Michael Keating

Marathon Day -- Event Cancelled

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:09:00 +0000

The Pasadena Marathon got cancelled because of smoke from wildfires to the southeast and northwest.

I may list later the ways in which this sucks, but I will start with this one: the official web site, one hour after cancellation, does not show that the event was cancelled. They instead relied on Email to let participants know about it. It took over an hour for some of us to receive this message.

I am going back to bed now.

Marathon Week 14, Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 02:50:00 +0000

The dreadful ache in my thighs, residual from Tuesday's Good Medicine workout, is steadily making its way out, but Thursday's 1-mile repeats left me with an injury in my soleus that will take a few more days to heal. Because of this, I did not run with the dozen people putting in 15 miles today.

I am not sure how good it was for my mental health, but I showed up this morning anyway to act as support crew for today's runners. It got me just close enough to the action that I really missed running with them!

Everyone looked so strong through the first six miles. After that 6-mile checkpoint, I separated from the course to avoid driving to the Rose Bowl (UCLA home game against Fresno State) and moved to the ten-mile mark. Everyone was still doing well when they got to me, but some of them, perhaps forgetting that they had been running for over an hour and a half, expressed concerned over fatigue setting in. But I am happy to report that they all finished the route in excellent form. I have got to get better soon so I can join them again.

One especially fun part of the morning: a lot of people from outside of our world are starting to run the route in preparation for the marathon. Our crew look at least as strong as any of them.

Also... Ted and Juanita rocked the course today!

Marathon Start Time Posted

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:15:00 +0000

Maybe this has been on the marathon's web site all along, but I just found the following at http://www.pasadenamarathon.org/forms/FAQrev.pdf:

Q: What time do the various race-day events start?
A: Bike Tour, 6:00 a.m.
Marathon & Half Marathon, 6:30 a.m.
5K & Fun Run/Walk, 6:50 a.m.

I like the fact that our marathoners and half-marathoners will get to start together.

Marathon Week 14, Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 04:09:00 +0000

It is supposed to be a CrossFit/Bootcamp day, but my legs are in as much pain as they were yesterday. So my workout: take the whippets on a walk. The small hills at the top of Lake Ave. were a significant challenge. :-(

Marathon Week 14, Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:58:00 +0000

Despite the fatigue still firmly in my quads, I met Jeff, Jim, and Ted this morning at the middle school to run four one-mile repeats. The stiff legs definitely held me back. Here are my times:

6:33
6:29
Did not finish
Did not even start

With about 300 meters left in my third mile, I started to feel pain in my right hamstring and calf. I tried to handle it by slowing down and adjusting my stride, but when that did not work, I thought it safest to walk the rest of the way. I am glad I stopped; I now have a sharp pain in my soleus and an ache in my hamstring. Time now for a few days of unscheduled rest.

I hear that Tommie is also injured, possibly in his Achilles tendon.

Marathon Week 14, Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:46:00 +0000

This is a Rest Day, and I am glad; those med-ball cleans from yesterday have my thighs extremely sore. I went for a couple of miles' hike this evening in the hope of loosening them up. Maybe it helped, but they are still in bad shape.

Marathon Week 14, Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:35:00 +0000

Today's "Good Medicine" CrossFit workout at the academy loosened up all the stiffness in my hip from yesterday. Just the wall squats we did for warm-up worked wonders!

The assignment: complete as many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 20 minutes of

10 Med Ball Cleans (M-20lbs, W-16lbs)
10 Push-ups

Lawrence and I, working side by side, completed 17 rounds together. The mark we set at 0600 would hold up for most of the day--until Tom B. caught us, and then some crazy guy named Steve E. knocked out 20 of them! Full Results

I knew by round 7 that my legs were going to be sore from this one. And for the rest of the day, my quads have been wead from the workout. I wonder whether Lawrence feels the same way. Tomorrow is, I am thankful, a rest day.

Marathon Week 14, Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:28:00 +0000

I stayed up late Sunday night and slept in a little this morning. When I got up and headed out to warm up for my 5-mile mid-tempo run, I did not feel quite right--a little bit of stiffness in my left hip. And when I saw how much more traffic is on the streets at 6:40am compared to 6:00am, I decided to pack it in without the miles.

Marathon Week 13, Day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:36:00 +0000

Liz Goodman Logelin Memorial 5k

A coworker and friend of a close friend of mine went through "life and death. all in a 27-hour period."

Marathon Week 13, Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:31:00 +0000

Speed Work: After 10-20 minutes of warm-up, run 800m six times with a maximum of two minutes of recovery between runs.

I met Hope and John at Arcadia High School's track for this one. The football team must have been playing away tonight. Results:

2?57
2:57
2:58
2:56
2:58
2:57

Had it not been for the nice rubberized track, these times would have mostly gone over 3:00 because yesterday's Fight Gone Bad still has me pretty tired.

