2012 San Francisco Marathon: 2nd Half Marathon Race Report

Background:  My training for this tanked.

When I started training, I was employed at one place with no plans to leave.  Then one of those once-in-a-lifetime job opportunities popped up.  I applied and interviewed for the job.  That was stressful.  I got the job offer, and then had to resign from my other job of eleven years.  That was also stressful.

Then as soon as the oppressive summer heat hits, I started feeling this very persistent pain and discomfort in my right IT band.  I initially thought it was my shoes.  New shoes seemed to do the trick.  Then the pain would return.  Sometimes at mile 4.  Sometimes at mile 5.  It was unpredictable.

I rolled, and I rolled, and I rolled.  I screamed through the rolling.  My IT band has issues.

Then I vacationed for a week in Washington, DC.  Because of my IT band issues, I decided to NOT run in DC.  Wise move considering that running in the DC humidity and heat would have really destroyed me.

The week off seemed to help.  I continued rolling.  And stretching.  And stretching.  The pain and discomfort seemed to be absent from many of my runs.  My last eight miler featured NO problems.

Because of the injury and the stress, I skipped a few runs here and there. Or I made them easier.

It wasn't the best training cycle that I have done.  Therefore, my goal was to finish.

Yes.  Just to finish.

I knew that I didn't have a PR in me.  I didn't train to PR.  I trained to maintain my running in the summer so that when marathon training starts, I'm ready.  Plus, I wanted to baby the IT band.

Alarm Failure:  Oh my goodness.  My alarm went off, but I didn't hear it because the ringer was turned down.  Stupid smart phone user.

I woke up 37 minutes before I had to catch the bus to the start.

It was a little stressful.

But I made it.

The Race:  I didn't find the start area for the second half marathon to be particularly well-organized.  I couldn't hear the announcer.  The announcer didn't repeat anything.

This meant that I didn't start with my wave.  Oops.

Whatever.  I hurt no one.

The first six miles of the second half marathon is in the Golden Gate Park.  Slight hills.  Repeated often.  I knew that the park featured the most uphill portions.  I wanted to make sure that I didn't go out too hard.  I actually kept telling myself to take it easy and run my own race.  I even thought, "This isn't a race."  I really didn't want to hurt myself.  I was clearly mentally out of the race.

The park dragged.  I really wasn't enjoying myself that much.  I was so glad to get out of the park and onto Haight Street.  A bicyclist trailing a sound system provided the right music to make the race fun.

Then some painful downhill.  I don't like running downhill on steep grades.  Scary and it hurts.  But I survived.

And then around mile 7.5, the familiar IT band discomfort popped up.  Then disappeared.  Then reappeared.  It wasn't persistent, nor was it particularly strong.  But it was enough to disappoint and discourage me.

I finished with a time of 2:25:24.  Better than I expected, honestly.  Maybe better than I deserved.  It was actually my fastest half time for a race in San Francisco.

Because I have now ran both halves of the entire San Francisco Marathon, I got a fancy Half It All Medal.  It spins.

Afterward:  Strangely, this bad performance is motivating.  I felt like this was my worse race, but it wasn't my worst time.  I wonder how I could have done had I actually been able to train well.  I feel strangely compelled to do more hill work in my training.

But I know that I need to work on that IT band first.

2012: The Plan

• 10K in January:  Done!
• 10K in February:  Need to register.  Will bring the Boy along for the Kid 1K. 
• 13.1 in March:  Registered since forever.  My $35 Half! Training right now. 
• 13.1 in July:  SF again!  Going for my Half it All Challenge Medal!  
• 13.1 in November:  Haven't decided which half I'll tackle in November, but I want to do one. 
• 26.2 in December:  Going to register as soon as registration opens.  I heart CIM.  

Goals:  10KPR in February.  13.1 PR either in March or July.  I'll have to look at course elevation profiles.  26.2 PR in December (fingers crossed).  

^That's ambitious.  

Things I May Have Lied to Myself About

Marathons in 2012.

