My training for the IMT Des Moines Marathon began on Fat Tuesday, which fell this year on March 5th, 2019.
Looking at my Instagram account it was 11 degrees outside. This was actually a heatwave to us here in Northeast Iowa due to the Polar Vortex sweeping through our corner of the world only a couple of weeks previous. I covered 3.1 miles in about 38 minutes having to dodge ice and snow sticking to the road in spots.
Seems like a lifetime ago compared to what I ran in this morning. I completed the Sturgis Falls Half-Marathon in oppressive heat and humidity with no wind to move the sticky air around.
Now I move to the second half of my 2019 running season- training for the marathon.
I cannot tell you why I want to run a marathon beyond feeling like I should. Maybe there are other reasons. I’ve lost over 100 lbs over the last year and, because of the fear of gaining it back, I wanted to have some goal to shoot for to keep me focused.
Des Moines is my hometown and it’s the closest Marathon so running it there was a bit of a no brainer
I knew we were in for the devil’s own day when I stepped outside to check conditions at about 5:15 am. The air felt soupy and the temperature was already in the mid-70’s. Lots of midwestern humidity in the air. The gun sounded just outside the #cedarfallsreccenter at 7:00 am sharp and we were off. We runners benefited from going into South Riverside Trail so early. Lots of shade. This helped immensely in the early stages, especially since there was virtually no wind at all to move anything around. Was fairly pleased with my progress as I hit the Ansborough Ave turnaround.
Trouble did not start for me until Grand Blvd. From there we had to run a straight- away distance to River Hills School for the turn around there. I arrived there just after 8:15 a.m. Grand doesn’t have a steep incline, but the incline goes on forever. Furthermore, unlike the trail, there was no real shade heading up at first. And I’ve written before of my difficulties with straight-aways.
I started walking for a couple of blocks. I figured I would have to do that at some point in the run. What surprised me was I saw a lot of other men and women who were of physical and athletic stature that I could only dream about doing the same thing. That’s how much of a heartbreaker Grand Blvd. Was. I gained some running form for the turnaround at River Hills but slowed to a walk when I felt myself overheating on the way back from the school. I ran into my running partner @mamapack48 on the way back. “The heat and the hills got me.” I told her. She handed me some cherry running jelly beans. They revived me a bit to the point I dont recall walking for the remainder of the race (but I could be wrong I cant remember). Terri and I ran together but lost each other near CFU.
I crossed the finish line completely exhausted but exhilarated. I chugged two Orange Mango flavored Body Armours and Lord knows how many waters. There is a difference in what the finish line clock showed and what I had on my #nikerunclubapp. The Sturgis Falls timer had me at 2:30:42. My app had me at 2:29:40. Either way, I finished 72nd of 105 and 10th in my division. Also as @fitnessmom said “This is a race you survive, not pr on.”
Training for the Des Moines Marathon will start with a 3 mile run on Tuesday morning.
The first day of summer arrived in NE Iowa under threat of severe weather. Looking west from our driveway (the top of which serves as my start/finish line for my runs) I saw the all-too familiar dark blue/grey skies which feature at best heavy rains and at worst severe weather. That can mean a number of things in Iowa.
Severe thunderstorms. Flash flooding. Hail. Severe wind gusts. Lightning. Tornadoes.
In addition to Coach Chris Bennett’s 5 mile guided run on my Nike Run Club App in my headphones, I also had Ross Carpenter’s morning show on KWMT on the IHeart Radio App. KWMT is based in Fort Dodge, Iowa, a city about 90 miles west of us here in Cedar Falls. They specialize in playing seven decades worth of classic country music. I am not sure why. but I have come to love old country music in the last few years. Maybe it reminds me of my late Grandmother Coleen on my mom’s side of the family. Maybe it hearkens back to my childhood watching my mother bop around the house listening to “He’s A Heartache” by Janie Fricke or “When You Think About Love, Think About Me” by Dolly Parton or “Bop” by Dan Seals or any other great song in the post- “Urban Cowboy” countrypolitan movement of the early 80’s.
