Race Report - Cloud Half Marathon

Saturday was the Cloud Snapple Half Marathon. As mentioned in an earlier post, my goal for this race was to run at 8m/mish and not push it too hard. This was a training run for me and not an all out race.

The race was set to start at 9am along the C&O towpath with a start line at the Carderock recreation center. Since I had never been there before, and it was suppose to take me 45 minutes to get there, I decided to leave my house at 7:10am, so that I could pick up my packet and timing chip. The weather for the day was suppose to be cold and snow. Earlier in the week it was suppose to snow Friday night, but as of Saturday morning the snow was not suppose to come until after lunch.

I got to the Recreation center about 8:00ish, and the Cloud people were setting up the tables for packet pickup. I sat in the car listening to the radio for a second, and the weather report was a high of about 20F. At 8:00am it was about 18F and felt like 10F. I went to pick up my packet and timing chip, and for the first time that day I noticed how cold it was. Pretty frigid. Got my packet and jumped back into my warm car. Since I got there so early, I got a prime parking spot, about 50ft from packet pickup and about 100 feet from the start line.

At about 8:30m I started to get antsy, so I put on my hat and gloves and took off for a mile warmup. I ran down the recreation center road to the last parking lot, turned around and ran back. I'm sure glad I got there early, it was have sucked to park that far away. By the time I got back to my car, my hands were freezing. I knew I had to protect them better.

At 8:45am, I headed down to the startline. The towpath is not wide and there were about 350 people at the race. Needless to say, the start was crowded. I stood next to a group that talked about running 9m/m. I decided to move a bit closer to the front.

As I was adjusting my Garmin, I heard what I thought was the national anthem. I turned to the guy next to me and asked him. He just kinda shrugged as I noticed the IPOD earbuds in his ears. After some inaudible announcement, a small buzzer sounded that I guessed was the start of the race. Being in the middle of the pack, I did not move. About 1 minute later we began moving and when I crossed the timer mats, I hit the timer on my Garmin and we were off.

Mile 1-3 - These miles were pretty laid back. I was passing lots of folks as I try and find someone at my pace. About mile two I catch up to a blonde gal and a guy with earbuds (different guy). They seemed to be on about a 7:45m/m pace. I settled in. The first aid station was at 2 miles. I passed it. Wind was kinda chilly, but the running felt easy. The towpath had a lot of sticks, rocks and ruts, so I had to watch where I was going. My times:

Mile 1 -7:58
Mile 2 - 7:40
Mile 3- 7:37

Mile 4-6.5 - By mile 4 it had started to snow just a little bit. I left the blonde, who had slowed down a bit, but kept pace with the earbuds guy. By mile 5, the snow had picked up quite a bit and the towpath started to get slippery. A guy slipped and fell in front of me, but recovered and kept running. It was at this point, that the lead running passed me going the other way. For a second I had the thought of turning around and start running back, who would know?? I figured someone would turn me in so I kept running. Mile 6 aid station had lots of workers, but again I zipped by. The turn around was just a cone in the middle of the towpath. Earbud guy did not see or hear the two girls yelling "half was done, turn here" and he kept going. As I turned around, the girls ran after earbud guy and told him to turn. I slowed and yelled back, "you put in more milage!!", to which he said "You think they'll give me credit?" I was now ahead of earbud guy. My times:

Mile 4-7:40
Mile 5 - 7:29
Mile 6 - 7:33
Front split - 49 min 43 sec

Mile 7-10 - Earbud guy passed my about mile 7, and I kept up with the guy that slipped earlier for a while. Snow was coming down real hard now. It kept getting in my eyes. In fact, several times I had to wipe icicles off my eyelashes. It was really annoying. But I was not hot or cold, just right. If my face got cold, I lifted my neck warmer over my mouth for a few seconds and I felt better. It was also getting harder to see the towpath. by about mile 9 or 10 there had to be 2 inches of snow on the path. This made it very hard to see the ruts and foliage on the path. Stepped in several ruts and was lucky not to twist an ankle. My times:

Mile 7 -7:30
Mile 8 -7:32
Mile 9 -7:37
Mile 10 - 7:41

Mile 11 to finish - Was in the zone, running smooth. Had to keep watch of the ground, which was even more snow covered. Passed a bunch of towpath hikers at the mile 11 aid station. They asked how much we were running, and seemed impressed with the distance in this weather. Also at mile 11, I passed earbud guy, who was clearly beginning to struggle and ran alone for the remainder of the race. Several people yelled good job as I passed them, but I really did not feel I was speeding up, only keeping pace. By 12.3ish I noticed my left knee started hurting. The same IT band issue. I considered stopping to stretch, but decided not to since I was close to the finish. I pushed through and finished in 1hr 40min. My knee was hurting a bit at the end, but stopped hurting as soon as I stopped. My times:

Mile 11 -7:41
Mile 12 -7:41
Mile 13 -7:45
0.15 mile - 1:04

Back half split - 50min 17 sec - only 34 seconds slower than the first half.

