LA Marathon 2007: Game’s over man….. for now!

Well, the LA Marathon came and went.

My unofficial time was 7:09.xx.

Lessons learned.

I was not familiar at all with the new route. I forgot that the first mile and a half was actually up-hill (I had ridden this area mane years ago on my bike).

Lesson 1: Preview the course (If the route is changed again next year, I’ll make sure to do that).

I trained for three months, did 1200 and 800 meter repeats, tempo runs, long runs, slow runs, etc.

Lesson 2: I really need to train for six months like before. Three months for me does not cut it.

I ran with a friend and we had discussed parting ways at some point if one of us hit the wall. I actually stayed with her the rest of the way and helped her finished.

Lesson 3: There is no glory if there is no personal sacrifice. My PR awaits for another day.

In my previous Marathons, I cramped up really bad at mile 7 and mile 13 respectively. That did not happen this year at all. I felt it coming but it never happened. I was quite rested when I got to the finish.

Lesson 4: Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. I thought I had done that before but I really understand how to hydrate now. I drank 32 ounces of Accelerade about an hour before the race start and drank my 64 oz supply during the race plus whatever I could get at water stations. I did have to go to the restroom twice but really did not loose any time at all doing that. Accelarade it is.

After the run I immediately took an ice bath. It started with a warm shower, 5 minute dunk in my portable tub with ice, back to the warm water, dunk in ice, warm shower, ice again and finish with short warm shower. I also iced specific areas of my right heel and left foot. I was able to run/walk a 3 miler the next day.

Lesson 5: Ice baths are very good for fast recoveries along with the right amount of training.

I have come to like this type of event.

Lesson 6: I have come to love this type of event!

Carbo loading…

I’m going to the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. I’ve been ready to go all week. Finally I’ll go have my favorite dish. Spinach Tortellini, everything on the side.

Now it is customary to have a pre-race carbo loading dinner. The truth is that it does not really help for race day, unless you started carbo loading a week before (which I did). It just a nice tradition but there should really be a big carbo loading ritual way before the race.

For now I’ll just enjoy.

P.S. I wanted to go with a couple of friend and enjoy the company but that never materialized. I’m still not going by myself, my daughter and friend are going with me.

Bring it on!

Lessons learned

As I write this, I'm watching last years race (LA Marathon March 19, 2006), hopefully this years race will teach me more about the race. But first, what I learned the first time I did the LA Marathon.

Race walking was what I chose. I was really excited. I was two meters away from the starting line (can you spell dumb and crazy!).

The gun went off and my race walking technique kicked in. I was actually passing runners. And kept passing them until a little past mile 7. Can't remember the exact mile marker, the pain from both legs cramping up was just excruciating.

The 19 miles that were left were done at a more humble pace and the pain from the original cramps I experienced never did go away during the trek. I do remember mile 19, because at that spot, there were a group of volunteers spraying participants with some kind of pain killer. I volunteered for the experiment and almost fell on top of one of them as my legs were just about shot.

The finish line was full of joy, my race walking technique was back and people were cheering (I thought the cheers were for me), but I was in full tear mode. You really can't see that at the finish photo but a valuable lesson was learned.

Start farther back!