I woke up this morning at 0500 because Nathan let out a yell. I went to his room and held him for a minute but he wanted back in his crib to be covered up. I brewed a cup of coffee, ate a banana and got dressed. I met my neighbor at 0600 and we drove to the Fairgrounds, arriving at 0620 or so. I did a two mile warm-up, hit the restroom and stretched a bit. The temps were nice, 59 or 60 at the start.
The plan for today was to go out easier than I did last year and to try to pick it up around the 5K mark. I ran splits of 6:35, 13:22, 20:13, 20:54, 27:06, 34:08, 40:50 and 42:06 at last years race. I wrote them on my hand last night before bed so I had a reminder of where I wanted to be at each mile mark.
After the National Anthem and the start I settled into a relaxed pace. I had no one I was gunning for and I just made sure I didn't get caught up in the excitement. I hit the mile in 6:40.56, which was a bit faster than I wanted but I felt good and wasn't in any distress. I eased up heading into the park and let myself flow down the hill as we left to head towards the cemetery. I eased up the first decent hill and hit mile two in 13:28.01 (6:47.45), about six seconds slower than last year.
I noticed that Joy was slowly coming back to me at this point but didn't really care, I just wanted to continue to drop 6:45 miles and see what happened until I could make a push during mile four. I used another downhill to my advantage as I entered the cemetery and came up on Joy right around the three mile mark. I crossed three in 20:09.32 (6:41.31). Just as soon as I caught her she spurted away and I let her go as she is known to run negative splits. I hit 5K in 20:49.17 and eased up the hill heading out of the cemetery. Once I crested the hill I surged and tried to maintain heading toward the four mile mark. Last year at this point I eased up too much. I crossed four in 26:55.99 (6:46.67) and was about 13 seconds ahead of schedule. I caught Joy at this point and passed her for good as I surged down the hill but slowed down once I hit the last major uphill going into Lincoln Park. I surged once again as I crested the hill and started to feel a bit of discomfort. Instead of slowing I surged again and told myself I only had ten more minutes to go.
I rounded the corner to the five mile mark and passed in 33:39.86 (6:43.87) to find myself nearly 30 seconds ahead of last year's time. The last 1.2 is a bit muddled but I think I passed a guy, got passed by another guy and passed two others as I entered the gate to the fairgrounds. I remember clicking my split at the mile to go mark and aside from that I only remember snippets of the last bit. I remember rounding the corner coming to the six mile mark and passing in 40:18.69 (6:38.83) and being too far out to catch the two guys ahead of me. I gave it a good shot and ran the last .2 in 1:11.95 to finish in 42nd place (six worse than last year) and in 41:30.64, a PR by 36 seconds.
I ran from the "mile to go" point in 6:25.64.
Today's time puts me within 1:45 of my PR from 1997 when I ran 39:46 after a night of debauchery.
I placed second in my age group and I feel pretty good about my chances of going under 19:00 at the PPR. I'm thinking 18:45-18:55.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Ten miles of reflection on the Parade Run
I got up this morning for a ten mile jaunt along the bike trail. It was a beautiful day with temps in the mid 60s and low humidity. I wasn't relishing the run but I made it the entire uncomfortable way in 1:21:39 with out and back times of 41:30 and 40:09.
I replayed my race from Thursday in my head and realized that even though I felt sluggish the whole way I ran fairly well. I stayed off the hard sprint the first 400 but felt it was too early to go with Joy when she blew by me about a minute into the race. I chalked it up to her being way ahead of me in training this year and waved goodbye as she passed.
The Parade Run course is basically an L-shaped out-and-back that starts in the fairgrounds and takes a hard right approximately 600 meters later. You run about a kilometer to the mile mark, turn around and retrace your steps to the finish line. John L. and I determined that the distance from the gate to the finish would take 30-35 seconds and that would probably indicate a pretty good place to launch a blistering kick. The Parade Run is one of only two races I have done since my first full season of racing in 2005 and I have never avoided being gunned down in that final stretch.
After watching Joy go by I concentrated on running relaxed. By chance I looked at my watch as I made the hard right and saw that it took me 2:18 to get there. My pal, and nemesis, Dan was ahead of me at this point but I caught him as we passed a set of speakers playing a drumbeat that sounded suspiciously like "36-24-36" by the Violent Femmes. Dan had the indignity of being passed by me as I sang the bridge to the song: "36-24-26, I want lots of pretty chicks. . ." I wasn't singing a few blocks later as I approached and hit the turnaround in about 5:56-5:57.
I snagged a paper cup of water that promptly spilled as the volunteer didn't let go. I took a big enough sip to wet my whistle and dumped a few drops on my head as I took advantage of the downhill to surge. The pack had strung out a bit at this point but I knew that if I could catch the two guys ahead of me I'd have a good shot of going under 12:00 no matter how much it hurt.