As I finished, I went into the shoot, got my metal, and they needed me to give back my timing chip. I struggled with my laces, which were double knotted, a nice volunteer held me get my chip off. I went and got water and some cold pizza. As I walked to cool down, I talked to a guy who finished in 1:31. He also complained about the ruts, etc. Soon I noticed my hands were freezing since the sweat from my gloves was beginning to freeze. I grabbed another piece of pizza, and headed for my car. There was at least 3inches of snow on my car, which I hurriedly brushed off and headed home.

Overall, it was a good training race. Weather kinda sucked, but the race was well organized, people were nice and numbers were small. There really was no spectators, which was the only real down side. I'd do it again. I'm a bit worried about my knee in the long distances, but I'll talk about that in a later post.

My "official" numbers

57 out of 332
16 out of 58 in age group (40-49)
Official time 1:40:28

Cloud Half Marathon

On Saturday morning, I'm going to be running in the Cloud Half Marathon in Carderock, Maryland. This is the inaugural race organized by Cloud High Athletics. Its basically a 13.1 miles up and back race run along the C&O canal towpath. I've run the towpath several times, but never that far south on the towpath. It claims to be flat and fast. Since my marathon training calls for a 14mile run on Saturday, I thought this race would be a good motivator. I have specific goals for race. I have no desire to try and PR on the race. I want to run it slow like a training run. I'm shooting for 8:00m/m or so. I ran the Parks HM in September in about 7:26m/m, so this might seem slow, but I need it to be.

I've been still having some issues with me knee and hamstring. Actually I woke up this morning with some sharp pains in my left knee, but it did not bother me during my run. So, I want to get in the miles and go slow. Hopefully, I'll have no problems with the legs. The day of rest tomorrow will help,

The weather on the other hand is not going to cooperate. Forecast calls for temperatures in the teens and snow. I'm not good running slow in the cold., so it will be a challenge to meet my goal.

So wish me luck, and I'll report back after the race!

Back to the cold.... and snow??

After a week of running in shorts and t-shirts, I had to put back on the long sleeves and hats for my run yesterday. I decided to do a half marathon pace run to test out the legs after the shorter recovery week last week. The weather was partly sunny and about 33F, so it was not too bad. Last week it was sunny and 75F in Florida, but whose complaining. Anyway, the run went ok, and I enjoyed it, but I gotta say I really do not like cold and the wind. It makes the running harder and less enjoyable. Other runners talk about how they enjoy running in rain and snow.... feeling the crunching of the snow beneath their shows.... hogwash... it sucks... cold, wet, uncomfortable. None of these sound enjoyable to me. But, I do it because I know I need the training to reach my goal, and I know running in bad weather will make me a better runner. If I say this enough times I may convince myself.

This weekend I have a planned 14 mile run. I have decided to do the Cloud Half Marathon race as part of that run. Weather forecast is 20F and snow... it will make me a better runner, it will make me a better runner, it will make me a better runner.... argh

A Week in Disney

Well, this past week was my recovery week in the marathon training. Every three weeks, the training plans has a week of shorter runs to allow the legs to recover. So, from my plan, I was suppose to do about 2o miles this week instead of the 35-40 I typically do. The plan had me doing 4 miles on Tues, rest Wednesday, 5 miles on Thursday, rest on Friday, 6 miles on Saturday, and 4 miles on Sunday. No problem and sounds easy, right? Well, this week was also my family's first trip to Disney World in Orlando. So here is a quick (and no way complete) recap of the Disney trip...


Sunday, 1/17/10 -ran an easy 4 miles at home before getting ready to leave... travelled from Dulles to Orlando, and take bus to Caribbean Beach Resort. Walked around resort, checked in, had dinner, went to bed


Monday, 1/18/10 - Magic Kingdom - On the Bus by 9am, spent all day at the park, saw many characters, did many rides (love that Haunted House!), saw parades, and stayed for the fireworks, which were amazing. Got back to the resort at 9:30pm and was exhausted. We had to have walked 10miles. Feet were tired and a bit achy.

Tuesday, 1/19/10 - Epcot - got up at 6:30 and put in 4.5 miles. The resort had a 1.2 mile loop around a lake, which I ran about three times. The weather was wonderful, about 55F and slightly windy. We were on the bus by 9am that morning to Epcot. We spent the whole morning doing a Kim Possible adventure that took us to many of the countries at Epcot. Later in the day we did several rides and attractions including Soaring, which was amazing. Again stayed for the fireworks, and did not get back to the resort until 9:30ish. Again we must have walked 10miles and my feet hurt.


