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Saturday Runs

Jimmy_D_Jarhead — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:14:58 GMT

Okay so I decided to do some different kind of running before starting my official marathon training. I wanted to get the Philippines behind me and get in the groove with speed and distance and overall running more defined and also did not want to commit to an 18 week program. With that being said I went to work yesterday and a friend said he was going to run 24-30 miles this weekend I told himo call if he wanted company and he did. At 6 am I am laying in bed after staying up late with a beer in my hand and the phine rings. Hey many I am about to start lap 2 of 4-5 (6 miles each) do you wanna run with me this morning. Of course I said yes. Jumped up posted on facebook and then met hima mile up the road to run 2 laps with him. I went out but was upset because I was ion the run all day zone and instead had to duck back in and get ready for an opning ceremonies at for flag football. I would have more then likely bailed on that but I am the coach so I had to go. It was good to just go and run and run pretty fast. It was somewhat cold out and I hammered some good times. 14 total mile s ran but wanted to go at least one more lap before quitting, I wish he had called before the first lap.

Jimmy

TGI Friday

Becky8846 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:20:05 GMT

I guess I might be the only one trying to log some miles today due to the heavy race schedule this weekend! I can't wait to hear all about it. I got in a nice 8 miles this morning then went shopping with my daughter for about 3 hours. My legs are tired, but we found lots of pretty stuff! I hope you all run like the wind! Have a great time and safe journeys.

Locked Thread?

Stevemustangred — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:54:05 GMT

Why was the thread about the Newsweek photo of a runner locked?

I wanted to post a pic of my favorite runner's legs.

What part of that discussion was out of bounds? It seemed civil and reasonable.

Thanks.

You can always tell a "real" runner by the tan lines at the ankles.

JFK50 Roll Call..

pmo8 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:48:38 GMT

Who else is running this weekend? It's definitely going to be warmer than last year! I can't wait.

Richmond RR - Better late than never

MikeDaMarine08 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:56:12 GMT

Race Report – Sun Trust Richmond Marathon

Respect the distance

Originally, I had not planned on running the full in Richmond. My decision to run it finally came after I learned that Irene’s XC team would not be participating in the state finals this year.

The weather forecast for the weekend looked promising (partially cloudy, high of 65) considering that we had a ton of rain the week leading up to the marathon. Having run the Outer Banks Half the week before, I was a little concerned about being able to have a quality effort but I was still pretty stoked to get back on the road again.

I arrived at the expo around 2 and caught up with a couple of local friends of mine and we navigated the expo together. It was an average expo but they did have some great gear and I managed to get out of there in a reasonable amount of time without leaving too big of a hole in my wallet. I did not manage to catch up Chris or Charlie for dinner, but I did find a great local Italian restaurant thanks to my local friends Jon and Christine, whom I ended up joining for dinner.

Race morning, I woke up (the first time) at 0330 and consumed my breakfast which consisted of a bagel, breakfast shake, Cliff bar and washed down with 32oz of Gatorade. I was back in the rack by 0400. I woke up an hour later and jumped in the rain locker, stretched, got dressed and was out the door. Walking to my truck it felt a little chilly and I briefly thought about grabbing my arm sleeves to run in. I decided not to as the forecast was to be in the 60’s. I drove to the finish area and quickly found a place to park just a block from the finish.

I hung around the start area for the National Anthem and 8K start. As the HM runners were gathering, I made my way to the porta-johns for one last pit stop. On my way back I ran into Charlie and we hung out for a while before we made way to our respective corrals. There was a slight drizzle, but my flannel kept me warm for the most part. I was beginning to regret not bringing my arm sleeves. I decided to make one more pit stop before finding a spot somewhere in between the 4:15 and 4:30 pace groups. My goal was to run right around 4:30 for this race. I planned to take water and sports drink at each water stop except for miles 6, 12, 18 and 24 where I would take water with my gel. My gel of choice for this race was Hammer Rasberry.

