Marine Corps Marathon 10K

October 25, 2009 was a "faith restored" sort of day - did the 10K at the Marine Corps Marathon in a Personal Record time. 1:25:04 may not seem fast if you are a runner, to this racewalker it felt good.

It also means I can consider last weekend's Nike as a small stumble in my progress. Now it's time to rest a bit, then prepare for a five day "World Class Racewalking Camp", in an effort to learn how to do this better. Having a t-shirt made up that reads like this:

Front

Faster than I used to be

Slower than I want to be

Still trying

Back

You Are

Following a

Racewalker

Nike Full Marathon 10/18/2009

Even though my finishing time in my last Nike Full Marathon was 30 minutes slower than I had hoped for, it was a good weekend, good day and good race.

I learned several things, among them there are some bodily functions one cannot completely control/predict, and that having black bean soup for lunch Friday, followed by risotto for dinner, then tamales with frijoles refritos on Saturday morning, chili for lunch, and pasta dinner may create a problem. (As John Bingham said in a post-race conversation - "Tom, you are not in your twenties any more, you can't eat like that".) So as you could see from a detailed mileage chart, my time for mile 3 is over 10 minutes too long. Fortunately, there is a McDonalds at that point on the course, which made cleaning up a lot easier than a "blue room" or porta-john, but it was still unpleasant and time consuming.

About two hours after what we can call the "frijoles incident" another "Nike first" occured for me - got a short video clip shot by our friend John Park. Not sure exactly where this was taken but think it was about mile 12 or so based on the traffic. As you can see by then I was just having fun and doing the race.

In the cold light of the days after the race, it looks like a personal record might have still been possible if I'd made up a lot of time in the next 12 miles or so, but that did not happen, so the PR did not happen. I realized there was not going to be a PR by about mile 12, and sort of "cruised" from there to the finish. The good news is I'm OK with that, having decided before the start that my goal was to complete five Nike Full Marathons before my 65th birthday, and that has been accomplished. There will not be another Nike Full for me in the future, I've met my goal.

Not giving up racewalking, going off to a five day Dave McGovern training camp in November. Simply have concluded that the Half Marathon is just as much fun and a lot less taxing on the body.If nothing else doing the Half at next year's Nike will give me the chance to try keeping up with my beautiful wife (who set her own PR doing the Half Marathon this year) and see how the first five or six miles of the course look in the daylight. (I've started at 5:30 each year, so it's not daytime until about six miles into the event.)

Thanks for all your support! Be watching for reports from the Marine Corps Marathon 10K (we do it as a recovery walk) and the racewalking camp. Following those is a "Turkey Trot" with our granddaughter, and the Carribean Cruise Marathon with John Bingham in February, which ends on 2/13/2010, my 65th birthday.

If you are curious about detailed results from Nike, go to http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20091018_Nike_Womens_Marathon.htm

2009 Marathon des Deux-Rives Levis/Quebec Demi-Marathon Marche

OK, for those who (like me) don't speak a lot of French, that says "2009 Marathon of the Two Banks Levis/Quebec Walking Half Marathon". We went to Quebec City, Quebec, Canada for another racewalking event with our friend Alice Till on August 30, 2009. She won first place among walkers in her age group while Naomi and I were a bit slower but had a great time. Complete details can be viewed at http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=45416

Quebec City is lovely, much like a French town. Gee, that's in fact what it is, the oldest French city on the North American continent. The good news is the people are all very polite, and actually encourage you to attempt using your high school French, and not making fun of how bad it is this many years later.

Really a neat weekend and fun race - worth considering if you want something a little different.

Tom

TRAINING

Getting ready to do yet another Nike Women's Marathon is sometimes fun. Then there are the summer mornings when you get up to 75 degrees and 75% humidity at 0500, knowing the temperature will be even higher when you start your training walk at 0700. Last Saturday was one of those days, but Naomi and I got out and did twelve miles with our friends from the National Capital Area Team in Training Chapter. Personally, by the finish there was not a dry piece of clothing on my body - and it had not rained.

This Saturday we are doing "track training", which is an important part of racewalking training in order to increase your speed. My target is 400 meters (1/4 mile) in 3:00 minutes. Have come close at 3:03, but would like to get it down a bit more to a 12 minute per mile pace. Given the expected heat and humidity this weekend, it may or may not happen, but we just keep trying.

