Crippling Cramping Calves

The ARA20 Miler was today. I’d never run further than 19 miles, and that was at my easy run pace of around 8min15sec miles. Today was a test to see where I stand in my training, and if my goal of running a 3:15 marathon is even feasible.
20 miles worth of running at 7min 26 second miles equates to 2hrs 28mins 51seconds. I ran 16 miles a few weeks ago as a long easy run, and it took 2 hours 34 minutes, so I knew I’d been out running longer, but at almost a minute per mile slower.

I drank nothing but water and took tons of electrolyte pills all week, except for 2 beers at my Quality Workout happy hour, and a glass of wine on Friday night. Ate tons on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I slept 9 almost uninterrupted hours on Friday night. Stupid ass wind chime had me up for a while last night, but I was happy with the 6.5 hours I got.
4:30am wake up. Two bowls of cereal, a Nouriche Yoghurt, and a banana pre race. Mike and I carpooled and got to San Marcos 1 hour and a half before the race which was great as I love to get there early and have time to focus in my chair, and access to porta-potties before the masses arrive.

Found Ron, my pace buddy, and we decided to run MGP throughout the whole race except the last couple if we were feeling extra good. We were fortunate to have a pacer there, so we started off with him.

AIR HOOOOOOOOOOOORN. Race starts.

The course is quite hilly, not crazy hilly, but enough to hurt you as they’re long gradual inclines, short steep ones, and the scenery isn’t the best, unless you like dry winter grass. Wildlife Not so wild life, did help me focus on other stuff. I saw cows, horses, pigs in mud, a goose, 2 dogs and a Panther on a bike.

First 2 Miles we ran with the pacer, and he ran uber slow the first one, and a little off pace on the 2nd. We decided to speed up to our pace, and leave the pace group. Eventually Christine joined us and as we had the same time goal, she ran with us.
We could never really find our pace. We’d either run 6:55. 7:05, or 7:40, 7:35 etc…
I took 5 GUs during the race and one 15 mins before the start.

Miles 1 through 8. My friend Mr. Plantar Fasciitis joined me at Mile 8 as usual, and never left me. But, as I’ve been told, I’m supposed to embrace the pain, and take it as a challenge. It seems to be a good strategy. I couldn’t find my rhythm at all. Just didn’t feel comfortable, and tried talking to others, crank up my tunes, and everything in between, but just never got settled in. (this may account for latter miles breakdown). We ran too fast on several miles and ended up a good 2+ minutes ahead of pace.

Miles 9 – 15: My best miles. There was an out and back on the same road for a few miles, so we got to see runners running the other direction. It was great for my mind, as I spent all the way encouraging the leaders, then looking for my fellow Pain Train’ers to say:”Hey”, “Keep it up” etc. After the out and back, we quickly hit a tree covered road I really enjoyed. Steve Sisson was out there running to cheer on his Performance Project and others, and he ran with us for about a mile. It was great. Our paces were much more constant here, and I felt great.

Miles 16 through 20 were a bitch. Hilly as shit. Panther was out there at the start of these telling us 3 or 4 more hills to deal with.

Mile 16 – At the water stop, I got ahead of Ron and Christine, I started to slow up to let them catch up to me, but Sisson was there. He ran next to me for a few dozens yards and told me to not wait for people anymore. I’d paced with people for the first part and it was time to run my own race. “You wait for no one. Now you run YOUR race, Mike”. So I did. I continued on my pace, and ran a mile feeling pretty good. My pace: 7:41

Mile 17 – I swallow a couple more 100mg electrolyte pills, it’s probably way too late, but I’m taking pills 6 and 7. My calves started cramping. I could feel the pain and at first just thought it was my Plantars acting up a bit more, so I kept trucking. Julie was on her bike and passed me many times. It was nice to see a familiar face around me, as there was no one to run with. Maybe it’s weird to say but, other than the calves, I felt great. fitness wise - I felt great, pace wise - never better, and mentally - I’m strong. Time: 7:19

