6-7AM: Drive to DIA

8:30-10:00: Fly to LAX (gain one hour time change)

11:30AM: Fly from LAX to Tokyo Narita Airport. 12 hour flight, arrive at Tokyo Narita at 4:30PM on Thursday ( Time change is +17hours, crossed international dateline). Watched 5 movies and 4 TV shows.

5:00PM: Go through customs, picked up my Suzuki-san at airport.

5-8PM: Drive from Tokyo Narita Airport to Spa Resort Hawaiians, drop off bags, drive to dinner.

8:30-9:30PM: Have dinner with several wonderful hosts.

10PM: Get to hotel room after not sleeping for almost 24 hours, except for a 15 minute nap on the flight to Tokyo.

On Friday morning after a sloppy eight hours of sleep I ran five miles easy around exploring the local area at sunrise. After a delicious breakfast in the Spa Resort Hawaiians hotel I went back to bed for two hours, before getting out the door on a short three mile shakeout.  After traveling that long, each run helped my legs feel looser.  In the hotel there were communal showers from the hot springs.  First, you shower and then you get in large hot baths and sit and relax.  Whether or not in physiologically relaxed the muscles, it was absolutely relaxing to the mind and body.  After the shakeout we headed to the mayor’s office for a conference call where I sat next to the mayor and had conversation through an interpreter named Shu with half a dozen reporters in the room.  It was a very awesome experience to say the least and a huge honor to be greeted by the revered mayor of Iwaki.  After lunch at an Italian restaurant, Suzuki-san drove myself and two Kauai residents, Michiru and Chuckie-Boy, who were there to help build the relationship between Iwaki City and Kauai on a course tour.  What I learned about the course was that there were five massive hills of that were 1-2km long each.  One section was particularly daunting – from 30km-31km straight uphill followed by 31-33km straight downhill where you make a U-turn around a cone and go back up and down to the 36km mark where the course is then flat until the finish.  I thought that the break for the race would be made on the hills.

View from near the top of one of the uphills past 21k. Looking down towards the Pacific Ocean.

The next day I woke up to a coating of snow that had melted and refroze on the roads.  I was surprised by the cold and the icy conditions that reduced me to walking a few times, but felt surprisingly great on a short four mile run and strides.  The rest of the day was filled with relaxing, napping, and enjoying the hot springs until the opening ceremonies.

Sunrise after a light coating of snow fell on Saturday.

The opening ceremonies started with a fantastic orchestra performance by an elementary school band.  The next part of the opening ceremonies had a slideshow of before and after photos from the tsunami while a man planned an electric guitar.  It was unreal to see the difference between before the tsunami and after along the same road more than half of marathon course was scheduled to run on.  In ten months, the strong will of the Iwaki City residents was shown in how well they recovered and rebuilt from the disaster.  After those performances there was an introduction of a couple dozen board members and the mayor who gave a passionate speech, which the only words I understood were tsunami and sunshine marathon.  After a few more formal speeches, we moved into a reception room where there was food and drinks.  Two “guest runners,” one of whom was “made famous by running a great leg on an Ekiden relay televised on their national TV a month ago,” and then Japan’s 1984 Los Angeles female Olympian in the marathon were brought on stage and gave speeches under practically a paparazzi of camera flashes.  If there was any doubt that Japan didn’t love their marathoners it was erased right then.  I was brought on stage as well as two Australians who won the Townsville marathon.  Once again, seemingly hundreds of camera flashes from the audience.  After some more food, presentations, and a hula dance we were given 45 minutes free time until we headed to the waterpark stage for a Polypenesian dance ceremony.  I wanted a little more food, so I bought some macademia nut ice cream. For a “large” and 380 yen I received equivalent an American’s “child” size and finished it in about four spoonfuls.  One thing I will not miss is the tiny portion sizes in Japan, although all of the food was delicious and delivered with an incredible amount of care and presentation.

Sweet new jersey with yellow bib. Everyone else had white bibs except for the invited and guest runners!

The next morning Mr. Wakamatsu drove us to the start line where I was fortunate enough to use a swimming pool locker room to stay warm.  Looking out at the trees blowing strongly in the wind and the pool frozen (the car read -2.5C on the way over) I knew the weather and the hills were  going to make it a tough run out there.  After the usual rigamarol of a mile light jogging, drills, and strides, there were more elaborate opening ceremonies and we were sent off.  Immediately a man with a polar bear beanie cap ran to the lead for the first mile for some fun and attention.

First 700m of race

After 10 minutes, it became clear it was going to be a three man race.  I stayed relaxed and patient, noting the first 5k split of 17:22.  Shortly after 5k one of the Japanese runners threw in a hard surge uphill.  Knowing there was still over 22 miles to go at that point I let him get nearly 200 meters ahead with the other Japanese guy 100 meters ahead.  The next 10k I slowly worked my way up, running a 17:14 second 5k and 16:50 third 5k.

Mile into the race

The race only had a few water stops/aid stations.  They had water at all of the aid stations, and then “amino-value” at some of them.  Amino-value (from what I could read on a bottle the day before the race) had 18 kcal, but a lot of branch chain amino acids!  I’m not sure why you would want a low calorie protein artificially flavored drink during a race, but that’s what they had.  They also had banana’s, hard candy, and I believe at one aid station there was sushi and hard boiled eggs.  I thought it would be best to stay with the water and carry four PowerBar Green Apple with 25mg Caffeine with me, putting two in my arm sleeves and two tucked in the sides of my shorts.  I took the first one at 30 minutes, but then I dropped the second one before I could take it at an hour, so I delayed taking the 2^nd one until 20k and the last one at 30k.  Having three gels, or 300 calories for an entire marathon isn’t the best gameplan, so I became increasingly nervous as the pace picked up and the wind was howling.  The first 10k was run from west to east until you reached the ocean, where you turned north for 6k and then back around following the coast until around 33k where you turned back to the finish.

