My first "real" half marathon

March 30, 2014

98 minutes.  What can you do in 98 minutes?  The film Despicable Me 2 is 98 minutes.  I haven't seen it yet, so that's an option.

Or maybe I could run a half marathon.

What?  No way!  How can someone who doesn't really like running do such a thing? Generally I thought a movie more inline with my half marathon time would be something like Titanic or the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (all 3 together), but somehow, someway, I ran a Despicable Me 2 half marathon.

1:38:04.

I'd never guess that would be my half marathon time.  Last year, in my first one, my goal was to be under 2 hours (in which I was about 1:48).  This time, I was only trying to break 1:45.  I think I have a bad habit of underestimating my running speed.

Two days before my birthday (on which I turned 4 numbers higher than when I arrived in Poland), I ran my third half marathon.  However, it was the first that was not in below freezing temperatures or when I was dressed as a Spartan holding a shield and spear (which was also in below freezing temperatures).  So I call it my first "real" one.  To break the 1:45 barrier, all I needed to do was average 5 minutes per kilometer for 21 km, and I'd be set.

Since the slow Spartan half-marathon back in December (we ran/walked/chanted our way to finish in around 2 hours 20 minutes in Torun), I hadn't run more than 14 km at once (because it's boring), so my training wasn't all that good.  However, I had been doing a lot of core and leg exercises with my cross training group, and my legs and knees had been feeling good. Until recently, when I started feeling a bit of discomfort in my left ankle, left big toe, and left knee, presumably from my orthotics needing to be replaced (I've been wearing prescription/custom made insoles in my shoes to give me arch support for as long as I can remember).  I've had these particular inserts for over 4 years and recently my ankle has been making lots of clicking/cracking noises when I rotate my ankle and wiggle my toes (I can show you someday, or I might post some videos on Youtube).  It doesn't hurt, but it's one of those things that I need to do to feel some relief of the pressure.  I went to an orthopaedic doctor to get an idea of what was happening, and he suggested 1) to do a test where they check out my gait (how I walk) in order to make new orthotics, and 2) to stop running.  Actually he said (three times) "I strongly suggest getting a new hobby". Since running is not really a hobby of mine (I don't really like it), I suppose I don't have to listen to him.  But his opinion is that my feet will be in a lot of pain in 10 years if I don't ease up now.  I don't consider myself a runner though...it's not like I do it for fun every day.  I only run once in a while, for training reasons.  I tried to explain that I don't run a lot.  He asked "are you doing the half marathon next weekend?".  I said yes, and he said "that's 21 km".  Yes, yes it is.  Well played sir.

Anyway, I decided to run the race, to see what would happen.  Assuming I decide to listen to the doctor, there's a good chance it was my last one ever (well, except for when I do a half-Ironman triathlon in July), so I had to give it a good try.

A friend at work (whom I used to be faster than), told me she was going for a time of 1:40, so I felt a bit lame telling her my goal is 1:45 (she is pretty fast though, trains a lot, and IS a "runner").  But then I realized, I am not running against anyone...only against myself.  So let's just see if I can do it.  I ate a nice breakfast 3 hours before race time (peanut butter and jelly sandwich, some granola with soy milk and a banana - I'm writing this down so I remember next time), and tried to load up on BCAAs and sports drink.  This worked pretty well (in combination with a couple energy gels during the race), as I felt pretty strong the whole time.

We went down to the race site (at the National Stadium), met up with the other WITCers, and started loosening up.  I also had the plan to try to break a sweat during warm-ups by doing a lot of exercises and stretches, to be sure I was loose at the beginning.  The rationale is that the first km is always my slowest, so I had to warm up my body enough to get up to regular speed as quickly as possible.

Before the race, the weather is perfect

It was PERFECT day for a run; warm enough that I could shed my long pants and long sleeve shirt, but not so hot that I felt sweaty or dehydrated.  I gathered myself in the 1:45 pace group, turned on my custom music iPod mix (a lot of Imagine Dragons on it), and off we went.  The first couple km were pretty uneventful, but I was able to get up to my necessary 5min/km pace pretty quickly (thanks to the good warm-up!!).  Everything was feeling really good.  Then I saw Martins on the side taking pictures, and I remembered that we had a bunch of supporters there, and that would take my mind off how bored I sometimes get while running.  I waved at Martins and then noticed Asia standing next to him.  I hadn't seen her for a few months, and actually it was really nice to see her, just like at all the races she was supporting us last year.  That gave me a little boost and I actually think that 3rd km was my fastest of the entire race.

The next 15km or so was all pretty much the same, running through Old Town, along the river, through Lazienki park, trying to overtake more people than were passing me.  My average speed was around 4:40min/km, so I started doing math in my head (which is helpful because it gives my brain something to do and I stop thinking about running), and started to think that if I could hit the 11km mark in under 55 min, I could turn up the pace to 4:30min/km and finish in 1:40.  So let's go for it!