Part of my regular training regimen, in addition to "long miles" most weekends, is "speed work" doing 8x400 sets. That means 400 meters 8 times, with a 2:00 rest between each one. Coach & friend Jacque Carter has me doing those with targets of 3:17, 2x 3:13, 2x 3:10, 3:06, 3:03 & 2:58. Try it some time, it's a nice workout. I don't have easy access to a high school track in St. Louis, so do my repeats on the nearly one mile of flat, straight and uncrowded sidewalk along the riverfront below the Arch. Pretty spot where one can do up to 800 meters without a turn.

CONTRIBUTION TIME

Speaking of Team in Training - please consider the following as an unabashed plug for you to make a contribution to my fundraising account. Since you are reading this blog, you may have already contributed and if so I thank you again. If you have not yet made your contribution for 2009, please do so now! Just click on my TNT web site at http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/nikesf09/tfarnam and make your donation using the secure link. It's tax deductible, but more important helps save lives. My friend Bob Raleigh is still alive today because of a research program funded in part by LLS. By the way, he is recovering nicely, learning to walk again after three months in hospital.

COMING EVENTS - we have one race scheduled before the October 18th Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco. On August 30th Naomi, our friend Alice Till and I are going to be doing the Quebec City Half Marathon (or more correctly stated "Marathon des Deux Rives SSQ-Lévis/Québec". Naomi has never been to Quebec, it's been at least 25 years since I was there last, and it looked like a fun event. We'll spend a couple of extra days touring the area, and some friends who have done the race in the past said it's a good one. The challenge will be to not eat too much good French food before the race. After the race - les bon temps roulez!

After the Quebec event it's back to training. We will have "tapered off" our long miles before 8/30, then build back up to 20 miles on 9/26 before tapering again before the Nike. The idea is to train the body, not wear it out.

OK, enough for now - just please make a contribution.

Tom 8/5/09

Tom's Racewalking History

TCF Racewalking History October 28, 2009

October, 2004 - Naomi finishes five months of training and completes Nike Women’s Marathon

1. April 30, 2005 Nashville, TN Country Music ½ Marathon – 3:17:10 = 15:03 “Trained” on my own for 2 months - managed to complete it. Not fast, but finish.

2. August 7, 2005 Chicago Distance Classic ½ Marathon – 3:09:06 = 14:26

3. September 4, 2005 Virginia Beach R&R ½ Marathon – 3:13:53 = 14:48

I. October 23, 2005 Nike Women’s Marathon – 6:50:24 = 15:39 Major back spasms from mile 20 onward, but finished.

4. January 15, 2006 Phoenix - P.F. Chang ½ Marathon – 3:21:13 = 15:21

5. March 12, 2006 Tucson - Arizona Distance Classic – 3:17:14 = 15:03

6. April 9, 2006 St. Louis ½ Marathon – 3:13:22 = 14:46

7. May 7, 2006 Cincinnati - Flying Pig ½ Marathon – 3:22:31 = 15:27

8. September 3, 2006 Virginia Beach R&R ½ Marathon – 3:13:53 = 14:48

II October 22, 2006 Nike Women’s Marathon – 6:34:40 = 15:03

October 29, 2006 Marine Corps Marathon 10K – 1:25:45 = 13:50

9. January 21, 2007 Carlsbad, CA ½ Marathon – 3:18:39 = 15:10

10. May 6, 2007 Vancouver, BC BMO Bank ½ – 3:10:16 = 14:31

11. July 15, 2007 Carneros Wine Country ½ – 3:11:02 = 14:35

III October 21, 2007 Nike Women’s Marathon – 6:35:19 = 15:05

October 28, 2007 Marine Corps Marathon 10K – 1:26:00 13:52

12. May 18, 2008 Marine Corps ½ Marathon - 3:21:50 = 15:24

13. May 31, 2008 Zooma Annapolis Women’s ½ Marathon – 3:18:19 - 15:08

14. August 10, 2008 Chicago Distance Classic ½ Marathon – 3:03:22 - 14:00 Course measurement error +.1668 miles, “chip time 3:06" not correct