Picture taken during the course tour. As you can see from this picture, the cement is the frame of buildings that were demolished by the tsunami.

As a meteorology major, I cannot explain how it was physically possible to have a headwind the entire way, but I swear we did.  The wind was so strong at times we’d have to put our heads down and feel like we were barely moving forward.  I can only guess at how many extra calories I was burning fighting the wind.  Unlike the previous weekend in Pensacola there was no working together in this race.  The three of us were throwing in surges off of the now slow pace because nobody wanted to be the sacrificial runner who bared the blunt of the wind the whole time.  After crossing half-way in 1:12:32, the wind really slowed the pace down.  At about 30k I could tell the other two guys were hurting and neither of them wanted to take the lead so at the start of a 1 kilometer long hill I made a hard push.  The course then went uphill for 1km, downhill for 2km and then a U-turn back up and down.  I had assumed this would be where the course was won or lost the day before, and I felt I had the race in control and won…but I was also losing energy and having a slight fear of bonking without any liquid calories left.  To my amazement, at 36k with a couple of snowflakes I (believe I) saw, one of the runners made a huge push on the downhill to catch back up!  Now I wasn’t going to be the one leading the charge, so I sat behind and told myself to make no more until 1k to go.  That’s how we stayed the next 5k with him trying to run away from me much like I had tried to do to him in the previous 6k.  The pace felt slow, and was slow, but the energy from fighting the wind had us both pretty zapped. I saw the sign with 2k to go and was feeling pretty good but didn’t know what he had left.  I kept looking for the 1k to go sign but couldn’t find it.  I looked down at my watch and saw it was over 4 minutes from the 1k to go sign, so I must have missed it.  I could see the finish line banner in the distance so I gave it everything I had.  I broke away relatively easily as he had given a courageous effort in the last 8k and was spent.  Coming down the finishing straight I started giving the shucka, or “hang loose” sign since I was representing the Kauai Marathon.  I crossed the finish line with the shucka sign in the air and stop right in front of about two dozen camera guys from the press.  I turned around to clap for the second place guy.  A few steps after he crossed, simultaneous we both bowed and shook hands with each other smiling.  It was a surreal experience to celebrate each other’s cultures (bowing is similar to shaking hands in America, so the Japanese often do both to respect both cultures) moments after running two hours and twenty seven minutes together only to be separated by 9 seconds at the finish.  Then, it was like paparazzi again and I immediately had a microphone in my face with my interpreter Shu there.   The most awesome part of this special moment is that my parents, nearly 10,000 miles away in Moore Township, Pennsylvania , were at the computer watching the live feed – saw the finish, and were able to hear my interview!  After about ten minutes of interviewing, I put on more clothes, grabbed some water and some food that my friends from Kauai had generously brought for me, and walked to an heated indoor facility until the awards ceremony.  The awards ceremony is a big deal in Japan, with the mayor presenting the awards.  I was brought up on stage in front of hundreds of picture-happy Japanese to receive my awards.  There was no prize money for the winners, but I did receive a Japanese Alpine car navigation system, hotel coupon certificates, a giant stuffed Aflak duck, hello kitty towels, a glass trophy (which the head of Japanese tourism presented me on stage after kissing it and then kissing me on the neck as I tried to avoid it…which must have been a funny sight!), a gold medal, and gift basket of Kauai marathon goodies.  (Note: the Alpine company was extremely nice and is going to ship me an American version of the navigation system.  I sent them an e-mail as they requested with my address and received a reply within an hour that say, “Mr. Tyler, it made me very happy to shake hands with the winner of the race”…once again showing both how generous the Japanese are as well as how much they love the sport of long distance running).

Champion giving the shaka (hawaiian hang loose) sign!

I had won this trip to Japan by winning the Kauai Marathon in September.  The Kauai City Government paid for the trip as a way of trying to build a relationship between the two cities in order to help tourism to the opposite cities.  I was honored to represent the Kauai Marathon and the lack of prize money was not going to stop me from having the experience of a lifetime.  However, the winner of the race ALSO received a trip paid to go to the Kauai Marathon in the following year.  I have already committed to going back to Kauai and I felt it was best that the paid trip to Kauai be given to someone from Japan to further improve the sister city relationship.  The mayor bowed to me when he learned I wanted someone from Japan to have this opportunity and he proceeded to announce it to the crowd and brought up the women’s winner and 2^nd place men’s finisher who earned trips to the Kauai Marathon and another sister city marathon (Townsville?) respectively.  It was an incredible afternoon of signing autographs and speaking to people through the interpreter or when someone knew enough English.

