Race Report: Fairfield Half Marathon

Posted on June 22, 2008 by threlkeld

Hills, humidity and horror.

This race was a disaster. I went in hoping to run somewhere around 1:33:00 and ended up with a time of 1:44:43. That’s 10 minutes slower than my half marathon time in May (and I’m in better shape then I was then.) I managed a pace of between 7:00-7:10 for the first couple of miles, then hit the first of several horrendous hills, over the course of which my performance steadily but surely cratered.

I wouldn’t call the last few miles a death march, but suffice it to say that I went from an average pace of 7:35 for the first 9 miles to around 8:35 for the last 4.1. My goal had been to run an average of 7:05 or so.

Between this and the Mini 10K a couple of weeks ago, I’ve decided that summer races are not for me. I race shorter races primarily for one of three reasons: a) to stand in for a marathon training run (tempo or marathon pace, usually); b) to assess my current fitness; c) to have fun.

Running in heat and high humidity accomplishes none of those things. The primary training effect is learning to run in high heat and humidity, which isn’t a goal; it’s a waste as a training run because I can’t get anywhere near the paces I need to in order for it to be productive; it’s only fun if you’re a masochist.

I will mention that it’s a good event, if you’re looking for a challenging summer half and can cope with the possibility of the weather being against you. The course is beautiful, winding through neighborhoods full of beautiful homes and gardens. It’s well-supported, with enthusiastic volunteers and decent post-race food (although I didn’t dare try the pizza, since my stomach was doing flipflops).

I wouldn’t call this race a total loss, since it has confirmed that I should take my hard training indoors when it’s very hot and humid. And save the racing for the other three seasons.

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"Mr. Ski Gloves" and other mysteries…solved!

Posted on June 21, 2008 by threlkeld

I posted about a person I see just about every day, walking in the hottest of weather wearing Michelin Man ski gloves*: At random points in his perambulations, he drops to the pavement and does pushups. I guess the gloves are to protect his hands. Still seems like overkill, though.

The forecast for tomorrow’s half marathon in Connecticut is for 70 degrees and around 80% humidity. I suppose it could be worse (and it has been in past years, or so I’ve read). Fortunately, much of the course is reported to be shaded, so I’ll just focus on getting the water down my throat rather than the front of my shirt and taking it easy on the hills.

I will be one of 274 women in the 40-49 age group running (perhaps more, if there are race day registrations) tomorrow. I recognize one name from the NYRR races — someone who always beats me by just a minute or two. I want to try to reverse that trend tomorrow (although by her recent race times, it looks like she’s impervious to heat).

We’re promised a post-race “beach party,” which I hope means ice cream and beer (don’t ask me why I make that association). Way before noon! Sometimes, when you get over the whole taxes, home repairs, needing to hold down a job thing, being an adult is a lot of fun. Anyway, I’m hoping this “party” will make up for the fact that I need to get up at 4:30AM tomorrow morning to drive an hour and engage in strenuous exercise in high humidity.

Before I go, I want to praise Tivo. Because of Tivo we’ve been able to watch every single match in the Euro 2008 Football cup, at our leisure, in the evening. And we have about 30 “track and field” broadcasts scheduled to record in the coming weeks, Olympic trials from Eugene and otherwise. Heaven. Sheer heaven.

Also, since I’ve been making very little progress with weight (or, rather, butt) loss lately, despite running 90 miles a week and dropping my caloric intake to around 1500 a day, I decided to give the whole “your body will go into starvation mode and hold onto fat like it’s going out of style” theory some credence. For the past week or so, I’ve been experimenting with eating more (and more frequently). And rapidly losing fat. Who knew?

*Originally reported as “mittens.” I see now that they are in fact gloves.

Filed under: eating, elites, everyday life, meets, racing | 1 Comment »

Race Report: New York Mini 10K

Posted on June 7, 2008 by threlkeld

A hot race full of hot women. And I’m not talking about Playboy Bunnies.*

I knew it was going to be hot today. It’s funny — I didn’t consider not running it, even as each day’s weather forecast predicted mercury soaring ever higher. I was curious to see how I’d do in the heat, since, aside from last weekend’s hot and humid Sunday long run (debacle), I haven’t done any training or racing in the heat since last summer.

