Chris Aarhus OLD blog

Hello and welcome!  Well, unfortunately you have stumbled upon  my old blog, which is ok, because I can still tell you where I have moved on to.

Rather than try to run a personal blog and my coaching  business blog ( and do crummy at both lol)  I figured just do everything from my coaching site   www.optimaltriathlete.com

You also may find when Google searching my name my blog www.chrisaarhus.com which is more about home based business info and such and isn’t updated too often anymore as that was a full time job in itself and my heart is in coaching and endurance sport…not multi-level marketing and network marketing really.

Depending on when you see this, www.TheSelfSponsoredAthlete.com may be up and running. This is a bit of a spin off of the above but with more of a focus simply on helping other athletes learn how to create some space online with the goal of something that produces income.

There are many ways to produce income online, but most are way more involved than you are led to believe.  Not saying they don’t all require some work.  But the ones that are ‘easy’ generally are, because so much money is put into advertising campaigns and such.

Nowadays, most will involve some sort of monthly fees.  What business is free to run anywhere? So whether it is education, information, or a system to streamline it all, there will be a cost.  So, we  utilize  some systems in pursuit of creating time freedom to pursue training and a lifestyle of endurance sport without being held to set a place for work, allow more time for family, recovery from training, and if need be, work remotely from wherever I am  training and pull income from the internet.

If any of that sounds even remotely of interest or you just have some questions feel free to contact me through one of  my Facebook pages

http://www.facebook.com/chrisaarhus   or  www.facebook.com/optimaltriathlete

or commenting on www.instagram.com/cmaarhus

or direct message on twitter  www.twitter.com/chrisaarhus or http://www.twitter.com/optimaltri

 

Dr. Oz had me until….

So I get a glimpse of Dr Oz occasionally to see what they are up to,  and they are getting quite a bit of useful information out there to the masses in a format where they can spend a bit more time than the 2’ snippet at the end of a news show or other daytime talk show.

What’s tough sometimes though is to hear some of the misinformation though that still gets touted, or at least not an alternative to the problem they are claiming. It reminds me of Orpah’s trainer still promoting the “don’t eat after 7” rule that she and her staff were following during a weight loss challenge. I mean, if you haven’t had anything but soup and a salad since lunch and your meeting ran late…yes you can eat after 7!

So Dr.Oz is going through a list they have on their website for a shopping list and when they talked about meats and the use of soy products. They followed the “red meats aren’t good” due to their inflammation properties and potential cancer causing effects. The solution I wished they had enlightened people to, since they are supposed to be bringing the ‘latest and greatest information’ to the public, is the fact that if they chose grass-fed beef they wouldn’t have to eliminate it.  Grass fed beef has a much higher ratio of Omega 3 fats( anti-inflammatory) and CLA compared to the corn/grain finished beef sold inmost stores. The process alone of finishing cattle the last 30+ days with corn to fatten them up for sale is enough to change the Omega 3 and 6 ratio and destroy the CLA( cancer fighting) components.

Now, granted, maybe it was talked about and the usual discussion came up that they were trying to be ‘realistic’ about the availability of such a product. Shouldn’t that be left up to the consumer?  If they at least knew about the need for it, there would be a better demand and thus increase it’s current availability.

As for soy as a replacement or health food, that is another story in itself that I won’t address here. But there is plenty of information out there about the dangers of soy, mostly because of how it has been genetically modified here in the states ( I am not talking about fermented soy).

I will say the Dr and his guest, , did a great job of partitioning a plate out with the ratios of foods to complete a great looking meal. Their focus was on all the cancer fighting components they were including, also a great message about prevention for great health!

Even if they aren’t spot on, if people followed 80% of what they discussed today they would be surprised at 1) how it really isn’t that hard to do 2) it really isn’t that much more ( if any) expensive 3) how much better they would feel in 2-4 weeks eating this way.

