Failing Successfully

There are many methods to maintaining coolness.

Is this one of them?

The alarm was set for 5:30am, though I woke up at 5:25am and flicked the switch to a preemptive off position. Yesterday's weather forecast had called for not only thunderstorms, but 90°F+ heat. So, while sipping on a glass Garfield™ mug (from circa 1980) of cool water, with a couple of ice cubes clinking together, I peered through the blinds at a perfectly blue sky. I reasoned, since I didn't feel all that well rested, that if it wasn't going to rain, then I would just sleep in some more and push my 11 mile LSD off until the evening. Hopping back in bed, I was immediately happy with this decision.

I woke up around 8am, to see there were still clear skies abound. So I went about my day humming I feel fine up until about 1pm, when the clouds closed in like a red velour curtain dropping after the final act of a play, met with thunderous applause, and soon began pouring rain on my parade. Checking with various weather sources, there was a predicted window of "less likely to rain" weather coming up between 3pm and 6pm, after which thunderstorms through the night was the general consensus. At 2:45pm things were looking brighter, and I headed out into a reasonably light mist, ready for some Singing in the Rain as I Ran for 11 miles.

The first 2 miles of the run were fine. I was taking it extremely slow, and although it was still blazing hot, what little rain there was, served as a refreshing buffer between me and the much harsher heat element. But the sun would not let the clouds linger for long, and soon was turning the wet pavement into a sauna of steam rising up and enveloping my every move with a cloud of uncomfortableness. Fortunately, I planned the course out as a 4x4x3 mile loop, so after my first 4 miles, I grabbed water and poured it over my head (not unlike the photo above, but less classy for sure), then guzzled a good amount of it down my gullet. I Immediately headed back out for the second 4 miles.

It was noticeably hotter now than when I started running. The rain was long gone, and there was nothing between me & the 93°F afternoon except a hat and a completely drenched shirt*. I made it past the halfway point, and with 2 miles left on the loop I was parched. It was here that a lady yelled to me from her front porch, "be careful of the heat!", as I waved and thanked her for her concern. This was the seed that started my unravelling. Physically, I was languishing, sure, but I still had enough energy to keep moving on. If there's one thing you learn while marathon training, it's persistence. Mentally, I began questioning my sanity for continuing this run in such unforgiving conditions. Was it worth jeopardizing my overall safety for sheer tenacity?

At the end of 8 miles I opted out of finishing the remaining 3 miles of the run. I came home defeated by the heat, but at least I came home safely. It's disappointing to leave a run incomplete, as it feels like each goal along the way is a small victory on the path to marathon, but what's important is not to focus on failure. Marathons are mental & physical challenges, and come Tuesday, I'll be eager to lace up my shoes and get back on track.

Going by this heat index chart, I made the right choice by cutting out early on the run. Yesterday's combination of 93°F with a 55% humidity put me at the apparent air temperature fulcrum of being anywhere between 98° to 110°F. Making anything from heat cramps, heat exhaustion, to heat stroke a potential threat. It's sad to say, but I miss the days when the streets were paved in snow, and my biggest threat was falling over into a nice fluffy mound of soft serenity. Ah, if only making snow angels could be considered cross training in July; I guess it will have to wait until January comes again.


Footnotes:
*For the curious, yes, I was also wearing shorts...and sunblock.
Photo via Library of Congress

From Dusk Till Dawn

Week 4 of Intermediate training has me feeling pretty optimistic about the way things are going. Of course, what has been demanded of me up until this point hasn't strayed too far outside of my comfort zone. I missed the first week, and week 3 was already a taper week, so it's only with this current week that things start to become more challenging. By week's end I'll have run an overall 7 miles more than the previous week; most of which can be attributed solely to Sunday's 11 mile run, which indeed, will be the first LSD on the schedule to break into the double digits.

This being my second tango with marathon training, I'm somewhat familiar with what steps are expected of me out on the dance floor. The one and only problem that I've had this time around is combating the East Coast's excessive heat index, which has made the days hotter than a Haitian humidor*. I'm certainly not alone in suffering through the air akin to an inferno, but I may be the only person in good old O-town with a training schedules that requires dedicating so many egregious miles to the molten lava-like landscape. It's an old adage that, "if you can't stand the heat then get the hell out of the kitchen", but what if the kitchen is your entire neighborhood, and it stays open from dawn till dusk?

Of course the simplest answer is to embrace vampiric habits of nocturnal activity, thereby avoiding the taxing trauma of soaking in the direct rays of the sun at all costs, but this solution of late night/early morning running is not without its detractions. Mainly, if you adhere to a routine of running on the rim of darkness, I've found that either method tends to interfere with, among other things, basic recovery/fueling options.

The conundrum: when to run & what to eat?

