Hello, Yeah Still Running

It's been literally years since I've posted! Yes I am still running. It's been a tricky few years for running in my life, but a fantastic time in other ways. Update soon.

Steve the grumpy runner. Still GRUMPY!

Planning Ahead for Another Marathon (or two).

We're two months into "Social Distancing", and it's three months since I ran a Boston Qualifier at the Napa Valley Marathon. I'm lucky to be able to run at the time of "shelter in place", as there is a wide trail in my town that is open, and has room to support safe running.

However, after 13 months of marathon training over three buildups, I've decided to rest for a few weeks. I have a strained left Achilles tendon and a strained hamstring. Time to heal up, and ruminate.

While I do hope to run the Boston Marathon, it's more important to me to try to improve while I am still able. Having run a PR two weeks prior to my 63rd birthday, you can appreciate that my time for improvement is sooner than later!

Having attended high school in Eastern Massachusetts and watched the Boston Marathon growing up, I relish the idea of running this historic race. Only I don't really think it will be much of a chance to race, or run a great time, rather it will be an "experience" to be relished, a running parade.

That being the case, I'm hoping that regular racing returns before too darn long, and I can select a fast marathon to race. My most recent build saw me complete twelve weeks out of 16 total at 50 miles-per-week or more. I believe that slowly building to a volume of 60 - 65 per week for my next marathon should allow me to PR.

I don't worry too much about speed, as a former middle-distance runner I have decent leg speed. My hard workouts tend to be tempo runs and fast finishes to long runs. In truth, my main problem is to limit the frequency of my hard workouts!

I'm writing this all down to remind myself how to do it! I've tentatively selected the California Internation Marathon in Sacrament this December to put my ideas into action. Of course under COVID-19 everything is provisional, but does feel good to have a plan!

Got My Boston Qualifier at the Napa Valley Marathon

Got my BQ March 1 at the Napa Valley Marathon, 3:33:29 chip time (needed 3:50, male age 60 – 64 to qualify for Boston). I came fourth in my age group. This is a dream come true for me.

OUCH! The Finish Line

I was going to run with the 3:40 group, but the pace leader stood there looking around with his thumb up his rump when the race started! Major fail.
  
So I eased into my rhythm. At 2 miles I noted the 3:35 pace group about 100m ahead, and kept my eye on them. Around the 6 mile mark, a group of 6-7 runners formed and we discussed: What the heck happened to the 3:40 pace leader?! I made a plan with three other runners to gradually catch up to the 3:35 group.

After the race, thrashed but happy!

Feeling good after a water station, I floated away from the chase pack and caught the 3:35 pace group at 13 miles. The groove, the cohesion of this new pack was fantastic with 10-12 runners locked in. I had good stretches and not-so-good-stretches, but kept a positive attitude. I think "this is a dream come true. DON'T LET UP!"
Taking Gatorade at aid stations, and an energy gel every five miles stoked my engine.

I strode in front of our 3:35 group after a drink station with 3 miles to go, feeling good, and threw it down. With two miles to go, I dueled with a women who had also broken away from the pack. She wouldn't let me draw even with her, then I felt an uncanny lift in my stride -- this is the return on all those tempo runs, all those long runs, a sudden burst of effortless pace that took me away from a tough competitor!

Haha, the last mile was dicey as heck but I kicked myself in the butt to keep it rolling. See you at the Boston Marathon in April 2021!

St. Valentine's Update

Yes, I am just over two weeks out from the Napa Valley Marathon. My goal is a BQ, at my age I need a 3:50. I plan on running with the 3:40 pace group, if all goes well I'll kick it in over the last six miles.
Of course, the marathon should be approached with due respect, so I'm not going to get cocky. But I do have the confidence instilled by averaging over 50 MPW for 12 weeks of my four-month buildup. Oh, I did take a three week taper / rest break in the middle to run a PR 1:36:48 half marathon, and a 20:50 5K, my best in several years.
According to a range of performance equivalency tables, I'm good for somewhere around a 3:20 marathon based on those remarks. Well, like I said, I'm going with the 3:40 group and we'll take it from there!

Meanwhile, in real life, I'm having a pop-up Valentine's Day graphic novel sale! Check it out at my website and get yourself some superb graphic novels.
There is Death Plays a Mean Harmonica, my "Oaxaca" graphic novel, as well as my BugHouse and Dog Boy collected works.

