This Napa Marathon and weekend recap is brought to you by our very own Vera who graciously provided details on the weekend. A couple of notes:

1. Jacob ran his fastest marathon at 4:21 and I believe Art may have PR’d at 4:23 as well. Considering the rain and all, that is pretty cool.

2. Maha also provided some feedback on the race as she had a pretty good race and was able to finish strong despite the weather. The 800’s seemed to really help her stay focused towards the end of the marathon.

Here is Vera’s recap of the weekend.

Well, the Napa Valley Marathon is behind us.
Jacob and I drove to Sunnyvale on Friday to visit with Jacob’s sister. We
took our time driving, stopped at various places like  Harris ranch for a
coffee break, went to Gilroy to smell the garlic and shop at the outlet.
On Saturday, we drove for about 11/2 hours to the beautiful Napa valley.
We went straight to the expo.  The merchandise were overpriced , so we did
not buy anything. We picked up our bibs and disposal chips and were
given one duffel bag and one backpack as a souvenir.  That day we had a
great lunch and dinner , Napa style minus the wine which was a torture for
me.
We took the shuttle on Sunday to Calistoga  @ 5:15am.  It was a cool rainy
morning.  We arrived around 6 and waited in the bus for about an hour .  We
also hooked up with Maha, Rosie and Art.  Everyone was quite at the start
line, waiting impatiently for the Marathon to start..  We did not even
noticed when the race started!
Jacob an Art took off right away.  They started together and finished
within couple minutes of each other.
Us ladies started together, but by mile 3 , I sped and left Rosie and Maha
behind.
I was surprised at myself for doing this race and finishing it.  I did not
train properly this year.I spent almost one year nursing me knee.  I had no
pain the whole way.. So, I think that I am back in business.  Only time and
patience healed my injury.
The marathon route was extremely scenic.  We ran from Calistoga to Napa
along the beautiful Silverado trail where many famous wineries like
Rutherford are located.  It was a rolling course, we started at an elevation
of 365 and ended at 94.  It was raining, non stop, the whole time.  We had
water/ gatorade and bathrooms every 2 miles. After mile 17, we had also
bananas  and oranges .  All together the marathon  support was great.
At the finish line, there was hot soup  and food for the finishers. There
was also massage service  and hot showers  for the runners, but I did not
take advantage of these services because I could not wait to go tho the
hotel and get rid of my wet soaking clothes.
I checked on the Internet our finishing times, only the clock time results
are posted:
Jacob 4:26
Art     4:28
Vera   5:46
Rosie 6:02
Maha 6:02
I don’t know why the chip times are not posted.  We also lost few minutes
because we did nor realize when the race started!
Jacob and I went to a nice Italian/French restaurant that evening and
celebrated with a great Pinot Noir.
We drove back to La yesterday in the rain storm.
Despite the rainy weather, I recommend this race. Go and enjoy it, don’t
worry about race time  and make a vacation out of it.
That’s all, hope to see you soon
Vera

We have a short 9 weeks to train for any of these four races which fall on May 2nd and May 3rd. All of them are in California and two are local to LA while the other two are a bit of a drive. The two local ones both have Half Marathon distances so keep that in mind if you are not up to doing the full monty. Also, if you haven’t been running a lot lately, take all runs pretty easy. You can push a bit on the 800’s when we do them, but everything else should be in your happy zone.

Below is a PDF of the schedule or for the PDF challenged there is a JPG of it also. Enjoy

may-2009-marathons

Rodney

Here are some pictures that Deb took during the race as part of Laurie’s terrific crew. Also you can read about the race from from Laurie’s own race report. So here it is:

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:  Laurie’s Report from Across The Years 48
hour race

48 hours is a long time to be circling a 500 meter track.

Every lap looks
just like the lap  before, so no need for lengthy descriptions of the scenic and
varied  course.   It is still kind of a blur to me, but  here are some of the
highlights…
The Good:
This was an incredibly well-organized race.  Great staff, volunteers, aid
station,  heated tent, friendly runners.

I  met some terrific people out there who were a constant inspiration.
Could there be a more amazing crew?

I think not.  Deb and Dave aka Mom and
Dad (yes, I  have begun the adoption process) were there every step of the way.
Encouraging me, walking with me, making  sure I took my meds, ate, drank,
and used the port-o-potty.  Deb documented the entire event in  photos, and
didn’t post too many embarrassing shots (ok, did everyone really  need to see the
one with the Gas-X?)