I told myself.  I told my husband.  I was firm.  I was resolute.  No marathons in 2012.  I wanted a more relaxing year.

It is eight days before CIM.  I'm in the middle of a taper.  I only had to run three miles today.  It felt odd to only be out for three miles.  Why even bother getting laced up and stuff?

I'm planning on at least three half marathons in 2012:  Oakland, SF, and Big Sur.  That should be enough to keep me running and sane.

But it doesn't feel like enough.  After all these weeks of training (like 30!), I don't know how I can go back to NOT training.  But I suppose I can.

I'm flirting with a registering for a very pricey but very scenic 21 miler.  I ran it in 2010.  I could come back and try to beat my time.  And since 21 miles does not equal a marathon, I will be keeping my word.  What to do!  What to do?

2011 San Francisco Marathon: 1st Half Marathon Race Report

BACKGROUND: I had a coupon for ten dollars off registration AND I really needed a race to motivate me to train through the summer. My summer training went okay in that I put in quite a few miles and really introduced interval training. I did have illness, vacation, injury, and what not to contend with. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give my training a 7-. (Ha! I'm such a teacher. I can't help but put that minus mark in there!)

I did NOT train for hills. I have this uncanny ability to be UNABLE to properly read an elevation chart. Plus after Big Sur I didn't think it would be a big deal at all. I also never believed that I would ever set a PR on this course. Hills are my mental kryptonite. I really should work on that.

RACE DAY: I was honest about my anticipated finishing time and was put in the proper wave. Even though the race started at 5:30, my wave didn't start until 6:12. The race organizers were strict about wave assignments, which I appreciated after the madness that was the Nike Women's Half Marathon last October. However, it appears that many others were not honest about their anticipated finishing times or they were deluded. I've concluded that this must just be a part of race culture.

Bart Yasso was there with his shtick. Yasso seems to be everywhere. This morning he interrupted the announcer discussion of the 41 flags to represent the 41 fallen family members of a group of runners to tell a group of women that he didn't get the memo about the socks. Knee high bright colored compression socks are so IN! Fastinistas! Blah! Yasso'd!

Crossed the start line and found myself immediately behind some chick fast-walking. This course has a three hour limit so this surprised me. Weave, weave, weave. Lots of runners. Thick! Congested. I'm happy to report that I remembered that my husband said to move to the city side of the street so he could get a picture of me. He did around the one mile mark.

When I hit the first hill at Fort Mason, I took a little walk break because I told myself that I wanted to have fun. I think I'm still suffering from Post Big Sur Hill Stress Syndrome. I continued running fairly quickly. The initial miles sort of blurred together. I rarely looked at my watch. I was just in the flow I guess. I didn't try very hard; I know that I could have pushed myself faster, but I wasn't sure about what would come next on the course. I didn't do a drive through of the course. I was just cautious. Again I was certain that I couldn't get a PR, so I didn't try.

I really like bridges. I'm not sure that I am a tattoo person, but if I were I could see myself commemorating my running with bridge tattoos. So far I have Bixby and the Golden Gate. I was quite looking forward to running the GG, but I didn't realize that the best part of running the bridge was reaching the other side for the turnaround and seeing the city far off in the distance. I live for that stuff. I actually mentally lost track of my mileage on the Golden Gate Bridge. I thought I was on mile 8 when I was really on mile 9. How awesome is that? That has never happened to me before. I could have run faster on the bridge had there been more than one lane of space for me to run.

Coming off the bridge I knew I had about 5k to go. Huge downhill portion led to my fastest mile. While running downhill all I could think about how much this downhill running was going to hurt, but I followed that thought with the fact that it would hurt tomorrow. So I had this little mantra, "This will hurt. But it won't hurt until tomorrow." After the downhill came the hell of 26th street. Up, flat, up, flat, up flat. Yikes! I backed down too often and slowed down. Boo on me! I should have done better.

Made it to the end and finished in 2:25:27. This was two minutes faster than the Nike Women's Half Marathon which was less hilly than this one in my opinion. I know that I could run this faster if I did it again. My mental game is off. I dread the unknown and am too cautious.