There’s way too many people to thank for this incredible opportunity and I will never remember everyone, but I have to thank Michiru and Chuckie who represented Kauai and answered a ton of questions about the Japanese culture.  Thank you to Shu for being an incredibly nice interpreter and always helping me understand what was going on.  Thanks so much to the Spa Resort Hawaiians, which is an incredible hotel that had a grand re-opening one day before I arrived after most of the hotel was demolished by the earthquake.  Wakamatsu-San was especially kind treating us to meals and driving me to the start and after the finish.  He was also nice enough to take off his long jacket immediately after the race so I’d stay warm.  Suzuki-San was gracious enough to pick me up at the airport and drive me three hours to Iwaki as well as driving me on a course tour.  These people who I had never met before this trip will remain great friends of mine for the rest of my life from their generosity and kindness.  I’ll never forget all of them coming to see us take the bus to the airport and waving until we were completely out of sight…they could all still be waving for all I know…

Of course, I couldn’t end this without thanking the Kauai Marathon and the city of Kauai again.  I’ll continue to be an ambassador for Kauai and the Kauai marathon (which is the first weekend in September this year!).  The “aloha spirit” will never leave me and I hope it shines through it this blog post.  Lastly, let me thank all of my family, friends, coach, and sponsor who support me.  I’m itching to get off of this flight and get back to training.  A monster thank you to Mizuno, including the headquarters in Japan, who sent the killer new racing singlet to the hotel for me to wear in the race!  When things are going well I feel “full of the run” where training runs seem to end too quickly and training is absolutely a pleasure.  Thanks for invigorating my spirit Iwaki and Kauai, time to get off this plane!

Mahalo!

-Tyler

Pre-race Television interview that was shown on the local ABC affiliate.

After the Olympic Trials Marathon I took a week of no physical activity to rejuvenate and let my body physically recover.  Two weeks of solid running under my belt and I was happy and excited to run the Double Bridge Run.  Last year I ran 45:24 in arguably one of my best races to finish 2^nd.  This year the competition was much tougher and I finished 5^th overall, top American (two Africans and two from Europe ahead of me).  My time this year would seem embarrassing, 49:37 according to my watch and 48:50 on the results (not sure of the time difference there).  Last year, we had nearly ideal conditions with a cross wind or even a slight tailwind at times and cool temperatures in the 40s.  This year, the temperatures were in the mid to upper 60s with dewpoints also in the 60s – making humid conditions.  Although this likely slowed the race down a bit, what slowed us all down was the headwind.  Obviously running over bridges across open water there is absolutely nothing to block the wind.  A strong wind (steady 20mph?) made for brutal running conditions.  As a coach and athlete it can be tough to adjust workouts on windy days because you’ll never know a perfect equivalency to calm conditions.  In this race, both 2011 race winner Mark Kenneally and I ran between 3:40 and 4:15 slower than our 2011 times.  I think it’s safe to say that the wind was a major influence on our times! Here are the splits…which according to Molly Pritz’s GPS were accurate although the second mile was something like 0.05 long…

4:43.6
5:56.4
4:48.0
5:27.5
5:35.2
5:28.5
5:13.7
5:24.7
4:43.2
2:20.7 last 0.3

Last 30 seconds before the finish.

The best news I can write is that I felt strong!  When I was over-training/improper eating for recovery I felt a weird disconnect between the mind and the legs.  It felt like I had no power, no second gear, and during each run it felt as if I was losing energy with each step.  In Pensacola, I felt like myself again and let me tell you that it was rewarding!

Even better than the race results or splits was the interaction with people I met.  I was greeted at the airport by one of the sweetest people in Pensacola – the University of West Florida Women’s coach Elizabeth.  After arriving at Pensacola Beach I was greeted by two of my favorite people on the earth, Charles Gheen and Jackie Brown.  Both of them contribute an incredible amount of time and energy to putting together a great race/event for everyone involved.  Their passion and positive attitudes are clearly contagious to everyone around them.  I was also lucky to spend a lot of time with Molly Pritz, one of the nicest and most talented young American distance runners.  A weekend of southern hospitality, good friends, fun, and competition…is there anything better?

First, a big thank you to the Pensacola Sports Association as well as the Santa Rosa Island Triathlon for putting together a relaxing, fun, and competitive event and including me in the elite field.  Thank you to all of the volunteers, local businesses, and Publix Supermarkets for sponsoring the race.  A special shout-out to the marines that not only helped manage the race logistics, but serve our country every day. A thank you is more than due to Charles and Jackie for making the weekend another one in Pensacola that I won’t forget and giving me confidence for the rest of 2012.  Lastly, if you’re a triathlete in Pensacola, be sure to check out the Multisport Performance Institute (MPI).   I had several excellent conversations with Mark and John of MPI about training and competing in endurance events, and they are clearly very knowledgeable, passionate, and positive triathlon coaches in Pensacola.

Elizabeth from the University of West Florida, Mark and John from MPI, and 2012 winner Molly Pritz.

I’m writing this as I fly back to snowy Colorado.  I’ll be home in Colorado for three full days before my first international competition.  I will be representing the Kauai Marathon at the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon in Iwaki, Japan.  The towns of Iwaki and Kauai are “sister cities” and the respective marathons are “sister city marathons.”  The goal is to create a relationship between the two races where residents of Kauai go to Iwaki and visa versa.  In addition to that meaningful relationship, this year’s race has a very special meaning: recovery.  Iwaki is a coastal town and one of the areas hardest hit by the Tsunami.  Being able to run a marathon through the city is a symbol of recovery.  I have been reading books and studying Japanese culture to be the best ambassador for the Kauai marathon and Americans.  I assume that I will not have access to internet, so I’ll be sure to update the website when I get back early next week!  Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and thank you all for reading!

(ALSO – be sure to like my facebook athlete page!  Instead of posting a ton on my personal page I’ll do more updates on training, racing, and other updates on the facebook athlete page).

Mahalo,

Tyler

It’s a great question because there is always a lot to be learned from a race that doesn’t meet goals or expectations.  Especially in a race that has been on my calendar for 13 months since qualifying.  What went wrong?  What went right?  What would I have changed?  16 days after the race has provided enough time to relax, have fun, and digest what exactly happened.  One of my favorite downtime activities I did was hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It’s easy to relax and collect your thoughts when you’re at one of the most beautiful places on earth at 9,000ft.

