Twin Cities Recap

Man, these blogs are hard to keep up on. Where does the time go? Can't believe it's already been 2 1/2 weeks since Twin Cities. Guess it has given me adequate time to reflect on the race.

In looking back, I'm really pleased with my training and quite happy with my race. My body hung on just long enough to accomplish the goal I set last year following the CIM (sub 2:33). It's funny looking back to that post, as Martin suggested I would need a coach to accomplish my goal. As much as I hate to admit it, I think he was right.

For those who haven't run Twin Cities, do it. Aside from New York and Boston, it's the next best road marathon I have run. I'd be surprised if there are too many other US road marathons out there that are as cool. I suppose Chicago ranks up there. Before the trip, I actually wasn't too stoked to go run it. In my mind there was nothing appealing about Minneapolis/St. Paul. After spending some time there, I realized it's a pretty cool place. Thanks to Ryan's Iphone (aka the Ry-phone) we were able to find our way around town and eat at some pretty good restaurants. Matter of fact, just about the best breakfast I have ever eaten was randomly found on the Ry-phone. Have to get me one of those. When is AT&T coming to Bend anyway?

Race day itself was just about perfect. Upper 40's-low 50's, slight overcast and fairly mild winds (except miles 16-19). Our hotel was a nice 0.5 mile jog to the start line, which served as a nice warm up. I then for the first time in my life, entered the elite corral. It was a little strange warming up with the elites, knowing I really shouldn't be there, but nothing I couldn't get used to. After a few strides, it was time to line up. I wasn't really that nervous, but more curious how my race would play out.

When the start gun went off, I tried to control my pace as there were so many fast runners around me. As with all races, it seems like you take off in a dead sprint, dodging people and potholes. After 1/4 mile I was able to lock into a steady pace, concentrate on my breathing, and get in a rhythm. That's just about the time a small gap opened up in front of me, and I realized I was right on Andy Martin's heels. Darn, so much for controlling my first mile. Either Andy was going too slow or I was going too fast. I decided to back off a bit and actually hit my first split right at 5:40, which I was fine with. It took another couple miles to really get into a groove, and I began clicking miles off around 5:40-5:50 fairly comfortably. By this time Andy was no longer in sight, which was also reassuring.

It was probably around mile 4 when another runner came upon me. I thought it would be a good idea to go with him for the next mile and catch the pack of runners 20 meters ahead of me. We hit the next split at 5:20 pace, which concerned me a bit. I figured I would pay for that mile down the road. I once again backed off, but not by much, and hit the next mile at 6:00 pace, which confused me. I then realized they mismarked those two miles, so I was still on pace. Around mile 6-7, I started feeling lousy. I began thinking of noble ways to drop out of the race. I had plenty of pre-race injuries I could fall back on if necessary. That's when I saw Katie, and by the look on her face, I knew I not only felt bad, but looked bad.

Nonetheless, I hung on to the pack of runners I was with. They were all chatting away, effortlessly running along, while I somewhat desperately clung to the back of the back. I figured it was a matter of time before I was dropped. I was right. By mile 9, the pack split up. I was still running with one or two guys and still on 5:40 pace. I hit my half marathon right around 1:14:20, which was a little fast, but not too far off of what I was hoping. I powered through a couple more miles, now starting to catch some of runners who took off a little too fast. I felt strong, continued on pace, but was working much harder than I usually do. The course then turned north along the Mississippi River and out of nowhere, a headwind kicked in. It probably wasn't more than 5 mph, but was just enough to put the hurt on me. I lost a little time miles 16-19, probably averaging around a 5:50 pace. I knew the course turned 180 degrees at mile 19, so I was just waiting for the tailwind to kick in. As I hit mile 19, the wind seemed a lot less forceful at my back, but at least it wasn't in my face anymore.

Miles 20-23 are the crux of this marathon. There is a series of hills, which on any ordinary run wouldn't seem like much, but at this point in the marathon, seemed like Pilot Butte. This is where I lost most of my time, averaging around a 6:00 pace. I encountered tons of carnage along this stretch. I recognized several of the slowing runners from the pack I ran with near the beginning of the race. Couldn't help but smile to myself as I passed every single one of them. Every so often I would get a little surge of energy which would only last a minute or so, but helped to keep me going. I was still worried with 3 miles to go I would end up bonking somewhere before the finish. I had a couple spells of lightheadedness here and there, but a Power Gel seemed to put them at rest. Over the last 2 miles I could hear the cheers from the fans behind me as the first place woman was kicking it in to the finish. I knew she wasn't far back and figured it was a matter of time before she came ripping past me. Admittedly this did help to motivate me, and I finished my last three miles close to a 5:40 pace, crossing the line at 2:31:12, edging out the first place woman by 35 seconds or so. Then I realized she just won over $25,000 and I didn't win jack. At least I kept my pride.

