Weigh-in Wednesday: 10/22/14

It’s weigh-in Wednesday.  This morning I weighed in at 118.8 pounds.  That’s my lightest weigh-in this year, and it puts me within one pound of my goal.  I lost the pound I gained on my week-long trip for the Appalachian Series, and I lost another pound on top of that.

It helped that I did a race that was closer to home this past weekend, to there was less temptation to eat large restaurant meals.  I also showed more restraint on this trip.  On Saturday, I had pizza for dinner, but I only ate enough to satisfy me.  Instead of stuffing myself, I brought the last two slices back to my hotel.  After my race, I was able to skip most of the post-race food offerings, knowing I could reheat the leftover pizza when I got back to my room.

For dinner Sunday, I went to a restaurant that was known for its drink selection, not knowing what type of food I would eat.  I discovered a black bean burger that was tasty and satisfying, but lean.  Since then, Deb was able to find similar black bean burger patties at a co-op where we sometimes shop.  Now I’ve added black bean burgers to my repertoire at home.  They make a light entrée that tastes good and has some protein.

Last night I made my second batch of Minnesota Winter chili.  This was a recipe from “Eat and Run.”  I tweaked the recipe to cut back slightly on tomatoes and add more black beans.  Mostly, I did that to satisfy our personal tastes, but it also give the recipe a little more protein.

My recent race schedule (six marathons in nine days) hasn’t been conducive to running fast, but I’m hopeful I’ll eventually be able to race faster now that I’m losing weight.  I still need to make some improvements in my training, but this is an important piece of the puzzle.

Yesterday, I had an encouraging workout.  It was my first run since the Mankato Marathon, so I expected to be a little bit sluggish.  I didn’t sleep well Monday night, and I had done weight training in the morning.  That’s three reasons why I could have had stiff or tired legs.  Instead, I felt surprisingly energetic.

Now for the bad news.  The racing season in Minnesota and neighboring states is winding down.  For the rest of the year, I’ll have to travel farther for my races.  That’s going to make it more challenging to watch my diet.  My next trip is a five day trip to Ireland for the Dublin Marathon.  I wouldn’t be surprised if I gain weight on that trip.  Part of the experience of visiting another country is dining out and sampling the local cuisine.  If that means eating a few heavier meals, so be it.  An international vacation is not the place to skimp on meals.  I’m going to enjoy the experience without any guilt.  If I gain weight, I’ll have to work harder to lose it when I get back.

Running All the Minnesota Marathons

Running the Mankato Marathon brought me one step closer to one of my lifetime goals – running every marathon in Minnesota.  This is an elusive goal, because the finish line keeps moving.  In fact, I thought I already finished this one.

In 1993, I ran every Minnesota marathon in the same year – all three of them.  At the time, the only marathons in Minnesota were Grandma’s, Twin Cities and Walker/North Country.  Since then, several new marathons have popped up.  There are now more than a dozen marathons in Minnesota.

The Twin Cities Marathon was my first marathon in 1983.  Since then, I’ve done it 10 additional times.  Grandma’s Marathon was my second marathon in 1984.  I had my PR there in 1992.  Altogether, I’ve done it five times.  I first ran the Walker/North Country Marathon in 1993.  It was the first time I did a marathon that included trails.  I’ve done it two more times since.

I ran the Zoom! Yah! Yah! Indoor Marathon in 2012, 2013 and 2014.  In 2013, I added the Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon in St. Joseph and the Minneapolis Marathon.  This year, I added the Run for the Lakes Marathon in Nisswa and the Mankato Marathon.

Conspicuous by its absence is the Med-City Marathon.  This race in Rochester has been held on Memorial Day weekend for 19 years.  I’d love to do this race, but it always conflicts with another race.  This year, I was resting for an all-out effort at the Comrades Marathon in South Africa.  I plan to do the same thing next year.

Other Minnesota marathons I’ve never done include the Eugene Curnow Marathon in Carlton, the Moose Mountain Marathon in Lutsen, the Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon and the Urban Trail Marathon in St. Paul.

Besides those five, there may be two more next year.  Mainly Marathons is adding a Minnesota race to their Heartland Series.  I’ve also heard a rumor that the Stillwater Marathon is going to make a comeback.  If so, that would make seven Minnesota marathons that I’ve never done.

