Race Report - 9/29/2012

Event:  Hands on House Half Marathon
Location:   Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Date:  September 29, 2012
Weather:  Cloudy, upper 50s, winds 5-10 mph.
Scoring:  By age group (31 males aged 55-60), gender (232 male), and overall (454 male/female)

Woke up on my own just prior to the alarm going off at 6:30.  Applied kinesio tape on a preventative basis to deal with posterior shin splits and a quad strain.  Was a little concerned about left bottom forefoot and the burning feeling at times while running in my racing shoes so applied tape there too.  Wrote some of my planned cumulative times in red permanent marker on the inside forearms.  Drank a cup of coffee, grabbed my bag plus a bagel and banana, then greeted my dad and sister.  They would shuttle me on a 10-15 minute drive across town to the event.  The anticipated traffic jams heading there (over 1000 participants expected) never materialized, so I arrived in plenty of time.

Upon arrival I picked up my packet, warmed up and stretched.  Wasn't particularly nervous but still hit the porta potty 4-5 times !  Consumed a gu packet 20 minutes before race time and chased it with a few sips of water.  Did not want a replay of the June triathlon where I took on too much fluid too early and almost had to stop for "relief" during the run.  Had reason to feel confident - several good weeks of training, no injury issues and had lost seven pounds since the last race - bringing me back to my June triathlon weight.

Weather conditions were ideal.  The lack of sunshine allowed me to forfeit the sunglasses.  Plus I did not wear a race belt this time.  Would need only to carry four Gu packets and those fit in my pant pockets with no trouble.

This time around, I lined up toward the rear of the pack - did not want to surround myself with the faster runners like the race three weeks prior.

Crossed the start timing mat about 1/2 minute after the start horn sounded and started my watch.  Found it a bit tough to jockey around some of the slower runners but soon found my stride.  The first four miles would consist of gently rolling terrain - no hills to deal with until mile 5.  Hit my planned times at mile markers 1 and 2.  Heart rate was well under control.  Was passing runners and feeling good at that point - perhaps too good.

The splendor of the surrounding countryside greeted me beginning with the third mile.  What a beautiful setting for a half marathon, deep in rolling Amish country.  It was quite easy to let your mind wander and perhaps it did a little for me.  Plus the sense of passing more runners gave me some overconfidence at that point.  Discovered I'd hit the mile 4 point 30 seconds faster than planned.   I should have been more concerned about that readout but wasn't at the time.

And then the first of three big hills came up.  Shortened my stride, leaned into the hill and maintained turnover rate.  Tackled the first hill - a 2% average grade for over one mile - and felt good.  The first big downhill - an average 3.5% grade - would soon follow.  Resisted the urge to charge down the hill.  Consumed the first in race Gu packet.  Found plenty of hydration from the tables set out at various points along the route.

A covered bridge would appear late in the sixth mile.  Would see my family members as I emerged.  That really pumped me up !  I was still feeling great at that point and was still well ahead of planned pace.

Emerging from the covered bridge, taking care to abide by posted speed and weight limits.  A 72 year old runner wearing an orange shirt can be seen behind and to the left of me.  This guy ended up ahead of me at the finish and trounced the 61 and up field.  Simply amazing.

 . . . to be continued . . .

Let's go for it !

I'd long planned to travel east to visit my wonderful and loving parents, who reside in a sprawling, well maintained retirement community in Lancaster, PA.  And as recently as three weeks prior, my training focus had been geared toward running a 5k road race conducted for the benefit of Hands on House, a children's museum nestled in the scenic Amish countryside just north of town.

Knowing that the terrain there would pose a challenge even before I completed the flat-as-a-pancake Glenview 5k, the next three weeks of training would incorporate hills and perhaps some longer runs.  So September 10 marked the first day of hill training.

But just try to find any safe-to-run hills around here that stretch along more than a quarter mile in length.  There are none that I know of.  So if you are going to get some meaningful outdoor hill work in around here, that means doing repeats.  Alot of them.

There's a beach on Lake Michigan a couple miles away that can be reached via an access road featuring a steep 20+% grade.  That's more than what would be faced out east.  But even though that incline lasts for less than 150 meters, it would have to do.

