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Martian Marathon: A new PR

On April 14th I ran a half marathon and the kids did the Mini Marathon and Cathy ran her first 5k since she was in high school.

The kids have been training since February. The deal was if the kids log 25 miles before the race, then they run a final 1.2 miles and get to say they ran a marathon.

Kids loved it.

My last training ruin had felt good and I wanted to break 1:50 but I set an 8:30/mile pace instead. I have logged 2700+ miles on RunKeeper but I had never used coaching and recently I have disabled all audio cues. I essentially start RunKeeper when I start the run and then switch to Audible and don't drop back into RunKeeper unless I want to pause (phone call, record idea in Voice Memo or Twitter) or I reach the end of my run. So literally with minutes to spare before the starting gun I went into the coaching menu in the Start screen of RunKeeper and set an 8:30 pace:

Then I dropped into my settings and turned on Audio Cues. Here are the settings I used:

Turns out, current apace and current split pace was a bit redundant, so next time I will skip the current pace and just use the Split Pace. I did not get prompts about total distance or total time. I wanted the cues to only be about speed, nothing else. Especially given that the race organizers were marking off each mile.

Kudos to RunKeeper for making the coaching and audio prompts so simple that I could get it set up 90% right the first time I ever used the feature. I am probably one of the first RunKeeper users. You can read my review of RunKeeper Pro (the old version that cost $10 but added some features) RunKeeper 2.0 and my review after logging 1,000 miles. But even as the program is about to turn 4(as in years, not version number) it continues to surprise and delight me. What an incredible amount of value for a free program.

Now about my race. I love the Martian Marathon. It is perfectly organized race. The race organizers should be proud. The atmosphere is light with a lot of people wearing antennas or costumes

The race route is a flat road race that is primarily a there and back on Hines Drive a pleasantly windy road that follows a tributary of the Rouge River. You don't get to see the river until the last three miles when you cross it twice on some surprisingly flexible bridges.

I started out feeling good but by mile 2, my left foot started increasingly feeling numb. By mile four I was seriously considering taking a DNF. At mile 5 I pulled off the course, took off my shoe, massaged my foot for 10 seconds, or so, I then retied them, significantly looser than before. When I started running again my foot was no better, but a couple of miles later it was definitely getting better. And by mile 8 it was totally normal. Strange.

My pace was consistently ahead of the 8:30 goal, with only 4 splits being too slow.

And my RunKeeper time was 1:51:49. The official chip time was 1:51:36.9 (so I guess it takes me 12 seconds to take my phone out of my pocket, unlock it and stop RunKeeper):

I was 52 of 148 in my Age/Gender division and 446 out of 1791 overall. That barely edges my PR. I ran a 1:51:53 at Dexter-Ann Arbor in 2009. 

I still want to crack 1:50.

Final Note: I finished just ahead of Jeff, of DetroitRunner.com. He gave a pretty bad review of the Martian, but I think he's wrong. I had a great time and thought the race was top notch.

