2015 first (hopefully not only) post

Happy 2015!  I'm a little late with that - but at least its still January!

2014 held many setbacks for me.  The year started with my toes still injured from the 2013 NYC Marathon - which led to me not really running much early in the year.   One of the worst pre-marathon mistakes you could possibly make is not trimming your toenails.  I doubt that I'll ever forget again....

By March, my toenails were better and I was back to running shorter distances.  But by April, the herniated disc in my lower back made it difficult to walk, running seemed like a distant possibility.

After a cortisone injection and quite a bit of physical therapy, I started running again.  Despite having guaranteed entry into the 2014 NYC marathon, we decided to register for a cheaper marathon in case medical issues prevented me from running.  So we registered and trained for the 2014 Lehigh Valley Via Half marathon.  We quit the race after 23 miles (I'll save the details of that for another post).

Through it all, I managed to gain quite a bit of weight (40 lbs total since April 2013) and become significantly slower than I'd previously been.  Since I can't change the past, I'll just do better in the future. Now for the optimistic part of this post!

Even with all of the 2014 setbacks, we were able to get in our NYRR 9+1 to qualify for the 2015 NYC Marathon, for which Alek and I have both registered.  I've also started working with a personal trainer to help me work toward becoming stronger overall so that I can mitigate my risk of future back flare ups.

We've signed up for Spartans twice before, and not run them because we weren't ready.  This year, we're doing it.  We're signed up for the May 9 Citifield Spartan.  Team Sadpony, late morning wave (10:45am - 12:00pm) with a preference for 11:30, just in case you'd care to join!

Our planned Half Marathons so far are:

January 25 - Fred Lebow Manhattan Half (yes, we completed it I'll write a post later this week).
February 22 - Love Rox Half Marathon (Richmond VA) 
March 21- Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon
April 12 - Queens Half Marathon
May 19 - Brooklyn Half Marathon

We have ideas for a few of the remaining races, but want to make sure that we can register before they sell out.

I'm already feeling much more healthy!  Its good to feel like I'm back on track!

2013: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger!

Happy New Year!

2012 was a successful running year for me.  However, the sheer number of races (one half marathon each month and 9 NYRR races) caused a hectic schedule.  For 2013, I want to focus on being harder, better, faster, and stronger!

Harder: Run more difficult races.  This will start next weekend with the Goofy's Marathon and a Half Challenge.  I'll be running a half marathon on Saturday followed by a full marathon on Sunday.

Better: This aspect describes my training plans for the year.  I plan to include much more speed work and strength training so that I can become faster without the injuries that plagued me at the end of last year.

Faster:  My main speed goal is to run a half marathon in under 2 hours.  I'm planning to do this for the NYC Half in March!  I'd also like to break my full marathon PR of 4:36, by shaving 7 minutes off my time, I can finish in under 4:30.  I'll have two chances this year to break my marathon record.  One will come next week and the other will be with the NYC Marathon in November.

Stronger: After the Goofy Challenge I'm planning to include P90X into my training regimen.  This will help prepare me for the Spartan Sprint Alek and I are planning to run in July!

What fitness goals do you have for 2013?

2012 Year End Summary

I did it!  My 2012 resolutions were to run 1 race of at least half marathon length each month and also to qualify for the 2013 New York Marathon through the NYRR 9+1 program.

I ran 11 half marathons and 1 full marathon.  I also managed to get faster through the year.  Check out all of those medals! (There are only 11 because Grete's Great Gallop didn't have a finisher medal. So disappointing.).

I ran 9 NYRR races, and was able to transfer my registration for the cancelled Dash to the Finish Line to a different race for next year.  I'll be running NYC in 2013!

Stay tuned for my 2013 plans!  Merry Christmas!

Ouch! My hip!

I've been having pain on and off on the outside of my right hip for the past month.  I've tried the following at home remedies which have helped to relieve the pain to some extent:

• Sports massage: I've had two 30 minute massages which have focused on that hip.  After each one, the pain subsides until I try to run fast again.
• Foam rolling: I've rolled my glutes and quads to loosen up the IT band and the piriformis.  At the suggestion of my massage therapist I've also picked up some lacrosse balls to massage the bonier areas of my hip that I can't get with the foam roller.
• Strengthening: Squats, lunges, monster walk, and frequent planks to try to strengthen the hips and abs.

Last week I had a sport massage on Wednesday.  I then ran 5 miles on Thursday morning and felt fine. Friday night I went out for an easy three mile run.  About halfway through, my hip was killing me.  

My hip continued to hurt Saturday morning.  Although I was looking forward to running the Fifth Avenue Mile on Saturday, my long term goal is to complete the Goofy Challenge.  I didn't want to risk running through the pain and making it worse so I skipped the race.

I've only felt pain from runs after wearing my Vibram SeeYas.  Note, not all runs with them cause hip pain.  I haven't felt the hip pain after wearing my Brooks Pureflows though.  

I'm planning to experiment with shoes a bit.  I'll wear only the Pureflows for two weeks to see if I feel less pain.