The race started right on time and I pitched my flannel shortly after crossing the start line. I had looked at the elevation profile and knew that there were some hills scattered throughout the first half of the course, so I knew that I would have to be careful and not burn myself out running them to hard. I ran the first mile @ 9:50 as I tried to settle into a comfortable pace. My plan for the race was to walk the water stops (roughly every 2 miles) in an effort to manage my heart rate. Mile 2 was 10:09 as I hit my first water stop shortly after the mile mark. I felt like I was running pretty comfortable as my 3 mile split was 30:30, a little slower than I wanted but I was getting settled nicely. Chris had caught up to me at some point but then had to make a pit stop along the way.

I was into a pretty good rhythm was feeling more comfortable as miles 4, 5 and 6 ticked away at 10:01, 10:21 and 9:55 giving me a 3 mile split of 30:17. Chris caught back up to me and we resumed our leap frog activities. I had some really fast splits (probably too fast) while running through the initial hills with Chris. Miles 7, 8 and 9 where 9:14, 9:18, and 9:39 (weeeeeeee! that was fun) making my splits for those miles 28:11 (yup, too fast). Looking at it now we really flew through those hills Chris! Nearing the HM mark, we wondered if you could claim a PR for a distance covered during a longer race. I was on pace to beat my 10 mile PR, which I did with a 1:38:21, and Chris was on pace to beat his previous HM best. Miles 10 – 12 @ 9:23, 10:22 and 9:42 were still at a good clip with a 29:27 split.

I lost Chris a little before I hit the HM mark @ 2:10:29, which was faster than the OBX half which I had completed the weekend before. Miles 13-15 @ 10:16, 9:41 and 9:59 were still sub 30 with a 29:56 as I came up on the famous Lee Bridge. I can see why some Richmond Marathoners hate it. Being 6’3”, I had a number of people drafting me and was lucky enough to be able to draft a couple of runners myself. Drafting does make a difference IMO.

I was beginning to feel the effects of my fast run through the hills and strong first half as I hit miles 16-18 in 10:12, 10:49 and 10:07 making my split for those 3 miles 31:08. It would get worse from there. I found the wall around miles 19-21 as I wandered into the 11 minute mile range with 11:02, 10:21 and 11:00 for a 32:23 3-mile split. As I hit mile the mile 20 split in 3:20:52, I knew that I had an outside shot at a 4:20 something finish and was definitely on pace for my goal of 4:30. Watching my HR approach 180 during mile 20 told me that I would be closer to 4:30 than 4:20 as I decided to take it easy the last 6.2.

Miles 22-25 were my worst with 11:12, 11:30 and 11:19 giving me a 34:01 3-mile split. The course had changed to water stops every mile and I took advantage of them by walking them until after mile 25. Mile 26 was an 11:12 as I hit the downhill run to the finish and ran as fast as I trusted my legs to let me. My finishing time was 4:31:25, which was an 18 minute improvement over MCM just 3 weeks ago, a PR! Thank you Power Balance! ;-)

Completing Richmond has shown me that my training and perseverance has paid off over the last 8 months following my calf injury. Learning from my setback and respecting the distance (thank you Ramesh) have been two of the major factors is helping me remain focused and not push too hard while I am still recovering and learning each and every time I race. While my pacing and wardrobe were less than ideal, I believe my rest, nutrition and hydration strategies were almost perfect. All in all I am very happy with my performance and am looking forward to improving again my next time out.

50 miles - Warda Cardiac Endurance Trail - Saturday

PersianP — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:06:58 GMT

We are running our 50 mile race this Saturday. It is some place north of Austin on Cardiac Endurance Trail. We will run seven loops on a

single track with a mix of sand, gravel, roots, rocks, and some pine needle carpet. We might also have some mud since it is suppose to start raining tonight!

We are planing on running together since is a very small race and keep each other going.

What is your strategy for your 50 miler this week or future races?