While Carpenter was spinning the aforementioned “Bop” by Dan Seals, the all-too-familiar harsh tones of the severe weather alert system activated and somewhere my wife was smiling, as she hates that song.
Flash flooding. Greene County, Webster County and some other counties to the west. Looks like Nebraska and the far west part of Iowa along the Missouri River is going to get socked again. Haven’t they had enough?
The forecast is calling for rain, severe thunderstorms and humidity all through the weekend. As I mentioned before I don’t care to run on back-to-back days, let alone 12 hours apart, but I wanted to make room for an 11 mile run on Monday after work. That will be the last long run before the Sturgis Falls Half-Marathon on Sunday June 30th. Tuesday, I have the day off, but it is my week to mow the lawn at the church I attend. I had no idea that our church had such lengthy land holdings until I mowed the first. It’s gonna be at least a two hour job.
About 12 hours after yesterday’s awful run on a splitting headache (a run I felt I had to make in the name of mental toughness normally headaches lay me out flat and I become useless) I lined up this morning at the top of the driveway about 7 a.m. I came into the run with no expectations at the start.
But something happened once the Nike Run Club app on the phone gave out a vibration on my phone signaling the start of the 5 mile run. I liked the way I came down the driveway. It felt natural. I had to calm down throughout the first half-mile and not rush the first mile. Especially on extended runs, bursts of hyperactive enthusiasm on the first two miles result in uncontrolled chaos on the back part of the run. I didn’t pick a specific point to pick up the pace preferring to ease into the run. About three-fourths of a mile into the run, I began to accelerate ever-so-slightly. I noticed something else. Instead of hearing chatter in my head, all I heard was the sound of my breathing. As I entered the cul-de-sac where I joined the Cedar Prairie Trail, I noticed that my eyes were not looking around but focused in tight on the horizon. This was going to be a good run, I could tell. Maybe not in terms of time, but definitely in terms of feeling and form. I was locked in.
I kept the form and the tempo up as the miles went on. When I reached the half-way point just past the Waterloo Road underpass, I made a wider turn than usual in order to keep pace. Thanks to taking Coach Bennett’s words to heart, I knew this would be a crucial part of the run- the third quarter of the race. That is where my mind tends to wander off and I go into a lull. All of my times reflect this downturn in quality. Determined that this was not going to happen today, I broke the back half of the run into small bits. I focused on a tree. Or a bench. Or a sign. Anything along the way. I thought if I would break down the run into smaller chunks I could maintain or even improve on pace and avoid the lull.
When Coach Bennett called for an increase in speed in the 4th mile for about 150 meters, I handled it without getting uncomfortable or feeling I like I was losing control of the run. On the last half-mile straightaway leading home, I didn’t feel like I was losing speed at all.
When I arrived at 5 miles just outside our front door, I looked at my splits and found that I had the best run statistically that I ever had with the splits decreasing in time as the miles rolled on.
Splits
9:52
9:19
9:15
9:15
9:12
9:10 (Fastest)
Seeing these numbers pleased me.
But then I thought of something else. How many times in my life did I quit at something when I had a hard run? Or a hard day? Or a setback?
How would my life be different if I had stuck out some of the activities I did and not let a negative practice or a bad session stop me from lining up the next morning?
Yesterday, I had the worst run I ever had in my running life. Twelve hours later, I had a new PR on my five mile run. It’s true that one day you could be doing something and feel like you are on top of the world and then the next day or next session you feel like you are scrapping the bottom of the barrel. But the opposite is true too.
What happened to me over this last day illustrates the importance of showing up. Especially showing up after a set back or a hard run. In fact, I would dare say that the most important run a person can take is the run after a disastrous one. We can’t let our negative thoughts or negative experiences be the last word on things.
