Running 2012 and Into 2013

Crunching the numbers, and counting on two or three more workouts before the year is out, I'll have run 1150 miles in 2012, a nearly 50% increase compared to 2011. But I actually ran with about the same frequency, just increased the average distance per run by over two miles. It has been a good way to meet people, make friends, burn calories (more effectively than biking), get out in nature, feel healthy, and so on.

I ran a lot of the events on the Southern Arizona Roadrunners calendar, particularly those in the Spring, and found that I'm about 20% slower than the winners in my age group. However, there was an odd outlier: in the Sabino Canyon run, I was only 10% slower. That could just reflect a smaller field. I did miss Ragnar Del Sol after doing that the two years prior—it's a very social event, and a great deal of fun—so I'll have to find a way to make that happen again.

Kicking off 2012, I ran on New Year's Day with TTR, on their Wasson Peak run in the Tucson Mountains (Saguaro Park West). That was a very beautiful 15-mile trail run, though with a mile-long series of steps to descend, which was quite painful. This was only my second run with TTR. I did another in the late spring on Mount Lemmon in the Catalinas and sprained an ankle, running fast over loose rocks into Marshall Gulch and not paying enough attention. I knew it was sprained right away, but still hobbled up to the aid station atop the mountain (in retrospect, I should have just sent word with another runner and waited there).

So I was injured for a few weeks. Coincidentally, my wife broke her leg ten days later, requiring major surgery and recovery (an entry for another time, perhaps). Later, when she was able to move around without assistance, I started training for the Labor Day run at Saguaro East, which is very challenging, both because the course is quite tough and because you have to train in the middle of a Tucson summer. As usual, a number of times the heat and humidity got to me, and I walked back. Another time, a summer monsoon storm swept down the mountain, with powerful lightning strikes all around as I ran back, getting caught in drenching rain in the last mile. But on Labor Day, the training paid off and I ran a PR of just under 65 minutes (then was a little miffed that I'd relaxed during the latter half of the race and could have done it faster).

Throughout the year, I'd run periodically on the network of trails at the end of east Broadway, which is the trail-head closest to our house. These trails are mostly flat, so it's more for fun than anything else. I connected up a series of trails on the map to maximize coverage and minimize cross-over, calling it the "Sooper Dooper Looper." I meant to run it in the early summer, but a number of things prevented that from happening: I came really, really close to being bitten by a western diamondback rattlesnake so was a little spooked, then part of the trail was marked closed due to "killer" bees, and I decided to respect their decision to close the trail, later the injury and summer heat. But finally in the fall, I ran the 17 miles on a nice morning with lots of cloud cover.

I ran Bear Canyon Loop twice in the fall (once in November with TTR, once in December with friends, on a drizzly, misty, cold day) and PhoneLine once with friends, as part of a memorial to a friend/acquaintance who died unexpectedly (it was his favorite run). These ones reminded me that, while I've never felt the so-called "Runner's High," trail-running is really fun and I find myself thinking "I should do this everyday." Especially with BCL's 17-mile length and 2000'+ ft. of elevation gain, I felt like I'd crossed a new threshold, being able to do these long runs without needing days to recover before running again. But, later on, in TTR's Loma Alta run, I made an effort to big up my pace and that time was sore for 3+ days (luckily just muscle soreness).

Caught by RossZ while running on the AZ Trail at Saguaro National Park

In January and February I had been training for the Lost Dutchman Marathon in Apache Junction, AZ; hoping to get my marathon time under four hours. I did long runs up to 21 miles but it wasn't enough and, on race day, I started getting leg pains around mile 18. I walked most of the rest of the way. It's a great event and maybe I'll be back one of these years. A friend on DailyMile suggested that for a marathon, you really want to get in like 450+ miles in training. I'm planning on signing up for one that's in April of 2013, so am ramping up my miles and long runs again now.

Here's what I have in mind for 2013:

• Get faster (am part of a Fleet Feet training group now, which includes interval training, and I'll probably rejoin ESTANDA for their track workouts)
• Run the Brian Mickelson Memorial Marathon in Cottonwood AZ on 4/20, follow my training plan for Jan-Apr, build endurance further
• Compete in my age group for the SAR Grand Prix (I'm already signed up for their first 8 events)
• Volunteer for some events (first off, probably the Fleet Feet trail run event at Colossal Cave)
• Do four more of the TTR runs (Wasson, Winter BCL, Catalina Peaks, and Sunset trails) and 4-6 in the fall
• Do another run on Catalina Highway (not the Mt Lemmon marathon or ½-marathon though) and one on the Madera Canyon road
• Run at the Grand Canyon (probably South Kaibab + Bright Angel or just Plateau Point out-n-back)
• Run in the Tucson Parks&Rec summer track&field series, and maybe one of the summer marathons in MT, if the vacation schedule works out
• Go under an hour at the Labor Day run
• Have fun and stay healthy!