I’ve heard a lot since the race, “I saw you at the start on NBC!”  Every time I hear those words I cringe.  I do not want to be one of the guys that started the race.  I want to be a contender.   It’s easy to say you want to win – but first you need to be a contender, feel the action, be in the mix.  I thought a 2:14-2:15 would be top ten as previous years had shown, which I would consider to be a contender.  I was wrong as it took a history-making 2:12 for top eleven.  I still held my own the first 19.5 miles on 2:14 pace, executing my game plan almost perfectly.  This was the most positive aspect of the race.  I wanted to go through the half-marathon split in 1:07:00-1:07:30 and I actually split 1:07:08. So what went wrong after 19.5 miles?

About 3.5 weeks before the race I did a workout at altitude that was nearly effortless, save for the last repeat.  I did 7xmile in the mid 4:50s before dropping a 4:46 with Rizzo on the last one.  It felt nearly effortless until the last one, which took some effort but still felt in control (i.e. no sprint to the finish/hard kick..even splits per 400).  A few days later I did a 20 mile tempo within a 24 mile long run and felt flat.  Three days later I did 10×800 after 6 miles warm-up and felt even flatter.  The next day I had scheduled 20 miles in a double, but I called it a day after running 7 miles in 9 minute pace.  I knew I had pushed the limits of training a bit and cut it back.  However, something was different because I never came back to life.  I tapered.  I went to sea level eight days early.  I cut back more mileage.  I added more red meat and iron.  I slept 10-11 hours the first two days at sea level and only felt more tired.  In the race when my legs stopped responding after 19.5 miles it was a different sensation.  I “bonked” at the California International Marathon in my debut when I was out of glycogen and during the last mile barely able to figure out which directions to turn on the course.  This “bonk” at 19.5 miles was different because the pace felt easy and it felt like a moderate aerobic effort, yet there seemed to be a disconnect between my muscles and my mind.

After coming back to Boulder I had some blood work done to determine if there was anything wrong.  I thought that maybe my iron was low, but my ferratin was 59 which is in the average range.  However, two readings were very low – my thyroid TSH levels and my testosterone.  I had the testosterone levels of a man in his 70s!  Luckily I have an excellent doctor at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine who explained the role of the hypothalmic-pituitary axis.  In simple terms, when there is too much stress the HPA axis becomes messed up.  This has been in the news a lot of the past few years with athletes like Galen Rupp, Ryan Hall, and others having thyroid and testosterone issues and needed medication.  I’m not going on medication, but have learned some valuable lessons on what affects the HPA axis, recovery, and fatigue.

If you’ve studied the science of training, you’d know that workouts are a catabolic, or breaking down, event.  In order to improve from the workout you need to reverse the trend from catabolic to anabolic (re-building).  When you perform a hard workout the stress hormone cortisol is elevated. Taking carbohydrates during and then immediately after workouts produces an insulin spike, which reduces the cortisol and changes the body from a catabolic to anabolic state.  In the simplest terms: eat/drink simple sugar after a run and you’re all set!  Turns out, I wasn’t eating enough simple sugars after workouts and set my body into a permanent catabolic state of over-training.  In an effort to reach peak racing fitness as well as racing weight, I messed up the HPA axis.

Although I’m not proud of the result of the Olympic Trials Marathon, I am proud that I gave it everything I had to train to best the best I could be… and more.  As the saying goes, “only those who risk to go too far can possibly find out how far they can go.”

I trained too hard and under-ate carbohydrates immediately after workouts.  I’ve studied the research (check out Powerbar Running Playbook at media.powerbar.com) and found that you should consume 0.5 grams of carbohydrates per lb of body weight in the 30 minutes immediately following a workout.  For a 140lb runner that’s almost 0.75g, or ~300 calories of carbohydrates.  For intense training, I should have been consuming between 700-850 grams of carbohydrates per day.  I failed to meet both of these recommendations each and every day.  There’s also an excellent podcast from Coach Jay Johnson’s site where he interviews Dr. Trent Stellingwerff.  I highly recommend listening to it while you are doing some non-mental work as it is over an hour.  It’s loaded with great information though.  One important piece of advice is the amount of calories you should take in per hour with volume of water.  The recommendation is 15g carbs every 15 minutes in 150ml (5 fl oz) of water. That’s 240 calories per hour with 20 fl oz.  I didn’t meet this in many of the workouts, which I’ve learned puts an extra stress on the HPA axis.

When I started to feel worn out I figured, “I need to eat healthier! More fruits, more veggies!”  This was another mistake as higher fiber also interferes with the HPA axis.  In a simple example, if I ate cookies with milk after the workout rather than having a huge salad with tons of nutrients I would likely have recovered better.  Had I waited to eat the healthy salad until another point in the day my glycogen would have been replenished quicker and had been in an anabolic state for longer.

As I stated in a pre-race blog post, I learned a valuable lesson in staying relaxed from my worse race in a Penn State uniform.  Although the USA Olympic Trials was a significantly more important race than that indoor 5,000m, I’ve learned valuable lessons on nutrition during and post-workouts in marathon training.  I’m excited about the future and what it holds for me.  With more intelligent fueling during and post-workouts I’ll be back and better than ever.  Thank you to my friends, family, and sponsors who believe in me and support me.  I’m lucky to have a supportive and extremely knowledgeable coach in Brad Hudson who understands the marathon.  It is much easier to bounce back from a disappointment when you have great friends like I do!  Feel free to comment on the new look of the website, the blog post, and any questions you have had about nutrition and hydration in training.  If I don’t know the answer, I’ll research it and talk to people to figure out the correct answer.