The plan was working perfectly, even after going up the steep Agrykola hill and losing a bit of juice, I was still well on pace with only about 6 km to go.  I spotted a guy in a WITC top that I didn't know (I saw him again at another 10 km race around the Warsaw zoo and we chatted a bit while running), was able to pass him, then kept going hard in case he was watching me.  This is when I started to feel the blister on the bottom of my right foot.  It happens every time I run more than 15 km.  I was wearing 2 pairs of socks, so I hoped it wouldn't happen this time, but it came back.  I would have put a protective bandaid on it before the race, but since I hadn't run more than 15km since December, there was no sign of where the blister would appear, and I didn't want to tape up the wrong spot.  Wisely (I am in my 30s, so I am very wise), I carried bandaids with me, prepared to put one on, just in case.

With about 4 km to go, I thought that I could finish without stopping to put on the bandaid, but soon after I could feel the blister getting bigger, and closer to popping with every step.  With about 2 km to go (which would still be another 8 or 9 minutes), I decided to stop and put on the bandaid.  I didn't want a massive, juicy, popped blister at the bottom of my foot at the end of the race.

I quickly stepped aside and bent down to take off my shoe.  But I couldn't do it.  My stomach muscles began to cramp up and my whole torso collapsed on itself, my shoulders being pulled towards my waist.  My left calf REALLY wanted to cramp up as well, but my compression sleeve was preventing it.  I stretched out my upper body and managed to pull off my socks.  But the blister was in such an awkward spot (the outside edge of my foot), I couldn't see it when turning my foot over.  I had to twist my leg to the outside, rather than to the inside, which caused more cramps.  I think I looked like a pretzel sitting on the side of the road. I squealed as the pain swept through both of my legs.

Then I heard someone yell "Hey! Japanese!"  I looked up and saw Luca sprinting by.  He actually forgot my name.  I hurriedly put on the bandaid, stretched for a few seconds, and put on my socks and shoe.  I jumped up, hoping the cramp would go away, and luckily it did (at least the leg part...my abs were still cramping).  I was able to get back to normal speed after 100 meters or so, and tried to catch Luca.  He was too far ahead of me, and I didn't have enough left in the tank.  I actually think I paced myself well, because even though I tried to sprint at the finish, I could NOT go any faster over the last 500 meters.  I had only one speed left, and it was the same speed I had been going the previous 10 km.

This is as fast as I can go (without touching the ground and while waving at fans)

When I see people who can sprint super fast at the end of the race, I think that although it might look fancy to the spectators, it means that they didn't run as fast as they could have for the rest of the race.  It's my way of telling myself it's OK that I couldn't run any faster at the finish.

In the end, I did accomplish my goal with a time of 1:38:04, beating my last year's time by over 10 minutes (and good for something like 1,900th place out of 12,000).  I am not sure how much of that is due to being in better shape, versus the improved weather conditions, versus just knowing what to expect in a half marathon, but I'll take it.  Some of the guys in my club still beat me by nearly 12 minutes (!!), running at a speed which I cannot fathom.  Maybe it's just because I'm not a runner. Everyone else in the club did really well too.  I was really happy for everyone.  

Afterwards, in front of the route map

Finishing at the stadium (Pierre isn't in the picture because he already changed clothes, showered and went to the restaurant by the time I finished)

So 1900th place is actually not too bad?

Next time, let's aim for 1:35.  Just don't tell my doctor.

And now I gotta find time to watch the movie...

Running up lots of stairs

March 15, 2014

A couple months ago, Andy asked us if we wanted to do "Bieg na Szczyt" (run to the top), a climb of 37 stories to the top of Rondo 1.

After some careful consideration and introspection, I finally decided to give it a shot, even though it is Ernst & Young's building.  But then I found out all 500 places were filled up.  Oh well, who wants to run up 37 flights of stairs anyway?  Not me.

Juan, Andy, Alan, Shen, Maciek, Kasia and 494 other people definitely wanted to, which is why registration was full.  And suddenly this feeling of something I couldn't have made me really want it.  The event reverse psychology'd me!

Luckily, Katharina, someone whom I've never met in my entire life, said she wouldn't be able to go, and offered her spot in the competition (conveniently done via our Facebook event page, another reason why Facebook is the master of the universe).  She insisted I don't pay for the spot, as long as she got the free t-shirt.  I'm not complaining, but basically she hired me to run up some stairs so she could get a t-shirt.  When you put it that way, I sound like a sucker.

Before the race, I didn't do much stair training, other than going two flights up at work every time I had computer problems (which is often).  There are some stairs near my apartment, but they're only about 3-4 stories high, so it doesn't really work well for this kind of training.  I'd be tired after getting to the top, but then after going back down in order to go back up again, the burning in the thighs goes away.  There's a different burn if you go up 4 flights, then stop to go down, than if you keep going up, up, and more up.  Your legs just know.