The Tower Reign has been Broken_ Tower of The Americas Climb 2010

Another year has passed and another trek up the Tower of the Americas for Cystic Fibrosis. Although I wouldn’t say I was exactly prepared as best I could be, ( never have really trained specifically for it) I was attempting my 7th straight overall win for this event. I love the uniqueness of the event, the only time you get to run up the stairs of this San Antonio landmark. This year’s race happened to be the day after my wife and I’s10 year wedding anniversary and we were lucky enough to be able to spend an evening together, sans kiddos, downtown on the River Walk. I was going to be able to jog over to the start in the a.m. from the hotel which was nice. I prepped as usual with some light running, some jumps and hops, a few spikes of the heart rate to the point I would be competing at and stayed warm. Unlike past years, they finally had the organization of the event dialed in a bit better this year as I walked right up and got my timing chip with absolutely no waiting. There was plenty of food and drink, though I was surprised to see how many people felt the need to fuel up, not realizing the intensity of the event. It is a stair climbing event and I didn’t really want to see any of that breakfast coming back down the stairs if you know what I mean. I was a bit disappointed in the decision to break the run into waves based on age, as of course being 41 I was put in the last of 3 waves set 15 minutes apart.

Hand over hand weaving my way through the people..dang it was hot in there this year!

 That meant there would be people to climb through. Unlike the Empire State Building climb though, these stairs have a bit more room for passing. The second disappointment of course was seeing the one guy I knew for sure could probably get me if he ever showed and that was James Bales. This was a fellow triathlete that I have only beaten a few times, usually due to some mishap, there not being a swim, the distance being real long ( he is more a short distance guy) or the fact he had worked 120 hours or something that week. He was here, and he was in the first wave with the 39 and under. The simple synopsis of the event? I ran a descent mile for me, somewhere around 5:35 and came into the tower around 174hr and plenty of distance from anyone in my age bracket. I proceeded to immediately run into people who had started 15 minutes ahead of me and work it 2 steps at a time up the stairs. By 3 minutes in my hr was up to 182 and I started to shut down a bit. I back off a bit, do better this time keeping my 2 steps at a time rhythm and by then end hyperventilating the last-minute or so. I have no idea where I place, but my time is about the same as I won with in 2004 I believe 11:57 or so. Legs felt fine this time, just the cardio wasn’t there. Other years it is the legs feeling heavy. In any case, James gets me by about 40 seconds and another first wave guy by 8 seconds. Had I been in the first wave I might have gotten the 2nd place guy, but who knows, I couldn’t have gone much harder. Overall I was pleased. If I was to be beat by anyone it would be James, he is racing ITU pro triathlon this season. I did well too because I don’t think I let it hold me back mentally/negatively knowing he was in there while climbing. I did the most I possibly could. Next year he said he will be out-of-town. I will note that I was proud 2 of my clients Bonnie and Jim both won their respective age groups with Bonnie having the 3rd fastest time overall for women at 47 years old! She is an animal and now moving on to the triathlon world. Jim, a year older and posting a faster time than the previous year, way to go Jim!

How many miles are on your car?

These  days, with people buying on  leases and trading their cars in every so many years because they are bored with what they have, maybe this isnt a big milestone for many anymore. But I finally have a car that made it to the 200,000 mile mark this weekend. Of all cars, it is a 1992 Honda Accord that was a rebuilt salvage bought for $4k in 2003 with 110k miles on it.  It was intended to get me through ‘a few years’ and of course it gets to a point where I would have to pay someone to take it off my hands so I keep it.

As the odometer creeps towards this mark, I think back to why the other cars didnt make it, and for some reason it pops into my head the correlation to the people I train ( and don’t train) and why they don’t achieve the goals set out for themselves and come to me for help.  Just like the cars, their bodies slowly deteriorate over a time frame that quickly surpasses many years until the one day something ‘breaks down’ and they realize only then where they have let themselves get. Some will stay in denial even longer until the oil really starts leaking, it takes a few extra cranks to get started, a little more squeaking in the joints, and gas mileage that starts to really tank.

