Turkey Trotting? You Won't Be Alone!

I read an interesting article in USAToday yesterday.  Thanksgiving is now the most popular holiday for running!  According to data from non-profit Running USA, in 2012, there were 490 Thanksgiving-day races, versus 290 in 2008. And in 2012, there were more than 858,000 finishers — up 155% from 2008.

The Buffalo Turkey Trot is widely considered as the first race of its kind, and it's still run at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving just as it was for the first time in 1896. That's the year Henry A. Allison beat out five other all-male runners in a 5-mile unpaved race in Buffalo, N.Y., according to the YMCA Buffalo Niagra. The event — thankfully now on paved roads and also accepting women — gets more than 14,000 participants yearly.

I thought the most interesting stat was this:  Thanksgiving is the day most people consume a traditional feast containing the same calories as 15 hot fudge sundaes!  Americans consume approximately 4,500 calories on this single day.

That also equals 43 bananas!

I'm pretty sure no one in the history of Turkey Trots has ever burned 4,500 calories before the meal.  Eat responsibly!

Weekly Review and Turkey Trot Plans

Two weeks post-marathon and I am feeling great!  This is the best I've done after a marathon.  I know I keep saying this, but cross training really makes a difference!

Right now we have seven family members signed up for the Mexico Beach Turkey Trot.  Pops (Les's dad) is 83 and has been walking faithfully on the treadmill.  The youngest is Les' nephew, Reece, who is 14.  He ran cross country this Fall and is speedy.  So I won't be the first family member to finish, but I certainly won't be the last.  I'm the only female signed up at this point, so at least I'll win my division in the family!

Frazz was spot on this morning:

My workouts went really good this week:

Sunday - ran 5.01 miles in 52:46, 10:32 pace

Monday - ran 2.02 miles in 27:31, 13:37 pace
This run happened after I signed Les and I up for the Turkey Trot.  "I need to run," my cycling husband proclaimed!

Tuesday - rode 12.59 miles in 1:19:37, 9.5 mph
This was a trail ride, my cycling husband got his revenge for Monday's run.  We saw lots of evidence of cattle on the trail and about 2 1/2 miles up saw a group of five.  They were grazing peacefully and never even mooed at us.

Wednesday - rested

Thursday - ran 7 miles in 1:23:40, 11:57 pace
I did a trail run for the first time in about six weeks.  I stopped my watch and took pictures along the way.  It was a beautiful morning!

Friday - ran 3.1 miles in 31:57, 10:18 pace
I did just a little bit of speed work during my second mile.  I've never raced a 5k before, so I don't know what kind of pace I'll be able to do next Thursday.  I'm not sure I really care.

Saturday - rode 9.43 miles in 52:24, 10.8 mph
Santa Ana winds are back!  It was 69 at 6:00 this morning and this was a tough ride!  Crosswinds and headwinds the entire time.

Total
Running  17.13
Cycling  22.02
Total  39.15

First Post Marathon Run and My Next Race

I finally ran yesterday and I was surprised by how well it went.  I did a 5 mile loop at a 10:32 pace and ran every step.  I am really trying to focus on running all the hills on my routes.  Yesterday's run had just under 400 feet of climbing.

As usual, Southern California skipped Fall and has gone straight to Winter.  At least Winter for us - lows in the 40s which is my favorite running temp.  So I'll be a happy runner for a while.

We travel to Florida next week for the McElhaney Family Thanksgiving Reunion.  We have several runners in the family, most notably Les' two nephews who ran cross country this year.  On a whim, I Googled "Turkey Trot 2015 Florida" and found a 5k Turkey Trot in the town where we'll be staying!  Les agreed to run it and we sent an email trying to get some other participants.  So my next race is the "Mexico Beach Community Garden Turkey Trot 5k" on Thanksgiving morning!

Is it turning cold where you live?  Will you run a Turkey Trot this year?

Recovery Week and A Chat with My Doctor

Over my shoulder is a cattle ranch.  5 trucks passed me while I was riding the trail this morning making for a very dusty cyclist!

In the past two weeks I have seen my gynecologist, general practice doctor, and had my annual mammogram.  It was time for all three so I just clustered them together to get it done.

