My UltraLife

O.K. not a big leap.  I went from 18 miles last week to 22 miles this week…but hey…it’s an increase.

I was stuck at a swim meet all weekend, but I was able to sneak away for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon and got in a 12 mile run on the river bed.

I checked my Garmin Training Center software.  The last time I ran 12 miles was February 1 when I ran the Surf City Half Marathon!

This was a slow 12 miler with several short walk breaks throughout the run.  I pushed my self to keep running and not to break into a walk.

The longest continuous run period was 1.6 miles.

My time was 2 hours 19 minutes.  This is worse than my “Slowest 12 mile run in 3 years” post from June 21, 2008 by a minute!  http://myultralife.com/?p=246.  The only difference is that last year I had run 34 miles on Fathers day the weekend before!

With just 61 days to prepare for the Long Beach Marathon I know I need to keep increasing my mileage, so I’ll end this now and slip on the running shoes and see if I can get in a 6 miler before dinner.

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I ran my First Half Marathon today.  The Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach, Ca.

I know it sound strange.  I’ve run Marathons, participated in Half Ironman’s an Ironman and completed a Double Marathon, but never have I run in a Half Marathon event.

I just didn’t think it was worth paying money for something that I could do any weekend on my Saturday long run, but this was fun!

I really didn’t plan this.  One of the swim mom’s priest had signed up for the race but later hurt his back and decided to drop out.  The day before the race I got a call telling me that if I wanted to use his bib it was mine.  

I thought my chances were slim.  They usually ask to check I.D. before handing over the runners packet, but I decided to got to the expo and take my chances. I showed up, presented the number and got the bib.  I would be Father Brendan Mason at least for 13.1 miles!  The bib even has his name printed on it; Father Brendan. 

It was a beautiful morning and the Half Marathon crowd was very friendly and excited.  Last year I ran my personal best Marathon time on this course so I decided to push myself a bit and see how well I could do.

Most of my Half Marathon splits during a Marathon have averaged between 2:13 – 2:18.  Today I finished the half marathon in 2 hours 00 minutes 40 seconds! (2:00:40)

I averaged a pace 0f 9:10 per mile with my fastest mile at 8:55.   This is a big improvement over my old pace of 10:30 – 11:00 per mile.

I came in 3,047th out of 10,743 runners

Father Brendan is 37 yrs. old so in the Mens 35-39 group I was 335th out of 692 runners….49% of the age group….I feel 37 again!

I’m not the fastest by a long shot, but good for me, so I’m happy.

I can honestly say that the Half Marathon distance was fun, which is not how I’d normally describe a full Marathon, so maybe there will be more Half Marathons in my future.

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The Long Beach Marathon (Sunday Oct. 12, 2008) marked the grand finale to my Year of Running.  Last year’s Long Beach Marathon was the beginning of a year that included 6 official Marathon events, the MyUltraLife Double Marathon and miles and miles of training.

I checked my workout summary and the totals from my Garmin GPS watch.  During this year of running I ran a grand total of 1,673 miles!

That’s a lot of miles, but I can tell you…..it felt like a lot more than that!    Going through the weekly totals, I can see that I had lots of slow weeks.  It wasn’t until after the San Diego Marathon that I really started to increase my weekly mileage.

The Long Beach Marathon was a nice finish to a year of running.  Of course the MyUltraLife Double Marathon was the big achievement, but it was great to complete another marathon almost a month to the day after the double.

I just wish that I had run a bit more during the month between the double and the Long Beach Marathon!  I guess at my age, one’s physical fitness level can really fall off in a short amount of time.  I sure felt the penalty of a month of light workouts.  There is no way I could have completed 52 miles this week.

I was joined by most of the UltraLife Relay team.  They all had a great run with Poon setting a personal best time of 4:28.  Yeah team!

Everyone is asking what’s next?   The answer is “I have no idea,” but I know I want to keep it up.  I have seen how quickly I can move from peak shape back to flabbiness.  I’ll find an event that sounds like fun or a good challenge and sign up.  Spending money for an event is always a great motivator for me to prepare and participate in an event.

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The MyUltraLife UltraMarathon (52.4 miles) will be the culmination of over a year of Training for Mike McCoy and will be a celebration for his 50th Birthday.

The Great News is that you can join in and "Run with Mike" or maybe run past Mike! 

