Jogging After Dark

Super Bowl 10K

2012-02-10T13:24:00.001-08:00

489 people enjoyed a sunny, ice-free, 34* morning and ran this annual event in the LV Parkway. While every other Parkway event I know of uses the streamside gravel trail, this one is entirely a road race. The course follows the main access road back out of the Parkway, wraps around the northern side, makes a small loop in a residential neighborhood, then returns. It’s mildly hilly with no major climbs but a number of medium ones. The first false start I’ve ever seen at one of these events helped lighten the mood. I think humans are hardwired to all groan in the same key. 489 people all said “Awww” together.

Even with the wide road it’s a little crowded at the start. I ran a negative split 26:23, 25:42) on the strength of a first mile that was 30 seconds slower than any other as the crowd sorted itself out. This is by choice (I seed further back than I need to) and probably a good thing, and helped me to not burn out early. It also contributed to an average HR of just 160, which is a little low, though not terribly so. 165 is more typical. I also clipped on my ANT+ foot pod. Cadence was a still low 81.x, though higher than my typical training run ~77. Note Garmin counts only steps by one leg, so we’re talking a “true” cadence of about 162-163. Target is at least 180 (or, by Garmin standards, 90).

Organization was very good, which is no surprise given it’s LVRR. Food was varied and good, especially the vegetable soup. Excellent shirt, Brooks long sleeve technical with some reflective material.

I take the worst running pictures ever. I saw the photographer, and this was still the best I could manage.

After the race with occasional running partner Cait, who posted a great time.

I PR’ed (ha, this is my first 10K) with a 51:57 on my Garmin, 52:03 officially. I don’t start the Garmin until I cross the starting line and, once in a while, I remember to hit stop at the finish line, though not usually. I would like to aim to break 50 this year, although there really aren’t many 10Ks available locally. I remember when that was the main racing distance.

Tried the tri thing

2012-01-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

Endurance Multisport was at HPC today, running an indoor triathlon. So I gave it a shot. The format was Swim 10 minutes, bike 30, run 20 on a treadmill at 1 degree incline. The best distance in each discipline was awarded 100 points, and everyone else was pro-rated. Sum of 3 scores determined finish.

I don't know exactly how I did relative to others (I'll know Monday) but don't so much care. I wanted to see what I could do. I was happy with my results, which were a little better than I expected.

Swim 450M

Bike 9.3 miles

Run 2.54 miles

We went off in heats of 4 people due to space limitations. I had a very young kid next to me, maybe 20, that has some tri experience and is prepping for a 70.3. He dusted me in the swim (600M) and run (just under 3 miles). Surprisingly I edged him by 0.2 in the bike, "winning" my heat in that event.

It was more fun than I remembered, having last done one over 20 years prior. The EnMu folks were very pleasant and helpful with my pesky first-timer questions. I might look for 1 or 2 outdoor events this season.

Next weekend: Super Bowl 10K. I'm 3 years and maybe 30 events into this, and this will be my first 10K. I remember when that was the distance.

2012 schedule, goals

2012-01-01T18:27:00.001-08:00

First, the traditional 1/1 Parkway pictures. Absolutely perfect morning to start the year.

Schedule:

Already registered for:

1/29 Indoor Triathlon
2/5 Super Bowl 10K
3/10 Indoor Triathlon
4/29 LV Half Marathon

Planned (but not registered yet):

7/15 Quadzilla 15K
3/18 Allentown St. Pat’s 5K

Probable:

United Friends School 5K
Some of the Run LV series
Outdoor triathlon(s) (getting peer pressure)

Mt. Penn Mudfest (getting peer pressure)
Any other trail runs I can accommodate

Goals:

*** Sub 2 hour LV Half (vs. 2011 2:16 running fairly relaxed with a group)

*** Sub 23:30 5K (vs. 2011 best of 23:37 on a pancake flat course)

*** Improve my 1:49 time at Quadzilla (1:45 or better).

*** Lower my Parkway 5K PR of 24:51. That was my first race back in 2009. Amazingly, I’ve only done three 5Ks in the Parkway, and one was with my kids. I would have thought it was more.

*** Improve my overall fitness and strength.

Let’s get started…

Another book available

2011-11-19T09:20:00.001-08:00

You want it, ping me and it will be in the mail. No charge.

My review: Doesn’t really contain much training advice, or in-depth race reporting. But if you want to know how incredibly awesome and smarter-than-everyone-else the author is, this book is for you. Oh, he’s also misunderstood and the people who think he’s cocky are wrong.

Pre vs. Lindgren and NCAA Cross Country Championship coverage

2011-11-17T19:36:00.001-08:00

I got the below story in its entirety on the ‘world famous’ message boards of letsrun.com. It’s a great couple paragraphs that look to be from an upcoming book by, I presume, Robert Coe. If so, I’ll certainly be picking up a copy.

Lindgren nips Prefontaine at the wire that fateful day

Adapted from JOCK: A Memoir of the Counterculture, about my years as a Stanford runner, 1968-1972:

"The first-ever Pac-8 cross-country championship convened on November 14th, 1969 – the same day that Apollo 12 lifted off for the moon to land five days later in Oceanus Procellarum, at 3°11'51" south latitude and 23°23'8" west longitude on the northwest rim of Surveyor Crater, only 600 feet from its target point: The Surveyor III, an unmanned spacecraft that had landed there on April 20, 1967. As I warmed up on the Stanford golf course that morning, I was so awestruck I could barely look around.

I stole only a brief glance at fifth-year Washington State red-shirt Senior Gerry Lindgren, at age twenty-three already widely considered the greatest American distance runner of all time; his only competition, the Native American Billy Mills, the 10K Gold Medalist in Tokyo. As a high school Senior, Lindgren had defeated Russia’s best over 10K, then run injured in the Tokyo Games a few months later. By the end of his freshman year at W.S.U. he had covered six miles – the distance we were racing today – in 27:11.6, a tenth of a second behind the winner Mills and faster than the existing 10,000-meter world record, based on conversion tables. Lindgren was a freak of nature and nurture. It was rumored that in high school he had sometimes gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to run ten miles (probably true); also that he once trained 350 miles a week for six weeks straight (almost certainly untrue). Abused as a child, he had grown up into a Marvel Comic Book character with a monstrous talent, inner demons and little or no sense of boundaries when it came to racing and training. The N.C.A.A. cross-country champion in 1966 and 1967 and a track titlist over 5K and 10K in 1968, he had dropped out of school to train for Mexico City, but had difficulty adjusting to altitude and failed to make the team. My stolen glances at this legendary warrior took in his geeky horn-rimmed glasses, preternaturally white skin with spidery blue veins, jug ears, and thighs like Batman with zero body fat on a 120-pound frame: Lindgren looked like Super-Nerd. An instant later another runner jogged past with three or four fellow Oregon Ducks, giving off a glow like a piece of jagged glass. He looked like Super-Boy. I barely had the courage to cast more than two or three furtive glances at the sensational freshman Steve Prefontaine (or at my old high school teammate Mike McClendon, who was jogging with him), but seeing Pre in person, prancing narcissistically in his day-glow green-and-yellow uniform (the biggest shock was noting that he was almost exactly my size and build), I instantly believed every report (of many) that “Pre,” as he was already universally known, was one obnoxious prick. His own Head Coach, Bill Bowerman, had nicknamed him “Rube” because he hailed from the hick, blue-collar, bad-ass town of Coos Bay, Oregon, where he could have easily gotten into drugs, according to his older sister. (I had heard he was into marijuana anyway.) But instead of becoming a big-time druggie, Pre had become the American high school two-mile record-holder, soon to land (that spring) on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He shouldn’t have thought he could handle a former Olympian five years his Senior, but two weeks earlier in his college debut at the N.C.A.A. District 8 Northern Division Championships at Oregon State's Avery Park in Corvallis, Pre had shocked the west coast running world by winning the six-mile event in a new meet record, breaking the previous mark of Oregon State’s future Mexico City Olympian Tracey Smith by over a half-minute, with Lindgren a stunned second, twenty-seven seconds behind the prodigious freshman. Word was out that Lindgren had been returning from an injury on that day, so he would no doubt be gunning for revenge today. I also had no doubt that Pre would think he could run him into the ground a second time. Today’s race promised to be a clash of two Northwesterners with balls the size of Nebraska – two men who never entertained the slightest thought of losing, except to inspire themselves to accomplish feats almost no other runners in the United States could manage, collegiate or otherwise.

In addition to Lindgren and Pre, each of my nemeses was present and accounted for: Cliff West and Bob Waldon from Cal; the U.S.C. and U.C.L.A runners we had recently battled. My father was there, too, by coincidence, in the Bay Area on business. This would be the first time he would ever see me compete in a Stanford uniform, running on the rims after our very long season. But I had no doubt what I would do: “For Stanford I Will!” For my school, my platoon, and myself, I would leave everything I had on that golf course. This was never in question. I knew I would hold nothing back. I would psych-in. This was Do or Die, and Death was not an option. @ @

I had never smelled blood before the start of a race, but in the seconds before the gun sounded there was blood in the water, no question about it. I felt as if I wasn’t standing on a starting line for a race; I felt as if I was about to jump off a cliff.

The starter’s pistol fired and Pre and Lindgren exploded off the starting line as if shot from cannons – as if they were competing over a hundred yards, not six miles. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing: Super-Nerd and Super-Boy, each sprinting full-speed, intentionally veering thirty feet out of their ways to collide with one another shoulder-to-shoulder, bounce off, then move in to collide again – arms entangling, elbows jabbing, as if each wanted to knock the other to the ground. It was macho lunacy, worthy of a Big DQ (disqualification) for both of them. But the gauntlet had been flung. What else could we do? I joined the rest of the field launching itself after the pair, sprinting on my toes like a quarter-miler, hoping that when the dust settled I would find myself at least among the top ten behind these two maniacs. At the half-mile mark the pace calmed a little, but far in the distance Pre and Lindgren would soon cross the mile mark at a near-suicidal pace: 4:18. Lindgren was famous for insane early paces: He had gone out in 4:14.0 in his American Record three-mile (12:53.3) in 1966. But today’s race pace wasn’t suicidal; it was each runner courting his own “death” in order to destroy his opponent. I later learned later this was mostly Pre’s doing. “I felt I had to go fast from the start because Gerry is fast,” he said – which makes no sense, but there you are. As I closed in on the mile mark, at least a hundred yards behind the leaders, in maybe tenth or eleventh place, I realized that I had no clue as to the location of a single teammate. The entire field had become wildly strung out. Coach Clark’s imperative at last year’s N.C.A.A. championship – get together and run as a team – had been completely lost in the mayhem.

Our Coach Marshall Clark shouted out my Mile split, the tension in his voice speaking volumes: “Four-thirty-three, THIRTY-FOUR…“ here was one of those “uh-oh” moments that every distance runner dreads to his very soul, and that nearly every instinct in your body tries to protect you against. I had gone out way too fast. Less than eighteen months earlier my best all-out mile on a flat track was 4:25; we had also never run a single Monday mile-rep in training under 4:45. But I had just burned my first mile in 4:34. This race was going to be beyond brutal. I had probably run the first half-mile in something like 2:10, which meant I would be spending the next five miles dealing with the lactic acid built up from this wanton act of madness. It turned out this was what Pre wanted, too. He hated competitors who just “sat” on rivals, waiting to out-kick them at the end – the way Mark Spitz kept defeating my fraternity brother John Ferris in the 200-meter butterfly. “Most people run a race to see who is fastest,” Pre would later famously remark. “I run a race to see who has the most guts.” The first-ever Pac-8 Cross-Country Championship would be a “gut race” now. In a “gut race” you go out hard, establish your position, then hold on for as long as you can. That’s what I had to look forward to: Survival. @ @

My memories of the next twenty-five minutes are not-surprisingly vague, but photographs show me in the second pack at two miles, just behind U.S.C.’s Ritcherson and Brock and shoulder-to-shoulder with McClendon. My old teammate, who had been the national “postal” champion at Clear Creek High, where he ran 14:00.0 for three miles, had set a new Oregon three-mile freshman record of 13:57.8 – a record Pre would obliterate come springtime. I remember a Washington State runner easing by me a bit later; a little later still, someone from U.C.L.A. On a short but steep downhill portion at three and a half miles, just before our monster three-hundred-yard-long uphill climb on the 16th fairway, McClendon went by me without so much as a “suck it up, friend.” At the top of the monster hill on the 16th Fairway, as far away from the finish line as our course took you, I could barely set one foot in front of the other. The long downhill would allow me to recover somewhat, but I was already toast. On most cross-country circuits, in a gut race or not, your place at two miles is fairly close to where you’ll finish, barring a major collapse or a major surge. But midway down the long, shallow descent towards Junipero Serra, still two miles from the finish line, Cal’s Cliff West went by me easily. I wasn’t competing anymore. I was running to get this race over with. I had no other ambition. Other than Greg Brock, I hadn’t seen a Stanford teammate since the starting line. Our vaunted pack had been blown to smithereens. The first Pac-8 Cross-Country Championship had turned into a Death March, which again was exactly what Pre wanted. Years later I found this quote from him: “The best pace is a suicide pace and today is a good day to die.”

Two hundred yards ahead of an excellent field (and over a minute ahead of me), Prefontaine and Lindgren were locked in a Duel of Titans that years later ESPN would rank at No. 73 among the hundred greatest track & field and cross-country competitions of the 20th century. The long-time editor of Track and Field News, Gary Hill, later said that it was the greatest foot race he ever saw. Trading the lead repeatedly, each man attempting to surge away from the other, but never getting more than six feet apart, they averaged a less-then-searing 4:51 per mile pace after their psychotic first mile, but as a feat of intestinal fortitude it must have been a race to behold. Going up the small rise 150 yards from the finish (where I had taken the lead against U.C.L.A.), Pre got a half-step on Lindgren, then moved to cut the Cougar off from the finish line. Again and again, Lindgren later claimed, Pre tried to edge him into the crowd off to his left, but the smaller man resisted, leaning towards Pre, pushing back. They crossed the finish line together, shoulders touching, arms entangled, each wearing the same naked expression of exhausted surrender – inverted hawk-moon mouths agape – but only Lindgren remembered to lean at the tape, his hands half-raised to break it. They had both circumnavigated our hilly six-mile course in 28:32.4. The finish was so close that the race was initially called a tie. There is a myth that photographs were examined, but the fact is that after officials conferred, Lindgren was given the nod on the spot. Conference records forty years later list the winner as the Cougar from Pullman.

In coming years the Pac-8 cross-country championship of 1969 would frequently be cited as the last great American distance race of the Sixties. Nine days later, Lindgren would “[run] scared” and decisively defeat Pre at the N.C.A.A. Championship for his 11th individual collegiate title; a short time later he would graduate, turn schizophrenic – or so it has been claimed – and leave the American distance running scene to Pre, his presumptive heir. In 1980 Lindgren would also abandon his wife and children, leaving behind a note that read “get a divorce, sell the business,” then disappear off the face of the earth, only to turn up years later in the Hawaiian Islands, running road races under an assumed name. The Seventies would belong to Pre, who would break every American record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters, finish a heart-breaking fourth in the 1972 Munich Olympic 5K, and almost single-handedly transform the sport of long-distance running by shattering its nerdy stereotypes and lending it a new showmanship and sex appeal. The final spin on the legend would be his early accidental death, James Dean style, in a mysterious car crash at the age of twenty-four, legally drunk and suffocated under his flipped sports car on the side of a road in Eugene. Decades later, the greatest American track & field legend since Jesse Owens became the subject of two feature films, the best of them, Without Limits, written by Kenny Moore and produced by Tom Cruise, who had hoped to play the Pre himself, but by the time the production was ready to roll, he was too old. (On the day that Without Limits opened in Los Angeles in 1998, I would be one of a half-dozen people in the shopping-mall cinema for an 11:30 screening. The moment in which Bill Bowerman (played by Donald Sutherland) tells the cocky freshman (Billy Crudup),”Grant me those Stanford three-milers are no slouches, especially that fellow Kardong,” and Pre replies, “Don Kardong? He’s not bad” – this was about four or five months after the conference cross-country race -- I wanted to stand up and scream, “Kardong didn’t beat me once that year!” But of course I didn’t. @ @

So what did happen to me on that overcast morning of November 14th, 1969? Running those last two miles on instinct and not much else, I crossed the finish line a tick over a minute behind Pre and Lindgren in 29:33.0, a new course PR by 21 seconds, but buried in 15th place, soundly beaten by a teammate, Brock (28:08) for the first time all season. In a masterpiece of peaking – gearing a season towards one race -- Greg had finished 5th, just behind Oregon’s Steve Savage, a future Olympic steeplechaser, and Washington State’s Rick Riley, yet another great eastern Washington runner who had competed internationally while still in his teens. (Riley’s interscholastic two-mile record had been broken only the year before by Pre.) S.C.’s Freddie Ritcherson, who had barely beaten me a month or so before, managed 7th; McClendon came through 10th; Cliff West, 13th, in 29:22. Oregon State Junior Spencer Lyman, who had won the seventh annual Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks, Alaska less than two months before this race, finished just ahead of me.

Brock was bouncing on his heels not far from the finish line. “I trained through every meet,” he told me, as I wandered around, feeling utterly trashed. “I was running two-a-days on Fridays while the rest of you guys were taking it easy!” I acknowledged him with a grim nod, then headed out to run my cool-down alone. I felt no resentment about Greg’s boasting, none at all. He had shown up when it counted, while I had apparently squandered my chances of performing well at Conference for the sake of holding on to that stupid white cotton jersey, modestly emblazoned “Stanford #1.” Freshman Decker Underwood (and former California State Mile Champ) had shown up huge that day, too, finishing just two seconds behind me, obliterating my freshman course record by almost a minute and a half. Brock & Decker, two industrious tools! The pair who had grown a pair! Kardong was our fourth man, running a course PR 29:41 in 18th place but as disappointed about his performance as I was about mine. My classmate Jack Lawson, former king of the Great Valley in high school, was the fifth Stanford scorer in a so-so 30:27, in 32nd place. Chuck Menz, who had been as high as our third man at times that year, had dragged himself to the finish line a full fifty seconds off his course best, while Arvid Kretz tanked, our one-time second man finishing next to last in the entire field, in 32:34. In Chuck Dyer’s photographs of that day I see Arvid running alongside Brock at Mile Two; his wheels must have fallen off completely.

As a team our 86 points nipped U.S.C. (90) and avenged our tough early-season loss to U.C.L.A. (94), but we were nowhere close to the two Northwest powerhouses: Oregon and Washington State finished one-two, 46-63. There would be no return to nationals for last year’s runner-up. A “force to be reckoned with” early in the season, competing in the toughest cross-country conference in the nation, we would be officially shut down for the year, thanks in part to the two greatest distance runners of the age. My disappointment was keener because my father was there.

robert_coe@hotmail

* * * * *

And you can watch this years NCAA crop compete for their respective championships live on the web this year. I’ll post a more specific link when I have one.

NCAA.com will webcast each of the NCAA Cross Country Championships this weekend for free. Links to the actual webcast will likely be posted on NCAA.com a few hours before start time.

Division I: Monday, November 21, Terre Haute, Ind.
Men’s race starts at 12:08pm ET. Women’s race at 12:58pm ET.

Division II: Saturday, November 19, Spokane, Wash.
Women’s race starts at 2pm ET/11am PT. Men’s race begins at 3pm ET/Noon PT.

Division III: Saturday, November 19, Oshkosh, Wis.
Women’s race starts at Noon ET/11am CT. Men’s race begins at 1pm ET/Noon CT.

More on the championships will be posted throughout the week on USTFCCCA.org.

Geeky stuff

2011-11-15T11:14:00.001-08:00

Get smoked by Ryan Hall

Want to see if you can keep pace with Ryan Hall for just 60 feet? The NYC marathon featured this clever set up:

http://gizmodo.com/5859048/giant-video-wall-lets-you-get-smoked-by-a-marathoner

Ryan is enormously fast, of course, but the geek in me has to point out that Ryan is enjoying the advantage of a flying start. At a 4:45 pace he’s going to cover 60 feet in just 3.23 seconds. By comparison, from a standing start it takes Usain Bolt about 3.04 seconds to react and cover the same distance. So, from a standing start Bolt could nip him at the wire, but you are I probably have no chance.

While We’re Covering Geekery

In a weirdly interesting experiment, this guy who was in competitive bodybuilder type shape is purposely letting himself go to pot (eating whatever he wants, not exercising) for 6 months, just so he can then show people how to lose back the weight. Weird. What I find really stunning (but not surprising) is how fast one can go from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Tom Arnold. The guy gained 72 pounds in just 180 days. Check out the pictures:

<http://www.fit2fat2fit.com>

Might As Well Keep Going

Thursday I picked up an ANT+ footpod for the Garmin 305. Now I have a new data field, cadence. It’s good and bad. I’m glad to know it, and to have more to analyze and work on. The bad news is I run with an eerily steady cadence of 77.8. Uphill, downhill, gravel, road, I’m almost never under 77 or over 79. I want/need to get that up to 92, which will be no small task. Anyone ever upped their cadence and have some suggestions?

