Periodic Freak Outs are No Big Thang

This is me not on marathons

I keep reminding myself that I said no more full marathons.

No more full marathons.

No more full marathons.

I have a slew of Spring races from 5K to 10 Milers to do.

I have 3 half marathons to train for in 2012 that I want to attempt my sub 2 hour..

So why do I start going nuts when I think about 'when does marathon training start' only to realize that ... it doesn't.

And then I think...oh just one more...I don't have to tell anyone...

And then I realize that that is beyond ridiculous...who does a marathon and not scream from the rafters that a) you're training and running a bazillion miles and b) you finished the marathon and are still alive

Isn't that why Facebook, Twitter and blogs were invented in the first place?  Or is that just me?

:O)

And then I go and read Last Mile Lounge this morning and there is Jamoosh already talking about doing more marathons when I thought he was gonna quit too :)

And he taunts me with his Go Big or Go Home mentality! 

I don't know who I am without training for a marathon.

And I get a bit freaked out that when KW starts back up that I have to at least start out the run with the 2:00 half marathon group, hold on as long as I can, and hopefully hold on a bit longer as the weeks go by...

And I am freaked out that tomorrow is Saturday and I don't have to be anywhere before the crack of dawn.

So much so that I am finding people to run (not many mind you) and they want to, but not at 6am.

Huh?  Why not?

Me no comprende.

I have a lot of really fast friends and they're running ... but I can't keep up with those show offs!  :O)

I know that I am in no danger of signing up for any Fall marathons (that I know I will never do again), but what worries me (already) is that I won't be able to resist the draw of training for Houston again.

I already know I have a spot if I want it, which makes it even harder...

When the time comes will I be able to stand my ground...?

I am going to do everything in my (will)power to ward off the evil lure and seduction of the full marathon from me and my mind! 

They say 'resistance is futile', but I am hoping to prove that wrong...

Olympic Marathon Trials - Lead Pack (Women) - First pass

Also early in the race, the women as they come up to the 5K mark

The women started 15 min behind the men's start

Obviously I had moved back to the side of the street where the fluids tables were set up and just before they make a right hand turn to head out on the 1st of three 8 mile loops

Marathon Recovery Mode - Continued

On Tuesday I wrote about how recovery was going and things seem to be progressing nicely.

I came back to work yesterday, which actually was welcomed.  The calf was still letting me know it was unhappy, and then at some point in the day, my big toe (left foot) became increasingly painful.  Not the toe itself, but the toenail.

It had not (and still hasn't) changed color at all and today its a bit better, not as sensitive to the touch, so I am  hoping that after all these years of running, that now I am about to lose a toenail!?  I am hoping that is not the case, but will keep you posted ;o)

After work, I headed to the gym and since the calf was still ouchy, I had planned on just walking the 3 miles, but I just couldn't.

I ended up doing the 3 miles, but I allowed myself to run a song, walk a song...there was still just a tinge of tightness/soreness in the quads, but nothing I couldnt handle, and by the end they actually felt pretty darn good.

I hit the weights up afterwards for a hard hitting session on chest and shoulders and damn am I feeling it today!

They say 2 of the most important things for marathon recovery is 1) eat good for you food and 2) sleep/rest as much as possible ...  no problem.  For whatever reason, yesterday when I made it home from the gym it was all I could do to keep my eyes open.  I ended up falling asleep on the couch sometime after 9pm, woke up about an hour later, crawled in to bed and this morning still felt like I could sleep even more.

For some folks, the energy zap (and the run-ger) from all the excitement and the marathon itself will not manifest itself until days later.  I didn't sleep well at all Sunday night and even on Monday and Tuesday I had a hard time going to bed at 10:30 which normally would never happen!  After 2 days of being back in the gym, I guess it is all finally catching up to me and my body is letting me know about it.

Today is a full on rest day, and while I would love to go and do another short run, I will abide by the 'rules' and rest.  Maybe a walk around my 'hood.  :O)

As far as my eating, its been pretty exemplary (sp?). 