When:  September 13, 2008  

Runners and Volunteers need to be at the park by 6:30 AM

We will have a waiver to sign and a short course overview meeting.

Start Time:  7:00 AM

Where: Cerritos Regional Park  - 195th and Bloomfield, Cerritos, Ca.

19700 Bloomfield AVe.

Cerritos, CA. 90703

Go East on 195th Street and enter the East Parking lot.

The start will be just North of the Tennis Courts on the East side of the park.

Check Points - The check points described below are dual purpose.  They are locations where relay runners can be changed.  They are also the points where support will be provided.  Check Points will have your desired beverage or carbo gel/blok and or food.  

Please notice check points are only every 5 miles, so you need to be able to carry adequate hydration and nutrition with you to last 5 miles.  

Course Description (Updated Sept. 6):

We will have only 5 check point locations.  4 check points you will run past twice and the 5th is the turn around point.   The consolidation of check points makes logistics easier.   This will result in 2 legs with a distance of approx. 7 miles instead of 5. 

The check points are:

Mile 5:       Oak Middle School (along river bed)

Mile 10:     Seal Beach Pier

Mile 15:    Bolsa Chica Beach, just north of the Life Guard Headquarters at the concession stand (spectators or support people will need to enter Bolas Chica parking lot)

Mile 20:     Huntington Beach at the intersection of Huntington and PCH (street parking should be available).

Mile 27:    This is the turn around point.   Turn around will be a quarter mile past Balboa pier at the D Street intersection with the bike trail.

Mile 34:    Huntington Beach (same as mile 20)

Mile 39:    Bolsa Chica Beach (same as mile 15)

Mile 44:    Seal Beach Pier (same as mile 10)

Mile 49:    Oak Middle School (same as mile 5)

Then wee, wee, wee….all the way home!

Course Description (Updated Sept. 6):  The course will start with a lap around the Regional Park and then proceed down the Coyote Creek flood canal approx. 9 miles to the end of the trail.   The 5 Mile Check Point point is just North of Katella Ave. at the Oak Middle School entrance to the bike path.

Run through Seal Beach - at the end of Coyote Creek, turn Left on to Marina, Right on First and Left on Ocean.  The 10 Mile Check Point is at the Seal Beach Pier.  Follow Ocean all the way to Pacific Coast Highway(PCH).   Runners will proceed South on PCH running towards Sunset beach.  This portion is approx. 1.5 miles and the only portion of the run which is actually on PCH.  There is a trail most of the way which is off the highway, but the shoulder is quite wide also so it is safe for runners and bikers as well.

Sunset Beach - Turn off PCH at the Water Tower (Anderson St.) then turn Left on to Pacific.  You’ll run along Pacific until you enter the bike/running trail at Bolsa Chica.  The 15 Mile Check Point is at the concession stand (restrooms and seating area) just North of the Life Guard Headquarters (Large Tower) at the East end of Bolsa Chica. 

Huntington Beach - You continue to run along the asphalt strand through Dog Beach, under Huntington Beach Pier and on towards the Santa Ana River where you will find the Fourth 5 mile check point.  The 20 Mile Check Point is at the intersection of Huntington and PCH across from the Huntington Beach Hyatt.

Newport Beach - At the Santa Ana River the trail takes you up to the wide sidewalk along PCH.  Continue for less than 1/2 mile, turn Right on Orange and a quick Left onto SeaShore and you are running on a nice quiet street behind houses, with bikes and other runners.  Proceed on Seashore till 36th street where you take a quick right and you’ll be on a bike/running trail (cement) that runs in front of New Port Beach homes right along the sand and shore. 

Balboa Pier Turn around and Check Point - Continue on this trail past the New Port Pier for about 1.5 miles to the turn a round point about a quarter of a mile past the Balboa Pier.

Check Points vary a bit on the way back:

We will run 7 miles back to Huntington beach and use the same check point as we did for mile 20 and continue to use the same check point locations on the run back which are:

- Huntington Beach (Huntington & PCH)

- Bolsa Chica (north of Life Guard HQ)

- Seal Beach Pier

- Oak Middle School

FINISH - When you return to Cerritos Regional Park, go down the ramp from the street into the park, take a RIGHT turn and run directly back to the starting point (no loop around the park) to the Finish Line.  

