CJ Runs (and Walks)

Back in Action!

2012-02-08T21:54:00.000-08:00

It has been quite a while since I last checked in here. I won’t bore you with too many excuses, as I think that the main reason is that blogging just hasn’t been as big a priority for me as of late. Since my last entry I’ve ran the Champoeg Half Marathon in September, had some slight knee issues that caused me to miss nearly a month of training but still managed to finish the Portland Marathon in October, and despite walking the Turkeython 5K with my family, I have taken a much needed break from running. I was asked if the break was to heal up or if I’d become a little burned out and my answer was YES!

2011 was an up-and-down year. I accomplished some of my goals which I am very proud of. I ran a total of 3 marathons, 2 of which were within 2 weeks of each other qualifying me for the Marathon Maniacs. However, I let my weight get the best of me and I’m currently back up where I was a couple of years ago pre-running – something that has contributed to my continually wonky knees.

Weighing my Options

The good news is that the break has done me well. I feel reinvigorated regarding my health and running. I’m going to be focusing on dropping my weight significantly (again!) and will rebuild my running to be faster and stronger than ever. On 1/23/2012 I joined a weight loss competition at my work and I’m embarrassed to say that I weighed in at 255.5 lbs. Granted, I manipulated my water weight a little and ate everything I could leading into the competition, all to make that starting number a little higher - yes I gamed the system a bit. As of Monday, the 6th, I weighed in at 243.1 lbs. which is a drop of 12.4 lbs. or 4.9% total. Now the hard work starts. I’ll be posting my progress here as part of my accountability.

It’s sad to think that I had said goodbye to being a fat guy, and yet it snuck right back in. I deserve better than that, and it’s time I do something about it.

Upcoming

As of right now, the only race I have on the books this year is the Portland Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in May. My official training plan for that starts next week, and while I wish I had a better base built up, I’ll settle for ramping up for it now. It shouldn’t be too bad.

I’m liking the idea of running more half marathons this year, and might try to qualify for the Half Fanatics, a sister club to the Marathon Maniacs. That said, I haven’t decided if I’ll even run a full marathon this year. I’m considering skipping the Portland Marathon and maybe opting for a different race in the fall, maybe one I have to travel for. I haven’t decided.

Either way, I will be filling up my schedule soon so stay tuned. It will be a good year, I can tell.

Cheers,
CJ

A Dawn of New Beginnings

2011-09-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

Up before the dawn, I hopped in the car. Just a short drive before I was to run one of my customary routes along the Springwater Corridor, looking to go 8 or 9 miles. It had been nearly a month since I had ran anything longer than a mile or two and while I knew that this was easily longer than I should be running, I wanted to put the knee to the test. I had been dealing with another case of (self diagnosed) tendinitis that was quickly putting my running of the Portland Marathon in danger. This run and how I responded would be my decision. Would I, could I get back on track enough to complete the marathon?

Running along the corridor in the early morning light I felt comfortable and easy. I wasn’t able to push the pace like I wanted, I wasn’t in as good of shape as I wanted, but I was pain free and as the sun rose and shone through the trees, I knew that I would be ok. The metaphor of the dawn was not lost on me that morning.

Tour de Lab

The very next day, and for the second year in a row, I rode in the Tour de Lab, a bicycle tour around Portland that goes from Lucky Labrador Brew Pub to Brew Pub. It is a benefit for the DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital and offers a challenging “Big Dog” 35-mile route as well as a 20-mile “Puppy” route. I signed up at the last minute as I wasn’t sure how my knees would be feeling. Having passed my 9-mile running test the day prior, and despite being sore, I was confident that I could handle the ride. I haven’t done nearly the riding this year compared to last and I knew that the hills of the Big Dog route would eat me alive so it was the Puppy route for me this year.

A gorgeous late summer day, coupled with my new found confidence made for a great ride. The beer garden at the end only solidified the time I was having. I finally felt that I was back. I was able to hammer thru the ride when I wanted and felt like I was taking the hills like a pro. It was a real confidence booster.

Back On

I’m back on track, sort of. I’m the first to admit that I’m not where I want to be physically, up a few pounds, slower than desired, and a little beat up, but I realized that I can rely on my base to pull me thru. If my goal, my expectation is to finish the marathon, then I’ll be ok. I won’t be setting any land speed records but I’m ok with that. Goal 1 will be to get to the starting line, goal 2 will be to get to the finish line. The rest is just filler.

CJ

Running Shoes

2011-07-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post a quick shoe update. Back in early June I realized that I had almost 500 miles on my running shoes and knew that it was about time to replace them. I wasn’t having many problems yet, I usually feel it in my knees and hips when the cushioning wears out, and I certainly didn’t want to replace them just prior to the marathons I was preparing to do. So I decided that I’d wait and replace them right after both races.

On average, “they” say that you should replace your running shoes every 300-500 miles as the cushioning breaks down. Because I’m a little hefty, my weight can cause the shoes to break down a little quicker and in my short running career I’ve had shoes that barely made it to the 300 mile mark. This pair was the first to surpass the 500 mile mark. I made it thru the marathons, and I could definitely tell that they were needing to be replaced. Yet I was pleasantly surprised at how long my Nike LunarGlide+ 2’s had lasted, just over 550 miles. So I headed down to the store.

I’m brand loyal to Nike (which I realize can be a disadvantage at times) so that is the first place I’m going to go, plus I was excited to try out the LunarGlide+ 3’s which had recently come out. I wasn’t overly impressed with the color selection, they seemed a little flashy, but settled on a grey/green combo that has been growing on me.

I’ve ran a few short runs in them and I think they are going to work out well. Nike is known for always tinkering with their shoe lines so the third iteration of the LunarGlide has some design changes that I was a little concerned about. I was concerned that the new midfoot strap was going to bother my right foot where I’ve had issues in the past. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be a problem as I can adjust the pressure with the lacing. I suppose the true test will be when I take them out on a long run.

Hopefully these will last like the previous pair did. Now I need to figure out what I’m going to do with my old shoes. What do you do with your retired running shoes? Recycle? Donate? Wear them to mow the yard? Let me know, I’m curious.

Oh, the fuss we make over our running shoes, I bet the bare foot runners/minimalists just laugh…

Speaking of...

I guess I’ve got shoes on the brain, but I just read a shoe store ad in Runners World that made me scratch my head. “Beginner? Front of the pack? First time marathoner? Looking to set your next pr? For every type of runner, there is a shoe. And for every shoe…” I suppose this is technically true, but if someone tries to set you up with a particular shoe based on these questions, run the other way. Oh boy…

CJ

Foot Traffic Flat Marathon

2011-07-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure how I first heard about this race, but when I found it I noticed that it had several things going for it that would help me accomplish my goal of qualifying for the Marathon Maniacs. I had already committed to running the Vancouver USA Marathon (VUM) and this was within the entry-level timeframe of 16 days to qualify for the club. Also, it was a smaller, cheaper race so if anything went wrong it would be a little easier to eat the race fee. It was local, which meant it was easier to get to than my other choices. And finally, it was guaranteed to be flat and thus a little easier on me.

The race was held on July 4th around Sauvie Island, which is about 15 minutes northwest of Portland. I guess traffic to the race can get a little thick so I opted to ride the shuttle from Portland. Unfortunately, that meant I had to be on the bus by 5 a.m., a lot earlier than I would have liked. The race started at 6:30, still early but fortunate as the temperature would hit the upper 70’s on a mostly unshaded course. Us Northwesterners just aren’t use to any level of heat yet, so I was glad that the majority of the race was during the cooler morning.

In preparing for the race I took several steps to avoid the cramping from VUM, including eating lots of sodium rich foods during the days leading up to the race, a practice I later found referred to as sodium loading. Also, based on recommendation, I had S-Caps to try during the race. These are electrolyte capsules that I carried in a small ziplock baggie in my pocket along with a few extra packets of table salt just in case. I made sure to have an S-Cap every half hour and I consumed a package of Shot Bloks every hour. For hydration, I was carrying Ultima, which I’ve been liking more when I mix it a little strong, and I was taking in water and Nuun at each of the aid stations. The downside of all the salt I had in me was that prior to the race I could feel my blood pressure get a little high and I was retaining water, meaning that this was my heaviest marathon to date. The positive side of all these steps was that I didn’t have the slightest of cramps thru the whole race! Now I just have to find the right balance in order to avoid the cramping without overdoing the sodium levels.

The race started off without a hitch. It was a beautiful day and I was feeling good. As usual, it took the first couple of miles for the crowd to spread out then it was smooth sailing. With the small field size I had figured that I’d be pretty much running alone most of the race and when you figure that the course was closed to all but local traffic that meant there were very few spectators. I’m use to running alone like that so it didn’t bother me but I could definitely see how others might have felt too disconnected out there. For me, it was just peaceful.

At one point in the race I came upon a girl who looked to be having a little bit of trouble and I tried to help her in what little way I could. The first time I saw her I was on the out, she was on the back. She had stopped and was awkwardly using a fence to stretch out her legs. The second time I saw her, I caught up to her somewhere around mile 14ish and she was again stopped to stretch out her legs. She had that defeated look, the one I remember having in Vancouver that was caused by cramping. I offered her some salt and gave her several of my emergency packets I was carrying. I don’t know if she ended up finishing, but she was extremely grateful and I hope that it was enough to get her through.

I carried on.

When the 20-mile marker came into view I checked my watch. I couldn’t believe it, I was on pace to crush my personal record and to nail my goal of under 5 hours. I felt great and I even got a little cocky, slapping that 20-mile sign as I ran by thinking that there would be no 20-mile wall for me. Unfortunately, that wall was waiting for me around mile 21. It wasn’t a full on bonk but it definitely hit me. My hips, knees, and feet were killing me and I was oh so tired. With the ever increasingly frequent walk breaks I could see my time slipping away. Then a strange calm came over me. I realized what I was doing and where I was. I was nearing the end of my 2nd marathon within 2 weeks of each other. I didn’t need a PR on this run, I just needed to finish and I could tell that regardless of how fast or slow I was going, I would finish and that wasn’t just ok. It was fantastic. I forgave myself for not breaking that 5 hour mark. I slowed way down. I enjoyed those last few miles, knowing that I didn’t have to go all out.

Because of that, I was able to finish with a smile on my face. It was a great day.
CJ

Marathon Maniac

2011-07-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

It’s official! I am Marathon Maniac #4105.

This was one of my top goals for 2011 and I earned my entry and first star by running 2 marathons within 16 days of each other. I ran the Vancouver USA Marathon on 6/19 and followed that up with the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon on 7/4 (race report coming soon).

For those who don’t know what or who the Marathon Maniacs are, the Maniacs are an online running club for people who love running 26.2 miles and beyond. You qualify at different levels by running marathon streaks at different levels of craziness. Believe me, there is some serious crazy in there. But more importantly, it is all about having fun while running long.

Now I can’t wait to run my next marathon.
CJ

Recovery

2011-07-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

My experience at the Vancouver USA Marathon was a little on the rough side and while I am very proud of the fact that I finished, I’m also very lucky that I didn’t seriously hurt myself. I’m not hurt, in fact I’ve recovered quite well, but I know how easily I could have injured myself because of my determination. You don’t go through months of physical therapy for your knees and not have an appreciation for the health of your legs. So I am extremely thankful that I feel as good as I do at this point, because I’m about to put it to the test.

Over the last few months I’ve been experimenting with recovery methods to prepare me for where I am today, about to embark on my second marathon within 2 weeks of each other. I knew going in to this that my recovery between races would make or break it for me so I’ve been willing to try just about anything I can find that might help. Plus, as it turns out, a lot of the things I’ve been focusing on turn out to be just plain old common sense that I should be doing regardless of my crazy race schedule.

So what have I been doing to help with recovery? I’m glad you asked, here in no particular order are some of the things that I think have worked for me, and possibly a few that haven’t.

Ice baths. As soon as I got home from this past race, I jumped into an ice bath for about 10 minutes. As soon as you get over the initial shock, your legs go numb and it feels so good. I now swear by these and think that the 10 minutes of shivering might have been the number 1 contributor to my recovery.
Nutrition. I tried to consume more protein then normal as protein is what the body needs to help repair and build muscle. It was a great excuse to drink chocolate protein shakes, especially right before bed, where I believe a majority of my recovery came during sleep.
Sleep. I have tried to get extra sleep though this has proven to be most difficult. Currently, my only complaint is that I feel fatigued, and if I can increase my amount of sleep it should help.
Compression socks and sleeves. I bought both compression socks and compression calf sleeves to try. I know that there is a lot of research out there that these will help with circulation and thus improve recovery but it is hard to say how much they have really helped me. One thing I know for sure is they feel so good to wear. Guilty pleasure, I want to wear these all the time good. I’ve considered wearing the calf sleeves while I run to see if they help with my cramping issues but I’d prefer to test it in training before I do it in a race. I guess the jury is still out on these.
Movement. I’m not to the point where I can do recovery runs the day after a big race, but I certainly have stayed active and have done some very light recovery cycling. Not to overdo it, but just to keep the fluid moving and keep from stiffening up with less impact on the knees. I’ve done as much walking and riding as I can and I think it has helped with the soreness.
Stretching, foam rolling, and ice. I’ve made sure to stretch, roll, and ice all the areas that need it. This has been something that I should be doing all the time, but often neglect. I know I need it, I know it works, and these past 2 weeks I’ve tried to make it a priority.
Recovery drinks. Ok, I didn’t drink a specific recovery drink post race, but I have experimented with them in the past and it is possible that they help but I haven’t found many that taste good, in fact other than plain old chocolate milk, most are kind of nasty. Also, they claim that they should be drank within x minutes or y hours of the hard workout and I didn’t think that was going to work out this time, so I passed on this, this time around. Maybe I’ll keep trying, maybe.

In a nutshell, those have been the things I’ve been concentrating on for my recovery. I think they have been working for me, as I feel pretty good on the eve of the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon, a mere 2 weeks after my last marathon. I don’t feel perfect, but then I didn’t expect to. I’m just glad that my body has adapted to this running load and that I’m still able to bounce back. Tomorrow will be the true test.

CJ

Vancouver USA Marathon

2011-06-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

This past June 19th I ran in the inaugural Vancouver USA Marathon in beautiful Vancouver, Washington. Starting in Esther Short Park in downtown, we headed west toward Vancouver Lake and Frenchman’s Bar before turning back toward and past downtown to Fort Vancouver, Pearson Air Field, and on to Wintler Park before heading back downtown via the Columbia River. There had been a slight course adjustment due to the high water on the Columbia, but it was still a very scenic route that highlighted the city well.

Aside from the marathon, there was also a half, a 5K, and a kid’s race spread over the weekend offering a little something for everyone. As this was the inaugural running, the race was smaller in its field size, with nearly 800 in the marathon and almost 3000 for all events combined. But don’t let the small size fool you, this was a world-class event, supported by a world-class effort. Everything from the pre-race expo, to after-party atmosphere at the start/finish line was superb. The fine folks at Energy Events truly outdid themselves and it is scary to think about how good this event will be as they continue to learn and develop the race.

Unfortunately, as great as the event was, my race performance was quite lacking.

At the starting line, I found the 5-hour pace group and lined up off to the side. Going through my last minute gear checks and stretches, I didn’t notice that the pace groups spread back thru the crowd causing me to go out with the slightly faster 4:40 group. It was crowded for the first few miles but I was able to find my pace and it didn’t seem like that many people were passing me. I had been out on the first half of the course for one of my previous long runs so I felt comfortable with the route on this initial out-and-back. I had my nutrition and hydration plan, and I was feeling very confident about the day.

It was near the 12 mile marker that I felt it first, a sharp squeeze in my calves that quickly subsided. It was way too early in the race to be having cramps. I kept going, hoping that I had imagined it, but it wasn’t too long before they returned. Near the halfway mark I checked my watch and I was at 2 ½ hours, right on pace. All I had to do was keep the cramping at bay so that I could maintain the pace. I was drinking every 1-2 miles and didn’t think hydration was the problem so I made the decision to up my nutrition intake, essentially doubling what I was taking in hoping that would keep my electrolyte levels up. Unfortunately, I can only eat so many gels before the mere thought of them turns my stomach, so I had to be careful not to overdo it and make myself sick.

This race was the first time my hands have ever become swollen while running. Several people I know have this happen and it must be related to the cramping, which got worse as I went along. By mile 16, I entered survival mode. I was determined to finish, regardless of my time. I just had to push on. Near mile 19 or 20 there was a long gradual hill that seemed to mock me and my attempt to keep going. The cramping that would happen with every 20-30 seconds of running was seriously messing with my stride, and because I was going through this for so many miles, I soon had other issues to deal with. My lower back started getting tight, to the point that my breathing felt restricted as if I had a rib injury. My IT band on my left leg got tight and I started having knee pain. My knee was hurting so bad that I couldn’t even run downhill.

I kept going, attempting to run, cramping up, and then slowing to a walk until the cramps subsided, then I’d repeat the cycle by trying to run again. Over and over, mile by mile. Around mile 23, I was hit by that emotional wave that bares doubt, pain, and exhaustion. But I didn’t crack, I kept going. I was too focused.

I made it back downtown and the streets were roped off for us. There were volunteers directing me, congratulating me, pointing me along the last couple of snaking blocks before the finish line. One last stop to try to stretch out my calves, hoping that they would take me just a little further. I turned a corner, could see the finish, and off to the side was my family. My son was standing there, having crawled under the fencing, ready to run the last 100 yards with me. It was at that moment that all the pain I was feeling fell away. I had conquered and my family was there with me. It was a special moment for me, one that I won’t soon forget.

Better Late Than Never

2011-06-17T13:15:00.000-07:00

My poor neglected blog. It has been so long since we last spoke but please know that you were always in my heart. You see, things happen. Life, priorities, and such. I didn’t mean to turn my back on you; in fact my intention was to give you more attention, taking you through the twists and turns of everything that I have planned for this year. It merely hasn’t worked out as well as planned. But know that I am here and we will progress forward, together.

Life Gets in the Way

Earlier this year life threw me an unexpected curveball. Nothing major mind you, but enough to foster major stress, complications, and drama in my otherwise drama free lifestyle. I know that it is cliché but the truth is that running has helped me deal with the stress of it all. I’ve read and heard about people who have dealt with major issues thru running and I can now better understand how and why running helped. The physical, emotional, and psychological benefits of running continue to amaze me and I am extremely grateful for that.

