Race Report: Nyack Hospital 10K

Posted on November 18, 2007 by threlkeld

We ran the Nyack Hospital 10K race yesterday. Nyack is a charming little village just over the Tappan Zee bridge, in Rockland County. Aside from a 10 MPH wind from the west, it was a good day for racing: cold and partly sunny.

Nyack is situated on a hill overlooking the Hudson river, and after getting a look at the course and elevation map, I have to admit that I was apprehensive. I don’t like going out a lot faster than my target pace. But almost the entire first half of the race is downhill (the first mile being quite a steep descent), then the second half is flat to uphill (with two particularly steep ascents at approx. miles 2.75 and 4.5). So I opted to run as fast as possible for at least the first couple of miles, try to stick to a 7:30 or lower pace in other places, and slow a bit before the two hills so I could make it up them without going into oxygen debt.

I ended up really enjoying the course. It was a blast to be able to race along for the first couple of miles, then have the mental challenge of the uphill second half. I didn’t make my ultimate goal time of 46:00, but I did make my “good enough” goal of 47:00.

And the results are in! The good news is that my work over the past few months is starting to pay off. I won my age group category (40-49) and came in sixth female overall. So I’ve collected what I hope will be the first of many cheap trophies. It was a small race (199 people), but still…

Jonathan did pretty well too, winning his age group and coming in fifth male overall.

Power couple!

Thursday is the next race — a 5 miler that I’ve done once before. Also a somewhat challenging course: steep or rolling hills for the first two miles, then pancake flat for the remaining three. Much bigger crowd, though. In foul weather last year, it attracted close to 1,000 runners.

Yesterday’s splits:

Mile 1          6:47
Mile 2          7:14
Mile 3          7:45
Mile 4          7:32
Mile 5          8:05
Mile 6          7:33
Mile 6.2        1:52

Finish time    46:51

Average pace    7:32

Filed under: racing, westchester | 2 Comments »

Not another Chicago Marathon post…

Posted on October 19, 2007 by threlkeld

…per se. But instead, a link to an article that presents an interesting theory proposing low blood pressure, rather than heat-related illness and/or dehydration, was the likely culprit behind so many runner collapses earlier this month. The follow up article at the end of the one linked to is also worth reading.

I spent a few days visiting family in Eastern Iowa, where I was registered to race in a 5K breast cancer center fund raiser. The morning of the race, however, it was pouring buckets of rain. I was out there, warming up — the only runner warming up, in fact, which gave me a lot of hope of winning some cheap hardware — when they called the race due to lightning concerns. 10,700+ people registered for the three events (5K race, 5K walk, 1 mile fun run), and the turnout was good despite the weather. So it was a disappointment. But they raised a lot of money through registrations, so all’s well that ends well.

Now I’m laid up with a bad head cold. The woman behind me on the plane from Chicago to La Guardia was coughing and sneezing all the way, so I’m not surprised. I feel like warmed over dog food and my head feels as though it’s been filled with Kwik-Crete and cotton balls. This probably means I won’t be doing the Harry Chapin 10K race on Sunday as planned. That’s four races in a row that have been screwed up due to weather or illness. At least turkey trot season is coming up. Maybe it won’t be 80 degrees anymore by next month!

But there’s a silver lining. The day before I got sick, I managed to do a 16 miler at 8:40 pace / 76% heart rate. This is tremendous progress and has made me a true believer in the value of building a base of long, slow, low heart rate distance running. By way of comparison, the week I started base building four months ago, I ran a 9 miler at 10:36 pace / 75% heart rate under similar conditions. So I’m nearly two minutes faster these days. Maybe a 3:30 marathon is not such a pipe dream after all.

Up until very recently, I was doing most of my runs at 68-72% heart rate. Now I’m just doing that after the long runs and doing “easy” pace (75-80%) the rest of the time. So I won’t go into shock when my 18 week training program begins the first week of December. The date for the 2008 More Marathon has been chosen: April 6, the day after my 43rd birthday. So it looks like I’ll have to skip the copious libations and sugary treats until after the race.

