California International Marathon: Race Analysis

   

Exactly a year ago this time I wondered if I'd every be able to return to running and what exactly that would look like. I was struggling with a nerve injury that was rooted in my back and sending pain signals down my leg. Just walking around was painful, and the months of inactivity from running were adding up. I lost around 5 months of training. So by the time May rolled around and I had made some progress on the injury I considered it a victory that I was able to run for an hour straight finally without pain. 

    

So in August, after having a pain free triathlon season, I decided I wanted to run a marathon and signed up for my first ever marathon (California International Marathon) to be raced in December. My coach Justin Trolle biked beside me during some of my first long runs with his signature Fatigue Resistance sets, which would end up being the building blocks of my training. No long run was completed without this speed element implemented, and it worked. The focus of the training wasn't on volume like traditional marathon programs, but on speed work during training. I averaged around 40 miles to 50 miles per week of running on my biggest weeks. I have to admit, I was a bit worried about getting in as long of runs as possible. I had to just trust in my coach that the training we were doing would pay off, and get me to my goal time of a 3 hour marathon.  

 Race day in Sacramento, California was a cold one. The temperature at the start of the race was around 27 degrees and it only warmed up to 34. The cold temperatures would prove to be treacherous at aid stations; adding to the difficulty of getting water. Any water that was spilled from the dixie cups was freezing quickly on the roads...creating a slip and slide. I lined up with the 3:00:00 pace group, as did about 30 of my best friends. The power of a group of runners pacing and running in a pack together can give huge benefits. It helped keep me on target pace, although a bit fast..we averaged a 6:46 pace for the first 13.1 miles, which comes out to a 2:57 marathon. The goal was to positive split the race and anticipate a bit of a fade in the last portion of the marathon. After reaching mile 13 I decided to go to the back of the group. There had been a lot of jostling amongst the group and I'm not a soccer player. Also a pack of 30 people all trying to get a dixie cup of water was probably a good spectator sport, but I needed hydration. I finished the back half of the race with a 1:37:04. Definitely more of a positive split than I had anticipated, but I also had only gotten 2 gu gels down the entire race and that became a contributor to the slow down I experienced. Lessons learned, I'm ready to take on Boston in 2015!

Some stats on my Race:

Longest run completed: 19.5 miles with Fatigue Resistance Sets

Average mileage/week 40-50 miles

Half marathon split: 1:28:42 (avg pace of 6:46) 

Final time: 3:05:46

    

Close to Mile 13

Rev 3 Knoxville 2013

    Apparently it wouldn't be a race for me unless it was pouring rain. My season ended last year with a rainy Chicago Triathlon...the race where I got injured. So I know I promised to pull out of a race if it ever did that again, but come on..I'm healed. Plus my physical therapist promised before I left that she could fix ANY damage I did during the course of race day. So I jumped into the 58 degree water and swam my hardest, gutted it out on a wet course with rain pelting me, and ran on icicle legs and frozen feet. I could have sworn up and down the whole run that there were rocks in my shoes but it was just the pain of frozen feet pounding the pavement.  

    I'm very pleased with my run time at Knoxville. I'm definitely capable of running minutes faster over the course of a 10k, but I had only put in one week of speed work before the race. All other miles had just been endurance miles as I fight back after a nerve/back injury to my left side. It was also very difficult to run hard off of the bike when everything is frozen and on the verge of cramping. I find it incredibly interesting that I only ran 30 seconds slower than the time I posted last year at this same race. Comparing facts: last year at this time I had completed about five months of speed work on the run. This year: I started running in February for ten minutes at a time and built my way up to being able to run for 1.5 hours and completed my first speed session by race day. Two very different courses in training, and proof of how ineffective my last training program was. Glad to be racing with Vanguard Triathlon now this season!

 Check out some more photos from the race and this last weekend in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Broken, but not for forever

How many people does it take to fix a "broken" triathlete?

A new head coach, one massage therapist, two physical therapists (one from Boulder sports med, and one local), a sports med doctor, two different chiropractors, two different ART therapists, and a nutrition coach. THAT was the team that brought me back to life after a long and mentally difficult five to six months of being injured. Some asked if I would just retire. Retire?! I just started, so no I'm going to finish this the proper way even if it takes the whole next season to get back in shape and rehab my injury. Some thought I would never run again, well I've been told that before and I've battled back before. This time is no different...it just took longer.

Things escalated at the Chicago triathlon last year in August. I had already been battling a baffling problem on the bike all year. Every time I would race my left adductor would seize up and cramp (or so I thought it was a cramp) and I couldn't push as hard on the bike as I would like to. This resulted in disappointing bike times all season. Chicago turned cold (50s) with rain the entire race, and to complicate things I woke up with a stinger in my neck. Meaning; I could not turn my head to the right at all without stinging pain down my neck and shoulder. This only happens about twice a year and was was one of my worst nightmares. It had a very negative effect on my swim since I couldn't move my head to the side to breathe and the run was painful with zinging pain every stride. I battled on, and that was my first mistake. The next morning I woke up and couldn't even sit up in bed because of the pain that radiated from my hip joint and nerve pain down the back of my leg to my knee. I thought it was just a pain that would pass with rest from activity...

I ended up canceling on the LA triathlon and the rest of the season. It was a difficult pill to swallow, and not a decision I made over night. Every day I woke up and kept trying to work on my leg, and kept trying to "test"out my leg to see if the physical therapy had worked yet. Most days it just left me with my head in my hands sitting on the curb. I had injured a nerve in my back and it was going to take months for it to calm down and the right hands to work on it. In the meantime I needed to take it easy and let it heal, which was easier said than done. Everything was painful, even walking. The end tally was over six months off from running.

I missed a lot of planned races last year and into this year, but I feel it made necessary changes to my approach to training.  Strength training is important!!! My glutes, hamstrings, and core were not strong enough in relation to the strength I had gained from cycling and everything was off balance. I have devoted much more time to important exercices to keep my body running. Without these changes I would have no hope of reaching my potential as an athlete. I will be releasing an article on the crucial strength training exercises that all triathletes should be doing to keep themselves from a six month hiatus.

Happy training!!!

So you think you're a Big Shot? Meet Dandy...

Welcome to the fleet "Big Shot." I think I'll call you Dandy, a term a coworker and I coined for a "demanding customer." I first saw the brand at Teva Mountain Games in Vail last June and it was love. Well, any bike I meet gets my heart rate jumping, but these were some pretty sweet steel single speeds. The best part is they are built here in Fort Collins, Colorado. I'm about to learn what all the fuss is about with single speeds and I think it will add some strength to my triathlon plan. I've been looking for the perfect commuter bike for awhile now, and having sold my Schwinn hybrid to a friend this summer, I was looking to fill its place quickly. That bike had been functioning as my commuter bike since I moved to Colorado (6.5 years ago!) and had lost its lust. I can't wait to take my first coffee run on it!