Shanda, who picked me up from the airport, provided
tremendous moral  support, and even went shoe shopping for me during the race when
my feet swelled  way beyond the size of all the shoes I had with me. (Gotta
love those  EEE width shoes).  Estelle, who drove out from  L.A. after work,
provided much  needed distraction and entertainment on the course when I started
to get  fatigued.  She was a real life saver  after the race, getting me to a
doctor and then helping me for the next several  days when my feet were
bandaged and I couldn’t get around on my own. (more about  that later).
The Mailbox.  The  race has this great system on their website where people
can send messages to  the runners.  I can’t tell you how I looked forward to
finding new messages  in my mailbox.  It really kept me going.
Despite having a difficult race, and spending a good  amount of time in the
medical tent,

I met my goal of doing 100 miles.  There were times where I
didn’t think I  would make it, but I got to a point where I had to adjust my goal
of going the  entire 48 hours, and focus on getting to 100.  Anything beyond
that would be a  bonus.
Despite the problems with my feet, I was great from the ankles up.  Given my
recent calf injury, I was  incredibly grateful to get through the race without
any issues in the back,  joints, muscles, tendons, etc.
The Bad:
Sometimes you have a good day, and sometimes you  don’t.  From the start, I
wasn’t  feeling terrific.  Still, with a  race of this length, there’s lots of
time for things to turn around, so I kept  slogging along.  One of my
problems  was with fatigue.  Ideally I would  have done a lot of back to back long
runs in training, but since I was  recovering from a calf injury I only got to
do 2 long runs (a marathon and a 20  miler) in the months leading up to the
race.  Because of this, I had to switch from  run/walk to all walking much
earlier than I anticipated.
Early on, I was having issues with blistering.

I kept going to the medical
tent, and  the guys would drain my blisters and re-tape my feet.  Every time I
went back, my feet were  more and more swollen.  At one  point, they cut out
the toe box of my shoes to make more room.

That worked for a while, but
eventually  I outgrew those shoes.  So Shanda  went out and got me the Monster shoes
(I think they were a men’s size 8), and I  managed to get them on my feet.
Not  an ideal situation, but good enough to get me shuffling around the track
again.
I managed to get to 100 miles shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve.

After a brief celebration with fireworks  and sparkling cider,

I decided that I would not be able to continue on the track  for the last 9 hours of the race.
Feeling somewhat defeated, I went back to the hotel and slept.  In the
morning, we returned to the track  for the end of the race, and I was motivated to
eke out one more mile…even ran  the last few laps.

We stayed on for the awards ceremony and I received my 100 mile belt  buckle.

Does this mean I’m going to  have to start wearing a belt?
The Ugly
My feet.  The blistering was  bad.  The night after the race, my  feet were
swelling even further, and there was a throbbing that seemed beyond  what was
normal.

Estelle and I were  staying on another three nights in  Arizona, and
she found a  podiatrist who was able to see me right away.  It turns out my
feet had become infected  from the open blisters, and my baby toe had been bound
so tightly with tape that  the circulation was being cut off.  A blister had
formed beneath the toenail, so the doctor had to remove the  toenail to ease
the pressure.  Not  Fun.  I’m on antibiotics, and my  feet are wrapped in layers
of gauze, but the doc says as I should grow a new  nail in about a year, and
soon as I can fit my foot into a running shoe I can  hit the road again.  Surf
City, here I come!
Laurie

Well there you have it. Thanks so much to Deb for sharing her photos. Nice documentation! And thanks to Laurie for sharing her race with all of us. You inspire us all to push ourselves and enjoy our lives to the fullest.

Last Sunday saw 15 of us Twentysixers in Sacramento to enjoy the marathon. What a perfect day! Nice and cold. The course way a gentle rolling tour from Folsom dam to our state’s capitol.

We all met at the crack of dawn to catch the bus to the start line

A little crowded at the beginning but it thinned out pretty quick

There was plenty of crowd support and the race was very organized. A great race to PR or qualify for Boston.

Everyone who started the race finished and was able to enjoy the traditional post race feeding frenzy.

Several people ran their best races ever, Laura, Laurie, Phyllis, Catherine and Art all set personal records. We also had two first timers, Bonnie and Tony (although Tony did run an ultra before he attempted the marathon) Both finished in fine style and learned quite a bit from the race.

We all had a great time in Sacramento and even had energy after the race for a walking tour of Old Town Sacramento complete with tom foolery.