I did eat an entire medium pizza on Sunday (and half a pint of strawberry Blue Bell ice cream), (not all at once though!), but other than that my diet has consisted of: tons of veggies (I ate 2 lbs of roasted brussel sprouts on Monday!!!), eggs, bananas, whole grain bread and chicken.  And coffee.  Lots of coffee.  I do not know where this coffee craze came from all of a sudden! (started a few months back)

I still plan to eat Whataburger (fries!!), I just can't seem to bring myself to do it.  I keep thinking I want to save it for some other day/evening, but I wonder if I do that, will I just keep making 'excuses'?

Really the only craving I have had consistently is for ice cream, although today I can't seem to stop thinking about a big bag of potato chips!  (figure its my body wanting the salt).

So for now, I will just rest as my body tells me too and continue to fuel it with what it needs and not what it wants.  :O)

What is the most outrageous post marathon meal you have eaten?  Do you tend to just go hog-wild for days or even weeks afterwards?  When do you usually do your first post-marathon run?

*****************************

Edited to include link to a post I wrote just a while back...until those individuals at Rowan Companies can keep their nosy eyes away, I will continue to post this link; and actually post an email that I sent to SSeiden... and SRodr... as well.  I can assure you they wouldn't want that.

Olympic Marathon Trials - Video 1 - Lead Pack (Men) - First pass

Early in the race...only at 5K of 26.2 miles

Isn't the narrator grrrrrrrrrreat?  :O)

And yes I know I say Meb's name wrong, but I can never seem to correct myself!

I had scooted across the street from where the tables were set up and where they made the turn so as to get a better shot of them without being in the way so much.

2012 Olympic Marathon Trials - Houston, Texas

Last year during marathon weekend, we were the host city for the half marathon championships and instead of being held on Sunday as they normally are, they were held on the Saturday prior, on what was the first shot at what the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials course would be (it ended up changing).

As early as one year out, volunteers were selected for the Elite fluid stops along the course, and during that half marathon championship, we tested how we would operate on the actual Trials day.  It was great fun and since the likes of Ryan Hall etc. were actually running in the half marathon championships we actually had real elite fluid containers to 'practice' with.  If you want to read more about all of that, I have it under the Label: USATF and possibly the label: Half marathon championships (sometimes I forget to set a Label to a post).

Anyway with the change in the route, where I was last year was not where I would be this year.  And my 'job' had changed which I was perfectly ok with! 

Instead of actually standing behind a fluid table, I worked hospitality for that particular site of tables/volunteers.

What this meant is that my alarm went off at 4am as I had to be at a certain locationby 5am to load my vehicle up with enough breakfast tacos, coffee, orange juice and bananas to satisfy 100 volunteers.

With Memorial Drive due to shut down at 5:30am this shouldn't have been an issue, but since SBux wasn't ready with the LARGE carafes of coffee, we had to wait and thats where I was ever so thankful for this little baby:

"Let her through!  She's got a red tag!!"

Yes indeed I had that All Access pass and thank the baby Jesus too!  Because getting all of that food/drink to the site downtown (our set up was at the 3/11/19 mile mark of the route) would have been mucho difficult.

As it was, only one police officer in DT pawned me off to the officer at the next block, not really caring that I had All Access or not :O)

Let me tell you one thing:  they had downtown locked down and locked down early.

It was nice just to roll up and unload all the goodies and the volunteers were so thankful it being cold (low 30's) and windy.



What was also nice about our station is that it was mostly BCRR folks, and we were lucky to have not one but TWO heaters for warmth.  That is if you werent working an actual table.  Once I was done unloading and parking, I pretty much stood around, talked to cute fireman, stayed warm and watched the Trials unfold right in front of my eyes.

Hospitality Tent (my work station for the day)

The porta cans were just a bit down under Memorial along Bagby, and as MK and I were going there, there were times were just lone runners would be running down the middle of the street...

