The running:
17 March - 10 miles (75 minutes) around Baltimore, on a subdued Sunday afternoon (apparently everybody was too tired from all of the "practice" Saint Patrick's Day celebrations for the past two weeks to celebrate the "real" one)
18 March - 9 miles (65 minutes) at APG
19 March - 2 miles warmup, 2 miles @13:21, 400m jog rest, 1 mile @6:20, 3x(200m @34, 400m recovery jog), 800m @3:11, 2 miles warmdown (9 total miles, 70 minutes)
20 March - 11 miles (81 minutes) at APG
21 March - 0.5 mile warmup, 35 minutes on the treadmill, level 15 hill program, 4 miles/1321 feet gain, 0.5 mile warmdown (5 miles, 45 minutes)
22 March - 10 miles (75 minutes) around Baltimore, cold and windy
23 March - 7 miles (52 minutes) in the morning, 8 miles (56 minutes) in the evening, in Baltimore
Total Time: 519 minutes
Total Distance: 69 miles
After not quite reaching my marathon goal this past Saturday, I'm pretty pleased with my rebound week. Highest weekly mileage in 2013, some decent tempo/speed stuff on Tuesday, a strong return to treadmill hill running on Thursday, and at no point did I feel totally beaten down and exhausted from this effort. Ultimately, I think my marathon failure was for the best, as it was still a solid training run, and gives me motivation to take another shot at a Boston qualifying time in early May, and to hopefully give a better than just "sneak in under 3:05" effort.
In other news related to the big dance that is Badwater, I've selected my crew, and hopefully all of my initial selections will make it to the starting line (and finish line) with me. If you weren't selected, and you're still interested, let me know, because if something bad happens between now and then, and somebody can't make it, it would be nice not to have to scramble too much.
Also, my G-PACT fundraising link is up. To make a donation, go here: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/DavidPloskonka/david-ploskonka-badwater And, just like last year, with your donation, I'll write a thing of your choice in a marker color of your choice on some article of clothing of my choice that I will wear during the race. As I mentioned previously, this cause is personal for me, as my sister struggles with gastroparesis, so your support means a lot to me. Donations of any amount are appreciated!
And that about wraps it up for this week. If you were looking for something more insightful here, well, so was I, for the past few days . . . And then I decided to let the hard work and progress speak for itself. (But stay tuned for the weeks - and adventures - ahead, as I'm sure that I'll have plenty more to say.)
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Week in Review: 10-16 March, and Rock N Roll USA Marathon Race Report
Miles:
10 March - off
11 March - 10 miles, in part with the Fed Hill Run (75 minutes)
12 March - 3.5 mile warmup, 3x(800m, 400m jog rest, 200m, full recovery)@2:53/34,3:01/36, 2:58/34, 3 mile warm-down (9 miles total, 70 minutes)
13 March - 6 miles easy (45 minutes)
14 March - off
15 March - off
16 March - 26.2 miles in 3:08:12, plus 2 total warm-up/warm-down miles (20 minutes)
Total time: 398 minutes
Total distance: 53 miles
The marathon is a funny race. A little bit here and a little bit there can make a huge difference over 26.2 miles. Being just a little bit away from a Boston Qualifying time, after four failed attempts to qualify again for 2014 (Maryville 2012, Baltimore 2012, NCR 2012, George Washington Birthday 2013), with a best time of just under 3:09:30 at Baltimore, or about 10 seconds per mile too slow, when I was still feeling pretty bad, I was pretty optimistic about my chances to qualify at the Rock N Roll USA Marathon. Friendlier course, friendlier time of year, friendlier weather, health steadily improving, workouts going pretty well . . . Yes, the marathon is a funny race, and there are no guarantees, but especially given my history of posting faster-than-expected times at this race since 2006, this was as close to guaranteed as this sort of thing gets.
And in that sense, the race delivered as promised. With a packet pick-up assist from Chris, and free lodging and parking at his apartment, near the metro and just three stops from the starting line, the pre-race was easy. I woke up feeling strong, with a lot of pop in my legs. It was overcast and cool, but not too cold - no rain, as had been threatened.