Happy Feet

Cory Steiner — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:32:16 GMT

I developed some sort of weird spiralling callus on the bottom of my forefoot that had to come off so I went to my first podiatrist yesterday. Never considered going to one, but he spent quite awhile shaving off 46 years of brutality from both feet. The difference in movement in both feet is stunning and I'll likely go twice a year for a tune-up. Check it out if you're so inclined. Quite a profound improvement in mobility.

Richmond Race Report

Kyle39 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:59:07 GMT

First of all I'll give you all some background:

I was not athletic at all growing up. I think I was 18 when I ran my first full mile and hated it. Then through my 20s and 30s I ran sporadically, including one 5K and a 10K in my 20s, but I never made it a regular part of my life. I started to make a more serious effort in 2007, when I was 38, and while at Myrtle Beach on vacation in June '07 my cousin, who had run a number of marathons, talked me into the Rock'n'Roll Half in Va Beach. That's when I finally got serious. I knew that I would have to train because I was intimidated by 13.1 miles, having run 9 miles once in my life about 10 years ago. Since then I've been a regular runner (3-5 days/week and keeping a log of it).

In 2007 I ran my first marathon - the Richmond Marathon in 4:45:22. It's still my most evenly paced marathon to date - 2:21 for the first half, 2:24 for the second.

In 2008 I saw huge speed improvements as it was my first year of regularly running. I ran the MCHistoric Half in May in 2:01:26 and signed up for MCM, with a goal of 4:15-4:20. Seemed logical with a nearly 2hr half. I ran the first half in 2:07. At mile 16 I started to get cramps in my calves, which later spread through my quads and shins, but the calves continued to be the worst. I simply couldn't stop them unless I walked. Wound up finishing in 4:52:22, knowing full well I was capable of better and planning my revenge before the race was even over.

So for 2009, I signed up for the Richmond Marathon again, being on home turf. In MCM I took ibuprofen before the race, and also didn't drink much beforehand because I didn't want to have to waste time stopping to pee. Trying to save a minute cost me about 30. I was likely dehydrated and hyponatremic, thanks to the ibuprofen. This year I vowed to stay well hydrated and well salted. So I took on fluids and salt like crazy for the days leading up to the race and the morning of the race.

I started the race with Greg, a neighborhood friend who rode in with me, who was shooting for 4:30. I was shooting for 4:20-4:30, so we figured we'd run together and then I might pull away later in the race. We clicked through the early miles at a 10:00 to 10:20 pace each mile. By the way, the weather was great, overcast and 50s, though a little humid as Ida had been pouring on us for the past 3 days.

Now I'm terrible with names and faces, and I've only met most of you out there maybe once if at all, but I think I saw Chris early on and called his name, but I'm not sure he recognized me. Fair enough, I think we've met maybe once before. At each water stop (every two miles), I took two cups of Powerade unless the first cup I got was very full. We crossed the James River between mile 7 and 8 and felt good, holding our pace well. I was definitely well hydrated because I was now obsessed with finding a large tree I could duck behind. This is a smaller race than MCM, so you don't have the large lines of men (and sometimes women) on the side of the GW Parkway getting rid of extra fluids. So between mile 9 and 10 I took a quick break; it cost me less than a minute, mile 10 was a 10:38 compared to 9:59-10:25 per mile for the first 9. Still, I was holding back the pace, running with Greg and continuing to take salt and fluids (had a salt packet at miles 6 and 14, plus a gel at mile 10 with water, all other stops were Powerade).

The Richmond marathon has long, mild inclines and declines for most of the race, except a decent downhill between miles 7 and 8 to get to the river and then an uphill around mile 11 coming back up out of the river valley. But the real test starts at mile 16, when you cross the Lee Bridge back to downtown. It's long and there's wind in your face the whole way. After that is a gradual incline for about 3 miles. That's what I was saving my energy for. But, as I was trying to stay well-hydrated, I needed one more pit stop right before the bridge. That's where Greg and I parted ways - turns out he was feeling stronger than me and I didn't want to hold him back. The bridge is a bear, then you have to run uphill into downtown. 16 miles into the race. So with the pit stop mile 16 was a 10:46, my slowest mile so far, but I can write that off to the pit stop. Mile 17 was across the bridge and up the hill - took me 11 minutes, but I did hit the junk food stop where I got a cup of chocolate chip cookies. So it doesn't kill me that this mile was a little slower given the hill. Mile 18 was 10:25, mile 19 a 10:58 as I fought the gradual uphill. I knew I was slowing and that even a 4:30 was going to slip away if I didn't pick it up, but I was getting tired. Still, I was passing more people than were passing me, and many people were walking at this point.