That doesn’t include ultras.  I don’t even know how many ultras there are in Minnesota.  If you include all the different distances offered at some races, they might outnumber the marathons.  For now, I’m only planning to do the marathons, but it’s a daunting task.  Because of schedule conflicts, I’m only managing to add one or two races a year.  At that rate, I’m barely keeping up with the new races.

I’m not in a rush.  After all, I already finished this goal once.  Even if I cleared my schedule to do them all in 2015, there would probably be another new race in 2016.  This may be a never-ending journey.  If so, that’s OK.  Sometimes the journey is more important than arriving at a destination.

Race Report: 2014 Mankato Marathon

Today I ran the Mankato Marathon.  This is local race that I had never done before.  I didn’t decide to run it until a few weeks ago.  I was initially unsure if I could be ready to race so soon after the Appalachian Series.  I finally made up my mind after finishing the Tahoe Triple with no aches or pains.

I wasn’t too worried about the race filling, but I should have been worried about hotels filling.  The race finishes downtown, so I wanted to stay in one of the downtown hotels.  I try to stay at Hilton properties when I can, and there was a Hilton Garden Inn right next to the finish line.  When I checked availability, they were completely booked.

The Mankato Marathon allows race morning packet pickup, so I could have driven down the morning of the race.  The drive time is about an hour and a half, so I would have to get up pretty early.  I’d also have to drive home in sweaty running clothes.  That was my backup plan, but I kept checking to see if the hotel had any rooms, just in case there was a cancellation.

About two weeks before the race, I was able to get a room at Hilton Garden Inn.  There was a two-night minimum, but staying two nights was better than getting up at 3 AM to drive to the race and also having to drive home without a shower.

I left for Mankato yesterday afternoon, arriving around 3:00.  I stopped at the hotel first.  I had a room on the sixth floor, overlooking the Minnesota River.

After dropping off by bags at the hotel, I drove to the expo, which was a few miles away on the campus of MSU Mankato.  While I was there, I looked at a course map.  The race starts on campus, which is about 200 feet above the river.  The course is relatively flat, but there’s a nice long downgrade starting at mile 17.  That’s where we begin descending toward the river, where we would eventually finish.

I was impressed with the race packet.  There were some nice goodies like travel-size deodorant and food samples.  There was also 42 page race guide and maps of Mankato restaurants and attractions.  This race isn’t as large as Twin Cities or Grandma’s, but it’s well-organized.

When I got home from the Appalachian Series, I was feeling run down.  I slept for nine hours both Thursday and Friday nights.  I also didn’t run for three days.  I arrived in Mankato feeling recharged.  Of course, I wouldn’t know if I was fully recovered until I started running.

My biggest concern was a spot on the bottom of my right foot where I tore the skin while removing a bandage on Wednesday.  Overnight, a scab formed.  During the day, I keep a Band-Aid on it, and it gradually softens up.  At night, I remove the Band-Aid, so the skin can breathe.  Overnight, the scab hardens.  In the morning, my first step out of bed feels like I’m stepping on a piece of broken glass.  That’s not a feeling I wanted at the start of a race.  Last night, I kept the Band-Aid on.  This morning, I was able to walk on it without any pain.

When I woke up, it was 41 degrees, but there was enough wind to make it feel like 34.  It was forecast to get into the low 50s by the time I finished the race, but it was going to be windy throughout the race.  Most importantly, there was zero percent chance of rain.  After running in rain for most of the Appalachian Series, I was looking forward to a dry race.

Because of the wind, I wore tights.  Naturally, I wore the cheetah tights.  I also wore my warm cheetah hat.  I started the race in gloves, but I could always take them off.

The start was a few miles away on the MSU Mankato campus.  Buses to the start left from Verizon Wireless civic center, which was across the street from my hotel.  Without thinking about how close the start was, I caught one of the earliest buses.  I got to the start much earlier than I needed to be there.  I saw some other runners huddled inside a heated bus shelter, and I joined them.  It was nice to get out of the wind.

About an hour before the start, I left the shelter to get in line for the port-o-potties.  There wasn’t any line.  They had so many that there was no waiting.  Lines formed eventually, but they weren’t very long.  Most races don’t have enough bathrooms.  That wasn’t a problem here.

I returned to the bus shelter until about 20 minutes before the race.  Then I had to remove my warm-up layers, so I could check my gear bag and line up for the start.

