Saturday; the day before...

This is what we will be looking for tomorrow...the finish line. Doesn't look like much right now, but it will change!
and right around the corner from the finish...our reward. All of the tables will be piled high with food for the weary competitors.
Don't forget the key!
Local color for the marathon.

So it begins

Here we are in Portland. We had a pleasant trip, stopping a few times to stretch and to eat. We were in downtown Portland right around 5 PM on a Friday, so it did get a little bit hectic as we manouvered our way to the front door of the Hilton. After checking in, we stopped to eat at the in-house restaurant; a great pasta dinner! Then it was just a short stroll across the street to the older Hilton, where the packet pickup had started. We had picked the right time to do it, as there were very few people in line and when we left the numbers had increased dramatically. Tomorrow there will be lines up the escalators and out onto the sidewalk.

Now we're settled in for the evening; the car is parked safely away somewhere underground and we won't see it again till Monday morning checkout time. And that means we will be doing some walking around downtown tomorrow...call it "training".

On our way to the hotel I did see that they were already beginning to assemble all of the hardware/fences/etc that are used for crowd control and tomorrow we will certainly see a thousand portable toilets lined up near the start. Utilitarian, but quite colorful!

I had this thought last year; all of those toilets are locked with a little padlock and of course each must be un-locked sometime before the start. Imagine the pandemonium if someone lost the key?

Closer to October 1st.

I had a good training walk, doing 6.38 miles in 83 minutes. No, that’s certainly not fast (13.01 minute/mile) but it was comfortable. I was doing some daydreaming and my feet were on “automatic”. And I was daydreaming about how it was going to feel next Sunday, when at 7 in the morning, myself and 14,000 others would start the 35th running of the Portland Marathon. I’ve checked the weather and the forecast is for 70 and partly cloudy. Lovely!

Last year, it had rained the night before but it turned out to be a warm day for us. And I remembered last years starting miles…I think it was right around mile 2 that we were forced into a construction detour. The course narrowed down and pretty soon we were faced with large puddles of rainwater and a muddy path alongside a fence. Of course no one wanted to get their shoes wet this early in the race and so people were skirting the puddles and then getting all jammed up near a narrow gate; where only about 6 or 7 people could pass through at a time. My time for the first few miles averaged 17 minute/miles…a crawl!

And I must note that I won’t have my partner with me for this race. Bummer! She keeps me focused on my speed and now I will have to do some fancy mental exercises to remedy that loss. I must make sure that I target an individual and then try to slowly overtake and pass them. Then pick another. I just have to keep doing that until I see the finish line. Last year we got our biggest mental boost by accelerating up the hill towards the St. Johns Bridge; passing the competition, left and right. I want to do that again!

I read that there is going to be a racewalking division this year, but I’m not enrolling in it. Judged racewalks are not my cup of tea. Of course I will be racewalking… but I will be my own judge, thank you.

Weight 195.3 (Darn cookies!) BP 128/60 Pulse 64

Tune-up

A very nice day in the park…and a good day to do a fast 5.19 miles. It was cool; in the high 50’s when I started but I was soon warmed up and really quite comfortable. I ended up with a 12:33 minute/mile average, making this a good tune-up for the marathon next weekend. I intend to do a longer walk on Monday, a little bit longer on Tuesday and a short one on Wednesday. That will end it; giving me 3 days of rest before the event. And after that, I may do one short walk before the Westwood/Susanville marathon on the following weekend.

Weight was 193.6

I'm Back!

A good one! Since I wanted to work on speed I decided to do the same distance I walked on Tuesday, 3.23 miles. And I knocked a minute off of my previous time, doing it in 40.06 minutes (12.16 minute/mile). And I was able to drop about a pound of weight as well.

And while I was walking, I remembered a conversation I had with my sister regarding ChiRunning. We had both heard the PBS interview that gave some info on the subject and I remember thinking at the time that it was a great idea! I would love to run a marathon just because it would free me from the discipline of racewalking. Not that I don’t love racewalking; after all, it’s the “Cadillac” of bipedal transport!

And when I visit the Chi-Running website, I see a Chiwalking link…hmm? that could be interesting as well. Here’s a quote.

“ChiWalking helps reduce or eliminate knee pain, hip pain, and pain from arthritis. Walking has been proven to lower the risk of: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer and more. Walking can truly be a lifesaver and with the ChiWalking mind-body approach, the benefits are exponentially increased.”

Weight 193.6 BP 131/60 Pulse 56
Blood pressure seems high, but I just got back from the park.

Dark Mornings

It's that time of year...dark in the morning and staying dark longer. It's about 9 weeks now before we see a change back to Standard Time and then the morning's will be more enjoyable. (Is that right? 9 weeks? End of October?) I will be in the park this morning about 6:45 and it will be semi-dark, but light enough for a training walk.

My plan is to train through this and the next week and stop on Thursday, 3 days before the marathon. I am not doing any more long walks (over 15 miles) and will try to concentrate on speed.

I'm feeling good about my training and that's important...all marathons require a good "mental" preparation as well. And it looks like my black toenail will stay on for the race. Last year at this time, it had just fallen off and I was worried that it might bother me during the race. It didn't.

Fall?

It was a great day for training. Some wind and cool; maybe 68 degrees? I started out with the hopes of getting in a good mid-distance walk and doing it fast. So I ended up with a distance of 8.38 miles in 1 hour and 48 minutes. That’s good enough for a 12.89 minute/mile average. And with this wind, the falling of the leaves accelerated; pretty soon after I started, I was creating a “crackle” with every step and leaving a trail of broken leaves behind me. At one point, I looked up ahead of me and the sun was creating golden sparkles on hundreds of leaves as they slowly danced and twirled in their descent.

