Active Community: Message List - RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

Re: RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

KarlD_Navy84 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:37:11 GMT

Thanks for the nice comments everyone!

Nita, it definitely was an interesting experience running in those temperatures. I passed a bunch of people who were taking walk breaks. Kind of makes you appreciate those marathoners in Beijing last year who performed so well in temperatures that were about as warm with probably slightly higher humidity.

Craig, not sure about Phoenix. I would like to give it a try since I had to bail 6 months ago. Just need to see how things hold up. I would definitely be up for trying the half even if I don't do the marathon. I have set a goal of 1:45 for 2010, and that's as good a race as any to start my pursuit.

Len, Charlotte, and Immer, I definitely want to thank you for your encouragement over the past several months also. It's always easier to work through these setbacks when you have such an awesome group of people pulling for you. Looking foward to seeing you all in Las Vegas. Talk to you soon.

Karl

Re: RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

Courir26 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:54:48 GMT

Very nice of racing in heat, Karl! See ya in Vegas! Are you running RNR Arizona in Jan?

Re: RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

FormerBAM — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:16:50 GMT

Very nice pace, Karl! And in that heat? Ugh! Impressive, you should be proud. Can't WAIT to see you Vegas!

Re: RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

lenzlaw — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:55:59 GMT

Very good result, Karl. I know what you mean ". . . very encouraging, considering . . .". No injury pain, very encouraging, indeed!

Re: RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

KarlD_Navy84 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:11:28 GMT

Just got the official times from the race this morning. Looks like they had my chip time at 32:33. That was good for 275 / 657 overall, 217 / 408 among the guys, and 27 / 50 in my age group. Pretty much my usual middle of the pack result for gender and age group. Very encouraging, considering how the last 5 months have gone. Have a great holiday weekend. Talk to you soon.

Karl

Re: RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

Immer treu — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:42:04 GMT

Truly amazing in that heat, Karl! Way to go!

Re: RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

dutch omi — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:32:46 GMT

Awesome race and RR, Karl. Glad to hear that the foot held up. See you in Vegas.

RR: Arizona Road Racers 4th of July 4 Miler

KarlD_Navy84 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:24:46 GMT

The Arizona Road Racers are a pretty large running group in this area. I am not a member because most of their events are held in East Phoenix and Scottsdale, but I have run in a few races they have sponsored on the west side of town. They are usually well attended and well organized. I decided to register for this race about 2 weeks ago even though my running has been pretty sporadic over the last 2-3 months. I was back up to 12 miles a week after my injury. However, after a pretty good 6 mile run on June 5th, things weren't feeling quite right with my achilles tendon, so I took three more weeks off and just rode my bike while continuing my rehab on my own. After about two weeks of that, things felt like they were improving, so I went ahead and signed up, figuring that I would be okay to run a respectable time after two more weeks of biking and maybe one test run.

I had no idea what the course would be like. It was at a local park. If it was as flat as my neighborhood, I could probably hold pretty close to an 8:00 pace; perhaps even go lower depending on my conditioning. However, if the course had the standard hills associated with going underneath overpasses and such, that would probably be good for at least an extra 2-3 seconds per mile on the pace. But the big factor of course was the temperature. All of these races that this group sponsors in the summer are 5Ks (for obvious reasons). This one was 4 miles to commemorate the July 4th Holiday.

The race started at 6:30 AM. At that time the temperature was 85 degrees with 60% humidity and zero wind. At that temperature, I knew a sub 8 pace was pretty much out of the question. In my current condition, I figured anything better than 33:00 (8:15 pace) would be just fine. The course was a four mile loop that bordered one of those desert washes / gullies that are so common out here. We ran on a bike path. Because of the number of runners, they actually did a pseudo-wave start, letting the sub 6 minute folks take off first. After about 20 seconds, they sent the 7 & 8 minute per mile runners, and so on. That actually worked out very well. Anyway, I punched my Garmin crossing the timing mat and was on my way. I have never run a race in temperatures this high before, so I was mindful of the pace, especially since I am not nearly in as good condition as before I got hurt. Most of the first mile was level to slightly downhill. At the marker, my Garmin read 8:01. Not bad, but it was clear that I would need to ease off because there were some hills coming. We ran in a westerly direction for the first half of the race. Of course this meant we'd be running into the sun on the way back, which I wasn't too crazy about. The mile 2 split was 8:09. Sure enough, when I turned back to the east, I could just feel the sun tracking my every step. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, nor were there any trees on the route. So I just kept dousing my head with water from the hydration stops while drinking from my fuel belt. The mile 3 split was 8:13. There was one hill in there that was a factor. I picked up the pace slightly over the last mile, but didn't have the confidence to go with an all out sprint at the end. I was still a little leary of how my tendon would respond (or not respond). Anyway, the last split was 8:08. Unofficial time was 32:35 (8:08 pace). That lines up with my mid-tempo training pace, which isn't too bad in this heat. The best part was my foot held up fine. No discomfort at all. I think I can begin building my miles back up to where I need to be to start my training in August. This has been a frustrating year for me up to this point. My hope is that this solid run in these conditions mean that the worst is behind me and I can work my way back into fighting shape in time to run a good marathon in Las Vegas on Dec. 6th. I hope everyone else had fun in their races today. Talk to you soon.

Karl