Before getting to this week’s training log, please let me take 30 seconds of your reading attention span to remind you that we at STRIVE are developing a community center (creatively dubbed, The Center) to offer totally free educational and youth-empowerment programs in rural Perú and we need your support. Please visit our YouCaring fundraising page to learn more and support our development efforts.

Thank you to those who have supported already and to those of you who will. With your help we are doing real good in the world.

And now, back to our regular scheduled programming.

 

Weekly Summary – 77 miles in 10 runs. A big drop in mileage this week with a focus race on Sunday. A great tune-up and legs feeling great for the race. 15km (47’40, 1’07’03 pace) went great and then food poisoning struck and essentially DNF. No fun, but the fitness is there. Recovery and then a few big workouts before Portoviejo Half Marathon (sea level) on October 27.

Lunes, 30 Septiembre, 2013 – 11am: Quite sore from yesterday, so took it very easy. Ran to the park and one big loop. Planning a low week with hopefully racing 21k on Sunday. Legs felt ok but some stomach problems, hopefully not getting sick. Total run 8M+++, NT.

PM: Easy run to park and then up to abuelita’s to visit! Rainy again though… ugh. Total run 6M+, NT.

Martes, 1 Octubre, 2013 – 9am: Very easy run with Dina around la itchimbia. Some walking as it was her first run in a while. Fine with me as I was still extremely sore from Sunday. 24 hours off after this to rest up. Solo tacked on. Total run 10M in ~90’.

PM: Off, planned.

Miercoles, 2 Octubre, 2013 – AM: Off, planned. Legs feeling much better.

4:30pm: Jogged to the park for a light workout. Legs felt very good actually thanks to 24+ hours off and a light run yesterday. 6km warm up, drills, strides, 200m in 32.7.

Workout was short. 2x500m, 1x1000m, 4x500m and then 5km progressing by feel. Felt extremely good today. Training is certainly catching up with me and rest has me feeling great.

First 2x500m essentially a warm-up, trying to run goal half-marathon pace (~3’08/km, 5’02/mile) which would be about 1’34. All rest was by feel. Ran the first in 1’29 and felt great. Second one much easier still 1’31. The 1000m rep was supposed to be the same HMP, so around 3’08 and ran 3’05! Again, felt great. Last 4x500m were supposed to start out the same and then get quicker, which I did. Ran 1’25 on the 3rd which felt very good but was tired after that and only 1’27 on the last. Still felt very good – form and muscularly, just wasn’t quite recovered.

Jogged 1km easy and then 5km progressing from moderate to quite fast at the end. Ended up running 16’53 which is a very good effort for this altitude.

Short cool-down about 4km after.

Super solid workout, great confidence booster. Very excited to be heading down to sea level to Guayaquil Half Marathon this weekend! Can’t wait to see what I can do.

Total run 20km, 12M++.

Splits:
500m: 1’29.4
2’ jog
500m: 1’31.4
2’30 jog
1000m: 3’05.0
3’ jog
4x500m (2’-3’ jog): 1’30.3, 1’28.2, 1’25.2, 1’27.0
1km easy
5km prog: 16’53.7

Jueves, 3 Octubre, 2013 – 10am: Worked morning and ducked out around 10am to get an easy shakout in. Ran through the parks to the JLM bus terminal to buy my ticket to GUAYAQUIL! Easy run back. Total run 7M+, NT.

5:30pm: Easy shakeout around the parks, total run 5km, 3M+.

Viernes, 4 Octubre, 2013 – 9am: Easy run around the parks and back ~5km then some drills and 5x very good hill sprints 100-150m. Easy jog ~3km after. Total run 6M, NT.

5:30pm: Very easy 5km around the parks. 3M+, NT

Sabado, 5 Octubre, 2013 – 6am: Early shakeout before a long day of travel. Very easy around the parks. Total run, 4M+.

PM: Off, travel to Guayaquil.

