Tuesday, December 22, 2009

2010 Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge

Last April I ran my second Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. In the past two years, you have helped me raise over $12,000! I cannot thank you enough for your support!

Next April I will run my third Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. My goal is to raise $7000 and to run sub 2:35. I am honored and thrilled to be part of the twenty-first annual DFMC.

This year, my teammates and I hope to raise $4.4 million for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Cancer Research. 100 percent of every dollar donated will fund innovative cancer research. The Barr Program has had a tremendous impact on not only cancer research but also the scientists receiving funds. The Barr Program provides seed money to young investigators with unique and promising ideas. Indeed, scientists who begin pioneering research with Barr Program funds are almost all successful in securing future grants from other sources (generally the NIH) to continue their work. Thus funds raised each year can be used to support new projects.

Every donation makes a difference. To make a donation, please see my official DFMC page.

Thank you so much for your generosity!

Running in the Morning

The NYT reports.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

My Bib Number

3014

See you in two weeks in the Big Apple.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Spirit of the Marathon

If anyone has not yet seen the movie, watch it here. Enjoy.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Ibuprofen

To everyone who jokes about taking "Vitamin I" to improve performance: read this.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Eating and Training

Some easy reading from the NYT.

101 salads from Mark Bitten and a good article about training.

NYC is rapidly approaching. I need to start posting my runs. Soon.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Getting Faster

. . . without running (much).

The offseason is the best time to make small changes that can make a big difference on race day. Because you are not training at full tilt, you have more time to experiment and to incorporate what works into your routine. Moreover, changing anything when you are running your peak mileage is hard, and perhaps even foolish. The time to change is now.

Here is what I want to do this summer.

(1) Sleep more.
Hard training is worthless if your body and mind do not recover. Worse, hard training without rest simply leads to injury, illness, and unhappiness.

(2) Strengthen my core.
Critical for avoiding injuries. I like Pilates and yoga. And pushups. Start slowly. You have a long time before your next big race.

(3) Get quick.
I plan to run about half as much, yet to do speed work at least twice a week. Fitness will only get you so far. Pushing that top speed is important.

(4) Eat better.
Some people think about eating when they run. I think about running when I eat. But I could still (easily) eat better -- for example, by expanding the range of vegetables I buy. (A friend suggested she wants to eat the way I do. Here is my advice: Your goal is to drive all joy from your refrigerator. What remains is good for you. You will thank me later. Probably much later.)

What are your goals? What are easy ways to get faster that I overlooked?

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

113th Boston

2:41:11

Next race: 40th NYC
Goal: sub 2:37:00

See you in the Big Apple!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXVI

The distance is nothing when one has a motive . . .

Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

$5000!

I broke $5000!

Thank you to everyone who has donated.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Antoine-Louis Barye

What will be the proper allegory for my race?
Will the race course and I be as evenly matched as these two bears wrestling?
Will I be in trouble, like the horse attacked by a tiger? Or will I be the tiger? (Is that a horse or a unicorn?)

(I would tell you about all the lovely paintings I saw, but you would mock me.)

Week 1

Sunday April 12 through Saturday April 18

Sunday
-- Rest (National Gallery of Art)

Monday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 30 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 30 minutes treadmill

Friday -- 30 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 3 miles (30:00)

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXV

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Week 2

Sunday April 5 through Saturday April 11

Sunday
-- Cherry Blossom 10M: 57:47

Monday -- 20 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 40 minutes treadmill

Friday -- 30 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 12 miles (1:30:00)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Place Your Bets!

I have one final incentive for you, my loyal readers and donors. Win a prize if you guess how fast I run the 113th Boston Marathon on April 20!

Here are the rules:
With every $20 donation, send me your best guess as to what my official time on race day will be. The slowest time that is still faster than my official time will win. That is, do not overshoot. (For example, if I run 2:39, 2:36 will beat 2:40, and 2:37 will beat both.)

Send me your guess and shirt size (XS-XL) by April 17.

ps Here is some help. I ran 2:52 last April, and I ran 2:47 in NYC. This year, I want to break 2:40 (6:07 per mile). If I feel fantastic, I will go after 2:37 (6:00 per mile).

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXIV

It was high counsel that I once heard given to a young person. "Always do what you are afraid to do."