The elite fluid stop was also right along Bagby as well (there was a turn here so the Red Station was split along 2 diff roads), and the Occupy Houston area is here, so I took a picture on our way back to our station

Lovely...just lovely  :O)  I had on 2 pairs of socks, tights under my jeans and 2 long sleeve shirts under my super thick 2008 NYC marathon finishers hoodie.  I was so snug as a bug!  Even though we had heaters, I rarely used them.  I was more interested in the race even though there wasnt always runners in front of me to cheer for!

Elite fluids have arrived!!!

Each box is for a table that is numbered and each compartment is for a specific athlete.  They usually decorate or mark their bottles so that they are easy to spot, but each athlete knows what table and what spot on that table is assigned to him.  Additionally athletes will also sometime put the color pipe cleaners on their bottles to use as a 'grasping' mechanism.  Easier to grab instead of trying to wrap a hand around the body of the bottle.  Since both the men and women ran the same course and 15 min apart start time, each table had boxes for M and for F and once the elite males went by, then and after the back of the pack guys would go by, they would get ready for the females.  If you werent considered an Elite there were tables at the very end for water and Powerade

Looking down McKinney towards the 3/1//19 mile marker.  This is the direction they would come from each loop, then you could jump over one street to wait for them to pass by again (but it would be a while since they were just beginning the loop of Memorial/AP).  We always knew when they would be coming soon as we were at the corner and could see when they were at Bagby and Allen Parkway

Pre-Race - MK - Poor thing she froze the entire time and even spent too much time in front of the heaters which resulted in very red/chapped thighs.



Discarded fluid bottles.  I snapped several pics of these after the first pass, and finally determined that the blue one was Mebs.  He is my dreamboat and I just love love love him...and there are no words for how I felt knowing that he 'beat' Ryan Hall...not just beat him, but spanked his booty.  :)  I know it wasn't about 'winning' on this one, but ... yeah ... you know each one of all of them wanted to beat the other one...



And speaking of my man!!!  This was taken on the 2nd pass I think...

Meb!  Meb!  Meb!

Some shots I am posting are just random and of no one in particular.  I took so many pictures I just kind of randomly selected.

Lead pack women...first pass.  Deena!  Deena!  Desi!  Desi!!!
Oh how I wish Desi could have pulled out beating Shalane.  Those 2 are great tho, and probably our best chance in London thats for sure!

Random women pack

After the men had passed by for the 3rd time, I took the opportunity to head down to the PoP and snapped this random photo.  The guy was painted up in front but he turned right as I was snapping the photo.

Watching them change the sign from 11 to 19 while I was waiting in PoP line

One of our heaters and John was using the top of it as a warming mechanism for breakfast tacos later in the morning :)

Yours truly...long before the race had started...

I also have video, some that video'd great and then a couple of them are 'rotated' and I haven't had the time or energy to spend on fixing them (not like with pictures where you obviously have the little rotate button! grrr!) ... Anyway, I will post video soon as well!  I know the first pass of the Elite men and then the Elite women came out right, so those will get posted first.

Overall basic thoughts:

1. Glad about Flanagan and Davila.  Both strong runners and capable of something in London.  Surprised that KG made 3rd to be honest; thought she'd choke harder than she did, but kudos to her.  Hope she can get it together for London but I'm not holding my breath.  She and her husband are whiny butts and I personally think she should have stayed at the 10000m
2. Davila is my favorite, and I know that it wasnt about 1, 2, 3, but I still wish she would have beat Shalane.  Like Shalane, I just like Desi a whole lot more!
3. So so so happy Meb crushed Hall.  Another over-rated long distance runner in my opinion, and in my mind Meb can do no wrong.
4. Devastated that Ritz was 4th and I think had he had 800m more he could have caught Abdi.  That whole having issues taking off that long sleeve shirt was a nightmare for him and I couldnt believe my eyes as I was watching it.  Who the hell wears a long sleeve shirt to a marathon where the temps were as warm as they were????  ugh!!!
5. We should not be sending Abdi to London.  I think Ritz is the better runner and we have a better shot, but guess nothing we can do about it now

What are your thoughts?