Also, I'm going to a sports medicine doctor tonight just to make sure nothing is terribly wrong.  Update to come!

Political Races!

Happy Labor Day!  This year, lets celebrate hard work of our US marathon-running politicians!

Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan recently claimed a marathon time of around 2:50, but it turned out he misremembered as his time was actually 4:01.  This news made me curious about which other politicians have completed marathons.  Who am I faster than and who do I need to work my tail off to become faster than?  My best marathon time is 4:36:18 at the New Jersey Marathon.

Off to Wikipedia for a list of US politicians who have officially gone 26.2 (I've ordered them by speed):

John Edwards, Former United States Senator, 1983 Marine Corps Marathon (3:30:18)
Michael Dukakis, Former Governor of Massachusetts, 1951 Boston Marathon (3:31:00)
George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, 1993 Houston Marathon (3:44:52)
Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska, 2005 Humpy's Marathon (3:59:36)
Paul Ryan, 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, 1990 Grandma's Marathon (4:01:25)
Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas, 2005 Marine Corps Marathon (4:37:29)
Bill Frist, Former United States Senate Majority Leader, 1997 Marine Corps Marathon (4:54:36)
Al Gore, Vice President of the United States at the time, 1997 Marine Corps Marathon (4:58:25)
Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa, 2005 Little Rock Marathon (5:28:39)

It looks like I'm faster than Huckabee and slower than Ryan.  Where does your best marathon time fit into this list?  Who would you love to be faster than?  It looks like I'll be chasing down Paul Ryan and Sarah Palin next as I work to get faster!

Getting Better with Time!

After a certain age birthdays definitely lose their fun.  My favorite way to overcome my birthday dread is to run some distance to celebrate the milestone.  This year I ran a 30th birthday 30K (18.6 miles).  It wasn't a race, just a training run.  One year ago, my furthest distance was 14 miles.  While I was 29, I ran 2 marathons and 7 half marathons.  I definitely built up a lot of milage and some speed over the past year.  Realizing that I'm in the best shape of my life definitely helped put me at ease with leaving my 20's behind.

Aside from proving that I'm more kickass than I was last year, doing something healthy to celebrate my birthday helps to offset all of the food and drink laden celebrations.  A huge part of aging well (both mentally and physically) involves staying in shape.  The training runs required to build up to your age in kilometers will help to do just that!

Running your age in kilometers isn't as daunting as running it in miles.  You don't build up to a full marathon until age 42!  I'll try to keep this as a birthday tradition as long as I can (I suspect a 70th birthday 70K isn't going to happen though...).

2012 Goals

Happy New Year's Eve! Today's post will spell out my fitness goals for 2012 and I'll explain briefly why I want to accomplish some of them.

• Run one race a month that is at least 13.1 miles long
• Why? I only want to do this to feel awesome 
• Races for which I've already registered:
• January: Walt Disney World Half Marathon
• February: Rock 'n' Roll St Pete Half Marathon
• March: Sleepy Hollow Half Marathon
• April: Unite Half Marathon at Rutgers University
• May: New Jersey Marathon
• Races for which I plan to register (when registration opens):
• September: Lehigh Valley Health Network Half Marathon
• November: Philadelphia Half Marathon
• Are you planning to run any 2012 half marathons?  Let me know since I need 5 more.  It would be fun to run with friends.
• Run a marathon in less than five hours.
• Why? I think it would be awesome.  My Philadelphia Marathon time was so close!
• My only planned 2012 Marathon is the New Jersey Marathon but if I don't make it then I'll add another.
• Qualify for the 2013 New York City Marathon
• Why? I want to run the New York City Marathon!
• How?  Join New York Road Runners (done) and run at least nine NYRR races then volunteer at one.
• If you want to do this too, you need to join NYRR by January 31, 2012.
• Do at least 15 minutes of strength training every day
• Why?  Get some tone other than in my legs, prevent leg injuries
• I have a leg routine from my physical therapist
• Do you have any favorite arm/ab/back routines?
• Lose more weight
• Why? Recently got engaged and want to look great on my wedding day; carrying less extra weight will make me faster!
• By eating carefully and working toward my other goals, this should be easy!

Stay tuned for progress and wish me luck!  Also, join me in some of these races!

Now What?

It's been 5 days since I completed the marathon.  The muscle soreness is gone and I haven't run nearly as much as I'm used to.  Where do I go from here?

For this week, the first after the marathon, I'm following Hal Higdon's marathon recovery plan.  The plan allows me to slowly ramp my mileage in a way that will help to avoid injury.  Yesterday was my first post marathon run.  It was a slow two miles.  But it felt good to be back out there, especially knowing that later in the day I would be eating a tasty Thanksgiving dinner!

On Sunday I'll move on to Hal Higon's post marathon training plan.   Judging by the mileage in the plan, running the Walt Disney World Half Marathon two weeks after completion should be no problem.  I don't expect to set any personal records at that race but it'll be fun anyway.  I'll also be starting a new marathon training cycle on January 1 for the New Jersey Marathon on May 6.  Let me know if you're interested in running in NJ with me; you can run a half or a full!