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Heroism

Hitting the Wall

Most runners know that hitting the wall (or bonking) is what happens when your body depletes all its glycogen stores. And most runners know how to avoid it. As a general rule, your body stores 2000 glycogen calories, and you burn 100 calories per mile. When your body depletes its glycogen stores, your body starts burning fat -- a highly inefficient way to make energy. That is why marathoners fear mile 20. (And why the 27-meter Heartbreak Hill -- between miles 20 and 21 at Boston -- inspires such terror.)

I always vaguely understood those technical details. But today, for the first time, I learned what hitting the wall really is. The weather was beautiful: 60 degrees and overcast. About 2 1/2 hours into the run, however, and 200 meters (truly) from my friend's car, I hit the wall. I could not take another step running (not that I was running terribly fast at that point). I had to walk. I had known for a few miles that I was empty, but I could still put one foot in front of the other. And then, all of a sudden, crash. I could almost see the finish line. But I could not run.

I am glad I now know the feeling, but what a terrible feeling. When did you last hit the wall?

Week 3

Sunday March 29 through Saturday April 4

Sunday
-- 22 miles (2:40:00)

Monday -- 30 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Friday -- 20 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- Rest

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXVIII

No, when the fight begins within himself,
A man’s worth something.

Robert Browning, Bishop Blougram’s Apology

Running on the Treadmill

I know I have not been terribly transparent with my runs recently. So in the interest of full disclosure, here is my schedule.

Monday: Downhill
Tuesday: Basic hills
Wednesday: Speed
Thursday: Random hills
Friday: Downhill

Downhill: Downhill for twenty minutes, uphill for a minute or two. Repeat.
Basic hills: One minute on, one minute off. (This is the treadmill "hill" function.)
Speed: Two minutes on, one minute off. (This week, three minutes on.)
Random hills: This is the treadmill "random" function.

p.s. The treadmills I use are Life Fitness models 9700 HR and 97 Ti. They are tremendous.

Week 4

Sunday March 22 through Saturday March 28

Sunday
-- 18 miles (2:10:00)

Monday -- 70 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 70 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- Rest

Thursday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Friday -- 70 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 18 miles (2:00:00)

Friday, March 20, 2009

What are you wearing?

Got my race day kicks. The brand new Glycerin 7 from my new favorite (commercial) website -- www.runningwarehouse.com.
So, what are you wearing?

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

My Bib Number

1458

Search here. Five weeks till the big day!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXVII

No one can say, "You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that." The human spirit is indomitable.

Sir Roger Bannister

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Week 5

Sunday March 15 through Saturday March 21

Sunday
-- Rest

Monday -- 70 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 40 minutes treadmill

Friday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 19 miles (2:30:00)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXVI

Ask yourself, "Can I give more?" The answer is usually, "Yes."

Paul Tergat

Classic Inspiration XXV

Learn to run when feeling the pain: then push harder.

William Sigei

Week 6

Sunday March 8 through Saturday March 14

Sunday
-- 21 miles (2:40:00)

Monday -- 30 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 40 minutes treadmill

Friday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 18 miles (2:15:00)

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXIV

I always loved running . . . . [I]t was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.

Jesse Owens

Week 7

Sunday March 1 through Saturday March 7

Sunday
-- 15 miles (2:00:00)

Monday -- 20 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Friday -- Rest

Saturday -- 18 miles (2:20:00)

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXIII

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

Winston Churchill

Classic Inspiration XXII

Only when I face frustration and use it to fuel my dedication [do] I feel myself moving forward.

John Bingham

Week 8

Sunday February 22 through Saturday February 28

Sunday
-- Club Challenge 10M (59:50)

Monday -- 40 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Friday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 18 miles (2:20:00)

Saturday, February 21, 2009

RunD(F)MC

By now you know that April 20 I am running the 113th Boston Marathon for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the twentieth Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge -- the DFMC. Our website is www.rundfmc.org.

But "RunDFMC" strikes me as perilously close to the famous Run-DMC (website: www.rundmc.com).

So before their lawyers shut us down, I think we should declare one of their ballads our theme song. (To get in their good graces.) Which one? Run's House. Feel me?

Whose house? RunDFMC's house!

NYC 2009

I just registered. You should, too. Apply here.

But first, Boston! See you April 20!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Classic Inspiration XXI

The easiest period in a crisis . . . is actually the battle itself. The most difficult is the period of indecision — whether to fight or run away. . . . Crisis can indeed be an agony. But it is the exquisite agony which a man might not want to experience again — yet would not for the world have missed.

