Twin Cities Marathon: Saturday

On Saturday morning, Mike, Bill and I scoped out the final four miles of the marathon on a run. The night before at dinner, my mom had suggested we take a driving tour of the last 10k of the marathon course, and then get dropped off at the 22 mile mark to check out the final miles of the marathon. We all thought it was a great idea, one that we had stolen from Ruth who was going on the Marathon Tour bus with other elites. I didn’t like the idea of sitting on a bus for two hours the day before the marathon, so I opted out and did this instead.

Around 8am, we all met in the lobby and piled into my parent’s VW Jetta Diesel. We drove the biggest hills from mile 20 and on, and then turned back around to head back to mile 22. We stopped at a gas station and got out of the car. It was cold this morning and I quietly hoped it would be above 40 degrees tomorrow morning. The three of us ran together and noticed there was a gradual incline of maybe about 1% grade. It didn’t seem so bad, but at the same time, we hadn’t covered 22 miles at a much faster clip yet. The houses along Summit Street were absolutely beautiful and I soaked in the beautiful scenery of the fall leaves with a vibrant array of colors. We rounded a turn and a nice downhill awaited us and Mike informed us that this was the final 1200m of the course. He also told us that a photographer would be here to take a picture of us coming down the hill, with a huge Catholic Church in the background.

After we finished the run, I did a portion of the Tabata workout with Mike and Bill and then we walked back to the hotel since the Holiday Inn is just two blocks from the finish line. I drove Bill back to the Crowne Plaza and on my way back in, I saw Mile walking on the street. I immediately called him and asked if he was looking for breakfast. I told him that he should turn around and drive with me to get a bagel from Bruegger’s Bagels. He agreed. After some navigation, we eventually found the downtown bagel shop and ordered our breakfast.

After I got back to the hotel, it was already time to head back to the Crowne Plaza for the Elite Technical meeting, which was mandatory for all elites to attend. Before we headed to the conference room, I stopped by the Hospitality Suite and, to my delight, found an array of prepared sandwiches for the elite athletes. I immediately thought they would not have a vegetarian option, but fortunately they did! It was delicious and free. My mom even got one too! We arrived at the Great River Room to hear a presentation of how the events would unfold the next morning. Really, the presentation just reiterated everything that we had received in our elite packet of information.

My mom, dad, and I walked back to our hotel five blocks away and ordered Toy Story 3 on demand. It was a great movie! The day flew by as we headed to the Marathon Pasta Dinner at 5pm. I had a simple dinner of spaghetti with marinara sauce and salad with parmesan cheese. I also had a cookie because I felt hungry still. I’m glad I had that cookie.

Upon arriving back at the hotel, my dad had coordinated with my high school coach where to see us the next day. They would be at miles 9, 17, 20.5, and 26.2. I got all my gear ready to go, with my bag packed full of Body Glide, two “This Apple walked into a bar” Bars, water, Gatorade, and cold weather gear. Ruth knocked on our door and we figured out the rides for the next morning and her husband, Dean, would join my dad and Holda to see us throughout the course and take pictures. All in all, everything was falling into place. Lights were out at 9pm.

Twin Cities Marathon: Friday

This is the first of my three posts from the Marathon. I had to break it down because otherwise it would be a novel. This is more of a journal recap of events so that I know what works for me on marathon weekend.

I woke up at 545am to get ready for Michelle Hazelton to pick me up. I had a mango smoothie with rice protein powder and was soon ready to go. Michelle arrived right on time and dropped me off at the airport, where I checked one bag and made my way through the security and to the gate. I hung out with Mike, Andrea and Bill until we boarded our plane. I was able to read most of my book and the two-hour flight flew by.

I arrived to the Twin Cities on Friday in mid-morning and Bill and I almost couldn't find our luggage because the carousels were confusing and unmarked. Somehow Mike found it though and had already grabbed my bag, which was rocking a WF label since it was my official travel bag back in my college XC days. My parents picked me up from the airport and we went to Holiday Inn - St. Paul in hopes of checking in early. Fortunately for us, they let us check in around 10am, which was amazing! As soon as we got to the room, I pulled my parent's luggage off of the luggage carrier, and a game in a 5-lb box crashed onto my left big toe, causing it to bleed and bruise. I immediately iced and tried not to freak out as it was throbbing. I decided to give it a go by running with Mike. We met in the lobby for an easy 5 miles along the Mississippi River with Chloe Shea in the jogger, and my dad in tow. I could feel my toe if I landed on my foot a certain way, but my thoughts of worry vanished as I realized it wouldn't affect my marathon in just two days' time.

Afterwards, my parents and I headed to Whole Foods for a healthy lunch of a sandwich with some salad. Once we returned to the hotel, we walked to the expo which was across the street from our hotel. I met Bill briefly, but we eventually lost him in the flurry of activity and the bustling crowd. Jordan texted me and told me to stop by a booth where his co-worker from The Genesis Agency was and to ask for Lee. I did just that. I bought two pairs of Balega socks and, in return, Lee gave me three packs of Nuun, and a Nuun water bottle. I was a happy camper and glad to support my favorite training partner's company. I walked by the Cascadian Farms and Larabar booths three times so I could get as many free samples as possible. I came out on top.

I also learned something about big marathon expos: get your marathon gear the first day of the expo, or as soon as it opens, so that you can get the size you want in Official Marathon Gear. I was lucky enough that my parents bought me a really nice Brooks all-weather jacket that had a nice emblem of the marathon's logo on the right side. When I went again on Saturday, all of the jackets were gone, except for ten Extra Larges.

Next, my parents and I made our way to the Elite Hospitality Suite at the Crowne Plaza, which was about five blocks from the expo. There were snacks such as crackers, Fig Newton's, bagels, peanut butter, and soft drinks and gatorade for the elites. It was a very nice setup on the 20th floor, overlooking the Mississippi. I picked up my race number and my bag for gear. Soon, it was time for the massage I had made on Thursday, and I headed to the pool area where I would wait for the therapist to come get me. I noticed a young blonde woman sitting at another table, and I wondered if she was another elite. Turns out we ended up in the same massage room.

Meeting Ruth Perkins was the best thing that could have happened to me this weekend. A bubbly blond, an alum of Seattle Pacific University, mother of two toddlers and a personal trainer, Ruth made me feel at ease and confident. After asserting that she got faster after having two kids, I found out that her marathon PR was 2:50 and that she was also going for the qualifier, with a race plan to run 2:44, an average of 6:15 pace. We found out that our other PRs were right around the same time, so she offered that we work together. The kicker was that she wanted to go out in 6:10, but I wanted to go out in 6:30. We both agreed it wasn't good to steer away from our respective race plans and dropped the subject. Little did I know that we would end up working together and actually recruiting other women to run with us during the race.

After our massages, we found out that Ruth and her husband Dean were also staying in the Holiday Inn, so we invited them to walk back to the hotel with us. They checked in, and when they walked to their room, they could hear our voices, and Ruth knocked on our door to tell us that they were just across from us! Fate brought us together on this trip, I swear. Ruth gave us the idea of running the last four miles of the course, since she was taking the bus tour of the marathon course on Saturay, and then jumping off at Mile 22. I didn't like the idea of sitting on a school bus for two hours, so we stole from her the next morning and had my parents drive us.

Already it was time for an early dinner, so I coordinated with Mike and Bill to meet at an Italian restaurant just down the street from the Holiday Inn. Bill walked from the Crowne Plaza to join us and we had a great conversation and enjoyed watching Chloe Shea eat her ravioli with her fingers. I could tell my parents were having a great time, talking running with Bill and learning more about Andrea and Mike. They loved hanging out with the CRC crew!

Once we got back, I watched Dexter on my mom's laptop and read some of my book that I needed to read by the time I got back to Charlotte so that Meagan could read it for our book club meeting in a week. Lights were off at 9pm and I put in my ear plugs and slept until around 2am, when the people in the room next to ours were having a party with twelve people. I found out the next morning that Ruth went over and told them to be quiet, and then when they didn't listen to her after another 15 minutes, called the front desk. We were all woken up from their rowdiness. Other than that, I slept great!

Check for the Saturday's course of events soon.

Mental Preparation and a Simple Workout

Justin keeps telling me how much fun he is having during my taper phase because he's enjoying the easier pace in workouts. I, on the other hand, am scrambling to find things that will keep my mind relaxed and peaceful. I don't want to waste critical mental energy by putting too much thought into a race. To a normal person, this may sound easy, but to a typical runner, we can all relate as to how hard it is to keep the mind in a calm, confident state. The key is to find a healthy form of mental preparation for a race that does not create a stressful mental state before the race. It's important to consider different scenarios that could unfold and to visualize your goal race, but not to the extent that it begins to stress you out.

During this time, it is critical to remember all the work that has been done to prepare you for the upcoming big event and to maintain the confidence level that you exuded before, during, and after those workouts you've already completed. The key for me in these final weeks is to go into a different mental realm, one in which running is not present. This is to ensure that I do not waste key mental energy before race day is even here; essentially, going into this other realm allows me to conserve all the mental energy that I need for race day. Garrett learned that this mental technique is critical to being a successful athlete from a renowned sport psychologist and so I've tried to implement it into my own routine.

The hardest part is to find what activity will take me into that other realm. It has to be something that you enjoy but that is not physically nor mentally taxing. So far, I've found that reading fiction books and watching mindless TV shows such as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia are good activities for me right now. Cleaning is another activity that helps keep my mind off of my training or upcoming race. Walking to work is also a meditative moment for me. Obviously, for each person, this activity is going to vary. For instance, Garrett performs Tai Chi. Mike Beigay devotes his time to his daughter. Bernard Lagat plays with his kids. For these athletes, they are practicing mental control every day so that come race day, they can experience a time of solidity, mental toughness, and centeredness. This is the feeling that I hope I can exhibit on Sunday.

Now that I've gone on my soapbox about mental preparation, I'll enlighten you with my second to last workout with Justin Breland. It was a simple fartlek of 7-6-5-4 minutes with half the rest of what you just ran. In the end, we turned it into a version of a progressive workout. The splits were as follows:

7:00 @ 6:00 pace for 1.17 miles (3:00 rest)
6:00 @ 5:55 pace for 1.02 miles (3:00 rest)
5:00 @ 5:50 pace for 0.85 miles (2:00 rest)
4:00 @ 5:50 pace for 0.70 miles

My legs felt good, and my mind felt ready. Only 9 more days until the start!

60 Min Tempo Flop

Goal: 60 min at 615-620 pace
Actual: 50 min at 610 pace

Mr. Stephen Spada is always reliable for a midweek tempo since it's part of his weekly training cycle so I reached out to him yesterday to organize a tempo together. The plan was for this to be my last big marathon workout before Twin Cities in just 12 days. I was surprised to find Jordan in the parking lot when I arrived because he just came back from a two week adventure from DC to California to Providence. Regardless, I was excited for the extra company. We would start from our respective McAlpine locations at 530 and run towards each other and then the tempo from Old Bell and circle through the flat trails of McAlpine and Margaret Wallace.

From the get-go, I never felt comfortable with the pace. My stomach was sloshing and I felt sluggish. It's ironic how much better I felt last week doing a 60 minute tempo AFTER ten miles of warmup! Anyways, what went wrong? It was completely dark in the woods, I had to pull off after five miles to make a pit stop in the woods, and after the pit stop I battled with my stomach cramps the rest of way. Since I've been running for about 14 years now, I know my body well enough to know that it is not worth it to push through an extra 10 minutes. As soon as my Garmin beeped for mile 8, I slowed to a jog and cheered Jordan and Steve on for their final leg.

Splits
1 - 6:12
2 - 6:13
3 - 6:10
4 - 6:08
5 - 6:15 (turnaround, bathroom break)
6 - 6:12
7 - 6:12
8 - 6:04

Steve, of course, dominated as usual! It will be exciting to see what he gets at NYC.

I am crossing my fingers that what happened today will not happen on race day. These things happen every so often and I'm glad it happened today because maybe it will get everything out of my system by the time the gun goes off in 12 days. I didn't eat the typical large salad the night before my workout, so this could be why I was experiencing stomach problems. In the end, I can just hope that everything falls into place.

Now begins the real taper time...65 miles this week with a 13 mile long run and a day off. Next week will feature one workout and then it's go time!