All in all, a great race. Had fun with the group who made the trip back. Look forward to running this race again next year.

Twin Cities Results

I'll blog more about this soon, but for now just wanted to post some official results from the TC Marathon and 10 mile. In summary, it was a good weekend for our group.

10 Mile

Max King 47:58 6th overall

Bree Ray 1:02:00- 9th overall female

Marathon

Andy Martin 2:25:46- 23rd overall

Jeff Caba 2:31:12- 28th overall

Ryan Rein 2:53:24- 173rd overall

Susannah Beck 2:43:15- 2nd master's female...olympic trials qualifier!

Kami Semick 2:47:10- 6th master's female

Great job to all!

Taper week defined

Taper week: (Tay-pur week) Noun

Def: The week leading up to a race where the runner develops illness, phantom pains and progressive injury. A week where his legs feel like tubes of concrete and lungs feel deprived of oxygen. Where heart rate escalates above anything he has experienced in training. Where appetite is maxed and work load decreased. Where a lock needs to be put on the fridge and pantry to avoid eating the entire household food supply. Where weight gain is inevitable. A week where the runner forgets about the hundreds of hours and miles he has put in and only focusses on how crummy he currently feels. Where the runner worries incessantly about the race forecast. Where sleep is reduced to mini naps throughout the night as the mind obsesses about the race.



At least that defines my taper week thus far.



Hopefully things will look up. For now, I am having trouble explaining why I feel so lousy. I

guess all I need is one good day, Sunday. The rest of the week doesn't matter. As many have told me, "the hay's in the barn." Time now to focus on the mental aspect, which is fooling myself into thinking I can run a sub 2:30:00. I actually have somewhat readjusted my goal and will be happy with a new PR (sub 2:36:00). The closer to 2:30:00 the better.

Man I'm hungry. Time to go eat something.

jc

Bigfoot/Littlefoot 2009

The last day or two have been a bit rough. I've had some nausea and dizziness and was not quite sure how I'd feel today. I rolled out of bed at 7 AM, put on a pot of coffee and hoped the caffeine would be enough to get me going. Andy Martin showed up at my house at 8AM to run to the start of the Bigfoot 10k, approximately 3.5 miles up the road. After struggling to run 8 minute pace on the way out, I checked my pulse and was concerned that it was already running in the low 150's. Typically I am closer to a 6 minute pace with that HR. I figured I was in a bit of trouble for the race. I nonetheless went through some prerace strides and stretches, then with little warning, SuperDave started the race and we were off. I quickly took my spot in second place behind Martin, running the first mile at 4:59. I wasn't certain who was with me, but I heard some footsteps close behind that I think belonged to Brian Gingerich. Mile 2, a gradual uphill, is where I thought for a moment about trying to close the gap with Martin. After picking it up for a few strides, I realized it was a poor decision. I settled back into my pace and crossed mile 2 at 10:29. The course flattens out for the next 2-3 miles and I was able to run fairly consistently in the 5:15-5:19 range. This kept me safely in second place. I wanted to run sub 33:00 for the race and by mile 5 I was pretty close to pace. I pushed the last 1.2 miles and was able to finish in 32:46, a new PR and good enough for second place. Martin was best in show today and was appropriately awarded the big blue ribbon. I got the little blue ribbon for age group winner.

The cool thing about finishing the race towards the top is that you get to watch the other racers finish. I'm always impressed by the grit that everyone has as they approach the finish line. Props to all Bigfoot finishers today. Also props to the Ray family, who traveled from Medford to race today. We had the pleasure of hosting them for a night. Bree, Mercy and Suzanne all rocked the course. Nice job.

As much fun as the Bigfoot was, the highlight of the day was the Littlefoot 1K. I love watching the kids run. Today there was a strong showing from the Martins, Cabas, Altmans, and Dennis family. Martin claimed a "family victory," although that claim is being hotly contested by the Cabas. Here's how the race(s) broke down. Andy and Miles defeated Jeff and Grant. Abe crushed Nate (as did Grant), and Charlie and Ben tied. It would appear the Martins would indeed be the winners if we went on head to head competition based on age. However if we spin the race a little and base it on total time, the Cabas could claim victory as Abe's gap on Nate easily put the Cabas out front. Plus Miles cheated and I have it on video.

