TheRunningRev.Com

First Cold Run of the Season

Last night we had the first snow of the season! Today the temperature reached a balmy 35 and there was a 15mph wind blowing from the west creating a wind chill of 25. Brrr, this was serious winter running in Virginia but only the tip of the iceberg for Minnesota (pun intended).

I thought about taking the day off, heck I ran a marathon a week ago. Then I realized that if I start making excuses today I'll be making them all winter. So I donned my tights and jacket, hat and gloves and went for a 5 mile run.

It was amazing! Having spent the last few months training for the marathon I was now free to run how I wanted to. I'm not bound to a training schedule and it felt fabulous to be outside running free. I'm really looking forward to the next few months of running before the build up for my next marathon, but for now I'm running free!

Running Again

It's been five days now since the marathon and the soreness has left the muscles, that means its time to start running again!

Four easy miles on the road. It's so nice to be able to get out and run without being in training for any particular event, just running for running's sake. It was a perfect day to start back, temperatures in the upper 40's, sun shining brightly and a light breeze. I have no idea what my pace was today as I plodded along on the first of my recovery runs, I just focused on keeping a comfortable pace all the way.

It won't be long now before I have to do some winter running. That'll be new to be me as I haven't had a "real" winter in five years.

Twin Cities Marathon 2009

It was a perfect morning for a long run, overcast and cool. Having taken the shuttle from Saint Paul to Minneapolis we waited in the Metrodome staying warm until 7:40 when we made our way to the start. I headed into Corral 1 and Jenny into Corral 2.Pushing my way near to the front I hooked up with the 3:20 pace team and hoped to hang with them until the end securing a Boston qualifying time.

As the race got underway I felt great until about mile three when I realized that I was going to have to pee soon! By the time we hit mile 5 I had to stop, it only took about 20 seconds but it put me 20 seconds off pace, I took the next half mile to catch up with the pace team, I should have taken longer to do this as it meant I ran a 7:20 mile but probably closer to 7:10 for the half mile, way too fast, burning a lot of energy. I soon settled back into the pack.

One of the other miles (don't recall which) in the first ten was also a little fast as we hit a 7:25 mile but I seemed to be doing OK. It was great to see my kids just past mile 10 and then a couple of friends between 11 and 12.

We were through the half in just over 1:39 so we right on pace for our 3:20 finish. At mile 14 my back started to tighten and the lower left part of my back felt like a rock. By mile 15 I started to fall off my pace a little as the back tightening eased and transferred into my hip flexor which ached for the rest of the race. I continued to race through about mile 18 as I could still see the 3:20 group a few hundred yards ahead of me. By the time I hit mile 19 they were gone and so was my desire to push hard for a BQ.

I had a choice to make, chose my next goal... push hard and maybe get a PR or relax, have fun and enjoy the rest of the race. I selected the latter and treated the rest of the race like an ultra, steady and slow, walk the hills. I took time to stop and say "Hi" to Brian, Barb, Darrell, and then stopped to hug and high five my kids. I took time to thank volunteers at the water stops for giving of their time to make the race possible. I was glad to be able to take in all that Summit Avenue has to offer in crowd support.

I crossed the finish line in 3:39:50. Not a bad time considering how much fun I had over the last 7 or 8 miles!

So what went wrong? Why no BQ? Well the answer is simple... relationships and life! I took a trip to Viriginia to catch up with friends and see U2 in concert last week. Not the smartest way to prepare for a marathon. Wednesday night I was up until 2:00 am enjoying time with a good friend. Thursday night I spent a litlte over 5 hours standing at the U2 concert and didn't get back to the hotel until 2:00 am. I woke up with a serious calf cramp the next morning. Of course there is no guarantee of a BQ in any race and I while the timing was bad I wouldn't have done anything differently. There's always another race but only so much time with friends.

Taper Week

Only six days left until the Twin Cities Marathon and I've come down with a cold, ugh! The good news is the hard work is done, its rest and taper time. I should shake this cold in a couple of days and be 100% before Sunday.

My training has gone fairly well. With two of us training and working and then having kids schedules to juggle on top of that it would be nearly impossible to have a perfect training build-up to the race. I managed to fit in all my long runs and have had a few good tempo runs at marathon pace or faster. I've missed out on speed work but for the marathon it shouldn't hurt me too much.

The plan for Sunday will be to start out with the 3:20 pace team and see if I can hang on! I need 3:20 to qualify for Boston, the holy grail of marathoning. It's probably a long shot for me but you never know, if everything goes right on the day then it just might happen.

Let's go have fun over 26.2

Lumberjack Days

It was supposed to be a long run day, my calendar said 17 miles but I'd signed up for this ten mile race. It was a beautiful morning, not to warm and very little humidity to speak of, the wind was from the NW and the race was a point to point run mostly heading south, a perfect day for running.

After meeting up with my friends Brian and Jan we took a short run to warm up and then it was race time. Brian and I started together as Jan took off into the distance and then I took off leaving Brian behind me. The race is mostly downhill and I plodded my way through the first mile in 7:12, my second mile came in at 7:04 and my third mile was faster still a 6:53. I realized I was going much faster than I had expected or even wanted to run. So when I hit the long uphill section I slowed way down, I didn't want to totally trash my quads with all the hard downhill running.

About half way through mile 5 Brian caught up with me and we ran together through 8 miles when I let him go ahead. I took the last couple of miles at a very comfortable pace and finished in 1:14:16. I felt great! After hanging out at the finish for a while I jogged around for a bit of a cool down (extra mile) and headed home.

I called Jenny on my way home to see if she wanted to go for a run. So together we set out for a short run of just over three miles taking my total for the day to around 15.