Then the race started, and about one 6:40 mile in, things started feeling just a little wrong. I could feel my legs starting to drag slightly, and even though I was holding this pace through 5 miles, it didn't feel as easy as it should have.
I tried to shrug it off, shift muscles on the surprise hills in the re-designed first half, but the longer this went on, the more it became clear that I was just buying time. I went through the half in just under 1:31, not feeling strong. I went through 20 miles in just under 2:21, feeling even worse.
I tried my best to ignore and push, but the cruelly hilly end of the race got the better of me. With 10 minutes to go until that magical 3:05 mark, I was still a little short of the 25-mile marker. I resolved to give whatever I had left for the next 10 minutes, knowing that it was probably going to be too little, too late. I passed a few runners in what felt like slow motion - my legs wouldn't go any faster.
At 3:05 on my watch, I looked up, the dead highway to the finish snaking uphill in front of me, now impossibly long.
I'd like to say that I continued to push like hell to make a point, but there was really no point to be made. I slow-motion stumbled to the finish, to what sounded like halfhearted cheers, as the stream of half-marathoners coming in at nearly 3 hours and 10 minutes were getting most of the attention.
I sat down on a curb just past the finish line, and hung my head for five minutes. I had nothing left.
Then I got up, moved on, and began the hour-long ordeal for post-race food, drop bags, port-a-pots, and the metro ride back to Chris's apartment.
The marathon is a funny race. I don't know why I didn't have a 3:05 in me. Maybe too much rest on a low-volume schedule, maybe not enough sleep over the past couple of days. Maybe not enough time and volume, period. Maybe I just forgot how to run a fast marathon.
What I do know is that it hurts to have a race die in slow motion like that. Normally, when a marathon doesn't go well, you feel it at 10, 13, 16 miles, try desperately to hang on, all the while knowing that you're going to blow up and have to walk a lot to make it to the finish line. But in this case, there was no blow-up. I stayed tough and hung on, and even at 20+ miles, I was still tantalizingly close - just one second-winded surge away from my goal. In spite of my effort, I wound up a little over 7 seconds per mile short.
I'm not going to be disappointed about this for too long. There's more work to do. But I won't forget, either - it's motivation to work just a little bit harder.
10 March - off
11 March - 10 miles, in part with the Fed Hill Run (75 minutes)
12 March - 3.5 mile warmup, 3x(800m, 400m jog rest, 200m, full recovery)@2:53/34,3:01/36, 2:58/34, 3 mile warm-down (9 miles total, 70 minutes)
13 March - 6 miles easy (45 minutes)
14 March - off
15 March - off
16 March - 26.2 miles in 3:08:12, plus 2 total warm-up/warm-down miles (20 minutes)
Total time: 398 minutes
Total distance: 53 miles
The marathon is a funny race. A little bit here and a little bit there can make a huge difference over 26.2 miles. Being just a little bit away from a Boston Qualifying time, after four failed attempts to qualify again for 2014 (Maryville 2012, Baltimore 2012, NCR 2012, George Washington Birthday 2013), with a best time of just under 3:09:30 at Baltimore, or about 10 seconds per mile too slow, when I was still feeling pretty bad, I was pretty optimistic about my chances to qualify at the Rock N Roll USA Marathon. Friendlier course, friendlier time of year, friendlier weather, health steadily improving, workouts going pretty well . . . Yes, the marathon is a funny race, and there are no guarantees, but especially given my history of posting faster-than-expected times at this race since 2006, this was as close to guaranteed as this sort of thing gets.
And in that sense, the race delivered as promised. With a packet pick-up assist from Chris, and free lodging and parking at his apartment, near the metro and just three stops from the starting line, the pre-race was easy. I woke up feeling strong, with a lot of pop in my legs. It was overcast and cool, but not too cold - no rain, as had been threatened.
Then the race started, and about one 6:40 mile in, things started feeling just a little wrong. I could feel my legs starting to drag slightly, and even though I was holding this pace through 5 miles, it didn't feel as easy as it should have.