I remember in 9th grade I attempted to try out for the East High School Basketball team in Pueblo, Colorado during my cup of coffee at that school. Practice was frustrating so I quietly dismissed myself from the gym and walked home. No one noticed I left. What would have happened if I had applied myself? What would have happened if I kept showing up and tried my best? I haven’t thought about that moment in 25 years but I am thinking about it now suddenly as an example of what I am talking about.
I’ll never know. But I know enough now to know that I have to keep showing up. Maybe not day-after-day because I need to give my joints time to heal, but there must be a next time. For every bad run, there needs to be a redemption run. The baser versions of ourselves cannot be allowed to win.
We may be one run away from a disaster. But we may be one run away from greatness. We will never know unless we keep lining up.
That was the worst run I’ve had since starting up running last year. I knew it would be going into it though. I developed a splitting headache at work this afternoon. Anyone who knows me knows I am a complete wuss when it comes to headaches. Even a small one would incapacitate me for a half day during my 350+ lbs days. I wanted to test myself. I wanted to challenge myself to run with a bad headache to see if my new-found discipline was enough to conquer something that I would let lay me out in the old days.
I completed the run. The splits are bad. But the run got done.
The last long run I did was 8 days ago. It was an 8 -mile and it was fairly brutal. I wasn’t running contained as Coach Bennett said in one of his guided runs. My breathing wasn’t deep. My mind wasn’t in the present. It felt like my body was being pulled multiple directions while my mind was in a debate about whether to stop the run or not. I finished the run but it didnt feel good at all.
Last Wednesday’s recovery run of 3 miles felt better because I made an active effort to concentrate on breathing. I wanted to make sure my breaths were deeper and fuller. If it meant slower times then so be it. I approached the Friday 5 mile and the Saturday’s 3.66 run (was supposed to be 3 miles but I felt like experimenting with altering my running course a little bit) with that attitude. Didn’t have any PR’s but it felt good.
This morning I wrapped up my week 5 long run with a 10 mile run.
Split times:
10:25
10:04 (fastest)
10:11
10:23
10:24
10:38
10:22
10:23
10:38
11:11
Miles 9 and 10 should have a bit of an asterisk by them. On the back half of the run, I had to use the bathroom for (shall we say) a particularly lengthy visit. I was attempting to save it for after the run was finished bit. Nature got the best of me at I paused the run to use the facilities at the Cedar Falls Dog Park- less than a mile from home.
Normally, this would have discouraged me because when I start a run, I do not like to take breaks during it. But I have come to the conclusion that something like this is probably going to happen at the IMT Des Moines Marathon this October. Since I am not in the stage of my running life where I am in the hunt to put up a Boston Marathon qualifying time (A BQ, as it is known in the running community apparently) of 3 hours, 30 minutes or less), it would not hurt a thing if I stopped. I certainly wasn’t going to let it ruin my 10 mile run accomplishment. Will I be looking for tips and putting things into practice to cut down on the times when this happens? Yes. But for now, it’s fine. It doesn’t matter.
This mornings run found me joining the Cedar Prairie Trail by the dog park and heading north towards Pheiffer Park where I joined the South River Trail heading east. The trail hugs the southern bank of the Cedar River before it heads into Hartman Reserve. The turn around was just before I hit Greenhill Road. As the long runs get lengthier in miles. I will more than likely be following this trail into Downtown Waterloo and back again.
I took off for the run about 6:30 a.m. At this time of year the sun is already up. It was about 65 degrees and overcast. It looked like rain was moving in at the beginning of the run but since there was no lightening anywhere to be found on the map, I took off. Coach Bennett’s 10-mile guided run on the Nike Run Club app was in the earpiece
I took it easy at the start and did not try to push anything, especially in the first mile. One of the things the coach always emphasizes is starting the run right and not pushing the pace immediately. I’ve done that before. I came out of the gate feeling good, trying to push the pace issue immediately and would lose speed and, more importantly, control as the miles piled up.
