My UltraLife

This afternoon I completed a 12 mile run to make my total mileage for the week 23 miles. 

This is the first long run I have done in a long, long time.  To be exact, the last time I ran 12 miles was on December 5th, 2009.  I know exactly thanks to my Garmin watch!

It was more like a walk run. I finished in 2 hours 24 minutes, which isn’t bad considering its’ only my second full week of training since I returned from Asia.

I’ve got a long way to go to get back in shape.  It took more than 6 months to get out of shape so it makes sense that it will take a few months to get back in shape.

There will be aches and pains along the way and I will have relapses of laziness to be sure, but if I keep it up, I should shed some pounds and increase my endurance pretty quickly.

I’ve got good people around to help motivate me:

- My friend Jim is training for his first Marathon and ran a 1/2 Marathon last week in 2 hours 14 minutes.

Saturday my brother and his daughter participated in the Pacific Crest Sports Festival in Sun River Oregon.  It’s a weekend sports festival near Bend, Oregon complete with Triathlons, Marathons a Duathlons and more.

- My niece Kylee ran her first 1/2 Marathon and finished with a time of 2 hours 23 minutes – Excellent!

-My brother Randy competed in the 1/2 Ironman event and finished with a great time of 6 hours 34 minutes 54 seconds….that beats my personal best by at least 2 minutes!

And I have a local group of friends posting training tips and organizing group training runs on weekends.…I just need to get out and join them.

So I’ve got plenty of positive influences around to keep me motivated to get prepared for the two Marathons I’ve signed up for in October.

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I ran this morning for the second time since my shoulder surgery, back on March 15.  I am in China on business so my run was on the streets of Shenzhen, China.

The last time I ran more than a week ago, I could feel my shoulder bouncing and it was quite sore after just a couple of miles.  Since then I have had a couple sessions of physical therapy so maybe that has helped.

This morning I could only feel a slight tension in my shoulder.  I ran or run/walked for 3 miles in a slow 37 minutes.

It was a good thing I had my Garmin Forerunner with me or I would have quit after just a few minutes.  My legs were burning and I was huffing up a small hill. 

Checking the watch and seeing I hadn’t even run a mile yet I decided to walk a bit in long strides to really stretch out my aching legs. 

After 30 seconds or so I began running again and felt much better.

I am glad to be out running again.  I have been traveling for the the past six weeks so I have not had the optimal situation for recovery from surgery, although I have been seen briefly in hotel gyms, I never feel like I get a real workout unless I am running outside.

The bad thing about little or no exercise for several months is that you’ve got start over again….and boy do I need to get started again.  

I don’t like the reflection in the mirror much these days and I’ve got to really suck in my gut to get the britches fastened….pants that used to fit loosely now are quite snug.

So here’s to starting over again, once again….

I hope I can demonstrate that if I can stop exercising and become a fat slob and recover from that, others will see they can do it to!   I hope I can be a positive example once again….and continue to live an UltraLife!

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This week I got with the program and upped my mileage again!

Monday was a rest day so my work week runs were Tues-Thursday.

Friday I swam quite a few laps (approx. 1/2 mile) as a warm up and then had a fun time playing water polo with the kids.  Always an exhausting workout.

Saturday morning was the Chubasco Body Surfing Tournament at Huntington Beach so we got down there early.  Josh entered the competition while I went for a 12 mile run.  It was a cool, beautiful morning and I felt strong during the run.  After the run I jumped in the water and had a great time body surfing.

Sunday morning I joined up with Thep, Poon, Kevin and Kurt at Regional park.  They were running 1.4 mile laps around the park.  Their plan was to run 12 laps with the goal of running 17 miles.  My plan was to run 10 miles but my legs felt tight after the 12 miler the day before.  After a few laps I felt I’d had enough.  I finished a bit under 7 miles.

Here’s my mileage summary for the week:

Tuesday = 6.35 miles

Wednesday = 3.86 miles

Thursday = 6.36 miles

Saturday = 11.88 miles

Sunday = 6.7 miles

I’ll take a break from running Monday, but I’ll try to get in the pool and swim a few laps to keep the blood flowing and then get back on the road on Tuesday. 