Current Reading

Iron War. This is the story of the 1989 Kona Ironman duel between Dave Scott and Mark Allen, considered perhaps the greatest IM race ever. There’s a great section about the mental aspect, which intrigues me. Scott, as you know, was a 6 time winner of this event, even though Allen dominated every other triathlon of the time. The section is about Scott’s mental edge (which he himself always attributed his IM dominance to) and how Allen had to develop the same to eventually overcome Scott. The interesting point is that our brains convince us of fatigue before the muscles really give out. They detail the following experiment conducted on elite (TdF) athletes back in (I think) the late 80s:

Athletes were asked to perform a 5 second all out burst on a trainer. Then they were asked to hold a hard but sub maximum load as long as possible (i.e., to failure). Then they were asked to immediately, without rest, perform a final 5 second all out burst.

In the first burst, the athletes routinely hit over 1000 watts for 5 seconds.

In the ‘moderate’ stage, they were asked to hold approximately 240 watts, which they did for an average of 12 minutes before being “unable to continue.”

Given that there was no rest period, the final 5 second burst -- in theory -- should have been less than 240 watts, since by their own definition the athletes couldn’t hold 240 for even a moment longer.

Anyone familiar with “kicking it in” knows what happened: the final bursts averaged in excess of 800 watts, over triple the load that they could “hold no longer.”

The book gives some detailed explanation, the summary of which is that the physical ability was still there but the brain had gone into ‘quit’ mode, even for these elite athletes who were very familiar with pushing themselves to the outer limits of performance.

The author’s angle is that Scott and Allen were no more fit than, to name just a few, Mike Pigg or Kenny Glah, but they had developed a better ability to override the brains ‘quit’ signal and continue to extract performance from their bodies in the longer (IM) and harder (Kona in particular) events.

Fascinating stuff. Incidentally I’m done with the book and have no real room for it. If anyone wants it just let me know. No charge, postage is on me, and I don’t need it back. I hate to toss it or send it to languish at some used book fair when one of you might actually enjoy it.

I am registered

2011-11-10T17:43:00.001-08:00

I'm registered for the 2012 St. Luke's Half Marathon. Goal this time is sub 2 hours.

Kyle Pagerly 5K

2011-10-16T10:37:00.001-07:00

Kyle Pagerly was a young K9 officer, volunteer firefighter, and veteran of two middle east tours who was gunned down in the line of duty. He is survived by his wife and soon to be born child. He was also a marathoner and triathlete. Before his death, he was planning/directing this 5K which has subsequently been renamed in his honor. Proceeds now go to his memorial fund. Goes without saying that this is a very worthy cause.

We made this a team challenge affair at work with my boss, Corinne, being the primary instigator as usual (she’s great). Representing all that is good and true were myself, Corinne, Emma, Alex and Brian from our work group. The villain team was comprised of Steve, Mike, Dave and Howard.

I originally planned to run a full effort, but an overwhelming turnout and our late arrival put us behind hundreds of people at the start. A couple of the young guys were willing to do the mad sprint and weave, but I wasn’t. So I hung just with my team.

21 Gun Salute at the start. Thanks to Corinne’s husband Mike for taking all these pictures.

The massive starting field.

Midway with Alexandra, Corinne is just in front of us out of frame. Some kind of freaky photo perspective going on here, Alex is in fact not several inches taller than me, as you can see in the photo below.

Front: Brian, Mike, Steve, Corinne. Back: Alex, Howard’s wife, Howard, Em, Dave, me.

I took this picture. That’s Mike who took the other pictures and Caitlyn, who I run with occasionally. Cait ran a low 26 PR, congratulations!

Scoring was based on the number of employees on each time that crossed the finish line upright. I’m pleased to report the forces of good carried the day, winning 5 finishers to 4. But best of all, we got 5 people to do their first ever race. FTW.

Step Out 5K

2011-10-01T09:31:00.001-07:00

Let’s just call this one a workout. I logged 7 miles in September. Seven. And it showed today. On a swampy track I did mile one in 7:34, right on PR pace. Then, as at the Lake Nox 5K, my HR spiked and I got unrecoverable tightness through the chest, as though my HR strap were made of iron. I slowed significantly but could not recover, the race was blown. Mile 3 was 8:58. Embarrassing.

The course was short about a tenth, even though it was the standard Parkway route and PCS was running it. The race director was a girl I’ve never seen before. If you’re familiar with the Parkway standard 5K, It’s a loop plus another tenth on the same loop. What they did today was have the start and finish in the exact same spot for about a 3 mile course.

Anyway, it was for a worthy cause (combating domestic violence), well put together with about 6 tents, and sadly very sparsely attended. I registered 15 minutes before the gun and received #96, and it’s both a walk and a run. There may have been as many volunteers as participants. Sad panda. Here’s some flavor, now in HD:

Run Lehigh Valley 7 Miler @ 7 (8/20/11)

2011-09-02T16:10:00.001-07:00

This was a somewhat unusual race. Most LV Parkway races are 5K events, held in the morning. This race used a mini-loop of about 2 miles (clubhouse to Robin Hood bridge, turn around, up the hill through the grassy parking lot back to clubhouse) and then followed the Fireman's bridge to North Parkway bridge loop of 5 miles. It also went off a few minutes past 7 PM meaning a pretty dark finish for just about everyone. The streamside course is surrounded by slopes on both sides and of course there are plenty of trees, so it starts to get darker sooner than the nearby neighborhood streets. The winner finished after dusk. A few people actually brought headlamps. I managed without one, but it was pretty dark by about 8:10 when I finished. That was kind of fun.

I drank some water and enjoyed a burger off the grill (excellent amenity. I love grilled burgers). By the time I was leaving (8:30ish) it was completely dark, and I could still see some folks chugging down the home stretch.

Official finish photo, worst facial expression ever. Note how dark it was. This was about 8:10. I hate pictures of myself in running shorts.

Personal: I was hoping to crack 60 minutes but when it was still 85* at the gun I knew that was unlikely. I finished at 62:32 (8:52), which was acceptable. 41 of 84 made me mid-pack.

Motivation and Psychology

2011-08-21T18:17:00.001-07:00

Getting to the gym motivation

I'm fascinated by motivation. When it comes to fitness, if you're reading this you probably are highly motivated already. But motivation seems to be the one ingredient most people (present company excluded) lack, because almost every sedentary adult I know wants to shed some amount of weight, and they frequently try but fail to stick with anything for very long. As a nation we could certainly stand to lose some excess pounds, and again you'll hear people talk about it all the times, so, why is it that if so many people want to get more fit, so few actually do?

My general belief is that most people do want to be more fit, but not as much as they want to eat lots of delicious food and enjoy leisure (or avoid physical discomfort). It seems to me then, that the key to success is motivating yourself to want fitness more than you want those other things. I'm always interested in what drives people, myself included, because it's not always easy to articulate why we run or exercise[1]. Sure, I can throw out a stock answer ('for health') but is that really what drives me? Why wasn't I doing it for health a decade ago? All I know is that I don't know.

Which brings me to a specific, incredibly simple mechanism that I know is one of my motivations for going to my fitness center. I've belonged to at least 6 gyms over the years and, except for some brief spurts, have generally paid my dues and slacked off on attendance. The one I belong to now though, I go all the time. Certainly there are many variable in why I go more, including that it is the nicest facility I've ever belonged to, but I know one variable for sure:

Every month they post a list of members who got there 12 times during the previous month. I know for a fact that I care about being on that list, even if I'm not sure why.

The only tangible thing the list amounts to is a t-shirt at the end of the year if you were on the list at least 6 months. I do not care about the t-shirt. So why do I care so much about making the stupid list? I suppose, to some extent, I'm engaging in signaling. See, I look at the list every month for those members I know, to see if they are on it. Assuming other people do the same, I want them to see my name on there. But why? I can only guess it's signaling, or 'appearance management'. We all try to manage how we appear to others. I want, I suppose, to define myself as working on being fit and athletic. Thus I care about my name being on that list. When I go to the gym late in the month, I'll always ask how many visits I have so far, so I can make certain I get at least 12.

I don't know how many people belong to my health center, but the list has hundreds of names every month, which I imagine is a participation rate most facilities would envy. I would bet that if they stopped posting the list, but kept generating it privately, it would shrink by some not insignificant amount.

Such a trivial thing, this list. It's just a computer printout. But look how it affects me.

[1] More on this in a later entry. I'm reading a fascinating book called 'Strangers to Ourselves' which quite credibly proposes that we very often don't consciously know why we do what we do.

Coming Next: 7 Miler at 7

Completely unrelated:

Just pretend you didn’t see that. Move along now.

Latest Idea / Midlife Crisis / P90X review

2011-07-23T09:19:00.001-07:00

So I stumbled across the physical requirements to enter Navy SEAL training. My new goal is to pass them at age 46, 18 years over their maximum entry age of 28. I think with some specific work I can get there.

The Navy SEAL Physical Screening Test (PST):

Swim 500-yards using breast and/or sidestroke in less than 12 minutes and 30 seconds
10-minute rest
Perform a minimum of 42 push-ups in 2 minutes
2-minute rest
Perform a minimum of 50 sit-ups in 2 minutes
2-minute rest
Perform a minimum of 6 pull-ups (no time limit)
10-minute rest
Run 1 ½ miles wearing TENNIS SHOES and SHORTS in under 11 minutes.

I think my motivation here is obvious. You triathletes could probably breeze through this without sweating, but for me it will take some work.

P90X negative review:

Quadzilla 15K trail

2011-07-19T10:55:00.001-07:00

Given her passion for the sport, and knowledge of the course, there was never any doubt that Jill would put on a first class race as debut director of the Quadzilla 15K. She certainly did. This was serious trail running, and well done.

I can't say I wasn't warned about the hills. From the web site:

"A test of how much you can handle….First-time visitors are awed by the beauty, and humbled by the hills….if you crave a challenge...Do you have what it takes to be King or Queen of the Hills….7 major hills"

3 hills rated Cat 5 climbs on the TdF scale.

And hilly it was. When you get to a sign that says "Welcome to the back of the beast," it's show time. Not that the course is flat before that!

So the course is definitely challenging, in a good way. It's still very doable. The majority of trail is relatively smooth, unlike the majorly-ankle-threatening, constantly-look-straight-down conditions that can be found in places nearby. There is a stream crossing. While there's a lot of single track, there is plenty of passing space. I ran very close to one guy in such a way that we passed each other dozens of times. I would pass him on every flat or uphill, on on every downhill he ran with abandon and passed me.

Much better pictures are available here:

http://quadzilla15k.com/info/photos/

…but here’s what I managed to snap.

Random crowd shots

Zoo goers at the entrance

Queen of the Hills (in grey t-back, yes I was standing at a bad angle) Amy Grab in 1:24. I missed the King as I was fetching my camera. That’s Jill in blue with the microphone.

3rd Overall, and Western States top 20 finisher, Chris Reed

Age group winner, missed the name.

Cool bib holder I won in the raffle

Things I particularly liked about this race:

- 3 water / Gatorade stops. This was enough that you don’t have to carry your own (though you might want to anyway, many people did). The water stops served as a great mental way to break the course into manageable bites. First stop at 3.5 miles, not bad getting to there. Then I thought, “only 1.5 to the next stop,” then 2 miles to the next, then 2 miles and you’re done!

- The half mile downhill to the finish, which is the only portion that also doubles back. Wow, was it nice to hear, “It’s all downhill from here.” Lets you cross the line looking not-dead. You get to notice that, hey, there are actually some folks behind me, some of them even look pretty fit! Also puts you in a very positive frame of mind as you finish.

- The hills. Yes! Part of the fun of doing events is talking about them around the water cooler. You will leave Quadzilla with good stories.

- The course and terrain. It’s scenic, wide enough, and every step is not a nasty ankle twist waiting to happen. The water cross is some welcome coolness.

- Excellent shirt. Brooks with reflective material, bright green, cool design.

Personal performance: in a prior and ~~easier~~ less brutal trail run in the LV Parkway, I finished in the bottom 10 spots. When Jill announced that among the prizes there would be sunglasses awarded to the last male and female finishers, I had to realistically consider myself a serious contender. Upon arrival, I saw it was generally that more-serious-than-a-5K-fun-run crowd, including some serious talent. (Talent indeed, it turns out a top-twenty finisher at Western States took third.) But I just figured if I'm last, I'm last. Someone has to be. As it turned out I finished 147 of a sold out 350 spots, right in the middle of the 283 finishers. Also managed 20 seconds faster per mile, at 9 HBPM lower[1], than on the easier / shorter course. I feel pretty good about that result.

Jill, great job, and thanks for putting on a big league trail race right here at home!

[1] I'm older and wiser now, and made it a point not to exceed a HR of 160 when not going uphill. Worked well. I could probably bump it up just slightly, but it's nice to finish feeling fairly good too.

Tempe Trail Running

2011-07-03T18:52:00.001-07:00

Last week work took me to the Phoenix / Tempe /Scottsdale area. What to do after work? Run trails, of course.

Papago Park:

Pinnacle Peak Park:

Absolutely beautiful place to run trails. You do have to be careful in a way unlike anything you find in Pennsylvania though, the heat is not to be taken lightly.

Monocacy Way 5K 2011

2011-06-19T19:05:00.001-07:00

2011 was the first year for this lovely little trail race near the Burnside Plantation / Monocacy Park. It drew 53 runners, a number that will no doubt grow as more people become aware of what a nice shady jaunt through the woods this is. I live 15 minutes away and didn’t know this trail existed until I found this race. Proceeds go to maintaining the trails.

The course is comparable to a cross country tract. You run on gravel, plenty of grass, wood chips, and even a couple sets of steps thrown in. It is generally

flat and well shaded, which was helpful because it was warm today.

Organization was spot on. There were age group awards ($25 gift certificates) for first place M/F in each of the fairly broad age groups (broad being understandable with 53 entrants). An additional 4 gift certificates were to be awarded at random, but it turned out there were precisely 4 father/child pairings. So the crowd was polled: was it OK to give them to the fathers and sons and daughters, this being Fathers Day? Of course it was OK.

I ran 24:53 (7:52) which I’m very happy with (remember, this is a trail run). I’m feeling as fit as I’ve been since I started running in 2009 and this is probably my best physical performance.

I hit a 170 HR just a tad early (1.75 miles) but I not only held it, I finished accelerating and strong. You can safely ignore the elevation graph above, start and finish were at the same place, and there was certainly nothing like a 100 foot hill, 87% grade right at the end. The G305 isn’t so great with elevation. Mine, anyway.

Next scheduled event for me is mid July at Jill’s Quadzilla 15K. I’ve read up on this course and it is scary. It will be an adventure I’m sure. Looking forward to it.

Burnside Plantation

Verzbicas breaks 4 minutes

2011-06-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

"Despite rain and wind, Illinois superstar Lukas Verzbicas became only the fifth high school athlete to run a sub four-minute mile - in a sizzling 3 minutes, 59.71 seconds - Saturday while winning the annual Jim Ryun High School Dream Mile at Icahn Stadium in New York City."

http://www.maxpreps.com/news/aKr8epSmEeCkhgAcxJSkrA/lukas-verzbicas-wins-dream-mile-in-3-5971.htm

United Friends School 5K 2011

2011-05-21T19:55:00.001-07:00

This race grew in this, its second annual incarnation. I suspect it will continue to grow. Beautiful course (and shady and flat), great tech shirt, well run. One of my favorites. This year we had the choice of a 5K or 10K. I had signed up or the 5.

Quick notes to self:

Last year, I was very pleased with my pacing. This year I was positioned to possibly PR, having done so in my last 5K a month ago (23:40). My training runs indicated a course like this could yield a 23:30.

Yeah, well. Not when I make the rookie mistake of getting sucked out too fast, which I did. My usual strategy is to keep my HR under 170 until mile 2, then finish as hard as I can. I hit 170 today at mile 1.2. Too early. In mile 3 I was redlining and trying mightily to hang on. It was a hurt worse than I’ve ever had, and I had to back off the last half mile. I was actually moaning or groaning or something, involuntarily, on every exhale. A little scary to not be able to control it. Close to losing my breakfast.

Otherwise my time was a generally acceptable 24:24 (7:51). 10th overall, 3rd AG (small field).

Some pics:

This, I believe, is the United Friends School

1st Place, Male

1st Place, Female

Sailboat party

3rd Place AG award

Couple seconds of video flavor

2011 St. Luke's Half Marathon

2011-05-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

I generally try to provide info/flavor for future internet travelers. This event is so well documented, and better photographed, that I'm just going to archive my results:

First half, and longest distance I've ever run. It was far better than I expected. I ran with a trio of young ladies all 15-20 years my junior, whom I had done a few training runs with, which made the time fly by. We did a painless 2:16:37, and finished feeling energetic, even "good." I might even be inclined to do more of these longer events.

Scheduling: I would certainly do the Race For Adam tomorrow (5/7) if I could. I recommend it but my schedule does not allow. The following weekends, time permitting, I hope to run the Jeff Duke 5K (5/14) and then the Running With Friends 5K (5/21) at Lake Nox.

Reading Area Community College 5K

2011-04-10T18:34:00.001-07:00

RACC 5K

After last week’s phoned in effort I wanted to bounce back with a hard 5K this weekend. All week I was targeting the Concordia Lutheran Academy 5K on Saturday. Couldn’t make it though, as Saturday morning my wife had one car and my 16 year old had the other. Happens a lot lately. No worries. I found the RACC 5K in Reading on Sunday. This was good luck because the RACC 5K is extremely flat (No quarter mile rises more than 20 feet, just 80 feet total ascending, whole course is net +5 feet).

Course is as flat as the stream.

RACC is in downtown Reading. In fairness to future internet travelers reading this and considering the race, the area is not exactly a tourist destination. Still, if you get good directions (and please do – there are more flavors of routes 222 and 422 then you can imagine) it’s just off of 422. I wound up driving through much of Reading. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to be in some of those places after dark.

The race area was fine.

Anyway, the race funds scholarships to RACC. With this help, just maybe some kids attend college that otherwise might not be able to. The campus is growing and doing quite well. Good for them.

The covered finish area (under the library). A really good idea, especially if the weather is bad. The whole chute was covered.

Covered finish from the inside.

I ran a very steady effort, unusual for me, must have been the flat terrain:

Kilometer	Split
1	4:43
2	4:41
3	4:42
4	4:45
5	4:46

Find Forrest in this picture.

I’ve been pondering my training, which has been more varied at the expense of less running. I think it is going well as today’s time is a PR by 3 seconds (and my previous PR was set on a net downhill course) and I’m still about 8 pounds over the weight I’d like to get back to. Average heart rate was 165. I was actually trying to push it up a bit. Average per mile was 160 / 166 / 170. I guess I should be happy since my pace was so level.

Finally, at the start line I like to play “guess the winner.” I’m getting pretty good at it, and nailed it today. Young man just looked fast and was dressed like he might run cross for someone. This was Pablo Guerra, 21, first place in 17:05.

Winner is in the white shirt with backpack. Already changed by the time I finished. Probably had time for a shower too.

Trying to break the camera.

DeSales Purple Pinkie 5K: I Can Explain

2011-04-03T16:37:00.001-07:00

When I told some coworkers – running coworkers no less – the name of this race they assumed it involved lingerie somehow. Uhm, no, I’m about 10X too uptight for that.

The Purple Pinkie is a race to raise funds to fight polio (childhood paralysis). To admit how much I don’t know about polio, I thought it had been eradicated. The good news is, it almost has been, with there being about 1,000 cases worldwide, annually. Efforts are paying off, and one day soon polio will indeed be a thing of the past. This event raised enough funds to vaccinate 10,000 children, which is something to feel great about. And that’s where the name comes in. Each child’s pinkie (which is where the shot is administered) is colored purple when they get the vaccine. This prevents accidental double dosing.

Post race, good snacks and coffee!

The race drew sixty-some runners and significantly more walkers. The course is 2 loops on DeSales beautiful campus. It’s your standard rustic good-cause-small-venue type event: You’ll do some sidewalk running, some parking lot running, a lot of passing walkers on loop 2, and some definite rolling hills. And you’ll love it, because just possibly your entry fee will put us over the top in conquering one more childhood disease.

Check in. The last t-shirt went right in front of me. No worries, purple clashes with my eyes.

The course is staffed with enthusiastic DeSales students helpfully telling you where to turn and politely lying that you’re looking good. In fact, near as I can tell the students put together and executed the whole race, and did a great job of it.

Very near the finish

They called this the first annual race, and I hope it lives on. I will be there next year if they have it. Attendance should be better, and I think it will be. There’s something energizing about the college atmosphere. As for me, I’m content to call this a hard workout. My average HR was 159, which is where I keep it on medium-hard training runs. I attribute the less than full effort to two things: (1) the first lap I held back a little because I had absolutely no idea where the course went (and it was modestly rolling hills) and (2) because after about mile 1 I was running very much alone. I could see 2 people ahead of me maybe 100 meters, and in one section where the course somewhat doubled-back I could see only 1 person within the 200M behind me. So I didn’t really get a competitive bump today, which is fine.

