Fun!

Going into it I knew that I wasn’t going to PR.  To be honest, I was more than a little concerned about just surviving the distance.  I haven’t run more than 10.5 miles since September, and still have stamina issues from my illness recovery.  So just entering was a bigger deal to me than I tried to make it sound.  Luckily I have a wonderful wife and some truly great friends who inspire me and give me confidence - a real blessing.

Anyway, enough of the mushy stuff.  I found out that my 305 doesn’t like to charge in the car like my 301 did (even though it claims that it is), so I ran watchless today.  My goal was to head out around a 9:00-9:10 pace for the first half, then see if I could pick it up on the way back.  Naturally, I didn’t follow through.

The start was delightfully informal.  There were only 400 people running, so even feeling slow I was only about 10 rows back - still, I was as surprised as anyone when we just all took off after what I can only preseume was a whispered command to the leaders to go.  No air horns here!  After a couple of miles I asked one of my running neighbors how our pace was, and learned that they were aiming for 8:45s but we’d actually been hitting 8:35 instead.  Hmm.

Long story short, I ran 8:35s pretty much like clockwork for 10 miles, always within 10M or so of those runners (turns out they were Katie (who came in 2nd in her age group) and George (who won his, and looks almost exactly the same as Kenny Hill from behind)).  I felt pretty good the whole way, too, keeping my breathing in check and trying to make my footfalls as light as possible.  One thing that was great was seeing my Dad and his wife at the 5 (and 8) mile points - very cool.

After we hit the 10 mile part, it started to get harder.  Some of that was mental; I’d only done a single 9 miler and a single 10.5 in preparation for this, so I was entering uncharted (or at least not recently charted) territory.  Also, I was beginning to get a bit tired, again probably from lack of training.  George and Katie began to pull ahead, and I let them go while I continuted to struggle.

Even so, it wasn’t really bad, just not as flowing as it had been.  I was working harder on the very slight hills, and started to breath a little more often.  I’d been jockeying with another runner (Michael) who was in my age group ever since mile 6, and he passed me at this point - I moved ahead at a waterstop, and we kept gently pushing each other along.

I had planned to pick it up at the 20K mark, and I may have put on a slight boost but realistically I was pretty happy just to keep moving.  When I made the final turn towards the finish line I saw Stephanie, Carrie, and Shawn waiting there and also saw two other runners ahead of me in the chute, maybe 20M up (with maybe 60M to go).  I put on a really fun sprint and was able to pass both of them to the line, which felt absolutely great and proved to myself that I had indeed run a smart race.

As for my pace - I knew it was right on 8:35 at mile 10, thanks to George’s updates.  It turns out that they’d picked it up a little at the end, and while I was working harder I hadn’t actually dropped off like I thought I had.  My final time was 1:52:07 for an 8:33 pace!

Not bad, and a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning.  Better yet, now I think I’ve got enough practice under my belt to start actually working on speed again.  This weekend I’ll be in Columbus for Carrie and Shawn’s wedding, but sometime in June I’m calling Gilbert.  I’m ready to come back!

I’ve been doing pretty well, most of the time. I’m currently in Dallas just a few hours away from running in a small half marathon (400 people, give or take) - and I’ve only managed to get up to 10.5 miles so far since recovery started almost six months ago. To put that into perspective, that’s about how long it took me to get from zero to a full marathon back when I was a couch-potato.

Yeah, its been tough.

Still, I’m incredibly grateful that I’ve been able to come back even as fast as I have been. And the ten miler (last weekend) went very well, running a hilly course at a relaxed 9:30 pace and then picking up the pace for an 8:20 mile and a 7:15 finishing tenth.

What does this mean for tomorrow? Well, I’m a long way from a PR, that’s for sure. I’m aiming for about a nine minute pace, and I’m going to take it pretty easy on the way out (its an out and back course, 6.55 out, same back), and see how I feel. I’d like to be able to pick it up a bit in the final 5K, but its a lot more about just doing the distance at this point.

Wish me luck :-)

This was in the middle of a nice little circuit from my office out on 360.  Its about 1km of trail running between the back door and the street, then a 3 mile circuit that includes Far West (downhill) and Ladera Norte (up), then another kilometer of trail back.  That way the trail serves as my warmup/cooldown, and I’ve got a moderate amount of flat road on either side of the big dip.