Domingo, 6 Octubre, 2013 – AM: Woke up at 2am for a 5am gun after going to bed around 10pm the night before. Felt decent enough, despite the short sleep and getting up at such a ridiculus hour. Had two pieces of bread right when I woke up and then a cup of coffee around 3:30am, as I didn’t want to wake the others who were sleeping between me and the kitchen.

We left around 4am – in a continuation of the incredible hospitality I was receiving, my hosts insisted on driving me to the starting line, as they said it would have been dangerous to take a cab at that hour. We arrived in plenty of time, around 4:15am. The weather, which had actually been my biggest concern was quite nice. Cool maybe in the upper 50s-low 60s and not much wind. A bit humid, but it was nothing compared to what I’d expected (especially after visiting Cartagena!)

I warmed up, jogging easy out on the course. It was dark still, but there was plenty of lights from buildings and street lamps, as the course was right down-town. Being at sea level, I actually did notice a difference right away in my breathing. Even just walking around the night before, I could feel my heart-rate was lower and my breathing cadence slower. I was feeling good.

As I was running out, I ran into Dimas running the other way, so I turned around and ran with him back towards the start. He was running the full marathon and said he wanted to run 3’20/km pace (sub-2’20 marathon pace), which I thought was aggressive for him, but not out of the question.

We ran together back to the start and I finished my warm-up as he waited for a friend. I did some light drills, a couple strides including a longer effort at what felt like race pace (about 40 seconds) and then headed towards the start.

I was able to get right next to Dimas on the front of the line and we were slowly brought to the very front. It was about 5 minutes late, but we finally got the count-down start and then we were off.

I was off the line well and felt great – mechanically smooth, breathing felt easy. I was at the front of the race and then a couple of guys passed me. Since there was a 10km, 21km, and 42km all going off at the same time (and all on the same course), I asked them as they were going by what race they were running and they all said 10km, so I just let them go and relaxed into my own pace.

Around the first km, a tiny Ecuadorian dude pulled up on my shoulder who said he was also running the half marathon. Dimas had told me that there were a few fast guys from Cuenca running my race, so I figured this must be one of them. It was so early that I wasn’t concerned, but happy to have company.

He actually seemed to push the pace and the first split I saw was 9’31 at 3km (5’06/mile, 1’06’55 finish pace). This was right at the top end of where I wanted to be, so I was feeling great and figured I was on route to a big performance.

After this split, the little guy actually pushed the pace and started to pull away from me. I knew I was running very well and quick and I didn’t want to push too hard in the early stages, so I let him go. If he’s really going to run that fast, he deserves to win and if he’s going out over his head, no doubt I’ll catch him.

Just before 5km, I heard footstep behind me and was surprised to see my friend Dimas! I was still running quite fast, we passed 5km together in 15’50 (5’05/mile, 1’06’49 finish pace) and I was surprised he was still with me. I even said to him – “damn, you-re out fast! This is 3’10 pace, not 3’20!” but he seemed unphased.

I was still feeling good and Dimas and I ran together, a few seconds behind the little guy in front. I tried to focus on keeping that gap manageable – 5 seconds, 10 seconds – but he seemed to be pulling away. Still, 21km is a long way, and I knew I was running well, so I wasn’t concerned.

The next split we passed was 10km, where our group split from the 10k runners and headed up on a long out and back that constituted the last 11.1km of the race. The little guy was almost 30 seconds in front of me at this point, as I passed 10km in 31’48 (5’07 pace, 1’07’05 predicted finish). We’d slowed down a tiny bit (15’50/15’58), but I was still well within the pace I wanted to run.

At that point, Dimas and I were running together and another two marathon runners had come up from behind us. I was amazed that there were so many guys going out at this pace for the full marathon, but maybe they were just that good. We had a pack of 4 and the pace seemed to accelerate again.