The finish line. Aardvark must be a sponsor, I recognize the gentleman seated as being from there.

At any rate, I averaged 8:18 miles, which wasn’t bad. I averaged 8:01 two weeks ago, and this race was hillier and I was running a little below race effort. My Garmin puts me crossing 5K at 25:54, which feels correct. A quarter mile later (yes, it was a tad long) I crossed the finish in an official time that threw me off until I checked the Garmin. An indicator of course length would be the winning time, as in first overall, which was a high 22.

Overall men's winner, sorry I don’t have a name.

Running an event that is not yet well known has its perks. I was 17th overall, and 3 of 6 in M40-49, which helps re-inflate my attitude after digesting what the clock said at the finish!

Energetic students handled everything (very well)

Awards went 3 deep all around, which means I got one. I know, I barely believe it too. Second podium finish, but the first time I didn’t know it until I got home. This time I was there to collect the bronze:

Allentown West End St. Pats 5K

2011-03-21T16:22:00.001-07:00

Allentown West End St. Paddy's Day 5K

Race Facts At A Glance:

Course Profile: Flat
Average Temperature: mid 40s.
Spectators Flagrantly Disregarding Open Container Laws: Yes

* * * * *

I got shut out of this race last year because it sells out early, and now I know why: This is a terrific 5K, maybe the best in the Lehigh Valley. It is run before the St. Paddy's parade, on the same route, so you have spectators lining the entire course. Spectators on lawn chairs, spectators dragging grills out onto the sidewalk to barbeque, spectators enjoying the day-long amnesty from drinking-in-public laws. It's 500 runners dressed like mutant leprechauns charging through the middle of a tailgate party. You can't go wrong with that format.

Once again this year the race sold out at 500 people. So it's a good sized field but the streets are wide enough to accommodate the crowd. The course itself is a smaller rectangular loop within a larger rectangular loop. It runs between 19th and 25th streets, so you always know exactly where you're at distance-wise. The Tilghman leg is slightly uphill, the Liberty leg is slightly downhill. The course is run widdershins, as all races should be. Try running clockwise on a track some day. It’s just…wrong.

I'm a dog lover and have no issue with people racing with their best friends. A little common sense comes in handy though. Before the start, runner/dog combos were asked to move to the back of the pack, which they did. But then no more than 200 meters into the race a guy with a dog blasted by me, trying to make up way too much ground so early in such a big field. After passing me he jumped onto the sidewalk to go around more people. He held the leash in his right hand. The dog veered around behind him, to his left side. Then I noticed they were heading directly for a utility pole that would have to pass between them, in the area currently occupied by the leash. That seldom ends well.

I'm thinking, he *has* to see that pole, doesn't he? But his actions up to this point led me to think he might not be the sharpest tool in the shed. Maybe he had partaken of some revelry already, I don't know. Anyway, he continues full bore toward the pole, oblivious, and I'm just helplessly watching the impending train wreck. Less than a meter from the pole, the dog slams on the brakes and his loose collar slips right off, no worries. The guy doesn't even realize what happened, or that the dog is no longer attached, until the dog passes him about 25 meters later. Apparently this gentleman's one good life choice was selecting a dog much smarter than himself. More likely the dog adopted him, out of sympathy.

My Race Performance / Experience (Tip: Most people skip this part)

During the race I watched two runners accept beers from enthusiastic spectators. Where else do you see that? The smell of barbeque was in the air, which was delightful and cruel at the same time. I could have been talked into stopping for some, had someone offered. There's a water stop midway and splits at miles 1 and 2. I know it's fairly pointless to take water in a 5K, but going camping when you have a perfectly good house is also pointless, and I do that too. So I grabbed a gulp just to wet my throat and cough and sputter and completely disrupt my breathing. Jill was staffing the water table and gave me a shout out. Thanks Jill!

In the home stretch I also got called out on the PA by race director and friend Mike Drabenstott, which was cool, like an Ironman finish. By my Timex I finished in 24:56 (8:01), probably a couple seconds slower gun time. I'm very happy with the time, particularly for early in the year.

Tips for Future People Considering or Doing This Race

- Do it. It's flat and the party atmosphere is great. Register early, it sells out.
- Parking: Even up to 30 minutes before the gun (vuvuzela, actually) there was still plenty of parking on Ott street, south of Liberty. This is a good choice. It's a 5 minute walk to registration and starting line, and it is outside of the parade and race route, so you won't get barricaded in for hours. I recommend parking pointing south, and you'll leave easily even as 10,000 people descend on the area for the parade.
- There's a bag drop so you can wear warm ups or a light jacket until close to race time, which can be handy in March.
- You can also wait indoors pre-race, where it's warm. And there are indoor facilities, which is nice.
- Organization / volunteers are great. Check in took about 3 seconds. There's also water before the race. I may be quirky, but I always like a few cups in the last 30 minutes. Probably a nervous habit but it keeps my busy.
- Good food afterwards. Fruit, bagels, wraps (I had Turkey).
- I had to leave before the awards so I can't tell you about that.
- Big crowd and large parade after the race if you want to hang around. I imagine spectators will offer you a beer, maybe barbeque. And maybe you'll see some guy being driven home by his dog.

Spring Training

2011-03-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

Regular readers, if any remain, will ask "So, did you completely and totally change your training approach again this month?" Coincidentally, yes.

What happened is, for my birthday my wife (totally) surprised me with a membership to HPC fitness. It's a beautiful facility. So I find myself doing much more varied training. The plus side is that I'm putting in more time, though less running-specific time. I've started doing supplemental things like weights, and silly things like biking and swimming (don't even suggest it). It's about being rounded, for this month anyway.

They have 70+ classes a week, so I might even entertain spinning, or cardio kick boxing, or some other such folly. To be honest I fear the spinning class from what I've read about those things from some of you.

Yes, I have in the past poked fun at people for driving somewhere so they could run on a coal-powered, indoor sidewalk. And now I have joined them.

St. Pat's 5K tomorrow should provide some pictures. Watch this space for an unnecessarily long winded report. I'm still woefully (14 pegs) above the weight I PR'ed at, but at least moving in the right direction.

Scratch That

2011-02-11T12:48:00.001-08:00

Last May due to family scheduling stuff I had to scratch the the LVHM 5K. It was disappointing because I was in shape to possibly PR. Which is why scratching from the Super Bowl 10K last Sunday, for the same reason, was not all that disappointing. I’m a few ultras away from PR shape. The weather here has been horrendous. My last run before what would have been the SB10K was the prior Sunday, an 8 miler on ice.

So, I'm far from peaked. The SB10K would have been a nice long run workout, but that is all. I had to miss it, but no big deal. And I did manage to pick up the technical shirt!

Since I have no race report, here's some actual content:

Article dismissive of gyms and trainers

http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness-is-a-lie

Teaser quotes:

Commercial health clubs need about 10 times as many members as their facilities can handle, so designing them for athletes, or even aspiring athletes, makes no sense...The winning marketing strategy, according to Recreation Management Magazine, a health club industry trade rag, focuses strictly on luring in the “out-of-shape public,” meaning all of those people whose doctors have told them, “About 20 minutes three times a week,” who won’t come often if ever, and who definitely won’t join unless everything looks easy, available, and safe. The entire gym, from soup to nuts, has been designed around getting suckers to sign up, and then getting them mildly, vaguely exercised every once in a long while, and then getting them out the door.

According to a Club Industry magazine article by one Nic DeCaire, owner of something called the Fusion Fitness Center in Newark, Delaware, most trainers teach “just enough so that the trainer remains more valuable and indispensable.” The same article encourages gym owners to fire any trainer who dresses for work in workout clothes instead of slacks and a polo.

Article suggesting women gain weight via exercise

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18exercise-t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me

Teaser quotes:

"“In general, exercise by itself is pretty useless for weight loss,” says Eric Ravussin, a professor at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., and an expert on weight loss. It’s especially useless because people often end up consuming more calories when they exercise."
"18 overweight men and women walked on treadmills in multiple sessions…but the women uniformly had increased blood concentrations of acylated ghrelin and decreased concentrations of insulin after the sessions in which they had eaten less than they had burned. Their bodies were directing them to replace the lost calories. In physiological terms, the results “are consistent with the paradigm that mechanisms to maintain body fat are more effective in women,” Braun and his colleagues wrote. In practical terms, the results are scientific proof that life is unfair. Female bodies, inspired almost certainly “by a biological need to maintain energy stores for reproduction,” Braun says, fight hard to hold on to every ounce of fat. Exercise for many women (and for some men) increases the desire to eat."

Minimalist bike. Because readers love pictures.

http://www.innercitybikes.com/bikes/

I’ve agreed to run an 8K for a charity team in March. And I’m scheduled for a group 9 mile training run Sunday if the schedule allows, which looks about 50/50 right now.

2011

2011-01-01T17:28:00.001-08:00

You may have noticed I constantly re-evaluate what I’m doing. So it will be no surprise I’m changing approaches, again.

The Daniel’s speed work has been good, but I wonder if this is the time of year to be doing 2 speed workouts a week. After considering it, I believe I can benefit the most from two things: mileage and consistency.

I use some weird mental accounting. For instance, Christmas week was a loss for running. So, I’ll be considering going for a run but, knowing that week is already blown, I might hold off so the miles fall into the following week. I know, stupid.

So, I’ve picked a simple goal to encourage consistency and mileage, and to discourage irrational mental accounting: Run 1000 miles in 2011. That’s it. About 3 miles a day, on average, every day.

I’m signed up or the half, so I need to get miles in, and longer runs. I think this will work well. And every day counts, no more thinking in weekly blocks….until I change the plan again ;-)

Some traditional January 1 Parkway pics from today ( a very mild, 50* day):

Footing is reasonable. As always, the north side is mushier than the south side.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T18:53:00.001-08:00

Daniels W5

2010-12-12T18:23:00.001-08:00

4 runs for 17.xx miles (haven’t downloaded the data yet, but that should be right).

I’m happy with myself for sticking to a plan for 5 weeks. And happy I ran tonight. I was beat, it was a brutally long day that started at 6:30. First chance I had to run came at 8:45 tonight, coincidentally kickoff time for Dallas / Philly. It’s cold and raining. I went anyway (and stepped in a huge puddle the first 10 meters).

Very glad I stayed with the program. Go Dallas!

Hurry!

2010-12-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

You can watch the Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals in about 90 minutes (11 am EST 12/11) here:

http://www.footlockercc.com/2010/webcast.shtml

I assume replays will be available. I want to see this Lukas Verzbicas everyone is talking about.

Daniel’s Weak 4

2010-12-05T17:05:00.001-08:00

Yes, weak not week. 8.3 miles in 2 workouts before succumbing to a nasty cold. I probably could have been back on the road today but decided not to push it.

My next event will be the Super Bowl 10K on 2/6/11, which I’m registered for.

In a lapse of attention I also allowed myself to be talked into signing up for the LV Half Marathon (Not the 5K). My boss at work is a new runner, less experienced than me even. And she’s been pressuring me. You know, “If I can do it so can you.” So, anyway, I’m signed up. Guess I need to start stretching the long runs.

Daniel’s Week 3

2010-11-28T17:38:00.001-08:00

4 workouts (no surprise with the holiday) for 15.xx miles. This is still on schedule as Daniel’s calls for 4 or more.

I feel some fitness seeping back, which is great. Today I ran the same 4 loops around Trexler Park as I did last Sunday, at the same HR, but 50 secs/mi faster. It’s a nice feeling.

Daniel’s Week 2

2010-11-21T16:59:00.001-08:00

5 workouts, 23.45 miles. Time was 3:55. So far so good.

I read California Training. The author, Beth, wrote about wearing compression tights…for recovery. Well, don’t I feel dumb. I have 3 pairs of tights. I thought they were for running in the cold (well, you can do that too.) I never thought of using them for recovery. Being a little stiff today, I tried it. Wow, it actually works. I don’t know if you recover faster, but it feels great. Worth about 2 Aleve in my book.

I wonder what else I’m astoundingly uninformed about.

And, because you know you want a picture, here’s a picture:

NTTAWWT

Trying to look up Philadelphia marathon results for Jill and a friend at work. It appears the site is currently overwhelmed.

Daniels Red Plan Week 1 Summary

2010-11-14T16:06:00.001-08:00

One week in the can. Having a program makes it much harder to skip workouts. Don’t want a big old hole in the stats where there’s a scheduled workout. Ran 6 days: 3 easy, 2 speed[1], 1 long.

22.71 miles, 3:50 time running, 10:08 avg pace, 150 avg heart rate.

I’m very pleased with the week. Some question about avg heart rate – I think my sensors may be missing a few beats in the cold. No matter.

Snapped a few pics of the Parkway in mid November today.

[1] For some values of “speed.” My value, anyway.

Better

2010-11-13T17:59:00.001-08:00

After Wednesday’s fiasco, I ratcheted down my VDOT from 38 (24:45 5K) to 35 (27:00) 5k. Tonight’s workout called for 6 times 1 kilometer at threshold pace. For vdot 35, T pace is 9:07 per mile (5:40 per kilometer.) Results:

5:36

5:32

5:34

5:31

Much better. Worked hard but I was capable of finishing the workout. This Daniel’s guy must have some experience in training. Maybe I’ll shut up and trust him for a few weeks.

I ran this at night (of course) over pretty varied terrain. I’m surprised how relatively close I came to hitting right on 5:40.

Now here’s an unrelated picture, because people love pictures.

Hitting the Jack Daniels…

2010-11-11T13:03:00.001-08:00

…training plan, of course. Don't know what you were thinkin'. Specifically, the red one. I've always trained willy nilly (pardon my technical language) so I figured it was time to try something systematic. Monday was Week 1 Day 1. It's a 16 week plan. I'm a little concerned about completing today's workout, which is my first set of intervals, as RX'ed because I'm out of shape and I picked a VDOT of 38, which corresponds to a 24:45 5K, which is about where I left off -- but I doubt I could break 27 right now. All I’ve done the last few months is gain 6 pounds. Anyway, tonight is supposed to be 3 X 1 mi @ 8:33 with 1 min rest. That sounds pretty intimidating at this time, but I'll give it my best.

- - - - -

This should be interesting:

Seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong will be turning to triathlon and racing in the 2011 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, according to his long-time coach Chris Carmichael. It is unclear at this point where or how Armstrong plans to qualify for the world championship race.

My first thought is if I was a strong non-pro 140.6er like DCRainmaker, how cool would it be to beat Lance Armstrong in an endurance event? Lance "only" ran an 18:40 5k.

- - - - -

Those lying haberdashers

I should have realized this was happening, since I'm wearing 32s just like in high school, but as of today I'm 20 pounds heavier. In fact, I did some "pre" measurements for P90X (which I do willy nilly) and couldn't figure out why my waist seemed to be 35. Mystery solved. I should switch to Old Navy – I could probably fit in 30s.

- - - - -

I'm reading a great data geek book: The Perfection Point. It explores the theoretical limits of human performance. From the dust cover:

Combining cutting-edge science with the fundamentals of each sport, Brenkus answers questions as old as competition itself, exploring the outer realm of what's possible in athletics. Using engrossing and accessible language, he applies statistics, physics, and physiology to uncover perfection points such as:

•       the highest dunk
•       the longest home run
•       the fastest mile
•       the longest golf drive
•       the heaviest bench press

That is to say, the author tries to establish the asymptote for each event, the mark which humans will get infinitely closer to, but never cross. He also calculates the fastest humanly possible marathon. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but one hint: the predicted bound for the marathon is under 2 hours. So we have a ways to go, especially with Geb retiring (maybe).

- - - - -

JD update: Oh, the humanity! Did the first one in 8:44, which is a fail, but that took 9x% effort. Halfway through the second I was toasted, but kept stumbling through for a 9:44. Made myself shuffle out the last one as a punishment for hubris. It took me, no kidding, 12:07. It was horrible. I guess the lesson is there are no shortcuts. I’m not in 24:45 shape and have no business running that workout. I’m resetting my vdot to a 28 or 29 minute 5K and running the workouts I’m supposed to be running for my current level of non-fitness.

Bear Creek Trail 10K

2010-07-18T16:25:00.001-07:00

The Xterra series came to Bear Creek in Macungie today, offering a choice of 10K or 21K on the rocky ski slope trails.

Thoroughly unprepared, I opted to run the 10K as a hard workout. I succeeded in working pretty hard. But not deathly so.

The 10 and 21K crowds went out together. Topographically, the course can be thought of as lollipop shaped.

That is, there was an “out” segment, followed by a loop, then athletes return back via the “out” section. The 21K crowd did the loop twice. If you think like me, it would seem mathematically impossible for the long course to be more than double the short course, or even exactly double. It has to be less than double since only a portion of it was run twice, but whatever, it doesn’t really matter.

I knew from recent lack of training I wasn’t ready to red line it for 6.2 hilly miles, so I seeded myself at the back, as usual. The out/back segment was said to be a mile although I think it was a little less. The loop segment was entirely single track and quite rocky. When we hit the single track, I had myself second to last (one stubborn runner wouldn’t go in front of me.) So for the entire first half, a group of about 15 of us slow folks ran single file, power hiking the steeper sections. The end result was a 10K time of 1:29, versus the winning time of 50:xx. Yes, I didn’t race the course and actually took it pretty easy and don’t regret it. My actual splits were almost right on 60/30, a huge negative split! [Edit to seem slightly less pathetic: only 4 of 82 entrants finished in under 1 hour.]

Above is a generic scene from the start / finish. The shirtless gentleman in the foreground is the 21K winner, whose name I’ve forgotten, but he ran like 1:31, very nearly lapping me. I’m amazed at his ability to safely find footing at that speed, even moreso than at his aerobic capacity. I saw 4 people go down with sprained ankles (some pretty bad) and 3 general falls. Came close a few times myself and I have a bruise from wedging my foot between two rocks. You really have to maintain focus at this course.

First woman, roughly 1:50.

Jill looking fit and strong, 6th female in the 21K.

Death by comfy chair

2010-07-15T18:36:00.001-07:00

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/phys-ed-the-men-who-stare-at-screens/

Men who spent more than 23 hours a week watching TV and sitting in their cars (as passengers or as drivers) had a 64 percent greater chance of dying from heart disease than those who sat for 11 hours a week or less. What was unexpected was that many of the men...also exercised...their risk of heart disease soared, despite the exercise. Their workouts did not counteract the ill effects of sitting.

You know, I wish these buzzkill scientists would get dates instead of spending all their time finding another thing I have to worry about dying from. Seriously, now it's not enough to exercise? If I work at a computer, which I do, my destiny is to flop face down and die with a caps lock key poking me in the left eye? "How did Bob die?" "Sadly, he sat himself to death. Another furniture related tragedy."

Moving on, in the bicycling world of course the big story is that I got my busted rear DR fixed this week. There's also some kind of event going on in France. Anyway, just a positive mention for the folks at South Mountain Cycles in Emmaus: New DR, $25. Labor, $7.50. I almost can't believe I can get something done in this country for 8 bucks in labor charges. Plus I enjoyed a good coffee and watched the TdF on their flat screen for the 15 minutes it took to get immediate service. Great job. Now if I could just get Mark or Eric to ride with me I'd be set.

But I can't, so I guess I'll run. I probably haven't run over 3 miles in a month. So of course I'm planning to do a trail 10K this Sunday, at a ski slope. Yes, I’m completely unprepared and fully expect to be breathing hard enough to suck pine cones directly off the ground, but I'm looking forward to it anyway. I enjoy the trails. I'll report back with some pictures if I don't have a heart attack from sitting in my car on the drive over. I wonder if I should carry water? Nah.

On the good news front, there will be a second annual Bruiser 5K on September 25th, and Anna, my oldest, has been doing some light training. Clearly she wants to avenge her loss to her younger sister at last summer's contest. Team Casey will be there.

Blurb

2010-07-07T18:27:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note to let you know I’m alive. I ran yesterday and today for the first time in maybe 3 weeks (been working on my deck – good choice for 100+* weather). Despite the heat it felt wonderful to get my system moving.

My main point in posting is to encourage you to enter DC Rainmaker’s latest giveaway at:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/07/garmin-forerunner-110-giveaway.html

And even if you don’t enter, just enjoy reading on of the best running blogs out there.

If I can train steadily the next 2 weeks, I may try the 10K XTERRA trail run at Bear Creek on the 18th. Strictly as a hard training run, of course.

Run For The Swimmers

2010-06-13T14:50:00.001-07:00

This Saturday I did a 4 mile trail run to benefit the Nazareth High School Swim & Dive Teams. It was held at Jacobsburg State Park, which is a beautiful area. The course was great, lots of single track (which I’m liking more and more). Mostly rolling, one very tough hill. Recommended, I will do this one again if possible.