This time I held back on purpose. I benefited from it later when the coach introduced me to a term and way of running that I had never heard before in my life: a fartlek. It’s Swedish for “speed play.” Coach called for this at about the 6th mile mark. He called for an increase in speed for about 250 meters, Had I started at a quicker pace, I probably would have ignored and pressed through the run in survival mode.
But I did have enough to try it. My strides got shorter and my speed ever so slightly increased (I did not want to jeopardize my breathing or control of the run in a bout of recklessness). Coach called for another one near the 8 mile mark- this time for 450 meters. I pushed then too. I didn’t think I was moving particularly faster during those fartleks but looking at the data afterwards, they do show a spike in speed.
After the restroom break at nine miles, I finished the final part of the course, which wound up at home. Rain was moving into the area. Happily there was also that pre-storm cool breeze and light rain drops to offer relief.
I’d like to see those splits go below 9 minutes but I am satisfied with today’s run.
I realized I didn’t post the results of Saturday Morning’s scheduled 3 mile run.
As you can see, I went a bit further. In the earpiece I had Coach Bennett’s guided run called “Just A Run” on the Nike Run Club app, which was 35 minutes in duration. I knew I could polish off my usual 5K fast course run in about 30 minutes so I took the opportunity to take little adjustments to the course in order to shake things up a bit.
Split times:
9:52
9:23 (fastest)
9:29
Nothing of particular note on this run. I felt freer and happier with the variations I made on my usual running. I finished it feeling I could do more.
I downloaded the Magic 92.5 app on my smartphone before the run. Magic 92.5 is an Old School music station out of San Diego that has pretty killer cuts. So I had that on as a soundtrack, along with Coach Chris Bennett’s Five Mile guided run on my Nike Run Club app. I joined the Cedar Prairie Trial near the dog park and headed north.
Magic 92.5 was spinning “Written All Over Your Face” by the Rude Boys f/ Gerald LeVert and just at the moment where LeVert belted out “Going to the bridge! THE BRIDGE BABY,” I rounded the corner of the trail and saw the Waterloo Bridge, which is roughly the halfway point of the run. I let out an audible “HA!” because I actually was going to a bridge.
Today I achieved a personal record on my five mile runs. I improved my time to 46:59. Average pace was 9:24. Splits were 9:18, 9:09, 9:20 (the dreaded midway lax struck again apparently), 9:36, and 9:36.
By comparison, last week (June 7) I ran this same route at 48:10 with a 9:38 average pace. It was only 72 degrees out but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and, even with my 8:30 starting time, it was already muggy out. Today’s run started at about 2 p.m. and even though temperatures were fluctuating between 69-71, there was virtually no humidity. The sky was overcast and it was spitting rain at the beginning of the run to the point were I took my Singlespeed running cap. Wind was an issue at some points. Gusts in Black Hawk County were being reported at 35-40 mph. Fortunately, I did not experience anything like that but there was a stretch near the University Ave. Roundabout by the Route 58 underpass where I thought my hat was going to blow off.
Honestly, though, I wasn’t trying for records today. Since Monday’s eight-mile drudgery, I have been concentrating more on breathing and running contained. Wednesday’s 5K was successful. Today, breathing and control were mostly good but there were parts on the back portion of the run where I did feel myself get ever-so-slightly out of sorts. I simply pulled myself back and continued.
Next run will be tomorrow. 3 miles. Planning an early morning run.
It’s amazing how we human beings can take things that were designed for our good and turn them into idols or tyrants.
Take my running for example. One year ago, I was at 350-plus pounds and would get severely winded just walking up the stairs at my place of employment. I was firmly in the camp who would look at a marathoner and say “I could never do that.”
One year later, and I find myself seated at our kitchen table, frustrated and discouraged that I struggled doing the eight mile long run that “The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer called for. Wasn’t fast enough. Didnt feel mentally or physically tough enough.