  Any time you do on an activity that requires significant motion, such as training for a marathon, pain may not be too far behind. The key factor in analyzing this pain is whether the pain is related to an actual injury or is just a by-product of the activity itself. For example, after running for several hours, it is quite normal to feel stiffness or pain in various areas of the body such as the knees, ankles, feet and lower back which is a “good” pain. In most cases this type of pain is not indicative of an actual injury or the onset of an injury, but instead, it merely indicates extreme effort. It is an important part of marathon training to learn to distinguish “good” pain from “bad” pain. Bad pain is often the beginning of an injury and you should deal with it as son as possible. Obviously, if the pain persists beyond a couple of days and is not related to muscle soreness, then an actual injury may have, in fact, occurred and it is highly recommended that you seek professional medical help as soon as possible to lessen the downtime required for the injury to heal successfully.

  We can classify pain into two categories. (1) Sharp pain that comes on very quickly and is quite intense and localized to a specific area is usually a good indicator that an injury has occurred. Common examples would be pulling a hamstring muscle, twisting an ankle or other readily apparent and obvious damage. (2) Pain that started out as a minor annoyance and has built gradually over time into significant discomfort, such as ITB, Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis or stress fractures, can only be healed by reduction, or in the case of a stress fracture cessation, of training. Such this type of pain should not be ignored and should be properly diagnosed by competent medical professionals.

  Any of the above types of injuries can really curtail your ability to exercise; therefore, prevention and early identification of these injuries and associated pains is essential. Good form, proper stretching and strengthening exercises, common sense, and adherence to proper training and recovery guidelines goes a very long way towards preventing injuries.

  Most minor injuries respond well to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation). Let’s use the typical twisted ankle as an example. You twist your ankle. If the twist is not severe, you may be able to continue, albeit at a slower pace as needed to get back to the start.

Upon arrival, apply ice to the area damaged by the twisting. Using an ACE bandage, one can adhere the ice pack with a little bit of compression onto the injured area. The bandage should be wrapped firmly but no so tight that blood flow is inhibited. One then should prop the foot up so that the injured area is higher than the heart. You may need to lie down to achieve the proper position. The ice should be left on for no more than 20 minutes at a time, and there should be a thin piece of material between the ice and your skin to prevent ice burn. The process can and should be repeated throughout the rest of the day and at least twice a day until there is no more pain and you have resumed full training. It is important to continue to ice for a few days after everything seems fine since inflammation can easily reoccur.

  Elevation is also quite important and is often overlooked in the healing process. Elevating the injured area above the heart slows the normal blood flow to the area, which reduces swelling and allows the body to heal the tissue faster.

  When using an ACE bandage, one needs to make sure it is not wrapped too tight or this will restrict blood flow to the rest of the limb or in this case the foot. The bandage should make X’s when wrapping around the foot, and it should be snug, but not so tight that the skin color of your toes is different from the skin color above the ankle.

  Rest the injury. If you have consulted a doctor, wait for your doctor’s okay before resuming your training. Starting back too soon can cause a reinjury.

  Anti-inflammatories (such as Advil) are quite useful as well. The big caveat here is not to become dependent on their use in order to continue your exercise program. Always follow the directions on the bottle, and do not exceed the maximum dosage. While these drugs can relieve the pain temporarily, their primary use with respect to exercise and related injuries is to minimize inflammation to the injured area. During the injury/recovery period, it has been shown that taking these drugs prior to starting to exercise greatly enhances the anti-inflammatory affect, which can speed the healing process. In addition to this, one can also use these drugs, again always following a doctor’s advice and/or the directions on the bottle, throughout the course of a day to create a systemic anti-inflammatory effect.

  If the injury does not respond to anti-inflammatories and/or RICE treatments as recommended by a health professional, then it is imperative that you stop working out, and seek further professional medical help.

For certain injuries and muscle pain after runs you can try some gentle massage as well as RICE. Be sure to not massage the area too hard and inflame the injury further, nice and easy does it. Massage can be done with the usual fingers etc., a frozen Dixie cup of ice or a foam roller or any number of massage devices.

 Here are some long run tips in kinda random order:

 If you haven’t started already you should develop a ritual for long distance training days, like laying out all your clothes and necessary equipment the night before and eating the foods the night before that help you perform at your best.  When you find the best pre-long run dinner or the breakfast foods to eat for your long distance training, always eat the same things, that way you won’t be surprised by extra bathroom sightseeing trips or showing everyone what you ate that morning.

  You should do nothing but rest the day before the long distance training. Okay, you may need to go to work, but otherwise take it easy. If you absolutely need to work out, you can lift weights for your upper body only. Don’t do heavy weights and low reps. It is better to do a light weight, higher rep workout instead. No leg activities. Give ‘em a break.