I’ll keep my story short and get to the pictures. I seeded dead last, which I like because then I can only be RE-passed, and that didn’t happen. We went out conga-line style. Around mile 1 I found a group of 3 women who seemed to be moving at a good pace. The front two were talking about the LV half, and I decided they were faster than me and I would just try to keep in contact. At mile 2 one girl dropped off, then we were three. At mile 3 the woman who I thought was the strongest dropped off. So for the last mile I chatted with the remaining runner, who looked familiar, but I had figured I just saw her at some other race. Turns out she worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers, and had been an external auditor at ppl a few years back – when I had been an internal auditor. So we had indeed crossed paths before. I hung with her and did the challenging course in 40:43. The effort felt faster (I thought I was turning about 8:30s), but that’s trail running. I was happy with the results. Trail runs are not the place to shoot for PRs.

It was a typical trail event. No mile markers. At the finish, no one ripped a tag from your bib, they just wrote down (I assume) your number. No finisher board or anything. I have no idea where I finished relative to others. I asked if the results would be online. Nope. That’s a trail run. And I really liked it.

Rabbit near the start.

Double track.

Dry creek crossing.

Same crossing, foot for scale.

There was a decent but manageable amount of mud.

Typical, avoidable puddle.

Bring bug spray.

Stream crossing, one of two, about mid-shin deep.

Another stream pic. I stopped taking pics here, didn’t want to get my shoes water logged any sooner than necessary.

Argh!

2010-05-23T17:13:00.001-07:00

I podiumed yesterday and didn’t know it! I left because Sarah was waiting to go to Barnes & Noble. Oh well, more time at B&N with Sar beats some probably useless award (I don’t know what the awards were). Just that being the first time I ever won one, it would have been cool.

I should have run down that 11 year old. Next time, kid.

United Friends School 5K

2010-05-22T15:26:00.001-07:00

If I could bottle the pacing of a race, I would save this one. For once I think I paced myself well.

Mile	Pace	Elv Cng	Avg HR
1	8:02	-9	150
2	7:53	-24	164
3	7:54	+20	166
3.11	6:18	0	177

United Friends School 5K was held at Lake Nockamixon on a course to my liking. Paved, shady trail with only very minor rolling hills.

There was a pretty respectable crowd of 180 for an underpublicized event (thanks again, Lehigh Valley Running Scene for making me aware of this one). The first quarter mile or so was pretty crowded on a trail perhaps 8 feet wide.

Lake Nox Marina

I really like wooded courses more than urban asphalt. Just more pleasant.

I arrived an hour early, per packet pickup protocol. In the parking area I spotted a young man of 20-something, about 6’2” and maybe 140 pounds, wearing a college XC shirt, already glazed in sweat. He was warming up not only his legs but was doing arm warm-ups, stretches, etc. I suspected he was taking this pretty seriously and thought to myself, “There is the winner.” I was right. He ran 16:xx.

Bouncy castles.

More Lake Nox. Only 30 minutes from my house, we’ll have to camp or boat ride here. Never been there before, it’s very pretty.

I spotted a couple young people in college or high school XC singlets, and they were fast. Mostly though it was your usual low key 5K crowd. Legendary running icon Bart Yasso was on hand. For a donation of any amount to UFS he gave you a free, signed copy of his book on his dime. He also signed shirts for all the kids. He strikes me as a genuinely good guy. At the start he also introduced his wife, so I was able to recognize her when she flew past me at mile 1. She was the only person to pass me.

Start of the kid’s fun run. You do NOT want to be in the way.

For the race itself I had a simple plan: Don't exceed a 170 HR until mile 2, then whatever. That’s it, and it went very well. At mile 1 I felt strong but also felt like I had worked not just coasted. Mile 2 was challenging but I didn’t burn out. Mile 3 was a hard, steady effort to hold the pace. I feel I’ve never run a more balanced race before and hope I can replicate this in the future.

Got the pacing right, for once.

The narrow but very pleasant, shaded trail.

Per the Garmin I ran 24:10 for a 7:55 pace. I’m sure Pretzel City will tack on 2-3 seconds from the gun until I crossed the start. [Edit: Indeed, officially 24:15] Garmin also had it at 3.06 miles. So I’m sticking with the Garmin pace and calling it 24:35 which is what it should be for 7:55 at a full 5K. I was 30th overall.

I love races where the entry price is what you would pay for the tech shirt anyway. I also find I’m liking the loose fit style. My first 2 tech shirts were Under Armour. They work great for sweat wicking, but when you’re 45 and juuuust south of overweight on the BMI scale, you appreciate the loose fit a little better than the painted-on look.

Recovery Day

2010-05-16T18:15:00.001-07:00

Having raced (such as it is) yesterday, I thought a low key 40 minute mountain bike ride would be ideal for recovery today. So I rode to the Parkway and, near the Parkway North bridge, noticed some single track I recognized from Herbert's Off-road Run.

It doesn’t say “Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter,” but it probably should.

Due to my lack of mad single track skilz I had to walk some of the tighter sections.

It’s hard to tell from this angle, but standard bike pedals will not fit through the gap between the two large rocks in the lower right.

A better angle of part of this rock garden.

A woodpile still marked from last July. Thank you mister race director, for tipping me off to go over. Tunneling would have been much slower.

A bigger wood obstacle that wasn’t there during Herbert’s. Bike is there for scale. Counting foliage it was easily over my head.

How tough is this trail? It eats derailleur's for breakfast. Mine, at least. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I picked up a branch and one half crank later I was dragging the derailleur. Broke right where it attaches to the rear axle. I’m hoping I only need to replace part of the derailleur, like a mounting bracket. It’s a Shimano Altus. Any of you bike folks know if this is the case? Regardless, I had to push the bike out of the woods and all the way home (since I rode to the Parkway, nice). About 3 miles. I didn’t even want to coast the down hills because the derailleur could have swung into the rear spokes easily enough.

Back in my driveway.

Undaunted, I drove back to the Parkway to do some easy running on the single track.

Another minor hurdle.

Downhill loose footing.

A de-ankulator section. Scale, my foot = about 1 foot.

Crawling section (under those two trees), some sweaty guy for scale.

So my recovery day turned into a mountain bike / push a bike / run triple event. Somehow it was still kind of fun.

Jeff Duke Memorial 5K

2010-05-15T18:45:00.001-07:00

Saturday, 5/15, the Jeff Duke Memorial 5K was held at Macungie Park. The 5K is one part of a larger 2 day event dedicated to combating cancer. I discovered this is the 3rd annual running. Despite being in my back yard, I had never heard of it. This year, thanks to Jill’s excellent Lehigh Valley Running Scene, I heard about it and attended.

Menu of events

Lately, my weekly mileage has sounded like a Grade Point Average, and some weeks not even a particularly impressive GPA. Think Mister Blutarsky. So it was with some trepidation that I headed to the race, mentally composing a Personal Worst post in my head, hoping not to go north of 27. But I needed a hard workout and having picked up Daniel’s Running Formula again after a series of narratives, I was interested in establishing a VDOT to throw in maybe one structured workout a week.

The course is laid out around the festival, not the other way around. If you enlarge it, you can see there are multiple turnarounds where people are running in the other direction and a few somewhat contrived turns to hit the 3.11 distance. It looks kind of like Brownian Motion, which is a fancy term I learned from our quants that means “random.” It sounds like a better explanation for, say, the movement of a stock price than “it sure beats me.” Not that I understand the quants anyway. They are all genius Chinese math PhDs, many of whom speak several words of broken English like “eigenvector” which I wouldn’t know it meant even if I could understand them. I usually just say “What?” five or six times then go ask someone else. The suspicious side of me always thinks they are saying “D-bag says what?” in Cantonese, then laughing until they cry when I leave. No matter.

The race featured 150+ runners and walkers, although I don’t know the exact breakdown -- probably about half and half -- and many perky dogs. The course was fairly flat, with about 250 total feet of elevation change. A small amount of it is on grass and gravel, but mostly streets and sidewalks.

Before long we were off. I had my G305 configured to display HR and distance only. My plan was to keep my HR in the 160s for mile 1, then 170-172 for mile 2, then to let it fly if possible. I came pretty close:

I felt pretty good through mile 2, but found that 170-172 was about all I had in the tank. I couldn’t really pick it up for mile 3, which opened with the only real hill.

Splits came out like this:

Mile	Split Pace
1	7:50
2	8:01
3	8:25
3.11	7:50
Race	8:05

So that was a 25:12 by Garmin, 25:14 officially, which was well better than I expected. I did get beat by a Labrador Retriever, but all in all I’m very happy with the time. I was aiming for a negative split, which I obviously missed, but I didn’t blow it too horribly.

Given the small field and that this is an underpublicized “festival” run, I was 25th overall. I forget the winning time but believe it was 21:xx. Normally I don’t entertain thoughts of a podium finish, but when I found out I was 25th I thought I would check just in case. The official distribution was of particular interest to 45 year olds, of which I am one, because they were giving plaques to the top 3 in, among other groups, “30 to 45,” and “45 and over.” Which would it be? Turns out I am considered 30 to 45. Had I been “45 and older” I would have podiumed. So look for me at this event next year.

Festive atmosphere

It was the blurst of times

2010-04-23T18:46:00.001-07:00

Blurst? You stupid monkey!

Through the end of March I was running workouts about 15 seconds faster (per mile) than same time last year. That was good. With my ‘A’ race, the LVH 5K looming on 4/25 I was well positioned to PR and was starting to think sub 23 might be possible.

April to date I have 4 runs in, of 6,3,3 and 2 miles. It’s my job. I’m putting in extra time here and there and often on Saturday and Sunday. Not tons, mind you, but take 5 hours out of my existing week and it puts training in serious peril. It is at a point I can only train by carving out time from my kids, which I’m not about to do. To illustrate my lack of free time, not only have I not blogged, I’m about 3 weeks behind in reading you guys! That’s bad. I have lost fitness and of now would be looking more at 25-26. But I was still looking forward to the race. That was good.

I will NOT be able to make the race, I just learned, due to my nephews First Communion. That’s bad, running wise anyway.

Anyway, after next week the 4 regulatory reports we are crunching will HAVE to be done and issued, so I expect life to return more to it’s routine chaotic normal and I can get back to business.

And that will be good.

Pediatric Cancer Foundation 8K – Ironton Rail Trail

2010-03-21T18:27:00.001-07:00

tl;dr: 8K in 43:23 / 8:44 pace.

Longer version:

I’ve been waiting for a favorable window to get in an early season event. This weekend the chance came up. My first choice would have been the St. Patrick’s Day 5K in Allentown on Sunday, but that was full. So I went with a race day entry to the PCF 8K at the Ironton Rail Trail. I’ve previously biked this loop so I know it a bit.

Don Fisher / Morning Call

I would have preferred a 5K at this point, instead of 5 miles, but you take what you can get.

As is tradition, I arrived with nary a moment to spare, and took my place at the back of the run pack, ahead of the walkers, literally less than one minute before the gun. The relatively narrow trail was pretty full. Garmin tells me this resulted in a first half mile pace of 10:29. I believe this to be correct. We pulled out pretty slowly, and you really couldn’t do anything but go with the flow. I’m guestimating it was a full minute until I passed the true start line. So be it, it was all good.

I ran a total negative split, with every mile being faster than the last. That was great. I felt perfect at mile 1, and “good” even at mile 4. It was really only in the last half mile, which I covered in a 7:42 pace, that I felt like I was really pushing at all. The loop was net uphill (not a full circuit) with the final mile being about +50 feet.

So, mediocre time, great experience. I will try to run more races like that: speeding up the whole way. I must have passed 100-150 people and did not get passed myself. This was great, psychologically.

Good early season effort, if not a stellar time.

Trudging along

2010-03-07T17:18:00.001-08:00

Ran the Parkway loop today. It is about 10% snow and slush, 30% mud, 60% good. It is passable, hopefully in really good shape in the next week or two.

I was happy with the effort. I’d estimate I’m just a little bit ahead of where I was this time last year. Thursday I turned a fast ~5 miles at 8:57 pace while Anna was in dance class, but that was on asphalt in a flat parking lot. 15.27 miles this week, I’d have liked to have gotten one more run in. I’d still rather be more in the 25-30 zone to make improvements over last year.

Beautiful day. The weatherman said it was in the mid 50s. I wore shorts and a long sleeve UA Heat Gear top, and it was a bit too hot in that, mainly the turtle-neck part of the UA shirt. After the run, my car, which had been parked in the sun, read 70.

Life is getting back to it’s chaotic normal, which is good. Hoping for a solid week. I’ll leave you with this thought provoking tidbit:

Blinded by science

2010-03-04T20:00:00.001-08:00

I've tried to be scientific. Oh, I have tried. I'm done with that now. Science is clearly a scam. Here's my new theory: weight fluctuations are controlled by alien space rays, and the aliens are evil.

I now know this because I steadily and invariably gained weight from January 1 through late February without missing a single day of training. And I watched what I ate, mostly.

Last week I did nothing. Not a thing. And I mostly ate food that kind friends had brought over in bulk. Which means lasagna, meatballs, antipasto, more lasagna, pizza twice.

Monday I weighed in down 2 pounds at 183 flat.

There is no other rational explanation. The aliens must be watching through their mega-telescope and laughing themselves sick. "Wait, he's training and eating salad again. What say next week we hit him with 187?"

* * * * *

There is a 4 miler in Quakertown this coming Saturday. I'm thinking about driving down to log an early season race time to extrapolate my Daniel's VDOT so I can maybe start following his training plan. It would be an early morning and I haven't checked the family schedule yet, so it is a maybe.

Found on a Fiji spring water at Whole Foods:

Downer. I’m not militant green but I try not to destroy the place. I don’t drink much bottled water but when I do there’s something about Fiji I like. Now when I drink it, which I still will, I’ll feel bad. Way to pee in the punchbowl, man.

Back

2010-02-28T17:40:00.001-08:00

I lost my mom last Sunday, somewhat unexpectedly. She had been sick, though none of us that she was that close to the end. We’ll miss her terribly and I consider myself lucky to have had her for almost 45 years. She was 38 when I was born. I don’t think I was planned ;-). Running actually would have been good therapy, taking my mind elsewhere. But between travel and the weather and dealing with everything I did no training for a week.

I was back in the Parkway today. It’s the worst footing I’ve ever seen. Where shade predominates (about 2/3s), there’s still 8 inches of snow varying from slushy to ankle turningly compacted. Where the sun shines, there is mud. Lots of it. I had a sneaker sucked off in the first 50 feet today. It was kind of odd as there were still quite a few cross country skiers out. They would have to tote their skis over the muddy segments and I would have to trudge through the snowy ones. Not sure who looked sillier. At any rate, I settled for a slow, difficult 3.06 today, with no point in considering the time. That brought me to 50.14 for February and 125.56 YTD. Tomorrow is a new day.

Last Saturday, I actually did a structured workout. I know, hard to believe. At Trexler Park I tried some repeats, having skimmed a few pages of Daniel’s Running Formula which I had just purchased.

1.21 – warm up @ 9:21, once around the lower loop.

Then 3 repeats of most of the lower loop, which has about a 50 foot climb but the segment I chose is net –29 feet in total.

1.04 @ 8:37 (I was aiming for 8:55, which I approximate to be my ‘T’ pace, whatever that is exactly. Went a little fast, and I am reading up on the virtues of NOT going too fast).

1.04 @ 8:40

1.04 @ 8:26

1.21 – cool down @ 10:07

3 minute, 1/5 mile walk between repeats (completing the lower loop).

It was actually kind of fun, which I did not expect. Here are some pics:

General Harry Trexler

Harry’s cabin

My own self, in traditional running garb

Well, lots of blog reading to catch up on…..

15 Minutes

2010-02-17T19:25:00.001-08:00

In training, good strength circuit yesterday. Tonight was 5.95 in 58:52. Felt good.

BTW on the LV Running Scene main page, this is me:

Where’s Bobdo?

Ankles of Steel Workout

2010-02-15T13:08:00.001-08:00

That's what I did today.

But first, update on days I didn’t blog (I’m lowering my posting frequency. You’re welcome.)

Sat: 2.97 @ 9:41, and strength training

Sun: 2.97 @ 9:17

Last week: 17.06, YTD: 111.18

OK, today was 3.00 @ 11:36. 11:36? Was it fatigue? Nope, it was the course, which was not set up for speed:

It was set up for snow shoeing, and in fact I saw people doing just that.

Strapped on the spikes and got quite the stabilizer workout anyway.

Born To Run

I finished the book Born To Run, which is subtitled, “A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen”

This was an enjoyable read. I liked it more for the scientific bent than the race narrative, which is still pretty good. This book is the anti-running shoe bible and is mostly about the Tarahumara tribe. A people living a very basic existence in the Sierra Madres who happen to be fantastic distance runners. The author explores why they are so naturally good (and long lived and injury free). He seems to attribute their success to a simple, natural, mostly vegetarian diet and minimal footwear.

To the footwear point, he makes his case strongly enough that I’m considering getting these:

I’m not generally in tune with or concerned about fashion. However, to me those shoes really look like they belong on someone like this:

So you know I’m pretty sold on the minimal footwear theory if I’m considering buying and being seen in them. Of the whole book, a single sentence supporting barefoot running resonated most strongly with me. I may be paraphrasing, but it asked: “What design engineer would ever, ever, consider supporting an arch from below?”

That’s a very good question.

Overall I recommend the book as interesting and informative, but wouldn’t put it in the “must read” category. Today I started this one:

Finally, look for a bit of a surprise here on Wednesday.

A good title escapes me

2010-02-12T19:39:00.001-08:00

Theoatmeal.com has some witty comics, such as how to suck at Facebook.

This twitter comic ("10 things you need to stop tweeting about") kind of rang a bell ;-)

I indeed blab my daily routine for selfish purposes, certainly not to impress anyone, which my routine wouldn't. It's to nudge *me* to do the workout, no matter what. Srsly. Anyway, after today I may update a little less frequently, but I'll still document each day's activity for my own purposes. I know reading the daily mileage log of a slow 5K competitor is less than riveting entertainment. For example:

Coincidences worked out today. With work and a daddy/daughter dinner dance, my schedule was jammed. I ran my streak-keeper 1.2 mile loop. It worked out, because my entre body (not just legs) felt like lead so an easy day was in order. Psychologically I was down as well, having scaled in at 184.5 today. Darn scale only knows one direction, up.

Tomorrow is another day.

New LV Running web site

2010-02-11T18:24:00.001-08:00

Strength circuit today.

In more exciting news, if you’re in NE PA (or aren’t!) be sure to check out this page:

http://lvrunningscene.com/

Given what I know about the creator, I have no doubt it will be an invaluable local resource and fun to read. Jill is a great runner and writer and very dedicated to the sport. Check it out!

Neat, I can find myself in this picture from the lvrunningscene main page:

Is shoveling good exercise?

2010-02-10T19:25:00.001-08:00

Where others saw a foot of wet snow, I saw a data gathering opportunity. Shoveled my driveway in almost exactly one hour…with the Garmin on. I always thought shoveling was pretty good exercise. To be sure, it burns some calories and you get some great fresh air. But, apparently, it’s not much by way of cardio.

57 calories? Wth?

To be fair, mister Garmin was calculating my calories burned by “running” 0.63 miles at a blistering 92 minute per mile pace. But the part to note is the average heart rate. 100? Not really cardio.

I’m really enjoying being back in the fitness lifestyle. In my strength circuit, I specifically included stiff leg dead lifts due to memories of a sore back from shoveling in the past. No soreness at all today. I’m thrilled to report I feel better, by quite a bit, in my mid 40s than I did in my md 30s. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.

Nightfall brought a dilemma. I did strength yesterday, so I couldn’t do that today. Don’t have a treadmill. Well, if I let a little whiteout be an excuse to skip training I could probably pull out some kind of excuse 9 days out of 10.

So out I went.

I love the snow. Makes it almost as bright as day once your eyes adjust. I’m sure I could have run the parkway without benefit of a headlight. As it was, 3.91 @ 10:46 pace with 27 very strange looks and 1 “man you are hard core.”

Born To Run

2010-02-09T19:15:00.001-08:00

Strength circuit today. It’s up to 40 minutes and I’ve bumped up some intensities. It’s pretty good work now, but still no movements go to momentary muscle failure. I think it’s better to go systemic (whole body fatigue) than to toast a muscle group.

I’m very happy to start reading this book:

No, not Bruce Springsteen. I always thought he was overrated anyway.

I’ve heard some rave reviews on it. I also quoted the author way back here. I’ll post a mini review when I’m done.

Bracing for snow tomorrow. If it’s really bad I might take off work which might mean running in the storm. I hope so, anyway.

Training Effect

2010-02-08T19:22:00.001-08:00

Day 39

6.01 miles @ 9:26 pace @ 152 average HR, 161 max.

Compare to the misery of day one less than 6 weeks ago: 3 miles @ 11:27 @ 172 average HR, 186 max.