26.2 Goals

One of my goals since I started running marathons has been to become a member of the Marathon Maniacs. The thing about this group that I am so drawn to is the fact that for the members, finishing times seem to come secondary and that the members continue to run marathons simply because they love to run marathons. A question I often ask first timers is if they will run another one any time soon. Answers are occasionally an emphatic “Yes!” sometimes a non-committal “maybe,” but most often a stubborn “No!” preceded by a choice 4-letter word or two. While I can reasonably understand why a person wouldn’t want to ever go through that again, I mean there are a million reasons not to, part of me just doesn’t get it. How could someone, who has demonstrated the ability to do it, not want to do it again? I feel that the Maniacs share my passion, and that I belong in that “asylum”.

This year I am attempting to qualify for the Maniacs by running 2 marathons within 16 days of each other. The first of those is this weekend, the Vancouver USA Marathon and I am so excited to be a part of this inaugural event. Just across the Columbia River, in Vancouver, Washington, this race looks to be a gorgeous event and should be a lot of fun.

My training over the past few months has progressed well. I’ve raised my weekly mileage up to where I need it to be (for me at least) and I have gone over 20 miles on multiple runs. Unfortunately, my weight is higher than I wish it was and my speed isn’t quite where I wanted it to be but I am injury free and feeling pretty good going into the race. I’m not too worried about my time so the key will be in the recovery between races, if I can recover quickly enough, I should be fine.

The next couple of days promise to be very busy, but I’m going to enjoy them because I get to run another marathon. Wish me luck.

CJ

Gymboss Interval Timer

2011-02-27T20:51:00.000-08:00

A little while back I was contacted by a marketing rep for a handy little device called the Gymboss Interval Timer. I was offered a free one to try and was sent the Jeff Galloway Run/Walk version. Chances are that if you are taking the time to read my blog, then you have most likely heard of Jeff Galloway and his Run/Walk Method. If you haven’t heard of it, or him, then be sure to check out his website or any of his numerous books on running. I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff and his wife a couple of years ago and not only are they some of the nicest people you are ever going to meet, but Jeff is always open to sharing his vast knowledge of running. Anyway, Jeff’s Run/Walk Method is a marathon training plan based on the idea that you can take regimented walking breaks designed to allow you to recover mid-run and thus run faster and with less chance of injury. These walking breaks are by definition, intervals, and as such, the Gymboss Interval Timer works great for this program.

I don’t normally follow Jeff’s training plan, but I have been known to take the occasional walk break. I decided that if I were going to give the Gymboss a good trial, then I would put it through a workout using the Galloway Method. Based on what I know of the method I was going to run a short workout using Jeff’s run/walk ratio of 3:1 for a 10 minute/mile running pace. That is run for 3 minutes, walk for 1 minute, and repeat for the duration of the workout. I did this test on one of my shorter runs, only about 3 miles but I figured that it would be plenty long enough to test the Gymboss Interval Timer. I set the intervals into the timer, clipped it onto my waistband and started running. I almost missed the first interval, I had my headphones in and the timer was set to vibrate. Not use to the feel of it, I almost missed it when it went off, but then I became tuned into the feel of the vibration and didn’t have any other problems.

The Gymboss worked perfectly but I wanted to give it another test. I decided to use it for a tabata workout that I’ve done before clumsily with a stopwatch. A tabata workout is an intense 4-minute interval workout where you do an exercise as hard and as fast as you can for 20 seconds followed by 10 seconds of recovery. This is done for a total of 8 sets, or 4 minutes, and is extremely intense. The specific exercises I used for this were standard body weight floor exercises consisting of:

Squat thrust to pushup
Mountain climbers
High knees
Jumping jacks

I cycled thru those exercises twice, and while 4 minutes doesn’t sound like much, by the end I was reduced to a sweaty puddle of panting mess. The Gymboss Interval Timer signaled each interval perfectly loud and clear. No need to carefully watch a stopwatch, reducing the effectiveness of the workout.

Overall, I really liked this little interval timer. It is easy to use and includes instructions printed right on the timer. It is small but includes quite a little punch. Also, I’m starting to see them more and more out on the run. So if you are in the market for an interval timer or looking for a better way to keep time during a workout then you might want to give the Gymboss Interval Timer a try. If you are interested in one of these little bad boys, you can order one thru any of my affiliate links. As an affiliate, I receive a portion of each sale.

CJ

Worst Day of the Year Ride 2011

2011-02-13T22:56:00.000-08:00

The drummers were lined up and pounding out a rhythm of anticipation. I was at the front of the crowd, held back by two happy souls with small orange flags. I glanced over my shoulder and it was a sea of riders pushing toward me.

We stood there, waiting. Our turn would come, and we would head out into traffic. But until that time came, we stood there allowing the drum beats to wash over us. So far, we had avoided that rain that is always threatening this time of year. The day was shaping up to be a true celebration of everything it means to get out and ride a bicycle.

Then the music stopped. Some quick announcements were made and we were unleashed like a pack of hounds. The 16-mile urban route wound across the city and back. From east to west, north to south, we snaked through the streets. Treats of fruit, cookies, and muffins were bestowed us at the various rest stops along the way.

Everywhere I glanced, riders of all ages and abilities were having fun on this grey February day. Some wore costumes, some wore rain gear, and everyone wore smiles.

It wasn’t all roses though. I saw a few mishaps, everything from the person unable to get free from their pedals before falling, to someone catching a tire in the groove along a light-rail train track and taking out another gentleman onto a concrete barrier. No one was seriously hurt, but I’m sure there will be a few sore people in the morning.

As for me, a few blocks from the finish I heard that familiar twang from my rear wheel that meant I’d broken another spoke. As this is the third time that this has happened, I guess it is time to replace the wheel before I have a serious accident.

Upon our return to the Lucky Lab Brew Pub, we racked out bikes and went to find further nourishment. We were treated to a giant bowl of vegetarian chili, organic cheese bread, and a large and well-deserved beer. It was the best way to quench the thirst raised from the day and to cap off a very fun ride.

CJ

Resolution Run 10K

2011-02-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

Despite having run the distance countless times, I had never actually signed up and ran a 10K race. That was to change last weekend at the Resolution Run 10K held out at Champoeg State Park. Champoeg State Park is a gorgeous park south of Portland set along the Willamette River. It was here that I was to run my first official 10K race. A PR was guaranteed which reduced the stress and anxiety that I sometimes feel before a race. Rather, I was excited. And even though my training has been extremely inconsistent as I’ve come back from being sick yet again, I gave myself 2 modest goals, to finish and to finish with a pace better than 12 minutes per mile.

I woke up early, and drove out to the park. The morning was cool, not cold, and there was a light misting of rain. I arrived early enough that I was able to pick up my bib and leisurely warm up and prep for the race. The race was sponsored by the NW Running League, a fun running club that I belong to, and the field size was nearly 200 runners between both the 5K and the 10K.

Both races started off at the same time and the course was an out-and-back along the paved pathway through the park. I may have started out a little too fast, and I could hear a wheeze in my breath at only a half mile in. I tried to maintain a consistent pace but it was difficult. I just kept going as best I could. The route was almost entirely flat with only a couple of short rollers along the path.

I finished in 1:10:29, which is an 11:22 pace, good enough to accomplish both goals and to set my new PR benchmark. More importantly, this race made me realize just how much work I have ahead of myself. My fitness level, my running, my weight, none of it is where I want it to be. I’ve let it all slip and I’m going to have to work very hard to reign it all back in and accomplish my goals this year.

The Resolution Run 10K was both my first 10K and my first race of the year. It was a well organized, well supported event. It was also my wakeup call. I have a lot of work ahead me but at least I learned that lesson at such a great event.

CJ

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T20:23:00.000-08:00

The sun sets, only to rise again. 2010 is now in the books, and 2011 brings promise of new goals reached and new records set. I’m excited to continue this journey and to enjoy the company of those I meet along the way.

I won’t rehash my past year, just know that while there were struggles at times, there were also some successes that I will never forget. Thank you for sharing in those successes and for being there for me after the struggles. I am truly thankful for that. This next year is shaping up to be very busy and I hope that you are as excited as I am to face every challenge that comes our way. Hopefully this year will be the best yet, for all of us.

It’s a new year, an exciting time so remember no matter what you do, just keep moving and know that you are not alone.

Happy New Year!

CJ

Hot Buttered Run 5K

2010-12-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

On 11/28/2010 I ran in the 2010 Hot Buttered Run 5K, my very first race in Vancouver, Washington. Beginning in Ft. Vancouver, at Pearson Air Museum, we ran down toward the Columbia River, under the I-5 Bridge, and then up through downtown before heading back to the Air Museum. It was a nice course with excellent views and lots of support along the way.

I didn’t have a time goal for this race, just happy to be running it and as such I took it easy and enjoyed the day. Originally, the weather forecast had called for some rain. We managed to stay dry the whole morning but it was a little chilly with temperatures in the upper 30’s to lower 40’s. Despite the cold weather and threat of rain, there were over 900 runners between the 5K, 12K, and the kid’s races.

After my race, my family and I stuck around for the Kandy Kane Race for the kids. My kids love running these kid’s races and I think the race promoter has really hit on something by offering them after the main races. Santa was on hand to start them off and issued high fives to each as they finished. It was so much fun watching all the kids and was the absolute highlight of the day.

Once all the racing was over for us, we enjoyed hot chocolates and Daddy had a delicious hot buttered rum courtesy of Rogue Spirits. It capped off a fun day and a fun race.

CJ

Recover-cation

2010-10-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

It has been just over a week since my marathon and I have to say that I’m feeling surprisingly well. Similar to last year, I took the entire week after off work and instead of a staycation, I’m calling it my recovercation. It gave me the time to rest and heal, as well as catch up on a couple of those little projects around the house that never seem to get done when you are training for a marathon. Aside from those small projects, lots of movie watching, and lots of “me” time, I even threw in a couple of short, low impact workouts just to test the waters.

I think I’m going to be ok. No serious damage. I’ll continue to take it slow over the next couple of weeks, but I should be able to get moving fairly quickly. That is going to be important because in light of my lackluster performance last week, I’m feeling the need for vindication and I want to sign up for my next marathon sooner rather than later. I might even get crazy and plan on a couple of marathons over the next year including a redemption run at PDX in 2011.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere are Signs

Lastly, I wanted to note a handful of the rather funny signs I saw people holding during the Portland Marathon. It was raining all morning and I know that kept many people at home, but those that came out to cheer came out strong and I want to thank all of them for their support.

“I didn’t get up this early to watch you walk – so run!”
“Don’t poop your shorts”
“At least it’s not raining” with the words all crossed out.
“You’re not almost there, but keep running anyway”
A woman dressed as a fairy, wings and all, holding a sign saying, “I am your 20 mile hallucination.”

And a special recognition to the large and very official looking beer aid station near mile 23. Thank you.

CJ

2010 Portland Marathon

2010-10-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

For me, the 2010 Portland Marathon was a race of anguish. That is how I’m going to explain it, torment, suffering, and agony all rolled into one, anguish. There were so many things about this race that if it could go wrong, it did, and thus the anguish.

As my second marathon, I had very high expectations. My goal wasn’t just to finish, but to better my time by about 45 minutes. I had it all planned out. My training was good, my race day strategy was good, I felt good, all I had to do was show up and execute. I was ready.

The morning of the race, my wife and I awoke at 5:15 am. She was doing the half marathon and a friend that was doing it with her was to be at our house at 5:30 to drive down to the race together. Panic struck from waking up late, we threw on our clothes and grabbed our gear just as the friend was pulling up to our house. Luckily, we had taken the time the night before to lay everything out and even though we were rushed and hadn’t been able to go through our normal routine, we left for the race on time and were able to get a parking spot in one of the parking structures.

We finished getting ready at the car and joined the rest of the trash bag fashionistas at the starting corral. It was pouring rain and we had opted to use hefty bags to keep us at least slightly dry prior to the race. A quick trip to the porta-john and then I was shedding my garbage bag and lining up with the 4:30 pace group to start the race.

My plan was to start with the 4:30 group, and with some planned walking breaks, I would slowly drift back to the 4:45 pace group. The 4:45 was my goal, and by all indications, I was well prepared to reach that goal. Everything was going according to my plan and I felt great crossing the halfway mark at 2 hours and 21 minutes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too long after that when the wheels fell off the cart.

At mile 14, I suddenly had stomach issues that caused me to have to stop and use the porta-john. This cost me in both minutes and momentum. When I rejoined the race, I had a very hard time getting back into my rhythm and for the first time that day I felt chills from the wet cold.

When we were crossing the St. John’s Bridge at about mile 17, my calves cramped up so bad I almost fell. I had to stop to stretch and with as many miles as I had left, with cramps this bad, I began to get nervous. The leg cramps never really went away, I had to deal with them on and off the rest of the way, as well as pains in my right foot, both knees, glutes, and my back. That slowed me down immensely, but I kept plugging along.

By mile 20, I was questioning if I’d even be able to finish and by mile 22, I was just mad. I was pissed off at the day, pissed off at my body, pissed off at everything. Nevertheless, over those couple of miles, I was also starting to notice something that helped my resolve. I felt much more aware of my surroundings, and maybe that comes with experience, but I was noticing the people around me. Everyone it seemed was struggling. Gone were the smiles, joy, and excitement seen earlier in the day and in their place were struggle, pain, and suffering. I suddenly realized that we were all in pain together. It was a weird experience, and I know that these words won’t properly describe how I felt, but it was that commonality that pushed me through it all. By myself, I would have failed, but with those around me, together we would prevail.

As this was occurring, around mile 23, I found myself reciting mantras such as “just keep moving, just keep moving”. I also remembered a saying that an old high school football coach use to say, “It’s all about heart” and I pushed on. By now, my goals were gone, all of them except to finish and that was all that I cared about, getting to that finish line and I remember how thankful I felt when I saw that mile 25 marker. Just a little way left to go and I’d be done.

The finisher’s chute at the Portland Marathon is several blocks long starting on Naito Parkway, turning up Salmon Ave, and finally turning onto 3rd Ave. There are as many people lined up here, cheering, as anywhere else on the course. I entered the cute and could hear people shouting “Go CJ! Go CJ!” when my legs unmercifully cramped one last time. Adrenaline kept me upright, kept me going. I couldn’t stop to stretch out the cramp, not here, not now and I had to bear down one last time just to get across the finish line.

I was spent. Someone handed me my finisher’s medal and all I could manage was to stuff it in my pocket. Someone handed me a space blanket and I could barely wrap it around myself. Suddenly someone was holding on to both of my arms, their face mere inches away from mine. They were asking if I was all right, if I was ok, and while I don’t remember what it was that I said, I remember realizing that this was a medic and I was talking my way out of the medical tent. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t need medical attention, and I must have convinced her of such a thing, but it did take some convincing before I was allowed to wonder off and collect my finisher shirt and get something to eat and drink. When my wife found me, she too got a little worried with my dazed state, but slowly I recovered.

It was a tough, gritty day and to top it all off, as we were leaving, the battery in our car was dead. We had to ask someone for a jumpstart. Like I said earlier, if it could go wrong, it did. This wasn’t how I’d planned my second marathon, but I’m proud of the fact that despite all of the trouble, despite the weather, and despite my body in revolt, I managed to finish and did so with a time of 5:19:27.

Looking back, I’m not sure what went wrong. My nutrition and hydration were good. The weather wasn’t ideal, 60 degrees and raining, but it wasn’t that bad either. And going into the race I felt good and prepared. The marathon is a tricky thing, and I guess the best thing to do is to learn from this experience and move on.

Thank you everyone, for all of your support.

CJ

22 Mile Training Runs

2010-10-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I’ve blogged about my training. Most of my entries have been have been centered around my events, primarily race reports. Today I thought I’d put down a few words regarding my training. Specifically, my lead up to the marathon including my longest long run of 22 miles which I ran a couple of weeks ago.

This year I essentially took last year’s training program and added in a training program for cycling the Portland Century. My idea was that I could double up the training, call it cross-training, and everything would be fine. If it was a little too much for my body, then I could ease up a little as long as I kept working at both disciplines. In just a few short days I’ll be able to tell if this plan worked, but this run, my longest before the actual marathon was to be a real test of how ready I am.

My long runs grew progressively longer, culminating in a 22-miler that covered the majority of the Portland Marathon route. It started downtown, heading out Highway 30, crossing the St. John’s Bridge, and then coming back to downtown via Willamette Blvd and Greeley Ave, just like the official route. There were a couple of short offshoots, strategically inserted to get to my targeted mileage, but otherwise I was trying to preview the Portland Marathon route prior to race day.

My goal time for the run was about 4 hours, or an average of 11-minute miles. I came in at 4 hours and 7 minutes so it was a success. I wish I were faster but I’m not and I can live with that. The important thing is that I can get through it, remain healthy, and have fun doing it. I know that the speed will come with time, so I’ll just keep working at it.

Other than some minor cramping, I felt that I’d nailed both my nutrition and my hydration. Speaking of hydration, this year I’ve been using an Amphipod RunLite Hydration belt with two 10.5 oz bottles. Last year I was using a Camelbak Flashflo but I wanted to try something new and I love this belt. It is easier to use and doesn’t slosh at all, regardless of how full the bottles are. Granted I’m cutting the amount of fluid I’m carrying in half with this belt but I can refill it a lot easier then the Camelbak so I’m hoping it won’t be a big deal. If it is, I can always add bottles to the belt. This belt also gives up a little on the hauling capacity as the built in pocket isn’t very large, but again I don’t think it will be a problem for me.

So, am I ready? That is the million dollar question. My training for the marathon is essentially over as I taper down to the big day and I feel pretty good about where I am. The 22-mile run didn’t wipe me out as easily as it could have. Instead, it left me feeling confident, ready. I’m not where I would have preferred to be, like I said, I would love to be running faster and I’m also going into the race heavier than I was last year but that is an issue I’ll take up later. Till then, 2010 Portland Marathon here I come.

CJ

The Fall Finale 5K

2010-10-04T20:45:00.000-07:00

This race, held on the campus of Clackamas Community College was a fun little race leading into my marathon week. With about 100 runners, this was the smallest race I’ve run this year and I have to say that I love the charm of a small race.

