Good News, Bad News

      Pardon me my transient disappearance. I just started a new job one month before my first Ironman distance triathlon on July, and I am still catching up. As a miserable age grouper, I kept following my race schedule without adequate training after recovering from the big race. Happy to say I did not get physically injured. But naturally you can imagine what happened: I had my first Triathlon DNF.

      First the good news: I have completed my first Ironman distance race in less than 16 hours, a lifetime experience that I am sure I will repeat multiple times. In my trainng for it I learned to adjust my metabolism to burn fat, to trust Yoga for all my physical needs and build a stronger body, to disassemble my bike and pack it for flights and to swim longer distances (even though at the same slow speed...). After Vineman I did Malibu Oly and Malibu Sprint Relay, and finished my fastest Sprint race at the Los Angeles Triathlon.

     

      It took me almost two months to feel back to normal after Vineman; I had a skin infection on my right index finger, and then five weeks of diarrhea after taking antibiotics. I felt like a pro when I got diarrhea again on the night before LA Triathlon, sleeping only about four hours, and still being able to achieve a PR. On the week before Magic Mountain Man 70.3 I was working 12-13 hours a day, and started again with gastrointestinal problems on the night before the race. Even without having rushed visits to the port-a-potty on race course, I had to stop after biking 16.6 miles in 1 hour and 58 minutes at 90F degrees, not sweating for about 40 minutes. I would have continued after a break at the first water stop if it was a flat bike course, but that is a very challenging one, and I knew I would not make the time cut-off, not talking about crashing.  

      Talking about good and bad news, my hero Macca became the World Champion again, and Chrissie Wellington got sick and did not continue her championship streak.

      Just a week before I was questioning the value of a finisher's medal, but a DNF makes you relearn your priorities. Maybe I am getting older and recovery is taking many more weeks, maybe I am working too hard, but this is Endurance life...

      I need to schedule my next races, more road work ahead.

Long Beach International City Bank Marathon

I really had to run this race. I did not properly train for it, and just have passed my peak at triathlon training, so a marathon out of nowhere surely would be painful, but I have a list of reasons.

reason #1: I had to catch up my marathon running. This was my sixth marathon in 2008, and my goal is to complete at least eight, as last year.

reason #2: I am a member of Marathon Maniacs (http://www.marathonmaniacs.com) marathon running club; that means I am addicted to marathon running, trying to complete as many as I can, hopefully at least one in each state. With this, I have ran sixteen marathons and one ultramarathon. That does not mean I trained for all of them, but I have earned the bragging rights.

reason #3: After running San Francisco Marathon, with completion of Long Beach Marathon and Surf City Marathon I will get an exclusive medal and a jacket for completing the California Dreamin’ RACING SERIES(http://www.caldreaminracing.com/).

reason #4: Long Beach is a beautiful and flat city. I just had to see it again.

reason #5: I needed to shake things up and tune up my training for New York City Marathon, in three weeks.

reason #6: It was my participation in the Phidippidations Worldwide Half Marathon Challenge (http://www.worldwidefestivalofraces.com/cgi-bin/home). For those who do not know, it was a free worldwide event of people running together.

reason #7: I had to test running compression socks.

reason #8: I had to test a better nutrition approach for the marathon.

reason #9: October 11th was my mother's birthday. I had to celebrate this date, specially because she lives abroad and I miss her.

reason #10: As usual, Trojans won again (10/11/08, over Arizona State, 28-0) and I had to party.

reason #11: I had to run a marathon with the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles uniform.

reason #12: I love running marathons.

reason #13: I am addicted to marathon running.

reason #14: I had to face the challenge of running this marathon after intensive sprint triathlon training.

reason #15: It was a beautiful day.

But it does not matter how many reasons, but how you perform, and there comes a list of all mistakes I did:

mistake #1: Proper training: I did not train properly.

mistake #2: Do not increase your weekly mileage more than 10%: I do not even have the math...

mistake #3: Periodization: I ran a marathon right after peak training, and three weeks before an A race.

mistake #4: Proper pacing: I forgot my wristwatch, and they did not have any clocks on race course, so as expected I ran too fast in the first half, and wore myself off.

mistake #5: Nothing new on race day: I tried running compression socks for the first time in that race.

As expected, I did not PR: chip time was 4:47:30. But I was able to prove myself that without training I can finish a marathon in less than five hours.

The day started with mildly cool 66F, but during the race the temperature rose to 76F, with about 5-8 miles directly under the sun. As usual, I started the race with arm warmers and gloves, but warm-up was complete at mile 3.

I ran the first 10K at 9:17 pace, and the half was completed at 9:35 pace. At mile 13 I was passed by the 4:15 hours marathon pace group, and at mile 14 I started to have bilateral calf cramps, being forced to start run-walk pattern. At mile 18 I was passed by the 4:30 hours marathon pace group, and then the challenge was to finish in less than 4:50 hours.

Probably this was my second most painful race, but I was happy to finish in less than five hours, with accomplishment of the socks and nutrition testing. The socks really worked in improving my running form, but I can not tell about speed. My nutrition consisted in using water instead of sports drinks, using gels every three miles; this way I avoided abdominal cramping, but the cramps in my legs could be due to electrolyte deficit. Now it seems it is time for salt capsules.

Mission accomplished, one more medal in the wall, one more race in the journal. I have learned a lot, and now I have to evade the post-race depression planning my training until NYC Marathon.

I really had to run this race.

Next races: LA Cancer Challenge (10/26/08), ING New York Marathon (11/02/08).

Hero of the week: Chrissie Wellington, Ironman champion 2007 and 2008, finished more than ten minutes ahead of her fellow competitors at 9:06:23, even with a flat tire.

Quote of the week: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein