2012 and Beyond

I am going to start this post with a very brief “race report” as there isn’t much to comment on.  I ran the Dick Meighan Memorial 5K for the 5^th consecutive year on Thanksgiving.  This year, my wife, sister, her boyfriend and a good friend of mine all joined me.  The weather was beautiful, perfect for racing.  It was very crowded though as there were 2,000+ there for a 5K run through local streets.  I was never able to really get going and I ran a net time of 24:21 and had a ton left in the tank when it was all said and done.  I did however sign up for a “Reindeer Run 5K” on December 10 so I plan on going for a fast time in that race.  But now, on to bigger and better things!

Me & The Fam!

It’s that time of year where we begin to start planning for the New Year; Races & Goals, PRs & New Distances.  A few weeks ago I was feeling quite ambitious and I purchased some raffle tickets for the 2013 Western States 100M race in California.  The raffle goes off on December 10^th.  If I fail to get in through the raffle, I will still try to get in via the lottery next year.  If I do not get into Western States at all, I am looking toward the Keys 100M to be my “fallback” race.  I have been eyeing up a 100 miler and I feel that a year and a half should be enough time to prepare.  Part of the Western States process is qualifying.  In order to qualify, you must run one of the following: 1) a 50 miler in under 11 hours 2) a 100K in under 14 hours or 3) a 100 miler within the official cutoff.  I have my sights set on 3 races.  I plan on running one of two north face races, either Bear Mountain 50 or Washington DC 50.  Bear Mountain appears to be more difficult as well as a month sooner however it is also more local and I am still undecided.  The Second attempt at qualifying will be at the Vermont 50 in September.  For both races I will follow a basic mileage based training plan however I will have to get out to the trails a lot more.  This will be difficult as they are not exactly in my backyard however I understand the importance of specificity. 

The Goal

Another goal of mine is speed.  I have never been a big fan of speed work however I know that it can be very beneficial.  I recently joined the North Jersey Masters Running Club and I plan to take part in their track workouts beginning next spring.  I am currently running high 21s to mid 22s in the 5K.  My 2012 goals will be a sub 21 minute 5K in the spring followed by a sub 20 minute 5K in the fall.  I also plan in partaking in the NJ Track and Field Road Running Race series which will be comprised of multiple 5ks throughout the year.  Once the schedule comes out I can work the races into my training schedules.  I will post my training schedules and dates once I get them set in stone.  I will also attempt to post my weekly training as well as various race reports from my various distances.  I look forward to improving both time and distance and I appreciate any advice and tips along the way.

NYC Marathon Race Report

OK, so maybe I wasn’t properly trained.  According to my training log, my final substantial long run (20 miles) was on September 17, 7 weeks prior to race day.  I had a little bit of a knee issue and deferred my first attempt at an Ultra (Can Lake) until 2012.  So that brings me to November 6^th, NYC Marathon day.  Was I nervous?  Not really.  I have completed 2 marathons in years past.  I knew I would finish, it was simply a matter of 1) How long was it going to take and 2) How much was it going to hurt. 

The day before

The day before was not your typical day leading up to a big race.  Actually, it was everything you are NOT supposed to do before a race!  First, I had to pick up my race number at the expo.  Everything was well organized and we were in and out.  What would an early morning trip to the city be without a snack.  This time, it was a trip to the Doughnut Plant!  Three doughnuts later, I was sitting on a bus on my way back to New Jersey.  Another problem was that I had a “Haunted Hayride” trip scheduled for the previous weekend.  Because of the snowstorm, it was rescheduled to the Saturday before the Marathon.  And I had to eat before the trip so of course 4 slices of Pizza would do the trick (did I mention I squeezed in a hot dog in between the doughnuts and pizza?)  The Hayride was fun but I didn’t get home until 10:30.  And the drive home wouldn’t be complete without three burgers off the dollar menu from Wendy’s!  After that it was off to sleep, thank goodness for the extra hour of sleep I got because of the end of daylight savings.

Race Day

Like I said before, thank goodness for the extra hour of sleep.  I actually woke up feeling ok at about 4:30 AM as the buses from NJ left between 5-6 AM.  I was at the staging area for about three hours before the start and met some pretty nice people from all over: Washington D.C., Colorado, Vancouver, England & Holland.  It was nice to strike up some conversations and kill some time.  The start was jam packed with people however they did a good job getting people in proper groups based on their predicted time. 