After greeting me on Tuesday morning, my GP said, "So what are you doing these days for exercise?  Do  you walk in the mornings?"  "I ran a marathon on Saturday." He kinda walked into that one!  He is not anti-running, but he's not exactly pro-marathoning.  He has a brother-in-law who has been running for years and tried to get him to run a marathon.  I think the brother-in-law's constant "encouragement" has been a little much for dear doc, because he said more than once, "no way will I ever run a marathon!"  His biggest concern is that I don't push my body to a point of harming it.  Hopefully, I was able to reassure him that I understand my limits.  My lab results came back and all my numbers are great!  My overall cholesterol went from 180 last year to 142 this year.  I'm 51 and on exactly zero medication, I feel great about that!

I took FOUR rest days this week!  Two were physical rest days and two were mental rest days.  I couldn't move without pain on Sunday, Monday morning was still pretty painful.  I walked about 2 miles on Tuesday and could tell I was starting to recover.  I did an easy bike ride on Wednesday, rested Thursday and Friday, and did a trail ride this morning.  I ended up with a whopping 20.49 miles for the week.

I did not run a single time this week!  I thought I would, and I could have, but it felt nice to not have any pressure to do so.  The pressure was all from me, but it was pressure anyway.  There are seven weeks left in this year and I plan to finish strong with over 2,000 miles!

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

I've taken a ton of rest days this week.  The first couple because I was so sore, and the last couple because we have Santa Ana winds howling and I just didn't feel like fighting them!  I'm not worried about losing fitness, I think I needed to mental break from training as much as the physical.

Frazz is my favorite comic strip!  Especially because Miss Plainwell is the faster runner ;)

I've analyzed my marathon career (a total of four races!) and realize that I need to dial back my expectations for now.  A sub 4:00 may never happen and I am okay with that.  Finishing a marathon is a big deal and a 7 minute PR over my 48 year old self is a great accomplishment!

I don't have any regrets about my most recent marathon.  (Wait, I do have one - the professional photographer did not get a finish line picture of me. I was completely alone when I crossed the finish line and I guess they must have been bored and looked away.  I'm sad about this because Les didn't take any either - he saw the photographer and really thought they would get a great shot.)  I have to be honest with myself and say I'm not ready to run that distance any faster.  My previous best was 4:53:33, so a sub 4:00 would have shaved off almost an hour.  Kinda unrealistic, yeah?

I haven't chosen a race for next year.  I've enjoyed doing different marathons, but I really enjoyed my experience with this particular race.  I do like the smaller size (1,199 finishers) as opposed to the massive Honolulu Marathon.  I am not willing to commit to more than one marathon a year.  Sixteen weeks of training plus a couple of easy weeks recovery is more than a third of the year.  I enjoy the training process, but I also enjoy having the liberty to do less or more on any given day.  Maybe I should think about shorter races for a year?

My strategy for next time:

• Set a more realistic goal - around 4:40, which would be another 7 minute PR, with a stretch of 4:30.
• Run with a 4:40 pacer, in the hopes that starting at an easier pace will leave more in the tank at the end.
• Continue with my cross training strategy.  Running no more than 4 times a week, with cycling 1-2 times a week worked for me.
• I've got to get better at running up hills!  I have plenty of places to train, I just need to do it.
• Continue speed work.  I loved the variety of intervals that I did this time and plan to keep doing them once a week even when not training for a specific event.

Veterans Day - Running All the Way

I'm taking a break from marathon chatter to honor the men and women who have served in the American Armed forces.  Two of my great uncles served during World War II, one in Germany and one in the Philippines.  Our family was blessed that they both came home unharmed.

Last week I read "Running All the Way: A Marine, a Runner, a Journey through Life" by Lawrence Dickerson. It is "a remarkable memoir of Larry Dickerson growing up in West Virginia, serving in the U. S. Marine Corps, graduating from Northwestern University and working 40 years in corporate management, all the while running. Throughout a life at full throttle, Larry, now in his 80’s, has run."

This was a wonderful read!   Born in 1932, a child of the Great Depression, Mr. Dickerson learned early on that anything he wanted would require hard work.  The early chapters tell of his childhood, chickens that he named Batman, Superman and Green Hornet, and typical escapades of a growing boy.  About his mother, he wrote, "She believed in corporal punishment and I believed in evasion of corporal punishment."