Wednesday, 1/20/10 - Hollywood Studio - on the bus just after 9am. We still did a lot of walking and went on the Tower of Terror and the Indiana Jones show, which was cool. We got back to the resort by 8ish and just relaxed. Feet felt a little better, but legs were a bit achy. In bed by 10pm


Thursday, 1/21/10 - Got up at 6:30 and put in just over 5 miles. Today I left the 1.2 mile loop and ran through the resort and parking lots. Not bad, it was a bit warmer this day, about 70F at 6:30 and 90% humidity. I was soaked after this run. Went to Animal Kingdom - We knew this was going to be a short day since the park closed at 5pm - Got on the bus at 9am, saw some shows, saw some animals, went on Expedition Everest roller coaster - now that was a great coster. Went back to hotel after park closed, but instead of relaxing, we left the kids with the inlaws and went to Downtown Disney. Walked more, had dinner at the Planet Hollywood (thought they were all closed), and walked some more. Again, my feet were hurting by the end of the day. We must have put in another 10 miles.

Friday, 1/22/10 - Back to Magic Kingdom. On the bus by 9am, and saw new characters, and new attractions, but also visited some rides we went on Monday. It was a great day. At 3:30pm we left and went to a musical dinner review called Hoop Dee Doo. It was a great time, and there was no walking!! After dinner we went back to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks. We get back to the resort at 9pm-ish and was in bed before 11pm.

Saturday, 1/23/10 -Got up at 6:30am and put in my last 6mile run of the week. I wore shorts and t-shirt all week, and this run was really nice. The weather was perfect. We had breakfast in the resort, checked out and headed to the airport for the trip home. Got the kids to bed about 9pm.

All-in-all, I'm glad this was a light running week for me. The amount of walking made my legs and feet ache, and a hard running week may have spoiled my time at Disney. I'm not sure it was really a recovery week. I guess I'll find out this week as I get back to the harder training. My plan calls for 38 miles this week, with a 14mile run on Saturday. I plan to do the Cloud Half Marathon on Saturday for my long run.... but more on that later this week.

Mental toughness

Long distance running is all about the mental state you are in while running. I know for me, if I question whether a long run is going to be good or bad, it will be bad. I've heard that running is 90% mental and 10% physical. I don't think the percentages are that lopsided, but I definitely know that having the right mental attitude can get you through the later miles much easier.

Today was my long run. All day yesterday I flip-flopped on whether I was going to do a treadmill or an outside run. I get tired of wind and cold and thought that I'd give myself a break and run indoors. But my conscience was telling me to go outside. I know that in two weeks I'm running a half, and that marathon is going to come quicker than I expect, so I better hit the actual road if I want to be well trained. Then at 3am, I awoke with a cramp in the arch of my right foot, it went away quickly, but it kept me up cause I was thinking of what injury I may have (I'm a hypochondriac by the way). Anyway, I got up at 6:30am, forced myself outside and started the run. Slight wind and 33F, not bad.

I wanted to keep an 8:00m/m pace, and run easy. I wanted to be able to finish the run and not be exhausted. But my mind kept thinking of the upcoming vacation (We are going to Disney tomorrow), all the things I needed to do, and how I really did not want to be on the road. As I finished the 12 mile run, I kept pace really well, but was more tired that I thought I should be. My hands and face were freezing and I just did not enjoy the run. On the good side, I kept pace and I really did not have any aches and pains.

I think the only way to get past a bad run is to learn from it and look toward tomorrow. I know that my mental state plays a big part in how I run. As I move forward in my training, I know I will have good runs and bad runs. Tomorrow will be a good run, and a good day!

Uh-oh, I fartleked while running today

Its not what you think.... beans had nothing to do with my run today. Even though my wife would rather hear Tootlek, Fartlek is a Swedish word that means "Speed Play" and is a form of speed work used by athletes. I like this kind of speed work, because it allows a lot of flexibility, and it does not wear you out the way a tempo or pace run would. So here was my workout today

1 mile - easy (8-8:30pace)
0.25 miles - <5k pace

0.25 - easy

0.5 miles - 5K pace

0.25 - easy

0.75 miles - 5K-10K pace

0.25 - easy

0.75 miles - 10K-HM pace

0.25 - easy

0.5 miles - 10K pace

1.25 miles - easy

My legs felt worked out after this run, but it did not wear me out. I enjoyed this run a lot. Now, I gotta get me one of these shirts!