10:10 AM and my wave was off.  My entire section of the wave was running a solid 8:30-9:30 minute pace.  (This was in line with my previous goal of 4 hours)  I did recognize however that I needed to temper my expectations based on my lackluster October.  I continued to tick off the miles through Brooklyn and Queens to the halfway point where I started to get a little tired.  I give a lot of credit to the crowds along the course as they were loud and very supportive.  It was awesome to have thousands of total strangers out there cheering for you!  Then came the Queensboro Bridge at mile 15.  At this point, I knew my 4 hour goal was a bit too lofty so I decided to walk the incline in an effort to save my legs.  My nutrition was on point as I was taking in a little water most miles and a GU about every 3 miles, my legs were just starting to give a little as a result of my light mileage in October.  As for walking the inclines, I am looking to eventually run ultras so this is acceptable right???  Anyways, I did just that and used to downhill to my advantage.  For anyone who has run NY, you know how special turning onto first ave in Manhattan is.  I was so overcome with emotion; it was the runners high time 100!  The crowds here were the best.  They really make you feel like a Superstar out there, even if you are now on pace for a 4 ½ hour finishing time. 

“All good things come to an end”.  This was my feeling about 30 blocks into Manhattan.  It is a slight incline however the extended climb got to me.  At this point I was stopping at the water tables, taking short walk breaks to drink my water.   Entering the Bronx brought the next walk break at I took a breather, walking up the bridge.  It was a short stay in the Bronx and soon I found myself back in Manhattan.  This turned out to be the biggest challenge.  Miles 22-25 really tested my resolve.  Coming south on 5^th ave before entering Central Park was killer.  I was completely gassed, my calves were tight, my quads were tight and my right hip was bothering me.  Needless to say, there were a bunch of walk breaks included in this stretch.  The crowds were very supportive though and helped carry me through the pain.  And then I could see it, Central Park.  At this point there was no turning back and the end was in sight.  Also, I was still within the possibility of a 4 ½ hour finish.  I dug deep, pushing the pain to the back of my mind and was able to clock my final 2 miles at a 10:00 minute mile pace.  I finished with an official time of 4h 25m 09s.  Not what I originally wanted yet still in line with my “adjusted goal”.

What’s Next?

This is the big question.  Do I go for speed or do I go for distance?  I am going to try both right now.  I recently put in some raffle tickets for entry into the 2013 Western States Endurance Run.  The drawing is on December 10^th.  If I do not get picked I will still continue as if I were going to run it in 2013 and shoot for a possible 100 miler in 2013, even if it isn’t Western States.  I am also going to continue running local 5ks along with my wife.  2012 I plan to take part in the NJ track & Field Grand Prix series.  I do not have high expectations however I look to improve my speed throughout the year.  My next race is a local 5K on Thanksgiving morning which has become an anual family tradition.  Stay tuned for a race report!

BACK AT IT

It’s been a while but I am back.  The last couple months were full of excuses (Busy Season at work, Wisdom Teeth Extraction, etc) but as a good friend once told me; excuses are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink!  Today begins week one of my 50 mile training plan, geared towards the Can Lake 50M race held at Lake Canandaigua (One of the Finger Lakes in NY State).  The race is held during Columbus day weekend.  I have gotten back into some ok training the past couple weeks and also snuck in a 10K/5K on Memorial day as well as TNF Bear Mountain 10K.

The training plan that I chose to follow can be found on the Santa Clarita Runners Club site.  It is pretty basic listing out mileage only.  I will be training mostly on paved surfaces which isn’t terrible because Can Lake (As well as my ultimate goal, the Keys 100) are all held on paved roads.  Come follow my training on DailyMile.

A couple of obstacles stand out already and I haven’t even started.  First off, I am traveling to LA and San Diego for Vacation during late July and will have to get in 2 pretty substantial runs on the road.  I will not be looking forward to these runs as I will be on vacation and they will most likely take about 4-5 hours to complete.  I am going to have to wake up early those days in order to not ruin the rest of the day for the others vacationing with us!  Plus I will most likely be on my feet the rest of the day so I am in for a real treat.  It will be great training for a 100M as I will be on my feet all day!

Second, I just began studying for the CPA exam.  I am definitely not looking forward to the exam however it is something I finally need to take care of.  So going forward, it looks like I am going to be learning how to deal with less sleep than I am used to.  So if anyone out there has any tips to either training on vacation or dealing with less sleep, please let me know!

SPEED BUMPS!

The past two weeks have been rough training wise.  My runs have been limited due to the weather as well as work.  Two weeks ago I only got a single run in during the week as the Thermometer was reading single digits and we had another snow storm.  I was however able to get out that weekend and get in my longest run to date, a 15 miler.  The run was good with the exception of all the ice from the rainstorm the day before and sub freezing temperatures.  I took a spill at mile 6 however no one saw me so it wasn’t too embarrassing. 

