A great finish!!

Sena finished her first (and possibly only) marathon yesterday. She is relaxing on the couch next to me now, reading a book.

It was a beautiful course. At the last minute, I decided to run the course with her and support her along the way. I realized that I may never get a chance to do that again!

Her finish time was 5:39 and she had 207 finishers behind her - hard to tell from the web site how many DNFs there were. She ran a smart race, and paced herself throughout.

She kept a 4min/1min run/walk ratio through mile 10, then adjusted on the way up to Hurricane Point - a very challenging climb by any standard. She wisely took walk breaks on the way down Hurricane Point too, saving her legs for later in the race. Mile 15 and beyond were tough, and she basically ran when she could and walked until she recovered.

We are all very proud of her accomplishment. I can hardly believe she finished a marathon, not to mention one of the toughest marathons in the US.

This is the end of Sena's First Marathon Blog.

the day before the Big Sur marathon

Sena and I flew in on Thursday and were asleep by 7:30pm. We were up early on Friday, hoping to keep our east coast schedule so that we were able to get up easily on race day morning at 3:30am.

We drove the course on Friday before going to the expo. The course was magnificent, but daunting. The elevetion chart for this course did not communicate the number of hills we are in for. Sena and I are both nervous.

If we start off easy and manage the course, things will be ok. I just hope she doesn't get injured and that she is able to finish within the time limit. Fingers crossed.

an iffy couple of weeks

Sena has really struggled with this calf problem over the past two weeks. I had a duathlon today and couldn't run with her - she felt ready to do her last long run, but the weather was pretty nasty... so she got on the treadmill and cranked through 20 miles!

If that ain't mental toughness, I don't know what is.

She is pretty sore now, especially the end of her long toes and her knees. This usually goes away in 1 or 2 days.

Hopefully her calf stays better and set can get through her last 3 weeks of taper training until the marathon.

Go Sena!

18 Miles!

Today Sena and I did our long run in Philadelphia. We parked at Saint Joes boathouse, ran up Kelly drive to the Art Museum, crossed the river, down West River Drive (into the wind) crossed at Falls River Bridge, then back up Kelly Drive. The loop is about 8.5 miles, so you have to repeat it and add some. We did it in reverse the second time.

Sena hasn't been able to run as often as she would like due to her calf, but she did manage to finish her 18 miles today in a bit over 3:35 - under a 12 min pace average - very cool. It amazes me that she is now able to run 18 miles.

Sena is a bit stiff right now as any one is after their long runs, but she'll bounce back in a day or two.

Her next big run is in 2 weeks where she will do 20 miles. That will be the longest run before the marathon. I know she can do it mentally, I just hope nothing physical stops her at this point. She has worked so hard.

I ran 20 miles, back tracking a few times to make sure she was ok, then I did the loop on my bike to stretch my legs - it really helps! At mile 16.5 I climbed the Art Museum stairs Rocky style, then finished the course. I was toast by the end.

Sticking with it...

The last few weeks have been touch and go. Sena's calf continued to cramp up on her. She went to see - Jan W. an ART (Active Release Therapist) a couple of weeks ago. Sena was somewhat bruised for a few days afterward, but then felt pretty good. She also started cold + heat, which has been a big improvement over just cold therapy.

She is knocking out a couple of 6+ mile runs during the week now without much trouble on courses she couldn't attempt in January. She does some walking during her runs, but is still averaging 11:15 or better on hilly courses.

Her calf is still getting tight, but she keeps on top of it and is able to get her runs in, sometimes skipping runs and doing cross training instead.

She finished over 14 miles last weekend and will be going for 16 miles tomorrow. Wow - I can hardly believe it! She is really committed to this and overcoming some pretty serious obstacles.

Calf trouble

After last weekend's 12 mile run, Sena's calfs tightened up most of the week. On Friday she was able to get a 6 mile run on the treadmill in. She felt pretty good about that. She did an easy eliptical workout on Saturday, and today she ran 12 miles again. She changed several things from last week. She drank more water (last week she drank nothing during or 30 mins after the run!). She took an electrolyte before and after the run today. She took an ice bath after the run. She iced her calfs later in the day. During the run she altered her running form. Hopefully all of these things combined provides a better result.

I ran the same course with her (a 3 mile out and back - 6 miles) - she did it twice for 12 miles, I did it 3 times for 18 miles. It was nice running 'with' her, even though we only saw each other about 6 times over the 2+ hour run. It was also nice to drive to and from the park with her (30 mins each way).

She is really getting into it - how cool is that!

Weeks 1,2,3 (again!)

Now that Sena has begun her formal 16 week training program, it is time to reset the clock.

The first 9 weeks or so gave her a base to work with, but now she is doing marathon specific training. It took a while to pick the 'right' training program, but after reviewing several options, we both agreed on one that had variety, but helped her build slowly. It has workouts that not only will help her do the distance, but will improve her speed.

Last weekend her long run was 8 miles; today she ran 10 miles in 2 hours. She tried to run with some ladies that show up for the Saturday runs with the club, but none of them showed today, so she ran solo. We saw the 'Spirit of the Marathon' movie last night - a special showing at the movie theatre. It was pretty cool, but reminded me that it as Sena does her longer runs, it will be important for her to have a running partner.

Anyway, she is doing an interval workout, a tempo run and a long run every week. This was a very solid week for her, and I consider it a breakthrough week because her everything was right on target - speed, heart rate, recovery, etc.

I'm so proud!