California International Marathon. Garmin Connect - Details

Untitled by kbertasso at Garmin Connect - Details What a day! I knew it wasn't my day at MHM and I made a smart decision to stop, but waiting another 6 weeks, training alone, through daylight savings, shorter days and cold was rough! But I stuck it out and came back to train during those 6 weeks hard. I never got my mileage back up into the 80's, but did a mini reverse taper after MHM and got back up to 73-74 miles about 4 weeks out from CIM. I ran the Troy Turkey Troy 10 days out from CIM and that helped boost my confidence a bit. Weeks prior to TTT my goal was to run sub 37. As the race approach, the forecast changed my goal pretty significantly. 20 mph winds were predicted with a high of 21, real feel of 8. Not really ideal for a 10k. After seeing that forecast I just wanted to run close to 38 minutes. I ended up running 37:10 for second place, which was better than I had anticipated given the cold and windy conditions. From there I tapered. My knee started to bother me and I pretty much freaked out the week before the marathon. I added some additional exercises for my knee and made it to the start line pretty confident. Sunday, December 8th, 2013… to be continued!

Somedays you got it, Somedays you don't....

Okay, so I can finally write this.

Sunday, October 13. 2013
Mohawk Hudson Marathon:

Before I reflect about what went wrong, what I did wrong, I will just start from the beginning.

I woke up that morning in plenty of time to eat breakfast, foam roll and get everything together.  My dad drove Abby and me to the start around 7:30 a.m.  As we got out of the car, the thermostat read 57 degrees.... When we got there, we dropped our bags and went on a light warm-up to get things moving and find a bathroom.  I ended up stealing a roll of TP from the ARE van thanks to John because surprise, the line for the port-a-potties was ridiculous.  At the start line, I spotted out the girl NOT to follow, knowing she would go out super fast.  Abby's plan, which was a 1:26 first half was similar to mine so we planned to run the first half together.  With us, was Nicole Blood, who had never run a marathon. It seemed easy, we chatted for the first 8 miles and didn't think anything of it.  However, it was too fast.  NONE of us were going to run anything close to even splits and I knew by mile 7 the damage was already done.

Just after mile 8

I took a lot of water, 2 cups of each station, one to drink, the other to throw over my head.  We went through the 10k in 39-mid.  Too fast.  I never took a gatorade, why would I need to I had gel.  I took my gel as planned at mile 6 and 11.  Around mile 10 Nicole took the lead, taking off in 6:15 pace... I was not going with her.  I stayed back, Abby eventually decided to go around mile 11.  Mile 12 I knew, this was going to suck.  I was now by myself and had gone out too fast.  I tried to slow down once Abby passed thinking this would help me.  Nope, it hurt me, my hips tightened up terribly.  As I was making it up the hill to mile 13, I realized how hot I was and how heavy my singlet felt, I threw it off to my friend, Jess.  Mile 14, I saw my parents.  As soon as I passed them I kept thinking I should have threw in the towel there, my legs are so tight.  I kept trucking... I had no choice.  At one point I thought it wasn't so bad, I was still running well under 7's and I was almost to mile 16... oh wait that was just the mile 15 mark.  That was a huge bummer.  I finally did get to mile 16, where I was scheduled for my next gel.  I couldn't stomach it.  I opened it and babied over the next mile.  Coming up to the train tracks I hoped to get in a mile around 6:40 with the downhill, but unfortunately I was about 12 seconds slower.  This wasn't going good.  Miles 18-20 were endless.  I started to become absolutely drained, I felt like I was dead, my stomach was hurting and I was done mentally and physically.  I just didn't feel right and honestly didn't think I would finish.  My parents were at mile 20, which I knew, and there they were, I could finally see them in the distance.  My mom was ready with a change of shoes in case I needed them (I still have issues with my right foot) and a gel.  I looked at them and just said I was done, stepping off the course.  They were shocked.  Never once in my life had they seen me quit anything, especially something I was so prepared and ready for.  Something I had dedicated the past several months to, training harder than ever before, running my fastest times ever leading up to this race, and logging the most miles in my life.  I was done.  I quit.  I was at 2 hours and 14 minutes, the exact same time I was at during my last marathon at mile 20, the difference, I wanted to be at 2:10 by mile 20 for this marathon and I felt awful...  I was totally okay with it at the time and had no idea why.  I sat down for awhile, noticed my bloody shoe, and eventually decided to get up and head to the finish line.  I looked down the road and noticed that I saw Crystal's singlet in the distance.  I grabbed a water, my mother saved for me at this point, and ran it to her.  I was moving.  I was seeing straight.  I was okay.  I could have jumped back in the race and ran to the finish with her, but it never crossed my mind at the time because all I knew was that I was done and had dropped out.  I got in the car, changed into dry clothes and we drove to the finish line.  When I got there, Mike, who finished second, started asking me what was going on and telling me about his race.  It was then when I started to fade and realized I couldn't stand there anymore.  I made my way to the final stretch and found myself on the grass... and then I puked.  I then found a couple friends and Kristina, who knows better and was thinking much clearer than I, told me I needed to get in some calories and went to get me gatorade.  I puked again.  I tried to sip the gatorade, but just couldn't.  She made the executive decision that I should go to the medical tent.  I didn't think I needed to, but agreed because she was so stern on the matter.  As I stood up, she held me tightly, I remember thinking, why is she holding me so tight, then all of a sudden, everything... BLACK.  I could hear, I could hear my mom approach us, I remember seeing Drew, maybe he was there before it went black, but they got me in the med tent.  After spending sometime there and getting some fluids, they let me leave.  I made it to my parents and went over to the grass.  And then, puke x 3...or 4... I don't know.  It was bad.  I didn't care to find a garbage, I just started puking in the middle of everyone.  Abby reminded me I still hadn't gotten my bag that I checked at the start of the race.  She helped me over (she was the one that actually finished the marathon) and we got our bags.  A few feet later, uncontrollable vomiting.  She took my stuff, I just wanted to go home.  We made it over close to my parents, when again I puked, for some reason this time I went for the garbage.  My friend, Dave, who had already witnessed my prior vomiting episodes looked at me and said "back to the med tent".  He walked me over.  This time they desperately tried to get an IV in me, every time they got a flash, the vein collapsed.  I took some Zofran and laid down.  I couldn't stomach anything.  Awhile later, I finally convinced Todd (the race medical director) to let me leave.  I promised I wouldn't return!  My dad had already left to bring Abby to our house and my mom was waiting for me outside the tent.  We walked over to the parking lot, where I sat in the shade until my dad got there.