Never settle on your dreams,

-Tyler

At the start of the race, feeling relaxed. Picture is a screen shot from the NBC broadcast.

The last 8 days before the race I was lucky to have met a friend of a friend who let me stay at his home in Houston.  It was a blast getting to know Sean who is one of the most dedicated athletes I’ve met.  When I got to Houston I felt pretty tired and slept nearly 10 hours the first two nights, which was uncharacteristic of me.  In all of the running the last 2 weeks I never quite freshened up.  I kept feeling a bit flat and not able to get that extra pop in my step.  The last two days before the marathon I started feeling better, but never reached the effortless running feeling you should have before a race.  I kept mentally strong though and tried to “fake it until you make it.”  That basically means that you stay positive and fake your body into believing you feel good.  The support before the race was outstanding.  I was attempting to read a book the night before but it felt like I’d turn a page and get a text message good luck.  I’m said it before, I’ll say it now, and I’ll say it again – I’ve met a ton of great people through running and I’m lucky to have a supportive family, friends and sponsors.

Mizuno Team Dinner. Absolutely a great group of guys and girls.

Race morning I get over to the start area, jam out to some music, and catch up with Luke Watson, who I’m very sad to say retired after the race since he’s one of the nicest friends I’ve ever met.  I’ll miss running with him and seeing him at races.  After about 8 minutes of easy running, I toed the line and one of my idols Frank Shorter fired the gun to start the race.  I’m not sure if he pulled the trigger, but Ryan Hall and Meb were certainly shot out of a cannon!  The pace was flying and I laid back on a much more intelligent pace.  I came through the first mile a little fast (5:00) but was probably in 75th place, so I was excited that so many people went out too aggressively. (5:00/mi converts to around 2:11.  Four guys ran faster than that pace for the whole race).   I ran with a good group of guys for the next 13 miles before joining up with Drew Polley and another guy for the next few miles.  At the start of the 3rd loop with 8 miles to go in the race I was feeling very good.  I had been able to grab all of my bottles/gels and was feeling smooth.  I thought at the 19th mile mark I was going to negative split and run 2:14 low or possibly even break it.  Quick calculation in my head had me around 2:14 low pace.

Kenyon Neuman and I working together around mile 7 or so.

Then, things went wrong fast.  The course is on roads that were made of cement, which is supposedly three times harder than macadam.  The combination of likely not being quite rested enough and these hard roads had beat my legs pretty good.  On the way down an overpass just after 20 miles my legs were feeling wobbly and it felt like I could collapse from some muscle giving out at any second.  The best way to describe the feeling is if you were to put 150lbs on the squat rack and do a series of squads until you couldn’t do another…then try to run 5:10 miles.  I knew I had a ton of support from friends and family so there was no way I was going to not finish.  I forced myself ahead and my pace slowed to low 6 minute miles the last couple.  However, I finished and I’m damn proud of that!  The marathon is different than a 10k or any other event.  I bet my heart rate was in the 120s the last few miles yet I could not run any faster.  I finished 50th in 2:19:56.  Here’s a video of the finishing straight from Sean.  These steps were slow, painful, and my time embarrassing to me, but I’ve never been prouder of these strides because they were the toughest I’ve ever done.

Finish of the Olympic Trials. Thanks Sean Schnur for the cheering and the video!

Far from the 2:14-2:15 I was hoping for.  Since the race I’ve done some thinking of what went right vs what went wrong.  I think this video from RunColo.com sums up the race experience pretty well.  The video was taken about two hours after finishing, so give me a little slack for sounding a bit downbeat.

I really cannot thank my friends, family, sponsors, and training partners enough.  The guys in my group – Fernando Cabada (7th, 2:11), James Carney (9th, 2:12), and Patrick Rizzo (13, 2:13) as well as Benita Willis (2:28 at Houston Marathon – qualifies her for 4th Australian Olympic Team) ran awesome and I cannot be happier for them all.  My coach Brad Hudson (fantastic interview/article on him) is a phenomenal coach and we will together get the marathon figured out for me.  All of the men/women/high schoolers that I coach were unbelievably supportive.  All of my sponsors helped me in so many ways.  The outpouring of support pre- and especially post-race was unbelievable.  This race was a disappointment, but it will make me a better runner in the long term.  I do love running – training and racing is a joy to me.  I’m certainly not a big fan of 1k repeats on the track, but outside of that I love the sport

Thank you all for supporting me, reading this blog post, and following my journey.  It’s young and I have a long way to go.  In the pre-race blog post I wrote on flotrack.org I titled the post “Unbroken” after a great book I read and how I wanted to stay unbroken in the race.  I didn’t live up to the 2:14 that I wanted, but I wasn’t broke and didn’t finish.  My career isn’t broken.  Coach Sullivan summed it up better than I ever could have, “At the end of the day it is sport, and it is meant to challenge us.”

I’m writing this during a deserved week off of running.  I’ll be back training next week.  I’m going to make sure I have a lot of fun in the next month of life/training/racing.  One of my favorite road races in 2011 was the Pensacola Double Bridge Run and I’ll be returning on Feb 4th to do that.  Coming off of marathon fitness and being rested, I wouldn’t be surprised to run faster than I did the previous year.  The week after that I’m flying to Japan to compete in the Iwaki City Sunshine Marathon – the “sister city race” of the Kauai Marathon.  Last year it was won in 2:27 and I hope I can bring a victory back to the USA.