That frustration bled over into the moments before the 3-mile run that I started about 8:30 this morning. On my Nike Run Club app for my smartphone, I downloaded a 30-minute guided run called “Just A Run” by Coach Chris Bennett. Since downloading that app, at the suggestion of my friend Fitmess Mom, I have had Coach Bennett accompany me on a number of runs and it’s helped me greatly.
Last nights rains brought through cooler weather. It was 57 degrees when I left the house. No wind to speak of. Experienced runners tell rookies like me to “dress for the second mile” so I knew that while the first mile might be on the chilly side, as my body heated up, I was going to be relatively comfortable after that.
Scattered showers were called for in the forecast so I wore my special Singlespeed Brewing Cap so rain wouldn’t get in my eyes. This cap is special to me because it was given to me, along with other goodies from Singlespeed by Danielle Morris, the wife of Taylor Morris at the completion of my first 5K, the Glow Stick 5K on September 8th, 2018. It was a night run. I was about 309 lbs at the time. I had no intention of doing any kind of running whatsoever until my friend and running partner Terri, for reasons only known to herself or completely forgotten by me, challenged me to run it. It turned out to be more of a 2.5-plus mile run (two times around the big lake at Prairie Lakes Park), but it was for a good cause so I didn’t mind. Looking back on the video I am sure that I presented a strange sight. I was still very heavy set but I had been training for about a month at that point so I somewhat looked like I knew what I was doing out there. I even passed a couple of people who were actually running the race, which both surprised and delighted me.
I crossed the finish line just shy of a half-hour. Then a lady, which turned out to be Danielle, handed me the Singlespeed bag and told me that I did a great job and then disappeared. I was out of breath and swept away of the euphoria of completing my mission that I never got the chance to say thank you. I feel the need to enroll in this years race just so I can tell her that.
I remember that feeling of euphoria at the finish line with my bride and my running partner awaiting me. That feeling of accomplishment. Of victory. The happiness and self-confidence that comes from that. That is why I started running. Physical and mental well-being and improvement. I started out with the understanding that I was an incompetent working my way towards competency and mastery. While I was training for that first 5K I told myself to just keep the runners motion and hammer away at it. It didn’t matter what time I finished my runs. Putting my nose to the grindstone was all that mattered.
Contrast that with the feelings of frustration of Monday. I wasn’t happy with my splits? So what. I had just run 8 miles- a distance that I would have ruled an impossibility a year ago. When did this thing, this tool, this gift from God, turn into a heartless tyrant? When did the freedom of a long distance run turn into a stern, unforgiving task master? When did green thoughts turn into red ones?
It isn’t supposed to be like this. Exercise is supposed to be a celebration of the body and what it can do. A journey of the human being from his/her default mode- fat, lazy, selfish, uneducated, and mean- into accomplishment and self-confidence.
There comes a time when you have to kill your expectations. To burn the watch. To ignore the splits. To overthrow the tyrant in your head. To make running fun again. To remember the joy we felt when we completed our first long run. That first dash around the neighborhood. That first 5K. A Zen master called it the “Beginner’
s Mind.” I am not into Zen, but that initial joy we felt should be reconnected to time and again in running, or in anything else.
I opted for a hillier course today that I had mapped out for myself last year but haven’t used this year just to shake things up. I was pleasantly surprised with the ease I took the moderate inclined hill near our house with no real physical or mental unease. That had never happened before. Same thing with the Maryhill Drive Hill. And Southdale School Hill. And the hill behind College Square Mall (or what’s left of it anyway). They came up. I ran them. I moved along.
It wasn’t a big deal. And that is a big deal.
Breathing was good. Nice deep breaths. I felt in total control of the run even though it was a recovery run.
Sometimes recovery runs recover more than just the physical.
I didn’t want to do this run today. I didn’t sleep well last night and I was tired after a days work.
Post-run selfie and Nike Run Club Stats.
But I did it anyway.