Bloody shoe!

The next morning.  I was pissed.  Why did I let them dictate my race, why did I go out so fast, it doesn't matter how easy it felt, 6:20 pace is too fast for me!  Why did I continue to have stomach issues, and why do I always get hyponatremia during MHM?!?  2 years ago a similar situation occurred where I overdid the water and couldn't form any salvia afterwards to swallow a thing, my pulse crossing the finish line, 60.

I went out for a 2 mile run and changed my mind.  When I dropped out the day before I told my parents, I had done enough marathons, I really like the half, I wasn't upset, I had a great year, I didn't need another marathon for awhile.  Well I impulsively changed my Houston half entry to the full a few hours later.  Then the next day when I realized I qualified for the elite field at California International Marathon with my half marathon time, I signed up for that.  So now what?!!?!?

CIM December 8th.

I have been ridiculously sick with a cold/URI this past week and a half, which hasn't made training fun.   I had an endoscopy last week and a biopsy confirmed that I don't have Celiac's disease and can eat all the bread I want!  However, this doesn't help answer my iron issues...

 Regardless of what happens at CIM I will finish.  Even if it means I say screw the 2:53 dream for  2013 and even if that means I don't run a PR!  I will run my race as planned and not go out too fast.  I am going back to my original gel I used for my last marathon (sorry honey stinger) and taking gatorade if I need to, which means I will practice with some fluid other than water during my long runs leading up to CIM.  My friends are done marathoning and it is getting dark and colder out, so it is hard, but hopefully with the NYC marathon this weekend, I will find it very motivating!!!

The Final Countdown

Friday, October 11th- Less than two days!  There is no two ways about it, taper sucks.  You start to question everything.  I flew into NY on Tuesday and for the first time the flights were rather uneventful.  I met up with some ARE members to run Tuesday after I got in.  Wednesday morning I went to mile 8 on the marathon course and did my last "workout".  It didn't feel the greatest, but it wasn't terrible either (as it shouldn't be) considering it was very easy.  I did a 2+ warm up, with 15 minutes at 6:30 pace, then a 2 mile cool down.  Thursday I only ran 2.5 miles.  Unfortunately I was planning on running more, but by the time I woke up and did what I needed to do I only had 20 minutes before I had to get in the shower and get moving.  I always schedule way too much when I am home and end up running around from place to place instead of just relaxing.  Anyway, I doubt the 2.5 miles verses 4 miles I wanted to do really makes a difference.  Friday I took off even though my coach had me scheduled to run.  I always take 2 days before a marathon off and I hadn't taken a day off in over a month.  Although now I am scared I dropped too much this week because my legs feel heavy.  4 weeks ago I was coming off Palio Half Marathon so we kept the mileage low at 65 so I could recover.  3 weeks ago I went up to 72 miles, last week (2 weeks out) I dropped to 52, then this week will essentially be at only 22 before the race.  The thing I am worried about most is my arm.  For some reason my left upper arm and scapula have been giving me issues.  I usually don't notice it until after 18 miles when I am running though, but when it does come on it is a sharp, stabbing pain.  The plan is to wear a bengay patch on my arm to try to prevent that from happening.  Ah!