I need to do my sit ups and push up and do some stretching as well to help avoid pain and injuries.

I hope to keep at the 35-40 mile per week pace for the upcoming week….let’s see if I can stay disciplined through the week.

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I ran 18 miles this week.  Easy you’d think for a guy who last year this time was running more than 50 miles per week.  In fact,  I checked last year’s workout summary and the week of July 28, 2008  I ran 57 miles!   The week after that I logged 74 miles!

Today I ran 6.35 miles.  That was the longest run I’ve had in months, and it was more like a Walk/Run than a constant jog.

Something happened to me in June.  I think I had an episode of rapid aging or sudden deterioration.

During May I’d been running a couple times a week, swimming or playing Water Polo a couple times a week as usual.  I did a few Run Swim Runs with Jimmy Tsai (run 5 miles, swim 1 hour, run 4 miles) but then I slowed down and got real lazy for a couple of weeks.  When I started to run again I just felt weak.

I could only run a couple hundred yards and would have to walk, run a few hundred yards and walk again.  This has gone on through this week…this run/walk. 

Saturday morning I slept instead of swam.  The last 2 weekends I had the opportunity to run with the gang on 10-14 mile runs, I had other obligations, but even if I could have made the runs in the back of my mind I wondered if I could run 10 miles.

My Friday and Sunday runs were better and I am feeling stronger, but I can tell  I am breathing harder and my heart is working harder than in the past.  I’m just plain out of shape.

What startles me is the feeling that there really was some rapid deterioration.  It’s harder to snap back than it has been before.  Like I’m starting over again instead of starting from a base of physical fitness.

70 days till the Long Beach Marathon.  I’ve got 70 days and I am at the Run/Walk stage! 

Hopefully the risk of embarrassment and humiliation at either not attending the Marathon or doing very poorly will motivate me to wake up early and log the miles.  I hope the gang hasn’t given up on me and will keep inviting me to join in on the long runs. I’ll need them.

I know that if I want to fight off future episodes of aging, I MUST stay active and maintain a certain level of fitness.  I don’t need to kill myself with 50 and 70 mile weeks, but I do need to keep at an attainable activity level that will allow me to maintain fitness.

Running away from Age……….

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If you’ve been following along you’ll know that I took a bit of a break for about the last 3 months!   I’ve gained back about 15 pounds and added back that pouch to my stomach.  Bye bye 6 pack.

But there have been some benefits.  The nagging pain in my right foot and left hip are gone.  During the summer I had pain with every footfall.   Now I am finally running painless.  It’s fun again.

Another benefit is that I’m actually running faster than ever!  It was very common last summer for me to be running 10:30 minute or even 11:00 minute miles.    Now I am usually running under 10 minute miles.

Last night I did my usual 6.2 mile Cerritos Loop and clocked my fastest time ever….59 minutes!

I hope to keep it up and try to increase my pace even more.   Even at this pace, I’m no speed demon.  But it’s good for me.

With some new stretches and exercises I hope that I can continue to run pain free, but at the moment I’m just happy I’m improving and enjoying the benefits of my break from running.

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Well, I almost did it again.  I missed the 60 mile mark by about 7 miles, but I think I did pretty well logging 52.85 miles with only 4 days running this week.

Wednesday:  7.95 miles

Thursday: 8.26 miles

Saturday: 22.72 miles

Sunday: 13.86 miles

If I would have stuck to my plan and run 8 miles on Tuesday I would have easily hit the 60 mile mark.  

As the week went by I figured I could take advantage of the 3 day, 4th of July holiday by adding in a Friday run, but NO….I hit the snooze button and slept till 10 AM!

I still wanted to reach my goal so I figured I’d just add a few miles to my Saturday and Sunday runs.

I started early Saturday morning but by 7 AM the marine layer was already burnt off (no cloud cover- which is typical for early mornings near the beach which later burns off as the day heats up), so I knew it was going to be hot. 

