Matt Gilmartin's 2nd Quarter Group- back in the pool! FULL HOUSE (Page 18)

Well my marathon training has been interesting to say the least. I'm not really prepared for a PR at the Denver Rock and Roll marathon in 9 days but I had planned to use it as a training run for the Scottsbluff marathon in October. Basically a catered long run.

I've learned a lot of things not to do. When its 9 am and its already 70 degrees, DON'T try to make up for missing your hill run in the week by making it your long Sunday run. I basically ran my hill route twice, and once was seriously enough with the heat. I drained one 50 ounce camelback by the time I was on my second trip up the hills. Made for a long SLOW run back home. I also learned to stash water for me and my lab along the route due to the summer heat we've been having. I thought I was going to have to either leave him behind and come back to get him or carry him the last 3 miles home. He recovers a lot faster than I do though and he was wanting to go again that evening. I took an extra recovery day for that one.

I'm also pretty sure I look like a crazy person when I'm running. On the famously miserable long hill run I had a Road ID on one wrist, my Timex with the Intermittent alarm for my Galloway run/walk timer, my Garmin watch for heart rate and pace on the other wrist, and a heart rate strap on my chest, Camelback, and hat. I was passed by what I was assuming was the church group leaving after services and got some really funny looks. I didn't have a shirt on either.

Otherwise training seem to be going a little better than normal but far from my "goal." I'm also thinking about adding a third marathon in October - Boulder Marathon looks like a nice one to finish the year with. It's the week after the Scottsbluff Marathon. Plus I'd qualify for the Marathon Maniacs group. My wife thinks I'm already a member.

Best of luck on Marathon Maniacs, Steve.  I'm signed up to do Chicago, and now I'm doing Vegas too.  Two in 2 months will be plenty for me.... probably for a lifetime

I do love the 10K/15K/13.1 distances though... marathons are too time-consuming.  I feel like I'm either a) running, b) recovering from a run or c) getting ready to run again.  Swimming is more my speed.  No recovery required 

You guys and your running! Half marathons and marathons, wow, that's impressive. I don't know what it is, but even though I love to get outside and run, it's hard for me to move past the 10k distance. I have some hip and knee pain so I am going to be really working on form in the coming months, hopefully that's it. I doubt I will ever do a marathon, but I really enjoy reading your posts about training, it motivates me to do my 6-7 miles

I'm done with tri's for the year finally, and I miss having a race on the horizon. But I'm glad to change my training plan. I guess it's called base-building, but I am now spending one day a week on each of the sports, no more bricks for a while. Then a fourth day is whatever I feel like doing. I'm focusing on lengthier, solid workouts. My last tri was my first OWS and it went great, I love swimming outside so I had a lot of fun with no issues. The kicking and hitting wasn't too bad and the 750-meter distance was perfect. The bike leg was one of the hardest in our mountain region and it took me 1:02 to go the 14 miles, but it was such a great accomplishment for me to ride the whole thing that I didn't care. I couldn't have done it at the start of the summer. It was a great way to end the season.

Last weekend I did my first relay tri, an offroad race. I did the lake swim and my husband did the mountain bike - his first race ever and he's only used clips for about a month. A friend did the trail run.

I am trying to get people interested in tri's to do them with me, and relays may be my only shot. My husband won't swim or run, but he loves mountain biking and just got back into it this spring after about a 15-year break. I was getting over a bad cold so my swim was super slow, and I walked to transition. I did 400-500 yards of the swim sidestroke so I wouldn't have to put my head under water because I had a lot of stuff in my chest and breathing wasn't easy. Embarrassing, but I enjoyed it anyway. I really wanted Nate to do this race to see what it's all about. It was a small race and I was 18th out of 25 out of the water. So Nate had 17 people in front of him. He was the 6th biker out of the woods though, he passed so many people and did so well, I was really proud. And now he seems more interested in doing another relay 

I need a big goal to keep me motivated, so even though it might not happen and it's a year away, I've set my sights on a half-Iron, either Augusta or Wilmington next Sept. or Oct. I definitely want to do some Olympic-distance races next year regardless and am working toward that. I've never run more than 7 miles at a time or biked more than 30, so I have a lot of base-building to do if I'm going to make it to a half!

Good luck on your marathons!!

Jen, it's awesome to see how far you have come!  It's even cooler that your husband gets involved too.  Couples who do triathlon related things are more likely to stay together.

*Disclaimer- I have no proof of this, it sure seems that way though

For the second week in a row, my bride joined me in a spinning class at the gym. I called it a "date" she says "no way" she hurts too much and how could I consider it a date. I simply replied, "none of the children were with us and I got to kiss you, that makes it a date"

Any ways she is a trooper, she is really wanting to run and I just love the intensity of the spinning class. So next week it is a run probably.

Sure love that bride of mine!!!!

