by ·Comments Off on Road to Chicago Marathon: 19 miles, longest run yet

Today’s temperature (lows in the mid 60s, highs in mid 90s) wasn’t ideal for a long run, but I had to make do. I know I can no longer deal with running later in the day when the temperature gets too high. So I woke up early, real early–about 4:30 am! By around 5am I was loosening up.

Based on my own estimate, I figured today’s run was going to take me around 3 hours. I took it easy, with the goal of basically just  finishing this long run.

At the onset, my legs felt somewhat heavy. By mile 10 they were getting sore; and by mile 15 they were hurting, and the hot weather didn’t help either.

I finished the run in 2 hours and 56 minutes. This put me at an average pace of around 9 minutes 20 seconds per mile. Not too bad.

Overall, I’m glad I was able to run today.

 Next weeks run is going to be even tougher–20 miles!

Right now as I type this, I am reminded of this morning’s run as my legs are still sore.  I might just take 2 days to recover; I’ll know by tomorrow.

by ·Comments Off on Half-marathon: Avenue of the Vines
Avenue of the Vines

Avenue of the Vines

Last Sunday, 16 May 2010, I completed my first run that has the word “marathon” on it.  It was the Kaiser Permanente 2010 Avenue of the Vines 1/2 marathon run.

I have run many races before, but nothing like this one.  Most races I’ve run (5Ks, 10Ks, and 12Ks) would involve tens of thousands of people (like the San Francisco Bridge-to-Bridge or the Bay to Breakers).  The Avenue of the Vines run only had around 650 runners!  Probably because it was held on the same day as the 99th Bay to Breakers run.

Anyway, in the large races I’ve attended, there is a spectrum of runners from the very beginner to the elite.  So, when I find myself close to the finish line, I always was able t find a bit more energy to kick harder at the end by picking off people that were running much slower closer to the end.  A lot of runners typically do this to help them kick at the end.

At mile 8 to 10 of the Avenue of the Vines (AotV) I realized that I was running with 600 plus of the most “die-hard” runners of the Central Valley.  Why?  Because in bigger races I’ve been to many people start to drop off late in the run.  Not at AotV!  As a matter of fact, people in front of me were actually picking up speed, and people behind me were starting to pass me–never mind that this is a 13.1-mile run!

My overall experience in this run was pleasant.  I arrived there at around 6:40 am, parking about 3/4 mile away from the starting line.  I used this opportunity to warm up with a short 3/4-mile jog.  Every runner knows that they need to may a quick pit stop minutes before race start.  So as soon as I got to the starting area, I lined up for the rest room.  It took a few minutes of waiting, and was able to relieve myself with about 5 minutes to spare.  I put myself close to the back of the pack.

When the start signal was sounded, people took off in joy!  In the first 3 miles, it was a bit crowded.  By mile six, people were starting to spread out.  At mile 6.5 people were gauging whether they can get a negative split in order to beat the 2hr time.  Note I was running with the goal of beating a 2hr time.  The guy next to me said that we had 4 minutes to spare.  This same guys would soon pass me and disappear in the pack of people ahead of me.  At mile 12, I started to pickup speed and was able to see the finish line banner.  Having already run 12 miles it was kind of tough to maintain a faster pace since I definitely slowed down on the second half of the run, and my legs were tired.  With about 0.2 miles to go, I did my best to sprint to the finish line–making sure to smile with a thumbs up sign at the camera man.  I wanted to make sure the last seconds of my run didn’t reveal the pains I was suffering!  I was able to pass one person at the suggestions of one of the cheering volunteers, but then a guy came sprinting past me seconds before I crossed the finish line.  I’ve never tried so hard to get to the finish line in my life!  I was breathing hard and moving my weary legs as fast as I can.

As soon as I crossed the finish line and heard the beeping sound of the sensors, I stopped my timer and saw that I had beat the 2hr time!  Woohoo!

One thing stood in my mind in this race…

The runners here are “die hard” runners of the Central Valley.  It was an honor to have run which such dedicated bunch.

At the end of the run, we were guided to some water bottles and some recovery drinks.  I picked up my wine glass and went to get my lunch and fruits.

Next to the announcer, there was a van where they posted the run placement.  I found my name at 214th overall place with a time of 1:58:52.3.  For my age group it showed that I placed 47th.  The official placement and time were posted on the web a couple of days later.  It turns our my real placement was 219th, with the same time split, and with age group placement of 48th.

I’m not sure if I’ll run this again next year.  I might just do the Bay to Breakers since I’ve never done that before.  We’ll see.

by ·Comments Off on Long distance running and injuries

It would seem that training for long distance running (anything 10K and above) has some downside to it.