I may kick my training off by running the Hot Chocolate 15K in Central Park to further assess progress and get a better sense of what my various training paces should be. Plus, who doesn’t like hot chocolate in December? (As long as it’s not 80 degrees out.)

Filed under: physiology, racing, training, travel | Leave a comment »

Talk about negative splits!

Posted on October 6, 2007 by threlkeld

Apparently Haile Gebrselassie wasn’t the only one performing miracles at the Berlin Marathon. Mexican politician Roberto Madrazo also set an amazing PR — and defied the laws of physics too. All while wearing a clown suit — I mean, a red track suit top and black sweatpants.

Madrazo finished in 2:40:57, taking first in the Male 55 age group. But did he actually run the race as he claimed, or did he take a convenient shortcut between chip timing mats instead, as some have charged? Let’s do the math, shall we?

According to the timing mats, Madrazo hit the 20 kilometer mark in 1:42:42. That puts his first 12.5 or so miles at an 8:15 pace. Not bad for a failed politician of dubious scruples. But in order to make his finishing time of 2:40 and change, he would have had to have sped up quite a bit — to the tune of an average pace of 4:13 per mile.

Gebrselassie — now being called the fastest marathoner in the world — set his world record running an average pace of 4:45. Yet Madrazo, with his seemingly super-human ability to maintain a dramatically faster pace (and after already running over 12 miles, no less), can obviously run much faster than the slow Ethiopian, despite being 20 years his senior. It seems that Mr. Madrazo just needs to believe in himself and run a more aggressive first half to realize his full potential.

Madrazo might also consider broadening his competitive horizons. With his speed and endurance, he should be on track to easily shatter the current half marathon world record time of 58:33. Go, Roberto, Go!

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Silver lining to crap weather

Posted on October 4, 2007 by threlkeld

Yes, I’m running in a half marathon, and so I have no need to carbo load. But Jonathan is doing the full marathon (which means he’s whinging twice as much as I am about the weather). And he DOES have to carbo load. And, naturally, I’m not making two meals for each of us. So I will be carbo loading too.

This evening: pad thai
Tomorrow: chicken marsala with rice
Saturday: pasta with chicken

And many sandwiches and muffins inbetween. Yum.

But no drinking.

Very little drinking.

Weather update: Forecast for Sunday is now a high of 78. No news about humidity yet. And the race is at 8ish in the morning. So if the freakish heatwave has not broken by then, we’re still screwed.

Runners all over the country are fretting today, as there are lots of major marathon events on Sunday. If this doesn’t light a fire under our butts over global warming, I don’t know what will (yes, I’m being facetious…)

Filed under: eating, racing, training, westchester | 1 Comment »

Whinging about the weather

Posted on October 3, 2007 by threlkeld

I’m registered for the Westchester Half Marathon this coming Sunday. And, of course, we’re having a spell of freakishly warm and humid weather. It would normally be a dry 67 degrees this time of year. Instead, the forecast for Sunday is low 80s and humid. Blech!!!

I don’t even care that much about this race — I entered as a way to gauge my fitness after nearly four months of base training, so I can come up with some target paces for subsequent training. I was also curious to see if I could run it at 8:01 pace, just to see if I’m anywhere near where I’d like to be at this point fitness-wise.

I did go out this morning to do a five miler with two miles at that pace. It was — I kid you not — 99% humidity. So not fun. But I was able to hold that pace. Now, if I can just do it six and a half times on Sunday, I’ll be golden!

I’m trying to have a positive attitude about this, but I’m disappointed. I’ve basically blown forty bucks to run in weather that I can run in for free, with the same results (no real insight into how fit I am under normal running conditions). To add insult to injury: the lot where the race wraps up is totally torn up. I have no idea where they’ll put us all post race. And, of course, the temperature is scheduled to drop into the 50s three days after the race.

Feh!

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Photo Finishers

Posted on July 9, 2007 by threlkeld

In my previous post I reviewed a few running publications. One that was not included in that review is Ultrarunning magazine. With each new issue, I realize that I am not Ultrarunning’s ideal subscriber. This is because the more I read it, the more I become convinced that I never want to do an ultra event. On the other hand, a half marathon used to seem insurmountable.