  Nice easy stretching the night before really helps limber up the body and provides good relaxation. You’ll sleep better and feel better when you get up the next morning. Take your time with this, and don’t force any positions; instead, try to melt into the position.

  Try to get a good night sleep for the two nights prior to the long distance training.

  You’ll need to eat during the run approximately every 45 minutes or so. You can try things such as GU gel, Blocks (sort of like gummy bears) or Powerbites (chopped up bits of Powerbars). All of these things can be found at your local running store. Eating keeps your energy levels up; the body can’t function properly without enough fuel. Also make sure some of the food you eat on the long run includes something salty like pretzels or potato chips. The salt helps your body retain water to aid in hydration and also counterbalances the sugar in the other foods that will help prevent nausea.

  As far as hydrating during the run, don’t wait until your thirsty to drink. Take a little water when you stop for a walk break. Take small amounts of water often as opposed to a gob of water at the end.

  If your stomach is not sensitive to anti-inflammatory drugs such as Advil, you may want to try taking 2 or 3 capsules before starting out.  You should experiment with this on shorter distances to find out if this works for you. Use good judgment here, always follow the prescribed amount and don’t exceed the maximum dosage.

  Don’t lace your shoes too tightly. Your feet will swell. Shoes that are laced too tightly will become painful and hinder your form and speed.

  You may want to bring some change for a bus or to make a phone call if you can’t make it back to the starting point or finishing point. Make sure you wrap the change in some foil so it doesn’t jingle for the whole run. Oooooh that is so annoying!

  Always carry some form of ID and any other specific medical instructions.

  Bring a dry shirt and some comfortable slip-on shoes for afterwards.

  Lube up!  Make sure you take the time to cover those areas where you chafe with some type of lubrication such as Vaseline, Body Glide, Sportslick, etc. Some common places to chafe or blister are: nipples, feet, underarms and around the sports bra and especially the inner thighs. It is not a bad idea to carry a small tube of this stuff with you in case you need to reapply or you missed a spot. It is much better to take a couple of minutes to reapply than to run with blisters for several miles.

  Arrive early so you can take a few minutes to gather your thoughts, visit the bathroom and perhaps a gentle warm up so you can be ready to have a good run that day.

  Make sure you use waterproof/sweatproof SPF sunscreen to protect against sunburn — anything above 30 SPF should be fine.

  It is necessary to keep your sugar level up.  An easy way, in addition to taking gels or energy bars at regular intervals, is to eat some kind of hard candy.  Low sugar levels affect mood levels. If you notice you are dragging, you might try some hard candy. It gives you something to do by playing with it in your mouth and it is a nice psychological treat you can give yourself.

Don’t get locked into your walk break ratios. If you feel you need to walk before your upcoming walk break you can alter the ratio. For instance: if you are doing a 5:1 walk to run ratio and you are feeling like that next walk break is just never going to come, you can adjust to 2:30 running and: 30 sec walking. You still are doing 5:1 overall but you get a break sooner.

  All of the above are physical ways to deal with the rigors of long distance training but the mental side is just as important.  Here are some mental tips to help you get through this training:

  Maintain a positive outlook. Avoid negative talk in your head as you can talk yourself into a bad day. To help avoid negative talk, the use of mantras such as “Strong, light, smooth” repeated over and over in one’s mind can bring the words of the mantra into focus and allow them to happen. Using visualization techniques such as picturing yourself running strong and fast.

  It may sound silly but, SMILE, it really does help. If you look and act happy your body will soon be fooled into thinking you are happy.

  Talk to the person next to you. Conversation makes the time go faster and the training seem easier (but remember not to get so involved in conversation that you forget to look at the road). Come prepared to tell an involved story that you can share with the group to help pass the time and keep the mood of the group high.  If the majority of the group has a good attitude, it will rub off on everyone.

Relax. This goes for your body as well as your mind. If your body is tight and worried you waste energy your body needs to keep going. When your mind isn’t relaxed you can talk yourself into feeling worse than you really are. Try at the end of every walk break just talk a few deep breaths in and exhale deeply to relax.

The annual camp Pendleton mud run was on Sunday and 5 of the Twentysixers took on this fun but difficult challenge. As if the race isn’t hard enough what with the total soaking by the fire trucks, 2 miles uphill,

running through sand, a 100 foot climb up a muddy hill with Marines hosing you off with a fire hose while you slip and slide your way to the top, mud pits with a 5 foot wall to get over while in the mud,

fording your way across a lake,

tunnels to crawl through and finally a 30 foot crawl on your stomach through the last mud pit, we did it as a team in combat boots and utility pants!

