Big Cottonwood Marathon and Qualifying for Boston

I visited Salt Lake City in August, 2013. While there, I did an Internet search for some local hikes to take my family, many of which began in Big Cottonwood Canyon, which led me to Google "Big Cottonwood Canyon." Not only did I learn of several awesome hikes, I learned of a marathon that starts at Brighton Ski Resort up Big Cottonwood Canyon taking place in September.

It was at that moment I formulated a plan to qualify for the Boston Marathon. It involved running the 2014 Big Cottonwood Marathon.

So what made me think that a 4:00:55 marathoner, who missed qualifying by over 45 minutes think he could qualify for Boston? (1) I turned 45 this July, making my time 3:25 instead of 3:15; (2) Check out the course profile!

But isn't that cheating?

No. If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me.

But isn't that kind of taking the coward's way out?

No. If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me.

But doesn't it seem unfair?

No. If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me.

Since we're on the subject of fairness, let's talk about genetics. Is it fair that the ideal runner's body, according to author of Racing Weight, Matt Fitzgerald, is the exact opposite of my body type? Yes, apparently, because the God deemed it so.

If God says it's fair that I got the genetics of an out-of-shape shot-putter then that's good enough for me. In order to level the playing field, for us squatty-type runners, he made mountains and canyons we could run down.

Here's a family picture from 2005. We're not exactly a genetically thin family.

I'm the one holding my daughter. My father and two brothers are next to me.

But, come on, it's not a real marathon. You could roll down that thing.

If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me. Besides, have you ever run 15 miles down a steep canyon? I have. It's not as easy as it looks.

So you're seriously gonna count that as your BQ if you somehow finish in under 3:25?

Look, I have five kids. FIVE!!!!! Cut me some slack. And besides, If the Boston Athletic Association says it's a qualifying marathon then that's good enough for me.

The good and the bad from UVM #2 with tips and advice from a marathon novice

As I was struggling to finish my first marathon without collapsing or soiling myself, I was taken aback by a tall fellow just running along with a happy, goofy grin on his face. While me and many of my marathoning colleagues wanted to end our life by hopping in front of a bus, this guy seemed to be enjoying himself.

I wanted to be that guy.

I was that guy. I'm about to annihilate that runner in the bright green.

The good (during the race)...

Pacing. The most crucial part of my race plan involved the first seven miles, the fastest part of the course. I vowed, however, not to start out fast like most runners do on this course. If I was going to error, it was going to be erring on the side of caution.  I stole the first seven miles. I knew that many of the people passing me on this stretch would be wishing they were me in the second half.

Negative splitting. I didn't necessarily plan on negative splitting, especially with the first half having more of an elevation drop, but I did. I ran the first half in 2:00:55 and the second half in 2:00:00.

Still felt good at the end

Passing people. I passed over 250 people the second half of the race. It was freaking awesome. From mile 13-24, I was thoroughly enjoying myself. I felt strong. Last year I felt exactly like all those people I passed. I couldn't believe how many people were walking. I was 862 at the halfway point. I was 419 the second half and 605 overall. In short, I was that guy.

The good (training)...

Miles. I ran considerably more miles in preparing for my second marathon. I set monthly distance records three times.

Slow miles. The first time around, I did every training run as fast as I could. That was stupid. This made recovery difficult.

Base building. I used a heart rate monitor and applied the teachings of Phil Maffetone to build a strong aerobic base. That allowed me to set multiple prs over the last nine months.

Consistent schedule. I had a basic schedule. Run on Monday, semi-long. Run on Wednesday, tempo or mile repeats. Run on Thursday, recovery (In the building phase I would do 6-8 mile slow runs on both Wednesdays and Thursdays). Saturday, long run. Although I had to alter the schedule because of life, I knew when the week started that I was going to run four times, one would be long and one would be fast.

Long run difficulty. I knew the course had a tough hill at mile 7 and mile 16. I tried to put a hill at mile 7 of medium runs in training and, more importantly, I put a long hill (about 5 miles) at around mile 15 of my long runs. I was also lucky enough to get strong headwinds at the end of those runs too, just in case (there was no actual head wind at the marathon). The uphill segments during the race had little effect on me.

The bad (the race)...

Piss problems. I drank way too much the night before and the morning of the marathon. I stopped five times to pee in the first ten miles and used the port-a-potty at mile 13. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why I barely missed that 4:00 marathon time.

Too conservative. I may have run the first half too conservatively. Oh well.

Tangents. Running to the side of the road to pee five times makes it difficult to run the tangents. I ran over .25 miles too far.

The bad (training)...

Hip. I got injured in the middle of February. Since I'd never injured my hip before, I had no idea that that hip flexor soreness would cost me six weeks of good training. I was really in a groove up to that point.

Fat. I'm too fat. I weighed about 186 for this marathon.