I ran past the Seal Beach Pier and towards Sunset Beach.  At my turn around point I felt strong, but my shirt was drenched with sweat.  I still had fluid in my camelbak but when I returned to the pier I bought a quart of cold water and gulped it down.

I roasted on the run back.  There was no sea breeze and the sun was burning hot.  All I could think about was the weatherman’s report from the night before that June 5th would be the most intense day of UV rays from the sun for the year.

I felt zapped of energy, walked often and really was in severe pain for the last 4 miles.  I thought to myself, "If I feel this bad during the 52 mile run, at least I know I have endured it before." I spent the last few miles in a mental debate; should I run home through the park which would add a mile to the run or just go directly home.  At the end, I took the direct route home, screw the extra mile!

What amazes me is that when I went for my Sunday afternoon run, not more than 24 hours later,  I felt great.  I had just run nearly a Marathon distance the day before and I was running again and felt strong.  

My Sunday run was the most pain less run I have had in more than a month.  Mind you, not pain free, just much less pain that I have been experiencing. 

Sunday was much cooler than Saturday.  there was a strong coastal breeze blowing inland, slowing my pace a bit, but I welcomed the cooling effect. 

My friend wanted to meet me along the beach, pick me up and have dinner.  I really wanted to run 21 miles and complete the 60 mile week, but as I ran along past mile 10, 11 and 12 I thought what the heck, 6 or 7 miles more won’t help me that much.   I was feeling good and knew I could keep going, but dinner sounded pretty good so I stopped, made a call to set a meeting place at the entrance of Bolsa Chica Beach.

I was proud of the fact that I can now run 23 miles on a Saturday and get back out and run 14 miles the next day.  A few months ago that would have been impossible.

If I keep it up, I know I will be ready for my 52.4 mile run Sept. 14th.

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After struggling to keep up with the UltraMarathon training schedule,  I accomplish the mileage goal of 60 miles for the week.  

Whoo Hoo!  I did it!  I feel great that I accomplished this weeks mileage goal after falling short several times in the past weeks.

This was the first week that called for a long run on both Saturday and Sunday with 18 miles for Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday.

My Saturday schedule called for a Cerritos Aquatic beach party at Huntington Beach, so I decided to run to the beach!  The party started at 10 AM.  I started at 7 AM and actually was one of the first people to arrive.   The run was 18.44 miles and I finished in 3 hrs 16 minutes; a pace of 10 min 40 seconds per mile, which is pretty good for me for this distance.

After a short break I joined the kids and went body surfing…till 4 PM!

I was exhausted and woke up the next morning with that weird tingling feeling in my arms and legs which tells me that my muscles are still exhausted.   I knew the night before that a Sunday morning run would be out of the question.  If I waited till the evening when it started to cool off, I might not get home ’till 11 or 12 at night.

I decided to heat out at 3 PM, in the 90 degree heat of the afternoon.   There is almost always an ocean breeze blowing inland and today was no different.  The wind kept me feeling cool, but running against that headwind (even if it’s only a few miles per hour)

can be daunting.  All I could think about was using that ocean breeze to help push me home on the return.

After the 18 mile run the day before it took a while to get warmed up.  I know this route extremely well so psychologically I set mile stones to walk for a bit; 4 mile bridge, half way bridge, end of the river bed, but I didn’t walk for more than 20-30 seconds at a time.

I reached the pier, but my stop watch on hold and headed to the store and bought a liter of water.  Although I still had my drink in my camelbak, cool clear water was what I desired.  I downed the bottle and relaxed at the pier for a few minutes before heading back.

The first few miles on the return went well, most of the time I felt like my body was on autopilot.  At this point in my training running is almost like walking.  It’s just automatic.  Running is actually easier than walking.  I don’t even breath hard. I just keep chugging along. 

I made it to the halfway bridge without walking, but then my 20 second walk continued for nearly 2 minutes.  I pushed on with the goal of running to the 4 mile bridge before walking…I almost made it.   I walked under an overpass….ah, cool shade!  Then walked over the 4 mile bridge as well.