BP 121/72  Pulse 69 and weight is 194.8 (Must have been the ice cream last night)

Highs and Lows

Not a bad walk…short but fast enough. I did 3.29 miles in 41 minutes and that’s a 12.5 minute/mile; good enough to get the heart pumping as needed. My original plan was to spend a little time in training while we were in Santa Fe; the condo was supposed to be about 5 blocks from the Plaza and I imagined that I would arise early and walk down there for a coffee before anyone else was awake. I hadn’t counted on the fact that the condo was at the top of a steep hill, a very steep hill! And walking real fast at 7,000 feet was pretty much impossible for this guy. I did a couple of short walks from the office, where I picked up the morning paper, back up the hill to our rooms and those walks had me puffing; and I’m in good shape…

And more good news…my weight this morning is 194.6; after a long weekend of eating some rich foods. Feeling good!

A Long Walk

After a 19.14 mile walk, you would think that I would have plenty to talk about, but no; I’m just out of words. Just enough to say that I did it in 4 hours and 28 minutes. That’s a 14 minute/mile average and I can live with that. I didn’t plan on going fast today; just wanted to rack up some miles before we head to Santa Fe and a long weekend of vacation. Yippee!

BP is 103/57 Pulse is 68 and the weight is 192.6. Now that’s good! I was hoping to hit 190 before the Portland marathon and it looks like I’m pretty close to it.

Short and Sweet

Not bad at all…I decided to go for a short and fast walk this morning and the results were gratifying. I was able to do 5 miles in 62 minutes; giving me a 12.4 minute/mile average.

I suppose I will never be a good competitive race walker and that’s OK. I really don’t feel the drive to do that; it requires more dedication than I’m willing to give it and I don’t see myself changing. My training schedule is based on how I feel and not on what I should be doing. And truth be told, I don’t want to spend that much time on training. I’ve done well, losing a lot of weight and gaining lots of endurance and pride. My only goal, really, is to stay fit. Walking is healthy. I don’t take any medications at all and my doctor seemed surprised at that…after all, I’m 66 years old and apparently I’m supposed to be actively supporting the pharmaceutical industry, not the sports shoe industry.

I heard a startling figure the other day; 21 million people in America are diabetic. That’s an epidemic! Yet the easiest way to help in the fight against that disease is right there at the end of our legs…

BP 117/53 Pulse 57 and Weight is 194

Promises, promises

Despite my promises, I wasn’t able to go for a 14 mile training walk. I went around once at a 13.16 minute/mile pace and then went around one more time, hoping to do better. And by the time I reached the 3 mile point, I could tell that my muscles were tightening up, not relaxing as hoped for. (After doing 18 miles on Tuesday, I should have taken a 2 day break.) I decided to cool it and come in early and at the 10.41 mile marker, with a 13.28 pace, I turned and walked the rest of the way back to the truck. I still ended up with a total distance walked of 11.67 miles and at 4.5 mph.

BP 105/56 Pulse 56 and weight 193.2

Slow/Fast

I’m back from a good walk…18.05 miles worth of walking. I have to admit that I wasn’t very happy with my time on last Saturday’s walk and felt like I had plenty to do get myself ready for the marathon. Maybe more than I had time for? Today I feel much better, doing the 18+ miles in 4 hours and 8 minutes. That gives me a better minute/mile (13.74) time than Saturday’s and I went 2 miles further.

BP 121/55 Pulse 68 and Weight is 195.4

I don’t know why I beat myself up with all of these figures; too slow! Too fast!…the race will make them all meaningless.

Longer, not faster

Yesterday, I got in a fairly long walk (16 miles) and I did it faster than I thought I should. 13.83 minute miles average. I was really trying for a slower walk and more mileage…I could have gone further, but I was bored and wanted a break from the monotony of the park.

What I really need to do is to stop focusing on the times and spend more “time” on just doing more miles. It’s conditioning, not speed that is needed for the long distances. Race day and the crowd will bring out all the reserves you need to do well. Just having some competition will cut many minutes off of your usual pace.

New Year results

It’s a new year for sure…and I did well on the first day of my 66th year. I went to the park with the intention of going fast and was quite successful. After shaking off the aches and pains from yesterday’s 13+ miles, I clocked a good 12.02 minute mile for the first mile. At the turnaround, 1.65 miles, I had an average time of 11:87. Then it was a sprint back to the finish…3.3 miles in 39.22 minutes, or an 11.88 average. Doing some comparisons; that pace would give me a marathon time of 311.256 minutes (5.18 hours – I wish!) More realistically, that would give me a 5K time of 36.83 minute/mile. Now that’s more like it!

Let’s see…BP     116/62     Pulse 52          Weight 196.2

Almost over

On a different subject altogether; I’m looking forward to the end of the marathon season. The training has become a chore and although I’m certainly healthier because of it, I’m looking forward to a more relaxed schedule in October. I’m still looking at the last two marathons with optimism, but now I’m thinking about changing my style to ½ marathon distances. I will have done 6 marathons in my life and millions of people never do one…so I’m OK with that. And ½ marathon distances are so much easier to train for; and I can still hit the big marathon sites, like Portland, Seattle, Phoenix, etc. Just being part of the event is great. I really do love being around marathoners! Running or walking, marathoners are a special kind of athlete.