This year has probably the most talented women's field ever entered in the marathon.  For some reason since I didn't care to enter as an elite (the marathon doesn't offer anything aside for free entry for elite marathoners anyway) I didn't get a seeded bib number.  I was honestly upset considering it was my hometown race and the majority of runners that did enter as elite haven't qualified for the standard, which was sub-3:00 marathon.  There are a few girls who have not even run a marathon at all let alone a half marathon.  So basically they submitted 10k, 10 mile times.  Regardless it's my hometown race and I am not seeded.  Which is OK, but to top it off I get bib number 69, really?  UG!  Some races purposely eliminate numbers 13 and 666, well I think number 69 should be included in that exception.

Here are some reasons why I think I will be running much faster at MHM than at Colorado Marathon:
1.  Altitude.  Duh.  The last half of Colorado is relatively flat and that alone is going to contribute about 10 seconds faster per mile.
2.  The course.  The downhill first half of Colorado is kind of like the downhill at Boston, your legs feel destroyed at the end of that portion!  My legs were screaming at me.
3.  Training.  I have significantly increased my miles for this marathon, my speed work and long runs have all been significantly faster.
4.  Healthier.  Last marathon, I didn't know about 6 weeks out if I was still going to run the full or have to drop to the half.  My plantar fascitis was still a big issue.  Luckily, my body has felt much healthier this time around.
5.  Support!  The first time we saw any spectators at the Colorado Marathon was around mile 17!  That is a long way to run before people start cheering you on!  This race will be filled with local support and my parents will be at miles 3, 8, 13-14, 19 and the finish!

So now what?  Sleep well tonight.  Breakfast in the morning, followed by a shakeout run and the expo.  My plan is to go out in 1:25:30 and not let anyone else in the race influence that.  I'm running to run 2:53, and then to try to win.  2:53 is first.  I'm not about to go out too fast so I can stay with the leader in contention for first place only to fall apart so I don't 1- win, and 2- run 2:53.  I do know the girl that is entered with the fastest marathon time (2:52) ran an eight minute positive split when she did that.... that does NOT sound fun!  Time to see what these legs have left in them after all this training!

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."

Palio Half Marathon, Saratoga Springs, NY

And here I am, less than 1 month away from the marathon!  Yesterday I ran the Palio half marathon in Saratoga Springs, NY, here is how the weekend unfolded:

Friday the 13th....sure did live up its stigma here in Colorado.  That week Colorado saw the most rain it has ever seen in such a short period, ever.  Total rainfall was equivalent to what is seen over the course of the entire year.  I was awaken Thursday night to flash flooding alarms and again on Friday at 4:00 a.m.  I managed to fall back asleep Friday morning before getting up to go to the airport.  I left my apartment just after 7:00 a.m. and started my short 50 minute drive to DIA... but to my surprise they closed the interstate!  It ended up taking me 2 1/2 hours and I made my flight with 5 minutes to spare.  Luckily, security at DIA was a ghost town, which was an oddity.  I arrived into Syracuse at 6:00 p.m. and we stopped for dinner in Utica.  I finally made it back to good old scotia at 9:45 and was in my bed by 11:00.

Saturday, September 14th- I met Crystal and Mac daddy in Clifton Park and we headed to the race expo in Saratoga.  We did a 3.5 mile shake out run on the first part of the course.  Mile 1 was a major hill!  After a little photo session we drove the rest of the course and headed home.  I finished the day off with a soccer reunion and some family time that evening, catching up with my brother and his girlfriend.  

Sunday, September 15th- RACE DAY!!!  Woke up at 5:30 a.m. (Still on 3:30 mountain time)!  We picked up Crystal and her sister-in-law, Kelly, and arrived around 6:35.  After an easy warmup run, I got rid of some layers, changed into my racers and headed to the start to finish my drills and strides.  