Learning to run slow

I have a problem. When most people run, and their mind wanders, they slow down. I'm kinda the opposite. If my mind wanders I speed up. Now, I don't sprint, but my pace goes up to 7:15m/m. In my marathon training, I need to slow down. I ran my last half at 7:30ish pace. ALL training schedules that I have looked at say my easy pace should be about 8:30m/m. I struggle with this. I'm afraid if I don't slow down, I'll hurt myself. This fall I had some IT band issues. I asked folks over at RunningAhead to look at my running log, and many people said I should rethink my training and slow down a lot on my easy runs. So thats what I have been trying to do. Hopefully, my running will improve and I'll keep those pesky injuries away. I'm going to stick to one day of speed work (tempo, fatlek, intervals) and keep the rest SLOW as I build my mileage

Today I did 8 miles, at 8:00m/m. Felt comfortable... sometimes it felt slow. I definitely noticed the difference... I don't feel as tired after the run, which could be less about the pace and more about lack of windchill today!

Through the streets

Typically, before I head out for a run, I will think about the route I want to take. I know how much time I have and how many miles I want to put it, so I map it all out ahead of time. Sometimes I use the route mapping software over at RunningAhead (http://www.runningahead.com/maps) just to make sure I get the miles I need. I think this takes some of the fun out of running. Finding new routes and going down unknown streets are kinda exciting and keeps the mind active. A few weeks ago I ran a 8-mile run through the snow covered streets in Columbus, Ohio from my in-laws house. Had no idea where I was going, or where I was, but I put in the miles, found my way back and enjoyed it (except for that damn cold wind!)

Today I did the same thing. I went out and ran. Turned corners when I felt like it, went straight when I felt like it. A couple of times I ended up in familiar territory, but that's ok. I put in my six miles, and it went pretty quickly. I enjoy spontaneity, especially when I plan for it!!

Recovery run???

Sunday was suppose to be a recovery run.  I've been told, or actually I have read online, that if you run more than four times a week, a recovery run is needed.  These runs are used to help muscle recovery after a hard/long  run.  However, many people now think recovery runs are less about recovery and more about fitness.  Running on fatigued legs help builds endurance and leg strength, and is suppose to get your legs ready for the feeling of running the second half of a marathon.

Anyway, most recovery runs should be at a slow comfortable pace... but cold and wind are not my friend and the longer I'm in them, the faster I run....  Here are the times for my 4-mile recovery run

1 - 7:40min/mile
2 - 7:35 min/mile
3- 7:32 min/mile
4 - 7:15 min/mile

More like pace, and not so much recovery.  I have to get better at this...  injuries happen from running too fast all the time.  I need to keep my long term goal in mind.... 

Inside running

Well, today I ran on the treadmill. I always kinda feel wimpish when I choose to run on the treadmill. REAL runners would not run inside unless their lives were in mortal danger. But I gotta tell you that I am already tired of the cold wind. This past week, when I did run outside, the temperatures were in the 20s, but the winds were whipping at 25mph, with gusts at 35mph. And this is not a tropical breeze, but a biting cold wind... It sucked. I checked the weather this morning, and the temperatures were not too cold (in the 20s) and the winds were only about 15mph making the wind chill about 15F. Still I decided to do the treadmill.


Anyway, the run went well. I ran comfortably for 12 miles, while watching Iron Man, which is a great movie by the way. The treadmill gets boring, so I played with the pace and elevation, changing it between 8:30min/mil to 7:30min/mil... amd 0 to 1% incline. Got off the treadmill a couple of times to stretch my right hamstring, which is still bothering me a bit. I finished in 98 minutes.

Tomorrow is a 4-miler.... and I WILL go outside

A day of rest

So, my plan is to run the Frederick Marathon (www.frederickmarathon.org/Home_73.htm) on May 2. This is my first attempt at a marathon and I'm a bit nervous. I've been running a long time, but never distances greater than 15 miles. I have run 5K, 10K, 10-mile and 1/2 marathons, but have never taking the jump to the full 26.4 miles. Did I say I was kinda nervous? Anyway, I'm about 18 weeks from that goal,and I've started a running program to build up my long run... it can be found here...

http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_sch_2.html

It fits into my schedule and I feel I have the base to complete it. Over the summer and fall, i began building a base, so that I'm running between 30-35 miles per week. If you want to look at my log, look here..

http://www.runningahead.com/logs/e5c965d15f204be388ea1f4fa9d98200

So today is a day of rest... tomorrow a 12-mile run

A move to a running blog

Been thinking of a way to record my thoughts and feelings during my running training. I think I'll take this old blog and start it up again as a running blog.

I hope I have the same endurance for blogging that I do for running......