I tried to shrug it off, shift muscles on the surprise hills in the re-designed first half, but the longer this went on, the more it became clear that I was just buying time. I went through the half in just under 1:31, not feeling strong. I went through 20 miles in just under 2:21, feeling even worse.
I tried my best to ignore and push, but the cruelly hilly end of the race got the better of me. With 10 minutes to go until that magical 3:05 mark, I was still a little short of the 25-mile marker. I resolved to give whatever I had left for the next 10 minutes, knowing that it was probably going to be too little, too late. I passed a few runners in what felt like slow motion - my legs wouldn't go any faster.
At 3:05 on my watch, I looked up, the dead highway to the finish snaking uphill in front of me, now impossibly long.
I'd like to say that I continued to push like hell to make a point, but there was really no point to be made. I slow-motion stumbled to the finish, to what sounded like halfhearted cheers, as the stream of half-marathoners coming in at nearly 3 hours and 10 minutes were getting most of the attention.
I sat down on a curb just past the finish line, and hung my head for five minutes. I had nothing left.
Then I got up, moved on, and began the hour-long ordeal for post-race food, drop bags, port-a-pots, and the metro ride back to Chris's apartment.
The marathon is a funny race. I don't know why I didn't have a 3:05 in me. Maybe too much rest on a low-volume schedule, maybe not enough sleep over the past couple of days. Maybe not enough time and volume, period. Maybe I just forgot how to run a fast marathon.
What I do know is that it hurts to have a race die in slow motion like that. Normally, when a marathon doesn't go well, you feel it at 10, 13, 16 miles, try desperately to hang on, all the while knowing that you're going to blow up and have to walk a lot to make it to the finish line. But in this case, there was no blow-up. I stayed tough and hung on, and even at 20+ miles, I was still tantalizingly close - just one second-winded surge away from my goal. In spite of my effort, I wound up a little over 7 seconds per mile short.
I'm not going to be disappointed about this for too long. There's more work to do. But I won't forget, either - it's motivation to work just a little bit harder.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Week in Review: 3-9 March - Healthy Again, Probably
The running:
3 March: 4.5 miles (30-ish minutes), around the Inner Harbor, at the secret dead time (7:30 p.m. on Sundays, for anybody who wants the scenery without crowds of any sort)
4 March: 5.5 miles (40-ish minutes), easy jog on and around the APG dirt loop
5 March: afternoon: 5.5 miles (40-ish minutes), at APG; evening: 2 mile warm-up, 8x(400m speed, 400m jog) in 82, 81, 83, 83, 83, 83, 83, 80, 2.5 mile warmdown, total 15 miles (total 110 minutes)
6 March: 6 miles (45 minutes) at APG
7 March: off
8 March: 10 miles (75 minutes) around downtown Baltimore
9 March: 13 miles (100 minutes) at Patapsco, mostly on trails, finished with one run up Gun Road
Total Time: 400 minutes
Total Distance: 54 miles
The story:
Per the plan, more mileage than the week before, and also, per the dream, feeling better doing it than the week before. This recent turn-for-the-better that my health has taken seems to be continuing, and I'm going to continue not to question it too rigorously, lest I create problems where there are none, and fall apart again.
One thing is for (relative) certain, though, and it's that I haven't felt the way I feel right now in a long, long time. I'm not sure that I can remember when I felt this physically well. I have a lot of energy, I'm not dragging myself through the day, I'm thinking a lot more clearly. Feeling healthy is awesome. And, more to the point, feeling healthy is so awesome that it's hard for me to imagine now how I dragged myself through so many months (by my guess, since over a year ago, if not longer) feeling so terrible.
Of course, I realize that health is fragile (if my past year or so has taught me anything), and it is entirely possible that it could all fall apart again, for any number of reasons. But for now, the life lesson is that preservation of your health should be a high priority, and if you're constantly tired, or foggy-headed, or generally miserable, YOU ARE NOT HEALTHY. Don't make the mistake that I made, and assume that it's part of life, or getting old, or just how things are. There are things you can do to try to get better. It will be a process, and it will take time, and it will take effort to maintain. And I'm not about to get on a soap box and preach about the best method to get there from here (as I'm still sorting out exactly which things I've done have improved my health). All I will say is that there is a way, and if you're not doing so well, your first priority should be to find that way, whatever it is.