Until next time,

Tyler

Splits:

5:00.43
5:08.03
5:09.53
5:06.02
5:01.91
5:06.88
5:12.70
5:04.09
5:11.12
5:09.58
5:08.70
5:13.49
5:12.20
5:17.56
5:15.25
5:00.37
5:10.14
5:09.71
5:12.92
5:18.35 (1:43:08 through 20 miles – 5:09 avg pace)
5:24.58
5:42.02
5:50.75
5:59.33
6:07.43
7:44.95 last 1.21 miles

Right now I’m thinking about what I want to do for lunch.  Hmm… I wonder if the Denver Bronco’s have a shot at winning against the Steelers today?  I’m thinking about basically anything but my race in six days.  Why?

The Washington Husky Classic in 2010.  I was fit, I was doing all the little things, I was cranking workouts, I was mentally visualizing 10 days out how I was going to run 14:10 and hit a provisional qualifying mark and winning the 2nd heat of the 5k.  I had run 20x400m in under 68 avg with short recovery solo on PSU’s indoor track a week out.  I flew from State College to Seattle and with the travel I left my race in State College.  After 400m I was tired, 70 seconds per 400m on an oversized track felt awful.  I was tight and anything but relaxed.  I faded to a nearly last 14:56.  It was my slowest time I ever ran in the blue and white Penn State uniform.  The cool-down took forever as 3 miles felt like eternity.

Washington Husky Classic 2010 - Indoor 5,000m

I shrugged it off, ate some ice cream and had a beer or two.  This one race wasn’t going to ruin my last year at Penn State.  Two weeks later I’m at the Big 10 Championships and entered in the second heat (slow heat) of the 5k.  The final placing is based on time though, so a good race could score points for the team.  However, I couldn’t get excited in the hotel room two hours before.  I was watching the BASSMASTER Classic on ESPN2 and remembering good fishing memories with my Dad and Bro.  I can’t seem to get nervous and have absolutely nothing to lose in this race.  I end up going through the mile in 4:32 and feel like I’m jogging.  The pace slows down as one by one guys fall off pace.  With a mile to go I start hammering and drop a 32 second last 200m to win easily in 14:21 on a flat 200m track (converted to 14:17 for a banked track – a PR by 8 seconds).  It’s remarkable how fast you can run when you’re relaxed.  I ended up running the 6th fastest time of the day and scoring 3 points for the team, helping us place one spot higher than if I didn’t score those points.

Winning the slow heat of the Big 10 Championships 5,000m. This was 2 weeks after Washington.

I’m not going to fall into that mistake of over-thinking, over-analyzing, and over-training before the marathon in six days.  My career will not be remember for one race – as I hope nobody but me remembers the Washington Husky Classic!  I’m looking forward to heading out to lunch with Sean Schnur who was kind enough to let me stay at his place for a few days.  He’s out crushing a 65 mile bike ride before joining me for my 2nd run this afternoon.  How cool is that?

Stay relaxed,

-Ty

I’m constantly trying to become a better athlete and healthier individual.  I’ve read numerous books on nutrition and have searched on pubmed.com for scientific articles on distance running performance and general health.  There is always new research coming out and results that may help your general health and your athletic performance.  In fact, a recent interview on Gary Cohen’s site (http://www.garycohenrunning.com/Interviews/Heffner.aspx) with Kyle Heffner.  Kyle placed 3rd at the 1980 Olympic Trials behind one of my idols and running buddies Benji Durden.  In the article Kyle was asked…”With your bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, master’s degree in exercise physiology and many years of experience, what would you do differently if you could go back in time to your prime racing years armed with this knowledge?”

Kyle responded with, ” I was on a totally organic diet of about 3,500 calories per day but wasn’t taking any supplements. Antioxidants would have helped my body to deal with the stress of training.”

I couldn’t agree with Kyle more.  As an athlete you are putting a stress on your body.  As I mentioned in the last post, I’ve run over 5,000 miles this year.  That’s a lot of extra stress on the body!  I certainly drink my Honey Milk after working out and put my legs in my NormaTec boots to help promote recovery, but the body needs a little more…and that’s where SIX Nutrition comes in!

I’m not going to summarize the benefits of  SIX on this blog post.  Instead, I’m going to send you to the SIX Nutrition website – HERE.  After reading through the website, write a comment on this blog about what you learned or something that intrigued you from the SIX website.  I’ll randomly pick one of the people that commented to win a FREE MONTH’s SUPPLY of SIX!  In addition, if you want to order any SIX you can use the coupon code TYLER to save 10%.  I’ve been using the multivitamin for over a month and have been very impressed by my energy levels and recoverability.  I would love to hear what other people have to say about the product after giving it a try. Thank you to SIX nutrition for a great product and believing in me!

Happy new year everyone!

-Tyler

I came back to Boulder tired.  I was a bit aggressive with that workout and my recovery.  I felt very fatigued on Thursday back in Boulder and cut the mileage I was supposed to do in 1/3 that day.  Better safe than sorry 18 days out from the marathon!  I just looked at my running log and I’ve run nearly 5100 miles in 2011.  That’s a remarkable average of over 98 miles per week for the entire year.  What days off did I have?  Only planned ones: 3 days after the USA 15k Championships, 7 days after Grandma’s Marathon, 1 day after the Kauai Marathon, 7 days after the Chicago Marathon, and 1 day after the Dallas White Rock Marathon.  I never missed a day for sickness, injury, or laziness.  In addition, I’m leaner than ever – weighing under 140 for the first time since I was probably a junior in high school.