Then, usually due to some significant event, a trip, holiday, significant other’s (polite) comments, a child’s innocent observation (Daddy, that man is going to have a baby huh?) The person comes in for a little help.” Set me up on a program”. I proceed to start them on some basic body weight movement patterns when they realize how bad it has really gotten.  Anyone that drives a fairly old car then gets a rental, knows the feeling.

So what happened to the cars? Over the last umm 25 yrs or so I have gone through a few cars ( and one motorcycle). They each died or were gone prior to this 200k mark. I went from a POS Volkswagon Beetle( not sure, I think Dad’s car so technically not sure on its demise), a Chevy Nova ( with the non muscle car soft top) was sold for $100 bucks with a crunched left fender ( results of the 3rd ‘falling asleep at the wheel’ wreck) mileage 140k. Next was  a 1980 RX-7, my favorite. Bought at 110k, quit changing the oil regularly at about 160k, it blew a rotor on a trip to Colorado Springs 1 month after buying new tires. Again, sold for $100 for someone to take it off my hands. He said he was surprised I got 190k out if that year…hmm if I had taken care of it who knows?

Next was the  Subaru Wagon. Everyone said people are loyal to their Subaru. Well, again, bought for $2k and lasted 3 years through many a race seasons. The nail in the coffin, driving it to Seattle for Nationals and on the way home spending close to 5 hours with the gas pedal  floored going through Wyoming and Montana seeing what kind of “avg speed’ we could get the digital odometer to read. 2 months later cracked head in Topeka gets a tow home, trade it in for ..

A brand new Nissan Altima. Now this was really nice for having only used cars my whole life. Problem, first leased vehicle. Not good for a bike racer. 60k miles in 3 years was close to double the ‘allowable miles. They play games with letting me buy it outright at the end of the lease, it gets repo’d in the process, and a bill for $7,000 for overmileage shows up and I say “whatever” and never call me again on it. Now I can never buy a Nissan again for fear of them trying to get it out of me.

So with crummy credit I get into an old Isuzu Trooper. Fun to drive, great with the dogs and lake trips, 4 wheel drive STICK shift. This worked great until the family started to grow and the mini van was imminent and it was approaching the 200 k mark.  Before it could hit it there was a knock on the door as it sat waiting for brakes and a clutch in the driveway. SOLD for $500 to some guy that drives around looking to take cars off people’s hands, I’m sure to just take on down to Mexico.

Which leaves me with the final and current car ( other than the mini van that is the primary car for the family) A ’92 Honda Accord. A rebuilt salvage that has lasted way longer than I thought it would. Yes, it is starting to look like it has a skin condition, but this time around I have been changing the oil like you are supposed to. So, as long as the engine keeps going, I’ll be driving it.

The problem is with people,  the money is spent on making the body look like it is running good, while the insides, the engine, is slowly deteriorating.  So the car then, it is called a ‘great car’ until something goes wrong, then it’s ” what a piece of S—!, I need to get rid of this! ”  But we can’t just get rid of the body. Can’t just take it in for someone else to fix, though they try going to the poor DR. who just figures the person isnt going to do it themselves, so let’s give em a little something to prolong the deterioration. They themselves buy into the hopelessness generally felt that things can’t be changed, it is part of life.  Well, not the lives of people who take charge to change it.  It takes our own effort, our own time, our own responsibility, to fix it.

Granted it isnt always going to be pretty getting going again. But consistency wins out and there are just too many resources available to succeed. Granted, there are many variables to the process, and just as there is a need for someone to do your taxes, you don’t know what you don’t know about the process, until someone enlightens you! So many times I come across people who have a few of the components right, but stop there and accept the lack of results on ‘genetics’

Granted, genetics have some play, but not nearly as much as people, including many trainers themselves, should be giving them. The key is learning those primary variables…and then the sub variables within those, and what to do about it.

