Hartog’s Den

It is a beautiful but hazy morning in the San Joaquin Valley, as I ride the Amtrak #701 north to Sacramento, sipping my habitual coffee as I type. In the early morning light, the endless fields of crops – the farms, vineyards, and orchards that supply the nation with a third of its food – are at once modern and nostalgic; both a testament to the industrial age of machinery, and a pleasant appeal to the pastoral legend of early rural America.

Yet the many fallow fields and piles of idle equipment also speak to the times; the megastate of California, the world’s 6^th largest economy, stares down the grim specters of severe drought, insurmountable debt, and a broken state government. And to be sure, these are but our regional reflections of hard times across the nation and the world over.

After the initial rawness of 9/11, the opinion was generally held that the dark times were temporary, and lofty rhetoric from our leaders spurred us on to seek a recovery of spirit and confidence. And in spurts and starts, some light did shine through. Yet eight years since the trauma, the times remain quite dark.

In the face of such extended troubles, optimism grows ever harder to come by. We may ask, is this the way things will always be? Are we, as a civilization, now inexorably committed to a downward spiral of our own making? I think not. At least, I disagree that our slide is inexorable in any sense. But recovery, and more importantly, long term survival, growth, and prosperity, depends wholly on a fundamental shift in our perspective.

For generations, we as a nation have held a strong sense of entitlement – the notion that we as a people are wholly unique in the history of mankind, and that, as such, we must therefore be first in all that we do, no matter the cost. This belief, in itself, is neither incorrect nor misguided; even the harshest (sane) critic of this country must admit that it is this very attitude that has spurred a great many of the world’s most profound feats of scientific discovery, invention, exploration, medicine, and the spreading of liberal democracy throughout the world.

But what has been profoundly lacking in our core principles (or perhaps what has been gradually lost from our system of ethics) is a sense of prudence – the judgment to exercise restraint on our ambitions and wants, and a tolerance for those times when life is not comfortable.

Our way forward lies in renewing that old American can-do attitude, the irrepressible optimism that divides us from our dourer estranged parent, Europe. But it must be tempered with the willingness to once again understand the nobility of, and need for, sacrifice. The sacrifice of the perceived right to excess – no longer, with 6 billion people (and more coming), can we disregard the environmental and socioeconomic consequences of our standard of living. The sacrifice of the perceived right to isolationism – no country, not even the most powerful the world has ever seen, can survive on its own. The sacrifice of the perceived right to comfort – security and success demand hard work, education, and solid principles. The sacrifice of the perceived right to dominance – our head start after WWII has evaporated, and we can no longer take for granted that we shall be the standard of excellence in the world; instead we must sharpen our skills and compete.

So, on this eve of our nation’s 233^rd anniversary, I ask my fellow citizens to reflect; when you behold the rocket’s red glare and the bombs bursting in air, consider not only the tremendous amount of good we have done for the world, but also the difficulties we face, and how we must reform ourselves to ensure our future prosperity; the fields of the San Joaquin, like our way of life, must not lie fallow forever; they must be replanted and grown sustainably. It is only the truly free whose primary concern is the improvement of themselves and society; those more fettered in life or spirit lack this luxury, which we must ever refuse to take for granted.

Last week was easily the hardest so far.  On top of the schedule requiring the most weekly mileage so far, the weekend required 7 miles at pace on Saturday, plus 14 miles on Sunday.  The midweek mileage was also increased from 3-6-3 on Tues-Wed-Thurs to 4-7-4.  Increased midweek mileage, a faster Saturday run, and my longest run yet at 14 miles all coupled to make for some difficult training.

This was made worst due to making a critical and stupid mistake during the midweek runs that ended up causing me to miss a training day for the first time.  I do not handle heat well.  Anybody that knows me knows my love of cold weather!  The effect that heat has on me is amplified when I run.  I stupidly decided to run my Wednesday 7 miler too late in the morning on a hot day.  I figured that since I was going to pass a drinking fountain half way through, I’d manage.  Of course that’s the day that the city is working on plumbing in the area, and the drinking fountain didn’t work.  This resulted in me becoming badly dehydrated in the last couple of miles.  The effects did not wear off completely for a couple of days!

Marathon training does not allow you to get into a comfort zone.  There is a steady increase in mileage and intensity, and soreness comes with the territory.  Soreness can be managed and fought through.  The kind of soreness and physical and mental sluggishness that resulted from being dehydrated was way worse than the normal aches and pains.  I knew pretty quickly the morning of the four miler that the run was not going to happen.  Just the thought of running at all sounded too daunting, as even walking around was more difficult than usual.  I decided it was safer to take an extra day of rest and recover.