All of this is great, but the most important thing is racing on Jan 14th.  I could have run 2,000 miles or 10,000 miles this year, but if I’m fatigued on the start line at the beginning of the marathon – the odds of running well are not good.  I feel that I’m in the perfect place right now, fatigued but not excessively fatigued.  In a little over 2 weeks I’ll be toeing the line the fittest and freshest I’ve ever been.  The 5,000+ miles this year will help me over that final 10k.  As I promised the Centaurus High School team/parents – if I don’t average under 5:10/mi for the final 10k Chandler Reid gets to cut my hair.  If you saw how he (a junior on the Centaurus High School team I coach) cut the hair of several of his teammates, you’d know I wouldn’t have said that without knowing I am capable of it!

“The tougher the journey, the greater the joy.”  Can’t wait to make Houston a joyous event

-Tyler

First, let me admit I love my Garmin watches.  In fact, I have three of them.  They are the Garmin Forerunner 405CX, the Forerunner 210, and the Forerunner 50.  You can purchase these on Amazon for between $100-$220.  (Note: if you purchase them through my Amazon Affiliates store I receive a portion of the sale, which is nice… http://astore.amazon.com/httptylermccc-20)  The first two are GPS watches and the third can be used to measure distance and pace through a “foot pod” that attaches to the laces of your shoe.  As of December 4th, I’ve run 4680 miles this year.  That’s an average of 97.5 miles per week.  I would estimate that 4000 of those miles I’ve used a Garmin GPS watch.  The other miles were likely treadmill or races.  I can guarantee that my log on Athleticore.com is the most accurate log in terms of mileage and pace than anyone else’s log.  Right now you are probably thinking, “Oh man he is neurotic! Always wearing the GPS watching! Doesn’t he ever run by feel???”

…And you wouldn’t be more wrong!  Running by your perceived level of exertion is key in this sport.  Following McMillan’s or Daniel’s pace charts on easy days is a big mistake in my opinion.  I’m in no way, shape, or form criticizing their coaching or that their pace charts are inaccurate, in fact I believe they are very accurate.  You need to run by feel though – and that is the key.  If one of the charts tells me my easy run pace is should be 6:45-7:00, there is a good chance that 50-75% of my easy runs are in that range.  But what about the other 25-50%?  This morning I did a Fartlek workout and after this blog post I intend to go run six miles. Tomorrow I have one easy ten mile run on the schedule. Both this afternoon’s run and tomorrow’s run are labelled as “easy” so shouldn’t they be the same pace?  No.  Tonight I really need to recover.  There are many benefits to running 8 minute miles and that’s what I intend to do (note: I ended up running 6 miles in 46:40 – about 7:45 per mile).  If I feel good and start running 6:45 that is great, but I’m not going to force my body to be at that pace.  That pace might be too hard for a second run after a morning workout!  Tuesday after the marathon on Sunday I ran ten miles in 90 minutes.  Wednesday morning I did ten miles in 71 minutes.  Both were easy and the appropriate pace to recover.  I definitely used the Garmin to let me know when to turn around on the out-and-backs or how much to add on, but I didn’t worry about what the pace said!  That is the most essential point in using a Garmin for training.  You need to be able to run by feel.  Quit worrying about a chart telling you what your easy pace should be and go by feel.  I bet some of you are reading this and saying, “but I’m not getting the same workout at 7min pace vs 9min pace.”  This is true!  You could actually be getting MORE out of running SLOWER!  I’m training for a marathon and a huge component of the marathon is getting time on your feet.  My ten miler in 90 minutes is another almost twenty minutes of running than my ten miler in 71 minutes! The most important thing to remember is that your easy runs are NOT within 10% of your marathon race pace, correct? Thus, you’re not doing anything to support your race pace specificity.  Instead the goal of these easy runs is to facilitate recovery and build your aerobic capabilities. There’s no point on trying to run harder on easy days just to run a “specific pace” that someone says should be “easy” for your ability level.

The Garmin is a great training tool, however, because it let’s you know what pace you did run and how you are recovering.  If you have too many ultra-slow easy runs you might know you are over-training.  Too many runs where you feel good and are running faster on your easy runs may show that you need to make the workouts a little faster.  More importantly, by wearing a Garmin you know that your weekly mileage is accurate.  It’s easy when you are training harder and harder to run easy runs slower and slower.  If you base your mileage on estimating by time (like estimating each run at 7:00/mile and running for time) then there is a good chance you are over-estimating your mileage when you are training hard.  The first time I ran a 100 mile week was actually not a 100 mile week.  I thought it was until I ran the loop I called 10 miles several times that week and my Garmin showed 8.5.  I was so tired and over-training I didn’t even realize I was running that slow.  Oops!

Another important benefit is that I can look back at my log from Jan 1, 2008 until now and know that it is as accurate as can be.  Are Garmin’s 100% accurate?  No, but the minimal amount that they different is not the issue.  Over ‘the long run’ I’m sure that it averages out.  This is NOT the case for a race, which brings me to the point of not wearing a GPS watch in a race and the reason I wear the Garmin Forerunner 50 without the foot pod.  If a GPS watch doesn’t match up with the marked miles on the course, which I highly doubt any courses would measure the same as the Garmin shows, it can throw you off.  Most marathon courses show significantly further on the GPS than for a marked course.  In fact, during the Dallas White Rock Marathon when I passed the half-marathon my GPS showed 13.35 miles (.25 too long) yet when I passed 14 miles it showed 14.1 (only 0.1 too long).  All courses are USATF certified but that doesn’t mean the mile markers are placed in the correct spots.  Instead of trying to compare the course with a GPS, I just wear the forerunner 50 without the foot pod and hit split each mile mark.  In fact, I wouldn’t even wear a watch and just compete the competition if it wasn’t a marathon or a half-marathon I was specifically shooting for a time.  Anything less than half-marathon you need to learn to compete and run by feel, so ditch the watch!