Merrell Down & Dirty: National Mud Run Series 2011

The Starting Line

I didn't run this one. Every time I was asked to join in all the reindeer games, I sorta shrugged my shoulders and simply stated "eh, I'd rather not.", which was met with a disappointed look of bemused frustration. "You're a runner, right?" I could almost hear echoing through a megaphone of sheer telepathy that nearly had me recoiling in shame. I am a runner, but a 5k or 10k race with obstacles including mud, walls, pits, & potentially fire seems to invoke the flight instinct, on the fight or flight spectrum, whenever the idea tickled my medulla oblongata. Honestly though, besides the fact I don't enjoy getting dirty, I had one specific reason why I didn't want to run through a Double Dare-esque obstacle course, and it wasn't Marc Summers, it was the fact that I was worried about the risk of a game ending injury 3 weeks into my marathon training schedule. If not for my training mode mentality, I may very well have been more malleable in forming a participatory shape.

Unlike me, my friend Pete was more than eager to take on the mud run. I tagged along as a supportive force, even though that that meant forcing myself out of bed at 5:30am on Sunday morning. We arrived at Fairmount Park in good time, even including the quickie stop to grab coffee along the way. Though it was a sold out event, the registration line was basically non-existent. Pete had his packet of race supplies in his hand and ready to go in a measly matter of minutes. There was nothing left to do but wait...

Onto the race...

Sweet Potato & Broccoli Rabe Orzo

I've been doing pretty well with clinging to the raw vegan diet, like ivy writhing its way around the paint chipped lattice work of a gazebo with a lakeside view adorning the lawn of an old victorian home, I proclaimed at the onset of these summery days. I've found glee in an endless variety of green & fruit smoothies that make the perfect start to facing another hot & humid summer day. I've also started experimenting with fruit infused water this week, and have been pleasantly surprised by how well that's working out. 

As I said before, this raw adventure was going to be approached with a certain amount of leniency, which would fluctuate around the 70% mark, and it has, pretty much, faithfully remained around that percentage without all that much effort. Sure, I still snag an iced coffee from time to time, I partake in my fair share of falafel sandwiches, and I'm sometimes struck right on the crest of my cranium with an oversized cartoonish anvil of an urge to really cook something special. I love cooking vegan foods, so I'd probably be pretty miserable if I went all summer without whipping up a nice batch of vegan cherry almond cookies, or maybe, when the mood strikes (like said anvil), what you see in the photo below:

Sweet potato, broccoli rabe, onion, & tomato

 on whole wheat orzo

Other than the orzo, none of the other ingredients required more than a slight sizzle to get the job done. All in all, it probably took less then 20 minutes to go from opening the vegetable crisper to setting the plate down and taking this photo. I used a splash of olive oil with some minced garlic in the pan and treated the veggies much like a stir fry, without really frying them all that much. There's also a bit of ginger in the mix to add a slight kick. I made up the recipe on the fly, and just kept in mind the flavors I wanted to have naturally compliment one another. It was a great success. The overall taste was light & breezy; perfect for a summertime meal. The sweet potatoes offset the airy bitterness of the broccoli rabe, and the whole wheat orzo grounded everything with a earthy touch. 

Since I didn't really go into this meal with a plan—I just sprang into action when I saw the bat signal that I confuse the refrigerator light for from time to time—I don't have a specific recipe to give you fine people. I will list what I used, with approximate measurements, and just note that the portions were plenty enough for 2 people, or maybe, if you're really hungry, just one. 

Onto the recipe...

Rocky II: From Osaka With Love

I hinted at something in the weeks prior to this post, something big, and now that I have confirmation on both events I can reveal my next act, like the reincarnation of Houdini himself, with great aplomb and prestige. Ladies & gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I can inform you, both contributing writers to the Vegan Marathon Runner blog are going marathoning once again! Though this time around we've thrown a slight curveball into the game by adding a half marathon race into the training schedule, a mere 2 weeks before the actual marathon takes place.

First up, thanks to Juergen at Running in Tokyo/Japan, the Turtle Half Marathon in Tokyo takes place in Arakawa on October 16th, which fits into the 12 mile run that Hal Higdon calls for in that week's LSD. Technically it's a taper week, so with the reality of the full marathon looming, like a gilded edge of a guillotine blade dangling precariously by a frayed & weathered rope above our sweat beaded necks, I doubt we'll be setting any major time records on this one.

Next up, the Osaka Marathon in, well, Osaka, takes place on October 30th, which fits into the marathon run that Hal Higdon calls for at the end of his 18 week training program. This being my second marathon, I decided to go with an Intermediate 1 training program to give me a better shot at the title during this rematch. While with my first marathon I merely wanted to cross the finish line, with this one I'd like to not only do that again, but do it a little quicker than the last outing. I have my mind set on a sub 4 hour race, and my heart set on a 3.5 hour time. I figure that the intermediate schedule will put me in better shape to accomplish this goal by the time October rolls around. Starting at an intermediate level also gives me the option to hopscotch back to one of the novice programs, should it prove too many miles too quickly. I obviously need to walk that tightrope of getting back into marathon shape without sacrificing myself to injury by failing off due to overtraining. The novice schedules are thus, the net below me.

I've already made the potentially damning mistake of miscalculating the timeframe I have until race day. I've been slacking off this past week, staying out of the heat & eating lots of vegan treats, giving my body a bit of a rest before the commencement of training. Then today, I realized my schedule was supposed to start LAST Monday, not this one. Sigh...Hal Higdon's 18 week Intermediate I training schedule just became a 17 week program. Let's hope that's not as detrimental as it seems.   

So, here we go again...