There were a couple of times on the track where I wanted to toss in the towel on this run. I could feel myself getting slower and my legs began to feel heavy.
But I finished it anyway.
8 miles done.
And it was drudgery, even though weather conditions improved over the last two runs Temps were in the upper 70’s and the humidity was somewhat replaced by a nice, cool westerly breeze. I cut through the neighborhood and entered the Cedar Valley Trail by the dog park heading south towards Prairie Lakes Park.
The back half was very difficult though. My splits went into the ten and 11 minute territory. I felt like throwing in the towel. But I knew that if I did, then it would be a disaster.
The hardest part of this whole thing is going to involve training my mind. It moves about 100 miles and hour and sends conflicting thoughts. It had a debate in the middle and end of my run.
In some ways I was prepared for this. I remember listening to a Joe Rogan Podcast when the subject turned to ultra-marathoners. Someone said that my body was going to be begging me to stop and that the mind had to over come it.
The other preparatory step was to take a water bottle along. On the first four miles, I would treat myself to a drink when the interval was announced by the disembodied female voice. On the back half it became every half-mile.
But what did it for me was just after 6.5 miles when I said to myself “This is Mile 18. Or it’s Mile 23. We are so close to home and our body is going to be begging us to stop. But if you do not power through it, you will be doomed.”
Then I thought about one of the books I am currently reading, “The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt” by Edmund Morris. Morris writes of a fateful conversation that Theodore Roosevelt Sr. had with his sickly child on Page 32, stuck out at me:
“‘Theodore,’ the big man said, eschewing boyish nicknames, ‘you have the mind but you have not the body, and without the help of the body, the mind cannot go as far as it should. You must make your body. It is hard drudgery to make one’s body, but I know that you will do it.”
The senior Roosevelt knew that his son worshiped him as a quasi-god. Later, TR would refer to his father as being the greatest man he ever knew and at the same time the only one he was ever afraid of. So the father also knew that whatever he said would go in the mind of his youngster.
His mother, according to Morris, reported that the junior Roosevelt vowed to his father that “I’ll make my body.”
I kept playing that conversation over and over again in my mind and mixed in ultra-marathoner Courtney Dauwalter’s mantra of “I’m ok. This is ok.”
Eventually I made it home.
This ends Week 4 of “The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer.” Tomorrow starts a new week of training at 3 miles.
Normally I don’t like to run on back-to-back days because I prefer to give my body a days recovery between runs. I had to do some schedule rearrangements though. Earlier this year I entered into the Sturgis Falls Half Marathon here in Cedar Falls on June 30th. Four weeks ago, I started using “The Non-Runner’s Marathon Trainer” to guide me in my training. There was a slated 11 mile long run in that trainer which would have come after the half-marathon. I wanted to fit it in the week before the half-marathon so I scheduled some back to back running days between now and then.
I will have the 11 mile run on June 25th, Lord willing. Then a taper run that Thursday. The Half-Marathon will be Sunday.
As for today’s time, I wasn’t all that impressed with it. I went out about 5:15 Saturday evening. I could give excuses. It was another warm one yesterday (85 degrees and sunny- although we had a nice east-southeast wind at about 12 mph). I could say that I did the run after a 10-hour shift at work so I wasn’t as fresh as I would have been had I done the run in the morning.
But looking at the data on my Nike Run Club app, I can’t help but think it was more mental than anything that dragged me down. In my #5k course there is a half-mile striaghtaway at a place called Greenhill Drive. There are no trees or shade. By the time I reach there, I would have already put in a mile-and-a-half. Coming up over the hill looking at it can be sometimes psychologically taxing for me.
Yesterday, my pace dropped along that section. Not by much by my standards. But enough to cost me a new personal record. Mental toughness on the run is something I will be concentrating on the next few weeks.
That being said, If you would have told me a couple of months ago that I would be finishing that route in a half-hour after a long days work and in uncomfortable heat, I would have been very happy with the prospect.
319 Iowa Runner 