Roller Coasters and Racing

On the eve of leaving cross state, I find that I have some time to update. Sunday is my second HFP race of the year at East Fork State Park in Bethel, Ohio. That's just outside of Cincinnati. We're heading down tomorrow after work and spending a full day at King's Island on Saturday. I can't wait! So far this year my roller coaster count is at 17 different coasters. I need to add some more! Then it's another sprint duathlon on Sunday.

As for training, I had to miss a guest speaker for the running club in order to this week's speed workout. Which I'm kind of bummed about. The speaker was from the Akron Marathon and I was hoping to hear what's going on over there. It's a difficult, hilly course, but for some reason I'm hooked on it after one year. That will be my full fall marathon for 2009. I can't believe I'm already planning that far in advance. The track workout Tuesday was another uncomfortable one. It was hot. Near 90. And humid again. This week was a ladder workout, up and down:

1 mile warm-up
200 m hard
rest
400 m hard 1:24.12
rest 1:20
600 m hard 2:13.55
rest 2:58
800 m hard 3:07.07
rest 4:08
1200 m hard 5:09.57
rest 4:58
800 m hard 3:13.57
rest 2:51
600 m hard 2:19.07
rest 2:50
400 m hard 1:26.22
rest 1:26
200 m hard 34.28
1.5 mile cool-down

For a grand total of around 6 miles. I definitely feel better running in the heat now that I've been doing it most of the summer. Sure could have used it last year. Better late than never I suppose. I'm off. I will update after the weekend as to how the race went.

Mr. P

It's Long Run Time Again

Boy did it sneak up on me too. I was looking at the calender the other day and realized that I only have 3 months till the Columbus Marathon. I need to restart my long runs. They've slipped into obscurity since the Rite Aid Half back in May.

So this morning I went out and ran. Long. Well, long for not having run long in a while. I had a 10 mile course that I added some extra onto. I ended up doing a little over 11 miles in 1:32. I felt a little tired so I kept the pace down. But for the last 2 miles, I had an energy surge so I ended up increasing my pace towards the end, which is something good to try to do anyway. Now to just keep building the mileage into the fall.

Earlier this week I attended yet another track speed workout. They're starting to bother me a little less each time. Oh, they still hurt like hell, during and afterward, but I don't mind it so much. The results outweigh the temporary discomfort. This week was a reverse ladder workout:

1 mile warm-up

1600 meters hard 6:44.73

400 m rest

1200 meters hard 5:15.80

400 m rest

800 meters hard 3:25.55

200 m rest

600 meters hard 2:37.47

200 m rest

400 meters hard 1:32.03

200 m rest

200 meters hard 34.39

2 x 100 m striders

1 mile cool-down

That was the hardest workout yet. Partly because the distances were longer. Partly because it was near 100% humidity with the sun out and no breeze. It was just an uncomfortable afternoon to be going so hard. But I've come to realize that the workouts are beneficial so I push as hard as I can.

See you on the road,

Mr. P

2008 Columbus International Sprint Duathlon

An interesting race day. I went from Plan A to Plan B. Then I tried Plan C before choosing Plan D ,which was a hybrid of Plans A and C (kind of). Allow me to translate all that into English:

I was supposed to race the Olympic/International distance duathlon. This was going to be my long race for this season. But having not done much training in the two weeks leading up to the event, I decided it would be best if I just participated for fun and not worry about my time. I was fine with that, but then I found out (on my own) that the longer distance event was eliminated and I was now in the Sprint distance duathlon. I was a little upset about not being notified about this change (thanks Fat Rabbit Racing), but this is the distance all my other duathlons are, so it was fine. As I started the race the plan was to still just do it for fun. I felt good during the first run, so I decided to push it and make it a race.

This is a great race. I like the course, both the run and the bike. It's a fast course. All the trees provide a great shaded run, and part of the bike leg. But they also block the breeze. Which yesterday, I could have used more of. It was hot and muggy. Very different from last year's event. I began run 1 at a decent pace. I felt so good I decided to push it and see what would happen. The bike leg was fast going down 315. I have my complaints about all the debris on the shoulder, and all the flats it was causing. But it was fast none the less. Even going back up Olentangy River Road wasn't too bad for me this year. It's a bit rolling and took a toll on me last time. The second run was tough because my quads both cramped with over a mile and a half to go. I was pretty much limping in to the finish. And a close finish it was, too.

What's the bottom line? I finished in 1:24:25 and won my age group. Second and third places were right behind me, separated by only a handful of seconds. In fact, the first five finishers for the age group were only about a minute apart. That's a close finish!

So, now I'm looking forward to my next duathlon outside of Cincinnati at East Fork State Park in two weeks, as well as beginning training for the Columbus Marathon in October. Where is this year getting to?

Mr. P

2008 Gladstone Kiwanis Firecracker 5 Miler

Unbelievable. That's all I can say right now. Unbelievable. I just compared my time for this year's 5 miler with that from last year. I cut 1 minute and 45 seconds off my time. FOR 5 MILES! For those of you that don't run, 5 miles isn't that long. It's hard to take that much time off at that distance. Especially when the previous time was decent to begin with.

My time for this year was 34:31.53 by my watch. Since it's a very small race, there are no "official" times sent out afterwards, that's my "official" time. I placed 7th in my A.G. but I don't know how I did overall. The course is nice, basically flat with one downhill (the uphill is so gradual and spread out, there almost isn't one) and a short section on a wooden boardwalk which adds a little spring to each step. This year wasn't as humid as last year, which was very welcome. And knowing the course is a big help. I knew when to start speeding up at the end. Small races are fun, and this one is one of the better small races I've done.

In some additional news, my time for this run officially shatters my previous 5 mile PR from 1994, when I was 20 years old. My old time was 35:50.73, set on the old course for the Cleveland Turkey Trot. It feels really good to be breaking all these old PR's. Kind of makes me think I'm doing something right.

Mr. P

2008 Fat Rabbit Racing Sprint Duathlon

I can't believe it's taken me this long to get a new post up. We left on vacation the day after the Fat Rabbit Sprint race so I couldn't post then. I suppose putting off writing has kind of snowballed since then. But I'm here to put a stop to that!

The race went very well. I just now compared my times from this year to those of last year's race, and I'm basically happy with the results. I'll get right to them:

This Sprint Duathlon course consisted of a 2 mile run 1, a 20k bike, and a 5k run 2. A decent section of of the run course was a park access road. Think dirt, grass, and ruts. There were severe storms the previous day, leaving that section with standing water and mud. Lovely! Even with that I pulled off faster runs than last year, only losing a little time on the bike. I'd like to attribute that to the headwinds we had this year, but it's most likely due to my lack of time on the bike training. My finish time was 1:16:58. That was good enough for 2nd in my age group and 9th overall in the duathlon. My first run was nearly a minute faster than what I did last year. And that's on a 2 mile course. The bike leg was about 30 seconds slower and run 2 was about 30 seconds faster.

This is about the most spirited event on my schedule. The Ohio State University Triathlon Club hosts a college tri-club division and the teams are getting bigger and louder. Very entertaining. Gotta' have more cowbell out on the course!

Congrats to Mrs. P who did very well in her duathlon debut that weekend. She's jumped from 5k's directly into multi-sport. And took 2nd place in her age group in the process.

Look for more updates soon.

Mr. P