Bryan

Hey Brian, that's awesome!  I wish I had the same relationship

Food for thought-

"Amateur psychologists say triathlon is a sport for self-absorbed narcissists, Type A obsessives, and those dangerously addicted to excessive amounts of aerobic exercise." -Inside Triathlon

Life has been a little crazy here but it was great to read about all the activities going on!  We have become quite an athletic group with great heart and attitude.  Hoorah for us!

Back at the ranch (Seattle) I too have been able to talk friends into a relay tri to finish the season.  I did the swim and I was stoked!  Although still not where I want to be, the pieces finally started coming together - great on the sighting, no problems with elbows or toes of nearby swimmers, and just enjoyed every minute of it!  I ended up surprising the heck out of my teamates - I was out of the water (1/4 miler) quicker than they expected and they went nuts on the bike and the run.  They had never done a race before - all they knew was GO FAST! 

It worked!  We took first of the groups!  And out of 560 competitors we were overall 30th!  Our ages ranged from 59 (me), to 48, to 28.  We had a great time.

Now am planning for next year and must run more!  I put myself on a running schedule to be able (I hope) to do a 1/2 marathon in January.  I've made it to a 6 mile long run so far.  I too am using the walk/run paradigm.  Back to swim workouts in October and taking advantage of our Indian Summer to ride with my husband and SAG wagon guy around the NW. 

This has been a great lifestyle change for us.  Hoorah for us all again!

Melinda

Melinda, awesome!!!!  Congrats on your successful swim and your relay.  Honestly, it's really been an awesome year for me to watch all of you kick some butt!  Looking forward to 2013!

Well I completed the Denver Rock and Roll Marathon yesterday but it was worse than I had realistically believed it would be. I looked back at my Garmin splits and realized where my problems were so at least I know now what to work on. Basically I did just about everything I could to sabotage my run. Here's the "short" run down.

My wife and I went to Denver Friday morning to meet with one of my clients and then go pick up the packet at the Expo. My meeting took longer than anticipated and it wasn't until about 6:00 p.m. when we left the Expo. Our plan was to drive back home and depending on how my wife's knee was, head in to Denver early in the morning for the race. If her knee was hurting her, she would stay home. The problem I hadn't planned on was my wife really wanted to eat at Hu Hot Mongolian Grill. As it turns out, there isn't one in Denver but there is one in Fort Collins that we go to when we are there. It's only about 50 miles out of our way. No big deal. Wrong. Long story short we eat at Olive Garden where I "carb load" on the endless pasta, and get home at 12:30 a.m. Her knee by this time is so swollen she had to loosen the straps on her knee brace to allow for circulation.

I took about a 45 minute nap in the chair and then load my gear, get dressed in my running clothes and head for Denver.  I got there in plenty of time to find a place to park and get to the starting area as well as stand in line for the porta potties. I don't know the final numbers but it didn't look like there were nearly as many people this year as last. The first 2 miles were the best. Heart rate where it was supposed to be, pace right at what I had planned, and the weather was great. It went downhill from there. I wasn't watching where I was running and hit one of the manhole covers around the mile 3 area. It was below the asphalt and I basically stubbed my big toe right on the lip of the asphalt. I didn't break it but if hurt like heck right in the joint. I walked a bit and thought I'd be fine. I did take a rest break around mile 4 to watch the belly dancers. That was refreshing.

The rest of the run was basically a long slow training run with a throbbing toe. I also tried a lot of new things. I tried the GU vanilla bean gel they were handing out on the course. I didn't like it at all and gave my remaining 2 packets to a homeless guy after the race. I also took salt from the McDonalds style packets but I'm pretty sure I didn't take enough salt throughout the day. I over carb loaded the night before and didn't get enough rest to really put in a good effort. I almost took the half marathon cut off just so I could take a nap.

Overall I learned a lot about where my training was at, where I needed to make improvements on and what doesn't work. I am used to running with my camelback so I can take in water/nutrition whenever I want to. I'm going to start using it at races. I also need to do longer runs more often.  I went in to this race with the idea that I would use it as a training run and that's about all it was good for.

I was pretty disappointed with the handling of the post race festivities. I wasn't dead last (close but not quite) but the finishers from me on back were blessed with a bottle of water and bananas. No bagels, marathon bars, etc. They did have jamba juice slushies but I didn't feel like a frozen drink.  Everything else was packed up. My feeling from start to finish was the whole race seemed geared towards the 1/2 marathoners. Even the announcer talked about the 1/2 marathon racers in the crowd first, then mentioned the Olympic Qualifier who won the marathon last year was running this year as well. Granted there were probably 10,000 more 1/2 marthoners than people running the marathon distance. I was really thinking about buying one of the tour passes that let you run 10 or 12 marathons with Rock and Roll but now I'm going to hold off and see about some other races.

