Learn | Make | Fix | Run

Those who follow Advent know this is a time of preparation and waiting. I see the connections between Advent and recovering from the marathon, which was on the first day of Advent. Over the last 17 days, I have found my patience being tested as I return to running. My easy paces have been slower than they were before the marathon. My heart rate hits the Z3 threshold much sooner into runs these days. My brain tells me that I should be running faster. Conversely, my brain also tells me that running a marathon puts much stress on the body, and it takes time to recover. My brain tells me hydration, sleep, stress, illness, hills, and caffeine affect your heart rate. It has been so tempting to convince myself that since I don’t have a race on the calendar and I am not following an official plan, it’s okay to cheat and cruise in Z3. However, my body tells me that my muscles are still recovering. Last week, I felt the cumulative fatigue in my quads during the end of a four-mile base run (10:40...

I have had precisely one Z1 recovery run since CIM. I was hoping for a 5K run, but my right knee was tight throughout the run. I started with sore lower abdominal muscles; that pain disappeared after the first half mile. Then my tight right gluteus medius reared its ugly head, causing soreness from the half-mile mark to the one-and-a-quarter mile mark. I decided to cap the run at one and a half miles. As for the next steps, I will not be running in the Berlin Marathon or the Chicago Marathon because neither of those cities accepted me in their lottery. I will not be running in a new pair of ASICS since I did not win the Runkeeper CIM 40 for 40 contest. Ten pairs of shoes were up for grabs for the 18 people who completed the challenge. I am looking for a new core strength program and want to incorporate lunges, reverse lunges, and squats. I was doing three sets of body weight core exercises: bicycle, plank, bridge, side plank, clamshells, and reverse plank for 45 seconds on and 10 s...

I shaved off three minutes and eight seconds for my third consecutive personal best last weekend at the California International Marathon. Thankfully, the race times are going in the correct direction, although I wish I had seen more improvement. Here’s what I learned. Pace I tried my best to take the first half slow; however, eight miles were faster than planned, and five were slower. My half marathon time was 24 seconds faster than planned. The second half was slower as my old archenemy, iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), decided to join me. Nutrition and Hydration During the excitement of the first half, I found it challenging to remember to drink on schedule, so when I did, I was forcing it down. The weather was slightly cooler than my last 20 mile long run. As for nutrition, at mile 15, I could tell my fourth gel from mile 12 wasn’t sitting well. I decided to stop gels until I felt better around mile 18. I hadn’t practiced carb loading before my long runs. I believe my body was tell...