I did about as well as I thought I would. Under normal circumstances, I’d expect to be able to run a 10K in Central Park around 43:30 at my current level of fitness. Today I ran it in 45:54.

I console myself with something Deena Kastor said at a pre-race press conference:

“Although I am not peaked or peaked for this race, I’m actually just beginning to launch into my marathon‑specific training, it was a weekend I could not pass up as being past competitors of Magdalena Lewy‑Boulet and Blake Russell, to now being teammates has a really different feel. I really wanted to come together this weekend to celebrate women’s distance running here in New York City, a race that is really truly incredible for 5,000 women to take on the streets of New York and Central Park itself. It’s an incredible celebration of distance running.”

Yes. What Deena said. About not having trained for a 10K and just being at the beginning of marathon training. That. What she said.

Incidentally, rundangerously has some nice photos of Deena and others. And there’s a good story on the race in The Final Sprint: Jonathan was among those high-fived by Hilda Kibet and Madai Perez.

I picked up my number and, once I got to the start, was delighted to discover that I was seeded in the first corral, right behind the elites. What a treat!

We spent a few minutes listening to opening remarks from Mary Wittenberg, got a very brief oral history of the race from co-founders Kathrine Switzer and Nina Kuscsik, and were introduced to some of the elites running. One of them, Hilda Kibet, won with a time of 32:49. Not bad in hot, humid weather, and over a hilly course. Did I mention that Kibet is Lornah Kiplagat’s cousin?

The horn honked and 4,104 of us were off.

The race was a challenge, as all races in the park are. We started just above Columbus Circle, heading up Central Park West to 90th Street, at which point we turned into the park. My first three miles went very well. In fact, I ran a 6:30 pace for mile 1, which shocked me to no end. I didn’t even know I could run that fast. But I knew it wasn’t sustainable. For miles 2 and 3 I ran 6:59 and 6:57 respectively.

Then came the big hills. The first one wasn’t too bad, but the second one that rounds the north end over to the East side was very difficult. It seemed much steeper and longer than last time I’d run it. I wonder why.

By the 4 mile mark, my legs felt like jelly and everyone was running noticeably slower. The time for that split was 7:38; ouch. Still, I managed to pick the pace up again on Cat Hill, running mile 5 in 7:10. Mile 6 was very slow, even with the 100 foot elevation drop: 7:25. That one surprised me. I must have done something earlier that I couldn’t recover from, because although my lungs were fine, I couldn’t make my legs go faster, even on the downgrades. Might that first 6:30 mile have had something to do with that?

Rounding the bottom of the park for the last .2 miles, a woman ran with me and said cheerfully, “Come on, don’t slow down now.” We ran together for most of the rest of the race. Nice person, whoever she was. She pulled me along and I managed a 7:13 pace for the last bit.

Stats:

  • Finishing time: 45:54
  • 169th place overall
  • 28th place in women 40-44
  • Age graded ranking: 70.0%
  • Top 4% of all finishers
  • Top 6% of women 40-44

The race was well organized. There were well-stocked water tables approximately every mile or so (although they really should have had a table right after the big hills; having to run all the way to the boat house before getting a drink seemed way too far). People with misting hoses were stationed along the course, which most of the runners took advantage of. Volunteers were enthusiastic, friendly and knowledgeable. They ran out of small shirts, unfortunately, which was too bad, but no biggie.

The prize (besides being able to stop running) was a lovely, understated medal and a single pink carnation. Classy race. I’ll probably run it again next year.

Next up: The Stratton Faxon Fairfield half in two weeks…

*Follow the oral history link for further explanation of this wisecrack.

Filed under: elites, racing | 5 Comments »

Stinking weather forecast…

Posted on June 5, 2008 by threlkeld

Since I have a race on Saturday, I’ve been compulsively checking the weather forecast. In the last two days, it’s gone from low 80s and overcast to mid 90s and partly sunny. With high humidity to boot.