With PDX Mary next weekend, I was scheduled for a long run of only 5 miles and rather than run a slower 5 I thought I would run a faster 3 miles and call it good. I don’t like saying that a race is going to be a training run, it feels like too much of a crutch to me if I have a slow race, but that is how I was looking at this run. I heard that the Run Oregon gals were going to be pacing the race for a 30-minute finish and I thought that would be perfect, fast but not too fast for me. Plus, if I was really feeling it, I could go for it and try for a PR.

We ran a flat looping course that was almost entirely on grass. Running that much on grass was new to me and it felt like it took a little more effort with my shuffled stride. Of course, it did force me to concentrate on my form a little more than normal and I had to watch where my feet landed, which was probably really good for me. There was one long straight stretch where I was able to run a little wide and was able to stay on the road. I don’t know if it really makes a difference, maybe it was just mental, but it did feel a little easier to run on the road rather than the grass. After a few quick laps, we were heading into the finishing chute where we were treated to a pancake breakfast.

My time was a little faster than I had expected, 29:12 which means that even though I was holding a little back, I was still a mere 7 seconds off my PR. Part of me is disappointed that I didn’t go all out to see how fast I could go, but I had a plan, I kept my eye on the big picture, and I didn’t overdo it prior to the marathon. It would have been a huge mistake to blow out my legs and go into the marathon still sore from a 5K.

It all worked out. I had fun and put up a confidence boosting time. Now I can focus on getting ready for the marathon.

CJ

Tour de Lab

2010-09-17T13:05:00.000-07:00

Multnomah Village - SW Portland

Good cycling and even better beer! The Tour de Lab is a ride around Portland stopping at the Lucky Labrador Brew Pubs. I rode the Big Dog route which was a full 35 miles and stopped at each of the pubs including the one in Multnomah Village. It was getting to this pub that differentiated the big and small routes as it took us up and over Council Crest which amounted to the majority of the 1900 ft. of climbing for the day.

The second stop was the Brew Pub on SE Hawthorne. It was here that we re-joined the shorter route and headed toward the new Tap Room in North Portland and finally to the Beer Hall in NW where we were treated to quite a little party. Beer and hot dogs with all the fixings.

Hawthorne - SE Portland

I signed up a little late, but really wanted to ride in this. I remember last year I had been out for a long run and had seen the riders and had actually ran past the finish line party. It looked like a fun event and I really wanted to give it a go.

The day started out a little chilly but that turned out to be pretty nice, keeping us cool as we started out with the climbing. I didn’t set any land speed records, but I felt strong on the hills and am happy with that.

I overheard a small group of guys talking about how they were planning on

Overlook - N Portland

drinking pints at each rest stop. I don’t know how they ended up, but I knew that wasn’t a great idea for myself, happy to enjoy some beer once the ride was over.

So it was another great day of riding. I didn’t have any hassles, didn’t have any mechanical issues, and the course was marked so well that I didn’t even make any wrong turns. Overall, it was a very fun day.

CJ

Quimby - NW Portland

Portland Century

2010-09-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

Unlike several of my past riding events, this was one event that I was not going to ride to and from. I was more than happy to get a lift to the start the morning of the Portland Century and relished the extra rest that it allowed. Still very early, I was dropped off at the starting line just before 6:00 a.m. so that I could take advantage of the early start for “riders who need extra time”. A quick bagel and banana and I was riding off, under the starting banner on this awesome 100-miler.

We started downtown on the Portland State University campus, wound thru the sleepy downtown streets, crossed the river, and up the Springwater Corridor. I was feeling good and making good time when I heard a strange twang from my back tire and decided to stop and check it out. I was only 16 miles into the ride and just as I had feared, I had a broken spoke. The back tire wobbled unevenly and I knew that I shouldn’t ride on it. I pulled out the course guide and called the rider support number listed. I was told that they could send a SAG wagon to pick me up and take me to the first rest stop where there was a mechanic, but it would take a while because they weren’t expecting anyone to need them that quick and they were still getting things ready. The driver would call me to figure out my location and coordinate a pick up. As I hung up I realized that I was only 2 - 2.5 miles to that first rest stop and I might as well start walking that way. Pushing my bike, I had to answer the question “Are you okay?” or “Do you need any help?” about a hundred times as the riders passed by me.

I made it to the rest stop and quickly found the mechanic. I told him that I’d broken a spoke and he gave me the unfortunate news that he didn’t have what he would need to fix it, no replacements, but he could adjust the wheel to compensate for the missing spoke. With a little luck I’d be able to finish the ride but he warned me that any jolt or bump in the road could cause me to break more spokes and could even lead to a catastrophic wheel failure.

It was at about that moment when a friend and much more advanced cyclist found me and heard what the mechanic was saying. He told me that the same thing had happened to him recently and that after adjusting the tension on the other spokes just like mine, he was able to finish the ride fine. That gave me enough confidence to go along with it, but riding down the road I felt that my mojo had taken a serious hit. I kept going on, but the thought of breaking another spoke was always there in the back of my mind.

After a few warm up rollers and small hills, I arrived at Eagle Fern Park. This was where the true climbing would begin as the next leg featured the first of two sections of the ride that were listed as “extreme climbing”. In what seemed like a snail’s pace, we climbed up to and through the town of Sandy. A short descent to Bull Run and then it was the second stage of climbing. There was an odd sense of common suffering between all of the riders as we navigated the switchbacks. Together, in silence we pedaled on, ignoring the burn in our legs and lungs.

After what seemed like days of climbing, I noticed a group of people pulled over at a bend in the road ahead. The only reason I could think of for this small crowd was because someone was hurt or needed help. I dreaded approaching the group, not wanting to spoil the day with any trouble that might be in the road but as I neared, I could not see anything wrong. That is when I noticed that the road just past the turn was sloped downhill. Downhill! We were at the top of the climb and I felt a resurgence of energy knowing that the hardest part of the day was behind me.

This small group, standing on the side of the road wasn’t due to a problem or an injury but was due to a spontaneous celebration of having reached the ride’s peak, of having survived the climb. It was a collective exhale. Riders resting ever so briefly, regaining their breath, lowering their heart rates, before continuing on with the ride.

Mileage wise we were just over half way and I was looking forward to a long and winding descent to enjoy and rest the legs. But I was tricked. Around mile 60, as we approached the Historic Columbia River Highway we came to a climb that I wasn’t ready for. It couldn’t have been long, or as steep as what we had already conquered, but I wasn’t prepared for it and it just about killed me. I wasn’t prepared for it, physically or mentally, and with as many people I saw stopped on the side of the road, I don’t think I was the only one taken off guard.

Coming off Mt. Hood, we dropped down to the Columbia River and I was looking forward to the long, straight, and flat stretch of Marine Drive. Unfortunately, I was greeted by a head wind that whistled past me as I rode. Head tucked down, I pedaled on and was rewarded for the effort at the Blue Lake Park rest stop. Hot Lips Pizza was handing out slices that were made right there in the park courtesy of their roving pizza oven. Pizza on a ride sounded weird to me at first, but at mile 75, that slice was probably the best tasting piece of pizza I’ve ever had.

Speaking of the food on the ride, to say that we were well fed would be an understatement. Muffins, potato salad, strawberry shortcake, pasta salad, sandwiches, pizza, and watermelon were all served throughout the day at the different rest stops. It was almost like a game, wondering what would be served at the next stop. And all of that was just what was being served out on the course.

From Blue Lake Park we went further west, to Smith and Bybee Lakes in North Portland and then wound our way back to downtown and finally to PSU for an amazing finish line party.

Crossing the finish line, my ever supportive family was there with flowers and balloons to congratulate me for finishing. It meant a lot to me that they were there and even though the gifts were a little over the top, it was very touching.

After putting the bike in the car, I took the time to enjoy some Widmer Drifter Pale Ale and the amazing finish line dinner of grilled salmon and veggies. I thought we had been well fed on the course but it paled in comparison to this food. Great food, live music, and a terrific atmosphere that capped off a great day of riding.

Overall, the weather had cooperated for us. On the mountain it had rained ever so briefly three different times but none of the times were enough to get me very wet or have to worry about slick roads. The showers barely spotted up my glasses. Off the mountain, it had been clear and warm but not hot, making it a rather comfortable day of riding.

My early mechanical issues aside, the only negative thing that I can say about this ride is that I wish the course had been marked outside of downtown. I didn’t know the course and actually missed a turn at one point. Luckily some other riders had called me back before I was too far off course. I think that had I not been near other riders, I easily could have missed a few other turns as well.

The ride took me a long time, most of the day in fact, but considering that I lost some time when I had to walk a few miles early on, the time wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t the easiest thing that I’ve ever done, but I was prepared for it and I’m proud that I did it all on my own without a ride from the SAG wagon. This will now be the ride with which I compare other rides. It’s hard to be intimidated by shorter rides after this, and climbing hills doesn’t seem that scary. I’m so glad that I was able to do this, it was so much fun. I can’t wait for the next big ride.

And no matter what, always remember that 100 MILES is a really long way.

CJ

Lancette Memorial Metric Century Ride

2010-08-25T22:07:00.000-07:00

I have had a very busy August and that continued with the 2010 Lancette Memorial Ride Metric Century in which I rode on August 15th. This was the inaugural ride for this event, started to celebrate the life of Teresa Beiser, a victim of domestic violence this past year in Tualatin, Oregon.

The ride fell perfectly in my training and I felt that it was both a good warm up and a good readiness test leading to my upcoming full century ride. The opportunity to help the worthy cause of Clackamas Women’s Services was also a great draw.

The route was challenging, winding around Clackamas County with a total of 4,900 feet of climbing and the steepest climb was a 16% grade. I inadvertently made the ride a little harder on myself by not getting much rest prior, I ran the CATnip 5K on Friday night, followed that with a good 10-miler on Saturday, then this ride on Sunday.

I woke up early and rode to the event. It was a beautiful morning for a ride and when I arrived at the starting line, I had enough time to enjoy a quick bagel before heading out. There were four rest stops, so we had plenty of opportunities to grab snacks and refill our water bottles. Each stop was well stocked and the volunteers were extremely helpful, giving us scouting reports of what to expect up the road.

Most of the ride was along quite country highways with little traffic. There was however one section of the ride that was a little scary. We turned onto S Beavercreek Rd in the Hamlet of Beavercreek. The small shoulder, higher level of traffic, and the fact that the locals were not happy to see cyclists on the road made for a scary situation. We had people honking at us to get off the road and at one point when a diesel pickup passed, it would hesitate and then floor it right after passing each of us riders creating a thick cloud of smoke from the exhaust. It was obvious that the driver was doing it on purpose and I was so happy to turn off that section of highway.

That was the only drawback to what amounted to a great day of riding. There were some good sized hills, fun descents, and lots of beautiful scenery. It did get pretty warm as the day went but it was never uncomfortable and there wasn’t any wind to fight. I gained a lot of confidence in my own riding that day and knew that I was prepared for the upcoming full century.

I have to say, one of the best things about this ride was how very impressed I was by the ride support for this event. The organizers and volunteers all operated with a level of passion that rose above the rest. I know that the day was very emotional for many if not most of those involved in putting it on and that emotion came through in how they operated all day. They did a great job, and I think this event will only get better as it grows.

It was fun and it was challenging. I can’t wait to ride in this one again next year.

CJ

CATnip Friday 5K

2010-08-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

Last week I ran the CATnip Friday 5K. It wasn’t my finest race, a borderline disaster in fact, however, something happened and upon reflection I realize that this might have been one of my best races, I just didn’t realize it at the time and I was unable to fully appreciate it.

I turned the corner into the stadium and onto the track. Any kick I had would be reserved just to maintain forward motion. From what I could see, we were to run down the track and around the corner, about 250m to the finish line. I was struggling and just wanted to reach that finish line. Then I noticed that there were a lot of people on the infield and I wondered if my family had made it and was among the crowd to watch me finish this disaster of a race.

I saw my wife first. She was completely across the field, near the finish line. I instantly knew that she saw me too as she was waving and shouting my name. Then I noticed my kids. They were both running full steam toward me. They got to the edge of the track screaming “Go Daddy! Go Daddy!” and ran along with me as I rounded the corner. I was afraid that they would interfere with the other runners but they stayed off the track, happy to follow along just inside. They hopped, skipped, and yelled all the way to the finish line.

After finishing, they nearly tackled me. They hugged me and told me they were proud of me as I hunched over, sweaty and out of breath. They were so excited and I could barely breathe. They were acting as if I had just won an Olympic medal yet I was disappointed that I hadn’t been faster.

It didn’t matter to them that so many people had finished before me. In their eyes, at that moment I was their hero. I had done the amazing. Caught up in my own selfishness I had nearly missed it. Here they were so happy at what I had just done yet I was mad that I hadn’t done better.

The conditions that day weren’t the best for me. Despite having dealt with a bad cold all week and the temperature reaching 95 by the starting gun, I had placed a lot of pressure on myself to not only do well, but to set a PR. I ended up going out too fast for the conditions and my race had fallen apart.

But the kids didn’t see that. They just saw their father go out and try his hardest to do something that he loves doing. They saw me compete, not give up, to finish. Hopefully they were inspired. I try to be the best role model I can for them and they are a huge reason why I run in the first place.

I had almost missed it. I was mad at myself when all they wanted to do was enjoy my accomplishment. They didn’t see it as a failure, mishap, or even a bad race. They merely saw it as their father doing something that they thought was amazing. If I hadn’t realized how lucky I am to have such an amazing cheering section, I might have let my performance spoil the fact that I was doing something that I love cheered on by those that I love.

Best thing of all was that I was reminded that my kids are a huge reason why I started running in the first place.

CJ

Providence Bridge Pedal

2010-08-11T22:51:00.000-07:00

I use to think that people who rode their bikes to bike events/races were a little crazy, as if riding their bikes prior would use up all their energy or mojo before it actually counted. But as I was rolling out of my garage at 4:45 a.m. it seemed perfectly natural to ride not only to the event, but across town to my brother-in-law’s place to meet up with him and ride to the event together. It was the 2010 Providence Bridge Pedal that we rode in this past weekend.

You could say that I was lucky that I was even able to ride in this event because as I was preparing my bicycle on Saturday night I found that I had a broken spoke. This was trouble because 1. I don’t know how to fix a broken spoke, and 2. Even if I did know how, I didn’t have any replacements. It was getting late in the evening and the only bike shop I could think of that would still be open was REI. I called, prepared to beg, to see if I could get it fixed that night. The mechanic said that as long as I made it there in the next 30 minutes then it wouldn’t be a problem. I flew down there and as he fixed me up he said that because it was the back wheel, drive side, if I had ridden on it I easily could have ruined the whole wheel. I was back in businesses.

That next morning I woke up early and grabbed a quick bite to eat and a cup of coffee (gotta have my coffee) before heading out. I had mis-heard the weather report, hearing cold and rain, and was way over-dressed as I hit the road. Luckily, I was able to shed a couple of layers at the brother-in-law’s and we were able to make our way over to the start prior to the 6:30 a.m. ride.

We had registered for the big ride. The 10-Bridge ride that crossed the Fremont, Marquam, Sellwood, Morrison, Ross Island, Hawthorne, Marquam (again), Fremont (again), St. Johns, and Steel Bridges and covered a total of 36 miles. This year, the organizers had to deal with construction on the Broadway Bridge which ended up re-routing the entire event. This created a couple of confusing pinch points where routes crossed or joined, mixing riders of different levels and speeds.

View from the top deck of the Marquam Bridge

We made great time and even though we stopped at a couple of the AWESOME rest stops along the way, we still finished up in less than 3 hours. It was so much fun. I love being able to ride my bicycle on the freeway and there was just something about being on top of the bridges sans cars that makes this event a must. The day was overcast, and at times I felt a slight drizzle, but I wouldn’t say it was cold. It was just about right.

After the Bridge Pedal I rode back to the brother-in-law’s to pick up my extra clothes and re-fill my water bottles before heading for home. This last section of the day’s ride was quite a bit slower. I was no longer under the gun to get somewhere and I was beginning to get tired. Plus, I was now into longest mileage territory for any of my rides. As I approached home I could really feel it, but noticed that I was going to be just a little short of a nice even number of miles and proceeded to go around the block 3 times before parking it just to reach my mileage goal. My hands were a little shaky, but I did it. I had gone a total of 70 miles for the morning!

It was a long, fun morning. The Bridge Pedal is a great event. I highly recommend it and can’t wait to do it again next year with even more my family.

CJ

The Lake Almanor Experience

2010-08-06T22:42:00.000-07:00

My family and I had the opportunity to spend a long relaxing weekend at Lake Almanor in Northeastern California with friends. Lake Almanor is a man-made lake near Mt Lassen, a volcano within the Lassen National Forest, east of Red Bluff and Redding, California. We stayed in a friend’s family vacation home on the Peninsula within the gated community of the Lake Almanor Country Club.

We arrived on Thursday evening, having driven all day, and settled in. On Friday morning, I woke up early and went out for a run that took me up and down a couple of big hills. The house is at an elevation level of about 4,800 ft and my run of just over 2.5 miles ranged from a low of about 4,600 ft to a high of 5,000 ft. My lungs were burning due to the hills and elevation and I was happy that I’d opted to run a shorter distance to offset.

Our group spent most of the day out on the lake on a boat, and as the temperature was about 85 degrees, it felt great diving off the boat and swimming around with my kids. That evening most of the group was tired and relaxing before dinner. I decided that I would go for a quick ride and scout out a possible route for the long run I wanted to get in on Saturday. It was a good thing that I scouted it because not only did I get lost, but the hills would have been brutal running them.

Saturday I could really feel it. I was sore from swimming, sunburned from being out on the lake, and tired from all the hills. I decided that I would forgo my long run and spent the day relaxing on the beach. That evening, after dinner when it began to cool down, a couple of the ladies in our group decided that they were going to go for a long walk and I suddenly felt guilty for having not ran my scheduled long run. Knowing that the long run was unrealistic at this point, I decided that I could handle a short run and went out and ran the hills I’d run the day before.

Sunday was the day I was really looking forward to. {Editors Note: Wait, did I really just mean that on a vacation with my family I was most excited about going for my long ride? I’m not sure what that means for me?} I woke up before dawn and set out on a long bike ride, circling the lake and then riding up and down and around the peninsula. The full ride covered over 53 miles across elevations of 4,500-5,000 ft. It was by far the most scenic ride I have taken to date. The views were incredible!