Finally, Badwater stuff: If you're interested in being a part of my crew for Badwater this summer, you have until this Saturday (16 March) to let me know. I'll make my decision on Sunday (17 March) and let everybody know, one way or the other. If I haven't acknowledged your request, ask me again. And when you do let me know, please let me know WHY you want to be a part of my crew. I'm not going to list a whole bunch of qualifications, or make up an application (amusing though that might be for me), but I will say that it is important for me to understand why you want to be there, and that the reason why you want to be there is arguably the most important factor in my decision. But of course, whatever other information that you'd like to provide is more than welcome.
The week ahead: more running, and the Rock N Roll USA (formerly National) Marathon - fingers crossed, my first decent marathon performance in a long time . . .
3 March: 4.5 miles (30-ish minutes), around the Inner Harbor, at the secret dead time (7:30 p.m. on Sundays, for anybody who wants the scenery without crowds of any sort)
4 March: 5.5 miles (40-ish minutes), easy jog on and around the APG dirt loop
5 March: afternoon: 5.5 miles (40-ish minutes), at APG; evening: 2 mile warm-up, 8x(400m speed, 400m jog) in 82, 81, 83, 83, 83, 83, 83, 80, 2.5 mile warmdown, total 15 miles (total 110 minutes)
6 March: 6 miles (45 minutes) at APG
7 March: off
8 March: 10 miles (75 minutes) around downtown Baltimore
9 March: 13 miles (100 minutes) at Patapsco, mostly on trails, finished with one run up Gun Road
Total Time: 400 minutes
Total Distance: 54 miles
The story:
Per the plan, more mileage than the week before, and also, per the dream, feeling better doing it than the week before. This recent turn-for-the-better that my health has taken seems to be continuing, and I'm going to continue not to question it too rigorously, lest I create problems where there are none, and fall apart again.
One thing is for (relative) certain, though, and it's that I haven't felt the way I feel right now in a long, long time. I'm not sure that I can remember when I felt this physically well. I have a lot of energy, I'm not dragging myself through the day, I'm thinking a lot more clearly. Feeling healthy is awesome. And, more to the point, feeling healthy is so awesome that it's hard for me to imagine now how I dragged myself through so many months (by my guess, since over a year ago, if not longer) feeling so terrible.
Of course, I realize that health is fragile (if my past year or so has taught me anything), and it is entirely possible that it could all fall apart again, for any number of reasons. But for now, the life lesson is that preservation of your health should be a high priority, and if you're constantly tired, or foggy-headed, or generally miserable, YOU ARE NOT HEALTHY. Don't make the mistake that I made, and assume that it's part of life, or getting old, or just how things are. There are things you can do to try to get better. It will be a process, and it will take time, and it will take effort to maintain. And I'm not about to get on a soap box and preach about the best method to get there from here (as I'm still sorting out exactly which things I've done have improved my health). All I will say is that there is a way, and if you're not doing so well, your first priority should be to find that way, whatever it is.
Finally, Badwater stuff: If you're interested in being a part of my crew for Badwater this summer, you have until this Saturday (16 March) to let me know. I'll make my decision on Sunday (17 March) and let everybody know, one way or the other. If I haven't acknowledged your request, ask me again. And when you do let me know, please let me know WHY you want to be a part of my crew. I'm not going to list a whole bunch of qualifications, or make up an application (amusing though that might be for me), but I will say that it is important for me to understand why you want to be there, and that the reason why you want to be there is arguably the most important factor in my decision. But of course, whatever other information that you'd like to provide is more than welcome.
The week ahead: more running, and the Rock N Roll USA (formerly National) Marathon - fingers crossed, my first decent marathon performance in a long time . . .