Unfortunately I had run the downhills a little too hard and my quads are in serious need of recovery. Perhaps next year I'll try and set a PR on this course, a very definite possibility.

Training

Marathon training is coming along well. Just completed a forty mile week. While not a lot for some runners I tend to max out at just under 50 for marathons.

I put in a good 16 mile run yesterday and followed it up with 8 today. I ran the first 6 as mile repeats at an average pace of 7:12 and then turned Garmin off for the last two. Not bad on a pair of tired legs.

Manitou Days 5k - new PR

It was a warm, almost 80 degree, evening in White Bear Lake and the humidity was fairly high. It had been a year since I last ran a 5k and I wasn't sure what to expect.

About 200 of us toed the starting line and when the starter sent us on our merry way I flew out of the gate and after about 100 yards knew I was going way to fast so I slowed to what I thought at the time would be a more sustainable pace. As I arrived at the mile one marker I looked at my watch and it read 6:04, surely that couldn't be right there was no way I could sustain this pace but I decided to press on see what would happen. I was certain that by the time I reached mile 2 I had slowed considerably so I was thoroughly suprised to discover my watch said 12:14 at this point in the race. I had just run the fastest two miles of my life and I was starting to really feel it!

I pressed on but felt the energy leaving my legs and the third mile became a challenge but I made it through it. Upon reaching the three mile mark I turned on the burners for one last pick-up to take me through the finish line. I ran into the chute and straight through the other end as quickly as possible as
I grabbed the edge of the large garbage can and started to dry heave. I had nothing left, I had just averaged 6:36 for the race finishing in 20:28 and a new PR for the 5k, beating my previous best by over a minute (21:31). Who says you can't improve with age!

Later in the evening I raised a glass of wine to Ian Connor for all his support and encouragement and his blasted whistle at our Wednesday track workouts!

Manitou 15k

It was a cool 45 degrees at race time as we lined up for one lap around White Bear Lake. My goal was to run it as a tempo run somewhere between 7:30 - 7:40 pace. I figured if I put in a lot of runs at this pace I'll be in a good position to qualify for Boston this fall.

We started running and I wasn't sure of my pace but I knew it was a little faster than I'd expected to start but I felt good. When I passed the first mile marker in 6:34 though I knew I was in trouble. I've never sustained this pace for a 5k let alone a 15k! So I slowed down a lot hoping I hadn't done to much damage and pressed on. At 5k my pace was now averaging a little under 7:00 so I was giving time back just as I should. I still ended up running faster than I intended finishing in 1:07:40 with a 7:16 average.

It felt good knowing I was able to run this pace this early in my training. I'm feeling very hopeful for a sub 3:20 marathon in the Twin Cities this fall!

For the love of running

On Monday I ran my first ten mile run since the "Icy 8" back in February! It felt fabulous on a sunny afternoon to plod along at an 8:20 pace in seventy degree weather enjoy the great outdoors. I'm finally motivated again to start running long... Marine Corps, JFK 50 and the Icy 8 took there toll on my desire to go long for a while!

I topped off Monday's run with a quick four on Tuesday with a 7:07 pace and a 6:31 third mile. It was my first run by White Bear Lake!

I love running!

ICY 8

It was a beautiful morning at Lake Anna. Perhaps a little on the cool side as the morning temperature was about 25 degrees. After a checking in and going through the pre-race briefing we were off, a small cadre of runners committed to spending the next eight hours logging as many miles as possible on one of two measured loops of 4.7 and 8 miles.

I had decided my goal was to run four of the long loops and then see how I felt. I started the first loop running with a neighbor, Stacy, and then found myself chatting with a pediatrician until the two loops split and he headed off on the short loop while I continued on the long. I soon caught up with, or was caught (I don't remember) by Theresa from our local running club. We would continue to travel together through the first four long loops before going our separate ways.

The ground was solid underfoot from the cold temperatures and the frozen mud was potted with large hoof prints from the many horses that used the trails. Every step was a potential ankle twisting moment.

The first loop went by relatively easily in 1:20 and before heading out for the second loop I dropped my pants (but I kept my shorts ;-)). I also grabbed a handful of chips and a strawberry Nutrigrain bar. Loop two would take me past my longest run since November but I still felt good at the end of loop two which I also ran in 1:20. Time for good old PB&J! I gobbled down my sandwich, a glass of gatorade and some chips and changed into a t-shirt before heading out on loop 3.

By now the sun was up and the day was warming. The frozen tundra was becoming a mud bath. We slipped and slided our way around. At one point Theresa and I got caught behind a half dozen horses and had to take an extended walk break until we could find a good place to pass them. After loop three I took on a lot more fluid, several cups of gatorade and ate more chips, the heat was starting to take a toll. It was a slower loop and just under 4 1/2 hours had passed in the race.

With 24 miles completed it was time to set out again. Theresa and I stuck together until about mile 30 when I took an extended walk break and she kept going (actually she'd go on and win the women's division). I lost my mental focus at this point and trudged into the checkpoint with 1:50 left in the race. I could have renewed my focus but I didn't feel like it. To many other things going on in life and it was now over 60 degrees out and I was tired and thirsty, 20 oz wasn't proving to be enough liquid for an 8 mile loop.

I knew I couldn't be done at this point so I decided to go out again and do a short loop, I didn't have the motivation to go long. So I plodded through the mud and up the hills and across two streams (narrow enough to jump) and finished with 36.7 miles and forty minutes to spare.

I was glad to have chosen the short loop for my last loop as I had a really nasty blister develop on my toe with about two miles to go and every step was painful.

I can't imagine doing a 24 hour or 100 mile race as some people do.

All in all a great day and a great event.