I suppose this consistent training thing actually works to some degree.

Lebert Equalizer Mini Review

From my many underutilized gym memberships I learned that the best exercises for gaining strength are those that move the most weight, relatively speaking. In other words, squats, bench presses, chin ups, etc. Not bicep curls, flies, hamstring curls, etc. There’s nothing wrong with the latter exercises, of course, they just aren’t the strength builders.

My current problem training at home is the inability to generate much resistance. My primary equipment is a 10 by 6 space of carpeted floor. I have a couple dumbbells and kettle bells. It’s difficult to get a lot of resistance out of a floor. Enter the Lebert Equalizer.

Currently I do a circuit of 16 exercises. I use the Equalizer in 3 of them so far (with more to come). Here’s how I use the things:

Incline pushups (above). This gets the majority of my bodyweight out over my arms.

Low grip rows. By pivoting at the knee, again I get most of my bodyweight involved where my back and arms have to raise it. These are tough! A harder row variation which I haven’t added yet is using both bars and taking a wider grip.

Dips. These put my full 183.75 pounds (and growing, sadly) on my shoulders and triceps.

In short, this product is a valuable addition to a minimalistic home gym. It lets me perform strength movements with resistance I could not otherwise come close to generating. The included DVD catalogs some 75 exercises, some more of which I will work in over time. And, fitting easily in the closet in the background, it’s no strain on domestic relations ;-)

5K to 50K in 2010? Probably Not

2010-01-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

5K to 50K in 2010? Doubtful, but wouldn’t that be nice?

Prelude

Coach Friel says:

“During the Transition period after your last race season you probably gained some weight. That is expected. And it’s probably a good thing - depending on how much weight you gained. Trying to stay at your optimal race weight year round is not good for your health. It’s also not good for your psyche. Staying focused on maintaining race weight 12 months of the year, regardless of your training load, requires a monk-like lifestyle of continual sacrifice and near suffering.

So I hope you’ve enjoyed life a bit and gained some weight in the last few weeks.”

Coach, you're preaching to the choir. If you saw me on the scale today, you would fairly beam with pride over how I have taken your advice to heart. <--- This is sarcasm.

It's appropriate that I began training at this time last year, because I feel like I'm starting over again.

A few quick lessons from 2009

- I'm not much of a heat racer. I enjoy training in summer but my performance clearly drops off when it gets hot.
- I'm going to have to re-motivate for winter running as I didn't do much in November and December.
- I need both speed work, of which I did none in 2009, and higher base mileage.
- I'm currently about 9 pounds over what I weighed when I set my 2009 5K PR. Need to begin addressing that immediately.

Tentative 2010 Goals

- Break my 2009 5K PR.
- Sub 50 10K at some point, likely the fall.
- Complete a race longer than my current longest of 7.1 miles[1].
- Update this blog more often, it's a powerful nudge.

[1] I wrestled with being specific here. Deep, deep down I'd like to say complete the Blues Cruise 50K in October. I just don't know if that's realistically attainable however. Not to make excuses, but I'm about to make excuses. Besides having taken a new job (same company) 2 weeks ago, this year has been challenging for training time. My day begins when I wake my high schooler at 5:30. Most days I have to get all 3 fed and going, get my oldest to her bus stop, and get the younger two to a bus stop or the school, and be at my desk by 8am. Any morning runs during school season would have to be *over* by 5:30 a.m., so morning runs are right out. On the other end, too often the first moments I have to myself start after 9 p.m., and frequently not until 10 - 10:30 pm. So while I really want to complete a half or preferably longer, I'm going to avoid being specific at this time because I just don't know that I can get the volume in. A concrete goal certainly gives me better focus, and I hope to establish a long run goal by summer as I see how the year plays out.

To achieve these goals requires:

- More consistency.
- A larger base.
- Some speed work.

2010 Race Schedule

Overall I plan to try to race more than last year (5 or 6 races) but I'm not going to schedule the year out in advance. However, the following few I am highly likely to do barring the unforeseen:

- Super Bowl 10K (to get an early season bearing)
- LV Half 5K (already registered, this is my 'A' race)
- Herbert's Off Road Run (grueling, but more fun and interesting than asphalt)
- Bruiser Memorial 5K, hopefully with the girls again.
- I may in fact register for the Mt. Penn Mudfest (15K) after midnight tonight!

* * * * *

Day 1

Everything you see above was written on yesterday, 12/31/09. I had run well in September of last year, mildly in October, and very little in November and December. Today (1/1) I was in for the proverbial awakening. I resisted the urge to go back and change anything I had written in my fit of optimism as a lesson to self. I went over to the parkway figuring on running my standard 3 miler, which I did. By halfway ( a mere 1.5 miles) my upper thighs wanted to quit. By the end, my legs were shot. I felt like I was using my hips to swing two inanimate objects out in front of me. It was a real challenge just finishing today.

I did in fact finish 3 miles…..in 34:22 (11:27 pace). While the bad footing – a couple of inches of snow -- contributed a little, I am OUT OF SHAPE. “Oh no,” you say, “you were just easing back in Bob.” Thanks for your charity, but slow as it was I wasn’t easing anything. Average HR was 172, compare with an average rate of 166 during my 5K PR at 7:43 pace. 50K, boy does that sound funny in light of today’s effort. Oh yeah, I even hit a new max HR at that crawl, 186.

I’m out of shape, and I need to deposit a whole lot of Doritos and hot wings on the Parkway path, one drop of sweat at a time. And I’m actually looking forward to it.

It’s nice to be back.

A new decade dawns in the Parkway

Look at Mills!

2009-11-17T17:14:00.001-08:00

I’m reading Running With The Buffalos, and one segment refers to “Billy Mills Hill” at the KU XC course. So today you get a retro post. If you’ve never seen the video of Billy Mills’ 1964 Olympic gold in the 10,000 meters (the only USA 10K gold ever), do yourself a favor and watch it.

This will give you chills.

Planning

2009-11-10T13:10:00.001-08:00

OK, lots of you have gone into planning mode. Combining this with the email I got for the 2010 Lehigh Valley Half Marathon and 5K has me starting to think about planning the next few months. I have no definite events left this year, although I will likely do at least one more. The LVH 5K was my 2009 PR and might be a perfect race to focus on again. It is just about 6 months away and I could, for the first time, develop some kind of systematic plan instead of my current "just try to get out the door."

Although I really wanted to make that my first half, it's such a good PR course that I'm thinking of doing the 5K again and trying a half later in 2010. It would also give me a reasonable apples-to-apples comparison of where I'm at, if the weather is anywhere comparable. And frankly, a half still sounds long to me.

So I'm working on a rough 6 month schedule to include mileage and types of training (start with base, introduce speed, hill specific training, etc.) I plan to steal Rachel's nifty excel format.

My question for you all: In 2009 I ran a 23:43 PR on this net downhill course on no more than 20 miles per week of unfocused (i.e., haphazard) training. What kind of mileage would you think I need to work up to to run sub 22? How about the biggy, sub 20, if that's even reasonable on my schedule and lungs that will be 45 next year?

Weekly Wrap

2009-09-21T19:53:00.001-07:00

The first 90% of running is physical. The other 90% is mental.

I don't set weekly mileage goals - our ever-changing schedule makes that a losing battle. I just try to run every day I can squeeze one in. This week I had the goal of getting in 10Ks instead of my more common 5Ks whenever I could. The planets aligned and I ran all 7 days including 4 runs of 10K or more. I finished just shy of 40 miles for the week, easily surpassing my previous high of 25 miles.

It was kind of taxing, as the past 3 week's mileage had been 10-15-16. What's the rule? Don't up your mileage by more than 160% all at once? Phew, just made it under.

MON - 6.4
TUE - 6.42
WED - 3.05
THU - 3.05
FRI – 3.89
SAT - 6.24
SUN - 10.51

The Mental Game

None of this week was very fast; I felt increasingly heavy legged as the week went on (I wonder why?) The single worst and slowest mile was Mile 2 on Wednesday. Never before have I wanted to walk so badly in training. I came close many times, but kept telling myself "just to that next tree," etc. Somehow by mile 3 I felt better, probably because the end was in sight, and I finished in without walking. Mile 3 felt so much better that the problem had to have been in my head. I had probably convinced myself I was overdoing it coming of 3 runs of 10K (including the previous Sunday which counted toward the prior week).

Saturday was a full Parkway loop. Coming west back to Bogert's on the north side (roughly mile 4) I was feeling awful and considering skipping the west side and truncating the run at 4.25. I was positive I was crawling along at 11 minute miles (I had been slowing down as the week went by). A glance at the Garmin showed me I was averaging 9:30 pace at that point. While still slow, it was so much quicker than I expected that my spirits immediately picked up and I finished with ease. So much of how good or bad I feel is in my head. I went from feeling spent to energetic only because I saw my pace was better than I thought. All mental.

One other mental angle - two of the 10Ks plus Sunday's 10 miler consisted of 2 loops around the same course. I find I really prefer not having to make 2 loops because during the first loop I can't seem to stop thinking I have to do this again. On Sunday I kept thinking I’m X miles into this, it will be over 5 miles and I’ll be right back here again, and I still won’t be done. Yuck. I need to find an after-dark 10K loop with no repeats and a similar daylight 10 miler. Don't know how realistic that is while still keeping it close to home.

All in all a great week for training. I certainly hope it pays dividends down the road, but I haven't seen any yet. I did a slow 3 today (Monday) and felt like a mummy (stiff and slow). I’m torn – part of me says a day off would be optimal as maybe I could then train a little faster. But part of me says keep piling on the fatigue, you’ll have to take a day off due to scheduling before long. We’ll see what happens.

Total mileage last week was 39.58. If I knew how close I was to 40 I would have gone another quarter mile up the trail and back just to hit that milestone. But I hadn’t done the math.

I have no illusions that our schedule will allow me to maintain this mileage most weeks, although I do hope to be more in the 25 range than the 15 range moving forward. It's obvious to me that simple miles in the bank will produce the best results right now. Take 'em while I can get 'em is my new motto. And take as many as time allows!

Back to the bricks.

Going Gold / Silver at the Bruiser Memorial 5K

2009-09-12T12:38:00.001-07:00

SHOWING UP DAD

L-R, 1st Place female 18 and under, Sarah D (age 11), 2nd Place female 18 and under, Anna D (age15)

We woke up at 7:30 to a steady drizzle. The girls didn’t care for it very much but were determined to do the Bruiser Memorial 5K for Canine Cancer. We recently lost our sweet lab mix, Casey, to cancer. I assured them once we were running they wouldn’t mind the drizzle.

Team Casey, prerace. we should have made t-shirts with our team name, as did many people. Next year.

We got to the parkway where 113 folks showed up to run the standard loop starting and ending near the clubhouse. The organizers were on the ball and everything went smoothly. We sat in the car until 8:50 to avoid getting too soaked before the race began.

Check in. Note I’m pretty wet just from the walk to the tent. Nice number-pinning job there Sarah.

Chilly before the start. Anna, having been aware of Herbert’s Offroad Run, asked if we had to cross the stream. I should have said yes.

Our plan was to run together. I told the girls I didn’t expect an all out effort but suggested we try to run the whole way. Sarah put in a few (3 or 4) short training runs, and Anna none. Without relying on the watch, my plan was to zen-pace us to finish just under 30. We started at the very back of the pack.

We passed mile 1 where a person with a stopwatch called our split at 9:55. That seemed fine and we were cruising along nicely. We had slowed a little during mile 2 (by request) but at the 2 mile mark we had a dilemma. Anna wanted to walk a bit. Sarah was going strong though, so she and I kept going. I knew Anna wouldn’t walk long and might even catch us.

At the mile 3 mark Sarah had a little kick left so we picked up the pace a bit. Garmin splits:

Mile	Split Pace
1	9:44
2	9:34
3	9:43
3.15 slightly long per Garmin	8:22
Total time	30:19 (9:37 pace)

Anna came in less than 2 minutes later. We grabbed some water and I looked over the results. I had noticed there weren't many kids running. A quick scan showed Sarah and Anna going 1-2 for female under 18. I didn’t say anything to them about it.

After some refreshments the girls were ready to leave. I convinced them to stay to cheer the winners at the awards ceremony. Maryjo Smith, the organizer, said a few nice words. The race raised over $6,000 for canine cancer research before counting the entry fees, which was nice to hear.

They started calling the awards. An 18-ish looking girl got 3rd in female under 18. I knew both girls had seen her finish, meaning they had to have finished higher, but they hadn’t yet put 2 and 2 together. Anna was startled when Big Wayne of Pretzel City Sports called her name (even pronouncing it right which was impressive) for 2nd place. I looked at Sarah. She’s an A student and very sharp, but she still hadn’t done the math in her head. I said, “Gee, I wonder who got first place?” Just then I could see the lights go on as her jaw dropped just before they called her up to accept the gold.

Age group winner medals, actually colored gold and silver. I’ve never seen one up close before.

Nicely engraved.

For me today was a nice, easy workout. 3.15 @ 9:37 pace @ 142 avg heart rate. Tomorrow I plan to go harder, possibly another brick.

Almost all Z1 today.

All the way home Sarah couldn’t wipe the half smile off her face. She would never admit it, but I know she was really pleased with herself to have beaten older girls, especially her big sister.

One of the cooler t-shirts I’ve ever gotten from a race. Also 2 books I grabbed at Barnes and Nobles after the race.

I don’t know if I’ve turned them into runners yet, but it was certainly a positive experience for them. Neither plans to do X-country this season but you never know when the interest may strike. They did say they’ll do this race next year. Maybe I can even get them to train a little more.

Multisport: A Questionable Idea

2009-09-09T18:30:00.001-07:00

I tried my first brick workout. The plan was a 10K mountain bike followed by a 5K run. Originally the run was to be 10K but time constraints shortened it.

The ride was uneventful in that I didn't have any close encounters with large animals this time. I rode the Parkway clockwise from, and back to, the Credit Union lot. By the top of the big hill at mile one I felt, correctly as it turns out, that I was making a withdrawal from the quad bank that I would have to repay with interest. I covered the loop at a blazing 9.4 mph (39:13 for 10K, a lot of people can run 10K faster than that), trying to preserve a tiny bit of elasticity in my legs.

I stopped twice at fountains. Sharp observers will notice the absence of a water bottle in the cage.

I transitioned at my Subaru and headed out for a 3 mile run. Have you ever had a nightmare where you wanted to run but couldn't? That's exactly what it's like to try to run off the bike. The first few steps I nearly went down as my hamstrings didn't want to support my weight. Nearly locking my knees, I broke into a shamble, my form resembling the zombies in Night of the Living Dead.

As I shuffled toward the Robin Hood bridge I was worried I wouldn't be able to lift my knees high enough to go up the hill on the other side. I envisioned myself repeatedly bumping into it and bouncing backwards like a child's wind up toy hitting a wall. But somehow I made it up.

Returning on the north side I gradually picked off a few of the slower walkers. I was very glad the run was 5K not 10K and I had even thought about cutting it short by turning around at the Iron Bridge. However, one of my sources of training pride, perhaps the only one, is that to date I have always finished the planned workout despite frequent temptation not to. I finished up for a 10:26 pace which wasn't completely awful for Frankenstein style running. A great workout, I look forward to doing more bricks.

Parkway Mini-Biathlon PR: 1:10:31

The Long Green Line

2009-07-25T09:33:00.001-07:00

The update: Back from a Friday wedding, hope to get a 5-6 mile trail run in this evening. I did not make it to the Bear Creek 10K trail run.

In other news, I looked high and low trying to rent “The Long Green Line” and couldn’t find it anywhere. So I bought the DVD online. I hate when people say “you have to see this movie,” because they’re so often wrong. I try never to say it myself.

BUT, if you’re a runner, or have kids doing cross country, or a coach of ANY sport, I think you might find this movie inspirational and enjoyable. It’s the story of little York High School, as the team and coach Joe Newton go for their 25th State Cross Country title in 50 years (all of which were coached by Newton). It is a documentary, not a “based on” movie.

Trailer

Sample

You don’t “have to” see this movie, but if you’re reading this, I think you might really enjoy it. Rent it if you can find it. If you can't find it and would like to borrow my copy, let me know. If we can’t meet in person I’ll mail it to you if you promise to send it back.

Focus / Planning

2009-07-17T15:37:00.001-07:00

I've been pondering why my training went so well from 1/1 through 5/3 and is now apparently regressing. I think I may have found it, or at least a component. Back in December, as soon as I got the Garmin (like, that very day) I signed up online for the LV Half 5K. I had a clear and definite focus, a point in time at which I was expecting to have to perform (if you can call it that). Now, even though there are some events I'm thinking of entering, I'm kind of rudderless. Tonight, for example, if I run, great, if not, oh well. That's not a good nudge toward motivation. The first few months of the year I was obsessed with squeezing a run in every day as I saw the clock ticking toward race day. Now I don't feel that same drive.

SO, I need a focus race or two, and I may have found one, even if it isn't a big race (it could be, I really don't know). At the Herbert's run I picked up an application for the Bruiser Memorial 5K. It's on September 12th, right here in the Parkway. It funds canine cancer research. Given that we lost Casey this week to liver and lung cancer, I know at least Sarah will run this with me. The Parkway was Casey's favorite place on earth. She would happily retrieve tennis balls from the stream for hours on end, right up to the last day. So it seems appropriate to focus on a run, in Casey's favorite place, that benefits canine cancer research. I'd like to get it on the calendar and focus my training with a goal of beating my Parkway PR (24:53) at this race.

That, I think, is the new plan. If you've an animal lover and can fit it into your schedule, consider joining me. All proceeds will benefit the University of Pennsylvania Canine Cancer Research Center. Much of what we know about cancer in humans comes via animal research. Pretzel City Sports will be running it so it will be well organized.

Meanwhile, there is both a 10K and 13.1M trail race this Sunday at Bear Creek near Macungie. Bear Creek is a ski resort, so I expect the terrain to be steep in the extreme, but I'm probably (though not definitely) going to do the 10K trail run. Again, I am not ready to race 6.2 miles up a ski slope grade boulder field - If I go I will again be treating this as a hard training run and hopefully enjoying it as much as I did Herbert's. Actually, I hope to enjoy it MORE because I plan to take WATER with me. I'll probably make the go/no go decision tomorrow night but it could even be a game-time decision. This is the XTERRA crowd, and they look hardcore, by which I mean probably not quite right in the head, and that’s a compliment. Some fast local runners are rumored to be considering it. I've already decided if I finish last I am OK with it. The 10K and HM races start at the same time and my guess is the best HM racers will be done before I finish the 10K.

Herbert's Off Road Run, long report

2009-07-13T19:23:00.001-07:00

Long Version:

Before The Run

Saturday I meet my friend Mark at 7 am (meaning I was up at 6, which is early in my book, and after only 4 hours of sleep) to do some mountain biking on the Ironton Rail Trail.

I have barely been on the bike, but I figure a reasonable amount of spinning shouldn't do too much damage. I TELL him I have a long run tomorrow and don't want to abuse myself. Mark is a big guy (as you can see in the pic. I am not small at 6 ft, 182 lbs, but I look it compared to a guy who goes 280), a gym rat, and strong enough to put out some wattage on a short ride. So he goes out hard. We do the first 5.5 mile loop at 15 mph, which is fast by my standards. It's not very hilly but it isn't flat either. I don't know what we did on the second loop as my G305 ran out of charge, but it was about that same. It's faster than I would have gone alone, especially today. AFTER the ride Mark says, "I was afraid I would be too slow for you, so I went out as hard as I could." Thanks, Mark.

Also before the run I had emailed the Herbert's race director, saying I had never done a trail run and asking if I needed to carry my own water. The reply was "There are water stops; however, you are more than welcome to carry your own hydration pack/water bottle if you would like." The night before the race an email went out to registered runners saying the same thing. Note it says water stopS, plural, meaning at least 2. I may be wrong, but I had it in my head that somewhere it said "3 water / replenishing stations." I could be wrong though. But I decided I didn't need to lug water on my person. After reading Leah's post on long run nutrition/hydration I had considered toting a gel power shot. But given that I would have to wear my little fanny pack just to carry one gel, I decided against it.

I was reading this the night before.

Race Day

I wake up Sunday stiff and tired, and feeling a little dehydrated. Wisely I have a black coffee (a diuretic) with my banana and nothing else prerace. Getting into my car I lightly brush a tree near my driveway and I get soaked with cold raindrops. My enthusiasm was not running high. As I'm driving to the race I seriously consider just picking up my shirt and just watching. Probably I would have done exactly that had I not blabbed on here and to a few friends that I was probably doing this race. That nudge - that people would know I bailed out - was the difference. Thanks, internet.

For the 5K's I have done, I've noticed the participants are a diverse lot. Young, middle aged, not so young. Fit looking, average looking, not so fit looking. As I'm picking up my packet I notice that this trail running crowd looks almost exclusively young and very fit. At least half are of the age I've taken to calling "kids." The older people all look pretty hardcore. Then I overhear a few fit looking spectators talking about the injuries that caused them to give up trail running. "Yeah so after I tore my ACL slipping on a rock....." Nice.