My goal was 3:30.  I didn’t know if that was realistic so soon after the Appalachian Series, but I had to try.  There wasn’t a 3:30 pace group for the marathon, but there was a 1:45 pace group for the half marathon.  I lined up right next to them.

When the gun went off, I followed the 1:45 pacer.  Then I saw my friend Pam run by.  Pam was doing the half marathon, and she was starting at a pace that was too fast for me.  I sped up long enough to say hello, and then I slowed down again.  I finished the first mile in 8:03, which was about right.

By the end of the first mile, we were running into the wind.  It was tiring.  At the three mile mark, we turned left to begin a big loop through the surrounding countryside.  Now we had a cross-wind, which was noticeably easier.  Miles four through eight had some rolling hills.  This was probably the toughest part of the course, but it comes early, when your legs are still fresh.

After the first hill, we turned again.  Now we had the wind at our back.  Suddenly, it was easier.  I also felt warmer, so I took off my gloves.  Throughout the early miles, the wind and hills made it difficult to stay on a consistent pace.  Some miles were fast, and some miles were slow.  Overall, however, I was running pretty close to my goal pace.

I reached the halfway mark in 1:44:07.  I was on pace, but it was more tiring that it should be at this point.  I was counting on the second half being easier.  There was a long gradual downhill stretch from 17-20.  I was also counting on having the wind at our backs in the late miles.  First, we had to get through miles 14-16.  This section was mostly into the wind.

Running into the wind was tiring, and I began to slow down.  I was giving back time, but looking forward to easier miles after we made the turn at 16 miles.  When I got there, I made a sharp right.  It still felt like I was running into the wind.  There was a large corn field on my right.  A glance at the dried corn rustling in the wind confirmed that we were, in fact, running into the wind.  The wind shifted at the worst possible time.

I had another slow mile.  What was once a cushion of roughly a minute had now eroded to nine seconds.  I was also tiring.  At 17 miles, I began the downhill section.  It was only a slight downgrade at first.  The wind seemed to nullify the hill.  In the next mile the grade became more noticeable.  With effort, I was able to pick up my pace.  I gained some time that mile.

At19 miles, we left the road for a paved bike path.  We turned out of the wind, but it didn’t matter.  We were now surrounded by enough trees to provide shelter from the wind.  Suddenly I felt warm.  Only a few miles earlier, I was freezing.  Now the warm hat and tights were a liability.  We were still running downhill.  I had another fast mile, but it was taking too much effort.

At 20 miles, the course leveled off.  I expected to have a tail wind on this section, but I no longer felt any wind at all.  There weren’t going to be any more easy miles.  I had a cushion of 52 seconds, but I couldn’t sustain my effort.  As I backed off, I slowed down substantially.  Just like that, I went from eight minute miles to nine minute miles.  I was hitting the wall.

At 21 miles, I was no longer on pace for 3:30, and I realized I was going to struggle just to finish.  The remaining miles were slow and uncomfortable.  I just had to get through them.  We returned to streets, as we got closer to the river.  At 23 miles, we switched to another paved bike path.  This one was alongside the river.  This was the nicest part of the course, but it was difficult to enjoy it.  I was suffering.

At 25 miles, I glanced at my watch and realized I could still break 3:40 if I ran the last 1.2 miles in 12 minutes.  My previous two miles was been slower than 10 minutes, so I had to speed up.  With just over a mile to go, it seemed possible.

A few blocks later, I reached an aid station.  After drinking some Gatorade, I tried to drop the empty cup into a trash receptacle.  The wind blew it out of my hand.  At the next corner, we turned left, and I had that same wind at my back.  It was the first time since mile nine that I felt a tail wind, and it helped.

I looked up and saw the top floor of Hilton Garden Inn above the other downtown buildings.  Knowing that we finished right next to it made the finish visible.  After another bend in the road, I could see the whole building.  It was getting closer.  Looking closer to street level, I could see the finish line banner.  As I got closer, I ran harder.  I ran as hard as I could in the last block.  I finished in 3:39:05.

After finishing, I received my finisher medal and T-shirt.  I didn’t eat much post-race food.  I had two slices of leftover pizza in my hotel room, and that sounded better.  After retrieving my gear bag, I stayed in the finish area to talk to other Minnesota runners who I bumped into after the race.

The weather was now surprisingly comfortable.  I didn’t need my warm-ups, and I wasn’t in a big hurry to get indoors.  It had warmed up to 60 degrees, and we were sheltered from the wind by the downtown buildings.