By this point my legs were really hurting.  Often times you know by the end of the run that your legs will hurt the next day.  During this run I didn’t have to wait till the next day, my legs hurt now! 

My pace was running about 1 minute per mile slower than the day before.  I tried to push harder, but realized that my finishing time didn’t matter, what mattered was that I was going to complete the 60 mile week!

I did it.  I finished the 20 miles in 3 hours 52 minutes with an average pace of 11 minutes 41 seconds per mile.

Back to back long runs are tough, but I believe these long weekends will really help me prepare for what is to come just 76 days from now!

I get to rest on Monday and then start it all over again with another 60 mile week on the slate.   I hope I can make it.

Side note:  They say that blog posts are supposed to be short.  I’m sorry if I drag on too long.  If you read the whole thing…..thanks!  I just can’t keep it short.

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It seems the more I run the slower I get!

During this mornings 12 mile run I walked more than I did during last weeks 34 mile run. 

Today it took 2 hrs. 18 minutes to complete my 12 mile run.  Lately I have been coming in at just under 2 hrs.  I remember the very first 12 mile run I did a few years ago was 2 hrs. 20 minutes.

I don’t think I have fully recovered from last weeks long run.  My legs just don’t want to move and I lack energy.  Maybe it’s from yesterday’s run and the swimming all day at the beach or maybe it’s the heat.

There’s a bit of a heat wave going on in Los Angeles this week. The thermostat in the house is set to 85 degrees for the air conditioning to kick in.  At 7 AM, the A/C was running.

The heat could be a factor, but more than anything, I think I just need to give it a day or so of rest. 

It’s a pity that I cannot keep up with the 50 mile per week plan, but next week kicks up to 60 miles.  If I don’t rest a bit, I won’t be able to even get close to 60 miles next week.

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I’ve completed several marathons at at the end of each one I’m exhausted and think to myself, "This isn’t getting any easier, how the heck am I going to run 52.4 miles".

I have never run further than 26.2 miles, so today as I started out on my scheduled 26 mile run I felt pretty good and thought I would try to go further.  I settled on a turn a round point of 17 miles which would give me a 34 mile run.

This vide is my first attempt at filming with a cell phone.   I didn’t think I’d make a movie today, but then again I didn’t think I’d run 34 miles either!

Originally I had planned to start running at 4 AM so I could be finished at a reasonable time like 9AM.   I guess the pier swim yesterday wiped me out more than expected.  I hit the snooze button and didn’t move until 8 AM.

Luckily the weather was cool when I started out at 1:30 PM and there was a nice breeze.   My right foot has been bothering me, but it seems mostly healed.  It did hurt a bit with each foot fall, but my mile 7 it went numb, so no pain….I just kept running.

My running time was 6 hrs. 38 minutes.  Total elapsed time was 7 hours 15 minutes.  My Garmin watch stops counting when I stop.  I counts when I walk, but at stop lights, rest stops, whatever, the time stops ticking.   Today the elapsed time is so different because of the 3 phone calls wishing me Happy Fathers day from friends and family, so these were pleasant stops, my short breaks and the time I stopped to my Gatorade because I had drank the full 0 oz. of fluids in my Camelbak by mile 20!

I finished strong.  I ran all the way except for the occasional stop at mile stone goal points I set for myself.  Run to the bridge, for example. 

I could have kept going, but I must admit I was pretty wiped out at the end.  

I’ve got exactly 90 days to prepare for the 52.4 mile run - that will be 18 miles further than today…..WOW!   That will be a long day!

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It’s been a couple of weeks since I complained about anything, so I figure I’m due.

Just when the pain in my hips (IT Band) pretty much goes away, I get a pain in my right foot.  It’s called Plantar Fasciitis, or pain in the foot.  