Prerace festivities, sparse crowd unfortunately.

I line up at the very back as we get instructions. Ron Horn of Pretzel City Sports promises to verbally abuse anyone who skips the water crossing in favor of the optional bridge. Although I'm not looking forward to wading across the muddy-from-the-rain Little Lehigh, there is no way I would skip the water cross. I want to get the full experience. If I didn't, I wouldn't have entered. It would be like paying to skydive and then just staying in the plane and watching. You bet I'm crossing the water.

It was hard to hear the instructions (no bullhorn, just shouting) but from the back I thought I heard Ron say "this is the only water stop," while pointing at a table covered with cups very near by. I was hoping I heard that wrong. If not, though, the ground markings indicated we would pass the table twice. 2 water stops in 7.7 miles, I guess that's enough.

Before the race I configured my now fully charged G305 to display heart rate, time, average pace and distance. My plan was to keep my heart rate under 160 for a run this long and hilly. I also wanted to know distance since there are no mile markers. Trail runners scoff at such frilly amenities. I vowed not to look at average pace which might make me start diverting from the plan. However, in my head I was figuring 10 minute miles might be possible, for a 1:17 finish. From the map, I had decided if I could get over the Dragon I could definitely finish.

And we're off. We run maybe 200 meters to the tree line where we come to a complete stop as the wide pack funnels down to single file for the first climb, which is a steep single track. Being in the last handful of runners, I walk up this hill only because that is as fast as we are moving. I hear someone say "I guess this is the extreme hill." Having looked at the map, I very much doubt that. Not even in the top 3. We come out on top and there is a trail I had never seen before. First quarter mile and already breaking new ground. We switch to grass and plunge down a steep hill, cross the gravel trail, then right up another steep grassy hill with no particular trail on it. We run across 2 frisbee golf holes and plunge back into the trees, down some more single track. I think the woodpile climb was in here. I'm sweating heavily and glance at my heart rate. When I see 170 I try to back off, although I know I'm not running fast anyway. 170 is about where I keep it for 5K's. The terrain is challenging and I doubt I can sustain 170 for 7.7 miles. A bridge comes into sight and I think it is the Robin Hood, but it is the Parkway North bridge. Oops, kind of disoriented.

The route

Around mile 2.5 we get to the spot I've been dreading most since I saw it on mapmyrun. We're going straight up the grassy hill that everyone sleds down in winter. I pass it all the time and I know it is ridiculously steep. My daughter Anna broke her thumb snowboarding down it a few years ago. As soon as we start climbing I can only walk. The 5 or 6 people I can see in front of me are also walking. Halfway up I check my HR and see 185. 185! I've never spiked that high, even trying to in a full sprint, and I'm walking. By the time we reach the top I am soaking my Under Armor shirt that usually looks dry at 5K races. As we head into more slippery single track I break my vow and check my pace. 10:45. So much for a 1:17. I know the water cross is coming soon, and by now I can't wait for it. I need to cool off. Also I know the water station is right after the stream cross and I'm really thirsty.

Pleasant single track taken after. Some of it had unavoidable briars. Most of it had rocks and roots. One day I’ll go back for pics.

Already soaked anyway, I should have dived in. [1]

I walk across the stream because I don't want to slip. The bottom is rocky and the water is muddy so you can't see it. Also I'd almost like to linger a few minutes as the water is nice and cold. I get to the water station and stop completely, drink 2 cups, take a third and walk with it to make sure I don't spill any. I would like more but I've had a bad experience in the past having too much. Three cups helps a lot.

We head west over the double humps by the police range. Even though my thighs are burning, these hills don't seem bad after going up the sledding hill. At this point some spectators tell me I'm halfway now. The G305 says 3.6 miles, so I figure they are mistaken. In this segment, the 5 leaders pass me going back. Wow, they have already looped the fish hatchery and are flying. Here's one of those great running moments: the #4 guy passes me and shouts words of encouragement. He's dueling for a podium finish, full throttle, and he spends some breath to encourage a guy in the bottom 10. Unless I miscounted, this must have been Alexander Chacon. Really nice moment. Cross the covered bridge and I know we're heading for The Dragon. I check my pace and it is 11 and change. We are indeed going up the Dragon, but not before we head for some more single track. We go up the shortcut to Fairview, do a loop, and back down.

Path to Fairview

I must have just had water. Otherwise I can’t explain the stupid grin. Note the soaked heat gear shirt.

Back down and we're off to the Dragon. I keep jogging up the first part which isn't too steep. When we hit the nasty part I have to walk, as does everyone in front of me. In training I have never had to walk this hill, but my thighs are screaming and my HR is at 181. I check my pace at the top: 12:15. Eight times twelve, let's see, I'm not even going to break 90 minutes. However, if I read the map right, the worst is now over. Down we go and then it is off the fish hatchery spur up another hill which I've also explored / photographed previously:

Washout on the fish hatchery spur.

Out and way around the fish hatchery in the grass. I'm very thirsty again and hoping a water station is down here somewhere. No such luck and I'm actually getting a little concerned about dehydration. By the time I pass the fly shop I have stopped producing saliva and am totally dry mouthed. I don't worry too much because I'm sweating massively. If I stop sweating I know then it is time to worry (and stop). From here it's about 1.5 or 2 miles back to the water table and I'm obsessed with getting a drink. Just then I have an insight: I'll just stop at the next park fountain! Now let's see, where would the next one be? Oh, that's right, the next park fountain is right next to the water table. Excellent. I almost stoop to asking some picnickers if they could spare some fluids.

A few more moderate hill climbs and I'm back to the water table, which I regard as an oasis in the desert. Again, I stop completely and down 2 cups, take a 3rd and walk with it. The Garmin is showing just over 7 miles, only about 3/4s of a mile to go. Then someone tells me the finish is right past the iron bridge (meaning maybe 100 meters away). I don't care, I want water NOW, not 20 seconds from now. I finish the third cup then trot across the line in 1:25:05 officially, 1:24:40 on my Garmin. 11:55 pace and 7.1 miles. That would have sounded really slow before the race. After seeing the course, it feels fast. I was also pleased that I fought back some 20 seconds (average) per mile over the last 3 relatively easier miles.

Does this picture make my hips look wide? It’s just the wind billowing my shorts, I swear. 117th of 124 and proud of it.

Quick distance note. The race is billed as 7.7 miles. I had it at 7.1. However, it is extremely hilly and I think Garmin subscribes to the flat earth theory and losses a little distance on hills. This effect is very small. For example, using a simple A^2 + B^2 = C^2, it would call the dragon about 4 feet short on each side. Not significant.

Note I am just guessing here and don't know for sure it works this way.

Where I think it loses more though, is when I look at my track through the single track it is clearly "straighter" than were the paths. I think Garmin sometimes losses me in the trees (say point A) and then when it finds me again (point B) it assumes I went straight from A to B. I'll wild guess that the course would have wheel measured at 7.25.

Average heart rate 166, same as the LV 5K. Ha, I wanted to keep it under 160 all the way! Max HR 185, twice.

After the finish I drank 4 bottles plus 2 large cups of water. That made me feel human again. By the drive home I was feeling euphoric and ready to put in a few more miles that day (I didn't). I stopped on the short ride home for a large Fiji water and drank that too. I think I blew the hydration aspect about as badly as possible.

Overall this was a really fun event, even if this write-up makes it sound otherwise. I'm really glad I did it. I will definitely do it again (and am already considering the Bear Creek 10K trail run next Sunday, schedule depending). Well organized. Trail markings seemed fine although I always had someone in sight in front of me so it was never an issue. My only suggestion for the organizers is to make it clear WHERE the water stops are. Yes, there were 2, but one of them was 100 meters from the finish! This was pretty important to me and I should have and would have carried water with me if I new exactly what was happening.

The winner was Nick Hilton, who they said is the #1 guy on the Lock Haven XC team. He ran a 40:55 over this insane course. If you accept my estimate of 7.25, that is a 5:38 pace. I mean it as a high compliment when I say he must be some kind of inhuman freak. He broke the course record by over 6 minutes, or almost a minute per mile.

At the awards, an age group award went to Bud Coates. Hey, I know that name. He's a local running legend. I get training tips from him from the LV Half all the time (via email, I mean). So cool, I get to see who he is. Turns out I was standing right next to him.

[1] I bought a large print from the photo company and it wasn’t cheap. I know that still doesn't give me the right to use copyright images, but I am anyway. They want 19 bucks for a digital image. Rainmaker was right - if they sold them for $2.99 I would have (also) bought the 3 I used here. But a couple digital pics should not cost multiple times the race entry fee ($25).

Back to Basics

2009-06-07T17:34:00.001-07:00

Hit the Parkway twice this weekend for plain old endurance runs. No racing vs. pace, just get out there and go. 10K Saturday (easy pace) and 5 miles today even easier since I don’t usually run that far back-to-back. Since it was hot today (“is” hot actually, I’m composing this poolside on an Acer Aspire net book.) and since I ran at high noon I took the camera since I was planning to be slow anyway. I have to get one of those small cameras like Sarah’s.

Anyway, I thought I’d take a few pictures and maybe explore some side trails. First up, Parkway regulars know about the trail entrance off of Fairview. I always noticed that path forked and wondered where the “other” trail went. So I found out.

If you park near the Credit Union, cross Bogert’s bridge and turn left toward the Fish Hatchery, before you get to the 78 over pass this trail is on your right, kind of marked by a big rock.

The view as you approach the trail, note 78 overpass in distance. The rock is on the right in the shadows.

The big rock when you’re facing it.

Looking up the trail. Shady and inviting.

So if you head up the above trail it comes to a T where I would normally go right to get to Fairview Avenue. But you can also go left and I always wondered where that went.

Looking left at the intersection. Hard to see the trail.

I followed this trail but as you can see it’s pretty overgrown. It was shin deep at first, then got deeper. More like knee-to-waist deep a few hundred yards in. Some stray weeds were as tall as me. Even though I was doused in OFF! I decided Dr. Livingstone was on his own and turned around. I’ll re-explore it someday when it is not the growing season. There was another trail I knew of, coming out of the Fish hatchery, that I wanted to try.

Passing Fireman’s bridge.

Climbing The Dragon. I’m trying to hold my hand (and the camera) level to give you an idea of the grade.

Some of the fry ponds at the Fish Hatchery.

The next trail to explore.

If you’re coming down off of the Dragon, just as you hit the blacktop of the Fish Hatchery (shown in foreground above), to the right you can spot the above trail heading up and away to the northwest. I always wondered where that one went so today was the day to find out.

It goes about an eight mile and simply ends overlooking Fish Hatchery road near Cedar Crest Boulevard. It doesn’t seem to be an access trail of any kind, so I cannot explain it’s existence. Looks like a good hill to run repeats on though, nice and wide and more reasonable than the Dragon. Perhaps this is the spot Sneaker Sister was talking about.

One deep washout on this segment. I stood in it for scale.

Just another stream shot.

A trotting ring, or something. You will frequently encounter horses in the Parkway, as well as evidence of their passing.

Just a few shots of the quaint Fly shop. Lots of fly fishing in the Little Lehigh, parts of which are catch-and-release only.

Back in the 30s the WPA build numerous stone structures in the Parkway. They might be for erosion control, I’m not sure. The purpose can be baffling when you come across one as they are simply stand alone structures otherwise right in the woods. They certainly add charm to the Parkway, although the one above looks like the Blair Witch might live in it.

Pass the fly shop and you have to climb a short steep hill. This shot is looking back down it. The regular Parkway loop is behind me. You can see to the left yet another trail. It also runs up to Fish Hatchery road, which you can kind of see if you enlarge the picture. It too is inaccessible due to the large rocks blocking it, which once again makes me wonder what the purpose of the road is.

These plaques are part of the Planet Walk. It’s a series of plaques along the trail which are spaced proportionate to the solar system. So from the Sun you walk a few steps to Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, then further and further until you hit Pluto (unless they removed Pluto when it got downgraded) about 3/4 mile away. The Pluto plaque, IIRC, says something like “from here if we had a plaque for the nearest star it would be in Hawaii. Science geeks (I include myself in that statement) eat this stuff up.

Some kids playing football in one of the numerous large grassy fields.

A little drop off right by the Robin Hood bridge. I then moved to the side and tried for a time exposure but botched it completely. Photo came out almost pure white.

Another field. Frisbee Football players this time. There appears to be an actual course laid out, with tee boxes and metal asket “holes.” I’ve never played it, wonder if there are actually 18 holes?

It's funny because it's true.

I didn’t use a playlist today, but set my 300 some songs on random. As I’ve mentioned, it’s an eclectic collection. Eclectic being a euphemism for odd. I would get some rapid fire beat like Billy Idol’s Dancing With Myself, maybe followed by Johnny Cash or CCR. It was somehow very pleasant not knowing what would be next. When this song hit, I knew I had to get a shot of it after the Gloria Gaynor / Abba comments:

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

If you click to enlarge you can probably read it. If not, I’m not sayin’.

Mike D. described the Parkway as a little gem in our backyard. It is, and I’m lucky to live right near it.

LVRR 5K Series, Race 2 of 4

2009-06-03T20:05:00.001-07:00

Short Version

Timex Ironman time 25:54, 8:20 pace, my slowest race pace of the year. I was disappointed with it, but not terribly so. [Edit: Gun time 25:59, place 83/126.]

Long Version

Got home from work with but minutes to spare. Changed and grabbed my G305. I immediately noticed a blank screen where the familiar “fully charged” message usually appears. I then noticed the USB was unplugged, an Apple Ipod USB dock in it’s place. One more reason to loathe Apple, as if I needed another. So no G305 for this event. I’ve been both training and racing with an eye on heart rate, primarily to create a smooth heart rate build, and I had a plan for today, so I was unhappy that I would have to wing it. Got to the Parkway just in time, checked in, dropped off my fruit tray, lined up, and we were off.

After the poor job I did pacing in the Race for Adam, I had resolved to go out in more control and I did, turning an 8:05 first mile (vs. 7:34), which was fine. Incidentally this was the exact same course for all intents and purposes. The Timex splits tell the rest:

Mile	Pace	Aggregate Pace
1	8:05	8:05
2	8:12	8:09
3	8:43	8:21
3.11	7:53	8:20

Not terrible but another clear fade in mile 3. I won’t beat myself up over the time, but I’m pretty sure I lost some fitness 2 weeks ago being sick and taking a week off. Oh well, gives me something to work on (endurance, endurance, endurance). I came into this with the attitude of a hard workout and I’d like to say I left a lot in the tank. But while I felt strong after mile one, by mile three I don’t think I had much more to give. In other words, if I had been treating this as an A priority race I doubt it would have been much better than 25:30.

Here’s why I’m kind of disappointed though: This past Sunday evening I got to the Parkway around 7:30 (p.m.) to train. I had wanted to do 10K but daylight was waning, so I chose a fast paced 3 miler instead. I ran the exact same route as today’s race (different start/finish point), in 20* hotter weather (which should be about a 12% performance ding), at an 8:29 pace just for training. Today I should have been good for 8 flat, at minimum. Oh well.

Since I don’t have G305 data from today, I did the below analysis of Sunday’s hard workout to see what I could learn. I broke it down by quarter mile to get a finer grain and to compensate for the fact that I rarely warm up for training runs, thus my first segment average HR is skewed low.

Quarter Mile	Per Mile Pace	Avg HR	Elevation Change	Pace vs. Avg
1	8:12	133	+27	-0:17
2	8:14	154	-18	-0:15
3	7:20	160	-18	-1:09
4	7:52	166	-7	-0:37
5	8:19	168	+8	-0:09
6	8:29	169	+13	0:00
7	8:54	169	+10	+0:24
8	9:04	169	-27	+0:35
9	9:22	169	+24	+0:53
10	8:24	173	-16	-0:04
11	8:46	174	+31	+0:17
12	8:52	174	-18	+0:23

You can see by watching the G305 I turned in a HR build about as perfect as I can hit it (and exactly as I had planned the workout). Even considering hills, you can see I manage a pace fade despite the HR build! Endurance is obviously what I need more of. More simply, with the nice HR build, I covered the first half in 12:04 and the back half in 13:16, a significant fade of 50 seconds per mile! Particularly disturbing is the last quarter, a slight decline, where it took a 174 bpm to maintain a mile pace of almost 9:00. Yuck.

What I had wanted to do with the above quarter mile splits was develop a grade adjusted pace – that is, an algorithm that normalizes pace for elevation change. Anyone know if such a thing exists? I can probably develop one with enough data and a basic regression, but if there is a proven one out there, I’d just as soon not reinvent it.

As I’ve said, I won’t dwell on the result, but it’s hard to think it won’t be a confidence sapper as I line up for whatever race I do next.

Back to the bricks.

Monday Miscellany

2009-05-11T19:33:00.001-07:00

Finally getting around to weight training

After talking about it for two months, I finally introduced a small, starting-point weight training component. I have an ancient "star lock" barbell in the garage. If you know what a star lock is, you know it takes a couple minutes to change the weight, so I'm going with the same middlin' weight (75#) for everything, which makes it too high or too low at times, but it's a start. I'd get a better weight set, but I barely have space as it is, so it would be of limited help. If I had the space what I would get is a chin up / dip station. Anyway, one set of 10 for each movement, working against the clock Cross Fit style.

Pushups (unweighted)
Squats*
Overhead presses
Upright rows
Curls
Bent Rows
Stiff Leg Dead Lift (I have very inflexible hamstrings, this is supposed to help with that)
Stick crunches
Med ball crunches
Elbow to knee alternating crunches

Med ball crunches, finish, 18# ball

* squats were intended to be overhead squats but I was very unsteady with this movement and had to set the bar on my shoulders. Hopefully I can develop the balance over time. I wasn’t going to risk crashing.

Overhead squat, trickier than it looks

I figure 3X / week for weights. I will probably up the weight a little before I would up the volume, I'm kind of sold on the "one set" theory these days . As it was this only took about 10 minutes so there's not much excuse for not doing it, which is a huge plus. I would definitely like to work in some kind of plyometrics, maybe in addition the weights.

The funny thing is I that belonged to gyms for years and always enjoyed the weight training and viewed the cardio as un-fun drudgery. Now it's the opposite.

LVRR

I joined the Lehigh Valley Road Runners, signing up my wife Anne while I was at it. She's been talking about joining "First Strides," whatever exactly that is. I have no idea what joining LVRR does for me, other than I get to volunteer at some events. Guess I'll find out. I was sending in the form/check for the Summer 5K series so I figured I'd sign up while I was at it.

LVRR Clubhouse (photo from website)

The girls got Anne running gear for mother's day. I'm having a hard time gauging how serious she is about this, but it would be great if she starts training. I try to be highly encouraging, but time is always an issue for us. I resort to some really odd hours to get in the modest training I do. We'll see.

About to get chicked times 3.

This weekend we were at a party for the daughter of some friends. Their whole family runs. So when talk turned to running they convinced me to do the Together for Derek run in two weeks at Northampton Community College. The wife and two older daughters do 5K in 24 flat and below. The youngest (about 11) has run 22-something.

#576 shows how it’s done

I told them to wait for me at the finish line.

Schedule

So I have the first LVRR 5K Wednesday, assuming I can make it, then this race for Derek on the 28th. For this first LVRR race, at least, I'm just viewing it as a hard workout. No plan, no taper. I'm not sure what part of the parkway the course is on. Departing from the clubhouse area (which I assume it does) one could map courses ranging from fairly flat to diabolically hilly, so no particular goal for the first race. These races (there are 4) might be great for experimenting with heart rate strategies. Looking forward to them. It's a nice, inexpensive ($15 for all four!), no frills series.

Lehigh Valley Half Marathon / 5K

2009-05-03T12:15:00.001-07:00

Short version

Outstandingly well run event, great results for me! Results were posted before I left the stadium (wow!) so these are official :

23:43 chip time (7:38), 23:54 gun time

63 / 472 overall

50 / 178 gender

9 / 23 M40-44

(Really) Long Version

So Saturday I headed to downtown Allentown to check in. I couldn’t linger, although I did walk through the whole expo, and picked up two new books, My Life On The Run, by running icon Bart Yasso, and The Principles of Running: Practical Lessons From My First 100,000 Miles by 1968 Boston Marathon winner Amby Burfoot. Bart and Amby were in attendance and I am now the proud owner of signed copies of those books. Both were very friendly guys. I had my camera so I made a pest of myself and asked for a quick picture, climbing right behind the booth and having to recruit an innocent passerby to take it. Hopefully Bart and Amby are used to people doing stuff like this. I just couldn’t let my 4 or 5 blog readers down and miss the opportunity :-).

Bart, me, and Amby staffing the Runner’s World booth.

Next I had to duck into my office which is right across the street. Since I had the camera I took a quick shot of the daily view from my desk. I work on the 22nd floor and have a nice view west down Hamilton.

A little overcast today.