After my ride, I met back up with the group and we headed back down to the beach. We spent the day laying around or playing in the water. I loved swimming with the kids but I’m thinking that if I want to start swimming regularly for exercise, or if I ever want to try a triathlon, I think that I would benefit greatly from some lessons, if for no other reason than as a refresher. That evening, it was a barbecue in the park while listening to a live band, followed by a dip in the hot tub with some cocktails.

The next morning it was time to head for home and back to reality. It was a wonderful vacation. It wasn’t all roses, how could anything with a 9-hour drive just to get there be all roses, but it was definitely a wonderful time with friends and family. And for as relaxing as it was, we were pretty active which makes me happy.

CJ

Mt Tabor Doggie Dash 5K

2010-08-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

I registered for the Mt. Tabor Doggie Dash 5K primarily because it fit nicely into my training schedule. It had been a few months since I’d ran any races and with this being a weeknight race, it fit perfectly. I was scheduled to run 3-4 miles so why not do it as part of a race.

I arrived at Mt Tabor Park with plenty of time to warm up. The race had a small field with about 189 runners and walkers and quite a few of those had pups of various sizes. The crowd wandered up the trail toward the starting line, and with less than 200 people, it was easy to get a good position.

When the race started, we circled around the top of the hill in the park before dropping down to a lower level. That first mile, mostly downhill, was fast. I tried to keep an even pace knowing that harder sections were ahead but it was hard to resist the pull of gravity and not let my legs just fly.

The second and third miles were much slower and even though they had short downhill and flat sections they felt like they were mostly uphill. The race even ended in a cruel spot as the last several hundred yards were uphill and that made it way too hard to have much of a kick.

I didn’t have many expectations for a fast time. Even though I haven’t been running very fast lately, I was hoping to make it in less than 30 minutes, something I’ve only done once prior. However, knowing that this wasn’t a flat course I wasn’t sure what to expect.

To my surprise, I ended up with a PR of 29:05. As I approached the finish line, I could tell that there was the possibility of breaking 29 minutes but the hill at the end of the course sucked up every ounce of extra effort I threw at it.

Earning a PR is pretty cool, but what was even better (and indicative of how small the race was) my 29:05 was good enough to finish 49th overall, 20th for males, and 2nd in my age group of 35-39. I couldn’t believe that 2nd place finish, granted there were only a handful of guys in my age group and the time between the 1st place finisher and me was a gap of over 10 minutes but still I felt pretty good about the 2nd place finish.

After the race, we all were treated to snacks and some yummy Widmer Drop Top Amber Ale. It was a warm evening, the beer tasted especially delicious, and the live bluegrass band made it quite the party atmosphere. It was a fun event and I look forward to coming back next year.

CJ

Burke – Gilman Trail

2010-07-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

My family and I spent this past weekend up in Seattle, staying with family up in the beautiful Lake Forest Park area of town near the northern part of Lake Washington. It was a quick trip but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run along the Burke – Gilman Trail that runs along the lake.

I’ve had to make a couple of adjustments to my running schedule in regards to my long runs to better match up with all the other things that go into my summer schedule, so for this run I was looking at putting in a run in the 9-12 mile range. Kind of a wide range, but I was trying to give myself some flexibility if I needed it.

The house where we were staying is about a mile up the hill from the trail and while I wasn’t worried about running down, I was a little nervous about the return. A mile long climb didn’t sound like fun, so the plan was to run from the house and along the trail on an out-and-back and officially end the run before the climb. I could then walk the last mile, guilt free back to the house. Call it a cool-down if you will.

I took off for the trail just after sun up, joining it at the bottom of the hill. I was only on a small portion of the 30ish mile trail but I was very impressed with what I did see. The paved path was well shaded and ran parallel to the shoreline behind some very nice homes. Between the homes I would get glimpses of the lake, occasionally with Mt. Rainier in the distance. This early in the morning it was truly serene.

My run went extremely slow and I should have stayed on the lower end of my mileage target as I think I’m still fatigued from last week’s 16 miler (I’ll get back to that in a sec). I wanted to take full advantage of the area but I couldn’t do so without it taking what seemed like forever to do so. Also, my hydration plan was not very good and most likely I became a touch dehydrated by the end.

I ended up turning around at mile 6 and followed my plan of stopping to walk the last mile back to the house. That meant that I ran 11 miles and it took just over 2 hours and 20 minutes, nearly 13-minute miles – UGH! Not the pace I wanted to have.

I began walking back up the hill and between being so tired and a little dehydrated, somehow I ended up taking a wrong turn back to the house. I knew I was screwed up (what the wife calls “lost”) when the road started going downhill again. Luckily, I had my cell phone and was able to call for a ride. It turns out I wasn’t too far from the house but I wasn’t really in the mood to wonder around looking for it and as it was my walk was an additional 1.5 miles on top of the run.

Even though I wasn’t quite at full strength for the run, the Burke – Gilman Trail definitely receives a thumbs up from me. Hopefully the next time I’m up in Seattle I’ll have the time to explore this trail again.

Training Update

Both the running and the cycling have been going well. I’ve been steadily increasing miles on the long runs and long rides and while the speed hasn’t been there, the overall conditioning has been improving. My longest ride to date has been just over 52 miles, which I did following a 25-mile hill workout the day prior. My longest run, which I did just last weekend, was a 16 miler that was pretty brutal. I went into it tired, didn’t hydrate enough, and ended up with cramped glutes, a true pain in the butt.

I scaled back the mileage this past week, but still might have been a little over optimistic in Seattle and ended up with another slow, tired run. This week will be a little odd, and my mileage should be on the lower side as I’ll be running in the Mt. Tabor Doggie Challenge 5K on Wed, followed by a long family weekend in Northern California. I’m running the 5K as a training run, hopefully not pushing myself too hard, and in California I’ll probably only get 1 or 2 small runs in but will be taking the bike and will try to get a couple of good rides in while I’m there. It has been very interesting weaving the riding and running workouts together and I’ve been able to offset the harder cycling weeks with lighter running weeks and vice versa.

New Kicks

The only other piece of news I have is that I bought new shoes. The old ones had nearly 500 miles on them and I was starting to feel it in my feet and ankles. At least I want to think that the shoes were causing the soreness, as it easily could have come from something else or been all in my head after I noticed how many miles were on the shoes. Either way, I went out and bought Nike Lunar Glide+ 2’s.

They are a slight change away from my old motion control shoes to a pair with only moderate stability. I’m hoping that my over-pronation won’t be much of a problem anymore but I’m sure that my knees will have the last say on if these shoes offer enough support. Otherwise, they are very light, very comfortable, and I hope that they serve me well. I'll let you know how it goes.

Keep running.
CJ

View from the Burke-Gilman Trail

Lake Washington from Matthews Beach Park

All Registered – Portland Century

2010-06-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

I am now officially signed up for the Portland Century this coming August. It is one of my goal events for the year and I’m really excited. My biking has been coming along nicely but I know that I still need to increase my weekly mileage and work on my climbing.

Speaking of climbing, I took a good hard look at the route and noticed something that has me a little concerned. There are two sections that are listed as “extreme climbing” and based on the elevation chart I can see why.

I’m not very familiar with that area, and I intend to go scout it in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I can drag my bike up there so I can find out beforehand what “extreme climbing” really means. Also, my anxiety level will be much reduced if I know what I’m getting into. I just have to remind myself that the best part of climbing big hills is the ride back down.

The unfortunate news I received is that my brother-in-law, who was going to do the ride with me, found out that he has to work on the day of the ride. Very disappointing. I was looking forward to doing the ride with him, sharing the pain. We’ll try to do

another ride together, but with our schedules and the Portland Marathon approaching, I’m not sure how that will work. We will just have to see how it goes.

Till then, I guess I’ll go climb a hill.
CJ

Flat Tire on a Rainy Day

2010-06-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

I should have known that today would not be an easy day of riding as soon as I went to get my bike out of the garage. As I pushed it out onto the driveway, I could feel that something wasn’t right. When I looked down at my back tire, I noticed that it was completely flat. My first flat tire.

Changing it was easier than I thought it would be but I did have the luxury of a spare tube and a floor pump, not to mention the comfort of my garage. I’m guessing that it would have been a little different on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere.

June-uary

Our rain-slogged weather continues, with this now the wettest June Portland has ever seen. All weekend it was wet, mostly a light misty rain, and today was no different. Despite all the wet weather, I was not prepared for the downpour that I rode into today.

I was riding along the Marine Drive bike path, a flat, straight path that follows the Columbia River. It was the first time I’d ridden this route and I was looking forward to the flat quick ride. As I approached the Glenn Jackson Bridge, where I-205 crosses over into Washington, the rain became heavy and as I was getting soaked I realized that I was feeling a little miserable.

I decided that I was going to turn around and try to get back in front of the heavy rain, knowing that this was basically cutting today’s ride in half. I just wasn’t mentally prepared for that much rain and I knew that I would just pack it in rather than continue on away from the clouds.

It was disappointing. I’d been feeling good up until that point but the rain got the best of me today.

13.1 But Not a Half

I did win the battle of the elements on Saturday when I put in a nice, albeit wet, 13.1-mile training run. I ran the Steel Bridge/Sellwood Bridge Loop with an additional little out-and-back to make it just over 13 miles. There was a light rain that morning but otherwise the temperature and lack of wind was perfect for running.

I ran easy and felt great. Considering I finished it with a time just over my Half Marathon PR, I feel like I’m progressing nicely.

My wife teased me that if I’m going to run 13.1 miles, I should at least sign up for a Half Marathon race. I laughed, because I’d thought the same thing but hadn’t followed thru with finding and signing up for one. I had even considered cutting the run to 12 miles so as to save the 13 for a race. Luckily, I realized how ridiculous that sounded and was just happy getting out there and getting the run in.

As far as how the weekend went, I’ll take it. A good long run and a decent ride that was just cut short. It wasn’t ideal but I feel like they were good miles regardless of the weather.

CJ

Neither Closed Roads nor Wonky Knees

2010-06-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

I took advantage of this past long weekend to get my training back on track (so to speak).

Over the last several weeks I’d had to shut things down as I had developed a case of “runner’s knee” or maybe it was “cyclist’s knee”. Whatever you want to call it, I don’t believe it to be a reoccurrence of the bursitis and tendinitis that I’d experienced before, but instead was a case of inflammation and irritation around my kneecap that was either brought on by overtraining or due to a pulled muscle.

When I look back and try to figure out what happened, I realize that I had been training very hard, both running and cycling and it is completely possible that I just over did it. I also think that I might have pulled a muscle, possibly due to a couple of near spills on the bike. My adductors, the small muscles on the inside of my quad, were sore for over week after nearly falling a couple of times on one of my rides. If those muscles were tight, my running form could easily have been off causing my kneecap to rub against the cartilage in my knee causing the pain.

All this and I decided to take a step back, let my body heal, and then get back to it when the knee felt better. The good news is that the rest did me good. I feel revitalized. My legs feel stronger, knees are pain free, and I realized that I’d been neglecting my stretching and core work that I’d swore I’d continue after physical therapy. All I can say is sometimes it sucks getting old.

I spent this past week getting back into the routine of training. It was a week that found me in Seattle for a weekend with the family, followed by a week in Denver for work, so I’m not sure if routine is the correct word to use. I’m not sure why I enjoy working out when I travel, but do, so I used that to get back at it. All of that led up to this past big weekend.

I was scheduled for a long run of 7 miles. I was nervous about the distance and reinjuring my knee so I took it slow. It was tough after the layoff, but I got through it pain free.

I was also scheduled for a long ride of 2 hours, which for me works out to be roughly 26 miles. I decided to try something a little different so I mapped out a route that led me through the countryside. I knew of 1 big hill about half way along my route and thought that it would be a good test for me. What I didn’t realize was that my route through wine country and farmland would be full of hills, more then I’d ever ridden, and was extremely difficult. The big hill I’d known about ended up not being that big of a deal, relatively speaking, and the rest of the way hadn’t been all downhill like I’d expected. I even came across some country roads that were closed due to construction, opting to continue along anyway to avoid getting lost.

Despite all of the hills, and how they slowed me down, I was able to make up time on the open roads and ended up getting home in just over the 2 hours I’d planned. I might be a little sore after this ride, but I did it. I conquered it. And my body didn’t fail me.

CJ

Earth Advantage Earth Day 5K

2010-05-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

This was a nice suburban race that had about 300 participants. The course was an out and back with some gentle hills and even included a short loop of trail running in Cook Park of Tigard.

I started off and within the first half mile the doubts started creeping in. I tried to concentrate on my form and to keep a steady pace, but it seemed like such a struggle. I had to keep telling myself to just keep going, just keep going.

I felt like everyone was passing me. I tried picking out people to pace behind, thinking to myself to just stick with them, but each time the distance between us would gradually increase until I was forced to pick my next secret pacer. I’m not sure if it was the small hills that gave me trouble but I was quickly beginning to think that I wouldn’t be putting in the good race that I’d hoped for.

The 5K route that I was running joined with the 10K route and while I was on the out portion I got to see and somewhat cheer for the leaders of both races as they were heading back. When I was close to the turnaround point, the route turned into a dirt path and gave me a little taste of trail running. It was different, I wasn’t use to it, but I did like it and will have to add more trail running into my adventures.

We came around a slight bend in the road and I could see the finish. I found a renewed energy and was able to kick in a higher gear, slowed only a little when we were suddenly directed to turn right, taking an unexpected winding route to the finish.

I surprised myself with my little kick. I felt like I was flying as I was crossing the finish line. A couple of seconds later and I was surprised again when I saw the time on my iPod, especially as I’d forgotten to turn it off until about 30 seconds after finishing. I could hardly wait until they posted our results and I wasn’t disappointed in the least. My time, 29:10, a new personal record!

Overall, this was a fun event. The crowd wasn’t too big and it was very well supported. There were several events, even shorter ones for the kiddos. Combined with the fact that the race was dog friendly, this made for quite the family affair.

I did learn an important lesson at this race, I need to work on my pacing. Most likely I headed out to fast and it hurt me on the way back in. The hills might have thrown me off, or it might have been the excitement of the event. Either way, I think that getting off the treadmill more will help me in this regard.

Till next time, cheers,
CJ

And So It Begins, Again

2010-04-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

Tonight’s rather routine run of 3 miles marked the official beginning to my training program for the 2010 Portland Marathon. I’m feeling good and raring to go and just wanted to note my excitement here. I’ll follow up with more details soon.

Keep on running,
CJ

2010 Portland Shamrock Run 5K

2010-03-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, I thought I posted this but apparently I hadn’t, so better late than never, here is how my race went.

I was very excited going into this race for several reasons. Last year, this had been my first race, when my running obsession began. This race marked the beginning of my 2010 race season and was the first race since both my marathon and since I hurt myself. I tried not to put too much pressure on myself to get out there, but to say that I was just a little excited and anxious would be an understatement.

My race morning went just as planned, I got ready and headed downtown, the only problem being that I had underestimated the time it would take to find parking. I had parked about 5 or 6 blocks away which was lucky because the walk to the start ended up being my warm up. I got to the start, heard the 5 minute warning and with a glance at the long line at the porta-john, I decided that my bladder wasn’t that full and passed on that last minute rest stop.

With almost 5000 people in just the 5K the crowd was so thick that stretching wasn’t easy and when I tried to work my way up toward the 9 – 10 minute pace group I could barely make it to the back end of the next higher group. The race started and I was quickly forced to weave my way around and thru the crowd just to stay at the pace I wanted.

I’d like to apologize to the two people I collided with when they stopped running in front of me. I might have been following the first person too close but when I ran into the second person I was actually looking off at something on the side, not paying attention. I’m not going to apologize to the girl who’s heal I stepped on when she cut me off. The look she gave me made it clear that she thought it was all my fault. I mean, how rude of me to not know that she was going to cut sideways just as I was mid stride. I really should have been much more gracious (and psychic).

Crowd issues aside, I ran fairly well. For this course, pretty much the entire second mile is a straight shot, uphill. I made it through that section strong and was on the downhill side when I started having chest congestion issues. With about a half mile left I started coughing and that cascaded into a struggle to catch my breath. I didn’t finish as strong as I had wanted but even with the coughing fit that lasted well after the race, I ended up with a time of 00:31:42. That is a 10:13 pace and is just 9 seconds off my personal best so I really can’t complain about my time.

In all, the day was great. I couldn’t have asked for better weather. There were no ill effects from my knees. I was pleased with my time. I was even able to enjoy a beer and some chowder after the run, unfortunately I did end up wearing some guy’s beer when he spilled it on me in the beer garden but hey, worse things have happened.

I’m excited to begin this year’s races and think that the Shamrock 5K was a great way to do it.

Cheers,
CJ

A PT Update

2010-03-13T22:43:00.000-08:00

PT, what can you say about PT? It’s hard work and sometimes painful. You are forced to confront your limitations while dreaming of better, pain free days. My physical therapy seems to be taking a turn for the better, at least that’s my hope. I’ve been in therapy for about 3 months for the tendinitis and bursitis in both knees. In general, I’d say that the condition has improved and I’ve been able to start running again. For the most part this has been pain free as long as I don’t overdo it and trigger too much of an inflammatory response.

This past week I had 2 sessions and in the first we did a bunch of testing to measure my improvement. I have improved, but not to the level that my DPT wishes. We had a very long discussion about my lack of flexibility and how I need to improve it in order to keep the injury from reoccurring (an oversimplification, but you get the idea). I’ve never been considered limber and yet I’m currently more limber than ever before so I’m a little curious to see just how flexible I can get. We also talked about my goals and what it will take to accomplish them. The reality that came out of that is that I have a lot of work to do if I’m ever to run at a sustained level.

He decided that we should take the next three weeks and get very aggressive with my treatments to see where that gets me. That means aggressive ASTYM therapy twice a week and I’m to get serious about my ab work and stretching on a daily basis. I can continue to run but he wants me cross training as much as possible. Biking, walking, strength training, and swimming. It might just be time to look into joining a gym, one with a pool, so that I can really cross train the way he wants me to. Or maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to finally join a gym.

When I said that he wants to get aggressive with the ASTYM, I mean just that. It hurts like hell. We’ve been focusing on my hip flexors as that is the most likely cause of my knee issues, followed by my adductors and quads. Again, very painful. I now have streaked bruises that make it painful to put my hands in my pockets. Other then the bruising my legs feel loose, loose in a way that is hard to explain, but feels great. I just wish I didn’t have to go through the pain of the treatment to get to the good part. As he put it, dealing with the pain will build my mental toughness. I wasn’t quite sure how to take that or what he was implying.