Mile 1- went out easy.  The pack I was running with must have thought I was running too fast or something because they were saying rather loudly how it is a long race and people shouldn't go out too fast.  I decided to engage in their conversation and talk to them normally so they knew I was running at easy effort despite the uphill mile, we only went through the first mile in 6:17... clearly slower than my overall pace.  From then on I essentially ran the rest of the race alone, which was fine because mentally I can hit my pace without the help of anyone else or a pace group.  I hit the 5k in 19:00.  10k in 38:11.  15k in 57:30.  I threw out my gloves at mile 6.5, which I regretted later.  Miles 7-9 were tough for me.  There was an uphill just after 7, and a 180 turn around just before mile 8.  I also started to feel a bit of a headwind at this time and took it on completely solo.  Miles 10-11.5 went well, then the last mile and half got a little confusing.  There was no one near me and the volunteers were just kind of standing around talking amongst each other.  I wasn't exactly sure where I was turning until I reached the turn, which was kind of annoying, especially in the last mile because there were a lot of turns!  I finished the race in 1:21:21, a minute and 56 second PR. 

I am extremely thankful for all the volunteers (although I wish they were a little more directive the last 2 miles when I was alone and trying to look for the turns), but overall it was a well organized event.  From the expo, to the water stations, everything was great.  My only complaint was the 11:30 start time for the awards ceremony.  The ceremony included those for the 5k, which started at 7:35 as well as the half, which the majority of winners were done by 9:00 a.m.  It was such a perfect fall day and great to see so many people out there working hard and achieving their goals.  

Racing Through Training

Sunday, August 4th, 2013 
Evergreen Town Race

 First road 10k in how long? I anticipated running somewhere between 37:50-38:30, and as the race drew closer the more nervous I became about my performance. I wasn't tapering for this race, I was doing a couple solid workouts that week. Also, the race started at 7500 feet. Yes, it is downhill, which totally helps, but I was still nervous considering I was receiving another 2 iron infusions that week. My ferritin, iron, and % binding all dropped.  In addition to the iron issues I feel I cannot perform at altitude the same as other runners who have lived here for years... heck my most recent H&H represented something like 12.7 & 38, which is only slightly higher than it was at sea level. Thus, when I was on the starting line I just hoped I would finish without dying. And then the gun went off. I went out in 5:56 pace and started to question what side of the road I should be running on. The course is pretty curvy and it was difficult to not get involved in too much weaving from side to side that would add unnecessary distance to the race. I went through the 5k in 18:45ish... and then for some reason felt the need to relax... like a lot. My mile dropped to 6:22 during mile 4. Luckily I realized I had a lot left in my legs and closed the last 2 miles around 6:06 pace. The biggest disappointment was my watch, which went off relatively close to each mile marker, until the last one... I then thought maybe they just skipped the mile 6 marker. I was certain I would be close to 37:50...until I then saw the mile 6 marker.. really? At the finish line my watch read 38:13 for 6.31 miles. I was bummed. If I had known my watch would be off would I pushed more at the end? The other downside of this race was the annoying runner (sorry, but it was!) that decided he would pace off of me/ then try to pace me. He literally ran on my heals... look at the race photos for evidence, then would jump off in front of me and stop!!! Then come back at me full sprint, telling me "come on lets go". Really??? Talk about messing up my stride, I purposely tried to slow down for a few strides to let him pass, but he wouldn't, he just tucked inside of me before jumping off to the side again to stop before starting a full out sprint again. I eventually told him to just go ahead around mile 5.7, but he didn't feel the need until the last 0.1. I was super annoyed. Anyway, I finished 7th overall and 3rd in my age group, talk about some good competition! A 4+ mile cool-down and then headed home.

August 10th, 2013 Georgetown to Idaho Springs 

That week I kept the miles up. From Sunday, August 4th to Saturday, August 10th, I ran 70 miles which included the 10k race along with a 13.1 mile race, a day off and a solid workout on Wednesday. I went into the half marathon Saturday thinking the same thing at the starting line, please let me get through this. The half was a lot harder. It started at 8500 feet and the first 2.5 miles were dead flat. Then as we started the descent, we had rolling hills during every mile for the next several miles. I wanted to pull out around mile 5 and didn't know how I was going to finish. Luckily miles 6 & 7 were slightly better and then we got onto a dirt trail for the next mile. I was able to basically run the first and second half evenly, which is huge for me (splits below). I finished 3rd overall in a time of 1:24:24. Not my best half, but considering the elevation and training with no taper, I am quite happy. There were still 530 feet of elevation gain at that altitude I had to suffer through despite the net downhill! I added on another 3.7 miles after the race for a total of 19 for the day.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
1	6:24.0	--	--
2	6:36.0	0.00	--
3	6:26.6	0.00	0
4	6:21.9	0.00	0
5	6:40.5	0.00	0
6	6:21.3	0.00	0
7	6:21.1	0.00	0
8	6:18.2	0.00	0
9	6:24.2	0.00	0
10	6:22.1	0.00	0
11	6:22.5	0.00	0
12	6:27.9	0.00	0
13.1	7:18.3	0.00	0
Summary	1:24:24.5	0.00

Marathon Training Continued....