testing

thinking about a trip to spain

this link looks useful: Top 110 places to visit in Spain

Among European nations, Spain is one of the most popular tourist destinations. It is not too expensive, it has many beautiful places you can visit and there are lovely resorts and hotels all around. The country is easily accessible from road, air and by the sea and the food is fabulous and the weather is good almost throughout the year.
1. Cordoba:Many travellers believe that Cordoba is the most beautiful destination in Southern Spain. The city is testimony to the many different cultures which have thrived over here.  It has been declared a World Heritage Site to preserve its unique ethnicity and the artistic wealth of its buildings and mosques. Small streets, whitewashed courtyards, beautiful alleys and homes are all part of the basic charm of this city.
2. Madrid:The capital of Spain is dotted with Grand Avenues, enchanting palaces, museums and town squares which are bustling with activity. Plaza Mayor seems to be the place where everyone congregates and where the bars and restaurants never seem to close. There is a laid back feel to this lovely town and everywhere you can sense peace and joy.
3. Barcelona:Barcelona has something for everyone. There are great museums and art galleries. The Gaudi buildings will fascinate and enchant you with their quirkiness and colour. Las Rambles never sleeps – there is always some show or performance happening here. The musical fountain at Placa dÉspanya is one of the best in the world.
4. Valencia:Valencia is renowned for the world’s biggest food fight which takes place here in August, but it is also known for the Fallas festival which is held here in March. This quaint old city’s most popular attraction is The Silk Exchange which houses many impressive Gothic Style buildings which were a part of the commercial centre. The Cathedral is also worth a visit.
5. Seville:Due to it’s splendid architecture and the magnificent cathedral Seville is one of Spain’s grand cities. Christopher Columbus’s tomb and the Giralda Bell tower are also other well known landmarks of this city. Located on the banks of the Guadalquivir River, it was earlier the trading hub during Roman times.
6. Granada:If you can go to only one city in Spain then let it be Granada. The Alhambra in Granada is one of the world’s most visited monuments. It is a tribute to Moorish Architecture and has been preserved well over the centuries. The unique beauty of this place can be summed up in these words: “There is no pain in life so cruel as to be blind in Granada”. There are many other places worth a visit also, such as The Plaza De San Nicolas and the Cathedral Museum.
7. Marbella:If you are looking for beautiful beaches, a great coastline and some of the best hotels and resorts in the world, then your destination is Marbella in Malaga. Sit back and relax, life moves at an easy pace here. Enjoy the fabulous views, great food and wine and olives of every variety. What more do you need for a great vacation?
8. Bilbao:The Bilbao Guggenheim Museum has become the iconic landmark of this city. Built in 1997, the museum is sheathed in titanium. The Basilica De Begona was built in 1519 to celebrate the appearance of The Virgin Mary in Bilbao. There are many other impressive buildings and of course the very popular flea markets are also an attraction.
9. Segovia:Segovia’s well preserved Roman Aqueduct is one of the landmarks of this city. The main attraction however remains the Alcazar, a picture perfect fortress from the 13^th century. The culture and great heritage of this city are evident in the many museums and palaces here.
10. Palma De Mallorca:A city on the island of Mallorca, it is truly Mallorca’s only city. Modern hotel chains thrive side by side with narrow alleys and old world corridors and plazas. The Cathedral in the centre of the town has now been restored to its former glory.

New Year. New Goal.

Completing the 3-mile a day challenge of 2010 was awesome.

The goal for 2011 is the biggest half marathon in the world this spring and the Marine Corp Marathon in the fall.



Never mind. The damn race is already sold out. The previous record was 62 hours. Today it sold out in 28. Missed it.

Guess I need another marathon. But anyways run a marathon, and run it in under 4 hours (I would squeal if I could break 3:50).

My first marathon I just focused on the long runs. I lived by the moto If you can run 20, you can run 26.

This time I want to use Jeff Gaudette's theory of marathon training: 

For success at the marathon distance, you need to training specifically for the physiological demands of the race. In the marathon, this means three things: 

1. Increasing your fitness so that you can decrease your marathon pace and make it more comfortable
2. Teaching your body how to burn fat as a fuel source as opposed to carbohydrates
3. Simulating the fatigue you'll experience the last 10k without getting hurt or becoming too tired in training

Turining those goals into a training plan focuses on:

1. Faster paced tempo runs that are often broken into shorter, but faster intervals [this seems like two short/fast runs during the week 5-6 miles] 
2. To simulate the fatigue at the end of the race, this FitnessClass breaks up the long runs over the weekend into two moderately fast paced runs

Long and slow 22 milers will breakdown the muscles and will completely exhaust you, which will lead to a significant delay in recovery. In addition, running for longer than 3 hours and 30 minutes can significantly increase the chance of injury and doesn't produce significant physiological adaptations...by running on both weekend days, this allows you to carry the fatigue of Saturday's run into Sunday, which will simulate the latter stages of the marathon without having to run 20 miles.

This sounds like it focuses on the wall I ran into around mile 21 in Queens/Harlem. Sounds like what I need to do for success.

Trip to Sanoma

Jeff Bundschu of Gundlach Bundschu Winery Visits WLTV – Part 1 – Episodes #773



Jeff Bundschu of Gundlach Bundschu Winery Visits WLTV – Part 2 – Episodes #774

Three miles a day for 2010 is done.

I ran with Nak and the rest of the Run Detroit posse on January 31st to complete The Goal.

Gary and crossed the finish 1 and 2 in 27 minutes and then I circled around to pick up Bo and run another couple of kilometers.