Mike 18 – My cramps are really there, and they’re not going away. Both calves, but it’s nothing worse than I felt over the summer long runs when they’d hurt. Not too concerned, as I can run in this. But can I run with this for 8 more miles on Feb 18, hmm… Time: 7:30

Mile 19 – My calves are killing me. These crazy pulsating shots of pain come and go every 30 seconds or so. I spot Julie along with 2 others on the side of a hill, and I’m hoping they have some water I can get to take more pills. “Water? Got any water?” They didn’t. Sucks. I’ll take my electrolytes without water. I take pill #8. My mouth is dry. It’s a tough pill to swallow, I gag, but I get it down. It’s probably too late anyway, but who cares. I can’t take anymore, so I chunk the rest of the pills. I’m tired of carrying them in my glove. Thank you Julie for taking my gloves for me! Time: 7:37

Mile 20 – This was hard. So so hard. My cramps are killing me. My mouth is dry. My cramps are killing me. My mental state is crumbling. What awaits me? A long, long gradual uphill, and wind. Wind in my face. Great. I’m hating life. Sisson is up there at the start of the mile, and he was a god’s send. What motivates me most is anger, and smack talk. I talk first: “Calf cramps… Killing me”. “How much suffering can you handle Mike?” he replies along with something else about if I’m going to give up or something similar. I yelled back at him as loud as I could: “I'm NOT going to FUCKING WUSS OUT”. He knew how to push my buttons.

** When I dig deep, I look for anger... for things I hate… and I go after them. I go after them hard, and they’re not going to take me down. There's no way in hell.**

This mile was really hard. It was ¾ uphill, and ¼ downhill. The entire mile was filled with pain. I used my arms a ton to get my ass up the hill. My plantar is killing me, my calves are pulsating and want to break me. I adjust my form, I’m running with straighter legs so the calves get pulled and don’t contract as much. I continue passing people like I’ve done since Mile 16. No one passed me after Mile 16. As I pass them, I yell at them to use their arms. “Your arms aren’t tired. Use them to get up.”

The final downhill is somewhat of a blur, I crossed the finish line in extreme pain, and went straight to the sidewalk to stretch my calves. I stood there for what felt like 3 or 4 minutes.

It’s 10 hours late and they still hurt. They still pulsate. They’re still cramping.

I’ve given quite a bit of thought to what I need to adjust at AT&T to be able to run 6 more miles at this pace, and it’ll be a combination of:
- More massages, especially one the week of the race. (I’m going to reserve a time this week)
- More water and electrolytes the week of the race.
- More electrolyte in take earlier in the race.
- Strategically place Nedra (and possibly others) with my 2 trail running bottles with electrolyte stamina so I drink more at mile 11ish and mile 17ish.
- Trust the pacers and run with them. Don’t venture out and run a mish mash of times.
- Less talking and goofing around to entertain other using my energy early on because I feel good.

Approximate times...
1 - 7:39
2 - 7:36
3 - 6:50
4 - 7:06
5 - 7:15
6 - 7:23
7 - 7:22
8 - 7:40
9 - 6:55
10 - 6:57
11 - 7:46
12 - 7:36
13 - 6:59
14 - 7:23
15 - 7:27
16 - 7:41
17 - 7:19
18 - 7:30
19 - 7:37
20 - 7:35

Goal: 2:28:51 - 7:26/Mile
Finish Time: 2:27:45 - 7:23/Mile

Overall: 57th out of 1120 - 5.10% (goal is 5%. yes!)
Age Group: 10th out of 101 - 10% (goal is 10%. yes!)
Males: 53rd out of 636 - 8.3% (goal is 10%. Yes!)

P.S. I do need to thank my coach Panther, and Julie for biking along us cheering us on. Also, Tim and the other Rogue supporters I saw on the side of the road. There weren't many spectators out there, but the ones that were there were greatly appreciated. Thank you.