Runner Insight

Third Time’s A Charm

I just finished my third full marathon on Sunday July 10, 2011, about ten days ago.  And I guess what they say is true…Third time really is a charm!  I had the best marathon experience, despite a few mishaps along the way.

Not only did I finish the 26.2 mile race with a PR of 5:06:55, knocking more than 20 minutes off my best time, I finished strong and could have run further if I had wanted to…No I did not really want to, thank you very much, I was very happy to cross the line when I did!

But seriously, I just kept waiting to hit the “WALL”, but never did, never even came close to running in to it…Only parked cars, but that’s another story…

So in light of such a great marathon experience, I decided to look back and think about why it was that I had such an awesome marathon. This is what I came up with.

For starters, my overall conditioning is better this year.  I have been walking on average 7-8 miles a day for over a year and a half, setting up a really good base line for my fitness level. Of course walking isn’t enough. 

About 3 months before the marathon, I started to get up early to run 6 miles, approximately 4 to 5 times a week, in addition to my walking. Then I was doing my long runs on the weekend.  Then about 2 months before the marathon, we started hiking up to the “M” which is about a 620 foot climb above the Missoula valley.  It’s a ¾ mile switch back trail up a very steep mountain. We usually make it up to the “M” in about 20-ish minutes, soaking in the beautiful views of the valley below, and then heading back down.

I also finally got dedicated to my strength training this year. And I know that helped immensely.

Another factor that I believe played a major role in my marathon success was the food and nutrition element. We have been on a journey over the last several years to take baby steps towards being smarter and making healthier choices when it comes to food, without being too obsessive or rigid about the whole process.  This year I was able to cut my sugar intake a lot.  And we also started using portion control…Using actual measuring cups, and not my eyeballs…You can see where that might get me in trouble. J J  I wasn’t heavy before, but I was able to drop 10 lbs.  I was not even close to being overweight, but by trimming and toning to an ideal race weight, I had less joint pain after my runs, making recovery so-o much easier.

I also know that having my back in alignment for these past 2 years has made a huge difference in my training and ultimately in the great race I had and the easy recovery.  I was faithful about going to my wonderful chiropractor every month for my tune up, and going again 4 days before the race itself, just to make sure I was in tip top shape.

These were all things I had control over.  I simply stuck with what I knew worked, and implemented a few new strategies. One of my new tactics was to eat pasta with roasted turkey and broccoli for my pre race meal, and then having a delicious bagel from my favorite bagel place, “Bagels on Broadway” right when I got up at 4:30am, instead of the banana and yogurt that I had in previous years.  I still had yogurt, but since I had the bagel at 4:30, I waited until just before we left the house to have that. 

But there were things I could not control, such as the weather.  And what a glorious day it turned out to be.  We had a very cool start to the 5th Missoula Marathon.  In fact it was so cool, 45 degrees I wished I had kept my knit gloves for the first half hour of the race. But I toughed it out, and the sun came out and warmed my hands up quite nicely. 

It was a warm, sunny day, but the sun seemed less harsh, the light almost diffused, and I never got overheated like I did during my first marathon when we had that record-breaking heat wave. (You can read all about that adventure in my book: Running Blind.)

The other thing I don’t have any control over is my fellow racers.   As I get closer to town, I rely on the kindness of strangers to help guide me around turns, round-abouts and other potential obstacles.  Once again my fellow marathoners and the volunteers and spectators rose to the occasion!  Sometimes even grabbing my hand and saying “I’ll take you through this part here because there’s a lot of turns and obstacles.” (Thanks, Joe and Daniel!)

And of course I rely on T to be at our pre-designated spots to give me encouragement and my electrolyte drink and honey pack.  Without her support and willingness to get up at the crack of dawn to take me, and then to meet me four or five times along the race course, I know my marathon could not have been as successful as it was!

So not only did I have an incredible marathon this year, my recovery time was almost non-existent.  Sure, I was tired and my legs were a little bit sore, but not once did I have trouble walking down the stairs.

After the marathon, we took three days off and went to our favorite lake and camped.  There we floated in the lake and sat around the campfire.  By day four I was more than ready to run. So I did, running 6 miles that day, in addition to walking another 7 and climbing to the “M”.

So now that I’ve had the best marathon experience I could ever hope to have…the decision looms. I have to contemplate whether or not I want to run the full Missoula Marathon again.  Do I end on a high note?  Or do I keep riding this rollercoaster that is marathon training?

Hmmmm? What do you think? Leave your comments below!

How ‘bout it?

- Vision Runner

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Don’t Worry, The Bridge is Still Standing

As you may know, I have been training for my 2^nd full marathon coming up in July.  After writing my soon to be published book, “Running Blind: The Journey of a Blind Runner Training for Her First Marathon” I decided it would be fun to run another full marathon to be able to put into practice all that I had learned from the first time around. 

So starting in March, I have been adding miles onto my long run on Sundays.  A few weeks ago, I ran the 18 miles that my marathon training schedule said I was to run.  Not really having a route that is long enough to run straight out and back, I had to come up with a plan that would allow me to get my 18 miles in somewhere around town, in areas that I was familiar with. 

It did involve me having to back track some of my miles, and run past my house again, which usually makes me want to head straight for the barn like some kind of out of control horse, but since it was only a few miles into my run, I didn’t have a problem passing the barn…err my house. 

I was now 6 miles into my run with another 12 to go.  I knew if I ran all the way down the Kim Williams Trail, an old railroad route turned into a bike and pedestrian path, I’d be able to get my full 18 miles that I needed.  I have always enjoyed running this trail, but since my eyesight has gotten worse, I have not run on it by myself in a few years. 

