I failed

The title says it all - I failed to achieve a PB.

I was well prepared, the carbo loading went well, I was well hydrated. The event was very well organised by Runner for Life. At the 20km mark I was on time and doing well. In fact I thought I should and could pick up the pace but I kept myself back as I didn't want to burn myself out - I was right on track to getting a PB and feeling fine. And then around 25 km it all fell apart.

My lower was causing me a little discomfort at the half was mark; nothing serious and nothing I wasn't used to. Years ago when I first took up running I couldn't run more than 20 km without my knees being in sever pain that evening. A trip to the podiatrist showed that I had a slight foot problem that caused my hips to turn which caused my knees to turn. At 13 I had a car accident that broke my right leg, stretching some of the supporting ligaments which means that the hip/knee twisting causing excruciating pain.  The podiatrist made some very solid foot inserts for my shoes to stop the foot from causing all that twisting. It worked beautifully. I was able to run with minimal knee pain and my lower back pain virtually disappeared. I have used those inserts for running until 3 years ago. About 3 years ago I experimented with minimalist shoes that uses a more natural, bare foot, style of running. These were great and allowed me to get rid of the inserts for running. I have been using these for the marathon preparation without any problems until yesterday.

Around 23 km into the marathon my lower back was very sore. The trail was tough. The path isn't smooth and cemented. It's dirt with stones and rocks. It's regarded as one of the toughest marathons in India because of the trail component. It was causing me legs to naturally twist and my lower back was starting to scream at me. This I could handle. Suck in the stomach, remember all the core training I did, "keep the back strong" I told myself. And then after 2 km of sucking it up my right knee said hello, very loudly. It felt like someone put a knife into my right knee. It was immediate, it was painful and I knew instantly that I was in trouble.

I tried to run on it at least 6 times as I sought to finish the marathon. The best I managed was the second attempt with a whole 45 seconds of running. By the 30 km mark I knew it wasn't going to get better. I knew the PB was gone. I hoped that this wouldn't be my worst time ever. It was. But I wasn't going to quit. If I was going to finish then I would need to walk it. Walking was ok. Any kind of running wasn't. So I walked. I walked as fast as I possibly could. Every few kms I would stop and stretch and then take off and walk, again, as fast as I could. I had 2 people pass me from 30 km to the finish. I passed 6.

The bottom line, mechanically I fell apart. The lungs were fine the leg muscles were fine the pace was fine. Mechanically I broke down and the goal was lost.

And so, the experiment draws to a close. My weight and body fat is the same as when I started. I feel like I have lost some bulk up top but not a significant amount. The PB was not achieved. The conclusion from this marathon is: Yes, preparing for a marathon affected my body building.

Perhaps next time it will be different.

To Runners for Life, thanks guys. You did a great job before, during and after the marathon. It was a great experience, albeit a painful one, and I hope to return again next year.

To all of you who have been following me along this journey, thank you. I have appreciated the encouragement you have all given to me throughout these passed months. When I had to walk and the PB was lost I wanted to quit trying and just stroll home. Your encouragement kept me trying my best in the face of defeat. I feel much better about myself for having given my best until the very end and your support was the key factor.

Thank you.

42 days of recovery to go.

The experiment is nearly over

In two days time this experiment will be over. The race would have been run and either I accomplished my goal time or I didn't. My goal for this experiment is to achieve a PB on the Kaveri Trail Marathon without losing any lean weight. Other than the race time the other results from this experiment can be measured now.

The result is simple: the marathon training has impacted the body building. My weight has remained steady as has my lean body mass. That's been a positive outcome but my body building has been affected. While I don't think the running itself has impacted the body building there are two clear affects preparing for the marathon has had on me.

Firstly, my clothes are hanging on me a bit more which suggests I have lost some mass. That could be nothing more than a lose of muscle pump you get from doing a weights session. The clothes aren't hanging really lose, only enough for me to know that I have lost some mass. Secondly, and more significantly, I have lost some strength. The reason for both of these outcomes is simple, I haven't been able to do strength training like I thought I would.

Throughout the last few months adding in 2-3 runs a week has pushed out my strength training sessions. I thought my schedule could fit in the extra runs without sacrificing my 3-4 strength training days. I was wrong. Life has been busier than I expected and adding the runs into my routine meant something had to go and since running has been the priority the strength training has progressively moved to the back of my priorities.

I tried to change my strength routines to full body workouts and that worked for a while but the closer I have come to the marathon the more time I have been giving myself to fully recover from the running. This has been especially true over these two final weeks . I am so conscious of getting injured that I am under strength training to ensure I don't hurt myself. The hip problem I had (have) put some fear into me and made me cautious.

It appears, to me at least, that the greatest impact preparing for the marathon has had on my strength training is that I was not able to balance both training routines at the same time. This is something I can learn from and seek to improve and plan for. This is just round one of the experiment after all - there's always next year.

2 sleeps to go.