Not that we're competitive families. After all it was just a fun run.

All night I have been attempting to publish a video of the event, but something on this website isn't connecting. In the meantime, here are a few of the still shots. The kids had a blast and ran hard. They all earned ribbons, which, like everything else they collect, wound up on the floor of the car.

After the events, I cooled down with Andy and Michael Dennis on a nice, relaxing 13 mile trail run. That gave me 23 miles for the day. That should be my last 20+ day before Twin Cities in two weeks. We'll see if I can get over my nagging injuries and get speed back into my legs. Still hoping for sub 2:30:00.

Caba Running Update

The four week countdown to Twin Cities marathon begins tomorrow. That means a couple more weeks of hard training followed by some recovery. The past few weeks of training have been challenging. Following a week of recovery after the Haulin Aspen marathon, my training picked back up. I was able to put in 91 miles two weeks ago but slipped a little last week putting in 71. We were on vacation in Hawaii however and I didn't want to spend the entire time running and recovering. The positive side is, I was able to run just about every day, most days twice. As a result, I drank fewer mai tai's and a lot less beer than I had anticipated. As the picture shows, I also didn't spend a lot of time sunbathing.
My legs have continued to feel really fatigued ever since the Haulin Aspen marathon, but I'm hopeful things are changing. I was finally able to hit a workout this week while feeling strong. Over the previous two weeks I have struggled with all of my speed work, laboring through each workout. This week I completed a 10 mile treadmill workout averaging a 5:38 pace. Now I just have to figure out how to run close to that pace for 26.2 miles. I'm optimistic my training will push me towards a new marathon PR, but at times I think it's crazy to shoot for a sub 2:30 (5:43 pace). I'm considering readjusting my goal to a sub 2:33:00.

More importantly however is the progress with Katie's foot! She has had miserable plantar fasciitis for months, progressing to the point where she has been unable to run. Over the past 24 hours, she has felt a dramatic improvement giving her new hope. In fact, she just completed a 6 mile run, which is her first in the past two weeks. She has been disciplined about cross training though, so hopefully her fitness will be there when she picks up the miles. If she can get a few more speed workouts and long runs in, I think her confidence will pick back up and we'll see her flying across the finish line sub 2:50.

Next up for Katie is the Xterra 21k national championships here in Bend. She should finish well if her foot behaves. Next up for me is the Bigfoot 10k. I would like to run sub 33:00. Most importantly though is I have to kick Meissner's butt as he has been dishing it out a bit. We'll see what happens.

Soda Creek/ Green Lakes Assault

If you ever want to feel slow and out of shape, I have the perfect outing for you. Invite Max King and Andy Martin along for a tempo run on the Soda Creek Trail/ Green Lakes loop. This was actually Andy's idea, and I think I was brought along for one of three reasons: 1) Give them someone to drop, 2) Make certain I know I only won Haulin A because they didn't enter, or 3) Cougar bait.

The three of us headed out at 7AM, chauffeured to the trail head by Andy in his new (used) Mercedes, which has been rightfully nicknamed Princess. Little did I know the ride up would be the last time I would see these guys until the ride back down. Also it would be the last time I would have enough air to speak a full sentence. After a couple of minutes of stretching at the trail head, it was on. Martin took off like a 100m sprinter. Max insisted I follow, which meant not only did I have the pressure of keeping up with Martin, I also had Max on my heels. The first two miles went quick. My heart rate monitor was flipping out because my heart was beating through my chest. I think it was measuring each beat and the lasting vibrations/aftershocks from the beat. At first I wrote off the 186 as a fictitious read, but after two miles unchanged I started to believe it. Then all of a sudden, my legs became deprived of oxygen. Uh oh, we're only two miles into this 13 mile loop. At this point I stepped off the trail and encouraged Max to continue on by. At first he declined, but a few minutes later when he realized I was essentially running in place, he decided to go on through. I eventually reached mile three- 9:40 pace. This was 2:40 slower than my first two miles. Granted the hills got a bit steeper but still, it was like a punch in the gut. I figured now I was going to have to resort to survival mode. I trudged along putting forth a good effort, but comfortably within my limits. I began to ponder about all the possibilities for my abrupt collapse. Thyroid? Anemia? Sinus infection? Tired legs from last week's marathon? They all had merit. Eventually mile 4 passed and I was sub 9:00! Miles 5-8 were a bit better as the terrain flattened out giving me a little reprieve. I eventually reached the turn around at Green Lakes at 1:01:13, nearly 4 minutes after "the others," who kindly waited for me.