June is usually fairly safe, especially early June.

But not this year.

I’m trying to have a positive attitude, though. I’m hoping that a short race in miserable summer weather will jumpstart the acclimatization process, thereby setting me up for a fabulous (relatively speaking, of course) half marathon later in the month.

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Fall Training: Week 2

Posted on June 2, 2008 by threlkeld

This, week two of my eight week basebuilding experiment, proved a tough one. I ratcheted up the mileage another 10%. In two weeks, I’ve gone from 50 miles to 88 miles. This is bearing in mind that I averaged 76 mpw during training for the spring race. Still, I felt those extra miles by the weekend, and had to make some compromises as a result.

I kept most of the miles as recovery miles — nearly 60% of them. But that wasn’t enough. Read on.

Today starts a much-needed recovery week. No running today and lots of slow running. Then a race on Saturday — so much for recovery…

A look back at the week:

  • Monday: 6.1 miles recovery pace (AM); 5.1 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Tuesday: 5.1 miles recovery pace (AM); 5 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Wednesday: 9.9 miles tempo with 2×2 at 15K-half marathon pace (AM); 4.2 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Thursday: 6 miles recovery pace (AM); 6.1 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Friday: 7 miles easy pace (AM); 4 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Saturday: 6 miles recovery pace (AM); 4 miles recovery pace (PM)
  • Sunday: 19.8 mile long run (steady pace)

Total mileage: 88.3 miles

Paces this week:

  • Recovery: 9:50 – 11:20
  • Tempo: 6:59 – 7:13
  • Easy: 7:55
  • Long: 8:57

Things were going well until Saturday. I had a really good tempo run earlier in the week, then felt so good on Friday morning that I raced through seven miles at under 8:00 minutes per mile. And that turned out to be a big mistake.

I was tired on Saturday during both my runs. Then I didn’t get to bed until well after midnight since the Reebok meet ran late. Got seven hours of sleep Saturday night, woke up exhausted. And it was hot and humid.

I had one of the worst runs I’ve had in awhile on Sunday. I couldn’t drag myself out until after 9AM on Sunday (I usually start much earlier). I knew by mile five that it was going to be a tough run. I was tired, my legs hurt and it was 85 degrees and humid, with me sweating up a storm at high noon.

I must have been on crack when I thought I could run 20 with the last five at marathon pace at the end of this particular week. I gave up on that idea early on and engaged in a process of lowering my expectations with every mile. Finally settling on trying to keep the average pace under a 9:00 mile (just made it).

Anyway, I beat myself up over it and then realized that this is basebuilding, after all. I got my mileage in and there’s plenty of time for fast long runs later on. Things should get easier as I get more acclimatized to the heat and humidity too.

I registered for the NYRR Mini 10K on Saturday. It’s probably going to be hot and humid, but I’m still excited to run it. The olympic marathon team will be running it, as well as some big name international elites. They will, of course, be too far ahead of me to see, but I’ll know they’re there nevertheless.

This will also be the first NYRR race I’ll run since they instituted their seeded corrals policy. I wondered how they would figure my pace. It turns out they take the fastest per mile pace you’ve run in a NYRR race. It works to your advantage if you run shorter NYRR races, but it’s not so great if all you run are the longer ones. It seems like it would be easy enough to seed runners based on their best paces relative to other distance/pace equivalents. But them’s the rules and I shall not argue with the NYRR gods.

I don’t have a hard time goal, since the weather will be a factor. I just want to run as fast as I can. Wish me luck!

Coming up in Fall Training Week 3 (which started today): A day off, lots of slowpoke miles, a race and a long run on Sunday. All adding up to a mere 61 miles.

Filed under: basebuilding, inspiration, racing, training | 2 Comments »

Running as entertainment

Posted on May 26, 2008 by threlkeld

I’m considering getting tickets for the Reebok Grand Prix, which is next Saturday evening.

This may be a true sign of madness.