Monday, March 4, 2013
Badwater Business
Now that the proverbial dust has settled from the initial "you got into Badwater!" excitement, it's down to business. So, a few things:
1. Charity: This year, I'll be running to raise funds for G-PACT, at my little sister's request. She's been dealing with gastroparesis for some time now, and it is, at the risk of sounding glib, no picnic (especially since picnics and other food-centric events become complicated when gastroparesis is involved). The website is here: http://www.g-pact.org/ . . . and the Facebook page is here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/GPACT. Check it out, and if you feel so motivated, make a donation, and let me know (or don't, although I would like to keep track if possible). If you do let me know, same deal as last year; I'll write whatever you want on clothing that I wear during the race. I'm thinking this year maybe arm sleeves or my hat, so that it's more visible in the photos. (Probably not as face or body paint, as that probably won't last 135 miles.)
2. Crew: I do like company when I run, and, in truth, it's difficult to cross a desert in July by yourself. So I need a few support crew members to help me out. Yes, I could just ask my entire crew from last year to come back, and I'm sure that they all would, and they would all be just as awesome as they were before. But Badwater is too much awesome not to share, so I'd like to open it up to the general public and see what happens. So send me an email, post on my Facebook wall, call me, text me, whatever creative way you want to contact me, and let me know why you'd like to crew for me at Badwater this year. I'll leave the lines open until, oh, say, March 17th, and then make a decision based on what I've heard at that point. Please keep in mind that this decision will likely be totally subjective and somewhat random, so no hurt feeings, okay?
3. Training: Oh, right, that thing. Last week, I ran 15 miles total on Sunday (including that awful, awful 10 miles at Club Challenge), 13 miles on Monday in two runs (5 at lunch, 8 in the evening), 8 miles on Tuesday in two runs (5.5 at lunch, 2.5 on a terrible, terrible windy cold rainy evening), took Wednesday and Thursday off, ran 4.5 miles on Friday, and 5.5 miles on Saturday. 46 miles total.
And that doesn't sound like a lot, and it isn't, in terms of quantity, but, as it turned out, the run-on-sentence-before-last ended up being of much higher quality than its grammatical construction.
After Club Challenge catastrophe, and what was a struggle to make it to 13 miles the following day, Tuesday took a turn for the even-worse. The night was cold, windy, and rainy like (in technical terms) WOAH. My goal was 2 warm-up miles, 2x200 FAST, on full rest (~600m), and 2 warm-down miles. The 2 warm-up miles on the track were at around 8:20/mile pace, with the wind blowing impossibly hard starting halfway on the second turn and all the way down the home straightaway. The first 200 felt like it had to be fast, until I looked at my watch, and it said 37. Dismayed, and dreading another 600m around the oval, I ran back and forth on the home straightaway until my 600m was up (at least the wind was predictable that way), and lined up for my second 200m. In spite of the wind assist, and my resolve to run faster than before, this time, my watch said 38. And that was enough. I jogged off the track, cold and defeated, and went home.
Two days off later, I went for a half-hour run around Patterson Park. Granted, the weather was a lot nicer, but my expectations were still fairly low. To my pleasant surprise, I completed the entire 2-mile loop of the park in exactly 14 minutes, not feeling as though I had pushed hard or was in any particular distress, then proceeded to run Butcher's Hill on the Baltimore Street side of the park, bottom to top, in 3:13, again, in no particular distress. To put that in perspective, the hill is 30-40 meters shy of half a mile, and rises a little over 90 feet. I finished the half-hour feeling as though I could put in two or three more half-hours like that.
I felt similarly good on Saturday, so, fingers crossed, this trend will continue. I'm going to continue to be cautiously optimistic, the way I was in early 2011, when I came back from a stress fracture in December to run 2:49:33 at the Boston Marathon in April. I'm sure that there will be ups and downs between now and July, and there will be plenty more foul weather to tough out. But I do feel as though I've turned a corner, hopefully for real this time, and I'm excited about my training in the weeks and months ahead.
So if there is a mini-moral here (and I feel as though this has to end with something of the sort), it's that the focus for now needs process and the effort, and not the final goal. 135 miles is a long way, and it's still a long way off. So far, focusing on the process, and making gradual gains, seems to be working. Expect to see more of this, and maybe some cat or Baltimore-street-vagrant stories, which are inevitably part of the process, next week . . .