I am thinking I should start getting used to these falls if I want to run Ultras!  This past week I got the luxury of traveling to Tulsa, OK for work.  I got one good treadmill workout in however that was all as I despise the treadmill.  Rather than getting back to Jersey on Friday ready to run, I was instead sick and decided to take the weekend off as I didn’t want to further complicate things.  Luckily though I was able to maintain my weight through the limited training.  I am however still running at much too heavy of a weight.  If I ever expect my legs to hold up for an ultra it is imperative that I shed some pounds.  I am planning on really fine tuning the eating next week (That is of course after Valentine’s Day Dinner with my lovely wife).  This past week while sitting sick in front of the computer, I found a race to add to my schedule, the Turkey Swamp 50K.  This should fit nicely into my race prep as the race occurs in August, about 2 months shy of the CanLake 50M.  It’s going to be a hot one, however that will also have some added benefits as I am still undecided on whether to attempt Umstead 100M in April or the Keys 100M in May.

12/28/2010 - 225.4 lbs
01/10/2011 - 224.0
01/16/2011 - 220.6
01/23/2011 - 219.2
01/31/2011 - 223.2
02/07/2011 - 220.0
02/14/2011 - 220.2

TEMPTATION!

It has been a rough couple of weeks.  I have gotten some descent miles in however I have had a bunch of counter-productive encounters with my old pal, junk food!  We go way back!  I caved last week and paid the price by putting a few pounds back on.  It’s funny how hard it is to lose them and how easy it is to slap them right back on.  First off, my job doesn’t do me any favors.  I work at a public accounting firm and it doesn’t get any more sedentary than that!  Right off the bat, I am sitting for at least 8 hours of my day.  The physical demands that my job require is a walk to the third floor to check my mailbox.  That’s about it.  At least I use the stairs and not the elevator!  To make matters worse, there is always a fully stocked snack drawer, leftover cookies etc from meetings and the occasional free lunches!  I am constantly surrounded by temptation.  I have gotten into a decent habit of bringing in my lunch however I caved in when they ordered pizza for the people who actually showed up in the snowstorm last week.  That led to a downward spiral that reached its climax this weekend! (A Pepperidge Farm Cake & Fruit Snack binge!!!) 

The snow hasn’t helped either! This past week, either the temperature has been reading single digits or we were in the midst of yet another storm dropping 18”s of snow!  My New Years Day 5K was rescheduled for the second time.  This winter has been out of control and we still have 2 months to go!  I do not belong to a gym and I do not own a treadmill. (Only place to fit it would be in the basement and the ceiling is too low, I would constantly hit my head)  I had to improvise, so this past weekend I took my first newbie shot at back to back “long-runs”.  I put in 12 miles on Saturday and another 8 miles on Sunday.  As expected, I was running on tired legs on Sunday but it was some much needed experience if I am going to follow through on my 50 & 100 mile race goals.  This week it’s time to get back on track which will be difficult yet again as we are dealing with an Ice Storm which will again limit my weekday running!  Any questions, comments, suggestions are always welcome and greatly appreciated!  Give me a shout at both twitter and dailymile at the following:

http://twitter.com/MWest815

http://www.dailymile.com/people/MartyW4

12/28/2010 – 225.4 lbs

01/10/2011 – 224.0 lbs

01/16/2011 – 220.6 lbs

01/23/2011 – 219.2 lbs

01/31/2011 – 223.2 lbs (OUCH!!!)

Race Schedule

It’s been two weeks of training and my legs are beginning to cooperate again.  Got in my first “long-run”, a big bad 7-miler!  (Can you feel the sarcasm?)  Baby steps!  Last thing I want is to do too much too soon and get myself injured.  Hopefully within a few months, this past week’s “Long-Run” will be a normal base day of training for me. 

So I have recently settled on some races.  I have two key “building” races that I will be using on my way to Umstead 2012.  First is the NJ Marathon which I will be running on May 1^st.  This is run on roads and is extremely flat so it will not be specific to Umstead however it’s a nice spring marathon and the timing seemed to fit.  My second test leading up to Umstead 2012 will be the Can Lake 50M.  This is held Columbus Day weekend so hopefully the wife and I can make a mini vacation out of it.  The Elevation profile is nothing too crazy, but it should still be challenging.  I have to start working on that hill training as well as walking those inclines.  I am really excited about these races because they give me some shorter term goals and will keep me motivated and focused throughout this long training process.  I do not have a specific training plan for the Marathon.  I will just continue to add to my base mileage while increasing my long run. (I am not trying to qualify for Boston!) For the 50M however, I am thinking about using the Santa Clarita Runner’s program.  The program can be found on their website and it basically generates a plan based on the race date and length of the race.   It is pretty plain and simple.  There isn’t any specified speed or tempo work, just a mileage guide.