And yeah, I haven’t posted in a while.  I did the Cap 10 with a friend, which was nice - I got to run easy while he raced - and I’ve been doing a variety of miscellaneous runs.  Nothing terribly exciting.  I’ll try to get better about at least stubbing them out if I don’t fee like doing a full entry.

I’m considering making this 4 miler a regular event - say, every Tuesday and Thursday at lunch.  But I’m not sure yet.

This was the least prepared I’ve been for a race in some time.  I didn’t leave the house until 50 minutes before gun time (normally I’m warming up an hour early, at the course).  When I got there, I had to register.  And then I was afraid that I’d brought the wrong clothes: all I had was a singlet (and a warm-up fleece), and it was 39 degrees.

As it turned out, a singlet was fine.  Short sleeves would have been perfect, since my shoulders got a touch cold, but it worked out alright.  I lined up pretty far back in the pack, talking to Bob J., and reiterated (mostly to myself) that I wasn’t going for speed, was just going to run for myself, comfortably hard, and see what happened.  I wanted to come in under a 9:00 pace, but that was about it.

Mile one is mostly uphill; it includes one serious, long grinding climb.  This year I actually think that I felt it a lot less than I normally do, but whether that’s because of my hill work or the fact that I (for once) didn’t just do a marathon 2 weeks ago is anybody’s guess.  Anyway, it was 95 feet of climb and I clocked it by in 8:34, without really pushing myself.  That was a great sign that things are beggining to get better.

Mile two is rolling, and only has about 60 feet of climb in it.  I kept my effort pretty constant and was rewarded with a moderately surprising 8:01 pace.  At this point I started wondering if I could get down under an 8:00 average, without pushing myself too hard.  As soon as I caught myself thinking those thoughts, I flipped my watch to map mode (no numbers) and ignored it for the rest of the race.  The oddest thing in this mile was the missing waterstop; they had a table with signs and trash cans, but no volunteers and no water.  Not that I needed any, but still, somebody screwed up.

Mile three is downhill, with around 20 total feet of climb and about an 85 foot drop.  Not huge, but very noticable, and there’s no excuse for not busting out if you’ve run an intelligent race.  Which it turned out I had as I clocked a respectable 7:32 pace.  I was surprised at how many people I was picking off during this leg.  My breathing was harder, closer to 2/2 pattern, but that’s still pretty conservative for the last mile of a 5K.

The finishing tenth is all within the JCC grounds, and that turn-in is a sign to kick it up another notch or two.  I bumped a couple of people on the way, gently I hope, and picked up my feet for a fast 6:07 pace finish.  Total time was 24:46 for a 7:57 average pace, or about 3:00 faster than my goal.  Also about 3:00 slower than I want for a 5K, but I should get back there, hopefully in a few more months.

All told, this year’s BagelFest was another great race.

 It hadn’t.  So we ran the loop together and, quite frankly, I’m very glad that we did.  The last time that I ran this course was two weeks ago on Valentine’s Day, where my splits were 10:06, 9:30, and 8:03.  Today’s splits were 10:14, 9:12, and 7:38, a significant improvement on the hilly sections.  The last leg is only .86 miles, so that works out to a 9:21 pace last time and an 8:52 today.  Last time was also 30 degrees cooler and a much nicer 65% humidity, as opposed to today’s rasping 14%.

Yeah, MotionBased gives me too much data to look at.

My form seems to be getting better overall, too.  It still gets sloppy after a hard exertion, like climbing the 7th street hill or doing a final 6:00 pace push at the end, but as long as its progressing I don’t suppose I mind too much.  My HR was substantially lower today as well - it stayed in the 150s for the first mile and a half (with a few exceptions on hill pushes), and 2 weeks ago it never dipped below 160 after the first quarter mile.  Mile 2 was similar; I was recovering down to 160 this time as opposed to 170 last time.  Again, not where I want it to be, but a solid gain.

Finally, I have to say that was great having Thon out there to push me today.  I would have been incredibly likely to walk the final hill coming up the alley between 9th and 10th without knowing that he was there - and he helped me to keep the speed up on Windsor as well heading back to the start.  So “Thanks,” man.  I owe you some pacing when I’m back up to speed.

