Tuesday, October 07, 2008

It's Over! (I can't remember the last time I went here and wrote something)

Well....the Portland Marathon finally came....and I finally finished. It was probably the toughest thing I've ever had to do in my life. I have to say my training for this thing wasn't the best. I started this adventure exactly one year ago (right after the '07 Pdx Marathon) and I might have tackled this thing way too early. The last couple of months have been tough for me training wise. I think doing too many races early on the year kind of burnt me out. Probably every other day I heard myself say..."fck it...fck this training...I wasn't meant to do this" but I also heard myself say "you're going to regret it if you don't do it"

I didn't actually register for the race until just a couple of weeks ago. My whole goal at that point was just to finish it....and not worry about my time. My official time was 5 hours 38 minutes I think. I'll tell you how the race went shortly but back to my training. I signed up for an online training program and I think if I could go back, I wouldn't have done that and would have went with a group program like Portland Fit (program where a ton of people train on the weekend on the long runs). The long runs were very boring for me because I was by myself and I noticed you don't run as hard when you're alone (at least for me). Training on the weekdays usually meant running on my lunchtime. My overall diet the last couple of months wasn't very strict at all and I never got the weight I wanted to be at for race day too (I wanted to be somewhere around 150lbs but was right at 170lbs). I probably lost 5 lbs the day of though! I really believe (and I talked about this with Dave on the race), that diet, sleep and proper training are the most important parts to being successful for a marathon (successful in hitting your time goal that is). I learned a lot about myself from my 1/2 marathon races and long runs too. I learned I sweat more than the average person. I also learned my dark hair on sunny days drains me even more. I noticed this when I saw salt residue on my forehead on my long runs. I learned about "Hyponatremia" and the causes of it. I think I read as much as I could on it after my first 15 mile run. I've never hit a wall like that before. My leg muscles completely shut down and locked up. When I tried to walk to rest it and started back up...it was probably just a few feet and they locked up again. So after that run, I decided to train w/ salt. I measure my loss of salt and started training with salt tablets to help me retain water. This helped me a ton on my long runs and I also got a white cap to help block the sun. I never cramped up again after that with my training runs. My last long run was a 20 miler. I ran a very slow pace and the negative thoughts started to linger during that run. I started thinking about how this was really a slow pace to just get used to running for this long amount of time but thought "could I even run at a faster pace than this?" It was probably 3 and 1/2 hours of running for the 20 miles and your start calculating what you think you'll finish it in at and that sounded depressing too. I was like "jeesh..maybe I wasn't cut out for this." And to make things even worse, I got a respiratory infection after my last long run. I thought it was a sinus infection (still do actually) but my doctor didn't think so. He actually ran the marathon too and said 60% of runners get some kind of illness after their last long run. I can understand that...because you lower your immune system soo much on those runs. He didn't want to give me antibiotics because we were so close to the race and he actually said its good it happend to me 2 weeks before than happening 1 week before. I didn't feel normal until the Saturday before the race. Amy invited friends over for a big spaghetti dinner before the race. It was nice hanging out with everyone. Made me relax and not think too much about the race. Scott came over too and helped me strategize the plan to meet up during the race. He and Dave both met me on the course to help me run and give me some added boost. I can't thank them enough for their support.

After the dinner party, I made my breakfast shake that night so I could just wake up early to drink it. It was made of a replacement meal powder, yogurt, milk, graham crackers and some fruit. I woke up at 5 to pound it and I also had a small cup of coffee. I drank about 2 cups of water too and had one salt tablet. I took off for Portland at 6 am and it was chaos downtown. I actually didn't check my bag in and was ready until around 6:50am (race started at 7 am)! I had to take a major piss and I was in the longest line. I said..."fck it! I'll just hit the first bathroom." They started the race in waves and I couldn't get up to the wave I initially wanted (the 4hr 30 minute group) so I ended up starting around 7:10am. There was a wait on the first bathroom but I couldn't keep running...sux. Anyway, after a few minutes of waiting I finally got back to running and I felt like I had to try to catch up to my group...that was really dumb. I should have just stuck to my plan to run 10:30/miles and I tried to speed it up a little. The first couple of miles are up hill (its the first tough hill at this part of the race) and I was running up it at a little under 10:30 when I really should have been doing it closer to 11:30/mile. I was probably doing 8minute pace down the hill too. I was pretty consistent on my pace after this point. I was planning on meeting Scott right around mile 11 and I tried to look for him but I was starting to think he might have took off because I was about 30 minutes behind the time we thought we'd meet. I started slowing down a lot because I didn't think I was going to hook up with them but at mile 12, I saw him and that gave me a huge boost. It was great seeing him and it made me get back to my pace. He took me all the way to St. Johns bridge which is right around 16.5 miles. He couldn't actually cross the bridge though because they only allowed racers w/ bibs on the bridge. I was feeling good up until that point but the on ramp to that bridge was hell. I started cramping up at this point. I had to stretch and walk most of this bridge because I knew Dave was on the other side waiting for me and I wanted to run with him. The last 1/2 of the bridge was slightly down hill so I started running again at that point. Then I hooked up with Dave and he stuck with me all the way to the end. He and Scott were a great help. The kept me going and gave me some Gel and food for more energy. When I passed mile 20, I felt a huge accomplishment because I've never gone beyond that point. I think I had to walk right after that though because of more cramps..unfortunately :-(. Dave ran into a TNT buddy and was able to get me some GU and powergel. That helped me out a lot. The last 6 miles were really tough...a lot of walk/run combos'. The last 1.2 miles, I told Dave ok I'm going to pound this thing out and try to finish strong. I was able to tough it out and run without stopping. I think all the spectators and music helped me fight off the pain. I also got to see my daughter and parents at the finish line too. They were so proud of me for finishing. It was really a tough and great day. It would be really hard for me to be able to describe any other day like that.

So I got my medal and my finisher shirt...pounded a ton of chips, cookies, choc. milk and fruit at the end. Amy got me a massage the day after too and that was so nice! Goal is to do Eugene '09 now and I know what I have to do and when to start doing it. Scott and Dave are both doing it too so I think the training will be a lot funner this time. This winter I'm going to take it EZ but not let myself go. I have some other friends that I might join up with for some trail races. That should be a nice change.

1 comment:

Tod said...

Hey Bro, I know that I'm very late in telling you this, but CONGRATULATIONS on a job well done. Yes, the first marathon is tough, but they get better and better. Looking forward to hearing about Eugene '09!