It’s tempting, though, as the best seats are just $50. For nearly five hours of entertainment. That’s a lot cheaper than going to see “Mama Mia!” Heck, we spent $30 on movie tickets and Milk Duds to go see “Iron Man” yesterday.

Plus we won’t have to suffer the usual terrible television coverage:

  • Inarticulate (and ignorant) commentators
  • Pathological focus on the shorter sprint events
  • Getting to see, if I’m lucky, the last 20 seconds of the 1500 and 5000 metre races

Hmm.

Filed under: elites, meets, racing | 1 Comment »

Bumped!

Posted on May 19, 2008 by threlkeld

Up, that is.

I got my official finisher’s certificate for the April More Marathon only to discover that I’ve mysteriously been moved from 10th to 9th place.

Since I’m obsessive, I dug out a printout of the initial race results from my recycle bin and discovered that the original 9th place finisher, Ikuko Yabunami, has been removed from the list of finishers. I don’t know what happened there. Jonathan had told me right after the race that he thought he’d seen her being paced by three guys, so maybe she got disqualified for that (although I doubt it). Or maybe she was one of the people who was misdirected and didn’t hit all the mats.

In any event, 9th is always nicer than 10th.

Filed under: racing | 3 Comments »

Bad runs, good runs, fall training

Posted on May 16, 2008 by threlkeld

With one notable exception, it’s been a bleh week for running. I spent Monday traveling to Iowa, Tuesday at a memorial service for my grandmother, followed by a reception at her retirement home, then Wednesday traveling back home with hours of flight delays.

So Monday and Wednesday, I did not run. On Tuesday morning, though, my sister and I headed over to the Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids, located along the Sac and Fox Trail, to attempt a run. Alas, after a week of rain the trail was a mudbath. So we hit the road; Otis Road, to be exact.

What a lovely run it was. I ran on ahead since I wanted to cover 8 miles to her 6 and we had to hurry along to get ready for the service later in the morning. We saw two trains pass by. She managed to get the conductor to honk by waving at him. Enthusiastic arm pumping by me on the way back yielded no honks from conductor number two.

Otis runs through farmland, and along the way I saw many deer, hawks, feral farm cats, a squashed squirrel and a bunch of friendly horses (or maybe just hungry ones) at a horse farm. We ran an out and back and at some point later in the run I was catching up to Susan, who was gliding over the crest of a hill, framed by a sterling Iowa morning sky. A beautiful scene indeed. I got choked up, realizing that the chances are slim that I’ll run in Cedar Rapids again.

Despite the fact that I was there for my grandmother’s service, I enjoyed myself. I spent a lot of time with my mother and her partner, my sister and niece, as well as with some extended family whom I don’t get to see that often. But, as was expected, it was also a rough trip emotionally. Not surprisingly, I came home feeling totally drained, and it wasn’t just from all the travel.

I did a terrible 4.5 miler yesterday. I gained about 3 pounds of water during the trip (eating lots of junk), plus I screwed up my left foot wearing formal shoes all day Tuesday. I don’t have bad runs very often, but they truly suck when they happen.

I got up this morning to try another, but it was pouring ran. So I did 5 miles inside on the treadmill at noon, and that went a lot better. Tomorrow I’ll do 10 in the morning, then 5 or 6 in the afternoon. Then a big 17 miler on Sunday, with the last few at marathon pace.

Westchester has changed the Bicycle Sunday rules, I’ve noticed. For most weekends in May, June and September Westchester shuts down several miles of the Bronx River Parkway on Sundays from 10AM – 2PM. It used to be limited to bicyclists and rollerbladers, but this year they’ve changed the rules to allow walkers, strollers and “joggers.”

Last weekend I was finishing up a 16 miler right around 10:30. I noticed that no runners were using the parkway. I suppose they either don’t realize they can, or, like me, they’re worried that it’s more hazardous than using the paved path. I’ll probably stick to the path again on Sunday — it’s more shaded there anyway.

