Saturday, January 16, 2016

Training Partners and Motivation

It's a pretty well known fact that training partners are great to have when running.  They push you physically, mentally and emotionally.  They are so important that there is now an app for them  I can say without hesitation that my running would not be where it is today if it wasn't for running partners to keep me in line and hold me accountable.  One of them stands out above the rest.

My half marathon time in 2011 is actually not my time.  Rather, this time is actually the time of my long time running friend Victor Granger.  I forgot to pickup my packet that year because my grandmother had just past away the week prior and let's just say I wasn't concerned about the race as much as I usually was.  This race was unique to me because it was no longer my goal to run my best race.  My goal was to help Vic run his best race by pacing him as best as I could.

The 2011 Rite-Aid Cleveland Marathon was pretty miserable for most.  It was overcast and rainy the whole race with temperatures in the 50's.  Vic and I love these kind of conditions because it keeps us from overheating and really separates the runners who love to run from those who are just doing it to show off to others.  It was also special to me because the weather embodied my emotions from the week prior, dreary, depressed and a slog to get through it.

Around mile six, Vic took off ahead and yelled to me, "I'm really feeling good, let's push this!"
I disapprovingly said, "Let's keep it steady so we don't burn out.  That last thing we want to do is die out at mile 10."  Vic ran a great time, 1:43:26 is a respectable half marathon pace, especially given the elements (let's face it no one likes wet socks).  We were soaked but had the great feeling that we couldn't have done it without each other.  Vic thanked me several times for holding him back at mile six to keep him on pace.

Next year, 2012, Vic was attempting his first marathon at the Rite-Aid Cleveland Marathon.  It was a brutal race due to the bright sun and record setting temps in the mid 80's.  This was a great day to run, just not a great day to run a marathon.  This year was very difficult for me to train for the race.  I had a new role at work that required more time, a longer commute and was constantly traveling for personal fun and was in a long distance relationship.  Needless to say, the only motivating factor that kept me from not doing the race was seeing Vic finish it.  I attempted running the race and realized by about mile 7, this race wasn't going to be my best.  By mile 10, I could feel my lack of training.  Vic was leading me and prodding me to come along, which had never really happened before.

This was when I changed my game plan.  Vic needed to do this race by himself, just like I had in 2010.  I dropped at the half marathon marker. The arch of my left foot hurt because I had inadvertently tied my shoe too tight.  This, combined with the fear of long term injury, and lack of training made my decision to drop easy.  I told Vic I'd see him at the finish and that I was dropping. Vic prodded some more but could see I was done.

Dropping from a race is never easy, it hurts.  It hurts your pride, your sense of being and really makes you just feel awful.  With this admitted defeat and a sore foot, I trudged back to the finishing corral so I could have a good spot to watch Vic finish.  I waited there for probably 30-45 minutes, downing a chocolate milk while waiting.  At this point my foot no longer hurt and I felt as if I could have tackled the second half of the marathon.  I was increasing frustrated with myself for dropping and not realizing it was my shoe all along.  I did the only thing, I could do, I started walking and intermittently running the course backwards.

By running the course backwards, I eventually caught sight of Vic around mile 23.  He was struggling with his pace and may have even been walking.  What I told him next was that an ex girlfriend of his, who we caught cheating on him (I should link here her but I won't), was ahead of him.  A tirade of profanity followed and Vic picked up the pace.  I paced him in the rest of the way, with some walking worked in for rest.  Vic finished the race and even killed my marathon time in the process.  It wasn't until after the race I told him that his ex was actually behind him and I never saw her.  Although he never admitted it until later, that was probably the best motivation I could have given him.

Last year, at the 2015 Rite-Aid Cleveland Marathon, I was on the back stretch of the race coming down Route 2.  This is a sneaky little part of the race as almost the last 4 miles of it are a slight uphill grind that really wears on runners.  The sun was out and the humidity was up because it had lightly sprinkled off and on earlier.  I had tried a different training method of doing almost entirely CrossFit with just the once a week or so run mixed in.  Although CrossFit, did do a great job for me, I hadn't logged nearly the miles I needed to prepare myself for this race.  I had the Cleveland Skyline in my sights.  My legs were sore, my hips hurt and my paced was now an 8:00 pace when running and a slow 18:00 pace when walking.

At the very juncture in which I needed it, I saw Vic standing on the race course with his running shorts and shoes on.  I don't distinctly remember what Vic said to me, I think it was "Do you mind if I join you for the finish?"  I was exhausted and elated.  I was tired and happy.  Most of all, I was thankful to have a friend and running partner who knew how much it meant to have someone lead me to the finish, all while hearing me bitch about the pain I was in, the course, the weather, the lack of training, all of it.  Don't get me wrong, I loved seeing a bunch of my fellow Birdtown CrossFitters at mile 7 or 8 but nothing beats having that one true friend who is willing to lace up their shoes and carry you home when you need it most.