Marathon Buildup Training Notes

I'm just about halfway through my build for the Napa Valley Marathon on March 1.

This past week:
Mon: 5.5 slow (fatigued from previous week, 63 miles)
Tue: 8.5 medium easy over hills
Wed: Rest
Thurs: 9.1 easy to medium (flat/creek trail)
Fri: 10.8 trail run/hill course medium>medium hard
Sat: Rest
Sun: 3.85 miles total, including 5k tempo run 22:30
Week total: 37.75 miles

Cut back on volume this week to let my legs catch up with the work thus far in this build. I'd logged six weeks averaging a touch over 51 miles per week. Next Saturday racing the "Almost NYE Half Marathon."

Marathoner

OK, so I ran my first marathon. The Rogue Marathon from Ashland to Medford Oregon, following meandering country roads and bike trails zigzagging north for 26 miles, crisscrossing underneath I-5. A good net-downhill run!
Everything went swimmingly, except I did stop for a bit over a minute to take a leak at mile 3. I paced cautiously and caught the 4:00 pace group just before the 7-mile mark, and chatted amiably with pace leader Norm until 21 miles.

Realizing I felt pretty good, I threw it down over the last five miles and finished in 3:51:42. While I am quite content with that, I will point out that at age 62, my Boston Qualifier mark is 3:50.
It was a super positive initial marathon experience, and I've signed up for another, the upcoming Napa Valley Marathon on March 1. And yes indeed, I will gun for a BQ this time! I'm well on my way to readiness, having just completed a six-week stretch where I averaged just over 51 miles per week.
I'm chilling on the volume until I run the Brazen NYE half marathon on Dec 28, followed by a few days off. From there, I'll be sure to book a goodly number of 3 hour runs leading up to the Napa Valley Race (without actually worrying about overall volume, it's the key long runs that will power me in Napa Valley!).
We'll see how it goes, my basic attitude is Boston or Bust! I went to high school near Boston, and grew up watching the classic race. In 1975, my senior year of high school, I tracked the race with my running buddy Tim -- (he was a 9:27 high school 2-miler!). We followed the route in my dad's '74 Plymouth Valliant, stopping at Framingham and Wellesley College before watching "Boston Billy" Rodgers set an American Record of 2:09:55. I'll never forget that roar for him at the Prudential Center on Boylston!
I've always wanted to run Boston at least once, here's hoping I'll make the cut.

Published a Piece at RunGuides: Almost Five Decades of Running

I've always been a freelancer, working mostly in comics & illustration, as well as the printed T-Shirt trade. More recently, I've turned to writing, dashing off articles on subjects from personal finance and small business to constructing the perfect Halloween costume.

For several years I've been writing for the excellent RunGuides site, which helps runners locate races and prepare for them. The site is a perfect online companion for us runners, guiding us through many aspects of the running experience with race calendars, run club info, and articles on running. There are even coupon codes to get you discounts on races.

I was recently invited to pen an article at RunGuides that pulls on my looooooooong experience as a runner (beginning in 1972 as a high school freshman). I came up with a piece entitled What I've Learned In Almost 50 Years of Running. Here's an excerpt.

"Trust yourself. Get into a good rhythm. Relax and run hard. Those endorphins will flow, and you'll know just what to do."

Go ahead a click through the above link to check out the article. Also, be sure to take the time to have a look around the RunGuides site... a good way to start is to navigate to the run calendar for the big city nearest you.

Happy Running!

- Steve Lafler

Here I am finishing 3rd for Lincoln Sudbury High in a cross country meet in September 1974. It was a triple meet against Wayland and Acton Boxboro, perhaps my best XC run in high school. The guys who beat me that day were tough.

One Rick Smith of Acton, a brilliant power runner who won the indoor state mile championship that year, finished ahead of me in second. The race was won by a skinny kid named Alberto Salazar of Wayland high school.

Our Dual Couny League was a real powerhouse. This day, I beat out a stack of my close rivals, a good five runners who were accomplished at both the league and state level in cross country and indoor and outdoor track over distances from the half mile to the two-mile.
On my part, I came 2nd in the Dual County championships over the mile twice, and 2nd in the 1000-yard indoor championships. As a senior, I was 5th in the state in the 1,000-yard run.