AFTERWARD: My husband commented on the odd waves. Apparently four women running slowly abreast in tutus preceded me by like two waves. He wondered how that happened. I swooned at his critical anti-tutu stance. I also love that he believes that I must always be faster than anyone clad in a tutu.

AFTERMATH: Leg pain and headache. I blame the hills and not eating and drinking enough afterwards.

Homemade Arm Warmer Time!

If I am cutting up a perfectly decent pair of over-the-knee socks, it must be race time. Last time, I chose a pink, purple, gray, and black striped pair. This year I opted for the more classic argyle.

Sunday morning around 6:12 am, I'll cross the start line of my fifth half-marathon; my second in San Francisco. I'm downright giddy about running the Golden Gate. I guess I like bridges.

I should have goals for this race, but I just don't. I always intended for this half to be a way to keep me in training through the summer months.

Quickly set goals:

A: Sub 2:15

B: Sub 2:17:xx

C: Sub 2:27:xx

D: Have fun!

E: Don't get hurt!

Haha.

I want to believe that I have a 2:15 in me, but I'm not sure with the hills. I did ZERO hill training this cycle. Not one bit! Oopsy! But the weather will be cool and there will be many people there, so who knows.

I hope the Marathonfoto gods are kind.

Interpret and Evaluate

This is my year so far. I'll close the week off tomorrow with a 12 or 13 mile run, putting the final bar on the graph up around 33 or 34 miles--just a wee bit shy of my best week.

My half-marathon training (the bars to the right of the red) is so much better than my marathon training (the bars to the left). Even with the stomach flu, calf strains, and rest time needed to recover from rock climbing, I put in a variety of workouts. When I was healthy, I ran more miles and more variety of workouts.

I may be most proud of the fact that only one week is without miles.

The training for the SF Half doesn't feel like I am training. I have no idea what has led to this feeling. It just doesn't feel like work. It could be because I am not training for a marathon. It could be because I essentially registered for this race because I wanted to force myself to continue running through the hot summer months. I'm often surprised when I remind myself that I have a race in two weeks.

I think that I am going to register for the California International Marathon.

What the hell is wrong with me?

Injured

Good news: There is nothing wrong with my hip. Posting about it served the magical purpose of making it go away.

So in that spirit, I am going to post about another new injury, which I fear is for real, but I am going to hope that by writing about it, it will go away.

Bad news: Both of my calves seems to be out of commission and it is my own fault.

Monday night after a nice three mile run in the morning and being told that there was nothing wrong with my hip from my doctor, I decided to take my Bikilas, which are minimalist footwear meant to mimic barefoot running, out for about a mile to work on strengthening my calves and helping my form. A mile is nothing to me. This was not the first time I had run in the Bikilas. I have walked around in them for full days even marching around Disneyland with them. I had run a quarter mile and a half mile in them. I felt ready for a full mile.

I knew from friends that running in them works out your calf muscles in ways that you are used to if normally shod. So I ignored the pain that I experienced during the run figuring it was just sore muscle.

I think that I ran too high on the balls of my feet and didn't drop my heel enough. I think it must have caused what I am dealing with now.

My calves were tight and in pain that very night. Tuesday morning brought more stiffness and slight pain. Like severe muscle soreness. I'm used to sore muscles. When my doctor asked me on Monday if I was experiencing pain, I said that I always do. This is not too much of an exaggeration. I experience migraine at least 10 times a year, regular headaches more frequently, my muscles are often sore, I battle blisters. I accept pain as a part of living.

The more I walked the more the pain decreased. After periods of inactivity, it would stiffen up again.

Wednesday night I decided to give running a shot. I had to stretch out my calves a bit, but I found the heat to be more of an obstacle than the calves. Still felt the same pattern of stiffness and pain decreasing with movement and increasing with periods of inactivity. I ran Thursday night. It was better than Wednesday.

Last night something went wrong. About 1.5 miles into a run, I felt a spasm of pain in my right calf which stopped my running. I tried to stretch it out and tried to run, but my gait was affected and I had a slight limp. Stretched again. The limp disappeared and I ran slowly the half mile home to my house.