Richard Nixon, Six Crises

Week 9

Sunday February 15 through Saturday February 21

Sunday
-- 22 miles (2:50:00)

Monday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- Rest

Friday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 19 miles (2:20:00)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Shakespeare on Racing

Theories on racing abound. Some runners sit and meditate before racing. Others whip themselves into a frenzy. Some run cold, some run hot.

Here are two Shakespearean antagonists, each expressing perfectly one of the two extremes.

For those who run with ice in their veins, channel the righteous avenger:
Macduff: I have no words; / My voice is in my sword . . .

For those who run with their hair on fire, channel the tragic hero:
Macbeth: Lay on, Macduff, / And damn’d be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”

Who, may I ask, are you?

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Week 10

Sunday February 8 through Saturday February 14

Sunday
-- 16 miles (2:30:00)

Monday -- 70 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 60 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 70 minutes treadmill

Friday -- Rest

Saturday -- 20 miles (2:40:00)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Week 11

Sunday February 1 through Saturday February 7

Sunday
-- 20 miles (2:30:00)

Monday -- Rest

Tuesday -- 70 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 70 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Friday -- Rest

Saturday -- 8 miles (1:20:00)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Ode to the Treadmill

To commemorate the first snowfall of the season here in the District, I thought I would extol the virtues of indoor training. Most runners (most athletes) prefer training outside. I understand this. Runners are a free-spirited flock, and prefer the open air to air conditioning. Moreover, runners generally associate indoor training with injury. Yet most runners abhor no mechanical apparatus more than the treadmill (which you can use only if you can, well, run). Most runners despise the "dreadmill" and have nothing nice to say about it. Rancor and enmity best reserved for more pressing matters are lavished on it. I seem to enjoy being contrary, however, so I will defend the noble machine.

Like running on spinning sandpaper? No. Think of floating across rolling clouds of downy feathers. Like being confined to a hamster wheel? No. Free your mind and in your imagination you will soar -- no need to worry about cars, pedestrians, or inclement weather. Training for Boston? Run hills. Training for Chicago? Run flats. Run fast? Run slow? Choose whatever speed you like.

In these gloomy days, when running before or after work means running in the dark and cold, I say: Run inside! Remember, April 20 will likely be 60 degrees, not 16 degrees. So run on the treadmill. I do.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Classic Inspiration XX

The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory. We love to see . . . fighting, not the victor raving over the vanquished. . . . It is the same in gambling, and the same in the search for truth. . . . We never seek things for themselves — what we seek is the very seeking of things.

Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Week 12

Sunday January 25 through Saturday January 31

Sunday
-- Miami Half (1:18:23)

Monday -- Rest

Tuesday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Thursday -- Rest

Friday -- 30 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 18 miles (2:25:00)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Week 13

Sunday January 18 through Saturday January 24

Sunday
-- Rest

Monday -- 40 minutes treadmill

Tuesday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Wednesday -- Rest

Thursday -- Rest

Friday -- 2 miles (20:00)

Saturday -- 3 miles (30:00)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Speed

16 x 300m(?) and equal rest
(on the road)

0:53 __ 1:18
0:53 __ 1:12

0:52 __ 1:13
0:51 __ 1:16
0:49 __ 1:16
0:49 __ 1:12
0:50 __ 1:13
0:50 __ 1:16
0:50 __ 1:14
0:50 __ 1:14
0:50 __ 1:16
0:49 __ 1:18
0:49 __ 1:14
0:49 __ 1:14
0:48 __ 1:19
0:48 __ 1:21

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Week 14

Sunday January 11 through Saturday January 17

Sunday
-- 9 miles (1:08:00)

Monday -- 9 miles (1:09:00)

Tuesday -- Rest

Wednesday -- Speed

Thursday -- Rest

Friday -- 50 minutes treadmill

Saturday -- 18 miles (2:15:00)

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Week 15

Sunday January 4 through Saturday January 10

Sunday
-- 11 miles (1:30:00)

Monday -- 6 miles (42:00)

Tuesday -- 4 miles (30:00)

Wednesday -- Rest

Thursday -- 6 miles (45:00)

Friday -- 4 miles (33:00)

Saturday -- 20 miles (2:25:00)