While in high school, he knew he wanted to go to college.  His family could not afford it, so he enlisted in the Marine Corp.  Twenty five days after enlisting, the North Korean People's Army crossed the 38th parallel in an act of war and the United States would be sending troops to Korea.  The book details his time in the service and one thing he said really stuck with me, "A combat veteran will never again recognize a non-life-threatening event as 'critical.'  Business problems, test results or athletic victories don't qualify.  He or she will face day-to-day circumstances with a serenity most won't grasp."

Mr. Dickerson has run every distance, including the Boston Marathon in 3:21:33 at age 53.  He ran a 20:22 5k in his 60s.  The Parkersburg Half Marathon in August 2001 was his 1,000th race.  After counting the number of races he had done, he realized he had run in 20 states and that's when he decided to run in all 50 states.

One of the things that really inspired me was how hard he worked to run races in clustered states.  By that time he was retired, but he continued to live frugally, running as many as 3 races in 4 days to keep costs down.  He was in his late 70s and wrote of running a 5k in a "slow thirty minutes."  He went on to run a 5k on Oahu, winning the 80+ age group in 29:44!

This is a great read for runners and non-runners alike.

Revel Canyon City Marathon Numbers

If you are not a numbers person, this post will probably bore you to tears!  I find this stuff really fascinating.

I was able to pull my mile breakdowns from Movescount.  Mile 5 was my fastest at 8:06, with mile 17 being my slowest at 16:39 (this included a pit stop, I also took a pit stop at mile 10*.)  I would give you mile by mile details, but a lot of it is a blur!

Mile	Time	Heart rate	Speed	Ascent	Descent
1	8:08	171	7.4	0	272
2	8:09	155	7.4	0	318
3	8:24	157	7.1	30	289
4	8:09	154	7.4	0	394
5	8:06	157	7.4	0	322
6	8:31	155	7.1	0	305
7	8:39	155	7.0	0	295
8	9:11	152	6.5	0	220
9	9:03	152	6.6	23	285
10	10:03	147	6.0*	0	397
11	8:51	152	6.8	0	308
12	8:59	151	6.7	0	331
13	8:47	154	6.8	0	331
14	10:37	153	5.6	39	161
15	11:49	153	5.1	49	20
16	13:10	144	4.6	20	20
17	16:39	138	3.6*	108	10
18	12:25	143	4.8	20	128
19	10:22	148	5.8	0	236
20	14:05	139	4.3	52	112
21	15:12	133	3.9	72	69
22	10:15	145	5.9	0	240
23	13:22	136	4.5	0	197
24	14:25	131	4.2	0	79
25	13:30	133	4.5	0	69
26	14:20	134	4.2	30	30
27	3:23	145	5.9	0	30

Pace from Movescount:
Average: 10:56
Fastest 30 seconds: 7:07
Fastest 1 minute: 7:15
Fastest 5 minutes: 7:49
Fastest 10 minutes: 7:58
Fastest 30 minutes: 8:10
Fastest 1 hour: 8:19

Elevation:
Total elevation gain: 456 feet
Ascent time: 42:38
Total elevation loss: 5,528 feet
Descent time: 3:27:34
Flat time: 36:23

Effort:
Average HR: 145 bpm
Easy (below 109 bpm): 36 seconds
Moderate (109-126 bpm): 16:12
Hard (127-144 bpm):  1:33:36
Very Hard (145-162 bpm):  2:48:00
Maximal (above 162 bpm): 7:48

Calories burned:
According to Suunto: 1,536
According to TrainingPeaks: 3,630

Peak Training Effort: 3.5
Recovery time: 120 hours
I hurt pretty bad all of Sunday. I was still in a lot of pain Monday morning, but started to feel a bit better in the afternoon. I got up and walked a couple of miles this morning.  Still a little sore but noticing a lot of improvement.

From Strava:
Best estimated Marathon effort (4:45:38)
Best estimated 30k effort (3:04:37)
Best estimated Half-Marathon effort (1:54:02)
Best estimated 20k effort (1:47:59)
Best estimated 10 mile effort (1:26:22)
Best estimated 15k effort (1:19:08)
Best estimated 10k effort (51:13)
Best estimated 5k effort (25:18)

Tomorrow:  Final Thoughts and Future Plans!