We’ll see how the next three weeks go. I’m keeping an open mind about it all and will put my work in. Abs, stretching, and foam rolling every day.

On a humorous note, at least I hope it’s humorous, at PT they told me they had sent my records back to my ortho as an update. I didn’t recognize the name and told them who it should have been. As it turns out, they had sent my records to the wrong doc and he had signed the prescription for more PT and returned it even though I wasn’t his patient. I guess the doc is older and it sounds like he should be close to retirement. I wonder if he’s still performing surgery…

CJ

I’ll Live to Run Another Day

2010-03-08T23:08:00.000-08:00

I’ve been quiet for the last week or so as I’ve been getting over a chest cold. This last weekend I spent most of my time in a NyQuil induced coma, trying to channel my inner Apolo Ohno, and I’m finally feeling like I’m getting better. It doesn’t seem like I get sick very often but when I do it usually puts me down pretty hard. This cold wasn’t too bad but it definitely put a kink in my running. Coughing, sneezing, and completely wiped out.

I read somewhere that when sick you can keep running if your symptoms are above the neck and you should rest if the symptoms are below. Well, I’d say that the chest congestion and the general lack of energy constituted a little rest for this kid. It’s too bad because I was feeling like I was just gaining traction with my running including a great workout I did last week.

I had plans to run with a friend and decided that I’d ride my bike to meet them. The route ended up having more hills then I had expected so the warm up ride of just under 8 miles was a great workout in itself. I then ran a nice 5K with my friend in 34 minutes, nice because it too had some hills. By the time I made it home, another 8 miles over hills, my legs were spent and had that rubbery feeling.

I was already feeling the beginnings of the cold. Plus, everyone around me has been or is sick so I pretty much saw it coming. Well I’m feeling a little better now. I’m getting my energy back and even got in a nice little run tonight. I’m not 100% yet, so I’ll try not to overdo it but I do think I can get my momentum up as I head into the Shamrock Run this weekend. Until then, I’m off to get some rest.

Cheers
CJ

I Might Be Crazy

2010-02-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

My running has picked up as of late as I’m trying to build some consistency into my training. I want to do three things; build up my cardiovascular fitness, up my miles, and run faster. I’m impatient and ready to go but I know that the trick is to do this while remaining healthy. If I can just run on a more consistent basis, then I should have less trouble and everything should fall into place. But I must admit that dealing with my knees these past few months has definitely been a shot to my confidence.

My new found sense of urgency comes because I’ve started registering for some upcoming races.

On March 14th I’ll be running the Portland Shamrock 5K. I ran this last year as my first race ever and despite a cold rainy day, I had a ton of fun. After the race they treat us to a beer and to chowder, not the first things I’d go for after running, but who am I to turn down a good beer. With about 3 weeks until this race, I should be ready to have a solid run, something I’m looking forward to.

The other race I signed up for, just today, is the big one. The Portland Marathon on 10/10/10. This will be my 2nd time running this and I hope to get a much better time than before. Race organizers pushed the race back a week this year to take advantage of the date and that will give me just a little more time to be ready.

The other big event on my plate this year is to ride a century, 100 miles on my bicycle. My brother-in-law and I are going to be riding the Portland Century, though we have not yet registered, on August 22 (I think that’s the date). The riding has been great cross-training and will really help me with my running.

Most likely I’ll sign up for other races, as long as they fit in with the larger goal of the marathon so stay tuned. In the meantime, I also wanted to point out that I’ve started logging my workouts on dailymile. I’m still learning about everything the site has to offer but I really like what I’ve seen so far. If you are on dailymile add me as a friend, if you aren’t on it yet then I think you should check it out.

Time to get serious and get moving.
CJ

Worst Day of the Year Ride

2010-02-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

The day started off quite rainy. I was ready to get soaked but by the time we got down to the starting area, the rain had switched to more of a light drizzle. We were plenty early and they had announced that it would be a staggered start so we opted to grab some coffee while we waited.

It was a fun crowd with quite a few in costumes and I have a feeling that the rain kept that number down. With the quirky nature of this ride, I was a little surprised that I noticed more high-end carbon fiber frames than crazy bikes but I did see at least one unicycle and a bike decorated to look like a pirate ship.

The route was 18 miles, winding around Portland. It was an open course, meaning much of it was along bike lanes and paths. Between the stoplights and bottlenecks, it kept the ride at a leisurely pace. There were also three rest stops along the way that had all kinds of snacks and drinks to keep everyone happy.

The weather cleared just after the start and I had to shed my rain gear. I even think that at one point the sun made an appearance. I felt good, even the knees, and wanted to go faster but that wasn’t really the nature of this ride.

We finished the ride back at the Lucky Lab with a steamy bowl of veggie chili and a big old beer to wash it down. It was a fun event, my first event of the year, and I’ll definitely do this one again. Maybe next year we will step up and ride the 40-mile challenge route, maybe. All told, it was a good day, a good event, and a good ride. The Worst Day of the Year Ride wasn’t the worst at all.

CJ

At Altitude in Denver

2010-02-07T19:02:00.000-08:00

I spent most of this past week in Denver for work. It has been a while since I have traveled for business and I’d never been to Denver. I was excited to go and I must say that I’ve been good about traveling with my workout gear and shoes. The unfortunate thing was that other then the airport, my hotel, and a conference room or two, I didn’t have the time or energy to get out and see any of the city. I did, however, squeeze in a couple of workouts at the hotel’s fitness center.

I’ve followed the advice of my physical therapist (yes I’m still seeing one for the knees,) and haven’t done any running outside of his watchful eye, but I am close to either getting his blessing or going out on my own anyway. The first workout I rode the exercise bike for 30 minutes covering 7.8 miles. It was a good workout for me, but when I tried to do it again the next day I was feeling a little sore. I decided to hit the treadmill instead and with his voice in the back of my mind, opted to walk for 40 minutes and 2.7 miles instead of running. Throw in a bunch of stretching and I felt pretty good about what I had done.

I was curious about how my body would react to working out at the higher altitude of Denver. I can’t say that I noticed any difference but I think that had more to do with my current lack of aerobic fitness than anything else. Maybe if I were in better shape, running, or working out harder I could have noticed a difference but oh well.

The other issue I have when I travel is my diet. They have made a point of feeding us well during this project. Not super healthy, but lots of food. I was careful about what I ate and even came home a pound or two lighter, which felt good. The eating on the road seems to get away from me very quickly and I know that it is something I have to be careful about.

I hope to get back to Denver soon so I can at least explore the city and what it has to offer. And maybe the next time I’ll be in a better position to really see what it’s like training at altitude.

CJ

A Morning Ride

2010-01-25T22:41:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of a break in the rain this weekend and went for quite the bike ride. I felt like I needed to do something to get my workouts going as my knees have been feeling a bit better and I need to get the lungs back into shape. I wasn’t trying to push too hard but I did want to put some time and miles on the bike, managing just over 15.5 miles in about 1:24.

I ended up riding down through Tualatin and around some of the more industrial areas where traffic was light. It was a great morning and the ride was fairly uneventful, at least until I was chased by a couple of large dogs in the park. I had stopped to do a little stretching and just as I was heading out was when they came barking. I was startled but luckily, their owner wasn’t too far away and called them back.

The rest of the ride was great, but now, the more I think about those dogs, the more frustrated I get. As a dog owner myself, I just don’t understand why someone would let dogs that chase cyclists off their leash in a park like that. Sure, the dogs might not have done anything, but if I had been with my kids, it would have scared them to death. It’s just irresponsible!

Despite all that, it was a great morning and I’m looking forward to many more of those long rides. Speaking of which, I signed up for Portland’s Worst Day of the Year Ride. It should be a lot of fun.

Cheers,
CJ

Running on the Moon

2010-01-24T08:32:00.000-08:00

It seems like I’ve been in PT forever. Week after week I’ve been going, stretching, exercising, getting treatment, and getting in just a little running. It is helping, I can’t deny that, but it seems like this process is so slow. Yes my knees feel better, I’m more flexible then I’ve ever been in my life, I can tell my legs are getting stronger, my balance is improving, etc. I’ve even been pretty good about getting all of my “homework” in. I guess I’d just like to see a little more progress out on the road.

In my last post, I had mentioned the less then body weight treadmill that I’ve been using. This thing is a little odd but also pretty cool. It’s called an Alter-G and evidently it was designed by NASA or something. The only running I’ve been doing has been on this thing and I’m getting much more comfortable using it. Being locked into it forces me to concentrate on my form, my stride, extending my legs, pulling them back, lifting them up, using my core, glutes, hamstrings, keeping the upper body relaxed, and all the little things that are going to make me a better runner.

This past week I had to talk my DPT into letting me run despite being a little sore and fatigued. The good news from that was that he was very pleased with my form. He said I wasn’t as tight as usual, the legs looked free and easy. The bad news was that I had no lungs and 2 miles was a struggle. I guess it’s time to ramp up the aerobic activity.

He’s already given me the green light to bike and walk on my own, wanting me to save the running for the Alter-G. I can stop by the clinic to use it anytime it’s available but that pesky job kind of gets in the way during the week. If I can’t make it into the clinic between appointments I might just have to run on my own. But hey, runners are supposed to be a little stubborn, right?

Cheers,
CJ

Physical Therapy

2009-12-22T19:16:00.000-08:00

For the most part, attending my first PT session last week went about as I had thought it would. After the obligatory get to know you and your history part, I was twisted, pulled, stretched, and tested. I had to give in to the process though when the DPT told me that my knee problems most likely stemmed from my tight hamstrings and weak hips. No kidding! I could have told him that. But I realize that this process has to play out and he won’t be able to help me unless he truly understands what I’m dealing with.

I have to say, the one thing that I was very worried about was how well I’d be able to run. I hadn’t run in the last month or two and I was afraid I’d lost all of the fitness I’d built up this past year. Also, my running had never been evaluated before so I felt the anxiety of being judged. I feel as if I’m starting over with my running but that will be good in the fact that I can build up better and faster. Now I have the opportunity to do it and to avoid getting hurt. Regardless, I was nervous going in.

He had me run on the treadmill while he videoed and it was quite an eye opener when he showed me, on the clinic big screen no less, my running form. He pointed out all of the deficiencies and weaknesses that I had as well as a couple of bad habits. As my body overcompensates for the bad form, my knees end up taking the brunt of the force and it was only a matter of time before they revolted. The encouraging thing is that he believes that everything is correctable and that as I become a better runner the pain should be eliminated.

After running, we went over foam rolling. Lucky for me I have some experience with this and we went over both what I have been doing and what I should focus on. He gave me a few pointers but was generally happy with my technique, I just need more of a routine.

I walked out of the appointment feeling much better about myself. I know that I’m not starting completely over, and that this little setback will help me become a much better runner.

PT – Appt. 2

The second session started with 5 minutes on the bike, then some dynamic stretches. After that, he introduced me to ASTYM therapy, which hurt like a mother, but I did notice a difference in how loose I felt afterward. The only description I can think of for ASTYM therapy is like having an ice scraper taken to your legs.

I then ran 1.5 miles on a less then body weight treadmill. Wearing some funny looking shorts that zipped into this bubble over a treadmill, I was able to control how much of my body weight was offset by air pressure. It was an odd sensation but I was able to run, concentrating on better form while reducing the stress on my legs. At 75% bodyweight it was an easy run at a 10 minute pace, pain free no less. After the short run, I did some more dynamic stretching and that was the end of the session. Today I am a little sore in my hips and my hamstrings but otherwise feel good and am excited. I’m starting to feel like I’m getting back into the swing of things.

I’m determined to use this time, not just to heal but also to learn to be a better, stronger, faster runner. I’m going to use this opportunity to listen to any coaching I can get. After all running shouldn’t be painful and not running just isn’t an option.

I’ll let you know how it goes.
CJ

My Visit With the Doc

2009-12-01T22:23:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting, if ultimately uneventful, meeting with the orthopedic surgeon today. They took x-rays of both knees then put me through an exam that consisted of pulling, poking, squeezing, and twisting my legs like pretzels. As the doc put it, he tries to discern between component problems and system problems, with surgery being a fix for component problems. The good news was that I didn’t have anything structurally wrong with my knees and I didn’t present symptoms that would have indicated tearing.

From my story and from what he was seeing, he didn’t think that I was suffering from a component problem but in fact a system problem. He said that I have bursitis in both knees brought on by my tight hamstrings and very weak hip flexors. When the PA was checking my hamstring flexibility he told me that while tight hamstrings are common in runners, mine were some of the tightest he had ever seen.

The doc explained that while what I have could be considered an overuse injury, that wasn’t a very good description of what was going on. Our knees are built to be used and can withstand a lot more then what I’ve been putting them through. What I am dealing with is a combination of tightness and weaknesses that are causing an imbalance in my legs. My body tries to compensate for those weaknesses by altering my gait. Over time these compensations have caused irritation leading to inflammation and pain.

He prescribed physical therapy and suggested that I even look into working with a physical trainer to develop a long term program specific to my body’s needs. He stressed the importance of cross-training, working at improving my running through avenues outside of running. It reminded me how it’s all connected.

Overall, I’m not quite sure about what to think about today’s appointment. I didn’t really hear anything that I didn’t already know, but I was able to get some reassurance that there was nothing seriously wrong. I don’t have a plan beyond starting physical therapy and that makes me a little uncomfortable. I’m also confused as to why this has happened now rather then earlier in the year when my mileage was a lot higher. I guess I have to just take this one step at a time.

CJ

Feeling a Little Better

2009-11-28T07:26:00.000-08:00

My knees seem to be getting better and I have had some validation on what I believe to be wrong with them. Since my last post I’ve yet to run or ride giving my legs more time to recuperate. I’ve received 2 acupuncture treatments that have helped with the pain and inflammation. Also, I was checked out by a family member that is a certified athletic trainer. He deals with these types of issues in his athletes all the time and he did not think that I was exhibiting any symptoms that would indicate structural damage, just some tendinitis or bursitis. He set me up for an appointment with an orthopod that they use just to get checked out and I’ll be going this next week.

A lot of the “experts” out there disagree with or recommend against what I did this past year, going from a non-runner to running a marathon in 10 short months. In a way they might be right in that I was asking for trouble. I’ve seen some recommendations to build up a running base for 2 years before attempting a marathon. Am I shocked that my knees hurt? No, not in the least. The odds were stacked against me. Is this little setback going to make me a smarter runner? You betcha! While I had thought that I’d learned the lesson of cross-training, I’m now learning that I have to focus on that even more. I hadn’t realized just how tight my hips are, how I need to improve my flexibility, and how I need to increase my strength to support the running. Not to mention that I’m still carrying a few more pounds then I’d like to.

To be honest, despite the frustration of dealing with hurt knees keeping me from running, I feel lucky that I’m going through this now. If this had happened a few months ago, would I have been able to run the marathon? Would I have had as much determination to bounce back as I do now? It’s hard to say but now I have the time to plan my next steps, to change my program, to establish new goals and to come up with a plan to reach those goals. I’m encouraged and excited. After all, it was not too long ago that I felt as though I didn’t have the options that I have now, that my health was a liability rather than an asset, and that I lacked the confidence in myself to be able to accomplish the things that I have now set out to do.

Cheers,
CJ

One Up, One Down, and One Sideways

2009-11-18T21:08:00.000-08:00

Progress is difficult! And lately I’ve been having some mixed results. Since it’s been a while, here is what has been going on with me lately.

Frustration

My frustration level has been growing. Over the last several weeks I’ve been feeling rejuvenated and excited to get back to running. I started out with a nice 6 mile run but about 4 miles in I felt a sudden sharp pain in my right knee. The pain would subside if I walked and come back if I ran. Since then I have attempted a couple of shorter runs with little to no discomfort but soon I started to hurt at other times and in both knees. The past two weeks have been especially difficult. Both knees have been sore when I wake in the morning, the ache comes and goes throughout the day, and by the evening my knees are swollen and painful.

Needless to say, I haven’t run, walked, or biked these last couple weeks. Instead I’ve rested and iced which has helped a little. I’m no expert but I’m guessing that I have some tendinitis, bursitis, or something similar as this new episode of knee trouble has been very different from what I believe to have been IT band trouble earlier in the summer.

I’m going to continue trying to take care of the issue at home and will try acupuncture. If the knees don’t respond soon I’m afraid it will be time for a doctor’s visit. In the meantime I’m antsy to get back out there and have been frustrated because my body isn’t cooperating.

Stalled but Improving

Eat less, move more. I know that, but it doesn’t make weight loss any easier. The good news is that even though I haven’t lost much weight lately, I do feel like I’m gaining some traction. I have a plan, I have support, now I just need to execute. It’s a slow process and I feel good about where I’m headed, I just have to remember that and keep plugging along. The scale is finally starting to move in the right direction so I feel hopeful. Now if I could just run more for exercise…

The Good News

Something I’m really excited about is that I have now been off my blood pressure medication for a month. It seems to be going ok and my BP has consistently measured as normal to borderline high. I’m hoping that if I can lose a few more pounds and watch my sodium intake better, along with the exercise of course, I should get it right where I want it. Even with it slightly elevated though, it is nothing like what it used to be back when I started taking the medication.

I do have a family history of high blood pressure so I understand that no matter what I do, I may have to go back on the medication but I fully believe that between my physical conditioning, lifestyle choices, and stress level I can better my chances. I think that my stress level will always be an issue and put me at risk, but the running has been a fantastic outlet for de-stressing. I just wish my knees would cooperate and let me run now!

Well, that’s about all I have but I’m hoping to get these up a little more often. Till then, I’ll be icing my knees.

Cheers,
CJ

So Quickly Fades the Marathon Afterglow

2009-10-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last post, longer than I had intended. I won’t bother with the excuses because they are as worthless as my lack of posting. I will, however, touch on what has been going on over the last couple of weeks, some final thoughts on my marathon recovery process, and what I’m looking for next.