IV October 19, 2008 Nike Women’s Marathon – 6:30 = 14:53

October 26, 2008 Marine Corps Marathon 10K – 1:26:28 = 13:57

November 9, 2008 Veteran’s Day 10K – 1:25:45 = 13:50

15. November 15, 2008 Richmond, VA ½ Marathon – 3:13:36 = 14:36

16. January 18, 2009 Bermuda Challenge ½ Marathon – 3:20:05 = 15:16 1mi Friday, 10K Saturday

February 14, 2009 GW Birthday 10K – 1:28:02 = 14:12

17. April 18, 2009 Dismal Swamp Stomp ½ Marathon DNF back spasms @ 11

18. May 17, 2009 Marine Corps Historic Half - 3:08:16

May 30, 2009 Zooma Annapolis 10K - 1:26:22

19. August 30, 2009 Marathon des Deux-Rives Levis/Quebec Demi-Marathon Marche (Quebec City Half Marathon) - 3:08:07.24 = 14:21.62

V October 18, 2009 Nike Women's Marathon -- 6:57:09 (see Blog for details)

October 25, 2009 Markine Corps Marathon 10K - 1:25:04.4 = 13:30 = PR

OK, we did it. No sunburns, no frostbite (closer to the latter than the former) and more than a little soggy, but we did it. Friend Kevin could not do the event, but was at the finish line to greet us and take pictures.

All the NOVA walkers finished. Naomi and I started more or less next to Marni Matyac, behind Jacque, Carol Day, Linda Schwartzstein, Cathy ??, Paula McNichols, Virginia Ukaegbu. Naomi and I passed the others before the first turn, then my good wife took off like a scalded rabbit and left me to my own devices. She finished ahead of me, I was in turn ahead of the others mentioned above.

By mile 3 no one doing the race had a dry place left on their body, and all feet were squishing with every step. But we all finished, and other than being cold (60 is fine if you're moving, but lousy with a 15mph wind, wet clothes, no mylar blankets and no shelter) everyone seemed fine. If you want to know details, the results are available http://results.active.com/pages/stats.jsp?rsID=78270

They ran out of XL men's shirts (you can just imagine how delighted I was to be told at 4:00 pm that we should simply have gotten there earlier). However, instead of coming back completely empty-handed, after me making a little fuss they managed to find size XL shirts which look identical to the standard issue, except ours say "Volunteer" on the right sleever instead of "Competitor". Figured that was a lot better than nothing.

Then there were the mis-measured miles, and the final straw, noted above, of no mylar blankets at the end on a cold windy day. Seems they only ordered 3000 mylars, despite claiming the race was going to be 9000 strong, and actually having almost 7000 entries. Can imagine the nice email I'm going to send the Deputy Director who got us our "Volunteer" shirts? They ask for comments, right? And she gave me her biz card with title and email address, so guess I'll have to prove the adage "if you don't want my opinion, don't ask".

Near or beyond 60?
T
GEEZE

A
M
Old is just a word!

Racewalking to save lives. Donate at http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/nikesf09/tfarnam

Dismal Swamp Stomp 2009

April 18, 2009 found us headed for Chesapeake, VA for a Half Marathon called "The Dismal Swamp Stomp". Selected this one for several reasons: not too far away (about 3 hour drive); flat course; met our friend Alice Till's need for an April event (she is doing a Half per month in honor of her 65th); interesting name & website outlook on doing a Half; and gave me a chance to visit "The Great Dismal Swamp", home of Francis Marion, aka "The Swamp Fox" during the Revolutionary War.

If nothing else my experience at this event taught me some lessons (CORE), and gave me a reminder of my appreciation for friends and TNT. The best short description is my email report from the event:

TCF notes - the times from the Kale Running system confirm the times on my Garmin, and it’s clear all was going exactly according to plan through mile 6, then began “coming apart” from there. Not sure what caused my back to “spasm”, but one of our group was told after the event that when seen just after mile 6 it was clear I was in trouble, with spine at about a 15-20 angle to the left. Will have to check photos from web site when posted, they may help identify when and why. When Alice and I passed Naomi after “turn around” (about mile 6.75 or so) she called out “you are leaning”, so it was obvious by then.By mile 9 it was clear simply finishing was going to be a challenge, with at least one of the medical units offering help between there and mile 10.5. Just past mile 11 we came to a complete stop. (Alice had very kindly slowed down and stayed with me, and shortly before that Naomi had caught up to us). Someone suggested calling Mike Goode (who was at the finish line) and having him send the medics down course for me, which we did. Medics took me to finish area, told me to walk across finish line unless I wanted them to carry me in. Don’t deserve it, but was given a “finisher’s medal”. Feels very strange, first time to ever DNF an endurance event.