Firekracker 5k

Thursday, July 4th, 2013.  Well actually this starts the night before.  My parents were flying in from NY and their scheduled flight was suppose to get into DIA around 8:00 p.m.  Not too late.  However, their flight into and out of Atlanta was delayed and they had to change their route, putting them into DIA around 11:00 p.m.  I drove to the airport, picked them up and finally got home around 12:30 a.m.  Not ideal for a girl who loves her 8 hours of sleep!  Anyway, the race went o.k.  It wasn't a great race for me, but I suppose it could have been worse.  The race was scheduled to start at 8:00, which we were ready for.  However, a few minutes before 8, as we were finishing our strides, they told us they were now starting at 8:10.  Ug!  Anyway, the start felt slow, the second mile was bad and then I finished in 19:05.  Like I said, not great, but with the elevation and heat that day I'm not crying myself to sleep over it.  I finished fourth, missing prize money by 1 place, however did get a pretty sweet piece of pottery!

Long Runs!

Last Sunday I did a 15 miler on the Poudre Trail.  I finished in 1:46 averaging 7:05's for the run.  I had 4 miles under 7:00's and the last half was faster than the first.  It did take a little toll on me for the week considering I've been bumping my mileage up quite a bit for me.  Today's long run was 16.3 miles in 1:57, 7:12 average pace.  The first half and second half were fairly even, however the second was slightly faster.  After today's run I've hit 71 miles for the past 7 days, which is my second highest!  But really my mileage will be 62 for the week since I start my weeks on Mondays.  I had 2 decent workouts during the week and although my legs are tired, nothing really hurts!  We will see how this next week goes!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/341836092#.UeGFVGtH0LI.facebook

Marathon Training Begins.

Corporate Challenge 8k

Last Thursday was the Corporate Challenge 8k race in Louisville.  The race was held at 6:00 p.m. and for those that haven't been to Colorado, the hottest part of the day is between 5:00-6:00 in the evening.  The high for the day was 92, which had me extremely worried after my disaster at Freihofer's.  In addition, the physicians at work insisted we have BBQ for lunch that day.  Overall, the race was a decent effort.  Did I absolutely kill myself?  No.  It was a loop (a square) course, 1.65 miles x 3.  A slight downhill, followed by flat, followed by a gradual uphill, followed by flat again.  I really didn't push too hard on the gradual climb and lost all my time there (I need to work on hills), but running fairly comfortable (understatement in the heat I suppose) I finished third in 30:43.  My teammate, Abby, finished first in a blazing time of 28:45, and our team won the women's division.

This week the heat hasn't let up at all and has actually gotten worse!  Saturday I ran 12 miles with Ellie and Leigh Ann (averaged 7:15's) and felt good.  This upcoming Saturday I will move up to 14 miles.  I decided to not run the Bristol Mile this Saturday evening so I could do a long run.  I had a quick speed workout Tuesday morning, then yesterday Abby, Ellie, Leigh Ann and I ran in 97 degrees, closing our last 3 miles in 6:57, 6:43, and 6:47.  Today I ran an easy, yet decent progression run in 99 degrees.  It actually does not feel that bad at all compared to 97 or 99 degrees in NY.  I will be just over 50 miles by the end of the week, which isn't too bad going into my first week of actual marathon training.  The plan for this training cycle is to boost my mileage.  My weekly high for the last marathon was 67 miles, which is a typical max for me during marathon training.  I look forward to increasing the miles for this marathon and hope it helps!  I'm feeling pretty good, my foot was a slight issue after being in NY.  The combination of racing two 5k' in a week, along with 2 workouts on the track and walking around NYC in dress shoes for several days took it's toll.  I've been in sneakers since I came back (most of the time), alternating between asphalt and dirt and icing again.  It seems to be helping, so I am sticking to it!  Next Thursday is the Firekracker 5k in Ft. Collins, we will see what a 5k at altitude is like compared to my last one almost a month ago at sea level!