I’m glad I did.  My weekend runs were the hardest so far, and I went into them feeling rested and ready.  I felt strong and comfortable throughout the Saturday run.  My Sunday 14 miler went well, although I’m really, really sore, and was unsteady on my feet for a little while after finishing.  The 14 miler felt like my first true long run, because it was the first run that I brought food to eat mid-run.  Typically, any run over two hours in length requires some kind of sustanance, and I’m now getting my body re-acclimated with accepting food mid-run.  I’m experiementing with shot blocks and gels, trying to figure out which upsets my stomach less.  I used shot blocks yesterday, and they were very helpful, upset my stomach minimally, and allowed me to finish the run at a decent pace.

Next week follows an almost identical schedule with two changes.  Saturday will be a normal seven miler instead of a pace run.  Sunday will ramp up to 15 miles.  Learning from my mistake last week, and prepared with gels for my 15 miler, I should have a very successful week!

Tues 6/23/09:  4.16 miles in 38:26 at 9:14 / mi

Wed 6/24/09:  7.45 miles in 1:10:59 at 9:31 / mi

Thurs 6/25/09:  skipped!

Sat 6/27/09:  7.53 miles in 1:10:37 at 9:22 / mi

Sun 6/28/09:  14.01 miles in 2:18:01 at 9:51 / mi

33.15 miles for the week

The Hal Higdon plan that I’m following has periodic, progressively rising peaks, with a slow ramping in the distance of my long runs.  After these peaks, mileage drops slightly to allow for some recovery, before advancing to the next peak.  Last week was one of those recovery weeks.  I’m now looking at my next week with some dread.  It’s 36 miles total, with a 14 miler on Sunday.  Basically, it’s gonna be fuuuuuun.  Rest day today, and then onto the pain!

Wed 6/17:  3.04 miles in 26:29 at 8:42 / mi

Thurs 6/18: 5.29 miles in 48:18 at 9:07 / mi

Sat 6/20: 6.06 miles in 55:45 at 9:12 / mi

Sun 6/21: 9.13 miles in 1:28:28 at 9:41 / mi

23.52 miles for the week!

I missed a couple of runs due to a trip to Seattle last weekend.  Totally worth it though, since it was an awesome trip!  My weekly long run got pushed to Monday.  If there’s any run that you don’t want to miss during marathon training, it’s the long run!  I got it finished, and am right back on track!

Note:  To keep my overall weekly mileage consistent, I’m putting my Monday run in with last week, so that it doesn’t artificially inflate the mileage for this week.

Tuesday 6/9: 2.76 miles in 23:57 at 8:41 / mi

Wednesday 6/10:  6.05 miles in 54:52 at 9:04 / mi

Thursday 6/11:  3.13 miles in 26:48 at 8:33 / mi

Monday 6/15:  12.60 miles in 2:07:52 at 10:08 / mi

24.54 miles for the week.

Well I survived my hardest week yet, culminating with an eleven mile run, the longest since Portland. With all of my runs I finished strong and comfortably. The heaviness in my legs that I’ve been feeling towards the end my runs is fading at last, and just being able to run 10+ miles in a single go again is a great feeling.

In my experience, I have found that ramping up to higher mileage is much more difficult than maintaining that mileage once it is reached. Getting to 20 miles a week from 10 miles a week is harder than maintaining the higher mileage. I’m now pushing 30 miles a week, which is more than double what I was doing when not training for any particular race. At the peak of my training schedule, I will be doing 43 miles a week. I’ve begun to notice the effects of this ramping, both positive and negative.

The positive is obviously the huge improvements in my running. The negatives are starting to creep up though. I was very sore after my long run, to the point that it affected my sleep. A sore, tired and thoroughly pissed-off Ryan was the result the following morning, which my poor girlfriend had to bear witness to. I am very paranoid about injury, due to my history of running-related injuries, and ramping up mileage greatly increases risk of injury. It leads to minor bouts of panic when I feel a twinge or a pull, thinking that it’s a big injury, rather than just minor pains that all runners have. Longer runs mean sorer legs, which makes it that much harder to get out of the door for the next run.

These negative barriers start to creep up more and more as the marathon training advances. It got the best of me a couple of times while training for Portland, so my experience in dealing with it once should make it easier this time around. This is not meant to be a negative post though. In the end, training for a marathon is fun! It feels like an adventure, a chance to see how far I can push myself. Seeing 11.01 miles on my GPS is an immensely satisfying feeling. I’ve got 14 weeks left until marathon #2, and I’m already starting to look at where I should run #3. This is becoming an addiction…

Tues 6/2/09 – 2.91 mi in 26:01 at 8:57 / mi
Wed 6/3/09 – 6.00 mi in 55:49 at 9:18 / mi
Thurs 6/4/09 – 3.05 mi in 26:55 at 8:50 / mi
Sat 6/6/09 – 6.35 mi in 57:22 at 9:02 / mi
Sun 6/7/09 – 11.01 mi in 1:47:45 at 9:47 / mi

29.32 miles total!