In summary, the GPS is an essential tool for training.  When you are trying to keep an accurate running log to learn about your training and recovery it is important.  When you are trying to hit goal paces on a marathon or half-marathon specific workout the GPS is very important.  The GPS can mess with your head on easy days, don’t let that happen and run easy by feel!

-Tyler

Starting the race very conservatively (see Mizuno orange singlet is left side of picture). Most of the guys in front are half-marathoners since we all started together. This was about 2 minutes before it started pouring.

The race started fairly fast with the half-marathoners and marathoners together.  A pacer was supposed to take the guys out in 1:07 for the first half, which he did.  I let them go and ran in the 530s for the first six miles (splits from my garmin below – note that I don’t advocate wearing a GPS watch in a race but I forgot my normal watch at home).  I spoke for a mile or so with Erik of Rogue Running before he turned off for the half-marathon at around mile 9 and then I was all alone the rest of the race.  About a half-mile into the race the sky opened up and it was pouring.  I was 100% soaked by the third mile and running through puddles made my shoes weigh significantly more.  The wind was steady at about 10-15mph gusting to probably close to 25mph.  With temperatures between 41F-43F, it was pretty awful running weather.

I focused on practicing my hydration and nutrition.  Although this race was a little different because the elite bottles were placed at different mile markers, the plan is to take cytomax at approximately 5k, 15k, 25k, 35k and water with a gel at approximately 10k, 20k, 30k, 40k.  I executed this perfectly and felt good nutritionally by the end of the race without any blood sugar issues (i.e never close to bonking) and well hydrated. I knew the Kenyans were way ahead, but had confidence they would come back.  At around mile 15 I heard I was in 6^th.  Between miles 18-19 I passed two Kenyans to move into 4^th.  At mile 24 I caught another Kenyan to move into 3^rd.  With more than 5 minutes to second place and more than 5 minutes to 5^th place – I wasn’t going to finish anywhere but third unless someone in front of me didn’t finish or I didn’t finish.  From mile 8 on I tried to maintain a rhythm in the 520s.  With some uphill and downhill miles I did execute this very well.  I split 1:13:15 for the first half-marathon and 1:11:13 for the second half-marathon.  Exactly what I wanted to do!

This was another confidence boost on the preparation for the Olympic Trials.  I’m typing this on a flight back from Dallas to Denver on Monday at noon and my legs are not sore at all.  In fact, the only thing sore is my shoulder because I had arm-warmers and gloves on that were soaked.  That should show you how much water was weighing me down if my shoulders are sore from the extra weight of wet arm-warmers and gloves!  In addition to a great workout, it was nice to have a good payday for placing 3^rd and being top American.

First, I really want to thank Coach Brad for allowing me to take an old school approach and ‘compete’ in a marathon six weeks from my goal marathon.  I want to thank Elite Race Cordinator Scott Robinson of the AmeriKenyan Running Club for having me in the elite field and the Race Director Marcus and his family for helping the elites through the weekend.  A huge thank you goes to all the spectators and volunteers who were out there on the course to help the race run smoothly and give us all a better racing experience.  It was a pleasure to meet Bob Rosen, who is a volunteer high school coach in Massachusetts and helped with the race.  Having dinner the night after the race with him was outstanding to talk road racing and the running community with someone as passionate as him.  Lastly, I would be terribly wrong if I didn’t thank Mike Sandefur who volunteered to give three of the elites a ride to the airport on Monday morning.  I flew in to Dallas-Love Field Airport and assumed I’d be flying back to the same airport.  After dropping two ladies off at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, he drove me to Dallas-Love Field Airport, only to get a call from me five minutes later that I was at the wrong airport – come back – and drive me back to Dallas Fort-Worth Airport.  To be honest, I was glad to spend the extra twenty minutes in the car and chat with him.  He ran 3:57 for one of his best times in years on a tough weather day.  His love for running and the running community is outstanding.  Guys like Mike, Bob, Scott, and Marcus are reasons why I’m so lucky to be able to be in the sport of long distance running because where else would you meet positive people that significantly contribute to health, fitness, and the community?

…Speaking of awesome people I’ve met through the sport…I was just about to post this when I get this e-mail from someone who reads my log on Athleticore.com and is a passionate runner himself…

Tyler,
Great job in Dallas over the weekend!  I hadn’t checked your website in a few days, so needless to say I was completely surprised to see on Athleticore that you ran (comfortably raced) a marathon over the weekend.  I completely support your thoughts on training, and testing yourself a bit in a race situation while still hopefully saving your peak performance for the trials.  Competing is a wonderful thing about our sport, and I say if you can do it and stay healthy and hungry for more – then why not get after it every now and then.  Sounds like the conditions were pretty brutal, but that you ran a very smart, controlled race.  Things are looking good for you!  Keep up that tremendous work ethic and positive attitude.  That will carry you far in running and in life.  Hope your recovery from the race is going well.  Awesome job.
Have  a pleasant evening.  Treat yourself to a beer and some good food – you deserve it.
All the best,

Thanks a bunch for the support! I posted this e-mail to show how truly spectacular the running community is.  It certainly is hard to not want to go out and run some miles after reading that.  I guess lucky for me it’s 0F outside and I have my feet up and in my NormaTec Boots – no option to go put in some more miles…I’ll wait until tomorrow morning

Never settle,

Tyler