Last night my calves were much more tender to the touch. It was worse than the initial injury. Then I got on the internet and scared myself silly to the point that I asking my husband to squeeze my calf while I am lying on my stomach to see if my foot would move. A foot that moves mean that my Achilles tendon is still intact. It moved. Thank god! I'm wondering if I tore a muscle. I am wondering how I can rest when both calves hurt.

I am dedicating this weekend to rest, ice, and reading in the hopes that the pain will subside. If I doesn't subside. I am going straight to the runner PA at my doctor's office for help.

I'm really hoping that I can be back in business in a week. I'm nearly considering prayer which is so selfish and lame of me.

I'm wondering if my whole training for SF is ruined. After the hip, the stomach flu, and this, I am wondering why I should bother even if I heal in time.

Sturm und drang

My right hip is not behaving properly.

This concerns me more than a little bit.

It started hurting yesterday. Just a slight twinge of discomfort. Then today when I got out of the car to walk, I noticed that my right hip popped with every stride.

Now I am overly concerned with every movement, every twinge of discomfort, every pop and tweak. My mind is powerful. I am imaginative. Clearly, I believe my running "career" is over.

I need to get off the internet before I diagnose myself with something crazy. Fortunately, I'm already headed to the doc on Monday. Let's hope that the pain disappears soon.

And my training was actually going quite well. Figures.

Edited 10 June 2011 @ 9:34 am. The hip isn't snapping this morning, but I still sense the slight discomfort. Wondering if my mind is playing tricks on me. Somedays I hate my powerful brain.

Dwell

Lululemon Athletica used an Emily Dickinson quote as a status update today.

Dwell in possibility.

Upon reading that I dwelled on the word dwell. I do this often. I enjoy the fact that the word pedantic sounds pedantic. I love the fact that the word hoi polloi sounds foreign and, therefore. out of reach of the hoi polloi. A dwelling is a home; to dwell can mean to inhabit or live in a place. But we most often use it in that sense. We used it to mean to think upon a subject at length--usually something negative. The thinking is so exhaustive that it is akin to living in that thought pattern. Taking residence. In negativity.

I like the idea of taking residence in possibility.

I'm trying to dwell in the possibility that I can train better.

I may be on my way.

This week I logged over 24 miles. My long run was only 7.3 miles. I ran six out of seven days. I also did the INFERNAL ab workout from the Nike Training Club app. (I need a pre-beginner level!)

I realize that 24 miles a week isn't that spectacular, but when I look back over my marathon training, I can only count four weeks in which I logged more miles. One of those weeks was the marathon.

I deserved the time I earned with that training.

Why did I only run (on average) four days a week to train for my marathon? Because I dwelled in fear.

My half-marathon training plan that I am following for the SF 1st Half Marathon calls for six days of running with strength training following short easy runs.

I ran the six days this week and it wasn't what I feared it would be. For nearly four years, I've followed a pattern of resting (or light cross-training) the day before and after a long run. I didn't think that you were allowed to run the day after a long run. Hal Higdon says I can and I should. Even though my long run was only 7.3 miles today, I am looking forward to an easy run tomorrow. I won't have a rest day until Thursday.

I hope that this round of training will amp my mileage up to where it needs to be. I'd like 30 mpw to be my new normal. I love the fact that I have the power to change my normal. I like dwelling in that possibility.

I also like dwelling in a good nap. The sort of nap where you curl around your body's exhaustion satiated with the knowledge that you are repairing the fatigue and the ache. Six days of running after a week of total rest meant a superb nap.

I just now need to dwell on the possibility that I can run in the heat once it arrives. That's a challenge.

Misc: Fuel, Women Carrying Hoes, and Surprising and Patriotic Poms Poms

Fuel
My husband enjoys cooking and baking; I enjoy running.

He's lucky I run enough to enjoy his creations.

Case in point: Yesterday's Mother's Day Brunch Item To Die For Eggs Benedict.