Recovery

No one told me that the marathon would be easy, and I didn’t expect it to be, but what I didn’t realize was just how sore I would be afterward. When I awoke that next day it hurt to even roll over. My hips, back, shoulders, calves, knees, arms, neck, quads, hamstrings, and even my Achilles hurt. The good news is that I had planned on being sore and had taken the entire week off work. Hey, I had a ton of vacation time and if I wasn’t going to go anywhere I figured that I might as well use it to camp out on the couch and rest. The bad news is that my daughter had picked this time to come down with a nasty little virus that kept her home from school for most of the week. She had even been too sick to come out and see her old man (and her momma) at the race. That was too bad, but my son made it out with Grandma, and he looked so excited when I went by that it was great motivation for me keep going.

My week of rest was fairly uneventful and unless you count napping and movie watching, I didn’t get much done - which was the point. Several people joked with me that the second day was always the worst for being sore and that had me really worried Monday (day 1). Luckily, Monday was my worst day and it faded quickly from there. On Wednesday we went for hour-long massages that were amazing. The masseuse told me that I was her third marathoner client of the day and she was able to work out the last of the soreness in a way that made me think of a sponge being wrung dry.

I’m a big believer in listening to what my body tells me and it was saying that it really only wanted two things, rest and food. I obliged, limiting any semblance of a workout to a bike ride, till my knees reminded me to take it easy. The unfortunate thing is that I think I over indulged in the food department. The week leading up to the marathon, I hadn’t worried about how much I was eating as long as I was eating the right things. After the marathon, I pretty much ate whatever I wanted, and that wasn’t such a good thing.

Back on the Scale

Early in the marathon training my weight wasn’t quite where I wanted it and I had thought that I could continue losing weight as I trained. After all, the running burns a lot of calories. But what I found out was that as my miles increased, being in much of a caloric deficit made my running suffer. I was forced to manage my calories at more of a maintenance level, tailored around my running workouts.

As I said before, a little prior to the race and definitely after the race I let my eating slip, and the pounds crept back up to the point that I now find myself at the highest weight I’ve been in about a year. Part of me hopes that the bounce I’m seeing in my weight has something to do with how my body has reacted to the marathon and if that is the case, then dropping a few pounds should be easy as the shock of the event wears off. Even still, I will have some work to do.

With the completion of my most recent running goal, and because I don’t have any other races currently scheduled, I’ve decided that I’m going to focus on dropping a few pounds. My thinking is that during that time, I can begin planning and learning how to train to accomplish my next goal, whether that is my next marathon, trying my hand at riding a century, a duathlon, a triathlon, or even some other yet to be dreamt craziness.

My focus over the next month or two will be on losing this weight. I wasn’t able to lose any weight training for the marathon, but now I can turn my attention to this new challenge and with the holidays coming up, there doesn’t seem to be any better time than now.

Time to get to work.
CJ

It’s Official I’m a Marathoner!

2009-10-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

I completed my first marathon! And so did my wife!

First thing I want to say is a big THANK YOU! I can not believe the outpouring of support, encouragement, and love we have received during and surrounding this race. Family and friends came to root us on and we have received messages in all forms, phone calls, emails, you name it we have received it. The entire experience has been truly amazing.

I’m not quite done with my thank you’s, but I wanted to mention that while I am proud of my accomplishment I am even more proud of my wife and so grateful that we could do this together. She completed her first marathon as well, coming in under her goal time. Great job Hun! You have inspired me more then you know.

My thank you’s would not be complete without telling you about my dear friend Mollie. Mollie is an experienced runner and one of my biggest fans. I know this because of what she did for me on Sunday. I was cruising along highway 30, right around the 14 mile mark when I heard my name called from a passing car. It was Mollie’s husband and I have to admit I was a little confused because when I turned back to the path in front of me, there she was. This stretch of the route is very spectator prohibitive so I didn’t have a clue what she was doing, but she started running with me and said she’d run as long as I wanted her to.

Mollie and I have run a couple of races together including my first race, a 5k. She helps me, pushes me, distracts me, keeps me focused and moving along. And here she was - my own personal pacer.

As we approached the St. John’s Bridge there were signs stating that pedestrians without bibs wouldn’t be allowed to cross. In true Mollie fashion, she hitchhiked across the bridge and picked me up on the other side. She then proceeded to pace me until the 24 mile mark where she split off so that she could watch me finish. As unexpected as it was, it means so much to me that she helped me like she did. Her encouragement and support mean the world to me.

A little before Mollie split off from me, I did have a little scare. The entire race I had been focusing on my hydration, but might have neglected my nutrition. By this point, I had only had a package of Shot Bloks, a package of GU Chews, and some Liquid Gold and gummy bears from the water stations. I hadn’t eaten either of the PowerBars that I was carrying.

I told Mollie that I wasn’t feeling quite right and needed to walk a bit. She asked what was going on and told me to catch my breath. Suddenly my lips went numb, followed by my hands and then both of my arms. I felt a little dizzy. The only thing I could think of was getting something to eat so she helped me get a PowerBar from my Camelbak. I ate, instantly feeling better, but was only able to get half the bar down. I ran with the other half in my hand until I thought I could eat again, which was just a little later. I now think that little bar is what got me to the finish line. My tank had nearly been empty.

The only other near-mishap came as I entered the finisher’s chute. I had been wondering how emotional I’d be as I finished, but I hadn’t prepared for the emotions of pissed off panic. With mere yards to finish I felt the cramping. First my right calf, then it shot up into my hamstring and around to my quad. Then the other leg went - calf to hamstring to quad. My legs felt like bricks and I nearly fell, but I wasn’t going to stop. I can only imagine the look on my face those last few steps.

After finishing I went straight for the bananas. I began to feel better as I ate and drank and it didn’t take too long for the shaking to stop. I tried to enjoy the moment, taking everything in. It was amazing walking around in that area that was closed for the racers. The emotions I saw, the kindness from the volunteers, the triumph, and the pain. Again, it was truly amazing.

Throughout the day and while I was running, I thought about many things including what I’d write about here; funny moments, the mantras I repeated to myself, the pure grit and determination I witnessed, the jerks I encountered. But as the last couple of recovery days have passed, the little things seem less important to write about. I have learned lessons and I will take those lessons with me, but I think I’ll leave the minutia behind.

I’m currently resting up, healing, as I’m even more sore then I had imagined, but I’m not hurt and for that I’m thankful. I completed this goal and that feels so gratifying. Now I will sit back, enjoy where I’ve come, and work on setting the next goal.

Cheers,
CJ

My Marathon Eve

2009-10-03T06:20:00.000-07:00

Here we are, the day before I run my first marathon. I probably don’t have to explain that I’m experiencing many emotions and am very excited. It has been a long summer of training, with many ups and downs, and I still can’t believe how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned.

I wanted to take a moment and express how thankful I am that I’ve made it this far. I’m also thankful for all of the support and encouragement that I have received over the past few months. It truly is amazing how the slightest word of encouragement can help bring me up, how each tip has made things easier, and how inspiring it is to read and hear the stories of others. Thank you for indulging me as you have.

Tomorrow I will reach one of those “life goals”. A moment that many strive for, which many consider out of reach, and which many surpass. The funny thing is that I am no longer the same person as when I made the goal of completing a marathon. Things have changed, I have changed. Now, no matter how I do tomorrow, I’ve decided that this won’t be my last marathon. I now see myself as a runner and I intend to keep running as long as I can. Tomorrow I will start looking for my next race… well, it will most likely be the next day but you get my point.

Lastly, I wanted to post something here that I put up on the Runners Lounge trying to express what the marathon means to me:

Over the last six months, I have learned a lot about myself as I have trained for my first marathon. I have learned not be afraid of pushing myself beyond my preconceived limits toward my goals. Through the peaks and valleys, joys and struggles, I now understand that I have the power to persevere and to succeed. During this time, my thought process has transformed from wondering if I could finish, to how well I can finish. The marathon is no longer my endpoint, it is a mere step along the way and I can use that step to measure how well I am doing. My confidence has shifted so that I now understand that while it may take a while, I can achieve those goals through my hard work and determination. I no longer have to deal with artificial limitations that I have put upon myself. I now know that I can go anywhere my feet will take me. And that is what the marathon represents for me.

Thanks for following along, and here’s to the next chapter…

Cheers,
CJ

The Taper Week Two

2009-09-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

This last week has been a little hard on me. I had to travel out of town for work, something that I rarely have to do and which usually throws me for quite the loop. This was the third time this year that I’ve travelled for my job and that is about 3 times more than in the last 5 years combined. Not being much of a road warrior, when I’m taken out of my routine it plays havoc with me on a couple of levels. The people who routinely travel for work, kudos to you, I don’t know how you do it and maintain your sanity especially if you’re in training.

Nevertheless, this last trip wasn’t too bad for me. I’m now in the habit of both bringing my running shoes and USING them. My frantic and stressful days were offset by invigorating night-time runs. I tried to watch my diet, staying away from the junk, but still ate too much. I also took it easy when the group decided to spend the evening in the hotel lounge. Why is it that whenever I travel for work, I tend to eat and drink too much? Anyway, I made a point to get to bed at a decent time each night and have quickly readjusted since returning. I’m just glad that I’m no longer in a hotel where the halls smell like cigarettes and scrambled eggs.

Once home this past weekend, I decided that I would get in a good cycling workout. It had been a couple of weeks since I’d ridden and I really wanted to get out there. I might have pushed myself a little too hard though, because Sunday when I was scheduled to run my last long run before the marathon, I was wrecked. I made the call and officially skipped that last long run. Part of me is disappointed, but part of me says it is the right thing to do. I could feel the fatigue throughout my entire body. My muscles were sore and tired and even twitched on occasion. I’m now making every effort to get lots of rest, to fully hydrate, and I even received an acupuncture treatment. With a little extra stretching and foam rolling, I think I’ll be good to go for the race this weekend. Actually, I KNOW I’ll be good to go for the race this weekend. I don’t doubt it at all.

I’ll wind down this last week with some short running, but will take the last couple of days to rest and make sure that I’m ready. The good news is that I don’t feel like climbing the walls during this taper. I’ve got a touch of anxiety, but it is more on the excitement side of things rather than on the nervous side. I guess I just feel ready, lets just hope that my body cooperates.

Cheers,

The Taper Week One

2009-09-22T06:15:00.000-07:00

This past week I started my taper toward the marathon and I have to admit the decrease in mileage has me feeling a little guilty. It tends to bubble up when I look at my weekly miles total which has decreased significantly. Luckily, an old piece of advice comes to mind and helps me see past the guilt, “Trust the program”. I keep telling myself this and it seems to help.

This past week, my weekday workouts were much shorter in length and this past weekend my long run was only 7 miles. I stuck close to home and ran around my own neighborhood, both of which made the time it took to workout considerably shorter. My goal for the 7 miler was to run it faster and stronger, both to show myself that I could do it and because of another piece of advice I read somewhere.

I read that a common mistake that first time marathoners make on their taper is to do too little. The taper is not an excuse to take it easy on the couch. That if we do, our bodies could let down their guard, our immune systems relax, and we could get sick. The way to counter this is to keep the intensity up during the taper but reduce the duration.

All of this makes sense to me, so I’ve made the decision that while I want to continue to push myself, I will do it for the shorter distances prescribed in my training program. Thus the desire to put forth a strong run over the weekend. Plus, 7 miles is well within my comfort zone as “do-able”. However, when I hit the road my body had a slightly different plan for me.

My route was an out-and-back and I wasn’t even to the turnaround when my legs just felt heavy. I mean heavy. There was no way that I could keep up the faster pace. Realizing that I probably wasn’t fully recovered from last week’s 22 miles, I allowed myself to slow down and let my body dictate the pace. It is a fine line between wanting to push myself and pushing too hard and this close to the race I’d rather err on the conservative side.

I made it through the run and even though it felt like it was uphill both ways, I still felt decent about it. I tried to push myself, which didn’t quite work out, but I can recognize that my head is in the right place. I’m feeling good about the upcoming race, feeling good about where my training is, and feeling good about the direction I’m going.

Cheers,

No Lipitor for Me

2009-09-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

I’m a little excited about this so I thought I’d post it up here to share. This past week I had some blood work done and today I saw my doctor to review the results. They did several tests, but when it came to my cholesterol, I was a rock star!

As you can see from the results, the last test I had was a few years and a few pounds ago. Well, my doctor was very impressed with the new results and credited my weight loss and running for the significant improvement, and according to the American Heart Association, it looks like I’m going to live just a little bit longer too. Talk about motivation to keep running…

The only other issue that came up with my doctor was concerning my blood pressure. At 104/72 it was actually low, especially for me. It looks like it’s time to try going off that medication completely. Nevertheless, I think I’ll wait until after the marathon, cause if it ain’t broke, I don’t want to fix it this close to the race.

Here’s to healthier living,
CJ

My Last Big Test

2009-09-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I wanted to write, as this past weekend I ran my last long-long run before the marathon. The truth of the matter is I’m not sure what to write about. You see, this past weekend’s run ended up being 22 miles, it was only suppose to be 21 but a couple of wrong turns quickly turned it into 22. The way I see it, that is a huge milestone for me. My first 20+ miler!

For this post, I’ve been considering giving a play-by-play rundown, maybe discussing the things that went right and wrong, possibly covering how I felt after the run, or even waxing poetic about what the marathon means for me. Each of these ideas poses great opportunity for me to express the range of emotion that I feel, the level of anxiety I have, and the excitement and fun I’ve been having with my running. Most likely this post will be a touch of everything, a little of nothing, as scattered as I feel, and as smooth and as graceful as my slow lumbering pace.

My route covered quite a bit of the marathon route. Starting downtown, I went out highway 30 for the first time which was better than I had imagined it would be. I crossed the St. John’s Bridge and came back along Greeley Ave, finally winding all around downtown. The night before my run I had found out about a 10K race that was along part of the same route and I had to start just a little later to avoid the crowd. That ended up being a non-issue as my late start and slower pace put me through the course well after the race had ended. I did, however, end up right in the middle of 2 other downtown events. I stumbled upon the crowd at the Portland Dragon Boat Race and had to weave through the bicycles of the Tour de Lab. Both of which looked like great events.

I ended up completing the run at an average pace near the 12 minute miles I was aiming for. I was happy with that pace and somewhat surprised because my lungs had felt thick and heavy. The 12 minute pace is what I’m shooting for on race day. I feel that it is attainable and while not very speedy, it is a great place for me to start. Yes I want to go faster, and yes I think I actually can if things go right, but considering that when I first decided to sign up for the marathon I just wanted to finish. Now I’m setting time and pace goals? Come on! Progress. That feels pretty good.

You see, I feel that I’ve come a very long way in my short running life. After losing a bunch of weight I started running. That was 9 months ago. About 6 months ago I began training for the marathon. That’s not very long by any stretch of the imagination, and considering that when I started I couldn’t run 2 minutes continuously, I realize that I’m not going to break any land speed records.

The funny thing is I’ve already started thinking about after the marathon and how I want to start over and begin building myself as a faster runner. I’ve got a couple of other things I want to try as well, but I’ll save those for another time. Point of the matter is that I can’t stop, or more like, I don’t want to stop. I’ve enjoyed running more than I ever imagined that I would. I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why I’ve enjoyed it so much other then I like the way it makes me feel. I feel better physically, I feel better mentally, and I just generally feel better about myself.

I recently came across a Prefontaine quote that kind of sums up how I feel into a nice, neat little package.

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always come back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement ". Steve Prefontaine

Well, that’s about all I have for now. Sorry for rambling on so long. The good news is that now I begin tapering down toward race day.

Cheers,
CJ

Pushing Myself

2009-09-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

I went into this week’s long run wanting to push my pace. I was only scheduled to run 9 miles, prior to a much longer 21 miles next week, and I felt that the shorter distance would allow me to push myself a little. Upon waking this morning, almost 2 hours later then planned, I wondered if I would even be able to do my 9 let alone do them strong. I wasn’t feeling as good as I wanted to. I hadn’t slept very well and was just kind of stiff and sore. I decided to go ahead and give it a try and as it turned out I’m glad I did.

I started even slower than normal, trying to get good and warmed up. I slowly increased my pace and I fell into a very good rhythm. It was one of those rhythms you get lost in. Before I knew it I was already half way done. My legs felt good so I get pushing. The miles seemed to fly by and by the time I had completed my 9 miles I felt so good that I decided to keep going. I ended up going a total of 10 miles and averaged just under 10 minute miles, better then any of my previous runs.

I’m very happy with today’s run. It felt good. I felt good. While I didn’t think it was going to be that great of a day prior to the run, I was able to get going and put in the miles while pushing myself. I can tell that I’m getting stronger and faster and that progress has me getting excited for the upcoming marathon.

Now if I can just stay healthy…

Knock on Wood

I was thinking about my training tonight and I realized how well my knee has been doing lately. I haven’t had any recurrence of the pain that I was having a while back and I can’t even remember the last time I felt the need to ice it after one of my workouts. I mean it hasn’t been an issue at all.

This has to be due to the different strategies I’ve been using to take care of it including the new, proper type of shoes, extra stretching especially for my IT Band, acupuncture treatments, and the cycling as cross training for my quads. I’ve also been taking naproxen each morning and trying to do occasional foam rolling to keep my legs and back loose.

I have to assume that these are all contributing to my knee feeling so much better and I certainly don’t want to change anything up now that I’m less then a month away from my big race. With a little luck and continued effort, I hope to get through this month, getting stronger as I prepare for October 4th.

CJ

Virtual Races

2009-09-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I received a promotional email inviting me to participate in a virtual half marathon. It looked simple enough; sign up for the run, map out the 13.1 mile route online that I wanted to run, run it, and upload my time. It just so happened that the weekend of the race I was already scheduled to run 13 miles so I paid my $40 and went for it.

I haven’t been in a race for a while now, and I wondered if this would help with the old motivation factor, or at least provide a little spark. The great news is that it did help. The fact that I was competing, though somewhat out of the norm, pushed me just enough to set a new personal best. I didn’t feel like my overall effort was as high as the last time I ran the half and I definitely didn’t have that heightened sense of excitement and anxiety that surrounds an event, but I did feel motivated to have a good run.

Looking back, the experience of paying to run a virtual half seems a little silly, it kind of feels like I just paid to train. Granted I should be getting a shirt and I’m still in that stage where I like the shirts but I don’t feel that connection to the event after having gone through it. I don’t know, maybe I’ll feel differently later on, maybe I’ll just chock it up to a learning experience and move on. After all, there are worse ways of spending $40 and 2 ½ hours.