The main reason I don’t run it is because I have to go a lot slower and really watch out for tripping hazards such as rocks, fallen branches, and small children. 

Once on the trail, I remembered how much I loved running on the well traveled path. The mostly dirt trail runs right alongside the river.  It starts at the edge of the U of M campus and goes in about 3 miles.  It’s very peaceful and pretty, but as I said, lots of opportunities for me to get tripped up.

So on this particular Sunday, I had to be extra careful as I was running the trail with 12 miles already logged on my pedometer.  My legs were getting fatigued as I turned around to head back, the last 6 miles home.  

But it wasn’t on the rocky, family and children-infested trail that I “ran” into trouble.  The trouble was much less obvious to anyone with eyesight. It  came on the newly paved Riverfront trail that hooks up with the Kim Williams Trail.

I had deployed my white cane after coming off the dirt trail, and was weaving it back and forth on the shiny new path, thinking how nice it was.  The weather had been a perfect 56F degrees and partly sunny. All of a sudden a gust of wind and some light rain began to fall, just as I felt myself leaving the path. 

I was on a downward slope, and I knew I had gone off the path, and was preparing to stop, when a very large and very hard concrete pillar stopped me instead! 

Imagine my shock and disbelief as I did a face plant into concrete.  My nose and upper lip took the brunt of the impact.  Thankfully my running hat and white cane kept me from hitting it super hard.  I’m not saying I didn’t hit it hard, but at least I didn’t knock out any teeth or break my nose!

This concrete pillar is attached to a major bridge.  Yup about the only obstacle on this path, and I run right in to it!

So I stood there licking my wounds….well, not really licking… I used a tissue, and made an assessment of the damage.  Other than a fat lip and a small cut on my upper lip, I would live to run another day.  I debated with myself whether I should call home.  But since I was not hurt too bad, and I really did want to finish my run and get my 18 miles in, I pulled myself together and continued on.  I’m just glad I couldn’t see the people’s faces as I ran by, I’m sure I was a sight to see.  I did stop and run cold water on my lip from a water fountain.

Sometimes it sucks to be a blind runner!

When I got home we got an ice pack for my lip.  I said, “At least I didn’t come home without any teeth.” 

T replied, “Just come home, we’ll deal with the teeth later, just come home!”  We  both laughed, what else could we do?  I know it’s scary for her to let me go out and be independent, especially when I do things like this, but she knows that I’m doing what I love, and really I am careful, and now I know not to run into pillars…Yes I knew it before, but now I REALLY know!

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

Popularity: 37% [?]

Marathon Training:  What I Did Right

Well lots of lessons learned, as you gathered from the last post. Now this one, I’ll focus on what I did right 

I can tell you the first thing I did right was to decide to run the marathon in the first place! 

I had always told myself I didn’t need to run 26.2 miles to prove anything, to myself or others.  But when Run Wild Missoula announced that they would be putting on a full 26.2 mile marathon in my hometown of Missoula in 2007, I was all over it. 

Deep down inside, I had always had an urge to run a full marathon. I had always said that I didn’t really want to because I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of travel and running in a strange environment where I didn’t really know the area or the race route. Logistically, running a race alone, away from home is stressful for a blind runner. 

But since it was going to be right here at home, wow – kazow…let’s do it! I felt I was at a good place in my running program that I could train for and run a 26.2 mile marathon.  

And what fun to be part of the Inaugural Missoula Marathon, especially if it became an annual event. It would be great to be able to say that I had run the Inaugural Missoula Marathon. That carries a little deserved swagger, don’t you think?

So when I started training for the marathon at the beginning of January, one of the first right things I did was to start studying all sorts of material on training for a marathon.  One very important tip I learned was to eat a recovery meal within the first 30 minutes after a run.  This was something I had previously not been in the habit of doing before I started my marathon training.

In addition, my overall nutrition plan became much healthier, as I really began to pay attention to what I ate, and how it would affect my running. 

One brilliant idea I had was to enlist the help of my friend Vickie to help me with my long runs.  By having Vickie ride her bike with me on my long runs, I was able to concentrate on running instead of things like traffic, and where or how I was going to get my water and power drinks to replenish on my long training runs.  She took care of all of that for me so that all I had to do was run.  There was the added bonus of having great company and conversation as she rode alongside on my run and of course, the rekindled friendship with a dear friend.

Another thing I did right (and would highly recommend to you) was to buy two identical pairs of running shoes at the beginning of my marathon training program.  I set one pair aside after I got them broke in. All I did was put about 150 to 200 miles on them, and then brought them out for the marathon.  This was great because I wasn’t wearing brand new shoes that were too stiff that hadn’t been broken in yet. Nor was I wearing a worn-out pair with too many miles on them. My feet had great support the whole race, and I didn’t need to buy a new pair of running shoes after the race, ‘cause there were still a few hundred miles left on the race shoes. Thanks Anders at “The Runner’s Edge”. Great advice! Now I do that every time I’m preparing to start training for a race.

Another good strategy was to tell as many people as I could that I was running in my first marathon.  This not only got me excited about running 26.2 miles, but it got others pulling for me, too.  Their respect, enthusiasm and awe of how I could even think of doing something like that as a blind runner, was highly motivational.  Since I knew they were watching and were going to inquire as to how my training was going, etc., it made me stick to my marathon training schedule, even when sometimes I wanted to skip a long run.  I knew by having told so many people about running the marathon, that I could not disappoint them or myself.  It was a very good tool to keep me motivated when my body was insisting that I “Stop this nonsense!” 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The most important thing I did right was… are you ready?

I finished the race! 

26.2 miles in just under five and a half hours.

5:28:00

Yea for me!

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner 

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