For the most part, I ran how I felt, just like I did last time.  Indeed, my heart rate profile looks very much the same, between 160-170 for the first 2.5 miles and then raising after that for the last stretch back on Rollingwood.  Don’t get me wrong, that’s still a lot higher than I’d like for a 3 mile run at this speed, even in the hills, but as far as the recovery process goes its all sorts of great news.

Running the last half mile has been difficult both times, since it contains a slow climb of almost 100 feet, with little recovery built in.  That’s exactly the sort of effort I’m struggling with these days, especially after the rolling hills (and a few steep climbs) have put in their 2 cents.

I did decide not to run again during the week, since this is a “low mileage” recovery week, but to really take it easy and try again to go for five miles on Saturday.  No, I’m not (currently) planning on running BagelFest, although I never say never.  Hopefully the weather will be nicer, too.  I’m looking forward to being able to at least do the seven mile TLTF loop and join my friends on their recovery runs…

My first upper-body exercise was the fly, and about halfway through my first set I noticed that my right fore-arm was hurting a little; it felt as if I’d pinched something. I readjusted, and it seemed to get better, but was still there. When I went to do my second upper-body move, it really hurt and I had to stop short. Same on the third, same even on captain’s chair - basically, anything that involved my arms became a non-option. This applied evenly from tricep pushdowns to a shoulder press.

I ended up just running through the simple lower body positions and calling it done. 95% chance this will go away with a little rest, and I don’t see any need to push it. It was annoying, but at least I’m getting back into the gym habit again.

Leg curls, single - 20×50, 20×50
Flies - 20×70, 15×70
Leg extensions, single - 10×50, 10×50, 10×40 (these still feel harder than they should)
Calf raises - 20×210 straight, 20×210 angled in, 20×210 angled out
Crunches - 50 straight, 25 left, 25 right, 50 straight, 25 left, 25 right
Bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, shoulder press - a few of each, then stopping

Anyway, once we started running I could tell from the way that I was feeling that the humidity was not going to be my friend. I’ve never dealt well with moist heat even in the best of condition, and I’m far from that now. Still, it was great getting to chat with folk as we made our way from RunTex over to MoPac and got some water. As we proceeded around the loop I was feeling pretty tired, so I hung back and told Alex and Jennifer (who were also near the back) not to worry about dropping me. They said that the group was going at a pretty good clip for a recovery run, and not to worry about it.

We stayed together until Pfluger, then I pulled back to get a drink at the fountains. Of course they were dry, not yet turned back on after winter (hello, it was 80+ today), but that let me keep chatting with more good friends until I finally threw in the towel at the South 1st street bridge. Total running was a little over four miles, and I did walk some of the ramp up to the bridge, but ran the last quarter or so in over the lake.

I was disappointed that I didn’t feel up to doing the Congress loop and clocking closer to five miles, but I’d much rather listen to my body and do the right thing than push myself too hard for the sake of a number and set myself back in my recovery.

So that was several thrills in one - being able to go out and chat with some great friends as we ran, being able to keep up with them at least at first, and just plain running out on a beautiful, bright sunny afternoon, on a picturesque running trail, with great scenery too. And good weather too, lest I forget, it had to have been close to 80 degrees. Not bad for mid-February.

Afterwards, of course, the beer and pizza more than laid waste to any calorie burn I got from the three miles. Wouldn’t have it any other way, either.

This course is challenging because there are some pretty good sized hills, and the last rise of 80 feet or so comes in the final half mile.  It got my HR up there, that’s for sure, but nothing like running a month ago did.  I just may be getting my act together.

Its interesting to compare it to last week’s hill course. The first mile today was 9:54 with 107 feet of climb, compared to 10:06 with 86 feet last time. Mile two was easier, but the same speed, a 9:30 pace with 69 feet of climb instead of 105. Mile three, however, was 9:46 with 147 feet compared to 9:35 with 71 - and if you take out the fast finish last week (none today), the overall pace is probably the same. Also, I felt a lot more comfortable today, even though I was pushing up the hills pretty solidly.

Anyway, that’s 3 miles today.  I’ll do another 3 on Wednesday evening, maybe fartlek a little, then 4 more on Saturday; I’m thinking about running Exposition but it may depend on what the other running folk are doing.  Running 2 miles out with a long run group and then heading back is a lot of fun, even if it does remind me of what I’ve been missing.