Participation:  Runners can join as Individuals or as a Relay Team.  Relay teams will consist of a 5 person team.  Each runner will run 2 segments of approximately 5 miles or a total of 10 miles.  If relay teams prefer to run 10 mile legs, that is fine as well.  Relay teams must provide their own mini van and driver to carry the relay team along the course.  Relay teams must provide their own support for the team (water, gatorade, medical, etc.) and must provide support to ANY Individual runner requiring assistance or support.

Course Map(Subject to Change):  This map shows run from Cerritos Regional Park to the Turn around point.  Total mileage is 52.4 miles.    Course mileage and turn around point will be re-checked using GPS to ensure accuracy.

Course Map on MapMyRun.com

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With one week to go before race day I have spent a good portion of this week making all the final preparations.

1.) Buy Gu, hammer Gel and Cliff Bloks to help keep all the runners energized

2.) Pick up the Banner. 

3.) Check on the T-Shirts 

Hey if we have a banner and           T-Shirts, it’s like a real event!

4.) Rent a van to help transport spectators and family.

5.) Outline the course and paint directional arrows along the course so no one runs the wrong way!

Watch the road for the Ultralife logo and orange arrows pointing the way.  In many places you’ll only see the small orange arrow.   I didn’t want to over pollute the streets with spray paint.

Saturday, Sept. 6th myself and some of the people from the relay team will ride the course again so the relay team gets an idea of the course and to double check locations for the check points.

I’ve also lined up volunteers to help distribute water, Gatorade, gu and gels at each check point.  We will have at least 1 bike rider to help keep track of the runners and give guidance to the volunteers at check points, advise that we need a sag wagon (pick up a runner who dropped out), video tape the run and provide general support.

So the course is ready, T-shirts and banner are ready…I just hope the runners are ready!  It’s turning into a real event!

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Here’s the movie.  I had a fun time during this Marathon.  Lots of crazy people.  More Elvis’ than any other Marathon I’ve ever seen and lots of great music.

I didn’t set any personal records other than finishing my 4th Marathon in 6 months, just a fun run.

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I was doing great in my preparation for the San Diego Marathon.  I’d run a 50 mile week and followed it up with a 40+ mile week, but that mountain run up Mt. Wilson the Sunday before the race caused my legs to be as sore as if I had run a Marathon!

I had originally planned to keep up the pace and make the Marathon week another 50+ mile week.  Instead, I spent the week recovering.  I ran only 4 miles on Saturday May 31, the day before the race.  So my "no Taper" into the Marathon plan didn’t quite work out.

Regardless, I felt great during the race.  I did take an Aleve (pain pill) before the race so I could help ignore the pain I know could slow me down. Not sure if it helped or not.

This was a fun run and I tried to just enjoy it as much as possible.  Most races start off very fast and you get caught up in the excitement of the event.  This results in the first several miles much faster than my planned pace time, but for this race of 20,000 runners the pace started off quite slow….11 minutes per mile for the first 2-3 miles. so I just stayed with the pack and took it easy.

This was a Rock-n-Roll Marathon with lots of bands.  I had my video camera in tow so I stopped often to film the runner and the bands.

I felt strong all the way until the last 2-3 miles, and I stopped filming the bands….how many bands do we need to see anyway!

The time on my Garmin Forerunner 305 showed 4 hours 51 minutes(4:51:26), but the timer on the Garmin stops every time I stop moving so my official time is a bit slower.  Results are posted, but I can’t find my results!  They forgot me!…maybe I’ll check tomorrow.  At least I know I was under 5 hours and this was not an effort for a personal best time.

The good news is that my legs aren’t very sore at all, I should be running again tomorrow.  Maybe I can thank that mountain run after all!   I should b e back to my training schedule and have a 50 mile week this week….at least I’ll try!

I know that if I really want to run 52.4 miles in September, I need to keep up the training.  It’s not really any easier to complete 26.2 than it was last October, so at this point I have absolutely no idea how I can complete the 52.4 miles with out walking 26 miles of it!  Yikes!

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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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Mike and more than 25,000 others ran the L.A. Marathon.

Mike completed his third Marathon in 3 months with a time of 4:59:30 and finished 5,934th out of 25,000 - not so bad.

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Josh and Mike explore the Marathon Expo in search of "Free Stuff".  We find lots of booths with the kinds of things you’d expect at a Marathon expo and other booths that just don’t seem to fit in!