Apparently there's a lot of technique involved in stair running.  I had no idea, but a couple people posted videos on Youtube.  Apparently, you can do it hands-free (hard core), with both hands pulling up on the inside rail (to ease the burden on the legs and make your arms do more work), with hands holding opposite rails (but this is for tall people with long monkey arms), or some mix.  There's also the decision as to how many steps you skip, or if you skip any at all.  I watched a few videos to get an idea, contemplating the pros and cons of each (but didn't practice them).  Like dorks, all of us first-time stair runners were asking each other "what technique are you going with?".  I went with the Double Step Double Hand Inside Rail. I'm pretty sure that's official terminology.

The race day was a pretty long event, even though it only takes a few minutes to do the actual climb.  In order not to create a massive traffic jam on the stairs (imagine when you have fire drills in your office building), each participant received a time slot, when we were herded into the starting area, starting in 15 second intervals.  This created some space between each runner, but also created a fear of "I don't want to get passed by the person behind me, because that would be embarrassing".  You can run quite far in a straight line in 15 seconds, but up stairs, it's only a couple flights.  That means you can hear the person behind you coming up, and the sound of them breathing really hard makes it seem like they're right behind you.  This is dangerous, because the key to stair running (in my expert opinion) is to keep a constant pace you can handle for the whole race.  If you start too fast because Darth Vader's heavy breathing coming from behind is making you nervous, you could burn out after just 10 stories.  This happened to a few people I talked to before I started.

So my strategy at this point was 2 hands-1 rail, skip a step, walk fast-don't run.   And look good for the video cameras on the 10th and 19 floors.

I was trying to figure out a good pace, and arbitrarily I decided 10 seconds per story would be good.  This would get me to finish the run in about 6 minutes.  I don't know why that was my goal, it just was.

I got into the herding area with the 11:35 am group, just ahead of Maciek, another WITCer who is a pretty good runner, faster than I am (Darth Vader's heavy breathing came to mind).  I asked him if he had done any training.  Not at all, he replied, except he ran up the Palace of Culture.  5 times.  If you don't know what that is, check it out.  "No training" my ass.

One last stretch before the start...

After the start gun, I resisted temptation to run.  The quick walking seemed to be going pretty well.  But after 10 floors, my arms and shoulders were in more discomfort than my legs, from pulling myself up.  Even though I thought I warmed up my arms, I didn't warm up my "pulling myself up stairs muscles", so they were really stiff.  I held the consistent pace through the first 15 floors, when Darth Vader, I mean Maciek, nearly caught up to me.  I could hear him breathing so it pushed me a little bit to not slow him down for the next few floors, but when he was ready to pass me around the 20th, I moved aside and let him go.

Floors 22-32 were a bit of a blur.  I really don't remember them, other than my legs were screaming at me.  I "woke up" when I saw 32 and started trying to do math in my head regarding how many more floors were left.  And also checking if my pace was still under 10 seconds per level. At that point, math was really hard.  The attendant at floor 34 helped a lot when she held up 3 fingers and was smiling at me...only 3 to go!  I pushed myself to finish strong (until I noticed a cute girl in front of me and slowed down a bit).  Then I decided to pass her and sprinted (or at least it seemed like a sprint, but it was probably slow motion in reality) until I got to the top.

But just like every race, there was a fake finish line before the real finish line.  After hitting the top step, I thought about falling down to the floor.  But we had to continue, weaving through a flat corridor (left - right - left - right) until it opened up to the finish line.  After I got my medal, energy drink and water, I could only fall down to the floor.  Everyone else was laying on their backs with their feet in the air against the wall, so I did the same.  Did that help?  I don't know.  But it looks goofy, which is always fun.  While laying on my back, trying to catch my breath, I smiled at the girl from the 35th floor, but she walked right past me.

Back on the ground floor, we all celebrated our accomplishment.  It's funny to have so much build up for just a few minutes of action.  We were literally at the building (Rondo 1) for 2.5 hours, for 5-7 minutes of exercise.  But we weren't complaining. Although very intense and a bit painful, it was a lot of fun (except for the strange cough that we all had afterwards...from the poorly ventilated stairwell and gross air we were violently sucking in).

I finished with a time of 5 minutes 33 seconds (the winner was around 3:20), which was 91st out of 416 men.  I guess my stair climbing ability isn't so bad (Alan finished 49th and Maciek 50th with awesome times).  Because I was running in Katharina's spot, I had her name on my race bib, which was pretty great too. Maybe that's why the girl from the 35th floor didn't smile at me.

Much respect to those around who do much more than 37 floors (even double or triple!). I think there's one up the Empire State building, which is a bit taller than E&Y Warsaw's.  But I think 37 is enough for me.

Some of us (coughing) after the race

Here's a cool video of the event from the organizers with some clips of my WITC friends.