The discomfort struck a block later and a subversive voice in my head told me that anything faster than 12:20 would be acceptable. At that point I looked up and saw that Joy was in sight and told the subversive voice that he was full of shit and needed to sit back and buckle up because I wasn't done quite yet.
I focused on relaxing and reeling in the two ahead of me hoping that Joy had run the first mile at a suicidal pace and would come back to me. After the race I found that Joy and her pace crew hit the mile in 5:36. When I hit the turn to head straight into the fairgrounds I told myself I only had about two minutes to go and that if I was going to break 12:00 this stretch was where it was going to happen. I caught one of the two I'd been chasing about a half block from the gate and caught the other (a short, skinny 12 year old boy, ironically) about a hundred meters from the line. I hit the finish in 12:00.86 by my watch but forgot that I hit my watch at gun time instead of when I crossed the mat.
My official time was 11:59.68 but it was rounded up to 12:00 by the race results people, which irritates me. I placed 34th overall, a two place improvement from last year, and won the 30-34 age group by 1:20. Unfortunately I wasn't the fastest 30-34 year old in the race as Joy ran 11:41 high. I am heartened by the fact that her 5:36 first mile took a toll on her because that meant I ran a faster second mile than she did, though not much faster. I do wonder how much faster I could have run if I'd tried to maintain contact with her and her pacers though.
The prediction that John L. and I came up with to determine the amount of time it would take to get from the gate to the finish was spot on as I covered the distance in 32.88 seconds and avoided being out-kicked in that stretch for the first time in four attempts at this race.
Next Sunday is Abe's Amble 10K and I am hoping to go under 42:00. The tempo runs, longer intervals and distance base is not as impressive as it was last year but I was also training through Abe's in preparation for the PPR. Maybe I'll surprise myself on Sunday. Maybe I won't.
I replayed my race from Thursday in my head and realized that even though I felt sluggish the whole way I ran fairly well. I stayed off the hard sprint the first 400 but felt it was too early to go with Joy when she blew by me about a minute into the race. I chalked it up to her being way ahead of me in training this year and waved goodbye as she passed.
The Parade Run course is basically an L-shaped out-and-back that starts in the fairgrounds and takes a hard right approximately 600 meters later. You run about a kilometer to the mile mark, turn around and retrace your steps to the finish line. John L. and I determined that the distance from the gate to the finish would take 30-35 seconds and that would probably indicate a pretty good place to launch a blistering kick. The Parade Run is one of only two races I have done since my first full season of racing in 2005 and I have never avoided being gunned down in that final stretch.
After watching Joy go by I concentrated on running relaxed. By chance I looked at my watch as I made the hard right and saw that it took me 2:18 to get there. My pal, and nemesis, Dan was ahead of me at this point but I caught him as we passed a set of speakers playing a drumbeat that sounded suspiciously like "36-24-36" by the Violent Femmes. Dan had the indignity of being passed by me as I sang the bridge to the song: "36-24-26, I want lots of pretty chicks. . ." I wasn't singing a few blocks later as I approached and hit the turnaround in about 5:56-5:57.
I snagged a paper cup of water that promptly spilled as the volunteer didn't let go. I took a big enough sip to wet my whistle and dumped a few drops on my head as I took advantage of the downhill to surge. The pack had strung out a bit at this point but I knew that if I could catch the two guys ahead of me I'd have a good shot of going under 12:00 no matter how much it hurt.
The discomfort struck a block later and a subversive voice in my head told me that anything faster than 12:20 would be acceptable. At that point I looked up and saw that Joy was in sight and told the subversive voice that he was full of shit and needed to sit back and buckle up because I wasn't done quite yet.
I focused on relaxing and reeling in the two ahead of me hoping that Joy had run the first mile at a suicidal pace and would come back to me. After the race I found that Joy and her pace crew hit the mile in 5:36. When I hit the turn to head straight into the fairgrounds I told myself I only had about two minutes to go and that if I was going to break 12:00 this stretch was where it was going to happen. I caught one of the two I'd been chasing about a half block from the gate and caught the other (a short, skinny 12 year old boy, ironically) about a hundred meters from the line. I hit the finish in 12:00.86 by my watch but forgot that I hit my watch at gun time instead of when I crossed the mat.
My official time was 11:59.68 but it was rounded up to 12:00 by the race results people, which irritates me. I placed 34th overall, a two place improvement from last year, and won the 30-34 age group by 1:20. Unfortunately I wasn't the fastest 30-34 year old in the race as Joy ran 11:41 high. I am heartened by the fact that her 5:36 first mile took a toll on her because that meant I ran a faster second mile than she did, though not much faster. I do wonder how much faster I could have run if I'd tried to maintain contact with her and her pacers though.