I then headed to the Plaza fountain area where I hoped to, and did, meet Jill (aka Sneaker Sister) working at the Kid’s Run signup table. We talked a bit but I didn’t want to interrupt too much since she was working. She didn’t run today as she is recovering (quite well I believe) from shin problems. She said she would look for me at the 5K and did indeed give me a shout today somewhere in the first mile. Thanks!

So, on to race day. If you’ve read my past reports you know I can’t just have a normal, no-drama race schedule. Today was no different. One of our cars is in the shop, and the girls had to travel in the morning, so if I was making this race at all (which was a close decision) I was walking there. And I did, about 3 miles. It was actually an effective warm up / wakeup for such an early race (8 a.m. start). Barely out my front door I took a shortcut through a park for a few hundred yards. That managed to soak my socks and shoes. Right out of the park I looked down at my sneakers and noticed my rfid tag, carefully fastened the night before, had lost all adhesiveness. I was lucky I didn’t lose it. I grabbed one of the safety pins from my bib and fastened it with that. That was nearly a fiasco.

Got to the race area at 7:30. One of the many nice things they did was to have water available before the race. Having just walked three miles, I was happy to down a cup. The prerace scene was fun. Many, many athletes, music, and lots of excitement. The people who live in that neighborhood sure didn’t get to sleep in today. Since I walked, I didn’t have a camera. It was killing me. This was the best photo op of the season and the biggest race in the Lehigh Valley. Sorry! If I can find some public ones in the next few days maybe I’ll edit them in.

Big starting crown. 472 finished, I believe it was sold out at 625 or 650 though. I seeded right about the middle. I had decided to go out more reserved this time and try to run a negative split. Most of the first mile is downhill and I did plenty of weaving. Maybe I should have started a little more forward.

There was a clock at mile 1 and was surprised at how relatively slow my split was: 7:59. I had been keeping a reasonable RPE the first mile, but it was almost all downhill after all and I thought I would be closer to 7 than 8 at this split! I felt great and ready to start upping the RPE, but after seeing that split time I abandoned all hope of breaking 24 minutes. You need to average about 7:45 and I wasn’t going to do that starting 15 seconds in the hole after the big downhill. My last 5K, which was a 24:53 time, I had done the first mile around 7:30 and it had some hills. Oh well, I though, just put in a good effort and enjoy it. At the time I did blame myself for not starting farther forward, figuring I must have just lost the time weaving and running in a dense crowd. At least I felt good.

After mile 1 they put us in a narrower lane by using cones to take away about 3/4th of the road, which made it pretty crowded right up to the turnaround. I didn’t immediately understand this, since the road was closed anyway, there seemed to be no point in only letting us use a quarter of it.

I hit the turnaround feeling good, having glanced at my HR a few times and finding it at 170-173 each time, right about where I wanted it. I wasn’t sure if the turnaround was halfway or a little beyond. I figured it must be a little beyond and planned to press a little once I hit 2 miles.

Coming back up I grabbed a water from a little volunteer. I’m guessing she was about 9. She said, “Let’s pick up the pace, BOB.” Our names were on our bibs, of course. I laughed out loud over the way she said it, wish I could convey it here, but it was so cute.

I started wondering if we were at two miles yet. Crossing Ott street some observer told the two women right in front of me that they were in 11th and 12th place. Don’t know if he was right, but I took that as a good sign. A great sign, actually, if only 12 women in a field this big were “chicking” me, as Jes put it in a recent comment. Note I don’t mind getting beaten by women in the least. I have a wife and three daughters. I’m used to getting “chicked.” Go girl power.

Once back across Ott street I saw the massive wave of half marathoners passing in the other direction on the other side of the street. So that’s why they put those cones out. Duh. I have to say, 4200 people is a lot of people when you see them running in a pack. You need to seed yourself correctly in a race like that, because you’re almost trapped in the flow. Trying to move up (or back!) 100 meters would be a real mess.

Morning Call blog photo from 2008. This would be around Mile 4, you can imagine the traffic jam at mile 0.5

Sooner than I expected the stadium came into view. When I walked in this morning, I picked this as a good place to pick up the pace. But now, as I got there, I was a little confused on distance. I hadn’t seen a two mile marker. Maybe we wouldn’t be entering the stadium where I was assuming we would. I wasn’t sure so I didn’t really speed up.

Well, if there was a 2 mile marker anywhere I missed it [Note: More conspicuous mile markers is my only suggestion for improvement]. We did enter the stadium where I first assumed we would. I picked it up a bit running on the track. What a comfortable running surface! Glanced at my HR in the final turn and it was 180 so I really kicked in the last 100 meters just to see what kind of max HR I could spike, for zone setting purposes. As the clock came into focus I could see I was going to sneak in under 24. I believe it read 23:55 as I came across the line.

Wasn’t until I saw the posted results that I figured it all out, including one factor behind my slow mile 1 split: I had been thinking in terms of gun time all race long, not chip time! My “chip split” might have been more like 7:40. Ah, so much to learn.

The big picture:

Another nice build. I really felt like I put in a good RPE this time – very steady with a slight build. This race was enjoyable and left me feeling strong (unlike the last one). Feeling like I could have gone a tiny bit harder. My main thing to work on from this chart appears just after mile 1.5. Small downhill, and AGAIN I left pace spike regarding this as a recovery stretch. I have to practice not doing that. Good finishing kick, getting it down to around 6:30 as I crossed the line. Once again I forgot to stop the Garmin until about 10 seconds too late.

Zones times. Z4 is average 170 HR, 5A is 174, 5B is 179. Like I said, in hindsight I felt I left a few drops in the tank, and I’m not complaining because I felt great.

Mile splits are not negative, but RPE was:

Mile	Split Pace	Avg HR
1	7:37	154
2	7:54	171
3	7:57	173
3.11	6:42	180 (Max 182)

This was a great event all around. Thanks to the 600 plus (!) volunteers who make it all happen! Next year I hope to experience the half marathon. As I was walking home I got to see the half marathon leaders come through around mile 11. They had such a lead on #3 I almost couldn’t believe it. I’ll be interested to see the times which they say will be on the regular website, www.lehighvalleyhalfmarathon.com, tomorrow.

Stat trivia note: M20-24 awards only went two deep, because there were only two entrants in a field of 675!

Nice finisher medals.

Race for Adam 5K

2009-04-26T15:08:00.001-07:00

To be honest, I chose this race only because it was close to my house. I’m glad I did though, because it turned out to be for a really good cause. Adam Recke is a local child who has Niemann-Pick disease, which is like Alzheimer’s, but affects kids. There is currently no cure, and the funding from this event will help fund research. Adam was there and it was pretty moving, having three young children myself. Very cute kid. Here’s hoping for progress. You can read more at www.raceforadam.org.

Short Version

I was thrilled to run, for the first time, a pace that starts with a 7. Unofficially 24:51 (7:54). [Edit: Officially 24:53]. Chalk up the Sub 30 5K! My race strategy, as it turns out, was ugly. I’ll elaborate later, but the split chart tells the story:

Mile	Split Pace
1	7:34
2	7:41
3	8:26
3.11	8:14

Long Version

Attending this race was, like many events in my life, a game time decision. Last night I asked my daughter Sarah if she wanted to go (either to run or just tag along). She wasn’t sure. This morning we only decided around 9 that we would go if we could. You see, my wife worked Friday night (she’s a nurse) and our van is in the shop. Although I could realistically walk to this race it’s so close, we decided if mom got home in time with the Subaru then we would attend. If not, not. The race was scheduled to start at 10. I wasn’t registered. When Anne got home at 9:25 we decided to give it a shot. Glad we did.

We were milling around the mini-festival before the race, which was pretty cool. They had some rides for kids (you can kind of see one in the background below) and a live band, playing 80s music no less! Nice job all around. As I was standing there I was greeted by fellow blogger Leah! That was cool, first in-person meet of another blogger. As I think about it, it’s appropriate that it was Leah, as finding her blog last fall was a big factor in getting me into regular training. So in a way, this is all her fault :-) Unfortunately we didn’t get to talk very much, but Leah mentioned she was preparing for the LV Half Marathon next week. Good luck! I am already mentally penciling that in as a goal for next year, but for right now 13.1 might as well be 100. One day…

With Leah after the race. She’s the not-exhausted looking one.

What it’s all about. Adam on the left, next to his dad.

No sooner had I met Leah then it was time to line up for the start. At Emmaus I lined up dead last. Also at Emmaus, about 400 runners had a full two lane street and it was still crowded the first half mile at least. Here it looked like we had as many or more people and we would be vying for the less-than-one-car-lane-wide Parkway path. So I seeded myself further forward, deciding to get just in front of the people with baby strollers. I had to be faster than people pushing strollers, right?

Lots of people, not so much path width. Great picture Sarah! (Sarah took all these pictures). Tall guy in shades on the front right would go on to win.

And we’re off. That’s me in grey. Curses! I have been outwitted by some wily stroller lady.

The split chart above sums up what happened. I went out slightly too fast, and faded in the final third. Not like I hadn’t learned that lesson in training, but I somehow let it happen anyway. It’s very obvious what I need: more mileage. Here’s the big picture and my thoughts:

A couple things stand out:

The first and largest hill didn’t phase me.
The small but steep hill at mile two is where I blew out. You can see my pace spike off the chart on the downhill side as I try to recover, but my HR continues to resist, its way of telling me “you went out too fast.” You can see thereafter I mostly limped it in, even on down hills, at ~8:45 pace.That is another well known training bad habit: maintaining a good RPE up hill, then running my slowest pace down hill as I think "time to recover." Have to work on maintaining cadence.
Average HR was 170 (vs. 167 at Emmaus) which was right what I wanted to try. HR build looks fine. Just needed to go out marginally easier and try to put in a negative split. The last half mile was flat and I should have been able to “let it fly” there, but I was struggling by that point.
I feel like I should have known what was happening and adjusted earlier. The RPE was very high. I was surviving but even by mile one I was having doubts about my ability to maintain the pace. I guess I just hoped I could gut it out.
Once again I never looked at the G305 during the race. Maybe I should start!
Sarah told me I was 52nd and she was right. 52/185, 8/17 M40-49.

Sarah shot this from across the stream. It’s right around mile two. The kid in green, who I had been with since the start, is in the process of dropping me.

Sarah got this nice “air” shot of the overall winner Ryan Humes coming in. Time was 18:45. Note the guy with the kid in the stroller on the right. "You're doing it wrong."

Just out of the chute, happy but wheezing.

The girls gave me some Under Armor Heat Gear for my birthday last month, which I’m wearing in the above picture. I would say it helped for cooling as much as you could ask for from clothing. If that was a cotton t-shirt it would be drenched. It was 83* in the sun. The downside of the UA shirt is that it will make you aware of every extra ounce of bulge you have, including some you didn’t even know about. When not occupied by a person, it looks like it is sized to fit an unusually small poodle. The shorts are fine.

One more item, Jill had asked how I like the UA Trail Shoes (I’m apparently a UA ad these days). I like them just fine, as much as possible after reading that anti-tech article! They feel more stable than my Asics, so I use them for the Parkway trails. They are stiffer but I like the feel. They have a funny tongue called a “foot sleeve.” That is, instead of a traditional tongue, the tongue is an arch that goes down to the sole on both sides. At first I thought it might be a problem, because I can feel that arch on the top of my foot and was worried it might chafe or simply be a distraction. But now I don’t notice it. So yes, I do like them. They seem to be built a little narrow if that’s of importance to anyone. They also feel slightly heavier than the Asics.

All in all a very good Saturday morning! Next week, LV 5K.

Running Shoes Increase Injuries

2009-04-21T18:20:00.001-07:00

I like a scientific approach. Peer reviewed data over marketing, that sort of thing. This article was shocking. Well worth a read.

"Runners wearing top-of-the-line trainers are 123 per cent more likely to get injured than runners in cheap ones..It wasn't even body weight or a history of previous injury . It was the price of the shoe. Runners in shoes that cost more than $95 were more than twice as likely to get hurt as runners in shoes that cost less than $40...Follow-up studies found similar results, like the 1991 report in Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise that found that 'wearers of expensive running shoes that are promoted as having additional features that protect (eg, more cushioning, 'pronation correction') are injured significantly more frequently than runners wearing inexpensive shoes.. "

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-painful-truth-trainers-Are-expensive-running-shoes-waste-money.html

[Edit] I should add, I just got a pair of these:

Trail shoes. Extra support, all that. Good timing.

Spring in the Parkway

2009-04-19T19:34:00.001-07:00

Just pictures today.

What a weekend. 72* on Saturday was enough to get a new long run out of me: 8.5 miles. Good news, the fountains are on! While 72* is perfect for walking, perfect for running is more like 55* and I was a little hot. I wouldn’t have covered 8.5 without the fountains, because I didn’t take any water. Ironic since I had just left Leah a comment in her post about nutrition/hydration saying I never went over 6 miles / 60 minutes and never felt like I needed hydration. Well, I needed it this time. That run took me to a new weekly high of 25.01 miles as well.

The apple blossoms are in bloom. Assuming these are apple blossoms.

Don’t even think about fishing. Sage advice, because there aren’t any fish in there.

Lots of walkers. Place is getting green.

Fly fisherman. The sun was sparkling gold off the water from this angle, right out of "A River Runs Through It." But since I don't know how to photograph it right, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Advanced photography: Blinking when you’re the photographer. It takes years to master the timing.

Tumbling water.

Runners.

Bikers asking “Why is that guy taking our picture?” Sorry people, I have blog space to fill.

There were even kayakers today but I had put the camera in the car. What a great resource. I’m lucky to live 5 minutes away.

Later in the day I ran into these cute girls.

That’s my wife Anne with our younger girls Sarah and Laura. And our dogs, Bingo and Casey.

Release the hounds.

Take my first triathlon, please.

2009-04-15T21:08:00.001-07:00

I promised to tell this story. So here it is.

"I admire your attitude," my marathon running brother-in-law said to me. That should have been my first warning. I asked him what he meant. He told me that most guys he trained and raced with wouldn't enter an event until they knew they could finish up there with the big boys, and here I was entering an event where the question wasn't whether I would be competitive, it was whether I could finish at all. I entered anyway. There's a fine line between optimism and stupidity.

The swim only felt this long.

The year was 1988 (give or take). Armed conflicts were boiling over in Iraq and Afghanistan, the athletic world was rocked by performance enhancing drug scandals (Ben Johnson was the biggie), and Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise were major box office stars. In other words, things were just like they are now, except that music really started going downhill around that time, if you ask me :-o.

Anyway, on the foundation of a couple of "practice" runs, one 10K that nearly killed me, and one 20+ mile training ride on the bike, I entered the Blue Marsh triathlon. To the best of my recollection, it was a 3/4 mile swim, 24 mile bike, and 10K run mostly on trails. The day before the race I drove down to scout out the course. I think it was in September, and I swear that I recall brief snow flurries falling. Scouting consisted of finding the place and checking out the lake where the swim would be held. "Gee, the water feels way too cold for swimming," was the sum of my pre-race analysis, which turned out to be spot on.

The next morning found me standing knee deep in Blue Marsh lake. So named because the bottom was marsh like and blue is the color you turn if you go in the water in late September. Being a 20-29 male, we had to go first, which meant we staged in the water first and waited there the longest. Most people wore wetsuits. Ha, did they think this was a scuba diving race or something? I was attired in rainbow colored, visible from space, below-the-knee "jams" which had been highly stylish only half a decade earlier, and a Pac Man tee shirt to minimize the wind chill. I didn't know it then, but about the only way I could have incurred more swim drag would have been to wear boots. Some guy was delivering instructions over a megaphone. I only caught a few stray words like "warning," "caution," and "extreme danger." The guy didn't seem to realize that I was 23 and invincible, and not in need of warnings. Eventually, we were off.

I had gone swimming many a time in my youth. We would swim at Tuscarora State park. I use the term "swimming," but as a youth, mostly what you do at a lake is fool around in the water, which is always shallow enough to stand in. You rarely swim, per se, more than a few feet at a time. I considered this sufficient training for a three-quarter mile swim.

I probably got no more than 100 yards before the second wave rolled over me like a tsunami, followed shortly by the third, fourth, and however many there were. I did the side stroke pretty often to get air and to see where I was going since I didn't know to wear goggles which, combined with not having contact lenses, made sighting difficult. Some guy in a kayak followed me like a vulture. We developed a witty repartee where every minute or so he would ask, in an exaggerated manner, if I was sure I was OK and I would josh around by sputtering water as I tried to speak while my waterlogged clothing tried to drag me beneath the surface. Then the kayak guy would tell me I was pointed 90 degrees off course, and gesture in the right direction with his paddle. Good times.

Just under an hour later I somehow got back to land. I wasn't in any pain, didn't feel tired, and in fact was in an almost dream-like state of bliss. I wandered around for a couple minutes doing nothing in particular, deciding at some point I should probably locate the bike. Eventually I found my bag and decided to stroll off some distance to a building (a rest room, I hope) where I went inside, dried off, and casually changed clothing. As I warmed up the bliss state evaporated and I though, “Huh, wasn’t that odd.” It would be several years later that I read about the warning signs of hypothermia and realized that that's what I had been experiencing. No matter. All of this was before the advent of chip timing, but I strongly suspect it may still stand as the slowest T1 in history with no intentional stalling.

The bike stage. In 1979 or 80 I had acquired one of the first mountain bikes available on the east coast. Suspension was unknown at the time, as was the concept of putting a granny gear up front. It was a 10 speed, same gear ratio as a standard road bike. The frame was manufactured, to judge by its weight and performance, of cast iron tubes filled with lead shot. The wheels and tires appeared to have been commandeered from a surplus army jeep. My friends called it "the plow horse." Imagine putting pedals on a motorcycle and you have the idea. It being my only bike at the time, it had to pull double duty as a triathlon bike. The only up side was that the plow horse struck fear in the fancy time trial bikes, because if I would have rolled over any of them it would have been like an SUV going over a paper cup. I'm sure the other riders would have granted me a wide berth, had they not all left the transition area an hour or so earlier.

Not the plow horse, but a different kind of bike fail.

Still, the bike stage was better than the swim stage. Because on the bike you don't have to worry about slipping beneath the asphalt and not being able to breathe. Unlike the swim, you can go as slowly as you need to without dying, and that was the strategy I employed. I did miss my friend in the kayak though.

The run was even less eventful. I managed to jog the whole way, except for one steep hill. I crossed the finish line in a competitive time for a 70.3. Unfortunately this event was a 30.95, a factor beyond my control, which made my time somewhat less impressive. As I lay sprawled out in the dust just beyond the finish line, wheezing and admiring my finisher medal, an amazing thing happened: Every here and there, someone else would stagger across the finish. Somehow, someway, I didn't finish last. Not that I would have minded. As my bro-in-law had pointed out, my challenge was only to finish, and victory was mine.

For The Win, indeed.

No Pain = Well, No Pain

2009-04-14T16:26:00.001-07:00

I previously mentioned I had done a few races in my early twenties. To elaborate, my brother-in-law was heavily into fitness and racing (he did marathons) and some of it rubbed off on me, although not so much the actual training part. On lots of whim, a handful of training runs, and 23 year old lungs I entered a few races (including two short triathlons) over the course of two seasons. I mainly remember that every step of every race I wanted to quit. I remember having (as opposed to wanting) to lie down on the pavement after a 10K. It just wasn't fun. Possibly that's why I've avoided running for the past 20 years.

I mention this because, for better or worse, I haven't put myself in any real pain so far -- be it training or the one race. I'm not sure if it's wisdom or lack of effort. But every step of the Emmaus race was reasonably bearable. On the edge of discomfort, maybe, but not painful.

And I think I'm going to keep it that way. Cutting a half minute off my time, thus finishing 149th instead of 162nd, versus turning an enjoyable experience into something I cringe just thinking about is not worth it and would disincent me to continue. I know there are performance gains to be had from an all out effort, and right now I'm content to live without them. One day that may change, but that's the plan for now.

Just my thought for the day. Some day I'll write up my first triathlon experience, which was fairly painful. It's the only race from that period I remember well.

Lactate Threshold revisited

2009-04-06T21:10:00.001-07:00

I just found yet another cool Sport Tracks feature. Look at this:

It’s the workout screen from the Emmaus 4 Mile race. You can simply click and drag any portion of the race. As prescribed in Total Heart Rate Training, if I select the last 20 minutes of the effort, my lactate threshold is the average for that period. As Sport Tracks helpfully tells me, that average (shown on the far left) is 173.

That (173) should be the bottom of Zone 5A. Thus, my current efforts are overstated. I’ve been calling 169 the bottom of Z5A but that is too low. Coach Friel apparently thinks I have a little more in the tank. I guess it is time to reset my zones.

Emmaus 4 Mile results

2009-04-05T19:28:00.001-07:00

Short Version

Unofficially 32:46 for an 8:12 pace, surpassing my most optimistic expectations. Crossed 5K at 25:40. I’ll edit in my positions when they become available.