Some of these are of course the usual and obvious:

Caloric intake/ or lack there of and

Activity Level/ Too much ( yes) or too little

Some not so obvious:

Innate body awareness- how connected are you to your body

Rates of Perceived Exertion (RPE)- are you accurately applying this? OF course you’ll say yes, until someone shows you a true “10”

What is your relationship with food? Positive or negative?

Hormones- this is coming more into the mainstream, but still, does that mean you understand it beyond the last article in the magazine you read?

Your Foundation- what has taken years to build ( or slowly destroy) yourself on the cellular level? Life

Honesty- self-reflection. Are you really doing everything you need to be doing…honestly…

UGH, Not These Legs/ Nuences 50 Trail Run race report

You can’t just talk about training, teach about training, and wish you were training…and expect to perform as if you were training….that’s about all I can say about  that. 

So I have been wanting to get out to a place called Camp Eagle,TX ever since seeing a cool video of an Xterra race held out there a few years back.  So I see 1 of the many races this year Tejas Trails is putting on is out there. They have a 50mile and 26 mi. Figuring I for sure am not ready for the 50 mi, I opt for the 26 mi figuring that will be plenty. I have still yet to get good volume in this spring on either the bike or run. I was doing so good after the marathon last Nov into Dec but somehow, even with the family gone most of Jan, I didnt get any mega base miles in.  I figure this and then the Hell’s Hills50 miler will be revisited from last year coming up here in April.

I decide to just drive the 2 hours up in the morning rather than spend the night. I get there in plenty of time ( I seem to be getting a bit better with this as I am notorious for arriving in the nick of time…or less). I decide to go with the water bottle in hand over the camel/fanny pack. I didnt really need anything as they had very frequent stops.

This by far, in the few that I have done, was the rockiest race I have done.  I didnt even start out that hard 135-140 Hr and still tanked by mile ten.  Granted, not getting in many running miles period doesnt help, but still. So the plan to start moderate, go easy 10, then hard the last 6 backfired. My legs were shot from the stabilization they didnt have from not spending anytime on trails, and the slower I got. I dropped from I think 7th to 13th over the last 6 miles.

Other than that, great views, great support from the race director, good cool temperatures, and a good local if you want to come hang out for a day or two and just run the trails. I really can’t complain being that this isn’t my primary sport. I didnt get any blisters and got some film  footage with the new POV camera I am going to try to post in here later. We’ll see how the 50miler goes here in another month. Next up, Blue Norther’ Du in Seguin,TX. Another ‘first of the year’ pilgrimage.

Tour of New Braunfels- Race Recap ’10

Not a whole lot to report on this one. I showed up, it was freezing, I struggled, I finished.  ( side note- here it is a month later and I am finally getting around to posting it. Didnt know it was sitting in the draft file!)

Ok, well, so it wasn’t quite that simple but for the most part it was. Over the years this early season race is generally my first race of the bike racing year ( since I seem to keep sticking with doing multiple sports, they all have their ” 1st’s”
I wasn’t expecting a whole lot since I had been having problems on the group rides and hoped to just hang in there. Over the years I either get dropped in the first 10 mi, barely finish with the main pack, struggling the whole time, or, as in last year,get 3rd helping a teammate win.

This year after about 7 mi in we take a turn into a tailwind and all of a sudden I am chasing at my max! Nothing had happened in the crosswind just before the turn,  so I was thinking I was good when making the turn.  Luckily I tagged on just in time to turn into a crosswind and then get guttered off again.  Once again, this course had many turns and so it wasnt long and we turned again and I got back on. This went on  off and on most of the race.

Finally on the last lap I have to do a hellacious pull after another team mate’s pull to bring back a slowly forming 12 man group because once again, we had no one in it. That about did me in, got dropped in the crosswind then crawled my way back in. The rest of that 10-12mi was just hanging on. Each time I thought I could surge on a climb, it would last 10-20 seconds and people would then just surge by like I was standing still.