I’m finding that my body takes some serious beating after long runs, and it would take me about 2 to 3 days to recover from it.  The beating comes in the form of sore knees, hips, and foot.

One of the first things I noticed after I started my marathon training is that my right hip would start to get sore.  Then after watching some videos on proper running form, I made some adjustments.  Then my knee started to get more sore; I would look at some more running form videos and make more adjustments.

I thought I was able to find the right one until I did my recent 16 mile run and a follow on 5 mile run (one day after).  I discovered that my foot (the bottom part) was sore.  Apparently I been landing more on my forefoot than my midfoot, causing my muscles there to get overused.  Now I’m down for at least 3 days.

I’m going to have to pull back on my long run this weekend as I have  not been able to keep up with the running plan this week.

by ·Comments Off on Signed up for my first half marathon

On 31 Mar 2010 I signed up for the “Avenue of the Vines Half Marathon” event.  This will be my first running event that has the term “marathon” attached to it.  I’m hoping to do this in around 2 hours.  Depending on how I feel and how my legs are, I may be able to do just that.

Maybe I’ll be able to document the event with my phone and post it here for everyone to see.  Don’t worry, I’ll only show the highlights.

by ·Comments Off on Marathon Training Plan: Week 16

I just finished week 16 of my marathon training plan. My long run for the week is supposed to be 12 miles. Last Sunday, however, I ended up running almost 13 miles–12.95 miles to be exact. This is almost a half marathon!

Anyway, the run was kind of tough, as I didn’t feel strong that day. The route I took would take me almost through all of Manteca. At about 4 miles, I hit my first hill–the overpass over highway 120.

It was busy that morning as I probably had to stop around six times at intersections for a green light to cross.

At around mile 8, I started to feel body aches…mainly around the knee and hip area. Note that I never felt short of breath at all.

At around mile 9 I hit my second hill–the overpass over highway 120 on Union. I normally don’t struggle through hills, but on this run I had slight difficulty because my legs were sore.

With my legs sore, I had to continue to focus on maintaining my runing form just so that I can continue to run efficiently.

At close to the 12.95 mile mark, I had to stop as someone’s pit bull dog was loose. I had to walk so as not to induce the chase instinct of this animal. I waited until the dog left before I continued on to finish my run.

I finished the run at an average pace of 9:30 per mile. Total time was 2 hours and 3 minutes. This means that my marathon time could be around 4 hours and 30 minutes. We’ll see how my training goes and how my body builds up for this endurance test.

Now on to week 17!

by ·Comments Off on Longest run by far: 12 miles

I just finished week 14 of my marathon training plan. I ran this in Tracy around a man made lake with a one mile running route.

This was tough run. It got warm as the sun was completely out. And having to run in circles 11 times made the run less interesting. The various people I saw there varied the view a bit.

The 12th mile comes from half mile to reach the route and to get back.

I realized here that the shorts I was wearing won’t be the one I’ll be wearing on marathon day as it caused me irritation in my inner right thigh.

Today I felt that feeling when your body no longer has immediate energy availabe. My body was starved!

On to week 15!

by ·Comments Off on Long run: 10.7 miles, longest run so far

This morning’s run was my longest long run to date.  For some reason I could not maintain a steady pace.  The Nike+ graph showed I was bouncing all over the place in terms of speed.  I’m not sure why.  I think part of it is because I was drinking mixed water-cranberry juice.  I was too worried about spilling the drink on my clothes for fear it will stain permanently.  On top of that, the drink didn’t help much to quench my thirst; as a matter of fact, it dried up my mouth or lips.  I also dropped the bottle and had to go back a few feet to recover it.

This is the first time I’ve run this particular route.  The bad part about it is that some parts of the route don’t have sidewalks.  I had to run on the dirt a couple of times to avoid oncoming traffic.  I also heard many barking dogs.  I’m always afraid that one of them will run after me.  Of course I’m always thinking that if a dog ever attacked me, the best thing to do is to stand my ground and see if I can scare the dog.  I always thought that if it doesn’t back down, that I’ll have to hurt the dog just to show it not to mess with me; fortunately, I’ve not had any bites.

Mile 7 and 8 were tough.  That’s when I started to feel the tiredness of my gluts and knees.  I remember feeling this when I did the 8+ mile route for the first time.  My gluts were sore, but I concentrated more and more on my stride.  With about 1 mile left, I slowly increased my pace.   Then with about a half mile left, I sped up even more.  I completed the 10.5 mile run in 1 hour and 38 minutes.

I might just have a chance at doing the marathon in less than 4:30:00.