The Bunny Trophy

2011 Rockin' Rabbit Half Marathon 

I must admit I write this with a bit of humility still hanging over me. Two weeks ago I put forth my best effort in my goal race at Labor of Love 50 miler, coming up short at mile 22 with dual hip flexor injuries. I still question my decision to stop, and having given myself two weeks to recover I calculated the odds of returning to the game under the conditions of Rockin' Rabbit. The two races are hardly comparable but worth looking at the extreme differences. LOL started early at low elevation, in extremely cold weather, with a significant challenge of hills and elevation climbs at healthy grades all on paved road. RR did have a nice little climb within the first three miles then again at mile 7. The course was mostly paved road bike trail with the last three miles hard packed dirt trail through the infamous 6-Tunnels to Hoover Dam. The day was beautiful and the downhill course proved to be fast. But that's where I held to my concerns in not wanted to aggravate my hip flexors any more than I already had during LOL.

Debbie dropped me off at 0630 for my pre-race rituals. She drove on to the 5K start where four of our friends met her for the 5K. Back at the start for LOL, for some unknown reasons my HR kept leaping off the scale when I wasn't even running. Once I did start my HR only stayed at threshold regardless of all efforts to keep it down.  RR was a nice easy day with no excitement and even though we had a slight grade to our run my HR never increased beyond 160 until mile 10.

LOL turn-around point at mile 11 was the beginning of the end. Now moving in the direction of the start/finish I was on the downhill portion (mostly) and it was then my hip flexors began to ache. Nothing like muscle fatigue, but definitely right in the connective tissue on both sides. Thus, my concern at RR was the lengthy downhill from mile 7 to 10. Over three miles of heavy downhill grade threatened my injuries resulting in a loss once again. However, it wasn't to be. While I heard some faint cries from them, I didn't actually hit some fatigue until the dirt portion where I simply could not get the traction I wanted. 

Thus, during the race at LOL by the time I hit mile 12 I was pretty much doubled over, walking at every opportunity and by the time I hit mile 22 at the start/finish I knew I was thru. As for RR? Even though the dirt track gave my legs some resistance (ironic) I was still able to keep a pretty good pace through it and finish strong. To my amazement, due to the ladies wanting to hang around for the raffles, I eventually found out that I came in second place in my age group!

Anecdotes: During LOL i was visited frequently by fellow runners checking me to make sure I was okay and if I needed any help. This happened over a long series of miles and I was quite impressed with the quality of people at this race.

RR, on the other hand, gave me a souvenir. Somewhere between miles 3 and 5 I was slowly passed by a young 20-something-blonde-playing-on-her-cell-phone-as-she-ran type runner. I wasn't moving slow and the pass took a while, but she must have thought she left me behind as suddenly and without conducting the courteous over-the-shoulder headcheck, out of her right side nostril she blew out some foreign substances that whizzed past my shoulder simulating a rifle shot. The glob of goo narrowly missed my bright white and red Hammer running shirt and the main slug of destructive slime sailed off into the desert to feed some insects.

What I did get was not GUN-powder residue but RUN-powder residue. I viewed the fine white mist as its cloud caught a wind pattern and sought out my sponge-like existence. I immediately felt my temperature rise in a sad mixture of surprise and anger, yet the overspray gave me a little respite from the heat due to the cool shower of post-nasal drip mist. MMMM.....Deee-lish. I later thanked her for the present, to which she had not much to say. I am trying hard not to stereotype here, and in the interest of keeping myself on the mature side for a change, I will let it go and fall where it may. My apologies if it hits anyone.



So the Bunny Trophy wasn't the only trophy I came home with, and that's okay with me. My hip flexors are happy again, I have a new goal race scheduled for this weekend, and I get to go camping too. What more could a runner ask for except maybe a shower?