I got a great lift at mile 19 as my wife and kids showed up to cheer me on. They never come to my races, so I was totally surprised. That was really cool! Also, I had hit the highest elevation of the course, so I tried to pick it up now, figuring I could finally race based on feel. However, my legs were so tired that I really had nothing else to add. Mile 20 was a 10:29, so I was dragging some, but not dead yet. Mile 21 slipped to 10:42, mile 22 was 10:28. At this point 4:30 was slipping further away and I knew it wouldn't happen. I just wanted the frickin' race to end. I think at this point I was mentally beaten, so I tried to just keep running at whatever pace I could. I was still passing most people. Mile 23 was a 10:59, mile 24 an 11:03. Miles 25 and 26 were both 11:40 as I tried to run as fast as I could, but just didn't have any more.

The nice thing about Richmond is that the final .3 miles is downhill. Once I got to this part, I threw all I had left at it and managed a 9:30 pace for the final .2 and felt like I was sprinting across the finish line. I just remembered endless misery for the last 4 miles and then crossing the finish thinking, "I'm done? I can stop now? Awesome!".

I ended up with a 4:36:17, a PR by nine minutes. I'll take it.

Some afterthoughts - I felt bad about my pacing, considering I had a 2:14 first half and a 2:22 second half. But I looked at my age group (40-44) results, and of the first 20 runners to finish behind me, 18 of them were ahead of me at the half and 16 were ahead of me at mile 20. So I really did a lot of passing in those late miles, even though I was slowing down.

Here's something weird - my race number was 3618, and my unofficial time before they posted the official results was 4:36:18. So I played the lottey with 436, 3618, and 43618. On the cash 5 I got 3 of 5 numbers and won $5.

One final thing - never trust a marathoner. I told myself during those last 4 miles and right after the race that I would never do this again. Now I'm thinking about the Myrtle Beach marathon in February, to run with my cousin who got me started on all of this.

Thursday runs?

PersianP — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:13:45 GMT

I ran 10 miles today, last run before the 50 miler, I might go for a few miles of power walk early Friday.

Anyone running today?

Wednesday Runs

DCtoPgh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:16:13 GMT

Nothing for me. I am wallowing in extra free time! Not only do I not have hours of running to do, but because of an exemption and the holidays, I have no homework this week. Amazing! So instead I'm reading for pleasure (!) and cooking. A LOT! I made this awesome oatmeal this morning and wanted to share the recipe:

1/2c oats (I used a flaxseed soy hot cereal and it turned out awesome)

1/3c canned pumpkin

pumpkin spice (I didn't have any so I used cinnamon and nutmeg)

1 egg white

1 tablespoon sweetener (sugar, splenda, etc)

2/3c water

Microwave for 2min and enjoy your super yummy carb bomb

I was skeptical of the egg, but I couldn't taste it and I'm sure it did something for texture while adding nutrients.

Happy Wednesdays, everyone!

Newbie takes the first step

chug0lug — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:28:39 GMT

Well, I've taken my first steps toward my goal of running the MCM next year. I registered for the R2R10K (so I won't have to worry about being able to register for the MCM) and for good measure, registered for the Historic Half. The 10K will be my first MCM experience and the longest race I've ever run. There's work to do, but I've already started and am trying not to push too hard while that early ambition is peaking. I've got a training plan laid out that I feel good about (well, at least it looks good on paper), now I just gotta stick to it and follow through. Anyone else out there running in either of these?