Came down to the final mi and an uphill finish of which I had nothing for. Placement in the mid 20″s I guess. Definitly not ready to get back to the 1,2’s field as this was only 40miles and I wasnt even competitive with the Masters div.

Tri Soler Racing Mountain Madness #1

So finally made it out to the Vanderpool, TX area for some ‘climbing’ It is the best we have this close to San Antonio and my legs quickly remembered it. Joshua Charles organized it snagging Amanda MacIntosh and Brandi to ‘perk’ for us ( they don’t like to be called sagging).
It was a good sized group of 15? with diverse abilities. I like when people challenge themselves on terrain like this and some it was their first time out here having no idea what to expect.
We rolled out of Utopia and already 3 of us were separated off the front..no it wasnt me pushing it either. But not even 4 miles in I flat. Havent flatted for months. Oh well, everyone rolls by with the ‘show off’ comments for us taking off while I change it. We roll off to catch up and the new tube wasnt holding air. Stop again and change it out sending the other 2 on. So this is not how I want to start the ride, chasing. Of course it is just a training ride not a race, so I keep it below threshold, not here to beat anyone.
We get to the first climb and ugh! there is that familiar pressure in the legs. I catch a few people, crest and bomb the other side which catches me quickly up to a few more at the base of the next climb.
Now I am feeling better. HR climbing at the 150’s and legs feeling a little too loaded for that HR. I am actually not fully recovered form last weekends 15 mi run/race and didnt back off much the whole week. Still hit my two Winter Gains cycle classes I teach ( though tues I couldnt do what was prescribed) and lifted weights on Thurs.
I did finally manage a 171 HR on the climb and legs started to feel better. I caught up with the front group of guys and rolled it on in to Leaky from there.
We regrouped and headed back. Since I was getting up the climbs faster I decided to head back up the descent until I saw the last rider then turn around. Caught up to everyone again and did this again on the final climb. I figured why sit and wait at the intersections. It is how you get a little stronger, utilize your time best even when riding with slower riders.
We had a great tailwind coming back and was cruising steady 30-33mph and it felt great. This was a much needed ride for me with the race coming up on the 30th. Hopefully I can hang now a bit.
My pupils Dennis, and Jim and another from the Winter Gains class, Carlos, think those are really helping. I am glad because maybe some others will realize the benefit of structured indoor training! . Time to work on some programs.

Endurathon 25k- Race Report

This was the 31st annual running of this race and my 3rd time, ( 07,08, skipped 09) held in Bulvurde, TX. A small but well put on race by San Antonio Road Runners ( S.A.R.R.) and Run Gear Run running store. As you can see from the profile it is a hilly course with prob the worst hill coming at mile13.5.

Endurathon 25k profile

I had gotten 3rd the previous 2 times here with some better training leading up to it so I wasnt expecting a whole lot. I had been training pretty good since the Nov marathon though so who knows. Although I do run with a Garmin and HR monitor, I still combine this feedback with ‘feel’. On race day things always seem a bit different than in training.
So we start off and HR gets up to about 150-155 for the first mile. I am fine figuring that is still aerobic for me and it gets me a 6:35. Good. I hadnt looked up my past times so I didnt really know what I needed to avg to get the same time. Sometimes I figure it doesnt matter because I can only do what I can on the day.
I stayed right around there for the first five miles, little higher HR on the uphills and downhills keeping the turnover high, pace a little slower on the up, faster on the down, but only varied by about 20sec.
At the first turn around I guess 4-5 I was 2 minutes back from the leader and prob 1:30 from the 2nd place guy and then 4 in between. Hmmph, little further back than the last time. So 6-10 I get a few low 6’s on the downhills and under 6:30 on the uphills and make ground and pass the 4 leaving 2 ahead as we come to the half way point. I am at about 160-165HR now and about 30 sec back from 2nd and notice at the halfway that the leader was standing there, he was a relay. Oh, well, now the game has changed a bit as I see the possibility of winning has come into play. I seemed to only be gaining on 2nd on the inclines, so I just inched my way up to him over the next 2 mi.