DNF

I hate those three letters. Despise them with a severe passion. Ask any athlete or competitor of any sport at any level and they will tell you they represent everything opposite to everything the athlete believes and holds as significant. This will exemplify the feelings I have this morning. Justified or not, DNF comes to represent gaps in my training program. The ultimate responsibility remains with me, so any consequences therein are mine as well. Keeping this in mind, my decision to not continue after mile 22 must be viewed as the right decision since the outcomes may have been extremely different. Right now I have the luxury of a pity party yet I have the availability to make the necessary corrections and continue on with my training focusing on my next race. Had I possessed the internal mechanisms to drive on in spite of what was occurring, I may have found myself unable to continue within any venue, let alone running. Hence, at mile 22 I made the decision to withdraw from the race and take my DNF.
What took place: The only thing I didn't anticipate yesterday was the wind. I knew it was going to be cold so I came fully prepared with all sorts of clothing. I knew the run was going to be challenging since I have completed this course on two other occasions. I had my entire fueling planned out to the hour including water. I even had a special shipment of fuel delivered just in time for the race so I would have all the nutrients ready. On top of that, I purchased a portable battery supply for my iPOD. I mean, I covered my bases! Except....there were issues. My HR monitor stopped in warm-up. Then it started again. Then it showed my HR pinging way over my max DURING WARM-UP! I was also not entirely focused prior to the start, not common for me. I usually find my zone pretty quickly, but this time I had 'too many minds' going on as a result of a very disturbing week.
I thought I did pretty well making the initial climb of 2000 feet or so even with my HR indicating a steady 160-165 rate. (Yes, that's too high.) I followed everything perfectly and even knew my pace was slow due to the climb, and even chalked up the HR to the climb. I hit the turn around at mile 11 and headed back down the mountain. It was the downhill that finally caught up with me and the adductors started signaling me of their impending collapse.
By the time I hit mile 16 where Deb was working the aid station, I was pretty much only walking, even though it was all down hill. I continued on as she drove to the next station which was at the 10K turn-around. By the time I reached her again, my adductors were as taught as violin strings and running only lasted 20 paces at a time. The last three miles to the start/finish took nearly an hour to complete, and by the time I arrived to check-in, I had pretty much determined that my day was done.
How did this happen? Where did I go wrong in my training? I thought about something on the way home and I don't believe it is coincidental. The same thing happened to me on 10OCT10 during the Hoover Dam Marathon. I signed up to run the full, but by the time I hit mile 10, my same muscles were screaming at me and I was only moving through a bent-over position. The fortunate circumstance to that race was the ability to have my time counted for the half marathon and I did not receive the infamous DNF. Then it happened again yesterday. The link? On both races I had completed the Army Physical Fitness Test only two days prior to the event.
Don't get me wrong....it wasn't the test itself that did me in. It was the lack of focused training the area of abdominals and hip flexors through strength and flexibility training that provided the conditions to be so ripe for injury during the runs themselves. And here again is where I get to take the responsibility for my injury. I had missed-trained these areas and focused so heavily on my running that my muscles were not used to the strain applied to them during the APFT and without sufficient time to recover before the race, the muscles simply didn't have sufficient endurance to complete the races.
So, I have a 50 mile sticker that won't get added to my truck just yet. I lost a significant amount of financial investment through race entry fees, products purchase, etc. Tough lessons to learn, and ones only I can assimilate. Upon occasion I wonder what people will think, but then I remember two very important principles: the ones who opinions count will only be those that support me, and those who criticize don't have to live in my body from now until the injury heals or for that matter, doesn't heal because I did too much damage. And really, do I really care what the negative fault-finder and the "I'm-better-than-you' type person thinks? That only shows a complete lack of empathy (being able to see from someone else's eyes.)
So what now? My training continues. It will be severely adjusted, but it will continue. My only responsibilities now include the two master degree classes I am taking so time is entirely on my side and the absence of negative criticism will only serve to benefit me in the long run(pun intended!) Yep, I am going to feel sorry for myself today. Poor me. Waaa waaa waaa
But then I am going look at other things in my life that remind me of who I am but WHOSE I am. And I will get back on my training wheel and be the little hamster I love to be.

Breaking Barriers

On March 26, 2011 I came to within two and half minutes of breaking through the four hour marathon barrier. This is important because in the last three years of running I have yet to do so. I now have 9 full marathons under my belt and just haven't been able to cross the finish line under four hours. And with those words I paint a very simple picture of a person who has in his path a barrier that seems impenetrable. However, in further inspection some certain facts come to light that provide a reasonable justification for the apparent failure that is, in fact, not a failure at all, but an extremely significant accomplishment in and of itself.
The most important component of this particular marathon can be found in the past four months of training. For that a bit of history is required. I hired my coach a year ago and my first goal with him was to run a marathon under four hours. The training plan he put me on worked on developing a specific energy system while additionally working on a specific muscle fiber. That being said, in several attempts to run a full my body refused to cooperate and each goal race I set ended up being lost due to illness. At the conclusion of the Las Vegas Marathon in December when I exploited my reserves within the first half resulting in a 4:30 time, I adjusted my goals and set my sights for priority number two: a 50 miler.
This training plan in progress since January has completely changed focus and e3verything has changed. All I do now is focused on the ability to run for an extended period of time. Okay, four hours is a long time too, but think about it. If 26 miles requires 4.5 hours, add another 24, take into consideration bodily degradation and you end up with a time like 10 full hours of running. This is simply not something you do over a course of a couple weeks. I have spent the last four months slowing my pace, working out details of long distance endurance running styles, and this style of running uses a full marathon as a TRAINING RUN.
Add to this a couple of life changing events and you have a race day that is somewhat clouded already that stand in the way of that 4-hour mark. These events include applying for a job in D.C. as well as leaving the current job in a week for full time schoolwork. Decisions decisions. And the irony of it all? The race was run in the rain.
Ultimately I missed my 4 hour mark once again, this time by only 2 and a half minutes. But my gain was so much more. I ran the entire race, something I have never done before. I didn't stop and I didn't quit. I will break my goal one day. Just gimme time. For now, the only time I need is that ten hours.