Why? Not sure yet, suspect part was result of 5+ hour drive to event in cramped seating position in back seat (spine kept in unnatural position due to being unable to sit up straight). Other contributing factors may have been insufficient warmup and stretch before event. Know I must focus on a 4 letter word in order to avoid this problem and improve performance. CORE

The event itself had about 1000 entrants, of which 75 or so were signed up as walkers, plus another 100 or so doing a 1/2 mile "Cub Run". Neat course, going out and back along the Dismal Swamp Canal along a two-lane road which was closed for the event, with farms on one side and the canal and swamp on the other. Almost perfect weather, mid-50s to start going up to mid-70s by the finish.

Virtually no elevation changes on the course, and most of it shady with trees leafing out, some blooming plants, overall a lovely "country side" setting for this event. The organizers also include some walkers, so for those registered as "1/2 Marathon Walk", there was a special "W" bib to be pinned on so you could be recognized by the "judges". They weren't judging for perfect form, but if you wore a "W" and were seen running, your time would be included with the runners, not the walkers.

More important than those details is the effect of friends and team mates. First, there were five of us doing the Dismal Swamp Stomp, which is a lovely smaller event. We all have gotten to know one another through TNT, and this event looked like (and was) one which would be relatively easy to get to and fun to share. We followed our usual practice of wearing TNT gear (singlet for me, green hat for Alice, etc.) and enjoyed all the "Go Team" greetings from other TNTers on the course. Some were in TNT shirts/hats, many were not but still greeted us with "Go Team". Another part of the team aspect was the pure joy of being out for the day with others who we have come to know.

I'd been training fairly rigorously for this event, and Alice was ready to serve as my mentor, cheering and prodding me on to my target finish of 3:00. We started out right on pace, not too fast but not too slow, and began bringing our average down to the desired level for the desired overall time. Everything seemed to be working well, but for reasons which I can't fully explain, my back started "acting up" and by mile 7 was in "spasm", causing me to be unable to stand up straight. Between the turn around and mile 7 we had seen Naomi going the other way, so knew she was not far behind, and a bit behind her we saw Peggy Goode, who told us Mike had problems at the start and turned back about mile 2.

Here's where the Team part appears in an even more direct and personal way. Despite my urging her to go ahead and do her own race, Alice slowed down and stayed with me as I kept going slower and slower, barely able to keep my feet moving. Soon Naomi caught up with us, and she too slowed down so the three of us were walking at my increasingly slower pace. By mile 10 my speed was down to about 20 min/mile, and getting slower. Finally about mile 11.3 I could not go any more, and tried to tell Naomi and Alice to go ahead. Instead they stayed with me, and one of them finally said "you have Michael's cell phone number, call and ask him to send out the medics for you?".

Got Michael on the phone, he was within a few feet of the medics, went over and I could hear them telling him they were on the way. About that time Peggy caught up with Naomi, Alice and me, which I reported to Michael and he said "good, she's having blister problems, glad the other ladies are there with her". Paramedics load me into the SUV (sitting, thank you) and the ladies resume while I get a ride to the finish line. The paramedics tell me my choice is to walk across the line to the medical tent, or they will carry me. I walk, get handed a "finisher's medal" I don't deserve, and go straight to medical tent with one of the paramedics at my side.

Tell the med staff I need an ice pack and some ibuprofen, they give me both and a cot to lie down on. Within about 20 minutes I'm able to get up and move around, and wind up catching photos of our three ladies coming across the finish line. As Michael put it "thank goodness for team mates, it all worked out fine in the end". We are all ready to go back for this event next year, for me personally just to prove I can manage it. By the way, the accommodations were great in a five month old Hyatt Place with a couple of nice places to eat within easy walking distance and very friendly folks.

You should put this event on your personal calendar to join us next year - think the date is Saturday, April 17th. Naomi, Alice and I talked on the way home about how much fun it would have been to share this weekend with other friends, and the hotel was nice enough to warrant staying another night. 24 hours later I was a bit sore, but overall not too bad. Peggy reported blister problem was a function of wrong socks, and Michael and I are about to start a "biggest loser" contest of our own.

Alice is off to another event next month (Zooma, if memory serves). Naomi, Alice and I are now planning another "out of the country" event, the Quebec City Half Marathon on August 30, 2009. Then of course we'll all three be on hand for Nike in Nov., and we'll plan on following that up with "the usual" MCM 10K for a recovery walk.Now for those core exercises - have to get ready for the Marine Corps Half Marathon on May 17th, then Zooma 10K on May 31st, not to mention Fall Season and the Nike Marathon.