When I eventually got back to my room, it could hear cheering outside.  I also heard the finish line announcer.  I opened my window and had this view.  That’s how close I was to the finish line.

After cleaning up and getting dressed, I watched people finishing from my window.  I got to see the last finishers without having to go outside.

Before the race, I didn’t know if 3:30 was a realistic goal so soon after a five in five days series.  I now realize it wasn’t.  The wind didn’t help, but the real problem was that my pace just wasn’t sustainable.  I don’t regret trying.  You don’t know what your limits are if you don’t test them.  Sometimes you discover that you can do more than you thought you could.  Other days, you’re reminded that you do, in fact, have limits.

Today, I tried something ridiculous, and I hit my limits.  Looking back, some of my best race results have come on days when I had the audacity to try something that seemed ridiculous at the time.  I’ll keep attempting the ridiculous.  More often than not, I’ll fail.  If I occasionally succeed, it’s worth it.

Rest, Recovery and Rambling

This is going to be a rambling post, with more than one topic, as I try to recover from the damage done by traveling for a week and running five marathons in five days.

First, it’s weigh-in Wednesday.  Yes, I know.  Today is Friday.  I was traveling this week and didn’t get home until yesterday afternoon.  I always weigh myself first thing in the morning, so today was my first chance this week to weigh myself.

I weighed in at 121.0 pounds.  That’s up almost a pound from last week.  This begs the question, “How could I gain weight while running marathons five days in a row?”

I have an efficient metabolism, so I only burn about 1,500 Calories per day when I’m at rest.  As for the marathons, the average runner burns about 100 Calories per mile.  I’m much lighter than the average runner, so I probably only burn 80 Calories per mile.  That’s about 2,100 Calories.  So, to maintain my weight while running a marathon a day, I need 3,600 Calories.

Most days, I didn’t eat a full breakfast.  My breakfasts on race days generally consisted of a Pop Tart and one or two cups of tea.  During each race, I was drinking Gatorade after every lap.  That’s 12 to 16 small cups of Gatorade.  Most days I ate a few post-race snacks in place of a lunch.  I did eat a real lunch one day, but other days my only full meal was at dinner.  I did eat large restaurant meals for dinner, but it’s still hard to imagine that I ate more than 3,600 Calories total for the day.

I don’t think I gained any weight until Wednesday.  That was the day of the last race.  Since I had time to hang out in the finish area, I ate more post-race snacks that day.  I also ate a fairly fattening dinner and then had a box of mixed chocolates and jellies for dessert.

The real damage happened yesterday.  I ate a full breakfast at the lodge where I was staying, I ate a fattening lunch at the airport, and I had a few bowls of ice cream when I got home.  I also got no exercise.  Zero.

The day after a race, I usually only do light cross-training workouts.  That might be a 10 minute core workout, or at most, 20 minutes on the stationary bike.  Yesterday, I didn’t do anything.  I didn’t get enough sleep Wednesday night.  That was one day too many.  I felt really tired and run down.  I was so tired that I didn’t even have the energy for a core workout.  It’s also the reason why I was eating so much.  When I’m feeling run down, food makes me feel better.  I don’t just mean I feel better emotionally.  It makes me feel better physically.  Yesterday, I gave myself permission to indulge in comfort food.

Normally, I would have resumed running today, but I opted for cross-training instead.  First, I did the core workout I skipped yesterday.  I normally do those every other day, and I was a week overdue.  I also did 20 minutes on the stationary bike.  I always start and finish with five minutes of easy spinning, so I was only pedaling hard for 10 minutes.  That’s enough to get some circulation in my legs, but not enough to be stressful.  This was strictly a recovery workout.  Finally, I did weight training.  I was also overdue for that.

I had a race on Sunday, so tomorrow will be another rest day.  I may do another 20 minute spin on the bike, but I won’t do any more than that.  The point again will be recovery, not training.

In my race on Wednesday, I felt completely tapped out.  My body is telling me I need a few days to recharge, and I’m going to listen.  Barring an injury, this will still be the highest mileage month I’ve ever had.  I don’t like to take three straight days off from running, but I think I’ll benefit more from rest than I would from an extra run.

If I’m feeling good in my race on Sunday, I can resume a normal training schedule.  If I don’t, I’ll consider taking more rest days.  I’m looking at the big picture.