I know it sounds like a nightmare but it is actually really fun. The Marines are cheering you along the entire course and everyone is laughing and jumping around in the mud pits like kids.

And the best thing of all our team, which was called “2sexy4soap”, took 1^st place in our division! Ya know how many teams are better than ours, the first place team? That’s right none. HA!

We all felt ranging from terrific to pretty kind of ok during the race. After the race it sure felt great to get those muddy clothes off and hit the showers, which is quite a scene in itself. We hung around to pick up our medals and hit the road for home to relax and bask in our glory.

Seven of the Twentysixers ran the Long beach Marathon on Sunday.

We had trouble finding Art before the start but somehow he found us around mile one and Olga was trying to qualify for Boston so we didn’t see her, she must have been up near the front jockeying for position. It was a swell day for nice long training run where you get a medal at the end; the six of us were using the race as a long slow training run for another race. It was a bright and sunny morning and the sunshine lasted all day long but thankfully it never got too hot due to a nice cool breeze. The support for the race was quite good although the sign we saw at mile 5 was kind of demoralizing.

It was one of those sign that tells you how fast you’re driving and it said: 06 miles per hour. Not a bad 10 minute pace but when you are used to seeing them say 40 miles per hour you feel kinda slow! Anyhow it was a little crowded here and there until we reached the turn off  where the full marathoners separate from the half marathoners which is where the men are separated from the boys.

Art and I picked up the pace a bit at this point. Art felt great the entire race and I hit a rough spot around the 18 mile mark but then felt fine again around mile 22 or so. It’s interesting how you can feel lousy for a while and then feel good again during a race. All four girls running with us, Laura, Laurie, Kerry and Phyllis had near perfect splits for the whole race and finished feelin’ great.

All in all a great run for us all.

   Since some of us live near hills and might do our weekly runs on hills we thought it was high time to dole out some information on running hills.

  Hills are an excellent way to improve speed and strength, as well as confidence. Hill work is “speed work in disguise” because after running or walking hills, the muscles in your legs get significantly stronger. Stronger legs allow you to go faster with less effort. In fact, hill training is the most sport-specific form of strength training that a marathoner can do. You should run the uphill portion under control and as relaxed as possible as you can and then you can generally make up the time difference on the downhill.  In other words, don’t fight gravity.  You will lose, we always do.

Some tips for up hills are:

1.   Shorten your stride. Don’t try to bound up the hill.

2.   Keep yourself perpendicular to the ground. Don’t lean too far forward or back.

3.   Stay relaxed in your upper body, which means shoulder down, neck and arms relaxed.

4.   You should not be gasping for air. Try to maintain a conversational pace, your running rhythm should stay the same as running flat.  If you can’t talk, slow down.

5.   If you can, do the entire hill in one continuous motion, up and over the crest.  Don’t stop at the top.  Instead use your rhythm which will help you keep your form on the downhill.  You’ll find it easier to pick up the pace from a running start than a walking start.

6.   If you need to walk part of the hill, do so, but start running before you crest the top as this will make the transition into the downhill much easier and more efficient mechanically.

     7. Try and find a comfortable rhythm with which you can run the entire length of the hill. If the hill gets steeper simply adjust your rhythm so that you maintain your original pace. If the hill starts  to flatten out then you can adjust your rhythm to pick up the pace to maintain the original pace. 

Some tips for the downhill are:

1.   Don’t step out on your stride. Instead, either step straight down or think about picking you feet up as quickly as possible. Keep your stride short. By default, gravity will tend to lengthen your stride so you don’t need to actively do so.

2.   Stay perpendicular to the ground. Don’t lean back or forward.

3.   Controlling speed on downhills is a matter of hip turnover.  Instead of leaning back and breaking to slow down which puts a great deal of stress on the joints and muscles, one should think of a shorter stride and slowing down how fast your legs are moving. A good habit to get into is to start the downhill slower than normal so as not to pick up too much speed too quickly and get scared and start breaking which wastes a lot of energy and is hard on the body. 

4.   Don’t try to go too fast to make up time as quads take quite a beating going down hill. When going downhill, you should be as light on your feet as possible. Let gravity just pull you down at a faster and faster rate to the end of the downhill so that you finish with a nice little bit of speed to use to ascend the next hill or cruise the flat.

See ya out there on the hills.