I ran with the pain in my right foot during last weeks Marathon.  Each foot fall for 26.2 miles was painful.  I thought a day of rest on Monday would suffice so after a day’s rest I began running again on Tuesday.  I got all the way through my Saturday 12 mile run (20 miles total for the week so far) and I prepared for my Sunday 25 mile run.  I even woke up at 4 AM, but the first few steps out of bed told me there was no way I could run 25 miles with this foot pain.

So much for my 50 mile weeks!  So far I have completed 1 50 miler instead of 3. 

I know I need to build up my weekly mileage so 25 miles is like running 12 and 50 will feel like 26.   If I can’t get through this I’m not sure how I will be ready for the 52 miler only about 100 days away.

What am I doing to rehabilitate? 

- Taking some of my friend, Aleve (a pain killer) to reduce the inflammation.

- I bought new shoes!  I’ve found when I get these kinds of pains it’s a clear indication that Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!

- Stretching out those fibrous bands (see illustration)

- Massaging my foot.  I did this today at the pool during the swim meet.  People didn’t seem to appreciate seeing some old guy rubbing his feet.

- A day or two of rest.

I’ll get over this like I did the IT band and when I begin running again I’ll try to mix up my schedule to get more mileage in.  Who says you have to wait for a Sunday to do a long run.   And since I am now unemployed, I guess I could get a long run in on say, a Wednesday!

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Yea! A 50 mile week.  Hopefully the first of many if I am successful in following the UltraMarathon training schedule.   The only other time I had a 50 mile week was during Thanksgiving day weekend.  I had a long weekend to get in three 12 milers.   This time I did more than 30 of the miles during the weekend.

Although I still have some IT Band pain, I am able to run fairly comfortably.  We’ll see if I can walk down the stairs tomorrow morning!

I get Monday as a rest day and then back on the road again for another 50 mile week.

This weekend was packed with my nephews swim meet and water polo matches so I had to be a bit flexible.   The Swim meet was in La Mirada, which is about 7 miles away, so I ran in a big loop and turned it into a 14 mile run.   I started running early to beat the heat and arrived just in time for the beginning of the meet.  After the swim meet we drove to Irvine for a water polo match.

Sunday morning was packed with church and more water polo so there was no time for a morning run.  This weekend temperatures soared to nearly 100 degrees, so I waited to start my run till 6:30 PM, hoping it would cool down a bit. 

I headed toward the cooler temps of Seal beach, 8 miles away.  I knew I would be running in the dark on the way back so I stayed on the streets.   If I had run on the river bed, the distance would be farther, but I’m too scared to run along the river bed in the dark.  Too many critters and jitters.  I know I’m a wimp, but I’d rather run against traffic and play chicken with the cars.

So, one 50 mile week under my belt…..5 more to go, then it’s 60 mile weeks!  Oh my.

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I’ve got less than 19 weeks to prepare for my Ultra Event and the San Diego Rock-n-Roll Marathon in between.   It’s about time I, stop singin’ the blues and get running if I’m really to prepare for an UltraMarathon.  

But how does one train for a double Marathon?

With a bit of cruising around the Internet I found Hal Higdon’s (www.halhigdon.com) web site.  Hal is a runner, coach and writer.  His site has great training advice for every runner.  One of his training plans includes preparing for an UltraMarthon.  That’s where I found his 24 week training schedule.  This schedule was designed to prepare the average runner (a person who could finish a marathon in 4:30) to run the "Comrades", a 52.4 mile run in South Africa.  

This is a 24 week program.  Since I was on Hiatus for a while, I am jumping in at week 19.  My original plan was to start from week 24….ok, so much for plans.

Here is what the plan looks like…….

Click Here to read more about the 24 week Plan

I ran 24 miles last week, this week is 36 and next week 50 miles!  

If you have followed my training religiously (I think there is one of you out there!) you’ll remember my only 50 mile  week was during Thanksgiving last fall.   This plan has me running 6 50 mile weeks in a row as a warm up to 60 and 75 miles weeks!  The 75 weeks basically have you running a marathon on Saturday followed by a marathon on Sunday!  Yikes! 