Passing 4th uphill. Sporting my winter coat (beard)

Then I thought maybe he didnt like me sucking his energy hovering just behind him because he let up. I didn’t want this as I could control my pacing off him leaving me the choice when to push. Now he could do so off me. HR 170’s now. From the spikes on the hills, I knew this was pressing it, but doable. As we head through miles 12-13 there is a gradual hill in which I maintained a little push to distance myself a bit. But it seemed for the effort, I didn’t get much. Hr went to 175 and I wasnt a whole lot faster for it.Then we hit a little down then the long final steep climb at 13.5-14mi. I back off a bit heading into it and then hard tempo up the hill. Telling myself this just feels like the hill intervals on the treadmill I had been doing. Keep the turnover going, fast feet, deep breaths, relax.
I see the relay guy as he makes the turn around and within the minute I am passing him too as we head down the long slope. I fall forward to just let gravity take me down the hill and HR creeps to 175 trying to keep up with my feet.
I see 2nd place and another that was closing in on him. My fear ( because it has happened) is that miss timing and getting caught in the final mile so I just give it all I have figuring there is only 5-6 minutes left. Hr now 180, posting a 6:13 for the last mile and by the final turn and 200m I think I’m safe. My speed was slowing down anyway so I was done.
Finally, I have been wanting this one! 1:39:07 on my watch, winning barely by 34 seconds over Mike Lilly who was top military runner.

Yeah, got one with my arms up...which feels so awkward really...

A good effort considering I hadnt been doing any training in those zones during this base time except for some short intervals. Goes to show, you dont have to train hard all the time! My legs we pretty wiped the rest of the week though. So structurally they werent ready to go that pace for that long.
Now I am pretty sure I could qualify for Boston now…just gotta decide where…

Happy New Year 2010!!

I am sure there are many blog posts with that title, how original 😦 Well, I quick update about all that. Eydie’s parents were in town so we got to go out for once in a long time without a time frame to be home.
The night started late, met up with some of her friends and had a late night downtown. Eydie had fun which is what’s important. I am so out of ‘that scene’ I could go either way.
I was really looking forward to doing the NEw Years Day 100mil bike ride that I have skipped the last few years. I hadnt ridden that long in months , but I like to just start the year off with it for some reason. Eydie did not like the getting up at 8 and I felt bad for ruining the sleep in. I was surprised how well I could function ( I did have a few and then some, and it has been awhile) The ride was super cold.
I did alright, but definitely not at the pace my soon to be competitors are at and where I should be. I fell off the pace not long after they decided to split the last few slower people off about mile 70. I chose a different route home so I could just crawl in at my own pace. I still ended up with the 100, but bummed I couldn’t hang. Well, that is what it is for though. A little gage. Then hopefully I can just do the disappear thing, train a bit on my own, then BURST back into action at the first race of the season Jan 30th 🙂 Yeah, well, I am going to do the masters 40+ because I still can’t hang in my 1,2’s division. Knowing how I post…that might be the next post.
As part of the new year, though I never have set resolutions, it is going to be the year I get some of my long put off projects done. I finally started my Winter Gains indoor cycle program out of the local Trisitions Triathlon Store. A slow beginning but I think after those coming feel the difference in the spring ( as some already say they are) , then hopefully next winter it will grow. Praying hard for some help from above for direction, motivation, and strength to just quit worrying about how far behind I am in all my zillion ideas, and just start somewhere.
so I should be updating the blog more often ( instead of having to do 3-4 posts and updates in a day) and will be changing the format real soon. Some BIG things to come, if I can just quit procrastinating by filling my time with little house projects that give the sense of accomplishing something for the day, rather than working on the stuff that will accomplish more in the long run.
Endurathon 25k report due out next!