My Running Aftermath

The strangest thing about this week’s long run is how sore I was afterward. I ran on Saturday and on Sunday my quads were so sore that I had a hard time getting up out of my chair all day. I couldn’t figure out why I was so sore. The best explanation I can come up with is that I went for a bike ride on Thursday evening that while not very long, had been hillier than had been expected. I guess this explains it. So I went biking hills on Thursday, rest Friday (not sore), long run on Saturday (not sore), rest on Sunday and legs were very sore. Monday I was still sore so I took another rest day, even getting to bed early and today I’m feeling a lot better, with only a slight soreness.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve felt this sore. I have to think that it is the biking because the running doesn’t hit my quads this hard. The good news is that it’s the good sore and not the injured sore. Plus, it makes me feel like I really did something. Now I just have to remember that I need to let my body recover properly and then get back on the ball.

So have you had any experience with a virtual race? I’d love to hear about it. Do you even think of them as a legitimate race? Or a waste of an entry fee? Let me know.

Camping with the Family

2009-08-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

Upon waking I rolled over and out of my sleeping bag. Without turning on the light, I found the pile of running clothes I had laid out the previous evening and started to put them on while I munched on a Powerbar. It was still dark, pre-dawn, and the entire cabin was quiet and peaceful. Only the dog noticed that I was up, stretching as he got up to come see what I was doing. When he saw me putting on my shoes, he either thought that he could come with me or maybe he just saw it as the perfect time to need to go outside. I grabbed his leash, attached it to his collar, and silently we left the cabin. The air was cool and crisp. I waited for him to do his business while I watched the campground around us begin its morning waking ritual. I couldn’t see any campfires yet, but there were a few early risers milling about their respective campsites. As the dog finished up, I almost felt guilty putting him back in the cabin. There was no way he could come with me, between not being much of a runner and wanting to stop and smell everything along the way, he would have been more trouble than either of us wanted. Luckily, he didn’t resist going back to bed with the rest of the family.

Turning from the cabin, I headed out toward the road. While it would have been nice to run along a path or trail, I knew nothing about where they were, where they went, or for how far, so the road would have to suffice. It would be hard enough to keep from getting lost. I followed the main roads that wound through the state park parallel to the coastline. I wasn’t too sure how close I was to the ocean as the road went through forested hills and marsh land, but at one point I noticed that the temperature had dropped a noticeable amount and I could even see my breath. This lasted a mile or two and I assumed that was when I was closest to the water.

Watching the sun rise through the trees was amazing. Cliché as it is, I felt so alive and being out in the woods reminded me of being a kid, growing up in the country. It was a feeling that I certainly hadn’t enjoyed in a while. Along the roadway I saw 2 does with 3 fawns, with one of the does and a fawn a mere 20 feet off the road. I stopped and stood there watching them watch me until they thought better of it and bounded off. They hopped and ran through the brush with a grace and elegance that I could only dream of having.

Aside from the wildlife, I was completely alone out on that road and it became glaringly obvious why I enjoy running or at least a large part of what I enjoy about it. It is the fact that I could be alone. I could leave everything behind, metaphorically and physically. When I go out, I know that I can be alone with my thoughts, without distractions, without other people pulling me in different directions. It is my time. The fact that I am training for a marathon gives purpose to the long run, removing the idea that I could or should be doing something else. With this source of guilt gone, I can go about my way knowing that I’m not being selfish. My mind clears and the daily stress melts away.

Yes, running for me is a time of self discovery. This time alone helps me to be a better father, better husband, and a better person. It shows me what I can do when I set my mind to it and it becomes a total recharge for me. I wish that I could make those people around me feel this way about themselves, but I know that isn’t my place. I can’t force it. I can merely hope to be an inspiration to some of them, any of them, showing them that they too can do things they never thought they could do.

The run ended up being a pretty good one. I went 10.5 miles in a little over 2 hours, slow but purposely slow. I was trying to take it easy and enjoy the morning, which I did. I was just proud of myself for getting the run in during this weekend trip with my family.

Back at camp, having showered and rejoined the group, I walked over toward one of my cousins. She put her arm around me as I approached and said to me, “Hey, you decided to finally get up. Glad you could join us.” I smiled and replied, “Well actually, I’ve been up for a while. I even went for a run.” “Oh that’s right, I did hear that you were going to do something foolish like that,” she said. I smiled wondering if deep down she really felt that way.

CJ

Urban Exploring

2009-08-19T06:49:00.000-07:00

And the learning process continues. This past week I set another personal distance milestone by going 19.4 miles on my long run. It was long, difficult, and slow. It took nearly 4 hours to complete and while I walked a lot more of it than desired, I am happy to have completed it and can honestly say that I came away with increased confidence, experience, and having learned a new thing or two about my resolve.

The route I took was interesting. While part of it was familiar, part of it was in an area that I knew little about. I had decided that I would take my 10 mile Steel/Sellwood Loop route and add a 9 mile loop going eastward. After consulting the map, I decided that I would first run east, going up Mt. Tabor, over a few blocks then back to the river, followed by the usual bridge loop covering a full 19 miles.

I don’t really consider Mt. Tabor a mountain, it’s more of a big hill, and the elevation gain shown on the map didn’t look very hard. However, going through the neighborhoods heading toward Mt. Tabor, while quite enjoyable, was physically difficult. Despite how easy I thought it was going to be, the uphill portion seemed steeper and longer then I my legs wanted. I guess it wasn’t a good week to throw hill work into my run. At least I dealt with it on the beginning side of my run, rather than the end which would have killed. I finally reached the top, took in a deep breath and proceeded to enjoy the trip back down toward downtown and the river.

As I implied earlier, I’m not that familiar with that area of town. The large, older houses presented me with the opportunity to admire some interesting landscaping and to even come up with a few ideas for my own yard. It always amazes me how creatively inspired I get when pulled into new environments. It was very inspiring actually.

Once I was back at the river, the route and the run went about as predicted, thru downtown, several parks, and then back up the Springwater Trail. It was here that things got very interesting. The first thing that happened was that I stumbled upon the route of a 5K/10K race that was going on. Luckily I was going in the opposite direction of the racers so even though the trail had a lot of traffic that morning, it wasn’t too congested going my way. Plus it was fun watching the racers. I felt like cheering for them, but instead kept my mouth shut and only offered up the best smiles I could muster.

Once I realized that I wouldn’t be seeing any more racers, I glanced over my shoulder, silently wishing them all a fun and speedy race. That is when I saw the next interesting group approaching me from behind. Coming slow but steady was a group of about 20 bicycle riders that were quite the sight. I watched as they rode past me on custom cruisers in every shape and size. The riders were all wearing matching work shirts with a large matching logo on the back. Under most circumstances they might have looked intimidating like some gang, but the fact that they were also wearing bright fuzzy wigs and ringing bicycle bells seemed to soften their otherwise tough image.

By this point I was about 17 miles in and welcoming any distraction from the aches and pains I was beginning to feel in my knees, legs, and hips. While I could feel my body beginning to hurt, I pressed on and by the time I reached the car I was overcome with that feeling of accomplishment that comes when you know that you just pushed yourself into new territory, passing previous limits. My endorphins were flowing.

A couple of days later, and while I am sore from the run, I feel a sense of strength building. I’m beginning to understand why they say that running can be addictive. I’ve felt that runner’s high and despite the soreness I feel today, I want to feel that rush again. I want to keep pushing. I think that this is what I needed, my motivation thru the grind. I know that I can keep building, and that I can get better. And I think that this latest milestone may have been as good (or better) for me mentally as it was for me physically.

Treadmill Update – No Duct Tape Required

My new roller arrived and I promptly went to work on the treadmill. Luckily the instructions that came with it were straightforward and it went in without any hassles. Everything seems to be back in order now and I have fewer excuses to get my training in. I’ve had another discussion with the kids, letting them know that they are not to put anything on, in, or near the treadmill and I’m trying to get in the habit of giving it a quick check before I fire it up. The last thing I want is to break it again and I’m afraid that if I do, it won’t be nearly as easy to fix.

CJ

Treadmill Update

2009-08-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

The bad news is that the treadmill is officially broke! After I felt the belt slipping again I decided to investigate a little further. I took the cover off, exposing the motor, drive belts, pulleys, and some of the electronics. I then began “testing” to determine exactly what was slipping. Even though each “test” made the problem slightly worse, I was able to determine the exact location of the problem. The front roller on my treadmill has a plastic collar that is turned by the drive belt. This collar, or drive pulley as NordicTrack calls it, was stripped from the roller causing the drive belt to turn the collar but not the front roller, thus the slipping.

After doing a little research, and checking NordicTrack’s website, I found that this is a somewhat common problem and that I could order replacement parts. Unfortunately, you can’t order just the plastic collar, you have to order the entire metal roller with the collar already attached. Bummer. Now I’m left waiting for a UPS package and hoping that it won’t be too difficult to install.

I guess these things aren’t meant to have pens jammed into them after all. Go figure.
CJ

Competing Priorities

2009-08-11T23:05:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, when I made the decision to train for and participate in my first marathon, I knew that it would take a great commitment of both time and energy. I was moderately concerned about the physical toll that this journey would take on my body but I was even more concerned about the time commitment and the toll it could take on such things as my family’s summer plans.

I knew that the shorter weekday workouts wouldn’t be a problem; they were actually consistent with what I had already been doing. The longer weekend runs also wouldn’t be too much of a problem early on in the training, but as I realized how long it would take when I was running double digit mileage, then I began to get concerned. Couple that with the fact that my wife was also going to be training to walk the marathon and I knew that we were looking at booking some serious time. With 2 young children at home, our options were to either get a babysitter (not likely that early on the weekends), to bring them with us (not an appealing choice), or for us to stagger our workouts. It quickly turned into her walking on Saturday morning and me running on Sunday morning, which for the most part has worked well.

So here we are, two months before the marathon, our furthest distance to date is 16 miles and a 19 miler is quickly approaching. Training at this point really seems to be a grind. We’ve both dealt with minor injuries and lots of aches and pains. Our weekend training is taking up hours in the morning, and then we are spent for the rest of the day. Throw in the obligatory social activities of seeing friends and family as well as the normal home upkeep and you end up with one very busy family.

So far, we have done a great job at juggling everything. It is a true testament to my wife’s resolve as I just tend to do what she tells me, and as far as I can tell, things are still getting done. Our friends and family haven’t written us off yet. The kids seem to be getting everything they need. And my lawn isn’t too tall.

The thing that worries me is keeping up with our training. As we schedule out our weeks, I’m afraid that the workouts will too easily take a back seat to the fun or work that comes with a busy summer. I worry that our commitment to training will not only be tested, but will fall by the wayside. I guess I try to take a “bend but don’t break” attitude toward getting my runs in. I adjust my weekday, shorter runs to fit whatever I have going on that week, and I have missed a couple of these workouts throughout the summer, but I always make the effort to get in the long weekend runs even when those don’t go well.

I know that I need to consciously re-commit to my marathon goal and the training for it, but it is difficult. I don’t want to sound like I’ve given up the goal, I haven’t in the least, I’m just expressing how I’m dealing with the grind. This has been difficult and isn’t getting easier. Maybe I just need to find more/new motivation. I’ve considered running in a couple of races leading up to the marathon, but I would want them to coincide with my training distances. Maybe I should run with a group. Maybe I could just express myself by writing about it – oh wait…

The truth of the matter is that this is a difficult learning process. I’ve already learned so much during this process, including things about myself, about being healthy, and about my priorities just to name a few examples. I also know that I have a lot yet to learn. These lessons will come at a price, whether it is a physical price, or mental, I need to be up to the task. I need to concentrate and move forward. I need to keep going. It is just difficult.

I’d love to hear from others, who have gone through this before. Let me know what you think. What do you do to stay motivated? How do you deal with the grind?
CJ

One Busy Weekend

2009-08-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been crazy busy. As most summer weekends go for my family, it has been hard balancing everything between doing things with the kids, working around the house, seeing friends and family, and training. Throw in a wedding and a new hobby that includes an event this weekend and things get REALLY hectic. But I made it through it and feel better for it.

ONLY 10 Miles

In order to save time and make sure that I got my weekly long run in, I moved it to Saturday afternoon on the treadmill. I was scheduled to only run 10 miles this weekend as I lead up to a long 19 next week, so the shorter distance made the treadmill running a little more palatable. This also allowed me to pull double duty, being here as the kids napped, the wife ran errands, and I was able to watch the ballgame (even if that didn’t end the way it was suppose to).

Needless to say, the run went well, smooth, with no issues. I felt strong and had some redemption after last week’s miserable run. I even came in with an average pace just over 10 minutes per mile, an incredible pace for me over that distance. Now I look forward to doing that out on the road where there are more variables.

Speaking of working out on the treadmill…

Kids, Don’t Touch the Treadmill!

My kids are under very strict orders to never play on the treadmill and for the most part they stay away. On the rare occasion I’ve caught them standing on it, they have quickly learned that is big a mistake. They don’t necessarily understand that I am strict about this to protect them but hopefully my efforts will in fact keep them safe. Treadmills can be extremely dangerous and safety when young children are involved cannot be over emphasized, but I probably don’t have to explain that.

Despite all of my threats, it appears that a new aspect of “stay off the treadmill” has emerged. I was running the other night, nearing the end of my workout when all of a sudden the belt began to grab on me. It was slight at first, just throwing off my stride, but then it grabbed hard and I nearly fell off the thing. I jumped down, turning it off and started looking for the cause. My wife came running as she had heard the out of the ordinary noise of me jumping off the treadmill. I guess she too has a fear of the dangers of falling off the thing as it is the only time she comes running when she thinks I’m hurt.

A big pit was growing in my stomach as I did not want to deal with this massive machine breaking down. I just hate dealing with that sort of thing and tend to just stay in denial for way too long. Inspecting the belts, I found a broken pen along the track next to the belt. Apparently the kids had put the pen there and then it had gotten caught in the belt and broke. Now shards of the pen were jamming up in the rollers.

I cleaned up the mess as well as I could, but when I tried the treadmill I could tell that it was still catching. Then I got the idea to tilt the treadmill on its side so that the plastic could fall out of the belts. As I pulled the machine over, I heard something rattle free. I set the machine down and found several pieces of the pen on the floor, one piece about a half inch long. I think that I got it all as there weren’t any issues as I ran my 10 miler and I now feel like I’m hyper-sensitive to the belt. I’ll keep my fingers crossed going forward and now I have to talk to the kids about putting things IN the treadmill. Argh!

The New Hobby, or is it Cross-Training?

A couple of weeks ago we bought bicycles for the entire family. The kids and their training wheels, and my wife and I on our hybrids, have been having lots of fun on these. I’ve been using mine for exercise and can really feel it in my quads. I think that it will really help my running, plus it gives us another outlet to be active and healthy and that is always a good thing.

This past week I was talked into riding in the Providence Bridge Pedal here in town and I am glad I did it. It was my first biking event and it allowed us to take a leisurely ride over 6 of the local bridges. Because two of the bridges are actually freeways, this gave us a unique opportunity to see the city by bike, completely different than I’ve been able to do running.

I think that adding a little biking into my training regimen will help me in the long run. I just have to remember to not over do it. And who knows, maybe there is a century ride or a triathlon somewhere down the line? We’ll see.

CJ

A 5 Mile Fail?

2009-08-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

When is 5 miles a fail? When it is suppose to be 13 miles. I have excuses, lots and lots of excuses, but the truth of the matter is that I didn’t have it today. On the one hand I am happy that I got an hour in covering just over 5 miles but I am very disappointed that I didn’t at least get my full mileage in. I realize that I shouldn’t be dwelling on the negative and that there is no REAL excuse for today’s run but maybe, just maybe, if I can discuss the reasons behind today then I can work to overcome them.

1. It is hot. Well not that hot this second but we have been having unusually high temperatures of 105*+ in Portland for the last week or so and when you aren’t use to it really plays a toll. The thermometer at my house said it was already 72* which I realize is nothing but it is usually only 55*-65* when I go out.
2. My diet hasn’t been all that it could be. Too many barbeques maybe?
3. I think I have been fighting a bug. I haven’t been feeling well all week with a sore throat and such.
4. Last night I had a problem sleeping. I went to bed late, and then couldn’t fall asleep. By the time I finally did fall asleep, I was very restless and woke several times during my short 3 hours.
5. My body hurts. I think I have a slight pull in my lower back and it has been stiff. My legs hurt, knees, even my ankles were aching. It also felt like my calves were close to cramping the whole time.
6. Personal choices. With regret, I admit that some of the choices I’ve made this past week have paid a toll on my body. Because of this I feel that I just don’t have my lungs today and I feel that I have been in a constant state of dehydration.

It is apparent that all of these excuses are interrelated and either cause or exacerbate others on the list. But what does all of this mean? It means I haven’t been feeling well, haven’t been taking proper care of myself, and haven’t been doing the things I know I need to do. I need to reevaluate my goals and revisit the things that I want. Get my head straight, and get back to work.

I can allow myself to have one of “those” days, even allow myself to have one of “those” weeks, but unless I snap out of the funk that I feel I’m in, I won’t get to the finish line. Wait finish line was too corny of a metaphor, even for me. What I’m trying to say is that I will use today to learn and grow. After all that is why we train isn’t it? Maybe later I’ll go for a bike ride to make up for it.

Ugh!
CJ

10 Miles with Some Focus

2009-07-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

I’m a little slow getting this update out, please forgive, it won’t happen again (I hope).

This past week’s long run was only 10.74 miles and I took 02:13:37 to do it, not a blistering pace. In fact I figure that I walked about half of it. Coming off last week’s longer run, the longest I’d ever run in fact, this week cycled back to an easier distance and yet I didn’t have high expectations for how it would feel. I still can’t get over the fact that I refer to it as ONLY 10 miles – I must be going crazy.

I took a new route this week. I started up in NW Portland, ran thru the Pearl District, down to Front Ave. and then went north to 61st, at which point I turned around and came back the same way.

Running thru the Pearl District and the first part of the Waterfront was really nice. I even came across a film crew. It looked like they were shooting on 1 corner and I saw the catering truck all set up to serve breakfast a few blocks down. I thought about stopping, but figured I looked too out of place compared to the crew and decided to keep going.