When I read Ultrarunning, I get a glimpse into a subculture of which I’m not a member. One article’s subject is likely to appear as a byline on another article. This is a small community – maybe numbering in the thousands in this country. Ultrarunning is truly by, for and about ultrarunners. Printed on the kind of paper stock used in high school yearbooks, held together with staples, it’s charmingly amateurish — a labor of love for its publisher, perhaps.

The point of this post is that, if you look carefully, you can often find art in the unlikeliest of places. There is one regular feature of the magazine that I do look forward to every issue and that’s the “finisher photos” by photographer Larry Gassan. He snaps photos of people who have just completed events like the Western States 100, a grueling race up and down California’s Sierra Nevada mountains in summer.

These portraits are wonderful. They capture the exhaustion, elation and – most of all – the pride of the finishers. Here’s one of my favorites, from another race (the Angeles Crest 100), of Ashley Idema, first woman across the finish line. Sure, she looks like she’s been run over by a train, and more than a little relieved. But she also looks radiant and strong, ready to take on the world. Which she already has, in a way.

A good portrait photographer captures the personality of his or her subjects, but also leaves some mystery there to keep you guessing. That’s happening in many of these photos. And that’s what maks them art.

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Women’s 2008 Olympic Trials Web site

Posted on June 2, 2007 by threlkeld

I discovered a very nice Web site for the Boston 2008 trials. Chock full of interviews, photos etc. with those fast, skinny ladies. I only have to knock 1:09:03 off my best marathon time to join them!

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Recovery week brings chubby feet

Posted on June 2, 2007 by threlkeld

I haven’t run a step this week. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck until sometime on Wednesday, in fact. And I’ve got some minor problem with my left achilles tendon. After the first marathon, it was a problem with my left foot.

I’m waiting for that pain to go away completely, since you don’t want to screw around with your achilles tendon, oh no. I will probably do some time on the stationary bike this weekend, and look into some short, easy treadmill runs next week, depending on the tendon situation.

The odd thing about this post-marathon period is how swollen my legs and feet have been. I’ve been carrying around about four extra pounds of water, and it’s all in my legs. My ankle bones disappeared and I’ve had chubby little feet. Don’t know what that’s about. But the extra weight’s almost all gone. And I’m back on the rabbit food diet, so still pursuing a weight loss of an additional 10-12 pounds.

I ran the race with a new gadget: the Garmin 305 wrist computer. It has a GPS (and is about the size of a toaster oven). The data is so accurate that I can see in humiliating detail exactly how badly I ran on Sunday. But it’s a great little tool, and I’m hoping it will bear better news in the training months to come.

Summer has arrived in NY and it’s (say it together) “hazy, hot and humid”. I have freelance work again this weekend, but it’s what pays for the running shoes and expensive toaster oven watches, so I don’t mind.

I will take some time to do some planning for the base building period that starts sometime this month, once I’m fully recovered. It should be pretty easy to plan: “Run a lot. Then run some more.” My goal is to get up to 55-60 miles per week, injury free, by mid-October, at which point I’ll go into a five month marathon training cycle. The best laid plans…

Filed under: clothes and gear, everyday life, racing | 1 Comment »

Race Report: The Five Stages of Race Day D.E.A.T.H.

Posted on May 29, 2007 by threlkeld

With a tip of the hat to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, I present to you the five stages of Race Day D.E.A.T.H. I experienced all of these stages, over a period of four hours, 17 minutes and 45 seconds on Sunday while running the 19th Annual Key Bank Vermont City Marathon.

D = Denial. “I’m just a little off my pace because of that last hill. That pain will go away.”

E = Exasperation. “Why can’t I make my legs go faster?! What on earth did I eat that’s making me feel this bad?”

A = Agony. “…potty. Ow. Ow. Ow. Where’s the porta potty? Ow. Ow. Ow. Where’s the…”

T = Tedium. “I’m jog-walking at mile 19. I wonder if there will be anyone at the finish line when I get there later this afternoon. Oh, look. It’s a downpour. Now I can walk seven miles in wet socks.”