Steve,

Sorry to hear about that.  How far is your house from Denver?

There are a couple of golden rules when it comes to racing.  Two I see violated are:

1) Get a good nights sleep

2) Don't try anything new on race day that you didn't do during training.

Matt:

I knew I was breaking the rules on the new things. I didn't plan on the not getting a good nights sleep. We had talked about getting a hotel room for the race but my wife's knee isn't recovering as fast as we had thought. She had a lateral release on her knee, and while they were doing that they repaired some torn miniscus as well.

Sheri and I talked about this race before she had surgery and she felt that she'd be fine to hang out in downtown Denver while I ran. She can drive a little here but she didn't feel good driving in Denver. As it turned out, her recovery has gone slower than we had hoped it would be.

There were a lot of positive things that came out of the race. I feel I pretty much have my nutrition dialed in. Only once did I feel I waited too long to take in a gel pack. I didn't feel that I had the water intake under control but I am going back to my camelback. I also met some really cool people along the way including a couple of ladies with Marathon Maniac shirts on and one guy that has run a lot of rock and roll races all over the country. He too was disappointed in the race overall. My Garmin also worked the entire way, and I could hear my watch alarm on the intermittent timer for the run/walk ratio I was using. I didn't wear it on my wrist but instead buckled it into a gel spot on my race belt. I also helped convince another runner that she could finish this and not quit. She was ready to call it a day a couple of miles early but instead she did finish her first marathon. She was pretty excited after crossing the finish line. She said the thing that helped her the most was when I told her nobody will care if she quits but she'll have to live with knowing she did. I have the Ironman quote on my Go Sport ID that says "You can quit and they won't care but you will always know." That's the mantra that works for me when I'm wanting to quit or take the 1/2 marathon cutoff.

I also skipped taking my ipod and ran without music. I know in the upcoming races as well as triathlons that I won't be using it so I decided to start now. It made it a little harder to focus on something other than my toe or how bad I was underprepared for the marathon, but it wasn't unbearable.

Went for a "recovery run" tonight of a little more than 3 miles. I can definitely tell I ran yesterday. My lab kept looking at me as we were going as if to say "When are we going to start running." I told him several times this was as good as it was getting tonight.

I also replaced the battery in my heart rate strap for the Garmin. There were a couple of times my heart rate changed but didn't match the run pace. It could have been from all the sweat too but I happened to have an extra battery so I figured better safe than sorry. I do know my running clothes stood up all by themselves in the laundry hamper.

I hope everyone is having a great start to their Fall season.

Steve

The relay sounds like a lot of fun Melinda, congrats! I was surprised how much I liked doing the relays, they really are pretty neat. Best of luck with the half marathon plans, I'd love to hear how it's going for you since my goal is to be able to do the 13 miles by the end of January or February. Glad you are having some good weather too! 

Sorry to hear about the toe, I know a whole lot of work goes into training for a marathon. But I'm still very impressed!

I'm only 13 days away from the Chicago Marathon now... RobinRN and I are going to meet in person!  We'll make sure to get some pictures too!

I'm going to be shaving my head bald this week.  I don't have enough hair to give to locks of love, but I figure going bald would be the appropriate tribute to my Grandparents.  They both died bald due to chemo.  I think this will help my grieving process, too

Can't wait to see photos of the shaved head! That's a great way to remember two special people who must have been very brave

My coach posted this tonight.  

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=2517&fb_source=message

MATT-WHERE'S YOUR RACE REPORT?!?  

I'm 13 days out of my first ever HM, I need every tip I can get. 

I seriously can not believe that earlier in the year, I CHOSE  my first triathlon solely on the fact that there was only a 2 mile run at the end, and all the others had 3.1 mile runs.  Now I'm pitching a fit because I missed my last long run of 12 miles.

I have had a rough last 2-3 weeks.  My knees starting building up fluid from all the running, then I pulled some ligaments/tendons in my knees from playing with my 2 year old (deep squats and pouncing around on my knees, things you can't avoid when you have a toddler).  So I cut back a little to get the fluid down and heal and did some therapy (I work next to a fully stocked PT/OT department aka free therapy).  Then my little boy got sick and I missed my long run again.  NOW I am sick and have missed another long run.  Had a strep test today and it was negative.  All that needs to happen now is for surveyors to walk in at work so that I can't leave to run on lunch break later this week. I still have a few days to decide if I'm going with plan A (run hard, but can't meet my original goal) or plan B (run with a 13 mile friendly HALLOWEEN costume on and have a LOAD of fun). It is called the Haunted Half and costumes are encouraged.   It shouldn't be such a hard decision but my multi-personality type A and type B are arguing. 

Speaking of outside vs treadmill runs,  is it normal to average a minute and 10 seconds/mile slower when you are outside? My outside routes have slight hills but nothing that significant.