So I combined that with inclined treadmill workouts, plus runs through tall grass in a local park featuring some uneven terrain, plus a few nine mile tempo runs (on pavement and even a nearby beach).  My body was responding well as I commenced the hill work and bumped the mileage up a bit - so much so that I considered making a change with one week to go - a decision to register for the half marathon instead of the 5k at Hands on House.

It would be a breakthrough race.  I'd never run more than 4.5 miles on race day.  Plus no hills.  So some homework had to be done, then a gut check.  Several versions of the course had been posted to mapmyrun.  That site shows you elevation as well as the route itself.  Each version point to a total course gain exceeding 365 feet.  Three uphills exceed one continuous mile in length each.  And one of those sported an average incline of over 2.5%.  The steeper downhills would present their own challenge.  The mapmyrun site also allows you to take a flyover tour of the route using satellite imagery.  Plus a video tour of the half marathon route had been posted to youtube:

Clearly this is not your typical midwestern course.  But this race was going to be my last of the season - I was looking for something different - and with the training regimen leading up to race week had reason to be confident.  And a final check of the weather forecast - temps in the upper 50s and cloudy with perhaps some sprinkles and light winds - cemented the decision to go for it.  Upon mentioning this change to my wife she seemed at ease, simply suggesting that I "just walk the rest of the way if you can't run any longer."  One of my daughters - already a two time Boston Marathon qualifier by age 22 - did sound a note of caution however, suggesting that I treat this as a training race.  And upon touring the course via car a couple of days before the race, my dad became a bit nervous about my well being.

The sense was building that a conservative race plan was needed.  Being a numbers geek, I prepared a spreadsheet which would modify my target flat land pace to the terrain I'd face during each mile.  The output would be a split and cumulative time target for each mile mark of the race.  Using past performances, albiet at shorter distances, I applied something called the Purdy model - basically a formula used to estimate equivalent outcomes at varying distances based on one past race result - to extrapolate an average target time of 7:45 per mile based on flat terrain.  The spreadsheet then modified that time based on hills to arrive at a custom 7:57 mile split for the Hands on House course.  A series of sanity checks then completed the analysis.

Many athletes feed off of fan support - I'm one of those - and that was the final building block of the process.  I can't say enough how supportive my wife has been.  She's put up with my near obsession for endurance sports for the past year and a half and deserves someone who can strike a better balance in life than I have shown during that time.  Yet her presence at my triathlons inspired me to do my best and I owe alot to her - including my standing down at least for the offseason and perhaps longer to rebalance things.  But sadly she would not be present on this trip out east - a void which would be filled by my parents, sister (my only sibling) and brother in law.  My parents took care of several things - including my accommodations and even my prerace meal.  My sister and dad made sure I got to the event well beforehand.  And my brother in law figured out the best places to cheer me on along the course (it is not a fan friendly venue as it turns out).

So now all I had to do was show up for the race and execute to the race plan - easier said than done !

The "showing up" part consisted of a flight out of Milwaukee to Washington Reagan airport, then a road trip to a family gathering held by my aunt and uncle in Delaware, then a final drive to Lancaster - all the day before the race.  Race veterans say you should get in a light run the day before, and then look for ways to eliminate any stress.  Looking back, although my travel went smoothly I didn't appreciate how tired I would feel until I finally turned in for the evening.  And despited the wonderful accomodations I had trouble getting to sleep as a cricket serenaded me with its incessant chirp-chirp.  A couple of Benadryls finally did the trick for me.

I set two alarms for 6:30 the next morning - no brittany spaniel available this time around to provide a wakeup call . . .

. . . to be continued.

Race Report - 9/9/2012

Event:  Chase the Bear 5k
Location:   Glenview, Illinois
Date:  September 9, 2012
Weather:  Sunny, low 60s, winds 10-15 mph.
Scoring:  By age group (5 males aged 55-59), gender (59 male), and overall (over 100 male/female)

Following the triathlon in late June, I'd put run and bike training aside to focus on preparation for a two mile open water swim in mid July.  I'd encountered sighting problems during the triathlon swim phase and focused on that aspect as well as building endurance.  But unfortunately, that race was postponed to early August due to thunderstorms and later cancelled.