Labor Day Run

The annual Labor Day Run at Saguaro National Park (East) is one of my favorite events. It's close to home (3.5 miles), it's said to be the only running event in a national park, and it was the first ever run I competed in (the 2008 edition). The course, with rolling steep hills and one monster 1.5-mile climb, is tough. What makes it really, really tough, however, is the fact that it takes place in what is, essentially, the middle of the summer here in the Sonoran Desert. I try to do a little better each year, but that means training in the most humid time of the year for Tucson. So the course has kicked my ass plenty of times; usually I find that the heat and humidity gets to me about halfway through, at the base of the big hill, and I end up jogging back, or hiking across the loop and back to the start.

Other times of year—when I'm not training for Labor Day—it's just fun, a great way to get out and enjoy some natural scenery. I've seen deer, gila monsters, rattlesnakes (western diamondback and Arizona black), desert tortoises, coyote and bobcats. I've witnessed amazing sunsets, starlit nights and satellite passes, and also awe-inspiring lightning storms (both distant and holy-crap-I-could-die sweeping over me). I was just a little trepidatious the first time running it around sunset and into twilight (mountain lion and killer bee attacks have occurred out there) and afterwards started the first of a series of entries like "ran the Saguaro Loop at sunset and did not get attacked by [bats|bees|cougars|etc|etc]."

I set a 66-minute PR out there early this spring. That was taking it easy in the first couple of miles with their roller-coaster hills, gradually ramping up and running the last 5K at my max pace. I didn't get to train a whole lot until late in July. My first few training runs established that a significant speed-up, e.g. a sub-1-hour time, was probably not going to happen by Labor Day, but shaving two or maybe even three minutes off of my PR could happen (with a lot of hard work). However, after a number of training runs throughout August, I still couldn't seem to go faster than 29 minutes to the base of the hill or less than 14 minutes on the hill, only a tiny improvement on my PR splits, and still requiring a huge effort in the last 5K in order to improve my time.

Fast forward to race day, 6:35AM. I started closer to the front—less people to pass—this time. But I'm still slow, so not too close. I was amazed to look at my watch and see about 7:15 had gone by in mile 1, 14:30 by mile 2. I slowed down a little bit to save energy for the hill. Topped out on the hill (mile 5) in 40:40 and felt pretty good (slight side-ache). This was the 2-minute improvement I was looking for! But somehow, elated that the PR was well in sight, I slowed down and stopped watching the split times, just cruised along at a slightly slower pace. I picked up the pace again in the last mile, but it was too late, the sub-64-minute time was not going to happen. Still got a PR with a 64:45 minute time (on my watch; it turns out the official time of 64:53 is from the gun, not from crossing the line) and 126th place out of 779. So it was a moment of some mixed emotions: glad for the PR, but a little bummed that I did the last few miles slower than in training.

Next year, my training goal will be to achieve the sub-1-hour time!

Lost Dutchman Marathon

A few years ago I saw a flyer for the Lost Dutchman Marathon in Apache Junction AZ, which is held annually in February. It sounded like a fun course, starting out near the mountains east of Phoenix, a place that I hadn't visited before. However, in the next couple of years, I participated in the Ragnar Del Sol relay race, which is held a few days later. But this time around, I didn't find an organized team in time for the early entry fee, so decided to go for plan B. The decision was made easier by the fact that two new friends, Becca & Matt, planned to run the marathon as well. So back in November (2011) I signed up and started ramping up my running.

To recap my previous marathons, in 2010 I tried for the first time, despite never having had run more than a half marathon. I ended up having to walk a lot, six or seven miles. I knew I had to build up strength by training more and also gain confidence through longer runs. I overcame some injuries and did a bit of interval training. I worked up to 17 then 21 mile runs before tapering. In the summer I had another go at a marathon. It didn't go well, muscle cramps started by the halfway point. I tried to run parts of each mile in the second half, but it was extremely painful. So for the Lost Dutchman, I knew that I needed to build up even more muscle (and core) strength. It went well, I did some intense trail runs, an eight mile run uphill on the Mt. Lemmon highway, tried to follow a plan of tempo, progression, and sub-pace runs. My longest run was 21 miles again, but in stark contrast to the prior experience, I felt fine afterwards and recovered very fast. But an attempt a week later to run 90% of a marathon did not go well—muscle pain set in by mile 17. I had to begin tapering and hope for the best.

Unfortunately the third time was not the charm and my marathon followed the same template. Various pains that had me starting to walk by mile 18, and walking all of miles 22-25. At this point I don't know what the next marathon I'll attempt will be, but I do know that the training will have to be even more intense.