Running from Mediocrity

I finished 605/1471 overall; 402/823 for men; 62/128 for my age group. That's the top half in all three, but still dangerously close to mediocrity. But at least I'm running from mediocrity and not running to it like I had been.

What about Boston?

Well, the ultimate goal is to qualify for Boston. I'm not even close. Will it happen? Probably not. But I'll keep trying.

What next?

 

Thinking about Running from an Angel Marathon in January or Boulder City Marathon in December. I will not sign up, however, until my weight is 175 or below. My only hope for getting better is to stop eating so stupid.

That's one fat marathoner (with good chi-running form)

Random Thoughts about Running 20 Miles

In honor of my first ever 20-miler, I find it necessary to create a blog post.  I hope reading this post is less taxing than the 20-mile run.

The overall experience was good.  In fact, I only kind of wanted to get run over by a car at mile 18.  Usually by mile 14 I’m seeking out city buses to jump in front of or to get in.  The long run also gave me some ideas on how to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  They include:

• Run the last 10 kilometers in under 12 minutes.
• Ride the last 10 kilometers on a motorcycle.
• Ride the entire 26.2 miles on a bicycle.

I’d like to pass along some suggestions for others attempting to run 20 miles.  I’ve done it once, so that makes me an expert.

• Don’t be a time hero.  During the previous week-and-a-half, I’d run 11 miles at an 8:15 pace and felt good about my ability to traverse semi-long distances at a pace that would give me a sub 3:40 marathon.  There’s a big difference between 20 and 11 (9 for those not good at math) and I decided to run at a relaxed pace.  You’ll never guess what happened.  I actually enjoyed myself and was able to run the last couple miles at a much faster pace than anticipated.
• Don’t be a slug either.  I had no time goals other than not to run a single mile in over 9:45, with the exception of refueling miles for which I allowed myself an additional 14 seconds. I succeeded, running a 9:47 and a 9:49 on refueling miles and only exceeding 9:30 a couple times on the rest.  Most were under 9 minutes.
• Consume liquids and liquidy solids.  The high temperature for the day was 98 so I headed out before it got too warm.  I also heard that dehydration was bad so I hid water in strategic locations along the way and put three packets of that gooey gel stuff, which, by the way, is intolerable if you have no water to drink afterwards.

Part of my route took place on a mile-and-a-half loop at Sunset Park where a race was taking place.  I was running in the opposite direction of the racers, which I’m sure proved irritating to many but fun for me.  If you’ve never experienced a race in this manner I highly recommend it.  It allowed me to shout words of encouragement and jokes at the participants, who despite my fun banter still looked irritated.  

I ran the last quarter-mile on the loop in the same direction as the racers but ran around the finishing gate for fear race directors would handcuff me and drag me off to jail.  Nobody seemed to care that I had already run 16 miles but were overjoyed when anyone finished their little 3.1-mile trot and were irritated by my mere presence even though I’d arrived much earlier than they.

Other random thoughts:

• The only thing better than finding a five-dollar bill in your running shorts is looking at your Garmin and realizing you’ve gone seven miles and not six.
• I was happy to see my wife and four of my kids (Trenton slept in) at mile 11 to cheer me on.
• My three pair of running shows cost me approximately $235.  Of course, I wore the ones that cost $15.  They're the best shoes I've ever had.  Too bad they're discontinued.
• There’s nothing like the post long run buzz the next day.  I was a little tired, a little stiff, a little sore, and a little buzzed with confidence and accomplishment.
• My current strategy for the actual marathon is to run the first 20 in about 2:50 and hold on for dear life in hopes of breaking 3:45.  The course is downhill most of the way.
• I have at least one more 20-plus miler planned.  I’m looking to go 23, 3-4 weeks before the event and then taper with maybe a 15-miler 2-and-a-half weeks out.  I may rethink my time goal.
• As I said, the marathon course is primarily downhill and I’ve been working on my downhill form.  I’ve become quite efficient by shortening my stride, lifting my heels, and letting gravity do the work without having to brake with my quads.  It’s led to a substantial reduction in pace without causing damage to my legs or making me winded. I’m rattling off 7:00 to 7:30 miles on slight downhills without an appreciable increase in effort which makes me think I can nudge my marathon time under 3:40.   Obviously I wouldn’t be tearing down hills at a 7:00-pace but I don’t think running some at 7:45-8:00 minute pace is out of the question, even on a long, long run.  On the other hand, I just might be conservative and go for something under four hours.

I’m open to suggestions.

I Am the Fastest Man Alive and a Big Fan of Hyperbole!

There's no magic bullet for running faster.  It doesn't happen overnight.  It does happen, but it takes work.  It's the results of an accumulation of doing the little things daily.

+++++

10 kilometers, 6.2 miles, the perfect race distance.  It's long enough to make you work.  It's short enough that there's no risk of bowel-movement-while-running syndrome.  I'm not much of a racer.  The last 5 races I have entered, not including Ragnar, have been between 6 and 6.2 miles.  I finished near the end of most of them.

