context.  One thing I want to touch base on, is how well I felt leading up to this marathon, compared to how busy I was with "life".  This marathon was my second fastest marathon (2:20:57), and as a full time teacher, I can honestly say I was happy with the out come.  My fastest marathon came when I was finishing up Grad School, and student-teaching; nowhere near as stressful as having your own class(es).  Nevertheless, there are many different factors that I took away from this cycle compared to my PR cycle.  And that's what I'll be comparing the most.

So the weekend started off as soon as I got off work the Friday before the race.  I was done with my 2nd grade class at 2:50pm, and Arlene and Loren were in the parking lot ready to go.  Our flight was at 4:10pm, so we were cutting it a little close.  But of course we made it into Minneapolis without incident.  Liz was there at 10:30pm to pick us up, and we in bed at midnight after some chatting and late night snacks.  Arlene, Liz and myself slept in till about 9am, and went on a short 30min shake out run.  A pleasant jog through some Minneapolis parks and some light drills were enough for me.  Once we got ready, the whole group of Turner's (Liz, her mom and dad) took me to the host hotel and let me relax on my own.

I ventured around a little bit on Saturday to the elite hospitality suite and to a local coffee shop for a decaf vanilla latte.  The majority of the afternoon was set aside towards getting my bottles ready, and watching movies in the hotel room.  I had a nice time catching up with John and Ariel Heitzman for lunch, but besides that, I wasn't doing a whole lot.  And once it was time for dinner, Arlene and company came and picked me up for an awesome dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory - one of my favorite places on earth!  John and Ariel were there, along with many other Albuquerqeños.  Dinner was amazing, and then it was time for a long night of nerves and tossing & turning.

Race morning provided us with some perfect weather!  I had my usual breakfast, and boarded the elite bus.  I sat with an old friend of mine; Nick Arciniaga, and we chatted a bit about race nerves and goals.  I knew he was going to race well when he pointed out how nervous he was.  I also had a feeling that I was going to run well too, but things slightly changed.  Once, we got to the staging area, I got in a short warm up and was ready to go.  I knew there would be a solid pack of runners in the front going out in 66:00 for the half, so I didn't want anything to do with that.  I was looking for a 68 minute group.  Well, after about a half a mile, the race looked like a tear drop, with a ton of guys in the front group, and a dwindle of guys stringing out to where I was.  I would guess I was in about 30th place at the mile, which was hit in 5:14.  I wasn't wearing a watch, so after that I had no real idea of where I was at.  Mbarak came up on me just after the mile and I was with him for a bit, but wanted to catch anyone in front of me.  I saw another familiar head up front - Solomon Kandie, so I raced up to his little group of 4 runners.  Once I caught them, I decided to keep the momentum and continue on.  I felt pretty comfortable running by myself and catching a guy or two every mile, but that ended when I reached the halfway point.

When I came up on the clock at 13.1 miles, I had no idea that the clocks were off.  The clock read 66:47 when I passed it, and I was a little freaked out at how fast that could've been.  In reality I came through the half in 68:24, a time I wanted to be at, but I didn't know it at the time.  So, I was thinking that I was going to blow up hard.  Another thought I had was that I might blow up a little and still run a pr or the Olympic Trials Standard.  Either way, the wheels came off at around 20 miles.  I remember two guys coming up on me at 18 miles, one Hansons guy and a BRC guy.  A tried to run with the Hansons guy for about a mile, then faded off of him and attempted to run with the BRC guy.  We ran a few strides together, and I asked him his name.  "Sean", is what he said, and then he wanted us to work together.  I've heard that phrase so many times in the later stages of a marathon, and always believe I can stick with them to the finish.  Well, in this case, I ran another mile with Sean and faded.

I came to the hill at mile 20, and slugged myself up it, and kept on moving until Mbarak and Solomon caught me at mile 22.  Again, I rallied myself to go with them, and faded at mile 24.  The last 2 miles were a struggle, and once I could see the clock, I made out a 2:20 something ticking away.  I wasn't too surprised, and still didn't want that number to tick any higher, so I kicked it in to finish 20th in 2:20:57.

After all the mayhem at the finish, and getting ready to come home to Albuquerque, I started to assess my training.  I figured I had a solid 19 weeks of high mileage, but once I plugged the numbers in, it turned out to average 87 miles a week.  This was a little surprising to me!  I now know that working really takes a ton of time, but if I can squeeze a few more miles in, I know my performance in the marathon will improve.  2:20 is a good start to another training cycle, and a great spring marathon attempt at the standard.  Cheers to many more miles!    

From Instagram user bethholine

Summer Scorcher

It's hot out, and this blog has been ice cold for quite a while. I figure it's time to post something worth wild to read, so here goes the summer session of training and reflecting.

To start things off, I've fully committed to the USA Marathon Championships in the fall, which will coincide with the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis.  I got a sweet app that'll count down the days till the race, so as I write this, the count is 123 days. 123 days seems like a lot of time, but most runners always want more time to train and toil away with workouts. Which was exactly what happened last week.  One full week of workouts - track, tempo and a good long run all in the books.  

Aside from running and now enjoying the summer working at Heart and Sole, things are going pretty smoothly.  Our Club is moving along quite well, and we have a few scheduled Adventure runs lined up before the Forest gets shut down for fire danger.  The only important things now are running and performing well in my interviews for a teaching job that's actually in Albuquerque. 

Next week I plan on posting workouts and a recap of the week.