The right plan for the right goal

A good goal needs a good plan. If I want to get stronger in the chest then it doesn't matter how many kms I run nothing is going to happen to my chest. And if I want to get faster in my running then it doesn't matter how many push ups I can do. The right goal needs the right plan.

Post race swim at the end of the Kaveri Marathon

With one goal its often very simple to find a good plan. But life is way more complicated than that. Often there are competing goals in our lives and these goals require different plans - often these plans compete with each other. That's my situation here. I want to run a marathon while I keep doing my body building but these two goals don't match up. Here's why.

In order to build muscle you need to be eating more than your body is using. Our bodies use this excess energy to build muscle (and fat). Strength training tells the body to use the excess for building extra muscle. However, running burns a lot of calories - A LOT. In a 20km training run I burn up an entire day's worth of food. Putting on muscle and training for a marathon don't really go together. Goals need to be realistic so this isn't my goal. My goal is to maintain my lean body mass, that is, to keep all the muscle I have spent the last couple of years building. I need a plan that gets me to the finish line and achieve a PB over this course - hopefully a PB for all the marathons I have run. Two great runners have guided my planning.

Geoff Galloway, an Olympic runner, notes that "Research has shown that you need at least three days running per week for sustained improvement."  Galloway actually suggests the best option is to run 4-5 days per week. While 4-5 days would be better for my running it would cause havoc for  maintaining my muscle; I would simply burn too much energy. Also, I need time to do my strength training. Without the continued upper body strength training I'll definitely lose muscle. So I need to work around 3 days running per week.

Amby Burfoot, a winner of the Boston marathon in 1968, suggests the simplest running schedule I have ever seen:  "I do a Yasso workout in the middle of the week, a long run at the weekend and fill in the rest  of my training as best I can." The long run prepares me to run 42 km. The Yassos (I'll talk about these next week) help me run faster. These two runs form the backbone of my running. The long run gets me to the finish line while the Yassos get me there sooner than later.

This is my training plan. I believe this, along with my diet plan (to be discussed later) will get me a PB over the course and, perhaps, a PB overall. Do you have a goal you are working on? What's your plan for improvement? Does your plan and your goals match?

13 weeks to go.

Do what you can until you can do what you can't

When I first started body weight exercises for strength training I saw how push ups would move toward push ups with feet elevated to one handed push ups to one handed push ups with feet elevated. I had always wanted to do a one handed push up and I thought that perhaps, maybe, one day I would be able to accomplish a one arm push up - just one!

Fast forward 3 years. Yesterday I was doing my Push routine which includes push ups. I am current doing three sets of one handed push ups with my feet elevated. This means that I have far surpassed what I thought I would ever be able to accomplish. I was able to achieve this through small (very small) but consistent progress.

Whenever I do strength training I always write down what I am doing so I can see my progress but also so that the next time I do that routine I try to increase by one rep; just one rep. Once I get to three sets of 12 reps I up the exercise or weight so that I can only do three sets of eight reps. This means that every three months I'm adding weight or making the exercise more difficult. That's how I got to do one arm push ups. I did what I could and eventually I came to do what I couldn't do when I first started.

He did what he could until he could do what he couldn't
And then he ran the race and finished it - well done.

When I started push ups there was no way through sheer effort that I could do a one arm push up. Through consistent progress I am able to do them. This goes for other areas of strength too. I applying this same strategy to my running in preparation for the marathon.

There was a time when a 20 km run was a good start - no longer. For the past five years running has been almost non-existent. My 5 km run this week left me exhausted and discourage. This morning was my long run. My plan for my long run is to start off walking for 2 hours and build in running, moving to 3 hours and doing the same. 2 weeks ago I walked for 2 hours and was exhausted at the end of it. I felt discouraged, weak and disappointed. The idea of running and finishing a marathon with a PB wasn't happening.

I missed last weeks run because of this crippling thought but I was determined to give it a try this morning. Due to scheduling problems I could only get out for 1 1/2 hours. The thought of walking for an hour was ok but the thought of running for 30 mins wasn't helpful. But I could run for a minute and then walk for a minute. That I could do. It would be just like a strength workout - go hard for a minute then rest. Only I wouldn't go all intense, just run. And that's what I did.

It was awesome. For the first time in years I felt the joy of running. My body loved the run and loved the breaks. At the half way mark my mind was positively thinking about the marathon. For sure, there is still a long way to go but I made solid progress today and mind embraced it. My mind could see that progress will happen, that progress will get me to the starting line, and most importantly, I can enjoy the journey.

There are many tasks that appear beyond what we can imagine. From where we stand today they are not possible, not even remotely possible. If, however, we can begin the journey and make progress, however slow, step by step what was once impossible will slowly come within our sphere of possible. That happened for me today. What task is out of reach for you, a task you want to accomplish but seems impossible? What's one step you could take in that direction? What can you do right now that will extend yourself so that one day you can do what you can't right now?

On the journey