As I was running earlier this week, I was running down Detroit Road in Cleveland on a 10 mile rehashing the 2011 rain soaked marathon in my head.  The snow and ice mixed with the wind and 16 degree temperatures were making this run a little brutal.  I was sweating just slightly under my layers which I knew would eventually make me colder.  My thighs were sore and I knew this wasn't my best run, if anything it was just a run to get some miles on my legs and really feel the challenge of pushing distance a bit. I was somewhere around mile 4 and I still had 6 to go.  As I passed a great local Irish restaurant called The Harp, I saw some graffiti on a building.  UR WORTH IT


This simple bit of motivational writing lifted my spirits.  It reminded me of Vic meeting me at mile 23 of the 2015 Cleveland Marathon.  It put a smile on my face.  I could see it and I could see the Cleveland skyline in the background.  It had me picking up the pace and grinning.  As I ran by, I gave it pat with my right hand, silently thanking it for the motivation right when I needed it.  

It's the little things like this that I LOVE about running.  It's having a bad day and that one little comment or thing someone does for you that turns the whole thing around.  It's the reason I love spending months training just to get a stupid medal.  It's about others cheering you on, no matter how good or bad you've done because in the end you did your best and left it all out there, for better or worse.  It's knowing that after all the hard work you put in, there's someone there for you.  That's why training partners are so important, they provide you the motivation to do it.

Monday, January 11, 2016

It's Official!

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Today I offically registered for the Blueprint for Athletes Silver Rush 50 Run in Leadville, CO!


Here is a map of the course along with a elevation profile of it.


With that note (and the realization that this is actually going to happen sans Water World becomes reality), I'm off to the gym probably followed by a few miles of running in the snow.


Wednesday, January 6, 2016

So It Begins...

So It Begins...

Welcome runners!

My name is Eric Geyer and many of my friends consider me to be a crazy runner.  I would consider myself a slightly above average runner but no where near the crazy or elite class.  This blog dedicated to fitness and running mainly to help hold myself accountable for my upcoming training for the Cleveland marathon and hopefully my first ultra marathon, the Leadville Silver Rush 50.

This is by far and away the biggest physical challenge I will have ever tackled in my life and feel a blog like this will help keep me honest, focused and on track with training. Over the past year, there have been many stories of runners who have been caught cheating (example 1, example 2, example 3, read 1, read 2) and rather than play to this negative light on the sport I thought it would be fun to show how a basically average distance runner tackles the tremendous hurdle that is ultra-running at high altitude.

I'll try to update this blog weekly with training logs, some motivational reads or podcasts I've heard, music that I love to run to and whatever else I find that helps push me along this 7 month stretch to transform myself into the best distance runner I can be (while still maintaining a sense of normalcy by keeping my job, friends and dog happy).

As this is my first blog, I want to share a personal story of why I run.  I ran track in high school, which was a blast, but distance didn't really enthrall me.  The 2 mile race seemed like it took forever, was pure boredom and the fans only cheered for the last eighth of the race.  What an overexertion for such little fan fare!  I'll stick to the 400 and 800 meter runs where people are constantly motivating the runners and the race isn't over in 12 seconds.  Those were the best distances!

After finishing high school and going to college, my grandfather was diagnosed with kidney failure due to the long term effects of diabetes.  Seeing the toll diabetes and end stage kidney disease takes on someones life made me vow to never let myself get morbidly obese and minimize my chances of going through the same circumstances my grandfather did.  Preventative exercise would now be a mainstay of my life.

For several years, basketball and weightlifting were my main forms of exercise to keep myself in shape. The competition in basketball has an appeal to me comparable to that of a bear to honey.  With classes getting in the way of peak rec center times, I would occasionally go for a run on a trail near campus just to keep in shape.  I found this greatly enhanced my stamina on the court so I stuck with it, running 2-3 days a week with a max of 10-12 miles a week.

If there are three things in this world that are guaranteed they are: death, taxes and sports related injuries.  In my 4th year of college, I developed a quick flare up of De Quervain's tendinitis.  This tendinitis made it painful even hold a pen, let alone a basketball.  How was I supposed to lift weights when I can't even attempt a push up?  This left me one option to stave off weight gain and boredom (mostly boredom): running.