In The Meantime...Race Photos of Yours Truly

While I am working on the Olympic Marathon Trials post, I give you a few photos from my own marathon. I can always tell when I am doing what I should be doing by my photos in races as it pertains to diet and other forms of training (other than running).

Everything that is wrong will surely show up in a race photo, and typically ALL the photos will be bad. And since I really only hated a couple of them, I blame angle and camera shot timing :)

Its always nice too when people give compliments.  I am very pleased with my progress since mid-November!!

I hope to have part one of the Houston 2012 Olympic Trials post up at some point today...

Finishing.  With both feet off the ground.

The only time your feet are gonna be off the ground is if you are going 'fast' enough.  I guarantee you that if you are, the pictures will show it.

One thing that I HATE about not wearing Lululemon shorts?  Means that I have a bulky SpiBelt the 1st half of the race.  Lululemon Speed Shorts have the awesome 2 hidden pockets that I use for gels.

Have no idea where this was taken, although I'm guessing somewhere in the first half of the race

Allen Parkway.  Where sometimes dreams are broken.  Not this year m'er f'er.  :)
I ran those underpass hills and you did not break me.  Lots of underpass hills to conquer this Spring.  :O)

Recovery Mode

They say that recovery for a marathon should equal one day for every mile ran. 

Personally I always assumed that this meant you did not run for 26 days.  And personally I have never followed this rule.

I typically will run my first run anywhere from 2-3 days later, nothing crazy, 3 miles or so and oh so very slowly.

However when we were at the expo on Friday listening to Joan Benoit Samuelson, someone asked about Bill and Joan's recovery style.  Joan brought up the one day per mile thing, but also said that that does not mean you don't run or do anything at all.

That those 26 days should be done slowly, and as your body feels its necessary for recovery.  I thought 'oh good..thats what I have always done'.

Yesterday was pretty darn rough.  The roughest day after marathon that I have had since that fateful day after in 2007.  THAT was horrible.

My calf/achilles was still very sore and it hurt pretty badly.  Obviously my quads and hamstrings were sore but a bit more sore than in marathons past.  I attribute this to the fact that for once I did not jump in the tub full of ice.  I don't know why I didn't this time, but it was a mistake for sure.  Other than getting out to return some things that we used for the Olympic Trials, all I did was some laundry and lay around on the couch watching DVD's.

This morning I woke up with still sore quads/hamstrings/calf, but better than yesterday.  After going to breakfast with friends then taking a nap :O) (must have been some sleeping pills in the food!), I headed to the gym.

I hopped on the treadmill and walked for 3 miles then hit the weights for an hour, even hopping on 2 leg machines (one for quads and one for hamstrings on low weight).

I don't know how folks walk for more than a mile.  Its mentally hard for me and I give kudos to those that walk half marathons/full marathons because damn it, that shit is hard!  :)

My plans for now are to attempt to run 3 miles tomorrow (on the treadmill), but if the calf/achilles are one bit ouchy, I will trash that and just walk the 3 miles again.  I don't want to run too soon.  And I have no plans of running on pavement until Saturday or Sunday (not certain which day I will get out and its nice to not have to worry about mileage/time etc. for a couple of weeks until Kenyan Way starts up again)

I find myself starting to replay Sunday in my mind, and the fact that I had all the endurance/stamina in the world and was still running those 7's at a good clip...if it hadn't been for the damn leg!  My back is not even bothering me!!!  And no foot numbness so I am thrilled that I didn't further damage that (at least that's apparent as of now).

I am looking forward to starting up with hills and speed again with Kenyan Way, and thats not for 2 more weeks, or is it 3?  AND anxious for races that I have scheduled for March. 

Anyway, until then it will just be running on my own or with friends and training with Kyle.  He is anxious to get to work on training/strengthening my legs and while thats all great...I know that after that first leg workout, I will probably be in more pain than after the marathon!

What's your MO for marathon (or half marathon) recovery?