We fairly quickly reeled in the guy in front of us who was moving backwards fairly quickly after going out at about 5’00 pace (1’05’30 pace). I was feeling good enough between 10-12km that I actually left our group and headed out in front on my own. I didn’t look back, but that group must have slowed in that next 10km as I didn’t see them for a while.

Just before 15km, I started feeling a weird cramping in my right side. I hadn’t had a side stitch literally in years, so this was a bit surprising. I tried to just breathe and squeeze it out, but nothing seemed to help it. I ran on, passing 15km in 47’40 (5’06 pace, 1’07’03 predicted finish), but fairly quickly, I began to feel extremely nauseated and weak, almost like I was about to pass out. My legs felt fine, good even (given that I was over 9 miles into a half marathon on PR pace), but my stomach was in knots and crawling up into my throat.

Pretty soon, every step was shooting daggers into my right side and waves of nausea were coming up (sometimes literally). I wondered if I might actually have appendicitis, the pain in my side was so intense and unrelenting. Suddenly, my mind wasn’t on finishing or winning or setting a new PR, but whether I was going to have to go to the Guayaquil hospital.

I could feel that I was running extremely slowly all of a sudden, and so I did what no runner ever wants to do while the clock is running. I stopped.

I thought that if I could just (pardon the vulgarity) burp or fart up some gas, it might just pass, but there was something way worse than the usual intense-running-stomach-distress going on. I was sick on the side of the road and decided that that was it. I started walking towards the finish, but we were still 5-6km away and since we were on a long flat stretch of road, I couldn’t see anyone from the race.

At that point, only the little man had passed me (he’d been a minute or two behind at that point), so I decided to just jog in as best as I could, hopefully without making the matter any worse. A good number of people passed me in those long, dreadful 5km, but I guess most of them had been in the full marathon, as I was told I’d finished 3rd when I finally crossed the finish line in 1’14’50.

I spent a long time in the port-a-jon and couldn’t keep anything down for several hours. I tried to just keep drinking, as I knew I’d already lost a ton of water from sweating during the race and was losing a lot more now. Anyone who’s ever gotten food poisoning abroad knows the discomfort I’m talking about – feverish sweat, unpredictable but extremely urgent trips to the bathroom. It’s no fun.

I was trying to think about where I could have gotten it. I almost never get sick here anymore and, particularly before a race, I am super careful about what I take in. The problem with trying to figure it out is that it could have been a million things. Yes, it could have been food or water, but it also could have just been from picking up a nasty germ from touching the door handle in my own house. I’ll never know.

Whatever it was, it came at a particularly poor time. Maybe normally it would have been nothing, but in pushing my body to its extreme, it flared up. Either way, I was pretty bummed that it ruined what would have been very close to if not definitely a new personal best and a victory. I really wanted to win this race, and I was sure I was going to for the first 47 minutes, but sometimes things happen that are just out of your control.

The GOOD news from all of this is that clearly I am fit and ready for a big race. I’ll be heading back down to sea level in 3 weeks and will similarly focus on tapering and feeling good for that. Again, the big question will be weather down there, as Portoviejo can also be very hot and humid. Hopefully it’ll be another 5am start.

The BAD news is that life can happen and when you only race really hard a few times a year, it can suck when shit goes bad on one of those few days. We can try our best to make perfect all of the things we can control (our preparation – both physical and mental), but there will always be elements outside of our control. That’s life and it comes with the territory.

Now, the focus will just be on recovering (15km at 5’06 pace is still a very good effort!) and making sure I am 100% healthy before getting back into heavy training. I will probably only have one or two very big workouts between now and Portoviejo in 3 weeks, mostly recovering and then taking some easy time before that race.

That’s all to report. A long, achy, uncomfortable day of travel back to Quito that night. I’ll end by giving a huge THANK YOU to Robert Herrera and his sister Tatiana who (along with her lovely family) put me up for the night, drove me to the race at 4am, and even stood around cheering (despite that fact that it was very cold by Guayaquileno standards!) The hospitality of people here never ceases to amaze me.