Final numbers:

• 1097.17 miles
• 187 runs
• 5.9 miles per run
• 15.6 runs per month

I was cruising through the goal until October and November when getting ready for my talk at the ASN Renal Week crushed me.

I had to come back with my fourth 100-mile month ever (Dec '08, Aug '09, Aug '10 and Dec '10) to cross the finish line with 2 miles to spare.

Here is how the year stacked up against the goal:

The nomogram of run distance stacks up like this: 

6-8 miles is the sweet spot, just like last year:

So after three years, the running odometer looks like this:

I'm reading Ultramarathon Man

Dean Karnazes was one of the characters mentioned in Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. McDougal's descprition isn't so kind, as he is used as a foil in opposition to Scott Jurek. I had read one of the other books mentioned in Born to Run, Lance Armstrong's autobiography (written by Sally Jenkins) It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life. McDougall describes it as being the story of a warrior poet. It was good and gave me a much better understanding of who Armstrong is and his personal philosophy. Last summer, Michael Schoffman recommended Karnazes' book.

Michael had just months before met Dean. Michael was running his first marathon, the LA Marathon and around the 20th mile he looked over his shoulder and there was Dean Karnazes. Michael had already read his book so he starts talking to the guy and they ran the last 10k together.

Take a look at those Clock Times, they crossed the finish practically arm in arm.

Turns out Dean had previously rode some crazy contraption called the ElliptiGo for 500 miles to the start of the Marathon. Crazy Fuck.

So much cooler than my frenetic sprint around Central Park trying to keep up with Lance.

As I read the book I was enthralled and inspired. The book starts with all the charm of the Rocky Balboa narrative. It is a small underdog learning to escape his upper middle class yuppie existence by stretching free of all rational physical bounds. The whole transformation and training process capped by the epic battle with the Western States 100 stirred my soul.

Unfortunately after that portion (about a third of the book) the story devolves faster than the Rocky series. Each subsequent adventure, the Bad Water 100, running a marathon at the South Pole, running 199 miles straight, becomes equal parts repetitive and preposterous. He tries to engage the reader by explaining how dangerous running at the South Pole is. Yea. No shit its negative 100°. Don't be a dip shit. Its too cold to be outside.

Overall a good read but it's no Born to Run and even falls short of It's Not About the Bike.

This brings back memories of my marathon

2010 NYC Marathon Time Lapse from wnyc culture on Vimeo.


Here is the Camera she used. Totally cool website.

And here is the story of the runner.

Thanks Lynn

State of the goal: June, July and August

I haven't updated this blog on the quest to run 3 miles a day for a year.

So here is the update.

I failed to hit three miles a day in June (85 miles, with a goal of 90) and July (89.6 miles with a goal of 93). These were the first misses for a month this year. I crushed August (132.3 with a goal of 93) running more miles than I ever ran before.

The long and short of this is I'm still on track for 1095 miles for 2010. August 31st was the 243rd day of the year, so I needed to have run 729 miles. I had run 770.

I have a new goal

Sarah Palin apparently ran a sub 4 hour marathon, (another link) just barely, at 3:59:24.

I gotta beat her. If I do it this year, I'll be the same age as her. Could I do it at Detroit? Probably not.

Hey. I'm in the Detroit Free Press!

Last week Runkeeper retweeted Mark W Smith (@markdubya) of the Free Press who was looking for some RunKeeper users to interview:

I posted this tweet to him and he bit:

He called me later that day and interviewed m for about ten minutes. Later that week he called to set up a photo shoot. On Friday morning Andre Jackson came by and took some pictures of me and my iPhone (and Bo).

Then Today the Free Press dropped me on the front of Page D1

All and all, a fun exchange.

Huntington Woods runners, go west.

I did a run few days ago and RunKeeper recorded me crossing 696. Twice. The GPS was accurate. Here is the map:

The trick is that when the Feds built 696 they added two elevated parks to compensate Oak Park for land lost to the highway.

My advice to Huntington Woods runners, go west.

Inspired to run by a Runkeeper bug

One thing I hate about RunKeeper is how at the beginning of the month you get that down arrow that says "Lowest"

I just had one day, of coarse I'm not going to be over my worst month yet. And the more consistant you are the longer it takes to shed that arrow. My worst month is last June, so my lowest is 19 miles. But that it going to scroll off the page next month and then I'll have to clock 44 miles before getting rid of that Albatross.