1. Charity: This year, I'll be running to raise funds for G-PACT, at my little sister's request. She's been dealing with gastroparesis for some time now, and it is, at the risk of sounding glib, no picnic (especially since picnics and other food-centric events become complicated when gastroparesis is involved). The website is here: http://www.g-pact.org/ . . . and the Facebook page is here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/GPACT. Check it out, and if you feel so motivated, make a donation, and let me know (or don't, although I would like to keep track if possible). If you do let me know, same deal as last year; I'll write whatever you want on clothing that I wear during the race. I'm thinking this year maybe arm sleeves or my hat, so that it's more visible in the photos. (Probably not as face or body paint, as that probably won't last 135 miles.)
2. Crew: I do like company when I run, and, in truth, it's difficult to cross a desert in July by yourself. So I need a few support crew members to help me out. Yes, I could just ask my entire crew from last year to come back, and I'm sure that they all would, and they would all be just as awesome as they were before. But Badwater is too much awesome not to share, so I'd like to open it up to the general public and see what happens. So send me an email, post on my Facebook wall, call me, text me, whatever creative way you want to contact me, and let me know why you'd like to crew for me at Badwater this year. I'll leave the lines open until, oh, say, March 17th, and then make a decision based on what I've heard at that point. Please keep in mind that this decision will likely be totally subjective and somewhat random, so no hurt feeings, okay?
3. Training: Oh, right, that thing. Last week, I ran 15 miles total on Sunday (including that awful, awful 10 miles at Club Challenge), 13 miles on Monday in two runs (5 at lunch, 8 in the evening), 8 miles on Tuesday in two runs (5.5 at lunch, 2.5 on a terrible, terrible windy cold rainy evening), took Wednesday and Thursday off, ran 4.5 miles on Friday, and 5.5 miles on Saturday. 46 miles total.
And that doesn't sound like a lot, and it isn't, in terms of quantity, but, as it turned out, the run-on-sentence-before-last ended up being of much higher quality than its grammatical construction.
After Club Challenge catastrophe, and what was a struggle to make it to 13 miles the following day, Tuesday took a turn for the even-worse. The night was cold, windy, and rainy like (in technical terms) WOAH. My goal was 2 warm-up miles, 2x200 FAST, on full rest (~600m), and 2 warm-down miles. The 2 warm-up miles on the track were at around 8:20/mile pace, with the wind blowing impossibly hard starting halfway on the second turn and all the way down the home straightaway. The first 200 felt like it had to be fast, until I looked at my watch, and it said 37. Dismayed, and dreading another 600m around the oval, I ran back and forth on the home straightaway until my 600m was up (at least the wind was predictable that way), and lined up for my second 200m. In spite of the wind assist, and my resolve to run faster than before, this time, my watch said 38. And that was enough. I jogged off the track, cold and defeated, and went home.
Two days off later, I went for a half-hour run around Patterson Park. Granted, the weather was a lot nicer, but my expectations were still fairly low. To my pleasant surprise, I completed the entire 2-mile loop of the park in exactly 14 minutes, not feeling as though I had pushed hard or was in any particular distress, then proceeded to run Butcher's Hill on the Baltimore Street side of the park, bottom to top, in 3:13, again, in no particular distress. To put that in perspective, the hill is 30-40 meters shy of half a mile, and rises a little over 90 feet. I finished the half-hour feeling as though I could put in two or three more half-hours like that.
I felt similarly good on Saturday, so, fingers crossed, this trend will continue. I'm going to continue to be cautiously optimistic, the way I was in early 2011, when I came back from a stress fracture in December to run 2:49:33 at the Boston Marathon in April. I'm sure that there will be ups and downs between now and July, and there will be plenty more foul weather to tough out. But I do feel as though I've turned a corner, hopefully for real this time, and I'm excited about my training in the weeks and months ahead.
So if there is a mini-moral here (and I feel as though this has to end with something of the sort), it's that the focus for now needs process and the effort, and not the final goal. 135 miles is a long way, and it's still a long way off. So far, focusing on the process, and making gradual gains, seems to be working. Expect to see more of this, and maybe some cat or Baltimore-street-vagrant stories, which are inevitably part of the process, next week . . .
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