One great aspect to Bicycle Sundays is the appearance of an ice cream truck right at the end of my long run. Last weekend I was starving for the last few miles and I cursed myself for not bringing either a gel or any money with me. I’ll take a fiver on Sunday so I can get a delicious treat after whaling on my legs for 17 miles.

I’ve mapped out my marathon training plan for the fall race: 8 weeks of base building, followed by a 14 week program that’s a modified version of what I used for the spring. The approach is pretty simple. The 8 weeks of base building consists of one long run on Sunday (alternating each weekend with marathon pace miles at the end) and one other hard run: either hills, tempo or intervals on the track. I’m also building up the miles from current 60ish to 90.

Then I go into 14 weeks of training in which I continue this approach, but throw in a midweek long run (to make it three hard workouts a week), more marathon pace miles, and a few tune-up races. The mileage tops out at 105, but I’ve put in more recovery runs (and more frequent full recovery weeks) this time around, so I’m hoping that will ward off injury.

I’ve decided to mix up the quality run types (tempo, hills, intervals) throughout training rather than doing them in phases. I believe that doing speed intervals every week for a month is what pushed me over the edge into injury. So I’m forgetting about Pfitzinger’s “mesocycles” this time around. Another grand experiment.

We decided to run the Fairfield Half Marathon on June 22. It’s supposed to be a well-organized race, and it’s a competitive field. I also need to get acclimated to running in the heat; what better way than to run a half marathon full out in late June? And I’ll do a couple of the Van Cortlandt Park 5K races on Thursday evenings, to replace tempo runs. Racing’s a lot more fun than a tempo run any day, even if it is hot. Especially if it’s hot. And at five bucks a race, it’s hard to pass up. Then, in September, I’ll do the South Nyack 10 Miler — my third year running this race. I missed an age group award by a few spots last year. I intend to come home with some cheap hardware this year, by hook or by crook.

Filed under: injury, racing, travel, westchester | 1 Comment »

Race Report: 2008 New Jersey Half Marathon

Posted on May 10, 2008 by threlkeld


This report’s a bit late in coming, but better late than never.

Well.

In a nutshell, we both ran very good races. No, actually, that’s not fair. Jonathan ran a great race. My race merely gazed longingly at, but did not touch, greatness.

Jonathan did the full marathon, a race that had been his training focus for the last five months. He did the same Pfitzinger plan (from “Advanced Marathoning”) that I did, albeit with a bit more mileage (and, of course, faster training paces). His hard work paid off. Here are his impressive stats:

  • Finishing time: 2:44:43
  • First place masters male (with first place in 50-54 age group, obviously)
  • Seventh place overall
  • Age graded ranking: 85.4%

That last stat is particularly notable since it ranked him as the highest age graded runner in the entire race. Also, his new marathon PR is an improvement of nearly 28 minutes.

Is it obvious that I’m so very proud of him? Too obvious?

My performance was not too shabby either. My stats:

  • Finishing time: 1:34:39
  • Thirteenth place female
  • Seventh place masters female
  • Fifth place female 40-44
  • Eightieth place overall
  • Age graded ranking: 74.5%

My half marathon PR was five minutes faster than my time for the Manhattan Half in late January. It also gives me a marathon equivalent performance time of just under 3:20. Based on this, I’m using 3:18 training paces now, as I start my buildup for training for the next race in October, and so far my heart rates are in line. Something else: My age grading has jumped almost 15% in the last year.

It is so gratifying to have gone from placing in the top 40 percent of female finishers two years ago to consistently finishing in the top 10-20 females today. It really motivates me to do better and to dream of actually winning one of these things one day.

I had an interesting shift in perspective right after the race, too. I’d like to shoot for a 1:30:00 half PR in the next sixth months or so. That time is right around Jonathan’s first half marathon finishing time two years ago — a pace that I couldn’t conceive of being able to run at the time. This supports my theory that one reason why so many people train and train, but don’t improve very much, is that they get locked into thinking of themselves as only being able to run at certain paces. So they never push themselves enough because they can’t fathom ever running races at 7:00 pace, for example, since they’ve always run them at 9:00 per mile.