So from late July onwards I decided to train for a couple of upcoming road races.  I had a choice to run either 5k or 10k in Glenview and early on, chose the shorter distance.  There would be a second road race three weeks afterwards, in Lancaster, PA (where my parents live), so I decided to use the first race to try and get comfortable with pacing and race management.

Heading into the week before the race, I felt strong enough from the prior five weeks of training to try for an average pace somewhere around a 7:05.   My stretch target was to finish at or below 22 minutes flat.  I wanted to run a few seconds slower than average pace in the first mile, perhaps a 7:10 split, then push it a little in the second and maintain in the third.  And despite a sore left quad and being seven pounds heavier than on the date of the June triathlon, I felt ready to go.

But then the race organizers put out an email a half week before the event that the course was torn up due to road work and they had to re-route the race.  Good thing they found that out before the race, else we'd all be running some crazy steeplechase instead !  But just a couple of days later, they put out another communication saying not to worry, the construction crew had since gone into overdrive, work was now complete, and we're back to the original route, which is laid out on a series of neighborhood streets and sidewalks.  Just speculating, but perhaps the Glenview Rotary (the meet sponsor) was able to use some of its leverage to get things squared away there.

Well, what a beautiful day awaited all entrants at this year's race in Glenview !  I'd woken up early - again, with the help of our dog - ate a banana and a couple of pieces of bread, got dressed and made the 15 minute drive to the event site.  Arrived in plenty of time to check in, warm up and stretch.  I lined up just behind the first row of runners (all 5k and 10k participants started at the same starting line at the same time) and awaited the start gun.  Within a couple seconds of the gun I crossed the timing mat and found my stride.  Although I wasn't nervous, I soon felt swept up in the enthusiasm surrounding me.  That effect was enhanced by the cheering onlookers plus a community pep band.  Plus a healthy tailwind was pushing me along.  It's possible that the lead runners had an effect on me too.  Although I didn't make an effort to stay with them, and even with other runners passing me I knew I was running a bit faster than originally planned - even with my heart rate remaining within the target zone.  And that was confirmed after hitting the one mile mark - a 6:54 split, almost a quarter minute ahead of plan.

Oops.

So armed with that knowledge I elected simply to try and hold on to that pace.  There would be no attempt to "chase the bear" any harder than I had been.  But the course direction had since changed and the wind would no longer be of any help - perhaps would even be a hindrance from there on out.  Plus my heart rate was now pushing into the mid to high 160s - not a zone that I could reasonably sustain.  So I felt compelled to back off the pace a bit - in spite of just a few runners passing me in the middle mile - and the second half split of 7:09 provided confirmation of that.

Mile 3 immediately transitions from an asphault street surface to a concrete sidewalk for most of the third mile.  At that point, the field was stretched out so the narrow sidewalk wouldn't be too much of a limiter if I wanted to pass someone.  But I had no energy to make a push in that third mile and at the two mile mark my thoughts changed to simply "let's finish." True, I was well within striking distance of my 22 minute target, but somehow a feeling emerged that perhaps simply throwing down a time that I knew I could build on would be sufficient on this particular day.  The desire to go for it was gone by that point and instead I throttled it back a little more to stay at least below a 165 heart rate.

By the third mile mark my concentration wasn't there.  I didn't even get a good read on my last mile pace by that point.  So just as I rounded the final turn and headed for home, I dialed it up.  But within about fifty meters to go, a youngster (I would later learn he was 9 years old) passed me in a dead sprint.

Fans were treated to an exciting stretch run featuring this emerging young harrier who proceeded to leave me in the dust - turns out he's young enough to be my grandson.

I tried to stay with him, then smiled, shrugged and finished it out.  I crossed the finish timing mat at 22:17 - indicating a 7:30 final mile pace and not the result I'd hoped for originally.  But at least it was respectable - good enough for a third place ribbon in my age group, twentieth male and 23rd overall.

Turns out that day that there were a couple of very strong runners in my AG - and had I registered as someone ten years younger, would have won the 45-49 men's age group.  But I'd learned alot from this first road race experience and was hopeful this would help me in a race three weeks hence.