Marathon Week 13, Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:29:00 +0000

Team-9--which meets, of course, at 0900 hours--let me join them at the Academy for today's CrossFit WOD: Fight Gone Bad. This was my third or fourth time at this workout, and I topped my earlier score of 269, posting a 282. Box jumps, as always, were my strong suit; I jumped 40, 40, and 33 in each round. My rowing dropped off each time, going 15, 13, and finally 9.

Good news for me: my other stations held at 15 nearly every round. (On my second set push-presses, I hit only 13.)

Marathon Week 13, Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:16:00 +0000

I stayed awake too late after Tuesday night O-lift at the Academy, so I did not join my usual early-morning group for today's scheduled six-mile mid-tempo run, which is the first time we have run this far at mid-tempo pace. Instead, I took advantage of the fact that today's workout of the day (WOD) at the Academy is a 5-k run and joined the 1830 crew for that.

My modification: when I was done with the 5-k, I turned around and ran another 5-k. I completed the double in 43:55, a pace of 7:05 per mile. My target pace was 7:10 per mile, so I did OK except for one thing: I plan to drop my marathon goal from 3:20:00 to 3:15:00. The mid-tempo pace for that finish is an even 7:00 per mile, which I did not hit. :-(

Marathon Week 13, Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:08:00 +0000

A half marathon, 800m repeats, and now today’s MetCon-taxing WOD at the Academy. I am so ready for tomorrow’s rest day!

That is not to say I did not have fun though! If you look at the results for the day, you will notice that a lot of the regular names are missing from the "Standard" heading. Too many of them ached too much from a September 11 Murph session at the Academy.

Marathon Week 12, Day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:56:00 +0000

Today’s schedule had four 800-m repeats with two minutes of rest in between, and thanks to a rubberized track with no potholes (at Caltech), I was able to complete all of them on time (faster than 3:03 apiece) despite having run a half marathon distance yesterday. Good thing: only after I finished my last run did the "gym is closing" call come.

Marathon Week 12, Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:40:00 +0000

Today we had another half marathon, again a marathon pace (7:37 per mile). I considered this the biggest test so far of the training because if I did not feel better this time than I did two weeks ago, the, the actual marathon would be nearly impossible to complete on schedule.

Ten or twelve of us met in front of PCC to run the official Half Marathon route that will be used in November. About half of us shaved off a south-reaching stretch to make it their preferred ten-mile route. We sent Kary and Nadir off to support us at miles six and ten (thank you both for that!), and then headed out. Some notes about the run:

The one-mile stretch up Marengo from Glenarm is not nearly as much of a climb as I dreaded.
The one-block climb on Green Street going from St. John to Orange Grove is as much of a climb as anticipated. (But it is nothing compared to Catra’s climbs).
At the Rose Bowl, we blended in with a 5-K run in progress. It was kind of fun after running over eight miles to be able to keep up with people on their three-mile runs.
If you do not carry a copy of the route map, you had better memorize it well before heading out. We had one person visit the Langham Hotel (formerly the Ritz-Carlton), another take a tour of the Pasadena Civic Center (City Hall, the county courthouse, and other government offices), and a third who missed out on our jaunt through the 'hood at mile 10.5.

I was able to finish in 1:35:45, four minutes ahead of my targeted time at marathon pace. The good news for me about this one (as compared with the run two weeks ago) is that I could have continued for a couple of more miles this time. I was nowhere near being able to do that two weeks ago.

Marathon Week 12, Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:36:00 +0000

Ran five mid-tempo miles in the local area. Target time was 35:00 (7:00 per mile), and I hit that successfully by almost a minute.

Marathon Week 12, Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:31:00 +0000

Today was Deadlift Day at the Academy. Make seven single attempts at deadlift, with the goal of setting a PR by the final lift. I worked my way up to 310 pounds by the last one. This is not a PR, but it protected a sore glute from further injury.

Marathon Week 12, Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Five of us came to the middle school track for 1-mile repeats at 0600. Carrie, Jeff, Jim, Tommie, and I took a couple of warm-up laps in the dark, and by the time we completed our stretching and other loosening up, it was light enough that the pot holes were not going to break our ankles.

Tommie and I set out quickly on our first mile and held the pace well enough to finish in 6:03. We were, of course, happy to put together such a finish except for one thing: we are required to better that time on our second run (on three minutes’ rest), or pack it up and leave. Careful pacing — as well as some tooth-gritting — got us through the second mile at an even 6:00, so we earned our reward: one more mile.

The third one, again on three minutes of rest, came much too quickly for our legs, and though we held the 6-minute-mile pace for the first two laps, the third lap did us in, and we finished in 6:09.

It was a good tiring morning, and I believe all five of us outdid our performances of a few weeks ago. And best of all, I get to do a CrossFit workout on Wednesday! I wonder if it will look as painful as today’s “Something Like Daniel”.