The prediction that John L. and I came up with to determine the amount of time it would take to get from the gate to the finish was spot on as I covered the distance in 32.88 seconds and avoided being out-kicked in that stretch for the first time in four attempts at this race.
Next Sunday is Abe's Amble 10K and I am hoping to go under 42:00. The tempo runs, longer intervals and distance base is not as impressive as it was last year but I was also training through Abe's in preparation for the PPR. Maybe I'll surprise myself on Sunday. Maybe I won't.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Parade Run
I felt sluggish from the gun in the 82 degree temps, 53% humidity and NNE 9 mph wind. I hit the mile in about 5:57 and followed up with a 6:03, by my watch. When they posted results from the chip timing my official time was 11:59.68 but on the website they rounded all the times up or down and my time is 12:00. Bastards.
I won the 30-34 age group by about 1:20. This is the only race where I have a complete set of age group awards. 2nd and 3rd in 25-29 and 1st in 30-34. Coolness.
I won the 30-34 age group by about 1:20. This is the only race where I have a complete set of age group awards. 2nd and 3rd in 25-29 and 1st in 30-34. Coolness.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Bud Lite Lime and 3200 meters
Last night I had a Bud Lite Lime with the two chicken tacos I had for dinner. I'd been very drowsy all day, ate a late lunch, needed to finish my research paper for the week and was ready for bed by 1800 hrs when dinner rolled around. I wasn't in any mood to run even though I had a hard practice scheduled so I had a beer while I ate. After dinner I wrote my short research paper on community college finance and was wired. I decided to run that practice I had scheduled.
I changed clothes, drank a little water and ran to the high school track where I did some strides and launched into a 3200 meter tempo run. I decided to do the tempo at 6:20 pace but I figured that 3200 meters is actually about 18 meters (or two seconds) short of two miles I would run the 3200 meters in 12:36 (6:18/1600 meters).
As I was finishing up my strides I had a small burp that reminded me of my solitary Bud Lite Lime. "Sodium" I told myself. "No need to skip the practice, you're all worked up and warmed up anyway."
I calmly walked to the start line and proceeded to click off these 400 splits:
1:36.26
1:34.11--3:10.37
1:34.27--4:44.64
1:33.67--6:18.31
1:34.36--7:52.67
1:34.95--9:27.62
1:35.66--11:03.66
1:32.09--12:35.37
I felt pretty decent but started getting a bit uncomfortable going into lap six. I held pace but on the homestretch of lap seven a bug flew into my eye and caused me to slow down a little until it crawled out. I recovered from the bug and increased turnover to ensure that I made it to 3200 in 12:36.
The Bud Lite Lime didn't come back to haunt me at all but I stuck with water the rest of the night as the 75 degree temps, lack of wind and 92% humidity kicked the crap out of me.
Today the body feels like I ran a comfortably hard effort in slightly dehydrated condition and I am a bit sore. I think I am going to take it easy heading into the Parade Run two mile Thursday and maybe to a short and fast effort early in the week before Abe's Amble. I still have hopes of going under 12:00 at the Parade Run, I hope the weather cooperates. I would also love to get under 42:00 at Abe's but will be quite happy with finishing and running a strong effort.
I changed clothes, drank a little water and ran to the high school track where I did some strides and launched into a 3200 meter tempo run. I decided to do the tempo at 6:20 pace but I figured that 3200 meters is actually about 18 meters (or two seconds) short of two miles I would run the 3200 meters in 12:36 (6:18/1600 meters).
As I was finishing up my strides I had a small burp that reminded me of my solitary Bud Lite Lime. "Sodium" I told myself. "No need to skip the practice, you're all worked up and warmed up anyway."
I calmly walked to the start line and proceeded to click off these 400 splits:
1:36.26
1:34.11--3:10.37
1:34.27--4:44.64
1:33.67--6:18.31
1:34.36--7:52.67
1:34.95--9:27.62
1:35.66--11:03.66
1:32.09--12:35.37
I felt pretty decent but started getting a bit uncomfortable going into lap six. I held pace but on the homestretch of lap seven a bug flew into my eye and caused me to slow down a little until it crawled out. I recovered from the bug and increased turnover to ensure that I made it to 3200 in 12:36.
The Bud Lite Lime didn't come back to haunt me at all but I stuck with water the rest of the night as the 75 degree temps, lack of wind and 92% humidity kicked the crap out of me.
Today the body feels like I ran a comfortably hard effort in slightly dehydrated condition and I am a bit sore. I think I am going to take it easy heading into the Parade Run two mile Thursday and maybe to a short and fast effort early in the week before Abe's Amble. I still have hopes of going under 12:00 at the Parade Run, I hope the weather cooperates. I would also love to get under 42:00 at Abe's but will be quite happy with finishing and running a strong effort.
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