As I got further up Front, the scenery wasn’t quite as nice. It’s an industrial area with all the sights and smells that go along with train yards and oil companies. It was flat with very little traffic early Sunday morning and went well until I got stuck waiting for one of those trains, at least it gave me time and an excuse to stretch mid run.

Renewed Focus

I’ve decided that this coming week I’m really going to focus on a few things. I’m going to try to get more sleep. For some reason, the last few weeks I’ve been stuck at 6 hrs a night. No matter what time I go to bed, I wake up almost exactly 6 hours later and can’t get back to sleep. My body feels like I need more rest, yet I’m having the hardest time getting it. So that will be an area I concentrate on this week.

I’m also going to focus on my diet. I’m watching my calorie intake, with daily and weekly targets, but lately, have not been as compliant as I should be. Just because I’ve been training, does not mean I can eat whatever I want whenever I want. So I am re-committing to my eating plan.

Luckily, something happened this past weekend that should make the diet easier. Have you ever had a food that you loved, but only if it was a particular brand and prepared a certain way? Well, I’ve got one of those foods. It fits in my diet perfectly and I could seriously eat it every day, in fact most days I do (my own little OCD?). Unfortunately, the version I like is only available at 1 chain of grocery store and they haven’t had it for the last several months. It wasn’t discontinued, I checked, it just wasn’t available?!?! Well this past weekend I decided to stop in just to see if they had any, and there it was. I nearly cleaned them out. I loaded up the freezer and hopefully it will last a little while, or the store will be able to get it on a more regular basis.

Sorry if that was something of a rant, I guess it’s the little things that make us happy.

So have a good week.
CJ

My Hydration Solution?

2009-07-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

So, I’m still worried about hydration during my long runs. As I mentioned here, I’ve had issues drinking on my runs. Plus when I’m out training, unless I run past a drinking fountain, I tend to be left without. I know that I can’t carry something in my hand, that just isn’t going to work for me, and I don’t want to stash water bottles along the run route beforehand, so I decided that I would try a hydration belt. After a trip to REI, I had chosen an Amphipod but decided to get my wife’s opinion before buying it. When I brought her back to the store, she said she liked it, but asked what I thought of the Camelbak Flashflo belt. To be honest, I hadn’t even seen it, and she loves her full-sized Camelbak, so, I came home with the Camelbak.

It was a little more expensive, but it holds 45 oz vs. the 20 oz Amphipod, and it would hold more stuff and be easier to get the stuff in and out of. I filled it up when I got home and wore it around the house to get used to it. It seemed ok. Unfortunately, my next scheduled run was last week’s 16 miler so I knew that it would be trial by fire for this thing.

It worked ok, my only complaint being that I had to cinch it up so tight to keep it from bouncing around, but I would expect that from any belt. It did get more comfortable as I drank more. And it was convenient for holding powerbars. Once I was done running, my back was a little tender where it had been sitting, so I’m wondering if there wasn’t some bruising from having it so tight? But there hadn’t been any problems during the run, so we’ll see how it feels going forward.

I think this will work for me as my runs get longer. It will just take some getting used to and that is what the training is for. Right? And I suppose that if I wanted to avoid the whole issue, I could just get fast enough that I wouldn’t have to worry about it…

So, what have you had luck with?
CJ

Meeting Kara Goucher

2009-07-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting a new-found hero of mine, Kara Goucher.

Nike was having a little send off event for its runners heading to the World Championships in Berlin this year and I decided to sneak onto the Nike campus to have a look. Well, I didn’t really sneak onto the campus, I met a Nike employee that I know for lunch and after eating we strolled down to the courtyard for the event.

It was pretty cool. Coach and legendary runner Alberto Salazar introduced Galen Rupp, Amy Begley, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Kara Goucher. After a few minutes of talking about each runner’s accomplishments they said that they would hang out in the courtyard to talk to anyone that wanted to come over. Naturally, I decided that I just had to meet Kara.

We talked to her briefly and I have to say that she was one of the sweetest people you are going to meet. I told her how I had just started running this year, training for the Portland Marathon. She actually congratulated me. I couldn’t believe it. Here I was congratulating her and wishing her luck and she was gracious enough to do the same for me. What an inspiration!

The funny thing was, after I was so star-struck by Kara, I forgot to approach the other runners.

Good Luck Kara, you truly are a Champion!
CJ

Big Big Run Day

2009-07-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

I had my big run for the week Sunday and am happy to report that it was my longest run EVER! 16 miles completed in 3 hrs 6 min. I am very pleased with my time and how I felt during the run. Now, however, I am just a little sore.

I had wanted to run on part of the PDX marathon route, so I did a down and back by starting near the Steel Bridge, going north along the marathon route to just over the St. John ’s Bridge and then, of course, back. It was fun and very scenic, but I tell you what, running past University of Portland was a quick way to feeling old. I saw quite a few runners around there. I assume that they were students as they looked young and were a lot faster than me. I had to keep telling myself that I was most likely running a lot farther than they were. But I digress.

There were a couple of times during the run that I fell into my perfect running tempo. Ok, I’m not sure that’s the right way to describe it, but I was in the groove. I was at the right pace, good energy, it literally felt like I could run forever. And do you know what that made me realize? To trust the program. I’m following a training program that is suppose to have me ready for the marathon. Granted I am not following the program to the letter, I’ve had to make slight changes to it for different reasons, but for the most part I am doing it. Over the last few weeks, I’ve questioned the distances and doubted whether it would get me to the large distances in time. Well, while I still don’t understand why the program is laid out the way it is, it must have something to do with recovering after the distance build ups because now I drop back down in distance for a couple of weeks before I go back up. If anyone can enlighten me here, I’d appreciate it.

With about a half mile left, I did start to get a cramp in one of my calves. It wasn’t a major cramp, just a twinge so I decided to give it a quick stretch and to walk the rest of the way in. By that point I was very happy with my time, even though it probably cost me coming in over 3 hours. Overall, it was a very good run.

Topsy Turvy

On the lighter side, one of the things I do as I run around the city is I count Topsy Turvies. If you’ve seen the commercials on TV, then you might know that they are the biggest thing since the Snuggie. I don’t know why, but I find it funny to see these things hanging around. Ok, actually that is a lie, I know exactly why I find these funny – they are ridiculous and if you have 1 you should be ashamed. Whenever I see these things they give me a chuckle and I think it’s funny to keep track of how many I see on any given route. Oh, the things we do to keep our minds away from the pain.

The record is 6 on my 12 mile run a couple of weeks ago, with 3 at a single house. But it should be noted that I was running thru a retirement community at the time. I’m not saying… I’m just saying.

Today’s run I saw 3 of these abominations. Two of them at a single house.

The Week in Retrospect

This past week I’ve incorporated some extra exercise that I’m calling cross training. I know that I need to bring in other activities in order to improve my performance and to help me reach my goals so I’ve started small by doing body weight workouts that I literally pulled out of a copy of Men’s Health Magazine. I don’t belong to a gym so I can’t really go lift weights and my most recent excuse for this is that I don’t have time to go, but it is ONLY an excuse. Of course I DIDN'T have time to train for a marathon either. Now, I’ve only done these workouts a couple of times this past week, but I feel good for having done them. A little sore too. It’s amazing how good of a workout you can get with such little equipment.

A short while ago, I mentioned some health related news that I had. Well it has to do with my blood pressure. I have been taking an ACE inhibitor to control my blood pressure for 8 or 9 years now, and lately I’ve been working with my doctor to reduce or eliminate my usage of the medication. I was originally taking 30mg of Lisinopril daily and earlier this year, after losing a bunch of weight, my doctor let me try cutting them in half. I kept track of my BP, taking it throughout the day for a few months and as of my most recent appointment, he is letting me try to step my dosage down till I’m off the stuff. I received a new prescription for 10mg which I started last week, and while I’m still collecting data, things are looking good to continue dropping.

Per his instructions, if I’m still having symptoms of low BP and having good readings throughout the day, then I can cut the 10’s in half in a couple of weeks. Try that out for a couple of weeks, and if I’m still good then try it without any meds. He warned me that even though I’m working so hard with the exercise and diet, I still might need the meds, but I’m hopeful.

Needless to say, I’m excited that I’ve been able to reduce my medications through hard work and perseverance and I’m excited to be living a healthier lifestyle. So with that, I’ll wish you a good week of running.

Cheers
CJ

Hydration Hazards

2009-07-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

When I started all of this I never would have dreamt that I needed to practice drinking while working out, I mean come on. Drinking, like in water or Gatorade or something? But come to find out, drinking on the move can be a little harder then you’d think.

I know that I will need to stay hydrated during the marathon and my choices are to either carry a hydration system, i.e. water bottles, belt, or backpack, or to rely on the aid stations along the route. I am hoping that I won’t need to carry my own water, meaning that I’ll be drinking out of lots of cups along the run.

Have you ever tried drinking out of a paper cup while running or walking fast? During the half marathon I nearly choked at 1 aid station. Water went up my nose and everything, at least it wasn’t a sports drink. Needless to say, that tends to throw you off your stride.

So I’ve been practicing drinking from an open mouth container while moving and you know what I’ve found? I end up swallowing a lot of air. A lot. I then spend the next several minutes belching like a drunken frat boy. I can only imagine what it must sound like. The bad part is that if I try to refrain and not belch the air out, I end up with the worst pain in my side. Like someone stabbed me with a knife right under my ribs. So instead, whenever I take a drink, I spend the next couple of minutes flexing my gut, trying to squeeze out any and all air that I can. I guess those late night frat parties around the keg are paying off after all.

CJ

Acupuncture for Runners

2009-07-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

I’ve been using acupuncture for many years to treat a variety of ailments, and today I visited my friends at Groundspring Healing Center for another hour long treatment. I originally began using acupuncture to help a back injury and have recently discovered how much my treatments help me in my training and running recovery. Acupuncture, as I believe it to work, allows my body to heal itself. I’m certainly no expert, and a lot of people can better explain it than I can, but the treatments seem to have helped everything from general soreness and pain, to issues around my back, knees, ankles, and feet.

At each session, I’m asked about my training and any issues, concerns, or problems I’m having. The treatment is then tailored to meet my needs, the needles are inserted, and I’m left to relax. The treatments often end with some quick and light body work including massage and stretching.

The physical aspects aside, acupuncture helps me in other ways as well. Each time I go, the treatment allows me to focus on myself. If just for an hour, it allows me to clear my head, pay attention to my body, relax, and just heal. I mean who doesn’t want that? Yes, at times I have a hard time lying there, worried about other things I should be doing. But then I have to remind myself that this time is important too. The session ends up being as good for me mentally and emotionally as it does physically.

Acupuncture may not be for everyone, even I have an aversion to needles, but it is another tool that I can use in my training, helping me to be a better runner, and to feel better doing it. I suggest you give it a try.

CJ

9 Miles

2009-07-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

I went out on my weekly long run this morning. 9.1 miles in 1 hr 45 min which is a pace of 11:34, I believe.

So I have to admit that I don't understand why my training program is designed the way it is. I went from 12 miles last week to 9 this week and I think I jump up to 15 next week! If I can figure out why this program is designed the way it is then I'll try to let you know, otherwise wish me luck next week.

I have a quick tale of caution from the run this morning. I feel like it was my fault, even if I had the right-of-way, but I was nearly hit by a car. I was running on the left side of a busy road on the sidewalk. As I approached an intersection, a car stopped to turn right onto the road I was running along. The driver was watching left, I was approaching from the right, and just as I went to cross in front of him, he decided he had a large enough gap in the 35 MPH traffic and punched it. I had seen it coming, but tried to cross anyway. Luckily I wasn't hurt but I barely made it around him. The point being, running or driving, pay attention to what you're doing because you never know what the other idiot is going to do.

Today's run felt good, I really noticed it at about mile 7. I even got a craving for a bean salad recipe that I found online here. I use garlic, a can of garbanzo beans, a bag of spinach and about 6 oz of lean chicken. Throw it all into my wok until the chicken is cooked, the beans have a little brown to them and then wilt the spinach. It is pretty yummy if I do say so myself.

Lastly, I'm hoping to have a little news later this week regarding a health issue. I'll get into it more later, but I think it is pretty cool and hopefully you will too.

Have a great week!
CJ

12 Miler

2009-07-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

I had yesterday off, and with a hectic weekend schedule this week, I decided to bump up my run to Friday morning. So, I was up early and went 12.75 miles in 2 hrs 30 min. It felt good. I walked some but ran most of it and the new shoes felt great.

In order to save some time I stayed in the burbs, running a loop right from my house. I use mapmyrun.com to figure out routes. It's a pretty cool site and even though I don't use everything on there, the whole social networking and accountability aspect is available. The thing that it has that I really like is that you can save and share or even search for different routes in your area. Do you have a favorite route you'd like to share? Or, are you looking for a new one?

Today's picture is overlooking the Tualatin River along my run.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the 4th of July!

Cheers,
CJ

Shoe Update

2009-07-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

Went over to the Portland Running Company this evening to have the experts take a look at my gait. The folks over there really know their stuff and were very helpful. As an added bonus, the visit reaffirmed what I had suspected regarding the type of shoe I needed.

After watching me run a little bit, they explained that I was slightly over-pronating and that I could benefit from a shoe with more support. He made a couple of recommendations and had me try them out by running around the parking lot.

I ended up picking the shoe that had the most support out of the group. It was very comfortable, but he warned me that if it was too much support then there was the possibility of me feeling it in my IT Band on the longer runs and then I'd need to switch shoes again.

I ended up with Nike Zoom Nucleus MC+ and I can't wait to get them out on the road tomorrow. If anyone is in need of new running shoes, I think it is a necessity to have their gait analyzed to help them get the right shoe.

CJ

Just a quick update.

2009-07-01T12:44:00.000-07:00

My training program has me doing lighter runs during the week and I generally do them on my treadmill. Most of the time I walk these and my pace ranges from 3.8 – 4.2 MPH. So far, this has been much easier on my knee. I try to run 1 night during the week and then I have the long run on the weekends. I worry that I’m walking too much, but then I have to remind myself that I do plan on walking part of the marathon so as long as I can stretch out my mileage I’m happy.

Last night my foot was killing me. Not the arch, but the outside edge of my right foot. I ended up calling it a night after only 0.8 miles. It felt like I had a rock or something in my shoe and when I took it off I found a dime-sized bruise on the side of my foot where the new shoes were rubbing. I don’t know if this is due to the shoes not being broken in yet, weird stitching inside the shoe, or whatnot, but I decided that the shoes need to go back. I shouldn’t have this much pain.

I did a little reading online just to see what type of shoe I should be in and found some interesting things.

First off the wet test.

Runnersworld.com also has some explanatory articles on supination/pronation.

I also found a shoe finder on nikerunning.com with some tips.

My right foot has a higher arch then my left foot. And after looking at the wear on my old running shoes via the tabletop test, my unprofessional opinion would be that my right foot is more of a neutral pronation and my left foot over pronates. In the past I’ve had to deal with a weak left ankle and the pain in my knee makes me think that I need more of a stability shoe. The new shoes I have are neutral shoes and I think I need more support. I don’t want to over-think all of this, but I also shouldn’t be in any more pain than is necessary…

So the Pegasus are going back. I’ll let you know what I end up with.

Lastly, I wanted to get these 2 pictures up from the 1st time I did the Steel/Sellwood Loop. It was the first time I had ever run 10 miles (it was pre half marathon) and it was an amazing run. The first picture is from the top of the Sellwood Bridge looking toward downtown Portland and the second picture is looking up at the Steel Bridge. It was an awesome run!

Well, so much for this being a QUICK update.

CJ

Today's Run

2009-06-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

10 Miles scheduled today. Started at the Rose Garden, went from the Steel Bridge down the Waterfront to the Sellwood Bridge, crossed over and came back up the Eastbank Esplanade back to the Rose Garden. Great flat loop. Goes through a few different parks, bathrooms and water fountains all along the way – always helpful.

My legs weren’t feeling it today. After the first couple of miles, both my left knee and my right foot started hurting. By about 7.5 miles my knee was aching bad enough that I decided to just walk the rest of the way. It doesn’t really hurt when I walk so I figured that the best thing was to just get the miles in.

My knee. I’ve talked to a couple of people who know about physiology and they all think that it is a runner’s knee type issue. I need to work on my quads and hamstrings, keep them loose and build strength.

My foot. Not sure what is going on here. Couple of weeks ago I was running around and it felt like a slight cramp that I couldn’t get stretched out. It’s the very top of my arch. Maybe I pulled something?!? I’ve been working on keeping it stretched out and loose.

I did realize that I was at over 400 miles logged on my running shoes, both running and walking. Went and got new kicks yesterday so today was the first run on them. Thought that might help with the feet issues. We’ll see. The new shoes are “Nike Pegasus+26”. Same style as I had before. Very comfy. I should have gone and had a gait analysis done, heard what the shoe experts had to say, but I decided to just get what I had before. Maybe I’ll go see them anyway.

Today, after an unplanned little detour, I ended up going 11 miles in 2:16:35 for a pace of 12:23 min/mi. My 1/2 Marathon pace was only 12 min/mi so considering how much I walked today, I must have been running way too fast. I’ll have to work on my pace. Yeah, I’m not fast but at least I get there.

I carry my phone on my runs so sometimes I’ll take pictures along the route. Anything that I think looks interesting. Here's a picture of the South Waterfront from today and later I'll try to post a couple of older pictures from the last time I ran this route.

Now I’m off to do some foam rolling.
Cheers,
CJ

In the Beginning

2009-06-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

So, this morning during my workout I decided to start this blog. I wanted a place to share what I'm doing, talk about my journey, post pictures, and share just about anything I can think of. I'm guaranteeing nothing, I just want to see where this goes.

A little background:
Over the last year I've lost a fair amount of weight - I had a lot to lose, and would like to lose a little more. I was walking for exercise and decided to try running about 6 months ago. I normally set goals at the beginning of the year and this year's goals included running a 5K and walking the marathon. So in January I started a Couch to 5K training program and literally began by running 2 minutes at a time. I've been steadily building and am happy to report that as of the end of June, I have run in 2 5K races and a 1/2 Marathon. I'll put up a post later with those results.

I continue to train, getting ready for the Portland Marathon on Oct 4th. I plan on walking/running it so my training won't be exclusively running. I'll be posting about my workouts, issues, and hopefully, triumphs here. Pounding out those miles really lets you think, so who knows what will go up here. I hope you enjoy following along.

Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments.

CJ