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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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The Surf City Marathon was Wet and Windy but I still managed to pull off a personal best time of 4 hours 37 minutes.

As you will see my camcorder didn’t fair so well….this is probably my shortest Marathon video of all time!

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It was a windy and rainy morning. The Marathon started at 6:50 AM.  When I arrived at 6:30 AM there was not a single person in the starting chute.  People were huddled together under tents that were near the start and in the expo area.  It was a wet, blustery morning, but spirits were high.

There are 15,000 participants but the Marathon is limited to about 1,000 runners with the remaining runners doing the 1/2 Marathon or 5K, so it was a relatively small group of Marathoners that started out just after sunrise on this wet morning.  The scene was a bit different from other races; people were running in ponchos and garbage bags. 

The course is fairly flat and fast.  There is only one small hill that you run up and down, out to Huntington Beach’s Central Park and back.  I found it amazing and very encouraging to find middle school aged kids stationed along the trail through Central Park cheering all the runners.  They must have been soaked to the bone, but they were a great inspiration to all the runners.  Thanks Kids!

Once you’ve made this big loop through the park the remainder of the run is on PCH and the bike trail which is parallel to the highway.  North on PCH nearly to Seal Beach then back to H.B., then run out to Seal Beach and back again on the bike trail.  Psychologically it was good for me because I am very familiar with the area and I knew where I was going.

The rain and wind drenched everything.   I used my camcorder for pre-race and race start then when I pulled it out at mile five for some filming, the camcorder reported it was wet and would not function.  That was the end of my Marathon filming for the day.  The camera is drying out and looks like it will fully recover.

I know my shoes were already wet but somewhere along mile 7  I could not avoid a mud puddle and my shoes filled with water.   My feet sloshed around for a while.  Actually the wet shoes might have been a good thing; I didn’t experience the foot pain I have been having on recent long runs.

I don’t know if it was the wind or just bad planning but there were no mileage markers from mile 16 to 25.  I had no way to pace myself.  I really need to get one of those GPS watches. I just ran as fast as I could.   Running North on PCH you had to fight against the wind, but running South towards H.B. you got a nice push.  I used this push from the wind on the final 6 miles as much as I could.

I ran with the usual minor aches and pains and felt strong through the whole race.  I stopped to walk at about mile 23 through the aid station, except for that and a pee break I didn’t stop moving the entire race.

When I approached the end and saw I was a mile 25, I was happy to find that I was nearly on pace to finish at 4:30.   I misjudged a bit but still ended with the time of 4 hours, 37 minutes, 54 seconds.   This is a 13 minute drop from last months Orange County Marathon and I believe my new personal best time for a Marathon.  Yeah!  I am happy with the time and I am closer to my goal of 4:30….Here I come L.A. Marathon!

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It may just be my bad luck with scheduling or pure fate but it seems I never get an opportunity to follow proper rules for recovery after a big event.

A day after I completed the Ironman in Couer d’Alene Idaho June 2006, I was on a flight to Richmond, Virginia for a meeting with Circuit City (a U.S. retailer).   The day after the L.A. Marathon in 2006 I was on a plane headed to Hannover, Germany to attend the Cebit trade show.

This week I ran the Orange County Marathon on Sunday January 6th.  On Monday I drove to Las Vegas to attend the International CES (Consumer Electronics Store) to meet with sales reps and suppliers. 

This show spans several huge convention halls and hotels. Walking long distances is inevitable.    I’m cheap so I found the lowest cost parking spot, which meant it was a long walk just to the registration area.  Then I headed for the upper level of the South Hall for a meeting.  As I approached the long steep escalator I noticed it was out of order.  I looked at the alternative, a long flight of stairs.   The attendant must have seen me walking with my wooden legs and suggested the elevator.  I said, "I’ll give these a try", grabbed the hand rail and pulled myself up the stairs.  Going up stairs isn’t so bad during recovery, but going down would not have been an option.

I spent the first three days after the OC Marathon walking from meeting to meeting, walking up and down stairs.  It was actually pretty exhausting.  I took my running shoes on the trip(always the optimist), but they never made it out of the bag.   I’m not sure if traveling to trade shows and business meetings is the best plan for recovery, but it seems to be my fate.

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