Saturday, March 27, 2010

A-OK for OAK

I recovered pretty quickly after LA. In fact, besides the shockingly quick recovery after the Goofy Challenge in January, I'd say this was the least sore I've been after a marathon. Going easy has its merits, sometimes.

Seeing as how this week was both a recovery and taper week all in one, I only got out for two short runs.

Wednesday: 2 miles @ 10:23 A little tightness but no soreness.

Friday: 3 miles @ 9:54 pace

The LA Marathon had all sort of neat stats about your race. By far the coolest was this one:
Over the final 4.5 miles, I passed 980 runners and was passed by 62 runners

I think that is a pretty good definition of a strong marathon finish (or a race I started too far back. But I'll think of it the first way). We won't discuss how I was at mile 10 when the male winner crossed the line or barely at mile 12 when the female winner arrived.

This weekend is the Oakland Marathon! I am actually looking forward to the race even though it is one I only signed up for because of my "Year of the Marathon Challenge." It is an inaugural event so I'm sure there will be some kinks in the system. Hopefully they won't be too terrible.

The elevation profile for Oakland looks like this:

Pretty sadistic, if you ask me.

Going into this LA/Oakland back-to-back, I really wanted to have solid showings at both. My CIM/Honolulu back-to-back was a bit skewed since I raced so hard at CIM and was injured at Honolulu. I'd love to bring Oakland home in about the same time as LA. That would leave me feeling pretty pleased. I have at least one and possibly two more back-to-back weeks this year so I am curious how this one will play out since my hamstring is not gimpy like Honolulu.

My probable piriformis (thanks, Marci! for the diagnosis) has much improved since Austin but still gives me some issues when I am sitting down. Next on my agenda: Get better at stretching consistently and use my stick and foam roller. A lot of people encouraged me to get a massage. I have never had one! I am a little scared! I think I'd laugh the entire time. So embarrassing.

I saved this post as a draft until after the Oakland Marathon expo. I thought I could spice up the post a bit more with cool expo photos. Sadly, the expo was fairly pathetic and all I got was this shot:

Yes, it sucked as much as my one photo. And that guy on the left thinks I am a stalker.

I'll check back in after another 26.2!

6 comments:

the dawn said...

Good luck on the race! That climb for the first half looks brutal. And the last mile or so? Really? that's where the other major up hill is. I look forward to reading about how it actually feels while running.

Hef's Mom said...

Wow that dude is creepy, lol!

Tonimcalister said...

Wow! Thats alot of miles! I'm new to running and that is very cool!

Marlene said...

Those are some awesome stats! Passing more than 900 runners in the finals <5 miles?? That must have felt amazing.

I hope OAK went well!

EndorphinBuzz said...

Yeah that stats system for LA is pretty cool. I hope you did well in Oakland.

Alisa said...

Wow, back to backs you're crazy!

Also that hill in the middle is just MEAN!