In between these two races I will also be running some shorter races that I can utilize as some added motivation as well as a gauge for my performance and progress.  A week after the NJ Marathon in May I will be running back to back 10Ks however I am going to use these as easy training runs because I do not want to do too much following the marathon.  The first race I will participate in is the Newport 10K which is a local race that I enjoy running in and they always give away a pretty decent Tech Tee!  Then, the following day, I will be running part of the North Face Endurance Challenge series.    I will be running the 10K at Bear Mountain.  The reason I am doing this one is in support of a couple of my co-workers.  They are both getting back into running so we all chose this race as a goal.  Hopefully they will get to enjoy running as much as I do and stick with it.  I like to take any chance that I can get to help open someone else up to the world of running.  I stand by the idea that after a run, you will always feel better than you did before.

Now for the weight stuff...  I dropped a few pounds last week which is good.  No specific diet, just cleaning it up and watching my portions!  I feel even the smallest of weight loss improves my ability to run a great deal.

12/28/2010 – 225.4 lbs

01/10/2011 – 224.0 lbs

01/16/2011 – 220.6 lbs

Thanks for dropping by.  Feel free to follow my training at both twitter and dailymile at the following:

http://twitter.com/MWest815

http://www.dailymile.com/people/MartyW4

Week One in the Books

Well week one is in the books and it was a crazy one.  It’s tough getting used to waking up early (especially in winter) however I feel so much better when I get my runs in during the morning.  I even get a chance to eat breakfast, imagine that!  I will start off with a couple of rants as they relate to my first week of training.  I am not a negative person and it usually takes a lot to rub me the wrong way however I do have some pet peeves!  My first pet peeve is winter themed, especially since we had about a foot of snow a week ago and are expecting another foot tomorrow!  I can’t stand it when people do not shovel their sidewalks.  I love getting halfway down a block and having to turn around & backtrack because someone was too lazy to clean their sidewalk.  I’m not talking about the day of a storm either; I am talking 3 days later!  Come on.  Another one of my pet peeves is being stopped mid run by someone who needs driving directions.  This drives me nuts!  I understand you are lost and need help but they never seem to realize that I am in the middle of a workout.  “Oh he can stop, he’s just jogging!”  I bring this one up in particular because of a funny story to kick off my first run of the year.  I was getting in some miles in the park when I was stopped by a woman who was a caretaker for an elderly man.  She had apparently showed up for work and lo and behold her “patient” was not there.  Normally I can’t stand getting stopped mid run (as mentioned before) but in this case I felt bad.  Unfortunately, I was not able to help her out as I could not recall seeing her patient during my run.  Hopefully she was able to find him somewhere in the park.  Not sure how far he would have gotten…  

Running in general was good this week.  I got in 4 decent runs.  I could have done more however I was unexpectedly sent up to Boston for work this past weekend and was unable to run long.  I am feeling good although I am in the process of brushing off a lot of cobwebs.  I would classify my motivation as average as I love being out on the run however it’s been tough getting out of my warm bed in the mornings.  Hopefully a few more weeks of dragging myself out of bed early and it will become habit.  For this week I am looking to run a few 3 to 4 milers with a weekend long run of about 6-8 miles with an easy recovery run on Sunday.

Starting weight @ 12/28/2010 – 225.4 lbs

Current weight @ 01/10/2010 – 224.0 lbs

Happy New Year

So my race plan was already altered and I am not even a week in!    Not a big deal though.  The CNJRR Hangover 5K was rescheduled due to snow & ice.  It will now be run on January 30th so I will have a month before my first race of the year.  Speaking of races, I also signed up for the NJ Marathon which will be run on May 1st.  With my ultimate goal of a 100-miler in Spring 2012 my thoughts are to get in the NJ Marathon in early May, a posible 50K this summer, a 50 Miler in fall (Late 2011, will also act as my Umstead Qualifier) leaving me an additional 4-5 months to prepare for my first 100.  Thoughts for a 50 Miler are the following: Can Lake 50M, Tussey MoutainBack, or the JFK 50M.

Thats the easy part, now for the running.  Getting back into the swing of things hasn't been that easy.  I am carrying around WAY to much weight and it is probably not a good thing.  Part of my journey is going to be getting back to a healthy weight, somewhere in the 180-190 range.  I am not going to turn to a specific "diet" as I always seem to derail on those things.  Rather, I am going to get myself back into healthy eating habits, eliminating all the junk food and just being conscious of what I put in my body.

My starting stats as of December 28, 2010:
Weight         - 225.4 lbs
Body Fat % -   30.7 %

I will be updating my workouts on daily mile so check me out at http://www.dailymile.com/people/MartyW4#ref=tophd and feel free to "friend" me.