Rock n Roll Marathon San Antonio 2009

All right, now that it has been 2 months since doing this race, this should help weed out the extra details I could put in here. Last year I did the half marathon while my lovely wife accomplished her first full marathon ( ) So this year, the 2nd since it became a ” Rock and Roll ” designated marathon, I received by drawing, a race entry 2 weeks out from the event. Yee haw! better start training!
I had been doing some 10-12 milers and a 15 helping another runner prep. But nothing in the realms I should have been in terms of training. Now I had done Redman late Sept, so I had a marathon distance under my belt.
So the day I find out I get to go I run 19…can’t waste any time getting that last long run in! I could then tell over the next 2 weeks I wasnt going to be turning in any stellar times, but the thought of qualifying for Boston is always presented to me by others and I thought it would be pretty tight to do that.
I ride my bike the 12mi down to the start NICE and EASY! It is early morning and already a bit too warm I notice ( but forget about later).
I don’t have to worry about all the parking and shuttle hassles I hear so much about and the ride has loosened me up so not much need to “warm up” . I find Michael and the TeamTriSomy Life Group and dump my bag of clothes and go find somewhere to lock up the bike.
I find Chad and we head to corral 2. As I am standing there tuning out the announcer hyping everyone up, I hear one part that catches my attention ” …we have our numbers on…we have our timing chips on…” I look down at my shoe…uh, no I don’t. Crap, slight panic sets in then I think, well, it is chip timed so I might as well go get it. I had left it in my bag, not putting it on the night before because I was STILL contemplating which shoes I was going to run in. I go back thinking how hard could it be to find a guy with a triple stroller and 3 other kids hanging on him and get my bag. Nope. So I try to find what I hadn’t seen the first time and that is the UPS trucks that our gear is in to take back to the finish.
I am 1)hoping it has already been brought there y Michael and 2) they had some way of organizing it all. Yep to both! Hey, it’s UPS. I walk up to the last truck in line and she gets my number and finds it right away. ” Forgot your chip?” she says. Guess I’m not the only one.
So I head back to the start and see that the lines to the port-a-potties is much smaller and figure, why not one last go so it isnt included in my time. By now they were at corral 12 I guess. I hop on in and proceed to shuffle on out. This made it a bit tough the first 6-7 miles as I was now in the middle of the 30,000 starters.
I was keeping a much better check on my HR this year ( as opposed to the crash n burn of the last time I was here) and 135 HR was getting me a 7:45 pace. Not quite qualifying time, ut that wasnt the full objective…pacing properly was.
I ran the first half in 1:40 so I was on track for a 3:20 spot on qualifying. Though I felt I had room to go faster, there was still a ways to go, the temperature was rising and I had seen the profile the night before…gradual climb the last 6-7 miles.
My HR was slowly creeping up to maintain the same pace and by 18 I was in the 160’s. By my VO2 tests I knew I was now entering the place where I was going to really start depleting. As for how long I could sustain, I did not know.
I started my push and from 20 on I ran those last 6 like it was a 10k. It was going to be real close…within minutes. I had come to the point where the half and full meet again. I saw some friends I knew. He later tells me I looked like I was hauling butt, but I explained I was maxed out when he saw me pushing a 175 HR by then and barely maintaining the 7:45’s. I cracked in the final 3/4 mi as we get near the Alamo dome and creeped up the steep incline they put in the last 200 yards. I probably lost a whole minute in the last mile.
I knew I had pushed a hard race because I didn’t really feel like eating anything and was looking for somewhere to just sit down and hide like a dying animal.
I called Eydie to tell her I probably wasnt going to ride home and come pick me up. Although I missed the Boston time by 5′ I was real happy with the way I paced. I havent ever ran that hard for the last 1 hr of a marathon. Looking at the splits they post online, I was spot on even paced until those last 2 miles, yet with a HR increase from 135-175+ throughout so I know I wasnt holding back.
The even bigger plus is I have finally rid myself of the plantar fasciitis I believe as I thought for sure it would be wrecked and it wasn’t.
I know with a little more ‘marathon specific’ training, I should be able to qualify for Boston, something I hadn’t really placed as a goal before.