Edit - it's official, nice job LVRR getting the results out so fast.

Officially 32:52, pace 8:13, 162 of 378.

By my data importing and tinkering, 43 / 61 M40-49

My unofficial result was based on what the G305 said at 4 miles because, naturally, I forgot to hit ""stop" until some time after crossing the finish line.

And, just to ensure I know my place, I was beaten by over 5 minutes by an eight year old. Someone get that kid a Nintendo and some cheesy poofs and sit him on a couch. (Just kidding, that's great).

Long Version

I’ve read dozens of race reports and a common theme seems to be waking up before the alarm clock, too excited to go back to sleep, after getting only a few hours sleep. I guess I’m the exception. After hitting snooze a few times I got up, although I could have easily gone back to sleep, and had a quick light breakfast: mug of black coffee, one piece of peanut butter toast.

The course

I live about 5 minutes from Emmaus HS, so I didn’t need to leave early and really didn’t want to have too much milling around time. I got there about 8:45. Check in was smooth, even for a first timer like myself who didn’t know exactly what to do. Very organized, almost no wait even with there being almost 400 entrants.

Check in, Emmaus HS gym.

I felt weird trying to get photos (no one else had a camera), so I took these inconspicuously without a flash and not from eye level, as though I was just fiddling with the camera. Which explains the total lack of quality. I should have borrowed Sarah’s little Coolpix. Oh, Sarah did not attend as originally planned. We had a lot going on today and I was lucky that I could make it.

Off to the start line. Shortly before the race started, I noticed lots of people were wearing short sleeves or tank tops. One guy was running without a shirt. Just then I realized how cozy I felt in a sweatshirt, standing still. It was a perfect morning, 49* and sunny. Maybe I was overdressed? Oh well, my number was pinned to the sweatshirt so it was too late. It turned out to be not so bad anyway. I should have skipped the sweatshirt, but I wasn’t roasting or anything.

I had a few butterflies at the start. Mostly of the “am I sure I want to do this to myself?” variety. I’ve only been training, if you can call it that, for 3 months. I felt out of place. People with Oakleys, cool high tech running outfits, Boston Marathon finisher jackets. They looked fast standing still.

Oh, I had asked about MP3 players on the lvrr.org forum and was told they are discouraged for insurance reasons. So I left mine home. I’d say almost half the people had one on though. I didn’t miss it, although it was odd hearing myself breath so loudly.

I chose to start at the back of the pack. To my surprise, I spent most of mile 1 weaving past people. We had the full width of the road, which was great, but there were still so many runners it was crowded and I did a lot of weaving. The first mile was my slowest at 8:31, and maybe I could have trimmed a little time by starting mid-pack, but I don’t regret it. It was a psychological boost passing people, and I hit the one mile mark feeling like I wasn’t working at full capacity yet.

My splits were:

Mile	Split time	Elev. chg.
1	8:31	24
2	8:05	-18
3	8:10	24
4	7:59	-23

I did not look at the watch during the race.

The hill from about mile 1.3 to 2.3 was as awful as I expected, although I found having a crowd of runners around me helped. I’m amazed it didn’t slow me more. Perhaps the worst aspect is that a large stretch of it is straight, so you see it looming ahead.

Course profile.

Throw pace onto the same chart and you can see there is a strong correlation.

That big pace spike around mile 1.5 is where I stopped to tie my shoe (should have double knotted them). In all the miles of training I’ve never had a shoelace come undone. So of course it happened in a race. I thought about ignoring it, but the lace was slapping my leg and I knew it would distract me nonstop.

Heartbeat-wise I averaged 167, just about the divider between Z4 and Z5A, which was nice and strong and maybe left me with a pinch in reserve. Maybe. Peaked at 182.

Looking away from the average, I spent the most time in Z5B.

No, I never get tired of charts.

So, while at first I was wondering if this was a good idea, it turned out great. I’m really happy with the experience and with how I did, and eager for the next one. As an event it was great. The course, volunteers, organization, food and amenities – all very good. Between the goodie bag and food I got more than the entry fee in value. I expect to be there again next year (and in a new age bracket). [Edit - apparently not true, they go by 10 year age groups not 5]

Now back to focusing on the 5K of the LV Half. I don’t have a goal yet, but I’ve heard it is flat and fast. I would love to think sub 24 might be in reach with a few more weeks of training to work with. But that’s over 30 seconds per mile faster, so I don’t know if that’s reasonable. We’ll see what the next 3 weeks or so bring.

Random covert post race photo, in case you’re in it.

Emmaus 4 Miler

2009-04-02T11:51:00.001-07:00

Wow, only a couple days now until my first race. I did my last hard workout yesterday, and probably my hardest to date (I would say RPE 9) surprising myself with an 8:26 pace over 3 miles[1]. I was racing grey me who was turning 8:45s, which was aggressive to begin with. When setting the pacer I wanted to go quite hard, but given the best I've ever done for this distance is an 8:55 pace (I think), I settled for 8:45 as the training target. This was a fairly flat course though, which Emmaus is said not to be, so I'm certainly not counting on an 8:30 pace there. Hills are a big factor for me. Not to mention I was fading like always and ran each of the three miles successively slower.

For training I plan to pretty much taper into it with easier runs tonight and tomorrow. Taking Friday off per this post. Saturday some short pace work. Sunday race. Nothing complex.

I guess it is tradition to set goals, and I had some written:

Acceptable result - Until yesterday I had never broken 9 minute miles for 3 miles on a flat course. And yesterday I was clearly fading with each passing mile. So I'm going to say sub 9s on a hilly 4 miler would be a good result - sub 36:00 total. I would be happy with that.

Target result - 8:45s for a 35:00 race. This is what I'm aiming for.

Great result - Going under 8:30/mi for 4 hilly miles would be outstanding. That's Sub 34:00. I would be extremely pleased with that.

But wait a minute. I went ahead and punched in the route at www.usatf.com/routes and got this elevation profile:

Ugh.

Two hundred fifty feet of climbing, including a 100 footer? Forget that 34-35-36 stuff. The 100 footer in the Parkway (steeper, I admit, but still) slows me to 12+ minutes per mile, including 15+ at the top.

I’m not even going to try to go with a prediction, based on the elevation profile. Under 40 would be nice, I guess. And I don’t know if I would bet on that. Oh well, it’s a PR no matter what! And I’ll set the bar where I should be able to beat it on a flatter course.

My official photographer has asked to come along, which makes me happy. She doesn't want to run this race but is thinking about a future one. Assuming she actually gets out of bed when I call her Sunday morning there should be plenty of pictures. She got a Nikon Coolpix for Christmas and has so far taken, by my estimate, 14 terabytes worth of digital pictures.

All this assumes I make it to the race. We just got invited to some fancy brunch Sunday and I can feel the resistance building…

Sarah, race photographer

[1] Average heart rate 157. Which tells me that day I ran much more slowly but averaged 164 something was wrong. Maybe I had a brief cold bug or something.

Training Evaluation

2009-03-28T10:49:00.001-07:00

I had a good training run this morning.

This morning I went out for a full Parkway loop, setting grey me to once again cover the 10K in 59:59. Last week I tried the same thing and fell apart. This week it was all good. Some thoughts/analysis on using the pacer as a training tool:

To run a 9:30 pace, I really need to run about 9:10-9:15 on the flats and sub 9 on the declines to compensate for the hills. There’s no such thing, for me anyway, as a rock steady pace.
Considering the Parkway elevation profile (see below) to hit a target pace I have to reach the foot of the big hill around mile 5 well ahead of flat pacing. I had put a lead of some 700 feet on grey me (the pacer) at the fireman’s bridge. At the top of the #$*!&% hill, having run up it at a 12:07 pace, I was ahead by less than 200 feet!
Looking at my splits (see below) I see I still fade somewhat as distance progresses, but less than previously. The hill admittedly takes some spring out of my step.

Parkway elevation profile, full loop, starting (and finishing) at Bogert’s Bridge south side (Credit Union side) and running counter-clockwise. Bridge locations are approximated not exact.

Breaking down the session looks like this:

Mile	Time	Split	Cumulative Average Pace
1	8:54	8:54	8:54
2	17:53	8:59	8:57
3	27:13	9:20	9:04
5K	28:09		9:04
4	36:47	9:28	9:12
5	47:05	10:18	9:25
6	56:57	9:52	9:30
10K	58:44		9:30

Notice the hill made for a tough mile 5 and mile 6 wasn’t much better. Also the tendency to fade overall points to the need for more long runs / endurance work.

My average HR was a strong-effort-but-not-painful 157, compared with a painful-miserable (and slower) 164 a week ago. Coincidentally I had run the same loop clockwise that time, putting the big hill up front. I think there must have been other factors at work; all I know for sure is I hate that hill. I wonder if the 164 HR was a product of some training state or, my question is, if I could/would have pushed it to 164 today would I have turned a significantly better time? I’m thinking about this a lot with my first race next weekend, the Emmaus 4 Miler. I don’t have a plan yet, but I’m thinking of putting the HR display on the G305 and just trying to hold a 160 HR the whole way, accepting whatever pace that may turn out to be that day. Thoughts?

BTW this training session represents training PRs for both 5K and 10K, and the first sub 60 10K, so I’m pretty pleased with that.

In social news, posting that map of the LV Parkway has made me some new blogger friends, including Sneaker Sister who also started a running ring you might consider joining if you’re in the Lehigh Valley.

Heart Efficiency Measure

2009-03-23T19:22:00.001-07:00

If you give me data I have to fool with it. I gotta be me.

Here’s a fringe (yet I think useful) fitness metric I just calc’ed in Excel. The Garmin 305 provides enough data that with a couple quick formulas you can figure out your heartbeats per mile (or distance traveled, in feet, per heartbeat). Granted that running faster may be less efficient when you push the pace[1], but I think averaged over a month of training it is a useful indicator of fitness. That is, you’d want to start covering each mile in less heartbeats if you are getting more fit. If that’s true, then I’m going in the right direction.

	Heart Beats per Mile	Feet per Heart Beat
JAN 09	1612.6	3.27
FEB 09	1585.9	3.33
MAR 09 (to date)	1480.4	3.57

That’s a 9% efficiency gain from Jan to Mar. I imagine some of you are on the order of double+ my feet/beat number. But if you’re standing still I’m gaining on you.

[1] In other words, if you were striving to maximize your efficiency in distance per heart beat, I suspect you would want to run less than your top speed. Exactly where the sweet spot would be I do not know. It might be useful for marathon and ultra runners to know this.

Chasing Grey Me / Up Days Down Days

2009-03-22T19:26:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to trying a nifty feature on the G305. It’s the “quick workout.” All you do is enter a distance and time (or pace) and as you go you can see where you stand relative to the pace you specified.

I tried to get this shot but it was blurry. Pic borrowed from the net.

The image above is the quick workout. You got the “black me” on the bottom, which shows where you are relative to the “grey me” on top. The grey me runs the exact pace you specified. The black me surges ahead or falls behind as you do, the numbers tell you how far.

It’s a great tool for trying to train to a pace, the only drawback being that “grey me” doesn’t care if he’s going uphill, level,or downhill – he holds exact pace. I might even use it in a race to try to hit a target time. I would say if you were competing for any kind of award, even age group, it would actually constitute an unfair advantage – like having someone pace you. For breaking 30 minutes for 5K, I’m thinking no one will mind.

I discovered yesterday what a difference an up day versus a down day can make. I went out to do the Parkway loop (10K). The first time I ran it unconcerned about pace. I finished comfortably (155 average HR) in 1:01.05. Yesterday I got cocky and programmed grey me to run it in 0:59:59, deciding trying to keep up would be a hard workout. What a disaster. I ran the loop clockwise, meaning the monster hill came early, so I went out real hard to put some distance on the grey me, who I knew would cruise up the hill just like it was flat. I had hoped to net out right on pace after the hill, but I clearly started beyond my sustainable ability and it made the whole run painful and I frequently redlined my HR.

I eventually finished in 1:01.01 (a whopping 4 seconds faster) BUT averaged a 165 HR! Talk about dramatically harder effort to hit the same time! I don’t know if it was the fast start, or just having an A day last week and about a D day this week. It was awful. Fall behind by running 10:00, surge to 9:10 to bite back some distance, tank, fall back to 10:15 to recover, repeat. Horrible.

Anyway, I’ll use this as a training aid occasionally, but I think I should mostly go back to RPE and not looking at the watch at all. I obsess too much and am better off not knowing. I certainly don’t want to spend every day chasing grey me... So to speak.

Biking / Progress / Weight Training

2009-03-16T19:09:00.001-07:00

Now Slow at Two Sports

Two or three birthdays ago my wife surprised me with a trail bike. Since then I had been planning to get some exercise on it. OK, so I procrastinated for three years, but this weekend I finally got around to it. It was a fun change of pace from running, and I like running.

Here's a shot of my ride.

Looking east from Fireman’s bridge

It's a Jamis Cross Country. It's not built for hard core technical single track, but for the smooth Parkway paths it's great. The front shocks pleasantly soak up most of the usual gravel trail vibration. Years ago I had a rigid frame, made of cast iron judging by how it rode, useful for vibrating fillings loose.

I rode the full Parkway loop this weekend, which turned out to be what I would call an easy or recovery workout. Average HR was about 124 and it only takes about 30 minutes to do the full loop at moderate speed.

On the plus side biking will be a nice option for easier days. A pleasant change of pace. Mainly the reason I wanted to work in some biking though is preventative knee maintenance. I don't have any knee problems and, knowing plenty of people who do, I'd really like to keep it that way.

On the down side a 124 HR seems a little low even for me. Zone 2 doesn’t even kick in until 144 or so. But I have to check with Coach Friel’s book about how you recalibrate HR zones for the bike, maybe it isn't as bad as it looks. I could push harder as well, but the parkway is a busy place and the last thing I want to do is have a collision with someone or their dog. I'm a "share the trail" guy and all, but in the Parkway there are many places where you can't see far enough ahead to ride full bore. Not safely, not me, anyway.

I rode the bike up the big hill, and it wasn't easy. I almost had to get off and do the walk of shame, despite having a granddaddy low 24:28. I hit a (running) Z4 heart rate on that hill, which I'm starting to regard as my personal nemesis (the hill, not the heart rate).

Can you spot the big hill?

Progress

I continue to be really pleased with overall progress. Sunday I ran the full Parkway loop. I deliberately went out at a comfortable pace, this being not only my long run of the week but, at 6.25 miles, my longest run to date. I had estimated it would take me around 1:07 to 1:11 to get around, especially considering the big hill comes at around the 5 mile mark, and was really surprised to finish comfortably in 1:01.05, which is a 9:42 pace. I don’t check my time/pace during the run, as it I’ve found it causes me to divert from the plan. I try to pick a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) and stick to it.

The idea that on a sufficiently friendly course I might be able to break an hour for 10K, right now, got me pretty excited. 11 weeks ago completing 5K without walking was not guaranteed.

Anyway, if you can't tell, I'm pretty happy with how things are going.

Weight Training

Now here's an area that needs work. I've been all over the board fiddling with different ideas, not sticking to any given plan yet, and not training regularly. Given I still have maybe 5 pounds to lose, I'm conflicted by the concept of trying to gain muscle mass (which requires consuming more calories than I burn) while simultaneously trying to lose fat (which requires consuming less calories than I burn). Supposedly this can be done, but it seems to me that getting the nutrition right would not necessarily be easy.

Next post I'll throw out my current plan (whatever it is that day) to see if any of you have any thoughts.

Parkway Map & Distances

2009-03-15T19:15:00.001-07:00

Here are some Parkway distances as measured by my Garmin 305. They’re probably good to the tenths spot. Beyond that things like whether you run curb-to-curb or down the middle, and dodging dogs and bikes, make it pointless to debate it to the hundredths spot.

For example, I’ve obtained 6.19 to 6.25 for the whole parkway loop. So I’m just going to call it 6.21, or 10K. So take this as a decent guideline as to how far you’re going, not as wheel-measured USATF certified. Remember you got it from a stranger on the internet. Having said all that, if you really think something is wrong let me know and I’ll double check next time. The GPS isn’t perfect.

Some notes appear below.

Click to enlarge.

Notes:

Any route that passes Bogert’s on the north side but doesn’t cross it stays on the path near the stream.
Likewise, any route that passes the Iron bridge on the south but doesn’t cross it stays near the stream (red arrow below). For crossing it I used the jughandle path (blue line) shown here:

If you do the Fish Hatchery loop you run straight through the fish hatchery parking lot (A below). On the south side as you return to Fireman’s Bridge the path splits (B below) where there is a sign that says “Museum.” I measured from, and highly recommend, the right turn to the museum path (blue line) instead of the stream side part (red line), which is frequently very muddy. D is the dragon, a quarter mile 7.5% grade.

Almost the whole Parkway stays near the stream so it is largely flat. The following picture isn’t great (I was in no shape to climb a tree to get a clear shot), but it gives you some sense of the height of the hill at D above - you can see the stream is pretty far below.

The Fish Hatchery loop has a good climb. View from atop the dragon.

Enjoy the Parkway. See you out there.

Potpourri for 100

2009-03-07T11:01:00.001-08:00

Life has largely returned to normal at our house, thank goodness. In the last 10 days we had a hospitalized child (who will be fine, thanks Leah for the well wishes), another potential health issue (which turned out not to be), and I survived the downsizing at work. Not to be a whiner, but I'm relieved to have the last week or so in the rearview mirror. I'm back to normal training, and just maybe I appreciate it a little more. If it weren't for bad times, you wouldn't recognize the good times when you were having them.

Even last week wasn’t this stressful, I just like this moving gif, so I used it. Feel free to borrow it for appropriate occasions.

* * * * *

I have twice now, on longer training runs, passed the 3.11 mile mark in under 30 minutes (not that I knew until until after the run). Once just barely -- 29:58 -- and then a second time on a shorter total run at just under 29.

Both of these were on fairly hard efforts, yet not all-outs, so I'm very pleased with training results to date. Both, I should disclose, were on very flat (and net slight decline) routes. It's only been about 65 days since I began training though, so I have to be happy with the progress. Training runs are unofficial though, so the Sub 30 goal remains in place until I do it in a race, and remains easily blowable with a too-fast start or even out of reach on a hilly course. I try to be semi-scientific in approaching things and that seems to be working. One not small part of a logical approach includes learning from other people, and to that end I thank you, my fellow bloggers, for your shared tips, insights, and inspirations.

* * * * *

Speaking of which, I grabbed yet another useful item from DC Rainmaker. If he's not on your reading list you're missing out. He did a comparison of chocolate milk vs. sports drinks as recovery aids. You can read it here. I tried his approach and it came out great. First of all, I wasn't necessarily taking anything for recovery after training. Now that is part of my program. I use skim milk and light chocolate syrup, as he describes. I also added a scoop of protein powder and it tastes far better that way than did just milk and protein powder back in my gym-going days. I had a bit of luck there as well. Previously when I mixed milk and protein I used the spoon and glass approach. The resultant concoction had the consistency of oatmeal, no matter how long you stirred it. Not an appealing texture for a beverage, I can assure you. As luck would have it, when I went to make the chocolate milk potion the nearest handy container was an Eddie Bauer water bottle (with a lid), so I used that. *Shaking* the mixture blended it perfectly, no lumps whatsoever.

* * * * *

If you haven't heard, the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon as well as the 5K are sold out. Glad I got in early, hope you did too.

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Here's a classic video. It's Dave Scott and Mark Allen as televised by ABC’s Wide World of Sports in their classic Kona duel in 1989. They run side by side most of the marathon, in what many still regard as the best IM ever. It’s possibly the tipping point that exploded triathlon’s popularity. One bit of weirdness. I watched this the other evening, for the first time since having seen it twenty(!) years ago, and for some reason I remembered two lines verbatim, and thought of them before they were spoken. One was, "energy to burn, for now," which who knows why that stayed with me. The other was when they asked the lead cyclist something about his competitor's position and he said "It doesn't matter." I remember thinking Who wouldn't care where the competition was, especially the race leader? I still don't get it. Not completely, anyway. I just found it funny that I remembered it so well considering there are days when I can't remember my own phone number.

Part 1, you know how to find the rest.

* * * * *

Lastly, I love reading blogs but they are mechanically a poor forum for ongoing back and forth discussions. The greatest, most interesting blog entry in history will still fall off the radar in 24-48 hours. This forum is a better mechanism for back-and-forth discussion. I’ve never posted but read it sometime.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/forum.php?board=1

Like every other part of the internet, it’s littered with no shortage of gossip, flames, and trolls. If you don’t mind sifting through that there is some good content to be found.

First Break

2009-03-02T20:37:00.001-08:00

Well I find myself off for the fourth day in a row. My oldest daughter is in the hospital (she’ll be fine) and we’ve been taking shifts being there 24x7 and taking care of the younger two.

I have managed some cross training, the routine for which I hope to post later this week for your thoughts. In the meantime, here’s what the bigger of our two dogs does when she gets out in the snow.