I had two. I can't even begin to guesstimate how many miles are in Eggs Benedict. That sentence reveals quite a bit about how I see food. I see miles in the food. I wish that Nutrition Facts featured this information. I know that caloric content is featured, but to most people a calorie is an abstract concept. If people knew that the frosty treat that they are enjoying from Sonic was worth ten miles, I think they might think twice about grabbing that spoon. That's much more concrete.

Women Carrying Hoes
It was one of those days at work; I am tempted to qualify it through metaphor, but I've decided to leave work at work and out of this blog.

I was looking forward to a quick little run tonight. First run of SF half training! I wanted time to process all the absurdities of the day. About two and half miles into my run, I see the absurd. A woman walking down a major thoroughfare carrying a garden hoe and a black garbage bag of who knows what.

I've never seen a woman walking carrying a garden hoe. It just seemed so out of place! It delighted me!

Surprising and Patriotic Pom Poms
This is what greeted me when I arrived home from my run. It was just louder and with more movement!

To Do: Write Running To Do List

I'm a huge fan of making to do lists. Items in my to do lists often have sub-to do lists. When I discovered the iProcrastinate application for my MacBook Pro, it was one of those rare moments when the universe delivered EXACTLY what I needed EXACTLY when I needed it.

This translates well to running. I love "writing" training plans. Writing isn't the correct term. The process inevitably goes like this: google various training plans, email friend in Jersey for his advice, select a plan, modify, modify, modify, and map out each day in a calendar. Often the information in handwritten calendar gets inputted into my iProcrastinate application (when did software become apps?) under the RUNNING Category.* My favorite part is after each workout I log the workout in my training log and then cross it off the calendar. Somehow I got in the habit of using emoticons when I cross off workouts. :) for a good workout or one that I am glad to get over with and :( for ones that just irritated me. Somehow emoticons have accomplished complete infiltration; I even need them to remind myself that this was positive or this was not positive. (Steve Martin used emoticons in one of his short pieces for The New Yorker called "Times Roman Font Announces Shortage of Periods." It is a must read.)

Unfortunately, I never consulted a calendar and counted the weeks until July 31, 2011. July 31 seemed like a lifetime in the future. I was confident if I registered for the San Francisco Marathon's First Half Marathon on July 31 that I would have PLENTY of time to train properly in the hopes of shaving 5 minutes off my half-marathon personal best. And normally 12 weeks would be plenty of time to train, but I didn't factor in the marathon recovery period.

Nice.

I took six rest days post marathon but went out for a run this morning. I kept it short at only four miles. The first two miles were significantly tougher than I would have anticipated, but I soldiered on and the final two miles were significantly better and faster. Last night I read in one of the various running books strewn about my house that I should follow a reverse taper post-marathon before diving back in.

Ugh. This complicates the half-marathon plan that I painstakingly modified yesterday morning.

I'm sure that the book is probably right. I should take it easy this week and the next. I should do a lot of things that I don't. I'll just try listening to my body. I usually err on the side of caution when it comes to unscheduled rest days anyway.

But with my goal of increasing my miles per week, I could find myself in trouble.

________________

*Categories in my iProcrastinate app include no less than three separate categories just for my job, one for my kid, one for me, and one for running because running is bigger than just me.

The Difficult Stretch

Today was the first day post-marathon that I didn't experience too much muscle soreness. I probably could have gone out for a very slow three miles to start to ease my body back into running mode.

But today was quite hot. I believe it hit the high 90s.

We are hitting the difficult stretch of the year: May through August. My mileage drops to abysmal levels during these months.

Consider what I am up against: the conclusion of the school year, vacations, heat, triple digit heat, stay at home motherhood, and the beginning of the school year. None of these are particularly conducive to running.

I'm toying with the idea of registering for the San Francisco Half Marathon at the end of July just to get me forced into a training mode to keep me running through those summer obstacles. But dropping the money on the race and the hotel room seems like a waste. Why does money need to be on the line for me to buckle down and train?

The summer struggle is reason #237 why I have a hard time identifying as a runner.