Over the course of several months I began to realize I was a strong runner and started to compete in local 5 and 10K's, as my college budget would afford.  One 10K in particular helped me really set my sights on running a marathon, it was a fall race in downtown Toledo, OH.  As I positioned myself in the front 1/4 of the race, with dreams of headlining the local newspaper with my win, a Kenyan runner got off of a bus seconds before the race was about to start. With his late hustle to the front, the gun shot echoed and he was off.  I forget the name of the race, the winner and his time but I remember seeing he finished somewhere in the 5 minute a mile time range and thought how slow my 45 minute plus time was.  From that race on I felt the need to get faster and run farther to see how it felt to be that good.

After finishing college at the University of Toledo, I found running was a great way to vent frustration and deal with stress after a dealing with patients all day.  January 7th, 2010 was the day I signed up for my first marathon.  My roommate at the time, Victor Granger, thought I was a little nuts but kept pushing me to do it at the same time.  I'm never forget that race.  It was a warm day, upper 70's, with a glaring sun for almost the whole race.  Strong head winds and a lack of fan support on the second half made it a brutal slog for me.  Somewhere around mile 19, I had what I can only describe as a delusional Indian vision that was induced by severe dehydration and overall fatigue.  Through it all, nothing beat the feeling over coming down the home stretch on Lakeside Avenue in front of the Cleveland City Hall and seeing my family there to greet me. It was brutal, it was awful, it was exhilarating and it was addicting.

Since then the rest is history, but I would like to say thanks to my old roommate Victor for starting to run with me even though he was not much of a runner to start.  Eventually, Vic beat me in a few marathons and still has the best two times between us.  If it wasn't for Vic pushing me, I would not have finished the Leadville marathon in 2014.  Thanks to Troy Bratz for turning me onto the CrossFit Endurance program which I plan to do roughly 2 full times, in addition to other training, and tweeking along the way.  Also a big thanks to the two owners of my local Birdtown CrossFit gym (I refuse to use the term box), Tricia Tortoreti and Jillian Neimeister.  These two women run a great gym in Lakewood and helped me run the 2014 Rite-Aid Cleveland Marathon in 4 hours and 18 minutes in very obscure weather, while only running once to twice a week.


With all of that being said, here is some of my running and fitness background (please don't consider this to be be bragging but rather setting a benchmark for myself and for others who may want to follow me or try this on their own):

Marathons:
2010 Rite-Aid Cleveland: 4:11:05
2012 Rite-Aid Cleveland: DNF (foot soreness)
2014 Leadville: 6:51:28
2014 Gore-Tex Philadelphia Marathon: 4:00:34
2015 Rite-Aid Cleveland: 4:18:27

Half Marathons:
2011 Rite-Aid Cleveland: 1:43:26 (failed to pickup bib due to grandmother's death but paced Victor Granger to the end)
2013 Rite-Aid Cleveland: 1:49:13
2014 Rite-Aid Cleveland: 1:39:43

5K:
2014 Freedom Fest 5k, Rogers, AR: 19:18.4
Too many others to bother trying to find and list so my PR is all I am willing to list.  Most of them are in the 20-23 minute range

Mile:
2003 MAC Conference Finals: 5:03

Other Races:
2008 Men's Health Urbanathlon, Chicago: 1:33:34
2010 St. Malachi 2 Mile: 12:46.44
2010 St. Malachi 5 Mile: 36:04.91
2012 Leadville 10K: 53:14
2013 Leadville Heavy Half: DNF (altitude related dizziness)
2014 St. Malachi 5 Mile: 35:23.76

14ers Summitted:
Mount Elbert: 2014, 2015
Mount Sherman: 2015

Crossfit:
Annie: 8:58 (single unders)
Barbara: 34:43 (4 rounds)
Cindy: 14 + 17
Coe: 5 + 13
DT: 11:43 (115lbs)
Fran: 7:07
Jerry: 27:40
Josh: 16:31
Kelly: 32:49
Murph: 52:40
Wittman: 26:18
Crossfit Total: 735
(Social WOD tracking)

Personal Records:
Back Squat: 295
Bench Press: 225
Clean: 215
Deadlift: 335
Front Squat: 265
Press: 125
Push Press: 185
Snatch: 145
Split Jerk: 225
Thruster: 205
(Social WOD tracking)

By now, I think you can get the gist of what kind of shape I am in.  Clearly my race times show that I am no world class athlete here.  I'm just a your normal want to be fitness junkie who isn't afraid to step in the ring and think I can box.  Please feel free to share some of your own stories, add advice, critique my training or just share motivational thoughts.  This is going to be a very arduous journey filled with highs and lows, but the Holy Grail here for myself is to finish this race and call myself an ultra-runner.

Thanks for all of your support in advance!

- Eric