Marathon Week 11, Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 21:40:00 +0000

I have had a cold coming on since about Tuesday, and it is well upon me now. I ditched Wednesday's double-5Ks out of concern for what that kind of output could do to my currently taxed immune system, but I felt confident enough to run 10 miles today on a course Jeff put together at "marthon +30" pace (8:07 per mile).

At that pace, I should have completed the ten miles in 1:21:10. My actual time was 1:18:02, which is a pace of 7:48 per mile (marathon +11). This relieves me quite a bit, as I felt I could hold this pace for some time. So given that the marathon is still two months away, I am looking good... as long as I can shake this cold, which has gotten into quite a drippy stage. My biggest hope in the short term is that I not develop any infection that would need antibiotics.

Marathon Week 11, Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:22:00 +0000

A high-speed workout at the Academy this morning woke the whole Team 0600 early-morning crew. Details of the workout, together with results, on the Academy's blog.

Marathon Week 11, Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 19:44:00 +0000

Today's schedule called for a 1-2-1 tempo run: One mile at an "easy tempo" pace, two miles at "mid-tempo" and one final mile at the easy pace again.

My goal for the two-mile mid-tempo portion was to maintain a pace of 7:10 per mile, which would have me finishing that segment in 14:20. I used an out-and-back course that has a moderate climb in the last quarter mile of the "out" leg and completed the first mile in 6:40, which is obviously way faster than I was supposed to go. I think it was fear of the uphill portion that got me to push so hard.

On the "back" part, I settled down a bit, which brought me to the end of the mid-tempo part at the 13:26 mark.

I felt some slight joint pain left over from Saturday's half marathon, and my leg muscles definitely had some fatigue, but I am pretty happy with the recovery over the past 48 hours. Let's see what 0600 CrossFit at the Academy has in store for Tuesday!

Marathon Week 10, Day 7

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:48:00 +0000

I did not take today as a complete rest day; I did a Credit Card workout and registered for the Pasadena Marathon. It is $10 cheaper today than it will be tomorrow.

Marathon Week 10, Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:16:00 +0000

This was our biggest test so far. Run a half-marathon distance (13.1 miles) at our targeted marathon paces. About 20 of us met at Kersting Ct. this morning at 7:00am to run the course that Murray plotted for us. The devilish thing about the route was the hundreds of feet of elevation gain from 1.3 miles in until the five-mile mark. Nadir volunteered to carry our supplies to the high point of our run, and each one of us was relieved finally to see him, crunching out his sit-ups, when we crested the last hill on the way to him.

My target was 7:37 per mile, which gave me a goal of completion in 1:40:00. I fell behind my pace on some of the uphill stints, but the long descent down El Molino Ave. let me make up all of it. I even got far enough ahead of pace that I was able to finish on schedule despite a seeming wall that we had to climb 11.5 miles in.

A scary sign: Kary was our second helper, and she was stationed at the 10-mile point. I knew she was going to be there, I was looking for her, and no crowds were around... but I would have missed her if she had not yelled out to me as I zipped by. Fatigue, of course, was the main factor, but I am going to blame this one on the fact that I did not wear contact lenses for the run.

Final result: I finished in 1:38:00, two minutes ahead of schedule. While I am so happy with that result, I know I could not have kept it up any longer than these 13.1 miles. On marathon day, in two and a half months, I will have to do what I did today... and then do it all over again right away. I tell myself that I can trust the training because I could not have come anywhere close to today's performance two and a half months ago.

Note on upcoming training: Next week seems to be a lighter week, perhaps as a follow-up to this more intense week of running. Our mid-tempo day is only four miles long, and only two of those miles are faster than "easy tempo" pace. And I can't believe I am saying this, but... Saturday's long-tempo run is "only" ten miles. (And we do get to run it at marathon-pace +30 seconds.)

…but there is a double-5K stuck in there for Wednesday.

Marathon Week 10, Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:11:00 +0000

Speed Work. 800m X 6, max two minutes of recovery between each. Target time: 3:03 apiece. There were about eight of us at the middle school at 6:00am for this one.

2:57
2:56
2:59
2:58
2:59
2:57

Compare with Week 2, Day 2. The times this go-round were comparable, but there was not nearly the level of anguish coming in.

Marathon Week 10, Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 23:48:00 +0000

CrossFit "Broomstick Mile":

400m Run
25 Each of: Back Squat, Front Squat, Overhead Squat
400m Run
25 Each of: Shoulder Press, Push Press, Push Jerk
400m Run
25 Each of: Snatch Pull, Power Snatch, Squat Snatch
400m Run

...while carrying one of the following: PVC pipe, 15-lb barbell, 30-lb barbell, or 45-lb barbell.

Completed in 28:57 with the 45-pounder.