May, another month in the bag

April: Another successful month

The month started off slow as the whole family went to Breckenridge for the first week.

Also this was the first month in 2009 where I started to pour on the miles. For the rest of the year 2009 will be a real benchmark. Not like the straw man it has played so far.

Hey I got an iPad!

Just playing around. So far pretty fun. Long run tonight. On screen keyboard is better than the pundits say.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

RunKeeper: The first 1,000 miles

I'm going to go running tonight and I will flip the odometer on RunKeeper, taking me over one thousand miles!

I was among the first users of RunKeeper. I purchased my iPhone 3g in late July 2008. Remember, the first iPhone didn't have GPS or any third party apps, so RunKeeper could not exist until the summer of 2008. I had been using Nike+ for awhile and I liked it but really wanted a way to map my runs. I downloaded the initial, free version, of RunKeeper and was underwhelmed. It killed the battery, and continually quit or failed in the middle of a run. I liked the concept but the bullet-proof reliability of Nike+ won the day. Later, RunKeeper forked their product into a free and paid version. I downloaded both hoping to see better reliability and again was unimpressed. For the remainder of 2008, RunKeeper was only trotted out when I was runing in an exotic location where I wanted to record a map.

Like my run up the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum (Eye of the Tiger blasting through my ear buds)

Or on the beach at Grand Traverse Bay

Or the Loop in Chicago

Or Key Biscayne Florida

But as RunKeeper kept coming out with additional versions the product kept getting more reliable and better at managing battery life. By June of 2009, I was using it on every run. By this time, however I was addicted to the social nature of Nike+. I was participating in a bunch of challenges, and really was geting into the Nike+ community.

On September 19, 2009, I was doing my first 20 mile training run. My iPod Nano crapped out and Nike+ failed to track that run. That was the last time I used Nike+ and I have been monogomous RunKeeper user since. I think that since the 20 miler was so important to me, having Nike+ crap out allowed me to quit them cold turkey.

Now I am a committed RunKeeper user. I think its an awesome tool and I have, at various times, used nearly every feature:

• Manually entering runs with mapping! (like last night when I jabbered on the phone for the whole 5 miles)
• Intervals (I used run-walk to build up my miles during the summer of 2009)
• Photos (Michigania, Montreal and Quebec City all offered great photos on the run)
• Run editing (the canals of San Antonio confused the hell out of the GPS
• Alternative activities (I have tracked bike rides and swims, the latter by manual entry)
• Street Teams (I am encouraging my friends to get fit and part of the sell is pushing RunKeeper)

I am excited for iPhone 4.0. I think rapid applicagtion switching will make Runkeeper even better. I also would like to see better support for audio books in the integrated iPod playing system. But overall I feel that the iPhone client is done. In terms of the whole service I feel that the website could learn a lot about community building from Nike+. Where are the challenges? How about allow a second tier of social groupings (tribes? I would love to create, follow or join a barefoot running tribe, or a running doctors tribe) Why can't we use RunKeeper to set up virtual races among or between street teams? How about statistics about StreetTeams. Lots of potential and I am excited to see how this plays out.

Go Run Keeper.

Sorry about the lack of maps in this post. Imbedded maps is not currently working. Known bug. Always a work in progress.

Shoes companies suck

two articles from PubMed showing no difference in injuries when shoes are sized by the hight of the arch:

Effect on injuries of assigning shoes based on foot shape in air force basic training.



Injury reduction effectiveness of selecting running shoes based on plantar shape.

I added an RSS of shoe associated running injury research to the side bar.

April

So I had been targeting the Martian Marathon for a half marathon but the day before we came back from Colorado and I was still on Mountain Time when my alarm went off at 6 A.M.

I didn't make it to the race.

I did run 12.5 miles the next day, so I'll call that my half marathon.

Not included is the 2 mile warm-up I did with Bo.

Then on Monday I took off my shoes and ran my first true barefoot miles. I had been stripping off my shoes for the last month to finish the final quarter to half a mile in socks but I had never gone skin to the ground.

Two miles as nature intended.

I did it again on Wednesday. Feet hurt, calves stiff. It's like starting to run all over again. We'll see how this goes.