H = Humiliation. “That fat woman up ahead is going to beat me.”

I suppose it could have been much worse. I was off my last marathon time by about 22 minutes, or about 50 seconds per mile. But it was just shocking how badly things started to go wrong starting at about mile 12. I’d kept to my 8:55 pace all the way, even though my stomach was bothering me.

But my legs started to really hurt at mile 12 (something that didn’t happen until mile 19 or so in the last marathon), and my pace began to drop off slightly over the next 6 miles, but I was struggling. Mile 19 was the the turning point, where I lost it physically and mentally. I also got the runner’s trots, which involved a stop of several minutes and feeling quite weak for the subsequent mile.

Like the last race, my thighs were in excruciating pain. But unlike the last race, I couldn’t keep running at a quick clip despite the pain. I just couldn’t make them go faster, and by mile 20 my pace dropped to 10:45. That was also when it began to pour rain, a downpour which lasted close to 20 minutes. By mile 22 I was walking/jogging at a pace of 12:52, looking and feeling like a drowned rat.

I rallied a bit (that’s being charitable) and managed to run miles 23-25 at well under 12 minute miles. But that was mostly because I just wanted to get the damned thing over with and get some food in me. The last 1.2 mile stretch was a cruel joke. My pace was around 13:30 and I began to suspect that they’d moved the finish line to Canada. I kept running by people screaming, “you’re almost there! Just around the corner!” but no finish line. When I finally crossed it, I was so disoriented (and relieved) that I forgot to turn off my watch, so didn’t get my time until last night.

Jonathan didn’t fare much better, having blown his goal time and suffered the same decay in performance as I did. The lessons I take from this experience are:

1. You can’t “coast” on the training for a marathon earlier in the season. I simply didn’t run enough miles, or do enough quality workouts, over the preceding two months (much of it due to recovering from a marathon and then a half marathon — and much of it just not having the time due to work commitments). I had enough conditioning to run a very strong half marathon in late April, and that was part of what was so dispiriting about Sunday’s race. My April half indicated a good marathon time (predicting 3 minutes faster than my March marathon time) — but you can’t “fake” a marathon. I’ll learn to trust my training history more than a time predictor next time.

2. A hard marathon in March, followed by a hard half in April, followed by another hard marathon in May is too much. If I do this again, I have to make one race the hard race and other two “fun” races, or “training runs with food at the finish.” 🙂

3. Don’t eat kung pao beef the night before a marathon. Too much fat, protein and fibre.

On the positive side, I was never really in serious trouble. I passed one runner being hauled away in an ambulance at mile 18 (he seemed lucid; I’ve a feeling it was a bad injury). And I saw another collapse at mile 25 — passed out cold. So I’m grateful that nothing like that happened to either of us.

And the people of South Burlington were kind, generous and full of good humor and encouragement. It boosted my spirits to run through neighborhoods where everyone came out — and stood in the pouring rain! — handing out bananas and orange slices and cheering us on. I even started high-fiving kids once I decided to accept my failure and try to enjoy other aspects of the experience.

Running along Lake Champlain was also quite an experience. Very beautiful, even in the pouring rain.

It’s a race I’d run again. Although since the More Marathon seems to be my big spring race goal for 2008, I might do the Vermont marathon as a fun run next time. They also give you a nice tee shirt, for the record. Simple design and technical fabric, so you can actually use it for running. And they have the heaviest race medal I’ve ever seen. It must be made of lead.

So that’s it for the spring marathons of 2007. I’ll focus on a full recovery from this one and then start building a base of 55-60 miles per week over the summer. I’ll probably run the inaugural East Hampton Marathon in September as a fun/training run, rather than race it.

The More 2008 race is 10 months away. Plenty of time prepare…

Filed under: eating, humor, racing, travel | Leave a comment »

The Day After

Posted on May 28, 2007 by threlkeld

Just a short post, since we’re still in Burlington, VT and getting ready to pack up and make the drive home.

I’ll do a full race report of the Key Bank Vermont City Marathon later on, but to summarize:

The race was a disaster for both of us
The people of Burlington are extremely nice
It’s beautiful here, even when it’s pouring rain

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