We both ran very consistent splits, with the only trouble spots being the 2.5 or so miles along the shoreline, where there was wind of 10-15 mph. The course is a good one; flat for the most part, with a couple of little hills.

Not a lot of crowd support, save for some very enthusiastic pockets at miles 5 and 18, but I don’t really care about having cheering crowds. It was funny, though. I was running with a guy who had a huge cheering contingent. They went totally nuts when we passed them.

I spent most of the race running within about 20 metres of the 3:10 marathon pacing group. For the first three miles, I was right behind them, but the pace leader’s variation in pace was driving me a little crazy — slowing down to 7:30, then speeding up to 7:05. So I finally passed them when they were in a slow cycle and ran about 10 seconds ahead of them until mile 10, when they passed me and I used them as a windbreak.

The race is exceptionally well-organized. Packet pickup and baggage were easy, there was plenty of food (although spoons were hard to come by) and porta potties, the course was well-marked and they managed the finish line split (between half and full runners) well, so it wasn’t chaotic.

One complaint was that the staging area was in a residential neighborhood, and there was too much traffic to warm up safely. But that’s a minor quibble. Best of all, they posted printed results quickly and there was no waiting around for hours for the awards ceremony. You just went and picked up your award (well, I didn’t…if I’d only run a few minutes faster…).

Finally, they have the coolest awards. It makes up for the horrible tee shirt. They feature a miniature replica of the town’s historic lighthouse, glued to a piece of marble (or maybe it’s granite; I can’t tell). To give you a sense of scale, the award pictured is about a foot wide and probably weighs about 15 pounds.

It was a good experience and supports my other theory (actually, I have lots of theories) that it’s possible to run a good half off of marathon training a month later, if you’re careful with recovery from the first race. I’d like to run this one again next year — maybe even the full race.

Filed under: racing, travel | 1 Comment »

Greetings from (just south of) Asbury Park

Posted on May 3, 2008 by threlkeld

Well, here we are in Long Branch, NJ. One aspect to racing that I enjoy (besides not being able to drink on a Saturday night and getting up at 4 a.m. on Sunday mornings) is the opportunity to see new places.

Long Branch is, um, interesting. The “downtown” (as it were) reminds me of the horrible neighborhood I used to live in on Staten Island — but with lots of weird public art. There’s sculpture everywhere — or maybe it’s just very interesting garbage — lying around in empty lots full of wall to wall knee-high weeds, hanging in the branches of overgrown trees, littering the front lawn of a Dunkin’ Donuts. What the hell? Did the town get some pork barrel dollars for culture or something?

The boardwalk features a monument to seven presidents, headed up by James Garfield, who came here in an attempt to recover from being shot in an assassination attempt. There’s probably a really great slogan for their tourism department in there somewhere, but I’m too distracted to think it up right now. (He died anyway, but at least he was near the beach at the time.)

We got here hours early, so killed time walking the boardwalk and then previewing the race course by car. It’s flat as pancake save for two little speedbumps. (But very windy along the section where you run along the ocean. The weather forecast says much less wind tomorrow, and it should be a cross-wind, so not too bad.) The course runs through crappy downtown, then to the hoity toity area, where we’ll pass by enormous Queen Anne Victorians and other mansions. It’s actually a nice little town if you can get past the first impression of rundown weirdness.

Since we’re such a pair of goody two shoes, we didn’t dare try to check into our Holiday Inn Express until *exactly* 3PM, instead passing the time in the local Dunkin’ Donuts where I had my first Boston cream donut in about two decades. Then on to the hotel, where the lobby was filled with other runners, sprawling their runnerly legs all over the furniture. We have a king suite, which means two, count ’em, two!, televisions, a jetted tub (which looks like a cross between a two-seater paddleboat and something that would be used in a hospital rehab unit…very romantic), and a Stuart Little-sized refrigerator and microwave.

Whoops! 4:19! It’s nearly bedtime. More tomorrow.

Filed under: racing, travel | 3 Comments »

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