After knocking down a gel, it was time to finish up the run. Before the outing started, the goal was to break 1:30:00. This gave me 28:47 to complete somewhere around 4.5-5 miles. They let me lead the way down, I think so they could pass me again. We took off fast, hitting the first two miles at 5:44 avg pace. I once again stepped aside to let them pass and we finished up the last 2-3 at about the same pace. My final time was 1:27:39. "The others" finished in 1:23:44. I did take the liberty to age adjust our times, hoping it would help me out, but I still took last... Andy 1:23:24, Max 1:23:44, Jeff 1:24:48.

The good part of this run is that it was a PR for me. It was awesome to get up in the mountains and hit the trail hard with these guys. The bad, I ran a beautiful 13 mile loop and paid more attention to the rocks, tree roots and horse poop than I did the awesome mountain setting, beautiful lakes and tumbling creek. Overall, it was a great day though. I'm incredibly thankful to have these spectacular trails to run and fortunate to have great people to run them with.

Haulin A at Haulin Aspen

Another race in the books, this one with a happy ending. My first victory on home soil in a race not categorized as a trot (I won the Turkey trot in 2008, which was my first ever victory in Bend).

Well today I wasn't stellar but had a pretty good race. I was able to finish the difficult course (2500 ft elevation gain) in 2:51:19 and actually set a course record, which I'm pretty certain will last until next year when it is broken. Timewise I had hoped to break the 3 hour barrier as it hadn't been done before, and ultimately had hoped to run a sub 2:55:00. I accomplished both, but was a bit disappointed how lousy I felt the last 4-5 miles. I had this vision in my head I would be charging towards the finish line over the downhill and flats, but somewhere around mile 20-21 my quads disagreed with the plan. I started to worry the second place runner was going to swallow me up, but apparently he was also hurting a bit.

The race actually started great. My legs felt nice and fresh and I was able to run a relaxed pace while distancing myself from the field. I thought I had a huge lead on the pack only to realize at mile 12 that someone was only 1-2 minutes back. I caught a glimpse of him on the massive mile 12 hill climb and was convinced he was catching me. I didn't panic though and continued to run as relaxed as possible up the hill. For those who haven't experienced this hill, it is punishing. I whined about it in an earlier post and I will whine about it again in this post. I fortunately today was ready for the multiple false summits and kept plugging away, trying to save something in my legs for the downhill portion. When I reached the top, I was able to change gears and start running some decent miles. I did have a quick spill at the mile 14 aid station, but was able to get back up with only a few scrapes on my hand and leg. Really the next 6 miles of single track were great. I knew I was in for it however because any little rise in the terrain fatigued my quads. By 20-21 the lactic acid set in and even the sharp turns began to bother my legs a bit. I had a little reprieve when I came upon the half marathoners. It at least made me feel fast again as I passed the walkers. Then the fast half-marthoners, Santi, Jeff Matson, and Martin flew by me making me feel slow again. I normally am able to fly down the technical rock section, but today I was slow. Just ask Santi, who I had to pull off the trail for so he could pass me. As each half marathoner passed me, I made certain to check there were no marathoners on my heels. Even though each told me nobody was in sight, I couldn't convince myself of it, so kept pushing on. Eventually I reached the flats and labored through the park for a couple miles before seeing my family, which gave me energy for about 5 seconds. I knew I was close to the finish by that time and that I had enough in the tank to not get passed. I eased up so I could look nice and fresh for my finish line photo and smiled as I crossed the line.

After the race Andy and I were able to enjoy a soak in Tumalo Creek. I swear that can't be much over 32 degrees. As a huge bonus, my sister in law Jeannie and her husband Shay watched our kids for a few hours so I was able to rest while Katie went on a 3 hour run at Tumalo Falls. I actually feel pretty good right now. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Coach Andy has given me a light recovery week before we get back on it. By the way, a little plug for Andy. If anyone is considering a coach, Andy is really good and I would highly recommend him.

jc