Up until last summer, the best time I'd raced at the magic distance was around 55 minutes.  Last summer, I raced it in just over 53 minutes.  I then lowered it by a minute-plus, 52:19 at the beginning of the year, over five minutes less than the year before.

++++++

I have a magic mile pace as well.  It's eight minutes/mile.  I'd never actually run that pace for more than a 5-k.  That did not, however, stop me from calculating all my race/fast run goals for that pace for the last 10 years.

This is what makes the Qualify for Boston Goal so ridiculous.  It's four times longer than my favorite distance at 45 seconds/mile faster than my magic-mile pace that I've never achieved...until now.

+++++

I headed for the park after work on Friday and rattled off a 48:02 10-k.  That's a 7:45/mile pace.  I ran on a 1.5-mile track at the Sunset Regional Park in Henderson/Las Vegas.  As I finished the first lap, I peaked at my Garmin.  It read 11:38.  I nearly soiled myself in surprise, which would have negated my previous theory on running 10-ks.  I was under 23:00 after the second lap. The first 5-k was run in 23:38, the fastest 5-k I've ever run by nearly a minute.

At this point, I had a pretty good notion it was going to be a good, fast (in relative terms) run.  I slowed a little, running the second half in 24:24, the second fastest 5-k I've ever run.

I AM THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE!

So the question is, how can someone take nearly six minutes off a 10-k time in a little over six months?

Here's what I did:

1. Improved conditioning.  I did this through cross-training.  I began with P90X.  I then went with Insanity.  I ran five times between July and December.  The fifth time led to a strained soleus.  There was a little Plantar Fasciitis mixed in.  I love cortisone.  I didn't really start running as a primary exercise until January 2.  Happy New Year!
2. Lost weight.  It helps not lugging around an extra 20 pounds.
3. Ran hills.  I really have no choice.  If I'm going to run near my house or near my work, there will be hills.
4. Ran fast.  I've only actually done three speed workouts, mostly mile repeats.  I hate them.
5. Did double workouts.  Getting up at 5:00 a.m. kind of sucks.  Working out again at 2:30 in the afternoon kind of sucks.  Setting a PR doesn't suck.

Going Forward

I enjoyed my accomplishment for a day or two, just like I enjoyed the half-marathon I ran under 1:50 last week, but as I said then, There's work to do.  Running a 10-k at 7:45/mile is no where close to running a marathon at a 7:15/mile pace.

• Speed work.  This is where the money is.  In addition to doing mile repeats, I'm going to add some 800 and 400 intervals.  I need to get more serious about these workouts if I'm going to get faster.
• Long runs early.  Technically my marathon training doesn't begin until the end of February. I've already run 13.1.  I plan on going 16-18 by the end of this month, slow.  I want to get the distance up and maintain it, so I can concentrate on speed.
• Double workouts.  Running at 5:00 A.M. twice per week followed by Insanity workouts in the afternoon have paid dividends.
• Rest on Sundays.  As always, give the Lord His due and He'll give you all the strength you need.

For the first time, I believe I have an unrealistic chance at this (unrealistic is a step up from impossible).

The Ingredients for Runner's High

It had been a while since I'd had a really strong run.  Last Thursday I was finally feeling healthy and decided to head outdoors for a 10-mile jaunt.  The first 3.5 miles were uphill.  It didn't matter.  I was still enjoying myself.

Then I got to turn around.

For the first 3.5 miles, I had hills for lunch.  Going down them was dessert.  I reached a point about four miles in where I was enjoying myself--perhaps 'enjoying' isn't the right word--and could only smile.  The only time I'd ever smiled uncontrollably while running was the time a sixty-year-old passed me and immediately tripped with a little help from my left foot.  I'm just kidding (it was my right foot).  Anyhow, smiling uncontrollably and running ten miles aren't usually synonymous.  But they were.  This state of bliss lasted for about 2.5 miles when I made the mistake of looking at my watch and realized I still had four miles to go.

Those four miles happened to be the fastest four miles of my life.  Go figure.

Recipe for Runner's High (I'm not an expert by the way)

• Don't get run over by a car.
• Run downhill.
• Wear underwear to prevent chafing.

Putting things in perspective

• I ran 10 miles in 83:24, an 8:22 pace.
• That's a faster pace than I was running 5-ks a year ago.
• I ran the last mile in 7:45 on a flat surface, the fastest of the 10 miles, which tells me there was plenty left in the tank.
• The slowest mile was 9:20 going uphill, which tells me I'm slower going uphill than downhill.  Who would have guessed?
• I'm still more than a minute/mile slower than my Boston qualifying pace.
• I've made a lot of progress but there's a lot more work to do.

Go me!

*****

Other notes: I'm getting faster.  I ran five miles this morning faster than I'd ever run five miles.  My mind needs to accept that I can run even faster before it happens.  I'm excited for the marathon and excited about my training.  I'm excited my wife is hot.