I hope my body can hold up.   I’ll need a bit of wire, duct tape and a bit of oil to keep my rust bucket body tied together, but hopefully I can make it.  Ouch.

If I can follow this schedule pretty closely, I am confident I’ll be running a solid Ultra in September.

Pray for me!

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Recently I’ve had a real life lesson in fitness. 

If you’ve been watching and reading you’ll know that I’ve focused most of my workouts on running for the past 6 months. 

This month I completed my goal of running 3 marathons in 3 months.  I accomplished my goal but not without pain. 

The pain in my left hip began in January after my first Marathon of the year.   I should have done something about it right then, but what did I do…I kept running! 

The pain continued, but I kept up my running.  My recovery week after the Surf City Marathon consisted of 30 miles running, the next week I trotted 40 miles.  I ran until the pain traveled down my leg to my ankle.  The pain was so bad I had to stop running completely 2 weeks before the L.A. Marathon to try and "heal up".

After the L.A. Marathon I "rested up" before trying to run any long distances but the pain in my left hip persisted. 

During this time I did some cross-training.  I went swimming and discovered that even though I had been working out and running, I was completely out of swim shape!

Finally over the past weekend I asked a friend who is a physical therapist to check me out.  She had me lay on my back raise my right leg and resist her pressing down.  Then she did the left leg.  "Wow", she said. "Your legs are very weak."  Weak! what do you mean!  I run all the time and I’ve been doing stair master and squats. 

She explained that my right leg was weaker than my left leg.  My left hip is what is hurting and it’s because it is working harder and over compensating for the weak right leg.  Wow, who would have thought that!   She gave me some stretch bands and showed me some exercises to strengthen my hip abductors. 

I’m excited because now I have a solution for my pain.    I was beginning to worry that I might not be able to continue running.  I worried that I might not achieve my goal of 52.4 miles, but now I believe I have a solution.

Here are some key lessons I have learned to maintain fitness:

• Don’t focus on a single exercise - don’t just run
• Cross train with swimming and bike riding to maintain overall fitness
• Stretch and strengthen those small muscles like hip abductors and the IT Band (Iliotbial Band - see above).
• Strengthen core muscles like abdominal’s and back
• When you have pain, stop and figure out how to solve it, don’t just try to "run thru it" like a tough guy.  

I hope that after a couple of weeks of exercises I can be running long runs pain free.

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 All Marathons are not created equally and the human body doesn’t always perform as one would expect either.

I had such good improvement on the two previous Marathons I assumed today would be like the others but instead of achieving a new Personal Best,  I slipped back to a slower time of 4 hours 59 minutes 30 seconds.

I guess it’s not so bad.  I placed 5,923rd out of 25,000+ runners and was 4,488th male finisher, but it was a long and painful run.

Checking my new Garmin watch I can see that my pace slowed each mile after mile 10.  I went from an average of 10 minutes per mile at mile ten to 13 minutes per mile from mile 23 on to the finish.

Towards the end I felt like I was just shuffling along.  This is a vast contrast to my finishes for the OC Marathon and Surf City Marathon both of which I finished strong and I felt like I could keep running.   Today, instead of finishing with extra energy I walked several times during the final 8 miles.

The good news is the hip and ankle pain that kept me off the road for nearly 2 weeks did not flare up today.

Well, no excuses……I’ll recover and start running again in couple of days.

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This Sunday March 2 is the Los Angeles Marathon.  This will make 3 Marathons in 3 months.

I feel well rested and I believe I’ve recovered from all my aches and pains and I’m ready to go out and try for another personal best!

I know the course, so I should have a bit of psychological advantage, I hope so at least!

I ran the L.A. Marathon last year and finished with a time of 5 hours 20 minutes….slow.   This year I’m gunning for 4 hours 30 minutes.  After last months Surf City Marathon finish of 4 hours 37 minutes, I think I have a good chance.

The weather will be nice and sunny, but not to hot.  It will be a nice change from the wind and rain we had at Surf City.

Well….off to the races!

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